Haaretz
No lasting stroke damage, prime minister may go home Tuesday
By Jonathan Lis, Aluf Benn and Ran Reznick, Haaretz Correspondents, Haaretz Service and Agencies
Physicians at Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem in Jerusalem said Monday that they hoped to release Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Tuesday, after he underwent a new series of tests, including a CAT scan and MRI, to determine the effects of the stroke he suffered Sunday evening.
The stroke, termed a mild cerebral vascular event, "Will not leave behind any damage or any traces," said Dr. Tamir Ben-Hur, chief of the hospital's neurology department.
"There's an excellent chance it won't repeat itself," Ben-Hur said. "After a rest, he can return to full functioning.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/659324.html
After stroke, PM tells Haaretz: I'm fine
By Haaretz Staff and Agencies
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was in stable condition last night after being rushed to the hospital in Jerusalem after apparently suffering a minor stroke and briefly losing consciousness.
However, doctors at the Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem said that he appears not to have suffered any damage from the incident. "Unequivocally there is no damage," said Sharon's long-time personal physician, Dr. Boleslav Goldman. "He has had anti-coagulant treatment. He will need to be in the hospital for a few days."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/659367.html
Knesset panel okays bill on restoring Holocaust victims' assets
By Amiram Barkat, Haaretz Correspondent
The Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee on Monday approved the Holocaust victims' bill and submitted it to the plenum for second and third readings.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been urging Finance Minister Ehud Olmert to push the legislation through and Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin had promised to make every effort to ensure that it is passed.
MK Yosef Lapid, who sponsored the bill, said that, ?this is one of the most important law?s in Israel?s history. It?s a shame it wasn?t passed 50 years ago.?
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/659638.html
Poll: Netanyahu triumphs in Likud primary with 47%
By Mazal Mualem, Yuval Azoulay and Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondents and Haaretz Service
Facing a crowded hall of supporters in the Likud headquarters in Tel Aviv on Monday night, newly-elected Likud Chairman MK Benjamin Netanyahu announced the Likud's intention to regain power in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Netanyahu swept to a comfortable victory in the Likud chairmanship race, as his main rival Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom conceded defeat in a phone conversation with him.
According to the Channel 1 poll, Netanyahu won 47 percent of the votes in the party primaries. Shalom came in second with 32 percent of the vote. Far-right candidate Moshe Feiglin won 15 percent of the vote, while Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz trailed in fourth place with 6 percent of the vote.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/659518.html
Syria considering ceding Shaba Farms to Lebanon
By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent
Syria is considering a proposal to give Lebanon sovereignty over the Shaba Farms, on the slopes of Mount Hermon, by signing a new border deal with Lebanon, according to information that has reached Israel from several sources in the last few days.
Political sources in Jerusalem said the proposal indicates that the Syrians are trying to ease the diplomatic pressure on them and put the ball in Israel's court.
If the Shaba Farms are considered Lebanese territory, Israel will be asked to withdraw from the region. Failure to do so will provide Hezbollah with justification to act in South Lebanon and call the Israeli occupation ongoing.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/659932.html
Analysis: The Likud has never been such a right-wing party
By Yossi Verter, Haaretz Correspondent
The Likud's old-new chairman Benjamin Netanyahu is facing two urgent tasks. First, he must assess in the next two to three days whether Labor Chairman Amir Peretz can be a partner in an alternative government - the "government that is s-c-a-r-e-d of Ariel Sharon."
Second, he will have to extract Likud ministers, led by Silvan Shalom, from the government and get them to abandon their ministerial Volvos, so that he, Benjamin Netanyahu, can become the only person with an official title, opposition head, with all of its perks: an armored car, a swarm of security guards and a monthly update from the prime minister.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/659865.html
MI chief: W. Bank, Gaza could become Fatahstan, Hamastan
By Gideon Alon
Military Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Aharon Ze'evi (Farkash) warned the government during its meeting yesterday that there is an increasingly high chance that next year will see what he called the "Hamastan" brigade ruling the Gaza Strip, while the "Fatahstan" brigade will control the West Bank.
Ze'evi, who took his leave of the government yesterday at the end of his term as director of MI, said Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is in a difficult position and has limited maneuverability.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/659364.html
London calling Israeli firms
By Efrat Neuman
Israel changed its positioning in Europe significantly this year. The trend dates back to last December, when local companies started sniffing a golden opportunity on London's second market, the AIM.
Until then, Israeli companies had moved, in very small numbers, to the London Stock Exchange. However, after BATM's glorious splash on AIM in 2000, moments before the bubble burst, eyes have moved to London's second-largest exchange.
Vigilant Technologies announced yesterday it plans to raise $18 million on the AIM, becoming Israel's 20th company listed on the market.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/659925.html
The Seattle Post Intelligencer
Volunteers clear out New Orleans synagogue
By STACEY PLAISANCE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
NEW ORLEANS -- Standing on moldy and debris-covered floors, college students cleaning up a Jewish temple paused Monday for a prayer service - the first at Beth Israel Synagogue since Hurricane Katrina flooded it with more than 10 feet of water three months ago.
The dozen or so students were among roughly 50 from colleges across the country who have come to New Orleans to spend their winter break helping with recovery efforts at the century-old synagogue, as well as at area homes and schools left damaged by the storm.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Katrina_Flooded_Synagogue.html
Gregoire announces major Puget Sound clean up plan
By LISA STIFFLER AND ROBERT McCLURE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTERS
Hoping to make the restoration of Puget Sound into a national priority, Gov. Christine Gregoire today announced the most-ambitious plan to date to clean up toxic dumps around the Sound, prevent oil spills and take other actions to revive the ailing estuary.
Gregoire’s $42 million proposal would provide a boost to the approximately $90 million currently earmarked for Sound-related work which is spread among a dozen agencies and institutions.
The funds would come from the state’s $1.4 billion surplus. Environmentalists hope this will mark the first significant commitment to a long-term effort to save the Sound.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/252659_sound19ww.html
Software Notebook: Microsoft, Mozilla: A symbol of cooperation?
By TODD BISHOP
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Granted, it's not exactly the Dayton Peace Accords. But Microsoft's Internet Explorer group and the rival Firefox browser team surprised the technology world last week with a small token of cooperation.
To be precise, it was a tiny orange icon. Microsoft worked out an arrangement to use the same symbol that Firefox does to alert people when a Web page makes extra streams of information available for subscription.
Microsoft will use Firefox's icon for online feeds.
The industry has seen bigger deals, to put it mildly. In fact, describing it as a deal might be a stretch. It was an informal agreement, with no money changing hands, said Sean Lyndersay, lead program manager on Microsoft's Internet Explorer team.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/252520_software19.html
Researchers find Barbie is often mutilated
By JILL LAWLESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
LONDON -- Barbie, beware. The iconic plastic doll is often mutilated at the hands of young girls, according to research published Monday by British academics.
"The girls we spoke to see Barbie torture as a legitimate play activity, and see the torture as a 'cool' activity," said Agnes Nairn, one of the University of Bath researchers. "The types of mutilation are varied and creative, and range from removing the hair to decapitation, burning, breaking and even microwaving."
Researchers from the university's marketing and psychology departments questioned 100 children about their attitudes to a range of products as part of a study on branding. They found Barbie provoked the strongest reaction, with youngsters reporting "rejection, hatred and violence," Nairn said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Britain_Hating_Barbie.html
Schwarzenegger to hometown: Remove my name
By JENNIFER COLEMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday told officials in his hometown in Austria to remove his name from a sports stadium and stop using his identity to promote the city.
The governor's request came after politicians in Graz began a petition drive to rename the stadium, reacting to Schwarzenegger's decision last week to deny clemency to condemned inmate Stanley Tookie Williams. Opposition to the death penalty is strong in Austria.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Schwarzenegger_Hometown.html
Aceh shows best, worst of tsunami spending
By TIM SULLIVAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
It has been a year since the tsunami laid waste to the isolated Indonesian province of Aceh, but tens of thousands of people still live in a vast archipelago of shanty towns made of scrap wood spit back by the sea. Along the coast, towns and villages remain nothing but swampland and ankle-high rubble. In plywood barracks hurriedly built across the region, survivors are jammed together in windowless rooms.
Many people are desperately frustrated.
"We know a lot of money is going to Aceh, but where is it? Where are the buildings? Where is the construction?" demanded Zoelfitri, a 32-year-old man who, like many Indonesians, uses only one name. He lives in a homemade shanty on the fringes of Banda Aceh, the provincial capital on the northwestern edge of Sumatra island, and cares for nearly a dozen relatives who lost parents, children and siblings in the tsunami.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Tsunami_The_Money_TS1.html
Returns show Shiites lead in Iraq election
By MARIAM FAM
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Preliminary election returns Monday showed Iraqi voters divided along ethnic and religious lines with a commanding lead held by the religious Shiite coalition that dominates the current government.
Meanwhile, an Iraqi lawyer said at least 24 top former officials in Saddam Hussein's regime were freed from jail without charges. They included biological and chemical weapons experts known as "Dr. Germ" and "Mrs. Anthrax."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq.html
Iraq war veteran launches bid for House
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOMBARD, Ill. -- Iraq war veteran L. Tammy Duckworth, a helicopter pilot who lost her legs to a rocket-propelled grenade attack, formally announced her candidacy Sunday for the congressional seat of retiring Republican Rep. Henry Hyde.
The Army major is one of about a half dozen Iraq war veterans running for office as Democrats, lending their military backgrounds to the party's argument that it can be strong on defense and national security, even as its leaders criticize President Bush's handling of the war.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1132AP_Congress_Iraq_Veteran.html
Report: Russian official worried over bases
By MIKE ECKEL
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
MOSCOW -- Russia's foreign spy chief said military forces from other countries deployed at bases along Russia's periphery are a threat to the nation, a Russian news agency reported Monday.
In comments that appeared directed at U.S. forces deployed on bases in former Soviet countries, the Interfax news agency quoted Sergei Lebedev, head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, as saying that Russia no longer had a "main adversary" as during the Cold War.
But "Russians cannot help but be concerned about new military bases and military contingents being deployed around our country," he was quoted as saying.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Russia_Intelligence_Chief.html
N. Ireland begins granting gay unions
By SHAWN POGATCHNIK
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- Two lesbians become the first gay couple in the United Kingdom to win legal recognition under a civil partnership Monday, a ceremony that attracted scorn from evangelical Christian protesters but praise from gay rights activists.
Grainne Close, a social worker from Northern Ireland, and Shannon Sickels, a playwright from New York, were the first of several hundred gay couples exchanging vows nationwide this week - including Elton John and his longtime partner.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Britain_Gay_Marriage.html
Federal survey shows unwanted births up
By MIKE STOBBE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
ATLANTA -- More American women are having babies they didn't want, a survey indicates, but federal researchers say they don't know if that means attitudes about abortion are changing.
U.S. women of childbearing age who were surveyed in 2002 revealed that 14 percent of their recent births were unwanted at the time of conception, federal researchers said Monday.
In a similar 1995 survey, only 9 percent were unwanted at the time of conception.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/1500AP_Unwanted_Pregnancies.html
South America shifting left, away from U.S.
By BILL CORMIER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
LA PAZ, Bolivia -- South America's leftward tilt has gained momentum with the likely victory of Bolivian presidential candidate Evo Morales, the coca-farming Indian who calls himself "Washington's nightmare."
Morales, whose election is all but assured given his wide margin in Sunday's voting, takes guidance from the anti-American populist Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and considers the Argentine revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara his hero.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Bolivia_Leaning_Left.html
The New Zealand Herald
Siberians even colder than usual
20.12.05 7.20am
More than 100,000 people in the Siberian city of Kyzyl were left without heat and hot water amid -37C temperatures after a breakdown at the central heating plant.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10360749
Narwhal tusk for sensing, smooching
15.12.05
The narwhal's mysterious spiral tusk works as a giant sensor to help it test water qualities and to smooch other narwhals, according to a United States researcher.
The whale's 2.4m long tusk has long mystified naturalists and hunters, and the explanation may be equally intriguing, Harvard School of Dental Medicine researcher Dr Martin Nweeia said.
The tusk, it seems, has hydrodynamic-sensing capabilities, Dr Nweeia said before his presentation to the Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals in San Diego.
The mammals are among the rarest of whales, usually 4 to 4.5m long, found mostly in the Arctic Ocean waters of Canada but as far east as Russia.
Dr Nweeia's team found that the narwhal tusk is like a membrane with an extremely sensitive surface. It has 10 million nerve connections to the outer surface that would be capable of detecting changes in water temperature, pressure, and salinity.
"There is no comparison in nature and certainly none more unique in tooth form, expression, and functional adaptation."
Anyone with sensitive teeth who has bitten into an icecream would wince.
"Why would a tusk break the rules of normal development by expressing millions of sensory pathways that connect its nervous system to the frigid arctic environment?" Dr Nweeia asked.
"Such a finding is startling and indeed surprised all of us who discovered it."
Dr Nweeia's team also noted that narwhal males will rub tusks and said it was likely this provided the big animals with a "unique sensation".
"Now that we know the sensory capabilities of the tusk, we can design new experiments to describe some of the unique and unexplained behaviours of this elusive and extraordinary whale."
- REUTERS
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10359968
Union relief as Air NZ reconsiders job losses
19.12.05 1.00pm UPDATE
The union acting for hundreds of Air New Zealand engineers threatened with redundancy says it is delighted the airline is reconsidering its plans.
Air NZ had announced in October that more than 600 staff would lose their jobs due to of a decision to send heavy maintenance work to Asia.
After receiving a proposal from the union, it today confirmed 110 would be made redundant but said the remaining 507 would hear their fate in February.
The EPMU said it was delighted the airline would seriously consider its cost-cutting proposal, which could save more jobs.
Andrew Little, national secretary for the union, said it was "regrettable" Air NZ believed it needed to cut staff, but the most important aspect was that New Zealand would still have an aircraft heavy engineering operation which could be built upon in the future.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10360636
NZ gets top marks in World Bank business survey
19.12.05 1.00pm
New Zealand has received top marks in a World Bank survey on 'Doing Business in 2006'.
The country ranked number 1 in terms of ease of doing business, in the survey of 155 countries by the bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) division.
Australia was sixth on the list, which assessed the ease with which to establish and maintain a business, while Pacific nations Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, ranked 34th, 36th and 39th respectively.
Sean Duggan, IFC's regional programme coordinator for the Pacific, said Pacific Island nations "fared remarkably well", in this year's survey, but he warned that "the Pacific does have its fair share of problems, particularly with the administration of regulation".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10360637
Birdflu cost to NZ 'up to $30bn in first year'
20.12.05 1.00pm
A birdflu pandemic would cost New Zealand between $15 billion and $30 billion in the first year, Treasury said today.
The loss to the economy would be around 10 to 20 per cent of GDP in the year that a pandemic occurred, it said in a report.
The cost over four years would be up to $40 billion.
"The economy would take several years to recover from a shock of this scale and losses could amount to 15-30 per cent of annual GDP over the medium term," Treasury said.
The report, written on November 2, was published on its website today (link at foot of page).
Normally, the risk of flu pandemic is considered to be 1 to 2 per cent over any one year, or 20 to 30 per cent over 20 years, but Treasury quotes Australia's Chief Medical Officer as putting the odds of a pandemic over the next few years at 10 per cent.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10360807
Romania detects new suspected bird flu case
20.12.05 12.20pm
BUCHAREST - Romania has found suspected bird flu in hens in another village 100km east of Bucharest, where an outbreak was detected last week, officials said on Monday.
The H5 type of the virus was confirmed last week in two villages in Ialomita county, indicating the avian disease could be spreading towards the capital.
Since October, the Balkan country has found avian flu in 21 villages in and around the Danube delta where the deadly strain of the virus was first discovered 300km from Bucharest.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10360777
'Dr Germ' and 'Mrs Anthrax' released
20.12.05 1.00pm
By Alastair Macdonald
BAGHDAD - Saddam Hussein's weapons experts known as "Dr Germ" and "Mrs Anthrax" are being released by US forces, an Iraqi lawyer said on Monday, and the US military confirmed several "high-value detainees" were being freed.
Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Barry Johnson said eight leading detainees had been freed on Saturday.
He said they were among 27 prisoners, considered senior members of the administration overthrown by US forces in 2003, who now posed no threat to security, were neither charged with crimes nor material witnesses, and had no intelligence value.
Johnson declined to identify any of the detainees or comment on the fate of those still held prisoner.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10360771
US House passes torture ban and war funding
20.12.05 1.00pm
By Vicki Allen
WASHINGTON - The US House of Representatives has passed final legislation to ban the torture of detainees and voted to advance the Pentagon US$50 billion ($73.42 billion) for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The House passed two separate defence bills, one for funding and one for defence policies, that contained identical measures initially opposed by President George W. Bush requiring humane treatment of detainees in US custody.
But, in a concession to the White House, the bills curb the ability of inmates at the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to challenge their detention in federal court.
Congress is pushing to complete its work for the year and the policy bill could go to the Senate for final passage late today before being sent to Bush.
The Senate will take up the funding measure this week, with a fight expected over an unrelated measure added to the bill to allow oil drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge.
The bills also would let information gleaned by coercion to be used against Guantanamo inmates.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10360787
Greens want block on passing spy information to US
19.12.05 1.00pm
The Green Party has said New Zealand should stop sending information obtained by its spy base to the United States following revelations it could be misused.
US President George W Bush has admitted he allowed domestic eavesdropping without court approval following the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks.
The revelation in the New York Times caused outrage in the US, with both Democrats and Republicans calling for congressional investigations into the decision.
The Greens' security and intelligence spokesman Keith Locke said New Zealand should suspend the transfer of data intercepted by the Waihopai spy base to the US National Security Agency (NSA).
Waihopai is part of the NSA-run Echelon communications intelligence network.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10360631
Former Aceh rebels complete weapons handover
20.12.05 1.00pm
BANDA ACEH - Former rebels in Indonesia's Aceh completed a weapons handover on Monday under a peace pact that ended one of Asia's longest running civil wars, foreign monitors said.
"Today we could confirm that the (Free) Aceh Movement has offered the last of their weapons, thereby completing their commitment under the Helsinki MOU (Memorandum of Understanding)," Pieter Feith, chief of the European Union-led Aceh Monitoring Mission, told a news conference.
The rebel movement, known as Gam, and the government have moved quickly to reduce tensions since signing an agreement in Helsinki in August to end the 30-year war in which 15,000 people, mostly civilians, were killed.
Gam and Indonesia's government signed the peace pact after months of negotiation spurred on by the Dec. 26 tsunami that smashed into Indian Ocean coastlines.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10360776
Iran tells West to be tolerant of Holocaust views
19.12.05 1.00pm
TEHRAN - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust is a matter for academic discussion and the West should be more tolerant of his views, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman said on Sunday.
Ahmadinejad last week called the Holocaust a myth and suggested Israel be moved to Germany or Alaska, remarks that sparked international uproar and threaten diplomatic talks with Europe over Iran's nuclear programme.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi defended the president's remarks, which also drew a rebuke from the UN Security Council.
"What the president said is an academic issue. The West's reaction shows their continued support for Zionists," Asefi told a weekly news conference.
"Westerners are used to leading a monologue but they should learn to listen to different views," he added.
Some 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis and their allies between 1933 and 1945.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10360628
EU was aware of rendition, says Powell
19.12.05 1.00pm
By Jerome Taylor
LONDON - European governments, including Britain's, were under growing pressure last night to reveal the extent of their involvement in controversial US "extraordinary renditions".
Colin Powell, the former US Secretary of State, said that statements of ignorance by European leaders such Jack Straw about the transport, detention and torture of suspects were not believable.
"There's a little bit of the movie Casablanca in this, where, you know, the inspector says, 'I'm shocked, shocked that this kind of thing [gambling] takes place'," he said in the interview with Sir David Frost.
Speaking on the BBC's World TV channel yesterday, Mr Powell criticised the US's European allies for expressing ignorance of rendition, and dismissed suggestions that governments were surprised that their airports may have been involved in rendition.
"Most of our European friends cannot be shocked that this kind of thing takes place.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10360639
Colombian rebels show video of hostage
20.12.05 11.20am
By Hugh Bronstein
BOGOTA - Colombian rebels released a video on Monday showing a former government minister they kidnapped five years ago asking officials to negotiate a hostage exchange.
The video, in which a gaunt Fernando Araujo appeared with a small green parrot perched on his shoulder, was shot Dec. 11, two days before the government offered to withdraw troops from around a small mountain town to set the stage for talks aimed at freeing 63 hostages in return for jailed rebels.
"We ask that the government show all the will necessary and the best possible attitude in negotiations to reach an exchange agreement with the (rebels)," Araujo, kidnapped while jogging in the Caribbean resort city of Cartagena in 2000 after he had resigned as minister, said in the video.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10360801
Bombs in Iraq, murder video on web
20.12.05 10.00am
BAGHDAD - Bombs ripped through three Iraqi cities on Monday and two senior officials survived assassination attempts, hours after President George W. Bush told Americans not to despair over the US mission in Iraq.
An Iraqi militant group posted an internet video claiming to show the killing of an American abducted this month.
The level of violence has risen again since the successful and largely peaceful election on Dec. 15, the first parliamentary poll since the US-led invasion.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10360783
Latin America's new socialist revolution
20.12.05
By Daniel Howden
LA PAZ - Inside La Paz's bullet-pocked National Congress building, the gloomy halls are filled with portraits of the great and good of European descent, reflecting who has ruled Latin America's poorest and most racially polarised country since independence in 1825.
At the end of a corridor is a room full of images of Che Guevara. Among them hangs a poster with the slogan, "I'd rather be an illiterate Indian than a North American millionaire".
Thirty-eight years after his death in the foothills of the Bolivian Andes, trying to spark a revolution, the Marxist soldier of fortune's boast reverberates in the dilemma now facing the nation.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10360679
Leaders push for WTO deal
20.12.05
By Fran O'Sullivan
HONG KONG - British Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected to call a G8 summit early in the New Year in response to a request from the World Trade Organisation for the world's political leaders to get behind an aggressive push to complete further talks by the end of next April.
WTO director-general Pascal Lamy said the present round of talks would only be a success if the "bosses" told their trade ministers "you've got to come back with a deal" when they reconvene in Geneva.
Lamy used a press conference - which finished just before midnight Hong Kong time - to go over the top of delegation heads from the 149 nations taking part in the ministerial talks.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10360722
'Tsunami of cheap goods' overwhelm African jobs
20.12.05
By John Chiahemen
Johannesburg - South Africa's union federation Cosatu planned to use a rally marking its 20th birthday this month to promote a "buy local" campaign.
But as about 20,000 unionists marched and chanted "Proudly South African" slogans in a Durban stadium, word went round that the bright red T-shirts each wore were made in China.
Thousands of noisy members of the Sactwu textile union, which is spearheading a campaign against a flood of cheap Chinese textile imports, removed the shirts and hurled them into a pile in the middle of the stadium.
"People's reaction to those T-shirts is a clear indication that they've had enough of these cheap products from abroad," Sactwu president John Zikhali said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10360687
Cancer vaccine has strong response in young girls
19.12.05 1.00pm
NEW YORK - Girls aged 10 to 14 who received GlaxoSmithKline Plc's vaccine to prevent infection with the virus that causes cervical cancer had immune responses twice as strong as women 15-25 years old given the vaccine, the company said at the weekend, describing results of a late-stage trial.
Glaxo said the first published data from a Phase III trial of its Cervarix vaccine suggest it may provide the strongest and most-prolonged protection if given to girls at very young ages, long before they encounter the sexually transmitted virus.
"The concentrations of antibodies to the virus were twice as high in the bloodstreams of the young girls," said Gary Dubin, a senior research official at Glaxo who was the lead author on the study.
Antibodies are immune-system proteins that seek out and destroy bacteria and viruses. Vaccines, by introducing the body to snippets of specific bacteria or viruses, train the body to crank out tailor-made antibodies that attack them.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10360652
Six face trial in Norway for 'The Scream' theft
20.12.05 1.00pm
OSLO - Six people will stand trial in Oslo in February accused of stealing "The Scream" and "Madonna" even though the two masterpieces by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch are still missing, prosecutors said on Monday.
"The Oslo public prosecutor's office has ... charged five people with taking part in the robbery of the Munch Museum on August 22, 2004", prosecutor Terje Nyboe said in a statement. A sixth person was charged with receiving stolen goods.
In the robbery, two masked gunmen walked into the Munch Museum in Oslo past dozens of terrified tourists, pulled the pictures from the wall and drove off in a car driven by a third man before switching to another getaway car.
The pictures, both painted in 1893, have not been seen since. The main portion of the four-week trial is due to be heard in Oslo in mid-February 2006, the statement said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10360781
You've got mail ... and possibly an STD as well
19.12.05
By Andrew Gumbel
LOS ANGELES - You have an embarrassing problem. You have just been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease. Worse, you've been sleeping around, so other people are at risk and they need to be told.
Problem is, you barely know them. You certainly don't feel up to a sit-down heart-to-heart about your condition and what they might want to do to check themselves out.
What to do? California's health authorities have found a solution that keeps awkward communication to a minimum: an email service that tells your recent partners what the problem is and commits you to nothing, not even to give your name.
Called Inspot, the service consists of a choice of six e-cards with messages ranging from the jokey to the sombre. One is a close-up photograph of household screws with the message: "I got screwed while screwing. You might have, too."
Another depicts a suntanned, well-toned man holding a towel up to his buttocks. The caption: "You're too hot to be out of action. I got diagnosed with STD since we played. You might want to get checked, too."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10360536
Poor children more likely to die than their rich peers
16.12.05
Children from lower-income households are more likely to die than those from medium- or high-income families, a study has revealed.
Researchers looking into socio-economic factors in child mortality examined the cases of about 2250 children who died between 1981 and 1999.
The paper by the Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Otago, was published in the NZ Medical Journal this week.
"Children living in deprived circumstances are more likely to die in all areas, except for cancer," said Dr Caroline Shaw.
The paper highlighted the need to address the factors that put children at risk, including traffic safety, quality of rental housing and fencing round homes.
"And, of course, no child [should be] living in poverty, so income levels for people living on benefits may need to be looked at," Dr Shaw said.
The higher death rate of children from low-income households was seen most strongly in accidents - burns, poisoning and drownings.
This was followed by a combination of "other" causes of death - such as disease and asthma - and traffic injuries. These two sectors made up about 80 per cent of child deaths.
Deaths from congenital causes were also tied to socio-economic levels.
Cancer was the only death-related cause not affected by socio-economic factors.
Dr Shaw said the number of deaths from suicide and murder was small and, apart from cancer, was the only category where medium-income households dominated.
But the numbers were so small it was not possible to find a substantial trend in that field, and international evidence showed that the lower the income, the more likely children would feature in murder or suicide rates, she said.
Associate Professor Tony Blakely said the study also raised fresh questions about how to pinpoint social policy.
Addressing poverty might help, he said, but there were deaths in the "other" category that might make it difficult to determine how best to focus policy initiatives.
- NZPA
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10360239
Sunscreens' all-day protection claims challenged
16.12.05
The Cancer Society has complained to the Commerce Commission about three brands of sunscreen which claim all-day protection from only one application.
The society, which is being backed by the Health Sponsorship Council, says Piz Buin, Daylong Sunscreen and Once Sunscreen are promoted as having all-day protection from one use.
The society's chief executive, Neil Chave, said there was no evidence to suggest that one application would provide eight hours of protection for people swimming and putting clothes on and off.
"All the evidence we have suggests that every two or three hours you have to reapply, particularly if you are swimming, because the effectiveness declines," he said.
Most products would wash off or sweat off, particularly on hot days, and fair-skinned people in particular needed ample cover.
An internet advertisement for Once Sunscreen says "people tested" had 95 per cent filter (SPF 20) after eight hours, including two hours in spa pools.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10360247
Sunscreen suppliers defend products
17.12.05
Two sunscreen suppliers have defended the labelling on their products that prompted the Cancer Foundation to complain to the Commerce Commission.
The commission, backed by the Health Sponsorship Council, disputed claims that Piz Buin Day Long, Once Sunscreen and Daylong Sunscreen offered all-day protection from one application.
Cancer Society chief executive Neil Chave said on Thursday that there was no evidence to suggest that one application would provide eight hours of protection for people swimming and taking clothes on and off.
He said sunscreen needed to be applied every two to three hours, particularly with fair-skinned people and when combined with swimming.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10360371
Willie and Arlo bring music back to New Orleans
19.12.05 1.00pm
By Michele Gershberg
NEW ORLEANS - Singers Arlo Guthrie and Willie Nelson staged a musical homecoming for hurricane-wrecked New Orleans on Saturday night, bringing back a taste of the songs for which the city is famed.
In a concert dedicated to assisting musicians who lost their homes, instruments and livelihoods when Hurricane Katrina flooded the city on August 29, the two pledged to help its songmakers find their voices again.
"The best music comes from difficult times," Guthrie told Reuters. "There will be an injection of something different into New Orleans as a result of the disaster ... the culture here will swallow it up, and something new will sparkle."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10360643
Chad blames Sudan for border attack
19.12.05 11.20am
N'DJAMENA - Chad has blamed its neighbour Sudan for an attack on a town near the countries' border on Sunday which killed more than 100 people.
"The Chadian government holds the Sudanese government totally responsible for this morning's attack mounted from its territory," Chad's Communication Minister Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor said in a statement that said that more than 100 people were killed during the attack.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10360623
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