This is an Open Thread:
Run to the moon, “Moon won’t you hide me?”
Run to the sea, “Sea won’t you hide me?”
Run to the sun, “Sun won’t you hide me all on that day?”
Waterboarding Is Focus of Justice Dept. InquiryWASHINGTON – The Justice Department revealed Friday that its internal ethics office was investigating the department’s legal approval for waterboarding of Qaeda suspects by the Central Intelligence Agency and was likely to make public an unclassified version of its report.
The disclosure by H. Marshall Jarrett, the head of the department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, was the first official acknowledgment of an internal review of the legal memorandums the department has issued since 2002 that authorized waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods.
Mr. Jarrett’s report could become the first public accounting for legal advice that endorsed methods widely denounced as torture by human rights groups and legal authorities. His office can refer matters for criminal prosecution; legal experts said the most likely outcome was a public critique of the legal opinions on interrogation, noting that Mr. Jarrett had the power to reprimand or to seek the disbarment of current or former Justice Department lawyers.
USA
McCain Disputed On 1999 Meeting
Broadcaster Recalls Urging FCC Contact
Broadcaster Lowell “Bud” Paxson yesterday contradicted statements from Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign that the senator did not meet with Paxson or his lobbyist before sending two controversial letters to the Federal Communications Commission on Paxson’s behalf.
Paxson said he talked with McCain in his Washington office several weeks before the Arizona Republican wrote the letters in 1999 to the FCC urging a rapid decision on Paxson’s quest to acquire a Pittsburgh television station.
U.S. considers easing ban on guns in national parks
Advocates of change say it will improve safety. Opponents are convinced it would do the opposite.
WASHINGTON — In a victory for gun-rights advocates, the federal government is preparing to relax a decades-old ban on bringing loaded firearms into national parks.Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said Friday that his department would suggest new regulations by the end of April that could bring federal rules into line with state laws concerning guns in parks and public lands. His announcement came in a letter to Sen. Michael D. Crapo (R-Idaho), one of 50 senators who have written to him about the issue. Senators from both parties have backed a drive to repeal the ban, which has been in place in some parks for at least 100 years.
The proposed rule change would let visitors carry loaded weapons into national parks in states with few gun restrictions, such as Montana.California is not one of those states. Its law prohibits loaded guns in state parks unless they are locked inside a car trunk or are similarly inaccessible. “It’s a place of refuge, not a place for hunting, and it’s patrolled by state park rangers who are there to protect visitors,” California State Parks spokesman Roy Stearns said.
Middle East
Israeli mayor of bombarded border town offers to break ranks and talk to Hamas
· I’ll do anything to save lives, says Sderot leader
· UN agrees only political deal will stop rockets
The mayor of Sderot, an Israeli town repeatedly targeted by rockets fired from the Gaza Strip, says in order to save Israeli lives he is ready to talk to Hamas – despite the international ban on contact with the militant Palestinian organisation.“I would say to Hamas, let’s have a ceasefire, let’s stop the rockets for the next 10 years and we will see what happens,” said Eli Moyal, the mayor, who is a member of the rightwing Likud party. “For me as a person the most important thing is life and I’m ready to do everything for that. I’m ready to talk to the devil.”
Last week a child lost a leg in a rocket attack on Sderot. Moyal’s first response was to call for the assassination of the Hamas leadership and for Gaza villages to be razed. But now he is ready for a different tactic. His call for talks comes as Israel’s blockade on the Hamas-controlled Gaza strip is under international pressure.
Turkish forces stage raid into Iraq
· 10,000 troops said to be pursuing Kurdish rebels
· Ankara says it gave US warning of incursion
Thousands of Turkish troops, supported by aircraft and artillery, crossed into northern Iraq on Thursday in what appeared to be an escalation of their campaign to hunt down rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), believed to be sheltering in the remote mountain areas straddling the Turkish-Iraqi border.The Turkish military said the ground operation started after warplanes and artillery attacked a number of targets inside Iraqi territory. Turkish television said up to 10,000 troops, backed by planes and helicopters, moved 16 miles beyond the border. Ankara said it had given Iraqi and US leaders advance warning.
A PKK spokesman said last night its fighters had killed 22 Turkish soldiers and wounded many more during clashes that continued yesterday. Neither the casualties nor the location of the fighting could be verified.
Europe
Serbia gives reminder of defiance under Milosevic
Serbia’s relationship with the EU is in crisis after Belgrade’s failure to intervene to halt violence sparked by the West’s endorsement of Kosovo’s independence.After almost eight years of bridge-building with its European neighbours, Serbia this week witnessed scenes reminiscent of the Milosevic era. Anti-Western feelings have been stoked by the authorities with even American television shows pulled off state television. An attack by rioters on the US embassy on Thursday night left one person dead and has raised fears of further violence.
The US and UN condemned the events in Belgrade but the EU warned that a failure to clamp down on violence could harm Serbia’s prospects of eventual EU membership and the promise of millions of euros in aid and free trade concessions. “These acts of violence lead nowhere and they cannot help anybody,” said the EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
Alcalde, elderly fighting bull with a priceless pedigree, to be cloned
By Elizabeth Nash in Madrid
Saturday, 23 February 2008Some bulls in Spain are simply irreplaceable. They are the sementales, or breeding bulls, prized and pampered to produce offspring that fight and die in the ring. When their time is past, they are mourned like a great racing stallion would be in Britain.
But now, one bull’s fabulous powers are to be continued by a clone. The prestigious breeder Vitoriano del Rio, who supplies bulls to die in the afternoon in plazas throughout Spain, has contracted an American company in a pioneering attempt to clone his star bull, Alcalde.
Africa
Robert Mugabe breaks silence to abuse presidential opponent
President Mugabe yesterday raised the pressure ahead of the Zimbabwean presidential election by labelling his challenger and former finance minister a “prostitute”.It took Mr Mugabe more than two weeks to react to Simba Makoni, who has dared to leave the ruling party and stand as a rival candidate in next month’s elections.
“I have compared him to a prostitute,” the elderly leader said, referring to Mr Makoni’s willingness to appeal to disenchanted members of the ruling ZANU(PF) party, as well as members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
“A prostitute could have stood (as a presidential candidate). He is saying, I have so many boyfriends, some in the MDC, some in ZANU(PF), so I can go for nomination (as a candidate).
ANC president criticised for joining ‘blacks-only’ lunch in South Africa
Jacob Zuma, the newly elected president of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), was at the centre of renewed controversy yesterday after accepting an invitation to address a “blacks-only” meeting of South African journalists.
Mr Zuma, who is in line to become the country’s next president in 2009, said that he saw nothing wrong in the decision by the Forum of Black Journalists (FBJ) not to allow any white journalists, including those known to be favourable to the ANC, to attend a luncheon at which he was the guest speaker.
Three well-known white journalists who tried to attend were asked to leave. The incident has infuriated many South Africans, of all races, who fear that it is a sign of Mr Zuma’s intentions if he succeeds to the presidency when Thabo Mbeki steps down.
Latin America
Guatemala farmers release police
Some 1,500 farmers in Guatemala have released 29 police officers a day after they were taken hostage in Livingston on the Caribbean coast.The farmers are seeking for the release of a farm leader, Ramiro Choc, arrested earlier this month on charges of robbery and illegally occupying land.
The farmers are said to have occupied land in the area for the past decade.
The government is now reportedly willing to help the farmers legalise their position on the land they use.
Local officials and representatives of Guatemala’s Human Rights Prosecutor’s office negotiated between police and farmers to ensure the hostages were freed, after 32 hours in captivity.
Latin America nuclear pact signed
Argentina and Brazil have agreed to build a joint nuclear reactor to address looming energy shortages.The agreement came as part of a plan by South America’s two biggest economies to extend defence and energy projects.
It was announced after talks in Buenos Aires between Argentine President Cristina Fernandez and her Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Brazil would export electricity to Argentina in the winter months ahead amid shortage fears, Mr Lula said.
Asia
Clouds gather as ‘sulky’ Musharraf retreats to bunker
Despite US support, president is isolated in battle for power
In some ways life has changed little for Pakistan’s president, Pervez Musharraf, since Monday’s election. The retired general still trots out for afternoon tennis, aides say, and enjoys a game of bridge a few times a week. In the evenings he pulls on a cigar and, although he can’t admit it, nurses a glass of whisky.Visitors still call to see him at Army House, the marble-floored Rawalpindi residence of Pakistan’s military chiefs, even though he retired three months ago. “It has been renamed Presidential Lodge,” said spokesman Rashid Qureshi. “The normal routine is functioning.”
But outside clouds are gathering. The spectacular rout of his Pakistan Muslim League (Q) party at the polls has shorn the retired commando of his political base, leaving him isolated and exposed.
Malaysian election reform activists threaten mass rally
KUALA TERENGGANU, Malaysia (AFP) – Malaysian activists have accused electoral authorities of dirty tricks ahead of March 8 polls and are threatening to hold a mass rally in Kuala Lumpur in protest.The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) which last November gathered some 30,000 people in the capital to demand reforms, slammed last-minute changes to electoral rules ahead of nomination day Sunday.
They said that opposition candidates, particularly in northern states where Friday and Saturday are holidays, could be disqualified by a rule announced Thursday that they must pay stamp duty on their applications to contest.
“How are opposition candidates in states like Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu supposed to get the stamps especially when Friday and Saturday is the weekend here?” BERSIH organiser Mohammad Sabu told a crowd of 5,000 supporters.
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Tonight I watched Thank You For Not Smoking and The Greatest Game Ever Played