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TABLE OF CONTENTS: PART III

 

USA: President Bush, trying to dispel rising doubts about the war, declared  the United States would stay in Iraq until it was free and democratic and suggested more U.S. soldiers might have to be sent to stop enemy forces bent on destroying the new government. ''There are difficult days ahead and the way forward may sometimes appear chaotic,'' he said. ''The terrorists and Saddam loyalists would rather see many Iraqis die than have any live in freedom. But terrorists will not determine the future of Iraq.'' In a prime-time address at the U.S. Army War College, he also promised to demolish the Abu Ghraib prison that has become an ugly symbol of the U.S. occupation............................................................................................................94

Bush: Bush defends his vision for Iraq. In a keynote speech aimed at reassuring the US public, he said he was taking five "specific steps" to help Iraq achieve democracy and freedom. Mr Bush also said the US would demolish Abu Ghraib prison after the handover of power, if Iraq's new government agreed. The speech came after the US and UK tabled a draft resolution at the UN on plans for the handover on 30 June. The president stressed that the United Nations would have an important role to play in the process of making Iraq a democracy......................................................................................................................................................................................96

Speech: Bush's speech analysis: After weeks of seemingly unremitting bad news from Iraq, President Bush needs to convince audiences in the United States, Iraq, and the international community that he still sees a clear way ahead, and one that all those constituencies can support........................................................................................................................................................96-98

Monica: The grande dame of the American Media and certainly the brightest and prettiest political analyst in the United States. Michelangelo just finished working on his most illustrious masterpiece; the statue of Moses. He was taken by it. He posed for a while, began to look and look at Moses face, grabbed his chisel, and with a divine fury hit the foot of the patriarch, smashing his toes and screamed: “You are Perfect! Moses, TALK!!”  This is the feeling and this is the very sensation you will feel upon looking at Monica Crowley and while listening to her. A moment of half-divine, half-human presence and  omnipotence. This woman is almost perfect! Although, a stroke of luck launched her career like a rocket when she met President Richard Nixon, and became his aide and assistant, her unparallel intelligence, striking alertness, accentuated touch of class and mesmerizing persona were the  real reasons and the primordial cause of her enormous success in the world of media and broadcasting......................99-117

 

 Breaking News: A U.S. soldier who deserted his Iraq-bound regiment and sought asylum in Canada said the U.S war in Iraq was illegal and he accused the United States of committing war crimes. Pte. Jeremy Hinzman, 25, also defended his decision to leave his unit with the 82nd Airborne Division on Jan. 2, about two weeks after he learned his unit would be deployed to Iraq. He fled to Toronto along with his wife and child. "The Iraqi war is illegal according to international standards. It was condemned by most the international community," Hinzman said in a speech Tuesday sponsored by an anti-war group and an Arab advocacy group. "If I had participated in the Iraq occupation, I would have participated in a criminal enterprise," he said. .................................................118

Accusations: U.S. troops said they scored a major success against Iraqi Shiite Muslim militiamen , arresting a key lieutenant of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in clashes hospital and militia officials said killed 24 people and wounded nearly 50. Later, Iraq's national-security adviser said al-Sadr had offered to remove his fighters from Najaf - except for those who live there. Al-Sadr demanded U.S. and other coalition troops "return to base," allowing Iraqi police to regain control of the city. Mouwafak al-Rubaie, a Shiite and the U.S.-backed Iraqi government's national-security adviser, said the offer was made in a letter from al-Sadr to the city's Shiite religious leadership......................................................................................................................................................................118

Mel Brooks: The Producers will end its run at the Canon Theatre in Toronto on Sept. 5, it was announced . The Mel Brooks musical has been a smash hit on Broadway, and the Toronto version began Nov. 21 with Sean Cullen, Michael Therriault and Sarah Cornell in the lead roles. "We've had a wonderful six-month run thus far and want to make sure the engagement's final three months are as heavily attended as the show's initial performances,'' said theatre impresario David Mirvish. "...............................................................................119

 

Love: Rock star Courtney Love pleaded guilty  to a misdemeanour count of being under the influence of a controlled substance and agreed to enter a drug rehabilitation program. "Guilty," Love said softly when the judge asked for her plea. Love, 39, also answered "Yes" several times when asked if she understood the terms of the plea agreement. Sentencing was set for July 16. Assistant City Attorney Jerry Baik told reporters that the rehabilitation effort will last several months and is an outpatient program that includes classes, counselling and probably random drug testing. At the end of the program, Love may petition to have the case dismissed. If she fails the drug program, she could be sentenced to at least 90 days in jail......................................................................................................................119

Divorce:  Nicolas Cage and Lisa Marie Presley took nearly a year and a half to end a marriage that lasted less than four months. The divorce was finalized , according to court papers filed in Superior Court. The documents show that neither will pay financial support to the other and each will retain any assets they had prior to the marriage. They filed for separation in November 2002, just a few months after their romantic wedding in Hawaii in August of that year. The actor -- filing under his real name, Nicolas Coppola -- cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for the split in the.......................................................................121

Missy: Hip-hop star Missy Elliott cancelled a planned concert in Jakarta after the U.S. Embassy warned Americans about potential terrorist attacks in Indonesia. Elliott had been scheduled to perform Wednesday as part of an international tour. "We apologize to all the fans of Missy Elliott because of this cancellation," Roberto of Lunar Entertainment, the show's promoter, said Tuesday. Roberto, who uses a single name like many Indonesians, said ticket holders will get refunds. The U.S. Embassy issued a statement Friday reminding U.S. citizens to remain aware of the "continued potential for terrorist attacks against Americans or American interests in Indonesia and  ................121

Jen: Jen Schefft says she and Andrew Firestone of The Bachelor have a bond despite their split - and she's got the engagement ring. "Obviously, it's a beautiful ring and Andrew said that he bought that for me and that it was mine to keep, so I'm gonna keep it," Schefft says on The Bachelor: After the Final Rose. Last May, Firestone proposed to Schefft on the season finale of The Bachelor. Their breakup was announced in December. The special episode of the reality dating show airs 9 p.m. EDT Wednesday on ABC. Schefft also talks about a reality crossover: briefly dating The Apprentice winner Bill Rancic................................................121

Toby: A celebrity golf tournament hosted by Toby Keith raised about $250,000 US to assist families of pediatric cancer patients in Oklahoma. Keith organized the golf classic following the August death of Allison Webb, the two-year-old daughter of one of his original bandmates, Scott Webb. Allison spent the last year of her life being treated for Wilms' tumours affecting both of her kidneys. The funds from the tournament and an auction featuring items donated by sports teams and entertainers including Garth Brooks and Christina Aguilera will benefit a charity.............................................................................................................................................121

Terran: Jennifer Terran is an unusual, very unusual kind of artists and quite a woman! A truly magnificent Film Noire Diva and a world-class songwriter-singer. This woman is unique, captivating vocalist, pianist,  tenderly rebellious songwriter, producer by raison d'etre and necessity, hip-hop dynamic instructor and dancer,  story-teller, an existentialist philosopher, an emotionally and intellectually charged teaser and provocative presence and most certainly a daring-devil entrepreneur. It is hard not to notice her presence in a room, or not to gaze at the way she moves, she talks and most certainly it is quite impossible not to get fully absorbed by  the crafty style she adopted to scream life in her songs and music. Quite a woman and quite an artist indeed! She has already released on her own and independent record label, Grizelda Records, four splendid  records "Cruel", "Rabbit",  Live from Painted Cave" and the internationally acclaimed "The Musician". .................................................................................................................................122-123

Terrorism: Abu Hamza al-Masri, the fiery Muslim cleric whose shuttered London mosque was linked to Zacarias Moussaoui and shoe bomber Richard Reid, was arrested Thursday in Britain, accused in a U.S. indictment of trying to establish a terrorist training camp in Oregon and providing aid to al-Qaida, officials said. Al-Masri, 47, also is charged in the 11-count indictment with hostage-taking and conspiracy in connection with a December 1998 incident that killed four tourists in Yemen. "Those who support our terrorist enemies anywhere in the world must know that we will not rest until the threat they pose is eradicated," U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said in announcing the arrest. Al-Masri, whose real name is Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, was arrested at his London home, British authorities said..............................................................................................................................................................................................124

Iraq: The U.S.-led coalition agreed Thursday to suspend offensive operations in Najaf after Iraqi leaders struck a deal with radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to end a bloody standoff threatening some of Iraq's holiest Shiite shrines. Despite the moves to calm violence in the south, Iraq remains in crisis. Gunmen ambushed a convoy carrying a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, Salama al-Khafaji, as she was returning to Baghdad from Najaf, where she had been helping with negotiations. Al-Khafaji survived but one of her guards was killed and her 18-year-old son was missing, aide Fateh Kashef al-Ghataa said..............................................................125

Nichols: Nearly a decade after the Oklahoma City bombing, Terry Nichols was found guilty of 161 state murder charges  for helping carry out what was then the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil. He could get the death sentence he escaped when he was convicted in federal court in the 1990s. The verdict came after only five hours of deliberations. Nichols was stone-faced and stared straight ahead at the judge as the verdicts were read. His lawyers bowed their heads and clenched their hands together. Oklahoma prosecutors brought the case with the goal of finally winning a death sentence against Nichols, who is serving a life term on federal charges. The same 12-member jury will now determine Nichols' fate on the state charges: life in prison or death by injection. The penalty phase will begin Tuesday. Prosecutors contended Nichols worked hand in hand with former army buddy Timothy McVeigh to acquire the ingredients and build the fuel-and-fertilizer bomb in a twisted plot to avenge a government siege in Waco, Texas, exactly two years earlier that left about 80 people dead. .................................................................................126

Wanted:  List of top terrorists wanted by the US. Two Canadian citizens are among seven terrorists who may be plotting an attack this year, top U.S. officials said Wednesday as they warned there's "disturbing intelligence'' suggesting al-Qaida intends to "hit the United States hard.'' U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft named six men and one woman who present "a clear and present danger to America'' amid "credible intelligence from multiple sources.'' "Beyond this intelligence, al-Qaida's own public statements suggest that it's almost ready to attack the United States.'' The warnings seemed likely to return the public focus to one of President George W. Bush's strong points after weeks of trouble with the Iraq prison abuse scandal and the lowest approval ratings......126-127

 

Idols: Fantasia Barrino's fantasy of pop stardom became a reality Wednesday night when she was named the winner of American Idol. Barrino grabbed runner-up Diana DeGarmo in a bear hug and twisted her around as tears streamed down her face. "Thank you much," she sobbed. "I broke my shoe!" Then she added: "I been through some things but I worked hard to get to where I'm at." Barrino, a 19-year-old single mother from High Point, N.C., with a powerful, gospel-tinged voice, topped DeGarmo, an effervescent 16-year-old from Snellville, Ga. DeGarmo continued smiling through tears in defeat: "I'm so proud to have come here with Fantasia. She's my girl and you guys will treat her well." After the show, Barrino told reporters backstage that she wanted the win for herself and for her two-year-old daughter, Zion "I want to be able to take care of my own child, I want to be a good mommy and now I can do it.................................................................................................128

Yagira: Yuuya Yagira, the 14-year-old named best actor at this year's Cannes Film Festival for his role in the Japanese film Nobody Knows, says he had never received an award for anything in his life before. "It's my first trophy or award ever. I couldn't be happier," Yagira told a news conference Wednesday. "I want to become a fine actor." Yagira, the youngest actor ever to receive the award, flew to France for the film's May 13 screening. But he missed the festival's awards ceremony Saturday because he had more pressing business: exams at his Tokyo junior high school. He was handed the crystal trophy on Wednesday by Nobody Knows (Daremo Shiranai) director Hiraokazu Koreeda.......................................................................................................................................................128

Israel: The simmering debate over the role of Jewish neoconservatives in drawing America into war in Iraq erupted with new fury this week. One of America's most respected ex-generals took to the airwaves to charge on CBS News' "60 Minutes" that the war had been fought for Israel's benefit, just days after a similar charge was leveled on the floor of the U.S. Senate. The retired general, Anthony Zinni, a past chief of the U.S. Central Command and President Bush's former Middle East special envoy, told "60 Minutes" on Sunday that the neoconservatives' role in pushing the war for Israel's benefit was "the worst-kept secret in Washington." Three days earlier, Senator Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, a South Carolina Democrat, rose on the Senate floor to defend a newspaper essay he had written earlier in the month making the same charge..........................................................................................................................................129

ZINNI ACCUSATIONS: Invading Iraq was a big mistake. They screwed up big time. From 1997 to 2000, he was commander-in-chief of the United States Central Command, in charge of all American troops in the Middle East. That was the same job held by Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf before him, and Gen. Tommy Franks after.  Following his retirement from the Marine Corps, the Bush administration thought so highly of Zinni that it appointed him to one of its highest diplomatic posts -- special envoy to the Middle East.  But Zinni broke ranks with the administration over the war in Iraq, and now, in his harshest criticism yet, he says senior officials at the Pentagon are guilty of dereliction of duty -- and that the time has come for heads to roll............................130-138

 

Democracy: It's clear now that Iraq will not transform into a democracy anytime soon. The uninspiring, but inescapable, fact is that Saddam Hussein never stood between the Iraqi people and Western-style democracy. The Iraqi dictator was justifiably despised by most of his fellow countrymen. A Saddam-free Iraq may have been a little wealthier; it may even have been a little freer. But it would not have been a liberal democracy without Saddam, and it will not be a democracy significantly faster now. The end of Saddam as a political leader does nothing to alter the fundamental incompatibility of Iraqi society with liberal democracy, or to alter the nature of democratization, as experienced around the globe over the past several decades. It is very hard, therefore, to be optimistic about the chances of post-Saddam Iraq establishing a stable, liberal democratic political system, at least in the short-to-medium-term...........................................................................................139-143

Illusion: Is it Really Liberation? Where is the American democracy in Iraq?  Across the political spectrum, from Adnan Pachachi, former foreign minister of the pre-Ba'ath 1968 Iraqi government, to the Communist Party, there were calls for the United Nations to sponsor the conference instead of the United States, because many participants felt that U.S. control of the process deprived it of legitimacy. Popular opinion echoed that feeling. In April, there were mass protests in Baghdad, Mosul, and across the country, including 20,000 in Nasiriyah at the site of the talks, saying, "No to Saddam, No to America, Yes to Islam, Yes to Democracy." In May, Bremer briefly postponed talks on creating an interim government. Then he announced that instead of allowing Iraqis to form the government.........................................................................................................................................................................144-145

Saade: Rania Saade, a Lebanese artist on her way to the top. Lyrical early  neo-cubism compositions come to life through autonomously well-structured forms and evocative colors escaping the frontiers of creative imagination and nostalgic expressions. She studied in the Near East, yet her art encompasses universal, multidimensional esthetical definitions and multilayered genres of various abstract periods. The world of her palette offers  warm and humanistic sceneries and landscapes of her beautiful Lebanon, as well as magnificently projected avant-garde visionary universe of lost and captured lyrical surrealism. Saade's art is sublime in its abstract form, warm in its relation to nature.......146

 

Sanford Biggers: Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH, United States of America.The Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) presents Sanford Biggers “Both/And Not Either/Or”, an exhibition that will embrace Japanese hip-hop, Buddhist tradition, and African-American power on May 28 through August 16. Sanford Biggers is a New York-based artist whose sculptural installations draw from a remarkably diverse range of sources, including Eastern religions, black vernacular expression, 1970s process art, urban street culture, and new technologies. He works with discarded and overlooked materials—linoleum, lumber, recyclables—seamlessly blending ancient and contemporary, local and global images to encourage a reconsideration and revaluation of everyday experience and meditation on the interconnectedness of all people and cultures.......................................................................................................................147

The beauty of failure. Joan Miro Foundation, Barcelona,  Spain. The Joan Miro Foundation presents “The beauty o failure / The failure of beauty”, selected by Harald Szeemann and co-produced by Forum Barcelona 2004 as one of the “Forum in the City” events concerned with the Conditions of Peace. It contains around 150 works – drawings, paintings, sculptures, photographs and installations – from a period running from the end of the nineteenth century to the present day. The exhibition is about how great dreams and utopias that seem so splendid in the abstract are doomed to failure when we try to materialise them, because they presuppose an entirely new, ideal society..............................................................................................................................................................................148

War and Peace: Soviet Press Photography. Giedre Bartelt Galerie, Berlin, Germany. On The exhibition presents a complete collection (created in the 70s) of Soviet press photography. Virtually all pictures are of high aesthetic quality, and most prints are technically excellent. Moreover, the choice of subjects provokes a strong impression of the ideology and cultural policy of the Soviet Union during the Brezhnev era. The collection consists of several convoluts that used to be shown in various combinations at travelling exhibitions in the foyers of so-called palaces of the press and palaces of culture, as well as in Soviet army clubs and in institutions of higher education, frequently on the occasion of political festivities and anniversaries. ...........................................................................................................................................................................148

Webism:  Webism - Art connecting the World. Electric Avenue, Vienna, Austria. From May 27 to June 12, 2004 an exhibition of international artists takes place on the prestigious Electric Avenue of Vienna Museumsquartier (MQ). The exhibition, 32 Bit Connection:  Webism - Art connecting the World, features works by eight artists from around the world that met over the Web. Webism is the new ism of the new Millenium and is derived from the Internet. It has become a steadily growing global cultural movement with artists working in all types of media..............................................................................................................................149

Territories: Territories brings together architects and artists in an exhibition about politics, architecture and geography. As the title of the exhibition implies, a number of projects are presented dealing with the occupation, control and defence of space. The exhibition speaks less about the cultural meaning of land use, housing and cultivation, but rather explores the strategic use of architecture and planning in times of crisis and conflict, bearing witness to the increasing fragmentation and militarization of the global political landscape...................................................................................................................................................................149

Day After Tomorrow: The Day After Tomorrow is a big, loud, summer action movie masquerading as a cautionary tale with social and political relevance. The film's cataclysm of climatological chaos turns the northern hemisphere into tundra more frozen than Lambeau Field. Yet it also manages to bring people -- the right people, namely the film's stars -- and enlighten them at the right moments. High school students Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Laura (Emmy Rossum) fall in love while trying to avoid freezing to death in the New York Public Library (though we know they can't possibly die, because they're too good-looking). Sam's estranged parents, Professor Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) and Dr. Lucy Hall (Sela Ward), seem likely to reconcile, thanks to the pouring rain and driving snow. A homeless man (Glenn Plummer), with his trusty border collie in tow, teaches a rich kid from Manhattan's Upper East Side (Austin Nichols) how to keep warm using paper. And most important of all, the vice president of the United States, who just happens to resemble Dick Cheney, realizes only in the aftermath of mass destruction that, maybe he should have listened to warnings about the dangers of global warming.

American media: THE 25 MOST LIKED,  TRUSTED & CAPTIVATING  CABLE TV FEMALE PERSONALITIES IN THE US.

They are the most trusted, respected and liked personalities of the American tube. What is their secret?.............................153-204

Media: Most Admired TV Personalities in the United States: Anchors/Hosts/Commentators-Female: The results of  the Monthly Herald recent international poll* on the most admired and popular American television personalities (Anchors, Commentators and Hosts)  In February-March 2004, the NewsDesk of the Monthly Herald conducted a survey in the American continent, Britain, France, Germany and the Middle East, on the most popular and admired male and female anchors of the American tube. The poll is in no way scientific or 100% accurate. However, it could provide a global view of television watchers preferences and favorite choices. No names were submitted to any party and no reference was made to particular TV personalities. The results are the personal choice of the people who received and completed the survey..................................................................................................................204-205

   

Men: Anchors/Commentators/Hosts-Male. The results of  the Monthly Herald recent international poll* on the most admired and popular American television personalities (Anchors, Commentators and Hosts) ...............................................................206-207