former cat stevens wins libel suit

Wednesday February 16, 2:47 AM
Muslim ex-pop star Cat Stevens wins libel damages from British papers

Pop singer turned Muslim activist Yusuf Islam, formerly Cat Stevens, said he had obtained "substantial" damages against two British newspapers which alleged he had been involved in terrorism.

In a statement released on his behalf, the 56-year-old, who sold 50 million records in the 1960s and 1970s, said he had also received apologies for the "false and highly defamatory allegations".

The dispute was sparked by reports in the Sunday Times and Sun newspapers following the decision by US authorities in September 2004 to refuse Islam entry to the United States, on what was termed "security grounds".

Islam, who gave up music and changed his name 30 years ago when he embraced the Muslim faith, has repeatedly denied any involvement in terrorism, or terrorist funding.

Islam's settlement with the two papers saw them also agree to pay his legal costs and pledge not to repeat the allegations, his statement said.

"It seems to be the easiest thing in the world these days to make scurrilous accusations against Muslims, and in my case it directly impacts on my relief work and damages my reputation as an artist," he said.

"The harm done is often difficult to repair. However, I am delighted by the settlement, which helps vindicate my character and good name."

The damages would be given to relief projects in areas hit by the December 26 Indian Ocean tsunami, he added.

air pollution harms fetus dna

Air pollution linked to chromosome damage in fetuses
Tue Feb 15, 5:57 PM ET
By Seth Borenstein, Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - Air pollution from traffic and power plants seems to cause genetic changes - the kind linked to cancer - in developing fetuses, a federally funded study released Tuesday has concluded.

A first-of-its-kind study of 60 pregnant women in poor areas of New York City used backpacks to monitor the women's exposure to airborne carcinogens and then tested their babies' umbilical-cord blood after birth. Babies whose moms were exposed to higher pollution levels had 53 percent more aberrations in their chromosomes. Other studies have shown that these types of chromosomal changes increase the risk of cancer.

"This finding shows the process can begin as early as the womb as a result of air pollution," said study author Frederica Perera, the director of Columbia University's Center for Children's Environmental Health. "We know that these pollutants make their way across the placenta."

Perera's study didn't determine what parts of the babies' genes changed or if they all changed in the same areas.

The peer-reviewed study - funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and published in this month's journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention - links in-the-womb chromosome damage to elevated exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

There are more than 100 PAHs, which are the byproducts of combustion, including car and truck exhaust, power plant emissions, tobacco smoke and even the smoke from grilling meats. Fifteen of the most common PAHs are listed as carcinogens in the official government list of cancer-causing agents.

PAHs get into the air usually as ultra-small particles - not smog - that can travel hundreds of miles and then lodge in the lungs, said Janet Arey, a University of California at Riverside atmospheric chemistry professor who's studied PAH affects for the Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites). In many places, including Southern California, the highest levels are closest to traffic congestion.
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bush ignored pre-9/11 warning

January 2001 Memo Warned Bush of Al Qaeda Threat
Thu Feb 10,10:09 PM ET
Politics - Reuters
By JoAnne Allen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A newly released memo warned the White House at the start of the Bush administration that al Qaeda represented a threat throughout the Islamic world, a warning that critics said went unheeded by President Bush (news - web sites) until the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The memo dated Jan. 25, 2001 -- five days after Bush took office -- was an essential feature of last year's hearings into intelligence failures before the attacks on New York and Washington. A copy of the document was posted on the National Security Archive Web site on Thursday.

The memo, from former counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke to then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites), had been described during the hearings but its full contents had not been disclosed.
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ho hum, another stolen election

Judge Upholds S.D. Mayoral Election
Feb. 3, 2005
By Richard Marosi, Times Staff Writer

SAN DIEGO — A judge on Wednesday upheld the November election victory of Mayor Dick Murphy, rejecting 5,551 votes for write-in candidate Councilwoman Donna Frye because people did not fill in the oval next to her name as required by state law.

"I find that [the] election code … should be given its plain meaning…. That to cast a vote you have to fill in the oval," said Superior Court Judge H. Michael Brenner from Orange County. "Those votes should not be counted. The challenge fails."
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If the ruling stands, it would end the quixotic, last-minute write-in candidacy of Frye, a surf shop owner whose maverick style and "surfer chick" status attracted national attention. Murphy, a Republican former judge, was favored by business interests, while Frye gained support from environmentalists and unions.

Fredric Woocher, the attorney for Frye supporters who filed the lawsuit, said he would recommend an appeal.

"There's too much at stake in terms of people's rights to leave it up to one judge," Woocher said.

The ruling came immediately after closing arguments in the three-day trial, in which lawyers and witnesses spent hours examining marked-up, crossed-out and incomplete ballots cast for Murphy and Frye by voters who didn't follow instructions.
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Frye supporters charged that the county registrar of voters, Sally McPherson, had treated Frye voters according to different standards in evaluating their intent.
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In his ruling, the judge said the intent of write-in voters for Frye was clear but concluded that the rules were meant to be followed. State law requires that voters for a write-in candidate not only fill in the name but darken the oval. Filling in the ovals, the judge said, "requires a small burden on voters."
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yes, x-rays do cause cancer

X-rays added to cancer list
Some viruses also among carcinogens on federal registry
Jane Kay, Chronicle Environment Writer
Tuesday, February 1, 2005

The federal government for the first time has placed X-rays and some viruses on its list of cancer-causing agents along with chemicals formed by frying and grilling meat.

Also on the list of 17 new carcinogens, released Monday, were lead and lead compounds, toilet bowl deodorants and substances in textile dyes, paints and inks.
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X-rays and gamma radiation -- used in medicine, the nuclear power industry and by the military -- were listed because they can cause leukemia and thyroid, breast and lung cancers, federal scientists said. X-rays to women in their reproductive years increase the risk of breast cancer, while childhood exposure is linked to an increased risk for leukemia and thyroid cancer, the report said.
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The American College of Radiology, which accredits radiologists, took umbrage at the addition of radiation to the list.

James Borgstede, chairman of the board of chancellors, issued a statement saying that X-rays and gamma rays "do not belong on a list of substances that pose a risk to people in the course of their normal, daily lives. This report could lead patients to mistakenly believe that they are being placed at undue risk by undergoing a radiological procedure and cause many who may desperately need care to avoid seeking appropriate medical attention.''

In San Francisco, Dr. Daniel Glaubiger, chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology at California Pacific, said radiologists follow common guidelines to reduce the potential for harm.

"No one should have unnecessary X-rays, particularly children and certainly women who are pregnant,'' he said. "We know from other data that multiple low-dose X-ray exposures can result in increased incidence of subsequent malignancy.''

People shouldn't refuse necessary X-rays, such as those following a head trauma or to determine the extent of pneumonia, Glaubiger cautioned. "Mammograms remain the best screening procedure for women with breast cancer, '' he said.

On the other hand, he cautioned that "full body scans involve a fairly sizable exposure and haven't proven beneficial.''

About 55 percent of the global radiation exposure comes from medical diagnostic tests, 43 percent from naturally occurring radon and 2 percent from industry, scientific research, military weapons testing, nuclear accidents and nuclear power generation, the report said.

Studies of out-of-date radiation practices have shown an increase in cancer. The ongoing California Teachers Study has shown a higher-than-average risk of breast cancer among women required to have yearly chest X-rays to rule out tuberculosis. Canadian women treated for TB with many fluoroscopies in the 1930s and 1940s have a higher risk of breast cancer than do women who were monitored for scoliosis with X-rays in the 1950s and 1960s.

Dr. Chris Portier, associate director of the National Toxicology Program, which prepared the report, said he hopes the information will help physicians update their points of view and "re-examine what they're doing.''
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can't technology stop unlicensed drivers?

a story that has been repeated many many times. her license was taken away, but that didn't stop this drunk from killing. the problem is not just that she was drunk, or that they didn't take her license away. she didn't have a license, but she kept driving without it. the license law currently cannot be effectively enforced. how many more innocent people will have to die needless and horrible deaths before we finally adopt a system that prevents people from driving unless they have a valid license?

Wrong-way car driver on probation for DUI, public records show
Oakland motorists killed in collision on I-80 near Rodeo
Demian Bulwa, Dave Murphy, Chronicle Staff Writers
Tuesday, February 1, 2005

The alleged wrong-way driver who caused Sunday's head-on crash on Interstate 80 near Rodeo, killing an Oakland couple, was drunk, unlicensed and on probation for an earlier drunken-driving conviction, according to authorities and public records.
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bumper sticker rights upheld

Cop pays sticker price
He'll be punished for arrest threat over anti-Bush label
By Brian D. Crecente, Rocky Mountain News
January 26, 2005

Denver police Sgt. Michael Karasek will be disciplined for threatening to arrest a woman for displaying on her truck a profane bumper sticker about President Bush, Police Chief Gerry Whitman said Tuesday.

An internal affairs investigation took just a day to complete, and the allegation against the officer was upheld, Whitman said.
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About 11 a.m. Monday, Shasta Bates, 26, was confronted by a man while standing in a UPS store. The man told her he was upset by her bumper sticker, which read "F--- Bush."

The man then went outside and flagged down Karasek, who was working off-duty in uniform at the shopping center, in the 800 block of South Monaco Parkway.

After reading the sticker and talking to the man, Karasek went into the store to confront Bates.

Bates, three UPS employees and a Rocky Mountain News reporter who happened to be there all say that the officer threatened to arrest the woman if she didn't remove the bumper sticker from her truck.
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