 Nigeria's government has started to pay compensation to farmers whose poultry have been killed because of bird flu. Some 23m naira ($180,000) was paid to 47 farmers in the northern state of Kano, home to half of Nigeria's 450,000 birds to have died or been culled. The farmers had demanded more than the 250 naira ($2) for each chicken, saying this was just half the market price. But the BBC's Ado Saleh in Kano says that none of the farmers have refused to take up the government's offer. Some, however, are unhappy that the payments only cover those birds which were killed by the authorities, not those who died from disease, reports the AFP news agency. "The compensation is a joke," said Abbas Karofi. He said he had lost more than 2,000 birds to bird flu, but that he had only been paid 60,000 naira ($450) in compensation for the 240 chicken that were culled. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk
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Editor - 08:56:00 03-06-06
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 Italy gripped by epileptic child’s abduction Motive unknown and no ransom demand has been made |
Italian police questioned a mafia informer on Monday over the kidnapping of a 17-month-old toddler suffering from epilepsy whose disappearance has shocked the country and baffled investigators. Tommaso Onofri, who needs an anti-convulsive medicine twice a day, was abducted by two men on Thursday from his home in Casalbaroncolo near Parma in northern Italy.Since then a picture of wide-eyed, curly-haired Tommaso wearing a blue and red clown costume, has been splashed on the front pages of all newspapers as politicians, priests, leading singers and soccer players have appealed for his release. At the weekend, Tommaso’s mother appeared on television in tears to urge kidnappers to give him regular doses of the anti-epilepsy drug he is taking, as police struggled to come up with a motive for the abduction....
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11697258/from/RSS/
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Editor - 08:50:00 03-06-06
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| Top court backs college military recruiting law Colleges will lose federal funds if they don’t allow recruiters on campus |
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that colleges that accept federal money must allow military recruiters on campus, despite university objections to the Pentagon’s policy on gays.Justices rejected a free-speech challenge from law school professors who claimed they should not be forced to associate with military recruiters or promote their campus appearances as now required by federal law.Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the decision, which was unanimous. Law schools had become the latest battleground over the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy allowing gay men and women to serve in the military only if they keep their sexual orientation to themselves.Many universities forbid the participation of recruiters from public agencies and private companies that have discriminatory policies....
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11697530/from/RSS/
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Editor - 08:48:00 03-06-06
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| Israeli airstrike kills four in Gaza |
Two Islamic Jihad militants, an eight-year-old child and another person were killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza on Monday, Palestinian medics and witnesses said.The two militants were killed when a missile struck their car in northern Gaza. The Israeli army confirmed the airstrike but offered few details. Witnesses said the eight-year-old child was killed while standing close to the car when the blast occurred. A fourth person also died, a hospital official said, although it was unclear whether the person was riding in the car with the militants or standing nearby. ...
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1692059
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Editor - 08:44:00 03-06-06
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| Bush to ask Congress for line-item veto power |
Bush will soon make a formal request to Congress for a line-item veto — authority that would give him power to cancel specific spending items in budget bills, an administration official said on Sunday.Many presidents have sought such authority on the argument it would help cut down on wasteful spending in the budget. In a rare yielding of some of its powers of the purse strings, Congress passed legislation granting a line-item veto to President Bill Clinton. The Supreme Court struck down the law in 1998, ruling by a vote of 6-3 that Congress did not have the authority under the Constitution to give the president that power. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not wish to be seen as pre-empting the president's announcement, said that Bush would transmit to Congress a proposal with language aimed at withstanding a Supreme Court challenge. ...
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1690491
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Editor - 20:13:00 03-05-06
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| Amnesty says Iraq abuses continue |
Amnesty International has said that thousands of detainees held by the multinational forces in Iraq are still being denied their basic rights. The group said the lessons of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal appeared to have been ignored and reports of torture continued to "pour out of Iraq". It said it based its findings on interviews with former inmates. US and British officials insist that prisoners are treated in accordance with international standards. The report says the multinational forces and Iraqi authorities must take urgent steps to stop human rights abuses if there is to be any hope of halting Iraq's slide towards increasing violence and sectarianism. Amnesty says in its 48-page report that thousands of Iraqis are being held without charge or trial. More than 200 detainees have been imprisoned for more than two years and nearly 4,000 for over a year, it reports. "To hold this huge number of people without basic legal safeguards is a gross dereliction of responsibility ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4777214.stm
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Editor - 19:47:00 03-05-06
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