Thousands in Mexico City Protest Rising Food Prices

new york times

MEXICO CITY, Jan. 31 — Tens of thousands of workers and farmers filled this city’s central square on Wednesday to protest spiraling food prices, ratcheting up the volume over a problem that has dogged President Felipe Calderón in his first weeks in office.

Left-wing parties joined the unions and peasant organizations that had called the protest. The protesters, some of whom handed out ears of corn, marched up Mexico City’s main avenue to the Zócalo, the site of protests through much of the summer and fall against Mr. Calderón’s election.

The high cost of tortillas and other food staples has consumed politics here over the past few weeks, posing a stubborn challenge to Mr. Calderón as he seeks to project an image as a take-charge leader. It has spilled into the ever-simmering debate here over the country’s commitment to free-market economics.

As marchers gathered at dusk in the city’s main square, a former television personality, Verónica Velasco, read a statement condemning the government’s policies. “While other countries are looking for alternatives to neoliberal policies, in Mexico, the government has lagged behind and insisted in applying a model that, after a quarter century, has shown its inefficiency and inequality,” the statement said.

As night fell, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the leftist candidate who narrowly lost to Mr. Calderón in July, spoke to the crowd.

City officials would not give an estimate of the size of the protest.

To opponents of Mr. Calderón’s government, the spike in the price of tortillas is further proof that the free-market policies he has pledged to continue benefit the wealthy at the expense of the poor. The high prices are new ammunition for those who have previously pressed to renegotiate the agricultural chapter of the North American Free Trade Agreement to provide more protection for Mexican farmers, and for Mexico to end its dependence on imports of American corn and recover what nationalists call food sovereignty.

Mr. Calderón barely won a bitterly contested election in July against a leftist opponent who promised to roll back some of those policies. Aware that he would have to win over part of the population that has yet to see the benefits of free trade, Mr. Calderón quickly announced a series of social programs once he took office.

He also cracked down on the drug trade, establishing an image as a decisive executive. He ordered the army into several cities to fight drug violence and summarily extradited 11 drug trafficking suspects to the United States.

But the tortilla price spiral appeared to come as a surprise. Although Mr. Calderón moved quickly, announcing a pact on Jan. 18 to freeze prices, the problem has not been resolved.

Even with the pact, the news reports focused on the fact that the price ceiling for the tortillas of about 35 cents a pound was about 40 percent higher than the price three months earlier and contrasted that with the 4 percent increase in the minimum wage, which is still less than $5 a day.

But because fewer than 10 percent of tortilla producers signed on to the agreement, the government had little power over those who did not. In some areas, prices have risen to 45 cents a pound. There is little more that Mr. Calderón can do to contain prices without huge expenditures for subsidies. Most analysts agree that the main cause of the increase has been a spike in corn prices in the United States, as the demand for corn to produce ethanol has jumped.

But the uneven structure of Mexico’s corn and tortilla industry here has also generated accusations — none of them proved — of hoarding and profiteering. Mexico’s corn flour industry is controlled by just two companies, Grupo Maseca, also known as Gruma, and Minsa. Under the pact, Gruma agreed to keep prices for corn flour at 21 cents a pound. The government has promised to crack down on profiteers.

Ken Shwedel, an agricultural economist in Mexico City for the Dutch agribusiness bank Rabobank, said prices were likely to remain high in the United States, which supplies about 25 percent of Mexico’s corn.

“This is the first time you’ve got a real agricultural shock to the economy,” he said. “The market economy isn’t as benevolent as a state-run economy. The market is characterized by fluctuations. You have to live with it and know how to deal with it.”

The marchers clearly directed their blame at the government. “When they get involved in something as elemental as tortillas, well that’s just irresponsible,” said Francisco Ruiz, 48, a telephone worker.

Carola Ortega, 64, a member of a peasant group, said: “We’re here because the government always takes advantage of the poor. First it was tortillas, but we’re not stupid; if tortillas go up, everything else does too.”

Some analysts argue that the opposition has merely seized on a convenient issue and that the controversy will blow over.

“For the unions, it is about much more than tortillas,” said Vidal Romero, a political scientist at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico, a Mexico City university. “They want to make it clear to the president that they still have strength and not let the government do what it wants.”

For the left, the tortilla issue is a new rallying cry after months of postelectoral protests. Mr. Romero said the left hoped to use the march to position itself as the main opposition force to Mr. Calderón’s presidency. “They want to draw oxygen from it,” he said.

Putin hopes Russia-Iran contact will reassure West

reuters

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin said today he hoped a visit by Russia’s Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov to Tehran this month would help Iran reassure the West that it does not seek nuclear weapons.

“We hope that (Ivanov’s) visit to Iran will help us align our positions and will help convince our Iranian partners to take decisions that would improve the situation in a healthy way...and remove all suspicions in the international community about Iran’s alleged plans to create nuclear weapons,” Putin said during an annual news conference.

Western powers fear Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme will be used for atomic bombs and the UN Security Council passed a resolution in December imposing limited sanctions on Iran for refusing to suspend the programme.

Iran says it has a right to develop its civilian nuclear sector and last month said it was pressing ahead with a plan to install 3 000 atomic centrifuges. Russia is building Iran’s first nuclear power plant in Bushehr.

Last month, Russia angered the US by delivering new anti-aircraft missile systems to Iran and said it would consider more requests from Tehran for defensive weapons.

Murdered spy had no reason to run, Putin says

guardian

The murdered former spy Alexander Litvinenko did not possess any secrets and had no reason to flee Russia, the country's president, Vladimir Putin, said today.

Facing more than 1,200 journalists at an annual televised press conference in the Kremlin's Round Hall, Mr Putin fielded questions on the deaths of the former KGB officer and the investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

During the three and a half hour conference, he expressed mistrust over US proposals to site anti-missile systems in eastern Europe, rejecting the idea that these would only target possible missiles from Iran.

He also insisted Russia was not using its huge energy resources as a political weapon and rejected suggestions that he might try to orchestrate a succession as his second - and constitutionally final - term in office draws to a close.

Mr Litvinenko, in a statement made shortly before his death, accused Mr Putin of being involved in a plot to poison him. However, the Russian president said there had been no reason for Mr Litvinenko to flee to Britain, where he settled in 2000.

The former spy had complained of official harassment in Russia after making allegations about misconduct by the Russian security services.

"There was no need to flee anywhere. He did not carry any secrets at all," Mr Putin was quoted as saying by Reuters. "Whatever negative comments he had about his old job, he had already said everything. There could be nothing new in his words."

Mr Putin rejected suggestions Mr Litvinenko had been killed as part of a plot to discredit the Kremlin.

"Openly speaking, I don't believe in the conspiracy thesis," he said, also refusing to speculate on how Mr Litvinenko had ingested the radioactive poison that killed him.

The Russian president threatened unspecified but retaliatory measures against any US positioning of anti-missile defences in eastern Europe.

Washington has proposed putting a radar station in the Czech Republic and a battery of rockets in Poland. The Pentagon says the equipment is intended to detect and shoot down hostile missiles, which it says could come from Iran.

However, Mr Putin said: "Our specialists don't think that anti-missile systems in eastern Europe are aimed against terrorists or Iran. Can you really fight terrorists with ballistic missiles?"

When questioned about energy, he said Russia was simply trying to ensure it received a fair price for its oil and gas.

Last month, shipments of Russian oil to western Europe were interrupted for several days in a dispute over prices with Belarus, through which a Russian pipeline passes.

Gas supplies were also reduced in early 2006 when Moscow was locked in a similar disagreement with Ukraine.

However, Mr Putin denied any political motives. "We are always told that Russia is using its ... economic resources to achieve its foreign policy aims," he said. "This is not the case."

He said Moscow wanted to charge market prices after years of providing energy to ex-Soviet neighbours at subsidised tariffs.

"Russia has always met, and will continue to meet, its obligations to supply its customers, but we are not obliged to subsidise other countries' economies on an enormous scale," he added.

Mr Putin stressed that he would not nominate a designated successor ahead of the presidential elections scheduled to take place in March 2008.

"There will be no successor. There will be candidates for the post of president," he said. "The authorities' goal is to ensure the elections are held democratically."

Guantanamo conditions 'like a Nazi camp'

AAP
Accused terrorist David Hicks' US lawyer has described conditions at Guantanamo Bay, where he has been held for five years, as "like a Nazi concentration camp".

The 31-year-old father of two met his lawyers inside the newly-created Camp Six at the US military prison in Cuba.

The Adelaide-born Muslim convert showed signs of mental deterioration, his Australian-based lawyer David McLeod said after the meeting.

"He shows all the signs of someone who has been kept in isolation for a very long time," Mr McLeod said.

"He's not in very good shape, the conditions are pretty ordinary."

Hicks has been detained by the US military without trial since he was captured with Taliban forces in Afghanistan in December 2001. He was sent to Guantanamo Bay the following month.

"He continues to be locked up 22 hours a day," Mr McLeod said.

"He has seen the sun three times since he has been at Camp Six in early December.

"He has no privacy whatsoever in Camp Six - his toilet paper is rationed, he hasn't been able to comb his hair since going there because he's not provided with a comb or brush.

"The guards can see into his cell 24 hours a day.

"I won't go into his condition in more detail than that.

"We have just had some time with him and we are seeing him again tomorrow.

"But suffice to say, he's not in good shape."

A US lawyer, Sabin Willett, has visited Camp Six, where Hicks was moved last month, and filed an emergency motion in the US Court of Appeals criticising the conditions.

In an affidavit to the court, Mr Willett described the conditions as like a "Nazi concentration camp - a place where, when they take you in, you never come out".

In his affidavit, Mr Willett said Camp Six detainees are held in solid metal cells with no natural light or air and detailed other alleged human rights violations.

"We put those things very quickly to David and he confirmed each and every allegation of the nature of Camp Six," Mr McLeod said.

"Those observations in those articles are totally consistent with what David is putting up with."

US prosecutors are expected to within weeks lay fresh charges against Hicks, who is accused of training with al-Qaeda.

He pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy, attempted murder by an unprivileged belligerent and aiding the enemy before a US military commission in August 2004.

But the charges were dropped last year when the US Supreme Court ruled the military commissions designed to prosecute Hicks and other Guantanamo detainees were unlawful.

The US announced its new rules for the commissions on January 18.

UPDATE 2-"Hoax" triggers Boston security scare

BOSTON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Police were investigating an apparent security hoax in Boston on Wednesday involving at least five suspicious devices in separate locations across the city which were later found to be fake bombs.

The discoveries triggered a city-wide security scare that led the U.S. Coast Guard to close the Charles River that feeds from the Atlantic Ocean into the city and caused authorities to shut down major bridges and several roads.

"Based on the information we have, it appears to be a hoax," said Gov. Deval Patrick's spokesman, Jose Martinez.

The packages looked roughly similar, according to police and local media. Most contained wires emerging from a plastic casing. Four were found hours after officials blew up the first suspicious package below a highway in the morning.

They were discovered near the New England Medical Center, the Longfellow Bridge that connects Boston with Cambridge, the Boston University Bridge and at the intersection of Stuart and Columbus streets in central Boston.

"All were found not to be explosive devices," Boston Police Department spokesman Eddie Chrispin said.

There were reports of a sixth device found in the city of Somerville close to Boston.

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority spokesman Joe Pesaturo said one of the train system's busiest lines had been stopped, while the U.S. Coast Guard said it had closed Boston's Charles River amid the alert. (Additional reporting by Svea Herbst and Scott Malone)

Miller: Libby reveals CIA agent earlier than confessed

BEIJING, Jan. 31 (Xinhuanet) -- A U.S. star journalist testified Tuesday in Washington that former vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby identified Valerie Plame, a CIA operative, to her on two occasions.

Judith Miller, the journalist, said her two meetings with Libby came on June 23 and July 8, 2003 -- earlier than the dates Libby told FBI investigators, according to media reports Wednesday.

Miller said Libby mentioned Plame, wife of a prominent Iraq war critic, as a CIA employee "in the face-to-face meetings."

Libby, then Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, however, told the FBI and a grand jury that he heard Plame's CIA job for the first time from NBC's Tim Russert on July 10, 2003.

But five U.S. government officials have also testified that Libby discussed Plame and her CIA job with them before the date he gave to the FBI.

Libby resigned after he was charged with lying to investigators in the case.

Libby is not accused of leaking Plame's job but of perjury and obstruction of the investigation into how her name was leaked. The discrepancy over when Libby learned about Plame is a major element in the charges on which he is being tried.

Miller, The New York Times' star journalist until she resigned in late 2005, has spent 85 days in jail because of resisting court orders to disclose who told her about Plame's identity. Citing confidentiality, she resisted revealing her source and was released from jail last year.

The media said the Plame case goes to the heart of criticism that the White House deliberately twisted intelligence about Iraq's purported weapons programs in order to justify the Iraq war.

Plame's husband Joseph Wilson challenged the administration assertions that Iraq had tried to buy uranium in Africa for a nuclear weapons program, saying he had investigated the claim for the CIA on a visit to Niger and found no evidence, and went public on July 6, 2003.

Millions of US funds wasted in Iraq

timesonline
Millions of dollars intended for the rebuilding of Iraq have been squandered amid continuing incompetence, corruption and a deteriorating security situation, American government auditors have revealed.

A damning report by Stuart Bowen, the US special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, described a string of misguided and expensive initiatives that have failed to deliver any real benefit for the country, among them the construction of a police camp in Baghdad that cost $43.8 million (£22.4 million) but has never been used.

The facility, built near Adnan Palace by the US contractor, DynCorp International, was even extended by the Iraqi Interior Ministry — to the tune of an Olympic-size swimming pool and $4.2 million (£2.1 million) of improvements — without proper American approval.

Today's report also included revelations that $36 million (£18 million) was spent by US officials on armoured vehicles, body armour and communications equipment that cannot be accounted for because invoices were vague and there is no back-up documentation.

Mr Bowen's study, which comes as President Bush is preparing to ask Congress to approve a further $1.2 billion (£612 million) in aid for Iraq, also asks serious questions of the Iraqi Government's ability to manage funds given to it. At the end of 2006, Iraqi officials had failed to spend billions of dollars specifically budgeted for capital projects since 2003, the report said.

Iraqi prisons and police forces have also struggled to function amid the serious sectarian violence that has cost tens of thousands of lives in the country in the last year, the audit said, observing that the US has "spent billions in this area, with limited success to date".

"The security situation continues to deteriorate, hindering progress in all reconstruction sectors, and threatening the overall reconstruction effort," the 579-page report adds.

Speaking from Iraq today Stephen Farrell, The Times' Middle East Correspondent, said Iraqi people would not be in the slightest bit surprised by the findings.

"Certainly among Iraqis there is — and has been almost from day one since the US-led invasion — a perception that reconstruction was badly handled and inadequately financed, and what money did pour into the country disappeared at an alarming rate, both by corruption among Iraqis, or due to the US contractors who were responsible for managing it," he told the Times Online.

"We started to hear claims of corruption really early on in this war, and that has never stopped.

"Whatever they thought about the necessity for the war to remove Saddam Hussein, you won't find a single Iraqi who thinks that the reconstruction has been well-handled."

Mr Bowen’s office is responsible for overseeing the use, and potential misuse, of US funds for Iraq’s reconstruction. Today's audit is the latest of his quarterly reports to the US Congress on how the cash is being spent.

Warrants Issued in Germany Kidnapping

BERLIN (AP) - German prosecutors said Wednesday that they have issued arrest warrants for 13 suspected CIA agents who allegedly abducted a German citizen in an apparent anti-terrorist operation gone wrong.

It was Washington's second European ally to seek the arrest of purported CIA agents for spiriting away a terrorism suspect. Italian prosecutors want to question 25 agents and one other American in the alleged kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric suspected of terrorism.

Munich prosecutor Christian Schmidt-Sommerfeld told The Associated Press that warrants in the latest case were issued in the last few days. He said the unidentified agents were sought on suspicion of wrongfully imprisoning Khaled al-Masri and causing him serious bodily harm.

Al-Masri, a German citizen of Lebanese descent, says he was detained in December 2003 at the Serbian-Macedonian border and then flown by the CIA to a jail in Afghanistan, where he was abused. He says he was let go in Albania five months later and told he had been seized in a case of mistaken identity.

Rights activists have seized on al-Masri's story and other cases to demand that the U.S. stop ``extraordinary rendition'' - moving terrorism suspects to third countries where they could face torture. Some European governments have been accused of winking at the practice.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other U.S. officials have declined to address al-Masri's case. However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said the Bush administration acknowledged making a mistake with al-Masri.

Germany's government refused to comment on the arrest warrants, as did the CIA. The State Department's deputy spokesman, Tom Casey, said only that the U.S. would review the allegations.

NDR television released a list of 11 men and two women reportedly named in the warrants. It said three had been contacted by its reporters and had refused comment.

The prosecutor's office refused to confirm the list, while revealing the suspects' real names weren't known.

``The personal details contained in the arrest warrants are, according to our current knowledge, aliases of CIA agents,'' Schmidt-Sommerfeld said in a statement. ``Further investigation will, among other things, concentrate on trying to determine the clear identities of the suspects.''

Al-Masri's attorney, Manfred Gnjidic, said the issuing of the arrest warrants was ``a very important step in the rehabilitation'' of his client. ``It shows us that we were right in putting our trust in the German authorities and the German prosecutors,'' he told reporters.

Prosecutors were led to the suspects after receiving a list in December 2005 of possible people involved in al-Masri's detention compiled by a Spanish journalist from sources within Spain's Civil Guard, a paramilitary police unit, Schmidt-Sommerfeld said.

He said Spanish authorities then provided help and prosecutors were able to pursue an investigation against ``concrete persons.''

Schmidt-Sommerfeld said tips were also received from others, including prosecutors in Milan, Italy, and Dick Marty, a Swiss senator who led a Council of Europe inquiry into purported CIA ``extraordinary rendition'' flights. The prosecutor did not give any details on the tips.

The CIA agents are suspected of flying aboard a Boeing 737 from the Spanish island of Palma de Mallorca in January 2004 to pick up al-Masri from Macedonian authorities, another prosecutor, August Stern, said.

ARD television said last year investigators were working from passport photocopies made by a hotel where the suspects stayed, but Stern said he could not confirm that or other details.

The Justice Department has declined to provide Munich prosecutors assistance, citing legal proceedings involving al-Masri in the United States.

Al-Masri has asked a federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., to reinstate a lawsuit against the CIA seeking compensation. A judge dismissed the suit last May, ruling that a trial could harm national security by revealing details about CIA activities.

The German government has said it learned of the case only after al-Masri's release. In late 2005, Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said the then-U.S. ambassador to Germany had told his predecessor, Otto Schily, about it May 31, 2004.

Schaeuble said Ambassador Dan Coats provided no details of al-Masri's treatment, but told Schily that ``one had apologized to him (al-Masri) and agreed (on) confidentiality and paid him a sum of money.''

Gnjidic, al-Masri's lawyer, has said his client denies receiving either an apology or money.

Welch: Interference in science "stunning" - Boston.com

Welch: Interference in science "stunning" - Boston.com

January 31, 2007

BURLINGTON, Vt. --U.S. Rep. Peter Welch says it was a "stunning personal experience" to hear federal scientists say they had been stymied from talking about climate change.

"There was a story about a scientist who got authorized to speak at a conference. He was prohibited from using the phrase 'global warming.' He was allowed to say 'global,' and he could say 'warming,' but he couldn't put them next to each other. It became a charade," Welch said.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, on which Welch serves, is holding hearings on the administration's handling of the global warming issue. The panel's chairman, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said the administration appeared to want "to mislead the public by injecting doubt into the science of global warming."

Welch said he had read about scientists being muzzled, but, "It's a stunning personal experience to hear directly from scientists whose life work has been compromised, who live in fear of retaliation or compromised careers if they adhere to their code of ethics as scientists."

The comments came as two advocacy groups -- the Government Accountability Project and the Union of Concerned Scientists -- shared findings with the committee from a survey of about 300 government scientists.

The survey found nearly half the scientists had seen or experienced pressure to delete words like "global warming" from written material. About 40 percent said thad had seen changes to materials that changed their scientific meanings.

The White House maintains it was trying to bring balance to reports on global warming.

U.K. Terror Police Arrest 8 Over Alleged Kidnap Plot

Jan. 31 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. police arrested eight people in anti-terrorist raids on homes in Birmingham, central England, after uncovering a plot to kidnap a Muslim soldier.

Police searched 12 locations in the city, the second largest in the U.K., and sealed buildings including an Islamic bookshop. The alleged plot involved abducting a serving British soldier in his 20s and possibly beheading him, two people with knowledge of the investigation said.

``A major counter-terrorism operation took place today, the home secretary has been fully briefed on the operation and is receiving regular updates as developments occur,'' Home Office spokesman Stuart Green said by telephone of the briefing given to John Reid.

U.K. police have arrested more than 1,000 people under the Terrorism Act 2000 since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S. Since then Prime Minister Tony Blair's decision to take part in U.S.-led military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan has angered some of the country's 2 million Muslims.

Police have carried out several high-profile counter- terrorism operations since the first successful al-Qaeda inspired attack in the country on July 7, 2005. In that attack four British Muslims blew themselves up on London's transport network killing 52 people. Police arrested five men on suspicion of terrorist offenses in raids in the towns of Manchester and Halifax on Jan. 23. The trial of six men accused of trying to launch another attack on London's transport system on July 21, 2005, is currently underway.

Arrest Scenes

``Kidnapping is a fairly common tool in the terrorist arsenal and provides high visibility for extended periods of time,'' said security analyst Bob Ayers, associate fellow of foreign policy think tank Chatham House, a foreign policy institute in London, who spent 30 years in intelligence with the U.S. Army and Defense Intelligence Agency. ``Something happened to cause the police to carry out the raids when they did. Either they were getting ready to launch their plot or the police were about to be compromised.'' Police would probably have had the group under surveillance for some time, he said.

Today's raids were at 12 addresses in the Sparkhill, Washwood Heath, Kingstanding and Edgbaston areas of Birmingham. All are being searched. One raid involved armed police. The city has a 14 percent Muslim population and 11 percent of its residents are of Pakistani descent, according to a 2001 census of the U.K. population.

Terrorism Act

The eight suspects were detained under the Terrorism Act 2000 on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism, West Midlands Police said. The operation was ``nationwide,'' though police gave no details of activity elsewhere.

``I haven't seen any terrorist activity there at all and I'm quite shocked,'' Saqib Hussain, who lives next to the Islamic bookshop that was sealed off, told the British Broadcasting Corporation.

The kidnapping of a soldier would be a new tactic for terrorists in the U.K. In 2004 Ken Bigley, a British civil engineer, was kidnapped and beheaded in Iraq by a group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Zarqawi died in a U.S. air strike in 2006.

The Home Office rates the terrorist threat to the U.K. as ``severe,'' the second highest level, meaning that an attack is highly likely. Elizabeth Manningham-Buller, head of the domestic intelligence agency MI5, said in November that the country may be facing as many as 30 terror plots.

Intelligence Agencies

In August, 2006 intelligence agencies said they foiled an alleged plot to use liquids in carry-on luggage to bomb U.S.- bound flights from the U.K. Seventeen people arrested in raids across the U.K. were charged in connection with the allegations.

Following the July 7, 2005 attacks in London the U.K. government made the integration of the country's Muslims a priority. Sky News said the arrested men were British born of Pakistani origin, while one was Pakistani.

A study published Jan. 29 by the Policy Exchange, a consultant on government policies, said that by emphasizing the differences between Muslims and other Britons the government had actually made tensions ``worse not better.''

The think tank's survey of 1,003 British Muslims showed the interest of young Muslims in religion was more politicized than it had been for their parents. Three quarters of 16- to 24-year- olds questioned said they would prefer Muslim women to wear a veil. Among the 55-year-olds and above, only 28 percent favored it.

The survey showed that younger rather than older Muslims were more likely to prefer living under the Islamic legal framework, or Sharia, and favored Islamic schools over non- religious state schools.

Freudian Slip On 911 x 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA5AmFpQlJA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0v0_HDwg84

NRC: Stopping Aircraft Threat To Nuke Plants Impractical

'Active Protection' From Airborne Attack Military Responsibility
aeronews
Based in part on public comments obtained in November 2005, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday said protecting a nuclear power plant from a 9/11-style attack using an airliner is impractical given the scope of its responsibility.

The announcement came as the agency published the executive summary for a defense plan 15 months in the making. Specific details of the plan are considered secret by the US government, but in its statement the NRC said, "The active protection against airborne threats is addressed by other federal organizations, including the military."

Instead of devising ways to protect plants from attack -- such as the so-called "beamhenge" approach which would surround a vulnerable structure with a lattice-like barrier made from large, steel beams -- the NRC says plant operators should focus on limiting the public's exposure to radioactive material in the event of an attack using protection measures and evacuation plans already in place.

"This rule is an important piece, but only one piece, of a broader effort to enhance nuclear power plant security," said NRC Chairman Dale Klein. "Overall we are taking a multi-faceted approach to security enhancements in this post 9/11 threat environment, and looking at how best to secure existing nuclear power plants and how to incorporate security enhancements into design features of new reactors that may be built in coming years."

Predictably, the NRC is already under fire from critics of the plan, some of whom are saying the agency didn't fully account for the real-world threats of a terrorist attack.

Michele Boyd of Public Citizen's Energy Program, a nuclear industry watchdog group, told Business Week, "Rather than requiring measures to prevent a plane crash from damaging vulnerable parts of a nuclear plant ... the government is relying on post-crash measures and evacuation plans."

Those in favor of more active measures, such as US Senator Barbara Boxer of California, suggest the NRC should put plans in place to "defend against large, attacking forces and commercial aircraft."

The NRC argues it must plan for a "reasonable" response from the civilian security forces in place around most civilian nuclear facilities. As such, its security plan assumes a relatively small, lightly-armed attacking force. But critics say the plan doesn't even account for terrorist use of easily obtained, powerful weapons such as rocket-propelled grenades.

The NRC concluded its statement with, "The NRC remains an active partner with other federal and state/local authorities in constant surveillance of the threat environment and will adjust regulatory actions or requirements if necessary."

UN report confirms climate change is happening now

national post
The United Nations' scientific brain trust is poised to say that climate change, once a theoretical future scare story, is real, urgent and warming our air and water right now.

The update from the International Panel on Climate Change, expected Friday, will say it's practically certain the recent instances of unusually warm weather around the world are not natural glitches, but changes caused by human pollution.

Since the panel's last update (in 2001), science journals have been bursting with new measurements and examples of real warming in many places.

The global temperature has warmed up by an average of 0.6 to 0.7 degrees, says Matthew Bramley, director for climate change of the Pembina Institute, a Canadian climate group.

That's measured from pre-industrial times, but most of the increase has happened in the past few decades, he says.

If the increase reaches two degrees, he warns, that's when major and disruptive changes in weather patterns will likely occur.

''When you say one degree or two degrees (of warmer average temperatures) - it doesn't mean much to many people,'' he says. ''It's important to understand that five degrees (Celsius) was enough to make the difference between our climate today and Ottawa having kilometres-thickness of ice'' during the last Ice Age.

The IPCC's scientists are meeting in Paris this week to negotiate final wording of their new assessment of the ''basic science'' behind Earth's climate. In April, they'll announce what specific effects they foresee.

James Bruce, a veteran climate scientist from Ottawa who has worked in a variety of IPCC positions, said a review of the scientific findings in recent years points to several areas where the update is likely to focus.

The biggest change: The scientists who used mathematical models of what might happen a few years ago are now staring at actual measurements showing global warming that's well underway.

The University of East Anglia in England, a specialized climate studies centre, says the 12 warmest years on record have been in the past 13 years.

It also forecasts that 2007 will be a record-setter, 0.54 degrees above the long-term (1961-1990) average of 14.0 degrees worldwide. The hottest year so far was 1998.

''They've got far more evidence of trends in climactic factors and responses (of air and water) that point to the increasing strength of the warming than they ever did before,'' . Bruce said.

Among the findings:

* The oceans are warming with surprising speed.

The warming so far is just a fraction of a degree, but over the whole Earth this translates into a large amount of stored heat.

* The ''mid-latitudes'' - areas between the Arctic and the tropics, like southern Canada, Europe and the United States - are seeing increased incidents of violent weather, especially heavy rainstorms.

* The Gulf Stream is expected to weaken ''in the next little while.'' ''There is some evidence that it's already weakening a little,'' Bruce said.

For now, the Gulf Stream is what keeps Britain warmer than Labrador. The two are about the same distance north, but a cold Arctic current runs past Labrador while Britain gets warm water.

* There's a shift in where the greatest emissions are coming from. And the big source now lies in making electricity.

* Much of the warming has come near the Poles, raising the prospect of melting ice, which could sharply raise sea levels around the world and flood coastlines.

Media Wants Waco-Style Massacre

American Free Press
The circumstances surrounding the Browns, a New Hampshire couple convicted of federal income tax evasion, could turn on a dime.

Recently AFP interviewed Ed Brown, a Plainfield home owner who grew up in the Roxbury slums of Boston. He and Mrs. Brown, who is a dentist, are self-made people who worked hard for their lot in life, only to see it swept away by a government that takes in gargantuan sums of money via taxes on the domestic populace to pay enormous interest on the national debt (which cannot be repaid), much of which is due to America‚s endless military conflicts.

When AFP contacted Brown recently, he was living everyday life as best he can at the house he built on their 110 acres. His wife, who he said is in a state of arrest wearing an electronic ankle bracelet—is staying with a son in a neighboring state.

“The dental business died a week ago Tuesday,” Brown told AFP. “My wife's a prisoner—like she's a flight risk!”

The two are supposed to be sentenced April 24, having each been convicted Jan. 18 in federal court in Concord for not paying income taxes since 1996. The government claims the Browns owe some $625,000.

“Everybody should say, ‘show me the law and I'll pay the tax,' ” Brown told AFP. That is what he told federal authorities who can't seem to produce a copy of a law requiring payment of the federal income tax.

Filmmaker Aaron Russo's America: From Freedom to Fascism documentary interviews a number of former IRS agents and other authoritative people who say that the powers that be, when asked to provide a copy of the law, such as an enabling statute, that requires U.S. workers to pay federal income tax on their wages, come up empty-handed.

Russo concluded that if the federal income tax applies to anyone or anything, it applies to corporate capital gains, not the incomes of individuals, and that the IRS doesn't even define income.

The proverbial “tax man” came down on the Browns just as they had considered selling their home and acreage so they could live in a warmer climate. Notably, their property is across the road from 500 acres owned by Supreme Court Justice Steven Breyer.

But making the best of the winter weather, individuals and families with children have been over to Brown's place lately for sledding and skating—before and since the tax trouble began. Life still seems more or less normal, though Brown suspects that federal agents may eventually storm the house and arrest him, perhaps after the publicity on his and his wife's plight calms down.

As of Jan. 25, he said the publicity was still significant, with TV news crews continuing to pay attention. He also told AFP that while he has always paid the 54 other kinds of taxes levied on Americans—with property taxes hitting $14,000 a year on their home and $18,000 a year on their office building for the former dental business—he won't budge on the federal income tax.

For one thing, as already noted, no one can produce a copy of the law that requires payment of an unapportioned tax on the labor of Americans. Moreover, there are due-process issues whereby U.S. District Court Judge Steven McAuliffe apparently disallowed the Browns from bringing forth any evidence or witnesses they needed for defending themselves in court. Also, the issue of federal jurisdiction, or the lack thereof, comes into play, Brown pointed out.

Addressing some conventional media reports that characterized his home as a virtual fortress, or “compound” with a “lookout tower,” Brown replied, “It's a deck, for crying out loud—an octagon-shaped compass deck.”

Just below the elevated deck on the large, well-built house—which has solar-power capability and was off the grid from 1990 to 2003—is a reading room.

“We're very mainstream, middle-class people,” said Brown, who noted that media reports suggesting he's “holed up” in his house are off base.

Some areas of the house have been boarded up to keep out blowing snow, so he is not “barricading” himself in the house, he explained.

The Union Leader seems also to have played the “antigovernment” card, even though many American patriots make a careful distinction by saying they are anti-corruption of government, not anti-government.

Notably, the Associated Press article in The Union Leader couldn't resist the highly charged word “compound,” which conceivably could create a bunker mentality in the minds of readers and may quell public outrage if federal agents ever decide to forcibly enter Brown's home to arrest him. As the article claimed:

“A jury decided that the Browns plotted to hide their income and avoid taxes on Elaine Brown's income of $1.9 million between 1996 and 2003. Over 10 years, they also used $215,890 of postal money orders broken into increments just below the reporting threshold to pay for their hilltop compound and for Elaine Brown's dental offices.”

U.S. marshals said on a couple occasions they had no plans to forcibly enter Brown's property and arrest him, though national media sources quoted marshals as saying that they “have to decide how to seize the Browns' assets, possibly including their home.”

Citing a new twist in this case, a recent issue of The Boston Globe noted that federal agents “seized more than 30 weapons from the Brown house in May.”

Brown commented by telling AFP, “They stole $15,000 worth of my guns and turned them over to a gun shop.”

Brown was still at home on Jan. 25, preferring only to comment off the record about the situation.

CNN: Border Patrol to Prison, Drug Dealers Granted Immunity

Dutch Uranium Enricher Under Fire Over "dumping Waste" In Siberia

playfuls.com
The uranium enrichment company Urenco was accused Monday of using Russian facilities to "dump" depleted uranium from its plant at Almelo in the eastern Netherlands following an investigative radio report that highlighted the longstanding practice.

Urenco, jointly owned by Dutch, German and British holding companies, was reported by the programme on public radio to hand over some 3,500 tons of poisonous uranium hexafloride to the Russian authorities every year.

The gaseous compound is held in steel flasks in Novouralsk, Angarsk and Seversk in Siberia.

Diederik Samsom of the Labour Party, which is currently in talks to form a new coalition government, called on the environment secretary of the outgoing government, Pieter van Geel of the Christian Democrats, to provide an explanation.

"From a legal point of view it might well be alright, but politically and morally one raises one's eyebrows," Samson said after the programme was broadcast Monday.

Urenco director Huub Rakhorst rejected the allegations as "exaggerated," saying Urenco scientists had inspected the Russian facilities and that there was no reason for concern.

Urenco conducts first-stage enrichment, transporting some 5,000 tons of depleted uranium to Russia for further processing to increase the proportion of the radioactive U235 isotope.

Urenco takes back the enriched uranium, but up to 70 per cent remains in long-term storage in Russia as depleted uranium.

Greenpeace expressed concern, and physicist Kees Andriesse told the broadcast the practice was nothing more than "dumping waste."

He rejected claims by Rakhorst that the depleted uranium was being stored for use in future "breeder" power plants, saying the theory behind such plants had been known for decades but had been found to be impracticable.

The depleted uranium should be returned to its source in the Netherlands, he said.

"It's a kind of dumping. It now goes to Russia, and we know that it is carelessly treated. You are responsible for your own rubbish; you don't throw it away somewhere else," Andriesse said.

The centrifuge facility at Almelo is where the father of the Pakistani bomb, Abdul Qadeer Khan, illicitly acquired secret information while working there in the mid-1970s.

Bush Sloppy: Russia Has Penetrated Highest Level US Secret Traffic, Says Bush & Israel Creating Event To Start More Wars

voice of the white house
Haifa Street in Baghdad was of course named after a Palestinian town now under Israeli occupation. It used to be a street, actually a neighborhood, where all denominations cohabited.It also had specially designed buildings overlooking the Tigris river, reserved for academics only.

Iraqi academic , from all backgrounds, "ethnic" affiliations, "sects" and "religion" and from different fields of specialization lived in those buildings on Haifa Street, rent free, courtesy of the Iraqi government. This was part of Saddam Hussein's government campaign to promote education and to encourage individuals to strive for a career in academic knowledge and teaching thereafter.

A letter was sent to me via e.mail, a letter of despair and tragedy written by an Iraqi professor who lived on Haifa Street. I am going to translate the whole thing for you.

"My name is Ahmed Kamal Nabil . I am a university professor since 1975. I live on Haifa street. On the 7th of January, I went out to buy some food since we had been without anything to eat since the day of the Eid (30th December). My wife, two daughters and one small grandchild stayed at home.

Since there was no transportation and in view of the military presence surrounding Haifa street, I was unable to regain my apartment fast enough. Moreover, an unusual movement in our neighborhood made me very suspicious . I saw some elements of the Iraqi militias shooting on the door of our building. I immediately informed my family by phone so they may leave promptly. They tried to but the militias refused them exit.

What followed was even more brutal. The upper floors of the building where we lived were totally destroyed and my wife was informing me (on the phone) that she and my daughters were few minutes away from an imminent Death. What could I do?

I begged a neighbor to help us. At first he refused, then he agreed to courageously face the American and Iraqi forces and come to the rescue of my family, thus helping them seek refuge in another building close by which was not targeted.

The following day, at dawn, my family discovered a dead street, in ruins. My wife and my kids left Haifa street with the only luggage they had, the clothes on their bodies. The militias raped our home . They ransacked and looted all of our belongings.

In the space of a few minutes, we lost everything we worked for and owned. My books, my souvenirs, my diplomas, my notes, my research papers and my personal diary. In sum, all of my memory carefully constructed over a span of half a century has gone out. Gone to sleep for ever. Now we are back to zero.

My family is scattered, lodged by different relatives and strangers. Throughout my career , I have never committed one act of hostility vis a vis the Iraqi authorities or the American occupation forces. I filed a complaint but the policeman at the station was unimpressed. He told me that my only crime is that I was living in a street of "terrorists."

If I had chosen to return to Iraq, my country, after studies in Europe, it was with the aim of bringing to my people the knowledge I acquired in the West. I have conducted and supervised dozens of Phd theses and I have taught thousands of students.

What happened to me on the 7th of January is tragic. Is that the destiny of Iraqi intellectuals and researchers? Is that the reward for those who opted for neutrality, independence of thought, spirit and honor? What crime have I committed by not wanting to give in to violence and terror and by insisting on continuing my work - that of teaching in Iraq ? "


Yes Haifa street, the street of academics and the brain drain of the New Iraq. Over 500 university professors have been assassinated since the "liberation." 500 individuals who have spent years studying, researching, teaching, forming, training, disseminating knowledge...

Last week, over 100 students were massacred at the gates of al Mustansiriyah University. It is beyond the shadow of doubt that universities, academics and students are the favored targets in Iraq.

Why is that so, did you ever ask yourself? I think the answer is simple. Universities , academics , students are the last bastion of the spirit of critical thinking. The last line in the Resistance against political manipulation and terror of the new Iraq.

Universities refuse the presence of militias within their walls. Academics are the few who raise their voices denouncing the political madness that is surrounding them. Students are still young free thinkers difficult to ideologically control.
Moreover, academics refuse to be dragged in or sucked in the role of representative or mouth piece for the occupation or for its puppets.

Academics are targeted because people respect and listen to them when they dare speak out. And academics are targeted because the New Iraq has become one big looting field run by mercenaries, thugs, politically corrupt opportunists, sectarian agitators, fanatical dark minds, and barbarians.

And they want it to remain that way. They want to make sure that Iraq will never raise its head again . Hence the "beheading", the brain drain of all intellectuals. In the new Iraq, there is no place for knowledge. Knowledge is their antithesis.

Hundreds of academics escape to other countries or simply change careers. Some have become grocers or taxi drivers as these occupations are less dangerous than being a university professor. Those who have refused either, have been killed or have ended up like our professor above. Destitute, homeless and stripped of everything. This hemorrhage of intellectuals is programmed, it is part of the American reconstruction plan.

In contradiction to what the Americans claim, the reconstruction of Iraq does not take place in big projects but starts with the "grey matter", that stuff between our ears and called our brains. Can anyone conceive of a country without doctors, engineers, scientists.....?

Well Iraq has become such a country. The reconstruction of Iraq american style does not need this grey matter. It can dispose of it, hence it encourages the hemorrhage to continue. To the point that Unesco is thinking of offering 400 bullet proof vests to professors who insist on staying on and teaching plus a direct telephone line for those who feel they are under threat of being killed. Unesco is also envisaging to offer financial help to widows of academics thus encouraging others to not abandon their jobs as lecturers. Something they do, from fear of leaving a family behind in need- should they be targeted and assassinated.

Today, over 50 people have been killed in Haifa street. People are under siege in their apartments, with no food, no water, no electricity and unable to venture out. The occupation forces, the Iraqi "army " and the militias have forbidden the evacuation of the injured or the dead. They are left to die slowly in agony or to rot away on Haifa street. Just like the academics who inhabited its buildings.

Yes this is what has become of Haifa Street, a drained, desolate, burning, bleeding Street...of the New Iraq.

Bill would nip microchips in humans

sitnews.us
DENVER -- For years, people have been implanting tiny microchips under their pet's skin so that if Rover's collar slips off, there's still a way to find him if he wanders away.

Now a state lawmaker has added a twist to that concept with a bill that would make it a misdemeanor for anyone to require two-legged critters to have a microchip implanted under their skin.

Under the bill, employers could not track workers' movements, for example.

Democratic Rep. Mary Hodge said she introduced it as a "proactive measure" at the urging of Adams County's head librarian. He fears that "microchipping" people could become the next Big Brother tactic of a federal government whose use of warrantless telephone eavesdropping and the Patriot Act in the war on terror has alarmed civil libertarians.

The bill is cracking up some Capitol pols.

"Is this a problem? Do we have gangs of post-apocalyptic 'Terminator'-style cyborgs roaming the streets of Colorado implanting citizens with microchips?" wisecracked Rob Fairbank, a former-representative-turned-political-consultant, in an e-mail to statehouse pals.

"One of my legislator friends said, 'If we can't implant microchips on people, how will we know when the black helicopters arrive?' " joked Fairbank, a Littleton Republican.

Michael Sawyer isn't laughing.

He's the library director for the Rangeview Library District in Adams County who urged Hodge to nip the microchipping in the bud.

"I think it's a very scary thing," Sawyer said Wednesday. "I have been very concerned about the direction our government is going. I see the secret courts and I see the Patriot Act and the advocating of putting microchips in people."

Sawyer was referring to Tommy Thompson, the former Wisconsin governor and Bush administration health secretary, who became an advocate of the implants after joining the board of device maker VeriChip Corp.

Supporters like Thompson say implanting the rice-grain-size gadgets in patients could allow doctors to quickly retrieve vital information from someone who has dementia, or is unconscious or unable to speak during medical emergencies.

The tiny glass capsule - called a radio frequency identification device, or RFID - can be injected into the upper arm or hand and sits passively until it's read by a scanner.

The fear is that employers could use the chips to track workers as they pass through security-door scanners - like internal versions of the electronic pass keys many employees use to get around the office.

In fact, the president of Colombia suggested using implants to track migrant workers entering the United States. And a Wisconsin lawmaker unsuccessfully pushed for using them to track sex offenders - or kids "at the direction of their parents," according to a Wisconsin legislative report.

Last May, Wisconsin became the first state to ban forced implantation of the chips on humans, imposing a $10,000 fine for each day of violation. At least 17 other states have introduced or are considering microchip-implant laws.

Lawmaker: Iran installing 3,000 centrifuges - Focus on Iran - MSNBC.com

Lawmaker: Iran installing 3,000 centrifuges - MSNBC.com

Lawmaker: Iran installing 3,000 centrifuges
Move at uranium enrichment plant 'stabilizes Iran's capability' for nukes
The Associated Press
Updated: 1:31 p.m. ET Jan 27, 2007
TEHRAN, Iran - Iran has begun installing 3,000 centrifuges, a top lawmaker said Saturday.

Alaeddin Boroujerdi said the installation of 3,000 centrifuges at an Iranian uranium enrichment plant "stabilizes Iran's capability in the field of nuclear technology," the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

"We are right now installing 3,000 centrifuges," Boroujerdi, the head of the Iranian Parliament's Foreign Policy and National Security Committee, was quoted as saying by IRNA.

Check back for updates on this breaking news story.

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16842959/

U.S. envoy says bags packed after Chavez threat - CNN.com

U.S. envoy says bags packed after Chavez threat - CNN.com

Story Highlights• Hugo Chavez warns U.S. ambassador of "meddling" in Venezuela's affairs

• Envoy tells radio station U.S. telecom investors need fair price in nationalization
• Chavez warns ambassador he may become "persona non grata" in Venezuela
• William Brownfield says he'll focus on improving relations but his bags are packed

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Facing a threat of possible expulsion from Venezuela, U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield said Friday he will concentrate on trying to improve relations, though he said his bags are packed just in case.

President Hugo Chavez warned Thursday that he could expel Brownfield if he keeps "meddling in Venezuela's affairs," saying the diplomat went too far by suggesting investors should receive fair compensation for their stakes in companies that Venezuela plans to nationalize.

"My bags are always packed and ready," Brownfield told reporters, but he added that U.S. diplomats will aim to concentrate more on bilaterial issues "and a little less on our bags and the possibility of our departure."

"I hope we can not only maintain but improve our relationship," Brownfield said during a visit to the western city of Maracaibo.

The United States remains the top buyer of Venezuelan oil despite deep tensions. American companies with shares in the telephone and electrical sectors stand to be affected by Chavez's nationalization drive.

Asked about U.S. policy, Brownfield reiterated that governments have a "sovereign right" to nationalize companies but that they are bound by international obligations to do so "in a transparent and legal way and to offer fair and quick compensation."

Similar remarks by Brownfield triggered Chavez's threat a day earlier. Addressing Brownfield in a speech, Chavez said he could be declared "persona non grata" and have to leave if he keeps "meddling in Venezuela's affairs."

The government plans to nationalize the telecommunications company CA Nacional de Telefonos, or CANTV -- whose largest minority shareholder is New York-based Verizon Communications Inc. -- and Electricidad de Caracas, owned by Arlington, Virginia-based AES Corp.

"Our hope is that any nationalization be a negotiated process that eventually represents the interests of all parties involved," Brownfield said.

Chavez has said he wants an immediate state takeover of CANTV and will not pay shareholders the international market value. He has said the price paid for the telephone company would take into account debts to workers, pensions and other obligations to the state.

U.S. officials have accused Chavez of becoming increasingly authoritarian and of being a destabilizing force. The Venezuelan leader repeatedly has accused Washington of plotted against him.

Chavez has threatened to expel Brownfield before. In April, he accused Brownfield of provoking a confrontation by visiting a poor pro-government area where protesters beat on the ambassador's car, hurled eggs and chased his convoy.

A career diplomat from Texas with a penchant for understatement that at times verges on sarcasm, Brownfield has drawn Chavez's anger not only by raising Washington's concerns but also by handing out donations to youth baseball leagues and charities in pro-Chavez slums.

Brownfield said Friday that he hopes to continue a process of building dialogue because "I think normalizing the bilateral relation a little bit is just as much in Venezuela's interest as it is for the United States."

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/01/26/chavez.us.ap/index.html