PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The property has a million-dollar view, but the quarters are cramped, the grounds are nothing to brag about and a loud fog horn blares every 10 seconds.
For the right price, the picturesque Ram Island Ledge Lighthouse can be yours. The 72-foot (22-meter) conical light tower a mile off Cape Elizabeth, Maine, is being auctioned by the federal government.
The …
Anthony Montgomery, star of "I'm Through with White Girls" - which kicks off the 2007 Roxbury Film Festival at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston tonight - attributes his success to his grandfather, the legendary modern jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery.
"He was a phenomenal guitarist that the world embraced," said the young actor. "Unfortunately, he was not able to enjoy success to the fullest extent because he died at the height of his career. Thafs why I feel like I have been given this opportunity, for my grandfather to enjoy success through me."
Anthony Montgomery began college with little direction. But when one of his professors asked him to audition for an original piece …
Andre Iguodala scored 32 points, and the Philadelphia 76ers held on to beat the Suns in Phoenix for the first time in six years, 119-114 on Saturday night.
Andre Miller added 25 points and 12 assists for the 76ers, who shot 57 percent after being blown out at Golden State 119-97 on Friday night. Willie Green scored 17, including three crucial free throws in the final 18.2 seconds.
Louis Williams added 13, including a 3-pointer and breakaway layup in the final 1:10.
The Suns lost consecutive home games for the first time this season to fall to 2-4 since Shaquille O'Neal joined the lineup.
Amare Stoudemire had 26 points and Leandro Barbosa …
JENIN REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank--U.S. Assistant Secretary of StateWilliam Burns toured the ravaged sections of this camp Saturday andsaid the battle between the Palestinians and Israelis has resulted in"a terrible human tragedy."
"What happened in Jenin has caused enormous suffering forthousands of innocent Palestinian civilians. Food, shelter, medicineand unexploded ordnance remain serious problems for camp residents,"Burns said.
Burns visited the devastation as the United Nations prepares tosend a fact-finding team to the camp. Its mission is to determinewhat actually occurred in Jenin, the scene of the the fiercestfighting in the Israeli military's West Bank …
Converting waste to resources benefits college students, campus farms and gardens, facilities management and the greater community.
Part II
COLLEGES and universities have taken a variety of approaches to establishing composting programs on campus. In Part I of this series (July 2010), we focused on programs that integrated composting into the curriculum. Part II, in September, profiled projects launched by students. In this final installation of BioCycle's campus composting series, we look at closing the loop between food waste diversion, campus farms and utilizing food grown back in the dining halls. We also shine the spotlight on compost programs initiated through campus …
Osama bin Laden said in a new audio recording released Friday that al-Qaida will continue its holy war against Israel and its allies until it liberates Palestine.
The terrorist leader's third statement this year came as President Bush was wrapping up his visit to Israel to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Jewish state.
Bin Laden said the fight for the Palestinian cause was the most important factor driving al-Qaida's war with the West and fueled 19 Muslims to carry out the suicide attacks against the U.S. on September 11.
"To Western nations ... this speech is to understand the core reason of the war between our civilization and your civilizations. I mean the Palestinian cause," said bin Laden in the close to 10 minute audiotape.
"The Palestinian cause is the major issue for my (Islamic) nation. It was an important element in fueling me from the beginning and the 19 others with a great motive to fight for those subjected to injustice and the oppressed," added bin Laden.
Al-Qaida has been stepping up its attempts to use the Israeli-Arab conflict to rally supporters. Israel has warned of growing al-Qaida activity in Palestinian territory, though the terror network is not believed to have taken a strong role there so far.
The authenticity of the message could not be verified, but it was posted on a Web site commonly used by al-Qaida and the voice resembled the one in past bin Laden audiotapes. Though it was unknown exactly when the audio was recorded, but it referenced Israel's 60th anniversary, which began May 8.
IntelCenter, a U.S. group that monitors al-Qaida message traffic, said the audio message was accompanied by a photo of bin Laden wearing a white robe and turban next to a picture of the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. It was unclear when the photo of bin Laden was taken.
The al-Qaida leader said the Western media managed to brainwash people over the past 60 years by "portraying the Jewish invaders, the occupiers of our land, as the victims while it portrayed us as the terrorists."
"Sixty years ago, the Israeli state didn't exist. Instead, it was established on the land of Palestine raped by force," said bin Laden. "Israelis are occupying invaders whom we should fight."
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Mekel dismissed bin Laden's new message.
"We do not relate or pay attention to the words of this terrorist lunatic," he said. "The time has come for him to be apprehended and pay for his crimes."
Bin Laden criticized Western leaders like Bush who participated in Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations. Bush feted Israel on Thursday and predicted that its 120th birthday would find it alongside a Palestinian state and in an all-democratic neighborhood free of today's oppression, restrictions on freedom and extremist Muslim movements.
Delivering this rosy forecast for the Middle East in 2068 during a speech to the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, Bush made no acknowledgment of the hardship Palestinians suffered when hundreds of thousands were displaced following the creation of the Jewish state in 1948, a counterpoint to Israel's two weeks of jubilant celebrations.
Though Bush has set a goal of reaching an Israeli-Palestinian deal before the end of his term in January, he did not mention the ongoing negotiations or how to resolve the thorniest disputes.
Bin Laden said Western leaders were insincere in their expressed desire for Israeli-Palestinian peace and failed to criticize Israel.
"Peace talks that started 60 years ago are just meant to deceive the idiots," said bin Laden. "After all the destruction and the killings ... your leaders talk about principles. This is unbearable."
The terrorist leader mentioned former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, who he said ordered a Jewish militia to attack the Arab village of Deir Yassin in 1948. The attack during Israel's push for statehood killed more than 100 Arabs and forced the rest of the village to flee.
"Instead of punishing him (Begin) over his crimes ... he was awarded a Nobel prize," said bin Laden.
Begin won the Nobel peace prize for negotiating a peace treaty with Egypt in 1979, Israel's first with an Arab nation. The Israeli leader shared the prize with former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, who was Begin's negotiating partner. Israel has only signed one other peace treaty with an Arab nation, Jordan.
"We will continue our struggle against the Israelis and their allies," said bin Laden. "We are not going to give up an inch of the land of Palestine."
Bin Laden's message Friday followed an audiotape released in March in which he lashed out at Palestinian peace negotiations with Israel.
The March audiotape was the first time bin Laden spoke of the Palestinian question at length since the deteriorating situation in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, where the Israeli military has been fighting with militants who fire rockets into southern Israel. Israel has been battling Hamas in Gaza since the Islamic militant group took control of the strip last June from followers of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
BERLIN (AP) — Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti on Wednesday threw his support behind a new tax on financial transactions, backing a push by Germany and France, but said he would prefer to have it apply across the whole European Union.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have suggested it might suffice to enact such a tax among the 17-nation euro countries. Monti said he would rather have it applied across the full 27-nation EU — which would be more difficult because of U.K. opposition — but did not rule out a eurozone-only deal.
"We are open to supporting this initiative at the EU level," Monti said at a press conference with Merkel during his first visit to Berlin since taking over from Silvio Berlusconi in November.
While the Berlusconi government had rejected a new financial levy outright, Monti has said he was thought it was a good idea, particularly as a means of reducing the tax burden on families.
Sarkozy, who faces an election in April, has said France could even enact the tax unilaterally, but Germany has been more guarded.
Merkel earlier this week, after meeting with Sarkozy in Berlin, said there's no agreement yet on a so-called "Tobin tax" inside her own governing coalition. She called for European leaders to clarify their stance on the matter by March.
The European Commission has estimated that the Tobin tax could raise as much as €57 billion ($77 billion) a year in Europe. These funds could be used to help reduce the substantial budget deficits crippling European economies.
The tax would be a tiny percentage of the value of a trade — the French government proposed 0.1 percent on bonds and shares and 0.01 percent on more complex derivatives. Although some countries already have a minimal duty on share trading, the new proposal would not only increase the scope and size of the tax but also siphon off some revenue to Brussels.
There is no final decision yet, however, on what financial instruments would be taxed and whether currency trades — which make up a large slice of worldwide transactions — would be targeted as well.
Monti, who studied at Yale with economist James Tobin, who first proposed the levy, said his one-time mentor likened the tax's popularity through history to the Loch Ness Monster.
"You see it, it disappears, then reappears," Monti said. "In this phase I think it has more sense than in others given the velocity of financial transactions, which can cause damage, and not just benefits."
In Italy, Monti has already instituted painful austerity measures and said he planned to work closely with Merkel and Sarkozy in the coming weeks and months for wider European solutions to the crisis.
He said Italy should not be seen as "a possible source of infection. ... Italy can do its full part, next to Germany and next to France, for stability."
Merkel and Sarkozy on Monday stressed that they saw boosting economic growth in the 17-nation eurozone as a priority, a recognition that the focus on austerity cuts is unlikely to get Europe out of its debt crisis.
Monti said he and Merkel agreed that they should strive to create real economic growth, not "ephemeral growth that is based on emergency measures, which given room to deficits and inflation."
"Growth needs to be based on structural measures in individual countries and also within the European framework," Monti said.
Europe is currently working on a new treaty enshrining tougher fiscal rules, which leaders agreed at a summit in early December. Merkel said negotiations "are progressing well," but that "there is still work to be done."
"There are good signs that by Jan. 30 we will have made substantial progress or will have even reached a political accord," she said.
Italy has become a key focus in the European financial crisis because of its size, huge debt load and need to borrow heavily in the first quarter. The yield on its 10-year bonds is hovering around the 7 percent level that is widely considered to be a danger mark.
Some economists say the European Central Bank should help Italy more by buying its government bonds on the open market in larger quantities. That would lower Italy's borrowing rates and ease pressure on its finances. But the ECB, along with Germany, resists such a move because it does not want to be seen as propping up specific governments.
Monti said that Italy saw its current borrowing rates as no longer justified.
"We expect from Europe, of which Italy is a part, the development of mechanisms that facilitate the transformation of good politics into more reasonable interest rates," he said.
The ECB will hold its monthly monetary policy meeting on Thursday, but analysts do not expect it to cut interest rates — which would help a weak economy like Italy's — nor signal a more aggressive stance in its bond purchases.
Monti reiterated that Italy would like to see the ECB cut its refinancing rate even lower than its current 1 percent, but did not say how low or when they should be reduced.
Monti's meeting with Merkel is the latest in a series of talks between European leaders. Following her talks Monday with Sarkozy, the German leader met in Berlin on Tuesday evening with International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde. Lagarde was in Paris on Wednesday to speak with Sarkozy.
Merkel and Sarkozy also plan to travel to Italy on Jan. 20 before a European summit at the end of the month.
_____
Kirsten Grieshaber and Nele Mailin Obermueller contributed to this report. Barry reported from Milan.
