The San Francisco Chronicle
SOUTH ASIA QUAKE: Relief efforts
Charities fear slower giving after tsunami, Katrina drives
Donors may be tapped out after record outpouring
When the tsunami hit South Asia last year, U.S. donors opened up their hearts and their wallets like never before.
They did it again after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast in August.
But now, charities fear that donors are tapped out, making it harder to collect contributions for survivors of Saturday's 7.6-magnitude earthquake in South Asia. They are seeing signs of that already.
"I would be hard-pressed to say it's not going to be more difficult to raise money after all the money raised for Katrina, not to mention the tsunami,'' said Greg Smith, a spokesman for the Bay Area chapter of the American Red Cross. "People only have a certain amount of money to give to charity. When it's gone, they don't have more to give."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/13/BAG00F7MDD1.DTL
Flu vaccine maker won't share patent
Roche rejects calls to allow production of generic versions
Tamiflu, a pricey antiviral pill invented in a Bay Area lab and made in part from a spice used in Chinese cookery, has emerged as the world's first line of defense against bird flu should the deadly strain begin its feared spread among human beings.
As nations begin to stockpile the drug in anticipation of a flu pandemic, calls are mounting for countries to sidestep patents on the drug -- as Brazil first did for AIDS medications -- and make their own generic versions.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/10/13/MNG39F7MNG1.DTL&type=health
MONTEREY COUNTY
Predicting temblors inexact
Quakes studied in Parkfield area for some 2 decades
For more than 20 years, scientists have recorded every slip, jolt and quiver of the San Andreas Fault using the world's most intensive array of sensitive instruments in southern Monterey County, where earthquakes have been recurring with rough regularity since before the Civil War.
They sought to gain new insights into the nature of earthquakes along the infamous fault, but also to find new clues that might foretell when the next one would occur.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/13/BAG00F7MDF1.DTL
THERE WERE ATTACKS IN RUSSIA TODAY AS WELL.
India's First Female Bomber Strikes
By MUJTABA ALI AHMAD, Associated Press Writer
(10-13) 08:27 PDT SRINAGAR, India (AP) --
A female suicide bomber blew herself up Thursday minutes before an army convoy was to pass on a key highway in Indian Kashmir, the first such attack by a woman in the region's Islamic separatist conflict, police said.
A militant group claimed five soldiers were killed in the blast, but police denied this, saying there were no other casualties.
The explosion shattered the glass windows of several building in the area in Awantipora, a town nearly 20 miles south of Srinagar, the capital of India's Jammu-Kashmir state, Nissar Ahmad, a police officer, told The Associated Press.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2005/10/13/international/i082725D50.DTL
BALANCING ACT
When U.S. soldiers conduct a raid, they go in hard, and that has consequences: The aggressive tactics used in the hunt for insurgents often alienate innocent Iraqis
Ouja, Iraq -- It had been a frustrating morning for U.S. Army Lt. Jeff Halladay. He had already gone through three houses, searching in vain for a mustachioed man suspected of planting roadside bombs. Intelligence suggested the man lived in this neighborhood of neat stucco compounds.
So now, Halladay was resorting to a more urgent measure, one that U.S. military officers acknowledge can do more harm than good: trying to gather the needed information by intimidating the suspect's neighbors.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/13/MNG39F7MNI1.DTL
Plan to save Iraq -- or break it up?
AS IRAQIS BRACE for fateful voting Saturday on a draft constitution, the only certainty is that the turmoil rocking the country is far from over. That means no early trip home for American forces charged with keeping order and overseeing reconstruction after the 2003 invasion that drove Saddam Hussein from power.
The amendments to the draft constitution approved Wednesday by the Iraqi parliament may help dissipate some of the tensions. But they're unlikely to resolve a basic problem: major components of the population are irretrievably split over their roles in the future governance of the nation.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/10/13/EDG14F71E41.DTL
EDITORIAL
A clash of rights
AT FIRST BLUSH, Proposition 73 sounds simple and reasonable. It would require a doctor to notify at least one parent 48 hours before performing an abortion on a patient younger than 18.
In the real world, however, this proposed constitutional amendment is anything but simple or reasonable. It poses a genuine threat to a young woman's basic right to an abortion -- as articulated by the state Supreme Court eight years ago in striking down a law requiring parental consent. This measure also elevates the risk that pregnant teens fearful of their parents' reaction will delay having the surgery, raising the danger to their health.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/10/13/EDG14F71E81.DTL
New Zealand Herald
Win for young designer
14.10.05
Auckland workroom assistant Danielle Rollo has won a trip to Britain after being judged the country's best recent graduate fashion designer.
The "right-hand girl" of designer Adrian Hailwood was yesterday named the Deutz Fashion Design Ambassador 2005 in a British Council-backed programme to give emerging talent a chance to travel to London.
The 23-year-old graduate of AUT has also worked as a pattern-cutter for the World design house and is keen to develop her own label, Love & Lewis.
She also gets a chance to show her capsule collection, Diamond in the Rough, at Air New Zealand Fashion Week.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=182&objectid=10350185
London bomb survivor sets up victim website
13.10.05 1.00pm
By Paul Majendie
Canadian Peter Zimonjic had never seen a corpse before being caught up in the London suicide bomb attacks that killed 52 people in July.
Now, determined to put behind him the horrors he witnessed that day, he has set up a website as a virtual self-help group for fellow victims of the Islamist militants who targeted three underground trains and a bus.
"I had never seen a dead body before. I saw several that day," said Zimonjic who was traveling to work on the underground railway when the train beside him exploded.
"My carriage burst with mutilated souls," he said. "My lungs filled with smoke, I was running on adrenaline and fear, the wounded were desperate for help."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10350044
Beethoven's missing manuscript found
14.10.05 8.20am
An 80-page handwritten manuscript of Beethoven's Grosse Fuge, missing for 115 years, has been found by a librarian near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
"It was just sitting on that shelf," said Heather Carbo, who found the score in an evangelical seminary.
The work will be turned over to Sotheby's for display in New York before it is auctioned in London. Beethoven scrawled notes on the pages and some cross-outs are so deep the paper is torn.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10350191
Machu Picchu mudslides strand 3200 tourists
14.10.05 8.20am
LIMA - Mudslides caused by heavy rains in Peru's southern Andes stranded 3200 tourists at the Machu Picchu Inca citadel on Thursday as mud and rocks blocked the railway in and out of the site, train operators said.
The nationalities of the tourists were not immediately known, but no one was thought to be injured, Peru Rail spokewoman Joanna Boyen said.
Peru Rail said it was working to clear the railway line and planned to return tourists to the nearby city of Cuzco via a minor road on Thursday.
Mudslides are relatively common in Peru's rainy season, which runs from September to February.
Six people were killed in April last year by mudslides caused by unusually intense rains in Machu Picchu Pueblo, the village which is the starting point for the 500,000 tourists who visit the Inca citadel every year.
South American's best-known archeological site -- the ruins of an entire city, including temples -- was probably the sanctuary of the great Inca emperor Pachacutec at the heart of the Inca empire and is perched on a mountain saddle at 2560 metres above sea level.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10350202
Chechens attack Caucasus town
14.10.05
By Oleg Shchedrov
NALCHIK, Russia - Chechen fighters attacked police and army buildings in a southern Russia town last night (NZT) in a brazen operation that killed dozens and challenged Kremlin assertions it had the turbulent Caucasus under control.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who came to power in 2000 by talking tough on Chechnya, stepped into the crisis, ordering his security forces to throw a ring of steel round the town of Nalchik and kill any gunman who put up resistance.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10350194
Pakistanis cut off by quake dismiss aid promise
14.10.05
By Robert Birsel
GHARIDUPATTA, Pakistan - In parts of Pakistan still cut off five days after Saturday's earthquake, people angrily dismiss government reassurances that help is on the way as the army struggles to clear landslides blocking roads.
The confirmed death toll in northern Pakistan from Saturday's massive 7.6 magnitude quake was 25,000 yesterday, but some local officials and politicians say it could exceed 40,000.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10350193
Warning 30,000 migrants may reach EU
14.10.05
Up to 30,000 African migrants are determined to reach the European Union through Spain, a senior EU official warned.
The figure, based on reports by European intelligence agencies, dwarfs the crowds of desperate migrants already seen storming Spain's two North African enclaves bordering Morocco.
EU justice commissioner Franco Frattini launched a radical scheme under which the EU will pay African governments to offer better treatment to would-be refugees, in the hope that fewer refugees will try to reach Europe.
Several African migrants have been shot in recent attempts and Morocco has been accused of dumping those who fail to get across in the desert.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10350154
Iraqi constitution gets Sunni party's backing
13.10.05 1.00pm
By Kim Sengupta
BASRA - Prospects of Iraq's new constitution being passed in the impending referendum increased yesterday after one of the main Sunni parties said they are likely to back it.
Under a proposed deal the new National Assembly to be formed after elections in December will consider further amendments, even if the vote is for accepting the constitution.
The agreement outlines four additions to the draft constitution being considered and outline how future amendments will be made.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10350047
$1.45bn Iraq weapons probe
13.10.05 12.20pm
Iraq has issued arrest warrants for 27 officials over the alleged misappropriation of more than $1.45 billion of Government funds.
Officials said among those wanted were former Defence Minister Hazem al-Shaalan, who said from London that the accusations were a witchhunt against former government members to sabotage their political future.
Last month Ali Allawi, the current Minister of Finance, said the disappearance of the cash from the 2004-5 defence budget was "possibly one of the largest thefts in history".
The Government alleges an Iraqi firm employed by the Defence Ministry bought stockpiles of weapons from Poland and Pakistan in a no-bid process that were often useless.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10350016
Deadly Asian bird flu reaches fringes of Europe
14.10.05
By Jeremy Smith
BRUSSELS - A strain of bird flu that can be deadly for humans has spread from Asia to the fringes of Europe and countries should prepare for a potential pandemic, Europe's health chief has said.
EU Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said a strain of the disease found in Turkey had been identified as the same virus that killed more than 60 people in Asia since 2003 and forced the slaughter of millions of birds.
The European Union's executive was also assuming bird flu found in Romania was the same virulent strain known as H5N1, he said. Final test results for Romania are expected today.
"The virus found in Turkey is avian flu H5N1," he said. "It's a highly pathogenic and aggressive virus."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10350192
Europe holds bird flu crisis talks
14.10.05 1.05pm UPDATE
By Jeremy Smith
BRUSSELS - European bird flu experts are to hold an emergency meeting today, a day after health officials confirmed what many had long feared was inevitable -- the spread of the deadly H5N1 strain from Asia to Europe.
British scientists are also scrutinising bird flu samples from Romania to determine whether the virus found in three ducks in the Danube Delta last week was H5N1, which has killed more than 60 people in Asia since 2003.
Romania sent the samples to a British laboratory on Thursday afternoon local time, and Britain's chief vet said she expected the final results to be known sometime on Friday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10350243
THIS COULD BE A GOOD PERSONAL PRIORITY REGARDLESS THE VIRUS OR BACTERIA. It ALONE is not the best defense however.
Washing hands defence against bird flu
14.10.05
By Jeremy Laurance
LONDON - A global campaign today will launch a secret weapon against the spread of avian flu - a small plastic bottle of alcohol rub and a warning to wash your hands.
Health officials will warn that clean hands are the best defence against the threatened flu pandemic and that regular use of alcohol rub could save millions of lives from other hospital infections.
The bid to improve hand hygiene is being launched simultaneously in 12 countries. Doctors fear that when a flu pandemic strikes, hospitals will be overwhelmed and could become breeding grounds for the disease as it is transmitted between patients and medical staff.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10350158
Mission over for New Tribes
14.10.05 7.20am
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has ordered US New Tribes evangelical missions to leave the country after accusing them of "imperialist infiltration" and spying.
"I have given the order, the so-called New Tribes are going to leave Venezuela. This is real imperialist penetration, it makes me ashamed."
The announcement came just days after US evangelist Pat Robertson accused Chavez of paying Osama bin Laden after the September 11 attacks.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10350190
Bush's approval rating at new low
13.10.05 6.00pm
WASHINGTON - US President George W. Bush's job approval rating has fallen to a new low of 39 per cent in an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released today.
Bush's approval rating dipped in the poll below a mid-September ranking of 40 per cent. The survey also found only 28 per cent of respondents believed the country was headed in the right direction, NBC reported.
Bush's political challenges have been piling up in recent weeks, from criticism over his handling of Hurricane Katrina, to growing unease over rising gas prices to conservative discord over the nomination of Harriet Miers to the US Supreme Court.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10350069
South Africa scraps last major apartheid law
14.10.05 12.20pm
CAPE TOWN - South Africa scrapped the last remnant of apartheid law on Thursday, putting the final symbolic nail in the coffin of decades of repressive white rule.
The Black Administration Act, which formed the cornerstone of apartheid, was scrapped by parliament amid jubilation -- 11 years after the country's first democratic elections ushered in a black government.
The legislation was used by the apartheid regime to institute a wide array of brutal laws that impacted on all aspects of the lives of millions of black South Africans. Many of its provisions still affect the lives of millions of people.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10350222
concluding …
