Remains of missing U.S. soldiers found

The remains were recovered approximately 20 miles northwest of Baghdad, Central Command said, after an exhaustive search using helicopters, armored vehicles and tanks.

The soldiers -- Sgt. 1st Class Gladimir Philippe, 37, of Linden, New Jersey, and Pfc. Kevin Ott, 27, of Columbus, Ohio -- were last reported traveling in a Humvee near a checkpoint when military officials lost contact with them.

Six people were in custody in connection with the case, officials said.

Meanwhile, in the latest of a series of attacks on coalition forces, a U.S. soldier was killed and four were wounded Friday night when their convoy was attacked in a northern neighborhood of Baghdad, a U.S. military spokesman said.

An Iraqi, who was working as an interpreter, was also wounded in the attack just before 11 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) Friday in the district of Thawra, the spokesman said.


posted by Frodgie at 10:19 AM

 

Markets on course for global five-year high

By Vincent Boland in New York

Stock markets around the world are on course for their best quarter for nearly five years amid growing optimism about prospects for the global economy after the end of the war in Iraq.


With one trading day remaining in the second quarter, the S&P 500 index has risen 15.1 per cent since April 1. This is the strongest three-month climb since it rose 21 per cent in the final quarter of 1998, just as the 1990s bull market was about to climb to its peak.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 12.5 per cent over the period. Stocks fell just under 1 per cent in the US on Friday but the underlying mood is one of cautious optimism.

The bond markets have also had a strong three months, although the US Federal Reserve's latest rate cut appears to have halted the bull market in US Treasury bonds. The Lehman Brothers index of long-term US Treasury bonds has climbed nearly 5 per cent since April 1.

Stock markets in Europe and Asia have also done well. The FTSE Eurotop 300 index of Europe's largest companies has climbed 15.7 per cent, its best three-month gain since the last quarter of 1999. The Nikkei average is 14.2 per cent higher, its best performance since the first quarter of 1999. "The turning point was the end of the war in Iraq," said James Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Wells Capital Management.

One of the most spectacular gains has been in the Nasdaq stock market and its clutch of telecommunications and technology companies, which are enjoying a remarkable turnround. The Nasdaq composite index is 21.2 per cent higher so far this quarter, after ending the first quarter unchanged from its level at the end of 2002.

Most stock market indices had tumbled in the first quarter, sparking fears that a three-year bear market was set to endure. The S&P index fell 3.6 per cent and the Dow was down by more than 4 per cent. The gains in this quarter have fuelled hopes that 2003 will be the first year of positive returns since 1999.

Francois Trahan, chief market strategist at Bear Stearns, said a combination of reduced risk, improving earnings from companies and dividend yields that in some cases compared favourably to the returns available from bonds, were the main drivers of stocks in the second quarter.

But he pointed out that the gains were high because markets had fallen so sharply by mid-March.

Globally, the best-performing markets were almost all emerging market countries but Germany's 32 per cent gain made it the 10th biggest riser. Venezuelan stocks posted the biggest gains and Hungary's the worst.

US telecoms stocks have climbed nearly 23 per cent so far in this quarter, and information technology stocks by 19 per cent, according to Ned Davis Research. Financial stocks and utilities were the other big movers. Even the energy sector, racked by controversy and scandal since the collapse of Enron, has turned positive, posting a gain of nearly 8 per cent.

The Fed's decision this week to cut US interest rates by 25 basis points, taking the federal funds rate to 1 per cent - the lowest in four decades - appeared to have disappointed many fixed-income investors, who had been expecting a cut of 50 basis points.

The fact that both bond and stock prices had a strong quarter is also puzzling some analysts. Bond prices often fall when stock prices rise, but in recent months they have been moving in the same direction.


posted by Frodgie at 10:13 AM

 

Study: 'Mediterranean diet' cuts health risks

BOSTON, Massachusetts (Reuters) -- A study of more than 22,000 Greeks provided further evidence that the "Mediterranean diet" rich in cheese, nuts and olive oil can protect against heart disease and cancer.

The study found that people who ate a Mediterranean-style diet had a 33 percent reduction in the risk of death from heart disease and a cancer death rate that was 24 percent lower compared to volunteers who ate other foods.

The diet, which varies from country to country, often includes monthly servings of meat and weekly meals of poultry, eggs and sweets.


posted by Frodgie at 4:05 PM

 

These guys have it right: Deport the Bastards!

The Justice Ministry expects a dramatic increase in the number of deportations of illegal immigrants in the coming months after the opening of an "expulsion centre" in Rotterdam on Friday.

The new centre will be used to hold illegal immigrants arrested in the mass search campaigns being conducted by the immigration service and police.

The Ministry plans to deport an extra 3,000 to 4,000 illegal immigrants. The arrest operations had to be restricted in the past due to the lack of detention places.


posted by Frodgie at 4:00 PM

 

Three Iraqis held in disappearance of 2 soldiers

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Three Iraqis have been detained in connection with the disappearance of two American soldiers north of Baghdad, a U.S. military spokesman said Friday.

The soldiers -- the subject of an intense search -- were reported missing late Wednesday from their post about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of the Iraqi capital.

They were last reported traveling in a Humvee near a checkpoint when military officials lost contact with them. A senior Pentagon official said no evidence of abduction exists but there is "concern" about their fate.

The search for the missing troops went on amid a rash of confrontations between Iraqis and U.S. personnel -- what one U.S. military official has called a "classic phase of insurgency."

• A soldier attached to the U.S. 1st Marine Expeditionary Force was killed Thursday in an ambush in Najaf south of Baghdad, U.S. military officials said. No other details were available.

posted by Frodgie at 10:12 AM

 

Iraqi Nuclear Scientist: I Lied

An Iraqi nuclear scientist has said that he lied to United Nations weapons inspectors and hid plans and small parts key to making nuclear weapons in his garden for 12 years.

Mahdi Shukur Ubaydi's claim is the first hard evidence that Iraqi scientists apparently lied to UN inspectors.

Dr Ubaydi told CNN, which broke the story, that he had not been asked by Saddam Hussein to restart the nuclear program and the material stayed buried in his garden until US intelligence forces dug it up recently.

Dr Ubaydi made the disclosures after being allowed to leave Iraq for a neutral country and an agreement with the CIA that suggests he will not be prosecuted.

CNN reported Dr Ubaydi as saying that more than three other scientists may have taken copies of the plans.

The CIA is treating the statement with caution and said yesterday the plans were not "a smoking gun" that showed that Iraq had nuclear weapons.

posted by Frodgie at 10:08 AM

 

Strom Thurmond dead at 100

(CNN) -- Former Republican Sen. J. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, the longest-serving member of the upper house of Congress, died Thursday night. He was 100.

"He carried out a life clearly unmatched in public service," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tennessee, in announcing Thurmond's death on the Senate floor. Senators then paused for a moment of silence in his honor.

"A giant oak in the forest of public service has fallen," said Sen. Ernest Hollings, D-South Carolina, who served with Thurmond for 36 years.

The colorful and sometimes controversial Thurmond, who held his first public office in the late 1920s died at 9:45 p.m. at a hospital in his hometown of Edgefield, South Carolina, where he had been living since retiring earlier this year, family members said in a statement released to local media.

He was best known for his longevity in public office and his once-fiery opposition to civil rights -- a stance he abandoned, like many one-time supporters of segregation, in later years.

Asked once to recount his career, Thurmond was blunt and brief: "I tried to be honest. I tried to be patriotic. And I tried to be dedicated."

Thurmond retired from the Senate in 2002 at the end of his eighth term. He served 47 years and five months in the Senate. He also was the oldest person to serve in the Senate, turning 100 years old on December 5, 2002, just a month before his retirement from the legislative body.

Before his retirement, he had been hospitalized on numerous occasions for a variety of low-level but persistent ailments, including stomach upset, back pain and exhaustion. But he always returned a scant few days after his admittance to open the Senate's daily sessions with a strike of his gavel.


posted by Frodgie at 9:54 AM

 

I don't get it, but the Court Strikes Down Law on Old Sex Crimes

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the government cannot retroactively erase statutes of limitations, a defeat for prosecutors trying to pursue priests accused of long-ago sex abuse.

On a 5-4 vote, the justices struck down a California law that allowed prosecutions for old sex crimes. It was challenged by a 72-year-old man accused of molesting his daughters when they were children.

The case was closely watched because of sex abuse problems in the Roman Catholic church, but it also has implications for terrorism and other crimes.

Justice Stephen Breyer, writing for the court, said the Constitution bars states from revising already expired legal deadlines.

Marion Stogner is among hundreds of people convicted under a 1994 California law that changed the statute of limitations for some sex offenses. Earlier this week, two former Catholic priests were charged with molesting children when they were assigned to the Los Angeles archdiocese decades ago.

Critics argue that it's unfair to change the rules after witnesses are dead and evidence lost. Supporters of deadline changes, including the American Psychological Association, contend that child molesters aren't usually exposed until after statutes of limitations have run out.

Statutes of limitations vary by state and by crime, in some instances as short as one year for minor wrongdoing to no limit for murder.

Some states have extended their deadlines for filing charges in sex crimes, but California took the exceptional step of retroactively changing the time limit. Charges must be filed within one year after the victims file a police report.


posted by Frodgie at 12:02 PM

 

Private bin Laden letters called for attacks

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden sent a private message to followers in February, ordering them to attack the United States and its allies, intelligence sources tell CNN.

The sources said the message was taken by couriers from an area along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border -- where bin Laden is believed to be hiding -- to locations in Africa, the Middle East, the Caucasus region and Asia.

"He sent personal letters to key al Qaeda leaders, regional leaders as well as leaders of al Qaeda-associated groups, urging them to launch terrorist attacks against the targets of the United States, its allies and its friends," said Rohan Gunaratna, author of "Inside al Qaeda," who has strong connections to anti-terrorism investigators.

Intelligence officials believe at least one of bin Laden's letters reached the intended recipient, resulting in the deadly terrorist attack on Western housing compounds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, last month that killed 26 people, including nine Americans.


posted by Frodgie at 6:49 AM

 

Nuke component unearthed in Baghdad back yard

The CIA has in its hands the critical parts of a key piece of Iraqi nuclear technology -- parts needed to develop a bomb program -- that were dug up in a back yard in Baghdad, CNN has learned.

The parts, with accompanying plans, were unearthed by Iraqi scientist Mahdi Obeidi who had hidden them under a rose bush in his garden 12 years ago under orders from Qusay Hussein and Saddam Hussein's then son-in-law, Hussein Kamel.

U.S. officials emphasized this was not evidence Iraq had a nuclear weapon -- but it was evidence the Iraqis concealed plans to reconstitute their nuclear program as soon as the world was no longer looking.

The parts and documents Obeidi gave the CIA were shown exclusively to CNN at CIA headquarters in Virginia.

Obeidi told CNN the parts of a gas centrifuge system for enriching uranium were part of a highly sophisticated system he was ordered to hide to be ready to rebuild the bomb program.


posted by Frodgie at 6:45 AM

 

Liberal Perversity

THEY'VE DONE IT AGAIN. This time liberals have backed themselves into the position of defending library patrons' right to view pornography at federal expense.

They've landed there by way of excoriating the Children's Internet Protection Act, which the Supreme Court yesterday upheld 6-3. This law requires obscenity-blocking filters on computers in public libraries where the computers are paid for with federal grants or the Internet access is subsidized by Washington. Because the blocking technology is imperfect--it screens out some unobjectionable material, and lets in some that's unsuitable for minors--the ACLU and the American Library Association call the filters "censorware," and the three most liberal members of the Court deem the law unconstitutional on its face.

Justices Stevens, Souter, and Ginsburg are unmoved by the fact that the Children's Internet Protection Act leaves librarians free to turn the filters off for any adult patron upon request. In addition, "libraries have the capacity to permanently unblock any erroneously blocked site," writes Chief Justice Rehnquist for the Court. Not to mention the fact that any library that wants to can provide unfiltered access on its own dime.

Obliviously, the dissenters see only an "obnoxious abridgement of speech," in Stevens' words. At the thought of "content-based blocking," Justice Souter, joined by Ginsburg, "smells a rat."


posted by Frodgie at 4:53 PM

 

Study: No power lines, breast cancer link

GARDEN CITY, New York (AP) -- A study that sought to explain the high rate of breast cancer on Long Island found no evidence to support fears that living near power lines causes the disease.

Researchers called the findings reassuring and said the study suggested they could rule out electromagnetic fields and focus on other risk factors for breast cancer, which strikes 200,000 women each year in the United States.

"All around, it is good news," said Dr. M. Cristina Leske, the lead researcher on the study, which is to be announced Wednesday and will appear in the July 1 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Exposure to invisible electromagnetic fields is nearly unavoidable in today's society. They are created wherever electricity is generated or used -- near power lines and wiring, electrical equipment and appliances.

Stony Brook University launched the study in 1996, after earlier studies indicated a possible connection between electromagnetic fields and cancer. Researchers believed at the time that the fields might hamper production of the estrogen-related hormone melatonin.

The study examined 1,161 women on Long Island -- 576 who had breast cancer and 585 who did not. Researchers took spot and 24-hour measurements of magnetic fields in often-used rooms in their houses, such as bedrooms and living rooms, and the study mapped the power lines surrounding each home.


posted by Frodgie at 2:28 PM

 

Interest Rates to be Lowered

Federal Reserve policy-makers appeared ready to ratchet down a key short-term interest rate to its lowest level in 45 years in the hope it will energize consumer spending and business investment and help the economy snap out of a funk.

The quick, postwar economic boom that some economists had hoped for hasn't materialized. For the most part, businesses have been reluctant to ramp up capital spending and hiring, major factors holding back the economy's ability to return to full health.

Consumers, meanwhile, have been the main force keeping the economy afloat. Even they, however, have been more inclined to spend cautiously than to splurge amid the muddled economic climate and sluggish job market.

"It's hard to escape the feeling that the economy is just barely treading water," said Carl Tannenbaum, chief economist at LaSalle Bank. "There isn't a lot of energy out there."


posted by Frodgie at 8:54 AM

 

Eminem's balcony scene-stealer

Rapper replays Jackson's baby-dangling stunt with doll at Glasgow hotel, writes DAMIEN HENDERSON
POP history repeated itself as farce yesterday when Eminem, the enfant terrible of rap, dangled a plastic baby over the edge of his hotel balcony in Glasgow, to the delight of the small crowd of fans who had waited all day to see him.

His gesture parodied the actions of Michael Jackson, who last year provoked international outrage by holding a real baby - purportedly his own - over a hotel balcony in Germany in front of horrified crowds below.

The rapper's latest stunt adds to a catalogue of incidents that have secured his status as one of the most controversial figures in pop music today, leading George W Bush to label him "the most dangerous threat to American children since polio".

Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers III, was visiting Scotland for only the second time to headline a sold-out performance at Hampden Park last night. More than 40,000 tickets for the show, which also features Cypress Hill, Xhibit, Obie Trice, and his occasional backing band, D12, sold out within 40 minutes when they went on sale.

Earlier in the day, Eminem played a game of cat and mouse with the crowd of about 30 fans and journalists who had waited since early morning for a glimpse of him at the Arthouse Hotel in Bath Street, but ended up crowding round a series of body-doubles standing in for him.


posted by Frodgie at 8:51 AM

 

Republican's 2004 strategy: Don't clone Bush, nationalize elections

I have consistently expressed confidence that barring some unforeseen set of extraordinary circumstances, President George W. Bush would be handily re-elected in 2004. But that's a far cry from expecting an emerging Republican dominance.

Because the electorate trusts President Bush at a time that trust in leaders is paramount, I still believe that he is the hands-down favorite in 2004, no matter which candidate the Democrats select to challenge him. But while Bush is very popular, and his unprecedented fundraising successes continue to dazzle, there is no guarantee he'll have sufficient coattails to usher in a substantial Republican congressional majority.

Besides, it's not enough to have a nominal majority – moderate and liberal Republicans impede conservative policy initiatives as often as not. So for those conservatives who care about policy more than party, the goal is not just a strong majority of nominal Republicans in both houses, but a predominance of voting conservatives in the House and Senate.


posted by Frodgie at 10:12 AM

 

Israel arrests 130 suspected Hamas activists

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- In response to recent suicide attacks, the Israeli army overnight arrested 130 suspected Hamas activists in the West Bank city of Hebron, the Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday.

"Some people are just needed for inquiry and will probably be released within hours," an army source added.

According to the IDF, the operation was part of its ongoing efforts against the Hamas infrastructure.

"The Hamas infrastructure in Hebron is responsible for the killing of 52 Israeli citizens in the last year, including the suicide bombing in Jerusalem on June 11," an IDF statement said. That suicide bombing, on an Israeli bus in Jerusalem, killed 17 people.


posted by Frodgie at 6:49 AM

 

Dean Formally Announces White House Run

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) -

Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean sought to redefine and broaden his liberal, anti-war campaign in formally announcing his candidacy Monday, telling disenchanted American voters, "You have the power!" to oust President Bush and rid Washington of special interests.

With at least 2,500 supporters crammed into a brick-lined town square, the steeple of a Unitarian church behind him, the former Vermont governor pledged to speak "for a new American century and a new generation of Americans."

Dean pledged to fight conservative Republicans, docile Democrats and the rest of the Washington establishment - all of whom he holds responsible for turning Americans away from the political system.


posted by Frodgie at 6:47 AM

 

Bombing victim erupts at Bali trial

AUSTRALIAN rage finally erupted in an Indonesian court yesterday when Bali bomb victim Jake Ryan rushed forward and shouted at alleged bombing field commander Imam Samudra: "You're a f . . king dog, mate, you are going to die, you f . . k."

Samudra was being led from the court with a police officer on either side when Mr Ryan lost control. The small defendant barely flinched as the big Gold Coast footballer shouted at him, in the first direct confrontation between an accused Bali bomber and an Australian victim of the bombing attacks.

For weeks, various of the Australian injured and bereaved have sat silently in the Denpasar court, listening as the self-confessed Bali bombers shout "Allahu akbar" (God is great) and exhort their lawyers to greater efforts.

The victims have been warned not to vent their feelings, yet the waist-high metal fence separating the audience from the front of the court failed to stop Mr Ryan confronting the Islamic extremist.


posted by Frodgie at 1:27 PM

 

We will find Saddams bombs!

Where are Iraq's weapons of mass destruction? It's a good question, and unfortunately we don't yet have a good answer. There is hope that the capture of Abid Hamid Mahmoud al-Tikriti, Saddam Hussein's closest aide, will provide the first solid clues. In any event, the mystery will be solved in good time; the search for Iraq's nonconventional weapons program has only just begun.

In the meantime, accusations are mounting that the Bush administration made up the whole Iraqi weapons threat to justify an invasion. That is just not the case—America and its allies had plenty of evidence before the war, and before President Bush took office, indicating that Iraq was retaining its illegal weapons programs.

As for allegations that some in the administration may have used slanted intelligence claims in making their case against Saddam Hussein, they seem to have merit and demand further investigation. But if the truth was stretched, it seems to have been done primarily to justify the timing of an invasion, not the merits of one.

The fact that the sites we suspected of containing hidden weapons before the war turned out to have nothing in them is not very significant. American intelligence agencies never claimed to know exactly where or how the Iraqis were hiding what they had—not in 1995, not in 1999 and not six months ago. It is very possible that the "missing" facilities, weaponized agents, precursor materials and even stored munitions all could still be hidden in places we never would have thought to look. This is exactly why, before the war, so few former weapons inspectors had confidence that a new round of United Nations inspections would find the items they were convinced Iraq was hiding.


posted by Frodgie at 1:15 PM

 

A decision built on deceit?

Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that created a woman's right to an abortion, was the most controversial of the last century. It divides us yet.

Any nominee to a federal appellate court or the Supreme Court who does not swear allegiance to Roe is disqualified in the eyes of the Democratic Party. To Democrats, ensuring a woman's right to abort her child has become a tenet of their party, a reason for its existence, an article of their faith.

But what if Roe v. Wade was based on fraud, deceit and lies?

Comes now a woman who knows as surely as anyone whether that explosive charge is true. That is Jane Roe herself, the Texas woman whose plight and plea persuaded the high court to strike down every state law restricting a woman's right to abort her child.

Who was, and is, Jane Roe? She is Norma McCorvey, and she has just filed a petition in a Dallas federal court, as the litigant in Roe v. Wade, to have the 1973 ruling overturned.

McCorvey contends that when she was a 21-year-old street person, she was ignorant of what abortion meant, made up her story about being raped, and was deceived and used by her lawyers. Those lawyers, McCorvey says, told her that the baby inside her was "tissue."

posted by Frodgie at 10:41 AM

 

Guide through the Mideast mysteries

So what's going on in the Mideast with the Israelis, the Palestinian Authority, Hamas and other nut cases, the Egyptians, the Americans ... and the whole supporting cast?
Maybe plenty. Maybe even something new. If you scrape the blood off and read between the lines of the communiques from all the different actors — the combatants, the mediators, the not-so-innocent bystanders — the muddled picture becomes clearer:
The Israelis are ready for a Palestinian state on their doorstep. They've been ready for some time, like 1937. But they will accept only a peaceful one. In the meantime, they are not going to stop attacking what they call ticking bombs — terrorists planning attacks against them. The Israelis want more than a cease-fire; they want one that will lead to peace instead of war, unlike the ill-fated Oslo Accords.

posted by Frodgie at 8:34 AM

 

Saddam backers plot Baghdad hit

BAGHDAD — Former regime officials yesterday described efforts to send men and weapons into Baghdad to attack coalition forces and to recruit trained bomb makers to their cause.
Such militants were blamed for a grenade attack yesterday that killed one U.S. soldier and wounded another, and for a massive oil pipeline explosion over the weekend. The blast soured Iraq's formal return to the world oil market.
One midlevel official of Saddam Hussein's deposed regime said in an interview that hundreds of anticoalition fighters made their way into Baghdad last week with rocket-propelled grenades in preparation for an uprising.
Islamic militants have also been contacting and offering terms to bomb makers, according to one potential recruit.
A surreptitious tape recording, made on behalf of The Washington Times, has the voice of a militant sheik trying to persuade a former military officer to make explosives in Baghdad.

posted by Frodgie at 8:33 AM