 Authorities in this city in Russia's Far East cut off water to its 10,000 people Wednesday as a toxic slick from a chemical plant explosion in China floated downriver. By evening, pipes began to pump water once again to the homes of people in three southern districts of the city, with full supplies expected to resume by Thursday morning. But a top regional environmental official warned the 580,000 residents not to drink tap water because of the contamination from the Chinese accident last month. "We don't know how the situation will develop. We advise people not to use cold water," said Vladimir Ott, the regional chief of Russia's Federal Natural Resources Service. Regional officials said that tests conducted in the Amur River, which flows past the city and provides it with all its water supplies, so far had not detected chemicals above permissible levels. ...
http://www.usatoday.com
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Editor - 08:13:00 12-21-05
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 The American nightmare |
Is America becoming what it most fears: a big brother state ruled by diktat, where no one is protected from eavesdropping by the secret police, and everything is permitted in defence of the homeland, including torture? Perhaps I'm naive, but I grew up believing that America was somehow different, that alongside the corporate greed, brash materialism and barely functioning social safety net, a unique society prospered. This America was a land of limitless opportunity, a magnet to those escaping oppression, offering prince and pauper alike the possibility to dream big. This America still exists, but it is being eroded by an administration that believes it can rule outside the rule of law. They are fast replacing the American dream with an American nightmare, an Orwellian world where memos defending torture are penned in the department of justice and judges are made redundant in the public interest....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1671984,00.html
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Editor - 08:11:00 12-21-05
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| Israeli Security Forces Kill Hamas Militia Leader in West Bank |
Israeli security forces shot and killed a leader of the militant Hamas group in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, the army and Palestinian witnesses said. The man was wanted by Israel and was killed in an exchange of fire with paramilitary border police who entered the city with armored vehicles and surrounded the building he was in, the army said. Palestinian witnesses identified him as Zayed Musa, a local leader of Hamas's Izzadin al-Qassem militia....
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=ayzpcQoL_fVI&refer=home
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Editor - 08:07:00 12-21-05
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| US doubts Bin Laden is in command |
The US Defence Secretary says he doubts Osama Bin Laden is in a position to command al-Qaeda's world operations. Donald Rumsfeld told journalists en route to Pakistan that Bin Laden could be hiding somewhere on the Afghan-Pakistan border. "I suspect...if he's alive and functioning, that he's probably spending a major fraction of his time trying to avoid getting caught." He said the search for the Saudi-born militant would continue. "I think it is interesting that we haven't heard from him for close to a year," Mr Rumsfeld said. "I have trouble believing he is able to operate sufficiently to be in a position of major command over a worldwide al-Qaeda operation, but I could be wrong". Last week, US ambassador to Pakistan Ryan C Crocker said he thought al-Qaeda was in serious trouble. US officials have long argued that the war on terrorism has disrupted communications between the main al-Qaeda leadership and the rest of its scattered members. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4547934.stm
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Editor - 08:05:00 12-21-05
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| Victors hail US evolution ruling |
A US court decision to ban the teaching of "intelligent design" has been hailed by anti-creationism campaigners. A federal judge ruled in favour of 11 parents in Dover, Pennsylvania, who argued that Darwinian evolution must be taught as fact in biology lessons. School administrators had argued that life on Earth was too complex to have evolved on its own. Intelligent design activists criticised the ruling, saying it would marginalise beliefs based on religion. For those fighting the policy of the Dover school board, the judicial ruling offered a boost to the separation of church and state. A majority of US states have seen some form of challenge to the pre-eminence of Darwinian evolution theory in the curriculum of publicly-funded schools since 2001. "We have a federal judge ruling that intelligent design is in fact non-science and that it is religion," said Rob Boston of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4547734.stm
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Editor - 07:59:00 12-21-05
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| Rumsfeld in surprise Afghan visit Karzai: 'We are assured of continuing U.S. support' |
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday said a planned reduction of U.S. troops in his country did not concern him.Karzai's comments came during a joint news conference with U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan."We are assured of the continuing U.S. support," Karzai said. "I don't think it will have an impact on the situation on the ground."Earlier, Rumsfeld said he had authorized a reduction of U.S. troops in Afghanistan from 19,000 to 16,000, largely because of an increase in NATO troops there.Asked whether the United States operates secret prisons in Afghanistan, Rumsfeld replied, "Not to my knowledge."...
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/12/21/afghan.rumsfeld/index.html?section=cnn_world
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Editor - 07:47:00 12-21-05
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