Docudharma Times Thursday May 29

Scott McClellan Is Not Himself

He’s Someone Else

The Truth Is Out There

Thursday’s Headlines:  Marines pass out Gospel verse to Iraqi Muslims, Iraqis say   Italy officer tells of spying on spies in cleric’s kidnapping  Secular Turks attack religious council’s code for women   Olmert urged to stand down over corruption claims   China quake: Controls cautiously lifted on flood of volunteers   End of a dynasty: Nepal’s Hindu king loses his crown   S.Africa union replaces sacked Mbeki ally   Nigeria militants step up oil attacks   Azteca shifts production of U.S. newscasts to Mexico

Citizens’ Groups Step Up In China

Wary Rulers Allow Role in Quake Aid

YINGXIU, China — Grass-roots organizations and informal networks of private citizens are playing a vital role in getting supplies to rescue workers and survivors of this month’s devastating earthquake in China. The government, in a notable shift, appears content to let them do so.

Officially, nongovernmental organizations in China must register with the government; the larger groups are as rigid and controlled as their official sponsors. Authorities remain deeply suspicious of smaller, independent groups.

USA

Ex-Colleagues Ask, ‘What Happened?’

Former Bush Aide Stuns Many With Critical New Book

Scott McClellan was the ultimate Bush loyalist. He went to work for George W. Bush when he was Texas governor in 1999, helped Bush gain the White House in 2000, and then came to Washington to defend the president for the next six years on such issues as the war in Iraq and Hurricane Katrina.

But McClellan’s explosive new book, which alleges that the Bush administration waged a “political propaganda campaign” in favor of the Iraq war and bungled the response to the storm that devastated the Gulf Coast, prompted a counterattack yesterday from some of his oldest political colleagues, who accused him of disloyalty and questioned his credibility.

Marines pass out Gospel verse to Iraqi Muslims, Iraqis say

By Jamal Naji and Leila Fadel | McClatchy Newspapers

FALLUJAH, Iraq – At the western entrance to the Iraqi city of Fallujah Tuesday, Muamar Anad handed his residence badge to the U.S. Marines guarding the city. They checked to be sure that he was a city resident, and when they were done, Anad said, a Marine slipped a coin out of his pocket and put it in his hand.

Out of fear, he accepted it, Anad said. When he was inside the city, the college student said, he looked at one side of the coin. “Where will you spend eternity?” it asked.

He flipped it over, and on the other side it read, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16.”

Europe

Italy officer tells of spying on spies in cleric’s kidnapping

Testifying in the trial of 26 Americans, the officer recalls how police tracked cellphone traffic to piece together prosecution of the disputed practice known as extraordinary rendition.

MILAN, ITALY — One of Italy’s top cops told a court Wednesday how, with meticulous detective work and substantial luck, he blew the lid off one of the Bush administration’s most controversial counter-terrorism tactics.

Testifying in the trial of 26 Americans, most of them CIA operatives, who are accused of abducting a radical Egyptian cleric in Milan, the senior officer described tracking massive amounts of cellular telephone traffic to piece together Europe’s only prosecution of the much-disputed practice known as extraordinary rendition.

Secular Turks attack religious council’s code for women

Robert Tait in Istanbul

A powerful state body regulating the role of Islam in Turkey has come under fire over an article on sexual behaviour that equated flirting with adultery and condemned women for wearing perfume.

Secularists and women’s groups hit out after the directorate of religious affairs (Diyanet) published the article on its website setting out recommendations for proper sexual conduct.

Invoking the prophet Muhammad, it put the onus squarely on women by urging them to cover up and behave modestly to avoid provoking male sexual desires.

“Women have to be more careful, since they have stimulants,” the article stated. “The women communicating with strange men should speak in a manner that will not arouse suspicion in one’s heart and in such seriousness and dignity that they will not let the opposite party misunderstand them, that they should not show their ornaments and figure and that they should cover in a fine manner.”

Middle East

Olmert urged to stand down over corruption claims

By Donald Macintyre

Thursday, 29 May 2008

The Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s most powerful coalition partner has called on him to step aside in the face of widespread anger at allegations that he had repeatedly received envelopes stuffed with cash from a US businessman.

In the wake of testimony by the businessman Morris Talansky that he had personally handed over $150,000 (£76,000) for Mr Olmert during a period of some 15 years, the Defence Minister and Labour Party leader Ehud Barak urged the Prime Minister to leave office – either permanently or for as long as the police investigation against him continues.

Ali Larijani gives stern warning to West over Iran’s nuclear ambitions

Iran’s new parliamentary Speaker has used his inaugural address to give warning that Tehran could set limits on future co-operation with the UN’s nuclear watchdog, after an unusually critical report from the agency. Ali Larijani’s stern message, delivered only moments after he was voted overwhelmingly into the powerful new post yesterday, signalled his intention to adopt a tough stance on the nuclear issue.

Diplomats were hoping for a less confrontational tone from the former nuclear negotiator for Iran, who is seen as the main challenger to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the hardline President of the country. Mr Larijani fell out with him last year about how to handle the nuclear row with the West.

Asia

China quake: Controls cautiously lifted on flood of volunteers

More than 150,000 have come to help at the quake zone.

Jiangyou, China – Standing at a dusty crossroads surrounded by thousands of homeless earthquake victims, Chen Shoujun had almost lost his voice. He had shouted himself hoarse that morning, he said, trying to organize crowds of enthusiastic young volunteers who had flocked here. “It’s not so chaotic now,” he said, wiping his brow. “We’ve got a team of 200 people cleaning the place up and spraying disinfectant.”

At the sharp end of its postearthquake relief and rescue effort since May 12, China’s government could not have done without volunteers like Mr. Chen.

End of a dynasty: Nepal’s Hindu king loses his crown

Jeremy Page, South Asia Correspondent

He began the day as King Gyanendra of Nepal, revered as the reincarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu and enthroned as head of the world’s only surviving Hindu monarchy, dating back 240 years. He ended it as a commoner – albeit a rich one – after a new assembly dominated by former Maoist rebels used its first meeting yesterday to abolish the monarchy.

After a day of intense political drama, which was marked by bombings, backroom negotiations and jubilant demonstrations, the assembly agreed by 560 votes to 4 to replace King Gyanendra with a president.

It also agreed to give him just 15 days to vacate the Narayanhiti Palace in Kathmandu, which will be turned into a museum.

Africa

S.Africa union replaces sacked Mbeki ally

Thu 29 May 2008, 5:27 GMT

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s COSATU labour union said on Wednesday it had appointed a new leader after sacking his predecessor, an ally of President Thabo Mbeki, earlier this year over his handling of a donation.

The dismissal of Willy Madisha in February was another blow to Mbeki after he lost the leadership of the ruling African National Congress in December to Jacob Zuma, who enjoys the backing of labour unions.

“Following the decision to remove Willy Madisha as president of COSATU … the CEC (executive committee) unanimously elected Sidumo Dlamini … to serve as president … until the 10th national congress that will be held in September 2009,” COSATU said in a statement.

Nigeria militants step up oil attacks

One year after President Umaru Yar’ Adua took power, vowing to bring stability to the oil-rich Niger Delta region, observers say little progress has been made.

Port Harcourt, Nigeria – Militants in Africa’s top oil producer are marking President Umaru Yar’Adua’s first full year in power with fresh pipeline bombings, underscoring the difficulties that civilian rulers have had calming strife linked to Nigeria’s notoriously weak and corrupt democratic system.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta’s (MEND) latest attack – a nighttime bombing on a Royal Dutch Shell PLC operated pipeline – helped push global oil prices to $133 per barrel.

That explosion, the latest of nearly half a dozen in recent weeks, has raised fears of widening attacks on other oil facilities in Nigeria, the 4th-largest supplier of oil to the United States

Latin America

Azteca shifts production of U.S. newscasts to Mexico

The Spanish-language network lays off about 30 workers, including 19 in its news department, to cut costs.

Spanish-language television network Azteca America is now producing its U.S. national and local Los Angeles newscasts from Mexico City.

The company, a subsidiary of Mexican broadcaster TV Azteca, until this week had originated its news programs for the U.S. from its facilities in Glendale. The network and its flagship station, KAZA-TV Channel 54 in Los Angeles, made the switch to save money amid a weak advertising market.

Azteca America has laid off about 30 people in the last week, including 19 in its news division, the company confirmed Wednesday.

The network has long struggled to make inroads in Los Angeles, the nation’s largest Latino market, where entrenched rivals Univision Communications Inc.’s KMEX-TV Channel 34 and NBC Universal’s KVEA-TV Telemundo Channel 52 dominate.