Indian UN vet treats animal victims of Lebanon war

KHIAM, LEBANON, Oct 25: Amal al-Nimr flips a goat on its back in her muddy farmyard in south Lebanon to show the Indian vet how the shrapnel wound in its leg is healing.

Lieutenant-Colonel Parasanali Bapu, the only veterinary surgeon serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), applies iodine to the stricken goat, another casualty of Israel's recent war with Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas.

When Nimr complains her animals have grown skinny since the conflict, Bapu supplies deworming medicine.

''Because of the stress of the war, the worm load in the stomach increases. Whatever the animals eat, the worms also eat,'' the vet explains.

Even before the war, Bapu's free treatment and medicine were in huge demand among the poor farmers and shepherds in these remote southern pastures, near Lebanon's border with Israel and Syria's Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

''We have seen a lot of death and destruction,'' he says, estimating that about 60 percent of the animal population was wiped out during the 34-day conflict that ended on August 14.

''People didn't know the war would go on so long. They left their animals and nobody was able to look after them,'' he says, striding through farmyards in a smartly ironed uniform, oblivious to the manure splashing onto his polished boots.

''Some died in the rubble, some fell prey to wild animals, some died due to starvation. Those that survived were emaciated. Suddenly after the war they started diarrhoea and all the gastro-intestinal diseases,'' the 43-year-old vet adds.

HERDS HARD HIT

Nimr, a voluble woman in a red tracksuit and rubber boots, says she lost 170 sheep and goats and eight cows in the war, a good chunk of the livelihood of her extended family of 10.

''We were running from the shelling,'' says Nimr, 38, her eyes flashing. ''They were really hard days.''

She snorts with derision when asked if she has received any compensation from the government or Hezbollah.

Unable to afford the fees of private Lebanese vets, she is delighted with Bapu's work. ''We rely on him all the time,'' she says. ''Everyone says good things about him.''

That kind of testimonial heartens the 670-strong Indian battalion, which sees humanitarian work as vital to win local support for UNIFIL in a potentially hostile environment.

Major Saurabh Pandey, spokesman for the contingent, believes locals value the role of the Indian troops, who stayed during the war despite intense bombing and shelling.

During lulls, the Indians delivered food and water to villagers, arranged evacuations and provided medical care. ''This way we have been able to touch their hearts,'' Pandey says at the battalion's headquarters near the village of Ibl al-Saqi.

It may be too early to judge how mainly Shi'ite Muslim southerners view the expanded UNIFIL force mandated to help the newly deployed Lebanese army police a weapons-free zone.

But at least in the Indian-patrolled area, the shared wartime experience has brought new signs of warmth, Pandey says.

''It was not very obvious before the conflict in certain places, but afterwards you go to any place and people are smiling and waving. Kids turn up and say, 'Indian, Indian' or 'UN, UN', and they shake hands. It's a very welcome change.''

Back on his rounds, Bapu checks a young cow recovering from an operation six weeks ago during which he removed a six-inch shard of metal from its skull. ''It's not healed completely, but it is picking up ... It was very weak at that time,'' he says.

In a murky barn nearby, Bapu and a burly farm boy named Khaled Rajab struggle to keep a frisky cow still long enough to jab it with antibiotics for an infected uterus.

''They're not keeping it clean, so the infection continues,'' Bapu says, blaming poor hygiene for many such ailments.

POSTWAR DANGERS

The Israeli-Hezbollah truce has largely held. The Indians, who operate near the flashpoint Shebaa Farms area on the Golan Heights, say they have seen no sign of any guerrilla presence. Hezbollah have just ''mingled with the masses'', Pandey says.

The guns may be silent, but hundreds of thousands of cluster bomblets sprayed over south Lebanon in at least 770 Israeli strikes still pose a deadly danger to humans and animals.

Cluster bomb blasts have killed more than 20 people and wounded scores of others since the war. Bapu says many people have brought him sheep and goats wounded as they graze.

The vet, who returns to Bangalore after a 12-month tour next month, has trained villagers to give injections and medicine to their animals, skills he hopes they will retain when he is gone.

''After the war, help was pouring in for people to rebuild their houses but no help came for the animals,'' he says.

''The greatest satisfaction is I was there with medicines, running around able to save them.''

(AGENCIES)

Australians among world's top resource consumers

CANBERRA, Oct 25: Australians soak up more scarce resources than almost any other nation and produce so much waste on average that their mark on the world's ecology exceeds China, the environmental group WWF said.

The average Australian used 6.6 ''global'' hectares to support their developed lifestyle, ranking behind the United States and Canada, but ahead of the United Kingdom, Russia, China and Japan.

''If the rest of the world led the kind of lifestyles we do here in Australia, we would require three-and-a-half planets to provide the resources we use and to absorb the waste,'' said Greg Bourne, WWF-Australia chief executive officer.

Australia and the United States have refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, which obliges about 40 nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 5.2 per cent below 1990 levels by 2008-12, saying it is unfair because developing nations are exempt.

But that refusal meant Australia used more energy, food, timber and land per person than any of its regional neighbours, including New Zealand, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand, WWF's Living Planet Report 2006 said yesterday.

Emerging powerhouse China used 1.6 hectares per person, while India used 0.8 hectares, WWF said.

With Australia in the grip of its worst drought on record and most cities facing tough water restrictions ahead of summer, the environment watchdog said water shortages in the world's driest inhabited continent were partly the result of over-consumption.

''The report confirms why it is that we are experiencing the kinds of problems we are right now, such as critical water shortages, the unprecedented decline of species, stressed fisheries and land degradation,'' Bourne said.

At current levels of global consumption, WWF said, humanity would be using two planets' worth of natural resources by 2050. Between 1961 and 2003 mankind's global footprint had tripled.

''As a planet, we are living beyond our ecological means,'' WWF said. Bourne called on Australia's government to set a greenhouse gas emission reduction target of 30 per cent by 2030 and end land clearing.

Australia and the United States are pushing for voluntary measures to cut emissions, and stronger cooperation on clean technology, under a six-nation climate initiative also involving South Korea, Japan, China and India.

Australia's Environment Minister Ian Campbell said the WWF report was ''a little harsh'' for measuring greenhouse gas emissions on a per-capita basis, as Australia exported massive amounts of energy.

''Also, in terms of threatened species, Australia has more native flora and fauna than any other country on the planet, so I think the measurements for this are a bit harsh on Australia,'' Campbell said in a statement.

He said the report found Australia was making progress, with emissions growth running slower than Australia's economic growth. (AGENCIES)

SKorea scientist says paid Russia mafia for mammoth

SEOUL, Oct 25: Disgraced South Korean stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk said he spent part of private donations for research to pay the Russian mafia for mammoth tissues to clone extinct elephant species.

Hwang, once celebrated as a national hero, was indicted in May on charges of fraud and embezzlement after prosecutors said he was the mastermind of a scheme to make it look like his team had produced stem cells through cloning human embryos.

He previously told a Seoul court that he spent part of more than 1 billion won ($1 million) in corporate donations for ''peripheral activities related to research.''

''Some of the money was spent in contacting the Russia mafia as we tried to clone mammoths,'' Hwang told the court during a hearing yesterday. ''But you can't say that (on the expense claim) so we expensed it as money for cows for experiment.''

Hwang previously said he obtained mammoth tissues from glaciers and tried to clone them three times but failed.

Prosecutors have charged Hwang with fraud to secure funds and misusing 2.8 billion won in state funds and private donations as well as violating bioethics laws in procuring human eggs for research.

An investigation panel at Seoul National University, where Hwang once worked, said his team fabricated key data in the two papers on embryonic stem cells that were once heralded.

Misuse of state funds carries a penalty of up to 10 years in jail, while violating the bioethics laws can lead to three years' imprisonment, prosecutors have said.

Hwang denied any of the funds were used for anything other than research. He described extra expenses incurred when trying to secure animal ovaries in addition to paying for junior researchers' housing and travel.

''Do you know how hard it is to secure four or five animal ovaries at butcher shops? You need to keep the workers there happy.''

Hwang's research had raised hopes because it seemed to fulfil a promise of embryonic stem cell studies where tissues could be grown to repair damaged bodies and cure illnesses such as diabetes and severe spinal cord injuries.(AGENCIES)

Berlin worries about its culture after debt ruling

BERLIN, Oct 25: The opera houses, theatres and concert halls that have starred in a reunified Berlin's cultural renaissance face a bleaker future after a high court ruling that forces the city to face harsh financial reality.

Funding for these and other testaments to Berlin's journey from provincial capital to Nazi power centre and Cold War fault line is under threat following the Federal Constitutional Court's rejection of the city's bid for emergency federal aid.

Rather than approve aid, the court urged Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit on October 19 to make cuts and sell assets to cope with a debt mountain that piled up after reunification as the city became the capital again and underwent an expensive facelift.

Saddled with debt of over 60 billion euros ($76 billion) and the highest unemployment rate of any big German city, Berlin is heavily dependent on the allure of its cultural attractions, many a direct product of the years it spent divided.

Now money for musicians and artists may be in short supply -- a casualty of the capital's fiscal squeeze.

''In the 'worst case' we'll end up seeing attractions being closed. There will be fewer performances, exhibitions and fewer people working in all of these places,'' said Olaf Zimmermann, managing director of the German Council for Culture.

''That would really be the worst imaginable scenario. Tourism is the only bona fide economic plus point that Berlin has.''

IDEOLOGICAL STRUGGLE

When the former capital of Prussia was divided at the end of World War Two, it became a main stage for the ideological struggle between capitalism and communism on which the Soviet Union and Western powers sought to parade their merits.

With many of the old cultural symbols and seats of learning behind enemy lines in the eastern sector, a new opera house was built for the west, along with a separate university and a modern home for the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra.

Today, Berlin has three major opera houses -- the Staatsoper, which dates back to the mid-18th century, the Komische Oper, which specialises in German language productions, and the Deutsche Oper, located in what was West Berlin.

The capital also has dozens of theatres and several symphony orchestras.

Although the federal Government has assumed responsibility for many major institutions, city authorities say the financial burden is too much for the cash-strapped capital to cope with.

Berlin's financial woes have been compounded by the scrapping of state subsidies and a major financial scandal, which helped to bring down the previous state Government.

LOCAL ANGER

Joachim Meister, a 32-year-old designer waiting in the rain to visit the newly re-opened Bode Museum, said there might be a case to drop one of the three opera houses. But there could be no question of undermining the city's main selling point.

''Berlin and culture go together like ducks and water.''

Further down the queue, locals were angry that the debt relief ruling had put the city's cultural legacy at risk.

''This would never have happened to London or Paris,'' said 64-year-old Joern Lucke. ''If things were the same there, and they needed the money, the decision would have gone their way.''

After reunification in 1990, hopes that the one-time industrial powerhouse would re-emerge as an economic beacon for the new Germany were disappointed. Jobs and production have melted away.

''People don't come here because there are so many jobs,'' said Mike Keller, a 40-year-old artist. ''They come because of the culture and its diversity. Culture will suffer now.''

Even the city's ministry for culture, which has reluctantly reduced spending on the arts in recent years, is not upbeat and its spokesman Torsten Woehlert said the court ruling had dealt a hard blow.

He said the federal government had to recognise that Berlin was uniquely burdened by its past.

''Berlin is not the successor to Prussia,'' he said.

Zimmermann from the German Council for Culture agreed, saying that if Berlin lost out so would the whole country.

''Berlin is the cultural showcase for Germany,'' he said. (AGENCIES)

Water woes hit Guinea worm fight in Ghana

DIARE, GHANA, Oct 25: Musah Issahaku could not know that the water he drank was teeming with Guinea worm larvae.

Now, a bandage on the 12-year-old's leg covers the tip of a white worm up to one metre long twisted deep into his flesh.

One worm has already been removed from his other leg and each day health workers extract an inch of the spaghetti-like creature, a process that can take up to two months.

''When the worm pulls itself around the muscle and they are pulling ... It is painful,'' Issahaku said. ''If God persists, then the worm will be pulled out either today or tomorrow.''

Guinea worm, also known as ''the fiery serpent'', is contracted by drinking water contaminated with microscopic water fleas carrying larvae. Once in the abdomen, worm larvae grow for around a year before emerging through an agonising blister.

Global efforts to eradicate the waterborne parasite have seen the number of cases fall from an estimated 3.5 million in 1986 to 10,674 reported cases last year, according to the Carter Center, an aid organisation set up by former US President Jimmy Carter.

It is now endemic in just nine countries, all of them in Africa: Sudan, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Togo, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast.

Many of the countries where the disease is found are also struggling with other humanitarian crises: Sudan's conflicts in its western Darfur region and until recently its oil-rich south, or Mali and Niger's crop failures and food shortages.

Yet Ghana, a peaceful and relatively prosperous West African state, had 3,981 reported cases in 2005, second only to Sudan, which saw 5,569 cases reported last year.

CLEAN WATER

The main reason the incidence of Guinea worm remains stubbornly high in the former British colony is that many of those living in the country's north do not have access to safe drinking water, aid workers say.

''It seems there are some unique issues (in Ghana) with regards to standing water, where people are getting water and how it spreads,'' Ann Veneman, head of the UN children's fund UNICEF, said in an interview.

''A lot of people in very poor areas rely on ponds with still water and people drink that water.''

The stinging sensation caused in the boil or blister when the Guinea worm emerges sends many sufferers into water to try to cool their skin. But on contact with water, the worm spews out larvae, putting those who drink the water later at risk.

Issahaku stays in a centre run by district health staff and partly funded by the Carter Center in his northern hometown of Diare, safe from the water in which he may be tempted to cool his infected limbs.

Many of the 9,000 people who live in Diare get their drinking water from a man-made dam banked by sand and full of rainwater, a common system of water collection throughout the region but a method that increases the risk of contamination.

A new mechanised borehole -- funded by UNICEF -- provides them with an alternative.

But the geology of northern Ghana makes digging boreholes difficult and a low success rate -- of between 20 to 30 per cent -- deters those who want to help, said Dr Andrew Seidu Korkor, the manager of the Ghana Guinea Worm Eradication Programme, which works with the Carter Center, UNICEF and the World Health Organisation.

Filtering drinking water or stopping people with hanging worms entering the water would help eradicate the disease.

''Educating people not to step into rainwater (behind the dam) is one of the biggest challenges ... We should try to find ways of making (dam) water potable,'' Korkor said.

''As far as Guinea worm is concerned, transmission occurs when people step into water. It might eliminate Guinea worm if you take water from the source and put it into a tank, then they can't step into it.''

As the debate continues on how to tackle the region's clean water problems, the social and economic costs of the disease remain high.

The Carter Center estimates rice farmers in southeastern Nigeria lost $20 million in one year because of outbreaks of Guinea worm which incapacitated workers.

Last year, one elderly man had 80 worms surgically removed in a village in Ghana's Brong Ahafo region so devastated by the disease that the government had to send in food aid. Children are also kept out of school to care for adults with the disease.

So far this year, there have been 2,500 cases but progress is being made, Korkor said.

''What people fail to recognise we have gone from 180,000 cases in 1989 to 4,000 last year ... No matter how long it takes, we are going to eradicate Guinea worm,'' he said.

(AGENCIES)

Nude shower gel AD with "child-like" model banned

LONDON, Oct 25: A shower gel advert which featured a very young-looking woman sitting naked under a lemon tree was slated by Britain's advertising watchdog today which ruled it ''offensive and inappropriate''.

Although the model in the television advert for Original Source shower gel was an adult, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said she might be taken for a child by some people.

''Because some viewers were likely to believe that the model was a child, we considered the sexual overtones and nudity in the ad were offensive and inappropriate.''

It said the ad must not appear again in its original form.

Several people had complained about the ad because the model looked under 16 and was shown in what they considered to be a sexually provocative way.

Defending the advert, PZ Cussons said they had wanted to portray the naturalness of their product and that the question of how old the model looked was subjective.

They said the same woman wearing make-up and clothes would look much older. The company said it had been surprised by the complaints, some of which were sent directly to them, and had decided to re-edit the ad so that the model was only seen from the shoulders upwards.

(AGENCIES)

Saudi youth bored in model Islamic state: Blogger

RIYADH, Oct 25: Saudi youth are chronically bored in a country that can't provide them with jobs and restricts their personal freedoms, one of Saudi Arabia's most well-known Internet bloggers says.

Ahmed al-Omran, aka ''Saudi Jeans'', says Saudi Arabia may be a model state for powerful clerics who oversee the strict application of sharia, or Islamic law, in society but for young people life can offer bleak choices.

''We are watching movies and serials from outside, and we are saying 'why are we different, why can't we live the way they do?','' he told Reuters in an interview.

''OK, we are a little different, we have our traditions and lifestyles, but we also don't see the big difference, especially compared to neighbouring countries, like Bahrain or Kuwait.''

In Saudi Arabia, strict gender segregation means there are no cinemas, women are not allowed to drive, single men are often banned from shopping malls, and trendy coffee shops -- which have become hugely popular in big cities -- are men-only zones.

None of those restrictions are in place in Saudi Arabia's Gulf Arab neighbours, which are culturally similar to Saudi. In the relatively liberal Saudi city of Jeddah, there are some mixed cafes and easy access to the malls.

If he wants to experience the cinema, Omran says he drives to neighbouring Bahrain, which many Saudis head to on the weekends to escape the stifling social mores of the clerics' Islamic state where religious law rules supreme.

''Single guys are not allowed to enter the shopping malls, that's just for families or women. For young people (men) it's just frustrating. What do we do? Maybe we go to the coffee shop. You just get bored,'' said Omran, sitting in one of the flash coffee shops that line many of Riyadh's main streets.

Many men are effectively both unemployed and unemployable, and economists say the government faces a major challenge in creating jobs and instilling the work ethic among youth, who have traditionally looked to the large state bureaucracy to provide them with work.

''There aren't jobs in the government any more, and you have to search for a job that suits you. People are not quite used to this,'' Omran said. ''They are used to having their comfortable jobs and want the old days back. Well, they're not coming back.''

CYBER SAUDIS

Omran's blog in Arabic and English (saudijeans.Blogspot.Com), where he mixes thoughts on political and social issues with observations about everyday life, has stood out in the burgeoning Saudi cyber community for its insights into changing Saudi society.

There are now more than 500 Saudi bloggers and they have become sharply divided between reform-minded youth and traditionalists, Omran says. Internet penetration of around only 14.5 per cent limits bloggers' ability to influence events.

In Egypt, activists have used the Web to publicise protests against the government, and at least one blogger has been arrested amid claims of torture.

''It's easy to be anonymous. Everyone has his reasons. I used to be afraid,'' said Omran, who has been invited to take part in international forums on media and blogging. ''After a time I was sick of it, so I put my name and photo to see what would happen. I think you have more credibility. But I've become now careful about what I write. I think twice about posting anything.''

Like a growing minority of Saudi youth, he is dressed in blue jeans, the staple of Western fashion and culture which vies in coffee shops with the white ''thobe'' worn by most Saudi men.

With some 60 per cent of the Saudi population thought to be under 21, Omran's experience is radically different from that of the handful of old men running the country. The senior members of the Saudi royal family are in their 70s and 80s.

And Islamist hardliners, or the ''forces of darkness'' as Omran's blog has dubbed them, have come out fighting against liberal trends in society, arguing there must be limits to change in the land where Islam was born and which contains its holiest shrines.

''They are visualising that if we change anything this whole country will be destroyed. They view people who call for changes as people who want to destroy the country and are against religion,'' said Omran, who admits that society remains deeply conservative in general.

But he added: ''You've got this feeling that the day will come when everything explodes. But when it does, will we be able to handle the situation?''

(AGENCIES)

London Muslims 'should play greater role'

LONDON, Oct 25: Muslims must play a greater role in London's politics and the economy to help stem prejudice and discrimination, a report said.

Muslims make up 8.5 percent of the capital's population, but are under-represented on its councils and among its workforce, adds the ''Muslims in London'' report yesterday.

Mayor Ken Livingstone, jointly presenting the report, said: ''Muslims in London face serious discrimination and prejudice.

''I hope this report will increase understanding between communities and combat some of the ignorance, prejudice and Islamophobia stirred up by some sections of the media.''

The report called for more Muslims to be elected to public office and to serve in public bodies like the police, the education system and the civil service.

The mayor's comments, backed by Muhammad Abdul Bari, general secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, come at a time of alleged Muslim segregation and controversy over the wearing of the veil.

Livingstone accused the media of running a ''totally one-sided'' debate.

It reflected the Nazi propaganda of the 1930s when Jews were blamed for their own and society's ills, he said.

The mayor claimed that Muslims did not want to be separated from the rest of the community, but he accused employers and housing associations of having helped create such a situation.

Entering the veil debate, he said he would never ask a Muslim woman to remove her veil, just as he would not think of asking a Jew to remove his skull cap or a Christian to take off her cross.

''It is important that the role of the media in promoting negative stereotypes of Muslims and Islam is challenged,'' the report added.

It found that after the London bombings of July last year, individual Muslims experienced fear and feelings of suspicion, to the extent that some curtailed their normal routines.

Abdul Bari blamed Muslim unemployment and deprivation for tensions.

The report, drawing upon the 2001 Census and other sources, found only 42 percent of Muslims aged between 16 and 24 were economically active, compared with 60 percent of the general population.

The report said: ''Muslims in London face several barriers to employment, including educational underachievement, discrimination, lack of affordable and appropriate childcare, lack of suitable training, travel costs and housing costs.''

It added that there is ''significant under-representation'' of Muslim communities in all spheres of public life.

There is just one Muslim MP representing a London constituency, when proportionally you could expect six. Also, there are only 63 Muslim councillors, where proportionally there should be 169.

(AGENCIES)

Poll shows Muslims in US lean to Democrats

WASHINGTON, Oct 25: More American Muslims are now supporting the Democratic Party but their votes should not be taken for granted, an Islamic civil rights group said.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, released a poll of 1,000 registered Muslim voters in the United States it said showed the community has changed a great deal since supporting Republicans in 2000.

The poll found 42 percent of respondents were Democrats and 17 percent Republican, while some 28 percent had no party affiliation, said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad.

''It shows that Muslim community votes should not be taken for granted,'' said Awad yesterday, adding: ''There's a shift in their political orientation.''

The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Estimates of the number of Muslim Americans vary between 3 million and 7 million. Eighty-nine percent of those surveyed said they vote regularly.

In 2000, American Muslims endorsed and voted for Republican candidate George W. Bush, but they switched to support the Democrats in 2004 to protest what was seen as anti-Muslim policies by the Bush administration.

CAIR research director Mohamed Nimer said the survey showed American Muslims were most concerned about civil liberties -- an issue that has dominated the community since the September 11 attacks carried out by Muslim extremists -- and education.

Foreign policy issues followed closely behind, it showed.

''There is a tremendous opposition to the Bush administration policies,'' Nimer said, citing the 55 percent of respondents who felt the war on terror has become a war on Islam.

Eighty-eight percent believed the Iraq war was not worthwhile for the United States and 90 percent were against using military means to spread democracy around the world.

The survey also showed about 43 percent of those questioned felt they had been discriminated against or been the subject of racial profiling.

Since the September 11 attacks, news of domestic wiretapping, monitoring of mosques, immigration crackdowns, public support for racial profiling and bans on some Muslim scholars visiting the United States made many Muslim Americans feel like targets of racism.

CAIR officials said Muslim political groups had not yet decided to endorse a party for the upcoming November 7 elections.

But they have launched an aggressive effort in Muslim communities across the country to register voters, and then plan on getting people to actually vote. (AGENCIES)

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