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ISSN 1172-4153 | Volume 1 | Issue 15 |

There are fresh questions tonight about whether Police National Headquarters has acted corruptly, after revelations that it quashed a criminal inquiry into a Labour party campaign donor, and has failed to re-open its investigation file on the wealthy Chinese migrant despite damning new evidence.

Despite a Weekend Herald report earlier this month suggesting New Zealand police had travelled to China to inquire aboutYanYongming, aliasYang Liu, Police National Headquarters has now told TGIF Edition that the Herald report was wrong, and there is no investigation.

“There isn’t one,”PNHQ spokesman Jon Neilson told TGIF this afternoon.

It’s a staggering confirmation that police have not lifted a finger to investigate documented evidence that Yan Yongming entered New Zealand using a false passport in the name of Yang Liu, and set up bank accounts here in Liu’s name, operated businesses in Liu’s name and donated thousands of dollars to Labour politicians, in Liu’s name.

On the face of the documents obtained by TGIF, Yan Yongming has broken the Crimes Act, Immigration Act, Citizenship Act and Companies Act in numerous places, punishable by jail terms of up to seven years.

Liu is wanted back in China under his real name, YanYongming, on charges relating to a quarter billion dollar fraud, and an Interpol warrant has been issued for his arrest. Despite this, the only police investigation into the man was sidelined, and the file sent to Headquarters, where still nothing has been done.

The Police National Headquarters admission today that it has not carried out further investigations despite official Chinese records confirming the use of false identities, lends circumstantial weight to claims from within Auckland Police that Headquarters quashed an Asian Crime Unit investigation into alleged moneylaundering and other activities of ‘Yang Liu’, because of the man’s high level political connections.

Liu, as he is known in New Zealand, has been confirmed as a Labour party political donor and good friend of just-retired Labour MP Dover Samuels, who lobbied heavily on Liu’s behalf to obtain NZ citizenship for him. It’s now also been confirmed that Liu is a friend of former Internal Affairs Minister Rick Barker, and that a former Liu associate’s brother worked in the office of Associate Immigration Minister Shane Jones when the Labour MP was twice required to make a ruling on Liu’s immigration status.

Liu was given a New Zealand passport in August at a fast-tracked special ceremony at parliament, after Shane Jones went against the advice of officials who’d discovered his false identities and criminal history, and who had recommended his

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Police HQ implicated in Yang Liu cover-up

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citizenship should be declined.

Kiwiblog author, and commentator for the National Business Review, David Farrar, rating the Liu case as “an A- scandal”, has called in today’s NBR for the new National Government to announce an independent inquiry into the affair, given the involvement of three senior Labour politicians, and allegations of bribery and corruption.

Meanwhile, both the Internal Affairs Department and NZ Immigration Service also appear to be dragging their feet on releasing further information to TGIF Edition, despite Official Information Act requests filed under urgency three weeks ago.

on the

INSIDE

WIND OF CHANGE Maori hopes Page 2

RELATED STORIES: “Gotcha”, TGIF Edition 24 October 2008 “Passport scandal”, TGIF Edition 17 October 2008

CRISIS TALKS Obama missing Page 8

Key to success:

Prime Minister-designate John Key has wrapped up his first week on the job looking increasingly like he’ll have his grand coalition nailed down by Sunday – thanks to avoiding mention of contentious policy disagreements in cross-party talks.

Some key sticking points between National and its confidence and supply partners look likely to be pushed off the agenda with agreements to reviews/further work or for support on only the first reading of a bill.

FULL STORY: Page 3

Don’t mention the ‘p’ word

UNSAVED WHALES Subs win Page 10

HAUNTED OFFICE Ricky Gervais Ross Setford/NZPA

Page 13

Suspect cleared before ‘investigation’ complete

By Ian Wishart

The Immigration Service gave a briefing to its Minister clearing a Muslim immigrant of terrorism links, despite failing to call in an interpreter to check documents, and even though a police investigation

had not been completed.

The latest immigration scandal relates to Pakistani migrant worker Jameel ur Rehman, who featured in an Investigate magazine cover story in October last year.

Rehman, and his cousin Muhammad Anwar, were members of Pakistani terror group Lashkar e Taiba,

an affiliate of Osama bin Laden’s al Qa’ida responsible for a wave of attacks across Pakistan.

Investigate discovered this because it had letters written by and to the men, in Pakistan’s Urdu language,discussing their attendance at guerrilla training camps before coming to New Zealand,and suggesting

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that local Pakistanis could be recruited to the cause here. Investigate also had DVD video footage of one of the men’s homes back in Pakistan, which featured Lashkar e Taiba recruitment posters on the walls.

Despite the documentary evidence in the article, Continue reading

NEW ZEALAND

off BEAT

14 November 2008

Smacking referendum – the spin begins

172 grandchildren gather for funeral SALFORD, England, Nov. 14 (UPI) – The funeral of Maggie Ward in Salford, England, drew a sizeable crowd – including her 172 grandchildren – the family said.

It was the first time all 172 – ranging in age from 11 to 51 – had gathered together in one place. Family members said Ward’s funeral yesterday was also attended by the 12 surviving children of Ward’s original brood of 15, as well as her 36 great grandchildren and 18 great-great grandchildren, The Daily Mail reported this morning.

“She would never forget a birthday and got everyone a present at Christmas,” Ward’s daughter, Anne Hudson, said of her mother, who died at 87. “She bought presents all year round – she would go to markets to get gifts so she could afford something for everyone.

“She was tough but she had to be to keep us all in line. She was very proud of her family.”

Dad forces boys to apologize for theft GERING, Nebraska, Nov. 14 (UPI) – The father of two brothers, ages 12 and 15, accused of shoplifting from a Gering, Neb., Dollar General store said he ordered them to publicly apologize.

Cole Russell, 15, and his brother Kip, 12, spent an hour Thursday standing outside the store with bright orange signs outlining their alleged behaviour and were due to spend another hour outside the store today, the Scottsbluff Star-Herald reported today.

The elder brother is due in court Dec. 5 on shoplifting charges after he allegedly entered the store and hid a small axe inside his coat while Kip waited outside.

Merle Russell, the boys’ father, said Kip was punished alongside Cole for not attempting to stop the crime.

“I’m not light when it comes to discipline,’’ Russell said. “I won’t tolerate a thief, and hopefully this will teach them that they need to make the right choices. When you steal, it takes money away from everybody.’’

WOMAN TRAPPED IN WOMAN’S BODY? Los Angeles, Nov. 14 (DPA) – The transgender American ‘man’ who last year became the first shemale to have a baby is pregnant again, he revealed today to ABC News.

Thomas Beatie, 34, switched genders in 2002, but did not remove his female reproductive organs. He first became pregnant in 2007 after he stopped taking male hormones and his wife Nancy artificially inseminated him with sperm they bought on the internet. They used a syringe they bought at a pet store.

Beattie gave birth to Susan in June 2008, sparking a storm of interest around the world.

He told ABC News correspondent Barbara Walters that after the birth, he stayed off male hormones so he could have another baby, despite receiving threats and hate messages. “We are a man, woman and child,” he said. “It’s ironic that we are so different but yet, we’re just a family, just the same as anyone else.”

Cop’s 700km/h rush-hour commute PETERBOROUGH, England, Nov. 14 (UPI) – A British police officer is now commuting to his job in Peterborough, England, from a villa in Spain.

Administrators agreed to accommodate Inspector Chip Walker’s new lifestyle, The Daily Mail reports. He was reassigned to supervise the lockup at a police station in Peterborough and now works two weeks on and two weeks off.

Flying to and from Spain once a month costs him about 2,000 pounds ($3,000) a year, Walker said. But he expects the lower cost of living to make up for the travel costs.

During his two weeks on duty, Walker stays with a daughter near Peterborough while his wife and cat continue to enjoy the sun in southern Spain. The couple own a three-bedroom villa in Mazarron, a town on the coast near Andalusia.

Walker said that he is careful to put his time in. He travels a day before his first shift in case of flight delays, the newspaper reported.

Some critical – or envious – colleagues say that Walker won’t have the knowledge of the local scene necessary for good policing and that he is not available for a quick response in emergencies.

Wellington, Nov 14 – The Green Party and Barnados have welcomed a survey which shows most people support law changes that give children the same protection from assault as adults.

The Office of the Children’s Commissioner today released the results of the survey which concluded that 43 percent of those surveyed who knew of the law change supported it.

“Only 28 percent were opposed to the law change.

The remainder were neutral,”Commissioner Cindy Kiro said.

The survey is part of efforts to judge public opinion in the lead-up to a referendum taking place in August next year on the 18-month-old law, which removed the defence of reasonable force for disciplining a child.

It was a Green Party initiative, driven by MP Sue Bradford, and became known as the law that bans smacking.

Dr Kiro said more than 80 percent of adults

surveyed gave a positive response to the question: Should children be entitled to the same protection from assault as adults?

The survey presents a different picture to the images pushed by opponents to changes to the Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Act 2007, she said.

Dr Kiro said attitudes towards child discipline had changed since the office first surveyed people in 1993.

Then 87 percent of survey respondents thought there were times when it was all right to use physical punishment with children.

This year’s survey showed that had reduced to 58 percent of respondents.

Ms Bradford said the survey put paid to “some of the myths”about lack of public support for the law change.

“It is fantastic that so many people now understand the inherent unfairness of that original law,”

she said.

“Most welcome of all are figures showing the huge extent to which attitudes to the physical punishment of children have changed since 1993.

Ms Bradford said there should have been an immediate public information campaign after the bill was passed to help people understand what it did.

Barnados chief executive Murray Eldridge said the survey confirmed the law was working well.

“Parents are obviously thinking more clearly about the law change, and are refocusing on the effect on children of even low level violence, rather than the perceived right to apply physical discipline.”

Mr Eldridge urged the new government to put resources into a public information programme to urge parents to use alternative methods of discipline.

Lobby group Family First NZ said the survey showed nothing new.

It said only 20 percent of those surveyed disagreed with smacking in certain circumstances.

“This is consistent with all other polls done throughout the year including research commissioned by Family First – that there is an 80 percent opposition to the anti-smacking law because most people know that smacking for the purpose of correction is not child abuse,”Family First New Zealand national director Bob McCoskrie said.

The 43 percent support for the law change would include a large number of people who are optimistic about the police discretion clause introduced at the 11th hour, he said.

However, Family First was concerned that only 80 percent said that children should be protected from assault.

“This figure should be 100 percent. But the Children’s Commissioner has simply caused confusion by misrepresenting the effect of the law and the difference between assault and a light smack.

“This is yet more wasted government funding on information that has told us nothing new, done by an office trying to justify its existence.”

Family First was calling for the Families Commission and Children’s Commission to be replaced by a Minister of Families in Cabinet.

– NZPA

Iwi leaders: New era in Maori-Crown relations

By Maggie Tait of NZPA

Wellington, Nov 14 – Prime Minister-elect John Key has promised iwi an ongoing working relationship which they have welcomed as a new era for Maori-Crown relations.

Mr Key also committed to continuing to attend Waitangi Day events at Te Tii marae which outgoing Prime Minister Helen Clark avoided, having been jostled and upset there in the past.

This morning he met Tuku Morgan from Tainui, Sonny Tau from Tai Tokerau, Timi Te Heuheu and Tumanako Wereta from Tuwharetoa,Archie Taiaroa from Whanganui, Api Mahuika from Ngati Porou and Mark Solomon from Ngai Tahu.

Speaking afterwards Mr Morgan told reporters the key issue discussed was preserving and protecting Treaty claims.They supported National’s inclusive approach to working with the Maori Party but made it clear they represented the Treaty partner with the Crown.

Mr Key agreed to ongoing sessions and a working relationship.

“We’ve not had that cohesive approach prior to this time so as we usher in a new era of government in this country Maori also look forward to a new kind of relationship and an opportunity to grow the relationship in an honest and committed way,”Mr Morgan said.

“In a nutshell I leave this place with a smile on my face, with an expectation that there will be an honest and frank approach by this Government to deal with Maori issues going forward.”

He believed Mr Key would make a fine Prime Minister.

“He’s young, he’s energetic, he’s a passionate New Zealander. The qualities that require him to hold

Ross Setford/NZPA

the highest office in the land will hold him in good stead going forward.”

Mr Key said the leaders were very keen to engage and have a strong relationship. Talks canvassed fisheries, aquaculture, forestry, water issues,Treaty issues, and the foreshore and seabed legislation.

He repeated a commitment that Ngati Porou’s foreshore and seabed deal would not be affected.

Mr Key said Labour over time had locked out more people than it included and he would engage more.

The leaders presented Mr Key with a carved box containing a pounamu stone (greenstone) which Mr Morgan said was a symbol of good faith.

“An expectation on behalf of iwi that iwi will be treated in an honest and comprehensive way.”

Mr Key said it represented love, faith and hope: “I might need all three”.

The meeting was held after Mr Key suggested leaders would be welcome and they followed up with a request.

NEW ZEALAND

14 November 2008 FROM FRONT PAGE

United Future leader, and the party’s sole MP, Peter Dunne has concluded negotiations with National and agreed to a deal.

The Maori Party and ACT deals are works in progress, with the latter proving to be more tricky than expected with discussions over policy dragging out.

Whatever happens United Future and ACT have committed to confidence and supply meaning National can govern.

All three minor parties are likely to be given ministerial positions outside of Cabinet.

Mr Key told reporters progress on the Maori Party agreement was looking“very, very good”and suggested the controversial Maori seats issue could be contained in a review of constitutional issues.

The agreement with ACT was “going back and forth”but was progressing.

ACT want moves on climate change – it wants New Zealand to pull out of the Kyoto Protocol and dump the Emissions Trading Scheme; law and order and government spending.

“In all three cases, and with all of the policy agreements we are reaching with smaller parties, they are largely a commitment to carry out work or to further investigations, or to look at potential solutions rather than hard core commitments that we will absolutely back something right through to a third reading, it’s more in that framework, nothing’s terribly insurmountable.”

As far as the Maori Party went, Mr Key said the parties were working toward“a win-win”and“neutral”position on the Maori seats. National’s policy has been to scrap the seats while the Maori Party want to retain them and increase protection with entrenchment.

“That (the seats) is a major constitutional issue,simply to be arguing that would be some sort of negotiat-

ing chip, I never thought... should be taken seriously.”

Mr Key said talks with the Maori Party talks were eased by National’s decisive win.

“I think it would be much more difficult and I acknowledge that if they were having to go to their membership and decide between Labour and National.”

The Maori Party are conducting 40 hui seeking input before agreeing to a deal.

Mr Key said he wanted to show over the coming three years he could work with the Maori Party but knew that did not mean automatic support in 2011.

“It will simply mean that they genuinely are an independent voice for Maori that can oscillate between National or Labour.”

Mr Key said he would lead a minority government which would need to negotiate on every piece of legislation.

He said National and United Future would sit in the centre with five votes to the left and the same number to the right to call on.

“If we can’t pass legislation either with our votes to the right or our votes to the left probably we shouldn’t pass it.”

He would also work on a relationship with the Greens. Green co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons called on election night to say the party would work constructively with National where it could. There would be no formal arrangement.

“Clearly there are areas where they are interested and we will talk to them.”

Mr Key hoped to announce deals with parties on Sunday, reveal his Cabinet line-up on Monday with the swearing in ceremony on Wednesday.

He would be away for about six days after that and take over his Beehive office on his return.

– NZPA Back to the front page

No open season on bureaucrats

By Grant Fleming of NZPA

Wellington, Nov 14 – Prime Minister-elect John Key says his incoming government will not slash the number of public servants despite a new survey showing there are 9000 more than National’s proposed cap.

The State Services Commission’s Human Resource Capability Survey, released today, shows public servant numbers increased by 3.6 percent in the year to June 30, 2008 – the smallest rise in the past eight years.

But the survey put the total number of public servants at 45,934 – 9000 more than the level at which National has promised to cap the public service.

Mr Key campaigned on a platform of capping bureaucrat numbers, the party saying growth in staff numbers in back office areas like policy advice was out of control.

His government-in-waiting also faces a bleak set of books with reduced economic growth as a result of the global downturn likely to send the government accounts spiralling further into the red.

But today he said the differential between the two numbers did not mean National would embark on a slash and burn exercise to reach the lower figure.

National had taken its 36,000 figure from a different measure – the quarterly employment survey and it was likely the two surveys categorised jobs differently.

He believed the figure National used did not include some workers delivering front-line services.

Mr Key said the point of National’s policy was to cap the number of public servants – whatever that was – at its current level.

“Whatever the starting point is, it’s an apples for apples comparison,”he told reporters.

“The point is it’s not rising from the starting point.”

A survey finding that 200 public servants were in “unknown”occupation categories underscored why National’s intended“line-by-line”review of spending was necessary, he said.

State Services Commissioner Iain Rennie today

said most of the past year’s growth was in frontline jobs.

That included staff for the new Spring Hill and Otago Regional Prisons, to administer KiwiSaver and to fill front-line immigration positions due to increased volumes.

He said public sector growth between 2003 and 2008 was roughly in proportion to private sector growth.

The survey found the median public servant salary was $51,000, while the average was $59,532 – about 30 percent higher than the average wage.

The average salary rose by 5.1 percent in the past year.

The percentage of Maori public servants declined slightly over the year from 16.8 to 16.7 percent.

Public Service Association (PSA) national secretary Brenda Pilott said the survey showed 13 of 36 departments had either shrunk or stayed the same in the past year.

The numbers showed the public service was exercising restraint.

She said the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) had consistently ranked New Zealand’s public service as below average size among developed countries. Ms Pilott said she was encouraged by a meeting between union leaders and Mr Key yesterday and the PSA would continue to work with him to avoid deep job cuts.

– NZPA

Public key to catching truancy sex fiend

Wellington, Nov 14 – Police say there has been a strong response from the public to calls for information on a man who posed as a truancy officer to pick up and then sexually abuse a teenage girl in West Auckland on Tuesday.

The man, aged about 40, pulled alongside the girl on Hobsonville Rd around lunchtime and told her he had to drive her home to ensure she wasn’t wagging school.

At her house he waited until she opened the door before attacking her.

Police said the girl was not raped but was sexually violated during what was considered a serious attack.

Detective Sergeant Steve Salton, of Henderson police, said today about 20 people had called or visited the police station to offer information and police were piecing their stories together.

He said they had also received“a lot”of information which could not be released through the media at this point.

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The man was described as a fat or stocky Pacific Islander, aged about 40, about 165cm tall with very short hair.

“He’s quite a stocky fellow with not much of a neck. One witness described him as a prop,” Mr Salton said.

“His hair was greying, and he was wearing a light blue long-sleeved dress shirt.”

The girl told police the car was a white, oldermodel station wagon and had a light grey interior with a Collins diary stuffed down the side of the front seat.

The girl left her navy blue school backpack and a red Ericsson cellphone in the car.

Mr Salton said there had been no further reports of the man approaching anyone in the area.

Meanwhile,Auckland police searching for a man who tried to abduct two young girls in Grey Lynn last weekend were also making progress thanks to information provided by the public.

The man grabbed a 13-year-old and a 10-yearold girl in separate incidents. Both times the girls screamed and the man ran off.

Police said, after help from the public, they could now release a description of the Maori or Pacific Island man.

He was of medium to solid build, about 1.7m to 1.8m tall, with wavy or bushy medium-length dark hair and possibly some facial hair.

Police said he was in his late teens to mid 20s and was wearing a brown zip-up jacket with white stripes down each arm, possibly with a hood. His trousers were dark and his shoes were white and may have been sports shoes.

The man may have been loitering near Grey Lynn Park and surrounding streets before the attacks and someone may have seen him running through Grey Lynn Park after the attacks.

Anyone with any information should call Avondale police.

– NZPA

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NEW ZEALAND

FROM FRONT PAGE

the Labour Government chose to downplay the issue last year, and no action appears to have been taken.

Now, a formerly “restricted” report released under the Official Information Act reveals the Immigration Service bending over backwards to clear the men of all allegations, even though a police investigation had not even commenced at that stage.

The report was for the attention of then Immigration Minister David Cunliffe and says: “ The DVD has been shown to the DoL (Immigration) Intelligence Manager and his assessment of the DVD was the most inflammatory thing in the DVD were depictions on the interior wall of a house of men carrying small arms weapons. In itself, that does not indicate anything untoward,” says the report.

The “small arms weapons” pictured included machine guns and rocket launchers, alongside the Lashkar e Taiba logo. Evidently the NZIS intelligence unit didn’t realise what it was looking at, or what the terror group’s logo was.

14 November 2008 It also appears the Immigration Service ‘intelligence’ unit had failed to get the DVD translated.

The video features family members talking about how Jameel ur Rehman and Muhammad Anwar had placed the recruitment posters for the terror organisation on the walls of the house.

Likewise, six letters in Urdu clearly document Rehman and Anwar’s involvement with Lashkar e Taiba and their study in hardline Islamic schools for young men – madrassas.

The Immigration Service made no attempt to get those documents translated.

Instead, the report to Cunliffe reveals, Immigration Service decided to extend Rehman’s work permit despite the allegations of terror links, because it regarded the information as“an unsubstantiated claim from a former employer”.

The report to Cunliffe admits Immigration made a serious security error:“A New Zealand Police Clearance was not requested, and should have been.”

The report shows both Immigration and Labour were in damage control mode. In the first instance,

it admitted that Lashkar e Taiba “members are recruited through extremist madrassas (religious schools) in Pakistan.The group is not connected to any political parties and is one of the three largest and best trained groups…The group uses assault rifles, light and heavy machine guns, mortars and explosives, and rocket propelled grenades…has been responsible for bomb attacks and gun battles…particularly operations against…civilian targets. The group also uses suicide bombers. In August 2003, 55 people were killed in Mumbai bomb blasts…more recently the group killed 62 people and injured 210 in a coordinated bomb attack in New Delhi…”

That’s from the Immigration Service briefing to their minister.Yet despite the magazine publishing letters that NZIS failed to translate, the report to Cunliffe concludes:“The allegations in the Investigate magazine are not supported from information from SIS or the New Zealand Police.”

Yet nowhere in the NZIS file does it show the service was ever aware of the content of the letters,

and information allegedly provided by the security services has been blanked out.

However, TGIF Edition has now learnt that an Official Information request to Police by the men’s former employer resulted in a letter on May 7 this year stating: “The investigation by the NZ Police into this matter is not yet complete,and it is not possible to give a definite time frame for its completion.Until the investigation is complete it is not possible to assess what might be appropriate to report to Ministers.Therefore, the information you have requested does not yet exist”.

If Police didn’t have enough information in May 2008 to work out whether the migrants are a security threat, why was the Immigration Service telling their Minister six months earlier that the men had been cleared?

The migrants’ former employer alleges a prominent Labour MP went into bat on behalf of the two terror group members. TGIF Edition has lodged fresh OIA requests on the case.

Back to the front page

NZ dollar rises from lows but volatility to continue Wellington, Nov 14 – The New Zealand dollar surged higher today along with battered global equity markets but moves in offshore markets will continue to dictate direction.

The NZ dollar tested multi-year lows on Thursday night, moving in a band between US56.30c and US55.10c.

At the bottom of the range, touched around 7am, it was near its lowest level since April 2003.The only time it has been lower in that period was towards the end of last month.

During the domestic session the NZ dollar rose above the US57c figure when a surge in the US share market at the end of its session caused short covering and comment about reduced risk aversion.

By 5pm the NZ dollar was US56.65c, up from US56.15c at 5pm yesterday.

The Australian dollar was almost two US cents

firmer during its session on the back of the strong rally on Wall Street.

But the euphoria is expected to be short lived as US retail sales data for October,due out tonight,reminds financial markets about the tanking US economy.

Also news will flow from the meeting of leaders of G20 nations in Washington at the weekend.

Against the surging Australian dollar, the kiwi fell to A85.70c at 5pm from A87.45c yesterday.

The NZ dollar also dropped to near 52.40 yen, its lowest level against the Japanese currency in nearly seven years, apart from the period in late October.

But it was 54.99 yen by 5pm.

The NZ dollar was also buying 0.4430 euro at 5pm, down from 0.4495.

The trade weighted index was down to 57.53 at 5pm from 57.58.

– NZPA

EPS43100

Kiwi man-drought Wellington – Single women have a problem finding a husband or partner in New Zealand – they outnumber men.

There are 35,000 more women in the prime marrying age group of 20 to 45, according to Statistics New Zealand and the situation is so bad that a 32year-old Kiwi woman has as much chance of finding a partner her age as an 82-year-old.

“The reason being the 82-year-old men are dead and the 32-year-old men aren’t there,” according to international demographer Bernard Salt, who has studied what he calls the“man drought”in New Zealand and Australia.

“Young Kiwis in their mid to late-20s leave the country, but it’s mostly the women who come back,” he said, noting that New Zealand suffered the same male shortage as Mexico.

“While Mexican men of that age are in America, Kiwi men are in Australia, London, Dubai,” Salt said.

It has long been the custom of young New Zealanders of both sexes to leave their isolated South Pacific homeland for what they call“OE”(overseas experience).

They usually start in neighbouring Australia and then head for Britain, New Zealand’s former Mother Country, which sent its first migrant settlers to New Zealand in the mid-19th century to establish the colony.

Salt said research indicated that men, eager “to test their mettle in a bigger market,”were more likely to stay in the country they went to than women, who tended to return home after a few years to settle down and raise a family.

A study in 2006 showed that there were one-third more New Zealand women graduates aged between 25 and 30 than similarly qualified men.

Statistics New Zealand figures show that there are 96,078 more women in New Zealand than men.

But Salt said women could find a man, if they knew where to look – not in the cities, but in the countryside where young farmers tend to stay on their land instead of wandering overseas.

On the Kapiti Coast, 50 kilometres north of the capital Wellington, there are only 89 men for every 100 women in the 15-39 age group.

But in lesser-populated South Island areas like Southland and the Mackenzie country, in neighbouring Otago province, there are plenty of young men and a shortage of marriageable women, Salt said.

He predicted that single women would soon start “geography dating,” or using the internet to find “man dams”– places with more available men.

Salt said this “interactive targeting” of male hotspots could change intra-national migration flows within a decade.

It’s not just a matter of love and marriage. Business analysts point out that the gender imbalance has serious implications for the economy.

They say too many young New Zealanders are now spending their peak earning and tax-paying years working overseas and providing little economic return to their native land for the money the state spent to educate and train them.

Many do not return until close to retirement and are then paid a state pension to which they have made little contribution.

Tourism New Zealand – always on the look out for chances to boost the flow of visitors who are so important to the economy – has launched a new marketing campaign aimed at wooing young British men with the enticement of an abundance of desirable and man-hungry Kiwi women.

Single male tourists thinking of a short holiday in New Zealand may want to rethink their plans and consider staying a bit longer, if they are in the market for a relationship, a spokeswoman said.

– DPA

EDITORIAL

14 November 2008

Editorial

Letters

A long time in politics Traditionally, getting a Helen Clark government bedded in has taken weeks. Surprisingly, getting one out has been easy, and getting it replaced has been a breeze.

Just a week ago, this newspaper was predicting a National landslide on the basis that the polls had overestimated left wing support. Sure, its easy to tell a pollster you’ll vote Labour or Green. It’s a different matter feeling motivated to turn up and tick the box on the day.

History already shows that while a near record number of people enrolled, the number who voted was sharply down on previous elections.When the writing’s on the wall in big letters, even Green supporters can read it.And they did.

Confident pollster and TV predictions of a 10 or 11.5% turnout for the Greens evaporated on the night to just six percent. Labour’s “supporters” in South Auckland opted not to vote this time.And it was all over rover from there.

National’s John Key didn’t need to seek the support of the Maori Party – he already had Act and Peter Dunne in the bag for a comfortable majority over the left wing. But Key knew this was his moment in history.Taking on board the sage advice from US President Lyndon B Johnson about which side of the tent to accommodate people, Key and his

Labour were only minutes out of office and already trying to tell the Maori Party what they could and couldn’t do advisors quickly sussed out that giving the Maori Party an opportunity to deliver for their supporters might be a smart move for the sake of everyone.

Everyone except Labour that is. Still suffering from that born-to-rule arrogance we all know and love, Labour were only minutes out of office and already trying to tell the Maori Party what they could and couldn’t do, as if Tariana Turia and Pita Sharples were lapdogs subject to Labour’s whistle.

Turia called it “bloody patronising” – little surprise, given the way Helen Clark forced her to lie down in the back seat of a ministerial limousine in the past on her orders.

So this weekend, John Key is on track to name his cabinet, and I think it’s a safe bet you’ll find Rodney Hide, Heather Roy, Turia, Sharples and Dunne all

given ministerial roles outside cabinet, in exchange for confidence and supply and support.

The fact that Key has wrapped it up in the space of a week is testimony to his horsetrading forex skills, and also the strong deck of cards voters delivered him last weekend.

We needed a clear result, and we got it.

The test for National is to start delivering on some of their smaller promises. Like ending the ban on ordinary lightbulbs. The mercury filled CFL energysaving ecobulbs are a health hazard if they break, and a cumulative health hazard in state houses where the pollution after a few years could require the houses to be demolished.

There’s a very good case for National to launch an urgent investigation into the health risks of CFLs and actually take them off the market if the results confirm those of major American studies that show serious toxic effects in the long term.

Getting to the bottom of theYang Liu affair and other immigration scandals is also a good idea, because it will allow National to impose a fresh start and wipe the slate clean of ongoing Labour scandals.

There are plenty of targets for the new Government’s attention. Let’s see some bullets being fired.

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Comment

FDA must act now on bisphenol A in plastics For years, the federal government has ignored mounting evidence that bisphenol A in plastic drink bottles may be harmful to kids.

Study after study suggested that exposure to the chemical caused serious problems in laboratory animals.Yet the U.S. Food and Drug Administration leaned on research that concluded otherwise, nearly all of which was bought and paid for by the chemical industry.

The FDA’s contempt for American consumers ran so deep, its cosiness with Big Chem became so habit-forming, that the agency’s August report claiming BPA was safe was largely written by the plastics industry and others with the most to gain by suggesting there was nothing to fear.

But even now, the FDA still can do the right thing.

The opening for a change in policy came in a blistering report from a scientific panel late last month charging the FDA with ignoring evidence when it concluded that the chemical was safe. On Oct. 31, the FDA’s Science Board adopted the panel’s recommendations and suggested that FDA scientists reopen their investigation into the chemical.

FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach has vowed a response to the board’s recommendations within 30 days.

But Von Eschenbach needn’t wait even one more day. The FDA should act now to spare young children the risk of exposure to BPA. If he doesn’t act, the lame-duck Congress should.

In a groundbreaking report last year, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporters reviewed 258 scientific studies of BPA. Most of them showed that the chemical is harmful.The studies found that it caused breast cancer, testicular cancer, diabetes, hyperactivity, obesity, low sperm counts, miscarriage and other reproductive failures in lab animals.A small number of studies, nearly all paid for by the chemical industry, found BPA to be safe. These are the studies to which the FDA paid the most attention.

BPA was developed in 1891 as a synthetic form of estrogen, but it didn’t come into widespread use until the 1950s, when it began to be used to make polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins to line food and beverage cans. BPA can be found in an array of products, ranging from dental sealants to sippy cups for small children.

It also can be found in the urine of 93 percent of Americans. Children, especially infants, are most

at risk, because they are unable to metabolize and excrete the chemical as quickly as older children or adults. The fear is that prolonged exposure to what is essentially a sex hormone could cause lifelong harm.

“You cannot tell parents with a straight face that BPA is safe,” said Sonya Lunder, a senior analyst with the advocacy group, Environmental Working Group.

Based on the weight of independent research, the government should: Ban the use of metal containers for infant formula or food products clearly intended for young children until a liner that doesn’t use BPA can be developed. Already, some liquid formulas are sold in plastic containers, which eliminates BPA contamination.

Ban BPA from polycarbonate bottles and tableware intended for small children.

Require the food and beverage industry to find an alternative to BPA epoxy liners in cans _ and give manufacturers a firm timetable. This process may take time, because industry spokesmen say there is no good alternative at the moment. Can liners help prevent exposing food to bacteria, so it’s imperative to get this right, but there is no reason that the FDA cannot establish a reasonable time frame for compliance.

Inform the public in a public service campaign about the risks of BPA. Label products that contain it.“The system is running the risk of losing credibility with the public unless we take some definitive action that the public can understand,”Larry Sasich, an assistant professor at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, said during the Science Board’s meeting Oct. 31. He is the board’s consumer representative.

Canadian health officials have been far quicker to address concerns about BPA than their American counterparts. Canada is set ban the chemical in plastic baby bottles and reduce exposure in canned infant formula.

In this country, the National Institutes of Health National Toxicology Program recently expressed “some concern”over the effects of the chemical on a baby’s brain and reproductive systems.And a growing number of businesses have moved to pull plastic products containing BPA off the shelf.

The Bush administration long ago lost all shame on regulatory matters, and we have little faith that it will get religion now. It will likely be left to a new FDA commissioner and a new Congress to take the common sense steps that should have been taken years ago to keep kids safe.

There is no reason to wait any longer.

– Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

-Here’s some news: Obama won Recently, Radio N.Z. uncharacteristically featured a straight-talking American named Dr. David Yeagley of Oklahoma City on his views about the electing of Barack Obama to the U.S. Presidency. Only they didn’t use this man’s usual name; they referred to him as Bad Eagle, because he has the website www.badeagle.com and is a direct descendant of some Indian warrior. So in a surprisingly balanced item (for RNZ) there was a short Presidential Election discussion with this man and two others, of varied political perspectives.

What I heard from Yeagley seemed very much to echo what many of us believe is the situation in N.Z. also, so I looked up that URL and came across the following, which is part of his current on-site discussion about the above election. I hope you find it as refreshingly frank and informed as I have done. Here it is : “If Obama wins, it is because of young people, women, inexperience, and ignorance. It is because of the deceptive promise of wealth without labour – being given someone else’s wealth, and because, collectively, people are generally weak. It is because of the lack of courage, and the resultant insecurity. It is also because of greed. The poor are never exempt from greed.

“If Obama wins, it is because of decades of Communist ideology being established in the Democrat Party, permeating the American educational system, gradual brain-washing on an unprecedented scale in America, and because the masses always choose the easiest path.

The “people” is always an infant, always dependent, and vulnerable, often victimized by those in power.

“If Obama wins, it is because white Communist liberals have shoved race and sex in the face, in the bed, and in the lives of young people for the last 50 years.

Obama is the result. A black, foreign, Communist leader is the epitome of alien focus which the Oedipal white liberal Communists have been working to bring about for half a century. They have triumphed. They wanted America to be a Third World country, so they – the elite Communist cartel, could be the leaders. America has been raped.

“If Obama wins, it is because people feel sorry for the poor miserable Negro, and think that voting for one would represent the healing of the human Collective Conscious.

All would be well, finally. They thought this cultural rape was deserved, that America needed to be humbled, and the world would be a better place.

“If Obama wins, it is because most people are weak, and they like feeling they’ve been wronged. This gives them, they think, an instant moral advantage. “I’ve been wronged!” It is immediate value, without effort. “I’ve been wronged!” is the Communist message to each individual.

“I deserve more! You’ve oppressed me!” This appeals to the imagination, the ego, the spirit of rebellion, self-justification, and even aspiration. But, in ignorance, the people know not what Communism really is, how it really works, and what its results actually are.

“If Obama wins, it is because the American people can’t imagine Obama could be so bad, or that he could cause anything bad to happen. In ignorance, they believe the good feeling he generates with mere words. They are willing to be swooned by the black foreigner. They are willing to be lead by fancy, or anything but the American Constitution, that hated dead letter of dead white men.

The Democrats have been pushing for a Constitutional Convention for years, and recently. Hillary took the lead.

It’s all about a one world “Communist” government. They have to “revise” the Constitution to take America there.

This is the “change” Obama preaches.

“If Obama wins, it is because those who want world power created him, and want to use him to achieve their ends. He is their willing puppet. He is not a leader, but a follower, and a faithful one. (I shudder at the thought--if he steps out of line, how quickly they will remove him.)

He has shown no evidence of conscience thus far, but, he may find himself, he may find his true self, under world pressure.

“If Obama wins, it is because American media has become propaganda, nothing more or other. Protestant capitalism and the work ethic have neglected to mind the store, so to speak. Too busy working, making success, the keepers of the gate allowed the weak to grow up ignorant and misinformed, following after their own inclinations, and subject to the first fancy foreign liar with dark skin. “ (End of quote) Barbara Faithfull, Auckland

ANALYSIS

14 November 2008

In New Zealand, for example, there will be 177 females for every 100 males aged over 80 by 2050.

The implications of this are profound as older women are more likely to be widowed, have less work experience and less access to resources

Old age tension

By Peter Curson

The world is currently undergoing a demographic revolution of historic proportions.At no time in our previous history have there been so many old people around. In many countries old people now outnumber young people, a state of affairs that has never before existed in human history.Today, the world’s population includes more than 600 million people aged over 65, and by 2030 there will be at least one billion. Globally, old people are increasing at an annual rate almost twice that of the population as a whole and the fastest growing group are the oldest old, those aged over 80. By 2050 more than 11% of the world’s population or 1 billion people will be aged over 70 including 21% of Europe’s population and 15.4% in North America.The population of developed countries and many developing ones are ageing rapidly. As recently as 1950 no country in the world had a median age greater than 36. By 2050 27 countries will have a median age of 50 or more. Most will be in Europe but there will also be a number of Asian-Pacific countries.This represents a real global challenge. By 2050, the age composition of nearly every country will have moved to a situation where the old outnumber the young. Some countries such as Japan are ageing at an incredible rate. Shortly after World War II only 5% of the Japanese population were aged over 65, well below that of Britain, France and the USA.Today the figure is 20% and by 2030 it will be 30%.The main reason for this demographic revolution has been falling fertility. Many developed countries are now either close to or below the replacement level of 2.2 children per family.

But what defines old age? Although we tend to generally classify all those aged over 60 or 65 as old, there is no general agreement as to what constitutes a definition of old age. The UN has no standard definition, and most countries continue to use those aged 60+ or 65+ as their benchmark,With respect to the oldest old there is even less agreement, with countries variously describing them as being aged 70+, 75+, 80+ or 85+. This raises the question as to whether being over 60 or 65 can today be classified as ‘old’, when life expectancy in many developed countries is over 80 years and many 60+’s remain healthy, active and in the workforce with a life expectancy of 20 years or more. Can what was deemed ‘old’100 or so years ago when aged pensions were first introduced, be considered as‘old’today?

Arguably not, and possibly yesterday’s ‘old’ is now today’s ‘middle age’with only those aged over 75 or 80 considered ‘old’. Whatever definition we adopt there seems little doubt that many societies are ageing rapidly and that the increasing numbers of old people will have sweeping social, economic and political consequences. Every aspect of our society will be affected including our work, healthcare, pensions, public services, housing, education

and even perhaps our Security. Aging populations mean that we are rapidly approaching a situation where an increasing number of health and pension beneficiaries are supported by a relatively smaller number of working age people. This may produce heavier tax demands on working age adults in order to maintain a steady flow of benefits to older groups. Many developed countries have faced this dilemma by importing large numbers of young migrant labourers but the ageing of many parts of the world and the currently precarious economic situation may truncate such measures. Perhaps age pensions should be withheld until about age 70 or 75 given the substantial changes in life expectancy?

Consider China. By 2030 roughly 16% of the population will be aged over 65 and it will be the first country to significantly age without being in an advanced state. But it will be the growth of the oldest old that may well be the most significant demographic trend.The number of people in China aged over 70 will increase five-fold over the next 30-40 years. By 2050 there will be approximately 350 million Chinese aged over 65 and 240 million Chinese aged over 70 or 17% of the total population.

The walking stick and wheelchair industries are in for a bonanza! Yet this will create many problems about the support and care of the elderly most of whom will be forced to rely on state pensions.Traditionally, many Asian-Pacific societies relied on the extended family network to look after the elderly, but increasing migration, urbanisation and family fragmentation is rapidly eroding this. In the next few years possibly 25% of older Chinese will have no living son to rely on for support? The implications for social and economic security are profound.

Even in our own society, family support is crucial in the case of the oldest old whose physical and health needs are greater. Australia and New Zealand are also ageing rapidly. In Australia within 35 years there will be at least 6.5 million people aged over 65, including 1 million over 85. New Zealand, which is ageing at a slightly slower rate, will still have more than 1.2 million aged over 65, or 22% of the total population within 30 years.While there are marked differences between regions, both Australia and New Zealand will have their distinctive costa geriatrica where suburbs emerge where the old vastly out number all other groups. One already sees this in parts of Australia such as Queenscliffe in Victoria and Victor Harbour in South Australia, where people aged over 65 already comprise 1/3 of the total population.

Families are also changing. Falling fertility and longer life are rapidly restructuring our family’s composition. Now we are seeing many more multigenerational families, what have come to be called ‘beanpole families’ where great grandparents, grandparents, parents, great grandchildren and grandchildren intermingle? Absent are the many siblings, uncles, aunts, nephews and nieces of yes-

teryear. It is not only families that will change but also our shopping areas. In this new demographic world it will be the old who command the most disposable resources and our High Streets will have to recognise this and change to accommodate the grey market rather than just cater for the young.

The increasing female share of our older population is also notable.In most countries older women greatly outnumber older men. In New Zealand, for example, there will be 177 females for every 100 males aged over 80 by 2050.The implications of this are profound as older women are more likely to be widowed, have less work experience and less access to resources.

Should we be concerned about the advent of a middle-aged or geriatric world? Is there any substance in recent claims that ageing populations constitute a greater threat than climate change? Well, global

ageing offers both challenges and opportunities. It is a rich resource for present and future generations and it need not necessarily be associated with retirement from work, increasing dependency, financial struggle, ill-health and social and spatial exclusion.

Rather we need to see the pluses in ageing and need to embrace things like older work forces and flexible working arrangements, and create an environment which values age, experience, knowledge, wisdom, reliability and creativity. That said, we do need to examine the adequacy of our housing, workplaces, transport and social services for the support of the old and ensure that the principles of fairness, justice and equity apply to all regardless of age.

Peter Curson is Professor in Population & Security, at the Centre for International Security Studies, Faculty of Economics & Business, the University of Sydney. He is also a TGIF Edition subscribe

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ANALYSIS

14 November 2008

Obama could face economic chaos

By Shaun Waterman

WASHINGTON – As the nascent administration of President Obama moves into transition mode, some of the scariest briefings incoming officials will get will not be about al-Qaida plots or Iranian nukes, but about the ballooning federal budget deficit, which some analysts now say could reach $1 trillion this year and keep on growing.

Projections by two U.S. government audit bodies, the Government Accountability Office and the Congressional Budget Office, show that there’s a pattern of deficits over the next several decades, acting U.S. Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, head of the GAO, told United Press International.

“Absent policy change, a growing imbalance between expected federal spending and tax revenues will mean escalating and ultimately unsustainable federal deficits and debt,”Dodaro said, adding the

problem was driven largely by rapidly increasing healthcare costs as well as changing demographics.

GAO figures show federal government spending rising from about a fifth of U.S.Gross Domestic Product in 2008 to more than a third of it by 2040.

Even in the short term, the incoming administration is likely to face a federal deficit that could balloon as high as $1 trillion this year, Fiscal Year 2009.This would be more than double the figure for just-ended Fiscal Year 2008 – $455 billion or so.

Congressional Budget Office Director Peter Orszag has acknowledged the deficit could rise to $750 billion in 2009, according to the National Journal, but this estimate does not include the costs of a stimulus package, nor does it account for any tax revenue lost to a shrinking economy in a recession.

Any estimates also have to find a way to budget for the $700 billion Wall Street bailout package, formally known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program,

which could recoup some of its costs over time.

The National Journal reported that the first group to claim the 2009 deficit might rise to $1 trillion was the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, or CRFB – a bipartisan Washington advocacy group that seeks to educate the public about budget problems.

President-elect Obama is being handed an immense challenge,which could impact many of his campaign promises,said Leon Panetta,CRFB co-chair and chief of staff to President Clinton. Panetta recalled that Clinton had to drop his plans for middle-class tax cuts in his first year due to fiscal concerns – and he faced deficits of well under $300 billion.

Representatives of the Obama campaign did not return e-mails requesting comment for this story; and – in common with his GOP rival, Sen. John McCain of Arizona – the president-elect generally fudged questions about the impact the federal

budget squeeze would have on his administration’s policy priorities.

Does that mean I can do everything that I’ve called for in this campaign right away? Probably not.I think we’re going to have to phase it in, Obama said in an interview in September for NBC.And a lot of it’s going to depend on what our tax revenues look like.

Dodaro acknowledged that,short term,the threatened meltdown in the global financial system would be at the top of the incoming president’s in-tray.

There are very important immediate issues that need attention as a result of the financial market situation, he said, adding, But once those matters are addressed, the long-term fiscal imbalance of the federal government is an area that policymakers need to turn their attention to.

For the long term, the incoming administration needs to take a broad-based look … at the entitlement programs that are largely driving this situation, particularly in the healthcare area – that’s Medicare and Medicaid – but also Social Security, to make sure they are sustainable, said Dodaro.

Healthcare costs are definitely the principal cost driver to the long-term fiscal condition of the federal government, and it has an impact on the state governments because they share in the costs of the Medicare program, he added.

Unlike Social Security expenditures, healthcare costs keep growing exponentially, largely driven by the increased costs of technology, he said.

As a result, the new administration has to make sure that the (national) debt doesn’t grow disproportionally to the economy, because you have interest payments that you need to make on that debt, which can make the borrowing unsustainable.

Dodaro urged the new president and his staff to jump on these structural issues – and a series of immediate management challenges GAO had identified – right away.

The message to the incoming administration will be to deal with these urgent and time-critical issues ... they’re all very important and need to be dealt with during this prefatory transition period as well as during the early months of the incoming administration, he said.

– UPI

Analysis: NATO-EU military cooperation BERLIN, Nov. 12 – NATO and the European Union need to overcome their political differences and increase cooperation on military matters, according to officials from both organizations.

Both the trans-Atlantic alliance and the EU are in a transition phase in regard to security matters: NATO is debating whether to expand eastward, and in Afghanistan it is embroiled in one of its most difficult military operations to date.The 27-member EU in recent years welcomed in new member states and is debating how its European Security and Defence Policy should look in the future.

Twenty-one of 27 EU nations are also members of NATO, and both organizations are active together in the same theatres of conflict, Jean-Francois Bureau, NATO’s assistant secretary-general for public diplomacy, said Tuesday at an experts’ panel in Berlin.

The EU is training police in Afghanistan, where NATO’s International Security Assistance Force is trying to secure the county. In Kosovo, nearly 90 U.S. police and judicial officials are expected to join the EU’s civilian mission by the end of this year.

“From a NATO perspective, there is a huge need for even more cooperation with the EU on military matters,”Bureau said.

Gen. Henri Bentegeat, chairman of the EU Military Committee, said he expected that both organizations would ramp up cooperation in the coming years, mainly because their actions could be complementary in the field of crisis management and military capabilities.

“The EU could provide its police, judicial and customs experts to missions that NATO is manning with military firepower,”Bentegeat said.

“Then, of course, there are security missions the EU may have to take over because the conflict parties don’t want NATO to intervene,” he said.

“This has happened in Lebanon, where the United Nations manned a security mission after the IsraeliLebanese war of 2006.”

Both French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who holds the current EU presidency, and U.S. President George W. Bush have stated repeatedly that the NATO-EU relationship needs to be enforced.

Brussels for years has discussed increasing its military profile, with some experts calling for an EU army.Yet in Europe, public support for military missions is at an all-time low.

“Most people in Europe don’t see the link of missions in Asia,Africa or the Middle East to their own security,”Bentegeat said.

All over Europe governments are reducing troop numbers and cutting their defence budgets – a development that stands in contrast to the increasing number of security and crisis management missions European nations have had to handle recently.

Moreover, Europe does not have the strategic resources to shoulder NATO-style military missions, experts say.

It would take Europe at least 10 years to build up a NATO-like operational command structure, said Adm. Ferdinando Sanfelice di Monteforte, Italy’s former representative to the NATO and EU Military Committee.

Joachim Bitterlich, a former German ambassador to NATO, said EU governments should use their resources more efficiently.

That means using only one plane, only one armoured vehicle, instead of each nation spending a lot of cash to develop its own arms.

Bureau, the NATO official, added that the EU and NATO could also cooperate on arms.

“We all lack helicopters, we all lack strategic capabilities. These issues could be discussed together

with the EU,”he said.

Yet while there seems to be a lot of willingness to team up, in reality, political bickering has hindered progress on military cooperation between the two groups.

Sarkozy has done away with a lot of EU-skepticism about NATO by trying to improve relations with the United States, Bentegeat said, adding, however, that several political obstacles remain to be removed.

Nations of both groups have different views on Turkey’s EU membership, the Cyprus issue and

NATO’s eastward expansion. Several EU nations also have criticized NATO for being too U.S.driven.

EU officials put high hopes on U.S.President-elect Barack Obama, who has announced he would listen more to America’s European allies.Yet Obama also will ask Europe to increase its efforts in Afghanistan or Iraq, experts say.

“The future relationship between the United States and Europe will cost the Europeans a bit more,”Bitterlich said.

– UPI

WORLD

14 November 2008

Bush plea: Don’t give up on free market Washington – US President George W Bush today called for overhauling the“outdated”regulatory structures of the financial industry in light of a massive global credit crisis, but warned against reinventing the free market system that has spurred economic growth for decades.

Speaking ahead of an emergency Washington summit of the world’s 20 leading economies, Bush offered a broad defence of US-style capitalism and free markets, warning leaders to fix the flaws exposed by the financial crisis rather than abandon the system wholesale.

“It would be a terrible mistake to allow a few months of crisis to undermine 60 years of success,” Bush said in a speech in New York.

“History has shown us that that the greater threat to economic prosperity is not too little government involvement in the market, but too much,” Bush said.“Our aim should not be more government – it should be smarter government.”

Leaders of the Group of 20 nations,which includes a mix of wealthy nations and emerging economies,will meet inWashington Sunday,NZ time,to discuss major reforms to the global financial system as well as more immediate measures to avoid a global recession.

European governments had been pushing for a wholesale overhaul of the global financial system, but have since backed away from the heavy rhetoric of October amid signs of internal discord in the European Union.

Wall Street has come under fire from all sides for a culture of “greed”that helped spark the crisis and led to some sharp criticism of the US free-market system. Financial firms took excessive risks in offering loans to homeowners that could not afford them, then sold those loans as part of complex new investment packages.

“We are faced with the prospect of a global meltdown,”Bush warned, noting that many nations have taken“unprecedented steps”that have included significant government intervention in the workings of private firms.

“It would be a terrible mistake to allow a few months of crisis to undermine 60 years of success,” Bush said in a speech in New York.

“I’m a market guy, but not when faced with the prospect of a global meltdown,”he said, warning that state intervention must be temporary.

Bush called for more transparency in the financial industry,strengthening international financial institutions and“adapting our financial systems to the realities of the 21st century marketplace.”He acknowledged that regulators and private credit rating agencies had failed to foresee the collapse of the US housing market that

sparked the global credit crisis.But he said free markets remained the best way to foster economic growth.

“It is true that this crisis included failures – by lenders and borrowers and by financial firms and by governments and independent regulators. But the crisis was not a failure of the free market system, and the answer is not to try to reinvent that system. It is to fix the problems we face,”Bush said.

Bush warned that the challenges facing the global

economy were“too large”to be solved in one meeting.

Leaders will establish the “principles”of regulatory reforms and task lower-level working groups to come up with the specifics in the coming months.

The White House today said it expected a followup summit some time in the first three months of next year.The US delegation to that meeting will be headed by president-elect Barack Obama.

– DPA

Obama leaves Bush to save world

By Mark Silva Chicago Tribune

WASHINGTON – When President George W. Bush convenes a two-day summit of world leaders in Washington this weekend to confront the global economic crisis, President-elect Barack Obama will not be present.

When Congress convenes for a lame-duck session next week to confront an economic crisis and potentially provide new help for the ailing auto industry, Sen. Obama of Illinois will be noticeably absent.

“I am not going to be spending too much time in Washington over the next several weeks,”Obama said, as he boarded a chartered jet home to Chicago following a private meeting with Bush in the Oval Office this week.

There is, as Obama and aides repeatedly have said, only“one president at a time”– and Obama will not be that president until he is sworn in on Jan. 20.

In the meantime, while Obama concentrates on building a Cabinet and assembling a vast array of advisers on everything from the economy to the future of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Obama is largely leaving Washington to Bush.That will leave the initial responsibility for enacting a new economic stimulus with a lame-duck president and Congress – and if they cannot craft it, that will become Job No. 1 for Obama.

While Obama is pressing for quick action on an economic stimulus plan from Congress, he may not necessarily want to be identified with any package that Bush supports. For all the urgency of action on the economy, or on the problems of the auto industry, severing ties with the Senate in the transition period could pave the way for the president-elect to chart a new and quick course on economy recovery.

Obama and Bush already have encountered differences that raise questions about the ability of the two to resolve any major disputes during the handoff The president-elect, basing his transition in his hometown of Chicago, is running a 450-employee transition team,at a cost of $12 million in government money, with offices in Chicago and Washington.

“We recognize that we have only one president at a time,” John Podesta, co-chairman of Obama’s transition team, said Wednesday at a press briefing in Washington,“but President-elect Obama wants to ensure that we hit the ground running.”

The junior senator from Illinois will forgo the final

session of Congress during his one Senate term.

“He’s not going to be there,” said transition spokesman Dan Pfeiffer. Asked if Obama might also resign from the Senate before Inauguration Day, he said,“We’re not prepared to say anything on when he will resign his seat yet.”

In their transition, Obama and Bush already have encountered differences that raise questions about the ability of the two to resolve any major disputes during the handoff.

Obama has urged Bush to pursue some emergency assistance for the auto industry, which already is getting a $25 billion federal boost for retooling of factories, yet is teetering on the brink of collapse.At their Oval Office meeting, Bush raised the subject of securing a free trade agreement for Colombia – which might reduce that country’s reliance on narcotic coca crops – that Congress has blocked.

Both the White House and Podesta insisted that no“quid pro quo”was discussed. But neither Obama nor Democratic leaders are likely to back down on Colombian trade, with U.S. labour unions adamantly opposed – suggesting that the auto industry funding or any broad stimulus might not be addressed until January.

“They did speak about a range of issues, both domestic and international,”White House press secretary Dana Perino said,“and they did spend some time talking about the economy. But in no way did President Bush suggest that there was a quid pro quo when it came to the Colombia free trade agreement.”

Podesta concurred: “The president didn’t try to link Colombia to the question of an economic package.”

On prospects for any economic stimulus plan passing before Bush leaves office, Perino said:“So far we have not seen something (in Congress) that would stimulate the economy right away.We want to promptly help the economy, and the best way for us to do that is to implement the rescue package that we are currently doing to help improve the credit markets.”

Democrats will have to cut the Republicans in on any deal, Perino said,“Because it does take three to tango in this town, and there’s a House and a Senate.”

WORLD

14 November 2008

Asian pollution a global problem Beijing – Vast“brown clouds”of pollution are making Asian cities darker, melting Himalayan glaciers and intensifying regional monsoons, a UN report said today.

A team of scientists highlighted the three effects after studying a“more than 3-kilometre-thick layer of soot and other man-made particles that stretches from the Arabian Peninsula to China and the western Pacific Ocean”, the United Nations Environment Programme said.

The “atmospheric brown clouds”result from the burning of fossil fuels and biomass, and in some areas also worsen the impact of climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions, the UNEP report said.

At least 13 major cities in Asia and other regions, including Beijing and New Delhi, get less sunlight because of the pollution, while its effects on air quality and agriculture in Asia pose“increasing risks to human health and food production for three billion people.”

The other darker cities identified were Bangkok, Cairo, Dhaka, Karachi, Kolkata, Lagos, Mumbai, Seoul, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Teheran.

The natural light was between 10 per cent and 25 per cent dimmer in cities such as Karachi, Beijing, Shanghai and New Delhi, the report said.

India as a whole had become darker by about 2 per cent per decade between 1960 and 2000, while China had lost its natural light by about 3 per cent to

4 per cent per decade from the 1950s to the 1990s.

“One of UNEP’s central mandates is sciencebased early warning of serious and significant environmental challenges,”UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said in a statement.

“I expect the atmospheric brown cloud (ABC) to be now firmly on the international community’s radar as a result of today’s report,”Steiner said.

Scientists from the United States, Europe, China, India and other Asian nations had studied the formation of clouds of pollutants since 2002, when their initial findings were met with scepticism, said lead scientist Veerabhadran Ramanathan of the USbased Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

“We believe today’s report brings ever more clarity to the ABC phenomena and in doing so must trigger an international response – one that tackles the twin threats of greenhouse gases and brown clouds and the unsustainable development that underpins both,”Ramanathan said.

“One of the most serious problems highlighted in the report is the documented retreat of the Hind Kush-Himalayan-Tibetan glaciers, which provide the head-waters for most Asian rivers, and thus have serious implications for the water and food security of Asia,”he said.

The report identified three Asian regional hotspots for the giant clouds of pollution: eastern China; the IndoGangetic plains stretching across parts of India,

Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar; and Southeast Asia, including Cambodia, Indonesia,Thailand, and Vietnam.

Southern Africa and the Amazon Basin in South America were other hotspots, while smaller seasonal hotspots were found in Europe and eastern North America.

– DPA

China had lost its natural light by about 3 per cent to 4 per cent per decade from the 1950s to the 1990s.

Haiti begins demolition of collapsed school faces, looked over at the crumbled structure and broke into tears.

Late Wednesday, the school’s official death toll PETIONVILLE, Haiti – Katiana Jean-Louis had not remained 89, with 150 injuries. Judicial authoriseen or heard from her mother and baby sister for ties took possession of the school’s records Monday four days Wednesday when she trudged up the rocky afternoon – and another judge arrived Tuesday hill and stopped in front of the pile of rubble. morning to seize church records – but officials still As Haitian authorities began demolition of what cannot say with certainty just how many students was left of the College La Promesse Evangelique and adults were in the building when it caved in after it collapsed last week, U.S. and Martinique Friday morning. search and rescue teams were wrapping up their And no one could answer if Katiana’s mother and mission.And the difficult task of figuring out who is sister were among them. still buried beneath the rubble Workers removed several was under way. additional bodies from the the school’s Three young Haitian police wreckage Tuesday, including official death that of a peanut merchant. officers stopped Katiana, 13, to ask what was wrong.No one was toll remained 89, Six young men, three on each home, she told them, and her side and wearing face masks, mother’s front door was locked. with 150 injuries carried the white body bag up Friday. Saturday. Sunday. Mona steep hill as Haitian police day. No mummy, no baby sister, she replied. officers covered their faces with washcloths to try Still wearing her khaki and white school uni- to dampen the increasing smell of death while jourform, Katiana said she decided to come to the nalists shooed away flies. school because her sister was a student there and Petionville Mayor Claire Lydie Parent had her mother, a street vendor, often sold cookies at planned for a mass burial, but after angry parents the school. demanded their children’s bodies during a meeting As Katiana told her story, the young recruits at her office Monday night, the Haitian government stood speechless. She looked up into their concerned instead decided to give about $2,500 for every victim to help with burial expenses. National days of mourning were declared for Thursday and Friday.

The state also plans to have a religious service today in honour of the dead, said Steven Benoit, a deputy in Haiti’s lower chamber of parliament.

“There is a culture of the dead in Haiti,”Benoit element of our foreign policy,”he said in an address to King Abdullah was praised by the kings of Jor- said.“They want to take care of their dead.” the UN assembly session on the Culture of Peace. dan and Bahrain, emirs, and presidents of Israel, Meanwhile, officials are still trying to find “We strongly encourage nations to understand Pakistan, Afghanistan and most of the 80 govern- Katiana’s mother. that religious freedom is the foundation of a healthy ment delegations that attended the two-day confer“We don’t know who she is,”said Evans Lescouand hopeful society,” he said.“We are not afraid to ence at UN headquarters in New York. flair, the minister of youth and the person put in stand with religious dissidents and believers who Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari said King charge of the operation by Haitian President Rene practice their faith even where it is unwelcome.”

Abdullah brought about change rather than just Preval.“Her name doesn’t appear on any lists.”

“And the best way to safeguard religious freedom talking about it in his efforts to advance interfaith As the Caterpillar bulldozer began removing is to aid the rise of democracy,”he said. dialogue among governments. But Zardari urged what was left of the structure, Katiana stared at the The assembly session was called to debate how the king to make another step by giving Saudi clouds of dust, looked at a Red Cross volunteer and best to use values deriving from various religions women more freedom following the construction asked:“Are they going to make the school safer?” and cultures in order to help resolve political and of a university for women in Saudi Arabia.

“They are going to make it pretty,”the man said. armed conflicts. The session was strongly pushed “This may surely be considered as a historic mile“They are going to make it safe so the next time it

by Saudi King Abdullah, who broke the barrier stone for women empowerment in the kingdom and doesn’t fall on any children?”Katiana again asked, between Islam and Catholicism by meeting with the Muslim world,”Zardari said. not hearing the volunteer’s first response.Again, he Pope Benedict XVI. – DPA repeated,“They will make it prettier.”

By Jacqueline Charles The Miami Herald

Alliance of Civilisations convenes New York – US President George W Bush urged governments at the United Nations today to include religion in their work and help spread democracy around the world.

In his final days as the top but not the most admired US leader, Bush remains true to his belief to bring democracy to other countries, including using military force to invade Iraq in March, 2003, to make that country a democracy.

Bush told the UN General Assembly that the United States, represented by former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, led the discussion that resulted in the adoption of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights 60 years ago.

“Today, the United States is carrying on that noble tradition by making religious liberty a central

WORLD

10

14 November 2008

The high court didn’t question the scientific basis of concerns about harm to marine mammals, but ruled that the Navy’s need for the exercises was more important

Texas pastor preaches sex

By Patrick Mcgee

GRAPEVINE, Texas – Marriage is the only right place for sex, says Ed Young, senior pastor of the Grapevine,Texas-based Fellowship Church.

So he’s encouraging married couples to celebrate by having sex every day for a week starting Sunday.

“I think our culture,sadly,has taken sex out of context, and we want to put it back in context,”Young said.

Society tells people to have sex promiscuously, Young said. So the church should preach the message to enjoy sex as God intends: in a marriage between a man and a woman.

“I think it’s one of the greatest thing you can do for your kids because so goes the marriage, so goes the family,”Young said.

A professional family counsellor thinks Young is doing a great service by telling people what intentional efforts to increase intimacy in their marriage can bring, according to Gary Kindley, executive director of Counselling, Consulting and Inspiration Associates, a United Methodist organization in Dallas that offers counselling to clergy and laity.

“Sexuality is related to spirituality, so I think it can be spiritual growth as well, and we shouldn’t be insecure about that,”Kindley said.

“I think that historically, because of some of the writings of St. Augustine, there have been taboos associated with what is really a good gift of sexuality – God’s gift.”

Young helped found Fellowship Church in Grapevine 18 years ago, and it now has campuses in Fort Worth, Dallas, Plano and Miami, Fla. It’s a nondenominational church that he says is loosely affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. The Grapevine church, north of Fort Worth, Texas, draws about 20,000 people each Sunday.

Young’s Sunday sermon on seven days of sex will be posted on the church’s Web site, he said.

Online: http://www.fellowshipchurch.com – MCT

Whales not saved WASHINGTON – The US Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Navy could use sonar in submarine-hunting training exercises off Southern California without heeding restrictions imposed by a lower court to protect whales and dolphins.

The high court didn’t question the scientific basis of concerns about harm to marine mammals, but ruled that the Navy’s need for the exercises was more important.

The court ruled that several specific whale protections imposed by a lower court weren’t needed, but left four in effect, which the Navy didn’t challenge.

The Navy also voluntarily adopted some protective measures.

The Natural Resources Defense Council, the lead plaintiff, said that mid-frequency active sonar used by the Navy could fill vast areas of the ocean with dangerous levels of underwater noise that can kill or injure the creatures.

Whales beached and some died in the Bahamas in 2000 when Navy vessels used mid-frequency sonar in the area.The council said there had been many mass strandings of whales related to sonar and

that many of the whales suffered injuries including bleeding around the brain and ears.

The waters off Southern California are home to five endangered whale species.

The Supreme Court noted that Southern California is important for the Navy’s training because it’s the only area on the West Coast that’s relatively close to land, air and sea bases and amphibious landing areas.

“The Navy’s need to conduct realistic training with active sonar to respond to the threat posed by enemy submarines plainly outweighs”the arguments advanced by the environmentalists, the Supreme Court said in an opinion written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts. The opinion called the sonar mission crucial because it’s the only proven method of identifying submerged diesel-electric submarines operating on battery power.

“For the plaintiffs, the most serious possible injury would be harm to an unknown number of the marine mammals that they study and observe.

In contrast, forcing the Navy to deploy an inadequately trained antisubmarine force jeopardizes

the safety of the fleet,”Roberts wrote.

The decision wasn’t entirely clear-cut. Justices Stephen Breyer and John Paul Stevens, writing separately, agreed that the lower courts hadn’t sufficiently explained their reasoning, and Breyer said he would’ve imposed tougher restrictions. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter dissented altogether.

The Navy has taken steps since January 2007 to protect marine mammals during sonar exercises.

However, it objected to two measures imposed by a lower court: stopping sonar use when marine mammals were spotted within 2,200 yards and powering down the sonar under certain other conditions.

The Bush administration’s Council on Environmental Quality declared in January that “emergency circumstances”existed that should dissolve those limitations. In March, the San Franciscobased 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court’s requirement that the Navy take specific steps to protect whales.The Supreme Court ruling reverses that decision.

FOOTNOTE: Mass whale strandings in New Zealand waters, usually pilot whales, are common. There’s no data on whether submarine sonar is responsible for any of those strandings, because submarine movements through NZ waters are largely confidential. Nonetheless, strandings are common near shipping routes like the Cook Strait.

For details of US and Australian submarine movements around New Zealand, read these related stories: “Busted”, Investigate magazine June 2000 “The Lost Fiords mystery”, Investigate magazine April 2000

– MCT

Gay activists get vicious in California

By Jennifer Garza McClatchy Newspapers

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Supporters of Proposition 8 won the election but now are frustrated because they are still fighting for their cause.

A week after the majority of voters passed the controversial measure to ban same-sex marriage, the conflict continues - in the courts, at protests and in personal attacks.

“I’m frustrated by what’s going on,” said Dave Leatherby, owner of the Leatherby Family Creamery in Sacramento, commenting on the protests and court battles.

“Let’s move on. I always told my children that once a rule was made, you have to abide by it. I think it should be the same in this circumstance.”

Leatherby and his family donated about $20,000 for the passage of Proposition 8.A devout Catholic and father of 10, Leatherby supported the measure

for religious reasons. He said his business has been targeted by bloggers as a result, and that he is particularly confused because his business has participated in the annual gay pride Rainbow Festival.

“It saddens me that all this is happening,”he said.

The battle over same-sex marriage will not end anytime soon. This week, 44 state legislators filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of opponents of the gay-marriage ban. They maintain the initiative process was used improperly.The California Supreme Court could rule as early as this week on a lawsuit that seeks to invalidate Proposition 8, said court spokeswoman Lynn Holton.

Proposition 8 opponents said they will continue to fight for their civil rights.

“For them to say the voters have spoken and no one should question it is a bit disingenuous,” said West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon. He cited repeated attempts to pass other initiatives.

“They believe in the justice of their causes, that’s

why they return over and over again with the same proposal on parental notification.”

Cabaldon was referring to Proposition 4, which would have required parental notification before a minor could have an abortion. It was defeated for the third time last week.

Since the election, thousands have protested on the steps of the state Capitol and in some cities at temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other sites.The Sacramento temple has not been targeted.

“Protesting is a time-honoured American tradition,”said Ned Dolejsi, executive director of the California Catholic Conference. Catholic leaders were active in the “Yes on 8” campaign.“But it’s unfortunate when it steps over into religious bigotry or harassment.”

Some Proposition 8 supporters say a minority of protesters have gone too far by targeting individuals.

Opponents of the measure have called for a boycott

of the California Musical Theatre after revelations that artistic director Scott Eckern, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,donated $1,000 to the“Yes on 8”Campaign.Church members played a significant role in the campaign.

On Thursday, Eckern resigned his position. He released a statement saying that he quit “after prayerful consideration to protect the organization and to help the healing in the local theatre-going and creative community.”

Others who supported Proposition 8 said they have also been targeted. Scott Purves, of Purves & Associates, a Davis insurance company, said a protester carrying a sign reading“Purves Family Supports Homophobia”picketed his business Monday.

“If this had gone the other way, I can’t imagine the backlash if people protested and called the other side names,”said Purves.“People would be angry and rightfully so.... It makes me sad that this would happen when a majority of people supported this measure.”

Obama supporters mug young woman MINNEAPOLIS – A university student and Sarah Palin supporter from Alaska was beaten on election night while walking to her dorm and was called a racist by a group of four young women because she had on a McCain/Palin presidential campaign button, authorities and the victim said.

Annie Grossmann, a freshman on the Minneapolis college’s hockey team, suffered blurred vision and is thought to have had a concussion from a punch in the eye, but declined medical attention, she said.

Through her mother,Grossmann,18,of Delta Junction,Alaska,reported the assault to campus security

the next morning,and Minneapolis police were notified that afternoon. No arrests have been made.

Grossmann said she was in a dorm lobby with a handful of fellow Republicans watching election returns with “a bunch of Democrats around next to me, cheering (Barack) Obama on and rubbing it in our faces.”

Once it was obvious that Obama was going to win, Grossmann said, she left the building alone shortly after 9:30 p.m. and headed to her room.

Under a skyway connecting the two buildings,four women“bigger than I am”came up to her, she said.

“One approached me and got in my face and called me

racist because I had the pin on.That really ticked me off, but I kind of left it alone because she was so much bigger than I am,”said Grossmann.She is 5 feet 2 and weighs 120 pounds, and played boys high school hockey in Alaska.

“The girls in the background were just a little bigger than me.They were mocking me from the sidelines.

“I didn’t say anything. ... This one (bigger) girl grabbed me by the shoulders and was holding me.After about five minutes, I just wanted to get out of there.”

Grossmann, who is white, said she told the women, who were black,“You guys don’t even know me.

There’s no reason to think I’m racist.”

At that point, she said, she pushed the bigger one in the group, and“she punched me, and the back of my head hit a brick wall.” “’Are you serious?’” she recalled saying to the women.After cursing at Grossmann, the women left, and“I held my eye and went to my room.”

The team trainer, who checked her out the next day, said she probably had a concussion and barred her from practice for two days. She said she’s also been required by the school to attend counselling and missed a day of classes.

– MCT

11

SPORT

14 November 2008

All blacks looking for mental edge ZUMA

“This will be a unique experience for some of the guys,”said assistant coach Wayne Smith before explaining the side’s tailormade practice session.

“You have to be realistic about what it’s going to be like .... Croke Park, 80,000 people there, it’s going to as big and as passionate an occasion as probably any of these players have come across.”

In an attempt to sharpen their thought processes Smith said the coaches posed `what if’ scenarios at training and gauged how quickly the players responded to stress and pressure situations.

“With the backs I try and put a whole heap of mental pressure on them, randomising training

five-eighth since the Tri-Nations finale on September 13.

New Zealand will need their playmaker and back three to hold up against opponents not entirely reliant on passionate support.

All Blacks captain Richie McCaw had no doubt the Irish side contained more quality than Scotland, who were comfortably beaten 32-6 last weekend.

He nominated captain Brian O’Driscoll, first fiveeighth Ronan O’Gara and lock Paul O’Connell as the danger men.

“O’Driscoll and O’Gara have played a lot of tests, they’re smart players and if you give them good

And although their first experience at Croke Park does not have any political overtones, the team and management anticipate an Irish side desperate to end a 21-test winless streak

By Chris Barclay of NZPA

Dublin, Nov 13 – The All Blacks are practising their worst case scenarios to mentally prepare for an assumed Irish onslaught during Sunday’s historic rugby test at Croke Park.

Rugby may be only be a relative newcomer to a stadium regarded as a cradle of Irish indigenous sports, but it is apparent the cacophony of noise generated by an 82,000 sellout can be distracting for visiting teams and lift the Irish to new heights.

England realised this in February last year as they suffered a record 30-point defeat when playing Ireland in one of the more poignant sporting

contests held in the republic.

That a Six Nations match could be held at the headquarters of the Gaelic Athletics Association (GAA) was remarkable,87 years after British soldiers stormed the ground and mowed down spectators and Gaelic football players on what became known as the War of Independence’s Bloody Sunday.

The All Blacks have caused a milder form of heartache during 103 years of one-sided rugby rivalry with the Irish.

And although their first experience at Croke Park does not have any political overtones, the team and management anticipate an Irish side desperate to end a 21-test winless streak.

– creating situations where they are liable to see errors,”he said.

“They’ve then got to cope and get themselves back on track.

“They’re going to be under the pump at times and in those moments you need to regain your composure.”

Smith was happy with the outcomes, a positive sign as the All Blacks seek to clear the second hurdle to achieving a Grand Slam.

The build-up has gone relatively smoothly since the best available team was named on Tuesday – a lineup offering 618 caps worth of experience.

The health of his baby son continues to distract Mils Muliaina but Smith reiterated the fullback was tuned in for his first match of the tour.

Muliaina will be tasked with marshalling Joe Rokocoko and Sitiveni Sivivatu, the cousins still striving to rediscover their attacking prowess down the flanks.

Daniel Carter is also facing his own challenge, having spent only half an hour’s game time at first

ball to operate with they have the ability to use it,”he said.

“In the second row O’Connell is another one of those characters. With guys like that scattered through a team they lift the players around them.”

Still, for all their talent the Irish face their own psychological issues as they seek to improve on their best result, a 10-10 draw achieved at Lansdowne Road in 1973.

The All Blacks have won the other 11, including a 45-7 victory on their last visit to the Irish capital three years ago.

Irish players, like the Scots before them, have spoken optimistically about finally ending a demoralising sequence of results.

Their last three tests against the All Blacks have been paraded as a positive – the biggest losing margin was 11 points – an indication the gap is closing.

But perhaps crucially they had the winning of each test in Hamilton, Auckland and Wellington, yet could not cross the line.

Morley warnsEngland close to hitting their straps

By Robert Lowe of NZPA

Brisbane, Nov 14 – England enforcer Adrian Morley has warned that the underperforming Lions are close to producing the goods as they head into their rugby league World Cup semifinal with New Zealand in Brisbane tomorrow night.

England’s pool matches have brought a close shave over gallant outsiders Papua New Guinea, a near 50-point thrashing by Australia, and a secondhalf capitulation that ended with the Kiwis’running them down from behind to win 36-24.

However, Morley preferred to focus on the positives and was even looking beyond this weekend.

The uncompromising prop admitted that the World Cup hadn’t gone to plan for England, who were“scratchy’against PNG. But he didn’t believe the 52-4 scoreline against Australia gave a fair reflection of that contest, while against the Kiwis, the Lions had shown they could score tries.

“We just need to nail a performance for 80 minutes,”he said.

“We believe we’re not too far off. Now is the time to do it, to win the semifinal, build a little momentum and give us every chance in the final.”

Morley, 31, spent six seasons in the National Rugby League with the Sydney Roosters before returning to the English Super League, where he is captain of Warrington.

Capped 36 times, he is probably still best remembered in international football for his sending off after just 12 seconds of the opening test against Australia in 2003 for a high tackle.

Morley didn’t intend curbing his fiery approach and believed the Lions needed to lift their aggression against New Zealand.

They also had to improve their defence out wide, where they leaked tries against the Kangaroos and the Kiwis, for whom winger Manu Vatuvei bagged a quartet.

“We don’t feel we’ve been getting broken down the middle too much,”he said.

“It’s the defence around the edges and we’ve been doing a lot of work in trying to rectify that.”

England have been subjected to plenty of criticism over how their cup campaign has unfolded.

But Morley knew that victory at Suncorp Stadium, and with it an expected showdown with Australia, who play Fiji in the other semifinal in Sydney on Sunday, would change everything.

“That’s the beauty of sport – one week you’re failures, the next you have a good win and you’re in the World Cup final,”he said.

“We know we’re only one big performance from shutting up the knockers who have bagged us.The ball’s in our court and it’s up to us to deliver.”

One thing Morley and his teammates won’t lack is plenty of noisy and colourful support, with an estimated 6000 English fans making the trip to Newcastle for the pool match with New Zealand.

The exact make-up of the England team they’ll be backing remains unconfirmed, with coach Tony Smith yet to say if he has reduced his 19-strong squad to 17.

There is also no word on the injury status of fullback Paul Wellens, five-eighth Leon Pryce, interchange forward Gareth Hock and non-selected half Danny McGuire.

As well, speculation remains that players from outside the named squad might still see action, such as winger Ade Gardner, the Super League’s top try scorer this season, and the livewire McGuire.

That speculation was given credence last night

ZUMA

by winger Mark Calderwood’s remark that the players themselves hadn’t yet been told who would be playing.

Meanwhile, Morley said England will face the haka, rather than stand in a huddle like they did last weekend.

After that match, stand-in Kiwi skipper Benji Marshall labelled the English as disrespectful,

although coach Stephen Kearney later brushed off the issue as being“a storm in a teacup”.

Morley said the Lions hadn’t been out to create a stir, but felt that getting into a huddle was the best way to maintain focus in the final moments before kickoff.

“We will face up,” he said of the pre-semifinal challenge.

SPORT

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14 November 2008

Illness flattens Ryder in first test Of more concern is that other New Zealand players had reported upset stomachs today, although not Sydney, Nov 14 – New Zealand batsman Jesse enough to sideline them.

Ryder has been quarantined from his teammates and “There’s a bit of diarrhoea amongst the group but placed on an intravenous drip as his first cricket test no one’s reported in sick beyond that.We’re keeping preparations are thrown into chaos by a mystery bug. careful watch in case it’s something that spreads.”

Ryder remained at the team’s central city hotel Crocker said Ryder’s illness didn’t yet place him this morning as his teammates began the second in doubt for Thursday’s first test against Australia day of their tour match against New South Wales in Brisbane but there would be major worries if the at the Sydney Cricket Ground. symptoms continued through the weekend. It could New Zealand manager Lindsay Crocker said also rob him of an important second innings here in there were concerns for Ryder’s health as he hadn’t the final lead-in to the two-test series. kept down any food for nearly two days.

“It’s run for a day-and-a-half now and he was He was attended to by the doctor on duty at the vomiting again this morning. That’s the concern.

SCG who said the illness should be treated as viral That time away from eating means he’s starting to and recommended he be quarantined from his lose a bit of condition. It’s not alarming yet but we teammates and placed on a drip to rehydrate. want to get him right quickly.”

“He woke up yesterday feeling unwell and being New Zealand aren’t the only ones with illness ill. We quarantined him, basically, took him back concerns, less than a week out from the first test. to the hotel. He’s not eating so we rehydrated him,” Australia’s vice-captain Michael Clarke was rated Crocker told NZPA. doubtful by chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch “He spent the night quietly and he’s woken up yesterday. this morning not feeling a good deal better which He has reportedly lost 6kg and has constricted is a little concerning because we hoped it had run breathing after contracting an illness during the through by now.” fourth test against India in Nagpur.

Crocker said Ryder was vomiting before and after He has undergone blood tests to identify the illhis 51-minute innings of 16 yesterday and was seen ness, and it is hoped he will recover in time for the by the doctor soon afterwards. test at the Gabba.

Allrounder Grant Elliott took the field in Ryder’s Paceman Brett Lee is also recovering from illness place this morning. which saw him shed weight in India.

By Mark Geenty of NZPA

Ross Setford/NZPA

Liverpool getting desperate London – After their second defeat of the season to Tottenham this week dumped Liverpool out of the Carling Cup, manager Rafa Benitez is looking for a reaction away to Bolton on Saturday.

Liverpool have struggled at the Reebok Stadium in recent years – their win their last year was their first for five seasons – but Benitez is well aware how important it is to win after Wednesday’s setback, and restore the momentum to the season.

If the team goes to Bolton and wins, we’ll still be top of the table and everyone will be talking about our priorities,”he said.

“We’re disappointed because I want to win every game. We had a lot of quality in that team and wanted to win. But you have to think about priorities.

“The Champions League and the Premier League

are the priorities.After that, the FA Cup.” Chelsea, who share the top of the Premier League with Liverpool, also have some bouncing back to do, having gone out of the Carling Cup on penalties to Championship side Burnley.

They travel to bottom-of-the table West Brom for the Saturday tea-time clash.

Scolari left out six regular first-teamers for the game, and was left bemoaning the quality of those who remained.

“The players are disappointed because they lost a competition,”he said Scolari.“They wanted to win this game but now it is time to work for Saturday’s game.

“If we had had more quality in front of goal we would have won this game.

“I kept some players out because they have played a lot of games but it was still a side that could have

won this match.

“We have lost one competition.This is not normal for us.We want to win all the competitions but we have lost one and we need to understand this.”

Arsenal, having seemingly got their season back on track with victory over Manchester United last week, can help cement their position in the top four at home to Aston Villa, one of the sides supposedly challenging for Champions League qualification.

Martin O’Neill’s side have looked fatigued in recent games, though, and lost to Middlesbrough last weekend.

Manchester United are at home to another of the promoted sides, Stoke, while Tottenham, with five wins and a draw since Harry Redknapp replaced Juande Ramos as manager, travel to Fulham.

Chelsea, who share the top of the Premier League with Liverpool, also have some bouncing back to do, having gone out of the Carling Cup on penalties to Championship side Burnley

– DPA

All eyes on Federer tonight Shanghai – Jo-Wilfried Tsonga claimed his third revenge win in two months over Novak Djokovic as he produced a 1-6, 7-5, 6-1 Gold group comeback to spoil the Serbs hopes for a perfect record at the Masters Cup. The 23-year-old Tsonga is out of consideration for a semi-final spot, but earned a moral victory over the man who beat him in the Australian Open final in January. Djokovic ended with a 2-1 mark.

“It’s just very good to have a year like this,”said the Frenchman.“With all my problem (knee surgery) I played very well. I’m very happy for this year.”

Tsonga has now proved his point over the world number three in the Bangkok final and third round at Paris Bercy in addition to the year-end spectacular.

Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko joined Djokovic into Saturday’s semi-finals later Thursday with a swift 6-3, 6-2 win over rising Juan del Petro of Argentina.

Djokovic and Davydenko finished the group with 2-1 records while Tsonga and del Potro went out on 1-2 each.

Andy Murray of Britain is also assured of a semifinal berth from the other group, with the remaining berth to be decided tonight between holder Roger Federer and Frenchman Gilles Simon. Federer must beat Murray while Simon plays Czech alternate Radek Stepanek.

Tsonga was competing purely for pride on Thurs-

Andy Murray of Britain is also assured of a semi-final berth from the other group, with the remaining berth to be decided tonight between holder Roger Federer and Frenchman Gilles Simon

day and showed that he is a force to reckoned with when he rallied after a first-set thrashing at the hands of the world number three.

“He was better than me in the two first sets, but I take the second one. It was maybe difficult to stay very concentrated because he’s qualified and he has to look to the next match.”

Djokovic heads into the weekend with confidence still intact after losing all three of his matches a year ago on his debut.

“I feel happy because I am through to the semifinal, which was main goal,”he said.

“I took every match seriously and wanted to win this one. But he played well in the third set and I had some unforced errors. But the important thing is that I’m through. It’s not the end and I think I have enough quality to go further.”

Tsonga finished his job in one hour, 38 minutes with a winning lob which the Serb could only watch sail over his head.

Djokovic has won three quality titles in 2008, the first Grand Slam of the season and Masters events in Indian Wells and Rome, but has not tasted trophy success since May. Tsonga improved to 3-1 over his rival and leaves Shanghai primed to lift his number seven ranking when he resumes again in January.

– DPA

WEEKEND

14 November 2008

13

TV & Film

entertainment

NEWS

Ghost Town star likes to do things his way With his acerbic, fast-talking wit and eternally exasperated demeanour, English comedian Ricky Gervais is a master of taking an already ridiculous situation and making it more so.

As writer, director and star of the BBC’s groundbreaking comedy series The Office, he made the daily grind at a regional paper wholesaling concern a microcosm of incompetence and ego. In his followup, HBO’s Extras, Gervais played a small-time actor chasing success, and then ill-equipped to handle it when it arrived. His film Ghost Town (which opened Friday), in which he plays a Manhattan dentist pestered by a roster of pushy spooks, is Gervais’ first leading role on film.

Although he specializes in neurotic, needy characters, in conversation Gervais is relaxed. Downright laid-back, in fact. During a hectic press junket for his new comedy, he took our call flat on his back.

“At the moment I’m lying down on a hotel bed looking across Manhattan, so it’s OK. It is gruelling,”he sighed.“I just try to do it lying down. In the press interviews, I said I can’t sit in that chair for six hours, so I got two armchairs in. (The studio folks) were all worried, ‘It’ll look weird, it’ll look weird.’

I said I don’t care what it looks like, I’m sitting down in an armchair.There’s no point in forsaking comfort at work.”

The same easy-does-it ethos applies to filming, he explained.

“I’m not one of these actors who says,‘I shouldn’t use my own hair in case I get typecast.’Well, I do use my own hair and my own face, sometimes my own clothes because I don’t want to spend an hour in the makeup chair.”

It’s not laziness, but a matter of conserving his energy for matters that count - such as improvising on the set and making his fellow actors dissolve in laughter, as Gervais, a notorious giggler, frequently does himself.

“I did warn David Koepp (a celebrated screenwriter and Ghost Town’s writer-director),‘I’ll try only to ruin 30 percent of the takes.’He reckons it’s nearer 50. The first scene was me and Greg Kinnear in a bar when he first tells me New York’s full of ghosts.

And we were cracking up and I was going off on all tangents and doing stupid things.Greg was laughing

and David was laughing and David Koepp came over and said ‘Do you think we should try one as it is in the script? Just in case?’I went,‘Yes, fine.’”

Gervais made up a significant amount of his dialogue on the fly.“I wanted to change a few things and make it mine. I ad-libbed through every scene,”he said.“It is that 15 percent that’s peppered through the film that makes it interesting and real and funnier, dare I say it.”

Koepp (Jurassic Park, Spider-Man) welcomed the unscripted additions, because he knew that Gervais was an actor with ideas of his own.“There was mutual respect.”Gervais said.“He knew I’m a writer-director and there’s two ideas put forward and one of them’s the better one.And in a good partnership you go, yep, that’s the better idea, whoever comes up with it. So I think I got my own way,”he said, breaking into wicked giggles.

He also won a concession that many actors would find puzzling. Gervais insisted that he not do a kissing scene with costar Tea Leoni.

“It was a very specific thing. It ended with ‘They

kiss,’ and I’ve always thought,‘Well, what does that mean?’ I just think that it doesn’t mean anything.

It’s like going,‘We’ve run out of ideas.’ Or,‘The end.’

What I really loved was in (the bittersweet Jack Lemmon-Shirley MacLaine comedy) The Apartment,when instead of a kiss she went,‘Shut up and deal.’And I thought we should look for something like that,something a bit more timeless and a bit more grown up.

“What we came up with was Tea saying,‘It hurts when I smile.’And I say,‘I can fix that.’Which I think is so much classier and more timeless because it also shows they’re soul mates. It’s not just like ‘They lived happily ever after and they died in their sleep.’

Who knows that?”

Gervais toured Britain three times with popular one-man comedy shows and recently did an abbreviated American tour that will be shown on HBO Nov. 15. His feature comedy This Side of the Truth, which he wrote, directed and stars in, will be released next year.

Watch trailer

– By Colin Covert

Kiwi hit’s a million seller in the US After picking up the Tui for International Achievement at this year’s New Zealand Music Awards, Universal Republic Records, Universal Music New Zealand, and Dawn Raid Music have announced that Savage has reached the coveted Platinum milestone in digital/mobile single sales in the US for his hit ‘Swing.’

The 1.1 million sales (so far) are made up of more than 800,000 in digital singles and well over 300,000 in mobile singles. Sales of ‘Swing’ have now surpassed US-released singles by Crowded House and OMC, and as sales of the track increase week to week it’s shaping as the highest selling single by a New Zealand artist in the United States ever!

This week alone has seen a 20% increase in sales from last week, and ‘Swing’ is currently enjoying its highest position on the Billboard Pop chart at #35.

Groomed as New Zealand’s #1 selling Hip Hop artist by local independent label Dawn Raid Music, Savage has gained unprecedented traction in the U.S., inking his deal with Universal Republic Records (home to the likes of Nelly, Jack Johnson and Amy Winehouse) only 5 months ago and continuing the grassroots ascension by winning over both hip hop and mainstream audiences. Already a Platinum and multi award winning artist down under, Savage made his presence known even prior to his U.S. radio debut by leaping from #77 to #17 in one day on the influential iTunes Hip Hop chart where it is now sitting pretty at #10!

Savage soared to the upper tier of the iTunes chart (reaching #6) and the Rhythm Crossover radio chart (where ‘Swing’ became the number one most added) on the back of his infectious remix with energetic hip hop stylist Soulja Boy. More than 400 fan-generated videos for the frenetic hit have swept popular online video destination YouTube.

The fun-filled party clip was directed by Kai Crawford, who helmed the video for Savage’s previous international hit featuring Akon, ‘Moonshine.’

The Samoan star, who hails from South Auckland , began to garner cult-hit status as ‘Swing’ won over music and movie fans thanks to its placement in the pivotal bar scene in the 2007 hit movie Knocked Up. Savage powers a popular MySpace site which has also passed the three million views milestone recently.

Cited as one of the few hip hop exports whose original style and quirky Kiwi roots have resonated with U.S. hip hop fans, his upcoming album is considered one of the more savoury US hip hop debuts of 2008.

‘Swing’ is the first official single from Savage’s upcoming album, Savage Island, which will be released on January 26th 2009.

Rep: Angelina Jolie not pregnant again LOS ANGELES, Nov. 14 (UPI) – Angelina Jolie’s publicist says the Hollywood actress and mother of six is not pregnant again, contrary to a report claiming she is.

This is not true, Jolie’s representative Geyer Kosinski told Usmagazine.com regarding an In Touch magazine story stating the 32-year-old actress and her partner Brad Pitt are expecting again.

The couple are the biological parents of 4-month-old twins and a 2-year-old daughter. They also have three adopted children.

REVIEWS

14

14 November 2008

Music

La vida loca

Performing live remains a rush for Coldplay, the planet’s hottest band

By Brian McCollum Detroit Free Press

Performing in Coldplay – performing in the world’s biggest band – could get comfy.Too comfy, even.

For bassist Guy Berryman,though,the nightly thrill is intact.Even after all the massive stadium shows,all the mega festivals,stepping on stage still brings a tingle – that rush of blood, you might call it.

“I don’t get nervous anymore. But I still get that great sense of excitement,”he says.“I love that moment right before we go on, that anticipation of the lights coming down. It never tires for me.”

Coldplay is on a global tour supporting Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, the British band’s fourth album of moody, edge-of-artsy piano rock. In a year of music industry struggles,the album is a bigtime standout, having enjoyed the biggest debut yet for Berryman,vocalist-pianist Chris Martin,guitarist Jonny Buckman and drummerWill Champion:In the United States alone,the album sold 720,000 copies its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan – more than 300,000 of them on the first day.

With sales of the album continuing to pile up, the band has been on the road nearly nonstop since June, including a U.S. summer sprint.

“We’ve got four records now, so we have to get the

balance right between the new album and the old songs people want to hear,”he says.“We try to make it as dynamic as possible from beginning to end. It took us awhile – it took most of the first American tour to knock that into shape.The show pretty much runs in the same order now, because it’s working.”

A revamped production team has brought a new visual look to Coldplay’s stage production, and even introduced what Berryman describes as“a few things people haven’t seen before at other concerts.”

For the decade-old band, life on the road is lowkey these days. Berryman says he has learned to pace himself to endure the rigors of touring, eschewing the high life in favour of stints in the gym and daily jogs. Hopping from hotel to hotel, spending long stretches in air-conditioned spaces, it’s too easy to get ill.And“it’s not fun having a cold on tour – you can’t call in sick.”

“We destroyed ourselves a few times by not looking after ourselves – partying every night,staying up late,”he says,recalling the band’s early days.“Certainly, for me in particular, we’re really just trying to keep healthy.It’s that age-old thing:healthy body,healthy mind. I’d have laughed at myself a few years ago if I could hear myself saying that. But it’s true.”

Coldplay will wrap up its year of touring with a series of U.K. dates in December. After a month

break, the band will regroup in the studio to begin cutting material for a fifth album.

“The plan, in an ideal world, is to have something finished by the end of 2009,”says Berryman.

That would mark a notably fast turnaround for a band that’s been known to take its time between records, including three-year gaps between each of the band’s past three albums. And fans even get a

In a year of music industry struggles, the album is a big-time standout, having enjoyed the biggest debut yet for Berryman, vocalist-pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckman and drummer Will Champion: In the United States alone, the album sold 720,000 copies its first week treat in the interim: the Nov. 25 release of“Prospekt’s March,” an eight-song EP featuring material left over from the Vida sessions and a new version of the single “Lost,”remixed by fellow A-lister Jay-Z. Coldplay has been quick to stress that these aren’t throwaway tracks. Indeed, says Berryman, much of the material could have fit seamlessly on Vida.

“We didn’t want to make the album too long.We

thought the third record was too long, and we didn’t want to make that mistake again. But these songs were too good just to be B-sides on singles,”he says.

“It’s kind of meant to be an amendment to Vida La Vida. We wanted people to hear that record as a standalone first, and not bombard them. We’re really proud of it.”

Coldplay – Viva La Vida

NEW CD RELEASES Tracy Chapman

0Our Bright Future 0Atlantic Tracy Chapman has been trying to replicate the success of her stunning 1988 debut album ever since (where did those 20 years go?)

But, with a few exceptions – some of 1989’s “Crossroads,” the overlooked 1992 single “Bang, Bang, Bang”and 2000’s nicely varied and melodic “Telling Stories”album – she has come up short.

With“Our Bright Future,”Chapman’s eighth studio album, she follows two similarly lacklustre CDs and winds up with her least interesting recording to date.

Over the years Chapman’s subject matter has grown conventional into mostly relationshipbased observations. Her once earthy and warm voice remains her best quality but it’s sweet and pretty now, and her melodies, hooks and tempos have stalled.

Chapman manages one distinctive tune on“Our Bright Future.”“I Did It All,”an old-fashioned cocktail lounge ditty about a life lived regret-free, features a horn flirtatiously circling Chapman’s clear voice.“I’ll confess without Miranda/Strike a pose for the tabloid camera/And say I did it all,”she sings in this little delight. It’s the one tune with personality on an album overlong with one soundalike, soporific ballad after another. Hard as it is for a fan to say, it seems Chapman’s“Fast Car”has run out of fuel.

Pod Pick:“I Did It All.” – Howard Cohen, The Miami Herald

Strive

0Fire 0Go Digital Records I am listening to Strive on my mp3 player and getting this strange feeling that I’ve stepped into a time machine, back to the vinyl days of the late 1970s and early ‘80s.

I mean this as a total compliment.Those were the early days of Christian pop, and the clean production and melodic adult contemporary sound of Strive is reminiscent of the piano pop of guys like Keith Green, Dave Meece and Michael W. Smith, who helped build the genre.

Frontman Derick Thompson’s smooth baritone also has that “not too far removed from a church choir”sound that used to dominate Christian pop before the market was flooded with bands trying to get on the Warped Tour.

So, the kids might be thinking, should I just give this to my mom and dad, who play “So You Wanna Go Back to Egypt?”in the car all the time? Only if you’re not interested in a well-structured recording that grabs you on the first listen and has a very clear, encouraging message.This is an upstart band from Chicago, but it has quickly learned the keys to creating 10 individual experiences on an album with a distinct melody and complete emotional experience, like the plea for fulfilment of“Good”or the intimacy of“Silent Like a Secret.”

But you never get too far removed from that piano pop sound of songs like“On Our Way,”with Thompson’s well-rounded, pitch-perfect vocals. Listen to the way he raises the level of the already exuberant “Just a Little More Time” with a short crescendo halfway through the song. Really,Thompson is new to the genre, but he might be one of Christian rock’s best pure singers.

And Strive is definitely a band to watch.

– Rich Copley, Lexington Herald-Leader

15

REVIEWS

14 November 2008

Books

No rest for a Nobel laureate A Mercy

0By Toni Morrison 0Alfred A. Knopf, US$14.37, via Amazon A Mercy, her ninth novel and first in five years, is that beguiling and beautiful, that deftly condensed, that sinewy with imaginative sentences, lyric flight and abundant human sensitivity. Throughout Morrison’s new tale of 17th-century America, a blacksmith figures without ever becoming the cynosure of the action. But her craft resembles his. Finely hammered phrases repeatedly come off the anvil, forming a story as powerful as many she has shaped before.

Elements of this writer’s art from way back remain part of her achievement here. Like a mighty telescope perched on a contemporary plateau, Morrison draws in signals,moods,torments,exhilarations from African-American life and history, whether it’s a 20th-century black child’s self-doubt (The Bluest Eye) or a 19th-century slave mother’s unbearable anguish (Beloved). In every book, Morrison mixes the verbal music of an era with idiosyncratic wisdom, delivered indirectly rather than ex cathedra, recalling omniscient Russian masters without imitating them.

A Mercy, whose title becomes clear only on the book’s wrenching last page, unfolds through multiple perspectives. In what seems to be Virginia circa 1690 – Morrison is elusive enough that early reviewers have alternately placed the main setting in New York and Maryland – a farmer and trader named Jacob Vaark brings a slave girl, Florens, 7 or 8 years old, back to his homestead as partial payment for a debt from the decadent owner of a Maryland tobacco plantation.

Jacob is happily married to Rebekka, a wife bartered to him at age 16 by her English parents.

The rest of his makeshift extended farm family are also business acquisitions of a sort, though Jacob sympathizes with“orphans and strays,”having been one of the former himself.

Sorrow, the troubled 11-year-old survivor of a shipwreck, was impregnated by a rescuer/rapist and traded to Jacob for lumber. Lina, an American Indian teenager, was sold at 14 to Jacob by the Presbyterians who raised her after plague destroyed her village. She becomes Rebekka’s chief helper, almost a friend despite their status gap.

Rounding out the farm menagerie are Scully and Willard, indentured white servants, and the unnamed blacksmith, a free black man who excites Florens as he works on a new grand house for Jacob.

Having seen the blacksmith’s ability to cure smallpox symptoms with folk remedies, Rebekka, when she falls ill with fever herself, sends Florens to find him, driving the action around which the climax of the novel turns.

Some readers will see A Mercy as foreshadowing Beloved, the decision of Florens’mother to put her in Jacob’s hands as a gentler choice than that of Sethe in the earlier book. Does it suggest a still hopeful time before slavery rigidified into its beastliest rituals? Not quite.

When Jacob reluctantly inspects the slaves of D’Ortega, the plantation owner,“The women’s eyes looked shockproof, gazing beyond place and time as though they were not actually there.”Yet if Sethe in“Beloved”suffers from the dehumanizing upshot of Dred Scott doctrine, Florens, infatuated with her idealized blacksmith, still dreams of happiness despite being treated as chattel and forced to elude witch-hunters.

Morrison invests more in character here than in historical critique, eager to explore the thoughts of almost every person on Jacob’s farm. Life circa

1690 is a struggle for both owners and owned. All four of the Vaark children have died young. Lina dislikes Sorrow, but spoils Florens. Rebekka learns “the intricacy of loneliness: the horror of color, the roar of soundlessness and the menace of familiar objects lying still.”

Along the way come moments whose artistry freezes one’s page-turning. Morrison’s tactile reports rivet: the “alehouse lights”like “gemstones fighting darkness,”the graphic depictions of steerage.Voices shift from Florens’adrenaline-filled ardor (“I think if you wake and see me seeing you I will die”) to Lina’s calm assessment of all whites as “Europes,” to the narrator’s aphoristic deeming of “patience” as “the lifeblood of farming.”

What’s the opposite of“lazy”in a fiction writer’s style and research? Industrious? Indefatigable?

Morrison wears her knowledge lightly, yet every page exhibits her control of the period’s objects and artifacts, its worries and necessities, challenges and dangers. She surrounds A Mercy’s more fanciful arabesques with a broad border of realism.

Morrison once quipped, after winning her Nobel, that it had given her a“license to strut.”Only, cynics might reply, if such earth-shattering fellow winners as Frans Sillanpaa and Karl Gjellerup get an equal right. But a book as masterfully wrought as A Mercy behooves its author to swagger. Go to it, Ms. Morrison.

– By Carlin Romano

but its very richness and strangeness tie the tongue of a traveller who would report them.”

Tolkien’s Elves were grim warriors with tall spears and tragic tales of lost love, greed and despair.

On a lighter note, also in the anthology, is“Farmer Giles of Ham,” a short story that skewers heroic dragon-slaying classics.“Smith of Wootton Major” is more traditionally a“Faerie”story with a magical star and traveller lost in forbidden realms.“Leaf by Niggle”is about a painter.

Fans of the Lord of the Rings will find its 16 poems interesting.When they were first printed together in 1962, Tolkien puts them within the context of the popular Rings trilogy saying, for example, that the poem“The Sea-Bell”was written by the tormented hero Frodo Baggins and others by last ring-bearer Sam Gamgee.

Compiled in one place, with new illustrations from Alan Lee, Tales from the Perilous Realm will be enjoyed by any Tolkien reader.

– By Tish Wells

Roger Moore on being James Bond My Word is My Bond

0By Sir Roger Moore 0Harper Collins, US$18.45, via Amazon

Roger Moore made seven James Bond films – more than any other actor who played 007. And he’s lived to tell all in his new autobiography, My Tales From the Perilous Realm Word Is My Bond.

0By J.R.R. Tolkien But Moore, 81, may not 0Harper Collins, NZ$27 tell what he thinks of the newest Bond, Daniel Craig, One of the great joys of readwho stars in the Quantum of ing J.R.R. Tolkien’s work is Solace. Moore writes in the book that when asked reading him aloud. Nowhere about subsequent Bond films, his answer is always is this clearer than in the first the same:“Sorry, I’ve never seen them. That saves story in Tales from the Perilous lying!”

Realm, a new compilation of But he does talk about his career highlights as Tolkien’s smaller works.

007: In Roverandum,Tolkien tells •His first injury filming a Bond movie. While the story of a lost toy dog that shooting the speedboat chase in New Orleans for has fantastic adventures – a 1973’s Live and Let Die, Moore cracked his front story he told to his young son. It is among the treas- teeth and twisted his knee after accidentally steerures that are now collected in one volume. ing into a wood boathouse.“There I was, a fearless Included is an excellent introduction by St. Louis 007, hobbling on a cane to my boat and then preUniversity’s Tolkien scholar Professor Tom Ship- tending to be indestructible for the cameras,” he pey, solid prologues, and a conclusion written by writes.“Who says I can’t act?” well-known Tolkien artist Alan Lee, who illustrates •Bond, sweet Bond. Producers wanted Moore to the book. “toughen up”his Bond for The Man With the Golden Tolkien started creating his universe as early as Gun (1974).“I think it’s most evident in the scenes his teens. His first mention of fairies was in 1910 I had with Maud Adams, where I twisted her arm when Tolkien was 18 and still at Birmingham’s King and threatened – rather coldly – to break it unless Edward’s School. Five years later he was sent to she told me what I wanted to know,”Moore writes.

France and wounded in the trench warfare of World Moore didn’t like that, suggesting that his Bond War I. would have charmed the information out of her.“My By the end of 1917, Tolkien, recovering in a Bond was a lover and a giggler.” military hospital, had sketched out much of the •His favourite Bond film. The Spy Who Loved Me background for Middle Earth’s history, the very rich (1977), about an evil plot to create an underwater background behind the classic fantasy tales of The world. Moore writes that it “suited my style and Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. my persona.”

Over the next 30 years Tolkien wrote, rewrote, •Bad breath on Moonraker set. For his role in reworked, added to, subtracted from and occasion- 1979’s Moonraker, Moore imagined that Jaws actor ally published outtakes of his fictional universe. By Richard Kiel had bad breath.“You’ll see I looked day he was the Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford mildly repulsed whenever I’m in a scene with a badUniversity, but at night his fertile mind was con- die,”Moore says of the technique he had developed structing novellas, short stories and poems for his while making Bond films. children, grandchildren and publishers.

•Those Bond gadgets didn’t really work. RememIn 1939, Tolkien gave a lecture on the nature of ber when Bond uses his “magnetic watch”to unzip fairy stories, a topic he expanded on in a 1945 essay an Italian agent’s dress in Live and Let Die? Thank a “On Fairy-stories.” In Tolkien’s vision of “Faerie,” special effects technician for making it work, Moore there were no candy-coloured winged dancing elves writes, by fixing a metal wire inside the dress and small enough to fit in tulips such as were common to the back of her zipper, then placing his head in Victorian England. His “Faerie”was “a perilous inside her dress and gently pulling as Moore ran land, and in it are pitfalls for the unwary and dun- his watch down her back and he said the line:“Sheer geons for the overbold. ... In that realm a man may, magnetism.” perhaps, count himself fortunate to have wandered, – By Valerie Kellogg

Before there were hobbits

HEALTH

16

14 November 2008

Study: exercise good for heart patients

By Sarah Avery McClatchy Newspapers

RALEIGH, N.C. – Contrary to popular belief, people with heart failure can work out at the gym, ride bikes and participate in other exercises that once were considered dangerously strenuous, a large international study led by Duke University researchers has found.

The findings free heart patients to be active, and are likely to fuel an effort to change public policy, study authors say. Currently, Medicare and many private insurers do not cover doctor-guided exercise programs for patients who have heart failure.

The disease, which afflicts millions in the West, is diagnosed when the heart loses pumping force because of blockages, a heart attack or other causes.

Treatments costs governments and insurers billions a year.

For many doctors, the lack of insurance coverage was stuck in old fears that exercise would create a strain that could kill heart failure patients. In more recent years, smaller studies have shown that exercise is helpful, but the findings weren’t large enough to influence coverage decisions.

The Duke study was designed in size and scope to be definitive. It followed 2,331 patients at 82 health centres in the United States, Canada and France for more than two years. Half the patients got the normal care, including checkups and hypertension drugs.The other half got normal care, plus they were asked to start exercising on a treadmill or stationary bike for 30 minutes at least three times a week.

“We were very pleased, first and foremost, to see the safety,”said Dr. Christopher O’Connor, a Duke cardiologist who presented the study’s findings Wednesday during a meeting of the American Heart Association.

But there wasn’t a blockbuster finding that exercise is hugely beneficial to heart failure patients.

Physical activity appears to offer no extra protection from overall hospitalizations or death, although it does result in a 15 percent lower risk of major cardiac events.

O’Connor said exercise might actually be more helpful than the findings indicate, because the study skewed care.Participants in the non-exercise group got intensive time and attention from doctors as part of the research,and some may have worked out on their own – factors that likely improved their health.

“In the real world, the lift (provided by exercise) will be higher,”O’Connor said.

Perhaps the biggest impediment facing the researchers was the drop-off in compliance among the exercise group. By the end of the study, only about half of those assigned to exercise were working out the minimum three times a week – a phenomenon among all heart patients that has long frustrated doctors.

“It’s a matter of changing behaviour,” said Dr. Sidney Smith Jr., a cardiologist at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and past president of the American Heart Association.“People are quite willing to take a pill or have a procedure, but it’s another thing to get them to diet, stop smoking and exercise.”

Living with children

By John Rosemond

Here’s something you already know, but don’t know you know: Children love to be ignored. Mind you, I’m not talking about neglect. I’m talking about ignored, as in being seen and not heard, out from underfoot, free to do their own thing without adults hovering neurotically over them making sure everything in their lives is all right and meaningful from moment to moment.

These days, the problem is that the overwhelming majority of children have never experienced the benefits and blessings of being ignored; therefore, they don’t know that being ignored is the preferable state of affairs.

These children have been the centre of attention in their families from day one. So, having learned that being the centre of attention is essential to their wellbeing, they can’t tolerate being ignored; therefore, they clamour in various ways for attention. In this regard, appearances can be deceiving. Some attention-addicts clamour for attention by being boisterous, interrupting conversations, and the like. Other attention-addicts clamour for attention by acting like they are pitiful.The latter get adults to hover over them, asking solicitous questions like,“Is everything all right?”and“Is there something you need to talk about?”

I asked a recent audience,“Raise your hand if, according to my meaning, you were ignored as a child.”More than half the folks in attendance raised their hands. I then said,“Keep your hand up if you feel blessed to have been ignored.”I didn’t see any hands go down.The folks who did not raise a hand did not disagree.As kids, they simply had not been so benefited.

One reason today’s parents experience the simple responsibility of raising children as stressful is they feel obligated to be giving their children

near-constant attention. The more attention they give, the more attention their children want, and the more stressful parenting becomes. Not so long ago in America, children were not given a lot of attention and they were generally expected to not attract attention to themselves. I can attest, being a child of such expectation, that this is very liberating to a child. It is also very liberating to the child’s parents. Today’s parents can only imagine what it must be like to be able to read a book, do a crossword puzzle, carry on a conversation, fix a cup of tea, putter in the garden, or just sit back and close one’s eyes for an hour without being interrupted.

Today’s parents don’t think they have the right to say to their children such mutually liberating things as “You don’t need a mother/father right now, and I’m not going to be one” or “You don’t have permission to ask me for anything for the next hour, and if you attract any attention to yourself during that time, you’ll be in a mess of trouble with the meanest mom/dad in the world!”Because they have allowed themselves to be victimized by psychobabble, they believe that saying such things to their children will cause psychological distress. Indeed, for a child who has been burdened with too much attention, that’s true. But distress and harm are horses of two different colors.

In this case, the harm is done by giving too much attention for too long.

The distress of suddenly discovering that the entitlement program is over will be short-lived,after which everyone’s quality of life will improve considerably.Freedom from hovering is every bit as wonderful as freedom from the compulsion to hover.

Family psychologist John Rosemond answers parents’ questions on his Web site at http://www.rosemond.com

Physical activity appears to offer no extra protection from overall hospitalizations or death, although it does result in a 15 percent lower risk of major cardiac events

How to get your home cleaner – and greener she says.“She had constantly been using an inhaler and had red puffy eyes.About a year after using them, FRESNO, Calif. – Anyone who has ever cleaned we noticed Yamilex hadn’t had asthma attacks.” a glass shower door with a store-bought cleaner Garcia had to adjust to a new odourless scent promising to remove dreaded soap scum will attest of clean. to trying to do the job as quickly as possible to “I would wonder if the floor was really clean,”she avoid the smell. says.“It didn’t smell like anything.”

Breathing easier was uppermost in Teri Van Huss’s The scent of vinegar became the norm at her mind 10 years ago when she switched to homemade home, and Garcia admits she missed a“flowery fracleansers for her house, using ingredients such as grance.”That was remedied by taking Van Huss’s vinegar, baking soda and lemon juice. The Visalia, suggestion of using drops of essential oils such as Calif., resident did it for her son. lime, lemon, lavender and orange.

“I have a severely disabled son with cerebral The added benefit is“tremendous savings,”Garcia palsy,” she says.“Kids with disabilities have sensi- says.“I use hydrogen peroxide to clean whites, and tive skin and get a lot of rashes. I wanted to make it does get clothes cleaner than bleach. I just use my environment neutral, so I started to study what about an ounce.” was in the cleansers we used.”

Megan Assaf attended a workshop earlier this year.

Van Huss, the director of finance and administra“Knowing you need basically just a handful of tion at the Sequoia Riverlands Trust, is the self-pro- basic things to clean the whole house made it easy claimed “queen of environmentally friendly house to shop and easy to use,”Assaf says.“Instead of a pail cleaning.” She has taught workshops on alterna- full of products, now I just have three.” tives to commercial cleaners at day care centers Assaf says her switch to green cleaning has been and Head Start programs. an easy transition.

Even just a few years ago, she says, people had “My house now smells like the outdoors when I “no clue” about the advantages of green cleaning. clean, instead of some synthetic approximation of “Today, the interest is huge,”she says.“There’s a lot it,”Assaf says.“I’m not breathing in petrochemimore awareness.” cals that give me headaches, fuzzy thinking or lung Anyone with access to a computer can easily tightness.” look up ingredients contained in cleansers and perVan Huss says her ability to relate to other mums sonal grooming products at the U.S. Department helps get her message of avoiding toxic chemicals of Health & Human Services household products at home. database at http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov “I have a child who can’t afford to get sick,”she Still, it’s difficult for some consumers to let go says.“There isn’t anyone who cares more about killof the notion that using harsh household cleansers ing germs than me. It helps that I use these things means a cleaner home. myself. It gives me a lot of credibility.”

“We have been so sold on the idea that a cleanser, Van Huss says stores are now carrying products one we have to wear rubber gloves to use, is better,” such as Seventh Generation, Method and Biokleen Van Huss says.“If it’s not strong enough to kill us, that are plant-based. She also recommends the book then it’s not going to clean.”

“Clean House, Clean Planet”(Pocket Books, US$14) Claudia Garcia of Tulare,Calif.,says Van Huss’nat- by Sharon Logan. ural green cleaning recipes have helped her daugh“It’s a good idea to look at this as a safety issue, ter’s asthma condition.Garcia worked with Van Huss a home is safer when you don’t bring anything into as a translator at green cleaning workshops. it that is dangerous, especially products that have a “I started using Teri’s recipes in our home and danger or warning label on them,”Van Huss says. noticed that our daughter’s asthma had decreased,” – MCT

By Mary Lou Aguirre

SCIENCE & TECH 17

14 November 2008

First photos of new planets Washington – Scientists have taken the first-ever images of a multi-planet solar system orbiting a distant star.

The findings, published online this morning by the journal Science Express, show three planets orbiting a star called HR8799, about 130 light years from Earth and 1.5 times the size of the Sun. Though scientists have found about 200 such distant planets in the last decade,all have been detected through indirect techniques, such as measuring gravitational influence on the star being orbited.

“Every extrasolar planet detected so far has been a wobble on a graph.These are the first pictures of an entire system,”Bruce Macintosh, an astrophysicist and one of the report’s authors, said in a statement.

“We’ve been trying to image planets for eight years with no luck, and now we have pictures of three planets at once.”

The photos were snapped with high-contrast, near-infrared adaptive optics on the Keck and Gemini telescopes in Hawaii.They were first spotted in October 2007.

The planets are much farther from their star than Earth is from the Sun and are vastly larger – seven to 10 times as large as Jupiter, while the star itself is younger and brighter.The star is faintly visible to the naked eye on Earth, in remote regions far from city lights or with an amateur telescope.

Scientists expect additional, smaller planets in the same solar system that may be obscured by a large dust disk surrounding the star.

The planets are much farther from their star than Earth is from the Sun and are vastly larger – seven to 10 times as large as Jupiter, while the star itself is younger and brighter. The star is faintly visible to the naked eye on Earth “I think there’s a very high probability that there are more planets in the system that we can’t detect yet,”Macintosh said.“One of the things that distinguishes this system from most of the extrasolar planets that are already known is that HR8799 has its giant planets in the outer parts – like our solar system does – and so has ‘room’ for smaller terrestrial planets – far beyond our current ability to see – in the inner parts.”

The planets are about 60 million years old, young by planetary standards, and are still“glowing”with heat from their formation, scientists said.

– DPA

TECHNOLOGY Q&A

Pesticides more dangerous than thought PITTSBURGH, Nov. 14 – U.S. scientists studying 10 of the world’s most popular approved pesticides say, when combined, the chemicals caused 99 percent mortality in tadpoles.

University of Pittsburgh researchers said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-approved pesticides, when mixed together, can decimate amphibian populations even if the concentration of the individual chemicals is within limits considered safe.

Such cocktails of contaminants are frequently detected in nature,the scientists said,noting their findings offer the first illustration of how a large mixture of pesticides can adversely impact the environment.

Associate Professor Rick Relyea, the study’s lead

author, exposed gray tree frog and leopard frog tadpoles to small amounts of the 10 pesticides – insecticides carbaryl, chlorpyrifos, diazinon, endosulfan, and malathion, as well as five herbicides: acetochlor, atrazine, glyphosate, metolachlor, and 2,4-D. He used each of the pesticides alone, the insecticides combined, a mix of the five herbicides, or all 10 of the poisons.

Relyea found a mixture of all 10 chemicals killed 99 percent of leopard frog tadpoles, as did the insecticide-only mixture.

The study is detailed in the online edition of the journal Oecologia.

– UPI

Life pre-wired to adapt PRINCETON, N.J., Nov. 14 – U.S. scientists have discovered the chains of proteins found in most living organisms act as adaptive machines, able to control their own evolution.

Princeton University researchers said their finding appears to offer evidence of a hidden mechanism that guides the way biological organisms respond to the forces of natural selection. That, they said, provides a new perspective on evolution.

Researchers Raj Chakrabarti, Herschel Rabitz, Stacey Springs and George McLendon made the discovery while conducting experiments on proteins constituting the electron transport chain, a biochemical network essential for metabolism.

A mathematical analysis of the experiments

showed the proteins themselves acted to correct any imbalance imposed on them through artificial mutations and restored the chain to working order.

The discovery answers an age-old question that has puzzled biologists since the time of Darwin: How can organisms be so exquisitely complex, if evolution is completely random, operating like a ‘blind watchmaker’? said Chakrabarti, an associate research scholar. Our new theory extends Darwin’s model, demonstrating how organisms can subtly direct aspects of their own evolution to create order out of randomness.

The research was published in a recent edition of Physical Review Letters.

– UPI

Surge protector too worn out to protect new TV

By Steve Alexander Q. I have an almost-new LCD television that suddenly doesn’t turn on. I noticed the problem a couple of days after a lightning storm. I’m puzzled because I have the TV, refrigerator and microwave oven plugged into the same surge protector, which is several years old, and the refrigerator and microwave continue to work. What can I do to troubleshoot the TV, which has been used less than a dozen hours? Also, I’m considering purchasing an LCD HDTV, and now I’m worried it could be damaged the same way. What should I do?

A. If your household suffered a lightning-related power surge, several components in your TV could be damaged. Only a TV technician can tell you what’s wrong and if the set is worth repairing.

But it’s more likely that your TV was harmed by an ordinary electric power surge because your old surge protector was worn out – the protectors sustain some wear every time there’s a surge. (It’s not surprising other household appliances weren’t affected; they’re not as sensitive as TV components.)

If you replace your surge protector, choosing a $40 one rated for 1,000 joules (a unit of energy) should protect a new TV. While the protectors can’t block the surge from a rare direct lightning strike, they can block surges caused indirectly by lightning’s magnetic field.

Q. I recently ran some suggested updates from Microsoft on my computer. My laptop always had audio before, but the icon now says, “No audio output device is installed.” How can I fix this?

A. There have been several reports of this problem. One solution is to undo the updates by running the “system restore” feature, which returns your computer settings to the way they were on a previous calendar date. (In the future, when this problem has been solved by Microsoft, you’ll probably be able to download a cumulative update for Windows that won’t cause this problem.)

To run system restore, go to Start, click “Help and Support” type “system restore” in the search window and click the arrow. From the resulting list select “Run the system restore wizard.” When the wizard program starts, select “restore my computer to an earlier time” and click “next.” Choose a calendar date from before you installed the Microsoft updates; only dates in boldface can be selected.

DISCOVERY

18

14 November 2008

Tourists Brian, left, and Amber Green, right, visit the Crater of Diamonds State Park with their 4-yearold daughter, Alexia. / Allen Holder/Kansas City Star/MCT)

A working holiday: diamond hunting

By Allen Holder

CRATER OF DIAMONDS STATE PARK, Arkansas – In one hand I carried a white plastic bucket strapped to a couple of wood-framed screens. In the other I held on to a small shovel. My camera hung from my shoulder. I should have watched where I was going.

Instead, my eyes stared into the soft brown dirt, occasionally darting from side to side, searching for something, anything, that sparkled.

After all, this was Crater of Diamonds State Park, the eighth-largest depository of diamonds in the world – a 37-acre carpet of diamonds.

Better yet, it’s finder s keepers. I might just find a retirement gem.

It could happen.A couple of days before I arrived on a warm morning in late September, tourist Richard Burke walked away with a 4.68-carat white diamond worth, well, who knows how much.

Why not me?

A little science might be in order about now. Crater of Diamonds sits over an extinct volcano where diamonds began to form more than 3 billion years ago,60 to 100 miles below ground.About 100 million years ago gas and rock blasted to the surface through a volcanic vent, carrying the diamonds along.

In 1906 farmer John Wesley Huddleston found the first diamonds, including a 2.65-carat blue-white sparkler. Not surprisingly, Huddleston’s find set off an Arkansas diamond rush.

Over the years several people tried to mine diamonds commercially, but all were unsuccessful, thanks in part to lawsuits, fires and, most notably, inadequate production.A mine shaft went down 60 feet but didn’t produce any more diamonds per ton than above ground.And it’s a heck of a lot easier to find diamonds above ground.

More than 75,000 diamonds have been discovered since Huddleston’s find, more than 27,000 of them since 1972, when Arkansas bought the land for a state park.

The biggest? A 40.23-carat rough diamond found in 1924 by an employee of the Arkansas Diamond Corp.The Uncle Sam diamond, as it was called, was cut to 12.42 carats and still ranks as the largest diamond ever found in North America.

Since the state park was established, the biggest find was the Amarillo Starlight diamond, which weighed 16.37 carats and was cut to 7.54 carats.

The 3-plus carat Strawn-Wagner diamond, found in 1990, was graded flawless by the American Gem Society and turned into a 1-carat diamond ring. It

was valued at $33,000.

This doesn’t mean diamonds are going to just jump out of the ground and into your hands. Darn it.

“To find a diamond, you have to have a little luck and perseverance,”said Bill Henderson, the park’s assistant superintendent.“The more people come the better their chances.

“We do have people come and say,‘I’m going to find a diamond,’ and they stay until they do.”

Last year 170,000 people – a record – visited the park. More than 1,000 diamonds were uncovered.

Attendance is down about 25 percent this year, Henderson said, probably because of higher gas prices and the slow economy. Still, Richard Burke’s big find was the 612th discovered so far this year.

Autumn is a popular time to hunt, particularly in October, when people travel through the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas to see the changing colours.

“And we’re just as busy in November, around Thanksgiving,” he said. “The campgrounds are full.”

The day before my arrival, four diamonds were found – three white diamonds weighing 7, 10 and 14 points, and a less-valuable 24-point brown diamond.

One carat equals 100 points.

“We can’t promise everybody a diamond,”Henderson said,“but we can promise a family outing that you can’t find anywhere else in the world.”

I was ready to hunt. As I headed to the field, he offered a final piece of advice:“If I were here for only one or two days, I’d look in the ditches and crevices, where Mother Nature has already done a lot of the washing.”

The field didn’t look too promising,to tell the truth – more like a piece of brown Arkansas farmland. In the distance a bulldozer was ploughing, turning over the surface to enhance diamond finds.

Dozens of hunters were scattered across the property. Some were walking methodically back and forth, scouring the ground. Others were sitting in the dirt, or were on their knees, scratching through the surface with their fingers. Some people were standing, bent over as they dug into the ground with a shovel.

Where to start?

Brian and Amber Green had faced the same problem before settling on a patch of ground to explore.

“Nothing specific,”said Brian Green, on one knee, digging with a small spade.“It was just kind of downhill where water had been flowing.”

The Greens were on a weeklong camping trip in the area with their 4-year-old daughter, Alexia, and decided to spend the day looking for buried treasure.

“We’ll stay at least until after lunch, a few hours,” he said.

So far, no luck.

“I think we’re just digging in the dirt,”Amber Green said.

“I think we need to invest in a diamond detector,” said Brian.

About 50 metres away, Donna Hance, granddaughter Haley Long and Donna’s aunt Eva Funkhouser were still hoping for a miracle.

Their plan?

“A lady told me how to find them,” Hance said.

“She said to walk until you find something sparkling.

Then you keep your eye on it and walk up to it.”

Sounds reasonable.

“But I think we’re going to go get some shovels,” she said.

As I neared the bulldozer, I decided one spot probably was as promising as another. So I picked a spot, pushed the shovel into the ground and filled my bucket.

Besides searching on the surface, diamond hunters can dry-sift with screens to find their gems, or wet-sift. I had decided to try my luck with the wet method.

I trudged down to a covered area where about 15 people were carefully sluicing through the dirt in huge troughs of dirty water.

I had two screens – one with a larger mesh than the other. I placed that one on top of the other screen and filled it with dirt. The idea is that the larger rocks – maybe even the “retirement diamonds” – would stay on the top screen while the smaller rocks would sift through and settle on the smaller screen. Only the dirt was supposed to sift through both screens.

It wasn’t that easy, though.The dirt often came in hard clumps and didn’t dissolve quickly in the water, so it stayed with the rocks.

Henderson had told me that dirt doesn’t stick to diamonds, so they’ll stand out, kind of oily, among the other pebbles and rocks. But I didn’t see anything that looked at all shiny. No diamonds, agates, garnets, amethysts or any other of the valuable gems found here.

I started over with a new shovelful of dirt.This was starting to feel a little like feeding a slot machine.

With each unsuccessful screen of dirt, I was grow-

IF YOU GO GETTING THERE Crater of Diamonds State Park is in southwest Arkansas about 3km southeast of the small town of Murfreesboro. It’s about about 145 km southwest of Little Rock.

GETTING IN The park is open 8 a.m.-5 p.m. in the off-season and 8 a.m.-8 p.m. from Memorial to Labour Day. It’s closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. Admission, which includes access to the diamond field, is US$6.50 for adults, $3.50 for children age 6-12, free for younger children.

DIAMOND HUNTING Fortune hunters are allowed to take home up to a 5-gallon bucket of processed rocks a day, said Bill Henderson, the park’s assistant superintendent.

“We can tell you how much they weigh, whether they are diamonds, but we won’t appraise them,” he said.

The park does not allow people to buy and sell diamonds in the park, but it does go on. Buyer beware.

“We caution people about buying diamonds in the park,” Henderson said. “It’s like going to a flea market.”

Hunters are allowed to use their own tools as long as they are not battery- or motor-operated.

The park also rents equipment, although it’s not really necessary to use any tools. A basic diamond-hunting kit, which includes a 3 {-gallon bucket, a folding shovel, screens and a shovel, costs $7.75 a day, plus a $35 refundable deposit.

WHAT ELSE TO DO The diamond-hunting field covers 37 acres, but there’s more to do in the 900-plus acre park.

The 1.2-mile River Trail takes visitors from the campground to the Little Missouri River. The 1.2-mile Prospector Trail leads past unusual rock outcroppings. A shorter gravel trail leads to a wildlife observation bind.

In summer the park operates a 14,700-square-foot water park. Interpretive programs also are offered in summer.

WHERE TO STAY (all prices US dollars): The park has 59 campsites for $17 a night, $8.50 December-February.

Water and electric hookups are available, as well as bathhouses and laundry facilities.

In Murfreesboro: • Queen of Diamonds Inn, 318 N. Washington. 54 rooms from $89, double. 001 870-285-3105, www. diamondsinn.com.

• American Heritage Inn, 705 N. Washington. 21 rooms from $49.95, double, in off-season. 001 870-285-2131 .

TO LEARN MORE Contact Crater of Diamonds State Park at 001 870-285-3113 or www.craterofdiamondsstatepark.com.

ing less optimistic.And after awhile, as Iscrutinized every little pebble in my bent-over stance, my back began to ache.

I headed back into the field, following the bulldozer again. I filled my pail and began another round.With the same luck.

As near I as could tell, nobody else was hitting the jackpot, either.The other fortune hunters bantered good-naturedly with one another, comparing their finds.

“What do you think this is?”they asked.

Denny Bradley of Peoria, Ill., was perhaps the most serious in the group.

After all, he’d been here before, and he’d found a diamond.

“It was the size of a head of a pin,”said Bradley, who grew up in Grandview.“No, you could put it on the head of a pin. I didn’t even bother turning it in.”

Bradley, who said he had done a little gold prospecting, too, was using a three-screen sifting method that he designed especially for his trip to Arkansas.

“By classifying the material first,I can go through it faster,”he said.

Any finds?

“I might have,”he said.“I have a jar full of maybes.”

He held out a small vial containing several little rocks.

“These are all my promising ones,”he said.

Hope springs eternal.

NEWSFOCUS

14 November 2008

19

Much more is going on in Darfur than climate change, but crop scarcity in the region has pushed rival ethnic groups onto the same turf

The climate wars

By Scott Canon McClatchy Newspapers

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A warmer planet could find itself more often at war.The Earth’s fast-changing climate has a range of serious thinkers – from military brass to geographers to diplomats – predicting a spate of armed conflicts driven by the weather.

Shifting temperatures lead to shifting populations, they say, and that throws together groups with long-standing rivalries and thrusts them into competition for food and water.

“It’s not hard to imagine violent outbursts,”said Julianne Smith of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

Smith helped write one of four major studies put out in a little more than a year by centrist organizations in Europe and the United States that warn climate change threatens to spark wars in a variety of ways.

Each report predicted starkly similar problems: gunfire over land and natural resources as oncebountiful soil turns to desert and coastlines slip below the sea. They also expect violent storms to unsettle weak governments and set up dispirited radicals in revolt.

Security analysts say profound dangers are just years, not decades, away.They already see evidence of societies at odds.

Ethnic groups clash in Sudan’s Darfur region, trading gunfire in a conflict with climatological overtones. The armed thugs who rule Myanmar were exposed, and their regime knocked back on its heels, when Cyclone Nargis killed tens of thousands of people in May and the leadership responded so poorly. Likewise, hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 began the fall of President George W. Bush’s approval ratings.

Much more is going on in Darfur than climate change, but crop scarcity in the region has pushed rival ethnic groups onto the same turf.

Even those scientists who are most adamant that the planet is warming in unnatural ways don’t blame

single storms on climate change. But even conservative climatologists predict crazier weather that is capable of toppling governments.

“Governments that are already weak will be destabilized much more often and much more easily,”said Jay Gulledge, a senior scientist at the Pew Centre on Global Climate Change.“And if cooperation isn’t enough to stretch resources, then what happens?”

Mounting studies suggest a number of potentially violent scenarios: People see their fertile land turn arid and migrate – packing them closer to historical and newfound adversaries.

Countries already weak or crippled by corruption tip into chaos with even moderate climate change.

Crop failures spur violent uprisings and give new energy to ethnic grudges in the face of famine.

Competition for resources – food, water, oil – grows more tense in times of scarcity.

Economic collapse in North Africa gives rise to Islamist extremism as blame for climate change focuses on the West. By accident of history and geography, Islamic countries feel the first profound effects of climate change.

Flooding of coastal areas – particularly in South Asia and the United States – force severe migration and alter regional and even national identities.

A push to revive the nuclear power industry – as a way to find energy that doesn’t belch more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere – masks rogue countries’ efforts to build atomic weapons.

Although still controversial in some circles – Congress has split along partisan lines over whether the military should plan for global warming – the scientific consensus is that the Industrial Revolution increased greenhouse gases that set off an unprecedented rate of climate change.

Growing seasons could lengthen. Frozen seas could thaw to make way for convenient shipping routes. Previously inaccessible spots could be ripe to gush oil.

Meantime, wetlands could dry up. Rivers could

disappear. Scientists already think that hurricanes, blizzards and droughts are more frequent and more severe. Rising sea levels could send tens of millions of people scurrying for higher ground.

“The idea that somehow there are winners in this is wrong,”said Peter Ogden, a security analyst at the Centre for American Progress.“Even places that come out ahead”– with a longer growing season, for instance – “will see pressure on them from outside from the losers.”

Last year the Centre for Naval Analyses gathered retired generals and admirals to gauge the potential for climate to cause conflict.The former commanders concluded that war would be more likely, that the U.S. military needed to plan for the new threats, and that the United States had to reduce its carbon emissions.

“We will pay for this one way or another,”wrote retired Marine Gen.Anthony Zinni, the former chief of the U.S. Central Command.“We will pay to reduce greenhouse gas emissions today, and we’ll have to take an economic hit of some kind. Or, we will pay the price later in military terms. And that will involve human lives.There will be a human toll.”

Already, the effects pose logistical headaches for the military.

The retreat of ice in the Arctic Ocean means more water for the Navy to patrol.Yet it sports only two aged ships designed to patrol in icy waters while Russia and Canada have far larger fleets capable of sailing the region.

In the tropics, British and U.S. forces have come to rely on the remote Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia as a key staging ground – including for the Missouri-based B-2 stealth bomber.With an average elevation of just 4 feet above sea level, the melting of ice near the Earth’s poles could raise oceans and flood runways there.

Even as the planet becomes harder to navigate, the military could be called on with increasing regularity to respond to humanitarian crises set off by the upswing in severe storms.

Developing countries stand most at risk, the stud-

ies conclude.Those countries lack the resources to absorb resulting disasters.

Consider Bangladesh. Long riddled by crushing poverty, it lies in a region that scientists expect will see even more devastating storms and the steady retreat of its coastline. That could send even more Bangladeshi Muslims running to the fence that predominantly Hindu India is building to keep them out.

Likewise, weather patterns that make it harder to grow food in Latin America could increase the rush to cross the southern U.S. border.

“People will pay no attention to borders. They will swamp borders. They will trample over them in desperation,”said Raymond Callahan, a military historian at the University of Delaware.

Even efforts to mitigate global warming could prove dangerous.

Nuclear power doesn’t add greenhouse gases, but it could mean the spread of doomsday technology to unstable parts of the world. Iran already is thought to be cloaking nuclear weapons ambitions inside “peaceful”nuclear facilities.

The technology needed for nuclear power also can produce weapons-grade uranium.

“If you don’t have a lot of safeguards in sharing the technology, you’re going to have a lot of problems,”said Richard Weitz, a Hudson Institute analyst who consulted on one of the climate-security reports.

The pluses of climate change – new shipping routes through the Arctic, land newly suitable for cultivation, fresh access to oil fields – could set large militaries on edge.

In August 2007, a Russian diver went almost three miles beneath the North Pole to plant a titanium flag and claim 463,000 square miles for his country.

That came as Canada was boosting its military presence in the Arctic.

“When climate changes, then a lot of things follow,” said Sherri Goodman, who helped direct the Centre for Naval Analyses study.“People come into conflict.”

NZ CLASSIC

20

14 November 2008

A momentous interview (Part 1)

Acclaimed science fiction writer Jules Verne didn’t just write Around the World in 80 Days, he also wrote an epic about New Zealand and Australia called In Search of the Castaways, published in 1867. If you missed the previous instalment of this serial, you can download it here.

The Maori chief stared fixedly at his prisoner moment from the frenzied natives, the captives lay down on the flax without speaking; and then, with a nod, he silenced mats. Lady Helena was quite exhausted, her moral energies prostrate, the noisy horde. Glenarvan bowed, as a sign of and she fell helpless into her husband’s arms. thanks, and went slowly back to his place.

Glenarvan pressed her to his bosom and said: At this moment a hundred Maoris were assem“Courage, my dear Helena; Heaven will not forsake us!” bled in the“pah,”old men, full grown men, youths; the Robert was scarcely in when he jumped on Wilson’s shoulders, and former were calm, but gloomy, awaiting the orders squeezed his head through a crevice left between the roof and the walls, of Kai-Koumou; the others gave themselves up to from which chaplets of amulets were hung.From that elevation he could the most violent sorrow, bewailing their parents and see the whole extent of the“pah,”and as far as Kai-Koumou’s house. friends who had fallen in the late engagements.

“They are all crowding round the chief,” said he softly.“They are Kai-Koumou was the only one of all the chiefs throwing their arms about. . . . They are howling... Kai-Koumou is that obeyed the call of William Thompson, who had trying to speak.” returned to the lake district, and he was the first to Then he was silent for a few minutes. announce to his tribe the defeat of the national insur“Kai-Koumou is speaking. . . . The savages are quieter... They are rection, beaten on the plains of the lower Waikato. listening...”

Of the two hundred warriors who, under his orders, “Evidently,” said the Major,“this chief has a personal interest in hastened to the defence of the soil, one hundred and protecting us. He wants to exchange his prisoners for some chiefs of fifty were missing on his return.Allowing for a number his tribe! But will his warriors consent?”

An unfathomable gulf twenty-five miles long, and twenty miles broad being made prisoners by the invaders, how many must be lying on the “Yes! . . . They are listening... They have dispersed, some are gone was produced, but long before historic times, by the falling in of cav- field of battle, never to return to the country of their ancestors! into their huts. . . .The others have left the entrenchment.” erns among the trachytic lavas of the centre of the island.And these This was the secret of the outburst of grief with which the tribe “Are you sure?”said the Major. waters falling from the surrounding heights have taken possession of saluted the arrival of Kai-Koumou. Up to that moment nothing had “Yes, Mr. McNabbs,”replied Robert,“Kai-Koumou is left alone with this vast basin.The gulf has become a lake, but it is also an abyss, and been known of the last defeat, and the fatal news fell on them like a the warriors of his canoe... Oh! one of them is coming up here...” no lead-line has yet sounded its depths. thunder clap.

“Come down, Robert,”said Glenarvan.

Such is the wondrous lake of Taupo, lying 1,250 feet above the level Among the savages,sorrow is always manifested by physical signs;the At this moment Lady Helena,who had risen,seized her husband’s arm. of the sea, and in view of an amphitheatre of mountains 2,400 feet high. parents and friends of deceased warriors,the women especially,lacerated “Edward,” she said in a resolute tone,“neither Mary Grant nor I On the west are rocky peaks of great size; on the north lofty summits their faces and shoulders with sharpened shells.The blood spurted out must fall into the hands of these savages alive!” clothed with low trees; on the east a broad beach with a road track, and and blended with their tears. Deep wounds denoted great despair.The And so saying, she handed Glenarvan a loaded revolver. covered with pumice stones, which shimmer through the leafy screen unhappy Maoris, bleeding and excited, were hideous to look upon.

“Fire-arm!”exclaimed Glenarvan, with flashing eyes. of the bushes; on the southern side rise volcanic cones behind a forest There was another serious element in their grief. Not only had they “Yes! The Maoris do not search their prisoners. But, Edward, this flat. Such is the majestic frame that encloses this vast sheet of water lost the relative or friend they mourned, but his bones would be miss- is for us, not for them.” whose roaring tempests rival the cyclones of Ocean. ing in the family mausoleum. In the Maori religion the possession of Glenarvan slipped the revolver under his coat; at the same moment The whole region boils like an immense cauldron hung over subter- these relics is regarded as indispensable to the destinies of the future the mat at the entrance was raised, and a native entered. ranean fires. The ground vibrates from the agitation of the central life; not the perishable flesh, but furnace. Hot springs filter out everywhere.The crust of the earth cracks the bones, which are collected in great rifts like a cake, too quickly baked. with the greatest care, cleaned, About a quarter of a mile off, on a craggy spur of the mountain scraped, polished, even varnished, stood a “pah,”or Maori fortress.The prisoners, whose feet and hands and then deposited in the“urupa,” were liberated, were landed one by one, and conducted into it by the that is the “house of glory.”These warriors.The path which led up to the entrenchment, lay across fields tombs are adorned with wooden of “phormium” and a grove of beautiful trees, the “kaikateas” with statues, representing with perpersistent leaves and red berries;“Dracaenas australis,”the “ti-trees” fect exactness the tattoo of the of the natives, whose crown is a graceful counterpart of the cabbage- deceased. But now their tombs palm, and“huious,”which are used to give a black dye to cloth. Large would be left empty, the religious doves with metallic sheen on their plumage, and a world of starlings rites would be unsolemnised, and with reddish carmeles, flew away at the approach of the natives. the bones that escaped the teeth After a rather circuitous walk, Glenarvan and his party arrived of the wild dog would whiten at the “pah.” without burial on the field of The fortress was defended by an outer enclosure of strong palisades, battle. fifteen feet high; a second line of stakes; then a fence composed of osiThen the sorrowful chorus ers, with loop-holes, enclosed the inner space, that is the plateau of redoubled. The menaces of the the“pah,”on which were erected the Maori buildings, and about forty women were intensified by the huts arranged symmetrically. imprecations of the men against When the captives approached they were horror-struck at the sight the Europeans. Abusive epithets of the heads which adorned the posts of the inner circle. Lady Helena were lavished, the accompanyand Mary Grant turned away their eyes more with disgust than with ing gestures became more violent. terror.These heads were those of hostile chiefs who had fallen in battle, The howl was about to end in bruand whose bodies had served to feed the conquerors.The geographer tal action. recognized that it was so, from their eye sockets being hollow and Kai-Koumou, fearing that he deprived of eye-balls. might be overpowered by the Glenarvan and his companions had taken in all this scene at a fanatics of his tribe, conducted glance.They stood near an empty house, waiting the pleasure of the his prisoners to a sacred place, chief, and exposed to the abuse of a crowd of old crones.This troop of on an abruptly raised plateau harpies surrounded them, shaking their fists, howling and vociferating. at the other end of the “pah.”

Some English words that escaped their coarse mouths left no doubt This hut rested against a mound that they were clamouring for immediate vengeance. elevated a hundred feet above In the midst of all these cries and threats, Lady Helena, tranquil to it, which formed the steep outer all outward seeming, affected an indifference she was far from feeling. buttress of the entrenchment. In This courageous woman made heroic efforts to restrain herself, lest this “Ware-Atoua,” sacred house, she should disturb Glenarvan’s coolness. Poor Mary Grant felt her the priests or arikis taught the heart sink within her, and John Mangles stood by ready to die in her Maoris about a Triune God, father, behalf. His companions bore the deluge of invectives each according son, and bird, or spirit.The large, to his disposition; the Major with utter indifference, Paganel with well constructed hut, contained exasperation that increased every moment. the sacred and choice food which Glenarvan,to spare Lady Helena the attacks of these witches,walked Maoui-Ranga-Rangui eats by the straight up to Kai-Koumou, and pointing to the hideous group: mouths of his priests.

TO VIEW THE TRAILER FOR EXPELLED – THE MOVIE, CLICK HERE “Send them away,”said he.

In this place, and safe for the