news20091227jt1

[TODAY'S TOP STORIES] from [The Japan Times]

[NATIONAL NEWS]
Sunday, Dec. 27, 2009
Cabinet's support rate drops 16.5 points: poll
Kyodo News

The support rate for Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's Cabinet stood at 47.2 percent in a recent survey, down 16.5 percentage points from the previous poll conducted a month ago.

The disapproval rate rose 13.0 points to 38.1 percent in the survey, which was carried out Friday and Saturday after prosecutors indicted two of Hatoyama's former secretaries over falsified fund reports.

In the telephone survey, a total of 1,470 eligible voters were contacted, of whom 1,030 made valid responses.

A total of 36.1 percent said they support Hatoyama's ruling Democratic Party of Japan, down 8.9 percentage points, while the support rate for the Liberal Democratic Party, the main opposition force, stood at 23.7 percent, an increase of 7.5 points from the previous poll. In the same survey, 30.5 percent said they had no political affiliation.

Roughly three-quarters of those surveyed, some 76.1 percent, said they were not convinced by Hatoyama's account of the alleged irregularities involving his political fund management group. Hatoyama was not indicted due to a lack of evidence of his involvement.

Only 17.8 percent said Hatoyama's explanation was convincing.

Asked whether he should step down, 64.3 percent wanted Hatoyama to remain in office but said he needs to fulfill his responsibilities and give a full explanation of the matter, while 21.1 percent called for him to resign.

On Thursday, former secretary Keiji Katsuba, 59, was indicted without arrest on a charge of falsifying the prime minister's funding reports. Daisuke Haga, 55, another former secretary who also served as the chief accountant for Hatoyama's political funds body, was indicted on a charge of gross negligence, also without arrest.

Hours after the indictments, Hatoyama made clear his intention to stay in his job in a nationally televised news conference.

The indictments came on the 100th day following the launch of the Hatoyama government.

The support rate for the Hatoyama Cabinet stood at 72.0 percent in a survey held shortly after its inauguration in mid-September, but dropped to 61.8 percent in October, before rebounding slightly to 63.7 percent last month.

Meanwhile, a total of 67.9 percent said they did not support the Hatoyama Cabinet's decision to postpone the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa Prefecture until next year. As to where the base should be relocated, 41.0 percent said it should be moved overseas.

Regarding a meeting earlier this month between Emperor Akihito and visiting Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping that was arranged in breach of Imperial protocol, 54.7 percent thought the Emperor had been politically exploited, while 37.9 percent felt this was not the case.

In arranging the audience for Xi, the government breached a customary rule that such a meeting should be requested at least a month in advance. The Imperial Household Agency later expressed concern about possible political exploitation of the Emperor.

As for the minor parties, New Komeito polled 1.9 percent support, the Japanese Communist Party 1.3 percent, the Social Democratic Party 1.8 percent, Your Party 1.7 percent and Kokumin Shinto (People's New Party) 1.1 percent.

Hatoyama to visit India
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama will visit India from Sunday for talks with his Indian counterpart, Manmohan Singh, in New Delhi, the government said Friday.


[NATIONAL NEWS]
Sunday, Dec. 27, 2009
Separate surnames bill readied
Legislation would allow married couples to keep family names
Kyodo News

Justice Minister Keiko Chiba has decided to submit a bill to an ordinary Diet session to be convened in January to revise the Civil Code so that married couples can choose whether to have the same family name or keep their own surnames, sources said Saturday.

The envisioned bill is also likely to amend the current provision under the Civil Code that prohibits women from remarrying within six months of a divorce, the sources said.

Chiba has already conveyed her intention to the prime minister's office and begun discussions with other relevant Cabinet members, they said.

The government and the ruling parties are expected to start coordinating on the issue from the beginning of next year.

According to the sources, Chiba hopes to get Cabinet approval for the amendment around March, following consent from the Justice Ministry.

Under the planned amendment, the family name of any children of married couples who opt to have separate surnames will likely be unified with that of either of the parents, the sources said.

As for the provision barring women from remarrying after a divorce, the bill is expected to lower the period to around 100 days instead of the current six months, they added.

The Civil Code adopted the provision prohibiting women from remarrying within six months of a divorce to avoid possible confusion in determining the father of the child if the woman became pregnant during such a period.

However, the regulation has been criticized as outdated and discriminatory as men are free to remarry anytime after a divorce.

The planned revision is also likely to scrap another discriminatory provision in which a child born out of wedlock is entitled to receive only half the inheritance that a child born in wedlock can, the sources said.

In 1996, the Legislative Council, an advisory panel to the justice minister, recommended that the government introduce a system allowing married couples to choose separate surnames.

Although the Justice Ministry once compiled a bill to revise the Civil Code, it abandoned the idea of submitting it to the Diet due to opposition from the then ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

The ruling Democratic Party of Japan, to which Chiba belongs, repeatedly submitted to the Diet when it was in opposition an amendment bill to allow for separate surnames for married couples, but it was scrapped each time.

South Korea grillings
Justice Minister Keiko Chiba said Friday she will visit South Korea next month to inspect its system of recording the interrogation process of crime suspects.

South Korea introduced visual and audio recordings of the interrogation of suspects in January last year.

During her visit from Jan. 6 to 8, Chiba will exchange views with South Korea judicial authorities at the Supreme Court and the Ministry of Justice.


[NATIONAL NEWS]
Sunday, Dec. 27, 2009
DPJ eyes changing Constitution
Hatoyama says amendment would enable transfer of power to local governments
Kyodo News

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Saturday he is willing to move forward with a plan to amend the Constitution in line with his party's drive to transfer power to local governments.

"I would like to see the Constitution revised in the sense that the positions of the central government and local governments would be reversed," Hatoyama said in a recording for a radio program.

He suggested he does not want to put the focus of the debate on constitutional reform on whether or how Article 9, which bars the use of military force in settling international disputes, should be changed.

"What we want to do is help make the Constitution serve the country in the best possible manner," he said.

Speaking about the issue of relocating U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa Prefecture, Hatoyama questioned the idea of moving it to Guam, which has been advocated by the Social Democratic Party, a junior coalition partner in his Democratic Party of Japan-led administration.

"It looks as though having everything at Futenma transferred to the U.S. territory of Guam is unrealistic in light of the deterrence" provided by the U.S. military, Hatoyama said.

Gift tax payment
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama took steps Friday to pay about \600 million in taxes on some ¥1.26 billion he received from his mother since 2002, claiming the money was a form of gift, sources close to Hatoyama said.

Some of the money is believed to have been logged as donations by fictitious donors.

Speaking at a news conference Thursday evening, Hatoyama said he intended to pay the tax immediately, following the indictments of two of his former state-paid aides over the political funds scandal.

On Friday, Hatoyama told his Cabinet ministers, "I will work hard in national governance, so I would like to ask for your support," according to Hiroshi Nakai, chairman of the National Commission on Public Safety.

news20091227jt2

[TODAY'S TOP STORIES] from [The Japan Times]

[ENVIRONMENT]
Sunday, Dec. 27, 2009
OUR PLANET EARTH
COP15 farce: There's always more time, till there isn't
By STEPHEN HESSE

Post-conference analysis of the Copenhagen COP15 has ranged from despair and disgust to guarded optimism that 2010 will bring a new and better agreement.

The truth is, Copenhagen was a circus of geopolitical bickering among self- absorbed leaders representing powerful and powerless nations, of politicians made ineffectual by corporate interests, of civil society groups being arrested and excluded, and of senseless process taking precedence over essential substance.

As one American climate campaigner, Ken Ward, observed, "An event that was to crown 10 years of international effort produced utterly useless language, unenthusiastically scrabbled together in hours by five out of 192 nations, and this . . . pathetic half-effort got exactly one day of our president's time."

At least Japan can say "Don't blame us, we were willing to do our part."

Not only did Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama pledge that Japan would reduce its emissions 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, putting Japan in line with the policies of European nations, but his administration agreed to provide \1.3 trillion to help developing nations reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and deal with the impacts of climate change.

Neither promise is sufficient in terms of the cuts and help needed, but at least Tokyo had the good sense to offer substantial commitments in good faith.

In the end it was not surprising that national leaders failed to put planetary health above politics, but it was disappointing. Just as when athletes gather for the Olympics, one hopes that world-class competition and the adrenaline of the moment will bring about nearly impossible feats of sportsmanship.

Sadly, in Copenhagen a team representing the world's people turned in a performance that was as embarrassing to each individual as it was to the gathering as a whole.

The essential goal is simple. Greenhouse-gas emissions must be reduced dramatically and massive funding must be marshaled for mitigation and adaptation to the impacts of climate change that is already under way.

On both counts, government negotiators failed miserably.

There is no scientific doubt that climate change due in part or predominantly to human activities is occurring. However much fanatic nationalists, religious fundamentalists, and self-aggrandizing contrarians harangue to the contrary, our global, fossil-fuel-based economy is undermining the bio-geological stability of our planet.

Nevertheless, governments remain unwilling and unable to act.

The United States is shackled by oil and coal interests greedy for multibillion- dollar annual profits and a Chamber of Commerce that believes America and Americans are not capable of rising to the challenge of a new energy society.

China, with its centralized political system, could make tougher choices, but its juggernaut development is spurred on by more than a billion souls hungry for what Americans and Europeans have had for decades.

India faces the most challenging dynamic of all: the combination of a democratic political system and development needs that rival China's.

As is so often the case on the international stage, national interests, political will, and environmental reality are nearly irreconcilable, and the decision-making machinery of the United Nations is barely up to the complex task of making the hard choices needed to deal with burgeoning populations, divergent political interests, and our steady degradation of the planet.

So what did Copengagen produce?

The Copenhagen Accord, drafted by five of the 193 nations present (Brazil, China, India, South Africa and the U.S.), is simply a political statement. It was not approved unanimously by the nations present, and thus is not a legally binding agreement.

The Accord states that our leaders have "strong political will to urgently combat climate change in accordance with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities" — meaning some nations are more to blame than others and some are more capable of action.

The drafters' claim to "strong political will" is clearly not borne out in the rest of the document, nor in the meeting's final outcome. Perhaps someone at the table had an ironic sense of humor.

The Accord further states that nations will "stabilize greenhouse-gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthro- pogenic interference with the climate system," based on scientific consensus that any increase in "global temperature should be below 2 degrees Celsius." Yet no specific cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions were noted or agreed to.

The Accord states, too, that developed countries will provide funding and investments to help vulnerable developing nations adapt to and mitigate climate change. How much is not clear, however, and the text simply calls for funds "approaching" $30 billion over the next three years.

The developed countries also promise further funding of "$100 billion a year by 2020," but the source of these monies is unclear, and few if any of those sitting around that table will be in power 10 years from now. In contract law, this kind of language would be voided for vagueness.

The Accord also calls for a Copenhagen Green Climate Fund, a financial mechanism to support projects, programs and activities in developing nations, as well as monitoring progress reports.

The final paragraph mentions an assessment of the Accord's implementation by 2015 — something we can hope is rendered unnecessary because long before that our leaders will have replaced the Copenhagen Accord with a coherent, binding agreement.

That agreement needs to be a science-based, long-term roadmap that picks up where the Kyoto Protocol leaves off, ensuring greenhouse-gas emission cuts of 80 percent by 2050 and guaranteeing massive funding for climate-change mitigation and adaptation.

No one ever said saving the planet would be easy.

In fact, what we really need is a transformation in human thinking.

We need a global commitment among all nations to take part in a worldwide transition to alternative, non-carbon- based energy generation.

We need to stop classifying nations as simply developing or developed, terms that are increasingly used for finger pointing and for hiding from planetary responsibility.

We need unprecedented political and economic cooperation led and financed by developed nations and burgeoning economies that are fueling production and consumption worldwide, especially China.

We need to ensure a long-term, sustainable balance between the health of our environment and the needs of human society, requiring that nations adopt a precautionary approach in dealing with the global impacts of human activity on the planet's bio-geological ecosystems.

We need to stop seeing Beijing, Delhi, Tokyo or Washington as our only home and recognize that what our neighbors on the other side of the planet are doing will make or break our own children's future.

Above all, we need to ensure that civil society has a meaningful role in all negotiations — and that politicians understand that "political will" means more than empty promises.

Is this too much to ask?

Stephen Hesse can be reached at stevehesse@hotmail.com

news20091227jt3

[TODAY'S TOP STORIES] from [The Japan Times]

[LIFE IN JAPAN]
Sunday, Dec. 27, 2009
Thank God the year's over
By MICHAEL HOFFMAN
Special to The Japan Times

History has seen worse years than 2009. All the same, this Year of the Ox has been more than most of us born after World War II in the relatively privileged regions of the Earth were conditioned to cope with.

Think back to New Year's Day. You may have forgotten what you yourself were doing, but if you were in Japan you're sure to recall the temporary tent city set up in Tokyo's Hibiya Park for newly unemployed temp workers, many of them newly homeless into the bargain, their housing having vanished with their jobs. It is one of the enduring images of the year, the picture worth the proverbial thousand words.

At this time last year, we were living through a phenomenon quantified in late January in these terms: Japan's industrial output in December 2008 plummeted 9.6 percent, the fastest fall on record. Unemployment surged to 4.4 percent, prompting then-Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano to observe: "I am extremely worried. Probably such a sharp decline was never experienced in the past, and it is likely to continue." He was right; 4.4 percent now seems like the good old days. The latest figure, down from 5.7 percent in August, is 5.1 percent.

Winter '09 was a winter of numbers, all of them awful. It was terror by numerical barrage. Sony lost ¥18 billion in the third quarter of fiscal '08; Toshiba projected a ¥280 billion loss for the full year; Panasonic, ¥300 billion; Nissan, ¥180 billion. January auto sales in Japan fell 27.9 percent, the biggest monthly drop since May 1974. And so on. Irregular employees — one-third the Japanese labor force — were hardest hit. Just ask the roughly 200,000 of them who lost jobs.

2009 dawned on a broken world — in which deepening despair, strangely enough, kindled a dizzying upsurge of hope. The alchemist who worked that bit of magic was the towering figure of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama. More than a million people flocked to the National Mall in Washington on Jan. 20 to bask in his inauguration. "Starting today," he exhorted, "we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off."

By and large the world agreed that Obama was the man to fix things, if anyone could — but could anyone? The responsibilities fallen on his shoulders were so overwhelming as to provoke a kind of manic laughter. Cartoonists drew him staggering comically under the weight of them — war in Iraq, war in Afghanistan, shattered economy, catastrophic environment, spreading terrorism, proliferating nuclear capability and ambition among the most mercurial members of our world community — eternally erratic North Korea, increasingly assertive Iran, decreasingly stable Pakistan.

Never mind that he was young and untried — this was too big an agenda for any would-be savior. Many liberals, initially his warmest supporters, are discouraged already by lingering continuities with the policies of his despised predecessor, George W. Bush. Still, if Obama has one overriding gift, it is the gift of confidence. His performance may have been uneven, but his serene confidence has never appeared to falter, nor his soaring rhetoric to flag.

Obama's election, symbolizing a tragically adrift America striving to reinvent itself, challenged Japan, scarcely less adrift, to confront a vexing question: Couldn't it do likewise? While Americans chanted "Yes we can!, Japanese sighed over polls showing then-Prime Minister Taro Aso mired in approval ratings below 20 percent. In 54 years Japan had managed a change of government precisely once — for nine months 17 years ago.

The seemingly undislodgable Liberal Democratic Party had been unpopular before, but rarely this unpopular. "We cannot yield government power to such an irresponsible party," declared LDP Secretary General Hiroyuki Hosoda at his party's annual convention on Jan. 18. He meant, of course, the opposition-leading Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). Hollow words, as he must have known even as he spoke.

Aso made maximum use of the two means open to him of staving off disaster — he shoveled record stimulus funding into the sputtering economy, and he delayed the looming election until almost the last possible moment. At one point the DPJ came close to blundering into his hands. But Ichiro Ozawa's money scandal retreated from the headlines following his replacement as party president by Yukio Hatoyama — soon to be dogged by money scandals of his own — and on Aug. 31 the history-making landslide came to pass.

Stimulus funding was not Aso's weapon alone. Its application was global, massive, unprecedented. With it, the world economy entered uncharted territory. Aso's stimulus amounted to ¥15.4 trillion, 3 percent of the nation's gross domestic product. Obama's was worth $787 billion — "a program," observed Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times, "infinitely more ambitious than anything President Franklin Roosevelt proposed as a peacetime initiative in his entire tenure."

"It worked," boasted Group of Twenty (G20) leaders at their September summit in Pittsburgh. The summit's main significance lay in highlighting a new fact of globalized life — the leading developing economies, China so overpowering among them as to generate talk of a future G-2 composed of it and the U.S., now share center stage with the leading developed ones, the G8's anachronistic exclusiveness having long rankled.

"Our forceful response," the G20 Pittsburgh statement went on, "helped stop the dangerous, sharp decline in global activity and stabilize financial markets. Industrial output is now rising in nearly all our economies. International trade is starting to recover."

But for how long, and at what cost? The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) warned that the world's 30 leading economies will see their indebtedness grow to 100 percent of output in 2010. Japan's is closer to 200 percent. Moody's, the ratings agency, foresees total global debt reaching $49 trillion next year. "No one knows how to interpret these numbers," wrote Washington Post economic columnist Robert Samuelson in November. The recent six-month moratorium announced by Dubai on its $59 billion debt suggests a worst-case scenario — a chain reaction of economy-crushing defaults.

Once, we could turn to nature for solace in bewildering times. No longer. Nature herself is cancerous. The environment spawned another terrifying barrage of numbers. They boil down to this: the planet could warm by 7 degrees Celsius this century. Two degrees is widely considered the boundary between us and scarcely imaginable cataclysms. Global political negotiation, with its tortuous give-and-take, seems too slow and, by its nature, too compromising, for the uncompromising physics of a climate unleashed from its moorings. The rickety deal reached last week at the Copenhagen climate summit is unlikely to defeat that logic.

The most encouraging news on the climate front, amid implacably melting glaciers and rising seas, concerns the drop in greenhouse gas emissions this year, due to the shrunken global economy. The cheers have not been rousing.

Was there anything to cheer about this grim, grim year? Pleasure itself seemed under a cloud. In Japan, one entertainer after another had his or her brush with the law — Noriko Sakai and Manabu Oshio for drugs, Tetsuya Komuro for fraud, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi for drunken nudity in a Tokyo park one mild spring pre-dawn. "What's wrong with being naked?" he inquired of the arresting officers. That promptly became what it so plainly deserved to be — a slogan inscribed on T-shirts.

In June, Michael Jackson died. He'd been rehearsing hard for what might have been the greatest comeback in entertainment history. Instead he set off history's most irrepressible outpouring of naked grief. Broadcast worldwide, his funeral was watched by an estimated 1 billion people. That's one-sixth the human race.

A week earlier, another death, not much less public, had a very different impact. A young Iranian woman protesting her country's apparently hijacked election was shot dead by security forces in Tehran. The silence of Iran's state-controlled press was thwarted by YouTube, which turned the woman's death throes into a potent symbol. The protests continue.

In April, an outbreak of death in Mexico was ascribed to a mutated flu virus. Two months later the World Health Organization declared a pandemic. WHO Director General Margaret Chan explained what that means: "This virus is now unstoppable." One virologist lamely tried to soften the impact of the word "pandemic." "You can have serious pandemics," he said, "and you can have wimpy pandemics." He did not say which this one was.

Japan's new guiding philosophy, Japan's new prime minister announced, is yuai, a term combining the kanji characters for friendship and love. Hatoyama promises to steer Japan in a new, more humane direction. In his maiden policy speech to the Diet in October he said, "There is no end to the number of people who take their own lives because they cannot find in society even a humble place to which they belong, and yet politics and government are thoroughly insensitive to this fact. My primary mission is to rectify this aberrant situation

A few harsh realities have intruded since then — murky funding harking discouragingly back to LDP days; outspoken American impatience as the government wrestles with, instead of ignoring, discontent in Okinawa over U.S. military bases. 2009 was not a yuai sort of year. Maybe 2010 will be.

news20091227jt4

[TODAY'S TOP STORIES] from [The Japan Times]

[LIFE IN JAPAN]
Sunday, Dec. 27, 2009
COUNTERPOINT
Decade's end abuzz and a-flutter with wist for a warm poetic past
By ROGER PULVERS

At the end of the year — and, particularly, the end of a decade — an old man's fancy turns, involuntarily, to nostalgia.

No, dear reader, I am not lamenting the dimming of yesterday's light, nor am I about to wax over waning powers. There are some things that bring back the past with a vengeance of passion when we least expect it. Marcel Proust had his madeleine, and Henry Miller had lots of Madeleines, which only goes to show that you can have your cake and eat it too.

Each of us goes all emotional and blubbery (though in Miller's case this may not be the proper choice of word) over something. It is, I must confess, an insect that does it for me. Lest you think this is a hitherto undisclosed Pulversian perversion, let me explain.

When I am away from Japan and feeling homesick, I don't stalk karaoke bars in Kuala Lumpur or sushi stands in Sheffield. A few months ago I saw a guy making takoyaki (fried octopus balls — surely one of the most infelicitous food-name translations of all) in Sydney and I walked right by without so much as a whiff of concern.

Yes, you read right: an insect. It is an insect that brings me to the point of tears; and, whenever I see one, I make a beeline for it. The insect is the akatonbo, the little red dragonfly.

And it's all because of the song "Akatonbo."

Back in 1989, the NHK show "Japanese Songs, Hometown Songs" conducted a nationwide survey to find out what was Japanese people's favorite song. More than 650,000 letters were received. Had this been in the e-mail era, the number might have been tenfold. From out of over 5,000 songs, "Akatonbo" was the national favorite, hands down.

Most Japanese would associate this beautiful and plaintive refrain with the composer/conductor Kosaku Yamada (1886-1965). But whenever I hear this song or see a little red dragonfly, I think instead of the man who wrote the poetic lyrics, Rofu Miki (1889-1964). The story of his life highlights the song's sorrow. At sunset and in the twilight's glow / Little red dragonfly

The song depicts Miki on his mother's back, and recalls how for the first time he recalls seeing an akatonbo, wondering . . . Was it then I caught sight of you? / Am I dreaming this? / Gathering wild mulberries / In that little basket

To Miki, the gathering of wild mulberries was a task he associated with his mother. Even when he waited patiently counting the berries, she did not come home.

The fact is that Miki's mother left home when he was 5 and never came back. His longing for her, as expressed most tenderly in "Akatonbo," preoccupied him for his entire life.

His father was the profligate scion of wealth in Tatsuno City, Hyogo Prefecture, a town on the Seto Inland Sea so lovely it was called "a little Kyoto." His mother, Kata, who was married off at age 15, gave birth to two boys, Misao (Rofu) and Tsutomu. But she soon tired of her husband's absences on alcoholic binges.

In 1895, when Miki was 5, his parents divorced and Kata, with 2-year-old Tsutomu on her back, departed for her hometown of Tottori. Miki returned home from kindergarten one day and his mother was simply gone, without so much as a note or a parting word. The only person who could bring him up was his paternal grandfather, a bank president and the first mayor of Tatsuno City.

Kata soon left Tottori for Tokyo, where she enrolled in the nursing course at what is now the University of Tokyo Hospital. In 1897 she became a nurse and soon remarried, this time to a man five years her junior. The couple left for Otaru in Hokkaido in the spring of 1902.

In Hokkaido, Kata became involved in early feminist causes, editing a magazine titled "Women's Rights" and forming a group to fight for them. When Miki was 18, he received a letter from her in Otaru. By a blank space on a page she wrote, "I place a kiss here to be put to your cheek." Miki, it is said, clutched the letter and wept like a baby.

The akatonbo of the song, whose zoological name is akiakane (Sympetrum frequens), is unique to Japan, though there are related varieties around the world. The little akatonbo that visit the garden of my home in Sydney, causing me such unplanned rushes of nostalgia, are Orthetrum villosovittatum, common in eastern Australia. Are they as cute as their Japanese cousins? In my eyes, absolutely.

The ancient name for this type of insect in Japan is akitsu, but by the Edo Period (1603-1867) the word tonbo, from tobu (to fly) and bo (stick), came into use. That the sound was close to that of the word for rice paddy (tanbo), where dragonflies are often seen, is a happy coincidence. Yet it is a coincidence that is threatening the very life of these insects. The estimated number of akiakane, for instance, is now a tragic 1 per cent of what it was 20 years ago — due to the copious use of pesticides in Japanese rice cultivation. Perhaps organic farming is the only hope for the little red dragonfly. This is a good example of how environmentally friendly practices resonate not only in nature but in the very culture of a nation as well.

Miki's mother, Kata Midorikawa, lived a long and productive life, dying, age 91, in 1962. Carved on her white marble gravestone are the words, "At rest here, little dragonfly's mother."

Miki himself died only two years later, age 76. He was leaving a post office in Mitaka, Tokyo, was struck by a taxi and rushed to hospital, where he passed away.

Another reason for writing about this now is that both Rofu Miki and Kosaku Yamada died on Dec. 29, their deaths just one year apart.

Such coincidences, I suppose, make the nostalgia for these old symbols of Japan all the more intense.

The most poignant lines of Miki's song are the final four that conjure an image of the solitary beauty that both haunted and enriched his life as a poet: At sunset and in the twilight's glow / Little red dragonfly / Resting, waiting / On the end of a bamboo pole.

The last three lines were written by him when he was 12.

news20091227gdn1

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[News > World news > Global terrorism]
Airports raise global safety levels after terror attack on US jet is foiled
Police search London address as bomber suspect is revealed to have links to al-Qaida
Jamie Doward, home affairs editor, and Joanna Walters in New York
The Observer, Sunday 27 December 2009 Article history

Security at airports around the world was stepped up yesterday after a student from a London university tried to blow up a transatlantic airliner carrying 290 passengers and crew minutes before it was due to land in the US.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old from a powerful Nigerian banking family, who studied engineering at University College London, was restrained by other passengers while trying to ignite an explosive device attached to his body on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.

Last night he was charged with trying to destroy an American plane. A judge read the charges to Abdulmutallab in a conference room at the medical centre where he is receiving treatment for burns. Agents brought him into the room in a wheelchair, a blanket over his lap and wearing a green hospital robe. In an affidavit filed with the charge, passengers said Abdulmutallab had gone to the toilet on the plane for about 20 minutes and then returned to his seat, pulling a blanket over himself and saying that his stomach was upset.

The FBI said initial checks showed the device contained pentaerythritol, the same explosive used by British "shoe-bomber" Richard Reid. He tried to blow up an airliner in 2001 using material hidden in his shoes.

Yesterday MI5 was trying to establish whether Abdulmutallab had links to known Islamist groups in the UK. In May he was barred from returning to Britain when he attempted to apply for a new course at a bogus college. "He was refused entry on grounds that he was applying to study at an educational establishment that we didn't consider to be genuine," said a Whitehall official. Scotland Yard confirmed it was liaising with American authorities as searches were carried out at properties in central London, including a student hall of residence and a flat in Belgravia.

America has known for at least two years that Abdulmutallab could have terrorist ties as he is on a "terrorist identities" list of 550,000 names maintained by US authorities. However, he had not been placed on a no-flight list, a US law enforcement source said yesterday. After the incident Barack Obama issued an order for extra security on all planes going to America.

US intelligence officials said that Abdulmutallab had claimed al-Qaida instructed him to detonate the device when the plane was over American soil. Officials are investigating the suspect's links with terrorists based in Yemen, a major stronghold for al-Qaida and home to the extremist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who regularly addresses British university Islamic societies via video links.

Passengers on board Northwest Flight 253 told how they overpowered Abdulmutallab, who suffered serious burns while trying to ignite his device.

The attempt was thwarted by film producer Jasper Schuringa, who hit Abdulmutallab, pulled the explosive device from between his legs, then ripped his clothes off to make sure there were no other bombs. The Dutchman then helped flight attendants restrain Abdulmutallab before returning to his own seat. Fellow passengers gave Schuringa a round of applause. Abdulmutallab "didn't show any reaction to pain or any feeling of shock" as the flames engulfed him, said another passenger, Melinda Dennis.

Abdulmutallab is the son of the recently retired chairman of First Bank of Nigeria, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, who was due to meet Nigerian security officials late yesterday. He said his son had left London to travel. "I believe he might have been to Yemen, but we are investigating that," he said.

Yesterday Britons travelling to the US were told their hand luggage allowance had been reduced to one item and all passengers were being body-searched.

A Department for Transport spokeswoman said: "The US authorities have requested additional measures for US-bound flights."

The incident has raised fresh questions about security screening at airports. The Dutch security service, NCTb, said it could not rule out the potential for dangerous items to pass through security, especially objects that "current security technology cannot detect".

"Security is not 100% at airports anywhere," said aviation expert Chris Yates. "The processes are relatively robust but we can't head off every single threat."

news20091227gdn2

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[News > Society > Drugs]
US stars are falling victim to prescription drugs
Thousands of Britons are also addicted to painkillers and other pills obtained legally from GPs or on internet
Robin McKie
The Observer, Sunday 27 December 2009 Article history

Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler has finally admitted he has a drug problem. Given the rock star's legendary excesses of the past, such a move might not seem surprising. But there was more to Tyler's decision last week to check himself into rehab than first meets the eye.

The 61-year-old singer had long ago cleaned up his act and put his years of heavy drink and drug abuse behind him. His current problem is very different. He is addicted to painkillers, he announced in a statement – a dependence that began after taking medication to cope with 10 years of injuries from his performances.

Tyler's stage antics have left him with severe chronic pain and damage to his knees and feet. During a show this year he fell off a stage and broke a shoulder. Now he is addicted to the medicines he has used to kill the pain.

But the revelation of Tyler's problem is significant not just for its importance for Aerosmith fans. His is merely the most recent example of a growing US showbiz trend that has seen more and more stars admit prescription drug addiction, while cases of dependence leading to fatal overdoses have soared. Among the deaths linked to prescription drugs are those of Heath Ledger, Anna Nicole Smith and Michael Jackson, a toll that was added to last week with the death of Brittany Murphy, star of 8 Mile and Clueless. The 32-year-old Hollywood actress was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre after collapsing at her Hollywood Hills home last Sunday.

Murphy's husband, Simon Monjack, has vehemently denied that she was addicted to prescription painkillers. Yet notes obtained from a Los Angeles coroner's office official have indicated that a formidable list of drugs were found in her room. These notes also stressed that "no alcohol containers, paraphernalia or illegal drugs" were discovered there.

Tragedies like these suggest the celebrity habit of pill-popping – sometimes known as pharming – is spreading alarmingly. Early this year Burt Reynolds admitted he was "a prisoner of prescription pain pills" and checked into rehab, following a long list of stars, including Winona Rider, Charlie Sheen, Jamie Lee Curtis and Friends' star Matthew Perry, who have admitted addiction to painkillers and other prescription drugs.

Such cases make headlines because they expose the lives of superstars. But they represent only the tip of an iceberg, doctors warn. In 2005 non-medical use of painkillers contributed to more than 8,500 deaths in the US. Overdose deaths involving prescription pain relievers increased 114% from 2001 to 2005, the most recent year for which nationwide data are available, says the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Prescription drugs are becoming America's new addiction, studies show. For example, in one survey of teenagers between the ages of 13 and 18 a total of 155 reported abusing prescription drugs obtained through a friend or taken from a medicine cabinet, sometimes by organising "pharming parties" where pills are put in bowls and shared with friends. The practice has become common in rural areas – hence the use of the term "hillbilly heroin" to describe painkillers that are taken recreationally.

But why is this abuse growing? Is it confined mainly to young people, or are older individuals involved as well? And is this wave of addiction likely to spread to Britain? These are key questions that raise controversial issues about attitudes to medicine in the West.

For a start, there is the issue of our faith in the medical profession. Addiction to prescription drugs often arises as an accidental dependence to a drug first taken, and given, in good faith for a real ailment. For example, Michael Jackson is thought to have become addicted to Demerol – or Pethidine, as it is called in Britain – after suffering a serious burn inflicted during the filming of a Pepsi commercial in 1984.

Twenty years later, use had turned to abuse and Jackson was suffering severe dependence, according to subsequent interviews with his staff. They say the singer frequently asked them to get prescription medicines under different names. One said he took Jackson to doctors' offices in other states and the singer appeared to be "out of it and sedated" after each visit. On top of this Jackson's physician, Dr Conrad Murray, a cardiologist, has admitted that he gave Jackson 25 milligrams of propofol on the day he died and has told police Jackson was dependent on the drug to sleep.

"I think people of all ages don't take medication as seriously as street drugs," says Dr Marvin Seppala, the chief medical officer at Hazelden, a drug and alcohol treatment centre in Minnesota. "There's sort of a naive belief they're safer. The truth is pain medications are in the same exact class as heroin, morphine – they're very addictive."

This point is backed by examining the list of drugs found in Murphy's room. These included Topamax, Methylprednisolone, Fluoxetine, Klonopin, Carbamazepine, Ativan, Propranolol, Biaxin, Hydrocodone and miscellaneous vitamins. Many of these are extremely powerful, says Professor Simon Maxwell, chairman of the British Pharmacology Society's prescribing committee. "Methylprednisolone is a very strong anti-inflammatory drug that should only be used for people suffering from severe inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis."

Other medicines on the list include treatments for epilepsy, such as Topamax, powerful pain relievers like Hydrocodone and Vicoprofen, and anti-depressants such as Fluoxetine. "I cannot see how the prescribing of these medicines can be justified on medical grounds," added Maxwell, who is based at Edinburgh University.

These points were backed by Munir Pirmohamed, professor of clinical pharmacology at Liverpool University. "This is a horrendous list. Many of these are powerful medicines that are supposed to be prescribed for very specific, serious conditions."

However, as is clear from the example of Michael Jackson, when a star wants access to drugs, they generally get their way. For his part, Heath Ledger was taking a combination of painkillers, sleeping pills, anti-anxiety medication and tranquillisers when he died. In such cases, official reports often record death as being from a heart attack. "To be frank, that is highly unlikely," added Maxwell. "These are young people. Their hearts stopped all right, but not because they had a heart attack. They died because of all the powerful drugs they were taking."

Thus individuals take these drugs – initially – to counter discomfort or to deal with anxiety that is robbing them of sleep or sometimes, using drugs like Adderall, to increase their concentration. They increase their doses as their tolerance rises, but see no worries as the drugs involved were originally prescribed by their physicians. Eventually they end up on regimes of many drugs that lead to breakdown or death.

Another key factor in this accumulation of potent drugs is the internet. Although it is supposed to be rigorously monitored to prevent people buying prescription drugs, reports indicate that these are routinely circumvented. In this way, powerful painkillers and anti-anxiety medication can be purchased in large quantities by significant numbers of people. As to the issue of painkiller addiction spreading to Britain, there is little doubt that this has already happened.

Last year a parliamentary inquiry concluded that British doctors are unwittingly fuelling numbers of people hooked on prescription drugs that include painkillers, sleeping tablets and anti-anxiety pills. For example, the Home Office blames misuse of benzodiazepines for causing 17,000 deaths since their introduction in the 1960s.

MPs said they had been "extremely concerned" to receive many testimonials of people still being negligently prescribed these drugs by their GPs. Dr Brian Iddon, the Labour MP and former chemist, told the Observer: "Some GPs are addicting people by giving them repeat prescriptions without checking to see how long they've been on the drugs in the first place. They are not stopping patients from getting any more of them after the set amount of time."

The MPs' investigation also claimed that family doctors were contributing to growing problems associated with these substances by not taking seriously enough requests for help from addicts, and by mismanaging patients with chronic pain.

Medical experts told the inquiry that an unknown, but growing, number of people had become addicted to painkillers, often after taking them initially for genuine medical complaints such as a sore back, period pains or bad headaches. Some developed a dependence on over-the-counter drugs as a result. Solpadeine and Nurofen Plus are the two such substances most widely misused, the MPs say, with 4,000 subscribers to one specialist advice website alone hooked on Solpadeine.

"Of course, there is always going to be a subset of people who want to experiment with substances," said Pirmohamed. "There are also individuals who want to take risks. This is not the case with many of those addicted to painkillers and other prescription drugs, however. Many of these people simply do not realise that all drugs – no matter how beneficial – are poisonous at some level.

"That is the real key for dealing with this issue. We need to educate people to the dangers of all the medicines we consume."

news20091227cnn1

[Top stories] from [CNN.com]

[World]
December 27, 2009 -- Updated 1421 GMT (2221 HKT)
Why did security checks fail to spot explosives?
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
> Dutch authorities say normal security procedures were carried out
> Authorities say they would not have picked up secreted powders or liquid
> Secondary checks should pick up similar devices

(CNN) -- The alleged terror incident aboard a passenger flight from Amsterdam to Detroit has raised questions as to how a Nigerian man carried explosives through stringent security measures.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab has been charged with attempting to destroy a passenger plane after he detonated a device on board a jet on Friday.

Authorities in the United States are investigating whether Abdulmutallab had any connections with terrorist organizations or was acting alone.

Airports intensify security after plane attack

With Dutch officials scrutinizing security procedures at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport that allowed the 23-year-old man to smuggle the explosives on the aircraft -- here are some of the key questions still hanging over the incident.

Where did the explosives come from?

The man charged with igniting the device claims he obtained the explosives in Yemen, along with instruction on how to use it. He carried these onto a flight from Lagos, Nigeria, to Amsterdam, Netherlands where he transferred to Northwest Flight 253 to Detroit.

Was he on any security watch lists?

U.S. authorities say they were contacted by the man's father ahead of the attack, but whether he was placed on any so-called No-Fly list maintained by the United States is unclear. Dutch officials say the passenger's name appeared on a manifest supplied by the airline, which was passed to U.S. authorities, who cleared the flight to depart.

Were the proper security checks performed?

Yes, say Dutch authorities, who say he passed through normal procedures and that "security was well-performed." He is known to have passed through a metal detector and his luggage was X-rayed. Extra attention is normally applied to passengers arriving from Nigeria because of concerns over fraud and smuggling. Nevertheless airports around the world have stepped up security procedures in the wake of the incident, increasing pat-downs and secondary searches.

So how did the explosives get through?

Dutch authorities are at pains to point out that if the passenger had powders concealed upon his person or secreted bottles of liquid somewhere else, they certainly would not have been picked up by the metal detector.

Is there any way of detecting these kind of explosives?

A preliminary FBI analysis indicates the device contained PETN, also known as Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate, a highly explosive chemical. Experts say this would have been picked up using a swab commonly used in secondary screening. A body scan, particularly the new 3D imaging scanners being trailed at some airports, would also have spotted something strapped to his body, even in the crotch area.

Why were there no U.S. air marshall security officers on the flight?

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told CNN air marshalls are not posted on all flights. She said this was not due to budgetary constraints, but down to standard procedures, which see marshalls posted randomly on certain routes.


[World]
December 27, 2009 -- Updated 1338 GMT (2138 HKT)
Airports intensify security after plane attack
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
> Passengers report being confined to seats on aircraft, more patdowns before boarding
> "We ask that passengers follow the instructions of international security and flight crews," TSA says
> An official with the TSA told CNN that screening likely will take longer
> No changes in screening requirements, and no change in the number of carry-on bags allowed

(CNN) -- Plane passengers were facing delays and intensive checks Sunday as security was stepped up at international airports after a passenger detonated a device aboard a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, sparking a major terror alert.

Airports including Britain's London Heathrow were warning of delays for passengers heading to the United States as secondary screening measures were put into place to try to prevent a repeat of Friday's incident.

In the United States, the Transportation Security Administration told passengers to expect increased pat-downs and gate screening, as well as having to stow carry-ons and personal items, including pillows.

"We ask that passengers follow the instructions of international security and flight crews," the TSA said.

Security was also been ramped up at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport where Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab went through "normal security procedures" before boarding Northwest airlines flight 253, according to security officials.

Q&A: Why did security checks fail to spot explosives

Abdulmutallab, 23, was charged in a federal criminal complaint Saturday with attempting to destroy the plane Friday on its final approach to Detroit Metropolitan Airport, and placing a destructive device on the aircraft, the Department of Justice said.

At Schiphol, secondary screenings were boosted Saturday with body searches and bag checks, officials said.

As part of the increased security, passengers on a flight Saturday from Brussels, Belgium, to Dulles Airport in Virginia were not allowed to leave their seats for the last hour of the flight, a traveler told CNN.

Niki Yazzie said the flight crew told the passengers that they had to remain in their seats with their seatbelts fastened and couldn't have any items, such as pillows or blankets, covering their laps; everything was stowed away.

Passenger Johnny McDonald, who was on a U.S. domestic flight, told CNN he saw officials X-ray milk parents had brought for infants and saw many people patted down.

"They X-rayed the milk I don't know how many times," McDonald said. "And then they took the milk out and sampled each and every bottle of the milk. I've never seen that before."

Secondary searches are also being introduced much more widely at airports around the world, CNN's Richard Quest reported.

An official with the TSA told CNN that along with increased security at airports, screening likely will take longer. No details were provided on all the steps being taken.

The official advised travelers to allow for extra time before their flights. There will be no changes in screening requirements and no change in the number of carry-on bags allowed.

A note was released earlier this week by the Office of Intelligence and Analysis that said FBI officials "currently have no specific, credible intelligence indicating plans by al Qaeda or other terrorist groups to conduct attacks in the United States during the 2009 holiday season."

news20091227cnn2

[Top stories] from [CNN.com]

[World]
December 27, 2009 -- Updated 1416 GMT (2216 HKT)
Deaths reported in Iran clashes
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
> Protests coincide with end of religious festival Ashura
> NEW: Opposition Web site claims three people killed
> Demonstrations are latest since outrage over the June presidential elections
> Clashes occur during holy period of Ashura

Tehran, Iran (CNN) -- Fresh clashes broke out between demonstrators and security forces in Tehran on Sunday as large crowds gathered for Ashura, a major religious observance.

An opposition Web site said three people had been killed in clashes. But, with tight restrictions on international media, CNN could not independently verfiy the casualties.

Since the disputed presidential elections in June, protesters have turned public gatherings into rallies against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was declared the overwhelming winner of the race.

Police, wary of the potential that Ashura gatherings could present, were out in full force Sunday to quell disruptions but it did not stop demonstrators holding widespread protests.

Near Imam Hussein Square in central Tehran, security forces used tear gas to disperse demonstrators and blocked roads to prevent more from arriving, a witness said.

Protesters seized a motorcycle belonging to a security force member and set it on fire.

Elsewhere in the city, witnesses reported seeing protesters being beaten with batons. Demonstrators chanted "death to the dictator" and some ripped down a picture of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.

Police helicopters hovered above city squares while small trucks brought in fresh supplies of riot police in parts where clashes were fierce.

Protesters played cat-and-mouse with security forces -- gathering, then scrambling and gathering elsewhere.

The unrest followed day-long clashes between the two sides in the streets of Tehran on Saturday.

On Saturday evening, a pro-government mob barged into a mosque where former president and reformist leader Mohammad Khatami was speaking.

The dozens-strong group forced Khatami to end his remarks abruptly when it interrupted the gathering at Jamaran mosque.

Earlier Saturday, scores of security forces on motorcycles charged protesters on sidewalks whenever they started chanting anti-government slogans, witnesses said.

Sunday marks Ashura, the observance of the death of Imam Hussein, grandson of Prophet Mohammed.

Hussein, who was killed in battle in Karbala in 680 A.D., is regarded as a martyr -- and the battle that led to his death is one of the events that helped create the schism between Sunnis and Shiites, the two main Muslim religious movements.

Iran is predominantly Shiite.

During Sunday's protests, some demonstrators compared Khamenei to Yazid, the caliph who killed Hussein.

Religious mourning during Ashura is characterized by people chanting, beating their breasts in penance, cutting themselves with daggers or swords and whipping themselves in synchronized moves.

Sunday also happens to be a week to the day since the death of Grand Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri, a key figure in the 1979 Iranian revolution. Montazeri, who went on to become one of the government's most vocal critics, died December 20.

The seventh day after a death is a traditional time for mourning in Islam, giving Iran's opposition two reasons to demonstrate.

news20091227bbc

[One-Minute World News] from [BBC NEWS]

[Middle East]
Page last updated at 15:00 GMT, Sunday, 27 December 2009
Tehran police 'in fatal clashes with protesters'
Opposition sources in Iran say that at least four protesters have been shot dead in violent clashes between anti-government crowds and police.

They said security forces opened fire on protesters as some of the fiercest clashes in months erupted in the capital, Tehran.

The police have denied there had been any fatalities.

Opposition parties had urged people to take to the streets as the Shia Muslim festival of Ashura reached a climax.

People were chanting "Khamenei will be toppled", opposition sources said, a reference to Iran's Supreme Leader.

Thousands of demonstrators are reported to have taken part in the protests, in defiance of official warnings.

Initial reports said the security forces fired in the air to disperse the protests, but several different reports said that at least one, and possibly as many as four demonstrators, had been shot dead.

Police sources, quoted by the Iranian Fars news agency, denied this, saying foreign media were exaggerating reports of unrest.

The nephew of former presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi was among the dead.

Seyed Mousavi was shot in the heart at Enghelab Square, the BBC has confirmed. Mr Mousavi was at the hospital where he was taken.

Although there were deaths in the immediate aftermath of the disputed elections and protests in June, fatalities since then have been rare.

{{ANALYSIS}
Jon Leyne, BBC News Tehran correspondent
> The opposition hoped for a massive day of demonstrations, and they seem to have succeeded.
> Despite attempts by the security forces to disperse them, the protesters took over a large section of central Tehran, leaving the police watching from the sidelines. And there are similar reports from across the country.
> For much of the morning there was a series of violent confrontations. Witnessess described how opposition supporters attacked the police with their bare hands, and the police eventually opened fire directly on the crowd.
> The day's events will significantly worsen the confrontation, particularly if the opposition is right that several protesters were shot dead.
> But neither side has a clear strategy of what to do next. The opposition is leaderless. The government is still pretending there are just a handful of troublemakers. From day to day, it is not clear how the crisis will develop.

The security forces clearly have to tread a fine line between not appearing weak but also not provoking opposition protesters, says Siavash Ardalan of BBC Persian TV.

Police helicopters were seen flying over central Tehran as clouds of black smoke billowed into the sky, reports said.

On the ground, the security forces clashed with protesters trying to reach central Enghelab Square, witnesses said.

Protesters were chanting, "This is the month of blood", and calling for the downfall of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to opposition websites.

At the same time, crowds of pro-government demonstrators marched on Enghelab Street to voice support for Ayatollah Khamenei, witnesses said.

Protests were also reported in the cities of Isfahan and Najafabad.

Disputed election

Tensions have risen in Iran since influential dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hoseyn Ali Montazeri died a week ago aged 87.

Supporters of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi have sought to use Shia religious festivals this weekend to show continued defiance of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government.

Denied the right to protest, the opposition chose the highly significant festival of Ashura when millions of Iranians traditionally go onto the streets for ceremonies and parades, BBC Tehran correspondent Jon Leyne says.

The festival mourns the 7th Century death of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.

Iranian television had live coverage of the Ashura ceremonies, including those in Tehran attended by President Ahmadinejad.

Mr Mousavi came second in the June election, and anger at the result saw mass protests in Tehran and other cities that led to thousands of arrests and some deaths.

Mr Mousavi has said the poll, that returned Mr Ahmadinejad to power, was fraudulent.


[Americas]
Page last updated at 15:21 GMT, Sunday, 27 December 2009
Obama orders air security review after jet bomb attempt
US President Barack Obama has ordered a review of air security measures after a Nigerian man allegedly tried to blow up a trans-Atlantic jet on Christmas Day.

Spokesman Robert Gibbs said the president wanted to know how a man carrying dangerous substance PETN had managed to board a flight in Amsterdam.

He said the system of watch-lists would also be examined after it emerged the man was listed and known to officials.

A US record for 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was created last month.

Mr Gibbs told ABC News that the review would examine, firstly, the system of watch-lists used by government agencies, which includes three lists which become progressively shorter as risk increases.

'Dangerous substance'

Mr Abdulmutallab was placed on the lowest-risk list by US authorities in November 2009, along with some 550,000 others.

On 24 December Mr Abdulmutallab travelled from Nigeria to Amsterdam and then on to Detroit with an explosive device attached to his body.

Shortly before the flight was due to land he attempted to detonate the device beneath a blanket but he was overpowered by passengers and crew.

Mr Gibbs said "air detection capabilities" would also be examined as part of the review.

"The president has asked the Department of Homeland Security to answer the, quite frankly, the very real question about how somebody with something as dangerous as PETN could have gotten onto a plane in Amsterdam."

Speaking to the same network, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said there was no immediate indication that Mr Abdulmutallab was part of a broader terror plot.

"Well, right now we have no indication that it is part of anything larger. But obviously the investigation continues. And we have instituted more screening and what we call mitigation measures at airports," she said.


[Health]
Page last updated at 00:00 GMT, Sunday, 27 December 2009
Study blames two genes for aggressive brain cancer
Scientists have discovered two genes that appear responsible for one of the most aggressive forms of brain cancer.

Glioblastoma multiforme rapidly invades the normal brain, producing inoperable tumours, but scientists have not understood why it is so aggressive.

The latest study, by a Columbia University team, published in Nature, pinpoints two genes.

The researchers say that the findings raise hopes of developing a treatment for the cancer.

{{It means we are no longer wasting time developing drugs against minor actors in brain cancer - we can now attack the major players}
Dr Antonio Iavarone
Columbia University}

The genes - C/EPB and Stat3 - are active in about 60% of glioblastoma patients.

They appear to work in tandem to turn on many other genes that make brain cells cancerous.

Patients in the study whose tumours showed evidence of both genes being active died within 140 weeks of diagnosis.

In contrast, half of patients without activity from these genes were alive after that time.

Master controls

Lead researcher Dr Antonio Iavarone described the two genes as the disease's master control knobs.

He said: "When simultaneously activated, they work together to turn on hundreds of other genes that transform brain cells into highly aggressive, migratory cells.

"The finding means that suppressing both genes simultaneously, using a combination of drugs, may be a powerful therapeutic approach for these patients, for whom no satisfactory treatment exists."

When the researchers silenced both genes in human glioblastoma cells, it completely blocked their ability to form tumours when injected in a mouse.

The Columbia team is now attempting to develop drugs they hope will achieve the same effect.

Using state-of-the-art techniques, they effectively mapped out the comprehensive and highly complex network of molecular interactions driving the behaviour of glioblastoma cells.

Dr Iavarone said: "The identification of C/EPB and Stat3 came as a complete surprise to us, since these genes had never been implicated before in brain cancer

"From a therapeutic perspective, it means we are no longer wasting time developing drugs against minor actors in brain cancer - we can now attack the major players."

Nell Barrie, science information officer at Cancer Research UK, said: "This research is exciting, as it sheds light on the key changes that drive cells in the brain to become glioblastoma cells.

"By finding out exactly how healthy cells turn into cancer cells, scientists hope to find clues for preventing or reversing the process.

"The technique used in this study should help scientists to understand these changes in other types of cancer, leading to new and more personalised treatment approaches in the future."

news20091227reut

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Lucy Hornby
BEIJING
Sat Dec 26, 2009 11:12pm EST
China introduces law to boost renewable energy
BEIJING (Reuters) - A new Chinese law requires power grid operators to buy all the electricity produced by renewable energy generators, in a move that will increase the proportion of energy that comes from renewable sources in coal-dependent China.

The amendment to the 2006 renewable energy law was adopted on Saturday by the standing committee of the National People's Congress, China's legislature, the Xinhua news agency said.

The amendment also gives authority to the State Council energy department, together with the State Council finance department and the state power authority, to "determine the proportion of renewable energy power generation to the overall generating capacity for a certain period."

Many other countries also have requirements that grid operators priorities the dispatch of power from renewable sources, even if it is more expensive than coal-fired baseload plants.

In China, a boom in wind-power plants thanks to government subsidies has resulted in a large amount of wind capacity that is not always properly connected to the grid. In some cases, the wind farms are not located at the optimal spot for wind.

One-third of China's installed wind power capacity is not well connected to the grid, Xinhua said, citing industry experts.

Much of China's wind power is installed in remote, wind-swept regions like Inner Mongolia and Gansu, where power demand is low. But some of the country's cheapest coal generators are also in Inner Mongolia, pricing the wind farms out of the power market.

"Renewable energy power in the country's resource-rich, underdeveloped northwestern region must be sent to the resource-scarce, prosperous coastal area," said Wang Zhongyong, renewable energy director at the National Development and Reform Commission's Energy Research Institute, according to Xinhua.

The relative independence of regional grids made such transmission difficult, Wang said.

China must develop more efficient "smart grids" as part of the solution, said Xiao Liye, director of the Institute of Electrical Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The new requirement will also benefit China's massive new nuclear power plants, although nuclear power is usually cheap enough to be competitive on its own.

Grid operators refusing to buy power produced by renewable energy generators could be fined up to double the loss suffered by the renewable energy generator, the amendment said.

China's target is for renewable energy sources to make up 15 percent of its power generation by 2020, up from about 9 percent currently. It also targets a reduction in carbon intensity, or the amount of carbon produced per unit of GDP, of between 40 and 45 percent by 2020 compared with 2005.

(Editing by Sugita Katyal)


[South Korea]
Amena Bakr
ABU DHABI
Sun Dec 27, 2009 5:21am
S.Korea wins $20 billion nuclear deal from UAE
ABU DHABI (Reuters) - A South Korean consortium has won a $40 billion contract to build several nuclear reactors for the United Arab Emirates, industry sources said on Sunday

The consortium would build the first nuclear power plants in the Gulf Arab region under the deal, one of the largest energy contracts ever awarded in the Middle East and also one of the world's biggest nuclear power plant deals.

"We've won," said one industry source. "We're not sure about the exact figure but I think it's around $40 billion."

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak was expected to sign the deal with UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan later on Sunday, sources said.

The consortium includes Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), Hyundai Engineering and Construction, Samsung C&T Corp and Doosan Heavy Industries.

The South Korean group beat a French consortium and another group of companies from the United States and Japan.

"The UAE's choice must have been based on strictly commercial terms because in terms of political clout in the region it's nil," said Al Troner, president of Houston-based Asia Pacific Energy Consulting.

"Korea has a good track record in terms of safety and price and it's a surprise to see the U.S. and France are not part of the bid because they are the ones with the more political strength in the Middle East."

Nascent nuclear programs in the Middle East, including in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, have fueled concerns of a regional arms race.

But the UAE has already pledged to import the fuel it needs for reactors -- rather than attempting to enrich uranium, the fuel for nuclear power plants -- to allay fears about uranium enrichment facilities being used to make weapons-grade material.

Iran has long been at odds with the West over its declared plans to use enriched uranium to generate electricity, a program the United States and European allies fear is a cover to develop the ability to produce atomic bombs.

Work on the first nuclear plant in the Gulf Arab region was expected to begin in 2012.

STRATEGIC PROJECT

The UAE is the world's third-largest oil exporter and is looking to nuclear power to meet rapidly rising electricity consumption. Petrodollar-fueled economic growth has left the Gulf Arab state struggling to meet domestic power demand.

Abu Dhabi is driving the UAE nuclear program. The emirate holds most of the UAE's crude reserves, and has managed to avoid the worst of the global economic slowdown as well as the debt crisis that has hit neighboring emirate Dubai.

"Competitive prices played a key role in the UAE's decision, especially now with the economic crisis everyone is trying to cut down on costs," said Christian Koch, director of International Studies at Gulf Research Center.

Abu Dhabi stepped in to provide a $10-billion lifeline to Dubai earlier this month, to help its flagship company Dubai World meet debt obligations.

Dubai's debt crisis had cast a shadow over financing prospects for other Gulf borrowers but analysts expect blue-chip names like Abu Dhabi and Qatar to weather the fallout.

"These are long-term projects and many of the finance providers will look beyond what is happening today," said John Sfakianakis, chief economist at Banque Saudi Fransi-Credit Agricole Group in Riyadh. "The UAE's nuclear program is a strategic project."

He said the UAE could issue bonds in future to fund the project, in addition to the usual mix of project financing methods such as export agencies and banks.

"I think by the time they do this (issue bonds), the Dubai storm will be over, plus Abu Dhabi would have a substantial windfall from oil revenues," he said.

The UAE plans to build three or four nuclear reactors in a first phase to help meet an expected rise in power demand to 40,000 megawatts in 2020 from around 15,000 MW last year.

(Additional reporting by Martin Dokoupil)

(Writing by Simon Webb; Editing by Amran Abocar and John Stonestreet)