Docudharma Times Thursday January 10

This is an Open Thread: Call Anytime

Thursday’s Headlines: Millions of youths use cold meds to get high: Ashcroft Deal Brings Scrutiny in Justice Dept.: Chinese man killed after filming protest: Bodyguard testifies against Taylor at war crimes trial

For U.S., The Goal Is Now ‘Iraqi Solutions’

Approach Acknowledges Benchmarks Aren’t Met

In the year since President Bush announced he was changing course in Iraq with a troop “surge” and a new strategy, U.S. military and diplomatic officials have begun their own quiet policy shift. After countless unsuccessful efforts to push Iraqis toward various political, economic and security goals, they have decided to let the Iraqis figure some things out themselves.

From Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker to Army privates and aid workers, officials are expressing their willingness to stand back and help Iraqis develop their own answers. “We try to come up with Iraqi solutions for Iraqi problems,” said Stephen Fakan, the leader of a provincial reconstruction team with U.S. troops in Fallujah.

USA

Millions of youths use cold meds to get high

Number who abused OTC medications similar to LSD use, officials say

WASHINGTON – About 3.1 million people between the ages of 12 to 25 – or about 5 percent of the age group – have used over-the-counter cough and cold medicine to get high, a U.S. government survey found.

In large doses, cough syrups and cold pills can be used to induce hallucinations, “out-of-body” experiences or other effects, officials said.

This type of abuse has been known for years, but the 2006 survey, conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration or SAMHSA, sets out the best numbers to date quantifying the problem, officials said.

Ashcroft Deal Brings Scrutiny in Justice Dept.

Published: January 10, 2008

WASHINGTON – When the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey needed to find an outside lawyer to monitor a large corporation willing to settle criminal charges out of court last fall, he turned to former Attorney General John Ashcroft, his onetime boss. With no public notice and no bidding, the company awarded Mr. Ashcroft an 18-month contract worth $28 million to $52 million.

That contract, which Justice Department officials in Washington learned about only several weeks ago, has prompted an internal inquiry into the department’s procedures for selecting outside monitors to police settlements with large companies.

The contract between Mr. Ashcroft’s consulting firm, the Ashcroft Group, and Zimmer Holdings, a medical supply company in Indiana, has also drawn the attention of Congressional investigators.

Asia

Chinese man killed after filming protest

David Stanway in Beijing

Thursday January 10, 2008

The Guardian

A man who used his mobile phone to film a violent clash between villagers and officials in rural China was beaten to death by public order “enforcers”, Chinese state media reported yesterday, bringing more unwanted attention to the country’s unruly hinterlands.

The People’s Daily reported that 24 residents of Tianmen, a city in central China’s Hubei province, have been detained after Wei Wenhua, the general manager of a company owned by the local water resources bureau, was pulled out of his car and savagely beaten.

Pakistan suicide blast ‘kills 20’

A suicide bomber in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore has killed at least 20 people and wounded 60, most of them police officers.

The explosion targeted a group of police gathered outside the High Court building, officials said.

A number of people – police and civilians – were seen lying motionless in the street.

The attack comes amid extreme political tension following the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

Europe

Civil servant who leaked rendition secrets goes free

· Internal FO papers fatally undermine prosecution

· Anger that case was pursued for two years

Secrets charges against a Foreign Office civil servant were dramatically dropped at the Old Bailey yesterday after it emerged that senior figures within his own department had privately admitted no harm was done by his leaking a series of Whitehall documents.

The case against Derek Pasquill, who faced jail for passing secret papers to journalists, collapsed as it was becoming increasingly clear that it could have caused the government severe political embarrassment.

The leaked documents related to the US practice of secretly transporting terror suspects to places where they risked being tortured, and UK government policy towards Muslim groups.

Hunger strike vow as Saakashvili is declared victor in Georgian poll

By Shaun Walker in Moscow

Published: 10 January 2008

Opposition activists vowed to go on hunger strike to demand a second round of voting as President Mikheil Saakashvili was declared the winner of Georgia’s presidential poll yesterday.

The head of Georgia’s Central Election Committee said that the number of ballots from polling stations yet to return results was not enough to push Mr Saakashvili below the 50 per cent barrier, which he needs to surpass to avoid a second round. With around 99 per cent of votes counted, Mr Saakashvili, who has led the country since the 2003 rose revolution, had more than 52 per cent.

“We won the election, but the results have been falsified,” Levan Gachechiladze told a crowd who had gathered outside television studios to demand airtime for the opposition to broadcast its complaints. Mr Gachechiladze was backed by a nine-party coalition, and came in second place with around 25 per cent of the vote. In the capital Tbilisi, he won around 40 per cent, more than Mr Saakashvili.

Africa

Bodyguard testifies against Taylor at war crimes trial

A bodyguard of the former Liberian president Charles Taylor has given dramatic evidence against him, revealing the existence of a secret radio room that connected his mansion with the machete-wielding rebels on the front line in neighbouring Sierra Leone.

Mr Taylor, the first former African head of state to face an international court, is on trial in The Hague for orchestrating a campaign of murder and mutilation during the decade-long war in Sierra Leone so he could plunder its diamond wealth.

His defence team does not contest that atrocities occurred but says that Mr Taylor, who stood down as Liberia’s president in 2003 following intense international pressure, had nothing to do with it.

African Union chief pushes for solution to Kenya crisis

By Wangui Kanina and Duncan Miriri in Nairobi

Published: 10 January 2008

The chairman of the African Union John Kufuor shuttled between Kenya’s President and opposition leader to try to break a political impasse behind post-election turmoil that has killed about 500 people.

Mr Kufuor, Ghana’s President, met President Mwai Kibaki at his State House office and residence yesterday, then met Raila Odinga for talks at a hotel. He was due to meet both again later.

Mr Odinga says he was cheated out of winning the election on 27 December by ballot rigging by Mr Kibaki’s supporters. Washington and London have said the vote counting was flawed. The crisis has dented Kenya’s reputation for stability and damaged its economy.

Long used to hosting refugees from hot-spots like Sudan and Somalia, Kenya has more than 250,000 of its own people displaced, many victims of inter-ethnic fighting.

Middle East

Iran warned of reprisals if American naval ships are attacked

President Bush began his first official tour of the Middle East yesterday with a stern warning to Iran that it would face “serious consequences” if its forces attacked American naval ships in the Gulf.

“My advice to them is, ‘Don’t do it’,” Mr Bush said in a press conference in Jerusalem, where he had been discussing with Israeli leaders the renewed peace process with the Palestinians and the risk of conflict with Tehran, which Israel regards as a serious threat.

“We have made it clear publicly and they know our position, and that is there will be serious consequences if they attack our ships, pure and simple,” Mr Bush said. He was speaking three days after Iranian gunboats reportedly threatened to explode themselves against US vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. airstrikes hit ‘Qaida safe havens’

BAGHDAD – U.S. bombers and jet fighters unleashed 40,000 pounds of explosives during a 10-minute airstrike Thursday morning, flattening what the military called al-Qaida in Iraq safe havens on the southern outskirts of the capital.

A military statement said B-1 bombers and F-16 fighters dropped the explosives on 40 targets in Arab Jabour in 10 strikes.

The massive attack was part of Operation Phantom Phoenix, a nationwide campaign launched Tuesday to root out al-Qaida in Iraq fighters.

“Thirty-eight bombs were dropped within the first 10 minutes, with a total tonnage of 40,000 pounds,” the statement said

Latin America

Stolen Picasso recovered undamaged in Brazil

· Police suspect museum heist was ordered overseas

· Portinari painting also found in safe house

Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro

Thursday January 10, 2008

The Guardian

Police in Brazil have recovered two paintings worth a total of £28m, three weeks after they were stolen from one of South America’s most prestigious galleries.

Escorted by a helicopter and more than a dozen police vehicles, the works by Pablo Picasso and the Brazilian artist Cândido Portinari were returned yesterday to the Sao Paulo Museum of Art (Masp). Picasso’s Portrait of Suzanne Bloch and Portinari’s The Coffee Worker, which were stolen by masked men on December 20, were found on Tuesday at a house in Greater Sao Paulo. Two arrests were made, but police are still hunting for the mastermind behind the theft.

One More

Japan tries to cut bike toll

Justin McCurry inTokyo

Thursday January 10, 2008

The Guardian

Multi-tasking cyclists beware. Japan is planning new measures to discourage some of the more outlandish but popular saddle habits, including “triple riding” (balancing children on the frame), listening to portable music players or using an umbrella while on the move.

In the first changes to cycling rules for almost 30 years, warnings will be issued to cyclists who listen to music players or chat on mobile phones. Offenders face a fine of 20,000 yen (£93) from this spring if they are caught triple riding – a balancing act usually involving an adult and two small children spaced out along the length of the bicycle.