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Katrina survivor searchers prepare for the worst Workers are scouring New Orleans for any remaining survivors of Hurricane Katrina, and are vigorously searching for dead bodies. 25,000 body bags have been prepared in advance, in the event that the death toll from Katrina is that high. Red Cross asks for more volunteers The American Red Cross is seeking at least 40,000 more volunteers to replace current relief workers suffering from fatigue in Hurricane Katrina affected areas.

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Chile remembers its own September 11 anniversary September 11, 2005 is not only a sad day for the United States, but for Chile as well. On September 11, 1973, General Augusto Pinochet took control of Chile and established a military dictatorship.

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A videotape purporting to be a message from Al Qaeda is broadcast on the American Broadcasting Company's Good Morning America news program. The tape warns of
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future attacks on Los Angeles, California and Melbourne, Australia. The man in the tape is believed by American intelligence officials to be Adam Yahiye Gadahn, an American-born convert to Islam who is suspected of having appeared in at least one previous Al Qaeda videotape. According to exit polls, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party has won a landslide victory in the Japan general election, 2005. Democratic Party leader Katsuya Okada concedes defeat and announces his resignation as party leader. The death toll of the Japanese Encephalitis outbreak in Uttar Pradesh has reached an official numberof 650, with estimates of aid agencies about double this number. Over 800,000 people in the Zhejiang province of China are evacuating as the province is hit by Typhoon Khanun which has a packing center winds of 144 kilometers per hour. The Norwegian parliamentary

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election, 2005, held September 12, is set to be a very close race, according to pollsters. The vote will determine the balance of power in the Storting for the coming four years. The centre-right government under Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik faces a centre-left opposition led by Jens Stoltenberg of the Norwegian Labour Party.

UK Chancellor blames OPEC for oil crisis, refuses to cut fuel tax

The United Kingdom Chancellor Gordon Brown blamed oil producers from OPEC for oil prices surge in the BBC's Sunday AM programme. Mr Brown accused 'the cartel' of the lack of reaction on China's rising oil demand. He said that he wanted OPEC to increase supplies by the end of the month.

Gordon Brown

However, the Chancellor insisted that the government would not ease the tax on fuel, saying that the price surge is "a global challenge that demands global measures". He admitted the situation is as serious as it was in 1970s oil crisis, but added that the slump can be avoided due to stability and low inflation rate of the British economy.

Mr Brown will probably have to face country-wide protests on high fuel prices. The protesters from the Fuel Lobby give the government three days to meet them to discuss lowering the fuel tax, then they threat refinery demonstrations and motorway go-slows.

Chile remembers its own September 11 anniversary

September 11, 2005 is not only a day of remembrance for the United States, but for Chile as well. On September 11, 1973, General Augusto Pinochet took control of Chile.

The day is often one marked by violence. This year, riots in protest of the government have broken out across Chile. The government stated that it would not have tolerate violence.

At least four were injured and 20 arrested in connection with rioting, sources say.

Chile remains divided by the current government. "This is not the Chile we want to build," says the current president, Ricardo Lagos.

Pinochet was concerned that the former leader of Chile, Salvador Allende was a communist intent on aligning the country the Soviet Union, and went on to rule the country for 17 years.

He is now being sued for various human rights abuses committed during his reign, and has all but left the public spotlight. Many of the former officials of the Pinochet regime have been arrested and detained. Hundreds of said officials have been tried for human rights crimes, but only four have been convicted.

Last photo of Salvador Allende alive.

Lorena Pizarro, leader of a group of families of victims of Pinochet's violence, stated, "One works hard to get a human rights violator indicted and then he is pardoned." She further said "Those who are guilty must be punished. We will continue to fight to gain even more convictions."

Red Cross asks for more volunteers

The American Red Cross is seeking at least 40,000 more volunteers to replace current relief workers suffering from fatigue.

“This is a disaster of such scope and such significance that it is not going to go away in a few weeks or a few months,” said Ken Degnan, a spokesman for the American Red Cross.

The organization is currently sheltering 116,000 victims. It has 36,000 volunteers in the field and is currently running 675 shelters across the nation.

The reason the recruitment is needed is due to the fact that the 36,000 will begin to rotate as they go home to their families.

American Red Cross logo

Volunteers are encouraged to signup on their local chapter's website or call and leave their contact information.

From an Atlanta chapter email:

"Please do not go to a Red Cross location without prior scheduling. Only scheduled volunteers will be working at each site. Thank you for your patience in this process. Our trained volunteers and staff are being utilized to respond to families in need and to the thousands of calls coming in from people wanting to help. However, we do appreciate your generous offer and will be in contact based on the current needs."

Katrina survivor searchers prepare for the worst

Workers are scouring New Orleans for any remaining survivors of Hurricane Katrina, and are vigorously searching for dead bodies. 25,000 body bags have been prepared in advance, in the event that the death toll from Katrina is that high. Temporary warehouses are being set up around the city to deal with corpse storage.

In the last twenty-four to thirty-six hours, however, officials have revised downward, at least three times, the estimated death toll; 35,000, 10,000, and now less than 10,000. After the first sweep of the city devoted to recovery of bodies, officials retrieved approximately 800 bodies.

Floodwaters are receding, but leaving a great deal of mud and contaminated water in their wake, filled with high levels of bacteria and viruses.

All survivors are urged to leave the city. Dr. Julie Gerberding, head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said "If you haven't left the city yet, you must do so," and stated that anyone who comes in contact with the nearly toxic water must immediately wash themselves with clean water. If necessary, force will be used to remove all remaining citizens from New Orleans.

While Dr. Gerberding's statement about mandatory evacuation seems clear, other officials have not been as emphatic. When asked about mandatory evacuations, New Orleans Police Superintendent Eddie Compass, while reaffirming the official word, qualified his statement stating that every reasonable means would be used to logically convince a person that it is in his best interst to evacuate. The superintendent would not comment on whether force would be used if reason failed. Furthermore, utility workers are in the process of re-establishing power to the Central Business District of the city prompting residents in those areas to reconsider the evacuation option.

Residents in Jefferson Parish, and the upper portions of Saint Bernard Parish will be allowed to permanently return to their homes starting on Monday. Conditions in those areas - re-estblishement of power, clearing of roads, and abatment of water - have improved to the point of making a permanent return possible. Parish President Arron Broussard and Councilperson Jennifer Sneed stated that residents should be allowed to return as soon as possible so repairs and rebuilding may begin.

In other news companies are working with FEMA to provide money and support to the victims of Katrina, in order to ease them into a new life. In addition, a contract in the amount of approximately thirty-three million dollars has been let to repair the I-10 span crossing the eastern portion of Lake Pontchartrain. Many of the bridge sections, especially on the eastern-facing span, were knocked off of their pilings as hurricane Katrina passed near the city. The contractor expects one span to be repaired and opened for traffic wihin forty-five days.

Loyalist rioting in Belfast

Rioting and disorder erupted in Belfast, Northern Ireland on Saturday because of a controversial decision to reroute the Orange Order parade. Loyalists attacked the police and army with blast bombs (homemade grenades) and petrol bombs. There was sidespread stone-throwing, and barricades were erected on some roads that caused traffic disruptions in the city. In some places, automatic gunfire was heard, with police returning live fire.

Half a dozen police were injured, and two men were taken to hospital — one with a gunshot wound, and another was caught in the blast of an explosion.

The route was altered by the Parades Commission due to its intended path through the Nationalist part of the Springfield Road, with the potential to result in rioting and violence (the route would have had to pass through a 30 foot high security barrier, one of the "Peace Lines". Unionists called for the decision to be reconsidered by the Commission; however, no change to the initial decision was made. Instead of passing through Springfield Road, the Orange Order parade was required to proceed through the site of engineering firm Mackies.

The streets in the north and west of Belfast echoed with the sounds of violence that have not been commonly heard since the late 1990s and the Troubles, with petrol, blast and pipe bombs being used by rioters, and water cannon and plastic bullets by police. Several cars and a bus were hijacked, and roads closed off by mobs of people. A number of buildings were set alight around the outskirts of Belfast.

Throughout the night, violence spread to outlying towns around Belfast, including Ballymena, Ballyclare, Carrickfergus and Larne.

Today in History

September 12 :

1683 - Great Turkish war: Polish troops led by Jan III Sobieski joined forces with an Habsburg army to defeat the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Vienna.

1933 - Leó Szilárd conceived of the idea of the nuclear chain reaction.

1942 - The Laconia incident: RMS Laconia, carrying some 80 civilians and 268 British soldiers, and about 1800 Italian POWs with 160 Polish soldiers on guard, was struck by a torpedo from a U-boat off the coast of West Africa and sank.

1977 - South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko was killed in police custody.

1992 - Abimael Guzmán, leader of the Peruvian Maoist guerrilla organization Shining Path, was captured in Lima.

Quote of the Day

"The world always makes the assumption that the exposure of an error is identical with the discovery of the truth — that error and truth are simply opposite. They are nothing of the sort. What the world turns to, when it has been cured of one error, is usually simply another error, and maybe one worse than the first one." - H. L. Mencken

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Jake Novak

2005-09-11T19:37:02