New Zealand Herald
State-of-the-art centre will study ice for clues to climate change
It is only water, but New Zealand climate scientists expect to learn a lot about past weather patterns from ice samples they will study at a new state-of-the-art research centre opening in Wellington today.
The National Ice Core Facility is a $1.4 million project developed by the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences and Victoria University, with involvement from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research and Antarctica New Zealand.
It is predicted to push New Zealand to the forefront of worldwide ice research, and there have already been requests from 12 overseas scientists to use its facilities.
"It is really a jewel, it is the only one of its kind," Victoria University scientist Nancy Bertler said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=82&objectid=10433801
Climate change set to erode house values
Some sought-after coastal properties could fall in value because insurers are refusing to cover them for extreme weather events linked to global warming.
The insurers' tough line against properties in flood and erosion-risk areas could make it impossible for buyers to get mortgages.
The move comes as climate change experts warn New Zealand will be hit by more severe storms, coastal erosion and flooding.
Already, insurers are refusing to cover some flood-prone Hawkes Bay and Coromandel Peninsula properties. Insurance Council chief executive Chris Ryan expects the refusals to increase during the next 20 years.
At worst thousands of properties could be affected, he said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10433806
Meltdown for Franz Josef Glacier
One of New Zealand's outstanding tourist attractions is melting away, glaciologists say.
The tongue of the iconic Franz Josef Glacier on the West Coast will melt away in the next 100 years, a team of glaciologists from Canterbury and Victoria universities have found.
The researchers used a computer model to test the effect of the predictions from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the glacier.
"Even with the minimum amount of likely warming over the next century, the glacier will shrink in length by 4km, and reduce in size to three-quarters of its current volume," Brian Anderson from Victoria University said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10433805
Drums beating over impact of Live Earth
LONDON - It has been billed as the greenest gig of the summer, a star-studded, continent-crossing musical extravaganza aiming to galvanise support around the world for the fight against global warming and climate crisis.
But after the headline acts for Live Earth were announced to much fanfare on Tuesday, among them Madonna, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Smashing Pumpkins and James Blunt, critics were yesterday raising eyebrows at the US$2 million to US$3 million ($2.75 million to $4.13 million) that the monumental event is expected to cost in carbon offsetting.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10433778
UN panel issues climate warning
BRUSSELS - Climate experts issued their starkest warning yet about the impact of global warming, ranging from hunger in Africa to a fast thaw in the Himalayas, in a report today that increased pressure on governments to act.
More than 100 nations in the UN climate panel agreed a final text after all-night talks during which some scientists accused governments of watering down conclusions that climate change was already under way and damaging nature.
The report said warming, widely blamed on human emissions of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels, would cause desertification, droughts and rising seas and would hit hard in the tropics, from sub-Saharan Africa to Pacific islands.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=244&objectid=10433038
13 per cent of Americans not heard of global warming – survey
OSLO - Thirteen per cent of Americans have never heard of global warming even though their country is the world's top source of greenhouse gases, a 46-country survey showed today.
The report, by ACNielsen of more than 25,000 internet users, showed that 57 per cent of people around the world considered global warming a "very serious problem" and a further 34 per cent rated it a "serious problem".
"It has taken extreme and life-threatening weather patterns to finally drive the message home that global warming is happening and is here to stay unless a concerted, global effort is made to reverse it," said Patrick Dodd, the President of ACNielsen Europe.
People in Latin America were most worried while US citizens were least concerned with just 42 per cent rating global warming "very serious".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=244&objectid=10421498
2007 set to be world's warmest year
LONDON - This year is set to be the hottest on record worldwide due to global warming and the El Nino weather phenomenon, Britain's Meteorological Office said today.
The Met Office said the combination of factors would likely push average temperatures this year above the record set in 1998. 2006 is set to be the sixth warmest on record globally.
"This new information represents another warning that climate change is happening around the world," said Met Office scientist Katie Hopkins.
The world's 10 warmest years have all occurred since 1994 in a temperature record dating back a century and a half, according to the United Nations' weather agency.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=244&objectid=10417752
Germany plans to tax cars based on emissions
BERLIN - Germany's government plans to tax cars based on emissions instead of engine size to help tackle climate change, Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee said.
Tiefensee told a news conference early Sunday that German and other European carmakers had to do more to protect the environment, after the head of the UN Environment Programme had chided Europe for complacency over climate change.
"The government will be pursuing that aim and that's why we're going to reform the motor vehicle taxes. The size of the engine will no longer be the determining factor but rather the impact on the environment, not only CO2 but other pollutants," he said.
"Those who continue to drive stink-bombs will have to pay more. We want a system that both rewards and punishes. I'm sure that'll help boost technology for cars in Germany and Europe that pollute less and need less fuel."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=244&objectid=10424684
Foresters united in opposition to proposed deforestation tax
The Government has detailed how its preferred option for dealing with the climate change consequences of deforestation might work.
But the document, Design Options for a Tradeable Deforestation Permits Regime doesn't give forest owners an indication of what costs they would likely face.
The forest owners say any cost is unfair if it only applies to one side of the equation when land use is changed - for example, the decision to get out of forestry but not the decision to get into dairying.
And they argue it is inefficient if it locks land into a use that made sense when trees were planted, perhaps 25 years ago, but might no longer be the best use of the resource.
"The general sentiment of 'polluter pays' is one we strongly support," Forest Owners Association chief executive David Rhodes said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=244&objectid=10425811
Rapist tricked way into woman's home
4:35PM Friday April 13, 2007By Beck Vass
A man dressed in a suit and tie "tricked" his way into a woman's Papakura home before subjecting her to a sexual attack which police believe may have lasted more than two hours.
South Auckland police today expressed fears the man could reoffend and said they were treating yesterday's "despicable" attack as seriously as a homicide.
Detective Senior Sergeant Neil Grimstone told a media conference a Maori or Polynesian man in his 30s "tricked" his way into the 41-year-old victim's Duke St home, where she lived alone.
"Over the next substantial period of time she was stripped naked and sexually violated many times by this person.
"The man was armed and he threatened the woman's life saying that he would kill her if she went to the police.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10434066
Australian stocks: Shares end down after record week
7:00PM Friday April 13, 2007
MELBOURNE - After soaring to record highs this week, the Australian stock market closed lower today weighed down by weaker Asian markets, falling commodity prices and a stronger Australian dollar.
At the 1615 AEST close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 22.5 points to 6135.7 while the all ordinaries lost 19 points to 6123.8.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange at 1622 AEST, the June share price index contract was down 40 points to 6167 on a volume of 18,387 contracts.
MFS Ltd chief investment officer Guy Hutchings said that after recent strong gains, investors thought it was time take profits, especially with a potentially volatile week ahead for US economic data and Asian markets uniformly lower.
"The market just seemed to run into a resistance on a kind of nothing day after reaching new all time highs earlier in the week and in anticipation of the release of inflation and trade related data in the US tonight," Mr Hutchings said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10434133
I made a mistake, admits World Bank's Wolfowitz
1:00PM Friday April 13, 2007
Paul Wolfowitz
WASHINGTON - World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz said today he made "a mistake for which I am sorry" over his handling of the promotion and pay increase of his girlfriend and staffer Shaha Riza.
"I proposed to the board that they establish some mechanism to judge whether the agreement reached was a reasonable outcome," Wolfowitz said in a statement he read at a news conference, ahead of the upcoming meetings of finance ministers in Washington this weekend.
"I will accept any remedies they propose," he added.
Wolfowitz defended his actions to send Riza on an external assignment to the US State Department soon after he joined the bank in 2005, saying he was in "uncharted waters" in his new job.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10434031
Global free trade the target by year's end
NEW DELHI - Global trade powers today injected new urgency into sluggish negotiations for a new free trade treaty which they said they would aim to hammer out by the end of 2007.
Ministers from Brazil, the European Union, India, the United States, Australia and Japan, the so-called Group of Six (G6), promised to speed the search for understandings in the crucial areas of farm and industrial goods and services.
"We believe that by intensifying our work, we can reach convergence and thus contribute to concluding the round by the end of 2007," they said in a statement.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10434028
Yachting: Technology rules the waves at America's Cup
VALENCIA, Spain - They have been compared to Formula One cars, even the Starship Enterprise. One thing is for certain -- the yachts competing for the America's Cup are no normal sailboats.
The America's Cup has always been a technological playground for countries and egos battling to outdo each other and take home the world's oldest sporting trophy.
Back in 1887, boat builder George Lennox Watson was so keen to keep his innovations secret he sent out a false set of plans for Scottish challenger Thistle to throw their US rivals off the scent.
Fast forward 120 years and raw competition is pushing the boundaries beyond what Lennox Watson would have thought possible with computer modelling, carbon fibre, delicate sensors and even sunglasses that tell each sailor how the wind is blowing.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/4/story.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10434106
Women don't click with internet videos
NEW YORK - Women prefer the remote over the mouse when it comes to watching videos, even though they outnumber men in cyberspace.
About 97 million women in the United States will use the internet this year compared with 91 million men, according to a study by eMarketer.
But the report also says only 66 per cent of those women are watching videos online compared to 78 per cent of men.
"Men are more visual than women, who tend to communicate in writing and or in words," said Debra Aho Williamson, senior analyst with eMarketer and the author of the report.
She said at first she was shocked at the disparity between the sexes because women tend to watch more television. But she argues men are generally ahead of the technology trend.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10434036
Beatles look set to release tracks online
LONDON - The company representing The Beatles has settled a 30 million-pound royalty dispute with EMI Group, in a deal that could finally pave the way for the Liverpool band's music to go online.
Apple Corps, the company owned by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the families of John Lennon and George Harrison, said in December 2005 it would sue the record company after negotiations broke down.
Apple Corps said an audit had determined EMI had not been fulfilling the terms of its contract.
"We have settled on mutually acceptable terms and there will be no further comment," a spokeswoman for EMI said. A spokeswoman for Apple Corps said the deal had been agreed last month but would not give any further details.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10434037
NZ's 100% Pure and Google Earth in world first
Tourism New Zealand's 100% Pure campaign has gone interstellar - or perhaps that's internetstellar - with a world first partnership with Google Earth.
The state-funded international tourism marketing body has provided data for a "layer" of information on visitor centres, points of interest and scenic highlights on Google Earth's photographic satellite map of the planet.
Links through to Tourism New Zealand's official consumer website can then provide greater information, including activities and accommodation.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10433895
Google Earth maps atrocities in Darfur
WASHINGTON - Search engine Google and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum launched an online mapping project today to provide what the museum said was evidence of atrocities committed in Sudan's western Darfur region.
More than 200,000 people have been killed in Darfur since 2003 and some of this carnage -- which the United States calls the first genocide of this century -- has been detailed by Google Earth, the search engine's mapping service Google Earth.
Using high-resolution imagery, users can zoom into Darfur to view more than 1,600 damaged or destroyed villages, providing what the Holocaust Museum says is evidence of the genocide. Sudan's government denies that genocide is taking place.
In addition, the remnants of more than 100,000 homes, schools, mosques and other structures destroyed by janjaweed militia in Darfur, Sudanese forces and others are visible.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10433653
There's money in 'vintage' computers
LIVERMORE, California - In the first purchase of his collection, Sellam Ismail loaded the trunk of his car with old computers he stumbled upon at a flea market for US$5 apiece. Soon he had filled his three-car garage with what others would consider obsolete junk.
Years later, his collection of early computers, printers, and related parts is piled high across shelves and in chaotic heaps in a 4,500-square-foot warehouse near Silicon Valley. And it is worth real money.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10433882
Microsoft warns of four 'critical' security holes
SAN FRANCISCO - Microsoft Corp. warned of four security flaws in its software that it categorised as "critical" that could allow attackers to gain control of a user's computer.
Microsoft, whose Windows operating system runs some 95 per cent of the world's computers, issued the patches as part of its monthly security bulletin.
The world's biggest software maker defines a flaw as "critical" when it could allow a damaging internet worm to replicate without the user's doing anything to the machine.
The company said the "critical" patches fixed three holes in its Windows operating system and another in its Content Management Server product. Microsoft also issued another security update for Windows it rated at the lower threat level of "important."
The fixes come a little more than a week after it released a patch outside of the regular monthly update to plug a security hole related to an animated cursor that hackers had used to launch attacks after users clicked on links to malicious websites.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10433879
Apple sells 100 millionth iPod
NEW YORK - Apple Inc. has sold its 100 millionth iPod in just over five years, boasting today that the digital device was "the fastest selling music player in history" that appeals to both young and old.
Since its November 2001 launch, the portable music player has become the must-have gadget worldwide, with Apple introducing more than 10 new models to incorporate changing technology such as the ability to record and play videos, hold photos, and with more varied, fashionable colours.
"iPod has helped millions of people around the world rekindle their passion for music, and we're thrilled to be a part of that," Apple's COE Steve Jobs said in a statement.
Apple said its iTunes online music store has sold more than 2.5 billion songs, 50 million television shows and more than 1.3 million movies.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10433433
Bomber breaches security at Iraq parliament to kill 8
BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber killed eight people in the Iraqi parliament overnight, slipping through multiple checkpoints in a brazen strike.
US military spokesman Major-General William Caldwell said initial reports showed eight had been killed and 20 wounded in the blast which tore through a cafe where lawmakers were having lunch. State television said three of the dead were lawmakers.
It was the most serious breach of security in the Green Zone, the sprawling, heavily protected area in central Baghdad that houses parliament, government offices and the US embassy.
US President George W Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who is on a trip to the Far East, condemned the attack, which Caldwell blamed on Sunni Islamist al Qaeda.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10434026
NZ not involved in Fiji 'mutiny bid' – Peters
New Zealand was not involved in alleged attempts to encourage senior members of Fiji's military to mutiny against their commander Commodore Frank Bainimarama, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has said.
Colonel Pita Driti, Fiji's land force commander, today said he had been approached by the high commissioners of Australia and Britain and a United States representative last year when Cdre Bainimara was in New Zealand.
The group said they did not like Cdre Bainimarama's approach and encouraged him to take over.
He said although New Zealand's high commissioner was not present he assumed New Zealand was involved in the approach.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10434045
US radio 'shock jock' fired for racist remarks
NEW YORK - Radio host Don Imus was dumped by CBS Radio today in an inglorious end to a 30-year career that erupted in controversy over racist and sexist comments about a women's college basketball team.
The decision by CBS to pull the plug on the popular Imus in the Morning Show, which blended locker-room humour with talk with A-list politicians and other leading lights.
The move came one day after he was jettisoned by MSNBC, which had broadcast his radio show on television and after several major advertisers backed out after he called the mostly black Rutgers University team "nappy-headed hos."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10434043
London police raid 'Rastafarian temple', arrest 23
12:15PM Friday April 13, 2007
LONDON - British police arrested 23 people in an armed raid today on a Rastafarian temple in south London.
About 250 officers arrived at the 32-room property, situated in a street lined with Victorian terraced houses, in the early hours in an anti-drugs and firearms operation.
The Metropolitan Police said the premises, which included a Rastafarian temple once visited by reggae musician Bob Marley, are suspected of being used for "high level" criminality.
Up to 600 people of all ages and ethnic groups travelled to the house in Kennington from across south-east England, mostly to buy drugs.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10434047
Bodies of British soldiers arrive home
LONDON - The bodies of four British soldiers killed in Iraq last week were flown back home today.
The two men and two women, along with a civilian interpreter, died after a roadside bomb struck their Warrior armoured vehicle in Basra as they returned from a routine patrol.
The bomb blast left a crater several metres across and a metre deep in the road.
The victims were Second Lieutenant Joanna Yorke Dyer, a friend of Prince William; Corporal Kris O'Neill; Private Eleanor Dlugsoz and Kingsman Adam James Smith.
Their coffins, draped in Union Jack flags, were carried off a military aircraft during a sombre ceremony at RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire.
In total, six British soldiers were killed in Iraq last week, making it one of the deadliest for British forces since the US-led invasion in 2003.
Since the war began, 140 British soldiers have been killed.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10434042
Royal pardon for Swiss man in Thailand
9:15AM Friday April 13, 2007
Thailand's King has pardoned a Swiss man sentenced to 10 years for defacing his image.
Oliver Rudolf Jufer, 57, became the first foreigner convicted in a decade under laws protecting the King.
He is to be deported.
One-way beach mirrors hide female swimmers in Iran
TEHRAN - New uses of technology could this summer make the sexual segregation on Iran's Caspian Riviera a little less severe.
Under plans drawn up in Mazandaran Province, fibre glass barriers and water sprays will shield beach-going women from the intrusive eyes of male strangers.
The authorities will erect fibre-glass walls that act like one-way mirrors so that women can see out but nobody else can see in.
Where the barriers end, 60 or 70 metres into the sea, water sprays will foil seaborne peeping toms, said Mr Abbasnejad, a Mazandaran tourism official quoted in the daily Farhang-e Ashti.
Segregated swimming is nothing new in Iran.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10434068
US launches fresh accusations at Iran
BAGHDAD - The US military accused Iranian intelligence services today of providing weapons to militants in Iraq and said gunmen were being trained in Iran in the use of lethal roadside bombs.
US military spokesman Major-General William Caldwell showed journalists in Baghdad weapons that he said were made in Iran. They included mortar rounds and rocket-propelled grenades, which he said were found in Baghdad this week.
Iran tried to step up pressure on Iraq's government to secure the release of five Iranians being held by US forces. It threatened to pull out of an international conference on Iraq next month, an Iranian newspaper reported.
Tehran says the five, detained in a raid in northern Iraq in January, are diplomats, but Washington accuses them of having links to Iranian Revolutionary Guard networks that it says are training Iraqi militants.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10433892
Iran takes bold step towards US showdown
Iran's announcement yesterday that it has started enriching uranium on an industrial scale further raises the stakes in its confrontation with the United States and the United Nations Security Council and brings it closer to a possible military showdown with Washington.
In an initial reaction, the White House said it was "very concerned" at the latest development and accused Tehran of defying the international community instead of complying with UN demands to suspend enrichment - which the US and its allies suspect is part of a secret programme to develop a nuclear weapon.
Coming just two weeks after a UN resolution that increased sanctions, the move will be interpreted as a deliberate sign that Tehran is committed to accelerating its programme whatever the cost. The 12-day confrontation with Britain over its capture of sailors and Marines now looks deliberately calibrated to demonstrate this resolve.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=37&objectid=10433576
Iran announces 'industrial' nuclear fuel production
NATANZ, Iran - Iran announced today it had begun industrial-scale nuclear fuel production in a fresh snub to the UN Security Council, which has imposed two rounds of sanctions on it for refusing to halt such work.
The announcement marks a shift from experimental atomic fuel work involving a few hundred centrifuges used for enriching uranium to a process that will involve thousands of machines.
Western nations fear this will bring Tehran closer to what they say is its aim of building atomic bombs. Iran, the world's fourth largest oil exporter, insists it only wants the fuel for generating electricity so it can export more of its oil and gas.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=37&objectid=10433415
Anger at Indian civil servants' menstrual form
5:15AM Friday April 13, 2007
Female civil servants in India are furious with new government guidelines that force them to list intimate details, including their menstrual history, on appraisal forms.
Among questions about goals and skills, the latest appraisal form asks female civil servants questions such as "When was your last menstrual period?" or "Give details of your menstrual history".
All civil servants routinely undergo health checks, but details of the tests are not supposed to be part of their appraisals.
The form says "all female officers" must list details of their last maternity leave.
"This is insensitive. We feel strongly about this," said Seema Vyas, a civil servant in Maharashtra.
In Mumbai, women plan to complain to the Government, seeking the questions' removal.
Sydney businesses count cost of congestion
6:15AM Friday April 13, 2007
Increased traffic congestion in Sydney has cost businesses A$20,000 ($22,700) more in annual transport costs, while their staff also lose up to four hours each week stuck in jams, a survey by the National Roads and Motorists Association reveals.
Fuel consumption has skyrocketed 60 per cent and operating costs have jumped 47 per cent for Sydney businesses. Staff punctuality has plummeted 42 per cent and company productivity has dropped 33 per cent, the survey shows. The NRMA surveyed 175 of its business insurance members and found more than 80 per cent experienced an increase in traffic congestion over the past 12 months.
About 12 per cent of companies surveyed saw their annual operating costs increase by A$20,000 a year. More than a quarter stated they had been forced to change their daily operations to avoid traffic congestion.
Cosmonaut investigation fails to take off
The Kremlin has vetoed a move to launch a fresh investigation into the mysterious death of Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, angering aviation specialists who believe they have unravelled one of the twentieth century's greatest enigmas.
The rebuff came as Russians celebrated "Cosmonauts' Day" yesterday, the anniversary of Gagarin's historic flight around the Earth in 1961.
That foray into the Cosmos, that lasted a mere one hour and eight minutes, was a milestone in the then-fierce space race between the Soviet Union and Washington and turned Gagarin into a global icon.
But on March 27, 1968, Gagarin died in a mysterious plane crash while on a routine training mission in a MiG-15 with his flight instructor Vladimir Serugin just outside Moscow.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10433979
Fiji's council of chiefs sacked
Fiji coup leader Frank Bainimarama yesterday sacked the nation's Great Council of Chiefs, suspended all meetings and scrapped its state funding, dramatically increasing political tensions.
Commodore Bainimarama's move came after a continuing standoff with the traditional chiefs, who refused to endorse the commander's Government and his nominee for vice-president, Ratu Epeli Nailatikau, after last year's coup.
Commodore Bainimarama accused the chiefs of meddling in politics and said they had made decisions that were not in the best interests of the people of Fiji.
"They now constitute a security threat in our efforts to lead the country forward," he said, adding that the Government no longer recognised the council's membership.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10434022
Tensions ease as China, Japan sit down to talk
Never mind that it's merely a photo op or that nothing substantive will come of it in the short run - this week's visit to Japan by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is an important step forward for Asia.
Wen's talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will signify a slight cooling in tensions between Asia's two biggest economies.
It's a reciprocal visit after Abe's in October and could not come at a better time for the region.
There's much to discuss, including increased trade, the repatriation of trillions of American dollars of Asian savings sitting in United States Treasuries and more co-operation among many of the world's most vibrant economies. None of that is remotely possible unless Asia's major nations are talking.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10433723
Warning as sex-related disease cases rise sharply
The number of people suffering from gonorrhoea has risen sharply, particularly among the young, a medical study has shown.
Antibiotic-resistant cases are increasing in Auckland as the sexually transmitted disease charts a steady increase in New Zealand.
A study conducted by two doctors at the Auckland Sexual Health Service found that a third of 204 gonorrhoea cases at its clinics were resistant to treatment with the antibiotic ciprofloxacin.
The study, which is published in the latest Medical Journal, also notes that New Zealand has relatively high rates of the disease compared with other developed countries, with surveillance data from the Auckland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions showing a steady annual increase over the last five years.
In Auckland, the rate was 45 cases per 100,000 people in the first quarter of 2006, compared to around 27 cases per 100,000 over the same period in 2001.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10434003
First signs of water seen on planet outside solar system
WASHINGTON - Evidence of water has been detected for the first time in a planet outside this solar system, an astronomer says.
The find is tantalising for scientists eager to know whether life exists beyond Earth.
Travis Barman, an astronomer at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, said water vapour had been found in the atmosphere of a large, Jupiter-like gaseous planet located 150 light years from Earth in the constellation Pegasus. The planet is known as HD 209458b.
Other scientists reported in February that they were unable to find evidence of water in this planet's atmosphere, as well as another Jupiter-like planet.
"I'm confident," Mr Barman said. "It's definitely good news because water has been predicted to be present in the atmosphere of this planet and many of the other ones for some time."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=82&objectid=10433696
Hormone replacement therapy found safer than thought after new analysis
Younger women may be able to safely take hormone replacement therapy to treat menopause symptoms according to fresh analysis of a big US study that had raised alarm about health risks and driven down sales of treatment drugs.
A second look at the 2002 study, called the Women's Health Initiative, or WHI, suggests that women who begin hormone replacement therapy within 10 years of menopause may have less risk of heart attack than women who start hormone therapy later.
The results are "somewhat reassuring", said Dr Jacques Rossouw, lead author of the study, which appears in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association.
Dr Rossouw, in a telephone interview, said hormone replacement therapy, known as HRT, still increased the risk of breast cancer and stroke in younger women but the absolute risk for that age group was low.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=82&objectid=10432685
Thousands of giant steps for womankind
Thirty-eight years after Neil Armstrong took his "one small step for a man" on the Moon, Sunita Williams is getting ready to take several thousand much quicker steps for womankind while orbiting the Earth.
A week tomorrow, Williams, a 41-year-old US Navy commander and Nasa astronaut, will be running the 42km distance of a marathon aboard the International Space Station. She will be performing her remarkable feat 240km above the Earth and as competitor No 14,000 in the Boston Marathon.
When Williams is strapped on to the treadmill on the International Space Station, with her race number pinned to her vest, she will be taking sport to the outer limits.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=82&objectid=10433224
More oil for Iraq in the pipeline
Iraq is targeting oil production of more than 3 million barrels a day this year by repairing the northern pipeline to the Mediterranean, Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani says.
Baghdad is struggling in the face of sabotage and outdated infrastructure to produce 2 million bpd, down from nearly 3 million before the US-led invasion in 2003.
Heritage hopes for shift on uranium
Listed gold explorer Heritage Gold is going ahead with a uranium exploration venture in Australia despite the country's long-standing ban on new uranium mines.
The dual-listed company is banking on pressure from rising global demands for "clean" energy to force a policy change by the time it finds uranium. Uranium prices are rising because of plans to build nearly 200 nuclear power plants around the world in the next 10 to 15 years.
On last week's spot market, uranium was US$113 ($155) a pound up from around US$7 a pound in 2004.
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Oil price up as supplies stay down
The price of crude oil rose from a 12-day low in New York on speculation rising petrol demand and prolonged refinery maintenance may have cut US motor-fuel supplies for a ninth straight week.
A government report today will probably show US gasoline inventories fell 1.4 million barrels last week, based on a survey of 10 analysts. That would leave stockpiles 1.4 per cent below the average for the last five years, according to Bloomberg calculations. Refiners usually increase output this time of year to meet peak summer driving demand.
"I still think we're going higher," said Mark Waggoner, president of Excel Futures in Huntington Beach, California. "We're just at the beginning of the driving season" and refiners will be raising production in coming weeks, he said.
Crude oil for May delivery rose as much as US38c, or 0.6 per cent, to US$61.89 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The contract tumbled US$2.77, or 4.3 per cent, to US$61.51 a barrel on Monday, the lowest close since March 21 and the biggest one-day decline since January 4.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=37&objectid=10433529
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