contributions

by Chris McGreal
The Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, was in a serious condition last night after a sharp deterioration in his health, Palestinian officials said.
A three-man emergency committee of Palestinian leaders was rapidly appointed as an ambulance rushed doctors to his Ramallah compound, where he has been confined by Israel for more than two years.
One senior Palestinian official, who declined to be named, said that Mr Arafat, 75, was slipping in and out of consciousness. (…)

GENEVA - Humanity’s reliance on fossil fuels, the spread of cities, the destruction of natural habitats for farmland and over- exploitation of the oceans are destroying Earth’s ability to sustain life, the environmental group WWF warned in a new report Thursday.
The biggest consumers of nonrenewable natural resources are the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Kuwait, Australia and Sweden, who leave the biggest "ecological footprint," the World Wildlife Fund said in its regular Living (…)

Registrations that are faked or tossed out have emerged in key states struggling to comply with ballot reform and a flood of new signups.
By Richard Serrano and Ralph Vartabedian, Times Staff Writers
LAS VEGAS - Broke, disabled and living at the Daisy Motel in downtown Las Vegas, Tyrone Mrasek Sr. took a temporary job late this summer registering voters here.
The employer primarily wanted President Bush supporters, but they were not easy to find. So Mrasek handed out cigarettes to (…)

Painful, not necessary,’ says Calgary man. Manufacturer defends toy ascool figure’
by JEREMY HAINSWORTH
VANCOUVER - Dolls depicting members of a Nazi SS combat division originally created to guard concentration camps are now available in Canadian stores.
Auschwitz death camp survivor Sid Cyngiser is saddened by the toy. He doesn’t think it should be on store shelves.
"It’s a painful thing to see that. It’s not necessary," said the 80-year-old Calgary man, whose grandmother, mother, (…)

By Colin Brown
Secret plans for the war in Iraq were passed to British Army chiefs by US defence planners five months before the invasion was launched, a court martial heard yesterday.
The revelation strengthened suspicions that Tony Blair gave his agreement to President George Bush to go to war while the diplomatic efforts to force Saddam Hussein to comply with UN resolutions were continuing.
Alan Simpson, the leader of Labour Against the War, said the documents were "dynamite", if (…)

By James J. Zogby
Because I have been repeatedly asked the question, "For whom will you vote and why?" let me use this opportunity to respond.
This November, I will vote for John Kerry for President of the United States. I will do so, confident that it is the right thing to do for my country and my community.
Now this doesn’t mean that I agree with all of John Kerry’s positions. I’m a Democrat, but I’ve always challenged my party and its leadership when it was important to do so. Over (…)

By Gene Clancy
Film star and disabled-rights activist Christopher Reeve died Oct. 11 at age 52. His death highlighted not only his substantial contributions to the cause of disability rights, but the plight of disabled people generally. It also underlined the distorted priorities and policies of the U.S. government and the health-care system here.
Reeve died of cardiac failure brought on by a raging infection that had spread from a pressure sore, a common condition of many people with (…)

"Yes, Bush Can" now says "no, Bush can’t!"
Yes, Bush Can, an independent group dedicated to communicating Bush policies directly to the public, has abandoned its campaign and is officially endorsing John Kerry for President.
Before changing sides, the Yes, Bush Can team drove around the country supporting the President in a campaign bus they had equipped with sound and light systems, confetti cannons, and various props and costumes. They gave dozens of stump speeches, distributed (…)

By Paul Farhi and Jo Becker
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Democrats and Republicans here traded accusations of voter fraud, obstruction and intimidation Monday as officials grappled with what is becoming a confused — and potentially chaotic — presidential election in this critical battleground state.
As Democrats marched through the downtown streets of the state capital with banners reading "Not This Time!" and chanting "Count every vote," Republicans continued to challenge the eligibility of (…)

by Greg Palast, reporting
A secret document obtained from inside Bush campaign headquarters in Florida suggests a plan - possibly in violation of US law - to disrupt voting in the state’s African-American voting districts, a BBC Newsnight investigation reveals.
Watch it now .
Two e-mails, prepared for the executive director of the Bush campaign in Florida and the campaign’s national research director in Washington DC, contain a 15-page so-called "caging list".
It lists 1,886 names (…)