http://www.kentucky.com/267/index.xml News, sports, and entertainment from Kentucky.com en-us Copyright 2008 Kentucky.com World 60 Sat, 17 May 2008 09:26:42 EDT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's Workbench webmaster@kentucky.com http://www.kentucky.com/524/story/406687.html http://www.kentucky.com/524/story/406687.html Sat, 17 May 2008 08:41 EDT
Myanmar's junta, meanwhile, took a group of foreign diplomats for a tour of the Irrawaddy, after announcing that the death toll from Cyclone Nargis has nearly doubled to 78,000 with about 56,000 missing.

Aid groups have said the toll is probably about 128,000, with many more deaths possible from disease and starvation unless help is provided quickly to some 2.5 million survivors of the May 2-3 cyclone.

Despite possessing little means to deliver aid quickly and efficiently, the isolationist government of this desperately poor country insists it does not want international aid groups to manage relief operations. It says all foreign aid must be delivered to the government, which will distribute it further. It has also barred foreigners from leaving Yangon, the country's main city.

A French government statement said navy ship Le Mistral was waiting some 13 miles outside Myanmar's territorial waters, hoping to go in and unload its cargo of 1,000 tons of food - enough to feed 100,000 people for 15 days. The aid also includes shelters for 15,000 people, the statement said.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/524/story/407740.html http://www.kentucky.com/524/story/407740.html Sat, 17 May 2008 08:56 EDT
Movement for Democratic Change officials received information from a "credible source" about a planned attack on Tsvangirai, party spokesman George Sibotshiwe said.

"We have received information from a credible source concerning a planned assassination attempt on President Tsvangirai today," Sibotshiwe told The Associated Press. "Because of that it has been decided that the president will not return today."

He said there was no immediate clue who was behind the alleged plot to kill the Movement for Democratic Change leader. There was no response from the government.

Tsvangirai, who has been out of the country for the past few weeks, had planned to kick off campaigning Sunday for the June 27 presidential runoff. He won the first round against President Robert Mugabe, 84, who has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980, but fell short of an outright majority. He says the runoff is illegal, but that the party will contest it.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/524/story/407697.html http://www.kentucky.com/524/story/407697.html Sat, 17 May 2008 08:36 EDT
The Doha-hosted meeting on forming a national unity government and electing a president was agreed under a deal, mediated by the Arab League, to end Lebanon's worst violence since the 1975-1990 civil war.

But the government raised the stakes on the talks Saturday, insisting they must also tackle the issue of the weapons used by the Iranian-backed militant Hezbollah, which the U.S. considers a terrorist group.

Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh told The Associated Press from Qatar that leaders would discuss "Hezbollah's use of its weapons to achieve internal political aims" in the wake of recent violence.

Hamadeh said he expects "three critical days" before the sides reach any sort of compromise on the standoff that has pushed Lebanon to the brink of an all-out conflict.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/524/story/407616.html http://www.kentucky.com/524/story/407616.html Sat, 17 May 2008 02:19 EDT
The incident began when the 134-ton fishing boat sent an emergency radio message to South Korea's coast guard saying it was being chased by Japanese patrol vessels.

The coast guard dispatched five patrol boats and a helicopter to protect the fishing vessel, which was located 44 nautical miles (50 miles) off Tongyoung, about 300 miles south of Seoul.

Around 10 minutes later, four Japanese coast guard boats arrived and accused the fishing boat of intruding into Japanese waters.

A joint check found that the fishing boat had been in South Korean waters, said Han Kap-hun, an officer from the country's coast guard.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/524/story/407626.html http://www.kentucky.com/524/story/407626.html Sat, 17 May 2008 06:31 EDT
A roadside blast hit a vehicle in the eastern Paktia province, leaving three civilians dead early Saturday, said government spokesman Ghamai Mohammadi.

Another bomb placed on a bicycle exploded as a police vehicle passed by outside Kandahar city in southern Afghanistan. The blast killed a 10-year old boy and wounded another civilian, said police officer Mohammad Nabi. There were no police casualties from the blast.

Militants regularly use roadside bombs against Afghan and foreign troops in the country, but most of those killed in such attack have been civilian.

In the western Farah province Afghan and foreign troops bombed a Taliban hideout where two hostages were being held, leaving eight militants dead, said Afghan army commander Gen. Jalander Shah.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/524/story/407631.html http://www.kentucky.com/524/story/407631.html Sat, 17 May 2008 05:31 EDT
Tariq Azizuddin disappeared Feb. 11 along with his driver and bodyguard as they drove from the Pakistani city of Peshawar toward the border.

In a video aired April 19 on an Arab satellite channel, Azizuddin said Taliban militants had abducted them.

His brother, Tahir Azizuddin, told The Associated Press that authorities informed the family on Saturday the ambassador had been released, was in good health and would be home soon.

The diplomat was returning from "somewhere in the tribal areas where the authorities have a base or something where he has been handed over," Tahir Azizuddin said. He said he did not know how authorities had secured the release.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/524/story/407658.html http://www.kentucky.com/524/story/407658.html Sat, 17 May 2008 06:16 EDT
Taiwan Nationalist Party Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung will start a six-day visit May 26, a party official said Saturday.

"In the hope to facilitate peaceful progress in cross-strait relations ... Chairman Wu has decided to accept the offer," Nationalist Party Secretary-General Wu Den-yih said.

The Nationalist Party will become Taiwan's ruling party on Tuesday when Ma Ying-jeou is sworn in as president. Relations between China and Taiwan seemed to improve as soon as Ma's election victory became clear in March.

China had been deeply suspicious of outgoing Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian, who supports formal independence for Taiwan. Taiwan and China, which split during a civil war in 1949, have banned regular direct links and other formal contacts as political disputes persist - but that is beginning to change.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/524/story/407672.html http://www.kentucky.com/524/story/407672.html Sat, 17 May 2008 05:51 EDT
Indian army spokesman Lt. Col. Anil Kumar Mathur said the rebels were killed Saturday after army and police jointly cordoned off the forest area of Lurgam village following a tip off that militants were hiding there.

Lurgam is 30 miles south of Srinagar, the summer capital of India's Jammu-Kashmir state.

Mathur said the rebels belonged to the Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group.

There was no immediate comment from the rebel group.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/524/story/407698.html http://www.kentucky.com/524/story/407698.html Sat, 17 May 2008 06:26 EDT
Anatolia news agency says the clash erupted in Van province near the border with Iran on Saturday. Three other rebels were injured.

Kurdish rebels have been fighting for self-rule in Turkey's southeast since 1984. Tens of thousands have been killed in the fighting.

Some rebels infiltrate Turkey from bases in neighboring Iraq. Turkey has launched several air attacks and one major ground offensive across the border into Iraq so far this year.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/524/story/407231.html http://www.kentucky.com/524/story/407231.html Sat, 17 May 2008 03:09 EDT
The decision means the company's aging 51-year-old reactor will continue to bear the burden of generating half the world's supply of medical isotopes.

Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. said the decision to scrap plans for the new MAPLE reactors is based on the costs of further development, as well as the time frame and risks involved with continuing the project.

"We are making the right business decision given the circumstances," stated AECL president and chief executive officer Hugh MacDiarmid in a statement Friday. "Our board of directors and senior management have concluded that it is no longer feasible to complete the commissioning and startup of the reactors."

AECL's National Research Universal (NRU) reactor at the Chalk River facility in eastern Ontario will remain operational under a contract with health care company MDS Nordion, the company said.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/267/story/407610.html http://www.kentucky.com/267/story/407610.html Sat, 17 May 2008 02:05 EDT
Opposition supporters have been beaten, killed and driven from their homes in a recent campaign of terror that observers say is meant to secure Mugabe's lock on power.

Tsvangirai had insisted that the runoff be held next week, amid fears that further delay would mean even more violence, but he said after the election commission's announcement that he planned to compete in the ballot.

Tsvangirai, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an international liberal party conference in Belfast, Northern Ireland, said setting the June date was illegal, but "we will contest."

The opposition leader has claimed he won the March 29 presidential election outright, although independent monitors disagreed. Official results released May 2 gave Tsvangirai the most votes, but not the majority needed to avoid a second round against Mugabe.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/267/story/407537.html http://www.kentucky.com/267/story/407537.html Sat, 17 May 2008 02:04 EDT
For them and other couples who lost an only child in this week's enormous earthquake, the tragedy has been doubly cruel. Robbed of their sole progeny and a hope for the future, they find it even harder to restart their shattered lives, haunted by added guilt, regret and gnawing loss.

"She died before becoming even a young adult," said Bi, an intense, wiry chemical plant worker, standing beside the grave of 13-year-old Yuexing -- one of dozens sprinkled amid fields of ripened spring wheat and newly planted rice. "She never really knew what life was like."

Yuexing, a bright sixth-grader, was in school when Monday's quake struck, bringing the Fuxin No. 2 Primary School crashing down, killing her and 200 other students. Teachers had locked all but one of the school's doors during break time, parents said, leaving only a single door to escape through.

Many among the more than 22,000 people killed across central China were students in school. Nearly 6,900 classrooms collapsed, government officials said Friday, in an admission that highlighted a chronically underfunded education system especially in small towns and compounded the anger of many Chinese over the quake.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/267/story/407538.html http://www.kentucky.com/267/story/407538.html Sat, 17 May 2008 02:04 EDT
With the official death toll at more than 22,000, an air force unit reached Yinchanggou, a scenic spot in the mountains north of the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu, finding that landslides had swept away rustic small hotels.

"There are several hundred hotels, including farmer homestays, probably 800 in all. They are all rubble now," Cai Weisu, an official with an air force unit from the Chengdu Military Region, told Sichuan Television. Most of the dead are tourists, he said, but he did not say whether they were foreign or Chinese.

Tens of thousands of people are considered buried or missing throughout the disaster zone. There were about 12 million people living within a 60-mile radius of the epicenter of Wenchuan, according to a study on the potential impact of the quake by Xu Mingbao, a senior researcher at the University of Michigan's China Data Center.

Acutely aware that its response to China's worst disaster in 30 years could affect Beijing's image heading into the Olympic Games, President Hu Jintao ramped up the government's public relations efforts, making his first trip to the stricken region.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/267/story/407543.html http://www.kentucky.com/267/story/407543.html Sat, 17 May 2008 02:04 EDT
The oval stone -- about the size of a pistachio shell -- fetched a price of $1.33 million per carat, edging out a similar blue diamond that sold last year in Hong Kong for $1.32 million per carat.

The auction house identified the buyer as London jeweler Laurence Graff, who is known in the industry as the "King of Diamonds."]]> http://www.kentucky.com/267/story/407546.html http://www.kentucky.com/267/story/407546.html Sat, 17 May 2008 02:04 EDT
Bloomsbury Auctions said Friday that the handwritten letter was sold to an overseas collector after frenetic bidding late Thursday in London. The sale price of $404,000, including buyer's premium, was more than 25 times the pre-sale estimate.

Bloomsbury did not identify the buyer, but Managing Director Rupert Powell said it was someone with "a passion for theoretical physics and all that that entails."

"This extraordinary letter seemed to strike a chord, and it gave a deep personal insight one of the greatest minds of the 20th century," Powell said.

The letter was written to philosopher Eric Gutkind in January 1954, a year before Einstein's death. In it, Einstein said that "the word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish."]]> http://www.kentucky.com/267/story/407573.html http://www.kentucky.com/267/story/407573.html Sat, 17 May 2008 02:04 EDT
Aid workers shackled by the country's military regime struggled to get even the most basic data about the needs of up to 2.5 million survivors.

The Red Cross warned that the lack of clean water may swell the ranks of dead.

Burmese state television said the official death count from the May 3 cyclone was 77,738, with 55,917 others missing.

The toll was nearly double the 43,000 previously reported, but the TV announcement suggested it might be close to a final figure. It said the government had "carried out search and rescue and relief work and collection of data, promptly, immediately and extensively."]]> http://www.kentucky.com/267/story/407580.html http://www.kentucky.com/267/story/407580.html Sat, 17 May 2008 02:05 EDT
Bush got a red-carpet welcome to this desert kingdom, home to the world's largest oil reserves, and promised to ask King Abdullah to increase production to reduce pressure on prices, which soared past $127 for the first time Friday. But Saudi officials said that they already were meeting the needs of their customers worldwide and that there was no need to pump more.

Their answer recalled Bush's trip to Saudi Arabia in January when he urged an increase in production but was rebuffed.

Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi said the kingdom decided on May 10 to increase production by 300,000 barrels a day to help meet U.S. needs after Venezuela and Mexico cut back deliveries.

"Supply and demand are in balance today," al-Naimi said at a news conference, bristling at criticism from the U.S. Congress. "How much does Saudi Arabia need to do to satisfy people who are questioning our oil practices and policies?"]]> http://www.kentucky.com/267/story/407594.html http://www.kentucky.com/267/story/407594.html Sat, 17 May 2008 02:05 EDT
Sanchez was a soldier, and according to him, a general's job is to give advice. What the civilian leaders decide after that is out of a general's hands.

"It's our responsibility to provide the best judgment we can," Sanchez said in an interview with McClatchy. "But when those decisions are made, if they are not illegal or immoral, civilian control of the military dictates that we comply."

Sanchez argues that crafting a strategy wasn't his responsibility, even as the top commander in Iraq. That fell to the civilian leaders, such as the secretary of defense and the president.

But as part of the military's emerging counterinsurgency strategy, commanders now are calling their soldiers "strategic corporals." That is, every soldier's decision is part of the broader strategy.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/267/story/406477.html http://www.kentucky.com/267/story/406477.html Fri, 16 May 2008 02:04 EDT
As the massive military-led recovery operation inched farther into regions cut off by Monday's quake, the government sought to enlist the public's help with an appeal for everything from hammers to cranes. In a turnabout, it began accepting foreign aid missions, the first from regional rival Japan.

Millions of survivors left homeless or too terrified to go indoors faced their fourth night under tarpaulins, tents or nothing at all as workers patched roads and cleared debris to reach more outlying towns in the disaster zone.

Health officials said there have been no outbreaks of disease so far. Workers have rushed to inoculate survivors against disease, supply them with drinking water, and find ways to dispose of an overwhelming number of corpses.

"There are still bodies in the hills, and pits are being dug to bury them," said Zhao Xiaoli, a nurse in the ruined town of Hanwang. "There's no way to bring them down. It's too dangerous."]]> http://www.kentucky.com/267/story/406480.html http://www.kentucky.com/267/story/406480.html Fri, 16 May 2008 02:04 EDT
Sriyawathi Malani Gunathilaka lost her only son when the 2004 tsunami pulverized Peraliya, the small Sri Lankan fishing village where she still lives. Nearly 250 others also died. "It looks so much better now," she said in 2006, "but everything is different."

Now the world has been watching new tragedies unfurl in China and Burma. On Wednesday, Gunathilaka reflected and said she didn't believe her village would ever recover. "All the good people are dead," she said.

Tragedy is local. The world might remember the tsunami, but its individual stories -- the Peraliyas, the Gunathilakas and the countless other villages and families -- have been largely forgotten by now, left to lingering nightmares and, all too often, little more than the battered remnants of their former lives.

So it might be soon with the Burma cyclone, which the Red Cross says might have killed 128,000 people, and with this week's earthquake in China, where the death toll of more than 19,000 appears likely to grow far higher.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/524/story/407070.html http://www.kentucky.com/524/story/407070.html Sat, 17 May 2008 04:02 EDT
His main rival, center-left construction magnate Miguel Vargas, said he accepted the results. Vargas received 41 percent of the vote, while populist candidate Amable Aristy led a batch of other challengers to hold third place with less than 5 percent.

Fernandez had 53 percent of the vote, or 1.8 million of 3.3 million votes counted as of early Saturday, the Central Electoral Commission said. The commission had not yet declared him the winner, however.

The former New Yorker needs to win at least 50 percent of votes to avoid a run-off. Fernandez said that he interpreted his apparent victory as a renewal of confidence in the Dominican Liberation Party. He said he would continue revitalizing the economy as he has done throughout his most recent term.

Vargas said in a late-night speech that he "accepts and recognizes" the results.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/524/story/407674.html http://www.kentucky.com/524/story/407674.html Sat, 17 May 2008 09:26 EDT
Taking note of the kingdom's recent decision to raise production by 300,000 barrels a day, the president said the United States must act, too, to ease the gasoline crisis. He mentioned steps such as developing alternate fuels, improving conservation and expanding domestic exploration.

"We've got to do more at home," the president said on a lawn of a resort overlooking the Red Sea. He spoke after a private meeting with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai.

Bush said he told Saudi King Abdullah during their talks on Friday that the king should be concerned that high energy prices are hurting some of Saudi Arabia's biggest oil customers, including the United States.

The kingdom decided May 10 on the production increase to help meet U.S. needs after Venezuela and Mexico cut back on oil deliveries. Oil minister Ali al-Naimi made that announcement Friday.]]>