Saturday, January 30, 2010
Bin Laden blasts US for global warming
CAIRO — Osama bin Laden sought to draw a wider public into his fight against the United States in a new message Friday, dropping his usual talk of religion and holy war and focusing instead on an unexpected topic: global warming.
The al-Qaida leader blamed the United States and other industrialized nations for climate change and said the only way to prevent disaster was to break the American economy, calling on the world to boycott U.S. goods and stop using the dollar.
The terror leader noted Washington’s rejection of the Kyoto Protocol aimed at reducing greenhouse gases and painted the United States as in the thrall of major corporations that he said “are the true criminals against the global climate” and are to blame for the global economic crisis, driving “tens of millions into poverty and unemployment.”
Megachurch laying off workers, selling property
GARDEN GROVE, Calif. — The Southern California megachurch founded by televangelist Robert H. Schuller Sr. is selling property, laying off workers and pulling its signature TV program, “Hour of Power,” from some markets to offset a nearly $8 million drop in revenue.
The church saw revenue drop 27 percent from roughly $30 million in 2008 to $22 million in 2009, church spokesman Mike Nason told The Associated Press. The church had projected an 18 percent revenue drop.
Gates Foundation to give $10B to vaccine research
DAVOS, Switzerland — The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will donate $10 billion over the next decade to research new vaccines and bring them to the world’s poorest countries, the Microsoft co-founder and his wife said Friday.
Calling upon governments and business to also contribute, they said the money will produce higher immunization rates and aims to make sure that 90 percent of children are immunized against dangerous diseases such as diarrhea and pneumonia in poorer nations.
Man accused of threats on train spent years in prison
DENVER — A man pulled off an Amtrak train after passengers reported hearing him talk about al-Qaida and make threatening statements is well-known among prison-rights advocates after spending more than 20 years in solitary confinement.
Ojore Nuru Lutalo, 64, of Elizabeth, N.J., was arrested Tuesday at the La Junta train station in southeastern Colorado and faces a felony charge of endangering public transportation. He was free on $30,000 bond and faces another hearing Feb. 5 in Otero County District Court.
Lutalo, a self-described anarchist, told The Associated Press in an interview Friday that he was returning to New Jersey after speaking at a Los Angeles book fair sponsored by the Anarchist Black Cross Federation when passengers apparently overheard his cell-phone conversation.
“I was talking to people about what transpired at the book fair,” Lutalo said, quickly adding: “I never made a threat or a reference to Amtrak period, so I’m waiting for court so I can challenge my accuser.”
Police: Truck hit house when driver choked on food
LOWELL, Mass. — Police say a lumber truck crashed into a Massachusetts home after the driver was knocked unconscious when he choked on chili from Wendy’s.
Lowell police say Eric Gremm reported that he choked on the chili when the truck hit a bump, causing him to pass out. The flatbed truck veered off the road and slammed into the foundation of the home.
The 59-year-old Tyngsboro resident was taken by ambulance to a local hospital for treatment of minor injuries.
Police say he could be cited for eating while driving.
Thatcher papers reveal differences over Iran
LONDON — Margaret Thatcher, for all her reputation as a hard-liner, rebuffed appeals from U.S. President Jimmy Carter for a more demonstrative response to the Iranian hostage crisis in 1979, saying it would do more harm than good, according to papers in her personal files released today.
The files cover the first eight months of Thatcher’s 111‚Ñ2 years as prime minister, giving glimpses of her embarking on an ambitious domestic agenda to revive the economy and curb the unions, and engaging with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran on Nov. 4.
Associated Press