Free Republic

FORT WORTH -- Kujo perched on a tree branch in downtown's Burnett Plaza, warily watching for prey.No grackles or starlings were in sight.Instead, a man raised his arm.Kujo, a 2-year-old Harris's hawk, quickly flew low and fast through the chilly morning air to reach the outstretched arm of Roger Crandall, his handler.Rewarded with pieces of mouse meat, he knew that next time, his bounty could be bigger.Kujo and his working mate, Blackjack, could be the newest tools in the city's efforts to drive out grackles -- long known as "downtown's feathered menace."Recent changes in federal law, prompted by local falconers...

Evelyn Leopold http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/un_annan_dc;_ylt=Ak8uJ3VvSPKytd39jkRAoTys0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ-- UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Terrorism and conflicts across the Middle East will be major global issues in 2006, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said at a year-end news conference on Wednesday and he also lashed out at the media for its coverage of the oil-for-food program. Annan said he faced getting tough management reform proposals through the U.N. General Assembly and trying to solve the ongoing conflict in Sudan's Darfur region and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. But he said he expected terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and the Middle East -- the slayings in Lebanon, the...

NEW YORK - Investigators probing claims of wrongdoing in the Iraq oil-for-food program accused its former chief, Benon Sevan, of corruption for taking illegal kickbacks and recommended his immunity be lifted for prosecution. The investigators said a former U.N. procurement officer sought a bribe and should have his immunity lifted as well. Alexander Yakovlev also was accused of collecting nearly $1 million in kickbacks outside the oil-for-food program. The third report by the Independent Inquiry Committee, led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, was a new blow to the scandal-tainted $64 billion program. For the first time, it gave...