Chicago Sun Times
Oz good as it gets
October 27, 2005
BY DOUG PADILLA Staff Reporter
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HOUSTON -- The White Sox will bring a championship back to 35th Street for the first time in 88 years, and this one will be a worldly affair.
The four-game World Series sweep was not just toasted on the South Side, it was celebrated in Tokyo, Caracas and Havana. There was reason for hugs and handshakes in the Dominican Republic, home to five Sox players. Even the Netherlands can feel good about this one because trainer Herm Schneider was born there and is a veteran of 26 previous seasons, all void of titles.
Venezuela's Freddy Garcia reached down and showed just why he's considered a big-game pitcher as he paced the 1-0 victory Wednesday over the Houston Astros with seven scoreless innings. His outing could've been dedicated to all the great Sox pitchers who never finished a season on top with the club.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/worldseries/cst-spt-sox27.html
A once-in-a-lifetime celebration
October 27, 2005
BY ANDREW HERRMANN AND CHRIS FUSCO Staff Reporters
Scott Podsednik described this year's White Sox as "25 guys pulling on the same rope.''
True enough -- but the speedy left fielder was a few million short on the count.
Fans, too, were pulling for the team, of course. And they were pulling for friends and family -- some who left this Earth without ever hearing the words World Champion and White Sox in the same breath.
They pulled for the buddies with whom they had their first beer (a Falstaff?) at Comiskey Park, or the date they split the churro with, or maybe the Old Man who taught them that a double play is 6-4-3 on the scorecard.
But they were also pulling for themselves.
Sports divert us from the routines of life -- the drudgeries of the 49th floor cubicle of the Sears Tower and the miseries of navigating the Ike. A double off the wall offers a coherence and clarity in a complicated 1040-form world.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/worldseries/cst-nws-soxwin27.html
'We haven't experienced this in forever'
October 27, 2005
BY SHAMUS TOOMEY, CHRIS FUSCO, CHERYL L. REED AND SCOTT FORNEK Staff Reporters
White Sox fans never stopped believin,' and Wednesday night it was time to kick back and hold on to the feelin.'
"Thank God," said Danny Humanicki, 37, of Franklin Park, as he cried tears of joy outside a bar near Cellular Field. "You always dream about it ... and when it happens, you feel like a baby."
It's a feelin' Chicago hasn't felt for 88 years -- two World Wars and 15 presidents ago. It's been so long since a Chicago team won the World Series that the last time around the mayor was a Republican.
And with the Sox winning their fourth game against Houston, Chicagoans from the South Side to the North Side were ready to party like it was 1917.
"In Chicago, we haven't experienced this in forever," said Kirk Vucsko, a 44-year-old salesman from Evergreen Park.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/worldseries/cst-nws-fanwin27.html
Long wait makes sweep in Series that much sweeter
October 27, 2005
The tension might have been more than any of us wanted to endure, and the thought of the White Sox losing any World Series games is unacceptable. But now that's it's over and the good guys won -- did they ever! -- wouldn't you have liked the fall classic to last longer? Didn't you want to bask in this stupendous season for a few more days? For long-suffering Sox fans, this was nirvana. For Chicagoans who have waited you know how long for this, it was manna from heaven and everything else good from above.
When all is said and done, who knows how the experts will rank the 2005 Chicago White Sox. Before last night's nail-biting defeat of the Houston Astros, a decent bunch you have to feel a bit sorry for, an ESPN analyst was heard comparing the South Siders to the best of the recent New York Yankees teams. But the Sox could well be Rodney Dangerfielded by posterity, lacking as they did any marquee superstars or flashy 20-game-winning studs and drawing such negligible Nielsen ratings.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/commentary/cst-edt-edits27.html
15th Daley cabinet member leaves
October 27, 2005
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter
Mayor Daley's revolving door took another turn Wednesday -- this time carrying $149,364-a-year Aviation Commissioner John Roberson, whose name turned up on a list of cooperating witnesses in the federal investigation of City Hall corruption.
Roberson becomes the 15th Daley cabinet member to leave or be shown the door in recent months in a housecleaning triggered by the Hired Truck, city hiring and minority contracting scandals.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-hare27.html
Foie gras proponent's restaurant vandalized
October 27, 2005
BY JANET RAUSA FULLER Staff Reporter
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A day after speaking out against the city's proposed ban on foie gras, chef Didier Durand arrived at his River North bistro Wednesday to an unwelcome sight: a shattered window splattered with a liquid resembling blood and busted-up flower boxes strewn on the sidewalk.
Police say Cyrano's Bistrot and Wine Bar at 546 N. Wells was vandalized between 11 p.m. Tuesday and 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Durand, who had spoken at a City Council committee meeting Tuesday about the proposed ban, suspects animal rights activists are behind the damage. The Health Committee voted in favor of the ban.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-foiegras27.html
Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Sox on top of the world
By Mark Gonzales
Tribune staff reporter
Published October 27, 2005, 12:47 AM CDT
HOUSTON -- The White Sox completed their incredible conquest Wednesday night, eliminating the final demons that haunted the franchise since their last World Series title in 1917.
They completed their stunning run in a manner that mirrored their amazingly successful season, riding the pitching of Freddy Garcia and the bullpen to a 1-0 victory over Houston and completing a four-game sweep of the 2005 World Series.
"In sports, I haven't had a greater feeling," said general manager Ken Williams, whose transformation of a franchise to an emphasis on pitching and defense was rewarded greatly in the final game.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/whitesox/cs-051026soxgamer,1,6398672.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true
Philly.com
Newsmakers Janet sets it straight: 'I do not have a child'
By Annette John-Hall
Inquirer Staff Writer
Janet Jackson says she is not a mother. In a terse statement released yesterday, the 39-year-old singer denied a former brother-in-law's claim that she has a "secret" 18-year-old daughter with singer James DeBarge.
"I do not have a child and all allegations saying so are false," Jackson said in a statement released to the syndicated Access Hollywood TV show.
Since Friday, when Young DeBarge, Jackson's former brother-in-law, made the charge on New York's WQHT-FM ("Hot 97") radio, everybody's been buzzing about what was for many years repeated as an urban legend.
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/13005851.htm
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Holocaust land claim prevails in Germany
By Troy Graham
Inquirer Staff Writer
The highest court in Germany on Tuesday upheld the claim of a South Jersey great-grandmother to a valuable parcel of real estate plundered nearly 70 years ago by the Nazis.
Barbara Principe of Newfield, Gloucester County, and other heirs to the Wertheim department store fortune should start seeing the first of their compensation by early next year, Matthias Druba, the family's Berlin lawyer, said in a telephone interview yesterday.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/13005924.htm
Gene mapping gets even more detailed
Scientists say they have isolated a million points that vary among people. The work could fine-tune disease treatments.
By Faye Flam
Inquirer Staff Writer
We are all 99.9 percent genetically identical, but scientists are rapidly mapping out that critical 0.1 percent that makes us different. Yesterday an international consortium announced it had isolated a million spots on the human genome that tend to vary from person to person - the first phase of a project called HapMap.
The project promises to predict who is more likely to suffer from common ailments such as diabetes, arthritis, heart disease and some cancers. Eventually, the knowledge gained from HapMap could lead to new therapies that better target the root causes of these illnesses.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/13005927.htm
Serving his country and gays
An Overbrook native agitates for acceptance.
By Alfred Lubrano
Inquirer Staff Writer
In Baghdad, they know him by the code name "Princess Leia."
As an agent for the State Department's diplomatic security service, Overbrook's own T.J. Lunardi is a gay patriot trained to crack a man's bones with his tapered fingers.
Most recently charged with protecting U.S. embassy officials in Iraq, Lunardi, 28, is home now, awaiting reassignment to Berlin. Sporting tattoos that say "queer" and "eternal hostility," Lunardi is an inside agitator, a guy pledged to flag and country but determined to effect change within the U.S. government for the gay cause.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/13005848.htm
The dogged prosecutor roiling D.C.
Friends and foes call leak probe vintage Fitzgerald.
By Shannon McCaffrey
Inquirer Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - While an undergraduate at Amherst College, Patrick Fitzgerald spent his summers as a doorman at luxury apartment buildings on Manhattan's Upper East Side.
He wasn't always treated well by the elite who lived there, and it made an impression on the future prosecutor. Fitzgerald isn't in awe of the rich and the powerful, friends say.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/13005925.htm
Palestinian bomber kills five Israelis
The man blew himself up at a crowded market. Islamic Jihad said it was an act of vengeance.
By Aron Heller
Associated Press
HADERA, Israel - The bloodied body of a man in his 50s lay on the ground among scattered fruits and mangled metal shards. High above the open-air market, a section of a falafel stand's metal roof hung from a eucalyptus tree.
It was the deadliest attack in Israel in more than three months and had an immediate effect on the rapidly eroding relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
A 20-year-old Palestinian blacksmith blew himself up at the falafel stand in the central Israeli town of Hadera yesterday, killing five Israelis, wounding more than 30, and destroying a section of the open-air market.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/13005928.htm
Editorial Counting Votes and Bodies The promise and peril of Iraq
Two milestones occurred Tuesday in Iraq. The Independent Electoral Commission announced, after investigating fraud accusations, that voters in last week's referendum narrowly adopted a constitution. Also on Tuesday, the number of U.S. military deaths since the 2003 invasion of Iraq reached 2,000. One estimate places the number of Iraqis killed during that period at 30,000.
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines milestone as "a significant point in development." Both the referendum and the body count were important points, to be sure. But the Bush administration needs to be careful about how it characterizes the significance of each.
The sharpest significance rests in the coffins of American soldiers who have died in the campaign to oust Saddam and secure Iraq.
With each explosion that shakes that nation and claims lives, U.S. public sentiment darkens toward our military presence there and President Bush's leadership of it.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/13005940.htm
Fla. is washing its hands of the poor
Froma Harrop
is a columnist for the Providence Journal
Let's get something straight right now. Few government programs are "unsustainable." A program is sustainable if government chooses to sustain it. Governments keep programs afloat by giving them money.
So when Florida Gov. Jeb Bush says his state's Medicaid program is "unsustainable," what he really means is that he doesn't want to find the money to cover its growing costs.
Bush has a radical plan to curb medical benefits for low-income Floridians - but it was not forced on him by matters beyond his control.
Florida does not tax its rich people. Governing magazine ranks it near bottom nationally for adequacy of revenues and tax fairness. Florida's long coastline is virtually paved in gold, yet the state has no personal income tax. More than 76 percent of its revenues come from sales taxes, which hit lower-income people hardest.
There was a proposal to make Florida's sales taxes less regressive. It would have applied a sales tax to the fees charged by lawyers, accountants and other advisers to the upper crust. Jeb Bush opposed it.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/13005942.htm
Light rail's success defies the doubters
By Donald Nigro
The NJ Transit Camden-Trenton River Line, up and running for about a year and a half, continues to increase in popularity. Ridership is up 29 percent from last year, with more than 6,000 passengers a day. This is helped in no small part by the line's low fares and the region's ever-increasing gasoline prices.
Unsupported fears of the River Line during the 1990s have proved wrong: It is clear that trains are not running over children, tying up traffic, or providing transportation for burglars.
The line, however, is spurring the revitalization of communities, increasing property values, and combating automobile congestion. This is no surprise for those aware of the capabilities of passenger rail service.
The planning of the River Line does have a dubious history. Before its conception, much consideration and study was given to rail lines running from Philadelphia to Glassboro and Mount Holly. These lines would have been much more heavily used than the River Line. Ridership was projected at 20,220 for a Glassboro line and 18,910 for a line to Mount Holly.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/opinion/local1/13007746.htm
Sydney Morning Herald
Eye on the Diva
October 27, 2005 - 1:42PM
Trainer Lee Freedman said there was still no decision on whether Makybe Diva would run in Tuesday's Melbourne Cup despite her pleasing work-out this morning.
Glen Boss rode the mare at Freedman's Mornington Peninsula property, and told waiting reporters he was happy with her work.
However, Freedman told radio station Sport 927 that people were getting ahead of themselves and that he would use every bit of time to make sure the mare was right.
He said he would take things day by day and, if she was to run in the Cup, factors such as the weather would come into consideration.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/horseracing/eye-on-the-diva/2005/10/27/1130382512026.html
Bring on the Diva, says Weld
By Craig Young
October 27, 2005
Two-time Melbourne Cup-winning Irish trainer Dermot Weld believes Makybe Diva should run in next Tuesday's big race. Brian Mayfield-Smith, who ended legendary trainer Tommy Smith's 33-year reign as premier trainer in Sydney, does not.
Weld was the first non-Australasian trainer to snare the Melbourne Cup when the great Vintage Crop took it back to Ireland in 1993. Nine years later Weld returned and won it with Media Puzzle.
This time Weld is hoping Vinnie Roe can go one better than last year when the stallion repelled all but Makybe Diva, which made it successive Melbourne Cups.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/horseracing/bring-on-the-diva-says-weld/2005/10/26/1130302841633.html
Hanging plea: no exceptions, says Singapore
October 27, 2005 - 1:53PM
Singapore's top envoy says a bid for clemency by an Australian man on death row had been given fair hearing and the Government could not make an exception.
Former Melbourne salesman, Nguyen Tuong Van, 25, was caught with 396 grams of heroin strapped to his body and in his hand luggage at Singapore's Changi airport in 2002.
He is expected to be executed in the next four to six weeks.
Joseph Koh, Singapore's high commissioner to Australia, said today Nguyen's plea for clemency had been dealt with fairly.
"He was given a fair hearing throughout the legal process and his appeal for clemency was carefully considered," Mr Koh said in a statement.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/hanging-plea-no-exceptions-says-singapore/2005/10/27/1130382512377.html
Bird flu aid to be tackled in Geneva summit
October 27, 2005 - 11:20AM
Officials from all over the world will meet in Geneva in early November to discuss setting up a global fund to tackle the deadly H5N1 avian flu virus, a senior World Bank official said.
Jim Adams, the World Bank's chief for operations policy and country services, said the meeting - on November 7 to November 9 - would try to coordinate a global response to the H5N1 strain and identify shortcomings in veterinary and health systems.
"The intention is then to be prepared to go out more aggressively to raise some money to deal with those gaps," Adams told Reuters.
He said the trust fund would require initial donations of between $US300 million ($394.17 million) to $US500 million ($656.94 million) to help countries set up programs to deal with the risk of a pandemic of bird flu, which experts fear could eventually mutate enough to become transmissible among humans.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/bird-flu-aid-to-be-tackled-in-geneva-summit/2005/10/27/1130367986201.html
Microsoft chief promises tough battle against Google
October 27, 2005 - 2:58PM
Microsoft chief Bill Gates has promised an aggressive push into the fast-growing market for internet searches in the coming years, taking aim at archrival Google despite recent setbacks for the world's No. 1 software giant.
Making his first trip to Israel on Wednesday, Gates also said the vibrant local high-tech sector would play an important role in the global marketplace and pledged to strengthen co-operation with the country.
He offered $US1.4 million ($1.8 million), a relatively small sum, for local start-ups and pledged to connect tens of thousands of Israeli children to the internet.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/microsoft-chief-promises-tough-battle-against-google/2005/10/27/1130382515508.html
Google gunning for eBay, Craigslist?
Wednesday, October 26, 2005 - 12:47 PM
While we were all hyperventilating over the Australian launch of iTunes (self included), something potentially much more profound was being primed for launch by the guys at Google.
In a nutshell, Google looks like it's preparing the world for a new service which allows people to upload various types of content and then make it searchable.
Called Google Base (as in database), the service made a brief appearance at http://base.google.com/ before disappearing.
But that was long enough for Google watchers to grab screen shots of the site and launch a flurry of speculative posts about the purpose and impact of the new offering.
Google confirmed the service in an email to the SearchEngineWatch blog:
http://blogs.smh.com.au/newsblog/archives//002796.html
School orders students to remove blogs
Newark, New Jersey
October 27, 2005 - 10:45AM
A Roman Catholic high school has ordered its students to remove their online diaries from the internet, citing a threat from cyberpredators.
Students at Pope John XXIII Regional High School in Sparta appear to be heeding a directive from the principal, the Reverend Kieran McHugh.
McHugh told them in an assembly earlier this month to remove any personal journals they might have or risk suspension. Websites popular with teens include myspace.com and xanga.com.
Officials with the Diocese of Paterson say the directive is a matter of safety, not censorship. No one had been disciplined yet, diocesan spokeswoman Marianna Thompson said
http://www.smh.com.au/news/breaking/school-orders-students-to-remove-blogs/2005/10/27/1130367980065.html
Bush under a spell: cabal, cabal less toil but trouble, systems burn and dissent bubbles
October 27, 2005
Disaster is the result when a select few make decisions for the President, writes Lawrence B. Wilkerson.
IN PRESIDENT George Bush's first term, some of the most important decisions about US national security - including vital decisions about postwar Iraq - were made by a secretive, little-known cabal. It was made up of a very small group of people led by the Vice-President, Dick Cheney, and the Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld.
But I believe the decisions of this cabal were sometimes made with the full and witting support of the President, and sometimes with something less. More often than not, the then national security adviser Condoleezza Rice was simply steamrolled by this cabal.
Its insular and secret workings were efficient and swift - not unlike the decision-making one would associate with a dictatorship. This furtive process was camouflaged neatly by the dysfunction and inefficiency of the formal decision-making process, where decisions, if they were reached at all, had to wend their way through the bureaucracy with its dissenters, obstructionists and "guardians of the turf".
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/bush-under-a-spell-cabal-cabal-less-toil-but-trouble-systemsburn-and-dissent-bubbles/2005/10/26/1130302836884.html
Climbing the stairway to basic social norms
October 27, 2005
After decades of failed welfare policies, the tide has turned for Aborigines, Miranda Devine.
FOR some well-meaning white people, the solution to entrenched Aboriginal deprivation is more taxpayer money and some vague concept of "reconciliation" for which they will walk over the Sydney Harbour Bridge at least once.
But after 30 years of failed socialist welfare policies, the tide has turned. Aboriginal leaders, most notably Noel Pearson, are preaching heresy to those progressives who have laid claim to being Aborigines' greatest champions. They are talking about concepts of mutual obligation, smashing welfare dependency, encouraging mobility of young people, land reform and, most controversially, about rebuilding moral capital in their broken-down communities.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/climbing-the-stairway-to-basic-social-norms/2005/10/26/1130302836875.html
Iraq - milestones and millstones
October 27, 2005
Iraq has just passed three historic markers on its perilous journey to an uncertain future - the opening of the trial of Saddam Hussein, the positive result of its constitutional referendum and the death of the 2000th American soldier since the war began in March 2003. The grim statistical reminder of the price in blood the US is paying for the ill-conceived invasion and continuing occupation of Iraq comes at a bad time for George Bush. The US President is under fire over several domestic scandals and blunders - his inadequate response to the New Orleans hurricane disaster, his controversial nomination of Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court, and an investigation into the "outing" of a former CIA agent which could destroy senior administration officials. Now the symbolic impact of the 2000th US fatality in an increasingly unpopular war - combined with the latest suicide bombings in Baghdad - could further undermine his sagging approval ratings.
Understandably, Mr Bush seized on the constitutional referendum result as a hopeful development on the credit side of the Iraqi ledger. Fair enough, too. In a ravaged country whose streets are among the most dangerous on Earth, a voter turnout of 63 per cent is remarkable. So is the fact that so many voters were from the alienated Sunni minority, most of whom boycotted last January's elections. Washington, London and the Iraqi interim government can claim that the overall 79-21 per cent vote for the constitution was an overwhelming endorsement.
http://www.smh.com.au/editorial/index.html
The Australian
Sit-down cash stops flowing
Patricia Karvelas
October 27, 2005
THE era of "sit-down" money for Aborigines in remote communities has ended, with Centrelink officers telling indigenous people those who do not work will lose their handouts.
Eight communities have been told in the past month they have to change or face the same penalties as the rest of the community: loss of dole payments.
Until now, about 8000 indigenous people have been exempt from mutual obligation programs because they live in areas where there is no locally accessible labour market program or education and training facilities.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17049192%255E601,00.html
Howard fights regional racism charge
By Lawrence Bartlett
October 27, 2005
PRIME Minister John Howard today fended off suggestions of racism as a row over work visas for impoverished Pacific islanders ended a 16-nation summit on a sour note.
Told at a news conference that Papua New Guinea's Foreign Minister Rabbie Namaliu had accused Australia of having one law for Europeans and Americans and another for Pacific islanders, Mr Howard hit back.
"He misunderstands the crucial difference between backpackers coming to Australia and the sort of thing he wants.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17053887%255E1702,00.html
Qantas asked to bring Aussies home if bird flu strikes
Adam Cresswell and Katharine Murphy
October 27, 2005
AUSTRALIANS stranded in countries affected by bird flu will be flown home on specially commissioned Qantas flights if a global pandemic breaks out, under a deal being negotiated by the Howard Government.
Amid rising international concern at the possibility bird flu might jump to humans, Health Minister Tony Abbott yesterday provided new details of Australia's plan to tackle an outbreak.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17049189%255E601,00.html
Australia may help out with vaccine
Katharine Murphy and Dennis Shanahan
October 27, 2005
AUSTRALIA could consider giving up some of its stockpile of anti-viral drugs to neighbours at risk of a major bird flu outbreak.
Senior pandemic and disaster management co-ordinators from across APEC's 21 member economies will gather in Brisbane next Monday and Tuesday to test the region's preparedness for managing an avian flu pandemic.
A senior government official said yesterday the issue of Australia making some of its drug stockpile available to other economies was likely to be discussed at next week's meeting.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17048922%255E601,00.html
Tony Abbott: Back of the flu queue
October 27, 2005
OVER the past few weeks, as awareness of the possibility of a very severe pandemic has finally seeped into Australians' collective consciousness, complacency has given way to intense media interest and some public alarm.
Six months ago, the challenge was to alert people to a frightening possibility. Now, the challenge is to reassure them that a severe pandemic remains just a possibility, not a certainty, nor even a probability in the next few years, and that health authorities are doing everything they reasonably can to guard against the risk. Then, the public needed to know that infectious disease had not entirely lost its capacity to kill. Now, what's needed is a sense of proportion, even for worst-case scenarios.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17044556%255E7583,00.html
Sharon vows new offensive
By Matthew Tostevin in Jerusalem
October 27, 2005
ISRAELI Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed an open-ended offensive against Palestinian militants and Israeli aircraft struck the Gaza Strip on Thursday after a suicide bomber killed five Israelis.
The bombing on Wednesday in the coastal city of Hadera dealt a serious blow to an eight-month-old truce and international hopes for a revival of peacemaking after Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip last month.
Mr Sharon said there could be no advance towards peace for now because of the "absolute failure of the Palestinian Authority in the fight against terrorism" as he promised to launch a major military operation.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17057220%255E1702,00.html
Wipe out Israel: Iran hardliner
October 27, 2005
TEHRAN: Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called yesterday for Israel to be "wiped off the map".
"The establishment of the Zionist regime was a move by the world oppressor against the Islamic world," Mr Ahmadinejad told a conference in Tehran titled The World without Zionism.
"The skirmishes in the occupied land are part of a war of destiny," he said.
"The outcome of hundreds of years of war will be defined in Palestinian land.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17048254%255E601,00.html
Iran leader's words 'sickening'
October 27, 2005
EUROPEAN leaders have condemned statements by the Iranian President calling for Israel to be destroyed.
Speaking in the Iranian capital Tehran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Israel should be "wiped off the map", the official IRNA news agency reported.
Support for the Palestinian cause is a central pillar of the Islamic Republic which officially refuses to recognise Israel's right to exist.
"Israel must be wiped off the map," Ahmadinejad told a conference called "The World without Zionism", attended by some 3,000 conservative students who chanted "Death to Israel" and "Death to America".
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17051351%255E601,00.html
Iran 'lets al-Qaeda roam free'
From correspondents in Berlin
October 27, 2005
IRAN is permitting around 25 high-ranking al-Qaeda members to roam free in the country's capital, including three sons of Osama bin Laden, a German monthly magazine reports.
Citing information from unnamed Western intelligence sources, the magazine Cicero said in a preview of an article appearing in its November edition that the individuals in question are from Egypt, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia and Europe.
They are living in houses belonging to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, the report said.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17050611%255E601,00.html
Afghanistan bomb attack kills policeman
From correspondents in Kandahar
October 27, 2005
A BOMB fixed to a bicycle exploded in Afghanistan's volatile southern city of Kandahar on Thursday, killing a policeman and wounding two civilians, police said.
The explosives were detonated by remote-control as a police vehicle drove past, a police officer named only Amanullah said at the site of the blast in central Kandahar.
"One policeman was killed and two passers-by were wounded in the explosion, detonated remotely by the enemies of Afghanistan," the officer said.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17056398%255E1702,00.html
1 killed, 8 wounded in Iraq blast
From correspondents in Baghdad
October 27, 2005
AN Iraqi was killed and eight others wounded early today by a suicide car bomb in central Iraq, security and hospital sources said.
"A suicide car bomb exploded as a US patrol passed by in Karrada, killing a civilian and wounding several others," an interior ministry source said.
The Ibn Nafiss hospital received eight wounded following the blast, a medical source said.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17053155%255E1702,00.html
7 killed in Thai raids
From correspondents in Bangkok
October 27, 2005
FIVE villagers and two militants were killed overnight in Muslim southern Thailand when insurgents launched about 50 raids on remote villages in the restive region.
The Thai army said most of the attacks targeted members of civilian guards created by the government to provide emergency security against militants. "The attacks came at around 7pm to 8pm while all the men were praying at mosques. They left shotguns with their families at home," Colonel Acra Tiprote of the southern Army command said.
"We are hunting for the suspects with lots of help from villagers, both Buddhists and Muslims."
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17053156%255E1702,00.html
Clinton urges solar power in Oz
October 27, 2005
FORMER US president Bill Clinton has urged Australia to make more use of solar energy to reduce greenhouse gases and global warming.
"Australia could generate enormous amounts of power from solar energy," Clinton said from the US in a video interview with former NSW premier Bob Carr at a Sydney leadership conference.
"Once you pay for the initial installations, it's essentially free."
The former president said he installed solar panels on the Clinton Library in the US which he said would pay for themselves inside two years.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17051715%255E1702,00.html
New Zealand Herald
Asian drug gangs use students as mules
28.10.05
By Helen Tunnah
Students from China are being used by organised crime to bring drugs into New Zealand, with an estimated $90 million of methamphetamine ingredients seized at borders in the last financial year.
And Customs says the booming number of seizures involving the ingredients is straining resources.
Of the 525 individual seizures of ingredients or precursors, such as pseudoephedrine tablets, made in 2004-2005, 98 per cent originated in China.
About 80 per cent of the people involved were short-stay students.
Customs' manager of drug investigations, Simon Williamson, said the involvement of a small number of students impacted on the reputation of the mainly law-abiding students coming here from China.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10352417
Bollard tightens screws by boosting interest rate
28.10.05
By Brian Fallow
Reserve Bank chief Alan Bollard yesterday followed through on his threat to raise interest rates in a bid to cool a "relentless" housing market.
He raised the official cash rate from 6.75 to 7 per cent and warned that further tightening of the screws could be ruled out only when he saw "a noticeable moderation in housing and consumer spending".
The money markets now rate as better than 50:50 the odds of a further rise on December 8.
Banks last night were holding floating mortgage rates steady but any move will push them beyond 9 per cent.
The official cash rate is the highest among developed countries, which helps to keep the NZ dollar high, hurting the export sector as well as pushing up the cost of business overdrafts.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10352420
21 million Americans have diabetes
28.10.05 5.20am
Nearly 21 million Americans have diabetes, most of them the type-2 variety associated with poor diet, too little exercise and being overweight, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Wednesday.
This represents about 7 per cent of the population - and more than 6 million of these people do not know they have the condition, the CDC said.
"Another 41 million people are estimated to have pre-diabetes, a condition that increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes - the most common form of the disease - as well as heart disease and stroke," the CDC said in a statement.
Diabetes is a lack of control of glucose, or blood sugar. Type-1 diabetes, or juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune condition in which the body mistakenly destroys the pancreatic cells that make insulin. It affects an estimated 2 million Americans.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10352405
102-year-old scares off home intruder
28.10.05 4.00am
A 102-year-old man startled an intruder at his North Shore home when he reached for his Zimmer frame next to his bed, police said.
The man was woken by the intruder while in bed. The intruder bolted.
The break-in was on Saturday, October 15.
Police say the man is now seriously ill in hospital, but his condition is not related to the incident.
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http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10352403
Israel and New Zealand friends again
28.10.05 5.00am
Israel and New Zealand have formally drawn a line under a thorny diplomatic standoff, with New Zealand ambassador Jan Henderson presenting her credentials to Israel's top diplomat in Jerusalem.
"This is a return to normalisation of relations," Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said.
The ceremony came four months after the two countries restored diplomatic relations frozen by Wellington as part of the fallout over the conviction of two alleged Israeli spies for fraudulently trying to obtain New Zealand passports.
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http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10352395
Sharon vows broad offensive after bombing
28.10.05
JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has vowed an open-ended offensive against Palestinian militants and Israeli aircraft struck the Gaza Strip after a suicide bomber killed five Israelis.
The bombing in the coastal city of Hadera dealt a serious blow to an eight-month-old truce and international hopes for a revival of peacemaking after Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip last month.
Sharon said there could be no advance toward peace for now because of the "absolute failure of the Palestinian Authority in the fight against terrorism" as he promised to launch a major military operation.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10352418
Pacific leaders agree to regional plan
28.10.05
By Maggie Tait
Prime Minister Helen Clark said yesterday she is pleased Pacific leaders have agreed to a regional plan she promoted to improve co-operation between small nations.
"A Pacific Plan has been adopted in its entirety and the leaders see that as a good path ahead," she told reporters after returning to Port Moresby following the Pacific Forum retreat on an island.
She also announced a raft of funding pledges from helping to combat Aids through to improving justice systems.
Topics raised at the forum included Aids, preparing for bird flu, immigration and trade deals.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10352379
$12m to fight Aids in Islands
28.10.05
By Angela Gregory
Prime Minister Helen Clark has pledged $12 million towards fighting the spread of HIV/Aids in the Pacific region, as a conference in Auckland called for strong political leadership on the issue.
Clark made the announcement yesterday at the annual Pacific Forum meeting of the region's leaders in Papua New Guinea.
The $12 million package of support over the next three years will be targeted towards the Pacific regional HIV/Aids strategy and other initiatives.
In Auckland the Pacific Forum's social policy adviser Dr Helen Tavola told a conference that political leaders had been warned in 2002 they needed to show real leadership on the HIV/Aids issue because of the high potential risks to the region.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10352378
Annan says quake shows need for global fund
27.10.05 1.00pm
GENEVA - Pakistan's scramble for earthquake aid shows the need for a permanent global fund to rush relief to disaster sites at a moment's notice, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today.
The Global Emergency Fund, already approved by world leaders at a UN summit in mid-September, will go before the 191-member General Assembly for final ratification in mid-November. The UN expects it to be operational by early 2006.
Annan, in Geneva to lead a fund-raising drive for victims of the Pakistan quake, said the way the international community still raised money for disaster relief -- always after the fact -- led to critical delays that cost lives and left some hotspots overlooked.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10352270
Girl dies in China bird flu village, paper says
27.10.05 4.00pm
HONG KONG - A 12-year-old girl died after suffering flu-like symptoms in a village in central China where the mainland's third outbreak of bird flu in a week has been confirmed, the South China Morning Post said on Thursday.
He Yin and her 10-year-old brother fell ill about a week ago after eating a sick chicken that had died, the Hong Kong-based Post said, quoting their father, He Tieguang.
"We had dead chickens before and nobody has ever got sick because of that. So I thought it's okay," her father was quoted as saying.
So far there was no evidence linking her death to the outbreak of bird flu in the village in Hunan province and none of the adults in her family had shown any flu symptoms, the paper said. Doctors told her family she had died from fever.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10352286
Global officials to meet on bird flu fund
27.10.05 2.20pm
By Lesley Wroughton
WASHINGTON - Officials from all over the globe will meet in Geneva in early November to discuss setting up a global fund to tackle the threat of the deadly H5N1 avian flu virus, a senior World Bank official said.
Jim Adams, the World Bank's vice president for operations policy and country services, said the meeting -- on November 7 to November 9 -- would try to co-ordinate a global response to the H5N1 strain and identify shortcomings in veterinary and health systems.
"The intention is then to be prepared to go out more aggressively to raise some money to deal with those gaps," Adams said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10352276
Altruism lacking in chimpanzees
28.10.05
LONDON - Chimpanzees share many traits with humans but altruism, it seems, is not one of them.
Although chimps live in social groups and co-operate and hunt together, when it comes to helping non-related group members, they don't put up with any monkey business.
When given the opportunity to help themselves and other chimps they often choose the selfish option.
"This is the first experiment to show that chimps don't share the same concern for the welfare of others as do humans, who routinely donate blood ... volunteer for military duty and perform other acts that benefit perfect strangers," said Joan Silk, an anthropologist at UCLA in the United States.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10352318
Breathalyser may catch bombers
28.10.05
United States scientists have developed a breathalyser based on drink-drive devices that can catch would-be bombers.
The minute chemical traces were exhaled by anyone who handled explosive material.
The new portable device can detect traces of explosive including TNT, dynamite and C-4 in the breath. Inventor Michael Phillips, from Menssana Research in New Jersey, told New Scientist it was originally intended for medical diagnosis and used to detect lung cancer.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10352320
Smoking pot not a major cancer risk
27.10.05 3.20pm
NEW YORK - Although both marijuana and tobacco smoke are packed with cancer-causing chemicals, other qualities of marijuana seem to keep it from promoting lung cancer, according to a new report.
The difference rests in the often opposing actions of the nicotine in tobacco and the active ingredient, THC, in marijuana, says Dr Robert Melamede of the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs.
He reviewed the scientific evidence supporting this contention in a recent issue of Harm Reduction Journal.
Whereas nicotine has several effects that promote lung and other types of cancer, THC acts in ways that counter the cancer-causing chemicals in marijuana smoke, Melamede explained in an interview with Reuters Health.
"THC turns down the carcinogenic potential," he said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10352266
Nelson Mandela reborn as a comic book hero
28.10.05
By Karla Adam
Nelson Mandela may not spin webs like Spiderman or dodge bullets like Batman but, for most South Africans, he is far more of a hero.
Now, his struggle against white domination is the subject of a series of comic books designed to re-awaken young South Africans to the history of their black population.
When Nic Buchanan decided to tell the tale of his country's most famous hero, he decided to enlist the help of young animators.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10352402
US team stand by scrapper
28.10.05
By Jarrod Booker
Cycling star Hayden Roulston may be penalised but will get another chance with the world's top professional team after his third conviction for fighting in two years.
Roulston, 24, feared he may be dropped from the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team in the United States after he was convicted of disorderly behaviour for throwing punches in a brawl outside a Timaru bar 12 days ago.
The Discovery Channel team, featuring world cycling supremo Lance Armstrong, had warned Roulston not to get into trouble again after he punched two people while out celebrating his inclusion in the New Zealand Olympic team last year, according to his lawyer Jared Bell.
In the Ashburton District Court this week, Mr Bell said Roulston believed the latest conviction would "almost certainly spell the end of his involvement with that team".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10352312
Privates on parade for Prince Harry
28.10.05
LONDON - Britain's Prince Harry was forced to drop his trousers during a military parade to prove he did not have his girlfriend's name tattooed on his royal rear, a British newspaper has reported.
The 21-year-old son of Prince Charles is halfway through his British Army officer training course at the elite Sandhurst academy.
The Sun, Britain's biggest-selling daily, said Harry, third in line to the throne, was ordered to bare his bum after rumours spread he'd had blonde, Zimbawean-born girlfriend Chelsy Davy's name inked on.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10352416
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