Suicide on TV condemned in Britain

11th December 2008, 06:13

The scene is difficult to watch, even for viewers inured to the subject of dying by a steady diet of violent Hollywood and television fare. Craig Ewert, a former computer scientist from Chicago, is shown lying in bed with his wife at his side while he takes barbiturates. He asks for a glass of apple juice to mask the bad taste and help him swallow. Then he uses his teeth to turn off his ventilator — and dies on camera.

Britain's obsession with reality television reached new heights — or depths — Wednesday night with the broadcast of the assisted suicide of the 59-year-old terminally ill American at a Swiss clinic.

Showing the final moment of death had long been a final taboo, even for no-holds-barred British TV, where sex and violence are common, and the broadcast unleashed debate on an issue that strongly divides public opinion.

Photographs of Ewert's final moments dominated Britain's newspaper front pages Wednesday — "SUICIDE TV" screamed one tabloid — and prompted a debate in Parliament, where Prime Minister Gordon Brown was quizzed about the propriety of the decision to air the program.

Before he died, Ewert said taking his own life would mean less suffering for himself and his family.

"If I go through with it, I die as I must at some point," he says in the documentary, which chronicles his 2006 decision to take his own life after being diagnosed with degenerative motor neuron disease.

"If I don't go through with it, my choice is essentially to suffer, and to inflict suffering on my family, and then die."

Care Not Killing, an anti-euthanasia group aligned with the Catholic Church and other religious organizations in Britain, denounced the broadcast as "a cynical attempt to boost television ratings" and persuade Parliament to legalize assisted suicide.

"There is a growing appetite from the British public for increasingly bizarre reality shows," said the group's director, Peter Saunders. "We'd see it as a new milestone. It glorifies assisted dying when there is a very active campaign by the pro-suicide lobby to get the issue back into Parliament."

Mary Ewert wrote in the British press Wednesday that her husband had been enthusiastic about having his final moments televised.

"He was keen to have it shown because when death is hidden and private, people don't face their fears about it," she said, adding that he wanted viewers to understand that assisted suicide allowed him to die comfortably rather than enduring a long, drawn out and painful demise.

The documentary by Oscar-winning director John Zaritsky has previously been shown on Canadian and Swiss TV and at numerous film festivals, where it provoked little controversy. But it struck a raw nerve in Britain, where the divisive debate over assisted suicide remains unresolved.

Zaritsky said it would have been "less than honest" to make the film without showing the actual suicide because it would have left viewers wondering if the death was unpleasant, cruel, or carried out against Ewert's will.

"By putting it out there, and putting it out there in its entirety, people can judge for themselves," he said, adding that the documentary gives viewers an insight into how assisted suicide would work if it is legalized in more places.

Originally called "The Suicide Tourist," the film was renamed "Right to Die?" for its British broadcast on Sky TV's Real Lives digital channel, which draws far fewer viewers than the network's myriad news, sports or movie shows. Still, it generated enormous publicity, with clips shown throughout the day on Sky News and rival channels.

The televised suicide in Britain follows a well-publicized case in Florida, where a teenager killed himself on camera last month and broadcast the chilling images live on an Internet site.

Ewert, who was living in Britain when he became ill, went abroad to end his life because assisted suicide is illegal in Britain.

In the film, he says he wanted to take action before the disease, which destroys cells that control essential muscle activity such as speaking, walking, breathing and swallowing, left him completely incapacitated.

The documentary shows Ewert and his wife going about their daily routine: Mary cleans her husband's teeth, bathes, shaves and feeds him as he bows his head.

Speaking in a reedy voice and breathing deeply from plastic tubes attached to his nose, Ewert said he felt like "empty shell."

He said some people might say: "No, suicide is wrong, God has forbidden it. Fine, but you know what? This ventilator is God."

Before the pair leave for Switzerland, he is wheeled through a local park.

"I see the plants, and they're dying, and I'm dying too," he muses. "They'll be coming back next spring — I'm unlikely to."

"I think I can take my bow, and say: Thanks, it's been fun."

In an emotional message to his adult son and daughter, who appear in the program, Ewert asked for understanding.

"I would hope that this is not a cause of major distress to those who love me," he said, using a voice-activated computer to speak. "This is a journey I must make."

At the same time, he acknowledged, "My dear sweet wife will have the greatest loss, as we have been together for 37 years in the greatest intimacy."

The program shows Ewert being interviewed by Dr. Hans-Jurg Schweizer in Zurich, Switzerland. Schweizer, who is responsible for filling out the lethal prescriptions, gives his approval and wishes him a "happy journey."

Later, Ewert is set up on a small yellow bed in a nondescript room; as the technicians get ready, his wife says her goodbyes.

"Have a safe journey," she says, tearing up. "See you sometime."

Ewert chokes down the lethal cocktail, slurping apple juice through a pink straw to blot out the taste as the ninth movement of Beethoven's symphony plays in the background. His wife holds his hand as he begins dying.

Dignitas, a well-known assisted suicide group in Switzerland, where suicide is legal in some circumstances, aided Ewert.

The group's founder Ludwig A. Minelli said the presence of cameras and filmmakers did not in any way influence Ewert's decision.

"Ewert, because of his illness and his declared intent right from the start to shorten his own suffering, never once considered the possibility of abandoning his assisted suicide," said Minelli.

The case came up during the prime minister's question time Wednesday when legislator Phil Willis, who represents Ewert's district, complained that the film promoted a crime.

He asked Brown if the prime minister believed the show was "in the public interest" or simply a case of "distasteful voyeurism."

Brown did not venture an opinion, saying only that the government's "television watchdogs" will scrutinize the show after it is broadcast.

Public opinion polls suggest that 80 percent of Britons believe the law should be changed to allow a doctor to end a patient's life in a case like Ewert's, but opposition from influential religious groups remains strong and the anti-suicide law remains in place.

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China says 300,000 babies sickened by tainted milk

3rd December 2008, 06:41

China has dramatically raised the toll from its tainted milk powder scandal, saying six babies likely died and 300,000 were sickened, figures that back up months of complaints from parents and show the government is beginning to acknowledge the scale of the crisis.

The scandal has been met with public dismay and anger, particularly among parents who feel the government breached their trust after their children were sickened or died from drinking infant formula authorities had certified as safe.

The Health Ministry's revised death toll is twice the previous figure, while the new count of 294,000 babies who suffered urinary problems from drinking contaminated infant formula is a six-fold increase from the last tally in September.

"Most of the sickened children received outpatient treatment for only small amounts of sand-like kidney stones found in their urinary systems, while some patients had to be hospitalized for the illness," the ministry said in a statement late Monday.

The latest statistics show that China's communist leaders are slowly acknowledging the scale of China's worst food safety scare in years. During such crises, the government often deliberately releases information piecemeal in part to keep from feeding public anger.

Thousands of parents have been clamoring for compensation for their sickened and dead children. The release of the figures raises the question of whether the Health Ministry is getting closer to finalizing a compensation scheme.

"The new figures are more realistic and objective than previous figures. We knew the previous ones could not have been accurate," said Chang Boyang, a Beijing lawyer who has provided legal assistance to families of children who became ill.

Four of the six deaths were recorded in the provinces of Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Guizhou and Shaanxi, and the other two were in Gansu province in the northwest, the ministry said.

The ministry said it investigated 11 possible deaths related to melamine-tainted milk and ruled five of them out. Melamine poisoning could not be ruled out in the remaining six cases, it said but gave no further details or explanation. It also did not make clear whether three earlier reported deaths were included in the new total.

The ministry said it checked into babies who died before Sept. 10, and that between then and last Thursday, no new deaths were reported.

The ministry declined phone interviews Tuesday and did not respond to faxed questions from The Associated Press.

There are other families who say their children died from drinking milk powder made by Shijiazhuang Sanlu Group Co., the dairy at the center of the crisis, but their cases were apparently still not classified as caused by tainted formula.

Without the official verdict, families fear they will be refused compensation promised by the government through the Health Ministry, which has also said it would provide free medical treatment for children sickened by tainted milk. Some parents expressed pessimism about receiving compensation promised by the government.

"I've talked with a lawyer and at first we wanted lots of compensation, but later we agreed to settle for a much smaller amount, although I wasn't happy. But now even that seems impossible as nobody has ever talked to us about it," said apple farmer Tian Xiaowei of Shaanxi province, whose year-old boy died in August.

"The economy in this country is bad now, I don't think the Communist Party will take care of our problem," Tian said.

The health bureau of Ru'nan county where he is from first ruled his son died from tainted milk powder, but a higher authority said there was no proof his death was linked to infant formula, Tian said.

The attorney Chang said there was still no word of compensation, and the group of volunteer lawyers he belongs to was considering starting a fund to help the victims' families, with contributions from all sectors and the public.

"I assume that the government is worried about the situation of the dairies and is afraid the companies may fall if they have to pay for the compensation amid the current financial crisis," Chang said. "The government may be worrying about the interests of the companies first."

The scandal was first reported in September, but the government has said that Sanlu, the dairy, knew as early as last year that its products were tainted with melamine and that company and local officials first tried to cover it up.

Like a number of major dairies, Sanlu was said to have excellent quality controls that allowed it to enjoy a government-granted inspection-exempt status.

The scandal highlighted the widespread practice of adding melamine — often used in manufacturing plastics — to watered-down milk to fool protein tests. Melamine is rich in nitrogen, which registers as protein on many routine tests. Though melamine is not believed harmful in tiny amounts, higher concentrations produce kidney stones, which can block the ducts that carry urine from the body, and in serious cases can cause kidney failure.

The crisis prompted authorities to announce a complete overhaul of the country's dairy industry to improve safety. The scare badly hit dairy exports, which fell 92 percent in October from the previous year as snags in the supply chain forced a loss in orders, and importers became wary of Chinese food products, the official China Daily newspaper reported.

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Sunni might withhold support for US pact

26th November 2008, 02:43

A leader of the largest Sunni Arab bloc in parliament hinted he might withhold support for a proposed pact that would allow American troops to stay in Iraq through 2011, making it difficult for the Shiite-led government to win the big victory it needs in Wednesday's vote.

A comfortable parliamentary majority would ensure the legitimacy of an agreement that sets a clear timetable for U.S. withdrawal after years of war and could lead to full sovereignty for Iraq.

But intense debate and backroom dealing continued over the pact, which has supporters and detractors from both Sunni and Shiite communities jockeying for political gain ahead of provincial and general elections next year.

"The national division over the agreement is very clear," said Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, who leads one of three parties in a Sunni bloc called the Iraqi Accordance Front. "Consensus appears to be very difficult, if not impossible," he said Tuesday.

Al-Hashemi is a member of a Sunni bloc that seeks a national referendum on the U.S.-Iraqi security pact and other concessions in exchange for its support for the agreement, a position that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has described as political blackmail.

Even if parliament passes the deal — only the barest of majorities would do the trick — it faces an additional hurdle because the three-man Presidential Council, which includes al-Hashemi, must then ratify it. Each of the three has veto power.

Another obstacle is that if the agreement passes with a narrow majority, it could prompt the country's most influential Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, to express his dissatisfaction publicly. That would likely sink the deal.

Al-Sistani is revered by Iraq's majority Shiites. He has indicated that the agreement was less than ideal but would not object if it passes by a comfortable majority.

If the deal is finally approved, it would set in motion an American withdrawal that could be accelerated if President-elect Barack Obama makes good on a plan to pull out all combat troops within 16 months of moving into the White House in January.

But the Iraqi government has struggled to win over skeptical lawmakers, who see an easy political target in an agreement negotiated with a foreign government that has forces on Iraqi soil. Debate in parliament degenerated into scuffles last week, and Iraqi leaders have delivered increasingly dire warnings about the security and economic threats to Iraq if the deal does not pass.

U.S. forces are currently operating under a U.N. mandate that expires Dec. 31. If the security pact is rejected and the U.N. mandate is not renewed, American forces would be confined to their bases, leaving Iraqi troops to fend for themselves in a country where security concerns have hampered development.

"The alternatives are dangerous," Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh said. "They will push Iraq and its young political experiment into the unknown. ... Let us not play with the future of this country."

A senior Sunni lawmaker, Omar Abdul-Sattar, said the Presidential Council was working on a package of political reforms demanded by several blocs in exchange for their support of the agreement.

The package would be put to a vote in parliament Wednesday, al-Sattar said. If approved, it would go to the Presidential Council for ratification, he said.

The White House expressed hope that parliament would approve the pact, and referred to bombings in Baghdad a day earlier that killed at least 22 people, by an Iraqi count.

"If you look at the violence that took place there yesterday — that was indiscriminate and killed many people — it reminds us that the Iraqis have come a long way," White House press secretary Dana Perino told reporters. "But they're not quite there yet to be able to take care of all their security needs on their own, and they continue to need our support."

Al-Maliki's Cabinet has approved the agreement. But the ruling coalition's main Shiite and Kurdish partners would muster only a slight majority in the 275-seat legislature if the 44-seat Accordance Front, also represented in the coalition, remains opposed to the agreement.

Thirty lawmakers loyal to anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have rejected the deal.

The deal requires U.S. forces to withdraw from the cities by June 30 and from the entire country by Jan. 1, 2012, and places them under strict Iraqi oversight. It gives Iraq limited judicial rights over U.S. soldiers and civilian Pentagon employees in the case of serious crimes off-duty and off-base, and bars U.S. forces from using Iraqi territory from attacking neighboring nations.

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Big 3 carmakers beg for $25B, warn of catastrophe

19th November 2008, 05:54

Detroit's Big Three automakers pleaded with a reluctant Congress Tuesday for a $25 billion lifeline to save the once-proud titans of U.S. industry, pointedly warning of a national economic catastrophe should they collapse.

Millions of layoffs would follow their demise, they said, as damaging effects rippled across an already-faltering economy.

But the new rescue plan appeared stalled on Capitol Hill, opposed by the Bush administration and Republicans in Congress who don't want to dip into the Treasury Department's $700 billion financial bailout program to come up with the $25 billion in loans.

Rank and file Republicans and Democrats from states heavily impacted by the auto industry worked behind the scenes trying to hammer out a compromise that could speed some aid to the automakers before year's end. But it was an uphill fight.

"Our industry ... needs a bridge to span the financial chasm that has opened up before us," General Motors Corp. CEO Rick Wagoner told the Senate Banking Committee. He blamed the industry's predicament not on management failures but on the deepening global financial crisis.

And Robert Nardelli, CEO of Chrysler LLC, told the panel the bailout would be "the least costly alternative" when compared with damage from bankruptcy.

Under questioning from skeptical senators, both said they'd be willing to consider slashing their salaries to $1 to show a willingness to sacrifice for federal help.

Sympathy for the industry was sparse, however, with bailout fatigue dominating Capitol Hill. Lawmakers bristled with pent-up criticism of the auto industry, and questioned whether a stopgap loan would really cure what ails the companies.

At the start of a more than four hour grilling before his committee, Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., told the leaders of GM, Chrysler and Ford Motor Co. that the industry was "seeking treatments for wounds that I believe to a large extent were self-inflicted."

"You're asking an awful lot," Dodd, the panel chairman, said at the close of the session. "I'd like to tell that you in the next couple of days this is going to happen. I don't think it is."

Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., complained that the larger financial crisis "is not the only reason why the domestic auto industry is in trouble."

He cited "inefficient production" and "costly labor agreements" that put the U.S. automakers at a disadvantage to foreign companies.

Ford CEO Alan Mulally told senators the auto industry was "a pillar of our economy."

GM's Wagoner refuted criticism that his company was not keeping pace with the times, saying it had been on the brink of a turnaround before the financial meltdown hit, reducing sales to the lowest per-capita level since World War II.

Failure of the auto industry "would be catastrophic," he said, resulting in three million jobs lost within the first year and "economic devastation (that) would far exceed the government support that our industry needs to weather the current crisis."

Chrysler's Nardelli sought to respond to those who suggest the automakers seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, as have some airlines that later emerged restructured and leaner.

"We just cannot be confident that we will be able to successfully emerge from bankruptcy," Nardelli said.

Chrysler was bailed out by the federal government once before, in 1979, with $1.2 billion in loan guarantees. The company repaid the loan, plus interest, ahead of schedule. Back then, former Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca reduced his salary to $1.

Under questioning from Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., Mulally didn't join the other two executives in saying he'd do the same now.

"I sure respect the intent of it, but the most important thing is that we not degrade our ability to be competitive and deliver this plan," Mulally said.

Joining the Big Three CEOs, Ron Gettelfinger, president of the United Auto Workers union, said the emergency loans were important for the survival of the industry and union jobs. He said the UAW recognized that "in order for these companies to be competitive, we had to make tough calls" in labor concessions.

"My sense is that nothing's going to happen this week," Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said at Tuesday's hearing.

Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana said he also smelled a flameout. "I sense that nothing is going to be passed," the Finance Committee chairman said.

Earlier, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Congress might have to return in December — rather than adjourning for the year this week, as expected — to consider an auto bailout.

"Dealing with the automobile crisis is a pressing need. We are talking about a lot of people ... and a great consequence to our economy," said Hoyer, D-Md.

The financial situation for the automakers grows more precarious by the day. Cash-strapped GM said it will delay reimbursing its dealers for rebates and other sales incentives and could run out of cash by year's end without government aid.

In the Senate, Democrats discussed but rejected the option favored by the White House and GOP lawmakers to let the auto industry use a $25 billion loan program created by Congress in September — designed to help the companies develop more fuel-efficient vehicles — to tide them over financially until President-elect Barack Obama takes office.

"There is a way to do this," said Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the minority leader.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other senior Democrats, who count environmental groups among their strongest supporters, have vehemently opposed that approach because it would divert federal money that was supposed to go toward the development of vehicles that use less gasoline.

"I don't think that's going very far in our caucus," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Instead, they want to draw the $25 billion directly from the $700 billion Wall Street bailout — bringing the government's total aid to the car companies to $50 billion.

A Senate vote on that plan, which would also extend jobless benefits, could come as early as Thursday, but it currently lacks the support to advance. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson renewed the administration's opposition on Tuesday.

Even the car companies' strongest supporters conceded Tuesday that changing the terms of the fuel-efficiency loan program might be the only way to secure funding for them with Congress set to depart for the year and the firms in tough financial shape.

"If in the short run the only way we have to be able to get some immediate help is to take a portion of that, I would very reluctantly do that — but only because I believe President-elect Obama is going to be focused on retooling and on a manufacturing strategy next year," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.

The White House said the government shouldn't send any more money to the struggling auto industry on top of the already-approved loans.

"We don't think that taxpayers should be asked to throw money at a company that can't prove that it has a long-term path for success," said White House Press Secretary Dana Perino.

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Taiwan's Chen ordered detained

12th November 2008, 07:04

A Taiwanese court ordered former President Chen Shui-bian held on corruption charges Wednesday, an ignominious decision for a man who won acclaim for standing up to China with pro-independence policies.

The ruling came at the end of a marathon 21-hour court hearing that began with lengthy interrogation Tuesday but was interrupted by a trip to the hospital and didn't conclude until dawn Wednesday.

Chen, who has denied any wrongdoing, was ordered detained under an order that does not constitute an indictment. He can be held for four months before being formally charged.

As prosecutors prepare their case, he is expected to be held in the same jail in suburban Taipei where, as a dissident leader 21 years ago, he served eight months for defaming an official of the ruling Nationalist Party during the waning days of Taiwan's infamous martial law regime.

The hearing was interrupted for several hours after the former leader complained that he had been injured while being transported from a prosecutors' office to the nearby court building. He was returned to the court after doctors found he had sustained only a minor muscle tear, said court spokesman Huang Chun-ming.

Wednesday's court order has implications beyond Taiwan, where he is reviled by millions for his apparent toleration for corruption. But he is also lionized by millions for his willingness to stand up to both Chinese threats and American opposition to his anti-China line.

China insists that Taiwan is part of Chinese territory and has threatened war if the island moves to make its 59-year break with the mainland permanent.

Chen was also criticized repeatedly by the United States, Taiwan's most important foreign partner, over the China issue. During Chen's recently concluded presidency, Chen was often seen by U.S. officials as a loose cannon who could provoke a Chinese invasion.

Chen denies any suggestion that his pro-independence policies are provocative.

He defiantly predicted his arrest and tried to link it to alleged attempts by his successor, President Ma Ying-jeou, to placate China. Ma has made reconciliation with China the centerpiece of his six-month-old administration.

"This is a political persecution," Chen declared as he was led from the prosecutors' office in handcuffs Tuesday afternoon. "Cheers for Taiwan."

Li Yihu, a Taiwan expert at Peking University in Beijing said Chen's prosecution is not related to China.

"It is a case involving a great amount of money and has had a negative influence, so it must be dealt with," he said. "It is nothing to do with placating the mainland."

Fan Liqing, a spokeswoman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, told reporters Beijing "had noted" Chen's detention on corruption charges, but rejected Chen's claim that his detention was linked to moves to improve ties between the two sides as "a pure fabrication."

Corruption allegations seriously undermined his authority during Chen's last two years in office, and provoked mass demonstrations demanding his resignation.

Family and close advisers were imprisoned on a variety of graft charges, his wife went on trial for allegedly looting a special presidential fund, and Chen himself became the subject of a complex series of judicial probes.

His questioning Tuesday by a special team of prosecutors focused on allegations he laundered money and made illegal use of the special presidential fund during his eight years in office that ended in May.

In a dramatic television appearance in August Chen admitted that he broke the law by not fully disclosing campaign donations he had received, after a lawmaker from Ma's Nationalist Party alleged that Chen's son and daughter-in-law moved millions of dollars to Switzerland in 2007, and then forwarded the funds to the Cayman Islands.

At the time prosecutors said they wanted to determine whether the funds were indeed donations left over from political campaigns — as Chen insisted — or whether bribery might have been involved.

Under Taiwanese law, false declaration of donations is subject to a fine but money laundering carries a seven-year prison sentence.

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