President Bush's call last week for a Civilian Reserve Corps to help troubled countries is either a solid idea whose time has come or yet another throwaway applause line in a State of the Union speech and it's up to Mr. Bush to decide how it turns out. For a proposal during the annual address to Congress arguably the biggest presidential stage this one is mostly bare-bones. There is no plan or legislation, just a pledge to work with Congress to try to create something. "The big question right now is whether the White House is really going to seriously act on it," said Carlos Pascual, who worked on the idea when he was director of the State Department's Office of Reconstruction and Stabilization. "I think it's the right thing to do. I'm glad the president raised it. It's not going to happen unless the president, the national security advisor, the secretary of state pick up the phone" to Congress...
http://www.washingtontimes.com
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Editor - 22:29:00 01-29-07
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 Reconstruction aid falling into the wrong hands |
Corrupt Afghan police and tribal leaders are stealing vast quantities of reconstruction aid intended to improve the lives of people and turn them away from the Taliban, U.S. and British officials said. In some cases, all the aid earmarked for an area has ended up in the wrong hands, officials said. NATO forces in the south of the country fear corrupt police will steal aid if handed out through them. A Pentagon official said thousands of cars and trucks intended for use by the Afghan police had been sold instead. Charles Heyman, a defense analyst and former British army major, said millions of dollars earmarked for reconstruction were being siphoned off. "It almost comes with the program," he said. "You have to build in an element of that into any program because you know it will leak into people's pockets."...
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20070129-101249-3670r.htm
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Editor - 22:17:00 01-29-07
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| Kennedy, GOP engage in war of words on tax cuts |
During an impassioned floor speech last week, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy lashed out at Republicans for insisting on tax cuts targeted for small businesses to offset the cost of raising the minimum wage. "How many more billions of dollars do we have to give you, Mr. Republican?" the Massachusetts Democrat shouted. "How many more dollars do we have to give you to get an increase in the minimum wage? It is shocking. It is disgraceful." So the Senate Finance Committee -- headed by Sen. Max Baucus, Montana Democrat -- added up the amount of tax cuts that it had included in the minimum-wage bill that the panel approved earlier this month. The $8.3 billion in tax cuts were aimed at the small businesses that hire most minimum-wage workers...
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20070129-111403-7364r.htm
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Editor - 22:16:00 01-29-07
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| West African nation struggles for change Popular anger targets aging dictator Conte |
Entire neighborhoods in the capital haven't had electricity or running water for years. The central bank is in such bad shape it sometimes turns to the black market to replenish hard currency reserves. Doctors joke the best medicine for the sick is Air France — a plane ride out of the country. Popular anger at Guinea's plight is being aimed at President Lansana Conte more than ever before, manifested in a crippling two-week nationwide strike that ended Sunday with a deal to appoint a new prime minister with expanded powers. For many, it's not enough. "Conte must go," said Sadio Diallo, a 22-year-old university student standing near the charred hulks of overturned cars torched by a mob last week in a suburb that hasn't had electricity in 20 months. Conte, who reportedly suffers from severe diabetes and a heart condition, is unlikely to go anywhere soon — at least not willingly. Among the last of Africa's "Big Men," who have clung to power by the gun, fraudulent elections and fear, ...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16873242/
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Editor - 20:33:00 01-29-07
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| China meeting warns of bird flu mutation risk |
The deadly H5N1 form of the bird flu virus is rapidly mutating and the world must be on guard even though the disease has yet to be transmitted between humans, experts told a meeting in Beijing, Chinese media said on Tuesday.The closed door conference, attended by experts from the Chinese and U.S. centers for disease control and the World Health Organization among others, opened on Monday, the official newspaper of the Chinese Health Ministry reported. "The experts said that despite there being no evidence yet of human-to-human transmission of bird flu, the highly pathogenic H5N1 form of the virus is continuing to rapidly mutate, and human infections keep happening," the Health News reported. "H5N1 is a virus that has the potential for mass transmission, and people cannot slacken off in their control efforts," it added in a front-page story. ...
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2833614
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Editor - 20:11:00 01-29-07
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| Mayor vetoes 'satanic' gay march |
Moscow's mayor, Yury Luzhkov, yesterday condemned gay parades as "satanic" and said he would never allow them in the Russian capital, to the dismay of gay rights groups and foreign critics including Ken Livingstone. In a TV appearance, Mr Luzhkov said: "Last year, Moscow came under unprecedented pressure to sanction the gay parade, which can be described in no other way than as satanic. We did not let the parade take place then, and we are not going to allow it in the future." Last year, the city authorities cited the threat of violence when they banned the parade. Activists ignored the ban, and were attacked by rightwing protesters and detained by police. Gay rights activists said they would defy the ban this year."Trying to silence us, the Russian authorities denied us one of the fundamental human rights," said parade organiser Nikolai Alekseyev....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,,2001877,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12
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Editor - 20:06:00 01-29-07
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