Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his ministers to quit Iraq's coalition government on Monday in protest at Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's refusal to set a timetable for U.S. troops to withdraw. Sadr's movement, which draws its support mainly from Iraq's Shi'ite poor, has six ministers and a quarter of the parliamentary seats in Maliki's fractious Shi'ite Alliance, an umbrella grouping of Shi'ite Islamist parties. The move exposes cracks in the alliance, which has sought to present a united front despite tensions below the surface, but it is unlikely to significantly weaken the government since Sadrists do not hold key cabinet posts. Maliki accepted the Sadrists' decision to quit and reiterated in a statement that U.S. troops would leave only when Iraqi forces could take over security. While Sadr's support was vital to Maliki taking office, the involvement of his Mehdi Army militia in sectarian violence made his bloc's presence in the government a political liability. ...
http://news.yahoo.com
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Editor - 12:35:00 04-16-07
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 Russian TV Sanitizes Protest Footage Kremlin Influence Over Media Grows in Crucial Election Year |
Police beat protesters and arrested hundreds in anti-government demonstrations in Moscow over the weekend, but the version on TV made for dull viewing: police rounding up marchers, and the detained filing calmly into trucks. Meanwhile, networks lavished attention on a pro-Kremlin event featuring throngs of youths in crisp white T-shirts and waving Russian flags. Rossiya TV opened its nightly news with President Vladimir Putin attending a martial arts competition, and when it later showed something of the violence, it insinuated that the protesters were fomenting revolution, backed by the West. As Russia heads into a parliamentary election in December and presidential elections next March, government influence over the news media appears to be at its strongest since the Soviet era ended. ...
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=3046179
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Editor - 12:29:00 04-16-07
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| Are mobile phones wiping out our bees? Scientists claim radiation from handsets are to blame for mysterious 'colony collapse' of bees |
It seems like the plot of a particularly far-fetched horror film. But some scientists suggest that our love of the mobile phone could cause massive food shortages, as the world's harvests fail. They are putting forward the theory that radiation given off by mobile phones and other hi-tech gadgets is a possible answer to one of the more bizarre mysteries ever to happen in the natural world - the abrupt disappearance of the bees that pollinate crops. Late last week, some bee-keepers claimed that the phenomenon - which started in the US, then spread to continental Europe - was beginning to hit Britain as well.The theory is that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees' navigation systems, preventing the famously homeloving species from finding their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now evidence to back this up....
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/wildlife/article2449968.ece
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Editor - 11:52:00 04-16-07
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| Bush in demand to fill war chests |
Bush may be unpopular inside the Beltway, but to Republicans nationwide, he remains the fundraiser extraordinaire, & he is expected to pull in more than $200 million for Republican candidates by Election Day 2008. Although his approval rating hovers in the 30s, between 70 % and 80 % of Republicans support his policies, including the "surge" of troops to secure Baghdad. Even though the next elections are 20 months away, the growing partisanship and polarization makes the president an even bigger draw for campaign cash. "The higher level of partisanship, particularly on foreign affairs, has helped inspire and energize Republicans in terms of being more supportive of Bush," The Democrats supported Scum Bag Clinton and now his Shrew of a wife, Republicans support The Idiot in Chief Bush. Isn’t Party Politics wonderful when no matter how bad the leaders are, they have the support of the Party Useful Idiots who don’t dare think for themselves, or what their doing to this country...
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20070416-121920-1216r.htm
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Editor - 11:40:00 04-16-07
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| Crisis creeps towards catastrophe as village after village is wiped out |
Tagalo Hassan had no idea that the horrific violence of Darfur had spread like a stain across the border into Chad and had been creeping towards his village for months.Being three years old, he could not have understood what was happening when the shooting started before dawn, or when a bullet shattered his right leg and cut a groove in his left.The attack was carried out by Sudanese Arab horsemen, the feared Janjaweed, and their Chadian allies seeking to oust the government in the capital, N'Djamena. But there was no one on hand to explain any of that to Tagalo. His father had fled, thinking the boy was with his mother and baby brother. The baby was dead, however, and his mother had been crippled in the same hail of bullets. Tagalo was found lying alone by Italian relief workers....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2057971,00.html
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Editor - 11:18:00 04-16-07
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| Attacks Surge as Iraq Militants Overshadow City |
They maneuver in squads, like the American infantrymen they try to kill. One squad fires furiously so another can attack from a better position. They operate in bad weather, knowing American helicopters and surveillance drones are grounded. Some carry G.P.S. receivers so mortar teams can calculate the coordinates of American armored vehicles. They kidnap and massacre police officers. The Sunni guerrillas and extremists who now overshadow this city demonstrate a sophistication and lethality born of years of confronting American military tactics. While the “surge” plays out in Baghdad just 35 miles to the south, Baquba has emerged as a magnet for insurgents from around the country and, perhaps, the next major headache for the American military. Some insurgents have moved into Baquba to escape the escalation in Baghdad. But the city has been attracting insurgents for years, particularly after American officials in Baghdad proclaimed it and surrounding Diyala Province relatively pacified ...
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/world/middleeast/16insurgency.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
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Editor - 10:38:00 04-16-07
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| post The Good, The Bad and The Ugly |
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