Beijing will use artificial rainmaking to clear the air after a choking dust storm coated China’s capital and beyond with yellow grit, prompting a health warning to keep children indoors, state media said Tuesday.

The huge storm blew dust far beyond China’s borders, blanketing South Korea and reaching Tokyo.

The storm, reportedly the worst in at least five years, hit Beijing overnight Sunday, turning the sky yellow and forcing residents to dust off and hose down cars and buildings.

Hospitals reported a jump in cases of breathing problems, state television said.

The government was preparing to seed clouds to make rain to clear the air, state TV said, citing the Central Meteorological Bureau. It did not elaborate, and the bureau refused to release more information.
breitbart.com

MIAMI, April 28 — Talk radio icon Rush Limbaugh surrendered to authorities Friday on a charge of committing fraud to obtain prescription drugs, concluding an investigation that for more than two years has hovered over the law-and-order conservative.

The charge will be dropped in 18 months, said his attorney, Roy Black, provided that Limbaugh continues treatment for drug addiction, as he has for 2 1/2 years. According to an agreement with the Palm Beach County state’s attorney’s office, Limbaugh also must pay $30,000 to defray the costs of the investigation, as well as $30 a month for his supervision.
washingtonpost.com

BAGHDAD, April 27 — A full 10 seconds of silence passed after a reporter asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld what the intense secrecy and security surrounding their visit to Iraq signified about the stability of the country three years after the U.S.-led invasion. Rice turned to Rumsfeld to provide the answer. Rumsfeld glared at the reporter.

“I guess I don’t think it says anything about it,” he snapped. He went on to say that President Bush had directed him and Rice to go to Iraq to “meet with the new leadership, and it happens that they are located here,” a reference to the heavily fortified Green Zone where U.S. officials — and many Iraqi leaders — live and work.

Rice broke in, calming the tension. “The security situation will continue to take our attention and the attention of the Iraqis,” she said, adding, “The terrorists are ultimately going to be defeated by a political process here.”

For the second time in a month, Rice traveled to Baghdad to jawbone Iraqi leaders with a high-powered male counterpart. Last time, her partner was British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. The pairing with him was convivial, so filled with easygoing banter that it was quickly dubbed the “Condi and Jack Show.”

This time around, Rice and Rumsfeld often seemed in separate orbits, and the visit had little of the warmth of the earlier one. One purpose of this joint trip was to get the sometimes conflicting military and political operations in sync for the transition to a permanent Iraqi government. But the contrast in the two secretaries’ styles was sometimes jarring.
washingtonpost.com

The confrontation between Iran and the west will intensify today when Mohammed ElBaradei, head of the UN nuclear watchdog, delivers a negative verdict on Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Dr ElBaradei, who leads the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), will rule that Iran has failed to comply with a 30-day deadline set by the UN security council.

Officials from the US, Britain, France, Russia and China – the five permanent members of the security council – and Germany will meet in Paris on Tuesday to discuss sanctions, though Moscow and Beijing reiterated yesterday they remain opposed to punitive measures.
guardian.co.uk

General Pervez Musharraf, facing a surge of anti-American sentiment, yesterday warned that covert US air strikes against al-Qaida inside Pakistan were an infringement of national sovereignty.

Admitting that his popularity was waning, the Pakistani president insisted he was “not a poodle” of George Bush and rejected accusations he was running a military dictatorship.
guardian.co.uk

“United 93,” Hollywood’s first big-budget film about the events of Sept. 11, 2001, is faithful to the major aspects of the tragic morning it depicts. The movie tracks the key events detailed in the 9/11 Commission Report, the most definitive source on the subject: the commandeering of the United jet by four terrorists, the panic of the passengers and the heroic rebellion that ended with the plane crashing in a field near Shanksville, Pa.

But the movie, which opens nationwide today, is a dramatic re-creation that includes scenes and images that go far beyond what is known about the attacks.

Those scenes raise questions: How far can a dramatic movie go in imposing its own reality before it distorts the public’s understanding of the event?
washingtonpost.com

hahaha…

Federal marine specialists have concluded that Navy sonar was the most likely cause of the unusual stranding of melon-headed whales in a Hawaiian bay in 2004.

The appearance of as many as 200 of the normally deep-diving whales in Hanalei Bay in Kauai occurred while a major American-Japanese sonar training exercise was taking place at the nearby Pacific Missile Range Facility.

The report is the latest in a series of scientific reviews linking traditional mid-frequency naval sonar to whale strandings. Sonar has been used for decades, but it was only recently that the apparent connection to strandings was established.
washingtonpost.com

“The invasion of Iraq in 2003 was not an isolated episode. It was the culmination of a 110-year period during which Americans overthrew fourteen governments that displeased them for various ideological, political, and economic reasons.”
So writes author Stephen Kinzer in his new book “Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq.”

Kinzer writes that “The “regime change” in Iraq seemed for a time — a very short time — to have worked. It is now clear, however, that this operation has had terrible unintended consequences. So have most of the other coups, revolutions, and invasions that the United States has mounted to depose governments it feared or mistrusted.”
democracynow.org

It starts with the sound of rain. A woman’s voice tells us it is night in the city, and a nurse is smoking the last cigarette in the pack. Then comes a nasal, gravelly voice, more familiar in song: ‘It’s time for Theme Time Radio Hour. Dreams, schemes and themes.’ The career of Bob Dylan, radio DJ, has begun.

Once the most iconic recluse in the music business, Dylan will spring a surprise on fans next month by broadcasting a weekly music show across America. His debut behind the mic, due to be broadcast on 3 May, has been heard exclusively in advance by The Observer.

As the quaint title, Theme Time Radio Hour, implies, it is a simple format, even old-fashioned. Taking a different theme each week, Dylan introduces his favourite records with a wry line or pithy anecdote, then lets the music do the talking. First is ‘weather’. Sounding utterly imperturbable in his new role, he drawls in characteristically rhythmic tones: ‘Today’s show, all about the weather. Curious about what the weather looks like? Just look out your window, take a walk outside. We’re gonna start out with the great Muddy Waters, one of the ancients by now, who all moderns prize.’ He has been provided with a digital recording kit so that he can present the hour-long programme from home, studio or tour bus. He sends a playlist to XM Satellite Radio’s researchers, who then assemble the music around his narration.
guardian.co.uk

IRVINE, Calif. — Mortgages entering foreclosure jumped 72 percent during the first quarter from a year earlier, as higher interest rates increased monthly payments and strained the budgets of homeowners with adjustable-rate loans.

Lenders began foreclosing on 323,102 mortgages, a ratio of one in 358 U.S. households, according to a report issued Monday by RealtyTrac Inc. Banks typically start foreclosing on mortgages after payments are 90 days late.

“When you couple the higher bills that people with adjustable loans saw with the higher-than-expected energy costs, you see a lot of homeowners stretched beyond the point where they could make their payments,” said Rick Sharga, a RealtyTrac vice president.

Homeowners who would otherwise sell their houses to pay off their loans face a weaker market, he said.

Sales of existing homes fell to 6.71 million at an annualized rate in the first quarter from 6.94 million in the last three months of 2005, according to Fannie Mae, the nation’s largest mortgage buyer.
infoshop.org