"880 slaves freed"

Bad vibes as tug-of-love hits Marley anniversary
Mortimer Planno, who is largely credited with converting Marley to Rastafarianism, says: "If the law gives her the right to take the body then I don't see anything wrong with that." In the days after Mrs Marley voiced her intentions the public outcry was so intense that she hid from reporters and then sent out spokespeople to insist she had been misquoted.

Venezuela's President Chavez Frias
must also know this war is thrust upon him
Recently, researchers from this medical school's department of public health, working from all available statistics and reports decided there had been something on the order of 100,000 casualties on the Iraqi side due to the American invasion and occupation of that country. These reports were published in the highly-respected medical journal, The Lancet, after having been subjected to the usual stringent peer-review practiced by such scientific journals. These reports, predictably, have been largely ignored by the press-titute journalism of the United States.

The Cuban Five: Never Alone
This February marks three years since the Cuban Five were dispersed to five different US maximum security prisons, after a biased Miami court convicted them in a trail riddled with irregularities.

Marley's fans gather in Ethiopia
Thousands of Rastafarians and music fans are gathering in Ethiopia to begin a month of events to mark what would have been Bob Marley's 60th birthday.

Campaign to 'Free the Five' grows worldwide
Five Cuban men, in U.S. jails for six years, have gained support throughout the world because of the justice of their cause - defending Cuba against terrorism. The enormity of their sentences - life sentences for three of them - and the hideous irregularities in their trial have focused necessary attention on their appeals as well as easing their lives in jail and helping family members. But increasingly the men themselves are becoming the story.

Haiti Human Rights Report
Heavily Implicates U.S. and Canadian Partners
The University of Miami Law School’s recently released report exposes widespread human rights abuses taking place in Haiti under the U.S.-backed government that ousted elected President Jean Bertrand Aristide. A team of investigators from UMLS' Center for the Study of Human Rights visited Haiti, Nov. 11-21, 2004.

China plans to unhook currency from U.S. dollar
China will free its currency from its peg to the U.S. dollar eventually, a central bank official told international officials Saturday, but emphasized that the weakness in the dollar is not China's concern.

NGO reports 880 slaves freed, returned to southern Sudan
Northern Sudanese have freed 880 slaves during the past two weeks and they have returned to southern Sudan, a senior official of a Swiss-based NGO said yesterday.

White House plans deep cuts in housing,
community grants Top health official lays out plan
to lop off $60 billion in projected Medicaid growth
Michael Leavitt, the new secretary of health and human services, said the president's proposed budget would crack down on the ability of middle-income families to get Medicaid coverage for nursing home costs, which average more than $55,000 a year.

Bush Seeks Billions in Aid for Mideast
President Bush is asking Congress for $2.52 billion in military and economic aid for Israel and $350 million to help the Palestinian economy and security forces.

U.N. expresses concern over detainees
U.N. human rights experts Friday expressed concern about possible "irreversible psychiatric symptoms" developing among suspected terrorists entering a fourth year of virtual solitary confinement at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Brazil Shows Off Carnival's Illegal Roots
With all the bared flesh and Las Vegas-style flash, Brazilian carnival seems like the kind of fun that just might be illegal - and in some ways it is. The annual pre-Lenten bash that got under way Friday owes much of its splendor to illegal gambling.

Hamas Leader Says Fugitives Won't Sign
Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said Thursday that fugitives in his Palestinian group would not sign pledges to halt attacks because that would negate the legitimacy of their right to fight the Israeli occupation.

N Korea condemns Bush for provoking 'sea of fire'
In its first reaction to US President George W Bush's State of the Union address, North Korea said Bush had threatened to turn the world into a "sea of fire," South Korean media reported today citing a Pyongyang broadcast.

South Korea Updates War Plan Vs. North
The United States would dispatch 690,000 troops and 2,000 warplanes if war breaks out on the Korean peninsula, according to a South Korean defense policy paper released Friday. The brief revealed South Korean efforts to redefine its 50-year-old stalemate with the communist North and readjust its alliance with the United States.