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[JohnCenaFan28]

Former President George Bush Senior has endorsed John McCain in his bid to be the Republicans' presidential nominee.



Mr Bush, father of the current US president, said Mr McCain's character was "forged in the crucible of war" and he was best prepared to lead the US.

The endorsement, which may help unite the party behind Mr McCain, comes ahead of bi-party primary votes in Wisconsin and a Democratic primary in Hawaii.

Mr McCain is leading the Republican race, ahead of Mike Huckabee.

He is considered almost certain to be the eventual Republican nominee, having already won 843 of the 1,191 delegates he needs to secure the nomination.

However, Mr McCain has not been popular with more conservative Republicans because of his relatively moderate views on abortion, immigration reform and gay marriage.

'Character and values'

Speaking in Texas with Mr McCain by his side, Mr Bush Senior said he believed Mr McCain was the best equipped to lead the country.


I think that our effort to continue to unite the party will be enhanced dramatically by President Bush's words
John McCain

"No-one is better prepared to lead our nation at these trying times than Senator John McCain," Mr Bush said.

"His character was forged in the crucible of war. His commitment to America is beyond any doubt. But most importantly, he has the right character and values to guide our nation."

Mr Bush dismissed criticism of Mr McCain's conservative credentials by some high-profile commentators as "grossly unfair".

He said Mr McCain had "a sound conservative record" and also praised his ability to reach across the aisle to the Democrats when needed.

Mr McCain's failed effort to forge bi-partisan legislation to reform the US immigration system last year has troubled many in the party's more conservative wing.

Mr McCain, a Vietnam veteran who spent more than five years as a prisoner of war, said he was honoured to have the support of the former president.

"I think that our effort to continue to unite the party will be enhanced dramatically by President Bush's words," he said.

Mr Bush's endorsement comes only four days after that of Mitt Romney, the former contender for the nomination who dropped out of the race after disappointing results earlier this month.

Delegate hunt

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have been campaigning for the Democratic Party nomination in Wisconsin over the weekend.

Barack Obama speaks at the annual Democratic Party of Wisconsin dinner, 16 Feb 2008
Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton attended a Wisconsin Democratic party event

Mrs Clinton released a detailed economic plan on Monday, which her campaign hopes will win her support among working and middle class families struggling amid the country's economic downturn.

Polls suggest Tuesday's vote in Wisconsin will be close.

Wisconsin has 92 delegates up for grabs, while Hawaii - where Mr Obama was born - has 20 on offer.

Mr Obama's campaign confirmed that he had travelled to North Carolina on Sunday for a meeting with former Democratic contender John Edwards, who suspended his campaign before the 5 February Super Tuesday vote.

He told a Wisconsin TV channel that the meeting had been "to talk about how we can move the party in a direction that focuses on middle-class issues - relieving poverty, reducing the influence of special interests in Washington".

Both Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton are also focusing their efforts on the delegate-rich states of Texas and Ohio, which will stage primary elections on 4 March.

Mrs Clinton is currently trailing Barack Obama with 1,220 delegates to his 1,275. It will take 2,025 delegates to secure the nomination at the party's national convention this summer.

BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed were murdered, Dodi's father Mohamed Al Fayed has told the inquest into their deaths in a car crash in Paris in 1997.



Harrods owner Mr Al Fayed claimed former prime minister Tony Blair, MI5, MI6 and the British ambassador to France were all part of the conspiracy.

And he said Princess Diana "knew Prince Philip and Prince Charles were trying to get rid of her".

He also said Diana had told him she was pregnant, and the couple were engaged.

"I am the only person they told," he said.

'Crocodile wife'

Asked by Ian Burnett QC, counsel to the inquest, if he stood by his claim that Diana and Dodi were "murdered by the British security services on the orders of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh", Mr Al Fayed replied: "Yes."

He also pinpointed alleged security forces in the ambulance crew, the then British Ambassador to France Sir Michael Jay and the princess's brother-in-law Sir Robert Fellowes as all being involved in the plot.

And he said Prince Charles was complicit, hoping to make way so he could marry his "crocodile wife" Camilla Parker Bowles.


My belief (they) were murdered was confirmed when I learned Lord Condon and Lord Stevens did not show the coroner the note
Mohamed Al Fayed

Al Fayed's 'moment' in court

The Harrods boss also raised concerns about a note written by Diana's divorce lawyer, Lord Mishcon, after an October 1995 meeting. It outlined her fears there was a plot to kill her in a car crash.

The police agreed to hand it to the coroner only after Diana's former butler, Paul Burrell, produced a note from the princess making similar allegations in the Daily Mirror in October 2003. By that time, Sir John Stevens led the Met.

Mr Al Fayed said this delay confirmed his "belief that my son and Princess Diana were murdered".

In his evidence, Mr Al Fayed branded Prince Philip a "Nazi" and a "racist" and said: "It's time to send him back to Germany from where he comes."

"You want to know his original name - it ends with Frankenstein," he added.

Wooden box

Mr Al Fayed read out a statement detailing his main concerns about the crash, and the points he felt the inquest should address.

Diana had told him she kept a wooden box and if anything happened to her, the contents should be made public, he said. But it had not been kept safe by Diana's butler Paul Burrell, or her sister, Lady Sarah McCorquodale.

He also said blood samples apparently taken from driver Henri Paul - who was also killed in the crash - did not belong to the Frenchman.


She knew Prince Philip and Prince Charles were trying to get rid of her
Mohamed Al Fayed

Claims point-by-point
Profile of the Harrods boss
Mr Al Fayed felt the murder was likely to have been carried out by photographer James Andanson, who has since died, on the orders of the security services.

During his evidence, Mr Al Fayed held up a copy of Monday's Sun newspaper, which claims Paul Burrell said he had not told the whole truth to the inquest.

He said of Mr Burrell: "He's been sitting here in the witness box talking about baloney things. It's important to bring him back."

Lord Justice Scott Baker later told the court: "This is something that's certainly being investigated."

The coroner said he had called for the Sun's tape and would want to know the circumstances under which it was obtained.

Richard Horwell QC for the Metropolitan Police Commissioner put it to Mr Al Fayed that he had denied Diana "dignity in death" by raising the question of her pregnancy.

The barrister added that "witness after witness" had been asked about her method of contraception and her menstrual cycle, "and the evidence shows she could not have been pregnant".

Mr Al Fayed replied: "All the witnesses who have been saying this are part of the cover-up and have been told what to say."

The Harrods owner broke down when asked about the moment he was told Dodi was dead.

He said someone from security told him, but when asked if he remembered a call from Ritz hotel president Frank Klein, he answered: "It's difficult. I'd like to know why you are asking me things like that."

Mr Klein has told the inquest he telephoned Mr Al Fayed to break the news and he replied: "This is not an accident."

BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

Vote counting is well under way in Pakistan after a parliamentary election intended to complete the transition from military to civilian rule.



Opposition supporters have already started celebrating victory.

They are confident supporters of President Pervez Musharraf are heading for a heavy defeat.

Unofficial returns suggest some of the president's leading allies have lost their seats, but it is expected to be some time before a clear trend emerges.

Monday's election was delayed after the killing of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

Although there were none of the major bomb attacks which overshadowed the run-up to the election, a number of people have been killed in clashes between rival party supporters.

There have also been reports of some missing ballot boxes.

Nine killed

Fears of violence dissuaded many of the country's 80 million eligible voters from leaving their homes, and voting in many places was low.


I left my home today, and I prayed to God to bring me back safely
Shah Zeb
Election official

Pakistanis describe the day
Reporters' log
High stakes for Musharraf

In one incident in Daska district in the Punjab, a polling agent from one party reportedly shot dead an agent from a rival party after a dispute.

In another, on Sunday, at least four people, including a candidate, were reported to have been killed after an attack on former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's PML-N party.

BBC journalists also reported a number of voting irregularities across the country:

* BBC correspondent Riaz Sohail was shot at as he approached a polling station in Natario village, Sindh province, to investigate reports of ballot stuffing; Pakistan People's Party (PPP) activists and voters were also fired upon

* In Karachi, protesters from the Awami National Party (ANP) blocked roads and stoned vehicles after an attack on their candidate

* Firing on a polling station in Gujranwala in the Punjab caused voting to be suspended

* The presiding officer of a polling station in east Karachi - a PPP stronghold - said his police escort took him to the wrong location, leaving him 5km (three miles) from the station, meaning polling was delayed by five hours

Nawaz Sharif, after casting his ballot in the eastern city of Lahore, accused the PML-Q party that backs President Musharraf of "committing rigging, and... attacking our candidates and supporters", AFP news agency reported.

The leader of Ms Bhutto's PPP party, her widower Asif Ali Zardari, had threatened to launch street protests in the event of vote-rigging.


Vote counting in Pakistan, 18 February 2008
Most counts will be completed by Tuesday morning

Benazir's ghost
Balance of forces
Pakistan: Key facts

President Musharraf, voting in Rawalpindi, vowed to work in "harmony" with whoever won the polls.

There are many local election observers on the ground, but few international observers, who have either not been invited or complained they could not work freely.

One, US Senator Joseph Biden, said he feared instability if the vote was rigged.

"If the majority of Pakistani people do not think the election was fair then I think we have a real problem," he said.

Security tight

Close to half a million security personnel, including about 80,000 soldiers, have been deployed for the voting.

The BBC's Barbara Plett, outside a polling station in Lahore, described a barrier designed to prevent car bombs and a heavy police presence.

She said men and women were in separate queues for voting.

In one tribal area near Peshawar, she said, elders had banned women from voting.

HAVE YOUR SAY

The difficulty is in foreseeing what changes will come.

Briscott, Pakistan
Send us your comments

In certain areas the fear of violence hung heavy.

In the town of Charsadda, in volatile North West Frontier Province, election official Shah Zeb told the AP news agency: "We're all afraid but what can we do? I left my home today, and I prayed to God to bring me back safely. Now it is in the hands of God."

Prospects

Analysts say polls suggest a fair vote is likely to result in a hung parliament, with none of the three biggest parties winning a majority.

Attention will then turn on the PPP, and whether it chooses to join forces with pro-Musharraf parties, or with Mr Sharif's party.

Mr Sharif is staunchly opposed to the president, and if the two opposition parties jointly gain two-thirds of the seats, they may try to impeach him, correspondents say.

Mr Musharraf stepped down as army chief late last year. He has ruled the country since seizing power in a coup in 1999.

BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

Serbia has recalled its ambassador to Washington in protest at US recognition of Kosovo independence and threatened to withdraw other envoys.



Its Prime Minister, Vojislav Kostunica, told parliament in Belgrade that America had "violated international law for its own interests".

France, the UK, Germany and Italy have also pledged their support for the new state declared on Sunday.

In New York, the UN Security Council is beginning a meeting on the move.

Serbian President Boris Tadic is to ask it to annul the independence declaration, and Belgrade is counting on Russia to veto Kosovo joining the UN as a new nation.

The leading European states which endorsed independence did so after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels in which it was agreed that Kosovo should not set a precedent for other states.

Spain and several other member-states have withheld recognition because of concerns about international law and separatism.

'First measure'

Mr Kostunica said the recall of Serbia's ambassador to the US was the "first urgent measure of the government which will be implemented in all countries that recognise unilateral independence".


KOSOVO PROFILE
Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci with the new Kosovo flag
Population about two million
Majority ethnic Albanian; 10% Serb
Under UN control since Nato drove out Serb forces in 1999
2,000-strong EU staff to take over from UN after independence
Nato to stay to provide security

Speaking to Serbian TV from New York, President Tadic said he intended to "demand from [UN Secretary General] Ban Ki-moon the immediate annulment of the independence proclamation by the non-existent state in Kosovo".

Russia's ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, told the BBC that Kosovo had little to gain from declaring independence.

"There is no way they will get into the United Nations or the OSCE or the Council of Europe," he said.

"So what will they be getting, changing nameplates at the offices of Western countries in Pristina, calling them embassies?"

Serbia's interior ministry has filed criminal charges against Kosovo Albanian leaders instrumental in proclaiming independence, accusing them of proclaiming a "false state" on Serbian territory.

In Belgrade, about 10,000 students marched in protest at the independence declaration, and Serb enclaves inside Kosovo also saw anti-independence rallies.

Serbian security forces were driven out of Kosovo in 1999 after a Nato bombing campaign aimed at halting the violent repression of ethnic Albanian separatists.

The province has been under UN administration and Nato protection since then.

Pledges of support

On Monday, Washington formally recognised Kosovo as a "sovereign and independent state".


STANCE ON RECOGNITION
For: Germany, Italy, France, UK, Austria, US, Turkey, Albania, Afghanistan
Against: Russia, Spain, Romania, Slovakia, Cyprus

In Brussels, EU foreign ministers adopted a compromise proposal from Spain, one of several countries which argue that Kosovo's independence is a breach of international law and will boost separatists everywhere.

The bloc set aside differences by stressing Kosovo's declaration was not a precedent for separatists elsewhere and pledging that the whole Balkan region would eventually join the bloc.

Unanimous recognition of Kosovo was never at stake at the meeting because the EU has no legal right to recognise new states, BBC European affairs correspondent Oana Lungescu notes.

The question was whether, despite their differences on recognition, Europeans could unite on how to bring stability in their backyard, after almost two decades of seemingly endless Balkan crises.

This is an ugly victory for demographic warfare

It took hours of tortuous negotiations but the EU managed to pass the unity test, our correspondent says.

Kosovo, the ministers agreed, was a unique case and did not call into question international legal principles, such as territorial integrity.

The bloc's statement said the EU was ready to play a leading role in the Balkans, with a 2,000-strong police and justice mission headed to Kosovo and new measures to promote economic and political development in the region, including a donors' conference by June.

The EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana said there was a total commitment to bring all the Balkan countries into the EU.

But Kosovo will not be able to get very close until it is recognised by all 27 members, and that may take a long time, our correspondent adds.

Among other countries to recognise Kosovo was Turkey.

Correspondents say this has symbolic significance because for centuries the Ottoman Turks ruled the Balkans, including modern-day Serbia and Kosovo.

BBC News

[reven207]

The mans been claiming that for ten years, just let it go man.

[OMEN]

FIDEL CASTRO: the aging, ailing leader of Cuba has announced he will not return to his post.
Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro has announced that he will not return to lead the country as president or commander-in-chief, retiring as head of state 49 years after he seized power in an armed revolution.
Castro, 81, said in a statement to the country that he would not seek a new presidential term when the National Assembly meets on February 24.

"To my dear compatriots, who gave me the immense honour in recent days of electing me a member of parliament ... I communicate to you that I will not aspire to or accept - I repeat not aspire to or accept - the positions of President of Council of State and Commander in Chief," Castro said in the statement published on the Web site of the Communist Party's Granma newspaper.

The National Assembly or legislature is expected to nominate his brother and designated successor Raul Castro, 76, as president in place of Castro, who has not appeared in public for almost 19 months after being stricken by an undisclosed illness.

The title of "Comandante en Jefe" or commander-in-chief, was created for him in 1958 as the leader of a guerrilla movement that swept down from the mountains of eastern Cuba to overthrow US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista.

Castro's retirement draws the curtain on a political career that spanned the Cold War and survived US enmity, CIA assassination attempts and the demise of Soviet Communism.

A charismatic leader famous for his long speeches delivered in his green military fatigues, Castro is admired in the Third World for standing up to the United States but considered by his opponents a tyrant who suppressed freedom.

His illness and departure from Cuba's helm have raised doubts about the future of the Western Hemisphere's only communist state.

"Fortunately, our Revolution can still count on cadres from the old guard and others who were very young in the early stages of the process," Castro said in his statement.

"They have the authority and the experience to guarantee the replacement," he said.

The bearded leader who took power in an armed uprising against a US-backed dictator in 1959 had temporarily ceded power to his younger brother after he underwent emergency surgery to stop intestinal bleeding in mid-2006.

Castro has only been seen in pictures since then, looking gaunt and frail, though his health improved enough a year ago to allow him to keep in the public mind writing reams of articles published by Cuba's state press.

"This is not my farewell to you. My only wish is to fight as a soldier in the battle of ideas. I shall continue to write under the heading of 'Reflections by comrade Fidel.' It will be just another weapon you can count on. Perhaps my voice will be heard. I shall be careful," Castro said.

Castro could remain politically influential as first secretary of the ruling Communist Party and elder statesman.

Raul Castro, Cuba's long-standing defence minister, has run the country since July 31, 2006 as acting president. He has raised expectations of economic reforms to improve the daily lot of Cubans, but has yet to deliver.

Reuters

[OMEN]

Staffers of Australia's former Howard government's shadowy communication unit left their office in a "pigsty" that took four days to clean up, a committee has heard.

Labor senator Robert Ray said the suite occupied by the Government Members Secretariat (GMS), a small unit which coordinated the government's communication strategy, was smeared in food and damaged by repeated games of indoor cricket.

When cleaners raised objections with GMS staff about the state of the suite, they were told to "pee off", Senator Ray said.

"Is it true it took the cleaners four days to clean up that pigsty of leftover stale food and muck?" Senator Ray asked Department of Parliamentary Services assistant secretary John Nakkan.

"It was left in an absolutely disgraceful state.

"I want to know what the repair bill was to that set of suites from the playing of indoor cricket, because I have 55 photos of the damage that was done."

Mr Nakkan said he was not aware of any damage because responsibility for ministerial wing suites lay with the Department of Finance and Administration.

He said he would check with the cleaners.

Senator Ray said he could not only provide photos, but also had the bat and ball in his office.

"And what's more, I've got the stumps in my office, which happens to be a Mark Vaile poster. So much for parliamentary solidarity," Senator Ray said.

Reuters

[OMEN]

The Philippine military has exhumed what it believes is the body of Dulmatin, an Indonesian militant wanted for the 2002 Bali bombings that killed over 200 people.

"His body was recovered yesterday afternoon," Major General Ben Dolorfino, the marine commandant, said on Tuesday. "We are conducting DNA tests to confirm."

Dolorfino said an informant led them to the body, which was dug up in Tawi-tawi, the southernmost tip of the Philippine archipelago.

Dulmatin, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, has eluded the Philippine military and their US advisors for years, although security forces found his wife in 2006 and their children the following year in a rebel hideout in the Philippine south. They have since been deported to Indonesia.

Washington has offered a $US10 million ($NZ12.73 million) bounty for Dulmatin, a leading member of Jemaah Islamiah, a regional militant network blamed for a series of bombings in Indonesia.

Dulmatin was believed to have fled to the southern Philippines in 2003 with Umar Patek, another JI member, after both were implicated in the Bali blasts, which killed mainly Australian tourists holidaying on the resort island.

Dulmatin was reported injured in a clash with the military on January 31 when they raided his hideout.

"Based on the description of the informant, he suffered gunshots in the head, chest and right foot," said Dolorfino.

Both Dulmatin and Patek have been working with members of Abu Sayyaf, a Philippine group responsible for the bombing of a ferry close to Manila in 2004 that killed over 100 people in the Philippines' worst militant attack.

Foreign Islamic militants have a history of helping to train militant Muslims in the southern Philippines, a largely Catholic country, in bomb-making techniques.

Reuters

[JohnCenaFan28]

A 70-million-year-old fossil of a giant frog has been unearthed in Madagascar by a team of UK and US scientists.



The creature would have been the size of a "squashed beach ball" and weighed about 4kg (9lb), the researchers said.

They added that the fossil, nicknamed Beelzebufo or "frog from hell", was "strikingly different" from present-day frogs found on the island nation.

Details of the discovery are reported in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

The team from University College London (UCL) and Stony Brook University, New York, said the frog would have had a body length of about 40cm (16 inches), and was among the largest of its kind to be found.

"This frog, a relative of today's horned toads, would have been the size of a slightly squashed beach-ball, with short legs and a big mouth," explained co-author Susan Evans, from UCL's Department of Cell and Developmental Biology.

"If it shared the aggressive temperament and 'sit-and-wait' ambush tactics of [present-day] horned toads, it would have been a formidable predator on small animals.

"Its diet would most likely have consisted of insects and small vertebrates like lizards, but it's not impossible that Beelzebufo might even have munched on hatchling or juvenile dinosaurs."

The researchers added that the discovery of the fossil supported the theory that Madagascar and the Indian and South American land masses could have been linked until the Late Cretaceous Period (75-65 million years ago).

"Our discovery of a frog strikingly different from today's Madagascan frogs, and akin to the horned toads previously considered endemic to South America, lends weight to the controversial model," Professor Evans explained.

BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

Sperm defects caused by exposure to environmental toxins can be passed down the generations, research suggests.



Scientists say fathers who smoke and drink should be aware they are potentially not just damaging themselves, but also their heirs.

Tests on rats showed sperm damage caused by exposure to garden chemicals remained up to four generations later.

The US study was presented to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).


If I was a young man I would not drink very heavily and not smoke two packets of cigarettes a day while I was trying to conceive a child
Professor Cynthia Daniels
Rutgers University

It suggests that a father's health plays a greater role in the health of future generations than has been thought.

A team from the University of Idaho in Moscow tested the effects of a hormone-disrupting fungicide chemical called vinclozolin on embryonic rats.

The chemical altered genes in the sperm, including a number associated with human prostate cancer.

Rats exposed to it show signs of damage and overgrowth of the prostate, infertility and kidney problems.

The defects were also present in animals four generations on.

The scientists admitted that the rats were exposed to very high levels of vinclozolin.

Proof of principle

But they argued that their work shows that once toxins cause defects in sperm they can be passed down the generations.

Professor Cynthia Daniels, from Rutgers University in New Jersey, has written books on male and female reproduction.

She said men who drank a lot of alcohol had been shown to have increased rates of sperm defects; and nicotine from tobacco found its way into seminal fluid as well as blood.

Professor Daniels said: "We need to open up our eyes and look at the evidence.

"My advice to young couples would be moderation. Substances that have an impact on reproduction are often also carcinogenic.

"If I was a young man I would not drink very heavily and not smoke two packets of cigarettes a day while I was trying to conceive a child."

Professor Neil McClure, a fertility expert at Queen's University Belfast, UK, said the DNA in sperm cells was more tightly packed than in other cells, and so, to some extent, was protected from damage.

However, once sperm cell DNA was damaged, it had no mechanism by which to effect repairs.

He said: "There is no doubt that if you smoke like a chimney or drink vast amounts of alcohol it will result in sperm damage, and probably damage in the DNA of the sperm.

"My advice to any man trying for a baby would be to lead as healthy a lifestyle as possible."

BBC News