Opposition cries foul as Zimbabwe votes

(CNN) — Zimbabwe’s capital of Harare was quiet Saturday night after polls began closing for elections that will decide the future of longtime President Robert Mugabe.

Results were not expected until Sunday.

The main opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change, alleged widespread irregularities and promised to release its own election results, defying a government order.

Critics of the government have predicted that the elections will be rigged or marred by fraud, though the government has promised that they will be free and fair.

At a news conference in Harare, Movement for Democratic Change Secretary-General Tenda Biti said that some of the party’s agents have been chased away from polling stations.

The party also said the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission claimed to have lost the accreditation for agents at 19 stations and refused to let them in.

Biti said there was a massive deployment of soldiers and police at most stations. Journalists inside the country reported a heavy presence of the army and police but disagreed with Biti’s description of it as massive.

Police said they were investigating the bombing of a house in Harare belonging to a parliamentarian candidate from Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF party.

The bombing happened early Saturday, and it was not immediately clear whether it was connected to the elections, police said. No one was inside the home at the time.

The Zimbabwean government has denied CNN and other international news organizations permission to enter the country to report on the elections. Read about reporting on the elections.

The elections are posing one of the toughest challenges to Mugabe’s 28-year rule. Two candidates, both from different factions of the opposition party, stand a good chance of unseating him.

One opposition contender is Movement for Democratic Change founder Morgan Tsvangirai, who fought hotly contested challenges against the president in 2000, 2002 and 2005.

The other is Mugabe’s former finance minister, Simba Makoni. He was a member of the Zanu-PF party until he announced his bid to unseat Mugabe and the party kicked him out.

Voter turnout was high after the polls opened at 7 a.m. (1 a.m. ET), journalists reported, but it tapered off throughout the day.

Shortly before polls closed at 7 p.m. (1 p.m. ET), there was a rush of people to put in their last-minute votes in some places, media rights activist Reyhana Masters said.

Biti also said police were assisting many voters in casting ballots. The opposition has spoken out against assistance in the voting booth, calling it an intimidation tactic, but Mugabe passed a presidential decree this week that said police could help those voters who are elderly or infirm.

The government has warned the opposition not to release its own election results, saying that doing so is the role of the electoral commission and could spark violence of the kind seen in Kenya after elections there late last year.

Some Zimbabweans reported irregularities in Saturday’s voting.

Eddie Matsangaise of the Zimbabwe Exile Forum said he had heard that the names of long-dead white colonialist leaders were on voter lists, but voters who thought they were registered were turned away.

Iden Wetherell, editor of the newspaper Zimbabwe Independent, said the opposition had found large numbers of voters registered at one address where there isn’t a building.

Voter confusion was also a problem. The elections are not just for president but also for parliamentary, senate and local council seats, meaning voters have to cast a number of ballots in a limited amount of time.

Limited voter education means many registered voters were not told which ward to go to and may turn up at the wrong polling stations. Watch claims of dead voters still on the rolls

The absence of international media and independent observers has heightened critics’ concerns. The United States this week warned of a possible unfair election, and New York-based Human Rights Watch warned this month that the elections were likely to be deeply flawed.

Human Rights Watch said in a report that Zimbabwe’s electoral commission is partisan toward Zanu-PF and lacks both expertise and resources to run the elections properly.

An MDC official said this week that leaked correspondence from the electoral commission showed it had asked for 3.3 million more ballots than there are registered voters, including 250,000 extra postal ballots for soldiers and police.

Tenda Biti, the opposition’s secretary-general, said it was an indication of fraud.

A hero of the country’s civil war against the white Rhodesian government, Mugabe became the country’s first black prime minister in 1980. But nearly three decades later, he has consolidated his rule over all aspects of Zimbabwean life, and the country does not appear better for it.

His country was once revered for offering its citizens some of the best education and health care in Africa, but now, schooling is a luxury and Zimbabwe has one of the lowest life expectancies in the world.

Zimbabwe was once known as the breadbasket of southern Africa, but now it is difficult to get even basic food supplies. Inflation has skyrocketed to more than 100,000 percent while food production and agricultural exports have dropped drastically. Watch reasons for meltdown of Zimbabwe’s economy

Part of the economic freefall is traced to Mugabe’s land redistribution policies, including his controversial seizure of commercially white-owned farms in 2000. Mugabe gave the land to black Zimbabweans who he said were cheated under colonialist rule, and white farmers who resisted were jailed.

In 2005, Mugabe launched Operation Clean Out the Trash, in which he razed slum areas across the country.

Mugabe denies mismanagement and blames his country’s woes on the West, saying that sanctions have harmed the economy.
Opposition cries foul as Zimbabwe votes – found here.

Cheetahs attack woman at cat sanctuary

WELLINGTON, Florida (AP) — Authorities say the owner of a Florida wildlife sanctuary has been hospitalized after she was attacked by two cheetahs.

The Palm Beach County sheriff’s office says Judy Berens has about 40 puncture wounds to her extremities and back.

She was airlifted to Delray Medical Center, but it appears that her injuries are not life-threatening.

Berens owns and operates Panther Ridge Conservation Center, which provides homes for exotic cats.

She was conducting an exhibition with two male cheetahs in a cage when one became distracted by a ball being bounced outside. The cheetah moved toward the ball quickly and knocked her to the ground.

The cheetah then pounced on her and began biting and clawing her, said Gabriella Ferraro, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokeswoman. At some point, the other cheetah attacked her as well, Ferraro said.

Several people entered the enclosure and rescued her, authorities said.

Ferraro said the cheetahs remain on the property in cages.

Wildlife officers are investigating the attack, but so far it appears that there no violations and that no laws were broken, Ferraro said. E-mail to a friend

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Cheetahs attack woman at cat sanctuary – found here.

Opposition cries foul as Zimbabwe votes

(CNN) — Zimbabwe’s capital of Harare was quiet Saturday night after polls began closing for elections that will decide the future of longtime President Robert Mugabe.

Results were not expected until Sunday.

The main opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change, alleged widespread irregularities and promised to release its own election results, defying a government order.

Critics of the government have predicted that the elections will be rigged or marred by fraud, though the government has promised that they will be free and fair.

At a news conference in Harare, Movement for Democratic Change Secretary-General Tenda Biti said that some of the party’s agents have been chased away from polling stations.

The party also said the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission claimed to have lost the accreditation for agents at 19 stations and refused to let them in.

Biti said there was a massive deployment of soldiers and police at most stations. Journalists inside the country reported a heavy presence of the army and police but disagreed with Biti’s description of it as massive.

Police said they were investigating the bombing of a house in Harare belonging to a parliamentarian candidate from Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF party.

The bombing happened early Saturday, and it was not immediately clear whether it was connected to the elections, police said. No one was inside the home at the time.

The Zimbabwean government has denied CNN and other international news organizations permission to enter the country to report on the elections. Read about reporting on the elections.

The elections are posing one of the toughest challenges to Mugabe’s 28-year rule. Two candidates, both from different factions of the opposition party, stand a good chance of unseating him.

One opposition contender is Movement for Democratic Change founder Morgan Tsvangirai, who fought hotly contested challenges against the president in 2000, 2002 and 2005.

The other is Mugabe’s former finance minister, Simba Makoni. He was a member of the Zanu-PF party until he announced his bid to unseat Mugabe and the party kicked him out.

Voter turnout was high after the polls opened at 7 a.m. (1 a.m. ET), journalists reported, but it tapered off throughout the day.

Shortly before polls closed at 7 p.m. (1 p.m. ET), there was a rush of people to put in their last-minute votes in some places, media rights activist Reyhana Masters said.

Biti also said police were assisting many voters in casting ballots. The opposition has spoken out against assistance in the voting booth, calling it an intimidation tactic, but Mugabe passed a presidential decree this week that said police could help those voters who are elderly or infirm.

The government has warned the opposition not to release its own election results, saying that doing so is the role of the electoral commission and could spark violence of the kind seen in Kenya after elections there late last year.

Some Zimbabweans reported irregularities in Saturday’s voting.

Eddie Matsangaise of the Zimbabwe Exile Forum said he had heard that the names of long-dead white colonialist leaders were on voter lists, but voters who thought they were registered were turned away.

Iden Wetherell, editor of the newspaper Zimbabwe Independent, said the opposition had found large numbers of voters registered at one address where there isn’t a building.

Voter confusion was also a problem. The elections are not just for president but also for parliamentary, senate and local council seats, meaning voters have to cast a number of ballots in a limited amount of time.

Limited voter education means many registered voters were not told which ward to go to and may turn up at the wrong polling stations. Watch claims of dead voters still on the rolls

The absence of international media and independent observers has heightened critics’ concerns. The United States this week warned of a possible unfair election, and New York-based Human Rights Watch warned this month that the elections were likely to be deeply flawed.

Human Rights Watch said in a report that Zimbabwe’s electoral commission is partisan toward Zanu-PF and lacks both expertise and resources to run the elections properly.

An MDC official said this week that leaked correspondence from the electoral commission showed it had asked for 3.3 million more ballots than there are registered voters, including 250,000 extra postal ballots for soldiers and police.

Tenda Biti, the opposition’s secretary-general, said it was an indication of fraud.

A hero of the country’s civil war against the white Rhodesian government, Mugabe became the country’s first black prime minister in 1980. But nearly three decades later, he has consolidated his rule over all aspects of Zimbabwean life, and the country does not appear better for it.

His country was once revered for offering its citizens some of the best education and health care in Africa, but now, schooling is a luxury and Zimbabwe has one of the lowest life expectancies in the world.

Zimbabwe was once known as the breadbasket of southern Africa, but now it is difficult to get even basic food supplies. Inflation has skyrocketed to more than 100,000 percent while food production and agricultural exports have dropped drastically. Watch reasons for meltdown of Zimbabwe’s economy

Part of the economic freefall is traced to Mugabe’s land redistribution policies, including his controversial seizure of commercially white-owned farms in 2000. Mugabe gave the land to black Zimbabweans who he said were cheated under colonialist rule, and white farmers who resisted were jailed.

In 2005, Mugabe launched Operation Clean Out the Trash, in which he razed slum areas across the country.

Mugabe denies mismanagement and blames his country’s woes on the West, saying that sanctions have harmed the economy.
Opposition cries foul as Zimbabwe votes – found here.

Iraq fighting death toll nears 300

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — A strict curfew was extended indefinitely in the Iraqi capital Sunday as the death toll mounted from clashes between government troops and Shiite Muslim militants.

Fighting sparked by a government-led push against outlaw militias in the southern city of Basra had left more than 280 people dead by Saturday, according to Iraqi authorities.

The unrest has stretched across southern Iraq’s Shiite heartland up to Baghdad, where a ban on pedestrian and vehicle traffic was kept in place just hours before it was due to expire Sunday morning.

U.S. warplanes and British artillery struck targets in Basra on Saturday, a British spokesman said.

Another Basra airstrike killed 16 criminal fighters, and a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol killed 13 more fighters in southeastern Baghdad’s Suwayrah district, U.S. commanders reported.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki compared the outlaws to al Qaeda and vowed not to leave Basra, where he is personally leading the operation, until security is restored.

We will continue to stand up to these gangs in every inch of Iraq, he said.

It is unfortunate that we used to use say these very words about al Qaeda, when all the while, there were people among us who are worse than al Qaeda. Watch al-Maliki lash out

Al-Maliki has given the militants until April 8 surrender their arms to a guns-for-cash program that was scheduled to end at midnight Friday.

Supporters of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose Mehdi Army militia has borne the brunt of the fighting, say they have been unfairly singled out by the crackdown.

Al-Sadr has told followers not to surrender their weapons except to a state that can throw out the occupation, a top aide, Salah al-Obaidi, said Saturday.

The violence has sparked fears that a seven-month cease-fire by the Mehdi Army — regarded as a key factor in a dramatic drop in attacks in recent months — could collapse or that the U.S. military will have to bail out the Iraqis.

Al-Sadr’s political party holds 30 seats in Iraq’s parliament and once held seats in al-Maliki’s cabinet, quitting last year after the prime minister refused to set a deadline for U.S. and coalition troops to leave.

Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city and its chief oil port, has been plagued by turf wars among al-Sadr’s followers, the smaller Fadhila party and the country’s largest Shiite party, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, the major partner in al-Maliki’s ruling coalition.

The prime minister met Saturday in Basra with the area’s leaders, who have expressed support for the government’s efforts to impose law and save Basra from criminal gangs, according to a written statement from the prime minister’s office.

Security forces went to Basra to fight murder and smuggling gangs and outlaws, the prime minister said, and hadn’t intended to fight certain groups — apparently referring to the Mehdi Army.

Al-Sadr’s militia launched two uprisings against U.S. troops in 2004. But in August, after a series of clashes between Mehdi Army fighters and security forces linked to the Islamic Supreme Council’s Badr Brigades, he ordered his militia to suspend operations.

In an interview that aired Saturday on the Arabic-language news network Al-Jazeera, recorded before the current fighting broke out, al-Sadr compared al-Maliki to executed former dictator Saddam Hussein.

Under Saddam’s rule, we complained about how the government distanced itself from the people and operated under dictatorial terms. Now, the government is also dealing with people on such terms, al-Sadr said.

This week, President Bush called the current clashes a defining moment for Iraq and a key test for the country’s government.

But several U.S. officials said Friday that the Iraqi military push is not going as well as American officials had hoped. A U.S. military intelligence analysis found that Iraqi security forces control less than a quarter of Basra, officials in both the United States and Iraq said.

This is going to go on for a while, one U.S. military official said.

American troops have been supporting Iraqi forces with intelligence, surveillance and occasional airstrikes and raids in Baghdad, according to the U.S. military.

U.S. trainers have also accompanied Iraqi units into combat, as in Saturday’s firefight in Suwayrah.

The U.S. military dropped two bombs Saturday afternoon at a suspected Shiite militia stronghold in the Basra area, said Maj. Tom Holloway, a British military spokesman.

The strikes were followed by shelling from the British garrison at the city’s airport, aimed at mortar positions manned by militia fighters, he said.

Both attacks were in response to requests by Iraqi forces for air support, Holloway said. He added that coalition forces were investigating reports of civilian casualties but had no details.

Meanwhile, at least 40 members of Iraq’s national police turned in their uniforms and joined forces with al-Sadr’s militia in Baghdad, al-Obaidi said. They took their U.S.-supplied weapons with them, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said.

Mortar and rocket attacks were directed Saturday at Baghdad’s fortified International Zone, also known as the Green Zone, where Iraqi government buildings and embassies are located. No injuries were reported, a U.S. Embassy spokesman said. Watch the mayhem in Baghdad

Other developments

Two U.S. soldiers were killed Saturday by a roadside bomb in eastern Baghdad, and one was killed the same way Friday south of the city, the military said. The U.S. military death toll in Iraq now stands at 4,007.

Turkey’s military said it killed at least 15 rebels in operations in northern Iraq this week, but a spokesman for the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Security Forces denied the report, saying Turkey has not conducted any military operation or air assault there in the past two weeks.
Iraq fighting death toll nears 300 – found here.

Ronaldo inspires superb United win

LONDON, England — Premier League champions Manchester United extended their lead in this year’s English title race with a 4-0 thrashing of Aston Villa at Old Trafford in Saturday’s evening kick-off.

United took the field minutes after seeing Arsenal close to within three points with a dramatic late win at Bolton, but it did not take long for them to take command.

Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo was once again the inspiration for United and gave them the lead in the 17th minute with an impudent back-heel to surprise Villa goalkeeper Scott Carson.

United extended the advantage with a sweeping move 12 minutes from half-time with Ronaldo providing a pin-point cross for Carlos Tevez to head home emphatically for his 16th of the season.

Shaun Maloney wasted Villa’s best chance early in the second half before Ronaldo played in Rooney to round Carson for United’s third.

Rooney had missed a sitter early in the half but grabbed his second goal of the match, again provided by a Ronaldo pass, to complete the rout.

Victory saw United finish the day six points ahead of Arsenal while third-placed Chelsea can cut the gap to five points if they beat Middlesbrough on Sunday. E-mail to a friend

Ronaldo inspires superb United win – found here.

First cities go dark for Earth Hour

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — The iconic Opera House and Harbour Bridge went dark Saturday night as Sydney became the world’s first major city to turn off its lights for this year’s Earth Hour, a global campaign to raise awareness about climate change.

Thousands of homes were dark for an hour in Christchurch, New Zealand. The famed Wat Arun Buddhist temple in Bangkok, Thailand switched off its lights.

The three major cities were among 23 worldwide, along with 300 smaller towns, taking part in Earth Hour — a campaign by environmental group WWF to highlight the need to conserve energy and fight global warming.

This provides an extraordinary symbol and an indication that we can be part of the solution to global warming, Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett told Sky News television, standing across the harbor from the dark silhouette of the Opera House.

Garrett said government offices and national monuments around the country took part in Earth Hour.

We’re not only talking the talk, we’re walking the walk, he said. Whatever your view is about the magnitude of the problem … we can save money by using energy wisely and efficiently, and that gives us the added bonus of reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

In Sydney, a lightning storm was the brightest part of Sydney’s skyline when the lights were turned off at the city’s landmarks. Most businesses and homes were already dark as residents embraced their second annual Earth Hour with candlelight dinners, beach bonfires and even a green-powered outdoor movie. Watch the lights go out in Sydney for Earth Hour.

The number of participants was not immediately available but organizers were hoping to beat last year’s debut, when 2.2 million people and more than 2,000 businesses shut off lights and appliances, resulting in a 10.2 percent reduction in carbon emissions during that hour.

I’m putting my neck on the line but my hope is that we top 100 million people, Earth Hour Australia chief executive Greg Bourne said.

New Zealand and Fiji kicked off the event this year. In Christchurch, more than 100 businesses and thousands of homes were plunged into darkness.

Also in New Zealand, Auckland’s Langham Hotel switched from electric lights to candles as it joined the effort to reduce the use of electricity, which when generated creates greenhouse gases that are believed to contribute to global warming.

WWF Thailand said the lights out campaign in Bangkok saved 73.34 megawatts of electricity, which would have produced 45.8 tons of carbon dioxide.

In Manila, the grounds of the seaside Cultural Center of the Philippines went dark after four city mayors ceremonially switched off the lights. Shopping malls turned off street lamps around the metropolis.

After Asia, lights were expected to go out in major European and North American cites as the clock ticks on. One of the last to participate will be San Francisco, California — home to the soon-to-be dimmed Golden Gate Bridge.

Organizers see the event as a way to encourage the world to conserve energy.

What’s amazing is that it’s transcending political boundaries and happening in places like China, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, said Earth Hour executive director Andy Ridley. It really seems to have resonated with anybody and everybody.

Popular search engine Google lent its support to Earth Hour with a completely black page and the words: We’ve turned the lights out. Now it’s your turn.

Earth Hour is a call to action, said Sydney’s Lord Mayor Clover Moore. People have now responded and it’s time to introduce some significant long-term changes.
First cities go dark for Earth Hour – found here.

Beijing to help victims of Tibet clashes

BEIJING, China (AP) — Beijing will compensate victims of anti-government protests in Tibet, a state news agency said Saturday, while diplomats were taken to visit the region in an effort by China to show it has restored order.

The communist government wants to enforce calm quickly following the riots, which drew attention to its human rights record as it prepares for this summer’s Beijing Olympics.

Families of 18 civilians killed will each receive $28,500, the Xinhua News Agency said, citing an announcement by the Beijing-installed Tibet regional government. It said people injured will receive free medical care and owners of damaged homes and shops will get help rebuilding.

About two dozen diplomats from countries including the United States, Britain and Japan were in Tibet on Saturday on a government-organized trip. The Chinese foreign ministry did not respond to a request for details of their agenda.

The visit comes after a similar one by foreign journalists to Tibet’s regional capital, Lhasa, backfired when about 30 crying monks burst into a briefing room shouting there was no religious freedom in Tibet.

Beijing says 22 people died in protests that spread earlier this month to dozens of Tibetan communities across western China, in the broadest challenges to Chinese rule in decades. Tibetan exiles say almost 140 are dead.

Xinhua gave no indication Saturday whether there would be compensation for four other deaths — one police officer and three people who the government says were fleeing arrest.

The government says 382 civilians and 241 police officers also were hurt. The protests, led by monks, began peacefully March 10, on the anniversary of a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule. Tibet had been effectively independent for decades before Chinese communist troops entered in 1950.

Beijing blames the unrest on supporters of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader who lives in exile in India.

On Saturday the Dalai Lama accused Beijing of demographic aggression — encouraging settlers from China’s ethnic Han majority to move to the sparsely Tibetan populated region.

He said the number of settlers in Tibet was expected to increase by more than 1 million following the Olympics, but did not say where he obtained such information.

There is evidence the Chinese people in Tibet are increasing month by month, the Tibetan spiritual leader told reporters in New Delhi.

Lhasa has 100,000 Tibetans and twice as many outsiders, the majority of them from the Han majority, the Dalai Lama said.

In Hong Kong, John Kamm, a veteran activist who met recently with Chinese officials, said the officials indicated that Beijing would not back down on Tibet despite any possible complications over the Olympics.

I doubt frankly that they’re going to be willing to do much with respect to Tibet. I’m very doubtful, for instance, that the Chinese leadership will agree to meet with the Dalai Lama, said Kamm, the executive director of the Dui Hua Foundation in San Francisco. He did not identify the officials he spoke to.

Kamm said one official told him any sign of concession would be seen as a sign of weakness.

Kamm’s group researches Chinese prisons and has helped to arrange the release of political prisoners.

The United States is represented on the Tibet trip by a second secretary from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington.

He is somebody in the political section who speaks fluent Mandarin and his portfolio is Tibet, he said.

The protests in Tibet and in other provinces with sizable Tibetan populations have threatened to mar Beijing’s effort to use the Olympics in August to showcase China as a confident, respected power.

President Bush and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Friday they want Chinese leaders to meet with the Dalai Lama to defuse tensions.

It is absolutely clear that there are human rights abuses in Tibet, Rudd told reporters after meeting Bush in Washington.

European Union foreign ministers gathering in Slovenia on Friday appealed to China to resolve the crisis peacefully.
Beijing to help victims of Tibet clashes – found here.

Muslims condemn Dutch lawmaker’s film

LONDON, England (CNN) — The Organization of the Islamic Conference on Friday added its voice to the growing criticism of a film released by a Dutch lawmaker, which features disturbing images of terrorist acts superimposed over verses from the Quran.

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary general of the Jeddah, Saudi Arabia-based OIC, released a statement condemning in the strongest terms the release of the film ‘Fitna’ by Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders.

The organization added that the film defamed and denigrated the Holy Quran, causing insult to the sentiments of more than 1.3 billion Muslims in the world.

The film was a deliberate act of discrimination against Muslims that aimed to provoke unrest and intolerance, the organization said.

The OIC has 57 member states over four continents and claims on its Web site to be the second largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations.

In its statement, it urged the international community to condemn the showing of the film and asked the Dutch government to prosecute the author of the documentary under Dutch law.

The 15-minute film, posted Thursday on a London-based Web site, has also drawn condemnation from the European Union and others.

The European Union said the film inflames hatred, and Iran’s Foreign Ministry called the movie anti-Islamic and insulting.

The foreign ministry called on the EU, the Netherlands, and Britain to take action to put an end to its showing, the official IRNA news agency reported.

The Danish Union of Journalists said it was suing Wilders for using a caricature of the Prophet Mohammed drawn by one of its members, newspaper political cartoonist Kurt Westergaard. It said Wilders used the picture — which shows Mohammed with a turban shaped like a bomb — without permission.

The film, titled Fitna, opens with Westergaard’s controversial caricature, followed by translated portions of Islam’s holy book, the Quran.

The passages are interspersed with graphic images of the September 11 terrorist attacks juxtaposed with audio from 911 calls made by the victims trapped inside the World Trade Center in New York and other video clips.

The video includes disturbing images of other terror attacks; bloodied victims; beheadings of hostages; executions of women in hijab, the traditional full-body attire; and footage, with subtitles, of Islamic leaders preaching inflammatory sermons against Jews and Christians.

The film concludes with scrolling messages reading in part: The government insists that you respect Islam, but Islam has no respect for you and In 1945, Nazism was defeated in Europe. In 1989, communism was defeated in Europe. Now the Islamic ideology has to be defeated.

Wilders, the filmmaker, is a member of the Dutch parliament from the conservative Party for Freedom. He has been outspoken in his criticism of Islam and called the religion a threat to the world.

It’s not a provocation, but the harsh reality and a political conclusion, Wilders said of the film Thursday.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini on Friday condemned Wilders and the UK-based Web site hosting the film, LiveLeak.com, for showing the provocative and anti-Islamic movie.

He said such a ‘dirty act’ of the Dutch lawmaker and of a British institute at the end of the Islamic Unity Week reveals continued enmity and deep hostility of such western nationals against Islam and Muslims, IRNA reported.

Warning against consequences of such ‘provocative’ acts, Hosseini asked the Dutch and British governments as well as (the) European Union to step in the case as soon as possible and prevent and put an end to showing of such (an) ‘insulting, anti-Islamic and anti-cultural’ film, IRNA wrote.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the film, calling it offensively anti-Islamic while urging calm.

There is no justification for hate speech or incitement to violence, he said in a statement. The right of free expression is not at stake here.

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said Thursday that the film equates Islam with violence.

We reject this interpretation, Balkenende said in a statement. The vast majority of Muslims reject extremism and violence. In fact, the victims are often also Muslims.

Slovenia, which holds the rotating EU presidency, said Friday that it supports the Dutch government’s position and believes the film does nothing to promote dialogue among religions.

Mutual tolerance and respect are universal values we should uphold. We believe that acts, such as the above-mentioned film, serve no other purpose than inflaming hatred.

The U.S. government warned the film could spark protests and riots.

The title of the film, Fitna, translates in Arabic to strife or conflict of the type that occurs within families or any other homogenous group.

LiveLeak issued a statement Thursday saying there was no legal reason not to allow Wilders to post the film. It said the site’s policy is to remain unbiased and allow freedom of speech.

Some in the Muslim community rejected the film as nothing more than dangerous anti-Islamic propaganda.

This film is a direct attempt to incite violence from Muslims and help fan the flames of Islamophobia, Arsalan Iftikhar, a contributor to Washington-based Islamica Magazine, told CNN on Thursday. Any reasonable person can see this is meant to spit in the face of Muslims and insult our religion.

Iftikhar said he doubted the film would spark the same type of violence that followed the publication of the caricature of Mohammed, but he called on Muslim leaders to react peacefully.

Westergaard’s caricature was one of a dozen printed in a Danish newspaper in late 2005. Violent protests erupted early the next year after other European newspapers reprinted the images as a matter of free speech.

Some Muslims believe the Quran forbids showing an image of the prophet.
Muslims condemn Dutch lawmaker’s film – found here.

Candidates spin TV ads toward ‘Wheel’ audience

(CNN) — What key constituency group are the presidential candidates fighting over? Soccer moms? NASCAR dads? Perhaps, but if television ad spending habits are any indication, the keys to the White House may be held by Pat Sajak and Vanna White.

Over the course of the campaign, presidential candidates Sens. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain together have spent more than $2 million to air campaign ads on Wheel of Fortune, the long-running syndicated game show on which Sajak and White are the hosts.

That’s more than the three have spent on any other individual television program, according to data from TNS Media Intelligence/Campaign Media Analysis Group or CMAG, CNN’s consultant on political ad spending.

Obama has spent the most on Wheel, more than $1 million so far, followed by Clinton at $815,000 and McCain at $168,000.

‘Wheel of Fortune’ is a great way to talk to typical American voters in an efficient way, said Evan Tracey, CMAG’s chief operating officer. It’s a program that typically follows the news and leads into prime time, so it’s inexpensive but also efficient.

Running a close second to Wheel is The Oprah Winfrey Show. Obama, who received Winfrey’s endorsement last year, has bought an estimated $974,000 in ads on the Chicago, Illinois-based talk show, compared with $596,000 for Clinton and $185,000 for McCain.

But when considering a category of show rather than an individual program, the biggest recipients of presidential TV ad dollars are the hundreds of local news broadcasts in cities across the country.

The three presidential candidates have spent a combined $36.7 million on the local news, with Clinton edging Obama in spending there, $17 million to $16 million. McCain has spent almost $4 million on local news since the start of the campaign.

Clinton also spent big chunks of TV advertising money on morning network news programs: NBC’s Today Show and ABC’s Good Morning America. Obama’s top five television programs in terms of ad spending were rounded out by Today and the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men, while McCain also spent big on the syndicated show Jeopardy, and NBC’s Deal or No Deal.
Candidates spin TV ads toward ‘Wheel’ audience – found here.

Gray wolf: Still endangered?

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Montana (CNN) — The gray wolf was officially removed from the Endangered Species Act’s threatened list Friday after three decades — a decision that has stoked controversy among environmentalists and ranchers.

It means the wolves can be shot and killed once they step out of Yellowstone National Park as soon as the affected states establish a hunting season. However, state Fish and Wildlife officials can shoot the animals whenever they deem the wolves to be a problem.

The government delisted the wolves — which were eliminated from Yellowstone decades ago before being reintroduced in the 1990s — because they are now thriving in the park that is dominated by bison, elk and bighorn sheep.

They’re back here in the Northern Rockies; they’re back here in Yellowstone, said Doug Smith, a biologist for the National Park Service in Yellowstone.

That’s something to celebrate given their history of human hatred.

But not everyone is happy about the animal being removed from the endangered list. Conservationists believe hundreds of gray wolves straying from Yellowstone in search of prey could soon be killed by hunters and ranchers. Watch rancher say no wolf is sacred

We’re not ready to pop the champagne corks and have a party, said Doug Honnold, the managing attorney for Earthjustice, a non-profit environmental law firm based in Oakland, California, that has threatened to sue the government.

My biggest fear is we’re going to go backwards instead of forwards.

It wouldn’t be the first time. In the early 20th century, wolves were the targets of a massive government extermination campaign.

It’s harder to find an animal more persecuted than wolves. … We did wolf extermination with a vengeance, said Smith.

But attitudes began to change in the 1980s. Elk and bison populations increased dramatically because there was no natural predator to keep their numbers in check. In 1995, Smith led a team to bring wolves back to the Rocky Mountain landscape. They transplanted dozens of wolves to Yellowstone from Canada. See photos of Yellowstone’s animals

The project has been regarded as an overwhelming success.

There are now more than 1,500 wolves across Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, according to the government. That number convinced federal wildlife officials to remove them from the endangered species list.

Federal officials require each of the three states to maintain a population of 100 wolves, meaning a total of 300 wolves across all three states. The states have actually pledged to keep the population higher than that, at a rate of 150 wolves per state.

We did a thorough analysis, said Ed Bangs, the wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The consensus [for recovery] is a population of 300 wolves and 30 breeding pairs.

He added, The wolf population is fully recovered. We have more wolves than we ever predicted and we have fewer problems than we ever predicted.

Earthjustice says that’s not nearly enough to ensure a viable population and they want to stop the delisting. We’re going to have hundreds of wolves die needlessly, said Honnold.

But many ranchers in the region just don’t understand the fuss about the animals. They have complained for years that the wolves eat their livestock.

There’s nothing about a wolf that’s sacred, said Bruce Malcolm, a cattle rancher and Republican member of Montana’s House of Representatives.

He said he’s lost nearly two dozen cows to the wolves in recent years. I would have preferred that they never came here, he said.

If there’s a winner with the controversy, it’s Yellowstone. The wolves have pushed up attendance by more than a 100,000 visitors per year, according to a park study.

Smith, who has dedicated his life to the wolves, is philosophical about the debate.

No one says living with wolves is easy, said Smith. Living with wolves is a compromise.
Gray wolf: Still endangered? – found here.