Category: News

Some news and open thread.

1. BBC News reports Canada puts US on ‘torture list’. “The United States has been listed as a country where prisoners are at risk of torture in a training document produced by the Canadian foreign ministry. It also classifies some US interrogation techniques as torture.” While the NY Times notes “The manual appears to contradict the public stance of Canada’s Conservative government, which accepts assurances from the United States that it does not mistreat prisoners, including those at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.”

   The Globe and Mail quotes David Wilkins, U.S. U.S. Ambassador to Canada as being indignant. “We ought to be removed … I just think it’s absurd … and quite offensive.” And Reuters quotes spokeswoman for the U.S. embassy in Ottowa as saying, “The United States does not permit, tolerate, or condone torture under any circumstances.” More lies. Empty words by now from the Bush administration.

2. In other lies, the Bush administration claims drilling for oil in the polar bears arctic home will not harm them. Time magazine fills in the details: Polar Bears – Wait-Listed as Endangered. The Arctic sea ice is melting. 2007 saw a record melt and NASA scientists predict the Arctic could be free of ice during the summer of 2013. No ice means no polar bears.

   Now the bears face another threat. On Feb. 6… Minerals Management Service (MMS), also part of the Interior Department, plans to lease 30 million acres for oil and gas drilling in the Chukchi Sea bordering Alaska, where one-fifth of the world’s remaining polar bears live… MMS Director Randall Luthi defended the lease sale, arguing that developing fossil fuels in the Arctic needn’t hurt the polar bear – although an Interior Department study indicates there’s a 33% to 51% chance of an accidental oil spill in the area.

   The AP reports Significant impact of oil spill on polar bears. “Dr. Steven Amstrup, a polar bear expert for the U.S. Geological Survey, the Interior Department’s science arm, said if there is an oil spill, the impact on bears would be significant. ‘The polar bears do not do well when they get into oil,’ Amstrup told the committee. If bears in the wild get in contact with oil it’s likely to be fatal, he said.”

   The Bush administration’s Fish and Wildlife Services was supposed to rule if the polar bear was endangered on January 9th, but postponed their decision until after the sale of oil leases. Rep. Ed Markey, the chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, has introduced legislation forcing the Bush administration to protect the polar bear before any oil drilling in the Arctic.

3. The Independent reports that Destruction of rainforest accelerates despite outcry. “The destruction of the Amazon rainforest has surged in the past four months, raising the prospect of 2008 being a disastrous year for the world’s most important eco-system, a senior Brazilian government scientist has warned. Dr Carlos Nobre, a scientist with a government agency that monitors the Amazon said thousands of square miles of rainforest had been destroyed since October, after four years in which deforestation rates had begun to slow…

   “Dr Nobre said 2,300 sq miles of forest had been lost in the past four months. That compares with an estimated 3,700 sq miles in the 12 months that ended on 31 July… [The rainforest is under] increasing pressure from sugar cane plantations to feed the ethanol boom, illegal cattle ranching for beef exports, soybean production and illegal logging operations.”

Four at Four continues below the fold with a story about the planet Mercury and a scientist who loves it. T-minus 10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Blast off to below the fold!

This is an Open Thread: Transparency Counts

Friday’s Headlines: White House Study Found 473 Days of E-Mail Gone: In Compton, Clinton invokes King’s legacy: Three-way checkmate: Kenya street protests called off after police are accused of killing seven: German gangsta rapper ‘faked shooting to boost street cred’

Fed Chief’s Reassurance Fails to Halt Stock Plunge

WASHINGTON – The stock market plunged again on Thursday on bad economic news, taking little comfort from reassuring words by the chairman of the Federal Reserve or an emerging consensus about a stimulus plan that many worry could be too late.

On a day when stocks were pushed down another 3 percent on reports of more weakness in housing and manufacturing – bringing the decline this year to a stomach-churning 9 percent – all the major players in Washington agreed on the need for putting extra money into people’s hands quickly.

Spokesman: Bobby Fischer Has Died

REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) – Bobby Fischer, the reclusive American chess master who became a Cold War icon when he dethroned the Soviet Union’s Boris Spassky as world champion in 1972, has died. He was 64.

Fischer died Thursday in a Reykjavik hospital, his spokesman, Gardar Sverrisson, said. There was no immediate word on the cause of death.

Born in Chicago and raised in Brooklyn, Robert James Fischer was a U.S. chess champion at 14 and a grand master at 15. He beat Spassky in a series of games in Reykjavik to claim America’s first world chess championship in more than a century.

The event had tremendous symbolic importance, pitting the intensely individualistic young American against a product of the grim and soulless Soviet Union.

H/T RJones

News and open thread.

1. Escalated bombing reminds me of another conflict 35 years ago. The Washington Post reports the U.S. boosts its use of airstrikes In Iraq. “The U.S. military conducted more than five times as many airstrikes in Iraq last year as it did in 2006, targeting al-Qaeda safe houses, insurgent bombmaking facilities and weapons stockpiles in an aggressive strategy aimed at supporting the U.S. troop increase by overwhelming enemies with air power… The U.S.-led coalition dropped 1,447 bombs on Iraq last year, an average of nearly four a day, compared with 229 bombs, or about four each week, in 2006… UNAMI estimates that more than 200 civilian deaths resulted from U.S. airstrikes in Iraq from the beginning of April to the end of last year”. The military predicts extensive use of bombs and missiles to continue this year.

2. The Taser-wielding police have killed another person; this time in Minnesota. The Star Tribune reports Father wants answers in son’s death following Taser jolt. “Authorities are investigating the death of a 29-year-old Fridley man shot with a Taser by state troopers, who said he had become ‘uncooperative‘ after a rush-hour crash Tuesday evening. The victim was identified by his father as Mark C. Backlund. Gordon Backlund said his son was on his way to pick up his parents at the airport after they had taken a short trip to Florida.”

   In the United States, more than 290 people have died since June 2001 after being struck by police Tasers, according to the human rights group Amnesty International. It said in October that only 25 of the 290 were armed, and none had firearms.

3. The Guardian reports Yangtze River reaches a 142-year low.

   The waters of the Yangtze have fallen to their lowest levels since 1866, disrupting drinking supplies, stranding ships and posing a threat to some of the world’s most endangered species.

   Asia’s longest river is losing volume as a result of a prolonged dry spell, the state media warned yesterday, predicting hefty economic losses and a possible plague of rats on nearby farmland.

   News of the drought – which is likely to worsen pollution in the river – comes amid dire reports about the impact of rapid economic growth on China’s environment.

   The government also revealed yesterday that the country’s most prosperous province, Guangdong, has just had its worst year of smog since the Communist party took power in 1949, while 56,000 square miles of coastline waters failed to meet environmental standards.

   China has more than demonstrated what happens when you have unbridled capitalism with no regard for your environment.

4. According to The Telegraph, ‘Cunning’ squirrels pretend to bury their food. “Squirrels pretend to bury their nuts and acorns to protect them from would-be thieves, scientists say. Researchers who recorded how squirrels deploy the tactic more frequently when they are being watched say it shows they are more intelligent than previously thought… Grey squirrels create numerous stores, especially when food is scarce, by digging shallow pits with their paws, pushing items in with their mouths and filling the holes up with debris. They sometimes place leaves and other vegetation on top to further hide the sites. The whole process normally takes less than a minute.” Aw nuts.

One last thing: $300 to learn risk of prostate cancer.

This is an Open Thread: Let the sunshine in

Thursday’s Headlines:Republicans are losers as Romney win leaves the race wide open : Outrage as US accuses Britain of inexperience in Taleban conflict: Democrats go deep to court Latino vote :Dry, polluted, plagued by rats: the crisis in China’s greatest river: Battle of the blogs in Kenya: British Council chief detained as Russia steps up diplomatic dispute: Bad Reviews for Bush in the Mideast

Judge: U.S. gets Texas land for border fence

Feds succeed against city, could file 102 lawsuits against landowners

WASHINGTON – A federal judge has ordered a small border city in Texas to temporarily turn over its land to the federal government so it can begin to build a border fence.

U.S. District Judge Alia Moses Ludlum ordered the city of Eagle Pass, on the border about 100 miles southwest of San Antonio, to “surrender” 233 acres of city-owned land. The Justice Department sued the city for access to the land.

Richard Knerr, 82; co-founded Wham-O, maker of the Hula Hoop and Frisbee

Richard Knerr, co-founder of Wham-O Inc., which unleashed the granddaddy of American fads, the Hula Hoop, on the world half a century ago along with another enduring leisure icon, the Frisbee, has died. He was 82.

Knerr died Monday at Methodist Hospital in Arcadia after suffering a stroke earlier in the day at his Arcadia home, said his wife, Dorothy.

With his boyhood best friend, Arthur “Spud” Melin, Knerr started the company in 1948 in Pasadena. They named the enterprise Wham-O for the sound that their first product, a slingshot, made when it hit its target.

A treasure chest of dozens of toys followed that often bore playful names: Superball, so bouncy it seemed to defy gravity; Slip ‘N Slide and its giggle-inducing cousin the Water Wiggle; and Silly String, which was much harder to get out of hair than advertised.

The Morning News is an Open Thread

Last Night’s Overnight News Digest is too old (you’ll have to look at comments for the science section).  This is straight from scratch circa 3 am EST.

1 Asian stock markets plunge

By DIKKY SINN, Associated Press Writer

50 minutes ago

1. The Guardian reports Four dead in attack on US embassy vehicle in Lebanon. “At least four people were killed and 16 wounded in an attack on a US embassy vehicle in Lebanon today… A US embassy spokeswoman, Cherie Lenzen, said: ‘We haven’t ruled out that a US embassy car was targeted; we have no information at this point.'” But, don’t let those cautious words dissuade The New York Times which reports Bomb targets U.S. car in Beirut. “A bomb evidently meant to destroy an American Embassy car exploded as the vehicle passed by Tuesday, narrowly missing the car but wounding its local Lebanese driver and a fellow passenger and killing at least three civilians traveling in the car behind… no American diplomats or American citizens were in the car. Beirut has suffered a string of recent car bomb attacks, but most have been targeted at local politicians, and attacks on foreigners are rare.”

2. The New York Times reports Bush prods Saudi Arabia on high oil prices. Bush “urged the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to take into account the cost high oil prices were having on the American economy, gingerly touching on an issue that has begun to dominate the presidential election campaign… The response has been muted… Mr. Bush last met King Abdullah in Crawford, Tex., in April 2005, before he assumed the Saudi throne. At the time, concern about rising oil prices prompted the Bush administration to prod Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s largest producer, to raise production to ease prices. At the time, oil was selling for $54 a barrel. It is now hovering at $94 a barrel.”

   But that’s not all, the Washington Post reports Bush’s first Saudi visit coincides with arms deal announcement. “Bush came bearing a big gift: His administration formally notified Congress on Monday that it plans to seek approval for the sale to Saudi Arabia of $120 million in precision-guided bombs as part of an overall arms package worth roughly $20 billion.” From the Saudi’s point of view, Bush obviously deserves the medal. From this American’s point of view, that medal sure looks a lot like 30 pieces of silver.

Four at Four continues below the fold…

This is an Open Thread: No International Borders Here

Tuesday’s Headlines: FDA Says Clones Are Safe For Food: Race enters the Democratic fray: Nigeria takes on big tobacco over campaigns that target the young: Barenboim becomes first to hold Israeli and Palestinian passports: Road hell: mind the cows!

Iraq Defense Minister Sees Need for U.S. Security Help Until 2018

FORT MONROE, Va. – The Iraqi defense minister said Monday that his nation would not be able to take full responsibility for its internal security until 2012, nor be able on its own to defend Iraq’s borders from external threat until at least 2018.

Those comments from the minister, Abdul Qadir, were among the most specific public projections of a timeline for the American commitment in Iraq by officials in either Washington or Baghdad. And they suggested a longer commitment than either government had previously indicated.

Pentagon officials expressed no surprise at Mr. Qadir’s projections, which were even less optimistic than those he made last year.

Militants Escape Control of Pakistan, Officials Say

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan’s premier military intelligence agency has lost control of some of the networks of Pakistani militants it has nurtured since the 1980s, and is now suffering the violent blowback of that policy, two former senior intelligence officials and other officials close to the agency say.

As the military has moved against them, the militants have turned on their former handlers, the officials said. Joining with other extremist groups, they have battled Pakistani security forces and helped militants carry out a record number of suicide attacks last year, including some aimed directly at army and intelligence units as well as prominent political figures, possibly even Benazir Bhutto.

1. It’s worse. The Washington Post reports Escalating ice loss found in Antarctica!

   Climatic changes appear to be destabilizing vast ice sheets of western Antarctica that had previously seemed relatively protected from global warming, researchers reported yesterday, raising the prospect of faster sea-level rise than current estimates…

   The new finding is important because the continent holds about 90 percent of Earth’s ice, and until now, large-scale ice loss there had been limited to the peninsula that juts out toward the tip of South America. In addition, researchers found that the rate of ice loss in the affected areas has accelerated over the past 10 years — as it has on most glaciers and ice sheets around the world.

   “Without doubt, Antarctica as a whole is now losing ice yearly, and each year it’s losing more,” said Eric Rignot, lead author of a paper published online in the journal Nature Geoscience.

   Elsewhere in the Antarctic, according to The Guardian, Greenpeace chases away Japan’s whalers. “Greenpeace said yesterday it had chased Japanese whalers out of hunting grounds in the Southern Ocean, disrupting the planned slaughter of almost 1,000 whales.”

   Meanwhile the Bush administration continues to enable greenhouse gas emission, The Hill reports Waxman blasts EPA for missing deadline. “Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) is strongly criticizing the EPA’s failure to produce documents regarding its decision to reject California’s effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions.”

   And at the capitalist’s tool, The Independent reports World Bank pledges to save trees… then helps cut down Amazon forest. “The World Bank has emerged as one of the key backers behind an explosion of cattle ranching in the Amazon, which new research has identified as the greatest threat to the survival of the rainforest.”

2. Update on America’s occupations . From Iraq, the Los Angeles Times reports Top Iraqi judge assassinated. “Seven gunmen in two cars blocked off a vehicle carrying Judge Amer Jawdat Al Naib, who sits on Iraq’s national appeals court, and sprayed it with machine-gun fire, killing both him and his driver, police said. The shooting happened in an area with two nearby Iraqi army checkpoints… Seven Iraqi policemen were killed and four others wounded today when they entered a booby-trapped house in Abarat Buhroz in northeastern Diyala province, police said.”

   From Afghanistan, The New York Times reports Blast at Kabul hotel heard for miles. “A thunderous explosion struck a Kabul luxury hotel frequented by foreigners on Monday, and the Taliban took responsibility, calling it a coordinated suicide attack. It was not immediately clear if there were casualties. The explosion struck the Serena Hotel, the only five-star hotel in Afghanistan and one that is popular among diplomats and is often used for conferences, around 6.15 p.m. local time and could be heard for up to two miles away across the city.”

3. Here’s an aspect of drought and recession in the Southeast that I hadn’t thought about before. According to the Los Angeles Times, Drought is a hard time for horses. “In many parts of the United States, horse owners are struggling to feed their animals after a severe drought doubled — even tripled — the cost of hay. The drought has exacerbated a glut in the low end of the horse market, brought on by years of over-breeding and the recent economic downturn. Horses that once cost $500 are selling for $50.” An estimated 9 million horses were owned by Americans in 2005, “up from an estimate of 6 million horses in the mid-1990s… About 34% of horse owners have a household income of less than $50,000”.

4. Lastly, The Guardian reports Tibet under strain as visitors surpass locals. “The number of tourists who visited Tibet last year soared by 60%, outnumbering the people who live there and putting further pressure on Tibet’s overwhelmed roads, palaces and monasteries. Four million tourists visited the thinly populated Himalayan region of 2.8 million people in 2007, China’s state news agency Xinhua reported yesterday. ‘This is the first time that the number of tourist arrivals exceeded the total population,’ said Matt Whitticase, of the Free Tibet Campaign. ‘Tourism is obviously a pillar of China’s western development strategy but it is putting unacceptable strains on Tibet’s fragile environment.'”

Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread

1 Bush insists Iran biggest terror sponsor

By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent

16 minutes ago

This is an Open Thread: Ice,Wind,Snow and Rain Will Not Imped You

Sunday’s Headlines: In Texas, Weighing Life With a Border Fence: In Vegas, Politics Comes to The Strip: Saudi Arabia beheads foreign maid: Iraq opens door to Saddam’s followers: Bribery, brothels, free Viagra: VW trial scandalises Germany: Townsfolk defy ‘Mother Fire Throat’

Unions bitterly divided in Democratic race

A tight Clinton-Obama contest has raised the costs and stakes for organized labor. And no place higher than in Nevada.

LAS VEGAS — The tight race between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama has opened surprisingly deep and bitter divisions in the ranks of organized labor, as rival union leaders fly planeloads of last-minute volunteers into key states, accuse each other of trying to disenfranchise members, and even launch open attacks on rival Democratic candidates.

In Nevada, which holds its caucuses Saturday, unions backing Clinton are crying foul because some caucuses will be in casinos and hotels where a pro-Obama union’s members predominate — helping that union’s members and potentially discouraging others.

Meanwhile, inside the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which has endorsed the New York senator and is leading the charge for her in Nevada, several officers are protesting the union’s decision to run negative ads against the Illinois senator.

Water-boarding ‘would be torture’

US national intelligence chief Mike McConnell has said the interrogation technique of water-boarding “would be torture” if he were subjected to it.

Mr McConnell said it would also be torture if water-boarding, which involves simulated drowning, resulted in water entering a detainee’s lungs.

He told the New Yorker there would be a “huge penalty” for anyone using it if it was ever determined to be torture.

The US attorney-general has declined to rule on whether the method is torture.

However, Michael Mukasey said during his Senate confirmation hearing that water-boarding was “repugnant to me” and that he would institute a review.

Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread

1 FBI finds Blackwater trucks patched

By LARA JAKES JORDAN and MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writers

Sat Jan 12, 10:49 AM ET

Problem: How do I take a bunch of feeds* and put them all through one system so that they will appear in chronological order and display the source and time of the post?

Solution: gAjax RSS Feeds Displayer (hosted) found on DynamicDrive.com

The speed of this aggregator** is incredibly fast and I can control the output in any number of ways.  All of the steps are outlined on the page linked above.  Basically you insert some code into the header of a new HTML*** page, add the code snippet to the body of the new page, save it, upload it to your server and in the same folder upload an image and a javascript****.

So with 10 minutes of work I can now display any news headlines I like.  And If I want to build new pages with different sources all I have to do is make a new page and plug in the new feeds, the script doesn’t change, which means it can be referenced repeatedly for different queries.

(examples below the fold)