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Politics : Impeach George W. Bush -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tonto who wrote (42657)	9/2/2005 3:41:29 PM
From: paret	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93284

Russian UN diplomat charged with money-laundering Reuters ^ \| 09/02/05 \| Irwin Arieff NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Russian U.N. official was arrested in an overnight FBI raid and charged with helping a U.N. procurement officer launder bribes from contractors and taking a share of the money, an indictment said on Friday. Vladimir Kuznetsov, an official of the Russian Foreign Ministry and the elected chairman of the U.N. General Assembly's budget advisory committee, was taken into custody overnight by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Russian and U.S. officials said on Friday. He was charged with a single count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to the indictment by U.S. Attorney David Kelley of the federal court for the Southern District of New York. Sergei Trepelkov, a senior counselor in Moscow's U.N. Mission, said the mission had been told the charges against Kuznetsov were connected to the U.N. humanitarian aid program for Iraq. But the indictment made no mention of this. Kuznetsov was accused of working with a co-conspirator who was not named but was described as a U.N. procurement officer. The indictment appears to point to Vladimir Yakovlev, who was arrested and charged last month and pleaded guilty to money laundering and was said to be cooperating with federal investigators. A U.N.-appointed investigative commission, headed by Paul Volcker, the former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman, said Yakovlev pocketed more than $950,000 from contractors. Kuznetsov's detention was confirmed by U.S. Ambassador John Bolton, who thanked Secretary-General Kofi Annan for promptly waiving Kuznetsov's diplomatic immunity so the arrest could be made. "This is now a serious law enforcement matter and we will have no further comment," Bolton said. According to the indictment, Kuznetsov opened a bank account in the Caribbean island of Antigua and the co-conspirator between 2000 and 2005 transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars in criminal proceeds into that account. Trepelkov said Russian consular officials were trying to reach U.S. law enforcement authorities for additional details in the case and were also seeking to meet with Kuznetsov. Kuznetsov had been recommended by several countries for the chairmanship of the General Assembly's Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, and had been elected to the post about three years ago, Trepelkov said. Committee members are not U.N. employees but the General Assembly allocated money for to pay the chairman, which technically puts him on U.N. staff. Therefore Annan was asked to waive Kuznetsov's immunity, U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe said.

To: tonto who wrote (42657)	9/2/2005 4:10:26 PM
From: paret	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93284

Last night Michael Osborne was murdered in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Michael's wife, Nancy, drove to Memphis with their two daughters yesterday because Hurricane Katrina had blown two trees on their house. About 7:00 p.m. Michael went to Lowe's to get a part for his malfunctioning generator, which they didn't have. They directed him to another store in a bad section of town. Somebody shot him in his car, which then ran off the road into a telephone pole. It's not known whether the shots or the impact killed him. Michael and Nancy have six children, two grown daughters, and at home two teenage sons, and two young daughters. freerepublic.com

To: tonto who wrote (42657)	9/2/2005 4:52:18 PM
From: paret	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93284

"They were being targeted because they were the only white people there" Katrina Britons 'moved from dome' [Moved for personal safety] BBC News ^ \| September 2, 2005 \| Around 30 Britons sheltering in a sports stadium after Hurricane Katrina are being re-located to hotels in Texas, the Foreign Office said. The move comes after stories emerged of violent confrontations, bullying and shortages of food and water at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. Overall, the Foreign Office said there were around 100 British people in Louisiana when the hurricane struck. A Foreign Office spokesman said: "There were 20 to 30 British people in the dome, and they are being moved out to hotels in Dallas and Houston and other places in Texas. "There is a lot of confusion about what is happening at the moment, but we are working closely with the US authorities to try to get a clearer picture." 'Chaos' The Camp America organisation, which provides work placements for young adults, said earlier they believed one of their workers, from Epsom in Surrey, was still in the dome. A Camp America spokesman said they would do everything possible to get him to the safety of a hotel as soon as possible. "They were being targeted because they were the only white people there" Jonathan Trout The Daily Mirror carried extracts from the diary of Jamie Trout, 22, one of the Britons trapped in the dome for four days, who said it was "like Lord of the Flies". Mr Trout's brother, Jonathan, from Sunderland, told BBC News his brother had now been transferred to the nearby Hyatt Hotel, along with most of the other stranded Britons and other foreigners. Another Briton, Keith Nelson, said his son, Will, had also now been moved from the Superdome after three days. He told the BBC: "On the third day the army told them that it was getting too dangerous so they moved them to another, smaller stadium. "Some of the army got shot and the army refused to go into the dome so they moved them again to the Hyatt hotel." International group A number of UK families are still waiting for news of their loved ones. Mark Hashmy, 36, sent his mother a text message on Monday describing the destruction he had witnessed. "Disaster area, no power for weeks, freeway flooded and blocked, and they can't fix. "No shops, no food, no petrol, no nothing! Army helicopters everywhere. We are isolated." Mark Graydon, from Stanford-le-Hope, Essex, and his 23-year-old American girlfriend Gretchen sought refuge in the Superdome last Sunday. His father, John Graydon, said the British authorities told him on Thursday his son would be moved from the dome within 24 hours. By Friday evening he had not heard anything more. Gloria Hashmy, of Kingsbridge, south Devon, has not heard from her son since the text and is desperate for news. She told the Western Morning News: "I'm in absolute turmoil and I'm not going to know anything till God knows when." 'Crushed' Elizabeth Pond was relieved to hear from a friend that father Alan, 59, had not been hurt in the hurricane. "Bullying tactics are taking place - it is being run by the strong" John Graydon Ms Pond, 30, had been due to leave the UK and move to New Orleans permanently, shipping all of her belongings already, but now does not know how long it will take for normality to return. Claire McMath, from Bristol, said she had been immensely worried about her great aunt and uncle and cousins. They had been stopped from escaping because one of the family is disabled and unable to move. "The house was crushed by a tree and the neighbours had to pull them out." In addition to the Foreign Office hotline, there is also a 24-hour contact number for the British consulate in Houston, which is 001 713 659 6270. Published: 2005/09/02 19:20:39 GMT © BBC MMV