Australia will withdraw troops from Iraq if the opposition Labor Party wins an election this year, party leader Kevin Rudd told U.S. President George W. Bush. ‘We discussed Iraq and Labor’s position,” Rudd said after meeting with Bush for 45 minutes in Sydney today. “That is, a negotiated, staged withdrawal of combat troops starting the middle of next year.” Rudd’s promise on troop withdrawal may attract voters ahead of an election, which must be called by Jan. 19. Prime Minister John Howard yesterday said Australian forces would remain at “present levels,” a policy opposed by 68 percent of voters. Australia was one of the original coalition partners in Iraq and has 1,575 troops in the region. Bush yesterday said the U.S. was meeting its objectives in Iraq and he will wait to hear reports from Army General David Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan Crocker next week before he makes any decisions on troop withdrawals. Bush said he would “take their recommendations into account as I develop the strategy necessary to win in Iraq,” adding that if security conditions continue to improve, fewer forces may be required to maintain stability in […]
Scientists at Eli Lilly say the first human trial of a new schizophrenia drug shows promise for sufferers of the debilitating mental illness. There are already many drugs which are designed to treat schizophrenia but this latest drug differs in that unlike all other antipsychotics it targets the glutamate receptors in the brain rather than dopamine. The scientists say patients treated with the new drug ‘LY2140023’ showed improvements in symptoms and suffered fewer side effects. Schizophrenia affects around 1% of the population and is a chronic mental illness. The main symptoms are hallucinations (hearing voices), delusions (a firm belief in something that isn’t true) and changes in outlook and personality. Schizophrenia can manifest itself in positive symptoms (hallucinations, delusions and thought disorder), and in negative symptoms such as social withdrawal, apathy and emotional blunting with symptoms such as psychomotor retardation, lack of insight, poor attention and impulse control. The antipsychotic drugs currently used to alleviate these symptoms can have serious side effects such a violent tremor, similar to that experienced by Parkinson’s disease sufferers; for some, the side effects are so distressing that they often stop taking the medication and run the risk of a […]
The Arctic ice cap has collapsed at an unprecedented rate this summer and levels of sea ice in the region now stand at record lows, scientists have announced. Experts say they are ‘stunned’ by the loss of ice, with an area almost twice as big as the UK disappearing in the last week alone. So much ice has melted this summer that the Northwest passage across the top of Canada is fully navigable, and observers say the Northeast passage along Russia’s Arctic coast could open later this month. If the increased rate of melting continues, the summertime Arctic could be totally free of ice by 2030. Mark Serreze, an Arctic specialist at the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre at Colorado University in Denver, said: ‘It’s amazing. It’s simply fallen off a cliff and we’re still losing ice.’ The Arctic has now lost about a third of its ice since satellite measurements began thirty years ago, and the rate of loss has accelerated sharply since 2002. Dr Serreze said: ‘If you asked me a couple of years ago when the Arctic could lose all of its ice then I would have said 2100, […]
Plans to allow British scientists to create human-animal embryos are expected to be approved tomorrow by the government’s fertility regulator. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority published its long-awaited public consultation on the controversial research yesterday, revealing that a majority of people were ‘at ease’ with scientists creating the hybrid embryos. Researchers want to create hybrid embryos by merging human cells with animal eggs, in the hope they will be able to extract valuable embryonic stem cells from them. The cells form the basic building blocks of the body and are expected to pave the way for revolutionary therapies for diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and even spinal cord injuries. The consultation papers were released ahead of the authority’s final decision on the matter, which will mark the end of almost a year of intense lobbying by scientists and a fervent campaign by organisations opposed to research involving embryonic stem cells. Using animal eggs will allow researchers to push ahead unhindered by the shortage of human eggs. Under existing laws, the embryos must be destroyed after 14 days when they are no bigger than a pinhead, and cannot be implanted into the womb. Opponents of the […]
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Researchers off Mexico’s Pacific coast are observing what they say could be a case of global warming’s effects in the far north: gray whales returning to calving grounds malnourished. Layers of fat should have covered whales’ spines last winter, but instead researchers saw vertebrae sticking out. They spotted other signs of malnutrition – depressions around the blowholes and head, and protruding shoulder blades – that may indicate declining health. At least 10% of gray whales returning to Laguna San Ignacio, 1 of 4 main calving and breeding lagoons off Baja California, Mexico, showed signs of being underfed. That’s according to Steve Swartz, a National Marine Fisheries Service whale expert based in Silver Spring, Maryland. Researchers are trying to find out if it’s a warning sign that climate change in the North Pacific is affecting the tiny crustaceans the whales suck up from the ocean floor, and if switching to alternative prey will affect their well-being.
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
