US to submit new UN resolution on Iraq

UNITED NATIONS/BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct 17: The United States showed signs of growing impatience in seeking UN backing for action against Iraq, and Saddam Hussein said US war threats helped him win 100 per cent backing in a referendum for another seven years as Iraqi President.

Diplomats said the Bush administration, facing opposition from most countries in the world to its demand for a tough UN Security Council resolution on disarming Iraq, has softened some language in its original draft but still seeks authorization to use force.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday discussed the resolution in Washington with visiting French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, whose country has been leading resistance to the draft resolution that would give Washington the right to attack Iraq for the slightest failure to meet UN requirements.

A State Department official said Mr Powell intended to "get tough" with France, one of the five permanent members of the Security Council with veto power.

"There’s a belief (in Washington) that there should be one firm resolution with clear triggering language. Patience is not going to last forever on this," a US official said.

At the United Nations, nation after nation lined up before the Security Council to warn Washington against military action before UN inspectors had a chance to determine if Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

In Baghdad, Saddam was quoted as saying the results of Tuesday’s Presidential referendum showed the world that the Iraqi leadership and people were one.

Official results showed 100 per cent of 11.5 million voters said "yes" to another term in office for Saddam, who came to power in 1979.

"Yes, the (US) challenge played a role," the Iraqi news agency quoted Mr Hussein as telling the ruling Revolutionary Command Council at a meeting last night.

US officials have repeatedly reserved the right to attack Iraq, with or without allies, if President George W Bush decides the Iraqi Government is a threat to US National Security.

Mr Bush yesterday said the only way Iraq could avoid war was to completely surrender its suspected weapons of mass destruction, as he signed a congressional resolution granting him power to use military force if Baghdad refuses to disarm.

"Compliance will begin with an accurate and full and complete accounting for all chemical, biological and nuclear weapons materials, as well as missiles and other means of delivery anywhere in Iraq," Mr Bush said. "Failure to make such an accounting would be further indication of the regime’s bad faith and aggressive intent."

Mr Bush noted the divisions in the Security Council and said the United States had to "work hard to reach a consensus."

France, with strong support among Security Council members including Russia, does not want the council to authorize an attack unless arms inspectors report back that Iraq has not complied with UN demands.

In a concession to France, the new US draft will give more credence to reports from UN arms inspectors searching for weapons of mass destruction. But the United States still insists on one resolution and hopes its new language is vague enough for most countries to support, the diplomats said.

The Bush administration also has shown willingness to drop provisions in its draft that would allow key council members to join UN inspections and have troops open any routes that may be barred to the arms experts.

US officials intend to circulate their revised proposals among the other four permanent council members — Britain, France, Russia and China — on Thursday or on Friday, then show it to other ambassadors in the 15-nation body, the diplomats said. No vote is expected until next week at the earliest.

In Baghdad, Saddam’s top deputy appeared to leave the door open for cooperation with any new UN resolution on weapons inspections.

"If the Security Council issues a resolution that contradicts what we had agreed upon (previously) ... We will take a position regarding it then," said Izzat Ibrahim, deputy chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, said. Iraqi officials had previously rejected any new resolution.

Mr Bush also met Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to discuss US concerns that Israel might retaliate should Baghdad attack it in response to any US-led assault on Iraq.

Mr Bush defended Israel’s right to strike back, but the White House later made clear it hoped to avert Israeli retaliation in any US-led war against Iraq. (AGENCIES)

Singapore Deputy PM sees lasting extremist threat

TOKYO, Oct 17: Ridding Southeast Asia of radical Islamic groups is an impossible task but regional cooperation could contain the threat, Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, said today.

Southeast Asia, where Washington declared a second front in its war on terror after Afghanistan, is on heightened security after bomb attacks that killed nearly 200 people on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali last weekend.

No group has claimed responsibility for the blasts but suspicion has fallen on two Islamic extremist groups — Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network and an Indonesian based group that has been linked to it, Jemaah Islamiah.

"It’s not possible to eliminate the problem of Islamic extremists entirely," Mr Lee told a group of bankers in Tokyo.

"But through decisive action and cooperation Southeast Asian Governments can contain the problem and maintain a safe and secure environment for investors as well as for their own populations."

Mr Lee said it was easy for extremists to hide in Southeast Asia but that the world was watching to see if Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri could contain the threat.

"The disastrous bombing in Bali this week is a vivid demonstration of the seriousness of the terrorist threat, and the need for a decisive response by the Indonesian authority."

Ms Megawati is preparing to enact emergency anti-terror measures, although there is no indication of when these might go into effect. Police on Bali were questioning two men on thursday over the blasts.

"Analysts, investors and other Governments involved in a worldwide fight against terrorism will be watching closely how Indonesia handles this threat," Mr Lee said. (AGENCIES)

Grief turns to anger as Australia’s Bali toll rises

CANBERRA, Oct 17: Grief over the Bali bombings was turning to anger in Australia today with the Government under pressure to speed up the identification and repatriation of bodies and explain why it did not issue stronger travel warnings.

Australia today upgraded its travel advice on Indonesia, urging its citizens in Indonesia to leave if they felt unsafe, saying it had received disturbing new information of threats to Australians in the wake of the Bali bombings.

More than 180 people were killed on Saturday when blasts ripped through nightclubs packed with foreign tourists at Kuta Beach on the Indonesian Resort Island, with 30 Australians identified among the corpses so far but up to 119 feared dead.

With Indonesian authorities struggling to identify the charred, mutilated bodies, families and friends of the missing were becoming angry about the apparent chaos in the disaster operation in Bali, calling on Australia to take over.

They have been told it could take weeks to identify the bodies with human remains still being found at the scene.

As the criticisms mounted, Prime Minister John Howard today flew to Bali for a one-day visit to attend a memorial service for the victims and to assess the situation.

But he said he was satisfied Indonesian and Australian authorities were co-operating well in an "incredibly challenging and difficult situation".

"In all the circumstances the best is being done by the Australian authorities...It will take time," Mr Howard told a news conference, stressing that this was Indonesia’s operation.

Australia’s conservative Government has treaded cautiously in sending police and security staff to help Indonesia with theinvestigation, well aware inflaming the neighbours’ historically volatile relationship could hinder the operation.

The two nations have launched a joint police investigation into the bombing while Australia has posted a 2 million Australian dollar (1.1 million US dollar) reward for information leading to the killers. But victims’ families expressed frustration at the slow pace in procedures, which included filling out 17-page identification papers used by the United States after the September 11 hijacked airline attacks, and reported jewellery missing from bodies.

"It’s an embarrassment for the Australian Government. They are so busy trying not to step on the toes of the Indonesians they are forgetting about the victims’ families," Ryan Airlie, whose mother Gayle is missing feared dead, told The Age newspaper.

Howard has been called to explain why his Government’s earlier travel advice for Indonesia was not as strong as that issued by the United States, which urged travellers to stay away from crowded bars and restaurants in tourist areas.

Washington had warned the Indonesian Government nearly two weeks before the Bali blasts that tourist areas may be targeted by terrorists with possible links to Al Qaeda, administration officials said yesterday.

US Ambassador Ralph Boyce delivered the latest warning to the Indonesian Government just a day before the blasts.

The US warnings did not include specific details or intelligence about when or where attacks might occur.

Howard defended Australia’s travel advisory which mentioned the risks in Indonesia, the world’s most populous muslim country, but he has ordered a review of Australia’s intelligence.

"Did anybody seriously imagine that if we’d had a credible warning of the bombing we wouldn’t have moved heaven and earth to stop people going there?" Mr Howard said.

But Australia’s opposition labour leader Simon Crean said questions needed to be answered over why Australia did not pass on the intelligence received from the United States to tourists.

"It is appropriate to establish why the Americans upgraded (their warning) and we didn’t," Crean told reporters. "This will be an issue that needs to be pursued in coming days and weeks."

Australia will hold a national day of mourning on Sunday with flags across the country lowered to half-mast and the nation asked to pause for a minute’s silence at noon. (AGENCIES)

Winona Ryder drug charge dropped in beverly hills

BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF, Oct 17: A judge dismissed drug possession charges against actress Winona Ryder on Wednesday but said her trial on charges of shoplifting about 4,000 dollars worth of goods from saks fifth avenue must start on oct. 24.

Ryder, looking elegant in a cream-colored coat and dress, was whisked out of beverly hills superior court guarded by police after a 10-minute hearing in a case marked by repeated delays, media scuffles and acrimony between prosecutors and defense lawyers.

Her attorney, Mark Geragos, told reporters the 30-year-old star of "girl, interrupted" was eager to go to trial after a 10-month wait since her arrest last December. Ryder has pleaded not guilty to all charges against her.

"She wants to put this matter behind her," Geragos said, adding, "I don’t go to trial unless I think I can win."

As the contentious case approached a final resolution, Ryder’s parents spoke out for the first time about what they termed the "witch hunt" against their daughter.

"She’s been living in a Kafka novel," Ryder’s father David Horowitz told the latest edition of US magazine. "Or like a character in ‘The crucible’ — not the one she played (in the 1996 film) but the victims of the witch hunt."

Beverly hills superior court judge Elden Fox on Wednesday granted a prosecution request to drop a felony drug possession charge against ryder, who was found with two tablets of the painkiller oxycodone when she was arrested at the saks store in beverly hills in December 2001. Geragos has always maintained the actress had a valid prescription for the pills. "They were prescribed for her by a doctor for a broken arm," he said on Wednesday.

Deputy District Attorney Ann Rundle said it had taken geragos 10 months to provide evidence that the painkillers had been provided by a doctor, but without a prescription.

Responding to repeated allegations that prosecutors and the saks store had targeted ryder because of her celebrity, rundle told reporters: "Those comments are made for the purpose of trying to persuade potential jurors. They are ridiculous."

Ryder will be tried on charges of grand theft, commercial burglary and vandalism after evidence at a preliminary hearing in which a saks store detective testified seeing the actress kneeling on a dressing room floor and cutting security tags off merchandise.

Talks on a plea bargain collapsed in September but both sides have declined to reveal details of the negotiations.

Geragos said Ryder was "holding up tremendously" despite months "of having people mock her, of having people say awful things about her."

Ryder herself, however, has turned the case into a cause celebre by spoofing her situation in the satirical "Saturday night live" show and appearing on the cover of W Magazine wearing a free winona T-shirt.

Ryder’s mother Cindy Horowitz told US magazine that her daughter’s resilience had helped her through the ordeal. "She’s tough and true and her humor and feistiness have gotten her through this," Horowitz was quoted as saying.

The trial is expected to take about seven days with at least one day given over to jury selection. It is not clear whether Ryder, who faces a maximum prison term of three years on each charge if convicted, will testify in her own defense. (AGENCIES)

New Zealand plans carbon tax to meet Kyoto targets

WELLINGTON, Oct 17: New Zealand today announced plans for a carbon tax that will push up fuel costs but help the country meet targets under the Kyoto climate change agreement.

The tax of up to NZ 25 (12 dollar) a tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent will be levied sometime after 2007, and only if the controversial Kyoto protocol comes into force internationally.

It would raise retail petrol prices by up to six per cent, diesel by 12 per cent, and gas and electricity prices by eight to nine per cent, Government papers showed.

Big losers would be coal users, whose costs would jump 19 per cent.

"The policies...Will enable new zealand to meets its greenhouse gas emission targets under the Kyoto protocol while protecting the nation’s economic interests," Energy Minister Pete Hodgson said, after the tax proposal was approved by the Cabinet.

An as-yet-unknown amount of cash raised by the new tax would be offset by cuts to other taxes, he said.

The 1997 Kyoto protocol, which New Zealand expects to ratify this year, requires developed countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by around five percent of 1990 levels on average between the first commitment period of 2008-12.

However the United States, the world’s biggest air polluter, has refused to ratify the protocol which it sees as flawed because it does not similarly bind developing countries.

To take effect, the Kyoto pact must be approved by at least 55 states contributing at least 55 per cent of the industrialised world’s 1990 greenhouse gas emissions.

New Zealand produces between 70 million to 90 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, ranking it the fourth largest per capita producer after the United States, Australia, and Canada. About half of its greenhouse gases come from the methane and carbon dioxide emissions of more than 50 million sheep and cattle, from which products earn around one third of New Zealand’s export earnings.

Despite the US refusal to adopt the protocol, New Zealand expects the agreement to come into force after ratification by the Russian federation, probably next year.

New Zealand farmers will be exempt from the tax, which will approximate the global price of carbon estimated internationally at between NZ 10 and NZ 20 a tonne yet have little net effect on the Government’s finances.

"Revenue will not be used to improve the (Government’s) fiscal position but will be recycled, for example through the tax system and into climate changes projects," Mr Hodgson said.

The Government would retain carbon sink credits generated by forests, which absorb greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

New Zealand has a large "green bank" to draw from in the shape of its vast forests, which act as a natural sponge for polluting emissions.

These credits, estimated at 55 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, can be sold to countries unable to meet their kyoto standards and could earn New Zealand around NZ 1.4 billion.

New Zealand industry said that ratifying the protocol would harm growth and would be ineffective unless there was a global commitment.

"The protocol’s mechanisms, and the non-participation of our main trading partners...Significantly undermine New Zealand’s attractiveness as an investment destination," said the greenhouse policy coalition, which says it represents about two-fifths of New Zealand exporters.

The United States, which emits about a quarter of the world’s man-made greenhouse gases, and Australia have rejected the climate pact citing fears that it would damage their economy. (AGENCIES)

Pets aren’t just for life, they’re forever

LONDON, Oct 17: Long mocked for treating their pets better than their children, Britain’s animal lovers are extending their extraordinary dedication into the afterlife.

Gone are the days when the family goldfish was given a watery toilet grave or the hamster a resting place amongst the weekly rubbish.

Today, Flipper and Harry can look forward to a hand-carved casket and tear-jerking memorial to send them on their final journey.

"Twenty years ago most dead pets went to the glue factory or ended up in landfill," Howard Jones, General Manager of the Cambridge Pet Crematorium, told newsmen.

"Now a days people like to know their pets have been treated with dignity after death."

With new demand has come a new generation of entrepreneurs and an explosive growth in what can loosely be described as the "pet death industry".

There are pet crematoria, pet coffins and pet sympathy cards.

Support groups and helplines lend grieving pet owners a sympathetic ear, while on the internet, virtual pet cemeteries commemorate departed companions with poems, anecdotes and photographs.

"Pet cremation and memorials are becoming much more acceptable," Antony Ringer, Manager of Peaceful Pets Crematorium in Norfolk, Eastern England said. "That has sparked a rapid growth in services for bereaved owners."

The number of pet crematoria in Britain has more than doubled over the past 20 years to around 320 today.

Cambridge Pet Crematorium in Eastern England is one of the country’s oldest at 25 years.

"When we started it was a very, very small business. We carried out perhaps one or two cremations a day, now we carry out several hundred a week," Manager Jones said.

As well as cremations, the crematorium sells urns and caskets —including a wooden urn in the shape of a sleeping cat — and provides memorial plots in a seven-acre (2.8-hectare) garden of remembrance, complete with waterfall.

Customers can opt to have their pet cremated individually or with other animals and can even attend a cremation ceremony.

"People like to know where their deceased pets are," Jones said. "It’s really no different from losing a relative."

The reasons for the apparently bottomless well of pet devotion in Britain, home to around 11 million animal companions, are economic as well as psychological. Animal indulgences — from diamond studded collars to pet counselling — have been made possible by a decade of prosperity.

Childless career couples and rich singletons spend around 3.5 billion pounds (5.4 billion dollar) a year on their pets in Britain, according to Mintel, the International Research Company.

The break up of the traditional family has also brought Britons closer to their pets.

"People are more mobile and less in touch with family," Jones said. "Pets have replaced the traditional family unit." And like the loss of a relative, the death of a treasured pet can be devastating.

Jo-Ann Dono, head of the Blue Cross Charity’s pet bereavement support service, said a lack of understanding — the age-old phrase "it’s only an animal" — was driving pet owners to seek professional help.

"Sadly when a pet dies people often don’t understand the owner’s grief," she said. "We have found that most people just need someone to listen and understand how they are feeling."

On the whole, Britain’s pet death industry has an aura of taste about it but inevitably the tacky and plain weird creep in.

Take the two foot-high (0.6 metre-high), heart-shaped headstone for a goldfish erected in a London pet cemetery or the weekly "candle ceremony" held by website petloss.Com. But the award for true extravagance must still go to America’s Pet Crematoria, where caskets are to be found that make the Cambridge Pet Crematorium’s wooden cat urn look positively neglectful.

For 17,000 pounds (27,000 dollar) grieving owners can purchase a solid maple and black walnut casket, lined with aromatic cedar and guaranteed to remain intact for 100 years — even underground. (AGENCIES)

British think tank: Examine biopolicy

WASHINGTON, Oct 17: Despite the lack of a conclusive link between individual action and specific human genes as well as fears about negative impacts, a new study from a British think tank says research into behavioural genetics must be allowed to flourish because of the potential social benefits.

"Although there is the possibility in this area for misunderstanding and abuse, they are neither sufficiently catastrophic nor difficult enough to avoid as to make it necessary to say there ought to be a complete censorship in further (genetic) research," said Professor Martin Bobrow, Head of the Department of Medical Genetics at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.

The report, "genetics and human behaviour: The ethical context," examines the ethical, legal and social issues raised by the expanding field of behavioural genetics and makes several policy recommendations.

The findings were developed by a working party of geneticists, bioethicists, psychiatrists and physicians in the UK and published by the nuffield council on bioethics, an independent institution in London created in 1991 to examine bioethics issues. The report was funded through non-profit foundation and UK Government.

Mr Bobrow said the report and its findings are important because of the uncertain and controversial nature of genetic research.

He said that although some research has been conducted into specific areas, it has mostly been about IQ enhancement or genetic predisposition towards forms of antisocial behaviour.

"Probably because the science is immature, it really hadn’t had, as far as we are aware, a (broad) overall view of its policy implications before," said Mr Bobrow.

Referring to the report, he said, "it is the beginning of a process, and we certainly don’t think we have the last word on anything."

President George W Bush has established a commission to examine bioethics issues headed by Dr. Leon Kass, a fellow at the Conservative American Enterprise Institute, but its focus has been mostly limited to the areas of cloning and stem cell research, which is only a small portion of the genetic bioethics debate.

The committee focused on the associations between genetic variants and behaviour considered within the "normal range" rather than those associated with diseases or mental disorders. In looking at the existing scientific data in this arena regarding intelligence, antisocial behaviour, personality and sexual orientation, the panel found that although claims have been made to the contrary, no genetic variations have been conclusively linked as influential to these behaviours.

Mr Bobrow, who was a member of the panel and is also Deputy Chairman of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, said one of the problems is the publication of such findings before there is clear proof. He said this "leads people to come to a rather deterministic views that are scientifically unsound."

Alexander Tabarrok, Director of Research at the Independent Institute and Associate Professor of Economics at George Mason University, agreed that this fact makes an informed public debate difficult.

"I do think there is tendency towards labeling too quickly," said Mr Tabarrok. The news media makes many of these findings (appear) more certain than they are."

But Mr Bobrow said the problem is more deeply rooted in the nature of the issues involved as well as the way in which the scientific community can overstate finding to gain attention for scientific journals.

"The whole dialogue between scientists, the press and public and politicians is terribly distorted by these sorts of overstatements," he said. "The best defense against overselling is an educated audience, a knowledgeable audience."

According to the analysts, another danger of such overstatements is that people come to believe that genes alone can be the influence of behaviour when genetic makeup combines with environmental factors to produce human tendencies.

"All genes operate through environment," said Mr Tabarrok, noting that a gene said to provide for criminality might be better described as providing a predisposition for intense stimulation of physical prowess.

He said in one environment physical prowess could lead a person to becoming a thug while in another an olympic athlete.

Although the connections between genes and behaviour are still not solidly proven, the report examines the potential impact if such connections can be made.

One of the more controversial findings is that if a genetic predisposition for a particular type of behaviour leading to criminal activity is established, a judge should take a convicted criminal’s genetic predisposition for that behaviour into account during sentencing.

This would work much in the same way judges take something like an abusive upbringing into account when making such decisions.

But Mr Bobrow was quick to dismiss concerns that they are recommending that such information be used as a defence for criminal activity. In fact, he said that taking genetic predisposition into account during the sentencing phase of a trial could actually work against a criminal.

Mr Tabarrok, for one, said he believes that there should be higher penalties for convicted criminals that have a genetic predisposition towards such behaviour so as to act as a deterrent for crime. (UPI)

Wine seems protective against dementia

NEW YORK, Oct 17: Something in a glass of wine appears to protect people from the most common forms of dementia — alzheimer’s disease or stroke-cause mental deterioration — doctors say.

"We think that substances in wine known as flavonoids —particularly in red wine — might be protecting the brain," said Dr. Thomas Truelsen, senior research epidemiologist at the Institute of Preventive Medicine, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Truelsen told the American Neurological Association’s annual meeting on Monday that flavonoids are rich in antioxidants, which may minimize damage caused by oxidants — molecules that may cause cell damage and have been implicated in various diseases, including dementia.

The Danish researchers collected data in the 1991-1994 Copenhagen city heart study that included 1,709 people. Of those people, 83 were diagnosed with dementia. Truelsen and colleagues at the Danish Epidemiology Science Center then attempted to determine the types of alcohol — beer, wine or spirits — consumed by those with dementia and the rest of the non-demented population.

Overall, Truelsen told United Press International, people who said they drank wine on a weekly or monthly basis had less than half the dementia of people who never drank any alcohol. Daily consumption of wine also appeared to reduce the risk of dementia, but to a lesser extent. The wine drinkers had less risk of dementia than people who consumed beer or spirits. The researchers did not find a difference between men and women and the type of alcohol they consumed. "The results do not indicate that people should start drinking or increasing wine consumption to avoid dementia," Truelsen said, "But suggest that certain substances in wine may reduce the occurrence of dementia."

"This is an interesting study," said Dr. Peter Forgacs, a fellow in neurology at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn. "It appears that wine has something to protect the brain that beer and spirits do not possess." He said further research might be able to determine if there was a difference in the type of wine — whether red wine or white wine has greater protective potential.

Truelsen said the epidemiological data did not differentiate between red and white wines, but he said more than two-thirds of the wine consumed in Denmark is red wine. He said the database did not include other dietary information about the individuals in the study.

"Our data appear to fit nicely with other studies of wine consumption," he told UPI. He noted the two main causes of dementia in caucasian populations, such as danes, are alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia. Previous studies indicate red wine decreases the risk of stroke, the most frequent cause of vascular dementia.

Truelsen said his data doesn’t provide enough information for recommendations regarding alcohol. He said, however, his work should prompt interest in studies of other foods that are rich in flavonoids, such as grape juice or tea, and their possible role in dementia. (UPI)

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