NucNews - December 31, 2005 -------- NUCLEAR -------- britain CBI Issues Warning Over 2006 December 31, 2005 Ananova http://www.ananova.com/business/story/sm_1664837.html?menu=business Firms are entering 2006 in an uneasy state as major decisions loom on the economy, pensions and energy, the CBI has warned. It has claimed British jobs and competitiveness are at stake amid uncertainty as companies wait for the Government to clarify its intentions on these key issues. It has also warned a "sizeable" deficit in the Treasury's accounts could lead to another tax raid on business following the recent levy on the oil industry. CBI president John Sunderland said: "Businesses like clarity when planning future investment decisions, but as we enter 2006 there are a great many policy balls up in the air. "If the Government drops any of these, British jobs and British competitiveness will suffer." The coming year will see announcements on key issues such as nuclear energy, with the Government due to reveal whether it will give the green light for a new generation of nuclear power stations. Ministers are also due to say whether they will implement the proposals recently laid out by the Pensions Commission on the future of pensions provision in the UK. Mr Sunderland said this would be one of the "defining decisions" of the year for the Government. He added the 2006 Budget would probably be Chancellor Gordon Brown's most critical. Mr Brown announced in his Pre-Budget Report earlier this month that he was doubling a key levy on extraction of oil and gas from the North Sea, which will rake in £2.3bn a year for the Treasury. -------- business Westinghouse Reactor Design Wins U.S. OK From Bloomberg News, December 31, 2005 http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-briefs31.1dec31,0,2345368.story The Westinghouse Electric Co. unit of British Nuclear Fuels won final approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a nuclear power plant design that's been chosen for two possible projects in the U.S. Approval of the AP1000 design clears the way for nuclear plant developers to submit license applications for reactors of that design. The commission hasn't approved construction of a nuclear power plant in the U.S. since 1978. -------- japan Report: Marines to Train Japanese Troops Sat Dec 31, 2005 4:08 AM ET Associated Press http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051231/ap_on_re_as/japan_china TOKYO - Japanese troops will train with U.S. Marines next year to strengthen Tokyo's defense of islands also claimed by China which are believed to lie near oil and gas resources in the East China Sea, a report said Saturday. Japan's Self-Defense Forces will also develop short-range torpedoes for combat in shallow waters, the business newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported. The paper said about 125 Japanese troops will be sent to San Diego in January for joint exercises with Marines simulating a landing on an occupied island. The islands — called Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan — lie in the East China Sea between Taiwan and Japan. They were ceded to Japan by China in an 1895 war and continue to be a frequent source of friction between the nations. Self-Defense Forces officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the report but have earlier said Japan and the United States plan joint training by the end of March. The Nihon Keizai report came days after Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso said Beijing poses "a considerable military threat" because it has nuclear weapons and is boosting its military spending. China called the remarks irresponsible and groundless. Relations between Japan and China, linked by billions of dollars of trade, aid and investment, have seen an unprecedented string of clashes over the past year. The two countries have sparred over their wartime history, territorial and resource disputes, and China's growing military power. Relations soured further several days ago, when Beijing denounced Tokyo for claiming that Chinese spies drove a Japanese diplomat to commit suicide last year. -------- pakistan PM underlines increase in energy resources Saturday December 31, 2005 (0120 PST) PakTribune http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=129887 ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Friday underscored the imperatives to increase energy resources of the country at a fast-paced rate. "Government is focusing on generating more nuclear energy as it planned to produce 8800 MW of nuclear power in the next 25 years which will contribute 8% of the total electricity production by the year 2030, he stated this while chairing the 33rd council meeting of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) at the PM secretariat. He said that the energy needs of the country are growing by 8-10% annually and energy security critical to maintain growth and competitiveness in the rapidly globalised world. "Government was looking for the power generation from all possible sources", he added. He said our strategic direction for development of energy sector including enhancing exploitation of the hydropower, energy generation through the use of gas and furnace oil, alternate energy resources and increased emphasis on nuclear energy resources. Shaukat Aziz said that country’s nuclear program was for peaceful purposes. "We have an established an effective command and control authority to ensure the safety and security of our strategic assets", he added. He said that Pakistan was working with China to explore new avenues of cooperation for peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Prime Minister in principle approved establishment of separate company PAEC bio sciences Pvt limited to market agricultural service. He appreciated PAEC management and staff for consistently taking the nuclear energy program forward. Appreciating PAEC for its valuable services in the health and agriculture sector, he said that PAEC cancer hospital were providing valuable services to cancer patients. Prime Minister was informed during 2005 farmers earned an additional income of Rs. 10 billion due to new varieties of crops evolved by PAEC in wheat, cotton and rice. Chairman PEAC said, in health sector, PAEC is running 13 cancer hospitals where about 350000 patients were treated in 2005. The plane to set up 13 hospitals have also been finalized. On completion of these hospitals PAEC will be able to cover the entire country, he added. -------- russia Oak Ridge researchers help Russians protect nuclear materials December 31, 2005 (AP) http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=4305858 OAK RIDGE -- A team of a dozen or more researchers and nuclear specialist from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory is helping to protect nuclear materials in Russia. The project has been going on for nearly 20 years, but in recent times the focus has shifted to improving the security of the rail system. Because the highway infrastructure in Russia is poor, trains are the primary means of moving strategic materials and weapons components around the vast nation -making them potential targets for terrorism. The Oak Ridge team has worked with their Russian counterparts to upgrade old rail cars used to move enriched uranium and plutonium. They've also has helped create designs for a new line of rail cars being manufactured in Russia, and assisted in installing GPS systems and other technologies to track and safeguard the nuclear cargoes. The U.S. government is funding the project to try to reduce the spread of Russia's nuclear materials and capabilities. -------- MILITARY -------- afghanistan Afghanistan Casualties Doubled in 2005 Sat Dec 31, 2005 Antiwar.com http://www.antiwar.com/blog/index.php?id=P2591 Sadly, it appears that the number of American troops killed in Afghanistan this past year have just about doubled the casualty rate of each of the preceding years. Troop deaths of other coalition members are also at their all time highest level. There are currently 19,000 American troops in Afghanistan. -------- britain Openness laws could be tightened One request was about toilet paper expenditure, said Lord Falconer Saturday, 31 December 2005 (BBC) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4570956.stm The government is considering changing the year-old Freedom of Information Act to limit so-called frivolous inquiries. Writing in the Guardian, the Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer said the new laws had successfully cracked open "the culture of secrecy in Whitehall". But a minority of requests had been made simply to feed the "wilder fevers of journalistic wish-lists", he said. Lord Falconer told the BBC the scope of the Act could be widened to include private bodies running public services. The Freedom of Information Act 2000, which became law on 1 January 2005, means people have the right to access information held by 100,000 public bodies. Police forces, hospitals, schools, local councils and the government are obliged to reply to requests for information. But privately run public services are not covered by the laws. Lord Falconer said he could see a case for widening the provisions of the act to include such bodies. He told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme: "They have not been included in the first wave, but there's a provision in the Act which allows the Act's provisions to be extended to bodies like privately run prisons or city academies." He suggested a consultation on which bodies they should be extended to should be undertaken. 'Significant information' On so-called frivolous inquiries, Lord Falconer said requests for the number of windows at the Department for Education and Skills and for how much another department spent on toilet paper had been made. Irresponsible queries such as these diverted energy from answering "worthwhile requests", he told the Guardian. "Freedom of information is about giving power to the people, not about declaring open season for the wilder fevers of journalistic wish-lists," he said. But Lord Falconer said the vast majority of requests had been for key information about issues, especially local ones, which had "a real impact on people's lives". "Inevitably, a small minority have not been so responsible," he told the paper. "So we are looking now at the operation of the Act to ensure that its central purpose is being honoured." 'Deluge of detail' On Today Lord Falconer said: "Very, very significant amounts of information are being released." He added that something like 16,000 pieces of information had been disclosed by central government and other bodies in the nine months since the Act came into force. The Act had led to "a deluge of detail coming into the public domain for the first time ever", he said. He added: "Our job now is to sustain it for the benefit of all the people." Lord Falconer also defended the fact that at least one in 10 information request under the new laws had not been met in time, saying the vast majority had met the deadline. He said: "Of course there will be some not dealt with in the time because they take longer than expected. "I am not surprised that there have been some problems in relation to timing because this is a new arrangement - it has changed completely the approach to disclosure that existed before." -------- latin america Castro welcomes Bolivia's Morales Saturday 31 December 2005 Aljazeera http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/4E635C72-4A43-450E-B548-BC2EB58EA8DE.htm Evo Morales, Bolivia's socialist president-elect, has won a hero's welcome and a co-operation deal in Havana. The Cuban government welcomed Morales' election as an important triumph over US influence in the region. Castro said: "I think that it has moved the world. It's something extraordinary, something historic. The map is changing." Castro, 79, sent his private plane to bring Morales to Havana, on his first visit abroad since winning Bolivia's 18 December presidential vote. Morales, who has never hidden his admiration for Cuba's revolution, said he felt "joy, great emotion to be here". Morales referred to Castro as "el comandante" and said his trip was a gesture of "friendship with the Cuban people". Political loyalty Morales' visit to Cuba underlines the political loyalties of the leftist leader, who pledged to join Castro's "anti-imperialist struggle" in a message to the Cuban people the day after his election. Castro said Morales' election was "something extraordinary" that had "rocked the world". Morales will be the first indigenous president in Bolivia, which has a majority of ethnic Aymara and Quechua peoples. "Our brother Evo possesses all the necessary qualities needed to lead his country." Despite US efforts to isolate Cuba, Castro enjoys very close ties to Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's leftist president. Left-leaning governments have come to power elsewhere in the region, from Argentina and Uruguay to Chile and Brazil. Castro said "during our discussion we were in touch with Chavez," but he did not offer further details. "Immoral" USA A week ago, Chavez, referring to Morales' win, said "(US) threats have already begun. From here on in, we are demanding that the immoral imperialist US government respect the holy sovereignty of Bolivia and the government elected by Bolivia." As an activist for coca farmers in Bolivia, Morales cultivated friendly ties with Castro for years and has pledged to support Chavez's effort to defeat a US-proposed free trade area. During his campaign, Morales described himself as Washington's "nightmare". Morales has struck a more moderate tone since his election, promising Bolivia's business leaders that he will create a climate favourable for foreign investment and jobs, and will not "expropriate or confiscate any assets". Bolivian democracy Morales won the presidency with nearly 54% of the vote - the most support for any president since democracy was restored to Bolivia two decades ago. Morales has vowed to nationalise Bolivia's large natural gas industry and end the US-sponsored coca eradication programme that he says has hurt farmers and failed to curb drug trafficking. Castro and Morales signed a co-operation agreement late on Friday that would boost Cuba's medical and educational assistance to Bolivia. Among the poorest and least developed countries in Latin America, Bolivia none the less has a literacy rate of more than 87%. On 3 January, Morales will embark on an extensive international tour, including visits to Spain, France, Belgium, South Africa, China and Brazil. Morales has invited Castro to his inauguration ceremonies on 22 January. Agencies -------- russia / chechnya Russia Seeking Clout With G-8 Presidency By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press Writer Sat Dec 31, 1:52 PM ET http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051231/ap_on_re_eu/russia_g8 MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin's push to revive Russian global clout reaches a symbolic milestone Sunday when Moscow assumes the rotating presidency of the Group of Eight industrial nations. It's a position that some critics say Putin doesn't deserve because of his government's rollback on freedoms in Russia. Putin has suggested this summer's G-8 summit in his home city of St. Petersburg focus on energy security, reflecting Moscow's aspirations to convert oil wealth into political influence. It hopes projects like a prospective Baltic Sea pipeline to deliver Russian natural gas to western Europe would bolster its clout and muzzle Western criticism of its democracy record. "Moscow hopes to use energy as a trump card to persuade the Western leaders that it's a powerful player to reckon with," said Yevgeny Volk, head of the Moscow office for the conservative Heritage Foundation. While the other members of the G-8 club — the world's seven wealthiest countries — have voiced concern about Russia's backtracking on democracy under Putin, they will likely avoid strong criticism to help Russia maintain a respectable profile as their chairman. "Despite its discontent, the West won't toughen its attitude to Russia," said Lilia Shevtsova, a leading researcher with the Carnegie Endowment's Moscow office. "It will likely apply behind-the-scenes pressure and the tactics of acting on the basis of reciprocity." The Group of Seven — the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada — first sought to engage Russia in 1991, inviting participation by then-Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev to encourage his campaign to reform the Soviet Union. The U.S.S.R. collapsed later that year. And the G-7 began inviting Russia's first president, Boris Yeltsin, to the annual meetings of its national leaders in a bid to support Russia's free-market reforms and help safeguard its huge arsenal of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. While Kremlin leaders attended the summits and Russia was eventually added to create the G-8, Moscow never has been included in all economic and financial discussions. That reflects the fact that despite rapid oil-driven economic growth, the Russian economy ranks only 16th in the world and is far smaller than that of the other seven members. Putin has sought to integrate Russia more closely in the G-8, but the Kremlin's authoritarian streak has strained relations with the West and prompted some members of the U.S. Congress to call for Russia's suspension from the group. Since Putin became Russian president in 2000, his government has established a firm grip over all national broadcasters, the parliament has become a rubber-stamp for the Kremlin and popularly elected provincial governors have been replaced with Putin appointees. And while the Kremlin has sought to encourage foreign investment, the carve-up of Mikhail Khodorkovsky's Yukos oil company in what was widely seen as a Kremlin vendetta for his political ambitions has underlined doubts about the rule of law in Russia and kept many investors wary. Those concerns were deepened Tuesday when Putin economic adviser Andrei Illarionov quit, saying he no longer wanted to work for a government that tramples on freedoms. Illarionov, who earlier this year had been stripped of the job of Russian envoy to the G-8, said Russia has turned into a "corporate" state where giant, government-controlled enterprises stifle competition and enrich their owners at the public's expense. "Illarionov's departure has made it more difficult for the Kremlin to pretend that Russia is moving in the same direction as the rest of the civilized world," said Volk of the Heritage Foundation. In the latest Kremlin effort to tighten controls over public life, Russian lawmakers this month endorsed a bill imposing tight restrictions on human rights advocates and other nonprofit groups. Relations between the West and Moscow also have been strained over relations with former Soviet republics. Moscow says the United States and other Western countries are encroaching on its traditional sphere of influence. The West accuses the Kremlin of strong-arming Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova, including using Russia's state-controlled natural gas monopoly to apply pressure. "Russia is actively using gas diplomacy for its expansion over the ex-Soviet space in a bid to become a regional superpower," said Shevtsova at the Carnegie Endowment. Despite the assertive stance at home and abroad, most analysts predict the West will avoid confrontations because of Russia's increasingly important role as a global energy supplier. "Russia's place in the world's most exclusive club has been determined — it's that of an energy reservoir," said Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs magazine. -------- POLITICS -------- investigations Justice Dept. Investigating Leak of NSA Wiretapping Probe Seeks Source Of Classified Data By Dan Eggen Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, December 31, 2005; A01 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/30/AR2005123000538_pf.html The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into recent disclosures about a controversial domestic eavesdropping program that was secretly authorized by President Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, officials said yesterday. Federal prosecutors will focus their examination on who may have unlawfully disclosed classified information about the program to the New York Times, which reported two weeks ago that Bush had authorized the National Security Agency to monitor the international telephone calls and e-mails of U.S. citizens and residents without court-approved warrants, officials said. The Justice Department's decision to reveal the opening of a criminal investigation is rare, particularly given the highly classified nature of the probe. White House deputy press secretary Trent Duffy told reporters in Crawford, Tex., yesterday that the department "undertook this action on its own" and that Bush had only learned about it from senior staff earlier in the day. But Duffy reiterated earlier statements by Bush, who had sharply condemned the disclosure of the NSA program and argued that it seriously damaged national security. "The fact is that al Qaeda's playbook is not printed on Page One, and when America's is, it has serious ramifications," Duffy said, reading from prepared remarks. "You don't need to be Sun Tzu to understand that," he added, referring to the ancient Chinese general who wrote "The Art of War." Leak investigations generally begin with a referral to the Justice Department by the agency in question -- in this case the NSA -- which prompts a preliminary inquiry by prosecutors to determine whether a crime has been committed. The opening of a criminal investigation signals that prosecutors believe that laws barring disclosure of classified information by government officials were broken. It is likely to be a full-blown probe involving FBI agents and department investigators. The case is the latest in a series of clashes between the Fourth Estate and the Bush administration, which has aggressively enforced restrictions on classified information and has frequently complained about press disclosures related to terrorism or the war in Iraq. Earlier this year, a grand jury investigation by Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald into the disclosure of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity resulted in the jailing of Judith Miller, then a reporter at the New York Times, for refusing to testify, and in criminal charges against I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who resigned as Vice President Cheney's chief of staff. That probe is ongoing. In another recent case, the CIA general counsel's office notified the Justice Department in November that classified information had been disclosed in a report by The Washington Post on the existence of secret "black site" prisons in Eastern Europe and elsewhere. Department officials declined to comment yesterday on whether that referral has also led to a full criminal probe. News of the domestic spying program by the NSA, which is normally restricted to eavesdropping overseas, set off a firestorm of criticism from lawmakers and civil liberties advocates and contributed to the administration's failure to persuade Congress to pass a renewed version of the USA Patriot Act anti-terrorism law. The GOP chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee has vowed to hold hearings on the NSA program, and some other Republicans have demanded a congressional probe into the leak. The spying program also angered judges on a special court that administers the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which governs clandestine surveillance within the United States and which requires warrants for secret searches and wiretaps. One of the panel's members, U.S. District Judge James Robertson, submitted his resignation from the secret court in protest, according to sources familiar with his decision. Soon after the story broke Dec. 15 in the online edition of the New York Times, Bush and other administration officials took the unusual step of publicly acknowledging the program's existence, describing details of its operation and arguing that the initiative was legal and necessary in a time of war. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said the program "is probably the most highly classified program that exists in the United States government." The Times said it held the story for a year after the administration argued that its disclosure would harm national security. The published story relied on "nearly a dozen current and former officials," the newspaper said. Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis declined to comment on the Justice Department probe yesterday. Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, a journalism advocacy group, said the leak probe underscores the need for a federal "shield law" to protect reporters' sources. She and other observers also said that the NSA case appears to be less controversial, from a journalistic point of view, than the Plame case, which involves journalists attempting to protect sources allegedly engaged in political attacks. "It doesn't seem to me that this leak investigation will take on the importance of the Plame case," said Carl W. Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond. "The bigger story here is still the one about domestic spying and whether the president intends, as he said, to continue doing it." The American Civil Liberties Union, which has argued that a special prosecutor should be appointed to determine whether Bush violated federal wiretapping laws, called the leak probe an unwarranted attack on whistle-blowers. "Attorney General Gonzales is cracking down on critics of his friend and boss," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. Staff writer Lisa Rein in Crawford, Tex., contributed to this report. -------- ACTIVISTS Behind Veil of Iraq War, Winds of Peace by Jonathan Powers, Saturday, December 31, 2005 Boston Globe http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/12/31/behind_veil_of_iraq_war_winds_of_peace/ Americans seem to have less appetite for war than before. It took the best part of a decade for public opinion to swing firmly against the Vietnam War. This time, in Iraq, it has taken barely three years. Critics may like to make out that America is a warrior nation with an urge to dominate the world. But although from time to time martial figures do push themselves through to the seats of power, they seem unable to carry the public with them for long. It looks likely that in the next general election, Americans will vote for a candidate who stands against overseas adventurism. Those who are trying to erect a case for defanging a putative nuclear Iran by force will not succeed. Nor will those who want to up the ante with China. Of course nothing is simple when it comes to matters of war and peace. Edward Luttwak, writing in Foreign Affairs a few years ago, argued that ''An unpleasant truth often overlooked is that although war is a great evil, it does have a great virtue: It can resolve political conflicts and lead to peace." World War II is Everyman's exemplar of this. But World War I, the more important geopolitically of the two great wars, was the reverse. Without the tragic mistakes of statecraft that preceded it, allowing Europe to drift into massive carnage, there would have been no Great Depression, no rise of Hitler, no consolidation of the autocracy of Stalin, no Second World War, no unilateral development of the nuclear bomb and its use on Japan, and no Cold War. The tragedy of war or violence is not that sometimes it does not have positive outcomes. It is that the same goals could have been met without war if the protagonists had been more farsighted and more prepared to be patient and creative in their diplomacy and less bellicose in their confrontation. The war in Iraq has become a living example of how not to use the blunt instrument of armed might. At the same time, its fire and smoke are obscuring many positive trends all over the world. For the 10th successive year, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has reported that the number of wars has fallen over the last 12 months. The New York-based Freedom House reported this month that the spread of democracy and the respect for human rights continues on its upward trajectory. This year was one of the most successful years for freedom since 1972. The hype of a portion of the political class, constantly impressing upon us the need for combat if our precious freedoms are not to be undermined, too often pulls the wool over our eyes. Islamic terrorism is the present case in point. The renunciation of violence that was declared in 2003 from their jail cells by the leaders of Egypt's militant Islamic group, Al-Gamaa al-Islamiyya, was only barely reported and commentated on at the time, but it demonstrated how terrorism can be defeated by solid police work. And every time there is a bombing or racial disturbance in Europe, we get fired up by warnings about the danger of militant Islam. Yet, following the Madrid bombing, Elaine Sciolino reported in the International Herald Tribune that senior European counterterrorism officials were saying that ''the movement of young men from Europe to Iraq has not come close to the levels seen in the 1980s, when at least 10,000 men traveled to Afghanistan to fight against the Soviet occupation." In 1980, not only did that not worry us, but it pleased the authorities. Pull the wool aside and what can we see? Michael Mandelbaum in the journal of London's International Institute for Strategic Studies notes: ''The practice of war, once the prerogative of the strong, instead is increasingly the tactic of the weak." Most wars these days are conducted by and within the poorest of the world's nations. ''The great chess game of international politics is finished, or at least suspended," he writes. ''A pawn is just a pawn, not a sentry standing guard against an attack on a king." If only we could recognize this, we could start to become more creative in our tactics. The Washington correspondent of the Financial Times reported earlier this year that exiled Iranian activists are studying and training in the techniques of nonviolent conflict. They are learning from the same group that contributed to the success of movements for change in Serbia, Georgia, and Ukraine. This is how it should go. Then the work of building a more peaceful world can continue for another year. ---- Calif. activist plans to end 100-day fast protesting Iraq war Saturday, December 31, 2005 (AP) http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/12/31/state/n090613S94.DTL (12-31) 09:06 PST Santa Monica, Calif. -- A peace activist planned to ring in the new year by ending a 100-day fast protesting the war in Iraq. Jerry Rubin, who once fasted for 63 days to protest movie violence and war toys, said he lost 30 pounds since beginning the juice-only fast Sept. 23. "It's terrible that so many precious lives are being lost — not only our young American men and women troops who are serving there, but also so many innocent Iraqis who have been killed," Rubin said in an interview early Saturday. The 62-year-old activist has done some 30 fasts over the years, including a 2004 hunger strike launched as part of an effort to persuade Ralph Nader to abandon his presidential bid. Rubin said he plans to break his latest fast by sharing a large, peace symbol-shaped fruit salad at a "peace party" in Santa Monica. Rubin, who has launched several such fasts over the years, collapsed in 1997 after fasting for 26 days in an effort to persuade Hollywood movie studio SKG Dreamworks to abandon plans to relocate its headquarters in an area activists consider environmentally fragile. Dreamworks eventually abandoned the planned move, saying it couldn't reach a financial agreement to build in the Playa Vista wetlands area.