Docudharma Times Monday Novenber 9

Fort Hood Gunman Gave Signals Before His Rampage



By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr. and JAMES DAO

Published: November 8, 2009

KILLEEN, Tex. – It was still dark on Thursday when Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan left his aging apartment complex to attend 6 a.m. prayers at the brick mosque near Fort Hood. Afterward, he said goodbye to his friends there and asked forgiveness from one man for any past offenses.

“I’m going traveling,” he told a fellow worshiper, giving him a hug. “I won’t be here tomorrow.”

Six hours later, Major Hasan walked into a processing center at Fort Hood where soldiers get medical attention before being sent overseas. At first, he sat quietly at an empty table, said two congressmen briefed on the investigation.

Fall of the Berlin Wall: Timeline

A history of the events that caused the Berlin Wall to fall on November 9, 1989.

Compiled by Leigh Montgomery and Elizabeth Ryan

from the November 8, 2009 edition

1961

Aug. 13 The border between East and West Berlin is closed and barbed wire and fencing is erected; concrete appears two days later. The wall would eventually grow to be a 96-mile barrier encircling West Berlin.

Aug. 15 Conrad Schumann, a 19-year-old East German border guard, was the first person photographed escaping to West Germany. About 10,000 people attempted escapes, and 5,000 succeeded.

Aug. 24 Gunter Litfin, a 24-year-old tailor’s apprentice, was the first person shot dead trying to escape.

USA

Abortion an obstacle to health-care bill

Some Democrats vow to block final passage if amendment stays

By Alec MacGillis

Washington Post Staff Writer

Monday, November 9, 2009

President Obama and Senate Democrats sought on Sunday to generate momentum from the House’s passage of health-care legislation, even as a new hurdle emerged: profound dismay among abortion-rights supporters over antiabortion provisions inserted into the House bill.

The House passed its version of health-care legislation Saturday night by a vote of 220 to 215 after the approval of an amendment that would sharply restrict the availability of coverage for abortions, which many insurance plans now offer. The amendment goes beyond long-standing prohibitions against public funding for abortions, limiting abortion coverage even for women paying for it without government subsidies.

Competing programs hamper Kentucky’s prescription drug abuse fight

 

By Halimah Abdullah | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Kentucky lawmakers are at the center of a political feud over how to best derail the so-called “pain-pill pipeline” from Florida to the Bluegrass State, a multi-state trafficking scheme that has contributed heavily to the state’s crippling prescription drug addiction epidemic.

Competing national prescription drug-tracking programs — one supported by and named for Rep. Hal Rogers, a veteran lawmaker who sits on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, and another called the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting program, or NASPER, backed by Reps. Ben Chandler and Ed Whitfield — have complicated matters.

Middle East

Deal on Kirkuk sets stage for Iraqi elections



Martin Chulov

guardian.co.uk, Sunday 8 November 2009 22.03 GMT

Iraqi legislators have finally agreed on a formula to include the bitterly contested city of Kirkuk in a national election in January, ending months of political wrangling and fears that the planned US troop pullout might be delayed.

However, the agreement struck in parliament tonight deals only with how to apportion votes in the semi-autonomous northern enclave, and did not tackle a decision on Kirkuk’s fate.

The electoral deal sets a framework for the poll to be held, probably on 21 January instead of the original date of 16 January. It will be Iraq’s second general election since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Saudi soldiers killed retaking border village from Huthi rebels

From The Times

November 9, 2009

James Hider, Middle East Correspondent

Three Saudi soldiers were killed and four reported missing in fighting to retake a border town that rebels from neighbouring Yemen had seized last week, officials said yesterday. The Huthi rebels claimed to have shot down a Yemen military aircraft, although officials in the capital said that the fighter crashed because of a technical fault.

Saudi aircraft launched strikes on rebel positions in northern Yemen last week after the rebels took the town of Jabal Dukan and another village close to the frontier. Saudi officials said that about 40 rebels were killed in the raids.

Europe

A bridge opened – and then the Wall fell

1989: Europe’s Revolution: On the 20th anniversary of Berlin’s reunification, Tony Paterson remembers the place where the city’s dividing lines began to dissolve

Monday, 9 November 2009

Twenty years to the day since the Berlin Wall was first breached, the city will today play host to a celebration of the momentous changes brought about by the fall of a monument to a repressive regime.

Angela Merkel will be joined by a host of foreign dignitaries, including Gordon Brown and Hillary Clinton, in walking through the Brandenburg Gate; the pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim will lead an orchestral performance; 1,000 giant dominos running along the path of the wall will be toppled in a rapid re-enactment of the end of Communism in Europe, a process that in reality took months.

Love isn’t in the air as Paris hosts first ‘divorce fair’ ‘

Paris, once known as the city of romance, might need to rethink its image after thousands have flocked to French capital’s first divorce fair.

Published: 7:00AM GMT 09 Nov 2009

In France, nearly one out of two marriages ends in divorce, according to the country’s National Institute of Demographic Studies. More than 130,000 divorces were registered in 2007, as compared to just 50,000 three decades ago.

The “New Start” trade fair aimed to tap into that booming market by bringing together 60 stands offering up both services obviously related to separation – law firms and counsellors – and also more obscure disciplines aimed at helping people get back on their feet, like tarot card readers, makeover specialists and self-esteem coaches.

Conferences held throughout the two-day-long fair included talks entitled “Plastic surgery’s role in re-conquering your image” and “How to re-seduce your partner using the Gestalt method,” as well as “Meeting on the Web” and “Separation: What does a lawyer do?”

Asia

Dalai Lama angers China with visit to disputed area

By Andrew Buncombe in Delhi

Monday, 9 November 2009

Thousands of Buddhist monks in maroon robes joined secular supporters of the Dalai Lama yesterday to welcome the Tibetan spiritual leader as he arrived in the Himalayas for a four-day visit that is testing already strained relations between India and China.

Arriving by helicopter, the religious leader touched down in the small town of Tawang, situated in the north-east of India and the location of a 400-year-old monastery where he briefly stayed 50 years ago when he fled China.

Allied forces ‘may abandon most of northern Helmand’

From The Times

November 9, 2009

Tom Coghlan in Kabul and Michael Evans, Defence Editor  

A new strategy for Afghanistan that could lead to a British troop withdrawal from a former Taleban stronghold in northern Helmand province sparked immediate controversy yesterday.

According to a senior Nato source, Western military commanders in Afghanistan are considering a radical shift in policy that would see British and US forces conduct a tactical pull-out from most of northern Helmand, including the town of Musa Qala. The source said that the plan to withdraw from northern Helmand would be considered if proposed reinforcements, currently being examined by President Obama, were not approved. General Stanley McChrystal, the US commander in Kabul, has asked for 40,000 more troops but President Obama has yet to make a decision.

Africa

Zimbabwe child sexual abuse alert

Statistics at a clinic giving free treatment for sexually-abused children in Zimbabwe have revealed an alarming level of sexual abuse.

By Brian Hungwe

Harare Monday, 9 November 2009

The Family Support Trust says nearly 30,000 children have been treated at the Harare clinic after being sexually abused during the past four years.

Doctors say there could be many more who suffer in silence.

Experts say the high rate of abuse is partly due to harsh economic conditions in the country during the past decade.

Latin America

Scores die in El Salvador floods

 At least 124 people have been killed in El Salvador by flooding and landslides following days of heavy rain, the government says.

The BBC  Monday, 9 November 2009

President Mauricio Funes has declared a national emergency, describing the damages as “incalculable”.

The capital San Salvador and central San Vicente province were the hardest-hit regions, officials say.

Local reporter Juan Carlos Barahona says San Vicente is virtually cut off by landslides and collapsed bridges.

Mr Barahona, of the El Salvador daily La Prensa Grafica, told the BBC that the other worst affected areas were La Libertad, La Paz and Cuscatlan.

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