Iran's president said Monday that his country supports calls for making the Middle East a nuclear arms-free zone, but he also urged the United States and Russia to give up all their atomic weapons as a threat to the region's stability. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not mention an agreement in principle reached Sunday by Iran and Russia to move Iran's uranium enrichment work to Russian soil, which would allow closer international monitoring of Tehran's suspect nuclear program. Although the details still must be negotiated, the deal was seen as a potential breakthrough in Kremlin efforts to ease international pressures on Iran over its nuclear program, but it was not clear the Tehran regime is willing to give up all enrichment work. The Iranians insist their program has only the peaceful purpose of developing technology for generating electricity, disputing suspicions in the United States and other Western countries that the project is a cover for work to develop atomic weapons. ... http://abcnews.go.com censor News |
Editor - 09:20:00 02-27-06 |
French farmer tells of shock at bird flu deaths |
The first European farmer to be hit by an outbreak of bird flu has described how he was shocked to discover 400 of his flock of turkeys had dropped dead in one night. The confirmation of the first H5N1 virus at a commercial farm in the EU has thrown France's €6bn (£4.1bn) poultry industry into chaos. Yesterday another case of bird flu was reported in Germany's Brandenburg province and Swiss authorities confirmed their first cases of bird flu but were carrying out further tests to establish if the birds had the H5N1 strain. France also reported that H5N1 had killed another 15 wild swans in the southeast. Daniel Clair was forced to destroy his flock of 11,000 turkeys after the deaths on Thursday at his farm in the Ain region of south-east France. "I found 400 bodies and the others were already very sick," he told the newspaper Le Parisien. "It struck like lightning." A 3km (1.9-mile) protection ring - inside a 10km observation zone - has been thrown around the farm. ... http://www.guardian.co.uk/birdflu/story/0,,1718619,00.html
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Editor - 09:15:00 02-27-06 |
Mexico 'dirty war' crimes alleged |
The Mexican government and military committed "crimes against humanity" in the so-called "dirty war" against left-wing rebels, a leaked report says. The report was prepared for current President Vicente Fox but has not been released. A US NGO has printed material saying Mexicans had a right to know. The army kidnapped, tortured and killed hundreds of rebel suspects, says the report, which covers 1964 to 1982. Mexico's special prosecutor says the report is biased and has been revised. The draft report's authors write: "The authoritarian attitude with which the Mexican state wished to control social dissent created a spiral of violence which... led it to commit crimes against humanity, including genocide." They say they base their findings partly on declassified military, police and interior ministry documents and list for the first time the names of officers allegedly involved in the abuses. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4755682.stm
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Editor - 09:10:00 02-27-06 |
High court rejects broader death penalty review |
The Supreme Court refused Monday to directly consider whether the drug combination used in executions across the country amounts to unconstitutional cruel punishment.The justices had already agreed to hear arguments in April in a case brought by Florida death row inmate Clarence Hill about the procedure for lethal injection challenges to be filed in federal court.Monday’s decision, which came on a separate appeal by Hill’s lawyer, has little practical significance because Hill’s other case is still pending.... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11590821/from/RSS/
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Editor - 09:08:00 02-27-06 |
Immigrants barred by triple fences and double standards Southern Californians rely on cheap Mexican workers, but are spending millions to keep them at bay |
ON THE United States’s southwestern border with Mexico, politicians are no longer sitting on the fence about illegal immigration. Instead, with elections looming, they are busy spending huge sums building real ones to stem the flow of an estimated 500,000 undocumented workers from Mexico each year. Federal funding of $30 million (£17 million) has just been allocated for completion of a third fence, running in parallel with two barriers set up around San Diego in California over the past decade. A congressional plan to spend a further $2.2 billion, extending double-fence fortification 800 miles eastwards, awaits approval. But these are precisely the type of low-wage construction projects that America usually gets Mexicans to do. Indeed the Golden State Fence Co, which calls itself “the top fence contractor in California,” was recently caught, for the second time in as many years, employing illegal immigrants. Federal investigators have found that 157 of its employees, roughly a ... http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2060156,00.html
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Editor - 08:58:00 02-27-06 |
Katrina survivors sue to stay on cruise ship They allege FEMA hasn’t provided adequate alternative for shelter |
About two dozen hurricane evacuees living on a cruise ship south of New Orleans were taking the federal government to court Monday in a bid to keep the ship docked and the government paying for it.Their lawsuit claims the Federal Emergency Management Agency failed to provide alternative housing and had shown no evidence it would by Wednesday, FEMA’s deadline for releasing the cruise ships it had rented.“FEMA has bungled its assignment,” the lawsuit alleges. “FEMA acted incompetently before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina struck, and failed to heed warnings and take preventive actions that could have saved lived and alleviated suffering.”... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11589975/from/RSS/
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Editor - 08:53:00 02-27-06 |
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