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Three explosions in Varanasi, India At least fifteen have been killed and over sixty injured when three blasts rocked the northern Indian city of Varanasi. Dana Reeve, 44, wife of Christopher Reeve, dies of lung cancer Dana Reeve, chairwoman of the Christopher Reeve Foundation and founder of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Resource Center, has died of lung cancer at the age of 44. Reeve, a non-smoker, announced in 2005 that she had the disease.

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No hotel previously on site of proposed Buffalo, N.Y. hotel location There was no hotel at the proposed Elmwood Village hotel site, but there was one during the Pan-American Exposition in 1901, on the opposite side of the street. However, that hotel, although temporary, was not financially successful.

Wikipedia Current Events
Anibal Ibarra, former mayor of Buenos Aires is removed from office over allegations of poor government safety regulation in last year's club fire. Kizza Besigye, formerly opposition presidential candidate in the recent Ugandan elections, is cleared of rape charges. The Dutch Labour party gains more than 500 seats in the Dutch municipal election, 2006. Fifteen people die and many others are injured in three blasts throughout Varanasi, India. Israel's defence minister Shaul Mofaz threatens to have the newly elected Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniyeh assassinated if Hamas militants resume attacking Israel. "No one is immune," Mr Mofaz told Army Radio. British Lieutenant General Nick Houghton announces that the UK's 8,000 soldiers in Iraq could begin leaving the country within weeks. Most would be home by 2008, he says.

Three explosions in Varanasi, India
At least fifteen people are feared dead, and at least sixty others are wounded after three explosions in the Hindu pilgrimage town of Varanasi, India.

At approximately 6:00p.m. the first explosion occurred outside the Sankat Mochan temple which was crowded with devotees. The second explosion took place just a few minutes later at the Cantonment Railway Station right outside the room of the stationmaster leaving a crater and the third explosion took place on the Shiv Ganga Express, which at the time, was leaving for New Delhi.

Officials say that the area has been cordoned off and the injured have been shifted to a Hospital on the Benaras Hindu University campus.

Officials also say that at least 4 bombs that did not explode, were found near a holy site by the Ganges River.

According to the media advisor Sanjay Baru, Prime Minister Manmohan "has appealed for peace and calm. He is constantly monitoring the situation."

Ontario college teachers begin strike
All across the Canadian province of Ontario, college teachers have gone on strike, leaving more than 150,000 students in 24 colleges without classes.

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union rejected the final offer from college management, after negotiations at the Delta Chelsea Hotel in downtown Toronto.

This strike comes just a month before many student's scheduled graduations. If courses are extended into the summer, to compensate for lost school time, students' ability to maintain jobs to pay for their education would be severely limited.

“A prolonged strike would not only affect college students, but also have a ripple affect on the Ontario economy and workforce. Potential employers are expecting 44,000 new graduates and 100,000 returning students to enter the workforce this May, families have made summer plans, and some seasonal businesses may experience a significant loss if the school year does not finish on time,” says Tyler Charlebois, Director of Advocacy for the College Student Alliance. “I hope for the sake of Ontario, the provincial government takes this situation as seriously as we are and takes action as necessary.”

OPSEU was asking for more teachers, smaller classes, and more faculty time for students. A strike vote was 80.4% in favour of action. Humber had the least support for the strike, with only 67.0%, followed by St. Lawrence with 67.7%. St. Clair, Boréal, Centennial, and Sault all had more than 90% support.

Hall of Fame baseball player Kirby Puckett dies of stroke
Kirby Puckett, a former professional baseball player and Minnesota Twins legend, died Monday afternoon, March 6, in a Phoenix, Arizona, hospital, one day after suffering a stroke and undergoing emergency surgery for the resultant cerebral hemorrhage. He was 45 years old.

The Hall of Fame centerfielder, whose .318 career batting average is surpassed only by Joe DiMaggio among right-handed hitters, was a ten-time All-Star in twelve seasons with the Minnesota Twins. "Puck" won six Gold Glove awards and five Silver Slugger awards for defensive and offensive excellence at his position, and led the Twins to World Series Championships in 1987 and 1991. He retired as the Twins' all-time leader in hits, doubles, total bases, at-bats and runs, records that he still holds to this day. Unfortunately, his playing career was cut short in 1996, when he was diagnosed with glaucoma, which has left him blind in one eye. Even though his career was considerably shorter than those of most inductees, he was still inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001 (his first year of eligibility).

Puckett had gained weight in recent years, and was reportedly still suffering from a bitter divorce in 2002, and was still depressed about his career being cut short. His professional relationship with the Twins ended in 2002, and he went into seclusion thereafter. However, the Twins have constantly attempted to contact Puckett in hopes that he would return to help the team in some form. He also had his personal reputation sullied by an incident in 2003 where he was accused of groping a woman in a bathroom in a Minneapolis-area restaurant. He was cleared of all charges, but the emotional damage he incurred from the incident had increased his self-imposed seclusion from the baseball community.

Puckett suffered the stroke early Sunday morning at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona. He was initially transported by ambulance to Scottsdale Memorial Hospital, then was airlifted to Scottsdale Osborne Hospital for emergency surgery in an attempt to stop a cerebral hemorrhage. After that, he was transferred St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center's Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix in hopes of further treatment. His condition declined, however. He received the last rites and passed away Monday afternoon.

Puckett is survived by his ex-wife Tonya, his children Catherine and Kirby Jr., and a fiancee. Funeral arrangements are pending.

Multiple vehicles crash in West Palm Beach, F.L.
At least eight cars and a tanker have crashed on U.S. 27 near West Palm Beach, Florida. At least five people have been injured and so far no fatalities have been reported.

A gasoline tanker was in an accident with a flat-bed semi when several vehicles collided with the tanker. At least one semi has burst into flames.

Fire Rescue Capt. Don DeLucia said that "Severe fog might have caused the accident and hampered crews from getting there."

Both lanes of traffic have been shutdown.

Dana Reeve, 44, wife of Christopher Reeve, dies of lung cancer
Dana Reeve, the widow of Christopher Reeve, died of lung cancer late Monday. She was 44.

Reeve served as chairwoman of the Christopher Reeve Foundation and founded the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Resource Center. She and her late husband, famed for his movie acting role of Superman, became an advocate for paraplegics when he suffered a spinal injury in 1995 that left him paralyzed after falling from off a horse. Christopher Reeve died in 2004.

Kathy Lewis, President and CEO of the foundation said in a statement to the media, "On behalf of the entire Board of Directors and staff of the Christopher Reeve Foundation, we are extremely saddened by the death of Dana Reeve, whose grace and courage under the most difficult of circumstances was a source of comfort and inspiration to all of us."

Reeve, who was not a smoker, announced in 2005 that she had lung cancer.

Reeve is survived by her 13 year-old son, Will; a step-daughter, Alexandra; a step-son, Metthew; her father, Dr. Charles Morosini; and sisters Deborah Morosini and Adrienne Morosini Heilman.

Ukraine does not allow Transnistrian goods transit without Moldovan customs stamps
President Viktor Yushchenko, all the Transnistrian goods that are transported via Ukraine will have to be accompanied by customs documents released by the Moldovan authorities.

Ukraine PM Yuri Yekhanurov has charged the Foreign Ministry and the State Customs officials to render the account to the society for the goods circulation on the Transdniestrian frontier. "In January I met the businessmen and authorities from Moldova, Ukraine and Transdniestrian in Odesa. In the course of the meeting the sides voiced their precise positions towards the rules of the game," noted PM of Ukraine speaking about the special terms of freight transportation via the territory of Moldova, Ukraine and Transdniestrian region. According to his words, the freight from Transdniestrian region will cross Ukraine only if it has Moldova’s stamp. "It means no additional taxes or excise," stressed PM Yekhanurov.

Javier SOLANA, EU High Representative for the CFSP, welcomes implementation by Moldova and Ukraine of Joint Declaration on Customs: "I welcome that the Joint Declaration of the Ukrainian and Moldovan Prime Ministers of 30 December 2005 is now being implemented, whereby Ukraine only recognizes Moldovan customs stamps and Moldova facilitates the registration of Transnistrian enterprises in Chisinau. The implementation of this declaration is very important for the establishment of an orderly regime on the Ukrainian-Moldovan border to which the EU attaches great importance." Solana added also: "I call on the economic agents of the Transnistrian region of Moldova to register with the relevant authorities in Chisinau in order to promote the unimpeded flow of goods across the border. I also call on the self-proclaimed Transnistrian authorities not to block this registration. ... I condemn any efforts by the self-proclaimed Transnistrian authorities to impede the free flow of international trade."

The so-called Transnistria president Igor Smirnov qualified Kiev's decision as economic attack and called on the Ukrainian authorities to revise it so as to avert "a social-economic catastrophe" in the region.

Trade between Transnistria and Ukraine totals about $400 million.

Australians need bigger toilets
Standards Australia, the non-government standards setting organisation in Australia has indicated that it is reviewing the weight limit for toilet seats as they need to accomodate the "increasing size of humans".

Obesity levels have been rising for years in Australia. Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows that the percentage of Australian men who are overweight or obsese rose 10 percent in the last ten years to 62 percent. The number of females who are considered overweight or obsese rose 8 percent to 45 percent. Standards Australia is considering recommending strengthening loos for larger users. They say experts will examine the seats "from the perspective that people are getting bigger."

Standards Australia says as the community's weight increases, and many more Australians are in the heavier categories, toilet regulations have to be updated. General manager of standards development Colin Blair says toilets are currently required to meet a rigidity test of 45 kilograms (99 lbs) - which accommodates most people's weight in a seated position.

He says a committee including manufacturers and consumers will assess whether that is still adequate. "They will re-look at what the statistics are on weights of people, they will re-look at that rigidity load and then that document will go to public comment, so obviously the experts out there will have an opportunity to re-look and see whether that load is appropriate," said Colin Blair.

Standards Australia review committee member Steve Cummings, head of research and development for toilet manufacturer Caroma Dorf, said toilet seats currently only had to withstand a 45kg load. "We are bringing it in to line with the weight of a heavy Australian," he said.

The draft seat standard is due to be issued for public comment mid-this year and set for release by the end of 2006.

Health economist Paul Gross recently said the price of obesity for the community was about $11 billion a year.

Australian Senator Bob Brown calls for ban on junk food ads
Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown today called for a ban on junk food advertisements during times that children are watching TV. In a press release, the Senator referred specifically to last night's episode of Four Corners.

"The extensive use of psychologists to analyse little children’s responsiveness to TV advertising, including how best to influence parents to buy goods by 'nagging' from children, is exploitation without honour," Senator Brown said.

The documentary, entitled "How The Kids Took Over", investigated the increase in marketing to children, who "have a say" in $700 billion worth of spending each year. "The marketing assault is aimed not only at getting children to spend. Even companies who market adult products, such as cars, are enlisting children to help persuade their parents to buy the 'right' brand," the program summary said.

In the past the Government has rejected such calls. It recently launched a $6 million advertising campaign encouraging children to exercise an hour each day.

Senator Brown says he plans to propose a Senate Inquiry.

Book review controversy over Daniel Dennett's 'Breaking the Spell'
Professor of philosophy Daniel Dennett's (Tufts University) new book Breaking the Spell uses the scientific method commonly employed to analyze natural phenomena in order to examine religion. The New York Times' February 20th review by Leon Wieseltier, which was strongly negative, has sparked debate about the merits of this approach.

Breaking the Spell attempts to present an understanding of religious memes (pieces of information that can spread from person to person) in the same way as Richard Dawkins approached genetics in his selfish gene theory. Dennett's book presents the point of view of an individual religious meme, in competition with other memes, trying to maximize its own successful spread.

Wieseltier objects to Dennett's "meme's eye view" analysis as "scientism", claiming that "Dennett lives in a world in which you must believe in the grossest biologism or in the grossest theism, in a purely naturalistic understanding of religion or in intelligent design, in the omniscience of a white man with a long beard in 19th-century England or in the omniscience of a white man with a long beard in the sky." Not all aspects of human life can or should be illuminated by scientific methods, claims Wieseltier.

Dennett responded that this criticism followed a pattern of recent "stunts" by the New York Times book review: "When you can't stand the implications of some scientific discipline X, but can't think of any solid objections, you brand them instances of the sin of Xism and then you don't have to take them seriously!" He continues to state that "the very idea of an intensive scientific exploration of religion so upsets Wieseltier that he resorts to flagrant falsehoods — and doesn't even bother supporting his claims with citations."

Wieseltier also criticizes several of Dennett's quotations of fellow philosophers, including David Hume, William James, and personal friend of Dennett's Thomas Nagel.

Brian Leiter, a professor of philosophy at the University of Texas, also objects to Wieseltier's claim that some aspects of human life can not be illuminated by a scientific approach. "'The view that science can explain all human conditions and expressions, mental as well as physical' is not a 'superstition' but a reasonable methodological posture to adopt based on the actual evidence, that is, based on the actual expanding success of the sciences . . . during the last hundred years," writes Leiter. [1]

Dennett is eager for the religious to read Breaking the Spell, and spends the first third of the book motivating and justifying his project; this may have had bearing on the Times' selection of reviewers.

Both the selfish gene theory and the idea of memes were originally popularized by Professor Richard Dawkins (University of Oxford, Biologist), in his book The Selfish Gene. The selfish gene theory is the most widely accepted basis for mathematical models in evolutionary biology, as it has repeatedly correctly modeled various problematic situations, such as gender ratios in insect species with haploid males.

Daniel Dennett is among the most widely read living philosophers, highly regarded for the diversity of his academic contributions. Many of his popular works concern evolution, memetics, and human thought.

Chavez accuses US of plotting separation of oil rich state
Hugo Chávez, President of Venezuela, has accused the United States of supporting a separatist movement in the oil-rich state of Zulia. Zulia has a large portion of Venezuela's oil and gas reserves and is ruled by governor Manuel Rosales, a friend of the United States.

The Zulian political organization, Own Course, a group of right-wingers opposed to Chávez, has proposed holding a referendum to form a neo-liberal capitalist economy in the Zulia state which shares borders with Colombia.

Chávez described the secessionist attempts as a crazy move and warned that the separatists could face military action. He said that the imperialists are attempting to give strength and form to the secessionist movement, with the goal of controlling the oil in the region.

President Chávez also claimed the secessionist movement is part of a plan by the U.S. to overthrow and kill him.

Porn star promotes Italian wine
Roberto Cipresso, one of Italy's most respected winemakers, has gone into business with Savanna Samson, a New York porn star, whose real name is Natalie Oliveros.

The wine world had previously suspected that Cipresso's collaboration with Samson would be little more than a publicity stunt. Such fears evaporated when U.S. wine expert Robert Parker rated their effort at 91, describing it as "an outstanding wine of exceptional complexity and character".

Samson's husband, Daniel Oliveros, who introduced her to the winemaker, is a Manhattan wine merchant. The couple met when she was a dancer at Scores, a popular strip club.

Savanna Samson's last film earned her the porn industry's highest award for best all-girl sex scene. Her best-known films are Big Blowout, Fetish Underground and Poke Her.

Roberto Cipresso's previous investor was Pope John Paul II.

AT&T to buy Bellsouth for $67 billion
AT&T Inc. and BellSouth announced a USD$67 billion merger deal Sunday. If approved by shareholders and regulators, the merger would create the largest telecommunications company in the U.S., with control of over half of the telephone lines in the country and the largest cellular service provider, Cingular Wireless.

"This transaction combines two solid, very well-run companies," AT&T Chairman and CEO Edward E. Whitacre said in a press statement. "BellSouth operates in an attractive region with a growing economy. It has great employees and an outstanding network, with fiber optics deeply deployed in its service area. It has a strong record in terms of customer service and a sound, conservative balance sheet. These strengths, added to those of AT&T, will improve our ability to provide innovative services to more customers while returning substantial value to our owners and improving our growth profile."

AT&T and BellSouth had shared ownership and operations of Cingular Wireless, which will be absorbed by AT&T as part of the merger. If the deal passes shareholders, BellSouth stock holders will receive 1.325 shares of AT&T common stock for each single share held of BellSouth stock. at a rate of 1.325 shares of AT&T stock per BellSouth share. Though subject to approval by government regulators and shareholders of both companies, the merger is expected to be completed within the next year.

BellSouth and AT&T employ nearly 316,000 people in the United States. The merger, if approved, would give AT&T 70 million telephone users, almost 10 million broadband subscribers, and AT&T will provide services to more than half the companies on the Fortune 100 in 22 states.

Whitacre will remain as chairman, CEO and a member of the board of directors of the combined company. Duane Ackerman, currently chairman and CEO of BellSouth, will remain in his position for a transition period following the merger. Additionally, three members of BellSouth's board of directors will join the AT&T board.

The announced purchase recalls the planned $115 billion dollar merger of MCI WorldCom and Sprint in 1999 that was prohibited by the federal government. Despite this, analysts think the federal actions will be smaller, since these actions came under protest three months ago due to the actions of their European rivals.

With the price of AT&T closing at 27.99 USD a share, and the price of BellSouth closing at 37.09USD a share, AT&T will pay an additional 17.9% for each stock of BellSouth. This operation ultimately leads to a capitalization of $165 billion USD, and officials with the companies predict a force reduction of at least 10,000 employees, lower costs of operation in networks, and an overall savings of $2 billion after the second year, with altogether savings reaching $18 billion.

AT&T also announced that it will try to acquire the $10 billion dollars worth of stocks that were yielded during the company's bankruptcy in 1984.

The corporate headquarters for the combined company are expected to remain in San Antonio, Texas, though Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin said Monday that they will work to persuade AT&T executives to move their headquarters to the BellSouth HQ in Atlanta. Cingular's headquarters will remain in Atlanta, as will the combined company's Southeast regional telephone company headquarters.

Today in History
1618 - Johannes Kepler discovered the third law of planetary motion.

1702 - Princess Anne became the queen of England, Scotland and Ireland.

1782 - Almost 100 Native Americans died in the hands of Pennsylvanian militiamen in a mass murder known as the Gnadenhütten massacre.

1844 - Oscar I acceded to the throne of Sweden-Norway.

1966 - Nelson's Pillar, a large granite pillar with a statue of Lord Horatio Nelson on top in Dublin, Ireland, was destroyed by a bomb.

March 08 is International Women's Day; Mother's Day in Albania.

Quote of the Day

Burn all the statutes and their shelves:

They stir us up against our kind;

And worse, against ourselves.

We have a passion — make a law,

Too false to guide us or control!

And for the law itself we fight

In bitterness of soul.

And, puzzled, blinded thus, we lose

Distinctions that are plain and few:

These find I graven on my heart:

That tells me what to do.

~ William Wordsworth in "Rob Roy's Grave" ~

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