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Delhi raises dengue fever alert By Sanjoy Majumder BBC correspondent, Delhi Diseases such as dengue and malaria are common in the monsoon Indian health officials have launched a massive drive to contain an outbreak of dengue fever in the capital, Delhi. Thousands of workers fanned out across the city spraying pesticides as part of a door-to-door campaign on Monday. The mosquito-borne disease has claimed 11 lives over the past two weeks and more than 400 people have been affected in and around the capital. Dengue fever can lead to high fever, with flu-like symptoms, and even to brain haemorrhage. Hospital...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill Wednesday that includes a provision added in the waning days of the legislative session allowing his administration to nearly double the pay of 50 top state bosses. Under Assembly Bill 2936, the workers -- mostly heads of agencies and departments -- could get as much as 125 percent of the governor's salary, although the governor says he intends to extend the raise to only one or two officials. Schwarzenegger doesn't take his pay. But in 2007, the salary assigned to his office is scheduled to increase to $206,500. That would mean the top administrators...

The San Francisco Chronicle Blog "broke" the story and the Associated Press is now running with it: Mel Gibson wrote a fundraising letter for Tom McClintock. Gasp! And McClintock stopped using it earlier this year. Uh, gasp? No gasp? Nothing? Meaningless? Well, if Gibson writing a fundraising letter for McClintock carries any weight or significance, then surely it is significant to point out that John Garamendi, McClintock's opponent in the race for Lt. Governor, benefited from a fundraising letter written by Peter Yarrow, of Peter, Paul and Mary fame. Yarrow, you may or (probably) may not recall, was convicted of...

The University of California's Board of Regents should show more respect for the taxpayers. The UC system is embroiled in a scandal over secret compensation deals and lavish perks. So what do the regents do last week? Approve large raises for top executives. Few of us would begrudge UC employees a modest raise to cover the rising cost of living. But the regents last week approved $770,000 in raises for 71 UC executives, some getting pay hikes of as much as 15 percent. "They have the greatest disparity to the comparable positions elsewhere," Judith Hopkinson, chairman of the regents' compensation...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's top campaign adviser is being paid to provide marketing strategy to AT&T at a time when the governor's office is involved in negotiations on legislation potentially worth billions of dollars to the telecommunications giant. Political consultant Matthew Dowd's involvement with the governor and AT&T at the same time presents, at minimum, the appearance of a conflict of interest, government watchdogs warned. Dowd and his consulting firm are currently assisting San Antonio-based AT&T with the rollout of its U-verse service in Texas. The product is designed to compete with cable TV by sending TV programming and a bundle...

WASHINGTON, June 15, 2006 – Covered in blood and only able to stagger a few feet before collapsing in a heap, Army Sgt. Nicholas Beintema was one of the lucky ones. Many of his fellow soldiers did not survive the blast that ripped through his convoy near Tal Afar, Iraq, last year. Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England examines a pocketknife that was part of an Armed Forces Foundation auction at its 2nd Annual Congressional Gala in Washington, June 14. At the gala, England received the foundation's Patriot Award, which he said that America's servicemembers truly deserve such accolades. Photo...

Iran's place at summit raises fears of anti-West alliance By Richard Spencer in Beijing (Filed: 15/06/2006) Iran's hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, arrived in China last night for a summit of Asian states and Russia that Washington fears is forming a new anti-western alliance. Mr Ahmadinejad will seek support for his country's nuclear programme, fuelling US concern that Iran is being protected by its growing friendship with Russia and China, who both sit on the UN Security Council. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrives in China for the summit He is also believed to be pushing to join the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, which...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. officials have altered their account of the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, saying he was alive and partly conscious after bombs destroyed his hideout, and an Iraqi man raised fresh questions Saturday about the events surrounding the end of Iraq's most-wanted militant. The man, who lived near the scene of the bombing, claimed in an interview with AP Television News to have seen U.S. soldiers beating an injured man resembling al-Zarqawi until blood flowed from the man's nose. When asked about the man's allegations, military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said he would check. In Washington,...

Putin raises spectre of Cold War with threat of arms race By Nick Allen in Moscow and Alec Russell in Washington (Filed: 11/05/2006) Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, raised the spectre of the Cold War yesterday, likening the United States to a voracious wolf and declaring that the arms race was not yet over. Vladimir Putin: the arms race ‘is rising to a new technological level’ With relations between Moscow and Washington at their most strained in many years, Mr Putin used his annual state of the nation speech to revive Russia's military rivalry with the United States. "It is...

Iran raises tension with £30m gift to Hamas By Tim Butcher in Jerusalem (Filed: 17/04/2006) Iran defied America and Europe yesterday when it pledged to give almost £30 million to the new Hamas-led Palestinian government. The one-off payment from Teheran, which was announced by Manouchehr Mottaki, the Iranian foreign minister, will go some way to plugging the gap in Palestinian finances caused by the recent loss of western aid. Israel vowed to stop the money getting through - a viable proposition given how heavily Palestinian financial institutions rely on Israel. Mr Mottaki appeared to relish announcing the donation, which will...

CAIRO, Egypt - Terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has sharply lowered his profile in recent months, halting his group's Internet claims as the number of big suicide bombings in Iraq — his infamous signature form of attack — has fallen. Now, a man with close ties to Iraqi insurgent groups claims al-Zarqawi was shunted aside as political leader of a recently formed coalition of militants because they were angry at his propaganda efforts and embarrassed by his group's deadly attack on hotels in Jordan. But others caution that the claim is hard to verify — and that perhaps the insurgents...

Iran raises the nuclear stakes after being reported to UN By Philip Sherwell in Washington and Kim Willsher in Paris (Filed: 05/02/2006) Iran escalated its nuclear showdown with the West last night by ending international inspections of its atomic sites and preparing to restart uranium enrichment. Hours after Iran was reported to the United Nations Security Council for its nuclear programme, its officials were taking the first steps towards carrying out their threat to produce the material - which Western intelligence believes will be used for atomic weapons. Maryam Rajavi: 'Either the UN acts or the mullahs will have the...

SACRAMENTO — A power struggle is emerging over Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's $222-billion public works package. Democratic leaders say legislators and local governments would be required to cede too much influence in deciding how to remake California's roads, jails and waterways. --snip-- Democratic leaders, who suggested months before Schwarzenegger that a large investment needed to be made in the state's physical foundations, agreed that lawmakers should not select every project. But under the governor's plan, enormous multibillion-dollar ventures — such as deciding how to move goods more quickly through California's ports and setting fees on water users — would be determined...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's new budget unveiled Tuesday contains no pay raises for the 156,000 rank-and-file state employees whose contracts have expired or are scheduled to run their course this year. Finance Director Mike Genest said the administration didn't include money for raises because "we don't want to presage what we plan to do at the negotiating table" with the nine unions representing 18 bargaining units that are already at the table or are about to take their seats across from the state's representatives. Genest said "it's not uncommon" for the state to refrain from putting money in the budget for...

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's effort to reposition his administration after his special election defeat — culminating with this week's appointment of a Democratic activist as his chief of staff — has disheartened some prominent California Republicans and reinvigorated talk of finding a conservative primary challenger next year. "I'm getting more e-mails off of this than I do for Viagra," said Mike Spence, president of the California Republican Assembly, a grass-roots group, referring to Schwarzenegger's appointment of Susan Kennedy. "Since the special election, where we were very loyal, all we've heard about was a $50-billion bond and looking at clemency...

Thursday, Nov. 3, 2005 10:17 a.m. EST Questions Raised about Tim Russert's Story NBC Washington bureau chief Tim Russert told Leakgate probers that he had no idea Joe Wilson's wife Valerie Plame was a CIA employee before her name surfaced in Robert Novak's fateful July 14, 2003 column, and that he was stunned upon learning that Lewis "Scooter" Libby claimed he got that information from him. But an account by senior NBC correspondent Andrea Mitchell raises questions about whether Mr. Russert may have known about Plame's employment well before the Novak column. On Oct. 3, 2003, Mitchell was a guest...

Meeting raises possibility that Nagin may have political future 10/30/2005, 9:58 a.m. CT By KEVIN McGILL The Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — There were fewer than 300 seats and more than 500 people jammed into the hotel for a town hall meeting. It was overcrowded and under-air conditioned (nothing new in post-Katrina New Orleans), dozens of unhappy people lined up behind a single microphone and the scene appeared set for an ugly political inquisition as Mayor Ray Nagin entered the room — 30 minutes late. Nagin made an opening statement on housing, then turned it over to the audience....

AL ASAD, Iraq (Oct. 10, 2005) -- You take the flag, march it to the flag pole, call the commands and fly the colors. A member of the color guard for Marine Light Attack Squadron 167, Lance Cpl. Nick R. Baham, a Denver native, has done it a hundred times. However, on Oct. 10, it was different. The flag that Baham flew that morning would not fly again the next day. On Oct. 10, Baham flew the flag as a gift to his biological mother, who is suffering from breast cancer. After flying in the Iraqi desert for a day,...

SIERRA VISTA - Like many people who watched the events of Hurricane Katrina unfold on television, Irene Thiele was left in tears by the tragic scenes. The 64-year-old was so moved by the plight of Katrina's victims, she decided she must do something to help. Being on a fixed income, she could not afford to donate much money, so she asked the American Red Cross if she could collect it instead. Her generous offer was readily accepted and last weekend during the Oktoberfest festivities. Thiele camped out at a table, with some homemade posters and hoped for a generous response....

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The United States raised the plight of Myanmar's detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and 1,300 other political prisoners on Friday, but Russia and China blocked U.N. Security Council discussion of actions by the country's ruling military junta. Deputy U.S. Ambassador Gerald Scott said the Bush administration felt it was important to remind the international community that the situation continues to decline. When Scott raised the issue, diplomats said several nations echoed U.S. concerns but Russia and China objected to putting Myanmar on the council's agenda. Unless an issue is on the council's agenda, it...