Bush admn. Declines comment on Shashi Tharoor's nomination

WASHINGTON, June 16:The Bush Administration has declined comment on India's formal endorsement of UN diplomat Shashi Tharoor as the next Secretary General of the United Nations.

''Obviously the Secretary General of the United Nations is an extremely important position for the welfare of the whole world and the United States will be looking very carefully at all the nominees,'' a senior State administration official said when asked for a response on yesterday's announcement from New Delhi.

In fact, the United States has had little to say on the other candidates whose names have cropped from time to time from such countries as Sri Lanka, Thailand and South Korea.

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan leaves office in December this year after serving two five-year terms at the world body.

Mr Tharoor, who is currently the UN Under-Secretary General for Communications and Public Information, was yesterday officially nominated as India's candidate for the top UN job.

The decision to field Mr Tharoor comes with an assertion that under the principle of regional rotation, the next Secretary-General should be from Asia.

Hours after India announced its decision to nominate Mr Tharoor, Pakistan said it would field its own candidate to challenge him.

Despite all the hullabaloo made by the Asian wannabe candidates, the Bush administration has made it clear that it does not agree that Asia has the sole right to field the next candidate, and is looking to Eastern Europe and other precincts.

US officials have met each of the candidates, but apparently are not impressed with the unofficial contestants.

Mr Annan himself said under the UN tradition to rotate top jobs among the regions, his successor should come from the 54-member Asian region, which, in fact, stretches from Lebanon to Fiji. ''I have no horse in this race, and may the best man win,'' he remarked.

Meanwhile South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, describing himself as a harmonizer, is the latest among Asian diplomats vying for the top United Nations post.

Mr Ban, a candidate for post of UN Secretary-General, said in New York recently that if selected to succeed Kofi Annan, he would work to narrow the divisions between nations, and heal the rift between member states and the secretariat that is meant to serve their interests.

Mr Ban, 62, is the third candidate from Asia, although there are at least a half-dozen more names frequently mentioned as possibilities to take over from Mr Annan.

Among them are Thai Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai, who has some support among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) but his constant campaigning also has discouraged some nations.

Seasoned Sri Lankan diplomat Jayantha Dhanapala is another serious contestant for the position. He is the Sri Lankan government's former peace negotiator with rebel factions, who also served for five years as the UN undersecretary-general for disarmament. His reputation is building, but not so much in the Security Council, which holds primary responsibility for choosing the next secretary-general.

All the candidates are making hectic behind-the-scene efforts to take up the coveted post.

The Bush administration is expected to make its decision known by the end of fall when the serious business of selecting a candidate begins, according to State Department sources. (UNI)

Judge dismisses most of Democrats' phone-jamming lawsuit

MANCHESTER, June 16:A Judge has dismissed most of a Democratic lawsuit against Republicans stemming from the jamming of Democratic phone lines in the November 2002 elections, a crime that led to criminal convictions against three former Republican officials.

State Democratic Chairwoman Kathy Sullivan said yesterday that a judge in Manchester dismissed five of eight claims Democrats had made in the civil lawsuit. The ruling was dated Tuesday. Both parties called the decision a victory.

The dismissed counts alleged Republicans commited civil harassment and conspiracy, including conspiring against Democrats' constitutional rights to vote and associate.

"What the court has basically done is reduced this claim, this lawsuit, to a small claims complaint," said Ovide Lamontagne, a lawyer for the Republicans. "A thousand dollars of damage is what we think they could probably show for the interruption of phones for an hour and a half."

"This is not a good day for the Republican Party," Sullivan said. The civil trial is scheduled to begin in November.

The get-out-the-vote and ride-to-the-polls phone banks run by Democrats and the nonpartisan Manchester firefighters union were jammed for more than an hour on Election Day 2002, during a hotly contested US Senate race between then- Democratic Governor Jeanne Shaheen and Republican John Sununu.

James Tobin, of Bangor, Maine, a former regional chairman of President George W Bush's re-election campaign, was convicted in December of two felony telephone harassment charges but acquitted of a third, more serious charge of conspiring against voters' rights. He was sentenced to 10 months in prison. (AP)

UN Council extends Hariri probe panel mandate

UNITED NATIONS, June 16:Expressing its willingness to continue to assist Lebanon in the search for truth behind the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the UN Security Council has extended for one year the mandate of the international commission probing the deadly 2005 car bomb attack which had killed 22 others.

A day after the UN International Independent Investigation Commission (IIIC) reported ''considerable progress'' into the probe, the 15-member Council yesterday voted unanimously for the extension until June 15, 2007 that had been called for, among others, by the Prime minister of Lebanon.

In the resolution, the Council reiterated its ''strongest condemnation of the February 14, 2005 terrorist bombing, as well as of all other attacks in Lebanon since October 2004, and reaffirming also that those involved in these attacks must be held accountable for their crimes''.

The council also supported the commission's intention to extend further technical assistance to Lebanese authorities regarding their investigations into the other terrorist attacks in Lebanon since October 1, 2004, and also requested the secretary-general to provide the IIIC with the resources needed for this.

In his detailed report on Tuesday to the Security Council on the investigation into the killings, head of the commission Serge Brammertz, said the ''fundamental building blocks for the investigation into the crime'' were now largely understood ''and provide the basis for investigative progress with regard to those who perpetrated the crime''.

UNIIIC was established by the Security Council in April 2005 after an earlier UN mission found Lebanon's own investigation seriously flawed and Syria primarily responsible for the political tension preceding Mr Hariri's murder.

Mr Hariri became a critic of Damascus' domination for decades of Lebanon. He was killed along with 22 others in a massive explosion on February 14, 2005 as his motorcade traversed on a Beirut street.

The attack occurred shortly after he charged Syria with interfering in Lebanese politics. Big street demonstrations followed and opposition politicians accused Syria of masterminding his death.

Damascus has consistently denied a role in the Hariri killing. (UNI)

North Korea steps up missile preparations

TOKYO, June 16:North Korea has stepped up preparations for an apparent missile test and could conduct a launch in the next few days, a report said today, amid warnings from Tokyo that a long-range missile firing will threaten Japanese security.

An additional rocket section has arrived at a North Korean launch site within the last 48 hours as the country apparently prepares for a missile test, Kyodo said.

The missile was believed to be a long-range Taepodong-2 missile test, capable of reaching the US mainland with a light payload, the news agency said.

While the missile has not been loaded with fuel, it has been moved to a test site in the country's northeast. Earlier today, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said a launch would threaten Japanese security but refused to comment when asked if such a launch was imminent.

"If North Korea launches the reported ballistic missile, which will directly affect Japan's security, it will be a violation of the Japan-Pyongyang Declaration," Abe said.

The declaration was signed in 2002 at Japan-North Korea summit in Pyongyang, and reaffirmed by the two nations in 2004, he said.

KBS, South Korea's largest television network, reported yesterday that the reclusive communist nation was in the final stages of preparation for a launch that could come within a week.

South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Choo Kyu-ho and other officials said they did not have any such information. But another government official said the Seoul government conveyed its concern to the North last month over a possible test. (AP)

Tom Cruise tops Forbes annual list of powerful celebrity

NEW YORK, June 16:Hollywood hearthrob Tom Cruise topped the world's most powerful celebrity list closely followed by Rolling Stones, Oprah Winfrey and Tiger Woods, according to Forbes magazine.

The 43-year old actor, who recently had a daughter with Katie Holmes, has 67 million dollars following release of his films "War of the Worlds" and "Mission Impossible 3," the magazine said releasing its annual list of 100 most powerful celebrities yesterday.

The magazine based its list on income between June 2005 and June 2006 on a combination of factors including Web references as calculated by Google, press clips and the number of times a celebrity's face has appeared on the cover of 26 major consumer magazines.

The 20 most powerful names in show business included seasoned old-school performers such as sexagenarian rockers Rolling Stones (No 2) with 162 million dollars and U2,the Irish band who won the Grammy award held the fourth positioninthe list.

Oprah Winfrey, who has aired her show for 20 years, came in third this year with her communication empire worth 225 million dollar.

"The Da Vinci Code" author Dan Brown came in 10th.

Legendary boxer Muhammad Ali, who had sold the rights to his name and likeness last year for USD 50 million occupied the 13th slot despite not having boxed a single round in almost 25 years.

Tiger Woods, who has been in the top five for the last five years straight, once again is ranked fifth, making USD 90 million over the last year, mostly from endorsements. Actress Jennifer Aniston is in 35th place and Angelina Jolie, 36th. (PTI)

Infertility common after ulcerative colitis surgery

NEW YORK, June 16:A common operation for ulcerative colitis renders nearly 50 per cent of female patients infertile, according to a new report. By contrast, when the disease is managed with medications alone, the infertility rate is 15 per cent, similar to the rate seen in healthy women.

Ulcerative colitis is a serious disease in which the body's immune cells attack the inner lining of the large intestine or colon resulting in severe bouts of bloody diarrhea. In the long-term, the disease also increases the risk of colon cancer.

While the disease is often successfully treated with medications alone, many patients require surgery, frequently undergoing an operation called colectomy with ileal pouch anal anastomosis (IPAA).

With IPAA, the colon is removed completely and the last portion of the small intestine, the ileum, is attached to the anus. Unlike some other operations used to treat ulcerative colitis, IPAA does not leave the patient with an opening or ''ostomy'' on the skin where stool exits.

''Radiologic studies have shown that women often have blockage of the fallopian tubes after undergoing IPAA,'' senior author Dr Peter D Higgins, from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, told Reuters Health. ''Still, past studies have yielded widely varying rates of infertility, so we've been unable to tell patients what their odds (are) of becoming infertile after the procedure.''

According to the new report, which appears in the online issue of the medical journal Gut, IPAA has several advantages over long-term drug therapy as a treatment for ulcerative colitis, including complete elimination of disease flare-ups and colon cancer risk, as well as a much lower cost. Despite these benefits, most patients opt for medical therapy, Higgins said.

A search of published reports, meeting abstracts, and other sources identified 189 studies potentially relevant to investigating the association between IPAA and infertility.

Ultimately, eight studies, involving more than 500 patients, met selection criteria.

IPAA more than tripled the risk of infertility compared with medical therapy. Infertility was defined as failure to conceive after 12 months of attempts, the authors note.

Higgins said that there is evidence that other surgeries for ulcerative colitis, such as removing the colon but leaving the rectum intact, may have lower infertility rates. Treatments that reduce scarring at the time of surgery or work to keep the fallopian tubes open may help cut the infertility rate seen with IPAA, he added.(AGENCIES)

Obesity tied to hepatitis C treatment failure

NEW YORK, June 16:Obese patients who are treated for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection are more likely to have a better outcome if the underlying abnormalities caused by excessive fat tissue are corrected first, according to a review published in the medical journal Hepatology.

The lead author, Dr Michael R Charlton of the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, and colleagues point out that obesity is considered to be a metabolic condition, not simply a matter of being very overweight.

Obesity in patients with HCV infection is associated inflammation and insulin resistance, a ''prediabetic'' abnormality of blood sugar. These patients may also have steatosis, ''fatty liver disease;'' progression of fibrosis, scarring of the liver; and poor response to interferon and ribavirin, the standard treatment for HCV infection.

Patients with hepatitis C and obesity-related fatty liver disease are also at greater risk for more advanced liver disease.

Weight loss to reduce fat tissue is an important first step in improving response to treatment, the investigators advise.

Also important is treatment with diabetes drugs, such as metformin and pioglitazone, to improve insulin sensitivity and reduce fat accumulation in the liver. This might reverse disease progression, the researchers note.

Other approaches to enhance patients' response to combination drug therapy may include longer duration of treatment and higher doses to counteract the decreased response to the drugs. Rather than basing doses on weight, they suggest, drug doses could be based on body mass index, a ratio of height to weight.

''Treatment strategies that focus on improving underlying metabolic factors associated with poor response to combination therapy,'' conclude the researchers, are ''more likely to overcome the low sustained viral response rates observed in obese patients infected with HCV.''(AGENCIES)

Forgotten urban poor a living time bomb: UN

LONDON, June 16:The world's growing number of poor slum dwellers is a ticking time bomb that Governments dare not ignore, the United Nations said today.

The world will pass a critical point in 2007 when the majority of its 6 billion people will be urbanised, the world body said.

One-third of them will be slum dwellers, many trapped in poverty but overlooked by governments and with no prospects of improvement.

''When a critical mass of people are in one place, if you don't empower them they will empower themselves through revolution,'' Anna Tibaijuka, head of UN-HABITAT said in London, presenting the agency's State of the World's Cities 2006/7 report.

''If we want to avoid chaos we have to empower the poor people,'' she told a news conference ahead of the third World Urban Forum meeting in Vancouver, Canada, from June 19-23.

Far from being better off than their rural cousins, the urban poor were in many ways worse off, ignored by aid agencies and with little access to housing, adequate sanitation, clean water, education or health services.

For example, even the children of relatively affluent slum dwellers had higher rates of killer diarrhoea than poor children in the countryside, the report said, noting that slum dwellers also tended to die young.

Tibaijuka said the world's slum dwellers faced multiple disadvantages being near to services, durable housing and the seat of political power but having no access to any of them.

This in turn led to rising divisions and tensions between the ''haves'' and ''have nots'' in burgeoning towns and cities.

In sub-Saharan Africa, 72 per cent of the urban population live in slums, attracted there by prospects of a better life but, once sucked in, are trapped in a cycle of poverty, degradation and violence.

By 2030, the urban population of Africa, the least urbanised continent, will be larger than the total population of Europe, the UN report said.

''The peace and stability of cities is in question if the majority are in slums,'' Tibaijuka said, urging governments not to simply bulldoze them as President Mugabe had done in Zimbabwe but to provide housing and services for them.

The report said that in seven African countries surveyed, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Niger and Zambia, HIV/AIDS was more prevalent in the urban than rural population.

It also noted the rise of mega- and even metacities conurbations with populations of more than 10 million and 20 million respectively saying nine per cent of the world's people now live in megacities against four per cent in 1975.

The trend is accelerating, the report said, noting that by 2030, nearly 4 billion people, or 80 per cent of the world's urban dwellers, will live in cities of the developing world. (AGENCIES)

Fossils show living birds descended from waterfowl

WASHINGTON, June 16:A set of 110-million-year-old fossils from China is the earliest example of a modern-looking bird and strongly suggests ancestors of all living birds were waterfowl, researchers said.

The pigeon-sized bird probably resembled a tern or a loon,the researchers said. Called Gansus yumenensis, it would have been an accomplished flyer and diver and could well be one of the ancestors of modern birds, the researchers report in today's issue of the journal Science.

''Every bird living today, from ostriches ... To bald eagles, probably evolved from a Gansus-like ancestor,'' Matthew Lamanna of Carnegie Natural History Museum in Pittsburgh told a news conference.

Peter Dodson, professor of anatomy the University of Pennsylvania, who oversaw the research, said, ''Gansus is very close to a modern bird and helps fill in the big gap between clearly non-modern birds and the explosion of early birds that marked the Cretaceous period, the final era of the Dinosaur Age.''

The five skeletons come from an exceptionally rich fossil bed in China's Gansu Province, in a poor farming area near Changma, 2,000 km west of Beijing.

In the Cretaceous period, 100 million years ago, it would have been a lake, surrounded by lush plant life, filled with crocodiles and fish, and with dinosaurs and early mammals prowling on land.

Now the lake bed survives as layers of rock.

''You can walk up to a rock and peel off sheet after sheet like paper until you get to a fossil,'' said Jerald Harris of Dixie State College of Utah.

Hai-lu You of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences was studying at the University of Pennsylvania when many earlier fossil birds were discovered in China's northeastern Liaoning Province. He remembered that the rock beds in Gansu were similar and took an expedition there.

They struck paleontological gold and quickly gathered five nearly complete fossils of the early bird.

A computer program reconstructed the bird evolutionary tree and suggests the birds that gave rise to modern birds were waterfowl.

Gansus looks more like a modern bird than some birds that lived later in the Cretaceous period.

Its wings, legs and webbed feet closely resemble those of living loons and diving ducks, with a few exceptions. The birds had not yet evolved the hollow, air-filled bones that make modern birds to light and nimble, and it still had tiny claws at the end of its wings that probably would have made it slightly clumsy in flight, Harris said. (AGENCIES)