NO, NOT THE OIL! #81

[k...@kymhorsell.com]

[Hmmm. Google seems to be lighting Blasted, today; thank ywh for Germany!].

From the World-Wide Resourses of the Western Australia
Reserch Senter(*)
OIL THE NEWS THAT FITS MY VIEWS #81
===============================
In the Run-Up to World War III, Reliably Reporting the News Relevant
to Extreme Right-Wing Democratic Socialists Everywhere
(validated for RiteThink(tm) by the Office of Our Man in Can-berra).

Visit Our Home Page At: http://www.chickenhead.com/loserscopes/
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UN Mailing List: http://www.kymhorsell.com/UN/
Iraqi Body Count: http://www.iraqbodycount.net/ [6,086+ as at 04 Aug 2003].

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Selecting latest news stories and other data for you...
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We're protecting The Homeland... The fact we've been able to sting
this guy is a pretty good example of what we're doing.
-- Pres Bush Jr, Rancho Crawford, 13 Aug 2003.
The FBI arrested a garment worker after they helped him
importing a dummy missile from Russia.

In the last few days we've captured the major terrorist named
Hamnali... he's no longer a problem to those who love freedom...
-- Pres Bush Jr, 14 Aug 2003.
The Whitehouse has indicated it hasn't forgotten al-Qaeda.

It's not about neo-collonialism -- it's about commone sense.
-- AUS PM John "Hurricane" Howard, Auckland, 14 Aug 2003.
Mr Howard is pushing for a common Pacific currency, a
common police force, and an Aussie Sec-Gen of the S Pac
Forum. He says failing states in the region threaten
Aussie security because they become a haven for druig
dealers and money-launderers.

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Wed, 13 Aug 2003.

Oil: Prices slip as US says Iraqi export line to restart
NY (Reuters). Oil prices slipped on Tue as news that US officials see
Iraqi exports from the country's N fields starting within days
outweighed a small pipeline fire and concerns about low US
inventories.
Sep crude futures settled down 9 cents at $US31.92 a barrel on the NY
Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude oil slipped 6 cents to $US29.85
per barrel on London's Internat'l Petroleum Exchange.
The US Army said Tue the main N export pipeline to Turkey should start
filling on Wed and exports of 200,000 to 300,000 bpd could follow in a
few days. The pipe takes Iraqi crude to the Turkish Mediterranean port
of Ceyhan for export to world markets.
The US cmdr in charge of the N Iraq oil infrastructure told
Reuters that exports should start at 200,000-300,000 bpd, rising to
500,000 bpd by y-end.
The losses on the NYMEX were minimal.
Exports at Iraq's sole crude terminal Mina al-Bakr in the S were
stopped again due to a power failure at pumping stations after
resuming operations for 5 hrs, officials said.
Also supporting prices, a pipeline carrying crude from Iraq's northern
oilfields to a refinery nr Baghdad was damaged by a 3-hr fire probably
caused by looters, according to witnesses and officials at the scene.
Iraq has begun exporting oil only intermittently from the Gulf in the
south of the country, but sabotage and power failures have hampered
the reconstruction effort.
Traders said low US oil inventories are supporting crude prices, while
the closure of a big refinery in Delaware sent the US petrol market
higher ahead of weekly US stocks data due to be released Wed.
US petrol futures settled 1.59 cents firmer at 95.64 cents a gallon.
Analysts surveyed by Reuters said they expected govt data on Wed to
show US crude stocks declined 1.3 mn barrels last week on slowing
imports and higher refinery production.
Petrol supplies were forecast to be 2 mn barrels lower at the height
of the holiday season, when demand for motor fuel is greatest.
The supply concerns, reinforced by OPEC's reluctance to raise output,
have helped keep crude around $US30 for most of the past 2 m and
prompted a wave of buying from investment funds.
OPEC agreed on Jul 31 to leave official production unchanged, but its
reference price remained above the cartel's preferred price range for
a 7th day Mon, the OPEC news agency said Tue.
OPEC has a non-binding agreement to raise output if the price of its
reference crude basket holds above $US28 for 20 days.

Aussie Consumer confidence dips
Melbourne. Consumer confidence in AUS has suffered a setback but
remains buoyant. The consumer sentiment index compiled by Westpac and
the MEL Institute has dipped 3.4% this m. Westpac's global head of
economics, Bill Evans, says it is down to 112.5. "Bear in mind that
in Jul, it reached 116.5, which was a 9-year high," he said. "Even
at 112.5, that's 12% above the long-term average and still a very,
very solid assessment of the confidence of consumers." But Mr Evans
says the edge has come off confidence with the acceptance that
official interest rates are unlikely to be cut in the foreseeable
future. A sharp drop in employment numbers and the bombing of
Jakarta's Marriott Hotel are other possible factors.

Annan condemns suicide bombings
NY (Reuters). UN sec-gen Kofi Annan has condemned suicide bombings in
Israel and the West Bank and urged the parties to show restraint.
In a message released by his rep, Mr Annan "condemns the 2 suicide
bombings in the Israeli town of Rosh Ha-Ayin and outside the settlement
of Ariel ... that killed 2 Israelis and wounded some dozen others".
"He extends his sincere condolences and sympathy to the families of
the victims of these terrorist attacks," the statement added.
2 Israelis were killed and a dozen others were wounded in a blast at
a shopping mall NE of Tel Aviv and in another attack at the entrance
to the West Bank settlement of Ariel.
"The secretary-general is deeply concerned by the current escalation
in the violence, including the recent incursion into Askar refugee
camp nr Nablus and last night's shooting incidents in the Gaza Strip,"
Mr Annan was quoted as saying.
"He urges both parties to adhere to their road map obligations and to
exercise restraint in the face of provocation."
The US says the Palestinian Authority "must act now" to dismantle
terrorist groups.
"The Palestinian Authority must act now to dismantle terrorist
networks that perpetuate such attacks and to prevent future attacks,"
Whitehouse rep Claire Buchan told reporters in Crawford, Texas.
She said Israel had the right to defend itself but added that it
should bear "in mind the consequences of their actions".

Musharraf calls for Kashmir cease-fire
Islamabad. In a further sign that the bitter relationship between
India and Pakistan is improving, Pakistani Pres Pervez Musharraf has
addressed an Indian peace delegation and called for a cease-fire in
Kashmir. While not at war, Indian and Pakistani troops regularly
exchange artillery fire across the line of control dividing the
disputed territory of Kashmir. In recent ms, the testy relationship
between S Asia's nuclear neighbours has at least flirted with
friendship as a border bus service resumed and Pakistani children
received heart operations in an Indian hospital. This wk an Indian
peace delegation of MPs and other dignitaries has visited Islamabad
and yesterday Pres Musharaff visited them. While there, he proposed a
cease-fire on Kashmir's line of control. India says this will not
work until cross border terrorism stops.

Iraq posed only minimal threat -- Kelly
London. Leading Brit weapons expert Dr David Kelly believed Iraq
posed only a minimal military threat and accused the Brit Govt of
overplaying the risk to justify war, a BBC reporter told a judicial
inquiry yesterday into his suicide.
Kelly slashed his wrist last m after being named as the source for a
BBC report that a Brit Govt dossier on Iraq's weapons was "sexed up"
at the behest of PM Tony Blair's communications chief, Alastair Campbell.
Andrew Gilligan, 34, the defence correspondent for BBC radio's
agenda-setting Today program, whose May 29 report has plunged the
Blair Govt into crisis, told the judicial inquiry that Kelly told him
most Brit intel experts were unhappy with the weapons dossier.
Gilligan was the star witness on the 2nd day of the inquiry in London
headed by senior judge Brian Hutton.
The inquiry was ordered by Mr Blair, who has been falling in the polls
and who is at risk of serious political damage if the investigation's
findings are negative.
"[Saddam Hussein's weapons] program was small. He couldn't have killed
very many people even if everything had gone right for him," Gilligan
said, reading notes from his interview with Kelly.
Another section of Gilligan's notes had Kelly referring to "no usable
weapons" in Iraq.
Nearly 5 m after US and Brit forces invaded Iraq to topple Saddam no
WMD have been found, undermining public trust in Mr Blair. Gilligan
said Kelly blamed Alastair Campbell for changing the pre-war intel
dossier to highlight a claim Iraq could deploy chem or bio arms at 45
minutes notice.
The dossier was "transformed a wk before publication to make it
sexier. A classic was the 45 minutes," Gilligan said.
When he asked how the transformation happened, "Kelly said:
'Campbell'," Gilligan told the inquiry.
Martin Howard, deputy chief of intel at the MoD, told
the inquiry on Mon that 2 defence officials were unhappy with language
used in the Govt dossier, published in Sep 2002.
Gilligan bolstered that claim. "Most people in intel were unhappy with
it because it didn't reflect the considered view they were putting
forward," he said.
But several Govt officials on Mon denied Campbell had pushed for the
inclusion of the 45-minute allegation.
"I do not think there was a transformation the wk before publication,"
senior civil servant Julian Miller told the opening day of the
inquiry. Brit's political elite was rocked when Kelly killed himself
after being named as the source of Gilligan's report.
Mr Blair's official rep was forced to apologise unreservedly last week
for comparing the scientist -- described by his former UN chief AUS
Richard Butler as a man "welded to the truth" -- to the fictional
fantasist Walter Mitty.
On Mon, Terence Taylor, a former Kelly colleague on the UNSCOM weapons
inspection missions to Iraq, gave a robust defence of the scientist's
record.
"He was recognised internat'lly, he had a very high standing, not only
in the UK but in the US and other countries," he said.
"And rightly so. His work was quite remarkable."

Journalist stands by "dodgy dossier" story at inquiry
London. The BBC journalist who reported the Blair Govt had
exaggerated the threat posed by Iraq's weapons has stood by his story
before a judicial inquiry in London overnight.
Andrew Gilligan has made the comments at the inquiry into the death of
Brit weapons scientist David Kelly, who was the source for the BBC
story and who later apparently committed suicide.
Mr Gilligan read from notes recorded on his electronic organiser at
the key meeting with Dr Kelly, where, he said, the scientist told him
info about Iraq's ability to deploy weapons within 45-minutes was a
classic example of how the Govt dossier in Iraq's weapons had been
"sexed up", to use Gilligan's words.
It was Dr Kelly, says Mr Gilligan, who nominated the name of Prime Min
Tony Blair's communications director Alastair Campbell as the man
responsible, an assertion reinforced later by another BBC journalist
Sue Watts, who had a similar conversation.
But Mr Gilligan conceded that the wording in one of his 19 stories on
the day about this was less than perfect.
His editor later described his work "as a good bit of investigative
journalism marred by flawed reporting".

2nd BBC reporter says Kelly told her Campbell "sexed up" dossier
London (The Guardian). David Kelly named Alastair Campbell, Tony
Blair's communications chief, to two BBC reporters as the official who
"sexed up" the govt's dossier on Iraq's banned weapons programme,
drawn up to justify the case for war, it was revealed yesterday.
Fresh and potentially damning evidence about the issues at the heart
of the govt's bitter dispute with the BBC was disclosed to the Hutton
inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of the senior
govt scientist.
At the end of a day of sometimes hostile questioning of the reporter
Andrew Gilligan about exactly what Dr Kelly had told him, his BBC
colleague Susan Watts disclosed that the scientist had also named Mr
Campbell to her. In a phone conversation 3 weeks before the BBC
broadcast which sparked the row, Dr Kelly mentioned Mr Campbell in
connection with the hotly disputed claim that Iraqi forces could
deploy chem and bio weapons within 45 minutes of an order to do so.
Watts' shorthand note of the conversation read: "A mistake to put it
in, Alastair Campbell seeing something in there, single source but not
corroborated, sounded good."
Though Watts told the inquiry that the govt scientist had appeared to
name Campbell in a "gossipy aside", she described Dr Kelly as someone
with "extraordinary access to govt info across the board".
Watts, BBC Newsnight's science editor, is to continue giving evidence
today when Mr Campbell is expected to be named in taped conversations
she had with Dr Kelly. Earlier Gilligan was asked by Lord Hutton
whether Mr Campbell was mentioned 1st by Dr Kelly in their meeting.
"Absolutely," the reporter replied. "He raised the subject of Campbell."
The inquiry has produced no evidence of Gilligan's claim that the 45
minute assertion had been inserted into the dossier against the wishes
of the intel agencies, let alone that Downing Street knew it was
incorrect. But the govt has persistently suggested that Mr Campbell's
name had been dragged into the row by Gilligan.
Its case appeared to be backed up by Dr Kelly's repeated denials to
senior MoD officials -- disclosed in MoD documents
produced at the inquiry yesterday -- that he had at any time referred
to Mr Campbell.
The evidence produced yesterday at the Hutton inquiry shows that Dr
Kelly, under heavy pressure from the MoD and perhaps concerned about
his career and reputation, had not told his Whitehall employers the truth.
According to notes of interviews with MoD officials, Dr Kelly said it
was Gilligan had raised the issue of the 45 minute claim and Mr
Campbell's name, and that he could not comment on it because he did
not know the intel it was based on.
The new evidence given to the inquiry over Dr Kelly's allegations
about Mr Campbell and his conflicting claims may explain Downing
Street's recent targeting of the dead scientist, including the
description of him as a Walter Mitty fantasist.
The inquiry heard that Gilligan made a note of his May 22 meeting with
Dr Kelly on his personal organiser. It read in part: "Transformed wk
before publication to make it sexier. The classic was the 45
minutes. Most things in dossier were double source but that was single
source... most people in intel weren't happy with it because it didn't
reflect the considered view they were putting forward."
The note added: "Campbell: real info but unreliable, included against
our wishes. Not in original draft -- dull, he asked if anything else
could go in." Dr Kelly also told Gilligan that Iraq's weapons of mass
destruction programme was likely to be small, sanctions were
effective, and Iraq did not have "usable weapons", according to the
reporter's notes.
In further potentially damaging evidence, the inquiry heard that Dr
Kelly had disclosed that he had met the defence secretary, Geoff Hoon,
and discussed Iraq's banned weapons programme.
Mr Hoon has denied ever meeting Dr Kelly. But yesterday, Watts said
the govt scientist had told her that he had lunch with Mr Hoon in
mid-Apr this y.
Dr Kelly said the defence secretary had told him, referring to the
search for banned weapons: "One sees the mosaic of evidence being
built up."
Asked what Dr Kelly understood by the cryptic comment, Watts said she
replied: "Very little. He chuckled about the fact that it was fairly
meaningless".
Earlier, James Dingemans QC, the inquiry counsel, asked Gilligan: "Did
Dr Kelly have the faintest idea what he was letting himself in for?"
The BBC reporter replied that Dr Kelly was a "pretty experienced in
dealing with journalists".
Gilligan also denied exaggerating or embellishing what Dr Kelly had
told him.
Though Mr Dingemans asked the bulk of the questions, Lord Hutton made
it clear he was sympathetic with the pressures Dr Kelly had been put
under, not least by the media.

Temps increase threat to US forces in Iraq
Baghdad (AP). It's 122 degrees in the shade.
The temperature in the Iraqi capital -- already superheated by
resistance to the American occupation -- has danced around that
enervating, shoe-sole frying figure for days now.
This y, with electricity in short supply after the war, what is
normally a nuisance has become a catalyst for violence that raises the
deadly threat facing US and Brit soldiers.
2 American tanks rumbled by Mon as Saad Ali, 37, welded a window frame
in the ironmonger district in NW Baghdad.
He lifted an old pair of sunglasses lenses, held in place by a braid
of rubber bands. Grime circled his eyes; circles of perspiration
dimpled his bright green T-shirt, shot through with holes from welding sparks.
"I slow down a lot in the summer," he said. "If I don't keep these
iron bars out of the sun, I can't touch them."
Baghdad is always hot in summer. The difference this y is the
electricity cuts. Normally, most Baghdadis stay cool through the Aug
heat with air conditioners or old water-evaporation coolers.
But with no electricity, there's no cooling. And who's to blame? The
Americans, who haven't been able to bring electricity generation back
to prewar levels.
In Basra, 450 km to the SE and even hotter, the blazing heat and power
cuts brought angry residents into the street over the weekend, leaving
at least 2 people dead in violent confrontations with Brit soldiers. A
3rd person, a civilian coalition employee of Nepalese origin, was shot
and killed by an unknown attacker while delivering mail to UN workers
in Iraq's second-largest city.
The heat has been deadly for American troops who patrol Baghdad in
12-hr shifts, weighed down with weapons, helmets and 30-pound flak
jackets. One soldier reportedly died of heatstroke over the weekend in
a convoy, and a second was found dead in his living quarters -- the
cause of death was not immediately known.
Sgt 1st Class Ron Borchardt, 38, Port Washington, Wis, said he and
his men are drinking nearly 10 quarts of bottled water each
day. Sitting in a Humvee parked in the shade on Haifa Street,
Borchardt moaned: "It's got a lot hotter since yesterday."

Inquiry exonerates US tank crew
The Palestine Hotel strike that killed 2 journalists
Baghdad (Reuters). The US military has exonerated the tank crew which
fired on the Palestine Hotel during the battle for Baghdad, killing 2
television cameramen and injuring another 3 journalists. The Pentagon
inquiry has concluded the tank crew was acting in self defence. The
US military investigation found that the tank fired on the hotel
because a "spotter" was believed to be directing Iraqi fire from one
of its balconies. The hotel was filled with foreign journalists who
had remained in Baghdad to cover the war. In May, an investigation by
the Committee to Protect Journalists concluded that the attack while
not deliberate, was avoidable and military cmdrs knew the hotel was
inhabited by journalists but did not warn the tank battalion's cmdr.
But US officials says today's report confirms the rules of engagement
were not violated.

US military to investigate Iraqi casualties
Baghdad (Chicago Tribune). As Brit troops restored some electrical
power and distributed gasoline in riot-torn Basra in S Iraq, a US
soldier was killed and 2 others were injured in a bomb attack in the N.
US military officials also were criticised for a string of recent
shootings of Iraqis, including 2 police officers who were killed by US
troops Sat.
In one incident, US forces killed several Iraqi civilians Thu evening,
reportedly as they drove their vehicles in a darkened neighbourhood in
N Baghdad. The troops apparently were conducting a raid at the time.
"The American forces have lost all control," said Raad Al-Azzawi,
whose 20-yo son was killed in Thu's shooting. "The American forces
kill randomly without any reason."
Lt Col Guy Shields, a coalition rep, said the shooting deaths are
under investigation by the US military.
While calling each civilian death "a tragedy," he said US forces have
taken "great strides" to avoid civilian casualties.
"There are incidents that have happened," Shields said. "We try to
investigate those in hopes of minimising them so that they don't
happen again."
Ibrahim al-Jaafari, president of the Iraqi Governing Council, told
reporters yesterday that he was disturbed by the continued reports of
US troops firing on Iraqi civilians.
Al-Jaafari said most Iraqis are friendly to US forces despite the fact
that they are occupying the country. He said troops "must take more
care" before using deadly force.
"We do not accept any victim," al-Jaafari said at a news conference.
"The blood of our people is very dear to us."
The mounting reports of civilian deaths came as peace returned to
Basra, which had been racked by 2 days of rioting that killed 2 Iraqis
and a Nepalese security guard. The guard worked for Global Security, a
private company hired to provide security and other services for
coalition bases throughout the country.
Over the weekend, 100s of angry residents blocked roads with burning
tires and threw stones at vehicles and Brit forces to protest chronic
electrical blackouts and fuel shortages. Brit troops finally restored
order, but not before they came under attack late Sun and wounded 2
assailants. There were no Brit casualties.
Brit forces distributed fuel to gas stations yesterday, and Iraqis who
had waited hrs to fill their tanks cheered as the supplies
arrived. But some were angry at rationing that restricted distribution
to 5.5 gallons of gasoline per car.
Charles Heatly, a rep for the US-led coalition, said sabotage by
loyalists of ousted Pres Saddam Hussein along with extreme heat and
antiquated equipment were crippling the power grid in Basra.
He also attributed the electrical shortages to criminal organisations
that are stealing diesel fuel used to run generators. He said other
groups were toppling electrical towers and stripping their cables of
copper wiring.
Heatly said efforts are under way to repair damage to Basra's oil
refinery and install new equipment to increase the capacity of the
region's power stations.
He also said coalition forces are cracking down on the large-scale
smuggling of diesel, crude oil and other products out of S Iraq and
into the Persian Gulf.
Meanwhile, US troops suffered additional casualties as soldiers from
the 4th Infantry Division came under attack late Sun with a homemade
bomb. The soldiers were guarding a police station in Baqouba, 72 km N
of Baghdad.
The attack killed one soldier and wounded 2 others. It raised the
number of US troops killed in attacks to 57 since Pres Bush declared
major combat operations over May 1.

Sanchez: troops in Iraq to serve 1 y
Baghdad (AP). All troops in Iraq should expect to serve for at least 1
y, with brief rest breaks in the region and possibly a few days at
home, the cmdr of US forces said Tue. That came as news to some soldiers.
"It's a one-year rotation," Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez told The Associated
Press in an interview. "Every soldier has been told that they'll be
deployed for a year, and then at the end of the y we'll be working to
send them home."
But some of the 148,000 soldiers in Iraq said nobody told them how
long they would remain in the country, where guerrillas attack
Americans daily and high temperatures often top 120 degrees. Pfc
Deacon Finkle, 20, of Dallas, screwed up his face -- red from the heat
-- when asked how long he would be in Iraq.
"Don't know. No idea," he said.
Spc Jeff Ross, perched atop a bridge overlooking Baghdad's dangerous
Airport Highway, knew he was scheduled to be in Iraq for a year,
saying: "We really don't have a choice."
"A year's going to be rough. It's going to be a long haul," said Ross,
22, of Hillsboro, Ore. "But I think we can do it. If it cools off a
little bit, it'll be all right."
The issue of soldiers' tours has been contentious, with troops and
their families posting missives on the Internet criticising their govt
for keeping US forces in Iraq.
Some express concern about "mission creep," in which what begins as a
swift war turns into a long-term occupation that could cause heavy
American casualties as Iraqis become more and more skeptical of US
promises to let them govern themselves.
"They need to come home!" Kimberly, the wife of a reservist deployed
in Feb, wrote on the Web site of the support organisation Military
Families Speak Out. "Our unit has no redeployment date in sight, and
we are constantly told that they may even be extended."
Sanchez said cmdrs were working hard to make soldiers' lives more
bearable, and many soldiers said they were getting new creature
comforts such as better food, more air conditioning and access to
television and the Internet.
"We've been doing a tremendous amount for them," Sanchez said in his
office in Saddam Hussein's former palace, a copy of former NY City
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's "Leadership" displayed on the bookshelf.
He said soldiers were starting to get "outs" to rest camps inside Iraq
to improve morale.
"They get pulled off-line for 2 or 3 days and they get to rest in an
environment that is essentially stress-free, as much as you can be
inside of Iraq," he said. "They've got Internet, they'll get TV,
they'll have air-conditioned space, they'll get hot meals. In some
places they have swimming pools, so we kind of get them to relax."
Sanchez also said 150 soldiers a day were being flown to the Persian
Gulf state of Qatar for breaks, and that other R&R bases were planned
for Jordan and Turkey.
But on the Internet, some soldiers' families criticised the vacations,
saying cmdrs should instead work on getting the soldiers home for good.
"My son-in-law has been in Iraq since March. ... He has been given
orders that extend his stay until JULY 2004," reads a message signed
"Bette" on the Web site of Military Families Speak Out.
"His company just had a two-day vacation[?!] in Qatar. Pres Bush has
just left for his MONTH-LONG vacation on his ranch in Crawford,
Texas. Let's send all of the troops to Pres Bush's ranch and send the
Pres to Iraq."
Sanchez also spoke of a proposal to give soldiers a "mid-tour break"
to see their families.
"The intent would be that between your fifth and 10th m of deployment
you'd get 14 days of leave and be able to go home," Sanchez said,
adding that he hoped the plan would be approved "within a couple of weeks."
In Baghdad, some soldiers said life was slowly getting better. Sgt 1st
Class Charles Ragsdale, 34, of Atlanta, was guarding the Baghdad
Internat'l Airport, which he said was becoming more livable.
"The Army is doing a lot of things every day, every week, to improve
the morale of the soldiers out here," he said. "They're trying to get
air conditioning. ... The chow's getting better. There's TV and
movies. They're doing the best they can."

US soldier dies in Iraq bomb attack
Baghdad. A US soldier has been killed and 2 others wounded in a bomb
attack W of Baghdad, bringing to 57 the number of US soldiers
killed in guerrilla attacks since the start of May.
A US Army rep said the soldier died when 3 synchronised bombs were
detonated nr a US convoy in the restive town of Ramadi.
Meanwhile, forces hunting Saddam loyalists have captured one of his
former bodyguards and a general in his army in a raid in Tikrit.
Officers from the 4th Infantry Division in the town said the 2 men
were among 14 detainees captured in Mon's raid.
They were not immediately named.
In the N city of Mosul, a US Humvee was destroyed in a blast and
witnesses said 4 casualties were taken away.
The US Army said it had no details.
US forces occupying Iraq come under daily attack, and Washington says
die-hard Saddam Hussein loyalists and some foreign militants are
behind the guerrilla campaign.
Kurds nr the Iranian border said they had captured dozens of militant
fighters trying to infiltrate Iraq.
Adel Murad, a rep for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), told
Reuters in Baghdad that Kurdish Peshmerga militiamen had rounded up 50
people nr the Iranian border -- some of them members of the shadowy
Ansar al-Islam group, which Washington has linked to Osama bin Laden's
Al Qaeda network.
Paul Bremer, Iraq's US governor, told a news conference that Ansar
al-Islam was one of the groups under suspicion for a truck bomb attack
on the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad last wk that killed at least 17
people and wounded scores.
He said the attack was "an act of irresponsible terrorism by
criminals" but it was too early to say who was to blame.
"It's possible this attack was conducted by foreign terrorists. It is
also possible it was conducted by Iraqis," he said.
"The investigation by Iraqi police is going forward."
"Ansar al-Islam, of course, has long-standing connections,
affiliations if you wish, with Al Qaeda," Mr Bremer said.
Ansar al-Islam was based in Kurdish territory outside Saddam's control
close to the border with Iran before the war that toppled the Iraqi leader.
Mr Bremer said its fighters had fled to Iran during the war but "a
couple of hundred" had now returned to Iraq.
Murad of the PUK said Ansar al-Islam was regrouping.
"Now we think the group has returned to the area to resume their
terrorist acts in Kurdistan and to participate in terrorist operations
inside Iraq," he said.
Earlier on Tue, US forces ended a search of an isolated region nr the
Iranian border after troops backed by helicopters and tanks seized
stockpiles of weapons but found no trace of the fugitive dictator.
Operation Ivy Lightning, launched on Mon, was the latest effort by the
4th Infantry Division to hunt down guerrillas loyal to Saddam, who
remains on the run despite an intense US manhunt and a $US25 mn price
on his head.
The operation focused on remote villages around 130 km N of Baghdad,
after intel suggested Saddam loyalists may have fled there to escape
the raids around Tikrit.

Former "human shields" face fines
Washington. 2 American peace activists who went to Iraq as "human
shields" against the war now face fines of up to $US10,000 from the US
Treasury Dept for violating a ban on travel to Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
"Those who violate the established internat'l and US sanctions can
expect the law will be fully and fairly enforced," US Treasury rep
Taylor Griffin said on Tue, although he declined to address specific cases.
America's ABC News reported the Treasury Dept has contacted about 5
Americans who were among 300 people from various countries who went to
Iraq in an effort to prevent the US-led war.
Ryan Clancy, a Milwaukee record store owner, and retired school
teacher Faith Fippinger of Sarasota, Florida, acknowledged they had
received notices from the Treasury Dept.
Both said they have no intention of paying the fines.
"I can't in good conscious give the Treasury Dept money for the
privilege of having met the people that my country was going to bomb
and kill," Mr Clancy told the ABC.
Fippinger, 62, sent her response in a letter to the agency in May
saying that an alternative should be considered.
"If it comes to fines or imprisonment, please be aware that I will not
contribute money to the US Govt to continue the build-up of its
arsenal of weapons," Ms Fippinger wrote, according to the Sarasota
Herald Tribune.
The Treasury Dept said politics was not a factor in the enforcement of
the sanctions laws and protesters do not get to choose which laws to
abide by and which to ignore.
"Unlike in Iraq, under Saddam Hussein, where dissent was met with
imprisonment or worse, the freedom to protest and disagree with the
govt is the cornerstone of American democracy."
"However the right to free speech is not a right to violate US or
internat'l sanctions," Mr Griffin said.
The Treasury Dept said the Americans facing fines can negotiate a
settlement or appeal in the fed court.
If they refuse to pay they could face as much as 12 y in prison but a
Treasury official said it was unlikely anyone would be sent to jail.

BA given clearance to restart flights to Iraq
London. British Airways was yesterday given permission to resume
flights to Iraq after a gap of more than 13 y.
BA got the go-ahead from the US-led Admin in Iraq -- the Coalition
Provisional Authority (CPA) -- to start services to Basra.
The airline plans to fly twice a week, via Kuwait, using a Boeing 777
aircraft. A decision will be taken, with the CPA, to set a date for
the resumption of flights.
BA's safety and security director, Geoff Want, said: "The security of
our customers, staff and operation is absolutely paramount and we will
fly to Iraq only once we are confident that it is safe for us to do so."
Alan Burnett, BA's regional director for the Middle East and Africa,
said: "We are delighted that we have been given the go ahead to start
services to Iraq. Our priority is to establish flights to Basra as
soon as we can but we continue to look at the possibility of starting
flights to Baghdad in the future once the airport is open.
"Air services connecting Iraq with Europe will provide a vital link
during the rebuilding of Iraq and commercial flights will be the
cornerstone of the economic development of the country."
BA's predecessor, operating as Imperial Airways, began flights to
Basra in 1927 and to Baghdad in 1929.
Flights were suspended in March 1987 during the Iran-Iraq war.
Flights resumed again in Nov 1988 and were finally suspended in Feb
1990 in the lead-up to the 1st Gulf war.
Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the current president of the US-picked governing
council, said the resumption of commercial flights would be "a big
step forward to opening Iraq to the world".
Other carriers who have been given permission to fly include Gulf Air,
Royal Jordanian, Emirates, Qatar Airways, the Polish flag carrier LOT
and Scandinavian airline SAS.
SAS said it hoped to resume at least 2 flights a wk to Basra, Iraq's
second-largest city.
The airline's vice-president, Lennart Svantemark, said the start of
the service depended on "the security situation".

Nth Korea sticks to demand for non-aggression pact
Pyongyang. N Korea says it is sticking to its demands for a
non-aggression pact with the US to resolve the stand-off over
Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions. The N's foreign ministry rep made
the assertion in an interview to the state-run Korean Central News
Agency (KCNA). "We want ... the signing of a non-aggression pact
which should legally guarantee no invasions of each other," he said in
the KCNA interview in Korean, monitored by the Yonhap news agency.

Al Qaeda suspects arrested by Saudis
Riyadh (AFP). Security forces have arrested 7 Saudi extremists
suspected of links to the Al Qaeda network after a shootout in Riyadh
in which 3 security men were killed, a top Interior Ministry official
says. Security forces raided a villa under construction in the Al
Suwaidi residential district in the S of the Saudi Arabian
capital. They detained the 7 gunmen holed up there, the official said
on condition of anonymity. The 7 are suspected of being linked to
Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist organisation. One of them was
seriously wounded in a shootout with the security forces, the official
said. Three members of the special security forces were killed when
they came under fire from the gunmen after besieging the villa, the
official told AFP. A number of people were also rounded up nr the
scene of the raid for questioning, he said.

FBI foils missile plot
Washington (Reuters). US authorities say they have arrested 3 people
in a sting operation that foiled a plot to smuggle a missile into the
US that could be used to shoot down a commercial airliner.
One of those arrested was a Brit arms dealer detained in the US
after trying to sell a surface-to-air missile to an undercover
FBI agent.
The BBC reports a multi-nat'l sting operation involving agents in the
US, Russia and Brit has resulted in the arrest of a Brit arms dealer
at Newark in NJ.
US officials say the man successfully imported a Russian Igla missile
into the US and believed he was selling it to a Muslim extremist. But
his buyer turned out to be an undercover FBI agent.
The arms dealer's voice is allegedly heard on tape saying he wanted
the missile to be used to shoot down a large passenger plane.
The FBI has denied that the plane in question was Air Force One, the
US Pres's official aircraft.
The FBI said it knew the missile, disguised as medical equipment, was
shipped from Russia to Baltimore, Maryland.
The arms dealer, 1st spotted 5 m ago in St Petersburg and Moscow, flew
to NY with his wife on Sun on a Brit Airways flight from London.
He was followed by an FBI agent and arrested in NJ after he collected
a package marked "medical supplies," the BBC said.
The man is an established arms dealer, thought to be a middle-aged man
of Indian origin who lives in London.
In Nov 2002, 2 shoulder-launched missiles were fired at an Israeli
passenger plane taking off from Mombasa, Kenya, but did not hit the
aircraft.
Def expert John Pike called the Igla a "Russian version of the
Stinger", referring to the small US shoulder-launched missile designed
for attacking aircraft at low altitude -- possibly during take-off or landing.
Mr Pike said the Igla was an improved version of earlier Russian-made
surface-to-air missiles and would have a better chance of bringing
down a passenger jet than its predecessors.
"It has a longer range and a more sophisticated heat-seeking sensor on
it," said Mr Pike, the director of GlobalSecurity.org, a non-profit
defence policy group based in Washington.
NY Sen Charles Schumer says the incident illustrates the need for the
US Homeland Security Dept to speed up its 2-y plan to develop a
missile defence prototype for commercial airplanes.
"The threat facing commercial airliners from shoulder-fired missiles
here in the US is no longer theoretical," Sen Schumer said in a statement.
"The Whitehouse ought to be providing homeland security with the money
it needs to begin protecting civilian aircraft with jamming devices
immediately, before it's too late."

ASIO warns of "catastrophic" attack
Canberra. The chief of AUS's domestic spy agency has predicted there
will be a terrorist attack using chem, bio or nuclear weapons.
The director-general of ASIO, Dennis Richardson, voiced his concerns
in a speech delivered last week, which has now been released to the
media. Mr Richardson delivered the speech on the day Jakarta's
Marriott Hotel was bombed.
He says the bombing is a reminder that there cannot be a declaration
of victory in the war against terrorism any time soon.
He says in the US, there is genuine concern that a catastrophic attack
using WMD is only a matter of time, an assessment he says he shares.
Mr Richardson noted AUS remains a target, partly because of its close
alliance with the US.
[PM Howard was seen moving toward a phone at this point].
He stresses the risk is more to AUS interests overseas than at home.
He says in SE Asia, some Muslim schools continue to teach a
militant interpretation of the Koran and the Philippines Govt is
unable to tackle extremist groups which now pose a threat to the region.
He also raises concerns about a group called the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front, which he says has been operating training camps for
extremists in the S Philippines.
Mr Richardson says while the group's activities have been considered
an internal issue for the Philippines, it has not been contained and
is now a threat to the region.

Aussies urged to avoid internat'l hotels in Jakarta
Canberra. The Dept of Foreign Affairs has warned Aussies in Jakarta
to avoid internat'l hotels. The warning comes after last wk's bombing
of the Marriott Hotel in central Jakarta. The dept says it continues
to receive reports that further attacks are being planned against
so-called soft targets, including internat'l hotels. However, the
overall level of alert has not changed and Aussies are still advised
to defer all non-essential travel to Indonesia.

Official denies US-alliance makes Aust a terror target
Canberra. A senior US official has rejected claims by the head of
AUS's domestic spy agency that AUS is a terrorist target because of
its close alliance with the US. The US Deputy Sec of State,
Richard Armitage, has told a gathering in SYD that AUS must play a
leading role ridding the region of terrorist groups. The head of
ASIO, Dennis Richardson, recently told a conference there is genuine
concern that terrorists will launch a catastrophic attack and that
AUS's close links with the US places it at risk. Mr Armitage says
that is not the case. "I think you're a target because you're a free
and open democratic society who feels that everyone should have a fair
go, including women," Mr Armitage said. "You don't ... espouse any
particular religion. "I think every facet of AUS life is a threat to
what Al Qaeda stands for."

Drug dealing claims on Nauru prompt concern
Canberra. The Fed Opp'n is concerned AUS security guards at an
immigration detention centre on Nauru in the Pacific have been accused
of drug dealing.
The company that runs the centre, the Internat'l Organisation for
Migration, says 3 staff members were charged with drug offences by
Nauru police last wk.
The organisation would not reveal the details of the charges. Labor's
immigration rep Nicola Roxon says the matter highlights the failure of
the Fed Govt's Pacific Solution immigration policy.
"This is a real problem when you put people on a Pacific Island miles
away from anywhere, that it's very difficult for the AUS public to be
confident that the conditions people are being held in are
appropriate," she said.
Dennis Nile from the Internat'l Organisation for Migration says claims
of a wider drug dealing network within the Nauru facility have not
been substantiated.
"I am aware of that, in fact I had discussions with the director of
police and the then minister of justice," he said.
"However, to my knowledge, those allegations have not been substantiated."

Liberian rebels agree to withdraw
Monrovia. Liberian rebels have pledged to pull out of the capital of
the war-ruined W African country a day after ex-president Charles
Taylor's flight into exile.
The announcement came after rebel leaders met the cmdr of a US task
force anchored offshore.
The LURD rebels said that by Thu, they would let W African
peacekeepers into Monrovia's vital port.
That will allow food distribution to to 100s of 1000s of famished refugees.
From there, the rebels say they will withdraw to the Po River bridge,
about 12 km from the outskirts of the city.
At least 2,000 people have been killed in the most recent fighting of
nearly 14 y of non-stop strife.
"We're packing to leave, we want to give the peacekeepers a chance,"
rebel leader Damate Conneh said from Ghana, where peace talks have
ground on for weeks.
"We are going to Po River bridge."
The rebel pullback should also allow the peacekeeping unit known as
Ecomil to create a buffer zone between the rebel fighters and Govt troops.
The fighters are still eyeball-to-eyeball on the front line as
desperate people around them clamour for food.
There is more food on the rebel side -- stocks in the port were looted
but few have the money to buy it.
"Ecomil have to come urgently. Then we will feel safe," said Gerald
Adolphus Payne-Davis, caught behind the rebel line.
"Better late than never Ecomil", read graffiti scrawled nr the
devastated New Bridge, scene of some of the heaviest fighting.
Hopes of peace after the departure of Mr Taylor, accused of fanning y
of conflict in the region, have been clouded by more fighting between
Govt soldiers and another faction called Model.
Mr Conneh said LURD wanted loyalist troops to withdraw from central
Monrovia but did not set it as a pre-condition for the pullback of his
own forces.
New Pres Moses Blah, Mr Taylor's former deputy, has urged US Pres
George W Bush to intervene and offered the rebels the post of VP as an
olive branch.
Washington has not committed itself to using any of the 2,300 marines
aboard its warships off Monrovia.
But their cmdr, Army Maj-Gen Thomas Turner, flew in by helicopter for
the meeting with the rebels.
The US is wary of deep involvement given commitments in Afghanistan
and Iraq.
Memories also live on of the bloody debacle in Somalia a decade ago --
the last major US military involvement in Africa.
Fighting that erupted on Mon as Mr Taylor was stepping down showed it
was still premature to declare the war over.
Liberia's Govt and Model rebels accused each other of starting the
latest bloodshed as Mr Taylor resigned.
Military sources said the fighting had died down after rebels captured
an important bridge.
"Taylor has left, that's what they wanted. Their agenda just seems to
be total annihilation of the Liberian people," Def Min Daniel Chea said.
"If their whole desire is to kill Liberians, we can just line some up."
A rep for Model accused the loyalists of attacking and said: "I do not
agree that the war is over.
"The Govt elements who have been causing trouble are still in place."
In another sign of possible squabbles to come, LURD rebels also said
for the 1st time that they wanted to head a new interim govt instead
of simply ousting Mr Taylor.
The message was a perfect echo of Mr Taylor's own when he invaded
Liberia in 1989, saying he only wanted to oust then dictator Samuel Doe.
7 y of war followed despite Mr Doe's murder and Mr Taylor was
eventually elected in 1997.
He arrived in the SE Nigerian town of Calabar yesterday to begin his
exile at a set of elegant villas prepared for him and dozens of family
members and associates.
Hemmed in by rebels and UN sanctions and wanted by a UN-backed war
crimes court in neighbouring Sierra Leone, Mr Taylor had little option
but to leave or fight to the death.
The rebels, who mistrust Mr Blah as an old Taylor ally, have said the
Oct date set by W African leaders for the new Pres to hand over to
an interim leader is too long.

US and Brit nr Libya Lockerbie deal
London. Libya, the US and Brit have reportedly signed off on a deal
for resolving the diplomatic dispute over responsibility for the 1988
bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. Diplomats say the deal could lead to a
Sec Council vote ending UN sanctions on Libya by early next wk. The
sanctions were imposed on Libya after the mid-air bombing of the Pan
Am jumbo jet over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, which claimed 270
lives. The report of an agreement has come a day after US, Brit and
Libyan officials held a fresh round of talks in London on settlement
terms. The London meeting was the latest in a series of three-way
talks called to evaluate Libya's progress in meeting Sec Council
conditions for lifting the sanctions.

Keke surrenders to intervention force
Weathercoast (Reuters). Solomon Islands militant leader Harold Keke
has surrendered to the AUS-led intervention force. The For Min,
Alexander Downer, says Harold Keke surrendered earlier today on the
Weathercoast, after talks with the head of the intervention force,
Nick Warner. Three of his associates were also taken into custody and
40 guns were recovered. Mr Downer says Keke was arrested on an
outstanding warrant for robbery. "A full investigation of crimes,
including murder, allegedly committed by Harold Keke and his group can
now proceed," Mr Downer said. "Keke's activities ... have caused a
great deal of anxiety and fear for many Solomon Islanders over recent
years." Alexander Downer says the men are being taken by HMAS Manoora
to Honiara, and will be held on remand at a secure location. In other
developments: AUS will contribute up to $15 mn to train a regional
police force which will be based in Fiji. (Full Story)

Embassy bombing suspect narrowly evaded capture: Kenya
Nairobi. Kenyan officials say a man who narrowly evaded capture
earlier this m was a top suspect in the 1998 US embassy bombings in
east Africa in which more than 200 people were killed.
A senior anti-terrorism official, asking not to be named, identified
the fugitive as Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, from the Comoros Islands.
He has been indicted in the US for murder over his alleged role in the
twin suicide bombings which destroyed the US embassies in Dar es Salaam
and Nairobi in Aug 1998, killing 224 people, including 12 US citizens.
He carries a $US25 mn bounty on his head.
The Kenyan officials told AFP that Kenyan police almost managed to
detain him in Mombasa on Aug 1, but he escaped when an accomplice set
off a hand grenade killing himself and a police officer.
He said Mohammed and the man who was killed when he detonated the
grenade, Feisal Ali, had earlier been arrested on the basis of info
received from another detained terror suspect.
"Info we got from the suspect in custody makes us believe that the
escapee is Mohammed," the police investigator said.
He and Ali were arrested by police investigating a separate car bomb
attack in Nov 2002 on an Israeli-owned hotel N of Mombasa, in which 12
Kenyans and 3 Israelis were killed.
Kenyan authorities have stepped up sweeps on suspected Islamic
militants in recent m in a bid to improve security in the country.
Moments after the Mombasa hotel was attacked last y, an Israeli
passenger plane in Kenya narrowly missed being hit by 2 missiles.
Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network has claimed responsibility for both
the embassy and Mombasa hotel attacks.

Families to rally over WTC plans
NY (AP). People who lost relatives in the 2001 US World Trade Centre
attack are planning a rally on Sep 10 to protest plans for rebuilding
at the base of where the towers stood.
The Coalition of 9/11 Families is staging the demo, one day before the
2nd anniversary of the terrorist attack, to publicise their campaign
to preserve the towers' footprints. They want nothing built on the
bedrock below unless it relates to the memorial.
"We just want to preserve that one special area," said coalition
member Lee Ielpi, whose son Jonathan was killed.
Plans for the site do preserve the approximate boundaries of the
towers -- to an extent.
A memorial will occupy that space about 3 stories above bedrock.
But the plans could allow infrastructure and other development to
encroach on the footprints down to the bedrock.
The distinction is important to some families, who consider the
bedrock a sacred cemetery for the nearly 2,800 people who died.
Many of the nearly 20,000 pieces of human remains recovered from the
site were found there, where much of the buildings compacted during
their collapse.
"It's the only thing left that we actually can touch and connect
that's tangible, and I think that needs to be protected," said Beverly
Eckert, whose husband, Sean Rooney, has not been found.
The Lower Manhattan Development Corp, the agency charged with
overseeing the rebuilding, said officials are working to preserve as
much space as possible in the area.
On Sep 11, the Coalition plans to show silent solidarity at the
ceremony marking the 2nd anniversary of the attacks.
Coalition leaders are asking supporters to wear yellow and stand
together.

War vet struggles after hip operation
Burnie. AUS's oldest surviving World War I veteran is struggling to
recover from surgery. Frank McDonald, 107, from Ulverstone in
Tasmania's NW, had a hip replacement operation at the NW
Regional Hospital in Burnie last week after a fall at the Eliza Purton
Nursing Home. The RSL's state president Ian Kennet is travelling to
Burnie today to visit him. Doctors have told Mr McDonald's family he
is unlikely to be able to leave the hospital. Mr McDonald celebrated
his 107th birthday in Jun.

A-level pass rates reach record high
London (The Guardian). The pass rate at A-level has risen for the
22nd consecutive y to over 95%, results out tomorrow will show,
although the rate of improvement has slowed.
Mins and the exam boards are braced for the perennial claims of grade
inflation because of a rise of about 1 point in the proportion
of A-E grades. The proportion of A grades has also risen slightly.
But the increase -- based on provisional figures which are likely to
rise even further once all the results have been counted -- is smaller
than the rise in 2002, the 1st full y of the new A-level syllabus. A-E
grades shot up by 4.5 points then, the fastest increase ever.
Last Aug the provisional pass rate was 94.3% for grades A-E and 20.7%
for grade A. The final, completed rates were 95.4% and 21.5%
respectively. Pass rates have gone up every y since the "cap" was
lifted in 1982.
The belief in Whitehall at the exams regulator, the qualifications and
curriculum authority (QCA), and among the examination boards that the
marking process has worked much more smoothly this summer cannot
disguise their anxiety about the results. About 600,000 A-level
results and 1 mn AS-level results will be issued tomorrow.
Last y the publication of the results passed off reasonably
comfortably but controversy followed a few weeks later when head
teachers and opp'n parties accused the govt and the boards of
deliberately trying to massage the pass rate downwards.
In the new 2-part A-level, students tend to take 4 subjects at
AS-level and drop one of them, taking 3 on to full A-level. They
usually drop their weakest or least favourite subject. This trend took
ministers and some exam board officials by surprise last y.
A smaller rate of improvement certainly suits the govt, though it
insists it has exerted no pressure on the boards or the QCA.
In Scotland the results are mixed. Figures released yesterday by the
Scottish qualifications authority showed the pass rate for Advanced
Highers rose from 71.7% to 72.6%. Standard grade passes rose from
96.7% to 96.8%. But the pass rate for Highers has fallen for the 2nd y
in a row. A total of 69.6% of candidates passed, a drop of 0.1 points
on 2002 and 2.3 points on 2001.
The fall was even bigger for Higher English, down to 59.2% from 64.7%
last y. Peter Peacock, the Scottish education minister, said changes
to the Higher English exam, with more emphasis on external rather than
internal assessment, were partly to blame.
He insisted the exam had retained its integrity and pointed to
problems experienced last y in the system S of the border.
"Last y in England, when the exam results went up to about a 94% pass
rate, nobody had confidence in the results that were then coming
through," he said. "Today across Scotland as a whole we have got that
degree of consistency in the system, and people can have confidence in
the standard."
But nat'lists urged the minister to reassure universities and
employers that standards were being maintained for the Higher English exam.

14 women detained after brothel raids
Melbourne. 14 women have been detained by the Immigration Dept after
raids on 4 MEL brothels. The 13 Thai nat'ls and one Indonesian are
now being held at the Maribyrnong Immigration Detention Centre. All
will be questioned in relation to trafficking and sexual servitude,
with possible cases to be forwarded to Fed Police. The dept says 3 of
the women are unlawful non-citizens and 11 have had their visas cancelled.

Downer plays down Pacific Community
Canberra (AAP). For Min Alexander Downer played down chances of small
Pacific nations forming a Pacific Community similar to the EU.
An AUS parliamentary committee has recommended the move that would see
the AUS dollar as the common currency, replacing the local currencies
of 15 other Pacific nations.
Speaking on the eve of the Pacific Islands Forum being held in
Auckland this wk, Mr Downer said the idea would conflict with concerns
about sovereignty.
"It makes a lot of sense up to a point, but you shouldn't
underestimate the sense in the region of nat'l identity that each
country has," he told the ABC.
Mr Downer said it would be more practical for Pacific countries to
share their resources.
"Should the region be pooling its airline resources, should the
airline be pooling its educational resources...should the region be
pooling its police training resources, we're looking at doing that, so
it makes a lot of sense up to a point."
Mr Downer said the Senate committee idea of a Pacific Community was
setting the bar too high.
"I think that in the end there are countries in the region that no
matter how small they might be want to hang onto their nat'l
sovereignty and their nat'l identity," Mr Downer said.

Foo visa request denied
Canberra. A Singaporean businessman who overstayed his visa by 9 y
has had his request for a bridging visa refused by the Migration
Review Tribunal. The 62-yo Jim Foo appeared before the tribunal
yesterday to ask to be released from immigration detention for 3 weeks
to deal with his affairs before heading back to Singapore. It is not
known if and when Mr Foo will leave AUS as he has lodged an injunction
against his deportation with the Fed Court. The court is due to
consider that injunction today.

Senate to investigate Bolkus decision
Canberra. A Senate committee will look at a decision by former
Immigration Min Nick Bolkus to grant a visa to a man convicted of
manslaughter in Canada. Kong-Shan or "John" Ng was jailed in 1992,
after he had initially fled to Taiwan, shortly after the killing 5 y
earlier. Released on parole, Mr Ng entered AUS in 1996 and is now
part of a consortium bidding to construct a waste dump at Wingfield in
Adel. The Labor-instigated Senate committee into Immigration Min
Philip Ruddock's use of discretionary powers will now also investigate
Sen Bolkus's decision. Mr Ruddock has since granted Mr Ng a permanent
visa, because the temporary visa meant the conviction could not be
taken into account. "That's the question you've got to ask yourself,
do I go and reopen every decision that was taken by previous govts for
people that are here in AUS who've committed no offence and seek to
reopen them?" he said.

Not enough evidence to support Woomera fraud claims: police
Canberra. An AUS Fed Police inquiry into the Woomera Detention Centre
has found there is insufficient evidence to support allegations of
fraud against the centre's operators, Australasian Correctional
Management (ACM). The claims, raised on ABC TV's Four Corners program
earlier this y, suggested ACM defrauded the Commonwealth by falsifying
staff numbers for extra money. Sen Bob Brown, who referred the
allegations to the AFP, says he will pursue the matter and has
repeated calls for an independent judicial inquiry.

Opp'n delays ethanol tax approval
Canberra. The Fed Opp'n has delayed approving the collection of taxes
from AUS ethanol producers until the Govt outlines its policy on the industry.
Labor has accused the Govt of showing favouritism to AUS's main
ethanol producer Manildra.
It claims PM John Howard misled Parliament when he failed to confirm a
meeting with the company's chief last Aug.
The Senate is yet to approve the collection of an ethanol excise,
which is tied to $mns worth of production subsidies for the AUS industry.
Labor's primary industries rep, Kerry O'Brien, says the package
amounts to more than $20 mn worth of assistance for Manildra alone in
the past 9 m.
"It is an important piece of legislation, it sets in place an excise
regime for ethanol with subsidies," she said.
"To offset it we need to know exactly what the Govt was doing and
saying in the lead-up to its formulation."
Meanwhile, Mr Howard has described inquiries by the AUS embassy in Brazil
into plans to import a shipload of ethanol into AUS last y as routine.
The head of fuel importer Trafigura, Barrie Jacobsen, says he found it
strange that AUS diplomats in Brazil made a series of inquiries into
the company's plans to import the ethanol.
Mr Jacobsen says after the ship was loaded, the Govt made changes to
excise which made the shipment unprofitable.
He says his company moved to import the ethanol to offset a shortage
in AUS and informed the Govt in detail about the plan.
Mr Jacobsen says the Govt increased the cost of the excise by $5 mn
after the ship had finished loading.
"They waited until the ship was completed loading, which was quite
punitive in our view, because then we were stuck with the shipment
... the cost of the excise had just been increased by $5 million," he said.
"So we obviously couldn't bring that ship to AUS so we had to sell it
at a loss."
But Mr Howard has told Sky TV the Govt had been thinking of changing
its policy on ethanol and wanted to know what was happening.
"I'm not the least bit embarrassed about the fact that the embassy
made enquiries -- that's their job," he said.
"How can we make a decision on policy that affected imports when we
didn't know what the imports were?"
[But there was an embarrassing exchange during Question Time today.
Tony Abbott, govt head-kicker, was roused to fend of opp'n accusations
the PM was lying about meetings with the Manildra boss. Mr Abbott
tried a basic diversion, saying around 50 people laid off by Manildra
had lost their jobs due to the Opp'n "anti-Manildra campaign". But
the ploy was apparently anticipated. Roxon produced the letter sent to
the sacked employees, and it specifically said it was govt policy
limiting ethanol content of petrol mixes that was the reason for their
job losses. Mr Howard had periodically boasted about the wisdom of the
leg'n -- as recently as yesterday. Done like a dinner!]

Govt "spied" on ethanol rival: SMH
Canberra. AUS govt officials have been accused of acting as spies by
the company that lost mns as a result of PM John Howard's
protection of ethanol producer Manildra, the SYD Morning Herald
reports. Trafigura Fuels chief Barrie Jacobson told the SMH that AUS
embassy staff had phoned his company's Brazilian office at least 5
times last y seeking details of its plans to import ethanol. In one
conversation, the embassy caller said she was "operating under the
instruction of the prime minister's dept", Mr Jacobson said. He said
his staff thought it was "a bit weird", so made detailed notes about
the phone calls in Aug and Sep last y. It seemed that Manildra, a
direct rival and big Liberal party donor, had been aware of every move
Trafigura made in its attempts to obtain ethanol supplies in Brazil,
he told the paper.

Mazda to develop rotary hydrogen car
Tokyo (AFP). Mazda aims to develop a rotary-engine car powered by
hydrogen, which would be far less costly than fuel-cell cars and more
environment-friendly than gasoline vehicles.
Japan's fifth-ranked automaker will unveil a prototype car at the
Tokyo Motor Show in Oct, aiming to put it on the market in some 5 y,
the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reports.
The car, with the roughly 150-horsepower engine and based on the RX-8
sports car, would be able to run about 200km on a single tank of fuel,
the economic daily said.
Rotary engines are less fuel-efficient than internal combustion
engines when running on gasoline, but are expected to be more
efficient than standard engines when powered by hydrogen, it said. It
would cost Y3-4 mn to build a car mounted with the hydrogen-powered
rotary engine, it said.
The sum is significantly lower than Y200-300 mn needed to produce a
newly developed fuel-cell car, as the hydrogen rotary-engine car is
able to utilise parts of gasoline cars, it said.
Mazda officials were not immediately available for comment.

News Limited wins High Court appeal
Adelaide. News Limited has won a High Court appeal against a ruling it
had breached the Trade Practices Act when it excluded the S SYD rugby
league football club from the Super League competition.
The ruling, handed down in Adel, comes at the end of the long-running
Super League saga.
In 1997, News Limited and the AUS Rugby League (ARL) agreed to merge
the 10 Super League clubs and the 12 ARL clubs to make a new
competition with progressively fewer clubs.
By 2000, the S SYD Rabbitohs had been excluded from the competition,
leading to a battle in the courts.
The team was returned to the competition after a Fed Court win.
The ruling against News Limited that it had breached the Trade
Practices Act by restricting services to a class of persons has now
been overturned by today's High Court judgement.
S SYD chairman Nick Pappas says the decision brings to an end all
the litigation the club has been involved in.
"The High Court has adopted a fairly conservative view of the Trade
Practices Act and we're disappointed by that," he said.
"But at the end of the day it has no impact on S SYD at all.
"I'm pleased to see that the NRL, that has just released its press
release, looks forward to many y of participation in the competition
by S SYD."

Canada wildfire forces 1,000 to flee a 2nd time
Calgary (Reuters). More than 1,000 people in W Canada were forced to
evacuate their homes for a 2nd time on Tue, just days after returning to
them, as one of the biggest of the wildfires in the region quickly expanded.
Officials said that the 205-square-km Lost Creek fire flared up again
on Mon and advanced to within 2.5 km of the town of Blairmore,
Alberta, which is home to about 2,000 people.
This prompted an evacuation order for 1,100 people in Blairmore to be
reissued, said John Irwin, mayor of Crowsnest Municipality, in SW Alberta.
Strong winds were whipping the blaze, which has been devastating the
heavily treed Crowsnest Pass region in the Rocky Mountains for more
than 2 weeks.
More than 800 firefighters are trying to hold back the flames and have
so far been successful in preventing any loss of life or damage to
buildings.
About 1,200 Blairmore residents returned to their homes on Fri, when
the threat from the massive blaze appeared to have eased.
"We again had to evacuate that area. Happily, before it got all the
way, the wind shifted and died down and water-bombers came in and it
was held at that point," Irwin said.
When they got home last wk, the residents were still on alert to leave
at an hr's notice. The blaze has grown by nearly 15% since Fri.
"Everybody is pretty wary and the evacuation went quite smoothly," he said.
Much of W Canada has sweltered through a dry summer, creating what
some officials are calling the worst forest fire conditions in half a century.
W of Alberta, 860 fires were burning in Brit Columbia on Tue. Most are
less than a hectare in size, but dry conditions in the SE region of
the province threaten to allow several blazes to expand, officials said.
Brit Columbia is spending nearly $C4 mn a day to fight the fires.
Fires have burned over 91,000 ha in Brit Columbia this y, but
officials say it is too early to estimate the commercial damage in
lost timber because some trees in the burned-out areas may still be
salvageable.
More than 8,500 people were evacuated in Brit Columbia at the height
of the fires last wk, but nearly all have been allowed home.

Dems edge GOP in Cal recall candidates
Sacramento (AP). More Democrats than Republicans have filed candidacy
papers for the Oct. 7 recall election, even though the state
Democratic Party had discouraged challenges to Gov Gray Davis, a tally
released Tue shows.
95 of the 247 are listed as Democrats, the secretary of state's office
said. 77 are listed as Republicans, 58 as independents, 6
Green Party members, 4 Libertarians, 3 American Independents, 2
Natural Law Party members and 2 Peace and Freedom candidates.
Of the candidates, 115 have been completed for certification and the
rest were being reviewed, according to the secretary of state's Web
site. The 115 include 45 Democrats and 33 Republicans.
The most prominent Democrat is Lt Gov Cruz Bustamante, who is being
promoted by party leaders as the most desirable Democrat if Davis is
recalled.
The leaders had originally urged all prominent Democrats to sit the
Oct 7 election out, in order to boost Davis' survival chances. Voters
will be asked to vote "yes" or "no" on recalling the governor, and
then to choose who should replace him if the recall measure passes.
Also Tue, former presidential candidate Ralph Nader said he would
endorse fellow Green Party member Peter Camejo for governor -- and in
a bizarre turn, took a pie in the face. The prankster fled through a
side door, leaving Nader smeared with cream pie as TV cameras
rolled. Camejo captured 5.3% of the vote for a third-place finish in
last fall's race for governor.
Staging the election is posing major challenges for county elections
officials, who fear problems with processing such a large ballot,
including doing more work by hand.
Sec of State Kevin Shelley urged precision over speed when polls
close on Oct 7.
"I urge them to do it accurately," he said. Officials have said it
could take several days to finalise results.
On Mon, state election officials randomly drew letters to determine
the order of the recall ballot.
The 1st letter pulled out of the Keno-style tumbler: R. Under the
lottery-style system, the reordered 26-letter alphabet -- beginning R,
W, Q, O, J, M, V, A and eventually ending with L -- is applied
throughout candidates' names.
That means that David Laughing Horse Robinson, chairman of the
Kawaiisu Indian tribe, will be 1st on the ballot in California 1st
Assembly District, which stretches from the northernmost border to
Sonoma County.
To avoid giving any one candidate a lasting edge, the names are
rotated in the state's 79 other Assembly districts. In Assembly
District 2, Robinson's name will drop from 1st to the bottom of the
list. Every other candidate will shift up one position, giving
smokers' rights advocate Ned Roscoe the top spot.
With only 80 Assembly districts, candidates who fall below 80th in the
initial alphabetical selection process will not be No 1 in any district.
Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt and former Major League
Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth, whose initials pulled 25th and
21st respectively, could fall into that category.
The precise order and its potential ramifications won't be known until
late Wed, however, when Shelley certifies how many candidates actually
qualified for the ballot.
The state has used the alphabet lottery to list candidates since 1975
to help erase the estimated 5% advantage a candidate gets from being
at the top of the ballot, Shelley said. The sheer number of candidates
vying to replace Davis turned the routine process into a grab bag.
The letters H, B and S were drawn 8th, 9th and 10th, meaning that
some high-profile candidates -- Bustamante, actor Arnold
Schwarzenegger, 2002 GOP candidate Bill Simon and commentator Arianna
Huffington -- will be relatively nr each other on most ballots.
A greatly expanded ballot means higher costs for the special election,
now estimated at up to $66 mn. Contra Costa County elections
officials said the long candidate list could raise ballot costs by
$750,000 over the county's earlier estimate of $1.6 mn.
Shelley promised Mon he will ask for help.
"To assist the counties, I intend to urge the Legislature to
underwrite the added costs of this election," he said.
The California State Association of Counties, noting the state has typically
paid for special elections, also intends to seek legislative relief.
Shelley said the state's planned share of the costs ballooned from $7
mn to $11 mn because a short time frame will require first class
stamps to mail 11 mn sample ballots. Normally, the pamphlets are
mailed at a lower postage rate that takes more time for them to be delivered.
With each candidate allowed to make a 250-word statement, the pamphlet
could be 50 pages long.
"It's like we're spending next m's rent, or grocery bill," Michael
Petrucello, assistant registrar for Los Angeles County, told the Los
Angeles Times. Election costs in that county are expected to reach
$13.2 mn.

Experts: simple fixes could bring water to mns
Stockholm (Reuters). Simple innovations such as recycling household
water and fixing leaky pipes would bring safe drinking water to 100s
of mns of people lacking it today, politicians and scientists
said Tue.
More than 1.2 bn people lack access to clean water, according to the
UN, and 12 mn die of diseases caused by poor water quality each y,
said speakers at World Water Week, an annual gathering of some 1,200
water experts from 100 countries.
A UN action plan aims to halve the number of people lacking access to
clean drinking water and tolerable sanitary conditions by 2015, but
little progress has been made so far.
"There are people in the semi-arid and arid areas who still have to walk
about 10 hours looking for water. That situation is totally unacceptable,"
Martha Karua, Kenya's minister of water resources, told Reuters.
"Kenya is a water-scarce country, but I believe that with efficient
management of our water resources we can use the available water
resources for the benefit of everybody and to cover all our needs,"
Karua said in an interview.
She said rebuilding Nairobi's crumbling water infrastructure with
leaking pipes would cost over $80 bn, but much also needed to be done
to eradicate corruption and misuse.
"In Nairobi around 40% of the water is unaccounted for," Karua said.
"It is estimated that there are around 4,000 water vendors licensed by
the Nairobi City Council. What is amazing is that very few of these
have any known water source which means basically that we are
licensing people to vandalise the system."
Providing safe drinking water and sanitation would also save money
from health budgets by freeing hospital beds from those suffering from
water-borne diseases and prevent epidemics.
"SARS developed in an area where there was virtually no sanitation
available and no safe drinking water, and it affected both the people
there but also people living in Canada and the world economy," said
Peter Wilderer, professor at the Technical University of Munich.
Wilderer has studied recycling household water and said the technical
innovations to cut water use dramatically are already there.
"This is not an academic exercise. Many large industrial firms have
realized this is the market of the future," he said.

Russian nuclear watchdog defends past
Moscow (AP). The new chief of Russia's nuclear watchdog dismissed
fears that his background as an industry insider threatened the agency's
independence and stressed Fri that safety is one of his top concerns.
In his 1st interview since taking the post, Andrei Malyshev extolled
the revival of Russia's nuclear industries, hobbled after the collapse
of the Soviet Union and the drop of funding that accompanied it. He
acknowledged that the advanced age of some nuclear facilities was a concern.
Nuclear safety advocates were caught by surprise when the Nuclear
Safety Authority's former chief, Yuri Vishnevsky, was sent into
retirement in Jun and replaced with Malyshev, then the deputy nuclear
minister for power plant construction. Vishnevsky had reached the
mandatory retirement age of 60, but most observers expected the govt
to extend his term.
Critics of the shake-up, including the liberal Yabloko party, believe
Vishnevsky was dismissed because he was too critical of the Nuclear
Power Ministry. They said Malyshev's appointment is an effort to
diminish the independence of the watchdog, which issues licenses for
civilian nuclear facilities and has the power to fine violators.
Malyshev denied the charge.
"My position when I worked within the Nuclear Power Ministry was that
the fed agency that regulates nuclear and radiation safety should be
independent. That's the way it is today," he told AP.
Malyshev said his experience in construction and design gave him the
expertise for the job.
"The word 'safety' has permeated me," he said with a laugh.
During nearly 12 y at the safety authority, Vishnevsky was cautiously
critical of the Nuclear Energy Ministry. He spoke out against a 2001
law allowing the import of spent nuclear fuel for reprocessing,
arguing that Russia shouldn't take on such a risky endeavour.
That issue will be a test of Malyshev's commitment to safety, said
Alexander Nikitin, a St. Petersburg-based expert with the Norwegian
environmental group Bellona. No spent fuel has been imported yet under
the new law, and it will be up to the safety authority to license such
projects.
Malyshev said he would judge each import project individually.
"The environmentalists are always against. Against what? They say it
will just be bad in general. Well, it can't just be bad in general,"
Malyshev said. "You need to look at the law and answer the question:
Is this particular project safe according to these criteria?"
Malyshev said there were no major safety gaps in Russia's nuclear
empire -- the same system that spawned the world's worst nuclear
disaster in 1986 at Chernobyl in then-Soviet Ukraine. However, he said
the country still had to catch up on safety after falling behind
during the chaotic 1990s. The advanced age of many facilities is also
a concern, he said.
In a long aside to his answers to safety questions, Malyshev praised
what he called Russia's impressive "technical potential" in the
nuclear sphere.
"Today in the world, about 32 reactors are being built. Out of that,
there are 4 being built in Russia, and another 5 we are building
abroad," he said. "Is that potential? That's potential."
Malyshev said he is paying close attention to violations by Mayak, a
facility in the Ural Mountains that specialises in reprocessing spent
nuclear fuel. The plant has been ordered to make improvements to
prevent liquid radioactive waste stored in closed reservoirs from
leaking into surrounding rivers.

Madison-based Chernobyl group gets internat'l award
Madison. The people of the former Soviet Union know their misery will
not end. They are faces a Madison woman won't forget.
Norma Berkowitz remembered them by starting a non-profit organisation
to support them in recovery from a nuclear disaster 17 y ago.
"I got mad, and sometimes anger is a very motivating force," she said.
A baby suffering from cancer is just one of the horrors Berkowitz has
seen. All the baby knows is pain -- not that studies disagree about
whether Chernobyl is to blame, Morrissey reported.
"There's been reproductive damage to both the male and female reproductive
systems," Berkowitz said. "You see more babies damaged in utero."
Pictures Berkowitz has taken paint 1,000 words about the suffering.
Yet she was speechless on her last trip -- a visit to the contaminated
nuclear power plant.
"Now that sounds crazy right? Who would do that?" she said. One
picture particularly captures her fear. Before anyone leaves, they
must put their hands and feet on a device that measures radiation.
"We had to put our hands on it, and as we did that you would get a
red, yellow or green light," Berkowitz said. "You could not get out
because this bar was there, and the only thing that would open that
bar was a green light."
The fear of knowing Chernobyl victims live on contaminated land and
eat contaminated food every day is what keeps Berkowitz looking for
more ways to help.
"One of the things that keeps me going is that I'm continually
learning," Berkowitz said. "If you're open to learning, life is
great. Once you shut off the learning, you kind of dry up and go away."
Going away is not an option. Berkowitz is planning more humanitarian
missions designed to make people smile through their pain.

Townsville aims to be ocean assessment leader
Townsville. A Townsville consortium of marine organisations is hoping
to take the lead in a global assessment of the world's oceans. Dr
Clive Wilkinson, the coordinator of the Internat'l Marine Project
Activities Centre (IMPAC), says the UN-sponsored assessment project
would include info on topics such as marine bio-diversity, preventing
pollution at sea and traditional rights around the globe. He says the
Member for the fed seat of Herbert, Peter Lindsay, has met UN
officials in the US to push IMPAC as the best candidate to oversee the
project. "We consider that we could do this job very effectively by
combining all of the expertise that we've got in Townsville, and
bringing in the expertise we need from all over the world," he said.
"In Townsville we've got the Internat'l Ocean Institute, which has
branches all over the world, so our goal was to get groups together to
coordinate parts of this global reporting."

Atlantic record for model plane
Marrin Beach (AP). A group of model plane buffs is claiming a record
after a 5 kg craft flew more than 3000km from Canada to Ireland.
It didn't fly high, it didn't fly swiftly, but The Spirit of Butts
Farm made it all the way from Newfoundland to County Galway with a few
drops of fuel to spare.
They're hoping for distance record for a flight of 38 hr, 23 minutes
and 3,038.8km by a model plane that weighed just 4.9 kg when it took off.
For Dave Brown, who says he was at the controls for Mon's landing at
Marrin Beach in Ireland, it was a great moment.
"A great cheer went up when we saw it, and 4 minutes later I landed it
in the field. It was so thrilling," Brown said in a telephone interview.
The balsa wood and mylar plane, which weighed 5kg fully loaded, was
designed by retired engineer Maynard Hill, 77, of Silver Spring,
Maryland. He launched it from Cape Spear, Newfoundland, Sat night.
The 1.8 m long craft was packed with instruments that sent telemetry
back to mission control and helped guide the plane in the right direction.
Once in sight of the Irish coast, the plane came back under human
control to be landed.
Brown, president of American Academy of Model Aeronautics, said he
flew to Ireland to handle the landing.
"At one point our instruments began telling us the aircraft was
inexplicably dipping up and down a 100 feet [30 m] at a time, and then
we lost contact of it," he said.
"We thought it only had fuel for 37 hours and we were saying that if
it gets there it would get there by pure will, and by God it did,"
Brown added. "There was even about a shot-glass of gasoline left in
the tank."
About 50 spectators met the aircraft, while Hill kept in touch by
telephone from Newfoundland.
If certified by the Federation Aeronautique Internat'le, the flight
could set world records for distance travelled by a model airplane,
and duration of flight.
The federation's assistant secretary-general, Thierry Montigneaux,
said in a telephone interview from Lausanne, Switzerland that the
modellers had 7 days to give notice of their record claims, and 120
days to submit a dossier of evidence.
Joe Dible, president of the Model Aeronautics Council of Ireland, said
he had notified the federation via e-mail. He was at the field where
The Spirit of Butts Farm landed.
"It's very exciting for me, and it was an unbelievable achievement,"
Dible said.
Brown told The AP, "When Maynard mentioned his plan to fly the Atlantic
to me 10 y ago I have to admit that at 1st I thought he was daffy."
"But I've since learnt that he is not the kind of guy you tell he
can't do something to," Brown said.

Sydney. MARKETS. The All Ords added 16 to close at 3,150. Exceeding
market expectations, News Corp announced a $1.8 bn profit after a
record $12 bn loss last FY. In Japan, the Nikkei closed up 188 pts to
9,753. The Hang Seng added 117 to end at 10,301. Oil was up 10 c to
$US32.02/bbl. Gold was down 3/4 USD to around $US358/oz. The AUD is
lower, around 65.46 US c.

{{
4.30 pm
A US military policeman was mortally wounded Sun night by an explosive
left in a package at the Baqouba police headquarters. Two other MPs
were wounded. The death brought to 57 the number of US troops killed
in action since May 1, when Pres Bush declared major combat over.

US troops swooped into a remote Iraqi village aboard Black Hawk
helicopters Mon in search of a member of Saddam Hussein's inner
circle. They couldn't find the former regime member in Ain Lalin, but
rounded up about 70 suspects, who were being questioned.

3 soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division were wounded Mon after
guerrillas ambushed their patrol in Shumayt, just N of Tikrit, rep Lt
Col Bill MacDonald said. All 3 were in stable condition.

The BBC journalist who reported the Blair Govt had exaggerated the
threat posed by Iraq's weapons has stood by his story before a
judicial inquiry in London overnight.

The AUS PM says an Al Qaeda statement claiming responsibility for the
bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta could be authentic.

The chief of AUS's domestic spy agency has predicted there will be a
terrorist attack using chem, bio or nuclear weapons. The Dept of
Foreign Affairs has warned Aussies in Jakarta to avoid internat'l hotels.

Security forces have arrested 7 Saudi extremists suspected of links to
the Al Qaeda network after a shootout in Riyadh in which 3 security
men were killed, a top Interior Ministry official says.

6 pm
SYD. There was a massive police turnout today after a tip-off about a
group of men with a suspicious package on a train somewhere in
SYD. The tip-off apparently came in the morning, but police only made
an announcement about 1 hr before peak period, to "avoid later
criticism". People were searched at Town Hall stn. Nothing was
apparently found. Police denied there was a bomb threat or that any
demand had been received.

}}

----------------------------------------
Thu, 14 Aug 2003.

NY. MARKETS! The Dow lost 39 pts to end at 9,272 despite improved
retail data. Gold added $4.30 to around $US362.70/oz. Oil was
trading around $US30.88/bbl. In London, the FTSE lost 5 pts to close
at 4,181. The German Dax gained 17 pts to end the session at 3,399.

Lisbon. FIRES CLAIM 16TH VICTIM IN PORTUGAL! A fireman has reportedly
become the latest victims of wild fires that have ravaged large parts
of Portugal since the end of Jul, putting the death toll from the
nation's worst fires at 16. Local media has reported that the man
died in a Lisbon hospital where he had been treated since Aug 3 after
suffering serious burns while battling a blaze in C Portugal. He is
the 2nd firefighter to have died as a result of the wild fires, which
have caused nearly $A1.6 bn in damage.

Moscow. 5 RUSSIAN SOLDIERS KILLED! 5 Russian servicemen have been
killed in Chechnya when a bomb was detonated under their APC. An
officer at army HQ in Chechnya says 3 other soldiers were injured in
the explosion of a remote-controlled bomb made from an artillery
shell. The attack occurred in the Vedeno region SE of the capital,
Grozny, at the foot of the S Chechen mtns. Security teams are hunting
for the attackers.

Pristina. 2 KILLED, 6 INJURED AS UN CHIEF TOURS KOSOVO! 2 Kosovo Serb
teens have been killed and 5 others injured in a shooting attack as
new UN mission chief Harri Holkeri made his first visit to the prov.
An ethnic Albanian female was also wounded in the attack at a river nr
the village of Zahac, in the W of the prov. Andrea Angeli, rep for
the UN mission in Kosovo, says a group opened fire with machine guns on
a group of young Serbs as they were swimming in the Bistrica river.
Angeli says there are 2 dead and 6 others are injured.

Mangrove. LIBERIANS STRIP WAREHOUSES! 1000s of Liberians have today
stormed Monrovia's port and looted warehouse for food. Many reportedly
fled after rebels who control the area fired shots into the air.
[Other reports showed rebels simply confiscating empty contains they
would use, themselves, to carry away the food stores. In other
locations, rebels waved on looters who were carrying 100-lb sacks of
rice on their heads]. Mobs pillages the warehouses and left carrying
sacks of maize and other staples on their heads. The looting started
with 1000s in the morning, but by noon the number of civilian
ransackers had fallen to a few 100.

Beirut. ISRAELI JETS OVERFLY BEIRUT! Israeli fighter jets have flown
over Lebanon, breaking the sound barrier over Beirut and other cities
and drawing AAA fire from Hezbollah guerrillas. Lebanese security
officials say 13 Israeli warplanes violated Lebanon's airspace, flying
over areas in the S and Mount Lebanon and the Bekaa in the E. A rep
for the UN says UNIFIL is "seriously concerned" about the large
number of Israeli over-flights. In Jerusalem, Israeli military
sources did not confirm the over-flights.

Newark. US ANNOUNCES TERROR CHARGES AGAINST BRIT! US fed prosecutors
have announced terrorism-related charges against a Brit garment maker
and alleged arms dealer who praised OBL and tried to smuggle a missile
into the US he believed would be used to attack commercial aircraft.
2 other suspected accomplices to the plot -- which was really a sting
operation orchestrated by US, Russian and Brit authorities -- face
charges of conspiring to move money illegally. Hermat Lakhani was
arrested in Newark yesterday after trying to sell what he though was a
Russian-made shoulder-fired SAM.

Denpasar. DECISION ON SAMUDRA SET FOR SEP 10! An Indon court says it
will deliver the verdict on accused Bali bombing mastermind Imam
Samudra on Sep 10. Samudra, a 33 yo textile trader and computer
expert, is charged with planning, inciting, and carrying out the Oct
12 attacks that killed 202 people, incl 88 Aussies. Prosecutors in
the Denpasar District Court today called on a panel of 5 judges to
reject denials by Samudra that he played an intricate role in the bombings.

Canberra. NO INFO ON UP-COMING TERROR ATTACKS! After days of playing
up fears, the govt today says there is no information on local terror
attacks. For Min Alex Downer says Aussie authorities are constantly
monitoring intl info about plans for an attack, but there is
presently no information suggesting an up-coming attack in AUS. Mr
Downer told ABC radio that the $multi mn promotion campaign of
caution over terrorism best sums things up with its message that
Aussies should be alert but not alarmed. He says there's been no
upgrading of the threat assessment to AUS but he warned against
complacency like his.

Sydney. SECURITY SCARE ON SYD RAIL SYSTEM! Security across SYD's rail
system will return to normal today after a network-wide scare was
reportedly triggered yesterday by a conversation overhead in a coffee
shop. The SMH says a man altered authorities after overhearing a
conversation between 4 men "of Asian appearance" in a Town Hall Stn
coffee shop. The anonymous caller [!] rang Crime Stoppers and
reported hearing the men discuss possible hiding places for some kind
of baggage between the city and Strathfield.

Honiara. KEKE SURRENDERS! Notorious Solomons rebel leader Harold Keke
has been remanded in custody for 2 wks to await trial on charges of
attempted murder and possession of unlicensed firearms. Keke, who
surrendered to the AUS-led intervention force, is in the custody of
AUS police chief Ben McDevitt. He appeared in a makeshift courtroom
amid tight security at intervention force HQ at Red Beach, nr Honiara,
where Keke requested an adjournment while he found a foreign lawyer.

Auckland. PM EVACUATED AFTER FIRE ALARM PULLED! PM John Howard was
among Pacific leaders that were evacuated from the Sheraton in
Auckland today. Mr Howard and NZ PM Helen Clark were evacuated to a
back car park after a fire alarm went of t'out the hotel. All other
guests at the hotel were also ordered to leave their rooms as fire
engines arrived. After about 20 mins the Pacific leaders and guests
were allowed back into the hotel. Ms Clark told reporters she had no
concerns about security in Auckland.

Canberra. AUS CALLS ON URUGUAY TO CATCH POACHER! AUS has issued a
fresh demand for Uruguay to assist in the chase for an illegal
toothfish poacher in Australia's southern ocean. An AUS Customs and
Fisheries patrol vessel is in pursuit of a fishing boat suspected of
illegally fishing for the Patagonian toothfish in AUS sub-Antarctic
waters. Fisheries Min Ian MacDonald says AUS has been in fresh
contact with the Uruguayan govt, demanding Uruguay ensure its ships
respected internat'l fishing laws.

Wellington. NZ COOL ON ACCEPTING AUD! An Australian suggestion that
the AUD be accepted as the common currency of the S Pacific has received
a "cool reception" in the land of the Enteral Kiwi. An influential
AUS Senate committee floated the idea in a report released as 16
leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum gathered in Auckland for their
annual summit. The committee says a Pacific Community, with the
Aussie dollar as the common currency, would ensure economic security
for island states, most of whom have fragile economies.

Oslo. ARTIC ICE-CAP TO MELT WITHIN 100 Y! An internat'l study says
the Arctic ice cap will melt completely within the next 100 y if CO2
emissions continue to heat the Earth at current rates. Ola
Johannessen, from the Nansen research institute in Bergen, Noway, says
the ice cap shrank by nearly 4% in the decade starting 1978. He says
if CO2 emissions continue at the current rate, there'll be no more ice
at the North Pole in summer at the turn of the next century.

Melbourne. AGL FINED FOR ELECTROCUTION DEATH! Energy retailer AGL
Electricity has been fined $100,000 for safety breaches which led to
the electrocution death of a 36 yo carpenter in MEL. Paul Psaila
received a fatal shock when he touched a piece of metal carrying a 240
V current from a live electricity cable attached to the garage roof of
his suburban Rosanna home unit in Feb 1999. Judge Michael Strong said
work on installing the cable was done incompetently, allowing a metal
bracket to become exposed.

Canberra. HONAN BLAMES OPPN FOR JOB LOSSES! Ethanol boss, Dick Honan,
has today blamed the fed Opp'n for the losses of up to 50 workers at
his ethanol production plants. But yesterday, a company letter to
workers was produced in parliament. It specifically blamed govt police
for the sackings.
Mr Honan's accusation came amid revelations he'd donated $50,000 to
the ALP in an attempt to get a private meeting with Opp'n leader
Simon Crean. The cheque was returned. ALP officials say Mr Honan was
trying to get Opp'n front benchers to "go quiet" on the ethanol
dispute, continuing in Fed Parl.
Yesterday, the Opp'n continued its attack on the close relationship
between the PM, John Howard, and Mr Honan. Labor says the PM misled
parliament about a meeting he had with Mr Honan on Aug 1, 2002.
Under FOI the Opp'n obtained evidence Mr Hoard and Mr Honan had met
prior to the announcement of subsidies to the ethanol industry -- the
majority of which is controlled by Mr Honan's company.
The PM had previously denied any such meeting.
Mr Howard later said the meeting was about another matter.

Melbourne. RAINFALL BRINGS RELIEF! Vic's drought-stricken NE has
received some relief with heavy rainfalls o'night. Albury Wodonga's
recorded rainfalls of 60 mm since 9 am yesterday morning, and intense
showers o'night resulted in 30 mm of rain over the 3 hrs between 8 and
11 pm. Bureau of Met snr forecaster Ward Rooney says the rainfall was
widespread t'out the N. The rain's also resulted in some minor flash
flooding in the Wodonga and Tallangatta regions.

Sydney. MARKETS! The All Ords closed down 8 pts at 3,150 on profit
taking. In Japan, the Nikkei added 161 pts to 9,913. The Hang Seng
added 73 to end at 10,374.

{{
6 am
In Baghdad, a note allegedly from al-Qaeda was found after a deadly
shoot out with US forces. Elsewhere, 1 soldier was killed and 2
injured when their patrol rolled over a home-made land mine. 3 US
soldiers have been killed in Iraq in the past 24 hrs.

A riot was started in Baghdad when a US helicopter was used to tear
down a sacred flag. After the flag was removed, an angry crowd
started throwing rocks at US troops. US soldiers fired back, saying
they had come under RPG and small arms fire. A new flag was
eventually restored to the flag-pole.

BA has suspended flights to Saudi Arabia on new terror attack fears.
The announcement came 1 day after BA said it was resuming flights to
Baghdad. The airline says it didn't hesitate to suspend flights after
MI5 informed them of a security threat at Riyadh internat'l. Saudi
force says they uncovered a plot to attack a Brit target after a raid
on a premises this wk. They found explosives and a map of Riyadh
airport and quickly alerted London. 3 police were killed during a
shootout with extremists.

Parts of N Europe have enjoyed a reprieve from the heat wave.

Questions have been raised over the arrest of a Brit citizen on
arms-smuggling charges. The FBI yesterday announced the arrest, saying
the man had been attempting to smuggle a shoulder-launched missile
into the US so terrorists could attack US aircraft. But critics say
the man did not have contacts with arms dealers before his path was
"smoothed" by informants and agents. It turns out the missile he
bought from the allegedly-corrupt Russian manager of the missile
factory was a dummy. Critics say it's questionable whether the man
would have gone through with the deal without the assistance of the
FBI and other agencies. It's reported he was an English garment maker
that was having financial difficulties.

1000s of Liberians have looted warehouses for food, following the
departure of Pres Charles Taylor. Some were deterred by rebels firing
shots into the air. In some TV pix rebels were seen confiscating
empty containers for their own use. In some locations rebels waved on
looters carrying 100-lb sacks of rice. Reports say rebels will strip
the warehouses bare after most of the civilian looters have gone.

PM Howard is in NZ attending the Pacific Forum. It's believed he will
try to push the Forum to appoint an Aussie sec-gen. Reps for the
Forum say it's "tradition" that the sec-gen is a Pacific islander. But
the PM has told reporters he was not aware the conventions of the Forum
forbade an Aussie ever holding the post. There are fears among smaller
Pac nations that AUS will eventually take control of their govts. Mr
Howard has prev signalled AUS will have an increasing role in the Pac
region as part of the US-led war on terror.

The ALP has rejected a $50,000 from ethanol king, Dick Honan. It's
been revealed Mr Honan tried to arrange a personal meeting with Opp'n
leader Simon Crean by donating money the the Labor Party. The
donation was rejected, with ALP officials saying money was not
accepted if strings were attached. Officials say Mr Honan was trying
to influence the Opp'n policy against favouritism in the Aussie
ethanol business -- which sees more than 90% of $mns in govt subsidies
go to Mr Honan's company. Mr Honan is a friend of PM John Howard.
Mr Honan told the ABC today the Opp'n was responsible for the sacking
of 50 workers at an ethanol plant in Vic. But yesterday the letter
from Mr Honan's company, which blamed the govt for the sackings.

6 people have died in the past 12 hrs on NSW roads.

The "MS Blaster" worm continues to harry computer users around the
world. The worm, which causes M/S computers connected to Internet to
crash and print a message mocking Bill Gates, has infected 100s of
1000s of machines in N Am, Asia and Europe. Earlier reports said the
pace of infection was slowing down, but latest report indicate it's
accelerating. It's understood the worm will launch a concerted
attack on the M/S web site over the coming weekend, to disable the
ability of computer owners to upload the security patches that
immunise machines against the bugs Blaster uses to propagate itself.

Police say a stolen tup-truck was driven through the front doors of
the Modbury High School [!], in Adel's N, at about 10 pm yesterday,
causing $50,000 damage.

In MEL, 10 youths -- some in their early teens -- sped in a packed car
through C MEL earlier today, running several red lights and
eventually colliding with a taxi. A 13 yo girl was injured in the
crash at the corner of Spencer and Flinders about 6 am. 4 other girls
were arrested by police, but 5 boys fled the scene like the gutless
cowards they are. One of the girls told reporters a 17 yo boy was
driving the car at speeds up to 80 kph when he ran a red light and hit
the taxi.

SYD. Sure to drive Mosley Jones more insane, a S SYD Council has
opened a register for same-sex couples. The council's 9 members last
night voted 7 to 2 in favour of the register. Dep mayor Peter Furness
says he hopes it will bring equality to same-sex couples. He says the
register will help gay couples prove their relationship has legal
standing, but it won't have any legal status, as such.

SYD. About 40 staff in the NSW Office of Ind'l Relations have walked
off the job over jobs cuts and restructuring which they say were
announced without warning 2 wks ago.

Brisbane. Prem Peter Beattie has opened his election campaign by
announcing a 3rd-term agenda to improve the state's education
system. Too late!

Midday.
Despite losses on Wall St o'night, the local markets were trading in
positive territory at noon today. Resource stocks incl BHP Billiton
and Rio Tinto led the way higher. At 12.02 the All Ords had added 6
pts to 3,156.

6 pm
The High Court has ruled the indefinite detention of unwanted asylum
seekers is illegal.

Afghanistan has had its worst day of violence since the fall of the
Taliban. 60 people were killed in several incidents across the
country. The bombing of a minibus killed 15 people, incl 6 children.
Govt forces say they killed 16 rebels nr the Pakistan border. 5
Afghan border guards were also killed. Another 25 people died in
feud in a remote prov The US still has 10,000 troops in Afghanistan.
But NATO took control of the 5,000-strong internat'l assistance force
that operates only in Kabul. The UN has called on NATO to extend its
operating mandate to cover the rest of the country.

Another tape from Saddam Hussein has been played on Arab TV. It calls
on Iraqis to wage jihad on the invading forces of the US and Brit.

Kashmir has suffered its worst day of violent this y, ahead of Indian
independence day. 11 lives were lost in Indian-admin Kashmir. 1
person died when a bomb outside a bank in a town 60 km from the
capital. 40 others were injured in the attack. 10 deaths occurred in
a separate grenade attack and shootouts between police and militants
across the region.

200 US Marines are preparing to enter Monrovia to assist Nigerian
troops trying to control the port. About 100 Marines are in Liberia
now, mostly providing security for the US embassy. A small group will
help prepare the harbour to receive aid shipments. 150 Marines will
stand by for rapid reaction if the Nigerian troops "get into trouble".
2,000 other Marines will remain on board ships off the Liberian coast.

7 pm
The All Ords closed down 8 pts to 3,150. Investors cashed in profits
after NY eased o'night. The AUD is trading around 65.82 US c. In
Japan, the Nikkei ended 188 pts higher at 9,753. The Dow closed down
38 pts at 9,272. There were concerns over rising long term int rates.
Long term rates are rising because of a bond sell-off. The 10 y rate
is up nearly 1.5% for the m.

Indon police say they've linked Hambali with the Jakarta bombing last
wk. He's one of 6 people they're hunting in connection with the attack.

The NSW Opp'n has promised to cut stamp duty by 10% to help boost home
affordability.
}}

----------------------------------------
Fri, 15 Aug 2003.

NY. MARKETS! The Dow closed up 30s pts at 9,302. In London, the FTSE
added 57 pts to 4,238. Gold is up more than 3 at $364.30/oz. Oil is
trading around $31.10/bbl. The German Dax closed up 54 pts to end at
4,353. The AUS is trading around 65.75 US c after being above 66 o'night.

Agartala. 34 KILLED IN NE INDIA! Militants fighting Indian rile in
the country's remote NE have killed 34 people in bomb blasts and
shootings on the eve on Indep Day celebrations. In 2 incidents in the
state of Tripura, armed militants have fired indiscriminately, killing
11 people in Kamal Nagar and 14 in Krishnapura village. A
remote-controlled bomb earlier went off just as a bus was crossing a
bridge in neighbouring Manipur, killing 6 passengers and wounding
another 13.

NY. WORST POWER FAILURE IN US HISTORY! NY Gov George Pataki has
declared a state of emergency in NY, where more than 1/2 the state's
residents are without power following outages that struck portions of
the E Coast, Midwest and Canada. Pataki says well over 1/2 the
state's 19 mn are without power. The Gov's office later confirmed
that Pataki has signed an executive order declaring an emergency in
the state and enacting the state's disaster preparedness plan.
[Reportedly the electricity blackout was tripped by a lightning strike
on the Niagara power station. Despite computer s/w and other measures
installed after the 1970s Niagara blackout the failure rippled through
around 20 other power grids].

Washington. HAMBALI CAPTURED! The Whitehouse has announced the
capture of suspected Bali bombing mastermind, Hambali. Both Hambali,
whose real name is Riduan bin Isomuddin, and another man known as
Dulmatin are wanted over last y's Bali bomb blasts, which killed 202
people. Hambali is believed to be a key leader of Jemaah Islamiah,
the SE Asian arm of OBL's al-Qaeda terrorist network. The 36 yo
Islamic scholar is wanted in Indon, Malaysia, Singapore, and the
Philippines in connection with a series of bomb attacks. While the
Whitehouse did not reveal details of where Hambali was captured or is
being held, Thai newspapers today said he was arrested in that
country. It's believed Hambali is being held in Afghanistan, at the
US's Bagram AFB.

Baghdad. BRIT SOLDIER, 6 IRAQIS KILLED! A Brit soldier has been
killed and 2 others wounded in a bomb attack nr the S Iraqi city of
Basra. Meanwhile, in Baghdad, the top US soldier has apologised to
the capital's Shi'ite community for a deadly confrontation many saw as
an assault on their cherished faith. And N of Baghdad, US forces
conducting raids in a new operation hunting looters have shot dead 6
Iraqis and detained 10 others in separate incidents.

Canberra. DOWNER WARNS OF SUNDAY ATTACK! For Min Alex Downer has
warned a terrorist attack in Jakarta is possible on Indonesia's
national day this Sun. Mr Downer's warning came just a day after AUS
issued its strongest travel warning yet about Indonesia. The warning
urges all Aussies to avoid all unnecessary travel to the country and
avoid internat'l hotels in Jakarta. Mr Downer also says AUS will
review the risk to aircraft from portable SAM's in the hands of
terrorists, after the seizure of a launcher in the US.

Paris. 3,000 DEAD IN FRENCH HEAT WAVE! After a wk of inaction, the
French govt has declared a state of emergency over the increasing
death toll from the record heat. The announcement comes on the day
the temps have apparently started to decline. The French govt now
admits the heat wave that's been sweeping Europe has caused the deaths
of at least 3,000 people in France alone. The estimate comes from
the country's morgues, that have found the number of bodies received
has been 37% above the same time last y. In Paris, the figure is 60%
above last y's number. PM Jean-Pierre Raffarin has rushed back to
Paris from his Alpine holiday to deal with what the Health Ministry
has called an "epidemic of heat-related death". The Min'y has blamed
abnormally high temps that have baked France and other parts of
Europe this m, fanning forest fires and devastating livestock.

Townsville. WORLD CORAL REEFS DESTROYED BY 2030! A report has found
at least 30% of the world's coral reefs should be closed to fishing to
help them survive. The AUS-led study published in the journal
"Science" warns that reefs are in decline world-wide, with 30% already
"severely damaged". The report warns close to 60% of reefs world-wide
could be lost by 2030. The report -- led by Townsville-based James
Cook Uni Prof Terry Hughes -- pinpoints global climate change and
human impacts such as fishing and pollution as the greatest threats to
coral reefs.

Washington. N KOREA TALKS LATER THIS M! US Asst Sec of State James
Kelly will lead the US team at 6-party talks in Beijing this m aimed
at persuading N Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions. China has
announced the talks will take place on Aug 27 to 29 and will involve
officials from N and S Korea, the US, Russia, Japan and China. State
Dept rep Tom Casey declined to comment on whether the US team might
include Under-sec John Bolton, who's been derided by NK as "human
scum" after Bolton attacked the NK leader during a diplomatic mission
to SK earlier this m.

Brisbane. AUSSIE SUB DUE FOR US EXERCISES! The RAN's newest Collins
class sub, HMAS Rankin, has docked in Bris ahead of training exercises
with the US Navy in the Coral Sea. Lt Cmdr Merv Russell says the
Rankin's 55 male and female crew will enjoy some much-needed rest over
the next 4 days as the boat is prepared for training. The Rankin left
SYD earlier this wk after it was called off duty along with the rest
of the Collins sub fleet due to safety concerns over maintenance.

Auckland. HURRICANE HOWARD HITS THE PACIFIC FORUM! PM John Howard
will argue the case of an Australian Sec-Gen of the Pacific Islands
Forum, as leaders begin a day of discussions today. Former AUS
diplomat Greg Urwin is facing an uncertain race for the top position,
with stiff opp'n from smaller Pacific nations. He is up against
candidates from Tonga, Samoa, and Nauru. Already, the 6 smallest
island nations have indicated that they will support only a Pacific
islander candidate. Up till now, no Aussie or Kiwi has been appointed
Sec-Gen of the Forum.

Geneva. US-EU WTO PLAN CRITICISED! Trade sources and diplomats say
WTO members have picked holes in a joint EU-US plan for reforming
global agriculture but have ack'ed it's helped kick-start stalled
trade talks. Negotiators from the 146 member states of the WTO have
criticised different aspects after having 24 hrs to mull over the
jointly-crafted proposal. Washington and Brussels hammered out the
plan -- as yet devoid of figures -- to bridge their main difference
in 3 key areas of farm trade -- export subsidies, domestic support and
market access.

Melbourne. TRUCK DRIVER TO SUE EMPLOYER OVER SKIN CANCER! A retied 71
yo Vic truck driver has won the right to sue his former employer for
not warning him that over-exposure to sunlight causes skin cancer.
Eric Reeder, from Dandenong, claims he contracted skin cancer while
delivering bricks for Boral Resources between 1964 and 1999. He now has
to undergo surgery to remove cancers about once per m. In what's believed
to be a Vic first, County Court Judge Len Ostrowski has found Mr Reeder
suffered a serious injury and can be sued for personal injury damages.

Canberra. AUSSIE FARMERS SHOULD BE COMPENSATED FOR FENCES! A new
report says farmers who fence off their property to "protect the land"
should be financially compensated. Compiled as part of a review of
the landcare program, the report says farmers who try to do the right
thing by the environment should be recognised with funding. Landcare
is an AUS-developed system to bring together farmers to work together
on regional land protection and sustainability issues.

Canberra. NO TELECOM PROBS IN THE BUSH -- AFTER THE UPGRADES! The AUS
Communications Authority has ID'ed 54 Telstra exchange services in
regional AUS for "urgent upgrade". Thank goodness the business is
still in public hands! Authority chair Tony Shaw says consumers in
the 54 areas can expect improvements in service and reliability of
telecoms services over the next y. Mr Shaw says the areas have been
ID'ed using information from Telstra and data collected from the
Network Reliability Framework over the first 6 m of this y.

Sydney. MARKETS! The ASX was firmer by noon despite the massive power
black-outs in the US just after Wall St closed. At 12.03 the All Ords
had added 5 pts to 3,147.

{{
6 am
The US has announced the capture of SE Asia's most wanted, Hambali.
Hambali has been linked with the Bali bombings and, yesterday, to the
Jakarta attacks last wk. He's wanted in 6 SE Asian
countries. Al-Qaeda's leading planner and only non-Arab key figure in
the region is in US custody in an un-named country. The Whitehouse
made the announcement a short time ago. It won't say how and when
Hambali was arrested. Pres Bush Jr made the announcement while
visiting a Marine base in Cal. He said Hambali had been in custody
for a number of days.

A Jemaah Islamiah "hit list" has been revealed. The list was seized
in police raid in Jul. It names 49 targets in Jakarta, incl major
hotels, the Jakarta stock exchange, an internat'l school attended by
Aussies and other ex-pats, the Hard Rock Cafe, and railway stations.
Officials in Indon and AUS are warning of possible attacks in the next
few days. Sunday is Indonesia's indep day.

6 people have been killed on Aussie roads o'night. 12 people have
been killed in the past 12 hrs.

PM John Howard has been accused of bullying at the Pacific Forum.
Pacific leaders have rejected the PM's lobbying for an Aussie Sec-Gen
of the group. He's also been criticised for linking future Aussie aid
to small Pacific nations with anti-corruption programs.

Over 3,000 people are reported dead due to the heat wave in France.
The so-called "white plan" is applicable to terror attack or national
disasters, and has been called into effect. Doctors are chiding the
govt for slow reaction to the disaster.

Qld Prem Peter Beattie has denied he's considering an early election.

With 1 hr left to trade, the Dow is up 28 pts. The tech-heavy Nasdaq
is up 11. Oil is higher at $US30.80/bbl. Gold is also higher at
$US365.50/oz. The AUD is trading around 65.54 US c.

Rebels in Liberian capital have handed over control of the port to
peacekeepers.

6.15 am
There's been a power black-out on Wall St. The NYSE has been blacked
out. Reportedly the outage is due to too many people using a/c in NYC.

Suspended ATSIC chair Geoff Clark says the govt has financially
ruined his family. Mr Clark was stood down yesterday by Imm Min
Philip Ruddock.

Authorities in the Solomons are watching Harold Keke around the clock
to thwart any assassination attempts. It's feared local police
leaders may try to kill the rebel leader, now in custody in Honiara,
to avoid being implicated in corruption.

In Iraq the US has apologised for the killing of a civilian. 1 Iraqi
was shot dead in Baghdad earlier in the wk after a flag was removed
from a tower. The US says a chopper either blew down the flag or it
was taken down by persons unknown. The US is "taking steps to avoid
it happening again".

6.40 am
Ch 7 says morale among Aussie soldiers in Honiara is low. A letter
received by "Sunrise" says 3RAR soldiers have been told not to leave
camp. They are also restricted to rations, where other Aussies on the
intervention force have access to fresh food. The letter says the
soldiers have also discovered the AFP contingent are being paid more
than their $A50 per day.

6.45 am
The power blackout in the US has followed an explosion and fire in a
major power station. At present, there is no official explanation.
Earlier this morning, journalists at the NYSE had to report to Ch 7
news via telephone. All of NY, Michigan, Cleveland and Detroit are
reportedly blacked out.

6.52 am
A power official says Niagara has been overloaded and the incident has
had a cascading effect on other power stns. The outages have stranded
about 90,000 people underground in the dark. 100s more were trapped
in elevators around the city. The power outages incl Ottawa and
Toronto, as well as major US cities. As yet no-one is linking the
failure with a terrorist attack.

M/S is bracing for an attack tomorrow on its update site. Some
reports say the "Blaster" attack is more significant than first
thought. One expert says the worm has already attached itself to web
pages associated with distributing the security patch against it.

7 am
CNN. NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Explaining black smoke seen coming
out of Con Ed facilities on 14th street is part of the normal shutdown
procedure. Advice is to go home, open windows to avoid heat stroke,
drink a lot of liquids. Police will be out directing traffic. Lights
are out. People are being evac'd from the subways. People will have to
walk a long distance in the heat. NY state officials say the Mowhawk
power grid has become overloaded. Everything is calm in the city.
The NY city grid was not damaged when it was shut down. For the
moment we don't have power. It will take a few hrs at a minimum, and
maybe well into the evening before power is restored.

The FRC says a problem at a Manhattan power plant has "destabilised
the power grid". The outage is not related to a terrorist attack.

Pakistani troops are presently engaged in a fire-fight with al-Qaeda
suspects in the NW city of Peshawar. Pak troops raided the house
where terrorist were believed to be hiding. The number of suspects is
not known. It's also not known if the clash has resulted in any
casualties. More than 500 suspects have been rounded up by Pak
security forces since Pak joined the US-led war on terror 20 m ago.
Most were handed over to the US, the majority have been incarcerated
in Cuba.

10 am
A Brit soldier has been killed in Basra when a bomb hidden in a
lamp-post was detonated as a military ambulance passed by. The death
takes to 67 the number of Coal'n soldiers killed since May 1.

SYD. Despite record profits, Qantas has unveiled a new major
restructure to carve $1 bn off costs over the next 2 y to cope with
the volatile internat'l airline market. The AUS Fin Rev says the
airline's CEO, Geoff Dixon, plans to split the group's operations into
separate business units, devolving responsibility to divisional
executives. Mr Dixon said the move was aimed at growing the business,
and was not about down-sizing.

SYD's train and bus fares will rise by an average of 5% at the end of
the m, after approval was granted by the state govt's pricing tribunal.

Brisbane. An investigation into the abuse of Qld foster children will
look into the actions of the Families Dept and its ministers over a
20-y period. Crime and Misconduct Commission chair Brendan Butler
says evidence already shows more than 50 children have been fostered
by the family at the centre of the probe. The CMC inquiry was
triggered by claims of dept'l inaction over 6 foster children who were
allegedly abused by their foster family in the 1990s.
}}

========================================

(*) Who is responcible for W.A.R.S? A small group of dedicated
sandgrubbers, bannana-lickers and 5th columnists on the run from
support payments and sundry legalese in their home countries. Mention
us at any Uncle Harry's Suburban Bunker and get a 10% discount on cop-killers!

All speling macroizated for correctitood by Mcrosotf Speelchek.

*** Please stand by for further orders from The Leader ***

[marika]

k...@kymhorsell.com wrote in message news:<3f3c...@news.latrobe.edu.au>...

> [Hmmm. Google seems to be lighting Blasted, today; thank ywh for Germany!].

>

> We're protecting The Homeland... The fact we've been able to sting
> this guy is a pretty good example of what we're doing.
> -- Pres Bush Jr, Rancho Crawford, 13 Aug 2003.
> The FBI arrested a garment worker after they helped him
> importing a dummy missile from Russia.

i remember preelection someone from slate basically
summed up my feelings - "I can't see Bush smirking his way
through a Mideast peace meeting". Bush is so anti-
contemplation and unable to grasp details that he practically
barks at his aides when they take a moment to deliberate
before answering a question. thhere's a lovely example

i also wonder what scam homeland security was up to when they pulled
the plug on the electricity last week

see see we're vulnerable to attack

what massive budget rediversion of funds was their real purpose this
time

mk5000

"I'm sorry if not understanding why being a fan of something that
sucks is so
hard to understand, Diane. Are you a big fan of speeding tickets, or
pimples, or big smelly farts, or being sued, or your pet getting run
over by
a car?"-buckaroo banzai

[k...@kymhorsell.com]

In aus.politics marika <marik...@my-deja.com> wrote:
[...]

> i also wonder what scam homeland security was up to when they pulled
> the plug on the electricity last week

[...]

Now, now. We must be alert, but not alarmed. You're either with us,
or agin us. Report anything suspicious to the freecall number provided. ;-)

I noticed the "rumour" on (US) PBS about the heavy purchasing of
heavy-duty power regulators in London some hrs before the big
blackout. The story goes a Brit company that supplies power surge
protection devices to the US power giants got a 10-fold boost in
its share turnover around midday, E-coast time.

Just a co-ink-i-dink, of course. ;-)

[marika]

k...@kymhorsell.com wrote in message news:<3f40...@news.latrobe.edu.au>...

> Now, now. We must be alert, but not alarmed. You're either with us,
> or agin us. Report anything suspicious to the freecall number provided. ;-)
>
> I noticed the "rumour" on (US) PBS about the heavy purchasing of
> heavy-duty power regulators in London some hrs before the big
> blackout. The story goes a Brit company that supplies power surge
> protection devices to the US power giants got a 10-fold boost in
> its share turnover around midday, E-coast time.
>
> Just a co-ink-i-dink, of course. ;-)

check democracynow.org. you can hear a clinton interview there. there is
a club in ny called wetlands, many a poetry event has taken place there. it
may soon be the last wetlands in america. would flouridated water be good
for alligator teeth?

there are wards in philly. is that like an assembly district in ny or a
ward in chicago?

you'll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with
pepsodent!
american genius.

lagers and lox,

mk5000

"then i went home, allowed the engine to cool and dropped about a litre of
oil out, to bring the oil to the max line?"--tom burton