Washington, May 16:  White House hopeful, Mr Barack Obama, on Thursday accused the US President, Mr George W. Bush, of stooping to the “politics of fear” after the US leader implied in Israel that Democrats would appease terrorists.
Mr Bush’s comments ignited a fierce three-way row between the White House, the Obama campaign, and Republican presidential candidate, Mr John McCain, and exposed a key foreign policy flashpoint heading into November’s general election.

“Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along,” Mr Bush told the Israeli Parliament. “We have heard this foolish delusion before. We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history,” he said.

Mr Obama quickly waded into the row by saying, “Mr Bush knows that I have never supported engagement with terrorists, and the President’s extraordinary politicization of foreign policy and the politics of fear do nothing to secure the American people or our stalwart ally Israel.” Mr McCain then tried to turn the spat to his advantage, saying Mr Obama had made a “serious” error in offering to talk to the Iranian President, Mr Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Tokyo, May 16: The devastating earthquake in southwest China was so powerful that its seismic waves travelled around the globe — twice, a Japanese observatory said on Friday. The Matsushiro Seismological Observatory, north of Tokyo, detected surface quake waves at 3.41 pm on Monday, some 13 minutes after the 7.9-magnitude quake struck in China’s Sichuan province.

Seismological equipment in an underground tunnel showed the same kind of low-frequency waves 90 minutes later at 5.10pm and again at 8.40pm, according to the observatory. This shows the waves from the quake went round the globe twice, travelling eastward from the epicentre to Japan, crossing the Pacific to the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean to Africa before coming back to Asia, it said.

“The circling of waves was observed as the quake was so intense,” the Matsushiro observatory chief, Mr Naoya Mikami said.  A huge fault, or a break in the Earth crust, caused the earthquake, sending strong seismic waves, he said, adding that usually only surface waves from a quake of about magnitude 8.0 or stronger go around the globe more than once. Surface waves, which cannot be felt by humans, travel more slowly and last longer than waves that go through the interior of the Earth.

Beichuan (China), May 12: A strong aftershock has rocked parts of central China already reeling from this week’s powerful earthquake. The latest tremor registered a magnitude of 5.5. The aftershock buried a number of vehicles on a road leading to the epicenter. There’s no word on casualties.

The official death toll from Monday’s quake is more than 22,000. Another 14,000 people are still buried in one province. The government says it plans to investigate why so many school buildings have collapsed. Officials say they will severely punish anyone responsible for shoddy construction. Several people have been saved after being buried in the rubble for days. A nurse was pulled to safety after being trapped in debris for 96 hours.

New York, May 16: Most Americans believe the choice to end one’s life is a personal decision and that physician-assisted death should be legal, according to a new survey. More than 80 per cent of adults questioned in the poll by Knowledge Networks said the right to die should not be decided by the government, church or a third party, yet only 50 per cent of Americans over 60 and less than 25 per cent of younger people said they have a living will.

“People put that off. They’re in denial and they have their heads in the sand,” said Mr Dave Bunnell, editor-in-chief of ELDR magazine, which commissioned the poll. “Unforeseen events are always around the corner. You can become paralyzed. You can be put in a state where you can’t really communicate and can’t make your wishes known and for that reason, you want them known in advance so people don’t do the wrong thing,” he said in an interview.

Slightly more than 66 per cent of the 1,000 Americans questioned in the online poll said they wanted physician-assisted suicide to become legal in their state. Nearly half said they could eventually become the primary caregiver to elderly family members or friends. Oregon is the first state in the country where physician-assisted death is legal for certain terminally ill patients. Washington is currently looking to become the second state to legalize the practice, according to the magazine.

The poll also showed that more than 90 per cent of people said they would want artificial life support stopped if they were in a persistent vegetative state. Over 80 per cent said they wanted the option of being sedated if they were suffering. 

New York, May 16: Osama bin Laden, who has threatened to extend al-Qaida’s terror to Israel, will release a new Internet message dealing with Israelis and Palestinians, a terrorism monitoring group said on Thursday. The announcement of the impending comments by the head of al-Qaida was posted on websites often used by Islamic militant groups, the SITE Intelligence Group said.

“We intend to liberate Palestine, the whole of Palestine from the (Jordan) river to the sea,” he said, threatening “blood for blood, destruction for destruction.”  The internet message — expected to appear within 72 hours of the advertisement — will be bin Laden’s second this year and the seventh since the start of 2007, part of an overall increase by al-Qaida in the pace of Internet statements. In a December, the terror leader offered an unusually direct attack on Israel and stepped up al-Qaida’s attempts to use the Israeli-Arab conflict to rally supporters.

Rome, May 16: South African Paralympian Oscar Pistorius sets his sights on an historic appearance at the Beijing Olympics on Friday after winning a landmark appeal over a ban on his artificial legs. The 21-year-old, who runs on specially adapted carbon fibre blades after having his legs amputated below the knee when he was 11 months old, saw the ban imposed by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

The 400m runner was barred from all competitions involving able-bodied athletes because of claims that the artificial legs he uses give him an unfair advantage. “Today, I can pursue my dream of competing in the Olympic Games. If it’s not for Beijing, it will be for London in 2012,” said the South African, nicknamed “Bladerunner”. However, he knows that the real battle to record a qualifying time to make the Games in Beijing is only just beginning. He has a personal best of 46.46secs; the minimum qualifying time for the Olympics is 45.95. Even if he fails to make it to the individual event, he could still take part in the relay.