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Saddam Hussein sentenced to death for Dujail killings A special tribunal has sentenced deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, his chief of the secret police and a former judge to death by hanging over the 1982 killings of 148 villagers in Dujail. Four others, including former Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan were sentenced to prison terms. Israeli attacks in Gaza kill 17 Three Hamas fighters died in Gaza as Israeli assaults in the area continued. 14 others, including two women and a four-year-old child were among the civilians killed in the attacks.

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401st Guy Fawkes celebrated in Commonwealth Today, November 5, is Guy Fawkes Night. On this day, 401 years ago there was an attempt to blow up the British parliament. Since that time, Guy Fawkes day is celebrated by bonfires, fireworks and the parading of effigies called "guys".

Wikipedia Current Events
Operation Autumn Clouds: IDF troops kill two Palestinian terrorists in northern Gaza Strip operation. Sweeping curfews go into effect in Baghdad, Iraq in anticipation of the reading of the verdict by the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal in the trial of Saddam Hussein. Former Iraq President Saddam Hussein is convicted of crimes against humanity by a Baghdad court and sentenced to death by hanging. Two senior Ba'ath party officials from Hussein's regime are also sentenced to death, four are jailed for life, while a seventh is acquitted. Reactions to the verdicts against Saddam and his compatriots vary with approval from some areas, particularly Iran and Shi'a regions of Iraq, but condemnation of the trial and process from some other quarters of the Muslim world. United States officials called it "a good day for the Iraqi people". The European Union, while welcoming the guilty verdicts, expresses its opposition to the imposition of the death penalty on humanitarian grounds. Nicaraguans go to the polls to elect a new President of Nicaragua with the frontrunners being former Sandinista Daniel Ortega and conservative Eduardo Montealegre. A large area of western Europe is affected by power cuts, starting when two high-voltage transmission lines fail in Germany, and causing a cascading failure which also knocks out power in areas of France and other surrounding nations. The Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, calls State Premiers to a crisis meeting to discuss the current drought and problems in the Murray-Darling Basin

Beckett to break ranks again?
It is reported that Margaret Beckett, UK Foreign Secretary, is considering becoming the first UK Government Minister to admit to a link between the invasion of Iraq and the threat of terrorism in UK. This follows a leak last week of Cabinet papers that demand "a significant reduction in the number and intensity of the regional conflicts that fuel terror activity".

Prime Minister Tony Blair has always claimed that the war in Iraq has not fuelled terrorism in UK; that there was terrorism long before the invasion. This despite the posthumous video recording of one of the 7/7 bombers, Shehzad Tanweer who said his actions were provoked by British foreign policy and that attacks would continue until British soldiers were withdrawn from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Beckett is considering admitting the link between Iraq and terrorism in UK when discussing the problem of Muslim youth becoming influenced by international terrorists. She has already disagreed openly with Prime Minister Blair recently by demanding that there be public debate into the need for the replacement of the Trident missile system and the Royal Navy's Vanguard class submarines, by apologising for the Iraq invasion and by not disagreeing with General Sir Richard Dannatt, who said that British troops in Iraq were provoking trouble.

Australia capture 2006 ICC Champions Trophy
Australia have beaten West Indies by 8 wickets to hold the ICC Champions Tropy, 2006 at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. World champion Australia have won this title first time in cricket history. In whole series Austalia lost one match against England out of 5 matches.

West Indian captain Brian Lara chose to bat first after winning the toss in the afternoon. West Indies started an impressive innings and made first fifty runs in just 38 balls by losing one wicket. After that they lost the players in a regular interval and lost their last four batsmen to add up only 13 runs in the total of 138 in 30.4 overs.

Australia lost their first two wickets including Ricky Ponting for total of only 13. Rain in Mumbai interrupted the game in middle and stopped the game for about two hours and 15 minutes. Match Referee R S Madugalle set up a new target of 116 runs in 35 overs by Duckworth-Lewis method for Australia to win because of time loss due to rain.

Australia made the target score in just 28.1 overs without losing any further wickets. Man of the match award was given to S R Watson for his all-round play who took 2 wickets for 13 runs and made impressive 57 runs not out.

Man of the series title was given to Chris Gayle because of his outstanding all-round game. He made three centuries and took total of 8 wickets in the series.

President of National Association of Evangelicals resigns over gay sex scandal
On November 2, Ted Haggard resigned from the presidency of the National Association of Evangelicals and his pastorship in the New Life Church after allegations that he repeatedly engaged in homosexual sex with a prostitute (Mike Jones) and used methamphetamine.

Haggard, a critic of gay marriage and homosexuality, is a leading social conservative voice. Author Jeff Sharlet reported that Haggard "talks to. . . Bush or his advisers every Monday" and opines that "no pastor in America holds more sway over the political direction of evangelicalism."

In his church, Haggard preached "we don't have to debate about what we should think about homosexual activity, it's written in the Bible."

On Wednesday Haggard denied knowing the male escort, Jones, but admitted Friday that he had summoned the escort to give him a massage in a Denver hotel room and bought methamphetamine from him. He then followed up and said, "I was tempted, I bought it, but I never used it."

FBI raids creator of fake boarding pass generator
Christopher Soghoian, 24, a doctoral student in information security at Indiana University, released a boarding pass generator for Northwest Airlines on October 25th. In the release, he stated that it demonstrates flaws in airport security and the no-fly list.

A few days later, on October 27th, Soghoian was visited by the FBI who told him to take down the site. Soghoian complied with the FBI request. However, the FBI then raided his apartment that evening; apparently due to lack of a warrant during the first visit.

Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) had called for Soghoian to be arrested in October.

Fake boarding passes are quite easy to create in Microsoft Word; assuming you have access to a old boarding pass for comparison. Indeed, Amnesty International has created a similarly passible fake boarding pass for their AirTorture fundraising site.

In Febuary 2005, Senator Charles Schumer noticed this loophole in no-fly list. He urged the TSA to "check every passenger’s ID against the passenger’s face and his boarding pass and ticket", as has been done immediately after the September 11th attacks. TSA declined to follow the senator's recommendation.

Mirrors of the fake boarding pass generator are available online.

Saddam Hussein sentenced to death for Dujail killings
The Iraq Special Tribunal has sentenced the deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to death by hanging over the killings of 148 villagers in the town of Dujail in 1982.

Hussein was charged with crimes against humanity for ordering the killings after a failed assassination attempt was made on him in the mostly Shiite town.

Of his seven co-defendants in the trial, the former head of the Iraqi secret police, Hussein's half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti and the former chief judge of the Revolutionary Court, Awad Hamed al-Bandar were also sentenced to death. Former vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan was sentenced to life in prison, three other officials received 15 years in prison and one was acquitted.

File photo of Saddam Hussein appearing before the Tribunal on July 1, 2004

The five-member Special Tribunal was authorised by the Iraqi Interim Government to try Iraqi nationals or residents accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes or other serious crimes committed during the Ba'ath party rule between 1968 and 2003.	Wikipedia has an article about the Trial of Saddam Hussein.

During today's hearing, Judge Rauf Rasheed Abdel Rahman ordered bailiffs to force Saddam, who was shouting out protests, to stand as the verdict was read out.

Hussein was reported as appearing shaken as the verdict was pronounced, and later shouted "Allahu Akbar!" (God is greatest) and "Long live the nation!".

The sentences of death and life in prison carry an automatic appeal, and no time-limit is set for the appeals court review of the case. The law mandates the death sentence to be carried out within 30 days, after all appeals are exhausted.

Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, who is a defence attorney in the case, was ordered out of the court by the judges, who said that he had come to mock the Iraqi people and the court. Clarke had described the court yesterday as prejudiced and lacking impartiality, and called attention to the killings of Hussein's defence lawyers and the removal of judges from the tribunal.

Reactions

In Iraq

Ali al-Dabbagh, a spokesman for the Iraqi coalition government said the verdict was as expected, adding "This is the least that Saddam deserved because his crimes were great. No further punishment was possible."

Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih called the court "just and professional" and said that Saddam was "given the justice he denied to the people of Iraq over 35 years".

A Sunni member of parliament, speaking under anonymity to Reuters, however called the judgement "a political verdict from a political court."

Popular reaction

The verdict was announced amidst increased security measures in Iraq, including curfews in Baghdad and other cities. Despite the curfew, around a thousand people were reported as coming out into the streets of the Shiite-dominated Sadr City in celebration and gunfire was heard in Baghdad.

Celebrations were also reported in Dujail, where the killings took place.

Despite the curfew, about a thousand people demonstrated in Tikrit carrying pictures of Saddam Hussein. Some Sunnis were reported as denouncing the verdict as a "product of the US occupation forces".

Fighting is reported to have broken out in Adhimiyah, a Sunni district of Baghdad, within half an hour of the verdict. There is heavy firing and mortar shells have landed near the Abu Hanifa mosque.

International reactions

The U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad said the verdict was an "an important milestone for Iraq".

The U.K. Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett welcomed the trial's conclusion, saying it was "right" that Saddam and the other accused have to face Iraqi justice, and that they have been "held to account for their crimes".

Malcolm Smart, the Middle East and North Africa Director for Amnesty International said that the tribunal's proceedings failed to meet necessary standards for a fair trial.

Hussein's verdict was delivered during highly contested midterm elections in United States; where the party most insistent upon an American occupation of Iraq (Republican - GOP) lagged in polls due to domestic controversies.

Europe suffers widespread power cuts
A sudden cold snap across Europe caused a surge in demand for electricity. Two high voltage power lines in Germany failed. This triggered a cascade of cuts as automatic safety devices cut millions of customers in order to prevent a total blackout of the Continent. Parts of Germany, Belgium, France (including parts of Paris), Spain, and Italy were affected. High speed railways were also impacted. Power was restored within two hours. Later reports said that Austria and Croatia wre also affected.

A senior director with French power company RTE is reported as saying "We weren't very far from a European blackout".

After 13 years isolation, Southeast Europe (including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia and Romania) were reconnected to the main European transmission system in November 2004. Now, with 400 million users, the European electrical transmission system has become, in terms of consumption, the world's largest electrical energy system.

Italy's Prime minister, Romano Prodi, said there was a "contradiction" in having a unified power network but no central authority.

401st Guy Fawkes celebrated in Commonwealth
Today, November 5, is Guy Fawkes Night. On this day, 401 years ago there was an attempt to blow up the British parliament.

Since that time, Guy Fawkes day is celebrated by bonfires, fireworks and the parading of effigies called "guys".

The event is not only celebrated in the United Kingdom, but other Commonwealth countries including New Zealand, South Africa, Newfoundland, Bahamas, Saint Kitts and formerly Australia.

Britons celebrate a national day of thanksgiving that the Gunpowder plot did not destroy their king and parliament. But as tradition goes, the oppression that Roman Catholics felt was always de-emphasised.

This year sees rising opposition to the traditional fireworks and bonfires celebrations. A smog warning has been issued for London on the 5th and British Labour MP Barry Sheerman called for the event to be scrapped.

The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was a failed attempt by a few radical Roman Catholics to kill King James I of England, his family, and most of the Protestant aristocracy in a single attack by blowing up the Houses of Parliament during the State Opening. The conspirators had then planned to abduct the royal children, not present in Parliament, and incite a revolt in the Midlands.

The plot occurred during the long-running religious battle that followed King Henry VIII's break from Rome in 1534.

Far from helping their fellow Catholics avoid religious persecution, the plotters put many loyal Catholics in a difficult position. Before this period Catholicism had been associated with Spain and the Inquisition but after the plot it also became thought of as treasonous to be Catholic.

Fawkes was hired to do the "dirty work". He entered the Roman Catholic faith at the age of nine, when his mother married a Roman Catholic after the death of his father. As a soldier who went to war in the Netherlands, Fawkes was noted for bravery; he was one of the last to hear of the plot, and rushed into it before knowing the details.

The plot was actually planned by Robert Catesby, whose father had been imprisoned for refusing to convert to the Anglican Church. He started his planning two years previously in 1603. But he needed money and ammunition, which forced him to confide in at least 13 people. One of these was Francis Tresham, a brother-in-law of Lord Monteagle, and a member of the House of Lords

The plot failed when one of the conspirators warned his brother-in-law not to attend the House of Lords, who, in turn, set off the alarm that resulted in the ringleaders, including Guy Fawkes, being captured and executed.

New Zealand prisoners do nothing says National party
Figures released by Simon Power, law and order spokesman for the National party, show that the New Zealand Labour led government lets 81% of all prisoners not do any work while in prison. Newspaper, Sunday News says that some Christchurch prisoners have been given a barbecue for good behavior.

Simon Power's figures show that of the 7,612 prisoners only 19% (1,470) of them took part in Corrections Inmate Employment during 2006. But in 2005 it was at 23% and in 2004 it was at 26%. He says that the prisons with the least amount of inmates working are: Rolleston with 8.6%, Mount Eden with 8.7%, Rimutaka with 11%, Christchurch Women's with 13.5% and Dunedin with 13.8%. Mr Power said: "These figures are an appalling indictment on this Government’s approach to prisoner rehabilitation and preparing them for release."

"In May, Corrections Minister Damien O’Connor announced a strategy that he said would help in ‘significantly increasing the number of prisoners in work and training. But a week later this was shown to be nothing more than window dressing when the Budget increased funding for prisoner employment by a measly $336,000 – up 1%."

"They have cut funding [on the Corrections Department] by 27% since 2001/02, from $46.5 million to $34 million."

Mr Power blames the low work rate on the big prison construction budget of $490 million. "There would have been more than a miserable $336,000 extra to spend on effective rehabilitation and work schemes," he said.

"[Mr O'Conner] seems happier to spend $11 million on landscaping four new prisons and allow prisoners to sit around playing Playstations and Xboxes on their flat-screen TVs than he is about helping them get better prepared for when they are released."

"Prisoners should be doing meaningful work, training or study while they are in prisons, and I imagine the public would agree," Mr Power added.

Mr Power, commenting on the barbecue, said: "These people are in prison because they were found to be in serious breach of the law. The victims of their crimes will be grossly offended by the idea that they are being rewarded for anything. This is the just the latest in a long line of incredibly bad decisions made by the Corrections Department over the past year and taxpayers have had enough."

Bevan Hanlon, president for the Corrections Officers Association, said: "The Mobsters getting a BBQ was a "joke". (Christchurch Prison) staff are reporting the smell of dope every day. Mobsters are threatening staff on a daily basis and there appears to be high cellphone use (mobile phones are banned in jail). So what happens? They are given a BBQ."

Today in History
1860 - Abraham Lincoln became the first Republican candidate to win the U.S. presidential election.

1935 - Edwin Armstrong presented his study on frequency modulation for FM radio broadcasting to the Institute of Radio Engineers.

1962 - The United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 1761, condemning South Africa's apartheid policies.

1963 - Duong Van Minh officially took over the government of South Vietnam a few days after the assassination of President Ngo Dinh Diem.

1975 - Demonstrators in Morocco began the Green March to Spanish Sahara, calling for the "return of the Moroccan Sahara."

November 06 is Constitution Day in the Dominican Republic (1844) and Tajikistan (1994); Gustavus Adolphus Day in Sweden.

Quote of the Day

Philosophy is harmonized knowledge making a harmonious life; it is the self-discipline which lifts us to serenity and freedom. Knowledge is power, but only wisdom is liberty. ~ Will Durant

Word of the Day

crestfallen; adj

Sad because of a recent event.

Depressed.

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