NSW:NSW not following Qld urban mining ban

AAP General News (Australia)
08-16-2011
NSW:NSW not following Qld urban mining ban

The NSW government has knocked back a Greens' call for BARRY O'FARRELL to follow Queensland
Premier ANNA BLIGH'S lead and ban mining exploration in urban areas.

The Queensland government has announced it'll prohibit exploration within two kilometres
of towns of a thousand or more people.

NSW Greens MP JEREMY BUCKINGHAM says Mr O'FARRELL should provide the same protections
in NSW, where coal seam gas exploration has also become a divisive political issue.

A spokesman for state Resources Minister CHRIS HARTCHER says the government has no
plans to impose a similar buffer between CSG extraction and residential areas, but is
working on a strategy to manage competing land use interests.

AAP RTV ab/wjf/jmt

KEYWORD: CSG NSW (SYDNEY)

� 2011 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Headlines from the Mix Adelaide 1000 (CDT) bulletin

AAP General News (Australia)
02-19-2007
Headlines from the Mix Adelaide 1000 (CDT) bulletin
Mix Adelaide headlines @ 1000 (CDT)

PM says he'll do everything he can to convince Cheney to expedite Hicks trial

Double non-fatal shooting in CBD early this morning

Man in hospital recovering from stabbing in CBD

Barmera residents to be told about proposed dam

65th anniversary of Darwin bombing

Sport

United team to arrive home today after loss in grand final

Venus Williams make comeback from injury today in Memphis

AAP RTV tm

KEYWORD: MIX ADEL 1000

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

FED:Wright replaces Bitar as ALP secretary

AAP General News (Australia)
04-19-2011
FED:Wright replaces Bitar as ALP secretary

Former Rudd government adviser and union official GEORGE WRIGHT has been endorsed as
Labor's national secretary.

Mr WRIGHT .. currently the chief media spokesman for the National Australia Bank ..

was elected unanimously in a ballot of the ALP national executive.

Prime Minister JULIA GILLARD says Mr WRIGHT brings a wealth of experience to the job
being vacated by KARL BITAR.

She says he has a proven track record as an effective campaigner .. having run the
Your Rights at Work campaign in 2006 and 2007 .. and has a long and demonstrated commitment
to the Labor party and its values.

NICK MARTIN will remain as assistant national secretary.

AAP RTV pjo/jcd/sw/

KEYWORD: LABOR (CANBERRA)

� 2011 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Middle-income Felda (HL)

Shahrum Sayuthi; Ben Tan; Ahmad Fairuz Othman
New Straits Times
01-19-2011
Middle-income Felda (HL)
Byline: Shahrum Sayuthi; Ben Tan; Ahmad Fairuz Othman
Edition: Main/Lifestyle
Section: Main Section

LABIS: Fifty-four years after the first scheme began in Lurah Bilut in Pahang, the Felda community has now officially become part of the country's middle-income group.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said this was based on their average income of RM3,000 per month - higher than the income of 40 per cent of Malaysians in the lower-income bracket of RM2,430 per month.
"This is a significant achievement for the Felda community and proof that this land scheme has transformed the economic landscape of our rural areas."

At a gathering in Felda Cempelak here yesterday, Najib said the average income of RM3,000 had enabled the families to lead a better quality of life compared with those with the same income in the urban areas because of the lower cost of living in Felda schemes.

"We should be glad that the Felda settlers now have 10 acres (four hectares) of land each while previously they were landless and lived a hard life."

There are 112,635 Felda settlers, with 1.65 million staying in Felda schemes.

The gathering, attended by more than 10,000 Felda settlers from all over Johor, was arranged as part of Najib's one-day visit here.

The prime minister also visited Felda Cemplak Barat and Felda Tenang.

Present were Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman, ministers and Felda officials.

Najib said despite the success in improving the lives of the settlers, Felda would continue to come up with various programmes to assist them and their children.

Among these programmes were interest-free loans to improve their homes, free Internet access, vocational training for their children, housing schemes for the second generation settlers, and various bonuses and financial incentives.

On promises made by opposition parties that they would dissolve Felda Corporation and give the land to children of the settlers, Najib said this would prove disastrous for settlers and bankrupt the land scheme.

"This is just an empty promise so that they can get the support of the settlers.

"All this while, they have been claiming that Felda is bankrupt. This will become a reality if they get to break up Felda Corporation."

Najib said the Felda management had been self-sufficient and its current annual budget was RM1.6 billion, mostly for providing infrastructure, better amenities and wages of staff.

The prime minister, who is also the minister in charge of Felda, said instead of breaking up Felda to cater for the needs of its second generation settlers, the government would find new plots of land to enable them to have their own sources of income.

On claims by the opposition that Felda was bankrupt, he said the land scheme had assets worth about RM15 billion, with liquidated assets worth more than RM5 billion.

"How can Felda be bankrupt then?"

He challenged critics to prove their claim that the land scheme was on the brink of financial disaster.

At another gathering at Felda Tenang, Najib said a few African countries had tried to emulate the Felda development model but they had proved unsuccessful.

"Why is our country more successful than them? This is due to the leadership of Barisan Nasional all this time."

Najib also announced a RM1.13 million allocation for the upgrading of mosques, surau and religious schools in the Tenang state constituency.

(Copyright 2011)

FED:Momentous Melb win for Greens

AAP General News (Australia)
08-21-2010
FED:Momentous Melb win for Greens

It's shaping up as a momentous election for the Australian Greens .. after Labor all
but conceded the seat of Melbourne to the minor party.

The Greens are also expected to hold the balance of power in a new Senate.

It's more bad news for Labor .. which is facing the loss of a number of seats in crucial
marginal electorates in Queensland and western Sydney.

Labor frontbencher NICOLA ROXON has indicated ADAM BANDT is likely to win the Greens
their second ever seat in the lower house .. taking the Melbourne electorate previously
held by Finance Minister LINDSAY TANNER .. who's retiring.

AAP RTV so/sb/af

KEYWORD: POLL10 COUNT (CANBERRA)

� 2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Main stories in Wednesday's 1200 ABC news

AAP General News (Australia)
04-14-2010
Main stories in Wednesday's 1200 ABC news

SYDNEY, April 14 AAP - Main stories in Wednesday's 1200 ABC news:

- Former police chief Ken Moroney has been given the job of investigating Monday's
traffic fiasco on the F3 north of Sydney.

- Debate over the prime minister's health plan is exposing tensions between state premiers.

- The prime minister has announced major funding for a regional cancer centre on the
state's central coast.

- A man has died and three other people are in hospital after being exposed to chemicals
at a home in Sydney's west on Wednesday morning.

- Authorities say the amount of oil washed onto a central Queensland island from a
damaged Chinese coal carrier appears to be minimal.

- St George Illawarra prop Michael Weyman and Manly's Brent Kite will face the NRL
judiciary on Wednesday night.

AAP bm/evt

KEYWORD: MONITOR 1200 ABC SYDNEY

2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

QLD: Carer fly-swatted disabled man's genitals, court hears

AAP General News (Australia)
08-31-2009
QLD: Carer fly-swatted disabled man's genitals, court hears

By Christine Flatley

BRISBANE, Aug 31 AAP - A disability carer used a fly swatter to whip a patient's genitals
and used bedsheets to tie another to the toilet, a court has been told.

Susan Beryl Lister, 50, also locked a boy with autism in a "cage" and held him down
while another woman rubbed chilli in his mouth, the Brisbane District Court was told on
Monday.

Prosecutor David Nardone told the court Lister assaulted five male patients - aged
between five and 48 years - while working at the Care Independent Living facility at Bribie
Island between 2000 and 2003.

She is currently on trial after pleading not guilty to two counts of deprivation of
liberty and seven of common assault.

Two former carers on Monday told the court they had seen Lister dish out a variety
of punishments to the patients, all of whom had significant intellectual impairments.

Lynelle Wemyss (Lynelle Wemyss) said she saw Lister use a fly swatter to beat a young
teenager on his bare genitals, while he cried for her to stop.

"She was telling him that he was filthy (and) she just kept hitting and hitting him,"

Ms Wemyss said.

"He had tears running down his face."

Ms Wemyss rejected suggestions from defence barrister Don MacKenzie that the young
boy, who was prone to tantrums which could escalate to violence, may have done something
to deserve the punishment.

"It's a perfectly rational and logical hypothesis ... to say that he had done something
to cause Ms Lister to hit him with a fly swatter," Mr MacKenzie said.

"There was no excuse for that," Ms Wemyss said.

"That's your opinion," Mr MacKenzie fired back.

"That's right," she replied.

Ms Wemyss said she had also seen Lister, on another occasion, tie a five-year-old boy
with autism to the toilet, telling him he couldn't leave until "he'd done his poos".

"She took a photo of him," Ms Wemyss said.

"(The boy) was looking really distressed and squealing."

The court heard evidence of other assaults allegedly perpetrated by Lister.

It's alleged she used a fly swatter to beat a man with Down Syndrome, boxed a young
man's ears, held down a boy so chilli could be rubbed in his mouth, and locked a patient
in an outdoor "cage".

Ms Wemyss told the court she had been so horrified by the level of care provided at
the facility that she and two other staff members reported it to government agency Disability
Services Queensland (DSQ).

The court was told this eventually resulted in a Senate inquiry.

Ms Wemyss, and fellow former carer Donne Gilbert (Donne Gilbert), both strenuously
rejected Mr MacKenzie's suggestions that they were mistaken about what they had seen.

"I was there and I know what I saw," Ms Wemyss said.

"You just can't believe that people would do that," Ms Gilbert said.

The trial continues.

AAP cf/pjo/jnb/cdh

KEYWORD: LISTER

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: Married man murdered pregnant mistress to stay with wife

AAP General News (Australia)
04-22-2009
NSW: Married man murdered pregnant mistress to stay with wife

By Margaret Scheikowski

SYDNEY, April 22 AAP - When Kylie Labouchardiere arrived in Sydney with two packed
suitcases, the pregnant 23-year-old thought she was starting a new life with her married
lover.

The student nurse had already arranged for her furniture to be sent to Dubbo, where
she and Paul James Wilkinson were to set up house together.

But instead of leaving his wife, Wilkinson murdered his girlfriend in April 2004 and
weeks later tried to cover his tracks by burning down the house he shared with his spouse.

Police were about to question him over the missing student but he suggested she was
still alive by blaming her - and an unknown Aboriginal man - for the blaze.

In the ensuing years, he told lie after lie, including blaming a policeman for her
murder and indicating fake spots where her body was buried.

But on Wednesday in the NSW Supreme Court, the 33-year-old former Aboriginal liaison
officer with the NSW police force faced a sentencing hearing after finally admitting her
murder last November.

At one stage, he agreed to plead guilty to manslaughter, saying he had been provoked
into strangling his pregnant girlfriend.

He claimed that while they were having sex, she had told him she was going to have
his wife killed.

Wilkinson also pleaded guilty to arson, relating to the fire at his rented house at
Picnic Point, in southern Sydney.

John Kiely, SC, for the crown, said the murder was in the "worst category" thus warranting
a life sentence, a submission refuted by defence barrister, Robert Sutherland SC.

Mr Kiely said by the time Wilkinson collected his girlfriend at Sydney's Sutherland
railway station on the evening of April 28, he had planned to murder her.

"He planned it by meeting her to go to Dubbo to live .. but lured her to an isolated
place and killed her," he said.

"How, when and where the Crown does not know. Her body has never been recovered."

Ms Labouchardiere had come from her grandmother's place at Erina, on the NSW Central
Coast, with the two packed suitcases.

In his victim impact statement, her father, John Edwards, said he spent years being
tortured by the hope she was still alive.

"Emotionally, I am being eaten away hearing the many false statements about where her
body is. I am worn down by the twists and turns of the case," he said.

"I served 25 years in the army defending Australia, yet I could not help my own daughter."

Her mother Carol Edwards said she turned 50 a few months after her daughter disappeared.

"All the time I thought she would surprise us and turn up, but she didn't come," she said.

"Instead of celebrating, we were mourning - we didn't understand and we didn't know exactly why."

Ms Labouchardiere's grandmother, Kylie Windeyer, said she missed her greatly.

"Not a day goes by that I don't think of her.

"I get teary and miss talking to her on the phone. I'll never get over it.

"I believe she's with God and her grandpa now."

Mr Sutherland said the murder flowed from a relationship and did not fall into the
sentencing category of needing to protect the public or deter others, as occurred in cases
such as gangland retributions or random killings.

While Wilkinson had told "numerous lies and made false assertions", he said remorse
was indicated through his guilty plea which avoided a long trial.

Justice Peter Johnson will sentence him on May 22.

AAP mss/hn/it/mn

KEYWORD: WILKINSON WRAP

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: What you'll pay for solar panels

AAP General News (Australia)
12-17-2008
Fed: What you'll pay for solar panels

Cost of installing solar panels under the new rebate system:



* The cost of an average-sized system (1.5kw) starts from $15,000. With a rebate of
up to $7,500, the out-of-pocket expense will be at least $7,500.

* The cost of a small system (1kw) starts from $12,000. With a rebate of about $5,000,
the out-of-pocket expense will be at least $7,000.

* The industry hopes costs will come down as more people go solar.



Sources: The Climate Group, the federal government.

AAP ca/kms/fdf

KEYWORD: SOLAR FACTBOX

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Swm: Jones wins overdue gold = 3

AAP General News (Australia)
08-12-2008
Swm: Jones wins overdue gold = 3

Jones kept her celebrations fairly restrained, only allowing herself a quick hug and
a smile with bronze medal winner Jukic, who had swum in the lane next to her.

Her time was just 0.08 outside her world record set two years ago at the Melbourne
Commonwealth Games.

"A little bit of shock and a bit of relief I guess," she said of her feelings after the race.

"It has been a long journey, it has been a long eight years and I think just a lot
of relief the training was definitely worth it.

"I gave it everything I could and I couldn't care less about the time ... an Olympic
gold is an Olympic gold."

Australia's Tarnee White (1:07.63) finished in sixth place.

AAP tdw/mo

KEYWORD: OLY08 SWM W100BR LEAD 3 (RE-OPENS)

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: Policeman charged over New Year's assault

AAP General News (Australia)
04-03-2008
NSW: Policeman charged over New Year's assault

A policeman will face court later this month charged with the indecent assault of a
woman on New Year's Day.

The constable from Quaker's Hill Local Area Command is accused of indecently assaulting
a 24-year-old woman.

He's been charged with one count count of detain for advantage .. two counts of indecent
assault and one count of act of indecency.

The officer's been granted conditional bail to appear at Downing Centre Local Court
on April 23 .. and has been suspended with pay.

AAP RTV kaj/crh

KEYWORD: POLICEMAN (SYDNEY)

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

COLUMN: Net neutrality of paramount importance

Vineet Tiruvadi
University Wire
10-04-2007
(The Battalion) (U-WIRE) COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Click. Click. Type, click. That's what it took for me to submit this article. That's also what it takes for me to buy a moped or watch the latest musically inclined pet video. In the previous decade and a half, we've witnessed the growth of what our generation will be known for: the wonder that is the Internet. But it isn't all e-rainbows and unicorn2k3s. The issue of network neutrality has entered the spotlight and the questions it raises are going to have a marked impact on how all of us use the Internet.

Network neutrality is a fancy phrase for an equally fancy concept. The basic idea behind a neutral network is that the computers and control gates that control the Internet don't judge. All websites get equal treatment, allowing the upstart shopping site to load just as fast as a big corporate website. This principle is what the Internet has thrived on and has given rise to what we call the "openness of the Internet."

Recent innovations and technologies have changed the cyber landscape and the issue is no longer black and white. An increase in video viewing, music downloading and online gaming has started to take a toll on the Internet's inner workings. Watching a video requires a lot more data than reading a Web article, and that extra data has to come even faster to avoid the dreaded "buffering" beast. The argument that video data, and other content, should have higher priority has given rise to the antithesis of the neutral network -- a "smart" network.

But what does all this mumbo jumbo and jargon really mean? The difference between the two boils down to regulation. Some say that maintaining network neutrality through government regulation would stifle the innovation that has graced our desktops in the recent years. Others claim that ceding control of the vast "network" to individual broadband carriers will give them the power to stifle competition and regulate access to different parts of the Internet.

What's best for us? How can we push next generation technologies while still maintaining the internet's openness? We've seen what an open forum for thought and communication can do and it's impossible to overrate it. The benefits of a neutral Internet are clear.


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(C) 2007 The Battalion via U-WIRE

SA: Man killed in road crash

AAP General News (Australia)
04-18-2007
SA: Man killed in road crash

ADELAIDE, April 18 AAP - A man has been charged with dangerous driving after a pedestrian
was knocked down and killed by a car in Port Augusta, north of Adelaide.

Police said a 38-year-old man was struck by a car in Tassie Street overnight.

He was airlifted to the Royal Adelaide Hospital but was dead on arrival.

Another Port Augusta man was arrested at the scene and charged with causing death by
dangerous driving and other traffic offences.

The 39-year-old was expected to appear in the Port Augusta Magistrates Court later today.

Police said the pedestrian's death took the South Australian road toll for 2007 to
35 , down by five on the same time last year.

AAP tjd/cjh/bwl

KEYWORD: TOLL SA

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Vic: Hunt steps up for arsonists as firefighters suffer burns

AAP General News (Australia)
12-16-2006
Vic: Hunt steps up for arsonists as firefighters suffer burns

The arson squad has intensified its hunt for arsonists .. believed responsible for
a bushfire which caused the death of a volunteer firefighter this week.

Victoria Police have eliminated teenage suspects who were seen near the Cooper Creek
blaze on Thursday.

The fire has destroyed 11 homes ... 58 barns and sheds and a school camp .. and resulted
in DONALD DOSSER'S death.

Mr DOSSER died after being run over by a fire truck as he helped fight the fire.

Meanwhile .. a New Zealand firefighter has serious burns to his airways after he and
eight colleagues were injured as they fought a campground blaze in Victoria's north-east.





Now .. DSE crews at Coopers Creek near Walhalla are building a control line along the
south-west edge of the fire.

A DSE backburn is generating smoke in the area .. which has forced the closure of Tyers-Walhalla
Road.

Cowwarr Road is also closed.

Details on backburns and road closures are on the VicRoads website at www.vicroads.vic.gov.au.

AAP RTV jat/wz

KEYWORD: BUSHFIRES VIC (MELBOURNE)

2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: Man arrested over gang rape of Sydney teenager

AAP General News (Australia)
08-09-2006
NSW: Man arrested over gang rape of Sydney teenager

SYDNEY, Aug 9 AAP - A 25-year-old man has been arrested over the gang rape of a teenager
at one of Sydney's most popular tourist precincts.

The 19-year-old Sydney woman was attacked after being approached by five men as she
walked along Darling Walk, at Darling Harbour, on June 8 about 6.30pm.

Four of the men allegedly raped the girl in the toilets near the Chinese Gardens at
the end of Liverpool St, while the fifth man acted as a lookout.

A NSW Police spokesman said a 25-year-old man had been arrested and was being questioned
at Bankstown police station.

He has not been charged.

NSW Police will hold a press conference on the man's arrest at 4pm (AEST) today.

AAP kjd/hn/jlw/sd

KEYWORD: AVENEL ARREST

) 2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Qld: Teens granted bail after alleged racist shootings

AAP General News (Australia)
04-03-2006
Qld: Teens granted bail after alleged racist shootings

Five youths .. accused of going on a racist shooting spree in central Queensland on
Australia Day .. have been released on bail.

SHANE MATTHEW MCPHERSON .. SCOTT HENRY WARWICK-DAY .. TROY KEITH ZORNIG .. HAYDEN JOHN
NITZ and TIMOTHY PERRY have appeared in Rockhampton Magistrates Court.

They're alleged to have shot at least two teenagers in the back with air rifles in
Rockhampton .. in random drive-by shootings.

The court was told they intended on shooting Aborigines.

The group face charges including grievous bodily harm .. unlawful wounding and weapons offences.

All were released on bail .. to reappear in court next month.

AAP RTV rm/sc/klf/bart

KEYWORD: MCPHERSON (BRISBANE)

2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Cantillation

Cantillation The mode of chanting for the reading of the Torah and the other Scriptures in the synagogue and the system of musical notation for this. Scripture was not simply declaimed in the synagogue, but chanted. In post-Talmudic times various systems of notation were developed, one of which became standard; that is to say, there eventually arose a universally accepted system of musical notation with special signs for the different notes. All communities follow this system, although the actual form of the melodies is not the same in all communities. The Ashkenazim melodies, for instance, are in a different mode from the Sephardic, the latter having distinct traces of Arabic musical styles.

The signs for the various notes are called neginot (‘melodies’) or teemim (‘flavours’, i.e. giving flavour to the words). These notes have a double purpose. In the first instance they serve as punctuation similar to the full stop, colon, semi-colon, and comma in English, these not being shown in the original Hebrew. The notes also serve as a commentary to the text.

Reform Jews tended to give up the whole method of cantillation, preferring to follow the practice in Protestant churches of declaiming Scripture, in the belief that this was more decorous in Western society. But, as part of a definite swing towards greater traditionalism, many Reform congregations have reintroduced the old system of cantillation.

minority interest

minority interest The interest of individual shareholders in a company more than 50% of which is owned by a holding company. For example, if 60% of the ordinary shares in a company are owned by a holding company, the remaining 40% will represent a minority interest. These minority shareholders will receive their full share of profits in the form of dividends although they will be unable to determine company policy as they will always be outvoted by the majority interest held by the holding company. See controlling interest; participating interest.

FBI targets protest groups; But guidelines consider pro-lifers terrorists, too.(OPED)

Byline: J. Bradley Jansen, SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Nearly all of us know that law enforcement, and specifically the intelligence community, failed in their mission to prevent the tragedies of September 11 last year. Congress and the attorney general were right to respond quickly to that failure. The question remains if the changes we are making are the right ones. Conservatives must be prudent in that whatever tools we give the administration now may be used against us in the future.

When Attorney General John Ashcroft announced changes to the Guidelines on General Crimes, Racketeering Enterprise and Terrorism Enterprise Investigations ("Domestic Guidelines") for the Federal Bureau of Investigation on May 30, he lauded its 94-year-old history as "the tireless protector of civil rights and civil liberties for all Americans." That history may have come to an end.

The foreign intelligence guidelines, which cover investigations of international terrorist organizations such as Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda (operating here or abroad), are classified but reportedly have not changed. The Domestic Guidelines govern investigations of domestic groups operating entirely within the United States. Had the Domestic Guidelines changes been in place previously, they would have done nothing to prevent last year's airline highjackings.

The general principles of the old Reagan-era Domestic Guidelines for FBI investigations began as follows: "Preliminary inquiries and investigations governed by these guidelines are conducted for the purpose of preventing, detecting, or prosecuting violations of federal law. They shall be conducted with as little intrusion into the privacy of individuals as the needs of the situation permit."

The new guidelines struck the second sentence, replacing it with "The FBI shall fully utilize the methods authorized by these guidelines to maximize the realization of these objectives." Translation of the new attitude: Forget about concerns of privacy, and go run roughshod over civil rights and civil liberties of American citizens.

Aside from possible problems related to the specifics of the guidelines changes, the greatest problem appears to be that the attorney general is being mislead. The sooner he can get trusted advisers in place the better. Enough already with the red herrings about FBI agents not being allowed to surf the Internet and the shell game of changing Domestic Guidelines when the FBI failed under the foreign ones.

While ostensibly aimed at preventing terrorism, the Domestic Guidelines broadly define "terrorist activity" so that the term appears to cover the use of force to block an abortion mill, thus triggering authority to spy on pro-life demonstrators without evidence of crime. Under the Domestic Guidelines, a terrorist enterprise is a group of at least two persons engaged in an enterprise for the purpose of "furthering political or social goals wholly or in part through activities that involve force or violence and a violation of federal criminal law." An abortion protest that includes blocking an abortion clinic in violation of the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE) of 1994 appears to fall within this definition.

The new Domestic Guidelines differ dramatically from the previous ones in place for more than two decades in that any "public" meeting can be the subject of surveillance without any evidence of crime. FBI undercover agents would have the authority to spy at any public meetings of abortion protesters "for the purpose of detecting or preventing terrorist activities" even if the FBI had no evidence whatsoever that a crime would actually be discussed.

Moreover, the undercover FBI agent could retain any information that he thinks "relates" to any potential criminal activity, not just to terrorism. Information gathering about who attended and what they said, combined with the new data-mining rules, engender the kind of spying without cause that can chill legitimate exercise of First Amendment freedoms. A better focus would be on analysis and verifying the information used rather than profiling people using dubious data, as the old guidelines permitted.

Amazingly, Mr. Ashcroft cites the case of National Organization for Women vs. Scheidler (1994) to justify changing the Domestic Guidelines so that they do not require that these terrorism enterprise investigations be limited to enterprises that have a profit as opposed to a social goal. In that case, the Supreme Court determined that the federal racketeering statute could be used against pro-life demonstrators even though they were motivated by religious and political goals, as opposed to profit.

Should we really target pro-life demonstrators under the new FBI Domestic Guidelines with the extreme measures under the USA Patriot Act aimed at Osama bin Laden and company? What might a future Attorney General Hillary Clinton do under the new guidelines?

J. Bradley Jansen is deputy director of the Center for Technology Policy at the Free Congress Foundation.

DISNEY TO CUT 4,000 JOBS.(BUSINESS)

The Walt Disney Co. will eliminate 4,000 full-time jobs, or about 3 percent of its work force, citing "increasingly pressing challenges of the softening economic environment."

The media and entertainment giant said Tuesday it will try to achieve the reduction through a voluntary program within the next month, but that jobs will be cut if the voluntary effort fails. The cuts will come across all operating areas, including the company's corporate staff in Burbank, Calif., and would be accomplished by July, the company said.

Officials said the cuts would result in $350 million to $400 million in annual savings.

Wireless provider Ericsson trims jobs

LM Ericsson of Stockholm, Sweden, is eliminating 3,300 jobs, or 3 percent of the wireless technology company's worldwide work force, in response to weakening economic conditions that have already forced sweeping cutbacks at U.S. rival Motorola.

Ericsson, one of the world's top manufacturers of cellular network equipment and mobile phones, said the moves will cut annual costs by at least $2 billion.

The sudden economic slowdown in the United States and other markets has hit the wireless industry hard. Just last week, Motorola announced the latest in a series of downsizing efforts that will eliminate a combined 22,000 jobs. Meanwhile, Finland's Nokia said Tuesday it would lay off up to 400 people in its network equipment operations.

Nortel Networks issues profit warning

Nortel Networks won't meet the sharply reduced profit forecasts the maker of optical and wireless network equipment set just a month ago, and now plans to eliminate 5,000 more jobs on top of the 10,000 already cut since the start of 2001.

The warning Tuesday by the Canadian company, a bellwether for the technology industry, echoed the increasingly dire projections coming from Cisco Systems, the world's leading producer of network equipment for the Internet.

Gasoline leak spurs scrutiny of MPCA; Legislator suggests hearings on agency.(NEWS)

Some state legislators and others expressed concerns Thursday that the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has become too lax in enforcing pollution laws against big industries, and one House committee leader said it may be necessary to hold hearings on the matter.

The issue arose after revelations that a recent gasoline leak near the Mississippi River came from a large amount of fuel pooled beneath the Koch refinery that company and MPCA officials have known about since 1992.

Rep. Willard Munger, DFL-Duluth, chairman of the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee, said the latest incident is one of several that make him think the MPCA has become too accommodating to industry.

"It's discouraging that we're backsliding when we've worked so hard to get some decent legislation on the books," he said.

Munger said he also is disappointed with agency decisions about how to clean up contamination at a U.S. Steel Corp. site in Duluth, and he said the MPCA is too lenient in protecting the environment as it regulates large hog farms. "The big operators are running the show, and the public is suffering," he said.

State Sen. Steve Morse, DFL-Dakota and chairman of the budget division that controls environmental appropriations, said he's increasingly concerned about the MPCA's approach.

Collaboration and cooperation with industry is fine as long as it works, he said, but "at some point you need an environmental cop."

Munger said the problem is not with the MPCA's staff, which he said has many "outstanding" workers, but with its leadership and its approach under Gov. Arne Carlson's administration, which he described as "soft-pedaling any regulations dealing with cleanups."

Munger said he's seriously considering legislative hearings to air the issue and is gathering information about additional problems related to agency performance. "I think some pressure should be put on MPCA," he said. "I'm watching this very closely."

Morse said the latest incident with Koch illustrates that the agency has failed to be tough enough in protecting the environment and that it doesn't have the right balance between helping industries comply with the law and making them do so if necessary.

"I think it's something the Legislature should take a close look at to make sure that balance is restored," he said. "I don't think MPCA's enforcement people can make the judgments they want to in an independent atmosphere."

MPCA Commissioner Peder Larson said the Koch incident is not typical of the agency's performance or of its commitment to enforce pollution laws vigorously when the circumstances require it.

"We have the best cleanup program in the country," he said. "It strikes a balance between immediate action when necessary and providing time to plan and do things in an orderly way when that's an option."

Larson took issue with those who think that the "command-and-control" approach to regulating big sources of pollution is the only way to achieve results or that cleanup standards must be rigid. "Cleanup standards have changed over the last few years across the nation, not based on who the polluter is, but based on human health risks and future use of the property," he said. "We could go back to trying to require cleanup to the nth degree, but we'd be in court all the time, and we'd have no results."

There may be times when the agency makes a mistake, he said, but the MPCA's record, especially in regulating hazardous wastes, has been very successful.

However, Bob Eleff, project director for the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, is skeptical about those kinds of claims. Eleff worked on two audits in 1990 and 1994 that documented hundreds of water-quality violations and what he called "weak, informal and haphazard" enforcement by the MPCA.

Eleff said the Koch situation is consistent with that pattern.

"The MPCA took a gamble with environmental quality, and the environment lost," he said. "Their actions don't reflect the kind of environmental protection that Minnesotans expect."

1/3 At a glance

What the MPCA does

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency was established in 1967 to protect the state's environment by regulating pollution and by monitoring air and water quality. The agency also has authority to regulate hazardous wastes, solid wastes and ground-water quality.

1/3 - Staff: The MPCA has about 800 staff members who work in its St. Paul headquarters and in five regional offices.

- Work: A nine-member citizens' board appointed by the governor holds monthly public meetings, sets policy for the agency and takes specific action on significant or controversial issues or projects. The agency is now working on a massive internal reorganization plan called Goal 21 that will affect all of its employees if implemented.

1/3 - More information: The MPCA has an information line at 296-6300 or 1-800-657-3864. The agency also has a home page on the Internet at http://www.pca.state.mn.us.