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Category:July 3, 2005

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From the studios of Robinson Telephone Company in Arlington, Virginia, I'm Paul Robinson. Today is Sunday, Sunday, July 3, 2005, and the time is 23:30 Universal Coordinated Time. This is Wikinews. (Sound Effect)

Here are the stories that are being covered:

  • Karl Rove named as source who disclosed an undercover US CIA agent's identity.
  • The nation of Papua New Guinea is at risk of an African-level HIV/AIDS epidemic
  • Gaylord Nelson, creator of the Earth Day annual environmental event dies at 89.
  • Alleged Al-Qaeda leader killed in Saudi Arabia.
  • Karla Homolka release from prison has Canada in an uproar.
  • Underwater volcano erupts 1400 kilometers from Tokyo.
  • U.S. Government to retain control of the root servers of the Internet.
  • Scientists may have tests to detect Alzheimers.
  • Two American pilots successfully recreate a 1919 cross-Atlantic flight.
  • Today in History from Wikipedia.

And now, these stories

Reporter's notes subpoenaed by the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. reveal United States President George W. Bush's chief political advisor Karl Rove as one of the two sources behind the leaking of the identity of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame. Knowingly revealing the identity of an undercover CIA official is a crime in the United States. The notes are those of TIME magazine White House correspondent Matt Cooper. They were released by Norman Pearlstine, editor-in-chief of TIME Inc., by order of the court, in ruling that, in the case of leaking the identity of CIA agents, reporters must reveal the identity of their sources. Judith Miller of The New York Times, along with Cooper, could face jail time for their refusal to name anonymous sources.

Dr. Peter Piot, head of U.N. AIDS agency, told The Associated Press on the sidelines of a regional AIDS conference Sunday about the potential for an explosion in HIV and AIDS cases in the country of Papua New Guinea. He said the country is "the one that I would see that could have an African-type of epidemic" and that the danger of HIV and AIDS there "is really getting out of hand." He also said other Asia-Pacific nations like Malaysia, Vietnam and Myanmar are also worrisome as the number of infections there continue to rise.

Gaylord Nelson, founder of Earth Day, died Sunday in Kensington, Maryland, of cardiovascular failure. Nelson, who was 89, was also a governor and senator from the U.S. state of Wisconsin. He created the concept of an annual recognition of environmental causes at a speech in Seattle in September 1969, and the first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970. In 1995, Nelson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his environmental efforts by U.S. President Bill Clinton.

Younis Mohammad Ibrahim al-Hayyari, who was believed to be one of the top leaders of Al-Qaeda, died after exchanging fire and hurling hand grenades at Saudi Arabian police in Riyadh. Hayyari's name was at the top of a list of 36 al Qaeda suspects announced by Riyadh last week. The ministry of the Interior said he had helped prepare explosives and had played a part in several attacks on targets there. Saudi Arabia has been battling suspected al Qaida militants for two years since May 2003, when they launched their campaign of violence with triple suicide bombings at expatriate housing compounds in Riyadh. Successive leaders of the Saudi wing of al Qaida have been killed since 2003 and Saudi officials say their replacements are increasingly inexperienced. But Western counterterrorism experts say al Qaida has shown a resilience and ability to regenerate.

Karla Homolka has transfixed Canada since she helped her husband drug, rape, torture, videotape and kill two teenage girls and cause the death of her own sister. Homolka, 35, will be released sometime before tuesday after serving the full sentence of 12 years in prison for manslaughter. According to press accounts of her childhood, Homolka was just 17, a bright 11th-grader, when she met Paul Bernardo, 23, a charming and handsome man, in 1987. Bernardo would ultimately be found by police to be a serial rapist, with sometime-assistance from Homolka. Homolka struck a bargain with prosecutors to plead guilty to two counts of manslaughter and testify against her husband, and fears she will be the target of vigilantes angry about what many Canadians consider the "deal with the devil" that's to blame for her imminent release.

An underwater volcano has erupted in the Pacific Ocean, about 1400 kilometers south of Tokyo. A plume of steam, rising more than 1100 meters into the air, was spotted by Japanese troops on the island of Iwo Jima, which is about 48 kilometers from the eruption. The last undersea eruption in the area lasted three days back in 1986.

The United States decided on Friday to indefinitely retain control the 13 root servers that direct all internet traffic to the right locations. This decision drew concern from foreign officials who would rather see an international group such as ICANN oversee the control of the servers. David Gross, a U.S. ambassador and the coordinator for international communications and information policies of the US State Department, insists that the announcement was not related to U.N. discussions. This decision reverses a statement made by the United States in 1998 in which they said would hand power over to ICANN after meeting a number of set conditions. A spokesman said that the declaration was in response to growing security threats and global communications and to the fact that commerce is becoming more reliant on the Internet.

It is believed that magnetic resonance spectroscopy can detect genetic flaws which are an almost certain guarantee that the person will develop Alzheimers disease later in life. Scientists have also used positron emission tomography, or PET scans to see if Alzheimers disease developed in some test subjects. Another study determined that blood levels of a protein called amyloid beta 42 drops three to five years before a patient was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. It was also found that Japanese-Americans who drank the most fruit and vegetable juice had a fourfold lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s. One researcher found that moderate drinkers of alcohol had a lower risk of Alzheimer’s than either non-drinkers or heavy drinkers.

Steve Fossett and his co-pilot Mark Rebholz successfully flew a custom-built replica biplane across the Atlantic from St. John's, Newfoundland and landed Sunday at a golf course in Clifden, western Ireland. The trip took approximately 17 hours, 45 minutes longer than the original flight back in June 1919, by British pilots John Alcock and Arthur Whitten-Brown, who on their original trip, crash landed in a swamp. Mr. Fossett, who is 60 and already holds world records in five pursuits, decided to try an aircraft that lacked such modern conveniences as power steering.

Today in History from Wikipedia

Today is Sunday, July 3, 2005. Today is the 184th day of the year. There are 181 days remaining in this year. Here are some of the events that happened today in history:

  • In 1608, the City of Quebec was founded by Samuel de Champlain.
  • In 1886, the New York Tribune becomes the first newspaper to use a linotype machine, eliminating typesetting by hand.
  • In 1890, Idaho was admitted as the 43rd U.S. state.
  • This was the day in 1935 that André Citroën, the French automobile pioneer, died.
  • American actor Tom Cruise was born on this day in 1962.
  • And in 1976, Israeli commandos rescued 105 hostages at Entebbe Airport, Uganda.

(Closing Comments)

Thank you for joining us for today's segment. Join us again tomorrow for more headlines, news, facts, and anniversaries.

I'm Paul Robinson. This report is in the public domain.

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