More forced out as Danube floods BBC News
Hundreds more people in Romania have been forced out of their homes after the swollen Danube river again burst its banks at several spots. Overnight, 580 people fled the town of Ostrov in the south-east, and 1,000 people are preparing to leave the towns of Dabuleni and Corabia in the south. Thousands of people already evacuated are spending their fourth day in tents. Heavy rains and melting snow have fed into the Danube. It has carried twice its normal volume for more than a week. Ukraine and Bulgaria, and earlier Serbia, Hungary and Austria have also suffered some of the worst flooding in memory. Click here for map of affected region The Romanian government reported on Thursday that 16,000 people had been evacuated since the floods hit in early April, and 148 communities had been affected.

Army tents are now home for this mother and baby in Chiselet
Hundreds of homes have been destroyed and more than 500km (300 miles) of roads have suffered flood damage. President Traian Basescu visited the southern town of Calarasi, where 3,000 people are reported to be living in army tents. "We thank God because we were able to flee... we could have died in the waters," said Ioana Vasile, 57, according to the Associated Press news agency. "I hope we get some toilets soon because I have to go in the fields and I'm scared of snakes." In Spantov, south-east of the capital Bucharest, sheep and donkeys are mingling with adults and crying children in tent camps, reports AP. And Chiselet, a town also in the south which once housed 3,400 people, now lies in ruins.

Watching the water
Residents in other towns were watching anxiously as the river continued to rise.

Goats and sheep have also fallen prey to the floods
"I've never seen anything like this in my life," Alexandru Tiganila, 47, told AP in the village of Manastire. "If it floods, hundreds of houses will be under water here." In the eastern town of Galati, the river was at a new record level of more than 6.5m (22 ft). Romania's interior ministry says nearly 4,000 police, soldiers, emergency workers and other staff have been deployed to assist the rescue effort, and that measures were being taken to stop disease spreading. The prime minister has blamed the flooding on the country's system of dykes (artificially constructed embankments), built in the 1960s and 70s under communism in order to reclaim land for agriculture.
About 130,000 hectares (321,237 acres) of farmland and pastures are said to be submerged.

China's Hu urges more Africa ties BBC News
Chinese President Hu Jintao has called for greater co-operation between China and Africa, during a speech to the Nigerian National Assembly. President Hu is now en route to Kenya, as part of a week-long tour of Africa - his second in three years. On Wednesday, China secured four oil drilling licences from Nigeria in a deal involving $4bn in investment. Nigeria, sub-Saharan Africa's top oil exporter, has long been viewed by China as a partner. Addressing a joint session of the National Assembly in Abuja, President Hu said it was time for a new strategic partnership between China and Africa. "Africa has rich resources and market potentials, whereas China has available effective practices and practical know-how it has gained in the course of modernisation," Mr Hu said. "China's development will not pose a threat to anyone. On the contrary, it will bring more development opportunities to the world," the Chinese president added. Nigerian parliamentarians gave the Chinese president a standing ovation at the end of his speech. The BBC's Alex Last in Abuja says the state visit is being seen as a success for both countries. It is a rare honour in Nigeria for a foreign dignitary to address a joint session of the National Assembly, and this indicates how Nigeria values its relationship with one of the world's fastest growing economies, our correspondent adds.

Deal
The deal signed on Wednesday is one of seven co-operation agreements signed by Nigeria and China during the president's visit. China will buy a controlling stake in Nigeria's 110,000 barrel-a-day Kaduna oil refinery and build a railway system and power stations. The African nation will offer first right of refusal to China National Petroleum for a quartet of exploration blocks during a licensing round due to be held in Nigeria on 19 May. The blocks comprise two areas in the oil-producing Niger Delta - one onshore and one in shallow water - and two areas in the higher-risk inland Chad basin, where no oil is produced at present. Last week Chinese state oil firm CNOOC said it had completed a $2.3bn deal to buy a stake in a Nigerian oil field. Several Chinese companies have already constructed factories in Nigeria and more are planned for a free trade zone in the south-east of the country. President Hu, who previously visited Nigeria in 2004, started his African trip in Morocco where he signed a number of trade deals with King Mohammed VI. The visit comes in the wake of a series of others to Africa by Chinese ministers and officials.

Prosecutors seek Hyundai arrest BBC News
South Korean prosecutors have asked for an arrest warrant for Chung Mong-koo, head of the Hyundai motor group, on embezzlement charges. He is at the centre of allegations of illegal political lobbying. The car giant is suspected of creating a slush fund to pay politicians and officials for business favours. Prosecutors said they also planned to indict his son, Chung Eui-sun, president of Hyundai subsidiary Kia Motors, although without detaining him. The Hyundai group has been under investigation since March, over suspicion that it sought to buy political favours by channelling cash through third parties to figures in the government. Prosecutors have already raided the offices of Hyundai Automotive Group - South Korea's top carmaker - and three affiliate companies, and questioned key officials about the scandal. Two lobbyists have also been arrested on suspicion of receiving money from the company, although it is unclear whether they actually sought to pay government officials.

Multi-million slush fund
In an act of public penance and to restore confidence in the firm's activities, Mr Chung and his son have already apologised to the South Korean people over the scandal, and promised to donate their 60% stake in an affiliate company, Glovis, to charity. But it appears that more may be required. The request for an arrest warrant came just days after Mr Chung spent about 15 hours being questioned at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seoul. Senior prosecutor Chae Dong-Wook is quoted as telling a press briefing on Thursday that Mr Chung was wanted on charges "of raising some 100 billion won ($106m) in slush funds and embezzling it". Shares in Hyundai plunged 3% on the news that prosecutors were seeking Mr Chung's arrest, according the French news agency AFP. Hyundai spokesman Jake Jang admitted that news of the warrant was "shocking". "Hyundai executives are all in a panic. The absence of Chairman Chung is enormous, and its ramifications are beyond description," he told the Associated Press.

Third man jailed for US nun death BBC News
A Brazilian court has sentenced a third man to a jail term for his part in the murder of a Catholic nun and peasants' rights activist, Dorothy Stang. Amair Feijoli da Cunha, 38, acted as an intermediary between local ranchers and two men hired to kill the US-born nun. Ms Stang's relatives welcomed the 18-year sentence but called for the two ranchers suspected of ordering the murder in the Amazon to go on trial. Ms Stang campaigned against ranchers and big logging companies. The 73-year-old from Dayton, Ohio, had spent the last 30 years of her life in the Amazon. She was found on a muddy track in the rainforest, shot six times, in February 2005. The death followed a long-running dispute with ranchers over a patch of forest which they wanted to clear for pasture land, and Ms Stang wanted declared a sustainable development reserve. Rayfran das Neves Sales has already been sentenced to 27 years in jail for shooting the nun. An accomplice, Clodoaldo Carlos Batista, was given 17 years in prison.

Courtroom allegations
During the day-long trial, Feijoli testified he offered money to the two convicted men to shoot the nun on the orders of two ranchers, Vitalmiro Moura and Regivaldo Galvao. Both have been charged with involvement in the killing, but have yet to face trial. They deny the charges. The jury rejected claims by the defence that Feijoli had been forced to hire the gunmen after the ranchers threatened his life. Feijoli testified that:

• Mr Galvao told him: "Until we put an end to this woman, we won't have peace on these lands"
• Mr Galvao told him to offer $24,000 (£13,500) to kill Stang
• Mr Moura supplied the .38 calibre revolver used in the killing

"We're very proud of the jury, and with the judgement," said David Stang, the murdered nun's brother, who travelled from Colorado Springs to attend. "But the most important is yet to come. The process against those who ordered this must be speeded up," he said, according to Globo Online. More than 750 land activists are thought to have been killed in the Amazonian state of Para in the last three decades, but only nine killers have been convicted. Convictions for those who orchestrate such killings are even rarer. This is often blamed on corrupt links between the region's landowners and loggers on one hand, and police and politicians on the other.

Judge's own Da Vinci code cracked BBC News
A code hidden by a judge in his written judgement in the failed Da Vinci Code plagiarism case has been broken. Mr Justice Peter Smith has explained how to crack the code in his 71-page ruling after two newspapers claimed to have solved it. The message read: "Smithy Code Jackie Fisher who are you Dreadnought." The judge admires Admiral Jackie Fisher, who developed battleship HMS Dreadnought, which launched in February 1906, 100 years before the case began. In a statement, Mr Justice Smith said: "The message reveals a significant, but now overlooked event that occurred virtually 100 years to the day of the start of the trial." "I hate crosswords and do not do Sudoku as I do not have the patience," he said. He added that the preparation of the code took 40 minutes, with its insertion in the text taking the same length of time. Mr Justice Smith said a typographical error had been added deliberately to "create further confusion".

Ancient sequence
The Da Vinci Code, which has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide, features a number of codes the heroes of the book must crack to solve the mystery. Mr Justice Smith had earlier said he intended it as "a matter of fun". His entry in Who's Who lists him as a fan of Fisher, who is credited with modernising the British navy. The judge had told The Guardian and The Times that the code was based on the ancient Fibonacci number sequence, which is used by the heroes in Brown's novel. In March, Mr Justice Smith presided over a High Court case brought by authors Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, who claimed Dan Brown plagiarised their own historical book, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail. But Mr Justice Smith ruled Mr Brown did not substantially copy Mr Baigent and Mr Leigh's work, saying it did not have a central theme in the way its authors suggested. A film version of the novel, starring Tom Hanks as historian Robert Langdon, is released on 19 May.

West Vows to Introduce Iran Resolution Washington Post
Western nations promised Friday to introduce a new Security Council resolution next week to demand Iran abandon uranium enrichment after a new report said Tehran had ignored calls to clear up suspicions that it wants a nuclear weapon. China, which wields a veto in the council, said it would oppose tough action in the powerful U.N. body. "All we want is to work for a diplomatic solution because this region is already complicated, there are a lot of problems in the region, and we should not do anything that would cause the situation (to be) more complicated," China's Ambassador Wang Guangya. Russia also was likely to resist. Council members said they would act urgently after the latest report from the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, even as Iran remains defiant. "We are concerned about the continued work that Iran is doing to acquire nuclear weapons capability," U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said. "We do think there's a sense of urgency here and we hope that we can get council action just as soon as possible." Britain, France and Germany, which had led efforts for those earlier demands, will introduce a new resolution next week with the intention of discussing it Wednesday, Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones-Parry said. Last month, the council had urged Iran to stop enriching uranium and asked the IAEA, to report back on Tehran's compliance in 30 days. The agency released findings earlier Friday that said Iran had ignored those demands. The West wants the new resolution to fall under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which would require all member states, including Iran, to comply. If Iran did not, the council could then impose sanctions or even threaten military force _ though ambassadors say they want a diplomatic solution. "If Iran was prepared to comply fully with the wishes of the international community, then the next stage of the activity will not follow," Jones-Parry said. "We would get back into negotiations, which would be our preferred solution." Iran gave no indication it was willing to heed the council. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said no Security Council resolution could make Iran give up its nuclear program. "The Iranian nation won't give a damn about such useless resolutions," Ahmadinejad told thousands of people Friday in northwestern Iran before the IAEA report was issued. "Today, they want to force us to give up our way through threats and sanctions but those who resort to language of coercion should know that nuclear energy is a national demand and by the grace of God, today Iran is a nuclear country," state-run television quoted him as saying.

Western nations will also have to overcome opposition from China and Russia, which are extremely wary of tough council action. Intense opposition by those two nations during the council's last round of negotiations over Iran more than a month ago resulted in a statement that was far more watered down than the west wanted. After reading the latest report, Wang made clear that Beijing was opposed to a new Security Council resolution that could lead to sanctions or other strong action. Russia and China want the IAEA to play the main role and have the council stay in the background. The two fear that a tough resolution would push the council into the forefront and lead to more resolutions. "All we want is to work for a diplomatic solution because this region is already complicated, there are a lot of problems in the region, and we should not do anything that would cause the situation (to be) more complicated," Wang said. Bolton, on the other hand, underscored that the United States was increasingly concerned about what he said was Iran's "extensive program" to develop long-range ballistic missiles, particularly because of its status as "the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism." He repeated earlier U.S. suggestions that Washington might go outside the Security Council to pressure Iran. The United States has previously mentioned bringing together a coalition of allies that could impose sanctions bilaterally. "There are a variety of other things that could be undertaken within or without the Security Council," he said.
By NICK WADHAMS. UNITED NATIONS
IAEA: Iran Defying UN Demands Voice of America
Iran Says It Will Ignore International Warnings on Nukes CNSNews.com
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New Orleans hosts jazz festival BBC News
Fats Domino and Bob Dylan are to perform at the first New Orleans Jazz Festival since Hurricane Katrina, which gets under way this weekend. Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello will also appear at the event, which is being held in the city over this weekend and next. A festival spokesman said it was "an important time to support New Orleans". Domino sparked a search when he evacuated his home after the hurricane hit last August, killing 1,300 people. The singer and pianist was missing for four days before his daughter spotted him in a photo of people being rescued. The annual festival traditionally draws around 400,000 people and boosts the city's economy by up to $300m (£165m) dollars.

Mixed bill
The festival spokesman said: "It is an economic engine, it's an emotional engine and it is a celebration of the culture we are." Fans will be able to join the festival over the internet on both Sundays with live coverage of the 10 stages. Herbie Hancock is among the other stars playing in the opening weekend, with Paul Simon, Domino and Lionel Richie performing next weekend. Other acts lined up include veteran rapper Big Daddy Kane and country star Keith Urban.

Big holes in net's heart revealed BBC News
Simple attacks could let malicious hackers take over more than one-third of the net's sites, reveals research. The finding was uncovered by researchers who analysed how the net's addressing system works. They also found that if the simple attacks were combined with so-called denial-of-service attacks, 85% of the net becomes vulnerable to take-over. The researchers recommended big changes to the net's addressing system to tackle the vulnerability at its heart.

Site seizing
When you visit a website, such as news.bbc.co.uk, your computer often asks one of the net's address books, or domain name servers, for information about where that site resides. But the number of computers that have to be consulted to find the computers where that site is located often makes sites vulnerable to attack by vandals and criminals, found Assistant Professor Emin Gun Sirer and Venugopalan Ramasubramanian from the Department of Computer Science at Cornell University. Professor Sirer told the BBC News website that, on average, 46 computers holding different information about the components of net addresses are consulted to find out where each dotcom site is actually hosted. But, he said, this chain of dependencies between the computers that look after the different parts of net addresses creates all kinds of vulnerabilities that clever hackers could easily exploit. "The growth of the internet has caused these dependencies to emerge," said Professor Sirer. "Instead of having to compromise one you can compromise any one of the three dozen." All the information gathered and analysed by the researchers has to be publicly available to keep the net's addressing system working. The research analysed information about almost 600,000 computers. The research also revealed that 17% of the servers that host the net's address books are vulnerable to attack via widely known exploits. "Because of these dependencies about one-third of the net's names are trivially compromisable by script kiddies," he said. One site vulnerable in this way was run by the FBI, said Professor. Sirer. Although the five computers that act as the first reference point for the fbi.gov domain were secure, one of the five that connect to these has yet to install a patch for a well-known bug. That computer was fixed after the Cornell team reported its findings to the FBI, but hundreds of thousands of sites suffer from similar problems. The most vulnerable net domain found by the survey was that of the Roman Catholic Church in the Ukraine. Criminals such as phishing gangs would be interested in re-directing traffic from well-known sites so they can grab key login and personal details that would help them de-fraud web users. If attacks via known exploits were combined with other attacks, said Professor Sirer, malicious hackers could open up enormous amounts of the net to attack. For instance, he said, hackers could use denial-of-service attacks to overwhelm the net address books that are secure. This could leave users' computers with no choice but to look up website names via compromised servers. By combining well-known attacks and denial-of-service attacks, 85% of the net's domains become vulnerable to take over, revealed the analysis. He said: "They could already be doing it and we would hardly ever know." The research had exposed a big problem that net administrators need to tackle, said Professor Sirer. Thought should be given to using a secure version of the system used to pass around information about net addresses. "The domain name system has been incredibly successful so far but it is showing its age," he said. "We need to re-think the entire naming infrastructure of the internet." The hierarchical structure of the net's address books could be replaced with a more resilient system, he said, that uses a peer-to-peer type structure that would be harder to compromise.
By Mark Ward, Technology Correspondent, BBC News website

Spacecraft seek climate clarity BBC News
Some of the gaping holes that exist in our understanding of the Earth's atmosphere will be answered by two new satellites launched on Friday. The Cloudsat and Calipso missions will study how clouds and aerosols (fine particles) form, evolve and affect our climate, the weather and air quality. Scientists say knowledge gaps in such areas severely hamper their ability to forecast future climate change. Different types of cloud, for example, can help cool or warm the planet. "We will be making the key observations that address this problem," said Dr Graeme Stephens, the Cloudsat principal investigator from Colorado State University, US. The US space agency (Nasa) satellites were launched from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 1002 GMT, after a week of delays due to technical problems and unfavourable wind conditions. They have been put in a 705km (438 miles) circular, sun-synchronous polar orbit, where they will fly in formation just 15 seconds apart. The spacecraft are part of an Earth-observation constellation Nasa calls the "A-Train". Click here to see the A-Train constellation The Cloudsat spacecraft carries an extremely sensitive radar. It sends short pulses of microwave energy down into the atmosphere, and by recording the way these pulses are scattered back to the satellite obtains a picture of the structure and water content of clouds. "The strength of the return from the radar is actually directly related to the amount of water that's in clouds. Effectively, it allows us to weigh the clouds," explained Dr Stephens. "The time delay of the pulses means we can look at different levels and that gives us the profile of clouds."

Many sources
Calipso stands for Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite. It uses lidar, which fires pulses of shorter wave energy - in the infrared and visible part of the spectrum - down into the atmosphere to obtain a different, but complementary, set of data from Cloudsat's. In particular, Calipso is concerned with aerosols. These very fine particles are thrown up into the atmosphere by natural processes, such as volcanic eruptions, dust and sand storms, and even sea spray. Human activities, also, produce aerosols: through burning of forests; and industrial and vehicle emissions.

Cloudsat can weigh clouds
Aerosols take very complex forms, and contain a range of chemical compounds. They can be solid or liquid, or even solid material inside a drop of liquid. And their longevity is highly varied, with some aerosols lasting a few days and others hanging in the air for months. "The bottom line here is that to measure aerosols is very difficult; you need a variety of instruments," explains Dr Charles Trepte, Calipso project scientist from the US space agency's Langley Research Center. "Nasa and other agencies have been making measurements of aerosols from space for many years, but the problem is that they haven't been able to measure all the properties; and one thing they are missing is the vertical distribution of aerosols in thin clouds."

Different ways
Aerosols have a fundamental relationship with clouds by providing the nuclei on which cloud droplets can form. Clouds that form in clean air are made up of droplets that tend to get bigger because they form on fewer nuclei; and these clouds tend to rain more, too. Clouds that develop in dirty air form many more, but smaller, droplets. These clouds also look brighter.

Calipso looks at how aerosols interact with clouds
By picking apart these details, Calipso will help scientists understand the direct and indirect effects of aerosols on climate. "Directly, they can scatter sunlight back to space and have a cooling effect just by reducing the amount of solar radiation reaching the Earth system," said Dr Trepte. "They can also absorb solar radiation and warm the atmosphere, possibly alter circulations, change the thermal stability of the atmosphere and perhaps inhibit convection. "And then they have the indirect effects of changing cloud properties, allowing them to last longer, changing the amount of precipitation - either increase it or decrease it - and perhaps even dim or brighten clouds so that they have better or worse reflecting properties." The Cloudsat and Calipso missions have a number of objectives:

• Together, the satellites will provide the first statistics on the vertical structure of clouds. Scientists will be able to see clouds from their tops to their bottoms - like getting a CT scan of clouds from space
• Cloudsat and Calipso will give researchers the first indirect but validated estimate of how much clouds and aerosols contribute to the vertical distribution of atmospheric warming
• Cloudsat will provide the first global estimates of the percentage of Earth's clouds that produce rain
• Cloudsat will afford scientists the first vertically sliced picture of how much water and ice are in Earth's clouds
• Cloudsat will provide the first ability to detect snowfall from space
• Cloudsat will offer the first estimates of how efficiently the atmosphere produces rain from condensates
• Calipso will provide the first statistics on the global vertical distribution of aerosols and aerosol types
• Calipso will reveal for the first time how often "sub-visible" cirrus clouds - very thin clouds invisible to the naked eye - occur, and whether they change with the seasons

The new understanding obtained through the spacecraft will be fed into computer models, to improve their predictions. This should lead not just to better weather and air quality forecasts, but to reduced uncertainties in our expectations of future climate change. "A tiny, tiny fraction of the water on our planet is in clouds and yet that tiny, tiny fraction is what provides the fresh water on which humans depend," Dr Stephens said. "Clouds replenish our fresh water resources and yet we can't really tell you today how clouds will change under the pressures of global climate change." Cloudsat and Calipso join a fleet of other satellites - known as the A-Train - which are aiming to give a rounded picture of Earth's atmospheric and water systems. The spacecraft circle the planet on a path that takes them over broadly the same observation point in quick succession. The platforms carry different instrumentation to address specific questions.

• 1. Oco will launch in 2008 and head the train. It will measure the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere
• 2. Aqua will lag Oco by 15 minutes. It is collecting information about the Earth's water cycle - water in the oceans, the air and on the land
• 3. Cloudsat will allow for the most detailed study of clouds to date. It should better characterise their role in regulating the climate
• 4. Calipso views clouds just moments after Cloudsat has looked at them. Its primary interest is the way aerosols interact with clouds
• 5. Parasol is a French satellite that can distinguish natural from human-produced aerosols. It makes polarised light measurements
• 6. Aura also has a big European investment. It looks at atmospheric chemistry, and is producing remarkable global pollution maps

By Jonathan Amos, BBC News science reporter

Big growth spurt for US economy BBC News
The US economy roared ahead in the first quarter of 2006, growing at its fastest rate in two and a half years, according to the Commerce Department. Gross domestic product grew at a 4.8% annual rate, more than twice the 1.7% recorded in the last quarter of 2005. Growth was boosted by government spending to deal with damage from last year's Gulf Coast hurricanes. Earlier this week, the Federal Reserve chairman said he expected growth to slow to a more sustainable level.

Inflation fears
In its report, the Commerce Department said that consumer and business spending and investment all helped drive the economy forward. The main drag on growth is America's huge trade deficit, which chipped 0.8 percentage points from first quarter growth. "With crude oil prices soaring and China investing in new export capacity at a breakneck pace, the trade deficit will continue to pull down U.S. growth," said Peter Morici, a University of Maryland economist. "Without a devaluation of the dollar against the Chinese yuan, U.S. growth will slow significantly in the second half of this year." On Wednesday, Fed boss Ben Bernanke told Congress that the main risks to growth were a sustained period of high very high oil prices and a big slump in the housing market. He hinted that the Fed might stop raising interest rates soon, but warned that inflationary pressures could change this strategy if energy prices continue to rise. However, despite the strong growth seen between January and March, the most recent core inflation data, ignoring food and energy costs. slowed to 2% from the 2.4% seen in the last quarter of 2005. Elsewhere on Friday, figures from the University of Michigan suggested that consumers were beginning to fret about high petrol prices. Its index of consumer sentiment for April dropped to 87.4 from March's 88.9. "So consumers feel happy but they are beginning to become a little less happy about gasoline price increases," said Brian Fabbri, chief economist at BNP Paribas in New York. "This is not a big move in confidence but it does say that confidence is probably levelling off and would probably continue to do so while gasoline prices go up."

Villagers' fears of nuclear waste BBC News
Residents of a remote Punjab village in northern Pakistan say their lives are in danger from nuclear waste being dumped in their area. "We are being slow-poisoned," said Nazir Ahmed Buzdar, a resident of the tribal village of Baghalchur some 400km (248 miles) north of Karachi. He is part of a group in a legal battle with Pakistan's nuclear authorities over the dumping of toxic waste. Baghalchur is the site of abandoned uranium mines now being used as a dump. "Our land played an important role in making Pakistan a nuclear power but all we have got in return is poverty and poison," said Mr Buzdar. The relevant authorities say nuclear waste material has been stored deep down in underground caves and poses no danger to the environment.

'Child deaths'
But Mr Buzdar and his colleagues cite one of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission's (PAEC) own reports which said that the waste material being dumped at Baghalchur was "active". Pakistan's nuclear authorities were mining the area around Baghalchur between 1978 and 2000. Locals say it was the first location in the country to produce uranium for Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme.

Villagers claim there are piles of "yellow cake" lying around
The mining was stopped in 2000 but the underground tunnels were earmarked for storing nuclear waste. Former chairman of the PAEC, Pervez Butt, told the BBC that the storage was perfectly safe. "It is being done in keeping with the international standards for storing nuclear waste," he said. In October last year, four residents of Baghalchur petitioned the local courts on the matter. The case was referred to the Supreme Court earlier this year. The PAEC sought time to file its reply but requested the proceedings be kept in camera given the nature of the case. The court agreed and the next date of hearing is not yet known.

'Chemical sludge'
Lal Mohammed, one of the petitioners who has worked for the PAEC for eight years, says the nuclear waste being stored in his area may contaminate the environment for "centuries". He pointed at several large and malodorous piles of what he called the toxic effluent of "yellow cake" - a raw form of mined uranium - lying openly around the place. "Rain washes the chemicals in this sludge into the main water channels which are used both by humans and animals," he said. Co-petitioner Naseer Shah says there has been a dramatic increase in infant mortality since the dumping of toxic waste started. He says it has seriously affected milk producing cattle - many of which have died after contracting previously unseen diseases. The petitioners say that the residents of Baghalchur should be assured that the dumping is not going to do them harm. If guarantees cannot be given, they want immediate measures to cleanse Baghalchur of any contamination already caused.
By Nadeem Saeed, BBC News, northern Pakistan

Nepal MPs begin historic session BBC News
The Nepalese parliament has held its first meeting in four years in the capital, Kathmandu. King Gyanendra reinstated the assembly on 24 April in a bid to end almost three weeks of nationwide protests in which at least 14 people died. But newly appointed Prime Minister, octogenarian Girija Prasad Koirala, was too ill to attend. Mr Koirala, a veteran politician, was appointed by King Gyanendra on Thursday, but has a lung infection. The former prime minister and current head of the Nepali Congress party was the choice of the coalition of seven political parties which led the campaign for the king to restore democracy.

'Gratitude'
A large crowd gathered outside parliament, urging the MPs to draw up a new constitution. Proceedings inside began with a two- minute silence for the 14 people killed during the protests. "We express our gratitude to those who died in the democracy struggle," deputy speaker Chitra Lekha Yadav said.

Profile: Nepal's new PM
"What we've achieved is really admirable - to go on united is what we need." Prime Minister Koirala's absence from proceedings was, medical sources said, due to an unspecified lung problem. Mr Koirala sent a message to MPs instructing them to press ahead with plans for a constituent assembly, one of the key demands of Nepal's main political parties and also the country's Maoist rebels. The session of the lower house of parliament lasted for just over half-an-hour before adjourning. The upper house has still to meet.

'Much to prove'
The king dissolved parliament in May 2002 after it failed to renew a state of emergency imposed to fight the rebels.The BBC's Dan Isaacs says the politicians have much to prove to their supporters after years of bickering and infighting. They face two key tasks - to restart a dialogue with the Maoists as a prelude to drawing them into the political process, and to address the issue of elections to a constituent assembly which could debate and draw up a new constitution. What this would mean for the future of the monarchy is not clear. Our correspondent says there is little popular support for anything more than a ceremonial monarchy emerging from that process. But this would require fundamental compromises on all sides, including from the Maoists, who since 1996 have conducted a violent campaign for an end to the monarchy. The Maoists staged their own demonstration in Kathmandu on Friday. There was no sign of police or army units at the rally. Maoist leaders spoke to about 2,000 supporters and onlookers. On Thursday the Maoists announced a three-month unilateral truce. Leader Prachanda said in a statement that the group would refrain from "offensive military action" for a three-month period, but remain in an "active defensive position". He said he hoped the ceasefire would encourage the formation of a new constituent assembly given the job of rewriting the constitution. Despite the truce, the Nepalese army said Maoist rebels had kidnapped 22 soldiers in the south-eastern district of Dhankuta. The unarmed soldiers were on their way home or on leave, said an army official. Five of the soldiers managed to escape.

Deadlock over Lebanon president BBC News
Politicians in Lebanon have resumed their discussions on whether to dismiss the pro-Syrian president, Emile Lahoud. But correspondents say that even those political blocs in favour of removing him are unable to agree a replacement and the dispute may not be resolved. The delegates are also expected to discuss another complex issue: what to do about disarming the Hezbollah militia, in line with a UN resolution. Hezbollah's leader refuses to allow his men to be integrated into the army. It is the sixth round of talks aimed at ending Lebanon's political paralysis since elections which brought an anti-Syrian majority to power.

Israel vows 'swift' border work BBC News
The incoming Israeli government will meet swiftly to draw Israel's final borders, according to the guidelines of a new coalition agreement. Withdrawal from parts of the West Bank and construction of a huge separation barrier will also be prioritised. The Kadima Party signed the accord with the Labour Party on Thursday. However, a coalition with Labour and the Pensioners Party leaves interim PM Ehud Olmert short of the parliamentary majority he needs to realise his plan. Mr Olmert wants to set permanent borders for Israel by 2010. BBC correspondent Katya Adler says the plan involves removing dozens of Jewish settlements from the occupied West Bank while keeping others. If he succeeds, tens of thousands of Jewish settlers will lose their homes and large areas of occupied Palestinian land will be annexed. Mr Olmert will need international support and a powerful coalition in the 120-seat parliament to push through his plan, our correspondent says.

'Rocky road ahead'
Labour, which came second in the general election in March, is expected to get seven cabinet posts, with Labour leader Amir Peretz likely to serve as defence minister. However, negotiations between Israel's two largest political groups went on for almost a month after differences emerged over economic issues and the division of cabinet portfolios. Correspondents say the partnership could become rocky over two key issues. The economy - Kadima tends to the centre right and Labour to the centre left - and relations with the Palestinians regarding the future security of Israel. Both parties agree that Israel must give up land to fix its final borders. But while Kadima favours unilateral action, Labour is open to talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the issue, our correspondent says. With the Pensioners Party and Labour on board, Mr Olmert controls 55 seats - six seats short of a workable majority. He is seeking to form a broad coalition with more than 80 seats. Talks with other parties are continuing, with Kadima expected to reach a deal with the ultra-Orthodox Shas party.

Ahmadinejad says Iran's nuclear programme irreversible Monsters and Critics.com
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday termed Iran's decision to pursue its nuclear programmes as irreversible. 'The decision by Iran to pursue nuclear technology and produce nuclear fuel in line with all international commitments is legal and irreversible,' Ahmadinejad said on state television in a first reaction to Friday's report by IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei. 'We will not accept any discrimination, this (uranium enrichment) is our Red Line which we will not allow to be trespassed by anybody,' he added. He termed the current phase as a 'test' for international bodies such as the United Nations Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency and called on the UN not to let its international credit being darkened by superpowers. 'The UN can ask us to remove whatever remaining ambiguities but not deprive us from the whole (nuclear) technology,' Ahmadinejad said. Ahmadinejad called on the West to respect the will and right of the Iranian nation and allow the Iran case being returned to the IAEA. The deputy of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization said earlier Saturday that Iran will present the IAEA within the next three weeks a new plan for settling the nuclear dispute, Mohammad Saeidi said in an interview with the news network Khabar that the main condition for starting the new plan would however be maintaining the Iranian nuclear case within the IAEA and not the United Nations Security Council. Saeidi said that within the plan Iran would also resume voluntary implementation of the IAEA Additional Protocol and renewed snap IAEA inspections of Iran's nuclear sites but continue nuclear enrichment for research purposes. Saeidi had said on Friday night that the eight-page report from IAEA chief ElBaradei contained 'no negative aspects' and once again showed that the IAEA still had the potential to deal with the Iranian nuclear case and that involvement of the UN Security Council was the 'totally wrong way.' The Iranian official claimed that ElBaradei would also welcome the Iranian case being evaluated within the IAEA and not the Security Council. 'The report was of course not very satisfactory and could have been better but our new plan could be the most suitable way to settle the dispute in a diplomatic way - under the condition however that some countries stop their stubborn approach,' Saeidi said. He termed the Security Council demand from Iran to stop the enrichment process as illegal and contrary to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and therefore not able to be implemented. He stressed that also the differences over the P-1 and P-2 devices and the nuclear pollution mentioned in ElBaradei's report have been settled with the IAEA by almost 80 per cent. Saeidi however noted that the remaining differences are related to issues going beyond Iranian borders, referring to Pakistan from where Iran had purchased the devices. 'We are currently using only P-1 devices in our uranium enrichment process but we have already told the IAEA that it would be inevitable to use the most progressive devices to accelerate the enrichment process,' the Iranian official said. He added that the research phase of the enrichment process in the Natanz plant in central Iran was continuing within a 164 centrifuge-cascade and at a 3.6 per cent level but Iran planned to expand the cascades to 3000 centrifuges within one year. 'This would enable us the start of the initial phase of industrial enrichment,' Saeidi said while stressing that the Natanz plant has just recently been inspected again by the IAEA.
Iran moves to prevent sanctions by allowing nuclear inspections Irish Examiner
Iran nuclear face-off nears Seattle Times
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Prodi candidates elected speakers BBC News
Candidates of Italy's prime minister elect Romano Prodi have been chosen as speakers of both houses of parliament, after several tense rounds of voting. Fausto Bertinotti becomes speaker of the lower house, while Franco Marini won the vote in the Senate. Mr Marini was elected after three previous inconclusive rounds. Correspondents say the protracted battle to get Mr Marini elected shows the problems the centre-left has in controlling the upper house. Mr Prodi has a majority of only two seats in a chamber of more than 300 senators. The BBC's David Willey in Rome says Mr Prodi will be particularly vulnerable in the upper house and the defection or sickness of only a single senator could put his future coalition at risk.

'Settled in'
Sixty-six-year-old Mr Bertinotti, a veteran leader of a communist party in Mr Prodi's centre-left coalition, won by a simple majority in the Chamber of Deputies. The margin was much slimmer in the Senate, where Mr Marini defeated outgoing Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's nominee, 87-year-old Giulio Andreotti, by just nine votes. Applause broke out in both houses when the results were announced, signalling the centre-left's relief. Mr Prodi said he was "very, very happy", at the outcome, Italian news agency Ansa reported. "We have settled in," Mr Prodi was quoted as saying. But our correspondent says there is a poisonous atmosphere developing between left and right in Italian politics. He says Mr Berlusconi, who is still in charge of the current centre-right government and refusing to admit defeat in the recent election, is watching Mr Prodi's discomfort with ill-concealed glee. He has argued all along that Mr Prodi cannot hope to create a stable new coalition on the basis of his very narrow election victory, our correspondent adds.

Ballot paper confusion
Mr Bertinotti failed to win a two-thirds majority during Friday's voting, which descended into chaos as the secret ballots failed to elect either speaker. In the race for the Senate, Mr Marini seemed to have the most support but fell short of the 162 votes needed for victory. A second round then appeared to give Mr Marini the required majority. However, centre-right politicians said his first name was mis-spelt as "Francesco" on three ballots - and thus the vote was invalid. There was more confusion about names on ballot papers in the third round. The main business of the new parliament initially will be to elect a new head of state to replace President Carlo Ciampi whose mandate expires next month - only then can a new government be sworn in.

Pressure grows for Darfur peace BBC News
African Union negotiators are increasing pressure on all sides in the Darfur conflict in Sudan to meet Sunday's deadline for a peace deal. Mediators at the talks in Nigeria are working to secure agreement from the rebels, who still express reservations. The draft deal, which the BBC has seen, calls for pro-government Arab militias to be disarmed, and for rebel forces to be merged into Sudan's police and army. The details emerged as the top UN human rights official was set to visit Sudan. Louise Arbour, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, will spend six days in the country - a visit that will take in Darfur. About 200,000 people have died and some two million have been left homeless since the conflict began in the province in 2003. Meanwhile senior envoys from the UN and the African Union (AU) arrived late on Friday in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, where the peace talks are being held. Their arrival is "part of intensive efforts to convince the parties to sign the peace agreement submitted by the AU mediators", AU spokesman Noureddine Mezni told AFP news agency.

One-off transfer
Top AU mediator Salim Ahmed Salim said the deal could not be changed and urged all sides to sign. "We have done everything that is possible to make an agreement possible," he said.

"We told the parties that as far the mediation is concerned this is the best we can do in the circumstances." The peace deal, hammered out over many months, aims to end what Darfur rebels say is long-standing neglect of the province by the Khartoum government. The 85-page draft calls for a one-off transfer of $300m to Darfur, with $200m a year for the region thereafter. It also contains proposals for power-sharing, disarming Arab Janjaweed militias and integrating rebels into the armed forces. Rebels leaders have expressed reservations - with some reportedly demanding the Sudanese vice-presidency. There are also concerns over the way rebel forces are due to be merged into army units.

US protests
Rebel spokesman Ahmed Tugod told AFP that the two guerrilla groups would agree on a common position and present it AU mediators.

Rebel groups have misgivings about the AU peace plan
The AU - which has 7,000 peacekeepers in Darfur - has struggled to stop the violence between the rebels and the government-backed Janjaweed militias. The UN envoy in Sudan, Jan Pronk, says 400 people are now being killed each month in the fighting - double the number that it was a few months ago. In the United States, protests are planned in several cities over the weekend to increase pressure on the Sudanese government. On Friday, US President George W Bush endorsed the rallies, saying "genocide" in Sudan was unacceptable. "I want the Sudanese government to understand the United States of America is serious about solving this problem," he said. "We expect the Sudanese government... to make a more concerted effort to control the Janjaweed and protect human life."

Bush approval rating drops as oil price soars ABC Online
This has sent shockwaves round the globe over the past week with some of the strongest reverberations felt in the United States, where one American gallon of regular gasoline now costs about $US 3. While higher petrol prices are depleting the wallets of American motorists, they're also presenting a political problem for President Bush, who's struggling to get his presidency back on track and whose approval rating has fallen to a record low of 32 per cent. The President has tried to pacify voters by announcing a series of measures to reduce petrol prices and promote alternative fuels. But as Michael Rowland reports, not everyone is convinced about his sincerity. MICHAEL ROWLAND: Image plays a large role in US politics. It's something George Bush's handlers obsess about, paying just as much attention to visual props as to what the President actually says at his set piece events. Who can forget the sight of the Commander in Chief, in full combat garb, climbing out of a fighter jet on a US aircraft carrier back in May 2003 to announce the end of major combat operations in Iraq. The banner proclaiming "mission accomplished" completed the made for TV setting. In that case images proved to be deceptive, as they were earlier this week when the President made an appearance at the Renewable Fuels Association in Washington to announce his strategy for reducing sky high petrol prices. Standing in front of a giant picture of corn fields, Mr Bush talked up the environmental advantages of ethanol, a by-product of corn that's touted as an alternative to oil. GEORGE BUSH: Ethanol is good for drivers. Ethanol is home grown. Ethanol will replace gasoline consumption. It's a good… ethanol is good for the whole country. MICHAEL ROWLAND: Encouraging investment in ethanol production is one of the key weapons in Mr Bush's battle against soaring fuel prices and watching him at the renewable fuels event, it was easy to get the impression the former Texan oil-man had undergone something of a energy conversion. You could have formed the same view when the President declared in his State of the Union address this year that America was addicted to oil, particularly the sort that comes from countries that see the US as the great Satan.

But appearances can be deceptive.
America may be addicted to oil but George Bush's Republicans are just as hooked, it seems, on the big oil companies. As New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd put it this week, it's a case of the oil men in the oval. Both Mr Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have strong ties to the oil industry and have been unwilling to take on the corporate titans at a time when big oil executives are about as popular as Osama Bin Laden. Fuelling this sentiment has been the revelation that the recently retired Chief Executive of Exxon-Mobil, Lee Raymond, earnt nearly $200,00 a day while running the company and walked away with a retirement package worth more than $400 million. The President has sought to quell the brewing voter mutiny at the bowser by vowing to crack down on price gouging. GEORGE BUSH: Americans understand, by and large, that the price of crude oil is going up and that the prices are going up but what they don't want and will not accept is manipulation of the market. And neither will I. The Federal Trade Commission is investigating whether the price of gasoline has been unfairly manipulated in any way. BART STUPAK: When the President calls for an investigation, it doesn't do us any good because the FTC, Federal Trade Commission, has never brought a case for price gouging on petroleum products ever. MICHAEL ROWLAND: Democrat Congressman Bart Stupak was among those accusing the President of making hollow threats as part of his petrol pain relief prescription. The head of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association was quoted this week as saying the President's strategy "does smack of round up the usual suspects". At the same time as Mr Bush was unveiling his action plan, Republican law makers were quietly moving to kill legislation aim at increasing taxes on the big oil companies. All of this has been the source of what's been a high octane political assault by Democrats keen to capitalise on the fury of voters being forced to fork out more and more of their hard earned cash to fill their tanks. Deputy Democrat Senate Leader, Dick Durbin. DICK DURBIN: We have followed the Cheney energy policy into this ditch. It's time for the President to call the Vice-President in and tell him, "heck of a job, Cheney. You could have done a lot better." And it's time for the oil executives to be held accountable. Exxon-Mobil, record breaking profits? Money going straight from our credit cards at the gasoline pumps, right into the board rooms. MICHAEL ROWLAND: Energy experts have also criticised the President over what they see are some fairly major omissions from his petrol action plan. There was no mention, for instance, of improving fuel efficiency standards for cars, and more particularly, the gas guzzling sports utility vehicles that dominate American roadways. Daniel Lashof is the Science Director of the Natural Resources Defence Counsel. DANIEL LASHOF: I don't think there is anything in the President's plan that will have a short term impact on gas prices. Jimmy Carter definitely gave the wrong approach when he indicated that what the primary mechanism to save oil was to sacrifice American's living standards. What we need to do is, as the President did say, embrace technology that can allow us to use energy much more efficiently. MICHAEL ROWLAND: Mr Bush also believes one way of easing the pain at the pump is to boost domestic oil production, including in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a proposal that's long been the subject of bitter political debate. But even if the wilds of Alaska are taken over by oil rigs, there's no guarantee the extra output would in fact drive down local petrol prices. With world demand for oil far outstripping supply, any extra barrels rolling onto the market are just as likely to end up in energy hungry India or China. And that's an image the White House would certainly not like American voters to see.
Bush Calls Higher Oil Prices Wake-Up Call Voice of America
Bush rejects most congressional remedies to high gas prices MarketWatch
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Italy's Berlusconi set to resign BBC News
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is to resign on Tuesday - more than three weeks after his narrow election defeat. His announcement came after his centre-right alliance failed to get its candidate elected as Senate speaker. Italy's highest court has confirmed the victory of the centre-left coalition in both houses of parliament. Mr Berlusconi had until now refused to concede, saying the vote was too close. He will be replaced by Romano Prodi. The outgoing prime minister said that he would chair his last cabinet meeting at 1230 on Tuesday (1030GMT), before handing his resignation to President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. Although Mr Berlusconi said he recognised Mr Prodi had "won the consensus", he insisted that his own right-centre coalition won a larger share of the popular vote in the Senate in the poll on 9-10 April. "When someone has gained 220,000 votes more (than the opposition) there is little to do," he said. "We comply because we are democratic, but inside ourselves we remain convinced that the majority prize has been wrongly assigned."

Vulnerable
Earlier on Saturday Fausto Bertinotti, a veteran Communist leader, was elected speaker of the lower house - where Mr Prodi's majority is larger.

Romano Prodi is smiling, but his grip on the Senate is weak
In the Senate, where the centre-left has a majority of only two seats, supporters of Mr Berlusconi fought particularly hard. It took four ballots to elect Franco Marini, a moderate trade union leader, as speaker. Romano Prodi voiced his relief at the election of the two speakers. "I am very happy," he said. "We have settled in." But the BBC's David Willey in Rome says Mr Prodi got a taste of what it will be like to govern without a secure majority in both houses of parliament. He adds that the centre-left will be particularly vulnerable in this upper house and the defection or sickness of only a single senator could put the future coalition at risk.

Mr Prodi, a Italian former prime minister and president of the European Commission, will be charged with forming a new government. Our correspondent says Mr Berlusconi is likely to stay on as head of a caretaker government for the time being. Under the constitution, the president must give the mandate to form a government and President Ciampi, whose term ends in mid-May, has already said he will leave the task to his successor. Mr Berlusconi, who has been in office since 2001, has served longer than any other Italian prime minister since World War II. However his popularity fell as the Italian economy faltered. The budget deficit has exceeded European Union limits for the past two years. Mr Prodi has promised a review of government finance, better tax collection and the re-introduction of inheritance tax on the country's wealthiest people.

Leftist trio seals Americas pact BBC News
The left-wing leaders of Bolivia, Cuba and Venezuela have signed a three-way trade agreement aimed at countering US influence in Latin America. The pact was signed in Cuba by Bolivian President Evo Morales, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, and their host Fidel Castro. The initiative, the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, was drawn up by Cuba and Venezuela. Mr Morales, an ally of both Mr Castro and Mr Chavez, decided to join it after his election last December. The initiative - known by its Spanish acronym Alba - is being promoted as a socialist alternative to the Washington-backed Free Trade Area of the Americas. The deal aims to reduce or eliminate tariffs between the three countries. But apart from this, it is very unlike conventional trade agreements, the BBC's Stephen Gibbs in Havana says. Participants have vowed to work towards the eradication of illiteracy and the expansion of employment. Cuba has promised to help Bolivia provide free eye treatment to those Bolivians who otherwise would not be able to afford it. Venezuela has agreed to provide at preferential rates all the subsidised oil Bolivia requires for its domestic consumption.

More takers?
Our correspondent says closer integration between oil-rich Venezuela and gas-rich Bolivia will give the new pact added weight. The question now is who else they can persuade to join, he adds. After the signing, Fidel Castro said: "Now, for the first time, there are three of us - I believe that, one day, all [Latin American] countries can be here." After his arrival in Cuba on Friday, Mr Morales said the meeting was a was a "historic gathering of three generations and three revolutions". Mr Chavez has vowed to create economic and political unity in South America without the help of Washington. Earlier this month he took Venezuela out of the South American trade bloc, the Andean Community of Nations, saying it was overly aligned with the US.

Vatican objects to Chinese bishop BBC News
The Vatican has asked China's state-controlled Catholic Church to halt the ordination of a bishop who has not been approved by Pope Benedict XVI. Father Ma Yingling is to be ordained as bishop of Kunming on Sunday. The Chinese Church does not recognise the Vatican's right to name bishops, although recent appointments have been made with the agreement of both sides. The request to postpone the ordination was made by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Hong Kong, Cardinal Joseph Zen. "Trying to force the clergymen to carry out the ordination ceremony before the (Roman Catholic) Church's approval would be deliberately wrecking China-Vatican negotiations," he told Hong Kong radio. Cardinal Zen has been at the forefront of recent efforts to improve relations between Beijing and the Holy See. China has both a state-sanctioned Roman Catholic church - but also a bigger, unofficial church that is loyal to the Pope. According to China's authorities the state-sanctioned church has about four million members, while the Vatican says the Roman Catholic Church there has some 10 million worshippers. China has said it would like better relations with the Vatican, but insists that first the Holy See must cut its diplomatic links with Taiwan.

Indian hostage killed in Afghanistan CNN International
A body found in Afghanistan has been identified as that of an Indian telecommunications engineer who was kidnapped earlier in the week by Taliban members, the province's police chief said. Police Chief Mohammed Nabeel Malahkili said the body discovered in Zabol province on Sunday had been beheaded. Shri K. Suryanarayan, who worked for the Roshan mobile telephone company, was abducted along with his Afghan driver Friday afternoon as he traveled from Kandahar to Kabul. A statement from the Taliban demanded that all Indian workers leave Afghanistan within 24 hours or the hostage would be killed. After the body was found, a Taliban spokesman said the group had not planned to kill the hostage but when he tried to escape, they shot him. Malakhili said the body was handed over to Roshan officials in neighboring Ghazni province. The Roshan company is based in Bahrain. India has close relations with Afghanistan and is involved in several aid and reconstruction projects. In India, Foreign Minister Shyam Saran held a news conference condemning the killing, and he vowed that Indian workers would continue to help rebuild Afghanistan's infrastructure. "The government and people of India, I can assure you, will never bow to such acts of terrorism and will continue their fraternal assistance to the people of Afghanistan in their endeavors to bring peace, stability and economic recovery to their country, ravaged by years of conflict," the minister said. Saran also called on the international community to join together to defeat the Taliban, which he called a "scourge to humanity." Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the killing and ordered security forces to hunt down those responsible. "The enemies of Afghanistan .... want to stop Afghanistan from developing and standing on its own feet," Karzai said in a statement, according to Reuters. Violence in the Afghan south has hampered development, and the job of thousands of NATO troops due soon to arrive into the region will be to ensure sufficient security for reconstruction. Militants have frequently kidnapped aid agency staff and foreign company workers, who the Taliban say are supporting the Western-backed government.
Indian engineer killed by Taliban: PMO NDTV.com
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Berlusconi hints he will resign Chicago Tribune
Premier Silvio Berlusconi indicated Saturday that he would resign this week, clearing the way for a government led by center-left leader Romano Prodi, who won Italian elections this month. Berlusconi's comment came hours after Prodi scored his first parliamentary victory: Both of his candidates were elected speakers in the two houses of Parliament after a tough battle. "I am very, very happy," Prodi was quoted as saying by the ANSA news agency. "We have settled in." Berlusconi did not directly say that he would hand his resignation to Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. But asked when he would step down, he replied, "The Cabinet meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday" and added that soon afterward he would go to see Ciampi. Berlusconi is expected to formally resign during the Cabinet meeting and then hand his resignation to the president. The Parliament's vote Saturday marked a political victory for Prodi after days of tension.
Italy's Berlusconi concedes defeat Houston Chronicle
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Koirala sworn in as Nepal's new premier Forbes
Girija Prasad Koirala was sworn is as Nepal's new prime minister today by King Gyanendra, following weeks of violent pro-democracy protests. The 10:00 am ceremony came hours before Nepal's parliament is due to discuss plans for elections to a new body to frame a new constitution aimed at reducing the monarch's powers in the country. Koirala is head of the Nepali Congress, one of seven opposition groups which along with Maoist rebels rallied hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets for 19 days this month to protest against Gyanendra's rule. Gyanendra seized absolute power in February 2005 after sacking the government, which he accused of corruption and of failing to quell a Maoist insurgency which has left at least 12,500 dead since it started in 1996. But he was forced to climb down last Monday in the face of protests and recall the parliament that was dissolved in 2002. He had earlier asked the opposition to name a new premier to lead the country. Koirala, a veteran democracy campaigner considered the grand old man of Nepali politics who has been premier several times before, was chosen to lead the country into a new era of parliamentary politics.
Nepal bounces back Asian Tribune
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Rhode Island embarks on wireless network Yahoo! News
America's smallest state is seeking to become its first to offer a wireless broadband network from border to border. Backers of Rhode Island's $20 million project say it would improve services and make the state a testing ground for new business technologies. It also comes at a time when Rhode Island's capital of Providence is stepping up efforts to lure business from Boston, about a 50-minute drive away, in neighboring Massachusetts, where office rents are among the nation's most expensive. The Rhode Island Wireless Innovation Networks (RI-WINs) should be fully in place by 2007, providing wireless connectivity throughout state, whose land mass of about 1,045 square miles is only slightly more than double the size of metropolitan Los Angeles. A pilot project involving state agencies, Brown University and businesses is to begin next month. The Rhode Island network is a hybrid of WiMAX and WiFi technologies that would deliver real-time connections at a minimum speed of 1 Megabit per second (Mbps), allowing users to download a typical Hollywood-length film in about 100 minutes. The system will be supported by 120 base antennas placed throughout the state. A few antennas, each about 3 feet to 4 feet in height, are being placed in Providence and Newport on the southern coast during the initial tests. So far, no state outside Rhode Island has sought to build a border-to-border network, said Bob Panoff, a private consultant and the RI-WINs project manager. While more cities are interested in becoming wireless, "there's no groundswell of consumer support for it," said Dave McClure, president of the U.S. Internet Industry Association (USIIA), which represents Internet companies. More than 80 U.S. cities have wireless networks, according to a study done in August 2005 by the association. But use has been sporadic, plagued by costs and sputtering technology, said Dave McClure, the association's president. Orlando, Florida, for example, removed its wireless network last year due to tepid use, McClure said.

FROM CLASSROOMS TO BEACHES
The project is being funded by public and private sources, and once fully operational, users would pay $20 per month or a membership fee based on annual usage, said Saul Kaplan, acting executive director of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, a partner in the project. "We know the demand signals are there," said Kaplan. Officials said the network would support services including business, education, emergency, health care and port security. During the six-month pilot phase, for example, state health inspectors will test the system by entering data from restaurant visits into laptops and sending the information to the health department. Emergency workers will test sending patient information from an ambulance while en route to a hospital. Graduate students at Brown University, a partner in the project, will use the wireless network when teaching public school students. While the system is not being created for consumers, officials say it could have everyday applications, such as retrieving real-time information on the size of crowds at beaches or to access traffic information while driving. "A broadband border-to-border network would allow us to move information to the point of need, wherever it's needed," Kaplan said. Creators say a prime benefit of the network will be to draw businesses looking to use Rhode Island as a laboratory to test-market new technologies on a statewide, demographically diverse population. A study by the Rhode Island-based Business Innovation Factory, a private, nonprofit organization that launched RI-WINs in 2004, estimated the annual cost to operate the network at $5 million.
By Richard C. Lewis

Fundraising via download: Sweet music to nonprofits Yahoo! News
When Amnesty International wanted to raise awareness about violence against women in Mexico, it turned to Jaguares, one of the country's most popular rock bands. The group recorded a cover of John Lennon's "Gimme Some Truth" and made it available as a digital download via the organization's Make Some Noise music service. It proved so popular that the number of Mexicans signing up to support the initiative exceeded Amnesty's entire membership in the country. It's just one of many examples of nonprofit social activists turning to digital music to raise funds and awareness. The digital milieu is quicker, cheaper and more relevant to the younger generation than past music initiatives. And getting acts, labels and publishers to donate an exclusive track to a download service is much easier and ultimately faster to turn around than getting physical product released or organizing a benefit concert. "It's really cost-effective," says Stephanie Newman, senior manager for Amnesty International's Make Some Noise campaign. "It's a more accessible cost of entry for most nonprofits, and it's more accessible for the audience as well." Newman declined to say how much money has been raised. The digital approach to fund raising is proving popular. British-based global hunger relief organization Oxfam built a download music store called Big Noise Music and collects about 15 percent from every track sold. U.K.-based War Child Music -- which advocates an end to the practice of using children as soldiers -- operates a similar service. It landed a major coup last year when Radiohead donated its entire back catalog to the site, representing the first time the group made its music available digitally. Tracks sell for 99 pence ($1.77). Amnesty International's Make Some Noise store exclusively features covers of Lennon solo tracks that Yoko Ono donated to the cause. Other participating acts include the Black Eyed Peas, the Cure and Snow Patrol. The price per download is 99 cents.

MOBILE DONATIONS
And like any other digital music service, these efforts are going mobile as well. On April 28, Sweet Relief Musicians Fund began a three-month fund-raising campaign focusing on selling master ringtones donated by Pearl Jam, Jars of Clay and OK Go, among others. Fans text the word "heal" to a short code dedicated to each ringtone to receive the download in exchange for a $5 charge to their phone bill. Music for Charity Productions is running the campaign. Scott Dudelson, the company's founder, says other acts will soon have the opportunity to conduct similar donate-to-download initiatives using the same platform. "I'd like to make all my campaigns digitally related," Dudelson says. "I hope this revolutionizes fund raising, and I hope it's a tool every artist will have and can use for whatever cause they support." Amnesty International also plans to extend the Make Some Noise effort to include mobile full-track and ringtone downloads. Mobile content developer Airborne Entertainment has created an entire suite of mobile content focused on socially conscious themes called Just Cause. These online and mobile channels are most attractive to charities simply because they are where the next generation of donors are. While digital downloads of songs or ringtones certainly add to their war chest, nonprofits are most interested in collecting buyers' contact information and converting them into lifetime contributors. "We need to inject Amnesty International into the popular culture, because we're not there at the moment," Newman says. Such artists as OK Go frontman Damian Kulash say that these efforts humanize today's technology -- a necessary evolution for digital music. "As the Internet and digital technology has helped democratize music, it also helps separate us into our own little worlds," he says. "We need to make sure to put as much emphasis on the parts that bring people together."
By Antony Bruno

Microsoft not hatching plan with eBay: paper Yahoo! News
Microsoft is not plotting against Google with eBay, Microsoft's chief executive told a German newspaper, but he said he did often talk with his counterpart at eBay about working together. "Of course we talk with eBay all the time," Steve Ballmer told Germany's Die Welt in an interview published on Friday. "But we don't get together in a secret circle and hatch plans about what we could do together against Google." Google posted a 79-percent jump in revenue earlier this month as it took a greater share of the Internet search market. Its rapid growth has spurred eBay to consider a partnership with Microsoft or Yahoo, the world's second-biggest Internet search engine company, as Google takes aim against Web auction company eBay with an online classified service. The Wall Street Journal has reported that eBay, a major buyer of Web search keyword advertising, is talking to Yahoo and Microsoft as well as Google about forming an alliance. But Ballmer said: "A tie-up with the sole aim of shutting out a competitor makes no sense. The partnership must produce something that is useful for users and advertisers." He added, however, that he did regularly talk to eBay's CEO Meg Whitman, who he said was a close personal friend. "I've known her for 22 years, and so we talk a lot about what Microsoft and eBay could do together," he said. Ballmer added that he had no plans to pay for Microsoft's new version of Windows, Vista, through advertising. "You mean, would we finance Vista more by advertising than by selling software? Not likely," Ballmer said. "Part of the screen would then be covered in advertisements. I'm sure most customers would rather pay $50 or $60 more for their PC."

Talabani says deal with some rebels possible Yahoo! News
Iraq's president said on Sunday he and U.S. officials had met with insurgents and that a deal with some groups to end violence could be reached. Though U.S. and Iraqi officials have spoken before of contacts with Sunni Arab rebels, the statement by Jalal Talabani came as Iraq's various factions negotiate on a new government and were among the strongest yet that some groups involved in the three-year-old war may be ready to lay down their arms. "I believe that a deal could be reached with seven armed groups that visited me," Talabani said in a statement, adding that U.S. officials took part in the discussions in the president's Kurdish home region in northern Iraq. Insurgents in the Sunni heartland observed an informal truce during December's parliamentary election, allowing a big turnout among minority Sunnis, who had previously boycotted the U.S.- backed political process. A U.S. embassy spokeswoman said the U.S. position has always been to try to engage insurgents into joining the political process who are not associated with Saddam Hussein or Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al Qaeda leader in Iraq. Talabani said: "There are other groups, excluding the Saddamists and Zarqawi-types, who are involved in military operations to remove the occupiers and these are the ones who we are seeking to hold a dialogue with and to include them in the political process." Talabani, who was re-elected head of state by Iraq's new parliament last week, said the talks took place in the northern region of Kurdistan. He did not say when the talks occurred.

PARLIAMENT TO SIT
Iraq's parliament is set to meet on May 3, but Shi'ite Prime Minister-designate Nuri al-Maliki is not expected to unveil his cabinet line-up as Maliki is still studying ministerial candidates for a government of national unity. Parliament designated Maliki a week ago to head Iraq's first full-term government since the fall of Saddam, ending a four- month deadlock. Maliki, a member of the dominant Shi'ite Islamist Alliance bloc, is in talks with other factions to form a government made up of Shi'ites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds, seen as the best hope to avert a sectarian civil war. Officials in various parties said discussions were wide- ranging and there was an array of division, including on the two posts of deputy prime minister. Sunni and Kurdish blocs have previously held one each. But some negotiators are pressing for another Shi'ite, the secular former prime minister Iyad Allawi, to take one of those posts. Allawi's cross-sectarian bloc is the fourth biggest in parliament. Maliki has said he will choose capable and non-sectarian ministers, including for the sensitive posts of Interior, Defense and Oil, based on their qualifications and not on their sectarian and ethnic affiliation and background. Under Shi'ite leadership for the last year, the Interior Ministry has been accused of running death squads and militias that have targeted minority Sunni Arabs. Shi'ite officials deny such charges. Maliki has 30 days starting April 22 to present a cabinet for a vote in parliament. An aide to Maliki's office said Maliki was still studying candidates for each ministry, which are to be submitted by each parliamentary bloc. A statement from the office of assembly speaker Mahmoud al- Mashhadani said that on May 3 the 275-seat parliament is expected to form a committee charged with reviewing Iraq's constitution, which was ratified in a referendum in October. Sunnis, who dominated Iraq under Saddam and before, are demanding changes to the constitution, including guarantees that Kurds and Shi'ites in the oil-rich north and south will not be granted more autonomy. Parliament is also scheduled to choose a committee to draft the assembly's internal regulations.
By Ibon Villelabeitia

Powell advised Bush to send more troops to Iraq Yahoo! News
Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Sunday he had made the case to President George W. Bush for the United States to send more troops to Iraq to deal with the aftermath of the war. In an interview with a private British television station, Powell said there had been debates about the size of the force and how to deal with the aftermath. "The aftermath turned out to be much more difficult than anyone had anticipated," said Powell, adding he had favoured a larger military presence to deal with the unforeseen. "I don't think we had enough force there to impose order," he said on ITV's Jonathan Dimbleby program. "I made the case to General (Tommy) Franks, to (Defense) Secretary (Donald) Rumsfeld and to the president that I was not sure we had enough troops," he said. He argued, however, that his view was not ignored but that those responsible for the troop levels believed they had the appropriate number. His comments come amid public concern in the United States over Iraq, which has been a factor in driving Bush's approval ratings to the lowest of his presidency. Since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, the U.S. military death toll in Iraq has risen to nearly 2,400. Iraqi military deaths are estimated at up to 6,370 and Iraqi civilian deaths at up to 38,600. After the invasion, Rumsfeld said U.S. military commanders believed there were sufficient troops to contain insurgents and establish peace. However, amid escalating violence and to establish security in time for elections, troop levels were later increased. Bush has not set a timetable for a U.S. withdrawal, saying American soldiers will pull out as Iraqi forces take over fighting Sunni rebels and sectarian violence which has pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war.

Iran strikes defiant stance before UN vote Yahoo! News
Iran renewed its defiant stance on Sunday, vowing to ignore a likely U.N. Security Council resolution against its atomic program and to strike back if it came under military attack. U.N. ambassadors from the United States, Britain and France are expected to introduce a resolution this week to legally oblige Iran to comply with the council's demands, hitherto rebuffed by Tehran, that it halt all uranium enrichment work. Failure to comply with the resolution could see Iran face limited sanctions, although veto-wielding council members China and Russia say they do not favor such a move for now. But Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, said Iran would continue to defy the council. "Iran will not implement any forced resolution," he said in speech to university students in Tehran. "Iran's plan is to have research and development and the nuclear fuel cycle in Iran," he added, underlining Iran's determination to continue production of nuclear fuel in defiance of calls from the United Nations that it stop. Western countries fear Iran could produce highly-enriched uranium for use in warheads rather than uranium enriched to the low level needed for power stations. Tehran says it has no interest in acquiring nuclear weapons. Larijani's pledge to keep the fuel cycle in Iran ran counter to earlier remarks by Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi, who suggested there could be still be room to consider a proposal to move Iran's enrichment work to Russia. Although Washington has said it prefers a diplomatic solution to the stand-off, analysts say U.S. hawks who see Iran's enrichment of uranium as a tripwire for military action may feel there is not enough time for diplomacy. "We have thought about a possible military attack," Larijani said. "What the leader said should be taken seriously ... If they want to harm us, we will harm them." Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said last week Iran would harm U.S. interests around the world if it was attacked.

ECONOMY VULNERABLE
Iran has told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it planned to start installing 3,000 centrifuges by the end of this year. If running continuously for a year these could produce enough uranium for a warhead. Diplomats reckon the most likely first step against Iran would be Zimbabwe-style travel restrictions on politicians, before economic sanctions were considered. Iran's economy would be particularly vulnerable to sanctions on gasoline imports, bank loans and engineering parts, diplomats and analysts say. But oil officials say the embargoes against crude oil shipments from the world's number 4 exporter would be unthinkable. Hydrocarbons account for 80 percent of Iran's export earnings. Deputy Oil Minister Mohammad Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian said there was little risk of sanctions on Iran's energy sector while oil prices flirt with record highs above $70 a barrel. "Due to the sensitivity of the oil market, any action like that will increase oil prices very high. I believe (neither) the U.N., (nor) other bodies will put any sanction on oil or the oil industry," he told a news conference in Islamabad.
By Parisa Hafezi

Katrina Forces the Merging of Families Yahoo! News
Jerry Reese sleeps on a sofa that is too short for his 6-foot-3 frame in the living room of his sister's house, a place that's become a long-term shelter for eight other relatives displaced by Hurricane Katrina. He lies on the sofa waiting for the crowd to disperse, awakened by the repeated, chipper strains of a toaster that sings the Mickey Mouse Show theme song every time a relative's toast is ready. "M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E, Mickey Mouse." Five to 10 times per morning. Sometimes before dawn. Singing toasters are just the sort of quirky possessions that make any usual visit with relatives memorable, as long as it's blissfully brief. But Katrina's devastation has forced family visits to stretch over many months. The arrangements can provide support for those who have lost so much, but they also can strain ties when basic routines, like dinnertime and laundry, collide. "At some point, you want your privacy back," said Donald Henry, a family counseling clinic director whose mother-in-law has been living with him since the hurricane hit last August. "The honeymoon would certainly be over by now" for many families. Federal authorities estimate more than 182,000 occupied housing units in the New Orleans area suffered major damage or were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. That's nearly 40 percent of the housing stock in the metro area. Landlords and homeowners are repairing units as fast as they can, but many homes remain flooded and uninhabitable. In addition, competition and high prices keep some renters from finding homes; and lots have sometimes been deemed unsuitable, spoiling plans to bring in trailers. Fewer than half of New Orleans' 455,000 pre-Katrina residents have returned. Those who have, drawn back for jobs or other reasons, bunk with whomever they can. "This whole thing has been challenging for all of us. We're used to our own space," said Stella Chase Reese, who's been living at her sister-in-law's with her husband, teenage son, and other relatives. Nine people in a three-bedroom house is spacious compared to the 16 crammed into the Baton Rouge home where the Reeses lived immediately after the storm. They returned to New Orleans when the school reopened where her husband, Wayne Reese, teaches and coaches football. Stella Reese and her family thought they'd stay with her sister-in-law for a couple of weeks, but as three different rental deals fell through, the time together has stretched into months. "Everyone we know lost their homes, with the exception of my sister-in-law, and she had a full house. She welcomed us. We didn't have any place to go," Stella Reese said, dabbing tears with a tissue. The sister-in-law, Florida Reese Wyatt, said she never gave a second thought to opening the home she once shared only with her daughter. Among the relatives she took in was her 79-year-old mother. "I know they would have done the same for me. The bottom line is this is what family really does," said Wyatt, surrounded by family members who filled the two sofas and chairs in her living room. The Reese clan compares schedules each day, making sure everyone can get a shower before work or school, beginning as early as 5 a.m. Stella Reese or Wyatt cooks dinner. Someone else does the dishes. Jerry Reese, Wyatt's brother, joined the clan when he took a break from his work as a contractor in Iraq. His New Orleans home was wiped out by floodwaters. "It's all good. It's no problem," Reese said, grinning. The singing toaster beats some of the noises that woke him in Iraq, he said. Henry, clinic director of the nonprofit Youth Service Bureau, said living together after something as devastating as Katrina can be therapeutic. The security of close personal relationships and recognition that everyone is struggling together can help lessen the trauma of lost homes and dreams. It's helped lawyer Wayne McGaw, who's sharing a home with his wife, two adult daughters, a niece and her husband after the extended family lost three homes to flooding. Another relative with a flooded house lives next door. "All of us have been up and down, not on the same pace. But there are people to help you with the bounds" of the emotions, said McGaw. The family has used the cozy living arrangement to expand traditions and to comfort one another. A big family meal had long been a Sunday tradition because McGaw loves to cook, but they now sit down as a family to a full meal even on weeknights. They might reminisce about the old neighborhood, debate movies, or tease the youngest family member, a second-year law student, about schoolwork. They've managed since moving into a friend's vacant home in November to set up a routine for cooking and grocery shopping and a schedule for walking two dogs, who'd barely met before Katrina forced them into the same household. A cat is sequestered upstairs. The family has furniture from their flooded households crammed in with what the homeowners left. Crates and racks for clothes, nearly all acquired to replace destroyed wardrobes, sit stacked wherever they'll fit. No one knows when each will settle into their own digs. From the beginning, "We were all aware or conscious of stepping on each other's toes, setting that precedent of everyone chipping in," said Traci Foster, McGaw's niece. They split household chores like dishes and grocery shopping and divide the rent and utility costs. The McGaws pick up the cost of groceries, while Foster and her husband cover other expenses around the house. Still, the all-for-one, one-for-all attitude has limits. After a while, the need for privacy and space starts to wear on people accustomed to living on their own, said Judy Barnes-Cochran, a New Orleans psychotherapist. "Most of the world lives the way we're describing — or worse — but we're Americans. We want space. We want freedom. We want autonomy," she said. A lot of patients in group sessions are willing to vent their frustrations with strangers, talking about too-cozy living arrangements that they don't discuss with family members, Henry said. He recalled one woman who had taken in her mother, who had lost her home. The daughter felt guilty because, after a time, she wanted her mother to move out. That left the mother feeling rejected and upset. After talking about it in counseling, the mother began looking for a new place. "It's not being a bad daughter," Henry said. "It's just being accustomed to your privacy."
By MICHELLE ROBERTS, Associated Press Writer

Julia Thorne, Sen. Kerry's ex-wife, dies CNN
Julia Thorne, the ex-wife of Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, died Thursday after a long battle with cancer, a Kerry spokesman confirmed to CNN. Thorne, 61, was an author who overcame depression. She had separated from the Massachusetts senator just as his political career began a sharp upward trajectory. She chose instead to cede the spotlight to Kerry, and eventually moved to Montana with her second husband, Richard Charlesworth. Kerry and Thorne have two daughters, Alexandra and Vanessa. Thorne was born in New York City, and spent part of her formative years in Italy, where her father was a diplomat and the publisher of the Rome Daily Herald. She attended Foxcroft School in Virginia and was introduced to Kerry by her brother David. Kerry and Thorne married in 1970, but the couple separated in 1982 during his successful run for lieutenant governor. They divorced six years later after he had been elected to the U.S. Senate. During their marriage, Thorne began showing signs of depression and contemplated suicide. She defeated depression by 1990 and by all accounts the couple had an amicable relationship. She supported his unsuccessful bid to be president in 2004.
Julia Thorne, Kerry's first wife, dies at 61 Houston Chronicle
Around the Nation Washington Times
Julia Thorne, author and ex-wife of Sen. Kerry, dead at 61 Boston Globe
Eyewitness News - all 86 related »

Rice: Iran Is 'Playing Games' With Offer
Iran's offer to let a watchdog agency inspect the country's nuclear facilities is a stalling tactic to avoid U.N. penalties that would further isolate Tehran, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday."I think they're playing games. But obviously, if they're not playing games, they should come clean. They should stop the enrichment, suspend the enrichment," Rice told ABC's "This Week." Iran's deputy oil minister played down the chance of U.N. action, saying punishing Tehran would send oil prices even higher. Tehran on Saturday offered to allow inspections if the U.N. Security Council would turn the dispute over to its nuclear monitor, the International Atomic Energy Agency. An agency report confirmed Iran had successfully produced enriched uranium and defied the Security Council's Friday dadline to stop the process. Iran maintains it will not make nuclear weapons and does not need or want them. But the United States, Britain and France suspect the intent of the uranium enrichment program is to make nuclear warheads. "The international community is completely of one mind, that no one wants, needs or really can tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran in the midst of the world's most volatile region. That is the consistent view," Rice told CNN's "Late Edition." While the U.S. and its European allies are pushing for possible penalties, veto-wielding Security Council members Russia and China have opposed the idea. Rice said the U.S. would seek a U.N. resolution requiring that Iran comply with demands it stop enriching uranium. She mentioned a resolution under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which can be enforced through penalties or military action. Iran's deputy oil minister played down the idea of penalties. "Any action like that will increase oil prices very high. And I believe that the U.N. or its bodies will not put any sanctions on oil or the oil industry," M.H. Nejad Hosseinian told reporters in Pakistan. Rice, however, declared, "No one is talking about going to oil and gas sanctions." She cited potential steps such as freezing assets. "Oh, I absolutely believe that we have a lot of diplomatic arrows in our quiver at the Security Council and also like-minded states that would be able and willing to look at additional measures if the security council does not move quickly enough," Rice told CBS'"Face the Nation." In contrast, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said in an interview broadcast Sunday in London that Iran seems to "have pretty much decided they can accept whatever sanctions are coming their way." Rice said Iran does not want to risk global isolation. "But when the Iranians say things like, we don't care if there are sanctions, then I ask myself, 'Then why are they working so hard to stay out of the Security Council?'" she said. "Why are they suddenly saying, 'Oh, by the way, yes, we will allow snap inspections?' Why are they suddenly saying, 'Well, let's get this back into the IAEA?' It really doesn't sound like a regime that is simply unaware of what might happen." While pledging to let diplomacy run its course, Rice did not need see the need for direct talks now between Washington and Tehran, as favored by the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, GOP Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, and other lawmakers. "We have channels that we have used. We have people who know our views who talk with the Iranians. I don't think that the absence of communication is the problem here," Rice said. Rice, who has told Congress that Iran is without a doubt "the single biggest threat from a state that we face," renewed her criticism of the hardline president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He has drawn widespread criticism for anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli statements. "I have never seen the man or talked to him. I just know that nobody speaks in polite company in that way, and that he represents the Iranian regime very badly," Rice said.
By LIBBY QUAID

Disaster Response Improvements Lacking Yahoo! News
Most of the changes in natural disaster preparedness proposed by the White House and Congress since Hurricane Katrina are years away at best, leaving the Gulf Coast and other areas vulnerable to new devastation. Only a few of the 211 suggested improvements from three federal reports will be ready when the hurricane season starts June 1, and limited dollars and political squabbling already are complicating the progress. "Nature doesn't care about reports," said Kathleen Tierney, director of the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado. "Nor does it care about the fact there are people still suffering, and we're not ready. "The big question in everybody's mind is whether entities that proved themselves incompetent to handle Hurricane Katrina can become competent by the summer of 2006," Tierney said Friday. "So far, we've seen no evidence of that." Separate investigations by the House, Senate and White House delved into managing an emergency response to a storm as massive as Katrina, which stretched across 90,000 square miles:

• The House report did not make any recommendations for change. It did conclude that local, state and federal officials lacked any sense of urgency in preparing for catastrophic disasters.
• The White House inquiry focused on flawed federal plans and confusion during the storm, which hit Aug. 29. The report made 125 recommendations, including 11 to be completed by June 1, including plans for evacuating victims, ably tracking supplies and delivering quick information from disaster zones.
• The Senate report, portions of which were released last week, offered 86 recommendations, most notably replacing the Federal Emergency Management Agency with a more potent successor. The report made the case for more money local, state and federal responders, without saying how much or the source of the dollars.

"We recognize that our recommendations will not be enacted in the next five weeks, before the next hurricane season begins," said Sen. Susan Collins (news, bio, voting record), R-Maine, who led the Senate inquiry. "But we cannot stay with the same deeply flawed system that has proven that it simply does not work." President Bush on Friday rejected the idea of killing FEMA. "The lessons of Katrina are important," Bush said. "We've learned a lot here at the federal level. We're much more ready this time than we were the last time." "Let's, first of all, pray there's no hurricanes," Bush said. "That would be, like, step one." Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who oversees FEMA, has said he expects the agency to meet the June 1 deadline for the White House's 11 top-priority changes. FEMA's chief, R. David Paulison, said in an interview Friday he views the reports as blueprints for the agency's future and he puts them into two groups: "What can we accomplish now, in this hurricane season, and what are some of the long-term issues?" Local and state authorities had little, if any, input on shaping the federal recommendations, said Bev Cigler, a public policy professor at Penn State University. She has worked with local and state responders while helping lead a Katrina task force set up by the American Society for Public Administration. The reports, she said, are "a skeletal set of recommendations that are pretty commonsensical and, unfortunately, needs more money." Congress examined long-standing design problems with New Orleans' levees, which broke during Katrina's surge and led to flooding of 80 percent of the city. Repairing the levees by the hurricane season's start has been a paramount concern for Louisiana officials, said Walter Isaacson, vice chairman of the state's recovery authority. Five weeks out, it looks as though that will happen. "We'll have good levees that won't break," Isaacson said. Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-La., is more skeptical. Making sure the levees can withstand another Katrina takes more money that he said Congress will be reluctant to approve. The storm already has cost the federal government $103 billion, the Senate Budget Committee says. "The doling out a little bit at a time is difficult, and then having to compete for it is difficult," Melancon said. "The reports themselves, I believe, make Americans aware that the Gulf Coast has still got serious problems and a long recovery."
By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer

Glance at Disaster Response Failures Yahoo! News
Highlights of the White House and congressional investigations of disaster planning and response failures exposed by Hurricane Katrina:

• A special House committee criticized local, state and federal officials, saying they lacked urgency in preparing for disasters. It found that all levels of government moved too slowly to help victims once Katrina hit. The report did not make any recommendations for change.
• The White House report focused on flawed federal plans and confusion during the storm. It described poor communications systems, delays in delivering supplies and overall tumult within the administration. The report made 125 recommendations, including 11 to be completed by the start of the hurricane season on June 1. They included plans for evacuating victims, ably tracking supplies and delivering quick information from disaster zones.
• A Senate investigation offered 86 recommendations, including better planning for evacuating the elderly and the poor, better communications equipment for responders and more money for disaster preparedness. The most dramatic recommendation was scrapping the Federal Emergency Management Agency and replacing it with a more powerful successor.

By The Associated Press

Storm Evacuees Ineligible for Rent Aid Yahoo! News
Thousands of hurricane evacuees must soon pay their own rent or move out after receiving word that they are being dropped from a FEMA housing program they thought would last a year. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has declared about 12,000 families nationwide ineligible for housing assistance, in some cases because their hurricane-damaged homes were found to be habitable. Others were ineligible because their damaged homes were not their primary residence or because they were not head of the household. About 38,000 other families still qualify for assistance through FEMA, but must complete new paperwork to remain eligible. Some Hurricane Katrina and Rita evacuees received FEMA notices saying their aid was guaranteed only through April 30. But the agency said the actual deadline was May 31, and it recently granted Houston officials' request to extend it to June 30. Scores of families who signed one-year apartment and home leases last fall, believing FEMA would pay all rent and utilities during the entire lease, are worried that they will be kicked to the curb. Gary Jones, 44, received a letter last week saying he was ineligible, although he said he has repeatedly sent to FEMA documents showing he owns his New Orleans home. "To me right now, I'm past frustration," he said. Since Katrina hit Aug. 29 and sent tens of thousands of Gulf Coast residents to other states, FEMA has distributed the aid by reimbursing cities for paying landlords. Frank Michel, spokesman for Houston Mayor Bill White, said FEMA had indicated it would pay for a full year of housing. However, FEMA spokesman Michael Widomski said the agency only said it would pay for up to 12 months and never guaranteed a full year. FEMA helped all evacuees who needed it and did not require them to meet eligibility standards at first, but is now switching to a program with stricter requirements, Widomski said. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, the nation's largest organization of low- and moderate-income families, has been going door to door in Houston telling storm victims how to appeal. "People are too angry to be afraid," said Kemberly Samuels, 52, with ACORN's Katrina Survivors Association. "It's like FEMA has a trump card on us and they have our fate in their hands." In Houston, between 8,500 and 8,900 of the 35,000 families receiving housing assistance got notices earlier this month, some saying they were ineligible because their homes in the hurricane-ravaged region were suitable for living, Michel said. But after receiving calls from upset evacuees disputing those FEMA claims, the mayor sent a city team to New Orleans two weeks ago. Michel said 30 of the 47 homes they inspected could not be lived in because they had extensive damage or needed minor repairs but were in an area without utilities, grocery stores and other services.
By ANGELA K. BROWN, Associated Press Writer

New Orleans Preservation Hall reopens on wary note Yahoo! News
The Preservation Hall jazz shrine reopens this weekend for the first time since Hurricane Katrina, and for a stellar group of musicians it is more than a New Orleans homecoming. "That's my purpose in life -- to keep this music alive," Preservation Hall Jazz Band trombonist Lucien Barbarin said. With a lineage that includes legendary New Orleans drummer Paul Barbarin, a great uncle, and composer and guitarist Danny Barker, a second cousin, it is no surprise Barbarin, 49, is a man on a mission. But it will take more than one man's ambition to keep the nightclub and jazz alive in a city still struggling to recover from America's costliest natural disaster. The August 29 hurricane destroyed the homes and instruments of hundreds of musicians and closed the venues where they played, shutting down the music scene at least temporarily. Preservation Hall, the tiny 45-year-old French Quarter club nearly synonymous with the city, is home base for Barbarin and his band. The members were scattered across several states after the storm. The venue's owners are unsure whether it can make enough money to stay open, even as large crowds are expected for the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, which started Friday. "There still is uncertainty," said Ben Jaffe, whose parents founded Preservation Hall. The club has received enough private donations to keep operating for a few months, he said. But the outlook for autumn, the end of the New Orleans tourist season, is less certain. "We feel we will make it through the summer," Jaffe said. "Then we'll see what happens. "It's exactly like it was when my parents opened the place in 1961. We have absolutely no idea what our future is here in New Orleans." That uncertainty permeates much of the city's music scene. Clubs are open in repopulated parts of town, and musicians are finding work. But many still live outside the city, and the tourist trade that kept many local musicians employed is in a major post-Katrina slump. Moreover, many artists are finding more lucrative work in cities like Houston and Atlanta, where thousands of displaced New Orleanians evacuated. "A lot of people are not even coming back," said Preservation Hall Jazz Band guitarist and banjo player Carl LeBlanc, who now lives in Houston. "A lot of New Orleans musicians, the ones who need this place's soul, they're coming back just to refuel every once in a while." LeBlanc and many others are struggling with insurance companies and uncertainties over rebuilding devastated neighborhoods. "They're giving us so much trouble trying to get back," he said. Still, the mood at the hall's reopening party on Thursday night was celebratory. The club received a donation of instruments from guitar maker Gibson USA, which flew in U2 guitarist The Edge for the occasion. He joined several New Orleans musicians for a version of U2's "Vertigo." Later, the house band and several dozen party-goers paraded through the French Quarter to Bourbon Street, then circled back to end with a lively rendition of the Professor Longhair standard "Mardi Gras in New Orleans."
By Russell McCulley

Natural Gas Economy Is Losing Steam Yahoo! News
On the brink of the 21st century, a group of energy experts peered into the future of natural gas, and what they saw was quite rosy — and quite wrong. To satisfy growing demand, producers could crank out a third more natural gas over the next decade at "competitive prices." It could "power our economy" for decades beyond. Or so said the National Petroleum Council in its 1999 report. But natural gas prices soon headed skyward, with prices charged by producers spiking late last year at nearly five times 1999 levels. This past winter, though starting off warm, saw the average gas-heating household spend a record $867, a 17 percent increase, according to federal data. As for that predicted robust supply, the country's annual gas output has strangely slipped by 3 percent over the past six years. Something is broken in the economics of natural gas, say people inside and outside the industry. The bright dream of an economy built squarely on clean-burning natural gas is slowly deflating. Although we still derive almost a quarter of the country's energy from natural gas, its share will slip in coming decades, federal forecasters now say. "What's going on now is so dysfunctional, it is really remarkable," says industry consultant Jim Choukas-Bradley. Retired Yale economist Paul MacAvoy says price jerks and fuel crimps could soon rival California's electricity nightmare of 2000-2001. "Everything that has gone wrong in electric power is going to go wrong with natural gas, unless we do something," he says. "It's just a few miles down the road." What went so wrong with natural gas? The industry largely blames old fields and self-defeating government policy, and such explanations are widely accepted. The trouble is, they don't explain the breakdown very well. Skeptics are beginning to suspect other powerful forces — ones at work within the industry itself.

Some consumers simply look to their gut and blame the industry. After 26 years, retirees Anna and Frank Siracusa are selling their nine-room, gas-heated home in Methuen, Mass., for something smaller. At age 72, they're tired of turning down the thermostat and piling on sweaters each winter. "Someone is ripping us off," grumbles Mrs. Siracusa. The level of discontent even makes the industry nervous. "We're good corporate citizens. We'd like to have prices at a level where people and congressmen are not screaming all the time," says R. Skip Horvath, president of the National Gas Supply Association. Industry leaders say they're trying to fix things, but declining gas fields and harder-to-reach new ones are limiting output. "You've got to drill more wells, you've got to run faster, just to replace what has declined," says Bobby Shackouls, CEO of producer Burlington Resources and past chairman of the Petroleum Council. While government policy turned less-polluting natural gas into the fuel of choice for new electric plants in the late 1990s, federal rules kept drillers away from vast stretches of public land, the industry complains. Then came last year's hurricanes. However, most drilling restrictions were imposed years ago and added no new impediments to output during the price run-up, say federal energy officials. And the hurricanes only added the latest insult to a market with much bigger, older injuries. Also, other trends should have cooled off prices. Yes, gas-fired generators did use almost 1 trillion more cubic feet of natural gas last year than in 1999. But at the same time, factories cut back, using almost 1.5 trillion less, federal data show. The country is not running out either. There's enough natural gas to last beyond 65 years — much longer than oil, according to the best forecasts. Despite the federal barriers to drilling, the amount of economical, ready-to-capture gas — under existing wells within reach of pipelines — rose 15 percent during the four years ending in 2004, according to the latest federal data. The American Gas Association, a group of utilities, has made a preliminary estimate of another 4 percent rise last year. "There's a lot of natural gas in the world," says Jerry Langdon, an executive at producer and marketer Reliant Energy. Why, then, isn't it reaching users? Despite their protests, maybe some producers aren't really trying, industry critics suspect. Maybe they're happy to take it easy and rake in record yearly profits. Many natural gas producers are the same companies benefiting from rocketing gasoline prices in recent years — familiar petroleum names like Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Shell and BP. Drivers, of course, can respond immediately to high prices by traveling less. It's harder for people to turn down their natural-gas heat. "As soon as companies that control the resource figure out how to keep prices high, they'll do it, and I believe that's what were seeing in gas," says Ezra Hausman, analyst for Synapse Energy Economics in Cambridge, Mass. Some Midwestern cities are accusing producers of doing it by collusion. In an antitrust lawsuit, they suggest that producers have reached either a secret agreement or tacit understanding to bottle up production. "I think the increase in prices is a designed thing," says Charles Wheatley, a lawyer for the 18 communities from Texas to Indiana suing five leading gas producers in federal court. They haven't found a smoking gun proving that. Yet, in Associated Press interviews, some industry executives acknowledge that, during their 1999 sessions, members of the Petroleum Council talked privately of a supply and price crunch in the near future — purportedly as a result of external factors. Why, then, didn't they warn people? Former council leaders indicated that they wanted to keep pressure on demand. "We needed to give comfort to our customers that gas was going to be available," says Joe Foster, a retired gas executive who was council chairman in 1999. Shackouls, his successor, puts it this way: "We were doing it to grease our own wheels." In the end, the council issued its reassuring report, and demand stayed strong. On the other hand, industry leaders insist that collusion to sit on supplies cannot happen. After all, the five leading producers supply less than a fifth of domestic natural gas. So if they were to charge unjustifiable prices, smaller ones could undersell them, right? Maybe not, if producers are more unified than they seem. Many small producers own rights, not rigs. They take a back seat to bigger companies that actually do the drilling under joint ventures, shared leases and royalty agreements. Former federal energy regulator John Wilson estimates that the five producers named in the antitrust lawsuit can influence most domestic output through such arrangements, without changing their official production figures. "Prices have stayed up because people in control of supply decided they could keep them up," says Wilson, who has supported the lawsuit with his analysis. "That's not how we operate," answers Bob Davis, a spokesman for lead defendant Exxon Mobil Corp. "This concept ... is simply ridiculous." And ridiculous it would have been a generation ago, when government regulators set prices across the whole marketplace. Since the 1990s, the marketplace itself has increasingly set producer and pipeline prices under pressure from new hordes of traders, many betting on the future prices of natural gas. In theory, traders would enable better deals through the magic wand of competition. And the theory seemed sound in the first years of market pricing, when supplies were robust. During the production-pricing bind, though, something else appears to have happened. Conditioned by an irrepressible string of price increases, futures traders — who contract for future gas deliveries at fixed prices — tend to settle at even higher fixed prices, many analysts believe. Since the market uses these fixed prices as a reference point for its day-to-day prices, overestimates by traders can turn into self-fullfilling prophesies. "One thing that's out there that I think is a bit of a negative is: Traders love volatility," says Reliant Energy's Langdon, who once worked for a predecessor to disgraced energy trader Enron. Middleman traders — also children of deregulation — now sell much of the gas, taking their cut without producing or transporting it. They were supposed to bring better deals to buyers, but not everyone's so sure they do — even setting aside outright market manipulations blamed on traders like Enron in recent years. "I sometimes wonder if these are the prices that would really be arrived at, if the user of the gas was dealing with the producer of the gas," muses Foster, the former Petroleum Council chairman. Others harbor deeper doubts. Is real competition possible, they wonder, for a product that buyers absolutely need? They're not like shoppers, after all, who can simply shift to a cheaper product on the store shelf — maybe apples instead of peaches. "I think it is very difficult, if not impossible, to foster truly competitive markets when you're dealing with energy," says Tyson Slocum, a consumer advocate at Public Citizen.

At six-years-and-counting, you might think supply has to expand to meet demand before long. Yet there's little sign of it yet. The industry's supply group warns of more upward pull on prices. Even the administration of President Bush, a former oilman, hasn't come close to opening enough federal land to drilling and stripping away enough bureaucracy from permits, the industry complains. "Our natural gas supply problems are man-made by legislation and red tape," groused chairman Larry Nichols of producer Devon Energy in March. Optimists point to projections of multiplying imports of frozen liquid gas, which is warmed back to its original state in this country. However, those predictions may also veer off target. Terminals to liquefy and regasify don't come cheaply, and investors shy away without assurance of safe supplies well into the future. Terminals typically run into a tsunami of domestic opposition, with the huge tankers and storage tanks feared as targets for attack. "We're much more in the public eye because of the ships, because of the concern about terrorism," says Frank Katulak, president of the Distrigas liquid gas operation outside Boston, which wants to build a new terminal offshore. Even with more terminals, a global supply means a world market. The United States already competes for such gas with fuel-starved Europe and will increasingly confront demand from the hulking economy of China. More buyers means more demand, which means higher prices. By then, these could seem like the good old days.
EDITOR'S NOTE — Jeff Donn often covers energy as the AP's Northeast regional writer, based in Boston.
By JEFF DONN, Associated Press Writer

Napster: Sample our service for free Yahoo! News
Digital music service Napster said Monday it would allow nonsubscribers to access complete songs and then play them, e-mail them to friends or add them to their blogs for free. Users can listen to every song in the Napster catalog five times each, after which they must either buy it or become a subscriber. Registration is required but asks only for user name, password and e-mail address -- no credit card is needed and no demographic information is requested. Napster chairman and CEO Chris Gorog said the move in no way indicates that the company is abandoning the subscription model. He said it actually was the opposite, and that by giving people immediate access to the music of their choice anywhere and at any time it gave them a way to learn more about what a subscription provides. "If the entertainment industry isn't focused on removing obstacles and delivering unlimited access on-demand legally, consumers will get it illegally," Gorog said. "The new Napster.com offers consumers a fantastic free music experience that is also the best possible introduction to the benefits of our paid subscription experience. We think it strikes a balance that both the industry and consumers will find tremendously exciting." Each selected song pops up in a player window that includes advertising and what the company calls NapsterLinks. These are buttons that let users send the song's link in an e-mail, post it to a blog or social-networking page, add it to an instant message or place it anywhere else that supports an HTML link, where everyone who sees it can also listen to it for free as long as they are registered. Other options in the pop-up player invite users to purchase the track outright, buy the complete album or subscribe to Napster. Free tracks are a 32K stream, but subscribers get a 128K stream. Gorog said significant amounts of original editorial content had been added, including biographies and discographies by Napster's own staff and an exclusive license agreement with the well-known Michael Ochs Archive of music photographs. There also is a new section called Narchive, designed to be "a people's history of music" where fans can post their own memories and comments along with photos, images of ticket stubs or anything else they wish. NapsterLinks work there, too. "We believe this will be a unique music destination, unlike anything currently on the Web," Gorog said. The free Napster does not require any download and works on PCs, Mac and Linux computers via Firefox, Internet Explorer, Netscape and Safari browsers.
By Chris Marlowe

Anna Nicole Smith Wins Supreme Court Case New York Times
Anna Nicole Smith was given a new chance by the Supreme Court today to try to get part of the vast fortune of her late husband, a Texas oil tycoon who was six decades her senior. The justices were unanimous in finding that the former Playboy model, who is also known as Vickie Lynn Marshall, could pursue her claim in federal court. The justices overturned a ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which had held that the case really belonged in Texas state probate court. Yes, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote for the high court, the "probate exception" generally gives state probate courts authority to oversee wills and the administration of estates. But she noted, "Trial courts, both federal and state, often address conduct of the kind Vickie alleges." Furthermore, she wrote, state probate courts possess "no special proficiency" in handling issues like the ones raised in Marshall v. Marshall, No. 04-1544. Those issues, Justice Ginsburg recounted, include the young widow's allegations that E. Pierce Marshall, son of the tycoon J. Howard Marshall II, tried to isolate the old man, "surrounding him with hired guards" to prevent personal contact between husband and wife, and thus deprive her of what she had been promised: part of an estate estimated as high as $1.6 billion. Justice Ginsburg did not mention other elements of the case which, while perhaps not of deep interest to legal scholars, have stirred some interest among nonlawyers, and maybe even some members of the bar. J. Howard Marshall II was 89 and Ms. Smith, the 1992 Playmate of the Year and a model for jeans commercials, was 26 when they married on June 27, 1994, after a two-year courtship. The marriage was his third and her second. Mr. Marshall paid for his wife's acting lessons and lavished gifts upon her. The marriage ended with Mr. Marshall's death on Aug. 4, 1995, by which time the stage had been set for a showdown between the widow and E. Pierce Marshall, who had worried — rightly, it seems — that his father would be as generous to his young wife as he had been to a mistress who died in 1990. The young widow has maintained that her husband promised her half his estate as an inducement to wed him. But while he expressed his adoration in life with gifts and "significant sums of money," Justice Ginsburg noted, the elder Mr. Marshall did not include anything in his will for his wife, who has maintained that her husband intended to provide for her through a gift in the form of a "catch-all" trust. E. Pierce Marshall was the ultimate beneficiary of his father's estate plan, which consisted of a living trust and a will under which all of his father's assets not already included in the trust were to be transferred to the trust upon his death. The competing claims set off proceedings in both state and federal courts. In 1996, while the estate was subject to state probate proceedings in Texas, the widow filed for bankruptcy in federal bankruptcy court in California. In so doing, she accused E. Pierce Marshall of scheming to deny her an inheritance. Mr. Marshall, in turn, accused her of defaming him with public accusations that he had resorted to fraud and other wrongdoing to get his father's money. The bankruptcy court sided with Ms. Smith, awarding her some $475 million, an amount later slashed to about $44 million (plus an equal amount in punitive damages) by a federal district court. But the Ninth Circuit overturned the findings in her favor, ruling that the state probate court was the proper arena. That court has ruled that she is entitled to nothing. Today's ruling means that the state court's finding is far from the last word. The dispute will now go back to federal district court, where a long battle is likely, given the high stakes and bitterness that have attended the case. E. Pierce Marshall vowed today not to give up. "I will continue to fight to uphold my father's estate plan and clear my name," he told The Associated Press. He said that is a promise that Ms. Smith and her lawyers "can take to the bank."
By DAVID STOUT
Anna Nicole Smith scores Supreme Court win KRIS-TV
Anna Nicole Smith wins ruling ABC News
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Immigrants mount boycott, rallies Yahoo! News
A one-day nationwide strike and business boycott gathered steam on Monday to demand legal rights for millions of illegal immigrants, with many U.S. businesses shutting down voluntarily to avoid disruption. Early reports suggested many of the estimated 11.5-12 million illegal immigrants in the country were staying away from work, despite a mixed message from immigrant-rights organizations, some of which opposed the action. In New York City's Union Square, the normally bustling open-air market operated at a fraction of its typical activity. Cheap, immigrant-run buses services from New Jersey to the city were not running. Demonstrators formed "human chains" at several points around the city. Hundreds, including school children, lined up in Queens, stretching for three blocks on both sides of the street waving U.S. and Latin American flags and banners saying, "We are Americans" and "Full Rights for All Immigrants." "Everyone's an immigrant here. The only real American is the Indian," said Puerto Rican-born Rene Ochart, a doorman at the posh Hotel Pierre in Manhattan's Upper East Side, who was working as usual. A bill passed by the House of Representatives in December that would make all illegal immigrants into felons provoked a mass protest movement, bringing people who previously worked and lived in the shadows of U.S. society into the streets. Across the country, several major meat-packing plants were closed but operators had tried to prepare for the shutdown by stepping up production over the weekend. Fast food company McDonald's Corp. said some of its restaurants were operating for shorter hours or drive-thru service only. The National Association of Chain Restaurants said the boycott could hurt its members. "Unfortunately, these work boycotts have the potential to handcuff the very businesses that have worked so hard for immigration reform," said association spokesman Scott Vinson. Police in Los Angeles were bracing for two massive marches, with hundreds of thousands of people expected to heed a call from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Roman Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahony and others to make their voices heard. Police in Chicago were also expecting up to half a million people to march, while smaller rallies were planned in most major cities across the nation. Wage and labor expert Oren Levin-Waldman of the Metropolitan College of New York said the main impact would be to inconvenience people but a one-day protest would have little economic effect despite the major role played by immigrants in the economy.

CHEAP LABOR
"The real issue with respect to the immigrant work stoppage is that the country relies on illegal immigrant workers to keep prices down," he said. Recent polls suggest a majority of Americans would support legislation being debated in the Senate that would allow many illegal immigrants to join a legal guest worker program and later apply for citizenship. An NBC/Wall Street Journal survey last week found 68 percent would support this with 28 percent in opposition. However, the same poll found that only 17 percent of Americans thought the day-long boycott and strike would help the immigrants' cause, while 57 percent said it would harm it. The walkout caused a dispute over strategy within the ranks of immigrant-rights advocates for precisely that reason, with some fearing the action would trigger a backlash. Yet proponents say the move was needed to prod President Bush and a divided Congress to end an election-year squabble and enact legislation. Illegal immigrants, who flood across the Mexican border at a rate of half a million a year, work mostly at low-paid jobs in agriculture, construction, restaurants, as janitors, meat packers, maids and gardeners and many other occupations. "We are all losers if we continue to play this sinister game of condemning a segment of the population to live and work in the conditions of modern-day slaves," said Juan Jose Gutierrez, director of the Latino Movement USA. A recent study by the American Farm Bureau Federation said a crackdown on illegal immigrant labor could cause production losses in U.S. agriculture of $5 billion to $9 billion in the first one to three years and up to $12 billion over four or more years. Passing immigration reform has been difficult because the Republican Party is badly split on the issue between those who support giving illegal immigrants a path to citizenship and hard-liners who want to focus on beefing up border security and punishing companies who employ illegal immigrants. The House passed a get-tough bill last December that would reclassify illegal immigrants as felons, punish those who help them and build a fence along much of the U.S.-Mexican border. Chicago teacher Francisco Palomo, 46, said he had skipped work to protest against the House bill, which could penalize anyone who extended help to an illegal immigrant. "I don't want to be criminalized. If I help out some guys, if I give some lodging, that's a felony?" he said.
By Alan Elsner

US sends officials to Abuja to get Darfur deal Yahoo! News
The United States sent its No. 2 State Department official to Darfur peace talks in Nigeria on Monday in a last-minute bid to help African Union mediators get the warring sides to reach a peace deal. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, who has been the lead Bush administration official on Sudan, would help AU mediators "close the gaps" at peace talks in the Nigerian capital, said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. The announcement came after tens of thousands of people held "Save Darfur" rallies across the United States on Sunday, calling for an end to atrocities in Darfur and for more U.S. involvement in resolving the crisis. A Sunday deadline set by the AU for Darfur rebel groups and Sudan's government to reach a deal was extended overnight by 48 hours and the U.S. government hoped a major push by Zoellick would break the deadlock. Chances of a breakthrough appeared slim when Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha left Abuja on Monday. A diplomat said Taha believed the rebel leaders did not want substantive talks. McCormack urged Sudan's government to send a senior representative back to Abuja, adding that while some progress had been made, key issues still had to be resolved. "The United States urges the Darfur rebel movements to focus on the few key issues that stand in the way of reaching a settlement," he said. "All parties should make a concentrated effort to seize this opportunity for peace." In Abuja, Zoellick will meet Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo as well as the commanders of the AU mission in Sudan to discuss the deteriorating security situation in Darfur. About 7,000 African troops are battling to keep the peace in Darfur, an area about the size of France. The United States and many of its allies would like United Nations peacekeepers to augment the African force but Khartoum has so far rejected this offer. The rebels, who have major objections on issues related to security, power-sharing and wealth-sharing in the peace deal, took up arms in early 2003 in ethnically mixed Darfur over what they saw as neglect by the Arab-dominated central government. Khartoum used militias to crush the rebellion, killing tens of thousands of people in the fighting. A campaign of arson, looting and rape has driven more than 2 million from their homes into refugee camps in Darfur and neighboring Chad. Zoellick, who leaves for Abuja later on Monday, will be accompanied by Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Jendayi Frazer, and Roger Winter, the State Department's special representative for Sudan.
By Sue Pleming

US keeps faith with Iraq army, 3 years after war Yahoo! News
The U.S. military said on Monday it had every confidence in the new Iraqi army it is training, after hundreds of Sunni Arab recruits joined a protest at a graduation parade that bordered on mutiny. Three years to the day since President George W. Bush declared the United States' "mission accomplished" in the brief campaign to invade and overthrow Saddam Hussein, Washington still has 133,000 troops in Iraq, suffering daily casualties. Bush said on Monday Iraq was now at a "turning point" as Shi'ite Prime Minister-designate Nuri al-Maliki strives, after months of political deadlock, to form a government of national unity that can quell rebellion and sectarian bloodshed. An as yet unnamed soldier killed by a roadside bomb near Baghdad on Saturday was the 2,400th American to die in uniform in Iraq, all but 140 of them since Bush declared "major combat" over on May 1, 2003. Nearly 17,500 have been wounded. At least 73 U.S. troops were killed in April, their costliest month since November. Key to Americans going home, U.S. leaders say, is training Iraqis to take over fighting guerrillas and keeping order -- Iraqis like the 978 young men from restive Sunni Arab Anbar province who disrupted a passing out parade on Sunday, some casting off their tunics, and rejected deployment orders. A spokesman for the U.S. command in Baghdad overseeing a program that has trained more than 200,000 Iraqi troops, called it an isolated incident and said there was no question of the new soldiers not obeying orders. "It is important that they are willing and able to deploy around the country," Lieutenant Colonel Michael Negard said of the recruits' complaints that they and their families could be in danger if they were posted away from their hometowns. "They are going to salute smartly and move out," he added. It was unclear if any of the unarmed recruits were disciplined after the protest, which ended peacefully.

INSURGENCY
U.S. forces said they were keen to increase recruitment among the Sunni minority to broaden the sectarian and ethnic mix of the army and win it greater acceptance in places like Anbar, the heartland of the Sunni insurgency. President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, said he had met delegates from some insurgent groups and hoped there could be a deal to have them lay down their arms, though hardline supporters of al Qaeda or Saddam Hussein would remain enemies of the new state. Many Sunnis, whose community was dominant under Saddam and before, took part in the U.S.-sponsored political process for the first time in December's parliamentary election. It was followed by four months of paralysis that frustrated U.S. hopes of a rapid formation of a unity government that could stem violence. But the appointment of Shi'ite Islamist Maliki 10 days ago has raised expectations in Washington and Baghdad. "This is a turning point for the Iraqi citizens and it's a new chapter in our partnership," Bush said of a visit last week to Iraq by his secretary of state and defense secretary. "Obviously there's some difficult days ahead because there's still terrorists there ... But this government is more determined than ever to succeed," he added.

NEGOTIATIONS
Maliki said last week he needed a further week to form a government that would include Sunnis, Kurds and other groups. With mid-term congressional elections looming in November, Bush's public approval ratings are at about the low of his presidency partly due to public discontent over the Iraq war. One of the most prominent opposition Democrats, Senate Foreign Affairs Committee member Joseph Biden, called on Monday for Iraq to be divided, Bosnia-style, into three largely autonomous Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish regions, with a weaker central government controlling the highly mixed city of Baghdad. The article in the New York Times reflected impatience in the United States with events in Iraq, where hundreds of people have been killed and tens of thousands forced from their homes in sectarian violence that flared two months ago. But many Iraqi and foreign analysts argue an attempt to divide the oil-rich nation would bring its own problems and could provoke rather than hinder a civil war. The May Day public holiday produced a lull in Iraqi political negotiations but a senior official in Maliki's Dawa party, Hassan al-Senaid, criticized Biden's remarks, saying they reflected efforts to discredit Bush at home. "Partitioning Iraq is rejected by all Iraqis," Senaid said. Ahead of the next meeting of the new parliament on Wednesday, only its third session since the election, an important negotiation is taking place among the parties for the two posts of deputy prime minister to Maliki, politicians said. Three blocs have claims on the places -- Sunnis, Kurds and the cross-sectarian secular bloc of former premier Iyad Allawi, himself a Shi'ite. The two main Kurdish parties are at odds with each other, Kurdish negotiators said. One said the Sunni Accordance Front and Allawi's group would hold talks on Tuesday to discuss the issue.
By Alastair Macdonald

Iraqis Rally for Help Against Insurgents Yahoo! News
About 200 Shiites rallied Monday outside the Green Zone to demand that U.S. and Iraqi forces do more to stop insurgent attacks in the capital and help Iraqis who are fleeing their homes because of sectarian violence. Most of the protesters were women dressed in abayas, the full-length black robes worn by devout Muslim women. One weeping demonstrator held up the photo ID card of her husband, a truck driver, and said he had been killed in a drive-by shooting. Other protesters waved large banners with slogans demanding that the Iraqi government provide better care for displaced families. The rally took place outside the tall cement wall surrounding the Green Zone, where Iraq's government meets and the U.S. and British embassies are located. At one point, two Iraqi men — a soldier and a civilian — left the compound to meet with the protesters and briefly take notes about who they were and what they were demanding. The government offices were closed because May Day is a national holiday in Iraq, although many businesses and stores were open as usual. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have fled their homes in mixed Sunni-Shiite areas because of sectarian violence, some of it caused by militias allied with Iraqi political parties. A surge in such attacks began after the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite shrine. In Washington, President Bush said a report from his two top foreign policy officials on their visit to Baghdad shows that Iraq's leadership is "more determined that ever to succeed" now that a new permanent government is in place. "We believe we've got partners to help the Iraqi people realize their dreams," Bush said after meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. "They need to know that we stand with them." But Bush said that Rice and Rumsfeld didn't come back with all good news. "There's going to be more tough days ahead," the president said, with Rice and Rumsfeld at his side. "It's a government that understands they've got serious challenges ahead of them." Also Monday, the senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee proposed that Iraq be divided into three separate regions — Kurdish, Shiite and Sunni — with a central government in Baghdad. In a column in The New York Times, Sen. Joseph Biden (news, bio, voting record). D-Del., wrote that the idea "is to maintain a united Iraq by decentralizing it, giving each ethno-religious group ... room to run its own affairs, while leaving the central government in charge of common interests." The new Iraqi constitution allows for establishment of self-governing regions. But that was one of the reasons the Sunnis opposed the constitution and why they demanded and won an agreement to review it this year. The White House rejected the idea of a partitioned Iraq, saying the Bush administration supports a "federal, democratic, pluralist and unified" country. "A partition government with regional security forces and a weak central government, as you are referencing, is something that no Iraqi leader has proposed and that the Iraqi people have not supported," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. The bullet-ridden, handcuffed and blindfolded bodies of three Iraqi men were found in Baghdad's southern Dora neighborhood, said police Capt. Jamil Hussein. A drive-by shooting also killed a Shiite grocer in his shop, Hussein said. Elsewhere, three roadside bombs exploded in Baghdad, wounding two civilians, police said. The first bomb exploded at 8 a.m. in the Mashtal district of eastern Baghdad, wounding two civilians, said police Maj. Mahir Musa. The second blast, targeting an Iraqi police convoy, occurred at 9:45 a.m. on a highway in the nearby district of Kamsara, causing no casualties, said police Lt. Bilal Ali Majid. About five minutes later, a fuel can being used as a roadside bomb exploded about 500 yards behind a U.S. military convoy in Al-Bayaa, a neighborhood of southern Baghdad, causing no injuries or damage, the U.S. military said. In other violence Monday:

• Insurgents fired two mortar shells at a U.S. military base in Haqlaniyah, 140 miles northwest of Baghdad, prompting soldiers to search surrounding houses and shops for suspected militants, witnesses said. No casualties were reported.
• In Tikrit, the hometown of former Prime Minister Saddam Hussein, roadside bombs aimed at American convoys exploded in two nearby neighborhoods, police said. No casualties were reported, but U.S. and Iraqi forces to searched homes in both areas.

On Sunday, a roadside bomb in Tikrit, 80 miles north of Baghdad, destroyed a U.S. Humvee, the military said. It said no service members were killed in the attack, but did not say whether anyone was injured.
By SINAN SALAHEDDIN, Associated Press Writer

Immigrants Make Their Case Across U.S. Yahoo! News
Illegal immigrants and their allies gathered Monday for marches, prayers and demonstrations on a planned national day of economic protest, boycotting work, school and shopping to show their importance to the country. Several thousand people marched in the rural city of Homestead, home to one Florida's largest Mexican immigrant populations and many major growers of fruits, vegetables and nursery plants. Jose Cruz, 23, from El Salvador, said he took off the day from his construction job to attend the rally. "If I lose my job, it's worth it," said Cruz, who has a temporary work permit that is granted to many Central Americans. "It's worth losing several jobs to get my papers." Others were working Monday but buying nothing as part of the economic boycott around the country. Some planned to attend protests during lunch breaks or after work. Church services, candlelight vigils and picnics also were planned. Grassroots organizers are protesting stricter immigration laws that are being debated in Congress, and they hope Monday's events will raise awareness about immigrants' economic power. In Carmel, Ind., Jeff Salsbery said about 25 Hispanic workers skipped work at Monday at his landscaping company. "I'm not very happy this morning," Salsbery said. "We're basically shut down in our busiest month of the year. It's going to cost me thousands of dollars today." Some big businesses were shutting down operations: Eight of 14 Perdue Farms plants will close; Gallo Wines in Sonoma, Calif., was giving its 150 employees the day off; Tyson Foods Inc., the world's largest meat producer, planned to shut five of its nine beef plants and four of six pork plants. In Denver, El Centro Humanitario, a nonprofit set up to help day laborers, was closed Monday because its managers were helping organize a rally downtown expected to attract tens of thousands of people. But there was little change at Labor Finders, a temporary office with several offices in the Denver area, spokesman Tim Kaffer said. "The people who come in here really can't afford to take a day off," he said. "Their daily pay just takes care of their hotel and food." Thanks to the success of previous rallies plus media attention, planning for Monday's events, collectively called Un Dia Sin Inmigrantes — A Day Without Immigrants — is widespread, though fragmented. In New Orleans, several thousand demonstrators attended a rally, carrying signs that read "Proud to rebuild" and "We come to work." Derrick Trundle, 29, of Metairie, La. said he sends money to his mother in Honduras every month. "We don't come here to do anything bad," Trundle said. "Just support our family because our country is so very poor." In California, a spokeswoman for Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said a boycott would "hurt everyone," while Democratic state senators passed a resolution supporting walkouts. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa urged students to stay in school and advised protesters against waving flags of their native countries. "You should wave the American flag," he said. "It's the flag of the country that we all are proud of and want to be a part of. Don't disrespect the traditions of this country." Activists in Florida said many immigrants were concerned about recent federal raids, in which hundreds of immigrants with criminal backgrounds were rounded up in Florida and throughout the Midwest. Opponents of illegal immigration spent the weekend building a fence to symbolize their support of a secure border. About 200 volunteers organized by the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps of California worked on a 6-foot barbed-wire fence along a quarter-mile stretch of rugged terrain near the U.S.-Mexico border about 50 miles east of San Diego. In Pensacola, Fla., about a dozen anti-immigration protesters carried signs that read "Illegals Go Home" and "Enforce Immigration Laws." Jim Moody said he does not support efforts to make illegal immigration a felony but is concerned about the drain on schools, hospitals and other resources that he believes illegal immigrants cause. "We've forgotten what the word 'illegal' means," he said. Roberto Aguilar, an Atlanta construction worker originally from Mexico City, says he was fired after he marched at a demonstration last month. The 25-year-old, though, felt it was important to return Monday. "If we don't come out, they're going to paint us as criminals," Aguilar said. "We've only come here to earn money with the sweat of our brow."
By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ, Associated Press Writer

Oil jumps 2 percent on Iran Yahoo! News
Oil prices jumped 2 percent on Monday to top $73 a barrel on concerns that supplies could take a hit from Iran's defiant pursuit of its nuclear program and violence in Nigeria. IPE Brent crude futures in London gained $1.66 to trade at $73.68 a barrel after a fire shut ERG (ERG.MI) group's 160,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Impianti Nord refinery in Sicily, adding to supply worries. U.S. light sweet crude rose $1.47 to $73.35 a barrel in afternoon activity as markets remained fixed on Iran. Iran vowed Sunday to carry on pursuing a nuclear fuel cycle and to strike back if it is attacked. The world's nuclear watchdog said last week Tehran had ignored international calls to abandon its atomic program. "Iran continues to be a factor with the market waiting what kind of sanctions the United Nations (Security Council) might impose against it," said Tom Knight, trader at products marketer Truman Arnold in Texarkana, Texas. U.N. ambassadors from the United States, Britain and France are expected to introduce a Security Council resolution this week to make Iran comply with demands to enrichment. Failure to do so could result in limited sanctions, although Russia and China -- the other two veto-wielding council members -- say they do not favor such a move for now. Concerns over Iran's growing standoff with western nations helped push U.S. oil to a record high of $75.35 a barrel in late April. Prices fell after President Bush temporarily eased fuel standards to increase availability of refined products ahead of the summer driving season. But U.S. Energy Secretary Samual Bodman said the world's top oil consumer may be facing an energy "crisis." Government officials are concerned high U.S. gasoline prices may become a political liability during congressional elections this year. "There is apparently some evidence we have a crisis," Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said in a televised interview over the weeend. Qatari Energy Minister Abdulah al-Attiyah said oil prices were being driven by geopolitical concerns and added there was little oil cartel OPEC could do at its June 1 meeting to help bring them down. "I see the geopolitical situation still pushing the price of oil very high up. You cannot control strong winds, and you cannot control the geopolitical situation," he told reporters. Violence in Nigeria, where militant attacks have cut crude production by a quarter, also added support to oil markets. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which wants more local control over the southern delta's oil wealth, said it had detonated 30 kg (66 lb) of dynamite in a car bombing close to a refinery in the oil capital of Warri. The militants said it was a warning to oil industry workers and investors, singling out the Chinese government, which last week clinched a multi-billion dollar deal for access to oil acreage.
By Matthew Robinson

Kerry to boost Fla. Democrats Miami Herald
Sen. John Kerry prepared for Saturday's Democratic fundraiser in Miami Beach with some sharp words for Republicans running for statewide office. Former and possibly future presidential contender John Kerry is coming to Miami Beach Saturday to headline one of the Florida Democratic Party's biggest fundraisers for the 2006 election. In a last-minute appeal distributed Wednesday, Kerry -- who lost Florida and the presidency two years ago -- took shots at two GOP candidates running statewide. ''Katherine Harris making excuse after excuse about her ties to one of the largest-ever Congressional bribery scandals that has already landed one Republican in prison,'' Kerry's e-mail says. ``Charlie Crist turning a blind eye to astonishingly dangerous incompetence by a Republican state contractor. . . Enough is enough.'' U.S. Rep. Harris, running an underdog campaign against incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, received illegal contributions from a defense contractor who also pleaded guilty to bribing a California congressman. She says she did not know the donations were illegal. Last week, she said she regretted allowing him to pay for an expensive dinner they shared in Washington. Crist, the Florida attorney general running for governor, tried to quiet Democratic critics by deciding earlier this month to prosecute a false-claims case against a company that has a $350 million human-resources management contract with the state. State party officials would not estimate Wednesday how much money they expect to raise at the Kerry event, but Republicans still hold a multi-million dollar fundraising advantage.
BY BETH REINHARD

Ravaged by Katrina, New Orleans still wary of levees Yahoo! News
As a New Orleans firefighter, Randy Cookmeyer stayed on the job as Hurricane Katrina slammed the city on August 29. It was four days before he could go home, and by then he had to moor a boat to the rain gutter of his garage to retrieve clothes for his two sons. "I climbed up on my roof, cut a hole and got in through the attic because the water was up to the second-floor windows," Cookmeyer said outside his home, three blocks from where the storm surge ripped a 455-foot (140-meter) hole in the 17th Street Canal levee, which devastated the west part of town. But he has pushed ahead with renovation despite the ruin that still marks the area. He gutted his home, treated the studs for mold and installed new drywall and kitchen cabinets. He admits it is partly an act of faith, despite assurances from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that the region's 350-mile levee system will be back to pre-Katrina strength by the start of the 2006 hurricane season on June 1. "It doesn't mean there will be a hurricane June 1, it's just the hurricane season," said Cookmeyer, 40. "So hopefully they continue working and make the levees better than they ever were, because it affected a lot of people." It still does. Eight months after failed levees played a major role in America's worst natural disaster, more than half New Orleans' pre-storm population remains scattered across the country and entire tracts of neighborhoods are debris fields. In other parts of south Louisiana, such as St. Bernard and lower Plaquemines parishes, virtually no structures were spared damage from Katrina, then Hurricane Rita nearly a month later. As the storm season looms -- one forecasters predict will be active -- integrity of the levees is an overriding concern for residents and politicians as the region rebuilds.

RACING TO FIX DAMAGE
Under its Task Force Guardian initiative, the Corps is racing to finish $798 million of repairs to 169 miles of all-important earthen, steel and concrete flood barriers, most of which were built in the 1960s. More than $4 billion of major long-term improvements are being planned but Washington has yet to approve the funding and the first stage is not slated to be done until September 2007. Today, cranes and earth-moving equipment dot the south Louisiana landscape. By late April, repairs were nearly three-quarters done, said Corps spokesman John Fleshman. "This work would normally take maybe 18 months or two years, and we're doing it in six months, so it's definitely compressed," Fleshman said. "For that reason among others we brought on quality control people and so has the contractor." Various engineering groups blamed failures during Katrina on such factors as soil erosion and settling along floodwalls and poor design and maintenance by the Corps and contractors. A key improvement now is temporary 70-ton gates at the mouths of three outfall canals in the north part of New Orleans on Lake Pontchartrain, including the 17th Street Canal. They will be closed during severe storms to guard against surges. But pumping capacity is restricted in the canals, making it hard to pump out vast volumes of rainwater when the gates are closed, the Corps concedes. Robert Bea, an University of California, Berkeley, civil engineering professor who is part of a National Science Foundation team overseeing the project, said the Corps appears on track to meet its own target. But he's wary of the target. "People will sometimes get into too big a rush to meet a goal that is not really meaningful, and we've seen signs of that," Bea said. "While things may be back to pre-Katrina condition, obviously the pre-Katrina condition was not satisfactory for Katrina, so the concern is over the rush to meet this potentially very meaningless goal."

SOME AREAS STILL VULNERABLE
Depending on a hurricane's strength -- Katrina came ashore as a category three in a five-level scale -- areas near the navigable Industrial Canal in east New Orleans still face risks that levees could be overtopped, Corps officials said. Veteran contractor Ron Wimprine visited the Lakeview area recently to inspect a damaged home his daughter was considering buying. Standing on a street lined with gutted houses, he said residents should not be overly concerned about levees. "If they bring the levees back to pre-Katrina and they put the gates up in the front, the levees will definitely hold, because the water's not going to get as deep as it did before." said Wimprine, 68. "So, I feel comfortable." But it's a different story for the Lower Ninth Ward, the destroyed African American neighborhood that has become a macabre tourist attraction since it was opened to visitors, and the suburbs of New Orleans East. Ultimately the answer here lies in re-establishing crucial wetlands southeast of New Orleans, a natural barrier that has eroded and been cut up into waterways, scientists say. In addition, the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, a little-used shipping route that concentrates storm surges into the city's Industrial Canal, must be closed, Bea said. There are no definite plans to close it yet. "That effect was underestimated significantly by the Corps when they did the original Lake Pontchartrain protection design criteria," he said. "We know there's a significant hazard there. It needs to be addressed. You better not turn your back on it."
By Jeffrey Jones

New Orleans Jazz Fest: celebration among the ruins Yahoo! News
Under threatening skies, thousands of tourists and locals streamed past rows of vacant flood-damaged homes outside the Fair Grounds racetrack, toward the first New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival since Hurricane Katrina. "That is what people need to see," said Jazz Fest spokesperson Matthew Goldman. "That is what we can't hide in this whole scenario. We are not whole; we are trying to get back." Eight months after the worst natural disaster in US history, men in shorts and women in sun dresses strolled around 10 stages of live music, scaled-back food booths and other attractions on the festival grounds. The first day of the two-weekend festival opened Friday. Festival organizers say they will not release attendance figures until the six-day event closes May 7. As at Mardi Gras two months ago, many in the opening-day crowd at Jazz Fest expressed a determination to reclaim the festival's celebratory spirit. Some spectators were even costumed as if it were Mardi Gras. "We couldn't wait to come here," said Jason Wight, a broad-shouldered firefighter from Rancho Cucamonga, California dressed in a red wig and black tutu. His wife, Mary Beth Wight, a school teacher clad in similar attire, nodded in agreement. "We were apprehensive at first," Wight continued. "But once we heard Jazz Fest was happening we booked our flight, immediately. New Orleans is the best city in the entire world!" Some of the urgent, grassroots activism that has emerged since the Katrina turned up at Jazz Fest. Scores of spectators wore hats, T-shirts and pins bearing the French fleur de lis, a city symbol of renewal. Elsewhere, one young woman wore a black T-shirt that read: "Screw Fallujah, Save New Orleans." Not everyone was so parochial. At the Fais Do Do stage, local blues musician J. Monque D. ended a soulful performance with an urgent appeal: "Let us never forget our brothers and sisters in Darfur, where every day young children and women are being kidnapped and raped by the thousands. Write your congressman or representative. Tell them about the blues in Darfur!" Ronnie Virgets, a semi-retired columnist, stood in the back of the crowd. Virgets, who swam through his flooded home to safety during Katrina, portrayed Jazz Fest as a benchmark in the city's spiritual recovery. "New Orleans has always been noted for its culture of celebration and mourning," Virgets said. "We've had eight months of mourning since Katrina. This Jazz Fest will be a way of awakening the celebration part of our culture." A short walk away, a tent offered shade from the sun and coffee-table books about New Orleans, its music and Katrina. Those related to the storm were the best sellers, said Tad O'Brien, organizer of the tent. Tom Piazza, local author of the popular post-Katrina monograph, "Why News Orleans Matters," said Jazz Fest captures and fuses the best of the city's culture: "It gives us a way of understanding the way the food, the music, the dancing and the landscape all work together." Some of the activities were scaled back or transformed at Jazz Fest 2006, however. Fifty-five of 64 food booths re-opened, though crowd favorites such as Crawfish Monica returned, festival officials said. Many of the nonprofit groups who sold beer and bottled water for worthy causes were missing. Also absent were traditional craft exhibits by blacksmiths, bricklayers, and Cajun women who spun yarn and made lace. The streets outside the festival grounds were largely free of traffic congestion but also of colorful vendors and aspiring musicians. There were none of the open house parties or Jazz Fest flags that flapped in the wind over neighborhood porches during past festivals. Katrina had scoured the Jazz Fest's neighboring "landscape." Back at the Fais Do Do stage, zydeco musician Barney "Sunpie" Barnes led his 10-piece band in a rollicking version of "The La-La Song." It was a favorite tune of his guitar player, James Kebodeaux, who played with Barnes for 12 years, Barnes told AFP last week. Kebodeaux had major surgery last summer and died shortly after evacuating New Orleans. He was 49. "I'm dedicating this festival to him," Barnes said. He sang the "La-La Song", an upbeat tribute at a Jazz Fest celebration, for a city trying to end eight months of mourning.

Macs Are Virus Targets, Some Experts Warn Yahoo! News
Benjamin Daines was browsing the Web when he clicked on a series of links that promised pictures of an unreleased update to his computer's operating system. Instead, a window opened on the screen and strange commands ran as if the machine was under the control of someone — or something — else. Daines was the victim of a computer virus. Such headaches are hardly unusual on PCs running Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system. Daines, however, was using a Mac — an Apple Computer Inc. machine often touted as being immune to such risks. He and at least one other person who clicked on the links were infected by what security experts call the first-ever virus for Mac OS X, the operating system that has shipped with every Mac sold since 2001 and has survived virtually unscathed from the onslaught of malware unleashed on the Internet in recent years. "It just shows people that no matter what kind of computer you use you are still open to some level of attack," said Daines, a 29-year-old British chemical engineer who once considered Macs invulnerable to such attacks. Apple's iconic status, growing market share and adoption of same microprocessors used in machines running Windows are making Macs a bigger target, some experts warn. Apple's most recent wake-up call came last week, as a Southern California researcher reported seven new vulnerabilities. Tom Ferris said malicious Web sites can exploit the holes without a user's knowledge, potentially allowing a criminal to execute code remotely and gain access to passwords and other sensitive information. Ferris said he warned Apple of the vulnerabilities in January and February and that the company has yet to patch the holes, prompting him to compare the Cupertino-based computer maker to Microsoft three years ago, when the world's largest software company was criticized for being slow to respond to weaknesses in its products. "They didn't know how to deal with security, and I think Apple is in the same situation now," said Ferris, himself a Mac user. Apple officials point to the company's virtually unvarnished security track record and disputed claims that Mac OS X is more susceptible to attack now than in the past. Apple plans to patch the holes reported by Ferris in the next automatic update of Mac OS X, and there have been no reports of them being exploited, spokeswoman Natalie Kerris said. She disagreed that the vulnerabilities make it possible for a criminal to run code on a targeted machine. In Daines' infection, a bug in the virus' code prevented it from doing much damage. Still, several of his operating system files were deleted, several new files were created and several applications, including a program for recording audio, were crippled. Behind the scenes, the virus also managed to hijack his instant messaging program so the rogue file was blasted to 10 people on his buddy list. "A lot of Mac users are in denial and have blinders on that say, 'Nothing is ever going to get to us,'" said Neil Fryer, a computer security consultant who works for an international financial institution in Britain. "I can't say I agree with them." Fryer, also a Mac user, said he has begun taking additional precautions over the past year to make sure he doesn't fall victim to an attack. He spends more time than in the past scrutinizing his security logs for signs of intruders, and he uses a firewall and additional security applications, just as he would with a Windows-based machine. Among the other signs Macs are a growing target:

• The SANS Institute, a computer-security organization in Bethesda, Md., added Mac OS X to its 2005 list of the top-20 Internet vulnerabilities. It was the first time the Mac has been included since the experts started compiling the list in 2000.
• This week, SANS updated the list to warn against flaws in Safari, the Mac Web browser, which the group said criminals were able to attack before Apple could fix it.
• The number of discovered Mac vulnerabilities has soared in recent years, with 81 found last year, up from 46 in 2004 and 27 in 2003, according to the Open Source Vulnerability Database, which is maintained by a nonprofit group that tracks security vulnerabilities on many different hardware and software platforms.
• Less than a week after Daines was attacked in mid-February, a 25-year-old computer security researcher released three benign Mac-based worms to prove a serious vulnerability in Mac OS X could be exploited. Apple asked the man, Kevin Finisterre, to hold off publishing the code until it could patch the flaw

. The Mac's vulnerability could also increase as Apple transitions to a product line that uses microprocessors made by Intel Corp., security experts said. With new Macs running the same processor that powers Windows-based machines, far more people will know how to exploit weaknesses in Apple machines than in the past, when they ran on the PowerPC chips made by IBM Corp. and Motorola Corp. spinoff Freescale Semiconductor Inc. "They have eliminated their genetic diversity," said independent security consultant Rodney Thayer. "The fear is that we're going to run into a new class of attacks." Bud Tribble, Apple's senior vice president of software technology, disagreed. "All the things we've been doing to make Mac OS X secure continue to be relevant on Intel," he said. Mac OS X, he said, is designed to be Internet safe out of the box, without the need for firewalls or additional security software. He praised Mac OS X for making it easy for users to automatically install security patches. He noted that the operating system was derived from FreeBSD, open source software that was built from the ground up to provide security for computers networked together. Since its origins in the early 1990s, the
Unix-based FreeBSD has continually been battle-tested by college students and computer security specialists. "The bottom line is we still feel more comfortable using a Mac than a (Windows) PC," said Alan Paller, director of research for SANS. But as Daines can attest, there are no guarantees. "We're all sort of waiting with bated breath to see if any problem will happen and the jury is still out," said Thayer, the independent security consultant. "I don't think you'll find a consensus."
On the Net: http://www.apple.com
By DAN GOODIN, AP Technology Writer