RIA Novosti
Earthquakes continue to rock Russia's Far East
MOSCOW, May 2 (RIA Novosti) - A series of earthquakes continued to rock the northern part of the Kamchatka peninsula with another earthquake of 4.4 magnitude on Richter scale registered Tuesday, emergency situations ministry said.
The ministry said the earthquakes in sparsely populated Koryak area, which is nine time zones from Moscow, damaged about 380 houses and 25 administrative facilities in the three villages with a population of over 4,000 people that have been hit the hardest.
"In all, 1,062 people, including 542 children, have been evacuated from the emergency zone," the ministry said.
The series of earthquakes began April 24 with a 7.8-magnitude quake, the strongest since 1900, which damaged several buildings and facilities in the town of Tilichiki, including a school, a kindergarten, and an airport runway. It also cut power and water supplies in several villages.
Another quake, with a magnitude of 6.2, hit the same area hours later on that day and minor tremors were also subsequently reported.
President Vladimir Putin ordered the Emergency Situations Ministry to do everything necessary to eliminate the effects of the earthquakes.
The ministry has already delivered to the region about 190 metric tons of aid, including food and heaters.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060502/47096112.html
Kazakhstan demands action against U.S. diplomat over car scandal
02/ 05/ 2006
ASTANA, May 2 (RIA Novosti) - Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday it has sent a note to the U.S. Embassy demanding action be taken against a diplomat who almost crashed into President Nursultan Nazarbayev's car.
On April 23 in Almaty, the Central Asian country's largest city, the driver of a car owned by the adviser to the U.S. Embassy's military attache allegedly ignored traffic police orders to keep to the curb as the presidential motorcade passed. The driver caught up with the motorcade, and made a sharp turn after drawing level with Nazarbayev's limousine, almost causing a collision.
Ministry spokesman Yerzhan Ashikbayev said, "Because of this incident, the Foreign Ministry has sent a note to the U.S. Embassy demanding that appropriate action be taken against the diplomat."
"We expect a response from the U.S. Embassy to our diplomatic note, after which a decision will be reached through consultations with the American side," he said.
The spokesman said the ministry had acted on the basis of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, and urged all diplomatic representatives in the country to respect local laws, to avoid such incidents.
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney is set to visit the Central Asian republic this week for talks on a range of issues with senior officials.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20060502/47120188.html
Air strike on Iran will cause extremism wave in Arab world
MOSCOW, April 30 (RIA Novosti) - An air strike against Iran will cause a huge wave of extremism in the Arab world, a former prime minister and the head of the Russian Chamber of Industry and Commerce said Sunday in an interview with an Israeli newspaper.
Iran broke a two-year moratorium on nuclear research in January for what it claimed were energy-generating purposes, arousing fears around the globe that the country could be secretly trying to create weapons-grade material.
"An air strike on Iran would no doubt lead to very serious consequences in the entire region," Yevgeny Primakov, on a visit to Israel on the invitation of the Israeli Association of Industrialists, told the Jerusalem Post.
"This could cause a huge wave of extremism in the Arab world and in this situation it would be very difficult for the current regimes in Arab countries to stay in power. That is why, Russia is full of resolve to take all possible diplomatic efforts to prevent this scenario and at the same time take steps so that Iran does not create nuclear weapons," said Primakov who is also a Middle East expert.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20060430/47061544.html
Iran says it has enriched uranium to 4.8%
TEHRAN, May 2 (RIA Novosti) - Iran has enriched uranium-235 to 4.8%, the country's vice president and head of the Atomic Energy Organization said Tuesday.
Gholamreza Aghazadeh told the Iranian news agency ISNA that Iran was not planning to enrich uranium to more than 5%, as this level was enough to produce nuclear fuel [for a power station].
A report by IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei on the Iranian nuclear problem was presented in the IAEA board of governors and the UN Security Council in late April. It said Iran had managed to enrich uranium-235 to 3.6% at the Natanz research center 1,000 miles from the Israeli border, using a cascade of 164 centrifuges, and was building two more.
However, experts said uranium should be enriched to at least 80% to create nuclear weapons.
Aghazadeh said 3,000 centrifuges would be installed by March 21, 2007 at a uranium-enrichment plant in Natanz.
Aghazadeh also said Iran had opened a uranium-concentrate field and would announce a tender for the construction of two new nuclear power plants within two months, adding that $200 million would be paid in advance to the tender's winner.
"If the tender does not occur due to certain reasons, the money will be used to complete the construction of the Bushehr NPP," he said.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20060502/47120755.html
Black Sea crash plane was in good condition - aviation official
YEREVAN, May 3 (RIA Novosti) - An Airbus passenger jet that crashed into the Black Sea Wednesday morning with the loss of everyone on board had been carefully maintained and was in good technical condition, Armenia's civil aviation expert said Wednesday.
In all, 113 passengers and crew were killed when an Airbus belonging to Armenian airline Armavia and bound from Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, to the popular Russian resort of Sochi crashed early in the morning.
Artyom Movsisyan, the head of Armenia's main civil aviation department, said the A-320 had undergone complete technical overhaul in April 2006, and experts from Sabina Technics company had given a positive conclusion on its technical condition shortly before the takeoff.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060503/47154548.html
Court upholds ex-Yukos CEO Khodorkovsky 8-yr sentence
MOSCOW, May 3 (RIA Novosti) - The Moscow City Court again upheld Wednesday an eight-year prison sentence given to Yukos founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky for fraud.
"The reply to our appeal says that there is no reason to review the verdict," said Khodorkovsky's lawyer Genrikh Padva.
Padva said the defense had already appealed with the Supreme Court of Russia, the highest court in the Russian judiciary.
"We have appealed with the Supreme Court on the same grounds: we are asking for the sentence to be overturned as [it is] illegal and unsubstantiated," Padva said.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060503/47148574.html
Russia starts withdrawing materiel from base in Georgia
TBILISI, May 3 (RIA Novosti) - Russia began pulling out weapons and equipment from one of its Soviet-era military bases in Georgia early Wednesday in accordance with a bilateral agreement, the South Caucasus republic's Defense Ministry said.
Under an agreement signed on March 31, Russia is to withdraw from two bases in Georgia - Akhalkalaki and Batumi - by 2008. The pullout from Akhalkalaki in the south of the country is to be completed by December 2006.
The Russian military began dismantling the Akhalkalaki base at about 1 a.m. Moscow time (9 p.m. GMT Tuesday) and the first batch of equipment and materiel has been withdrawn, the ministry said. The equipment is being withdrawn to Tsalka in eastern Georgia and some of it will be redeployed to a Russian base in neighboring Armenia later.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060503/47152758.html
Burger King prepares to expand into Russia - paper
MOSCOW, May 3 (RIA Novosti) - Burger King Holdings, a U.S. fastfood chain, is in talks with Russian restaurants with an eye to expanding into the country, a respected business daily said Wednesday.
Vedomosti cited an executive with a local fastfood market leader as saying that the Moscow-based Shokoladnitsa coffeehouse chain, which controls 14-15% of the local market, had the best chances of obtaining a Burger King franchise.
"We are interested in cooperating with them, but everything will depend on the contract," a top Shokoladnitsa manager told the paper, adding that the terms of a possible deal had not been brought up at a meeting that had already been held.
Burger King Holdings HQ in Florida declined to comment on the company's plans in Russia, saying the business was in for a quiet period. The world's second largest fastfood chain has restaurants in 65 countries, and is 34% owned by Texas Pacific Group, and 30% by Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs each.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060503/47152892.html
Russian academic sees first nuclear fusion power plant by 2030
19/ 04/ 2006
NIZHNY NOVGOROD, April 18 (RIA Novosti) - The world's first thermonuclear power plant could be built by 2030, the head of Russia's Kurchatov Nuclear Research Center said Wednesday.
Yevgeny Velikhov told a press conference after receiving the 2006 Global Energy prize along with Japanese researcher Masaji Yoshikawa and French scientist Robert Aymar that the experience of building an international thermonuclear reactor in France would be used to design a thermonuclear power plant.
Velikhov and his colleagues were given the award for developing the fundamentals underpinning the international thermonuclear power reactor known as the ITER project in the southern French town of Cadarache. It was devised to prove that a thermonuclear power plant was possible.
The concept emerged when the Soviet Union suggested that the four most advanced parties in the study of thermonuclear reactions - the U.S.S.R., the U.S., Europe and Japan - create a so-called "tokamak" reactor, a doughnut-shaped chamber to confine incandescent plasma that no material can withstand in a magnetic field. The thermonuclear fusion of hydrogen isotopes, deuterium and tritium, proceeds in the plasma.
http://en.rian.ru/science/20060419/46619996.html
Leading Russian scientist receives British award
24/ 03/ 2006
MOSCOW, March 24 (RIA Novosti) - A prominent Russian scientist received a prestigious British award Friday for his achievements in a sphere that has made a significant contribution to seemingly diverse fields ranging from the aviation and chemical industries to agriculture.
British Ambassador Tony Brenton handed the Gold Tribology Trust Medal to Professor Dmitry Garkunov, who became the fifth Russian scientist to receive this most important award in the branch of engineering that focuses on the interaction of surfaces in relative motion, their design, friction, wear and lubrication.
Garkunov, who already has several Russian state prizes to his name, opened a new branch in tribology and made two important discoveries in the field of selective transfer and metal hydrogen wear. His inventions are widely used in engineering, as well as many other spheres.
http://en.rian.ru/science/20060324/44764935.html
GLONASS system to open for Russian consumers in 2007 - minister
ZHELEZNOGORSK, Siberia, March 21 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's defense minister said the country's global navigation satellite system would be available to domestic consumers for military as well for civilian purposes by the end of 2007.
"Work on the intensification [of the system] will soon be complete and the program will be adopted in the immediate future," said Sergei Ivanov, who is also deputy prime minister, during a visit to one of Russia's leading space-industry manufacturers.
The Reshetnev Research and Production Center in the central Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk is the developer of the GLONASS global navigation satellite system, which comprises radio navigation satellites that track objects on land, at sea and in space.
Ivanov said Russian space technologies remained the best in the world and that GLONASS is the best proof. But he added that the project "needs decisions to be corrected so that the technological cycle corresponds to the country's economic and financial capabilities."
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060321/44610141.html
Russia declares war on neo-fascism
Interethnic strife has come into the foreground in present-day Russia as one of its worst social problems. Murdered or battered foreign students and Central Asian guest workers no longer make front-page news - they are part of our daily routine. The Sova human rights center, for one, has registered over a hundred violent attacks on ethnic grounds since the beginning of the year.
There is another, related aspect of the Russian routine: fascist organizations are reviving to unblushingly disseminate ideas condemned long ago by the Nuremberg trial. They are trying to adapt those man-hating ideas to the Russian ways. Skinheads are the most spectacular of neo-fascist leagues. These youth mobs victimize people outside the titular ethnos, to whom they refer as "non-Russians" - a term that has an extremely derisive coloring in their vocabulary.
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20060428/47019509.html
Unites States hinders Russia's chemical disarmament
A third chemical weapons destruction facility will be commissioned in Russia in Maradykovsky, Kirov Region on the Volga, in the middle of 2006. It has a stock of 6,890 metric tons of aviation bombs with organophosphorus nerve and blister chemical warfare agents (CWA).
The facility for the destruction of lewisite was commissioned in Kambarka (Udmurtia, in the Western part of the Middle Urals) in December 2005. Its warehouses contain 6,349 metric tons of lewisite (15.9% of all of Russia's prohibited chemical weapons). As of early April, more than 50 tons of lewisite have been destroyed there.
A total of 1,143.2 metric tons of yperite, lewisite and yperite-lewisite mixture have been destroyed in Gorny (Saratov Region on the Volga), where Russia's first CWA destruction facility was commissioned in December 2002.
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20060427/46979333.html
Possibilities of energy dialogue
Russia's energy strategy is coming to the fore on the global agenda, especially in 2006 when Russia assumed the rotating chair of the Group of Eight industrialized nations. Global energy security is one of the key issues on the agenda of the G8 summit. It would be absurd not to discuss it with Russia, the biggest oil and gas exporter in the group with a major influence on the world market situation.
This global issue can be divided into several tasks. The current situation on the global market is noted for four crucial aspects.
First, the energy requirements of the emerging Asian countries are growing rapidly (up to 45% of the prospective increment in the global oil demand).
Second, the divide between oil and gas consumption and production in the industrialized countries is growing. By 2020, Europe will import 60-70% of its gas requirements, whereas the majority of Asian giants already import more.
Third, this process is compounded by the inadequate oil refining and transportation infrastructure and the limited additional possibility of oil production.
And fourth, the global trade in "black gold" is insufficiently transparent.
Taken together, this puts the light on the issue of energy security, which Russia has raised not only as a domestic problem, but primarily as a common problem of reliable energy provision to the world's countries and nations, and therefore a problem of the international community as a whole.
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20060425/46902706.html
Chernobyl exploded USSR
The world media will mark with many publications the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster (April 26, 1986). This is only natural since this is a truly tragic date, and the aftermath of this drama is still affecting the lives of many people. Radioactive dust settled down not only on the territory of the former U.S.S.R., but also in Poland, Bulgaria, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Britain and some other countries. Only France, Spain and southern Italy were fortunate thanks to the prevailing winds.
Many publications on Chernobyl justifiably focus on the safety of atomic power engineering. Nobody wants its repetition. In many countries Chernobyl slowed down the advance of atomic power engineering, deteriorated the world energy crisis, and caused a boost of prices on energy carriers.
It is alarming, though, that quite a few publications on Chernobyl are undisguised stove piping reflecting the struggle for the market of nuclear technologies. For some rivals, the Chernobyl tragedy is just an excuse to tell the potential buyers that Russian nuclear technologies are unreliable.
The timing and purpose are awkward, and, besides, this is simply untrue.
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20060425/46894873.html
The Chicago Tribune
Man executed on disproven evidence, experts say
By Maurice Possley
Tribune staff reporter
Published May 2, 2006, 6:26 PM CDT
Four of the nation's top arson experts have concluded that the state of Texas executed a man in 2004 based on scientifically invalid evidence, and on Tuesday they called for an official reinvestigation of the case.
In their report, the experts, assembled by the Innocence Project, a non-profit organization responsible for scores of exonerations, concluded that the conviction and 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham for the arson-murders of his three daughters was based on interpretations by fire investigators that have been scientifically disproved.
"The whole system has broken down," Barry Scheck, co-founder and director of the Innocence Project, said at a news conference at the state Capitol in Austin. "It's time to find out whether Texas has executed an innocent man."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-060502willingham,1,4261058.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Plane skids off O'Hare runway
By Jon Hilkevitch
Tribune transportation reporter
Published May 2, 2006, 6:29 PM CDT
Smoke was seen coming from the landing gear of an American Eagle plane that landed at O'Hare International Airport Tuesday afternoon and slid off a runway, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
American Eagle Flight 4348, carrying 40 passengers and three crew members from Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport in Bentonville, ended up in grass about 25 feet off the side of a runway, officials said.
No injuries were reported. Passengers and crew were evacuated and bused to the terminal, according to the Chicago Department of Aviation.
Air-traffic controllers in O'Hare tower saw puffs of smoke streaming from the landing gear as the Embraer 145 regional jet landed, said FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-060502-plane-off-runway,1,6704430.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Obama and O'Brien
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Il) is the latest name to be added to Conan O'Brien's guest list.
The senator from Illinois will be a guest on "Late Night With Conan O’Brien" on May 12, on the last of four shows the late-night show will tape from the Chicago Theatre.
The guest list so far for O’Brien’s Chicago shows is as follows:
Tuesday, May 9: Sean Hayes from “Will & Grace”
Wednesday, May 10: Dave Chappelle, Common
Thursday, May 11: John C. Reilly
Friday, May 12: Sen. Barack Obama, Wilco
By the way, I’ve gotten many e-mails and queries from readers about the logistics of O’Brien’s visit -- people who received ticket confirmations by e-mail want to know when and where they should line up on show days, and others want to know what time they should arrive at the theater in order to have a chance at getting a standby ticket.
http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2006/05/obama_and_obrie.html
Two 'Sopranos' Cast Members Charged
By TOM HAYS
Published May 2, 2006, 6:11 PM CDT
NEW YORK -- It would be enough to give Tony Soprano agita. Continuing a string of off-screen run-ins with the law, two more fringe characters from "The Sopranos"_ the television mob boss's favorite chef and his muscle-bound bodyguard -- have been charged in separate criminal cases.
John Ventimiglia, who plays temperamental chef Artie Bucco on the HBO hit, was arraigned Monday on drunken driving, drug possession and other charges after officers spotted him weaving in and out of traffic.
A criminal complaint alleges that when police pulled him over, the actor had bloodshot eyes, slurred speech and smelled of booze. His blood-alcohol content was 0.12 -- the legal limit is 0.08 -- and he was carrying a zip-lock bag with cocaine residue, the complaint said.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/sns-ap-sopranos-arrests,1,2935858.story?coll=chi-news-hed
EU Nations Outline U.N. Iran Resolution
By ANGELA CHARLTON
Associated Press Writer
Published May 2, 2006, 6:20 PM CDT
PARIS -- European nations, backed by the United States, outlined Tuesday a planned U.N. Security Council resolution to give "mandatory force" to the atomic watchdog agency's demands that Iran halt uranium enrichment, officials said.
U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns dismissed any possibility of direct talks with Iran but said he had not "given up hope on diplomacy." He also predicted Europe would agree within three months to support sanctions against Iran over its nuclear activities, which Washington suspects are aimed at manufacturing atomic weapons.
"Diplomacy has to be hard-edged. Isolation is what we believe will work best," Burns said Tuesday.
"Within a month or two or three, you are going to see international support for sanctions," he added.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-iran-nuclear,1,474133.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Third 80 degree due Wednesday; more extended warmth to follow weekend chill
Published May 2, 2006
The Chicago metro area could be headed for its third 80(degrees) temperature of 2006 Wednesday--and may be treated to a more prolonged period of warm weather next week. Sinking air beneath the "nose" (leading edge) of a pocket of powerful jet stream winds combined with the approach of a cold front sets the stage for temperature-boosting compressional warming Wednesday. The area's first 80 (degrees) this year arrived 10 days earlier than the 135 year average, hitting on April 13. An 80 (degrees) high Wednesday--a good bet if predicted spells of sunshine occur before late day or nighttime thunderstorms arrive--wouldn't be without historical precedent. The area's third 80 (degrees) of the year has typically occurred on or about May 7. May is Chicago's third fastest warming month of the year, second only to March and April. Normal highs over the coming 30 days surge from 65 (degrees) to 75 (degrees). At Midway Airport, May has hosted an average of 16 days of 70s and 7 days in the 90s since records began at the South Side site in 1928. Strong cooling accompanies late-week/weekend northeast winds, but warmth returns next week.
Sources: NWS-Chicago, USDA Dr. Jim Angel, Midwestern Regional Climate Center
WGN-TV/Thomas Valle, Andrew McCawley, Drew Renner
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0605020205may02,1,2314173.column?coll=chi-news-hed
Circus comes to Navy Pier for the summer
By Chris Jones
Tribune theater critic
Published May 2, 2006, 3:19 PM CDT
In a major change of direction for its long-troubled Skyline Stage semi-outdoor venue, Navy Pier's operators are sticking a circus show there for the entire summer. It will perform as many as 12 times a week.
Opening June 7, "Cirque Shanghai" will be an assemblage of Chinese acrobatic, aerial and contortion acts, put together for the pier by a company called International Special Attractions Limited, which specializes in packaging Chinese acts for the American market.
The show -- which was created solely for this summer Chicago engagement -- is billing itself as not so much a circus as an entire theatrical attraction, replete with the explorer Marco Polo leading the audience on an adventure through China. With the help of some local artists, the show is being assembled and rehearsed in China.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-060502cirque-story,1,7436891.story?coll=chi-entertainmentfront-hed
Learning curve for black men and black boys
By Tim King, the founder and chief executive officer of Urban Prep Academies, a non-profit education organization that is opening Urban Prep Charter Academy for Young Men--Englewood Campus in the fall
Published May 2, 2006
When I was growing up, the conversation around the dinner table frequently centered on school. "What did you learn today?" "How much homework do you have?" "When is your next test?" One question I don't remember being asked was: "Are you going to college?" In my family, graduating from college was a given; an understood step toward adulthood.
For most Chicago public high school students, the desire to attend college exists but actually graduating is not the reality, especially for black boys.
A recently released study by the Consortium for Chicago School Research indicates that fewer than 7 percent of freshmen entering Chicago public high schools will earn a college degree by their 25th birthday. This statistic hits African-American and Latino students the hardest since these groups make up more than 85 percent of public school students in Chicago. Dig deeper into the numbers and you find that only 2.5 percent of black male students make it through college--just about 1 in 50.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0605020211may02,1,2100408.story?coll=chi-opinionfront-hed
The SeaWorld touch
By Toni Salama
Tribune staff reporter
Published April 30, 2006
ORLANDO -- I was out in deep water, over-my-head deep, my left hand grasping Yoshi's dorsal fin and my right hand on her right flipper. Her skin was an iridescent gray, smooth and rubbery like an inner tube, but not cold to the touch. Not cold at all.
The dolphin trainer asked, "Are you ready?" And I nodded.
Then, on signal, Yoshi and I were off in a splash, taking an Orlando thrill ride of a different sort.
Being a bit on the young side, Yoshi wasn't as long as the older dolphins, so I took care to keep my feet clear of her tail as we sped toward another trainer and the shallow end of the man-made lagoon--the ride of a lifetime finished in less than a minute.
The one-on-one dolphin swim is the crowning experience at Discovery Cove, the high-dollar-and-worth-every-penny sister property to SeaWorld Orlando. Together, the two establishments satisfy that human impulse many of us have to reach out to other creatures, particularly to sea mammals, without all that ocean in the way.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/chi-0604300296apr30,1,2221008.story?coll=chi-homepagetravel-hed
The LA Times
Medicare in Poor Financial Health, Trustees Say
Its problems will eventually be worse than Social Security's, an annual report warns. But some observers see a manufactured crisis.
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Joel Havemann, Times Staff Writers
May 2, 2006
WASHINGTON — The financial condition of Medicare is growing progressively worse and its problems will eventually eclipse those of Social Security, the trustees of the government's two biggest social programs reported Monday.
But the warning, for all its urgency, appeared unlikely to spur major action on such a sensitive issue in an election year. Far from cutting back, Congress and the president have expanded Medicare with the creation of the prescription drug benefit.
Phttp://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-medicare2may02,0,6020447.story?coll=la-home-headlines
The New Zealand Herald
Climate change science stands up to scrutiny, says Fitzsimons
02.05.06
Green Party leader and climate change spokeswoman Jeanette Fitzsimons says the science around global warming has already stood up to rigorous scrutiny.
"I think science should always be challenged and there should be rigorous debate, but there has already been that within the IPCC [the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change]," Ms Fitzsimons said.
She said there were often reasons why some people or groups played it down.
"There are some very entrenched vested interests that don’t want to change ... they’re just not credible any longer," she said. "Supposing the sceptics were right, what would we have lost by trying to prepare to reduce our greenhouse emissions?"
Ms Fitzsimons said there would be financial costs but it would help make the economy more efficient.
"What do we lose if the sceptics are wrong and we sit around and do nothing? We lose everything," she said.
Government climate change spokesman Pete Hodgson summed up the coalition in a sentence and said he didn’t want to go into it further.
"These people present a viewpoint that is now diminishing as fast as the Arctic ice-cap," he said.
- NZPA
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10379856
Glacial 'roof' melting
03.05.06 7.20am
Glaciers in western China's Qinghai-Tibet plateau, known as the "roof of the world", are melting at a rate of 7 per cent a year because of global warming.
The figure is drawn from data at China's 681 weather stations over four decades.
The Tibet weather bureau shows that average temperatures there have risen by 0.9 deg since the 1980s.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/search/story.cfm?storyid=000C7645-406D-1457-831C83027AF1010F
Thousands of species on edge of oblivion
02.05.06
By Barrie Clement
More than 26,000 species of animals, birds, plants and fish will this week be added to the list of those in serious danger of extinction.
Thousands of species, including the common hippopotamus, are to be added or moved up the so-called "red list" drawn up by the World Conservation Union (IUCN).
Around 20 per cent of sharks are in increasing danger of extinction, the study says.
The giant devil ray, similar to a manta ray, is often accidentally caught in nets intended for tuna and other fish.
David Sims, senior research fellow at the Marine Biological Association Laboratory at Plymouth, said that one of the main problems with sharks and rays was that they bore live young so that they reproduced more slowly.
"Global fisheries are having a massive effect on population. Some of the nets they use could engulf St Paul’s Cathedral," he said.
The new research by the IUCN is the result of two years’ work by scientists all over the world and adds to the picture revealed in the union’s last report in 2004 which said that 15,589 species faced extinction - 7266 animals and 8323 plants and lichens.
While the latest analysis confirms the plight of the polar bear - because climate change threatens its Arctic habitat - more surprising was the threat to the common hippo, sought-after by poachers for the ivory in its teeth.
One of the creatures predicted to die out is the Yangtze River dolphin or Baiji. It is thought that just 30 remain and that the chances of breeding-age pairs meeting is extremely low.
Chris Butler-Stroud of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society said the animal was effectively extinct.
The endangered species in the 2004 report included a third of amphibians and half of all fresh water turtles.
At least 15 species had died out over the previous two decades and a further 12 survived only in captivity.
Many more, however, are thought to have become extinct without having been recorded.
A conservative approach to declaring species lost means that others not yet formally classed as extinct have probably died out.
Among 3330 species newly assessed as threatened in 2004 were the fabulous green sphinx moth, from the Hawaiian island of Kaua’i, and the African begonia from Cameroon.
Most of the new additions in 2004 were amphibians, joining the red list after the Global Amphibian Assessment that revealed that one in three species of frog, toad, newt and salamander was under threat.
The Jambato toad from Ecuador, the golden toad from Costa Rica and the kama’o bird from Hawaii were among the species declared extinct over the past two decades.
Between 1.6 million and 1.9 million species are known to science, but the total is usually estimated at between 10 million and 30 million - and many of those described and classified are poorly understood.
- INDEPENDENT
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10379818
Tropical temperatures shift plant evolution into overdrive
02.05.06
By Errol Kiong
Auckland researchers have shown that evolution occurs twice as fast in the tropics as in areas further from the equator - which may explain why warmer places contain greater ecological diversity.
It may also explain the huge difference in evolution rates between New Zealand kauri and Borneo kauri.
The findings are published today in the US science journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"This is very exciting research into evolutionary trends and the implied polarity across the latitudes is of great interest," said one of the researchers, Shane Wright of Auckland University.
"The research may explain why the tropics contain such a great richness of species, and further research is required to understand what is driving the difference - smaller population sizes or warmer temperatures and higher metabolic rates," said Dr Wright, who co-authored the paper with his biological sciences colleague Jeannette Keeling, and Len Gillman from the Auckland University of Technology.
The researchers found that tropical plant species had more than twice the rate of molecular evolution as closely related species in temperate regions.
The biggest difference found in the rate of evolution was between New Zealand and Borneo kauri.
The researchers compared the genetic information of 45 common tropical plants with similar species in more temperate geographical areas, including 27 NZ species.
The tropical plants, from areas including Borneo, New Guinea, northeast Australia and South America, were found to have evolved much faster than those from higher latitudes such as North America, southern Australia, Eurasia and New Zealand.
To ensure the focus was on the effect of climate, the plant pairs were always from the same forest layer and were of the same shape and size. All species were from rainforests, to ensure that the temperature rather than rainfall was the variable.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10379863
Errol Kiong
Science and health reporter, NZ Herald
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/author/index.cfm?a_id=225
E-mail Errol Kiong
To: Errol Kiong
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/author/email.cfm?a_id=225
Parents key to keeping children moving
03.05.06
By Errol Kiong
A new study has found school-driven physical activity is keeping children active, while parents need to do more to get youngsters off the couch.
With the aid of pedometers, Auckland University of Technology PhD scholar Michele Cox studied the number of steps 91 children at St Mary’s School in Northcote took during and after school on a regular school day.
Overall, the children exceeded the recommended guidelines for their age. On average, boys racked up 2600 steps above their 13,000 guideline, and the girls took 2000 steps more than the 11,000 recommended.
The most active children did most of their physical activity outside school, but the reverse was true for the least active group.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/author/story.cfm?a_id=225&ObjectID=10380018
Pair warned they face jail over gecko thefts
Wednesday May 3, 2006 4.00pm
A man and a woman who stole three valuable geckos from Orana Park, Christchurch, face a possible prison sentence after admitting the charges today.
The pair say they wanted the reptiles as pets rather than for on-selling.
But Christchurch District Court Judge Michael Green warned them that he was granting bail only so that they could attend a restorative justice conference with Orana Park representatives.
"Bail is not an indication you will not be jailed," he told Nicholas John Ormandy and Sally Somers Stirton. They will be sentenced at a Crown sentencing session next month.
The sessions are reserved for more serious cases and give the Crown solicitor's office a chance to make submissions on what the sentence ought to be.
Ormandy, 20, an installation installer, and Stirton, 30, a dancer, had been jointly charged after the geckos -- two Northland green geckos and a rough gecko -- were found at their home in the Christchurch suburb of Richmond three weeks ago.
They had been charged with entering a building with intent to commit a crime -- effectively a burglary -- but this charge was changed to theft of two of the geckos today.
The value of one of the animals was given as $3000.
They admitted two charges of theft, and one of being in possession of absolutely protected wildlife.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Ash Tabb said the pair had gone to the gecko enclosure on April 9, when Ormandy moved the cage and Stirton placed a gecko into her handbag. They were back two days later to get another gecko for it to breed with, and took another two in the same way.
Defence counsel Craig Fletcher said the animals had been in good condition when they were found and returned. They had been taken to be pets rather than for on-selling.
Ormandy and Stirton had co-operated with the police and were not a flight risk. They accepted that imprisonment was the likely outcome.
He asked for bail so that the pair could attend a restorative justice conference at which they will discuss the crime and its effects with Orana Park staff.
The sentencing judge will receive a report on the conference.
Orana Park has increased security since the thefts.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10380100
Warning issued on magnetic toy set
Wednesday May 3, 2006 3.00pm
An Auckland-based importer has issued a safety alert about magnetic building toys that may have loose magnets.
Harvey Wholesale Ltd says the magnets in some Magnetix toys had become dislodged and could pose a hazard for small children.
If more than one magnet was swallowed, they may create a significant hazard to the digestive system, the company said in newspaper advertisements published today.
Owners of Magnetix sets were urged to check them and ensure any loose magnets were kept away from children.
Any faulty parts should be sent to the company's Auckland base for a replacement or refund.
Harvey Wholesale Ltd could be contacted on 0800 222 219 for further information.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10380063
Pope could be poised to sanction condoms
03.05.06 1.00pm
By Peter Popham
ROME - The Catholic Church is on the brink of a historic change of approach over condoms which could bring hope to millions in Africa and other parts of the developing world devastated by Aids.
"We are conducting a very profound scientific, technical and moral study," said the head of the Vatican Council for Health Pastoral Care.
The church is expected to give a guarded, provisional blessing to the use of condoms by married couples when one of them suffers from Aids, as a way of protecting the health of the other partner.
It is only a technical concession, based on two ancient principles, but, against the background of the stolid refusal by church authorities to countenance even the slightest deviation for more than a generation, it amounts to a revolution.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10380093
Family of 14 stuck in three-bedroom home
Wednesday May 3, 2006 1.00pm
The Government is being accused of failing to act on overcrowding after a Northland family with 14 people living in a three-bedroomed house sought help.
Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia said Atareiria HeiHei approached Housing New Zealand 10 months ago asking for support to house her family.
Mrs HeiHei then wrote to Housing Minister Chris Carter in February, claiming nepotism was behind another family getting a state home, which she said was being used as a holiday home.
She told National Radio today her three sons were in one bedroom, while her and her husband plus one grandchild were in another bedroom. Her two daughters and another grandchild were in the third bedroom and some other family members were sleeping on mattresses on the floor in the lounge, she said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10380070
Objections to China bishop
03.05.06 5.20am
China is poised to appoint another bishop to its state-run Catholic Church despite Vatican disapproval. A priest in the Communist Party-approved church in Anhui is to be consecrated a bishop, a vice-chairman of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, Liu Bainian, said.
Liu Xinhong's appointment is opposed by the Vatican, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post reported.
It comes just days after a senior official in the Government-approved church, Ma Yingling, was appointed bishop of Yunnan in the face of objections from Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen and reported disapproval from the Holy See.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10380013
Darfur crisis puts Sudan top of 'failed states' list
03.05.06 4.00pm
By Daniel Howden
The humanitarian crisis in Darfur, which is now spilling over into neighbouring Chad, has pushed Sudan to the top of the Global Index of Failed States.
The report - compiled by the American magazine Foreign Policy and the think-tank Fund for Peace - was published as diplomats from Britain and the US flew to Africa to push for a peace settlement in Darfur.
African nations made up six of the top 10 failed states in the study and the regional impact of the Darfur crisis was reflected in Chad's presence at number six.
The US trade representative, Robert B Zoellick, and Britain's International Development Secretary, Hilary Benn, made unexpected arrivals at the talks in Nigeria in an attempt to pressure rebels and the Sudanese government into striking a deal before a midnight deadline last night.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10380101
Darfur talks miss second deadline
03.05.06 1.00pm
By Estelle Shirbon
ABUJA - Peace talks on Sudan's Darfur region would continue tomorrow, US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick said, as a deadline for reaching an agreement slipped for a second time.
The government of Sudan has accepted an 85-page draft settlement designed to end fighting that has killed tens of thousands. However, three Darfur rebel factions refuse to sign, saying they are unhappy with the proposals on security, power-sharing and wealth-sharing.
"I will be here tomorrow, beyond that I don't know," Zoellick told reporters after a day of back-to-back meetings with the parties in the Nigerian capital Abuja, venue of the talks.
"One of the points I made in my discussions today was that people needed to sharpen their focus because this had to be solved very soon," Zoellick said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10380083
US immigration impasse remains despite protests
03.05.06 1.00pm
By Donna Smith
WASHINGTON - A nationwide boycott by Hispanic groups and others seeking rights for illegal immigrants was unlikely to help break a US Senate impasse on an overhaul of immigration laws, Republican lawmakers said today.
Hundreds of thousands of immigrants and their supporters walked off their jobs and held protests around the country yesterday in a display of economic might aimed at persuading Congress to pass a law giving them a chance of citizenship.
"It didn't really affect what goes on the floor of the Senate," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10380088
Britain cracks down on rogue treasure hunters
03.05.06
LONDON - Britain has launched a crackdown on rogue treasure-hunters in an effort to protect the country's ancient heritage.
Faced with a growing number of priceless artefacts appearing for sale on internet, museums, metal detectorists and archaeologists in England and Wales have agreed a new code of conduct.
The voluntary code comes after massive looting of a Roman-Celtic temple at Wanborough in Surrey in the mid-1980s and as customs officers seize ever more antiquities being smuggled out of the country.
"This code represents a major step forward," said Mike Heyworth of the Council for British Archaeology.
"Most detectorists are only interested in finding and preserving local antiquity ... and to make a positive contribution to our historical knowledge," he told reporters at the British Museum.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10380033
'After the opium harvest, it's jihad'
03.05.06
By Tom Coghlan
"Would the British let us send soldiers to take over their country?" The mood among the group of men on the banks of the Helmand River was menacing. All claimed to be Taleban fighters.
"If one Talib is in a village, the infidels bomb the whole village and kill innocent people," their leader went on.
"The British should come and fight us face to face and stop using their planes. They have been here three times and been nicely beaten three times," he added, referring to ill-fated British imperial adventures of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
"If there were two million foreign soldiers, we would defeat them if they fought us face to face."
British forces officially took over the volatile Taleban stronghold of Helmand yesterday for what the commander in charge admitted would be a "challenging mission".
The American Stars and Stripes was lowered at the main base in Lashkar Gar and the Union flag raised alongside the Afghan flag on another day of violence in south Afghanistan.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10379986
Suicide bomber attacks Iraqi governor, 3 dead
03.05.06 9.20am
RAMADI, Iraq - A suicide car bomber attacked the motorcade of the governor of the restive Iraqi province of Anbar today, killing three bodyguards, hospital sources and local residents in the regional capital Ramadi said.
Governor Maamoun Sami Rasheed was wounded and was being treated at a US medical facility, an aide said after the attack in the centre of the city, a stronghold of Sunni Arab rebellion 110 kilometres west of Baghdad.
Local people who said they had seen the attack, close to the main court building, said a car drove at three civilian cars being escorted by US Humvee patrol vehicles and exploded, damaging some of the limousines.
The US military made no immediate comment.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10380054
German hostages released in Iraq
03.05.06 12.20pm
By Karin Strohecker
BERLIN - Germany's Foreign Ministry said today that two German hostages held in Iraq since January had been freed after more than three months in captivity.
"I am very pleased to inform you that the two kidnapped men from Leipzig, Rene Braeunlich and Thomas Nitzschke, have been freed today," Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in a statement.
Steinmeier said they hostages were expected to return to Germany tomorrow. He said they were unharmed after their ordeal and appeared to be in stable condition.
"After spending more than three months under inhumane conditions they are in German care," added Steinmeier, who was on an official visit to Chile.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10380087
Young Americans can't find Iraq on map
03.05.06 3.20pm
By Andrew Buncombe
WASHINGTON - The US may be the world's only true superpower but global domination does not equal global knowledge.
A new survey shows young Americans have what can only be described as shoddy geography skills, with six out of 10 unable to locate Iraq on a map and almost half incapable of pointing to the state of Mississippi.
Traditionally, the US has bowed to the idea of isolationism, hoping that geography in the form of vast oceans can help act as a protection from other nations.
But the survey suggests that such an attitude- both culturally and in terms of interest in overseas travel - is having a woeful impact on Americans' ability to learn about the wider world.
The survey shows that, despite having invaded Iraq three years ago, six out of 10 Americans aged 18 to 24 cannot locate the country.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10380077
Baghdad 'ready to take over in two years'
03.05.06 1.20pm
By Anne Penketh
Iraqi forces are expected to become fully responsible for security in Iraq in two years, even though it could take up to a decade to curb militias, a senior British official has predicted.
"It is perfectly credible to think in a two-year timescale that we could get to a position where essentially the Iraqis are totally responsible for all the security in Iraq," the official said.
But he added: "It could be longer, it could be quicker."
He said he was not laying down a timetable for withdrawal of the 8,000 British troops, which is to take place in coordination with the Iraqi government, depending on the security conditions in the country.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10380091
'It's not working,' Ohio man tells executioners
03.05.06 11.20am
By Jim Leckrone
COLUMBUS, Ohio - A double murderer was put to death in Ohio today but not until after one of his veins had collapsed, causing the condemned man to sit up and tell his executioners, "It's not working," officials said.
The Ohio Department of Corrections said Joseph Clark, 57, was pronounced dead at 11.26 am EDT (2.26am NZT) following an injection of lethal chemicals at the Southern Ohio Correctional Institution in Lucasville.
Spokeswoman Andrea Dean said the execution was delayed about 90 minutes because technicians had trouble initially finding a site in Clark's arm for the intravenous line carrying the chemicals.
Then shortly after the poisons were supposed to have been pumping into his body, she said, he sat up saying, "It's not working. It's not working."
Officials determined that a vein had collapsed. Curtains were closed to block witnesses' view until technicians found a vein in his other arm. They were then parted to reveal him dying, witnesses said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10380076
Israel's new government prepares to take office
02.05.06 1.20pm
By Megan Goldin
JERUSALEM - Israel's new government will take office on Friday after Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert formed a coalition to carry out his plan to redraw Jewish settlement lines in the occupied West Bank.
"The Knesset will convene… to vote on the new government's guidelines and to swear it in," a parliamentary official said as coalition deals reached by Olmert's Kadima party and the policy points were filed in the legislature.
Olmert's governing coalition will control at least 67 seats in the 120-seat chamber, a majority narrower than he had sought in several weeks of negotiations with political parties.
He was forced to seek partnerships, signing agreements with centre-left Labour, the ultra-Orthodox Shas faction and a pensioners' party, after centrist Kadima led the pack in the March 28 election but fell short of a parliamentary majority.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10379904
Gaza journalists get threats over Hamas coverage
02.05.06 2.20pm
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA - A handful of Palestinian journalists have reported receiving death threats for their critical coverage of the Islamic militant group Hamas since it began running the government in March, a press group said today.
The Palestinian Journalists' Union said seven journalists in the Gaza Strip, mostly sympathetic to President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party, had received threats by email, phone or fax -- made in Hamas's name -- to harm or kill them for their coverage.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri denied the group had threatened journalists, saying the calls were a fraudulent attempt to "damage Hamas's image". He urged security forces to investigate.
The threats came amid a struggle for sway over the Palestinian Authority and its security forces that pits the moderate Abbas, favoured by Israel and Western powers, against Hamas, which beat Fatah in a parliamentary election in January.
"We are taking these threats seriously, although we do not think the Hamas movement has a policy to threaten journalists," said Sakher Abu Own from the Journalists' Union, which represents journalists in the West Bank and Gaza.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10379908
Iran threatens to attack Israel
03.05.06 9.15am
By Edmund Blair
TEHRAN - Iran threatened today to attack Israel in response to any "evil" act by the United States and said it had enriched uranium to a level close to the maximum compatible with civilian use in power stations.
The defiant statements were issued shortly before world powers met in Paris to plan their next moves after Tehran rejected a UN call to halt uranium enrichment.
Senior officials from the UN Security Council's permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany discussed how to curb an Iranian programme that Western nations say conceals a drive for atomic warheads.
Iran denies the charge and refuses to back down from what it calls its right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10380059
Iran says Russia and China will not back sanctions
03.05.06
TEHRAN - Iran's foreign minister was quoted yesterday as saying that Russia and China had officially informed Tehran they would not support sanctions or military action over the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme.
UN ambassadors from the United States, Britain and France are expected to introduce a UN Security Council resolution this week that would legally oblige Iran to comply with UN demands that it halt all uranium enrichment work.
When asked how far Russia and China, veto-wielding permanent members of the council, would support Washington, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told the Kayhan newspaper:
"The thing these two countries have officially told us and expressed in diplomatic negotiations is their opposition to sanctions and military attacks.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10380019
Toxic gold sludge buries China village, 17 missing
02.05.06 4.20pm
BEIJING - Seventeen people are missing after a landslide at a gold mine in northwest China engulfed their homes, Xinhua news agency reported.
It said five villagers were in hospital after a cascade of toxic gold tailings buried their homes following the collapse of a dam wall at the mine in Shaanxi province today.
"The local government has taken emergency measures to prevent the poisonous content in the tailings, including sodium cyanide, from polluting the environment," Xinhua said.
Workers were raising the height of the dam to increase its capacity when the accident took place.
Separately, the death toll from a coal mine blast on the weekend, also in Shaanxi, has risen to 30, Xinhua said. Another two miners were still missing.
China's mining industry is the world's deadliest. Official figures showed that in 2005 some 3,300 coal mine blasts, floods and other accidents killed nearly 6,000 people, while about 1,900 disasters at other types of mines claimed more than 2,300 lives.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10379943
Painting pictures of a new China
03.05.06
By Clifford Coonan
BEIJING - Red Flag-waving Chinese soldiers, muscle-bound peasants, nudes, dancing girls and women soldiers, and scores of Mao pictures, sculptures and photographs. Whatever would the Great Helmsman have thought?
China's Cultural Revolution, which began 40 years ago this month, is a theme running through this year's Dashanzi International Arts Festival in Beijing. A lot of the work confronts some of the horror of those 10 years of Communist mania which saw thousands of intellectuals and artists attacked and humiliated.
The Communist Party are still in power of course. In the run-up to the festival, which began on Saturday, the Culture Ministry removed more than 20 paintings with political content.
Around 500,000 people are expected to visit the festival at Factory 798, which has the semi-official status of being "illegal, but tolerated".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10379980
St Petersburg - the new Detroit
03.05.06
By Andrew Osborn
MOSCOW - Gone are the days of the Lada and the Yugo in Russia - the country's second city, St Petersburg, is driving ahead with its plan to become the "new Detroit" after clinching deals for Nissan, Ford and Toyota factories.
Low labour costs, generous tax breaks and proximity to Europe's markets have attracted the companies to the city - and feisty female Governor, Valentina Matvienko, a confidante of President Vladimir Putin, says she is in talks with another foreign firm for a fourth factory.
As factories in West Europe are wound down or shut because of high labour costs, production is moving east, and Russia, particularly St Petersburg, is hoping that Europe's loss will be its gain.
The US$200 million ($315 million) Nissan factory will be completed in 2009, initially creating 750 jobs and 50,000 cars a year.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10379978
Malnutrition kills 10 children every minute
03.05.06 2.20pm
By Maxine Frith
Ten children die every minute as a result of malnutrition, more than a quarter of children in developing countries are underweight and suffer disease because of their poor diet, and in some areas almost half of all under-fives are malnourished, a new United Nations report says.
Unicef warns that the slow progress on reducing nutritional problems among children means that several key Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets may now be missed.
Ann Veneman, executive director of Unicef, said: "The lack of progress to combat malnutrition is damaging children and nations. Few things have more impact than nutrition on a child's ability to survive, learn effectively and escape a life of poverty."
The first MDG, agreed by the world's leaders, pledged to halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger by 2015.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10380090
It's raining witch-doctors
03.05.06 6.20am
Witch-doctors or shaman are being hired to prevent everything from riots to volcanic eruptions in catastrophe-prone Indonesia.
Government officials say they hired 60 rainmakers who are being credited with magically inducing a downpour that drenched a protest of up to 100,000 workers in Jakarta.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10380014
US trade chief says WTO deal 'within reach'
03.05.06
GENEVA - US trade chief Rob Portman said yesterday he believed a deal in long-troubled global free trade negotiations was "within reach".
The United States trade representative, who is in Geneva for a series of meetings after negotiations missed another deadline at the end of April, spoke briefly to journalists after talks with World Trade Organisation (WTO) head Pascal Lamy.
"We believe it's within reach. We believe that there is a way for us to get to 'yes' and to come up with a successful conclusion of the round," he said.
Several trade ministers are in Geneva in a show of support for the WTO's Doha round, which, after more than four years and a number of missed deadlines, risks collapse if it does not achieve a big breakthrough before the end of July.
Portman, who is due to change jobs shortly, gave no further details and it was not immediately clear whether he had heard anything new since his arrival in Geneva late on Monday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10380025
Wife's message judged too sensitive for trapped miner
03.05.06
BEACONSFIELD - A heartfelt message from a woman to her husband trapped in a Tasmanian mine has been considered too sensitive to be played to him.
Rachael Webb recorded the message to be played down a pipe to her husband Brant, who has been trapped 925m underground for eight days with fellow miner Todd Russell.
The idea was to lift his spirits but the mine's psychologist advised against playing it to him, it was reported on the news.com website yesterday.
Mrs Webb was told that the message may have the opposite effect than intended at this stage.
Michael Kelly, Mr Webb's father-in-law, said: "We just thought it would be nice if Rachael could give him some encouragement because the next 48 hours are going to be critical."
Mr Kelly did not say what his daughter's message contained.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10380026
Women break bra-chain world record
02.05.06 3.20pm
PAPHOS, Cyprus - Women on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus created the world's longest chain of bras yesterday, linking together nearly 115,000 of the garments covering 111 km, organisers said.
The group of Dutch, British and Cypriot organisers took nearly nine hours to create the chain at the harbour in the resort of Paphos, following a year of painstaking planning.
Their success will shove Singapore, which had held the record since 2003 with 79,000 bras, off the top spot in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Women from as far afield as Alaska, Brazil, Martinique and Iran contributed bras to the record attempt, aimed at raising awareness of breast cancer.
Even the British solders based in Cyprus took part helping organisers move the bags of bras and lay the chain.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10379944
Presence of humans reverses evolution of finch
03.05.06 1.00pm
By Steve Connor
Humans are causing evolution to slip into reverse for one of the species of finches that is said to have inspired Charles Darwin after he returned from his famous visit to the Galapagos Islands.
Scientists have found that one of "Darwin's finches" living in the remote Pacific archipelago has begun to lose the distinguishing trait that could be causing it to split into two different species.
The medium ground finch is normally found in two distinct forms - individuals with a larger beak or those with a smaller beak - but when humans come to live alongside the finch, this "bimodal" beak size tends to disappear.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10380051
Neurological deficits linked with stress disorder
03.05.06 1.00pm
Subtle neurologic deficits appear to predispose some individuals to the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to combat experiences, according to a report in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
Previous studies have linked neurological deficits to PTSD, but it was unclear if the deficits were part of the disorder or they were there before the disorder developed, representing a vulnerability factor, senior author Dr. Roger K. Pitman, from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and colleagues note.
To sort this out, the researchers tested for mild neurologic deficits or "soft signs" in 25 Vietnam veterans with PTSD, 24 veterans without PTSD, and in the veterans' identical twins who had not been exposed to combat. Forty-five neurologic soft signs were evaluated and rated in severity from 0 (none) to 3 (most severe).
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10380068
Napster offers free music to beat iTunes
02.05.06 1.00pm
By Yinka Adegoke
NEW YORK - Napster Inc., the one-time renegade music download service, has returned to its roots with a new Web service which offers fans the chance to listen to over 2 million tracks for free.
The new service launched today at Napster.com is supported by advertising and follows months of negotiations with record companies. Napster will split advertising revenue with the record companies based on the number of times one of their artists' songs is played.
The new service, which comes in addition to Napster's existing subscription service, also allows users to send direct links of chosen tracks to friends. Users can listen to songs up to five times on the free site before having to pay.
"We have built this new Napster.com as an open platform," said Chief Executive Chris Gorog in an interview.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10379891
Rescued DoC rangers set out again for volcano island
20.03.06
By Errol Kiong
The five conservation rangers evacuated from Raoul Island after a volcanic explosion believed to have claimed the life of their colleague are heading back to the island.
Jim Livingstone, Morgan Cox, Melanie Nelson, Evan Ward and Lynda McGrory-Ward are returning to help recovery operations and to assess the damage from Friday morning's eruption. Their colleague, Mark Kearney, 33, is feared dead after being caught in the eruption.
The five were joined by three colleagues, including Raoul Island programme manager Mike Ambrose, on board the RV Braveheart, which left Tauranga for the island at 9.30pm on Saturday.
Also on board are two police officers and two scientists.
Ms McGrory-Ward's father, Greig McGrory, said he was not worried that she and Mr Ward, her husband, had gone back.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/author/story.cfm?a_id=225&objectid=10373492
Sewage not the only possible cause of norovirus says council
21.03.06
By Errol Kiong
An outbreak of norovirus that caused the closure of nine Bay of Islands oyster farms cannot be blamed conclusively on a council-run sewage treatment plant, the High Court at Auckland has heard.
The oyster farmers are seeking $12 million from the Far North District Council as compensation for loss of earnings, general damages and remediation costs after their farms were closed in 2001 when traces of the norovirus carried in human effluent were found.
The farmers - who have not been able to reopen their farms - have identified several sources of pollution in the Waikare Inlet, but largely blamed the council-operated sewage plant at Kawakawa.
The defence opened its case yesterday with lawyer David Heaney, representing the council, saying the farmers have not proven conclusively that the norovirus originated from the Kawakawa treatment plant.
There were many other potential sources, he said. Highest on his list were the area's septic tank and onsite disposal systems. Mr Heaney said another possible source was boaties discharging their tanks into the water.
There had been some suggestion the virus strain found on the farms was not one commonly found in New Zealand, indicating it might have originated from a boat. Opua was known to be a customs clearance port, he said.
The Kawakawa plant's discharge outlet was over 15km away from the affected farms. "That is an awful long way for these viruses to survive in the open," Mr Heaney said.
A farm in Tiger Bay, which is closer to the treatment plant than the affected farms, was also not affected by an outbreak, he said.
Later that day, the court heard from William Down, the council's assets management coordinator. He read from his brief of evidence that monitoring by the Northland Regional Council had found water quality at the plant's discharge area was better than water quality upstream. Mr Down said it was never an issue nor a requirement to test for norovirus.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/author/story.cfm?a_id=225&objectid=10373637
cntinued …
