This is an Open Thread: Sorry Were Open/Yes Were Closed
USA
Spending Bills Still Stuffed With Earmarks
Democrats Had Vowed To Curtail Pet Projects
By Elizabeth Williamson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 21, 2007; Page A01
Twice in the past two years, Alaska lawmakers lost congressional earmarks to build two “bridges to nowhere” costing hundreds of millions of dollars after Congress was embarrassed by public complaints over the pet projects hidden in annual spending bills.
This year, Rep. Don Young and Sen. Ted Stevens, who are Alaska Republicans, found another way to move cash to their state: Stevens secured more than $20 million for an “expeditionary craft” that will connect Anchorage with the windblown rural peninsula of Matanuska-Susitna Borough.
Now what Alaska has, budget watchdogs contend, is a ferry to nowhere.
Bush remains thorn in Democrats’ side
By Janet Hook, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
7:14 PM PST, December 20, 2007
WASHINGTON — Just more than a year ago, a chastened President Bush acknowledged that his party had taken a “thumping” in the congressional elections, and he greeted the new Democratic majority at the weakest point of his presidency.
But since then, Democrats in Congress have taken a thumping of their own as Bush has curbed their budget demands, blocked a cherished children’s health initiative, stalled the drive to withdraw troops from Iraq and stymied all efforts to raise taxes.
Rather than turn tail for his last two years in the White House, Bush has used every remaining weapon in his depleted arsenal — the veto, executive orders, the loyalty of Republicans in Congress — to keep Democrats from getting their way. He has struck a combative pose, dashing hopes that he would be more accommodating in the wake of his party’s drubbing in the 2006 mid-term voting.
Scientists Weigh Stem Cells’ Role as Cancer Cause
Within the next few months, researchers at three medical centers expect to start the first test in patients of one of the most promising – and contentious – ideas about the cause and treatment of cancer.
The idea is to take aim at what some scientists say are cancerous stem cells – aberrant cells that maintain and propagate malignant tumors.
Although many scientists have assumed that cancer cells are immortal – that they divide and grow indefinitely – most can only divide a certain number of times before dying. The stem-cell hypothesis says that cancers themselves may not die because they are fed by cancerous stem cells, a small and particularly dangerous kind of cell that can renew by dividing even as it spews out more cells that form the bulk of a tumor. Worse, stem cells may be impervious to most standard cancer therapies.
Middle East
Torture chamber found in Iraq
BAGHDAD – Blood-splotches on walls, chains hanging from a ceiling and swords on the killing floor – the artifacts left a disturbing tale of brutalities inside a suspected al-Qaida in Iraq torture chamber. But there was yet another chilling fact outside the dirt-floor dungeon. Villagers say they knew about the torment but were too intimidated by extremists to tell authorities until now.
Stories such as these – claims of insurgent abuses and the silence of frightened Iraqis – have emerged with increasing frequency and clarity recently as U.S.-led forces push deeper into former extremist fiefdoms and forge alliances with tribes seeking to reclaim their regions.
The reports and tips now pouring in build a harrowing portrait of rule under al-Qaida and its backers: mass graves, ruthless punishments, self-styled Islamic courts ordering summary executions.
Bethlehem residents vandalise Banksy graffiti
Rebecca Harrison in Bethlehem
Friday December 21, 2007
The Guardian
Bethlehem residents have painted over a satirical mural by the graffiti artist Banksy that was meant to highlight their plight.
The elusive British artist had painted six images around the town to help drum up tourism before Christmas and to illustrate the hardships faced by Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
But the irony behind the depiction of an Israeli soldier checking a donkey’s identity papers was lost on some residents, who found it offensive.
“We’re humans here, not donkeys,” said Nasri Canavati, a restaurater. “This is insulting. I’m glad it was painted over.”
To be called a donkey in Palestinian society is similar to being called an idiot.
Europe
Toyota opens first plant in Russia
ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) – Japan’s top automaker, Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) (TM.N), will open its first plant in Russia on Friday, aiming to produce 50,000 Camry sedans annually, the company said in a statement.
The $121 million plant, which is also Russia’s first to produce premium-class cars, is expected to increase output to 200,000 per year at a later stage.
Russian president Vladimir Putin and Economy Minister Elvira Nabiullina are expected to attend the opening ceremony in Russia’s second largest city of St. Petersburg.
Sales of foreign car brands in Russia surged 63 percent in the first 11 months of this year.
‘Thank you very much everybody. Now I want to go home and see my children’
With his long grey hair and white beard, Jamil el-Banna looked much older than his 45 years yesterday as he tasted freedom for the first time since his return from Guantanamo Bay.
Mr el-Banna was released on bail by a judge pending a legal fight against extradition to Spain on allegations that he belonged to a terrorist cell linked to the September 11 attacks. He had been held on a European arrest warrant, issued within hours of his return to Britain from the American internment camp, and brought before City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
Asia
The hard part starts for Seoul’s new man
By Donald Kirk
SEOUL – The election of a pragmatic conservative with a long track record of having his way in business and politics to a five-year term as president of South Korea ushers in a period of dynamic transition – and unavoidable conflict with the activists who’ve been setting the policy agenda for the past decade.
Just as Kim Dae-jung’s election in 1997 came at the height of the economic crisis and portended a period of change, so does that of
Lee Myung-bak who appears likely to bring about an equally dramatic swing in governance and outlook.
The 66-year-old Lee, whose victory Wednesday fell on his birthday, is hardly going to strip away many of the reforms initiated under Kim and his successor, Roh Moo-hyun. But he clearly has an agenda that he and his top advisers deem necessary to vault the economy to the next level of global competitiveness and also to deal effectively with North Korea and the nuclear issue
China Grabs West’s Smoke-Spewing Factories
HANDAN, China – When residents of this northern Chinese city hang their clothes out to dry, the black fallout from nearby Handan Iron and Steel often sends them back to the wash.
Half a world away, neighbors of ThyssenKrupp’s former steel mill in the Ruhr Valley of Germany once had a similar problem. The white shirts men wore to church on Sundays turned gray by the time they got home.
These two steel towns have an unusual kinship, spanning 5,000 miles and a decade of economic upheaval. They have shared the same hulking blast furnace, dismantled and shipped piece by piece from Germany’s old industrial heartland to Hebei Province, China’s new Ruhr Valley.
Latin America
Art thieves net £50m worth of paintings from Brazilian gallery
Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro
Friday December 21, 2007
The Guardian
A gang of arts thieves yesterday launched a dawn raid on one of South America’s most famous art galleries, making off with two paintings together worth over £50m.
The paintings, by Picasso and the Brazilian painter Candido Portinari, were the centre-pieces of the art collection at Sao Paulo’s Art Museum, or Masp as it is better known.
The museum’s collection is made up of over 7,500 works of art, including paintings by Rubens and Dali, the museum’s collection is valued at around £600m.
Healed by the Amazon angels
Flying medics risk treacherous landing conditions to reach sick people in some of the most remote parts of the world’s largest rainforest.
Tom Phillips reports
A deafening roar fills the sky over this tiny village and a fierce gust of wind lashes across the landscape. Half a dozen local children gaze on from the undergrowth, transfixed, as a Black Hawk helicopter descends towards them and a dozen figures in military fatigues leap out and speed away. For this isolated Amazon settlement it can only mean one thing: Brazil’s national airmail service has arrived.
The airmail service, or Correio Aereo Nacional, does not deliver postcards or Christmas gifts. It is a group of air force medics who risk life and limb to bring healthcare to the remotest corners of the world’s largest rainforest.
