Breaking News Volume 14 Options

[theglobalchinese]

EU leaders urged to continue with constitution ITV.com
German and French leaders have emerged from crisis talks pledging to press ahead with the beleaguered EU constitution despite its rejection by Dutch and French voters.
Schroeder, Chirac want EU charter process to go on ABC News
Chirac, Schroeder huddle over EU CNN International
Reuters - Ireland Online - Zaman Online - Aljazeera.net - all 178 related »

[theglobalchinese]

Criminal probe into fatal tunnel fire CNN International
An Alpine tunnel linking France and Italy will remain closed indefinitely as a criminal probe begins into a truck fire that killed two people, French officials said Sunday.
Alpine tunnel remains shut News24
Fire in French tunnel kills at least two National Post
ABC Online - Forbes - FOX News - Boston Globe - all 241 related »

[theglobalchinese]

Help Africa, Brown tells oil-rich BBC News
Oil producing nations should use their wealth to help Africa, Chancellor Gordon Brown has urged. The oil producers had done well out of a recent rise in oil prices, he told GMTV's Sunday programme.
Blair and Bush Set for Key Aid Talks Scotsman
British Treasury chief urges oil producers to help poor nations CJAD
Reuters - This is London - Guardian Unlimited - Voice of America - all 190 related »

[theglobalchinese]

Pak asks for ‘trilateral’ talks International Herald Tribune
New Delhi: Pakistan on Saturday made a strong pitch to involve the Kashmiris in a "trilateral" dialogue with India. Pakistan foreign minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri told this newspaper from Islamabad that told this newspaper from Islamabad that the visit of the Kashmiri leaders was an extremely important step, and that it was imperative for them to be involved in the talks for a just and acceptable solution to the Kashmir issue. He said, "We want both governments to agree to a trilateral dialogue, but as India is hesitant and still not prepared for that, as an interim measure let the Kashmiris talk to both Islamabad and New Delhi in turn." Mr Kasuri said that the last was not the ideal option as his government's first preference was for a trilateral dialogue, but it was necessary to ensure that the Kashmiris were now included in the peace process so that "they can start discussing their future and help find a solution acceptable to all".
EDITORIAL: APHC visit and the normalisation process Daily Times
BJP asks Centre to make position clear on Musharraf's remarks Outlook (subscription)
Voice of America - Reuters - Scotsman - Hindu - all 272 related »

[theglobalchinese]

Pak, Indian oil ministers discuss Iran gasline Islamic Republic News Agency
The Indian Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Mani Shankar Aiyar and Pakistan's Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Amanullah Khan Jadoon discussed here on Sunday the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project.
Energy will spur India-Pakistan trade, says Aiyar Daily Times
India-Pakistan begin gas talks BBC News
National Post - Pakistan Link - Bloomberg - Hindustan Times - all 168 related »

[theglobalchinese]

China flooding death toll tops 200:- Webindia123
Flooding from a week of torrential rains in China has killed more than 200 people in three southwestern provinces destroying 140,000 homes.
75 Dead, 46 Missing in China Flash Floods ABC News
More than 200 people killed in summer rains, floods in China Forbes
USA Today - International Herald Tribune - Xinhua - China Daily - all 174 related »

[theglobalchinese]

Secretary Refuses to Burn Papers of Pope John Paul II BosNewsLife
Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz told Polish radio "that such a great treasure should be preserved for posterity." He said that "everything will be examined carefully" and gradually be made available to the public.
Pope's secretary keeps letters Washington Times
Aide protects Pope's papers Ottawa Sun
Reuters - U.TV - Dallas Morning News (subscription) - BBC News - all 342 related »

[theglobalchinese]

India to help Sri Lanka with aid Radio Australia
Sri Lanka's hopes of reviving peace talks with Tamil rebels have been raised after India gave its backing to a controversial aid-sharing deal with the guerrillas.
Sri Lankan team to discuss air defence with India:- Webindia123
India raises hopes for revival of peace talks in Sri Lanka Outlook (subscription)
Xinhua - CRI - People's Daily Online - Hindu - all 64 related »

[theglobalchinese]

EC's Almunia rallies to defense of embattled euro International Herald Tribune
The European commissioner for economic affairs, Spain's Joaquín Almunia, on Friday brushed aside doomsday scenarios that the rejection by French and Dutch voters of the European Constitution could herald the demise of the euro, as an Italian minister suggested Italy should abandon the single currency. "The euro forms part of our landscape," Almunia said in an interview with Spanish radio station Cadena Ser. "I believe that no one is going to be able to wipe out an achievement that cost us so much to obtain and which is affording us many advantages." In an interview published Friday in Italian daily La Repubblica, Italian Welfare Minister Roberto Maroni said he was in favor of Italy dropping the euro and reintroducing the lira. The euro dipped against the dollar following his comments to 1.2220, but later recovered some ground to stand just above eight-month lows against the US currency in the wake of the "No" votes in France and Holland. Referring to the recent depreciation of the single European currency, Almunia said: "The euro is a currency with a great deal of respect in the international markets; it is a currency that up until only a few days ago had raised complaints that it was far too strong with respect to the dollar." However, Maroni, who is a member of the euro-skeptical, nationalist Northern League political group, accused European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet of being one of the main architects of what he described as the "disaster of the euro." He said the single currency had been unable to address the economic slowdown in Europe and a loss of competitiveness.
Euro Falls on Talk of Its Demise Washington Post
Italian minister raises questions over membership of eurozone Financial Times
Forbes - Taipei Times - BusinessWeek - Reuters - all 198 related »

This post has been edited by theglobalchinese: Jun 5 2005, 01:37 PM

[theglobalchinese]

2 Detained in Aruba in Missing Teen Case ABC News
Police in Aruba Detain Two Suspects in Ala. Teen's Disappearance; Bloody Mattress Found on Beach. An Aruban police officer, right, arrests a suspect in connection with the disappearance of Alabama teenager, who went missing nearly a week ago while on a high school graduation trip, the attorney general said. Caren Janssen called the men "suspects" in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, 18, but declined to provide further details. The men, who were not among the three described Saturday by police as "persons of interest," were being interrogated Sunday morning. Investigators also seized three cars and were conducting forensic tests on them, Janssen said.
Aruba Police Find Blood-Soaked Mattress NBC Sandiego.com
Two Men Held in Hunt for Missing Girl Scotland on Sunday
WKYC-TV - WXXA - Blogger News Network - Webindia123 - all 1,327 related »

[theglobalchinese]

Marines Unearth Huge Underground Bunker Scotsman
A massive underground used by insurgents in Iraq has been uncovered by US marines, it was revealed today. The bunker, cut from a rock quarry in Karmah, 50 miles west of Baghdad, was 170 yards wide and 275 yards long.
Saddam Hussein to face 12 charges in trial Monsters and Critics.com
Iraq Prosecutors Narrow Case vs. Saddam Guardian Unlimited
CRI - Watchman Herald - Xinhua - BBC News - all 312 related »

[theglobalchinese]

Terror Suspects Kill Afghan Electioneer ABC News
Afghan horsemen wind their way over a mountain path on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, June 5, 2005. BY DANIEL COONEY Associated Press Writer.
Afghans say arrest Taliban commander Reuters
Taliban commanders arrested in Afghanistan Aljazeera.com
CRI - NDTV.com - Xinhua - 940 News - all 30 related »

[theglobalchinese]

Jon Friedman's Media Web Why Deep Throat is the perfect story MarketWatch
The unexpected disclosure of Deep Throat was the perfect story for our times. The bombshell dripped with two essential elements that mark a great piece of journalism: contradictions and a conclusion. The story also presented an ample supply of drama, surprise, controversy, irony, money, history, nostalgia, idealism, scandal and an underdog triumphing over the system. And we even have (I think) a happy ending, to top it all off. As Carl Bernstein, who co-wrote the most important Watergate stories, said on CNN's "Larry King Live" on Thursday night: "The country was served because here was a man who told the truth while the President of the United States and the Justice Department and the apparatus of the government was engaged in massive corruption, and would not tell the truth about the most serious constitutional crimes in our history."
'Deep Throat' is out in the open, and so is the sourcing debate USA Today
The Source Of Whose Troubles? Washington Post
Tampa Tribune - San Antonio Express (subscription) - Town Hall - Opinion Editorials - all 454 related »

[theglobalchinese]

Hezbollah and ally claim victory CNN International
Hezbollah and its pro-Syrian ally Amal have claimed overwhelming victories in phase two of Lebanon's parliamentary elections. The two parties, Syria's most powerful allies in Lebanon, say they have won all 23 seats in the southern areas bordering Israel. In the predominantly Shiite region, many see the vote as a referendum on Hezbollah and its weapons, and a mandate for anti-Israeli militias to keep their weapons. Hezbollah, which the United States calls a terrorist organization, says it maintains its weapons as a deterrent against Israel. Official results from Sunday's vote are expected later on Monday.
Hezbollah Dominates Election in S. Lebanon Washington Post
Hezbollah claims voting sweep Washington Times
New York Times - ABC News - Christian Science Monitor - Reuters - all 512 related »

[theglobalchinese]

Saddam will be tried on 12 charges Washington Times
Saddam Hussein will face trial on 12 charges of crimes against humanity, a spokesman for the Iraqi prime minister said yesterday as the government acknowledged that its forces might have targeted innocent Sunni Muslims in its latest counterinsurgency drive. Authorities in the northern city of Mosul announced the arrest of another leader of the al Qaeda in Iraq terrorist organization and its Ansar al-Sunnah affiliate, the second in seven days. Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, interviewed by CNN during a visit to Washington, said Saddam's trial should begin within two months and would have a positive "impact on the security situation" in Iraq.
Saddam to Face a Dozen Charges in 'Two Months' National Ledger
Iraqi men seek swift trial for Saddam Independent Online
Washington Post - Guardian Unlimited - San Jose Mercury News - International Herald Tribune - all 579 related »

[theglobalchinese]

US, Venezuela clash at OAS meeting Xinhua
The US' call to support what they called "fragile" democracies in the West was immediately met by Venezuelan accusation of seeking to impose what they called a "global dictatorship.". The United States hopes to use a three-day meeting of the 34-member Organization of American States to advance its idea of allowing private groups to help monitor democracy by raising their concerns with the OAS. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters that it's very clear that the institution needs to be better capable of dealing with fragile democracies. She did not directly mention Venezuela, but Washington and other critics of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez did say that although twice elected, the Venezuelan President is showing authoritarian tendencies in office. On his weekly "Hello President" TV and radio show, Chavez said the US is going to try to monitor the Venezuelan government through the OAS.
Rice called on to protect democracy in Venezuela Pravda
Bush to signal reengagement with Latin neighbors Palm Beach Post
CNN - New York Times - Hardbeatnews.com - Miami Herald - all 143 related »

[theglobalchinese]

Rights group leader says US has secret jails CNN
The chief of Amnesty International USA alleged Sunday that the Guantanamo Bay detention camp is part of a worldwide network of US jails, some of them secret, where prisoners are mistreated and even killed. William Schulz, executive director of Amnesty's Washington-based branch, speaking on "Fox News Sunday," defended the human rights group's recent criticism of U.S. treatment of detainees at the naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. "The U.S. is maintaining an archipelago of prisons around the world, many of them secret prisons, into which people are being literally disappeared, held in indefinite, incommunicado detention without access to lawyers or a judicial system or to their families," Schulz said. "And in some cases, at least, we know they are being mistreated, abused, tortured and even killed." Schulz's comments were the latest in a volley of incriminations and denials between Amnesty and the White House. London, England-based Amnesty International's report, released May 25, cited "growing evidence of U.S. war crimes" and labeled the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay as "the gulag of our times." (Full story) U.S. officials responded with outrage. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld rebuffed such a comparison, saying a gulag was where the Soviets "kept millions in forced labor concentration camps." (Full story) President Bush said the comparison was "absurd" and Vice President Dick Cheney said he was offended by Amnesty's assertions. (Full story) Schulz also answered questions about previous remarks in which he labeled Rumsfeld and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as "alleged high-level architects of torture." "Any nation that is party to the Geneva Conventions ... is obligated under international law to investigate those who are alleged to be involved with the formulation of a policy of torture or with its carrying out," Schulz said. He went on: "The United States should be the one that should investigate those who are alleged at least to be architects of torture, not just the foot solders who may have inflicted the torture directly, but those who authorized it or encouraged it or provided rationales for it."
Senators weigh in
A high-ranking Republican senator said Sunday that hearings on abuse allegations at Guantanamo Bay might be appropriate, and a top Democratic senator suggested closing down the prison. "Look, it's very difficult to run a perfect prison," Majority Whip Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said on CNN's "Late Edition." "But we have an open country. We have hearings on a whole lot of different subjects. We might well have hearings on this." Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he thinks the Guantanamo Bay prison imperils the nation and should cease operating. "This has become the greatest propaganda tool that exists for recruiting of terrorists around the world, and it is unnecessary to be in that position," Biden said on ABC's "This Week." He called for an independent commission to review operations at Guantanamo and other U.S. military-run prisons and make recommendations to Congress. "But the end result is, I think we should end up shutting it down," Biden said. McConnell, the Senate's No. 2 Republican, objected to some of the language used by critics of the prison -- particularly Amnesty's gulag comparison. "There is no country in the world that has stood for human rights more than the United States," McConnell said. "Does that mean that a given soldier in a given situation may have made mistakes? I think some were made at Abu Ghraib, maybe some were made in Guantanamo. Our people are not perfect." Other human rights groups have criticized activities at Guantanamo Bay, a station the United States has leased from Cuba since 1903. In a 2004 report, the Red Cross called the psychological and physical coercion used at Guantanamo Bay "tantamount to torture." Human Rights Watch said U.S. interrogators had inflicted religious humiliation on Muslim detainees, a violation of the Geneva Conventions. The U.S. military issued a report Friday that detailed four incidents where camp personnel mishandled the Quran at Guantanamo Bay, which holds about 540 detainees. (Full story) The report concluded that inmates -- not U.S. military personnel as previous reports claimed -- tried to flush the book down a toilet. The report was issued by Brig. Gen. Jay Hood, commander of the detention center. The incidents included guards kicking a detainee's Quran; a guard stepping on a detainee's Quran; a guard's urine going through an air vent and splashing a detainee and his holy book; and a guard water balloon fight causing two detainees' Qurans to get wet. In a fifth confirmed incident, it could not be determined whether a guard or a detainee wrote a two-word obscenity in a detainee's Quran. White House press secretary Scott McClellan insisted Saturday the incidents were "isolated" and did not reflect the behavior of the majority of soldiers. The investigation was prompted by a Newsweek article citing unnamed sources who claimed U.S. personnel had flushed a Quran down a toilet in an attempt at intimidation. Newsweek later retracted the story. (Full story)
US 'running archipelago of prisons' Gulf Daily News
Amnesty concedes no hard evidence Washington Times
Houston Chronicle - National Ledger - CBS News - WHO-TV - all 105 related »

[theglobalchinese]

Nepal bus mine disaster kills 35 CNN
At least 37 people have been killed and dozens more wounded when a crowded bus detonated a land mine planted by suspected communist rebels in Nepal's south, an army official said. The bus, which was packed with passengers, was ripped apart as it was traveling on a rural highway near the village of Badarmude, an army official said on condition of anonymity. Army officials are not allowed to reveal their names in Nepal for security reasons. Seventy two were wounded, some of them critically, the official said, adding that everyone on the bus was either killed or hurt in the explosion. Badarmude, in Chitwan district, is about 180 kilometers (112 miles) southwest of the Nepalese capital Kathmandu.
Nepal landmine blast kills 25 ITV.com
Nepal bus hits landmine, dozens killed CBC Montreal
Ireland Online - Reuters.uk - CRI - Webindia123 - all 125 related »

[Snuffysmith]

__________________________________
NEWS ALERT
from The Wall Street Journal


June 6, 2005

The Supreme Court ruled federal authorities may prosecute people
who smoke pot on doctors' orders, in a stinging defeat for marijuana advocates who had successfully pushed 10 states to allow the drug's use to treat
various illnesses.

For more information, see:
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1118067...3351733,00.html

[Snuffysmith]

__________________________________
NEWS ALERT
from The Wall Street Journal

June 6, 2005

An executive at Berkshire Hathaway's General Re unit has pleaded guilty to helping American International Group mislead shareholders and auditors with a transaction that boosted AIG's reserves by $500 million. John Houldsworth said he will cooperate with an investigation into non-traditional insurance products, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

http://wsj.com