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News 05-14-03 Saudis Top Religious Violators (Washington Times - Duin) "Saudi Arabia was cited as the top violator yesterday in an annual report issued by the U.S. Commission on Religious Freedom on the status of religious liberties worldwide." "The commission also took the country to task for 'offensive and discriminatory language' disparaging Jews, Christians and non-Wahhabi Muslims found in government-sponsored school textbooks, in Friday sermons preached in prominent mosques, and in state-controlled Saudi newspapers." 5-03 05-16-03 Texan Legislators Flee for Victory (CNN) "Texas Democratic lawmakers who fled to neighboring Oklahoma say they're going back to Austin early Friday after a four-day walkout that killed a Republican-backed redistricting plan they said would have cost them five seats in the U.S. Congress." 5-03 06-23-03 Mideast Peace and Iraq Dominate World Economic Forum (SpaceWar.com) "Efforts to secure peace in the troubled Middle East and the future of war-battered Iraq dominated the second day Sunday of an extraordinary meeting here [Jordan] of the World Economic Forum (WEF)." 6-03 06-26-03 Confronting the Culture of Violence in Saudi Arabia (BBC News - Saleh) "In the US, politicians and commentators have accused Saudi Arabia's mixture of autocratic rule and puritanical Wahabi Islam of providing a fertile breeding ground for fanaticism and violence." "Rising violence and intolerance anger liberals and moderates. Within the country, the attacks have spurred liberals and moderate Islamists to openly express their dismay at what they consider an expanding 'culture of violence' promoted by religious radicals." 6-03 06-26-03 Syria Protests U.S. Strike (BBC News) "Syria says it has protested to the US Government over an American military strike thought to have been aimed at Saddam Hussein." 6-03 06-27-03 Strom Thurmond, Oldest Senator, Dies (Washington Times - McCain and Dinan) "Strom Thurmond, the oldest and longest-serving senator in history, died last night at age 100." 6-03 07-09-03 African Aid from U.S. in Question (BBC News) "Aid experts say that it may be difficult for many African countries to meet the strict conditions that the US has set for receiving funds from the new Millennium Challenge Account, which requires nations to adhere to strict standards of openness and democracy." "There are also significant problems of health care delivery in relation to HIV/Aids, with many African nations lacking the basic public health infrastructure to deliver improved care." "Meanwhile, experts are concerned about the lack of progress in negotiations over trade in agricultural products, which could offer more real benefits to African economies than any aid programme." 7-03 07-09-03 Hong Kong Anti-Subversion Bill Delayed (BBC News) "Hong Kong's leader has agreed to delay an anti-subversion bill that prompted a protest by about 500,000 people who called it a threat to their freedoms." 7-03 07-16-03 Vice President Under Pressure to Resign (Independent - Buncombe and Woolf) "Dick Cheney, the US Vice-President and the administration's most outspoken hawk over Iraq, faced demands for his resignation last night as he was accused of using false evidence to build the case for war." "He was accused of using his office to insist that a false claim about Iraq's efforts to buy uranium from Africa to restart its nuclear programme be included in George Bush's State of the Union address - overriding the concerns of the CIA director, George Tenet." "Mr Cheney was also accused of knowingly misleading Congress when the administration sought its authorisation for the use of force to oust Saddam Hussein." "The allegations against Mr Cheney have come most vocally from a group of senior former intelligence officials who believe that information from the intelligence community was selectively used to support a war fought for political reasons. In an open letter to President George Bush, the group have asked that he demand Mr Cheney's resignation." 7-03 07-17-03 China Calls on N. Korea and U.S. to Honor Agreement (Bloomberg) "China's government called on the U.S. and North Korea to return to a 1994 agreement in order to defuse a dispute about North Korea's nuclear weapons development program." 7-03 07-20-03 Bush Attacks Treaty to Save Earth's Ozone (Independent - Lean) "President George Bush is targeting the international treaty to save the ozone layer which protects all life on earth from deadly radiation, The Independent on Sunday can reveal." "New US demands - tabled at a little-noticed meeting in Montreal earlier this month - threaten to unravel one of the greatest environmental success stories of the past few decades, causing millions of deaths from cancer." 7-03 07-24-03 Report Concludes 9-11 Could Have Been Prevented (CBC News) "The attacks against the United States on Sept. 11, 2001 could have been thwarted months or years in advance, according to a damning report by the U.S. Congress." 7-03 07-24-03 U.S. House Moves to Reduce Media Monopoly (BBC News) "The House of Representatives has overwhelmingly approved a spending bill that would block the Federal Communications Committee (FCC) from raising the limit on television ownership by a single broadcaster." 7-03 08-11-03 Bush Campaigners See California and New York Possibilities (Washington Times) "Both states are ripe for the taking, according to election strategists, even though California has preferred Democrats since President Bush's father won there in 1988 and New York has leaned liberal since Ronald Reagan took the state in 1984." "Democrats find the idea of a Republican onslaught in their New York stronghold absurd." 8-03 08-11-03 Jerry Brown Sees Schwarzenegger in the Lead (Washington Times) "A key California Democrat yesterday all but conceded the gubernatorial race to Arnold Schwarzenegger, while the state's senior U.S. senator focused on saving the party rather than Gov. Gray Davis." Visitors sometimes misspell as Swartzennegger, Swartzenegger, Swartzenneger, Swartzeneger, Swarzenneger, Swarzennegger, Swarzeneger, Schwartzennegger, Schwartzeneger, Schwartzenneger, Schwarzeneger, or Schwarzenneger. 8-03 08-14-03 Gray Enlists Clinton and Arnold Gets Buffett (WashTimes.com) "California Gov. Gray Davis and Arnold Schwarzenegger, the leading Republican candidate to replace him in an Oct. 7 recall election, are both leaning on the masters of their fields — one in politics and one in finance — to strengthen their campaigns." 8-03 09-03-03 Court Blocks Media Dominance Rules (USAToday.com) "A federal appeals court on Wednesday issued an emergency stay delaying new Federal Communications Commission media ownership rules that would allow a single company to own newspapers and broadcast outlets in the same city." "In a loss for the Republican-led FCC, the three-judge panel of the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia granted a stay that prevents the new rules from taking effect as scheduled on Thursday." "Critics argued that the FCC rules would concentrate too much power in the hands of large media companies." 7-03 09-04-03 Democrats Hold First Official Debate (MSNBC News) "Democratic presidential candidates, from left, Sen. Bob Graham, Rep. Dick Gephardt, Carol Moseley Braun, Sen. John Kerry, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Sen. John Edwards, Sen. Joe Lieberman and Howard Dean face questioning Thursday in Albuquerque, N.M." Rev. Al Sharpton was delayed by weather and could not attend. "Democrats who want to replace President Bush welcomed the president’s decision to finally seek U.N. help in stabilizing postwar Iraq but argued Thursday that he should have done it earlier and that his delay has jeopardized U.S. relations around the world." "The first major debate of the 2004 race came with Dean’s rivals seeking to slow the momentum he has built in a summer surge." 9-03 09-04-03 U.S. Infrastructure in Disrepair (CBS News) "America's infrastructure is full of cracks, leaks and holes and is getting worse, according to an analysis by civil engineers that gives the nation's transportation, water and energy systems an overall grade of D-plus." "A report by the American Society of Civil Engineers released Thursday said the condition of 12 categories of infrastructure hasn't improved in the past two years.""Schools received the worst grade — D-minus — from the engineers, who said three out of four school buildings are inadequate. They estimate it will cost more than $127 billion to build new classrooms and modernize outdated schools." 9-03 09-11-03 Swedish Foreign Minister Killed (CNN News) "Sweden is grieving for its foreign minister Anna Lindh who died after suffering multiple stab wounds while shopping in an upmarket Stockholm store." "The killing of Lindh, who had been foreign minister for the past five years, has been described as one that has robbed Sweden of its 'face towards the world.' " 9-03 09-13-03 U.S. Losing Iraq's Youth -- and Opportunity for Peace (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - Allam) "With more than half of Iraq's 24 million residents younger than 25, cultivating youth support is key for the U.S. administration's long-term goals to shape the country into a model for Middle East democracy." Yet many young, middle-class Iraqis -- future leaders of the country -- say they are losing admiration for the America they glimpse through action movies, raunchy music videos and the soldiers their age who patrol the streets. For many, thinking of themselves as Arab and Iraqi has taken on new importance since the American soldiers arrived." " 'Before the war, I didn't care about politics,' said Monica Mohsin, 18, whose wealthy Christian family initially welcomed Saddam's ouster. 'I could go to clubs and parties. Now, my life is within four walls because my parents are too scared to let me go out. I swear, I never rejected Americans until they came to Iraq and opened a wide door for thieves and terrorists.' " 9-03 09-28-03 Clark Attacks Bush's Iraq Policies (CNN) "Democratic presidential candidate Gen. Wesley Clark has attacked President Bush's economic plan as a failure, and said the war in Iraq was "unnecessary" and lacks a way to succeed or end." 9-03 09-28-03 How Much Is $87 Billion for Iraq? (PBS NOW - Brancacchio) The Bush administration has asked Congress for an additional $87 billion dollars for Iraq and Afghanistan this year. "Even by federal government standards the supplemental budget request is a lot of money, eighty-seven billion dollars. The word supplemental means just that…money on top of the 79 billion dollars already earmarked for Iraq and Afghanistan. Typically, federal budget figures are priced over ten years. Not this one. The eight-seven billion extra is for this year and odds are the administration will have to ask for more in 2004." "The sheer size of the supplemental request for Iraq is prompting many of us to take a moment to reflect on what each of us might have done with a chunk of change like that. You know, if history had been different. Had the sanctions worked, had the inspectors stayed, had the U.S. had built a coalition that would have shared the costs of occupation as well the invasion." "It could be used to fix up America's infrastructure. Right now the city of Atlanta is fighting to get federal money for a big overhaul of its sewers. The President's request would spend nearly 10 times more for sewers and drinking water projects in Iraq than in the U.S. That's calculated per capita of population, but you get the point." "...But unlike a lottery, which is supposed to have the money on hand to pay its winners, there is no 87 billion dollars lying around in the U.S. treasury ripe for the spending." "So we'll borrow and those who lend will charge us interest which will rack up impressively over the decades it will take to pay it back. Think of it like a house. An $87 billion house with a mortgage. Payments just half-a-billion dollars a month, every month for the next 30 years." 9-03 09-29-03 Do Not Call On Again (USAToday.com - Davidson and Howard) "The Federal Communications Commission swooped in to the rescue of telemarketing-besieged consumers Monday, saying it will begin enforcing the national do-not-call list Wednesday despite a cloud of legal uncertainty." 9-03 09-29-03 Poll: Clark Ahead of Bush After Two Weeks Running (Washington Times) "Meanwhile, a recent Gallup-USA Today poll shows Mr. Clark, a retired four-star general from the Clintons' home state of Arkansas, narrowly leading President Bush and ahead of the other nine Democratic nomination contenders, even though Mr. Clark had entered the Democratic contest less than two weeks ago." 9-03 10-02-03 New Report on Iraq's Weapons (BBC News - Marcus) "The failure of the US-led Iraq Survey group to find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is proving a significant embarrassment to President George Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair." "On Thursday, David Kay - one of the leaders of the team - is due to give his interim report in a closed-door session to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees in Washington." "Mr Kay is expected to say that while no weapons have been found, there was an elaborate Iraqi deception operation to hide evidence of their programmes and that Saddam Hussein's own behaviour may have been part of a calculated bluff to persuade London and Washington that he really had weapons when he did not." "Why did the US and British governments seemingly fall so readily for Saddam Hussein's alleged bluff, if bluff it really was?" 9-03 10-09-03 Democratic Debaters Blast Bush and Clark (MSNBC) "In the most contentious of their four debates so far, Democratic presidential hopefuls Thursday heaped fresh criticism on President Bush’s postwar policy in Iraq, but they also took fellow candidate Wesley Clark to task, calling him a converted Republican and indecisive." 10-03 10-09-03 Schwarzenegger Establishes Transition Team (Bloomberg) "California Governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger named 65 people, including the Democratic mayors of the state's two biggest cities, to a transition team that will recruit appointees and help shape policy before he takes office next month." Visitors sometimes misspell as Swartzennegger, Swartzenegger, Swartzenneger, Swartzeneger, Swarzenneger, Swarzennegger, Swarzeneger, Schwartzennegger, Schwartzeneger, Schwartzenneger, Schwarzeneger, or Schwarzenneger.) 10-03 10-10-03 Iranian Woman Wins Nobel Peace Prize (CNN News) "Iranian activist Shirin Ebadi has won the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize for her focus on human rights, especially on the struggle to improve the status of women and children." 10-03 10-20-03 Kennedy to Receive Award from Bush (Boston Globe) "U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy will receive the 2003 George Bush Award for Excellence in Public Service." "That would be George Herbert Walker Bush, the current president's father." "Kennedy has been one of President George W. Bush's harshest critics over the Iraq war." 10-03 10-20-03 Largest Federal Deficit in History (USAToday.com) "The federal budget deficit topped $374 billion in 2003, the White House said Monday. It was the largest dollar amount on record, driven up by the slow economy, spending on the Iraq war and major tax cuts." 10-03 11-01-03 More Families Now Hungry (CBS News) "About 12 million American families last year worried that they couldn't afford to buy food, and 32 percent of them actually experienced someone going hungry at one time or another, the Agriculture Department said Friday." 11-03 11-05-03 Big Contracts in Iraq Went to Big Donors (CBS News) "Companies awarded $8 billion in contracts to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan have been major campaign donors to President Bush, and their executives have had important political and military connections, according to a study released Thursday." 11-03 11-13-03 Alabama Chief Justice Ousted for Placing Himself Above the Law (USA Today) "Roy Moore showed little reaction as the state judicial ethics court unanimously ruled that he had placed himself ‘above the law.’" 11-03 11-13-03 Poll: War With Iraq Based on Faulty Assumptions (USA Today) "More than half of Americans say President Bush decided to go to war on Iraq based on faulty assumptions, says a poll released Thursday." 11-03 11-15-03 U.S. to Hand Over Power in Iraq in June (BBC News - Reynolds) "The sudden decision by the United States to hand over power by the end of June next year is a recognition that its present policy has failed - but the new policy, plan B, is also something of a gamble." "The new interim government is to be selected by the end of June after countrywide consultations." "This suits the Kurds and the Sunnis who form minorities. They feel that their voice is better heard through such a mechanism. " "Then there will be elections to a constituency assembly. That has always been the demand of the majority Shias who want to bring their voting power to bear in any way they can." 11-03 11-15-03 U.S. to Hand Over Power in Iraq in June (USA Today) "American administrators will hand over sovereignty to a new transitional government by June, the Iraqi Governing Council said Saturday, announcing an accelerated U.S. plan for ending the occupation of Iraq." 11-03 11-19-03 World Media Assess Bush Visit to Britain (BBC News) "International media comment continues to highlight problems facing George W Bush and Tony Blair at the start of the US president's state visit to Britain." 11-03 11-22-03 World Media Assess Effects of British Visit (BBC News) "Papers around the world see little reason for US President George Bush to return home satisfied after his trip to the UK." "Many believe that his visit served merely to underline the gulf between the US-led coalition and Europe's citizens." "Against the backdrop of the suicide bombings in Istanbul, some papers also suggest that the war on terror has had very limited success and may in fact be backfiring." 11-03 11-25-03 Setback in War on Hunger (CNN News) "World hunger is growing again after a steady fall in the first half of the 1990s, according to the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization." 11-03 11-28-03 Bush Makes Secret Visit to Iraq (Bloomberg.com) "U.S. President George W. Bush's secret Thanksgiving visit to troops in Iraq was the first such unscheduled journey since President Lyndon Johnson went to Vietnam in 1967, at the height of the war in Southeast Asia." 11-03 11-28-03 Melting Glaciers May Make Billions Thirsty (CNN News) "The world's glaciers could melt within a century if global warming accelerates, leaving billions of people short of water and some islanders without a home, environmentalists said." " 'Unless governments take urgent action to prevent global warming, billions of people worldwide may face severe water shortages as a result of the alarming melting rate of glaciers,' the WWF group said in a report Thursday." "It said human impact on the climate was melting glaciers from the Andes to the Himalayas, bringing longer-term threats of higher sea levels that could swamp island states." 11-03 11-28-03 More Hungry This Year (CBS News) "...for the third year in a row, the number of hungry Americans has been rising. The government now says 35 million Americans don't know where their next meal is going to come from, and that number includes 13 million children." 11-03 11-28-03 Senator Clinton Visits Iraq (Guardian Unlimited - Krane) "A day after President Bush's surprise visit, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Jack Reed arrived Friday in less-dramatic style, saying it isn't too late to bring the United Nations back to Iraq." "Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, said a ''critical factor'' for coalition authorities was securing the blessing of Iraq's majority Shiite Muslim community, including Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, who has criticized the plan." "Al-Sistani, whose opinion is crucial to the success of any political plan in Iraq, has said in recent days he wants an elected Iraqi provisional government instead of one chosen through regional caucuses." " 'We're caught in a dilemma, possibly of our own making,' Reed said. 'A quick, hasty election might bring to power a person who doesn't share the values we're trying to encourage. But the more we wait, the more it looks like an occupation.' " 11-03 12-01-03 Former World Leaders Support Middle East Plan of Self-Appointed Negotiators (New York Times - Sciolino) "To prove that Middle East peacemaking is possible, self-appointed Israeli and Palestinian negotiators came together on Monday to celebrate a sweeping shadow agreement that would create a Palestinian state and resolve other contentious issues that have thwarted peace negotiators over the years." "Nelson Mandela, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and former president of South Africa, made a virtual appearance in a videotape shown on a vast screen. Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain, President Jacques Chirac of France, King Mohammed VI of Morocco, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and former President Bill Clinton, among others, sent messages of support that were read aloud. Fifty-eight former world leaders have also signed a statement of support." 11-03 12-18-03 California's Credit Rating Downgraded (BayArea.com) "A second Wall Street rating agency cut California's bond rating to near junk-bond status today, even as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he would use his emergency powers to cut the budget to send more money to cities and counties." Visitors sometimes misspell as Swartzennegger, Swartzenegger, Swartzenneger, Swartzeneger, Swarzenneger, Swarzennegger, Swarzeneger, Schwartzennegger, Schwartzeneger, Schwartzenneger, Schwarzeneger, or Schwarzenneger.) 10-03 12-18-03 Poll: Capture of Saddam Boosts Bush's Popularity (CNN News) "Saddam Hussein's capture caused a sharp spike in President Bush's approval ratings, according to the results of a CNN-USA Today-Gallup Poll released Wednesday." 12-03 12-22-03 Security Alert Raised to "High" (USAToday.com) "Travelers by air, land and sea faced heightened security Monday as the nation steeled itself against a possible grandiose terrorist attack that government officials say al-Qaeda has signaled could be imminent." 12-03 12-29-03 Airports to Fingerprint International Visitors (CNN News) "Foreigners entering U.S. airports and seaports -- except those from Western Europe and a handful of other countries -- will soon have their fingerprints scanned and their photographs snapped as part of a new program designed to enhance border security." 12-03 12-29-03 Libya Years Away from Nuclear Capacity (CBS News) "The U.N. nuclear chief said Monday that his visits to four once-secret nuclear sites proved that Libya was in the early stages of a weapons program before it dismantled its efforts." "The inspections follow Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's admission that his country had been seeking to produce weapons of mass destruction and his decision to abandon the program." 12-03 12-30-03 Special Prosecutor Named in CIA Leak Case (Bloomberg.com) "The Bush administration named a U.S. attorney from Chicago as a special prosecutor to uncover who leaked the name of an undercover CIA operative to the news media as Attorney General John Ashcroft removed himself from the case." 12-03 12-31-03 Bush Advisors See Syria, Iran, and North Korea as Next Targets (SMH.com.au - Rennie) "Washington's hawks have sent a public manifesto to President George Bush demanding regime change in Syria and Iran and a Cuba-style military blockade of North Korea backed by planning for a pre-emptive strike on its nuclear sites." 12-03 Papers Editorial - What Lies Behind the Leak Scandal (MSNBC - Fineman) "The plot line: Unnamed White House insiders are being investigated by the Department of Justice for having leaked the name of a CIA operative, supposedly with the aim of discrediting or intimidating her husband, Wilson, a former American diplomat who had the temerity to attack President Bush’s decision to go to war in Iraq." "The moment that piece hit the op-ed page of the New York Times, it was all-out war between the pro- and anti-war factions, and between the CIA and its critics." "The Democrats who are latching onto this aren’t doing so, for the most part, out of somber regard for the law. They are in near hysteria because they finally see a way to make stick a line of attack they have been using for months: that Bush, far from being a decent Texas straight-shooter, is really a genially deceitful liar — a man who cannot be trusted." 9-03 Hong Kong Economy Under Stress (BBC News) Describes the key issues affecting the Hong Kong economy. 7-03 How Much Is $87 Billion for Iraq? (NationalPriorities.org) Enter the amount of income tax your family paid this past year and find out how it was spent. You will find that 22.6 percent was spent on interest on the national debt and 26.2 percent was spent on the military. 9-03 Partnership of Bush and Cheney (Time.com) "This war has two faces, one a promise, one a growl. One says we will defend liberty wherever it lives, plant our values where they have never grown. The other says if you challenge us or threaten us or even just invade our sense of security, you will have started a fight that you will certainly lose." 1-03 Persons of the Year (Time.com - Lacayo and Ripley) Describes the heroism of Cynthia Cooper, Coleen Rowley, and Sherron Watkins. They are sometimes called "whistleblowers" because they tried to help correct something very wrong within their own organizations by reporting the problems to their top authorities. "They took huge professional and personal risks to blow the whistle on what went wrong at WorldCom, Enron and the FBI—and in so doing helped remind us what American courage and American values are all about." "Very quickly it became clear that none of them are rebels in the usual sense. The truest of true believers is more like it, ever faithful to the idea that where they worked was a place that served the wider world in some important way. But sometimes it's the keepers of the flame who feel most compelled to set their imperfect temple to the torch. When headquarters didn't live up to its mission, they took it to heart." Visitors sometimes call it whistle blowers1-03 U.S. Brands Doing Well Globally, Despite Disapproval of Bush Administration (International Herald Tribune) "A survey released earlier this month by the Pew Global Attitudes Project in Washington showed that the image of the United States has deteriorated markedly...." "But the majority of the 16,000 respondents said that the administration of President George W. Bush was the problem, not the United States in general." 6-03 Year of 2003 in Review (International Herald Tribune) "It was the year the world was transfixed by a war that overthrew Iraq's murderous dictatorship but opened rifts between longtime Western allies and worsened resentment of the United States." 12-03

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