-Caveat Lector- Click Here: <A HREF="http://www.aci.net/kalliste/">The Home Page of J. Orlin Grabbe</A> ----- EgyptAir Flight 990 Coverup Specialists Take Over EgyptAir Inquiry Investigators view Moslem prayer as a criminal act. WASHINGTON - The voice and data recorders from EgyptAir Flight 990 reveal that just before one of the pilots, apparently alone in the cockpit, turned off the autopilot, he uttered a very short Muslim prayer, government sources said. National Transportation Safety Board officials found the evidence so disturbing, administration sources said Tuesday, that they have decided to turn the probe over to the FBI. Investigators are certain what the words in Arabic were, the sources said, but they are not sure how to interpret their meaning. The cockpit voice recorder tape also contains sounds similar to a door opening and closing more than once, the sources said. That led investigators to wonder whether one of the pilots left the cockpit, which would have given the other pilot the opportunity to take some action that could have led to the Oct. 31 crash, which killed 217. Although it is far from certain, one highly placed source said the captain apparently had been out of the cockpit and returned just as the plane's fatal dive began, and after that ''there is some evidence they are working at cross purposes.'' The new information came after safety board technicians synchronized the voice and flight data recorders, and Arabic translators listened carefully to the tape. The FBI director, Louis Freeh, and the chairman of the safety board, Jim Hall, met Monday to discuss what both agencies know about the two tapes and how to proceed. A high government source said the government wanted to officially inform the Egyptian government and still wanted native Egyptian Arabic speakers to hear the tape to be certain. [EgyptAir said Tuesday that the prayer uttered in the cockpit only points toward an emergency on board before the crash, The Associated Press reported. The airline said that the crew members of the plane were very skilled and that if someone read out a prayer it was only ''natural'' in an emergency situation.] The tone of the investigation changed overnight. The day before, the FBI was saying with certainty that no evidence of criminal acts had been found. And numerous federal law enforcement and political sources, who Sunday night said a preliminary reading of the Boeing 767's voice recorder contained no indication the plane had been deliberately crashed by someone in the cockpit, are now not so sure. Language specialists from the CIA joined the group analyzing the voice recorder tape on Monday, even as some senior safety board investigators, the Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing Co. have been denied normal access to the tapes, and security at the safety board's laboratory in Southwest Washington was heightened. Mr. Hall refused to offer substantive answers to any question at an afternoon briefing Monday, but expressed confidence that the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder would allow the agency to solve the mystery of why the plane went into a sudden dive from 33,000 feet (10,000 meters) and plunged into the Atlantic. It is highly unusual for the safety board to clamp down on information. [Yeah, right.] The board prides itself on releasing daily any confirmed information even if it is not yet fully in context. That effort is to assure the public that there is no substantial information they do not have, and therefore discourage rumors and conspiracy theories. But under safety board procedures, the FBI immediately takes over a crash investigation when there is some evidence of criminal conduct, and the safety board then declines to comment and aids the FBI investigation. Government sources said the words on the cockpit recorder that disturbed investigators were not noted on a first hearing of the tape. But after the tape had been refined and heard by a translator fluent in the particular Arabic dialect, the translator immediately reported its significance to investigators. The key to understanding the sequence of events was that the safety board laboratory was able to correlate the exact timing on the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder. They therefore knew exactly when the troubling words were uttered and when the door was opened, in relation to the plane's dive. Cockpit voice recorders on modern aircraft are sophisticated sound systems with four microphones strategically placed around the cockpit. If the recorder works properly, it will catch even the most subtle sound. The safety board's laboratory can analyze almost any sound, even determining exactly how fast an engine was running outside and what sort of explosive was used in terrorist acts. According to the two recorders, Flight 990 had an uneventful climb to its cruising altitude on its way from New York to Cairo with two captains, Ahmed Habashy and Raouf Noureldin, at the controls. At 45 seconds after 1:49 A.M., the autopilot was disconnected, apparently by one of the pilots. Eight seconds later, the plane began a pilot-initiated dive that gradually increased over the next 10 to 12 seconds. About 15 seconds later, two odd things happened. The left and right elevators on the horizontal stabilizer - which make the plane go up or down - moved in opposite directions. Normally, they move in tandem, but they can move independently if one pilot pushes forward on his control column and the other pilot pulls backward. Also, someone shut off the two engines by pulling the engine start levers to ''cutoff.'' Whether these actions resulted from a struggle would be one focus of a criminal investigation. On long overseas flights, three and sometimes four pilots are used to allow everyone to have rest breaks. Although it is not clear where two of the four EgyptAir pilots were at the time of the dive, it would be normal after reaching cruise altitude for one or two of them to go to rest areas to be fresh for later phases of the flight. After the engine shutdown, power went off to the recorders and the altitude-reporting transponder, but a radar analysis indicates the plane climbed to 24,000 feet and then apparently stalled and fell to the ocean. Pilots point out that a fast-moving plane is likely to climb abruptly if all controls are relaxed. Conspiracy theories abounded in the crash of Trans World Airlines Flight 800 in 1996 partly because the FBI effectively took control of the investigation - even though it was never declared the lead agency - and the flow of information was restricted. Regarding Flight 990, the FBI had repeatedly said until Sunday night that there was no evidence of criminal activity. There were no such assurances Monday, however. ''We are reviewing the tape to determine if we have jurisdiction,'' said an FBI spokesman, Anita Dickens. ''Right now there hasn't been a determination. ''We are not the lead agency as of now. There have been a lot of meetings.'' International Herald Tribune, November 17, 1999 Federal Reserve Fed Raises Overnight Target Rate by 25 Basis Points Yes, yes. Buy more stock. WASHINGTON - Federal Reserve Board policymakers, concluding that U.S. economic growth was so rapid that it posed a risk of higher inflation, raised their target for overnight interest rates by a quarter-percentage point to 5.5 percent on Tuesday. In addition, the Federal Open Market Committee, the central bank's top policymaking group, adopted a ''neutral'' directive that gave no indication whether the committee's next step would be a rate increase or a rate cut. But stocks rose after the move as investors figured the rate adjustment would be the last for the near term. The key to the action, which is intended to slow spending by both consumers and businesses, was a significant decline last month in America's pool of available workers. The continuing shrinkage in that pool of workers is a sign that economic growth is still running at an unsustainably high pace, the Fed chairman, Alan Greenspan, has said. Going into the meeting of the committee, members were divided over whether rates needed to be increased. Some who wanted to keep rates unchanged pointed to signs that growth in some parts of the economy, including housing and auto sales, was already slowing. In addition, those officials argued, there was little if any evidence that tight labor markets were causing wages to go up in an inflationary fashion or that inflation was picking up. The announcement of the rate increase acknowledged those points but said that was not enough. ''Although cost pressures appear generally contained, risks to sustainable growth persist,'' the statement said. ''Despite tentative evidence of a slowing in certain interest-sensitive sectors of the economy and of accelerating productivity, the expansion of activity continues in excess of the economy's growth potential. ''As a consequence, the pool of available workers willing to take jobs has been drawn down further in recent months, a trend that must eventually be contained if inflationary imbalances are to remain in check and economic expansion continue,'' it said. Separately, the Federal Reserve Board raised the Fed's discount rate, the interest rate financial institutions pay when they borrow money from a regional Federal Reserve bank, to 5 percent from 4.75 percent. Before the meeting, several Fed officials had said that rates would not be changed at the next committee meeting, on Dec. 21, to avoid market disruptions related to the Y2K computer problem. International Herald Tribune, November 17, 1999 Chicago Board of Trade More Politics at the CBOT >From the boardroom to the bedroom. Internal politics, never far from the surface at the Chicago Board of Trade, are set to bubble up again. Traders at the largest US futures exchange will vote today on five "governance" petitions, aimed at making directors and senior executives more accountable to the membership. One, for example, calls for directors' and senior officials' salaries to be made public; another crimps the power of Tom Donovan, the exchange's president, to appoint outside directors. Then, in early-December, they will return to the ballot-box, this time to elect half a dozen directors. Already, the slate of candidates is laden with Chicago-based independent traders and members. Representatives of big, New York-based trading houses are conspicuous by their absence. At face value, another blast of Chicago politics would seem to be the last thing the exchange needs, especially when it is already battling to maintain volumes this year and catch up with the shift towards screen-based trading. Some traders have said as much, describing the petitions as a distraction. Fiercest opposition has come from Mr Donovan himself: the petition vote, he has argued, "is having a serious negative impact not only on the morale of the staff team, but possibly on member seat prices". Nevertheless, both ballots go to the heart of the problems at CBOT - namely, a suspicion among traders that their exchange is being run in the interests of big companies and an entrenched staff organisation, rather than the membership overall. That disquiet led to the surprise election of David Brennan, an independent soyabean trader, as chairman last year. But Mr Brennan himself subsequently tripped on boardroom politics, and the grievances remain largely unaddressed. As one trader points out, there is something rather curious about the CBOT trying to decide how to deal with the threat posed by BrokerTec, an electronic trading platform planned by the leading investment banks, when two representatives of those institutions sit on the exchange's board (although they have stood down from votes on BrokerTec-related issues). Already, the petitions have had some effect. Directors have decided to support one measure, which calls for their individual votes on board decisions to be disclosed. Mr Donovan's $1.4m salary has also become a matter of public record. As for Mr Brennan, he spent much of last week's futures industry conference in Chicago trying to downplay the local politics. But the internal shenanigans have not escaped Eurex, the European exchange that has agreed to a technology-based partnership with the CBOT. This will see the two exchanges share a common electronic trading platform. Jorg Franke, Eurex chairman, says: "For the time being, it seems not to be a problem - we are in line with the membership vote." The Financial Times, November 17, 1999 Miss UK "All I Want to Do, Is Write Something Horrible" An ample endowment of intelligence. The nation's hopes are pinned on Nicola Willoughby who, as Miss UK, will represent Britain in the Miss World contest next month. But, as she tells Emily Bearn, what she really wants to do is learn the violin, write horror stories and train as a paramedic ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SHOULD you aspire to be crowned Miss World, you will (according to the contest's officials) need to avail yourself of more than a large chest, a pink swimsuit and a Maybelline lash-enhancer. In this age of enlightenment and emancipation, you will also be judged on your 'strength of character'. That's not to say that you won't have to prance around in a bikini and flip your hair for the seaside photocall (the contest isn't known as 'Opportunity Knockers' for nothing). But, to win, you must convince the judges that you are possessed of 'intelligence and independence of mind'. These are assets with which Nicola Willoughby, the 18-year-old from Lincoln who will represent Britain in the Miss World contest next month, appears to be amply endowed. When we meet at the pageant's headquarters in Soho, I am, inevitably, struck by her appearance, above all by her dissimilarity to the previous winners of the contest, photographs of whom are emblazoned on the office walls. It is not merely that she is devoid of a tiara and heavy lipstick, but Miss UK - unlike Miss Iceland, Miss Puerto Rico and the 46 other statuesque traffic-stoppers beaming out of their glass frames - is extremely slight. She is wearing black trousers, a tiny lime-green cardigan and she has added a few inches to her height with a pair of high-heeled shoes. I am unable to supply her vital statistics (Miss World contestants are no longer required to declare them) but I can say that she is flawlessly pretty and looks as though she would have no difficulty breathing in a pair of size-eight hot-pants. Nicola was crowned Miss UK in September, shortly after completing a two-year course in health and social care at North Lincolnshire College. Over a mug of strong tea, she explains to me how she graduated, with some reticence, to being a beauty queen. 'I was first approached to do modelling by Elite last year,' she says in her soft voice. 'One of their agents came up to me when I was shopping in Covent Garden with a friend and said I should go and see them at their office but I never went. I just didn't want to model - it's no good if you only get a couple of jobs a week. My friends thought I was mad but I just want to be happy and stable.' She was persuaded to enter the Miss UK contest by a patient at a nursing home in Lincoln, where she had a temporary job as a care assistant. 'There was an elderly lady there who showed me a copy of Take a Break magazine, which was running a competition for its own Miss UK candidate, and she said I should enter. I'd seen the contest on television ages ago and I never thought I wanted to do it, but since she encouraged me I thought I would. I never dreamed that I would actually win.' She sent the magazine some snapshots, and, after two triumphant regional heats, found herself at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane competing against 19 other finalists for the 1999 Miss UK crown. The pageant is chaired by Eric Morley, the former bingo-hall manager and chairman of Mecca, who is keen to stress that it is no longer about the 'purely physical', so this year the girls paraded up and down a catwalk wearing business suits and giant Ascot-style hats. But to appease the old guard there was also a beachwear dancing section, during which Miss Mansfield was reported to have encountered difficulty with her cleavage (an experience we were denied the pleasure of witnessing, since not one television station deigned to beam the event into our living-rooms). 'Everyone got quite stressed out at first because it was a rush to get all the hair and make-up done in time,' says Nicola. 'But once it started the ceremony was really nice. I talked to Jeremy Beadle and Frank Bruno, who was very friendly - I thought it was funny that a boxer could be so kind.' The five judges - who included Lorraine Kelly (a presenter on GMTV) and Bradley Walsh (a former presenter of the National Lottery) - voted Nicola Miss UK and duly crowned her with a gold and diamond tiara which last year's winner, Emmalene McLoughlin, admitted was 'slightly bent' because her mother had inadvertently sat on it. 'When I won I was just completely shocked, I couldn't believe it,' says Nicola. 'I found it difficult not to cry. Last year's Miss UK was really supportive - she spoke to me after the competition and said I'd get used to it all.' What have her duties as Miss UK entailed? 'Well, I've been on the cover of Take a Break, and I've appeared on GMTV and I've been on a news bulletin on Yorkshire television. And I've done a fashion shoot for the Sun and a few radio interviews.' Has she enjoyed it? 'It's been really interesting, but it's not the sort of thing that I want to do for a living,' she says. 'I want to train to be a paramedic. I've wanted to do that ever since I started seeing medical dramas on television. I always thought I'd be quite good at talking to people after accidents and calming them down. I would have loved to be a doctor but it's such a long time to train. You don't really get practising on your own until you're about 40.' Nicola also enjoys writing, and has already knocked off a number of short stories. 'They're horror stories,' she explains. 'I write about ghosts and things - whatever comes into my head. I just write it down and it goes on and on.' She would now like to write a book chronicling her experiences as Miss UK. 'I'd like to tell what it's been like. I think it would make a really interesting story.' She is likely to be provided with plenty of good copy on 4 December when she competes against 98 other girls in the Miss World championships at Olympia. They will model a variety of outfits (the dress code has not yet been finalised), and the contest will be broadcast in 150 countries around the world, to an estimated audience of two billion. Is she nervous? 'I'm not so nervous about this one as I was about the Miss UK contest because I know what it's like now. I'm quite a relaxed person really. I find it quite easy to get on with people.' In preparation for the contest the girls will be flown to Malta, where they will don their swimming costumes and spend a week cavorting around the beach in front of the world's press. (As a Miss World spokesman explains, if the girls are to wear swimsuits, they should do so in a 'natural beachwear environment'.) They will then return to London and spend the day before the contest getting to know the ten-strong team of judges. The girls' 'strength of character' will be tested when they are interviewed by them and expected to discuss their interests and perhaps divulge their thoughts on issues such as global warming and world peace. And it might not stop there: last year's contest, held in the Seychelles, included a section in which the finalists were asked to demonstrate their propensity for friendship and to supply a photograph of the fellow contestant with whom they had bonded most meaningfully. One or two named Miss Seychelles as their best friend, while Miss Czech Republic said she'd got on famously with Miss Slovakia. Such a precedent might suggest that this year we will see Miss Spain declaring undying regard for Miss Chile. If she is crowned Miss World, Nicola will win �60,000 in prize money; winning the Miss UK crown has already brought her �30,000 (�5,000 up front; the rest in ten monthly instalments). What has she done with it? 'I've opened a current account and a savings account, so most of it's in there. I might spend more money on music - I like dance and soul, and I've always been interested in learning to play the violin. And maybe I'll buy a new wardrobe as well. I buy things from Miss Selfridge but I'd like to shop at Harvey Nichols sometimes.' If she wins Miss World, will she move to London and become a professional model? 'No, I'll still just want to be a paramedic.' What do her friends think of her new title? 'Some have been odd, but most of them have just congratulated me.' Nicola lives in Lincoln with her boyfriend of two years, Shane, who works for a mobile telephone company. He is less cong ratulatory. 'He doesn't really like me doing it. I don't think he'd want me to win Miss World, but he'd put up with it.' Since its inauguration in 1951, the Miss World pageant has been sporadically deplored for debasing female dignity. Three years ago, when the contest was staged in India, 50 people were injured after police fired a hail of rubber bullets at protesters. The event is now broadcast in Britain by Channel 5, ITV having relinquished its option on it in 1989 when they decided (after 38 years) that it 'degraded women'. Does Nicola agree? 'I think it's OK,' she says. 'As long as the contestants put themselves across alright then it's not at all degrading. I think the most important thing is to have nice manners. My role model is my mother because she brought me up right. I think that's really important.' When the Miss World contestants take to the beaches of Malta in their stringy swimming costumes, cynics may find themselves doubting that 'intelligence and independence of mind' is what the game is all about. But if those really are the qualities for which this year's enlightened judges are looking, then they would do well to crown Miss Willoughby. The London Telegraph, November 17, 1999 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, Omnia Bona Bonis, All My Relations. Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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