Friday, January 19, 2007

BBC NEWS | Americas | Rule by decree passed for Chavez

BBC NEWS | Americas | Rule by decree passed for Chavez

Venezuela's National Assembly has given initial approval to a bill granting the president the power to bypass congress and rule by decree for 18 months.
President Hugo Chavez says he wants "revolutionary laws" to enact sweeping political, economic and social changes.

He has said he wants to nationalise key sectors of the economy and scrap limits on the terms a president can serve.

Mr Chavez began his third term in office last week after a landslide election victory in December.

The bill allowing him to enact laws by decree is expected to win final approval easily in the assembly on its second reading on Tuesday.

Venezuela's political opposition has no representation in the National Assembly since it boycotted elections in 2005.

Pledge

Mr Chavez approved 49 laws by decree during the first year of his previous term, after the assembly passed a similar "Enabling Law" in November 2000.

Now the president says an Enabling Law is a key step in what he calls an accelerating march toward socialism.

He has said he wants to see major Venezuelan power and telecoms companies come under state control.

Mr Chavez also called for an end to foreign ownership of lucrative crude oil refineries in the Orinoco region.

Critics of the president accuse him of trying to build an authoritarian regime with all institutional powers consolidated into his own hands.

But, National Assembly President Cilia Flores said "there will always be opponents, and especially when they know that these laws will deepen the revolution".

Campaigning for the elections last year, Mr Chavez vowed he would strengthen his "Bolivarian revolution", named after the 19th-Century Latin American independence fighter.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/6277379.stm

Published: 2007/01/19 10:16:25 GMT

Business Day - News Worth Knowing

Iran asks envoys to nuclear sites - Business Day


By Mark Heinrich

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Reuters

VIENNA — Iran had invited envoys from developing nations accredited to the United Nations (UN) nuclear watchdog to visit its nuclear sites in a show of openness about its atomic fuel programme, diplomats said yesterday.

Washington said Iran could regain trust only by co-operating fully with UN investigations into the nature of the programme.

Iran has had limited UN sanctions slapped on it over suspicions that its experimental efforts to enrich uranium are secretly geared to building atom bombs, rather than to generating electricity, as it maintains.

Iran has vowed to expand into industrial-scale fuel production, but has also pledged continued compliance with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections while trying to rally diplomatic support in its stand-off with western powers.

Tehran had invited envoys from the Non-Aligned Movement of developing nations attached to the IAEA, and heads of the larger Group of 77 states and of the Arab League office in Vienna, to visit early next month, an Iranian diplomat said.

“They have been invited to visit our nuclear installations from February 2 through the 6th,” the diplomat, who asked for anonymity, said on Tuesday. He did not elaborate.

A Non-Aligned Movement envoy to the IAEA said the invitation had been accepted. “It’ll be a publicity exercise for Iran — to display transparency, ” the envoy said.


Among those in the visiting delegation would be the Egyptian, Cuban and Malaysian ambassadors to the IAEA — all prominent voices in the Non-Aligned Movement, to which Iran belongs, diplomats said.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Sex-change chemicals in Potomac

BBC NEWS Science/Nature Sex-change chemicals in Potomac


An investigation into the cleanliness of rivers feeding Washington's Potomac River has revealed the presence of sex-changing chemicals.
Pollutants which contain the chemicals, known as endocrine disrupters, were found in several tributaries and in the smallmouth bass fish living within.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) study followed the discovery of high numbers of intersex fish in the Potomac basin.

Endocrine disrupters can mimic or block hormones in the body.

Either naturally occurring or man-made, they can interfere with the endocrine system causing birth defects and reproductive irregularities.

The Potomac River is fed by rivers and streams in Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia.


All samples contained detectable levels of at least one known endocrine-disrupting compound, including samples from fish without intersex
Douglas Chambers, USGS scientist

The USGS investigators found pesticides, flame retardants, and personal-care products containing known or suspected endocrine disruptors in all eight sites that were tested.
The chemicals were also found in all of the smallmouth bass examined by the team.

"We analysed samples of 30 smallmouth bass from six sites, including male and female fish without intersex and male fish with intersex," lead scientist Douglas Chambers said.

"All samples contained detectable levels of at least one known endocrine-disrupting compound, including samples from fish without intersex."

Looking for cause

In an effort to pinpoint the source of the pollution the scientists studied wastewater and run-off from several sites.

They discovered that wastewater effluent - both treated and untreated - agricultural and pest control activities and industrial wastewater all contributed to the problem.

Of particular concern was municipal effluent, which contained a cocktail of at least seven compounds containing endocrine disruptors.

"Antibiotics were detected in municipal wastewater, aquaculture, and poultry-processing effluent, with the highest number of antibiotics and the greatest concentrations found in municipal effluent," the USGS wrote in its report.

The discovery that there were high numbers of intersex fish present in the Potomac basin was made by accident in 2003, when scientists began investigating unusually high numbers of fish deaths.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/6275841.stm

Published: 2007/01/18 17:03:58 GMT

BBC NEWS | Americas | US congressmen seek Iran block

BBC NEWS Americas US congressmen seek Iran block

By Jonathan Beale
BBC News, Washington

A bipartisan group of US congressmen have put forward legislation to prevent the president attacking Iran without the authorisation of Congress.
The move comes amid concern at George W Bush's attitude towards Iran.

He has recently decided to ratchet up the pressure on Tehran over what he calls unhelpful behaviour in Iraq.

A second navy task force has recently been sent to the Gulf and last week US forces arrested Iranian officials in northern Iraq.

Democrats have already expressed concern about Mr Bush's decision to confront Iran rather than to engage it diplomatically.

Recent events have only heightened fears about his intentions.

Containing ambition

The bipartisan group of 11 congressmen, led by a Republican, have put forward legislation that states that no previous resolution passed by Congress authorises a US attack on Iran.

One of the Democrats who supports the legislation said that a new resolution was needed because the Bush administration had lied so many times in the run up to the Iraq war.

But it may prove more of a symbolic move as, to become law, it would need the support of the Senate and the House of Representatives and to be signed by the president himself.

US officials have been playing down talk of attacking Iran.

The US Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, who has been meeting Arab leaders, said that no-one wanted another military conflict in the region.

But Mr Gates defended the US military build-up as a way of containing Iran's ambitions.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/6277275.stm

Published: 2007/01/18 23:54:42 GMT

BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics | Brown wants a 'new world order'

BBC NEWS| UK Politics | Brown wants a 'new world order'


Mr Brown laid a floral tribute at the memorial for Mahatma Gandhi

Brown on challenges

Chancellor Gordon Brown has spoken of the need for a "new world order" to deal with future security and environmental challenges.
He called for a "new diplomacy" to go alongside military power to defeat terrorism, share prosperity and "win the battle of hearts and minds".

That meant strengthening Britain's global alliances but also reforming institutions such as the EU and UN.

Mr Brown was speaking in Mumbai on the latest stage of his tour of India.

The chancellor said he had been inspired by Mahatma Gandhi as he laid a wreath at the memorial to the former leader.

Mr Brown said he was not trying to compare himself to the founder of modern India but was inspired by his strength, courage and strong will.


I don't accept that what America has tried to do has failed
Gordon Brown

He also quoted Winston Churchill, in an interview with the BBC's Nick Robinson, saying "you cannot meet the challenges of the future by simply building the present in the image of the past".

He said the British people wanted a "more secure world," a safer environment and greater prosperity and "that will require new diplomacy in the next few years to build better institutions."

Mr Brown said he would not pledge to always seek UN approval before taking military action.

'Bigger role'

"Nobody's going to make that commitment," he said, adding that Britain tried to work through the UN in Iraq, where it now had a mandate.

"The American alliance we have, the European cooperation that we welcome and are going to strengthen in the years to come, and our role in the Commonwealth are the basis on which we move forward.

"But I believe that there is a collective interest that the world can be persuaded of, in the United Nations playing a bigger role in security, Nato playing a bigger role out of theatre, and also the European Union as a collective institution playing a fuller role in world politics."


I'm in one of Bollywood's top studios with the chancellor...
BBC political editor Nick Robinson


The Chancellor rejected Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain's criticism that the US "neo-conservative" mission had failed.
"I don't accept that what America has tried to do has failed," he said.

Mr Brown also called for greater international co-operation and a stronger sense of national purpose in meeting the security threat.

"If we in Britain can have a stronger sense of what our national purpose is, that will enable us to face the challenges ahead.

"That would mean, in practice, we spend more time thinking about what can integrate us as a community and bring us together."

Earlier, Mr Brown said he has grown more relaxed speaking about the "big challenges" which will face him as the likely next prime minister.

He is widely expected to take over as prime minister when Tony Blair stands down this year.

'World leader'

He told the BBC: "It's the right thing to do, to talk about some of the big challenges for the future.

"I've been thinking about some of these big challenges. I see the potential for Britain to be a world leader in so many areas in the future.

"I also see that we can build that stronger sense of national identity in Britain that will give us strength to face the challenges of the future."

His three-day tour to India is being seen an attempt to move beyond fiscal policy and strengthen his international credentials.

But the visit has been overshadowed by the row over the alleged racist bullying of Indian actress Shilpa Shetty on the UK reality television show Celebrity Big Brother.

Mr Brown has already described as "offensive" the allegedly racist remarks and he faces possible further questions during a visit to a Bollywood film studio in Mumbai.

He is also expected to meet industrialists in the city, which is India's financial capital.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6277747.stm

Published: 2007/01/19 10:24:57 GMT

Bush Seizes Control Over State Militias

progress report

A little-noticed change in federal law packs an important change in who is in charge the next time a state is devastated by a disaster such as Hurricane Katrina.

To the dismay of the nation's governors, the White House now will be empowered to go over a governor's head and call up National Guard troops to aid a state in time of natural disasters or other public emergencies. Up to now, governors were the sole commanders in chief of citizen soldiers in local Guard units during emergencies within the state.

A conflict over who should control Guard units arose in the days after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. President Bush sought to federalize control of Guardsmen in Louisiana in the chaos after the hurricane, but Gov. Kathleen Blanco (D) refused to relinquish command.

Over objections from all 50 governors, Congress in October changed the 200-year-old Insurrection Act to empower the hand of the president in future stateside emergencies. In a letter to Congress, the governors called the change "a dramatic expansion of federal authority during natural disasters that could cause confusion in the command-and-control of the National Guard and interfere with states' ability to respond to natural disasters within their borders."

The change adds to tensions between governors and the White House after more than four years of heavy federal deployment of state-based Guard forces to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since the 2001 terrorist attacks, four out of five guardsmen have been sent overseas in the largest deployment of the National Guard since World War II. Shortage of the Guard's military equipment -- such as helicopters to drop hay to snow-stranded cattle in Colorado -- also is a nagging issue as much of units' heavy equipment is left overseas and unavailable in case of a natural disaster at home.

A bipartisan majority of both chambers of Congress adopted the change as part of the budget-busting, 439-page, $538 billion 2007 so-called Defense Authorization Bill signed into law last October.

The nation's governors through the National Governors Association (NGA) successfully lobbied to defeat a broader proposal to give the president power to federalize Guard troops even without invoking the Insurrection Act. But the passage that became law also "disappointed" governors because it expands federal power and could cause confusion between state and federal authorities trying to respond to an emergency situation, said David Quam, an NGA homeland security advisor.

"Governors need to be focused on assisting their citizens during an emergency instead of looking over their shoulders to see if the federal government is going to step in," Quam said.

Under the U.S. Constitution, each state's National Guard unit is controlled by the governor in time of peace but can be called up for federal duty by the president. The National Guard employs 444,000 part-time soldiers between its two branches: the Army and Air National Guards.

The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 forbids U.S. troops from being deployed on American soil for law enforcement. The one exception is provided by the Insurrection Act of 1807, which lets the president use the military only for the purpose of putting down rebellions or enforcing constitutional rights if state authorities fail to do so. Under that law, the president can declare an insurrection and call in the armed forces. The act has been invoked several times in the past 50 years, including in 1957 to desegregate schools and in 1992 during riots in south central Los Angeles after the acquittal of police who were caught on videotape beating Rodney King.

Congress changed the Insurrection Act to list "natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident" as conditions under which the president can deploy U.S. armed forces and federalize state Guard troops if he determines that "authorities of the state or possession are incapable of maintaining public order."

Mark Smith, spokesperson for the Louisiana Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said local and state emergency responders know what their communities need during a crisis better than officials in Washington.

"The president should not be able to step in and take control of the National Guard without a governor's consent. The Guard belongs to the states, has always belonged to the states and should remain a function of the states," Smith said.

Space weapon used by China

Reuters
AUSTRALIA has joined a host of nations, including the US, to voice their concern after China conducted a weapons test in space.

China's ambassador Fu Ying was called in to meet Australian Foreign Affairs Department deputy secretary Peter Grey to explain the incident.

Launched from a fired medium-range ballistic missile, a "kinetic kill vehicle" knocked out an ageing Chinese weather satellite 865km above Earth on January 11 by slamming into it.

Ms Fu undertook to get more information from Beijing. China's Defence Ministry refused to confirm it conducted the test.

If true, it is the first known satellite-killing test in space since the US tested such a weapon in 1985.

Tests stopped because of concerns debris could harm civilian and military satellite operations on which the West increasingly relies for everything from pinpoint navigation to internet access to ATMs.

The satellite could have been pulverised into 40,000 fragments 1cm to 10cm long, said David Wright, of the Union of Concerned Scientists based in the US.

Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer, in New York, said the world wanted to avoid a space arms race.

"What we don't want to see is some sort of spread, if you like, of an arms race into outer space," he said.

"The danger there is that you get into a situation where other countries, including the US, I suppose, would have to start to look for ways to protect satellites in space.

"The other concern is that the debris from the destroyed satellite could hit other satellites and damage (them)," he said.

A DFAT spokesman said the Government had sought an explanation about the Chinese Government's plans for developing and deploying weapons systems with the capability of destroying space assets.

The US, Canada and Japan also voiced concerns to China over the space test last week. Britain and South Korea were expected to follow.

"The US believes China's development and testing of such weapons is inconsistent with the spirit of co-operation that both countries aspire to in the civil space area," US National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki suggested China's lack of transparency over its military development could trigger suspicions about its motives.

Analysts said China's weather satellites would travel at about the same altitude as US spy satellites, so the test, though using old technology, represented an indirect threat to US defence systems.

The capability was no surprise to the Bush Administration, which revised US national space policy last year to assert a right to deny space access to anyone hostile to US interests. ~

Report: Israel Planning, Training for Low-Level Nuke Strike Against Iran

Sunday , January 07, 2007 - FOX News

Israel has drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons, according to a report in the Sunday Times of London.

The paper cites several Israeli military sources saying that two Israeli air force squadrons are training to blow up an Iranian facility using low-yield nuclear “bunker-busters.”

The Israeli Foreign Ministry denied the report.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said it would not respond to the story.

"We don't respond to publications in the Sunday Times," said Miri Eisin, Olmert's spokeswoman.

Israeli Minister of Strategic Threats Avigdor Lieberman also declined to comment on the report.

Click here to read the Sunday Times story.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev denied the report and said that "the focus of the Israeli activity today is to give full support to diplomatic actions" and the implementation of a U.N. Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt enrichment.

According to the Sunday Times, under the plans, conventional laser-guided bombs would open “tunnels” into the targets. “Mini-nukes” would then immediately be fired into a plant at Natanz, exploding deep underground to reduce the risk of radioactive fallout.

“As soon as the green light is given, it will be one mission, one strike and the Iranian nuclear project will be demolished,” said one of the sources.

The plans, disclosed to The Sunday Times last week, have been prompted in part by the Israeli intelligence service Mossad’s assessment that Iran is on the verge of producing enough enriched uranium to make nuclear weapons within two years.

Israeli military commanders believe conventional strikes may no longer be enough to annihilate increasingly well-defended enrichment facilities. Several have been built beneath at least 70 feet of concrete and rock.

However, the nuclear-tipped bunker-busters would be used only if a conventional attack was ruled out and if the United States declined to intervene, senior sources said.

Israeli and American officials have met several times to consider military action, the paper said. Military analysts said the disclosure of the plans could be intended to put pressure on Tehran to halt enrichment, cajole America into action or soften up world opinion in advance of an Israeli attack.The United States and its allies accuse Tehran of secretly trying to produce atomic weapons, but Iran claims its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes, including generating electricity.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has condemned as invalid and illegal the U.N. resolution.

Though Olmert has not explicitly ruled out a military strike against Iran's nuclear program, he has repeatedly said the issue should be dealt with diplomatically.

Because an Iranian nuclear bomb would affect the entire world, Olmert has said, the problem must be solved by the international community.

Some analysts warned that Iranian retaliation for such a strike could range from disruption of oil supplies to the West to terrorist attacks against Jewish targets around the world.

According the the paper, Israel has identified three prime targets south of Tehran which are believed to be involved in Iran’s nuclear program:

—Natanz, where thousands of centrifuges are being installed for uranium enrichment

—A uranium conversion facility near Isfahan where, according to a statement by an Iranian vice-president last week, 250 tons of gas for the enrichment process have been stored in tunnels

—A heavy water reactor at Arak, which may in future produce enough plutonium for a bomb Israeli officials believe that destroying all three sites would delay Iran’s nuclear program indefinitely and prevent them from having to live in fear of a “second Holocaust.”

The Israeli government has warned repeatedly that it will never allow nuclear weapons to be made in Iran, whose president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has declared that “Israel must be wiped off the map”.

Robert Gates, the new U.S. defense secretary, has described military action against Iran as a “last resort”, leading Israeli officials to conclude that it will be left to them to strike.

Israeli pilots have flown to Gibraltar in recent weeks to train for the 2,000-mile round trip to the Iranian targets. Three possible routes have been mapped out, including one over Turkey.

The Israeli army declined to comment when asked by The Associated Press on Sunday whether the Israeli air force was training for an attack against Iranian nuclear facilities.

"I refuse to believe that anyone here would consider using nuclear weapons against Iran," Reuven Pedatzur, a prominent defense analyst and columnist for the daily Haaretz, told the AP.

"It is possible that this was a leak done on purpose, as deterrence, to say 'someone better hold us back, before we do something crazy.'"

Ephraim Kam, a strategic expert at Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Strategic Studies and a former senior army intelligence officer, also dismissed the report.

"No reliable source would ever speak about this, certainly not to the Sunday Times," Kam said.

Air force squadrons based at Hatzerim in the Negev desert and Tel Nof, south of Tel Aviv, have trained to use Israel’s tactical nuclear weapons on the mission. The preparations have been overseen by Major General Eliezer Shkedi, commander of the Israeli air force.

Sources close to the Pentagon said the United States was highly unlikely to give approval for tactical nuclear weapons to be used. One source said Israel would have to seek approval “after the event”, as it did when it crippled Iraq’s nuclear reactor at Osirak with airstrikes in 1981.

Scientists have calculated that although contamination from the bunker-busters could be limited, tons of radioactive uranium compounds would be released.

The Israelis believe that Iran’s retaliation would be constrained by fear of a second strike if it were to launch its Shehab-3 ballistic missiles at Israel.

However, American experts warned of repercussions, including widespread protests that could destabilize parts of the Islamic world friendly to the West.

Colonel Sam Gardiner, a Pentagon adviser, said Iran could try to close the Strait of Hormuz, the route for 20 percent of the world’s oil.

Some sources in Washington said they doubted if Israel would have the nerve to attack Iran. However, Dr Ephraim Sneh, the deputy Israeli defense minister, said last month: “The time is approaching when Israel and the international community will have to decide whether to take military action against Iran.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,242243,00.html

Detainee DNA may be put in database

osted 1/19/2007 1:35 AM ET
By Richard Willing, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — The federal government could add DNA from tens of thousands of immigration violators, captives in the war on terrorism and others accused but not convicted of federal offenses to the FBI's crime-fighting database under a plan being finalized by the Justice Department.

Erik Ablin, a Justice Department spokesman, confirmed the plan, which hasn't been publicly disclosed, and said details are expected to be completed soon.

Proponents of the plan, including U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff Joe Arpaio, say taking DNA from federal detainees would solve many crimes committed by illegal immigrants and make it easier to identify and track potential terrorists.

Opponents, such as Caroline Fredrickson, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Washington office, say such mass seizures of DNA violate privacy and do little to improve law enforcement.

Fredrickson says the law that defines federal detainees is so broad that it could apply to hikers stopped by park rangers or airline passengers selected for screening. Authorization for taking the DNA was included in a bill reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act that President Bush signed last year.

The DNA samples, which contain an individual's unique genetic code, would be compared against genetic profiles from 3.9 million criminals and 157,000 unsolved crimes held by the system of federal and state DNA databases that the FBI administers. The FBI says its system has aided more than 41,000 criminal investigations since 1990.

DNA from federal arrestees and detainees would be held on a computer index, enabling law enforcement to track illegal immigrants who return after being expelled from the USA or who commit crimes after being released. War-on-terrorism detainees, who often use aliases, could be positively identified by DNA and linked to evidence seized at suspected terrorist sites.

"We know from real-life examples that a database of arrestees can prevent many future offenses," Kyl said in a statement.

The plan would greatly increase the pool of DNA profiles available to law enforcement. In most states, a person must be convicted of a crime before his DNA is added to the national system, which the FBI calls CODIS. In seven states, DNA can be taken from suspects after they are arrested and formally charged.

The new plan would apply to "any person arrested under federal authority and from any non-U.S. person who is detained," according to the Violence Against Women law. Each year, the greatest number of those are illegal immigrants caught at the border or rounded up after entering the country.

DNA from immigration violators would remain on file permanently. Genetic profiles from people arrested for federal crimes could be removed from the database if they are not convicted.

Law enforcement authorities say illegal immigrants commit crimes out of proportion to their numbers. A Justice Department study of 100 illegal immigrants arrested and released by local authorities in 2004 found that 73 were later rearrested. "To me, it's a no-brainer," Arpaio says. "Regardless of how you feel (about illegal immigration), nobody wants criminals to get a free pass to come in here." Fredrickson says collecting DNA from anyone detained by a federal officer would clog the system to "where it becomes useless."



Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-01-19-detainee-dna_x.htm