World News joined 2

[OMEN]

The federal government is being pressed to fast-track a national scheme for recycling Australia's growing pile of electronic waste.

Major consumer electronics manufacturer Panasonic is concerned the problem is spiralling out of control without a co-ordinated national programme for dealing with "e-waste".

Two million old televisions will end up in Australian landfill this year, releasing a toxic mix of substances including lead and mercury into the environment, the company estimates.

"E-waste is one of the most significant environmental issues facing Australia and the time to begin implementing a national television recycling scheme is now," said Panasonic Australia managing director Steve Rust.

"The more a national initiative is delayed, the more dire the consequences for the Australian environment."

Panasonic has joined industry groups such as Product Stewardship Australia in calling for a national scheme.

A number of small-scale e-waste recycling programs are operating in Australia, including Victoria's Byteback scheme.

But a co-ordinated national programme is imperative, Mr Rust says.

"It is unrealistic for the burden of this problem to be borne by individual local councils, manufacturers or recycling organisations," he said.

"This is a significant logistical and educational challenge that needs the full attention of the federal government."

Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett said the government is currently working towards a solution for Australia's e-waste.

"The Australian government and Environment Protection and Heritage Council are actively working with industry on a range of product stewardship options such as voluntary codes of conduct and recycling schemes," Mr Garrett said.

"Considerable effort is being made with groups like Consumer Electronics Suppliers Association to address issues such as the use of hazardous substances in electronic equipment.

"Industry is also working with staff from the Commonwealth Environment Department on the development of a voluntary code of conduct for the industry to move away from using hazardous materials in their products."

AAP

[OMEN]

Cannabis should remain on the lowest "C" classification of illegal drugs, an independent advisory body said, in a conclusion expected to be rejected by the government.

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) said in a report there is insufficient evidence to regrade cannabis to the more serious class B.

"After careful scrutiny of the available evidence, the ACMD considers - based on its harmfulness to individuals and society - that cannabis should remain a class C substance," said Chairman Michael Rawlins.

However, Prime Minster Gordon Brown is widely expected to ignore the advice and insist on a reclassification because of fears over the mental health effects of stronger "skunk" strains of the narcotic.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith was due to announce the government's decision later on Wednesday.

Government officials declined to comment ahead of the announcement but Brown said last month he wanted to send a strong message that use of the drug was "unacceptable".

Cannabis was downgraded to Class C - which includes substances such as anabolic steroids - on the ACMD's advice in January 2004.

That means possession of the drug is treated largely as a non-arrestable offence.

But proponents of a tougher drugs policy say its Class C status ignores cannabis' potential health impacts.

Mental health criminal lawyer Grahame Stowe, a partner at law firm Grahame Stowe Bateson, said reclassification of cannabis is long overdue.

"Those of us who work in the criminal and mental health spheres of the legal industry are acutely aware of the danger cannabis poses and the long-term damage it causes," the lawyer, who has 35 years' experience, said in a statement.

"Reclassification is the only way to address this problem and make concrete progress on tackling cannabis use."

The ACMD was asked by Brown shortly after he took office last June to review the drug's classification and it reported to ministers last week.

Going against the council's advice would be controversial given it plays a major role in drugs policy, but Brown would also come under fire from those who say the current policy is too soft if he decides to keep the drug in Class C.

Last month, Brown hinted he favoured reclassification.

"I don't think that the previous studies took into account that so much of the cannabis on the streets is now of a lethal quality and we really have got to send out a message to young people - this is not acceptable," he said.

He added he was particularly worried about the growing use of skunk cannabis, which he described as "more lethal".

Reuters

[OMEN]

MEET THE NEW BOSS: New Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen.
Brian Cowen, who takes over as Irish prime minister, has a reputation as a tough fighter - something he will need if he is to deal with a turbulent economy and a challenging EU referendum campaign.

Bertie Ahern, who resigned on Tuesday after a corruption investigation began to overshadow his government's work, leaves as his legacy one of Europe's richest countries and a more stable Northern Ireland next door.

After a decade of construction-fuelled expansion, however, Ireland now faces much slower or negative growth.

Analysts hope Cowen will keep the discipline he showed as Ahern's finance minister and not overspend or agree to inflationary wage rises, which would hurt the competitiveness of exports and might tip Ireland into a recession.

"Cowen gives the impression that he has a sort of bulldog strategy in that he may take a tougher line with the unionists than Bertie Ahern," said Alan McQuaid, economist at Bloxham stockbrokers.

Cowen will also need to convince Irish voters to support the European Union's "Lisbon" reform treaty on June 12, in the only referendum planned on the issue among 27 member states. A recent poll showed most voters do not understand the treaty.

A cartoon in the Sunday Business Post newspaper likened Cowen's position to that of Giovanni Trapattoni, the star Italian coach hired recently to get the team into the 2010 World Cup finals after they missed out on Euro 2008.

"How do you fancy our chances in the big Lisbon match?," a reporter asks Cowen in the cartoon.

"No bother. If we don't get a result in June ... we'll replay in November," Cowen replies in an apparent reference to 2002, when Ireland staged an embarrassing repeat of a referendum on the Nice Treaty on EU enlargement.

Cowen, already elected leader of the main governing party Fianna Fail, is expected to be confirmed by fellow deputies as prime minister around 1330 GMT and to unveil his new cabinet later in the day.

Although Cowen has dismissed all speculation as unfounded, Irish media named Enterprise and Trade Minister Micheal Martin as favourite to become finance minister. Bookmaker Paddy Power however listed Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern as more likely.

Reuters

[JohnCenaFan28]

Interesting story, thanks.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the news.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the story.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Electronic waste should be recycled, so I hope Australia fixes their situation.

[JohnCenaFan28]

That's interesting, thanks for the news.

[OMEN]

Fiji police are taking seriously a death threat made against Australian High Commissioner James Batley last night.

Police spokeswoman Ema Mua said their Special Branch had increased security around the Australian High Commission in Suva, as well as other foreign embassies and commissions in the country.

She said the threat was contained in a taxi-delivered letter handed to high commission security staff last night.

"At the moment, we are very much concerned about looking after the safety of the foreign workers. That is paramount," Mua said.

"We are taking this very, very seriously."

Although details of what was in the letter have not been released, Mua said the threat may have had political implications.

"We are getting this implication that perhaps people are trying to sabotage what government is trying to do and in the process doing these kind of things," she said.

Fiji has been ruled by military commander Frank Bainimarama since a bloodless coup in December 2006.

Australia has sanctions against Fiji and has been a staunch critic of Bainimarama's regime.

"I don't think it is people upset with Australians. I should think it would be some people trying to sabotage what our government is trying to do," Mua said.

A statement from the Australian High Commission said two copies of an anonymous threatening letter primarily directed at Batley were delivered early yesterday evening.

"The threat appears to be politically motivated by a person or persons who object to the Australian government's current policy on Fiji," it said.

"Needless to say, neither the high commission nor the Australian government will be intimidated by threats."

The commission gave thanks for the speedy response by Fijian police and assurances made by senior government officials.

Appropriate security arrangements had been made and the commission remained open for business, the statement said.

AAP

[OMEN]

The Olympic flame has reached the top of Mount Everest, an emotional high for China and the crowning moment of a Beijing Games torch relay that was mired in anti-Chinese protests on its world tour.

"Long live Tibet!" and "Long live Beijing!", the climbers, all wearing red, shouted joyously into a TV camera after unfurling the Chinese national flag, the Olympic flag and a flag bearing the Beijing Olympic logo.

Rights groups criticised the climb as politically motivated, saying China had used the torch to underline its claim to sovereignty over Tibet.

Anti-Chinese protesters caused serious disruption to some legs of the main torch relay on its journey around the world after deadly riots in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, on March 14 and subsequent unrest in other Tibetan areas of China.

The ambitious project to take the torch to the Himalayan peak was cast as the highlight of the relay ahead of the Games, which starts in exactly three months' time.

"We have realised a promise to the world and a dream of all the Chinese people," base camp commander Li Zhixin told reporters after being mobbed by friends and colleagues.

Communist China has spent billions of dollars on staging the Olympics, eager to project the image of a modern and vibrant country.

The protests in cities from Paris to Los Angeles have bruised Chinese pride and provoked a surge of nationalist sentiment.

Five climbers, two of them women, staged the relay just shy of the world's highest peak amid strong winds and minus-30-degree temperatures.

"Beijing welcomes you!" and "tashi delek", the climbers said - using a Tibetan greeting meaning "may everything be well" - after escorting the flame in a mini-relay to the 8,848-metre peak at the end of a six-hour climb.

Beijing student Huang Chungui passed the flame to ethnic Tibetan woman Ciren Wangmu, who trudged the final steps unaided by oxygen to hold the torch aloft.

That prompted jubilation among the reserve climbers, officials and a small team of journalists, who had endured thin air at high altitude, sub-freezing temperatures and basic sanitation as they waited for the final ascent.

The tent to which the live pictures were relayed from the summit was rent with cheers and tears and several renditions of the Chinese national anthem echoed out across the Himalayas.

The Everest climbing team, which included 22 Tibetans, eight Han Chinese and one man from the Tujia minority, had been on the mountain for more than a week preparing the route along the north-east ridge.

"The Tibetan ethnicity in particular has made great devotions to the big event," said Wu Yingjie, executive vice chairman of the region.

Overseas pro-Tibet groups condemned China for taking the torch up Everest.

"Beijing's conquest of Everest is a political move meant to reassert China's control of Tibet," Tenzin Dorjee, Deputy Director of Students for a Free Tibet, said in an emailed statement.

Tibetan groups said they planned prayer vigils around the world later in the day to mourn those killed in protests in Tibet.

Concerned that protesters would try to disrupt the assault on Everest, which sits astride the border of the Chinese region of Tibet and Nepal, China had effectively closed off the region and released only limited information to the media.

Li said the news blackout had been essential and there had been a "series of interferences" to the mission.

"We apologise to the local and international media, we didn't have any choice because of the outside interference," he said.

"I can tell you there are people still out there trying to interfere with the event. Our climbing torchbearers found their tracks and saw their lights up there on our routes."

The flame that crested Everest's peak was taken from the main Olympic torch when it arrived in Beijing in March.

The Beijing organisers paused the main torch relay, scheduled to pass through the southern city of Shenzhen on Thursday, while the final push for the summit was taking place.

The Everest flame will be reunited with the main flame later in the relay, possibly when it passes through Lhasa in mid-June.

Reuters