New Passport Requirements for Air Travelers

U.S. to require passports for nearly all
By BEVERLEY LUMPKIN, Associated Press Writer
Tue Nov 21, 6:35 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Nearly all air travelers entering the U.S. will be required to show passports beginning Jan. 23, including returning Americans and people from Canada and other nations in the Western Hemisphere.

The date was disclosed Tuesday by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in an interview with The Associated Press. The Homeland Security Department plans to announce the change on Wednesday.

Until now, the department had not set a specific date for instituting the passport requirement for air travelers, though the start had been expected to be around the beginning of the year. Setting the date on Jan. 23 pushes the start past the holiday season.

The requirement marks a change for Americans, Canadians, Bermudans and some Mexicans.

Currently, U.S. citizens returning from other countries in the hemisphere are not required to present passports but must show other proof of citizenship such as driver's licenses or birth certificates.

Visitors from most countries in the hemisphere are required to show passports. However, people from Canada, Bermuda — and those from Mexico who enter the U.S. frequently and have special border-crossing cards — have been allowed to use other forms of identification, including driver's licenses.

Lebanese politician assassinated

Key Lebanese politician assassinated
By ZEINA KARAM and SAM F. GHATTAS, Associated Press Writers
Tue Nov 21, 6:42 PM ET

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Pierre Gemayel, scion of Lebanon's most prominent Christian family and a leading opponent of Syria, was gunned down Tuesday in a brazen daytime hit. The assassination threatened to intensify Lebanon's power struggle between the U.S.-allied government and the Syrian-backed Hezbollah.


Gemayel, 34, was leaving church when he fell into a well-coordinated attack: One vehicle cut off his car from the front, another rammed him from behind, then gunmen burst out and sprayed a dozen bullets into his passenger-side window.

The killing sent tensions spiraling at a time when Lebanon was already facing a worsening political crisis. The Shiite Muslim guerrilla group Hezbollah and its pro-Syrian allies have threatened massive protests — as early as Thursday — aimed at bringing down Prime Minister Fuad Saniora's government unless it gives them greater power.

President Bush condemned the assassination and accused Syria and Iran of seeking to undermine Saniora's government. Bush stopped short of specifically blaming them for Gemayel's death, though the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John R. Bolton, raised the possibility.

Anti-Syrian politicians in Lebanon, however, directly pointed the finger at Damascus, and some Gemayel supporters demanded revenge against Syria's Lebanese allies.

Bands of young Christians broke car windows and burned tires and garbage cans in their areas of Beirut and the Gemayel family's mountain hometown of Bikfaya to the northeast. But

Lebanese troops quickly stopped the unrest and set up checkpoints to prevent demonstrations in the coming days. A funeral was set for Thursday in downtown Beirut, with the anti-Syrian factions calling for mass participation.

Politicians from all sides scrambled to contain the fallout of the assassination, urging calm amid fears of an outbreak of the brutal violence between Lebanon's sharply divided communities that marked the 1975-90 civil war.

A stunned-looking former president Amin Gemayel — Pierre's father and leader of the Phalange Party — urged his supporters to observe a night of "prayer and reflection."

"We don't want an outburst of emotions and revenge," he said outside the hospital where his son died. "He was martyred for the cause of Lebanon, and we want this cause to triumph. ... To all those who love Pierre, we should not be driven by instinct."

Poisoned Former KGB Agent condition deteriorates

From Yahoo! News:

Condition of former KGB spy worsens
By TARIQ PANJA, Associated Press Writer
48 minutes ago

LONDON - A former KGB agent turned Kremlin critic who was poisoned three weeks ago was moved into intensive care Monday after his condition deteriorated, and his doctor said the toxin has attacked his bone marrow.


Col. Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB and Federal Security Bureau agent, was under armed guard at a London hospital, as authorities investigated the poisoning that has all the hallmarks of a Cold War thriller.

Prominent Russian exiles claimed Litvinenko was poisoned at the behest of the Kremlin; Russian authorities denied any link to the attack. Police counterterrorism officials have taken charge of the inquiry.

Doctors said Litvinenko was seriously ill after being given the deadly poison thallium — a toxic metal found in some types of rat poison that can cause damage to the nervous system and organ failure. Such poison has been outlawed in Britain since the 1970s, making it highly unlikely any could have gotten into his food by accident.

Photographs released by the hospital showed a wan Litvinenko in a green hospital gown, his bald head propped up by pillows, his arm hooked to an IV drip. Thallium causes hair loss and interferes with the cardiovascular and nervous systems, attacking the vital organs.
Litvinenko's white cell count is down to nearly zero, said Dr. John Henry, a clinical toxicologist treating him. "It shows his bone marrow has been attacked and that he is susceptible to infection," Henry said.

Litvinenko, who has been a thorn in the Russian government's side since the late 1990s, fell ill after a meal with a contact who claimed to have details about the slaying of another Kremlin critic — Anna Politkovskaya, the Russian investigative journalist who was gunned down Oct. 7 in her Moscow apartment building.

Litvinenko blamed her killing on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Somebody has asked me directly, who is guilty of Anna's death? And I can directly answer you: it is Mr. Putin, president of the Russian Federation," he said at a meeting at a media club in London in October.

NATO Is Failing

From The Telegraph:

Worse, the grand project of expanding Nato has stalled. This will be the first summit since the collapse of communism that will issue no new invitations to membership. That is a tragedy.

Nato's enlargement has bolstered freedom and entrenched democracy across the continent. The summit in the Latvian capital is a powerful reminder: without the Nato membership they gained in 2004, the defenceless Baltic states would have been a dangerous security no-mans-land. Now they contribute to Nato – with symbolic troops, and vital electronic and human intelligence – and are anchored in the West.

The success of enlargement has proved Russia's doom-laden warnings wrong. But the Kremlin has now gained something that had eluded it since the end of the Cold War: a veto on Nato's expansion. In Ukraine, the pro-Russian ruling party that displaced the pro-Western (but deeply corrupt and incompetent) parties of the 2004 "Orange Revolution" has bluntly said that it has no interest in joining the alliance.

That, arguably, is Ukraine's own affair, though public opinion was poisoned against Nato by propaganda that portrayed it as a warmongers' cabal, rather than an alliance of successful and prosperous democracies.

Much worse is the case of Georgia, fast-reforming, ardently pro-Western, and crucially located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. It is eager to join. But France, Greece and other pro-Russian countries say no. They swallow whole the Kremlin's bogus line that it feels its sphere of influence is being infringed. They never ask why the countries closest to Russia find its embrace so stifling.

Georgia has even been abandoned by its chief ally, America, which is desperate for Kremlin help against Iran and North Korea. It did not defend Georgia against a critical resolution at the United Nations and has dropped all objections to Russia's long-sought membership of the World Trade Organisation.

As America's power has receded, Russia's has grown. Russia does not just supply a quarter of Europe's gas. The Kremlin's monopoly of export pipelines has also created a stranglehold over supplies from Central Asia to eastern and central Europe. With oil, tanker deliveries can substitute for pipelines. With gas, a pipeline creates long-term dependency.

Russia's gas weapon is proving a far more potent means of subverting Europe than either communism or the Red Army. Murky intermediary companies spew out money for politicians, parties and officials that favour the Kremlin's line. Gerhard Schröder, who as German chancellor revelled in being Vladimir Putin's best friend in Europe, now heads – doubtless from the most honourable motives – the company building a pipeline on the Baltic seabed to link Germany and Russia.

Germany could try to get gas elsewhere – by building terminals for liquefied natural gas. Instead, it is deepening dependence on the authoritarian, kleptocratic regime in Russia. "We are the have-nots, and they are the haves," a defeatist top foreign-ministry official told bemused British visitors last week.

It is also making neighbouring countries like Poland even more vulnerable to Kremlin blackmail. When the Baltic pipeline is built, Russia will be able to supply its friends, while starving its foes. Poland, along with the Baltic states, is trying frantically to diversify sources of supply. But progress is painfully slow.

UK Terror Tidal Wave

UK faces 'wave' of terror plots

Britain faces a "wave" of terrorist plots, prepared strategically and directed from abroad by al-Qaeda, Home Secretary John Reid has told the BBC.

He agreed with MI5 head Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller's assessment that there were 30 major plots, and said an attack in the UK was "highly likely".

New counter-terrorism laws are expected to be among a raft of Home Office Bills at the heart of the Queen's Speech.

Counter-terrorism officials have said Britain is al-Qaeda's top target.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Reid said Dame Eliza had provided a "salutary warning".

'Great threat'

"It is a very great threat. It means that a terrorist attack in the United Kingdom is highly likely," he said.

The government had no information to suggest an imminent attack, he said, but were aware of 30 plots which were "ongoing" and had potential, he said.

"Whereas we thought this was probably haphazard some time ago, they do look as though they are being directed from abroad, specifically by elements of al-Qaeda," he said.

"They look as though they are being prepared strategically and that is that they fit into a pattern... it looks as though there's a wave of such things".

Al Jazeera America Launches

Al Jazeera, wide angle

The Arab network's English-language project is set to launch today, promising high-tech 24-hour coverage. But who will watch?
By Johanna Neuman, Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — Al Jazeera, praised for confronting the Middle East's oft-coddled ruling regimes and criticized for bringing viewers regular updates from Osama bin Laden's cave, says it is launching its new English-language international network today.

A lot of people don't believe it.

"This is getting a little boring," said one droll industry insider who asked not to be named. "Call me back when they actually get on the air."

But after more than a year of delays, a reported $1-billion price tag and lingering questions about whether any U.S. station will carry its programming, Al Jazeera says it is, honest, ready for prime time.

"We are really, really launching," said Will Stebbins, a Boston native and former Associated Press Television News journalist who is Al Jazeera International's Washington bureau chief. "It's going to be a very dramatic launch. We're going to be live from some interesting locations."

AJI promises to outshine its competitors — such as CNN International and BBC World Service — with a mix of high-definition bells and whistles and an unusual 24-hour news rotation — four hours anchored from Washington, four from London, four from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and 12 from company headquarters in Doha, Qatar. In fact, one of the glitches that slowed the opening-day broadcast date is that AJI has gone digital, doing away with all tape and video, giving journalists desktop access to everything.

"There's been a learning curve with the new technology," said Stebbins. "It's a paradigm shift."
A paradigm shift would suggest a new technology, one so glorious to watch that viewers will soon abandon commercial television. An irony, to say the least, if AJI paves the way for a rejuvenated CBS or NBC.

"This is unprecedented; it's the most complex project of its kind ever attempted," said British journalist Nigel Parsons, AJI's managing director. "With our high-tech backbone, involving all new software, firmly linked by fiber, we'll be able to move pictures around the world."

Sen. John Kerry To Lead Small Business Committee

From Breit Bart:

WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Today Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) was named Chairman of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship for the 110th Congress. Kerry has served on the Committee for 21 years proving to be a tireless advocate for small businesses by working to increase access to capital, ensure small firms get their fair share of federal contracts, improve business development opportunities, and enact common sense tax proposals and small-business-friendly regulations.

Following is a statement from Senator Kerry:

"Small businesses are the heart of the American economy and the place where American dreams rise and fall every day. I can't wait to lead the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship so we can focus on really fighting for small businesses to have a fair shot, to increase competition, to foster innovation, and to drive our economy.

"There are countless challenges small businesses face today. Twenty seven million Americans without health insurance work for small businesses that can't afford to cover them. Minority and women entrepreneurs are growing in numbers, but the dollars they receive in small business loans has remained stagnant under the Bush Administration. Service disabled veteran owned businesses only received a mere 0.6 percent of federal contracts in 2005. And, while 80 percent of America's businesses are small firms, they aren't even getting the 23 percent of federal contracts they're entitled to under the law - but somehow Washington has been so upside down that big businesses have obtained nearly $2 billion in federal contracts that should have gone to small firms.

"Next year, we will change that and we will make Washington a friend of small business once again. We need to focus on making health care affordable for small businesses. We need to reduce the burden of paperwork and bureaucracy for small businesses. We need to remove the obstacles that minority, women and veteran entrepreneurs encounter. We need to promote tax incentives to encourage investment in small businesses and restore fairness in the tax code for small firms.

"Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma revealed a need for serious reform of the SBA's Disaster Loan Program, so I will continue to push legislation that provides short-term relief for struggling businesses after a disaster and to cut through the red tape so that disaster victims get much-needed assistance quickly.

"As Chairman, I will look beyond the SBA for ways to foster the entrepreneurial spirit and assist small businesses across America. And, as I have in the past, I will continue to work across party lines to create sensible legislation that eases the burden on our entrepreneurs and helps them succeed."