Author's posts

Six In The Morning

I’ll Play Scrooge To Your Grinch



And Don’t For Get To Hand Over All The Damn Money

Daniel J. Langevin was 35, mentally ill and broke. He had been living in psychiatric institutions on and off since his early 20s.

A friend who visited him at the Rochester Psychiatric Center in February 1995 remembered that Mr. Langevin had pain in his jaw, eye and face that was not getting much attention from the staff. A week later, he was discovered unconscious, with a near-fatal infection spreading to his brain and other organs.

Mr. Langevin sued New York State, which operates the hospital, and probably would have won a sizable award.

Morning Shinbun Friday December 24




Friday’s Headlines:

Expect more extreme winters thanks to global warming, say scientists

USA

EPA sets schedule to limit pollution from power plants, oil refineries

Navy Considers Medal, 65 Years After a Heroic Act

Europe

Hungary backtracks on media law after censure

Nokia Looks to Recover the ‘Magic Dust’

Middle East

In Bethlehem tourism is reborn, but only for a few

Iran’s Ahmadinejad urges West to choose ‘path of cooperation’

Asia

North Korea threatens South with ‘holy war’

As drone strikes have increased, so have assassinations, Pakistanis say

Africa

UN hears of Côte d’Ivoire atrocities

Oil could bring peace to Sudan: NGO

Latin America

Dictator jailed in final judgment on Argentinian junta’s dirty war

U.S. OKs business with terror-supporting nations

Loopholes let companies get lucrative deals with Iran, Cuba, North Korea

By JO BECKER

NEW YORK – Despite sanctions and trade embargoes, over the past decade the United States government has granted special licenses allowing American companies to do billions of dollars in business with Iran and other countries blacklisted as state sponsors of terrorism, an examination by The New York Times has found.

At the behest of a host of companies – from Kraft Food and Pepsi to some of the nation’s largest banks – a little-known office of the Treasury Department has made nearly 10,000 exceptions to American sanctions rules, approving deals involving countries that have been cast into economic purgatory, beyond the reach of American business.

Morning Shinbun Thursday December 23




Thursday’s Headlines:

Does Santa Claus really exist? Yes, in Indiana

USA

Alabama Town’s Failed Pension Is a Warning

Stormy but highly productive 111th Congress adjourns

Europe

Albania calls in war crimes team over organ theft claim

After a year of despair, Haiti orphans get a fresh start in France

Middle East

Iran recruiting nuclear scientists for weapons programme

Iraq gets an unwieldy coalition government

Asia

Indonesian army linked to drugs

S Korea stages major military drill

Africa

Civil war looms as foreigners are warned to leave Ivory Coast

Zimbabwe pressed on vote reforms

Swiss close to charging three in nuclear smuggling plot

U.S. tried to derail case against associates of Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan

By Michael Isikoff

National investigative correspondent


A Swiss judge is recommending that smuggling charges be brought against three alleged members of the world’s most notorious nuclear trafficking ring, reviving a politically sensitive case that U.S. officials have repeatedly tried to squelch because it might expose sensitive CIA secrets, NBC News has learned.

After more than two years of investigation, Swiss magistrate Andreas Mueller said he plans to announce Thursday that he is recommending that his country’s attorney general criminally charge Swiss engineer Friedrich Tinner and his two sons, Marco and Urs, as middlemen in the nuclear smuggling network of rogue Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan.

Morning Shinbun Tuesday December 21




Tuesday’s Headlines:

3 billion-year-old genetic ‘fossil’ traced

USA

Auditors question TSA’s use of and spending on technology

Toyota to pay record fines for disclosure delay

Europe

Europe’s ‘last dictator’ tightens grip with crackdown on rivals

Europe Turns against Germany

Middle East

Israel accused of discrimination in occupied areas

Iran earthquake kills at least five people

Asia

Refugee debate turns toxic after boat tragedy

Japan watches nervously as China flexes its economic muscles

Africa

UN urges recognition of Ouattara as Ivory Coast leader

‘Already Flying the Flag of an Independent State’

U.S. seeks to expand ground raids in Pakistan

Military commanders see intelligence windfall in expanding campaign across border

By MARK MAZZETTI and DEXTER FILKINS  

WASHINGTON – Senior Americanmilitary commanders in Afghanistan are pushing for an expanded campaign of Special Operations ground raids across the border into Pakistan’s tribal areas, a risky strategy reflecting the growing frustration with Pakistan’s efforts to root out militants there.

The proposal, described by American officials in Washington and Afghanistan, would escalate military activities inside Pakistan, where the movement of American forces has been largely prohibited because of fears of provoking a backlash. Story: Investigator: Billions in U.S. aid wasted in Afghanistan

The plan has not yet been approved, but military and political leaders say a renewed sense of urgency has taken hold, as the deadline approaches for the Obama administration to begin withdrawing its forces from Afghanistan.

Morning Shinbun Monday December 20




Monday’s Headlines:

Sofia Coppola’s showbiz story that’s intimate, not personal

USA

Assange is a ‘hi-tech terrorist’, says Biden

Obama reaches out to liberal groups to shore up Democratic base after tax deal

Europe

Clashes in Belarus after thousands turn out in protest at alleged vote-rigging

White Christmas snow brings Britain to a standstill

Middle East

Secret plan to help Iraqi germ warfare expert

HRW urges US to link aid to Israeli settlements

Asia

South Korea to begin exercises near border with North

‘Good neighbours better than distant kin’

Africa

The tragedy of Algeria’s ‘disappeared’

If you pay peanuts, you get Zimbabwe’s shell of a health system

Latin America

Panic, anger as Cuba plans to lay off 1 of every 10 workers

S. Korea conducts live-fire exercise despite warnings from North

In possible breakthrough, U.S. troubleshooter says he wins nuclear concessions from Pyongyang

msnbc.com news services  

YEONPYEONG ISLAND, South Korea – South Korea fired artillery in a 90-minute drill from a front-line island Monday and launched fighter jets to deter attacks after North Korea warned of catastrophic retaliation for the maneuvers.

But amid the tension there was also a report of a potential diplomatic breakthrough, with U.S. troubleshooter Bill Richardson winning concessions from the North on the return of nuclear inspectors, according to CNN.

There was no sign of any North Korean military response during the drill, a South Korean Defense Ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity, citing office rules.

Morning Shinbun Sunday December 19




Sunday’s Headlines:

The evolution of the perfect American Christmas tree

USA

Rupert Cornwell: After 150 years, the Civil War still divides the United States

Probable carcinogen hexavalent chromium found in drinking water of 31 U.S. cities

Europe

Moscow riots expose racism at the heart of Russian football

Vatican Bank hit by financial scandal… again

Middle East

Politics in Iraq Casts Doubt on a U.S. Presence After 2011

Asia

Koreas up the ante over artillery drill

Foreign troop death toll hits 700 in Afghanistan

Africa

Mugabe ‘confident’ of winning 2011 elections

Shady group blocking official diamond sales

Latin America

Mexican drug cartels find youths to be easy prey

Gains outweigh setbacks in a landmark year for gay rights

Repeal of the military’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy may be the movement’s biggest victory yet, activists say.

By Robin Abcarian and Jessica Garrison, Los Angeles Times

December 19, 2010


Today the military, tomorrow the marriage altar?

In an era when gay Americans have seen stunning progress and many setbacks in the quest for equality under the law, many believe 2010 will go down in history as a watershed that will lead inexorably to more legal rights.

Saturday’s vote in the Senate to allow the repeal of the federal law banning gays from openly serving in the military is “one of the greatest, if not the greatest, victory in the history of the movement for gay and lesbian equality,” said Aaron Belkin, director of the Palm Center, a UC Santa Barbara think tank that studies the issue of gays in the military.

Random Japan

ALL NIPPON SCAREWAYS

It was revealed that an ANA flight was about 30 seconds from crashing into a Hokkaido mountain before a warning went off, spurring pilots into quick action to avoid catastrophe. An air-traffic controller was blamed for the near mishap.

In another near-miss, an ANA flight taxied onto a runway where a JAL Express plane was about to land at Osaka airport in 2009 because a pilot misheard a flight number.

The Japan Coast Guard officer who made public controversial video footage of a collision with a Chinese fishing boat through YouTube, said he first sent the clip to CNN but they tossed the SD card in the trash because they didn’t know what was on it.

Now here’s a switch. Japan’s defense ministry apparently received notice from the Nagasaki government saying they’d be delighted to host some new submarines at the Sasebo base.

Morning Shinbun Saturday December 18




Saturday’s Headlines:

Assange begins mansion arrest, but his ‘source’ feels the heat

USA

Soros vs Murdoch: The battle for the soul of America

Early Tests for Alzheimer’s Pose Diagnosis Dilemma

Europe

Europe’s big three form EU budget freeze pact

In hills outside Paris, tapping vast oil reserve presents risk but promises profit

Middle East

Baghdad Christians forced to flee homes

In Israel, a rabbi who argues that anti-Arab measures are un-Jewish

Asia

US envoy Bill Richardson warns of Korea tinderbox

Africa

Ki-moon: Gbagbo presidency a ‘mockery of democracy’

Mugabe vows retaliation against West

Latin America

Venezuela parliament gives Hugo Chavez more powers

Top CIA spy in Pakistan pulled amid threats after public accusation over attack



By Greg Miller and Karin Brulliard

Washington Post Staff Writers

Saturday, December 18, 2010; 1:20 AM  


U.S. officials said Friday they are increasingly convinced that Pakistan’s intelligence service deliberately exposed the identity of the CIA’s top spy in Pakistan, triggering death threats and forcing the agency to pull him from his post.

The allegation marks a new low in the relationship between the CIA and its Pakistani counterpart at a time when both intelligence services are under pressure to root out militant groups and the CIA is waging a vastly accelerated campaign of drone strikes.

The CIA officer was rushed out of the agency’s massive station in Islamabad on the same day that President Obama issued a new warning to Pakistan’s leaders that “terrorist safe havens within their borders must be dealt with.”

Morning Shinbun Friday December 17




Friday’s Headlines:

Is Twitter really worth $3.7bn?

USA

Congress passes extension of Bush-era tax cuts

Wealth gap becomes chasm at Christmas

Europe

Tuberculosis thriving in ‘Victorian’ London, says expert

Ireland’s abortion law ‘violated woman’s rights’

Middle East

Tehran downplays Arab Wiki-dness

Asia

WikiLeaks cables: India accused of systematic use of torture in Kashmir

Australian asylum debate intensifies as Gillard feels pressure

Africa

Let there be justice, says Kenyan press

Troops kill Ouattara loyalists

Latin America

Haiti cholera death toll starts to rise again

Japan defence review warns of China’s military might

Japan has unveiled sweeping changes to its national defence polices, boosting its southern forces in response to neighbouring China’s military rise.

The BBC 17 December 2010  

Japan, which shares a maritime border with China, said Beijing’s military build-up was of global concern.

Japan will also strengthen its missile defences against the threat from a nuclear-armed North Korea.

The policy document has been approved by the cabinet and will shape Japan’s defence policy for the next 10 years.

Japan is changing its defence policy in response to the shifting balance of power in Asia, analysts say.

Morning Shinbun Thursday December 16




Thursday’s Headlines:

Arctic’s vanishing sea ice presents polar bear with a new danger – grizzlies

USA

U.S. Tries to Build Case for Conspiracy by WikiLeaks

Administration’s next big Afghan battle: How many troops to withdraw

Europe

EU strategy in defence of euro risky for markets

Bulgarian row over diplomats with Soviet past

Middle East

Qatar Has High Hopes for 2022 World Cup

Middle East peace process: Dead but not buried

Asia

The tragedy that shames Australia

US double talk on Myanmar nukes

Africa

Call for calm as senior politicians accused of crimes against humanity

Human rights council: ‘Scars of apartheid remain’

Latin America

Chavez foes, US condemn plan for decree powers

U.S. rethinks strategy for an unthinkable attack

Administration’s problem: How to spread advice without causing alarm?

By WILLIAM J. BROAD  

Suppose the unthinkable happened, and terrorists struck New York or another big city with an atom bomb. What should people there do? The government has a surprising new message: Do not flee. Get inside any stable building and don’t come out till officials say it’s safe.

The advice is based on recent scientific analyses indicating that a nuclear attack is much more survivable if you immediately shield yourself from the lethal radiation that follows a blast, a simple tactic seen as saving hundreds of thousands of lives. Even staying in a car, the studies show, would reduce casualties by more than 50 percent; hunkering down in a basement would be better by far.

Load more