World News joined 5

[OMEN]

A US warplane has fired missiles at a house in a Pakistani region known as a haven for al Qaeda and Taliban fighters, killing at least 9 militants and wounding nine.
Latest Pakistan bomb shows move to 'soft targets'

Four missiles were fired at the house in Shahnawaz Kheil Dhoog, a village near the town of Wana in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border, just after 3pm, the intelligence official said.

"It was apparently an American plane that fired precision guided missiles at the house," the official, who requested not to be identified, told Reuters.

Three foreigners, an Arab and two Turkmen, were among those killed, according to the intelligence official.

Villagers put the death toll at 18.

"Except the boundary walls, the house has been destroyed," said a senior district government official who declined to be identified.

"The place has been used for some time as a militant hideout," he said.

The attack came a day after a Turkish woman was killed and five Americans were among 11 people wounded in a bomb attack at a restaurant popular with foreigners in the capital, Islamabad.

A spokesman for Pakistani Taliban militants claimed responsibility for the Islamabad bomb, the latest in a surge of attacks that began in July after troops stormed a radical mosque complex in Islamabad.

Hundreds of people, including former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, have been killed in bomb attacks since then, raising fears for stability in the nuclear-armed US ally.

US forces have used pilotless drone aircraft to fire missiles at militants on the Pakistani side of the border several times in recent years.

The intelligence official said Sunday's attack was not carried out by a drone, although villagers believed they recognised the engine noise.

A missile believed fired by a US drone killed 13 suspected militants in South Waziristan in late February. On Jan. 28, one of Osama bin Laden's top lieutenants, Abu Laith al-Libi, was killed in a strike in North Waziristan.

Pakistani military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said there were reports of blasts and some casualties in the area and the military was checking.

He said Pakistani forces had not conducted any operation in the area and he did not know who carried out the strike or what type of weapon was used.

Neither US nor Pakistani authorities officially confirm US missile attacks on Pakistani territory, which would be an infringement of Pakistani sovereignty.

There is widespread public opposition in Pakistan to the US-led campaign against al Qaeda and the Taliban. Pakistan says it would not allow foreign military operations on its soil.

Many al Qaeda members, including Uzbeks and Arabs, and Taliban militants took refuge in North and South Waziristan, as well as in other areas on the Pakistani side of the border after US-led forces ousted the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001.

From sanctuaries in the lawless border belt, the Taliban have orchestrated their insurgency against the Afghan government and the US and Nato forces supporting it.

Increasingly, so-called Pakistani Taliban have been mounting attacks in Pakistani towns and cities, many aimed at security forces and other government targets.

Maulvi Omar, a spokesman for an umbrella organisation of Pakistani militant groups, said the Pakistani Taliban were responsible for the blast in Islamabad on Saturday and twin blasts in the city of Lahore on Tuesday that killed 24 people.

"These attacks were a reaction to operations being carried out by the military against our people. We will continue this if they don't stop killing our people," Omar said by telephone.

Reuters

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for this story.

[OMEN]

A grouping of the world's top greenhouse gas emitters have backed UN-led efforts to forge a global pact to fight climate change but disagree on a sectoral approach to curb emissions from industry.

G20 nations ranging from top carbon emitters the United States and China to big developing economies Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa held three days of talks near Tokyo to discuss ways to tackle rapidly rising emissions.

"It's not so much these two groups are at loggerheads with each other, they are also thinking of how they can co-operate collectively," Halldor Thorgeirsson of the UN Climate Change Secretariat told Reuters.

The developing world is demanding rich states do more to curb their own emissions and help poorer countries pay for clean technology.

Both sides managed to bridge differences in Bali last December to launch two years of talks on a pact that binds all nations to emissions curbs to replace the Kyoto Protocol.

"The whole debate on climate change is moving away from just being an issue of targets to being an issue of how to reduce emissions," said Thorgeirsson, who was pleased with the G20 talks that were billed as a dialogue, not a negotiation.

"This is a very good sign that the good spirit of Bali will prevail in Bangkok as well," he said, referring to the March 31-April 4 meeting in the Thai capital, the first UN-led climate meeting of nations that backed the "Bali roadmap".

But some G20 members and delegates voiced concern over Japan's proposal for sectoral caps for polluting industries.

Japan wants top greenhouse gas emitting nations to assign near-term emissions targets for each industrial sector which, added up, would then form a national target.

But it was unclear if this target was mandatory or voluntary and developing nations said the scheme needed to take into account their individual circumstances.

"It is clear that developed and developing countries are still far apart on sectoral approaches," South African Environment Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk told Reuters.

Slovenia, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, was more guarded.

"We all agree that a sectoral approach is needed," said Andrej Kranjc of Solvenia's Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning.

"Only this Japanese proposal is a little different from the understanding of others, including the European Union. Let's say it has potential, we all agree on that."

Indonesia called for more funding and the transfer of clean energy technology. Otherwise a sectoral approach would not work.

"The goal is the same for developed and developing countries, but there are big differences in thinking," said Japanese Trade Minister Akira Amari.

The talks in Chiba, near Tokyo, also sparked a row over big developing nations being labelled "major emitters", a term US officials used at the gathering.

South Africa, Indonesia, India and Brazil told the meeting they objected to the label since on a per-capita basis, their carbon emissions were a fraction of the roughly 24 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent produced by the average American.

Developing nations also called for more clarity on the funding and management of schemes to pay for clean energy technology projects in their countries.

Van Schalkwyk said on Saturday it was crucial developing nations had greater involvement in the management of clean technology funds, particularly recently announced funds to be managed by the World Bank with money from Japan, the United States and Britain.

About 190 nations agreed in Bali to try to find a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol by the end of 2009. Under the Bali roadmap, all nations would be obligated to curb carbon emissions under Kyoto's successor from 2013.

Kyoto first phase ends in 2012 and binds only rich nations to emissions curbs.

But rapidly rising emissions from developing nations means the pact is no longer effective in trying to limit dangerous climate change that scientists say will cause rising sea levels and greater extremes of droughts and floods.

Reuters

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the news.

[OMEN]

Dozens of right-wing Jewish activists have stormed the Arab neighbourhood in East Jerusalem of a Palestinian gunman who killed eight Israelis at a Jewish seminary earlier this month, police and witnesses said.

Dozens of protesters broke through police barriers and hurled stones at cars and houses in the neighbourhood of Jabal Mukaber, where the family of the seminary attacker lives.

About 200 people had gathered outside the village and a number of the protesters broke through the police barrier, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.

"Stones were thrown and 13 people were arrested," Rosenfeld said. No one was injured in the violence, police said.

The attacker, Ala Abu Dhaim, was buried at night on Thursday after about a week's delay because police feared a public funeral might trigger protests and violence.

The attack on the Jewish seminary earlier this month was the deadliest Palestinian attack on Israelis in two years and the first major attack in Jerusalem in four years.

Reuters

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for this story.

[JohnCenaFan28]

The rate at which some of the world's glaciers are melting has more than doubled, data from the United Nations Environment Programme has shown.

Average glacial shrinkage has risen from 30 centimetres per year between 1980 and 1999, to 1.5 metres in 2006.

Some of the biggest losses have occurred in the Alps and Pyrenees mountain ranges in Europe.

Experts have called for "immediate action" to reverse the trend, which is seen as a key climate change indicator.

Estimates for 2006 indicate shrinkage of 1.4 metres of 'water equivalent' compared to half a metre in 2005.

Achim Steiner, Under-Secretary General of the UN and executive director of its environment programme (UNEP), said: "Millions if not billions of people depend directly or indirectly on these natural water storage facilities for drinking water, agriculture, industry and power generation during key parts of the year.

"There are many canaries emerging in the climate change coal mine. The glaciers are perhaps among those making the most noise and it is absolutely essential that everyone sits up and takes notice.

Litmus test

He said that action was already being taken and pointed out that the elements of a green economy were emerging from the more the money invested in renewable energies.

Mr Steiner went on: "The litmus test will come in late 2009 at the climate convention meeting in Copenhagen.

"Here governments must agree on a decisive new emissions reduction and adaptation-focused regime. Otherwise, and like the glaciers, our room for manoeuvre and the opportunity to act may simply melt away."

Dr Ian Willis, of the Scott Polar Research Institute, said: "It is not too late to stop the shrinkage of these ice sheets but we need to take action immediately."

The findings were compiled by the World Glacier Monitoring Service which is supported by UNEP. Thickening and thinning is calculated in terms of 'water equivalent'.

Glaciers across nine mountain ranges were analysed.

Dr. Wilfried Haeberli, director of the service, said: "The latest figures are part of what appears to be an accelerating trend with no apparent end in sight.

"This continues the trend in accelerated ice loss during the past two and a half decades and brings the total loss since 1980 to more than 10.5 metres of water equivalent."

During 1980-1999, average loss rates had been 0.3 metres per year. Since the turn of the millennium, this rate had increased to about half a metre per year.

The record annual loss during these two decades - 0.7 metres in 1998 - has now been exceeded by three out of the past six year (2003, 2004 and 2006).

On average, one metre water equivalent corresponds to 1.1 metres in ice thickness. That suggests a further shrinking in 2006 of 1.5 actual metres and since 1980 a total reduction in thickness of ice of just over 11.5 metres or almost 38 feet.

In its entirety, the research includes figures from around 100 glaciers, with data showing significant shrinkage taking place in European countries including Austria, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Spain and Switzerland.

Norway's Breidalblikkbrea glacier thinned by almost 3.1 metres in one of the largest reductions.

BBC News

[Punisher]

yeah that doesnt sound too good there

[JohnCenaFan28]

Male fertility problems are determined in the womb, research from the University of Edinburgh suggests.



Common genital disorders, low sperm count and testicular cancer could all be linked to hormone levels early in pregnancy, studies in rats suggest.

It was found that levels of male hormones, such as testosterone, in a critical "window" at 8-12 weeks determine future reproductive health.

The results are published online in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Problems with reproductive development such as the testes not descending properly into the scrotum (cryptorchidism) or the urinary tract opening in the wrong place on the penis (hypospadias) are fairly common in young boys.

Other disorders, such as low sperm counts and testicular cancer, are thought to be part of the same pathway.

Using the mouse model, researchers at the Medical Research Council Human Reproductive Sciences Unit found the disorders resulted from low levels of male hormones - or androgens - at the equivalent to 8-12 weeks human gestation.

They also found that the level of androgen hormone at this time was related to the distance between the base of the penis and the anus.

This measurement could be an early warning system of future reproductive problems in baby boys, they said.

It could also give insights into links between hormones in the womb and fertility problems in later life.

Timeline

Study leader, Dr Michelle Welsh, said: "We know from other studies that androgens work during foetal development to programme the reproductive tract.

"But our assumption was that it would be much later in pregnancy."

She added the anogenital measurement would be a useful tool.

"Say a clinician were to examine a 30-year-old man with testicular cancer - previously there would have been no way of knowing what hormones he was exposed to in the womb.

"We would suggest that this measurement, even at this later stage in life, could offer an indication of hormone exposure."

"For example, the shorter the distance, the less confident we can be that hormones have acted correctly and at the right time."

Co-author, Professor Richard Sharpe, said around 7% of boys had cryptorchidism and low sperm counts affect as many as one in five young men.

Dr Allan Pacey, senior lecturer in andrology at the University of Sheffield, said scientists had been worried for many years about the increasing incidence of problems resulting from disrupted development of the male reproductive system during pregnancy.

"Understandably, this is almost impossible to study in humans directly and so animal models are needed to unravel the precise details.

"To use the adult anogenital distance as a proxy marker of foetal exposure in utero is a good suggestion and I would encourage studies to investigate how well this correlates with problems of the male reproductive system."

BBC News

[OMEN]

GRIPPING: Police arrest a Tibetan protester in the Nepali capital Kathmandu. Tibetan refugees in Nepal are demanding justice in front of the UN office in Kathmandu over the crackdown on Tibetans by Chinese authorities, just one of the many protests going on worldwide.
Ethnic Tibetan students have staged a candle-lit vigil in Beijing, saying it was to pray for the dead, hours before a midnight deadline warning anti-Chinese rioters in the Tibetan capital to surrender.
Police kept reporters well away from the peaceful protest by dozens of apparently ethnic Tibetan students gathered inside the Central University for Nationalities.

It was a small, rare show of defiance in the host city of this year's Olympic Games, where Communist Party authorities are especially eager to prevent public shows of dissent.

"It was only to pray for the souls of the dead," said an ethnic Tibetan student from northwest China's Gansu province, who was kept away from the sit-in by security guards.

The vigil was broken up by authorities hours before a deadline in Tibet's regional capital, Lhasa, for protesters who rioted through the city on Friday to hand themselves in to police or face harsher treatment afterward.

Exiled representatives of Tibet in Dharamsala in India on Sunday put the death toll in Friday's protests against Chinese rule at 80.

Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the Tibet regional government, said only 13 "innocent civilians" had been killed and dozens of security personnel injured.

A Tibetan shopkeeper near Lhasa's marketplace, badly hit by the violence, said he had not heard of anyone surrendering to the police or informing on suspected rioters.

"We are just waiting for the time to pass," he said.

As the deadline approached, a Chinese spokesman told reporters his government would not compromise with Tibet's exiled Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, or re-examine its policies in Tibet.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said the often bloody unrest had been organised by the Dalai Lama's followers at home and abroad.

"It's not an ethnic issue, not a religious issue or a cultural one," he said. "At the root, it's the fundamental problem of the Dalai clique seeking to separate Tibet from China."

The Dalai Lama says he wants autonomy for Tibet within China but not outright independence, and he has strongly rejected the allegation that he launched the protests.

RESTRAINT AND TROOP CONVOYS

China said it had shown great restraint in the face of violent protests by Tibetans and Lhasa was returning to order.

Troops poured into areas neighbouring Tibet which are largely inhabited by ethnic Tibetans but ethnic Tibetan people there said angry anti-Chinese demonstrations were still sporadically erupting.

An ethnic Tibetan in remote, mountainous Aba prefecture in Sichuan province said fresh protests flared near two Tibetan schools on Monday, with hundreds of students facing police and troops.

About 40 students from a high school for Tibetans in Maertang county, Aba, were beaten and arrested for protesting, the Dharamsala-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy later said. Repeated calls to the school went unanswered.

The resident, who asked not be identified, said 18 people, including Buddhist monks and students, had been killed when troops opened fire on Sunday. Earlier a policeman was burned to death, he said. His account could not be immediately verified.

The violence of the past week is likely to weigh uncomfortably on the Chinese state, anxious to polish its image in the build-up to the Games.

"If the Tibetans in Lhasa take to the streets again in large numbers and really challenge the Chinese authorities, I think we'll see a very harsh crackdown," said Kenneth Lieberthal, a political scientist at the University of Michigan.

INTERNATIONAL REACTION

The European Union has called on both authorities and protesters to refrain from violence and said a boycott of the Olympics would not be the right answer.

Russia said it hoped China would do what was necessary to curtail "unlawful actions" in Tibet. A brief Russian Foreign Ministry statement made no criticism of Beijing.

There have been daily pro-Tibet protests around the world since last Monday. On Sunday, French police used tear gas against around 500 demonstrators at the Chinese embassy in Paris, and there were incidents at missions in New York and Australia.

"We strongly condemn the violent action of Tibet independence activists," spokesman Liu said, denouncing attacks on its missions abroad.

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959 and set up a government-in-exile in Dharamsala, northern India.

Spokesman Liu said the riots were a blow to the Dalai Lama's claim to support peaceful protest. "His act is getting harder and harder to keep up," Liu said.

Reuters