New Zealand Herald
Gore takes global warming crusade to Capitol Hill
10:50AM Thursday March 22, 2007
WASHINGTON - Al Gore, star of an Oscar-winning movie, former US vice president and the object of 2008 presidential speculation, today took his crusade against global warming to Capitol Hill.
Glad-handing like the lifelong politician he was until losing the 2000 presidential race to George W. Bush, Gore called his return to Congress "an emotional occasion."
But he did not mince words on what he termed the current climate crisis: "Our world faces a true planetary emergency."
Before a joint House panel dealing with energy, air quality and the environment and the Senate Environment and Public Works committee, Gore stressed the need for quick action.
Under often contentious but consistently civil questioning at both hearings, Gore discussed the risks of sea level rise, stronger storms, more wildfires and other ills associated with global climate change, and urged an immediate freeze on US carbon dioxide emissions.
After that, he said, the United States should begin a programme of sharp reductions in carbon emissions "to reach at least 90 per cent reductions by 2050." He also proposed a tax on carbon emissions.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/feature/story.cfm?c_id=26&objectid=10430182
Melting sea ice at 'tipping point'
5:00AM Monday March 19, 2007
A catastrophic collapse of the Arctic Sea ice could lead to radical changes to the Northern Hemisphere climate, say scientists who warn that the rapid melting has reached a critical threshold.
The scientists believe the shrinking sea ice is now so serious it may have reached a "tipping point" beyond which it may not recover.
They attribute the loss of 98,400 square miles of sea ice - an area the size of Alaska - to rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as well as to natural variability in Arctic ice.
Since satellite measurements of the Arctic Sea ice began in 1979, the surface area covered by summer sea ice has retreated from the long-term average.
This has increased the rate of coastal erosion from Alaska to Siberia and caused problems for the polar bear, which relies on sea ice for hunting seals.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/feature/story.cfm?c_id=26&objectid=10429448
Nasa scientist accuses White House of global warming cover-up
7:40AM Tuesday March 20, 2007
By Steve Connor
James Hansen, the Nasa scientist who first warned the US Government about global warming, yesterday delivered a withering critique of the way the White House has interfered with climate scientists working for the space agency.
Dr Hansen, the director of Nasa's Goddard Institute of Space Studies in New York, said that the space agency's budget for studying the Earth's climate has been slashed and that its scientists have been systematically gagged about speaking of their concerns.
In detailed written testimony delivered yesterday to the US House of Representatives, Dr Hansen said that there has been creeping politicisation of climate change with the effect that the American public has been left confused about the science of global warming.
"During my career I have noticed an increasing politicisation of public affairs at headquarters level, with a notable effect on communication from scientists to the public," Dr Hansen writes in his testimony.
"Interference with communication of science to the public has been greater during the current Administration than at any time in my career," he says.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/feature/story.cfm?c_id=26&objectid=10429750
Maori forest owners take on Government over land-use penalties, carbon credits
5:00AM Thursday March 22, 2007
By Brian Fallow
The Federation of Maori Authorities is preparing a Waitangi Tribunal challenge to two key planks of the Government's controversial forestry policy.
It says the plan to impose a cost on landowners who switch land from forestry to another use breaches the Treaty of Waitangi, as does the Government's refusal to pass on to forest owners any of the value of the "sink credits" generated under the Kyoto climate change treaty by forests established since 1990 on land not previously forested.
Article Two of the Treaty gives Maori undisturbed possession of fisheries, forests and other land.
"Undisturbed possession means the ownership of all the rights pertaining to the forests and the right to economically develop the forestry estate and other land," federation chief executive Paul Morgan said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/feature/story.cfm?c_id=26&objectid=10430119
Public could create carbon neutral future
5:00AM Thursday March 22, 2007
By Brian Fallow
The initial reaction to Meridian Energy announcing it is "certified carbon zero" may have been subdued but chief executive Keith Turner believes consumer preference for buying electricity from a carbon-neutral supplier will build over time.
Meridian is not charging any more for its power as a result - unlike an earlier TrustPower scheme - but then, it doesn't cost the company much either.
"We have been able to do this more easily than others could," Turner said.
Meridian only generates from renewable sources - hydro and wind. In a normal year it generates about 23 per cent more than it needs to meet its contractual obligations to its customers. It is a net seller into the wholesale market.
Even in the driest year to date, it has been able to generate more than it needs as a retailer.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/feature/story.cfm?c_id=26&objectid=10430099
BUSH DOES EVERYTHING POSSIBLE to insult the troposphere to increase the levels of carbon dioxide and this is still another insult. Those that 'justify' this measure as prudent to international relations and economic trends state they recognize this as a further 'dumping' of carbon dioxide to the troposphere, however, airplane emissions are such a small component to that it doesn't matter.
Huh? How do reasonably intelligent people one might even have as friends make such stupid observations. The planet is melting down with Polar Bears dying and the profits of airlines are being put first.
I don't think so. Get over it. This is a hugely bad decision in the year 2007 and should be reserved to future generations when and if the time ever comes to allow such ventures. All involved should be sufficiently ashamed of themselves. The EU especially knows better.
We are looking at droughts that are stifling agriculture and killing people. Tony Blair is screaming about the plight of Africa with Human Induced Global Warming dominating their outcomes and THIS is a good idea?
Get over it already! That is just amazing. Greed is supposed to be a bad thing, not a rewardable one.
EU supports landmark US air pact
5:00AM Saturday March 24, 2007
European Union transport ministers unanimously backed a landmark agreement with the United States yesterday to throw open transatlantic air travel to more competition and drive down fares.
But the 27 ministers, at Britain's request, sought a five-month delay in implementing the deal so it would take effect in March 2008 instead of this October.
The "open skies" agreement will allow EU airlines to fly from any city in the 27-nation bloc to any city in the United States and vice versa.
"The deal is of great political and economic importance. The fact that everyone in the council (of transport ministers) has been able to welcome the outcome is to be commended," Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10430529
Drought declared in all of Victoria
5:30AM Saturday March 24, 2007
Victoria's entire agricultural land mass is drought declared for the first time in the state's history.
The federal Government yesterday extended interim Exceptional Circumstances assistance to the southern and western areas of Gippsland - the last of the state's arable regions which were not drought declared.
- AAP
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=68&objectid=10430565
Lahar larger but lacked the force of '53
5:00AM Friday March 23, 2007
By Simon O'Rourke
Left: The 5.2m high flood gauge in Whangaehu valley upstream of Tangiwai and right: 25 minutes later
Scientists say the Mt Ruapehu lahar was larger than the 1953 debris flow that caused the Tangiwai disaster.
But last Sunday's lahar lacked the violent force of the December 24, 1953, surge that wiped out the rail bridge at Tangiwai and led to the train plunge that cost 151 lives.
That was because of the comparative lack of debris it picked up on its way down the Whangaehu Valley last Sunday, said Dr Vern Manville of GNS Science.
"Our initial interpretation is that the 95-96 eruption did a good job of scouring out loose material from the gorge, whereas prior to the 1953 event there had been 30 years of no lahars and there was a much bigger accumulation of debris in the channel."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=68&objectid=10430341
Editorial: Next lahar may not be so obliging
12:00AM Thursday March 22, 2007
Environmentalists are inordinately fond of an idea they call the precautionary principle. Under this principle they argue for all sorts of costly measures against remote or dubious risks to the planet, insisting it is always better to be safe than sorry. It is not always better in fact. If the economic cost of precautions is out of proportion to the possible harm, people are better off living with the risk. But, oddly, our environmental conservators did not invoke the precautionary principle against Mt Ruapehu's lahar.
The lahar has happened exactly as predicted. On Sunday, when the mountain's Crater Lake breached the dam created by the debris of its latest eruption, the lahar flowed down the slopes and along the stream beds as expected. Conservation Minister Chris Carter says he is delighted. Mightily relieved is probably a more accurate description. Certainly that will be the Prime Minister's state of mind.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=68&objectid=10430105
After the big lahar, a swarm of earthquakes
5:00AM Tuesday March 20, 2007
By Errol Kiong
Sensors at the summit of Mt Ruapehu have recorded a series of small earthquakes since Sunday's spectacular lahar.
"The rapid removal of water from above a hydrothermal system can destabilise that system, resulting in small-scale eruptions," said Brad Scott, volcano surveillance co-ordinator at GNS Science, which maintains the sensor system.
The quakes measured up to magnitude 1.
Lowered lake levels could lead to increased heating and steam-driven eruptions, Mr Scott said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=68&objectid=10429739
Schoolgirls' study nabs food giant
5:00AM Saturday March 24, 2007
By David Eames
Testing by Anna Devathasan (left) and Jenny Suo revealed Ribena's vitamin C levels. Photo / Martin Sykes
A high school science experiment by two 14-year-old girls has embarrassed the world's second-largest food and pharmaceutical company.
GlaxoSmithKline will appear in Auckland District Court on Tuesday to face charges alleging 15 breaches of the Fair Trading Act.
The charges, brought by the Commerce Commission, arose from an investigation by Pakuranga College students Anna Devathasan and Jenny Suo into the vitamin C levels of the popular Ribena drink, which has sales of about $8 million a year.
The company faces a maximum fine of $200,000 on each charge.
GSK has a worldwide turnover of more than $61 billion, second only to drug giant Pfizer.
The students - now 17 - decided in mid-2004 to test the vitamin C levels of their favourite juices, including Ribena, Just Juice and Arano, for a school project.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10430610
A 07/07/07 wedding? It could be your lucky day
7:15PM Thursday March 22, 2007
NEW YORK - Thousands of US couples planning to tie the knot this year aren't leaving their chances of marital success to love alone, with a rush to marry on what some see as the luckiest day of the year - 07/07/07.
The number seven is considered by many to be lucky, with seven a perfect number in the Bible, Buddha walking seven steps at his birth, and seven lucky gods in Japanese mythology. In the game bingo, the call is "Lucky Seven, God's in Heaven."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=301&objectid=10430299
Media scrum as Knut the polar bear goes public
9:00AM Saturday March 24, 2007
By Madeline Chambers
Knut during its first presentation in Berlin Zoo. Photo / Reuters
BERLIN - Germany's youngest celebrity, Knut the polar bear cub, made his much-anticipated public debut at Berlin Zoo today and appeared unfazed by the media scrum surrounding his first excursion.
The three-and-a-half-month old white cub padded gingerly round his new enclosure to the gasps and sighs of onlookers.
Fortified by a breakfast of porridge, the puppy-sized cub sniffed the grass and rolled in the dust before delighting the crowds by splashing in a pond.
"I want to take him home," said Daniel Wolff, five, whose mother had bought him a specially made "Knut" cuddly polar bear toy on sale on a stand outside the enclosure.
Knut stole the heart of Berliners after he was born in December but rejected by his mother Tosca. A bearded zookeeper moved into the enclosure to look after him round the clock.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10430625
Big bears have brighter future
7:15AM Saturday March 24, 2007
Grizzly bears in Yellowstone National Park no longer need Endangered Species Act protection.
There were an estimated 136 to 312 in 1975 but now there are more than 500.
Opponents of the delisting question whether the bear population can yet withstand pressures such as global warming and food scarcity.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10430549
Dalai Lama to visit New Zealand in June
11:00AM Wednesday March 21, 2007
The Dalai Lama will visit Auckland and Wellington in June.
He will speak on "Compassion and Kindness" on June 17 and will teach on "The Four Noble Truths" on June 18, both at the Vector Arena in Auckland
In Wellington on June 19 he will speak on "A Human Approach to World Peace" at the TSB Bank Arena.
Tickets are available through Ticketmaster and Ticketek.
- NZPA
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=301&objectid=10429970
Kiwi gets up Nasa's nose
5:00AM Saturday March 24, 2007
By Martin Johnston
Moon dust can be bad for astronauts' health. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey
A New Zealand scientist has discovered a hazardous new obstacle to the US space programme's plan to return to the moon in 2020 - moon dust is bad for astronauts' lungs.
Moon dust can penetrate deep into the lungs, posing potentially great risks to astronauts with the planned resumption of lunar landings, says the scientist, who has studied astronauts' airways.
Dr Kim Prisk, a graduate of Canterbury and Otago universities, said yesterday that on the relatively short lunar visits of the 1960s and 1970s, moon dust was not a problem.
But now the US planned to return to the moon by 2020, eventually leaving astronauts there for up to six months at a time, it was proving to be a challenge.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10430608
Ex-astronaut pleads not guilty to attempted kidnap
1:25PM Friday March 23, 2007
Lisa Nowak is accused of trying to kidnap a woman she believed to be a love rival. Photo / Reuters
MIAMI - A former US astronaut who drove 950 miles to confront the girlfriend of her ex-lover pleaded not guilty today to attempted kidnap and battery charges.
Lisa Nowak, 43, is accused of trying to kidnap the woman, whom she viewed as a rival for the affections of Navy commander and astronaut William Oefelein, after driving from Houston to Orlando wearing diapers to avoid a bathroom stop.
Nowak, a Navy captain who became an astronaut in 1996 and flew a space shuttle mission last July, did not appear in person for her arraignment at Orange County courthouse in Orlando, Florida.
Her formal not guilty pleas were given in writing as Judge Marc Lubet set the trial date for July 30, court spokeswoman Karen Levey said in a statement.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10430455
Step-dad jailed for sex 'lessons'
10:43AM Saturday March 24, 2007
By Cherie Taylor
A man has been jailed after he gave sex "lessons" to his 16-year-old step- daughter.
The man also posed as the girl's mother, and sent the girl emails saying the lessons she was receiving were okay. The emails included pictures of the man and the girl's mother engaged in sexual acts.
The Central North Island man, aged in his 30s, was sentenced in the Rotorua District Court and jailed for nine months yesterday, with leave to apply for home detention.
He had admitted attempted sexual connection with a dependent family member, four charges of sexual connection with a dependant family member and five charges of performing an indecent act on a dependent family member. The offending ended, after three months, in January this year.
It had started after the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, decided to give the girl sex lessons after she told him she was in a relationship. During the lessons the man touched his step-daughter sexually.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10430639
Iraq Deputy PM wounded in assassination bid
9:30AM Saturday March 24, 2007
By Waleed Ibrahim
Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Salam al-Zobaie was hit by shrapnel in the abdomen and shoulder. Photo / Reuters
BAGHDAD - Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Salam al-Zobaie has undergone surgery after being wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a hall where he was attending prayers today.
Officials said at least six members of Zobaie's entourage were killed in the second assassination bid on a senior member of the US-backed government in a month.
One of Zobaie's aides named the suicide bomber as Wahab Saadi, one of the deputy prime minister's own guards.
"He's wounded but it's not serious," an official in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's office told Reuters after Maliki visited Zobaie at the US military hospital in Baghdad's international Green Zone.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10430630
US House approves 2008 troop withdrawal from Iraq
8:55AM Saturday March 24, 2007
By Richard Cowan
US President George W. Bush. Photo / Reuters
WASHINGTON - The US House of Representatives today voted to impose a September 1, 2008, deadline for withdrawing all American combat troops from Iraq, prompting a quick veto promise from US President George W. Bush.
In a mostly partisan 218-212 vote, House Democrats succeeded in attaching the deadline to legislation authorising more than US$124 billion in emergency funds, mostly for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this year.
The narrow margin of the vote was far short of what Democrats would need to override any presidential veto.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10430626
Australia: Broadening the broadband debate
5:00AM Saturday March 24, 2007
By Nick Lucchinelli
Telstra last year ditched plans for a A$4 billion fibre-optic network.
The hoopla surrounding Labor's proposed raid on the Future Fund to "socially democratise" Australia's broadband infrastructure has shone the spotlight on another source of tension: the operating structure of market behemoth Telstra.
Opposition leader Kevin Rudd said this week that a future Labor government would reach deep into the public purse to spend A$4.7 billion ($5.4 billion) - about half of which would come from the Future Fund - on a fibre-to-the-node high-speed broadband network.
The private sector would be expected to kick in several extra billion, with the total public-private deal costing about A$8 billion.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10430570
Search on in Manukau Harbour for missing fisherman
New 11:41AM Saturday March 24, 2007
A search was begun today for a fisherman missing in rough conditions in Auckland's Manukau Harbour.
The man was apparently swept of rocks at Paratutae Island at the north head of the harbour entrance, Coastguard northern region duty officer Chris Fransham said.
Conditions were described as "quite choppy".
"There's breaking water even inside the bar, so it's quite rough," he said.
"Survival times out there wouldn't be that good."
Police alerted the Coastguard about 9.50am after numerous reports from witnesses in the nearby Whatipu area of people being in the water.
Mr Fransham said one person who had gone to the aid of the missing man was rescued by a member of the public in a boat and taken to shore.
He said the search involved three Coastguard vessels and its air patrol, the Westpac rescue helicopter, an Auckland Airport hovercraft, and police and Fire Service personnel.
- NZPA
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10430642
Hiccup or two on the way to fast-track cancer treatment
5:00AM Friday March 23, 2007
By Errol Kiong
Despite waiting three months for radiotherapy - and then having to fly to Australia for the treatment - breast cancer patient Phiona Wilson speaks highly of her care.
The Whangarei employment coach was one of 30 cancer patients sent to Sydney before Christmas for treatment the Auckland District Health Board could not provide in time.
By the end of this month, the board will have sent 89 patients to Australia for treatment in a bid to reduce waiting lists which, at 12 weeks, are now three times what is recommended.
The move has drawn criticism - including from some of the women sent over - that it was unnecessarily traumatic to be getting treatment in another country.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10430336
Drivers tell of Melbourne tunnel inferno
5:00AM Saturday March 24, 2007
Hundreds of motorists were ordered to abandon their cars and flee the tunnel. Photo / Getty Images
AUSTRALIA - Police investigating a fiery multi-vehicle crash in Melbourne's Burnley tunnel are seeking surveillance camera footage of the incident, which claimed at least three lives.
Police Assistant Commissioner Noel Ashby told reporters the death toll could yet rise in the wake of the crash and the fire and explosions which followed in the busy city tunnel yesterday morning. "We're still at this stage trying to scope if there is even greater loss of life," he said.
"It's catastrophic down the tunnel ... it's a major, major incident that has occurred so it will take us some time before we can actually talk about the specifics [of what happened] and ultimately we may have to leave the specifics to the coroner."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10430530
Oil: Rises after Iran captures UK navy personnel
New 9:09AM Saturday March 24, 2007
NEW YORK - Oil rose above US$62 to a three-month high today after Iran seized 15 British navy personnel, raising concerns about renewed tension between the oil producer and the West.
US crude settled up 59 cents at US$62.28 a barrel, adding to gains of more than US$2 yesterday. US oil has risen 26 per cent, since crude oil futures dropped to US$49.90 on Jan. 18, with today's session high of US$62.65 the strongest level since Dec. 26 last year.
London Brent crude rose 67 cents to US$63.18.
Iran captured 15 British Royal Navy personnel during a "routine boarding operation" in Iraqi waters, Britain's Ministry of Defence said.
The Foreign Office said Iran's ambassador in London had been summoned and Britain was demanding their immediate safe release.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10430628
Iraq: A country in ruins, a people in despair
5:00AM Saturday March 24, 2007
By Peter Beaumont
Iraqis try to negotiate their way through lives under constant threat of violence. Photo / Reuters
The arm-wrestling competition is instigated over breakfast at the Hamra Hotel by the shaven-headed waiter. He plonks a beefy elbow on the cash desk and presents a hand. "You. Zarqawi," he says to one of the reporters living in the hotel, a slight New Yorker. He is referring to the dead Sunni leader of al Qaeda in Iraq. "Me. Moqtada," he adds, naming Moqtada al-Sadr, the firebrand Shiite preacher who leads the Mahdi Army, infamous for its sectarian death squads.
The waiter giggles. Then "Moqtada" twists "Zarqawi's" arm in a deft, powerful movement and pins it down. Contest over. Iraq's sectarian question is bloodlessly resolved. But only on this March morning, for a brief second, on the neutral ground of the Hamra Hotel, in what was once one of the more pleasant neighbourhoods of Baghdad.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10430522
Washington's use of statistics in Iraq war condemned
2:15PM Tuesday March 20, 2007
Imprecise and sometimes fluctuating figures released by the US government on the Iraq war have made the impact of the four-year conflict hard to gauge, the Washington Post reported today.
In an article headed "Iraq War's Statistics Prove Fleeting" the paper damned the Bush administration's handling of statistics, saying the war had been "characterised from the start by confusion and misuse of key data".
The Post said some statistics - such as weekly tallies of oil production - had been "meticulous" but others had been elusive due to changing measures and categories.
Some "convenient guesses" had been offered as fact, while other numbers had varied depending on what they were being used to support, it said.
"Detainee numbers have oscillated, depending on whether the objective was to tout achievements or conceal secret prisoners," reporter Karen DeYoung wrote.
The Post quoted a US military spokesman last week telling reporters: "In February, Iraqi and coalition forces conducted just over 200 operations against al-Qaeda objectives, having killed over 100 terrorists and capturing over 400 terrorists."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=359&objectid=10429822
Iran seizes British marines at gunpoint
9:30AM Saturday March 24, 2007
By Aref Mohammed
BASRA, Iraq - Iranian forces seized 15 British servicemen today in the mouth of the waterway that separates Iran and Iraq, triggering a diplomatic crisis at a time of heightened tensions over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
Britain said two boatloads of sailors and marines had searched a cargo ship in Iraqi waters on a UN approved mission when Iranian gunboats encircled and captured them. No shots were fired and the British servicemen were unharmed, officials said.
Iran accused the British of illegally entering its waters.
The incident came as UN Security Council members were putting the final touches to a resolution imposing new sanctions on Iran over its refusal to halt sensitive nuclear work. A vote on the resolution could take place as early as tomorrow.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10430632
Iranian blogger beaten for reporting violence
5:00AM Friday March 16, 2007
By Angus McDowall
"The broken windows cut my side as I was pulled out. I was knocked unconscious."
He spent the next three months in Evin, where he had been sent several times before. He was questioned, blindfolded and slapped by the interrogator, whose queries took a new and sinister turn.
"The worst thing was they wanted to connect me to US politicians, especially to [neoconservative] Richard Perle," he said. "They wanted me to write about US money being allocated to the democracy movement. Where does it go? Who gets it?"
As tensions between Iran and Western countries have escalated over the nuclear crisis and the wars in Iraq and Lebanon, the authorities have come to regard democracy activists as a potential fifth column. Separatist attacks in border provinces have been blamed on the US and Britain. When Condoleezza Rice promised cash for Iranian democracy movements last year, activists and non-governmental organisations started to feel the heat.
"Such measures always have the reverse effect on the country to those intended," said Elaheh Koolaee, a former member of Parliament and official for a major reformist party.
Koolaee's party supported a demonstration last week for international women's day that was violently dispersed by the police.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=301&objectid=10429034
Azerbaijan tries reporters for defaming Islam
9:50AM Tuesday March 20, 2007
BAKU - Azerbaijan has begun the trial of two journalists accused of insulting Muslims by printing articles critical of Islam and the Prophet Mohammad.
The defendants say the case -- which echoes the row across the Muslim world over cartoons of the Prophet printed in a Danish newspaper -- is an attack on their right to free speech.
Rafik Tagi, a journalist with the weekly Senet newspaper, and his editor Samir Sadagatoglu are charged with inciting racial hatred over the publication last year. If found guilty they could be jailed for up to five years.
Last year an Iranian cleric offered his house as a reward to anyone who killed the author of the article, saying he had insulted the Prophet.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=301&objectid=10429769
US military denies Hicks was forcibly sedated
3:00PM Tuesday March 20, 2007
By Peter Mitchell
LOS ANGELES - The US military has described as blatantly false a claim that Australian Guantanamo Bay inmate David Hicks was forcibly sedated.
Guantanamo officials took the extraordinary step today of listing the ingredients in a medication cocktail they said Hicks was given for a stomach ailment.
The medication consisted of a mixture of a liquid antacid similar to Mylanta and a mild anaesthetic, while Hicks also was given Benadryl, an antihistamine, they said.
"He made no mention of any adverse side effects," Commander Robert Durand, director of public affairs at Joint Task Force Guantanamo, said.
Hicks' US military lawyer, Major Michael Mori, went public on the weekend with allegations Hicks was sedated against his will.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=359&objectid=10429833
English schools get right to ban Muslim veils
5:00AM Wednesday March 21, 2007
Some Muslim groups accuse the government of creating an atmosphere of Islamophobia. Photo / Reuters
LONDON - Students in England could be banned from wearing full-face Muslim veils for security or educational reasons under government guidelines to be published on Tuesday, officials said.
The guidance paper from the Department for Education and Skills (DFES) would leave it up to individual school headteachers to decide what pupils should and should not be allowed to wear in class, a DFES spokesman said.
"If they feel any garment imposes on a child's ability to learn or is a safety or security issue they could be banned," the spokesman said.
The new school guidelines come after a British girl lost a legal battle a year ago to be allowed to wear full Islamic dress in school. Shabina Begum's case was likened to a row in France triggered by a ban on Muslim headscarves in state schools.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=301&objectid=10429930
President fuse for UN blast
8:15AM Saturday March 24, 2007
The showdown between the West and Iran over its nuclear programme is set to erupt with ferocity inside the chamber of the UN Security Council when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addresses members just before they vote on extending sanctions because of Iran's continued uranium enrichment.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10430552
Home drugs cash heads for $300m
6:15AM Saturday March 24, 2007
The world's largest drug cash seizure just got bigger.
The Mexican Attorney General's office said a new count of the cash seized at a luxury home in Mexico City made a difference of NZ$2.13 million, bringing the total to $295 million.
Police say that the main suspect, Mexican citizen Zhenli Ye Gon, runs one of the world's largest methamphetamine networks.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10430547
Australia braced for new era of organised crime
5:00AM Saturday March 24, 2007
By Greg Ansley
AUSTRALIA - Melbourne heaved an almost palpable sigh of relief when baby-faced thug Carl Williams confessed to killing four gangland rivals several weeks ago. His conviction brought to a halt a war that has left as many as 27 men dead, some of them executed in the most public of places.
The heads of two major gangs dealing in a drug trade with a turnover in the tens of millions of dollars were now dead or about to spend the rest of their lives in jail. Many of their senior henchmen, hit-men and corrupt cops had gone down with them.
But amid the ruins of Melbourne's underworld turf war, police surveyed the damage and saw harbingers of more evil to come.
"This is entrenched crime we're dealing with," Victorian Police Deputy Commissioner Simon Overton said. "We know that it never goes away."
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