Google Shuts Down Anti-Obama Sites on its Blogger Platform

-By Warner Todd Huston

It looks like Google has officially joined the Barack Obama campaign and decided that its contribution would be to shut down any blog on the Google owned Blogspot.com blogging system that has an anti-Obama message. Yes, it sure seems that Google has begun to go through its many thousands of blogs to lock out the owners of anti-Obama blogs so that the noObama message is effectively squelched. Thus far, Google has terminated the access by blog owners to 7 such sites and the list may be growing. Boy, it must be nice for Barack Obama to have an ally powerful enough to silence his opponents like that!

It isn't just conservative sites that Google's Blogger platform is eliminating. For instance, www.comealongway.blogspot.com has been frozen and this one is a Hillary supporting site. The operator of Come a Long Way has a mirror site off the Blogspot platform and has today posted this notice:

I used to have a happy internet home on Blogger: www.comealongway.blogspot.com. Then on Wednesday night, June 25, I received the following e-mail:

Dear Blogger user,

This is a message from the Blogger team.

Your blog, at http://comealongway.blogspot.com/, has been identified as a potential spam blog. You will not be able to publish posts to your blog until we review your site and confirm that it is not a spam blog.

Sincerely,

The Blogger Team

It turns out that there is an interesting pattern where it concerns the blogs that Google's Blogspot team have summarily locked down on their service. They all belong to the Just Say No Deal coalition, a group of blogs that are standing against the Obama campaign. It seems the largest portion of these blogs are Hillary supporting blogs, too.

All I can say is, WOW! If Google is willing to abuse its power like this even against fellow leftists, what does it plan against conservatives, the folks Google hates even more!?
Read more »

Plan your trip to the Flight 93 crash site for the weekend of August 2nd!

Are you thinking of visiting the Flight 93 crash site? If you plan your visit for the weekend of August 2nd, you can help stop the gigantic terrorist memorial mosque that will soon start rising from the ground there.



August 2nd is the next scheduled public meeting of the Memorial Project, where anyone can sign up to speak during the public comment period. Tom Burnett Sr. (whose son Tom Jr. broke into the cockpit of the hijacked airplane) announced last Friday that he and Alec Rawls will be traveling to Somerset for the August meeting. They will be rallying outdoors, speaking at the public meeting, and visiting the crash site.



Mr. Burnett is asking other concerned parties who can make it to please come. The crash site is a beautiful and meaningful place to visit in any case, and here is a chance to make your visit even more meaningful. It is an opportunity to in some small way follow the lead of the heroes of Flight 93 by helping to stop the re-hijacking of Flight 93.



Mr. Burnett's announcement came on the Mancow Muller radio show, where Congressman Tancredo was also a guest. When controversy over the Crescent of Embrace design first arose back in 2005, Tom Tancredo was instrumental in forcing the Park Service to alter the design. Last fall he noted that the giant crescent remains unchanged in the so-called redesign and asked the Park Service to scrap the design entirely. On Friday he said that he would help Mancow Muller and Tom Burnett to stop the crescent design (audio, 19 seconds):

Certainly I will do everything I can to help you. I will bring it to the attention of my colleagues. I'll use the time I have on the floor of the House to rail against it.

THANK YOU CONGRESSMAN TANCREDO!



Mr. Burnett said that he would join Mancow in going to jail for taking sledgehammers to the crescent memorial if this tribute to the terrorists actually gets built. (Audio, 25 seconds.)



Cao has the whole segment of Mancow and the two Toms up as a YouTube video, with her own background graphics.





To join our blogbursts, just send your blog's url.

Sierra Leone: President Threatens to Declare Emergency

In the process of being moved to Rosemary's Thoughts. Right now, this copy is at Help me move all of blogs over at WordPress. When I get everything together, it will be at Rosemary's Thoughts. Sorry about the inconveniece. ;)

Sierra Leone leader warns of possible state of emergency

Source: CNN.

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (Reuters) -- Sierra Leone's President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah has warned he could declare a state of emergency across the former British colony if violence ahead of next month's presidential run-off vote worsens.

Police declared a curfew in the eastern border region with Liberia on Monday, a center of the illegal diamond mining trade which fueled a 1991-2002 civil war, after dispersing more than a thousand demonstrators from rival political groups.

The unrest spread to the suburbs of the capital Freetown late on Monday, where supporters of the ruling Sierra Leone People's Party and the opposition All People's Congress took to the streets with machetes, local radio said.

U.N. sources said one person was believed to have been killed in the violence.

"The people of this country have suffered long enough," Kabbah said in an address broadcast late on Monday.

"I'm deeply distressed by events at the weekend. ... From henceforth the government shall not hesitate to declare a state of emergency," he said.

The polls in the West African country are the first since United Nations peacekeepers left two years ago following the civil war, a brutal conflict in which children were drugged and forced to fight and civilians were mutilated with machetes.

The British army has retrained Sierra Leone's armed forces and the security situation is much improved, but corruption among politicians -- one of the root causes of the war -- is rampant and the country remains mired in poverty.

Main opposition candidate Ernest Bai Koroma of the APC won 44 percent of the vote in the August 11 first round, followed by Vice President Soloman Berewa of the SLPP on 38 percent.

Koroma is being backed in the run-off by the third-placed candidate Charles Margai, who polled 14 percent.

Deep fault lines in the country have resurfaced during the polls, with the APC winning strong support among the northern ethnic Temne and Limba groups but the SLPP backed by the southern Mende population.

With about 100,000 votes separating Koroma and Berewa in the first round, the run-off will depend largely on whether Margai, who took over 250,000 votes, can convince his southern Mende heartland to switch to the northern-based APC.

Analysts say that means ethnic politics are likely to play a role in campaigning but note that the unrest so far has been relatively minor and localized.

Sierra Leone's Independent Media Commission has already issued warnings to two radio stations -- one owned by the SLPP, the other by the APC -- for broadcasting programs liable to stir unrest.

"Several people within the community are perturbed by the incitative statements from the two radio stations," Commissioner Bernadette Cole told Reuters. "If left unchecked their activities may lead to chaos, mayhem and public disorder."

"Members of the Security Council called on leaders of all parties and their followers ... to respect the results of the elections as they are confirmed and to resolve any disputes through exclusively peaceful and legal channels," the U.N. Security Council said in a statement.

Don't Miss
Run-off in Sierra Leone presidential poll.

Opposition declares victory in by-election

BEIRUT (Reuters) Test of strength weeks before electing new president.

A Maronite Christian opposition candidate won a by-election to Lebanon’s parliament yesterday, an opposition leader said, dealing a blow to the country’s Western-backed ruling coalition.
Tens of thousands of Lebanese voted to choose successors to two assassinated anti-Syrian lawmakers in the latest showdown between the government and its opponents.

Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun said his candidate closely beat Amin Gemayel, a former president and a key member of the ruling coalition, in a by-election in the Metn district northeast of Beirut.

The race to win the Maronite seat left empty after Pierre Gemayel was killed in November had shaped up as a test of strength between the ruling coalition and the opposition weeks before parliament was due to elect a Maronite as president.

There was no official confirmation of Aoun’s announcement but opposition sources said Camille Khoury had won by a margin of some 500 votes from around 75,000 cast.

Earlier, unofficial results showed pro-government candidate Mohammad Amin Itani winning by a large margin the Sunni Muslim seat in a Beirut district vacated by the killing of MP Walid Eido in June.

Prime Minister Fouad Siniora hailed the peaceful by-elections as a civilised response to political assassination.

“Democracy in Lebanon will defeat terrorism,” he said in a statement.

A nine-month-old political struggle has caused the worst civil strife since the 1975-1990 war, and some feared a new outbreak of violence during voting.

But no major incidents were reported at polling stations in the Christian heartland, where turnout was reported to be at around 45 per cent.

Thousands of Lebanese troops and police tightened security in the area, where flags and posters of the rival parties adorned balconies, electricity poles and cars.

Both Aoun and Gemayel, Pierre’s father and leader of the Phalange Party, had savaged each other during campaigning and both camps exchanged charges of forgery and vote-buying on election day.

Gemayel is a key player in the anti-Syrian majority coalition, which is supported by the United States, France and Saudi Arabia. Aoun is the main Christian leader in the opposition, which includes Hizbollah.

An independent monitoring body, Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections, said the polls were generally democratic but reported some violations.

The by-election for a Sunni seat in a Beirut district to chose a successor to Eido, who was assassinated in a car bomb attack in June, was a low-key affair. The winner, Itani, is a member of the main Sunni Future group of Saad Hariri.

The opposition had not launched a full-hearted challenge in Beirut due to the support Hariri enjoyed in that district. Turnout was around 20 per cent.

“This battle is to complete (Lebanon’s) sovereignty, confirm Cedar Revolution and accomplish the goals of the independence uprising,” Gemayel said, in reference to street protests that forced Syria to end its 29-year military presence back in 2005.

“Our main goal is participation (in government). We extend our arm to all the Lebanese to rebuild Lebanon and to salvage it from this big crisis,” Khoury said after voting.

Source: Bahrain Tribune.

Sex-abuse case dropped because of delays in search for interpreter

Source: CNN.

ROCKVILLE, Maryland (AP) -- Charges against a man accused of raping and repeatedly molesting a 7-year-old girl have been dropped because the court took too long to find an interpreter fluent in his native West African language.

Montgomery County Circuit Judge Katherine D. Savage dismissed the nearly three-year-old case against Mahamu Kanneh last week, saying the delays had violated the Liberian immigrant's right to a speedy trial.

"This is one of the most difficult decisions I've had to make in a long time," Savage said from the bench Tuesday. She said she was mindful of "the gravity of this case and the community's concern about offenses of this type."

Prosecutors are considering whether to appeal the dismissal. They cannot refile the charges.

Police arrested Kanneh, of Gaithersburg, in August 2004 after witnesses told police he assaulted the girl multiple times. He spent one night in jail and was released on a $10,000 bond with the restriction that he have no contact with minors.

Prosecutors at first maintained Kanneh could understand the proceedings without translation into his native Vai, a tribal language that linguists estimate is spoken by about 100,000 people mostly in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Prosecutors pointed out that Kanneh attended high school and community college in Montgomery and spoke to detectives in English.

A court-appointed psychiatrist recommended that an interpreter be appointed and judges who handled subsequent hearings heeded that advice. But officials could not find a competent interpreter of Vai who would stay.

The first interpreter stormed out of the courtroom in tears because she found the facts of the case disturbing. A second interpreter was rejected for faulty work. A third Vai interpreter was located, but at the last minute, that person had to tend to a family emergency.

In recent weeks court officials had found a suitable interpreter, but Savage ruled that too much time had already passed.

Prosecutor Maura Lynch had argued that dismissing the indictment "after all the efforts the state has made to accommodate the defendant would be fundamentally unfair."

Kanneh's attorney, Theresa Chernosky, declined to comment.

Loretta E. Knight, the court clerk responsible for finding interpreters, said her office searched exhaustively for a speaker of Vai. She said court officials contacted the Liberian Embassy and courts in all but three states.

The Washington Post reported that it identified three Vai interpreters Thursday with help from the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters, including one in Gaithersburg.

U.S. envoy says Sudan bombing civilians in Darfur

KHARTOUM, Sudan (Reuters) -- The top U.S. envoy for Darfur on Friday accused the Sudanese government of bombing civilian targets in its war-ravaged western region and rebels of cynically obstructing international efforts to end the conflict.

Andrew Natsios told a news conference in Khartoum following a visit to Darfur that both sides were to blame for the conflict that has created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. "After a halt in the bombing between the beginning of February and the end of April in 2007, the Sudanese government has resumed bombing in Darfur," Natsios said. "This should end, and the ceasefire that was agreed to sometime ago should be respected. We urge the Sudanese government to end all bombing in Darfur immediately," he said.

Khartoum signed a ceasefire agreement with the two main rebel groups in Darfur, the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Movement, in 2004, but violence has continued. A May 2006 Darfur peace deal was signed by only one rebel faction. Since then, rebels have split into a dozen groups. "Some of them are descending into warlordism and criminality and this is not a good trend in Darfur, which is all the more reason why we need to accelerate the political process for a peace agreement," Natsios said.

"Some rebel leaders are cynically obstructing the peace process and the United States government is very disturbed by this. It needs to end now," he continued. Natsios said the bombing by the Sudanese military focused on the Jebel Marra region, a strong-hold of Abdul Wahid Mohammed Nour, leader of a faction of one of the Darfur rebel groups, and other targets in West and North Darfur.

"I think there were four attacks in Jebel Marra Mountains. We are troubled by this, because these have been stable areas before," the U.S. envoy said. "And there had been other bombings I think in West Darfur and North Darfur of civilian targets," he added.

The Sudanese military could not be immediately reached for comment.Natsios also said the United States was disturbed by reports that the Sudanese government was deliberately trying to change Darfur's demography by settling non-Sudanese Arab tribes there.

"It is a very provocative action that concerns us all and will complicate any future political process for reconciliation in Sudan and particularly in Darfur," he said. "Because when a settlement is reached and people go back to their homes and they find out someone is living on their land and farming it, this will simply create a new war."

The U.S. envoy's comments came as Britain, France and Ghana circulated a draft resolution in the U.N. Security Council for a joint African Union-U.N. force for Darfur, which also threatened force against those who attack civilians, relief workers and obstruct peace efforts. The resolution, expected to be adopted this month, allows the U.N. to formally recruit troops for the mission.

Under sustained international pressure, Sudan agreed last month to a combined U.N.-AU peacekeeping force of more than 20,000 troops and police to bolster the cash-strapped AU force of 7,000 already operating in Darfur. The AU troops have failed to stem the violence.

International experts estimate 200,000 [It has been 400,000 for 2 years now!] people have died as a result of ethnic[, religious] and political conflict in Darfur since it flared in 2003 when mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms after accusing the central government of neglect. [LIE! It was the Arab janjaweed that was raping, pillaging, murdering, flash burning the land, and committing genocide that started the war.] Washington calls the violence genocide, and blames the government and its allied militia. Khartoum rejects the term and says only 9,000 have died.

Other sources: AlertNet, AlertNet, Reuters, by Simon Apiku, U.S. envoy blasts Sudan for attacks (San Jose Mercury News, written by MOHAMED OSMAN Associated Press Writer), etc. May I also add that they are ALL using the same Reuters article! Will someone please explain to me why everyone goes to journalist school if they are only going to copy/paste? Just asking...

Advertisers not wary of 'Genocide Olympics'

Source: CNN, June 13, 2007.

Despite a possible backlash against China for its investments in Sudan, some media buyers say marketers will still embrace next year's Olympics.

By Paul R. La Monica, CNNMoney.com editor at large.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Summer Olympic Games in Beijing are more than a year away. But a growing backlash against China's ties to the government of Sudan could have some major consequences for GE (Charts, Fortune 500) and its NBC Universal entertainment division, which will broadcast the Olympics in the U.S., as well as several high profile corporate sponsors.

Actress and human rights activist Mia Farrow, who also acts as the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Goodwill Ambassador, has been referring to next year's games as the "Genocide Olympics," due to the conflict in Dafrur that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.

China has invested heavily in Sudan's oil industry and some have argued that the country has not exerted as much influence as it could to stop the violence in Darfur.

Farrow has urged people to contact sponsors of the Olympics to ask them to withhold their corporate support of the games until there is a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Darfur.

China's new cultural revolution

Members of both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate sent separate strongly worded letters to Chinese president Hu Jintao last month saying that unless the Chinese government steps up pressure on Sudan to curb the violence in Darfur, China risks tarnishing its image before the Olympics.

The letter from the House warned that the Olympics could be a "disaster" marred by protests.

And Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico and Democratic presidential candidate, suggested in a debate with other candidates earlier this month that the U.S. might want to consider boycotting the Olympics if China doesn't do more to stop the bloodshed in Darfur.

A representative for NBC was not immediately available for comment about how a possible boycott or protests could affect the company. GE (Charts, Fortune 500) is also a sponsor of next summer's Olympics.

Coca-Cola (Charts, Fortune 500), one of the top sponsors of the games, said in a statement e-mailed to CNNMoney.com that the company "has been sponsoring the Olympic Games since 1928 and believes that the ideals of the Olympic Movement of building a better world through sport, friendship and fair play are more relevant than ever. Our sponsorship allows these positive messages to reach a broader audience and inspire both athletes and spectators. The Coca-Cola Company does not have a role in the internal policy decisions of sovereign nations such as China and the Sudan."

Coca-Cola added that it recently gave $750,000 to the Red Cross and Red Crescent for humanitarian relief in Darfur and that the company has no direct foreign investment in Sudan and does not conduct business with the country's government.

Representatives for other big sponsors, including Lenovo and Visa and Eastman Kodak (Charts, Fortune 500), were not available for comment.

But a Hong Kong-based spokeswoman for Manulife (Charts), the insurance company that owns John Hancock and is also a Olympic sponsor, said in an e-mail with CNNMoney.com that the company has so far not received any calls or complaints about the company's involvement with the Olympics.

A spokesman for the U.S. subsidiary of Panasonic, another Olympics sponsor, said Panasonic, which is owned by Japanese consumer electronics giant Matsushita (Charts), had no comment about the controversy and referred CNNMoney.com to Ben Seeley, a spokesman for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Switzerland. Seeley was also not immediately available for comment.

The Olympics are a multi-million dollar marketing opportunity for sponsors, as the games tend to attract large worldwide audiences. And the stakes are particularly high for NBC, which just finished in fourth place in the ratings race for the third consecutive season, and is clearly in sore need of improved ratings.

Warren Buffett and Darfur

At last month's upfront presentation to media buyers and advertisers in New York, NBC spent a sizable chunk of time at the end of the event touting the Summer Games.

Yet, several media buyers said, that so far, the Sudan issue does not appear to be playing a major role in determining whether or not marketers want to buy commercial time during the Olympics.

"It's still a little early but I have not heard any concerns or backlash yet," said Andy Donchin, director of national broadcast with Carat USA, a media buying firm based in New York.

However, the possibility of more protests are something to keep an eye on.

"Politics and controversy are always a concern with the Olympics but at this point, it's sort of below the surface. I haven't heard of any specific advertisers that are worried about it because it's not top of mind yet," said Bill Carroll, a vice president and director of programming with Katz Television Group, a consulting and media buying firm based in New York.

That may change though.

"This is an issue that bears watching. Any time there is a negative dynamic associated with something as positive as the Olympics, it's one of many concerns that a network and advertisers could have," said John Rash, senior vice president and director of broadcast negotiations with Campbell Mithun, a media buying firm based in Minneapolis.

Carroll agreed, adding that if stories about China's association with Sudan becomes even more prevalent in the coming months, some advertisers might not be eager to have ties to an event referred to as the "Genocide Olympics."

NBC: No big comeback

"If China and Darfur becomes a more contentious situation then advertisers may want to avoid getting in the middle of it. Obviously, advertisers respond to their consumers. If there is a negative reaction to being an Olympics sponsor, advertisers will have to consider that," Carroll said.

But one sports marketing expert said some advertisers are still a little wary of becoming involved in the Olympics but not for political reasons.

John Rowady, president of rEvolution, a sports marketing and media company based in Chicago, said some of his firm's clients have expressed reluctance about the Olympics merely because China is a relatively new and untapped market for marketers.

So while some companies may not want to aggressively market in China itself, Rowady doesn't think fears of a backlash will effect domestic spending on advertising associated with the games.

"A lot of people are sitting on the fence to determine what their plans should be for the Olympics. Many companies may skip the Olympics just because they won't feel comfortable marketing in China just yet and not due to politics," he said. *.

Read FORTUNE's Chasing the Dragon blog about China.
Bush announces sanctions against Sudan.

Rep. Jefferson indicted in bribery probe

Source: By Lara Jakes Jordan and Matthew Barakat, Associated Press Writers.

WASHINGTON - Louisiana congressman William Jefferson (news, bio, voting record) received more than $500,000 in bribes and sought millions more in nearly a dozen separate schemes to enrich himself by using his office to broker business deals in Africa, according to a federal indictment Monday.

The charges came almost two years after investigators raided Jefferson's home in Washington and found $90,000 in cash stuffed in his freezer.

The indictment lists 16 counts, including racketeering, soliciting bribes, wire fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice and conspiracy. He faces a possible maximum sentence of 235 years.

He is the first U.S. official to face charges under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits corporate bribery overseas.

Jefferson, through his lawyer, claimed innocence. He will be arraigned Friday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria.

The schemes were complicated and Jefferson set up front companies to hide the money and disburse it to family members, prosecutors said.

"But the essence of the charges are really very simple: Mr. Jefferson corruptly traded on his good office and on the Congress," said Chuck Rosenberg, the U.S. attorney in Alexandria.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record) is expected to push this week for Jefferson to be stripped of his seat on the Small Business Committee, according to a leadership aide who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision had not yet been announced.

"If these charges are proven true, they constitute an egregious and unacceptable abuse of public trust and power," said Pelosi, D-Calif. "Democrats are committed to upholding a high ethical standard and eliminating corruption and unethical behavior from the Congress."

House Republican Leader John Boehner (news, bio, voting record) of Ohio said Jefferson should be expelled from Congress if he is found guilty and refuses to resign.

Jefferson, 60, whose congressional district includes New Orleans, has said little about the case publicly. He was re-elected last year despite the investigation.

His lawyer, Robert Trout, on Monday called the indictment "lengthy and creative" and accused prosecutors of "trying to create an offense."

"Even after they turned over every rock, they did not allege in this indictment that (Jefferson) promised anybody any legislation. There is no suggestion that he promised anyone any appropriations. There were no earmarks. There were no government contracts," Trout said during a news conference in Los Angeles.

Trout also said Jefferson has no intention of seeking a plea bargain. "He's obviously not happy about being indicted, but he's confident that when the facts are known he will be vindicated," Trout said about his client. "He is committed, he is confident and he is ready to fight."

Two of Jefferson's associates have struck plea bargains with prosecutors and have been sentenced.

Brett Pfeffer, a former congressional aide, admitted soliciting bribes on Jefferson's behalf and was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Another Jefferson associate, Louisville, Ky., telecommunications executive Vernon Jackson, pleaded guilty to paying between $400,000 and $1 million in bribes to Jefferson in exchange for his assistance securing business deals in Nigeria and other African nations. Jackson was sentenced to more than seven years in prison.

Both Pfeffer and Jackson agreed to cooperate in the case against Jefferson.

The impact of the case has stretched across continents and even roiled presidential politics in Nigeria. According to court records, Jefferson told associates he needed cash to pay bribes to the country's vice president, Atiku Abubakar.

Abubakar denied the allegations, which figured prominently in that country's presidential elections in April. He ran for the presidency and finished third.

In Lagos, Nigeria, Abubakar spokesman Garba Shehu said the former vice president "has always denied wrongdoing in the matter."

"He has only had official interaction with the congressman, who the vice president felt deserved a hearing because he was a ranking member of the U.S. Congress," Shehu said. "The vice president was in no way cited in this thing, so we feel vindicated."

While Abubakar is not cited by name, the indictment refers to "Nigerian Official A," a high-ranking official in Nigeria's executive branch who had a spouse in Potomac, Md. One of Abubakar's wives, Jennifer Douglas, lived in that Washington suburb. A search warrant for the Potomac home, combined with the indictment, makes clear that Abubakar is the unnamed Nigerian official.

As co-chair of a congressional caucus dedicated to African investment and trade, Jefferson was ideally positioned to influence business contracts with African governments. The indictment said Jefferson would meet with African officials and write official letters on behalf of businesses that agreed to provide kickbacks.

Court records indicate Jefferson was videotaped taking a $100,000 cash bribe from an FBI informant who felt the congressman and another businessman had bilked her out of millions. Most of that money later turned up in the freezer in Jefferson's home.

In May 2006, the FBI raided Jefferson's congressional office, the first such raid on a congressman's Capitol office. That move sparked a constitutional debate over whether the executive branch had stepped over a boundary.

The raid's legality is still being argued on appeal. House leaders objected to the search, saying it was an unconstitutional intrusion on the lawmaking process. The FBI said the raid was necessary because Jefferson and his legal team had failed to respond to requests for documents.

Some but not all the documents seized in the raid have been turned over Justice Department prosecutors.

Assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher said the documents helped bring the case against Jefferson. "Some of those documents that we were able to obtain through the process have indeed supported the charges that are presented today," Fisher said.

Associated Press writers Michael Blood in Los Angeles, Laurie Kellman in Washington and Edward Harris in Lagos, Nigeria, contributed to this report.

Television evangelist Falwell dies at 73

Source: Yahoo News.

By SUE LINDSEY, Associated Press Writer

LYNCHBURG, Va. - The Rev. Jerry Falwell, the television evangelist who founded the Moral Majority and used it to mold the religious right into a political force, died Tuesday shortly after being found unconscious in his office at Liberty University, a school executive said. He was 73.

Ron Godwin, the university's executive vice president, said Falwell, 73, was found unresponsive around 10:45 a.m. and taken to Lynchburg General Hospital. "CPR efforts were unsuccessful," he said.

Godwin said he was not sure what caused the collapse, but he said Falwell "has a history of heart challenges."Godwin said he was not sure what caused the collapse, but he said Falwell "has a history of heart challenges."

"I had breakfast with him, and he was fine at breakfast," Godwin said. "He went to his office, I went to mine, and they found him unresponsive."

Falwell had survived two serious health scares in early 2005. He was hospitalized for two weeks with what was described as a viral infection, then was hospitalized again a few weeks later after going into respiratory arrest. Later that year, doctors found a 70 percent blockage in an artery, which they opened with stents.

Falwell credited his Moral Majority with getting millions of conservative voters registered, electing Ronald Reagan and giving Republicans Senate control in 1980.

"I shudder to think where the country would be right now if the religious right had not evolved," Falwell said when he stepped down as Moral Majority president in 1987.

The fundamentalist church that Falwell started in an abandoned bottling plant in 1956 grew into a religious empire that includes the 22,000-member Thomas Road Baptist Church, the "Old Time Gospel Hour" carried on television stations around the country and 7,700-student Liberty University. He built Christian elementary schools, homes for unwed mothers and a home for alcoholics.

He also founded Liberty University in Lynchburg, which began as Lynchburg Baptist College in 1971.

Liberty University's commencement is scheduled for Saturday, with former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich as the featured speaker.

In 2006, Falwell marked the 50th anniversary of his church and spoke out on stem cell research, saying he sympathized with people with medical problems, but that any medical research must pass a three-part test: "Is it ethically correct? Is it biblically correct? Is it morally correct?"

Falwell had once opposed mixing preaching with politics, but he changed his view and in 1979, founded the Moral Majority. The political lobbying organization grew to 6.5 million members and raised $69 million as it supported conservative politicians and campaigned against abortion, homosexuality, pornography and bans on school prayer.

Falwell became the face of the religious right, appearing on national magazine covers and on television talk shows. In 1983, U.S. News & World Report named him one of 25 most influential people in America.

In 1984, he sued Hustler magazine for $45 million, charging that he was libeled by an ad parody depicting him as an incestuous drunkard. A federal jury found the fake ad did not libel him, but awarded him $200,000 for emotional distress. That verdict was overturned, however, in a landmark 1988 U.S. Supreme Court decision that held that even pornographic spoofs about a public figure enjoy First Amendment protection.

The case was depicted in the 1996 movie "The People v. Larry Flynt."

With Falwell's high profile came frequent criticism, even from fellow ministers. The Rev. Billy Graham once rebuked him for political sermonizing on "non-moral issues."

Falwell quit the Moral Majority in 1987, saying he was tired of being "a lightning rod" and wanted to devote his time to his ministry and Liberty University. But he remained outspoken and continued to draw criticism for his remarks.

Days after Sept. 11, 2001, Falwell essentially blamed feminists, gays, lesbians and liberal groups for bringing on the terrorist attacks. He later apologized.

In 1999, he told an evangelical conference that the Antichrist was a male Jew who was probably already alive. Falwell later apologized for the remark but not for holding the belief. A month later, his National Liberty Journal warned parents that Tinky Winky, a purple, purse-toting character on television's "Teletubbies" show, was a gay role model and morally damaging to children.

Falwell was re-energized after family values proved important in the 2004 presidential election. He formed the Faith and Values Coalition as the "21st Century resurrection of the Moral Majority," to seek anti-abortion judges, a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and more conservative elected officials.

The big, blue-eyed preacher with a booming voice started his independent Baptist church with 35 members. From his living room, he began broadcasting his message of salvation and raising the donations that helped his ministry grow.

"He was one of the first to come up with ways to use television to expand his ministry," said Robert Alley, a retired University of Richmond religion professor who studied and criticized Falwell's career.

In 1987, Falwell took over the PTL (Praise the Lord) ministry in South Carolina after Jim Bakker's troubles. Falwell slid fully clothed down a theme park water slide after donors met his fund-raising goal to help rescue the rival ministry. He gave it up seven months later after learning the depth of PTL's financial problems.

Largely because of the Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart scandals, donations to Falwell's ministry dropped from $135 million in 1986 to less than $100 million the following year. Hundreds of workers were laid off and viewers of his television show dwindled.

Liberty University was $73 million in debt and on the verge of bankruptcy, and his "Old Time Gospel Hour" was $16 million in debt.

By the mid-1990s, two local businessmen with long ties to Falwell began overseeing the finances and helped get companies to forgive debts or write them of as losses.

Falwell devoted much of his time keeping his university afloat. He dreamed that Liberty would grow to 50,000 students and be to fundamentalist Christians what Notre Dame is to Roman Catholics and Brigham Young University is to Mormons. He was an avid sports fan who arrived at Liberty basketball games to the cheers of students.

Falwell's father and his grandfather were militant atheists, he wrote in his autobiography. He said his father made a fortune off his businesses — including bootleging during Prohibition.

As a student, Falwell was a star athlete and a prankster who was barred from giving his high school valedictorian's speech after he was caught using counterfeit lunch tickets his senior year.

He ran with a gang of juvenile delinquents before becoming a born-again Christian at age 19. He turned down an offer to play professional baseball and transferred from Lynchburg College to Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Mo.

"My heart was burning to serve Christ," he once said in an interview. "I knew nothing would ever be the same again."

Falwell is survived by his wife, Macel, and three children, Jerry, Jonathan and Jeannie.

Libyan, Eritrean observers on Sudan-Chad border

Just one minute! Are they crazy?! Ugh!

Source: CNN.
April 12, 2007.

KHARTOUM, Sudan (Reuters) -- Libyan and Eritrean military and security observers have been deployed at the border between Sudan and Chad, scene of recent clashes, a Libyan mediator said on Thursday.

"We agreed on positive steps and the presence of military and security observers on the border from Libya and Eritrea, and from Chad and Sudan, and right now some of them are there on the border," Ali Triki, Libya's envoy on Chad and Sudan, told a news conference.

He did not say when the observers were deployed or how many had been sent there.

"I believe the confidence between both countries will return to normality, and if they respect agreements then we will not even need observers," said Triki, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's top adviser on African issues.

Gadhafi has taken the lead in trying to broker peace between Chad and Sudan, which have traded threats and accusations since a clash on Monday when Sudan said 17 of its soldiers were killed.

Chad denied any deliberate assault on its eastern neighbor, but said its forces had clashed with Sudanese troops after crossing the border to pursue Sudanese-backed rebels it said were launching raids.

That incident marked a sharp flare-up of tension between the two oil-producing central African countries, which have seen their ties become increasingly marred by violence spilling over from the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.

Both Sudan and Chad are resisting international efforts to deploy U.N. peacekeeping forces.

A late February summit hosted by Gadhafi to keep the peace between Chad and Sudan agreed "observation mechanisms" along the Darfur frontier.

Sudan has witnessed a flurry of diplomatic activity aimed at easing tensions with Chad, including a visit by South African President Thabo Mbeki.

The No. 2 U.S. State Department official, John Negroponte, is due to arrive in Sudan on Thursday and then head to Libya and Chad to press for solutions to the Darfur crisis.

Negroponte is expected to deliver a tough message from Washington on Darfur. Sudanese officials have said international pressure on Darfur will only deepen the humanitarian crisis.

North Korea replaces its prime minister

Source: CNN.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea has replaced its prime minister during a session of its rubber-stamp legislature, an official report said.

Pak Pong Ju was replaced by Kim Yong Il, the North's Korean Central News Agency reported late Wednesday, without giving any reasons for the change.

Pak had been promoted in 2003 from his job as minister of chemical industries in a move that was believed to indicate North Korea's attempt to revive its moribund economy. His replacement, Kim, 62, has served as transport minister since 1998, according to South Korean intelligence.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il attended the meeting Wednesday of the Supreme People's Assembly, KCNA reported, but apparently did not make any comments there.

The move comes amid intense diplomacy aimed at getting North Korea to meet a Saturday deadline under a February disarmament agreement to shut down its main nuclear reactor in exchange for aid and political concessions.

The Supreme People's Assembly usually convenes once or twice a year to approve budgets or discuss policy, but has little real power in a country ruled with an iron fist by Kim Jong Il.

At the assembly's meeting, the delegates heard reports on the budget with officials claiming success in meeting goals for revenue and spending, although no money figures were given.

Vice Premier Kwak Pom Gi, who led the session instead of the ousted Pak, said the country's main economic goals this year are to "improve the standard of people's living" along with the "modernization of the national economy," KCNA reported.

The premiership is among several high-ranking positions, but the country's No. 2 leader is Kim Yong Nam, the president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly.

North Korea is one of the poorest countries in the world. As many as 2 million people are estimated to have died from famine that began in the 1990s because of poor harvests caused by mismanagement and natural disasters and the loss of the North's main benefactor, the Soviet Union.

N. Korea funds impasse resolved

Source: CNN.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Negotiators have agreed on a method to release $25 million (euro18.7 million) in North Korean funds that are frozen in an Asian bank, clearing up a hitch that has stalled nuclear disarmament efforts.

After two weeks of talks in Beijing, banking officials from the United States, China, North and South Korea and the Bank of China have agreed on a "pathway" for the money to be returned to Pyongyang, the State Department said Friday.

"We support the release of all the funds. It is now a matter of technical implementation," spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters, adding that the actual return of the money would be up to China and North Korea.

Previously, U.S. officials had suggested privately that some of the $25 million held in the blacklisted and now-shuttered Banco Delta Asia in the Chinese territory of Macau might be tainted and not released.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that Washington's top East Asia diplomat, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, secretly met a senior North Korean diplomat in New York recently and discussed how to resolve the financial dispute.

The Treasury Department said Friday its negotiators at the talks in China had worked to ensure the release of the money was consistent with international money laundering and other financial regulations.

"We stand ready to assist the Macanese authorities in their efforts to release the funds and with all parties to effectuate the North Korean pledge that any money received by them would be used for humanitarian purposes of benefit to the North Korean people," it said.

McCormack declined to comment on South Korean reports the money would be transferred to North Korea through the Bank of China in Hong Kong. He referred questions about specifics to authorities in China and Macau. A U.S. official in Beijing, however, denied the reports.

McCormack refused to predict if, or even when, the "pathway" would actually be employed but said the money returned must be used for the "betterment of the North Korean people and for humanitarian purposes."

He also announced that Hill would travel to the region on Sunday for talks with officials there on North Korea's progress in shutting down its main nuclear facility by a mid-April deadline.

Hill will travel to Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing to discuss the six-party process between North and South Korea, the United States, China, Russia and Japan aimed at getting Pyongyang to halt its nuclear weapons program.

Hill's visit will coincide with a trip to North Korea by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and former Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi that will focus on the repatriation of the remains of U.S. servicemen killed in the Korean War.

The standoff over the money has threatened the next step in a February agreement committing North Korea to shut down its Yongbyon nuclear facility by April 14 in return for economic aid and political concessions.

The funds were frozen after Washington blacklisted the small Banco Delta Asia for alleged complicity in money laundering and other illicit activities by North Korea.

Pyongyang said the freeze showed Washington's hostile intentions toward it and refused to return to international talks on its nuclear program for more than a year.

The problems holding up the transfer of the money were believed to be related to difficulties finding a bank willing to accept the North Korean funds.

A top U.S. Treasury official, Daniel Glaser, had been in Beijing for 13 days trying to sort out the matter. He and his delegation left China on Friday without commenting on the resolution of the hitch.

French Total oil boss under formal investigation

Source: Middle East Times.

AFP March 23, 2007

PARIS -- A French judge has placed the chief executive of the Total oil group under formal investigation on suspicion of paying bribes to secure a major gas field deal in Iran.

Christophe de Margerie, who is already under investigation over the Iraq "oil-for-food" bribes scandal, was officially warned of the new accusations Thursday night after he had spent more than a day in detention.

The judge placed Margerie, who has only been Total's chief executive since February, under investigation for suspected "corruption of foreign public agents and misuse of corporate assets," a legal source said.

Margerie was given conditional release.

The French oil company is suspected of paying top Iranian officials nearly 100 million Swiss francs ($80 million) through two Swiss bank accounts to win a contract for the South Pars offshore gas field in 1997.

Margerie was detained by French police Wednesday before being transferred to a serious financial crime unit a day later, judicial officials reported. Four other serving and former Total executives were also detained but later released without charge.

In a statement, Total said that its chief executive had been placed "under formal investigation in proceedings related to the development of the South Pars project in Iran."

Being placed under judicial investigation is one step short of being charged with a crime in the French legal system. It does not necessarily mean that 55-year-old Margerie is heading for trial.

A case can be dropped if a judge is unable to sustain his accusations against an individual.

In the statement Total expressed "its full support for its employees and confirms that the agreements for the development of the South Pars project were entered into in compliance with applicable law."

It also said that the company was "confident" that the "investigation will establish the absence of any illegal activities and reaffirms that Total adheres to a strict code of conduct regardless of the difficulties linked to its activities and the environments in which it operates."

The suspicions center on a contract Total won from the Iranian oil company NIOC for the South Pars field.

The French judge is partly relying on testimony given by an employee of Norwegian oil company Statoil who revealed the existence of a corruption system in Iran during an investigation in Norway.

According to sources, money was paid to Iranian officials between 1996 and 2003 when Margerie was Total's Middle East director.

Last year he was charged with complicity with fraud and corruption by the same judge as part of an investigation into a French link to the "oil-for-food" scandal in Iraq.

Companies were said to have paid money to get oil deals from Iraq while it was under UN sanctions during the Saddam Hussein years.

Several other Total executives and former executives, including Patrick Rambaud, who was also questioned over the Iran deal, have also been put under investigation as part of the "oil-for-food" scandal.

Known in the company as "Big Moustache," Margerie was promoted to head of Total in February in succession to Thierry Desmarest who had overseen huge expansion of the group and is president of the supervisory board.

Margerie studied at the elite ESCP business school in Paris, joining the finance department of Total in 1974, rising to the managing committee in 1992, and becoming director for the Middle East region in 1995.

French Judge grills Total chief over corruption accusations

Source: Yahoo News.

A French judge on Thursday questioned Total oil chief executive Christophe de Margerie over corruption suspicions surrounding a major gas deal in Iran, bringing formal charges a step closer.

The French oil giant is suspected of paying top Iranian officials nearly 100 million Swiss francs (60 million euros, 80 million dollars) through two Swiss bank accounts to win a contract in 1997

Margerie was detained by police on Wednesday and on Thursday was transferred to the serious financial crime unit, legal sources said.

He was later taken to the office of magistrate, Philippe Courroye, who has spent three months investigating the South Pars contract that Total secured with the Iranian oil company NIOC.

Courroye could place de Margerie under judicial investigation which would be the first stage toward formal charges.

Four other Total executives, including financial director Robert Castaigne and a former senior executive, Patrick Rambaud, who was in charge of Total's negotiating section, were also detained on Wednesday but released late in the day without charge.

Total has confirmed that the executives have been questioned over the South Pars offshore field deal. But a spokesman said the group, France's biggest company in terms of turnover, supports Margerie and "confirms that the agreements signed respected the law."

If Margerie is not charged he could still be warned that he is needed as a witness or given an unconditional release.

According to sources close to the inquiry, the money was paid to Iranian officials between 1996 and 2003, when Margerie was Total's Middle East director. The Swiss accounts belonged to a suspected intermediary in the deal. Switzerland has frozen some 9.5 million euros from the accounts.

The oil group's chief executive is no stranger to controversy.

Last year he was charged with complicity with fraud and corruption by the same judge as part of an investigation into a French link to the "oil-for-food" scandal in Iraq.

Companies were said to have paid money to get oil deals from Iraq while it was under UN sanctions during the Saddam Hussein years.

Several other Total executives and former executives, including Rambaud, have also been charged as part of the "oil-for-food" scandal.

Known in the company as "Big Moustache," Margerie was promoted to managing director of Total in February in succession to Thierry Desmarest who had overseen huge expansion of the group and is president of the supervisory board.

ElBaradei upbeat on N. Korea talks

Source: CNN.

TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- The chief U.N. nuclear inspector, after a one-day trip to Pyongyang, said Wednesday North Korea was "fully committed" to an agreement that requires it to shutter its main nuclear reactor and let in inspectors as soon as the U.S. drops financial sanctions against it.

Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, described the talks on how North Korea will close its main atomic reactor as "quite useful."

"They said they are fully committed to the February 13 agreement, that they are ready to work with the agency to make sure that we monitor and verify the shutdown of the Yongbyon facility," he said, adding officials in Pyongyang also "reiterated they are committed to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula."

ElBaradei's trip comes ahead of international talks in Beijing on Monday that will look at progress after a milestone deal last month in which North Korea has 60 days to shut down and seal its Yongbyon nuclear reactor in exchange for economic aid and political concessions.

ElBaradei dismissed concerns that he had not meet Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan, North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator, as originally scheduled, saying Kim was sick.

The IAEA is supposed to monitor and verify the shutdown. The reactor is believed to have produced the plutonium for the nuclear weapon North Korea detonated in a test blast on October 9.

He said North Korea "was very clear they are ready to implement the February 13 agreement once the other parties implement their part of the deal."

He said that included the lifting of sanctions against a Macau bank, adding once that happens North Korea will allow the return of inspectors from his watchdog agency.

The frozen accounts in the Banco Delta Asia, including $24 million (€18.2 million) in North Korean assets, have been a sore spot for the North Korean government.

A U.S. government official said Monday the Treasury Department is expected to make an announcement this week that could help overseas regulators identify highest-risk and lower-risk account holders. This risk assessment in turn could be used by Macau to release money that has been frozen. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The U.S. alleged the bank helped North Korea distribute counterfeit currency and engage in other illicit activities. Banks around the world, meanwhile, severed ties with North Korea for fear of losing access to the U.S. financial system.

ElBaradei's trip was a significant first step toward renewed relations between the IAEA and the North, which kicked out the agency's inspectors in late 2002, but he cautioned "the agreement is still quite fragile, precarious, so I hope all parties will see to it we continue to solidify that agreement."

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the top American nuclear negotiator, told reporters after arriving in Beijing that ElBaradei's trip was a "good sign."

Hill said he was likely to meet ElBaradei in Beijing on Thursday.

Besides the United States and North Korea, the talks also include South Korea, Japan, Russia and host China.

Delegates from those countries were set this week to meet with their counterparts to discuss economic and energy cooperation, peace and security in Northeast Asia and the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula as part of working group sessions established under the landmark pact. Those meetings were to take place through the weekend.

South Korea's chief nuclear negotiator Chun Yung-woo said after flying into Beijing Wednesday that the talks were not aimed "at producing any breakthrough" or a new agreement.

The North Korean nuclear crisis began in 2002, when Washington alleged that Pyongyang had a uranium enrichment program in addition to its acknowledged plutonium program. North Korea then withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and expelled ElBaradei's inspectors.

The North is to eventually receive 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil for abandoning all its nuclear programs. U.S. officials have stressed this must include an alleged uranium enrichment program, which the North has never publicly admitted having.

U.S. to bar banks from business with Macau's BDA

Source: CNN. Also an earlier CNN report.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The U.S. Treasury Department will bar U.S. banks from doing business with a Macau bank holding frozen North Korean assets believed connected to illegal activities, a U.S. official said on Tuesday.

The move would clear the way for Macau authorities to decide whether to release some of the frozen accounts -- an estimated $8 million to $12 million -- Pyongyang has demanded as a condition of negotiations on its nuclear program, other U.S. officials said.

Releasing the funds could take weeks and Washington's prohibition on U.S. banks will continue to complicate the North's access to the international financial system. This is expected to irritate Pyongyang and could shake efforts to denuclearize the Korean peninsula, officials and experts said.

For the past 18 months the Treasury Department has been investigating the Banco Delta Asia bank, known as BDA, over charges the institution for years accepted proceeds from North Korea's counterfeiting, drug-smuggling and money-laundering operations.

As a result, Macau authorities who oversee the bank froze $24 million in North Korean accounts, causing Pyongyang to boycott six-country talks on its nuclear program for more than a year.

The figure is a fraction of the $500 million to $1 billion Pyongyang earns annually from criminal activity, according to the Library of Congress' Congressional Research Service.

Some $15 million to $25 million is from high-quality counterfeiting U.S. currency, according to a report by the office of Republican Rep. Ed Royce of California.

Under a limited nuclear agreement reached with North Korea on February 13, the United States promised to resolve the BDA issue and the decision will be announced this week.

Announcement soon

"We plan to finalize the rule on BDA this week, most likely Wednesday or Thursday," a U.S. official told Reuters on condition on anonymity. "Finalizing the rule means that U.S. banks can no longer open or maintain correspondent accounts for or on behalf of BDA."

The decision to release any funds rests with the China-administered enclave of Macau. U.S. officials have said they expect between one-third and one-half of the $24 million to be released, reflecting accounts determined not to be connected to illicit activity.

The United States is expected to transmit results of its investigation, highlighting high-risk North Korea-related clients, to Macau authorities, who could take several weeks or longer to decide what funds to release.

China is concerned about the cloud of suspicion the U.S. decision will leave over BDA. Some U.S. officials say North Korea likely will reject the way Washington has chosen to interpret its promise to resolve the case.

The officials acknowledge Macau has taken steps to clean up its jurisdiction by tightening banking requirements and promoting transparency but say BDA's shortcomings were systemic largely involving U.S. concerns about the bank's ownership.

"Our concerns about the bank's ownership have not been resolved," another U.S. official said.

In 2005, the Treasury Department designated BDA as a "primary money-laundering concern [because it was a] willing pawn for the North Korean government to engage in corrupt financial activities."

Some U.S. officials and experts have long wanted to resolve the dispute so Pyongyang would come back to six-party negotiations and the focus could be on persuading the North to abandon its nuclear program, rather than counterfeiting.

A shutdown of North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear plant by mid-April is the centerpiece of the February 13 accord reached in six-party talks grouping North and South Korea, Japan, Russia, the United States and host China.

Australian PM to sign security pact in Japan

Source: CNN.

TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- Australian Prime Minister John Howard is expected to sign a security declaration with his Japanese counterpart during a four-day trip to Tokyo that started Sunday, officials said.

He said Friday that the declaration will underline the two countries' increasingly close security relationship.

Those ties vastly improved after Australian troops provided security for a Japanese humanitarian mission, comprising about 600 troops, in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah. The non-combat mission ended in July.

"One of the reasons why it has been possible to move towards this Joint Declaration is the close partnership between Australia and Japan in Iraq," Howard said, according to the transcript of the news conference in Sydney on Friday published on his Web site.

Howard sidestepped a question about whether the declaration would aim to curtail North Korea's nuclear ambitions, saying that issue might be addressed after the agreement is signed.

The declaration could include cooperation on peacekeeping and disaster operations as well as joint exercises within the Australian territory, Japan's business daily Nikkei reported Saturday, without citing where it got the information from.

Officials at the Japanese Foreign Ministry were not available for comment Sunday.

Howard was scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday when they will seal the joint security declaration at a signing ceremony, according to an itinerary provided by the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

Tokyo and Sydney are scheduled to launch negotiations on a free trade agreement on April 23. Japan has been Australia's largest export market for nearly 40 years.

While the two countries enjoy close economic ties, Australia and Japan disagree on whaling.

Asked if he plans to raise the issue with Abe, Howard said, "I will of course in the course of our discussions."

Japan has been pushing for a resumption of commercial whaling while Australia strongly opposes it.

Howard will also meet Foreign Minister Taro Aso on Monday and attend a luncheon hosted by the Japan-Australia Business Conference on Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry said.

Historical issues stall Japan-North Korea talks

Source: CNN.

HANOI, Vietnam (Reuters) -- Japan and North Korea cut short talks on Thursday about establishing diplomatic ties after wrangling again over historical differences, officials said.

Japan said the two sides would "continue to exchange views" but no date was scheduled for more talks, part of a six-country deal last month to halt impoverished Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program in exchange for aid and diplomatic recognition.

Japan says forming ties is impossible without resolution of the issue of Japanese abducted by the reclusive communist state in the 1970s and 1980s. Meanwhile, North Korea is pressing for settlement of issues stemming from Japan's harsh 1910-45 colonial rule over the Korean peninsula.

North Korea's chief negotiator Song Il-ho told reporters after Thursday's session at the North Korean embassy in Hanoi that the abduction issue "has been completely resolved by our sincere efforts".

He urged Japan to settle the past, lift sanctions and stop "suppressing" North Koreans living in Japan.

North Korea admitted in 2002 that its agents had abducted 13 Japanese to train Pyongyang spies in Japanese culture and language, sparking outrage in Japan.

Five people were repatriated. Japan has demanded the return of any survivors, but Pyongyang says the other eight are dead and cannot be sent back.

In a briefing, Song described Japan's position as "an unreasonable insistence." But Japan's delegation head, Koichi Haraguchi said, "It is deplorable that North Korea did not respond sincerely to the abduction issue."

The original schedule had called for two full days of talks in communist-run Vietnam, which has good relations with both Japan and North Korea.

Delegates met on Wednesday morning at the Japanese embassy, but then cancelled an afternoon session at the North Korean embassy. Thursday's meeting lasted less than an hour.

As part of the deal struck in Beijing, North Korea this week sent its chief nuclear envoy to the United States for talks and a delegation to meet the Japanese. By contrast, the talks in New York were "very good" according to an American envoy.

The Japan-North Korea talks were the first since they met in Beijing more than a year ago. Those made no visible progress, either.

In Tokyo, Kyodo news agency reported on Thursday that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe might order a new study of the government's role in forcing women, many of them Koreans, to act as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War Two.

Abe has angered the Koreans and other Asians with remarks that appeared to question the state's role, although he has also said a 1993 apology acknowledging coercion remained in effect. (Full story)

Separately on Wednesday at the United Nations, North Korea's envoy accused Japan of creating "a horrific atmosphere of terror" for pro-Pyongyang groups in Japan with investigations into their activities following Pyongyang's 2006 nuclear and missile tests.

Western, Asian and developing nations on the board of the Vienna-based U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency watchdog on Wednesday urged North Korea to honor the deal toward de-nuclearization of the divided Korean Peninsula.

The six-party agreement included North and South Korea, which are still technically at war after the truce that ended the 1950-53 Korean war. The others are the United States, China, Japan and Russia.