The big thaw

Global disaster will follow if the ice cap on Greenland melts. Now scientists say it is vanishing far faster than even they expected

Greenland's glaciers have begun to race towards the ocean, leading scientists to predict that the vast island's ice cap is approaching irreversible meltdown, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.

Research to be published in a few days' time shows how glaciers that have been stable for centuries have started to shrink dramatically as temperatures in the Arctic have soared with global warming. On top of this, record amounts of the ice cap's surface turned to water this summer.

The two developments - the most alarming manifestations of climate change to date - suggest that the ice cap is melting far more rapidly than scientists had thought, with immense consequences for civilisation and the planet. Its complete disappearance would raise the levels of the world's seas by 20 feet, spelling inundation for London and other coastal cities around the globe, along with much of low-lying countries such as Bangladesh.

More immediately, the vast amount of fresh water discharged into the ocean as the ice melts threatens to shut down the Gulf Stream, which protects Britain and the rest of northern Europe from a freezing climate like that of Labrador.

The revelations, which follow the announcement that the melting of sea ice in the Arctic also reached record levels this summer, come as the world's governments are about to embark on new negotiations about how to combat global warming.

This week they will meet in Montreal for the first formal talks on whether there should be a new international treaty on cutting the pollution that causes climate change after the Kyoto protocol expires in seven years' time. Writing in The Independent yesterday, Tony Blair called the meeting "crucial", adding that it "must start to shape an inclusive global solution". But little progress is expected, largely because of continued obstruction from President George Bush.

The new evidence from Greenland, to be published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, shows a sudden decline in the giant Helheim glacier, a river of ice that grinds down from the inland ice cap to the sea through a narrow rift in the mountain range on the island's east coast.

Professor Slawek Tulaczyk, of the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz, told the IoS that the glacier had dropped 100 feet this summer.

Over the past four years, the research adds, the front of the glacier - which has remained in the same place since records began - has retreated four and a half miles. As it has retreated and thinned, the effects have spread inland "very fast indeed", says Professor Tulaczyk. As the centre of the Greenland ice cap is only 150 miles away, the researchers fear that it, too, will soon be affected.

By Geoffrey Leans posted 21 November 05

Related:

Changing New Orleans
US: Its bittersweet being back in New Orleans. Although the architecture is the same, and its a relief to walk the streets and reunite with old friends, already this is a very different city from the one I love. Its a city where some areas are quickly rebuilding and other parts are being left far behind. A city where people who have lived here for generations are now unwelcome in a hundred different ways.

Nuclear Power PR campaign debunked by report
Anti-nuclear activists replied to advocates of nuclear power with a comprehensive damning report 'Nuclear Power - No Solution to Climate Change'. Fifty people attended the launch held at Northcote Town Hall organised by Friends of the Earth. Speakers included report author, Dr Jim Green, physicist Dr Alan Roberts, and President of the Medical Association for the Prevention of War, Dr Tilmin Ruff.

Pressure remains on Australia as Kyoto takes effect
Australia and the United States have both refused to ratify the deal, arguing it is not in their best interest. They will be denied access to a new international trading market where developing countries will get credits for cutting back emissions.

The boogymen are coming here soon

How we peoples are lied too again rumsfeld in america, howard in australia. You can't make any real money without a boogeyman, and the new "Bird Flu" hoax is the latest scam used to generate profits for pharmaceutical company insiders.

"Finally, the pieces of the puzzle start to add up," writes Dr. Joseph Mercola, author of the "Total Health Program." "President Bush sought to instill panic in this country by telling us a minimum of 200,000 people will die from the avian flu pandemic but it could be as bad as 2 million deaths in this country alone."

Rumsfeld To Profit From Avian Flu Hoax

"This hoax is then used to justify the immediate purchase of 80 million doses of Tamiflu, a worthless drug that in no way shape or form treats the avian flu, but only decreases the amount of days one is sick and can actually contribute to the virus having more lethal mutations," Mercola continues.

"So the U.S. placed an order for 20 million doses of this worthless drug at a price of $100 per dose. That comes to a staggering $2 billion.

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, former chairman of Gilead, the manufacturer of Tamiflu, will also make big profits, since he is a major shareholder.

Better yet, Bilderberger spokesman Etienne F. Davignon (Vice- Chairman, Suez-Tractebel)and Reagan-Bush Cabal insider former Secretary of State George P. Shultz, PhD (Distinguished Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University) are also on the board of directors of Gilead.

Another Bilderberger regular is Lodewijk J.R. de Vink, who sits on the board of Hoffman-La Roche, Gilead's partner.

In other words, the "Bird Flu" scam will generate outrageous profits for globalist-insiders like Shultz, Rumsfeld, Davignon, and de Vink.

And where did Tamiflu come from?

According to the Gilead website, "In September 1996, Gilead and F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. entered into a collaborative agreement to develop and market therapies that treat and prevent viral influenza.

Under the agreement, Roche received exclusive worldwide rights to Gilead's proprietary influenza neuraminidase inhibitors, including orally administered Tamiflu (oseltamivir phosphate), formerly known as GS 4104.

As part of this collaboration, Gilead and Roche jointly conducted clinical development of oseltamivir phosphate, with Roche funding all research and development costs. Roche has worldwide commercial rights to Tamiflu, and Gilead receives payments from Roche for the successful completion of program milestones and royalties on product sales.

It should be remembered that Rumsfeld loves pharmaceutical scams. It was after all Rumsfeld, as chairman of G.D. Searle, who pressured the FDA to get Aspartame approved.

The FDA blocked its approval for ten years before Rumsfeld twisted arms and broke who knows how many legs at the FDA. Now Aspartame, an artificial sweetener as ubiquitous as it is toxic, continues to poison America and the world.

So here's an advertising tagline.

Tamiflu - It's the Bird-Flu Scam-Drug For You.

Rumsfeld is into iraq with some nice money making programs, looking for the wmd, weapons of mass disapearennce,now we are told by our leader howard that the boogymen is coming here to australia very soon, just trust me, he says.

The boogymen could not have come last week, or before, yet he turns up in the aussie parliament on the leaders day yesterday, when all questions are being asked about the no choice work deals,trust me, says howard, i would never tell lies to you people says he ,on my time travels in the tardis, i recall never ever gst, children overboard words from this little rodent man before.

Now i have to go forward to 2006, because there seems a oil problem in iran, or someplace in the middle east, wait and see.

Bye for now.

By Dr Who planet earth Mercola.com posted 4 November 05

Related:

Avian Flu hyped for profits?
Louis Pasteur, father of the germ theory, confessed on his deathbed that he was wrong about the germ being the cause of disease. The famous quotation went like this. "It's the soil, not the seed."

Schizophrenia: Think again!

New research on schizophrenia suggests that the drugs won't always work

The psychiatric establishment is about to experience an earthquake that will shake its intellectual foundations. When it has absorbed the juddering contents of the latest edition of one of its leading journals, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, it will have to rethink many of its most cherished assumptions.

Not since the publication of RD Laing's book Sanity, Madness and the Family, in 1964, has there been such a significant challenge to their contention that genes are the main cause of schizophrenia and that drugs should be the automatic treatment of choice.

With his colleagues, guest editor John Read (whose name I shall use as a generic term for this body of evidence), a leading New Zealand psychologist, slays these sacred biological cows. The fact that some two-thirds of people diagnosed as schizophrenic have suffered physical or sexual abuse is shown to be a major, if not the major, cause of the illness. Proving the connection between the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and schizophrenia, Read shows that many schizophrenic symptoms are directly caused by trauma.

Before proceeding any further with Read's evidence, two important caveats must be entered. Firstly, many parents of offspring with the illness may find what follows deeply upsetting or infuriating. But this is not about blame, and it is not being suggested that all cases are caused by parental care. It is also important to realise that the new evidence is far more optimistic in its implications than the psychiatric establishment's view, for patients, parents and carers alike. Secondly, it is important to stress that plenty of psychiatrists do not subscribe to all the tenets of the establishment view. I recognise that many are working in good faith with an incredibly testing patient population, and do a tremendous amount to help them.

The cornerstone of Read's tectonic plate-shifting evidence is the 40 studies that reveal childhood or adulthood sexual or physical abuse in the history of the majority of psychiatric patients (see, also, Read's book, Models of Madness).

A review of 13 studies of schizophrenics found rates varying from 51% at the lowest to 97% at the highest. Crucially, psychiatric patients or schizophrenics who report abuse are much more likely to experience hallucinations. The content of these often relate directly to the trauma suffered. At their simplest, they involve flashbacks to abusive events which have become generalised to the whole of their experience.

For example, an incest survivor believed that her body was covered with ejaculate. The visual hallucinations or voices often tyrannise and belittle the patients, just as their tormentors did in reality, creating a paranoid universe in which intimates cannot be trusted.

More research is needed to establish if abuse also heralds the other key symptoms of the illness, for example, incoherent, confusing or downright weird language. Studies already show that this is much more likely if the subject of conversation is emotionally charged. When asked to talk about sad rather than happy memories, speech becomes measurably more disordered, increasingly so the more personal the subject matter. We need research to investigate if verbal incoherence is abuse-related.

Another symptom is dissociation (feeling disconnected from oneself and surroundings). This has been shown many times over to be more common in the abused. It remains to be seen if catatonia (complete withdrawal from the world) is so related, although it seems extremely likely that it will be because elements of this are often found in victims of trauma. The same may be true of depressive thoughts, which many schizophrenics suffer and which are rife in the abused. About 15% of schizophrenics die by suicide, and depression is the norm in the suicidal. Suicide attempts are more common among people who have been abused as children, suggesting an abuse-schizophrenia connection, via depression and suicide.

Among the sexually abused there is a greater risk of developing schizophrenia the earlier the abuse happened, the closer the relation to the abuser and the more invasive the acts. Of course, not all schizophrenics suffered trauma and not all abused people develop the illness. What makes the difference?

Apart from the possible role of genes, less overtly cruel early childhood maltreatment, other than actual abuse, may be important. In a review of the 33,648 studies conducted into the causes of schizophrenia between 1961 and 2000, Read found that less than 1% was spent on examining the impact of parental care. What is more, the amounts have decreased steadily, from 1.6% during the 1960s, to four times less than that during the 1990s. Despite this, enough studies have been done to suggest negative or confusing early care may be an important addition to abuse as a cause.

Since mothers spend far more time caring for children than fathers (who account for much of the abuse), their role may be critical in this regard. There is now a vast body of evidence that early infantile deprivation and erratic or unresponsive care as a toddler make adults more vulnerable to depression and personality disorder (a close diagnostic relative to schizophrenia. See my book They F*** You Up - How to Survive Family Life).

It is very possible that maternal deprivation creates a vulnerability to schizophrenia if there is subsequent abuse. Children with schizophrenic mothers are twice as likely to develop the illness as those with an afflicted father. This could be because disturbing mothers are a major factor. Equally, it could be due to gender-linked genetic inheritance, but there are strong reasons to doubt it.

For instance, the mothers of 11,000 Finns were asked if they had considered an abortion for their child during pregnancy, a clear sign that the child was unwanted, increasing the likelihood of subsequent maternal deprivation. Followed up 28 years later, the offspring of mothers who had sought abortions were four times more likely to be schizophrenic - not likely to be anything to do with genes.

Parents' negativity and tendency to be mystifying - paradoxical, contradictory injunctions - may also be important. These were measured in families with problem boys who had not yet developed signs of schizophrenia. After 15 years, the more negative and mystifying the parents had been in a son's childhood, the greater his likelihood of being schizophrenic or of having symptoms.

Of course, that does not rule out the possibility that genes may play a significant role in plenty of schizophrenia, but, even in these cases, the only recent study of the role of early environment shows how important it is. Fifty-six children born to schizophrenic mothers who had subsequently been adopted at a young age and who were therefore, in theory, put at higher genetic risk of developing the illness, were compared with 96 adoptees who were at low risk because none of their biological parents had it. The families were observed extensively when the children were small and all the adoptees were assessed for psychiatric illness in adulthood.

On its own, simply having a greater genetic risk (because of schizophrenia in the biological mother) did not increase the likelihood that the child would develop schizophrenic symptoms. Genes alone did not cause the illness. However, if there was a high genetic risk and it was combined with mystifying care during upbringing, the likelihood was greater. This suggests that genes can be implicated, but only if the family environment is of the kind that fulfills schizophrenic genetic potential.

What, then, is the main case for genes playing a role? A recent review by Robert Plomin, the world authority on genetic causes of human behaviour, revealed that, apart from for Alzheimer's, not a single gene has been shown to play a critical role in any mental illness. There is no evidence that the genetic material of schizophrenics differs in any way from people without the illness.

For the time being, this places the burden of genetic proof on studies of identical twins and adoptees. Putting to one side the fact that there are serious doubts over the validity of twin studies as a method (see Jay Joseph's The Gene Illusion), suppose 100 schizophrenics all had genetically identical siblings. Studies show that half of the identikits will also have the illness. What explains its absence in the other half? Because both have exactly the same genes, the one thing of which we can be certain is that differences in genes are not the reason. It proves beyond peradventure that environment plays an important role in causing some schizophrenia.

More general evidence of the crucial role of environment comes from sociological studies. Schizophrenia is around 12 times more common in children of West Indian immigrants to Britain. Increased rates have been found for immigrants to other countries. Poor people are several times more likely than the rich to suffer schizophrenia, and urban life increases the risk.

Rates of schizophrenia vary as much as 16-fold around the world, as does its course. It is less common in developing nations and tends to last much longer and be more severe in rich, industrialised nations compared with poor, developing ones (even so, about 20% of schizophrenics in developed nations recover completely without taking anti-psychotic drugs). In fact, if you become ill in a developing nation where hardly anyone is treated with drugs, you are 10 times less likely to have any recurrence of the illness - a huge difference, also nothing to do with genes.

What it may have a lot to do with is the administration of drugs (see British psychologist Richard Bentall's book, Madness Explained). They have been shown to impede traumatised people from understanding their voices or visions and recovering from them. There is a close relationship between the drug companies and the psychiatric establishment. While it may not be the intention, the establishment explanation of the causes of and solutions to schizophrenia are crucial components in the process of selling drugs. If patients can be persuaded their illness is an unchangeable genetic destiny and that it is a physical problem requiring a physical solution, drug companies' profits will grow. Read shows those who buy this genetic fairytale are less likely to recover, and that parents who do so are less supportive of their offspring.

The huge importance to drug company profits of the bio-genetic refrain becomes apparent when you learn that most people do not hum along with it. Surveys find that the majority of people mention such environmental factors as trauma, stress and economic hardship as the commonest causes of schizophrenia. It may be seen that the drug companies have an uphill struggle to persuade them otherwise, for which they badly need the help of the psychiatric establishment's towrope. In Read's analysis, letting go of that rope will prevent it strangling the many schizophrenics whose illness has been caused by abuse. Genes may still emerge as a major cause of vulnerability to schizophrenia, as may problems during pregnancy. There is already no question that illicit hallucinogenic drugs are a major reason some vulnerable people become ill. But even if this is true, following Read's important work, it will be hard to ignore its implications.

All patients will need to be asked in detail about whether they have been abused. Anti-psychotic drugs will no longer be doled out automatically, psychological therapies will be employed much more frequently. The psychiatric establishment will have to spend more research money on investigating the role of nurture in causing the illness. Above all, as advisers to government, it will have to recommend much better systems for early detection of traumatised individuals and the funds to provide the kind of support for parents that could prevent much, if not most, schizophrenia.

There are already signs of a change in perspective. In August, the president of the American Psychiatric Association bemoaned his profession's subservience to drug companies and the fact that "we have allowed the bio-psycho-social model to become the bio-bio-bio model". As Read reports in his earth-shattering edition of Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, for too long the role of trauma has been ignored by the establishment and "the possibility of a relationship with psychosis has been minimised, denied or ignored". Read's earthquake may trigger a landslide.

By Oliver James posted 27 October 05

* Oliver James trained and worked as a clinical psychologist. He is the author of They F*** You Up - How to Survive Family Life.

Related:

Mental Treatment and Pharmacy Profit $$$$$
Mentally ill patients are being kept in solitary confinement within maximum security NSW prisons as punishment, against the most basic principles of human rights law.

Drugs firms 'creating ills for every pill'
The power of Britain's multi-billion-pound drugs industry has turned this country into an over-medicalised society that believes in a pill for every ill, a Commons inquiry will claim this week.

Family Wonders if Prozac Prompted School Shootings
US: RED LAKE, Minn., March 25 - In their sleepless search for answers, the family of Jeff Weise, the teenager who killed nine people and then himself, says it is left wondering about the drugs he was prescribed for his waves of depression.

Mother's Little Helpers
Approved for adults only, Prozac is being used to medicate children as young as 8 years old. Why are we using powerful drugs to raise our daughters?

Big Pharma snared by net
UK The web has helped consumers turn tables on the drug giants, says Cheryll Barron.

Prozac must have suicide warning
All antidepressant drugs must carry the strongest possible public warning that they could cause children to harm themselves or commit suicide, US authorities said yesterday in a landmark ruling which has repercussions for the whole class of drugs.

The drugs industry and its watchdog: a relationship too close for comfort? Critics say the drug regulator and the industry are too close. Their proceedings have long been shrouded in secrecy because of the drug companies' insistence on the commercial sensitivity of information relating to their products.

Schizophrenia: talking may help when drugs don't
New research has strengthened the case for using 'talk therapy' in the treatment of schizophrenia, especially for those who don't respond well to drugs.

Trial of B J Murdoch

NT: The trial of Bradley John Murdoch may be sensational - but for the wrong reason. This trial has had serious flaws in it - decide for yourself...

Pride and Prejudice versus facts and truth.Trial of Bradley John Murdoch.

Since the disappearance of Peter Falconio there are a number of questions that seem to remain unanswered, yet a trial for murder has materialised and a suspect stands accussed of Mr Falconio's murder.

Until these questions are satisfactorily answered, the basis of the trial seems impossible. For a fair trial, leading to a solid conviction, the case against Bradley Murdoch has to be proven. Yet, here are the issues that remain unresolved.

1. Peter Falconio's body has not been discovered - so is he dead? There is a considerable difference between seeing the actual remains of a dead person and making the giant leap forward and presuming he is deceased. Who claimed that Peter Falconio is, in fact, dead? Even Joanne Lees has never stated that she has ever seen the wounded or dead body of Peter Falconio! There is not a shred of hard, definitive forensic evidence to clearly show that Mr Falconio is in fact deceased!

2. Some time after the disappearance of Peter Falconio two witnesses claimed to have seen him, looked at him at a distance of some two or three metres or less, recognised him from the photographs in the newspaper and one witness even followed him out of the store from where he purchased a Mars bar. Both of these witnesses have not sought any recognition or reward for what they declared they saw with their own eyes and if they are not lying, how can the trial of Murdoch take place for an event that could not have occurred?

3. Human blood was found on the road where Peter Falconio was allegedly shot. DNA was extracted from that blood sample and used to identify Peter Falconio by comparing it with the DNA extracted from the Asthma "Puffer" identified as belonging to Mr Falconio, found at the scene of the crime. This comparison in itself does not prove that the blood is that of Peter Falconio - it only proves that these two two blood samples are from the same person. Has the blood sample found on the road ever been compared directly with a known sample of Peter Falconio's blood/hair/tissue OR compared to his real parent's DNA for conclusive identification?

4. Why has the blood sample taken from the road been found to contain DNA from animals? Since no road kill animals were ever found at the crime scene, how did the animal contaminate blood get mixed with Peter Falconio's blood?

5. Was the purpose of mixing animal blood with human blood used to prove that a murder occurred at that particular place? It would be extremely difficult to demonstrate to police detectives that a shooting indeed took place but where no traces of blood were in evidence to corroborate such a story. A sufficiently adequate spillage of blood would be required to justify such a story. However, there appears to be a distinct lack of spillage of human blood at the crime scene so was the scene engineered to look like a shooting had taken place?

6. Joanne Lees stated that the kidnapper had a handgun. If this is so it is difficult to understand how she was able to fight off or resist the kidnapper's attempts to wrap tape around her head and to place a bag over her head. He would only have to threaten to use the gun and, if he had already killed Mr Falconio, proposition Miss Lees with the same fate if she did not comply with his demands.

Yet Miss Lees stated that she struggled to such an extent that the kidnapper failed to bind her up properly and that he finally resorted to striking her on the right temple in order to control her. It seems unbelievable that a man who moments earlier had no compunction executing a man in cold blood using a handgun would then hesitate to use it again, but rather tolerate questioning and physical resistance from a woman who he could so easily have threatened with it if she didn't comply with his demands?

7. Joanne Lees stated that she had been bound by a pair of handcuffs, fabricated from tie-wraps and tape. Supposedly, Murdoch had placed these handcuffs on her. Her hands were bound at this stage of her attempted abduction, behind her back. However, one version of events that she originally gave to the interviewing police officer soon after her escape was that she was able to identify the vehicle canopy by feeling the canopy with her hands. How did she accomplish this feat?

8. Joanne Lees stated that she hid from her attacker in the bushes where she remained for a number of hours. The event took place during the night. To gauge the sort of exposure she would have had to endure, while dressed very lightly and unable to move to keep herself warm in case her kidnapper found her, one only has to look at the map at: National Climate Data Centre
to see the temperature chart for that area.

The green colour indicates that the temperature at the place of the abduction was around the 0 to -3 degrees Celsius (and this is erring on the warmer side of the temperature spectrum for the Barrow Creek/Alice Springs area). The actual temperature was probably closer to -5 degrees Celsius. Surely, a person in the situation would rapidly loose body heat, start to shiver, suffer from cramp, etc. And yet Miss Lees survived this extreme exposure apparently unblemished! Yet, strangely, there is no account of her suffering from any symptoms of excessive exposure from the cold, neither from the lorry driver who rescued her, in her own report or from the police statements - how come?

9. As stated above, Joanne Lees hid from her attacker in the bushes where she claimed he passed within a few feet of where she was hiding. Her footprints were identified yet no other footprints of any other description were ever discovered at the scene of the alleged crime. Why not? Have the expert trackers not done a very good job - locating only Joanne's footprint(s) but unable to find a single or even partial impression from her kidnapper's shoes? Remembering that it was he who was walking about the area looking for her, a man of some 6feet 4 inches in stature who would certainly leave behind a large footprint or two. Surely the trackers would have found some evidence of these huge footprints? Strange that they didn't?

10. Then there is the anomaly of the dog that Joanne said the kidnapper owned. Again, the tracker's found no evidence of any dog being present at the crime scene. Are they missing all the vital clues that Miss Lees' stated should be there?

11. The next point of issue is the actual kidnapper and his dog's combined incompetence. Joanne claimed that although he came close to her neither he nor the dog was not able to locate her in the dark. This was in spite of the fact that she was in a place where the slightest movement would have given away her presence. She also had admitted to taking drugs that same evening of the kidnapping yet had all the composure and stamina necessary to avoid detection from both dog and kidnapper! Such incredible luck and good fortune for her!

12. The next point of intrigue with Miss Lee's account of events is the method by which she was able to manipulate her body to bring the handcuffs from behind her back to being in front of herself. She seems to be a remarkably able woman, capable of avoiding capture from her hunter and his dog, surviving the extreme cold for hours on end and then able to figure out how to manipulate the handcuffs - notwithstanding that she had been drug taking only hours before this event and that she must have been tired, it being the small hours of the morning. Remarkable indeed! Such composure bearing in mind the fact that her boyfriend Peter might be lying dead or dying close by.

Even more remarkable is that after demonstrating such mental competence in escaping from her would be rapist/kidnapper/killer she never indicated any concern about her fiancŽe Peter Falconio - the man she was deeply in love with (so she claims) and for all accounts was lying shot close by. The man she was to marry. Joanne Lees could have implored the lorry driver to at least take a cursory look around for him so did she?

13. Immediately after her rescue Joanne could have used the media to help find Peter or lookout for her kidnapper. She declined to hold a meeting with the press and media and did little if anything to indicate any concern for his predicament or his situation - why not? Is this the responsible actions one would expect from a woman in love toward her deeply missed fiancŽe? What possible rationale would there be to deliberately delaying getting help and assistance to find either Peter or his accused killer?

14. Joanne Lees has fortunately for all to see, demonstrated the caring, concerned person she really is - that is, caring for herself, her future and showing little or no concern for the missing husband to be Peter Falconio. Her real motives and thoughts were exposed when she had to eventually admit to the fact that within 48 hours of Peter's disappearance, she was in secret communication with "Steph" her secret lover. Deception and secrecy combined seems to be a key trait in this lady's modus operandi as amply demonstrated by the lengths she had gone to hide her secret love life from Peter Falconio and the rest of the world.

Yet, she would have you believe that she was really only in love with Peter Falconio while at the same time covering her tracks of her secret love affair. It takes great strength and resolution to deliberately lie under oath while being subjected to rigorous questioning in court but this lady did it! That is unless you are a habitual liar and well versed in the art of lying.

Then it becomes much more difficult to distinguish the truth from lies - fact from fantasy. Only when confronted with overwhelming evidence of her lying was she forced to confess to her secret love affair - a fact that she had previously vehemently denied and tried to cover up. The fact is this lady was bear-faced and deceitful enough to try and mislead the legal proceedings in a place of justice amply demonstrates what she is capable of. What then, is the creditability to be afforded to Miss Lees version of events?

As the one and only key eye-witness whose actions have ranged from:

* down right blatant lying in court
* deceit and deception while conducting a secret love affair behind her fiancŽes back
* citing an incredible escape from her would be kidnapper's vehicle while being handcuffed behind her back
* being able to touch the canopy top with the same hands while handcuffed behind her back
* escape detection from the self-same kidnapper and his dog by hiding in the undergrowth
* inexplicably unable to account for the fact that expert trackers were unable to find any evidence whatsoever of kidnapper and dog's presence at the scene of the purported crime BUT did find her footprints
* exhibit mental and bodily dexterity to extricate her bound hands from behind her back while enduring extreme cold and mental horror
* implausible survival during extreme cold sub-zero temperatures for a number of hours while scantily dressed AND after a recent session involving taking drugs
* deliberately delayed and frustrated the usage of press and media exposure during the first critical 48 hours following the alleged crime
* immediately communicating with her secret lover within two days of her fiancŽe's disappearance - such was her concern for Peter Falconio.

Joanne Lees has, in spite of all these factual misgivings listed above about her own credibility and her account of the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of Peter Falconio, been granted leave to testify in court - albeit against a man whose past life style tends to pre-judge him.

Would or could you believe Joanne Lees account of events given the above facts? If the basis of a verdict of "guilty " is "beyond reasonable doubt" then the jury will have a difficult time to convict Bradley Murdoch based on the above lack of credibility of the prosecution's key witness, no body and no firm forensic evidence to prove that the dead body of Peter Falconio ever existed.

This will then pose a significant problem for the police - what really happened to Peter Falconio?

By Commonsense Prevails posted 26 October 05

Related:

No Murder Weapon, No Body, No Place or Time of Death
NT: Joanne Lees ought to be the main suspect in this show trial. There is no body and no weapon to be found and Joanne Lees had a clear and present motive. She knew him, she travelled with him, she was unfaithful to him and she said that she was the last person to see him on the night she was stoned out of her head. So where does Bradley James Murdoch fit in?

Unfaithful Lees admits taking drugs, court told
AUSTRALIA: NT: Key witness Joanne lees, has testified in the Northern Territory Supreme Court to smoking Marijuana on the night her boyfriend Peter Falconio went missing.

Murdoch: Ambushed by Prosecution
AUSTRALIA: NT-Through the smell of an oily rag - A FORENSIC expert alledgedly has produced vital evidence ahead of the Peter Falconio murder trial linking his alleged killer to the camper van driven by the dead man and his girlfriend, Joanne Lees?

Day set aside for Falconio forensic evidence
More than a day has been set aside in the case of the man accused of murdering British backpacker Peter Falconio to hear evidence from a Northern Territory forensic scientist. Yesterday the Darwin Magistrates Court heard from mechanics and friends of the defendant Bradley John Murdoch.

Mr Bradley Murdoch to go on trial next year!
The alleged man is not the alleged Falconio killer in my book. He's alleged to have committed a crime but the Faloconio mystery remains a secret to be unlocked by time itself and more interestingly may never be unlocked at all.

Falconio magistrate closes court
THE hearing into the murder of British tourist Peter Falconio has been closed to the public. Magistrate Alasdair McGregor has closed the court for part of the testimony of Mr Falconio's girlfriend Joanne Lees.

Ch/9 News? Or Ch/9's Department of Public Prosecutions?
Bradley Murdoch committal, lawyer calls for fair hearing
The lawyer of the man accused of murdering British backpacker Peter Falconio has spoken to the media in Darwin.

Peter Beattie nominated as Australian of the year: Howard
Bradley Murdoch the man alleged to have murdered English tourist Peter Falconio who has been acquitted of rape and abduction charges in the South Australian District Court.

Tourist dollar drives set-up for crime
The man alleged to have murdered English tourist Peter Falconio has been acquitted of rape and abduction charges in the South Australian District Court. Bradley John Murdoch, 45, was charged with two counts of rape, two counts of false imprisonment and two counts of indecent assault after an alleged incident in South Australia's Riverland in August last year.

Supreme Court rejects Nine appeal
CHANNEL Nine lost a Supreme Court appeal today to have a suppression order on details of the case of missing backpacker Peter Falconio lifted. The Full Bench of the NT Supreme Court today ruled Magistrate Alasdair McGregor had the power to make the order banning from publication some details of the case.

Falconio magistrate closes court
THE hearing into the murder of British tourist Peter Falconio has been closed to the public. Magistrate Alasdair McGregor has closed the court for part of the testimony of Mr Falconio's girlfriend Joanne Lees.

Innocent until proven guilty? Not in Australia's outback!
There is no way that Bradley John Murdoch can get a fair trial in the Northern Territory. The entire jury pool is already contaminated, the general public have accepted the verdict of the Northern Territory News and the NT Police State has turned on the cone of silence. Maybe some of the reporters might want to ask Director of Public Prosecutions Rex Wilde QC just how he is going to secure a conviction when a body has not been found. Surely the NT bureaucracy learnt from the Lindy Chamberlain case that it is not a good idea to jail someone for murder when you haven't got a body. Maybe they have the same people working on the case. The NT Police forensic team certainly do.

Taken "A Dingo Took My Baby!"
They were the words that Lindy Chamberlain had screamed out into the blackness of the cold night in a camping ground close to Ayers Rock, Central Australia, on the night of August 17, when she discovered that her nearly ten-week-old baby, Azaria had been taken by a dingo.

Man Says He Shot Dingo That Snatched Baby SYDNEY, Australia (July 5) - A distraught mother's scream 24 years ago that a dingo snatched her baby from a camp site near Ayers Rock in the Australian Outback ignited one of Australia's most enduring mysteries. An elderly man's claim that he retrieved the infant's bloodied body from the jaws of the wild dog has revived the case and - if true - could finally lead to the discovery of Azaria Chamberlain's body.

Australia to see the light on tourism
A total of $120 million has been earmarked for the campaign's international marketing, which tops up the Australian Tourist Commission's annual budget of $90 million. The inbound and domestic tourism industry contributes $70 billion to the economy and employs 500,000.

Ten reports $76.9 million profit
The Ten television network has reported a full-year profit of $76.9 million. Even if it were down by half on the previous year they're still greedy self-interested people who care little about the real damage done, not just in Australia but the world. That profit is obviously on top of wages and expenses yet they're still greedy enough to turn the news upside down to suit the Howard government's investment in advertising.

DNA Links:

The ABC for good or evil?
He had a suspect that he wanted to find guilty based on the chances of a spouse killing a spouse which were greater in anycase, at least more likely than that of a stranger.

First Grabs To Control Our DNA
A small company in Australia has been subjected to gross denials of rights after DNA database technology was stolen from it's company. This one year saga has spawned them to form a new approach to projects of importance to all people.

Worries over DNA and racial profiling
UK: Black men are four times more likely than White men to be on the national DNA database and there is growing concern about racial profiling in criminal investigations.

Lab's Errors Force Review of 150 Virginia DNA Cases
US: WASHINGTON, - A sharply critical independent audit found that Virginia's nationally recognized central crime laboratory had botched DNA tests in a leading capital murder case. The findings prompted Gov. Mark Warner to order a review of the lab's handling of testing in 150 other cases as well.

Witch-hunt targets scientists
QLD: SCIENTISTS at the John Tonge Centre are being threatened with jail in the wake of a government hunt for the source of leaks highlighting serious problems in the forensic laboratories.

Fresh swipe at DNA labs
Scientist Kris Bentley, whose departure yesterday follows that of forensic biologist Deanna Belzer after concerns about "inaccurate" DNA results and unvalidated equipment, issued a scathing resignation letter leaked to The Courier-Mail.

DNA leads 'CSI' cold-case squad to first arrest?
Frozen case? I don't really know what to say about them until they come up with their case. They say it involves DNA evidence but that's the only stuff we know.

Criminal's DNA filed under relative's name
The New South Wales Opposition is calling for an investigation into claims that police have entered DNA data for serious offenders under incorrect names.

DNA fingerprinting 'no longer foolproof'...
The genetic profiles held by police for criminal investigations are not sophisticated enough to prevent false identifications, according to the father of DNA fingerprinting.

THE BUTLER DIDN'T DO IT!
PROFESSOR BARRY BOETTCHER: Now, there should be a law enacted within Queensland so that when cases come up like this they can be brought to attention and if an appropriate authority such as a judge of your Supreme Court considers that it merits further inquiry, an inquiry be ordered.

'Rape' officer clears his name
UK: A former policeman has been cleared of rape after protesting his innocence for 15 years. Judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh ruled that Brian Kelly, 47, had suffered a miscarriage of justice over crucial DNA evidence.

New unit investigates unsolved deaths?
A new police unit has been established to investigate more than 360 unsolved deaths in New South Wales, with many of the deaths dating back more than 30 years.

Prisoner's bid for review denied
Prisoner Roger Cheney has lost a Supreme Court action to have a judicial review of his 1993 convictions an 30-year jail sentence. Justice Shaw said he was concerned about the prisoner's claim that DNA evidence held by the police could prove his innocence. Although Cheney had requested the results of the DNA tests, he had been denied access to the forensic analysis.

QLD Prisoners DNA Bid THE curious case of Queensland's "cat lady" murder is set to test the state's legal authorities again, with the man convicted of the killing asking the Attorney-General to take the unprecedented step of releasing blood samples for DNA retesting.

Database clears up crimes?
NSW Police Minister John Watkins said at the launch of a Sydney conference of international forensic experts meeting to mark 100 years of fingerprinting in NSW. He said the collection of DNA from prisoners and suspects in NSW during the past two years had led to more than 5,400 matches on the forensic database.

A Question of Innocence
Katrina Bolton: The promise of DNA freeing the innocent as well as convicting the guilty has been repeated by politicians across Australia, usually while DNA laws are being expanded. The promise was made as a national DNA database, ‘Crimtrac’ was created, and it was made as NSW introduced legislation giving unprecedented powers to take DNA samples from prisoners, by force if necessary.

Weak Carr Government suspends Innocence Panel
It's a callous disregard for justice! The panel takes applications from convicted prisoners for DNA evidence to be analysed a move that may help in a future court appeal.

JUST BEAT IT! Govt lauds crime-solving technology?
The New South Wales Government says advances in crime solving technology are helping the progress of hundreds of police investigations.

DNA testing causes debate in murder case
The use of voluntary DNA testing in the investigation of a murder case in New South Wales has been applauded by victim support groups who are ill informed about the process said Justice Action's spokesperson Gregory Kable.

Abolition of double jeopardy law a political stunt: NSW Opp
Why draconian laws? What about the re-trial by media that goes along with it? Twice shy?

ARE YOU INNOCENT?
The NSW government has finally appointed somebody (Justice John Nader) to head up its Innocence Panel and has produced leaflets and forms for people convicted of serious crimes (eg murder) to apply for DNA testing if they believe it may help prove their innocence. You can get the info by phoning 1300 881 717 or writing to the panel at GPO Box 45 Sydney NSW 2001.

Is the Westminster System flawed?
Most people would say Lady Di got the boot and NSW has so much trouble getting the Innocence Panel moving. I said hey, what's going on!

Murder charge first for DNA data bank link, but not the same as solving the murder Mass DNA testing of prisoners has led to the first NSW case of a person being charged with a previously unsolved murder as a result of a controversial gene-matching data bank. The Herald reported 25 Nov 02 "a DNA saliva swab led to the charging of a former prisoner with the bashing murder of a woman. Police had been unable to find any witnesses or suspects following the murder in Sydney's inner city two years ago. Detectives had admitted they faced a tough job finding the killer."

Prisoners can prove innocence for $20
Les Kennedy Daily Telegraph reported today that" Prisoners who believe that DNA will prove they were wrongly convicted will have the chance to prove their innocence for a mere $20 administration fee. The move comes 20 months after NSW inmates were asked to provide DNA for comparison with a databank of DNA from unsolved crime scenes for possible convictions.

DNA yours or mine?
Now they have isolated two genes that they say tells you if you're more likely to be depressed. What does that mean? It could mean that you should stay in jail because you are more likely than not to continue your offending behaviour according to a Department of Corrective Services Forensic Psychiatrist.

DNA = Do Not Assume - DNA Controversies!
The national DNA database of all known offenders proposed by Prime Minister Tony Blair could mean that innocent people will be accused of crimes they did not commit.

DNA Evidence of Bipartisanship
Last week the U.S. Congress passed the Justice for All Act, which includes provisions of the Innocence Protection Act. As of this posting, the legislation has not yet been signed by President Bush. Attached is an analysis of the legislation prepared by the Justice Project.

DNA - A Shadow of Doubt
One case points to misinterpretation of evidence that helped put a man behind bars. The other shows just how easy it is to plant falsely incriminating DNA evidence. As our forensic techniques become ever more sensitive, so the possibility of abuse continues to grow.

Death toll in Pakistan quake up to 54,000

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- At least 40,000 people in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir died in last week's earthquake, a Pakistani official said Sunday. That would raise the overall death toll in the disaster to more than 54,000.

The prime minister of Pakistan's part of Kashmir, Sikandar Hayat Khan, estimated the toll in his region could be much higher because relief workers have not yet reached many affected areas, said his spokesman, Abdul Khaliq Wasi.

"The death toll is not less than 40,000," Wasi said.

However, he added that officials in Kashmir had not counted all the bodies, and the 40,000 figure was "a closest estimate."

An additional 13,283 people have been confirmed dead in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, and India has reported 1,350 deaths in the part of divided Kashmir it controls.

Confirmation of a final death toll will be difficult because many bodies are buried beneath the rubble.

"The United Nations is still operating on the government's official numbers," said Andrew MacLeod, Humanitarian Affairs officer with the U.N. Coordination and Assessment Team. "There are regions that still have not been reached, and the death toll is not final."

Khan said earlier that the confirmed casualty toll from the earthquake was 39,422 dead and 65,038 injured.

Deteriorating weather is likely to cause more casualties among the cold and homeless survivors of the magnitude-7.6 earthquake that struck the area touching Pakistan, India and Afghanistan on Oct. 8, the military said.

"There are bound to be casualties because of bad weather. How much, I don't know," said Maj. Gen. Farooq Ahmed Khan, Pakistan's relief commissioner.

On Sunday, torrential downpours halted airborne quake relief efforts in Kashmir, where the Pakistani military said one of its relief helicopters crashed in bad weather, killing all six people aboard.

By In Solidarity 17 October 05

Related:

Pakistan India Earth Quake Support
9, 2005, MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan - Rescuers struggled to reach remote, mountainous areas Sunday after Pakistan's worst-ever earthquake wiped out entire villages, buried roads in rubble and knocked out electricity and water supplies. The death toll stood at 20,000 and was expected to rise.

Devastating quake kills 20,000 in Pakistan and India
A major earthquake on Saturday morning measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale has devastated cities, towns and villages across northern Pakistan. The official death toll in Pakistan reached 19,369 yesterday with over 42,000 people injured, but casualties are expected to climb further as rescue workers reach outlying areas. Hundreds more were killed in Indian-controlled Kashmir. The worst affected in both countries were the poor who lived in cheap housing built of mud brick and wood.

World races clock to help quake victims
Rescue teams and aid pledges have poured into Pakistan from around the world after the devastating earthquake that has killed about 20,000 people.

UN sees no need for hunger

The world has enough resources to feed its growing population if political leaders can get past "short-term interests", the head of the UN's food agency says.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) Senegalese director, Jacques Diouf, has made the comments to mark World Food Day.

"Today the world has the resources and technology to produce sufficient quantities of food not only to meet the demand of a growing population, but also to bring an end to hunger and poverty," Mr Diouf said.

He adds that he "dares to hope" that politicians would "make decisions based on the social harmony of a world of solidarity and peace, not on short-term interests that can lead to injustice and social unrest".

The United Nations estimates that 852 million people worldwide went without enough food in 2004.

That is a rise of 10 million over the previous year, which indicates that food crises have become more frequent around the world.

Jean Ziegler, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, says every day some 100,000 people die of malnutrition.

"The right to food is a human right," stated the special rapporteur, who will present his full report to the UN in New York on October 27.

The chronic lack of food in sub-Saharan Africa is particularly worrying, with over a third of the region's population now considered malnourished.

The numbers of underfed soared from 88 million 1999 to 200 million in 2001.

Mr Ziegler complains that while the 191 countries in the UN spent a trillion dollars on arms in 2004, they reduced their donations to international organisations.

This year, the coffers of the World Food Program (WFP) were $290 million down, while the UN High Commissioner for Refugees needed an extra $241 million to run his operations properly.

The WFP has had to reduce food rations for thousands of refugees over the past few months, particularly in west Africa and the east African Great Lakes region, to well below the 2,100 calories needed for survival.

By Feed the World 17 October 05

Related:

Poverty Population & Development
3 billion of the world's people (one-half) live in 'poverty' (living on less than $2 per day). 1.3 billion people live in 'absolute' or 'extreme poverty' (living on less than $1 per day).

Galloway: Cry for social change
"The only way to make poverty history is to make the G8 history.(snip) Some of the most dangerous men in the world are in Gleneagles Hotel this week. They are responsible not only for the renewed and terrifying drive to war that characterises the start of the 21st century. They also preside over a system that is itself the biggest killer in the world.(snip)

Malnutrition strikes 1 in 3 Africans: UN
One in three Africans suffers from malnutrition and a total of 852 million people in the world suffer from hunger, the United Nations says in a new report.

Annan urges UN members to 'make poverty history'
World governments must embrace a broad strategy ranging from trade and debt forgiveness to handing out mosquito netting to "make poverty history", United Nations chief Kofi Annan says.

Kenya faces hunger crisis
The United Nations is appealing for help for up to 2 million people facing hunger in Kenya.

Health catastrophe looms in Sudan: UN
A malnourished Sudanese refugee child lies at a feeding centre in Iriba Town in Chad.

UN estimate of Darfur deaths soars to 180,000
More than 180,000 people have died in Sudan's conflict stricken Darfur region over the past 18 months, UN humanitarian affairs chief Jan Egeland says. The United Nations had previously estimated about 70,000 dead from the fighting, disease and malnutrition linked to the Darfur conflict.

Poverty Population & Development

3 billion of the world's people (one-half) live in 'poverty' (living on less than $2 per day). 1.3 billion people live in 'absolute' or 'extreme poverty' (living on less than $1 per day).

800 million people lack access to basic healthcare. 17 million people, including 11 million children, die every year from easily preventable diseases and malnutrition.

800 million people are hungry or malnourished. Nearly 160 million children are malnourished worldwide. 11 million people die every year from hunger and malnutrition.

2.4 billion people lack access to proper sanitation. 1.1 billion do not have safe drinking water. By 2025, at least 3.5 billion people or nearly 2/3rd's of the world's population will face water scarcity. More than 2.2 million people, mostly children, die each year from water related diseases.

275 million children never attend or complete primary school education. 870 million of the world's adults are illiterate.

3 million people die every year from HIV/AIDS. Approximately 25 million people have died from AIDS in the last 20 years. 70 million will die from AIDS by 2020. 40 million people are currently infected with HIV/AIDS, who will die within 10 years. 13 million children have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS since the epidemic began, and the number is expected to double to 26 million by 2010.

Over 100 million people live in slums. An estimated 25 to 50 percent of urban inhabitants in poor, developing countries live in impoverished slums and squatter settlements.

The richest 1% of the world's people earned as much income as the bottom 57% (2.7 billion people). The top 5% of the world's people earn more income than the bottom 80%. The top 10% of the world's people earn as much income as the bottom 90%. The richest 16% of the world's population receives 84% of the world's annual income.

The wealth of the world's 7.1 million millionaires ($27 trillion) equals the total combined annual income of the entire planet. The combined wealth of the world's richest 300 individuals is equal to the total annual income of 45% of the world's population. The world's 3 wealthiest families have a combined wealth equal to the annual income of 600 million of the world's people. The wealthiest one-fifth of the world's population receive an average income that is 75 times greater than the poorest one-fifth.

Poor countries (which contain 4/5th's of the world's people) pay the rich countries an estimated nine times more in debt repayments than they receive in aid. Africa alone spends four times more on repaying its debts than it spends on health care. In 1997 the foreign debts of poor countries were more than $2 trillion and growing. The result is a debt of $400 for every person in the developing world - where average annual income in the very poorest countries is less than a dollar a day.

By Reality 16 October 05

Related:

The clock is ticking: Aboriginal Leaders
Aboriginal leaders say only immediate action will remedy the appalling state of remote communities in the Northern Territory, writes.

Poverty cycle must be addressed: Ridgeway
The Democrats' Aden Ridgeway says Prime Minister John Howard should stop beating up on people who are on welfare, and focus on solving the national Indigenous unemployment rate.

Galloway: Cry for social change
"The only way to make poverty history is to make the G8 history.(snip) Some of the most dangerous men in the world are in Gleneagles Hotel this week. They are responsible not only for the renewed and terrifying drive to war that characterises the start of the 21st century. They also preside over a system that is itself the biggest killer in the world.(snip)

Malnutrition strikes 1 in 3 Africans: UN
One in three Africans suffers from malnutrition and a total of 852 million people in the world suffer from hunger, the United Nations says in a new report.

Annan urges UN members to 'make poverty history'
World governments must embrace a broad strategy ranging from trade and debt forgiveness to handing out mosquito netting to "make poverty history", United Nations chief Kofi Annan says.

Kenya faces hunger crisis
The United Nations is appealing for help for up to 2 million people facing hunger in Kenya.

Health catastrophe looms in Sudan: UN
A malnourished Sudanese refugee child lies at a feeding centre in Iriba Town in Chad.

UN estimate of Darfur deaths soars to 180,000
More than 180,000 people have died in Sudan's conflict stricken Darfur region over the past 18 months, UN humanitarian affairs chief Jan Egeland says. The United Nations had previously estimated about 70,000 dead from the fighting, disease and malnutrition linked to the Darfur conflict.

Pakistan India Earth Quake Support

Pakistan pleads for aid as quake toll climbs 7.6-magnitude temblor kills 20,000-30,000 people across south Asia.

9, 2005, MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan - Rescuers struggled to reach remote, mountainous areas Sunday after Pakistan's worst-ever earthquake wiped out entire villages, buried roads in rubble and knocked out electricity and water supplies. The death toll stood at 20,000 and was expected to rise.

In this devastated Himalayan city, wounded covered by shawls lay in the street, and villagers used sledgehammers to break through the rubble of flattened schools and homes seeking survivors.

The magnitude-7.6 quake collapsed the city's Islamabad Public School. Soldiers with white cloth tied around their mouths and noses pulled a small girl's dust-covered body from the ruins, while the body of a boy remained pinned between heavy slabs of concrete.

The United Nations said more than 2.5 million people need shelter after the magnitude-7.6 earthquake along the Pakistan-India border. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Relief said it urgently needed 200,000 winterized tents.

President Gen. Pervez Musharraf complained of a shortage of helicopters needed to ferry in relief workers, food and medical supplies, and appealed for international help.

Bush pledges assistance

In Washington, President Bush said eight U.S. military choppers were being moved to help in rescue efforts, and he promised financial assistance. India, which has fought three wars with Pakistan, also offered assistance, as did Israel, which has no relations with the Muslim nation.

Bush said he spoke with Musharraf and "told him that we want to help in any way we can."

"Thousands of people have died, thousands are wounded, and the United States of America wants to help," Bush said from the Oval Office.

"We are handling the worst disaster in Pakistan's history," chief army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said.

The quake was felt across a wide swath of South Asia from central Afghanistan to western Bangladesh. It swayed buildings in the capitals of three nations, with the damage spanning at least 250 miles from Jalalabad in Afghanistan to Srinagar in northern Indian territory.

In Islamabad, a 10-story building collapsed, killing at least 24 people.

Pakistan in need

Oct. 8: Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on what his nation needs in the wake of Saturday's deadly earthquake.

Late Sunday, helmeted rescuers found a survivor after hearing his cries for help. The thin man in a blue shirt, looking dazed, emerged on his own with little help and stood in front of a crowd of cheering onlookers. One rescuer patted his head, and the man waved and pumped his fist in the air.

Pakistan said the death toll ranged between 20,000 and 30,000. India reported more than 600 dead, and Afghanistan said four were killed.

"We have enough manpower but we need financial support ... to cope with the tragedy,"Musharraf said in Rawalpindi, according to the state-run news agency Associated Press of Pakistan.

He also appealed for medicine and tents.

Musharraf said he knew of as many as 20,000 people killed, and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said about 43,000 people were injured.

Musharraf said the only way to reach many far-flung areas was by helicopter because roads were impassable.

"Our helicopter resources are limited," he said. "We need massive cargo helicopter support."

Northern Pakistan hardest-hit

Most of the devastation occurred in northern Pakistan. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was centered about 60 miles northeast of the capital, Islamabad, in the forested mountains of Pakistani Kashmir.

"I have been informed by my department that more than 30,000 people have died in Kashmir," Tariq Mahmmod, communications minister for the Himalayan region, he said.

Pakistan pleads for aid as quake toll climbs

7.6-magnitude temblor kills 20,000-30,000 people across south Asia

By In Solidarity posted 11 October 05

Related:

Devastating quake kills 20,000 in Pakistan and India
A major earthquake on Saturday morning measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale has devastated cities, towns and villages across northern Pakistan. The official death toll in Pakistan reached 19,369 yesterday with over 42,000 people injured, but casualties are expected to climb further as rescue workers reach outlying areas. Hundreds more were killed in Indian-controlled Kashmir. The worst affected in both countries were the poor who lived in cheap housing built of mud brick and wood.

World races clock to help quake victims
Rescue teams and aid pledges have poured into Pakistan from around the world after the devastating earthquake that has killed about 20,000 people.

Devastating quake kills 20,000 in Pakistan and India

A major earthquake on Saturday morning measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale has devastated cities, towns and villages across northern Pakistan. The official death toll in Pakistan reached 19,369 yesterday with over 42,000 people injured, but casualties are expected to climb further as rescue workers reach outlying areas. Hundreds more were killed in Indian-controlled Kashmir. The worst affected in both countries were the poor who lived in cheap housing built of mud brick and wood.

Already higher casualty figures are being mooted. Tariq Farooq, Minister for Communication and Works in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir (Azad Kashmir), estimated yesterday that 30,000 had died in that province alone. "There are cities, there are towns which have been completely destroyed. Muzaffarabad [Azad Kashmir's provincial capital] is devastated," he said. The death toll in the provincial capital is currently 11,000.

Farooq explained that the worst affected area was Bagh, 40 km southeast of Muzaffarabad where between 6,000 and 7,000 are estimated to have died in the town and adjoining villages. "There are no survivors in villages like Jaglari, Kufalgarh, Harigal and Baniyali in Bagh district," he told the International News. "People have been devoured by the earth." Kashmiri Affairs Minister Faisal Hayat said that over half of Azad Kashmir's population of 2.4 million had been affected by the quake.

Another 9,000 people believed dead in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NSFP), including 7,000 in Hazara. Many of the victims were children attending Saturday morning classes. At least six schools collapsed in the town of Balakot, trapping hundreds of children. Parents and other locals frantically worked with picks, shovels and their bare hands to reach those trapped in the rubble. The death toll is estimated as 2,500 for the Balakot and seven surrounding villages.

A Sydney Morning Herald article explained: "The Balakot region was a scene of devastation. Perhaps half of the concrete houses had collapsed and dozens of bodies lay in the open. Residents complained about the lack of help. The road into the town had been blocked by landslides, and it was only possible to reach it on foot." Rescue workers had only reached about 40 percent of the areas in Pakistan affected by the quake. Tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people have been left homeless, without food and medicine and, in some areas, exposed to torrential rain and hailstorms.

The epicentre was near Muzaffarabad and the tremors were felt as far away as New Delhi and Kabul. The quake was followed by about 20 significant aftershocks, measuring up to 6.2 on the Richter scale. In eastern Afghanistan, four children were crushed to death when the mud walls of their home collapsed.

In the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, the Margala Towers--a five-tower upmarket apartment complex--was badly damaged. At least 35 people were killed when two of the five blocks collapsed. On special orders from the Interior Ministy, a case has already been registered against the owners and contractors and the Capital Development Authority for the use of substandard construction materials. No such legal action is being taken over the countless shoddily built homes of the poor destroyed by the quake.

Most of the nearly 700 deaths in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir occurred close to the heavily-militarised Line of Control (LoC) that separates the Pakistani and Indian armies. According to the Union Home Ministry, the toll stood at 656 late last night--including 589 in the Kashmir Valley and 17 in Jammu. At least 258 people were killed in Karnah near the LoC and further deaths occurred in Uri--the last Indian town on the road connecting the Pakistan- and Indian-controlled portions of Kashmir.

As in Pakistan, casualty figures are expected to increase sharply. A state government official told the Hindustan Times: "The toll is expected to rise as there is no news from four villages in Teetwal area." He pointed out that 3,000 houses had been destroyed in the town of Tangdhar alone.

The media has speculated that the disaster may assist in ending the decades old dispute between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. Indian Prime Minister Manhoman Singh rang Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to offer Indian assistance for relief and rescue operations. However, New Delhi and Islamabad could just as readily resort to sabre rattling as a means of diverting the social tensions produced by the catastrophe.

In fact, tight military restrictions in the quake-affected areas, including roadblocks and patrols, have hampered rescue operations in both countries. One indication of the substantial army presence in these areas is the size of the military casualties--at least 200 Pakistani and 50 Indian defence personnel died in the quake. The Indian army has taken control of the town of Uri and barred the media. Survivors complained to the Hindustan Times that relief and rescue efforts had been inadequate.

Apologia for government inaction

The glaring limitation of relief efforts has already provoked criticisms in Pakistan. An editorial in the International News on Sunday declared: "On the ground, however, confusion reigned supreme. There were obvious signs of lack of planning as the emergency services swung into action. It was obvious that the authorities were ill prepared and ill-equipped to deal with a catastrophe on this scale. While many people, including ordinary citizens, battled tirelessly to help those trapped underneath the rubble, their courage and sense of duty were clearly not a substitute for a strategy."

The newspaper, however, quickly sought to deflect blame from President Musharraf, noting that he and his ministers "were promptly on the scene of the disaster in Islamabad". It concluded with an appeal for national unity, declaring: "At this terrible moment in our history, let us all come forward with a single-minded aim: to ease the suffering of those devastated by this cruel act of nature. Let us leave the probing questions and post mortems for another day."

The Daily Times was even more blatant in its apologies for the Musharraf regime. In its editorial entitled "Getting the right perspective on the earthquake," the newspaper declared: "TV channels have subjected the government to criticism and unconsciously helped spread the impression that [the] earthquake tragedy was caused by the government simply because rescue work did not begin quickly enough. The truth is that no government anywhere, particularly in the Third World, can be prepared for large-scale post-disaster management."

The editorial berated critics who have pointed to the lack of building standards and poor construction as a major contributing factor to the high death toll. Unlike regulations for fire prevention, it argued, "earthquakes are a totally different category. Depending on scale, even an economic superpower may be humbled by a natural disaster... This scale of natural calamity is rare and defence against it is almost impossible." The commentator then compared the death toll in Pakistan favourably with that of the Iranian earthquake that claimed 32,000 lives in 2003 and the major tremor in the Indian state of Gujarat in 2001 that killed 11,500.

It is certainly true that individual earthquakes are notoriously difficult to predict with any accuracy. But the region of Kashmir and northern Pakistan struck on Saturday lies on the fault lines of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates and is regularly hit by substantial tremors. There is no excuse for the lack of disaster planning and proper emergency services and poor communications and transport, or the failure to ensure that buildings are capable of withstanding sizeable quakes. Both India and Pakistan spend billions of dollars every year maintaining huge armies equipped with expensive, sophisticated weaponry along the LoC.

Moreover, it is not simply the Pakistani and Indian governments that are responsible. The economic and social backwardness of these two countries is the legacy of decades of colonial rule and subsequent economic exploitation by the imperialist powers. As in the aftermath of the December 26 tsunami, the US, European Union and other major powers have once again demonstrated their indifference and contempt for the plight of the impoverished masses of the Indian subcontinent.

In statements reeking of insincerity, US President George Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other so-called world leaders have expressed their sympathy for the victims. A pittance of international aid has been pledged to help relief efforts in India and Pakistan. Washington has offered military helicopters and $100,000 in emergency funding; the EU has promised $US3.8 million and individual European countries have dispatched a small number of rescue teams. Australia has offered $US380,000 and the World Bank $20 million. Even if the aid actually arrives, it is completely inadequate to meet the needs of hundreds of thousands of people who have been affected.

The argument of the Daily Times editorial is that Pakistan, like Iran, India, and "even an economic superpower" can do nothing in the face of natural disasters of such a scale. The oblique reference to the Bush administration's appalling contempt for the victims of Hurricane Katrina is meant to be the clincher--if Washington is powerless in the face of such catastrophes, then how can Islamabad be expected to do better! In fact, the comment simply underscores the bankruptcy of the profit system as a whole: the techniques and resources exist to ensure that the impact of such disasters is minimal, but the operation of the capitalist market guarantees that ordinary working people--whether in Muzaffarabad or New Orleans--are left at the mercies of the forces of nature.

By Peter Symonds 10 October 2005

WSWS.org

Related:

World races clock to help quake victims
Rescue teams and aid pledges have poured into Pakistan from around the world after the devastating earthquake that has killed about 20,000 people.

UN Dialogue among Civilizations

This roundtable is a contribution to the UN Dialogue among Civilizations project that began in September 2000. At the first round table debate on Dialogue among Civilizations, Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the UN stated that, cultural diversity - in his opinion - is not only the basis for the Dialogue among Civilizations, but also the reality that makes dialogue necessary, since the perception of diversity as a threat is the very seed of war. [The role of religion in creating a culture of peace and moving on from a culture of fear.]

Final invite program UN Dialogue

Final Program and invitation to the UN Dialogue among Civilizations (UNDAC) Roundtable Dialogue 2005

Co-operating to Create a Global Culture of Peace and Non-Violence and to Move On from a Culture of Fear

Leura, Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia, June 4th to 5th 2005

9.00 Main speakers -
Stepan Kerkyasharian: Chairperson, Community Relations Commission
- Creating a culture of peace and moving on from a culture of fear
Wendy Sargent - Director of the UN Dialogue among Civilizations Forums Australia:
- Dialogue and DAC and how dialogue works
9.45 Dialogue One - Global Culture of Peace and Non-Violence and moving on from a culture of fear - identifying common interests and concerns

Saturday morning Discussion Stream One 11.45 - 1.00 in the tea room

The role of religion in creating a culture of peace and moving on from a culture of fear
Moderator: Robyn Horton

Speakers
Dr Marie Clugston: NSW convenor of Amnesty International Religious Network
Sally Segal: Head of the Interfaith Activities in Sydney: Brahma Kumaris Australia
Ian Fry: Pax Christi: Honorary Secretary Jewish-Christian-Muslim Conference of Australia
How to move on from a global culture of fear

Saturday morning Discussion Stream Two 11.45 - 1.00 in the main hall

Moving on from a culture of fear and starting to dialogue between civilizations
Moderator: Ruth Thompson

Speakers
NSW Council for Civil Liberties Representative
Natalie Doyle: Lecturer: Arts, Monash University: Civilizational Dialogue
John Mandalios: Lecturer: Griffith University

Saturday afternoon program 2.30 - 6.30

2.30 Interview with Dr Stella Cornelius OBE, Director Conflict Resolution Network by Ruth Thompson: Creating a Culture of Peace

3.00 Open Space - Moving on from a Culture of Fear - Identifying Issues - break off into issue groups
Feedback from issue groups: What are the issues?
3.30 - 4.30: Dialogue Two: Core Question: With all these common values and concerns :

Why isn't a global culture of peace happening? What are the obstacles to moving on from a culture of fear?

Saturday afternoon Discussion Stream One 5.00 - 6.30 in the tea room
Building a culture of peace in the community
Moderator: Sally Segal

Speakers
Susan Biggs: Former Deputy Chair NSW Premier's Council for Women
Women's role in encouraging dialogue in the community
Tim B. Cox : Involvement Volunteers Association Inc
Doreen Wainer: Director of Oplus - Strategy and Innovation consultant. And completing PhD in Social Ethics at UTS

Saturday afternoon Discussion Stream Two 5.00 - 6.30 in the main hall Human rights and creating a global culture of peace and moving on from a culture of fear
Moderator: Ruth Thompson

Speakers
Noel Winterburn: Director of Conversations for Futures
Melissa Conley Tyler: Senior Fellow, Faculty of Law, University of Melbourne
Greens speaker c/- Lee Rhianon MLC: globalisation based on "sharing" resources

Sunday

9.00 Main speakers: Global issues of culture of peace and culture of fear

Dr Richard Braddock: Director of APRIM Macquarie University
Dorothy Buckland Fuller: WILPF NSW
Different types of globalisation based on "sharing" resources.

10.20 - 11.30 Dialogue Three: Issue groups: Looking at solutions and strategies for the future

An Invitation

Knowing that in your activities you have peace building and community development as major concerns, it is our pleasure to invite you as a participant in the Fourth Dialogue among Civilizations Roundtable Dialogue.

The aim of this dialogue in 2005 will be examine contributions to furthering the development of a global culture of peace and non-violence and clarifying the methods that could prevent the further development of a culture of fear..

The inspiration is to create a firm foundation for the development of inter-communal and international co-operation.

This roundtable is a contribution to the UN Dialogue among Civilizations project that began in September 2000. At the first round table debate on Dialogue among Civilizations, Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the UN stated that, cultural diversity - in his opinion - is not only the basis for the Dialogue among Civilizations, but also the reality that makes dialogue necessary, since the perception of diversity as a threat is the very seed of war.

The roundtable will explore the meanings and outcomes of diverse civilizational understandings with the aim to create a better foundation for co-operation and relationship on an international and national level. Also explored is the presently evolving new global civilization founded on fundamental principles of the celebration of cultural diversity, tolerance of dissent, and universal human rights.

The roundtable dialogue will look at the following themes:

* The meaning of a culture of peace and non-violence: Diverse understandings and practices in different civilizations.
* How to move on from a global culture of fear.
* Future commitments: making the culture of peace and non-violence an international and intercommunal priority.

Those invited to the UN roundtable 2005 are representatives of religious, cultural and political institutions and communities, academics, politicians, and national and international agencies located in Australia and abroad.

Dialogue participants will come with some expertise or influence in a relevant area or come with special concerns about these issues.

The program is a participative event consisting of a few keynote speakers with the majority of the process run as a dialogue. For exact details of location, transport and accommodation and bookings please visit our web site or contact us and we will fax or email further details.

Looking forward to hearing from you

Regards Wendy Sargent
(co-ordinator of UNDAC Roundtable Dialogue)

Other information

The Organizers

This forum is being organized by Brahma Kumaris Australia. We are supporting the 'Dialogue amongst Civilizations' as a year declared by the UN General Assembly presently run by UNESCO. Visit UNESCO web site: The Brahma Kumaris is a non-governmental organization with general consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.
Brahma Kumaris Australia, 78 Alt St, Ashfield 2031, Sydney NSW, Australia

Ethics Permission

Research aims and methods of documentation of UNDAC 2005: ethics permission conducted in accordance with university human research ethics community guidelines.

The roundtables and presentations are taped. We request permission from the relevant organization or participants for any quotes used for relevant university research () or the UNDAC web site or media use, if associated with the name of the individual or the name of the organization. A permission form will be handed on registration for the event.

Enquiries

For enquiries about the forum: Overseas and Australia contact:
Wendy Sargent, Mobile: 0417-241450, Email: soscnet@attglobal.net
ACT co-ordinator - Robin Horton - Ph: (02) 62315513
Bookings only: Ph: (02) 4784-2500, Email: leura@brahmakumaris.com.au

Web site for the event:

By Wendy Sargent posted 29 May 05

Related:

THE DEATH PENALTY - WORLDWIDE
During 2004, at least 3,797 people were executed in 25 countries. At least 7,395 people were sentenced to death in 64 countries. These figures are only reported cases - the true figures were certainly much higher - many countries continue to execute people in secret.

Association for the Prevention of Torture
What needs to be done now? The Optional Protocol requires 20 ratifications to enter into force. All States Parties to the UN Convention against Torture should seriously consider ratifying the OPCAT as soon as possible. National Institutions and others promoting the human rights of people deprived of their liberty need to be informed of their potential role as national preventive mechanisms under the OPCAT.

BUSH ON TRIAL
Tuesday May 17, 2005, Brussels - Today, representatives of the World Tribunal on Iraq (WTI) delivered a law summon and invitation letter addressed to President Bush at the US Embassy in Brussels.

[PRISONACT] FOR THE MILLIONS WHO CARE!
Too many citizens have been cruelly touched by the flawed system of justice in our country - because 'justice' apparently no longer means truth and equality and basic human rights for all.

WHY IS THE HOWARD GOVERNMENT PLAYING 'DEATH' WITH AUSTRALIANS: There has been much controversy recently on whether the Australian Federal Police should have tipped-off the Indonesians over the arrest of the Bali Nine. Due to the fact that Indonesia executes convicted drug-traffickers, ACADP believes that any evidence collected by AFP should have been withheld from Indonesian authorities until they have a written guarantee not to pursue the death penalty for the Bali Nine.

DECLARATION OF ABORIGINAL SOVEREIGNTY
We the members of the Aboriginal Nations and Peoples, do hereby give notice of invoking our claim to all the land of the territories of our ancestors. Accordingly, we invoke the Rule of International Law that we have never surrendered nor acquiesced in our claim to these lands and territories.

UK report shows Iraq war illegal: former defence chief
Ruling Class Lord Goldsmith said a final UN resolution may be needed, that hard evidence of Iraqi non-compliance may have been required, and the UK could face sanction by international courts.

Annan fingers US, UK over oil-for-food scandal
UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, whose son was involved in a scandal surrounding a UN oil-for-food program in Iraq, said the United States and Britain shared the blame.

CUBA: A letter to Amnesty USA
I write as an Australian prisoners' rights campaigner who has been watching Amnesty's interventions over the arrests and jailing of several dozen "dissidents" in Cuba over the past two years. I have also visited Cuba on two occasions.

Annan urges UN members to 'make poverty history'
World governments must embrace a broad strategy ranging from trade and debt forgiveness to handing out mosquito netting to "make poverty history", United Nations chief Kofi Annan says.

UN relief boss warns Sudanese rebels
The United Nations' emergency relief coordinator, Jan Egeland, has called on rebel groups in the Darfur region of Sudan to stop kidnapping aid workers and looting aid convoys.

Australia owes Habib nothing: Beazley?
Federal Opposition Leader Kim Beazley says if Mamdouh Habib is entitled to any compensation for his detention and alleged torture it cannot come from the Australian Government.

Pressure remains on Australia as Kyoto takes effect
The Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will today come into force after a decade of deliberations.

QLD INDEFINITE DETENTION 'IN A NUTSHELL'
In Queensland prison sentences have become step-by-step more lengthy over the last decade according to prisoner Mr David Minty who has been in jail for 20 years.

Children of Imprisoned Mothers
United Nations lobbying body reports on women in prison and their children. I thought that two recent publications from the Quaker group that lobbies the UN might be of interest to you.

Goulburn Jail breaches UN standards
NSW: Greens MP Lee Rhiannon has called on Justice Minister John Hatzistergos to bring Goulburn Jail's Maximum Security Wing into line with United Nations standards, after a prison inmate's covert survey of his fellow inmates revealed problems with rehabilitation programs and basic amenities.

E Timor threatens campaign against Aust over oil deal
East Timor's Foreign Minister is threatening to launch an international campaign to pressure Australia for a bigger share of their own oil and gas royalties from the Timor Sea.

UN panel proposes criteria for legitimate military action
With countries still bitterly divided over the war in Iraq, a high-level panel appointed by the United Nations has recommended a five-step guideline to determine when to use military action.

Afghan children lose High Court battle against detention
Lawyers have lost their constitutional challenge to the detention of four children at a South Australian immigration centre. Four siblings from Afghanistan, aged between seven and 15, have been in detention since they arrived in Australia in 2001.

War on terror should tackle child abuse says UN...
A United Nations official has told a Brisbane conference tackling child abuse must be part of the war on terror.

Kenya faces hunger crisis
The United Nations is appealing for help for up to 2 million people facing hunger in Kenya.

Drawing the line for trade
Once upon a "lifetime" there was a Prime Minister named John Howard. Dollar signs lit up in his eyes when he was told that if he got involved in the Iraq war and aligned the Australian Government with the Coalition of the Killing, US and the UK then the money he spent would be returned in a once in a lifetime Free Trade Agreement with the US.

World to fall short of child health targets
Fewer than one-in-five developing countries are on track to meet UN targets for sharply reducing child and maternal mortality by 2015, the World Health Organisation and the World Bank warn.

Mentally ill kept in padlocked, caged beds
Cental Europe: Patients are sometimes locked in cages like the ones above for months or years, says the Budapest based Mental Disability Advocacy Centre Credit: MDAC.

Solitary Confinement: Our very own Alcatraz
Solitary confinement only makes prisoners more violent and inhumane, writes convicted armed robber Bernie Matthews. Today it is the new-age gladiator schools of sensory deprivation in Maximum Security Units.

Solitary Confinement: Mental illness in prisons
It is well established that sensory deprivation can produce major psychological effects on humans including perceptual distortions, visual, auditory, and olfactory illusions, vivid fantasies often accompanied by striking hallucinations, derealization experiences, and hyper- responsivity to external stimuli.