That is one big pile of wheat," quipped Alan Tracy, the president of U.S. Wheat Associates, last week in Havana, as his organization signed contracts to provide Cuba with 500,000 tonnes of the grain in 2006, around 35 percent more than this year. "I assure you it's enough to make wheat growers in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas notice," Tracy said. They also will in France and Canada, where farmers dominated the wheat market until Cuba began purchasing U.S. products under a 2000 law allowing agricultural sales on a cash basis as an exception to the decades-old U.S. trade embargo. Also this month, Maine Gov. John Baldacci visited the Caribbean island to negotiate a $20-million agreement for the new year, and Virginia's agriculture secretary struck a $30-million deal. ... http://abcnews.go.com censor News |
Editor - 09:24:00 12-19-05 |
German court acquits ex-Nazi in WWII massacres |
A former Nazi commander was acquitted of murder in three massacres in Slovakia after a court said Monday there was no reliable evidence he was involved in the killings. Ladislav Niznansky, 88, sat stone-faced as his acquittal on 164 counts of murder was announced in the Munich state court. The charges against him were filed in connection with the slaughter of 146 men, women and children in two Slovak villages and the later killing of 18 Jewish civilians after a failed uprising against Slovakia's Nazi puppet government. Presiding Judge Manfred Goetzl cited contradictory evidence from witnesses as a reason for the acquittal, noting that some withdrew testimony given when Niznansky was convicted in absentia by communist Czechoslovakia in 1962. ... http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-12-19-nazi_x.htm?csp=34
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Editor - 09:16:00 12-19-05 |
Police: Accused drunken driver steals police car |
A Florida man arrested Saturday for alleged drunken driving slipped off his handcuffs, slid into the driver's seat of a police car and sped off, police said. He was captured a short time later.Just before the incident, Thomas Elflein, 26, was spotted trying to avoid a DWI checkpoint by pulling into a gas station around 12:30 a.m., said Suffolk County Police Detective Sgt. William Lamb.Officers handcuffed him and put him in the back of a marked police car, Lamb said. But while an officer was outside recording license information, Elflein pulled off the handcuffs, got into the driver's seat and drove away, Lamb said. He said Elflein eventually abandoned the police car and was tracked down by search dogs.... http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/12/19/stolen.cruiser.ap/index.html?section=cnn_us
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Editor - 09:07:00 12-19-05 |
DRC war may cost Uganda billions |
The International Court of Justice has ruled that Uganda must pay compensation to the Democratic Republic of Congo for looting during the 1998-2003 war. A government spokesman said DR Congo will seek up to $10bn in compensation. The Hague-based court also found Uganda responsible for human rights abuses. DR Congo has accused Uganda of invading its territory and massacring civilians. Several African states were involved in the war, which left 3m people dead. Uganda says its troops entered Congolese territory to pursue Ugandan rebels. DR Congo brought the case saying its sovereignty had been violated, and demanding compensation for plundered minerals and other resources.... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4541126.stm
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Editor - 09:02:00 12-19-05 |
U.S. frees former high-value Iraqis |
The U.S. military has released eight former Baathist detainees of high value, a military spokesman said Monday. Among them are two female biological weapons experts, Rihab Taha, the head of Iraq's biological weapons program, also known as "Dr. Germ;" and Huda Salih Mehdi Ammash, a top weapons scientist, known as "Mrs. Anthrax," CNN has learned. Both were captured a week apart in May 2003. The detainees were released Saturday as part of an ongoing review process, said Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, the U.S. military spokesman. "We no longer had cause to hold them since they are no longer under investigation for crimes," Johnson said in a statement. He would not release further details. Take notice they kept saying Saddam kept women and Christians out of positions of power, so how come they have these woman and Christians who had high positions in his government were being held all these years? Sounds like an admittance to another lie.... http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/12/19/iraq.main/index.html?section=cnn_world
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Editor - 08:56:00 12-19-05 |
Bush says leaking spy program a ‘shameful act’ President vows to continue domestic eavesdropping |
Bush on Monday said disclosure of his domestic eavesdropping program was a “shameful act” and said he will keep using it “for so long as the nation faces the continuing threat of an enemy that wants to kill American citizens.” “As president of the United States and commander in chief I have the constitutional responsibility and the constitutional authority to protect our country,” he said in an opening statement at a year-end news conference. Asked if the Justice Department would be investigating who leaked the existence of the program, first disclosed last week by The New York Times, Bush said he presumed the process had started. “It was a shameful act for someone to disclose this important program in a time of war. The fact that we’re discussing this program is helping the enemy,” he said at the White House event. It isn’t foreign enemies that are taking our freedom, it’s our own Government... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10530417/from/RSS/
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Editor - 08:45:00 12-19-05 |
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