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<B>RESEARCH. Botox treatments prompt warning. </B>Doctors have issued a warning about the dangers of using excessively high doses of the potentially fatal toxin botox in cosmetic treatments. The Journal of the American Medical Association reports four cases where patients were given doses many times higher than the estimated lethal dose. The treatments were given using toxin intended for laboratory use. Experts said UK patients were at risk from delays in deciding if those who can give botox should be restricted. Botulism is a rare paralytic illness caused by the botulinum toxins. Left untreated, it may result in respiratory failure and death. In the four cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the patients were found to have been injected with a highly concentrated, unlicensed preparation of botulinum toxin A. It had been intended for laboratory research, and was not intended for human use. But a doctor at one unnamed clinic gave the three patients – and himself – courses of four to six injections as facial cosmetic treatments. The researchers say the patients did not die because they received prompt hospital treatment. The doctor involved in the case pleaded guilty to misbranding a drug and was sentenced to three years in prison
<B>BAGHDAD. Bush to meet Maliki. </B>President George W. Bush will meet Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Jordan next week as pressure builds on both leaders for decisive action to halt a slide into chaos many fear could destabilise the region. The meeting, in a much safer venue than Baghdad, will follow a weekend visit to Iran by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and this week’s landmark visit to Iraq by Syria’s foreign minister.
JERUSALEM. Israel continues operations in Gaza.</B> Israel’s security cabinet on Wednesday agreed to continue military operations in Gaza but did not opt for a large-scale offensive in response to a spate of rocket attacks by Palestinian militants, political sources said. They said the army would keep targeting rocket launching squads and try to prevent the smuggling of weapons into the Gaza Strip from neighbouring Egypt.
<B>ITALY. Berlusconi plays down doubts over political futures.</B> Silvio Berlusconi’s future was in doubt after a newspaper said he did not want to bid for a third term as Italy’s Prime Minister but the opposition leader said he had no plan to quit politics.The report in Libero newspaper said Berlusconi, on triall for tax fraud had told a small group of friends over dinner he wanted neither to return eventually as Prime Minister, nor run for the presidency. “We will certainly return to power, but I can already tell you something. Whatever happens, I will not go back to Palazzo Chigi (the prime minister’s office),” the newspaper, close to the centre-right opposition, quoted Berlusconi as saying. The article set off speculation that the 70-year-old opposition leader, who went on trial in Milan on Tuesday charged with fraud, planned to withdraw from politics after nearly two decades in the spotlight.
<B>Congo. Court burnt in poll protest.</B> The Democratic Republic of Congo’s Supreme Court has been set on fire during protests over alleged fraud in the presidential run-off. Supporters of Jean-Pierre Bemba, the ex-rebel leader who says he was cheated of victory, clashed with police. Police used tear gas and UN peacekeepers fired shots in the air, with two vehicles burnt by protesters. The violence led the Supreme Court to suspend its hearing into Mr Bemba’s claims he was cheated of victory. Mr Bemba’s party has condemned what it called “acts of vandalism” against the court, and said it would have no reason to try to derail court proceedings. President Joseph Kabila was last week declared the winner, with 58% of the vote against 42% for Mr Bemba. The elections are supposed to draw a line under a five-year conflict in which some four million people died.
<B>BUENOS AIRES. Bush’s daughter robbed in Argentina . </B>US and Argentine media reported that one of President Bush’s 24-year-old twin daughters had her purse stolen while being guarded by the Secret Service during a visit there. ABC News, citing unidentified law enforcement reports, reported on its Web site that Barbara Bush’s(photo) purse and cell phone were taken while she was dining in a Buenos Aires restaurant. La Nacion newspaper, citing anonymous government sources, said in its online edition early yesterday that one of Bush’s daughters had her purse taken Sunday afternoon in the popular tourist district of San Telmo.
DHAKA. Bangladesh activists clash again over election, 1 dead. </B>Rival activists armed with home-made bombs and sticks fought for a third straight day across Bangladesh yesterday, witnesses said, as a political crisis gripped the country ahead of January elections. A man was fatally stabbed in Bogra town, 250 km (160 miles) north of the capital Dhaka, after a rally calling for the dismissal of controversial election officials, witnesses said. Bogra is a stronghold of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, led by former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia, who ended her five-year term in October. Some 40 people were hurt in the Bogra clashes and about 10 people were hurt when police used batons to disperse activists in Dhaka.
<B>Netherlands. Close contest as Dutch cast votes.</B> Dutch voters have begun casting their ballots in parliamentary elections, with late opinion polls showing as many as 40% of them undecided. Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende’s Christian Democrats are expected to emerge as the largest party. But the opposition Labour Party has been narrowing the gap. Neither right nor left blocs are expected to win the 76 seats to secure a majority and talks to form a coalition could be protracted. Some experts say the Socialist Party’s rise in the polls show a left-wing coalition could pose a real challenge to the centre-right coalition of the Christian Democrats (CDA) and liberals . Polling stations closed at 2000 GMT with unofficial exit poll results expected immediately. In a live TV debate on the eve of the election, the party leaders focused mainly on welfare reforms rather than immigration. The immigration issue had gripped Dutch politics since the high-profile murders of two prominent campaigners against Muslim extremism - independent politician Pim Fortuyn and film-maker Theo van Gogh.
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