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Author claims Al Qaeda planned to gas New York's subway system Ron Suskind, author of The One Percent Doctrine, claims that Al-Qaeda had planned to gas the New York subway system in 2003. IWC passes pro-whaling resolution after close vote Pro-whaling countries within the International Whaling Commission celebrated yesterday after a resolution was passed which says that the commission's 20 year moratorium on commercial whaling is "no longer necessary" and blames whales for depleting fish stocks.

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Geoff Ogilvy wins U.S. Open Today, in Mamaroneck, New York, at Winged Foot Golf Club, Geoff Ogilvy of Australia won the U.S. Open by one stroke after Phil Mickelson double bogeyed the last hole. Ogilvy finished at 5 over and took home almost $1.25 million dollars.

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Kathleen Blanco, the Governor of Louisiana calls in the Louisiana National Guard to patrol the streets of New Orleans following six deaths on the preceding weekend. The United States Army charges three soldiers with murder in relation to the deaths of three men in custody in Iraq. The Mujahedeen Shura Council in Iraq claims that they have captured two United States soldiers. Iraqi prosecutors in the Trials of Saddam Hussein call for Saddam Hussein to be sentenced to death together with his half brother Barzan al-Tikriti and former vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan. North Korea is said to be readying for long-range missile test of Taepadong-2 Missile thought to have a range which includes the western USA coastline.

IWC passes pro-whaling resolution after close vote
Pro-whaling countries within the International Whaling Commission celebrated yesterday after a resolution was passed which stated that the commission's 20 year moratorium on commercial whaling is "no longer necessary" and which went on to blame whales for depleting fish stocks. 33 countries voted in favour of the resolution, with 32 voting against, and China abstaining. The vote is considered a victory for Japan, which has long argued for a return to commercial whaling, and has been 'recruiting' sympathetic nations to join the IWC in order to bolster its vote.

The vote does not directly enable a return to commercial whaling, as that would require a three quarters majority, but is significant in being the first time that a major vote at the IWC has sided with the pro-whaling nations in two decades.

Previous votes during the conference had been narrowly won by the anti-whaling group of countries, including a motion to introduce secret ballots, to introduce an exemption allowing Japanese coastal communities to whale, the elimination of a Southern Ocean whale sanctuary and a block on the IWC discussing dolphins and porpoises.

Commercial whaling has been banned under the IWC moratorium since 1986, but some whaling has been able to continue. Japan and Iceland have hunted a number of Minke whales every year under an exemption for 'scientific whaling'. Norway flat out refused to accept the original ban. The stated aims of scientific whaling are to examine the stomach contents of captured whales, in order to examine the whale ecosystem and the effect that whales may have on fish stocks. The whale meat from scientific whaling catches is usually sold on commercially, however, in order to fund the research. Some observers, including scientists from New Zealand, have accused Japan and Iceland of simply using scientific whaling as a legal loophole. Other whaling allowed under the IWC moratorium includes subsistence whaling by aboriginal groups.

Greenpeace activist Adele blogged the news from their Stockholm office expressing reservations over the legitimacy of the vote saying it would "change little or nothing" as previous votes had already been passed in favour of the anti-whaling group of countries. Mike Townsley from Greenpeace International said "Greenpeace is disgusted that any member of the IWC would seek to promote whaling based upon the false notion that whales consume so much fish that they are a threat to food security for coastal nations". He added that the declaration was more like a whaler's "wish list, peddling predictable and well rehearsed rhetoric".

A paragraph within the declaration passed at the IWC meeting suggested that a number of international NGOs with self-interest campaigns were using threats in an attempt to direct government policy "on matters of sovereign rights related to the use of resources for food security and national development". In response, Greenpeace says they were dedicated to the principles of "peaceful protests", adding that the the threat was to the world's whales. They stated that they had "delayed, disrupted and documented hunts in the Southern Ocean" in order to defend the whales, however.

Dr. Joth Singh from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) , said "after losing on every single proposal they brought to this meeting, the whaling countries and their supporters cooked up a non-binding statement, sprang it on the commission and pushed it to a vote - they want to kill whales, and they're willing to kill the Commission to do it." He added that they were concerned, but not disheartened by the news.

Japanese commissioner, Mr Minoru Morimoto, praised the winning vote and said the declaration "added weight to Japanâs proposal to normalize the IWC and bring it back to its original function of managing and regulating sustainable commercial whaling."

The IWC has historically always voted against pro-whaling motions by a majority of around ten votes, but the number of members favoring a return to commercial whaling has increased in recent years, with Japan persuading several new countries to join the IWC, including many that have never done any whaling at all. As Japan has given aid to some of these new countries, some observors have acussed it of buying votes.

UK Home Secretary proposes paedophile law
British Home Secretary John Reid has met criticism from several quarters for his suggestion that the UK should adopt a law allowing the public naming of known paedophiles.

The United States has legislation known as 'Megan's Law' which Reid has suggested should be adopted. Such a law would allow concerned parents to access information regarding paedophiles in their area. Gerry Sutcliffe, a Home Office Minister, has been sent to the US to investigate whether a similar system could be introduced.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair issued a statement on comments Reid made over the weekend, "the important thing and the difficult thing in this is to get the balance right between, on the one hand, protecting the public and giving the public as much information as possible, and on the other making sure that you don't have vigilantes".

The spokesman denied that there were immediate plans to adopt Megan's Law, "What's important is that Gerry Sutcliffe goes to the US and looks at how they do things there. We are not planning immediately to import US laws but we do need to consider how these operate".

2000 houses still have no power in Canterbury, New Zealand
2000 Cantabrians are still without power a week after a huge snowstorm struck and took out the electricity in mid and south Canterbury.

Sunday June 18 came and brought more snow to mid and south Canterbury, but just a minuscule amount compared to last weeks.

Civil Defence says "it is keeping an eye on the situation, and welfare work is continuing to make sure everyone is coping. Iroquois helicopters are reportedly on standby at Wigram Air Base if needed,"

Chief executive of Orion, a power company, Roger Sutton, says "another 20 or 30 homes are without power in the Lake Coleridge area."

Repair crews were taken out of duty on Sunday because the snow got too deep, but should be back on the job Monday June 19.

NZ Post also reports that they have had to cancel deliveries to some Dunedin suburbs because it got too icy. NZ Post says that deliveries will continue on Tuesday 20 June or if the weather clears up before that.

The MetService has put severe weather warnings for some of the central cities of the North Island.

Barry Stratton, Transit, says that all roads are open in the South Island, but some will have delays.

Spain pass Tunisia test to win 3-1 in Group H
If Spain wanted a bucket of ice water reality check after their 4-0 crushing of Ukraine they got one for 70 minutes in the rain against Tunisia, Monday.

After just eight minutes before which Spain had appeared to have left off from their form that destroyed Ukraine Zied Jaizi attacked into the Spanish box. His strong run ended with the ball prodded to Jaouhar Mnari. The Tunisian number 12's shot was saved by Iker Casillas but he passed the rebound into the turf and over the keeper.

Spain were behind. And then it started to rain hard.

For 70 minutes Spain attacked and failed to beat the Tunisian keeper Ali Boumnijel. While he made seven saves the wet conditions made holding the football hard and Boumnijel faced a lot of shots.

In the first period crosses and corner kicks met heads in the Tunisian box but none of the succession of different foreheads found the target. On 43 minutes Xabi Alonso went closest: his header from a corner was cleared off the line by Anis Ayari.

As the clock ticked it seemed Spain's short passing game was the longest route to goal.

In the end Luis Aragones's three substitutions can be said to have unlocked the Tunisian defence. On 71 minutes the floodgates opened like the storm clouds had in the Gottlieb Daimler Stadion.

Joaquin ran down the right and passed to Cesc Fabregas at the top of the area. Fabregas's first time shot was not particularly powerful but Boumnijel gave up a rebound and in followed Raul. 1-1.

For his second assist Fabregas then played in Fernando Torres who rounded the keeper for the game winner.

On 90 minutes Raul chipped to the far post for Torres who then appeared to be tugged to the floor. The young Athletico Madrid striker scored low under the keeper from the spot.

Torres, who with three goals in two matches became the top scorer at the Fifa World Cup, could have had two more goals in the final minutes from surges through the Tunisian defence. In the first instance the keeper saved well and in the second Torres blasted over.

The goals though they came late created a scoreline that reflected Spainish dominance of the game. They outshot their opponents by 20 and had 11 more corner kicks. Tunisian players accrued six yellow cards in their attempt to hold back Aragones's side who also hogged 66 per cent of possession.

The result meant Spain were through to the round of sixteen of the Fifa World Cup and that Tunisia had to beat Ukraine in their third and final match of Group H if they wanted to join them there.

Ukraine beat Saudi Arabia 4-0 in Group H
Ukraine put four goals past Saudi Arabia which almost certainly put the Asian side out of the Fifa World Cup in Hamburg, Monday.

The win was Ukraine's first in the World Cup finals.

Oleg Blokhin's team were aggressive from the start and their first World Cup goal was scored from a corner after just four minutes. Andriy Rusol ran to the near post and met Maxim Kalinichenko's hard spun cross with his knee.

Ukraine, whose slick passes and fast runs frequently pulled the Saudi Arabia defense out of position, could have been four goals up by half time.

In one instance, from another Kalinichenko corner Andriy Shevchenko had a powerful header cleared off the line by Ahmed Dokhi.

Sehiy Rebrov, in acres of space, scored the second from 30 yards; his strong shot dipped across Mabrouk Zaid, who slipped in a vain attempt to reach it.

The second period began as the first had; Ukraine scored early. Kalinchenko provided another beautiful cross which Shevchenko guided toward the far post with his forehead.

Shevchenko surged down left wing and set up the fourth goal on 83 minutes. Into the penalty area, Shevchenko committed the keeper and then gave the perfect ball to Kalinchenko who passed it into the roof of the net.

Though ball possession was equal the telling statistic was the shot total. Ukraine had 19 shots; nine on target. Saudi Arabia had six shots; none on target.

There also were 49 free kicks in the match which might be partly due to the rain over the AOL Arena which made the pitch slipperly. Ukraine committed 25 of the fouls and got three of six yellow cards.

It was not a rigourous test for the East European side but they now had three points which meant a draw in their next game against Tunisia would definitely send them into the round of sixteen if Tunisia did not win against Spain, who also played Monday. The result against Ukraine would almost certainly put Paqueta's Saudi Arabia out of the World Cup.

Switzerland too much for Togo in Group G
Togo were eliminated from the 2006 Fifa World Cup after a 2-0 loss to Switzerland in Group G, Monday.

Well worked moves led to a goal in each half from Alexander Frei and Tranquillo Barnetta.

Despite the relative youth of an outfield of twenty-somethings, and 21-year-old center-back Philippe Senderos who helped shut out the Togolese, the Swiss appeared to be the more organised team.

Togo were lively going forward and individual acts of skill tested the Swiss defence who could not always close down quickly enough. A statistic that showed the game was a bit more even than the scoreline, Togo had seven shots on target to Switzerland's nine.

Switzerland had to soak up a good deal of Togoese pressure and Otto Pfister's side were unfortunate not to have scored.

In the first period Tomas Dossevi had time and space but from 15 yards out he chose to shoot first time and the ball skewed badly wide. Emmanuel Adebayor then ran at speed and wrong-footed a Swiss defender. He fell but Carlos Amarillo declined the penalty appeal.

On the day when the Swiss did go forward they argubly were more ably assisted by a midfield which gave their attack more potency. Though ball possession was split down the middle the Swiss managed a third more shots at goal than the Togolese. This was partly due to 21-year-old right-midfield Barnetta who had a goal and an assist in the game.

The first goal was scored on 17 minutes. Ludovic Magnan sprayed a long ball to the far post, Barnetta intelligently knocked it into the path of Alexander Frei, and the striker, in the center of goal, could not miss from 5 yards.

Two minutes from time Barnetta was rewarded with a goal; he ran on to a pass and drove low across goal. The ball cannoned in off Kossi Agassa's right post.

The result put Switzerland on four points with at least a chance of qualifying for the knock-out stage of the World Cup if they did not lose to Korea Republic in their last Group G game, and certain qualification if they won.

Niobium discovered in Mbeya
Large quantities of Niobium was discovered at Panda Hill in Mbeya Region in Tanzania. The prospecting assessment was done by two companies; one of which is Rex Well, a subsidiary of Euronet Africa of UK. Mining could start any time.

Last year's survey by the firm indicated that the area has about 90 million tonnes of Niobium. The Company would use open cast method as most of the mineral is found near the surface.
Geoff Ogilvy wins U.S. Open

Today, at Winged Foot Golf Club, in Mamaroneck, New York, Geoff Ogilvy won the 106th U.S. Open with a score of 285, 5 over par. Jim Furyk, Colin Montgomerie, and Phil Mickelson all tied for second place one stroke behind at 6 over. Ogilvy, born in Adelaide, Australia took home almost $1.25 million dollars. Other notable scores include Vijay Singh at a tie for 6th at 8 over, David Duval making a comeback at a tie for 16th place at 11 over, Adam Scott at a tie for 21st at 12 over and Ernie Els tying for 26th at 13 over.

Defending champion Michael Campbell of New Zealand, Retief Goosen, and Tiger Woods all missed the cut in the hardest U.S. Open in a long time - the worst Open on record was also at Winged Foot in 1974, where winner Hale Irwin shot 7 over. This was Tiger's first tournament since his father's death on May 9, although he said in a press conference that there was no excuse for his awful playing. Woods said of his poor playing, "I don't care if you had what transpired in my life of recent or not, but poor execution is never going to feel very good."

Ogilvy came in to the clubhouse, almost sure of his second place. But Phil Mickelson's double bogey at the 18th hole gave Ogilvy a boost in the leaderboard, bringing him to first. He said later, "I thought, Make this and come in second in the Open on your own. I never thought Phil would make bogey at the last. He ended up making double, and it's got to be a hard one to swallow for Phil, because he's obviously been the outstanding player at majors in the last eight or nine months." Mickelson only hit 2 out of 14 fairways on Sunday and 24 out of 56 total. He managed to scramble out in the first three rounds, but the course fought back on Sunday. His tee shot at the final hole went far left. He played the shot very aggressively and ended up hitting a tree and putting the ball only 25 yards farther. It just got worse from there for Mickelson. His third shot ended up buried in the left greenside bunker. His fourth went back over the green and into the rough. He chipped out and one-putted for the catastrophic double bogey that cost him the championship.

Ogilvy didn't win purely by Mickelson's double bogey, though. He saved par on the 17th with a chip-in from the rough, and overcame a few tough shots to save par at the 18th. His last two US Opens resulted in a missed cut in 2003 at a tie for 28th last year. His win this year at the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship set him up for the first Australian major win since Steve Elkington at the 1995 PGA Championship.

Besides Mickelson, there are quite a few other contenders who are not going to forget today - or the vicious 18th hole - for a while. Colin Montgomerie made a remarkable comeback after a poor round yesterday, holing a 75-footer for birdie at the 17th hole. His second shot, from 172 yards away in the fairway, went far right into a very deep cut of rough. His third shot went 40 feet past the hole. He put his par putt 10 feet from the hole, missed that putt, and went on to also make double bogey. Jim Furyk hit a bunker shot to 5 feet on the 18th, but two-putted and came up one stroke short of Oglivy. Padraig Harrington, who ended up in sole fifth at 7 over, went bogey-free for 15 holes and bogeyed the last three to fall out of contention. And of course, there's Kenneth Ferrie, who started the day out tied with Mickelson for the lead. He just crashed the whole day, making 6 bogeys and no birdies to fall to a tie for 6th at 8 over.

A summary? The Mickelslam is no more, and another newcomer has made his statement at the 2006 US Open. No one can deny that Winged Foot has provided yet again a challenge that has beaten even the best of players.

The second-oldest British survivor of World War I turns 108
The second oldest British veteran of the First World War turned 108 on Saturday, June 17th. He celebrated this at his retirement home in Wells, in the south-west of England.

Harry Patch was called up to fight in 1917 at the age of 18, whilst he was a plumber's apprentice in Bath. Several days later he was in Belgium, participating in the Third Battle of Ypres, in Belgium, a battle which would kill 70000 soldiers in three months alone. Patch left the combat zone on September 22 after he was hit by a piece of shrapnel from a shell that had killed three of his companions.

"I always remember September 22. That was the day three of my friends were killed," he said. "It was mud, more mud, and even more mud, and the lot was mixed with blood," he remembers. Patch is still convinced that the war was useless.

The oldest living British veteran of the war is Henry Allingham, 110, who served in the Royal Naval Air Service, which would later become the Royal Air Force. The oldest man to have seen combat in the war is Moses Hardy, 113, in the United States, and the oldest to have served in the armed forces during the war is Emiliano Mercado Del Toro, 114, again from the United States.

Brazil beat Australia with two second half goals in Group F
Brazil beat Australia 2-0 in a competitive encounter that got better as the game progressed in Munich, Sunday.

The game had started slowly as Australia, playing defensively, kept many players near the edge of their penalty area. But a goal by Adriano four minutes after half time changed that and made for a more attacking game.

After nine minutes Vince Grella set the tone for the first half when he raked his studs on Ronaldo's calf. While the referee did not give a caution for this bad foul, four of the five cautions issued by German referee Markus Merk came in the first half. Two went to Australian players.

Brazil were closed down quickly and suffered 25 fouls in the game. When they had the ball Australia, who wore a dark blue strip instead of their traditional yellow and green, used their ball possession effectively and got forward with neat passes.

The Brazilians in contrast did not start well. On an elusive run into the penalty box Ronaldinho had used fine skill to elude his markers but then trod on the ball and fell over. Ronaldo then had an embarrassing moment when he created a good opening to shoot only to kick at fresh air.

And when Roberto Carlos had broken free unmarked the attacking left-sided defender jumped up and down in frustration when Ronaldo over hit his pass.

Brazil's goal came four minutes after half time.

Ronaldo rolled the ball across the edge of the box to Adriano. The striker moved quickly to his left and passed a firm shot through Scott Chipperfield's legs. The ball hugged the grass and beat Mark Schwarzer's out-stretched left hand.

Australia in an effort to get an equaliser replaced a defender with an attacker. But they found it hard to get past Brazil's defence; Ze Roberto made two key tackles to stop Marco Bresciano and Harry Kewell.

On 56 minutes Harry Kewell missed Australia's best chance. The ball came loose to his feet and the goal beckoned. But Dida dived at his feet and Kewell skied his effort over the bar.

While Australia made good forward moves Brazil attacked into the space they left behind. Kaka flicked a Ronaldinho corner on to the crossbar and in injury time missed wide when he only had Schwarzer to beat.

The exciting second half was rounded off when on 89 minutes Robinho, who was a lively substitute for Ronaldo, hit a powerful shot off the inside of Schwarzer's left post. Fred tapped in the rebound.

The result meant Brazil qualified for the knock-out stage of the Fifa World Cup while Australia would need to get a least a draw against Croatia in their final Group F game to extend their stay in Germany.

Today in History
451 - The Battle of Chalons against Attila the Hun is the last major battle of the Roman Empire.

1756 - A garrison of the British army in India was imprisoned in the Black Hole of Calcutta.

1789 - 577 deputies of the French National Assembly took the Tennis Court Oath, starting the French Revolution.

1837 - Queen Victoria succeeded to the British throne.

1947 - A Mafia hitman murdered gangster Bugsy Siegel in Beverly Hills, California, United States.

June 20 is Father's Day in Bulgaria (2006), Flag Day in Argentina (since 1938)

Quote of the Day

"It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.
~ Aung San Suu Kyi

Word of the Day

spoonerism; n

A phrase in which the initial (usually consonantal) sounds of two or more of the main words are accidentally transposed.

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