April 25, 2007

Kucinich announces impeachment charges against Vice President Cheney
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Kucinich_announces_impeachment_charges_against_Vice_0424.html

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), a candidate for president in 2008, announced a series of charges against Vice President Dick Cheney in Washington, DC, late in the day. Kucinich alleged that the Vice President had committed a series of impeachable offenses, and he was therefore introducing Articles of Impeachment against Cheney in the Congress today. The Ohio Democrat's move intended to provide a "defense of the rights of American people to have a government that is honest and peaceful." Kucinich excoriated the Vice President who he called "a driving force for taking us into war against Iraq under false pretenses, and is once again rattling sabers of war against Iran, with the same intent to drive America into war, again based on false pretenses."

The Ohio Congressman, who is running for president for the second time, noted three charges in his Articles of Impeachment, which were submitted as House Resolution 333. The first concerned manipulation of intelligence about Iraq's threat to the US. The second concerned manipulation of intelligence on the Iraq-Al-Qaida relationship. The last concerned what he called having "openly threatened aggression against the Republic of Iran." Kucinich claimed the charges were "deeply researched," in the press conference, and insisted that his accusations were not just a political stunt. The former Cleveland Mayor further acknowledged in the press conference that he had not recently spoken with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on the matter. Pelosi had said last year that impeach was "off the table." "There is a very practical reason - each and every charge relates to Vice President Cheney's conduct or misconduct in office," he said. But he added, "It is very important that we start with Mr. Cheney because if we were to start with the President, Mr. Cheney would then become president.

Intelligence not linked to wealth, according to US study
http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Intelligence_not_linked_to_wealth_a_04242007.html

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics survey included 7,403 Americans who have been interviewed repeatedly since 1979. Based on 2004 answers, people who are now in their mid-40s showed no link between brain- and earning-power. The study confirmed previous research which has shown that smarter people tend to earn more money, but pointed out there is a difference between high pay and overall wealth. An irregular pattern of total wealth as well as financial distress levels -- such as maxed out credit cards, bankruptcy and missing bill payments -- emerged among the various degrees of intelligence, the study said. The study measured intelligence based on scores from the US Armed Services Qualification Test, a general aptitude test used by the Department of Defense.

Scripps Florida claims discovery of gene that causes learning disabilities
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-424scripps,0,7570431.story?track=mostemailedlink

Scientists at Scripps Florida have discovered a new gene associated with a condition that causes severe learning disabilities, including autism, anxiety disorders, psychoses and obsessive-compulsive behavior. Until recently, researchers thought that a defect in only one gene causes the condition, fragile X syndrome, by halting development of a protein needed for normal brain development. That gene was discovered 16 years ago. But Dr. Claes Wahlestedt, director of neuroscience discovery at Jupiter-based Scripps, and postdoctoral student Ahmad Khalil, found a second gene completely shuts down in patients with the syndrome. Instinct told them there was more than one gene because fragile X patients vary widely in mental capacity. While it still falls within the realm of basic science, the discovery adds a new layer of knowledge about a condition that affects one in 2,000 boys and one in 4,000 girls across all populations. And it offers greater hope that by understanding the mechanisms behind fragile X, researchers can develop early treatments and ultimately a cure.


US death by injection under fire as execution method: study
http://rawstory.com/news/afp/US_death_by_injection_under_fire_as_04242007.html

Lethal injections used to execute death sentences do not guarantee that the condemned will die without suffering, a new study found. The three-drug method, used in most US death penalty executions, includes one drug to induce sleep, another to stop breathing and a third to stop the heart. A dozen states suspended their executions amid debate over a study published in 2005 in the Lancet showing that those being executed had not been properly anesthetized. The study released this week by PLoS Medicine, based on detailed information on 41 executions in North Carolina and California, found that those being put to death did not always react as expected to different substances used. In some cases, the condemned continued to breathe many minutes after receiving the drug meant to stop their breathing or to paralyze them. In others, hearts continued beating as long as nine minutes after receiving the last substance, potassium chloride, meant to kill them immediately. The data also showed anesthesia was still not working reliably, and that subjects could be conscious when hit with the second drug. Doctors underscored that the US constitution bans cruel and unusual punishment. PLoS Medicine opposes capital punishment.

Petition submitted to Dutch Parliament to commemorate the 18th birthday of the 11th Panchen Lama in The Hague, The Netherlands
http://www.savetibet.org/news/newsitem.php?id=1122

International Campaign for Tibet-Europe marked the 18th birthday of Gedun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama with a manifestation in The Hague and by presenting a petition to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Dutch Parliament in The Hague which was signed by 17 Tibet, Buddhist and Human Rights organizations in The Netherlands. The petition called upon the Members of the Dutch Parliament to keep the issue of the Panchen Lama high on the agenda. Gedun Choekyi Nyima went missing shortly after he was recognized as the 11th incarnation of the Panchen Lama by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1995.

The Story of His Holiness the Panchen Lama
http://www.tashilhunpo.org/panchen.htm

The 11th Panchen Lama, Gedun Choekyi Nyima, son of Kunchok Phuntsok and Dechen Choedon, was born on April 25, 1989 and was officially proclaimed as the true reincarnate of the 10th Panchen Lama, who died unexpectedly after delivering an historic anti-Chinese government speech. The young Panchen Lama is presently the youngest political prisoner in the world and we appeal to the international community, non governmental organizations and every individual to demand the Chinese authorities release and ensure the safety and well-being of H.H. the Panchen Lama, Gedun Choekyi Nyima.


China's Wu Pledges WTO Fight With U.S. as Paulson Summit Looms
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aZW.FG6wdn24&refer=asia

Wu Yi, China's most senior trade official, accused the U.S. of ignoring her country's efforts to curb copyright piracy and pledged to ``fight until the end'' against the latest complaints to the World Trade Organization. ``It's unprecedented for a WTO member to file two complaints against another in such a short time,'' Wu said today in Beijing at a commerce ministry conference on intellectual property rights. ``These moves betray the consensus reached by China and the U.S. to resolve trade issues through dialogue.'' China's highest-ranked woman politician underscored the trade tensions between the two nations ahead of her planned meetings next month with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in Washington. The U.S. trade deficit with China last year widened to a record $232.5 billion amid calls in Congress for sanctions. The U.S. this month filed two WTO complaints, seeking to combat the alleged rampant piracy of movies, music, software and books. The Commerce Department last month flagged plans to impose duties on coated-paper imports from China. China is the second-largest trading partner of the U.S., ranking behind Canada after overtaking Mexico last year. China's copying of movies, music and software cost companies $2.2 billion in 2006 sales, according to an estimate by lobby groups representing Microsoft Corp., Walt Disney Co., and Vivendi SA.


Moth triggers Bay Area quarantine
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_5737690?nclick_check=1

The California Department of Food and Agriculture has set up quarantine areas covering at least 182 square miles in Northern California in an effort to control the spread of the state's newest invasive species, a voracious pest native to Australia known as the light brown apple moth. In Santa Clara County, the quarantine area includes most of Palo Alto and portions of Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and Mountain View, places where the moth has been detected. Other counties where infestations have been found and quarantine areas established include Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin and San Francisco. Moths have been found and quarantine areas are expected to be announced soon for San Mateo, Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, according to state officials.

Chavez calls Bush a terrorist
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/caribbean/sfl-achavez24apr24,0,1796263.story?coll=sfla-news-caribbean

President Hugo Chavez said Venezuela will lodge a protest with the United Nations after the United States released a Cuban militant on bail, accusing Washington of letting a terrorist go free. Venezuela had asked the United States to extradite 79-year-old former CIA agent Luis Posada Carriles on charges that he plotted the 1976 bombing of a Cuban passenger plane, in which 73 people died. Chavez also said Posada has been plotting to assassinate him for years, and accused President Bush of complicity in failing to bring Posada to justice. "President Bush, you are a protector of terrorists. As such, you are a terrorist," Chavez said Sunday during his weekly TV and radio program Hello, President.

Aftermath of the South American energy summit
http://www.abn.info.ve/go_news5.php?articulo=89668&lee=17

From the perspective of Venezuela, organizer of the first South American Energy Summit, the main relations established seemed to be as follows: Relations with Colombia and Ecuador were intensified by exchanging gas and oil. With Brazil, Venezuela confirmed its relationship on petrochemicals and other petroleum issues but disputed the mass production of ethanol planned by Brazil in cooperation with the United States. The Chilean-Venezuelan relationship seemed at least neutral. Deals were made about the exploration of the southern country of Venezuela's Faja del Orinoco, the new to be exploited oil field in the Venezuelan state of Bolivar. Meanwhile however, there was a quarrel over the renewal of the commercial Venezuelan television channel, RCTV. The Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez told Michelle Bachelet, the president of Chile, that the renewal of the channel was «a national matter», when Bachelet voiced her opinion on the matter. Uruguay and Peru’s president were noted by their absence, implying a disinterest or a rejection of Unified South American politics in which the majority of the countries are socialist and anti-United States. Uruguay was visited by the president of the United States, George Bush a month before the summit. Peru has a right wing government. Paraguay and Bolivia received more oil and a refinery, respectively. The presence of Suriname and Guyana was that economically insignificant that even their own press failed to report on the Summit.

Ban warns Syria on arms smuggling
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1177251158903&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Syria on Tuesday for tough talks with its president on two Lebanese issues - support for an international court to try the killers of Rafik Hariri and preventing arms smuggling to Hizbullah. Syria, a major patron of Hizbullah, has up to now stood its ground on these points, but the government has pledged to cooperate with Ban Ki-moon, who began talks with President Bashar al-Assad shortly after his arrival. The state newspaper Tishrin said in an editorial Tuesday that Ban would find "a lot of common ground that can be built on." Ban has warned that the smuggling of weapons across the Syrian-Lebanese border threatens the August 14 cease-fire that halted the fighting between Israel and Hizbullah. The UN Security Council has authorized a UN mission to monitor the Syrian-Lebanese border to stop the smuggling. But Syria has threatened to close its border with Lebanon, effectively choking the country economically, if such a mission is deployed.

Fearful aid agencies pull out of Darfur
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article1693456.ece

A number of international aid agencies today announced that they had been forced to suspend operations in part of the wartorn Sudanese region of Darfur - affecting crucial assistance to up to 100,000 people - because of escalating violence against them. The agencies, which include the British group Oxfam, said they had no choice but to temporarily withdraw from part of western Darfur after revealing that one of their security guards had been badly beaten up and remained in a critical condition after a recent attack. In another incident, a clearly-marked aid convoy in the area had been shot at and robbed, they added in a joint statement. The agencies said the suspension of operations by Oxfam, Mercy Corps and Save the Children Spain, would affect the border area of western Darfur between Chad and the Central African Republic. It will particularly hit the overcrowded town of Um Dukhun, which has seen its population soar over the last two years as refugees fled there from other areas affected by the conflict, including Darfur as well as neighbouring Chad and the Central African Republic. The statement added that a small number of aid workers would remain in place to monitor the situation and maintain essential services. Humanitarian workers have in the past blamed the growing suspicion against them on the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who has claimed that humanitarian workers - including the United Nations (UN) - are infiltrated by western agents and, until last week, resisted all attempts to allow the UN to help curtail the region's violence.

Chinese oil workers massacred in attack by army of 200 rebels linked to Islamists
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article1701450.ece

The rebels arrived just before dawn as the Chinese oil workers slept. The assault lasted less than an hour. But by the time an estimated 200 gunmen left the remote oil installation, 74 people lay dead in the biggest and most bloody attack mounted by Somali separatist rebels in a dusty corner of Ethiopia. The Ogaden National Liberation Front, a group with links to the ousted Islamic courts in Somalia, later claimed responsibility in a military communiqué sent to The Times. It is fighting for a separate homeland for the Ogaden region’s population of Somali nomads, with the backing of Eritrea. Last year the group gave warning that it would target foreign oil companies. Ethiopia watchers said that they were surprised by the scale of the attack and that it was likely to be linked to unrest in Somalia, which has long threatened to drag the Horn of Africa into a regional war. Nine Chinese oil workers and 65 Ethiopians died, according to officials from both countries. Bereket Simon, spokesman for the Ethiopian Prime Minister, said that the attack was an act of terrorism.

Massive military parade in North Korea http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Massive-military-parade-in-North-Korea/2007/04/25/1177459766354.html

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il reviewed a massive military parade featuring dozens of missiles in Pyongyang to mark the army's anniversary, in a display of might amid tensions over the country's nuclear weapons. Kim waved to the crowd for several minutes during the 90-minute procession through the capital's central Kim Il-sung Square. The parade marked the 75th anniversary of the Korean People's Army, which dates its origin to resistance movements against Japanese occupation of the Korean peninsula before its liberation and division following World War II. After soldiers marched in formation, 48 missiles of four different sizes were driven through the square. It was not immediately known if the arsenal included the North's latest model, the Taepodong-2, which experts believe could reach parts of the United States.

Draft constitution faces uphill battle in Thailand
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/ID25Ae01.html

Thailand's draft constitution faces a difficult national referendum in September, with provisions aimed at limiting the influence of political parties and the executive branch and amendments to the previous charter that allow for an appointed rather than elected Senate. The draft, released for public debate last week by the military-appointed 35-member Constitution Drafting Committee, comes seven months after elected prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was overthrown in a military coup. He stands accused by the military of corruption, sowing national divisions and abusing his powers under the 1997 constitution. Lese majeste charges filed by the coup makers against the exiled premier were dropped this month by a criminal court. Since their takeover last September, the military coup makers have limited the public's role in the political process, alarming the established political parties and pro-democracy groups. The new constitution will be Thailand's 18th since it became a constitutional monarchy in 1932.

Mississippi mayor and bodyguards destroy crack house
http://english.pravda.ru/news/world/25-04-2007/90381-crack_house-0

Jackson, Mississippi Mayor Frank Melton, a tough-talking former television executive elected on a platform of rooting out the city's crime problems, faces five felony charges in the attack on the duplex last August. Melton claims the ramshackle structure was a "crack house" and a blight on the community. The property owners deny it was a drug haven, but testimony revealed the home has been raided before, including less than two weeks before it was damaged. Lawrence Cooper testified that he and another man were drinking beer and watching "Walking Tall" - a movie about a renegade sheriff whose weapon of choice is a large stick - when the mayor and his bodyguards burst in with large sticks. Cooper testified that Melton repeatedly swore and several witnesses also testified that Melton directed at least two juveniles to participate in the attack on the duplex. Former Mayor Dale Danks, one of Melton's attorneys, said during opening arguments that the state could not prove that there was malice involved, an element necessary for conviction. After he was elected, Melton, 57, became known for carrying guns, cruising the city with police and criticizing the district attorney's office for not putting away enough criminals. Melton and the two police detectives are charged with malicious mischief, two counts of conspiracy and directing a minor to commit a felony. Melton and one officer also are charged with burglary. All three pleaded not guilty.

Tarantino reeling after new film is left on shelf
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article1701410.ece

For months Grindhouse, a $100 million (£50 million) double bill of nostalgic horror films made with his friend Robert Rodriguez, had been scheduled to arrive in British cinemas on June 1. After disastrous box-office takings in the United States, it has been withdrawn while Harvey and Bob Weinstein, the producers, try to formulate a rescue strategy. For Tarantino, who dazzled audiences with Reservoir Dogs, his debut in 1992, and who won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival with his next film, Pulp Fiction, it is a humiliating development. Grindhouse has proved too long and too obscure for main-stream audiences. It has taken only $23 million in three weeks in American cinemas, with half of that over the Easter weekend, and the Weinstein brothers are considering whether to slice it into two separate films.