Utility Error Disrupts Power in Los AngelesLOS ANGELES, Sept. 12 - Large areas of Los Angeles lost power on Monday after utility workers doing maintenance work accidentally cut a line, officials said.
The blackout, which occurred just after 12:30 p.m. Pacific time and lasted for less than an hour in most areas, came a day after Sept. 11 and amid reports of threats by Al Qaeda against the city, setting off jitters citywide. During the power loss, television stations broadcast striking images of towering flames at refineries... (more)
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A state labor lawyer who opposed efforts to weaken workers' meal-break rights suspended for having attended a brown bag luncheon on lunch-break rightsHow's this for irony: A state labor lawyer who opposed efforts by the Schwarzenegger administration to weaken workers' meal-break rights has been suspended -- for having attended a brown bag luncheon on lunch-break rights.
Miles Locker has been suspended from his job in the Department of Industrial Relations for taking part in an informal "educational'' panel hosted by the San Francisco Bar Association's Barristers Club.
The panel's topic: "Meal and Rest Period Liti... (more)
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Swedish Feminist Party Aims To Abolish MarriageA new political party in Sweden says it will abolish marriage if it gets into power.
The Feminist Initiative, which expects more than 20% of the vote in next year's election, claims marriage "is not about love, but about ownership".
FI founder Tiina Rosenberg, said: "Instead of marriage we want to promote a co-habitation law that ignores gender and allows more than two people in a partnership."
But she said in allowing relationships to involve more th... (more)
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Freemasons dragged UK into Iraq war – Blair’s adviserBritain's Prime Minister Tony Blair decided to invade Iraq after coming under pressure from a "sinister" group of Jews and Freemasons, the Daily Telegraph reported, citing Ahmad Thomson, one of Blair's advisers.
Thomson, from the Association of Muslim Lawyers, said that Blair was the latest in a long list of politicians who were pressured by the group which believed that an attack on Saddam Hussein would enable them to control the Middle East.
"Pressure was put on T... (more)
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Patients put down: Doctors euthanized katrina victimsDOCTORS working in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans killed critically ill patients rather than leave them to die in agony as they evacuated.
With gangs of rapists and looters rampaging through wards in the flooded city, senior doctors took the harrowing decision to give massive overdoses of morphine to those they believed could not make it out alive.
One New Orleans doctor told how she "prayed for God to have mercy on her soul" after she ignored every tenet of medical ... (more)
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London bombs: Former UK cabinet minister Meacher says MI6 is trying to cover its trackshttp://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1566916,00.html
Michael Meacher was the UK's environment minister from 1997 to 2003.
In 2003, he wrote in the Guardian that the war on terrorism is bogus and that the 9/11 attacks gave the US an ideal pretext to use force to secure its global domination.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/attacks/comment/0,1320,1036772,00.html... (more)
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Terror measures 'risk to justice'International terrorism has increased governments' enthusiasm for "repressive measures" that could undermine justice, the UK barristers' leader has warned.
Chairman of the Bar Council, Guy Mansfield QC, said terror suspects must not be denied legal and human rights.
Even those charged with "the most appalling crimes" were entitled to basic rights, he said.
His comments come as UK ministers plan a number of new measures to tackle terrorism after the Lo... (more)
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Activist's arrest prompts questions about security powersA prominent lawyer has questioned whether the Federal Government has abused its powers by planning to deport an American peace activist.
Scott Parkin has been in Australia since June.
He was arrested in Melbourne on Saturday after his visa was revoked when an assessment showed he posed a threat to Australia's national security.
Human rights lawyer Julian Burnside QC says he wants to know why it took so long for authorities to act if indeed Mr Parkin i... (more)
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Cheney quip adds fuel to Katrina politicsOn Saturday, Vice President Dick Cheney became the latest high profile official to offer a soundbite about Hurricane Katrina, saying all evacuees he's met have been 'thankful,' adding to a spate of comments raising eyebrows regarding the Katrina disaster, RAW STORY has found.
According to Reuters, Cheney's words were in response to reporters' questions about what evacuees had had to say to the Vice President as he toured the Austin convention centre in the wake of the demotion of ... (more)
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Glenn Beck called hurricane survivors in New Orleans "scumbags," said he "hates" 9-11 familiesListen to the clip
Nationally syndicated Clear Channel radio host Glenn Beck referred to survivors of Hurricane Katrina who remained in New Orleans as "scumbags." Also, after acknowledging that nobody "in their right mind is going to say this out loud," Beck attacked victims of the disaster in general and the families of victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, saying: "I didn't think I could hate victims faster tha... (more)
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Some Question Pat Robertson's Katrina Charity: Operation Blessing Is Second on FEMA's List for Donations for Hurricane VictimsSep. 9, 2005 - Charity and religious leaders are questioning why the Federal Emergency Management Agency designated Operation Blessing as the No. 2 charity for donations in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Operation Blessing is the charity founded and still chaired by Pat Robertson, the politically well-connected television evangelist, who recently called for the assassination of Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we've never had anything ... (more)
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'Charm tour' to promote ID cardsMinisters are being sent on a "charm offensive" tour to educate the public about the technology behind planned ID cards, the Home Office has said.
Home Office minister Andy Burnham opens the seven-date "biometric roadshow" tour at Manchester airport on Monday.
He hopes the tour will help persuade people identity cards would protect their "personal data and privacy".
Civil rights group Liberty called it "yet another desperate attempt to sell Tony Blair... (more)
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New Orleans: covert operations underway?Wednesday's broadcast of KPFA's "Flashpoints" featured a telephone interview with Malik Rahim, who gave a gut-wrenching and shocking firsthand account of the staggering horror of still-neglected New Orleans that he and other survivors are facing.
In stark contrast to increasingly optimistic mainstream media coverage (cover-up) about "improving relief efforts" and "rebuilding," Rahim exposed the fact that there is no relief. No Red Cross, no food, no emergency medical care under a ... (more)
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UK Govt wants you to lurve ID cardsThe UK government has said it will go on a "charm offensive" this week, aimed at winning the general public around to the idea of a national identity register and identity card.
Home Office minister Andy Burnham is kicking off a seven day tour of the country today with a stop at Manchester Airport. He said he wanted to persuade people that ID cards will protect personal data and privacy, the BBC reports.
Shami Chakrabarti, director of the civil rights group Liberty,... (more)
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How the US Supplied Iran with Nuclear Know-HowA doctor friend expressed concern over the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Sixty years ago, some 250,000 people died when US atomic bombs fell over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. You needn't become a scientist to understand that radioactivity from nuclear bombs or malfunctioning power plants, like those at Chernobyl (Ukraine, 1986) and Three Mile Island (Pennsylvania, 1979), can contaminate the environment for a very long time. Nevertheless, since the devastating 1945 Japanese blasts and with full kn... (more)
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Politicians schedule 'space wars' meetingPoliticians from ten countries are set to meet in Washington DC this Wednesday, to discuss the future possibility of deploying weapons in space.
Sci-fi as it may sound, the question of space weaponry is one that is being considered quite seriously by the US air force, which argues that weapons are needed to protect satellites.
However, opponents warn that space weapons could spark a new arms race, and point out that orbiting weapons could be used offensively as easi... (more)
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Cover-up: toxic waters 'will make New Orleans unsafe for a decade'Toxic chemicals in the New Orleans flood waters will make the city unsafe for full human habitation for a decade, a US government official has told The Independent on Sunday. And, he added, the Bush administration is covering up the danger.
In an exclusive interview, Hugh Kaufman, an expert on toxic waste and responses to environmental disasters at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said the way the polluted water was being pumped out was increasing the danger to health... (more)
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Leaders must 'back forces of law'Community leaders in Northern Ireland must back the forces of law, Secretary of State Peter Hain has said.
He was speaking after a weekend of rioting in the city that left 50 police officers injured.
The violence started after a Protestant Orange Order parade was re-routed away from a nationalist area of west Belfast on Saturday.
Mr Hain said "responsible community and political leaders must come foursquare behind the forces of law and order".
... (more)
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Mississippi guardsmen in Iraq refused leave timeBAGHDAD - Scores of Mississippi National Guardsmen in Iraq who lost their homes to Hurricane Katrina have been refused even 15-day leaves to aid their displaced families, told by commanders there are too few U.S. troops in Iraq to spare them, according to guardsmen.
About 600 members of the Mississippi Guard's 155th Brigade Combat Team, posted south of Baghdad, live in the parts of southern Mississippi and southeast Louisiana hit hardest by Katrina, Maj. Neil F. Murphy Jr., a spok... (more)
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Paul Hellyer, onetime cabinet minister, takes up the cause of believers in UFOsOTTAWA (CP) - Paul Hellyer, onetime cabinet minister and a political chameleon who went through Liberal and Tory colours before founding two political parties of his own, has a new cause - UFOs.
Hellyer is to be a featured speaker at a UFO conference in Toronto later this month and organizers are making much of his credentials as a former defence minister in the Pearson administration 40 years ago.
Skeptics are, well, skeptical.
The 82-year-old Hellye... (more)
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National Enquirer Publisher Made Pay-Offs To Suppress Schwarzenegger Playboy Tape During Recall ElectionSACRAMENTO — Soon after Arnold Schwarzenegger entered the 2003 recall campaign, a tabloid publisher that was recruiting him as a consultant tried to suppress a risque 1983 Playboy video starring the future governor.
The video, which had first aired years before on the Playboy Channel, shows him grabbing a scantily clad woman and making other sexually suggestive gestures.
American Media Inc., publisher of the National Enquirer, paid Thomas Wells of Los Angeles ... (more)
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Supposed Damage to Gulf Coast Oil Production Leads to All-Time High Gas PricesLOS ANGELES Sep 11, 2005 — Damage to Gulf Coast refineries and pipelines by Hurricane Katrina pushed retail gas prices to historic highs in the past two weeks, with self-serve regular averaging more than $3 a gallon for the first time ever, according to a nationwide survey released Sunday.
The weighted average price for all three grades surged more than 38 cents to nearly $3.04 a gallon between Aug. 26 and Sept. 9, said Trilby Lundberg, who publishes the semimonthly Lundberg... (more)
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Foreseeable Problems on the Horizon as Disneyland Opens in Hong Kong By David Eimer in Beijing
Published: 12 September 2005
According to the Chinese almanac Tung Ching, 12 September is supposed to be a lucky day to start a business. But as China's Vice-President, Zeng Qinghong, prepares to preside over the grand opening of Hong Kong's Disneyland today, the portents for one of the former British colony's most high-profile ventures in recent years are anything but promising.
The park faces a potential lawsuit from the Hong Kong... (more)
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U.S. Senate OKs restrictions on cold medicines: Plans for a centralized database to track purchases of the medicineWASHINGTON — Sales of over-the-counter cold remedies used to make methamphetamine would be restricted under a measure approved by the U.S. Senate on Friday.
The bill would require stores to sell Sudafed, Nyquil and other medicines only from behind the pharmacy counter.
Those medicines contain the ingredient pseudoephedrine, which can be extracted to manufacture the highly addictive drug that has wreaked havoc in communities across the country.
... (more)
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