Morning Coffee Edition for Thursday, August 13, 1998
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U.S. Front Page Stories
-----------------------
*** FBI to speak on Nairobi bomb probe
*** Clinton expects to answer all Starr's questions
*** Update: Titan rocket explosion was $1 billion failure
*** No special prosecutor appointed in JonBenet murder case
*** U.S. firm recalls potentially E.coli-tainted beef
*** Family visits Capitol shooting suspect
The U.S. Political Scene
------------------------
*** Chinese observers slam U.S. voter turnout
*** Teamsters board rejects election rerun contribution
*** Report finds Medicare too expensive for seniors
*** Jesse Jackson's group outlines its agenda for U.S.
*** White House soothes on Russia, concern still there
*** U.S. launches campaign to keep farm kids safe
The Courts
----------
*** Judge says leniency deals for testimony are legal
*** Public access dispute likely to delay Microsoft trial
*** Accused Nazi collaborator denies Holocaust knowledge
*** Student sues Va. teacher, alleging affair
*** Farrah Fawcett tells of fight with boyfriend
*** Stone Temple Pilots singer admits heroin possession
U.S. Business and Financial News
--------------------------------
*** U.S. stocks finish higher despite market nervousness
World Front Page Stories
------------------------
*** Kenya holds suspects, criticism of U.S. mounts
*** Time running short for Kosovo peace talks
*** UN weapons teams await solution to Iraq standoff
*** Swiss banks, Jews reach Holocaust assets agreement
*** Update: S. Korea disaster agency revises death toll to 262
*** Religious leaders meet in Oslo to preach tolerance
The World Political Scene
-------------------------
*** Suu Kyi, activists turn up pressure on Myanmar
*** India government's fate hangs in balance
*** N. Korea says to hold high-level talks with U.S.
The Americas
------------
*** Guatemalan peasants bury massacre victims from war
*** Colombia anti-drug bases brace for fresh attacks
*** Lima charges 300 Ecuador troops in Peru - sources
*** Update: Western Canadian fires keep thousands on edge
*** Nicaragua cancels border agreement with Costa Rica
*** Uneasy calm at barricade in Quebec Indian standoff
Europe and Russia
-----------------
*** Soros urges Russia to devalue ruble
*** Russian security service accuses Israel of spying
Africa
------
*** Kabila's Congo and Rwanda trade witch-hunt charges
India and the Middle East
-------------------------
*** Iran President Khatami meets convicted mayor
The Far East
------------
*** China Yangtze swells anew, northeast scrambles
*** U.S. volunteer among 10 dead in Philippine attack
*** Mobs attack ethnic Chinese shops in Indonesia town
*** S. Korea vows to block Panmunjom student rally
*** Leeson's lawyers file appeal for early release
*** Moonie-controlled group plans N. Korea tours
Science and Medicine
--------------------
*** Oral contraceptives protect against ovarian cancer
*** U.S. open heart surgery to go live on TV, Internet
*** SOHO spacecraft, thought lost, could be viable
*** Link between cancer and DNA damage found by Canadians
*** 2 dinosaur eggs believed discovered in Bolivia
*** Promising drug against anemia may damage liver
The Environment
---------------
*** Corrected: Experts blame floods, heat waves on global warming
*** San Francisco mulls plan to become ferret sanctuary
*** NASA planes to scan hurricanes from top to bottom
*** Oil spills into sea near Peru wildlife reserve
*** Georgette upgraded to hurricane in Mexican Pacific
Human Interest
--------------
*** Makeup, wig not enough to hide Fla. bank robber
*** Balloonist sets low, slow course over Indian Ocean
*** Disney's Celebration suffers first armed robbery
*** Chinese prof vows to save leaning Tower of Pisa
*** French women seek tender cook as ideal lover
*** Prozac to Phwoah - Britain's up-to-date dictionary
----------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. Front Page Stories
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*** FBI to speak on Nairobi bomb probe
The FBI will give the first public insight Thursday into its probe of
the deadly bombing in Nairobi, a day after Kenya announced it had
arrested a number of suspects. The FBI has scheduled a news
conference for 10 a.m. to brief reporters on its inquiry as the focus
shifts to investigators examining the blast site and witness accounts
for clues to the identity of the bombers. President Daniel arap Moi
said Kenyan police had rounded up a number of people after last
Friday's bombing aimed at the U.S. embassy that killed at least 247
people, including 12 Americans. A multinational rescue team wrapped
up its operation in Nairobi Wednesday after abandoning hope of
finding more survivors. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555526284-540
*** Also: Albright leaves Germany with bomb dead, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555528929-603
*** Also: Americans killed in Africa bombings to be honored, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555528861-064
*** Also: Pre-bombing request for new Kenya embassy was rejected, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555525189-d9f
*** Also: Clinton orders report on safety of U.S. embassies, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555524142-e05
*** Clinton expects to answer all Starr's questions
The White House dampened speculation Wednesday that President Clinton
might refuse to answer some questions put to him by independent
counsel Kenneth Starr during dramatic grand jury testimony Monday.
White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said Clinton was sticking to his
promise of two weeks ago to testify "completely and truthfully."
Lockhart said he took this to mean Clinton would answer all
questions. There has been some speculation that Clinton could say he
had a right to privacy and refuse to answer specific questions about
his relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, 25.
She is at the heart of a federal grand jury investigation into
whether Clinton had sex with her and then urged her to lie about it.
See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555522217-283
*** Also: Alexander says Clinton woes will hurt Democrats, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555520812-2d3
*** Update: Titan rocket explosion was $1 billion failure
A Titan 4A rocket carrying a top-secret spy satellite exploded in a
billion-dollar fireball of debris and smoke just after blastoff from
Cape Canaveral Wednesday, the Air Force said. With the rocket's value
estimated at $300 million and the satellite's at $800 million to $1
billion, the failure was one of the costliest in the history of the
U.S. space program. The unmanned rocket, built by Lockheed Martin
Corp., lifted off at 7:30 a.m. EDT carrying the satellite for the
National Reconnaissance Office. It blew up at a height of about
20,000 feet. The 20-story rocket was laden with 500,000 pounds of
highly toxic fuel. The Air Force said the Titan rocket began to
self-destruct 40 seconds into its flight. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555521653-8ff
*** No special prosecutor appointed in JonBenet murder case
Colorado Gov. Roy Romer said Wednesday he would not name a special
prosecutor in the JonBenet Ramsey murder case and disclosed that a
grand jury would be called to gather new facts in the 19-month old
crime. Romer also appointed four prosecutors from neighboring
counties to assist in the probe. "It would impair this investigation,
it would delay it" if a new prosecutor were appointed to replace
Boulder, Colo. District Attorney Alex Hunter, the governor said.
Romer said the investigation into who murdered the 6-year-old beauty
pageant winner at her Boulder home in Dec. 1996 would go to a grand
jury. "This case is on track for a grand jury," he said. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555526493-0b8
*** U.S. firm recalls potentially E.coli-tainted beef
A Kentucky meat processing company is recalling 120 pounds of ground
beef after U.S. Agriculture Department tests found traces of a deadly
form of E.coli bacteria in meat made in the same batch. Hampton Meat
Processing Co. of Hopkinsville, Ky., is recalling the meat sold to
local customers Aug. 5. Other beef sold the same day to wholesale
buyers has been recovered, the USDA said. No illnesses have been
reported in connection with the beef. The recall is tiny compared to
last summer's record 25 million-pound ground beef recall by Hudson
Foods Co., which also discovered E.coli 0157:H7 in its beef. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555522700-ac0
*** Family visits Capitol shooting suspect
The family of suspected U.S. Capitol gunman Russell Weston said
Wednesday they were allowed to visit him this week, but they also
received subpoenas to testify. Russell Weston Sr. said outside D.C.
General Hospital the family was permitted to visit Russell Weston Jr.
over two days and had expressed their love and support. Weston Jr.,
who has a history of severe mental illness, is suspected of bursting
into the U.S. Capitol July 24 and killing two U.S. Capitol police
officers. A tourist was also injured. Weston Sr.'s attorney said that
during a visit to the hospital Tuesday, the father, mother, daughter
and son-in-law had been handed subpoenas outside the locked ward. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555523726-5b6
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The U.S. Political Scene
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*** Chinese observers slam U.S. voter turnout
Chinese election officials slammed the U.S. election process
Wednesday, saying Americans and young people in particular fail to
appreciate their right to vote. "Why is there no turnout?" asked Xu
Liugen, leader of Chinese delegation observing state primary
elections in Georgia. Record low turnout of about 10% in Tuesday's
voting in Georgia was explained by it being a primary runoff. But in
the 1996 U.S. presidential elections, turnout was a mere 49%. China
has held elections in 930,000 villages since 1988, and Xu said
typically more than 90% of the people vote. Nine delegates from
China's Ministry of Civil Affairs representing several provinces
spent 16 hours Tuesday observing the Georgia's primary runoff. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555524631-b26
*** Teamsters board rejects election rerun contribution
The Teamsters union said Wednesday it would not contribute to the
cost of monitoring a rerun of its election after putting the proposal
of a federal judge to its executive board. "The union continues to
believe that the government should meet its obligation to complete
federal supervision at its expense," the Teamsters said. Last month
Judge David Edelstein asked acting International Brotherhood of
Teamsters president Tom Sever to approach the executive board in an
effort to break a deadlock over funding to protect the election from
fraud. Under a 1989 agreement with the union to root out corruption,
the Justice Department promised to pay for supervisory costs. But
Congress has refused to authorize any government spending on the
poll. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555526884-d92
*** Report finds Medicare too expensive for seniors
Medicare is too confusing and expensive for many older people, and
the service offered varies widely from state to state, the Consumer's
Union said Wednesday. The group, which publishes Consumer Reports
magazine and lobbies on consumer issues, said senior citizens are
having to pay more out-of-pocket for extra benefits of the
state-federal health insurance program. "Many seniors in this country
are discovering that the health care system they were promised and
depend on is becoming prohibitively expensive, restrictive and
unintelligible," said Trudy Lieberman, the group's health policy
editor. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555522540-395
*** Jesse Jackson's group outlines its agenda for U.S.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, kicking off his civil rights group's annual
conference Wednesday, issued an agenda asking President Clinton and
Congress to improve the education, health and economic status of the
nation's disadvantaged. Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH Coalition listed
better enforcement of federal civil rights statutes, increased
funding for inner-city schools and a bill of rights so all children
are guaranteed "a floor beneath which they cannot fall," among its
key wishes. Jackson, 56, has not ruled out a third run for the
presidency in the year 2000, in which he would likely vie for the
Democratic Party nomination. He appeared fit after suffering a bout
of severe asthma that landed him in a hospital for several days last
month. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555524087-057
*** White House soothes on Russia, concern still there
The Clinton administration expressed support Wednesday for Russia's
hard-pressed economic team, but words from the White House could not
hide concern about the fate of last month's massive rescue deal.
White House spokesman P.J. Crowley said President Clinton discussed
Russia's economic problems with representatives from the National
Economic Council and the National Security Council. "I think what
we're primarily concerned about is the status of economic and
structural reform in Russia," Crowley said. The administration was a
key backer of the international rescue package, in which the
International Monetary Fund threw Russia a $11.2 billion lifeline and
other donors stepped in with billions of dollars in funds. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555523113-43b
*** U.S. launches campaign to keep farm kids safe
The Clinton administration moved Wednesday to keep the 1.5 million
U.S. kids who live and work on farms out of harm's way, launching a
campaign to stop accidents from hazards like dangerous machinery and
unruly farm animals. "We are going to elevate this issue," said Labor
Secretary Alexis Herman. "We want to reach as many farm workers as
possible in the field." The government estimates that more than 100
people under 20 years of age are killed and 100,000 others injured in
farm accidents on average each year. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555520757-cfc
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Courts
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*** Judge says leniency deals for testimony are legal
A prominent federal judge handed prosecutors a victory Wednesday by
ruling as legal the common practice of offering leniency to
defendants in exchange for testimony in criminal cases. The ruling by
a lower court judge was at odds with a controversial appeals court
decision made July 1, when the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in
Denver ruled that leniency offers to cooperative witnesses amounted
to bribery. That rejection of leniency deals shocked federal
prosecutors throughout the country who depend on using criminals to
testify against their cohorts. In Wednesday's ruling, Judge Richard
Matsch, who presided over the trials of the two men charged with the
Oklahoma City bombing, said the law specifically authorizes leniency
deals. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555526249-0eb
*** Public access dispute likely to delay Microsoft trial
A landmark antitrust trial against Microsoft Corp. seems certain to
be delayed by wrangling over public access to pretrial examinations
of witnesses, including the software giant's chairman Bill Gates. A
judge declined Wednesday to stay his ruling made Tuesday allowing
journalists and the public to attend the depositions while Microsoft
appealed the decision. However, Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, ruling
from the bench, also confirmed his decision that deposition taking
for the Sept. 8 trial should cease while the media, the government
and Microsoft establish ground rules for public access. But if the
appeals court agrees to hear the matter, that would also add
uncertainty to the trial date. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555522439-45c
*** Accused Nazi collaborator denies Holocaust knowledge
An accused Nazi collaborator denied Wednesday ever killing anyone
during the Holocaust and said he did not even know that Jews were
being persecuted. Jack Reimer, 79, of Carmel, N.Y., testified on his
own behalf in a trial to determine whether he lied about his wartime
activities in order to emigrate to the U.S. Prosecutors allege he
helped the Nazis round up and exterminate Jews in Poland during World
War II. They are asking Judge Lawrence McKenna to revoke Reimer's
citizenship. Reimer testified he was raised in a religious Mennonite
community in Ukraine where he was taught to pray at every meal and
when he got up in the morning and went to bed at night. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555522921-d78
*** Student sues Va. teacher, alleging affair
A woman who taught in a one-room Christian school in southwest
Virginia has been sued for $25 million by a former student who
alleged the two had a two-year sexual affair, an attorney said
Wednesday. The former student, now 20, has said he and the teacher,
Cynthia Carroll, had sex "on well over 100 occasions" beginning in
1991, when he was a 14-year old eighth grader at 3-Angels Christian
School in Radford. Attorney Terry Grimes said, "This woman told him
this had to be their little secret." The lawsuit also named the
Potomac Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which
operated the school, as a defendant. The school closed this year due
to a financial shortfall unrelated to the lawsuit. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555521006-a55
*** Farrah Fawcett tells of fight with boyfriend
Former "Charlie's Angels" actress Farrah Fawcett waved a poker in
court Wednesday to show jurors how she whacked her boyfriend's bed,
inches from where he lay during a quarrel. Fawcett, testifying in
producer-director James Orr's trial on battery charges, also admitted
smashing leaded-glass windows and throwing a drum stand at his house
during the fight. But the Texas-born actress - critically acclaimed
for portraying a battered woman in the TV movie "The Burning Bed" -
said she was defending herself from Orr during the tussle, which took
place over two days in January. Orr, who dated Fawcett her after she
broke up with actor Ryan O'Neal, is charged with misdemeanor battery.
See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555525390-fbd
*** Stone Temple Pilots singer admits heroin possession
Scott Weiland, lead singer for the rock group Stone Temple Pilots,
pleaded guilty to heroin possession Wednesday and was sentenced to
three months in a drug treatment clinic. Judge Larry Fidler, who also
put Weiland on three years probation, warned the 30-year-old singer
that he would be jailed if he left the drug facility for any reason.
This was Weiland's third drug case. In 1995, he was arrested in
Pasadena, Calif., with cocaine in his car and heroin in his wallet.
Weiland also was arrested in New York earlier this month for heroin
possession. Weiland may not work in the recording studio or perform
any concerts during the three-month rehabilitation, Fidler said. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555521699-724
----------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. Business and Financial News
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*** U.S. stocks finish higher despite market nervousness
Wall Street enjoyed a modest rally Wednesday, helped by an overnight
rebound in the value of the Japanese yen. But the gains were limited
by lingering investor fears that the Asian economic crisis is far
from over and that more selling could be in store for the U.S. stock
market. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 90.11 points, or
1.06%, to close at 8,552.96. On the New York Stock Exchange, advances
trounced declines 2,174 to 844 as 714 million shares changed hands.
The Nasdaq Composite rose 32.83, or 1.83%, to 1,825.53 and the S&P
500 index climbed 15.24, or 1.43%, to 1,084.22. The 30-year Treasury
was off 5/32 to yield 5.61%. The dollar was weaker at 1.7858 marks
and 146.32 yen.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
World Front Page Stories
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*** Kenya holds suspects, criticism of U.S. mounts
Kenyan police made a number of arrests Wednesday in connection with
the deadly car bomb attack on the U.S. embassy, as criticism of
American priorities after the blast mounted. President Daniel arap
Moi announced the arrests, but gave no details. But his phrasing
suggested he was taking note of a growing wave of resentment among
Kenyans at perceived U.S. discrimination after the blast. The Nairobi
bomb extensively damaged the embassy but almost leveled neighboring
Ufundi House - home to small businesses and a secretarial college. As
volunteers rushed to help people, gun-toting Marines kept them away
from the embassy. Newspapers said the bodies of 10 white Americans
and a citizen of Asian extraction were taken to a private morgue,
while those of Kenyan staff were dumped in the city mortuary. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555521210-623
*** Also: Kenya assesses effect of blast on national psyche, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555521257-55f
*** Also: Israel denies report on Kenya warning, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555520567-77c
*** Time running short for Kosovo peace talks
With tens of thousands of refugees on the run, their homes in ruins
and crops wasting away just a month before the weather turns cold,
peace talks must start soon to avert a humanitarian nightmare in
Kosovo, diplomats say. Intense fighting between Serbian security
forces and separatist guerrillas continued in the west of the ethnic
Albanian-majority province Wednesday despite the increasing threat of
malnutrition and disease among displaced people. A three-week-long
Serbian onslaught has chased the Kosovo Liberation Army out of almost
all its center-west strongholds, depopulating and devastating dozens
of ethnic Albanian towns, but KLA officers defiantly vow a fight for
final victory. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555523402-4df
*** UN weapons teams await solution to Iraq standoff
U.N. weapons inspectors in Iraq are biding their time after the
Security Council was formally notified Wednesday that Iraq's decision
to withdraw its cooperation means they can no longer carry out most
of their duties. The council received a letter to that effect from
Richard Butler, who heads the U.N. Special Commission (UNSCOM) in
charge of scrapping Iraq's chemical, biological and ballistic missile
arsenals. The council received a similar letter from Mohamed
el-Baradei, head of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy
Agency, which monitors Iraq's nuclear capability. Iraq announced last
week it was suspending its cooperation with UNSCOM and the IAEA until
UNSCOM reduced American influence. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555525434-496
*** Also: Iraq circulates videotapes of Butler-Aziz meetings, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555520972-9dd
*** Swiss banks, Jews reach Holocaust assets agreement
Swiss banks and Jewish groups reached a historic $1.25 billion
compensation agreement Wednesday for unreturned Holocaust-era assets,
ending a fight that stirred international controversy over neutral
Switzerland's role in World War II. The agreement, announced at the
Brooklyn Federal Courthouse by Sen. Alfonse D'Amato (R-N.Y.) covers
not only the big two Swiss banks, UBS and Credit Suisse, but also the
Swiss Central Bank, which bought billions of dollars in looted Nazi
gold during the war, and the Swiss government. The deal ends the
threat of potentially harmful boycotts and sanctions against Swiss
banks by about 20 American states and more than 30 cities. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555525074-cae
*** Update: S. Korea disaster agency revises death toll to 262
Flash floods and mudslides in South Korea have left at least 262 dead
and 78 missing, figures revised by the national disaster agency
Thursday. The figures were down from 311 people dead and 80 missing
provided by an official in the National Disaster Prevention
Countermeasures Headquarters Wednesday. Record rains over the Korean
pea have called "guerrilla rains," coming during what should be the
dry part of the Korean summer. Some southeastern areas received some
16 inches of rain Wednesday. Heavy rain warnings were still in place
for most of the south Thursday. Some 30,000 civilians were evacuated
to the safety of makeshift shelters. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555525058-04d
*** Religious leaders meet in Oslo to preach tolerance
Jews, Moslems, Christians and leaders of other religions met in Oslo
on Wednesday to preach greater tolerance to help defuse conflicts
reaching from Kosovo to Kashmir. "The world human rights focus is
often on political persecution...we also need more awareness of the
issue of freedom of religion or belief," Norwegian Development and
Human Rights Minister Hilde Frafjord Johnson said. About 200
delegates began four days of talks on bolstering freedom of religion
or belief at a hotel outside Oslo. Norway has hosted a string of
conferences on peace issues since it surprised the world by secretly
helping broker a landmark deal between Palestinians and Israel in
1993. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555518873-e8f
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The World Political Scene
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*** Suu Kyi, activists turn up pressure on Myanmar
Myanmar's military rulers faced increased pressure from inside and
outside the country Thursday as a roadside standoff between
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and security guards entered its
second day. Government sources said the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize
winner, a member of her National League for Democracy and two drivers
were still in their van at Anyarsu, 20 miles southwest of the
capital. Police stopped the four Wednesday on their way to see
supporters in Pathein, 120 miles west of Yangon. The trip was a
repeat of a visit in July, which led to a similar standoff that
lasted six days. International pressure on the ruling military
increased Thursday as a U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) headed for
Asia to try to secure the release of 18 foreign activists detained in
Yangon Sunday for distributing pro-democracy leaflets. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555528657-95a
*** India government's fate hangs in balance
The future of India's minority government hung in the balance
Thursday with a key partner in the fragile coalition set to decide
whether or not to pull out over a river-waters dispute. Jayaram
Jayalalitha, a former actress who heads the All India Anna Dravida
Munnetra Kazhagam party, is scheduled to begin a meeting with party
colleagues on support to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's
federal government. The mood was somber in Madras, capital of
southern Tamil Nadu state where Jayalalitha is the main opposition
leader. Separately Wednesday, India's Supreme Court delayed until
next week its hearing of an inter-state case involving the waters of
the Cauvery river, which flows into Tamil Nadu from neighboring
Karnataka state. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555527979-edb
*** Also: Train hits bus in southern India killing 17, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555526743-3c8
*** N. Korea says to hold high-level talks with U.S.
North Korea and the U.S. are set to hold high-level talks in New York
this month as part of a framework agreement which froze Pyongyang's
nuclear program, the Korean Central News Agency said Thursday. KCNA
quoted a Foreign Ministry official as saying, "We will sincerely
approach the talks with a constructive stand and make every possible
effort to keep the framework agreement in effect." The nuclear
program was frozen in 1994 when the U.S. and North Korea signed an
agreement under which Washington would provide Pyongyang with two
light-water nuclear reactors worth $5 billion. The U.S. also agreed
to provide North Korea with 500,000 tons of heavy fuel oil annually,
but Pyongyang has accused Washington of not living up to its
commitments. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555528289-b68
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Americas
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*** Guatemalan peasants bury massacre victims from war
The peasants of Pasacoc still do not understand why soldiers
apparently hacked off the heads of 59 children in a massacre 16 years
ago at the height of the country's civil war. But they finally felt
emotional relief Tuesday when they gave the remains a religious
burial. "Today we are going to bury them like humans, not thrown into
a hole all criss-crossed over each other," said Isabel Caal, who
estimates her age is 45 and whose brother's family is among the dead,
through an interpreter. The subsistence farmers of Pasacoc speak the
Mayan Indian language Kekchi. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555521769-a82
*** Also: Guatemala ex-rebels to register political party, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555523259-5d7
*** Colombia anti-drug bases brace for fresh attacks
Colombia put all its anti-drug bases on maximum alert Wednesday and
backed them up with troop reinforcements flown in from Bogota to head
off new threatened assaults by Marxist rebels, officials said. The
rebels launched one of their largest offensives in years last week
when they razed a military base, killed more than 140 people and took
129 soldiers and police hostage. Col. Leonardo Gallego, head of the
anti-narcotics division of the National Police, said he wanted to
avoid surprises similar to the devastating guerrilla raid on one
counter-narcotics base in the southeast jungle town of Miraflores,
where the government troops were captured. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555523142-0d5
*** Also: Colombia's Pastrana defends peace plan to army, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555522695-f58
*** Lima charges 300 Ecuador troops in Peru - sources
Details of an alleged Ecuadorean incursion in Peru emerged for the
first time Wednesday, including claims 300 Ecuadorean troops were
encroaching over the border on which the nations fought a brief 1995
war, military sources said. The information, cited from Peruvian
Foreign Minister Eduardo Ferrero's address to a closed Congressional
session Tuesday, hardened Lima's accusations of the incursion amid
the Andean neighbors' worst standoff since the 1995 war. Ecuadorean
units of up to 20 soldiers were patrolling an area in remote,
mountainous jungle just inside Peru, the sources quoted Ferrero as
saying. Ecuador has denied its troops are inside Peru south of a
de-militarized zone. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555524541-801
*** Update: Western Canadian fires keep thousands on edge
With smoke and ash swirling in the air, thousands of residents who
returned home after a short evacuation due to the threat of forest
fires remained very much on edge Wednesday. The residents in Salmon
Arm and in other nearby communities have been told they must be
prepared to leave again with 10 minutes notice and the plumes of
smoke in the distant hills only underscored the warnings by
authorities. They said crews made real progress Wednesday in their
battle to contain several large blazes in province's interior
mountains, but they were casting a nervous eye at forecasts of
increasing winds this weekend. British Columbia had 495 fires burning
as of Wednesday. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555522792-eb9
*** Nicaragua cancels border agreement with Costa Rica
Nicaragua has canceled a controversial agreement allowing armed Costa
Rica vessels to navigate the San Juan River in Nicaraguan territory,
less than two weeks after signing it to ease border tensions,
government officials said Wednesday. The July 30 agreement had
unleashed criticism within Nicaragua, as the press, lawmakers and
even the Catholic Church complained it eroded Nicaragua's sovereignty
over its territory. Vice President Enrique Bolanos called a news
conference Wednesday to announce the administration's change of
heart. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555521579-6cb
*** Uneasy calm at barricade in Quebec Indian standoff
An uneasy calm descended upon a lone stretch of highway in Quebec's
remote Gaspe Wednesday as dissident Micmac natives brushed aside a
government demand for talks and vowed to continue a two-week blockade
of traffic. The natives, most of whom are Micmacs from the Listuguj
reservation near Pointe-a-la-Croix, Quebec, erected a sand barricade
across Highway 132 July 27 in a bid to win what they see as their
ancestral right to cut lumber on government lands in the region.
"Nothing has changed. We're going to stay here," said Frank Thomas, a
self-styled barricade leader. Quebec thought it had ended the
blockade last weekend when it negotiated an agreement with Micmac
band leader Ron Jacques, but a small group of dissidents rejected the
offer. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555522278-383
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Europe and Russia
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*** Soros urges Russia to devalue ruble
International financier George Soros called Thursday for a
devaluation of the Russian ruble and suggested the introduction of a
currency pegged to the dollar or euro. In a letter to the Financial
Times, Soros said Russia's financial markets had "reached a terminal
phase." He conceded the currency board he was proposing for Russia
was "too rigid," but said that "in the present circumstances, it is
the most efficient way to stabilize the situation." The billionaire
philanthropist, who made a fortune betting against the European
exchange rate mechanism in 1992, said Russia would need $50 billion
of reserves to back a currency board, whereby it would be committed
to exchanging rubles for dollars or euros at a set rate. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555524153-5af
*** Russian security service accuses Israel of spying
Russia's domestic security service accused Israel Wednesday of
harboring a spy ring in its embassy in Moscow to gather information
on social issues, including Russian anti-Semitism. Quite why the
Federal Security Service, a successor to the Soviet KGB, was
denouncing the Israeli embassy for gathering information that would
seem to be of legitimate interest to any mission was not immediately
clear. The FSB said it questioned a man in Siberia on suspicion of
spying for Israel, but had released him after a "heartfelt
confession." The security service said it had "documentary proof"
that an Israeli spy agency was operating under the cover of the
immigration department of the Israeli embassy in Moscow, hiring a
network of paid Russian informants. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555520606-3ba
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Africa
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*** Kabila's Congo and Rwanda trade witch-hunt charges
President Laurent Kabila's Congo and his estranged ally Rwanda traded
accusations of witch-hunts and rights abuses in a growing war of
words surrounding a Tutsi-inspired revolt in the former Zaire. The
public prosecutor of the renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo
issued international arrest warrants Wednesday for two ministers who
defected to the rebels and for the political figurehead of the
revolt. In the capital Kinshasa, Kabila, who accuses Rwanda and
Uganda of sending troops to fight in the revolt, reviewed thousands
of singing and clapping young volunteers who have been turning out
since the weekend to enlist in the army. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555522845-40b
*** Also: Congo issues warrants for defectors, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555521639-f26
*** Also: Rwanda accuses Congo's Kabila of persecutions, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555520806-71a
----------------------------------------------------------------------
India and the Middle East
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*** Iran President Khatami meets convicted mayor
Former Tehran mayor Gholamhossein Karbaschi, given a five-year jail
term in a controversial corruption trial last month, was shown on TV
Wednesday at a meeting with moderate President Mohammad Khatami. It
was the first time that Karbaschi, a key moderate ally of the
president, had appeared on TV since he was sentenced to a hefty fine
and a 20-year ban from public office as well as the jail term. The
former mayor is the secretary-general of the party. Karbaschi's trial
turned into a hotly contested legal and political issue between
Iran's conservatives and moderates that brought into the open deep
divisions between the two camps. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555520909-a68
*** Also: Moderate Iranian minister calls for fair elections, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555520319-cf2
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Far East
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*** China Yangtze swells anew, northeast scrambles
Floods in northeastern China are threatening millions of people in
the country's industrial heartland, while in the south a fresh flood
peak is rushing down the Yangtze River, officials said Thursday. "The
swollen Songhua River is posing a threat to a million people near
Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang province and a
major industrial center and grain production base," the China Daily
said. Some 2.5 million people were patrolling the Songhua's banks to
watch for potential breaches as a third flood peak on the river
triggered by heavy rains upstream rolled towards Harbin. Floods this
summer have killed more than 2,000 people, affected 240 million and
submerged 54.2 million acres of farmland. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555528769-60d
*** U.S. volunteer among 10 dead in Philippine attack
Robbers firing wildly from a roadside killed 10 motorists, including
a U.S. Peace Corps worker, in a village in the central Philippines
and then escaped, police said Thursday. The four gunmen made sure
their victims were dead by shooting them in the head as they lay
bleeding inside their vehicles in the Wednesday night attack in
Iloilo province, a police general said. "What our investigation shows
is that the gunmen were apparently under the influence of drugs," he
said. Police said the men, armed with assault rifles, belonged to a
crime gang specializing in bank and highway robberies. A U.S. Embassy
spokesman confirmed the death of Peace Corps volunteer Robert Bock.
See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555528081-2d1
*** Mobs attack ethnic Chinese shops in Indonesia town
Angry mobs attacked shops owned by ethnic Chinese and torched a
nightclub complex as violence flared in two towns in West Java,
Indonesian police said Thursday. About 300 people attacked three
shops owned by ethnic Chinese in the West Java coastal town of Labuan
after a dispute over prices for basic commodities. "The crowds stoned
the three shops and forcibly opened the doors of the shops. They then
entered the shops and wrecked the place," said a police spokesman. He
said that nothing was taken from the shops. No injuries were
reported. The police said the situation had returned to normal with
businesses open as usual. Separately, a mob of 1,000 people set a
nightclub on fire inside a hotel complex 47 miles from Labuan. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555528660-ee0
*** S. Korea vows to block Panmunjom student rally
South Korea vowed Thursday to block radical students from attending a
North Korea rally at the border village of Panmunjom Saturday when
the two Koreas celebrate the anniversary of liberation from Japan.
State prosecution and police officials said the leftist students
would be blocked from marching towards the U.N. truce village to join
the rally, which has been banned by the South. Police said some
12,000 riot police would be deployed to stop an estimated 5,000
students who were expected to try to reach Panmunjom. A spokesman
said most students would be members of Hanchongnyon, a national
student activist group outlawed by the government for its violent and
pro-North Korean activities. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555527179-d54
*** Leeson's lawyers file appeal for early release
Lawyers for cancer-stricken Nick Leeson, the rogue trader whose
losses sank Barings Bank, have filed an application for his early
release from a Singapore prison, the British High Commission said
Thursday. Leeson, 31, a Briton whose unauthorized trades broke
Britain's oldest merchant bank, was jailed in 1995 for six years in
Singapore for fraud. "We understand that under normal circumstances,
taking good behavior into account, he could have expected to have
been released in another 11 months," a spokesman said. Leeson
underwent surgery Sunday to remove a cancerous tumor from his colon.
The cancer has spread to his lymph nodes and doctors estimated his
chances of survival at 50-50. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555528980-562
*** Moonie-controlled group plans N. Korea tours
A South Korean business group controlled by the Unification Church
wants to launch sightseeing tours around North Korea's Kumkang
Mountain in the fall, a co-chairman of the group, Pak Bo-hi, said
Thursday. He said he would meet North Korean officials in September
to fix the date for the start of the tours, to be conducted by
Kumgangsan International Group. South Korea's Tongil Group is a major
shareholder in Kumgangsan International and the Unification Church,
led by Moon Sun-myung, is a majority shareholder of the Tongil Group.
The South's Unification Ministry gave Pak after being invited by Kim
Yong-sun, chairman of the North's Asia-Pacific Peace Committee. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555528587-632
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Science and Medicine
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*** Oral contraceptives protect against ovarian cancer
Oral contraceptives can protect against cancer of the ovaries, even
in women whose genetic makeup gives them an above-average risk for
the tumors, a study in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine
found. Doctors have known for years that the hormones in oral
contraceptives cut the risk of ovarian cancer by at least 50%. The
new study was an attempt to see if those benefits extend to women
whose genetic material includes the cancer genes BRCA1 and BRCA2.
Women with BRCA1 have as much as a 45% chance of developing ovarian
cancer in their lifetime. The risk is 25% among women with BRCA2. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555518887-549
*** U.S. open heart surgery to go live on TV, Internet
The cable TV company that showed the first live birth on the Internet
said Wednesday it would air the first live broadcast of a heart
operation. America's Health Network said it would carry the broadcast
of open heart surgery live from the Texas Heart Institute in Houston
Aug. 19. It said the operation, to be carried out by surgeon Dr.
Denton Cooley on a patient not yet chosen, would also be carried live
on the Internet. The broadcast will start at 10.30 a.m. CDT (11.30
EDT), with the actual operation starting at about 1 p.m. CDT (2 p.m.
EDT). The operation is expected to last about four hours. Cooley
performed the first heart transplant in the U.S. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555523535-603
*** Also: Drug from snake venom cuts risk of heart attack, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555523940-290
*** SOHO spacecraft, thought lost, could be viable
The little solar satellite briefly given up as lost may be
salvageable after all, the U.S. and European space agencies said
Wednesday. They said the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)
has sent temperature and electrical data to ground controllers, which
means they may be able to salvage it. "At this point we are carefully
optimistic. People are quite excited here," said Bernhard Fleck, SOHO
project scientist for the European Space Agency. He said the
spacecraft's batteries have been recharged, and scientists are now
checking to see which instruments have survived weeks floating
without defenses against the extremes of space. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555523545-86f
*** Link between cancer and DNA damage found by Canadians
Some cancers could be caused by a cell's inability to produce a
tumor-suppressing protein after the cell's DNA has been damaged,
according to research released by Canadian scientists Wednesday.
Scientists have known for some time that normal cells activate a
tumor-suppressing protein called p53 when their DNA has been damaged.
However, inexplicably, some damaged DNA cells fail to activate the
p53 protein, which can potentially lead to uncontrolled cell growth
and, then, cancer. Scientists were missing the link between the cell
damage when the p53 springs into action. That link turns out to be a
protein called DNA-PK. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555522913-1b8
*** 2 dinosaur eggs believed discovered in Bolivia
Scientists said Wednesday they had found what were thought to be two
dinosaur eggs in southern Bolivia in what could be one of the biggest
fossil fields in the world. Team leader Christian Mayer said
Wednesday the eggs dated back some 68 million years. "They were found
in green limestone and there may be more in other layers," said the
Swiss paleontologist. The eggs were dug up in a fossil field in Cal
Ork'o, 440 miles southeast of the capital La Paz and near the city of
Sucre. "Of the eggs we found, one measures 10 inches and the other,
from a flying reptile, is big and measures 16 inches," Mayer said.
The eggs were found after six weeks of digging and will be flown to
Switzerland for laboratory analysis. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555527648-d59
*** Promising drug against anemia may damage liver
A drug designed to prevent the potentially fatal accumulation of iron
in people who need repeated blood transfusions may not work as well
as it should, doctors warn in Thursday's New England Journal of
Medicine. The drug is deferiprone, made by Apotex, Inc., the Weston,
Ontario firm that owns the biotech company Cangene Corp. It has been
approved for use in India, but is still regarded as experimental in
the U.S. and many other countries. The researchers from Canada, the
U.S. and Britain said they have discontinued deferiprone therapy in
all patients including those for whom conventional treatment does not
work. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555520601-f6a
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Environment
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*** Corrected: Experts blame floods, heat waves on global warming
Flash floods kill thousands in Asia, the death toll from heat waves
in Mediterranean Europe soars. And experts say it is all due to
global warming and demand urgent action. Although the worst may well
be over, at least for now, the devastation has left some countries
potentially crippled in economic terms, grappling with hundreds of
millions of dollars' worth of damage and thousands homeless. Some
scientists blame the La Nina phenomenon, an upwelling of cold water
in the Pacific off the South American coast, which produces unusually
wet weather. But like its antithesis El Nino, neither is a new
occurrence. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555522291-c53
*** San Francisco mulls plan to become ferret sanctuary
Long a haven for free-thinkers, the sexual avant-garde and
counter-culture gurus, San Francisco is now mulling a plan to open
its gates as a sanctuary for ferrets. The city's Animal Control and
Welfare Commission will consider a proposal Thursday to stop
confiscating domesticated ferrets from their owners - weaseling out
of state laws which make it illegal to own the snub-nosed polecats.
"At this point in time, I'm not opposed to making San Francisco a
ferret sanctuary," said commission chairman Richard Schulke.
"However, I do know this would fly in the face of state law and
probably is not legal." See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555522204-449
*** NASA planes to scan hurricanes from top to bottom
Specially equipped planes will fly into the upper reaches of
hurricanes - and soar above them - to see what steers these violent
storms, NASA said Wednesday. This could help give earlier warning
when hurricanes are on the way and more accurately pinpoint areas
that need to be evacuated, said NASA's Ramesh Kakar. "We could have a
better handle on how the hurricane is moving around, what the future
path is going to be," he said. By looking down on the storm from
overhead, researchers will get a three-dimensional view of how winds
are moving within the hurricane and how much rain it is carrying,
which are impossible to see from inside the storm or from lower
altitudes, Kakar said. Starting this month and continuing into
September, a NASA DC-8 plane will fly into the teeth of Atlantic
hurricanes and tropical storms at an altitude of 35,000-40,000 feet
(Reuters)
*** Oil spills into sea near Peru wildlife reserve
An oil slick on Peru's southern coast threatened a seal reserve and
bird sanctuary Wednesday after a spill from a pipe that juts into the
sea to load ships with crude, authorities said. Winds were dragging
the 600-foot-long slick out to sea some nine miles from the Paracas
nature reserve, one of Peru's top tourist attractions near the
southern town of Pisco. "We do not know if it can reach the Paracas
reserve because the spill is moving toward open sea because of the
current wind direction," an official said. But he noted that the wind
direction could change. The Paracas nature reserve attracts thousands
of tourists each year and is home to thousands of seals and exotic
sea birds. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555524958-95b
*** Georgette upgraded to hurricane in Mexican Pacific
The former tropical storm Georgette strengthened to hurricane force
Wednesday, becoming the fourth hurricane off Mexico's Pacific Coast
this year, Mexican and U.S. weather services said. Hurricane
Georgette packed winds of up to 94 mph and was expected to strengthen
further. It had been classified as low as a tropical depression
Tuesday. But Georgette is keeping a distance from the coastline,
heading northwest from its position about 630 miles south-southwest
of Cabo San Lucas, on the southern tip of the Baja California
peninsula, as of 10:30 a.m. (Reuters)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Human Interest
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*** Makeup, wig not enough to hide Fla. bank robber
Police arrested a Florida businessman Wednesday for allegedly robbing
a bank after tellers saw through his disguise of a woman's wig, red
lipstick and pale foundation make-up. Police said they arrested
Douglas John Patak at his home in Maitland, Fla., Monday and charged
him with the armed robbery of the First Federal Savings Bank of Live
Oak in Live Oak, Fla., earlier that day. Though he disguised himself
with a black wig and make-up, bank tellers told police they
recognized Patak as one of their customers before he left the bank in
his red Mercedes. Patak moved to Maitland from Live Oak two weeks
before the robbery. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555521582-e30
*** Balloonist sets low, slow course over Indian Ocean
U.S. adventurer Steve Fossett drifted low and slow across the Indian
Ocean Thursday, ducking dangerous wind currents that could end his
bid to make the first nonstop balloon trip around the earth. At
midnight EDT Fossett was 2,595 miles west of Australia and two to
three days from away from landfall there, his control center at
Washington University in St. Louis said. He was in the seventh day of
his journey, having floated 8,606 miles since lifting off from
Argentina last Friday. He had passed just north of Amsterdam Island.
His control center said he appeared to have avoided winds that would
have pushed him off course and toward Antarctica, but other weather
threats remained. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555528142-dbe
*** Disney's Celebration suffers first armed robbery
Disney's planned community of Celebration suffered its first major
crime this week when a man robbed a family in their home, the local
sheriff's office said Wednesday. The robber apologized to his victims
during the home invasion but said he needed the money. "The victim
told us he (the robber) acted distraught during the whole incident,"
said an Osceola County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman. "He did say he
was sorry but he needed money. He even pointed out his car (an older
model) to the victims." Celebration, Walt Disney's first residential
housing venture, is a planned town including a hospital, public
school, offices and municipal buildings within walking distance of
homes with porches, alleys and white picket fences. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555521559-bd1
*** Chinese prof vows to save leaning Tower of Pisa
A Chinese professor who says he has straightened 80 lopsided pagodas
and towers declared Wednesday that he could save the Leaning Tower of
Pisa from collapse. Professor Cao Shizhong, an engineer whose
English-language calling card says he is director of the "Slanting
Building Correction Research Institute" in the eastern city of
Hangzhou, said he wanted to pull the tower back towards the vertical.
But he stressed he did not want to rob Italy of one of its biggest
tourist attractions and best-known landmarks and promised to leave
the ornate white marble Renaissance bell tower at a manageable tilt.
"The Leaning Tower of Pisa has reached its danger limits. According
to the laws of physics it should have fallen down already," he said.
See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555518909-1d5
*** French women seek tender cook as ideal lover
If you are a caring, attentive man who excels in the kitchen but may
be less daring in the bedroom, France might be the place for you. In
a blow to the smoldering image of the Latin lover, a survey shows
that French women rate tender loving care above wild sexual antics
when imagining their ideal lover. And culinary skills score highly.
By contrast, devastating physique or staying power in bed seemed of
little consequence. A survey by the BVA group, released Wednesday,
asked women to rate the most important qualities in an ideal lover.
The 475 women aged between 25 and 49 could pick two qualities. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555518680-6bf
*** Prozac to Phwoah - Britain's up-to-date dictionary
The New Oxford Dictionary of English, deciding to controversially
move with the times, has gone the "full monty." Ignoring the
objections of linguistic "spods" - dull over-studious persons - the
bible of the English Language ruled that the split infinitive known
to generations of Star Trek fans is grammatically acceptable. "To
boldly go where no man has gone before," Capt. Kirk's catchphrase on
the long-running TV show, now gets the thumbs-up from the New Oxford.
Thousands of words have been added to the lexicon to bring it up to
date. The Oxford University Press says the revamp adds up to a
revolutionary new look at the English language. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555518723-a54
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