Weekly Round Up: Heeere's Johnny! Is Number One, Bush A Bit Of A Fruit Cake (Sorry Fruit Salad) And The Neo Cons Are About To Leave The Building!

It’s been another busy week in the world of politics. The week had been dominated by the findings of the Iraq Study Group. US must try to engage Iran, Syria to help achieve peace and security in Iraq and the wider Middle East. The panel headed by James Baker and Lee Hamilton, said 'in the context of a full and secure peace agreement, the Israelis should return the Golan Heights'. James Baker said the White House must not treat the panel’s report, "like a fruit salad," (you know, leaving behind the Honeydew and just eating the strawberries) it appears that President Bush may end up doing just that. Incoming U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told a Senate committee that Israel has nuclear weapons, and that this partially explains Iran's motivation to acquire nuclear weapons. "They are surrounded by powers with nuclear weapons - Pakistan to their east, the Russians to the north, the Israelis to the west and us in the Persian Gulf," There was also the outcry of Keith Ellison, who will become the nation's first Muslim congressman next month, on announcing he would be using a Koran for the ceremonial swearing-in ceremony. What is wrong with that? What is the point of using a bible if he does not believe in it – anyway how many of the members of congress are seriously religious? If things couldn’t get even more stupid the Dutch government is to award special medals to its peacekeepers who failed to protect 8000 Muslims (men & Boys) in Srebrenica during the Yugoslav civil war. Also in the news was Hilary (Let Israel destroy Lebanon, because they represent our values) Clinton who has taken steps towards a Presidential run. And finally today, General Augusto Pinochet, who overthrew Chile's democratically elected president in a bloody coup and ruled this Andean nation for 17 years, died at age 91, this is an injustice to the families of people that were killed under his command. Oh yes, I nearly forgot, Rumsfeld is doing his final rounds before leaving office and John Bolton has also handed his resignation - Nice!

Here’s all the other news from around the world…

North America
US to build base on Moon
The United States plans to set up a colony on the south pole of the Earth's moon by around the year 2020.

The solar-powered colony will be a forward base for manned missions to Mars and further exploration of the solar system, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said. The project, which would send a man back to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972, is designed as a long-term joint effort of 14 of the world's space agencies.

Nasa said it pulled together detailed answers to those questions by polling more than 1,000 experts, from 13 other space agencies, including those of China, India, Russia and Ukraine, and from public and private organisations and businesses, including commercial space exploration operations.

You can say that again...and again...and again..
"Heeere's Johnny!" - the introduction for U.S. talk-show host Johnny Carson for 30 years -- has been ranked the most memorable TV catchphrase in a Top 100 list covering 60 years of American television shows, cartoons, commercials and quotes from news programs.

The Top 10 greatest TV quotes and catchphrases chosen by TV Land are;
1. Heeere's Johnny! (Ed McMahon, The Tonight Show)
2. One small step for man ... (Neil Armstrong)
3. You're fired! (Donald Trump, The Apprentice)
4. Baby, you're the greatest. (Ralph Kramden, The Honeymooners)
5. Ask not what your country can do for you ... (John F. Kennedy)
6. D'oh! (Homer Simpson, The Simpsons)
7. Where's the beef? (Wendy's)
8. Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis? (Arnold Drummond, Diff'rent Strokes)
9. Yabba dabba do! (Fred Flintstone, The Flintstones)
10. I'm not a crook (Richard Nixon)

Hard Rock Cafe restaurants to be sold to Native American tribe
The Hard Rock Cafe chain of restaurants is to be sold to the Seminole Tribe of Florida, a Native American group, for 965 million dollars (724 million euros), current owners Rank announced.

"The Rank Group announces that ... it has reached an agreement with Seminole Hard Rock Entertainment, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, to sell the Hard Rock business for a total consideration of 965 million dollars," Rank said in a statement.

Following completion of the sale, expected in March next year, British gaming group Rank intends to return 350 million pounds (518 million euros, 689 million dollars) to shareholders via payment of a special dividend.

Seminole already owns hotels, casinos and holidays resorts in Florida, but in buying the Hard Rock Cafe business it becomes the owner of one of the best-known international restaurant brands and the proprietor of more than 120 outlets in 40 countries.

Latin America
Chavez wins re-election by wide margin
CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez, an outspoken opponent of the United States who has used Venezuela's oil wealth to give handouts to the poor, won re-election to another six-year term by a wide margin on Sunday, official results showed.

With 78 percent of voting stations reporting, Chavez had 61 percent to 38 percent for challenger Manuel Rosales, said Tibisay Lucena, head of the country's elections council. Chavez had nearly 6 million votes versus 3.7 million for Rosales, according to the partial tally.

Turnout was 62 percent, according to an official bulletin of results, making Chavez's lead insurmountable.

U.S. denies threat on Haitian aid, visas
The U.S. Embassy on Friday denied that Haiti's government was threatened with the suspension of aid and travel visas if it tried to block the United States from deporting convicted Haitian criminals back to their homeland.

U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Shaila B. Manyam told The Associated Press that Haitian officials were only informed that U.S. law allows the blocking of visas for officials from any country that refuses to accept its citizens after they have been convicted of crimes.

Haitian Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis criticized the long-standing U.S. policy of deporting newly released Haitian convicts, blaming them for killings and kidnappings in the impoverished Caribbean nation.

Haiti and other nations have long complained that convicts deported from the United States fuel violent crime at home, a claim disputed by Washington.

The Haitian government does not track how many crimes are committed by people who have been deported. More than 720 people have been slain in the former French colony this year, including 28 Haitian police officers, according to the Haiti-based National Defense Network for Human Rights.

Cancer-ridden Castro may not live to see in new year
The ailing Cuban President Fidel Castro is battling terminal cancer and could be dead by Christmas, senior Western diplomatic sources have said. Observers close to the Cuban regime have reported that the leader is suffering from an aggressive form of stomach cancer and has refused radiation therapy or any other form of treatment.

Cuban officials are notoriously tight-lipped over the health of their President which they treat as a closely guarded state secret. While occasionally they have broken their silence to report that Mr Castro is suffering from a non life-threatening illness, these claims have been roundly discounted by Western sources.

Mr Castro's death, when it comes, is expected to have repercussions far beyond the shores of Cuba. On the one hand there are fears of an exodus of Cubans towards the US.

Equally, concerns have been raised that hardline anti-Castro groups in south Florida will stage their own attempt to destabilise the regime by sending a flotilla of ships to the island in expectation that Cubans will be prepared to rise up against the government - a scenario with potentially disastrous consequences.

Europe
Poisoned spy became Muslim on deathbed, says Chechen dissident
Alexander Litvinenko grew up among Muslims and died a Muslim, one of the leading mourners at his funeral claimed yesterday.

Akhmed Zakayev, a former leader of the Chechen resistance who lives in exile in London, claimed yesterday that he personally witnessed Mr Litvinenko's deathbed conversion - an event that other friends deny ever took place.

"I was a witness when Alexander told his father that he wanted to convert to Islam, that he would like to be buried according to Islamic tradition, and that afterwards he would like his body to be taken for reburial in the Caucasus, in Chechnya," Mr Zakayev said. "A Muslim cleric visited him at his bedside several hours before his death. There is a sura (chapter) from the Koran, that has to be recited over a dying Muslim, and the cleric recited that."

Mr Litvinenko's family lived in Nalchik, a town in the North Caucasus inhabited by Muslim nations conquered by the Russians in the 19th century, including the Chechens. Mr Zakayev believes Mr Litvinenko's murder is linked to his support for the Chechens.

Poland PM praises Catholic radio station
A Roman Catholic radio station that has been accused of anti-Semitism and criticized by the Vatican was praised Thursday by the prime minister as a source of "comfort and hope" for Poles.

Joining the 15th anniversary celebrations of Radio Maryja, Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said: "I'm standing here with the feeling that I'm taking part in something important. ... I'm taking part in the 15th anniversary of an institution ... that has played a great role in Poland's history," according to a speech broadcast on TVN24.

Kaczynski won office in 2005 elections partially helped by appearances on the station, reaching out to its largely rural and uneducated listenership, a constituency that helped his Law and Justice party sweep to power.

Critics of Kaczynski's government have chided the government for its coziness with a station often deemed anti-Semitic and xenophobic.

Earlier this year, the Anti-Defamation League and others blasted the station for a commentary that accused Jews of "trying to force our government to pay extortion money disguised as compensation payments" for property lost during World War II, saying it was part of a "Holocaust business."

Battle lines drawn as Italy plans law recognizing gay couples
Battle lines were drawn over a plan to grant legal status to gay couples in socially conservative Italy, with the Vatican up in arms along with the right-wing opposition.

L'Osservatore Romano, a Vatican mouthpiece, slammed the plan, warning in an editorial: "Eradicating the family is the priority of Italian politics," while the opposition also pledged to defend the traditional family.

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said Thursday that his government would draft legislation on civil unions in the Catholic-majority country by January 31.

He said it would "represent a fundamental step forward" as his center-left Union coalition honors its electoral pledges.

The measure would apply to all unmarried couples without reference to their sexual orientation, granting them inheritance rights, joint medical insurance and visiting rights in prisons and hospitals, among others.

UK Police chief oversaw illegal bugging of black officers
SIR IAN BLAIR, the Metropolitan police commissioner, oversaw an illegal operation in which the telephone calls of black and Asian officers were bugged. A panel led by a judge ruled last week that the covert operation by anti-corruption detectives breached surveillance regulations and the right to privacy.

The squad, known as the “Untouchables”, eavesdropped on private calls between members of the National Black Police Association (NBPA) and their legal adviser.

The ruling will further embarrass Ian Blair, who earlier this year was forced to apologise to Lord Goldsmith, the attorney-general, and three officials for secretly recording his phone conversations with them.

The judgment by Justice Burton and two QCs found there were “no lawful grounds” for the bugging because detectives had failed to obtain proper consent.

The panel’s ruling brings to an end one of Britain’s longest running corruption sagas. The operation — codenamed Helios — targeted Ali Dizaei, an Iranian-born officer who is also the NBPA’s legal adviser. While serving as a superintendent in 1999, Dizaei was placed under surveillance following unfounded allegations that he was an Iranian spy and he consorted with drug dealers.

The operation cost millions but failed to prove any criminal allegation against Dizaei. Prosecutions were brought for a £270 “false” mileage claim and another minor offence but Dizaei was acquitted.

EU president says Turkish offer not enough
EU President Finland said on Friday a Turkish offer to open one port to Cypriot ships did not go far enough and it expected the bloc to approve a partial freeze of accession talks with Ankara next week.

"What Turkey has said is not enough...Turkey has not fulfilled its commitments," Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen told reporters of a requirement that Turkey extend a customs union with the EU to all members, including Cyprus.

Ankara won renewed backing from Washington for its EU bid as President Bush called Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to reaffirm his support, Turkey's state Anatolian news agency said.

Turkey's supporters, led by Britain, argue the Commission proposals for a partial suspension are too harsh and have seized on Ankara's latest move to urge the EU to sanction it less strongly. Sweden, Spain, Italy and Estonia were among the countries sharing the British position, diplomats said.

Middle East
Iran to Host Scholarly Seminar on Holocaust
Iran will hold a two-day conference on the Holocaust next week in which more than 60 scholars from some 30 countries will participate, the Foreign Ministry said.

The seminar is in response to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s comments last year, when he said the scale of the genocide of the Jews had been exaggerated, the deputy foreign minister, Manouchehr Mohammadi, told a news conference today. Mr. Ahmadinejad first stirred outrage in the West in December last year, when he called the Holocaust a myth. He has repeatedly said that the Holocaust has been used as a tool of propaganda, and banned scholars here from research on the subject. The president also sent a 3,000-word letter to Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel outlining his arguments.

Mr. Mohammadi said next week’s conference will “provide the opportunity for scholars from both sides to give their papers in freedom and without pre-conceived ideas.” He refused to give the names of the 67 international scholars he said were attending the seminar, out of concern that their countries would prohibit them from coming.

He said the conference does not mean that Iran “denies the crimes of Hitler.” “Since we are not accused and responsible for the Holocaust, we are an impartial judge,” Mr. Mohammadi said.

The conference, sponsored by the Foreign Ministry’s Institute for Political and International Studies (known as IPIS), will be held on Dec. 11 and 12.

On its Web site, the institute said that the purpose of conference — held on the International Human Rights Day — is to explore the Holocaust while respecting Judaism and avoiding propaganda. Participants were invited to submit their papers on a range of nearly 30 related subjects. Among these are the nature of anti-Semitism, Jews in Iran and Islam, Zionism, gas chambers (if they could be proven or denied) and on freedom of speech and how the law treats those who deny the Holocaust.

Royal, in J'lem: Only I will oppose Iranian civilian nuclear program
French presidential candidate Segolene Royal said during a visit to Israel on Monday that she is the only candidate who will oppose a civilian nuclear energy program in Iran.

"I am the only one who is opposed to Iran gaining any nuclear capability, even civilian," she said during a meeting with Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik. "Because I know, that the transformation from civilian capability to military capability is very easy.

The Socialist Party candidate also reiterated her condemnation of comments made in her presence by a Lebanese parliament member, in which he compared Israel to the Nazis. "[Had I heard the comments] I would not have overlooked them," she said.

Royal also met with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and said she was very happy to have the opportunity to meet the prime minister and hear from him personally regarding issues facing the region, as well as express her impressions of the situation. Olmert said he too was happy to have the opportunity to exchange opinions.

Iraqi leader rejects international talks
Iraq's president on Sunday rejected suggestions that an international conference be held to address the violence wracking his country, echoing sentiments expressed by other leading politicians.

Talabani, a Kurd, holds a largely ceremonial post. But his comments echoed those voiced by other politicians, including a leader from Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority, which is the dominant force in the U.S.-backed government.

Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari questioned the aim of the international conference suggested last week by outgoing U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Zebari said it would only be welcome if it supported current efforts to solve Iraq's security problems and assist the government.

Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, one of Iraq's top Shiite politicians, rejected the idea Saturday while in Amman, Jordan, saying it would be unrealistic to debate Iraq's future outside the country. He said Iraq's government was the only party qualified to find solutions.

But former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite with close Washington links, disagreed, saying Iraq cannot solve its problems alone.

Prodi pushes for Jewish Israeli state
Israel needs a guarantee it will be able to maintain its character as a Jewish state, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi has said in a statement pregnant with diplomatic significance since it implies acceptance of Israel's rejection of Palestinian demands for a "right of return" for refugees and their descendants.

Prodi made the comments at a private meeting in Rome on Saturday, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

The statement faintly echoed US President George W. Bush's commitment in his April 2004 letter to then-prime minister Ariel Sharon prior to disengagement. Then, Bush wrote that the United States "is strongly committed to Israel's security and well-being as a Jewish state."

Prodi's comments were made during a meeting in which the ground rules were that the content of statements would not be made public, so that the participants could speak freely. The Italian Embassy had no comment on the remarks.

Conservative scholars ease gay rabbi ban
Conservative Jewish scholars eased their ban Wednesday on ordaining gays, upending thousands of years of precedent while stopping short of fully accepting gay clergy.

The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, which interprets religious law for the movement, adopted three starkly conflicting policies that nonetheless gave gays the chance to serve as clergy.

One upholds the prohibition against gay rabbis. Another, billed as a compromise, permits gay ordination while continuing to ban male sodomy. The third upholds the ban on gay sexual relationships in Jewish law and mentions the option for gays to undergo therapy aimed at changing their sexual orientation.

That leaves seminaries and synagogues to decide on their own which approach to follow. It will also test what Conservative Jewish leaders call their "big tent," allowing diverse practices by the movement's more than 1,000 rabbis and 750 North American synagogues.

The 25-member panel made its decision in a two-day closed meeting in an Upper East Side synagogue. Students from a gay advocacy group at the Jewish Theological Seminary, the flagship school of Conservative Judaism, stood vigil nearby while the results were announced.

US congress bans talks with Hamas
One day after the special US study group on Iraq submitted the Baker-Hamilton report recommending President George W. Bush's administration to push harder towards an Israeli-Palestinian agreement, the United States Congress passed a bill forbidding the US administration to hold talks with the Palestinian Hamas government. The bill must still be approved by President George W. Bush.

According to the bill the US will have no contact, nor provide aid to the Hamas-governed Palestinian Authority until the terror organization recognizes Israel 's right to exist and denounces terror.

The pro-Israel lobby in Washington, AIPAC, put the full weight of its influence behind the 'Palestinian anti-terror act of 2006'. The bill was passed in the Senate in June and now after passing Congress as well only needs to be approved by President Bush.

Dutch bank divests holdings in J'lem light rail, cites settlements
A Dutch bank has decided to divest itself of its holdings in a French company that is participating in building Jerusalem's light rail system, on the grounds that the project "is not in line with the United Nation's demand to stop all support for Israel's settlement activities."

Work recently began on the railway's first line, which will run from Neveh Ya'akov to Mount Herzl, passing through parts of the city that Israel annexed in 1967 on its way.

ASN, the Dutch bank, holds shares in the French firm, Veolia, whose subsidiary Connex Israel holds about 5 percent of the CityPass consortium. CityPass won the NIS 2 billion tender to build the line.

ASN is a medium-sized bank, with 250,000 customers, deposits totaling two billion euros and investments totaling 900 million euros in 2005. It also considers itself an "ethical bank," and is therefore committed to investing only in projects that do not infringe on human or animal rights or harm the environment.

In May 2006, human rights organizations wrote to ASN claiming that Veolia's work on the light rail project violated international law, because part of the railway will pass through "occupied territory" in East Jerusalem. The Palestinian Authority also wrote to ASN, claiming that the railway's construction would have "devastating effects" on Palestinians living in East Jerusalem, as it would connect the "illegal settlements" of Pisgat Ze'ev and Neveh Ya'akov (two Jerusalem neighborhoods) with downtown Jerusalem, and thereby sever East Jerusalem from the West Bank.

Asia
Pakistan makes Kashmir offer
Pakistan says it will give up its claim to Kashmir if India agrees to a self-governance plan for the contested region.

Pervez Musharraf, the president of Pakistan, made the announcement on Tuesday. Kashmir is at the heart of the rivalry between the two nuclear-armed South Asian countries.

New Delhi and Islamabad have made little progress on settling the dispute, but officials privately say advances have been made in "back channel" negotiations, most of them between retired officials.

Musharraf's remarks provide an idea of what direction a resolution to the conflict could go. The countries have fought two wars over Kashmir, and New Delhi accuses Islamabad of supporting armed conflicts in India's two-thirds of the region that has killed 68,000 people since 1989. Pakistan says it only gives the separatists diplomatic and moral support, not material aid or training.

Musharraf told the independent New Delhi Television that Pakistan would agree to greater autonomy or self-governance for Kashmir with New Delhi and Islamabad jointly supervising the region. Both India and Pakistan claim all of predominantly Muslim Kashmir. When asked if Pakistan was ready to give up its claim, he said: "We will have to ... if this solution comes up."

India's BJP says U.S. nuclear bill "humiliating"
A bill that will allow the United States to sell nuclear technology to India compromises India's independence, its main opposition party said on Sunday, adding that the "humiliating" law should be rejected.

Legislation sailed through Congress early on Saturday, ending the isolation imposed after New Delhi developed nuclear weapons in contravention of international standards.

The deal, first agreed in July 2005, has caught the imagination of many in India and is seen as a major move toward becoming a regional power. But it has also attracted criticism after it was modified in the U.S. legislature.

In a sign of the battle the government faces, the Bharatiya Janata Party, which ruled the country between 1998 and 2004, said early fears the United States was only interested in capping India's nuclear weapons program "stood confirmed."

A BJP statement said the bill did not deliver full civil nuclear cooperation, imposed "rigorous" assessment obligations, failed to guarantee uninterrupted fuel supplies for civilian reactors and prevented India from reprocessing spent fuel. It also banned future nuclear tests and rendered the weapons program "subject to intrusive U.S. scrutiny."

Strategic analysts and members of the Indian nuclear establishment have cited similar concerns. They argued against inspections and said the deal would constrain India's military nuclear program by separating it from the civilian side.

British aid worker 'stoned to death' in India
A British charity worker whose body was found close to a church cemetery in northern India may have been stoned to death, his aid organisation said.

Michael Blakey, 23, disappeared from the Buddhist monastery where he was staying in the Dharamsala region three days before his remains were found in a narrow gully partially covered in stones on 28 November.

Indian police said they were treating the death as murder after the development studies graduate, who was working with refugee families, suffered extensive injuries to his head and face.

Mr Blakey, who was from Burnley, Lancashire, was found close to the cemetery of St John in the Wilderness, a church he attended near Mcleodganj, a former Raj hill station in the Himalayan foothills. He arrived in Dharamsala in June to work for the Edinburgh-based Tong Len Charitable Trust, which works with displaced Tibetan children and families.

The town has become a refuge for Tibetans displaced from Chinese-controlled territory. Buddhist monks this week held a prayer ceremony in memory of Mr Blakey, who had become a well known member of the community.

Africa
New scientific study takes aim at charges in Libya's AIDS
A new study published in a top science journal says that six foreign medical workers, charged in Libya with deliberately infecting hundreds of children with the AIDS virus, are innocent.

The paper appears in the peer-reviewed British science journal Nature on Thursday ahead of the verdict in their retrial, expected on December 19. They potentially face the death penalty if found guilty.

An international team of scientists analysed the genetic ID of the virus that infected the Libyan children and used a "molecular clock", based on the pathogen's rate of mutation, to estimate when the microbe could have been introduced in Benghazi's al-Fateh hospital.

It concludes this strain of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) entered the hospital before March 1998, which was when the five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor began to work there, the study says.

It says the likeliest cause of the infection was "nosocomial transmission" -- in other words, the children were contaminated by syringes or other intravenous equipment that had been used before but not been properly sterilised.

A total of 418 children were found to be infected with HIV-1 and hepatitis C. Of these, 248 were referred to European hospitals. The scientists sequenced viral samples from 51 children.

U.S. charges son of ex-Liberian leader with torture
The son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor was charged in the United States on Wednesday with committing torture in Liberia, the Justice Department's first case under a 12-year-old anti-torture law.

Charles McArthur Emmanuel, also known as Charles "Chuckie" Taylor Jr., was charged with torture, conspiracy to torture and using a firearm during a violent crime, offenses that carry a maximum punishment of life in prison, U.S. officials said.

They said the 29-year-old Emmanuel, who was in charge of presidential security when his father ran Liberia, was accused of taking part in the brutal torture of an unidentified victim on July 24, 2002, in Monrovia to learn about his father's opponents.

According to the indictment, the torture included repeatedly burning the victim with a hot iron and scalding water, electrically shocking his genitalia and other body parts, and rubbing salt into his wounds.

The father, Charles Taylor, was one of Africa's most feared warlords. Charles Taylor, who fled Liberia in 2003, is in The Hague awaiting trial for suspected war crimes committed during Sierra Leone's civil war, in which about 50,000 people died.

Emmanuel, a U.S. citizen because he was born in the United States, previously had been arrested in late March in Miami and pleaded guilty to passport fraud for lying about his father's identity in a passport application.

The three-count indictment by a federal grand jury in Miami accusing him of torture came the day before Emmanuel was scheduled to be sentenced on the passport fraud charges, the officials said. He currently is in federal custody.

Australasia
Australia lifts ban on cloning human embryos for stem cell research
Australia's parliament lifted a ban Wednesday on cloning human embryos for stem cell research despite opposition from the prime minister and other party leaders.

The legislation was approved by a vote of 82 to 62 in the House of Representatives. It was passed by the Senate last month. Supporting the legislation, Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said his generation had benefited enormously from the perseverance and judgment of these who pioneered difficult research and legislation.

"We owe it to the next generation no less to show the same wisdom and indeed the same courage," Nelson said.

The party leaders were among the final speakers in a divisive debate which began in the lower house Monday.

"I've decided to vote against this legislation for the reason that in the end you have to take a stand for some absolutes in our society," Prime Minister John Howard told parliament. "And I think what we're talking about here is a moral absolute and that is why I can't support the legislation."

Opposition Labour Party Leader Kevin Rudd later said he had similarly wrestled with his conscience over the legislation and decided he could not support it.

All parties encouraged their legislators to vote according to their consciences rather than following party lines. A conscience vote is rare in Australian politics.

Scientists hope stem cell research will eventually lead to treatments for conditions including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, as well as spinal cord injuries, diabetes and arthritis.