AUSTRALIA PLANS DRILL OF ANCIENT ANTARCTIC ICE CORE
SYDNEY: Australia on Saturday announced plans to drill a 2,000 year-old ice core in the heart of Antarctica in a bid to retrieve a frozen record of how the planet has evolved and what

might be in store. The Aurora Basin North project, in a area that harbors some of the deepest ice in the frozen continent over three kilometers thick, will give experts access to some of the most detailed records yet of past climate in the vast region. Australian Environment Minister Tony Burke said that such drills were critically important to understanding how the climate has naturally varied to help predict future responses to global climate change.

HOW ARE MY PEOPLE?’ CHAVEZ ASKS POST-SURGERY
CARACAS: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s first words after emerging from surgery were “How are my people?” according to officials, who proclaimed on Friday that the ailing leader is on the road to recovery. Venezuela’s Information Minister Ernesto Villegas told reporters that Chavez spoke with family members immediately after an operation to control bleeding after his cancer surgery earlier this week and that his recovery was proceeding “satisfactorily.” Chavez, 58 and re-elected to a third term in October, announced to the nation a week ago that he had suffered a recurrence of the cancer he thought he had beaten and would have to return to Cuba for surgery.

JAPAN ELECTION CANDIDATES MAKE FINAL PITCHES
TOKYO: Hundreds of candidates vying for a seat in Japan’s parliament made their final pitches to voters on Saturday, ahead of an election expected to see the return of the country’s old guard. Opinion polls show the Liberal Democratic Party on course for a convincing victory in Sunday’s lower house election, with the Democratic Party of Japan led by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda set to be ousted.

FAMILY OF HOAX CALL NURSE ATTEND MEMORIAL MASS
LONDON: The family of a nurse found dead after she was duped by a hoax phone call at the hospital treating Prince William’s pregnant wife are to attend a mass in her memory on Saturday at Westminster Cathedral in London. The mass would be offered “for the repose of the soul” of Jacintha Saldanha, 46, a mother of two who was found hanged a week ago, days after taking the hoax call at King Edward VII’s hospital in London. The call was made by two Australian radio presenters posing as Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles, and led to details of the medical condition of Prince William’s wife Catherine being made public. Indian-born Saldanha had transferred the call to another nurse who revealed details of Kate’s severe morning sickness.

FIJI BRACES FOR DESTRUCTIVE CYCLONE
SUVA: Fijians living in low-lying areas were urged to flee to higher ground on Saturday as a cyclone bore down on the Pacific nation after leaving a trail of destruction in Samoa. Cyclone Evan is intensifying and is expected to be packing winds of up to 230 kilometers an hour by the time it slams into Fiji on Sunday. Government officials feared it could be as devastating as Cyclone Kina, which killed 23 and left thousands homeless in 1993.
AFP