Morning Papers - continued

The Australian

States seek unified response to water crisis
October 13, 2006
STATE and territory leaders have called for a new national spirit of co-operation on issues related to water at the inaugural meeting of the Council for the Australian Federation in Melbourne today.
But their attempt to set the agenda on national questions was almost upstaged by news of a national water audit critical of the states.
In a stinging assesment of the slow progress of the states to meet their water reform obligations under the $2 billion National Water Initiative, the audit delivers a rude shock to premiers and chief ministers as they hold their own summit on federation issues, such as water management, in Melbourne today.
Its criticisms have also coincided with the introduction of new water restrictions in Adelaide and Brisbane, and likely tougher restrictions in Melbourne.
The state leaders were today questioned on the results of the audit, reported in The Australian before they were given copies by the federal government.
"The fact is that we've been asked to comment on an audit report that you haven't seen and we haven't seen," said premier Mike Rann, the council's first chairman.
"What we're being asked to comment on is a report that no one has actually seen. We don't know what else is in that report."
Victorian premier Steve Bracks described the report as "a little bit politics" timed to coincide with the council's first meeting.
"It doesn't at all diminish our efforts to push that aside, that political intrusion, and say we want to cooperate ... on what is one of the biggest issues facing Australia."
In a communique issued after the meeting, the council said it recognised the National Water Initiative and the National Water Commission were intended to be a "cooperative exercise".
"However, there have been difficulties in the implementation of this cooperative spirit under the current regime," it said.
Mr Rann and the other leaders were adamant their new body was intended to complement, not rival, the existing Council of Australian Governments.
"What the people of Australia want is cooperation. That's what we want to achieve.
"It would be very easy to come to meeting and slag off at the federal government.
"I don't intend to do that. That's not the purpose of this council."
The council will tackle issues between the states that don't require federal involvement, he said.
Mr Bracks said that at the last COAG meeting state and territory leaders had raised the need for faster action on the National Water Initiative.
Mr Howard had agreed with their proposal to nominate "one big project" for each state, Mr Bracks said.
"We agreed to get them in. We've got them in. We're waiting for funding."

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20575102-601,00.html


PM pledges extra drought relief
October 13, 2006
PRIME Minister John Howard says the government will do everything it can to help farmers through the drought.
Mr Howard said the government would look at "finetuning" the exceptional circumstances drought assistance package next week.
It also would consider whether other regions should be declared to be in drought.
"The government at a federal level will do all it reasonably should to help Australia's farmers through this drought," Mr Howard told Southern Cross Broadcasting today.
"If they need more assistance they will get it.
"Obviously we won't throw money away but farmers can rest assured where they are entitled to assistance they will get it."
Mr Howard said the implications for farmers were enormous and the implications for the nation also were significant because all Australians strongly identified with the bush.
"When the bush is suffering we feel it," he said.
"I would expect this drought to leave a very big impression on the Australian psyche."
Treasurer Peter Costello yesterday warned Australia was looking at a rural recession, with the situation facing regional areas set to worsen.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20573395-601,00.html


States 'fail' on water resources: report
Dennis Shanahan and Matthew Warren
October 13, 2006
AUSTRALIA'S first national audit of water resources has "failed" the states in key areas and recommended urgent work to cut irrigation rights, manage bore water and save crucial rivers.
In a stinging assesment of the slow progress of the states to meet their water reform obligations under the $2 billion National Water Initiative, the audit delivers a rude shock to premiers and chief ministers as they hold their own summit on federation issues, such as water management, in Melbourne today.
Its criticisms have also coincided with the introduction of new water restrictions in Adelaide and Brisbane, and likely tougher restrictions in Melbourne.
South Australia introduced the toughest water restrictions in the state's history to combat record low Murray River flows.
In southeast Queensland, the Beattie Government introduced stage-four restrictions, which limit residents to watering outdoor with buckets and cans during restricted times.
Melbourne is also facing a ban on watering lawns under tighter restrictions being considered by the Bracks Government, which yesterday announced $12.5million in drought assistance ahead of today's talks between the states.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20572341-601,00.html


'Invest in water at home, not overseas'
Matthew Warren
October 13, 2006
AUSTRALIA's mainland cities need up to $30 billion in new water investment to meet growing demand as domestic institutional investors pursue multi-billion-dollar water assets abroad.
A 20-year investment drought in new water supply in Australia has seen domestic banks and superannuation funds spend more than $7 billion in the past two weeks on privatised British water utilities.
The federal Government has just closed submissions on a discussion paper about the potential role of the private sector in the supply of water and wastewater services. It has flagged community concern over privatisation of water as a major obstacle to its implementation.
Parliamentary Secretary Malcolm Turnbull said yesterday that the flight of investment needed to be halted by governments encouraging private sector investment to address the growing water shortage in mainland cities.
"Australia urgently needs to invest billions of dollars in water infrastructure, and we cannot and should not continue to rely on the public sector for this investment," he said.
"Millions of Australian dollars are going into water infrastructure at the moment but regrettably much, if not most, of it is heading overseas to invest in countries which welcome and encourage investment from the private sector."

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20572235-601,00.html


Drought package to fight rural recession
Steve Lewis and Selina Mitchell
October 13, 2006
STRUGGLING farmers will be paid drought assistance for longer, and the number of regions eligible for financial support expanded, under a Howard government rescue plan for the bush.
Cabinet will sign off on the package - expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars - in coming weeks after the federal Government was handed a new high-level report showing irrigation catchment areas in worse shape than ever.
Peter Costello yesterday declared a "rural recession" amid fears deteriorating farm conditions would wipe billions of dollars from the national economy.
The human cost of the drought was also brought into sharp focus with the Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Christopher Pyne, warning of a jump in suicides as farmers struggled to survive.
Under the rescue package, farm communities will be able to receive drought assistance continuously for up to 18 months.
This will ease the emotional stress of having to reapply for money, sometimes as often as every five months.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20572339-601,00.html


Backlash wins reprieve for pool owners
Greg Roberts and Andrew Fraser
October 13, 2006
THE Beattie Government has backed down from plans to force 180,000 swimming pool owners in drought-ravaged southeast Queensland to install covers by July at an average cost of $1000.
The Queensland Water Commission investigated making covers compulsory in Brisbane to prevent pools needing to be regularly topped up in summer, but chairwoman Elizabeth Nosworthy said there had been a strong reaction against the plan.
Consequently, pool owners will now have to undertake three of four installations - a dual-flush toilet; retro-fit taps and showers; a four-star washing machine; or a pool cover.
"We thought enough people had raised it for it to be an issue, but we wanted to focus on the end savings rather than proscribing too closely how it is to be achieved," she said.
But Ms Nosworthy, who is a company director, said that while there was a strong reaction against the proposal to make pool covers compulsory, few people had complained about the cost of installing such a device.
"Most of the complaints we had from people were that they had a funny-shaped pool or they didn't want to put it on and take it off whenever they wanted to use the pool," she said.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20572237-601,00.html


Hot weather warnings fuel bushfire fears
October 13, 2006
WARNINGS for more hot and windy weather over the eastern states at the weekend gave little relief for firefighters today as they battled blazes across four states.
The forecast for southern and central New South Wales, where fire services fought three blazes, was for hot, dry and windy conditions on Saturday and even hotter temperatures than today's peak of 36C.
Milder conditions in Victoria were expected to help firefighters contain a massive coalmine blaze in the Latrobe Valley, although authorities maintained a high bushfire alert across the state.
The fire, at International Power's open cut brown coal mine at Hazelwood near Morwell, had stretched to more than two km along the coalface and was expected to continue burning for several days, Country Fire Authority (CFA) spokeswoman Adele Buhagiar said.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20573405-601,00.html


Police arrest arsonists, hunt suspects
AAP
October 13, 2006
POLICE arrested several alleged arsonists and were hunting others today as the bushfire crisis eased across southern Australia.
NSW police have arrested two people and cautioned three children alleged to have intentionally started bushfires.
In Hobart, a 14-year-old boy was caught lighting fires as firemen continued to battle bushfires which had earlier threatened homes in the city.
And in South Australia, police were today hunting for a teenage motorcyclist suspected of starting bushfires in the Currency Creek area, south of Adelaide.
Weather conditions eased today as firefighters in four states took control of many blazes, sparked by hot and dry conditions that fire chiefs compared with those normally seen in january or February.
As firefighters enjoyed the respite, attention turned to those thought responsible for at least some of the blazes.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20575113-601,00.html



Indonesia asks for bushfire help
From correspondents in Pekanbaru
October 13, 2006
INDONESIA has appealed for help to fight forest and brush fires that have spread choking smoke over much of South-East Asia as regional environment ministers prepare to meet for talks.
The ministers from Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Brunei are due to hold talks later today in Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau province, an area of Sumatra island badly affected by the raging fires.
Indonesia's neighbours have become increasingly frustrated over Jakarta's inability to deal with the annual dry season blazes, which in past weeks have caused serious air pollution across the region, particularly in Malaysia and Singapore.
"We are asking for assistance in terms of equipment or expertise. We will see what they can offer to us," Indonesian Forestry Minister Malam Sambat Kaban said.
Malaysia has proposed that the five countries buy two Russian-built Ilyushin aircraft designed to scoop up sea water and douse fires, Riau police chief Ito Sumardi said.
The plan is for the multi-million dollar planes to be placed in Sumatra and Kalimantan, also in Indonesia, he said.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20576332-1702,00.html



Water debate must rise to new levels
Friday, October 13, 2006
Asa Wahlquist
WE desperately need a well-informed debate on water.
But Australians generally have what Professor Peter Cullen calls “low water literacy”. They don’t really understand the fundamentals. Like how heavy water is—a cubic metre weighs one tonne—making long-distance piping schemes ridiculously expensive. Or the fact that recycling and desalination use the same technology.
Used water—let’s not call it sewage because most is not flushed from toilets, but is water from showers, washing machines, dishwashers and running the tap over the sink—has about one tenth the salt and thus is cheaper to produce, uses less electricity and, this is significant, produces less greenhouse gas.
Agriculture uses 67 per cent of our water. Should we be exporting so much virtual water; the irrigation water used to produce export wine, dairy products, beef and cotton? City people eyeing irrigation water need to understand it is cheap because it is filthy, and farmers have to put their own pumps on the riverbank and pipe it up.
Clean it up to drinking standard and pipe it under pressure to your house, and it will cost as much as city water. More, if it has to travel over mountains. And what value to the economy will it have then?

http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/yoursay/index.php/theaustralian/comments/water_debate_must_rise_to_new_levels/


How public education failed me with no mention of Mao
THE WRY SIDE
Emma Tom
October 11, 2006
I'M one of those Australian students who has slipped through the net. It's not English, maths or Shakespeare I've missed out on while studying at assorted Australian primary schools, high schools and universities.
It's the Mao propaganda.
Not once have I had a teacher or lecturer who has advocated the autonomy of the Hunan Province, the expunging of non-Marxists from the military or the execution of the intelligentsia.
Yet, according to federal Education Minister Julie Bishop, perniciously pinko pedagogues have been busily ramming Maoist dogma down the unquestioning gullet of every other pupil across the nation.
I feel so left out.
Embarrassingly enough, my public high school education means I can still spell diarrhoea sans dictionary, perform long division sans calculator and recite - trippingly on the tongue - Shakespeare sans script. Sceptics may doubt the usefulness of such skills given the wide availability of spellcheckers, calculating devices and people who think Hamlet quoters are complete and utter wankers, but on the whole I've always felt relatively well-rounded.
Now, however, I realise I'm a freak: possibly the only Australian to escape school without having to spend my uniform allowance on a Mao cap, Mao suit and Red Army shoulder bag for carrying my textbooks, all of which would have been copies of Mao's Little Blue Book.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20559100-12274,00.html



Australia urged to warm to fusion reactor
Leigh Dayton, Science writer
October 13, 2006
SCIENTISTS hope a meeting in Sydney will help Australia hitch a ride on an international effort to harness fusion energy, the nuclear reaction that powers the sun.
Although Australia is not a full member of the $16 billion International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, a project official said he was keen to find a way for the nation's scientists and engineers to be involved.
"We need to be part of the journey," said Matthew Hole, a physicist with the Australian National University in Canberra and chair of the two-day Australian ITER Forum, which ends today. "What will it cost us to get the technology back later on? To buy back the developed technology?"
Fusion - discovered in the 1930s by Australian physicist Mark Oliphant - promises the key to virtually limitless and waste-free energy.
It is in stark contrast to fission, the reaction behind conventional nuclear power plants.
That is why participants in the ITER see the development and commercialisation of fusion power as a sustainable solution to the world's long-term energy needs.
The seven ITER partners - Japan, China, India, South Korea, Russia, the US and the EU - plan to build a trial electricity-generating fusion reactor in France within the decade. But according to physicist Didier Gambier - head of the EU's ITER implementation office - Australia has already "missed the boat" as a full partner in the ITER.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20572275-30417,00.html


Blair battered by army chief's outburst
Michael Evans and Sam Coates
October 13, 2006
TONY Blair's foreign policy was in tatters last night after the head of the Army said that the continued presence of British troops in Iraq was responsible for bloodshed at home and abroad.
The scathing comments by General Sir Richard Dannatt directly contradict the Prime Minister, who has repeatedly claimed that the invasion of Iraq played no role in galvanising Muslim extremism in Britain and bringing about the 7/7 bombings.
Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, last night ordered Sir Richard to report for a meeting at the ministry this morning where his future will be discussed.
Sir Richard, who took over as the Chief of the General Staff from General Sir Mike Jackson in August, appeared to give no warning to Mr Browne or the senior hierarchy at the Ministry of Defence before making his comments.
In an interview Sir Richard said that the continuing presence in Iraq of 7200 British troops was “exacerbating the security problems” and said they should come home soon.
He added: “We are in a Muslim country and Muslims’ views of foreigners in their country are quite clear. As a foreigner you can be welcomed by being invited in a country but we weren’t invited, certainly by those in Iraq at the time. The military campaign we fought in 2003 effectively kicked the door in.”

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20573902-601,00.html


Shockwave exposes Bush and challenges China
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
IT would be a serious mistake for the world to acquiesce in the idea of North Korea as a nuclear weapons power.
Beyond the justified howls of outrage about North Korea’s apparent nuclear test the political aim must be to reverse the current situation. No other result is remotely satisfactory.
The consequences of North Korea as a nuclear weapon state will be to deepen the security risks on the Korean peninsula, further degrade the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), create a risk that Pyongyang will sell the technology to terrorists and threaten the entire power balance in Northeast Asia with the danger that Japan will further militarise (or eventually go nuclear), driving a wedge between China and Japan.
Such outcomes would be disastrous. They would directly damage Australia’s interests. It is folly to think this crisis doesn’t involve Australia.

http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/paulkelly/index.php/theaustralian/comments/shockwave_exposes_bush_and_challenges_china/



Insurgents behead worker in southern Thailand
AP
October 13, 2006
SUSPECTED Muslim insurgents in southern Thailand beheaded a man in a gruesome attack carried out in the presence of the victim's daughter, police said today.
The man was identified as a 45-year-old Burmese worker at a prawn farm in the Nong Chik district of Pattani province, one of three Muslim-majority provinces in Thailand that has been gripped by a deadly insurgency since 2004.
Four armed men entered the prawn farm last night, blindfolded the man's 16-year-old daughter and shot the man at close range before beheading him, said police Colonel Thawan Nakarawong, head of the Nong Chik precinct.
The gunmen then picked up the head and drove about 20km to a site where they tried to blast it with a bomb, but the device failed to detonate, Thawan said.
"The insurgents left a note demanding that police and soldiers pull out from the area, otherwise they will kill more people," Thawan said.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20574298-2703,00.html


Bid to oust President fails
October 13, 2006
OPPOSITION Taiwan legislators have failed to get enough support to pass a bill that would have offered voters a chance to oust President Chen Shui-bian, who is accused by critics of corruption.
The motion drew 116 votes in favour, 31 short of the two-thirds majority required, after three days of debate culminating in passionate speeches and shouting matches between lawmakers for and against the President's removal.
"The people of Taiwan have the wisdom and ability," Opposition lawmaker Jhao Liang-yen said during Friday morning's debate. "Let them decide. Give the power to them."
The bill was never expected to pass.
Mr Chen's office issued a statement expressing "respect" for the vote. The statement urged legislators to avoid a no-confidence vote in the Cabinet and work on legislation related to the budget, the military and a free-trade port.
The bill, introduced by People First Party member Lu Hsue-chang on September 26, said Mr Chen lacked the ability to govern, accused him of corruption and called his staff incompetent.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20576191-1702,00.html


Red Cross confirms visits to Guantanamo
From correspondents in Geneva
October 13, 2006
THE International Committee of the Red Cross has concluded its latest round of visits to 454 detainees in the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, including 14 top al-Qaeda suspects recently transferred there.
“Our visit ended today. We saw 454 detainees. That includes the 14 people who were transferred to Guantanamo,” ICRC spokesman Vincent Lusser said today.
The US Defence Department had revealed the scheduled visit to the new group, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, yesterday.
They were transferred to Guantanamo on September 5 after the closure of the CIA's secret prisons.
Lusser confirmed that the ICRC delegates were able to meet the newcomers individually in private and to register them. The prisoners were also given the opportunity to exchange messages with their families, he said.
The Geneva-based humanitarian agency makes about half a dozen visits a year to prisoners in Guantanamo Bay to check on their condition. It is the only agency allowed by Washington to do so, under an international legal mandate to ensure that detainees held in conflicts are treated humanely.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20575826-1702,00.html



EU 'to end' nuclear talks with Iran
October 13, 2006
EU foreign ministers are to formally end negotiations with Tehran over Iran's nuclear ambitions at talks in Luxembourg next week because of a "lack of results", a European diplomat has said.
The ministers are due on Tuesday to declare that "negotiations with Iran have terminated because of a lack of results", the diplomat has said on condition of anonymity.
However, a draft of the meeting's conclusions dating from October 11 does not include that sentence.
Other diplomats have said the most recent version is not as strongly worded and leaves the door open to further negotiations.
At the meeting in Luxembourg, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana is due to give an account of talks with Iran, which the major world powers have asked to end its uranium enrichment activities.
Mr Solana acknowledged last week that talks had ground to a halt, sparking discussions about possible sanctions against Iran in the United Nations Security Council.
He also said that he planned no further meetings with Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20577029-1702,00.html



Solomons PM may oust peace mission
By Llyod Jones in Port Moresby
October 13, 2006
THE Solomon Islands Government has threatened to kick out the Australian-led regional assistance mission sent there to restore law and order after years of ethnic tension.
Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has told Parliament his Government will review the Facilitation Act under which the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) is made possible.
RAMSI officers have been in the country since 2003. Mr Sogovare said as recently as May that the situation in his country would return to chaos if they left.
The Prime Minister's threats deepen the diplomatic war he has been waging with Canberra.
The deepending crisis was sparked by his expulsion last month of Australian High Commissioner Patrick Cole, and his protection of fugitive Australian lawyer Julian Moti.
Opposition leader Fred Fono tonight said he was very surprised at Sogavare's threats against RAMSI.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20576529-1702,00.html



Men tied up, throats slit in Iraq
October 13, 2006
THE bodies of 14 construction workers, their throats slit and their hands and legs bound, have been found in a rural area near Baghdad, police have said.
Police have said the labourers, among 17 workers who had been kidnapped after leaving their work on Thursday, were discovered in an orchard near Dhuluiya, 40km north of Baghdad.
Police have said most of the victims are from the mainly Shiite town of Balad, north of Baghdad.
They had been snatched from their vehicle at dawn and killed by unidentified gunmen, police have said.
The motive was not clear but Iraq has been gripped by sectarian killings pitching Shiites against Sunni Arabs since the bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra in February.
Police have imposed a daylight curfew in Dhuluiya.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20576795-1702,00.html



Iraq police station bomb kills six
From correspondents in Hilla, Iraq
October 13, 2006
A BOMB planted inside a police station in the Iraqi city of Hilla killed six people today, including the commander of a local special police force, police said.
The blast, which also wounded 12 policemen, punched a hole in the building's ceiling in central Hilla, south of Baghdad.
Police Colonel Salam al-Mamoury, who headed the anti-insurgent Scorpion police force, was among the dead, police said.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20575577-1702,00.html



Crunch time for cloning
Vicious personal attacks and bullying are being employed to win the battle over therapeutic cloning. The Christian fundamentalists consider it their last stand, writes Matthew Franklin
October 13, 2006
Harvest: A cell is removed from an embryo
HAVING been a detective in Victoria's organised crime and anti-terrorism squad, Jason Wood doesn't bow to stand-over tactics. However, as a first-term Liberal from the marginal seat of La Trobe, Wood, 38, is learning that strong-arm tactics are as common in politics as the underworld, especially when contentious issues are in play.
Early this year, constituents subjected Wood to thinly veiled threats about his political future should he back a move to make the abortion drug RU486 available in Australia without the need for approval by federal Health Minister Tony Abbott.
And with parliament poised to consider legalising the contentious research technique of therapeutic cloning, he's expecting more of the same treatment.
"As a marginal seat holder I've got no doubt I'll have, as I did before, groups, not threatening, but indicating (I'll) be making a very bad decision," Wood says. "But you have to forget about your margin and you have to do what you believe is right."

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20876,20570657-28737,00.html



The Boston Globe


Survey: Madagascar coral reefs damaged
In this undated file photograph released by Blue Ventures, Matt Somerville, left, and Katie Yewdall survey recent coral bleaching at reefs near Andavadoaka, a remote village located along the southwest coast of Madagascar. A number of coral bleaching events where rising sea temperatures cause corals to turn white and ultimately die have struck Madagascars southwest coast over the years. (AP Photo/Blue Ventures, Ho)
October 12, 2006
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa --A new survey of coral reefs along Madagascar's southwestern coast found massive damage from coral bleaching caused by rising sea temperatures, researchers said Thursday.
However, the survey team, funded by Conservation International and led by the conservation groups Blue Ventures and the Wildlife Conservation Society, said scientists also discovered several small reefs with corals that appeared to be resilient to rising sea temperatures and that could be used to reseed damaged reefs.
Algae called zooxanthellae live within the coral, give it its brilliant reds, oranges and browns and through photosynthesis provide 98 percent of the coral's food. Warmer sea temperatures block the photosynthesis and cause the coral to shed the algae, leaving the coral white and possibly leading to the death of the coral.
Sea temperatures in many tropical areas have been rising over the past 100 years and coral bleaching has become common.
The survey in southwest Madagascar found that some reefs had lost up to 99 percent of their coral cover.
The scientists said the resilient reefs may provide information about how to protect corals from future damage.
"This survey shows how important it is to locate and protect areas of resilient corals," said Alasdair Harris, research director of Blue Ventures. "As climate change poses an increasing threat to our marine habitats, these resilient areas could hold the key to ensuring the continued existence of coral reefs around the world and the marine species that rely upon them for survival."
The two conservation groups urge the creation of a network of marine protected areas to promote the long-term survival of the reefs.
Madagascar's coastal waters are believed to have some of the highest diversity of marine species in the Indian Ocean. Many marine creatures depend on the reefs for their own survival.
During the survey, scientists recorded 3,865 species of fish along the reefs off southwestern Madagascar. They said 20 of those species had never been recorded in Madagascar. The survey team believes further research may reveal more than 500 fish species living among the reefs.
The team also recorded 164 species of hard coral, including 19 that were previously unknown to inhabit Madagascar's waters. Another four coral species could not be identified and may be new to science.

http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2006/10/12/survey_madagascar_coral_reefs_damaged/


Group warns mountains will lose ice caps
Snow cover the top of Mt. Kenya, the second highest mountain in Africa, in this Tuesday, July 22, 2003 file picture.Africa's two highest mountains will lose their ice within 25 to 50 years, a local environmental group said Thursday Oct.12, 2006. Ice will disappear from Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain and Mt. Kenya, which is Africa's second highest if deforestation and industrial pollution is not stopped, said Fredrick Njau of the Kenyan Green Belt Movement.Mt. Kilimanjaro has already lost 82 percent of its ice cover over 80 years, said Njau Mt. Kenya, one of the few places near the equator with permanent glaciers, has lost 92 percent of its ice over the past 100 years. (AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo)
By Malkhadir M. Muhumed, Associated Press Writer October 12, 2006
NAIROBI, Kenya --Africa's two highest mountains -- Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya -- will lose their ice cover within 25 to 50 years if deforestation and industrial pollution are not stopped, environmentalists warned Thursday.
Kilimanjaro has already lost 82 percent of its ice cover over 80 years, said Fredrick Njau of the Kenyan Green Belt Movement. Mount Kenya, one of the few places near the equator with permanent glaciers, has lost 92 percent over the past 100 years.
"This is a major issue because declining ice caps mean the water tap is effectively going to be turned off and that is a major concern," said Nick Nuttall from the U.N.'s Environment Program.
All the evidence shows climate change is underway and Africa is the must vulnerable continent to this, he said, adding that foreign aid must address the threat of climate change.
Industrial nations also need to step up support to help poor nations adapt to global warming with drought and heat resistant crops and alternative energy sources so people do not cut down trees for fuel, Nuttall said.
African forests, he added, are soaking up pollution from industrialized nations for free and should reap some kind of reward or benefit for that.
At 19,335 feet, Kilimanjaro is Africa's highest mountain and Mount Kenya is the second-highest. Both are major attractions for mountaineers, hikers and other tourists.
"The two mountains will lose their ice mass in the coming 25 to 50 years if deforestation and industrial pollution are not brought to an end," said Njau, who heads the organization's Mount Kenya Bio-Carbon Project.
The warning came weeks before a major climate summit in Nairobi.
Green Belt Movement, in collaboration with the French Agency for Development, plans to launch a $2 million project to plant 2 million trees in the coming 30 years over an area of 4,942 acres within the areas of Mount Kenya and the Kenyan range of mountains called the Aberdares.
Both are important water catchment areas in Kenya, with many rivers originating from them and these rivers are major sources of water and power generated by dams.
"Deforestation that has a direct link to climactic change has affected negatively on the glaciers on top of Mount Kenya," said Njau. "Millions who depend on the seven rivers that depend on Mount Kenya will be affected because some of the rivers are seasonal and may dry up."
"For more than 20 years, squatters cleared trees surrounding Mount Kenya (to make way) for farming," he said.
"We are trying to offset carbon in the atmosphere and the World Bank told us that they will buy our carbon," through its carbon credits program, Njau said.
Through the Mount Kenya and Aberdares tree-planting project, the Green Belt Movement expects the trees will absorb about 800,000 tons of carbon dioxide before 2017, Njau said.
The World Bank will buy the carbon under the Bio-Carbon Fund that brings together private companies and governments.
Trade in carbon credits has been spurred by the requirements of the Kyoto protocol of the U.N. Framework Treaty on Climate Change. Under the carbon credits program, industrial countries obliged by treaty to cut their greenhouse-gas emissions can get credit for reductions in the poor countries.

http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2006/10/12/group_warns_mountains_will_lose_ice_caps/


Task force: Puget Sound needs billions
Washington state's Mount Rainier is shown from the air overlooking the Carr Inlet and Hale Passage in Puget Sound in this July file photo. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, FILE)
By Rachel La Corte, Associated Press Writer October 12, 2006
OLYMPIA, Wash. --It will take billions of dollars and targeted efforts to restore dwindling habitat and reduce pollution if Puget Sound's biggest problems are to be solved by 2020, a state task force said Thursday.
In a summary of a draft report to be released to Gov. Chris Gregoire on Friday, the Partnership for Puget Sound said the state needs to improve not just the sound, but the entire ecosystem that surrounds it.
"We must manage our complex Puget Sound ecosystem holistically to ensure that we stop harm and protect the connections within the ecosystem itself," the report summary read. "Ecosystem-based management will help us grapple with the potential trade-offs inherent in balancing the needs of people and the environment that we share with other species."
The partnership was created in late 2005 by Gregoire, who has ordered the group of business, education, environment and government leaders to come up with a detailed recovery plan for Puget Sound.
The task force has proposed eight priorities for the state to address, including protecting the existing habitat, reducing toxins entering the sound and managing stormwater runoff.
Within each priority the group suggested actions, such as increasing money to protect freshwater and marine habitats, cleaning up all Superfund and high priority sites, and increasing public education.
In a July report to Gregoire, the partnership warned that many people living in the region had an overly optimistic view of the sound's health -- two-thirds of people contacted for a survey rated the sound's health as "good."
"The lack of public awareness on Puget Sound conditions contributes to the lack of support for the personal and public policy actions needed to restore the sound's health," the summary read.
The task force also recommends the creation of a new Puget Sound Ecosystem Partnership to oversee the actions taken and to monitor results.
Puget Sound Partnership said that several billions of dollars over the coming decades will be needed to achieve the level of protection and restoration needed.
The report says cleaning up contaminated sites over the next 12 years will cost more than $500, salmon recovery plans will cost more than $1.6 billion, and stormwater impacts will run more than $2 billion.
The group said that increased money from the state, the federal government and private sector will be necessary to meet all of the goals.

http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2006/10/12/task_force_puget_sound_needs_billions/



Democrats challenge EPA pesticide rule

California Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides, center, campaigns with Sens. Barbara Boxer, left, and Dianne Feinstein, right, as a young, enthusiastic supporter, Isiuwa Omoieui, 4, cheers Sunday, Oct. 8, 2006, in Los Angeles. Angelides' statewide bus tour stopped for a rally where he was met by a boisterous crowd that cheered his attacks on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Bush administration. (AP Photo/Ric Francis)
By John Heilprin, Associated Press Writer October 12, 2006
WASHINGTON --Three Democrats in Congress have added their names to a lawsuit seeking to end any pesticide testing on children by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida and Sen. Barbara Boxer and Rep. Hilda Solis, both of California, said Thursday they have joined a lawsuit against EPA by the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The group is suing EPA to end pesticide testing on pregnant women and infants. The lawmakers say a new rule from EPA fails to implement the ban required by Congress last year to protect vulnerable people from harmful pesticide testing.
They contend the rule prohibits the use of data collected from pesticide testing on pregnant women and children but allows the testing to continue.
"Pregnant women, infants and children have been and likely still will be used as human guinea pigs in pesticide testing," Nelson said. "It must be stopped."
EPA spokeswoman Jennifer Wood said the agency always works to ensure the health and safety of the most vulnerable populations, including pregnant women and children.
Congress in July 2005 imposed a one-year moratorium on testing pesticides on humans and gave EPA six months to issue a new rule to prevent testing on pregnant women and children.
That occurred after Boxer and Nelson demanded that EPA cancel an industry-backed pesticide study on the families of 60 children in Duval County, Fla. They had been due to receive children's clothes, a camcorder and $970 for participating.
EPA in January for the first time established criteria for tests by pesticide makers on human subjects. It banned certain pesticide testing but said it would accept data -- including that from pregnant women and children -- in cases where EPA became aware it might need to take additional measures to protect public health.
NRDC then sued EPA over the new rule for what the group called "unethical, illegal human pesticide testing."
In a friend-of-the-court brief, Nelson, Boxer and Solis urged a federal appeals court to order EPA to create a new rule that complies with Congress's intent to ban testing on pregnant women, infants and children.

http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2006/10/12/democrats_challenge_epa_pesticide_rule/



Nobel author bridges Islam and the West
By Mark Feeney, Globe Staff October 13, 2006
Orhan Pamuk, a Turkish writer whose novels have won international acclaim and whose championing of human rights has made him a controversial figure in his homeland, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature yesterday.
``I'm very happy and honored, I'm pleased," Pamuk told the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet.
Pamuk ``has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures," the Swedish Academy said in its prize citation. In such novels as ``The White Castle, " ``My Name Is Red, " and ``Snow, " Pamuk has served as literary bridge between Islam and the West, fundamentalism and secularism, Ottoman past and an increasingly European present.
Pamuk was prosecuted in Turkey on charges of ``insulting Turkishness" during an interview in which he criticized Turkish unwillingness to confront the government's massacre of Armenians during World War I and ongoing suppression of Kurdish separatists. The charges were dropped in January, but not before they drew widespread international condemnation.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2006/10/13/nobel_author_bridges_islam_and_the_west/



A topical Nobel prize
October 13, 2006
IT WAS probably inevitable that the selection yesterday of Orhan Pamuk for the Nobel prize in literature would be demeaned by some critics with the epithet ``political." Pamuk, 54, has devoted his life and work to limning the meaning of ``Turkishness" -- an idea of national identity that he was brought to trial last year for ``insulting." He has been outspoken about his native Turkey's role in massacres of both Armenians and Kurds, and Turkey's application for membership in the European Union has itself become a flashpoint for the debate about integrating Islam and the West.
But Pamuk's literature, while engaging these issues, is decidedly non-polemical. His 2002 novel ``Snow" is about a Turkish expatriate named Ka, who returns to his small hometown to investigate the suicides of local Muslim girls who have been forced to remove their headscarves in school. Ka, a frustrated poet, finds his writer's block lifting in a flash of ecstatic inspiration as soon as he arrives in his homeland:
``For the first time in four years, a poem was coming to him; although he had yet to hear the words, he knew it was already written; even as it waited in its hiding place, it radiated the power and beauty of destiny." Ka's place in the world -- as an artist or activist, a Turk or a European -- and Turkey's own identity -- Muslim or secular, European or Asian -- are parallel themes as the novel twists lyrically into a love story and a search for spiritual meaning in the modern world. ``Snow" illuminates the question of ``Turkishness" in all its historical complexity. But it never takes sides, and this is what keeps Pamuk's writing solidly in the realm of literature and not propaganda.
Even so, forces on both sides of the issue took the opportunity to score political points. Yesterday Olli Rehn, the European Union commissioner for enlargement negotiations, hailed Pamuk's prize as a triumph for free expression. He repeated the EU's demand that Turkey repeal the article in its penal code that allows its citizens to be prosecuted for insulting Turkish identity. Last year's charges against Pamuk were dropped, but many writers of less renown are routinely punished under the law.
Meanwhile, nationalists in Turkey decried the choice. ``This prize was not given because of Pamuk's books," said the lawyer who originally brought the charges against Pamuk. ``It was given because he belittled our national values." From this vantage point, Pamuk's Nobel is just another insult from the West.
Pamuk's writings could come from daily headlines, but his work is no less transporting for being relevant. Pamuk proves that fiction can arrive at a deeper truth than even journalism or history

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2006/10/13/a_topical_nobel_prize/



Commuter rail service slips again
On-time gains fall off in Sept. on three lines
By Mac Daniel, Globe Staff October 13, 2006
On-time performance for commuter rail trains rose dramatically in the weeks after top officials of the consortium that runs the system were hauled in by the MBTA to answer to a flood of complaints from angry passengers.
But that improvement screeched to a halt on some lines in the weeks after the consortium's head resigned in late August, according to the system's latest performance figures.
Average on-time performance of peak-commute trains improved on nine of 13 lines in August, the month after the T demanded better service. But in September, while the on-time record continued to improve on three lines, it slid on three others.
The heads of the MBTA and the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad pledged yesterday to continue trying to improve service, but said that the trends are headed in the right direction.
``Overall, we're pleased," said new MBCR chief James F. O'Leary . ``But we're still pushing toward the goal of 95 percent on-time performance."
O'Leary took over on Aug. 23 as head of the commuter rail consortium after Paul Lundberg resigned under heavy criticism about late trains and chronic poor service, which worsened after the Big Dig tunnel closings sent more commuters to trains.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/10/13/commuter_rail_service_slips_again/


Romney networks inside the Beltway
Ties would boost a presidential bid
By Scott Helman, Globe Staff October 13, 2006
Eager to expand his network in Washington, D.C., before launching a probable presidential bid, Governor Mitt Romney is embarking on an aggressive courtship of Republican power brokers inside the Beltway.
The outreach includes a fund-raiser with lobbyists and other insiders on Capitol Hill next Monday and a strategy session with a select group of ``politically active senior professionals" the following week at a Washington lobbying firm. He has also been working to charm members of Congress and is turning to influential fellow Mormons in the nation's capital.
It all serves to beef up the political network of Romney, who, despite his growing stature among prospective presidential candidates, lacks the Washington relationships enjoyed by potential 2008 rivals, such as Senate majority leader Bill Frist of Tennessee and Senator John S . McCain III.
One top Romney adviser who has been squiring him around Washington is Ron Kaufman, an executive at the lobbying firm Dutko Worldwide and a well-connected Republican who served as a top adviser to President George H.W. Bush. Kaufman, a Republican National Committeeman from Massachusetts, has been one of Romney's key supporters.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/10/13/romney_networks_inside_the_beltway/


Water leak was in a pipe below Interstate 89
October 13, 2006
WARNER, N.H. --A leaky pipe below Interstate 89 caused the shutdown of the water supply in town earlier this week, water precinct officials said.
By closing valves on either side of the highway, the precinct was able to restore water and sewer service to most customers Thursday.
Contractors noticed a drop in water pressure Tuesday night while they was repairing another part of the system, said Phil Lord, a water precinct commissioner. By Wednesday, the town learned that its 125,000-gallon storage tank had drained.
About 200 homes and businesses near downtown Warner that are hooked up to town water went without it all day. Many businesses had to close, and Simonds Elementary School canceled school for the day.
Lord said he estimates about 150,000 gallons leaked from the system.
Town officials are recommending that residents boil their water before drinking it, until tests for contaminants come back clear.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2006/10/13/water_leak_was_in_a_pipe_below_interstate_89/


Just because it's 2006, no time to wait for White House hopefuls
By Glen Johnson, Associated Press Writer October 13, 2006
STRATHAM, N.H. --Why wait for the chance of a lifetime? Voters have yet to cast ballots for the midterm elections, yet presidential hopefuls are busy maneuvering for the national contest two years away.
Using the early front-runners -- Republican Sen. John McCain and Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton -- as the standard, several potential candidates are hiring staff, lending help to 2006 candidates and mulling over a formal announcement long before the first presidential primary vote.
Republican Gov. George Pataki has opened offices in Iowa and New Hampshire. Democrat John Edwards has added early caucus state Nevada to his itinerary. Republican Gov. Mitt Romney has established a hydra-headed financing system.
Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh has gone back to school, placing photographs and biographies on Facebook.com, a popular college Web site.
"People are always moving around two years before an election, but they're moving around with more intensity this time," said Steve Elmendorf, who was chief of staff for Democrat Dick Gephardt's 2004 presidential campaign and later deputy campaign manager for John Kerry's presidential bid.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/10/13/just_because_its_2006_no_time_to_wait_for_white_house_hopefuls/


Harvard finishes ethics investigation in Russian investment case
October 13, 2006
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. --Harvard University has completed an ethics investigation of an economics professor for his role in an international investment scandal, but is not saying if he was penalized.
A federal judge ruled two years ago in a civil case that Andrei Shleifer conspired to defraud the U.S. government when he made personal investments in Russia in the 1990s while he worked on a federally funded Harvard project to help privatize the post-Soviet economy.
Last year, Harvard agreed to pay the government $26.5 million, and Shleifer agreed to pay $2 million. A former Harvard official will pay between $1 million and $2 million. Shleifer said at the time but believed he would have been vindicated if the case had gone to trial, but settled to avoid large legal fees.
A faculty committee investigating Shleifer has made a confidential report to Jeremy Knowles, interim dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, who has the power to set any penalties. Knowles has declined to say what action he took, citing a policy not to discuss personnel matters.
"This case raised important issues, which have been thoroughly investigated according to the published procedures of the Faculty, and appropriate action has been taken," Knowles said in a statement.
The end of the investigation was first reported Thursday in Harvard's student newspaper, The Crimson, which said some professors feel Knowles should disclose his action.
"I am delighted that this matter is fully behind me," Shleifer said in a statement. "I look forward to following Dean Knowles advice and focusing my energies fully on scholarship, teaching, and service to economics and to Harvard."

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/10/13/harvard_finishes_ethics_investigation_in_russian_investment_case/



A terrorist's immunity
October 13, 2006
FOR SIX YEARS the Justice Department has been investigating whether there is enough evidence to prosecute former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet for the 1976 car-bombing in Washington, D.C., that killed Chile's former foreign minister, Orlando Letelier, and an American colleague, Ronni Moffitt. Because of this languorous investigation, hundreds of documents relevant to Pinochet's possible guilt remain sequestered. If the Bush administration wants to be consistent in opposing terrorism in all its forms, it should declassify those documents swiftly and make them available to authorities in Chile, where the 90-year-old Pinochet is currently being prosecuted for other crimes against humanity.
Until the Sept. 11 attacks, the 1976 car bombing had been the sole act of lethal state-sponsored terrorism on American soil. The operatives who carried it out were extradited under a deal with Chile that limited the ensuing prosecution to the Letelier-Moffitt assassination; the operatives were convicted, and given relatively light sentences.
But a team from the FBI and the Justice Department traveled to Chile in the spring of 2000 to interview Pinochet's former chief of intelligence, Manuel Contreras, and others who might provide evidence of Pinochet's involvement. The team returned with a recommendation that there was enough evidence to prosecute Pinochet as the ultimate author of the Letelier-Moffitt murders.
Former attorney general Janet Reno eventually decided to leave the decision on prosecution to the incoming Bush administration. And that's where the matter has languished ever since. Because the US investigation is being prolonged indefinitely, crucial documents are not declassified and not made available to the justice system in today's democratic Chile.
This impasse is a thwarting of justice. Not only are family members of the murder victims deprived of a complete legal accounting for the crime; the people of Chile and America are denied the legally verified truth about a shameful chapter of history.
There is another reason for the Bush administration to declassify and release to Chile the sequestered Pinochet documents, and it has to do with the meaning of terrorism: This old case offers the administration a chance to demonstrate that there can be no statute of limitations for terrorist crimes committed on American soil. And declassifying the documents could also enable President Bush to show that he does not accept the cynical assertion that one man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2006/10/13/a_terrorists_immunity/



Bush to sign port-security bill
President Bush, left, walks with rock singer Bono, center, and former model Christy Turlington at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport Thursday, Oct. 12, 2006. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
By Jennifer Loven, Associated Press Writer October 13, 2006
WASHINGTON --President Bush gets a chance to promote fellow Republicans as America's tough-on-terror protectors with a bill passed by the GOP-controlled Congress that aims to enhance port security and close a loophole in anti-terror defenses.
Bush also was set to enact into a law an unrelated provision the bill contains that seeks to put teeth into laws that forbid most online gambling.
But the president was not planning to mention the Internet gaming provision during Friday's White House signing ceremony, which was expected to draw lawmakers from both parties.
Instead, Bush's remarks were to focus on the multiple ways the legislation could reduce the likelihood that terrorists could sneak a nuclear, chemical or biological weapons device into the country in one of the 11 million shipping containers that enter the country each year, many without any inspection.
Congress approved the bill two weeks ago, one of its last acts before lawmakers left to campaign for the Nov. 7 midterm elections in which national security, the war in Iraq and terrorism are expected to be major factors.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/10/13/bush_to_sign_port_security_bill/



Healey trying to gain footing with women voters
By Steve LeBlanc, Associated Press Writer October 12, 2006
BOSTON --A series of abortion rights and women's groups announced their support for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick on Thursday, even as Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey conceded that her association with Gov. Mitt Romney may be dragging her down among women voters.
The groups pointed to what they said was Patrick's steady support for abortion rights and other issues important to women and faulted Healey, the Republican gubernatorial nominee, for affiliating herself with Romney even as his increasing anti-abortion rhetoric has angered activists.
Melissa Kogut, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts, one of the groups endorsing Patrick, said Healey had a chance to take a clear stand in favor of abortion rights despite Romney's sharpening language, but didn't.
"Reproductive rights have never been more at stake than they are right now," Kogut said following a meeting with Patrick in Boston. "We need a governor we can count on to be a leader to protect women's health, privacy and reproductive freedom."

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/10/12/healey_opposed_criminal_checks_as_member_of_state_panel/



Indiana Nun to be proclaimed a saint
By Ken Kusmer, Associated Press Writer October 13, 2006
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. --An Indiana nun once banished from her congregation by a bishop will be proclaimed a saint on Sunday, providing a model of virtuous life to America's Roman Catholics -- even if they find themselves at odds with church leaders.
Pope Benedict XVI will canonize Blessed Mother Theodore Guerin as the first new U.S. saint in six years, a span marked in this country by the scandal over the sexual abuse of minors by clergy.
The pontiff also will canonize a Mexican bishop and two Italians who founded religious orders.
The celebration of a new saint offers a respite from the lawsuits and settlements that have dominated much of the discussion of the U.S. church in recent years, and Guerin's life story can inspire those struggling in their own faith, said members of the religious order she founded, the Sisters of Providence of St. Mary-of-the-Woods.
"The bishop here in Vincennes was impossible to work with, yet she always kept her faith. She held on to it," said Sister Marcia Speth, one of the order's leaders. "In that way, she witnesses to us how to be today in an imperfect, flawed, sinful church."

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/10/13/indiana_nun_to_be_proclaimed_a_saint/



Yunus, Grameen Bank win Peace Prize
In a file photo Professor Mohammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank, a micro credit institution, explains to villagers the benefits of the system at Kalampur village in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Jan. 21, 2004. Yunus and the Grameen Bank were awarded the N0bel Peace Prize Friday Oct. 13, 2006, in Oslo, Norway. (AP Photo/Pavel Rahman)
By Doug Mellgren, Associated Press Writer October 13, 2006
OSLO, Norway --Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for pioneering the use of microcredit, the extension of small loans to benefit poor entrepreneurs.
The Nobel Committee said Yunus and the bank he founded had used the innovative program to "create economic and social development from below."
"Yunus and Grameen Bank have shown that even the poorest of the poor can work to bring about their own development," the committee said in its citation.
Grameen Bank provides credit to "the poorest of the poor" in rural Bangladesh, without any collateral, according to its Web site. Its model of micro financing has inspired similar efforts around the world.
Yunus said he was "absolutedly delighted."
"I cannot believe that it has really happened," he said when he received the phone call from the Nobel Foundation. "Everyone was telling me that I would get the prize but it came as a surprise. It is fantastic news for the people that have supported us."
Women have been some of the biggest beneficiaries of microcredit, which provides small loans to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2006/10/13/no_clear_favorite_for_peace_prize/



NYC flight path comes under scrutiny
The tail and a wheel of the airplane which hit a residential building on New York's East Side is ready to be loaded on a truck to be taken for further investigation Thursday, Oct. 12, 2006 (AP Photo/David Karp)
By David B. Caruso, Associated Press Writer October 13, 2006
NEW YORK --A day after the fiery plane crash that killed Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle, politicians expressed alarm that, five years after Sept. 11, small aircraft are still allowed to fly right up next to the New York skyline.
"I think everyone is scratching their head, wondering how it is possible that an aircraft can be buzzing around Manhattan," said Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., who has been lobbying for rule changes since 2004. "It's virtually the Wild West. There is no regulation at all, other than 'Don't run into anything.'"
The single-engine plane that carried Lidle to his death was flying over the East River, which separates Manhattan from Brooklyn and Queens and is lined on the Manhattan side by the United Nations and scores of other skyscrapers.
It is one of the city's busiest and most popular routes for sightseeing pilots, traffic helicopters and executives hopping from one business deal to the next, and it is largely unmonitored, as long as the aircraft stay below 1,100 feet.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/10/13/nyc_flight_path_comes_under_scrutiny/



UM study: Meth may lessen stroke damage
October 12, 2006
MISSOULA, Mont. --Methamphetamine appears to lessen damage to the brains of rats and gerbils that have suffered strokes, a new study by a group of University of Montana scientists shows.
"Methamphetamine is a drug that has been shown to exacerbate stroke damage or make it worse when administered before a stroke," Dave Poulsen, a UM research assistant professor, said in a news release. "But we have seen roughly 80 to 90 percent protection of neurons when administered after a stroke."
During the study, Poulsen and his team kept thin slices of rat hippocampus -- the part of the brain used for memory and learning -- in culture for nine days. The slices were then deprived of oxygen and glucose for 1 1/2 hours, mimicking stroke conditions.
The team used a special dye to reveal the damage.
When low doses of meth were administered, the scientists saw less damage in the stroke slices than the non-stroke slices.
"Don't ask me how -- we are trying to figure that out," Poulsen said. "But methamphetamine is clearly protective."
The researchers found that small amounts of meth created a protective effect, while higher doses increased damage.

http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2006/10/12/um_study_meth_may_lessen_stroke_damage/



FDA: No spinach farm 'off the hook' yet
Dr. Kevin Reilly, left, deputy director of the California Department of Health Services, responds to a question about the recent E. coli outbreak, from state Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, not seen, chair of the Government Organization Committee, during a hearing at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2006. At right is Dr. Jeff Farrar, chief of the DHS Food and Drug Branch. Citing the use of tainted water for irrigation, among other things, Florez said state and federal food and health agencies had ample warning but didn't do enough to prevent the E. coli outbreaks like the ones that killed three, sickened hundreds, and shut down California's spinach and lettuce production in recent weeks. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
By Rachel Konrad, Associated Press Writer October 13, 2006
SALINAS, Calif. --Local spinach farmers and processors expressed relief upon learning that the search for the source of a deadly E. coli outbreak has been linked to a nearby cattle ranch, but health officials cautioned that their investigation was far from over.
Inspectors confirmed Thursday that the same bacteria strain that killed three people and sickened nearly 200 nationwide was found at a Salinas Valley cattle ranch within a mile of spinach fields.
Officials still can't be sure if the E. coli found in cow manure contaminated the fields, but called the match an important finding.
"We do not have a smoking cow at this point," said Dr. Kevin Reilly, deputy director of the Prevention Services Division of the California Department of Health Services.
Meanwhile, the company that processed and packaged the tainted spinach viewed the finding as vindication after repeatedly asserting its factories are clean.
"This definitely reinforces our belief that the source was environmental," said Samantha Cabaluna, a spokeswoman for Natural Selection Foods LLC.
Other Salinas Valley farmers and processors also saw the link to a single ranch as a significant step toward restoring public confidence in a region known as the "Salad Bowl to the World."

http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/other/articles/2006/10/13/fda_no_spinach_farm_off_the_hook_yet/


Probe sought of breast implant maker
By Andrew Bridges, Associated Press Writer October 12, 2006
WASHINGTON --A public interest group called Thursday for a criminal investigation into a whistleblower's allegations that a silicone-breast implant maker withheld safety information from regulators.
The Food and Drug Administration said it already had investigated the charges and had found no evidence of wrongdoing. The agency is considering Mentor Corp.'s application to sell the implants.
In a letter to FDA, Public Citizen said a former Mentor employee had alleged that the Santa Barbara, Calif., company concealed, misrepresented or withheld leakage, durability and other data about its silicone-gel breast implants.
"Unless the FDA opens a criminal investigation into Mentor's failure to submit the studies, it will only encourage Mentor and other device manufacturers to selectively send the agency only those studies that put their products in the most favorable light," said Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group.
FDA spokeswoman Heidi Valetkevitch responded, "The agency conducted a thorough investigation into these charges and found no evidence of wrongdoing and nothing that would raise questions about the safety of the product under review or the integrity of the data submitted to FDA."

http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/diseases/articles/2006/10/12/probe_sought_of_breast_implant_maker/



Merits of novel bird flu vaccine studied
Medical officials analyze a man who pretends to have flu symptoms during a simulation of an outbreak of the bird flu virus in Mexico City, Mexico, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2006. Mexican health officials held a nationwide simulation of a bird flu outbreak Tuesday, testing their readiness to face such a threat. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
By Lauran Neergaard, AP Medical Writer October 12, 2006
WASHINGTON --A unique study suggests there may be a way to kick-start people's protection against bird flu just in case it triggers a worldwide outbreak years from now.
If a flu pandemic began, it would take several months to tailor a vaccine to the precise strain causing illness and then to make enough vaccine for every American. Worse, people almost certainly will require two doses to protect against a flu strain their bodies have never before encountered.
Scientists have long wondered if giving shots in advance might help -- a vaccine that wouldn't fully protect but would introduce people's immune systems to a brand new type of flu. Then, once a pandemic began, they'd need only one booster shot of vaccine tailored to the exact strain, significantly cutting the time it would take to protect a population.
Friday, University of Rochester scientists will report the first evidence that this so-called "prime-and-boost" method could work.
If the findings hold up, they raise the possibility of giving "priming" shots to doctors, nurses and other first-responders who would be on the front lines of a flu pandemic long before much vaccine was ready -- or maybe even offering such shots to whoever wanted them.

http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/diseases/articles/2006/10/12/merits_of_novel_bird_flu_vaccine_studied/



New HIV infections in Australia surge
By Meraiah Foley, Associated Press Writer October 13, 2006
SYDNEY, Australia --New HIV cases in Australia surged more than 40 percent from 2000 to 2005, according to study results released Thursday, prompting fears that drug treatment advances are making people lax about practicing safe sex.
The annual survey report, issued by the National Center in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, found that new HIV infections reported in Australia rose from 656 in 2000 to 930 in 2005 -- a 41 percent leap. HIV is the virus that causes AIDS.
Gay men accounted for about 70 percent of the new cases. Heterosexuals made up 19 percent, while intravenous drug users and unknown transmission paths accounted for the rest.
According to the report, new infections hit an all-time high of about 1,700 in 1984, then declined steadily through the late 1990s. But in 2000, the trend apparently reversed.
It's not just HIV that is on the rise in Australia.
Around 41,300 new cases of the sexually transmitted disease chlamydia were reported in 2005, a fourfold increase over 1995.
New gonorrhea cases have almost doubled in the past decade, the study said.

http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/diseases/articles/2006/10/13/new_hiv_infections_in_australia_surge/


asahi


Diet builds pressure on N. Korea
10/11/2006
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
The Lower House on Tuesday unanimously adopted a resolution that condemns North Korea's proclaimed nuclear test and calls for action by the United Nations Security Council to eliminate Pyongyang's threat to peace.
The resolution described North Korea's nuclear weapons development program as "a major challenge to the peace and stability of the international community." It said Monday's apparent nuclear test was "a reckless outrage that was completely unacceptable" and said there is "no room to legitimize" the test based on any reason.
The Lower House called on the Japanese government "to seek a peaceful resolution while working together with the international community for diplomatic efforts, including cooperating with the United States and other interested nations, on possible measures, including those based on Chapter 7 of the United Nations Charter."

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200610100377.html



Tokyo acts speedily on sanctions
10/13/2006
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
Tokyo moved with uncharacteristic swiftness in pushing for sanctions against North Korea over its purported nuclear test on Monday, and in the process won a ringing endorsement from Washington for its actions.
The U.S. State Department issued a statement Wednesday expressing full support of Japan for its additional restrictions against North Korea.
These center around a ban on all port calls by North Korean ships, as well as shutting the door on all imports from the North. The measures are due to take effect Saturday.
Also, entry into Japan of individuals of North Korean nationality has been banned since Wednesday, with the exception of re-entry of North Korean residents in Japan who have no ties to the Pyongyang regime headed by Kim Jong Il.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200610130151.html



Nuclear test relatively small, probably not an 'ideal explosion'
10/11/2006
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
In the fallout over North Korea's announcement Monday that it had conducted its first nuclear test, data on the blast gathered by neighboring nations suggested the explosion was relatively small.
Nations in the region offered varying assessments of the size of the blast. However, the overall consensus suggested it was barely above standards set under the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, of which North Korea is not a signatory.
In Tokyo, government officials said there was little likelihood of radioactivity from the test causing health problems here.
The Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization headquartered in Vienna compiles monitoring data of nuclear tests recorded by nations around the world.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200610110162.html



Additional sanctions approved for N. Korea
10/12/2006
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
The government has responded to North Korea's announcement of a nuclear test by formally endorsing a set of additional sanctions against the country.
The sanctions, approved during a meeting of Japan's Security Council on Wednesday night, would further restrict entry into Japan by North Koreans.
Currently, only North Korean officials are denied entry.
The government would also ban port calls by all North Korean vessels, in addition to the Man Gyong Bong-92 ferry.
All imports would be banned, including matsutake mushrooms, short-necked clams, crabs and sea urchins.
Speaking at the Upper House Budget Committee, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for a strongly worded United Nations Security Council resolution condemning North Korea's nuclear test.
"First of all, it is desirable for the Security Council to adopt, unanimously if possible, a resolution including strict measures against North Korea," Abe said. "A resolution should basically be a binding one."

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200610120177.html



EDITORIAL/ Resolution on N. Korea
10/13/2006
Talks within the United Nations Security Council over a resolution to punish North Korea for its proclaimed nuclear test appear to be making headway. Expectations have been raised that an agreement could come by the end of the week.
The Security Council resolution should be a unified message of anger and protest from the international community to the North Korean regime. The document should make it abundantly clear that as long as Pyongyang holds onto its nuclear weapons, it would remain in deep international isolation and could push its economy over the edge.
Since Pyongyang's announcement of the test, the world's attention has been focused on China's flexible stance in the U.S.-led negotiations to hammer out a resolution containing harsh sanctions against Pyongyang.
China's shift represents a big advantage in the international effort to put up a united front against North Korea's nuclear ambitions. Cooperation between the United States and China over the issue will undoubtedly put great pressure on the secluded communist regime.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200610130139.html



Government discussing special measures law for ship inspections
10/13/2006
The Asahi Shimbun
The government plans to establish a special measures law that will allow Japan to help other countries inspect North Korean vessels under a U.N. Security Council resolution, Defense Agency Director-General Fumio Kyuma told reporters Friday.
"We'd like to extensively discuss whether legislation is needed," Kyuma said. "We are considering reviewing the matter on whether Japan can provide refueling and other support measures with or without a special measures law."
When asked if Japan would conduct ship inspections on its own, Kyuma said: "It can be made so that Japan can conduct the inspections itself. However, discussions will be split over whether such inspections can forcibly be carried out."
Tokyo is making the preparations for the special measures law in light of the Security Council's plans to include ship inspections in a resolution calling for sanctions against Pyongyang for its proclaimed nuclear test Monday, the sources said.
Under the scenario, Japan will refuel ships and offer other services for countries to inspect vessels in international waters, the sources said.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200610130240.html



Obstacles seen to inspections of ships going to, from North
10/12/2006
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
The government will have to clear legal hurdles to forcibly inspect vessels leaving or entering North Korea under an expected United Nations Security Council resolution to penalize North Korea for its apparent nuclear test on Monday.
That would motivate the government to enact a new special measures law to allow it to stop ships entering or leaving North Korean waters in concert with other countries, officials said.
While Japan is able to respond to certain events under laws on emergency situations in regions around Japan, North Korea's announcement alone would not warrant sending Maritime Self-Defense Force ships into international waters, sources said.
For this reason, some lawmakers in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party are clamoring for enactment of a new special law to deal with the North Korean crisis.
Defense Agency Director-General Fumio Kyuma told an Upper House Budget Committee meeting Wednesday, "I don't think we can recognize the current situation as one that applies to current laws."
In a news conference Tuesday, Foreign Minister Taro Aso said, "At present, we are not considering (strong) measures such as forcible inspection (of vessels)."
In fact, the MSDF is allowed to inspect ships leaving North Korea, or anywhere else in the region for the matter, based on one of the laws on emergency situations around Japan. However, this can only happen under six conditions, including the following: That the "UNSC determined that the current situation is a threat to peace and an act of destruction and invasion."
The six situations were laid down in 1999 by then Defense Agency chief Hosei Norota based on expressions used in Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter.
Thus, Defense Agency officials are paying close attention to how the expressions of Chapter 7 are used.
"We cannot do anything until we see the result of the U.N. resolution," said an executive of the Cabinet Secretariat.
Even if it is determined the current crisis applies to one of the six conditions, the law on inspection activities of (foreign) vessels also requires a U.N. resolution or consent from countries where the vessels are registered.
If China or Russia oppose the draft resolution submitted by the United States, Japan would not be able to inspect vessels from those countries--even if they were entering North Korean waters.
"We will have to overcome the current situation by enacting a special law," said former Defense Agency director-general Shigeru Ishiba in an LDP committee meeting on diplomacy.(IHT/Asahi: October 12,2006)

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200610120176.html



Ministry might order NHK to broadcast North Korea abduction program
10/13/2006
The Asahi Shimbun
In a rare and controversial move, the government is considering ordering Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) to broadcast programs about the North Korean abduction issue on its international shortwave radio service.
"(The government) can make NHK broadcast state-ordered programs," Yoshihide Suga, the internal affairs and communications minister, told reporters Friday. "As the new Cabinet has been installed, there is no mistake in saying that the abduction issue has become a top priority of the government."
A citizens group since last year has been broadcasting a shortwave radio program to North Korea in the hopes that Japanese believed to have been abducted there can receive messages from their relatives.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200610130269.html



IN GOOD TIME: Straight facts
10/13/2006
BY YUSUKE KANNO, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
A 50-year-old self-employed man on Sept. 27 downed three 180-milliliter bottles of sake and a can of beer, topping off his binge with a bit of shochu liquor.
Then he got behind the wheel and drove.
Suddenly, he saw something dash into his way. Before he could hit the brake, he had whizzed past it.
"What was it?" he asked.
"A person!" was the answer from the next seat. The driver turned green, and it wasn't because of the alcohol.
Fortunately for the driver, other motorists and pedestrians, the "person" was a doll used in a police-organized class to highlight the dangers of drunken driving.
Another purpose of this class and similar ones around the country is to show that the effects of alcohol can be greater than drivers imagine and take longer than expected to wear off.
The man was driving at a practice course at the Kakuda Driving School in Kakuda, Miyagi Prefecture, with an instructor beside him.
A breathalyzer detected 0.44 milligram of alcohol per 1 liter of his breath an hour after his drinking.
It was a clear violation of the Road Traffic Law, which sets a 0.15 mg threshold.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200610130154.html



State told to pay 270 million yen to black lung victims
10/13/2006
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
SENDAI--The government lost its third straight court decision regarding black lung disease, when the district court here Thursday ordered it to pay 270 million yen in compensation to 86 former tunnel construction workers.
The ruling is the third since July that has found the state responsible for failing to take steps to prevent the illness affecting tunnel workers. It is likely to put greater pressure on the government to take concrete steps to resolve the black lung disease issue.
The 86 plaintiffs were part of a group of 138 who argued that the government's lack of measures against dust inhalation led directly to their getting black lung disease while working for state-commissioned tunnel projects.
"It is illegal that the government did not take those measures in or after November 1986," said the presiding judge, Yoichi Ono.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200610130150.html



Asian Cup/ Every dog has its day down Bangalore way
10/13/2006
BY ANDREW MITCHELL, STAFF WRITER
At the risk of inviting ridicule for getting excited about a win over a team that sits behind Mauritania and Eritrea in the world rankings, it has to be said that Japan's conquest over No. 136 India this week was the most entertaining performance the team has displayed in months.
Sure, the sorry state of the pitch at Bangalore's Sree Kanteerva Stadium on Wednesday kept Japan from introducing a free-flowing ground game, and yes Japan's midfield continued to look like the panic-stricken passengers of the Titanic, but the emergence of a promising new partnership between striker Ryuji Bando and midfielder Alessandro Santos, a technical glitch and a stray dog were more than enough to put the fun back into watching the national team again.
Bando and Santos, or Bantos as they will surely come to be known if the partnership continues to flourish, teamed up to score twice in the first half en route to a cozy 3-0 win.
Bando could have scored more had he not headed his first clear attempt (again from a Santos cross) wide of goal and had India keeper Sandip Nandy and the crossbar not prevented his second attempt from crossing the goal line.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200610130126.html



In Sight/Movies：Myth-busting documentary scores gold for intensity
10/13/2006
BY PHILIP BRASOR, CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Murderball
Now playing
・85 minutes
・Amuse CQN in Tokyo
Though it's a documentary and thus depends on serendipity for its drama rather than the machinations of a scriptwriter, the film "Murderball" includes all the classic sports movies cliches. There is a team that loses an important game at the start of the film to a long-time rival and then works toward a climactic rematch.
What makes it different is that the athletes are disabled. Murderball is another name for quad rugby, a sport played on a court in specially designed wheelchairs. It is as rough as real rugby--or rougher if you consider the kind of damage that can be inflicted in a wheelchair collision. One thing the movie stresses is the aggression of the athletes. Before the 2002 world championship match in Sweden between the United States and arch-rival Canada, the cursing and name-calling reach shocking levels.
"Do we get angry?" asks Mark Zupan, one of the Team USA members, during a recent interview. "If you're a competitive individual and you want to succeed, of course. I don't think the directors hyped up the aggressiveness. That's exactly how it is."

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200610130121.html



Proposed 'SWAT' teams to provide guidance on bioethics
10/09/2006
BY HIROSHI KONISHI, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
They won't have special night vision optics or the latest munitions, but bioethics "SWAT teams" recently set up in Japan will come armed with a deluge of good medical advice.
While the name may sound odd, the bioethics SWAT teams, says Atsushi Asai, a professor of bioethics at Kumamoto University's Graduate School of Medicine, will fill a much-needed gap. Members will be on hand to respond specifically to doctors and family members unsure of how to deal with terminally ill patients.
Although the project is still in its early days, all the signs are so far positive, says Asai, who is in charge of the 13-member research body tasked with getting the teams off the ground.
To start with, the group, which includes doctors and nurses as well as legal experts, will focus on compiling a checklist that includes the main points the envisaged SWAT teams would need to be aware of before offering advice. Such points include the condition of the patient, the prescribed course of treatment and the patient's intentions.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200610090098.html



Cellphone companies shift focus to corporate users
10/13/2006
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
Cellphone carriers are introducing advanced handsets designed for corporate users as the market for individuals nears saturation.
The number of cellphone subscriptions is approaching 100 million, and per-customer communication charges from individual users are falling.
Cellphone carriers expect business-oriented handsets to expand the market of corporate users, which account for about 10 percent of all cellphone subscriptions.
In September, NTT DoCoMo Inc. began marketing the BlackBerry, a multi-function handset equipped with a keyboard.
More than six million people, particularly businesspeople in North America, use BlackBerrys.
DoCoMo's BlackBerry 8707h handset, manufactured by Canada's Research In Motion Ltd., is the first in Japan.
The handset does not have a camera and cannot be used for DoCoMo's i-mode mobile Internet service.
However, the BlackBerry meets a variety of needs of businesspeople.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200610130141.html



Human race comes before national interests
10/13/2006
A group of kindergarten children are crossing the street, each one with a hand raised. Nearby, a person is walking a dog. Multihued autumn leaves flutter down from the branches.
Such scenes touch me deeply, but not just because autumn is here. Assuming North Korea has indeed acquired nuclear capability, such peaceful images, which we now take for granted, may not last for long.
When World War I erupted in 1914, the German-born poet and novelist Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) wrote a poem whose title is translated in Japanese as "Heiwa" (Peace). The Japanese translation by Kenji Takahashi goes something like this: "Everyone longed for it/ But nobody treasured it... Oh, how the word peace rings in my ears now."
At the start of the war, Europe's academics and literary figures penned stirring messages to fan patriotism. But Hesse, who was then living in Switzerland and considered himself more of a "global" citizen than of any particular nation, wrote in an article he contributed to a Swiss news paper: "Love is more beautiful than hate, understanding is superior to anger, and peace is nobler than war," according to the same translator.
It seems that Hesse was branded a traitor to his country and received threats because of his views, but that did not stop him from continuing to speak out against both world wars. When World War II ended in 1945, he wrote a poem whose title Takahashi translates as "Heiwa ni Mukatte" (Toward peace).
It goes to the effect: "Peace! But the heart deliberately refuses to rejoice/ The heart feels far closer to tears/ We pathetic human beings/ Are capable of both good and evil/ We are animals and gods at the same time!"
The poem expresses Hesse's heartfelt awareness of how immensely precious was a peace attained after the horrors of two world wars.
How can the world curb North Korea's nuclear rampage? How can we ensure this reclusive dictatorship does not detonate nuclear weapons?
I sincerely hope the international community will put the interests of the human race ahead of individual national interests. Each nation bears heavy responsibility not only to the present world, but also to the future of humanity.
--The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 12(IHT/Asahi: October 13,2006)

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200610130127.html



The final plea of a hydrogen-bomb victim
10/12/2006
"Let me be the last victim of an atomic or hydrogen bomb."
When I first heard the news of North Korea's nuclear test just before noon on Monday, my first thoughts were of Aikichi Kuboyama's final appeal. The tuna boat radio operator died about six months after being exposed to radioactive ashes, the fallout from a 1954 test of a hydrogen bomb conducted by the United States on the Bikini Atoll.
Kuboyama was on the crew of a long-line tuna boat near the atoll in the Pacific Ocean. At the Yumenoshima waterfront area in Tokyo's Koto Ward, the Daigo Fukuryu Maru Exhibition Hall, which opened 30 years ago, contains a moving display about the bomb test aftermath.
In front of the actual No. 5 Fukuryu Maru were drawings by American artist Ben Shahn (1898-1969). Shahn painted a series of works depicting the sad fate of Kuboyama and other crewmembers.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200610120145.html



Recalling Russian pioneer of Japanese studies
10/11/2006
Toward the end of the Meiji Era (1868-1912), Natsume Soseki (1867-1916) had a young, blue-eyed, kimono-clad disciple among his followers.
His name was Sergei Eliseev,born into one of Russia's wealthiest families in 1889.
Eliseev was so proficient in Japanese that he frequented yose vaudeville theaters and wrote his dissertation on the 17th-century haiku poet Matsuo Basho to earn his degree from the Tokyo Imperial University, the predecessor of the University of Tokyo.
According to one anecdote, Eliseev was translating a work by Soseki one day when he became puzzled about the difference between niwa e deta and niwa ni deta--both of which mean "went out to the garden." The young Russian asked Soseki, but the latter had no answer to give him.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200610110115.html

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