BBC
Inuit sue US over climate policy
By Richard Black
Environment Correspondent, BBC News website
People living in the Arctic have filed a legal petition against the US government, saying its climate change policies violate human rights.
The Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) claims the US is failing to control emissions of greenhouse gases, damaging livelihoods in the Arctic.
Its petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights demands that the US limits its emissions.
Temperatures in the Arctic are rising at about twice the global average.
The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, a vast scientific study which took four years to compile, found that the region will warm by four to seven degrees Celsius by the end of the century, with summer sea ice disappearing within 60 years.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that impacts are already being felt, with seasonal melting leading to the collapse of buildings and a reduction in some fish stocks.
The petition, filed on behalf of the ICC by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), says US policies on greenhouse gas emissions are a major factor driving these changes.
"The United States is the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter; it has turned its back on the Kyoto Protocol and has not put in place measures to limit its emissions," said CIEL's senior attorney Donald Goldberg.
"The Inuit are bearing the brunt," he told the BBC News website.
Violation of rights
The petition asks the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to investigate the harm caused to Inuit by global warming, and to declare the US "...in violation of rights affirmed in the 1948 American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and other instruments of international law."
It also urges the Commission to rule that the US must adopt mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions and "...help Inuit adapt to unavoidable impacts of climate change."
If the Commission rules in favour of the Inuit, it could refer the US to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for a legal judgement.
Both the Commission and the Court work within the framework of the American Convention on Human Rights.
As the US has not ratified the Convention, a ruling by the Commission would be largely symbolic; but Donald Goldberg believes that does not make it worthless.
"If the Commission finds the US has violated human rights, it's a serious matter," he said.
"States don't like to be classified as violators of human rights; and in any case, there is a domestic legal mechanism called the Alien Torts Claims Act which might allow us to use a Commission judgement in national litigation."
The petition is the latest in a series of legal or quasi-legal cases filed against the US government and others over climate change.
The US is being asked to protect coral species threatened by climate change, Australian authorities have been forced to review procedures plans for approving coal-fired power stations, while an application in Germany would force the government to declare what greenhouse gas emissions are produced by projects supported by its export credit agency.
The biggest victory for legal campaigns on climate, co-ordinated by the group Climate Justice, came in November when a Nigerian court ordered oil companies to stop "gas flaring" - burning off gas from their oil wells.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4511556.stm
EU seeks to end budget deadlock
A number of countries have come out against the British proposal
European leaders gather later in Brussels in an attempt to reach a deal on the EU's next seven-year budget.
Ahead of the summit, Britain's last ditch proposals to break the deadlock on the issue were rejected by key EU states, including France and Germany.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso added that the offer was "wholly inadequate" and "not enough".
The offer included an increase in the budget, more money to new member states but no new cuts to the UK's own rebate.
In theory, EU leaders have until March to hammer out a deal, but planning for long-term projects could be hurt, the BBC's Oana Lungescu in Brussels says.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4530376.stm
Extinction alert for 800 species
By Richard Black
Environment Correspondent, BBC News website
Last chance to see ...
Researchers have compiled a global map of sites where animals and plants face imminent extinction.
The list, drawn up by a coalition of conservation groups, covers almost 800 species which they say will disappear soon unless urgent measures are taken.
Most of the 800 are now found only in one location, mainly in the tropics.
Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers say protecting some of these sites would cost under $1,000 per year.
"This is a whole suite of species threatened with extinction," said Stuart Butchart, global species programme co-ordinator with BirdLife International, one of the groups behind the report.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4522044.stm
Can sound really travel 200 miles?
WHO, WHAT, WHY?
The Magazine answers...
Smoke from the fire chokes the sky
The blast at the Hertfordshire oil depot could reportedly be heard 200 miles away in the Netherlands and Belgium. Can sound really travel that far?
A series of blasts signalled the explosion at the Buncefield oil depot, near Hemel Hempstead, early on Sunday.
The depot, storing oil, petrol as well as kerosene, supplies airports across the region, including Heathrow.
Local residents spoke of hearing a "humungous blast" and their houses shaking, but there were also reports of the explosions being audible in the Netherlands and Belgium. Could the noise really have travelled that far?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4521232.stm
US and EU differ at trade talks
The US trade representative urged the EU to open its markets
Disagreement between the US and European Union (EU) continued to dominate the second day of global trade talks in Hong Kong.
While the US renewed calls for the EU to make extra concessions on agriculture, the EU reiterated that the farming sector was just one factor.
The EU's refusal to make more cuts to farm subsidies and tariffs is blamed by some for the impasse at the talks.
Meanwhile, poorer nations want farm subsidy cuts by all wealthy nations.
'Brinkmanship'
US Trade Representative Rob Portman said on Wednesday that a new agreement on agriculture had to be central to any new global free trade deal being achieved, however tentatively, at the World Trade Organization meeting.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4527056.stm
UN Hariri probe 'needs more time'
Rafik Hariri had called for the withdrawal of Syrian troops
The head of the UN probe into the killing of ex-Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri, has asked for more time to complete his inquiries.
The UN investigator, Detlev Mehlis, told the Security Council at the current rate of progress his inquiry could take another year, or even two.
A UN report says Syrian intelligence officials were involved in the blast that killed Mr Hariri in February.
Syria's ambassador denied the findings, insisting Syria had co-operated fully.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4525212.stm
Long-term tensions behind Sydney riots
By Kim Camberg
In Sydney
Residents, police and politicians are all asking what has fuelled the violence which has swept Sydney's suburbs in the last few days.
Was it racism, revenge or simply alcohol-induced aggression?
The first outbreak of violence, on Sunday in Cronulla, had been a widely publicised event.
Everyone was drunk and anyone of Middle Eastern appearance got bashed. It went on all day into the night
It came a week to the day after two surf life savers had been assaulted in what was believed to be an unprovoked attack by a large group of men of Middle Eastern appearance.
The following week, texts started circulating around Sydney calling for a revenge fight.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4525352.stm
Rwanda MP sentenced for genocide
Some 800,000 people were killed during the 1994 genocide
A United Nations court has sentenced a former Rwandan army officer and member of parliament to 25 years in prison for his part in the 1994 genocide.
The court found Aloys Simba guilty of supplying weapons and encouraging militiamen who killed thousands of civilians in Gikongoro prefecture.
However, the court said it was not convinced that Mr Simba had been one of the main architects of the genocide.
Some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered in 100 days.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4527204.stm
Iraq Body Count: War dead figures
The campaign group Iraq Body Count has been recording the number of civilians reported to have been killed during the Iraq war and subsequent military presence.
On 1 December 2005, it put the total number of civilian dead at between 25,685 and 29,201 and the number of police dead at 1,640.
Iraq Body Count uses a survey of online news reports to produce its running tally, including a "minimum" and "maximum" figure where reports differ, or it is unclear whether a person killed was a civilian.
The figures include not only deaths caused by military action, but also those it considers a "direct result" of Iraq's breakdown in law and order.
In a statement on its website, Iraq Body Count says "civilian casualties are the most unacceptable consequence of all wars" and must be recorded and - if possible - investigated.
Because it relies on deaths reported by the media, it suggests its figures are an underestimate as "many if not most civilian casualties will go unreported".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4525412.stm
Iraqis vote in landmark election
Voters have to dip their finger in ink to guard against multiple voting
Iraqis are electing their first full-term government since the US-led invasion in 2003 amid tight security.
A steady stream of people are turning out to vote, say BBC journalists at polling stations across the country.
Several incidents of violence were reported soon after polls opened, but voting has not been disrupted so far.
A high turnout from Sunni Arabs, who boycotted the last election, is hoped for. President Jalal Talabani called on Iraqis to make it a day of celebration.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4530226.stm
Methodology:
1. Overview
Casualty figures are derived from a comprehensive survey of online media reports and eyewitness accounts. Where these sources report differing figures, the range (a minimum and a maximum) are given. All results are independently reviewed and error-checked by at least two members of the Iraq Body Count project team in addition to the original compiler before publication.
http://www.iraqbodycount.org/background.htm
Sudan bars Darfur atrocity probe
No high-level officials have been prosecuted for the atrocities in Darfur
Sudan's government says it will not allow international investigators into the troubled province of Darfur to collect evidence on alleged war crimes.
The ban comes as the chief prosecutor from the International Criminal Court told the UN Security Council that he wanted more co-operation from Sudan.
Luis Moreno Ocampo said he had identified mass killings and rape but had not decided who to prosecute.
Some two million people have fled their homes in the three-year Darfur war.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4526208.stm
Venezuela MPs accuse US of 'plot'
Greg Morsbach
BBC News, Caracas
Mr Maduro said he had tapes to prove the claims
Two leading Venezuelan MPs have accused the US State Department, the CIA and a Congresswoman of a plot to damage the government of President Hugo Chavez.
They said there had been a conspiracy to turn last week's congressional elections in Venezuela into a fiasco.
The claims were made by the speaker of Venezuela's parliament Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
A US embassy spokesman in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, categorically denied all charges.
Audio recordings
The allegations were directed at the US embassy in Caracas and Florida's Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4526856.stm
Cuba 'bars women from prize trip'
By Stephen Gibbs
BBC News, Havana
The Ladies in White stage quiet protest marches in Havana
A group of Cuban women say they have been barred by their government from travelling to Europe to collect a prestigious human rights award.
The group, known as the Ladies in White, are joint winners of this year's Sakharov prize for freedom of thought.
For the last two years the women, who are relatives of jailed dissidents, have staged a weekly protest march.
They have been invited to Strasbourg by the European Parliament to receive the award, to be presented on Wednesday.
The other winners are Nigerian human rights lawyer Hauwa Ibrahim and Paris-based Reporters without Borders.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4527018.stm
Colombia ready for hostage talks
Colombian-French national Ingrid Betancourt was kidnapped in 2002
Colombia is prepared to pull out troops from a small mountainous area to hold talks about exchanging hostages for jailed rebels, the government has said.
In what is seen as a U-turn, President Alvaro Uribe said he accepted proposals by an international commission to break a deadlock with the left-wing Farc.
The rebels are holding some 60 hostages - including foreigners - several of whom were seized several years ago.
There was no immediate response from the Farc to Mr Uribe's statement.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4526898.stm
Iranian leader denies Holocaust
Ahmadinejad's remarks echo recent statements
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has courted further controversy by explicitly calling the Nazi Holocaust of European Jewry a "myth".
"They have invented a myth that Jews were massacred and place this above God, religions and the prophets," he said in a live television broadcast.
Mr Ahmadinejad called for Europe, the US or Canada to create a Jewish state there, instead of the Middle East.
Israel swiftly denounced the president's comments.
"We hope these extremist comments by the Iranian president will make the international community open its eyes and abandon any illusions about this regime," Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev told AFP news agency.
Mr Ahmadinejad's latest declaration reiterates comments he made last week in which he said he did not accept six million Jews were killed by the Nazis, remarks which were widely condemned.
The president also sparked international outrage in October when he said Israel should be "wiped off the map".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4527142.stm
San Francisco Chronicle
Global warming is threatening polar bears with extinction. If immediate action is not taken one of this country's most beloved animals will be extinct in just 45 years.
https://secureusa.greenpeace.org/securedonate/index.php?usa_source_template=polarbear&ref_source=sfgate
Daring rescue of whale off Farallones
Humpback nuzzled her saviors in thanks after they untangled her from crab lines, diver says
Peter Fimrite, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
A humpback whale freed by divers from a tangle of crab trap lines near the Farallon Islands nudged its rescuers and flapped around in what marine experts said was a rare and remarkable encounter.
"It felt to me like it was thanking us, knowing that it was free and that we had helped it," James Moskito, one of the rescue divers, said Tuesday. "It stopped about a foot away from me, pushed me around a little bit and had some fun."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/14/MNGNKG7Q0V1.DTL
Police Dept. video scandal quietly slipping into Phase B
Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
A funny thing happened over the weekend to the big "Cops Gone Wild" video scandal in San Francisco -- it started getting very quiet.
Apparently, Mayor Gavin Newsom and his handlers realized that while the videos were bad, they didn't quite prove -- at least in the public's mind -- Newsom's charge that they were evidence of a "deep-seated" culture of sexism, racism and homophobia running through the department.
By Sunday, the message was going out that Newsom -- having made his point and formed a "blue-ribbon" commission to look into the department's culture -- was now ready to get as many of the 24 suspended cops back to work in the Bayview Station as possible, as soon as possible.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/14/BAGSTG7H2D1.DTL
Newsom defends response to SFPD videos
Henry K. Lee and Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writers
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
(12-14) 16:57 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom defended his quick condemnation of police featured in videos he found offensive to women and minorities, as the officer who produced the skits apologized today but said it was time for "this ridiculous slandering" to stop.
At a packed news conference at City Hall, Newsom endorsed Police Chief Heather Fong's decision to suspend without pay two dozen officers at the Bayview station who were involved in the videos. Eight have since been allowed to return to work.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/15/SFCOPS.TMP
STANFORD
Campus mourns ex-grad student
Chemistry Ph.D. candidate felt he had to go to Iraq
Dave Murphy, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, December 15, 2005
As President Bush finished his speech about terrorism Wednesday at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, one name he mentioned had a tragically familiar ring at Stanford University.
He told the story of Marine Lt. Ryan McGlothlin, who was working on a doctorate in chemistry at Stanford in 2003, when he told his father that he wanted to protect the United States from terrorists by joining the Marines.
"When his father asked him if there was some other way to serve, Ryan replied that he felt a special obligation to step up because he had been given so much," the president said. "Ryan didn't support me in the last election, but he supported our mission in Iraq. And he supported his fellow Marines."
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/15/STANFORD.TMP
Members of notorious S.F. gang admit to shootings
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
(12-14) 13:58 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- The last two defendants in a wide-ranging federal investigation that led to a crackdown on the notorious "Big Block" gang in San Francisco have pleaded guilty in a series of drug-related shootings, authorities said today.
Douglas Stepney, 33, and Kim Ellis, 31, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in San Francisco on Tuesday, acknowledging the gang's involvement in five drug-related shootings. Stepney is expected to receive a 23-year prison sentence in March, while Ellis is set to be sentenced to 20 years.
Stepney, the leader of the Big Block gang that operated in the Harbor Road area in the Bayview/Hunters Point neighborhood, admitted his role in a drive-by shooting in an attempt to kill a rival gang member in March 2001.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/14/MNGL8G82SI23.DTL
After Williams, a new dilemma for governor
Next: Gravely ill and blind man, 75, scheduled to die
Jim Doyle, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Clarence Ray Allen, the next inmate scheduled to die in San Quentin State Prison's execution chamber, may pose a quandary as vexing for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as Stanley Tookie Williams.
Allen, who has spent more than a quarter-century on Death Row, is slated to die by lethal injection Jan. 17. He would be the oldest and most infirm prisoner executed in the United States since the death penalty was restored in 1977, according to his lawyers.
Pasted from <http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/12/14/MNGNKG7Q0T1.DTL
Volunteer encyclopedia as accurate as Britannica, journal says
By DAN GOODIN, AP Technology Writer
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
(12-14) 18:32 PST San Francisco (AP) --
Wikipedia, the encyclopedia that relies on volunteers to pen nearly 4 million articles, is about as accurate in covering scientific topics as Encyclopedia Britannica, the journal Nature wrote in an online article published Wednesday.
The finding, based on a side-by-side comparison of articles covering a broad swath of the scientific spectrum, comes as Wikipedia faces criticism over the accuracy of some of its entries.
Two weeks ago prominent journalist John Seigenthaler revealed that a Wikipedia entry that ran for four months had incorrectly named him as a longtime suspect in the assassinations of president John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/12/14/state/n183218S15.DTL
SAN FRANCISCO
Foundation agrees to return portion of AIDS quilt to creator
Settlement also lets founder nominate directors for board
Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Printable Version
Email This Article
The two sides battling over the return of a portion of the AIDS Memorial Quilt to San Francisco have settled on an agreement after a contentious two-year court battle, attorneys for each side said Tuesday.
Settlement talks between the parties -- Cleve Jones, the founder of the quilt project, and the Names Project Foundation, the Atlanta organization that owns it -- broke down last month when they failed to agree on a written settlement.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/14/BAGSTG7NOO1.DTL
Human rights, rendered meaningless
Robert Scheer
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
THE MORE we learn of the Bush administration's pervasive outsourcing of torture, the more sensible it seems as a policy. Evidently, our intelligence people, tainted as they are by the squeamish morality of Western civilization, are just not fully up to the task of getting prisoners to tell us what the administration wants us to hear.
Sure, they tried water boarding and extreme stress positions in Guantanamo, but would U.S. interrogators be willing to pull out fingernails or use electric shock, as was inflicted upon at least a dozen of the 625 Baghdad inmates released Sunday from yet another secret inhuman jail run by our Iraqi surrogates? Not guaranteed, and anyway, some conscious-stricken soldier likely would release photos, as one did at Abu Ghraib, and let the world in on our use of such special methods.
Better to use the services of those less democratic nations where torture is the norm, including some, such as Uzbekistan, that still have usable camps left over from Soviet-era torturers. That must be behind the logic of "extraordinary rendition," as it officially is called, in which it is acknowledged U.S. policy to turn over prisoners our government has captured to other nations deemed more effective in interrogation.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/12/14/EDG9IG72TE1.DTL
The Tehran Times
Ahmadinejad’s idea on Israel correct in principal
By Henryk M. Broder
Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad’s suggestion to move Israel to Germany is not as absurd as it sounds. If you consider the idea impartially, you can see a historic land reform concept which can be advantageous to all parties.
Everyone is attacking the Iranian president again because he suggested moving Israel from the Middle East to Germany, or Austria. Even those who were not outraged about Ahmadinejad’s demand "to wipe Israel off the map" are agitated, because now they see the problem as becoming theirs. As much as a "world without Zionism" is imaginable, a Europe with a Jewish State in its midst is a vision of horror that no one wants to follow to its logical conclusion.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Ahmadinejad’s suggestions "totally unacceptable". Her hasty reaction did not take into account that the Iranian president had, after all, moved away from his original demand to destroy Israel and now wants a "relocation" of the "Zionist entity". From a humanitarian point of view, this is progress: The Israelis should no longer disappear into the ocean, but be sent on an overseas journey instead. One could also say that Europe should take back the problem that it created and exported. But the recipient is refusing delivery of the parcel even before it has been sent.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=12/14/2005&Cat=2&Num=003
Mirror images: the political cultures of France and USA
By Behnam Elmi
Due to the views of U.S. officials, the United States has developed a political culture that is diametrically opposed to the political culture of European countries.
According to a poll carried out in the United States earlier this year, Paris is believed to be losing its significance as an ally of Washington, while at the same time the Asian partners of the United States are regarded as more important than its European partners. In light of the fact that the U.S. has lost over 2000 soldiers in the Iraq war and spent billions from the national purse, not to mention the scandals of U.S. soldiers torturing prisoners in Iraq and Guantanamo, which are increasing the international community’s disgust with U.S. officials, why is U.S. public opinion still supporting the U.S. government’s Iraq policy?
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=12/14/2005&Cat=14&Num=001
Resistance and unity only way to liberate Palestine: Leader
Tehran Times Political Desk
TEHRAN – Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said here on Tuesday that the only way to guarantee the freedom of Palestine is to continue resistance while maintaining unity.
In a meeting with Hamas Political Bureau Chief Khaled Mashaal and his accompanying delegation, Ayatollah Khamenei noted that the Palestinian nation’s recent success in ousting Zionist troops from Gaza was a result of their struggles and jihad against the occupier Israeli regime.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=12/14/2005&Cat=2&Num=008
Iran, Russia discuss bilateral, regional and international issues
MOSCOW (IRNA) – Iranian Majlis Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, who is on a tour of Russia at the head of a parliamentary delegation, discussed nuclear and parliamentary cooperation with officials in Moscow on Tuesday. His talks also touched on regional and international cooperation between the two states.
Iran has solid technical, military and economic cooperation with Russia. Russia has been a vocal supporter of Iran’s peaceful nuclear program.
In a meeting between Haddad-Adel and Russian Federation Council Chairman Sergei Mironov on Tuesday, the Russian official praised Iran's principled stance on Russia's North Caucasus.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=12/14/2005&Cat=2&Num=009
Resistance and unity only way to liberate Palestine: Leader
Tehran Times Political Desk
TEHRAN – Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said here on Tuesday that the only way to guarantee the freedom of Palestine is to continue resistance while maintaining unity.
In a meeting with Hamas Political Bureau Chief Khaled Mashaal and his accompanying delegation, Ayatollah Khamenei noted that the Palestinian nation’s recent success in ousting Zionist troops from Gaza was a result of their struggles and jihad against the occupier Israeli regime.
“The only way to guarantee the freedom and future of Palestine is to continue with the resistance while maintaining strength and unity and observing the main principles of Islam.”
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=12/14/2005&Cat=2&Num=008
Science
http://www.tehrantimes.com/science.asp?Newsdate=12/14/2005
Iran entitled to production of nuclear energy: Australian envoy
TEHRAN (IRNA) -- Australian Ambassador to Tehran Gregory Lawrence Moriaty here on Tuesday said that Iran is entitled to produce nuclear energy and expressed his country's continued encouragement for Iran's further transparency and confidence building.
According to the Majlis media department, speaking at a meeting with Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Chairman, Alaeddin Borujerdi, the diplomat added that despite the difference of ideas between officials of the two states in this respect, the Australian prime minister, foreign minister and other state officials urge the need for the multifaceted expansion of relations.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=12/14/2005&Cat=2&Num=1
Africans forego basics to save children
LONDON (Reuters) -- Families in Africa are struggling to pay medical bills for their sick children and do without basics such as food to make ends meet, a leading charity said.
Save the Children UK, which conducted research in seven African nations, found that poor families were forced to sell livestock, mortgage crops and take children out of school to cover healthcare costs.
"Parents across sub-Saharan Africa are being forced to decide whether the rest of the family should go without food to send a sick child to a clinic or hospital. It's a choice no parent should ever have to make," said Anna Taylor, head of health at the charity.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=12/14/2005&Cat=5&Num=1
Sports
http://www.tehrantimes.com/sports.asp?Newsdate=12/14/2005
Weather in Tehran
http://www.tehrantimes.com/weather.htm
Economy = Oil
http://www.tehrantimes.com/economy.asp?Newsdate=12/14/2005
Culture
http://www.tehrantimes.com/culture.asp?Newsdate=12/14/2005
Religion
http://www.tehrantimes.com/religion.asp?Newsdate=12/14/2005
continued …
