Five suicide bombers struck Shiite marketplaces in northeast Baghdad and a town north of the capital at nightfall Thursday, killing at least 122 people and wounding more than 150 in one of Iraq's deadliest days in years. The savage attacks came as a new American ambassador began his first day on the job, and Senate Democrats ignored a veto threat and approved a bill to require President Bush to start withdrawing troops. At least 178 people were killed or found dead Thursday, which marked the end of the seventh week of the latest U.S.-Iraqi military drive to curtail violence in Baghdad and surrounding regions. The suicide bombers hit markets in the Shiite town of Khalis and the Shaab neighborhood in Baghdad during the busiest time of the day, timing that has become a trademark of what are believed to be Sunni insurgent or al Qaeda suicide attackers. ... http://www.cbsnews.com censor News |
Editor - 19:26:00 03-29-07 |
Should apes have human rights? |
Apes and humans have common ancestors but should they have the same rights? An international movement to give them "personhood" is gathering pace. What would Aristotle make of it? More than 2,000 years after the Greek philosopher declared Mother Nature had made all animals for the sake of man, there are moves to put the relationship on a more equal footing. Judges in Austria are considering whether a British woman, Paula Stibbe, should become legal guardian of a chimpanzee called Hiasl which was abducted from its family tribe in West Africa 25 years ago. The animal sanctuary where he has lived is about to close & to stop him being sold to a zoo, Ms Stibbe hopes that she can persuade the court he deserves the same protection as a child. Spanish MPs are also being urged to back a similar principle, one already endorsed by the Balearic parliament & held dear by the international organisation The Great Ape Project - that apes be granted the right to life, freedom & protection from torture... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6505691.stm
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Editor - 12:57:00 03-29-07 |
Big Auroras on Jupiter |
So you thought Northern Lights were big in Alaska? "That's nothing," says Randy Gladstone of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. "Jupiter has auroras bigger than our entire planet." Last month, Gladstone and colleagues used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to capture this picture: X-ray auroras observed by the Chandra X-ray Observatory overlaid on a simultaneous optical image from the Hubble Space Telescope. The purple ring traces Jupiter's X-ray auroras. Gladstone calls them "Northern Lights on steroids. They're hundreds of times more energetic than auroras on Earth." Chandra has observed Jupiter's auroras many times before, but this recent dataset is exceptional both in length and quality. Gladstone hopes it will help him solve some mysteries lingering for almost 30 years.... http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/29mar_bigauroras.htm?list184039
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Editor - 12:51:00 03-29-07 |
British resident to be freed from Guantanamo |
A British resident is to be released from Guantanamo Bay after nearly five years in captivity, the British Foreign Office has announced.Bisher al-Rawi, an Iraqi national, has been held at the U.S. base in Cuba since it opened in 2002."We have now agreed with the U.S. authorities that Mr. al-Rawi will be returned to the UK shortly, as soon as the practical arrangements have been made," Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett told Parliament in a written statement Thursday. "This decision follows extensive discussions to address the security implications of Mr. Al-Rawi's return."Al-Rawi and another British resident, Jamil el-Banna, were alleged to have been associated with al Qaeda through their connection with the London-based radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada. ... http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/03/29/briton.guantanamo.ap/index.html?eref=rss_world
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Editor - 12:14:00 03-29-07 |
U.S. to unveil new sanctions over Darfur: officials |
The United States will impose tough new measures against Sudan, likely within days, to try to force it to change course on Darfur and aims to pressure Khartoum militarily by helping rebuild forces in the south, U.S. officials said.State Department, Defense, Treasury and other U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the goal was to "tighten the screws" on President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and have him accept an international force in the vast western province. A White House announcement on sanctions and a further limit on dollar transactions was expected very soon, a State Department official said. Military options like a no-fly zone over Darfur — which Britain wants — or a forced intervention have been ruled out for now, but the Pentagon has done some "back of the envelope" calculations on what might be needed, a defense official said. ... http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2992685
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Editor - 12:12:00 03-29-07 |
N.J. State Senator and a Former State Medical School Dean Indicted on Corruption Charges |
A once-powerful New Jersey lawmaker was indicted Thursday on corruption charges tied to a state medical school job that a federal monitor said paid him $35,000 a year to do little more than read the newspaper. State Sen. Wayne Bryant, a former chairman of the budget committee, was named in a 20-count indictment released by U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie. Also indicted was R. Michael Gallagher, former dean at the University of Medicine and Dentistry's School of Osteopathic Medicine in Stratford. The charges stem from a federal monitor's report in September that looked into alleged corruption at the state medical school, which promotes itself as the nation's largest health sciences university. ... http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2992626
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Editor - 12:11:00 03-29-07 |
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post The Good, The Bad and The Ugly |
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