In Teheran, the Foreign Ministry spokesman expressed surprise

A group of Turkish female activists confronted Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes on Wednesday with emotional and heated complaints about the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, turning a session designed to highlight the empowerment of women into a raw display of anger at U.S. policy in the region.

"This war is really, really bringing your positive efforts to the level of zero," said Hidayet Sefkatli Tuksal, an activist with the Capital City Women's Forum. She said it was difficult to talk about cooperation between women in the United States and Turkey as long as Iraq was under occupation.

Hughes, a longtime confidante of President Bush, has the job of burnishing the U.S. image overseas and has generally met with polite audiences -- many of which consisted of former exchange students or people who have received U.S. funding -- during a tour of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey this week.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/5641165.html

The leader of the campaign to abolish the council tax, which has resulted in two elderly members being jailed for non-payment, said yesterday that "dozens" more pensioners were willing to go to prison for the cause.

In a warning to Tony Blair, Christine Melsom, 64, said the IsItFair? campaign was attracting new members by the hour and would continue to fight until the tax was replaced with a fairer system linked to ability to pay.

Christine Melsom: 'There is a lot of anger out there'

She said that Alfred Ridley, a 71-year-old retired vicar, and Sylvia Hardy, 73, a former social worker, would not be the last to be jailed and issued a warning that the grey vote revolt could cost Labour dear.

"In the end something will have to give," she said. "We cannot have jails full of elderly people. But we will fight until this tax is scrapped. We could have another poll tax situation on our hands.

"This is not just a pensioner issue; it affects everyone and anyone who thinks we are just a load of placard-waving pensioners should bear in mind that they may suffer next."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/09/29/nct29.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/09/29/ixportal.html

Colombian police chief Gen Jord Alirio Varon said the four- to five-month-old foetuses could have been intended for use in Satanic rituals.

Gen Varon said the foetuses were found alongside crucifixes and medals.

He said officials are trying to find out who sent the packages, which came from Barranquilla in Colombia and were destined for Miami in the US.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4293934.stm

Furthermore, Russia is ready to clear its 28-billion-dollar debt to the Paris Club, although the club members will have to make adequate decisions on the matter. There are several countries, for example, which have certain restrictions for Russia to clearing the entire debt; they want Russia to pay the debt strictly according to the schedule.
http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/89/358/16216_debt.html

The ships have a capacity of 7116 beds, at a cost of $US1275 a person a week. The cost of a Caribbean cruise from Texas is $US559 a week. "When the Federal Government would actually save millions of dollars by … sending evacuees on a luxurious six-month cruise it is time to rethink how we are conducting oversight," said Senators Tom Coburn and Barack Obama.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/milliondollar-refugee-ships-lying-half-empty/2005/09/29/1127804608638.html?oneclick=true

A federal judge in Brooklyn ruled yesterday that former Attorney General John Ashcroft, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other top government officials will have to answer questions under oath in a lawsuit that accuses them of personally conspiring to violate the rights of Muslim immigrants held in a federal detention center in Brooklyn after 9/11.

The officials had sought to have the lawsuit dismissed without testimony, arguing in part that they had governmental immunity from its claims, that the court lacked jurisdiction because they live outside New York State, and that the Sept. 11 attacks created "special factors" outweighing the plaintiffs' right to sue for damages for constitutional violations.

But the judge, John Gleeson, of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, rejected those arguments, allowing the case to proceed - and opening the door to depositions of Mr. Ashcroft and the F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, by lawyers for the two plaintiffs: Ehab Elmaghraby, an Egyptian immigrant who ran a restaurant in Times Square, and Javaid Iqbal, a Pakistani immigrant whose Long Island customers knew him as "the cable guy."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/29/nyregion/29detain.html

Reuters has told the US government that American forces' conduct towards journalists in Iraq is "spiralling out of control" and preventing full coverage of the war reaching the public.

The detention and accidental shootings of journalists is limiting how journalists can operate, wrote David Schlesinger, the Reuters global managing editor, in a letter to Senator John Warner, head of the armed services committee
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1580244,00.html

The Labour Party was forced to make a humiliating apology to an 82-year-old party member last night after he was thrown out of the conference for heckling Jack Straw.

Walter Wolfgang, a party member for 57 years, was bundled out of the conference hall by stewards after shouting "nonsense" as Mr Straw, the Foreign Secretary, defended Britain's role in Iraq. He was later stopped under anti-terrorist powers as he tried to re-enter the hall.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article315804.ece

According to "Kyle" the Cremation of Care ceremony has altered only slightly since Alex caught it on video. There were some new effects and a different voice over for "care". Previously the voice had been reported as Walter Kronkite, yet "Kyle" reported that Kronkite, one of the "Hillbillies" along with the Bushes was there but was not in good health.

"Kyle" has managed to get around five hours of video and 50 photos in the Grove with the use of a pen camera. This footage will be included in a re-release of Alex's Dark Secrets Inside Bohemian Grove. The first showing of this will be at the Downtown Alamo Drafthouse in Austin on the 9th of October, with a follow up the day after.
http://prisonplanet.com/Pages/Sept05/290905Grove.htm

Rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is threatening to make oceans too corrosive for marine organisms to grow protective shells, according to researchers.
 
If emissions continue unabated, the entire Southern Ocean, which stretches north from the Antarctic coastline, and subarctic regions of the Pacific Ocean will soon become so acidic that the shells of marine creatures will soften and dissolve making them easy targets for predators. Others will not be able to grow sufficient shells to survive.
 
The loss of shelled creatures at the lower end of the food chain could have disastrous consequences for larger marine animals. North pacific salmon, mackerel, herring, cod and baleen whales all feed on pteropods or sea butterflies, one of the species under imminent threat.
"These are extremely important in the food chain and what happens if they start to disappear is a great unknown," said Jim Orr, lead scientist on the study at the Laboratory for Science of the Climate and Environment in Gif-sur-Yvette, near Paris.
 
Previous studies have suggested it would take centuries for emissions to acidify the oceans to such an extent, but the latest report, published today in the journal Nature, claims entire ecosystems will be threatened much sooner. "Within decades, there may be serious trouble brewing in these polar oceans," said Dr Orr. "Unlike climate predictions, the uncertainties here are small."
http://www.rense.com/general67/acc.htm

In Teheran, the Foreign Ministry spokesman expressed surprise on Tuesday at the manner in which India voted. He said: "Iran will revise these [economic] relations, and these countries [that voted against Teheran] will suffer. Our economic and political relations are coordinated with each other.
http://www.hindu.com/2005/09/28/stories/2005092813940100.htm