Small and young countries are counting on their International Piers to do their part !
Climate change may also hit Kazakhstan, Vice Premier
ASTANA. February 24, 2006. KAZINFORM. /Muratbek Makulbekov/ The Vice Premier of Kazakhstan Karim Massimov has made a report at today’s parliamentary hearings in Astana.
In accordance with the present-day climate evolution model Kazakhstan may face further air temperature variation leading to natural zones shifting followed by unpredictable effects, deputy PM said. The issue concerning the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol is of great political meaning for Kazakhstan’s relationship with its strategic partners depends on the country’s position.
The task aimed at reduction of greenhouse gases atmospheric emissions is impossible under the current technical basis of the industry. The Kyoto Protocol ratifying will consequently claim the industry’s technical retooling which meets the key goals of Kazakhstan’s strategic development.
Upon all-round discussion of the Kyoto Protocol ratification will be taken deliberate and proper decision, the Vice Premier expressed hope.
http://www.inform.kz/txt/showarticle.php?lang=eng&id=140053
KIRIBATI: Church Faces The Brunt Of Climate Change, Says WCC
Friday: February 24, 2006
As the Pacific Delegation to the World Council of Churches 9th Assembly in Porto Alegre, Brazil works to raise awareness and call to action on the issue of the effects of climate change, for one Pacific delegate, the subject is a matter of life and death.
Rev.Teeruro Ieuti of the Kiribati Protestant church says that the WCC needs to recognise that rising sea levels pose a direct threat to the way of life and possibly the very existence of many Pacific Island peoples.
“We can see a time when the islands will sink. If WCC could voice the concerns to all member churches of the WCC, I think it will improve a lot as the Kiribati peoples voice will be heard by other nations. I believe the WCC should put this as a priority in its Agenda.”
According to Rev. Ieuti, the Kiribati church is dealing with the issue of rising sea levels pastorally, in terms of counselling and dealing with the fears of the people, raising awareness so that people will understand that this is a reality now.
http://www.pacificislands.cc/pina/pinadefault2.php?urlpinaid=20502
Four Mayors agree to work together to combat climate change
The Mayors of Berlin, London, Moscow and Paris have agreed a joint declaration to tackle climate change during their regular four Mayors’ meeting, held in Berlin.
Tabled by the Mayor of London, the four Mayors agree in the declaration to work together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the changing weather patterns that come with global warming. They agreed to approach other Mayors across the world to seek similar collaboration in particular with the US and China.
The meetings, dubbed the M4, bring together the Mayors of these four leading capital cities to discuss issues of common concern, including transport, economic development, and environmental protection.
Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, said: ‘Large cities are among the most significant energy users in the world and cities in 2005 were responsible for three quarters of all the world's carbon emissions. But it is also cities that are most likely to innovate and act to tackle climate change. This declaration shows that our four capitals recognise we must adapt to the changing weather patterns that come with global warming and do whatever we can to help future generations by reducing harmful emissions now.’
Their declaration states: ‘We, the mayors of the ‘M4’ cities, meeting in Berlin, agree that climate change is one of the most serious challenges facing our planet, requiring urgent and concerted action and collaboration by all levels of government, and commit to work together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change.’
‘As set out in our individual climate change plans, we will strive to meet or exceed Kyoto Protocol targets for reducing global warming.
‘We further commit to working with each other, and with the ‘C20’ group of large world cities to:
· set ambitious collective, individual but differentiated targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions post Kyoto’s 2012 timeframe,
· commit to ensure that we have highly effective agencies or programmes dedicated to accelerating investments in municipal and community greenhouse gas emission reductions and adaptations
· commit to develop, exchange and implement best practice and strategies on emission reduction and adaptation
· commit to develop and share communications strategies that sensitize citizens and stakeholders to climate change issues
· commit to create sustainable procurement alliances and policies that accelerate the take up of climate friendly technologies
· participate in the next C20 World Cities Summit in New York, to measure progress and also to monitor progress regularly at future M4 meetings.
‘We will also approach Mayors from other continents, including the signatories to the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, and those from major Asian, African, Latin American and Oceanic cities, to engage in similar collaboration.’
The Mayors also agreed to promote tourism between their cities, and enhance the conditions for inward investment.
Ken Livingstone announced that London would host the next M4 meeting, in 2007, and that in recognition of the growing importance of China as a global power, and Beijing’s role as the next Olympic Host City, he will invite his counterpart the Mayor of Beijing Wang Qishan to this next meeting.
http://www.blackukonline.com/black/2731/online.html
What you can do about climate change
John VasconCELLOS and CALLUM GRIEVE
The debate about global warming is over. The recent study published in the journal Nature linking species extinction in Central America and South America to global warming is still yet more evidence that Western civilization is on an accelerating collision course with the Earth's environment.
Record numbers of hurricanes are battering our shores. There is extinction of more than 130 species each day due to rainforest destruction alone. World water demand has more than tripled over the last half-century.
The average global temperature for 2004 of 58.28 degrees Fahrenheit makes it the fourth-warmest year on record.
Rising global temperatures are lengthening melting seasons, thawing frozen ground, and thinning ice caps and glaciers that in some cases have existed for millennia. These changes are raising the sea level faster than had been projected earlier by scientists, threatening human and wildlife populations.
A major new report commissioned by the British government suggests that a rise of just 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit will be enough to cause decreasing crop yields in the developing world and developed world; three times the likelihood of "poor" harvests in Europe and Russia; large-scale displacement of people in much of Africa from desertification; up to 2.8 billion people at risk of water shortage; 97 percent loss of coral reefs; total loss of summer Arctic sea ice, causing extinction of polar bears and walruses; and a spread of malaria in Africa and North America.
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/02-06/02-24-06/04opinion.htm
The Australian
What a catch
Peter Alford and Matthew Denholm reveal why the Howard Government isn't trying to stop the Japanese from killing whales in Australian waters
February 24, 2006
AFTER all the tough talk about the evils of whaling, Australia went to water when Japanese harpooners began staining the Southern Ocean with blood this summer. Why? Because the real issue is much less about saving Conservation Minister Ian Campbell's "beautiful creatures" than avoiding a punishing row with Australia's biggest trade partner and close Asian ally. Even if that means letting Japanese whalers break Australian law in waters claimed by Australia.
Campbell is a passionate advocate for whale conservation but the Government's authentic line on this matter comes in the dry-as-dust tones of Attorney-General Philip Ruddock. Last May, Ruddock "advised" the Federal Court that Japan would view an attempt to enforce Australian law against its vessels in Australian Antarctic waters as a breach of international law. It would probably cause a diplomatic dispute and trouble with the other 55 Antarctic Treaty signatories.
Justice James Allsop later denied Humane Society International leave to seek orders restraining Japanese whaling company Kyodo Senpaku from hunting in Australia's Antarctic exclusive economic zone, which the Howard Government christened the Australian Whale Sanctuary in 2000.
Not only had the Government declined to enforce its own Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act of 1999 in an area where it claims jurisdiction, it successfully argued it was in the national interest that no one else should intervene to stop Australian law being broken by Japanese whalers.
HSI has appealed the Allsop decision and is awaiting judgment. "Japan is the provocative country here and it is time Australia had a diplomatic showdown over it," says the society's chief anti-whaling campaigner, Nicola Beynon. "Though, of course, we would prefer that the Australian Government enforced Australian legislation in the Australian Whaling Sanctuary, not us."
Campbell insists Australia's hands are tied because Japan won't recognise its Antarctic claim. "Action to apprehend Japanese vessels engaged in whaling in what we regard as Australian Antarctic waters would be legally difficult and could be perceived as provocative to many other nations," he says.
Beynon says it's ludicrous to suggest Australia must choose between doing nothing and causing an international incident by boarding a Japanese whaler. How about confronting Tokyo with an Australian court order restraining its whaling company from breaking Australian law?
In June, Beynon was a de facto member of Campbell's team in Ulsan, South Korea, as he rallied enough countries to stop Japan winning a majority in the International Whaling Commission. Had he failed, Japan and its allies would have started unwinding the IWC's 20-year-old embargo on commercial whaling.
In four months, Campbell has to do it all over again, this time in St Kitts, the picturesque capital of the tiny pro-whaling Caribbean nation of St Kitts and Nevis. The outlook for the minister's team is grim. The whalers are quietly confident of nailing the numbers this year, and Campbell admits: "There's a serious chance that Iceland, Norway and Japan will have the numbers to defeat our pro-conservation majority."
In Ulsan he proclaimed whales "have a right to swim free and live free and not to have to suffer the consequences of a grenade being shot into them and blown up". But that's happening right now in Australian waters.
This Antarctic summer, Japanese whalers are killing twice as many whales as before. In April, the fleet will return to Shimonoseki with about 3000 tonnes more whale meat than last season. Officials from the Institute of Cetacean Research, which operates the program for the Japan Fisheries Agency, describe all that meat as a by-product of research.
Under the new JARPA II plan, Japan awarded itself an annual quota of 935 minke whales. This summer, for the first time since 1986, there will also be 10 fin whales. Over coming seasons, another 50 fins and 50 humpbacks will be added. This is allowed by Article 8 of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling under the rubric of "whaling for scientific purposes". Only Japan and Iceland exploit Article 8. Come June, a majority of IWC members will again condemn it. But they can't stop it.
The Japanese alternate between two main whaling zones in the Southern Ocean. The eastern zone has only a small overlap with Australia's territorial claim. More than 50 per cent of the western zone, where this summer's hunt is happening, falls within the Antarctic EEZ, which extends 200 nautical miles from the Australian Antarctic Territory shore.
Japan regards the EEZ and sanctuary as fictions. "This is based not in international law but Australian domestic law," says Joji Morishita of JFA's international department.
But Japan's refusal to recognise a territorial claim doesn't make it legally invalid or unenforceable. Australia has passed laws that apply to its Antarctic EEZ, including the EPBC Act, which contains the nation's whale-protection regulations. The Australian Government believes its laws are enforceable in the Antarctic because in mid-2004 Sharman Stone, then parliamentary environment secretary, had Steve Irwin investigated for possible EPBC breaches while filming there.
The croc-hunter was suspected of illegally wriggling on his belly beside seals, unlicensed tobogganing with penguins and wrongfully swimming with humpbacks, but was cleared.
Yet Australia did nothing when Japanese whalers let the humpies have it with their explosive-tipped harpoons. At the height of last month's Southern Ocean confrontation between Japanese and conservationist vessels, Campbell and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer declined to send a surveillance vessel to monitor the mayhem, or to call Japan's ambassador in for a frank discussion.
Instead, Campbell criticised the eco-warriors for getting between the harpooners and their quarry: "I don't think people are going to have respect for tactics that are going to put human life at risk. We don't want to bring the whole cause of whale conservation into disrepute." He complained about the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's "warlike" confrontations and hinted at legal action. Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd felt betrayed.
"It was disappointing to see so much energy being directed against the protesters instead of the whalers," says Shane Rattenbury, the head of Greenpeace's oceans campaign and leader of its Antarctic mission.
While other conservation groups acknowledge criticism of Sea Shepherd's gung-ho expedition leader Paul Watson, they share Rattenbury's disappointment. They also contrast Australia's inaction with its lengthy pursuits of illegal Patagonian toothfish trawlers across international waters and through the courts.
"John Howard has silently abrogated Australia's claim to Antarctic territories this summer," claims Greens Senator Bob Brown.
Campbell insists Australia must "win the hearts and minds of the Japanese people" to stop the slaughter. But outside the Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Fisheries, Japanese folk barely register the whaling issue. The Antarctic confrontation attracted little attention in Tokyo.
It's a myth Japan is ravenous for whale meat. The stockpile fluctuates seasonally but the unsold inventory steadily grows. The stockpile stood at 4500 tonnes in August (about a full year's catch before JARPA II), though officials claim it's now down to 2500 tonnes. It will soar when the fleet returns.
The Japanese insist it's their right to eat whales. The Australian mood is completely opposite, so why does Canberra go softly-softly? Brown claims it's because of a free-trade agreement.
"The Prime Minister is working very hard to get an FTA with both Japan and China in this term of government. He has a very close relationship with Prime Minister Koizumi and he doesn't want to risk that for a few whales."
Trade insiders doubt this makes much difference. They say it's far from certain Japan will agree even to start FTA negotiations, let alone finish in three years. Junichiro Koizumi retires in September. Also, MAFF bureaucrats have huge sway over trade policy and they don't want any FTA that further exposes Japanese farmers to Australian competition. Says one analyst: "MAFF is implacably opposed to opening agriculture and closing whaling."
Campbell denies the FTA is a consideration. "Australia has been taking, and will continue to take, strong diplomatic action to bring an end to lethal scientific whaling. The Australian Government has not ruled out any future legal or diplomatic action to bring pressure to bear on Japan."
Australia and other anti-whaling countries on the Hobart-based commission now refuse to even discuss whaling, despite its objective of managing all Antarctic "living resources". The issue is considered too political.
Labor's environment spokesman Anthony Albanese points out that Australia appealed to the International Law of the Sea Tribunal to stop Japanese fishing for southern bluefin tuna in 1999, but refuses to do the same over whales.
"[Large-scale] whaling was introduced to Japan after World War II because of huge meat shortages," Brown says. "Coming into our waters to kill whales to take back to the tables of Tokyo is not a cultural operation: it's a commercial operation."
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18250895%255E28737,00.html
Iraq on brink of religious war
Martin Chulov, Middle East correspondent
February 24, 2006
IRAQ is on the brink of civil war with up to 50 Sunni mosques destroyed and three imams slain in a wave of violence to avenge the bombing of one of the holiest Shia shrines.
At least 80 people were killed in Baghdad in the 24 hours after the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, north of the capital, sparked the worst sectarian violence the country has seen since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
The bloodletting exploded on to the streets of the Shia south and the simmering Sunni heartland in the wake of the destruction of the shrine.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18255392%255E601,00.html
Rival militias drive fear
February 24, 2006
BAGHDAD: Menacing militiamen in trucks intimidated the few motorists moving along darkening Baghdad streets yesterday after the bombing of a Shia shrine left Iraqis fearing they were on the brink of sectarian civil war.
Political and religious leaders called for calm - but the tense streets, jumpy police and lines of people stockpiling food in case violence spins out of control suggested otherwise.
"We don't know what could happen in the next few days," said Mohammed Tariq, standing in a long line queuing outside a bread shop. "I will buy as much as I can because of the security situation."
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18255005%255E601,00.html
Shrine a most sacred site
February 24, 2006
THE Askariya shrine is among Iraq's most sacred sites for Shia Muslims, containing the tombs of the 10th and 11th imams, Ali al-Hadi, who died in 868AD, and his son, Hassan al-Askari, who died six years later.
The landmark golden dome was completed in 1905 under Muzaffar al-Din Shah.
The shrine is near the place where the last of the 12 Shia imams, Mohammed al-Mahdi, disappeared. Mahdi, known as the "hidden imam", was the son and grandson of the two imams buried in the shrine.
The shrine is in Samarra, 95km north of Baghdad, one of the four Shia holy cities in Iraq. It was built by Caliph al-Mutasim in 836 to replace Baghdad as the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, and was abandoned in 892.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18255007%255E601,00.html
West's plea: step back from precipice
Correspondents in Washington and Tehran
February 24, 2006
WESTERN and Muslim leaders are urging Iraqis to stand back from the precipice of civil war after the bombing of a revered Shia shrine sparked deadly reprisals against Sunni mosques and worshippers.
US President George W. Bush denounced the blast and pleaded for calm as crowds attacked 50 Sunni mosques, in a rage over the destruction of the golden dome on Samarra's 1000-year-old Imam Ali al-Hadi mausoleum.
"I ask all Iraqis to exercise restraint in the wake of this tragedy and to pursue justice in accordance with the laws and constitution of Iraq," Mr Bush said in a statement yesterday.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18255011%255E601,00.html
Baghdad bid may leave AWB in cold
Steve Lewis and Cath Hart
February 24, 2006
MARK Vaile will press Iraq to buy Australian wheat even if the nation's monopoly wheat exporter AWB is excluded from the deal.
The Deputy Prime Minister, who will lead a mission to Iraq to save hundreds of millions of dollars in lost wheat sales, said yesterday he wanted a "clear indication" Iraq would "consider Australian wheat through another exporter if necessary to go into that tendering process".
Mr Vaile confirmed yesterday that AWB chairman Brendan Stewart had been dropped from the rescue mission to Iraq amid concerns that his presence would jeopardise Australia's hopes of snaring the lucrative deals.
Despite being excluded from the trip, AWB sought to pacify angry grain growers yesterday by pledging to fight to keep its monopoly hold on wheat exports. At a rowdy annual shareholders' meeting in Melbourne, Mr Stewart said he would battle "tooth and nail" to retain the single desk for wheat exports.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18255386%255E601,00.html
Michael Costello: Realism over idealism
But democracy has to be our ultimate goal
February 24, 2006
IN 1989, an unknown middle-ranking officer in the US State Department, Francis Fukuyama, leapt to prominence with an article, The End of History, in Washington journal The National Interest.
His basic theme was not that the human narrative had stopped. Rather, his thesis was that the course of history showed that the principle of liberal democracy was the final resting point for human ideological evolution. There was in his work a sense of historical determinism, that liberal democracy must prevail. As he said in an interview in 1990, if all the remarkable gains for democracy in the Soviet Union and eastern Europe in the previous year were reversed, he "would still believe my theory is true". Fukuyama's subsequent book argued for free market capitalism as the ultimate economic model, although he noted industrialisation and economic modernisation did not always equate to liberal democracy.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18251387%255E601,00.html
The Sydney Morning Herald
Firefighters battle Sydney bushfire
Firefighters are battling to contain a bushland blaze in Sydney's north west before it jumps a creek and ignites heavy loads of dry scrub and leaf litter.
The fire started about 2.20pm (AEDT) today at Excelsior Reserve in Baulkham Hills and has destroyed more than three hectares of bush, a fire spokesman said.
More than six crews are working to extinguish the fire before it reaches Darling Mills Creek.
"It's in quite an inaccessible area at the moment and they're trying to extinguish it before it crosses a creek and hits some heavy fuel loads," the spokesman said.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/firefighters-battle-sydney-bushfire/2006/02/24/1140670254949.html
Bronzed Aussie
February 24, 2006 - 7:56AM
Australia's Alisa Camplin shows off her bronze medal at this morning's ceremony for the women's aerials freestyle skiing Olympic event.
Picture: Reuters
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Alisa Camplin celebrated has been presented with her medal for finishing third in the freestyle aerials event at the Winter Olympics.
The 31-year-old was all smiles as she accepted the bronze at a ceremony in Turin early this morning AEST.
Camplin finished behind winner Swiss Evelyne Leu and China's Li Nina in the event.
It had been a remarkable accomplishment by the 2002 Games champion who struggled to even make these Winter Olympics after knee surgery in October.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/bronzed-aussie/2006/02/24/1140670231470.html
Bones harvested from 1000 corpses
Four men were charged in New York today with illegally harvesting bones and organs from more than 1,000 corpses, including the bones of the late veteran BBC broadcaster Alistair Cooke.
In a scheme described by a US District Attorney Charles Hynes as "something out of a cheap horror movie", the four men allegedly made millions of dollars selling body tissue to transplant companies.
In many cases, the bones were replaced by PVC pipes so their theft would not be noticed at a funeral.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/bones-harvested-from-1000-corpses/2006/02/24/1140670230277.html
Shrine bombing: Sunnis give a lesson in how to start a civil war
ANALYSIS
THE dawn attack on the gilded dome of Samarra's Askariya shrine is rightly a cause for great anxiety. In the eyes of their enemies, the worst any of Iraq's waring parties might do is to desecrate a mosque.
But this is not any old mosque. As an act of religious vandalism the bombing of the Golden Mosque, as it also is known, is on a par with firing a rocket-propelled grenade into St Peter's Basilica or laying improvised explosive devices in the aisles of Canterbury Cathedral.
As they confront furious outpourings of Shiite anger, world and Iraqi leaders are clutching at the calculated sacrilegiousness of the bombing as the only argument that might hold Iraqis back from a crazed descent into civil war.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/sunnis-give-a-lesson-in-how-to-start-a-civil-war/2006/02/23/1140670212254.html
Christians burn Muslim corpses in Nigeria
Christian youths have burned the corpses of Muslims on the streets of Onitsha in south-eastern Nigeria.
The city is the worst hit by religious riots that have killed at least 138 people across the country in five days.
Christian mobs, seeking revenge for the killings of Christians in the north, have attacked Muslims with cutlasses, destroyed their houses and torched mosques in two days of violence in Onitsha, where at least 85 people have died.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/christians-burn-muslim-corpses-in-nigeria/2006/02/24/1140670234953.html
Trapped rescuers pulled from landslide mud
GUINSAUGON, Philippines: Taiwanese rescuers at the site of a massive Philippine landslide had to be rescued themselves yesterday after getting stuck in treacherous mud.
A US Marine Chinook helicopter plucked the Taiwanese from the middle of the wasteland after they became marooned in a vast, shifting field of mud. Search operations were later suspended at the devastated village of Guinsaugon.
Seven members of the Taiwan rescue team were pulled out in the morning after heavy overnight rain at the site.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/trapped-rescuers-pulled-from-landslide-mud/2006/02/23/1140670212266.html
Philippine coup bid sparks emergency law
Philippine President Gloria Arroyo invoked emergency rule today after security forces said they had foiled a coup attempt.
The declarations triggered street clashes.
Police used water cannons to disperse about 5,000 protesters defying a ban on rallying at a shrine to the "people power" uprising that toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
Tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of his ouster.
The military barricaded its camps to keep troops from joining the demonstrations and detained an army general allegedly involved in the takeover plot.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/philippine-coup-bid-sparks-emergency-law/2006/02/24/1140670256157.html
Lawyers swept up files, inquiry told
TWO months after the fall of Saddam Hussein, the wheat exporter AWB hired an outside law firm that gathered up hundreds of documents and emails on the company's dealings with Iraq and took them off the premises, the Cole inquiry heard yesterday.
The senior in-house lawyer for AWB, Jim Cooper, told the inquiry that Project Rose, launched in June 2003, was one of the largest legal investigations undertaken by the company, ultimately involving three large law firms and two barristers.
It was designed to discover whether AWB, its managers and staff were legally exposed for breaching UN sanctions on Iraq and bribing Iraqi officials to win wheat sales under the UN's oil-for-food program.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/lawyers-swept-up-files-inquiry-told/2006/02/23/1140670205128.html
Drag-dressing director to clean up Hollywood
James Bond filmmaker Lee Tamahori has been sentenced to three years' probation and ordered to help clean up Hollywood after being arrested in drag during a prostitution swoop.
New Zealander Tamahori, 55, who also directed the 1994 award-winning film Once Were Warriors, was arrested in Hollywood on January 8.
He allegedly entered an undercover policeman's car while clad in women's clothes and offered to perform a sex act for money, according to Los Angeles police.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/drag-director-gets-probation/2006/02/24/1140670248412.html
Scientists doubt virus has arrived
ONCE the avian flu virus has reached Papua New Guinea it will quickly spread to Australia, carried by migratory birds, a World Health Organisation expert has warned.
Dr Luo Dapeng, who is in PNG helping authorities prepare for the virus, said: "If something happens here, I think Australia cannot escape."
However, doubts have been cast on claims by two leading Australian scientists that the H5N1 strain is probably already here. Professor Aileen Plant, of the Australian Biosecurity Co-operative Research Centre, said it was very unlikely the virus had reached Australia's shores.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/scientists-doubt-virus-has-arrived/2006/02/23/1140670205172.html
Costello to violent Muslims: get out
THE Treasurer, Peter Costello, has criticised "confused, mushy, misguided multiculturalism" and told Muslim immigrants to leave violent cultural baggage at the door.
His criticism of Muslims who do not respect Australian values appears designed to present a conservative social image to repair his damaged leadership campaign.
"Before entering a mosque visitors are asked to take off their shoes," he told the Sydney Institute last night. "This is a sign of respect. If you have a strong objection to walking in your socks, don't enter the mosque.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/02/23/1140670205134.html
Weaker sex's sins exposed
February 18, 2006
Page 1 of 4 Single page
Men have failings as investors, writes Simon Hoyle.
GETTING a man to stop the car and ask for directions is like, well, getting a man to stop and ask for directions. New research suggests men are also less likely than women to ask for directions - or follow them - when investing in managed funds.
The landmark research, released last week by BT Financial Group, gives a compelling insight into the behaviour of managed fund investors.
Conducted by a team from the University of Western Australia headed by associate professor Ray da Silva Rosa, the study looked at the behaviour of 850,000 BT investors in 210 retail managed funds over a period of some 30 years.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/money/weaker-sexs-sins-exposed/2006/02/17/1140151812613.html
Qantas workers prepare to strike
QANTAS heavy maintenance workers are mobilising for strike action after the national carrier unexpectedly called off enterprise bargaining talks with unions yesterday.
Adding confusion to the situation, Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon called off a briefing slated for this morning where he was expected to announce whether the airline would outsource its widebody heavy maintenance overseas.
Qantas's head of people, Kevin Brown, said Qantas called off the "engineering transformation" update because of last-minute delays but said a decision was imminent.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/qantas-workers-prepare-to-strike/2006/02/23/1140670207955.html
Feeling peaky (Blog)
Glad tidings of great joy: there could be a straightforward medical explanation for at least three of the world's major religions.
Moses, Mohammed, and Jesus all experienced revelations on mountains, but they were probably just suffering a form of altitude sickness, say a group of Swiss and Israeli neurologists, casting doubt in the process on the very existence of God.
All three felt, heard or saw a presence, experienced lights and felt afraid, say the brain scientists from Lausanne, Geneva and Jerusalem. But so have contemporary mountaineers who are more interested in ice picks and thermal undies than anything mystical - suggesting the dizzy heights may have the effect of turning ordinary mortals into prophets.
"Different functions relying on brain areas such as the temporo-parietal junction and the prefrontal cortex have been suggested to be altered in altitude," they write in the marvellous journal Medical Hypotheses, which is positively boastful about giving a run to bright new ideas that haven't been through the usual discouraging process of scientific peer review.
"Moreover, acute and chronic hypoxia significantly affect the temporo-parietal junction and the prefrontal cortex and both areas have also been linked to altered own body perceptions and mystical experiences."
http://blogs.smh.com.au/dissection/archives/2006/02/feeling_peaky.html
The New Zealand Herald
Clinton cruises into City of Sails
24.02.06
By Anne Beston and Stuart Dye
Apparently fully recovered from a bout of "Delhi belly", Bill Clinton arrived in Auckland early today on the final leg of a speaking tour expected to earn him more than $1 million.
The globe-trotting former United States President flew in from Australia on a private jet after speaking engagements in Sydney and Melbourne.
He touched down at Auckland Airport at 12.30am for his third visit to New Zealand. He and his entourage were met amid tight security by a motorcade including limousines, four-wheel-drive vehicles and a van.
Forty minutes later he checked into SkyCity's Grand Hotel, where a luxury suite can cost $3200 a night.
Mr Clinton's speech, to be delivered to the Global Business Forum at SkyCity's convention centre, is expected to be broadly similar to that delivered in Australia, touching on war, terrorism and HIV/Aids.
He told Australian audiences it was important all nations had a chance to participate in and benefit from a global economy but currently half the world's population was being left out.
In a world becoming increasingly interdependent, the next 40 to 50 years would see greater emphasis on nations developing not just economically but "politically and socially", he said.
Co-operation between countries was the best way to fight terrorism and while the UN and the World Trade Organisation were "not perfect", they were the best way to deal with global threats and meet global challenges.
Mr Clinton also warned of the threat posed by global warming and the melting of the Greenland icecap.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=72&objectid=10369838
Roof of Russian market caves killing 56
24.02.06 10.15am
By Guy Faulconbridge
MOSCOW - A Moscow market roof collapsed, possibly under the weight of snow, killing at least 56 people and trapping many in the rubble, emergency services said.
Rescue workers with sniffer dogs were searching for survivors trapped under twisted metal and concrete as smoke billowed from the market's ruins.
An Emergency Ministry spokesman put the death toll from the early morning accident at 56 with 32 injured. But emergency workers at the scene said the toll could rise further.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10369859
Celebrities club together for Charlotte fundraiser
24.02.06
By Stuart Dye
Charlotte Cleverley-Bisman's fight for life against meningitis was only the beginning. Now two years old, she and her parents face a new battle - giving her the best chance in life possible.
At just six months, Charlotte became the face of the meningococcal vaccine campaign after the disease ravaged her body, leaving her with stumps instead of arms and legs.
Yesterday, she found herself centre of attention once again, as 23 celebrity teams played golf and held a charity auction.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=72&objectid=10369798
Diana crash photos cost paparazzi €1
24.02.06
PARIS - A French court has ordered three photographers to pay €1 damages for taking pictures of Dodi al-Fayed and Diana, Princess of Wales, on the night of their fatal accident in 1997.
The ruling by the Paris Appeal Court is - depending on interpretation - a vindication, or a slap in the face, for Dodi's father, Mohammed al-Fayed, who forced the case to be re-opened last year.
The three press photographers - Jacques Langevin, Fabrice Chassery and Christian Martinez - will have to pay the multi-millionaire Fayed €1 between them for taking pictures of the couple inside their car before and after the accident in Paris on August 31, 1997.
They must also pay up to €6000 to cover the cost of publishing the court ruling in three French newspapers.
The ruling is a vindication of Fayed's refusal to accept two earlier French court rulings - in 2003 and 2004 - that the photographers were merely doing their job (mostly at the commission of British popular newspapers). Following an appeal by Fayed, the Supreme Court overturned these rulings last year and ordered the case to be reheard. The Court of Appeal found the photographers guilty of infringing French privacy laws.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=72&objectid=10369762
Sharon has abdominal procedure, says hospital
23.02.06 10.20am
JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, incapacitated by a January 4 stroke, underwent a procedure to remove fluids in his abdominal cavity today and remained in critical but stable condition, his hospital said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=72&objectid=10369681
Moss named most stylish British woman of all time
21.02.06 5.00pm
By Genevieve Roberts
From mukluk Eskimo boots to vintage waistcoats, Kate Moss can start a fashion trend just by walking down the street.
As if confirmation were needed that the model's iconic status has not been destroyed by last year's public cocaine scandal, and the following loss of lucrative modelling contracts with Chanel and Burberry last year, she has now been voted the most stylish British woman of all time.
The 32-year-old model from Croydon, who recently ended a relationship with Babyshambles singer Pete Doherty after she spent a month in a rehabilitation clinic in Arizona, came top of a poll of more than 5,000 readers of Grazia magazine, followed by actresses Sienna Miller and Keira Knightley.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=72&objectid=10369414
Top US general praises NZ role in Afghanistan
24.02.06
By Ruth Berry
The top-ranking commander of United States forces in the Middle East has praised New Zealand's contribution in Afghanistan, saying it has been "very helpful to the coalition".
General John Abizaid met Prime Minister Helen Clark in Wellington yesterday during a short visit to New Zealand.
His stopover came two days after Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters raised eyebrows when he said the US did not give New Zealand the credit it deserved for its role in the Pacific.
Asked about the issue, General Abizaid said: "I can't say what role I think that New Zealand would play in the Pacific but I can tell you that New Zealand's role in Afghanistan has been very helpful to the coalition.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10369794
Banks to pay $10b for Enron 'misdeeds'
24.02.06
An American judge has given preliminary approval to a US$6.7 billion ($10.1 billion) civil settlement by three banks accused by Enron shareholders of helping the company to hide financial misdeeds that led to its ruin.
Lead shareholder lawyer William Lerach said the settlement approved by United States District Court Judge Melinda Harmon was the largest of its kind and that more would follow.
"It is the largest recovery for fraud in history and, believe me, we are not done. There's more to come," he said.
The agreement, which still must receive final approval from Harmon, included settlements of US$2.4 billion from Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, US$2.2 billion from JP Morgan Chase and US$2 billion from Citigroup.
The US$6.7 billion amount includes interest accrued since those proposed settlements were announced last year.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10369777
Global growth to buffer economy
24.02.06
By Adam Bennett
Continued strong growth in overseas economies, particularly in Europe, Japan and China, should provide a buffer preventing the slowing New Zealand economy from tipping into recession, the country's largest fund manager says.
AMP Capital Investors, which manages more than $10 billion, said international growth assets, including equities and property, had been the standouts in its investment portfolio during the three months to December.
Senior portfolio manager Grant Hassell yesterday expected global economies to continue growing reasonably strongly. "We think that the powerhouses will be Europe, Japan and China," he said.
Hassell said AMP believed growth in global economies was going to be synchronised this time around. The outlook wasn't as positive for New Zealand, where high interest and exchange rates and low consumer and business confidence would see the economy "stepping out of phase with the rest of the world".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10369774
Inside the mind of Prince Charles
24.02.06
LONDON - An astonishing insight into the Prince of Wales' view of the world, including both criticism and praise for Tony Blair, politically charged complaints as well as his attachment to the days of Empire, was released to a court yesterday.
Embarrassingly for both sides, in the document disclosed in the High Court, the Prince describes the British Prime Minister as a politician who takes decisions based on "market research", but also said he found him "enjoyable" company.
The 3000-word document titled The Handover of Hong Kong or The Great Chinese Takeaway, was written following his attendance at the handover of Hong Kong to the Chinese in 1997.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10369775
Expansion for Panama canal
24.02.06 5.40am
Panama is about to announce plans to expand its canal to make way for increasingly large ships.
The 80km canal, which carries almost 4.5 per cent of world trade, was completed by US engineers in 1914.
It is operating at more than 90 per cent capacity and up to 40 ships transit the continental divide daily.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10369781
India bird flu tests clear 11, fears rise in EU
24.02.06 1.00pm
By Krittivas Mukherjee
MUMBAI - Indian authorities today cleared 11 out of 12 people quarantined following an H5N1 outbreak in chickens, while EU states tested farm birds as the virus threatened to hit their domestic fowl for the first time.
France found a suspected outbreak of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus at a turkey farm in the east of the country and was awaiting test results due tomorrow. German authorities were still waiting for conclusive results on a farm duck that has been tested twice already.
Cases in domestic birds are likely to shake the poultry industry, which has already been hit by falling sales.
"For the moment it's just a suspicion but we have to kill off the flock this afternoon, even before we have the final results, so that we are in line with international rules," Farms Minister Dominique Bussereau said of the French turkeys.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10369873
Iraq slides towards civil war
24.02.06
BAGHDAD - Iraq is edging closer to outright civil war as furious mobs attack Sunni mosques in retaliation for the bombing of one of the country's most revered Shiite shrines.
Forty-seven people were killed in Baghdad alone in the 24 hours after the blasts which destroyed the golden-domed mosque at Samarra.
Gunmen sprayed a Sunni mosque in the city of Baquba, killing one person, in the latest of dozens of incidents that have left religious and political leaders scrambling to halt a descent into all-out civil war. In the same city, a bomb targeting an Iraqi army foot patrol killed 12 people and wounded 21.
Last night, an Interior Ministry source said all leave for police and army personnel had been cancelled and extended curfew hours imposed in Baghdad.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10369826
Iraq government closes Baghdad to stem violence
24.02.06 1.00pm
BAGHDAD - The Iraqi government will impose a daytime curfew on Baghdad and three surrounding provinces tomorrow in an effort to avert sectarian clashes on the Muslim day of prayer, government sources said today.
A overnight curfew will be extended until 4pm (2am NZT) and police will arrest those who take to the streets, even to go to mosques, sources in the prime minister's office and the Interior Ministry told Reuters after two days of sectarian violence between Shi'ites and minority Sunni Muslims.
Officials had been forecasting protest marches from both camps and US, UN and Iraqi leaders have been speaking out on the need for calm to prevent a descent into civil war.
The curfew will also affect the religiously mixed provinces of Salahaddin, Diyala and Babil to the north, east and south of the capital and the city's airport will be closed. An official announcement would be made later, the sources said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10369863
Armed robbers abduct family to steal $106m
24.02.06
By Genevieve Roberts
LONDON - An armed gang posed as policemen to abduct a security manager and his family before stealing up to £40 million ($106 million) in one of Britain's biggest robberies.
A gang of at least six people tied up 15 members of staff at the Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent, in southern England before fleeing with the cash.
Police said yesterday that the raid began when the manager of Securitas' main southern cash depot was pulled over in his car on Tuesday by what he believed was an unmarked police car.
A man in a high-visibility jacket and "police-style" hat got out of the vehicle, which had blue lights in the front grille, and spoke to him. Trusting the men to be officers, the manager got into their car and was handcuffed.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10369776
Nigerian gangs campage in religious riots
24.02.06
ONITSHA - Nigerian military clash with militant youth in Onitshain southeastern Nigeria where revenge attacks against Muslims killed at least 27 people yesterday.
Groups of armed youths rampaged through the city littering the streets with bodies, reports said.
The violence followed anti-Christian attacks which killed dozens and left thousands homeless in the mainly Muslim north.
The slaughter raised the death toll from five days of religious riots fuelled by political tensions to at least 73.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10369761
Paper under fire for printing cartoon
24.02.06
Malaysia has reprimanded the New Straits Times for printing a cartoon lampooning the global controversy over caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. It featured a street artist offering "caricatures of Muhammad while you wait".
The paper said the Government's Internal Security Ministry had given it three days to explain itself, saying: "The ministry said the cartoon had breached the conditions of the newspaper's publishing permit."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10369836
Two additional moons of Pluto found
23.02.06 1.00pm
LONDON - The tiny, distant and frozen planet Pluto, for 30 years believed to have just one moon, has suddenly been found to have two more satellites.
Only discovered in 1930 because of its vast distance from Earth, Pluto has remained a largely enigmatic object ever since.
Some three billion miles from the Sun, Pluto, the ninth planet, is the only one not yet to have been visited by a spacecraft.
Its first known satellite Charon was not discovered until 1978. With a diameter of 1,200 km, it is half that of Pluto -- abnormally large for a moon in relation to its primary.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10369691
New kind of space blast seen not far from Earth
24.02.06 1.00pm
A new kind of cosmic explosion has been spotted in Earth's celestial neighbourhood, and amateur astronomers in the Northern Hemisphere might be able to see it next week, scientists reported today.
The blast seemed a lot like a gamma-ray burst, the most distant and powerful type of explosion known to astronomers.
But when scientists first detected it with Nasa's Swift satellite on February 18, the explosion was about 25 times closer and lasted 100 times longer than a typical gamma-ray burst.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10369869
