Aussie quadriplegic starves himself to death

       Quadriplegic dead: An Australian quadriplegic who won a landmark legal battle to starve himself to death by refusing food fied yesterday, his family said, ending an existence he described as "living hell."

       An Australian quadriplegic who won a landmark legal battle to starve himself to death by refusing food died yesterday, his family said, ending an existence he described as "living hell".
       Christian Rossiter, 49, who was paralysed from the neck down, died in a nursing home in Perth early yesterday after developing a chest infection, his brother Tim Rossiter said in a statement.
       "I thank all those who have made Christian's life, in his final years, as comfortable and as dignified as possibly," he said.
       Lawyer John Hammond, who five weeks ago won a court battle allowing Rossiter to refuse food and medication, said his client had welcomed death and empowered all severely ill people who wanted to die on their own terms. "He wanted to die and it will be some relief that he is now dead because he underwent so much pain in his final years," Hammond told the ABC TV channel.
       In the historic ruling, a court said that Rossiter, a former stockbroker and outdoor adventurer who became a quadriplegic following two accidents, had the right to refuse to be fed.
       "This is a living hell," he told reporters through a tracheotomy tube during the court case. "I'm Cristian Rossiter and I'd like to die. I am a prisoner in my own body. I can't move, I have no fear of death - just pain. I only fear pain."

Gates helps bring banking to the poor

       The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, best known for its work combating malaria, AIDS and other diseases, announced an effort this week to bring banking, including savings accounts, to the poor.
       It may be hard to understand how savings are even an issue for the people who live on less than $2 a day, said Bob Christen, who directs the Gates Foundation's financial services initiative. However, access to a safe place to store money is a top priority of poor people around the world, he said.
       That's why the world's richest charitable foundation announced a$35-million (1.18-billion-baht) grant to help facilitate agent banking services already being developed in Africa, Asia and South and Central America.
       Mr Christen said the Gates grant will provide assistance to numerous organisations through the Alliance for Financial Inclusion, whose efforts are historic in the world of banking, and will help people climb out of poverty, save for their children's education, build their businesses and plan for the future.
       The ideas for bringing savings accounts, insurance and other financial services to the poor include transferring money by way of mobile phones and setting up banking kiosks in markets and post offices.
       The Gates Foundation has invested a total of $350 million (11.80 billion baht)so far in other financial services for the poor, including micro-credit, which involves small loans for poor entrepreneurs.
       Mr Christen says savings accounts are a more basic need of many people.An estimated 2.5 billion people - more than half the world's adult population - do not have access to savings accounts and other financial services.
       People are forced to buy and pawn jewellery or make other poor investments to keep their money safe.
       Foundation research identified this as an area that is not getting investment dollars and turned its attention in this direction.
       "It became very obvious that the single service that is least developed that most people need is savings," Mr Christen said."People really want to be able to save in a safer place."
       The Gates Foundation is providing an infusion of cash to facilitate the sharing of ideas among the innovators and to make sure the new systems offer a wide range of financial services.
       Alfred Hannig, executive director of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion, said banking innovation is happening in developing countries without the foundation's help, but the money will help speed implementation.
       The alliance has a goal of reaching 50 million of the world's "unbanked" by 2012.
       In a phone call from Nairobi, Kenya,where the alliance was hosting a meeting for representatives of 42 countries, Mr Hannig said that plans are being made for a delegation from Kenya to go to Brazil to learn about that country's efforts to bring banking services to small villages along the Amazon River.
       "People were waiting for this," said Mr Hannig, who works for the German Technical Corporation and is based in Thailand.
       "This was very timely. They have been waiting for such a mechanism for such a long time."
       Mr Hannig said 60% of the money from the Gates Foundation will be redistributed in smaller grants to groups like the delegation fromKenya to Brazil,and the Bank of Thailand, which wants to measure banking access around the world through a survey.

Flooded homes get relief

       Foundations under royal patronage have been handing out emergency relief bags to victims of floods in downtown Chaiyaphum.
       The bags were given to 2,000 families most affected by the floods in the northeastern province.
       The bags were donated by the Rajaprajanugroh Foundation under His Majesty the King's patronage and the Princess Pa Foundation under Her Royal Highness Princess Bajrakitiyabha.
       The floods were caused by run-off from the Lam Pathao reservoir in Kaeng Khro district, and are now receding after inundating downtown areas for the past few days.
       Chaiyaphum's city mayor, Banyong Kiatkongchoochai, yesterday handed out the bags on behalf of the foundations.
       The council worked pumps around the clock to drain water from the city centre. Council staff are on the lookout for crocodiles which escaped from flooded farms.
       In the eastern province of Rayong,persistent heavy rain at the weekend has triggered a mudslide which damaged communities around Wat Nong Wa in tambon Makhamkoo of Nikhom Phatthana district. Residents said the mudslide appeared to have weakened the foundations of the temple wall, which they feared could collapse on to nearby homes.

SARAH PALIN SUPPORTER PAYS $63,000 FOR DINNER

       A true fan of former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in paying US$63,500 (Bt2 million) to have dinner with her.
       Cathy Maples of Huntsville, Alabama, on Friday won the dinner in an Internet auction, which was a benefit for a charity that aids wounded veterans.
       Maples says she fully supports the military and the men and women fighting for this nation. Maples, who owns a defence contracting company, also says she's "big advocate" for Palin, and would love to see her as president.
       Palin offered the dinner as part of the charity auction on eBay for the Ride for the Ride 2 Recovery programme, which supports wounded veterans through cycling programmes.
       Organisers say the winner will gave to foot the travel bill to meet up with Palin, likely in Alaska. Maples says that's no problem.

Woman near goal on world's top 14 peaks

       A Korean left Kathmandu yesterday to start the ascent of one of the world's highest peaks in the Himalayas, closing in on her goal to become the first woman to scale all 14 of the world's highest mountains.
       Oh Eun-sun,43, said weather conditions will be decisive when she climbs Mount Annapurna in west Nepal next week, the world's 10th highest peak at 8,091 metres.
       "It is autumn and there are too many crevasses and avalanches," said Ms Oh,who is leading a seven-member Korean team to the peak."But I am not scared.I am more careful."
       Ms Oh, who has already climbed Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain, and 12 other peaks of more than 8,000 metres, will climb along the route pioneered by Frenchman Maurice Herzog in 1950 on the first 8,000-metrehigh mountain ever climbed.
       Only 17 men have scaled all the world's 14 highest peaks.

Toddler wins Elton's heart

       Look out, Madonna and Angelina Jolie - pop star Elton John may be joining the ranks of A-list celebrities with adopted children.
       John and partner David Furnish are interested in trying to adopt a Ukrainian toddler named Lev they met during an orphanage tour.
       The singer told reporters in Ukraine on Saturday he had been reluctant to adopt a child until he met Lev at an orphanage where many of the children's parents have died from Aids.
       "David always wanted to adopt a child and I always said 'no' because I am 62 and I think because of the travelling I do and the life I have,maybe it wouldn't be fair for the child,"John said.
       "But having seen Lev today, I would love to adopt him.
       "I don't know how we do that but he has stolen my heart. He has stolen David's heart and it would be wonderful if we can have a home.
       "I've changed my mind."

SMALL JOCKEYS, BIG PROBLEMS

       Vietnam is rapidly industrialising and focused on the future, but horse racing still seems stuck in the past
       With its small horses and tiny jockeys, racing at Vietnam's only track is a low-key affair receiving high-level attention as officials threaten acrackdown on under-age riders.
       "On paper the jockeys say they're 15 or 16, but they're 12 or 13. If you're too young you can't ride, so they have to lie," says Vo Hoang Vi Thanh,33, whose family has trained racehorses for three generations.
       Trainers say young jockeys and small horses have for decades been a mainstay of the Phu Tho racetrack in the southern commercial capital of Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon,which was set up by a Frenchman in 1932.
       Officially, gambling is considered a "social evil" and banned by the communist government, but Phu Tho is one of the only places,along with some dog races and the official lottery, where it is allowed.
       Illegal gambling on cock fights, underground lotteries and other gaming is nevertheless widespread.
       Phu Tho has relied on riders weighing between 30 and 40 kilogrammes because they are the only ones small enough to mount the ponies, which stand up to 1.4 metres at the withers, workers in the industry say.
       "We can't keep huge horses. It costs too much money," says Mr Thanh, whose seven racehorses and a brood mare might make him rich in other countries.
       In Vietnam they do not.Vietnam is rapidly industrialising and focused on the future, but it remains a largely rural society where horse racing still seems stuck in the past.
       Local media cited officials in Ho Chi Minh City talking tough about bringing changes to the industry.
       Phan Thanh Minh of the city's labour department was quoted as saying "we cannot let the violation and abuse of children continue".
       The department declined to comment.State media said labour authorities, along with officials from the local sports department,had formed a joint task force to examine the young jockeys' situation.
       Racing has continued in the meantime,but all the attention has left trainers nervous about their futures, and defensive of their sport.
       "I won't be able to go on. I guess everybody will quit" if authorities enforce a ban on young jockeys, Mr Thanh says.
       Local media reported that almost all of about 850 horses at Phu Tho weigh less than 250 kilogrammes - about half the weight of horses competing at the Singapore Turf Club,where jockeys weigh more than 50 kilogrammes.
       "To avoid child exploitation in horse racing,organisers will have to import big thoroughbreds, although this will be expensive," Tran Van Nghia, former chairman of Phu Tho,was quoted as saying by the online English version of the Tuoi Tre newspaper."But we have to do it if we want to have an international-standard racing industry,"added Mr Nghia.
       The director of the racetrack did not respond to queries.
       Closed in 1975 after the Vietnam War ended,
       Phu Tho reopened in 1989 and seems to have changed little since then.
       The weekend racecard, where a minimum bet is 10,000 dong (19 baht), draws a mostly Vietnamese crowd of men who squat on large concrete steps that serve as the grandstand as they watch the ponies.
       Without the neck-and-neck contests involving large horses that are a feature of major tracks, fewer jockeys are badly injured,one trainer said.
       "In bad conditions like rain they'll fall off,but it's not normally dangerous," said Thi Bao An,30, a stable worker.
       There were "many deaths" in the early 1970s, said Nguyen Van Thanh,53, who rode from the ages of 14 to 16.
       Mr Thanh now dismisses concerns over young riders who, he says, take a six-month course and have to earn a certificate.
       "They were trained. They have skill," says Mr Thanh, who comes from a long line of teenage jockeys.
       "My father, my uncles, my mother's father and my father's father were all jockeys," he says.
       Mr Thanh, whose son carried on the jockey tradition, said a good young rider "can support his whole family" with his earnings.
       Local media reported that jockeys can earn in excess of two million dong on a race day - a good wage in a country whose per capita income is about US$1,000(34,000 baht).
       With a thoroughbred and other large horses among his stable, Nguyen Van Thanh is better placed than other trainers if the industry has to change.
       But all the talk of a crackdown on an industry which has been his family's life for decades has still left him uneasy.
       "Four generations till now, that's been our job."
       A crackdown, he says,"makes no sense".
       "To avoid child exploitation in horse racing, organisers will have to import big thoroughbreds TRAN VAN NGHIA version of the Tuoi Tre newspaper.