Republicans sweep Congress in US midterm polls

WASHINGTON, Nov 6: Republicans swept to control of the US Congress today, taking the Senate from the Democrats and solidifying their grip on the House of Representatives in historic gains midway through President George W Bush’s four-year term.

In a marquee Governor’s race, the President’s brother, Jeb, won four more years in Florida.

"Wow, what a night," exulted Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, one of a half-dozen newly elected Republican Senators.

With three Senate races yet to be settled, Republicans had 50 seats, enough to guarantee control on the basis of Vice President Dick Cheney’s tie-breaking vote.

The Republicans seized one Senate seat in Georgia, where Rep. Saxby Chambliss defeated Max Cleland, and another in Missouri, where former Rep Jim Talent ousted Jean Carnahan.

And the Republicans successfully defended open seats in New Hampshire, where Rep John Sununu triumphed, and in a string of Southern States, the President’s home state of Texas among them.

Republicans easily turned back a Democratic challenge in the House, fashioning a majority for a fifth straight election. The trend pointed toward single-digit Republican gains - and a possible turnover in democratic leadership.

Democratic officials said Rep Dick Gephardt of Missouri would decide within a day or two whether to seek a new term as leader.

Democrats won governorships in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin, a string of midwestern states long in Republican. But Rep Robert Ehrlich became the first Republican elected Governor of Maryland in more than three decades, and Democratic incumbents fell in Georgia and South Carolina.

Democratic Chairman Terry Mcauliffe, no fan of the President, said the Republican success was due in large measure to Bush’s standing. "I think I pin a lot of it on that this is a President who has had very high approval ratings. He’s had the longest sustained approval ratings of any President in modern history," Mcauliffe said.

The night was not without Republican campaign casualties. Arkansas Attorney General Mark Pryor defeated Sen Tim Hutchins on, and eight-term Rep Connie Morella was defeated in Maryland.

Democrats needed to gain seven seats to win control of the House. Instead, the trend pointed toward Republican gains.

Democratic Rep Karen Thurman fell in Florida, while Republicans Reps Nancy Johnson in Connecticut, Charles Pickering in Mississippi and John Shimkus in Illinois dispatched Democratic incumbents in head-to-head contests. (AP)

Bush marriage under microscope in new book

WASHINGTON, Nov 6: Twenty-five years ago George W Bush and Laura Welch married in Midland, Texas, after a whirlwind courtship that the future US first lady initially feared had a "fat chance" of going anywhere.

They were thrown together on a blind date at a friend’s backyard Barbecue in August, 1977. Bush, who had a reputation as a good kisser, was instantly smitten by the quiet and studious Laura, according to a recently published book. They wed three months later.

She was "gorgeous, good humored, quick to laugh, down to earth and very smart," Bush said later. "I recognised those attributes right away, in roughly that order."

A quarter of a century on, biographer Christopher Andersen set out to learn what makes the Bushes’ relationship tick in "George and Laura: Portrait of an American marriage."

Andersen, who has made a name for himself by writing about famous people such as John F Kennedy Jr., Princess Diana, Jackie Kennedy and Bill and Hillary Clinton, did not interview the Bushes but he did speak to Laura Bush’s 83-year-old mother Jenna Welch and several longtime family friends. That first night, Laura judged the future president to be "really cute" and "very funny." But she told her mother she was afraid that living in Austin — with George W hundreds of miles away in Midland — would kill any budding romance.

"Fat chance," Welch quoted Laura. "I really like him, but how is this going to work?"

Later Welch worried that George W was coming on too strong.

"I thought George was a great catch but I was afraid he was pushing Laura so hard he might ruin the whole thing," she said.

Laura wasn’t Bush’s first serious romantic interest. Three decades ago, he was engaged to Rice University Economics Major and Head Cheerleader Cathy Wolfman who described the future President as "a very passionate man — a good kisser, a real romantic guy and a real gentleman. He was kind, caring and sensitive."

When they broke up, Wolfman told Andersen that George W was stricken and began to weep when she slipped the engagement ring off her finger and handed it back, saying: "I don’t think this is going to work out." Other anecdotes from "George and Laura," include:

- The bookish Laura, who later became a public school librarian, named one of her cats "Dewey," after the dewey decimal system, an organizing system for libraries.

- Bush, who has occasionally spoken publicly about his decision to give up drinking 16 years ago, did so with no fanfare, no drama. "You just sort of gradually noticed that he wasn’t holding a beer in his hand anymore," according to one longtime friend.

- During the 2000 presidential campaign, Laura, who quit smoking in 1992, "would, in times of stress, bum cigarettes off friends and sometimes even reporters so long as no photographers were around to snap a shot of her with a cigarette in her mouth." Friends and aides have disputed this.

- Bush "might tease her for being prim and proper and studious and she’d needle him right back for mangling the english language — again."

- Both the bushes are enjoying every minute in the white house. "Hell, they’re having the time of their lives," friend Doug Hannah said. (AGENCIES)

US stem cell policy deters investors

WASHINGTON, Nov 6: The Bush administration’s restrictions on embryonic stem cell research could be discouraging investment in companies working on these cells, thereby delaying the development of potentially life-saving medical therapies, venture capitalists told United Press International.

A lot of investors are very, very, very unhappy about the federal position on this, Linda Powers, Managing Director of Toucan Capital, a venture capital firm in Bethesda, Md., told UPI. It is having a chilling effect not only on science but also on the investment community, she said.

Embryonic stem cell investors worry about ... Whether the technology works or not, (about) regulatory approval but also plain old political risk, she said. We could get five years into it and then have congress pass a law saying it is illegal.

Embryonic stem cells can give rise to any type of tissue in the body and thus have the potential to treat diseases ranging from diabetes to Parkinson’s. However, they are controversial because obtaining the cells requires the destruction of a human embryo.

Bush has limited embryonic stem cell research conducted with federal funding to 78 cell lines the administration deems acceptable because they were derived from surplus embryos left over from in-vitro fertilization procedures. Scientists recently testified before the senate, however, that these restrictions are stifling their research because they have been unable to obtain only a handful of these lines.

Scientists are moving to where the funding is, powers said, noting one embryonic stem cell researcher has left the University of California in San Francisco to go to Cambridge University in England. There are rumors two prominent scientists are moving to singapore (where the research is supported by the Government) to sit up lab operations there, she said, adding, I predict we will see more of this.

If stem cell research is pushed offshore, it could have a very, very negative impact, both medically and economically, powers said. Other places in the world will become centers of excellence for the basic science involved in stem cell technology. The US has been the absolute leading edge on new life sciences technology (and) for the US to be left behind would be a huge blow to its scientific standing. Powers noted Singapore, Australia, Israel and England have made stem cell research a national priority and are pouring massive amounts of Government money into it. It’s a real issue, not just a sort of theoretical policy debate.

Joel Martin, of forward ventures in San Diego, agreed the administration’s policy is a factor in investors’ decisions, but said the compromise as it stands today is not too negative for the commercial implications of this technology. This is because there will be more stem cell lines available in the future that have been developed with private money and that are free of the restrictions imposed on research conducted with federal dollars, he explained.

Martin also said a total moratorium on stem cell research would set us back. If that happens, it will move offshore pretty dramatically. If the environment in the US makes it too difficult to do this type of research ... Probably the united kingdom would be the place you would see the commercialization, he said.

At present there only are four US companies conducting embryonic stem cell research, according to the biotechnology industry organisation. These consist of Geron in Menlo Park, Calif., PPL Therapeutics in Blacksburg, VA., Bresagen in Athens, GA., and advanced cell technology in Boston.

Powers said the migration of this research outside the United States would be a big blow from a business and economic standpoint, because treatments and technologies that result from stem cells are going to yield very big economic returns.

Most investors predict the market for these treatments will be in the billions of dollars.

As the current environment stands, Powers said, highly successful life science companies that do the commercialization of those treatments will be outside the US rather than inside the US, meaning the revenue will flow to those countries.

The White House did not respond to phone calls from UPI seeking comment on this issue. (UPI)

Top contenders emerge to oversee China foreign policy

BEIJING, Nov 6: A Kremlinologist member of the ancestor-worshipping Tujia ethnic group and two experts on the United States have emerged as top contenders to become China’s next foreign policy overlord, Chinese sources today said.

Another possibility is seasoned former Trade Minister Wu Yi, 63, China’s most powerful woman dubbed the "iron lady", they said.

But no dramatic change in policy is expected, whoever replaces Vice Premier Qian Qichen, who is 74 and retiring along with other top leaders due to leave their party posts this month and their Government jobs next year.

A dark horse is Zeng Qinghong, 63, protege of Communist Party chief Jiang Zemin, who is almost certain to land a seat in the all-powerful seven-member politburo standing committee.

But Dai Bingguo, the Kremlinologist, and US experts Liu Huaqiu and Li Zhaoxing who already hold ranks equivalent to cabinet minister in the foreign policy establishment, are the front-runners for the post, the sources said.

If Zeng does not assume the position, whichever of the others makes it to the party’s elite 22-seat politburo after a pivotal Congress starting on Friday will become foreign policy overlord, the sources said.

"We should see a significant turnover in China’s foreign policy leadership," a western diplomat said.

"This may not translate immediately into policy changes but may accelerate current trends," the diplomat said of Beijing’s desire to improve ties with Washington, Russia, India and other neighbours.

Jin Canrong, a Professor of International Relations at Beijing’s Renmin University, added: "There won’t be big changes to foreign policy because Jiang Zemin will retain influence after retiring."

The new foreign affairs Guru will replace qian, an architect of China’s rapprochement with the United States in the past decade. Qian maintained his grip on foreign policy as Vice Premier and politburo member after stepping down as Foreign Minister in 1998.

The greatest triumph of Qian’s ten-year term as Foreign Minister was helping China escape international isolation following the 1989 Army crackdown on student-led protests for democracy around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. The violence was condemned around the world and led to western economic sanctions. Dai, 61, a native of the southwestern province of Guizhou, has been head of the party’s International Liaison Department since August 1997, handling ties with foreign political parties.

The blue-blooded Dai, a son-in-law of former Vice Foreign Minister Huang Zhen, took part in China’s disarmament talks with the Soviet Union in the 1980s. His father-in-law was a veteran of the 1934-35 long march and went on to become Culture Minister.

He was Ambassador to Hungary in the late 1980s and a Vice Foreign Minister from 1994-95.

Dai is a member of the Tujia ethnic group, which has a population of 5.7 million scattered in the landlocked provinces of Hubei, Hunan and Sichuan. The group has been assimilated by the Han, China’s predominant ethnic group, and speaks Chinese.

Liu, 63, from the booming southern province of Guangdong, has been director of the Foreign Affairs Offices of the State Council, or cabinet, and the party, since 1994.

He was a Vice Foreign Minister from 1989 to 1998 and director of the Foreign Ministry’s North American and Oceanian Affairs Department from 1986-87. He worked in China’s Embassy in Ghana in the 1970s and in Australia in the 1980s.

"Dai Bingguo’s background is better. But Liu Huaqiu is more familiar with the United States," said a retired Chinese diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity. "The United States has been and will continue to be China’s foreign policy focus."

Li, 62, from the eastern province of Shandong, has been Vice Foreign Minister since December 2000.

He earned his stripes as Ambassador to the United States from 1998-2001, cultivating strong personal ties in Washington while staunchly defending China’s corner in a series of tense disputes.

"Li Zhaoxing was tough with the United States," a Peking University Professor said, referring to Li’s handling of the fall-out from the US bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade in 1999.

Dai and Liu sit on the Communist Party’s outgoing 193-member 15th Central Committee. Li is an alternate member.

Incumbent Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan, 64, a Japan expert, is widely expected to step down in Cabinet reshuffle next March. It is not known what Tang’s next job will be.

"Tang Jiaxuan is deemed to have done a mediocre job," the second academic said. (AGENCIES)

3 Indo-Americans elected to state legislatures

NEW YORK, Nov 6: At least three Indian-Americans were elected to state legislatures in mid-term elections in the United States but several others lost.

Kumar Barve, longest-serving elected official of Indian origin, was re-elected to the house of delegates in maryland state. He was first elected in 1990 and is a member of the powerful house committee on economic matters. He had run on a democratic ticket.

Swati Dandekar, another democratic candidate, was elected to Iowa State Assembly, getting 57.4 per cent votes.

Satveer Chaudhary, also a Democrat, won a seat in the Minnesota State Senate with 54.47 votes.

However, Ayesha F. Nariman from New York, Stuart Johnson and Syed Mahmood from California, Vij Pawar from New Jersey and DC Amarsinghe from Virginia lost their bids for the house of representative.

But the showing is not considered bad as they had started only recently to Vie for elected offices and had won party primaries from their respective constituencies.

While Nariman and Pawar fought on democratic ticket, Johnson and Mahmood were Republicans. Amarsinghe was a Green Party candidate.

Nariman was defeated by Republican Thomas Reynold. She got 22 per cent votes against 74 per cent by Reynold in a four-way race. Johnson could manage 35 per cent votes. (PTI)

Kidney disease also carries bone dangers

PHILADELPHIA, Nov 6: As patients with kidney disease endure the rigors of dialysis or await the availability of organs for transplant, many become aware for the first time that they also are developing osteodystrophy, a serious deterioration of bone and skeletal tissue, specialists in the field reported.

Moreover, dialysis cannot remove the body’s toxins that cause osteodystrophy, and the drugs used to treat the condition carry serious side effects that threaten the lives of patients.

Everyone knows that (patients on dialysis) cannot dispose normally of the typical toxins, Dr. Paolo Raggi, Professor of Medicine at Tulane University Medical School in New Orleans, told United Press International.

What most people don’t know is how dangerous the condition is to the human skeleton.

Raggi presented preliminary new research on osteodystrophy —also known as osteomalacia — at the annual meeting of the American Society of Nephrology. The research concerns possible dangers of the newest drugs used to treat the condition.

We are beginning to think that calcium-based drugs may contribute to the heart and stroke problems (associated with kidney disease), Raggi said.

So we are looking at new alternatives since, obviously, we certainly don’t want to hurt our patients while we try to treat them.

The calcium-based drugs are used to remove phosphorus in kidney disease patients. Phosphorus is one of the most dangerous toxins produced by the body, Raggi explained.

In reaction to high phosphorus and the loss of Vitamin D, the body reacts by secreting a lot of what we call parathyroid hormone. Parathyroid hormone goes to the bone and destroys it, chewing on the bone to get calcium out and take it to where the calcium is needed.

Bones also need Vitamin D. So loss of Vitamin D and the activity of parathyroid hormone doubles up on the bones, causing progressive destruction.

Raggi said that virtually all patients on dialysis face some phosphate-induced form of bone disease and up to 45 percent of end-stage kidney failure patients have skeletons that have shut down. Although the bones do not decalcify, they can no longer repair the small fractures that arise routinely from daily activities. This is called a-dynamic bone, Dr Raggi, where small fractures accumulate unhealed and lead to large fractures.

One of the most insidious aspects of osteodystrophy is that the bone changes it causes can begin many years before any symptoms appear in adults with kidney disease. It is called a silent crippler by physicians.

Many more people are aware of the fact that calcium disorders can lead to heart attack or stroke in these patients than they are to the fact that bone disease is so pervasive and so threatening, John Davis, Chief Executive Officer of the National Kidney Foundation, told UPI. Dialysis is saving lives but alone it can’t stop bone disease.

Bone and joint pain are early signs of renal osteodystrophy, which is very serious in children because their bones are still growing. The condition slows growth and causes deformities.

One such deformity occurs when the legs bend inward or outward. This deforming condition is often called renal rickets. Another consequence is short stature.

Older patients and women who have gone through menopause are at greater risk for this disease because they already are vulnerable to osteoporosis.

Current treatment of osteodystrophy includes the maintenance of proper calcium and phosphorus levels in the blood, treatment with Vitamin D and the phosphate-binding agents, reducing exposure to excess iron or aluminum and reducing aluminum toxicity.

Drugs on the US market include the calcium-based phosphorus-binding agents and a polymer-based drug named sevelamer.

Lanthanum carbonate, a drug in the final stages of development, awaits action by the US Food and Drug Administration.

The most important thing is to get away from the use of aluminum-based phosphate binding drugs and to take a hard look at calcium-based agents, Raggi said. So our real hope is in newer less-toxic agents.

The US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, formerly known as the health care financing administration, in Washington reports that more than 230,000 Americans are under treatment for end-stage renal disease. Men comprise 54 per cent of the patients. (UPI)

Legality of Musharraf’s presidency questioned

ISLAMABAD, Nov 6: As the deadlock continued over the formation of a new Government, former Premier Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-N has filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging Pervez Musharraf’s presidency.

A senior PML-N leader, Syed Zafar Ali Shah filed a petition yesterday asking the apex court to direct Musharraf to quit, as the three-year deadline set for him to relinquish powers to an elected Government has ended.

It was another petition by Shah in 2000 that prompted the apex court to legalise Musharraf’s 1999 military coup and fix a three-year deadline for him to hold the elections and hand over power to an elected Government.

In his petition filed yesterday, Shah has urged the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take over the office of President, as the term of Musharraf as Chief Executive expired on October 11, 2002 as per the court judgement of 2000.

Shah has asked the court to "direct President Pervez Musharraf to relinquish the office of president, which should be held by the Chief Justice of Pakistan until it is filled in accordance with the constitution."

The petitioner also questioned the constitutionality of the "fictitious" referendum held by Musharraf in April this year to get himself elected for five years.

The Supreme Court, in the run up to the referendum, had upheld it under the framework of the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) promulgated by Musharraf, but said the PCO would go after the restoration of the Constitution. Referring to the legality of the referendum after the polls, the court in its judgements said, "apparently these questions are purely academic, hypothetical and presumptive in nature and are not capable of being determined at this juncture."

"We would not like to go into these questions at this stage, and leave the same to be determined at a proper forum (Parliament) at the appropriate time," it added.

Besides questioning the legality of referendum in the light of restoration of the constitution, Shah also requested the apex court to refer the case of conduct of incumbent Chief Election Commissioner Irshad Hasan for supervising "massive rigging" in the referendum that "elected" Musharraf as President with no other candidate in the fray.

Hasan Khan was the Supreme Court Chief Justice, when the apex court delivered judgement giving three year period for Musharraf in 2002.

Urging the court to remove the name of Hasan Khan from Supreme Judicial Council, Shah in his petition said, "CEC and his crew were a party to the stuffing of ballot boxes and their integrity is to be judged by this court exclusively through the results of the referendum."

Giving comparative facts and figures of turn-out of general elections and referendum, the petitioner questioned the extraordinarily high turnout for the referendum, which he pointed out, was missing in the October 10 general elections.

Referring to the delay in holding elections to senate, the petitioner pleaded for urgency for the election of the senate for the purpose of completing the electoral college for the election of the president and declare that constitution would stand revived the day senate elects its Chairman.

Shah has also contended that the incorporation of the referendum in the Legal Framework Order (LFO) that contained the constitutional amendments brought in by Musharraf has created a political and constitutional deadlock.

There was a deadlock as the political parties that won the elections, with the exception of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam (PML-QA), were unwilling to accept amendments to refuse to take oath under the LFO, he said.

Shah said since Musharraf is President under the LFO, the incorporation of this order in the constitution was not acceptable to the new parliamentarians.

The petitioner said the rejection of the LFO is tantamount to rejection of the president as well.

As such, the petition says, a constitutional crisis has been created, which can only be averted with the intervention of the Chief Justice, he said. (PTI)

12 killed in train fire in eastern France

NANCY (FRANCE), Nov 6: An overnight express train heading for the German city of Munich burst into flames near a station in Eastern France, killing 12 people, officials said today. Five Americans were among the dead, the US Embassy said.

At least eight others were injured, none seriously. Richard Lankford, spokesman for the US Embassy in Paris, said five US citizens died in the fire, according to information received from French authorities. Just hours earlier, Lankford had said no Americans were believed to be among the dead.

Lankford declined to give the victims’ identities, pending notification of next of kin.

In Berlin, the German Foreign Ministry said four of dead appeared to be German. The nationalities of the other three victims remained unknown.

The initial cause cited was an electrical short-circuit in the sleeping car where the blaze originated, according to regional French authorities.

The injured -four Germans, three Britons, one America and one French national -were taken to a university hospital in Nancy, regional authorities said. SNCF said eight people were injured, none serious, and did not give a breakdown of nationalities. There was no explanation given for the discrepancy.

"Rescuers got to the scene at 2:22 am (local time). They discovered the first sleeping car charred," regional official Jean-Francois Cordet said. "Inside were 12 dead, nine injured."

Firefighters rushed to the train, which had stopped on a track about 800 meters outside the Nancy station. The charred Train Car, No 261, belonged to Germany’s national railroad, Deutsche Bahn.

The car was built in 1964 and underwent extensive renovation in 1999 and an overhaul in 2001, according Deutsche Bahn spokesman Dieter Huehnerkoch. He said the sleeping car that caught fire was believed to be en route to Munich. Deutsche Bahn was sending experts and two board members to Nancy to take part in the investigation.

"The catastrophe was amplified by the fact that it was in a confined space. The fire was limited, and the amount of smoke very quickly became catastrophic," Chief Firefighter Jean-Louis Modere said.

Police investigators were on the scene. A team of psycologists was sent in to help survivors cope with the trauma. Officials offered passengers shelter in a local gymnasium.

French Transportation Minister Gilles De Robien and Lo is Gallois, president of the French Rail Authority SNCF, were headed to the scene.

Fatal train accidents are extremely rare in France, where high-speed rail network is considered one of the best in the world and a model for other countries. (AP)

Shrinking habitat, poachers threaten sumatran tigers

CISARUA, INDONESIA, Nov 6: Peering out from a filthy cage, a sumatran tiger roars angrily as a veterinarian sprays liquid antibiotic on its scratched face.

The 110 kg seven-year-old tiger was captured in Sumatra’s Riau province in September after he was believed to have killed five people.

It is one of the few remaining sumatran tigers, whose numbers have declined sharply in the past decade and which conservationists fear may become extinct in the next decade.

"We brought him here after a long negotiation with locals. They wanted to kill it as revenge, but we can’t allow another killing of a sumatran tiger," Yohanna Trihastuti, a veterinarian from the private Safari Park in Cisarua some 120 km west of Jakarta, told Reuters.

In August, angry Riau residents launched a big search for the man-eater. They caught a very young tiger and killed it despite the fact that sumatran tigers are one of the few species protected under Indonesian conservation laws.

But they apparently caught the wrong cat, as another man was found dead from a tiger attack two weeks later. The local conservation office then sought help from the Safari Park team to capture the real killer.

Trihastuti said the captured tiger would be kept in the park’s quarantine centre for two months before being moved to its sumatran tiger breeding centre.

"We hope in the future he can become a stud for our breeding centre," Trihastuti said.

The Safari Park has cared for 30 Sumatran tigers in its breeding centre since it was established in 1992. About 12 of the tigers were born in the centre.

The statistics for Sumatran tigers are disturbing: About 400 remained in the wild in 1992 and an average of 33 are killed each year, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

With a shrinking habitat — most Sumatran forests have been converted into palm oil plantations — and rampant poaching for body parts and fur, tiger numbers are sure to be lower now, experts said. "A shrinking habitat because of rapid human population growth, forest being cleared for plantations and illegal hunting are the reasons for the sharp decline," said Jansen Manansang, the Park’s Managing Director, who is also a coordinator for the National Sumatran Tiger Conservation Project.

"They come out of the jungle, as they have nothing to eat, and approach the village, disturbing the livestock or attacking people.

"If they are caught by villagers, they usually kill the tigers. We don’t want that to happen. Maybe we can still save them, regardless of age, and put them in a captive breeding programme to save their kind."

The Sumatran tiger - or Panthera Tigris Sumatranensis - could be Indonesia’s last species of tiger.

The Balinese tiger became extinct at the beginning of the 20th century and the Javan tiger has also been officially declared extinct, although several park rangers have reported fairly recent sightings, unconfirmed by photographic or other evidence.

The Safari Park’s Sumatran tiger conservation programme keeps study books and a genome resource bank and employs a tiger rescue team that works to save tigers from villagers and poachers.

"Poachers kill tigers for their bones, which are used for medicine, but they also target the fur," Manansang said, adding tigers were also captured alive to be sold illegally.

"I hate to say it, but owning a tiger is a status symbol for some people here."

A stuffed sumatran tiger carries one of the biggest price tags on the black market, about 2,500 dollars. Pieces of the magnificent creature are also for sale — tiger penises are sold as aphrodisiacs, and ground-up bones, claws and teeth go into traditional Chinese remedies for arthritis and rheumatism.

"It’s sad to say, but the illegal trade is rampant here," said Chairul Saleh of the WWF. "We may not be able to hear the roar of a Sumatran tiger, or see it, in the next seven to 12 years if no preventive measures are taken."

The total value of Indonesia’s illegal animal trade is unknown, but animal activists say hundreds of creatures are sold each month despite protection under the convention on international trade in endangered species of wild flora and fauna.

Wild animals often wind up at the Pramuka market in East Jakarta. Established in 1967 as a bird market, the market has sold all manner of creatures since the 1980s.

Overlooking it is a remnant of a failed campaign to combat the illegal trade, a faded billboard threatening sellers and buyers of endangered animals with five years imprisonment.

"Poaching and illegal trade are even more rampant after the economic crisis," Saleh said. "Locals see it as a lucrative source of income." (AGENCIES)

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