10 pm- Africa 1, Asia 5, Europe 1, South America 1, Entertainment 1, Business 1, Science 4
2 am- Asia 1, Australia 2, Business 1, Health 1, Blogline 1
10 am- Asia 8, Blogroll 3, Business 4, Africa 2, Entertainment 3, Science 5, Health 1, News & Politics 2, Europe 1
World-
Africa
10 pm 1 Zimbabwe teachers say they are targets following election
By ANGUS SHAW, Associated Press Writer
Sun May 4, 4:04 PM ET
HARARE, Zimbabwe – Educators have become targets in Zimbabwe’s postelection violence, a teachers union said Sunday, threatening a nationwide strike unless the government stops the attacks.
The Roman Catholic Justice and Peace Commission also protested political violence and called on the United Nations and African Union to supervise a planned presidential runoff.
In a statement to coincide with Sunday services, the Catholic human rights body said the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission could no longer be relied on as a “neutral and nonpartisan electoral umpire” after its five-week delay in announcing final results of the March 29 national election amid witness reports of politically motivated murder, abduction and torture.
10 am 11 Zimbabwe opposition: Will they join a runoff vote?
By Scott Baldauf and a Contributor, The Christian Science Monitor
Mon May 5, 4:00 AM ET
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa; and HARARE, Zimbabwe – More than a month after Zimbabwe’s elections, the country’s main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) continues to insist that it has won the March 29 election against President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party and does not need to participate in a planned runoff.
By restating its claimed victory, the likelihood of further confrontation between the two parties increases at a time of severe economic crisis and as pro-government militias continue a campaign of violence against opposition activists.
MDC vice president Thokozani Khupe echoed the party line on Saturday, telling journalists in Harare that the MDC had won more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round.
10 am 16 Witnesses: Soldiers kill 2 in Somalia riot over food prices
By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN, Associated Press Writer
19 minutes ago
MOGADISHU, Somalia – Troops opened fire and killed at least two people as tens of thousands of people rioted over high food prices in Somalia’s capital Monday.
Several people also were injured in the protest in Mogadishu in this Horn of Africa nation.
Prices of rice and other food staples have been rising rapidly around the world, boosted by poor weather in some nations and rising demand. In Africa, prices of some staple foods have increased more than 50 percent in a matter of weeks.
Asia
10 pm 5 Iraqi official says Iran arms evidence not conclusive
By SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer
Sun May 4, 2:10 PM ET
BAGHDAD – A top Iraqi official said Sunday there was no conclusive evidence that Shiite extremists have been directly supplied with some Iranian arms as alleged by the United States.
Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Iraq does not want trouble with any country, “especially Iran.”
Al-Dabbagh was commenting on talks this week in Tehran between an Iraqi delegation and Iranian authorities aimed at halting suspected Iranian aid to some Shiite militias.
Asked about reports that some rockets made in 2007 or 2008 and seized in raids against militias were directly supplied by Iran, al-Dabbagh replied: “There is no conclusive evidence.”
10 pm 15 Iraq Says It Has Proof Of Iranian Meddling
By Amit R. Paley, Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, May 5, 2008; Page A10
Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh called reporters late Sunday night to clarify remarks he made at a news conference earlier in the day, when he appeared to say that there was no hard evidence that Iran was allowing weapons to come into Iraq. Dabbagh said his comments had been misinterpreted.
“There is an interference and evidence that they have interfered in Iraqi affairs,” Dabbagh said in an interview arranged by a U.S. official. When asked how he would characterize the proof that Iranian weapons are flowing into Iraq, he said: “It is a concrete evidence.”
10 pm 6 Iran says will not bow to Western pressure
By Zahra Hosseinian, Reuters
Sun May 4, 8:18 AM ET
TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran will not give up its rights in the face of Western pressure, its supreme leader said on Sunday, two days after major powers said they would make a new offer to convince Tehran to halt its nuclear plans.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei did not explicitly mention Iran’s nuclear activities, which Western powers suspect are aimed at making bombs, but Iranian officials have repeatedly ruled out halting the program which they say is a national right.
State television said Khamenei cited “some recent threats by arrogant powers,” a reference to the Islamic Republic’s Western foes. The United States has recently repeated it wants diplomacy to end the nuclear row but will not rule out military action.
10 pm 7 Asian nations agree to set up crisis fund
by Daniel Silva, AFP
Sun May 4, 3:20 PM ET
MADRID (AFP) – Finance ministers of 13 Asian nations agreed here on Sunday to set up a foreign exchange pool of at least 80 billion dollars (52 billion euros) to be used in the event of another regional financial crisis.
China, Japan and South Korea will provide 80 percent of the funds, with the rest coming from the 10 members of ASEAN, they said in a joint statement issued after talks on the sidelines of an Asian Development Bank meeting in Madrid.
The 13 nations agreed after the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis to set up a mainly bilateral currency swap scheme known as the Chiang Mai Initiative (CMI) to protect their currencies from turmoil in the future.
10 pm 8 Asia fears rising poverty, social unrest from soaring food prices
by Daniel Silva, AFP
Sun May 4, 5:17 PM ET
MADRID (AFP) – Soaring food prices could push millions of people in Asia back into poverty and lead to social unrest, regional leaders warned Sunday at the Asian Development Bank’s annual meeting in Spain.
“The recent hike in the price of rice will hit Asian countries particularly hard. The ones who are most affected are the poorest segment of the population including the urban poor,” Japanese Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga said.
“It will have a negative impact on the living standards and also affect their nutrition. Such a situation may lead to social untrust and unrest and therefore safety nets addressing the immediate needs of the poorest are needed,” he added.
2 am 1 Dalai Lama has committed ‘monstrous crimes’: China’s state press
AFP
1 hour, 1 minute ago
BEIJING (AFP) – China’s state press accused the Dalai Lama on Monday of “monstrous crimes,” a day after Chinese officials reportedly agreed with envoys of the exiled Tibetan Buddhist to keep the door open on dialogue.
The Chinese officials and the envoys met in southern China’s Shenzhen city on Sunday following international pressure on Beijing to reopen negotiations with the Dalai Lama amid seven weeks of deadly unrest in Tibet.
The talks broke up with an agreement to meet again although no date was set, according to China’s official Xinhua news agency.
10 am 1 Top U.S. officer says would prefer no war on Iran
Reuters
50 minutes ago
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq would make it difficult to mount any attack on Iran, the Pentagon’s top officer said in remarks broadcast on Monday, adding that he would prefer to avoid a new regional war.
“I actually am very hopeful that we don’t get into a position where we have to get into a conflict,” Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Israel’s Channel Ten television when asked if he might recommend that U.S. forces strike Iranian nuclear facilities preemptively.
“It would be a very significant challenge for the United States right now to get into a third conflict in that part of the world,” Mullen added, referring to the Bush administration’s long-running military commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
10 am 6 Iran suspends talks with US on security in Iraq
By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 44 minutes ago
TEHRAN, Iran – Iran said Monday it would not hold a new round of talks with the U.S. on security in Iraq until American forces end their current assault against Shiite militias.
U.S. and Iraqi forces have been battling supporters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, and Iraq’s government spokesman said Sunday that the crackdown would continue even if Iran pulled out of the talks.
“We believe the talks will not be held given the current situation (in Iraq),” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters during his weekly press briefing Monday.
10 am 7 Iran rules out nuclear halt despite fresh incentives
By Edmund Blair, Reuters
2 hours, 7 minutes ago
TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran said on Monday it would not consider any incentives offered by world powers that violated its right to nuclear technology, ruling out a precondition to halt atomic work the West believes is aimed at making bombs.
Six world powers agreed on Friday to offer a new package of incentives to coax Iran to halt uranium enrichment, a process which can make fuel for power plants or material for warheads.
Iran, the world’s fourth largest oil producer, insists its enrichment activity is aimed at generating electricity, and says the program is a national right that it will not give up.
10 am 8 Myanmar cyclone death toll reaches 3,969: state television
AFP
1 hour, 32 minutes ago
YANGON (AFP) – The death toll from the cyclone that hit Myanmar over the weekend has reached 3,969, state television said Monday, warning that thousands more could be dead.
Aid agencies Monday rushed emergency food and water into Myanmar after the cyclone tore into the southwest of the impoverished nation.
Despite the devastation wreaked by tropical cyclone Nargis, the ruling junta vowed to press ahead with its controversial referendum this weekend on a new constitution, which critics say will entrench military rule.
10 am 9 Iraq increasingly finds itself caught between U.S. and Iran
By Scott Peterson and Howard LaFranchi, The Christian Science Monitor
Mon May 5, 4:00 AM ET
ISTANBUL, Turkey; and BAGHDAD – Iran says it will back Iraq in its ongoing fight against its Shiite militias. That pledge came after a delegation from Iraq’s ruling Shiite bloc pressed its neighbor on what it called fresh “evidence” it was arming and training militants.
The five-member group sent by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki returned to Baghdad Saturday, saying it had received a “positive” response after confronting officials with US and Iraqi intelligence on Iranian weapons caches that US officials say included weaponry manufactured in 2008.
“The delegation saw a positive stance from the brothers in Iran to support the government’s efforts in extending the sovereignty of the state and to fight outlaws,” Iraq’s deputy parliament speaker Khalid al-Attiya, who visited Iran, said Saturday.
10 am 17 Iran calls new talks with U.S. on Iraq meaningless
By Hossein Jaseb, Reuters
11 minutes ago
TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran accused U.S.-led forces on Monday of a “massacre” of the Iraqi people and said further talks with Washington about improving security in its neighbour would be meaningless now.
The Foreign Ministry statement effectively puts on hold any new meetings between the two old foes, which last year held three rounds of ground-breaking discussions in Baghdad, easing a diplomatic freeze lasting almost three decades.
Iraq has repeatedly said it does not want its soil to become a battleground for a proxy war between the United States and Iran, which are also at loggerheads over Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Iraqi officials have expressed growing frustration that a fourth round of talks has failed to get off the ground.
10 am 18 Yemen army warns rebels to heed truce
By Mohammed Sudam, Reuters
Mon May 5, 4:11 AM ET
SANAA (Reuters) – Yemen’s army has warned rebels led by Abdul-Malik al-Houthi that it will move to subdue them if they fail to implement a truce brought to the verge of collapse by a mosque bombing and days of clashes.
Qatari mediators returned to Yemen’s volatile northern province of Saada on Sunday, hoping to salvage the ceasefire agreement that ended six months of fighting between government forces and the rebels last June.
Violence flared again in recent weeks as a lack of trust on both sides and disagreements over the release of prisoners and handover of arms threaten to undermine the deal. On Friday a bomb killed 15 people outside a mosque in Saada.
10 am 27 China approached Vatican about concert for pope
By Philip Pullella, Reuters
2 hours, 21 minutes ago
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Beijing approached the Vatican to let the China Philharmonic Orchestra perform for Pope Benedict in an unprecedented concert that could help improve often thorny relations, Church sources said on Monday.
The sources, who spoke on condition that they not be named, said the Vatican realized that China is trying to improve its international image but that Church officials hope the performance could be a seed for eventual diplomatic relations.
However they cautioned not to expect any immediate breakthroughs following Wednesday night’s concert at the Vatican.
Australia
2 am 3 Australia needs years of heavy rainfall to crack drought: experts
AFP
2 hours, 22 minutes ago
SYDNEY (AFP) – Australia will need several years of heavy rainfall to reverse the devastating effects of a drought that has battered farm production, the Bureau of Meteorology said in a report received Monday.
The report came despite months of drenching rains spawned by the La Nina weather phenomenon in the agricultural east of the country that sparked optimism that the worst drought in 100 years might at last be over.
But the Bureau’s latest findings show that the “big dry,” nearly a decade of below-average rainfall and high temperatures, is stubbornly lingering across much of the continent and the rain needed to end it is not in sight.
2 am 5 Australia kidney specialist sparks organ sales row
AFP
2 hours, 52 minutes ago
SYDNEY (AFP) – An Australian kidney specialist sparked a bitter medical ethics row Monday by calling for organ sales to be legalised to stop patients travelling overseas to buy them on the black market.
Nephrologist Gavin Carney said Australia should legalise the sale of organs, which currently carries a penalty of six months jail and a 4,400 dollar (4,092 US) fine, to help cut the bloated transplant waiting list.
Fit, young and healthy people should be allowed to peddle their kidneys for up to 50,000 dollars to save lives and money and to discourage needy patients from going to developing countries like Pakistan and India to buy blackmarket organs for up to 30,000 dollars, he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Europe
10 pm 2 Documents show UK post-WWII dilemma over Jewish refugees
By GREGORY KATZ, Associated Press Writer
Sun May 4, 7:05 PM ET
LONDON – Documents released Monday show how the British government tried to send thousands of Palestine-bound Jewish survivors of the Nazi genocide back to postwar Germany without inflaming world opinion.
Could it be done? The answer was no. It was just two years after the end of the war and the world was outraged by the systematic murder of 6 million Jews by the Nazis in what became known as the Holocaust.
Despite the best efforts of early spin doctors to portray the move in the most sympathetic light, the decision to turn away the more than 4,500 Jews on board the Exodus refugee ship turned into a humanitarian and public relations debacle for Britain.
10 am 30 Sex sells – Paris gets racy Guide to Pretty Women
by Rory Mulholland, AFP
Mon May 5, 6:14 AM ET
PARIS (AFP) – A speech-writer for France’s foreign minister has penned a literary, lustful and possibly lecherous “Guide to the Pretty Women of Paris” which blows a loud raspberry at political correctness.
“Just as every region has its gastronomy, every quartier has its feminine speciality,” writes Pierre-Louis Colin, a dapper 34-year-old who co-authored Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner’s most recent book.
“You do not find in Menilmontant the sublime legs you see at the Madeleine. But you do find perfectly shameless cleavages, radiant breasts often uncluttered by a bra,” he said in his own book, which was published last month.
South America
10 pm 10 Morales rejects Bolivian autonomy vote
By DAN KEANE, Associated Press Writer
16 minutes ago
SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia – Bolivia’s largest and richest state voted amid scattered violence Sunday to seek greater autonomy from the government of leftist President Evo Morales, who dismissed the referendum as a failure.
The eastern lowland state of Santa Cruz, center of Bolivia’s conservative opposition, had called the vote in hopes of separating the state’s freewheeling capitalism and mixed-blood heritage from Morales’ push for a communal state ruled by Indian values.
In the face of local exit polls showing 85 percent of voters favoring the measure, Morales claimed that as many as half the ballots were invalid, quoting media reports.
U.S.-
News & Politics
10 am 15 DA urges sanctions for prosecutors who withhold evidence
Associated Press
Sun May 4, 4:24 PM ET
DALLAS – A district attorney whose office leads the nation in wrongful convictions overturned by DNA testing says prosecutors who intentionally withhold evidence from the defense should face criminal charges or other harsh sanctions.
Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins said he’s considering a campaign to mandate disbarment of any prosecutor who doesn’t reveal evidence that could help a defendant. The worst offenders might deserve prison time, he said.
“Something should be done,” Watkins told The Dallas Morning News in an interview published in Sunday’s editions. “If the harm is a great harm, yes, it should be criminalized.”
10 am 19 Gettysburg park pulls plug on huge electric Civil War map
By MARTHA RAFFAELE, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 14 minutes ago
GETTYSBURG, Pa. – For decades, visitors willing to shell out a few extra dollars at Gettysburg National Military Park could be entertained – or bored – by an electric light display showing troop movements in that pivotal Civil War battle.
With the opening of a new museum and visitor center that offers a bigger “wow” factor for the park’s nearly 2 million visitors each year, the National Park Service has decided that its 1960s-era electric battlefield map is obsolete.
As patrons of the new $103 million facility learn about the battle by immersing themselves in new technology, the old center stands vacant, awaiting demolition next year. Before that happens, the 30-by-30-foot electric map – embedded with more than 625 colored lights – will be dismantled and placed in storage.
Entertainment
10 pm 13 Erosion in young audience shows cracks in `Idol’ future
By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer
Sun May 4, 5:22 PM ET
NEW YORK – The fevered response to the latest loopy Paula Abdul episode, where she judged a phantom performance, just goes to show how “American Idol” continues to dominate television in its seventh season.
Yet while “Idol” is still a hit, it’s no longer necessarily hip.
You can hear it in the lack of enthusiasm in 14-year-old Katharine Bohrs’ voice.
“Last year I was really into it, and the year before that,” said the high school freshman from Brookline, Mass. “This year in the beginning I was, but then track started up and I have a lot of homework. It’s two hours long and I don’t have the time.”
10 am 12 Indy walks back through our door as `Crystal Skull’ nears
By DAVID GERMAIN, AP Movie Writer
1 hour, 8 minutes ago
LOS ANGELES – Marion Ravenwood might have been speaking for us all when she set eyes on Indiana Jones for the first time in years.
Her caustic greeting to the archaeologist-adventurer in 1981’s “Raiders of the Lost Ark”: “Indiana Jones. I always knew someday you’d come walking back through my door.”
It’s been 19 years since Indy literally rode off into the sunset in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” but like Marion, could anyone doubt that the world’s most famous tomb raider would come back into our lives one day?
10 am 28 Networks expected to be generous with series renewals
By James Hibberd, Reuters
1 hour, 10 minutes ago
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – For broadcast series still hoping for a renewal, the past week was rough sledding.
CBS’ “Shark” and ABC’s “Women’s Murder Club” returned to post about a 2.0 rating among adults 18 to 49, joining low-rated outings by fellow “bubble shows” “Moonlight” (CBS), “Boston Legal” (ABC) and “Reaper” (The CW).
But with most scripted series struggling from a writers’ strike ratings hangover, the networks seem inclined to give some of the lagging shows a second chance this fall.
10 am 29 "Family Guy" creator seals megadeal
By Nellie Andreeva, Reuters
Mon May 5, 5:47 AM ET
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – From wunderkind to TV mogul: After 2 1/2 years of negotiations, “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane has inked a new overall deal with 20th Century Fox TV that would make him the highest-paid writer-producer working in television.
The pact, which could be worth more than $100 million, will keep MacFarlane at 20th TV through 2012. It covers his services on “Guy” and his other two animated series for 20th TV and Fox — “American Dad!” and the upcoming “Guy” spinoff “The Cleveland Show” — as well as his series development, which includes a multicamera comedy with “Guy” writer Gary Janetti. It also encompasses new-media projects related to MacFarlane’s TV series as well as DVD and merchandising revenue from them. (“Guy” alone has grown into a $1 billion franchise with red-hot DVD and merchandise sales.)
“I get a lot of pleasure out of making shows,” MacFarlane said. “It’s a bonus to be getting paid well for it, and it’s a double bonus to be getting paid exorbitantly for it.”
Business
10 pm 3 Democratic lawmaker expects tougher bank rules
By Patrick Rucker
Sun May 4, 3:20 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The current mortgage crisis has exposed the need for financial reform, but there is no time for legislative fixes this year, a leading member of the U.S. House of Representatives said on Sunday.
“It’s much too complicated a subject … to get done between now and the end of August, which is essentially when we will be finished for the year,” Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank said in an interview on CSPAN program “Newsmakers.”
Last week, Frank’s panel passed a homeowner aid bill that will give a cash infusion and new mandate to the Federal Housing Administration so that the program can steer as many as 2 million homeowners away from foreclosure.
2 am 2 LaSalle Bank brand to disappear as BofA takes over
By IEVA M. AUGSTUMS, AP Business Writer
1 hour, 59 minutes ago
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Bank of America Corp. will officially mark its $21 billion purchase of Chicago’s LaSalle Bank Corp. on Monday, taking down LaSalle’s green and yellow colors for the blue and red of Bank of America.
“Those red signs will be very evident in Chicago,” said Liam McGee, Bank of America’s president of global consumer and small business banking, in an interview with The Associated Press. “When they walk into a former LaSalle banking center, it will look and feel like a Bank of America banking center.”
The nation’s second largest bank by assets bought LaSalle Bank last year, picking up the unit of ABN Amro Holding Co. as Europe’s biggest banks fought over the rest of the Dutch company. The deal filled a key gap in the Charlotte-based bank’s national coverage map, adding thousands of ATMs and hundreds of branch offices in Chicago and Michigan.
10 am 10 Why U.S. job market has not plunged
By Mark Trumbull, The Christian Science Monitor
Mon May 5, 4:00 AM ET
Despite the burdens of record oil prices and a housing bust, the US economy has been avoiding a sharp downturn where it matters most – in jobs.
By the government’s initial count, the economy lost hardly any jobs in April, and the unemployment rate actually declined.
What’s going on here? Is this the same economy where sky-high costs for gasoline and milk are squeezing consumers, where big banks are in trouble, and where trillions of dollars in housing wealth have vanished?
10 am 20 Oil extends rise above Oil extends rise above $116 a barrel on supply worries16 a barrel on supply worries
By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer
29 minutes ago
VIENNA, Austria – Oil prices edged up Monday, supported by weekend news of an attack on a Nigerian oil installation, but the gains were limited by the recent strengthening of the U.S. dollar.
Royal Dutch Shell PLC spokesman Precious Okolobo said Saturday that attackers hit a flow station belonging to Shell’s joint venture in southern Nigeria and that some oil production had been shut down.
He gave no further details. Flow stations are intersections for pipelines carrying oil from wells to export terminals.
10 am 21 BofA may renegotiate Countrywide deal price: Friedman
Reuters
2 hours, 17 minutes ago
(Reuters) – Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) is likely to renegotiate its deal to buy Countrywide Financial Corp (CFC.N) down to the $0 to $2 level or completely walk away from it, said Friedman, Billings, Ramsey, which downgraded Countrywide to “underperform” from “market perform.”
Countrywide’s loan portfolio has deteriorated so rapidly that it currently has negative equity and the proposed takeover of the company will be a drag on Bank of America’s earnings due to the elevated credit expenses at Countrywide, analyst Paul Miller wrote in a note to clients.
He cut his target on Countrywide’s stock to $2 from $7.
10 am 22 World growth still strong but inflationary risks significant: Trichet
AFP
9 minutes ago
BASEL (AFP) – Global growth is still strong owing to the resilience of emerging markets but inflation risks are significant, European Central Bank chief and G10 spokesman Jean-Claude Trichet said on Monday.
Not only are higher oil and commodity prices adding inflationary risks, but also food prices, he said.
While central bankers did not discuss measures to be taken specifically on food price inflation, Trichet pointed out that central bankers constantly call for markets that are “as competitive as possible”, trusting that competitive markets can help to neutralise such inflationary risks.
Science
10 pm 4 Neanderthals were separate species, says new human family tree
AFP
10 minutes ago
PARIS (AFP) – A new, simplified family tree of humanity has dealt a blow to those who contend that the enigmatic hominids known as Neanderthals intermingled with our forebears.
Neanderthals were a separate species to Homo sapiens, as anatomically modern humans are known, rather than offshoots of the same species, the new organigram published Sunday by the journal Nature declares.
The method, invented by evolutionary analysts in Argentina, marks a break with the conventional technique by which anthropologists chart the twists and turns of the human odyssey.
10 pm 9 Beetle-ravaged forests prompt campground closures in Rockies
By MATT JOYCE, Associated Press Writer
Sun May 4, 12:38 PM ET
CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Vacationers will have fewer places to pitch their tents this summer in Colorado and Wyoming, and they can place the blame on bugs.
The U.S. Forest Service has closed some popular campgrounds in the two states because of concern that trees killed by the bark beetles that are ravaging forests across the West could topple onto unsuspecting visitors.
Bark beetles have always been a part of forests in the West, but warming temperatures and an abundance of aging lodgepole pines that haven’t been thinned by fires have allowed populations of the hungry insects to explode. They now infest nearly 3,600 square miles of forest in the two states.
10 pm 11 U.N. sees world climate change deal in 2009
By Andrew Hay, Reuters
Sun May 4, 4:05 PM ET
MADRID (Reuters) – The world can reach a significant new climate change pact by the end of 2009 if current talks keep up their momentum, the head of the United Nations climate panel said on Sunday.
The United Nations began negotiations on a sweeping new pact in March after governments agreed last year to work out a treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol by the end of next year.
“If this momentum continues you will get an agreement that is not too full of compromises,” said Rajendra Pachauri, head of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change, during a seminar at the Asian Development Bank annual meeting in Madrid.
10 pm 12 Protected sea lions found shot dead on Columbia River
By WILLIAM McCALL, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 7 minutes ago
PORTLAND, Ore. – Six federally protected sea lions were apparently shot to death on the Columbia River as they lay in open traps put out to ensnare the animals, which eat endangered salmon. State and federal authorities are investigating.
The discovery came one day after three elephant seals were found shot to death at a breeding ground in central California.
Trapping will be suspended during the investigation, said Rick Hargrave, a spokesman for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife who was at the scene Sunday.
10 am 13 Ivy Leaguers are bright – but nice?
By Amelia Rawls, The Christian Science Monitor
Mon May 5, 4:00 AM ET
For my family, the college application process this year was a happy one – my younger sister was accepted at an Ivy League school. I was thrilled for her and excited to answer questions about my own university experience.
But when she asked me what students at the “top” colleges were like, I realized I was disturbed by my answer.
During four years at Princeton University and nearly a year at Yale Law School, I have been surrounded by students who dazzle. These are the students for whom application processes were made. They include published novelists, acclaimed musicians, and Olympic medalists. They include entrepreneurs, founders of human rights groups, and political activists. If they have hobbies such as stamp collecting and belly dancing, by golly, they are the best stamp collectors and belly dancers in America!
10 am 23 Idaho team readies artificial beak for wounded bald eagle
By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS, Associated Press Writer
Mon May 5, 6:36 AM ET
ST. MARIES, Idaho – She has been named Beauty, though this eagle is anything but. Part of Beauty’s beak was shot off several years ago, leaving her with a stump that is useless for hunting food. A team of volunteers is working to attach an artificial beak to the disfigured bird, in an effort to keep her alive.
“For Beauty it’s like using only one chopstick to eat. It can’t be done” said biologist Jane Fink Cantwell, who operates a raptor recovery center in this Idaho Panhandle town. “She has trouble drinking. She can’t preen her feathers. That’s all about to change.”
Cantwell has spent the past two years assembling a team to design and build an artificial beak. They plan to attach it to Beauty next month. With the beak, the 7-year-old bald eagle could live to the age of 50, although not in the wild.
10 am 24 Genetically-modified crops get mixed response in Asia
by Karl Wilson, AFP
Mon May 5, 6:35 AM ET
MANILA (AFP) – With food prices hitting record highs the jury is still out in Asia as to whether genetically modified crops hold the key to future food security.
The Philippine government has openly embraced the commercial growing of genetically modified (GM) corn, but neighbouring countries appear less than enthusiastic.
“There has been a lot of talk about developing high-yielding crops and crops that can cope with climate change using GM seeds,” said Daniel Ocampo, a genetic engineering campaigner with the environmental group Greenpeace.
10 am 25 Jupiter’s Rings Made in the Shade
SPACE.com Staff
2 hours, 49 minutes ago
Jupiter has a thin set of nearly imperceptible rings with features that have long puzzled scientists. A new study reveals how light and shadow are at work there, solving several mysteries at once.
Nowhere near as visible as the rings of Saturn, which are icy and bright and contain many chunks as big as houses, Jupiter’s rings are made mostly of dark dust. They were discovered in 1979 by Voyager 1. Not until the Galileo spacecraft, orbiting Jupiter from 1995 to 2003, did scientists figure out the rings were made of dust kicked up by meteoroids slamming into Jupiter’s inner moons.
Yet oddities remained that didn’t match theoretical predictions: The rings protrude beyond the orbit of the moon Thebe, and part of the ring system is tilted compared to the main ring plane.
10 am 26 Why the 1930s Dust Bowl Was So Bad
Jeanna Bryner, Senior Writer, LiveScience.com
1 hour, 30 minutes ago
The Dust Bowl drought of the 1930s was arguably one of the worst environmental disasters of the 20th century. New computer simulations reveal the whipped-up dust is what made the drought so severe.
Scientists have known that poor land use and natural atmospheric conditions led to the rip-roaring dust storms in the Great Plains in the 1930s. Climate models in the past few years also have revealed the effect of sea surface temperatures on the Dust Bowl.
“What is new and what had not been done before is to work out whether the dust storms from the drought and land use had any impact on the drought,” said Richard Seager of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) in New York.
Health
2 am 4 Anti-psychotic drug use soars in UK children, too
By LINDSEY TANNER, AP Medical Writer
2 hours, 7 minutes ago
CHICAGO – American children take anti-psychotic medicines at about six times the rate of children in the United Kingdom, according to a comparison based on a new U.K. study.
Does it mean U.S. kids are being over-treated? Or that U.K. children are being under-treated?
Experts say that’s almost beside the point, because use is rising on both sides of the Atlantic. And with scant long-term safety data, it’s likely the drugs are being over-prescribed for both U.S. and U.K. children, research suggests.
10 am 14 FDA study: Insulin pumps linked to injuries, deaths in teens
By CARLA K. JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer
Mon May 5, 12:16 AM ET
CHICAGO – Insulin pumps are used by tens of thousands of teenagers worldwide with Type 1 diabetes, but they can be risky and have been linked to injuries and even deaths, a review by federal regulators finds.
Parents should be vigilant in watching their children’s use of the pumps, researchers from the Food and Drug Administration wrote. They didn’t advise against using the devices. But they called for more study to address safety concerns in teens and even younger children who use the popular pumps.
The federal review of use by young people over a decade found 13 deaths and more than 1,500 injuries connected with the pumps. At times, the devices malfunctioned, but other times, teens were careless or took risks, the study authors wrote.
Blogline 5/5
2 am 6 All Religious Creeds Are NOT Created Equal by: Paul Rosenberg
Of course this is utter nonsense. One cannot simply plug in a peripheral in the Democratic Party’s religion port. Things just don’t work that way. The Democratic Party is a secular political party. This doesn’t mean it’s anti-religious or anti-religion. It simply means that it respect the fundamental logic of our political system-we are a democratic republic, based on the consent of the governed, not a theocracy based on the will of God, as interpreted by one state religion.
The Republican Party used to be a secular political party, too. But somewhere along the road, that just sort of dropped away. No one can say for sure just when that happened. But one thing is certain-the change has made the Republican Party into an anti-American institution. And the Democrats simply cannot imitate the Republican’s embrace of religion unless they, too, wish to become an anti-American institution.
10 am 2 And The Story Gets More Baroque by tristero
By all means the Iraqi government should never trust Bush propaganda. Nor should the US public without convincing public proof. That is the problem with lying about something as monumental as Saddam’s wmd: these allegations may very well be true. But there is no reason to assume so – and every reason to conclude they are not – given the Bush administration’s long history of lies, and of the NY Times regurgitating those lies on their front page. In this case, the story Gordon weaves is just a mite too slick at filling in some holes in the earlier ones:
10 am 3 How much you paying him NY Times?– By: Attaturk
But not content in stopping after eviscerating his own argument in the early paragraphs Kristol digs deeper (goin’ for the gold?). He decides to use FoxNews polling which shows that if McCain picks Mitt Romney, he loses his maverick scent. But fear not, Kristol is there to suggest an acolyte for the job.
10 am 4 NYT Asks Neocons How To Save America’s Empire– By: Scarecrow
The New York Times inexplicably surrrendered most of an entire page of its Sunday Opinion section to allow the champions of America’s disastrous invasion and occupation of Iraq to explain what we should do to achieve “mission accomplished.”
