all: 2007

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

A Double-blind, Placebo-Controlled, Randomized Trial of Bupropion for Smoking Cessation in Primary Care.

BACKGROUND: Studies undertaken in academic settings have shown that bupropion hydrochloride can double the odds of smoking cessation compared with placebo. To assess whether these results are applicable in primary care, we launched a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial to be conducted by general practitioners. METHODS: We assigned 593 healthy smokers to receive bupropion hydrochloride, 150 mg twice a day, or placebo daily for 7 weeks (hereinafter, bupropion group [n = 400] and placebo group [n = 193], respectively). After the baseline visit, 4 clinical visits and 3 telephone calls were scheduled over the 1-year period. The primary end points were biochemically confirmed continuous abstinence at week 7 and at week 52. RESULTS: Seventy-one Italian general practitioners enrolled participants from April 2004 to May 2005. Of the bupropion group, 41.0% were continuously abstinent from week 4 to week 7 compared with 22.3% of the placebo group (multivariate odds ratio, 2.37; 95% confidence interval, 1.60-3.53). The continuous abstinence rates from week 4 to week 52 were 25% in the bupropion group and 14% in the placebo group (odds ratio, 2.11; 95% confidence interval, 1.32-3.39). The mean weight gain was similar in both groups and among long-term abstainers was 3 kg in women and 4 kg in men. More participants in the bupropion group experienced an adverse event than those in the placebo group, but the percentage who discontinued use of the study medication was similar. CONCLUSIONS: Bupropion more than doubled the odds of continuous abstinence from smoking. The adherence of general practitioners and participants to the protocol was excellent, making our findings robust and easy to generalize to the context of primary care.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Three South Korean hostages set free in Afghanistan

Three out of 19 South Korean hostages were set free on Wednesday by the Taliban movement in Ghazni Province, in the eastern part of Afghanistan. According to coming reports, the hostages were turned over to the sheikh of one of the local tribes.

Russia 1st vice PM visits State University Scientific Centre

Russian First Vice Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov on Wednesday visited the Scientific Park of the Lomonosov Moscow State University (MGU). He familiarised himself with certain innovations, examined a number of scientific stands and also watched a presentation organised by students within the framework of a business game modelling investment projects.
After a meeting Ivanov held at the university he went to watch an exhibition. In particular, intellectual security systems, software and mathematical support that are currently being developed by a company set up here were demonstrated to Ivanov at the exhibition. The company’s products make it possible to identify people on biometric data, as well as identify transport vehicles, things, collect information in complex and organize video surveillance.
At the university’s chemistry department buildings Ivanov was also demonstrated a number of innovations, in particular, a functional mock-up of a fuel element, modern materials for insulation and protection from fire, as well as installations modelling gas-diffusion processes.
The first vice prime minister was invited to take part in the business game. Students divided into two teams were to prepare investment projects and in a short period of time convince a hypothetical investor of the necessity of implementing the project. In particular, two students presented to Ivanov their plan “Intellectual Advertising” – a project based on video surveillance, intellectual analysis and a flexible system of presentation that is to offer to the potential customer the product that may interest him.
Although the first vice prime minister warned the inventors that “advertising is always obtrusive and most people do not watch it at all,” he nevertheless gave a high assessment to this idea.
Wishing the students success, Ivanov expressed regret that he had no time to look at all projects.
Ivanov said earlier at a meeting he chaired at the university that he believes that it is necessary to raise effectiveness of the country’s innovation policy by means of improving the existing funds, and not only by creating new ones.
“We need specific steps aimed at raising the innovation policy effectiveness and it is necessary to do this not only by creating new investment structures, but also by actively improving and modifying the existing funds,” Ivanov said at a meeting that focused on matters related to activities of the Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises (FASIE) on Wednesday.
Ivanov said that a meeting of the Commission for the Development of the Industry, Technology and Transport that will be held on September 21 would be devoted to this issue.
“It is also necessary to give closest attention to the creation of regional and sectoral structures of support of innovation activities, including forms of initial financing and venture business activity,” Ivanov said. He added that the guidelines of the Russian policy in the sphere of the development of the innovation system for a period up to 2010 contain the corresponding clauses.
“By means of the creation of a ramified innovation system we will finally be able to remove the national economy from the export-raw material environment in a short period of time, will ensure high growth dynamics of processing sectors of the industry and first of all sectors that are linked with the output of science-intensive and high technology products,” believes the first vice prime minister.
Ivanov also considers it necessary to create a system of support mechanisms of most qualified research associations that are engaged in the development and putting into operation of innovation ideas.
“For sustainable innovation development of the national economy it is vitally important for us to have a system of flexible financial mechanisms that would ensure supply of resources to most qualified research collectives and ‘advanced’ firms, as well as would make it possible to considerably curtail the path from the scientific idea birth to its implementation in production,” believes the first vice prime minister.
“Such a system should be based on competitive financing of innovation projects through a network of specialised funds, such as the FASIE,” Ivanov said.
In the view of the first vice prime minister, such an approach has a number of advantages – it provides possibility for a qualified and transparent expert examination of projects, inventors and research collectives will be provided with a real chance to get the necessary financing for putting their initiatives into practice and moreover, it makes it possible to effectively put into practice the principles of the state-private partnership in the sphere of science and innovations.
The FASIE is a state non-profit organisation established in 1994. Its main tasks include pursuing the state policy of the development and support of small enterprises in the scientific-technical sphere, support of small innovative enterprises (SME) implementing projects for the development and introduction of new types of science-intensive products and technology based on intellectual property of these enterprises, creation and development of infrastructure for the support of small innovative businesses.
The FASIE is an initiator and participant in the development of laws and legislative acts providing state and social support for small business.
Since its creation, more then 4,000 SME from various regions around the country have applied to the foundation. The foundation’s tender commission and experts have selected around 2,000 projects for funding.
Ivanov’s secretariat said that the results of the Wednesday visiting of the MGU Scientific Park would be used, in particular, in the preparation for a regular meeting of the Commission for the Development of the Industry, Technology and Transport. On September 21, the commission with gather for a meeting to consider the results of activities of investment-innovation foundations among which is the Russian Venture Company, Russian Investment Fund of Information-Communication Technologies, Russian Technological Development Fund, Fund for the Development of Nanotechnologies and FASIE.

First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visits Tambov

First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visited the office the Pension Fund in the Tambov region on Wednesday.
He familiarised himself with the document processing procedure, including the so-called maternity capital certificates, which are issued to all mothers who have two or more children.
Medvedev inquired about the birth rate in the region and the procedure for issuing the maternity capital certificates. In Russia n average, the document is issued within a month. In the Pension Fund’s office of the Tambov region, which has modern computer equipment, this procedure takes 15 days.
The staff told Medvedev about the social programmes implemented by the Fund, including aid to senior citizens’ homes and specialised medical institutions.

Death toll in Baku house collapse accident rises to 8

The death toll in the Baku house collapse accident has risen to right, Health Minister Samaya Mamedova said on Wednesday
Rescuers found the body of a woman and a child under the debris in the evening. They are believed to have been passing by when the multi-storey building collapsed on Tuesday.
One of the builders who was working at the construction side died in hospital on Wednesday.
During the day, the Emergencies Ministry, the Interior Ministry, and Prosecutor General’s Office issued a report saying that five people had been killed and five injured.
The 16-storey building in Baku collapsed due to the violation of construction safety rules and the failure to observe relevant building technology requirements, specialists said.
The Emergencies Ministry, the Interior Ministry and the Prosecutor’s General Office said in a statement that four people – Mutafakkir Company Director General Ali Muradov, engineer Asker Aliyev, and construction managers Farkhad Gasanov and Gadir Salimov -- had been detained and accused of “violation of safety rules during the construction works that led to the loss of life and other serious consequences”.
Earlier in the day, Baku Prosecutor Aziz Seidov said there might be another four or five people under the debris.
The rescue operation on the site went through the night, the Emergencies Ministry said.
Heavy machinery is clearing off the debris, ambulance vehicles are on the standby, and the area is cordoned.
Azerbaijani President Ilkham Aliyev inspected the site where a multi-storey building under construction collapsed.
Aliyev instructed all structures to conduct a technical expertise of all new houses in Baku, Prime Minister Abid Shafirov said. “A special group will be set up that will study necessary parameters of new houses, including their seismic resistance. Then necessary decisions will be taken,” the prime minister added.
Construction workers were trapped under the debris of the house, which was being built three kilometres from downtown Baku. The death toll has reached seven, the Azerbaijani Ministry for Emergency Situations reported. Reports say at least six people were injured. Two of them are in grave condition.
According to rescuers, voices still can be heard from under the rubble. Rescue work continues at the site with the use of heavy machinery.
The site is still cordoned off by police, who are trying to keep away reporters and relatives of builders who may have been trapped under the rubble.
“The preliminary theory of this accident is the flagrant violation of safety rules in the construction process,” chief of the civil defence department of the Emergency Situations Ministry Kamil Bagirov said. Tenants of nearby houses said that the unfinished building looked shaky and had numerous cracks in the walls.
“A huge crack formed in the building shortly before the accident and it went down,” an eyewitness said.
According to the local media, tenants of nearby houses asked the court to ban the construction, which was too close to their homes.
A criminal case has been opened against heads of the Mutafakkir company, which was building the house, Azerbaijani Prosecutor General Zakir Garalov said at the accident scene. Two company executives were taken into custody.
The house was under construction in a busy area. The cost of one square metre varies from 500 U.S. dollars to 800 U.S. dollars. The housing prices are even higher in the central areas of Baku – from 1,500 U.S. dollars to 5,000 U.S. dollars.

N Korea nuke talks parties have no agt on control measures-Hill

There is no agreement so far among states participating in the six-sided talks on the North Korean nuclear problem settlement on control measures over the liquidation North Korea’s nuclear programmes and facilities, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher R. Hill who is the US chief negotiator at the six-sided talks admitted.
At a special briefing on Wednesday Hill answered an Itar-Tass question on the supposed verification regime within the framework of dismantlement of Pyongyang’s nuclear programmes. Hill’s press conference was timed to coincide with the second meeting of the working group on normalisation of relations between Washington and Pyongyang that is scheduled for September 1-2 in Geneva.
According to the diplomat, the verification issue is being broadly discussed at the six-sided talks both in the bilateral and multilateral format. Nevertheless, Hill said he did not think that the parties have already worked out consensus approach on the issue how this (i.e. control over the liquidation of North Korean nuclear programmes) should be implemented.
The expert said that the George W. Bush administration undoubtedly hopes that nuclear powers participating in the six-sided process – Russia, China and the United States – will play a considerable role in this. Besides, the US assistant secretary of state stressed, Washington officials are quite satisfied with discussions (on the above problem) with the Russian delegation at the six-sided talks among which were experienced atomic experts. He said the US side hopes for very close cooperation with Russian nuclear experts as the parties advance in this phase – verification.
The US government had repeatedly stated in the past that it expected important participation of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council in the process of control over the liquidation of North Korean nuclear programmes. After that the US authorities said that Russia that accumulated major experience in this sphere could be placed in the head of this process.
Hill also said that the US administration believes that the next round of the six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear problem settlement may be started right after annual meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC) that are to take place in Sydney in early September.
Hill confirmed that he would take part in APEC events in Sydney. In the words of the diplomat, he plans talks with the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s Asia and Oceania department head Kenichiro Sasae and possibly with colleagues from Russia.
In the view of Hill, it would be real to hold the next round of the six-sides talks on the Korean Peninsula denuclearisation the week after the APEC meetings. However, the decision on this is to be made first of all by China that hosts the six-party talks, the US assistant secretary of state noted.
The diplomat also highly assessed the results of a meeting of the working group for the mechanism of ensuring peace and security in Northeast Asia that was held in Moscow on August 20-21. It was a very good meeting, Hill stressed.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Water for All News

Welcome to Water for All News. All issues are archived here for easy access to everyone who is either active or interested in the Asia and Pacific region's water sector issues. Whether you are a policymaker, working in a water agency, doing research, or a water user, you will find ideas here to take action to help solve many water-related problems facing the region.
Water for All News is published monthly and features stories on successful water initiatives in ADB developing member countries as well as articles and case studies on water actions on the ground. Take time to browse through and sign up for monthly delivery of new issues to your email address.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Pages of The Bee

Pete Wilson says he'll veto any legislation that would move up the California primary from June to March. He has no problem giving the state more influence in presidential elections but believes an early state primary could disrupt the current reapportionment process required by the 1990 census.
"Beyond watching and waiting, the West must speak with one clear voice on the desired course in the Soviet Union: toward democracy and more freedom of choice for the Soviet peoples." - Bee editorial, lamenting the coup by communist hard-liners who ousted President Mikhail Gorbachev from power

Resident ponders his loss, says fire crews did right thing for the community

Tahoe - Erik Hurst stood guard over his home for two hours Saturday, garden hose in hand and frustration swirling within. Nearby, fire crews fought to quell the flames that quickly devoured one home, then another on Washoe Way.
For a while, he held out hope that his home would survive. Hurst said Sunday as he surveyed the charred rubble of what was once his home.
His street had no hydrants. Tankers hauled in water to battle the blaze. Helicopters armed with buckets joined the fight as an army of firefighters moved into position.
"The fire department had to make a call whether to save my home or sacrifice it for the best interest of the community," Hurst said. In the end, his home was expendable.
His voice gave no hint of bitterness, but his stoic demeanor soon gave way to welled-up emotion. Tears dripped from under his sunglasses, which when removed revealed eyes red with grief. He fisted his hands to rub the tears away, a smear of ash blackening one cheek.
Brisk winds fanned flames up the slope from his home, one of more than 200 in the Sunnyside community two miles south of Tahoe City on the western shore of Lake Tahoe.
Two other homes on Tahoe Woods Boulevard, uphill from Washoe Way, were destroyed.
"It's absolutely amazing how they stopped it before it got bigger than 15 acres," Hurst said. "It was the right call to make. They were looking out for the greater good."
Ash, twisted metal, melted plastic and mounds of debris; the fallen frame of one side of his home lay neatly charred on the ground. He picked up a bicycle from the rubble, its frame ashened, its tires dangling from bent rims.
With the Angora fire still a fresh nightmare across the Tahoe basin, the latest fire was an unsettling reminder of the volatility of fire in the region's parched forests.
"People who live in these communities, who live adjacent to forests, need to realize we still have extreme fire conditions," said Todd Chapanot, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service.
The cause of the fire -- which was contained by 11 p.m. Saturday -- officially remains under investigation, Chapanot said. Damage estimates from the 20-acre fire were unavailable.
What is known is that the fire began in the backyard of one of the five homes destroyed by the blaze.
One witness said she saw fire dripping from a gas barbecue at the first home engulfed by the fire.
"I think we're really lucky. You never know what's going to take down 200 homes," said Jennifer Merchant, a spokeswoman for Placer County's office of emergency services. "Sometimes, there's no rhyme or reason for the devastation. It could have easily been 200 homes or more."
Officials credit the quick response of fire crews -- a sentiment echoed by residents and vacationers -- and work done earlier this year to remove underbrush and thin out trees from several acres of forestland uphill from the fire's origin.
"That, I have to believe, made a huge difference," said Kris Timberlake, a fire captain with Cal Fire's Amador-El Dorado unit.
Shrubs such as manzanita and low-hanging tree branches allow flames to race along the forest floor, torching entire stands of pine. Flames, fanned by gusts, could then jump from treetop to treetop, Timberlake said.
In June, Timberlake was one of thousands of south-shore residents forced out of their homes because of the Angora fire, which blackened 3,100 acres and destroyed more than 250 homes.
There was a collective sigh of relief that Saturday's fire wasn't worse.
Ed Hirschberg, who is building a house near the lake, arrived from Oakland just as firefighters were arriving, he said. "The firemen told us, 'This could be bad, you need to get out of here.' "
Mandatory evacuations were ordered, but most were lifted Sunday evening as fire crews continued to watch for hot spots and mop up. Utility crews were also busy repairing lines.
On Saturday, residents and vacationers scrambled to find lodging. Some vacationers returned home. Others took refuge at hotels, nearly all filled to capacity. Some nearby lodges opened their doors. So did homeowners who offered their couches and spare beds. As a result, few opted to evacuate to the Fairview Community Center in Tahoe City.
On Sunday, the California Highway Patrol attempted to keep traffic from entering the area. But many motorists found ways in.
Alex McDonald, a San Francisco physician, arrived Sunday to survey his home after recognizing his Tahoe neighborhood in a newspaper photo.
"I came racing up here. Fortunately, it's fine," he said of his second home. He called himself fortunate.
Less fortunate was Hurst, who spent Sunday talking about his loss -- to his insurance agent, neighbors and strangers.
Hurst, who vowed to rebuild, said he knew the risks of living in the woods.
"When the Angora fire happened, you felt fortunate that it wasn't you," he said. "But you know that someday, it's going to happen. You just hope that it's not going to happen anytime soon."

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Terrorist attack

A terrorist attack was supposed to be the cause of the derailment of a train traveling from Moscow to Petersburg, which injured 60 passengers late on Monday, Russian news agencies reported on Tuesday.
The passenger train derailment in Novgorod region "was caused by a homemade bomb explosion," officials of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office at the incident site was quoted by Itar-Tass news agency as saying.
A criminal investigation has been launched under terrorism charges into the bomb blast that derailed the express train, said Sergei Bednichenko, head of the Northwestern Federal District Prosecutor's Office, at the scene.
Sixty people were injured when the passenger train on the Moscow-Petersburg route derailed in Novgorod region late Monday, and 25 were sent to hospitals, the press service of Russian Railways reported on Tuesday.
The incident occurred at 21:43 Moscow time , at the 179th km of the Oktyabrskaya Railway near Malaya Vishera, the spokesman for the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry, Viktor Beltsov, told Itar-Tass news agency.
Four of the 12 carriages of the high-speed Nevsky Express derailed, but they did not overturn.
"Smoke began to billow, but the nidus of fire was promptly extinguished," Beltsov said.
Sixty people sought medical assistance and 25 of them were rushed to hospitals in Veliky Novgorod, a Russian Railways official said.
According to the official, 231 tickets on the Nevsky Express high-speed train were sold on Monday. There were also 20 crewmembers on the train.
No children were among the injured. Acting chief doctor of the Malaya Vishera hospital Svetlana Dyakonova said the injured people were in "medium grave condition."
No one died in the incident, according to preliminary reports.
Meanwhile, Russian Railways said 12 cars and an electric locomotive derailed in the incident.
"As a result of external impact, several carriages of passenger train No. 166 Moscow-St. Petersburg derailed at the Burga-Malaya Vishra stretch at 21:38 Moscow time," the company's official press release said.
The engine driver claimed he had heard a clap just before the incident.
A special diesel train took passengers of the derailed train to St. Petersburg. It left for Petersburg at 0:44, Moscow time .
President of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin cut short his trip to Siberia and flew to Novgorod region. A Russian Railways commission led by the vice-president of the company, Viktor Popov, were heading for the scene. The company also set up a crisis headquarters led by its first vice-president Vadim Morozov, a company official said.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

All the News

Got an interesting survey recently from MoveOn.org. The online activist group is considering whether to set up an online news service that's filtered by both journalists and "citizen reviewers" for accuracy, fairness, credibility, and relevance. From the depth of the survey, it appears they're pretty serious. ...
Wes Boyd, MoveOn's cofounder and president, told me it's just an idea for now and may never come to pass. But he says one of the biggest concerns among MoveOn's 2 million members is media news coverage. "People feel traditional media is losing their way," he says. "Chasing entertainment value is the main thing, vs. a journalistic process." At the same time, he notes, with the proliferation of Weblogs and other "citizen media," "it's not clear how journalistic practices become a part of the Internet."
The project, headed by Fabrice Florin, CEO of the cell phone content provider Handtap Communications, would draft what Boyd says would be a nonpartisan, volunteer team of professional journalists and potentially thousands of citizen reviewers. They'd rate each news story and produce a daily selection of "news you can trust" on the Web and by e-mail. Boyd says he was shocked that the survey indicated half the respondents would volunteer, about five times the rate he expected. What's more, a lot of respondents said they'd pay $20 a year for the feed--plus extras such as personalized news feeds and the ability to publish one's own feed to share with others.
Given MoveOn's quite clear stands on many issues, can such a service avoid an echo-chamber effect? Boyd's not sure, though he hopes getting thousands of people involved might help ensure that divergent voices will be heard. No telling if he's right. But it's an interesting stab at using Internet tools to get readers more involved in the news.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Breast Cancer Cells Discovered

When a woman receives a breast cancer diagnosis her entire life may change in the blink of an eye. But the nature of that change is governed by the smallest alterations that take place within the proteins of the tumor cells, determining what treatments she can pursue with a hope of cure and those to which her cancer is resistant.
Scientists from the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center announced today the discovery of a new mechanism of resistance to endocrine or anti-hormonal therapies, such as Tamoxifen and Faslodex. This research may allow oncologists to screen women for responsiveness to these treatments, and provides a much-needed clue to reversing resistance. The research, led by Robert Clarke, PhD, DSc, a professor of oncology and of physiology and biophysics at Georgetown University Medical Center, indicates that a gene previously thought to be unrelated to breast cancer may be responsible for some resistance to endocrine therapy.
The gene, called human X-box binding protein-1, is an alternatively spliced transcription factor that participates in a stress-signaling pathway to protect cells from damage. In a paper published online in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology on July 27, Clarke and his colleagues at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center found that over-expression of the spliced variant of the gene in estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer cells led to reduced sensitivity to Tamoxifen and Faslodex.
According to Lombardi medical oncologist Minetta Liu, MD, it is expected that all hormone receptor positive metastatic breast cancers will eventually develop resistance to endocrine therapies. When this happens, doctors must switch their patients to a different class of drugs – throwing their lives into limbo once again as treatment schedules are changed and new side effects develop.
“When cell lines changed from being sensitive to endocrine therapy to being resistant, we saw an increase in spliced XBP1 inside the cell. So then we took sensitive cells and added spliced XBP1, which made them resistant to the therapy,” explained Clarke, who is interim director of Georgetown’s Biomedical Graduate Research Organization and co-leader of the Breast Cancer Program at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Anti-hormonal therapies are some of the most effective treatments for breast cancer because estrogen, a natural female sex hormone, can drive the growth of the tumor. Tamoxifen and other anti-hormonal therapies cut off the tumor’s access to estrogen, causing the tumor to stabilize and sometimes even shrink. However according to Clarke, many cancers become insensitive to these treatments over time – more than half of all recurring breast cancers lose sensitivity – because they have found a way to keep growing in the absence of estrogen.
Previously, Clarke and his team found that XBP1 is co-expressed with the estrogen receptor in breast tumor cells. This may mean that the effects of XBP1 over-expression occur when the protein is bound to the estrogen receptor, suggesting for the first time that these two proteins interact in the cell. This was the first evidence that the XBP1 protein may play a role in breast cancer pathways.
Through molecular profiling of the downstream effects of the spliced XBP1, Dr. Clarke and his colleagues discovered that expression of several anti-apoptotic genes responsible for programmed cell death – including BCL2 – are altered. While they have not yet determined the exact interactions that take place, the researchers believe that the overexpression of XBP1 promotes cell survival by affecting the activity of the intrinsic apoptosis pathway.
“XBP1 may give us a much-needed clue for better predicting response to anti-estrogen therapies like Tamoxifen,” explained Clarke. “The presence of the activated protein at high levels should predict estrogen independence and thus resistance to these therapies.”
In the future, Clarke also hopes to develop a new therapeutic treatment based on this discovery. He believes that the XBP1 pathway can be targeted in patients receiving treatment to ensure their tumors do not become resistant to the anti-hormonal therapies. Using this discovery, Clarke also hopes to find a way to reverse resistance to anti-hormonal therapies, making it possible for women to continue treatment with first line therapies for longer.
However, Clarke said that the next step in this research will be to conduct a trial to test the predictive power of XBP1 in the clinic.

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

“Orange” forces to unite in 2007: Lutsenko

In 2007, all so-called "orange" political forces will come together again.
Such is the prognosis of ex-Minister of Internal Affairs and current presidential advisor Yuri Lutsenko. According to him, the common goal of the orange camps is to replace the current parliament. Lutsenko said that both BYuT leader Yulia Tymosheko and Presidential Secretariat head Viktor Baloha support this idea.

Internal Affairs Ministry pleased with “spets-operation”

The Internal Affairs Ministry made its official report on New Year’s activities Tuesday. According to the MIA, out of the four million Ukrainians who took part in New Year’s festivities, none committed any serious crimes.
The Ministry’s spets-operation called “Profilaktyka 2006” was also a success. According to MIA representatives, numerous underground vodka and meat canning operations were uncovered. As for petty holiday crimes, police listed: three thousand arrests for the illegal chopping down of Christmas trees, and 11 traumas from accidents with fire crackers. The only murder – in Rivne oblast – was quickly uncovered. Police are more than pleased with the results of their special operation and have decided to continue it for another two months.

Sojourn of Turkmen opposition in Ukraine may worsen Kyiv-Ashgabat relations: Maiko

The current sojourn of Turkmen oppositioners in Ukraine may have a negative effect on relations between official Kyiv and Ashgabat.
Such is the opinion of Ukrainian ambassador to Turkmenistan Viktor Maiko. He confirmed that officials in Ashgabat were not happy with Kyiv for being host to an official press conference of Turkmen oppositioners in exile earlier this month, during which they appealed to Ukraine, Russia, the USA and the EU for help in holding democratic presidential elections in their home country.

Zaporizhzhia inventor creates glass that makes own toasts

Zaporizhzhia inventor Hryhoriy Chausovskyi thought up a special invention for New Year’s Eve – a champagne glass that makes toasts for its holder.
As soon as the owner of the glass clinks it with that of a friend, a signal is received by a sensor on the glass and a sound recording of a human voice is activated. According to Chausovskyi, a special feature of the glass is that the toast can been altered at any time – so that if the glass owner wishes to add variety to a given party he can easily slip into a side room and change the recording himself.

Shevchenko statue stolen in Toronto

In the Canadian city of Toronto, a statue of Ukrainian poet and painter Taras Shevchenko was stolen from its foundation in Shevchenko Park during the night.
The statue had been in the park since 1951 and was a gift to the Ukrainian diaspora from the Soviet Union. Police are currently investigating into the crime. They think the wrongdoers may have stolen the bronze statue in order to sell the costly metal. At present police haven’t named any suspects and have not been able to locate witnesses to the crime

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Mary Shapiro, Cynthia Ingols and Stacy Blake

Mary Shapiro, Cynthia Ingols, and Stacy Blake-Beard’s letter to the editor was published in the July/August edition of the Harvard Business Review. The letter focuses on “Off-Ramp—or Dead End?” which is in the February 2007 issue of “Harvard Business Review.” The letter mentions how вЂњWomen who negotiate flexible work arrangements (FWAs), such as telecommuting and flexhours, are not “off ramping” or “opting out.” Rather they are rejecting the outdated “work is primary” mold in favor of the “career self-agency” paradigm that fits 21st century realities. Like Cheryl, these women are passionate and committed, and they are using FWAs to determine how to work full-time while meeting outside-work demands.вЂќ The letter also mentions the 2006 Simmons study on FWAs.

NBC's Today Show

Simmons School of Management Professor Stacy Blake-Beard was featured on NBC’s Today show July 15, in a segment focusing on companies with strong networking programs for women. She spoke about the important role networking plays in helping women advance their careers and salaries.
Dr. Blake-Beard received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology from the University of Michigan. Her thesis - “The Changing Face of Mentoring in Diverse Organizations” - launched what’s been nearly ten years of research on the topic of mentoring. With over a dozen publications and more than 50 presentations on the topic, she has firmly established herself as an expert on mentoring and is quoted often on the topic by local and national media outlets.

Alumna Ann Fudge '73

Simmons alumna Ann Fudge ‘73, the former chairman and chief executive officer of Young & Rubicam Brands - one of the world’s leading global marketing communications groups - will speak at the SOM’s Aug. 3 commencement at John Hancock Hall in Boston.
Fudge became chairwoman and chief executive officer of Young & Rubicam in 2003, where she was responsible for more than a dozen companies spanning the spectrum of marketing disciplines, and helped the network redefine itself in a vastly changed environment.
Fortune magazine ranked her among the 50 most powerful women in business, Time magazine named her one of the top Global Business Influentials, and she recently received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Ebony for her accomplishments in the field of marketing and advertising.
Earlier in her career Fudge served as president of the Beverages, Desserts, and Post Division of Kraft, a $5 billion unit with products including Maxwell House coffee, Crystal Light beverages, Post cereals, and JELL-O desserts. Before joining General Foods, which merged with Kraft, she spent nine years at General Mills.
Fudge currently serves on the board of directors of General Electric. In fall 2006, she was appointed to the boards of the Rockefeller Foundation and the Council on Foreign Relations. She also serves on the Harvard University Board of Overseers.

CNBC's The Millionaire Inside

Simmon’s School of Managment faculty member Laura Morgan-Roberts will be on CNBC’s The Millionaire Inside. The Millionaire Inside is a new CNBC series, featuring a roster of today’s top money mentors.The show with Laura will air

Monday, August 6, 2007

Microsoft facing $1bn Xbox bill

Microsoft has said that it is facing a bill of more than $1bn to cover the cost of offering extended warranties, after failings with its Xbox 360.
The company admitted it had been forced to make "an unacceptable number of repairs" to the consoles after key hardware failed.
Customers who suffer the problems will now be given a free three-year warranty, the company said.
The failures are indicated by three red flashing lights on the console.
Microsoft, has not revealed how many of its machines have suffered the problem, but said the number was "bigger than we are comfortable with."
It added that the move - which will also see some people reimbursed for postage and repairs on consoles which were out of warranty - was aimed at keeping the loyalty of its customers.
"The majority of Xbox 360 owners are having a great experience with their console and have from day one," said Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices Division.
"But this problem has caused frustration for some of our customers and for that, we sincerely apologise."
It added its Xbox division was still expected to make a profit during the financial year beginning 1 July 2007.
Migration manoeuvre
Separately the company has announced an October launch of its advanced version of the Xbox - the Xbox 360 Elite - in Japan, where it lags behind Nintendo and Sony in the console market.
And the company has also unveiled plans to open a software development centre in Canada which it said was a way of hiring talented people from abroad who would struggle to obtain a US working visa.
The Vancouver location would "allow the company to continue to recruit and retain highly skilled people affected by the immigration issues in the US", Microsoft said.

Long sentence for Rwanda murders

A former Rwandan army major has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for murdering 10 Belgian peacekeepers in the early days of the 1994 genocide.
However, the Belgian court acquitted Bernard Ntuyahaga, 55, of murdering then Rwandan PM Agathe Uwilingiyimana.
The murders, committed in front of Rwandan army officers, triggered the withdrawal of UN peacekeepers.
Belgium's prime minister told the court that had peacekeepers stayed, thousands of lives could have been saved.
Some 800,000 moderate Hutus and Tutsis were massacred by extremist Hutus in three months in 1994.
BBC World Affairs correspondent Mark Doyle, who was in Rwanda at the time, says Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt's statement may be designed to bring some closure to what has been a deeply controversial episode in Belgium and Rwanda.
International fallout
Prosecutors said Ntuyahaga took the peacekeepers from the residence of Mrs Uwilingiyimana, who they were trying to protect.
He then handed them over to fellow soldiers in a military camp in the capital, Kigali, where they were beaten to death, shot or slain with machetes.
Ntuyahaga can appeal against the verdict on procedural grounds but not on substance.
"Sooner or later the truth will triumph, I believe that. I remain patient and I keep faith, thank you," Ntuyahaga told the court moments before the jury retired to consider its guilty verdict.
Christine Dupont, the widow of Belgian peacekeeper Christophe Dupont, said before the verdict: "It's a very important day, a day we have been waiting for the last 13 years."
It is not the first time Rwandans have stood trial in Belgium over the genocide.
Two Catholic nuns, a university professor and a businessman were sentenced in 2001 to between 12 and 20 years' jail for aiding the mass murders.
Our correspondent says international political fall-out from the genocide continues.
Although no-one doubts that the extremist Hutu regime bears the overwhelming responsibility for the events in 1994, UN commanders and Western military analysts believe that the number of people killed could have been relatively minimal if the UN had maintained sufficient troops on the ground.
This week saw more reports that France was aware of the planned genocide but chose to continue co-operation with the Rwandan army that was going to perpetrate it.
France and Rwanda recently broke off diplomatic relations.

Venezuela brands US envoy failure

Venezuela has criticised the outgoing United States' ambassador to the country, saying his three-year term there was a failure.
William Brownfield was accused of trying to undermine the government of the left-wing President, Hugo Chavez.
Earlier this week, Mr Brownfield said he regretted that he had not achieved greater dialogue with the government in Caracas.
He was almost expelled from Venezuela on several occasions.
Mr Brownfield is to be replaced by Patrick Duddy, a top official in the State Department's Latin American department.
Venezuela's Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said "there is little to hope" for from any appointee of US President George W Bush.
'Limited achievements'
"We hope the new ambassador who is coming is at least serious and respects Venezuela's sovereignty", Mr Maduro told reporters.
Mr Brownfield said in a televised interview on Wednesday that he felt he made limited achievements in lessening tensions with Venezuela but that he regretted he was not able to establish a pragmatic relationship.
He poked fun at President Chavez's anti-American rhetoric, saying Americans were likely to do "very conspiratorial things" during the Independence Day holiday, such as attending baseball games.
Mr Maduro told reporters that "William Brownfield came to Venezuela with one mission: to destabilize the government of President Chavez, to help topple him. And his mission has failed."
Mr Brownfield took over as ambassador to Caracas in August 2004, and his time was marked by growing hostility between the two governments.
On at least two occasions, President Chavez threatened to expel Mr Brownfield, accusing him of meddling in Venezuela's affairs.

Abe admits tough election ahead

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has admitted the ruling coalition faces an uphill battle to win over the public before elections later this month.
As both houses of parliament closed ahead of upper house elections on 29 July, Mr Abe conceded: "We are in an extremely difficult situation".
But he insisted that the coalition could still win the election.
His 10-month premiership has been hit by a series of scandals and questions over his leadership abilities.
Recent poll ratings saw public support for Mr Abe drop to under 30%.
Pension scandal
"I am aware that we are in an extremely difficult situation in these elections," he told a news conference.
"But I am convinced that we can win if we plainly and thoroughly outline in the campaigning our achievements and our plans for this country's future."
Mr Abe's Liberal Democrat Party and its junior coalition partner, the New Komeito party, need to win 64 of the 121 seats up for grabs to keep hold of their majority in the upper house.
A loss does not mean Mr Abe will have to step down, as the coalition still retains a majority in the lower house.
But some analysts believe a heavy defeat in these elections will make Mr Abe's position untenable and he will be forced to quit.
Earlier this week, defence minister Fumio Kyuma became the second minister to quit the Cabinet since Mr Abe took office.
He had been severely reprimanded by Mr Abe for remarks that appeared to condone the 1945 atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, but bowed to opposition demands for his resignation a day later.
Mr Abe also lost his reform minister over a financial scandal earlier in the year, and his farms minister hanged himself following allegations of bid rigging.
But one of the most damaging scandals has been the loss of 50 million records of pension contributions by the Japanese government in recent years.
Although the errors were made before Mr Abe came to office, his perceived mishandling of this and other scandals has fuelled public anger.

Belgian guest finds freezer bodies

A Belgian man has been arrested after a dinner guest helping to clear up after the meal opened a freezer and found the bodies of the host's wife and stepson.
The 42-year-old host had invited guests for dinner at his home in the city of Verviers, 125km (78 miles) east of Brussels, prosecutors said.
A woman guest left the table to put leftovers in the freezer and alerted the authorities to the discovery.
Police said they were aware of domestic abuse issues between the wife and host.
'Ill at ease'
Christine Wilwerth, at the Verviers prosecutor's office, said the suspect had indicated he had had a quarrel with his wife and she had been stabbed.
However, he had no initial explanation for the 12-year-old boy's death.
Ms Wilwerth said: "It was a lady who at the end of the meal at a friend's house, and after washing the dishes... decided to take the leftovers of the meal down to the basement to store in the deep freeze.
"Once she opened the deep freeze, she discovered the bodies."
Guests then alerted police but refrained from telling the host.
He seemed "ill at ease", Ms Wilwerth quoted the guests as saying.
"The couple was already known to police for domestic violence," Ms Wilwerth said.
It was not immediately clear how or when the deaths occurred but Ms Wilwerth said the time of death could date back several weeks.

Euro interest rates still at 4%

The European Central Bank (ECB) has kept eurozone interest rates on hold at 4% following its latest meeting.
Rates in the region have doubled in 18 months as the central bank has sought to keep inflation in check while economic growth picks up.
But the decision is expected to be only a temporary reprieve, with euro rates expected to rise later in the year.
The prospects of higher rates has pushed the euro to recent highs against the US dollar and Japanese yen.
More rises expected
At its news conference following the rates decision, the ECB said its governing council would "closely monitor" inflation - the same wording as used last month and indicating that rates may rise later in the year but not next month.
ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet did not use the term "strong vigilance", which usually indicates that rates will rise in the following month.
The central bank uses specific language to guide the market on the direction of interest rates, which are now at their highest level in the 13-member bloc for six years.
"Our monetary policy is still on the accommodative side, with overall financing conditions favourable, money and credit growth vigorous, and liquidity in the euro area ample," said Mr Trichet said.
With the region enjoying a recovery in economic growth, observers say the ECB is likely to want to get interest rates back up to the level of other industrialised nations, such as the UK and the US, in order to curb excessive price rises and wage inflation.
Winners and losers
After the announcement, the euro reached historic highs against the yen at 167.3, while one euro bought $1.363, up from $1.361 on Wednesday and not far off the all-time high of $1.368, set on 27 April.
"ECB rate hike expectations should underpin the European currency," said Carole Laulhere at Societe Generale.
While this could benefit currency investors and savers looking for higher interest rates on bank deposit accounts, homeowners are likely to be hit by higher mortgage costs.
Manufacturers could also struggle as the stronger currency makes exports from the eurozone more expensive.
"That's one of the reason the ECB has staggered the interest rate increases, so as not to completely dampen consumer and business confidence in the economy, which is just starting to exit a long period in the doldrums," said Bob Munro, chief economist at foreign exchange consultancy HiFX.

Friday, August 3, 2007

Bulgaria to transform Libya's debt into contribution for humanitarian fund

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) - Bulgaria's government decided August 2 to divert US$57 million owed to it by Libya to an international humanitarian fund for the country, effectively writing off Tripoli's debt, the news agency BTA reported.
"With these funds Bulgaria aims to help Libya in its efforts to modernize its medical infrastructure, to contribute for the treatment of the HIV-infected children and for paying financial aid to their families," the agency quoted the government press office as saying

SKorean envoy and Taliban hostage takers aim for direct talks, medical treatment planned

GHAZNI, Afghanistan (AP) - South Korean and Afghan officials searched for a meeting place August 2 after agreeing to hold face-to-face talks with the Taliban to seek the release of the remaining 21 South Korean captives, a chief negotiator said.
Taliban captors have agreed to meet with South Korea's ambassador, but they have not yet found a suitable place, said Waheedullah Mujadidi, head of a delegation negotiating with the Taliban.
Purported Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said the South Koreans had not requested direct talks with the militants, but the insurgents would be willing to hold such a meeting in Taliban-controlled territory.
The Taliban "want to negotiate directly with the Koreans because the Kabul administration is not sincere about releasing the Taliban prisoners," Ahmadi told by telephone from an undisclosed location.
"This problem belongs to only the Korean government and the Korean people, and that's why the Taliban Islamic Emirate has told the Korean government to force the Kabul administration and to force the U.S. government to release the Taliban prisoners," Ahmadi said.
A South Korean Embassy official in Kabul would not confirm any Korean efforts to hold face-to-face talks with Taliban.
After the latest of a series of deadlines passed on August 1, Ahmadi said the remaining 21 hostages were still alive, but two of the women were very sick and could die from illness.
Dr. Mohammad Hashim Wahaaj, head of a private clinic in Kabul, said six Afghan health workers would go to Ghazni on August 3 in a bid to treat the sick hostages.
"Our aim is just treatment of the patients," Wahaaj said at his clinic in Kabul. "I don't think that the Taliban would harm us because we are doctors, and there will be some Taliban who might need our help."
As the drama surrounding the South Korean captives entered its 15th day, Newsweek magazine reported a regional Taliban commander claiming to be the mastermind behind the abductions as saying the militants might prolong the crisis to embarrass President Hamid Karzai.
The commander, who did not give his name, said that militants want to secure the freedom of eight Taliban prisoners in exchange for all the South Korean hostages. He also said the 16 women among the captives were safe for now.
None of the claims could be independently verified, but Afghan officials have said that the militants have demanded the release of local Taliban fighters from Ghazni province as well as a former militia spokesman, Mohammad Hanif, who was arrested by Afghan intelligence agents earlier this year.
The Afghan government has said it is opposed to a prisoner swap, concerned it could encourage more kidnappings.
The 23 Koreans were kidnapped in Ghazni province on July 19 as they traveled by bus from Kabul to the southern city of Kandahar. Afghan soldiers in helicopters dropped leaflets on Wednesday telling citizens that they needed to move to government-controlled areas to avoid upcoming military action.
Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi said the mission, the start of which could be days or weeks away, had been long-planned and had no connection to the Korean kidnapping case - but a show of military force in the region could place the kidnappers under further pressure.
At a regional Asian security conference in the Philippines, South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte agreed to place top priority on safely freeing the hostages, ruling out a military option for ending the standoff, a South Korean official said August 2. He asked not to be named, citing the sensitivity of the issue.
Meanwhile, a delegation of eight South Korean lawmakers departed for Washington on August 2 to urge the United States to help negotiate the release of the hostages.
"We will sincerely plead with the United States to take more substantial and meaningful measures to resolve this crisis," Rep. Cheon Young-se of the Democratic Labor Party said before the delegation set off.
They will meet U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns and national security adviser Stephen Hadley.
The delegation also plans to meet U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, South Korea's former foreign minister.
Earlier South Korean diplomatic efforts - including sending a presidential envoy to Afghanistan and phone calls between President Roh Moo-hyun and Afghan President Hamid Karzai - failed to bend Afghanistan's refusal to respond to Taliban demands.
In Ghazni, Taliban fighters ambushed the Rashidan district police chief on Wednesday, and the ensuing gun battle left five suspected militants and one policeman dead, said Abdul Razaq Mashal, the police chief who was also wounded. He said the policemen were on their way to the governor's home when they were attacked. Mullah Omar, the Taliban's elusive leader whose whereabouts are unknown, appointed three members of the Taliban's high council to oversee the hostage situation, Ahmadi said. The three have the power to order the killings of the Koreans at any time, he said.

Serbian minister checks on Lipizzaner horses after reports of neglect

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) - A Serbian government minister August 2 visited a herd of famed Lipizzaner horses that were rescued from war but are at the center of claims of starvation and neglect.
The horses were brought to north Serbia from Lipik, Croatia, in 1991 to protect them from the war that erupted after the breakup of Yugoslavia.
The Lipizzaners are kept at a farm near Novi Sad, about 70 kilometers (42 miles) northwest of Belgrade amid continued wrangling between Serbia and Croatia over ownership and the cost of care.
The horses, made famous by Austria's famed Spanish Riding School, are known for their elegant strutting and sprightly dancing.
Earlier this week, animal protection groups and media reported that many of the horses were sick and on the verge of starvation.
Serbian Agriculture Minister Slobodan Milosavljevic visited the farm August 2 with vets to examine the horses. "I am no expert to judge their condition, but they seem in decent state," he told reporters.
The Beta news agency quoted veterinarians saying they had examined 74 horses and all were healthy.
The farm owner has demanded $410,000 in compensation for the horses' care but Croatia has refused to pay. Serbian authorities in the past have said the matter is to be resolved between the farm and the Croatian

U.S. will not rule out military force to free South Korean hostages in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States is not ruling out military force to free South Korean hostages held by the Taliban in Afghanistan, a senior State Department official said.
"All pressures need to be applied to the Taliban to get them to release these hostages," Richard Boucher, assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, said August 2. "The goal is to get these people released unharmed, to get them released peacefully and safely."
Boucher spoke ahead of a weekend visit by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who will meet with President George W. Bush at Camp David. In the hostage case, Boucher noted cooperation between the governments of the United States, Afghanistan and South Korea.
He declined to elaborate on what pressures or efforts were being used or considered but said they included the option of military force.
"There are things that we say, things that others say, things that are done and said within Afghan society as well as potential military pressures," Boucher said.
South Korea has appealed to the U.S. for help following the murder of two of the initial 23 hostages taken near Ghazni, Afghanistan, on July 19.
Boucher's remarks appeared at odds with those of a South Korean official who said that Seoul's foreign minister, Song Min-soon, and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte had agreed during a meeting August 2 in the Philippines to rule out a military attempt to end the standoff.
Several deadlines set by the Taliban for the Afghan government to free militant prisoners in exchange for the hostages' release have passed.
Meanwhile in Afghanistan, South Korean and Afghan officials trying to find an acceptable meeting place after agreeing to hold face-to-face talks with the Taliban to seek the release of the captives, according to a chief negotiator. Two of the hostages are said by the Taliban to be seriously ill and could die.
The Taliban captors have agreed to meet with South Korea's ambassador to Afghanistan but have not found a suitable place, said Waheedullah Mujadidi, head of a delegation negotiating with the Taliban.
Earlier South Korean diplomatic efforts had failed to bend Afghanistan's refusal to respond to Taliban demands.
Afghanistan came under criticism from the U.S. and other Western governments this year for releasing prisoners to win the release of an Italian hostage.
Boucher said U.S. opposition to concessions to terrorists and kidnappers remained unchanged.
Despite the hostage situation, indicative of the continued Taliban threat in Afghanistan since they were toppled after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and the ongoing high production of opium poppies, Boucher said the country was progressing on many fronts.
"Afghanistan is in a much better position now than it was before as a nation. Enormous strides have been made," he said, pointing to declining infant mortality rates, the opening of thousands of schools and construction of new roads and power grids.
The United States is pumping $10.1 billion into emergency Afghan reconstruction, development, governance and security projects this year. That figure is expected to drop by more than half, to $4.7 billion, in fiscal 2008.
Boucher said the reduction reflects the removal of about $6 billion included in this year's terrorism-war supplemental budget and does not indicate a lessening of the U.S. commitment to Karzai's government, which has been dogged by allegations of corruption and ineffectiveness in dealing with insurgents.
Issues of good governance, rule of law and poppy eradication are among those Bush is expected to raise with Karzai when they meet, he said.

Amnesty International tells Taliban to free South Korean hostages

GHAZNI, Afghanistan (AP) - Amnesty International said it has directly appealed to the Taliban to free 21 South Korean hostages, warning the militant movement that holding and killing captives is a war crime.
The human rights group said it made the appeal in a phone call to a purported Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi on August 2.
"Hostage taking and the killing of hostages are war crimes and their perpetrators must be brought to justice," Irene Khan, secretary-general of the London-based group, said in a statement.
Ahmadi told Amnesty that "we are trying to resolve this issue ... acceptably," but did not agree to protect the hostages from harm and release them immediately, the statement said.
The call for freeing the captives, who include 16 women and five men, came as South Korean lawmakers went to Washington to urge the United States to help end the hostage crisis.
Richard Boucher, assistant U.S. secretary of state for South and Central Asia, said August 2 the use of military force to free the hostages had not been ruled out.
"All pressures need to be applied to the Taliban to get them to release these hostages," said Boucher. "There are things that we say, things that others say, things that are done and said within Afghan society, as well as potential military pressures."
Afghan officials said Taliban captors agreed to meet with South Korea's ambassador to Afghanistan, but they had not yet agreed on a venue.
"If the Taliban want to come to the area where we are for the sake of these hostages, 100 percent, they will be safe," Ghazni Gov. Marajudin Pathan told a news conference August 2.
But both sides have proposed places that could put them at risk - including the office of the provincial reconstruction team, which is run by international troops.
"The Koreans told the Taliban to come to the PRT, and the Taliban told the Koreans to come to their base," Pathan told The Associated Press after the news conference.
Taliban's Ahmadi said the remaining 21 hostages were still alive, but that two of the women were very sick and could die. A group of local doctors, meanwhile, traveled from Kabul to Ghazni in a hope of being able to reach the hostages, and treat those in a need of medical care.

Airstrikes target Taliban in southern Afghanistan, casualties reported

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) - U.S.-led coalition airstrikes in southern Afghanistan targeted Taliban commanders, and Afghan officials reported August 3 that a number of militants and civilians had been killed or wounded.
The airstrikes targeted two Taliban commanders during a meeting in a remote area of Baghran district in Helmand province on August 2, the coalition said in a statement.
"During a sizable meeting of senior Taliban commanders, coalition forces employed precision-guided munitions on their location after ensuring there were no innocent Afghans in the surrounding area," it said.
The statement gave no details of casualties.
In apparent reference to the same incident, Mohammad Hussein, the provincial police chief, said that several Taliban and civilians were killed in an airstrike in the Shah Ibrahim area of Baghran district on August 2.
Taliban militants were hanging two local people accused of spying for the government. Other villagers had come out to watch when the bombs fell, he said.
He said 20 wounded people were brought to the hospital in Helmand's capital of Lashkar Gah.
Enayatullah Ghafari, the head of the health department for Helmand province, said the youngest victim was an 8-year-old boy and the oldest, a 50-year-old man.

Threat of gas supply cuts lifted after Belarus pays part of debt to Gazprom

MOSCOW (AP) - Russia's state-controlled gas monopoly will not cut gas supplies to its former Soviet neighbor Belarus after Minsk paid a "significant part" of a US$456 million gas debt before a August 3 morning deadline, the national gas monopoly said.
All-night negotiations between Russia and Belarus in Gazprom's towering suburban offices yielded a deal that gives Belarus one week to pay the remaining debt in full, allaying fears of supply disruptions through key export pipes to Europe.
"Today we received a payment document, according to which Belarus paid a significant part of the debt to Gazprom," Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kuprianov said in televised comments. "Thus, we see real steps by the Belarusian side to resolve the debt problem. Today, a decision was taken not to limit supplies to Belarus. We expect full payment within a week."
Belarus pipeline operator Beltransgaz had paid US$190 million, or more than 40 percent of the bill, the Interfax news agency reported, citing Beltransgaz.
Gazprom's threat had sparked fears Belarus could siphon gas from pipelines, taking 20 percent of Russia's gas exports to Europe, and rekindled bitter memories of Gazprom's past disputes with Ukraine and Belarus.
In the price fight with Ukraine, supplies to the EU dropped in the first days of 2006 as Ukraine siphoned gas from a transit pipeline after Gazprom halted direct shipments. Gazprom supplies a quarter of the gas used by Europe, and the incident drove home Europe's dependence on Russia for energy.
The current standoff grows out of a deal signed in the last minutes of 2006 that obliged Belarus to pay US$100 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas, instead of US$46.
The agreement allowed Minsk to pay US$55 per 1,000 cubic meters for the first half of the year, but required payment of the balance of US$456 million to Gazprom by July 23.
In a speech August 3 to businessmen during the ASEAN regional forum in Manila, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reassured his audience that Russia was a reliable energy supplier.
"I would like to stress that Russia has never violated its obligations under any contract to deliver energy," Lavrov was quoted as saying by Interfax.
Russia guaranteed energy supplies "to every country, not only friends or allies," he said.

Australian, 94, earns master's degree

CANBERRA, Australia - A 94-year-old great-great-grandmother who left school at the age of 12 appears to be the world's oldest recipient of a master's degree, an official with Guinness World Records said Friday.
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University of Adelaide graduate Phyllis Turner was awarded her master's degree in medical science earlier this week at a ceremony in her hometown of Adelaide, surrounded by generations of offspring.
"We do have the category for oldest Master's graduate, but we don't have a current record," said spokeswoman Amarilis Espinoza in London.
She said if Turner applied to the world records foundation, she would likely be awarded the record. "We very much encourage her to do so," Espinoza said.
Turner's supervisor Prof. Maciej Henneberg said he had urged Turner to continue her studies to earn a doctorate, but she had so far declined his offer of help.
"People survive to 101 but rarely with a mind so young," Henneberg said.
"Her intellect is capable of completing a Ph.D., but her health is less certain; she is reluctant," he said, adding that a doctorate would take more than three years.
Turner quit school at age 12 to help her mother look after her siblings after they were abandoned by their father.
After raising her own seven children and two stepchildren, she completed her school education at nights because "I love study," she told Adelaide's SA-FM radio station this week.
At 70, she enrolled at the University of Adelaide and at 72, won a 12-month scholarship to study at the University of California.
After California, she enrolled at the Australian National University and graduated with a bachelor's degree in anthropology. She said she decided to pursue her masters degree when her husband died five years ago.
Turner said she felt she could achieve a Ph.D. but her family wanted her to take life easy.
"The only trouble is, I'm short of years," she said.
Espinoza said the oldest person recorded as being awarded a Ph.D, is Edgar Dowse, who graduated from The London School of Theology at the age of 93 years and 268 days in June 2004.
It means that if Turner did chose to continue with her studies, she could eventually hold two records.
Espinoza said the current oldest degree graduate is Mozelle Richardson, who won a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism aged 90 years 103 days, from the University of Oklahoma Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication, in May 2004.

Parliamentary election campaign kicks off in Ukraine

KYIV (AP) - Ukrainian politicians officially began campaigning Aug. 2 for the upcoming parliamentary election, called to resolve a bitter political struggle between the country's two feuding leaders.
The agreement to hold the early vote Sept. 30 was seen as a compromise between President Viktor Yushchenko, the pro-Western leader whose supporters staged Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution, and his nemesis, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, after the president ordered the parliament dissolved in April.
Yushchenko had accused Yanukovych's majority coalition in parliament of trying to usurp power. The president's decision to disband the Verkhovna Rada resulted in weeks of street rallies and political skirmishing that virtually paralyzed the country.
For months, Ukrainian politics have been mired in a power struggle between the president and Yanukovych, considered closer to Russia, Ukraine's larger and more powerful neighbor.
Both men were bitter rivals during the 2004 mass protests, which erupted following a fraudulent presidential contest in which Yanukovych claimed victory. The courts ordered a revote, which Yushchenko won.
But before his election, Yushchenko agreed to a series of measures that watered down presidential powers and increased the clout of parliament. That led to repeated conflicts with legislators, culminating in Yushchenko's decision this year to dissolve parliament and call an early vote.
The election campaign officially kicked off Aug. 2 as political parties held congresses and presented their election programs, a Central Election Commissions spokesman said.
If the election were held last Sunday, July 29, Yanukovych's Party of Regions would have won with 30.2 percent of the vote, according to the latest opinion poll conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation.
The Our Ukraine-Our Self-defense bloc, loyal to Yushchenko, would have come in second with 15.5 percent, while the political party led by Yulia Tymoshenko, the former prime minister, would have received 14.3 percent.
The nationwide survey polled 2,000 Ukrainians last month and had the margin of error of 2.2 percentage points.

Monday, July 30, 2007