A three-judge panel dismissed the reprimand of a Texas Supreme Court justice who publicly endorsed his friend Harriet Miers after her short-lived U.S. Supreme Court nomination. In a ruling announced Friday, the panel of appeals court judges said Nathan Hecht did not violate state rules that bar judges from lending their office's prestige to boost the private interests of themselves or others, and from using their names to endorse candidates for office. The State Commission on Judicial Conduct had admonished Hecht in May after two complaints were filed against him. Hecht had told White House staff to send him all media inquiries about Meirs career and then campaigned for her in about 120 newspaper, radio and television interviews, the commission said. ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk
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Editor - 09:28:00 10-20-06
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 Sydney beach riots 'fuelled by racial prejudice' |
Running battles between white Australian gangs and Middle Eastern youths on a Sydney beach last year were fuelled by racial prejudice, alcohol, text messages and the inflammatory remarks of radio shock jocks, a police report has found.The clashes, which were sparked by an alleged attack on surf lifesavers a week before, raised serious questions about Australia’s multicultural society and undermined the fabric of the country’s strongly held traditions.Five thousand people were involved in the riot last December on Cronulla beach, which started as a protest to “reclaim the beach” from groups of mainly Lebanese youths who had reportedly intimidated young Australian women bathers and assaulted two volunteer life savers. In scenes reminiscent of an all-out race war, gangs of white youths chased and assaulted anyone of vaguely Middle Eastern appearance, and fought police trying desperately to bring the situation under control....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/australia/story/0,,1927541,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12
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Editor - 08:41:00 10-20-06
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| Shooting mars Gaza factions deal |
An outbreak of shooting has taken place in Gaza, hours after rival Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah reached a deal to end factional fighting. Witnesses said a gunman had opened fire on a convoy carrying Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya. But a Hamas spokesman said an exchange of fire took place in an area that Mr Haniya was visiting, but the convoy was not directly targeted. In the deal, the groups agreed to refrain from acts that raised tensions. At a meeting in Gaza brokered by Egyptian mediators, the groups also committed themselves to dialogue as the means of resolving their differences. Hamas - which leads the government - and Fatah are locked in a power struggle and the political differences between them remain deep. About 20 people have been killed in Palestinian factional fighting in recent weeks. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6069810.stm
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Editor - 08:39:00 10-20-06
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| Federal Authorities File Charges After Online Posting Claims Dirty Bombs Would Hit 7 Stadiums |
Federal authorities Friday charged a Wisconsin man with making a hoax threat against seven football stadiums across the nation that said they would be targeted by terrorists with radiological "dirty bombs" this weekend. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Newark did not immediately identify the man but said in a news release announcing the charges that he would be in court in Milwaukee later Friday. The FBI determined Thursday that the threats were a hoax. The defendant is not believed to be a terrorist threat, CBS News reports. The Internet posting was part of a hoax inspired by a writing competition between two men trying to come up with scary threats, a law enforcement official said Thursday. ...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/20/national/main2110192.shtml?source=RSSattr=U.S._2110192
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Editor - 08:38:00 10-20-06
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| Putin jokes about Israeli sex scandal |
President Vladimir Putin made joking references to the sexual assault accusations against Israeli President Moshe Katsav during a meeting with the visiting Israeli prime minister in remarks that shocked longtime Kremlin-watchers.A Kremlin spokesman said Friday that Putin's meaning had been lost in translation from Russian to English.As Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with the Russian leader in an ornate reception room in the Kremlin on Wednesday, reporters overheard Putin tell him: "Say hello to your president. He really surprised us."The microphones were then cut off, but a member of the Israeli delegation told The Associated Press that Putin went on to say of Katsav: "I met him. He didn't look like a guy who could be with 10 women."...
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-10-20-putin-joke_x.htm?csp=34
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Editor - 08:35:00 10-20-06
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| Six killed in Pakistan bomb blast |
A bomb blast has killed at least six people in Pakistan's north-western city of Peshawar, police say. At least 21 people were injured in the explosion in a busy shopping district of the city. Many of the wounded were taken to hospital. The bomb was reportedly planted in a cart and went off as people were preparing for the Eid festival to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan. No-one has so far claimed responsibility for the blast. The explosion occurred at 1710 local time (1210 GMT). "The bomb was fitted in a cart parked in a crowded area, where people were busy shopping for Eid," Riffat Pasha, local police chief told Reuters news agency. The BBC's Barbara Plett at the site of the blast says she saw the wreckage of the cart and blood stains...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6070596.stm
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Editor - 08:32:00 10-20-06
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