UN applauds Rudd for shift in climate policy

MELBOURNE, Dec 1: Applauding Australia's Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd's decision to ratify Kyoto protocol, a top UN official has said it would make a big difference to the country's standing at the global climate talks in Bali beginning on Monday.

However, Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), also warned that Australia would face penalties if it failed to meet its Kyoto target to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

"Australia is stepping into a legally binding international instrument that would oblige Australia to meet its target and it has penalties in place if Australia were to fail to do so," De Boer was quoted as saying by the "The Age'.

"I think the international community will very much appreciate Australia's decision to ratify Kyoto," he said.

The decision breaks Australia's longstanding support for the Bush Administration's strong opposition to the Kyoto Protocol.

This split with the US on climate issue will be evident for the first time at the two-week UN climate conference in Bali and was acknowledged by the incoming Climate Change Minister Penny Wong yesterday.

"I think it sends a very good signal to other countries that Australia is prepared to take that kind of leadership and a constructive role at these international meetings," she said.

Senator Wong said she would leave for Bali before Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd to attend crucial discussions where Australia's new position may be influential.

Rudd will attend the high-level sessions in the second week of talks with Senator Wong and the incoming Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, and Treasurer, Wayne Swan.

Around 140 world environment ministers are expected to attend the conference. De Boer said he hoped the talks will bring a vital breakthrough in the effort to achieve a new climate agreement.

The agreement must be in place before the Kyoto Protocol's first phase ends in 2012.

Last month, the UN's peak scientific body delivered a report warning that up to 30 per cent of the world's plant and animal species risked extinction without urgent action on global warming.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who along with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will attend the conference said the findings were "as frightening as a science fiction movie, but they are even more terrifying because they are real".

The Bali conference will not produce the new global agreement on cutting the world's greenhouse gases, but it is expected to deliver the "road map" to show how to achieve it, and attempt to keep the planet's temperature from rising more than two degrees.

De Boer said many experts believe the new agreement must be signed within two years.

"It's so critical in Bali that politicians give the first signal that they intend to come up with a response to what the scientists are saying," he said.

While the European Union has agreed to binding targets to cut emissions, the US has not, and developing nations such as China and India are insisting they will not commit to binding agreements until the developed world acts first. (PTI)

Labour candidate claims victory in Howard's electorate

SYDNEY, Dec 1: The Labour Party candidate who ousted former Prime Minister John Howard from his Sydney electorate after 33 years formally declared victory today.

Howard's conservative coalition lost its 11-year grip on power last Saturday with a dramatic nationwide swing toward the centre-left Labour Party led by Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd.

After the votes rolled in, Howard was forced to concede that he had lost not only the leadership of the country, but said it also looked "very unlikely" he would be returned to represent his home electorate of Bennelong.

For a week, Howard trailed his rival Labour candidate Maxine McKew by a narrow margin, with neither side willing to claim victory or concede defeat.

But with the Australian Electoral Commission formally declaring the seat for Labour and a majority of postal and absentee votes counted today, McKew finally made the call.

"One week after the polls opened I can now say that ... We are comfortably ahead," McKew told reporters at a public school in the electorate. "I can formally say that Bennelong is now a Labour seat for the first time."

McKew said she was not disappointed that Howard had not formally relinquished the seat, saying he, "clearly had a huge amount to do this week," between clearing out his office and official residences in Sydney and Canberra.

The result is a measure of the strength of the dissatisfaction with Howard, Australia's second-longest serving leader, who has been the member for Bennelong since 1974. (AGENCIES)

Delegates gather in Bali for climate conference

BALI, Dec 1: The future of the planet may be at stake.

Delegates from 190 countries gather on the resort island of Bali over the next two weeks to try to head off a scientific forecast of catastrophic floods and droughts, melting ice caps, disappearing coastlines and deadly heat waves.

As they begin negotiations on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012, they will largely tinker with and test phrasings and nuance. Some words - "commitments," "binding," "voluntary" - could set off storms of argument before the conference ends December 14.

But that is to be expected when drawing together nations rich and poor with very different political and historical backgrounds, said Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environmental Programme, adding the main thing is that dialogue is taking place.

"We are in the midst of an unprecedented and historic challenge," he said.

The US has long said it would not sign any treaty that calls for mandatory emissions cuts and showed no sign of budging ahead of the meeting, while China and India have said any measures impinging on their booming economies or ability to lift millions out of poverty were unacceptable.

Together the three nations will account for more than half the world's total carbon emissions by 2015, said Fatih Birol, chief economist at the International Energy Agency.

"If we cannot find a way to get China, India and the US on board, we will have no chance of addressing the climate change issue," he said. (AGENCIES)

Global warming 'to trigger stronger, more frequent hurricanes

NEW YORK, Dec 1: Considered to be one of the world's hurricane hot spots, the Atlantic Ocean is becoming more and more vulnerable to climate change which may soon trigger stronger and frequent storms.

Researchers in the United States have carried out a study and found that as the world warms, the Atlantic Ocean is organising all the ingredients for a powerful hurricane season to create a situation where everything would be conducive to hurricane activity, the 'ScienceDaily' reported.

"Sea surface temperature is a bit overrated. It's part of a larger pattern," according to lead researcher Jim Kossin, an atmospheric scientist at University of Wisconsin-Madison's Cooperative Institute of Meteorological Satellite Studies.

In their study, Kossin and his fellow researchers noticed that warmer water is just one part of the larger pattern indicating that the conditions are right for more frequent, stronger hurricanes in the Atlantic.

The atmosphere reacts to ocean conditions and the ocean reacts to the atmospheric situation, creating a distinct circulation pattern known as the Atlantic Meridional Mode (AMM) which unifies the connections among the factors that influence hurricanes such as ocean temperature, characteristics of the wind, and moisture in the atmosphere. (PTI)

US House to take up fuel efficiency standards

WASHINGTON, Dec 1: US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has promised lawmakers will next week take up a "historic" bid to raise fuel efficiency standards for most cars to 35 miles per gallon by 2020.

Yesterday's announcement of the most significant such reform in 30 years followed tense talks between lawmakers who had argued for the sweeping environmental reform, and those worried about the impact on the troubled US auto industry.

"We will achieve the major goal of increasing vehicle efficiency standards to 35 miles per gallon in 2020," Pelosi said in a statement after the deal on Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards was concluded.

The pact marks an "historic advancement in our efforts in the Congress to address our energy security and laying strong groundwork for climate legislation next year," the Democratic speaker said.

"We are confident that this final product will win the support of the environmental, labor and manufacturing communities."

The current CAFE standard is around 27.5 miles per gallon for cars and just over 22 miles per gallon for light trucks, a level which has been in force since 1985.

The new deal however is reported to contain some loopholes, which will allow larger trucks to be exempt from the new standards.

A vote is expected soon after Congress returns from its Thanksgiving break next week, and passage of the bill would be a welcome achievement for a Democratic Congress which has failed in its major policy goal of ending the Iraq war. (AGENCIES)

40 years since first transplanted heart beats in S Africa

JOHANNESBURG, Dec 1: Forty years ago, in the middle of the night at a Cape Town hospital, South African surgeon Christiaan Barnard rewrote medical history when he carried out the first ever heart transplant.

The operation captivated the imagination of the world, catapulting Barnard and South Africa onto the world stage and leading to hundreds of similar operation around the globe.

Dene Friedman, who was in the theatre during the ground breaking operation, assisting with the running of the heart-lung machine, remembers the surgery "as if it were yesterday".

"Nobody took a photograph, nobody did anything ... We didn't think of the publicity side of it," she told AFP.

Barnard had not been told the hospital that he would be attempting the operation, giving little thought to the reaction his techniques would generate.

"Professor Banard told them in the early hours of the next morning. He just gave a phone call," remembers Friedman.

"We just thought that we were doing something worthwhile for the patient," she said of Louis Washkansky, 53-year-old diabetic with incurable heart disease who had suffered three heart attacks.

Barnard had already practised the basic surgical technique for the transplant -- which was pioneered by other surgeons on animals -- in the laboratory. He only needed one donor to put this knowledge into practice.

On the night of the December 2, 1967, a 25-year-old woman was fatally injured in a car accident.

Her blood type matced that of Washkansky's and her father agreed that her heart culd be donated for the surgery.

"We entered the theatre in the middle of the night and left at 8am the next morning," said Friedman. (AGENCIES)

Saudis tell Hajis to do rituals in orderly manner

DUBAI, Dec 1: In order to avert any accident during the annual Haj scheduled to begin on December 18, Saudi authorities have asked pilgrims to perform their rituals in an orderly manner without causing harm or discomfort to anybody.

Delivering his Friday sermon, Sheikh Saud Al-Shuraim, an imam of the Grand Mosque in Makkah urged pilgrims to keep away from activities that would spoil their Haj, such as rivalry and fighting or blocking pathways.

More than 500,000 pilgrims from different parts of the world have already arrived for the Haj. Approximately 2.5 million pilgrims are expected to perform Haj this year.

Indian Consul General Ausaf Sayeed told PTI that 60,429 Indian pilgrims have arrived, of which 51,122 are in Makkah and 9,293 are in Madinah. This year 12 centenarians are among the nearly 157,000 Indians pilgrims performing the annual pilgrimage.

To create awareness about safety the Indian Pilgrims Welfare Forum (IPWF) organised an orientation programme for Indian hajis in Makkah, which was attended by more than 600 pilgrims, a majority of whom were ladies, Sayeed said.

The IPWF, which was formed in 1997 in the aftermath of the Mina tragedy, has been rendering selfless service for the Indian pilgrims. The main area of activity of the IPWF is to provide financial assistance to the Indian pilgrims, who lose their cash and belongings after arrival in the Kingdom.

Sayeed said that the orientation programme comprised of two parts with the first focusing on preparation for Haj, details of the rituals involved at various stages and Do's and Don'ts. A DVD on Haj was also shown to the pilgrims.

The second part comprised of medical counselling by specialist doctors, who are on Government of India deputation. The doctors advised the pilgrims on various safety and health precautions to be taken during their stay in the Kingdom, he said.

The women's wing of the IPWF, led by Consul General's wife Farha Sayeed, distributed more than 1000 'ihrams' (unstitched clothing to be worn during Haj) among Indian women pilgrims.

Besides, the IPWF also organised orientation programmes and published orientation manuals for the pilgrims in English, Hindi, Urdu, Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi and other languages.

IPWF President Shabbir Patel revealed that for Haj-2007, the IPWF has already distributed Saudi Riyals 36,000 (USD 9,700) among the Indian pilgrims. (PTI)

Video shows Julia Roberts chasing, confronting LA paparazzi

LOS ANGELES, Dec 1: Silver-screen sprite Julia Roberts is fed up with intrusive paparazzi, and she's letting them know it.

The slightly built star who played Tinkerbell in "Hook" was videotaped Wednesday in Malibu wildly tailing two videographers, flagging them down and lecturing them for taping her near a school.

The footage, taken by freelance videographers for the celebrity news and photo agency Splash and broadcast by "Inside Edition," shows Roberts driving in a Mercedes SUV behind the men, honking and waving them to stop.

"I'm going to talk to you about the fact that you're at a school where children go. Turn it off," Roberts, 40, said in the footage, standing outside their car and pointing at the videographers after they pulled over.

While driving, the Oscar-winning star of "Erin Brockovich" crossed over a double yellow line, and did not have children in her car, Splash media sales representative Amy Wiwuga told The Associated Press on yesterday.

Wiwuga would not reveal the videographers' identities, citing the agency's policy on freelancers.

Calls to Roberts' New York-based publicist Marcy Engleman were not immediately returned yesterday.

Roberts has 2-year-old twins and an almost 6-month-old son with her husband, cinematographer Danny Moder.

The TV show "Extra" reported that the incident occurred after Roberts was followed to her children's school. Roberts told the program that taking her picture is one thing, but a school is "not the place to wait to do it."

Roberts was the second A-list celebrity in two weeks to be videotaped admonishing the paparazzi on the road. (AGENCIES)

Mideast conflict can't be resolved by force: India....

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 1: Contending that the conflict in Middle East is essentially political in nature and cannot be resolved by force, India has warned that "all-too-frequent" instances of violence are adding to people's frustration and providing fuel to already combustible situation in the region. Expressing solidarity with the Palestinians, Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed criticised Israel for continued expansion of settlements in the occupied territories and "relentless" construction of separation wall, stressing that it is creating new facts on the ground and fresh grievances in an old conflict.

Intervening in the debate on the question of Palestine in the 192-member UN General Assembly here yesterday, he welcomed the understanding reached between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert at US-sponsored meet in Annapolis to begin a dialogue and hoped that it would lead to an early and peaceful resolution of all issues.

India, he said, has viewed with "alarm" the continued vicious cycle of attacks, reprisal and counter-attacks, the worsening humanitarian and security situation in Gaza as well as the continued violence inflicted on innocent civilians.

Besides, unresolved issues of last year's summer war in Lebanon, and long-pending question of the occupation of Syrian Golan add to a sense of frustration and desperation, he said, warning that all these issues have potential of "exacting an immediate and a long-term impact" on people, potentially contributing more fuel to an already combustible situation.

"It is for this reason that India has consistently urged all concerned to eschew violence and exercise restraint at each of the all-too-frequent instances when violence has broken out, exacerbating sufferings and misery in the region."

The minister emphasised the need for simultaneous progress on remaining issues on Israel-Lebanon and Israel-Syria tracks for a comprehensive settlement of the problems facing the region.

"India has consistently called upon all parties in the region to fully cooperate with the efforts of the international community in this regard.

"We have supported resumption of direct negotiations between leaders of Palestine and Israel and establishment through peaceful negotiations of a sovereign, independent and viable State of Palestine living side by side and in the shadow of peace with State of Israel," Ahamed said, asserting that the conflict in Middle East is essentially political in nature and cannot be resolved by force.

Given the complexity of the situation, the minister emphasised, "unprecedented determination, goodwill and capacity to offer and accept compromises and concessions are needed on all sides."

It is collective duty of the international community to help in creating a favourable environment within which the principals can take forward the negotiations, he told the delegates, pledging that India is prepared to play a supportive role in the collective endeavour to achieve an "just and comprehensive peace" in the Middle East.

Expressing concern over border restrictions, economic sanctions and a restrictive regime imposed by Israel on the Palestinian territories, Ahamed said they have brought the Palestinian economy on verge of collapse.

For India, the minister said, commitment to the Palestinian cause has been a bedrock of its foreign policy since even before its independence.

"India's solidarity with the Palestinian people and its attitude to the Palestinian question was inspired by its own freedom struggle led by Mahatma Gandhi. In the early years of independent India, this policy was consolidated under the leadership of our first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru," Ahamed said.

India recognised the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) as the sole representative of the Palestinian people. In 1988, it recognised Palestinian statehood and in 1996 India opened its Representative Office to the State of Palestine, he said.

"In fact, India's empathy with the Palestinian cause and its friendship with the people of Palestine constitutes an integral and time-tested part of our foreign policy.

"I salute the indomitable spirit of the Palestinian people and reaffirm India's consistent, principled and unwavering support to their cause and their just struggle for a sovereign and independent State of Palestine," he told the delegates. (PTI)

Suspected hostage-taker claimed history of abuse: Report...

NEW YORK, Dec 1: A distraught man, who was arrested for allegedly taking hostages in Democratic Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton's campaign office, had claimed a history of abuse at the hands of a priest who has since been defrocked, according to a media report.

Leeland E Eisenberg, formerly known as Ralph Woodward, had sued the Archdiocese of Boston and Cardinal Bernard Law in 2002 for negligence and infliction of emotional distress, alleging that at a young and vulnerable point in his life he was molested by the Rev. Richard Buntel, ABC television network reported.

Eisenberg, ABC said, claimed in his lawsuit that in or around 1982 or 1983, when he was about 21 years old, he was "homeless and living in abandoned cars in a local junk yard" in Ayer, Massachusetts, at least in part as a result of the death of his mother and a traumatic childhood at the hands of his "violent, alcoholic father."

Eisenberg went to St Catherine's Parish in Westford, where he asked for help. The Rev. Daniel Cronin, who was the senior priest, hired Eisenberg to paint the church in exchange for room and board. Eisenberg was given a cot in boiler room.

But the report said on Cronin's days off, Buntel, also a priest at St Catherine's, would allegedly take Eisenberg out for lunch and drinks. Back at the rectory, Cronin allegedly continued to offer Eisenberg "numerous drinks."

After that, Buntel -- who was later forced to resign as a priest -- "would bring out a box of pornographic material, sit beside the plaintiff" -- Eisenberg -- "on a couch, pull out pornographic pictures and magazines and insist the plaintiff look at pornographic materials," the suit alleged. "Father Buntel would then sexually molest the plaintiff."

Eisenberg claimed the incidents made him suicidal. But ABC said it was unclear how the suit was settled. (PTI)

Pakistan to import 7,46,000 tons wheat in next 3 years.....

ISLAMABAD, Dec 1: Pakistan will import 746,000 tons of wheat during next three years to cater its needs.

Caretaker Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro, who chaired the Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet said here yesterday.

It said that tenders for wheat import have already been floated.

The ECC asked provincial governments of Punjab and Sindh to release additional 3500 tons of wheat per day to flour mills to stabilize supply and price of wheat in country.

Punjab Government would increase its supply from the existing 16000 tons per day to 18000 tons per day while Sindh Government would increase supply from 6500 tons to 8000 tons per day.

Ministry of Interior was asked to check smuggling of wheat to Iran and India. (AGENCIES)

Australia's terrorism laws has "gone too far": Haneef's lawyer

MELBOURNE, Dec 1: Peter Russo, the lawyer for Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef, has said Australia's terrorism laws has "gone too far" and hoped that Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd will go ahead with the investigation into the Bangalore-based physician's case as promised.

Russo also urged Rudd to review the terrorism laws in Australia, in consultation with police and legal experts, The Age reported today.

During the election campaign, Rudd had promised that if voted to power he would probe Haneef's case.

Haneef returned to India in July after Australian prosecutors dropped a charge against him that he had recklessly provided support to a terrorist organisation by giving his mobile phone SIM card to a relative linked to the foiled UK terror plot.

The lawyer said he never understood what Haneef was supposed to have done despite the 1,600 questions put to him over 14 hours of interrogation.

At the National Press Club yesterday, Russo said he had no idea of the sweep and power of Australia's terrorism laws until he answered a call from the sergeant in charge of the watchhouse at Brisbane's police station in July this year.

Russo, who explained how he tried to find out what the Gold Coast doctor Haneef had allegedly done and battled to free him from custody.

Russo said the sergeant introduced him to two detectives and they explained to him about what happened at the Glasgow airport and gave some details of the case.

"He tried to explain to me how that section of the Crimes Act works. It was about that time I started to get a bit concerned about how this was unfolding," Russo said.

Russo said he was then introduced to Haneef, who told him he was a doctor at the Gold Coast Hospital with a wife and new baby.

Normally police tell a suspect what they had allegedly done and what the evidence against them was, Russo said.

He said he soon discovered that the situation was very different in a terrorism case.

Russo said he went along with the police to the magistrate's chambers where the officers sought more time to question Haneef.

"I was told that there was secret material which needed to be presented to the magistrate and that I wasn't allowed to see that because of the sensitive nature of the investigation," Russo said.

Russo said he was then asked to leave the room and when he returned, he was told the order had been granted without him contributing a word.

He said the police were aware that Haneef tried four times to return a call from a British police officer.

Russo said Haneef and his wife were keen to come back to live in Australia.

"Mohamed is fairly resigned to what has happened to him. He bears no ill will about it," he said. (PTI)