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Feldman and Haim were known for their off-screen friendshipView this Post in:
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The Lost Boys actor Corey Haim was a “tormented soul”, friend and fellow actor Corey Feldman has said.
Paying tribute to the star, Feldman said he wept when he heard Haim had died at a California hospital on Wednesday aged 38.
“This is a tragic loss of a wonderful, beautiful, tormented soul, who will always be my brother, family, and best friend,” he said in a statement.
A post-mortem is due to be held to determine the cause of death.
Troy Searer, an executive producer of the short lived reality show The Two Coreys starring Haim and Feldman, said Haim’s “heart and his potential were only outmatched by his demons”.
The assistant chief of the Los Angeles County coroner’s office, told local television reporters Haim had been suffering flu-like symptoms.
Ed Winter said Haim’s mother, who lived with the actor, called paramedics after he collapsed while getting out of bed at his apartment. He later died at Providence St Joseph Medical Center.
Winter added coroners found some prescription medication in Haim’s apartment but “no illicit drugs”.
Haim’s appearance in The Lost Boys gave him a heartthrob statusAfter battling drug abuse for years, Haim openly talked about overcoming his addictions around the time he was promoting his reality TV series in 2006, saying he had become clean and sober.
The Canadian-born star’s first role was in the 1984 film Firstborn and came to prominence in the 1986 movie Lucas alongside Charlie Sheen and Winona Ryder.
The star told The Sun in 1994 it was while filming The Lost Boys opposite Kiefer Sutherland in 1987 he discovered drugs.
He admitted his drug habit damaged his career and the star later went into rehab and was put on prescription drugs.
However his career outlook had been improving in recent months - the actor appeared in Crank 2: High Voltage last year and had been promoting his latest film, American Sunset.
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Ms Suu Kyi’s party won elections in 1990 but was not allowed to take powerView this Post in:
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Burma’s leaders have formally annulled the National League for Democracy’s 1990 election win, under laws enacted for polls expected later this year.
Authorities said the win was invalid because the poll had taken place under a law repealed by the new legislation.
The new laws have attracted a storm of criticism from international observers.
They banned NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior pro-democracy figures from taking part in the polls. A date for them has not yet been announced.
A US official said the lawsmade a mockery of the democratic process, while a UN spokesman said they fell short of expectations for an inclusive election.
After the 1990 polls, the military did not allow the NLD to take power. These elections will be the first in two decades.
They will be held under a new constitution which critics say is aimed at perpetuating military rule.
‘Repressive laws’
The new elections laws were formally approved by Burma’s military leaders on Monday and are being published in state media gradually.
On Thursday a 17-member election commission was named to oversee the polls, headed by a former military officer described as a hard-liner.
On Wednesday laws were announced prohibiting those with criminal convictions or who are members of religious orders from belonging to a political party.
This means that jailed political activists - including many of the NLD’s top leaders - cannot take part, or the monks who led anti-government protests two years ago.
According to NLD spokesman Nyan Win, who visited Ms Suu Kyi on Thursday, the detained pro-democracy leader condemned the new laws.
“Aung San Suu Kyi said she never expected such repressive laws would come out,” he said.
Nyan Win said the NLD had not yet decided how to respond to the laws“She said such challenges call for resolute responses and calls on the people and democratic forces to take unanimous action against such unfair laws.”
However, several offices of the National League for Democracy were allowed to reopen on Thursday for the first time since 2003.
The government had sealed NLD branch offices with red wax after a deadly attack on Ms Suu Kyi’s convoy by pro-regime elements on 30 May 2003.
Nyan Win described it as a positive step.
“I think they want us to take part in the election, but we still haven’t made up our mind about this. We still need to talk it over among the top leaders, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.”
‘Devoid of credibility’
Condemnation of the new laws has come from one Asian neighbour, the Philippines, as well as from the UN, the US and other nations.
“Unless they release Aung San Suu Kyi and allow her and her party to participate in elections, it’s a complete farce and therefore contrary to their roadmap to democracy,” Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo told the Associated Press.
The Philippines is a partner with Burma in the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean), whose 10 members rarely voice criticism of each other.
A spokesman for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also expressed concern over the new laws.
“The indications available so far suggest that they do not measure up to our expectations of what is needed for an inclusive political process,” Martin Nesirky said.
And US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said that the laws made “a mockery of the democratic process and ensures the upcoming election will be devoid of credibility”.
“Our engagement with Burma will have to continue until we can make clear that… the results thus far are not what we had expected and that they’re going to have to do better,” he added.
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US Vice-President Joe Biden says there must be no delay in resuming Mid-East peace talks, despite a row over Israeli plans for new homes in East Jerusalem.
Mr Biden repeated his criticism of the timing of the building decision, but praised the response of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the controversy.
He also stressed that the United States had “no better friend than Israel”.
The Palestinian Authority earlier said talks would be “very difficult” if the plans for the homes were not rescinded.
President Mahmoud Abbas informed Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa that he had “demanded that the Americans help us revoke this order” at a meeting with Mr Biden in Ramallah on Wednesday, chief negotiator Saeb Erekat told the BBC.
Earlier, Mr Moussa said the Palestinians had decided not to take part.
Both sides had only agreed on Monday to hold indirect, “proximity talks” in a bid to restart the peace process, which has been stalled for more than a year.
‘Willing partners’
In a speech at Tel Aviv University on Thursday, Mr Biden said the US had “no better friend in the community of nations than Israel” and that their relationship was “impervious to any shifts in either country, and in either country’s partisan politics”.
But, he added, the decision by the Jerusalem municipality to approve the 1,600 new housing units in the settlement of Ramat Shlomo had “undermined the trust required for productive negotiations” and warranted his unequivocal condemnation.
“Sometimes only a friend can deliver the hardest truth,” he told the audience.
However, the US vice-president said he also appreciated the response of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “who announced this morning that he is putting in place a process to prevent this sort of occurrence, and who clarified that the beginning of actual construction would likely take several years”.
“That’s significant because it gives negotiations the time to resolve this as well as other obstacles,” Mr Biden said.
Close to 500,000 Jews live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel’s 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. They are illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.
Mr Biden warned Israeli leaders that in President Mahmoud Abbas and his Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad, they “finally have willing partners who share the goal of peace between two states”.
“Their commitment to peace is an opportunity that must be seized.”
He said Washington would continue to hold both sides accountable for any statements or actions that inflamed tensions and prejudiced the outcome of the indirect talks brokered by the US special envoy, George Mitchell.
“The most important thing is for these talks to go forward and go forward promptly and go forward in good faith,” he added. “We can’t delay because when progress is postponed, extremists exploit our differences.”
‘Crisis ended’
Mr Abbas has refused to resume direct negotiations with Israel for 17 months because of its refusal to put a complete stop to the expansion of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
In November, Israel announced a 10-month suspension of new building in the West Bank, under heavy US pressure. But it considers areas within the Jerusalem municipality as its territory and thus not subject to the restrictions.
Tuesday’s announcement by the Israeli interior ministry that the Jerusalem authorities had approved the expansion of Ramat Shlomo overshadowed the visit by Mr Biden, the highest ranking Obama administration official yet to go to the region.
On Thursday morning, Mr Netanyahu telephoned the vice-president and “expressed his regret for the unfortunate timing” of the decision.
“Both agreed the crisis was behind them,” his office said.
Mr Netanyahu reiterated that he had not been aware of the announcement, and said he had summoned Interior Minister Eli Yishai to reprimand him.
The final approval process for the settlement would probably take more than a year, with construction starting several years from now, he said.
Mr Erekat dismissed Mr Netanyahu’s statement, saying it was “unacceptable because it talks about an error in timing and not the error in substance”.
“All decisions regarding settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem should be cancelled,” he told AFP news agency.
POINTS OF TENSION IN JERUSALEM
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Mr Karzai (left) said stability in Afghanistan depended on PakistanView this Post in:
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Afghanistan does not want other countries’ “proxy wars” fought on its soil, President Hamid Karzai has said.
He was speaking following talks with Pakistani leaders in Islamabad, and a day after Iran and the US traded blows over their activities in Afghanistan.
Mr Karzai said he did not want India and Pakistan, or anyone else, to fight their wars on his country’s territory.
Parties to the Afghan conflict are rethinking policy ahead of 2011 when the US says it will begin to withdraw.
On Wednesday Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad paid a short visit to Kabul. He accused the US of playing a “double game” in Afghanistan after the US used the same term to condemn Iran’s role.
Pakistan role
Mr Karzai is making his first visit to Pakistan since his controversial re-election last year.
The trip comes amid an expected surge of Western troops in Afghanistan this summer. It also follows the recent arrests of Taliban leaders in Pakistan which indicate the military there may be willing to reign in the militants.
The BBC’s M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says Mr Karzai is visiting Pakistan amid a thaw in relations between the two countries on the one hand, and some fundamental shifts in the regional situation on the other.
The Afghan leader held detailed meetings with both President Asif Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. He has also met Pakistan’s army chief, Gen Ashfaq Kayani. Before heading to Islamabad, he had a meeting with the visiting US defence secretary Robert Gates.
“Without Pakistan and without its co-operation with Afghanistan, Afghanistan cannot be stable or peaceful,” Mr Karzai told a news conference in Islamabad.
“It is also, I believe, recognised in Pakistan that without a stable and peaceful Afghanistan there cannot be stability or peace in Pakistan.
“Afghanistan does not want a proxy war between India and Pakistan in Afghanistan. It does not want a proxy war between Iran and the United States in Afghanistan,” he said.
Mr Karzai also called on Islamabad to hand over the alleged Taliban second-in-command Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, arrested last month. Mr Gilani said his government was still considering the request.
Our correspondent says the purpose of Mr Karzai’s visit appears to be to take Pakistani leaders into his confidence on the impending Western troop surge, and to find out to what extent Pakistani political and military leaders would be willing to withdraw support from the Taliban.
For their part, the Pakistanis need guarantees about limiting Indian influence in Afghanistan, our correspondent says.
They are also keen to have a role in training Afghan forces, a proposal which Mr Karzai has reportedly cold-shouldered for the moment.
Earlier, a spokesman for Mr Zardari the two presidents had agreed to hold a joint Afghan-Pakistan jirga (tribal gathering) after a similar meeting is held in Afghanistan.
A joint jirga process was initiated in 2007 but never took off because of mutual suspicions.
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UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has asked the world’s science academies to review work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Work will be co-ordinated by the Inter-Academy Council, which brings together bodies such as the UK’s Royal Society.
The IPCC has been under pressure over errors in its last major assessment of climate science in 2007.
Mr Ban said the overall concept of man-made climate change was robust, and action to curb emissions badly needed.
The Inter-Academy Council will convene a panel of experts to conduct the review, and will be run independently of UN agencies.
“Let me be clear - the threat posed by climate change is real,” said Mr Ban, speaking at UN headquarters in New York.
“I have seen no credible evidence that challenges the main conclusions of [the IPCC's 2007] report.”
Nevertheless, he said, there had been “a few errors” in the 3,000-page report (known as AR4), and there was a need “to ensure full transparency, accuracy and objectivity”.
Inside and out
Robbert Dijkgraaf, the council’s co-chair, said the review panel will be chosen so that it includes both inside knowledge of the IPCC and outside perspectives.
“The panel will look forward and will definitely not go over all the vast amount of data in climate science,” he said.
“It will see what are the [IPCC's] procedures, and how can they be improved, so we can avoid certain types of errors.”
But Roger Pielke Jr, a professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado who has recently criticised the IPCC over its assessment of the costs of climate-related disasters, said the terms of reference appeared to have some significant omissions.
“How will it deal with allegations of breakdowns in procedures in the AR4?”, he asked.
“The terms of reference say nothing about looking at the AR4 procedures, but it would be difficult to do a serious evaluation without actually evaluating experience,” he told BBC News.
“Should it ignore the AR4 issues, then it will risk being called a whitewash.”
Prof Pielke also suggested the panel might look at apparent conflicts of interest within the IPCC’s staff.
Lessons learned
The conflict of interest charge has been levelled against the IPCC’s chair, Rajendra Pachauri, over his business interests.
But standing alongside Mr Ban, he welcomed the review.
“The IPCC stands firmly behind the rigour and reliability of its Fourth Assessment Report from 2007, but we recognise that we can improve,” he said.
“We have listened and learned from our critics, and we intend to take every action we can to ensure that our reports are as robust as possible.”
The review was demanded by world governments at last month’s meeting of the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) Governing Council.
The Inter-Academy Council has been asked to finalise its conclusions by August, in time that its recommendations can be discussed and adopted at October’s IPCC meeting.
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