Why So Gloomy?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17997788/site/newsweek/Judging from the media in recent months, the debate over global warming is now over. There has been a net warming of the earth over the last century and a half, and our greenhouse gas emissions are contributing at some level. Both of these statements are almost certainly true. What of it? Recently many people have said that the earth is facing a crisis requiring urgent action. This statement has nothing to do with science. There is no compelling evidence that the warming trend we've seen will amount to anything close to catastrophe. What most commentators—and many scientists—seem to miss is that the only thing we can say with certainly about climate is that it changes. The earth is always warming or cooling by as much as a few tenths of a degree a year; periods of constant average temperatures are rare. Looking back on the earth's climate history, it's apparent that there's no such thing as an optimal temperature—a climate at which everything is just right. The current alarm rests on the false assumption not only that we live in a perfect world, temperaturewise, but also that our warming forecasts for the year 2040 are somehow more reliable than the weatherman's forecast for next week.
A warmer climate could prove to be more beneficial than the one we have now. Much of the alarm over climate change is based on ignorance of what is normal for weather and climate. There is no evidence, for instance, that extreme weather events are increasing in any systematic way, according to scientists at the U.S. National Hurricane Center, the World Meteorological Organization and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (which released the second part of this year's report earlier this month). Indeed, meteorological theory holds that, outside the tropics, weather in a warming world should be less variable, which might be a good thing.
In many other respects, the ill effects of warming are overblown. Sea levels, for example, have been increasing since the end of the last ice age. When you look at recent centuries in perspective, ignoring short-term fluctuations, the rate of sea-level rise has been relatively uniform (less than a couple of millimeters a year). There's even some evidence that the rate was higher in the first half of the twentieth century than in the second half. Overall, the risk of sea-level rise from global warming is less at almost any given location than that from other causes, such as tectonic motions of the earth's surface.
Many of the most alarming studies rely on long-range predictions using inherently untrustworthy climate models, similar to those that cannot accurately forecast the weather a week from now. Interpretations of these studies rarely consider that the impact of carbon on temperature goes down—not up—the more carbon accumulates in the atmosphere. Even if emissions were the sole cause of the recent temperature rise—a dubious proposition—future increases wouldn't be as steep as the climb in emissions.
Indeed, one overlooked mystery is why temperatures are not already higher. Various models predict that a doubling of CO2 in the atmosphere will raise the world's average temperature by as little as 1.5 degrees Celsius or as much as 4.5 degrees. The important thing about doubled CO2 (or any other greenhouse gas) is its "forcing"—its contribution to warming. At present, the greenhouse forcing is already about three-quarters of what one would get from a doubling of CO2. But average temperatures rose only about 0.6 degrees since the beginning of the industrial era, and the change hasn't been uniform—warming has largely occurred during the periods from 1919 to 1940 and from 1976 to 1998, with cooling in between. Researchers have been unable to explain this discrepancy.
Modelers claim to have simulated the warming and cooling that occurred before 1976 by choosing among various guesses as to what effect poorly observed volcanoes and unmeasured output from the sun have had. These factors, they claim, don't explain the warming of about 0.4 degrees C between 1976 and 1998. Climate modelers assume the cause must be greenhouse-gas emissions because they have no other explanation. This is a poor substitute for evidence, and simulation hardly constitutes explanation. Ten years ago climate modelers also couldn't account for the warming that occurred from about 1050 to 1300. They tried to expunge the medieval warm period from the observational record—an effort that is now generally discredited. The models have also severely underestimated short-term variability El Niño and the Intraseasonal Oscillation. Such phenomena illustrate the ability of the complex and turbulent climate system to vary significantly with no external cause whatever, and to do so over many years, even centuries.
Is there any point in pretending that CO2 increases will be catastrophic? Or could they be modest and on balance beneficial? India has warmed during the second half of the 20th century, and agricultural output has increased greatly. Infectious diseases like malaria are a matter not so much of temperature as poverty and public-health policies (like eliminating DDT). Exposure to cold is generally found to be both more dangerous and less comfortable.
Moreover, actions taken thus far to reduce emissions have already had negative consequences without improving our ability to adapt to climate change. An emphasis on ethanol, for instance, has led to angry protests against corn-price increases in Mexico, and forest clearing and habitat destruction in Southeast Asia. Carbon caps are likely to lead to increased prices, as well as corruption associated with permit trading. (Enron was a leading lobbyist for Kyoto because it had hoped to capitalize on emissions trading.) The alleged solutions have more potential for catastrophe than the putative problem. The conclusion of the late climate scientist Roger Revelle—Al Gore's supposed mentor—is worth pondering: the evidence for global warming thus far doesn't warrant any action unless it is justifiable on grounds that have nothing to do with climate.
Richard Lindzen is the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research has always been funded exclusively by the U.S. government. He receives no funding from any energy companies.
The later-than-usual winter storm that smacked much of the eastern United States over the weekend is threatening to wipe out harvests of peaches, strawberries and other popular fruit crops, growers said Monday. The storms that hit Easter week dropped impressive snowfalls in the Great Lakes region — Marquette, Mich., had gotten 49 inches of snow since Tuesday — and sent temperatures plummeting far below danger levels as far south as Texas and Georgia. And little help is on the horizon. A new storm system making its way into the Pacific Northwest was expected to drop 3 to 5 more inches of snow Tuesday across the Upper Midwest. Snow was also expected to continue in the Northeast, with 4 to 8 more inches in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and northeastern New York. New freeze watches were in effect for Tuesday morning for parts of the mid-Mississippi Valley, the Ohio River Valley, the Tennessee Valley and the mid-Atlantic. The biggest impact of the wintry weather was being felt by fruit growers in the South and the Midwest. In South Carolina, where temperatures dipped into the mid- to upper 20s for the third straight night Sunday, farmers said much of the state’s $35 million peach crop — the second-largest in the nation — was in grave danger. Warmer-than-usual weather in late March meant many peach blossoms were already in the early stage of development there, as well, allowing the cold temperatures to literally nip them in bud. The story was the same across the South, where strawberries and blueberries are also in critical condition.
New Orleans: Looking for a few good principals http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-04-09-new-orleans-principals_N.htm?csp=15
A non-profit group retained to recruit 40 new principals for New Orleans Public Schools is using an unusual lure: A year-long, intensive training residency before candidates even take over schools — plus bonuses that could add up to nearly $40,000 if President Bush approves them. Under pending legislation, principals in high-performing New Orleans schools could earn up to $14,500 a year in bonuses. They'd also qualify for up to $2,500 in relocation costs, monthly $500 housing subsidies and student loan forgiveness of up to $7,000 a year. Veteran principals who agree to lead a school and mentor younger principals could earn as much as $27,000 in bonuses. The non-profit New Leaders for New Schools is taking applications through April 13. It asks for a five-year commitment beyond the year-long residency.
Katrina claims stagger corps http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-04-08-katrina-corps_N.htm?csp=15
So many claims have been filed against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that the agency needs at least another month even to tally the floor-to-ceiling stacks. Among the more than 70,000 damage claims filed is one for $200 billion by Louisiana's attorney general and another by New Orleans for $77 billion. Those two alone are more than double the $110 billion Congress approved for Florida and the Gulf Coast after Katrina and two other hurricanes struck in 2005. The damage claims allege the corps is to blame for much of the devastation New Orleans suffered when Katrina overwhelmed the levees and flood walls. Louisiana's claim contends that the corps built New Orleans' levees improperly and kept open a controversial shipping channel that allowed the hurricane's storm surge to hit the city more directly. The corps contends that the levees were not solely its responsibility and that the shipping channel it designed did not worsen Katrina's punch. The corps has not paid any claims. Sorting out the claims almost certainly will take years. Those whose claims are rejected can take the agency to court.
GOP Rep.: Ousted Republican congressional majority has secret 'Plan B' for Iraq http://rawstory.com/news/2007/GOP_Rep._says_previous_Congress_has_0409.html
Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA), who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, told Hardball fill-in host David Gregory that if the "surge" has not yielded success in Iraq by August 2008, then "this president, and the Republican majority from the last Congress, we do have a 'Plan B,' but we're not going to give it to the enemy." Gregory did not push him to shed light on the backup plan, but Gingrey conceded that "adjustments" would need to be made if victory had not be achieved in Iraq by August 2008. Gingrey's comments are reminiscent of an oft-mentioned Republican contention that any timelines regarding troop withdrawal from Iraq should be kept secret.
Obama, Clinton to skip Fox-backed debate
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070409/ap_on_el_pr/presidential_debate
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will not participate in a Democratic debate co-hosted by Fox News Channel this fall, campaign aides indicated Monday. The decision by the two Democratic presidential candidates follows an announcement last week by John Edwards, another White House contender, that he would forgo the Fox event. The Sept. 23 debate, set for Detroit, is co-sponsored by the cable news network and by the Congressional Black Caucus Political Education and Leadership Institute. Obama and Clinton aides said they intended to participate in six debates sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee. The DNC's list did not include the Fox News-CBC Institute debate, a concession to liberal and black activists who say Fox has slighted blacks and is biased in favor of conservatives. A spokesman for Obama, who is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, made it clear that Obama intended to participate in a debate co-sponsored by the CBC Institute and CNN. The Clinton campaign announced its intentions Monday after Obama had let it be known he would not be attending the Fox debate. Democrats have been under pressure from liberal activists to avoid Fox-hosted debates. Last month, the Nevada Democratic Party canceled a debate that Fox was to co-sponsor in August. ]
CBS Radio, MSNBC to Suspend Imus 2 Weeks http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070410/D8ODDNN81.html
CBS Radio and MSNBC both said Monday they were suspending Don Imus' morning talk show for two weeks as a protest grew about his reference last week to members of the Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos." The suspension begins next Monday.
Deforestation effect depends upon location.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070409/D8ODCQD00.html
New research in this week's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, confirms the effectiveness of tropical forests at reducing warming by absorbing carbon. But it suggests that in snowy latitudes, forests may actually increase local warming by absorbing solar energy that would otherwise be reflected back out into space. Tropical forests help cool the planet in two ways--by absorbing carbon dioxide and by drawing up soil moisture which is released into the air forming clouds. Those clouds reflect solar energy back into space while reducing the amount reaching the ground. Environmentalists concerned about global warming have long encouraged preservation of forests because they absorb carbon dioxide, the most abundant greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. The effect of deforestation on climate depends on three things - location, location and location. Steven W. Running, a professor of ecology at the University of Montana, praised the researchers, but questioned their conclusion. "I don't think the conclusions they draw are ready for prime-time policy, and particularly their conclusion that reforestation in high latitudes might be counterproductive," Running said in a telephone interview.
3 Executives Put on Leave at Student Lender http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/09/education/08cnd-loan.html?ex=1176782400&en=f4ec9107e0ae35a1&ei=5065&partner=MYWAY
The CIT Group said today that it had put on leave three top executives of its student loan unit, Student Loan Xpress, after revelations last week that stock in that company had once been held by financial aid administrators at three universities and by an Education Department official who helps oversee the federal student loan program. The stock ownership has raised questions of conflicts of interest because, critics say, it could give the college administrators an incentive to steer students to the loan company. Lawmakers in Washington have raised concerns about the issue. The New York attorney general’s office has opened a wide-ranging investigation of relations between loan companies and academic institutions and now government officials.
Celebrex Commercial Draws Criticism http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/10/business/media/10celebrex.web.html?ex=1176782400&en=0b1d60d5db0aac85&ei=5065&partner=MYWAY
Public Citizen, a consumer group, asked the Food and Drug Administration Monday to ban a Celebrex television commercial, alleging that it gives consumers a false impression that the prescription drug has no more safety risk than some other painkillers. The new Celebrex ad is unusual for its length — two-and-a-half minutes. A Pfizer executive today defended the advertisement, saying allegations by Public Citizen’s Health Research Group, were wrong in several respects. Celebrex and much-litigated Vioxx belong to a category that are a subset of Nsaids drugs — a category known as Cox-2 — originally intended to avoid some of the potential for stomach irritation and other gastrointestinal side effects common with Nsaids. But clinical studies in patients did not ultimately show a protection against ulcers and bleeding with Celebrex.
Doctors: Arthritis drug Arcoxia risky too http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-04-09-arthritis-arcoxia_N.htm?csp=15
An arthritis drug billed as Merck's replacement to its discredited Vioxx may be just as risky to the heart, a growing number of doctors say. A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel will review the drug Thursday and vote on whether it's safe and effective. The agency usually heeds its panels' advice. Arcoxia, Vioxx and another pain reliever, Celebrex, are three different "COX-2 inhibitors." Their selling point has been a lower risk of bleeding stomach ulcers and other serious digestive tract complications than other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, such as ibuprofen and naproxen. Curt Furberg, a Wake Forest University medical epidemiologist who sits on the FDA's Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee, says Arcoxia should not only be kept out of the USA, but also should be withdrawn in all 63 countries in which it's sold. "If it's harmful here," he says, "it's harmful elsewhere.”
New York shifts 2008 primary up to 'Super Duper Tuesday' http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070409181258.8v5kisvi&show_article=1
New York on Monday became the latest US state to bring forward its 2008 presidential primary elections, joining nine other states in a vote on "Super Duper Tuesday" next February 5. The move is aimed at giving the state more influence in choosing which candidates will run in the election -- a process that has traditionally been dominated by the states of New Hampshire and Iowa. The change, which was approved by the State Senate and Assembly and signed into law by Governor Eliot Spitzer on Monday, means New York now will hold its primary one month earlier than usual. California last month decided to bring forward its primary to the March 5 prompting a stampede of states seeking to do the same, in a move seen likely to fundamentally alter the dynamics of the race for the White House. According to the National Association of Secretaries of State, 14 other states are also mulling February 5 for their primaries or caucuses, creating what Brams described as a "crowding effect." The caucuses and primary elections are due to kick off January 14 in Iowa, more than nine months before the presidential election itself on November 4, 2008.
Dow Chemical to face $50 billion bid: report http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=businessNews&storyid=2007-04-08T223348Z_01_LAU869606_RTRUKOC_0_US-DOW-CHEMICAL-BUYOUT.xml&src=rss&rpc=23A consortium of Middle Eastern investors and American buyout firms is preparing a $50 billion approach for Dow Chemical Co. in what could be the world's biggest ever leveraged buyout, a paper said on Sunday.Quoting sources close to the deal, The Sunday Express, a UK tabloid paper, said a financing package has been put in place for a break-up bid of between $52 to $58 a share and an approach valuing the company at least $50 billion could come by the end of this week.Dow's shares closed up 35 cents at $44.47 on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. At least half of the capital is being provided by investors from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE and Oman, with the rest contributed by a number of U.S. buyout firms including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, it said. Representatives of Dow Chemical and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts were not immediately available for comment.
A vision of the future http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,2053020,00.html
Information chips implanted in the brain. Electromagnetic pulse weapons. The middle classes becoming revolutionary, taking on the role of Marx's proletariat. The population of countries in the Middle East increasing by 132%, while Europe's drops as fertility falls. "Flashmobs" - groups rapidly mobilised by criminal gangs or terrorists groups. This is the world in 30 years' time envisaged by a Ministry of Defence team responsible for painting a picture of the "future strategic context" likely to face Britain's armed forces. It includes an "analysis of the key risks and shocks". Rear Admiral Chris Parry, head of the MoD's Development, Concepts & Doctrine Centre which drew up the report, describes the assessments as "probability-based, rather than predictive". An electromagnetic pulse will probably become operational by 2035 able to destroy all communications systems in a selected area or be used against a "world city" such as an international business service hub. The development of neutron weapons which destroy living organs but not buildings "might make a weapon of choice for extreme ethnic cleansing in an increasingly populated world". The use of unmanned weapons platforms would enable the "application of lethal force without human intervention, raising consequential legal and ethical issues". The "explicit use" of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons and devices delivered by unmanned vehicles or missiles. By 2035, an implantable "information chip" could be wired directly to the brain. A growing pervasiveness of information communications technology will enable states, terrorists or criminals, to mobilise "flashmobs", challenging security forces to match this potential agility coupled with an ability to concentrate forces quickly in a small area. "The middle classes could become a revolutionary class, taking the role envisaged for the proletariat by Marx," says the report. The thesis is based on a growing gap between the middle classes and the super-rich on one hand and an urban under-class threatening social order: "The world's middle classes might unite, using access to knowledge, resources and skills to shape transnational processes in their own class interest". Marxism could also be revived, it says, because of global inequality. An increased trend towards moral relativism and pragmatic values will encourage people to seek the "sanctuary provided by more rigid belief systems, including religious orthodoxy and doctrinaire political ideologies, such as popularism and Marxism". By 2010 more than 50% of the world's population will be living in urban rather than rural environments, leading to social deprivation and "new instability risks", and the growth of shanty towns. By 2035, that figure will rise to 60%. Migration will increase. Globalisation may lead to levels of international integration that effectively bring inter-state warfare to an end. But it may lead to "inter-communal conflict" - communities with shared interests transcending national boundaries and resorting to the use of violence. Tension between the Islamic world and the west will remain, and may increasingly be targeted at China "whose new-found materialism, economic vibrancy, and institutionalised atheism, will be an anathema to orthodox Islam".
Olmert's alleged misdeeds to be aired http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/101087.html
Israel’s state comptroller is expected to release reports soon on alleged financial improprieties by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The improprieties, labeled 'grave' by comptroller officials, concern the Trade Ministry's Investment Center and the purchase of Olmert's home in Jerusalem, Ha’aretz reported. The Investment Center affair concerns an alleged conflict of interest that occurred when Olmert was minister of industry, trade and labor. Olmert is suspected of fraud and a breach of trust for giving preference in an offer to a factory represented by his longtime partner, attorney Uri Messer. The comptroller's office has also been investigating allegations that Olmert purchased his Jerusalem home in 2003 for $320,000 less than the market value in exchange for influencing officials at the Jerusalem municipality to grant irregular construction permits for the property. Olmert had just completed a 10-year stint as mayor of Jerusalem in 2003.
Norway : Wal-Mart excluded from oil-fund http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/company-news/walmart/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=33565
Norway's government has decided to back out from its stocks in Wal-Mart so as to maintain Norway’s huge fund, meant to preserve country’s oil wealth. Norway’s ‘oil fund’, now known as ‘Norwegian Government Pension Fund – Global’, presently is worth about US $250 billion and ranked as one of the biggest pension funds in the world. Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen recently informed that Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Wal-Mart de Mexico and Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc will be excluded from the fund, as was advised by the Council on Ethics for the Fund. Ethics authorities have claimed that the US-based world’s largest retailer employs minors and the working conditions at many factories are harmful and hazardous. Halvorsen said that Wal-Mart’s exclusion reflects Government’s refusal to contribute to any serious, systematic or gross violations of ethical norms. Freeport McMoRan has also been barred from the fund under allegations of environmental violation.
Foreign demand may bail out U.S. economy http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/08/bloomberg/bxecon.php
Demand from overseas is throwing a lifeline to a United States weighed down by the housing slump and weak business investment. With exports accelerating and imports shrinking, trade this year may add to growth instead of subtracting from it for the first time in more than a decade. That is a change from the past 40 years, when the United States powered the world economy through financial crises elsewhere but gained little thrust from abroad when demand turned weak at home. The shift gives central bankers and finance ministers of the Group of Seven industrialized economies reason for optimism as they meet in Washington this week. "The U.S. slowdown has had little discernable effect on growth in most other countries," the International Monetary Fund said in a recent report. That could change if the housing recession does more damage than most economists now expect to the rest of the U.S. economy. The United States still accounts for a fifth of the global economy and is its biggest importer. So far, though, there is little sign of weakness in major economies outside the United States The 13 euro zone nations are being buoyed by record low unemployment and the highest confidence in six years. The Japanese economy, after wobbling at the end of last year, is also extending its longest expansion since World War II, with business confidence near a two-year high and household spending on the rise. Emerging markets like China and Brazil are also coming to the fore with consumer and capital spending last year growing at twice the rate of developed nations. Gulf states like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are investing billions of dollars gleaned from higher oil prices.
Dalai Lama accepts China rule of Tibet Dalai http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/04/08/10116736.html
Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama has said he accepts Chinese sovereignty on Tibet, albeit with a measure of self-rule for the Tibetans, but asserted that the so-called autonomy granted to Tibet by the Chinese has in reality meant the "rule of terror." "Tibet is a backward country - economically, materially. Therefore, in our own interest as far as material development is concerned, we want to remain within the People's Republic of China," the Dalai Lama said in the interview to be broadcast tonight. The Dalai Lama's clarification comes against the backdrop of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's offer to hold talks with him on the Tibet issue provided he dropped his demand for an independent Tibet. "Since we are not seeking independence or separation, we want certain rights within the concept of autonomy or self-rule," he said. "Our main concern is the preservation of our culture, our spirituality and environment", he added. "I think many visitors to Tibet, including many Chinese, see Tibet is actually ruled by terror. The Tibetans should have the final authority, except foreign affairs and defence," he said.
US to file trade actions against China http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2007/04/08/afx3592766.html
The Wall Street Journal reported today in its online edition that the Bush administration this coming week will file two actions challenging China's lax enforcement of its own antipiracy laws as well as its tight restrictions on the distribution of foreign movies, music and printed material. The antipiracy complaints will mark the culmination of several years of work within the administration to build a case against China over alleged intellectual-property abuses, which hit US exports ranging from auto parts to scientific journals. While supported by the US movie and music businesses, the impending complaints have raised fears in other US industries, including drug companies and high-tech manufacturers, that a clash with China over piracy could undermine their relationships with Chinese officials in combating the problem. Industry groups that are not expected to support the case include the Business Software Alliance, whose members include Microsoft Corp and Apple Inc, and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the drug industry's main trade group, the newspaper said. The cases will add to a list of US trade actions against China in recent months, the latest of which was the slapping of duties on imports of coated paper from China. The first case to be filed this week will make a number of specific complaints against China's enforcement of its own piracy laws, the newspaper said.
Taiwan civil defense drill http://www.chinapost.com.tw/news/print/106646.htm
All people in seven cities and counties in northern Taiwan will have to stay inside their houses and offices during the half-hour Wan-an air defense drill tomorrow afternoon. Passengers taking high-speed rail trains are advised to arrive at certain stations earlier. The 2007 Wan-an (Forever Safe) air defense will affect people living and working in Taipei City, Taipei County, Keelung City, Yilan County, Taoyuan County, Hsinchu City, and Hsinchu County in northern Taiwan 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. All shops have to temporarily suspend operations while people are not allowed to saunter outside apartments or buildings when the air siren starts. Vehicles and motorcycles should pull over. All drivers and passengers should get out of their cars to find shelter with the guidance of patrolmen. Government officials said the air defense drill is related to the military's Hanguang (Chinese Pride) No. 23 Exercise and the "Tungshin (Common Heart) No. 19" mobilization exercise for the reserve troops to counter possible attacks from hostile forces, presumably from mainland China.
New political rallies planned in Ukraine http://www.chinapost.com.tw/news/archives/international/200749/106669.htm
Ukraine's rival political factions on Sunday geared up for big street rallies this week as the former Soviet state remained mired in political deadlock over the president's dissolution of parliament. Pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko, at odds for months with parliament and his prime minister, last week issued a decree dissolving the legislature and calling a May election. Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, defeated and humiliated by the president after "Orange Revolution" mass protests in 2004, has challenged the decree in the Constitutional Court and refuses to take part in the new poll. A top member of Yanukovich's Regions Party predicted tens of thousands would gather for a rally on Monday, a public holiday. "Orange" supporters of the president's decree, led by fiery ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, are to gather on Tuesday.
US Dismisses Accusations of Killing Russian Satellite http://www.kommersant.com/p-10463/US_Satellite_Tatiana/
U.S. military officials last week dismissed claims of unnamed Russian experts who said America used an anti-satellite weapon last month to kill a small Russian research satellite. "There's no way this is a credible story," MSNBC quoted Spokesman for the U.S. Strategic Command James Graybeal as saying. The Tatiana probe stopped sending signals on March without any breakup recorded. An unnamed source in the Russian space industry said the satellite "could have been lost as a result of influence of some Earth-based technical means", the Interfax news agency reported. The source said Russian space experts believe that the satellite fell victim to U.S. experiments in ray influence on spacecraft. The experts' speculation is based on the timing of the failure. They note that the satellite stopped functioning on March 7, and the United States was conducting a military experiment at about the same time. Other Russian experts said the satellite may have been crippled by a U.S. missile as the Pentagon was holding a missile test on the same day.
Abnormally high content of methane traced in Laptev Sea http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=11414906&PageNum=0
Far Eastern oceanographers have detected an abnormally high concentration of methane in the Laptev Sea. "Concentrations, which exceed the norm by 1,000 times, have been traced in the Arctic Ocean for the first time ever. The only anomalies of the kind have been discovered above gas hydrate deposits in the Sea of Okhotsk," oceanographic expedition co-leader Igor Semiletov told Itar-Tass by phone. "A study of this anomaly will give an answer to the question what impact the ocean methane may have on the global warming," Semiletov said. Scientists think that the global warming is ruinous for coastal ice and permafrost and causes the emission of an ancient organic substance, which was mothballed in the Arctic glaciers for thousands of years.
Kyrgyzstan's opposition begins open-ended rallies http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=11414902&PageNum=0
Kyrgyzstan's oppositional For Reforms Movement and United Front For Kyrgyzstan's Decent Future led by former prime minister Felix Kulov will begin mass and open-ended rallies in some regions of the Central Asian republic on Monday. According to the oppositional parties' coordinating headquarters, regions, where rallies will be organized, are still kept secret. It became known that on Sunday opposition leaders went to the Chui region to rally people. Four days ago 80 supporters of the opposition pitched tents in front of the parliament's building announcing a hunger strike. On April 11, the United Front and For Reforms plan to organize a rally in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek. Kulov pledged that on April 11 Kyrgyzstan will witness "peaceful and constitutional change of power." At present, Bakiyev has already fulfilled most of his opponents' demands agreeing to make amendments to the Constitution and transform the state TV and radio company into the Public Television.
Bishops warn of mass uprising in Zim http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?art_id=nw20070408231121530C947918
Roman Catholic bishops marked Easter Sunday with an unprecedented message to President Robert Mugabe to end oppression and leave office through democratic reform or face a mass revolt. "The confrontation in our country has now reached a flashpoint," said the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference in a pastoral message pinned up at churches throughout the country. "As the suffering population becomes more insistent, generating more and more pressure through boycotts, strikes, demonstrations and uprisings, the state responds with ever harsher oppression through arrests, detentions, banning orders, beatings and torture," the nine bishops said. The majority of Zimbabwe's Christians - including Mugabe - are Roman Catholics. Several thousand worshippers who packed the cathedral in Harare - clustered around the notice boards to read the message after morning Mass on Sunday. In his traditional Easter address from the central balcony of St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI singled out Zimbabwe among other troubled countries. A similar letter in the nearby nation of Malawi pressured longtime dictator Hastings Kamuzu Banda into holding a referendum on reform in 1992 and calling democratic elections, which he lost, ending 30 years of brutal rule. The once-prosperous nation is reeling under hyperinflation of more than 1,700 percent, 80-percent unemployment, shortages of food and other basic goods and one of the world's lowest life expectancies.
Fugitive Chavez foe appears in video http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-04-09-chavez-foe_N.htm?csp=15A prominent opponent of President Hugo Chavez who broke out of prison eight months ago appeared in video televised Monday, saying his struggle against the government is far from finished. Former top labor boss Carlos Ortega escaped from a maximum-security prison in August while serving a 16-year sentence. He was convicted on civil rebellion charges for leading a national strike in 2002-2003 aimed at ousting Chavez. Ortega urged Venezuelans to support an upcoming signature drive that would allow the opposition Democratic Action party to participate in elections after boycotting congressional and gubernatorial votes in 2005. Chavez has called Ortega a criminal who conspired against democracy by trying to topple his elected government. Ortega has said he was a political prisoner of a government steering Venezuela toward authoritarianism. Ortega has eluded authorities before his most recent escape. He fled arrest and sought asylum in Costa Rica before returning to Venezuela in 2004. Ortega spent months in hiding before his arrest in March 2005 inside a Caracas bingo hall.
'A lot of propaganda, but we're guests,' Richardson says of North Koreans http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18028751/
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson on Monday toured a U.S. warship captured by North Korea in the 1960s that is now used to inspire anti-American sentiment in the reclusive communist regime. The North Korea colonel who served as Richardson's guide smiled as he told the governor the ship was an example of continued U.S. aggression toward his country. Richardson and his traveling companion, former Veteran Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi, were then shown bullet holes circled in red paint and a video describing the maneuvering of "brazen-faced U.S. imperialists." The USS Pueblo was captured by North Korea on Jan. 23, 1968, after being sent defenseless on an intelligence-gathering mission off the country's coast. It was the first U.S. warship captured since 1807, and remains the only active-duty warship in foreign hands. Navy records show the ship was in international waters at the time of its capture; the North insists it was inside the Korean coastal zone. North Korea held the ship's crew of 82 for 11 months before releasing them. The ship was then moored to the bank of the Taedong River in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang. Richardson, a Democratic presidential candidate who is in North Korea this week to collect the remains of U.S. servicemen killed in the Korean War, said the tour of the ship was "unpleasant." More than 33,000 American troops died in the Korean War from 1950-1953, and more than 8,100 are listed as missing. After North Korea invaded South Korea, U.S. forces intervened on behalf of the South while Chinese forces backed the North. Richardson's four-day trip, which has been endorsed by the Bush administration, comes days before a crucial deadline in a recent nuclear disarmament accord. Richardson has regularly made diplomatic trips, often on his own initiative, to a number of global hot spots. Though visits to North Korea by senior U.S. officials are rare, this was Richardson's sixth to the country.
Sex differences found in stem cells http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18022291/
Stem cells taken from the muscles of female mice are better at regenerating tissue than those taken from male mice, a new study finds. This revelation could have a major impact on the development of stem cells as therapies for many diseases and conditions. Embryonic stem cells can divide to become any type of cell in the body. Muscle stem cells, which come from adult tissue instead of an embryo, are more specialized and limited in what they can become. After injecting the mice with the stem cells, the researchers measured the cells’ ability to regenerate muscle fibers that contained dystrophin. The researchers, whose work is published in the April 9 issue of the Journal of Cell Biology, found that female cells produced many more fibers than male cells.
Impasse at Winnie the Pooh settlement talks http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18028469/
The two sides in the long-running royalty dispute over the Winnie the Pooh characters have ended settlement talks, ensuring that complicated federal copyright litigation will continue. The Walt Disney Co., which generates about $1 billion in annual revenue from the sale of Pooh products, informed a federal magistrate last month that it would not participate in settlement talks with the family that owns the licensing rights to the characters. Attorneys representing Stephen Slesinger Inc., the company that owns the rights to Pooh, said they would pursue federal action against Disney, including asking for $2 billion in damages. The heirs of Stephen Slesinger filed a state lawsuit in 1991. That case was dismissed by a Superior Court judge in 2004 and is on appeal. The dispute moved to U.S. District Court after the heirs of Pooh’s creators attempted to wrest the copyright back from the Slesingers and assign it permanently to Disney. Earlier this year, Judge Florence-Marie Cooper ruled that the heirs of author A.A. Milne and illustrator E.H. Shepard could not revoke the copyrights from the Slesingers.
Family outing turns into 'nightmare' http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=29&art_id=nw20070409070413296C526054
Holtsville, New York - an audience expecting to watch a family film instead got a glimpse of a horror movie that begins with a chained woman giving birth to a mutant. The moviegoers were expecting to see "The Last Mimzy," the PG-rated tale of a brother and sister who discover a mysterious box of toys and become endowed with superhuman powers to help preserve humanity's future. Instead, the crowd saw the opening scene of "The Hills Have Eyes 2," the R-rated sequel to a recent remake of a 1977 horror classic by the genre's renowned director, Wes Craven. The film centers on National Guard troops who stumble on a clan of mutant cannibals. "There were kids that were crying, there were people trying to cover the kids' eyes, they were caught off guard," said Anthony Rasco, who was in the audience when the scene was unexpectedly shown Thursday in one of the theatres at the Island 16 multiplex in Holtsville.
Beer "Automats' in Prague http://www.praguepost.com/articles/2007/03/28/the-beer-in-the-machine.php
The beer machine is equipped with a card-reading device to verify people's ages, and will be found mostly at hotels and pensions without restaurants, as well as in dorms, shopping malls and gas stations. By early April, 20 machines should be installed throughout Prague. By the end of the year, up to 100 will be in central Bohemia. The scanner recognizes not only Czech IDs and passports, but also all EU cards. The developers have applied for Czech and international patents. After installing a prototype in the Czech Technical University dormitories in Prague's Bubeneč district, Pilsner Urquell intends to place more at hotels and pensions that do not have their own restaurants, and also in other dorms, shopping malls and gas stations.
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