Category: News

May 09 2009

Weekend News Digest

Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Gunships and planes strike Pakistan Taliban in Swat

By Junaid Khan, Reuters

32 mins ago

MINGORA, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistani helicopter gunships and warplanes hit Taliban positions in the militants’ Swat Valley stronghold Saturday, while a curfew prevented civilians from fleeing the fighting.

The struggle in the northwestern valley 130 km (80 miles) from Islamabad has become a test of Pakistan’s resolve to fight a growing insurgency that has alarmed the West.

The military said up to 55 militants were killed in the day’s clashes in Swat and four soldiers wounded, and that several militants had died in separate clashes close to the Afghan border. The figures could not be independently confirmed.

May 08 2009

Firefighters Make Heroic Stand at San Rocque and Foothill.

The morning brings welcome news that densely populated neighborhoods of delightful adobe homes with small gardens have been largely saved from the fire, at least as of the early morning hours.

Calling from the field around 1 a.m., reporter Ethan Stewart, standing just below San Roque and Foothill called the area a “ghost town on the State Street side.” The fire was making a run down San Roque toward downtown.

The fire is only a few hundred yards from Foothill in the San Roque area, but doesn’t appear to be burning any houses at the moment thanks to the firefighters concerted effort to hold Foothill Road.

[snip]

An hour later, Stewart said that all things considered it seemed somewhat quiet thanks to firefighters’ heroic efforts. The fire is still being held off Foothill Road.

This is referring to an area where the houses are much more densely packed–charming adobes with small yards packed into neighborhoods leading right into the downtown area.  Working 24-hour shifts, the firefighters seem to have averted a catastrophe in the night.  A heavy helicopter presence was also reported in the swirling winds and blinding smoke.

May 08 2009

Jesusita Fire: Information, Please.

Photobucket

Please follow this link to the full-sized photo.  It’s as close as you’re likely to get to the fire.  This photo gives me goose bumps.  Gratitude.

May 07 2009

Wednesday Morning Science Supplement

From Yahoo News Science

1 U.S. House climate control negotiations intensify

By Richard Cowan, Reuters

Tue May 5, 12:03 am ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Negotiations in the U.S. House of Representatives on how to cut industrial pollutants that cause global warming reach a critical stage this week as President Barack Obama huddles with key lawmakers on Tuesday and Republicans ready for a fight.

A House Energy and Commerce panel hopes to fill in details later this week on a bill that aims to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases 20 percent by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050 — using 2005 as a base year.

A White House official said the meeting between Obama and some Democratic members of the panel would review provisions being negotiated by lawmakers, as well as the timetable for moving the controversial legislation through the House.

May 04 2009

Weekend News Digest

Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Gates optimistic on 2010 U.S. defense budget success

Reuters

2 hrs 18 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in an interview aired on Sunday that he is optimistic his recommendations for overhauling defense spending can survive an upcoming budget fight in Congress.

Gates told CNN that he has been surprised by the limited scope of criticism aimed so far at his recommendations for the Pentagon budget for fiscal year 2010, which begins October 1, and had heard some “important voices raised in support.”

“I’m relatively optimistic, actually,” he said in the interview, which was taped last week. “I think we’ve presented, as one news magazine referred to it, a radically sane set of proposals. They don’t represent a cut, and where we have eliminated one program, you have added to others.”

May 02 2009

Weekend News Digest

Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Mexico sees flu stabilizing but world on guard

By Catherine Bremer, Reuters

40 mins ago

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s flu outbreak appeared to be stabilizing on Saturday but officials warned it was too early to ease vigilance against an unpredictable virus which still threatens a global pandemic.

“It would still be imprudent to say that we’re past the worst of it but I do think…we are in a stage of stabilization,” Mexican Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova told reporters.

In Geneva, a World Health Organization official said the virus had not spread in a sustained way outside North America, as would be required before the global pandemic alert level is raised to its highest level — but he added he still expected this to happen.

May 02 2009

Condoleezza Rice avows; President is above law



Condi Rice Pulls a Nixon: If the President Orders Torture, It Must be Legal

copyright © 2009 Betsy L. Angert.  BeThink.org

Students at Stanford stood still as they listened to former Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice speak.  As the scholars pondered the words of the prominent woman who presented her case for waterboarding, many mused; “Is it Richard Nixon, or Condoleezza Rice?  Which person thinks a President is above the law?” One might wonder.  Those who viewed a video taped classroom conversation with Secretary Rice, today express astonishment as well.  In her defense for actions she took to advocate for this extreme interrogation techniques Condoleezza Rice both blamed her former boss, George W. Bush and justified his decision.

“The president instructed us that nothing we would do would be outside of our obligations, legal obligations under the Convention Against Torture.”

Apr 29 2009

Wednesday Morning Science Supplement

From Yahoo News Science

1 Envoys more optimistic for climate treaty

by Shaun Tandon, AFP

Tue Apr 28, 10:52 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Top climate envoys said they were more optimistic about sealing a global warming deal this year after a US-led meeting of major economies, but they sparred on the level of their commitments.

US President Barack Obama, who champions aggressive action against global warming, invited negotiators from 17 other major economies including developing powers such as China and India to meet in Washington.

The talks came as the clock ticks to a December meeting in Copenhagen that is meant to approve a new global treaty to slow down the planet’s rising temperatures.

Apr 27 2009

Monday Morning Business Update

Old News

Saturday

1 U.S. offers strong backing for IMF governance overhaul

By Glenn Somerville, Reuters

2 hrs 46 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States on Saturday pledged robust support for an overhaul of governing power within the International Monetary Fund so key emerging-market nations get more say in how the lender operates.

In a speech to the IMF’s steering committee, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner also called on the Fund to be prepared to offer loans to recapitalize banks or to aid developing countries in rolling over corporate debt.

Geithner’s proposals, delivered in a strongly worded address at the IMF’s semiannual meeting, are likely to provoke some controversy among the other industrialized countries who, with the United States, have long dominated the global lender.

Apr 26 2009

Weekend News Digest

Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread

Now with Top, World, U.S News, and Politics Stories, including special Swine Flu Supplement.

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Iraq says U.S. raid "a crime," violated security pact

By Aref Mohammed, Reuters

26 mins ago

BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) – Iraq considers a U.S. military raid that killed two people a crime and wants U.S. forces to hand over those responsible to the courts, an Iraqi official said on Sunday.

Hundreds of Iraqis protested in the southern city of Kut against U.S. forces and the provincial governor also condemned the military operation.

The U.S. military had any immediate comment on the Iraqi stance but said the raid was carried out with the full approval of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s government.

Apr 25 2009

Weekend News Digest

Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread

Now with World and U.S. News.

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 WHO warns of flu pandemic as Mexico City frets

By Catherine Bremer, Reuters

44 mins ago

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – A new flu strain that has killed up to 68 people in Mexico could become a pandemic, the World Health Organization warned on Saturday, as the nation’s crowded capital hunkered down in fear of the disease.

Hospitals tested patients with flu symptoms for the never-before-seen virus, which has also infected eight people in the United States. There have been no further deaths in Mexico City since Friday, but 24 new suspected cases were being tested and officials warned the strain was spreading fast between people, meaning there was a risk of a major outbreak.

“It has pandemic potential because it is infecting people,” WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said in Geneva.

Apr 23 2009

Counter Terrorism in the White House



Rachel Maddow – former Rice confidant Philip Zelikow on the torture memos, part 1

copyright © 2009 Betsy L. Angert.  BeThink.org

In his attempt to counter a perceived threat to America, Philip Zelikow, the policy representative to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the National Securities Council (NSC) Deputies Committee, unexpectedly became the threat from within the White House.  

The Bush Administration believed the best way to deal with suspected terrorists was to inflict extreme physical and psychological pressure on these perilous persons.  Mister Zelikow offered his dissent.  In a written and verbally stated opinion, Philip Zelikow contradicted what the occupants of the Oval Office accepted as necessary.  “Individuals suspected of terrorism, can be legally tortured.”  

A short time after the Office of Legal Council (OLC) issued the now infamous judgments which allowed for officially sanctioned torment, Mister Zelikow, his superior, who was then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and her Legal Adviser, John Bellinger, gained access to the torture memos.  After a review, Philip Zelikow stated his concern.  He sensed others within the Administration might share his angst.  However, no one, inclusive of Mister Zelikow,  publicly voiced an apprehension, that is, not until this past week.

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