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Australia environment SYDNEY, Dec 2: Australia’s per capita emissions of greenhouse gases . .....more Investigate police action against Burma refugees: rights group WASHINGTON, Dec 2: US-based international rights group human rights watch has called on the Indian Government to order..more Microbeams
have LONDON, Dec 2: Scientists testing the effects of microbeams have discovered that targeting just a few cells .....more Musharraf
to meet LONDON, Dec 2: Saying that he has "high expectations" from the SAARC summit .....more |
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Al-qaeda ideology continues to spread: UN UNITED NATIONS, Dec 2: Despite worldwide efforts, Al-qaeda ideology continues to spread with Iraq becoming fertile ground for such activity, ....more China
issues controls BEIJING, Dec 2: China has issued rules to control the export of "sensitive" materials and technologies, the latest steps by Beijing to show it is serious ....more Indonesia
prosecutors JAKARTA, Dec 2: Indonesian prosecutors will appeal against a High Court decision clearing radical Muslim preacher Abu bakar bashir of treason in the . ....more Armed
robber gives SINGAPORE, Dec 2: An armed robber who had been on the run for more than....more |
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Australia environment record among the world’s worst SYDNEY, Dec 2: Australia’s per capita emissions of greenhouse gases are a third higher than for the world’s biggest polluter, the United States. Australians, though, come second to the Americans in the amount of household rubbish they send to the tip. They each dispose of 1.1 tons a year - double the average of the rich countries grouped in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. In its latest survey the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) also reported that the rates of growth in water and energy usage put Australia in the big league. The ABS said that the country "currently consumes more resources and produces more waste than at any time in its history." Clive Hamilton, Executive Director of an independent think tank called the Australia institute, has observed that while emissions for most industrialised countries have been falling, Australia’s have been rising. "We don’t have any policies in place to cause them to slow and decline," Dr Hamilton said. Growth in greenhouse gas emissions comes from coal-fired power plants, gas-guzzling vehicles and from land clearing. Australia has refused to ratify the kyoto protocol setting binding emissions reductions targets for rich countries. The US is the only other country to reject the kyoto protocol. For Australia, ratification of the kyoto protocol would have meant agreeing to keep its increase in emissions up to 2010 at 8 per cent above the 1990 level. Despite the country’s protestations that it would keep to that target, Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions are going through the roof. The ABS showed that the emissions that cause global warming have risen 17 per cent from 1990 to 1999. The quantum has risen from 390 million tons of carbon dioxide and its equivalents and 458 million tonnes. The bureau said domestic power consumption, including car use, accounted for one third of energy related greenhouse gas emissions. Peter Christoff, head of environmental studies at the university of Melbourne, has described Australia as a "laggard state" where biodiversity is under unprecedented threat. "It’s going backwards on nearly every major indicator of our environmental health, including the loss of plants and animals, land clearing and degradation, the condition of Australia’s inland waters and greenhouse gas emissions," Christoff said. (DPA) |
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Investigate police action against Burma refugees: rights group WASHINGTON, Dec 2: US-based international rights group human rights watch has called on the Indian Government to order a "thorough and independent" investigation of possible police action against Burmese refugees and asylum seekers during demonstrations in New Delhi on November 12-13 this year. The Government should also ensure that none of the refugees, including those who participated in the demonstrations, are forcibly returned to Burma, where they would likely face persecution, the group said in a statement. Human rights watch alleged that on November 12, riot police used water cannons, electric batons, and canes to forcibly disperse a group of 500 Burmese nationals who were staging a protest outside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office. Many of them were already recognized as refugees by UNHCR, it said. Many of the Burmese nationals had been protesting since October 20 the decision by UNHCR to cut its allowance for refugees in India from Rs 1,400 a month by as much as 60 percent in order to cut costs and promote self reliance. At least 25 of the demonstrators were injured. Many of the injuries were severe, and included head and chest injuries, bruised backs and legs, and broken bones, the group charged. "There was no need for the police to use violence to break up a demonstration," said Brad Adams, Executive Director of the Asia division of Human Rights watch. "It is disturbing that the world’s largest democracy would repress people who have already been victimized in their own country." On November 12, the group said, police officers detained several hundred protesters at four different police stations. Most were released the same night. Twenty-four protesters were sent to tihar central jail in New Delhi and charged with rioting and obstructing the police. In the days following the arrests, large numbers of protesters have continued to gather near the UNHCR office. The UN basic principles on the use of force and firearms provides that law enforcement officials shall, as far as possible, apply non-violent means before resorting to the use of force, and they may do so only if other means remain ineffective or without any promise of achieving the intended result, human rights watch said. It urged the Indian Government to investigate and prosecute or discipline as appropriate any police officer found to have used or authorized excessive force. The group said the Government must also ensure that those protestors charged with criminal offenses have access to legal counsel and that those not charged are released. "India can demonstrate to these refugees that in a democracy the rule of law prevails even for the weakest," said Adams. (UNI) |
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Microbeams have big impact on cancer cells -study LONDON, Dec 2: Scientists testing the effects of microbeams have discovered that targeting just a few cells with the futuristic beams can cause massive destruction to other diseased cells. Scientists at Britain’s Cancer Research UK charity have dubbed it the "bystander effect" because the cancer cells zapped by the microbeams not only die but send out suicide signals to other abnormal cells, telling them to self destruct. "We used to assume that the only way to kill cancer cells with radiotherapy was to hit every one of the cells in the tumour with a fatal dose of radiation," said Dr Kevin Prise, of the charity’s Gray Cancer Institute in southern England, today. "Now we’re finding that it’s possible to hit just a handful of cells with much lower doses and let the cells’ natural suicide machinery do the rest," he added in a statement. The findings could have important implications for improving the effectiveness of radiotherapy for cancer sufferers because hitting just one cell with the microbeam, which launches streams of helium ions a thousandth of a millimetre wide, has an effect on so many other cells. Prise and his colleagues, who reported their findings in the journal cancer research, tested microbeams in the laboratory on brain cancer cells that were highly resistant to conventional radiotherapy. Although they targeted the beam at a single cell, it had an impact and triggered a significant proportion of other cells to commit suicide in a process known as apoptosis. Cancer develops when abnormal cells do not self destruct but continue dividing and form tumours. "If we could enhance the bystander effect within tumours, we could develop much more effective systems of radiotherapy, perhaps using lower doses to reduce side effects," Prise added. "But of course it also means that even very low doses of radiation may be doing more damage to normal cells than we’d thought, so we’ll have to look for ways of protecting healthy tissue more effectively." An estimated 50 percent of patients diagnosed with cancer would benefit from radiotherapy, which kills cancerous cells with tight beams or radiation aimed at specific areas of the body. The scientists said the bystander effect is linked to a molecule called nitric oxide which plays a role in cell suicide. Nitric oxide seems to be important in sending out suicide signals in cells when they are hit by radiation. "Making sure that there are high amounts of the molecule produced within tumours may be essential to optimise the bystander effect and improve treatments," Prise said. "We also think the mechanisms involved in the bystander effect might be different in healthy and cancerous tissue, so it might be possible to develop drugs that protect normal tissue from radiotherapy while leaving cancer cells more vulnerable," he added. (AGENCIES) |
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Musharraf to meet Vajpayee only if Indian PM wants LONDON, Dec 2: Saying that he has "high expectations" from the SAARC summit in Islamabad next month, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has offered to meet Atal Bihari Vajpayee provided the Indian Prime Minister wanted to. "Yes, if he wants to meet me, I will meet him," he said when asked if he was meeting Vajpayee on the sidelines of the summit in the course of an interaction on `Aapki Baat BBC Ke Saath’ radio programme. "We have high expectations from the summit. First of all I am very hopeful of the summit taking place as scheduled. Earlier, it was uncertain whether the summit would take place at all. "Next, we hope that Prime Minister Vajpayee sahib will participate. I also hope that Vajpayee sahib will meet with all the leaders here (Islamabad). I am also hopeful that may be talks take place, and whatever talks take place, they would be effective, useful and point to a good future," he said. Contending that the Indian Prime Minister should not get the impression that he was "desperate" to meet him, Musharraf said "let me tell you, I am living here (in Pakistan) and sitting comfortably, there is no problem. I would meet him only if he wants!" Asked if he was willing to withdraw Pakistani forces from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), Musharraf said he would do so tomorrow if India was ready to remove its troops from Jammu and Kashmir. "India has seven lakh soldiers in Kashmir, whereas Pakistan has only fifty thousand. Ask the Indian Government, if they are ready to remove their seven lakh forces, we will remove our 50,000 tomorrow," the Pakistani General said. On New Delhi’s proposal to have a Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service, Musharraf said "we have agreed that the bus between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad would run ... We have approved this, and as the process of dialogue moves ahead, we will see how to take this forward". Asked about the proposal by India for opening the Khokhrapar border in Rajasthan, he said "there is no problem. We would be starting that also ... I am fully aware that the transport link through Khokhrapar is required, but the rail track there is in a bad condition, it requires repairs." To a question as to how a dialogue process would move forward when India charges Pakistan with promoting terrorism while Islamabad gives moral support to the "struggle" of Kashmiris, he said "we have to look for a solution, which is for the future". Reiterating his four-step process, he said "first of all let us talk, then let us accept that Kashmir is a problem which has to be resolved and then have a composite dialogue which includes Kashmir. "Third step is that the solutions which are unacceptable to India, Pakistan and the Kashmiris could be left apart". Musharraf further said "finally, the solutions which are acceptable, infact ten to twelve people have already given some solutions, all of us can select a mutually acceptable one. This would be a win-win situation for India, Pakistan and the Kashmiris. This is a step-by-step way of solving the problem. "India and Pakistan have a widely different point of view, I say for future there should not be differences, India should understand and so should we." Regarding India’s demand that Pakistan should hand over 20 wanted persons including underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, he said "India has given a list of 20, I can send a list of 50. See there is no shortage of lists. I was given a list, which includes the name of (L K) Advani sahib. I can send that list to India, but till where would we keep on fighting on such lists? this is no solution". On Advani’s comments that India’s favourable reaction to Pakistan’s cease-fire offer should not in any way make it complacent, he alleged that New Delhi "used to say earlier that infiltration takes place under the cover of firing by Pakistani forces. Now when there is no firing on the LoC, so how is the infiltration taking place now?" Asked who in India could be conferred with ‘Nishan-e-Pakistan’ which had been given to former Prime Minister Morarji Desai, Musharraf said "I would like to nominate Vajpayee sahib for it if we move forward towards solving the Kashmir issue".(PTI) |
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Al-qaeda ideology continues to spread: UN UNITED NATIONS, Dec 2: Despite worldwide efforts, Al-qaeda ideology continues to spread with Iraq becoming fertile ground for such activity, raising fears of more terrorist attacks, the United Nations has warned. In a report, the Security Council committee overseeing sanctions against Al-qaeda and Taliban said the terrorists are still "abusing" charities dedicated to religious and humanitarian activities as they are difficult to regulate and control. The states, it said, have succeeded in freezing bank accounts of many terrorists identified by it but freezing properties and businesses has proved "much more challenging." Obstacles also remain in successfully monitoring and upholding the arms embargo against Al-qaeda and Taliban, the committee reports. Briefing reporters yesterday, Chairman of the committee Ambassador Heraldo Mu1oz of Chile said south-east Asia seemed to have become a new theatre of action in the terrorist network, drawing in Al-qaeda and another 30 to 40 groups it had helped to fund and train. The subregion’s Governments are taking action, he said referring to Indonesia’s setting up of a financial intelligence unit. Munoz said only 84 of the 191 United Nations member states had sent report to it on the steps taken by them to curb terrorism. That is very "disappointing, considering that about 4000 individuals linked to Al-qaeda so far have been arrested and prosecuted in 102 nations," he added.(PTI) |
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China issues controls on sensitive technology BEIJING, Dec 2: China has issued rules to control the export of "sensitive" materials and technologies, the latest steps by Beijing to show it is serious about fighting weapons proliferation. The rules, issued by the commerce ministry and the general administration of customs, were announced just days ahead of a visit by Premier Wen Jiabao to the United States, which has accused Chinese firms of exporting arms and technology to countries such as Iran. The provisional controls were drawn up "to guard national security and the public interest (and) standardise the orderly export of sensitive materials and technologies" according to a copy posted on the ministry’s web site at www.Mofcom.Gov.Cn. Exporters of such products would have to apply for licences and supply documents including descriptions of the end-user, the rules said. The rules did not list which materials or technologies were considered sensitive, nor spell out penalties for violators. The new law will take effect from January 1, 2004, and follows similar laws governing the export of nuclear, missile, biological and chemical technologies. (AGENCIES) |
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Indonesia prosecutors to appeal Bashir decision JAKARTA, Dec 2: Indonesian prosecutors will appeal against a High Court decision clearing radical Muslim preacher Abu bakar bashir of treason in the world’s largest Islamic country and reducing his prison sentence. "We will appeal for every charge and we are certain that the Judges at the Supreme Court have a different opinion," Salman Maryadi, chief of the Central Jakarta Prosecutors Office, told today. "We are certain he is guilty as the leader in acts of treason." Court officials announced on Monday the High Court had cleared Bashir of treason but upheld his conviction on lesser charges. The court reduced his prison sentence from four years to three. The 65-year-old cleric, arrested after the 2002 Bali bombings, was cleared at his earlier trial of the main charge of heading the Jemaah Islamiah, a southeast Asian militant group that authorities in the region say has links to Osama Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network. The High Court decision brought immediate criticism from some analysts who saw it as signaling a soft Indonesian stand on militancy. Security hardliners in the west, as well as in neighbouring countries such as Singapore, had attacked the original four-year sentence as too light when it was handed down in September by a Jakarta lower Court. The trial Court ruled Bashir at least knew Jemaah Islamiah existed, and convicted him of treason and other charges. But it said allegations Bashir led the group blamed for actual and planned violence throughout the region including last year’s Bali bombings that killed 202 people, were unproven. Bashir’s lawyer Mahendradatta told the defence team would likely counter the prosecutors with an appeal of their own and wanted the preacher freed from all charges. (AGENCIES) |
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Armed robber gives up after year on the run in Malaysia SINGAPORE, Dec 2: An armed robber who had been on the run for more than a year in Malaysia was sentenced to jail in Singapore for six years and ordered to be caned the minimum 12 strokes, it was reported today. Tan Kian Keong, 23, surrendered to police on July 23 after calling his mother and asking her to arrange the arrest, the Straits Times said. He admitted in Court on Monday committing armed robbery with hurt in March last year. The High Court in April sentenced Tan’s accomplice, 34-year-old Lim Kok Siong, to 15 years in jail and the maximum 24 strokes of the cane. Lim hit the manager of a Goldsmith’s shop before the two men emptied 10 trays of jewelry and fled to Malaysia. (DPA) |
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British student arrested in Iraq - Paper LONDON, Dec 2: Kurdish forces in Iraq have arrested a British student suspected of trying to join a radical Islamic guerrilla group linked to Al-Qaeda, the times newspaper reported today. Urslaan Khan, 21, from yarm in northeastern England, was picked up by a Kurdish security police patrol in northern Iraq in early November. He has been studying for a degree in Arabic studies at Manchester university, the paper said. "We have been interrogating him for a long time now and we believe he travelled to Iraq to join Ansar Al-Islam," Kurdish forces’ spokesman Saba Rhader Kerem told the Times. The United States has described Ansar Al-Islam as its main "terrorist adversary" in postwar Iraq and Washington has accused the group of having ties to Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network. "This is very distressing but we have been in touch with the foreign office and they are doing the best they can," Khan’s mother Sajida told the Times. Britain has been on its second highest security alert for two weeks after intelligence officials said they had information that an attack was planned, without specifying any target. Yesterday, Britain’s anti-terror police were granted two more days to quiz a suspected would-be suicide bomber arrested in the southwestern town of Gloucester last Thursday. (AGENCIES) Photo studio in China refuses to take portraits of ugly couple HONG KONG, Dec 2: A photographic studio in northern China turned away an elderly blind couple, saying they were too unattractive to have their pictures taken, a news report said. Staff at the studio in Changchun, Jilin province, yesterday said the studio’s reputation would be damaged if it took pictures of unattractive people, according to the south China morning post. (DPA) Russia slams Britain over chechen rebel’s asylum BRUSSELS, Dec 2: Russia slammed Britain for granting asylum to leading Chechen rebel Akhmed Zakayev, arguing that the move raised doubt about the British Government’s commitment to the fight against terrorism. "The granting of asylum status to Akhmed Zakayev not so much causes dismay or regret on our part as it raises doubt on our part as to the sincerity of statements and declarations made by the British leadership in relation to counter-terrorism," Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov told a news conference at NATO yesterday. Zakayev — who said he feared he would be killed if he returned to Russia — sought asylum within days of arriving in Britain a year ago and on Saturday the British Government said his request had been granted. Moscow accuses Zakayev of murder and kidnapping incidents dating from the first of two wars in the breakaway Russian region from 1994-96. (AGENCIES) Thai troops may leave if Iraq deteriorates further BANGKOK, Dec 2: Thailand may consider withdrawing its 443 medical and engineering troops from Iraq if the security situation becomes so bad they are unable to work, Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said today. Speaking to reporters after a weekend of attacks targetting US allies in Iraq, the minister said the Government was monitoring the situation closely but stressed he saw no signs Thai troops were unable to perform their humanitarian work in the town of Karbala, south of Baghdad. "When the time comes that we cannot do our job, I will consult the Prime Minister. But since we still can perform our work there, we will continue to do so," he said. "Only when our men cannot leave their camp, only when they cannot get any cooperation from Iraqis, or cannot perform their medical work, then it is clear that there is no use to stay on," Surakiart said. The realities of Iraq came home to Asia at the weekend when two Japanese diplomats and two South Korean contractors were killed in ambushes. Seven Spanish intelligence agents were killed in another attack. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi insisted today Japan would send troops to help rebuild Iraq as domestic media reported that ministerial approval could be delayed after the death of the two diplomats. Yesterday, a senior Thai Army Officer said there were no plans to pull the Thai contingent out of Iraq. "As soldiers, we can operate in any conditions, even in those inherently risky. We are not really concerned about the situation. Our civic work there is appreciated by Iraqis," General Lertrat Ratanavanich said. (AGENCIES) |
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