An Australian inquiry on Monday recommended police pursue criminal charges against 12 business officials in connection with multimillion-dollar kickbacks that the country's monopoly wheat exporter paid under the U.N.'s Iraqi oil-for-food program.

By Fordyce Maxwell A ROYAL commission recommendation for five-metre buffer zones round fields to protect householders from crop pesticide effects has been criticised as arbitrary and unscientific.

By Fordyce Maxwell W E ALL make mistakes. Writing dismissively last Saturday about a Royal Commission report on the possible danger to "bystanders" of crop spraying was my most recent. It is some time since my phone has been as hot, my e-mail system so busy.

PEOPLE are being poisoned by toxic pesticides because the government's attempts to protect them are flawed and inadequate, advisers will warn ministers this week.