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Pakistan Death Toll Tops 42,000

The death toll from Saturday's massive earthquake in South Asia has topped

42,000. 10,000 people are believed to have died in the capital of

Pakistani-controlled Kashmir. The United Nations estimates 2.5 million people

have been left homeless. About 1,000 hospitals have beecompletely destroyed. The

rescue effort has been hampered by the inability for the government to reach

remote regions of the area and worsening weather. Earlier today Pakistani

authorities had to suspend all helicopter flights to quake-hit areas because of

torrential rainstorms. Hundreds of thousands of Kashmiris are braving the cold

weather with no shelter and little food. On Monday, rescue workers tried

desperately to remove survivors trapped in collapsed buildings. This is Graham

Payne, director of the group Rapid-UK. Earlier today Doctors Without Borders

warned that there was a growing risk of an epidemic of water-borne disease in

Pakistani Kashmir. The Pakistani government has made an urgent appeal for field

hospitals, as well as antibiotics, anti-typhoid medicines, fracture treatment

kits, and surgical equipment, among other supplies. This is Ed Tsui, director of

the United Nations Office of Co-Ordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Over 2,000 Feared Dead In Guatemala from Mudslides

Meanwhile rescue efforts continue half way around the globe in Guatemala where

mudslides have buried towns in up to 20 feet of mud.. More than 650 are

confirmed dead, but 1,400 are still listed as missing and believed to have been

buried alive. The government is considering declaring certain areas to be mass

graves One firefighter said " If it had been an earthquake, you could hope to

find survivors, but here in the mud, I don't think so. It could take a month for

it to dry up. " Villagers in one of the worst hit towns, Panabaj, refused to

allow in the army because of memories of a 1990 Army massacre. We'll go to

Guatemala for a report in a few minutes.

 

Car Bombings Kill Dozens in Iraq

In Iraq, two car bombings today have killed dozens of Iraqis. Reuters reports

that at least 25 people were killed by a suicide car bombing in Baghdad. In the

northwest town of Tal Afar near the Syrian border, a car bomb exploded in a

crowded market, killing at least 30 people. This comes after at least 13 Iraqis

and one U.S. soldier were killed in Baghdad on Monday.

 

Arrest Warrants Issued for Ex-Iraqi Officials

Also in Iraq, arrest warrants have been issued for several officials from the

US-backed interim government of former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. According to

the Associated Press, five ministers -- including Allawi's defense minister

Hazem Shalaan -- are among 28 ex-officials accused of misappropriating one

billion dollars in military funds. Most of the officials have already fled the

country.

 

New Poll: 59% of U.S. Wants Troops Out of Iraq

Meanwhile, a new CBS News poll shows that 59 percent of Americans want US troops

to leave Iraq as soon as possible, even if the country is not completely stable,

an increase from 52 percent last month. Iraqis are four days away from voting in

a nation-wide referendum on a new constitution drafted by the transitional

government.

 

Reports: US Considers Military Strikes, Regime Change in Syria

The Bush administration has reportedly considered launching military strikes on

Iraq's neighbor Syria and finding someone to replace Syria's President, Bashar

al-Assad. Newsweek reports that at a high-level meeting held on October 1st,

U.S. officials debated striking training camps inside the Syrian border used by

insurgents in Iraq. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declined yesterday to

verify the magazine's account that she had successfully opposed the strikes.

Meanwhile, the Financial Times is reporting that Bush's security adviser Stephen

Hadley is coordinating an inter-agency search for someone to replace al-Hassad

as president of Syria. The U.S. has accused Syria of harboring Iraqi insurgents

and aiding Palestinian and Lebanese militias. One administration official told

Newsweek last month that military planning around the country and Iran is

" busier than ever. " Last week, Fox News television host Bill O'Reilly called for

al-Assad's assassination, saying QUOTE " we should take his life if he doesn't

help us out. "

 

Angela Merkel Becomes New German Chancellor

In Germany - a political stalemate has ended with a power sharing deal that will

elevate the conservative Angela Merkel to become the country's new chancellor.

As part of the deal, the Social Democrats - former Chancellor Gerhard

Schroeder's party - will get a majority of cabinet positions. Merkel is

Germany's first female chancellor and the first chancellor born in East Germany.

 

Bolton Blocks UN Discussion of Rights Violations in Sudan

This news from the United Nations: U.S. ambassador John Bolton has blocked a

U.N. envoy from addressing the Security Council on human rights violations in

the Darfur region of Sudan. Bolton said that " We should talk about next steps,

not about how to arrange the furniture in the Security Council. " The envoy, Juan

Mendez, told reporters that the human rights situation is " much more dangerous

and worrisome " than he had expected, with " massive attacks of an indiscriminate

nature against civilians " in camps in Darfur. Mendez added that the Sudanese

government is refusing to cooperate with an International Criminal Court

investigation into war crimes in the country. Bolton is one of the Bush

administration's fiercest opponents of the Hague-based court. Meanwhile, two

African Union troops and two civilian contractors were killed in the region

Saturday, the first members of the AU mission to lose their lives.

 

Chinese Pro-Democracy Leader Beaten Unconscious

In China, One of the country's leading democracy activists is recovering from a

brutal assault. Lu Banglie was on his way to Taishi, a key village in the

growing regional unrest that the Guardian newspaper calls " the greatest threat

to the rule of the Communist party since the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. "

Lu's car was stopped by a group of five police, five soldiers and as many as 50

people in plain clothes. The mob dragged Lu out of the car and kicked him

unconscious. Lu was taken to his hometown of Zhijiang, where he is recovering

from his injuries.

 

New Orleans Police Plead Not Guilty in Beating Case

In New Orleans, three city police officers have pleaded not guilty to charges of

battery after they were videotaped beating an African-American man in the French

Quarter on Saturday. Police hit the 64-year-old retired elementary school

teacher at least four times in the head and then dragged him to the ground An

officer also kneed him in the back as blood streamed down his arm. Police also

assaulted a producer from the Associated Press after he refused to stop filming

the incident. On Monday the victim of the beating -- Robert Davis -- spoke out

for the first time. Davis denied police reports that he was drunk. Davis said he

had returned to New Orleans to check on property his family owns in the

storm-ravaged city, and was out looking to buy cigarettes when he was beaten and

arrested. Davis has several stitches in his face and a possible skull fracture.

 

NYC Officials Scale Back Subway Security

Security on New York city subways is being scaled back after an intelligence

threat of a major attack on the city's underground transportation system has

been discredited. Law enforcement officials told the New York Times that an

investigation has yielded no evidence that a plot was in motion or being

actively contemplated. From the outset, federal officials have cast doubt on the

intelligence that allegedly revealed the threat. New York City Mayor Michael

Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly have vigorously defended their

decision to go public. Bloomberg has so far refused to release any specific

details of the threat. He announced it just hours before he was scheduled to

take part in a debate on Thursday with challengers running against him in the

upcoming city elections.

 

 

 

 

The propagandist's purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain

other

sets of people are human: Aldous Huxley