http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6584481.stm
Mr Yeltsin - who had a history of heart trouble - died of heart failure in hospital at 1545 (1145 GMT).
Bush, Putin discuss US missile shield plan
http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Bush_Putin_discuss_US_missile_shiel_04232007.html
US President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday discussed the US plan for a missile defense shield in Europe and the future of Kosovo, the White House said.
Russia rejects missile shield cooperation
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070423114634.edwrwugc&show_article=1
Russia rebuffed Monday an attempt by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates to soften opposition to Washington's plan for a missile defence shield in Europe, saying it threatens global security. Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov told Gates in Moscow that the planned system "is a seriously destabilizing factor that can have a significant influence on regional and global security." Gates, who also met with President Vladimir Putin, came to Moscow reiterating Pentagon reassurances that the anti-missile shield would not be aimed at Russia and also holding out offers of cooperation. "In my talks with the Russian leaders we'll reiterate that the United States is willing to explore cooperation with Russia across the full spectrum of missile defence activities," he said. Gates told Serdyukov that he wanted "to see how we can more positively develop our military-to-military relationship." However, there was little sign of progress in easing Moscow's opposition. "I would like to underline the point that the Russian position with respect to this issue remains unchanged," Serdyukov said. The Pentagon wants to station 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a targeting radar in the Czech Republic, countries that lie close to Russian territory and during the Cold War were under Moscow's control. Russia, increasingly emboldened by new oil wealth, fiercely opposes the plans, regarding them as encroaching into Moscow's traditional sphere of influence. The missile defence issue has threatened to divide Washington's NATO allies in Europe. The United States has assembled a package of incentives aimed at allaying Russian concerns, said officials travelling with the defence secretary. These incentives, already presented last week, include an offer to share missile warning data and cooperate in developing and testing missile defence technology with the Russians.
VA Allows Wiccan Symbols on Headstones http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8OME6VG0&show_article=1
The Wiccan pentacle has been added to the list of emblems allowed in national cemeteries and on goverment-issued headstones of fallen soldiers, according to a settlement announced Monday. A settlement between the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Wiccans adds the five-pointed star to the list of "emblems of belief" allowed on VA grave markers. Eleven families nationwide are waiting for grave markers with the pentacle, said Selena Fox, a Wiccan high priestess with Circle Sanctuary in Barneveld, Wis., a plaintiff in the lawsuit. The settlement calls for the pentacle, whose five points represent earth, air, fire, water and spirit, to be placed on grave markers within 14 days for those who have pending requests with the VA.
Probe: Katrina contracts given to companies with poor credit histories, bad paperwork http://www.timesrecordnews.com/trn/local_news/article/0,1891,TRN_5784_5500025,00.html
FEMA exposed taxpayers to significant waste — and possibly violated federal law — by awarding $3.6 billion worth of Hurricane Katrina contracts to companies with poor credit histories and bad paperwork, investigators say. The new report by the Homeland Security Department’s office of inspector general, set to be released later this week, examines the propriety of 36 trailer contracts designated for small and local businesses in the stricken Gulf Coast region following the 2005 storm. It found a haphazard competitive bidding process in which the winning contract prices were both unreasonably low and high. Moreover, FEMA did not take adequate legal steps to ensure that companies were small and locally operated, resulting in a questionable contract award to a large firm with ties to the Republican Party. In the immediate aftermath of Katrina, FEMA handed out lucrative no-bid contracts for cleanup work to large, politically connected firms such as Shaw Group Inc., Bechtel Group Inc., CH2M Hill Companies Ltd., and Fluor Corp. Following heavy criticism, FEMA director David Paulison pledged to rebid those large contracts. He ultimately reopened only a portion, awarding 36 contracts which the agency said would be prioritized for small and local businesses. Among the winners was joint venture PRI-DJI, which received $400 million worth of contracts. DJI stands for Del-Jen Inc., a subsidiary of Fluor, one of the original, no-bid winners which has donated more than $930,000 to mostly GOP candidates since 2000.
Oregon Gov. Will Live On Food Stamp Diet
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/23/politics/main2715513.shtml
This is Hunger Awareness Week in Oregon, and for the next seven days, Gov. Kulongoski and his wife, attorney Mary Oberst, will be cutting way back – down to the budget one would live on if relying on food stamps – a diet they hope others will also follow for a few days to better understand the plight of those who have no choice. They'll spend just $3 a day apiece on their meals, $42 in all, to match the amount spent by the average food stamp recipient in Oregon. "I'm gonna probably go back to what I remember in college, Top Ramen and hot dogs," said Kulongoski. The governor this week will begin lobbying Congress against cuts in the food stamp program proposed by the Bush administration.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/3f96545e-f0f9-11db-838b-000b5df10621.html
Condoleezza Rice is urging Iran to join her at a high-level conference on the future of Iraq next week, signalling that Washington is now ready for a serious exchange of views with Tehran after several months of resisting Iran’s advances in the region. In an interview with the Financial Times, the US secretary of state said it would be a “missed opportunity” if Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran’s foreign minister, did not attend the minister-level meeting to be hosted by Egypt. Ms Rice denied that the Bush administration’s Iran policy had ever been directed at regime change, insisting that the aim was to “have a change in regime behaviour”. Ms Rice’s attempts to draw Iran into the conference – which will include Iraq’s neighbours as well as the permanent members of the UN security council and the G8 industrialised nations – contrasted with her previous resistance to such talks. Since then there had been a “rebalancing”, she said, particularly after President George W. Bush’s speech on January 10 announcing the extra troops and a more aggressive response to Iran’s perceived role in arming and training Iraqi Shia militia. Analysts said it remained to be seen whether the US had achieved what Robert Gates, the defence secretary, said in January was the “leverage” it needed before engaging Iran. Iran says it will decide on its attendance at the May 3-4 conference after meeting Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq’s foreign minister, this week. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman on Sunday noted a “softening” in Ms Rice’s rhetoric. But he added that any “shift” should be put into practice.
In Dallas, Commercial Radio Without Commercials http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/23/business/media/23radio.html?ei=5090&en=670c6a16935488ef&ex=1334980800&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=print
As of today, KZPS in Dallas — on the dial at 92.5 FM or online at lonestar925.com — will no longer run traditional 30- or 60-second advertisements. Instead, advertisers sponsor an hour of programming, during which a D.J. will promote its product conversationally in what the company calls integration. The product-themed chitchat will account for about two minutes peppered throughout the hour, in contrast to the 12 minutes to 16 minutes of commercials that most stations broadcast each hour. Clear Channel’s move is not unprecedented. In 2005, three stations on Long Island owned by the Morey Organization experimented with a similar model but eventually returned to conventional commercials.
Newsom pledges to make SF a sanctuary for illegal immigrants http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/22/BAGADPDGNF18.DTL
The mayor cannot stop federal authorities from making arrests, Newsom told about 300 mostly Latino members of St. Peter's Church and other religious groups supporting immigrants. But no San Francisco employee will help with immigration enforcement. "I will not allow any of my department heads or anyone associated with this city to cooperate in any way shape or form with these raids," Newsom declared. "We are a sanctuary city, make no mistake about it." The Board of Supervisors first declared San Francisco a "sanctuary city" in 1989. The designation, which many U.S. cities across the country took on during the 1980s, has no legal meaning. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have since May 2006 conducted raids across the country, including arrests in San Rafael, Oakland, Richmond, San Pablo, Santa Clara and other cities across the Bay area. Immigration officials have said they were executing arrest warrants for immigrants who had committed crimes or were in the country illegally and had ignored final deportation orders.In the course of serving deportation warrants, the officials said, other people whom officers suspected of being illegal immigrants were questioned and then arrested. Of at least 65 Marin County residents arrested in March, for example, just five had been ordered deported. The raids, many of which conducted at private homes before dawn and some of which caught up legal immigrants and even citizens, have created an uproar in the Bay Area. Politicians and community leaders have demanded they end, saying some immigrants parents are now afraid to send their children to school or leave home. Immigration agents on Friday arrested 13 foreign nationals who were working illegally at Eagle Bag Corp. in Oakland, a packaging manufacturer whose clients include the U.S. military. The arrests there of immigrants suspected of using counterfeit documents to obtain jobs were not related to the recent raids. San Rafael Mayor Al Boro in March called on California's U.S. senators, Democrats Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, to push the immigration agency to change how it is enforcing immigration law because he believed children were the ones being hurt. Marches and rallies are planned in coming weeks in Redwood City, San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Sacramento and other cities.
Is the Wi-Fi revolution a health time bomb?
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article2472140.ece
The technological explosion is even bigger than the mobile phone explosion that preceded it. And, as with mobiles, it is being followed by fears about its effect on health - particularly the health of children. Recent research, which suggests that the worst fears about mobiles are proving to be justified, only heightens concern about the electronic soup in which we are increasingly spending our lives. So far only a few, faint warnings have been raised, mainly by people who are so sensitised to the electromagnetic radiation emitted by mobiles, their masts and Wi-Fi that they become ill in its presence. The World Health Organisation estimates that up to three out of every hundred people are "electrosensitive" to some extent. But scientists and doctors - and some European governments - are adding their voices to the alarm as it becomes clear that the almost universal use of mobile phones may be storing up medical catastrophe for the future. A recent authoritative Finnish study has found that people who have used mobiles for more than ten years are 40 per cent more likely to get a brain tumour on the same side of the head as they hold their handset; Swedish research suggests that the risk is almost four times as great. And further research from Sweden claims that the radiation kills off brain cells, which could lead to today's younger generation going senile in their forties and fifties. There has been less concern about masts, as they emit very much less radiation than mobile phones. But people living - or attending schools - near them are consistently exposed and studies reveal a worrying incidence of symptoms such as headaches, fatigue, nausea, dizziness and memory problems. There is also some suggestion that there may be an increase in cancers and heart disease. Wi-Fi systems essentially take small versions of these masts into the home and classroom - they emit much the same kind of radiation. Though virtually no research has been carried out, campaigners and some scientists expect them to have similar ill-effects. They say that we are all now living in a soup of electromagnetic radiation one billion times stronger than the natural fields in which living cells have developed over the last 3.8 billion years
Sheryl Crow's carbon footprint
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/backstagetour/scrow/scrow1.html
When the global warming warrior hits the road, her touring entourage (and equipment) travels in three tractor trailers, four buses, and six cars. Now that's a carbon footprint! (4 pages)
Cloned dogs to be mated as test http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21604840-1702,00.html
Snuppy, an Afghan hound who was the first dog to be created through a cloning process, will be mated later this year with second-in-line Bona, researchers in South Korea said.Snuppy will celebrate his second birthday on Tuesday while Bona was born in June last year. Snuppy was cloned under the stewardship of now-disgraced cloning expert Hwang Woo-Suk. So far, the team has cloned one male and three female Afghan hounds. Mr Hwang was hailed as a national hero in South Korea until a university inquiry ruled that some of his work on cloning embryonic human stem cells was fake. He is now on trial for fraud, embezzlement, ethical breaches and other charges but has insisted he can still prove he created the first cloned human stem cells.
France opts for left-right battle http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6582007.stm
With all the votes counted in Sunday's first round, Mr Sarkozy had 31%. Ms Royal, bidding to be France's first woman leader, got nearly 26%. Centrist Francois Bayrou had 18%, and far-right Jean-Marie Le Pen almost 11%. Voting reached near-record levels, with turnout put at almost 85% - the highest for nearly 50 years. Voters turned out in such high numbers that the authorities decided to allow more time for people who were still queueing. Of the main candidates, Mr Sarkozy, a former interior minister, promised a "rupture" with the past and real economic reform, while Ms Royal has pledged a fairer society. Both are controversial figures who have divided the French. Mr Sarkozy is hated by the left as a reformer who many fear would change the French way of life by making the nation work harder and longer and by cutting back on its generous welfare state. Ms Royal is also regarded with suspicion, seen as too authoritarian and conservative by some Socialists.
Huge win for Nigeria's Yar'Adua http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6584393.stm
Nigeria's ruling party candidate Umaru Yar'Adua has won controversial presidential elections by a landslide, according to official results. He gained 70% of the vote but European Union observers say the elections were a "charade" and any administration that resulted would not have any legitimacy. The EU says at least 200 people have died in poll violence in the past week. The two main opposition candidates have told their supporters to reject the results and want a re-run. Mr Yar'Adua gained 24.6m votes, against 6.6m for his closest challenger, Muhammadu Buhari. Vice-president turned opposition candidate Atiku Abubakar came third with 2.6m votes.
Daily pill to beat genetic diseases http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article1690544.ece
The drug, known as PTC124, has already had encouraging results in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis. The final phase of clinical trials is to begin this year, and it could be licensed as early as 2009. As well as offering hope of a first effective treatment for two conditions that are at present incurable, the drug has excited scientists because research suggests it should also work against more than 1,800 other genetic illnesses. PTC124 targets a particular type of mutation that can cause very different symptoms according to the gene that is disrupted. This makes it potentially useful against a range of inherited disorders. In most genetic conditions, between 5-15 per cent of cases are caused by a defect called a “nonsense mutation”. Genes are instruction manuals for cells to make proteins, but nonsense mutations in effect introduce a command halfway through that stops production. The kind of protein disrupted determines the nature of the disease.
Man gets 5,000 calls for YouTube posting
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1700AP_YouTube_Calls.html
Ryan Fitzgerald is unemployed, lives with his father and has a little bit of time on his hands. So, he decided to offer his ear, to anyone who wants to call. After posting a video with his cell phone number on YouTube on Friday, the 20-year-old told The Boston Globe he has received more than 5,000 calls and text messages. Fitzgerald said he wanted to "be there," for anyone who needed to talk. "I never met you, but I do care," a spiky-haired Fitzgerald said into the camera on his YouTube posting. He planned to take and return as many calls he could, but on Monday at 5 a.m., his T-Mobile cell phone payment will begin charging him for his generosity when he is no longer eligible for free weekend minutes. "I haven't quite figured out what I'm going to do about it," he said. "Come Monday, no way I'm going to just hang up on people and say, 'I don't have the minutes.'" Fitzgerald, who said people consider him "easy to talk to," was inspired by Juan Mann. YouTube video clips of Mann offering "Free Hugs" to strangers became wildly popular on the user-controlled Internet site.
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