 The probe into alleged price-fixing by airline cargo businesses has widened with investigators raiding the premises of several leading Asian carriers. Japanese, South Korean and Hong Kong airlines confirmed that competition officials had taken documents from offices in Asia, Europe and the US. The FBI also said it had raided Air France and KLM premises in Chicago. The probe began on Tuesday when officials from Brussels and Washington raided offices and sought information. Other airlines targeted have been British Airways, Lufthansa, SAS, American Airlines, United Airlines and Singapore Airlines. It is believed investigators from the European Commission and US Department of Justice are trying to establish whether airlines operated a cartel by colluding over fuel surcharges and other levies for cargo handling in recent years. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk
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Editor - 11:17:00 02-15-06
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 Mounting GOP Pressure On Cheney |
Under mounting criticism from his fellow Republicans, Vice President Dick Cheney plans to break his silence about his accidental shooting of a 78-year-old hunting companion with a television interview Wednesday. Cheney was to appear on Fox News Channel at 6 p.m. EST, the network and the White House announced. He has had no public comment on the incident so far, issuing only a short statement Tuesday through his office after the shooting victim, Texas attorney Harry Whittington, had a setback, suffering what doctors called a minor heart attack. The Washington Post reports Cheney's refusal to speak about the shooting has worried even his closest political allies. Former Republican Congressman Vin Weber said Cheney's silence has "made it a much bigger issue than it needed to be." And former House Republican leader Robert Michel said he's mystified that Cheney hasn't spoken up. ...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/15/politics/main1318704.shtml?CMP=OTC-RSSFeed&source=RSS&attr=U.S._1318704
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Editor - 11:12:00 02-15-06
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| Israel threatens to cut PA ties |
Israel has increased pressure on the Palestinian Authority by threatening to sever all contact with it if the next prime minister is affiliated to Hamas. Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said it would be inappropriate to deal with the PA after Hamas won a majority in last month's parliamentary elections. Hamas has rejected demands that it recognise Israel and renounce violence. Israel previously said it would work with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas if he did not co-operate with Hamas. Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said two weeks ago that he had "no interest in harming" Mr Abbas, and that Israel would continue transferring monthly tax payments to the Palestinian Authority as long as Hamas was not in control. Mr Abbas has said he will ask Hamas to form the next government, but called on it to respect the previous agreements such as the international peace plan known as the roadmap. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4711264.stm
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Editor - 11:07:00 02-15-06
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| Pakistan cartoon violence spreads |
Three more people have died in Pakistan in continuing violence over the publication in the West of cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad. In the city of Peshawar, two people died as protesters targeted anything linked to foreign firms, but local businesses also suffered. In Lahore, one person died when police clashed with Islamic students. Two people died in Lahore on Tuesday. Islamic tradition explicitly prohibits any depiction of Allah and the Prophet. The cartoons, first published by Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September, have angered Muslims worldwide. The images that have since been reprinted by several other European publications include one portraying Muhammad with a bomb in his turban. In other developments: ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4715084.stm
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Editor - 11:02:00 02-15-06
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| Rice told ‘things are getting worse’ in Iraq, Iran Several Republican senators question Middle East policies |
Republican senators criticized the Bush administration Wednesday over its policies in Iraq, Iran and the Palestinian territories, as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s first testimony on Capitol Hill in months exposed her to a tough grilling from some members of her own party.“I don’t see, Madame Secretary, how things are getting better. I think things are getting worse. I think they’re getting worse in Iraq. I think they’re getting worse in Iran,” Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., told Rice as she appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.Rice also had a tense exchange with moderate Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., over the pace of progress toward Israeli-Palestinian peace and the implications of the Hamas victory in Palestinian legislative elections last month....
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11365518/from/RSS/
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Editor - 10:59:00 02-15-06
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| German court rejects hijack law |
Germany's constitutional court has scrapped a law allowing the military to shoot down passenger planes suspected of being hijacked for terror attacks. The judge found that the law infringed the right to life and human dignity. The government of former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder proposed the law in the wake of the 11 September attacks on the US in 2001. President Horst Koehler approved the controversial measure last year but urged the court to review it. Poland was among other countries to adopt similar laws since the US hijackings. The German law had been intended as a last resort when all other attempts to resolve such a situation had been exhausted. The federal government, not the military, would have had the final say. However, critics argued that the government had no right to kill those on the plane to try to save the lives of others. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4715878.stm
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Editor - 10:53:00 02-15-06
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