December 7, 2006
Moe, Australia
Photographer states :: Bushfires that have burnt out 250,000 Ha of forest in Gippsland, Australia.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Morning Papers - continued
The Independent
Police hunt serial killer as two more bodies bring toll to five
An urgent manhunt was under way last night after a suspected serial killer claimed the lives of two more prostitutes, bringing the number of young women murdered in Suffolk to five.
The naked bodies of the two sex workers were found dumped in fields close to Ipswich.
A police chief described the killings as "unprecedented" and said they were progressing at a more alarming rate than in the case of Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, who murdered 13 women between 1975 and 1980.
Officers from throughout the country have been drafted in to help the beleaguered Suffolk police force as fears grow that the killer will strike again.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article2070211.ece
Wanted: cultural anthropologist to sort out Seattle's 'holiday trees'
In Seattle, Christmas has already come, and gone, and come back again. One day, the seasonal trees that adorn the international terminal at Seattle-Tacoma airport were there, all twinkling with lights and brightly coloured decorations.
The next day they were gone, victims of a bizarre bureaucratic tussle involving a litigious Orthodox rabbi and a cast of overzealous, politically correct officials terrified of either offending or indulging anyone's religious sensibilities.
In the US as in Britain, this sort of nonsense is becoming an annual phenomenon that right-wing cable news pundits like to call "The War on Christmas".
The furore in Seattle began when a Jewish building consultant wondered if it would not be a good idea to erect a giant menorah next to the traditional airport Christmas trees to acknowledge the Jewish seasonal holiday, Hanukkah. When that idea was rejected, a local Hasidic rabbi, Elazar Bogomilsky, became enraged and threatened to sue the airport if he was not personally allowed to erect and light an 8ft menorah.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2070196.ece
Independent Appeal: Rusty van which supplies Gaza's life-blood
Dr Hassan Deed Suleiman stares at the three pieces of ricketymachinery that stand between him and a meltdown in Gaza's hospital network.
"We do not have back-ups for any of the essential components of our largest blood bank," he says, shaking his head. "If - when - one of them breaks, we will not be able to do proper blood transfusions in much of Gaza. The flow of blood to our hospitals will stop. The effects will be terrible."
Dr Suleiman is the director of Shifa Blood Bank, which supplies 60 per cent of the blood needed in Gaza, for everything from Caesarean sections to bomb victims to haemophiliacs. He talks over the low, unhealthy hum of the battered pieces of old equipment: the refrigerator that stores blood until it can be processed; the centrifuge that separates blood into its components; and the incubator that keeps the resulting platelets warm.
"All of these machines have been in continuous use since 1996," he says. "How much longer can they last?"
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2070204.ece
No 10 hosts green business summit
Executives from some of Britain's biggest firms, with a combined total of 250 million customers, met at 10 Downing Street yesterday to work out a combined plan for a new range of "green" products, to be launched in the new year.
Companies such as Tesco, Marks & Spencer, HSBC, BSkyB, B&Q, O2 and The Carphone Warehouse have committed themselves to "accelerating the roll-out of practical, simple solutions" to help consumers reduce carbon emissions.
The BBC director general Mark Thompson, and the Bishop of London, Richard Chartres, also joined the breakfast summit with the Prime Minister and the Environment Secretary, David Miliband. A statement from the firms described their action as "a partnership of collective effort: major brands and organisations reducing their own impact, while simultaneously facilitating action among their customers". Their campaign starts in March.
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2067575.ece
Woman gets double hand transplant
A Spanish woman has been given the world's first double hand transplant, doctors have disclosed.
The patient, known only as Alba, was said to be recovering well after the 10-hour, pioneering operation in which surgeons used microscopic technology to attach an anonymous donor's hands to her arms. The 47-year-old, whose hands were amputated after a laboratory explosion 20 years ago, was pleased with the results. "They look beautiful," she said.
The go-ahead for the operation was given by Spain's National Organisation for Transplants. After finding a donor, understood to be a woman declared brain dead after an accident, the operation was scheduled for 30 November. The limbs had been removed from above the elbow, chilled and transported to Hospital La Fe in Valencia in less than five hours. Surgeons then joined the bones using metal plates and screws before connecting the nerves, arteries and veins.
The lead surgeon, Pedro Cavadas, said he hoped the surgery would enable Alma, from Castellon, to gain feeling and even limited movement within six weeks.
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2070189.ece
Diet guide warns of weight loss risks
Amid the avalanche of seasonal diet books the Government's watchdog on new treatments today adds another to the pile - with the first official advice on what constitutes the ideal weight-loss diet.
It warns that crash dieting may be dangerous and recommends cutting down by no more than the equivalent of one Mars bar and one Danish pastry a day as the most effective way of losing weight.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article2070206.ece
Fiji Times
Bainimarama reassures Fiji investors
1840 FJTWednesday, December 13, 2006
Update: 6.40PM Fiji's military rulers have assured local and overseas investors that their investments are absolutely safe and they should continue with their businesses with full confidence and trust".
Head of the military regime Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama has also assured that existing as well as potential investments will continue unhindered.
Commodore Bainimarama said at a press conference an hour ago that the primary aim of the army's "clean-up campaign" was to rid Fiji of bad governance and the endemic corruption which existed under the SDL leadership".
"Both these malpractices have been a great disincentive and hindrance to doing business in Fiji. Our rating as an ideal place to do business continued to show mixed results in the last 6 years," he said.
"As a result, this country has been denied with much needed new and incremental capital, skills and export marketing opportunities. Investors have been in many instances given a 'merry go round' or pushed from 'pillar to post'. This in effect has given them the perception that things do not get facilitated in Fiji without money changing hands, especially 'under the table or side deals'.
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=53460
Military regime makes new appointments
1830 FJTWednesday, December 13, 2006
Update: 6.30PM Fiji's military regime has announced a list of new appointments made this afternoon.
Self-appointed President Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama confirmed that Fijian Affairs Ministry CEO Adi Litia Qionibaravi's contract had been terminated.
Adi Litia was reportedly ordered out of her office by armed soldiers earlier this afternoon.
Commodore Bainimarama's brother Ratu Meli, a career civil servant, has been chosen to replace Adi Litia.
Ratu Meli was previously CEO Provincial Development.
As well Rodney Acraman has been appointed acting Ombudsman. The office had been vacant since earlier this year when incumbent Walter Rigamoto, a lawyer by profession, resigned to go into private.
Justice Ministry CEO Sakiusa Rabuka will also be acting Solicitor-General after Nainendra Nand was sacked by the military government. This is until a suitable person is identified.
Qarase, Ratu Josefa 'are weak leaders'
1850 FJTWednesday, December 13, 2006
Update: 6.50PM Deposed Fiji prime minister Laisenia Qarase and president Ratu Josefa Iloilo have been described as weak leaders who forced the military's hand.
And former prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka, who was acquitted of mutiny charges two days ago, said the two were to blame for the crisis in Fiji.
Mr Rabuka, a former army commander, told local media in an interview that Mr Qarase should have seen the military takeover coming.
He adds that had the two men listened to the military's concerns, things would be different.
Despite his comments, Mr Rabuka said he did not support the coup.
He conducted Fiji's first military coup in 1987, deposing the Labour coalition government of Prime Minister Timoci Bavadra.
Fiji province confirms rival government plans
1715 FJTWednesday, December 13, 2006
Update: 5.15PM One of Fiji's largest and most populous provinces has confirmed plans to form a 'de facto' government.
The Ba Province, which forms the bulk of the western part of the main island Viti Levu, has confirmed that it discussed a suggestion to offer deposed Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase "the opportunity to establish his government on its soil".
The confirmation has come from a council member who refused to be named.
The council member told Pacific news agency service PACNEWS that the idea of offering Ba Province as the seat of a rival government was later adopted in the form of a meeting resolution.
"These councillors say the offer should be made as a way to protest the unlawful action of the Fiji military in removing a government that we had elected into power," the source said.
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=53457
US, Aussies demand return to democracy
1300 FJTWednesday, December 13, 2006
Update: 1PM The US and Australia have demanded a return to democracy in Fiji after last week's military coup and expressed concern about recent political instability in the South Pacific region.
The Fijian military must "return the country immediately to the elected civilian government" and "withdraw completely from politics", said US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer in a joint statement following talks in Washington yesterday.
Rice and Downer "agreed to continue to work together to help Pacific island countries build stability, democratic governance and economic reforms", according to the statement.
They agreed to encourage other countries in the region and elsewhere to support the same objectives.
It's the first time someone in US President George Bush's inner sanctum has made a comment on the situation in Fiji.
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=53451
Provinces back Qarase, rule of law
1515 FJTWednesday, December 13, 2006
Update: 3.15PM The home province of Fiji's deposed Prime Minister says it will only support democratically elected Government.
Chairman of the Lau Provincial Council Ratu Josefa Basulu says the province of Lau "fully supports" Laisenia Qarase's government and that has never changed despite the military takeover of the elected government.
Ratu Josefa is also paramount chief of Mualevu district, where Mr Qarases Mavana Village is situated.
He said the province would only support a government that was elected through the rule of law by the people and would make this clear at next week's Great Council of Chiefs meeting to be held in Suva.
Ratu Josefa made the comments despite the fact that military-appointed prime minister Dr Jona Senilagakali is also from the same province.
Dr Senilagakali is from Waciwaci in Lakeba.
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=53454
Use of public funds
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
WHILE a proposal by the military regime to scrap the budgeted 2.5 per cent increase in VAT will be very popular among the poor and ordinary citizens, it comes with a cost.
It's simple: if the regime takes away a source of revenue, it must find an alternative source to fund government services which it has promised the people to continue providing through this crisis.
Either that or it must put in place drastic cost-cutting measures to avoid plunging the Government into a worse financial mess which will take years to put right.
This may come down to reducing the size of the civil service, a decision which it may be reluctant to consider in the political climate.
Pay cuts for civil servants is the other option which was implemented after the May 2000 illegal takeover of the Chaudhry-led government. But again because it will be very unpopular, the military regime may not consider it just yet.
Civil servants are due for another cost of living adjustment before Christmas and this will put an extra burden on the government coffers.
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?item=leader
Revive tourism: Economist
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
THERE is an urgent need to move the economy of the country forward and critical to this is the restoration of law and order, says an economist from the Australian National University.
Doctor Satish Chand said the guarantee of law and order was critical for the tourism industry to return to normalcy.
He said economic managers should concentrate on reviving tourism because this was the one industry with the most potential for growth and employment creation.
"If we are able to revive this industry quickly and effectively, then the economic fallout from the coup could be contained," said Dr Chand.
For the interim government, Dr Chand said managing government finances would be the biggest immediate challenge.
He said government finances and the country's foreign reserve positions are both in perilous state thus extreme care would have to be taken to avert a fiscal and balance of payments crisis.
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=53431
Los Angeles Times
Rash of murders has England fearing another 'Ripper'
London -- Dread mounted that the peaceful east coast of England had given birth to a new "Ripper" as police hunted Tuesday for the killer of five women whose bodies were discovered in the past two weeks.In recent days, police reported that three bodies had been found naked and abandoned around the city of Ipswich in Suffolk county. Tuesday afternoon, Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull, head of the Suffolk police crime-management team, told journalists that officers had found two more bodies.
Gull said the women were believed to be prostitutes, although the bodies found Tuesday had yet to be identified. The discoveries revived memories of the reign of "Yorkshire Ripper" Peter Sutcliffe, who killed 13 women, many of them prostitutes, in northern England in the late 1970s. Nearly a century earlier, Jack the Ripper slit the throats of five prostitutes in London's East End; his identity is still a mystery.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-ripper13dec13,0,256734.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Ex-LAPD officer linked to stabbing
The watchman who stabbed an intruder at the Beverly Hills mansion of celebrity fitness trainer Gunnar Peterson is a former police officer awaiting trial on charges he lied and created false documents to become a security guard, police and prosecutors confirmed today.Michael Buchanan, a former LAPD officer, was identified in court documents as the security guard who stabbed Nicholas Samuel Marino after he broke into the home Wednesday of Peterson and his wife, Janet.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-121206cop,0,4861943.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Poll finds a U.S. public weary of war in iraq
WASHINGTON -- A majority of Americans favor setting a fixed timetable for bringing troops home from Iraq and just 12 percent would support a plan to increase troop strength, an option under serious consideration by the military, a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found.A month after the midterm election switched control of Congress to the Democrats, respondents expressed low confidence in President Bush's ability to resolve the conflict in Iraq. By a hefty margin they said Iraq should be the top priority for the new Congress, with a plurality of 45 percent saying they had more trust in Democrats to handle the war. Only 34 percent said they had more confidence in the president, who has rejected the idea of setting a timetable for withdrawing troops.Nearly two-thirds said they believe Iraq has descended into "civil war," which Bush has denied.At a time when the Bush administration is at work on a new strategy for Iraq and is resisting calls to start bringing troops home, the poll suggests that the president and his staff are out of step with public opinion.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-poll12dec12,0,6072121.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Kerry to Meet Soldiers, Leaders in Iraq
By ANDREW MIGA, Associated Press Writer9:34 PM PST, December 12, 2006
WASHINGTON -- Sen. John Kerry, whose botched joke about U.S. troops in Iraq dealt a blow to his presidential ambitions, will travel to Iraq this weekend to meet with soldiers, political leaders and military officials. "I've talked to plenty of guys who've come back from Iraq, who are there now, who understand exactly what happened," Kerry said of his joke in a telephone interview Tuesday with The Associated Press. "They laugh at it."
The Iraq stop will be part of a nine-day Mideast trip that includes stops in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Israel. A week before the midterm elections, Kerry told a group of California students that individuals who don't study hard and do their homework would likely "get stuck in Iraq." He said he meant to say "get us stuck in Iraq," but the botched joke intended to criticize President Bush forced the senator to apologize and then lay low for the remaining days of the campaign.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top12dec12,0,710854.story?coll=la-ap-topnews-headlines
Military Meets, Exceeds Recruiting Goals
By PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press Writer8:11 PM PST, December 12, 2006
WASHINGTON -- Though Americans are increasingly pessimistic about the war in Iraq, the Pentagon said Tuesday it is having success enlisting new troops. The Navy and Air Force met their recruiting goals last month while the Army and Marine Corps exceeded theirs, the Defense Department announced. The Army, which is bearing the brunt of the work in Iraq, did the best. It signed up 6,485 new recruits in November compared with its target of 6,150 -- meaning 105 percent of its goal.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top14dec12,0,1497288.story?coll=la-ap-topnews-headlines
Nuclear 'slip of the lip' puts Olmert on hot seat
Jerusalem -- For half a century, military censors have struggled to defend Israel's worst-kept secret -- that the country possesses atomic weapons.Even as its nuclear history has leaked into declassified documents, articles and books, an official policy of "ambiguity" has endured: By refusing to confirm or deny that it has the bomb, and refraining from testing one, Israel has lived up to a quiet understanding with the United States to avoid fueling a Middle East arms race.So why does it appear that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert finally spilled the beans?In an interview on German television late Monday, the Israeli leader seemed to list Israel among the world's nuclear club, raising an outcry across the political spectrum here and questions about whether the long-standing policy had been abandoned.Asked by the interviewer about Iran's calls for the destruction of Israel, Olmert replied that Israel had never threatened to annihilate anyone.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-secret13dec13,0,6950596.story?track=mostviewed-storylevel
KILLINGS PUT GAZA ON EDGE
The gunning down of a Palestinian official's sons inflames tensions between rival factions.
GAZA CITY — Leaders of the Fatah Party accused gunmen of deliberately ambushing and killing the three young sons of a senior Palestinian intelligence officer Monday, an attack that threatened to escalate fighting between rival factions.The boys and their driver were killed by black-masked men who riddled their car with more than 60 rounds of automatic-weapons fire as they were leaving for school. The boys' father, Col. Baha Balousheh, a Fatah loyalist who dodged a September shooting by Hamas militants, was not in the car.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-gaza12dec12,0,7519656.story?coll=la-headlines-world
UCLA seeks to allay fears on data breach
While some potential victims see a connection to identity theft, UCLA officials say there's no evidence of misuse.
By Rebecca Trounson and Stuart Silverstein, Times Staff Writers9:56 PM PST, December 12, 2006
Mari Nicholson doesn't know for sure that her recent problems with identity theft have anything to do with a major computer security breach disclosed this week by UCLA. But it might explain some weird coincidences.Nicholson, a 2003 UCLA graduate, was among those who received e-mail notification Tuesday that their personal information may have been stolen by hackers who broke into a central UCLA database in the fall of 2005 and had access to sensitive records until last month.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ucla13dec13,0,7569895.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Vehicle mileage estimates get real
Ratings for '08 models, especially hybrids, will drop in new EPA tests.
By John O'Dell, Times Staff WriterDecember 12, 2006
That 55-mile-per-gallon hybrid car you've been eyeing may end up being a 44-mpg hybrid if you wait for the 2008 model.The federal Environmental Protection Agency announced a new system Monday for evaluating fuel economy that will lower mileage estimates for most vehicles.
On average, vehicles rated under the 2008 method will post a 12% drop in city gasoline mileage and an 8% decline in highway mileage, said Bill Wehrum, the EPA's acting assistant administrator for air and radiation.With the new testing requirements, the EPA is attempting to come up with estimates that more closely reflect the real-world mileage motorists can expect when they purchase a vehicle.Under the current system, which has been in effect since 1975 and was last changed in 1984, actual mileage is often far lower than the posted EPA ratings.Hybrids will be hit harder because the new test eliminates some of the all-electric driving that helped them produce impressive results under the present system, Wehrum said.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-fuel12dec12,0,1026595.story?coll=la-home-business
Craft spots huge mountain range on Titan
By John Johnson Jr., Times Staff Writer5:33 PM PST, December 12, 2006
San Francisco -- The Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn has found a mile-high mountain range on the giant moon Titan, scientists said Tuesday.The range, which lies in the moon's southern hemisphere, is nearly 100 miles long. It is the tallest range on Titan found by Cassini, which has been investigating the Saturnian satellite for the past two years.
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-titan13dec13,0,417377.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Older cement kilns get EPA pass on mercury
Plants built more than a year ago, including 11 in California, won't have to upgrade controls.
By Janet Wilson, Times Staff WriterDecember 12, 2006
The Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday it would not require cement manufacturers — including the nation's largest emitter, in Tehachapi, Calif. — to upgrade plants to control mercury.Cement kilns are an integral part of the building boom in Southern California and elsewhere, turning raw limestone and waste ash from coal plants into the material used to build highways, tract homes and commercial developments.
Mercury, which can be emitted when stone or coal ash is processed, is a potent neurotoxin that can harm developing brains. The emissions also pollute water bodies.Environmental groups that sued under the federal Clean Air Act to force tighter controls said the decision ignored two court orders. The EPA's ruling will require kilns built in December 2005 and onward to limit and measure actual emissions. The agency said that would reduce emissions by as much as 3,000 pounds, in an industry estimated to emit 6.6 tons of mercury annually. But the regulators said that upgrading existing plants would be too costly for industry and the resulting air-quality improvements would be too scant.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-cement12dec12,0,7688748.story?coll=la-home-nation
Justice on Katrina time
Hundreds, if not thousands, languish behind bars without their day in court.
NEW ORLEANS — In October 2005, less than two months after Hurricane Katrina struck, Pedro Parra-Sanchez was arrested for allegedly stabbing a man with a broken bottle during a fight. With the city's prison damaged by flooding, he was taken to a makeshift jail at the Greyhound bus station, then transferred to a correctional facility about 70 miles away, and later to a prison in southwest Louisiana. That's where Parra-Sanchez sat for more than a year — never seeing a lawyer or setting foot in a courtroom. At the time of the fight, he had been in New Orleans only six days: He'd left his family in Bakersfield, Calif., and come to help with the storm cleanup effort. By law, the district attorney should have brought Parra-Sanchez to court to formally charge him within 60 days. Instead, "he disappeared," said Pamela R. Metzger, director of Tulane University's Criminal Law Clinic. "The system failed."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-defenders12dec12,0,2624049.story?coll=la-home-nation
Used furniture for school kids
About 400 school administrators spend their Saturday mornings scrambling for a talent agency's unwanted office furniture.
By Roger Lowenstein, ROGER LOWENSTEIN is the founder and executive director of the Los Angeles Leadership Academy, a public charter middle and high school in Koreatown.December 12, 2006
IF ANYONE NEEDED evidence of the chronic underfunding of public education in Los Angeles, one only had to show up at 8 a.m. Saturday morning at Creative Artists Agency's world headquarters in Beverly Hills.The talent agency, about to move into new offices in Century City, offered its castoff office furniture to the Los Angeles Unified School District. The line of 400 administrators, principals, assistant principals and teachers stretched around CAA's massive marble building on Wilshire Boulevard. Each person would be allowed to place tags on five pieces of furniture. As executive director of a public charter school, I jumped at the opportunity too. My school was No. 109.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-lowenstein12dec12,0,1328174.story?coll=la-opinion-center
New York Times
Strains on Nature Are Growing, Report Says
By REUTERS Published: March 31, 2005
SLO, March 30 - Humans are damaging the planet at a rapid rate and raising risks of abrupt collapses in nature that could spur disease, deforestation or "dead zones" in the seas, an international report said Wednesday.
The study, by 1,360 researchers in 95 nations, the biggest review of the planet's life support systems ever, said that in the last 50 years a rising human population had polluted or overexploited two-thirds of the ecological systems on which life depends, including clean air and fresh water. "At the heart of this assessment is a stark warning," said the 45-member board of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. "Human activity is putting such strain on the natural functions of earth that the ability of the planet's ecosystems to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted."
The report said future strains on nature could bring sudden outbreaks of disease. Warming of the Great Lakes in Africa from climate change, for instance, could create conditions for a spread of cholera.
The study urged changes in consumption, better education, new technology and higher prices for exploiting ecosystems.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/31/science/31enviro.html?ex=1166072400&en=fb96666c9588c85e&ei=5070
New Zealand Herald
EU warns four countries over missing CO2 plans
12.30pm Wednesday December 13, 2006
BRUSSELS - The European Commission issued final warnings to Austria, Denmark, Hungary and Italy today for failing to submit plans that allocate how much carbon dioxide (CO2) their industries may emit in 2008-2012.
The Commission sent "reasoned opinions" to the four countries, the final legal step before taking them to the European Court of Justice -- Europe's highest court.
The plans are the cornerstone of the European Union's emissions trading scheme.
Companies receive permits to emit CO2 -- the main gas blamed for global warming -- and trade them on a market. EU states set limits on how much CO2 power plants or oil refineries may emit, and the companies buy or sell the allowances based on whether they overshoot or undershoot their caps.
The plans for the next trading period from 2008-2012 were due to the Commission on June 30. Aside from the four nations that have yet to submit, France withdrew its plan at the last minute last month in the face of likely rejection by the EU.
"For the good functioning of the Emissions Trading Scheme we will have no choice but to take them to court if they do not send their allocation plans soon," Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said in a statement.
The Commission said it was also taking action against seven member states "for failing to provide complete reports on their progress in limiting or cutting greenhouse gas emissions".
The seven were France, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Estonia, Luxembourg and Spain.
The Commission also said it was taking Finland, Sweden and Portugal to the European Court of Justice for failing to ensure proper treatment of urban waste water in a significant number of towns and cities.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10415185
Australia bushfires burn across three states
12.10am Wednesday December 13, 2006
CANBERRA - Bushfires burned across three Australian states today, destroying houses and blackening an area larger than Luxembourg, with one major fire front stretching 250 kilometres.
A firestorm on the southern island state of Tasmania struck the east coast town of Scamander, destroying up to 23 houses, although hard-pressed firefighters had little time to assess the damage as gusting winds opened fresh fronts. "You could hear houses exploding and trees going down, you could see the flames roaring up over the hill," resident Sue Brown told local media.
In Victoria, bushfires sparked by lightning strikes continued to burn in rugged bushland in the northeast of the state, destroying more than 280,000 hectares.
Two of the largest fires had linked to form a 250-km front, although cooler weather was assisting a 2,000-strong force of firefighters, troops and 45 water-bombing aircraft before the forecast return of soaring temperatures later in the week.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10415182
Fiji police suspended from Pacific police organisation
12.30pm Wednesday December 13, 2006
In an unprecedented move, Fiji has been suspended from the Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police (PICP).
Suspension followed an urgent ballot by members, which include New Zealand.
"The PICP members have agreed to suspend Fiji police from participating in the activities of the PICP, pending the restoration of the rule of law in Fiji," chairman Hazime Telei of Palau said.
"The members expressed their strong concern at the intimidation shown against the Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes, and his senior staff."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10415198
Fiji sliding into Saddam-like dictatorship, Qarase says
Wednesday December 13, 2006By Paul Mulvey
SUVA - Fiji's deposed prime minister Laisenia Qarase says the country is sliding into a dictatorship to compare with Saddam Hussein's Iraq as he denied claims he was plotting to set up a de facto government.
Military ruler Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama, who seized power from Qarase in a bloodless coup last Tuesday, today said he had received information that the former prime minister was planning to set up a de facto government in the country's west.
Bainimarama warned Qarase and his supporters that any rival government would be put down and those assisting would be "putting themselves in harm's way."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10415104
NZ mammal fossil find could rewrite textbooks
Wednesday December 13, 2006
The discovery of three small bones near St Bathans in Central Otago is set to rewrite the textbooks on New Zealand evolution.
A team led by palaeontologist Trevor Worthy and Te Papa fossil curator Alan Tennyson discovered the remains of what is a primitive land mammal five years ago.
The creature, believed to be about the size of a mouse, was between 16 to 19 million years old.
The fossils, which were sent to Australia for further analysis, were found in layers of sediment in a site near St Bathans Loop Rd.
Mr Tennyson said the mammal might not be big in size but it was one of the most important fossil finds in New Zealand's history.
"This ranks up there with the discovery of the first moa bones, the first dinosaur bones in New Zealand," he said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10415144
Glide time easy on McCaw's bones
Wednesday December 13, 2006
Richie McCaw at the controls over Omarama. He first flew solo about a year ago.
"Hell, it's awesome," Richie McCaw beams while describing gliding.
And, the All Black captain says, standing on the bustling Omarama Airfield with gliders taking off every few minutes: "It's great not getting bashed up."
McCaw, 25, is in Omarama honing his skills in a sport he took up a couple of years ago, inspired by the gliders he used to see at his parents' farm in the Hakataramea Valley, the former base of the North Otago Gliding Club.
His father, Donald, was keen on gliding and McCaw recalls being around gliders when he was young.
While he had flown fixed-wing aircraft since 2002, clocking up 180 hours, gliding was providing a different challenge - and he was loving it.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10415143
World-class Eden Park vital to Cup: rugby chief
Wednesday December 13, 2006 Bernard Orsman
Rugby Union chairman Jock Hobbs has made an impassioned plea for a world-class stadium at Eden Park amid speculation that a cheap upgrade is on the cards for the 2011 World Cup.
"To maximise the benefits of hosting the tournament, Rugby World Cup 2011 needs to be flawlessly delivered and we need to have a centre-stage, world-class, 60,000-seat stadium that all of New Zealand can be proud of," the former All Black captain said.
Mr Hobbs was speaking in Auckland yesterday at the resource consent hearing for a $320 million upgrade of the existing stadium - subsequently notched up by the Eden Park Trust Board to a "legacy masterplan" costing $385 million.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10415134
Prisoner transport changes to start 'right at the top'
Wednesday December 13, 2006
Corrections Minister Damien O'Connor says an overhaul of the prisoner transportation system will start at the top.
A Corrections report into Liam Ashley's violent death in a prison van on August 24 detailed a series of miscommunications, errors and misunderstandings that culminated in the teenager's murder.
Ian Ashley, father of the dead 17-year-old, said the family were considering suing the department for putting his son in the same compartment of the prison van as his killer, George Baker.
Questioned in Parliament, Mr O'Connor said he would oversee changes to the Corrections system to prevent such a tragedy happening again.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10415129
NZ scientists make malaria advance
Wednesday December 13, 2006
New Zealand researchers are working on a novel weapon to combat malaria parasites that kill about two million people a year, mostly in the tropics.
A team of chemists at Crown research institute Industrial Research in Lower Hutt is working with Albert Einstein Medical College in the US to exploit the fact that malaria parasites cannot make compounds called purines needed for reproduction.
The parasites must salvage and recycle purines from the red blood cells of their human "host".
The project is partly funded by Swiss non-profit organisation Medicines for Malaria and its drug discovery and technology director, New Zealander Ian Bathurst.
Industrial Research, in collaboration with the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, has designed and synthesised a new class of compounds it calls "immucillins", one dose of which could provide a month's protection from malaria.
Potentially the immucillins could help clinicians reduce the effects of a range of auto-immune conditions such as arthritis, prevent rejection in organ transplants, and even provide a treatment of T-cell cancers.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10415135
Gates Foundation pledges $123m to battle malaria
Wednesday December 13, 2006
SEATTLE - The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged another US$83.5 million ($123 million) to fight malaria by paying for better controls, vaccine research and prevention of a disease that kills more than a million people a year.
The Gates Foundation, the world's largest charity, said the new grants would also help pay for better malaria tests and for advocacy to get more attention for the disease.
All totalled, the charity started by Bill Gates, the Microsoft chairman and world's richest man, and his wife, Melinda, has donated US$765 million to fight malaria, which kills one person every 30 seconds.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10415064
New 'Peace model' to challenge Police interview techniques
12.40pm Wednesday December 13, 2006
Police interviewing techniques might be about to undergo a revamp, in an effort to uncover the truth, rather than force a quick confession that could be open to dispute.
A police review over the last year has resulted in an initiative, based on an English "Peace" interviewing model, to be recommended to the Commissioner.
Police News magazine said today the model "provides a framework for gaining the maximum amount of information from an interviewee in the shortest period of time".
No longer would the first aim of a suspect interview be to get a confession.
"Under the new scheme, the aim of all interviews would be to establish the truth."
There were five phases to the Peace model:
* Planning and preparation, which recognised there was no successful interview without planning beforehand;
Engage and explain, which described how to cope with the problems of beginning an interview and established the ground rules;
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10415200
Police need to mind language
Wednesday December 13, 2006
Elizabeth Binning
Police officers' attitude and language ranks highly among complaints to the Police Complaints Authority in the past year.
According to the latest PCA annual report 1741 people made 2829 complaints about the police, most of which were accepted for investigation.
Complaints covered perjury to disgraceful conduct but the main areas of concern were neglect of duty, practice and procedure and the attitude and language of police.
Of the complaints, 96 were partially or fully sustained and 207 were settled after meetings between the police and the complainant.
Professional standards national manager, Superintendent Stuart Wildon, said police made hundreds of thousands of contacts with the public every year. It was therefore expected that there would be occasions when officers failed to meet public expectations.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10415137
Concerns over African methamphetamine-like drug in Hamilton
11.15am Wednesday December 13, 2006By Simon O'Rourke
Hamilton Police are concerned an African plant with methamphetamine-like effects is being imported into New Zealand.
Last week 10 kilos of the plant khat (pronounced cot or chat) were discovered during searches of two houses in Claudelands, Hamilton.
Khat is plant material from the catha edulis tree, a native to north-east Africa.
It is also known as African tea.
Detective Sergeant Karl Thornton says khat is a Class C controlled drug in New Zealand, as is cannabis.
Usually chewed, brewed as a tea, or smoked, it is popular in African and Middle Eastern countries.
Police believed it was being used by some immigrant communities in New Zealand.
Mr Thornton said major concerns centred on the fact the drug was finding its way into the country.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10415187
Month of whiskers raises $700,000
7.00am Wednesday December 13, 2006
The hirsute month of "Movember" - when 11,000 men grew moustaches - raised more than $700,000 for the Prostate Cancer Foundation.
Barry Young, president of the foundation, said the Movember campaign raised the profile of men's health issues and prostate cancer in particular.
Prostate cancer kills 600 men a year.
Cullen tax cuts look like only a matter of time
Wednesday December 13, 2006Paula Oliver
It now appears to be a case of when rather than if Finance Minister Michael Cullen will deliver personal tax cuts.
Yesterday Dr Cullen said Reserve Bank warnings on spending did not mean he had to sit still forever.
Speaking after the Treasury revealed the Government's operating surplus was already $800 million ahead of forecast, Dr Cullen said he had heard Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard warn last week against excessive loosening of the purse strings.
"No Government could ignore the warnings of the Reserve Bank," he said last night. "But nor would I read the bank's messages as an excuse to sit still. The bank is not saying 'never' to tax cuts, it is saying 'not now'."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10415147
Billboards face the boot from Auckland's city centre [+audio]
Wednesday December 13, 2006Bernard Orsman and Claire Trevett
Workers whose drive into town is cheered by a shot of Daniel Carter's abs could soon be disappointed - the council wants to ban central-city billboards so people can appreciate the "buildings, heritage and natural landscape" instead.
Auckland City Council plans to ban billboards in the Queen St valley - from Hobson St across to Anzac Ave - including Britomart, Karangahape Rd and the Viaduct Harbour. It is argued the ban will help to make Auckland an "international city".
But the chief executive of the Communication Agencies Association, Mark Champion, said it would be more like the "Eastern Bloc before the fall of the Berlin Wall".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10415146
Anger as transtasman drug agency bill passes first reading
Wednesday December 13, 2006Ruth Berry
A controversial bill creating a transtasman drug agency passed its first reading yesterday, hours after Winston Peters strode out to confront a protest on Parliament's forecourt, angrily denying he'd reneged on promises.
If passed, the bill will mean complementary medicines - natural health products and dietary supplements - are regulated for the first time.
This has angered consumer groups, which believe the costs and the way the Australians have regulated the medicines will force many smaller producers out of business and products off the shelves.
Critics also argue it raises sovereignty questions and will remove New Zealanders' health choices.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10415132
Rotorua park eruption spews out mud and rocks
Wednesday December 13, 2006
The biggest eruption in Kuirau Park since 2001 has served as another reminder Rotorua is at the mercy of unpredictable geothermal activity.
Steam pressure under a mud pool broke through the surface causing an eruption at 7pm on Sunday. Nobody was in the immediate vicinity at the time.
It lasted about an hour and blew mud 15m high over a 30m radius around the pool, singeing trees and grass.
The area, close to the site of an eruption in 2001, has been draped in a ghostly grey coating of mud.
Crystal, 12, and Daniel West, 9, live on Tarewa Rd near the Rotorua Aquatic Centre and saw the "massive explosion" while they were outside their house.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10415083
Fiji police suspended from Pacific police organisation
12.30pm Wednesday December 13, 2006
In an unprecedented move, Fiji has been suspended from the Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police (PICP).
Suspension followed an urgent ballot by members, which include New Zealand.
"The PICP members have agreed to suspend Fiji police from participating in the activities of the PICP, pending the restoration of the rule of law in Fiji," chairman Hazime Telei of Palau said.
"The members expressed their strong concern at the intimidation shown against the Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes, and his senior staff."
Mr Telei said this included the unlawful detention of the acting commissioner and assistant commissioner, which subsequently forced their resignations from the Fiji police force.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10415198
Fiji sliding into Saddam-like dictatorship, Qarase says
Wednesday December 13, 2006
By Paul Mulvey
SUVA - Fiji's deposed prime minister Laisenia Qarase says the country is sliding into a dictatorship to compare with Saddam Hussein's Iraq as he denied claims he was plotting to set up a de facto government.
Military ruler Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama, who seized power from Qarase in a bloodless coup last Tuesday, today said he had received information that the former prime minister was planning to set up a de facto government in the country's west.
Bainimarama warned Qarase and his supporters that any rival government would be put down and those assisting would be "putting themselves in harm's way."
Qarase vehemently denied he was plotting a new government from his home island Vanuabalavu where he was banished following the coup.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10415104
Date set for sentence review of 2002 Bali bombers
Wednesday December 13, 2006By Olivia Rondonuwu
DENPASAR, Indonesia - The first hearing date has been set for the review of the death sentence of the three key 2002 Bali bombers, despite a defence plea to move the trial location away from Bali.
Denpasar District Court - where the death sentence was first handed to "smiling bomber" Amrozi, his brother Ali Ghufron, alias Mukhlas and Imam Samudra - will hear the reopening of the case for the first time on December 22.
Lawyers for the trio last week filed their Supreme Court challenge to the executions, arguing the anti-terrorism law used to convict the men was retroactive because it was introduced after the 2002 bombings and could not be applied.
The men were convicted of playing lead roles in the Bali nightclub attacks, which killed 202 people, including three New Zealanders and 88 Australians.
The executions of the bombers - originally set down for July - was delayed after their lawyers said they planned to lodge the judicial review in the Indonesian Supreme Court months ago.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10415102
Voters happy to overlook economy in Iran elections
Wednesday December 13, 2006Edmund Blair
TEHRAN - Prices are steadily rising, Iran's queues of jobless remain stubbornly long and investors are keeping a tight hold on their purse strings.
The perfect recipe, it would seem, for voters to punish President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his supporters in local council elections on Friday, the first nationwide vote since the presidential election last year.
But that's not the message from those struggling to make ends meet in Iran's sprawling capital.
"I support Ahmadinejad because he is a righteous person and it is not his fault if inflation is high. It has always been going up. It has no relation to Ahmadinejad whatsoever," said Ali Farrokhi, 20, who runs a stall selling electrical supplies.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10415075
Austria to rebuild Jewish sport club shut by Nazis
8.20am Tuesday December 12, 2006
By Alexandra Zawadil
VIENNA - Austria laid foundation stones today for the reconstruction of SC Hakoah Vienna, a Jewish sports club that was closed in the 1938 Nazi takeover of the country.
Officials said the planned 57 million euros ($110 million) complex, to include a school and synagogue, underlined the rising status of Jews in the post-war Austrian democracy after their community was all but wiped out by the Nazi Holocaust.
Ariel Muzicant, head of Austria's 6000-member Jewish community, said the Hakoah facilities to be completed in 2008 in Vienna's flagship Prater park, with partial state financing, would be the largest such Jewish centre in Europe.
"It's almost 70 years since the property was 'aryanised' by the Nazis, but just 18 months since we obtained restitution," Muzicant told reporters. "I believe this is an essential contribution to the viability of the Jewish community."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10414958
Mozart's entire musical score now free on internet
9.20am Tuesday December 12, 2006
LONDON - Mozart's year-long 250th birthday party is ending on a high note with the musical scores of his complete works available from today for the first time free on the internet.
The International Mozart Foundation in Salzburg, Austria has put a scholarly edition of the bound volumes of Mozart's more than 600 works on a website http://dme.mozarteum.at.
The site allows visitors to find specific symphonies, arias or even single lines of text from some 24,000 pages of music.
"We had 45,000 hits in the first two hours...we would not have expected that," programme director Ulrich Leisinger told Reuters in a telephone interview.
A user who types in "Pamina" from Mozart's opera "The Magic Flute" will see the music for all five arias she sings, as well as critical texts discussing those passages.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10414964
Bush delays announcing new Iraq strategy until early 2007
10.00am Wednesday December 13, 2006
By Tabassum Zakaria
WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush will delay announcing a new strategy for Iraq until the New Year, aides said today amid new polls showing Americans are more pessimistic about the war and want a change.
A senior White House official said after Bush held talks with US military commanders that the president was "more likely now" to announce his new policy early in 2007.
Aides previously said Bush hoped to announce a new strategy next week, before the Christmas holiday.
"The point here was not to meet a deadline but to get the job done right and there's still work to be done," the official said on condition of anonymity.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10415170
Annan warns US against go-it-alone diplomacy
10.00am Tuesday December 12, 2006
INDEPENDENCE - Kofi Annan, in his last major speech as UN secretary general, urged the United States today to shun go-it-alone diplomacy and collaborate on its world challenges, including the Iraq war.
In a farewell address delivered at Harry Truman's presidential library in Independence, Missouri, Annan praised the 33rd US president's legacy, and quoted Truman in cautioning that "no nation can make itself secure by seeking supremacy over all others."
Truman was a strong backer of the United Nations and was president when it came into being. The presidential library said it was chosen as the site for Annan's last big speech because of Truman's role in helping found the United Nations.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10414970
Two more bodies found in prostitute murder hunt
8.35am Wednesday December 13, 2006By Michael Holden and Matthew Jones
LONDON - Police hunting a possible serial killer targeting prostitutes said they had found two more bodies today and that they believed five sex workers had now been found dead in the last ten days.
The head of the small local police force said his detectives were facing an "unprecedented" investigation as they attempted to solve five murders in and around Ipswich.
"I can confirm this afternoon two bodies have been found," said Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull.
He said the bodies were probably those of missing prostitutes Paula Clennell, 24, who has not been seen since Sunday, and of 29-year-old Annette Nicholls, who has been missing for at least a week.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10415157
Parents of missing prostitute remember 'wonderful girl'
Wednesday December 13, 2006Terri Judd
IPSWICH - "I never in my worst nightmares thought your life would turn out like this," read the card attached to a bunch of flowers where Gemma Adams was last seen.
To her parents, she was still the intelligent, animated child who had played the piano and joined the Brownies while growing up in the comfortable suburb of Kesgrave, near Ipswich.
Yesterday, it became increasingly likely that Adams, the girl who was once so devoted to her dog, Holly, would forever be linked with the ravages of a serial killer.
Brian and Gail Adams were still reeling from the news, broken to them two weeks ago, that their "wonderful" daughter was working as a prostitute and had disappeared off the streets of Ipswich. A fortnight later, police returned to tell them the 25-year-old's naked body had been found in a brook a few kilometres away.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10415099
Police say prostitutes 'hold key' to killer
Wednesday December 13, 2006
LONDON - Police hunting the killer of at least two prostitutes in East Anglia said on Tuesday they believe the street walkers of Ipswich may have vital information that could help identify the murderer.
"I am convinced the working prostitutes in Ipswich probably hold the key as to who is responsible and they need to contact Suffolk Police with any suspicions they may have," said Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull.
He appealed for sex workers to come forward after police mounted high-visibility patrols in the red light area of the city overnight.
Gull said it was too early to say whether one individual or more were behind the murders. Three prostitutes have been found dead and two more reported missing.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10415105
Two African Union staff kidnapped in Sudan
Tuesday December 12, 2006
KHARTOUM - Armed men have kidnapped two African Union military personnel in Sudan.
"The force commander of the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) is utterly dismayed at the hijacking yesterday...of an AMIS vehicle together with two military personnel by unidentified armed men," the AU said in a statement.
The AU called on the kidnappers to release the two and their vehicle immediately and unconditionally.
No more details were immediately available.
The AU maintains a 7000-strong force in Sudan's Darfur region to monitor a peace agreement that has so far failed to halt violence there.
It agreed just a fortnight ago to extend the mandate of its Darfur force for six months, after Sudan rejected proposals for the deployment of a larger United Nations force to replace it.
Euthanasia debate rages in Italy as man asks to die
8.15am Wednesday December 13, 2006
ROME - Supporters and opponents of euthanasia today awaited a court's ruling on the fate of a paralysed, terminally ill Italian man who wants doctors to take him off life support so he can die.
The case of 60-year-old Piergiorgio Welby has sparked fierce debate in the predominantly Roman Catholic country where euthanasia is illegal.
Welby suffers from advanced muscular dystrophy and is confined to a bed, attached to a respirator. But he has become one of the most recognised faces in the country.
Welby, who is lucid and speaks via a computer that interprets his eye movements, has appeared on news programs and written to Italy's president and newspapers asking to be allowed to "find peace for my tortured and shattered body".
A Rome court began examining an appeal on his behalf on Tuesday but the ruling could take days.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10415153
continued …
Police hunt serial killer as two more bodies bring toll to five
An urgent manhunt was under way last night after a suspected serial killer claimed the lives of two more prostitutes, bringing the number of young women murdered in Suffolk to five.
The naked bodies of the two sex workers were found dumped in fields close to Ipswich.
A police chief described the killings as "unprecedented" and said they were progressing at a more alarming rate than in the case of Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, who murdered 13 women between 1975 and 1980.
Officers from throughout the country have been drafted in to help the beleaguered Suffolk police force as fears grow that the killer will strike again.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article2070211.ece
Wanted: cultural anthropologist to sort out Seattle's 'holiday trees'
In Seattle, Christmas has already come, and gone, and come back again. One day, the seasonal trees that adorn the international terminal at Seattle-Tacoma airport were there, all twinkling with lights and brightly coloured decorations.
The next day they were gone, victims of a bizarre bureaucratic tussle involving a litigious Orthodox rabbi and a cast of overzealous, politically correct officials terrified of either offending or indulging anyone's religious sensibilities.
In the US as in Britain, this sort of nonsense is becoming an annual phenomenon that right-wing cable news pundits like to call "The War on Christmas".
The furore in Seattle began when a Jewish building consultant wondered if it would not be a good idea to erect a giant menorah next to the traditional airport Christmas trees to acknowledge the Jewish seasonal holiday, Hanukkah. When that idea was rejected, a local Hasidic rabbi, Elazar Bogomilsky, became enraged and threatened to sue the airport if he was not personally allowed to erect and light an 8ft menorah.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2070196.ece
Independent Appeal: Rusty van which supplies Gaza's life-blood
Dr Hassan Deed Suleiman stares at the three pieces of ricketymachinery that stand between him and a meltdown in Gaza's hospital network.
"We do not have back-ups for any of the essential components of our largest blood bank," he says, shaking his head. "If - when - one of them breaks, we will not be able to do proper blood transfusions in much of Gaza. The flow of blood to our hospitals will stop. The effects will be terrible."
Dr Suleiman is the director of Shifa Blood Bank, which supplies 60 per cent of the blood needed in Gaza, for everything from Caesarean sections to bomb victims to haemophiliacs. He talks over the low, unhealthy hum of the battered pieces of old equipment: the refrigerator that stores blood until it can be processed; the centrifuge that separates blood into its components; and the incubator that keeps the resulting platelets warm.
"All of these machines have been in continuous use since 1996," he says. "How much longer can they last?"
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2070204.ece
No 10 hosts green business summit
Executives from some of Britain's biggest firms, with a combined total of 250 million customers, met at 10 Downing Street yesterday to work out a combined plan for a new range of "green" products, to be launched in the new year.
Companies such as Tesco, Marks & Spencer, HSBC, BSkyB, B&Q, O2 and The Carphone Warehouse have committed themselves to "accelerating the roll-out of practical, simple solutions" to help consumers reduce carbon emissions.
The BBC director general Mark Thompson, and the Bishop of London, Richard Chartres, also joined the breakfast summit with the Prime Minister and the Environment Secretary, David Miliband. A statement from the firms described their action as "a partnership of collective effort: major brands and organisations reducing their own impact, while simultaneously facilitating action among their customers". Their campaign starts in March.
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2067575.ece
Woman gets double hand transplant
A Spanish woman has been given the world's first double hand transplant, doctors have disclosed.
The patient, known only as Alba, was said to be recovering well after the 10-hour, pioneering operation in which surgeons used microscopic technology to attach an anonymous donor's hands to her arms. The 47-year-old, whose hands were amputated after a laboratory explosion 20 years ago, was pleased with the results. "They look beautiful," she said.
The go-ahead for the operation was given by Spain's National Organisation for Transplants. After finding a donor, understood to be a woman declared brain dead after an accident, the operation was scheduled for 30 November. The limbs had been removed from above the elbow, chilled and transported to Hospital La Fe in Valencia in less than five hours. Surgeons then joined the bones using metal plates and screws before connecting the nerves, arteries and veins.
The lead surgeon, Pedro Cavadas, said he hoped the surgery would enable Alma, from Castellon, to gain feeling and even limited movement within six weeks.
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2070189.ece
Diet guide warns of weight loss risks
Amid the avalanche of seasonal diet books the Government's watchdog on new treatments today adds another to the pile - with the first official advice on what constitutes the ideal weight-loss diet.
It warns that crash dieting may be dangerous and recommends cutting down by no more than the equivalent of one Mars bar and one Danish pastry a day as the most effective way of losing weight.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article2070206.ece
Fiji Times
Bainimarama reassures Fiji investors
1840 FJTWednesday, December 13, 2006
Update: 6.40PM Fiji's military rulers have assured local and overseas investors that their investments are absolutely safe and they should continue with their businesses with full confidence and trust".
Head of the military regime Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama has also assured that existing as well as potential investments will continue unhindered.
Commodore Bainimarama said at a press conference an hour ago that the primary aim of the army's "clean-up campaign" was to rid Fiji of bad governance and the endemic corruption which existed under the SDL leadership".
"Both these malpractices have been a great disincentive and hindrance to doing business in Fiji. Our rating as an ideal place to do business continued to show mixed results in the last 6 years," he said.
"As a result, this country has been denied with much needed new and incremental capital, skills and export marketing opportunities. Investors have been in many instances given a 'merry go round' or pushed from 'pillar to post'. This in effect has given them the perception that things do not get facilitated in Fiji without money changing hands, especially 'under the table or side deals'.
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=53460
Military regime makes new appointments
1830 FJTWednesday, December 13, 2006
Update: 6.30PM Fiji's military regime has announced a list of new appointments made this afternoon.
Self-appointed President Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama confirmed that Fijian Affairs Ministry CEO Adi Litia Qionibaravi's contract had been terminated.
Adi Litia was reportedly ordered out of her office by armed soldiers earlier this afternoon.
Commodore Bainimarama's brother Ratu Meli, a career civil servant, has been chosen to replace Adi Litia.
Ratu Meli was previously CEO Provincial Development.
As well Rodney Acraman has been appointed acting Ombudsman. The office had been vacant since earlier this year when incumbent Walter Rigamoto, a lawyer by profession, resigned to go into private.
Justice Ministry CEO Sakiusa Rabuka will also be acting Solicitor-General after Nainendra Nand was sacked by the military government. This is until a suitable person is identified.
Qarase, Ratu Josefa 'are weak leaders'
1850 FJTWednesday, December 13, 2006
Update: 6.50PM Deposed Fiji prime minister Laisenia Qarase and president Ratu Josefa Iloilo have been described as weak leaders who forced the military's hand.
And former prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka, who was acquitted of mutiny charges two days ago, said the two were to blame for the crisis in Fiji.
Mr Rabuka, a former army commander, told local media in an interview that Mr Qarase should have seen the military takeover coming.
He adds that had the two men listened to the military's concerns, things would be different.
Despite his comments, Mr Rabuka said he did not support the coup.
He conducted Fiji's first military coup in 1987, deposing the Labour coalition government of Prime Minister Timoci Bavadra.
Fiji province confirms rival government plans
1715 FJTWednesday, December 13, 2006
Update: 5.15PM One of Fiji's largest and most populous provinces has confirmed plans to form a 'de facto' government.
The Ba Province, which forms the bulk of the western part of the main island Viti Levu, has confirmed that it discussed a suggestion to offer deposed Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase "the opportunity to establish his government on its soil".
The confirmation has come from a council member who refused to be named.
The council member told Pacific news agency service PACNEWS that the idea of offering Ba Province as the seat of a rival government was later adopted in the form of a meeting resolution.
"These councillors say the offer should be made as a way to protest the unlawful action of the Fiji military in removing a government that we had elected into power," the source said.
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=53457
US, Aussies demand return to democracy
1300 FJTWednesday, December 13, 2006
Update: 1PM The US and Australia have demanded a return to democracy in Fiji after last week's military coup and expressed concern about recent political instability in the South Pacific region.
The Fijian military must "return the country immediately to the elected civilian government" and "withdraw completely from politics", said US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer in a joint statement following talks in Washington yesterday.
Rice and Downer "agreed to continue to work together to help Pacific island countries build stability, democratic governance and economic reforms", according to the statement.
They agreed to encourage other countries in the region and elsewhere to support the same objectives.
It's the first time someone in US President George Bush's inner sanctum has made a comment on the situation in Fiji.
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=53451
Provinces back Qarase, rule of law
1515 FJTWednesday, December 13, 2006
Update: 3.15PM The home province of Fiji's deposed Prime Minister says it will only support democratically elected Government.
Chairman of the Lau Provincial Council Ratu Josefa Basulu says the province of Lau "fully supports" Laisenia Qarase's government and that has never changed despite the military takeover of the elected government.
Ratu Josefa is also paramount chief of Mualevu district, where Mr Qarases Mavana Village is situated.
He said the province would only support a government that was elected through the rule of law by the people and would make this clear at next week's Great Council of Chiefs meeting to be held in Suva.
Ratu Josefa made the comments despite the fact that military-appointed prime minister Dr Jona Senilagakali is also from the same province.
Dr Senilagakali is from Waciwaci in Lakeba.
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=53454
Use of public funds
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
WHILE a proposal by the military regime to scrap the budgeted 2.5 per cent increase in VAT will be very popular among the poor and ordinary citizens, it comes with a cost.
It's simple: if the regime takes away a source of revenue, it must find an alternative source to fund government services which it has promised the people to continue providing through this crisis.
Either that or it must put in place drastic cost-cutting measures to avoid plunging the Government into a worse financial mess which will take years to put right.
This may come down to reducing the size of the civil service, a decision which it may be reluctant to consider in the political climate.
Pay cuts for civil servants is the other option which was implemented after the May 2000 illegal takeover of the Chaudhry-led government. But again because it will be very unpopular, the military regime may not consider it just yet.
Civil servants are due for another cost of living adjustment before Christmas and this will put an extra burden on the government coffers.
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?item=leader
Revive tourism: Economist
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
THERE is an urgent need to move the economy of the country forward and critical to this is the restoration of law and order, says an economist from the Australian National University.
Doctor Satish Chand said the guarantee of law and order was critical for the tourism industry to return to normalcy.
He said economic managers should concentrate on reviving tourism because this was the one industry with the most potential for growth and employment creation.
"If we are able to revive this industry quickly and effectively, then the economic fallout from the coup could be contained," said Dr Chand.
For the interim government, Dr Chand said managing government finances would be the biggest immediate challenge.
He said government finances and the country's foreign reserve positions are both in perilous state thus extreme care would have to be taken to avert a fiscal and balance of payments crisis.
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=53431
Los Angeles Times
Rash of murders has England fearing another 'Ripper'
London -- Dread mounted that the peaceful east coast of England had given birth to a new "Ripper" as police hunted Tuesday for the killer of five women whose bodies were discovered in the past two weeks.In recent days, police reported that three bodies had been found naked and abandoned around the city of Ipswich in Suffolk county. Tuesday afternoon, Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull, head of the Suffolk police crime-management team, told journalists that officers had found two more bodies.
Gull said the women were believed to be prostitutes, although the bodies found Tuesday had yet to be identified. The discoveries revived memories of the reign of "Yorkshire Ripper" Peter Sutcliffe, who killed 13 women, many of them prostitutes, in northern England in the late 1970s. Nearly a century earlier, Jack the Ripper slit the throats of five prostitutes in London's East End; his identity is still a mystery.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-ripper13dec13,0,256734.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Ex-LAPD officer linked to stabbing
The watchman who stabbed an intruder at the Beverly Hills mansion of celebrity fitness trainer Gunnar Peterson is a former police officer awaiting trial on charges he lied and created false documents to become a security guard, police and prosecutors confirmed today.Michael Buchanan, a former LAPD officer, was identified in court documents as the security guard who stabbed Nicholas Samuel Marino after he broke into the home Wednesday of Peterson and his wife, Janet.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-121206cop,0,4861943.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Poll finds a U.S. public weary of war in iraq
WASHINGTON -- A majority of Americans favor setting a fixed timetable for bringing troops home from Iraq and just 12 percent would support a plan to increase troop strength, an option under serious consideration by the military, a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found.A month after the midterm election switched control of Congress to the Democrats, respondents expressed low confidence in President Bush's ability to resolve the conflict in Iraq. By a hefty margin they said Iraq should be the top priority for the new Congress, with a plurality of 45 percent saying they had more trust in Democrats to handle the war. Only 34 percent said they had more confidence in the president, who has rejected the idea of setting a timetable for withdrawing troops.Nearly two-thirds said they believe Iraq has descended into "civil war," which Bush has denied.At a time when the Bush administration is at work on a new strategy for Iraq and is resisting calls to start bringing troops home, the poll suggests that the president and his staff are out of step with public opinion.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-poll12dec12,0,6072121.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Kerry to Meet Soldiers, Leaders in Iraq
By ANDREW MIGA, Associated Press Writer9:34 PM PST, December 12, 2006
WASHINGTON -- Sen. John Kerry, whose botched joke about U.S. troops in Iraq dealt a blow to his presidential ambitions, will travel to Iraq this weekend to meet with soldiers, political leaders and military officials. "I've talked to plenty of guys who've come back from Iraq, who are there now, who understand exactly what happened," Kerry said of his joke in a telephone interview Tuesday with The Associated Press. "They laugh at it."
The Iraq stop will be part of a nine-day Mideast trip that includes stops in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Israel. A week before the midterm elections, Kerry told a group of California students that individuals who don't study hard and do their homework would likely "get stuck in Iraq." He said he meant to say "get us stuck in Iraq," but the botched joke intended to criticize President Bush forced the senator to apologize and then lay low for the remaining days of the campaign.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top12dec12,0,710854.story?coll=la-ap-topnews-headlines
Military Meets, Exceeds Recruiting Goals
By PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press Writer8:11 PM PST, December 12, 2006
WASHINGTON -- Though Americans are increasingly pessimistic about the war in Iraq, the Pentagon said Tuesday it is having success enlisting new troops. The Navy and Air Force met their recruiting goals last month while the Army and Marine Corps exceeded theirs, the Defense Department announced. The Army, which is bearing the brunt of the work in Iraq, did the best. It signed up 6,485 new recruits in November compared with its target of 6,150 -- meaning 105 percent of its goal.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top14dec12,0,1497288.story?coll=la-ap-topnews-headlines
Nuclear 'slip of the lip' puts Olmert on hot seat
Jerusalem -- For half a century, military censors have struggled to defend Israel's worst-kept secret -- that the country possesses atomic weapons.Even as its nuclear history has leaked into declassified documents, articles and books, an official policy of "ambiguity" has endured: By refusing to confirm or deny that it has the bomb, and refraining from testing one, Israel has lived up to a quiet understanding with the United States to avoid fueling a Middle East arms race.So why does it appear that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert finally spilled the beans?In an interview on German television late Monday, the Israeli leader seemed to list Israel among the world's nuclear club, raising an outcry across the political spectrum here and questions about whether the long-standing policy had been abandoned.Asked by the interviewer about Iran's calls for the destruction of Israel, Olmert replied that Israel had never threatened to annihilate anyone.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-secret13dec13,0,6950596.story?track=mostviewed-storylevel
KILLINGS PUT GAZA ON EDGE
The gunning down of a Palestinian official's sons inflames tensions between rival factions.
GAZA CITY — Leaders of the Fatah Party accused gunmen of deliberately ambushing and killing the three young sons of a senior Palestinian intelligence officer Monday, an attack that threatened to escalate fighting between rival factions.The boys and their driver were killed by black-masked men who riddled their car with more than 60 rounds of automatic-weapons fire as they were leaving for school. The boys' father, Col. Baha Balousheh, a Fatah loyalist who dodged a September shooting by Hamas militants, was not in the car.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-gaza12dec12,0,7519656.story?coll=la-headlines-world
UCLA seeks to allay fears on data breach
While some potential victims see a connection to identity theft, UCLA officials say there's no evidence of misuse.
By Rebecca Trounson and Stuart Silverstein, Times Staff Writers9:56 PM PST, December 12, 2006
Mari Nicholson doesn't know for sure that her recent problems with identity theft have anything to do with a major computer security breach disclosed this week by UCLA. But it might explain some weird coincidences.Nicholson, a 2003 UCLA graduate, was among those who received e-mail notification Tuesday that their personal information may have been stolen by hackers who broke into a central UCLA database in the fall of 2005 and had access to sensitive records until last month.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ucla13dec13,0,7569895.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Vehicle mileage estimates get real
Ratings for '08 models, especially hybrids, will drop in new EPA tests.
By John O'Dell, Times Staff WriterDecember 12, 2006
That 55-mile-per-gallon hybrid car you've been eyeing may end up being a 44-mpg hybrid if you wait for the 2008 model.The federal Environmental Protection Agency announced a new system Monday for evaluating fuel economy that will lower mileage estimates for most vehicles.
On average, vehicles rated under the 2008 method will post a 12% drop in city gasoline mileage and an 8% decline in highway mileage, said Bill Wehrum, the EPA's acting assistant administrator for air and radiation.With the new testing requirements, the EPA is attempting to come up with estimates that more closely reflect the real-world mileage motorists can expect when they purchase a vehicle.Under the current system, which has been in effect since 1975 and was last changed in 1984, actual mileage is often far lower than the posted EPA ratings.Hybrids will be hit harder because the new test eliminates some of the all-electric driving that helped them produce impressive results under the present system, Wehrum said.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-fuel12dec12,0,1026595.story?coll=la-home-business
Craft spots huge mountain range on Titan
By John Johnson Jr., Times Staff Writer5:33 PM PST, December 12, 2006
San Francisco -- The Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn has found a mile-high mountain range on the giant moon Titan, scientists said Tuesday.The range, which lies in the moon's southern hemisphere, is nearly 100 miles long. It is the tallest range on Titan found by Cassini, which has been investigating the Saturnian satellite for the past two years.
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-titan13dec13,0,417377.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Older cement kilns get EPA pass on mercury
Plants built more than a year ago, including 11 in California, won't have to upgrade controls.
By Janet Wilson, Times Staff WriterDecember 12, 2006
The Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday it would not require cement manufacturers — including the nation's largest emitter, in Tehachapi, Calif. — to upgrade plants to control mercury.Cement kilns are an integral part of the building boom in Southern California and elsewhere, turning raw limestone and waste ash from coal plants into the material used to build highways, tract homes and commercial developments.
Mercury, which can be emitted when stone or coal ash is processed, is a potent neurotoxin that can harm developing brains. The emissions also pollute water bodies.Environmental groups that sued under the federal Clean Air Act to force tighter controls said the decision ignored two court orders. The EPA's ruling will require kilns built in December 2005 and onward to limit and measure actual emissions. The agency said that would reduce emissions by as much as 3,000 pounds, in an industry estimated to emit 6.6 tons of mercury annually. But the regulators said that upgrading existing plants would be too costly for industry and the resulting air-quality improvements would be too scant.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-cement12dec12,0,7688748.story?coll=la-home-nation
Justice on Katrina time
Hundreds, if not thousands, languish behind bars without their day in court.
NEW ORLEANS — In October 2005, less than two months after Hurricane Katrina struck, Pedro Parra-Sanchez was arrested for allegedly stabbing a man with a broken bottle during a fight. With the city's prison damaged by flooding, he was taken to a makeshift jail at the Greyhound bus station, then transferred to a correctional facility about 70 miles away, and later to a prison in southwest Louisiana. That's where Parra-Sanchez sat for more than a year — never seeing a lawyer or setting foot in a courtroom. At the time of the fight, he had been in New Orleans only six days: He'd left his family in Bakersfield, Calif., and come to help with the storm cleanup effort. By law, the district attorney should have brought Parra-Sanchez to court to formally charge him within 60 days. Instead, "he disappeared," said Pamela R. Metzger, director of Tulane University's Criminal Law Clinic. "The system failed."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-defenders12dec12,0,2624049.story?coll=la-home-nation
Used furniture for school kids
About 400 school administrators spend their Saturday mornings scrambling for a talent agency's unwanted office furniture.
By Roger Lowenstein, ROGER LOWENSTEIN is the founder and executive director of the Los Angeles Leadership Academy, a public charter middle and high school in Koreatown.December 12, 2006
IF ANYONE NEEDED evidence of the chronic underfunding of public education in Los Angeles, one only had to show up at 8 a.m. Saturday morning at Creative Artists Agency's world headquarters in Beverly Hills.The talent agency, about to move into new offices in Century City, offered its castoff office furniture to the Los Angeles Unified School District. The line of 400 administrators, principals, assistant principals and teachers stretched around CAA's massive marble building on Wilshire Boulevard. Each person would be allowed to place tags on five pieces of furniture. As executive director of a public charter school, I jumped at the opportunity too. My school was No. 109.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-lowenstein12dec12,0,1328174.story?coll=la-opinion-center
New York Times
Strains on Nature Are Growing, Report Says
By REUTERS Published: March 31, 2005
SLO, March 30 - Humans are damaging the planet at a rapid rate and raising risks of abrupt collapses in nature that could spur disease, deforestation or "dead zones" in the seas, an international report said Wednesday.
The study, by 1,360 researchers in 95 nations, the biggest review of the planet's life support systems ever, said that in the last 50 years a rising human population had polluted or overexploited two-thirds of the ecological systems on which life depends, including clean air and fresh water. "At the heart of this assessment is a stark warning," said the 45-member board of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. "Human activity is putting such strain on the natural functions of earth that the ability of the planet's ecosystems to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted."
The report said future strains on nature could bring sudden outbreaks of disease. Warming of the Great Lakes in Africa from climate change, for instance, could create conditions for a spread of cholera.
The study urged changes in consumption, better education, new technology and higher prices for exploiting ecosystems.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/31/science/31enviro.html?ex=1166072400&en=fb96666c9588c85e&ei=5070
New Zealand Herald
EU warns four countries over missing CO2 plans
12.30pm Wednesday December 13, 2006
BRUSSELS - The European Commission issued final warnings to Austria, Denmark, Hungary and Italy today for failing to submit plans that allocate how much carbon dioxide (CO2) their industries may emit in 2008-2012.
The Commission sent "reasoned opinions" to the four countries, the final legal step before taking them to the European Court of Justice -- Europe's highest court.
The plans are the cornerstone of the European Union's emissions trading scheme.
Companies receive permits to emit CO2 -- the main gas blamed for global warming -- and trade them on a market. EU states set limits on how much CO2 power plants or oil refineries may emit, and the companies buy or sell the allowances based on whether they overshoot or undershoot their caps.
The plans for the next trading period from 2008-2012 were due to the Commission on June 30. Aside from the four nations that have yet to submit, France withdrew its plan at the last minute last month in the face of likely rejection by the EU.
"For the good functioning of the Emissions Trading Scheme we will have no choice but to take them to court if they do not send their allocation plans soon," Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said in a statement.
The Commission said it was also taking action against seven member states "for failing to provide complete reports on their progress in limiting or cutting greenhouse gas emissions".
The seven were France, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Estonia, Luxembourg and Spain.
The Commission also said it was taking Finland, Sweden and Portugal to the European Court of Justice for failing to ensure proper treatment of urban waste water in a significant number of towns and cities.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10415185
Australia bushfires burn across three states
12.10am Wednesday December 13, 2006
CANBERRA - Bushfires burned across three Australian states today, destroying houses and blackening an area larger than Luxembourg, with one major fire front stretching 250 kilometres.
A firestorm on the southern island state of Tasmania struck the east coast town of Scamander, destroying up to 23 houses, although hard-pressed firefighters had little time to assess the damage as gusting winds opened fresh fronts. "You could hear houses exploding and trees going down, you could see the flames roaring up over the hill," resident Sue Brown told local media.
In Victoria, bushfires sparked by lightning strikes continued to burn in rugged bushland in the northeast of the state, destroying more than 280,000 hectares.
Two of the largest fires had linked to form a 250-km front, although cooler weather was assisting a 2,000-strong force of firefighters, troops and 45 water-bombing aircraft before the forecast return of soaring temperatures later in the week.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10415182
Fiji police suspended from Pacific police organisation
12.30pm Wednesday December 13, 2006
In an unprecedented move, Fiji has been suspended from the Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police (PICP).
Suspension followed an urgent ballot by members, which include New Zealand.
"The PICP members have agreed to suspend Fiji police from participating in the activities of the PICP, pending the restoration of the rule of law in Fiji," chairman Hazime Telei of Palau said.
"The members expressed their strong concern at the intimidation shown against the Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes, and his senior staff."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10415198
Fiji sliding into Saddam-like dictatorship, Qarase says
Wednesday December 13, 2006By Paul Mulvey
SUVA - Fiji's deposed prime minister Laisenia Qarase says the country is sliding into a dictatorship to compare with Saddam Hussein's Iraq as he denied claims he was plotting to set up a de facto government.
Military ruler Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama, who seized power from Qarase in a bloodless coup last Tuesday, today said he had received information that the former prime minister was planning to set up a de facto government in the country's west.
Bainimarama warned Qarase and his supporters that any rival government would be put down and those assisting would be "putting themselves in harm's way."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10415104
NZ mammal fossil find could rewrite textbooks
Wednesday December 13, 2006
The discovery of three small bones near St Bathans in Central Otago is set to rewrite the textbooks on New Zealand evolution.
A team led by palaeontologist Trevor Worthy and Te Papa fossil curator Alan Tennyson discovered the remains of what is a primitive land mammal five years ago.
The creature, believed to be about the size of a mouse, was between 16 to 19 million years old.
The fossils, which were sent to Australia for further analysis, were found in layers of sediment in a site near St Bathans Loop Rd.
Mr Tennyson said the mammal might not be big in size but it was one of the most important fossil finds in New Zealand's history.
"This ranks up there with the discovery of the first moa bones, the first dinosaur bones in New Zealand," he said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10415144
Glide time easy on McCaw's bones
Wednesday December 13, 2006
Richie McCaw at the controls over Omarama. He first flew solo about a year ago.
"Hell, it's awesome," Richie McCaw beams while describing gliding.
And, the All Black captain says, standing on the bustling Omarama Airfield with gliders taking off every few minutes: "It's great not getting bashed up."
McCaw, 25, is in Omarama honing his skills in a sport he took up a couple of years ago, inspired by the gliders he used to see at his parents' farm in the Hakataramea Valley, the former base of the North Otago Gliding Club.
His father, Donald, was keen on gliding and McCaw recalls being around gliders when he was young.
While he had flown fixed-wing aircraft since 2002, clocking up 180 hours, gliding was providing a different challenge - and he was loving it.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10415143
World-class Eden Park vital to Cup: rugby chief
Wednesday December 13, 2006 Bernard Orsman
Rugby Union chairman Jock Hobbs has made an impassioned plea for a world-class stadium at Eden Park amid speculation that a cheap upgrade is on the cards for the 2011 World Cup.
"To maximise the benefits of hosting the tournament, Rugby World Cup 2011 needs to be flawlessly delivered and we need to have a centre-stage, world-class, 60,000-seat stadium that all of New Zealand can be proud of," the former All Black captain said.
Mr Hobbs was speaking in Auckland yesterday at the resource consent hearing for a $320 million upgrade of the existing stadium - subsequently notched up by the Eden Park Trust Board to a "legacy masterplan" costing $385 million.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10415134
Prisoner transport changes to start 'right at the top'
Wednesday December 13, 2006
Corrections Minister Damien O'Connor says an overhaul of the prisoner transportation system will start at the top.
A Corrections report into Liam Ashley's violent death in a prison van on August 24 detailed a series of miscommunications, errors and misunderstandings that culminated in the teenager's murder.
Ian Ashley, father of the dead 17-year-old, said the family were considering suing the department for putting his son in the same compartment of the prison van as his killer, George Baker.
Questioned in Parliament, Mr O'Connor said he would oversee changes to the Corrections system to prevent such a tragedy happening again.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10415129
NZ scientists make malaria advance
Wednesday December 13, 2006
New Zealand researchers are working on a novel weapon to combat malaria parasites that kill about two million people a year, mostly in the tropics.
A team of chemists at Crown research institute Industrial Research in Lower Hutt is working with Albert Einstein Medical College in the US to exploit the fact that malaria parasites cannot make compounds called purines needed for reproduction.
The parasites must salvage and recycle purines from the red blood cells of their human "host".
The project is partly funded by Swiss non-profit organisation Medicines for Malaria and its drug discovery and technology director, New Zealander Ian Bathurst.
Industrial Research, in collaboration with the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, has designed and synthesised a new class of compounds it calls "immucillins", one dose of which could provide a month's protection from malaria.
Potentially the immucillins could help clinicians reduce the effects of a range of auto-immune conditions such as arthritis, prevent rejection in organ transplants, and even provide a treatment of T-cell cancers.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10415135
Gates Foundation pledges $123m to battle malaria
Wednesday December 13, 2006
SEATTLE - The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged another US$83.5 million ($123 million) to fight malaria by paying for better controls, vaccine research and prevention of a disease that kills more than a million people a year.
The Gates Foundation, the world's largest charity, said the new grants would also help pay for better malaria tests and for advocacy to get more attention for the disease.
All totalled, the charity started by Bill Gates, the Microsoft chairman and world's richest man, and his wife, Melinda, has donated US$765 million to fight malaria, which kills one person every 30 seconds.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10415064
New 'Peace model' to challenge Police interview techniques
12.40pm Wednesday December 13, 2006
Police interviewing techniques might be about to undergo a revamp, in an effort to uncover the truth, rather than force a quick confession that could be open to dispute.
A police review over the last year has resulted in an initiative, based on an English "Peace" interviewing model, to be recommended to the Commissioner.
Police News magazine said today the model "provides a framework for gaining the maximum amount of information from an interviewee in the shortest period of time".
No longer would the first aim of a suspect interview be to get a confession.
"Under the new scheme, the aim of all interviews would be to establish the truth."
There were five phases to the Peace model:
* Planning and preparation, which recognised there was no successful interview without planning beforehand;
Engage and explain, which described how to cope with the problems of beginning an interview and established the ground rules;
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10415200
Police need to mind language
Wednesday December 13, 2006
Elizabeth Binning
Police officers' attitude and language ranks highly among complaints to the Police Complaints Authority in the past year.
According to the latest PCA annual report 1741 people made 2829 complaints about the police, most of which were accepted for investigation.
Complaints covered perjury to disgraceful conduct but the main areas of concern were neglect of duty, practice and procedure and the attitude and language of police.
Of the complaints, 96 were partially or fully sustained and 207 were settled after meetings between the police and the complainant.
Professional standards national manager, Superintendent Stuart Wildon, said police made hundreds of thousands of contacts with the public every year. It was therefore expected that there would be occasions when officers failed to meet public expectations.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10415137
Concerns over African methamphetamine-like drug in Hamilton
11.15am Wednesday December 13, 2006By Simon O'Rourke
Hamilton Police are concerned an African plant with methamphetamine-like effects is being imported into New Zealand.
Last week 10 kilos of the plant khat (pronounced cot or chat) were discovered during searches of two houses in Claudelands, Hamilton.
Khat is plant material from the catha edulis tree, a native to north-east Africa.
It is also known as African tea.
Detective Sergeant Karl Thornton says khat is a Class C controlled drug in New Zealand, as is cannabis.
Usually chewed, brewed as a tea, or smoked, it is popular in African and Middle Eastern countries.
Police believed it was being used by some immigrant communities in New Zealand.
Mr Thornton said major concerns centred on the fact the drug was finding its way into the country.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10415187
Month of whiskers raises $700,000
7.00am Wednesday December 13, 2006
The hirsute month of "Movember" - when 11,000 men grew moustaches - raised more than $700,000 for the Prostate Cancer Foundation.
Barry Young, president of the foundation, said the Movember campaign raised the profile of men's health issues and prostate cancer in particular.
Prostate cancer kills 600 men a year.
Cullen tax cuts look like only a matter of time
Wednesday December 13, 2006Paula Oliver
It now appears to be a case of when rather than if Finance Minister Michael Cullen will deliver personal tax cuts.
Yesterday Dr Cullen said Reserve Bank warnings on spending did not mean he had to sit still forever.
Speaking after the Treasury revealed the Government's operating surplus was already $800 million ahead of forecast, Dr Cullen said he had heard Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard warn last week against excessive loosening of the purse strings.
"No Government could ignore the warnings of the Reserve Bank," he said last night. "But nor would I read the bank's messages as an excuse to sit still. The bank is not saying 'never' to tax cuts, it is saying 'not now'."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10415147
Billboards face the boot from Auckland's city centre [+audio]
Wednesday December 13, 2006Bernard Orsman and Claire Trevett
Workers whose drive into town is cheered by a shot of Daniel Carter's abs could soon be disappointed - the council wants to ban central-city billboards so people can appreciate the "buildings, heritage and natural landscape" instead.
Auckland City Council plans to ban billboards in the Queen St valley - from Hobson St across to Anzac Ave - including Britomart, Karangahape Rd and the Viaduct Harbour. It is argued the ban will help to make Auckland an "international city".
But the chief executive of the Communication Agencies Association, Mark Champion, said it would be more like the "Eastern Bloc before the fall of the Berlin Wall".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10415146
Anger as transtasman drug agency bill passes first reading
Wednesday December 13, 2006Ruth Berry
A controversial bill creating a transtasman drug agency passed its first reading yesterday, hours after Winston Peters strode out to confront a protest on Parliament's forecourt, angrily denying he'd reneged on promises.
If passed, the bill will mean complementary medicines - natural health products and dietary supplements - are regulated for the first time.
This has angered consumer groups, which believe the costs and the way the Australians have regulated the medicines will force many smaller producers out of business and products off the shelves.
Critics also argue it raises sovereignty questions and will remove New Zealanders' health choices.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10415132
Rotorua park eruption spews out mud and rocks
Wednesday December 13, 2006
The biggest eruption in Kuirau Park since 2001 has served as another reminder Rotorua is at the mercy of unpredictable geothermal activity.
Steam pressure under a mud pool broke through the surface causing an eruption at 7pm on Sunday. Nobody was in the immediate vicinity at the time.
It lasted about an hour and blew mud 15m high over a 30m radius around the pool, singeing trees and grass.
The area, close to the site of an eruption in 2001, has been draped in a ghostly grey coating of mud.
Crystal, 12, and Daniel West, 9, live on Tarewa Rd near the Rotorua Aquatic Centre and saw the "massive explosion" while they were outside their house.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10415083
Fiji police suspended from Pacific police organisation
12.30pm Wednesday December 13, 2006
In an unprecedented move, Fiji has been suspended from the Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police (PICP).
Suspension followed an urgent ballot by members, which include New Zealand.
"The PICP members have agreed to suspend Fiji police from participating in the activities of the PICP, pending the restoration of the rule of law in Fiji," chairman Hazime Telei of Palau said.
"The members expressed their strong concern at the intimidation shown against the Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes, and his senior staff."
Mr Telei said this included the unlawful detention of the acting commissioner and assistant commissioner, which subsequently forced their resignations from the Fiji police force.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10415198
Fiji sliding into Saddam-like dictatorship, Qarase says
Wednesday December 13, 2006
By Paul Mulvey
SUVA - Fiji's deposed prime minister Laisenia Qarase says the country is sliding into a dictatorship to compare with Saddam Hussein's Iraq as he denied claims he was plotting to set up a de facto government.
Military ruler Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama, who seized power from Qarase in a bloodless coup last Tuesday, today said he had received information that the former prime minister was planning to set up a de facto government in the country's west.
Bainimarama warned Qarase and his supporters that any rival government would be put down and those assisting would be "putting themselves in harm's way."
Qarase vehemently denied he was plotting a new government from his home island Vanuabalavu where he was banished following the coup.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10415104
Date set for sentence review of 2002 Bali bombers
Wednesday December 13, 2006By Olivia Rondonuwu
DENPASAR, Indonesia - The first hearing date has been set for the review of the death sentence of the three key 2002 Bali bombers, despite a defence plea to move the trial location away from Bali.
Denpasar District Court - where the death sentence was first handed to "smiling bomber" Amrozi, his brother Ali Ghufron, alias Mukhlas and Imam Samudra - will hear the reopening of the case for the first time on December 22.
Lawyers for the trio last week filed their Supreme Court challenge to the executions, arguing the anti-terrorism law used to convict the men was retroactive because it was introduced after the 2002 bombings and could not be applied.
The men were convicted of playing lead roles in the Bali nightclub attacks, which killed 202 people, including three New Zealanders and 88 Australians.
The executions of the bombers - originally set down for July - was delayed after their lawyers said they planned to lodge the judicial review in the Indonesian Supreme Court months ago.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10415102
Voters happy to overlook economy in Iran elections
Wednesday December 13, 2006Edmund Blair
TEHRAN - Prices are steadily rising, Iran's queues of jobless remain stubbornly long and investors are keeping a tight hold on their purse strings.
The perfect recipe, it would seem, for voters to punish President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his supporters in local council elections on Friday, the first nationwide vote since the presidential election last year.
But that's not the message from those struggling to make ends meet in Iran's sprawling capital.
"I support Ahmadinejad because he is a righteous person and it is not his fault if inflation is high. It has always been going up. It has no relation to Ahmadinejad whatsoever," said Ali Farrokhi, 20, who runs a stall selling electrical supplies.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10415075
Austria to rebuild Jewish sport club shut by Nazis
8.20am Tuesday December 12, 2006
By Alexandra Zawadil
VIENNA - Austria laid foundation stones today for the reconstruction of SC Hakoah Vienna, a Jewish sports club that was closed in the 1938 Nazi takeover of the country.
Officials said the planned 57 million euros ($110 million) complex, to include a school and synagogue, underlined the rising status of Jews in the post-war Austrian democracy after their community was all but wiped out by the Nazi Holocaust.
Ariel Muzicant, head of Austria's 6000-member Jewish community, said the Hakoah facilities to be completed in 2008 in Vienna's flagship Prater park, with partial state financing, would be the largest such Jewish centre in Europe.
"It's almost 70 years since the property was 'aryanised' by the Nazis, but just 18 months since we obtained restitution," Muzicant told reporters. "I believe this is an essential contribution to the viability of the Jewish community."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10414958
Mozart's entire musical score now free on internet
9.20am Tuesday December 12, 2006
LONDON - Mozart's year-long 250th birthday party is ending on a high note with the musical scores of his complete works available from today for the first time free on the internet.
The International Mozart Foundation in Salzburg, Austria has put a scholarly edition of the bound volumes of Mozart's more than 600 works on a website http://dme.mozarteum.at.
The site allows visitors to find specific symphonies, arias or even single lines of text from some 24,000 pages of music.
"We had 45,000 hits in the first two hours...we would not have expected that," programme director Ulrich Leisinger told Reuters in a telephone interview.
A user who types in "Pamina" from Mozart's opera "The Magic Flute" will see the music for all five arias she sings, as well as critical texts discussing those passages.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10414964
Bush delays announcing new Iraq strategy until early 2007
10.00am Wednesday December 13, 2006
By Tabassum Zakaria
WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush will delay announcing a new strategy for Iraq until the New Year, aides said today amid new polls showing Americans are more pessimistic about the war and want a change.
A senior White House official said after Bush held talks with US military commanders that the president was "more likely now" to announce his new policy early in 2007.
Aides previously said Bush hoped to announce a new strategy next week, before the Christmas holiday.
"The point here was not to meet a deadline but to get the job done right and there's still work to be done," the official said on condition of anonymity.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10415170
Annan warns US against go-it-alone diplomacy
10.00am Tuesday December 12, 2006
INDEPENDENCE - Kofi Annan, in his last major speech as UN secretary general, urged the United States today to shun go-it-alone diplomacy and collaborate on its world challenges, including the Iraq war.
In a farewell address delivered at Harry Truman's presidential library in Independence, Missouri, Annan praised the 33rd US president's legacy, and quoted Truman in cautioning that "no nation can make itself secure by seeking supremacy over all others."
Truman was a strong backer of the United Nations and was president when it came into being. The presidential library said it was chosen as the site for Annan's last big speech because of Truman's role in helping found the United Nations.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10414970
Two more bodies found in prostitute murder hunt
8.35am Wednesday December 13, 2006By Michael Holden and Matthew Jones
LONDON - Police hunting a possible serial killer targeting prostitutes said they had found two more bodies today and that they believed five sex workers had now been found dead in the last ten days.
The head of the small local police force said his detectives were facing an "unprecedented" investigation as they attempted to solve five murders in and around Ipswich.
"I can confirm this afternoon two bodies have been found," said Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull.
He said the bodies were probably those of missing prostitutes Paula Clennell, 24, who has not been seen since Sunday, and of 29-year-old Annette Nicholls, who has been missing for at least a week.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10415157
Parents of missing prostitute remember 'wonderful girl'
Wednesday December 13, 2006Terri Judd
IPSWICH - "I never in my worst nightmares thought your life would turn out like this," read the card attached to a bunch of flowers where Gemma Adams was last seen.
To her parents, she was still the intelligent, animated child who had played the piano and joined the Brownies while growing up in the comfortable suburb of Kesgrave, near Ipswich.
Yesterday, it became increasingly likely that Adams, the girl who was once so devoted to her dog, Holly, would forever be linked with the ravages of a serial killer.
Brian and Gail Adams were still reeling from the news, broken to them two weeks ago, that their "wonderful" daughter was working as a prostitute and had disappeared off the streets of Ipswich. A fortnight later, police returned to tell them the 25-year-old's naked body had been found in a brook a few kilometres away.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10415099
Police say prostitutes 'hold key' to killer
Wednesday December 13, 2006
LONDON - Police hunting the killer of at least two prostitutes in East Anglia said on Tuesday they believe the street walkers of Ipswich may have vital information that could help identify the murderer.
"I am convinced the working prostitutes in Ipswich probably hold the key as to who is responsible and they need to contact Suffolk Police with any suspicions they may have," said Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull.
He appealed for sex workers to come forward after police mounted high-visibility patrols in the red light area of the city overnight.
Gull said it was too early to say whether one individual or more were behind the murders. Three prostitutes have been found dead and two more reported missing.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10415105
Two African Union staff kidnapped in Sudan
Tuesday December 12, 2006
KHARTOUM - Armed men have kidnapped two African Union military personnel in Sudan.
"The force commander of the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) is utterly dismayed at the hijacking yesterday...of an AMIS vehicle together with two military personnel by unidentified armed men," the AU said in a statement.
The AU called on the kidnappers to release the two and their vehicle immediately and unconditionally.
No more details were immediately available.
The AU maintains a 7000-strong force in Sudan's Darfur region to monitor a peace agreement that has so far failed to halt violence there.
It agreed just a fortnight ago to extend the mandate of its Darfur force for six months, after Sudan rejected proposals for the deployment of a larger United Nations force to replace it.
Euthanasia debate rages in Italy as man asks to die
8.15am Wednesday December 13, 2006
ROME - Supporters and opponents of euthanasia today awaited a court's ruling on the fate of a paralysed, terminally ill Italian man who wants doctors to take him off life support so he can die.
The case of 60-year-old Piergiorgio Welby has sparked fierce debate in the predominantly Roman Catholic country where euthanasia is illegal.
Welby suffers from advanced muscular dystrophy and is confined to a bed, attached to a respirator. But he has become one of the most recognised faces in the country.
Welby, who is lucid and speaks via a computer that interprets his eye movements, has appeared on news programs and written to Italy's president and newspapers asking to be allowed to "find peace for my tortured and shattered body".
A Rome court began examining an appeal on his behalf on Tuesday but the ruling could take days.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10415153
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