NO, NOT THE OIL! #162 (1/4)
R Kym Horsell
Reserch Senter(*)
OIL THE NEWS THAT FITS MY VIEWS #162
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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).
Our Home Page: <http://www.chickenhead.com/loserscopes/>
The Undeniable Evidence: <http://www.evil-doers.org/evidence>
Even More Uneniable Evidence: <http://www.abc.net.au/cnnnn/profiteering/terrorthon/>
US Centcom News Releases: <http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/release_list.asp>
Iraqi Body Count: <http://www.iraqbodycount.net/> [7,968+ as at 13 Jan 2004].
UN Mailing List: <http://www.kymhorsell.com/UN/>
Some Of The News, Some Of The Time: <http://www.chaser.com.au/default.asp?check=No>
This Stuff Blogged: <http://kymhorsell.blogspot.com/>
Also Kindly Archived: <http://www.kymhorsell.com/OIL/ >
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Selecting latest news stories and other data for you...
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So the whole state can see,
we love you cat and dog,
and in the opinions polls,
we'll never be in the bog.
And if any MP wants you to be roast,
we'll make sure that in their electorate they'll be toast.
-- SA indep MP Nick Xenophon, 27 Feb 2004.
The S AUS govt has moved to ban the eating of cats and dogs. Some
question the need for specific legislation.
In some respects, {smiling} opposition would... um... ar... suit my
temperament.
-- new candidate for Wentworth Malcolm Turnbull, 01 Mar 2004.
After a bitter pre-selection battle, republican Mal Turnbull has
earned a rebuke from Treas Peter Costello for indicating the Fed
Govt might lose the Nov election.
We both believe that we now need to look forward, and we are both
interested in having a stable, democratic Iraq.
-- German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, 25 Feb 2004.
Germany and the US are unenthusiastically burying the hatchet over GWII.
Some of these actions that were taken risk destabilising the
Palestinian banking system. We'd prefer to see Israeli coordination
with the Palestinian financial authorities in order to stem the flow
of funds to terrorist groups.
-- US State Dept Rep Richard Boucher, 26 Feb 2004.
The US has criticised Israeli army raids that confiscating $mns
from W Bank ... er... banks.
The British and American public deserved to know all the elements
involved in the build up to the war. Whistle blowers play an essential
role in democracy.
-- Open letter to PM Blair, Feb 2004.
A furore has been sparked by GCHQ whistle blower Katharine Gun and
former Cabinet Min Clare Short.
In the end the locks will be open. They didn't break me or drive me
mad after all those years of isolation.
-- Israeli nuke whistle blower Mordechai Vanunu, 26 Feb 2004.
After 18 y in solitary, Vanunu is due for release. He's defying
plans to restrict his movements.
I felt at the time, when the Govt started mentioning Iraq, 'you have
to be joking', and then suddenly it snowballed into something everyone
was agreeing with.
-- Katharine Gun, 26 Feb 2004.
After gun leaked a "dirty tricks" memo from the Bush Admin, she was
charged under the Official Secrets Act but then the case was
dropped. She's still wondering why.
It's a matter of common sense, when we have the outcome of a specific
case yesterday which we did not want as a govt, which we were
disappointed with as a govt, that you have a review of the working of
the Official Secrets Act.
-- rep for PM Blair's office, 26 Feb 2004.
The Blair govt is apparently considering how to try whistle-blowers
in secret.
The formal comment is that we cannot comment about it and are giving
out no details.
-- rep for KBR, 26 Feb 2004.
An Israeli company has won a contract to supply oil to the US Army
in Iraq.
[It is] important to this country and to the world that the security
be assured in that area [the Caspian].
-- US Def Sec Donald Rumsfeld, 26 Feb 2004.
The US and Russia are reportedly moving to secure Caspian oil from Iran.
I will fulfil my terms and not allow terrorists and gangsters to take over.
-- former Pres Jean Bertrand Aristide, 29 Feb 2004.
The US sees Pres Aristide as a major impediment to peace in Haiti.
He fled to the Dominican Rep late yesterday.
For anybody who's a minister in a govt [...] it's just a very stupid
and indulgent thing to say.
-- Aussie FM Alex The Downer, 27 Feb 2004.
Stern words apparently for whistle-blower Clare Short -- who
sparked a future over spying on UN officials. Although Short's not
a minister in a govt. But consider the source.
----------------------------------------
Fri, 27 Feb 2004.
INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES:
Rumsfeld, Kazakh govt hold talk on protecting Caspian oil fields
Climbing euro raises rates question
139 still missing after ferry fire
4 children die in gas blast: Russia
Arguments end in case of Israeli wall
Attack on Haitian capital imminent
Suicides mount among US troops in Iraq
Aussie arrested in global child porn swoop
Australian link to lottery scam: UK
Blix, Butler "bugged"
Bosnian plane crash kills Pres
Brit's spying shame
Bush Tightens Rules on Travel to Cuba
Bush to ban land mines
Canada farmers lose hope for beef trade with US
Commonwealth requests media ban from High Court spy case
Cow and bull say "I moo" in Indian wedding
Cyclone Ivy hits S Vanuatu
Gates still world's richest
Haiti rebels "surround" capital
Haiti's 3rd city falls to rebels as US and Canada pile pressure on Aristide
How a GCHQ translator uncovered an American dirty tricks campaign
Hundreds unaccounted for in Manila fire
IDF reservist killed in shooting attack in N Gaza Strip
Investigations continuing into online paedophile ring
Iran election may open way for US approach
Iraq's Shia leader in new election demand
Israeli arms mole vows to fight on after release
Japanese anti-monopoly officials investigate Microsoft
Missionary found dead: Portugal
Nauru to close controversial banks
No immunity for Aust police: PNG
Oil from Israel contracted for sale to Iraq
PNG PM rejects AUS immunity plan
Protesting Palestinians clash with Israeli soldiers
Quake survivors demand more aid
Quakes hit S Philippines
Report UK govt spied on UN Sec-Gen
Schroeder visits Bush to rebuild ties
Study reveals alarming obesity trend in young women
Thousands await verdict in Tokyo's sarin gas attack trial
UN agency attacks Nigeria's ban on polio vaccines
US Will Help With Kazakhstan Security
US holds fleeing Haitians at sea
US military rocked by spate of sexual assault charges
Zimbabwe opp'n leader awaits treason ruling
Astronauts conduct risky spacewalk
2 new dinosaur species found
AUSSIE HEADLINES:
Athletics great farewelled
Credit binge continues
Aboriginal women to defy police by dancing topless
Ageing debate continues
Drought roundtable on Apr 14
Eating cats and dogs banned in SA
Business on notice for spam laws
Domino liver transplant: a 1st for Australia
Health insurance rise necessary
High emotions at Leskie inquest
Indigenous snapshot shows young population
Jetstar sells 85,000 tickets
Latham to meet sugar, banana growers
Net porn scandal rocks Woolies
Paintings worth $67 mn stolen
Parliamentary inquiry to investigate Redfern riot
Police crack $multi mn fraud syndicate
Strikes in Qld prisons next wk
Sydney Water boss sacked
Tax office planning crackdown
Unions condemn Bracks new approach
Vic Prem defends union stance
Woman escapes abductor
Rumsfeld, Kazakh govt hold talk on protecting Caspian oil fields
Astana (AFP). US officials said Washington and Moscow have both been
working with Kazakhstan to build up defences against Iran in the
Caspian and in its W military district.
"We're cooperating," Rumsfeld told a joint news conference in Astana
with Kazakh Defense Min Mukhtar Altynbayev.
"[It is] important to this country and to the world that the security
be assured in that area," he said, referring to the Caspian.
Only Russia and Iran currently have navies in the Caspian, leaving
Kazakhstan with little military means to protect its oil reserves.
A consortium of W oil companies reached an agreement with the Kazakh
govt Wed that is expected to clear the way for production at the
Kashagan oil field in the N Caspian by 2008.
Kashagan is the largest field that Kazakhstan has let out for development
since the discovery of huge reserves following the breakup of the Soviet Union.
The govt estimates that exploiting the field will require some $29 bn
in investments.
Altynbayev said his govt and the US had a 5-y program for military
cooperation that encompasses Caspian security as well as other issues,
such as combating the proliferation of WMD and drug trafficking.
"We are interested in getting assistance for providing security in the
Caspian region," he said through an interpreter.
The US has supplied Kazakhstan with Humvees and UH-1 "Huey"
helicopters in an effort to help make its military more mobile, as
well as building materials for new barracks and offices being
constructed in the W military district, officials said.
"We're trying to get them to spend serious money on helicopters," a US
official said.
Naval patrol craft and radar to strengthen control of Kazakhstan's
land and maritime borders also are possibilities, a snr US defence
official said.
NATO also is providing technical assistance to Kazakhstan's efforts to
protect its Caspian Sea oil.
"We have exercises, various types of equipment, refurbishment of
bases," Rumsfeld said.
But a US military education and training program has stalled, pending
a State Dept certification that Kazakhstan is making progress on
economic and political reforms, US officials said.
Rumsfeld travelled to Kazakhstan from Uzbekistan, which also faces a
break in funding for US military education and training programs
unless the State Dept certifies it has made progress on reforms.
Both former Soviet Republics are ruled by autocrats with poor human
rights records.
But Rumsfeld praised both for their support for the US war on terrorism.
He met here with a group of 15 military engineers who recently
returned from Iraq, where they served with the Polish-led multinat'l
division as ordnance disposal experts.
US will help with Kazakhstan security
Astana, Kazakhstan (AP). The US govt is helping Kazakhstan protect
its interests in the oil-rich Caspian Sea, Def Sec Donald H Rumsfeld
said Wed in the Kazakh capital.
The assistance is expected to include training and equipment, possibly
including radars and other surveillance equipment to allow the
military of the former Soviet republic to monitor its waters for
smugglers, officials said.
The support also serves to give the US a regional ally with interests
in the Caspian, providing a check on Iranian power in the S part of
the sea, US officials said.
"The Caspian security in the W portion of Kazakhstan is important for
this country, it is important to the world that the security be
assured in that area," Rumsfeld said after talks with Kazakh Defense
Min Mukhtar Altynbayev.
Kazakhstan and other former Soviet republics in Central Asia and the
Caucasus region of SW Asia have become important partners for the US
over the past decade, not only in the fight against terrorism but also
in developing democracies in the region.
In Washington, Pres Bush met Wed with Georgia's newly elected
president, Mikhail Saakashvili, and told reporters he supports
Georgia's demands for the withdrawal of Russian troops from its
territory.
"We expect the Russian govt to honour the Istanbul commitment," Bush
said, referring to a 1999 accord on troop withdrawals. "The Istanbul
commitment made it very clear that Russia would leave those bases. We
will continue to work with the president and [Russian] Pres Putin on
that commitment."
The Russians say the accord committed them only to discussing the
troop withdrawal.
In a related development, Shell Oil and a group of other oil companies
announced an agreement to develop the Kashagan oil field in
Kazakhstan. The field was discovered in 2000 and is estimated to have
38 bn barrels of oil. Production is expected to begin in 2008 and
eventually reach 1.2 mn bpd. Among Shell's partners are ConocoPhillips
and ExxonMobil.
In his talks in the Kazakh capital, Rumsfeld praised Kazakhstan as a
terrorism-fighting ally and cited the nation as an example of the
success of disarmament. When it broke from the Soviet Union, it
inherited a vast stockpile of nuclear weapons, as well as chemical and
biological devices. It voluntarily rid itself of them all, and was no
longer a nuclear power by 1995.
"Kazakhstan sends an impressive model of how a country can do it,"
Rumsfeld said. "Had Iraq followed the Kazakhstan model and disarmed
the way Kazakhstan did, there would not have been a war."
Rumsfeld also met with members of a platoon of 27 military engineers
Kazakhstan sent to Iraq to assist in bomb-disposal and reconstruction
efforts. That platoon returned home after a 6-m deployment, and
another unit is headed to Iraq.
Kazakhstan is looking to build a force that can be deployed on UN
peacekeeping missions, US officials said.
The 2 countries signed a 5-y cooperation plan in Sep for the delivery
of Huey helicopters, C-130 Hercules military cargo aircraft and ships
for the Kazakhstan's Caspian Sea forces, the Kazakh Defense Ministry said.
Under the plan, the US will also supply equipment for Kazakh alpine
troops and provide anti-terrorism training. Kazakhstan has already
received 40 US Humvees.
Russia, Kazakhstan's N neighbour and ally, is also expected to supply
some weapons for those forces, US officials said.
Since 1992, Kazakhstan has also received about $200 mn from the US to
withdraw Soviet nuclear weapons from its territory, clean up the
aftermath of nuclear tests and shut down military facilities once used
to produce WMD.
Rumsfeld also met Kazakh PM Daniyal Akhmetov and Foreign Min
Kasymzhomart Tokayev.
Rumsfeld arrived in Kazakhstan after a visit to neighbouring
Uzbekistan, following stops in Iraq and Kuwait. He was expected to
travel Thu to Afghanistan before returning to Washington.
Oil from Israel contracted for sale to Iraq
Athens (Daily Star). An Israeli oil firm has surprised the Arab world
by winning a lucrative contract to supply the US Army in Iraq with oil.
Israel's Sonol Fuel Company, a subsidiary of Granite Hacarmel, will
supply US forces in Iraq with fuel through a partnership with an
unnamed Jordanian firm, according to Kuwaiti petroleum sources
speaking to The Daily Star.
The Israeli-Jordanian partnership will supply the US Army in north
Iraq with some 34,000 metric tons of fuel each m, according to reports.
Daily Star sources say shipments have been delivered for the past 2
wk. They are being transported across Israel and Jordan by railway and
into Iraq.
Industry experts are baffled as to why Israel has been chosen for the
deal when Turkey supplied N Iraq with around 300,000 metric tons of
gas over the course of 6 m in 2003.
Press reports have said that Sonol is working in conjunction with an
internat'l firm, said to be Morgantown Internat'l. They put the value
of the deal at $70-80 mn.
Officials at Sonol and Kellogg, Brown & Root did not immediately
respond to requests for comment. Repeated requests for an interview to
Sonol were referred to Fleisher Communications, a company handling
Sonol's media relations.
"The formal comment is that we cannot comment about it and are giving
out no details," a rep said.
The tender was issued by the US-based KBR Company, a subsidiary of
Halliburton, that has been entrusted with the majority of contracts
for the US troops in Iraq. Among Sonol's competitors was Delek,
another Israeli company.
According to press reports, imported fuel will pass through the fuel
terminal operated by Tashan, an oil and energy infrastructure firm, in
the N of the Israeli desert city of Beer Sheva.
Arab oil analysts speaking to The Daily Star said it does not make
economic sense to award Israel the contract as it is not an
oil-exporting country. This means that Sonol will be acting as a
go-between, forwarding gas to Iraq at a profit and driving the value
of the contract higher for KBR. The controversial US firm has already
been charged with over-charging the US Army.
"The oil could come from Egypt, could be from Russia, could be
Azerbaijan," said Walid Khadduri, editor of the Cyprus-based Middle E
Economic Survey. "Israel imports all its oil, it doesn't have any."
While it would have made better financial sense for the contract to be
awarded to companies operating in gasoline-refining countries
adjoining N Iraq such as Syria, Iran or Turkey, political
sensitivities may have kept Halliburton from considering them.
"State Oil Marketing Organisation imports products from Syria and
Iran," said Khadduri. "Halliburton does not do so because the Admin
does not want to assist Syria or Iran."
"At the end of the day, Israel is buying from the market and doesn't
produce, so it needs to make its profit from somewhere," said Mohammad
al-Shatti, the manager of markets research at Kuwait's Petroleum
Ministry. "For example, all our gas for the domestic market is
imported from outside of Kuwait, at extra cost. Of course it should
not be done as you're talking about the Arab world."
The Maariv daily ran the news with the subtitle: Israel has yet to
sell coals to Newcastle, but sending oil to Iraq comes close.
"The entry of Israeli firms in Iraq will cause further complications
to the Americans and there will be popular reactions against this
action," said Syrian economist Samir Seifan. "If the Americans try to
arrange this without taking into consideration the feelings of the
people and Arab interests, they will be giving Israel an extra gift
without returning to Arabs any of their rights." Syria, considered by
the Bush Admin an enemy alongside Iran, has lost up to $3 bn annually
in bilateral trade with Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime.
Sonol will most likely be providing the US Army with gas imported from
the EU, a net exporter. The company snapped up 130,000 tons of
Azerbaijani crude oil in Feb and is talking of building an oil
refinery in S Israel's Arava region that adjoins Jordan, said Israel's
Maariv paper. A rep for Sonol denied this report.
Problems with rehabilitating Iraq's oil network have left US officials
and private contractors with the task of importing oil into a country
that holds between 12-20% of the world's oil reserves.
Continuing sabotage strikes against Iraq's oil infrastructure have
crippled the country's export capability. Until now, US forces have
received most of their fuel from Kuwait. However, the US Army decided
to explore other options, following Halliburton's admission that it
had over-charged the US military. Whereas Sonol's deal relates to N
Iraq and is not a replacement of the Kuwaiti contract, a tender for
the south of the country will be submitted on Mar 8 with the
contract starting in Apr.
Sonol is among Israel's 3 largest oil product marketing firms and
boasts a network of over 200 service stations.
Israeli companies have been seeking to make inroads into Iraq's
potentially lucrative market in recent ms. But despite isolated cases
where Israel's retail sector has been successful, Israel is more
likely to covertly promote its hi-tech products. Iraq's Coalition
Provisional Authority awarded a contract worth $4-5 mn to Iridium
Israel for mobile satellite communication services.
Rising euro prompts rates cut push
Brussels. There has been further political pressure for the European
Central Bank to cut its interest rates and take some of the heat out
of the rising euro. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has again led
the call.
In an interview with the Financial Times, he said the level of the
euro against the USD was "unsatisfactory".
He says the European Central Bank has probably recognised the impact
on the export sector.
He says that with "all due respect for the independence of the ECB",
he imagines there will be "some consideration about whether interest
rates are at the right level".
In Paris, French PM Jean-Pierre Raffarin says he shares the German
leader's views.
On foreign exchange markets, the USD has tended to track higher,
pushing the euro back down towards $US1.24.
However, worse-than-expected US jobless claims figures and a disappointing
fall in durable goods orders have trimmed the greenback's gains.
The AUD has been as low as 76.66 US cents overnight.
By 8.30 am it had recovered to 77.12 US cents, one-fifth of a cent
below yesterday's local close.
On the cross-rates, it was at 0.6206 euros; 84.55 Japanese yen; 41.44
pence Sterling; and $NZ1.123.
Blue chip stock prices on Wall Street have suffered a mild decline.
Investors have taken note of the underwhelming figures on jobless
claims and durable goods orders.
Sales of new homes in the US have fallen in Jan to their lowest level
since last May although coming in a little firmer than expected.
On the NYSE, the Dow closed 21 points lower at 10,580.
The high-tech Nasdaq composite index is up 10 points at 2,033.
The Brit market remains in positive territory. London's FT-100 index
has added 8 points to 4,516.
Yesterday in AUS, the All Ords rose 12 points to 3,358.
BHP Billiton recovered ground and insurer QBE enjoyed ongoing support.
But Insurance AUS Group shares fell 11 cents to $5.55 despite its $302
mn 1/2-y profit.
The gold price remains below $400 at $US395.40/oz.
West Texas crude oil has dropped back to $US35.33/bbl.
Japanese anti-monopoly officials investigate Microsoft
Tokyo (Guardian). Officials from Japan's fair trade watchdog raided
the Japanese HQ of US software giant Microsoft today on suspicion of
anti-monopoly law violations.
A official from Japan's fair trade commission, speaking on customary
condition of anonymity, said Microsoft Japan was suspected of
attaching improper restrictive conditions when signing software deals
with Japanese personal computer manufacturers.
These include a requirement that the Japanese companies allow
infringement of their patents, the official said, but he refused to
elaborate further.
A rep at Microsoft Japan confirmed that the commission inspected the
company's Tokyo HQ office but denied any wrongdoing.
The company was cooperating with the investigation, which involves
questions about the wording on copyright and patents in the licensing
agreement with Japanese manufacturers, she said.
A rep for NEC Corp, Japan's largest computer maker, also told Reuters
that commission representatives had visited its offices to ask
questions about its dealings with Microsoft.
Microsoft's Windows operating system software dominates computers sold
and made in Japan, as it does in other parts of the world.
The investigation is the latest to involve Microsoft, following
accusations that it has abused its monopoly on PC operating systems to
push prices higher or harm rivals.
The company is in settlement negotiations with the European commission,
which says the firm abused its dominant position and curbed
competition by tying its Media Player programme -- used for playing
music and videos -- to its Windows operating system.
Microsoft Japan was investigated by the fair trade commission in 1998,
for packaging its Internet browsing software Internet Explorer with
its operating system and for pushing its word processor and
spreadsheet software, Word and Excel, onto its operating system
customers. That investigation was closed without ramifications.
NY. The world's richest people got a whole lot richer in the past y,
and more numerous. Forbes magazine has added 64 new members to its
annual billionaire's list, headed once again by Microsoft co-founder
Bill Gates. Among the most prominent debutantes on the Forbes ranking
is Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who just a few y ago was a penniless
single mother struggling to make ends meet. Gates headed the list for
the 10th y in a row, with an estimated net worth of $A60.56 bn, up from
$A52.89 bn the prev y.
Canada farmers lose hope for beef trade with US
Winnipeg, Manitoba (Reuters). Canadian farmers are losing hope that a
backlog of beef building since a case of mad cow disease stopped trade
9 m ago will ease by the time their new crop of calves are ready for
market in fall.
Jim Murray expects about 300 calves to be born on his farm in central
Manitoba in coming wks, adding more hungry mouths to the 250 calves he
held back from market last fall.
Like most farmers, he believed the US -- Canada's largest customer --
would allow imports of young, live cattle by spring.
Now, he thinks the ban could last as long as another 12 m. "We don't
know what we're going to do," Murray said. "We're just day by day,
trying to figure something out."
Murray's livestock are part of the record cattle herd amassed since
export markets banned Canada's beef after it reported its 1st
home-grown case of mad cow disease in May.
Before the ban, Canada had relied on exporting 60% of its cattle and
beef, most of it to the US.
Since Sep, US buyers have been allowed to import boneless beef from
young animals, thought to be at low risk for developing the disease.
US regulators had proposed rules to allow imports of young, live
cattle for slaughter -- but they were stalled in late Dec when
officials found the 1st US case of the disease, in what was found to
be a Canadian-born cow.
US officials said this wk they will reexamine their proposed
rules. Canada's agriculture minister is hopeful trade could resume by
spring. Others are less optimistic.
Timelines for the rule-making process, combined with an anticipated
dip in US cattle prices this summer will lead to pressure for the
border to stay closed until the last quarter, US livestock economist
Jim Robb said in Canada this wk.
"You can't slaughter your way and process your way ... out of the
problem," Robb said, calling Canada's situation "precarious."
By the end of the y, given the current slaughter and beef export pace,
about 700,000 young cattle and 360,000 excess mature cows could be
clogging Canadian farms, industry statistics show.
But industry leaders hope new slaughter capacity soon coming on stream
could almost halve that backlog.
Canada's largest farm lender hopes exports begin by fall to give
farmers better cash flow.
Farmers have kept up with payments and lenders have not seen a bulge
in loan defaults, said Lyndon Carlson, a vice-president with Farm
Credit Canada. "So far, farmers have done an admirable job of hanging
in there," Carlson said.
Because of the huge glut, farmers were losing $C250 to $C300
[$US187-$US224] per head on steers this wk, and prices could dip
further by summer, said Rick Wright, long-time auctioneer with
Heartland Livestock.
"I have never seen the mood ... and the morale as low as they are
right now," Wright said. "It's almost at a hopelessness level because
there just doesn't seem to be any indication of a light at the end of
the tunnel."
Manila. Rescuers have found more survivors from a passenger ferry that
caught fire off the Philippine capital, Manila. A total of 737
passengers and crew members have now been rescued, but 139 people are
still missing, feared drowned. Officials say there were 877 passengers
and crew aboard the ship when it caught fire before dawn after an
unexplained explosion in the engine room.
Hundreds unaccounted for in Manila fire
Manila (AFP). More than 200 people remained unaccounted for after
rescuers plucked 100s of others from a passenger ferry that caught
fire off the coast of the Philippines, officials say.
Coastguard rep Lt Armando Balilo says at least one person died
and 14 others were injured in the incident aboard the SuperFerry 14.
The cause of the fire is not known.
Lt Balilo says 638 of the ship's 861 passengers and crew have been
accounted for, leaving 223 still missing.
A total of 637 survivors, including the injured, were aboard ships
that were sailing toward Manila.
He said it was possible some of those missing were aboard smaller
craft that had joined the rescue efforts.
The fire broke out in the ferry as it passed Corregidor island on the
mouth of Manila Bay, about 2 hr after leaving the port of Manila for
the central Philippines.
Christie Cayetona, one of the rescued passengers, recounted being
woken up by a loud explosion from her bunk below deck.
"We rushed toward the main deck," she told Manila radio station DZRH
by telephone aboard a rescue vessel. "There was smoke all over."
The ship's captain, Ceferino Manzo, ordered his crew to lower the life
rafts and abandon ship nearly 2 hr later as they struggled to put out
the blaze, said Gina Virtusio, rep for the ship's owners Aboitiz Transport.
The blaze was put out before dawn and the vessel would be towed to
shore, Lt Balilo said.
"We continue to scour the area to assist passengers who may have
jumped or fell overboard," he said.
"There are reports that Navy pumpboats also rescued some passengers
and are transferring them aboard coastguard vessels in the area."
US Marines taking part in joint annual war games at the nearby coastal
town of Ternate provided rubber boats for Philippine Navy frogmen leading
the rescue efforts, said Philippine Navy rep Captain Gerry Malabanan.
The SuperFerry 14 was built to carry a maximum of 1,672 people, the
company said. It had been in service for 3 y.
Bitonja. The Macedonian govt says Pres Boris Trajkovski is missing and
presumed dead after his plane crashed in thick fog. The president's
party initially said he died in the crash, which happened in a
remote, rocky area of mountainous southern Bosnia. However, NATO
peacekeepers say the wreckage hasn't been located and the govt now
says the president is officially considered missing and presumed dead.
Trajkovski, had been widely hailed for his efforts to get Macedonians
and rival ethnic Albanians to live in peace.
Al Hoceima. Earthquake survivors in Morocco have stopped relief trucks
on the road, afraid tents and blankets aren't reaching their devastated
region of N Morocco fast enough. 2 days after a powerful quake killed
nearly 600 people, Moroccan govt efforts are so disorganised that 40
Spanish firefighters have returned home in frustration. Spanish
relief workers complained Moroccan authorities were hampering their work.
Moscow. 4 school children and 18 people in a packed cafe died today in
two separate blasts in Russia which authorities have blamed on gas
explosions, probably due to negligence. The most deadly incident took
place in the eastern Siberian city of Chita, where a blast rocked a
cafe in the late afternoon, destroying it completely. The death toll
was initially reported at 9 but rapidly climbed to 18. The emergencies
ministry in Moscow says another 17 people were injured, 7 of them seriously.
Lisbon. A Brazilian missionary has been found dead in a town in N
Mozambique where 4 Roman Catholic nuns have received death threats
after alleging an organ trafficking network was operating in the area.
Portuguese state radio says police found 53-yo Doreci Edinger in her
flat in the town of Nampula on Tue and believe the Evangelical Lutheran
missionary was murdered. Edinger had been in Mozambique, a former
Portuguese colony, since 1998.
Washington. The Bush Admin in the US plans to announce that it won't
sign a 150-nation anti-land mine treaty, but will use mines that
eventually self-destruct. An Admin official says the new policy will
also double what the US spends annually to locate and remove mines
hazardous to people and serving no deterrent purpose. From now on, all
new US land mines will be detectable to US authorities and geared to
become inert. However those considered part of deterring attacks, such
as on the Korean Peninsula, will remain in use.
How a GCHQ translator uncovered an American dirty tricks campaign
London (Independent). Under any other circumstances Katharine Gun would
at least have been tried for breaching the Official Secrets Act. She
has never denied that as an employee of the GCHQ she leaked secret
info which ended up in a Sun newspaper.
But there was one festering fact which made it impossible for the Govt
to allow the case to continue -- Iraq.
From the advice of the A-G, Lord Goldsmith, about the legality of the
war, to tales of dirty tricks involving Brit intel, a trial in the
full glare of publicity would have led to highly embarrassing
revelations for Tony Blair.
So Katharine Gun walked free from the Old Bailey yesterday, a heroine
to those who opposed the invasion. Her actions had received widespread
internat'l publicity, with vocal support across the Atlantic from,
among others, the actor Sean Penn, the civil rights leader and
presidential candidate the Reverend Jesse Jackson, and Daniel Elsberg,
the Pentagon Papers whistle blower.
In the wake of the Iraq war, 5 Congressmen wrote an open letter to Mr
Blair stating: "The Brit and American public deserved to know all the
elements involved in the build up to the war. Whistle blowers play an
essential role in democracy."
Yet it was by chance that Ms Gun, 29, found herself in a position to
so publicly undermine the case for war. By all accounts she had no
more than an average interest in politics and internat'l relations,
and only joined GCHQ as a translator after unsuccessfully applying for
other jobs to suit her 2:1 degree in modern Chinese and Japanese
attained at Durham Uni.
Ms Gun's parents, Paul and Jan Harwood, met when they were students at
Durham. In 1977 the family moved to Taiwan, where Mr Harwood took up a
teaching post. Katharine grew up there before returning to England to
take her A-levels and then going to Durham. Soon afterwards she
married a man of Turkish extraction.
Mr Harwood, a lecturer in English literature at Tunghai Uni,
remembers his daughter in her formative y as a "principled and honest"
girl, but not a natural activist. Her mother said: "Katharine is
idealistic and not a bad person. Whatever trouble she was in, we were
right behind her."
Ms Gun had no difficulty with her vetting for GCHQ, and appeared to
have fitted in without any problems. The main role of the service is
to act as the Govt's eavesdropping centre, carrying out domestic and
internat'l electronic surveillance. It works closely with its American
counterpart, the Nat'l Security Agency. Ms Gun's linguistic skills
meant she was a relatively junior translator and monitor on China and,
to a lesser extent, Japan. Her role was to translate intercepted
communications, written and verbal, and pass it on to analysts.
When the PM 1st mooted the possibility of war, Ms Gun's reaction, and
that of many of her friends, was one of incredulity. "I felt at the
time, when the Govt started mentioning Iraq, 'you have to be joking',
and then suddenly it snowballed into something everyone was agreeing
with," she said.
But the inexorable slide to war continued. It was in this atmosphere
of recriminations and accusations that Ms Gun found herself with info
that she felt was so worrying it must be made public.
Washington and London were facing a struggle to convince other members
of the UN of the need to overthrow Saddam Hussein by force. Ms Gun was
part of the team monitoring the Chinese delegation on the Security
Council, who were very much a target for surveillance by Brit and
American intel.
In Feb, with diplomatic activity at its most frenetic, Ms Gun came
across an e-mail to GCHQ from Frank Koza, a snr official of the Nat'l
Security Agency. It was requesting help with an eavesdropping "surge"
on delegates from 6 non-permanent members of the Security Council
whose "swing votes" would be crucial if the US and Brit were to drive
through a 2nd UN resolution.
Ms Gun recalled: "I was pretty horrified. I felt the Brit intel
services were being asked to do something that would undermine the
whole UN democratic process itself."
After days of soul searching she told a friend what she had
discovered. She, in turn, passed it on to a freelance journalist, who
approached The Observer with the info. After 3 wk of research, the
newspaper published the story on 5 Mar last y.
"When I originally leaked it I had no idea if anybody would be
interested in it. Personally, I felt very strongly about it and I
hoped the press would get their teeth into it. I was hoping to pour
some cold water on people's heated debate about the war. I wanted
people to stop and have a logical and dispassionate discussion about
why we were going to war and what it would mean.
"I am just baffled that in the 21st century we as human beings are still
dropping bombs on each other as a means of resolving issues," she said.
Ms Gun had been unprepared for the furore which followed. As a hunt
started for the source, she decided to confess.
"I am a pretty emotional person and I felt I just couldn't go on
working there after what I had done. I went to my line manager. I
trusted her and respected her. She put her arm around me and I cried
on her shoulder. She was great about it."
Ms Gun was arrested, questioned and spent a night in custody before
being released on bail. For the next 8 m she was repeatedly questioned
and re-bailed, before being charged under the Official Secrets Act.
Liberty, the civil rights group, took over Ms Gun's defence, and Ben
Emmerson QC, a specialist in human rights laws, was appointed counsel.
The crux of the defence was that Ms Gun had taken the action because,
she felt, the Brit govt had acted illegally, both in taking part in
the war without UN backing, and being involved in a plot to bug UN delegates.
Ms Gun's legal team demanded disclosure of govt documents pertaining
to the legality of the war. On Tue, they made a request for a full
account of the advice Lord Goldsmith had given about the legal
justification for war -- something ministers had repeatedly refused to do.
James Welch, the Liberty solicitor acting for Ms Gun, said: "Our case
was that any advice the Govt received on the legality of war was
relevant to Katharine's case and we were prepared to go before a judge
and argue for it to be disclosed. We served the document at lunchtime
and just before 5 pm yesterday I received a phone call saying it was
the intention to drop the case."
It took just 18 minutes at Court 7 of the Old Bailey yesterday for the
proceedings to be formally ended after Mark Ellison, acting for the
Crown, said no evidence would be offered by the prosecution.
Ms Gun, who had pleaded not guilty, shook slightly after being discharged.
"I feel I have acted with decency and honesty throughout this whole
affair and I have absolutely no regrets about what I have done. I know
it's very difficult and people don't' want to jeopardise their
careers, or lives, but if there are things out there that should
really come out, hey, why not," she said after leaving court.
* SPILLING THE BEANS: OTHER SPY CASES
SARAH TISDALL
Sarah Tisdall, a Foreign Office clerk, was jailed in 1984 for 6 m for
passing documents relating to Cruise missiles to The Guardian.
CLIVE PONTING
Clive Ponting, a snr civil servant, was acquitted at the Old Bailey in
1985 after pleading not guilty to breaching the Official Secrets Act
over his leaking of documents relating to the sinking of the Argentine
warship Gen Belgrano during the Falklands conflict.
CATHY MASSITER
Cathy Massiter, a former MI5 officer, revealed that the agency had
bugged anti-nuclear campaigners. She also told a Channel 4 television
documentary that MI5 had been bugging the telephones of politicians
and human rights campaigners. She was not prosecuted.
PETER WRIGHT
Ex-MI5 officer Peter Wright claimed in his book Spycatcher in 1987
that he and a small number of other MI5 officers plotted to smear
Harold Wilson, the former Labour PM.
RICHARD TOMLINSON
Former MI6 officer Richard Tomlinson was jailed for 12 m for the
unlawful disclosure of info under the Official Secrets Act. He had
pleaded guilty in 1997 to passing a synopsis of a book about his
experiences to an AUS publisher.
DAVID SHAYLER
MI5 traitor David Shayler was jailed for 6 m in 2002 for risking Brit
agents' lives by his "blinkered arrogance". An Old Bailey jury
convicted him of 3 charges under the Official Secrets Act after
selling top secret documents to a newspaper for #40,000. The documents
contained the names of agents. He claimed he was a whistle blower
trying to expose corruption in the secret service.
Govt to review Official Secrets Act
London (Guardian). The govt is to review the Official Secrets Act in
light of yesterday's formal acquittal of GCHQ whistle-blower Katharine
Gun, Downing Street said today.
Ms Gun, 29, a former translator at the govt's monitoring service, had
admitted leaking a top secret email to the Observer about alleged US
requests for help eavesdropping on figures at the UN ahead of the war
in Iraq.
She was charged under the Official Secrets Act last Nov with
disclosing info but was yesterday cleared at the Old Bailey after the
prosecution offered no evidence against her, effectively dropping its case.
There has been no detailed official explanation for why the case was
dropped and -- alongside a debate about the ethics of turning whistle blower
-- questions are mounting about the enforceability of the act.
Ms Gun had planned for her defence to seek the disclosure of the full
advice from the A-G on the war, which has never been made public. This
has fuelled speculation that the case against her was stopped because
of fears any trial would have simply compounded the bad publicity
around GCHQ and further damaged the govt.
Yesterday Ms Gun encouraged others to take similar action in congruent
situations and said she believed she was justified because it was an
"illegal war".
Today Tony Blair's official rep said the govt had been disappointed by
the decision to drop the case. He said: "It's a matter of common
sense, when we have the outcome of a specific case yesterday which we
did not want as a govt, which we were disappointed with as a govt,
that you have a review of the working of the Official Secrets Act.
"You see whether, and I stress whether, there are changes that need to
be made." The rep would not divulge who would conduct the review.
Earlier today Mr Blair and the A-G, Lord Goldsmith, both insisted that
the decision to drop the case against her was done purely on legal,
not political grounds.
Speaking of Ms Gun at his monthly press conference, Mr Blair said: "I
played no part in the discontinuance of the prosecution ... my
understanding is that it is to do with their belief that they could
not secure a conviction based on legal and technical reasons."
Earlier, the former internat'l secretary Clare Short increased the
pressure on the PM after she claimed on BBC Radio 4's Today programme
that Brit agents spied on the UN Sec-Gen Kofi Annan.
Meanwhile in an emergency statement on the Gun case to the Lords
today, Lord Goldsmith confirmed he was responsible for giving the
go-ahead to the crown prosecution service for the prosecution to take
place. But he said that, after keeping the evidence under review, the
CPS had later decided that there was not enough evidence for a
realistic prospect of conviction.
Lord Goldsmith acknowledged that people may want to know more, but
said that, as the matter concerned intel issues, it was "not
appropriate" for him to say more. A Tory peer, Lord Howell of
Guildford said the late decision to drop the case "leaves a mystery
hanging in the air".
For theorists looking for a conspiracy, real or imagined, the
confidential advice from Lord Goldsmith on the war's legality is of
compelling interest.
At Mr Blair's news briefing it was put to him that Lord Goldsmith had,
in fact, been unable to grant legality to the war all through 2002,
and the position had only changed in Jan 2003.
But Mr Blair refused to give what he called a "running commentary" on
the A-G's advice, or to release it now. He said: "We are not going to
disclose the whole of his advice, because govts never do."
Mr Blair said the "effect" of the advice had been set out in a
parliamentary answer and that showed that war was justified by
breaches of UN resolutions passed before the build-up to war.
He revealed that the A-G spoke to the foreign secretary, Jack Straw,
before the case was dropped against Ms Gun. "But the foreign secretary
did not, like I didn't, play any role in the discontinuance of the
prosecution," he added.
With a review of the Official Secrets Act upcoming, it seems certain
that Mr Blair will continue to face questions about the fallout from
Ms Gun's claims.
London. A former member of PM Tony Blair's Cabinet says Brit intel
agents spied on UN Sec-Gen Kofi Annan in the run up to the Iraq war.
Blair has refused to say whether the allegation is true, but says the
former minister has been deeply irresponsible. Clare Short resigned
as internat'l development secretary following the campaign to topple
Saddam Hussein. Short says she read transcripts of Annan's
conversations while she was a member of the govt.
Brit's spying shame
Fury at claims Brit spied on UN.
"Calamity Clare" is accused of sabotage as she fires another furious
broadside at Tony Blair.
London (Independent). Brit faced deep internat'l embarrassment last
night after the former cabinet minister Clare Short claimed that its
security services spied on Kofi Annan, the UN Sec-Gen, in the run-up
to last y's Iraq war.
A furious Tony Blair condemned Ms Short as "deeply irresponsible" and
accused her of threatening Brit's nat'l security by attacking the
security services. Last night she returned to the attack, claiming
that the PM had stopped short of denying her claims because he knew
that they were true.
There was speculation at Westminster last night that the bugging was
carried out by American security services but that Mr Blair did not
wish to say so for fear of upsetting the Bush Admin.
In NY, Brit officials made frantic efforts to reassure Mr Annan and
his team about the conduct of the security services. The UN said that
if the bugging claim was true, the action was illegal and should end
immediately. "We want this action to stop if indeed it has been
carried out," Mr Annan's rep, Fred Eckhard, said.
Spying activities would undermine the confidential nature of
diplomatic exchanges, he said. People speaking to Mr Annan were
"entitled to assume that their exchanges were confidential". He added:
"We would be disappointed if this were true. We are throwing down a
red flag and saying, 'If this is true, then stop it'."
Mr Annan has every reason to feel personally betrayed by the Brit,
with whom he has close relations, and who have been strong supporters
of him as Sec-Gen.
Mr Blair was thrown on to the defensive at his monthly Downing Street
press conference. He struggled to answer Ms Short's unprecedented
allegation and explain the decision to drop the case against the GCHQ
whistle blower Katharine Gun. Some Labour MPs expressed concern that
his failure to give clear answers -- which he put down to nat'l
security and legal reasons -- would add to his "trust problem" with
the public.
The former internat'l development secretary, who resigned from the
Cabinet after the war, stunned the political establishments on both
sides of the Atlantic when she claimed on BBC Radio 4 that Brit had
spied on the UN chief during the critical period when it was seeking a
2nd UN resolution to give authority for military action.
Asked whether Brit intel was involved, she said: "I have seen
transcripts of Kofi Annan's conversations. In fact I have had
conversations with Kofi in the run-up to war, thinking: 'Oh
dear. There will be a transcript of this and people will see what he
and I are saying.'"
Mr Blair refused to comment on any intel operations, but insisted that
they were conducted in line with domestic and internat'l law. He
stressed that he was not confirming that Ms Short's allegation about
the security services was true. "It really is the height of irresponsibility
to expose them to this type of public questioning and scrutiny in a way
that can do absolutely no good to the security of this country," he said.
Ms Short rejected calls by Labour MPs for her to keep silent by going
even further in another interview last night. On Channel 4 News, she
dismissed Mr Blair's criticism of her as a "distraction" and declared
that it was the PM who had brought the security services into
disrepute by exaggerating their account of the threat posed by Iraq.
"There is no Brit nat'l security involved in revealing that Kofi
Annan's private phone calls have been improperly revealed and there is
no danger to Brit security services by making this public," she said.
Asked if Brit was intercepting Mr Annan's calls, she said: "No. We are
getting transcripts of them and I think that's wrong and is disrespectful."
Some Labour MPs suggested she should be disciplined by the party, be
prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act or lose her status as a
privy councillor. She responded that she was "not trembling in her shoes".
Mr Blair said he would consider disciplinary action but his advisers
believe that removing the Labour whip from Ms Short would merely turn
her into a martyr and prolong the party's divisions over Iraq.
Last night, Downing Street announced a review of the Official Secrets
Act amid concern that it could be impossible to mount a prosecution of
someone who leaked info in the hope of averting military conflict. Mr
Blair will again try to switch the spotlight back to domestic issues
in a speech to the Scottish Labour conference today, but faces further
turmoil over Iraq.
Michael Howard, the Tory leader, said: "I'm afraid the situation seems
to be a complete mess. It's about time the PM got a grip on it."
Charles Kennedy, the Liberal Democrat leader, urged Mr Blair to "come
clean" about whether Brit bugged Mr Annan's office. "He cannot use the
security services as a shield to duck this question."
There were claims yesterday that Lord Goldsmith QC, the A-G, had
changed his stance about the legality of war wk before the conflict.
=== end 1/4 ===