Climate deal certain, but won't be enough: IPCC scientist

BRUSSELS — The flood of world leaders heading for next week's UN climate summit make an accord certain -- but the new deal will not be enough to truly fight global warming, a top climate scientist said Saturday.

Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, vice-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said more top-level politicians would attend Copenhagen than previous talks in Kyoto, where the current climate treaty was agreed.

"In Kyoto, there was Al Gore, US vice president, and two heads of state of little islands threatened by global warming, while at Copenhagen around 100 heads of state and government will take part," he said.

"I think that if (world leaders) come, it is to put their names to an agreement, not to record a failure," he said.

But despite believing that a "very important agreement" would be reached, the Belgian scientist warned that "this deal will be insufficient."

"We will have to go much further afterwards," he urged.

"We only have one inhabitable planet in the solar system, the others are either too hot or too cold," added the scientist.

Danish government officials have said that more than 100 heads of state and government have confirmed their attendance at top-level talks at the end of the conference, which opens Monday and runs until December 18.

The scientist's comments also came the day after the White House announced that US President Barack Obama had changed his plans and would attend the final stages of the talks, when the drive for a global warming pact will climax.

Van Ypersele, speaking aboard a special train carrying European delegates to Copenhagen, added he was "very optimistic" about the UN summit "because awareness of how high the stakes are is much greater than it was 12 years ago in Kyoto."

The IPCC, a panel of climate-change experts established by the UN and the World Meteorological Organisation, is the leading body for the assessment of climate change, according to its website.

Delegates boarded the "Climate Express" in Brussels Saturday for the 12-hour journey to the climate talks.

The passengers included negotiators for the governments of France, Belgium and Luxembourg who will be joined by their German counterparts in Cologne, organisers said.

The climate talks in Copenhagen are aimed at framing concrete measures to combat global warming, notably by arriving at a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol.

Chavez vows to nationalise banks

President Hugo Chavez has threatened to nationalise Venezuelan banks that broke regulations.

The president said he would do whatever was necessary to prevent irregularities amid a scandal that had already prompted his government to take over management of four banks.

"I warn the country's private bankers: I'll take away any bank from anyone who slips up," Mr Chavez said during his weekly television and radio programme.

"Do you want me to nationalise the banks?" he said, adding that he would have "no problem" ordering state takeovers.

The government took over management of four small banks on November 20, citing various irregularities. The four institutions - Canarias, Confederado, Bolivar and BanPro - account for 5.7% of Venezuela's banking sector.

They were purchased in September and October by a group of investors headed by Ricardo Fernandez, who is involved in the food industry and sells products to a network of state-run subsidised markets known as Mercal. Mr Fernandez and his lawyer, Jose Camacho, have been arrested on charges of misappropriating deposits and providing loans to other businesses in which they were investors.

Since taking office more than a decade ago, Mr Chavez has ordered the nationalisation of major players in steel, electricity and oil sectors. His government has also seized control of dozens of other private businesses, including coffee processing plants, sugarcane mills and cattle ranches.

Mr Fernandez's connections with state-run businesses have prompted Chavez opponents to seize on the scandal as evidence that Venezuela's socialist leader has failed to crack down on corruption and cronyism involving top-ranking government officials and their private-sector associates.

"The president is attacking not corruption but rather one of the criminal organisations that is operating within the government," Delsa Solorzano, an opposition politician, said. "This scandal is linked to internal conflicts surrounding the president involving groups that manage state resources."

Mr Chavez did not directly address such criticism, but he said some Venezuelans who claimed to support his "Bolivarian Revolution" - a political movement named after 19th-century independence hero Simon Bolivar - betrayed its left-wing ideals and embraced capitalism. "There are people from the proletariat in this struggle that end up siding with the devil," he said.

Astronauts take spacewalk No. 3 after suit snag

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A pair of astronauts stepped out on the third and final spacewalk of their shuttle mission Monday, helping to install an enormous oxygen tank at the International Space Station.

Dr. Robert Satcher Jr. and Randolph Bresnik removed the tank from a newly delivered cargo platform on the station, then let a robot arm take it from there.

Bresnik, still celebrating the birth of his daughter, Abigail Mae, was jazzed up for the excursion.

"Hey, Wyatt, I look just like Spider-Man," he called out to his 3 1/2-year-old son as he clambered along the station's latticelike framework.

The tank — about 5 feet by 6 feet and 1,200 pounds — was moved and attached to the NASA air lock, a chamber leading out to the vacuum of space. It was filled with high-pressure oxygen for future spacewalks. The spacewalkers hooked up the gas line for the tank, then opened and closed a valve for a leak check.

As elaborate directions came from inside the shuttle-station complex, the spacewalkers added their own in a nod to Thanksgiving. "Over the river and through the woods," Bresnik called out. "To grandmother's house we go," chimed in Satcher.

The new dad's enthusiasm was infectious. Satcher, the first orthopedic surgeon in space, took some photographs for his Twitter followers.

"Need to give a shot to the Twitterverse," said the doctor, who goes by ZeroG_MD.

The two managed to get ahead of schedule, even though they floated out the hatch an hour late.

A valve on the drink bag in Satcher's suit came off as he was getting ready for the spacewalk. To everyone's relief, the valve to the water pouch went back on tightly. The concern was that big blobs of water could float up and get in his eyes if the valve came loose during the spacewalk.

The first two spacewalks of Atlantis' weeklong space station visit went so well, and the astronauts accomplished so much extra work, that only a few chores remained. Satcher and Bresnik hung up some science experiments, removed two orbital debris shields from the air lock to make room for the oxygen tank and then cinched the panels down.

Atlantis and its crew of seven will depart the space station Wednesday. The shuttle will aim for a landing back at Kennedy Space Center on Friday.

Rebecca Bresnik, meanwhile, was said to be doing well with her new baby. She delivered the six-pound, 13-ounce girl back in Houston just hours after her husband's first-ever spacewalk Saturday.

On Sunday, Bresnik proudly wore a black "it's a girl" T-shirt, passed out pink bubble gum cigars to his 11 spacemates, and showed off a pink onesie emblazoned with his crew's mission patch.

"Other than seeing my wife for the first time, I've never seen anything more beautiful than being outside" on a spacewalk, Bresnik said Sunday. He said pictures of his daughter, beamed up later in the day by Mission Control, were sure to shove the views of Earth into third place.

Astronauts inspect space shuttle in case of damage

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Space shuttle Atlantis' astronauts scoured their ship Tuesday for any signs of launch damage while pursuing the International Space Station.

The early word was that the shuttle appeared to be in good shape. "No issues so far," said LeRoy Cain, chairman of the mission management team.

Atlantis and its crew of six will hook up with the space station Wednesday.

The shuttle gradually was gaining on the station, and the two craft were on opposite sides of Earth at midday Tuesday, not quite 24 hours into the chase.

"You've got 8,000 miles of rock between you and it," Mission Control informed shuttle commander Charles Hobaugh.

"I'm seeing somebody out in front, must not be them," Hobaugh joked.

"Can you get the license plate number for us?" Mission Control asked. "Looks like one of those personalized license plates," Hobaugh replied.

Hobaugh and his crew spent much of their first full day in orbit inspecting the shuttle's thermal shielding. They used a 100-foot, laser-tipped boom to scan the wings and nose cap, routine work that took hours to complete.

The survey did not reveal any obvious problems, at least at a first glance. A quick look at the images from Monday's launch also showed nothing to be worried about.

Even more data will be collected right before Wednesday's docking. The space station residents will take a few hundred close digital photos as Atlantis pulls up and performs a somersault.

Engineers will pore over all the information to ascertain whether Atlantis is intact and able to make a safe descent, when it comes time to return home at the end of next week.

The space agency has been extra cautious since the Columbia disaster nearly seven years ago. The left wing was punctured by a big chunk of foam insulation that came off the fuel tank at liftoff, causing the shuttle to break apart during re-entry. All seven astronauts were killed.

Officials believe three small foam pieces peeled away from Atlantis' tank Monday, but it happened too many minutes after liftoff to pose any danger.

Atlantis is delivering big spare parts to the space station — nearly 15 tons' worth.

It's an 11-day flight, which will keep the crew in orbit over Thanksgiving.

"Congratulations on a beautiful, flawless launch, Atlantis!" Mission Control told the crew in a wake-up message. "Now the fun begins."

Canada's space clown got 23 times more world attention than Afghan mission: study

MONTREAL — Canada's first space clown can brag that his recent trip into the cosmos generated at least 23 times more international news coverage this year than this country's mission in Afghanistan.

At least that's according to a calculation done by a media research group hired by Guy Laliberte, the Cirque du soleil founder who recently became the country's first space tourist.

The Quebec billionaire hired Montreal-based Influence Communication to look at radio, TV, newspaper and Internet coverage from 71 countries of his cosmic voyage.

The firm has released analysis that it would have cost C$592,425,679 to buy that much advertising space for Laliberte and his environmental foundation.

The Cirque founder originally shelled out US$35 million for his extraterrestrial flight, suggesting a rather nifty return on investment of more than 1,500 per cent.

Laliberte blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sept. 30, and spent 11 days travelling or aboard the International Space station.

Jean Lambert, a senior analyst at Influence, says his firm began its tracking on June 4th, the day Laliberte held a news conference to officially announce his trip.

Through mid-October, it counted approximately 41,000 reports about Laliberte and his One Drop environmental foundation.

It estimated the play on newspaper pages, on the airwaves, and on websites to be equivalent to half a billion advertising dollars.

By way of comparison, Canada's mission in Afghanistan - the most significant and gruelling international undertaking by this country since the Korean War - showed up in 1,812 news items over the entire year, from January to mid-October.

"(It's) not to belittle the importance in international media of Canada's presence in Afghanistan," Lambert said.

"But this got 23 times more space or time coverage in the media than Canada's presence in Afghanistan."

And he noted that coverage of the space mission was measured over only four months from June to October, while stories about the Afghan mission were measured over 10 months.

"The percentage would have been ever larger in favour of Laliberte if we just took the period from June to October," Lambert said.

Karl Moore, a McGill University management professor, compares Laliberte to another billionaire: the "flamboyant" Richard Branson, founder of Virgin records, "one of the great marketers in the world."

"This is a guy who knows, thanks to his Cirque du soleil experience, how to get that kind of coverage and make the most of it," Moore said in an interview.

"Maybe the numbers are overstated a bit, but I think that there is actually a fair bit of reality to them."

Moore suggests Laliberte's story got even more coverage thanks to his red clown's nose, which he used as a colourful photographic prop.

The contrast could hardly be more stark with Afghanistan - where Canada is one of several NATO countries figuring in the mission, and where the daily drip of disheartening news might leave readers numb.

"It (Afghanistan) is a sobering thing that, by and large, we don't want to think about - whereas this is kind of a fun topic and it's one that doesn't scare us off," he said.

"So, I'm not surprised that this is one of the great events this year for Canada."

Moore says the media tended to pick up Laliberte because "it gives us a bit of relief from the sheer seriousness of our daily lives."

From outer space, the Cirque founder conducted a series of events around the world designed, he said, to raise awareness about protecting water.

The Cirque's public relations director said most of the Canadian coverage of Laliberte's trip was positive.

"We did get some criticism but it was mainly from editorialists," said Renee-Claude Menard.

"It wasn't enough to discourage us. It was a little bit disappointing but, at the same time, we have to look at the global coverage and look at it in a positive sense."

Laliberte was surprised by the volume of international coverage, Menard said.

Six tourists had been to space before him, she said, and none drew close to that much attention.

Menard said her 50-year-old boss hasn't ruled out another extraterrestrial voyage in the future because his last one wasn't long enough.

"I was there when he got off the bus after returning on the Soyuz shuttle and it was really funny. He said, 'I would have stayed at least two more weeks."'

She said she wouldn't be surprised if Laliberte decided to make another space trip if the opportunity presented itself.

Global pressure mounts ahead of Karzai inauguration

KABUL — President Hamid Karzai will be sworn in on November 19 for another five years under the scrutiny of foreign leaders who Wednesday stepped up pressure on the Afghan leader to act against corruption.

Karzai, 51, will be sworn in for his second five-year term at a ceremony attended by local and foreign dignitaries, Afghan officials said, capping more than two months of political crisis after a fraud-tainted election.

An official in Karzai's office told AFP on condition of anonymity that the president will likely announce his cabinet two weeks after the swearing-in.

The huge fraud that marred the August 20 presidential election highlighted the scale of corruption in Afghanistan's government and has led to enormous international pressure on Karzai's new administration to clean up graft.

Karzai's ties with the West have cooled over corruption and spiralling insecurity. He was declared the winner by election officials when his challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, abandoned a run-off this month.

On Wednesday, the visiting Swedish foreign minister, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, urged Karzai to make a strong commitment to reform.

"The last few months have been not good. We have been bordering disaster in terms of credibility," Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt told AFP in an interview during a visit to Kabul.

"What we are first expecting is a strong reform statement by the president on his inauguration," followed by the formation of a government with "competent ministers", Bildt said.

Norway's Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere, who also met Karzai on Wednesday, stressed that Oslo wanted to see results on democratic reform in Afghanistan.

"A major emphasis now has to be put on the quality, the competence and dedication of the Afghan government that will be formed," he told reporters.

Karzai has also faced widespread criticism for his alliances with warlords and his vice-president, Mohammad Qasim Fahim, is widely accused of rights abuses.

In a recent US television interview, Karzai dismissed allegations made against top officials, including his brother Wali, who is widely accused of involvement in the opium trade.

More than 100,000 NATO and US-led troops are helping the government battle a Taliban insurgency at its deadliest since US-led troops toppled the Islamist regime eight years ago and Karzai was swept into power.

US President Barack Obama, nearing a decision on whether to plunge up to 40,000 more troops into the war, is down to four strategic options, the White House said on Tuesday.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said Washington seeks specific action, not just promises, to end corruption in Afghanistan.

"We are very clear that we will be expecting more from the government of Afghanistan," Clinton said on Monday.

In his US television interview Karzai said "individuals who are involved in corruption will have no place in the government."

Karzai's former challenger, Abdullah, welcomed the increased US pressure.

"It's good that they are pushing for reforms. It's good that they are calling for anti-corruption policies. These are the calls of the people of Afghanistan," Abdullah said on the BBC's HARDtalk programme.

Asked whether he would join Karzai in government, the ex-foreign minister reiterated his refusal but said he will promote ideas for change "perhaps in form of loyal opposition, and that's in the best interests of the country."

In the latest unrest, a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle killed two civilians and wounded international soldiers while targeting NATO troops in southern Zabul province, officials said.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said divers meanwhile found the body of a US soldier who went missing last week, and a search continued for another soldier who disappeared at the same time in the west.

Seven Afghan soldiers and police were killed in what Afghan officials called a mis-targeted NATO air strike during a previous search for the missing personnel.

Iraq election law delays decision on flash points

BAGHDAD — After weeks of hard-nosed negotiations, analysts say the election law passed by Iraq's parliament allowing national polls to go forward in January extends compromises to all sides but with key concessions to the Kurds.

However, analysts warn the bill also sidesteps a decision on the ultimate fate of Kirkuk — a city claimed by both Kurds and Arabs that had been a major stumbling block to the law's passage — and ensures more battles over the city in the future.

"Because there was pressure to pass the law and have the election, they are just pushing this issue under the carpet," said Mustafa Alani from the Gulf Research Center in Dubai. "I don't see a clear solution to this problem here."

Haggling over Kirkuk had repeatedly stalled the law's passage, and further delay threatened to undermine Iraq's fledgling democracy and derail a U.S. plan to withdraw its troops.

Kurds consider Kirkuk a Kurdish city and want it incorporated into their self-ruled region in northern Iraq, something the Arab-led central government adamantly opposes.

Under former dictator Saddam Hussein, tens of thousands of Kurds were kicked out of the city to make Kirkuk predominantly Arab. Since Saddam's fall, thousands of Kurds have flooded back, but Arabs claim there are more than ever before.

The legislation passed Sunday allows the vote in Kirkuk to be held just like in other regions around the country. However, if lawmakers suspect there was a more than 5 percent annual increase in population in a disputed area, including Kirkuk, they can vote to create a committee to investigate and eventually contest the election results in a given district.

This solution addresses Arab and Turkomen claims that Kurds have packed the city in an attempt to tip the scales.

But analysts say the Kurds also notched a victory by having the elections carried out on the basis of 2009 voter lists, which likely reflect Kurdish increases in the city, instead of the 2004 records that Arabs have generally favored.

"I think probably the Kurds won out on this one," said Marina Ottoway of the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for Peace. "I think it will be very difficult to invalidate the election."

The law specifies the way the Kirkuk issue was settled will not be binding for future decisions on the disputed city. However, the legislation appears to set the stage for further disputes over interpretation and implementation of the law.

On Monday, Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission submitted a proposal to Iraq's presidency council to hold the elections on Jan. 21, five days after the previously scheduled date, commission chief Faraj al-Haidari said. It must now be approved by the presidential council.

The commission also determined there should be 323 seats in the next parliament, up from 275, Al-Haidari said.

U.S. officials had followed the election debate closely for any sign it might affect the withdrawal of American combat troops, which Washington has tied to the vote. After the vote, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq said the drawdown was on schedule.

Under President Barack Obama's plan, all combat troops will leave the country by the end of August 2010. The remaining 50,000 trainers and support troops would leave by the end of 2011.

With violence down sharply nationwide, Washington now hopes the January vote will help bolster Iraq's fragile democracy. While many Iraqis are happy with the improved security situation, frustrations remain over the lingering violence, corruption and poor public services.

The U.S. pushed hard Sunday for lawmakers to reach a compromise on the legislation. And while the deal may not be perfect for everyone, all of Iraq's major political groupings appear at least satisfied with it and have said they will take part in the elections.

That stands in stark contrast to Iraq's first post-invasion parliamentary vote in January 2005, when Sunnis boycotted the polls, which helped fuel anger and a spiraling insurgency and bloodshed that engulfed the country for two years.

"They all seem to be happy — in that sense it does seem to be a true compromise," said Joost Hiltermann of the International Crisis Group.

Associated Press writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Rebecca Santana contributed to this report.

Canadian physicist IDs young neutron star

A physicist from the University of Alberta is part of a team that has identified an unusual neutron star left over from a supernova first seen 330 years ago.

Craig Heinke and his colleague Wynn Ho at the University of Southampton, U.K., say that the remnant of the supernova Cassiopeia A is a very young neutron star, 20 times heavier than the sun, but only 20 kilometres wide.

The star, about 11,000 light-years away, is unusual because it has a thin atmosphere of carbon, about 10 centimetres thick.

While the supernova that created Cassiopeia A is thought to have been seen in 1680 by Britain's first Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed, the compact X-ray source at the centre of the remnant wasn't discovered until 1999.

Astronomers examining the X-ray radiation from the supernova remnant were puzzled by its spectrum. According to their models of how stars evolve, the X-ray spectrum suggested the remnant was either very small, possibly a black hole, or was a neutron star with hot polar caps, which was difficult to explain.

Ho and Heinke, in this week's issue of the journal Nature, show that the spectrum recorded by the Chandra X-ray Observatory satellite could be explained by a normal-sized neutron star with a carbon atmosphere and a low magnetic field.

"This neutron star was born so hot that nuclear fusion happened on its surface, producing a carbon atmosphere just 10 centimetres thick," said Heinke in a statement.

Heinke describes Cassiopeia A as a neutron star in its infancy, which hasn't yet cooled enough to accumulate an atmosphere of hydrogen and helium, as seen in older neutron stars.

"This discovery helps us understand how neutron stars are born in violent supernova explosions," said Heinke.

The identification of the remnant as a young neutron star also gives scientists a more complete picture of the life cycle of a supernova.

Space station free of swine flu - but Canadian astronaut wary of return to Earth

LONGUEUIL, Que, — To avoid a deadly flu pandemic, there's no place like outer space.

A Canadian astronaut on a lengthy space mission said the International Space Station is swine-flu free thanks to a slew of sanitary precautions taken with the orbiting lab. One of them is pre-departure quarantine.

"We do take the problem of infectious illness seriously," astronaut Bob Thirsk said Monday through a video feed to the Canadian Space Agency outside Montreal.

"One week prior to launch we try to distance ourselves from public areas where we might pick up infections and bring them on board the station."

But as he casts a wary glance at Planet Earth and sees it quickly becoming engulfed in an H1N1 pandemic, Thirsk says he plans to remain vigilant when he returns home Dec. 1.

He'll be particularly susceptible to illness because astronauts' immune systems get weakened in gravity-free isolation.

"The theory is that astronauts have more difficulty fighting off infections," Thirsk said.

While in space Thirsk, a medical doctor, is doing his best to help humanity deal with future pandemics.

During his stay at the space laboratory, he has been conducting an ongoing experiment which investigates changes in the body's immune system.

The experiment involves collecting and analyzing blood, urine and saliva samples from crew members to monitor changes in the immune system.

Scientists hope the data collected may lead to a greater understanding of how the immune system is affected by different factors, from stress to the environment.

They hope the information might help develop new treatments and preventive measures.

Veteran NASA astronaut Mark Polansky, who was visiting the Canadian Space Agency on Monday, says when a crew is launched into orbit, "for the most part they're probably fairly healthy and bug-free."

"We do realize that guys who have been up there for five or six months, have nowhere else that they can pick up germs other than from other crew members who are arriving."

As a result, Polansky says, the immune system of astronauts might wind up slightly depressed because they've gone months without fighting off any kind of infection or bacteria.

Polansky and five fellow U.S. astronauts were at the space agency with Canadian colleague Julie Payette, who had a brief chat with Thirsk via video link Monday.

CSA employees also had a chance to put questions to Thirsk.

One of them wanted to know how the astronaut's five senses have been coping with the lengthy space expedition.

The 56-year-old says his vision has changed a little bit and he has had some acute problems reading.

But Thirsk calls that normal for many astronauts, adding that his sight is expected to return to normal when he returns home.

Noise caused by motors, pumps and compressors on the space station has led to slight hearing loss, but that's also expected to return to normal.

He adds that his sense of smell and touch haven't been affected.

Thirsk holds the record for the Canadianastronaut with the longest time spent in space.

Clement to review CRTC ruling on Globalive

Industry Canada says it will review a CRTC decision preventing Globalive from setting up shop as Canada's fourth national cellphone company.

Industry Minister Tony Clement said Friday he will investigate the ruling to see whether it is consistent with the government's efforts to bring more competition to the cellphone market.

On Thursday, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission said Globalive, which had hoped to launch service under the Wind brand in several Canadian cities in the next few weeks, did not meet Canadian ownership and control rules. The Toronto-based company has received almost all its funding from Naguib Sawiris, the billionaire head of Egypt's Orascom, which disqualifies it from operating in Canada, the telecom regulator said.

Clement, who is also responsible for consumer affairs, said the government believes in competition and new cellphone companies will benefit wireless users. The government held an auction of public airwaves last year and reserved a portion of licenses for new entrants after recognizing that Canadians were suffering from high prices and poor services.

“We are examining the CRTC decision very closely, and certainly we are still very much in favour of more competition in the telecom space for Canadian consumers," Clement told Bloomberg News. "That’s why we opened up these contracts to other new entrants.”

Globalive chief executive Anthony Lacavera said Friday he was "greatly disappointed" with the CRTC's decision, but it was not the end of the line for his company. "Neither I nor Mr. Sawiris have ever given up on anything," he said.

Lacavera would not say whether Globalive will challenge the ruling in court or appeal to the federal cabinet.

In its decision, the CRTC prescribed a number of changes that Globalive could make to its corporate structure to bring it more in line with Canadian laws. However, its debt of more than $600 million — almost all of which is held by Orascom — was the key stumbling block, the regulator said. Globalive had argued that it would have liked to have secured financing from other sources, but the global credit crunch prevented it from doing so for much of the past year.

Under federal rules, foreign ownership of telecommunications firms is limited to 20 per cent of the voting shares of an operating company and one-third for a holding company.

Lacavera said he believes Globalive could pass CRTC muster if it can find other financiers to take some of the debt off Orascom's hands, and he was in New York on Friday trying to find takers. The regulator did not give any guidance on how much debt would need to change hands, however.

"It's frustrating because it's too ambiguous," Lacavera said.