World News - 'Critical time' for Iraq security

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The new US ambassador to Baghdad says the next few months are critical to reconciling Iraq's warring communities. In his first news conference, Ryan Crocker urged the government to make use of a US security plan in Baghdad. "I think the Baghdad security plan can buy time for what it ultimately has to be, a set of political understandings among Iraqis," Mr Crocker said. He also defended the thinking behind a controversial wall being built around the flashpoint Adhamiya neighbourhood. On Sunday Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said he had ordered a halt to the building around the Sunni enclave on the mainly Shia east bank of the Tigris, after the project drew strong criticism from residents and Sunni leaders. Violence has continued with three suicide bombers killing at least 27 people and wounding nearly 60 in various parts of Iraq, including one close to where Mr Crocker was speaking. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk

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Editor - 08:03:00 04-23-07

China to help clean up the Internet

China is calling on its officials to help make the Internet more civilized and less decadent, state media reported Monday, the latest push in a campaign to sanitize behavior on and off the Web. At a meeting of top Communist Party leaders chaired by President Hu Jintao, officials were told to build "an Internet culture with Chinese characteristics," and to "curb the spread of decadent and backward ideological and cultural material online," the official Xinhua News Agency said. The report didn't quote Hu directly or specify the types of offensive material that would be targeted. Hu has made improving moral education a signature theme of his administration, an effort that appears to be intensifying ahead of a once-in-every-five-years party meeting scheduled for later this year. Hu and others in the leadership will seek a renewed mandate during the meeting. It’s all Political Speak for imposing censorship...
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2007-04-23-china-civilized-net_N.htm?csp=34

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Editor - 07:49:00 04-23-07

Iraq Suicide Attacks Kill Dozens At Least 46 Die In Multiple Blasts; Confusion Over Iraq PM's Order To Halt Wall Construction

Suicide attacks have killed at least 46 people and left more than 90 injured across Iraq, including a car bomb that exploded near a restaurant Monday afternoon, killing at least 19 people and wounding 35, police said. The attack occurred on a highway near Ramadi, a city 70 miles west of Baghdad, said Ramadi police Maj. Fuad al-Asafia, who provided the casualty figures. U.S. troops raced to the scene, found a pickup truck parked nearby that was loaded with explosives and chlorine powder, and destroyed it in a controlled explosion, al-Asafia said. Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, has long been a magnet for Sunni insurgents and a lawless haven for al Qaeda militants, but the U.S. military recently reported progress in securing and calming the city. ...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/23/iraq/main2715530.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_2715530

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Editor - 07:08:00 04-23-07

Sarkozy and Royal go through as 84 per cent turnout sets new poll record

A democratic tidal wave swept France yesterday. A record turn-out of 84.5 per cent of registered voters in the first round of the presidential election propelled Nicolas Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal into a fascinating - and possibly close - second round showdown in two weeks' time. The triumph of the centre-right candidate, M. Sarkozy, who took a projected 30 per cent of the vote, was broadly expected. The success of Mme Royal - who scored an estimated 25.2 per cent, one of the highest scores of any Socialist contender in the history of the Fifth Republic - was much more startling.Mme Royal confounded her critics, including many in her own camp. She became the first woman to reach the second round of a French presidential election. It remains to be seen whether her score will be high enough to give her the momentum she needs to overhaul M. Sarkozy in the final on 6 May....
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2474407.ece

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Editor - 22:24:00 04-22-07

Democrats Weigh Post-Veto Iraq Options

Democrats are considering their next step after President Bush's inevitable veto of their war spending proposal, including a possible short-term funding bill that would force Congress to revisit the issue this summer. Another alternative is providing the Pentagon the money it needs for the war but insisting that the Iraqi government live up to certain political promises. Or, the congressional Democrats could send Bush what he wants for now and set their sights on 2008 spending legislation. The options are being weighed as Bush and Congress head toward a showdown this week on his Iraq policy. House and Senate appropriations meet Monday to negotiate a final bill that, if approved by both chambers, could reach the president's desk as early as the end of the week. The Democrats will do nothing as usual, but they talk a good talk, just don’t expect them to actually do something. Meanwhile more soldiers and innocent people will die or be maimed for life, and for what?...
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/04/22/ap3638698.html

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Editor - 22:02:00 04-22-07

'Gated Communities' For the War-Ravaged. U.S. Tries High Walls and High Tech To Bring Safety to Parts of Baghdad

The U.S. military is walling off at least 10 of Baghdad's most violent neighborhoods and using biometric technology to track some of their residents, creating what officers call "gated communities" in an attempt to carve out oases of safety in this war-ravaged city. The plan drew widespread condemnation in Iraq this past week. On Sunday night, Prime Minister Nouri-al Maliki told news services that he would work to halt construction of a wall around the Sunni district of Adhamiyah, which residents said would aggravate sectarian tensions by segregating them from Shiite neighbors. The U.S. military says the walls are meant to protect people, not further divide them in a city that is increasingly a patchwork of sectarian enclaves. The military sees a simple virtue in the barriers. They want to build Ghettos and think its going to make people safe? They should ask the Jews how safe they were in their Ghettos. Maybe these Geniuses think grenades or Mortars are blocked by walls...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/22/AR2007042201419_pf.html

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