The Nightowl Newswrap

by: BG & YD bring you the news

Sun Dec 13, 2009 at 23:15:00 PM CST

Speaking of right-wing billionaires who think their money entitles them to thrones ... "Early results in Chile's presidential elections put billionaire Sebastian Pinera ahead, but without the majority needed to avoid a second round. The centre-right businessman has 45% of the vote, with 13% of ballots counted. He is up against three left and centre-left candidates - Eduardo Frei, Marco Enriquez-Ominami and Jorge Arrate. BBC correspondents say the signs are that the country is likely to shift to the right, after 20 years of centre-left rule."

First, get them to wear different-colored robes so you can tell them apart. "The regional US commander, David Petraeus, has urged Pakistan to step up pressure on the Afghan Taliban. Gen Petraeus praised Pakistan's recent offensive against the Taliban in South Waziristan, but said it was mainly aimed at Pakistani groups, not Afghans. The Afghan Taliban have used safe areas inside Pakistan to base themselves and launch cross-border attacks. But Pakistan said it was cracking down on all militants, and that at least 22 had been killed near the Afghan border."

No word on how this affects the genocide in Darfur. "The leaders of Sudan and of its semi-autonomous southern region say they have reached a deal on the terms of a referendum on independence. It was one of four issues at the heart of crisis talks between President Omar al-Bashir and Salva Kiir. Officials said they had agreed on the proportion of votes and turnout needed for the referendum to be binding. One other issue remains unresolved."

But will buying them off stop the extremists? The Israeli cabinet has decided to include some West Bank settlements in a national scheme that will entitle them to millions of dollars' worth of funds. They are being designated as national priority zones, meaning they will qualify for grants, tax benefits, and other forms of aid. The move comes amid anger by Jewish settlers at a government-imposed curb on new building in settlements. The Labour Party leader warned some of the new money might go to extremists."

Keep Cadbury away from the makers of "cheese food." "Cadbury and Hershey are in talks with a view to the American company making a bid for the Birmingham based confectioner, the BBC has learned. Cadbury has been the subject of a hostile £10bn ($16bn) takeover bid from Kraft Foods over the past few weeks. However, Hershey, which already makes some Cadbury products under licence in the US, is understood to be willing to offer more cash. Kraft's offer was described by Cadbury as "derisory"." Gotta love a company that knows how to deploy a word like "derisory"

Just a tad oversensitive there, guys. "Iran's Supreme Leader has accused the opposition of breaking the law by insulting the Islamic Republic's founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged opposition leaders to identify "those behind the insult to Imam Khomeini". The remarks centre on an alleged incident last Monday during which a poster of Imam Khomeini was torn up. Opposition leaders say the alleged incident - shown on state television - has been doctored. The opposition has been refusing to endorse the result of the presidential election in June which returned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power for a second term. They allege the poll was widely rigged. The election dispute is now radicalising both sides, says the BBC's Tehran correspondent, Jon Leyne."

This is a good sign. "Military police in Nepal have arrested an army major for the murder of a girl of 15 during the Maoist insurgency in what may prove to be a landmark case. They detained Maj Niranjan Basnet as he arrived at Kathmandu airport after being expelled from the African state of Chad by UN peacekeepers there. He had been serving with the UN force, Nepalese media report. More than 13,000 people died during Nepal's conflict but no one has been prosecuted for human rights abuses."

What 13th Amendment? Where? "Sebastian Pereria told a friend last year about his life in America. How he wanted to see his wife and children in India, but his boss kept his identification papers and wouldn't let him go. Other waiters who worked with him at a restaurant in Topeka, Kan., told of how they were forced to work 13-hour days, six days a week. They talked of how the boss underpaid them and pocketed their tips. In the end, Pereria, 46, got his wish. He finally arrived home last year. In a coffin. The U.S. government could not help Pereria, even though they said he fit the criteria for being a human trafficking victim. Other waiters he worked with got help and were rescued from the Globe Indian Restaurant. But for Pereria, even in death, a judge remained unconvinced. America declared war on human trafficking nearly a decade ago. With a new law and much fanfare, the government pledged to end such human rights abuses at home and prodded the rest of the world to follow its example. But an investigation by The Kansas City Star found that, in spite of all the rhetoric from the Bush and Obama administrations, the United States is failing to find and help tens of thousands of human trafficking victims in America."

Paul A. Samuelson, 94 America's first  Nobel laureate in economics and the foremost academic economist of the 20th century, Paul Samuelson of M.I.T., died today at his home in Belmont, Mass. His death was announced by the school, which he helped build into one of the premier graduate econ programs in the world. He was 94.

Is this what Sarie-the-Quitter didn't want to deal with?  "Anchorage resident Lisa Moore says she traded sex with then-Veco boss Bill Allen in 1996 for an apartment, money and jewelry. He was 59; she was 19. She also says she introduced him to a 15-year-old girl who became his sex partner. But the next year, an ex-boyfriend of Moore's got into legal trouble and threatened to blow the whistle on Allen's relationship with Moore and other teens, including the 15-year-old, Moore said, triggering a string of alleged cover-ups that now threaten to undermine the Alaska political corruption investigation."

Conditions beyond primitive. "The young Marines at this outpost could be on a camping trip to Hell. The living conditions in Helmand Province, one of the worst regions for trouble in Afghanistan, are such that most of friends and family in the United States wouldn't consider putting up with them for one day, much less the months these men will be assigned here. It's not even officially winter, yet temperatures routinely fall below freezing at night, and there's no heat in the tents. At night when standing guard in one of the security towers, the Marines put on layer after layer of clothes, including thermal suits. It does little to ward off the chill of the desert air. There is no hot water. The only running water in the camp comes from a 3 inch diameter hose that jets out cold water in fire hydrant fashion. Clothes are washed in buckets, when time permits and the weather cooperates, then strung between tents and dried in the sun."

What it really means to fight for an education. " "Enough school," she told 15-year-old Aine one day after coming in from the family's small farm. "It's time for you to get married." That night, Aine lay in their hut on a dank foam mattress, stared up at the thatched ceiling and cried for hours. Then she reached the hardest decision of her young life: She would refuse marriage and demand to stay in school. As Africa experiences one of the greatest population explosions ever recorded, millions of girls are forced into leaving the classroom and marrying early, often to ease the financial strains on their large families. By jump-starting their own child-bearing years, experts say, these young brides become trapped in a cycle of poverty, expose themselves to grave health risks and contribute to a baby boom that's already adding a child to the continent every second. To resist, however, often requires bravery beyond a girl's years. "Here, a girl has to fight for her education," said Olinda Serafin Macamo, a schoolteacher in Derre, a warm, windswept hill town in central Mozambique."

Usually, plain tap water is the best. "A foreign visitor has died and at least two other people have become sick after staying at a downtown Miami luxury hotel, and health officials are blaming an unusual type of pneumonia called Legionnaire's Disease. Guests at the Epic Hotel have been relocated upon request to nearby hotels to prevent further contact with the Legionella bacteria in the water, according to the Miami-Dade County Health Department. An investigation this week by county and state officials revealed that the hotel had installed a water filter powerful enough to remove chlorine from its city-supplied water, a move that encouraged bacterial growth. "What's ironic is the hotel installed a special filtration system to enhance the quality of their drinking water,'' said Dr. Vincent Conte, the county's top epidemiologist."