So they're training lions now in Pakistan to protect candidates. That's interesting. That male lion is about a year old. It's akin the ancient practice of training Chow-Chow's to protect the Chinese emperior.
So, Perez now states, 'Bhutto shot, not bump head. But, Bhutto has to take responsiblity for her own death.' Perez must be a clairvoyant. He can ask Bhutto to accept responsiblity for her own death.
Is he stating she wanted to die? He that what he is saying?
Where is the proof, because by every measure that is a lie and the Former and Late Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto was alive and well during her rally and attempting in every way to raise support for her candidacy.
Benazir's death is no different than that of JFK. They were cut down in the prime of their lives while attempting to lead a country democratically down a path of peace.
The bullet that killed her needs to be found and identified if at all possible. Perez Musharraf is guilty of allowing the cards to be stacked in his favor prior to the elections and allowing other Presidential Candidates to have their lives in danger. He never afforded his opposition the same margin of safety he enjoys.
New Zealand Herald
Bhutto bears responsibility for death - Musharraf
12:00PM Sunday January 06, 2008
By Randall Mikkelsen
WASHINGTON - Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf conceded that a gunman may have shot Benazir Bhutto but said the opposition leader exposed herself to danger and bore responsibility for her death, CBS News said on Saturday.
Musharraf was also quoted as telling the CBS "60 Minutes" programme to be broadcast on Sunday that his government did everything it could to provide security for Bhutto, who was killed last week in a gun and suicide-bomb attack after a political rally.
"For standing up outside the car, I think it was she to blame alone. Nobody else. Responsibility is hers," Musharraf said in the interview taped on Saturday morning.
Pakistan's government has said Bhutto died when she struck her head on a handle on her vehicle's sunroof - a contention widely derided in Pakistan where many people suspect Musharraf's government of complicity. The government has also blamed al Qaeda for the attack.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10485491
US urges all sides to respect Thai poll results
5:00AM Monday December 24, 2007
The party backing exiled Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra (L) has claimed victory; the US government called it a 'crucial step' towards true democracy. Photo / Reuters
WASHINGTON - The United States called on all sides on Sunday to respect the outcome of Thailand's first parliamentary elections since a September 2006 coup prompted Washington to suspend millions of dollars in aid.
Washington welcomed initial reports the vote had been free and fair, said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
The party backing exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the People Power Party, declared victory in the poll and said it would seek to form a coalition government.
"We call on all sides to respect the results, and for a fair and transparent process for the adjudication of any disputes or fraud claims," McCormack said in a statement.
A spokesman for President George W Bush had said on Friday the United States eagerly awaits the return of democracy in Thailand "so that we may resume our close and abiding relationship with this important ally."
Under a US law that curbs aid after an elected leader is deposed by a military coup, Bush suspended about US$24 million ($32 million) in assistance to Thailand, including funds designed to promote military professionalism.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10484084
Thousands flee NSW floods
5:00AM Sunday January 06, 2008
Are you a kiwi who has experienced the floods in Australia?
Send your stories and photos to the Herald Newsdesk.
Thousands of residents from the northern New South Wales town of Kyogle were evacuated from their homes as floodwaters peaked at near-record levels - leading to parts of the New South Wales north coast being declared natural disaster areas.
The Bureau of Meteorology said an 18.1m flood peak was recorded on the Richmond River at Kyogle yesterday, the second-highest flood peak on record, after pelting rain.
"We evacuated the town and surrounding areas about mid-morning before the peak and are continuing to monitor the situation," a State Emergency Services (SES) spokeswoman said. Concerns then turned to Casino, where the Richmond River was expected to peak next, she said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10485427
One dead in Swiss alpine chairlift accident
10:12AM Friday January 04, 2008
One person is dead and at least three others injured following a chairlift accident at a Swiss alpine resort.
A German man died when the chairlift on the Kleine Scheidegg pass, in Grindelwald, near Interlarken, fell to the ground just before 1pm yesterday.
An official told AP the accident occurred after a cable apparently jumped off a guidewheel on one of the chairlift's support towers.
Swiss newspaper the Basler Zeitung reported that a German woman was also badly injured in the accident and a man and woman, both from Australia, escaped with moderate injuries.
A number of other passengers received minor injuries.
Those still on the chairlift following the accident were evacuated from the ground as the high winds made the use of helicopters too dangerous, AP reported.
The national weather centre said winds in the area had reached speeds of 90 km/h, but canton police in Bern told the Basler Zeitung it was speculation to suggest the high winds had caused the cable to dislodge.
Walter Steuri, CEO of the Jungfraubahnen company, which runs alpine rail and chairlift services in the area, said the chairlift was well maintained and regularly serviced.
Grindelwald is one of Switzerland's best-known tourist destinations. The 2061m Kleine Scheidegg pass is one of the best places from which to see the country's famous Eiger, Moench and Jungfrau peaks.
Tens of thousands of people visit the area each year.
- NZ HERALD STAFF
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10485258
Post-mortems to reveal whether deaths were murder-suicide
10:45AM Friday January 04, 2008
Post-mortem examinations to be conducted today are expected to reveal how a Sydney man and his teenage daughter died, in what police believe was a murder-suicide.
The bodies of the 50-year-old man and his 13-year-old daughter were found in the family's home in Stevens Road, Pennant Hills, about 6pm yesterday.
A police spokesman said the post-mortems, being performed later today, would reveal how they died and in what order.
Police believe the deaths were a result of a murder-suicide.
"No third person is wanted in relation to the deaths, but an investigation is under way," the spokesman said last night.
"Someone returning to the home, we are not sure whether a friend or family, made the grisly find," he said.
- AAP
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10485259
Fires continue to rage in Victoria
6:30PM Friday January 04, 2008
MELBOURNE - Victorian firefighters expect to have the last of three fires burning in the state's east contained by tonight.
Favourable weather conditions allowed firecrews to finish containment lines around the largest fire at Nowa Nowa, 10km southeast of Buchan today.
The fire was sparked by lightning on New Year's Day and is expected to scorch 710ha within containment lines before burning itself out.
"Things are going well, we've only got three (fires) still going," Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) spokesman Stuart Ord told AAP.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10485287
Weather bomb hits across Tasman
12:03PM Saturday January 05, 2008
The stormy weather has created up to 3,000 evacuees along the NSW coast.
Torrential rains continue to batter the New South Wales coast, causing immense damage and widespread evacuations in the Australian state.
The state government will consider making a natural disaster declaration as floods continue to threaten parts of the coast.
Overnight some 500 people have been evacuated from areas around Kyogle and South Murwillumbah where more than 300mm of rain fell in just three hours.
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued flood warnings for the Tweed, Richmond, Wilsons, Bellinger, Orara, Bogan,Warrego and Paroo rivers.
Emergency Services Minister Nathan Rees says initial advice from SES crews in the region indicate that the flooding is going to be far worse than initially predicted.
He says it's possible up to three thousand people will have to be evacuated from the towns and many caravan parks.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10485383
Where's your proof? Scientists tackle celebrities over ad claims
5:00AM Saturday January 05, 2008
Nicole Kidman and other celebrities have been criticised by scientists for spruiking the benefits of various remedies, without having solid evidence to support them.
The Aussie actress, fellow Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow and fashion designer Stella McCartney, are among those targeted for making claims about the benefits of everything from brain-based workouts to face creams and diets.
Sense About Science, a charitable trust set up to tackle the misrepresentation of scientific facts, reviewed a list of "pseudoscience" claims made by celebrities last year and contacted various experts to put them to the test.
Kidman was singled out for promoting Nintendo's new mini-computer based mental workout program, Dr Kawashima's Brain Training.
The 40-year-old has starred in TV ads in Britain promoting the device and saying: "I've quickly found that training my brain is a great way to keep my mind feeling young."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10485324
Motorsport: Terrorist menace forces last-minute cancellation of Dakar rally
5:00AM Sunday January 06, 2008
By Claire Soares
The Dakar Rally, the race across the Sahara deemed to be one of motorsport's toughest and most dangerous, has been cancelled for the first time in its 30-year history because of security fears.
The Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), which organises the race, said it took the last-minute decision following the murders of four French tourists in Mauritania, as well as threats from terrorist groups against the rally itself, which was due to start in Lisbon overnight.
"No other decision but the cancellation of the sporting event could be taken," the ASO said in a statement last night. "[We] condemn the terrorist menace that annihilates a year of hard work, engagement and passion for all the participants."
Three gunmen, who police suspect were linked to al-Qaeda, shot dead four French tourists in Mauritania on 24 December as they had a picnic at the roadside near the border with Senegal. The killings prompted the French Government to issue a security warning.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10485431
Sydney council to plead for lives of Bali bombers
2:19PM Sunday January 06, 2008
An inner-Sydney council will plead with Indonesia to spare the Bali bombers less than a month before their scheduled execution.
News Limited newspapers say the left-leaning Marrickville council will write to Indonesia's government this month asking it to commute death sentences imposed on three convicted Bali bombers, whose final appeals officially failed last week, leaving them just 30 days to seek last-minute presidential clemency.
The council will also ask Indonesia to spare six Australian members of the Bali Nine, sentenced to death by firing squad for trying to smuggle 8.3 kg of heroin from Indonesia to Australia.
The move follows Amnesty International Australia's recent controversial bid to save the Bali bombers. To defend its position, the organisation cited its universal opposition to capital punishment.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10485493
Bloody new era looms as shaky ceasefire ends
5:00AM Saturday January 05, 2008
Violence has surged since the end of 2005 and the Tigers have reverted to their original demand for independence.
Sri Lanka's 25-year civil war with Tamil Tiger rebels is likely to escalate into the bloodiest period of fighting the island has seen after the Government this week scrapped a tattered truce, experts say.
Sri Lanka plunged back into war after four years of relative peace almost as soon as President Mahinda Rajapaksa took power in late 2005. But both he and the Tigers had held off scrapping a Norwegian-brokered truce to avoid appearing the villain.
With the pact now formally ended, hopes of resurrecting collapsed peace talks any time soon are dead and investment in the US$26 billion ($34 billion) economy could suffer.
"This means all-out war. The Government has dropped the peace option and has opted for a fuller military onslaught on the rebels," said Iqbal Athas, an analyst with Jane's Defence Weekly in Colombo.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10485322
Gwynne Dyer: Kenya's promise betrayed
5:00AM Saturday January 05, 2008
By Gwynne Dyer
More than two years ago, when Kenya's current opposition leader, Raila Odinga, quit President Mwai Kibaki's Government, I wrote the following: "The trick will be to get Kibaki out without triggering a wave of violence that would do the country grave and permanent damage ... Bad times are coming to Kenya."
The bad times have arrived, but the violence that has swept Kenya since the stolen election on December 27 is not just African "tribalism".
Kikuyus have been the main target of popular wrath, and non-Kikuyu protesters have been the principal victims of the security forces, but this confrontation is about trust betrayed, hopes dashed and patience strained to the breaking point.
Nobody wants a civil war in Kenya, but it's easy to see why Raila Odinga rejects calls from abroad to accept the figures for the national vote that were announced Sunday.
If Odinga enters a "government of national unity" under Kibaki, as the African Union and the United States want, then he's back in the untenable situation he was in until 2005, and Kibaki will continue to run Kenya.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10485297
Call of the wild silenced in Kenya
5:00AM Saturday January 05, 2008
A short distance from the slums and skyscrapers of Nairobi, Naanyu Ntirrisa pulls thorn bushes around her Maasai village to keep out marauding lions that have killed a cow and two sheep.
"We are doing our very best to be vigilant," she says.
Across a river from the village, tourists in Land Rovers photograph giraffes munching on acacia thorns, with the city's towers visible in the distance. They are enjoying the charms of Nairobi National Park, the closest park of its kind to a capital city in the world, where visitors can grab a quick safari during a business trip and airlines even take stopover passengers out for a game drive. Airliners making their final approach fly over vultures wheeling in the sky and zebras browsing with antelopes.
The scene on the Athi plains south of the Kenyan capital is typical of the Maasai lands stretching hundreds of kilometres to the Tanzanian border. The park hosts one of the largest concentrations of the rare black rhino in Kenya and lions and even cheetahs can still be seen - with a bit of luck.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10485301
Kenyan crisis threatens whole region
5:00AM Saturday January 05, 2008
Kenya's sudden spiral into chaos after years as a regional anchor has badly set back Africa's democratic progress and will strike a heavy blow against the economies of a wide swathe of neighbouring nations.
In the few turbulent days since a tarnished election last week, Kenya has gone from democratic hope to disaster, from a country seen as an island of stability in a dangerous region to a new trouble spot torn by ethnic bloodletting.
The election, which Kenya's opposition says was rigged to re-elect President Mwai Kibaki, ended a year in which democratic hopes in Africa had already been dented by a discredited poll in Nigeria and turmoil in the politics of South Africa.
"This is the greatest setback to Africa's reputation since the 60s. Kenya has an iconic status, seen as synonymous with Africa," said Kenya expert Michael Holman.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10485317
Kenya's opposition defiant, US envoy flying in
4:24PM Friday January 04, 2008
NAIROBI - Kenya's opposition vowed to defy police for a second day running today and try to hold a mass rally in the capital while the top US diplomat for Africa was flying in amid chaos that has killed more than 300.
Efforts by the opposition to stage the banned protest on Thursday were met by police firing teargas and warning shots as thousands of angry youths poured out of Nairobi's slums and tried to march on the city centre.
The protesters are enraged by President Mwai Kibaki's disputed victory in the December 27 election. Five days of ethnic violence and riots since the official results were announced have shocked the world.
More than 300 people have died in clashes mostly pitting Luo supporters of opposition candidate Raila Odinga against Kibaki's Kikuyu ethnic group and the police.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10485276
Chance to think again about the big questions
5:00AM Wednesday January 02, 2008
By Steve Connor
Steven Pinker has reconsidered human evolution. Photo / Paul Estcourt
It takes a lot to admit that you have changed your mind about something but dozens of leading scientists, scholars and intellectuals have done just that for a New York-based website that describes itself as an influential online salon for free thinkers.
This year's annual question posed by www.edge.org asks visitors to the site to submit a short explanation to address the issue of what you have changed your mind about and why?
Previous questions on the site have been along the lines of, what is your most dangerous idea? And, what are you optimistic about?
"When thinking changes your mind, that's philosophy. When God changes your mind, that's faith. When facts change your mind, that's science. And science is what's on the minds of the world-class scientists and thinkers on Edge," said John Brockman, the New York literary agent behind the website.
Steven Pinker, the Harvard psychologist and language expert, said he had changed his mind about whether humans were still evolving. He used to believe people had so isolated themselves from natural selection that evolution had stopped, but now he was not so sure.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=82&objectid=10484958
Research finds tone matters to dolphins
5:00AM Friday December 21, 2007
Twenty of the whistles and tones recorded were heard frequently and were common to more than one pod. Photo / Reuters
Humans have taken a major step forward in unlocking the mysteries of dolphin-speak, and found their communication is more complicated than originally thought.
A researcher who spent three years listening to bottlenose dolphins living off the coast of Byron Bay, NSW, has found certain whistles are linked to specific behaviour.
PhD candidate Liz Hawkins from Southern Cross University's Whale Research Centre in Lismore listened in on more than 50 different pods of dolphins.
Using the starting and final frequency of the sound and its duration, she distinguished 186 distinct whistle types among the 1650 recorded, of which 20 were heard frequently and were common to more than one pod.
Ms Hawkins also grouped the whistles into five classes based on tone, and found they were related to certain behaviour.
While socialising, dolphins made almost exclusively flat-toned or rising-toned whistles. Travelling pods made mostly "sine" whistles, which rise and fall in bell curves, which Ms Hawkins suggested could be advertising their pod to other pods.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=82&objectid=10483570
Great White's amazing 3000km swim
5:00AM Sunday December 30, 2007
By Cliff Taylor
A great white shark's record-breaking swim between New Zealand and Australia could be far more impressive than previously thought.
The 4.4m shark, nicknamed Kerri, started its journey at Stewart Island in March.
An electronic tag attached to its dorsal fin came off 3000km away, near the Great Barrier Reef, two weeks ago.
The journey is the longest ever recorded by a shark from New Zealand. But Department of Conservation scientist Clinton Duffy said it could have been thousands of kilometres longer.
"I would say it's unlikely it would have been a direct route with her being at large for nine months. She could have been all over the place."
Duffy said sharks were known to travel up to 1000km a week.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=82&objectid=10484695
'Extinct' seabirds captured
5:00AM Monday December 03, 2007
The ornithologist who helped re-discover a native seabird thought for 150 years to be extinct has shot two of them - with a net-gun.
Brent Stephenson, who rediscovered the storm petrel, with Sav Saville, off the coast of Whitianga in January 2003, captured two of the birds with a net fired out of a custom-made gun. "It's not every day you get to hold a seabird that for 150 years was thought to be extinct, let alone hold two," he said.
Altogether three of the "extinct" New Zealand storm petrels were captured in the Hauraki Gulf by Department of Conservation (DoC) staff and scientists.
The expedition, funded jointly by DoC and a grant from National Geographic's committee for research and exploration, was part of an effort to discover where the birds are breeding. It lives and feeds at sea, returning to land only to breed.
If the captured birds had showed signs of breeding, they would have had tracking beacons attached before being released, Dr Stephenson said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=332&objectid=10479680
Voyager finds 'dent' in our solar system
5:00AM Thursday December 13, 2007
By Mark Lawin
Nasa's Voyager 2 spacecraft has found that our solar system is not round but is "dented" by the local interstellar magnetic field of deep space, space experts said on Monday.
The data was gathered by the craft on its 30-year journey into the edge of the solar system when it crossed into a sweeping region called the termination shock.
It showed that the southern hemisphere of the solar system's heliosphere is being pushed in or "dented".
Voyager 2 is the second spacecraft to enter this region of the solar system behind Voyager 1, which entered the northern region of the heliosheath in December 2004.
The termination shock is a turbulent area far beyond Pluto's orbit where the solar winds emanating from the sun are significantly slowed as they run up against the thin gas of interstellar space. Solar winds blow in all directions from our sun, and shape what was once thought to be a bubble around the solar system called the heliosphere.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=325&objectid=10481950
Death star on the edge of space
5:00AM Wednesday December 19, 2007
The 'death star' galaxy blasts its neighbour with a powerful emission deep in outer space. Photo / Reuters
A "death star" galaxy is sending out a powerful jet of particles and magnetic radiation that is probably obliterating any possible life in its broad path, notably in a nearby galaxy, astronomers said yesterday.
They said the two galaxies appear to be merging and the disturbance in the magnetic field caused by this movement may have awakened a dormant, supermassive black hole in one of the galaxies.
They have images of the deadly blast, spurting out from a system known as 3C321.
Data from Nasa's Chandra x-ray observatory show both galaxies have supermassive black holes at their centres, and 3C321, the larger galaxy, is emitting this stream of energy and particles. The unnamed smaller galaxy apparently has swung into the path of this jet.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=325&objectid=10483108
Lunar land prices rocketing
1:20PM Tuesday December 18, 2007
LONDON - Property investors smarting from this year's housing bust in the United States might do well to look farther afield - even out of this world.
Internet searches for lunar land prices show the cost of buying an acre of the moon's surface has risen 40 per cent since the start of 2007, investment bank UBS told clients in a tongue-in-cheek analysis.
Lacing a year-end note with caveats, and not a little holiday cheer, UBS strategists said their "esoteric research" of archived news reports suggests lunar property trends may even be a leading indicator of US house prices.
Rising sharply between 1997 and 2001, the cost of a slice of land on the moon suffered a mid-cycle retreat in 2002-03 after the dot.com bubble burst, the bank said.
But prices defied gravity to hit record highs of US$37 ($50) per acre in December 2005 - nine months before US housing peaked.
- REUTERS
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=325&objectid=10483066
Tourists deepen carbon footprint
5:00AM Friday January 04, 2008
By Angela Gregory
Carbon emissions from visitors' air travel to New Zealand equal total emissions from the country's coal, gas and oil-fired power generation, say University of Otago scientists.
Physics researchers Inga Smith and Craig Rodger say the greenhouse-gas emissions from visiting tourists are far greater than had been thought.
The researchers set out to quantify the contribution of international visitors' air travel to New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions profile from 1983 to 2005.
Their calculations showed that in 2005, the CO2-equivalent emissions from the 2.4 million international visitors' return air flights was nearly 7.9 million tonnes, about the same as the emissions from all the country's coal, gas and oil-fired power generation.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/feature/story.cfm?c_id=26&objectid=10485250
Commercial property next US worry
5:00AM Monday January 07, 2008
By Ilaina Jonas
As the chances of a United States recession increase with each new batch of economic data, some investors worry that commercial property could follow residential housing down the path of steep decline, leaving behind unpaid debt that would be difficult to unwind.
"Real estate is a derivative of the economy and credit. If the outlook for those two items is not good, that obviously affects real estate," UBS analyst Alexander Goldfarb said. "Clearly, expectations of growth have changed significantly."
A crisis in the credit market has led to tighter lending requirements, forcing some sellers to dramatically reduce prices and in some cases to take properties off the market.
Demand for space is also down compared to 2006 when pent-up demand by businesses was still causing them to snap up space.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=34&objectid=10485513
Scene set for a big year in New Zealand film
5:00AM Monday January 07, 2008
By John Drinnan
Niki Caro will direct The Vintner's Luck. Photo / Kenny Rodger
This year promises to be a busy one for the Kiwi film business but there are some big decisions ahead about how taxpayers will underpin the industry's growth.
And if there is a change to a National-led government it is likely to mean a review of the 1978 Film Commission Act that has been a foundation for the industry - at least the industry beyond director Peter Jackson - for 30 years.
Jackson and his Camperdown Studio in Wellington have moved beyond the early successes of Lord of the Rings and King Kong.
Part-owned special effects arm Weta Digital has become self-sufficient and Jackson's lavishly appointed post-production outfit Park Road Post is getting more work.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=34&objectid=10485517
Scientists hail campaign as quollified success
5:00AM Friday January 04, 2008
By Nick Squires
A campaign to save a highly endangered cat-sized marsupial from the toxic cane toad has been hailed as a spectacular success by Australian scientists.
Four years ago 65 northern quolls - an endearing creature with spotted fur - were moved to offshore islands in the Northern Territory. They bred with such success that the population has soared to more than 5000.
The quolls were relocated in a A$300,000 operation dubbed "Island Ark" because they were dying in droves after preying on cane toads, which pack a lethal punch as a result of the poisonous glands on their backs.
The toads have accounted for the deaths of millions of crocodiles, lizards, birds and other creatures.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10485210
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