Mt. Geumgang or Diamond Mountain in North KoreaSouth Korea is unwilling to give up its tourism project under way at North Korea's Mount Geumgang despite some concerns that the inter-Korean project may undermine international efforts to terminate the North's nuclear weapons program, Yonhap News quoted a top aide to South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun as having indicated on Oct. 18. Song Min-soon, chief presidential secretary for security, said the government will consider implementing systematic changes for the tours and an inter-Korean industrial park in the North Korean city of Kaesong in accordance with the U.N. weapons and economic sanctions on the communist state, according to Yonhap. "We'll heed demands from the international community in seeking to change operational methods for the Geumgang and Kaesong projects," Song said at a security forum in Seoul. "But the government has never expressed an intention to shut down the Kaesong and Geumgang projects." Song's remarks came one day after U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill indirectly urged the South Korean government to abandon the Mount Geumgang tourism project.
On arriving in Seoul Tuesday, Hill said the tourism project seemed to be "more designed to give money to the North Korean authorities." However, the U.S. official said the industrial project in Kaesong, where South Koreans have opened plants to take advantage of cheap North Korean labor, represents Seoul's efforts toward economic reform in the communist North. He also made clear that North Korea would have to pay for going ahead with its nuclear test despite international objections. Commenting on Hill's remarks, Song said, "We are not simply swayed by other countries' opinions. We'll have to maintain balance and direction in circumstances to play an important role in the international society." Referring to Washington's move to press Seoul to more actively participate in the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), a measure aimed at interdicting vessels believed to be carrying weapons of mass destruction or related materials, Song said the government will consider expanding its participation in the PSI "to an appropriate and necessary level" in accordance with the U.N. sanctions. "The participation of South Korea and China in the PSI will have different meaning for the (U.S.-led) nonproliferation initiative. Thus we'll closely examine the contents of the PSI and inter-Korean maritime accords before finalizing our stance," he said. Song was asked about North Korea's reported move to conduct another nuclear test but refused to give a clear answer. He also said that the government will continue to push ahead with the "common and broad approach" towards North Korean problems, as the new approach is believed to comprise efforts to resume the six-party talks. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to visit Seoul Thursday for meetings with President Roh, Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon and other government officials. She is expected to ask the South Korean government to take stronger measures against North Korea in line with the U.N. Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on the communist state for its declared nuclear bomb test. 
O
ctober 23, 2006Berkley, CaliforniaPhotographer states :: Fog City - Taken from Tilden in the East Bay hills
Sydney Morning Herald
Govt might consider nuclear subsidies
The government would consider subsidising nuclear power to make it affordable, Environment Minister Ian Campbell has indicated.
Senator Campbell said the government would not penalise coal-burning power stations in order to make their energy more expensive and bring it on a par with nuclear-generated energy.
Asked on ABC television whether nuclear power would be uneconomic unless coal-fired power stations were penalised for polluting the atmosphere, Senator Campbell said the government preferred incentives over penalties and taxes.
"When you realise that Australia is 1.46 per cent of global (carbon dioxide) emissions, creating policy measures in Australia that put up the price of energy ... that is the Labor way of doing things," Senator Campbell told ABC television.
"The other way is to create incentives.
"Whenever you want to create an energy source that is more expensive to create infrastructure-wise than what we are doing at the moment, you will need some sort of subsidy."
The government announced a $75 million subsidy for a solar industry project, for example, Senator Campbell said.
Solar Systems Generation received $125 million in federal and state grants to build its proposed solar concentrator using photovoltaic cells in north-west Victoria.
The $420 million solar power project is expected to pump electricity into the national grid equivalent to the annual needs of 45,000 homes, with no greenhouse gas emissions.
Senator Campbell said solar power was still massively more expensive than current energy technology and was not the "silver bullet" solution.
"I don't want to mislead people by thinking that solar is the only answer. Nuclear is certainly not the only answer, nor is solar," Senator Campbell said.
"It is going to require this portfolio approach."
But the government would move to replace coal-fired power stations with solar generation if its price could be reduced below fossil-fuel generated power, Senator Campbell said.
"There is no reason why you wouldn't ... You'd be mad not to," he said.
"If the sums add up, that's what could happen."
Meanwhile, Senator Campbell said the government would be unlikely to regulate to make new carbon capture technology mandatory even if a demonstration project in Victoria proved successful.
The government announced $50 million to clean up the Hazelwood coal power station through carbon dioxide capture and storage.
The scheme has the potential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 80 per cent.
"I don't think you want to legislate to make any particular technology the requirement," Senator Campbell said.
"You can't wreck the economy if you want to solve this problem.
"If you kill either the Australian economy or the global economy by taking those measures, you kill the opportunity to make the investment required for these multi-trillion dollar technological deployments," he said.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Govt-might-consider-nuclear-subsidies/2006/10/26/1161749216078.html
Green Governator 'targets Bush'
California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has complained about the US Government's environmental policy in a letter sent to President George W Bush, The Los Angeles Times reported.
The Hollywood action hero and Republican politician criticised the "lack of a coherent federal policy" to stop global warming in the letter to Bush, the Times report said, further distancing himself from the Republican leadership ahead of November 7 polls.
Schwarzenegger, who is expected to be re-elected in next month's elections, has made the environment one of his biggest priorities and in September announced radical plans to slash carbon dioxide emissions 25 per cent by 2020.
The plan gives California the toughest clean-air legislation of any US state, but conflicts sharply with more modest targets set by Washington.
On the campaign trail at the weekend, Schwarzenegger took a sideswipe at Bush and congressional leaders over efforts to fight global warming and phase out reliance on Middle East oil, the Times reported.
"The sad story is that nationally, we don't have great leadership on that," Schwarzenegger said.
In the letter to Bush, Schwarzenegger noted that California's request for a federal waiver to set vehicle emissions standards had been "ignored with no explanation", despite a personal letter from the governor to Bush in April.
Schwarzenegger has been careful to distance himself from Bush in the build-up to elections in Democrat-dominated California, where his opponents have sought to tie him closely to the Republican leadership.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/governator-to-bush-cool-it/2006/10/26/1161749215563.html
Oil jumps $2 on OPEC cuts, US stock draw
Oil prices leapt more than three per cent to over $US61 on Wednesday after other OPEC members followed Saudi Arabia's lead in enforcing output cuts and US fuel stocks unexpectedly fell.
Prices also drew strength from news of fresh strife in Nigeria, where militant unrest has shut in more than a quarter of the OPEC member's production capacity.
US light crude settled up $2.05, or 3.45 per cent, to $US61.40 a barrel, the biggest one-day percentage gain since March 17. London Brent was $US2.19 higher at $US62.05 a barrel.
US crude had already risen 54 US cents on Tuesday after Abu Dhabi's state oil firm told major customers it would cut crude exports by about five per cent in November.
On Wednesday, an Iranian official said Iran had also informed customers it was cutting supplies by 176,000 barrels per day (bpd) in November.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Business/Oil-jumps-2-on-OPEC-cuts-US-stock-draw/2006/10/26/1161749215939.html
Kyoto denial costs farmers $2.5b in carbon trade cash
DURING the worst drought on record, farmers are losing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of potential income because of the Federal Government's refusal to take part in carbon trading schemes, a climate change report says.
Current prices for carbon mean reductions in land clearing could provide farmers with income worth $1.8 billion between 2008-2012 under the Kyoto Protocol, analysis by the Climate Institute says.
Domestic emissions trading could have provided a further $700 million to $900 million over the same period for farmers keeping carbon in forests, according to a report commissioned by the National Farmers Federation earlier this year.
"These two studies together suggest that ratifying the Kyoto Protocol and implementing a national emissions trading scheme could provide farmers with an income stream of $2.5 billion over five years," said the institute's chief executive, Corin Millais.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/kyoto-denial-costs-farmers-25b-in-carbon-trade-cash/2006/10/25/1161749190647.html
Timor in chaos as leader murdered
SECURITY forces in East Timor fear violence will dramatically escalate in Dili after the execution of a leader of one of East Timor's biggest gangs.
The martial arts gang leader was shot in the head on a Dili street, where for weeks rival gangs have fought fiercely.
An Australian soldier was also involved in a shooting incident yesterday, the Australian Defence Force says, amid violence in Dili in which at least two people died and dozens were injured.
East Timor's army is also preparing to address the nation declaring its troops should no longer be confined to barracks because of the lawlessness, sources in Dili said last night.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/timor-in-chaos-as-leader-murdered/2006/10/25/1161749189170.html
All action, no talk at Pacific gathering
FOR three days the three prime ministers rubbed shoulders at the Denarau Island resort - posing for photos together in floral shirts, sitting across from each other at meetings, and going to the same dinners and lunches.
Yet despite although John Howard came to the Pacific Islands Forum with a host of outstanding issues with his Papua New Guinean and Solomon Islands counterparts, Sir Michael Somare and Manasseh Sogavare, the three managed to part ways with barely a word being exchanged between them.
Mr Howard flew out of Fiji yesterday afternoon, saying he had chosen not to meet his Solomons and PNG counterparts personally because "I thought those matters were best dealt with in the context of the forum".
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/all-action-no-talk-at-pacific-gathering/2006/10/25/1161749189164.html
Controversial paintings of Abu Ghraib
25 October 2006
Duration 01:26
Artist Fernando Botero struggles to exhibit paintings in the U.S.A. depicting U.S. soldiers' torture of detainees in Abu Ghraib.
http://media.smh.com.au/?sy=smh&category=bulletin&rid=22987&source=smh.com.au%2F&t=7L2076&ie=1&player=wm7&rate=240&flash=1
G-string grannies a hit in Poland
25 October 2006
Duration 00:52
Lace is so important to the women of Koniakow in southern Poland that after World War II they convinced the communist authorities to provide the towns with electricity so that they could produce more tablecloths and doilies. But times are changing and the famous lacework of Koniakow is changing with it.
http://media.smh.com.au/?source=int22987f&ie=1&rid=22985&player=wm7&rate=240&sy=smh&category=bulletin&t=7L2076&flash=1
French social and racial tension builds
26 October 2006
Duration 01:52
As the first anniversary of last year's riots approaches, authorities are being warned that similar scenes could return to the poorest suburbs of Paris. Despite positive moves to improve poverty and unemployment, many youths remain disaffected and some have turned to violence.
http://media.smh.com.au/?source=int22985f&ie=1&rid=22996&player=wm7&rate=240&sy=smh&category=bulletin&flash=1&t=7L2076
Putin fields questions in phone-in
26 October 2006
Duration 01:13
President Putin has been grilled by viewers live on state television in Russia. Yet, despite more than two hours on air, his future role remains unconfirmed.
http://media.smh.com.au/?source=int22996f&ie=1&rid=22995&player=wm7&rate=240&sy=smh&category=bulletin&t=7L2076&flash=1
Putin to retain influence over Russia after leaving office
President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed that he would not try to run for the presidency again but would retain influence even after leaving office in 2008 as required by the constitution.
"Even having lost the powers and the levers of presidential power and not tailoring the basic law according to my personal interests, I will manage to retain the most important thing that a person involved in politics must cherish - your trust," Putin said in a televised question-and-answer session.
"And using that, you and I will be able to exert influence on the life of our country and guarantee its development."
The immensely popular Putin is constitutionally barred from running for a third consecutive term, but supporters and various regional groups, including in Chechnya, have called for a referendum on amending the country's basic law to allow Putin to stay in power.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/putin-to-retain-influence-over-russia-after-leaving-office/2006/10/25/1161749189215.html
Iraqi PM rejects US timetable
26 October 2006
Duration 01:14
Nuri al-Maliki says a US 'timeline' to end sectarian violence will not be imposed upon the Iraqi government. The Iraqi prime minister's comments appear to contradict a US announcement on Tuesday that suggested Iraqi leaders had agreed to a timetable of steps over the next year aimed at reducing sectarian violence that would enable American troops to begin pulling out.
http://media.smh.com.au/?source=int22995f&ie=1&rid=22994&player=wm7&rate=240&sy=smh&category=bulletin&flash=1&t=7L2076
Senate fight about race a strain on southern comfort
The Republicans are deploying dirty tricks in a key election contest, writes Michael Gawenda.
THE blonde, bare-shouldered woman smiles into the camera, holds up her hand as if she is speaking into a phone, winks and purrs: "Harold, call me."
Before her come-on-Harold moment, a guy with slicked-back hair says: "Harold accepts money from the pornography industry? Doesn't everyone?"
This is part of a 30-second, Republican-funded political ad, playing every half hour on television in Tennessee - part of a US election campaign marked by bitter rhetoric that would shock even Australia's seasoned political apparatchiks.
The Harold getting the come-on is Harold Ford, the Democratic candidate for the Senate in Tennessee. The ad has caused a national storm, because Ford is black. Rights organisations have accused the Republicans of playing the race card in a state with a history of lynching blacks for looking at white women, and the suggestion of inter-racial sex remains shocking.
Ford was incensed. He confronted Bob Corker, 54, his Republican rival, on a Nashville street and demanded something be done. "Bob Corker is going personal," Ford said. "If I had a dog, he'd be kicking him too."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/strain-on-southern-comfort/2006/10/25/1161749189185.html
Middle-class Mexicans pay to see how other half escapes
On the run… Mexican tourists in a park north of Mexico City race for cover in the darkness as they simulate illegally crossing the US border.James Hider in Valle de MezquitalOctober 26, 2006
THE red and blue lights from a patrol car flash through the dark and a voice calls out to the young Mexicans lurking in the bushes.
"Do not try to cross the river, do not trust the people you are following. We have food and water, we have burritos. We want to help you." As a shot rings out, three men dressed in the uniform of the border police chase a young man and wrestle him to the ground.
It could be any night on the Mexican-American border, but the mud-spattered wretches huddling in the dark are more than 1600 kilometres from the frontier - and only pretending to be migrants.
They are in fact middle-class Mexicans trying to understand the plight of 400,000 of their countrymen who make the illegal crossing into the US every year. They have paid about $25 each to spend the night being bitten by mosquitoes, running along muddy river banks and cowering in corn fields.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/middleclass-mexicans-pay-to-see-how-other-half-escapes/2006/10/25/1161749189188.html
For sale: Queen's desperate plea that changed course of history
IT IS the kind of letter that momentarily stops the hearts of manuscript experts. A moving three-page plea by Catherine of Aragon for help in trying to uphold her marriage to Henry VIII will be auctioned by Sotheby's.
Arguably, the letter played a part in changing English history - the split from Rome. The queen - Henry's first wife - miserable and at her wit's end, asks for help from her nephew Charles V, the Holy Roman emperor.
"There is no need for my relating to Your Highness the sufferings that I and my daughter undergo, as well in the treatment of our lives, as in the surprises and affronts which every day the King's Council puts upon us, for our troubles are matters of universal notoriety …"
Catherine wants Charles to use his influence to get Pope Clement VII to uphold her marriage.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/for-sale-queens-desperate-plea-that-changed-course-of-history/2006/10/25/1161749189182.html
More mothers are junking junk foods
October 26, 2006
Healthier … is it one Weet-Bick?Photo: David Tease
AUSTRALIAN mothers are finally getting the message about feeding their kids junk food, according to a Newspoll survey which shows nearly half claim to have cut back their children's intake of high-sugar breakfast cereals and a third saying their kids are consuming fewer chips, burgers, pies and fizzy drinks.
The survey, funded by Sanitarium, has triggered counter-claims from leading cereal makers, with Sanitarium, the maker of Weet-Bix, saying many food producers continued to deliberately confuse consumers with their nutritional claims.
"Those companies are really focused on the short term and have a vested interest in keeping the products they already have in the market," said Sanitarium's group brand manager for cereals, Andrew Hewson.
Mr Hewson said the high level of public mistrust of food marketing and health claims was working in Sanitarium's favour but fuzzy marketing and nutritional claims by the food sector was intensifying public cynicism. He said many companies were simply isolating a single nutritional claim for a product to make it appear healthy.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/more-mothers-are-junking-junk-foods/2006/10/25/1161749189331.html
This iPod user rocks
Stephen HutcheonOctober 25, 2006 - 12:40PM
Google Earth spotters have discovered a strange rock formation in the prairies of central Canada that resembles a native American in headdress listening to an iPod.
The rock formation is in Alberta, Canada about 300km southeast of Calgary, near the border with Saskatchewan.
Dubbed the Alberta Indian, the formation was discovered by a Google Earth spotter nicknamed Supergranny.
The area is situated in one of Canada's key gas fields. The nearest urban centre is Medicine Hat, a town of 56,000 known as "The Gas City" which claims to be Canada's sunniest spot.
The rock formation's "face" measures about 255m across and its about 225m long.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/this-ipod-user-rocks/2006/10/25/1161743788326.html
Past PM charged over law firm raid
THE former Solomon Islands prime minister Sir Allan Kemakeza, who invited Australian police into the country three years ago, was himself arrested yesterday and charged over a raid on a law firm, Sol-Law.
Australian partners of the firm were allegedly warned to leave the country.
One of the militiamen allegedly involved in the raid is also charged with the murder in late 2004 of an Australian police officer, Adam Dunning.
Kemakeza was prime minister from 2001 until April this year. He co-operated with Australian authorities and faced no charges in that period. He is now the Deputy Speaker of Parliament.
Apparently to blunt claims that Australia is interfering in domestic politics, local police carried out yesterday's arrest. Kemakeza was charged over the alleged demanding of money with menaces, intimidation and larceny involving the former militiamen Chris Mae, Benedict Idu, James Tatau and Moses Su'u on May 24, 2002.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/past-solomons-pm-charged-over-law-firm-raid/2006/10/25/1161749189167.html
Washington Post
Iraqi Prime Minister Lambastes U.S.
By John Ward AndersonWashington Post Foreign ServiceWednesday, October 25, 2006; 2:20 PM
BAGHDAD, Oct. 25 -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki lashed out at the United States Wednesday, saying his popularly elected government would not bend to U.S.-imposed benchmarks and timelines and criticizing a U.S. and Iraqi military operation in a Shiite slum of Baghdad that left at least five people dead and 20 wounded.
Maliki's comments came a day after U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said the prime minister had agreed to timelines for accomplishing several critical goals, including developing plans to deal with militias, amend the constitution and equitably distribute Iraq's oil revenues.
"I affirm that this government represents the will of the people and no one has the right to impose a timetable on it," Maliki said Wednesday at a nationally televised news conference. "The Americans have the right to review their policies, but we do not believe in a timetables."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/25/AR2006102501138.html
Bush Acknowledges Discontent on Iraq
By William BraniginWashington Post Staff WriterWednesday, October 25, 2006; 4:52 PM
President Bush said today he shares the American public's dissatisfaction with the situation in Iraq, but he warned against succumbing to "disillusionment" about the U.S. purpose there, asserted that "absolutely, we're winning," and expressed confidence in both Iraq's prime minister and his own defense secretary.
In a White House news conference, Bush also said he was sure his fellow Republicans would retain control of Congress in midterm elections on Nov. 7 because voters would base their decisions on national security and the economy. While some pundits are treating Republican losses as a foregone conclusion, Bush said, he sees a different picture on the campaign trail.
"You know, we've got some people dancing in the end zone here in Washington, D.C., measuring their drapes," he said. "But the American people are going to decide, and they're going to decide this race based upon who best to protect the American people and who best to keep the taxes low."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/25/AR2006102500342.html
The GOP Leans on A Proven Strategy
White House Courts Conservative Base
By Peter BakerWashington Post Staff WriterWednesday, October 25, 2006; Page A01
Beset by discouraging polls and division within ideological ranks, the White House is accelerating efforts to woo back disaffected conservatives and energize the Republican base in a reprise of a strategy that succeeded in the last two campaign cycles.
President Bush and Vice President Cheney have given multiple interviews to conservative journalists, senior adviser Karl Rove has telephoned religious and social activists, and the White House has staged signing ceremonies for legislation cracking down on terrorism and illegal immigration. Two weeks before Election Day, Bush aides invited dozens of radio talk show hosts for a marathon broadcast from the White House yesterday to reach conservative listeners.
The message that Bush and others are sending to alienated supporters is that, no matter how upset they have been about various policies or political missteps over the past couple of years, life would be far worse under the Democrats. They name liberal lawmakers who would take charge of key committees and warn conservatives that taxes would go up and protection against terrorists would go down. And they cite, in particular, the confirmation of two conservative Supreme Court justices who might have been blocked by a Democratic Senate.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/24/AR2006102401563.html
Congressional Countdown
Watching the Battle for Control in the House and Senate -- Oct. 25, 2006
A slew of new statewide polls hit the streets yesterday and today and, as we continue the Countdown to Election Day, the surveys foreshadow a wild finish to a very competitive battle for control of the Senate.
Mason-Dixon Political & Media Research conducted nine separate polls for MSNBC and McClatchy newspapers, while the Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg did surveys in five of the nine states.
The polls confirmed that two incumbent Republican senators -- Ohio’s Mike DeWine and Pennsylvania’s Rick Santorum -- are in deep trouble. DeWine trails Democratic Rep. Sherrod Brown in polls by both news groups. Only Mason-Dixon polled in Pennsylvania, and that showed that Santorum, long considered the most vulnerable incumbent senator in the country, is running behind state Treasurer Bob Casey Jr. in the Mason-Dixon survey. by 51 percent to 39 percent.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/campaign06/countdown.html
Fight For the Senate: Dole vs. Schumer
In the final stretch of any campaign year, the two national parties engage in a seemingly endless war of words -- fighting for even the smallest of rhetorical edges.Sen. Schumer says Democrats are "on the edge" of retaking the Senate. (AP)
An event today at the National Press Club was no exception. Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and National Republican Senatorial Committee Elizabeth Dole (N.C.) appeared on the same stage to offer remarkably similar arguments about the coming elections. Needless to say, they drew very different conclusions about the likely results.
"Republican candidates have nowhere to turn," said Schumer. "They are in a little room where all the doors are locked."
Dole, doing a bit of preelection damage control, said repeatedly that the difficult political environment had complicated her job almost from the start. It has been "very tough for Republicans for many months," she added.
Both Schumer and Dole agreed that the war in Iraq was the single biggest issue for voters in states with targeted Senate races. Schumer noted that Democrats running in Republican-leaning states like Virginia and Tennessee are airing political ads calling for a change of direction in Iraq. In contrast, he said, you'll see no GOP candidates mentioning the conflict in their ads.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/
Report Warns of Potential Voting Problems in 10 States
By Amy GoldsteinWashington Post Staff WriterWednesday, October 25, 2006; Page A03
Two weeks before the midterm elections, at least 10 states, including Maryland, remain ripe for voting problems, according to a study released yesterday by a nonpartisan clearinghouse that tracks electoral reforms across the United States.
The report by Electionline.org says those states, and possibly others, could encounter trouble on Election Day because they have a combustible mix of fledgling voting-machine technology, confusion over voting procedures or recent litigation over election rules -- and close races.
The report cautions that the Nov. 7 elections, which will determine which political party controls the House and Senate, promise "to bring more of what voters have come to expect since the 2000 elections -- a divided body politic, an election system in flux and the possibility -- if not certainty -- of problems at polls nationwide."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/24/AR2006102401168.html
NJ Court Stops Short of Gay Marriage OK
By GEOFF MULVIHILL
The Associated PressWednesday, October 25, 2006; 5:09 PM
TRENTON, N.J. -- New Jersey's Supreme Court opened the door to gay marriage Wednesday, ruling that homosexuals are entitled to the same rights as heterosexuals, but leaving it to lawmakers to legalize same-sex unions.
The high court gave lawmakers 180 days to rewrite marriage laws to either include same-sex couples or create a new system of civil unions for them.
The ruling is similar to the 1999 decision in Vermont that led to civil unions there, which offer the benefits of marriage, but not the name.
"Although we cannot find that a fundamental right to same-sex marriage exists in this state, the unequal dispensation of rights and benefits to committed same-sex partners can no longer be tolerated under our state Constitution," Justice Barry T. Albin wrote for the 4-3 majority's decision.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/25/AR2006102500174.html
Putin Says He'll Retain Influence After Presidency
By Peter FinnWashington Post Foreign ServiceWednesday, October 25, 2006; 1:34 PM
MOSCOW, Oct. 25 -- With his trademark indefatigability and command of detail, President Vladimir Putin fielded questions from ordinary Russians for nearly three hours Wednesday, in an annual televised session that has become a ritual of presidential stagecraft here.
Putin, who has sworn off amending the constitution to allow himself a third term, reiterated his determination to step down in 2008, but said he would continue to influence the country's direction.
"Even having lost the powers and the levers of presidential power and not tailoring the basic law according to my personal interests, I will manage to retain the most important thing that a person involved in politics must cherish -- your trust," said Putin. "And using that, you and I will be able to exert influence on the life of our country and guarantee its development."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/25/AR2006102501079.html
Former Iran Leader Wanted in Argentina
By OSCAR SERRAT
The Associated PressWednesday, October 25, 2006; 5:15 PM
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Argentine prosecutors asked a federal judge on Wednesday to order the arrest of former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani and seven others for the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center that killed scores of people.
The decision to attack the center "was undertaken in 1993 by the highest authorities of the then-government of Iran," prosecutor Alberto Nisman said at a news conference.
He said the actual attack was entrusted to the Lebanon-based group Hezbollah.
The worst terrorist attack ever on Argentine soil, the bombing of the Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires killed 85 people and injured more than 200 when an explosive-laden vehicle detonated near the building.
Iran's government has vehemently denied any involvement in the attack following repeated accusations by Jewish community and other leaders here.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/25/AR2006102501231.html
New Candidate May Be Sought for Deadlocked U.N. Election
By Bill BrubakerWashington Post Staff WriterWednesday, October 25, 2006; 5:10 PM
Guatemala and Venezuela may pull out of their contentious race for a United Nations Security Council seat to negotiate a compromise candidate, diplomats said today.
Foreign ministers from the two Latin American nations plan to meet in New York tomorrow morning to discuss alternative candidates for the two-year seat, wire services reported this afternoon.
"They accept in principal that they will withdraw their candidacies. But they are not set on a third country," Brazilian Ambassador Ronaldo Sardenberg said, according to the Reuters news agency. "We encouraged them to reach a solution quickly, and we expressed our willingness to go for a consensus."
The two countries have been slugging it out for two weeks, to no avail. Guatemala has consistently attracted the most votes from the 192-member General Assembly, but it has not achieved the two-thirds majority required to win the prized seat.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/25/AR2006102501057.html
GM and Chrysler Report Earnings Losses
By Sholnn FreemanWashington Post Staff WriterWednesday, October 25, 2006; 3:44 PM
General Motors Corp. and the Chrysler division of DaimlerChrysler AG reported losses today as automakers try to steer through a harsh period of high costs and sharp competition in the U.S. market.
GM, the world's largest automaker, reported a loss of $115 million in the third quarter, an improvement from the same quarter a year ago when the company lost $1.7 billion. While GM is showing signs of recovery, its American rivals are suffering.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/25/AR2006102501267.html
Fed Leaves Rates Unchanged
By Nell HendersonWashington Post Staff WriterWednesday, October 25, 2006; 3:00 PM
Federal Reserve policymakers decided to hold short-term interest rates steady today, but left the door open to raising them in coming months if inflation stays too high.
"Some inflation risks remain," the central bank's policymaking Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement after a two-day meeting.
The group noted that economic growth has slowed this year, partly because of the sharp downturn in the housing market. But the policymakers also said they expect the economy to "expand at a moderate pace" going forward.
Stock prices rose shortly after the Fed's announcement, as investors concluded interest-rate policy will remain on hold for some time.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/25/AR2006102500229.html
Gov't Panel Recommends Shingles Vaccine
By GREG BLUESTEIN
The Associated PressWednesday, October 25, 2006; 5:09 PM
ATLANTA -- An influential government advisory panel voted Wednesday to recommend routine vaccines to protect older adults against shingles.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted to recommend the vaccine for adults 60 and over. The committee's recommendations usually are accepted by federal health officials, and they influence insurance coverage for vaccinations.
Shingles is a painful, blistering skin rash that is most common in people 60 and older. It usually goes away after four weeks, but one in five shingles sufferers develops excruciating long-term nerve pain known as postherpetic neuralgia. Complications also can include scarring and loss of vision or hearing.
Antiviral medications are only of limited help, and some doctors say they do not prevent shingles from progressing into postherpetic neuralgia.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/25/AR2006102500654.html
Study Finds Flu Shots Are Safe for Kids
By CARLA K. JOHNSON
The Associated PressWednesday, October 25, 2006; 7:47 AM
CHICAGO -- The biggest study ever to look at the side effects of flu shots in children confirmed that the vaccine is safe for babies and toddlers.
Researchers studied 45,000 U.S. children and found almost no side effects requiring medical treatment during the six weeks after the youngsters were vaccinated.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than 90 children under 5 die of the flu each season.
Flu vaccine has a good safety record, the researchers wrote, though some formulations have been linked to Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare paralyzing disorder.
With the shots now recommended for all children younger than 5, the findings are reassuring, said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious-disease specialist at Vanderbilt University who was not involved in the study.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/25/AR2006102500274.html
ZoneAlarm's New Auto-Updater Prompts Confusion
While I was out in San Diego for a security conference last month, I struck up a conversation with a guy from Check Point Technologies, which makes the popular ZoneAlarm line of firewall products. I asked him whether the company had considered adding an auto-update feature to help users stay on top of new versions of the software that it seems to ship about once every month or two.
The guy I met forwarded my query to Laura Yecies, vice president and general manager of CheckPoint's consumer and small business division. Turns out that sometime in June an update the company shipped to the (free and pay) 6.5.x versions of ZoneAlarm allows the program to silently download and install fixes on its own. Yecies said the company switched on the auto-update for two reasons.
"One was just the convenience feature, where we can do bug fixes or security improvements with just a patch and that saves the customer the inconvenience of having to install a whole new product," Yecies said, though she acknowledged that customers will from time to time still be prompted to install new versions of ZoneAlarm. "The other reason is that in emergency situations where we're concerned that vulnerability exists in our product, we can ship a security patch quickly."
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/
Hip-Hop Editor Wins Suit Over Her Firing
By Peter CarlsonWashington Post Staff WriterWednesday, October 25, 2006; Page C01
After a tumultuous two-week trial, Kimberly Osorio, a former editor in chief of the Source magazine, won a workplace lawsuit against the popular hip-hop monthly, and a Manhattan jury awarded her $15.5 million.
"This is a victory for women in hip-hop," Osorio told the hip-hop Web site SOHH.com after the verdict Monday night. "I stood up and I won."
Osorio, who was fired by the Source last year, sued the magazine and its founders, David Mays and Raymond Scott, alleging sexual harassment, gender discrimination, defamation, retaliatory discharge and maintaining a hostile work environment. The defendants responded that Osorio was fired in March 2005 for "poor performance," including her decision to publish a cover photo of rapper Nelly without his posse and running a negative review of a CD by rapper Fat Joe.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/24/AR2006102401500.html
New Zealand Herald
MP accused of scaremongering over vaccination
Thursday October 26, 2006By Paula Oliver
The Government is being forced to defend its meningococcal vaccination programme after new figures showed that ACC has accepted 33 claims for adverse reactions to the jab.
One of the claims - highlighted by National's health spokesman Tony Ryall - is from an 8-year-old girl who developed a severe blood disorder.
The girl's specialist had concluded that she had developed the disorder as a result of the vaccine, Mr Ryall said.
Health Minister Pete Hodgson admitted during Parliament's question time yesterday that he was unaware of the Accident Compensation Corporation claims when he said last week that there were no significant adverse events associated with the meningococcal B vaccine.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10407654
Tribe puts a stop on logging in state forest
Thursday October 26, 2006By Anne Beston
A Maori tribe has blocked logging in a state-owned forest claiming the presence of sacred burial sites, which it cannot identify.
Crown Forestry has given up its legal battle to harvest pines on four blocks of the Waiuku State Forest on the northern banks of the Waikato River after losing an Environment Court appeal against a Waikato Regional Council decision not to allow logging because of Maori concerns.
Crown Forestry operations manager Warwick Foran said: "We won't appeal. The judge has ruled the effects on Maori are greater than the benefit of allowing harvesting."
He could not put a figure on what the harvesting would have been worth.
Ngati Te Ata told the Environment Court all four blocks over an area of 305ha were waahi tapu, or sacred, and it was not willing to identify particular sites.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10407665
US takes time out to focus on Pacific
Thursday October 26, 2006By Ruth Berry
NADI - The United States is taking a renewed interest in the Pacific, partly because of the valuable votes Pacific Island states have in the United Nations General Assembly, US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill revealed in Fiji yesterday.
Mr Hill has been busy trying to help resolve the crisis caused by North Korean nuclear testing but took time out to attend his second annual Pacific Islands Forum meeting.
His boss, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, had also wanted him to attend, "although in light of the situation in Korea I know a lot of my colleagues were wondering what I was doing down here," he said.
"But I think you know in general I'd like to see us do more in the Pacific Island states. Each of them has the same number of votes as the United States has in the UN General Assembly.
"We're very aware of that. I think that this is the kind of place that if you pay some attention to it and show interest that can really pay dividends."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10407622
Government looks at fishing quota for amateur anglers
Thursday October 26, 2006By Mike Houlahan
Commercial fishers may receive compensation under a plan to entrench the rights of recreational fishers and Maori.
Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton yesterday released a discussion document on proposals for managing shared fisheries - sea life caught by recreational, commercial and customary fishers, such as snapper, blue cod, kahawai, paua and rock lobster.
One proposal would see the Government maintain and protect a minimum tonnage of some species for amateur fishers, which would have priority over the commercial take. Tonnages would be reduced only if the species was no longer commercially fished and it was becoming unsustainable.
If such a change significantly affected commercial fishers' economic interests the Government would look at compensation, Mr Anderton said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10407620
Volcano joins in test run for lahar emergency
Thursday October 26, 2006By Juliet Rowan
An exercise to test emergency services' response to a lahar was held at Mt Ruapehu yesterday amid real rumblings beneath the active volcano.
Hundreds of people from several agencies were involved in the exercise, which began with the artificial triggering of the lahar warning system.
The Eastern Ruapehu Lahar Warning System was triggered for real on October 4, when a small eruption sent 6m waves across the crater lake.
Yesterday's exercise was planned before the eruption, and has been held annually for the past six years.
But GNS Science said it followed two small volcanic earthquakes under the mountain on Tuesday.
Duty geohazards officer Ken Gledhill said the earthquakes measured about magnitude 2 on the Richter scale, and indicated that volcanic activity was "happening at depth".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10407581
Tsunami alert works, MPs told
Thursday October 26, 2006By Mike Houlahan
Civil Defence will be able to give timely warnings of impending tsunamis in most situations, MPs were told yesterday.
New Zealand's tsunami alert system has been under review since the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami killed tens of thousands of people in Southeast Asia and Africa. The country's preparedness came under further scrutiny in May after the BBC reported a tsunami heading for New Zealand.
At the Government administration select committee yesterday, Labour MP Dover Samuels sought a reassurance from Internal Affairs department chief executive Christopher Blake that if a tsunami were to strike his isolated Northland community he would have received sufficient warning to evacuate.
Mr Blake said since the May scare, when a communications breakdown saw local media carry the BBC story unaware that the tsunami alert had been withdrawn, an agreement had been reached with radio stations about carrying emergency warnings, and a similar agreement with television channels was close to being signed off.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10407579
Owners of leaky homes face ruin
Thursday October 26, 2006
Homeowners have appealed to MPs to help "average Kiwis" affected by the leaky homes debacle.
In May the Government brought legislation before Parliament to improve the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service.
The service was established in 2002 to resolve disputes between owners of leaky homes and developers, but has struggled to resolve disputes.
Janet Pawson told Parliament's social services select committee yesterday that she and her husband were facing a $250,000 repair bill on their "dream family home".
"Someone in authority needs to ensure that your house has been built properly," she said.
Mrs Pawson and her husband also own a 24-unit leaky apartment building . Because both buildings were built more than 10 years ago they are not eligible for mediation services.
Mrs Pawson said they had already spent $40,000 filing compensation claims at the High Court and expected to spend several thousand more.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10407597
US signals a move out of Iraq possible in 12 to 18 months
Thursday October 26, 2006By Rupert Cornwell and Colin Brown
In the firmest indication yet of a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, America's most senior general there and its top civilian official in the US have drawn the outlines of a political and military plan that could see a substantial pullout of United States troops within 12 to 18 months.
Yesterday's announcement looked like a strategy change, although President George W. Bush's aides deny any "dramatic shifts" in policy.
It came after Bush's spokesman acknowledged that the President had cut and run from his signature promise that America would "stay the course" in Iraq.
In a joint press conference in Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad, the US Ambassador, laid out a series of political steps that he claimed had been agreed to by Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, including a crackdown on militias, a peace offer to insurgents and a plan for sharing oil revenues.
The measures, to be taken over the next year, would amount to a new "national compact" between the Iraqi factions, he said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10407628
Violence closes Dili airport as two die in gang clashes
Thursday October 26, 2006By Lirio Da Fonseca
DILI - Two people died in renewed violence in Dili yesterday in clashes that closed the East Timorese capital's airport.
Youth gangs armed with guns, bows and arrows and rocks fought battles near the airport and burned 12 houses.
The first clash happened late on Tuesday on a main road leading to the airport, with one person shot dead. Another clash broke out early yesterday, killing another resident.
Australian troops guarding the airport opened fire on an armed man who approached them in a threatening way, a spokesman for Australian Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said. The man fled and it was unclear whether he was wounded.
The closure of the airport highlights the fragile security in the fledging nation.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10407663
Not being Republican enough to sway voters
Thursday October 26, 2006By Rupert Cornwell
WASHINGTON - Independent voters are flocking to the Democrats ahead of next month's mid-term Congressional elections, strengthening the prospect of a resounding victory by the party in the House of Representatives, and boosting hopes that it could capture the Senate as well.
According to a devastating poll in the Washington Post, self-proclaimed independents - who account for about a third of the electorate - now say they will vote for Democrats rather than Republicans in their congressional district by a margin of 59 per cent to 31 per cent, usually citing disillusion with the war in Iraq as the prime reason.
However, the change of heart reflects no great surge in affection for the Democrats. Half of independents who had changed their minds said their vote would be in protest at Republican policies. Only 22 per cent said they were enthusiastically embracing the Democrats.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10407606
Ousted rulers masters of a wide area in Afghanistan
Thursday October 26, 2006By David Loyn
HELMAND PROVINCE - Racing at high speed across the desert in the north of Helmand province, our convoy was kicking up a dust-storm that could be seen from space.
A couple of saloon cars and four trucks, with fighters dangling their legs over the side.
The Taleban were demonstrating their control over a wide region.
These are the same Taleban that Brigadier Ed Butler, the commander of British forces in the region, said were "practically defeated" in Helmand.
Instead, they are confident and well-armed, all with AK 47s, and many carrying rocket-propelled grenade launchers, which they use with lethal effect against helicopters as well as armoured vehicles and supply convoys.
We shot past the burned-out remains of a Spartan armoured personnel carrier, destroyed on August 1 with the loss of three British lives.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10407621
Evidence of CIA jails in Europe
Thursday October 26, 2006
BERLIN - The German Government was yesterday alleged to have received first-hand evidence that the CIA had begun torturing terrorist suspects at secret prisons in Europe shortly after the September 11 attacks despite claims that it only knew about such sites through the media.
Stern magazine quoted a leaked German intelligence report which said that only weeks after September 11, two of its agents and a translator had visited a United States military prison at the American "Eagle Base" in the Bosnian town of Tuzla, where they witnessed a torture victim.
The German intelligence report said US interrogators at the base had beaten a 70-year-old terrorist suspect with rifle butts and that "his injuries meant that he had to be given 20 stitches to the head wound he sustained". The report added the American interrogator responsible "appeared to be proud" of his actions.
Stern said the German agents had also been given access to documents confiscated by the Americans which were "smeared with blood". One agent was said to have compared the actions of the US interrogators to Serbian war criminals during the break up of Yugoslavia. "The Serbs ended up before the international court in the Hague for this kind of thing."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10407626
Down in the polls and he didn't even vote for Bush
Thursday October 26, 2006By Jason Szep
PROVIDENCE - Lincoln Chafee, the only Republican US senator to vote against the Iraq war, often breaks ranks with his party to survive in one of the nation's most liberal states.
But Rhode Island may break ranks with Chafee, ousting one of the most moderate Republican voices and handing the Democrats one of six key seats needed to seize control of the Senate.
Democratic challenger Sheldon Whitehouse is casting the November 7 election as a referendum on President George W. Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress, saying not just Rhode Island's future but the direction of the country is at stake.
Trailing in recent polls, Chafee is stressing his unique brand of Republicanism - from championing environmental issues to fighting Bush's tax cuts, pressing for direct talks with Iran and even voting against Bush in the 2004 election.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10407605
Cold reality of Chinese occupation
Thursday October 26, 2006By Justin Huggler
A few minutes of jerky video footage shot by a Romanian cameraman on a mountaineering trip brought the plight of Tibetans under Chinese rule into Western living rooms this month.
For once, the world was able to watch the cruelty of occupation as it played out. In the video, a Chinese border guard calmly opens fire from a mountain ridge on a group of unarmed, defenceless Tibetans below, as they struggled through the snow to escape from occupied Tibet.
Two figures drop to the ground.
"They're shooting them like, like dogs," says an incredulous voice, one of the other mountaineers standing beside the cameraman. And then the camera trains on the dead body of one of the Tibetans in the distance.
It was a moment that changed the way the world looks at China. In recent years, all the talk has been of a liberalised China, the world's fastest growing economy that has put the worst excesses of its totalitarian past behind it. But this was a rare glimpse of another China, and of a modern-day Iron Curtain.
For once, there were witnesses.
Now the full story of what happened that day in the Himalayas has emerged. Survivors have spoken out in Delhi this week, and their accounts can be pieced together with those of the mountaineers who witnessed the shooting.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10407604
UK wants Iraq pullout in a year, US official says
2.40pm Wednesday October 25, 2006By Kristin Roberts
WASHINGTON - The British military hopes to withdraw troops from Iraq within about a year and London wants to focus on the war in Afghanistan, a US defence official said on Tuesday.
British officials had told US counterparts the British military was "near the breaking point" due to long deployments in Iraq and weak retention of personnel, said the official, asking not to be identified.
The official's comments offered the first hint Britain's military may have a timetable for withdrawal in mind.
"It's about a year, give or take a few months," the official said.
But another US defence official played down the withdrawal issue, and no immediate comment was available from British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour government.
The official said British discussions about troop levels were part of regular, internal military reviews and that the British government had not approached senior US officials with adjustment plans or timetables.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10407558
South Korea's minister on North to resign, reports say
2.25pm Wednesday October 25, 2006
SEOUL - South Korea's point man on North Korea has offered to resign, South Korean media reported on Wednesday, the third national security minister to be replaced soon if the offer is accepted.
Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok, a North Korean expert, has been criticised for not being tough enough against Pyongyang, which conducted its first nuclear test on October 9 defying international warnings and shocking the world.
Lee made the offer to resign to President Roh Moo-hyun on Tuesday, the reports said. The presidential Blue House and Unification Ministry declined to immediately confirm the reports or comment on whether Roh would accept the offer.
South Korean Defence Minister Yoon Kwang-ung has also offered to resign, a Blue House official said on Tuesday. Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon is expected to be replaced soon after being selected the next secretary-general of the United Nations.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10407555
EU warns Beijing over trade disputes
2.20pm Wednesday October 25, 2006
The European Commission has warned Beijing it will haul China before the World Trade Organisation if future trade disputes can't be resolved through talks.
Unveiling a new strategy for EU-China trade relations, the European Commission said China would face a political backlash in Europe if it did not play by the rules of international commerce.
The EU trade chief, Peter Mandelson, told a news conference at the European Parliament in Strasbourg that China had reached a stage in its development when the rest of the world was entitled to ask for more compliance.
Laying out Europe's demands, the British commissioner said the EU wanted China to fulfill its WTO obligations and continue to open its markets and liberalise trade in services and investment.
Since it joined the WTO in 2001, China's economy has been gradually opening up to European and other foreign exporters.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10407542
Scientists denounce Libya for jailing health workers
1.20pm Wednesday October 25, 2006By Steve Connor
Leading Aids scientists have denounced Libya for the wrongful imprisonment and torture of six foreign healthcare workers who are accused of deliberately infecting 400 Libyan children with HIV.
In a letter to the journal Science, the scientists claim that studies have proved beyond doubt that the Aids virus was present in the Al Fateh Benghazi Children's Hospital before the arrival of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor.
The letter is signed by Luc Montagnier, formerly of the Pasteur Institute in Paris, and Robert Gallo, formerly of the National Cancer Institute in Washington, who shared the credit for discovering HIV more than 20 years ago.
"The examination of hospital records showed that without question HIV-infected children were admitted to several wards of the Al Fateh Benghazi Children's Hospital in 1997 and early 1998...before the arrival in Libya of the six accused," the letter says.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10407511
Sogavare says leaders back him on Ramsi
UPDATED 1.55pm Wednesday October 25, 2006
NADI, Fiji - The Solomon Islands prime minister today claimed as a victory a decision by Pacific leaders to review the Australian-led Ramsi peace mission in his country.
The Pacific Islands Forum yesterday undertook to review the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Island (Ramsi).
The 16 members of the forum decided to leave Australia's lead role largely intact, instead agreeing to set up two mechanisms to monitor Ramsi's performance.
However, Solomons Prime Minister Mannaseh Sogavare - who had sought to reduce Australia's role in Ramsi- said he was pleased with the outcome and claimed his five-point plan had been adopted.
"It was on the basis of that concern that the leaders decided to send a taskforce to the Solomon Islands," he told reporters in Nadi today.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10407533
Nicaragua's 'grand canal' dream in sight
1.00pm Wednesday October 25, 2006By Catherine Bremer
MANAGUA, Nicaragua - Five centuries after Spain's King Carlos V first thought of cutting a canal through Nicaragua to link the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the tiny nation has a date in sight for a "Grand Canal" to dwarf Panama's.
As Panama prepares to widen its congested 92-year-old waterway to squeeze through more of today's bigger ships, Nicaragua plans to build a bigger, deeper canal by 2019 to cater to the supersized freighters of the future.
An international tender for a consortium of private companies to build and operate the canal, which would generate much-needed royalties for the impoverished nation, could be launched by the end of 2007, planners say.
"We are not competing with Panama. We are complementary. We are doing different things," said Mario Alonso, president of the Central American nation's canal commission and a former central bank chief.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10407500
Senior US Republican testifies in sex scandal probe
10.20am Wednesday October 25, 2006
WASHINGTON - The top Republican in the US House of Representatives went before investigators on Tuesday in the Capitol Hill sex scandal that has rocked his party as it tries to keep control of Congress in the November 7 elections.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois went behind closed doors with the bipartisan congressional ethics panel for what was expected to be at least a few hours of questioning about what he knew and what he did about the troublesome behaviour by disgraced Representative Mark Foley toward teenage interns.
Foley, a Florida Republican, abruptly resigned last month following disclosure he sent lurid electronic messages to teenage boys.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10407491
Low-tech filter turns muck to drinking water
Thursday October 26, 2006By Jarrod Booker
A water purification device developed in New Zealand that can operate without electricity could bring widespread benefits around the world.
Christchurch inventor Russell Kelly has also caught the eye of Nasa, which has been so impressed with his invention it has allowed him to use its iodine technology (used for treating waste) and Certified Space Foundation brand - as it believes the devices will have a "significant beneficial impact on mankind".
"I didn't realise what a big deal it was at the time," said Mr Kelly, who set out four years ago to create filter systems that could be used in remote areas with badly polluted water supplies.
Although still in production, the devices are already engendering a buzz worldwide. The Kenyan Government wants them to supply to its nomadic Masai tribes and several global aid agencies are planning to work with Mr Kelly to get the systems to those most in need.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10407641 Health officials target workplace vending machines
Thursday October 26, 2006By Errol Kiong
Workplace food-vending machines are the next target in the battle against obesity.
Health officials want to restrict their contents, and say they could use health and safety legislation as a way to improve what people eat.
A university nutritionist has welcomed the idea, but says it would be impossible to enforce.
The 1992 Health and Safety in Employment Act could be applied to staff food supplies, says the Law Society, although making an employer responsible for what employees ate would be difficult.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10407661
MP accused of scaremongering over vaccination
Thursday October 26, 2006By Paula Oliver
The Government is being forced to defend its meningococcal vaccination programme after new figures showed that ACC has accepted 33 claims for adverse reactions to the jab.
One of the claims - highlighted by National's health spokesman Tony Ryall - is from an 8-year-old girl who developed a severe blood disorder.
The girl's specialist had concluded that she had developed the disorder as a result of the vaccine, Mr Ryall said.
Health Minister Pete Hodgson admitted during Parliament's question time yesterday that he was unaware of the Accident Compensation Corporation claims when he said last week that there were no significant adverse events associated with the meningococcal B vaccine.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10407654continued ...
