	
Energy Secretary Ernesto Martens has admitted that it is unfeasible to guarantee the flow of revenues to the government if the Finance Secretariat maintains its estimate that the crude export platform in 2002 will average 1.825 million barrels per day, at a price of $17.00 per barrel. 
	
	
 "One would have to talk in depth with the Finance Secretariat's people to hear the criteria that they used to establish that benchmark," he claimed, declining to give details on the manner in which the federal government's secretariats establish the price of crude in the General Criteria for Economic Policy. 
	
	
 In fact, Martens admitted that this volume of crude exports has not been achieved this year. According to Pemex [Mexican Petroleum] figures, between January and September the daily exports of barrels of oil did not exceed an average of 1.71 million. During September alone, this average dropped to 1.64 million. 
	
	
 In the General Preliminary Criteria for Economic Policy 2002, the final text of which is being presented to Congress by the government today, the Finance Secretariat estimated an average price of $17.00 per barrel for the crude mixture, and predicted that the export platform would be 1.825 million barrels per day. 
	
	
 The volume appears large in the current economic context, when oil prices have fallen back to 1999 levels. Hence, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), will decide at its meeting on Wednesday whether or not to cut its worldwide crude production in an effort to shore up energy prices. 
	
	
 Traditionally, Mexico has supported the OPEC cutbacks; however, analysts agreed that it will now tend to support the United States, the main world consumer, and the one that would be adversely affected by a possible increase in crude prices. 
	
	
 George Baker, director of Mexico Energy Intelligence, expressed this opinion: "In the event that the Mexican Government gives priority to its relationship with the United States, it will not be a game without risks. And it is possible that, at some given time, OPEC may hand it the bill for not collaborating in the reduction of the oil supply." 
	
	
 He noted that the Mexican economy is very closely linked to that of the United States, and hence no oil producer, whether a member of OPEC or not, is in such a disadvantageous situation. 
	
	
 Frederic Lasserre, an energy sector analyst for the firm Societe Generale, held the view that Mexico's close relationship with the United States prevents it from becoming more committed to OPEC. 
	
	
 "The US authorities would not like to have it (Mexico) as a trading partner and, at the same time, close to OPEC," he observed. 
	
	
 With regard to prices, he gave a reminder that the reason that prompted Mexico to collaborate with OPEC in 1998 was, in fact, the decline in them. 
	
	
 But Ken Miller, from the firm Purvin &amp;amp; Gertz, included an additional factor. 
	
	
 "Mexico sought out the leading producers: Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, not only for the prices, but also because of the competition on the crude oil market (in US territory)," he claimed, pointing out that prices have not yet fallen as low as they did then. 
	
	
 In 1998, the Mexican oil mixture averaged $10.17 per barrel: now, the lowest levels have reached $14.00 per barrel. 
	
	
 Miller remarked that the worldwide economic slowdown has shrunk the demand for energy sources, which could lead the independent producers, including Mexico, to operate in coordination with the oil cartel. 
	
	
 Nevertheless, according to the researcher from the UNAM [National Autonomous University of Mexico] Economics Department, Angel de la Vega, since the Fox administration does not have the security of a fiscal reform available, it cannot be ruled out that Mexico might collaborate with OPEC in the event of a more serious reduction in oil prices. 
	
	
 Miguel Garcia Reyes, a specialist in petroleum geopolitics at the College of Mexico, claimed that Mexico's distancing from OPEC has become more intensified since the attacks on the United States. 
	
	
 He emphasized: "Now Mexico is positioned between two fronts: it recognizes the need for reducing the supply on the market, but the policy is to support the United States and supply it with more crude if it should become necessary." 
	
	
 In terms of market, the Mexican exports do not play an important role, but the support for OPEC on the part of Mexico, Venezuela, and Saudi Arabia in 1998 and 1999 lent credibility to the policy of cutbacks, and achieved the recovery of prices. 
	
	
 Promises Are Cheap 
	
	
 The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has agreed on three cuts in its production thus far this year, for the purpose of preventing the crude prices from becoming weaker. Nevertheless, it has not kept its promises. 
	
	
 Crude Production Quotas (figures in thousands of barrels per day) 
	
	
 Current Production Quota Real Production Difference 
	
	
 OPEC* Mexico** OPEC* Mexico** OPEC* Mexico** 
	
	
 01 Apr 00 24,692 1,675 24,600 1,534 -92 -141 21 Jun 00 25,392 1,750 25,280 1,684 -112 -66 01 Oct 00 25,892 1,750 26,360 1,720 468 -30 31 Oct 00 26,192 1,750 26,450 1,549 258 -201 01 Feb 01 25,201 1,750 26,800 1,750 1,599 0 01 Apr 01 24,201 1,710 25,670 1,757 1,469 47 01 Sep 01 23,201 1,640 24,745 1,649 1,544 9 
	
	
 "Without counting Iraq/** Export platform 
	
	
 Source: Reforma Analysis Department, based on data from Middle East Survey and Pemex. 
	
	
	





Document 0010022 ends.


	
BEIJING, Feb 21 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush and Chinese President Jiang Zemin on Thursday carefully played down their countries' often glaring differences over Taiwan during the US leader's visit to Beijing. 
	
	
 Both scrupulously avoided combative talk on the issue, which has been a consistent source of tension between the countries for decades. 
	
	
 Bush, who arrived in China Thursday morning, said the United States hoped for a "peaceful settlement" to tensions between China and Taiwan and stressed Washington's policy on the island had not altered. 
	
	
 "The position of my government has not changed over the years," Bush reassured his hosts. 
	
	
 "We believe in the peaceful settlement of this issue." 
	
	
 Bush reiterated his support for the Taiwan Relations Act, under which the United States is committed to providing the island with the means to defend itself. 
	
	
 But he also had a thinly veiled message for leaders in Taipei, saying "we will urge there be no provocation". 
	
	
 Bush's comments appeared designed to reassure Beijing that Washington has not shifted from its long-standing policy of avoiding making any explicit commitment to come to Taiwan's defence should China invade. 
	
	
 The tone contrasted sharply with the mood last year when Bush signed off on the biggest US arms sales to Taiwan in a decade. The sales angered Beijing and fuelled concern that Washington's tougher stance might encourage Taiwan to declare formal independence. 
	
	
 Bush's comments also pleased Taiwan's government, which pronounced itself satisfied and thanked Bush for his backing. 
	
	
 "The press conference showed the result of the discussions entirely match our forecast," said Taiwanese Foreign Minister Eugene Chien. 
	
	
 He voiced his gratitude to Bush for "having honored his commitment" made to Taipei before the Asian trip, which also took Bush to Japan and South Korea. 
	
	
 Taiwan's foreign ministry spokeswoman had said ahead of Bush's departure for Asia that Washington had assured Taipei its interests would not be harmed. 
	
	
 However some officials voiced concern that China could secure concessions on Taiwan in return for supporting Bush on issues such as anti-terrorism and prevention of nuclear arms proliferation. 
	
	
 In his comments at the press conference, Jiang also avoided areas of contention over Taiwan, which split from the mainland in 1949 after the communist victory in China's civil war. 
	
	
 "To properly handle the Taiwan question is vital to the stability and growth of China-US relations," Jiang said. 
	
	
 "In my meeting with President Bush, I have elaborated on the Chinese government's basic position of peaceful reunification and 'one country two systems' for the solution of the Taiwan question." 
	
	
 "One country two systems" is Beijing's proposal to reunify with Taiwan while allowing the island some autonomy in a similar arrangement to that which saw Hong Kong return to Chinese rule in 1997. 
	
	
 Taiwan on Thursday also called on China to reopen rapprochement talks. 
	
	
 Premier Yu Shyi-kun asked Chinese leaders to set aside differences with the island and engage in talks in the aftermath of both their entries to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). 
	
	
 Beijing has said it will not reopen talks with Taipei unless the Taiwanese government embraces its definition of "one China", under which Taiwan is considered part of its territory. 
	
	
 This is rejected by Taiwan's pro-independence President Chen Shui-bian. Dialogue across the Taiwan Straits has been frozen since he took office in May 1999. 
	
	
	





Document 0010025 ends.


	
Like other European countries, Belgium sent on Sunday [3 Feb] a diplomat to Guantanamo to verify the identity of a detainee who claims to have Belgian nationality. Meanwhile the United States is raising the volume in the matter of the struggle against terrorism. 
	
	
 A high Belgian diplomat posted to the United States left Washington on Sunday to go to the American base at Gauntanamo in Cuba where 158 Taliban who were captured during the military operations in Afghanistan are being held. The diplomat traveled in the company of his colleagues from several EU countries on board a special military flight. 
	
	
 Among the prisons, whose conditions of transport and detention continue to arouse controversy, there are several citizens of European countries, or those claiming to be such. One of the detainees has claimed Belgian nationality. This is a naturalized person who originated in a country of northern Africa. 
	
	
 This paper was told that Belgium expressed a certain amount of impatience with the American authorities after it learned, as did other European countries, that Great Britain and France have already been able to send a verification mission. 
	
	
 "The United States Are Prepared To Fight Terrorism Alone" 
	
	
 The priority for Belgium is to verify the identity of the detainee who claims its nationality. 
	
	
 It would only be in a later stage that Belgium could imagine providing assistance to the person who claims to be one of its citizens. But what type of assistance? The United States indeed is rejecting the idea that its prisoners, to whom it denies the status of prisoners of war, should receive consular support reserved for prisoners of common law. 
	
	
 However, this paper was told Sunday by the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Brussels that the diplomat sent to Guantanamo, who is supposed to stay at camp X-ray until Tuesday, also has the task of learning about the detention conditions of the "Belgian Taliban" or both. 
	
	
 A detail indeed shows American defiance as to European approaches: the army tried to impose an elevated price for the trip of the diplomats from Washington... [passage omitted] 
	
	
	





Document 0010027 ends.


	
[Computer selected and disseminated without FBIS editorial intervention] 
	
	
 Taipei, Jan. 23 (CNA) -- Republic of China President Chen Shui-bian expressed the hope Wednesday that the United States will help Taiwan's bid for observer status in the World Health Organization (WHO), following its assistance to Taiwan's World Trade Organization (WTO) membership bid. 
	
	
 Chen made the remarks while meeting visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Market Access and Compliance William H. Lash, III at the Presidential Office Wednesday. Lash arrived in Taipei Tuesday for a four-day visit. 
	
	
 Chen also expressed hope that the United States will negotiate with Taiwan to sign a free trade zone agreement between the two countries so as to help Taiwan's internalization and to give it more international responsibility. 
	
	
 He also expressed gratitude and admiration to the United States for its firm support for Taiwan, especially in maintaining the security of the Taiwan Strait and peace in the Asia-Pacific region. 
	
	
 He pointed out that U.S. President George Bush's decision to sell arms to Taiwan last April was made to avoid an imbalance of cross-strait military force by 2005 on the one hand and to further safeguard Taiwan's democratic achievements on the other. 
	
	
 Touching on Taiwan's WTO entry, Chen said Taiwan could not have smoothly entered the WTO if the United States government and Congress did not render their firm support to Taiwan's bid for membership. 
	
	
 Taiwan's WTO access has given Taiwan a window to the world, a window to the century and a window of opportunity, he went on, adding that it will allow Taiwan to upgrade its competitiveness and help U.S.-Taiwan trade relations. 
	
	
 Lash in return congratulated Chen on Taiwan's WTO entry and said that his visit shows that the United States attaches great importance to U.S.-Taiwan trade relations. 
	
	
 Taiwan's WTO entry is not a conclusion of its goal but the beginning of its chance to play an important role in the world, Lash said, adding that the United States will continue to help Taiwan realize all its WTO expectations. 
	
	
 He congratulated Chen on the ruling Democratic Progressive Party becoming the biggest political party in the Legislative Yuan with last December's legislative election. 
	
	
 Lash also expressed gratitude to Chen for the assistance rendered by Taiwan to the United States in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States and for its participation in the post-war reconstruction of Afghanistan.	





Document 0010028 ends.


	
The Sulaymaniyah-based telecommunications company, KurdTel, announced today that the digital telephone exchange in Sulaymaniyah will be directly connected to the outside world, reported KurdSat TV on 24 December 2001. People in the Iraqi Kurdish city will be able to make and receive international calls from their home telephone lines. A source in the company told KurdSat that the international line will be opened tomorrow, 25 December 2001. The telecommunications network in the Iraqi Kurdish region was largely in tatters after the Gulf war in 1991. The Kurds in the areas outside the control of Baghdad have managed to restore a large part of the network and expand it to other services, such as, mobile telephones and internet.	





Document 0010029 ends.


	
President Pervez Musharraf will pay a state visit to China from 20th to 24th of this month at the invitation of the president of China, Mr. Jiang Zemin. The visit will mark the climax of the events organized in connection with the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The President will hold bilateral talks with the Chinese leaders, including President Jiang Zemin, Premier Zhu Rongji, and Mr. Li Peng, chairman of National People's Congress. 
	
	
 The President and Chinese leaders will review Pakistan-China relations with special focus on bilateral economic cooperation, regional issues including Afghanistan and Kashmir. Bilateral agreements regarding the Saindak copper and gold projects, Thar coal mines development, technical and economic cooperation, and a joint revolving fund for scientific research, and other hydroelectric projects are likely to be signed during the visit. The annual trade between Pakistan and China hovers around $1 billion. Over the years, China has emerged as a key economic partner and an important source of external assistance for Pakistan.	





Document 00100214 ends.



Israeli Parliament Speaker Slams Zionist Occupation

 



  
TEHRAN TIMES INTL. DESK

  TEHRAN In a rare move on Tuesday, Israeli Parliament Speaker 
Avraham Burg condemned the Zionist regime's occupation of 
Palestinian territories.

  In an interview with the Qatari Al Jazeera television network, 
Burg denounced the policy, much to the displeasure of Israeli 
officials and right-wing MPs. He repeatedly said that the 
occupation of the Palestinian territories could lead to 
corruption in Israel and would only create scandals for the 
regime.

  Earlier this week some 50 Israeli army officers were reported to 
have been on strike and refused to attack Palestinian ruled 
areas in protest of the occupation policies of the Zionist 
regime. They said fighting for the settlers who had occupied the 
Palestinian lands was by no means a defensive act, and was 
merely part of the criminal policies of Israel.




Document 00100215 ends.


	
Tehran, April 20, IRNA -- President Mohammad Khatami on Friday evening congratulated the Venezuelan government and nation for the victory and restoration of the legitimate government of President Hugo Chavez after a failed military coup in that country. During a telephone conversation, President Khatami told his Venezuelan counterpart, President Hugo Chavex, that the return of the legitimate president and government to power was a victory of justice and freedom. The Iranian president also expressed the hope that with the return of President Chavez the Venezuelan government would be able to achieve its exalted objectives with the support of the people. Referring to the difficult period the venezuelan nation went through in the past week, President Chavez said the anti-democractic attempts to topple his government failed with the help of the Almighty God and the people. As to the re-establishment of legal order in his country, Chavez briefed the Iranian president on the latest developments in his country. Referring to the objective of those who were behind the military coup in Venezuela, Chavez said they wwanted to have Venezuela come out from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and therefore tried to produce more oil in order to undermine the organization. President Chavez thanked President Khatami for his telephone call and wished success for the Iranian government and nation. The two presidents expressed a mutual desire to meet in the near future. Iran, Sunday last week, sent congratulations to Venezuela on hearing of the return of the rule of law and reinstatement of the legitimate government of President Chavez after the two-day military collapsed. On Saturday it condemned the the ouster of the democratically elected president of Venezuela, saying, "resorting to a coup and the use of force is not an acceptable method to bring about political change and the method is not in conformity with the norms of present human society." Chavez was brought back to the Venezuelan presidential palace detained after the coup and thereafter resumed his functions as president. Chavez, whose mandate was due to end in 2006, was forced out of office by the country's armed forces who blamed him for the deaths of 15 people during demonstrations in the streets of central Caracas against an opposition protest which later became violent. Chavez is a staunch supporter of oil production cuts in order to boost prices in the world market. He initiated a successful Caracas OPEC summit in September 2000, the second in the 40-year existence of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.	





Document 00100216 ends.


	
No one expected the Israeli Government to issue its latest decision restricting President Yasir Arafat's movements and confining him to the city of Ramallah. This is especially true after the Palestinian Authority [PA] carried out the difficult Israeli demands and arrested three individuals whom Israel accuses of assassinating Israeli Minister Rah'avam Ze'evi despite the ramifications that these arrests could have led to on the internal Palestinian arena. However, the awareness, the challenges of the current stage, and the sense of responsibility overcame all the temporary factional considerations. 
	
	
 It is to be noted that over the past five days, the Palestinian side demonstrated clear self-restraint and abidance to the cease-fire despite Israel's provocations and the bloodbaths that the Israeli army committed against the Palestinians during this period. So far, Israel's provocations have led to the slaughter of more than 50 Palestinian males and females and injured scores of others. Moreover, the attacks are continuing on the Israeli military checkpoints even against vehicles transporting pregnant women in labor and against unarmed citizens trying to cross these checkpoints that have been erected between the beleaguered Palestinian towns and villages that are surrounded to the point of strangulation. 
	
	
 It is clearly obvious to the international community that the Palestinians seek peace. It is the Palestinians that are calling for the implementation of the agreements, understandings, and recommendations pertaining to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. They believe that these constitute a preliminary step to the resumption of the peace process at the point at which it stopped. They believe that such a step would lead to a permanent settlement of this conflict on the basis of the resolutions of international legitimacy. The Palestinians believe that such a step would realize their national aspirations to full sovereignty despite the perils and implications that such efforts may have on their national unity that puts the higher Palestinian interests above every other consideration. However, it appears as if the international community is tolerating the Israeli campaign of suppression that contradicts the efforts to calm down the situation and the Palestinian hand that is stretched for peace and a settlement. The Palestinians are sending out a clear message of peace that is loud and clear. However, the repeated Israeli message is the resort to all means to impede the march for peace and to consecrate violence and counter violence. 
	
	
 This state of affairs provides suitable conditions to Israel to continue its occupation, colonialism, and building of settlements that have been imposed by military force on the Palestinian territories since 1967 to date. These Israeli aims are clear and do not need further clarification or explanation. Israel's impossible terms cannot be met by a nation that is determined to preserve its dignity and national unity. They are no more than frail excuses and pretexts to evade the peace process since this process does not agree with the ideology of expansion and the building of settlements. This ideology was explicitly embraced by the rightist blocs in the ruling Israeli coalition and is implicitly encouraged by Labor Party ministers in the current Israeli Government. 
	
	
	





Document 00100219 ends.


	
ANKARA, Jan 15 (A.A) - Uzbek general Rashid Dostum will pay a visit to Turkey. 
	
	
 Afghanistan`s Embassy in Ankara said Dostum, the Defense Minister of temporary government set up in Afghanistan, will come to Ankara to visit his family. 
	
	
 Dostum is expected to leave for Turkey following the inauguration ceremony of Uzbek Consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif. 
	
	
 Dostum is expected to reach Ankara in the coming days. 
	
	
 It is not definite whether or not Uzbek general will have an official program in Ankara. 
	
	
	





Document 00100220 ends.



 
     		
 	
 		
 
 	
 	
 		okay Ellen what kind of a car do you think you're going to buy
 	
 	
 		well as a matter of fact i was thinking about that the other day and uh
 		i really don't know the answer um
 	
 	
 		
 
 	
 	
 		i would sort of like to uh think about something in the way of uh uh sort of a sporty car but not any not you know a luxury type
 		sporty one but um
 	
 	
 		yeah
 	
 	
 		something that still has a lots of amenities and you know gadgets and things
 	
 	
 		oh you do want a lot of that stuff
 	
 	
 		
 
 		yeah well yeah i like i like some of those things they come in really handy
 	
 	
 		what kind of uh
 		things are you going to consider you know what uh you said something about the about the
 		well what do you call them you said amenities
 	
 	
 		amenities
 	
 	
 		that they have but what about um their reputation of the company or the price
 	
 	
 		um well of course i guess uh price is always the big consideration
 		but
 	
 	
 		it is for me other people don't seem to have the same problem
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		
 
 		well that's that's a big one in my book but uh um
 	
 	
 		yeah
 	
 	
 		i have preferences for uh for some um makers over others
 		um and i would sort of like to buy American
 	
 	
 		yeah
 	
 	
 		but you know i'm not so totally hung up on that that i wouldn't buy something else how about you
 	
 	
 		well um the last car we bought was American because of because of that reason but have not been entirely happy with um
 		several things about the car it doesn't seem like the quality is quite as high as i expected it to be
 	
 	
 		oh really
 	
 	
 		because several things minor things sort of but still they cost us money um that we didn't feel like we should have had to pay on a car that that was that new
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		you know we bought the car new and after  um well well well under two years we had to replace the clutch
 	
 	
 		oh
 	
 	
 		and they just said well you know clutches are disposable and i said since when
 		brake pads are disposable you know we know that but i never thought a clutch was disposable
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		yeah
 		yeah i wouldn't have thought so either
 	
 	
 		yeah so that was that was kind of a shock
 	
 	
 		oh
 	
 	
 		
 
 	
 	
 		oh yeah i i guess there's a lot to to think about when you're trying to make that decision
 	
 	
 		yeah you know the less actually the less you spend on a car it seems like luxury cars they're called luxury cars even though they're much more expensive like like uh
 		um a Mercedes Benz they don't have the history of breaking down or things like that that would go wrong would definitely not be considered disposable
 	
 	
 		right
 	
 	
 		you would never think of having to replace the clutch in a Mercedes
 	
 	
 		no but then um
 	
 	
 		especially not after two years
 	
 	
 		no but on the other hand i guess too uh whenever you do have to have some major work done on one of those it costs a fortune
 	
 	
 		really oh i don't know
 	
 	
 		
 
 		yeah i've uh worked with a couple of people who have owned uh various years uh Mercedes and
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		even though they do a lot of the work themselves then just buying the parts and everything is is pretty expensive but for them it's it's sort of a hobby too to own them
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		what kind of what brand of car are you thinking about buying or like what things are you looking at
 	
 	
 		well i haven't really really gotten that far with it um i've always sort of liked General Motors a little bit better than some of the others but uh
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		oh i guess i really don't know
 	
 	
 		how come  i've been kind of um
 		i guess the commercials are getting to me the Toyota commercials and i know that a lot of people i've i've known that have had Toyotas have been just extremely happy with them that hardly had any problems at all
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		yeah that i think that's
 	
 	
 		i think they have a really good um quality
 	
 	
 		um-hum my uh daughter has owned two different ones and uh
 		you know we've had some work done on them but it's not too bad and the reason one of the reasons we um
 		bought the first one was because a friend of ours had a Toyota that he just really drove for years and years and years and he lived way out in the country so he put a lot of miles on it
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		and you knew it had had been through a whole lot
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		and yet you know it it held up pretty doggone good so
 	
 	
 		yeah
 	
 	
 		i thought they would
 	
 	
 		they seem to be really durable
 	
 	
 		yeah
 	
 	
 		so i don't know i'm i'm not ready to buy a new car yet but i don't know if if the next time i'm going to try to
 		to stay with buying something American or if i'm going to go for a little more
 		what i would consider to be a long-term investment
 	
 	
 		yeah
 	
 	
 		
 
 	
 	
 		well and i guess you know you always have to think about things like your gas mileage and stuff like that you know you
 	
 	
 		oh it's easy to get gas mileage in this car it gets excellent gas mileage
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		yeah that's one of the big throwing cards for
 		some of the foreign ones
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		well
 		we talked long enough
 	
 	
 		i think so
 	
 	
 		okay well enjoyed it bye-bye
 	
 	
 		
 
 		all righty thanks bye-bye
 	
 	
 		
 
 	
 	
 		
 
 		
 		
 	


Document 00100221 ends.


	
Kenya: Remand prisoners escape from police custody 
	
	
 Text of report by Kenyan TV on 24|October 
	
	
 Six prisoners facing a capital offence have escaped. The prisoners charged with robbery with violence escaped from their cells at Molo [Rift Valley Province] Police Station. Deputy Police Spokesman Dola Indidis said the escapees gained freedom after digging out a hole on the wall using a chisel. Saying the prisoners escaped at 5.30 p.m. [local time] yesterday, Indidis said police were investigating how they obtained the chisel. He said police have been combing the area for the escapees but none of them had been re-arrested. Indidis appealed to the public to assist the police with information that might lead to the re-arrest of the prisoners. 
	
	
	





Document 00100222 ends.


	
When George W. Bush was delivering the State of the Union Speech to both Senate and the House of Representatives of US Congress on 29 January, with unprecedented wordings he lashed out at DPRK (the Democratic People's Republic of Korea), Iran and Iraq, labeling the three countries as the "Axis of Evil". The three countries have reacted strongly, condemned and counter-attacked Bush, and this is only natural and rational. Some senior US government officials and experts and the Western allies of the United States have criticized Bush's speech, saying that the "Axis of Evil" is, more or less, untenable. 
	
	
 Albright: First to Launch Attack 
	
	
 On 1 February, when interviewed by the American Broadcasting Corporation, Madeleine Albright, former US Secretary of State, described Bush's "Axis of Evil" remark as "a gross mistake". She said that the principle Bush currently uses in handling foreign affairs has caused the international community to think that the United States is doing things "in an utterly disorderly way" and has "lost reason". She said: "putting the three countries together is a gross mistake." She is particularly opposed to listing the DPRK in the so-called Axis of Evil, saying that Bush's way of doing things will possibly cause the United States to lose popular support among the international community. Albright particularly noted that she had contacted and reached agreement with the DPRK. Whereas Bush has "single-handedly destroyed" the initial relationship she had established with Korea during the Clinton age. Albright also pointed out that the situation in Iran at the present stage is very complicated. She said that on the Afghanistan issue and some other questions, the United States still needs the aid of Iran. 
	
	
 Carpenter, deputy director of the US non-governmental research organization the Cato Institute, holds that Bush's criticism of Korea by name is really hard to understand. The deputy director said, "It's really strange for Bush to include Korea on the list of these countries, because in recent years Korea has not actively supported terrorist activities. Furthermore, "according to evidence in our hands," he added, "Korea's nuclear project has all along been frozen since the mid-1990s. I don't know why Bush listed Korea as one among the terrorist countries." 
	
	
 Some commentaries said that including Korea on the "Axis of Evil" list would irritate Korea and would cause Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) feel disturbed. 
	
	
 An analytical article carried in the Washington Post says that including Iran on the "Axis of Evil" list is all the more astonishing. The article says that the United States tried hard to establish a new relationship with Iran last fall and expressed its appreciation for Iran's condemnation of terrorism. Iran also indicated that in case US pilots were hit in Afghanistan and landed in Iran, Iran would give them assistance. The analyst was worried that Bush's attack on Iran would possibly forfeit all recent efforts. 
	
	
 Carpenter also said that in this way, the door to improving relations with Iran would be completely blocked. He added that that would be the most unfortunate part of Bush's speech, he cast away the chance for improving relations with Iran. Now President Bush has completely closed the door to improvement of ties with Iran. 
	
	
 Difficult for Britain and France To Agree with US 
	
	
 After he set forth the "Axis of Evil" theory in his State of the Union speech, Bush met with increasing attacks from the international community. Even US closest allies also thought it hard to agree with Bush's remark. 
	
	
 A report carried in British Daily Telegraph on 2 February said that British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw queried the "Axis of Evil" theory set forth in Bush's State of the Union speech, thinking that such a remark of Bush attempts to use the anti-terror war to play with political party politics. Straw added that Britain and the United States had become the closest allies after the "September 11" incident, now they may no longer stand shoulder to shoulder. 
	
	
 French President Jacques Chirac does not subscribe to the "Axis of Evil" theory advanced by US President Bush. Chirac's assistant indicated that the good-and-evil view does not conform to the actual conditions in the present-day world. The French presidential office does not make open comments on Bush's statement, it only says that what Bush says is directed mainly to the Americans. 
	
	
 At the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum held in New York, NATO Secretary General George Robertson said that in charging Korea, Iran and Iraq with so-called "Axis of Evil", the United States must produce evidence. Observers in Washington maintain that the NATO Secretary-general's statement indicates that the international community feels uneasy about the Bush administration's policy which seems to be determined to expand the scope of the anti-terror war. 
	
	
 White House and State Department Hasten to Smooth the Matter Over 
	
	
 In a bid to alleviate the sentiments of US allies, a White House official has discretely assured US allies that Bush does not hint to take military actions. 
	
	
 Secretary of State Colin Powell admonishes his subordinates that when the mass media discuss the matter, the spirit and literal meaning of Bush's speech must be strictly acted upon to avoid causing doubts in the external world. The State Department said on 1 February that they would collect various statements and send them to US embassies in various countries worldwide, so as to calm down foreign countries' negative reactions to Bush's speech. US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said: "We will send all relevant information and summaries of this information to our embassies in various places around the world to facilitate understanding of the related arguments." 
	
	
 An US government official said that US diplomats to countries concerned are authorized to explain to these countries which may have doubts about Bush's State of the Union speech, this is aimed at dispelling various countries' doubt that the United States is about to dispatch troops to Iran, Iraq and Korea. 
	
	
 
	
	
	





Document 00100226 ends.


	
COOLUM, Australia March 3 Sapa 
	
	
 MKAPA SAYS PUNITIVE ACTION AGAINST ZIM PREMATURE 
	
	
 Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa joined his African counterparts here on Sunday in rejecting calls from Britain, Australia and Canada for punitive action against Zimbabwe ahead of the presidential elections in that country on March 9 and 10. 
	
	
 Speaking ahead of the second executive session of the Commonwealth Heads of government in the Australian east coast resort on Coolum, he said any decision on sanctions or suspension would be premature ahead of the election: "The scene is evolving in Zimbabwe. It is not evolving in Coolum. If we are to make an intelligent, rational decision, then we need to allow the scene to be played out there. The Commonwealth had observers in Zimbabwe, so why don't we listen to them", he told reporters. 
	
	
 Mkapa said he has a real problem with the media which assumed that if President Robert Mugabe won the elections, it would not have been a free and fair poll. 
	
	
 "That's ridiculous. Let's wait and see...Let the observers give their observation and then we will know if its free and fair." 
	
	
 Mkapa reiterated that quiet diplomacy was the correct route to follow, a view shared by his other Southern African Development Community colleagues. 
	
	
 Mkapa also indirectly criticised British Prime Minister Tony Blair who is on record as saying that the elections were likely not to be free and fair. 
	
	
 "I don't think it has reached a point that we will have alienation because of what is going on in Zimbabwe. I do not like the assumption, that unless Mugabe or Zanu-PF loses the election, it will not be free and fair." 
	
	
 Commonwealth leaders on Saturday delayed talks on how to respond to the political crisis in Zimbabwe, opting to do so on Sunday in the privacy of their traditional retreat, away from advisers and officials. 
	
	
 Blair has warned that the 54-member Commonwealth's reputation could be damaged if it failed to take decisive action against Mugabe. 
	
	
 The BBC reported that Blair was hopeful that if Mugabe did win the election then Zimbabwe's suspension from the h would follow. 
	
	
 Source : Sapa /aq/shob Date : 03 Mar 2002 4:09	





Document 00100229 ends.


 
  
  
    
      March 17, 2000
      Name Address City, ST, Zip
      Dear Name:
      When Jerry was released from prison, he knew it would take hard work
      and determination to straighten out his life. He knew he had made a bad
      mistake, but despite his commitment to rebuilding his life, he just
      didn't count on the obstacles that would be thrown up in his path.
      Reality hit when he was unable to reconcile with his wife and ended up
      on the street. He went to the Center Township Trustee for food stamps
      until he could find a job and a place to live. The Trustee referred him
      to the Blue Triangle where he consulted Goodwill's Career Academy staff
      for job search assistance.
      Jerry's Goodwill caseworker found him a job immediately. But Jerry's
      troubles didn't end there. The seasonal construction job he obtained soon
      ended, and he returned to Career Academy for help once more. Unemployed,
      homeless and with a prison record, Jerry now faced going back to prison
      for failure to pay child support.
      It took some time and hard work, but with the help of Goodwill, Jerry
      was able to work out a payment plan with the prosecutor's office, find
      housing and conduct a more thorough job search.
      With unemployment at its lowest point in years in central Indiana,
      many people still have a hard time finding meaningful employment. Of the
      more than 42,000 people Goodwill served in 1999, over 5,000 of them have
      multiple barriers to finding and keeping a job. Some, like Jerry, are
      ex-offenders. Some are blind, deaf or have other physical disabilities.
      More than 100 were homeless.
      But Goodwill offers hope even to people with numerous obstacles to
      overcome, like Jerry. With a promising new job at a plastic injection
      molding manufacturer, his legal troubles in check and a safe place to
      live, Jerry can get on with the business of building a life for himself
      and contributing to his community. For as long as he needs it, Goodwill
      will continue to help.
      Your support of Goodwill will provide job training and placement
      services to help the hardest to serve in central Indiana find meaningful
      employment. And, with your assistance, Goodwill can help employers
      develop resources to keep workers on the job.
      Please make an investment in the stability of our community by sending
      a gift to Goodwill. Your generosity will help people help themselves.
      Sincerely,
      James M. McClelland President
    
  














Document 00100230 ends.


	
Lugano, 8 Jan -- Spanish-Israeli businessman Felipe Turover has denounced the Swiss in front of the European Human Rights Court in Strasbourg for having put his life in danger in its case against [Secretary of the Russian-Belarus Union] Pavel Borodin, former Kremlin senior aid accused of money laundering, according to a communique Tuesday from his lawyer Niccolo Salvioni. 
	
	
 According to the communique, received at the Swiss news agency ATS, the 37-year-old M. Turover --considered by the Swiss courts as a key witness -- had asked the Swiss Government and the Swiss Public Ministry that he be put under protection, believing himself threatened by the Russian Mafia because of leaks by Swiss court officials. 
	
	
 Pavel Borodin, the former property manager of the Kremlin, is suspected of having laundered some $25 million in secret commissions which came from two Swiss companies headquartered in the Tessin (southeast) region -- Mercata, and Mabetex -- in exchange for being awarded the contracts for the renovation of the Kremlin and the Russian presidential aircraft in 1995 and 1996. 
	
	
 At the end of June 2001, the Swiss Public Ministry rejected a complaint from Turover against a former Ministry official, Carla Del Ponte -- today a lawyer with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) -- in which Turover accused her of putting his life in danger during this case; in November the rejection was upheld by the Federal Tribunal, which is Switzerland's highest court. 
	
	
 Turover accused Mme. Del Ponte of having furnished -- in 1999 when she headed the Swiss Public Ministry -- confidential information to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera which made numerous revelations about the Mabetex-Borodin affair, including the existence of credit cards in the name of the Yeltsin family. The newspaper presented Turover as a key informer in this affair and the Spanish-Israeli businessman affirmed that these leaks had put his life in danger. 
	
	
 Today, Turover is accusing the Swiss authorities of having violated on several occasions the European Convention on Human Rights. The communique from his lawyer affirms that the Swiss authorities, the Federal Tribunal, and the Swiss Public Ministry "have given proof of illegality and political persecution." 
	
	
 Mabetex, a construction company, is suspected of having landed public contracts for renovating the Kremlin and other Russian official buildings by offering bribes worth a dozen million dollars in 1995 and 1996 to close associates of former Russian president Boris Yeltsin, including to Borodin. 
	
	
 At the request of the Geneva court, Borodin was arrested in the United States January 17, 2001. He agreed to be extradited to Switzerland April 7th. After six days in preventive detention, he was released on bail for $3 million. 
	
	
	





Document 00100236 ends.



Paratroopers return Chavez to power

 



  Once again, events in Venezuela have drawn the close attention 
of the world's media. Hardly had observers even time to get used 
to the news that Hugo Chavez had lost his presidential post, and 
then he returned to power. There were already several 
suppositions that Hugo Chavez may recover the position, but 
nobody could suppose the recovery would be so quick.

  The ousted president was freed by paratroopers. Chavez himself 
used to be in command of a paratrooper unit. He has been 
patronizing his subordinates during his entire presidency and 
was finally rewarded for his support: the paratroopers helped 
him regain power. Protesters, who ousted Hugo Chavez at the end 
of the previous week, failed to gain the support of the army. 
The majority of the population, who was not delighted with 
Chavez, was not on their side as well. Ordinary Venezuelans are 
even less happy with the generals and local oligarchic elite. 
Indeed, it was clear since the very beginning that Pedro 
Carmona, who proclaimed himself interim president would care 
very little for improving ordinary people's lives. The planners 
committed one more mistake when they dissolved the National 
Assembly and Supreme Court right after the coup. Carmona and 
other generals who participated in the coup are now being 
questioned by public prosecutors.

  Hugo Chavez is not the formal president yet, as he had to resign 
under the pressure of the plotters. Vice-president Diosdado 
Cabello, a Hugo Chavez supporter, is acting president as of now. 
Hugo Chavez is very likely to be soon return to the post of 
president of Venezuela.

  Chavez supporters say that no witch-hunting will follow and the 
opposition should not be afraid of persecution. At the same, the 
Venezuela government declared that participants of the coup will 
be brought to trial.

  Vice-president Diosdado Cabello believes that the Venezuelan 
coup was thoroughly planned beforehand. He showed journalists 
proof of his statement: a president's belt, a symbol of power 
that did not belong to Hugo Chavez. The belt had been especially 
manufactured in Spain and was later left in the Miraflores 
presidential palace by the plotters.

  Chavez says that he has learnt a lesson from the events, and he 
will be more attentive to the opposition's opinion in the 
future.

  It is hard to forecast the further development of the events in 
Venezuela. Hugo Chavez managed to demonstrate astonishing 
political resistance. There is no doubt that he will dismiss 
disloyal top officers from the army. Venezuelan paratroopers are 
evidently to profit from the situation. As for ordinary 
Venezuelans, they seem to be slightly anxious about the struggle 
for the presidential post. Neither supporters nor opponents of 
Chavez could be seen in the streets during the days of the coup. 
What reforms will be initiated by Hugo Chavez next? Time will 
tell if the president has really learnt a lesson from the 
situation.

  
Oleg Artyukov


Copyright @1999 by " Pravda.RU ". When reproducing our materials 
in whole or in part, reference to Pravda.RU should be made. The 
opinions and views of the authors do not always coinside with 
the point of view of PRAVDA.Ru's editors.




Document 00100237 ends.


       

Coast Savings Financial Inc. reported a third-quarter loss, citing a previously announced capital restructuring program. 

The Los Angeles thrift holding company said it had a loss of $92.2 million, or $6.98 a share, for the quarter ended Sept. 30.
Coast earned $10.2 million, or 67 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter.
The year-ago results have been restated to comply with government regulations. 

The restructuring program is designed to increase the company's tangible capital ratio.
It includes removing $242 million in good will from the books, issuing $150 million in preferred stock and commencing an exchange offer for $52 million in convertible bonds. 

During the third quarter, the company charged about $46 million against earnings in reducing goodwill, added $20 million to its general loan loss reserves and established a $30 million reserve for its high-yield bond portfolio.
The company said its junk-bond portfolio after these moves had been reduced to less than 1% of assets. 




Document 00100239 ends.


	
SOFIA, Sept 26 (AFP) - A Bulgarian businessman claimed Wednesday that aides to Osama bin Laden approached him in April to try to purchase spent nuclear fuel from a Bulgarian plant and that he met with the Saudi dissident. 
	
	
 The businessman, who identified himself as Ivan Ivanov and has worked in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates, told AFP that a group of Pakistani nationals introduced him to bin Laden, the prime suspect in the US terrorist attacks, on April 10 in Peshawar. 
	
	
 A young Arab chemical engineer contacted him the next day, he said, to ask him to act as an intermediary in the sale of the nuclear fuel from the Kozlodui nuclear power plant. 
	
	
 The businessman said he turned down an offer of a 200,000 dollar commission for the sale. 
	
	
 The head of the nuclear energy department at Bulgaria's energy agency separately said he could not imagine a terrorist organisation making a bomb out of products from the reactors at the Kozlodui power station. 
	
	
 "There is no possibility of legally selling the nuclear waste. They are stockpiled in a secure depot located inside the power station before being sent to Russia to be processed," said Anton Ivanov.	





Document 00100242 ends.


	
NIZHNY NOVGOROD. March 22 (Interfax-AVN) -A habitual criminal who escaped from a convoy and started a shootout in the Perm region overnight to Friday has surrendered to the police, a spokesman for the main police department in the Volga federal district told Interfax-Military News Agency on Friday. Sergei Serdyuk, 32, was convicted several times on charges of theft, assault amd car hijacking. He was detained in March 2002 once again. While being transported to the police department of the Komi- Perm autonomous region on Thursday, Serdyuk escaped from a convoy of the Kochevo police department. The incident happened on the Perm-Kudymkar motorway 6km from the Karagai village of the Perm region at about midnight. Materials contained in the criminal case brought against Serdyuk say that the man disarmed the convoy, got hold of four PM pistols, wounded the head of the criminal investigation subdepartment of the Kochevo police department, who commanded the convoy, captured the driver of the police vehicle and left in the direction of Perm. The car was stopped near the Krasnokamsk village, the shootout started, and Serdyuk escaped in a forest. No casualties were registered among policemen. Two PM pistols were found at the site. Serdyuk surrendered to the police at 8:20 a.m. Moscow time (0520 GMT) on Friday. Arms were confiscated from him, the spokesman said. @ 2002 Interfax-Military News Agency, All rights reserved. News and other data on this web site are provided for information purposes only, and are not intended for republication or redistribution. Republication or redistribution of Interfax content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Interfax-Military News Agency. 
	
	
	





Document 00100243 ends.



   U.S. accuses Mugabe of intimidation

 


SubHead:   President predicts victory as opposition alleges vote rigging

Author:     Nicholas Kotch and Cris Chinaka

  HARARE - On the eve of the presidential vote, Robert Mugabe, 
Zimbabwe's President, predicted he would once again storm to 
victory, as the opposition charged wholesale rigging of the vote 
and a minister said the army was on high alert.

  The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said 40 of 
its polling agents were briefly abducted by government 
supporters in what it called the latest intimidation intended to 
steal the election.

  On the eve of voting due to start at 7 a.m. today, the United 
States charged Mr. Mugabe's government with conducting a blatant 
campaign of intimidation to win the poll.

  "The government of Zimbabwe continues its blatant campaign of 
violence, intimidation and manipulation of the electoral process 
in an effort to win the poll. ... It is clear that the 
government intends to win the election by any means," said 
Richard Boucher, a State Department spokesman.

  Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader, accused Mr. Mugabe of 
using militants from his ruling Zimbabwean African National 
Unity-Patriotic Front party to try to destroy the MDC over the 
past two years and undermining the integrity and independence of 
the police.

  He said 80 MDC rallies had been stopped by ZANU-PF militias or 
the police since the presidential campaign began two months ago, 
leaving him to address 10 major meetings compared with the 50 by 
Mr. Mugabe, who has barnstormed around the country.

  Jonathan Moyo, the Information Minister, told reporters in 
Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo the army had been put on high 
alert for the poll. The government has denied reports of a 
possible army coup to support Mr. Mugabe if he loses.

  "How can you not have your army on high alert when [British 
Prime Minister Tony] Blair is making the kind of noise that he 
is making," Mr. Moyo said.

  He was referring to Mr. Blair's condemnation of Mr. Mugabe, who 
accuses him in turn of interfering in Britain's former colony to 
engineer an opposition victory.

  Mr. Moyo also said the many foreign journalists who have entered 
the country as tourists to avoid visa restrictions would be 
regarded as terrorists and risked the full weight of the law.

  Mr. Mugabe, whose campaigning energy belies his 78 years, oozed 
confidence at his final rally at Bindura, northeast of Harare, 
and launched a stinging attack on Mr. Blair.

  Addressing 15,000 backers, the Zimbabwean President mocked Mr. 
Tsvangirai as a puppet of London, calling Mr. Blair "an arrogant 
little fellow."

  He promised, "We will bury [the opposition's] sponsor. Mr Blair 
will have a political burial here tomorrow."

  Mr. Tsvangirai, who celebrates his 50th birthday tomorrow, 
accuses Mr. Mugabe of using violence, intimidation, special laws 
and dirty tricks to fix the two-day election, in which the 
President faces his toughest challenge since independence in 
1980.

  
At his rally, Mr. Mugabe blamed the MDC for the violence.



Copyright @ 2002 National Post Online |




Document 00100244 ends.


	
[Computer selected and disseminated without FBIS editorial intervention] 
	
	
 Taipei, Dec. 11 (CNA) -- Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen said Tuesday she foresees the possibility of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait resume dialogue next year. 
	
	
 Tsai made the remarks during a meeting with a delegation of the "Committee of 100," a New York-based non-partisan association of ethnic Chinese celebrities. 
	
	
 Noting that President Chen Shui-bian has on many occasions expressed goodwill to mainland China, Tsai said so long as Beijing leaders can carefully mull the significance of Chen's statements on cross-strait affairs, particularly the "one China" issue, there should be opportunities for the two sides to resume talks. 
	
	
 "It all depends on how mainland China interprets President Chen's latest remarks on cross-strait relations and how the two sides cultivate an environment favorable for resumption of their long-stalled dialogue," Tsai explained. 
	
	
 While meeting with the "Committee of 100" delegation Monday, President Chen said "one China" is an issue that can be discussed in the future with mainland China. However, Chen said "one China" should not be a precondition for talks until such time as Taipei and Beijing have reached a mutually acceptable meaning for the the term through "wisdom and creativity." Chen also told the visiting members of the overseas Chinese group that the so-called "one China" was originally not a problem according to the Republic of China Constitution. The problem, he went on, is that the so-called "one China" principle cherished by Beijing "makes the Republic of China vanish." Therefore, as a guardian of the ROC sovereignty, dignity and security, he cannot accept the principle. 
	
	
 Tsai said cross-strait dialogue is not expected to resume overnight. 
	
	
 "The two sides must forge mutual trust and work out certain procedures to ensure that talks are conducted on a solid basis," Tsai noted. 
	
	
 In her view, Tsai said, both sides have been endeavoring to prevent the results of Taiwan's recent parliamentary and local government chief elections from affecting the stability of cross-strait relations. 
	
	
 Tsai said although the spokesman for mainland China's Taiwan Affairs Office failed to give any positive response to Taiwan's goodwill in his first post-Taiwan election news conference, he appeared to be fully aware of the importance of maintaining stability in the Taiwan Strait. 
	
	
 The nation's top mainland policy planner also assured her guests that the government's policy toward mainland China will remain unchanged after the ruling Democratic Progressive Party emerged from the recent legislative elections as the island's largest party in the Legislative Yuan for the first time. 
	
	
 Tsai left for the United States Tuesday evening to brief American scholars and politicians on Taiwan's political situation and policy direction in the wake of the Dec. 1 elections.	





Document 00100246 ends.


	
BANGUI, Nov 6 (AFP) - Gunfire broke out for a fifth day Tuesday in the capital of the Central African Republic, after Libyan military reinforcements were flown in to help government forces end a standoff by soldiers loyal to an ousted army chief. Shooting was heard in northern Bangui and near the airport in a neighborhood inhabited by officials in President Ange Felix Patasse's government, an AFP correspondent said. 
	
	
 The rest of the city was reported to be calm however, with some schools reopening and authorities anxiously awaiting the arrival of a mediation team from the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). The crisis in the Central African Republic began late Friday after soldiers loyal to sacked chief of army staff Francois Bozize exchanged gunfire with presidential guard units and government troops. 
	
	
 The shooting began after soldiers tried to arrest Bozize, a former close ally of Patasse who had been army chief since 1996, in connection with large amounts of weapons discovered in the city, amid suspicions of an attack in preparation. 
	
	
 The country has been on edge since last May when mutinous soldiers attempted to overthrow Patasse, unleashing 10 days of fighting in the capital that left dozens of people dead and displaced thousands. Bozize was fired last month as part of moves by Bangui to close security loopholes which became evident after the abortive putsch. 
	
	
 Defense and security ministers were dismissed in August. Libyan forces helped prop up Patasse at the time, and 100 soldiers have since remained in his presidential guard. On Monday, 80 Libyan soldiers disembarked from an Antonov transport plane carrying military equipment, an African diplomat said. On Tuesday, Bozize was still holed up in his Bangui residence.	





Document 00100248 ends.


       

Intelogic Trace Inc., San Antonio, Texas, said it bought 2.7 million shares, or about 18%, of its common stock from an unaffiliated shareholder for $3.625 a share, or $9.9 million. 

The move boosts Intelogic Chairman Asher Edelman's stake to 20% from 16.2% and may help prevent Martin Ackerman from making a run at the computer-services concern.
Mr. Ackerman already is seeking to oust Mr. Edelman as chairman of Datapoint Corp., an Intelogic affiliate. 

The action followed by one day an Intelogic announcement that it will retain an investment banker to explore alternatives "to maximize shareholder value," including the possible sale of the company. 

In New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday, Intelogic shares rose 37.5 cents to close at $2.75. 

Mr. Edelman declined to specify what prompted the recent moves, saying they are meant only to benefit shareholders when "the company is on a roll." He added, "This has nothing to do with Marty Ackerman and it is not designed, particularly, to take the company private." 

But Mr. Ackerman said the buy-back, and the above-market price paid, prove that Mr. Edelman is running scared. 




Document 00100249 ends.



Russia needs space tourists

 



  If you want a holiday in space and have the means to pay for it, 
Russia offers you the trip of a lifetime.

  Yuri Koptev, the director of the Russian Aerospace Agency, 
Rosaviakosmos, confirmed that Russia is looking for space 
tourists to visit the International Space Station (ISS) in 
October. "There is a free place for the flight in October and we 
are looking for someone who would like to take it", he declared.

  At present, citizens from Poland, Japan and the United States 
are being tested by Rosaviakosmos. Russia pioneered space 
tourism in April, 2001, when the Californian millionaire Denis 
Tito was taken to the ISS for a ten-day space trip.

  In April, 28-year-old South African millionaire Mark 
Shuttleworth will visit the station.

  
Timofei BYELO


Copyright @1999 by "Pravda.RU". When reproducing our materials 
in whole or in part, reference to Pravda.RU should be made. The 
opinions and views of the authors do not always coinside with 
the point of view of PRAVDA.Ru's editors.




Document 00100250 ends.


	
[Passage omitted -- on the Bush administration's budget for controlling climate changes; the attitudes of Australia, Canada, the European Union, and China; and the terms of the Kyoto Protocol] 
	
	
 The US President preferred a more realistic attitude, because it is hard to believe that it will be possible to fully eliminate pollutant gas emissions in one decade. What is also realistic is the idea that it will be easier to persuade the main polluting agents to take measures by providing incentives to them, rather than by constraint. No matter how cynical this may appear, the US administration is mainly concerned with getting out of the recession and with relaunching the economy, rather than with the greenhouse effect.	





Document 00100251 ends.



   The second front

 



  When the local currency rapidly decreases in value, it is a sign 
of serious economic trouble. In the past four months, the shekel 
has lost 20 percent of its value against the dollar. The 
Argentine peso lost 47 percent when it was cut loose from its 
dollar peg in February. So we still have a way to go before our 
economic crisis reaches Argentine proportions, but there is 
little doubt that unless drastic measures are taken, we are on 
the way. Warning lights are flashing.

  Confidence in the local currency is an essential element of a 
sound economy. Argentine President Eduardo Duhalde tried to 
instill such confidence among Argentina's citizens after the 
devaluation of the peso when he said, "Those who bet on the 
dollar will lose." Unlike him, MK Joseph Paritzky did his best 
to undermine confidence in the Israeli shekel when he told 
Israelis to consider transferring their wealth abroad. The rapid 
drop in the value of the shekel is a sign that confidence in it 
is waning. Had Paritzky's misguided advice been taken by most of 
Israel's citizens, we would be digging ourselves out of the 
ruins at this time.

  There are many differences between the Israeli and Argentine 
economies. Most of the Argentine government's debt is in 
dollars, while most of the Israeli government's debt is, 
fortunately, in shekels. The structure of the Israeli economy is 
basically sound, but on the other hand, Israel is at war, with a 
significant proportion of its resources devoted to defense. 
Sound management of the economy is an essential element in the 
conduct of the war against Palestinian violence and terrorism. 
With good economic management, Israel should have little trouble 
overcoming the present crisis. But where is that management?

  Judging by the steps taken by the Finance Ministry, one can only 
speak of mismanagement. It started with the economic forecasts 
published by the ministry last year. While it was already clear 
that the economy was well on its way to a recession, the 
ministry's bureaucrats forecast continued growth for the 
economy. Based on false premises regarding anticipated 
government revenues and underestimates of the need for defense 
expenditures, a totally unrealistic budget was prepared. It was 
only when the government's income from taxes started to fall far 
short of the forecast that the bureaucrats woke up. Finally, the 
ministry realized the budget it had prepared would have to be 
drastically revised and curtailed. But all the talk of big cuts 
in the budgets of most of the ministries came to naught. In an 
attempt to keep the coalition afloat, money was again parceled 
out right and left, and the government's budget deficit 
increased beyond reasonable bounds. The bloated budget was 
passed through the Knesset to the sounds of ministerial 
congratulations advertising "a great political triumph."

  But the budget was a disaster. No sooner had it been approved by 
the Knesset, than talk began of the need for a major revision. 
Then the finance minister dramatically announced an emergency 
economic plan based on large-scale tax increases in an already 
over-taxed economy. At the same time, there was no let-up in his 
continuing battle with the governor of the Bank of Israel, who 
is supposed to be his partner in managing Israel's economy. 
Plans for a law that would restrict the authority of the 
governor were ill-received in the international financial 
community and seem to have been dropped for the time being. The 
emergency economic plan is in the process of being torn to bits 
by the many political interest groups whose constituencies will 
be affected by the plan. Is it any wonder that the shekel's 
value is decreasing daily?

  It should be clear that the problem Israel is facing at this 
time has much more than just an economic dimension. Israel is at 
war. All eyes are directed at Palestinian acts of terror and the 
IDF's moves to destroy the network of terror in Judea and 
Samaria. But successful management of the economy - the second 
front - is essential so that the resources needed for defense 
needs can be made available without causing serious damage to 
the economy.



@ CopyRight 2002 Ha'aretz. All Rights Reserved.




Document 00100253 ends.


 
  
  
    
      February 26, 1999
      Dear ,
      Kids today face overwhelming pressures, everything from trouble at
      home to gangs and drugs. Youngsters often find themselves feeling
      alienated and alone.
      That's where the Boys & Girls Clubs of Indianapolis come in. We
      reach out to kids -- especially those from disadvantaged neighborhoods
      where the risks are highest. We give them a chance to realize their own
      potential by giving them a place where they can develop a sense of
      competence, of usefulness, a sense of belonging and of influence.
      To accomplish this, the five area Boys & Girls Clubs of
      Indianapolis must be open and available when the kids need them, with the
      staff and programs the kids need to reach and grow into responsible and
      caring citizens.
      This costs money. Money for programs, for equipment, and for repairs
      and improvements to club facilities. Your contribution last year of
      helped us get where we are today. We are counting on you now to help us
      get where we need to be tomorrow. Would you please consider a gift of the
      same in 1999?
      Please, give generously. The kids are depending on you.
      Respectfully,
      James Campbell President of the Board Deputy Chief, Indianapolis
      Police Department
      A United Way Agency
      Please detach and return in the enclosed envelope.
      
    
  



Document 00100254 ends.


	
San Salvador, 17 April (ACAN-EFE) -- Salvadorian President, Francisco Flores, today defended his declaration of support for the interim Venezuelan Government headed by industrialist Pedro Carmona, indicating that the information that he had at the time was that Hugo Chavez had resigned the Presidency. 
	
	
 Flores said, in a press conference, that "there is no reason to apologize" to President Chavez, as demanded by Salvadoran opposition parties. "Our position is very clear, our position was that the new authorities had to receive a vote of confidence to lead the Venezuelan process back to the democratic path," he stated. 
	
	
 He added "we understood that if there were a civilian who had committed himself to call for elections he should receive a vote of confidence." Flores maintained that "this is a position that is not unique to El Salvador; it is the position of all the European countries, it is the position of the United States; this is in our view totally reasonable when so little information is available." 
	
	
 The Salvadorian president considered that the vote of confidence in the provisional government of Carmona will not have any repercussions in relations between El Salvador and Venezuela, which he described as "totally normal, we are not worried in that sense". 
	
	
 He explained that "El Salvador took a different position" from that of other Latin American countries because at the present time it presides over the Permanent Council of the OAS. 
	
	
 He added that the Latin American countries decided to invoke the OAS Democratic Charter, which implies the investigation all the steps that brought a country to a particular point, and not just simply to determine "if there were a coup d'etat or not." He reminded (the press) that currently there is an OAS mission in Venezuela with those very objectives. The commission is headed by Cesar Gaviria, Secretary General of the OAS. He indicated that the Democratic Charter is a new instrument "and implies that the OAS countries members convene a tribunal" to investigate the case of a country and "decide whether or not to remove it from the international community of which it is part;" something that "is a tremendously serious process". 
	
	
 Asked what repercussions an announced visit to Venezuela-by leaders of the opposition party Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN, left wing)-would have for his government, Flores said that "my concern is that they may be seeking to cause damage to the country." The FMLN condemned last Friday the actions against the government of Chavez and celebrated his return to the power on Sunday. They criticized Flores for not condemning the rupture of constitutional order in Venezuela. 
	
	
 "There is no international problem, but rather a manipulation of the subject domestically; and once again I want to ask the FMLN that it does not cause damage to this country. And that in trying to hurt me, it ends up causing damage to the country. It is necessary to be loyal to El Salvador," Flores concluded. 
	
	
	





Document 00100256 ends.


	
US Secretary of State Colin Powell, described as one of the few enlightened officials in President Bush's administration, is trying to "patch up" President Bush's statements, especially his latest one in which he made reckless threats at the "axis of evil," namely Iran, Iraq and North Korea. A day after President Bush's threat to crush these countries and use all means to prevent them from developing weapons of mass destruction, Secretary Powell said before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that "characterizing these counties as the axis of evil does not mean that his government intends to invade them." He added: "We are prepared to initiate a dialogue, and we want to work with our friends and allies in the world on ways of dealing with such regimes." 
	
	
 These are fine words, but they do not reflect the reality, because the hard-line wing in the US administration comprising Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice have the final say in running affairs at the White House, and have direct influence on President Bush. 
	
	
 Oddly enough, speculations swirled in Washington that Powell listened to President Bush's speech and his threats to "the axis of evil" like any other US citizen. He had not read the speech before President Bush delivered it, as he was supposed to do by virtue of his post. The fact that he subsequently denied these speculations does not mean they are baseless. 
	
	
 At any rate, Secretary Powell's remark about the US administration's readiness to enter dialogue with these "evil" states and with Washington's friends on ways of dealing with them involves some contradictions. For he affirmed in the first speech that there would be no dialogue with Iraq until after it has accepted the return of the UN arms inspectors. 
	
	
 The current US administration will consult with no one, not even its closest allies, whether in Europe or its followers in the Third World, particularly in the Arab world. The US administration has already decided to "punish" any country it believes poses a danger to the Hebrew State. It lumped North Korea with Iran and Iraq as part of the "axis of evil" only to mislead Arabs and Muslims and to create the impression that Islam is not alone targeted. 
	
	
 The United States is these days ruled by an alliance between two main lobbies, the arms lobby and the Zionist lobby, which sees the world through the eyes of Ari'el Sharon and his extremist government. We therefore have to expect the worst in the near future. 
	
	
 President Bush is facing a recession and an economic crisis. He does not want to repeat his father's mistake, being defeated in the next elections because of economic factors. He is therefore planning to trigger wars here and there to revive the flagging arms industry. 
	
	
 The United States is currently run by a typical Texan mentality, which is closer to that of cowboys than to a civilized mentality that believes in dialogue and coexistence among peoples. This mentality simultaneously raises apprehensions and resentment, because international economic prosperity can be built on stability, not wars. A catastrophe would engulf every country if the US arms industry progressed at the expense of the world's security and stability. 
	
	
	





Document 00100257 ends.


       

A unit of DPC Acquisition Partners launched a $10-a-share tender offer for the shares outstanding of Dataproducts Corp., and said it would seek to liquidate the computer-printer maker "as soon as possible," even if a merger isn't consummated. 

DPC Acquisition is controlled by Crescott Investment Associates, Wilson Investment Group, Kernel Corp. and Catalyst Partners.
The investor group owns 1,534,600 Dataproducts common shares, or a 7.6% stake. 

The offer is based on several conditions, including obtaining financing.
DPC Acquisition said it had received the reasonable assurance of Chase Manhattan Bank N.A. that the financing can be obtained. 

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, DPC Acquisition said it expects it will need about $215 million to buy the shares and pay related fees and expenses.
DPC Acquisition added that it has not begun discussions with financing sources, and said it expected to repay the amounts borrowed through proceeds of the liquidation. 

Dataproducts officials declined to comment, and said they had not yet seen a suit filed in federal court by DPC Acquisition that seeks to nullify a standstill agreement between DPC Acquisition and Dataproducts. 

Earlier this year, DPC Acquisition made a $15-a-share offer for Dataproducts, which the Dataproducts board said it rejected because the $283.7 million offer was not fully financed.
Dataproducts has since started a restructuring, and has said it is not for sale. 




Document 00100258 ends.



   Politics, not the environment, drives Kyoto

 


Author:     Barry Cooper and David Bercuson

  The only winners in the increasingly heated debate over global 
warming are the boffins in Ottawa. A couple of weeks ago, the 
federal government distributed a colourful announcement in 
newspapers across the land proclaiming that "the Earth is 
getting warmer" and that implementing the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, 
on the targeted reduction of so-called greenhouse gases, would 
fix things.

  Ten days ago, when asked about Kyoto at the now famous Team 
Canada press conference in Moscow, Premier Ralph Klein produced 
a letter indicating that all the premiers, except the 
ever-distinct Quebec, opposed Kyoto. A few days later in Munich, 
provincial opposition was hedged with qualifications: The NDP 
premiers of Saskatchewan and Manitoba apparently thought the 
"principles" of Kyoto were fine. They just wanted more 
consultations.

  Herb Dhaliwal, the federal Energy Minister, weighed in with even 
more qualifications: "Some important details have to be worked 
out before Canada ratifies the Kyoto Protocol," he said. "I 
wouldn't sign a contract in business unless I knew exactly what 
it meant." His boss apparently has less business sense. 
According to Jean Chretien, "the desire of the federal 
government is to sign it."

  Another sign the debate is intensifying emerged last week at a 
global warming conference in Ottawa. Lorne Taylor, the Alberta 
Environment Minister, estimated the costs of Kyoto to the 
Canadian economy to be somewhere between $25-billion and 
$40-billion a year. It would cost Alberta somewhere between 
$3-billion and $6-billion. Taylor told his Quebec critics that 
they should be more circumspect. "They stand with empty pockets 
and their hands empty, out toward Alberta, and at the same time 
they're criticizing Alberta." He was alluding to the great money 
laundering operation whereby the federal government transfers 
cash from productive provinces such as Alberta and dispenses it 
in places such as Quebec.

  At the same conference, Taylor's federal counterpart, David 
Anderson, announced that the Alberta numbers were absurd. 
Implementing Kyoto would cost a paltry $500-million, he said, 
and added more ominously that "the issue, technically, is that 
international relations fall within the purview of the federal 
government. And it can act unilaterally."

  There are two levels to the controversy around Kyoto. The first, 
as the numbers tossed about by Taylor and Anderson indicate, is 
centred on costs of compliance. Canadians know, with a certainty 
approaching perfection, that the federal government is 
incompetent when it comes to offering even order-of-magnitude 
guesses. The gun registration program proves this beyond the 
shadow of a doubt.

  Taylor may have offered a more prudent guess, but the fact is, 
accurate estimates of the costs of policies designed to reduce 
selected gas emissions are impossible. No one knows the impact 
on Canada's international competitiveness, when China, India, 
Brazil, and Indonesia are not committed to reduce anything. No 
one can estimate the costs or benefits of developing novel 
energy sources because, if new knowledge could be known in 
advance, it wouldn't be new.

  Underlying the uncertainties regarding costs are more 
fundamental uncertainties about the scientific evidence.

  To begin with, there are major measurement problems. 
Historically, nearly all temperature data have been collected 
from "urban heat islands" and, as New Zealand climatologist 
Vincent Gray observed, "all measurements of global temperature 
that are made far from human habitation show no sign of any 
warming."

  Second, there is no evidence on the net impact of human 
activity. Last spring the American National Academy of Science 
warned that because "there is considerable uncertainty in 
current understanding of how the climate system varies 
naturally," any estimates of either the magnitude or the 
direction of future warming must be highly tentative.

  Finally, vast uncertainty is built into computer models of 
climate change. The best models today dice the atmosphere into a 
collection of virtual cubes about 185 miles on a side. Because 
of the three-dimensional nature of the problem, doubling the 
resolution requires 16 times the computer power. To get the 
cubes down to a useful size -- around 20 miles a side -- would 
take computers about 1,000 times as powerful as are currently 
available.

  Even if they existed, there is no reliable baseline from which 
to begin: No one knows what global weather was really like in 
1900 or 1850 to say nothing of earlier dates. In short, because 
the estimates of the scale and timing of atmospheric warming are 
so uncertain, it is just not possible to assess the costs and 
benefits. The fact is, Kyoto is without principles and no one 
has a clue what it means.

  As a consequence, only the politics of Kyoto count. Swelling the 
population of envirocrats in Ottawa means that the sole 
beneficiary is the federal government. Everyone else loses.



Copyright @ 2002 National Post Online |




Document 00100260 ends.



   Space station's railcar slightly off track

 



  CAPE CANAVERAL - (AP) -- Astronauts sent the international space 
station's new railcar rolling slowly down a short stretch of 
track Monday, but it quickly hit a snag that interrupted the 
inaugural run of the first permanent railroad in orbit.

  
NASA blamed the problem on weightlessness.

  Engineers suspect the one-ton car floated ever so slightly off 
the rail, causing the magnetic sensors on the bottom of the car 
to lose contact with a pair of iron strips in the aluminum 
tracks.

  The railcar will eventually be used during the next stages of 
the space station's construction. The track runs along a 44-foot 
girder that space shuttle Atlantis' astronauts delivered and 
bolted to the orbiting outpost last week.

  The problem cropped up after the empty flatcar moved down 17 
feet of track at a snail's pace of less than a half-inch per 
second. Right on cue, the car stopped at a work station and was 
automatically latching itself down when everything came to a 
halt.

  Ground controllers took over manual control and, a few hours 
later, were able to latch the railcar to the track.

  Space station astronaut Carl Walz sent another computer command 
from inside to get the railcar moving again. The railcar 
smoothly rolled 26 feet to a second work station, where the same 
thing happened. Again, ground controllers had to take over 
manual control to secure the car.

  Later Monday, Walz commanded the railcar to move for the third 
and final time, back down the same 26 feet of track. ''The 
train's leaving the station,'' he called out. It got to where it 
was going, but the automatic latching system shut down again and 
ground controllers had to step in as before.

  ''I think what we're finding out as we go through this is how 
the mobile transporter works in zero-g,'' said Ben Sellari, a 
NASA manager.

  Engineers may adjust the computer software sometime if it 
becomes more of a nuisance, he said. There is no danger of the 
$190 million railcar rolling off the track because of rings on 
both ends of the 44-foot girder, Sellari said.

  The first use of the railcar is set for late summer. The railcar 
is needed to transport the space station's 58-foot robot arm 
from one end of the outpost to the other as more girders are 
installed. Atlantis' astronauts plan a fourth and final 
spacewalk today to finish installing the girder.




Document 00100262 ends.


	
Poll observers invited 
	
	
 Presidential Reporter - PRESIDENT Mugabe yesterday invited foreign observers from various international organisations and some individual countries to come and observe the forthcoming Presidential election but will not allow observers from Britain. 
	
	
 Cde Mugabe told journalists at State House in Harare that the joint ACP/European Union and Commonwealth teams, which have been invited to observe the March 9 and 10 presidential election should not include Britain, which has been accused of interfering in the internal politics of Zimbabwe. 
	
	
 "In line with Zimbabwe's tradition of holding open democratic elections, my Government will be inviting, among others, the following organisations and governments to send observers to witness the electoral process and see the people of Zimbabwe proudly exercise their sovereign right to freely elect a President of their choice: 
	
	
 "The Organisation of African Unity/Africa Union (OAU/AU); the Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc); the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (Comesa); the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas); the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM); the Commonwealth, excluding the United Kingdom; the joint ACP-EU delegation (excluding the United Kingdom) and led by the ACP; the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) from the United States of America; individuals and countries to be invited in their own capacities include the Federal Republic of Nigeria,'' he said. 
	
	
 Sadc and Nigeria will be invited to send their observers immediately. 
	
	
 The President also appealed to all political parties, churches, war veterans, farmers' unions, trade unions, business associations, media houses, women and youth organisations and civic society to come together and exchange views on ending political violence. 
	
	
 He said this would create an atmosphere conducive to the holding of a free, fair and peaceful election. 
	
	
 Cde Mugabe said the Government would do everything necessary to ensure the holding of a free and fair election, as it had done during all the previous elections conducted in the country since the attainment of independence in 1980. 
	
	
 Although the President did not say why the United Kingdom, the former colonial power was not welcome to send observers, relations between Zimbabwe and Britain have soured over London's interference in Harare's internal affairs through its sponsorship to the opposition MDC party. 
	
	
 The Government has accused Britain of being a player in Zimbabwe's internal politics, saying it would therefore not be an impartial observer. 
	
	
 Britain has of late been at the forefront in calling for sanctions against Zimbabwe through the EU and the suspension of the country from the Commonwealth. 
	
	
 Cde Mugabe said recalling the supreme sacrifice paid by Zimbabweans in their struggle for self-determination and the pride they take in exercising their sovereign right to elect a President of their choice, the Government would do everything necessary to ensure that they exercise their democratic right without interference from any quarter whatsoever, whether internal or external. 
	
	
 "My Government will, as is its practice, be accrediting foreign journalists through our embassies to cover the forthcoming election on the basis of the country's laws and regulations." 
	
	
 Since he announced the dates for the Presidential election on January 9, the Government had taken steps and set on course various processes to facilitate the holding of a smooth electoral process. 
	
	
 Cde Mugabe expressed satisfaction with the Government's preparations for the election so far. 
	
	
 The election, he said, will once again underline Zimbabwe's established democratic tradition of holding regular parliamentary and presidential elections since the attainment of independence as provided for by its Constitution. 
	
	
 Cde Mugabe said the poll would be held in the same way the Government has held other elections since 1980 despite statements by some Western governments that it will not be free and fair. 
	
	
 "In West Africa, they say make you no mind" (do not mind them). We will proceed with our election in the same way as we have proceeded. I do not remember any election at all when their pronouncements were fair?" 
	
	
 Cde Mugabe said there could never be any election anywhere in the world without any incident. He cited as an example the case of British deputy Prime Minister, Mr Prescott, who punched a protester who had hit him with an egg in the run up to the general elections in Britain last year. 
	
	
 The EU was demonising Zimbabwe despite the fact that the country had a tradition of regular and democratic elections. 
	
	
 On the other hand, the union was quick to enter into alliances with countries such as Uganda and Rwanda, which had no tradition of democratic polls. The same countries had also violated international law by invading the DRC. 
	
	
 Asked about his chances in the poll, Cde Mugabe said he was representing a party that had seen years of experience and had won parliamentary and presidential elections before. 
	
	
 "We know how to campaign, we know how to appeal to our people...we know how to improve the lot of our people, we know what we have planned for our people for the present situation, we know what we have planned for them for the future," he said.	





Document 00100263 ends.


	
[Computer selected and disseminated without FBIS editorial intervention] 
	
	
 Seoul, Nov. 19 (Yonhap) -- The recent settlement of details regarding the Kyoto Protocol is putting local exporters on alert. The Kyoto Protocol was made by members of the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change at its seventh session held in Marrakech, Morocco at the start of the month. If the protocol, which prescribes an obligatory reduction of greenhouse gases, is put into effect, the nation's export will be heavily damaged. The Kyoto Protocol is an agreement to get 30 leading industrialized countries such as Japan and members of the European Union (EU) to lessen greenhouse gas emissions by amounts as high as 95 percent of levels in the 1990's. The government and business circle expect the nation's exports to be damaged in direct and indirect ways from 2008, when advanced nations will begin to be regulated by the protocol. The reason is that South Korea's industrial structure depends heavily on the export of products including not only durable appliances such as air conditioner but also automobiles all of which should meet intensified environmental standards before they can be shipped overseas under the Protocol. Also, advanced nations are likely to make use of the standards as a new trade barrier. Moreover, the pressures from advanced countries to get South Korea to cut its greenhouse gas emissions is expected to strengthen. South Korea ranked ninth on a list of the largest greenhouse gas producers, and Korea's per-capita emissions were also close to those of advanced countries. Under this situation, the nation cannot possibly avoid pressures to match the cuts of advanced nations. In particular, Japan and European countries are likely to persuade developing countries including South Korea to take part in the reduction of greenhouse gases earlier than planned in an attempt to secure the United States' ratification of the protocol. The U.S. backed out of the agreement, saying its industries would be handicapped by stringent rules that developing countries could simply ignore. Even though South Korea declared its intention to discuss its duty to cut down greenhouse gases from 2018, there is little possibility that advanced nations will wait until then. If things go on like this, the government must transform the current industrial structure into an environment-friendly one and minimize industries which use a host of energy such as petrochemicals and cement manufacturing. The government will have to pour a lot of money into businesses to promote energy efficiency. According to an April survey of 416 firms across the country conducted by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), 60 percent of total respondents said the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change will greatly influence local firms But only 28.4 percent replied that they are rushing to conform to the protocol's requirements. "The government should provide domestic firms real aid like tax reductions and environmental technology development rather than abstractly recommend domestic firms promote energy efficiency and lower energy consumption," an industry source said. Unless measures that comply with the Kyoto Protocol are mapped out early, the nation's competitiveness in manufacturing sectors will weaken soon. sunglok@yna.co.kr	





Document 00100264 ends.


	
LONDON, Jan 18 (AFP) -- British officials have arrived at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and are assessing the conditions of three British prisoners among the 110 suspected al-Qa'ida fighters held there by the US, the Foreign Office said on Friday. 
	
	
 A Foreign Office spokesman said: "I can confirm a team of British officials are in the process of visiting the detainees at Guantanamo Bay. They arrived overnight. 
	
	
 "They are going about their task that has been set for them, identifying those who claim to be British citizens and reporting on the welfare of those who claim to be British citizens and assisting the US authorities with legal inquiries into the terrorist atrocities." 
	
	
 The United States earlier this week said British diplomats could have access to Britons held among the detainees, whose cramped and spartan conditions have caused much criticism among human rights groups around the world. 
	
	
 London insists it supports US reassurances that the men are being treated humanely, although there has also been criticism here over why it was taking diplomats so long to see the men. 
	
	
 The prisoners are being held at a temporary outdoor detention facility called "Camp X-Ray" where each has a separate cell with a concrete floor, wooden roof and chain-link walls. They have a mat to sleep on and two towels, one to be used as a prayer rug. 
	
	
 A four-member International Red Cross team flew into the US navy base on Cuban soil on Thursday and was due to begin interviewing detainees later Friday. 
	
	
 A spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair refused to say how many British officials had travelled to the camp.	





Document 00100268 ends.


	
2 observer groups funded by EU 
	
	
 Herald Reporter - TWO observer groups that have been critical of the just ended presidential election were funded by the European Union, it has been learnt. 
	
	
 Diplomatic sources yesterday said the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Parliamentary Forum observer mission and the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) were funded by the EU, which was kicked out of Zimbabwe and denied the opportunity to observe the election. 
	
	
 The two groups have criticised the election process with the Sadc Parliamentary Forum saying it did not meet the regional grouping's standards on elections. But the Sadc Ministerial Task Force said the election was free and fair. 
	
	
 The foreign-funded local NGO, ZESN, described the poll as chaotic. 
	
	
 According to the sources, the EU which was barred by the Government from observing the election because some of its members were openly supporting the MDC, sent a Ms Maria Macchiaverna to "support the financial management of our assistance" to the Sadc Parliamentary Forum and ZESN. 
	
	
 The sources said the EU advised the Government of the arrival of the official in a letter dated March 8, seeking assistance for her to be cleared by immigration authorities. 
	
	
 "This explains why the two groups were critical of the election. They were paid and asked to paint a bad picture and they have done it. It is easy to paint a bad picture because one can do it even with eyes closed since one would have been paid to do so," the sources said. 
	
	
 Despite these negative reports, most observer groups have declared the election free and fair. 
	
	
 The Sadc ministerial observer team yesterday congratulated President Mugabe on his victory. 
	
	
 The team met President Mugabe at Zimbabwe House where it briefed him of its opinion that the presidential election was substantially free and fair, despite a view to the contrary by the West. 
	
	
 Speaking on behalf of the team, Angolan Deputy Information and Social Services Minister Mr Manuel Augusto said Africa was best qualified to judge the poll because some Western countries had prejudged the outcome. 
	
	
 "I don't know of any Sadc country that two months ago already said that X or Y would win the election but we know countries that two months ago predicted the result of the election. 
	
	
 "The Europeans have their own views on Africa and we have our own on Africa. We will leave Zimbabwe with a sense of accomplishment after observing the election," he told reporters after meeting Cde Mugabe. 
	
	
 He added: "We came to witness the election, to observe. We didn't come to vote and the results of the election were the true will of the Zimbabwean people. We saw the same thing but with different views which is normal." 
	
	
 The Tanzanian and Democratic Republic of Congo observer teams also met President Mugabe to congratulate him on his victory and said the election had been free and fair.	






Document 00100270 ends.



   Venezuelan military forces President Hugo Chavez to resign after a day of bloodshed

 


Author:     JORGE RUEDA

  CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - President Hugo Chavez, whose social 
and economic policies polarized Venezuela and whose friendship 
with Cuba irritated the United States, resigned under military 
pressure Friday after a massive opposition demonstration ended 
in a bloodbath.

  Chavez, 47, presented his resignation to the military after top 
commanders confronted him at the presidential palace. He left 
the palace before dawn- wearing military fatigues and red beret, 
as he did when he led a failed 1992 coup - and was put in 
detention at Caracas' Fort Tiuna army base.

  He quit just hours after at least 13 people were killed and a 
reported 110 wounded during a demonstration by an estimated 
150,000 opposition supporters in downtown Caracas.

  Military officers said Chavez had ordered National Guard troops 
and civilian gunmen, including rooftop snipers, to stop the 
marchers from reaching the palace.

  The gigantic demonstration in Caracas late Thursday was the 
culmination of a strike called by the one-million-member 
Venezuelan Workers Confederation and the business association 
Fedecamaras. The strike was in support of the protesting 
executives at the state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela.

  Opposition to Chavez's three-year presidency had been growing 
for some time. His one-time 80 per cent popularity ratings 
plunged to below 30 per cent this year. He accused business 
leaders of conspiring with major labour groups, the news media 
and the Roman Catholic hierarchy to overthrow him.

  The armed forces - which have traditionally strong ties to the 
U.S. military - resented Chavez's distancing of Venezuela from 
Washington, including a decision to suspend Venezuela's 
participation in regional military exercises.

  Many also resented Chavez's alleged ties with leftist Colombian 
guerrillas and with Fidel Castro's Cuba. A number of senior 
officers in the Venezuelan military had fought Cuban-backed 
communist guerrillas in the 1960s and early 1970s.

  With Chavez's ouster, jubilant executives at Venezuela's state 
oil monopoly, who had been engaged in a work slowdown, promised 
to bring production and exports up to speed as quickly as 
possible. Venezuela is the No. 3 supplier of oil to the United 
States and the world's fourth-biggest exporter.

  Oil prices dipped on news of Chavez' downfall, amid expectations 
of a production increase. Oil markets have been concerned over 
supply after Iraq's decision this week to suspend exports to 
Israeli allies.

  In London, Brent crude oil opened 44 cents down from Thursday at 
$24.60 US a barrel. In New York, May contracts of light sweet 
U.S. crude fell 46 cents a barrel to $24.53 US.

  Pedro Carmona, head of Venezuela's largest business association, 
announced he would head a transitional government to be 
installed later Friday.

  Chavez was being held at the army base while investigators 
decide what charges he could face, said army commander Gen. 
Efrain Vasquez Velasco.

  Chavez asked to be allowed to go into exile in Cuba, but the 
military turned him down, army Gen. Roman Fuemayor told 
Globovision television.

  
"He has to be held accountable to his country," Fuemayor said.

  In downtown Caracas, streets were littered with debris - and in 
some places, stained with blood. Shops and businesses remained 
closed, and most people simply stayed home, stunned and 
wondering what would come next. Buses were half-empty, and those 
reporting to work hurried amidst rubble-strewn sidewalks.

  Thousands of coup supporters celebrated overnight, waving flags, 
blowing whistles and jamming a main highway in Caracas.

  Police warned that Chavez supporters reportedly were 
distributing weapons, especially in the hillside slums 
surrounding the capital. Officers raided storehouses, seizing 
dozens of firearms.

  Chavez remains widely popular among Venezuela's poor, a large 
percentage of the population.

  "I urge Venezuelans to maintain calm, to keep faith, to continue 
working on the road toward democracy, freedom and peace," said 
retired Gen. Guaicaipuro Lameda, who until February headed the 
oil company and was a leader of the movement to oust Chavez.

  The Bush administration said it was closely monitoring the 
political upheaval in Venezuela. "Our interests are in democracy 
and democratic institutions," said a senior U.S. official 
travelling with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell in 
Jerusalem.

  The wave of protests marked the end for a president whose rule 
had been a stormy one.

  Chavez had irritated Washington with his close ties to Cuban 
President Fidel Castro, visits to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein 
and to Libya, and criticism of U.S. bombings in Afghanistan.

  And he had alienated many sectors of Venezuelan society, with 
his attacks on the news media and Roman Catholic Church leaders, 
his refusal to consult with business leaders, and his failed 
attempt to assert government control over labour groups.

  Chavez's government also inherited a staggering $21 billion US 
in back wages and pensions owed workers by previous 
administrations - a debt he was unable to pay.

  Domestic opponents claimed his government was secretly arming 
neighbourhood block committees known as Bolivarian Circles, 
named after South American liberator Simon Bolivar, to defend 
his revolution. The circles were created after Castro urged 
Chavez's supporters to organize during a 2000 visit.

  Chavez also exasperated Venezuelans with his frequent use of 
"cadenas" - hours-long presidential speeches that by law had to 
be broadcast by all Venezuelan TV and radio stations.

  The oil executives launched their slowdown last week, cutting 
production at the Paraguana refinery complex, one of the world's 
largest, to below 50 per cent capacity. They closed another 
refinery, disrupted gasoline deliveries and all but stopped 
loading of oil tankers. Oil generates 80 per cent of Venezuela's 
foreign earnings.

  The air force chief, Gen. Regulo Anselmi, said the military 
urged Chavez on Wednesday to negotiate. He agreed, but by then 
the Petroleos de Venezuela executives rejected his overtures.

  After Thursday's violence, the high command decided Chavez had 
to go, and they confronted him en masse in his offices, Anselmi 
said. Troops seized the government television station as tanks 
rumbled on the streets.



Copyright @ 2002 National Post Online |




Document 00100271 ends.


	
Hamburg -- Some 200 German Border Guard officers working in cooperation with the Hamburg prosecutors' office on Wednesday cracked a ring of Afghan smugglers who have been operating throughout Europe. 
	
	
 Officials say that the smuggling ring had been illegally bringing fellow nationals into Germany via Austria since at least October 2001. Many of the refugees then travelled by rail from Hamburg to Britain via Brussels. Others took trains, vans and cars onto ferries destined for Scandinavia. The Afghans paid gang members up to 9,000 euros ($7,900) to make the trip. 
	
	
 The border guard officers searched a total of 16 apartments, stores and offices downtown and in Hamburg's Altona, Billstedt, Schnelsen, and Harburg districts, detaining 14 suspects. An arrest warrant for the suspected leader of the gang, an Afghan, was also served. Police seized 33,9000 euros -- believed to be earnings from smuggling operations -- in the apartment of the 35-year-old suspected ringleader. 
	
	
 Two men who were working with him, an Afghan and a Pakistani, were arrested as well. Eleven others were taken into custody, seven of whom were also members of the smuggling ring. The remaining four turned out to be Afghan refugees. A further four suspects were arrested in a similar operation in Frankfurt. 
	
	
 Police interrogators were told the refugees had been "parked" and were working illegally in northern Germany until they could be moved to other locations. 
	
	
 Sites in the towns of Ratzeburg and Uelzen were also searched in connection with the raid, said Wieland Mozdzynski, director of the Hamburg office of the border guard. 
	
	
 Mr. Mozdzynski said that during the operation, which stretched as far as the state of Bavaria and Austria, police had uncovered an "international network of groups, each with specific tasks." He added that the groups worked independently, but exploited existing contacts regularly. According to a police spokesman, more than 500 officers took part in the joint operation. 
	
	
 Another officer said the loose structure of the smuggling ring made the investigation more difficult. He said that the bust was nevertheless a significant and successful strike against gangs and businesses engaged in human smuggling.	





Document 00100273 ends.


	
SHANGHAI, Oct 16 (AFP) - Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar warned Tuesday that prolonged military attacks on Afghanistan could destabilise the Islamic world and reiterated calls for the US to end the campaign quickly. 
	
	
 "We hope it can be ended as soon as possible," Syed Hamid told AFP in an interview here ahead of a ministerial gathering of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. 
	
	
 "If it goes on, we are worried. Islamic countries are with the US in combatting terrorism but we don't want it to be prolonged because it can create trouble and instability all around the Islamic world," he said. 
	
	
 "We are worried that Islamic states like ourselves that support the US efforts, ultimately the population will rise against us, seeing all these innocent people being killed ... we don't want the war to be seen or to be perceived as a war against Islam." 
	
	
 Syed Hamid said the international community must deal with terrorism rationally and form a new "security architecture" to combat what he described as a "new dimension of crime against humanity" in the long term. 
	
	
 "For continued world economic development and growth, security architecture is important. This is not the conventional security but it is internal and we must look at terrorism and its sources," he said. 
	
	
 "At the moment the focus is on Taliban and Osama bin Laden, but after that what happens? 
	
	
 "Over the long term, we have to look at how terrorism manifests itself and have an international convention where terrorism is properly defined and where it is considered as a crime against humanity so there can be a proper tribunal." 
	
	
 Syed Hamid said critics must also accept that the war against terrorism could affect civil liberties. 
	
	
 "One cannot be too philosophical or idealistic about civil liberties when they can jeopardise peace and security, law and order in a country." 
	
	
 Opposition groups in Malaysia have expressed concern that the government of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is using the US-led war on terror as a pretext to crack down on legitimate dissent. 
	
	
 Mahathir will be among APEC leaders, including US President George W. Bush, convening in Shanghai this weekend for an annual summit. 
	
	
 The summit is set to issue an anti-terrorism declaration at the conclusion of the largest gathering of world leaders since the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. 
	
	
 The declaration was necessary because terrorism was the "most dangerous enemy of law-abiding citizens and an affront against law and democracy", Syed Hamid said. 
	
	
 Predominantly Muslim Malaysia supports the US hunt for terrorists but opposes the attacks on Afghanistan. Mahathir has urged the United Nations to convene an international meeting on terrorism. 
	
	
	





Document 00100274 ends.



Ministry Criticizes 'Odious' U.S. Report

 



  The Foreign Ministry said Thursday that it was "surprised, to 
put it mildly" by the U.S. State Department's criticism of 
Russia's human rights record and objected in particular to the 
"odious" section on Chechnya.

  "One gets the impression that its writers simply used old 
drafts, as if nothing had happened in either Russia or the 
United States in recent years, as if the events of Sept. 11, 
2001 had not occurred and the international community had not 
closed ranks in the battle against terrorism," the ministry said 
in a statement.

  The State Department's annual human rights report, which was 
published Monday, said Russia had a poor record regarding the 
independence and freedom of the media and in Chechnya. Russian 
security forces in Chechnya have "demonstrated little respect 
for basic human rights and there were credible reports of 
serious violations, including numerous reports of extrajudicial 
killings by both the government and Chechen fighters," the 
report said.

  Russian officials from President Vladimir Putin on down have 
portrayed the conflict in Chechnya as a war against 
international terrorists. U.S. officials have partially endorsed 
that view, pointing to rebel leaders such as Shamil Basayev and 
the Jordanian-born Omar Ibn al Khattab, who are believed to have 
financial and other ties to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist 
network.

  However, U.S. officials also note that some of the rebels do not 
have international ties, and they have criticized Russian 
military and police abuse of civilians -- although the criticism 
was toned down greatly after Russia became an enthusiastic 
member of the anti-terrorist coalition, sharing intelligence 
information, opening its airspace to humanitarian flights and 
giving a green light to U.S. military deployment in Central 
Asia.

  The Foreign Ministry said that the State Department 
pronouncement on Chechnya reflected the efforts of "certain 
circles" in the United States that object to the new 
U.S.-Russian partnership against international terrorism.

  "These circles have persistently tried to reanimate the 'Chechen 
problem,' and turn it again into an irritant in the 
Russian-American dialogue," the ministry said.

  The ministry also suggested that before judging others' rights 
records, the United States should investigate the situation at 
home, including the government's failure to ratify some 
international human rights agreements and the use of the death 
penalty. Russia introduced a moratorium on capital punishment, a 
prerequisite for joining the Council of Europe, in 1996.






Document 00100275 ends.


	

	
	
 Text of report in English by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS 
	
	
 Tashkent, 14 November: Japanese investment in Uzbekistan in the last 10 years reached 1.3bn US dollars, Uzbek President Islam Karimov said in a meeting with Japanese lawmakers in Tashkent on Wednesday [14 November]. He said this investment was made in various industries, including health care, education, and in improvement of water supplies in the country. Karimov stressed that trade turnover between Uzbekistan and Japan in 2001 is expected to be quite good. In the first 10 months of this year, it was 133m US dollars, which is almost double of the amount of last year when it was 71m US dollars. 
	
	
	





Document 00100276 ends.


	
[Computer selected and disseminated without FBIS editorial intervention] 
	
	
 Islamabad, Oct. 18 (Jiji Press) -- Pakistani Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz will visit Japan as early as late October as a special envoy of President Pervez Musharraf, Pakistani government officials said Thursday. 
	
	
 He will be the first Pakistani minister to visit Japan since the United States began air strikes against Afghanistan in early October. 
	
	
 Aziz will stay in Japan around five days and meet with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa, the government officials said. 
	
	
 In meetings with Japanese officials, Aziz will explain impacts of Afghan refugees flooding into Pakistan on its economy, they said. 
	
	
 He is expected to give Koizumi Musharraf's letter implicitly asking for Japan's debt relief for Pakistan.	





Document 00100277 ends.


	
China has launched three unmanned spacecraft consecutively and exhibited to the world the capsules recovered. People have seen the true features of these space capsules. What exactly then is a manned spaceship? 
	
	
 It is learned that the manned spaceship will have a liftoff weight of about eight tonnes, and is less than 10 meters long and 3.5 meters in diameter. It can carry two to three astronauts and continue to cruise in space for more than 20 days. 
	
	
 The spaceship has been designed with comprehensive reference to the Russian spaceship Soyuz. The spaceship is composed of three cylindrical capsules, with the orbiter capsule fitted on the forefront. Its interior is equipped with corresponding facilities for space observation and space drug and microgravity tests. The return capsule, connected to the orbiter capsule, is the cockpit of the astronauts and the only capsule that will reenter the atmosphere for landing. Three reclining seats will be installed in the capsule for astronauts. Instrument panel, control shaft, and optical telescope will be installed below the seats. At the rear of the spaceship is the propulsion capsule to provide thrust to the spaceship in orbital control and return to earth. In accordance with the plan, China's manned spaceship will conduct a series of scientific tests and earth observation after it is launched into space. 
	
	
 Space technology will not only be used for civilian, but also for military purposes, and there is no exception for China. It is speculated that the spaceship will almost certainly be equipped with facilities relating to military observation and attack on enemy satellites. Therefore, the manned spaceflight will enable China to have preliminary space combat capability. 
	
	
 According to the experience of the United States and Russia, one of the greatest problems of manned spaceship is inadequate power supply. The solar energy batteries usually cannot meet the needs of numerous equipment on a spaceship. However, it is understood that China has successfully resolved this problem to provide sufficient power supply for its spaceship. After completing the orbital flight, the spaceship will adjust itself to the return position by following ground command and ignite the engine to change to the orbit for returning to the earth. Before gliding into the atmosphere, the orbiter and propulsion capsules will be discarded. 
	
	
 By referring to the designs of the Russia spaceship Soyuz, it is very possible that China will apply the lift control technology in its manned spaceship. This technology will enable the spaceship to limit its mobility in the atmosphere. In the altitude of about several thousands of meters, the return capsule will eject the parachutes to further reduce the speed. It is reported that in the past China's recovery site for returning satellites was in the mountains of Sichuan Province. 
	
	
 To facilitate recovery and rescue in future manned spaceflight, the recovery site will be located in sparsely populated grassland or the wilderness. Judging from the selection of recovery sites for the two previous flights, the site for recovering the manned spaceship may be situated in the grassland of Inner Mongolia. 
	
	
 The next step after the land recovery, China may change to recovering the manned spaceship on the sea. 
	
	
 An informed source has said that it can be seen that the designs for China's manned spaceflight have taken into consideration future modifications. For the next flight, the top of the spaceship's orbiter capsule may be installed with a docking module for docking tests between two spaceships. The concerned person said that this is a prelude to China's space station development plan.	





Document 00100278 ends.


	
SARAJEVO, Jan 18 (ONASA) -- The decision on extradition of six Algerians to the United States is in accordance with the responsibility and authorities of the BiH Federation bodies and international obligations, the coordination team for anti-terrorism said in a statement on Friday [18 January]. 
	
	
 "One cannot neglect the fact that BiH, as member of the United Nations, is obliged to strictly respect the UN resolution dated September 28 last year, which obliges UN members to cooperate on the plan of exchange of information and cooperation on prevention of terrorist activities," read a statement from the team. 
	
	
 Bosnian authorities have handed over to US custody six Algerians detained in October on suspicion of involvement in terrorism but ordered released this week by a local court, the US embassy said on Friday. 
	
	
 In Washington, a senior official told Reuters the US military planned to quickly move the six to the American Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where al-Qa'ida and Taliban detainees from the war in Afghanistan are being held. 
	
	
 "The plan is to move them to Guantanamo Bay," the US official said, without specifying when. 
	
	
 Earlier, the US embassy in Sarajevo said in a statement: "The six Algerian nationals who have been detained by BiH (Bosnia and Herzegovina) authorities since mid-October have been transferred to US custody. 
	
	
 "We have taken custody of these individuals due to our concern about their activity in BiH, which both posed a credible security threat to US personnel and facilities and demonstrated involvement in international terrorism," it said. 
	
	
 Washington insisted it would not have acted without credible evidence, but the transfer exposed it to more criticism from campaigners who have accused it of disregarding human rights in its declared "war on terror." 
	
	
 The six have been accused of having links to the al-Qa'ida network of fugitive Usama Bin Ladin. 
	
	
 A Bosnian government official said legal procedures had been respected in the case, but a senior UN human rights officer in Bosnia said they had been "trampled over." 
	
	
 Not only had a court ordered their release on Thursday but the state's top human rights body had instructed authorities to prevent four being taken out of the country by force. 
	
	
 "It's very disappointing," Madeleine Rees, head of the Bosnia office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said of the operation. "It violates the rule of law." 
	
	
 Washington is already under fire from human rights groups for its treatment of prisoners captured in Afghanistan and held at Guantanamo Bay. 
	
	
 The United States has not given the captives the status of prisoners of war, which would grant them certain rights under the 1949 Geneva Convention. 
	
	
 The Supreme Court of Bosnia's Muslim-Croat federation ruled on Thursday there was no reason to detain the six. All were Algerians, although one also had a Yemeni passport possibly obtained fraudulently, international officials said. 
	
	
 Local police arrested them in October, acting on a US tip after threats closed the US and British embassies for several days. International officials said US officials had not been willing to provide Bosnia's justice system with the intelligence information that prompted their detention. 
	
	
 Five of the six also held Bosnian citizenship but were stripped of it after their arrest. The men had appealed against that decision, however, and Rees said they should not have been deported until that process was complete. 
	
	
 A Bosnian government official insisted the appeal had already been rejected and legal procedures had been followed. 
	
	
 He said the government had not been aware of the ruling by Bosnia's Human Rights Chamber that measures should be taken to stop four of the suspects being taken out of the country. 
	
	
 "The legal procedure in this case has been fully respected so far," said Jusif Halilagic, a deputy minister who represents the government in the chamber. 
	
	
 More than 100 protesters gathered outside Sarajevo's central prison on Thursday night. They tried to block vehicles presumably taking the suspects to hand them over to US forces. 
	
	
 US soldiers form a substantial part of Bosnia's NATO-led peacekeeping force. 
	
	
 The US embassy said the suspects would be treated humanely and in accordance with international law.	





Document 00100279 ends.


	
STRASBOURG, Nov 29 (AFP) -- Three leading international organisations warned jointly Thursday [29 November] that the international fight against terrorism should not be a pretext for the violation of human rights. 
	
	
 The Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said they were responding to recent "worrying developments" in some countries regarding human rights following the September 11 attacks. 
	
	
 "While we recognize that the threat of terrorism requires specific measures, we call on all governments to refrain from any excessive steps which would violate fundamental freedoms and undermine legitimate dissent," a joint statement issued in Strasbourg, Geneva and Warsaw said. 
	
	
 UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, Walter Schwimmer, Secretary General of the Council of Europe and Ambassador Gerard Stoudmann of the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights said it was essential "that states strictly adhere to their international obligations to uphold human rights and fundamental freedoms" in the fight against terrorism. 
	
	
 Robinson, a particularly critical voice in guarding against human rights abuses in the wake of the September 11 attacks, said Wednesday the war on terrorism was taking a heavy toll on civil liberties. 
	
	
 The statement comes two days after the British House of Commons passed emergency legislation allowing the detention of terrorist suspects without trial, and the killing of hundreds of Taliban inmates in a prison uprising in Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan earlier this week. 
	
	
 The killings prompted a call by London-based rights group Amnesty International for an inquiry into the affair. 
	
	
 All three groups said it was essential that governments strike a balance between "legitimate national security concerns and fundamental freedoms that is fully consistent with their international law commitments." 
	
	
 The statement listed what it said were essential rights that could not be hollowed out because of the fight against terrorism. 
	
	
 These were: the right to life, freedom of expression and religion and freedom from torture, while it also urged that the retroactive imposition of more severe penalties for crimes be avoided. 
	
	
 The United States earlier this week hinted it may expand its war against terrorism beyond Afghanistan to Iraq, bringing swift criticism from both Germany and France, who called for restraint in the future of the military campaign.	





Document 00100284 ends.


	
BEIJING, Sept 27 (AFP) - China has arrested a number of suspected separatists in its territory bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan as part of a security clampdown ahead of possible US military strikes in the region, local officials said Thursday. 
	
	
 Large numbers of People's Liberation Army troops have also been seen on the move in the Muslim-majority region of Xinjiang, to the far west of China, they said. 
	
	
 "Many people have been arrested in the past weeks, including suspected separatists and criminals," said an official at the minority religious affairs bureau in Kashgar, Xinjiang, China's furthest west city. 
	
	
 "Public sentencing rallies have been going on in many counties around Kashgar," the official, who identified himself only as Yakefu, told AFP. 
	
	
 He also said increasing troop movements had been seen at night around Kashgar, but was unsure where they were going or what their orders were. 
	
	
 Another official said Thursday the main expert on Xinjiang from the US embassy in Beijing had been dispatched to the region to discuss regional attitudes to the devastating terror attacks on the US two weeks ago and to Afganistan's ruling ultra-Islamic Taliban regime. 
	
	
 Diplomat Arthur Marquardt arrived in Kashgar on Saturday and left Wednesday for the provincial capital of Urumqi, said Dong Jianhua at the Kashgar foreign affairs bureau. 
	
	
 Marquardt held separate meetings with police, the minority religious affairs office and other departments, she said. 
	
	
 "They were talking about China's 'development of the West' program, China's policies on minority nationalities, our opinions on the September 11 attack and the Taliban forces," she said. 
	
	
 China has been keeping a particularly close eye on the situation in Xinjiang as expectation mounts the US will launch military action against Afghanistan, home to the suspected mastermind of the terror attacks, Osama bin Laden [Usama Bin Ladin]. 
	
	
 Foreign ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao said Tuesday China would take "all necessary measures" to ensure the stability of its border regions ahead of any US retaliatory strikes. 
	
	
 Authorities are only too aware that Kashgar is 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles) from Beijing but only a tenth of the distance from the Pakistani border, and are desperate to ensure instability or militancy does not leak over the frontiers. 
	
	
 There have been a series of bomb blasts in recent years in Urumqi and Beijing, linked to Xinjiang separatists seeking to establish an independent state of East Turkistan. 
	
	
 However Dong of the Kashgar foreign affairs bureau said the security clampdown was usual, and linked to next week's national day holiday. 
	
	
 "This crackdown is very normal, we always do these things every year before public holidays," she said. 
	
	
 She stressed the atmosphere in Kashgar, an ancient city along the historic Silk Road, was peaceful, although tourism and border trade in the region had been affected by the security situation. 
	
	
 "Many tour groups have been cancelled, so the region's tourism has been affected," she said. 
	
	
 In neighboring Hetian city, a hotbed of Muslim separatists in the impoverished southern part of Xinjiang that also borders Pakistan, the situation was also "peaceful", said an official at the city's foreign affairs office. 
	
	
	





Document 00100287 ends.


	
France: second ever mad cow disease case in northeast department discovered 
	
	
 Text of report by French news agency AFP 
	
	
 Nancy, 13 August (AFP): The second ever case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE, mad cow disease) in Meurthe-et-Moselle [department in northeast France] was diagnosed on Monday [13 August], in Longuyon, in the north of the department, in a cow born in 1994, the FDSEA [Departmental Federation of Farmers' Trade Unions] announced in a statement. The Charolais breed cow, was part of the GAEC (Agricultural Cooperative Grouping) Bruyeres herd in Longuyon, showed signs of the illness and was slaughtered. The test, which was carried out in conformity with the rules for such cases, raised suspicions of BSE, which were later confirmed. The herd is made up of 220 cattle which will have to be slaughtered, according to the rules. The first BSE case [in Meurthe-et-Moselle] was discovered on 17 July in a Charolais bull, in the south of the department. 
	
	
	





Document 00100290 ends.


	
AMMAN (JT) -- The Higher Court of Justice on Monday held the first session of a case filed by opposition parties contesting the recently endorsed temporary Elections Law. 
	
	
 According to the parties' lawyer, Rateb Juneidi, the court presided by Judge Abdullah Hadad, examined the charge sheets and arguments presented and adjourned until Dec. 31. 
	
	
 The Opposition Parties' Higher Coordination Committee had contested the temporary law on Sept. 16, on the grounds it was "unconstitutional." 
	
	
 The parties argued that there were "no emergency circumstances" warranting the enactment of a temporary law on elections. The Constitution allows the executive branch to issue temporary laws in the absence of Parliament, provided there is a "state of emergency." 
	
	
 The law, which clarified voting procedures but maintained the controversial one-person, one-vote formula, was endorsed by the government in July, just over a month after the dissolution of the Lower House. 
	
	
 Political parties and professional associations have also moved to contest several temporary laws including the one on public gatherings, as well as amendments to the Penal Code 
	
	
	





Document 00100291 ends.


       

Security Pacific Corp. has set its sights on buying its second bank holding company this year. 

Security said it signed a letter of intent to purchase La Jolla Bancorp, agreeing to pay $15 of its own stock for each share of La Jolla.
Based on the current number of La Jolla shares, that gives the transaction a value of $104 million. 

La Jolla is the parent company of La Jolla Bank & Trust Co., which has 12 branches in San Diego County.
As of Sept. 30, the bank had assets of $511 million and deposits of $469 million, Security Pacific said. 

Earlier this month, Security Pacific, which is among the 10 largest bank holding companies in the U.S., completed the acquisition of San Diego-based Southwest Bancorp. 




Document 00100293 ends.


	
Seeing in believing, and the longer you live the more you see. It was written, the episode was broadcast live, and there was no way that those words from the president of the Republic were adulterated, deformed, or falsified by the hidden agents of the media conspiracy. No. He asserted, in these exact words, this barbarism: "4 February is not just any date, it is a historic date we can well compare to 19 April 1810, when that civic-military rebellion also opened a new path towards national independence." 
	
	
 No one had gone so far in the anthology of rhetorical follies, or in falsifying history. No one had ever tried to compare themselves to, and put themselves in the same position, as the founders of the nation, as the thwarted leader of the 4 February 1992 coup has now tried to do. What is there about a coup against the constitutional order that could resemble the most important day in Venezuelan history? In what way can Lieutenant Colonel Hugo Chavez be seen as comparable to Jose Felix Ribas, Francisco Salias, the philosopher Juan German Roscio, or Canon Jose Cortes de Madariaga? 
	
	
 No. This is a simple lack of respect, an abuse of history, an unacceptable degradation. Chavez did not try to overthrow Fernando VII, and if it had been up to him we would still be under the domination of the Bourbon dynasty. 4 February is one of the most terrible days in Venezuelan history. If he wants to look for a comparison, maybe he would find one in the likewise thwarted coup by Colonel Pedro Carujo against Jose Maria Vargas. Comparing it with 19 April 1810 is another armed coup and must be rejected with all determination by the academies and by those who in one way or another must preserve our historical legacy from adulteration or deceitful use. 4 February upset the lives of Venezuelans with the ghost of a military insurgency that we had all thought had been overcome, because it belonged to past eras and because the armed forces were fully within the legitimate order, complying with institutional precepts, far from the meddling forbidden by the constitution. 
	
	
 In fact, the armed forces made great contributions to the country's stability, because when each sector of Venezuelan society complies with what is set out for it in the legal order, countries are preserved from the vicissitudes of coup plotters. President Chavez himself now boasts of having spent 20 years conspiring -- that is, eroding the armed forces' loyalty -- to achieve his goal of conquering power. This is a great demonstration of political cynicism. 4 February was not only a military failure for Chavez; it was also an episode that caused enormous losses, human and economic, for all Venezuelans. There were numerous deaths, and no one can feel proud of the consequences. 4 February was such a failure that Chavez, even though it pained him, had to accept democratic methods to reach power. That was what happened in 1998, and still today, Chavez gives constant demonstrations of discontent and irritation at having been democratically elected. 
	
	
 The reason for this is simple: He has to respect the democratic rules of the game, the freedom of expression that causes him so many nightmares, the presence of the fundamental institutions of the nation whose right to exist he denies. He wants to disguise the failed date of 4 February to create the collective illusion of a military victory, which would permit him to govern us from Miraflores as if he really had reached power that day. Imagine what would have happened to us Venezuelans if in fact on that terrible day the lieutenant colonel, instead of staying in the museum, had advanced on the government building with the vast forces backing him. 
	
	
 Once he was taken prisoner, democracy exhausted all its generosity, just as Vargas did with Carujo. Venezuelan democracy has not given anyone as much as it gave Chavez. He should acknowledge these debts and make the effort to learn to live in a democracy, respecting others' rights. This system of freedoms made him president of the Republic. Trying to destroy it now is inconsistent. We must prevent his attempt to exercise power as if he had won on 4 February. This was not the case, and the Venezuelan people rejected him as a coup participant. Today, with this official "celebration," Venezuela is in mourning. 
	
	
	





Document 00100294 ends.



   It's not another ice age, but at least it's cooler

 



  As countries gear up for battles over ratifying the 1997 Kyoto 
Protocol, a recent study suggests that the world already has 
stepped along the path to a future cooler than it might have 
been.

  Researchers at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) 
in New York report that declining greenhouse-gas emissions since 
the late 1980s have slowed the growth rate of the atmosphere's 
ability to retain heat.

  The researchers link the slower rate to implementation of the 
1987 Montreal Protocol, in which countries agreed to phase out 
production of gases that erode the Earth's protective ozone 
layer. Known collectively as chlorofluorocarbons, these gases 
also trap heat thousands of times as effectively as carbon 
dioxide - the main focus of Kyoto.

  If the rate of increase in greenhouse gases had been maintained 
at the peak reached in 1980, the climate by 2050 would have 
reached temperatures not currently anticipated until 2100, when 
CO 2 concentrations in the atmosphere are expected to have 
doubled, the researchers calculate.

  The slowdown also "is due in part to the slower growth of 
methane and carbon dioxide, for reasons that aren't well 
understood and need more study," notes James Hansen, the NASA 
researcher who conducted the study with Makiko Sato, also with 
the GISS. The slower growth in carbon-dioxide concentrations 
could be due to increased CO 2 uptake by land-based plants and 
marine organisms, he suggests.

  The work grows out of a longer-term effort by the two scientists 
to explore paths to adjusting the globe's thermostat other than 
the politically charged effort embodied in the Kyoto Protocol. 
By focusing on carbon dioxide, the pact sets its sights on 
curbing the greenhouse gas held most responsible for 
contributing to the climate's warming during the past century. 
But curbs on CO 2 mean curbs on burning coal, oil, and natural 
gas - the fuels of booming economies.

  Drs. Hansen and Sato argue that policymakers can make 
significant headway by attacking other pollutants such as black 
carbon soot, ozone (smog) in the lower atmosphere, and methane 
from landfills, mining, and oil and gas production. The duo 
calculates that by reducing methane emissions by 30 percent, for 
example, the effect on climate would be comparable to the effect 
from cuts in CO 2 envisioned by the Kyoto Protocol during its 
first commitment period, which runs from 2008 to 2012. Their 
study appeared in the Dec. 18, 2001, issue of the Proceedings of 
the National Academy of Science.

  
back to top

  
Untitled


Copyright @ 2002 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights 
reserved.




Document 00100298 ends.



   Mugabe victory leaves West in tatters

 



  HARARE: Western countries were left frustrated and impotent 
after Robert Mugabe formally declared that he had overwhelmingly 
won Zimbabwe's presidential election.

  The extent to which Mugabe outmanoeuvred the west was made clear 
when southern African countries issued a surprise statement 
declaring the conduct of the election free and fair. The move is 
almost certain to scupper any hope of the Commonwealth 
suspending Zimbabwe next week.

  At the weekend the European Union, prodded by Britain, is 
planning to extend the range of sanctions against Zimbabwe, 
targeting more members of the leadership. Earlier this year, the 
EU imposed a travel ban on Mugabe and 19 members of his regime 
and froze their overseas assets. But there were no illusions in 
Britain or elsewhere in Europe that the measures will have any 
real leverage in Harare.

  The Zimbabwe registrar-general, Tobaiwa Mudede, declared that 
Mugabe had won a fifth term in office after the results from all 
120 constituencies were returned. He said Mugabe had won 
1,685,212 votes against 1,258,401 for challenger Morgan 
Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

  "We foresaw electoral fraud but not daylight robbery," 
Tsvangirai said. "We find ourselves unable to endorse the 
purported election of President Robert Mugabe as Zimbabwe's 
president in this election. It's the biggest election fraud I've 
witnessed in my life."

  The MDC leader said the onus was on "the people" to lead the 
way, whether passively or not. "We seek no confrontation with 
the state because that's what they want. But the people 
themselves have to decide what action to take," he said.

  In the Harare townships where people stood in line for two days 
to vote in the belief that they were consigning Mugabe to 
history, angry residents looked to Tsvangirai to confront the 
government.

  "We need Tsvangirai to tell Mugabe he cannot steal this 
election," said Noel Gukuta, a youthful MDC voter. "The soldiers 
have guns so we cannot fight him but we can make sure he cannot 
rule us. We must strike, we must march, we must show that we are 
not goats." The country took the news of Mugabe's victory with 
no great celebrations or protests.

  The government, sensing murmurs about revolt, put the army on 
full alert, deployed troops in key townships and the police set 
up roadblocks on the main roads into Harare to stop and search 
vehicles for weapons.

  The UK foreign secretary, Jack Straw, said: "For months the 
government of Zimbabwe has conducted a systematic campaign of 
violence and intimidation, designed to achieve an outcome - 
power at all costs."

  A senior state department official in Washington later said: 
"We're considering further steps, given all the things that 
happened before and during the elections." Apart from the 
result, the main jolt yesterday was that election observers from 
South Africa, Nigeria and Namibia effectively endorsed the 
election.

  "It is our considered view that the election was free and fair 
and reflects the wishes of the people of Zimbabwe," Namibia's 
observer team said in a statement, adding that the poll was 
"watertight, without room for rigging".

  The South African team described the election as "legitimate" 
while the Nigerian observers said they had seen nothing that 
threatened the integrity of the poll.

  The Commonwealth trio to decide on action next week is made up 
of Australia, which will back suspension, the South African 
leader, Thabo Mbeki, and the Nigerian president, Olusegun 
Obasanjo. In Zimbabwe the leadership of the congress of trade 
unions is considering calling a two-day general strike to test 
whether there would be popular support for a longer protest, and 
various civil rights groups are meeting today to discuss mass 
civil disobedience. The MDC's lawyers are also studying the 
possibility of legal action.

  In the final results, Mugabe made a net gain of votes compared 
with the 2000 parliamentary election in every province in the 
country. While there was evidence of vote tampering in some 
areas, most of the ballots dropped into the box with a cross by 
Mugabe's name were not fraudulent. There has been no criticism 
of the count.

  "This is a runaway victory," said the justice minister, Patrick 
Chinamasa. "It was won on the issue of the land."-Dawn/The 
Guardian News Service.



@ The DAWN Group of Newspapers, 2002






Document 00100299 ends.


	
Kazakhstan's main seaport does brisk business 
	
	
 Text of report by Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency 
	
	
 Aktau, 22 January. The Aktau Sea Trading Port republican state enterprise (RSE) on the Caspian Sea (situated in Mangistau Region of western Kazakhstan) handled over 116,000 tonnes of cargo between 14 and 21 January [2002]. As Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency learnt at the RSE, a total of 79,000 tonnes of oil and oil products and 37,044 tonnes of dry cargo were transshipped through the port during the quoted period. On the whole, according to the RSE, 343,735 tonnes of cargo were handled through Aktau seaport between 1 and 21 January. A total of 261,841 tonnes of oil and oil products and 81,894 tonnes of dry cargo have been transshipped through the port since the start of January. Aktau seaport is Kazakhstan's only international seaport with annual transshipment capacity of 1.5m tonnes of dry cargo and 8m tonnes of oil and oil products.	





Document 001002101 ends.


	
Spain believes Camp X-Ray prisoners treated humanely 
	
	
 Text of report by Spanish news agency Efe 
	
	
 Madrid, 10 March: The government, the current holder of the rotating EU presidency, thinks that it is not appropriate to make further representations to the USA about the situation of the Taliban prisoners held at the Guantanamo base since it holds that the treatment they are receiving is "humane and reasonable". This is what the government says in several parliamentary answers requested by IU [United Left], BNG [Galician Nationalist Bloc] and IC-V [Initiative for Catalonia-Greens] to which Efe has had access and which say that "to describe the treatment applied to the prisoners as inhumane is not justified, nor do the so widely circulated and commented on photographs of the prisoners at Guantanamo reflect the humane and reasonable treatment they are being given". The government is "convinced" that the Bush administration will guarantee the fundamental rights of any prisoner and makes clear that "it has no reason to think otherwise", since the USA has expressed its readiness to guarantee these rights and has given the "appropriate assurances that the treatment given to the prisoners is the appropriate one". In its reply it recalls that from the outset the EU passed on "confidentially" its "worries" about the treatment the prisoners were receiving but it explains that both the British government and the International Committee of the Red Cross have recognized that the treatment is in line with international humanitarian norms. 
	
	
	





Document 001002103 ends.


								Ex. SNO-525
								Page 1 of 4
					       8-20010116-18161105-18200043

1	8-20010116-18161105-18200044 (3:49)
2	[dialing/ringing]
             
3	RICH: Las Vegas Cogen, this is Rich.
4	BILL: Hey, Rich. This is Bill up at Enron.
5	RICH: Bill.
6	BILL: How you doin', man?
7	RICH: Junior or Senior?
8	BILL: Ha-ha. The Third.
9	RICH: The third! What's happenin' Bill the Third.
10	BILL: Not much , man, I'm givin' you a call, ah - we got some issues for tomorrow.
11	RICH: OK.
12	BILL: You ready for some issues? You just about out of there, aren't you?
13	RICH: Um, I got a couple more hours. I ain't goin' anywhere.
14	BILL: Good.
15	RICH: All right, shoot. I've g - I've got pen and paper.
16	BILL: All right, man. I'm n - this is gonna be a word of mouth kind of thing.
17	RICH: OK.
18	BILL: Um, tonight, ah, when you finish your normal QF, so for hour ending one -
19	RICH: Right.
20	BILL: - it'll actually be tomorrow - 
21	RICH: Right.
22	BILL: - ah, we want you guys to get a little creative -
23	RICH: OK.
24	BILL: - and come up with a reason to go down.
25	RICH: OK.
26	BILL: Anything you want to do over there? Any -
27	RICH: Ah -
28	BILL: - cleaning, anything like that?
29	RICH: Yeah. Yeah. There's some stuff that we could doin' tonight.
30	BILL: That's good.
                     

								Ex. SNO-525
								Page 3 of 4
   					       8-20010116-18161105-18200043

1	RICH: Right.
2	BILL: It's supposed to be, ah, you know, kinda one of those things.
3	RICH: OK, so we're just comin' down for some maintenance, like a forced outage type thing?
4	BILL: Right.
5	RICH: And that's cool.
6	BILL: Hopefully.
7	[they laugh]
8	RICH: 'Cause the - the schedule I just got over here - well, you know what it says.
9	BILL: Yes. I'm lookin' right at it.
10	RICH: OK, it's the new schedule.
11	BILL: You just got a new one?
12	RICH: It says 'New Schedule' on the bottom. It's showin' 52 all day.
13	BILL: Oh, right. And so that's the one you're gonna want to ignore.
14	RICH: Exactly.
15	BILL: [laughs]
16	RICH: OK.
17	BILL: Yeah. So -
18	RICH: We'll take care of that.
19	BILL: So you got a - so you're checkin' a switch on the steam turbine.
20	RICH: Yeah, and whatever adjustment he makes today, is probably - tonight, is probably not
21	gonna work, so we're probably gonna have to check it tomorrow afternoon again.
22	BILL: I think that's a good plan, Rich.
23	RICH: All right.
24	BILL: I knew I could count on you.
25	RICH: No problem.
26	[REDACTED]
27	RICH: I'm sure you'll have a good time. All right. So, I gotcha covered for tomorrow.
28	BILL: Thanks a lot, Rich.
29	RICH: All right, I won't even put that in the book.
30	BILL: [laughs]



Document 001002110 ends.


	
Czech Republic: Suspicious consignment appears in Karlovy Vary 
	
	
 Text of report in English by Czech news agency CTK 
	
	
 Karlovy Vary, western Bohemia, 15 October: The police and firemen closed the surroundings of a shop in Sokolovska street in Karlovy Vary before 11:00 a.m. [0900 gmt] today due to a suspicious envelope which the shop employees had received within the mail from abroad. "The address on the envelope was written in poor Roman characters," local fire squad commander Roman Krumhanzl told CTK. Assisted by medical inspectors, firemen - wearing antichemical suits and respirators - put the envelope into a plastic bag. They are waiting for the arrival of chemical experts. 
	
	
	





Document 001002111 ends.


	
United States President George W. Bush finally announced his country's proposal for fighting the greenhouse effect. Seven months after having rejected the Kyoto Protocol because he considered it to be without scientific basis, detrimental to US economic interests, and unfair in not obliging medium-sized nations (like Brazil and India) to reduce their gas emissions in the same proportion as that imposed on industrialized countries, Bush made public the plan that, he promised, would not have any of the defects of the Kyoto Protocol and would achieve the same, if not better, results. 
	
	
 Basically, the Bush plan makes the reduction in pollution gas emissions conditional on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate. Emissions of these gases should rise at a slower pace than that of the GDP, he says. The first problem pointed out by critics is that Bush has created a new concept, that of "greenhouse gas intensity," which could be defined as the volume of gas emissions divided by GDP. It is this index that will be reduced, according to the White House, by 18 percent over the next 10 years. But what the US Government does not emphasize is that the natural tendency of the economy is for services to increase their participation in the GDP, and for industrial activities, which are the biggest energy consumers, to diminish. Therefore, that so-called 18 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions could, in fact, represent a real increase in the absolute quantity of such gases. Some environmental entities calculate that Bush's plan will lead to the US's emitting!
, in 2010, 29 percent more greenhouse gases than it did in 1990. 
	
	
 Technical arguments could go on an on, and matter little here. More important are two indisputable conclusions, both potentially embarrassing to the Bush administration and extremely threatening to the world as a whole. 
	
	
 The first is that, once again, the current US administration, faced with a controversial issue, is situating itself alongside the explicit interests of companies in the energy sector. The long- standing ties Bush and several of his leading advisors have with these companies allow us to suppose an ultimate conflict of interests that would only increase with the government's persistent alignment with their goals. The Enron scandal is already taking a significant political toll of the Bush team, which will tend to increase. But the consequences of the divorce between the US and the international community in the Kyoto Protocol case could be even more serious. 
	
	
 The second conclusion is that, contrary to what some optimists were predicting after 11 September, Bush seems to have decided to stick to a course of arrogant unilateralism when conducting his foreign policy. The break with Kyoto had been a pre-attack marker in the Bush administration, for having demonstrated the latter's absolute indifference to the opinion of even its closest allies, such as Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Japan. After the World Trade Center and Pentagon tragedies, there were some who thought that Washington's rapprochement with its traditional partners was inevitable, with the goal of defeating the threat of international terrorism. 
	
	
 However, after a brief period of shock, Bush resumed his solitary road, as he clearly demonstrated in his State of the Union speech, in which he threatened the "Axis of Evil" countries (Iran, Iraq, and North Korea) without consulting the Europeans and Japanese, who do not necessarily agree with the appropriateness of antagonizing the governments of those nations. 
	
	
 The announcement of a plan that is supposedly an alternative to the Kyoto Protocol, but which in practice rejects it in a way that cannot be taken seriously by the countries who committed themselves to it (among which is Brazil), only deserves rejection in response and to provoke in retrospect an enormous concern about what the only world superpower intends in future. 
	
	
	





Document 001002122 ends.


	
TAIPEI, Feb 17 (AFP) - Taiwan is keeping a wary eye on US President George W. Bush's China visit despite assurances by Washington that Taipei's interests would not be traded away during the trip. 
	
	
 Washington had guaranteed Taipei that it would not dilute its backing for the island in return for better relations with Beijing, Taiwan's foreign ministry spokeswoman Chang Siao-yueh told AFP. 
	
	
 "Through some proper channels, we have been told that there should not be surprises" during Bush's visit to China, she said. 
	
	
 The top US official handling Taiwan affairs, Richard Bush -- no relation of the president -- also moved to ease Taipei's concerns during his visit to the island last month. 
	
	
 "He made it clear that relations between Taipei and Washington are getting better," said Joseph Wu, deputy director of National Chengchi University's Institute of International Relations. 
	
	
 Richard Bush is chairman and managing director of the Washington-based American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) -- a body authorised by Washington to handle exchanges with Taipei since it switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979. 
	
	
 The US president embarked on a week-long tour of Asia late Saturday with stopovers planned in Japan, South Korea and China. 
	
	
 President Bush will hold a working summit with Chinese President Jiang Zemin in Beijing on February 21-22. 
	
	
 Wu said he believed overall Taiwan interests were protected from knocks by the Bush administration because of the island's "strong support" from decision-makers in the White House, State Department and Department of Defense. 
	
	
 Washington announced in April 2001 the most comprehensive arms package to Taipei since 1992, including four Kidd-class destroyers, eight diesel submarines and 12 P-3C submarine-hunting aircraft. 
	
	
 The sale infuriated Beijing which regards Taiwan an integral part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary. 
	
	
 On the eve of his departure for Asia, Bush said he would discuss with Beijing trade issues arising from China's entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the global war on terrorism and the fate of Taiwan. The president has called for a peaceful resolution of the lingering sovereignty dispute between Taipei and Beijing which split at the end of a civil war in 1949. 
	
	
 But Taiwanese officials are nonetheless concerned. 
	
	
 The foreign ministry has set up an ad hoc group which will monitor Bush's Asian trip around-the-clock and report back to President Chen Shui-bian, Chang said, adding that Taiwan's de facto embassy in Washington had been given a similar task. 
	
	
 Compounding fears is speculation that Bush may sign a fresh communique with China in return for Beijing's support on issues such as anti-terrorism and prevention of nuclear proliferation. 
	
	
 The two countries have sealed three joint communiques since the end of the 1970s. 
	
	
 The first was issued during then-president Richard Nixon's landmark trip to China in 1972 while another one, signed during the Ronald Reagan era, agreed to gradually reduce arms sales to Taiwan. 
	
	
 Wu defended the government's cautious approach warning that Beijing could try to use the situation to gain the upper hand. 
	
	
 "Taiwan's interest would be harmed if the Chinese leaders took advantage of the occasion by making remarks unfavorable to Taipei and Washington failed to defend Taipei," Wu warned. 
	
	
 Taipei was angered when then-president Bill Clinton pledged the "three nos" during his China visit in 1998. 
	
	
 Clinton said he did not support independence for Taiwan, the policy of "two Chinas" or "one China, one Taiwan" and agreed that Taiwan should not be a member of any organisation to which statehood is a requirement. 
	
	
	





Document 001002123 ends.



Bush Takes Great Leap Forward In Pledging U.S. Help In Defending Taiwan

 


Honolulu Star-Bulletin 
March 17, 2002

  
The Rising East

  Bush Takes Great Leap Forward In Pledging U.S. Help In Defending 
Taiwan

  
By Richard Halloran

  In a closed-door meeting in Florida last week, the Bush 
administration took a great leap forward in its declared policy 
that Taiwan remain separate from China so long as the people of 
Taiwan wish, even if that requires U.S. military force.

  The host of the three-day U.S.-Taiwan Defense Summit was Frank 
Carlucci, chairman of the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, onetime 
deputy director of central intelligence, national security 
adviser to President Reagan, later secretary of defense and 
possibly the most secretive official in Washington in many 
years.

  Why the meeting was so hidden was not clear, other than to avoid 
flaunting it in the face of China, which claims sovereignty over 
Taiwan and protests every American action favoring the island. 
Even so, enough leaked out to illuminate President Bush's 
policy, which has been consistent ever since he enunciated it 
during his campaign for the presidency.

  The centerpiece was a visit by Taiwan's defense minister, Tang 
Yao-ming, the first since President Carter switched U.S. 
diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979. That Tang 
was invited was more evidence that Bush has adopted the most 
pro-Taiwan posture of any president in nearly a quarter century; 
his stance differs distinctly from that of President Clinton, 
who tilted in favor of Beijing.

  The senior U.S. official at the gathering was Deputy Secretary 
of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, who has written: "It would be a 
strategic as well as a moral mistake for the United States to 
ever let China use force to have its way with Taiwan." He has 
cautioned, however, that the United States expected Taiwan to 
avoid provoking China.

  Tang asserted that Taiwan would do no such thing. After talking 
with Wolfowitz for two hours, Tang said he had guaranteed that 
his government would "by no means take any provocative step" 
toward China.

  The meeting, at an exclusive resort in St. Petersburg, brought 
out representatives of America's biggest defense contractors -- 
Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, General 
Dynamics, United Technologies, Textron, Honeywell International, 
and United Defense. Among them, they make every weapon Taiwan 
could possibly want to fend off the expanding might of China.

  China's military threat to Taiwan is not immediate. Adm. Dennis 
Blair, who commands U.S. forces in the Pacific, told Congress 
recently: "The PLA (Peoples Liberation Army) is still years away 
from the capability to take and hold Taiwan."

  The admiral cautioned, however: "Continued improvements in 
Taiwan's capabilities and development of USPACOM (United States 
Pacific Command) capabilities will be necessary to maintain 
sufficient defense."

  Bush began enunciating his policy on Taiwan in November 1999, 
saying that he would honor "our promises to the people of 
Taiwan" and "we deny the right of Beijing to impose their rule 
on a free people."

  The Republican election platform reflected the candidate's 
policy: "All issues regarding Taiwan's future must be resolved 
peacefully and must be agreeable to the people of Taiwan." It 
said that if China attacked Taiwan, "the United States will 
respond appropriately in accordance with the Taiwan Relations 
Act."

  The TRA, adopted after Carter broke relations with Taiwan, 
commits the United States to provide defensive arms to Taiwan 
and to view a threat from China with "grave concern." Bush has 
repeatedly referred to the TRA in a not-so-subtle message to 
China that the law is the bedrock of his posture on Taiwan.

  The most succinct statement of the Bush policy came from 
Secretary of State Colin Powell during his Senate confirmation 
hearing in January 2001: "We expect and demand a peaceful 
settlement, one acceptable to people on both sides of the Taiwan 
Strait."

  Shortly after Bush took office, he approved the largest U.S. 
arms sale to Taiwan, allowing Taiwan to buy four destroyers, 
eight diesel-powered submarines, 12 anti-submarine aircraft and 
a flock of missiles and other weapons.

  At the same time, he said the United States would do whatever it 
takes to help defend Taiwan. He told an interviewer: "China must 
know that if circumstances warrant, that we will uphold the 
spirit of the Taiwan Relations Act." Whatever decision Bush 
makes, a defense official said, the Pacific Command is ready "to 
respond to any potential crisis, including the use of force 
against Taiwan by China."

  The critical question: Will the Chinese, noting American 
military operations in Afghanistan, heed these warnings or will 
they miscalculate and try to call Bush's bluff?

  Richard Halloran is a former correspondent for The New York 
Times in Asia and a former editorial director of the 
Star-Bulletin. His column appears Sundays.




Document 001002126 ends.



 
     		
 	
 		
 
 	
 	
 		
 
 	
 	
 		have you ever got one of those calls that's either generated by a computer or somebody going down a list and they're either
 		offering a service or
 		they're introducing some new product in the area and
 		normally when they call you're either in the shower or you in the middle of cooking something and you had to stop everything to run to the phone
 	
 	
 		yes yes
 		that is that one that you were talking about
 	
 	
 		that was the big one i'm talking about i work weird hours
 		and invariably just about the time i'm going to sleep the phone tears off the wall
 	
 	
 		uh-huh uh-huh
 	
 	
 		and you're trying to crawl out of a half unconscious sleep and answer the phone you either hear the click as soon as you say hello you hear the click of the recording coming on
 	
 	
 		
 
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		or you hear somebody already starting reading reading off a list of stuff that they've read probably a thousand times that day already
 	
 	
 		that's true or the ones that are are generated by a computer it's just a computer voice that comes on the line those are the ones that i really really hate too
 	
 	
 		even had some of them the
 		they're voice activated and you've got to say hello twice before they'll do anything
 	
 	
 		uh-huh uh-huh yeah sometimes i i get them on my uh answering machine at home so and i hate that when i've got a whole bunch of messages and i go through them and most of them aren't from anybody at all
 	
 	
 		what i would love to see done to stop all of this
 	
 	
 		uh-huh
 	
 	
 		we've got a thing in this country you can have your phone number unlisted
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		i think a law should be passed to where any of these people i think it's great that you know freedom of speech in this country and everything
 		but if they're going to offer these services or these recorded message everything they ought to be stuck working with the phone book like everybody else instead of using a computer to go through and just go down every sequence of numbers for this certain area code and call them
 	
 	
 		um-hum yeah see i have an unlisted telephone number but i still get all of those calls and then some of them are speaking in a foreign language that i don't even understand
 		so yeah i do i really feel that that's uh an invasion of my privacy
 		i agree with you on that particular subject there
 		let me see
 	
 	
 		that's about that as far as any other everyday occurrences
 		i put a stop to some of them as far as the door-to-door either religious groups or people
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		peddling products if i wanted their products i would've either gone to the store to bought it or i would've called for their salesman salesman to come out
 	
 	
 		um-hum um-hum
 		yeah that's true living in an apartment complex though you know you can't um you can't really stop those people from coming around even though they put up signs out front that says no solicitations
 		uh but they still come up to the front door and uh you know walk around so usually what i do is i'll call the apartment manager and tell him hey there's people coming around you know and they're trying to sell something or or they're from a religious organization
 		and i really hate that i really really do i had somebody come to the door about two weeks ago
 		and um gosh it was about nine o'clock at night too it wasn't even what i would consider you know a family hour it's time to you know start going to bed and uh and it was somebody from um oh what was it the uh Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
 		and uh i've read a lot about uh that particular sect and i don't particularly care for it so i especially don't like for them to come up to my door and try and talk to me
 	
 	
 		now i agree with their right to um
 		pursue their religion of choice in that whatever manner they want to but i think they also should respect the sanctity of the American home whether it be in a house or in an apartment
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		i'm on my turf if i want them there i'll call for them otherwise i don't want to know they exist
 	
 	
 		right
 		yeah yeah no i i agree with you there though i mean they want to choose that particular religion then that's fine with me too you know as long as they don't try and pull me in and drag me in and and i don't like the way that they do it either
 		and and it's their mission as they do as they go door-to-door and they go out into the public and they actually have the uh teenagers serving two years like you would say like in an army and two years in going around and doing missionary type work
 		and i don't know i just um i just don't particularly care for that at all and that that's one thing that i feel really strongly about though is uh you know people coming up to my door especially religious organizations
 		and wanting to uh you know to try and get me to join or you know become interested in their religion because i have my own
 	
 	
 		now the part about where you said the apartment complex puts up signs that says no soliciting i've even gone so far as to put that i've got a storm door on the front of the house and i've put in
 		i don't know how much clearer it can be it's a red sign with silver letters saying no soliciting i should have guessed i guess i should make another one that says religious or otherwise because i still get
 	
 	
 		yeah yeah that's true yeah no i don't uh i don't have i didn't go that far but uh yeah i probably could do the same thing uh you know i don't have a storm door but i'm sure i could rig up something
 		but you know i don't think that that would stop people i mean it's like they they see that word and it says uh go
 		instead of stop
 		oh goodness
 	
 	
 		wonder if there'd be some way we could get these people that do this get their names their addresses and their phone numbers and then reverse it and do well that would be technically illegal it'd be harassment
 	
 	
 		
 
 		oh gosh
 	
 	
 		but i consider invasion of my privacy
 	
 	
 		yeah yeah
 	
 	
 		a harassment in itself
 	
 	
 		yeah yeah yeah that's true that's true
 		hm well what else
 	
 	
 		i believe we've pretty much summed everything up
 	
 	
 		i know but i remember you you talked about something you started off and you said well let me think
 		you talked about the telephone calls people coming and soliciting selling things at the door you said something else
 		and i can't remember what it was
 		and i thought yeah that that kind of touched a nerve right there but we got uh we got to talking about the um uh people coming to you at the front door
 	
 	
 		i'm drawing the blank
 	
 	
 		
 
 		oh goodness okay is our five minutes up
 	
 	
 		uh pretty close to it well i've enjoyed talking with you
 	
 	
 		pretty close
 		well it was nice talking to you too Jim
 	
 	
 		and take it easy now good night
 	
 	
 		okay thanks bye
 	
 	
 		
 
 	
 	
 		
 
 		
 		
 	


Document 001002127 ends.


	
TEHRAN -- In a meeting with the head of Foreign Ministry's Representative Office in Mashhad, Khorasan Province, Turkmen deputy foreign minister on Sunday, said that new facilities have been provided for issuing visas for Iranians who intend to visit Turkmenistan. 
	
	
 He also called the current restrictions for issuing visas for Iranian and other foreign nationals, temporary arrangements. .	





Document 001002128 ends.


       

Valley Federal Savings & Loan Association took an $89.9 million charge as it reported a third-quarter loss of $70.7 million, or $12.09 a share. 

The Van Nuys, Calif., thrift had net income of $132,000, or three cents a share, a year ago. 

The bulk of the pretax charge is a $62 million write-off of capitalized servicing at the mobile home financing subsidiary, which the company said had been a big drain on earnings.
The company said the one-time provision would substantially eliminate all future losses at the unit.
Valley Federal also added $18 million to realestate loan reserves and eliminated $9.9 million of good will. 

The thrift said that "after these charges and assuming no dramatic fluctuation in interest rates, the association expects to achieve near record earnings in 1990." 

Valley Federal is currently being examined by regulators.
New loans continue to slow; they were $6.6 million in the quarter compared with $361.8 million a year ago.
The thrift has assets of $3.2 billion. 




Document 001002130 ends.


	
Uzbekistan raises annual cotton target to 3.75m tonnes - Iranian radio 
	
	
 Text of report by Iranian radio from Mashhad on 1|January 
	
	
 Uzbekistan is planning to increase its annual cotton target in 2002 despite the fall in cotton prices on the world market, the IRNA [Iranian] news agency quoted an Uzbek Agriculture Ministry department head as saying yesterday. The department head said that Uzbekistan had set its annual cotton target at 3,750,000 t for 2002, which is 14 per cent up on last year.	





Document 001002131 ends.


	
Beijing, March 21 (XINHUA) -- China urged the United States on Thursday to abide by the "one China policy", warning that any act to trample upon the Sino-U.S. Joint Communiques could result in a "very unfavorable" impact on relations between the two countries. 
	
	
 The question of Taiwan, which relates to China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, is an essential and most important issue and is at the heart of Sino-U.S. relations, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue. 
	
	
 China hopes the United States will not do anything against the spirit of the three Sino-U.S. Joint Communiques, she said. 
	
	
 Zhang made the remarks at a news briefing in response to a question about the Taiwan official Tang Yiau-min's recent visit to the United States. 
	
	
 Zhang replied that Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing has put forward China's stand on the matter while making strong representations to the U.S. government with the hope that the United States treats the matter seriousness it deserves. 
	
	
 She said during the U.S. President Bush's working visit to China last month, state leaders of both countries agreed that Chinese President Jiang Zemin and Vice President Hu Jintao would visit the United States this year. 
	
	
 However, within one month of Bush's visit, the U.S. has already done several things which are against the spirit of the three Sino-U.S. Joint Communiques. 
	
	
 Zhu said the U.S. side should stop interfering in China's internal affairs by interfering in the Taiwan issue. 
	
	
	





Document 001002134 ends.


	
C'wealth mission conduct questionable 
	
	
 By A Special Correspondent - Britain's Prime Minister, Tony Blair, privately did two things concerning Zimbabwe during the recent "retreat" by Commonwealth leaders in Australia that raise questions about today's meeting in London by the troika of Australia, Nigeria and South Africa. 
	
	
 The first was that Blair said he had received an interim report from the Commonwealth observer mission to Zimbabwe that condemned the outcome of the presidential election - before Zimbabweans had even had a chance to vote. 
	
	
 But how could Blair have "a Commonwealth report" when no one else had received such a report that should be channeled through the Secretariat to all members, asked one of the other 53 Commonwealth leaders at the retreat? 
	
	
 The British leader fudged his reply and the Commonwealth leaders were left with the distinct impression that the "Blair report" had already been written in London before the Commonwealth mission even left for Zimbabwe. Their mission was simply to rubber stamp the adverse report that Britain had already written. 
	
	
 Blair's second faux pas in Australia, according to some of the assembled Commonwealth leaders, came in his response to a remarkably conciliatory speech by Zimbabwe's Foreign Minister, Dr Stan Mudenge. 
	
	
 The Nigerian leader, President Olusegun Obasanjo, had urged the minister not to attack Blair frontally over Britain's negative position regarding Zimbabwe, but to deal with the presidential election preparations in a dispassionate and precise manner. 
	
	
 The Zimbabwean minister did this. Then Mudenge rose to his feet, strode over to Blair and thrust out his hand. 
	
	
 The hand symbolised reconciliation; and Blair accepted it. Then Mudenge proposed that Britain and Zimbabwe bury past differences and work together in the future. 
	
	
 The Commonwealth leaders, many of them in the first place unable to understand the dispute between Zimbabwe and its former coloniser, Britain, breathed a collective sigh of relief at what they hoped was the beginning of the healing process. 
	
	
 But there was still an unanswered question in the minds of the Commonwealth leaders: How had the British Prime Minister seen the purported "Commonwealth report on Zimbabwe" when they had not? 
	
	
 Meanwhile, back in Harare, some strange things were happening with the Commonwealth mission. 
	
	
 They had been pre-booked by the Zimbabwean Ministry of Foreign Affairs into the partly Government-owned Sheraton Hotel. 
	
	
 On the spurious grounds that the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) election campaign centre was in an adjoining building, the Commonwealth observers moved out to the privately owned Meikles Hotel. 
	
	
 There, unlike the Sheraton where the national newspaper The Herald is distributed to guests, the pro-opposition Daily News is given freely to guests. 
	
	
 Furthermore, as anyone who has been following the Zimbabwean Press can testify, many of the Meikles farms around the country have been acquired by the State as part of the land reform programme. Meikles Hotel has long been known as a hot bed of opposition politics. 
	
	
 During the 2000 parliamentary elections, 80 rooms at Meikles Hotel were booked by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). 
	
	
 But because of their openly hostile position towards the President and Government, the BBC was refused accreditation to cover the presidential election. 
	
	
 While the Commonwealth observer mission and many of the foreign journalists were assembled in the hotel, the opposition leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai, moved in with them, taking a complete floor for himself and his entourage. 
	
	
 It is notable that the Commonwealth observer mission did not move again although the opposition had now joined them in the same hotel. 
	
	
 There was also the curious appointment of and behaviour by individual members of the Commonwealth mission who should have been sworn to secrecy as part of their mission and who should have expressed their views only through the chair of the mission. 
	
	
 Instead, an Australian member of the Federal Parliament, Julie Bishop, vented her anger towards the President and Government, and the electoral process, in Australia's media. 
	
	
 The composition of the Commonwealth mission raised further questions. Why were several former and recent employees of the Commonwealth Secretariat accredited as observers? Normally staff make up the Secretariat in support of a mission populated by more eminent, neutral persons. 
	
	
 A Namibian woman member of the Commonwealth observer mission, who is the well-respected, Deputy Speaker of the National Council in her country, held different views to those stated in the interim Commonwealth report that was released only after the election results were known. 
	
	
 Although the Commonwealth missions nominally operate on the basis of "consensus", she and others of a similar view were dismissed as "troublemakers" by one of the former Secretariat staff-cum-observer. 
	
	
 The final straw that confirmed that Australia had abandoned any pretence of fairness to all sides in the dispute came when the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, ordered his High Commissioner in Harare not to attend Sunday's inauguration of Robert Mugabe as President of Zimbabwe. 
	
	
 The Australians, in common with other white members of the Commonwealth, the European Union (EU), the Americans, Norwegians and the Swiss stayed away from that event saying they do not recognise the election and therefore Mugabe as the head of State. 
	
	
 These are some of the realities that Presidents Obasanjo of Nigeria and Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, confronted as they flew from Harare last night for their meeting in London tomorrow with the Australian leader who is the third member of the Commonwealth troika. 
	
	
 Howard, however, will not be isolated at the three-member meeting at Marlborough House in London. 
	
	
 The Commonwealth Secretary-General, Don McKinnon of New Zealand is also known to support his country's decision to condemn Zimbabwe's presidential election. 
	
	
 And close by, Howard will have the British government and the western media. 
	
	
 Presidents Obasanjo and Mbeki, however, have the benefit of their own observer missions to Zimbabwe as well as the support of the vast majority of the Commonwealth. 
	
	
 And, in line with Commonwealth consensus, the views of the majority are taken to be the views of the Commonwealth as a whole. 
	
	
 No doubt Blair will fight on. 
	
	
 But the solution to the present impasse lies with the people of Zimbabwe and Africa, not with the people of Britain and Europe.	





Document 001002135 ends.


                                                         
             
                                           
                            
                          
              
                               
                 
                                          
                               
                                                       
                                                                 
     
      
                                                       
                    
                                    

             
HOWDY,

WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON AMIGO.  I HAVE NOT TALKED TO YOU IN A WHILE.  GIVE YOU
THE SCOPE OF WHATS BEEN GOING ON WITH ME.  I LEFT OILSTATES BACK IN MARCH
WITH ANOTHER COMPANY.  DID A LOT OF TRAVELING AND THEY (OILSTATES) MADE ME A
SWEET OFFER TO COME BACK.  SO I AM BACK.

WHO'S GETTING MARRIED?  SOUNDS LIKE THIS IS GOING TO BE A GREAT BACHELOR
PARTY.  GIVE ME A CALL SOMETIME CELL: 713 991 - 5621.

ROB
                    


Document 001002137 ends.


	
[Computer selected and disseminated without FBIS editorial intervention] 
	
	
 Seoul, Feb. 18 (Yonhap) -- The government on Monday announced its position on U.S. President George W. Bush's new policy to control greenhouse gas emissions that he wants discussed internationally along with the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty adopted in 1997 to control greenhouse gas emissions. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement that "the Government of the Republic of Korea appreciates continued interest shown by the Government of the United States in climate change and their efforts in presenting on February 14 a new initiative to address this issue which is one of the greatest challenges humankind faces in the 21st century." The statement was issued by the name of Foreign Minister Choi Sung-hong. "The Korean Government notes that the new U.S. Government initiative adopts a flexible and gradual approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and that it takes into consideration the concerns of developing countries," the statement said. The !
Korean government is of the view that in order for the U.S. initiative to be discussed in more detail in future international fora, greater elaboration is needed, including concrete methods to establish the levels of greenhouse gas intensity, it continued. Parties to the Climate Change Convention have been preparing for the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol since the adoption of its implementation rules last November in Marrakesh, Morocco. "In light of this, the Korean Government believes that consultations amongst the international community are needed to build understanding on the U.S. initiative," the statement noted, adding the Seoul government will actively participate in this process. Over 180 countries, including the United States, have prepared for ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, a framework that requires signatories to gradually reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. administration led by President George W. Bush rejected the Protocol early last year and recently announced a new policy on climate change which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions relative to Gross Domestic Product or economic activities. Before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, the Bush administration had been severely blamed in the international community for rejecting the Kyoto Protocol. Meanwhile, some other countries, including Japan and Germany, already issued statements on Bush's new climate change policy in rather different tones. yct9423@yna.co.kr	





Document 001002139 ends.


 
  
  
    
      December 10, 1996
      Dear Mailhouse donor reminder:
      You and I have done some important work together.
      We've helped people break free of the welfare cycle. We've found ways
      for people with disabilities to enter the workforce. We've expanded
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      needed most.
      Of course, we've played different roles. You have helped make
      Goodwill's work possible with your previous support. Goodwill has devised
      the programs that turned your investment into results.
      Who has benefited from our partnership? Everyone has. When you and I
      help somebody find a job, one more person joins the ranks of tax payers,
      fewer tax dollars are spent on public assistance and businesses gain
      another consumer.
      There are a lot of barriers that keep people from working: physical
      and mental disabilities, history of welfare dependency and lack of
      education or self-esteem. And there are a lot of people who face these
      challenges every day of their lives. So our work must continue.
      Everyone benefits from the work we do together. Many people need our
      help.
      Please continue our important partnership. Support Goodwill with a
      generous donation today.
      Sincerely,
      James M. McClelland President
    
  



Document 001002141 ends.



    
        
            WARTIME
            After the attacks had occurred, while crisis managers were still sorting out a number
                of unnerving false alarms, Air Force One flew to Barksdale Air Force Base in
                Louisiana. One of these alarms was of a reported threat against Air Force One
                itself, a threat eventually run down to a misunderstood communication in the hectic
                White House Situation Room that morning.
            
            While the plan at the elementary school had been to return to Washington, by the time
                Air Force One was airborne at 9:55 A.M. the Secret Service, the President's
                advisers, and Vice President Cheney were strongly advising against it. President
                Bush reluctantly acceded to this advice and, at about 10:10, Air Force One changed
                course and began heading due west. The immediate objective was to find a safe
                location-not too far away-where the President could land and speak to the American
                people. The Secret Service was also interested in refueling the aircraft and paring
                down the size of the traveling party. The President's military aide, an Air Force
                officer, quickly researched the options and, sometime around 10:20, identified
                Barksdale Air Force Base as an appropriate interim destination.
            
            When Air Force One landed at Barksdale at about 11:45, personnel from the local
                Secret Service office were still en route to the airfield. The motorcade consisted
                of a military police lead vehicle and a van; the proposed briefing theater had no
                phones or electrical outlets. Staff scrambled to prepare another room for the
                President's remarks, while the lead Secret Service agent reviewed the security
                situation with superiors in Washington. The President completed his statement, which
                for security reasons was taped and not broadcast live, and the traveling party
                returned to Air Force One. The next destination was discussed: once again the Secret
                Service recommended against returning to Washington, and the Vice President agreed.
                Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska was chosen because of its elaborate command and
                control facilities, and because it could accommodate overnight lodging for 50
                persons. The Secret Service wanted a place where the President could spend several
                days, if necessary.
            
            Air Force One arrived at Offutt at 2:50 P.M. At about 3:15, President Bush met with
                his principal advisers through a secure video teleconference.
            
            Rice said President Bush began the meeting with the words, "We're at war," and that Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet said
                the agency was still assessing who was responsible, but the early signs all pointed
                to al Qaeda. That evening the Deputies Committee returned to the pending
                presidential directive they had labored over during the summer.
            
            The secretary of defense directed the nation's armed forces to Defense Condition 3,
                an increased state of military readiness.
            
            For the first time in history, all nonemergency civilian aircraft in the United
                States were grounded, stranding tens of thousands of passengers across the country.
                Contingency plans for the continuity of government and the evacuation of leaders had
                been implemented. The Pentagon had been struck; the White House or the Capitol had
                narrowly escaped direct attack. Extraordinary security precautions were put in place
                at the nation's borders and ports.
            In the late afternoon, the President overruled his aides' continuing reluctance to
                have him return to Washington and ordered Air Force One back to Andrews Air Force
                Base. He was flown by helicopter back to the White House, passing over the
                still-smoldering Pentagon. At 8:30 that evening, President Bush addressed the nation
                from the White House. After emphasizing that the first priority was to help the
                injured and protect against any further attacks, he said: "We will make no
                distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor
                them." He quoted Psalm 23-"though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death .
                . ." No American, he said, "will ever forget this day."
            
            Following his speech, President Bush met again with his National Security Council
                (NSC), expanded to include Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta and Joseph
                Allbaugh, the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Secretary of
                State Colin Powell, who had returned from Peru after hearing of the attacks, joined
                the discussion. They reviewed the day's events.
            
            IMMEDIATE RESPONSES AT HOME
            As the urgent domestic issues accumulated, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Joshua
                Bolten chaired a temporary "domestic consequences" group.
            
            The agenda in those first days is worth noting, partly as a checklist for future
                crisis planners. It began with problems of how to help victims and stanch the
                flowing losses to the American economy, such as
            
                Organizing federal emergency assistance. One question was what kind of public
                    health advice to give about the air quality in Lower Manhattan in the vicinity
                    of the fallen buildings.
                
                Compensating victims. They evaluated legislative options, eventually setting
                    up a federal compensation fund and defining the powers of a special master to
                    run it.
                Determining federal assistance. On September 13, President Bush promised to
                    provide $20 billion for New York City, in addition to the $20 billion his budget
                    director had already guessed might be needed for the country as a whole.
                
                Restoring civil aviation. On the morning of September 13, the national
                    airspace reopened for use by airports that met newly improvised security
                    standards.
                Reopening the financial markets. After extraordinary emergency efforts
                    involving the White House, the Treasury Department, and the Securities and
                    Exchange Commission, aided by unprecedented cooperation among the usually
                    competitive firms of the financial industry, the markets reopened on Monday,
                    September 17.
                
                Deciding when and how to return border and port security to more normal
                    operations.
                Evaluating legislative proposals to bail out the airline industry and cap its
                    liability.
            
            The very process of reviewing these issues underscored the absence of an effective
                government organization dedicated to assessing vulnerabilities and handling problems
                of protection and preparedness. Though a number of agencies had some part of the
                task, none had security as its primary mission. By September 14, Vice President
                Cheney had decided to recommend, at least as a first step, a new White House entity
                to coordinate all the relevant agencies rather than tackle the challenge of
                combining them in a new department. This new White House entity would be a homeland
                security adviser and Homeland Security Council-paralleling the National Security
                Council system. Vice President Cheney reviewed the proposal with President Bush and
                other advisers. President Bush announced the new post and its first occupant-
                Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge-in his address to a joint session of Congress on
                September 20.
            
            Beginning on September 11, Immigration and Naturalization Service agents working in
                cooperation with the FBI began arresting individuals for immigration violations whom
                they encountered while following up leads in the FBI's investigation of the 9/11
                attacks. Eventually, 768 aliens were arrested as "special interest" detainees. Some
                (such as Zacarias Moussaoui) were actually in INS custody before 9/11; most were
                arrested after. Attorney General John Ashcroft told us that he saw his job in
                directing this effort as "risk minimization," both to find out who had committed the
                attacks and to prevent a subsequent attack. Ashcroft ordered all special interest
                immigration hearings closed to the public, family members, and press; directed
                government attorneys to seek denial of bond until such time as they were "cleared"
                of terrorist connections by the FBI and other agencies; and ordered the identity of
                the detainees kept secret. INS attorneys charged with prosecuting the immigration
                violations had trouble getting information about the detainees and any terrorist
                connections; in the chaos after the attacks, it was very difficult to reach law
                enforcement officials, who were following up on other leads. The clearance process
                approved by the Justice Department was time-consuming, lasting an average of about
                80 days.
            
            We have assessed this effort to detain aliens of "special interest." The detainees
                were lawfully held on immigration charges. Records indicate that 531 were deported,
                162 were released on bond, 24 received some kind of immigration benefits, 12 had
                their proceedings terminated, and 8-one of whom was Moussaoui-were remanded to the
                custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. The inspector general of the Justice
                Department found significant problems in the way the 9/11 detainees were
                    treated.
            
            In response to a request about the counterterrorism benefits of the 9/11 detainee
                program, the Justice Department cited six individuals on the special interest
                detainee list, noting that two (including Moussaoui) were linked directly to a
                terrorist organization and that it had obtained new leads helpful to the
                investigation of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
            
            A senior al Qaeda detainee has stated that U.S. government efforts after the 9/11
                attacks to monitor the American homeland, including review of Muslims' immigration
                files and deportation of nonpermanent residents, forced al Qaeda to operate less
                freely in the United States.
            
            The government's ability to collect intelligence inside the United States, and the
                sharing of such information between the intelligence and law enforcement
                communities, was not a priority before 9/11. Guidelines on this subject issued in
                August 2001 by Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson essentially recapitulated prior
                guidance. However, the attacks of 9/11 changed everything. Less than one week after
                September 11, an early version of what was to become the Patriot Act (officially,
                the USA PATRIOT Act) began to take shape.
            A central provision of the proposal was the removal of "the wall" on information
                sharing between the intelligence and law enforcement communities (discussed in
                chapter 3). Ashcroft told us he was determined to take every conceivable action,
                within the limits of the Constitution, to identify potential terrorists and deter
                additional attacks.
            The administration developed a proposal that eventually passed both houses of
                Congress by large majorities and was signed into law on October 26.
            
            Flights of Saudi Nationals Leaving the United States
            Three questions have arisen with respect to the departure of Saudi nationals from the
                United States in the immediate aftermath of 9/11: (1) Did any flights of Saudi
                nationals take place before national airspace reopened on September 13, 2001? (2)
                Was there any political intervention to facilitate the departure of Saudi nationals?
                (3) Did the FBI screen Saudi nationals thoroughly before their departure?
            First, we found no evidence that any flights of Saudi nationals, domestic or
                international, took place before the reopening of national airspace on the morning
                of September 13, 2001. To the contrary, every flight we have identified occurred
                after national airspace reopened.
            
            Second, we found no evidence of political intervention. We found no evidence that
                anyone at the White House above the level of Richard Clarke participated in a
                decision on the departure of Saudi nationals. The issue came up in one of the many
                video teleconferences of the interagency group Clarke chaired, and Clarke said he
                approved of how the FBI was dealing with the matter when it came up for interagency
                discussion at his level. Clarke told us, "I asked the FBI, Dale Watson . . . to
                handle that, to check to see if that was all right with them, to see if they wanted
                access to any of these people, and to get back to me. And if they had no objections,
                it would be fine with me." Clarke added,"I have no recollection of clearing it with
                anybody at the White House."
            
            Although White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card remembered someone telling him about
                the Saudi request shortly after 9/11, he said he had not talked to the Saudis and
                did not ask anyone to do anything about it. The President and Vice President told us
                they were not aware of the issue at all until it surfaced much later in the media.
                None of the officials we interviewed recalled any intervention or direction on this
                matter from any political appointee.
            
            Third, we believe that the FBI conducted a satisfactory screening of Saudi nationals
                who left the United States on charter flights.
            
            The Saudi government was advised of and agreed to the FBI's requirements that
                passengers be identified and checked against various databases before the flights
                departed. The Federal Aviation Administration representative working in the FBI
                operations center made sure that the FBI was aware of the flights of Saudi nationals
                and was able to screen the passengers before they were allowed to depart.
            
            The FBI interviewed all persons of interest on these flights prior to their
                departures. They concluded that none of the passengers was connected to the 9/11
                attacks and have since found no evidence to change that conclusion. Our own
                independent review of the Saudi nationals involved confirms that no one with known
                links to terrorism departed on these flights.
            
            PLANNING FOR WAR
            By late in the evening of September 11, the President had addressed the nation on the
                terrible events of the day. Vice President Cheney described the President's mood as
                somber. The long day was not yet over. When the larger meeting that included his
                domestic department heads broke up, President Bush chaired a smaller meeting of top
                advisers, a group he would later call his "war council." This group usually
                included Vice President Cheney, Secretary of State Powell, Secretary of Defense
                Donald Rumsfeld, General Hugh Shelton, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs (later to
                become chairman) General Myers, DCI Tenet, Attorney General Ashcroft, and FBI
                Director Robert Mueller. From the White House staff, National Security Advisor
                Condoleezza Rice and Chief of Staff Card were part of the core group, often joined
                by their deputies, Stephen Hadley and Joshua Bolten.
            In this restricted National Security Council meeting, the President said it was a
                time for self-defense. The United States would punish not just the perpetrators of
                the attacks, but also those who harbored them. Secretary Powell said the United
                States had to make it clear to Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the Arab states that the
                time to act was now. He said we would need to build a coalition. The President noted
                that the attacks provided a great opportunity to engage Russia and China. Secretary
                Rumsfeld urged the President and the principals to think broadly about who might
                have harbored the attackers, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Sudan, and Iran. He
                wondered aloud how much evidence the United States would need in order to deal with
                these countries, pointing out that major strikes could take up to 60 days to
                    assemble.
            
            President Bush chaired two more meetings of the NSC on September 12. In the first
                meeting, he stressed that the United States was at war with a new and different kind
                of enemy. The President tasked principals to go beyond their pre-9/11 work and
                develop a strategy to eliminate terrorists and punish those who support them. As
                they worked on defining the goals and objectives of the upcoming campaign, they
                considered a paper that went beyond al Qaeda to propose the "elimination of
                terrorism as a threat to our way of life," an aim that would include pursuing other
                international terrorist organizations in the Middle East.
            
            Rice chaired a Principals Committee meeting on September 13 in the Situation Room to
                refine how the fight against al Qaeda would be conducted. The principals agreed that
                the overall message should be that anyone supporting al Qaeda would risk harm. The
                United States would need to integrate diplomacy, financial measures, intelligence,
                and military actions into an overarching strategy. The principals also focused on
                Pakistan and what it could do to turn the Taliban against al Qaeda. They concluded
                that if Pakistan decided not to help the United States, it too would be at
                    risk.
            
            The same day, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage met with the Pakistani
                ambassador to the United States, Maleeha Lodhi, and the visiting head of Pakistan's
                military intelligence service, Mahmud Ahmed. Armitage said that the United States
                wanted Pakistan to take seven steps:
            
                to stop al Qaeda operatives at its border and end all logistical support for
                    Bin Ladin;
                to give the United States blanket overflight and landing rights for all
                    necessary military and intelligence operations;
                to provide territorial access to U.S. and allied military intelligence and
                    other personnel to conduct operations against al Qaeda;
                to provide the United States with intelligence information;
                to continue to publicly condemn the terrorist acts;
                to cut off all shipments of fuel to the Taliban and stop recruits from going
                    to Afghanistan; and,
                if the evidence implicated bin Ladin and al Qaeda and the Taliban continued to
                    harbor them, to break relations with the Taliban government.
                
            
            Pakistan made its decision swiftly. That afternoon, Secretary of State Powell
                announced at the beginning of an NSC meeting that Pakistani President Musharraf had
                agreed to every U.S. request for support in the war on terrorism. The next day, the
                U.S. embassy in Islamabad confirmed that Musharraf and his top military commanders
                had agreed to all seven demands. "Pakistan will need full US support as it proceeds
                with us," the embassy noted. "Musharraf said the GOP [government of Pakistan] was
                making substantial concessions in allowing use of its territory and that he would
                pay a domestic price. His standing in Pakistan was certain to suffer. To
                counterbalance that he needed to show that Pakistan was benefiting from his
                    decisions."
            
            At the September 13 NSC meeting, when Secretary Powell described Pakistan's reply,
                President Bush led a discussion of an appropriate ultimatum to the Taliban. He also
                ordered Secretary Rumsfeld to develop a military plan against the Taliban. The
                President wanted the United States to strike the Taliban, step back, wait to see if
                they got the message, and hit them hard if they did not. He made clear that the
                military should focus on targets that would influence the Taliban's behavior.
            
            President Bush also tasked the State Department, which on the following day delivered
                to the White House a paper titled "Game Plan for a Political-Military Strategy for
                Pakistan and Afghanistan." The paper took it as a given that Bin Ladin would
                continue to act against the United States even while under Taliban control. It
                therefore detailed specific U.S. demands for the Taliban: surrender Bin Ladin and
                his chief lieutenants, including Ayman al Zawahiri; tell the United States what the
                Taliban knew about al Qaeda and its operations; close all terrorist camps; free all
                imprisoned foreigners; and comply with all UN Security Council resolutions.
            
            The State Department proposed delivering an ultimatum to the Taliban: produce Bin
                Ladin and his deputies and shut down al Qaeda camps within 24 to 48 hours, or the
                United States will use all necessary means to destroy the terrorist infrastructure.
                The State Department did not expect the Taliban to comply. Therefore, State and
                Defense would plan to build an international coalition to go into Afghanistan. Both
                departments would consult with NATO and other allies and request intelligence,
                basing, and other support from countries, according to their capabilities and
                resources. Finally, the plan detailed a public U.S. stance: America would use all
                its resources to eliminate terrorism as a threat, punish those responsible for the
                9/11 attacks, hold states and other actors responsible for providing sanctuary to
                terrorists, work with a coalition to eliminate terrorist groups and networks, and
                avoid malice toward any people, religion, or culture.
            
            President Bush recalled that he quickly realized that the administration would have
                to invade Afghanistan with ground troops.
            
            But the early briefings to the President and Secretary Rumsfeld on military options
                were disappointing. Tommy Franks, the commanding general of Central Command
                (CENTCOM), told us that the President was dissatisfied. The U.S. military, Franks
                said, did not have an off-the-shelf plan to eliminate the al Qaeda threat in
                Afghanistan. The existing Infinite Resolve options did not, in his view, amount to
                such a plan.
            
            All these diplomatic and military plans were reviewed over the weekend of September
                15-16, as President Bush convened his war council at Camp David.
            
            Present were Vice President Cheney, Rice, Hadley, Powell, Armitage, Rumsfeld,
                Ashcroft, Mueller, Tenet, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, and Cofer
                Black, chief of the DCI's Counterterrorist Center.
            Tenet described a plan for collecting intelligence and mounting covert operations. He
                proposed inserting CIA teams into Afghanistan to work with Afghan warlords who would
                join the fight against al Qaeda. These CIA teams would act jointly with the
                military's Special Operations units. President Bush later praised this proposal,
                saying it had been a turning point in his thinking.
            
            General Shelton briefed the principals on the preliminary plan for Afghanistan that
                the military had put together. It drew on the Infinite Resolve "phased campaign"
                plan the Pentagon had begun developing in November 2000 as an addition to the strike
                options it had been refining since 1998. But Shelton added a new element-the
                possible significant use of ground forces- and that is where President Bush
                reportedly focused his attention.
            
            After hearing from his senior advisers, President Bush discussed with Rice the
                contents of the directives he would issue to set all the plans into motion. Rice
                prepared a paper that President Bush then considered with principals on Monday
                morning, September 17. "The purpose of this meeting," he recalled saying,"is to
                assign tasks for the first wave of the war against terrorism. It starts today."
            
            In a written set of instructions slightly refined during the morning meeting,
                President Bush charged Ashcroft, Mueller, and Tenet to develop a plan for homeland
                defense. President Bush directed Secretary of State Powell to deliver an ultimatum
                to the Taliban along the lines that his department had originally proposed. The
                State Department was also tasked to develop a plan to stabilize Pakistan and to be
                prepared to notify Russia and countries near Afghanistan when hostilities were
                    imminent.
            
            In addition, Bush and his advisers discussed new legal authorities for covert action
                in Afghanistan, including the administration's first Memorandum of Notification on
                Bin Ladin. Shortly thereafter, President Bush authorized broad new authorities for
                the CIA.
            
            President Bush instructed Rumsfeld and Shelton to develop further the Camp David
                military plan to attack the Taliban and al Qaeda if the Taliban rejected the
                ultimatum. The President also tasked Rumsfeld to ensure that robust measures to
                protect American military forces against terrorist attack were implemented
                worldwide. Finally, he directed Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill to craft a plan to
                target al Qaeda's funding and seize its assets.
            
            NSC staff members had begun leading meetings on terrorist fund-raising by September
                    18.
            
            Also by September 18, Powell had contacted 58 of his foreign counterparts and
                received offers of general aid, search-and-rescue equipment and personnel, and
                medical assistance teams.
            
            On the same day, Deputy Secretary of State Armitage was called by Mahmud Ahmed
                regarding a two-day visit to Afghanistan during which the Pakistani intelligence
                chief had met with Mullah Omar and conveyed the U.S. demands. Omar's response was
                "not negative on all these points." But the
                administration knew that the Taliban was unlikely to turn over Bin Ladin.
            
            The pre-9/11 draft presidential directive on al Qaeda evolved into a new directive,
                National Security Presidential Directive 9, now titled "Defeating the Terrorist
                Threat to the United States." The directive would now extend to a global war on
                terrorism, not just on al Qaeda. It also incorporated the President's determination
                not to distinguish between terrorists and those who harbor them. It included a
                determination to use military force if necessary to end al Qaeda's sanctuary in
                Afghanistan. The new directive-formally signed on October 25, after the fighting in
                Afghanistan had already begun-included new material followed by annexes discussing
                each targeted terrorist group. The old draft directive on al Qaeda became, in
                effect, the first annex.
            
            The United States would strive to eliminate all terrorist networks, dry up their
                financial support, and prevent them from acquiring weapons of mass destruction. The
                goal was the "elimination of terrorism as a threat to our way of life."
            
            "PHASE TWO" AND THE QUESTION OF IRAQ
            President Bush had wondered immediately after the attack whether Saddam Hussein's
                regime might have had a hand in it. Iraq had been an enemy of the United States for
                11 years, and was the only place in the world where the United States was engaged in
                ongoing combat operations. As a former pilot, the President was struck by the
                apparent sophistication of the operation and some of the piloting, especially
                Hanjour's high-speed dive into the Pentagon. He told us he recalled Iraqi support
                for Palestinian suicide terrorists as well. Speculating about other possible states
                that could be involved, the President told us he also thought about Iran.
            
            Clarke has written that on the evening of September 12, President Bush told him and
                some of his staff to explore possible Iraqi links to 9/11. "See if Saddam did this,"
                Clarke recalls the President telling them." See if he's linked in any way. "While he believed the details of Clarke's account to be
                incorrect, President Bush acknowledged that he might well have spoken to Clarke at
                some point, asking him about Iraq.
            
            Responding to a presidential tasking, Clarke's office sent a memo to Rice on
                September 18, titled "Survey of Intelligence Information on Any Iraq Involvement in
                the September 11 Attacks." Rice's chief staffer on Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad,
                concurred in its conclusion that only some anecdotal evidence linked Iraq to al
                Qaeda. The memo found no "compelling case" that Iraq had either planned or
                perpetrated the attacks. It passed along a few foreign intelligence reports,
                including the Czech report alleging an April 2001 Prague meeting between Atta and an
                Iraqi intelligence officer (discussed in chapter 7) and a Polish report that
                personnel at the headquarters of Iraqi intelligence in Baghdad were told before
                September 11 to go on the streets to gauge crowd reaction to an unspecified event.
                Arguing that the case for links between Iraq and al Qaeda was weak, the memo pointed
                out that Bin Ladin resented the secularism of Saddam Hussein's regime. Finally, the
                memo said, there was no confirmed reporting on Saddam cooperating with Bin Ladin on
                unconventional weapons.
            
            On the afternoon of 9/11, according to contemporaneous notes, Secretary Rumsfeld
                instructed General Myers to obtain quickly as much information as possible. The
                notes indicate that he also told Myers that he was not simply interested in striking
                empty training sites. He thought the U.S. response should consider a wide range of
                options and possibilities. The secretary said his instinct was to hit Saddam Hussein
                at the same time-not only Bin Ladin. Secretary Rumsfeld later explained that at the
                time, he had been considering either one of them, or perhaps someone else, as the
                responsible party.
            
            According to Rice, the issue of what, if anything, to do about Iraq was really
                engaged at Camp David. Briefing papers on Iraq, along with many others, were in
                briefing materials for the participants. Rice told us the administration was
                concerned that Iraq would take advantage of the 9/11 attacks. She recalled that in
                the first Camp David session chaired by the President, Rumsfeld asked what the
                administration should do about Iraq. Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz made the case for
                striking Iraq during "this round" of the war on terrorism.
            
            A Defense Department paper for the Camp David briefing book on the strategic concept
                for the war on terrorism specified three priority targets for initial action: al
                Qaeda, theTaliban, and Iraq. It argued that of the three, al Qaeda and Iraq posed a
                strategic threat to the United States. Iraq's long-standing involvement in terrorism
                was cited, along with its interest in weapons of mass destruction.
            
            Secretary Powell recalled that Wolfowitz-not Rumsfeld-argued that Iraq was ultimately
                the source of the terrorist problem and should therefore be attacked.
            
            Powell said that Wolfowitz was not able to justify his belief that Iraq was behind
                9/11. "Paul was always of the view that Iraq was a problem that had to be dealt
                with," Powell told us. "And he saw this as one way of using this event as a way to
                deal with the Iraq problem." Powell said that President Bush did not give
                Wolfowitz's argument "much weight." Though continuing to
                worry about Iraq in the following week, Powell said, President Bush saw Afghanistan
                as the priority.
            
            President Bush told Bob Woodward that the decision not to invade Iraq was made at the
                morning session on September 15. Iraq was not even on the table during the September
                15 afternoon session, which dealt solely with Afghanistan.
            
            Rice said that when President Bush called her on Sunday, September 16, he said the
                focus would be on Afghanistan, although he still wanted plans for Iraq should the
                country take some action or the administration eventually determine that it had been
                involved in the 9/11 attacks.
            
            At the September 17 NSC meeting, there was some further discussion of "phase two" of
                the war on terrorism.
            
            President Bush ordered the Defense Department to be ready to deal with Iraq if
                Baghdad acted against U.S. interests, with plans to include possibly occupying Iraqi
                oil fields.
            
            Within the Pentagon, Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz continued to press the case for
                dealing with Iraq. Writing to Rumsfeld on September 17 in a memo headlined
                "Preventing More Events," he argued that if there was even a 10 percent chance that
                Saddam Hussein was behind the 9/11 attack, maximum priority should be placed on
                eliminating that threat. Wolfowitz contended that the odds were "far more" than 1 in
                10, citing Saddam's praise for the attack, his long record of involvement in
                terrorism, and theories that Ramzi Yousef was an Iraqi agent and Iraq was behind the
                1993 attack on the World Trade Center. The next day, Wolfowitz renewed the
                argument, writing to Rumsfeld about the interest of Yousef 's co-conspirator in the
                1995 Manila air plot in crashing an explosives-laden plane into CIA headquarters,
                and about information from a foreign government regarding Iraqis' involvement in the
                attempted hijacking of a Gulf Air flight. Given this background, he wondered why so
                little thought had been devoted to the danger of suicide pilots, seeing a "failure
                of imagination" and a mind-set that dismissed possibilities.
            
            On September 19, Rumsfeld offered several thoughts for his commanders as they worked
                on their contingency plans. Though he emphasized the worldwide nature of the
                conflict, the references to specific enemies or regions named only the Taliban, al
                Qaeda, and Afghanistan.
            
            Shelton told us the administration reviewed all the Pentagon's war plans and
                challenged certain assumptions underlying them, as any prudent organization or
                leader should do.
            
            General Tommy Franks, the commanding general of Central Command, recalled receiving
                Rumsfeld's guidance that each regional commander should assess what these plans
                meant for his area of responsibility. He knew he would soon be striking the Taliban
                and al Qaeda in Afghanistan. But, he told us, he now wondered how that action was
                connected to what might need to be done in Somalia, Yemen, or Iraq.
            
            On September 20, President Bush met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and the
                two leaders discussed the global conflict ahead. When Blair asked about Iraq, the
                President replied that Iraq was not the immediate problem. Some members of his
                administration, he commented, had expressed a different view, but he was the one
                responsible for making the decisions.
            
            Franks told us that he was pushing independently to do more robust planning on
                military responses in Iraq during the summer before 9/11-a request President Bush
                denied, arguing that the time was not right. (CENTCOM also began dusting off plans
                for a full invasion of Iraq during this period, Franks said.) The CENTCOM commander
                told us he renewed his appeal for further military planning to respond to Iraqi
                moves shortly after 9/11, both because he personally felt that Iraq and al Qaeda
                might be engaged in some form of collusion and because he worried that Saddam might
                take advantage of the attacks to move against his internal enemies in the northern
                or southern parts of Iraq, where the United States was flying regular missions to
                enforce Iraqi no-fly zones. Franks said that President Bush again turned down the
                    request.
            
            Having issued directives to guide his administration's preparations for war, on
                Thursday, September 20, President Bush addressed the nation before a joint session
                of Congress. "Tonight," he said, "we are a country awakened to danger." The President blamed al Qaeda for 9/11 and the 1998
                embassy bombings and, for the first time, declared that al Qaeda was "responsible
                for bombing the USS Cole." He reiterated the ultimatum
                that had already been conveyed privately. "The Taliban must act, and act
                immediately," he said. "They will hand over the terrorists, or they will share in
                their fate." The President added that America's quarrel
                was not with Islam: "The enemy of America is not our many Muslim friends; it is not
                our many Arab friends. Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists, and every
                government that supports them." Other regimes faced hard choices, he pointed out:
                "Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make: Either you are with us,
                or you are with the terrorists."
            
            President Bush argued that the new war went beyond Bin Ladin. "Our war on terror
                begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there," he said. "It will not end until
                every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped, and defeated." The
                President had a message for the Pentagon: "The hour is coming when America will act,
                and you will make us proud." He also had a message for those outside the United
                States. "This is civilization's fight," he said. "We ask every nation to join
                    us."
            
            President Bush approved military plans to attack Afghanistan in meetings with Central
                Command's General Franks and other advisers on September 21 and October 2.
                Originally titled "Infinite Justice," the operation's code word was changed-to avoid
                the sensibilities of Muslims who associate the power of infinite justice with God
                alone-to the operational name still used for operations in Afghanistan:"Enduring
                    Freedom."
            
            The plan had four phases.
            
                In Phase One, the United States and its allies would move forces into the
                    region and arrange to operate from or over neighboring countries such as
                    Uzbekistan and Pakistan. This occurred in the weeks following 9/11, aided by
                    overwhelming international sympathy for the United States.
                In Phase Two, air strikes and Special Operations attacks would hit key al
                    Qaeda and Taliban targets. In an innovative joint effort, CIA and Special
                    Operations forces would be deployed to work together with each major Afghan
                    faction opposed to the Taliban. The Phase Two strikes and raids began on October
                    7. The basing arrangements contemplated for Phase One were substantially
                    secured-after arduous effort-by the end of that month.
                In Phase Three, the United States would carry out "decisive operations" using
                    all elements of national power, including ground troops, to topple the Taliban
                    regime and eliminate al Qaeda's sanctuary in Afghanistan. Mazar-e-Sharif, in
                    northern Afghanistan, fell to a coalition assault by Afghan and U.S. forces on
                    November 9. Four days later the Taliban had fled from Kabul. By early December,
                    all major cities had fallen to the coalition. On December 22, Hamid Karzai, a
                    Pashtun leader from Kandahar, was installed as the chairman of Afghanistan's
                    interim administration. Afghanistan had been liberated from the rule of the
                    Taliban.
            
            In December 2001, Afghan forces, with limited U.S. support, engaged al Qaeda elements
                in a cave complex called Tora Bora. In March 2002, the largest engagement of the war
                was fought, in the mountainous Shah-i-Kot area south of Gardez, against a large
                force of al Qaeda jihadists. The three-week battle was substantially successful, and
                almost all remaining al Qaeda forces took refuge in Pakistan's equally mountainous
                and lightly governed frontier provinces. As of July 2004, Bin Ladin and Zawahiri are
                still believed to be at large.
            
                In Phase Four, civilian and military operations turned to the indefinite task
                    of what the armed forces call "security and stability operations."
            
            Within about two months of the start of combat operations, several hundred CIA
                operatives and Special Forces soldiers, backed by the striking power of U.S.
                aircraft and a much larger infrastructure of intelligence and support efforts, had
                combined with Afghan militias and a small number of other coalition soldiers to
                destroy theTaliban regime and disrupt al Qaeda. They had killed or captured about a
                quarter of the enemy's known leaders. Mohammed Atef, al Qaeda's military commander
                and a principal figure in the 9/11 plot, had been killed by a U.S. air strike.
                According to a senior CIA officer who helped devise the overall strategy, the CIA
                provided intelligence, experience, cash, covert action capabilities, and entrï¿½e to
                tribal allies. In turn, the U.S. military offered combat expertise, firepower,
                logistics, and communications.
            
            With these initial victories won by the middle of 2002, the global conflict against
                Islamist terrorism became a different kind of struggle.
        
    



Document 001002142 ends.



Zimbabwe's rigged election

 



  The election this week in Zimbabwe was an ugly travesty from 
which all of southern Africa will suffer. Voters lined up for 
hours at polling stations, many of them in vain. Supporters of 
the main opposition candidate were intimidated and beaten. Then 
the long-serving, increasingly tyrannical president, Robert 
Mugabe, was declared the winner. International observers called 
the process deeply flawed, and the Bush administration has 
refused to recognize the declared results.

  Unfortunately, some leading African countries like South Africa 
and Nigeria have compounded the problem by accepting Mugabe's 
victory despite earlier assertions that they would not recognize 
the results of a rigged election. By failing to hold firm they 
not only damage their diplomatic credibility, but also ignore 
the consequences for nearby African states of Mugabe's misrule. 
These include explosive political frustration, a swelling tide 
of desperate refugees and a growing reluctance by foreign 
companies and donors to invest in the region. Washington and 
other Western governments may now strengthen the current mild 
sanctions against Zimbabwe. These steps would be far more 
effective if they were joined by major African states.

  Mugabe, who led Zimbabwe's liberation struggle against white 
minority rule in the late 1970's, has systematically wrecked his 
country's economy and its freedoms to prolong his 22-year-old 
hold on power. Zimbabwe should be an economic beacon, not a 
basket case. It is blessed with fertile agricultural land, and 
during the first dozen years of Mugabe's rule it was relatively 
prosperous and free.

  That picture changed radically in the mid-1990's when Mugabe 
shifted onto a highly destructive course. He incited violent 
land seizures that have taken a disastrous toll on agricultural 
investment and production and launched a broad assault on 
journalistic freedom and judicial independence. This campaign 
has been carried out with help from a small but loyal core of 
former liberation fighters turned thugs. Thugs and fraud cannot 
keep the 78-year-old Mugabe in power forever. Zimbabwe's 
recovery will have to wait for his departure.


Copyright @ 2002 the International Herald Tribune All Rights 
Reserved






Document 001002143 ends.


	
Tehran, Oct 21, IRNA -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, heading a high-ranking delegation, arrived here on Sunday on a one-day official visit to the country. The Venezuelan president was officially welcomed at Mehrabad International Airport by Minister of Mines and Metals, Eshaq Jahangiri. According to informed sources, Chavez is due to meet his Iranian counterpart President Mohammad Khatami to discuss avenues to help increase oil price. Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs Luis Alfonso Davila and some other senior officials of the country are accompanying President Chavez in his visit to Tehran. President Khatami, in a telephone conversation with President Chavez last week, called on member states of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to join hands to prevent a steep fall in oil prices. 
	
	
	





Document 001002144 ends.


	
ANKARA (A.A) - 21.12.2001 - Yasin Hatiboglu, Deputy Chairman of the SP [Felicity Party]'s Parliamentary Group, claiming that countries in which the programs of the IMF [International Monetary Fund] are implemented experience the same fate, has said that the government must see the social explosion that has occurred in Argentina. 
	
	
 Hatiboglu began a press conference he held at the TBMM [Turkish Grand National Assembly] by saying that "I hope that Mr. [State Minister for the Economy Kemal] Dervis will not have the same fate as [former Argentine Economics Minister Domingo] Cavallo, and that our country's fate will not be the same as Argentina's." 
	
	
 Claiming that Indonesia, Malaysia, and Argentina, in which IMF programs were implemented, have all suffered the same fate, Hatiboglu called for taking lessons from the developments in Argentina. Hatiboglu spoke as follows: 
	
	
 "This government must finally see the Argentine government, and the social explosion that has befallen Argentina. Yesterday, Argentina as well was being portrayed as if everything there were going fine. It was said that Argentina was having success. Well, until the IMF brought them to the point of death, just as there's a transitory motion that's seen in corpses, that's what happened in Argentina." 
	
	
 Noting that a temporary golden age had been experienced in Argentina, Hatiboglu said that "The IMF knows very well how to calculate just when it will deliver the actual death blow. It delivered that blow, and hit Argentina. What you're calling the IMF is the ideal of a world kingdom." 
	
	
 Those who use the IMF 
	
	
 Hatiboglu, explaining that the IMF is in the hands of the "forces of money", said that these latter "toy with" the world in palms of their hands. 
	
	
 Hatiboglu responded as follows to a journalist's question as to whether Argentina had intentionally been brought to its current situation: 
	
	
 "There's a fantasy of a world kingdom that utilizes the IMF. Those who are really behind it all, those who are behind this business, use the IMF. Just as Kemal Dervis is a means in our country, and if through him they are able to orient Turkey in any way they choose, they are able to do whatever they want with countries by means of the IMF." 
	
	
 Criticism of government 
	
	
 Claiming that the family structure and social solidarity in Turkey are different from those in Argentina, Hatiboglu charged that, by means of the new Family Law, efforts are underway to do away with these. 
	
	
 Criticizing the policies of the government, Hatiboglu spoke as follows: "With such a Prime Minister, this country cannot be brought to prosperity; it will just be dragged along. With these three musketeers [a reference to the three-party coalition government], this country can only be dragged along, but won't get anywhere." 
	
	
 Yasin Hatiboglu also criticized the implementation of the program wherein classical Turkish 'divan' literature will not be taught in schools, and that, instead, pre-Republic and post-Republic literature will be taught. Stating that he intended to bring the matter onto the agenda through the Parliamentary oversight mechanisms, Hatiboglu said that "No one has the right to wage war against the history of this nation." 
	
	
 Criticizing as well the appointment of Kemal Alemdaroglu as rector of Istanbul University, Hatiboglu noted that the failure to discuss the report by the Higher Education Research Commission had been instrumental in this, and charged that President Ahmet Necdet Sezer had appointed Alemdaroglu even though aware of the allegations concerning him. 
	
	
 Responding to a question, Yasin Hatiboglu asserted that the [controversial] 2002 calendar had not been prepared by the SP itself, but rather that the calendar that has made news had in fact been composed by a private firm. 
	
	
 
	
	
	





Document 001002146 ends.


       

Rally's Inc. said it adopted a shareholders rights plan to protect shareholders from an inadequately priced takeover offer. 

The plan provides for the distribution of one common stock-purchase right as a dividend for each share of common outstanding.
Each right entitles shareholders to buy one-half share of common for $30. 

Earlier this month, a group led by three of the company's directors, Burt Sugarman, James M. Trotter III and Willam E. Trotter II, indicated it had a 45.2% stake in the Louisville, Ky., fast-food company and that it planned to seek a majority of seats on Rally's nine-member board. 

The company said it was "concerned about the announced intent to acquire control of the company" by a Sugarman-led group. 




Document 001002149 ends.


       

Meridian National Corp. said it sold 750,000 shares of its common stock to the McAlpine family interests, for $1 million, or $1.35 a share.
The sale represents 10.2% of Meridian's shares outstanding. 

The McAlpine family, which operates a number of multinational companies, including a London-based engineering and construction company, also lent to Meridian National $500,000.
That amount is convertible into shares of Meridian common stock at $2 a share during its one-year term.
The loan may be extended by the McAlpine group for an additional year with an increase in the conversion price to $2.50 a share. 

The sale of shares to the McAlpine family along with the recent sale of 750,000 shares of Meridian stock to Haden MacLellan Holding PLC of Surrey, England and a recent public offering have increased Meridian's net worth to $8.5 million, said William Feniger, chief executive officer of Toledo, Ohio-based Meridian. 




Document 001002151 ends.



   Mugabe wins Zimbabwe presidential polls

 


Author:     AGENCIES [ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2002 3:05:34 PM ]

  HARARE: Robert Mugabe has won Zimbabwe's presidential election, 
Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede announced on Wednesday.

  Mudede said on state television that Mugabe was re-elected with 
1,685,212 votes against 1,258,758 votes for opposition 
challenger Morgan Tsvangirai. "I ... therefore declare Robert 
Mugabe the winner for the office of the presidency of Zimbabwe," 
Mudede said.

  Mugabe passed the 50 per cent mark with only six districts left 
to be declared, official figures showed on Wednesday.

  Results broadcast on state television gave Mugabe 1,634,382 
votes, or 52 per cent of the 3.1 million ballots cast.

  His main rival Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic 
Change (MDC) had 1,185,890 votes, or 38 per cent of the votes 
cast.

  Tsvangirai, along with local and international observers, have 
cited widespread abuses in the electoral process.

  The MDC leadership was to meet mid-morning to discuss the 
results.

  "We have a national executive meeting ... where we will be 
looking at the figures and give the reaction of the party," said 
David Coltart, MP for the Movement for Democratic Change (Mdc).

  "To put it mildly the figures are very odd, with very low 
turnouts in the cities and massives ones in the rural areas, 
which is unprecedented in this country," he said.

  Tsvangirai was due to address the media after the meeting, 
around noon (1000 GMT).

  Meanwhile, about 100 soldiers surrounded the offices of the 
opposition Movement in Bulawayo on Wednesday, a reporter said.



Copyright @ 2002 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. |






Document 001002153 ends.


	
In an antiterrorist war that at the time was initially launched as Operation Infinite Justice, it is infinitely difficult to reconcile oneself to the pictures of chained and humiliated Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners at the U.S. Guantanamo base on Cuba. The pictures resemble an attempt to satisfy a primitive thirst for revenge and convince the Americans that the Bush administration has not only succeeded in removing a regime of religious madmen in out-of-the-way Afghanistan, but also in taking prisoner some of those responsible for the terrorist acts on that day in September. 
	
	
 The U.S. and most recently the British governments reject the suggestion that the prisoners are being harmed, but this does not alter the fact that the pictures of hooded prisoners in chains are in themselves enough to paint a picture of a United States that in the name of self-righteousness - and equally worryingly: without any great amount of debate - has allowed itself to infringe international rules. 
	
	
 This impression is reinforced by the fact that for the time being at least the United States has ignored the Geneva Convention and refused to treat those taken prisoner as prisoners of war - something to which they have a right - until a competent court has decided differently. 
	
	
 Instead the superpower has entered a legal fog where the prisoners have been stamped with a nonsense term in international law: "battlefield prisoners." As such they face the prospect of being subjected to the due course of law and in the final analysis perhaps sentenced to death in closed military courts instead of in open courts, as is the right of prisoners of war under the terms of the Geneva Convention. 
	
	
 For most people it will of course be difficult to mobilize any great degree of understanding for those responsible for the bloody terrorism in the United States on that day in September, but what is at issue here is that at the present moment principles are at stake that could have far-reaching repercussions for the future war against terrorism. 
	
	
 With its behavior, therefore, the United States is not only compromising the image of the war against terrorism as an expression of a higher form of justice, but also of itself as an unshakeable defender of this same justice. This will undoubtedly rub off on the superpower's allies, including Denmark. And for this reason, too, they have a moral duty to speak out, as Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, among others, did yesterday. Otherwise they face the risk not only of undermining the legitimacy of their own antiterrorism war at present, but also of sending out a signal that despots around the world will know how to exploit. 
	
	
 Many of them have already demonstrated great skill in their own behavior when it comes to exploiting the West's fear of terrorism. 
	
	
	





Document 001002154 ends.



Stretching The Case For Inhumanity

 


Washington Times 
February 6, 2002 
Pg. 15

  
Stretching The Case For Inhumanity

  
Terrorist thugs at Gitmo don't deserve their treatment

  
By Vito Fossella

  Having had the opportunity to tour Camp X-Ray last week, I offer 
America's critics a simple piece of advice: Get a life.

  The chronic complainers are outraged by, of all things, the 
treatment of the captured Taliban and al Qaeda terrorists being 
detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. They have absurdly criticized 
as "inhumane" the decision to temporarily place prison suits, 
handcuffs and blindfolds on the terrorists during transfer to 
protect the military personnel guarding them. They have even 
demanded upgraded accommodations, seemingly forgetting that 
these are the leaders of a worldwide terrorist organization who 
have repeatedly vowed to kill innocent Americans through war or 
terror.

  Far from being treated inhumanely, the al Qaeda and the Taliban 
terrorists are better fed, better clothed and better cared for 
than they would be if they were still roaming the cold caves of 
Afghanistan. They eat three nutritious meals a day, including 
halal, cereal and granola bars. They enjoy their own large cell, 
talking freely with one another, worshiping with a prayer 
leader, and writing home.

  Indeed, the evil-doers at Camp X-Ray are getting far better 
treatment than they deserve - hot showers, a warm Caribbean 
climate and access to the exact same medical care as the 
military personnel who live on the base. It seems our critics 
would prefer that the Taliban and al Qaeda terrorists instead 
stay at the Ritz-Carlton.

  By way of contrast, the men and women of our military who have 
the extremely dangerous job of guarding these thugs live in 
12-person tents, take cold showers using a hose, and often must 
cope without the benefits of electricity. They have been away 
from home for months, and they serve our nation with dignity and 
honor.

  As I toured Camp X-Ray, I stared into the faces of evil. As I 
stood just feet away from barbarians who only weeks earlier 
fired machine guns at American troops, incited bloody prison 
riots and ambushes and, boasted of plans to kill innocent 
people, I could not help but feel the grief and anguish of those 
who lost loved ones on September 11 or during the war in 
Afghanistan. I have no doubt that, if given the opportunity, any 
of the detainees would have relished the chance to kill me. 
Indeed, since their arrival at Camp-X-Ray, some of the 
terrorists have openly threatened the Marines who guard them and 
talk anxiously about returning home soon to continue terrorizing 
the American people.

  There is a greater purpose behind Camp X-Ray than merely 
detaining these violent enemies of the United States. At 
Guantanamo Bay, federal officials are conducting extensive 
interviews with the Taliban and al Qaeda terrorists, culling 
information on the terrorist network and the whereabouts and 
future plans of the tens of thousands of terrorists who were 
trained in the same camps and who are now living around the 
world.

  Already, intelligence gathered from other al Qaeda detainees has 
uncovered potential plots to attack American embassies, nuclear 
power plants and public water facilities. In the caves and 
hideouts of al Qaeda operatives, we have found instruction books 
on how to build chemical and biological weapons, detailed maps 
of American cities and descriptions of landmarks. The type of 
work that is occurring at Camp X-Ray may prove critical to 
preventing a new attack.

  President Bush and America deserve appreciation from all corners 
of the globe for leading the world in the war against terrorism 
and for making every nation safer.

  America's treatment of the Taliban and al Qaeda terrorists at 
Camp X-Ray is appropriate and, in my opinion, too good for these 
murderous thugs. Instead of lecturing the United States, our 
critics may better spend their time reminding others that if 
terrorists don't want to be detained at Camp X-Ray, they should 
join the civilized world.

  Rep. Vito Fossella represents the 13th Congressional District of 
New York, including Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn.




Document 001002155 ends.


	
MOSCOW. March 24 (Interfax) - Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov on Sunday evening is beginning a foreign tour, during which he will pay official visits to Mongolia and Vietnam. He will be visiting Ulan-Bator on March 25 and 26, and Hanoi on March 26 to 28. In Mongolia Kasyanov is to meet with Mongolian Prime Minister Nambaryn Enkhbayar, parliament Chairman Timur Ogir and President Natsagiyin Bagabandi. The plan of Kasyanov's visit also included expanded talks and the signing of bilateral documents. The Russian prime minister will meet with Mongolian and Russian businessmen. The main goal of the visit is to broaden economic cooperation between the two countries, whose present-day pace is not fast enough. Russian-Mongolian trade currently amounts to $240 million and makes up only 25% of Mongolia's foreign trade turnover. Mongolia's negative balance in trade with Russia increased from $150 million in 2000 to $160 million in 2001. Russia has proposed improving the situation by increasing exports of Mongolian meat to Russia. In recent years, three joint ventures - the Erdenet mining company, the Mongolian-Russian Non-Ferrous Metals Company and the Ulan- Bator Railways, have accounted for 60% of the Mongolian exports and 40% of the GDP. Russia would like to increase its stake in Erdenet from the current 49%, but Mongolia is also interested in increasing its 51% stake. This issue is likely to be discussed in Ulan-Bator, since the 1991 agreement on this company expires on December 31, 2002. Among other projects which Russian companies would like to implement in Mongolia are the laying of a gas pipeline from Russia to China (Yukos), the gasification of individual districts of Mongolia (Gazprom, Itera) and electricity exports to Mongolia (Unified Energy Systems of Russia.) Mongolia is one of the few members of the former social camp to which Russia does not owe anything. On the contrary, Mongolia's debt to Russia on current operations amounts to $10 million, and its Soviet-era debt to $11.5 billion. Russia is prepared to discuss restructuring and deferment schemes with the Mongolian leadership. Military cooperation, curtailed in the 1990s and now being resumed, will also be on the agenda. The parties are to discuss the training of Mongolian military personnel at Russian military academies and arms exports. Kasyanov will fly to Hanoi from Ulan-Bator on March 26.	





Document 001002156 ends.


	
Banja Luka, Dec 4 (ONASA) -- Republika Srpska [Serb Republic -- RS] Prime Minister Mladen Ivanic on Tuesday [4 December] departed to an official visit to China, which is to last until December 9, read a statement from the RS government's public affairs bureau. 
	
	
 Ivanic is to meet with Chinese Deputy Prime Minister Qian Qichen and discuss possibilities for economic and other forms of cooperation. 
	
	
 Ivanic and Finance Minister Milenko Vracar are to meet with the governor of province Hebei Niu Maosheng, who invited them to the visit, and other officials of this province. 
	
	
	





Document 001002157 ends.


	
If keeping Arafat captive, under siege with the Palestinian people by the Israeli occupying forces, is an affront to Palestinian, Arab dignity, and International justice, it is also a powder keg that will at one point explode, devastating what remains of the Israeli security. It is that same security that Sharon, the assassin, uses as an excuse to instigate struggles and wars, and promote instability. He also pretends that he besieges Arafat because so far, he was unable to confront the Palestinian resistance. 
	
	
 It is only natural, with the guerilla operations successively occur, even inside the fortified settlements, that the world begins to wonder whether the accusations that Arafat was planning, and instructing attacks on Israeli targets despite his captivity, and the round-the-clock Israeli surveillance, were founded. The only interpretation for these accusations is that Arafat has formidable supernatural powers that enable him to defend the rights of his homeland and people against the unlimited capabilities of the Israeli occupying forces equipped with all the mighty US weapon technology. 
	
	
 The failure of the US-made Israeli war machine to settle this unequal battle became clear in the farcical-yet-provocative, statements made by the Israeli minister of defense now present in Washington. He has called for helping aggressive Israel to put a traitorous agent at the head of the Palestinian Authority, who could accept its terms to "assassinate' the rights of Palestinians. 
	
	
 It is certain the Ben Eliezer's hallucination is a mere expression of failure to persuade the world to accept the brutality of the occupying forces' practices. They even embody the bankrupt policy of Israeli criminal extremism and failure to gain legitimacy for its continuing occupation of the Palestinian territories. 
	
	
 Ben Eliezer's raving coincided with the arrival of his assassin boss Sharon to Washington to take part in exerting pressures on the US administration, and persuade it that removing Arafat could bring about the Palestinian surrender, and halt violence as he calls it. Sharon and Ben Eliezer never stopped to consider that no patriotic Palestinian could accept to serve as a substitute agent to Israel. They, along with the extremist gang in the Israeli government, do not want to understand that Arafat symbolizes the Palestinian struggle. With this attitude, Sharon's government showed its true hostility for a leader and chairman elected by his people. US peace Envoy Burns has expressed this after his meeting with president Mubarak. He has declared that US contacts will continue with Arafat considering that he is the elected Palestinian chairman. 
	
	
 I do wish that Burns's statements reflect a true position that signals a return of balance to the US position in dealing with the reality of Palestinian-Israeli struggle. 
	
	
 The time has come, gentlemen, for Sharon, the assassin, to realize that injustice cannot last long. The security of the Israelis depends on the Palestinians' regaining their rights. By besieging Arafat, Sharon has turned him into the "Mandela" of Arab struggle. This foretells that the Israeli occupation's claims will inevitably falls, no matter how long Sharon humiliates Arab dignity, relaying on the protection and support of Washington, which forgot all principles and role in defending justice, and international legitimacy. 
	
	
	





Document 001002159 ends.


 
  
  
    
      Dear Friends of Pleasant Run:
      The holiday season is the time of year when we're all busy buying
      gifts, baking goodies, decorating our homes and making arrangements to be
      with family and friends. This is the time of year when we give thanks for
      the warmth and love that surrounds us. And this time of year is an
      occasion to remember those not as fortunate as we are.
      Pleasant Run cares for at-risk children and families. We do this
      through a wide range of programs including community- based, therapeutic
      foster care, group homes and our treatment center. Many of the children
      are victims of abuse or live in unstable homes.
      Today we are asking you to take a few minutes to consider making a
      contribution to Pleasant Run to help the 1,500 children families we care
      for. Many of the children have no homes; no memories of joy from past
      holidays. Others are from families that are struggling to provide a
      healthy, happy environment but don't have the resources to make it
      possible. Your contribution will make a difference in a child's life. It
      may help a family stay together. It can certainly make happy holiday
      memories.
      A gift to Pleasant Run means the children in our care will have
      presents to open. A gift means a family will have a holiday meal, cooking
      utensils to prepare the meal and dishes to serve it on. Your gift will go
      beyond the holiday season. It can help purchase clothing, school
      supplies, books and educational tools throughout the year.
      
      Please take a few minutes to mail a donation to Pleasant run. Let our
      families and children know that you want them to have the same kinds of
      memories of the holidays you will have.
      We wish you and your family a new year full of joy and love.
      Sincerely,
      Mary Roth Executive Director
    
  



Document 001002160 ends.


	
The U.S. government says that the terrorist attack on New York City was an act of war. Yet it refuses to treat those it has captured in the course of this war as prisoners of war. Instead, it refers to them as "unlawful combatants" not entitled to the protection of the 1949 Geneva Convention, which the U.S. signed and which sets out rules for treating enemy soldiers. It shackles them, houses them in unprotected chain link compounds (in Cuba, of all places) and threatens "intense interrogation." 
	
	
 This may be convenient for Washington. But it sets a dangerous precedent for all soldiers who face capture in the so-called war on terrorism, including Canada's. 
	
	
 Perhaps it is perverse to have rules for warfare. But the world is a perverse place. And so, since the late 19th century, most nations that call themselves civilized have adhered to such rules. The 1949 Geneva Convention specifies that any belligerents captured in the course of war - be they regular soldiers, militia members or volunteers "operating in or outside their territory even if this territory is occupied" - must be accorded prisoner of war status. The convention exempts only those, such as spies and saboteurs, who do not clearly identify themselves as belligerents. But clearly it was meant to apply to the Taliban and Al Qa'ida fighters captured after vicious battles in Afghanistan, fighters who made no secret of who they were, what they were supporting and who they thought their enemies were. 
	
	
 But then, if they were dealt with properly, the U.S. would have less leeway. Under the Geneva Convention, prisoners of war must be treated humanely. Their captors are forbidden from inflicting "outrages upon personal dignity" or "inhumane and degrading treatment." Prisoners of war are not required to give their captors information beyond name, rank and serial number. Under the convention, they must "be quartered under conditions as favourable as those for forces of the detaining power who are billeted in the same area." 
	
	
 To be more precise, prisoners of war are not to be treated like those jailed by the U.S. at its Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba. Those detainees, brought shackled, shaved and blindfolded to Cuba, are kept in chain link pens under the constant glare, night and day, of halogen lamps. (The blindfolding, deliberate disorientation, discomfort and constant light are staples of police states all over the world. The idea is to break down the inmate, weaken him from lack of sleep and thereby make him more pliable when the interrogators begin their serious work). Washington is brazen about its flouting of international law, secure in the knowledge that neither its citizens not its allies will complain. Indeed, many Americans (and some Canadians) probably think anyone connected to the Sept. 11 terror attacks deserves whatever he gets. 
	
	
 There are, however, a couple of problems with this understandable, if knee-jerk, response. First, it assumes that those selected for Guantanamo are connected to the Sept. 11 attacks. Maybe some are (although the world would have a better idea if the U.S., in line with the Geneva Convention, specified just who it was holding). More likely though, the U.S. is using the broadest of brooms to sweep up detainees for Cuba. American intelligence agencies - doubly embarrassed by their failure to foresee the Sept. 11 attack and their inability to locate Usama Bin Ladin - are probably not picky about who they subject to "intense interrogation." 
	
	
 The more fundamental problem, though, has to do with logic. Is the war on terrorism a war or is it not? Many (including me) saw the attacks on New York as a monstrous criminal outrage, rather than an act of war. But President George W. Bush determined otherwise. By treating Sept. 11 as war, Bush was able to call into play the right of self-defence mandated by the United Nations. But if Sept. 11 was an act of war, then it becomes, in a weird way, less monstrous. Both New York City and the Pentagon are legitimate wartime targets - the former economic, the latter military. Anyone waging war on the U.S. would have targeted Manhattan in the hope of damaging the American economy - as the World Trade Center attack did. 
	
	
 So if Sept. 11 was an act of war, why are those captured in the aftermath not treated as prisoners of war? It is considered legitimate self-defence for the U.S. and its allies to invade Afghanistan. Why is it not considered equally legitimate for the Afghans and their allies to resist this invasion? 
	
	
 These are not abstract questions. Countries sign on to the Geneva Convention not to be altruistic but to ensure that their own soldiers will be well treated if captured. The assumption is that what we do to them will be done to us. Let us hope that, in this instance, the terrible equation does not hold. 
	
	
	





Document 001002161 ends.


	
US President Bush is being criticized by world social circles for having called our country, Iran, and Iraq an axis of evil. 
	
	
 On 15 February, the Cuban Government issued a statement denouncing the United States for trying to inflict military threat on the DPRK, Iran, and Iraq, on the pretext of their support or toleration of terrorism. The statement said that the international community would not accept the groundless US condemnation of the DPRK, Iraq, and Iran. Noting that threatening others with armed forces is the current US administration's modus operandi, the statement stressed that the US threat would cause grave clashes. 
	
	
 In his 15 February interview with the French newspaper Figaro, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov assessed the branding of the DPRK, Iran, and Iraq as an axis of evil a Cold War labeling. He pointed out that such labeling is a Cold War heritage. 
	
	
 According to Japan's Mainichi Shimbun, Spanish Prime Minister Aznar in a press conference expressed a stance to distance himself from Bush's view depicting the DPRK, Iran, and Iraq as an axis of evil. He said that it was time to discuss the United States' new diplomatic plans. 
	
	
 In relation to Bush's axis of evil remarks, the German Foreign Minister also said, "Allies are not satellites," and the French Foreign Minister caustically criticized that "the United States' unilateral, simplistic worldview poses a new threat to the world." 
	
	
 In its 9 February editorial entitled "the World of Good and Evil," the influential newspaper Financial Times of the United Kingdom stressed that the United States should listen to the friendly countries' criticism of Bush's remarks calling the DPRK, Iran, and Iraq an axis of evil. 
	
	
 On 1 March, Cambodia's Reaksmei Campuchea reported that Bush said that he intends to wage anti-terror wars everywhere in the world, that Iran, Iraq, and the DPRK form an axis of evil, and that he will launch strikes against the countries threatening the security of the United States. The report divulged that the US intention is to realize its own strategy because it has been driven into a corner. 
	
	
 In a 17 February article entitled "US-Europe Relations at a Crossroads Over the Axis of Evil Theory," Japan's Mainichi Shimbun reported that questions are mushrooming in Europe and Russia about the Bush administration's international strategy calling for a showdown with the axis of evil. The article conveyed that the Foreign Minister of Germany, which leads the European Union along with France, said, "The formation of an international anti-terror alliance does not mean it can do anything." The article said that the German Foreign Minister's remark expressed a concern, as it were, over the US Government's axis of evil theory. 
	
	
 According to ITAR-TASS, a famous Russian politician (Piacheslav Nikonov), president of political fund, said that it would be hard to imagine something more ineffective than Bush's axis of evil dogma, and went on to point out the following: In recent years on the Korean peninsula, all efforts were channeled to promote dialogue between the North and the South. The US stance, however, makes the dialogue impossible. This remark also infringes on Russia's interests. Bush's dogma astonished the world. By publicly designating countries and their peoples, not some terrorist elements or organizations, enemies of mankind, the United States is taking the risk of confronting itself with all the other countries in the world. 
	
	
 On 19 February, the Voice of Russia reported in the following manner: 
	
	
 The European allies of the United States are not sympathetic towards President Bush's remarks branding the DPRK, Iran, and Iraq as an axis of evil. In view of the recent comments made by the state and political leaders of the European countries, we are led to such a conclusion. It seems to be the first time that the European countries have reached such a consensus that they cannot wholly agree with the United States. The [US] newspaper The New York Times reported that a European Union leader evaluated the axis of evil dogma as a despotic, very simplistic, very rash, and a futile one. The French Foreign Minister also said that the United States is viewing all the problems against the backdrop of anti-terror struggle, thereby seeing the world in a simplistic way. He stressed that the United States is acting arbitrarily, without consulting with other countries, because it is pursuing its own exclusive interests. He stated that the international anti-terror alliance could not be turned into a base on which to take some actions in opposition to other countries. On 17 February, the Finnish and Belgian Foreign Ministers also expressed opposition to the so-called axis of evil remark and the US plan to launch strikes against Iraq. It is hard to forecast how much longer the United States can act arbitrarily and treat its allies and the large majority of the world community in a disdaining manner. Every effort is called for to prevent the US action that could cause great misfortune to the whole mankind. 
	
	
 The broadcasting station reported in the preceding manner. 
	
	
	





Document 001002165 ends.


	
The Nippon Foundation revealed that the number of pirates in Southeast Asia attacking ships for ransom is on rise. During the past several years, pirate attacks have shifted from a "syndicated" crime of attacking large cargo ships to a minor crime of theft or robbery. However, the foundation warned that the number of pirate attacks, in the new form of sea jacking ships for ransom, has been increasing. 
	
	
 According to the International Maritime Bureau, a civic organ which acts on reports of suspicious shipping movements, piracy, and armed robbery at sea anywhere in the world, the number of pirate attacks in the first half of this year stood 165, exceeding the record high of 161 pirate attacks in 2000. Ninety of the attacks, approximately half of attacks that took place in the world, were reported in Southeast Asian waters. 
	
	
 The most prominent form of such attacks is sea jack for ransom. In April, in waters off Sumatra Island, an armed group ambushed a cruise ship. Involved were two employees, of a local company that had merged with an established Japanese oil-related company, and an Indonesian state-run company. 
	
	
 In June, six cases of pirate attacks took place in one day in waters near northern island of Borneo, in which trawl-boats and lumber carriers were ambushed. In addition, an Indonesian-registered ship was attacked and the crews from two ships, including a captain, were kidnapped and held for ransom. 
	
	
 Among the eight attacks noted above, it was confirmed that a ransom payment was made in five of the cases. However, negotiations about ransom were not disclosed. Yoshihiko Yamada, domestic division chief of Nippon Foundation's Department of Marine Affairs said, "There were very few piracy attacks for ransom on commercial vessels. A prevailing view is that these piracy attacks are actually committed by anti-government guerrillas amidst mounting political unrest." 
	
	
	





Document 001002167 ends.


 
   
   
      
         
            The Entrepreneur Is the New Madonna
            

            Dear Joe,

            I know what you mean about being a journalist. Almost every assignment is a
challenge in a different way and it never seems to get easier. I often feel as
if I only get half the story sometimes, so I typically do a massive amount of
reporting that is most often much more than I will ever need. I think that is
why I welcomed doing a book--it gives one the ability to use so much of what is
left on the cutting room floor of daily journalism.

            Think of all the good stuff we all collect daily in our reporting that we
never add to stories. Most often reporters recount these tales with each other
and with their sources rather than share them with the general public. Much of
it, of course, using the standards of top newspapers, cannot be used since it
is largely gossip we are repeating, although it certainly could make for some
very good stories. I often wonder when a really great fictional book will be
written about this era (probably decades and decades hence as it is too close).
In any case, there certainly is no lack of information available about the
moguls of technology now as they all become our current pop icons. I would
posit that Bill and Michael and Steve and Jerry have become the Madonnas of the
current age of stock market mania and celebration of the entrepreneur.

            So the shift in the image of Gates has been an interesting one for me to
watch. The smart-boy technologist is now being painted as the whiny bully. I
personally always thought it was a risk to pin the image of Microsoft on just
one man--at AOL, for example, there was a conscious effort to develop other
"characters," for lack of a better word. So there, while you think of Case, you
also think of Pittman and Leonsis and increasingly a range of other executives.
Steve Ballmer, of course, is now getting a lot more attention at Microsoft, but
it still seems to be Bill's show over there.

            While I did not attend the trial--I was lucky to be able to read your highly
amusing and informative dispatches, several of which made me spit up my lunch
laughing--it certainly seemed as if the image of Bill Gates took a beating and
the insular culture of Microsoft did not look so good. That's ironic, since I
think it was just that insularity that helped them, much in the same way that
AOL has benefited from being in the Virginia suburbs rather than in Silicon
Valley. AOL would never have existed if it had been founded here, I am sure,
since its employees would have been mocked into obscurity by the digerati. Out
in the D.C. area, they looked positively exciting next to all the
government-oriented contractors. I wonder if that means geography is destiny,
and it's still location, location, location.

            From where I am sitting, I think the Microsoft trial has been the really
obvious turning point between the computer era and the digital age. I think it
almost does not matter what the judge does since it's clear that the balance of
power is shifting again, although it not clear where it will land. Will the
strongman of the era be AOL, AT&T, Microsoft, or one of the big media
companies? Or will it be none of them because the Internet allows and
encourages a plethora of strong companies and a complex interconnection of
businesses where none are allowed to dominate?

            I always use two simple words when people tell me that one company--whether
it is AOL or Microsoft or Disney--is in charge of all our destinies: Babylon
was. That incredible empire dominated the world and I imagine it did not seem
possible to people living then that anyone could loosen that empire's grip on
humanity. But we all know how that story turned out.

            Now I am getting way too philosophical, but this is my final missive, so why
not? Perhaps you could hasten a prediction of where this is all going. As for
me, I'll stick with my philosophy of reporting and, I guess, life--nobody
knows.

            Cheers,
Kara

         
      
   



Document 001002169 ends.


	
As Israeli tanks push their way into one Palestinian population center after another it has become more and more difficult to guess what political objectives might be driving Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. He says he wants to destroy the "infrastructure" behind the suicide attacks against the Israelis. We can understand this as an immediate military objective, but nothing will be achieved by the operation politically. The temporary security it may produce will be lost immediately if the troops are withdrawn. 
	
	
 The desperate tableau that has emerged in the last few days is becoming even more dismal, and the administration of President George W. Bush does not appear to have any sort of logical Near East policy. In the past week, the United States has taken a stand in support of the Saudi Arabian peace plan. In the United Nations, it supported [a call for] the removal of Israeli troops from the cities in the occupied areas. Nevertheless, in his subsequent remarks, Bush encouraged Sharon to continue. 
	
	
 Suicide attacks do not require an extensive infrastructure. A few kilograms of explosives, a simple detonating fuse, and a desperate hatred are the most important ingredients. The categorical moral condemnation of terrorism is self-evident, but this will not free Israel from the problem it faces. Israeli's own 35-year-old occupation and resettlement policies have created the breeding ground for the terrorism that Sharon is now trying to root out by resorting exclusively to military means. 
	
	
 Even if, contrary to all reason, the operation turns out to be successful, the underlying problem would remain the same as before. Israel is responsible for about three million bitter people who lack political rights. The only means of preventing a return to terrorism would be [to launch] a counter-terrorist effort that extends to every village. This would soon erode both what is left of the army's reputation and its military cutting edge. 
	
	
 Israel's resettlement policies have been justified on the grounds of security. The last few months have demonstrated that, on the contrary, they have become an extraordinary burden. Traffic to the settlements prevents the effective monitoring of Israel's borders. The high birthrate of the Palestinian population guarantees that it will not be possible to change the population balance of the occupied territories by stepping up resettlement [by the Jewish population]. 
	
	
 Since Sharon refuses to offer the Palestinians their own state with acceptable borders and conditions, there are two alternatives left. One would think that no politically prudent Israeli could support either of them. 
	
	
 The first would involve continuous occupation and [the development of] an apartheid state similar to South Africa. Terrorism will not be absent from such a country and, in the process, Israel will lose the right to count itself among the world's democracies. The other alternative entails the massive expulsion of the three million Palestinians to neighboring countries with the human and political catastrophe that would accompany this. Sharon, of course, will not admit that he is planning anything like this, even though the idea has been discussed in Israel. The Prime Minister should explain once and for all what third objective he might have for his actions. 
	
	
 It is high time for the United States to hurry to offer its assistance. The ingredients for a decision are in large measure in place if they would only be admitted by the two sides. They are the simultaneous ending of the violence and the [Israeli] resettlement policy followed by negotiations on the basis of the recent Saudi Arabian proposal and the earlier results of the talks at Camp David and Taba. 
	
	
 By supporting Sharon's irresponsible saber rattling, Washington places strains on its relations with the Arab countries and needlessly puts off a settlement, in which it must some day play the role of midwife. 
	
	
	





Document 001002170 ends.



Rumsfeld Defends U.S. Treatment of Detainees in Cuba

 



  WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 - Frustrated by an international outcry over 
the American treatment of prisoners in Cuba, Secretary of 
Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld defended the United States' conduct 
at length today and dismissed the criticism as breathless 
armchair hyperbole.

  "I am telling you what I believe in every inch of my body to be 
the truth, and I have spent a lot of time on secure video with 
the people down there," he told reporters, referring to the 
United States naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where 158 
prisoners from the war in Afghanistan are being jailed. "I 
haven't found a single scrap of any kind of information that 
suggests that anyone has been treated anything other than 
humanely."

  Mr. Rumsfeld spoke in an unusual briefing that stretched over an 
hour in an attempt, he said, to "tap down some of this 
hyperbole." It was prompted by a rising tide of international 
criticism after the Defense Department released photographs over 
the weekend that showed some of the prisoners kneeling before 
their captors, their legs in shackles, their hands bound in 
manacles, their mouths covered by surgical masks and their eyes 
blinded by large goggles with black tape.

  His comments came as criticism swelled from abroad. Critics said 
the United States was using sensory deprivation and other 
psychological control techniques to weaken the prisoners so that 
interrogations would be more fruitful. The International 
Committee of the Red Cross, in a rare break with its code of not 
publicly criticizing detaining governments, said the United 
States might have violated Geneva Convention rules against 
making a spectacle of prisoners by distributing the pictures, 
which were published worldwide.

  Amnesty International sought access to the prisoners in 
Guantanamo and said they should be allowed to have lawyers.

  "Keeping prisoners incommunicado, sensory deprivation, the use 
of unnecessary restraint and the humiliation of people through 
tactics such as shaving them are all classic techniques employed 
to break the spirit of individuals ahead of interrogation," the 
organization said.

  Several governments joined the chorus, saying the prisoners 
should be granted prisoner of war status under the Geneva 
Convention. Such status would accord them the highest level of 
protections.

  Javier Solana, the European Union foreign policy chief, said 
that despite the Sept. 11 atrocities, "changing our values and 
our way of life would be terrorism's first victory." The 
Netherlands also urged Washington to recognize the detainees as 
prisoners of war, saying, "In the fight, we need to uphold our 
norms and values."

  While debate raged elsewhere, Britain and Spain supported the 
United States. Prime Minister Tony Blair's office said the three 
British prisoners at the detention center, called Camp X-Ray, 
"had no complaints about their treatment." Spanish Foreign 
Minister Josep Pique said the Spanish government "does not have 
the slightest doubt regarding the position of the U.S. 
government."

  The warden at Camp X-Ray, Col. Terry Carrico, said he was 
determined at all times to maintain what he called "positive 
control" over the prisoners. Bill Nash, a retired Army major 
general and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, 
said this amounted to "imposing on them a psychological sense of 
isolation, domination and futility, and trying to establish the 
conditions by which you can then reward them for information, as 
oppose to punish them."

  Mr. Rumsfeld said it was "probably unfortunate" that the 
photographs were released, at least without an explanation. He 
said the prisoners had been photographed in a holding area just 
before their restraints were removed and they were put in their 
cages.

  "If you want to think the worst about things, you can," he said. 
But he argued that whenever prisoners, especially those who are 
dangerous and suicidal, are transported, it only makes sense to 
lock them in restraints. "When they are being moved from place 
to place, will they be restrained in a way so that they are less 
likely to be able to kill an American soldier? You bet. Is it 
inhumane to do that? No. Would it be stupid to do anything else? 
Yes."

  It is not clear why the United States has not officially 
designated the detainees as prisoners of war, especially since 
Mr. Rumsfeld said they are essentially being treated as such.

  "They're in legal limbo," said Michael F. Noone, professor of 
military law at Catholic University. "The United States has to 
get moving on screening these people and determining whether or 
not they're P.O.W.'s. There is no explanation for the delay."

  Mr. Rumsfeld said the Pentagon's clear priority with the 
prisoners was to extract information from them to prevent future 
attacks. "These people are committed terrorists," he said. "We 
are keeping them off the street and out of the airlines and out 
of nuclear power plants and out of ports across this country and 
across other countries."

  And yet, officials at Guantanamo have said that no interrogation 
has taken place on the base and that the prisoners do not have 
lawyers.

  Asked what benefit the United States gets by not classifying the 
captives as prisoners of war, Mr. Rumsfeld said, "I don't know 
enough of the legal technicalities to answer your question. I 
know that the process of gathering the intelligence information 
has not been concluded."

  Mr. Rumsfeld said one of the complicating factors was that the 
Geneva Conventions give protection to prisoners from countries 
but not from terrorist organizations, like Al Qaeda, to which 
some of the prisoners apparently belong. "To give standing under 
a Geneva Convention to a terrorist organization that's not a 
country is something that I think some of the lawyers who did 
not drop out of law school as I did worry about as a precedent," 
he said.

  Officials have said the prisoners come from a range of 
countries, - Britain, Yemen, China, Saudi Arabia and Australia 
among them - and that has also complicated the legal picture.

  In Los Angeles, a federal district judge questioned today 
whether he had the authority to consider a challenge to the 
detention of the prisoners in Cuba.

  "I have grave doubts about whether I have jurisdiction," said 
the judge, A. Howard Matz. He spoke at a hearing on a petition 
filed on Sunday by a group of lawyers, clerics and professors 
who demand that the detainees be identified, taken before a 
court and told of the charges against them.



Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company




Document 001002172 ends.


	
Washington, February 11 (XINHUA) -- US Senate Majority leader Tom Daschle criticized on Monday President George W. Bush for his remarks that described Iran, Iraq and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) as "axis of evil". 
	
	
 In an interview on PBS' "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," Daschle said Bush's remarks were wrong. "I think we've got to be very careful with the rhetoric of that kind," he said. 
	
	
 Daschle's criticism was the first from a leading Democrat since Bush delivered his State of the Union address to Congress in which he used the word of "axis of evil" to label Iran, Iraq and the DPRK. 
	
	
 Bush's description of Iran, Iraq and DPRK as "axis of evil" has courted strong criticism from the three countries as well as some of its allies. 
	
	
 But Daschle also saw the three countries as threats to the United States, saying that Bush was "right in calling attention to the danger they pose to the United States." 
	
	
 "I think that it's important for us to look at each of these countries as threats to this country clearly, as problems that we' ve got to address clearly", he said. 
	
	
	





Document 001002173 ends.


	
The great leader Comrade Kim Il-song taught: 
	
	
 "It is the current of history that the desire of the people is realized and the cause of justice wins." 
	
	
 Justice always finds support and sympathy. In contrast, injustice cannot escape denunciation and rejection. An overview of international developments in February, among other things, clearly points to this fact. 
	
	
 As was reported, US President Bush, unreasonably linking the "weapons of mass destruction [WMD]" and "support of terror" issues to us and Iran and Iraq, raved about what he called "axis of evil." By doing so, he openly declared policy of isolation and stifling against the progressive nations. Subsequently, Bush repeatedly trumpeted his "axis of evil" theory on many occasions and, when he sneaked into Japan and South Korea, too, made nonsensical gaffes getting on the nerves of our country and other countries. US military and diplomatic officials also came forward justifying Bush's "axis of evil" remark. 
	
	
 Bush's "axis of evil" argument is an undisguised declaration of war and a rhetoric threatening aggression. 
	
	
 The United States produces and holds the largest number of WMD in the world. It is also the biggest terrorist country. It precisely is an empire of evil. Notwithstanding, the United States is insisting that so-and-so is part of the "axis of evil." 
	
	
 It is impossible to expect members of international communities to accept such US policy. None of them approves of Bush's one-sided, self-righteous policy. Everyone opposes and rejects it. 
	
	
 In February, the media in many countries around the world and international public opinion came forward opposing Bush's "axis of evil" remark. Voices criticizing it rose high among big powers, too. 
	
	
 China and Russia took exception to the gaffe, stating that they "oppose" it or "find no grounds for any support." This sort of position and posture on the part of big powers drove the United States into a corner. 
	
	
 Washington is even more troubled by the attitude of Western nations and allies toward the United States. 
	
	
 In February, the European Union [EU] stepped up its moves to bluntly criticize and oppose the "axis of evil" rhetoric. A spokesman of the EU Commission, at a press conference, expressed concerns over the Bush gaffe labeling [North] Korea, Iran, and Iraq as the "axis of evil" and said that "the EU's high representatives do not agree to such policy." The French foreign minister demanded that the United States abandon its one-sidedness, saying that global problems cannot be solved by Washington's arbitrary decision. The UK foreign minister said that, although the UK has been acting as a close ally of the United States since the "11 September incident," it "can no longer stand shoulder to shoulder" with it. One can imagine the extent of such EU sentiment from the descriptions of Bush in French newspapers, such as one depicting him as the modern, 21st-century version of "The Stars and Stripes." Also, there was a cartoon showing him in so ferocious an image wearing a T-shirt and jogging pants bearing some English letters, baring his teeth and with a glare of hatred in his eyes. Representatives of more than 40 political parties of 25 European countries even sent letters of protest to Bush. 
	
	
 Western nations and US allies, for the first time ever, took such a concerted stance critical of Washington. In the past, it was their attitude trying to read Washington's mind and doing nothing that would incur its displeasure. This time, however, they spoke out against it and attacked without hesitation. Inside the United States itself, too, there were widespread debates against the Bush gaffe. 
	
	
 The United States found itself under fire at international conference halls, too. A typical example: An international conference of representatives of nongovernmental organizations from more than 150 countries, held in Brazil, adopted a resolution criticizing Bush's "axis of evil" argument. Meanwhile, in various countries around the world, demonstrations and rallies against the Bush remark and the United States were held almost daily. Countless letters, statements, and comments protesting the gaffe were made public. Bush, in a flurry at such moves, went the length of staging the farce of creating a permanent diplomatic agency to prevent the spread of anti-US sentiment. The United States found itself literally in the plight of a punching bag. 
	
	
 In February, Japan, along with the United States, became another target of strong denunciation. It was because Japan, taking the stand supporting Bush's "axis of evil" rhetoric, openly embarked on the path of maneuvering for overseas aggression. Like this, it is inevitable for injustice to meet denunciation and rejection. 
	
	
 Justice always finds support, however. In February, many countries around the world and international public opinion came forth supporting our country. Newspapers, news agencies, and broadcasts in many countries -- including China, Russia, Cuba, Syria, Vietnam, Laos, France, Nepal, United Kingdom, Libya, and United Arab Emirates -- gave prominent coverage to the statement of the foreign ministry spokesman of our country. This fact proved that the world stands on the side of justice. Rallies for solidarity with our country were held in many countries around the world. In a rally held in Syria, activists emphasized that "we will continue to strengthen our solidarity with the Korean people and always stand with them in the same trench steadfastly." In a forum of European political parties, held in Belgium, participants appealed to all progressive political parties of the world to defend Korea's socialism. At a P'yongyang joint conference, too, of organizations of friendship and solidarity with the Korean people and international organizations for democracy, participants adopted a resolution and sent a letter of protest Bush. All this clearly shows the extent of world support for the cause of justice of our people. 
	
	
 The position of Middle East nations for a fair settlement on problems of their region also won the support of international communities. To prove it, the arguments gained ground in many countries that, for a fair settlement on the Middle East issues, Israel must discontinue its attacks against Palestine and suppression of Palestinians and the United States must not use double standards. 
	
	
 As seen in the above, the world's public sentiment stands on the side of justice. The denunciation and rejection of injustice and the support and encouragement to justice, evident in the February international developments, do reflect change in the 21st-century international relations in which imperialists are weakening and aspirations to independence are strengthening. The general situation in the new century is making turns in favor of the independent developments of progressive nations including our country. 
	
	
	





Document 001002179 ends.


	
Washington -- If this is a man... Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld calls the treatment of the prisoners captured in Afghanistan and shut away in the US base at Guantanamo Bay on the island of Cuba, "humane." But the concentration camp strongly resembles a dog pound, and no one would want his dog to be treated like that. 
	
	
 There are no cells or even shacks; there are just cages measuring 1.5 mt. by 2 mt. and just over 2 mt. high. Only the corrugated iron roof provides a little shade. The walls, if that is what you can call them, are made of wire fencing. The prisoners shelter as best they can from the heat, which never goes below the 30 degree Celsius mark even in winter. The sharp shooters posted on the turrets and the patrols that tour the camp with their Alsatian dogs never lose sight of the prisoners: not even when the latter attempt to catch some sleep on the 5 cm. thick foam rubber mattresses or when they use the sanitary bucket. That may be the reason why the camp, which stands segregated from the military base proper, has been called Camp X-Ray. Everything is visible, just like with an x-ray. 
	
	
 "The accusations of ill treatment," Secretary Rumsfeld said, "are completely untrue. What is taking place in Guantanamo is reasonable, humane, legal, proper, and compatible with the Geneva Convention on prisoners of war." On which topic, incidentally, the US Government does not recognize the Taliban combatants that fell into its hands in Afghanistan as prisoners of war. A federal judge has agreed to examine an appeal made by human rights associations that are demanding that the prisoners be granted a regular trial. 
	
	
 The base in Guantanamo Bay was chosen for two reasons. It was chosen first and foremost because it is not US territory and thus no claim can be laid to the rights that the US Constitution guarantees to all prisoners, including foreigners. And second, you can only get into or out of the base on board a US Armed Forces helicopter. Thus not only is it impossible to escape, but the humanitarian associations could never organize a protest rally in such a place. 
	
	
 No Pig Meat -- Well, Actually, No Meat at All 
	
	
 The prisoners emerge from their cages only to take a shower, to go for a medical, or to take their short daily walk. They move around with a chain on one foot, and each one of them is watched over by fully two marines. They have all had their hair and beards shaved completely off, among other things also for reasons of hygiene. 
	
	
 Secretary Rumsfeld stressed with pride that the food rations provided are compatible with the tenets of the Muslim faith. In other words: no pig meat or meat from animals from which all the blood has not been fully removed. In actual fact, none of the witnesses that have visited the camp has ever seen any meat at all. The diet is based on beans, on rice, on cabbage, on bread, and on milk. 
	
	
 On the eastern side of the camp there is a sign in Arabic bearing the legend "Qibla." That is the word used to point in the direction of Mecca, toward which every Muslim is obliged to turn when praying. This is another of the "privileges" mentioned by Rumsfeld. The Secretary of Defense said reassuringly that the "camp offers them hot showers, toilets, clean clothing, blankets, regular food, and the right to practice their faith." The clothing in question is an orange training suit, identical for all the prisoners. There were toilets, but only for the guards; however, improvements are reportedly now being made in connection with the sanitary arrangements. 
	
	
 On 23 January, when there were 158 prisoners in Guantanamo, the airlift from Afghanistan was suspended. "There is virtually no more room; work needs to be done on making the place bigger and better," a Department of Defense spokesman announced. For his part, Rumsfeld stressed that international protests "have not been a factor" in reaching this decision. 
	
	
 "War is war..." 
	
	
 Out of all the United States' European allies, only British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said that he subscribes to the US Government's decisions. "War is war," he wrote in a letter to French daily Le Monde , "and the safeguarding of human rights is clearly not the Pentagon's foremost concern, but Europe must shoulder this task." The New York Times and the Washington Post , after dithering for a few days, have now been saying in their editorials that a democracy must show itself to be such also by the way in which it treats terrorists. 
	
	
 Los Angeles Federal Judge Howard Maz has given the government until 31 January to submit a memorandum in its defense against the charges being leveled at it by the human rights associations. The accusers, in their turn, have until 14 February to respond to that memorandum. But the judge himself has confessed to harboring serious doubts as to his jurisdiction in the affair. 
	
	
 Johnny Walker, the US citizen who was fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan against his own compatriots, has not been subjected to the same fate as the other prisoners. He has been taken to a jail close to Washington. He is to be tried by a civil court. He knows the charges that have been made against him and he is being assisted by a defense team. The Saudi Arabian media have been quick to pick up on the difference of treatment that he has been granted. 
	
	
 The US Constitution appears not to apply to the Arabs in the concentration camp in Guantanamo. And in any case, it did not apply even to black people held in jail in the southern United States until a few years ago. In her book "Beloved" which won the Pulitzer prize back in 1988, writer Tony Morrison describes conditions far worse than those prevailing in Camp X-Ray. But also back then there were people who maintained that the treatment was almost overly humane. 
	
	
	





Document 0010030 ends.


	

	
	
 Text of report in English by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS 
	
	
 Moscow, 3 December: The transport ship Progress M1-7 launched on 26 November finally docked with the Zvezda module of the International Space Station on Monday [3 December] after a small problem that was solved during a 90-minute spacewalk. The ship has delivered fuel, water, technical equipment, food, parcels and videos for the ISS crew, the Russian Mission Control Centre told ITAR-TASS. It also delivered the Russian microsatellite Kolibri for research. It will be put into orbit during a spacewalk. The Progress M1-7 is carrying 2,468 kilograms of cargo, including almost one tonne of fuel for the ISS. The Progress was launched from the Baykonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan as part of the federal space programme. 
	
	
	





Document 0010031 ends.


	
Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax 
	
	
 Moscow, 9 November: Russia's Defence Ministry has denied Taleban assertions that Russian officers are serving in the Northern Alliance. "Formations of the anti-Taleban coalition do not include officers of the Russian armed forces," a high-ranking military official told Interfax on Friday. "Russia has provided only military-technical assistance to the Northern Alliance and continues to do so. Russian officers were not dispatched to Afghanistan either as unit leaders or as instructors," the official added. 
	
	
	





Document 0010032 ends.


	
COLOMBO, Sept 16 (AFP) - Tamil Tiger rebels launched a flotilla of boats to attack a ferry carrying 1,200 troops in northern Sri Lanka Sunday, hours after an explosive-laden boat tried to ram a navy gunboat in a suicide mission, the defence ministry said. 
	
	
 A cluster of at least 20 boats of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) mounted the pre-dawn attack on the MV Pride of South off the island's Point Pedro coast, ministry spokesman Sanath Karunaratne said. 
	
	
 He said navy gunboats and helicopter gunships repulsed the initial attack and first reports indicated at least two rebel craft had been blown out of the water. There were no immediate reports of casualties. 
	
	
 Fighting continued two hours after the initial exchange of fire in high seas and the navy had called in more gun ships to beat back the guerrillas, Karunaratne said. 
	
	
 "The ship had been about 26 miles (42 kilometres) away from Point Pedro when the attack started," Karunaratne said. "There are no casualties among the security forces at the moment." 
	
	
 He said the ship was a regular ferry transporting troops from the northeastern port of Trincomalee to the northern peninsula of Jaffna. There were 1,200 soldiers aboard the ferry. 
	
	
 Hours before the ferry incident, a navy fast attack craft encountered an explosive-laden boat which blew up in an apparent Tamil Tiger suicide mission, Karunaratne said. 
	
	
 The navy craft had approached the small boat thinking it was in distress as an elderly man, a teenager and another person onboard had put up a white flag. 
	
	
 As it neared the boat, it came under attack. When the navy vessel retaliated, the fishing boat exploded. 
	
	
 "All three people onboard that boat evaporated, indicating that it was packed with explosives to ram against the navy fast attack craft," Karunaratne said. 
	
	
 The navy vessel escaped serious damage or casualties. 
	
	
 Tiger guerrillas, leading a campaign for an independent homeland in the island's northeast, have carried out several attacks against navy and merchant ships, including using boats carrying suicide bombers on more than a dozen naval craft. 
	
	
 The LTTE staged a kamikaze-style assault on a merchant vessel in June last year. 
	
	
 An explosives-laden boat rammed into the bulk cargo carrier, MV Mercs Uhana, as it approached the Jaffna peninsula carrying food and other essentials to the embattled region. 
	
	
 Twenty-one crewmen were rescued, but another seven went missing after the attack. 
	
	
 In September 1999, the Sri Lankan navy fought Tiger rebel boats off the island's northeastern coast to prevent the guerrillas from seizing a Chinese merchant vessel. 
	
	
 A Tiger flotilla had been moving towards the 14,000-tonne MV Yugi when it was confronted by navy gun boats, the defence ministry said at the time, adding that the 32 crew members had not been hurt. 
	
	
 The Tigers in August 1997 seized the 6,000-tonne MV Princess Kash off Mullaitivu, on the northeastern coast, while the vessel was taking supplies to private traders in the Jaffna peninsula. 
	
	
 Government forces as well as civilians depend on a vital sea route to Jaffna to provide them with supplies since the land route is held by the Tiger rebels. 
	
	
 Merchant vessels have been warned to operate several miles off the coast to prevent being detected by rebels along the northeastern seaboard. The navy takes the same route when transporting weapons and troops to Jaffna. 
	
	
	





Document 0010033 ends.


 
  
  
    
      January 5, 1997
      Name Address City, ST Zip
      Dear Bill:
      This is the time of year when our thoughts turn to ways to do things
      differently, things that will make our lives better and improve the
      quality of our life. As you begin that process this year, I would like to
      ask you to consider helping young people in Marion County toward more
      positive youth development by becoming a supporter of the Marion County
      Commission on Youth, Inc.
      MCCOY Inc., originally founded as a government agency but re-organized
      in 1993 as an independent not-for-profit, is a county-wide youth services
      coordinating, planning, and convening agency. Its purpose is to encourage
      collaboration and cooperation between the various agencies, programs, and
      systems that serve our community's youth. In addition to that
      behind-the-scenes role, MCCOY has taken an out-front role in developing a
      Summer Bus Pass, neighborhood youth councils, and the We Value Youth
      information line. It is our goal that every young person in Marion County
      have access to the programs and services that can best assist them in
      their growth toward a positive adulthood.
      I am hopeful that you as an individual and Meridian Insurance as a
      corporation might consider becoming sustaining supporters of MCCOY. I
      have enclosed a packet of information about MCCOY and its work as well as
      an application with various options for supporting the youth of our
      community.
      I obviously can't tell the whole story of MCCOY in a single letter but
      I hope this provides an overview of the scope of our work. I will call
      you in a few weeks to discuss your level of interest. Please consider
      joining together with your fellow citizens in support of the work of the
      Marion County Commission on Youth.
      Sincerely,
      John Brandon Executive Director
    
  



Document 0010036 ends.


       

Hewlett-Packard Co. said it raised its stake in Octel Communications Corp. to 8.5% of the common shares outstanding. 

In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Hewlett-Packard said it now holds 1,384,119 Octel common shares, including 100,000 shares bought from Aug. 26 to Oct. 20 for $23.31 to $24.25 a share. 

Hewlett-Packard, a Palo Alto, Calif., computer company, said it acquired the stock "to develop and maintain a strategic partnership in which each company remains independent while working together to market and sell their products." 

Octel said the purchase was expected.
Hewlett-Packard affirmed it doesn't plan to obtain control of Octel, a Milpitas, Calif., maker of voice-processing systems. 

According to the filing, Hewlett-Packard acquired 730,070 common shares from Octel as a result of an Aug. 10, 1988, stock purchase agreement.
That accord also called for Hewlett-Packard to buy 730,070 Octel shares in the open market within 18 months.
In addition, Hewlett-Packard acquired a two-year option to buy an extra 10%, of which half may be sold directly to Hewlett-Packard by Octel. 




Document 0010037 ends.


	
The Europeans are enthusiastically holding in their hands "the euro, our currency" that for so long had been no more than a much-wielded slogan. So is it really the moment to take a look at Argentina? More than ever in fact, as the financial crisis that is shaking Buenos Aires has a useful message for us: The choice of a currency can never be reduced to a simple act of political will. One must understand all the implications, often unfortunately invisible. 
	
	
 It is not enough to proclaim, even in the Constitution, that one peso is worth one dollar, for that to be really the case. The Argentines thought they had discovered the philosopher's stone in 1991. The linking to the dollar, as a guarantee of stability, was meant to rid them of the hyperinflation running at 2000 percent a year they had experienced during the 1970s and 80s. The tale today is all the more bitter as it began with such euphoria. 
	
	
 The social contract implemented by Carlos Menem at the start of his 10-year presidency (1989-99) was simple in principle and based on two pillars: Monetary discipline and liberalism. 
	
	
 Introducing the currency board system in 1991 obliged the central bank to guarantee the pesos in circulation with foreign currency reserves, in the same way as issuing bodies used to only issue notes to the equivalent of the gold reserves they held. Hence the official parity between the peso and the dollar until 1 December 2001 when it became necessary to introduce exchange controls with a devastating effect. 
	
	
 The commitment to liberalism, the second strand of the Menem program, lived up to its promises. Privatization earned $40 billion. Its success established the reputation of Buenos Aires on international markets. The real gauge of this confidence was the size of the national debt, that grew and grew. It more than doubled during the 1990s, from $60 billion to $132 or even $150 in 2001, making Argentina the number one market borrower among the emerging economies. 
	
	
 Looking back one can see a general lack of vigilance. Also on the part of the International Monetary Fund whose principal role is to be watchdog before bailing out those who come unstuck. Michael Mussa, chief economist with the IMF until last April, recognizes this: "If we had paid more attention to the growing budgetary deficit and national debt between 1996 and 1998, Argentina would have been in a much better position to absorb the impact of the devaluation of the Brazilian real." 
	
	
 The fall came in 1998, when Brazil, made vulnerable by the Asian crisis, abandoned its fixed parity against the dollar. Economists and market players then noticed that Argentina had been "over-financed." "Credibility evaporated," to quote the expression of one expert who stresses the paradoxes of a system whose bases seemed sound. 
	
	
 First paradox: The Argentine economy is not very open, not even to its neighbors in Latin America. Its exports amount to just 8 percent of its GDP, as do its imports. The result is a trade balance, in marked contrast to a balance of payments deficit burdened by servicing its debt. Other countries live on a currency board system, most notably Hong Kong. But this Chinese territory has an extremely open economy, to the point where its exports exceed its GDP, thereby facilitating the influx of foreign currency. 
	
	
 Second paradox: The self-proclaimed parity between the peso and the dollar never enabled the government and even less private borrowers to obtain credit terms to match those enjoyed by the Americans. The risk premium has always been considerable, rates never falling below 10 percent. This places an unbearable burden on the government in servicing the debt and a revenue to match for the creditors. Argentine pension funds have enjoyed interest rates as high as 35 percent over recent months: No less than 45 percent of the national debt estimated at between $130 and $150 billion is held by the Argentines themselves. 
	
	
 Over recent weeks street demonstrations culminating in the general strike of 13 December have been the most visible aspect of a civil war between creditors and debtors. 
	
	
 Appeals were already made to the creditors during the first phase of the debt rescheduling involving the $55 billion held by Argentine funds and that was completed at the end of November. And they will come under pressure again: The IMF's recent refusal to approve a $1.3 billion loan is designed specifically to help Finance Minister Domingo Cavallo put pressure on private investors, as the latter have clearly understood even if not always the observers. At the same time private debtors who became indebted in a strong currency would find themselves ruined by a peso devaluation. This is why dollarization has generated such support among politicians: From former President Carlos Menem, today leader of the most influential Peronist faction, to new Finance Secretary Miguel Kiguel, a former banker, charged along with Domingo Cavallo with restoring order to public finances. 
	
	
 The final switch to the dollar would stabilize relations between creditors and debtors. But it would also be a very painful way of restoring credibility, "like when one loses one's virginity and the only solution is to enter a convent," as one monetary expert put it. But neither dollarization nor the currency board provides a guarantee of low interest rates, as there will always be an "Argentine risk." Plus there is the problem of external competitiveness that remains unsolved. Unless the peso is devalued before it disappears, that is technically possible but more delicate when it comes to credibility. 
	
	
 That leaves the most economically realistic solution, the one backed by the technical experts: Floating the currency, but it is also the most risky. Are the Argentines now in a position to forge a new social contract? 
	
	
 
	
	
	





Document 0010039 ends.


	
The attacks on the World Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon were attacks on the freedoms and values for which the United States and the Western world stand, President Bush declared shortly afterward, and many people in Europe repeated it after him. 
	
	
 There is a great deal of truth in that, but in the light of what has happened afterwards, the question arises as to whether the Americans and their allies themselves are not sometimes inclined to sacrifice these values for the "good cause." There is no doubt that a military operation and intensified security measures were imperative after the terrible tragedy of 11 September. That al-Qa'ida terrorists and Taliban fighters are not very concerned about the human suffering that they have caused is also generally known. However, the ends -- dealing with those opponents -- does not justify all the means. 
	
	
 There is, in the first place, the case of the military action in Afghanistan. Apart from the reasons or justification for such an action, all the combatants' war conduct must be constantly tested against the standards of international humanitarian law; that is, the rules which curb the use of force during a military operation. Back in 1949, it was agreed by nearly all the states in the world that the sufferings of war must henceforth become more bearable, especially for those who are not directly involved in the conflict. These rules, laid down in the four Geneva Conventions, provide, among other things, for the protection of sick and wounded servicemen and prisoners of war. In addition, attempts must be made to prevent any unnecessary suffering by both military personnel and civilians by, for instance, imposing restrictions on the use of weapons. 
	
	
 But the greatest attention is paid to the fate of the civilian population: In principle, the latter can never be the object of a military operation. Hence, humanitarian law requires that in all circumstances a distinction be made between military targets and those not involved in the armed conflict. The two supplementary protocols to the Geneva Conventions, adopted in 1977, increase, among other things, the protection of the civilian population. Many countries are parties to them, but the United States has not ratified these protocols, so that the additional protection they offer is difficult to enforce in a conflict in which US troops are taking part. 
	
	
 Although it is doubtful that all the news reaches us from Afghanistan, a great many press reports suggest that humanitarian law was violated regularly over the past few weeks. This has happened despite solemn pledges to the United Nations that the United States "is committed to minimizing civilian casualties and damage to civilian property." 
	
	
 Hence you can hardly speak of a "targeting error" when a Red Cross warehouse, although clearly recognizable by the large red cross painted on the roof, was shelled twice by US aircraft. Such a building enjoys the highest possible protection, and can and should never be the object of an attack, unless it is clearly established that it is being used for military purposes. 
	
	
 In other case, too, it seems doubtful that the crucial distinction between military and civilian targets was made systematically. Newspaper headlines such as "United Nations Confirms US Bombing of Village and Mosque" and "100 Killed in Bombing in Eastern Afghanistan" speak for themselves. According to witnesses, these were attacks in an area where neither al-Qa'ida troops nor Taliban had been observed. Even if these attacks were directed against a clear military target, the large number of civilian casualties would still never be justifiable, because whoever plans a military attack must take all precautions to prevent such a tragedy. 
	
	
 Not only with the protection of the civilian population does something sometimes go wrong. Secretary Rumsfeld's statements (on 20 November 2001) that "the United States is not inclined to negotiate surrenders, nor are we in a position, with relatively small numbers of forces on the ground, to accept prisoners," and that "my hope is that they will be either killed or taken prisoner (by the Northern Alliance)" also suggested that death would be the only way out of the conflict for the Taliban and al-Qa'ida fighters. That would amount to a flagrant violation of humanitarian law: whoever ceases fighting for whatever reason is entitled to protection. It is all the more to be deplored that such statements come from somebody who, as a senior commander, serves as an example to others regarding the observance of rules of humanitarian law. 
	
	
 Now, nearly two months later, concern about the fate of the captive Taliban and al-Qa'ida fighters has further increased. Moving the captives to the Guantanamo Bay military base on Cuba is rightly whipping up a storm of protest. Humanitarian law leaves no doubt that those who fall captive in their opponent's hands are entitled at all times to decent treatment, even if they do not qualify for prisoner of war status. Transporting these people, shackled hand and foot and with hoods over their heads, shaving their beards -- which form part of their religious identity -- and their "accommodation" in half-open and cages that are much too small can probably never pass this test... 
	
	
 The consequences of 11 September are also making themselves felt far from the battlefield. Shortly after its decision to take military action, the Bush administration also decided to provide the press with only sparse information about the course of the operation. Because press freedom -- the jewel of the US Constitution -- can be restricted for reasons of national security. The right of citizens to such information about their government's actions is crippled by the fact that it is being accepted for the present without much complaint. 
	
	
 Under the protest of international and US human rights organizations but with the approval of large sections of the population, antiterrorism measures are being adopted in great haste. Foreigners suspected of maintaining (loose) ties with terrorist organizations can be detained indefinitely. There is uncertainty about the precise number, but it is certain that over 1,000 men from the Middle East have already been arrested. 
	
	
 In the media, the possibility of questioning presumed terrorists very roughly is also being considered aloud. The need for timely and accurate information about possible new attacks is naturally particularly great, but whether the global ban on torture can be abused on that account is another matter. 
	
	
 What raises even more questions is the order that President Bush issued last November. Through that, the United States can detain and try anybody who is not a US citizen and who is suspected of being a member of al-Qa'ida or of being involved in international terrorism in one way or another. Only special military commissions can try them. It is stated in black and white that it is hardly feasible for these commissions to apply the normal principles of law and rules of evidence. Consequently, evidence will be accepted that "a normal person" deems to have the value of evidence. Hence guilt need not be established "beyond reasonable doubt," nor is there any mention of a presumption of innocence. Appeal is not possible, but the death penalty is. On the other hand, US Taliban or al-Qa'ida fighters, such as the recently captured John Walker Lindh, will be tried by ordinary US criminal courts. 
	
	
 There also seems to be a difference among the foreigners: In all likelihood, captured British fighters will be sent to Britain after questioning. Presumed war criminals such as Milosevic enjoy all the guarantees of a fair trial, but the Taliban and al-Qa'ida fighters at Guantanamo will get a trial which falls far short of the basic standards of the US Constitution and the treaty on civil and political rights ratified by the United States. 
	
	
 Not in the United States alone are the screws being tightened. A number of other countries have sharpened their laws following 11 September, from increased detention possibilities to stricter legislation on asylum and immigration. In December 2001, the UK proclaimed a state of emergency and passed the Antiterrorism, Crime, and Security Act. Whenever there is a suspicion that a foreigner is involved in international terrorism, he will be arrested and imprisoned. If it emerges that the person concerned cannot be removed from British territory because he is in serious danger in his own country, he can be detained almost indefinitely under this law. 
	
	
 Other states have used the US tragedy to polish their own image. Out of well-understood self-interest, countries such as Russia, China, and Israel joined in the Bush administration's anti-terrorism campaign, because it enabled them to compare their domestic situation with the US situation and ask for moral support for the fight they have been waging against terrorism for years. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called Palestinian leader Arafat "Our Usama Bin Ladin." 
	
	
 The fight against terrorism is undoubtedly justified, but, as with every struggle, it also holds true that the fundamental principles of human rights and humanitarian law must be respected. Observance of these rules will not insure that the fight against terrorism is lost; it will prove respect for human dignity, of which the West is rightly a champion. 
	
	
	





Document 00100310 ends.



   Veni, Vidi, Venezuela

 



  FIGHTING tyranny with tyranny clearly didn't work in oil-giant 
Venezuela last week. And now coup-plotting military officers and 
the reinstalled president, Hugo Chavez, need to show Latin 
America that their tyrannical tactics are at an end.

  President Chavez - a former Army coup-meister himself, who was 
elected three years ago - has abused his popular mandate with 
heavy-handed measures based on a Constitution largely rewritten 
by himself and his supporters. He has sometimes talked of 
remaining president past the year 2020. And his economic 
promises to the poor are in shreds, while his diplomatic 
flirtation with leftist world dictators only hints at his 
inclinations to gain more power.

  But Latin America has moved beyond coups, and this pivotal 
nation in a hemisphere of democracies has the means to remove 
Mr. Chavez by constitutional and especially nonviolent means.

  His two-day removal from office began when he tried to stack the 
board of the state-owned oil company in his favor. The company's 
executives revolted, threatening a cutoff of oil. That was a 
catalyst for pent-up opposition to Chavez. Business groups and 
labor unions joined in a giant protest, perhaps knowing that 
portions of the military were on their side. When gunshots were 
fired during a march on the presidential palace last Thursday, 
killing more than a dozen, military leaders forced Chavez to 
step aside. But then international pressure and renewed domestic 
support for Chavez forced the generals to let him take office 
again.

  The Bush administration all but welcomed the coup, tarnishing 
the US role as a champion of democracy. It, too, has a reason to 
repent.


Copyright @ 2002 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights 
reserved.




Document 00100311 ends.



    Russia disagrees with `axis' remark

 



  MUNICH, Germany -- Russia's defense minister said Sunday that 
his country disagrees with the U.S. view of Iraq, Iran and North 
Korea as an ``axis of evil.'' It is a stark reminder that 
differences remain between two former enemies who have moved 
closer together since Sept. 11.

  Foreign Minister Sergei Ivanov told a global conference of 
government and military leaders that he sees no evidence that 
any of the three nations supports terrorism and insisted that 
any move against them must follow international law.

  President Bush described Iraq, Iran and North Korea as an ``axis 
of evil'' during his State of the Union address on Jan. 26. On 
Sunday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld accused Iran of giving 
refuge to al Qaeda or Taliban members escaping from Afghanistan.

  ``The Iranians have not done what the Pakistan government has 
done, put troops along the border to prevent terrorists from 
escaping out of Afghanistan into their country,'' Rumsfeld said 
on ABC's This Week.

  China's official Xinhua news agency also weighed in Sunday on 
Bush's choice of words, accusing the president of orchestrating 
public opinion in advance of possible strikes against the three 
countries in an expansion of the war against terrorism.

  The word ``axis'' suggested an alliance that doesn't exist, the 
Chinese agency said. What the three states do share, it went on, 
is chilly relations with the United States.

  Italian Defense Minister Antonio Martino, meanwhile, said Sunday 
that his country would not support an attack on Iraq without 
``proven proof'' that Baghdad is supporting al Qaeda, and Iraqi 
leader Saddam Hussein dispatched a delegation to meet with 
European Union leaders in Spain.

  Ivanov said the West uses a double standard in its definition of 
terrorism, asking why members of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda 
network are terrorists, but not Chechen separatists fighting 
Russia. And he unfurled his own list of ``rogue states'' that 
either support terror or build arsenals of deadly weapons.

  ``Well, we don't like some of your allies like Saudi Arabia or 
Gulf states who give finance to terrorism organizations,'' 
Ivanov said.

  His remarks came on the last day of the Munich Conference on 
Security, an invitation-only gathering of 400 international 
leaders who this year debated the war on terrorism.

  A diverse U.S delegation delivered a singular message to 
conference participants: NATO remains vital and the United 
States needs a range of allies in the fight against terrorism 
and intends to consult its friends.

  But America is at war, the audience heard repeatedly. It will do 
what it feels necessary, and Saddam Hussein is the next target 
unless Iraq shapes up.

  Sunday's final session also underscored the vast differences 
between the United States and Russia.

  Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., asked Ivanov why Russia supported 
the former Soviet republic of Belarus with cheap energy 
subsidies, when the nation has ``never had a democratic election 
and is a major exporter of arms and equipment.''

  Ivanov said there was no evidence Belarus has sold arms to 
nations under sanction such as Iraq, though it did do business 
with nations not under sanctions such as Tajikistan, Angola and 
``even Gulf states.''



Copyright 2002 Miami Herald




Document 00100312 ends.


	
On the agenda of tomorrow's meeting of the Russian government is the question of ratification of the Kyoto Protocol -- a highly important international document that is supposed to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. 
	
	
 And a few days ago, on the initiative of the Foundation for Integrated Applied Research, the problem was taken up by well-known scientists. A small circle of experts, in the presence of an even smaller circle of journalists, attempted to define Russia's place in global climatic strategy. 
	
	
 The 15 member nations of the EU announced last fall, at a conference in Morocco, their firm intentions to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. Iceland, Japan, Australia and Canada are ready to join the ratification. The world community became hopeful that it would be possible to solve the problems that brought about the UN Convention on Climate Change (1994). 
	
	
 There is a Proposal to Take Shelter Under an Umbrella 
	
	
 The first to raise the problem 40 years ago was the Soviet scientist Mikhail Budyko, who saw that the curve on a graph of the air temperature of the earth's surface stratum was inexorably moving toward the upper right-hand corner. Participants in the debate also proceeded from the postulate that the earth's atmosphere has been heating up over the past 100 years. It is another matter that the reasons for this alarming phenomenon are not completely clear, and experts offer different interpretations of the consequences of global warming. Rumor has it that the late author of the greenhouse model told Academician Roald Sagdeyev: "I'm a little uneasy when I tell the Americans about my model, because it suggests that Russia's agriculture will gain from global warming, while America's agriculture will lose." Sagdeyev looked at Budyko with interest: "But then where will we buy grain?" 
	
	
 And now Andrey Gudkov, an expert at the Center for Strategic Studies, follows Budyko in insisting that Russia, as well as Canada and Alaska, gain, since "lands situated in a condition of permafrost will gradually turn into fertile soils for agricultural production." But the rich Russian fields that stretch across the Arctic zone are small comfort to humankind as a whole, so Gudkov proposes blocking off the sun with an umbrella that would be suspended in space. The expert immediately sketched on a blackboard what this should look like, mixing up chemical symbols: rockets would carry metallic sodium into orbits around the earth. Cooling aerosols dispersed over the polar zones would prevent overheating of the tundra during sunny summer nights. 
	
	
 True, the sun-screening space umbrella (the author's name) does not have much chance of opening up, due to "political-economic circumstances." Indeed, the idea has not yet captivated the masses so much that they would remove their last trousers to start investing immediately in the project. But the expert urged everyone to despair, "since control of global warming without Russia is impossible; the country is becoming the owner of the controlling block of shares." In Mr. Gudkov's view, everything is developing well, we can take our time, and we can do nothing at all, since global warming is a threat only to the southern countries. 
	
	
 The Obvious is Incredible 
	
	
 The speaker's ardor was cooled by the well-known Sergey Kapitsa, who is not inclined to give way to rapture over the advantages promised to Russia. He also questions the predicted amount of future warming. Six degrees, the professor believes, is unlikely, since that kind of thing has not happened on the planet in the past 420,000 years. This is indicated by a well drilled in the ice cap of Antarctica 30 years ago, which helps to comprehend what has happened to climate. 
	
	
 In addition to the suggestion from the sixth continent, it is a good idea to recall the Great Flood, which has been depicted, apart from the Bible, in many of the world's mythologies: "What was it? Before predicting the future, we must learn how to predict the past," Kapitsa summed up. In his view, it would not be a bad idea, when the scientific community draws up all sorts of forecasts and plans of action that flow out of them, for it to seek help from the science of paleoclimatology and to gain a broad understanding of its data. 
	
	
 No one wanted to argue with the master. A consensus was arrived at that climate has always changed, but it has never occurred with such speed. 
	
	
 Some terminological refinements came up as well. For example, Prof. Viktor Danilov-Danilyan maintain that "we must not speak of warming, but of global climatic changes; warming is merely one aspect of these changes." What is cited as the reason for them, the scientist continues, "is almost always the increase in the greenhouse effect due to a larger concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This concentration grows, in turn, it is usually written, due to the burning of a huge quantity of organic fuel (oil, natural gas, coal, wood, peat, etc.) by industry, transport, agriculture and households. But this is not the only cause of climatic change. It isn't even the only cause of the increase in the greenhouse effect." 
	
	
 Those in attendance did not argue. On the contrary, they found solidarity in the view that it is impossible to explain everything with models. Models are flawed, including the greenhouse model, and the only thing that is beyond dispute is that warming is underway, and the contribution of human beings to this alarming condition is very large, possible at least 30 percent. 
	
	
 If One Lies on a Stove... 
	
	
 Our country has something like a controlling block of shares, since without Russia and the US the Kyoto Protocol will die. And if the States behave badly, we are simply obligated to ratify this document -- this was the conclusion arrived at by the round table. 
	
	
 The gist is that, according to the Kyoto terms, quotas can be sold, that is, if you have fewer emissions than your neighbor, then you have every reason to strike an advantageous deal. True, this clause has been stirring up a lot of questions for a long time. The discussants also presented differing views on the trading of air. Some of the participants took the line that this is an extremely useful for Russia, which has "hot air" (that is, it is 30 percent short of the permitted level of CO2 emissions), and the country can become the dominant seller in the market; consequently, it has a greater stake than anyone in the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. We will also gain from the fact that compliance by other nations with the terms of the protocol will lead to higher demand for gas, of which we have huge resources. So if anyone doubts whether Russia should ratify the document, he is deeply mistaken. 
	
	
 True, this position makes one think of Yemelya's [illusory] happiness and worry about the future development of the country (both technological and economic as a whole). Fortunately, supporters of the idea of lying on a stove found an opponent. 
	
	
 Nikolay Ratsiborinskiy, a senior adviser to the Foreign Ministry's Department of International Organizations, took up this role. He described the opinion that Russia can gain from perturbations of the climate as false. "When we determine the position of the diplomatic service, we proceed from the premise that the whole strategy of nature-conservation efforts is not profitable but costly and that it is impossible to solve the problems of environmental protection on our own... The Kyoto mechanism is costly, but its value lies in the fact that its implementation has been tied to the market mechanism, that is, life without change has been made uneconomical." 
	
	
 In short, if you don't want to exert yourself, buy the neighbor's quota; if you don't want to spend the money, use your brain and invest in the development of nature-conservation technologies. Consequently, if our homeland's efforts boil down merely to dealing in "hot air," this will not provide an impetus to start up high technologies and will knock Russia out of the group of countries that are striving for rational development, above all out of the European Union. This is just the time to recall that the energy requirements of Russian output are among the highest in the world (see graph [omitted here] -- Ed.). 
	
	
 The Foreign Ministry, said N. Ratsiborinskiy, clarifying his agency's position, recommends that the government move to ratify, since the view at Smolenskaya Square is that the impact of our national efforts will be greater if they are integrated into the efforts of the EU. 
	
	
 "The assessment by the Foreign Ministry official is brilliant," exclaimed Aleksandr Ginzburg, deputy director of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics. "This is the best thing I have read or heard about the Kyoto Protocol!" It is hard to disagree with this. 
	
	
 Background 
	
	
 The document that was given the name of the Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997 in the Japanese city of Kyoto. It was aimed at reducing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and assigns countries quotas on their emissions. As of today, more than 80 nations (all the developed countries and almost all of the CIS countries) have signed the Kyoto Protocol, and almost 40 have ratified it. Russia signed the document three years ago, in March 1999. 
	
	
 Russia is third in the world in total emissions -- after the US and China. Russia's emissions are almost twice as great as those of Germany and Japan (in fourth and fifth places). 
	
	
 American at first signed the document, but a year ago President Bush announced that he would not impose regulations in his country on the discharge of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. This meant, in effect, that the US withdrew from the accords. 
	
	
 What Preceded the Kyoto Protocol? 
	
	
 It was preceded by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. It was adopted on 9 May 1992 and entered into force 21 March 1994. A total of 186 nations are parties to the convention, including Russia, all of the developed countries and all of the CIS countries. The convention was designed to unite efforts to prevent dangerous climate changes and to achieve a stabilization of the content of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at a relatively safe level. A decision was adopted at the first conference of convention participants (1995, Berlin) to begin phased actions to restrict emissions of greenhouse gases and to create an appropriate system of ecological-economic relations. 
	
	
 Facts 
	
	
 Six greenhouse gases are known. The principal one is CO2 (it is responsible for 80 percent of the greenhouse effect). Methane's contribution is 15 percent. 
	
	
 Facts 
	
	
 According to estimates by the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Energy, Russia's total carbon-dioxide emissions in 2008-2012 will be 20 percent below the 1990 level. This means that Russia will be able to offer the carbon market emission quotas of up to 3 billion tons. The cash equivalent could be several tens of billions of dollars. 
	
	
 Background 
	
	
 The Ecological-Economic Meaning of the Kyoto Protocol 
	
	
 This is the first international document that makes use of the market mechanism as an approach to solving global ecological problems. It provides for economic mechanisms of international cooperation. 
	
	
 In Russia, up to 98 percent of all emissions of the main greenhouse gas -- CO2 -- come from the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas). This means the problem of reducing emissions is a problem of energy efficiency and energy saving. So far this potential has been utilized only to a small degree, whereas there are almost no such reserves left in the EU countries and Japan. That is why carrying out a project and reducing emissions in Russia is far cheaper than in most developed countries. 
	
	
 The Obligations of Foreign Countries Under the Kyoto Protocol 
	
	
 Developed countries and transitional economies must reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by 2008-2012 by at least 5 percent from the recognized baseline year of 1990. The reduction level varies. The US, Japan and members of the EU must reduce emissions by 7, 6 and 8 percent from the 1990 level. A limitation, rather than reduction, of emissions is specified for several developed countries (New Zealand, Norway), and Australia and Iceland received the right to increase emissions. If a country fails to use up its quota, it can sell the "surplus." 
	
	
 Russia's Obligations Under the Kyoto Protocol 
	
	
 They are relatively mild for our country. We are not required to reduce emissions, but over five years (from 2008 through 2012) we do not have the right to exceed their volume. This approach is based on the fact that Russia's emissions today are almost 25 percent lower than in 1990, and, according to forecasts, the baseline level will not be reached in the next 10 years. This is substantiated in detail in the RF Energy Strategy Until 2020, which the government has adopted. Within the framework of the protocol our country must maintain records of, and monitor, emissions and emission quotas, as well as regulate quotas. This requires creating a national system of inventorying emissions and establishing a special registration center to maintain records of quotas. Despite the outward complexity of the task, the creation of a record-keeping and monitoring system is neither very complicated nor very expensive, since the Goskomstat [State Statistical Committee] reporting forms that enterprises fill out contain virtually complete data. 
	
	
 Experts' Opinion 
	
	
 No One Will Be Well Off 
	
	
 Should we be happy about climate change? Many people in Russia say: how much fuel we'll save! But the warming will definitely not be uniform. If the mean temperature rises by 2 degrees, the range of fluctuations will widen and will go, for example, from -40 to +45 degrees. So there will not be less of a need for fuel if, on the average, one winter out of every three winters becomes much colder than the harshest previous one. And what will happen during the new, overly warm summer seasons? What will happen to industrial and transport facilities, housing and other infrastructure that were built in permafrost, which will turn into muddy swamp? 
	
	
 The unbalancing of the climate will have a very negative effect on ecosystems. Some species are disappearing, while others, conversely, are starting to multiply will unprecedented speed. Gangster species are appearing, such as the locust, which is moving toward the north, where it has never been before. It is hard to say today what will happen to edaphic microflora, which is of fundamental importance to soil fertility. If microflora stop reproducing humus, the higher plants will die, agricultural crops will stop growing, and timber will start to dry up. 
	
	
 If the glaciers of Antarctica and Greenland melt down, the level of the world's oceans will rise. Russia has quite a lot of low-lying areas, such as St. Petersburg. The enormous territory of Western Siberia risks turning into a sea. 
	
	
 Viktor Danilov-Danilyan, doctor of economics, president of the International University of Ecology and Political Science 
	
	
 All of Our Activities Are Ruining Nature 
	
	
 There are several models today, and they answer the question of why the climate is changing with varying degrees of persuasiveness. Why don't I have the sense that the models explain everything? The problem is that the present stage of study of small climatic models has scientists studying the life of the models as the life of a real climatic system. But to what extent does this reflect real life? Nevertheless, the progress in gaining knowledge has been tremendous. Our institute, along with the Institute of Systems Analysis and the Russian Academy of Sciences Computer Center, has begun studying the role of climate change in individual regions of Russia in order to forecast economic development. There are no results to speak of yet, but it is important that this area of inquiry has appeared. 
	
	
 During a general warming, completely opposite phenomena take place. In the polar regions, climate changes are more pronounced than in the middle latitudes. As a result, the temperature doesn't change much in the equatorial and middle latitudes but changes a great deal in the polar regions. What does this lead to? Dispersion is less active, and so-called obstruction or stagnant situation manifest themselves in the atmosphere more and more often. We have just observed such a case of a very lengthy thaw in the center of Russia. Incidentally, last year's incredibly cold winter in Primorskiy Kray was very possibly an example of the same property. Because, strange as it may seem, prolonged, stagnant cold spells are also a result of global warming when there is less ventilation of the atmosphere as a whole. 
	
	
 As for all the ideas regarding blocking shields, umbrellas and the like, I will answer this way. The Kyoto Protocol proposes adapting to climate change. There are no proposals there to erect screens or to shoot cooling aerosols into the atmosphere. Already everything humankind does causes incredible damage to nature. We emit greenhouse gases, we thaw out the frozen regions that emit methane, we destroy forests, and in the south, deserts are expanding, a process that alters the heat exchange between the earth's surface and the atmosphere. That is, all of our actions are accompanied by a deterioration in the climate. In this situation it is very frightening to do anything else -- for example, to suspend some umbrella, screen or something else in that vein. 
	
	
 Aleksandr Ginzburg, deputy director of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics 
	
	
	





Document 00100313 ends.


	
COOLUM, Australia, March 3 (AFP) -- Hopes of a breakthrough in the Commonwealth's bitter deadlock over Zimbabwe rose Sunday as Canada sought to resolve the row after African nations accused Britain of neo-colonialism. 
	
	
 Political violence in the lead up to Zimbabwe's elections next weekend again overshadowed the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) during a second day of crunch talks here. 
	
	
 Britain and Australia have abandoned their push to suspend Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth before the March 9-10 elections in face of increasingly angry opposition led by Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania. 
	
	
 But Britain still wants sanctions imposed if Commonwealth monitors find evidence of ballot rigging. 
	
	
 They believe the credibility of the Commonwealth will be severely damaged if there is no decisive action. 
	
	
 British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Sunday that if President Robert Mugabe won and it were clear he had won by fraud, then he had no doubt Zimbabwe would be suspended. 
	
	
 "I mean, if there wasn't (suspension) in these circumstances, the Commonwealth would be badly damaged," he warned. 
	
	
 However, Zimbabwe's minister of state for information, Jonathan Mayo, accused Blair of leading a "racist" campaign against its former colony and lashed out at his attacks on Mugabe as "thoroughly disgraceful and unacceptable". 
	
	
 "What we do in Zimbabwe as an independent sovereign state is in accordance with our constitution and our laws," Moyo told reporters. 
	
	
 He also claimed the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was a British sponsored candidate. 
	
	
 Tanzania's President Benjamin Mkapa earlier told journalists in a stout and rare public defence of Mugabe, that even discussing the situation at the Coolum talks threatened the "prerogative and sovereign right of the people of Zimbabwe to make an unfettered choice of their leader and government". 
	
	
 "How does it (the Commonwealth) handle Zimbabwe? Why should it handle Zimbabwe?", Mkapa said, railing at what is being perceived as interference in another country's internal affairs. 
	
	
 But proposals involving a timetable for the imposition of post-election sanctions put forward by Canada's Prime Minister Jean Chretien to the leaders' retreat provided the first sign of a possible breakthrough. 
	
	
 "Everybody has agreed that nothing will be done before the elections", Chretien told reporters here Sunday, adding a communique would be issued Monday. 
	
	
 "The Canadian position was that the elections will occur a week from now and that we have observers there. We have to wait until the elections are over before concluding." 
	
	
 He said the formula proposed by Canada would include "a mechanism for a quick decision" once the results of the elections are known, but would not be drawn further. 
	
	
 It is believed that the proposal calls for a report from observers within two weeks of the elections, and a decision to be made in full on whether to impose sanctions within four weeks. 
	
	
 Mugabe has reportedly told Blair "to keep your pink nose out of our affairs," the Sun-Herald reported here Sunday. 
	
	
 "Go to hell," said Mugabe. "Our people have decided and that is what matters to us. It's not their (Britain's) right or responsibility to decide on our elections." 
	
	
 Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told Australian television Sunday there was some sympathy for Mugabe's comments among African leaders, whose countries were once part of the British empire. 
	
	
 "There is still that very strong sense that Britain and other countries (are) sometimes being neo-colonialist." 
	
	
 The 54-nation Commonwealth is one of the few organisations to have observers on the ground in Zimbabwe in the run-up to elections in which the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Tsvangirai is challenging Mugabe's 22-year rule. 
	
	
 The issue has threatened to fracture the organisation along rich/poor, black/white lines, despite calls from its head, Queen Elizabeth II, in her opening address Saturday to work to bridge cultural differences. 
	
	
 Several Asian nations have privately said they would also oppose sanctions. 
	
	
 Fijian Foreign Minister Kaliopate Tavola told journalists that as a nation which has suffered Commonwealth sanctions, Fiji believed they were the wrong way to go. 
	
	
 Fiji was only readmitted to the Commonwealth in January after being expelled following the 2000 coup. 
	
	
	





Document 00100314 ends.


	
Bush's "axis of evil" is convenient electoral tool - Portuguese paper 
	
	
 Text of article by Caio Blinder, "Politics put in order", by Portuguese newspaper Diario de Noticias web site on 10|February 
	
	
 In this week's address to Congress, US Secretary of State Colin Powell dismissed the criticisms of President Bush's rhetoric, which emerged after the president pinned the tag "axis of evil" on countries such as Iraq, Iran and North Korea during his State of the Union address. It was surely not just rhetoric. George W. Bush is no master of eloquence and his speeches are extremely well prepared. The president is not a man who likes to improvise. The expression is undoubtedly strong and well thought out. America has not seen such a bellicose president since Ronald Reagan, who, in 1983, referred to the Soviet Union as the "evil empire". In some European capitals there are rumours that Bush is defining his doctrine based on the war against terror but also as an excuse to pursue another unilateral offensive. The USA has proclaimed the right to attack countries which do not cooperate in a campaign that the president has said is taking place between civilization and barbarity. It sounds clumsy to place North Korea, Iran and Iraq in the same axis as if they were Nazi Germany, Hirohito's Japan and Mussolini's Italy. In fact, those three countries do share a hatred for the USA, but why has Saudi Arabia not been included on the same list, since that country has always been a sponsor of Islamic fundamentalism? Colin Powell will have trouble wriggling out of the need to explain and justify the president's vision. The defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, a man becoming more powerful by the day, is perfectly at ease with the rhetorical petards hurled by the commander-in-chief. They prove that the USA is gradually adopting an offensive rather than a defensive stance in its strategy. Nevertheless, the White House's offensive also has a domestic dimension. To paint a dark picture of the threats facing the American empire may prove crucial at a time when the government is about to announce its state budget proposals, the cornerstone of which involves one of the largest increases of the last 20 years in the Pentagon's budget. The Democrats continue to close ranks behind the president on the war against terrorism, and to mention an "axis of evil" could help strengthen an atmosphere of national unity that would suit the president when he announces other points in his budget policy with which not everyone might agree. President Bush is insisting on cutting taxation on corporations and the richest Americans, at the same time as money for social programmes is drying up. Bush is launching a new budget deficit era: it would be easier for him to sell his proposals under a period of belt-tightening and national security concerns. The deeper the international crisis, the better for George Bush. Things may even get better for him in the event of the crisis dragging on until 2004, when he will probably try to be re-elected. Until then, it is not certain that the USA will attack Iraq, Iran or North Korea, but the concept of the "axis of evil" will surely be on the president's lips for some time. It concerns a genuine threat but it is a convenient electoral tool too. 
	
	
	





Document 00100315 ends.


	
MOSCOW. Feb 21 (Interfax) - Russia's Interior Ministry is looking into a report about Russian entrepreneur Viktor Bout's involvement in arms supplies to the al-Qaeda terrorist organization. 
	
	
 "Deputy Interior Minister Nikolai Bobrovsky ordered a detailed probe and verification of this information," Interior Ministry spokesman Yuri Shuvalov told Interfax on Thursday.	





Document 00100316 ends.


	
On the issue whether the coup farce staged in Venezuela not long ago had an "American background," the world media have made many reports, comments, and conjectures. Although the White House and the Pentagon have denied supporting the oppositions in Venezuela to stage this coup, the world will not be easily fooled as it can judge from the several official statements made by the US Government both before and after the coup. 
	
	
 At the time when the abortive coup had just taken place, the United States "did not show the slightest sympathy," still less "the least regret," for the breaking-off of Venezuela's democratic system. Both the White House and the US State Department expressed "satisfaction" over the stepping-down of Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's constitutional president, and no one "wept over him." Besides, they also claimed that Chavez "had only himself to blame" for the coup. When Chavez resumed power, a senior US official in charge of national security commented that "Chavez should reflect on himself," as "his ship has been sailing towards a wrong direction for far too long." 
	
	
 As for the recent event in which Jose Bustani, director-general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons [OPCW], was voted out of office at the organization's special plenary session, there clearly existed an "American background." This special meeting was initiated by the United States, with only one single goal to fulfill, that is, instigating OPCW member states to vote out Bustani. It has been reported that the United States had earlier held a secret meeting with a number of countries, promising to pay for their long due OPCW membership fees if they could vote according to the wish of the United States. 
	
	
 Why has the United States been picking on Chavez and Bustani all this time? After Chavez took office as Venezuelan president, he has pursued an independent foreign policy, and has been out of step with the United States in many areas. During his visits to some OPEC member states in 2000, he also paid a visit to Baghdad; meanwhile, he has all along maintained a close relationship with Cuba. All these are eyesores to the United States. As for Bustani, he hoped that Baghdad could become a member of the OPCW so that the United Nations could conduct arms inspections in the country. To the United States, what Bustani wanted to do was even more intolerable, as it would disrupt the US plan of launching a military strike against Iraq. 
	
	
 Even some major media in the United States have thoroughly unmasked the attitude taken by the US Government towards the cope farce in Venezuela. They have pointed out: When will a "coup" not be called a "coup"? It will not be a "coup" so long as the United States thinks it is not! According to New York Times, the United States is inclined to put friendly faces in the Presidential Palace of Latin American nations, no matter whether or not these faces are wearing army uniforms. This reminds one of a witty remark made by US President Franklin Roosevelt in the old days. When questioned by a reporter "why the United States has supported a certain cold-blooded dictator in Latin America," Roosevelt gave a vivid reply: This dictator "may be a son of bitch, yet he is our (the United States) son of bitch." 
	
	
 It turns out that in the dictionary used by the United States, the definition of a "democratic regime" is subjected to double standards. In simpler terms, the interests of the United States are always above everything else, not only above the sovereignty of other nations, but also above the so-called values of "democracy" and "human rights" that the US always likes to dwell on. Other than that, nothing will count. 
	
	
 Attachments: JFJB 29 apr 2002.pdf	





Document 00100317 ends.


 
  
  
    
      October 27, 1998
      Dear Name:
      Join us for the "Sale of the Century" at JCC Auction '99, on Saturday,
      November 13, 1999. The 9th annual JCC Auction will benefit the numerous
      scholarship programs of the Jewish Community Center of Indianapolis, a
      United Way agency. Because you are an organization that cares, you are
      invited once again to be an integral part of this fabulous event as a
      corporate sponsor for JCC Auction '99.
      We are so grateful for your generous contribution to last year's
      auction. Your continued participation is very important to the JCC, as we
      work to build partnerships between businesses and our not-for-profit
      agency. As a sponsor, you and your guests will have a special evening,
      knowing that your tax deductible contribution will help support
      preschool, childcare, senior and resettlement services, as well as
      quality cultural events in our community.
      Enclosed is a corporate sponsorship package that includes a sample of
      your ad from last year's auction book, current JCC market statistics and
      an overview of the many JCC programs that will be preserved and
      strengthened through your generous support.
      One of us will call you to discuss how your company can continue to be
      an important, highly visible partner with the JCC in support of our
      scholarship programs. If you have any questions, please feel free to call
      Myrna Weinberger at 251-9467, ext. 256. Thank you in advance for your
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      Sincerely,
      Judy Laikin, Chair Auction '99 Sponsor Committee
    
  



Document 00100318 ends.


	
From the vantage point of Latin America and the Caribbean, there can be no doubt about the United States' complicity with the military and civilian authors of the abortive coup d'etat against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. From Mexico to Buenos Aires, television viewers saw, on the Spanish CNN and Telemundo channels, the undisguised pleasure displayed by White House spokesman Ari Fleischer and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice at the announcement of Hugo Chavez's "resignation," which he never in fact signed. Far from condemning that which the United States at no time described as a coup d'etat, President Bush's spokesman explained that Chavez had indeed brought it on himself and that he bore the responsibility for the "confused events," having violated human rights. 
	
	
 Following the sudden turnabout and President Chavez's return to the Miraflores Palace after 48 hours, Washington immediately tried to limit the damage. Of course the American Administration had had contacts with the conspirators for several months, but that was in order to advise them to use constitutional methods against Chavez. Otto Reich, the State Department's Latin American policy chief, had indeed met with the short-lived "interim president," boss of bosses Pedro Carmona, but that was in order to urge him not to dissolve the National Assembly. The same advice was issued by the US Ambassador in Caracas, Charles Shapiro, who rushed to the presidential palace, with his Spanish opposite number, to meet with Pedro Carmona. The Spaniard did not specify whether he had attended that hasty meeting on his country's behalf or on the EU's behalf. 
	
	
 Latin American analysts and commentators read in the New York Times and the Miami Herald that "subtle and informal messages" of encouragement had been addressed to the conspirators, as was admitted by an unidentified Pentagon official, and that the CIA was not inactive during the months prior to the coup d'etat, as suggested by Stratfor , a newsletter specializing in intelligence matters and published on the Internet. On top of this, there are the latest press reports of the presence of one or two American officers among the conspirators... 
	
	
 Fear of Grim Years 
	
	
 This apparent change of doctrine on Washington's part, following some 20 years of demands -- sometimes successful -- for observance of democratic and constitutional order in Latin America, is laden with threats, in a subcontinent which, during the second half of the last century, experienced a succession of coups d'etat, from Guatemala to Chile, via the Dominican Republican and Argentina, fomented or backed by the CIA and the Pentagon. The fear of lapsing back into the grim years of military dictatorships and revolutionary guerrilla movements has driven virtually all the Latin American countries, with the notable exception of El Salvador, to condemn the overthrow of the constitutional order in Venezuela. Though some of them did not conceal their criticisms of Hugo Chavez, the member countries of the organization of American States (OAS) condemned the coup d'etat and recognized the legitimacy of the elected president. All except El Salvador and the United States, whose representative to the OAS, Roger Noriega, tried for several hours to persuade his opposite numbers that Chavez's ouster was a good thing for the "hemisphere." 
	
	
 By some ironical trick of history, it was on 11 September 2001 that the OAS member countries, with the United States represented by Secretary of State Colin Powell, signed a new "democratic charter" envisaging regional defense mechanisms for the constitutional regimes. But the attacks that hit the United States that same day initiated a new era, relegating the defense of democratic principles to a subordinate place behind the priority objective of combating terrorism. In the new Manichean world, divided between friends and enemies of the sole superpower, Hugo Chavez was unwise enough to condemn the American bombing raids in Afghanistan. His visits to Iraq's Saddam Husayn and Libya's Muammar al-Qadhdhafi, his friendship with Cuban leader Fidel Castro, his relations with the Colombian guerrillas, his speeches against "neo-liberal globalization," and his commitment to a multipolar world already placed him in the Evil camp, even though the Bolivarian Venezuela has never ceased to guarantee oil supplies to United States, of which it is one of the three foremost suppliers. 
	
	
 By entrusting the conduct of his Latin American policy to the radical wing of anti-Castro exiles, President George W. Bush satisfied the powerful Cuban-American lobby of Miami, which his brother, Jeb, needs in order to secure his reelection as Governor of Florida. But he also took the risk that an obsession -- Fidel Castro's downfall -- would exert excessive influence on the conduct of relations with his neighbors in the South. Implicated in the Iran-Contra scandal, a secret operation against the Nicaraguan Sandinist regime under the Ronald Reagan presidency, the Cuban-American, Otto Reich, was appointed Undersecretary of State for Latin American Affairs, despite Congress' opposition. A former Ambassador to Venezuela, he has never made a secret of his antipathy for Chavez, who he rightly considers the main supporter of the Castro regime. One of the first decisions by the government that resulted from the coup d'etat was indeed to suspend oil supplies to Cuba. 
	
	
 Beyond Latin America, the establishment of a "friendly" government in Caracas, representing industry and the conservative circles influenced by Opus Dei, also had the advantage for Washington of weakening OPEC, which Hugo Chavez had succeeded in bringing back to life less than two years ago. Having taken a downward turn following the announcement of the coup d'etat, oil prices have started to rise again since Hugo Chavez's return to the Miraflores Palace. 
	
	
	





Document 00100323 ends.


	
For its own reasons, which are linked to its interests and, naturally, to Israel's interests, the United States chose to put intensive pressure on the Palestinian Authority. It wanted the PA to meet difficult, even impossible, security conditions. It also tried, through this pressure, to remove the legitimacy of the PA and its chairman Yasir Arafat under the pretext of terrorism or support for terrorism. This US position, which is fully biased to Israel, strengthened Israeli Prime Minister Ari'el Sharon's attempts to suppress national Palestinian ambitions and achieve his declared objective of establishing Israeli security on the rubble of the legitimate Palestinian rights. 
	
	
 It would have perhaps been logical and acceptable if Washington had demanded a mutual and concurrent cessation of the ongoing violence between the Palestinians and the Israelis and called on Israel not to exploit the calm to open the files of security revenge through assassinations and arrests. It would have been logical and acceptable if Washington had asked Israel to announce its commitment to the principle of withdrawal from the territories it occupied in 1967 and to end the settlement activity. Such demands constitute the strong base for bringing about calm and stability, putting a final end to violence and terrorism, and turning a new leaf toward fruitful negotiations leading to a just peace acceptable by all sides. 
	
	
 The situation and its tragic repercussions are being viewed only from the Israeli perspective. The killing of hundreds of Palestinians and the increase in the number of martyrs among children are being ignored. And the destruction of homes, installations, and PA infrastructure is being overlooked. This does not serve the interest of peace and the security of the peoples of the region in the long run. On the contrary, it heightens the sense of frustration among all sectors of the Palestinian people and damages the credibility of the United States as a sponsor of the peace process, indeed as an effective partner in the settlement negotiations from the start of the peace process in the late eighties until this process faltered as a result of Israel's intransigence after Sharon came to power. 
	
	
 The United States realizes that the Palestinians are serious in their efforts to achieve a just peace. The Palestinians left no avenue unexplored in their quest for a settlement that enables them to regain their legitimate rights and provides all the peoples of the region, including the Israelis, with security and stability. It is, therefore, unfair to blame the PA for the tension, and sometimes violence, that takes place as a result of the Israeli oppressive measures and activities. Every oppressive or vindictive Israeli action has a Palestinian reaction that cannot be stopped. Before 1994, Israel was in control of all the occupied Palestinian territories and yet it was unable, despite all its forces, weapons, and measures, to achieve full and comprehensive quiet in the West Bank and Gaza throughout 27 years. 
	
	
 In this context, we must note the role of all Arab and international forces in curbing Israeli military operations against Palestinian cities and residential areas and in explaining the true picture of the situation to the United States. Certainly, the intensive efforts that our big sister, Egypt, made to bridle the Israeli oppressive activity and to warn the Israeli prime minister against targeting President Arafat and the PA are highly appreciated by the Palestinian people in particular and the Arab nation in general. 
	
	
	





Document 00100325 ends.



   New man for a new NASA mission

 



  Forget space shuttles, orbiting telescopes, and more robotic 
rovers on Mars.

  The next mission for NASA could be to steer soaring 
space-station costs back toward earth and restore credibility to 
what many call a dysfunctional space program.

  This weekend, the agency bade farewell to administrator Daniel 
Goldin, who resigned after 10 years in office - an agency 
record. President Bush has nominated Sean O'Keefe, deputy 
director of the White House's Office of Management and Budget, 
to replace him.

  In doing so, the White House is swapping the silver-visored 
helmet of a space cadet for the green eyeshade of a consummate 
bean counter.

  Where Mr. Goldin was a product of the US aerospace industry, Mr. 
O'Keefe has served as chief financial officer for the Pentagon, 
Navy secretary, and business-school professor.

  "O'Keefe is not known as a space enthusiast," says Keith Cowing, 
a former NASA scientist and editor of NASAWatch.com. "But he may 
be what the agency needs right now."

  Under Goldin, unmanned craft found evidence of water on the 
moon, inaugurated a long-term program to explore Mars, and 
opened the door to competition from the aerospace industry and 
universities to plan and execute missions.

  With a mandate to cut costs, Goldin implemented a "faster, 
better, cheaper" approach. In the spring of 1992, the Jet 
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., "had five spacecraft 
in space and three or four under development," he said last 
month. "Today, we have 13 in space and 27 under development."

  But the agency's credibility has come under fire in manned 
spaceflight - especially the International Space Station, now 
completing its first year of full-time crews. The project's 
costs, like those of the space-shuttle program before it, have 
ballooned far beyond original estimates - from an initial $17.4 
billion to more than $30 billion.

  Early on, the Bush administration planned to scale back US 
involvement to a "core" station with a crew of three instead of 
six. Future US modules were red-penciled. And this month, a task 
force on the project's budget concluded that NASA's cost 
estimate for finishing the "core" station between 2002 and 2008 
"is not credible." It presented its own scenario for scaling 
back the station.

  If confirmed by the Senate, O'Keefe jumps with both feet into 
this fiscal morass. Fixing the problem may require not just 
accounting savvy, but also deft diplomacy.

  The task-force report stirred opposition by Canada and other 
partners. To cut the station's scope, they argue, violates 
international agreements and would essentially close off 
international use of the station.

  In assessing how the agency might fare under O'Keefe, some 
analysts say it could blossom, as it did in its Apollo-program 
heyday under another numbers guy, James Webb.

  Yet the agency's objectives have been growing less visionary 
since then, says John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org in 
Alexandria, Va. "Webb's mandate was to put a man on the moon. 
Richard Truly's ... was to help the agency recover from the 
Challenger disaster. Goldin's was to cut NASA's budget. Now 
O'Keefe's is to fix the space station."

  O'Keefe's appointment "is a clear message from the 
administration: NASA has to clean up its act before we can talk 
about the neat stuff we'd like to see NASA do," says Patricia 
Dasch of the National Space Society.


Copyright @ 2001 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved.




Document 00100328 ends.


       

QVC Network Inc. said it completed its acquisition of CVN Cos. for about $423 million. 

QVC agreed to pay $19 and one-eighth QVC share for each of CVN's 20 million fully diluted shares. 

The acquisition brings together the two largest competitors to Home Shopping Network Inc., which now reaches more viewers than any other company in the video shopping industry.
Among them, Home Shopping, QVC and CVN already control most of that young and fast-growing market, which last year had sales of about $1.4 billion. 




Document 00100329 ends.


                                  
    
           Inauguration of free zone in Dubai for e-commerce       
     
   
           Dubai 10-28 (FP) - Dubai's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum inaugurated a free zone for e-commerce today, called Dubai Internet City.       
    
   
           The preliminary stages of the project, the only one of its kind according to its designers, are estimated at $200 million.        
    
             
   
           Sheikh Mohamed, who is also the Defense Minister of the United Arab Emirates, announced at the inauguration ceremony that "we want to make Dubai a new trading center."       
    
   
           The minister, who has his own website, also said: "I want Dubai to be the best place in the world for state-of-the-art technology companies."       
    
   
           He said companies engaged in e-commerce would be able to set up offices, employ staff and own equipment in the open zone, including fully-owned foreign companies.        
    
                      
   
           The e-commerce free zone is situated in north Dubai, near the industrial free zone in Jebel Ali, the top regional and tenth international leading area in container transit.       
    
   
           The inauguration of Dubai Internet City coincides with the opening of an annual IT show in Dubai, the Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (Gitex), the biggest in the Middle East.       
    
      



Document 00100332 ends.


	
MADRID, Sept 14 (AFP) -- Interpol on Friday released previously confidential search warrants with vital details about the life and activities of Usamah bin-Ladin, the main suspect in Tuesday's deadly attacks in the United States. 
	
	
 The two warrants -- from 1998 and 2000 -- were released at a press conference here by Interpol President Jesus Espigares of Spain and Secretary General Ronald K. Noble of the United States. 
	
	
 The 1998 warrant charged that Bin-Ladin, a Saudi billionaire housed as a "guest" in Afghanistan, was involved in the 1994 murder of two Germans in Syrte, Libya. The file said that Libya had demanded his extradition. 
	
	
 The other warrant, from April 4, 2000, was drafted at the request of the US Government and includes a detailed description of the man who tops the US Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) most wanted list. 
	
	
 It includes everything from biographical information -- Bin-Ladin was born March 10, 1957 in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, -- to a physical description -- black hair, brown eyes, 1.96 meters (6 feet, 4 inches) tall and about 67 kilograms (148 pounds) -- to the various aliases he uses. 
	
	
 "He may walk with a cane," the study says, noting that he speaks Arabic and "Southwest Asian countries and the Middle East are the places where he may travel around." 
	
	
 The study also notes that the United States offered five million dollars (5.4 million euros) to anyone who had information that could lead to Bin-Ladin's arrest. 
	
	
 Espigares and Noble also said that Interpol has created a task force, named "September 11," after the date on which two hijacked airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City and another hit the Pentagon in Washington, leaving thousands dead. 
	
	
 The force, based in Lyon, France, will work non-stop to "help to filter any information coming from Interpol country members," Noble said. 
	
	
 Interpol will meet in Budapest from September 24-29, where member countries will discuss methods of bringing those responsible for the attacks to justice, Espigares and Noble said. 
	
	
 US authorities have asked Interpol to organize a police team specialized in identifying victims, they said, refusing to comment further on the status of Interpol's collaboration, saying, "We do not want to do anything which could undermine FBI investigations." 
	
	
 "There are moments in every nation's history which are marked forever. For me, for my country, it's the death of President (John F.) Kennedy. For Spain, (it's) the military forces attacking democracy. But for the world, September 11 is a day that will mark the entire world," Noble said.	





Document 00100335 ends.


 
   
   
      
         
            Husbands and Wives

            Chatterbox feels a little dense for not realizing sooner that the subtext
(and hence much of the appeal) of a Hillary Clinton-Rudy Giuliani Senate race
would be Wronged Wife vs. Neglectful Husband. By running against Giuliani (who
has been reported in Vanity Fair to have a mistress--he denies it--and,
by all accounts, has a sham marriage), the first lady could exact symbolic
revenge on her philandering husband while advancing the fortunes of the
Democratic party at the same time! That's almost enough for Chatterbox
to jump on the Hillary for Senate bandwagon.

            The media conventional wisdom is that Giuliani would make Hillary Clinton's
marital problems a major campaign issue. "Giuliani makes Ken Starr look like a
patsy," cried Time this week. But, er, wouldn't that be kind of a risky
strategy, given his own problematic union? Many have already opined that the
mayor is too vituperative, too much of a loner to practice the congenial,
teamwork-oriented politics of the Senate; other doubters have pointed to his
hardhearted, uncaring social policies. The last thing he needs is to draw more
attention to these qualities in his personal life.

            Giuliani's estrangement from his wife, Donna Hanover, is made clear in an
interview with Hanover that appears in today's New York Times . Hanover "would not say
whether Giuliani would run for the Senate, whether she would like him to run
for Senate, or whether she would campaign for him if he did. But she did say in
the interview, which was conducted before the recent frenzy of speculation
about Hillary Rodham Clinton's interest in the same New York Senate seat, that
Mrs. Clinton is a 'very interesting' person. 'I think she's dynamic, and I
think she's very smart, and she's an amazing speaker,' Ms. Hanover said." And,
for a punch line: "Ms. Hanover's press secretary, Joannie Danielides, said this
week that Ms. Hanover had no comment on Mrs. Clinton's potential Senate
campaign." Does she have any comment on whether Ms. Hanover plans to be Hillary
Clinton's campaign manager?

            
               Indis Index 
               Update: NBC, in its Juanita Broaddrick broadcast
last night, turned up an additional three witnesses who recall being told by
Broaddrick in the late 1970s that Bill Clinton raped her. This
diminishes-- slightly-- the significance of Norma Kelsey's possible
motives in verifying parts of Broaddrick's story. (One of the three is Kelsey's
sister, whose motives can be similarly questioned; the other two heard
Broaddrick tell her story but did not see her bruised lip, as only Kelsey and
Broaddrick's husband claim to have.) However, Chatterbox notes that NBC, like
every other responsible news organization that's covered this story, reported
that Norma Kelsey's father's killer was pardoned by Gov. Bill Clinton, and
remains perplexed that the Journal editorial page won't. Its Indis
Index is today up to seven.
            

            
               --Timothy Noah and Jodi Kantor
            

         
      
   



Document 00100336 ends.


	
Moscow, May 8, IRNA -- Deputy head of the Russian Geopolitical Research Institute Lyonid Ivashev said on Wednesday the United States sees part of an axis of evil any country which does not follow the its policies. Talking to IRNA, Ivashev expressed regrets over the fact that the people in some parts of the world are indifferent toward the expansionist policies of the United States and do not proceed to condemn them. He strongly criticized the US war-mongering actions and tactics and said the US war-mongering has posed serious threats to the world. He said the United States has turned into an axis of evil itself and is ignoring even the resolutions issued by the United Nations. Ivashev further said Russia is to develop its relations with the Muslim nations as well as China and India. He said there are deep differences between Russia and the United Stats on a range of strategic, political and economic issues. He said the US officials claim as for the countries described as "parts of an axis of evil" are "unfounded" and the US claims in this connection are "sheer lies". Reacting to the threats launched by the US president George W. Bush against Iran he condemned the United States expansionist policies. US President George W. Bush had in his State of the Union address termed Iran, Iraq and North Korea as "axis of evil" and accused them of attempting to develop weapons of mass destruction. Ivashev further said the United States is after gaining superiority over Russia's nuclear capabilities and initiating an anti-missile defense system by the United States shows that country's intentions. He said the United States is after imposing its expansionists policies under the pretext of the fight against terrorism. 
	
	
	





Document 00100340 ends.


	
IZMIR, March 2 (A.A) - A total of 130 illegal immigrants were caught in western Izmir and northwestern Bolu provinces on Saturday. 
	
	
 Anti-smuggling teams in Izmir stopped two buses in Bornova town and captured 108 persons including 28 Turks who wanted to go to Germany, in the buses. 
	
	
 Acting on a tip-off, police stopped three buses in Aliaga town of Izmir and caught 91 persons including 28 Iranians, Iraqis, Afghans and Sri Lankas. The persons wanted to escape abroad. 
	
	
 Meanwhile a ship was stopped by coast security guards offshore Aliaga. The ship is believed to carry illegal immigrants. 
	
	
 A total of 31 Iranians and Iraqis were also captured in a minibus in Yenicaga town of northwestern Bolu province. There were two children and one baby among the immigrants. The immigrants had paid money to smugglers to go to Greece.	





Document 00100343 ends.



RUSSIAN TALIBAN AT GITMO?

    *RUSSIA*FOREIGN-MINISTRY*US*CUBA*BASE*



  /RIA Novosti/. A team of Russian law enforcement officials is to 
travel shortly to the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, "in 
order to determine the real nationality of the alleged Russians 
held at the base and their involvement in terrorist activities," 
sources in the Russian Foreign Ministry disclosed Thursday.

  The diplomats elaborated that during the campaign against 
terrorism in Afghanistan, "the Americans detained a number of 
persons associated with the Taliban, who are Russian nationals 
according to the US information." These individuals are 
currently temporarily detained at the US base at Guantanamo Bay.



@ 2001 RIA Novosti




Document 00100345 ends.


	
TOKYO, Feb 15 (AFP) - Japan Friday welcomed President George W. Bush's alternative to the Kyoto Protocol on reducing greenhouse gases, but said it will press on with ratification of the pact the US rejected. 
	
	
 "The government of Japan appreciates the announcement of climate change policy by the government of the United States on February 14 as a demonstration of its serious intention to address the issue of global warming," Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said in a statement. 
	
	
 The minister however said Japan will press on with ratification of the 1997 Kyoto pact on global warming, which environment ministers from 160 countries -- with the exception of the United States -- agreed on in Morocco last November after marathon talks. 
	
	
 "While the government of Japan intends to take all necessary steps to ensure the approval by the Diet of the Kyoto Protocol as well as the enactment of the required legislation during the current Diet session... it is important to establish a common rule in future in which all countries including the United States and developing countries participate," the statement said. 
	
	
 Bush may raise the greenhouse gas matter when he visits Japan for a three-day stay starting Sunday, although Japan's weakened economy is expected to be the focus of talks. 
	
	
 Bush's plan, which he revealed in a speech Thursday night, would slow emissions growth by reducing "greenhouse gas intensity" -- the ratio of emissions to economic output -- by a target of 18 percent over 10 years. 
	
	
 The Kyoto pact, which Bush Thursday called "an unsound international treaty", commits countries to cut their emissions of greenhouse gases to below 1990 levels by a timetable of 2008-2012. 
	
	
	





Document 00100354 ends.



Two Russian Cosmonauts To Conduct Space Walk

 



  Two Russian cosmonauts, Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin, 
are expected to perform a space walk on the International Space 
Station (ISS) at about 04:00 PM Moscow time. Frank Culbertson, 
an American astronaut and the commander of Expedition 3 to the 
ISS, will survey and control their actions from aboard the 
station. This information was unfolded by the Russian Mission 
Control.

  Mission Control's officials also stated that this unplanned 
space walk would be conducted in order to repair the 
malfunction, which had appeared in the docking unit during the 
docking of the Russian Progress M1-7 cargo space ship. Experts 
believe that the 4mm gap between the ship and the station's 
docking unit has been caused by an object, which now prevents 
the tight joining of the two space vehicles.

  According to the Russian Mission Control, the space walk may 
last from 3 to 6 hours because of the mission's difficulty. The 
cosmonauts will have to use the electric motor of the docking 
unit to manually un-dock the Progress M1-7 to the distance of 
not more than one meter from the station. Then, they will 
examine the docking unit from within. The space walk period will 
decrease if they successfully remove the object located in the 
gap between the ship and the docking unit. If the malfunction is 
more serious, the Mission Control will set the cosmonauts 
another mission.

  The Russian Mission Control also reported that the forthcoming 
launch of the American Endeavour space shuttle totally depended 
on the success of the aforementioned "repair works." Experts 
believe that the shuttle will be unable to dock the ISS if the 
Russian cargo ship is not tightly secured to the station. 
Otherwise, the dynamic blow of the docking shuttle may set the 
Russian ship "swaying" which might damage the ISS.

  There has already been a similar incident in space. In 1987, the 
Kvant module was not secured either. The cosmonauts who 
performed a space walk, successfully repaired the malfunction.


Copyright @1999 by "Pravda.RU". When reproducing our materials 
in whole or in part, reference to Pravda.RU should be made.




Document 00100355 ends.


 
  
  
    
      August 6, 1998
      Dear Friend:
      Adolescence. It is a pivotal time in the life of a young girl-when
      small changes in her behavior, or the choices she makes, can affect her
      future. It's hard enough for her to make good decisions when she's
      surrounded by support. It's even harder when she isn't.
      Big Sisters helps fill that void by matching caring, responsible adult
      volunteers with at-risk girls, ages 8-14. A Big Sister is a mentor, a
      friend and a role model, helping a young girl to develop the
      self-confidence and life skills necessary to become a responsible,
      productive and successful adult. Your $1,000 contribution can put a
      mentor in a child's life-and hope in a child's future.
      The results of an 18-month study completed by Public/Private Ventures
      showed that children participating in one-to-one Big Sister and Big
      Brother matches for just one year, reduced first time drug use by 46%;
      lowered school absenteeism by 52%; cut aggressive behavior by 33%;
      enhanced school performance; and improved relations with family and
      friends.
      This is positive proof that Big Sisters one-to-one mentoring program
      helps change lives. Today, we are offering you the opportunity to help
      change a life. By contributing $1,000 you can support one match for one
      year. This money maintains the infrastructure that fosters and supports
      the development of effective relationships. This includes a volunteer
      screening process, orientation, training and ongoing supervision and
      support by a professional staff.
      As a Matchmaker you will receive a description of "your match" and be
      identified as a Matchmaker on a plaque in the Big Sisters office, in the
      agency newsletter and annual report.
      Today Big Sisters serves over 1,000 girls in central Indiana. But for
      each girl served, more are left unserved. Over 235 girls are currently
      waiting for a Big Sister. Imagine the difference the community could make
      if each congregation pledged its support of one Big Sisters match!
      I encourage you to Join me in presenting this matchmaker challenge to
      your congregation.
      Sincerely,
      Dr. Linda McCoy Pastor, THE GARDEN A Blossom of St. Luke's United
      Methodist Church
    
  



Document 00100356 ends.



   Africa's Grand Bargain

 



  
All was not lost in Zimbabwe's rigged election last week.

  Africa's two richest and most powerful nations, South Africa and 
Nigeria, decided to punish Zimbabwe on Tuesday for a flawed 
presidential vote. Their courageous stand will help renew a 
promise by leading industrialized nations to provide more aid, 
trade, and investment only if Africa shows better governance and 
democracy.

  This grand bargain to uplift the world's poorest continent would 
have been in jeopardy if Thabo Mbeki, south Africa's president, 
and Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria's president, had not agreed to 
suspend Zimbabwe from the 54-nation group of former British 
colonies known as the Commonwealth. Their endorsement of yet 
another type of diplomatic isolation of Zimbabwe shows 
solidarity with the West.

  The grand pact, known as the New Partnership for Africa's 
Development, was initiated by the two leaders. It is a model for 
all poverty-reducing efforts at this week's UN conference on 
development aid being held in Mexico (see opinion piece). 
Without the rule of law and fair elections in Africa, no amount 
of aid can help it.

  Mr. Mbeki may still hope that, despite his joining the West in 
criticizing Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe, he can work with 
his troubled neighbor to prevent more violence, keep the economy 
from collapsing, and find some political compromise.

  Mbeki and other African leaders need to press Mr. Mugabe to stop 
his repression and to not take farmland from whites without just 
compensation. Many of the continent's other governments found 
little fault with the way Mugabe ran the election, despite 
overwhelming evidence of voter intimidation and manipulation of 
polls.

  Zimbabwe's opposition says it will only join Mugabe in a unity 
government if he agrees to a new, better-run election. That's a 
fair deal. A strike this week by the country's trade unions 
protesting the government's tactics reflects widespread disgust 
with Mugabe.

  But now that he's cornered by the international community with 
many types of isolation - including opprobrium from two of his 
African peers - he has lashed out by charging opposition leader 
Morgan Tsvangirai with trying to kill him. Such desperation by 
Mugabe should not be condoned by African leaders.

  South Africa's leader, Mbeki, who has been inclined toward 
"quiet diplomacy" with Zimbabwe, has now made himself heard. His 
stature in Africa and his stand on Zimbabwe's future bring hope 
for African economic renewal and greater democracy.

  
back to top

  
Untitled


Copyright @ 2002 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights 
reserved.




Document 00100357 ends.


	
AMMAN -- After months of low-profile activities, the 14 professional associations held their first anti-normalisation conference on Sunday during which they renewed calls for severing all ties with "the Zionist enemy." 
	
	
 More than 50 participants, most of them members of the unions' Anti-Normalisation Committee, took part in the one-day conference, held against a backdrop of uncertainty as to the future of the 10-year-old peace process. 
	
	
 The speakers outlined the plight of the Palestinians under occupation and the suffering of Iraqi people facing crippling international sanctions for the eleventh consecutive year. 
	
	
 They also lambasted "US-British aggression on Iraq and meddling in its internal affairs." 
	
	
 "Normalisation with the Zionist enemy is a crime against the country, nation and humanity," read one of the banners hoisted at the Professional Associations Complex. 
	
	
 According to Council of Unions' president Mohammad Oran, the anti- normalisation drive remains an Arab, Muslim and human goal. It is also a binding decision taken by the professional associations' general assembly, after Jordan sealed a peace treaty with Israel in October 1994. 
	
	
 Former Hamas spokesperson Ibrahim Ghosheh and spokesperson for the Muslim Brotherhood Jamil Abu Baker took part in the conference. 
	
	
 Sunday's gathering is the first such public event since authorities cracked down early last year on the anti-normalisation committee after they made public a blacklist of Jordanians they claimed had established "ties with the Jewish state." 
	
	
 During Sunday's conference, nine papers were discussed. 
	
	
 Political affiliation among association members lean heavily towards Islamist, pan-Arab and leftist groups. 
	
	
 Conference participants warned against Israeli "expansionist plans" and argued that the peace treaty was in favour of the "Zionist enemy." 
	
	
 They called for "ostracising" those who deal with Israeli partners and maintaining a total boycott of the Jewish state at the grassroots level. 
	
	
 On the official level, relations between Jordan and Israel have been strained since the outbreak of the Intifada 16 months ago. Jordan has delayed sending its ambassador designate, Abdul Ilah Kurdi, to Tel Aviv. 
	
	
 The conference also honoured the families of Jordanian detainees in Israeli jails. 
	
	
	





Document 00100358 ends.


	
December 5, was a Wednesday like any other for the 24 executive directors of the International Monetary Fund [IMF]. Three meetings - on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays - under the chairmanship of the institution's director general, Germany's Horst Kohler, usually punctuate their weekly schedule. During these meetings, they review various subjects and in particular the achievements of "under program" countries. That particular morning, it was Argentina's turn. It is the victim of an explosive situation at the economic, political and social levels. And yet, the problem was disposed of in two hours. Since the economic targets the government had promised, particularly the one on a zero budget deficit, were not reached, the board felt it was unable to "recommend" releasing a new $1.264 billion tranche that had been scheduled for December as part of last year's $22 billion program for Argentina. 
	
	
 Shortly thereafter, the institution's spokesman, Thomas Dawson, declared "the [Argentine] authorities have to reach the program goals they set for themselves" before they can get any more money. Moreover, he found the measures taken by the government to control the [movement] of foreign exchange and limit the flight of capital were "regrettable", even though these measures were made more flexible later on. According to an eyewitness, this cut and dry, accounting-like decision taken by civil servants, who thus have the power of "life or death" over a country, was not the subject of any debate. It was taken following the presentation of a report by Chile's Thomas Reichmann, the chief of mission who had been sent to Buenos Aires. The figures spoke for themselves. At most, a few differences in sensitivity emerged over whether or not the issue should remain closed from one to two months or if the discussions with Argentina should continue. The latter was adopted in the end. This was the only concession made to a government that has been struggling to restructure its domestic public debt to avoid having the country simply default on its debt. 
	
	
 Unconditional Support 
	
	
 In essence, it seems that they all agreed on one thing: meeting a commitment is inviolable. This position is surprising all the same because the history of the IMF is lined with derogations. We have stopped counting the number of times financial bailout plans have been set up to help this or that government in difficulty. We also stopped counting the unconditional support the institution has given some heads of state, who are neither especially virtuous nor especially democratic, because it was in the political, commercial and economic interest of the United States to do so. 
	
	
 This was the case in particular for Russia, Brazil and now Pakistan. In the case of Russia, it was a matter of helping the former soviet giant consolidate its emerging democracy. For Brazil, the Fund intervened in October 1998, between two rounds in the presidential election, to support Fernando Henrique Cardoso's reelection because his macroeconomic options fell in line with the Fund's requirements, contrary to his leftist adversary, Luis Inacio "Lula" da Silva. In the case of Pakistan, it is this country's geostrategic position in the current crisis that serves to justify the avalanche of loans and trade facilities that are being granted to Islamabad. 
	
	
 Argentina has none of these worthy arguments. Yet, over the past ten years, it has done everything it can to be considered one of the IMF's good pupils. The government adopted a fixed parity between the dollar and the peso in 1991 in order to stop unrestricted inflation. Buenos Aires privatized, on Washington's recommendation, all of its public companies. The government, without assets to sell and without the possibility of falling back on the devaluation of its currency, is now condemned to keep on asking for foreign capital to maintain its balance of payments in equilibrium. Hence, a foreign debt of $130 billion and the urgent need for an inflow of capital from the IMF to repay $2 billion in debt that is coming due on 19 December. In the event of non-payment, the country will find itself an outcast of the international financial community. 
	
	
 The IMF administrators' bookkeeping-based decision marks a toughening of its policy, which America's republicans, who are especially critical of the Fund's past largesse, have called for over the past years. The first illustration of a change in the position of the United States (the Fund's leading shareholder) toward countries that may squander the American taxpayer's money was the arrival in September of Ann Krueger, an ultraliberal American, as number two at the IMF. Moreover, the "Argentine case" falls at a bad time. President Bush now needs parliamentary votes to get more powers on trade negotiation matters and a green light on the economic stimulation plan that has been dragging along for the past two months. The president could not take any risk of ruffling the republicans. Furthermore, Argentina is not a priority for the Americans now, confides a member of the IMF. Also, the risk that its bankruptcy will cause a chain reaction and lead to a grave crisis among emerging nations is, according to economists, not very likely or at most limited. Brazil has had time to lessen its dependence on trade links with Argentina. The other emerging nations are calling on foreign capital less since the Asian crisis and a sharp ebb in investments would not have the dramatic impact that it had in 1997-1998. Will Argentina be declared bankrupt on 19 December? The fate of 30 million Argentines depends on this. Regardless of what happens, the current extremely perilous situation is another setback for the IMF. It has been following Argentina's national accounting with a magnifying glass for the past ten years and it has shown it is incapable of guaranteeing the country's financial equilibrium just as most of the countries that submit to its demands. 
	
	
 
	
	
	





Document 00100367 ends.


	
Recent weeks have seen important developments on both sides of the Atlantic for the policy pursued in combating climate change. In Europe, the council of environment ministers concluded a formal political agreement on 4 March on the decision to ratify the Kyoto Protocol before 1 June this year. With this major decision, the European Union is opening the door to the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol for climate protection just in time for the world summit on sustainable development to be held in August 2002 in Johannesburg. In the United States, on 14 February President Bush presented the US national climate protection program. 
	
	
 It should be remembered that after Bush described the Kyoto Protocol as "fundamentally flawed" international negotiations on climate protection almost collapsed. The United States, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases (25 percent of global emissions) withdrew from an international agreement that, for the first time, set binding targets for developed countries for climate protection. We now know that the US withdrawal did not stop the world community from deepening this important multilateral agreement for combating climate change. The European Union played a dominant role in these negotiations and the community of states concluded, at the Bonn and Marrakech conferences of July and October last year, an agreement that sets out how to implement the Kyoto Protocol and provides for an original mechanism for respecting the reduction obligations that could possibly serve as a model for other agreements and that suggests a possible strengthening of international institutional structures in the environmental field. This must now be ratified by all the parties and will shortly enter into force. However, all the parties repeated with insistence that world climate protection cannot be effective unless the United States takes measures that are comparable to these taken by Europe and Japan. 
	
	
 Unfortunately, the recent US climate protection program falls far short of meeting such expectations. Although there is a certain satisfaction at seeing President Bush recognize the need to fight climate change, that must not in any way conceal the extreme weakness of what he announced. Under the US program, US emissions as a proportion of GDP must fall by 18 percent between 2002 and 2012, or in other words energy efficiency must increase by 18 percent. This can hardly be described as ambitious as a 15 percent increase in energy efficiency was in any event expected given present productivity levels. In addition, if the US economy continues to grow, the increased energy efficiency will be cancelled out or more than cancelled out. With an annual economic growth objective of 3 percent, absolute US emissions in 2012 will be 24.5 percent more than 1990 levels, despite the improvement in energy efficiency. By comparison, respect for the Kyoto Protocol requires the EU to reduce its emissions by 8 percent compared with 1990, Japan by 6 percent, and the United States by 7 percent, a figure accepted by President Clinton in 1997. 
	
	
 The warnings by climate experts went unheeded in the US climate protection program. In its last report, the IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] called for rapid and decisive action to at least avert the most serious consequences of climate change. Scientists estimate that the industrialized countries must reduce their emissions to around 70 percent by 2020 to maintain climate change at an acceptable level. Researchers have shown that without a determined policy on climate coordinated at international level the consequences of climate change will be dramatic. The average global temperature will increase by 5.8d C by 2100, sea levels will rise by up to 90 cm over the same period, and there will be an increasing number of hurricanes with ever more serious consequences, while man and nature will have to cope with a shift in climate and rainfall zones the like of which has never been seen before. 
	
	
 At our instigation, on 4 March EU environment ministers therefore called on the United States to "assume its responsibilities under the framework agreement on climate change," that is to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions at 1990 levels and strengthen domestic actions to bring them into line with the level of effort accepted by the industrial countries in application of the Kyoto Protocol. 
	
	
 If the effects of climate change were not so devastating and our action were to be guided by economic competition, we Europeans could welcome the fact that the United States is not committing itself to an ambitious climate protection program, in so far as the technologies in the field of energy efficiency and renewable energy are the technologies of the future. Anybody who fails to exploit these markets from the outset will remain lagging behind. Demand for these technologies is increasing worldwide. The "three liters for 100 kilometers" car, high efficiency turbines, and solar panels are export successes and their development is driven by a climate protection policy of growing amplitude. Even today it is difficult to find buyers outside the United States for the fuel-guzzling cars of the US automobile industry. 
	
	
 US reticence is not therefore a reason for us to reduce our climate protection efforts. The dominant role of the European climate protection policy has benefits for our economy. Many studies show that an active policy of climate protection is not in any way contrary to a policy of full employment. On the contrary, it can have a positive effect. By implementing our European and national climate protection programs we will succeed in creating several hundred thousand new jobs by 2010. 
	
	
 We hope that the United States will come to realize that an active climate protection policy is not only necessary for environmental policy but is also an excellent opportunity to modernize industrial society. The Kyoto Protocol is a first major step. It should therefore be implemented as quickly as possible and extended beyond the initial period of 2008-2012. The return of the United States to the system must remain our goal. The door remains wide open for the United States to return to the Kyoto process: The biggest emitter of greenhouse gases cannot be relieved of its responsibilities for global climate protection. 
	
	
 
	
	
	





Document 00100368 ends.



Bush's Policy on Argentina Signals Shift in Approach

 



  WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 - Seven years ago this month, President Bill 
Clinton's economic advisers told him Mexico was hours away from 
economic default and perhaps chaos on the streets. Mr. Clinton 
ordered an unpopular multibillion-dollar bailout, over the 
objections of Congress, but with the support of a prominent 
Republican governor, George W. Bush of Texas.

  When Argentina barreled toward a similar default in recent 
weeks, it was Mr. Bush who had to make the bailout call - and 
his decision was to let Argentina suffer the consequences of its 
own economic mismanagement. His aides argue that the 
circumstances were somewhat different: Mexico appeared ready to 
make reforms but needed time and cash, while Argentina had not 
heeded repeated warnings that its policies were leading to 
financial disaster.

  Still, Mr. Bush's reaction to the biggest international economic 
crisis so far in his presidency is a telling example of a new - 
and perhaps risky - approach to the kind of national economic 
bankruptcies that dominated Washington's dealings with the 
world's emerging markets in the late 1990's.

  The Clinton administration, fearing "economic contagion," was 
willing to back loans to teetering governments in Thailand, 
Indonesia, South Korea and Russia. But Mr. Bush's aides have 
adopted a policy some call "tough love," meant to reverse the 
expectation in capitals around the world that if you are big 
enough, or strategically important, Washington will always find 
a way to prevent fiscal and political collapse.

  Mr. Bush promised just such a policy during his presidential 
campaign. But the first time his approach was tested, when 
Turkey ran into deep trouble last spring, Mr. Bush's national 
security aides warned that it was no time to abandon a 
well-located ally whose government seemed willing to take the 
medicine the International Monetary Fund prescribed. Washington 
joined in the bailout.

  "It's fair to say," one senior administration official noted 
during the last week, "that while we have been clear, we haven't 
always been consistent."

  The hard line on Argentina, White House and Treasury officials 
say, was calculated to send the message that under the Bush 
administration, the United States would be a reluctant financial 
firefighter and that the markets should not bet on a bailout. It 
is a message that Mr. Bush's aides said in interviews this week 
that they hoped would force officials of developing countries 
and foreign investors to work out their problems without relying 
as much on huge aid packages from the International Monetary 
Fund and from Washington, which became commonplace after Mexico.

  "It is a different approach, but we needed a different 
approach," said John B. Taylor, undersecretary of the Treasury 
for international affairs. "We want to follow a policy that does 
not bail out bondholders and improves the market over all."

  
There are other new aspects to the Bush policy.

  Treasury officials in the Clinton era never shied away from 
dispensing a steady stream of advice to countries on the 
condition that they would have to meet to get Western aid. In 
contrast, during the Argentina crisis, Treasury Secretary Paul 
H. O'Neill was nearly invisible, rarely commenting on the 
country's approaching default, or the violent protests that led 
to the resignation of President Fernando de la R?  Officials say Mr. O'Neill supported the decision by the I.M.F. 
to cut off Argentina's loans because it had failed to meet the 
fund's demands for fiscal restraint. And now Washington's 
message to Argentina's new president, Eduardo Duhalde, is 
straightforward: Come up with a workable plan, and then we will 
talk.

  "President Bush never talked about specific steps he expected 
the Argentine government to take," said one White House official 
familiar with Mr. Bush's periodic calls and letters to Mr. de la 
R?d the series of his successors in recent weeks. "You won't 
find this administration having those kinds of conversations. 
Argentina has to come up with what works for them, and if we can 
support it, we will."

  Mr. Bush's approach carries considerable risk. There is every 
possibility that Argentina's new government will abandon the 
free-market leanings, tight fiscal and banking controls the 
country embraced with strong International Monetary Fund support 
over the last decade. Already there is considerable doubt that 
Argentina will now agree to the kind of hemispheric free-trade 
agreement that Mr. Bush himself, with Mr. de la R? his side, 
said last year was a major goal of his administration.

  Both the I.M.F. and the United States, the fund's largest 
shareholder, have come under some sharp criticism for denying 
new loans to Argentina after previously approving aid to the 
country. The last emergency loan was put together in August, 
with Mr. O'Neill's close supervision.

  The critics of Mr. Bush's decision to pull the plug on aid argue 
that the I.M.F. and the Bush administration were callous for 
abandoning an ally at a sensitive moment. And some argue that 
both the Clinton and Bush administrations should have acted 
sooner to steer Argentina away from its doomed efforts to defend 
a 1-to-1 peg of its peso to the dollar.

  But administration and I.M.F. officials respond that they aided 
Argentina for as long as they thought there was a reasonable 
chance that its political leaders were serious about reform. 
They pulled the plug, one senior administration official said, 
"only when it became clear that the collapse was going to happen 
sooner or later, and there was no use spending billions to get a 
few more weeks before the inevitable happened."

  Some longtime critics of the fund applauded the Bush 
administration's stance. Both left-wing anti-globalization 
activists and some conservative economists have argued that the 
fund became too interventionist during the Clinton years. That 
allowed investors to make reckless bets on the assumption that 
lending agencies would rescue them when things went wrong.

  "I am hopeful that we're in transition to a world in which 
countries and lenders learn more about risk," said Allan H. 
Meltzer of Carnegie Mellon University, who headed a 
Congressional panel two years ago that advocated sweeping 
changes at the I.M.F. and the World Bank. "You can't just keep 
throwing money at these problems and hope they will go away."



Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company




Document 00100370 ends.


       

Crane Co. said it holds an 8.9% stake in Milton Roy Corp., an analytical-instruments maker, and may seek control of the company. 

Crane, a maker of engineered products for aerospace, construction, defense and other uses, made the disclosure in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. 

In the filing, Crane said that in the past it considered seeking control of Milton Roy, of St. Petersburg, Fla., through a merger or tender offer and that it expects to continue to evaluate an acquisition from time to time.
Crane officials didn't return phone calls seeking comment. 

Crane holds 504,200 Milton Roy shares, including 254,200 bought from Sept. 14 to Thursday for $15.50 to $16.75 each.
In New York Stock Exchange composite trading Friday, Milton Roy shares leaped $2, to $18.375 each, while Crane sank $1.125, to $21.125 a share. 

John M. McNamara, chief financial officer of Milton Roy, said the company has no comment on Crane's filing. 

Milton Roy recently fended off unsolicited overtures from Thermo Electron Corp., a Waltham, Mass., maker of biomedical products.
Milton Roy disclosed in May that it was approached for a possible acquisition by Thermo Electron, which agreed to purchase Milton Roy's liquid-chromatography line for $22 million in February.
Thermo Electron acquired some 6% of Milton Roy's common stock before throwing in the towel and reducing its stake in early September. 

Gabelli Group began raising its Milton Roy stake in July, and holds 14.6%, according to a recent SEC filing.
It hasn't made merger overtures to the board. 

Earlier this month, Milton Roy signed a letter of intent to acquire Automated Custom Systems Inc., Orange, Calif., and its sister operation, Environmental Testing Co., in Aurora, Colo.
The companies are automotive-emissions-testing concerns. 

Under the terms, Milton Roy will pay an initial $4 million for the operations and additional payments during the next four years based on the earnings performance of the businesses. 

In the nine months, Milton Roy earned $6.6 million, or $1.18 a share, on sales of $94.3 million. 




Document 00100371 ends.


	
Pope's visit to Kazakhstan promises to be a crowd-puller 
	
	
 Text of report by Kazakhstan Today news agency web site 
	
	
 Pilgrims from many countries are to come to Kazakhstan to meet the Pope, a press centre for preparing the [Pope's] visit has reported. In particular, about 1,000 pilgrims are coming from Russia, mostly from Siberia. About 450 people are to turn up from Uzbekistan, including 340 people flying from Tashkent on a charter flight. About 220 people are arriving from Kyrgyzstan. There will also be pilgrims from Poland, Austria, the Philippines, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Latvia, Ukraine, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Lithuania and Belarus. It was reported earlier that Pope John Paul II will pay the official visit to Kazakhstan on 22-25 September 2001. 
	
	
	





Document 00100372 ends.


	
United Nations, New York, Nov 11, IRNA -- President Mohammad Khatami and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez here Saturday cited cooperation among OPEC member countries as the key to forestalling further oil price declines. The Iranian president also hailed Chavez's recent efforts in travelling to OPEC and non-OPEC member countries, in a bid to garner support for propping up the sagging crude prices. Khatami, who had met with Chavez on the sidelines of a UN General Assembly session, also explained the ongoing Afghan crisis in the wake of the US-led strikes as well as the Islamic Republic's stance on the September 11 terror attacks in Washington and New York. He reiterated his call for a global peace coalition, based on justice, to stem the roots of terrorism. "Forming a world-wide coalition based on peace and justice to eradicate the ominous phenomenon of terrorism is a must," Khatami said. Chavez, whose country currently heads the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), said that Venezuela's recent efforts in the form of his whirlwind trips to OPEC and non-OPEC member countries, were in line with the interests of all the oil producing countries. He also described cooperation among OPEC and non-OPEC countries as a boost to their national interests. Chavez voiced "the Latin American concern" on the ongoing crisis in the Middle East, saying Caracas was following the international stance on the fight against terrorism, violence and intrigues. OPEC is due to hold a meeting in Vienna on Wednesday to discuss the widely expected production cut. He also called for further expansion of bilateral cooperation between Tehran and Caracas in various international fields, such as OPEC and the Group of 77 (G77) of the world developing countries. Khatami is currently in New York to attend a special session of the UN General Assembly on 'Dialogue Among Civilizations' to have an international convention on the theme approved. The United Nations designated 2001, as the Year of 'Dialogue among Civilizations' on President Khatami's initiative.	





Document 00100373 ends.


	
Moscow, 16 October: Afghan Northern Alliance units led by Gen Abdorrashid Dostum lack weapons and ammunition to properly fight the Taleban, Dostum said, noting that he "has not received" any Russian supplies to the Northern Alliance so far. Dostum's units are currently fighting near Mazar-e-Sharif, aiming, in particular, to seize control of populated areas in Samangan Province to block weapons supplies to Taleban units in Mazar-e-Sharif, Dostum said in an interview published in the Tuesday edition of Moskovskiye Novosti. The general said he currently commands up to 18,000 men, and about 4,000 Taleban fighters "with military hardware" have already gone over to his side. The US air strikes have destroyed Taleban emplacements near Mazar-e-Sharif, Dostum said. He also denied reports that the Taleban had concentrated large forces near the border with Uzbekistan. "There are no such forces on the border with Uzbekistan. In Hayraton, near the Uzbek town of Termez, there are slightly over 100 Taleban members, according to my estimations," he said. Dostum said he intends to serve in the future Afghan government, representing ethnic Uzbeks. Moreover, Taleban fighters "not stained with blood" could be in this government, too, he said. Dostum also favoured a possible return of Afghanistan's former King Mohammad Zaher Shah. 
	
	
	





Document 00100375 ends.


       

Pacific First Financial Corp. said shareholders approved its acquisition by Royal Trustco Ltd. of Toronto for $27 a share, or $212 million. 

The thrift holding company said it expects to obtain regulatory approval and complete the transaction by year-end. 




Document 00100377 ends.


	
OVER 2,374 Bayelsa State people have received free medical services for various ailments, courtesy of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). 
	
	
 A breakdown of the statistics of patients that benefited from the exercise showed that 106 received general surgeries, 20 had eye cataract operations, 260 got eye glasses, while 1, 988 others had general consultations. 
	
	
 Apart from Odi whose people topped the number of beneficiaries (they got 1, 733 out of 2, 374 persons treated), other councils which participated in the free health care are Kolokuma/Opukoma, 284 persons, Kaiama, 213 persons, among others. 
	
	
 Co-ordinator of the project, Mr Sean Nortman, told reporters that 52 volunteers from various fields in medicine help to make the project a reality. 
	
	
 "With the combined goal of providing free quality health care in this rural areas through the dispensing of prescribed drugs as well as undertaking surgeries that came to the medical site daily, we made it to give the patients we come in contact with health advice and education, hopefully to prevent further problems in the future," Nortman said. 
	
	
 In an interview with journalists later, NDDC Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Mr. Timi Alaibe, said that the choice of Odi was a deliberate policy to give the people of the area who are still recovering from the trauma of the 1999 sad incident a sense of belonging. 
	
	
 Alaibe said that the commission was genuinely determined to change the tide of things in Bayelsa and other NDDC states who have been long neglected over years. 
	
	
 Meanwhile, reports of investigation into the recent oil spillage that occurred in Umudike Ohaji Egbema council in Imo State which left eight persons dead and many others injured is ready. 
	
	
 The member representing the Ohaji Egbema Oguta Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives Tony Okere disclosed this on Wednesday while fielding questions from reporters in his constituency office. 
	
	
 He added that the report would be presented before the house as soon as it resumes sitting. 
	
	
 He said the compositions of the committee included representatives from the Directorate of Petroleum Resource of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), government, Shell and the host community to ensure justice and fairness, law to protect only one party" he said. 
	
	
 On the activities of the NDDC, Okere accused the commission of siting projects in non oil producing areas, warning that it might derail from its set objectives.	





Document 00100379 ends.


	
MOSCOW, October 22 (Itar-Tass) - Russia is actively holding consultations with the oil exporting countries, President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in the Kremlin on Monday. This is why the current meeting with the leader of the country, which is the OPEC chairperson now, is going to be interesting, he added. 
	
	
 "Relations with Venezuela are important for Russia, and twice as important considering the fact that at present Venezuela is the chairperson at OPEC," President Putin said. 
	
	
 He stressed he was especially satisfied with the fact that "the Russian-Venezuelan dialogue has become stable and dynamic." In his opinion, this is a positive factor, especially from the point of view of ensuring stable oil supply on the world market. He said in this connection that Russia supported the keeping of oil prices "within the just range." 
	
	
 In his turn, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela expressed gratitude to Putin "for the generosity of his soul." 
	
	
 "I never thought we would meet so soon," Chavez said. He reiterated his "friendship and Venezuela's enormous interest in maintaining relations with Russia." He thanked the Russian leader for meeting him immediately after his return from the Shanghai summit and the visit to Dushanbe. 
	
	
 Hugo Chavez is visiting Moscow within the framework of a long tour, which includes some European countries, Algeria, Iran, Libya and Saudi Arabia. It is taking place at the time, when ever more OPEC members begin to support the idea that oil production should be reduced again, in order to stop the continuing decline of the prices of hydrocarbons on the world market. 
	
	
 Late last week the price of crude oil went down at stock exchanges to 19.07 dollars per barrel, which is the lowest level since 1999. The purpose of the trip of Hugo Chavez is to find ways of effectively protecting the oil market and the world oil prices, as well as the interests of Venezuela as one of the world's biggest oil exporters. 
	
	
 This is the second visit of Hugo Chavez to Russia this year. The first one took place last May, when he held talks with Russian leaders. 
	
	
	





Document 00100385 ends.


	
Confounding previous forecasts of an economic recovery, the Central Bureau of Statistics today reported that industrial output remained unchanged in February trend data. 
	
	
 Trend figures for all of 2001 showed a 5.5% decline in industrial output. 
	
	
 The figure show the high-tech crisis is continuing. High-tech output fell by an annualized 8% in January-February, following an 8.5% drop in all of 2001. 
	
	
 Output in the electronics, transportation tools, and pharmaceutical industries has fallen an average of 8% this year. Other industrial sectors posted output increases of 0-7% in annual terms. Output in consumer industries, such as food, beverages, textiles, clothing, footwear, and printing, declined by an average of 2.5% in annual terms, following a 4% drop in 2001. 
	
	
 The slowdown in industry led to an annualized 2.5% fall in the number of industrial wage-earners, similar to January's decline and following a 2.8% drop in 2001. The number of wage-earners has fallen by at least 12,000 since the beginning of 2001, including 10,000 in 2001. 
	
	
 The average number of per employee work hours was unchanged in February, following an annualized 2.5% decline in January and a 4.8% drop in the trend data for all of 2001. 
	
	
 Seasonally adjusted figures indicate industrial activity is still declining. Industrial output has fallen by a cumulative 3% since mid-2001 and 10% since the beginning of the security disturbances in late September 2001. 
	
	
 The seasonally adjusted number per employee work hours has fallen by an overall 8% since October 2000. Israel uses the seasonally adjusted data to calculate the State of the Economy Index and estimate business activity.	





Document 00100386 ends.


	
Issues to deal with Iraq, Iran, and North Korea -- which the US President branded as the "axis of evil" in his statement to fight against international terrorism -- and activation of the Japanese economy were the major topics of discussion at the Japan-US summit talks held on 18 February between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and US President George W. Bush. Regarding the "axis of evil," the prime minister explained his resolve to buckle down on the issue, while continuously cooperating with the United States. It seems likely that in addition to its diplomatic efforts, the Japanese Government will be forced to take concrete actions, including improvement of its legal system, in case the United States takes military actions. With regard to the economic recovery on the other hand, the President announced his full support for the prime minister's structural reform and measures to fight deflation. It turned out that the prime minister will shoulder the burden of firmly carrying out the reforms, and realizing early economic recovery as international pledges. 
	
	
 Diplomacy and Security 
	
	
 "I believe the comments on the 'axis of evil' reflect the firm resolve of President Bush and the United States against terrorism. While cooperating with the United States, Japan will take the initiative in tackling the issue for eradication of terrorism." 
	
	
 At a joint news conference held after the summit talks, the prime minister announced his understanding and approval of the President's statement designed to deal with the "axis of evil." He then clarified a posture wherein Japan would cooperate with the United States as much as possible. 
	
	
 President Bush took up the matter of the "axis of evil" and Japan's economic recovery as topics at the beginning of the summit talks. As this indicates, discussion on the "axis of evil" was the main purpose of the President's visit to Japan. The prime minister announced his cooperation with the United States because he fully understands that "the United States needs Japan's cooperation," (said a senior Foreign Ministry official). 
	
	
 Saying that "all options are on the table" to deal with the "axis of evil," the President also stated at the summit talks that he would "seek a peaceful settlement." He explained a view aimed at solving the issue through diplomatic and other means for the time being. Ever since the President announced the "axis of evil" statement in January, Iran, Iraq, North Korea have been trying hard, out of the fear of possible confrontation with the United States, to deny their involvement in terrorism or proliferation of mass destruction weapons. "The US strategy is beginning to work," (said a Foreign Ministry source). 
	
	
 To tighten the noose around the "axis of evil," the Japanese Government will seek understanding and cooperation from European countries that are critical of the President. At the same time, Japan also plans to "work on Iran and North Korea through Japan's own diplomatic channels for settlement of the issue," (according to a government source). 
	
	
 Since President Bush envisions using all options, however, we cannot deny the possibility that the United States may take military actions. The biggest concern in that case would be Japan's military support system. 
	
	
 It seems that the government will enact the law for emergencies in an area surrounding Japan if the United States takes military actions against North Korea. But the reality is that "there are many problems, including role sharing in joint actions with the US military, that we need to settle if we want to apply the law," (said a Defense Agency source). Also, there is a possibility of armed attacks on Japan. But improvement has not yet been made to the emergency legislation system. 
	
	
 In the case of military actions against Iran on the other hand, it also seems that "judging from the lessons we learned from the Gulf War, Japan, which relies on the crude oil from the Middle East, cannot refuse offering cooperation," (said a Defense Agency source). There is a strong view among officials of the government and the ruling parties that application of the law for special measures to deal with terrorism would be difficult because this law is limited to dealing with the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States only. 
	
	
 Moreover, Iraq is expected to fight back if it is attacked. This will lead us to the issue of exercising the right of collective self-defense. Therefore, the Japanese Government will be forced to introduce diverse legislation for the purpose of giving cooperation for US military actions. 
	
	
	





Document 00100387 ends.


	
[Computer selected and disseminated without FBIS editorial intervention] 
	
	
 Taipei, Nov. 29 (CNA) -- Thirty political observers from around the world are slated to participate in an international symposium on democratic consolidation, peace and security to be held in Taipei Sunday. 
	
	
 The experts and scholars will be divided into discussion panels that will address the significance of Taiwan's elections and its democratic consolidation, a comparative analysis of democratic elections and Taiwan's democracy in the Asia Pacific region. A roundtable discussion will also take place. 
	
	
 According to the Government Information Office (GIO), which is co-sponsoring the symposium with National Chengchi University's Institute of International Relations, the symposium is being held to provide the world with a greater understanding of Taiwan's role in regional stability. 
	
	
 The GIO added that Taiwan's accomplishment in democratization is the "best role model" for mainland China's progress toward democracy. 
	
	
 Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech at the symposium to explain the government's policy toward mainland China. 
	
	
 Some of the visiting experts from 10 countries, including the United States, Canada, Britain, Germany, France and Japan, have been arriving since Wednesday to call on key government agencies and local political leaders ahead of Saturday's elections for legislators, county chiefs and city mayors. 
	
	
 In a meeting with 25 of the scholars Thursday, Tsai said in response to a question on whether Taiwan is afraid of over-reliance on the mainland market that the island will be able to achieve balanced economic growth as long as it strikes a balance between maintaining its sovereignty, developing its economy globally and normalizing relations with the mainland.	





Document 00100389 ends.


	
Foreign Minister Celso Lafer transmitted a warning to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell, with whom he spent 30 minutes yesterday, from the Brazilian Government: without help from the US, Argentina could enter a state of social rebellion and open a new front of geopolitical instability in South America. Powell's reaction, according to a Planalto source, was one of "interest and attention". No more than that. The Brazilian Government's perception of Argentina's future is pessimistic. "Their economic agenda alone is overwhelming," the source commented. It requires the creation of a Central Bank capable of administering a floating exchange rate system and a regime of inflation goals; the establishment of a safety network for the debilitated financial system; the restructuring of the tax policy, and the elaboration of a law that ensures fiscal discipline. Without US help, via the IMF, the country will not be able to attain the most basic economic, social and political stability, and could contaminate the subcontinent, Lafer warned. 
	
	
 [passage omitted] 
	
	
 "La plata" or social rebellion 
	
	
 Foreign Minister Celso Lafer carried a dramatic warning from President Fernando Henrique Cardoso to the US Government. In his conversation with Secretary of State Colin Powell, the Brazilian Foreign Minister stated clearly that to leave Argentina to its own fate, as seems to be the George Bush administration's choice, is to pave the way for social rebellion there, which will contaminate other countries on the continent and create another area of political instability on the planet. 
	
	
 The Argentina theme was also covered in Lafer's talks yesterday with Commerce Secretary Don Evans and with US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick. According to a Planalto Palace source, the reaction from Powell as well as from Evans and Zoellick was of "interest and attention". Nothing more. 
	
	
 Translating roughly, what Minister Lafer tried to tell the Americans is that the financial cost of an international rescue of Argentina, now, led by the IMF and other multilateral credit agencies, will be lower than the cost of fighting, later on, chaos in its social, political, and - why not? - military forms on the continent. 
	
	
 South America is already living with complex problems in Venezuela and, above all, in Colombia, where President Andres Pastrana is unable to combat the guerrilla activities of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia [FARC] and failed in the recent attempt to negotiate an agreement with its militants. For Brazilian diplomacy, Pastrana lost time and credibility on a failed bet: the negotiations with FARC, letting them control territory the size of Switzerland in the heart of the continent. 
	
	
 To add a country like Argentina to this list of problems is to allow the growth of a dangerous focus of social dissatisfaction, which is tending to express itself outside of any institutional control. Argentine society is divorcing itself from political parties and national institutions, and it is in such an environment that radical responses germinate, such as authoritarian regimes and the formation of guerrilla groups. 
	
	
 The ill effects of the Argentine crisis can contaminate the nearest countries first, like Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia. And there is no guarantee that a political destabilization of the region would bypass even Chile, where memories of the military dictatorship are still very strong. One cannot ignore the fact that, only 20 years ago, all these countries - including Brazil and Peru - were ruled by generals. 
	
	
 There is an entire. political and diplomatic argument in the conversations with representatives of the Bush government that transcends the economic-financial discussions, to which the subject was restricted, and which encompasses the very survival of democracy in South America. It is a new approach, which tries to sensitize US authorities through the use of geopolitical arguments. Not to take into account the impact of destabilization in South America in a world already complicated by the Middle East, India versus Pakistan, Afghanistan, and badly-resolved problems in Eastern Europe, "is not to have a strategic vision," according to the assessment that is being made in Planalto Palace and which was clearly emphasized during Lafer's meetings with Powell, Zoellick and Evans. 
	
	
 The Brazilian Government's perception of Argentina's future is pessimistic. There is a stress factor in the content and volume of the needs of that country, which on its own will not be able to take the steps absolutely necessary for its reconstruction. This is the understanding of sources very close to President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, and it is also guiding the analyses of the economic department. 
	
	
 What is underway in the neighboring country, according to information gathered by the Brazilian Government, is the establishment of a Central Bank - which 10 years ago abdicated from the traditional functions of currency and credit manager - that is capable of working with a floating exchange rate system and a regime of inflation goals, like Brazil's Central Bank; a safety network for the financial system whose health is already extremely undermined; the restructuring of the tax policy so that the tax collection machine can create conditions for the government to draw up a budget without so many uncertainties; and a fiscal responsibility law that imposes some discipline on the relationship between central government and the provinces. 
	
	
 "This is the minimum that has to be done. Their economic agenda alone is overwhelming," comments one high-ranking member of the Brazilian Government. Alone, and under the command of a president who managed to create a strong political coalition explained only by his own survival instinct, Argentines will be unable to attain the most basic economic, social and political stability. How does this affect Brazil? To answer a question of this nature, the Brazilian Foreign Minister would surely resort to Ortega y Gasset: "I am I and my circumstances. If I do not save them, I do not save myself." 
	
	
 [passage omitted] 
	
	
	





Document 00100390 ends.


	
US President George W. Bush presented 14 February his alternative plan to the Kyoto Protocol, which is designed to slow down global warming. This proposal places no obligation whatsoever on industrialists and is based on voluntary measures and tax incentives. The White House hastened to describe the Bush plan as "the most audacious program in American history aiming at reducing power station gas emissions." But environmentalists immediately attacked this US proposal. 
	
	
 "A Valentine's Day gift for the polluters." Carl Pope, the director of the Sierra Club, one of the major US environmental protection associations, does not mince his words when describing the US plan to replace the Kyoto Protocol. 
	
	
 Presented Thursday 14 February by President George W. Bush, this alternative plan for slowing down global warming moves away from the binding measures of implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, recently approved by more than 170 countries in Marrakech, but rejected in March 2001 by President Bush, who deemed it harmful to the US economy and reproached it for imposing constraints on industrialized countries only. 
	
	
 So this new version has new bases. Contrary to the preceding one, the plan proposed by Washington Thursday thus no longer has any binding procedure and is based on voluntary measures and tax incentives. It advocates a voluntarist approach to the fight against global warming by directly linking the objectives of greenhouse gas reduction to US economic growth. 
	
	
 According to the White House, this should make it possible to reduce "the intensity of greenhouse gas emission generated by the US economy" by 18% over the next 10 years, an objective described by the Bush Administration as "comparable" to that imposed by the Kyoto Protocol. 
	
	
 For the moment Mr. Bush simply proposes to curb the increase in harmful gas emissions and is counting on the good will of US industrialists, who account for 36% of the greenhouse gas produced by industrialized countries (as opposed to 31.6% for Europe). The objectives, as set out in the plan, are to "slow down and then stop the growth in the emissions of harmful gases and, if scientific studies justify it, diminish them." 
	
	
 The aim is to lower polluting emissions from 183 tonnes per million dollars of GDP to 151 tonnes in 2012. To encourage industry and consumers to demonstrate environmental public spiritedness Mr. Bush proposes tax incentives of $4.6 billion for the adoption of renewable sources of energy. 
	
	
 Mr. Bush calls for India and China To Act 
	
	
 The US President asserted, moreover, his determination to win developing countries over to his plan, stating that the US approach would give them a "yardstick for progress on climate changes which recognizes their right to economic development." He asserted, in an allusion to the binding objectives of the Kyoto Protocol, that it would be "unjust and counterproductive to condemn developing countries to weak or even nonexistant economic growth by insisting that they adopt unrealistic greenhouse gas reduction targets." 
	
	
 Mr. Bush did, nevertheless, affirm that "the United States will not interfere with the countries opting for the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol." "But I have the intention of working with nations, particularly developing nations, to convince them that a better approach exists," he said. 
	
	
 President George W. Bush considered, moreover, that it would be "irresponsible" not to ask India and China to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. "Developing nations such as China and India already account for a majority of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. And it would be irresponsible to absolve them from shouldering some of the shared obligations" in the fight against global warming. 
	
	
 The Discontent of the Environmentalists 
	
	
 As far as the US Administration is concerned, this approach will make it posible to "stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere in the long run, while sustaining the economic growth needed to finance our investments in a new, cleaner energy structure." 
	
	
 The White House hastened to describe the Bush plan as "the most audacious program in American history aiming at reducing power station gas emissions," considering that it would be possible to save the administration up to $1 billion, compared to the costs that binding rules would lead to. But environmentalists immediately attacked this US proposal. 
	
	
 Philip Clapp, president of the National Environment Trust, sums up well the general thrust of the reaction of environmental movements: "There is no reason at all to believe that the polluters are suddenly going to become reasonable." Carl Pope, the director of the Sierra Club, considers for his part that the Bush Administration "is sticking to the polluting policies that the energy industry asked for rather than taking the sensible steps that can protect our health." According to Steve Sawyer, one of Greenpeace International's climate experts, the plan "will have very little effect on emissions, assuming it has any." "Instead of making itself the champion of the global fight against the greenhouse effect, the United States is moving in exactly the opposite direction from that followed by the rest of the international community with the Kyoto Protocol," according to Greenpeace. 
	
	
	





Document 00100393 ends.


	
Sudan: US official due in Khartoum to prepare for American peace envoy's visit 
	
	
 Text of report in English by Sudanese news agency Suna 
	
	
 Khartoum, 23 October: The US deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs [Charles Schneider] is due to arrive in Khartoum on Thursday [25 October] at the head of a delegation on a three-day visit to Sudan. Director of America Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Mirghani Muhammad Salih said in a statement to Suna [Sudanese news agency] that the delegation's visit comes in preparation for the coming visit of the American envoy for peace in Sudan. Ambassador Salih added that the American delegation will meet a number of Sudanese officials and personalities. Meanwhile, the Sudanese charge d'affaires to Washington, Ambassador Al-Khidr Harun, told Suna that the American delegation will meet with Sudanese political forces to identify viewpoints on the peace issue. He explained that the delegation's visit to Sudan aims to prepare for the coming visit of the American envoy to Sudan, expected on 10 November.	





Document 00100394 ends.



    Commander of base sees a world of change

 



  GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba -- What a difference a terrorist 
detention center makes.

  It's gotten so busy around this once-sleepy Caribbean outpost 
that the man in charge may soon restore the stoplight that, 
until Navy downsizing in the 1990s, hung near the only McDonalds 
in all of Cuba.

  Between the armored vehicles ferrying Taliban and al Qaeda 
prisoners to Camp X-Ray and the international observers whizzing 
past, it may be time to dust off the only traffic signal that 
ever operated on the 45-square-mile base, says Navy Capt. Robert 
A. Buehn.

  ``It is in our museum, we still have it,'' he said. ``It was 
right at Sherman Avenue, just a little bit this side of the 
McDonalds.''

  Until a Marine general arrived two weeks ago to run the prison 
project, Buehn was the highest ranking officer here -- a cross 
between mayor, overseeing the schools, social clubs and 5K run 
on Martin Luther King Day, and Navy commander, in charge of this 
strategic air and sea refueling station.

  Now he's still head honcho of the base itself. But he's not 
directly responsible for the nascent offshore U.S. terror 
compound, which, depending on whether the Pentagon decides to 
stage military tribunals here, may one day make its nickname -- 
Gitmo -- as notorious as Devil's Island.

  ``When I came down here, Gitmo had been downsized quite a bit 
and we were just maintaining our mission of being a refueling 
port and an airfield. We were the equivalent of a sleepy little 
fishing village,'' he said in an interview.

  ``Now in two weeks we've had 1,200 people drop in on us. It's 
become like a boom town. And I can't speak for everybody on the 
base but I think most people are glad to be part of it, excited 
by it.''

  Born in Brevard County, Buehn is a Navy pilot whose rank of 
captain equals an Army colonel. He arrived here in 2000, and is 
now presiding over a transformation of this suburban-style base 
that, until its latest assignment, was a backwater of 2,400 
people -- 700 of them Navy and Marine members, the rest Jamaican 
and Filipino contract workers plus family members.

  Some might suspect it's a bit more dangerous now. But Buehn said 
the new mission has given residents -- both civilians and 
service members -- a sense of unity and purpose after the 
uncertainty of Sept. 11 left them sitting on the sidelines of 
the U.S. war on international terror. So much so, he said, that 
not a single family member or contractor has so far requested to 
leave here, the oldest U.S. base overseas, and the only one left 
in a communist country.

  And, he said, neither he nor Marine Brig. Gen. Michael Lehnert, 
commander of the prison project, are considering the evacuation 
of sailors' wives and children, some of whom live not far from 
Camp X-Ray. With a heavy layer of Marine and Army security, 
their safety is not a concern, he said.

  Nor is there any worry over the infrastructure, which was 
stretched to the limit in 1994 and 1995 when the base became an 
encampment 55,000-plus Haitian and Cuban boat people -- and the 
commander sent civilians stateside to make room for the 8,000 
U.S. personnel who came to tend to the migrant project.

  Gitmo's history is a storied one. It was established in 1903, 
served as a World War II outpost against German U-Boats and has 
been an incessant irritant to Fidel Castro -- who tried to tear 
up a $2,000-a-year, 1934 lease agreement between Washington and 
Havana, to oust the American imperialists from the island.

  In fact, tensions got so hot in 1962 that the base slipped Navy 
wives and kids onto a cargo ship and evacuated them during the 
Cuban Missile Crisis. Fourteen months later, Castro cut off 
utilities to the base, compelling the U.S. Navy to install 
electricity and desalination plants.

  But Buehn said the Cubans have not raised any formal objections 
to the base's latest mission. Moreover, he labeled as ``a 
serious offer,'' a so-far spurned proposal by Havana to send 
medical teams here to support the prison camp project.

  ``I think it was a serious offer,'' he said of the overture, 
which some in Miami scorned as a publicity stunt. ``If we took 
them up on it, they would help. My understanding is that they 
have some capability in medical care in Cuba.''

  Geographically the base is split by the bay, and united by a 
ferry service. Most residents on the windward side -- among 
them, now, some 158 alleged terrorists flown in from 
Afghanistan. Leeward is left to the single functioning air 
strip, some Marines and overnight flight crews.

  Were Washington to decide to maintain Guantanamo as an offshore 
terrorist detention center, Buehn said, he would propose 
building a maximum security facility on leeward side.

  Meanwhile, Buehn is wondering what the latest mission will do to 
Gitmo's image.

  ``As base commander, I've given a lot of thought about what the 
name Guantanamo Bay may conjure up in someone's mind. And, of 
course, I want it to be good things,'' he said, not ``like 
Alcatraz or Devil's Island.''

  Yet, ``all in all we're glad to have an important mission and a 
place to work to fit in the war on terrorism. I think time will 
tell how the name will be associated.''



Copyright 2002 Miami Herald




Document 00100395 ends.


       

Xerox Corp. has told employees in its Crum & Forster personal insurance operations that it is laying off about 300 people, or 25% of the staff. 

A spokeswoman for Crum & Forster said employees were told early this week that numerous staff functions for the personal insurance lines were going to be centralized as a cost-cutting move. 

She said the move would result in a after-tax charge of less than $4 million to be spread over the next three quarters.
By comparison, for the first nine months, Xerox earned $492 million, or $4.55 a share, on revenue of $12.97 billion. 

Earnings at Xerox's financial-services operations actually rose slightly, but that was largely because capital gains at Crum & Forster offset Hurricane Hugo payments and the reserves set up to cover future payments. 

Property/casualty insurance has been a tough business in recent quarters, as pricing has been cutthroat and natural disasters such as Hurricane Hugo and the California earthquake have resulted in huge payments. 




Document 00100397 ends.


	
Since the 11 September events in America, that country's administration has severely restricted the civil rights of the American people, particularly the foreigners residing in that country. It has done so through passing the anti-terrorism law, issuing presidential directives, and sending secret memoranda to the judiciary under the pretext of fighting terrorism. One such measure was a directive issued on 23 November concerning the creation of military courts for trying immigrants and foreigners suspected of involvement in terrorist activities. This has drawn a chorus of condemnation from the democrats in Congress, foreign governments and civil right activists in that country. According to the directive, which is considered by many American lawyers to be in contravention of the country's constitution, judicial investigations into the cases of the defendants in military courts will be conducted without any possibility of bail. Nor will they be allowed to appeal to American or international courts. Currently around 1,100 suspects, who are chiefly from Islamic Middle Eastern states, are being held in detention. They have been divested of many of their basis rights, and their voices cannot be heard by anyone. The decision by Bush to create a military court for the trial of terrorist suspects has prompted European states, particularly Spain, to refuse to hand over to America more than 10 individuals suspected of belonging to terrorist groups. They fear that these suspects may not receive a fair trial in America. America, which always accuses other countries of violating human rights, is today placing terrorist suspects, who may even be innocent, in solitary confinement without access to any means of mass communication, thus depriving them of the basic human rights, in contravention of its own constitution. And, under the pretext of fighting terrorism, it violates human rights - rights which are global. In the 23 November directive, Bush has in effect drawn a clear line between the rights of American citizens and foreign immigrants. This is a blatant case of discrimination in rights - something which is not practised anywhere else in the world. It is worth mentioning that in the past America had severely criticized and put pressure on other governments in the world for trying terrorist suspects in military courts. The American State Department had in 1999 condemned the government of Peru for the creation of a secret military court, and called on that country to accept international regulations, such as the need for open and fair trials and observance of defendants' basic rights. The recent action of the American president clearly demonstrates the need for the American administration to observe human rights. Moreover, it places this country, which claims to be a forerunner in the sphere of human rights in the world, in the same rank as countries which restrict civil rights under the pretext of security considerations. It appears that if the directive issued by Bush becomes law, then that country's re-entry into the UN Human Rights Commission, from which it was expelled this year, will become much more difficult. [End]	





Document 00100398 ends.



 
     		
 	
 		
 
 	
 	
 		
 
 	
 	
 		uh how do you feel about gun control
 	
 	
 		uh on the scale they gave one to ten i'd say i'm probably a four
 		i'm not totally i'm not
 		one of these people that believes that we should not be able to buy guns but i don't think we should be carrying Uzis either  you know what i mean  yeah i know i mean i don't think machine guns automatic weapons i don't believe in things like that but i think
 	
 	
 		some people do i know
 	
 	
 		that everyone should have the right to have a hand gun in their house if they so choose and but i think there should be some  restrictions when you buy one you know they should do more background search on you they should i think it should be harder to buy one
 	
 	
 		right
 		yeah there's a lot of crazies out there that can just go in and buy a gun because they don't really ask a lot of questions when you walk into those stores
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		no they don't they don't ask anything except how old you are i don't think that's kind of scary
 	
 	
 		i'm from California  my mom the last time i was like purchased a gun my  my mom was getting a rifle for my brother that he wanted like an antique one  and
 	
 	
 		uh-huh
 	
 	
 		they he had to fill out some forms but i guess California might be tougher i don't know
 	
 	
 		yeah they might be or you know how we are here in Texas it's like everybody's a hunter so  i'm not much of a hunter but
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		it's
 	
 	
 		i've never even bought a gun myself my dad's given it to me or someone's given me one so i'm probably real illegal you know carrying guns that aren't even mine
 	
 	
 		
 
 		yeah it's a it's a hard decision to make
 	
 	
 		it really is uh the only problem i have with gun control is that they the radicals wanna ban all kinds of weapons and then the only people carrying guns are gonna be be the people who are gonna kill you anyway
 	
 	
 		like the bumper sticker  it's true yeah
 	
 	
 		yeah exactly right it really is because they're gonna get them one way or another they will always have a way look at drugs they always have a way to get that so
 	
 	
 		right
 		right right
 	
 	
 		and they're illegal so i don't think it would do us any good to outlaw them all together
 	
 	
 		
 
 		no i yeah i i i i i agree that it would be like people in
 		people that are uh criminals are the ones that are gonna get them and then you have no defense against these people when they do  come into your house or something
 	
 	
 		right
 		that's true
 		i think they ought to teach people how to shoot them too how to take care of one how to act around one when they buy them
 	
 	
 		yeah i have have gun gun have have gun management 101
 	
 	
 		right yeah exactly you cannot take the gun home until you've taken this course sign up here  something like that
 	
 	
 		yeah or required required required for every college student  oh
 	
 	
 		right exactly  before graduation
 	
 	
 		God gun control  it's it's such a heated topic in the the and people get so emotional about it
 	
 	
 		yep
 		oh yeah they do they get real emotional about it all the i've worked with a lot of people that hunt and they just they they don't see any sense in it at all
 		they think it's ridiculous to have any kind of gun control but then of course they're hunters they know what they're doing they don't realize there're a bunch of crazy people out there that
 	
 	
 		some of them are crazy too  whew yeah yeah they go out there and get drunk and start shooting
 	
 	
 		don't use it for that  well yeah that's true  they shoot each other thinking they're a deer  yeah darn i thought you were a deer Bob sorry my mistake
 	
 	
 		yeah Marge i don't know what happened to your husband he just never came back
 	
 	
 		looked like antlers i don't know
 		
 
 		yep that happens a lot too
 	
 	
 		yeah  oh
 	
 	
 		but i guess that's it
 		that's my opinion on it  so what now
 	
 	
 		
 
 		i'm not sure
 	
 	
 		uh
 		uh i think we just hang up yeah okay  thanks bye
 	
 	
 		i let's see
 		yeah yeah we just say good-bye and hang up okay okay okay thanks bye-bye
 		
 		
 	


Document 00100399 ends.


	
ANKARA, Feb 19 (A.A) - President Askar Akayev of Kyrgyzstan arrived in Ankara late on Tuesday. 
	
	
 State Minister Resat Dogru and his wife Mualla Dogru and Kyrgyz Ambassador to Turkey Medethan Sheremkulov welcomed Kyrgyz President Akayev and her wife Mayran Akayeva at Ankara`s Esenboga Airport. 
	
	
 A number of Kyrgyz businessmen are accompanying President Akayev of Kyrgyzstan in his visit to Turkey. 
	
	
 Akayev who will be welcomed by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer with an official ceremony on Wednesday will sign a series of agreements following the meetings between Turkish and Kyrgyz delegations. 
	
	
	





Document 001003101 ends.


	
Commentary by Nawab Khan in Brussels in the "Perspective" column: "Hypocrisy Exposed" 
	
	
 The so-called US-led campaign against terrorism is inspiring opportunistic attacks on civil liberties around the world, 'Human Rights Watch' warned in its annual global survey released recently. After the Sept. 11 attacks, the US gained worldwide sympathy and support which, however, evaporated quickly due to America's gross violations of international norms of behaviour. America is arresting foreign nationals in a foreign country (Afghanistan) locking them up in cages in another foreign country (Cuba) and all this without any international legitimacy. It is also continuing its bombings in Afghanistan although there is an interim government in place there now. The US is indeed setting a terrific example of how to violate international laws and human rights. The Human Rights Watch report said "Imagine the US condemning military tribunals set up by a tin-pot tyrant to get rid of his political enemies. That kind of criticism can have real sting. But, now it will ring with hypocrisy." In the US and western Europe, measures designed to combat terrorism are threatening long-held human rights principles. "Terrorists believe that anything goes in the name of their cause", said Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch. "The fight against terror must not buy into that logic. Human rights principles must not be compromised in the name of any cause." The anti-terrorism drive will not succeed if it is conducted merely as a struggle against a particularly ruthless set of criminals, Roth said. To defeat, the fundamental amorality of terrorism requires a firm grounding in international human rights. The willingness of most western governments to tolerate abuses by friendly governments in the Middle East and North Africa has tended to undermine the growth of a human rights culture there. The problem includes the West's failure to rein in Israeli abuses against Palestinians, its apparent disregard for grave civilian suffering caused by sanctions against Iraq; and its complete unwillingness to raise human rights issues with friendly governments in the Arab world.	





Document 001003106 ends.


	
Uganda: Voice of Africa radio to have nationwide coverage by end of 2002 
	
	
 Text of report by Ugandan newspaper The New Vision web site on 15|January 
	
	
 Voice of Africa Radio (VOA) is to expand its network to cover all parts of the country this year, the station's production manager, Hajji Isa Sebi, has said. "Our station is not yet a year old but we will reach the whole country this year. We have all the equipment required," he said. Sebi was on Saturday [5 January] closing a Bwavu Mpologoma Project business skills training course at Kyaggwe Road Primary School. The course was organized by Uganda Change Agent Association and VOA. Sebi also gave out certificates. 
	
	
	





Document 001003107 ends.



   Aussies see US double standard

 



  SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - Within days of the Sept. 11 attacks on New 
York and Washington, Australia was one of the first countries to 
offer support for the US war against terrorism - pledging 1,500 
troops to the Afghan offensive. And public opinion was solidly 
behind the war effort.

  But the detention by US forces of Australian Taliban fighter 
David Hicks has provoked tensions that could fray the bilateral 
goodwill. It highlights what some see as a US double standard in 
international law.

  Simply put, American John Walker Lindh now faces a civilian 
trial in the US. But some 400 foreign detainees - who are being 
held without charges in Cuba and Afghanistan - and could face US 
military tribunals.

  Mr. Hicks is one of a handful of Westerners - including three 
British fighters - who fought with the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

  Not only has Australia's opposition Labor Party called for 
Hicks, currently held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to be returned 
home, but a Supreme Court justice has described Hicks as "a 
casualty" of his own government's attempt to maintain favor in 
Washington.

  "Clearly, if it were not for our relations with the US, we would 
be protesting his continued imprisonment without proper trial," 
says Justice John Dowd, a former conservative attorney general 
who is also president of the Australian chapter of the 
International Commission of Jurists. "The Australian government 
is, frankly, pathetic in that, for the argument of convenience, 
we are letting this man be held in conditions that clearly 
violate established conventions on the treatment of prisoners."

  The US government classifies the men as "illegal combatants," 
not prisoners of war, and therefore they don't have the rights 
laid out in the Geneva Convention.

  Opposition justice spokesman Darryl Melham says the Australian 
government's refusal to demand consular access to its citizen 
compares poorly with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw's 
immediate insistence that three British nationals captured with 
Al Qaeda should face neither a military tribunal nor the death 
penalty. "Jack Straw was very strong about this in a way our 
government has not been," says Mr. Melham. "The Americans seem 
to have retreated from an earlier position of the death penalty 
for foreigners, but we are still worried about the extent to 
which this guy's legal rights are being subjugated to the 
Australian government's shuttle diplomacy with the US."

  British officials have visited the British captives at 
Guantanamo Bay and said they have "no complaints about their 
treatment," which contrasts greatly with the feelings expressed 
in some of the British press.

  If Hicks and other foreign captives receive markedly different 
treatment to Walker, even though all men served the same 
Taliban, Melham predicts damage to the international coalition 
against terrorism. "You will have people saying why are 
different standards being applied, on the basis of nationality, 
for what appears to be the same offenses."

  Hicks, a 26-year-old Muslim convert from Adelaide in South 
Australia, was captured Dec. 9 by Northern Alliance troops in 
Afghanistan, where he had been fighting with Taliban forces, and 
later handed over to the Americans. Hicks had also fought 
alongside ethnic Albanian Muslims in the Kosovo Liberation Army 
against Serbia in 1999.

  Now he awaits an uncertain fate and is getting little sympathy 
from the Australian government.

  "You have to be realistic about the nature of the potential 
threat that the prisoners who have been transferred to Cuba 
represent," says Attorney General, Darryl Williams. "They have 
been trained to be terrorists and to act in accordance with the 
objective of Al Qaeda. That makes them about as dangerous as a 
person can be in modern times."

  Mr. Williams says "neither the US nor Australia is in a position 
to begin a prosecution against Hicks," acknowledging that he may 
not have committed any offenses under Australian law.

  So far, a slight majority of Australians seem indifferent to 
David Hicks's fate. No opinion polls have been taken, but talk 
radio, a popular medium that politicians use as a barometer of 
national opinion, is running slightly against him, according to 
the media monitoring agency Rehame Australia.

  But according to media analyst Kate Flanders, dissent is 
emerging. "You're now getting a lot of callers saying he is an 
Australian citizen, and Australia is not the 51st state of 
America," she says.

  Perhaps the best indicator of the changing tone is the popular 
press, which a month ago labeled Hicks a traitor. This week, 
Sydney's Sun-Herald said he was not a traitor but "a naive, 
patently stupid young man who chose the wrong heroes."


Copyright @ 2002 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights 
reserved.




Document 001003111 ends.


	
You can never be too sure about what you are communicating. Such could be the lesson drawn by the Pentagon and the White House from the hue and cry that has been provoked in the world by the release of the now famous photographs of blinded, gagged, chained, and kneeling prisoners in their enclosure at the Guantanamo camp. At the end of a brilliantly waged and very carefully framed war, punctuated by briefings that had brought Donald Rumsfeld, the Defense Secretary, a veritable media triumph, there was this one image too many. 
	
	
 In the commentaries of newspapers that were the most well disposed toward the United States ( The Daily Telegraph and The Times of London), in the very remarks by certain officials from the "coalition," the reactions, quite particularly in Great Britain, the US's top ally in Afghanistan, have ranged from incomprehension to indignation, from slight confusion to high distress. "Bush is quite close to pulling off the impossible: losing the sympathy of the civilized world for the United States," an astonished The Daily Mirror wrote. One must not confuse "justice and vengeance," lest one lose one's "moral advantage," European commissioner Chris Patten explained. Even certain US newspapers, led by The New York Times , have hinted at some doubts about the Pentagon's attitude. 
	
	
 "Illegal Combatants" 
	
	
 All this for a single photograph, something that, after all, was quite neat and tidy, in which men are seen dressed in gleaming suits and modern, civilized instruments of coercion (blinding eyeglasses, masks incapacitating the mouth and nose, ear-splitting ear phones)? It was a photograph taken by a US soldier and officially disseminated by the United States Navy on a Defense Department Internet site. So an edifying photograph, or viewed as such, but one which, the explanation is, in fact is deceiving: the prisoners were reportedly photographed shortly after their arrival, that is, if one understands this correctly, they were shackled and blinded as they had been during the 27-hour trip from Afghanistan to Cuba. But, however, they were under medical supervision, their heads shaved, and enjoying hygienic and food conditions that were very superior to what they could have known in Afghanistan. 
	
	
 One can imagine how Rumsfield, who is ordinarily so sure of himself and of his jokes, might have gone off his rocker once and, for an hour, could have ranted and raved against the "hyperbole," the exaggeration that, according to him, marked the reactions generated by this photograph, and reminded the world about the degree to which the US attitude was "humane, legal, and proper." 
	
	
 This "legal" aspect of the debate is now quite well known: the prisoners taken on the ground are considered to be "illegal combatants" by the Americans and not prisoners of war. Only US officials know (or think they know) who these men are whose identities have not been made public: according to certain US media, the most "important" of the Guantanamo prisoners is reportedly the Taliban army's chief of general staff. That, in theory, would seem to make him a prisoner of war par excellence if Washington were now not confusing the Taliban regime (which the US has destroyed, but without declaring war on it) with Al-Qa'ida's terrorist network. The solidity of this argument, though, has increasingly been demolished, by, among others, the Red Cross, which thinks that, until proof (legally established) of the contrary, the prisoners should be considered prisoners of war. 
	
	
 Washington officials refuse this school of thought (which would lead them to refrain from interrogating the prisoners, indeed to release them after the end of the hostilities) but seem to be aware of the fact that here they are not on very solid legal ground. So Rumsfield stated that the prisoners' treatment was "reasonably consistent" with the Geneva Conventions, which was a way of saying, in this particular case, that the US was the only judge of what was "reasonable." That, however, is the problem. Just as is the fact that "the" US Al-Qa'ida fighter, John Walker Lindh, will not be shut up in one of the four square meter cages at Guantanamo but sent to a US prison and tried by a normal court. 
	
	
 The End and the Means 
	
	
 Since 11 September, the US has behaved as if it had a sort of natural right to create law. Because they had been the victims of terrorist attacks and, more deeply, because Americans are "good," even if, as President Bush had explained, the world did not always realize "how good they were." Until now, this right-this right right, if one prefers-has more or less been accepted by Washington's partners. The distress generated by one photograph published inadvertently or through excess self-confidence might only mean that this consensus is in the process of eroding. And that the Europeans, in particular, are no longer quite ready to follow the Americans in their way of thinking. 
	
	
 But perhaps there is something else, deeper, more diffuse. Throughout this Afghan campaign, there have been some other slightly troubling images. Some real, concrete, like those of these fighters in rags, haggard, who were the survivors of weeks of bombing. Those of members of the US special forces, equipped with all their panopoly of soldiers of the future and, this arresting contrast, those of their "auxiliaries" from the Northern Alliance, barefoot, wearing sandals and in the snow, at the entrance to caves they were responsible for cleaning up. Other more virtual ones (because in this case the communication was better monitored) of Marines protected with surgical masks and gloves transporting prisoners chained to stretchers to planes, as journalists from the print media were able to see them using binoculars. There have also been, based more on intuition than on images, doubts about the match-up between the end and the means, and the admiration, mixed with fear, that an implacable force generates, that of US missiles and airplanes in action. 
	
	
 There is now, in a sort of provisional epilogue, this quasi-Orwellian image of totally dominated men deprived of the use of their senses. Big Brother, even democratically elected and at war against evil, is perforce a bit scary. 
	
	
	





Document 001003112 ends.


	
Govt dismisses US rights report 
	
	
 MAX HAMATA 
	
	
 GOVERNMENT yesterday trashed a US human rights report which lists a number of human rights violations in Namibia at the hands of security forces and Government. 
	
	
 Information Permanent Secretary Mocks Shivute responded that the US government was the worst human rights violator in the world. 
	
	
 Shivute cited the American detention of 300 people at a US naval base at Guantanamo Bay without bringing them to trial. 
	
	
 The US government report on Namibia's human rights practices for 2001, released this week, says members of the security forces committed several extra-judicial killings during security operations in the Kavango and Caprivi Regions during 2001. 
	
	
 "There were deaths in custody. The Government did not account for the whereabouts of some persons detained by the security forces. During arrests and detentions, security force members reportedly tortured and beat citizens who were suspected of complicity with Unita," the report says. 
	
	
 It also cites cases of arbitrary deprivation of life, disappearance of people, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, arbitrary arrest, and denial of a fair public hearing. 
	
	
 According to the rights report, most of the abuses were perpetrated by Special Field Force (SFF) members. 
	
	
 The report says even though the Namibian Constitution provided that people arrested must be informed of the reason for their arrest and be brought before a magistrate within 48 hours of their detention, this has not been the case. 
	
	
 The report charged that many people were arrested on the basis of suspicious links with Angolan rebel movement, Unita, and the Caprivi Liberation Army (CLA). Many had disappeared without trace. 
	
	
 Retorted Shivute: "The same and worse happened in the United States after the September 11 attacks and with the war in Afghanistan where special camps were built to detain prisoners of war and 'enemies' of the state. Would these actions be listed as human rights abuses or is it acceptable because they were committed by the US?" 
	
	
 Shivute said Namibia attached "little value" to the latest US rights report as it carried a lot of factual inaccuracies and was a "mere reproduction of unverified and unsubstantiated reports". 
	
	
 He said the report, for instance, claimed that the Swapo publication Namibia Today, the ruling party paper, was a Government-owned magazine. 
	
	
 Shivute also said the report carried a "total confusion" of historical data by claiming that the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) was no longer affiliated to the Swapo Party.	







Document 001003116 ends.


	
The European Parliament, which convened yesterday in Strasbourg, decided to advise the 15 member states of the European Union to impose economic sanctions on Israel and, specifically, to suspend association agreements with Jerusalem. In addition, the Parliament called for imposing a weapons embargo on Israel and the Palestinian Authority. 
	
	
 For some time, European politicians have threatened to suspend economic ties with Israel -- a move, which in light of close and extensive trade relations between EU member states and Israel, could cause serious damage. 
	
	
 Earlier this week, Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel, who does not miss an opportunity to provoke Israel, threatened that the EU would once again reconsider its relations with Jerusalem. European Commission President Romano Prodi expressed similar sentiments: in his opinion, the EU should consider imposing an economic "punishment" on Israel in protest against the operations of the Israel Defense Forces in the territories. The same goes for Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique, who was offended after Israel refused to allow him and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana to meet with PA Chairman Yasser Arafat in Ramallah. 
	
	
 Despite the Parliament's recommendation, the chances that the association agreements will be suspended are very slim. It takes more than a recommendation from the European Parliament for this to happen; the decision has to be taken by both the European Commission and the EU's Council of Foreign Ministers, on which all 15 foreign ministers sit, and has to be unanimous. 
	
	
 Countries like France and Belgium are easily capable of voting for sanctions against Israel, but other states -- including Germany and Britain -- have exhibited a more balanced position regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 
	
	
 However, the fact that certain countries have a more balanced view of the conflict is not the only reason to doubt that anti-Israeli decisions will, in fact, be adopted. The Europeans know that repeated denunciations of Israel, not to mention its punishment, will not lead to a solution of the conflict. Israel will not change its positions on vital security issues, even if the European states eliminate customs breaks afforded to Israeli exports. If the Europeans wish to influence Israel in the political arena -- in a direction that many in Israel would support wholeheartedly -- they will not be able to promote their positions in such a manner. 
	
	
 A unilateral move is likely to prejudice Europe's status in helping to find a solution to the conflict. EU External Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten expressed this clearly Tuesday when he said that canceling the association agreements between Israel and the EU would do nothing to enhance Jerusalem's readiness to listen to European representatives. 
	
	
 What holds true with regard to threats by EU leaders also holds true for threats expressed by certain European states and the means of punishment they might already be implementing. There have been reports that vital components German factories are supposed to supply to the defense establishment are arriving slowly, as is the case regarding the arrival of vital supplies from other European countries. 
	
	
 One cannot assume that Israel will act under the pressure of deeds and oversights that are often tainted with a significant degree of hypocrisy.	





Document 001003118 ends.


       

Compaq Computer Corp. said that its net income rose 51% in the third quarter, bolstered by unusual gains from its investment in a disk-drive maker and reflecting continued growth in its European operations. 

The computer maker said net jumped to $87 million, or $2.02 a share, from $58 million, or $1.40 a share, a year earlier.
Sales increased 36% to $683 million from $502 million.
The latest quarter's results, however, included a pretax gain of $13.7 million, or 20 cents a share, in the carrying value of the company's investment in Conner Peripherals Inc. and a $7.6 million gain, or 11 cents a share, from the sale of one million Conner shares. 

Net for the nine months was $254 million, or $5.94 a share, up 56% from $163 million, or $4.06 a share, a year earlier.
Sales rose 50% to $2.1 billion from $1.4 billion.
Net for the year-earlier nine months also included a gain of $9.7 million, or 15 cents a share, in the carrying value of the Conner investment. 

Michael Swavely, president of Compaq's North America division, attributed the company's third-quarter performance to continued increases in international sales, which accounted for 43% of the company's sales, a 74% increase from a year earlier. 

"Over the next couple of years we would not be surprised to see Europe and international {sales} represent 50% of the company's revenues," he said. 

During the third quarter, Compaq purchased a former Wang Laboratories manufacturing facility in Stirling, Scotland, which will be used for international service and repair operations.
Mr. Swavely said the new space will allow Compaq to increase the manufacturing capacity of its plant in Erskine, Scotland. 

In New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday, Compaq shares fell $1.625 to $108.625. 




Document 001003119 ends.


	
On 13 January, the leader of the Taiwanese authorities proudly announced at a gathering of pro-"Taiwan independence" elements that beginning this year Taiwanese travel documents would have an addition of "Taiwan" in English. He claimed that this was a "gift" to "Taiwan independence" groups. This is another dangerous signal of the leader of the Taiwanese authorities promoting "gradual Taiwan independence" and an attempt to split the motherland. We should maintain sharp vigilance on this move. 
	
	
 The addition to passports is a move that the leader of the Taiwanese authorities has long premeditated, carefully planned, and gradually implemented. As early as in 2000, the Taiwanese authorities notified various departments, including the Taiwanese "Foreign Ministry," to use the "official" symbol of Taiwan in name tags, seating plates, menus, guest books, writing paper and invitations, and avoid using the symbol of the "national emblem." Instead, they should replace it with the symbol of the "national flat." If it is absolutely not feasible, they should use the symbol of the "plum blossom." In May 2000, "Taiwan independence" activist Yao Jiawen claimed in Tokyo, Japan that the Taiwanese authorities instructed its "Foreign Ministry" to change the English translation of the "People's Republic of China" on passports to "Taiwan," and name all overseas agencies "Taiwanese" agencies. This caused strong opposition from all the various aspects. The Taiwanese authorities had to respond in low key. On 19 June, leaders of the Taiwanese authorities met with "legislators" of the Democratic Progressive Party and expressed publicly for the first time that the addition of "Taiwan" in English on "passports" was "imperative." 
	
	
 We should notice that the addition to "passports" is not an isolated incident. Its harm is not limited to the incident itself, but lies in the fact that it is an important step for the Taiwanese authorities to promote its "gradual Taiwan independence." 
	
	
 The leader of the Taiwanese authorities once made the commitment of the so-called "four noes and one will not" when he took office in May 2000. The "four noes" are pledges "not to declare independence, not to change the national title, not to push for 'state-to-state relations to be included in the constitution, and not to promote a referendum to change the status quo in regard to independence;" and the one will not is "will not abolish the guiding principle of national unification and the National Unification Commission." However, one month later, he changed his tone and said that the "92 consensus" was a "consensus" without any consensus. In August, he preached again that "unification is not necessarily the only and final choice." In November, he manufactured the so-called "three acknowledgements and four suggestions" and then claimed that the two sides of the strait "are not subordinated to each other, and do not represent each other." In his 2001 New Year's speech, he proposed the ambiguous "conformity theory," which takes the tone of unification but promotes independence in nature. In May 2001, he claimed that his "conformity theory" was not really for unification, nor it was for conformity." 
	
	
 At the same time, the leader of the Taiwanese authorities gradually promoted the so-called "correcting the name of Taiwan." Recently, the Taiwan "Press Bureau" stopped using the symbol with the map of China. Taiwanese authorities concerned forced a Taiwanese NGO to change the word of "China" in its English annual. Now, the Taiwanese authorities wants to add the English word of "Taiwan" on Taiwanese travel documents. All these activities to "change the name of Taiwan," along with the Taiwanese authorities' comprehensive policies of "separating from China" in ideology, culture, history, education and the media, are all attempts to separate Taiwan from China, and change its status as a part of China. The purpose is to create conditions for the final public announcement of "Taiwan independence." The development of these events fully indicates that the leader of the Taiwanese authorities has not only not given up his stance of "Taiwan independence" but also used the method of nibbling to promote "gradual Taiwan independence." 
	
	
 The promotion of "gradual Taiwan independence" by the leader of the Taiwanese authorities is from his misjudgment of two situations: the internal situation and the external situation. Internally, he considers the "legislative" election last year as the public's recognition to his idea of "Taiwan independence." Support from Lee Teng-hui and overseas "Taiwan independence" forces makes him believe that "the situation is great." In fact, the economic difficulties in the island, the political deadlock, and the public's confidence crisis should be the agenda for the Taiwanese authorities' top concern. Irresponsible promotion of "Taiwan independence" and intensification of cross-strait ties are definitely not blessings to Taiwan. Externally, Sino-US relations are increasingly improving. President Bush will visit China soon. The United States has made a commitment that it will not change its Taiwan policy. But the Taiwanese authorities exaggerated Sino-US conflicts and placed hopes on seeking benefits from such conflicts. This is really an unwise idea. 
	
	
 It is worth special attention that the mainland's stance on the Taiwan issue is very clear and has never changed. Taiwan is an inseparable part of China. Any type of "Taiwan independence" is absolutely not permitted. The mainland has the greatest sincerity of peaceful unification with Taiwan, and also strong determination and necessary preparations for preventing "Taiwan independence" and all separatist activities. If the Taiwanese authorities cling obstinately to its course and continue its steps of "gradual Taiwan independence," they will only intensify cross-strait relations and will certainly eat their own bitter fruit. 
	
	
	





Document 001003120 ends.


	
Taleban commanders have prepared themselves for new offensives on positions of the United Islamic Front [for the Salvation] of Afghanistan in some regions of Afghanistan. 
	
	
 According to reports from Afghan sources, high-ranking Taleban commanders, including [Interior Minister] Mola Abdorrazaq Akhond and Mola Abdol Qahir [phonetic], visited the front line in [northeastern] Takhar Province yesterday morning, Tuesday. 
	
	
 Over the last few days, the Taleban dispatched a number of their troops from [the capital of northern Balkh Province] Mazar-e Sharif under the command of Qayum and Hashim to Takhar. At the same time, a number of troops were sent to the Dara-e Suf area [Samangan Province] led by commander Yari and commander Samar from the Dehdadi military fort near Mazar-e Sharif. 
	
	
 According to another report, [Taleban senior commander] Abdorrazaq Nafis has instructed the Mazar military fort to supply battle zones with the necessary means. The Taleban have also launched an offensive in the Andarab area in Baghlan Province. 
	
	
 According to military experts, it is possible that clashes will resume between the Taleban and UIFSA forces in various regions of Afghanistan in the next few days and weeks. 
	
	
 
	
	
 
	
	
 
	
	
	





Document 001003124 ends.


	
2 
	
	
 Space remains a Russian national priority. During a visit yesterday [21 January] to the Khrunichev State Space Scientific Production Center Vladimir Putin said that "Russia will not be able lay claim to a worthy place in the civilized world" or ensure its own defense capability if it abandons its space programs. In order to avoid any misinterpretation, the president let it be understood that the Kremlin is full of resolve to maintain both Russia's place in the civilized world and its defense capability at the proper level. After this, the center's general director, Aleksandr Medvedev, said that Mr. Putin "is devoting significantly more time to cosmonautics than any of the country's previous leaders" and for this showed him examples of the space-rocket equipment produced at the enterprise. 
	
	
 Vladimir Putin's visit to the Khrunichev center proved to be not only instructive but also very pleasant for the Russian president. Unlike the vast majority of the former giants of Russian industry, the center is an entirely successful enterprise now too. It is one of the most successful space-rocket firms not only by Russian criteria but by world ones too. The size of the center's hard-currency earnings since its foundation in 1993 is nearing $2 billion on commercial space-device launches alone and the center's annual budget exceeds three billion rubles. The Proton family of rockets the Khrunichev center produces is one of the most popular commodities on the international market for the launch of heavy carriers. The center is responsible for implementing the main programs connected with Russia's participation in the International Space Station (ISS) project. 
	
	
 Finally, the center is connected with the most promising space programs, which envisage the creation of an completely new family of Angara carrier rockets, the first of which should launch from the Russian Plesetsk space center next year. Incidentally, the money earned by the Khrunichev center has given serious support to the existence of Russia's main space center in recent years. These funds allowed the Plesetsk launch pad, which was built in Soviet times to launch the Ukrainian Zenit carrier rockets, to begin to be re-equipped for the upcoming Angara and as well as the establishment of an entire ground infrastructure for launching light Rokot space carriers, remodeled from SS-19 ballistic combat missiles. 
	
	
 Even though this was the first time Vladimir Putin had visited the center, people at the Khrunichev firm have considered him their "godfather" since last January when the president confirmed the center's current general director, Mr. Medvedev, in his position. After the center's previous head, Anatoliy Kiselev, resigned "for health reasons," the enterprise had almost been headed by former Rosvooruzheniye Head Aleksey Ogarev, who is bound by good relations to Boris Yeltsin's family. But Putin vetoed it at the last minute -- by law, the center's general director is appointed by the president personally. 
	
	
 Vladimir Putin was insistently asked to tackle another of Russia's space problems yesterday. According to Rosaviakosmos Head Yuriy Koptev, he and his colleagues had "informed the president" of their wish that the program for the development of the Plesetsk space center be given federal status. In the future, Russia is planning to gradually transfer all launches from Kazakhstan's Baykonur onto its own territory. This is connected both with considerations of economy ($115 million has to be paid every year just to lease Baykonur) and with the problem of the country's "space sovereignty": After all it is only possible to guarantee to ensure the launches of commercial devices from your own territory. Incidentally, the president was reminded about "space sovereignty" on Monday before his visit to the center. During the talks with his Turkmen colleague that took place immediately before it, the head of state had to discuss an agreement to pay Ashgabat financial compensation for the use of so-called "fall sites": Three Turkmen regions (with a total area of over one million hectares) on which the spent rocket stages fall after being launched from Baykonur (the stipulated size of payment for a single use of the regions comes to around $70,000). 
	
	
 
	
	
 Attachments: v_VN22Ja Golotyuk.htm	





Document 001003125 ends.



Blair not happy with new green deal

 



  The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, disagreed yesterday with 
Australia's decision to sign a climate change deal with the 
United States.

  The Federal Government denied that the agreement, signed this 
week, was a signal it was dumping the Kyoto Protocol on 
greenhouse gases.

  The Australian-US "climate action partnership" involves liaison 
between governments, businesses and research bodies on climate 
change.

  Critics say that on the one hand Australia is saying it does not 
want to dump Kyoto, yet on the other it is cosying up to the US 
- which does want to dump Kyoto.

  Australia's involvement in Kyoto has been in doubt ever since 
the US President, George Bush, announced last year that 
ratifying the protocol would hurt the US economy.

  The future of the protocol, which sets targets for all countries 
in an attempt to cut pollution, will be decided this year at a 
meeting in Johannesburg.

  A spokeswoman for the Environment Minister, David Kemp, said 
yesterday that the minister was on his way to talks with the 
European Union in Brussels after a formal visit to Washington, 
and that the Government was still committed to Kyoto.

  The Opposition's environment spokesman, Kelvin Thomson, said 
yesterday that Australia "should not follow the US position on 
climate change".

  Mr Blair told the ABC that greenhouse gases were an area where 
there was an obvious disagreement with the US.

  Asked if the disagreement was also with Australia, Mr Blair 
said: "Yes. But I simply say to people, it is for individual 
countries to state their own position."

  
He was not sure the Kyoto Protocol actually went far enough.

  "The more I read about climate change, the more concerned I 
become about this issue."



Copyright @ 2002 Sydney Morning Herald




Document 001003128 ends.


	
It was only natural for US National Security Adviser condoleezza Rice to make statements yesterday after what can be described as a oneupmanship of rudeness was inaugurated in Washington last week. The legislative branch took part in this oneupmanship by issuing resolutions showing full allegiance to the radical right wing in Israel. 
	
	
 The US legislative branch even outbade the Israeli right wing. If Rabbi Kahana were alive, he would have been regarded as a moderate person, compared to the US legislative branch. Even the most radical Israeli hardliners expressed the idea of the transfer more politely than the most senior, elected US bodies, which called on the Palestinians to give up the West Bank and look for what they called another homeland. 
	
	
 The Congress' resolutions and the statements made by leaders and members of the Congress revealed the US Administration's harbored intentions. Rice's statements came to dot the i's and cross the t's. They served as a crude example of the arrogance of power and attempts to control nations' resources, dictate policies, and impose leaders through pressure and coercion. 
	
	
 The flagrant attack, which Condoleezza Rice launched on the Palestinian leadership yesterday, demonstrates how international dictatorship is practiced by the most powerful country on earth, which claims to be democratic and an advocate of nations' right to choose their leaders. 
	
	
 Rice attacks the Palestinian leadership, which was democratically elected, as testified by international observers, including former US presidents. 
	
	
 However, she refrains from mentioning the elected Israeli leadership, which moved the Israeli army to occupy Palestinian cities, destroy homes over the heads of their owners, arrest thousands of innocent people, and carry out what many legal and international humanitarian circles described as war crimes or bloody massacres to say the least. A prominent Israeli official, Shim'on Peres, said when his army moved into the Janin refugee camp: "I am afraid that a massacre may have been committed in the Janin camp." 
	
	
 The Palestinians did not attack Israeli cities, did not arrest thousands of Israeli citizens, and did not blockade their cities and villages, as was done to the Palestinian people without exception. 
	
	
 Yet, the Palestinian leadership is denounced and attacked while the Israeli prime minister is praised. The US president described him as a man of peace, thereby prompting the world's ridicule sometimes and denunciation at other times. 
	
	
 So, why do Rice and the US Administration launch campaigns against, and interfere in the affairs of, the Palestinian leadership? Rice is aware of the fact that President Yasir Arafat remained under siege in his headquarters in Ramallah for five months, imposed on him by the superior Israeli military in violation of all the accords that were signed by former Israeli governments and guaranteed by the United States. 
	
	
 These accords explicitly stipulated that Israeli forces must not enter the Palestinian-controlled areas, which are called Areas A and cover all the Palestinian cities, naturally including Ramallah. 
	
	
 The US national security adviser should have called for ending the occupation and dismantling the settlements. She knows for certain that this occupation and the settlements, which the Israeli government refuses to remove, represent the only major obstacle to peace. 
	
	
 For its part, the Palestinian leadership has always sought a just peace, not submission to plans aimed at writing off the Palestinian issue and swallowing the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Moreover, the aim of these plans is to make the Palestinians yield to the dictates of the Israeli-US alliance, which seeks a mimic resolution to the Palestinian issue, which will perpetuate the occupation and facilitate the expansion of settlements. 
	
	
 No one, no matter who it is, has the right to meddle in the Palestinian domestic affairs or to impose on the Palestinian people a leadership favored by the US Administration and the Israeli Government and tailored according to their mutual interests. 
	
	
 Both Washington and Israel must realize that the Palestinian people are intelligent enough to read between the lines and understand the long-term aims behind Condoleezza Rice's statements. The calls in Washington for democracy, transparency, and corruption-free system are only made to serve US plans, not out of concern about nations' interests. 
	
	
 However, there are two facts that ought to be highlighted. The first is that the current Palestinian leadership represents the Palestinian people's will, political convictions, and national aspirations. 
	
	
 The second fact is that if Washington is interested in democratic reforms in order to combat terrorism as it says it is, it should pressure the Israeli leadership to end its occupation of the Palestinian territories and stop its repressive practices against the Palestinian people. The United States turns a blind eye to these practices, pretending to forget that they violate human rights and are continuously denounced by the international community. 
	
	
	





Document 001003132 ends.


 
  
  
    
      November 15, 1996
      Dear Personal Donor:
      In the short while since Goodwill helped him find his job, Robert has
      learned to thoroughly clean a motel room in about 40 minutes. His job
      objectives call for him to do it in 30.
      He has no time to waste.
      Neither do we. With the help of friends like you, Goodwill has
      continued to adapt our services to meet the human needs of our changing
      society.
      We don't waste time as we are helping the community. And we don't
      waste money. The gift that I am asking you to make will be used to
      continue our mission of helping people prepare for, find and keep
      jobs.
      In their December, 1995 review of the nation's best charities, U.S.
      News & World Report called Goodwill one of the five "Standout Good
      Guys." The magazine stated that Goodwill (as well as the other standouts)
      is "uniquely effective, innovative or valuable."
      While I appreciate U.S. News & World Report's endorsement, the
      true value of your support is measured by the way Goodwill takes on
      problems that affect all of us.
      Every time we help someone find a solution to their employment
      barrier, the positive effects radiate throughout our community: The
      business community welcomes not only another worker, but a consumer with
      increased purchasing power. Parents act as role models of
      self-sufficiency instead of dependency. Tax dollars that would have been
      spent on public assistance are saved.
      You and I know that solutions to difficult problems don't just happen.
      At Goodwill, it is the hard work of staff and those who benefit from our
      services that produces the kind of inspiring results I see every day:
      A Goodwill staff member addresses a group of welfare recipients: "You
      can earn the money to support yourself and your family," she says. "You
      can get off welfare. I know you can... I did."
      A participant in a Goodwill program rushes back from a job interview
      to share the results with his classmates in our desktop publishing
      training program. once his tears have subsided, he confirms what his
      classmates have already figured out: he just received a job offer -- his
      first in five years.
      Addressing a meeting at a neighborhood center, a Goodwill staff member
      tells the audience how Goodwill can help them find and keep jobs. On his
      way home, he shares the story with four people at a street corner. At the
      next corner he tells five more.
      In order to develop job skills, a man with some serious disabilities
      begins working in Goodwill's industrial division. It takes a long time
      for him to gain the self-confidence to work elsewhere in the community.
      Eventually, he turns your support into a payoff for all of us. He proudly
      leaves Goodwill to support himself.
      These people and their successes are real. Just like the respect we've
      earned from U.S. News & World Report. Just like the impact Goodwill's
      work has on our community.
      Real work. Real results. A real difference in people's lives -- in all
      of our lives.
      The people who can benefit most directly from your generosity have no
      time to waste. Neither do the rest of us who feel the positive results of
      their success. Your support helps provide real solutions.
      Please use the enclosed response card and envelope to give generously
      to Goodwill today.
      Sincerely,
      
      
      Jack Dustman Board Member and Former Chairman
      
    
  



Document 001003138 ends.


	
Caracas (AFP) -- The Venezuelan Military High Command maintains its support for President Hugo Chavez despite calls from the opposition to take part in an indefinite general strike declared Wednesday night [10 April], and despite the individual acts of insubordination of two generals on that same day, one of them in command of no troops. Analyst Luis Vicente Leon, head of the influential polling firm Datanalisis, told AFP on Wednesday that the "president continues to control power," and that "the military sector, despite the emergence of another dissident general, shows no sign of contravening the president's authority: Chavez still controls the troop posts." 
	
	
 Army Brigadier General Nestor Gonzalez, who commands no troops, appeared at a press conference on Wednesday and made pronouncements against the chief of state, joining five other dissident officers on active duty who rebelled in February. 
	
	
 He was followed by Division General Rafael Damiani, from the militarized National Guard (GN), who condemned the fact that President Chavez ordered troops to use force in putting down a demonstration in Caracas in support of the striking managers of the state-owned PDVSA [Venezuelan Petroleum, Inc.]. 
	
	
 However, the high military commands supported the government during the emergency caused by the strike staged by the trade union and business association opposition, a strike that was extended indefinitely on Wednesday night, according to Carlos Ortega, president of the Venezuelan Workers Confederation (CTV), the largest labor confederation in the country. 
	
	
 On Tuesday, the inspector general of the Armed Forces, General Lucas Rincon, accompanied Civil Defense Minister Jose Vicente Rangel and Energy Minister Alvaro Silva Calderon in a tour of the strategic oil facilities of the state-owned PDVSA, whose managers are completing their seventh day of the strike that paralyzed refining operations and shipments of fuel. 
	
	
 Following their tour, Rincon supported the official report by stating that "the supply of oil to the main national and international markets (this country's main source of foreign exchange) is normal and meets existing agreements." Speaking in his turn, Army Commander Efrain Vasquez and General Francisco Belisario Landis, commanding officer of the GN, affirmed that their forces are participating in the Armed Forces' plans of alert and denied that there is any militarization of the facilities of the state-owned Venezuelan Petroleum (PDVSA). 
	
	
 Luis Alberto Camacho, deputy minister of citizen security, reported that 22,000 members of the National Guard, one of the components of the Armed Forces, have been deployed throughout the country in order to safeguard individuals and property during the general strike. At the same time, security at oil facilities at bases of operations and in administrative areas of Caracas has been stepped up, it was reported. Opponents of the president who assembled this Wednesday in one of the offices of the state-owned Venezuelan Petroleum (PDVSA), joining the strike waged by its executives since Thursday [4 April], are carrying signs appealing for support for the men in uniform. 
	
	
 "Soldiers, where are you?"" and "Soldier, support us," read some of the posters carried by the strike sympathizers. 
	
	
 General Gonzalez, who reviewed the Venezuelan-Colombian border conflict, accused Chavez of lying when he stated that the Colombian guerrillas are not entering Venezuelan territory and contradicted him: They are indeed entering and "have been fought militarily" by troops from this country. 
	
	
 "With the guerrillas in particular, we supply the dead, while you enjoy politics," Gonzalez said, the first of the military officials to rebel on Wednesday. 
	
	
 The second rebel, GN Div Gen Damiani, accused Chavez of having "ordered the National Guard to use force for the purpose of removing individuals positioned" in front of one of the PDVSA buildings in Chuao in this capital. 
	
	
 Damiani, an official on active duty, said he had revealed the information in order to try to impede "this action resulting from a presidential folly that will sully the name of the Armed Forces and especially the National Guard." 
	
	
 However, Datanalisis analyst Leon indicated that even though Chavez still controls the military forces at the present time, this fact "constitutes no permanent life insurance," since the current indefinite general strike called by the opposition CTV and the FEDECAMARAS [Venezuelan Federation of Associations and Chambers of Commerce and Industry] leadership is only one battle in a war that he predicts will be a long one. 
	
	
 "The conflict will intensify in time. The national strike is an important battle in the long-range war whose final result is not shaping up as a romance," he said. The analyst observed that "Venezuela is now radicalized between an inept, abusive and authoritarian government and a neutralized, heterogeneous, impatient and politically immature opposition." 
	
	
 He further noted that the "possibilities of negotiation between these two groups are becoming nonexistent. They have an existential conflict: Chavez wants to take over the institutions, and they want to oust him from power." 
	
	
 Leon added that the opposition has viewed the PDVSA conflict as "the perfect lifesaver for reviving civilian social pressure for Chavez' ouster from power, this following a cooling" of such pressure in recent days. 
	
	
 The analyst noted that although there is growing unrest in the streets, the opposition's hope of the immediate exit of the chief of state "looks presumptuous." 
	
	
 Leon visualizes two scenarios: In the first, tension will increase in the days ahead, but not destabilize the government, then dwindle toward the end of the week and generate frustration among the opposition over not achieving its objective, a factor that would in turn strengthen Chavez. 
	
	
 The second, "not to be dismissed," he said, is that Chavez will remain strong in his position vis-a-vis his opponents and declare a state of emergency with the suspension of guarantees, the people would declare themselves in a state of civil disobedience, and uncontrolled violence would be unleashed. 
	
	
 "At this point, the military would have to intervene, either pressuring both sides into a real agreement or opting for an unconstitutional way out (a coup)," he predicted. 
	
	
 The alternative of a state of emergency was explicitly ruled out this Wednesday by Interior Minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin.	





Document 001003140 ends.


	
TOKYO, Jan 21 (AFP) - Japan on Monday deployed some 3,000 police at a two-day Afghan reconstruction meeting here after a series of minor explosions were reported in the capital this month. 
	
	
 "We are deploying 3,000 police officers for the Afghan conference," said a spokesman for the Tokyo metropolitan police department. 
	
	
 "We boosted security so that we will be able to handle any kind of incident, including terrorism," the spokesman said. 
	
	
 Participants in the meeting included Afghan interim administration chairman Hamid Karzai, US State Secretary Colin Powell, US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and World Bank President James Wolfensohn. 
	
	
 The meeting came two days after a 53-year-old homeless man was seriously injured in an explosion at a park in Tokyo's business and entertainment district of Shinjuku. 
	
	
 The explosion -- apparently caused by a device left in a rubbish bin -- which occurred seven kilometres (4.3 miles) away from the conference venue on Saturday, blew off the victim's lower left arm, injured his leg and left him in a coma. 
	
	
 It was the third explosion since early January in Tokyo. No one has yet been arrested. News reports said all the explosions were suspected to have been set by one person or one group. 
	
	
	





Document 001003143 ends.



   Zimbabwe suspended for rigging election

 


SubHead:   'Bad decision,' Mugabe camp says

Author:     Robert Fife, Ottawa Bureau Chief

  OTTAWA - The Commonwealth suspended Zimbabwe for a year 
yesterday and called for new elections after concluding Robert 
Mugabe had rigged recent presidential elections.

  The punishment by a special Commonwealth committee made up of 
the leaders of Nigeria, South Africa and Australia was tougher 
than many people had expected.

  "They told [Mr. Mugabe] that Zimbabwe was to be suspended. They 
talked about reconciliation and they invited the government to 
take some people in opposition to be part of the government," 
Jean Chretien, the Prime Minister, told the House of Commons 
yesterday.

  The suspension from the 54-nation group was described by John 
Howard, the Australian Prime Minister, as being "at the more 
severe end ... of the options available to us" and matches the 
penalties previously imposed on Pakistan and Fiji for not 
observing basic democratic principles.

  "I think it's a result that maintains the Commonwealth's 
credibility," Mr. Howard said. "This issue will be revisited in 
12 months time, having regard to the progress in Zimbabwe."

  Mr. Mugabe has been widely condemned for rigging the election, 
held March 9-11. Within the Commonwealth, Australia, New Zealand 
and Britain led a move to suspend the country, but that was 
resisted by African and Caribbean countries, threatening to 
split the group along racial lines.

  South African observers declared the election legitimate, 
despite contrary opinions from observers sent by the 
Commonwealth and the European Union.

  Thabo Mbeki, the South African President, has been reluctant to 
impose sanctions on Zimbabwe and it is believed Olusegun 
Obasanjo, the Nigerian leader, also had reservations about 
suspension.

  The move is largely a symbolic gesture meant to underscore 
disapproval of the "high level of politically motivated 
violence" that preceded the elections.

  Though Zimbabwe's harshest critics had argued the country should 
be suspended before the elections, African countries, supported 
by Mr. Chretien, took a wait-and-see attitude, setting up the 
three-member committee to make a final determination after the 
election.

  Election observers reported thousands of voters were not given 
the chance to cast ballots in the election, while others were 
intimidated into voting for Mr. Mugabe's governing ZANU-PF 
party.

  In Harare, Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change 
(MDC), whose leader Morgan Tsvangirai had challenged Mr. Mugabe, 
praised the Commonwealth for taking concrete action.

  "We welcome the suspension for the reason that it must be 
regarded as an unambiguous message by the international 
community that the rule of democracy will be upheld in every 
part of the world," said Welshman Ncube, the MDC's 
Secretary-General.

  
Mr. Mugabe's associates said it was a "bad decision."

  Mr. Tsvangirai, who has been charged with treason for allegedly 
plotting to assassinate Mr. Mugabe, offered to hold talks with 
the President in an attempt to end two years of violence.

  "What is critical at the moment is to see how we can restore 
legitimacy on a government that has stolen an election and that 
government must now deal with national questions of drought and 
food shortages," Mr. Tsvangirai said.

  In Canada, the opposition parties were highly critical of the 
Commonwealth, saying it should have suspended Zimbabwe 
indefinitely until Mr. Mugabe holds free and fair elections.

  "This is a slap on the wrist for Mr. Mugabe. The opposition 
members have a loaded gun at their head with Mr. Mugabe's 
fingers on the trigger. The MDC will never accept coming into a 
government that has no legitimacy," said Keith Martin, the 
Canadian Alliance foreign affairs critic.

  Joe Clark, the Conservative leader, said the suspension of 
Zimbabwe is one step in what should be a series of moves to 
restore democracy to the southern African nation.

  "The question now is what other actions are taken to ensure that 
there is a review of the electoral process, perhaps a reversal 
of that process ... and some contribution to civility in 
Zimbabwe," he said.

  Canada froze future project funding to Zimbabwe last May, 
suspended export funding and last week banned Zimbabwe officials 
from visiting, but Mr. Martin said more sanctions should be 
imposed. "This government sat on the fence for months, which 
resulted in many people being killed or tortured that didn't 
need to be. ... For once, Canada needs to lead.

  "Canada must push for punitive action against Mr. Mugabe and his 
band of thugs that have brutalized the people of Zimbabwe, which 
means an indefinite suspension from the Commonwealth, a ban on 
travel for Mugabe's cronies and to freeze their personal 
assets."

  The European Union and the United States have imposed a travel 
ban on 20 senior members of Mr. Mugabe's entourage and frozen 
their assets.

  Mr. Mugabe, 78, led Zimbabwe to independence from Britain in 
1980 and ruled a country that was seen as a great hope for 
prosperity until the last few years, when the economy has 
collapsed.

  Political violence, often aimed at white land owners, followed 
under the ZANU-PF's land reform program. At least 150 people 
have died and tens of thousands left homeless in attacks backed 
by Mr. Mugabe's government. A white farmer who was shot dead 
Monday was the 10th to be killed.



Copyright @ 2002 National Post Online |




Document 001003147 ends.



IMF refuses to help Argentina pay 132 bn USD debt

 



  Argentina was expecting to receive 1.3 billion USD to help the 
state meet its immediate expenses but after an unfavourable 
report submitted by Thomas Reichmann, it was decided that now is 
not "the right moment" to lend any more money.

  The IMF has not managed to help Argentina through its current 
crisis - it has a 132 billion dollar debt to foreign banks and 
is in its third successive year of recession.

  The government this week imposed a restriction on movement of 
capitals abroad, limiting the sum to 1,000 USD per person.

  
Marcia MIRANDA


Copyright @1999 by "Pravda.RU". When reproducing our materials 
in whole or in part, reference to Pravda.RU should be made.




Document 001003148 ends.


	
A detailed document has been issued after China's recent State of Council session [as published]. In the document serious criticism was made on the expanding military presence by the United States at the international level and it was demanded that the United States should stop the policy of dominating the world. 
	
	
 After the 11 September suicide bomb attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the United States, instead of investigating the matter and coming up with proof, put all the blame for terrorism on Afghanistan. As a result, the United States formed a coalition with the aim of bringing an end to terrorism and the Taliban, due to which bombardment is still continuing in Afghanistan. In this operation, the manner in which defenseless, innocent and poor Muslims were blown up by ammunition is one of the most dreadful events in history. The whole world witnessed this loathsome action by the United States, but no one--including the Muslim community--raised a voice against this horrifying act of oppression. Encouraged by the global community's shameful silence, the United States has announced the second phase of its war against terrorism. By declaring Iraq, Iran and North Korea as 'axis of evil', the United States has announced to target these countries in the same manner as !
Afghanistan. North Korea has also been made the target due to the reason that according to the United States, it is being blamed for transferring nuclear technology and weapons to Islamic countries. The seven countries which the US terms as a threat to its security and against which it can use nuclear weapons, also include Russia and China. 
	
	
 The above-mentioned statement by China is the first ever by an important country after the 11 September events in the United States. In the document, the United States has been very openly told that it has become the number one country in damaging solidarity of other countries and violating human rights there. The Iranian President Mohammed Khatami, on the start of his visit to Austria, protested against this dictatorial move by the United States. He also condemned the statement made by President Bush terming Iran, Iraq and North Korea as 'axis of evil' and that these countries are preparing weapons of mass destruction. 
	
	
 Apparently President Bush's attitude looks like a reaction to the events of 11 September 2001. American intellectual Noam Chomsky has proved in his writings that the accomplishment of its goals by aggression and terrorism is a part of the American psyche. This can be traced back to the events in 1818, when American cowboys used blind force to oppress the blacks. Since then, the United States has been raising artificial slogans of preservation of democracy and human rights and developing standards of living. The actual US objective is the protection of its own interests worldwide for which it does not care for any moral values. 
	
	
 According to the analysis of Chomsky, after World War II, the US think tank had planned to subjugate a few regions of the world for its economic progress. The Middle East and many countries of the Third World were part of the plan. During the same period, anti-Soviet hysteria was also promoted strongly. The CIA was given the task to topple governments and install rulers of its own choice. As a result, the governments in Guatemala in 1954 and 1963, Dominican Republic in 1984, Brazil in 1965 and that of Chile in 1973 were toppled. 
	
	
 It has been clearly mentioned in various documents including the US National Security Council memorandum number 68 issued in 1950, that US supremacy has to be maintained at any cost. It can be derived from this that the US attack on Afghanistan without any logic, was not an impulsive action but the psychology of maintaining US supremacy was fully involved in it. It is possible that the United States itself planned this suicidal attack. 
	
	
 It is due to this hegemony, which the United States wants to maintain, that its State Department makes an assessment of the human rights situation in different countries and prepares a report on their violations all over the world. The United States has never tried to make a self-assessment. After the 11 September events, the United States completely ignored the international convention of human rights and by doing so negated its own constitution. After the events in Washington and New York, approximately 1,000 Pakistanis were thrown into jail, and one person, Mohammed Butt, died of heart failure during detention. No court case was made against the others arrested nor they were given the right to defend themselves. Five hundred Taliban prisoners arrested from Afghanistan are being kept in cages on an island near Cuba. These prisoners have been placed in inhuman conditions and the reason for keeping them on this island is that US law does not apply there. As a lesson to others!
, various American TV channels, daily, show shots of the conditions under which these prisoners are being kept. 
	
	
 Above all, the US media has reported that the involvement of Jews in the 11 September events cannot be ruled out. The media also reported that 120 Israeli spies were arrested and were exiled from the United States on the orders of the Department of Justice. This not only shows the double standards of the US but also its selfishness. This also exposes the background of keeping the US troops and military basis in different parts of the world. 
	
	
 Therefore, China is justified in demanding that the United States, by creating conflicts and by embarking upon the policy of oppression and supremacy should stop interfering in the affairs of other countries in the name of human rights. According to China, the American society is engulfed by violence and crime. Racial prejudice has assumed alarming proportions. There is no protection of women rights including their respect and sanctity. 
	
	
 This report [above-mentioned document by China] should be an eye opener for the whole world and the United States should be viewed in its true perspective. Pakistan also needs to rethink in this regard. The way in which Pakistan has been fully supporting the United States after 11 September 2001--the total benefit of that has been earned by the United States. Pakistan has not only earned a bad name but also its internal and external problems have increased manifold. Pakistan should draw its own conclusions in the light of its own circumstances, from this report issued by China. Instead of blindly accepting every demand made by the United States and responding positively to every American phone call, Pakistan should take every single step carefully. 
	
	
	





Document 001003149 ends.


We don't know who is winning the drug war in Latin America, but we know who's losing it -- the press.
Over the past six months, six journalists have been killed and 10 kidnapped by drug traffickers or leftist guerrillas -- who often are one and the same -- in Colombia.
Over the past 12 years, at least 40 journalists have died there.
The attacks have intensified since the Colombian government began cracking down on the traffickers in August, trying to prevent their takeover of the country.

The slaughter in Colombia was very much on the minds of 450 editors and publishers from Latin America, the United States, the Caribbean and Canada attending the 45th general assembly of the Inter-American Press Association in Monterrey, Mexico, this week.
On Tuesday the conference got word of another atrocity, the assassination in Medellin of two employees of El Espectador, Colombia's second-largest newspaper.
The paper's local administrator, Maria Luz Lopez, was shot dead, and her mother wounded, while her car was stopped for a red light.
An hour later, the paper's circulation manager, Miguel Soler, was shot and killed near his home.

The drug lords who claimed responsibility said they would blow up the Bogota newspaper's offices if it continued to distribute in Medellin.
They bombed the Bogota offices last month, destroying its computer and causing $2.5 million in damage.

El Espectador has been a special target because of the extraordinary courage of its publisher and his staff.
At Monterrey, publisher Luis Gabriel Cano, although shaken by the murders, issued a statement saying: "We will not cease our fight against drug trafficking.
They want to terrify the press and in particular El Espectador because it has always been a torchbearer in this war."
This comes from a man whose brother, Guillermo, was murdered in 1986.

The publishers in Monterrey command no battalions, but they agreed to express their outrage with editorials in today's editions.
Many will use a common editorial.
A final statement yesterday said: "While some advances are being made in nations throughout the hemisphere, the state of press freedom in the Americas still must be regarded as grim as long as journalists and their families are subject to the crudest form of censorship: death by assassination."

The report charged that Panama's Manuel Noriega is not only in league with the drug traffickers but also is bullying the press as never before.
"Noriega has closed every independent newspaper, radio and television station and arrested, tortured or forced into exile a long list of reporters," the statement declared.

It added: "In Cuba, public enemy No. 1 of press freedoms in the hemisphere, repression of journalists both Cuban and foreign is worse than ever."
And in Nicaragua, promises of press freedom by the Sandinistas "have not materialized."

As it happens, the four countries cited, Colombia, Cuba, Panama and Nicaragua, are not only where the press is under greatest attack but also are linked by the drug trade and left-wing politics.
Noriega is close to Castro and may once have been his agent.
Sandinistas Thomas Borge and the Ortega brothers are Castro proteges; he backed their takeover of Nicaragua.
In Colombia, the drug-financed guerrillas trying to seize the country and destroy democracy include M-19, which Castro has clearly backed.

Robert Merkel, a former U.S. attorney handling drug indictments in Florida, doesn't think for a minute that Castro's much publicized trials of high officials engaged in the drug trade mean he has broken off with the Medellin drug cartel.
"If the cartel succeeds in blackmailing the Colombian authorities into negotiations, the cartel will be in control and Fidel can exploit his past relationships with them," he told the Journal's David Asman recently.


             
The struggle against the drug lords in Colombia will be a near thing.
This week, the government arrested Jose Abello Silva, said to be the fourth-ranking cartel leader.
He will probably be extradited to the U.S. for trial under an extradition treaty President Virgilia Barco has revived.
Later, another high-ranking trafficker, Leonidas Vargas, was arrested and 1,000 pounds of dynamite seized.
Mr. Barco has refused U.S. troops or advisers but has accepted U.S. military aid.

President Bush has agreed to meet within 90 days with Mr. Barco, President Alan Garcia of Peru and President Jaime Paz Zamora of Bolivia to discuss the drug problem.
It might not be a bad idea to do that sooner, rather than later.
After the Panama fiasco, they will need some reassurance.
Certainly, the Colombian press is much in need of that.
                     



Document 001003152 ends.


	
The federal and local authorities are currently preparing the ratification of the Kyoto international protocol on limiting the emission of greenhouse gases. Within the framework of that protocol, Belgium must reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 7.5 percent, compared to 1990, in the 2008-2012 period. Following the formal ratification of the Kyoto protocol by all the parliaments of the concerned countries, that protocol will become equivalent to a Belgian law. This implies -- whether or not one agrees with it -- that the Kyoto protocol will become binding for all of this country's inhabitants and institutions. 
	
	
 We readily accept that there are good intentions on the part of both the government and this country's various sectors to comply with the Kyoto standards. However, no broad social debate has yet been conducted on the crucial question: How much should each sector or target group contribute to achieving the Belgian Kyoto standard? Because this debate has failed to take place, it is understandable that all sectors (ranging from processing and manufacturing industrial sector, the electricity sector, the tertiary sector, and the transport sector to the residential sector) are currently doing their utmost to make their own future efforts as small (yet acceptable) as possible. 
	
	
 That is strikingly illustrated by Belgian large-scale industry, which has made great efforts over the past 10 years, over which energy intensity (energy use per unit of final product) has improved considerably. But a very considerable increase in production is expected in Belgium over the next 10 years, so that (even with very efficient processes) overall carbon dioxide emissions will certainly rise. Large-scale industry wishes to counter the expected rise with so-called benchmark covenants. 
	
	
 In a nutshell, benchmarking means that companies compare their energy efficiency with that of similar plants abroad. In these covenants, the companies pledge to rank among the world leaders in energy efficiency by 2012. In return for their commitment, they are exempted from additional (Flemish) emission restrictions, taxes on emissions, or negotiable emission rights. 
	
	
 Belgian industry is advocating benchmark covenants because it is afraid that an absolute limit would weaken considerably its competitive position with respect to similar companies in regions where the Kyoto protocol is not ratified. According to industry, relocation, with the resulting job losses, would be the only solution. However, this disregards the fact that arguments other than purely financial ones also play a part in the location decisions of companies in our region (favorable location near seaports, availability of know-how, well-educated personnel, stable political climate...). 
	
	
 Those covenants contain insufficient guarantees in themselves to achieve the Belgian/Flemish reduction targets in an economically efficient manner. 
	
	
 To begin with, the principle of benchmarking itself raises questions. If it were to emerge from the comparison with domestic and foreign companies that certain companies do not rank among the world leaders in energy efficiency, they would have to present a plan to achieve the highest energy efficiency on time (by 2012). But benchmarking is not sufficient from the viewpoint of economic efficiency (realizing the Kyoto restrictions on emissions at the lowest possible costs for the whole of society). 
	
	
 A cost-efficient division of efforts implies that each sector must limit its emissions to the point at which the additional costs for one extra ton of reduction are the same in all sectors. As a result, the costs of additional restrictions on emissions in industry must be compared with those of other sectors, such as the transport sector, households, the service sector, and so forth. Benchmarking guarantees only that companies belong to the top of their class, but says nothing about that class's performance as compared with the whole universe. 
	
	
 Second, benchmark covenants do not guarantee that the external climate costs of energy use (the increased greenhouse effect caused by the burning of fossil fuels) are correctly taken into account in the final products of the sectors concerned. However, taking into account these external climate costs is essential, because the users of energy-intensive goods are confronted in that way with the consequences of their choice of product. In that way, less energy-intensive products enjoy a relative advantage. 
	
	
 Third, questions can be asked about the emission restrictions that would be achieved by the covenants. Companies are urged in the proposed covenants to adopt measures which have an economic cost recovery period of less than five years or have an internal rate of return greater than that of a straight-lined obligation. But it is highly unclear whether these measures will lead to many extra reductions of emissions in comparison with the business as usual scenario without additional policy efforts. 
	
	
 Fourth is the contrast between the benchmark covenants' relative emissions standards and the Belgian Government's absolute restrictions on emissions within the framework of the Kyoto protocol. Since industry does not wish to let itself be pinned down on an absolute emissions ceiling, while the government feels itself committed to an absolute ceiling, industry is foisting the necessary efforts onto other sectors in society through the benchmark covenants. If industrial greenhouse gas emissions increase considerably over the next 10 years, that will have to be offset by a commensurate reduction of emissions in the transport sector, services, households, and so forth. 
	
	
 Thus the benchmark covenants could have very significant consequences for other sectors and target groups in our society, whereas the latter are not involved in the deliberations on those covenants. Hence a broad social debate on who should contribute how much to realizing the Kyoto standards is urgently necessary. 
	
	
 Despite these shortcomings, we believe that a role is reserved for the instrument of benchmark covenants. Thus the benchmark covenants could be reconciled with the European Commission's recent proposals for launching a unified market for European carbon dioxide emissions by 2005. This European proposal assumes absolute restrictions on emissions (companies obtain rights to emit a certain number of tons of carbon dioxide) and is hence irreconcilable at first sight with the Flemish benchmark covenants. However, the benchmark covenants could be opportune here for settling the initial allocation of emission rights. Companies could be allocated rights on the basis of an energy efficiency standard, on the condition that they are prepared to accept an absolute emissions ceiling. However, if they wish to emit more (because, for instance, their output is increasing considerably), they can do so provided that they purchase the necessary emission rights from companies which have a surplus of rights. 
	
	
 The great advantage of negotiable emission rights in that the system can lead to a cost-efficient division of effort among all sectors and target groups. By using the benchmark covenants to allocate emission rights initially, the good points of covenants are retained and their drawbacks are eliminated. 
	
	
 In any case, it is high time that a social debate be organized on the division of effort to achieve the Kyoto aims. Only a division that takes account of every sector's possibilities and is borne by the various target groups guarantees that Belgium will achieve its Kyoto aims without draconian measures having to be adopted at the eleventh hour. 
	
	
	





Document 001003154 ends.


	
A Middle East settlement still remains one of the international issues drawing global attention today. 
	
	
 The world's justice- and peace-loving peoples are unanimously demanding a fair and peaceful Middle East settlement to be at the earliest possible date. 
	
	
 However, Israeli Zionists, counting on the support and protection provided by the United States, continue to obstruct such a settlement, continue to key up tensions in the region. 
	
	
 The great leader Comrade Kim Il-song taught: 
	
	
 "For a peaceful and fair settlement on the Palestinian issue and the issue of the Middle East, the Israeli aggressors should withdraw from all Arab land they occupy and the Palestinian people should be fully guaranteed the right to self-determination." 
	
	
 The Middle East issue, essentially, is an issue of reinstating the Palestinians' national rights and of recovering the deprived Arab land from the Israeli aggressors. 
	
	
 For a comprehensive fair settlement on the issue, it is required, first of all, that the Palestinians are guaranteed the right to self-determination, that the founding of an independent Palestinian state is realized, and the Israeli aggressors withdraw from all the Arab land they occupy illegally, including Golan Heights. 
	
	
 However, instead of withdrawing from the Arab land they occupy by force, the wily Israeli aggressors, dreaming of the creation of a "great Israeli empire," are scheming to make it their land permanently. They continue to stir up troubles in areas they occupy, creating further complications in the situation. Typical examples are the acts of aggression and savage atrocities perpetrated by Israeli troops in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which are under the Palestinian Authority's control. 
	
	
 According to reports, Israeli tanks, in the middle of the night on 20 February, attacked the eastern part of Gaza City housing the key facilities of the Palestinian Authority, shelling and destroying Palestinian broadcasting center, among other things. Israeli forces, at the same time, attacked the southern Gaza town of Rafah. As a result, at least four Palestinians were reportedly killed and more than 30 wounded. 
	
	
 Between the night of 20 February through the dawn next day, Israel's F-16s and helicopters struck the "(POS)-17" facility of presidential security guards adjacent to the building housing the directorate of the Palestinian Authority, plus the Palestinian autonomous police station in the West Bank town of Jenin. 
	
	
 On the same day, the Israeli army blocked off major highways linking Palestinian cities in the West Bank area and roads linking these cities to neighboring villages. 
	
	
 Earlier, Israel had launched fierce assaults on Palestinian targets in the Gaza Strip and West Bank areas. As a result, l4 Palestinians were killed, according to foreign press reports. 
	
	
 Because of the intensification of Israel-Palestinian armed conflicts in the recent period, not a single day would pass in peace and with no Palestinians shedding blood in the West Bank and Gaza Strip areas. 
	
	
 In this situation, the "Peace and Security Council," organized by Israel's retired military officers and former high officials of security agencies, launched a movement calling for the unilateral withdrawal of Israeli troops from the West Bank and Gaza Strip areas. As seen in this and other developments, criticisms of Prime Minister Sharon's hard-line military policy against the Palestinians are mounting inside Israel. Eighty percent of the members of the "Peace and Security Council," made up by retired military officers and former high officials of Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence agency, and Shin Bet, its domestic intelligence agency, are demanding that Israel dismantle Jewish "settlements" in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, numbering approximately 50; that it unilaterally withdraw its troops from good many areas occupied by them; and that it promptly reopen the peace negotiations with the Palestinians. The fact that, in Israel, former high-ranking figures of the military and of law enforcement and intelligence agencies are getting increasingly critical of Sharon is likely to have a great impact on the situation in the future, according to foreign press comments. 
	
	
 Israeli newspapers, which earlier refrained from censuring Sharon, have come forward attacking him with scathing criticisms such as that he is "unwilling to take any options other than the military hard-line, victimizing the lives of both Israeli and Palestinian men in the street." Nevertheless, Sharon refuses to modify his hard-line posture, saying that "we must win this war." 
	
	
 Behind the incursions and atrocities of oppression Israel is perpetrating against the Palestinians today, there is the fact that the United States is supporting and protecting it. 
	
	
 The United States, while handing over to Israel billions of dollars in lethal weapons every year, stands on the Israeli side in dealing with the Middle East situation. 
	
	
 Foreign press reports, poking fun at the United States and Israel, say that they are of "one body with two heads," "Israel is a spoiled brat of the United States," or that "Israel is one of the US states." 
	
	
 Israel and the United States should bear their due responsibility for the daily deteriorating Middle East situation and quit its moves to obstruct a fair Middle East settlement. 
	
	
	





Document 001003155 ends.


	
Youths Nidal Sanduqah and Ra'fat al-Bajjali were seriously injured as result of a strong explosion that rocked the center of Bethlehem. Our correspondent said that causes of the explosion, which took place in a house in Al-Saf Street in the city, are still unknown. He added that a third person was moderately wounded in the explosion. The concerned agencies have launched an investigation into the incident. 
	
	
 A short while ago, our correspondent in Bethlehem said that Ra'fat al-Bajjali was martyred of wounds he sustained in the explosion.	





Document 001003157 ends.


31 mar 02      [Unattributed report: &quot;Chinese, Israeli FMs Talk by Phone on Middle East Situation&quot; -- Xinhua headline; Xinhua editorial note describes item as &quot;Writethru&quot;  EDS-writethru]">
	
Beijing, March 31 (XINHUA) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan Sunday urged immediate withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's residence and called for Arafat 's personal safety to be ensured. 
	
	
 Meanwhile, China opposes and condemns the recent violent activities in Israeli territory, and China expresses condolence, sympathy and solicitude to the family members of the victims, said Tang. 
	
	
 Tang made the remarks in a phone conversation with Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. 
	
	
 Tang said that the abrupt escalation of the conflict between Israel and Palestine has caused huge casualties and property losses, and Arafat's personal safety was severely endangered. 
	
	
 The Chinese government is deeply concerned about the sudden deterioration in the Middle East situation, Tang said. 
	
	
 Arafat, as leader of the Palestinian people and one of the initiators of peace talks between Israel and Palestine, has made great efforts to push forward the Middle East peace process, Tang said, stressing that disastrous consequences would happen to the Middle East region if unexpected incidents took place to Arafat's safety. 
	
	
 Tang expressed his hope that Israel will implement Resolution 1402 of the United Nations Security Council unconditionally, withdraw its troops completely from Palestinian areas and solve the problems through peaceful means. 
	
	
 Tang asked Israel to do so in order to serve the overall requirement of security and stability in the Middle East as well as Israel's own long-term interest. 
	
	
 The pressing matter of the moment is that Israel and Palestine should both exercise maximum restraint and adopt concrete measures to stop the conflict immediately and create conditions for resumption of the peace talks, Tang said. 
	
	
 Peres briefed Tang on the latest development of the conflict between the two sides. In response to Tang's enquiry, he expressed that Israel is willing to promise to the international community that Israel will not threaten Arafat's personal safety and will not destroy the Palestine National Authority. 
	
	
	





Document 001003158 ends.


	
The arrogance that marked the latest Manichaean pronouncement of the US President, George W. Bush, alleging an "axis of evil" on the international stage has justifiably produced a backlash of adverse reactions. In his State of the Union address to the US lawmakers on January 29, Mr. Bush categorically identified Iran, as also Iraq and North Korea, besides their "terrorist allies" as a functional anti-US entity and as a collective "axis of evil" in the global arena. By raising this new political bogey in the specific context of the present US-led international "campaign" against terrorism and by aggressively harping on such ideas at a Republican caucus on February 1, Mr. Bush has left little or no room for doubt about his real foreign policy intentions. The defining characteristic of the presumptive "axis of evil" is portrayed as a tendency on the part of its constituent states and non-state players to acquire weapons of mass destruction [WMDs]. What is more, Mr. Bush has already begun articulating a policy designed to "prevent" such "outlaw regimes" and their "terrorist" cohorts from "threatening America" and its "friends and allies". It is in this climate of an impassioned American campaign against new phobias that some powers like China have joined the chorus of protest by the three countries named by Mr. Bush. 
	
	
 There is no reason to cavil at the universal consensus against terrorism on the international stage. Yet, the least that Mr. Bush should have done is to prove his accusations of a collusive nexus among Iran and Iraq, two Islamic countries, and North Korea, arguably a reclusive `Stalinist' state, besides their alleged "terrorist" accomplices. The communicative compulsions of dancing to the tunes of evocative sound bytes cannot adequately explain Mr. Bush's failure to substantiate this theme during his internationally televised address. His denunciation of Iran, in particular, is a case that illustrates Washington's urge to underline America's supposed pre-eminence as the only superpower in history with a universal jurisdiction. By provoking Iran at this sensitive stage in the global "campaign" against terror, Mr. Bush has inadvertently encouraged the protagonists of a prospective "clash of civilizations", a controversial thesis that underlines the religious divide. 
	
	
 Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has described the US itself as "the greatest evil". Given Mr. Bush's objections to the suspected Iranian plans of acquiring WMDs, Ayatollah Khamenei is critical of America's archetypal "sales of lethal weapons" to Israel and others. However, it has been left to Iran's President, Mohammad Khatami, to reaffirm Teheran's sustainable advocacy of a "dialogue among civilizations" as the cultured answer to the "insults" that Mr. Bush has now heaped upon the Iranian people. While Iraq and North Korea tend to see America's new game plan as an extension of its characteristic policy of "hegemony", China is aghast at the ridiculous terminology of America's new thinking and its unexplained logical basis. In a macro-perspective, it appears that Mr. Bush has chosen to raise this new specter so as to promote his pet theme of a space-age missile defense system for America and its allies. This may, in part, explain why he clubbed two Islamic states with a religion!
-neutral country. At the micro-level, though, the US President has obviously counted on his country's several different disputes with Iran, Iraq and North Korea over time. As for Teheran specifically, its defiant view of America's expanding strategic-military presence in Iran's neighborhood at this juncture may have weighed with Mr. Bush. In the event, the dynamics of an emerging Iran-US tussle will determine his actions against the "axis". Clearly at this point there is no cause for the international community to support American efforts to widen the campaign beyond Afghanistan. 
	
	
	





Document 001003159 ends.


	
Amman, March 25 (Petra)--Their Majesties King Abdullah II and Queen Rania Al-Abdullah Sunday returned home following a working visit included Spain, Britain, USA and Mexico. 
	
	
 During the visit, His Majesty met with Spanish Monarch Juan Carlos and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. In Los Angeles His Majesty received World Leadership reward from Young Leaders Organization, and met with several information and economic activists, where he discussed means of investment in Jordan. 
	
	
 In Mexico, the last leg of His Majesty's tour, the King participated in the UN Monterrey congress on Financing Development, where he addressed the congress's opening session. 
	
	
 On the sidelines of the Congress His Majesty met with American President George Bush, French President Jack Chirac, American Secretary of State Colin Powell, President of Mexico, Spanish Prime Minster and Prime Minister of Mozambique. 
	
	
 During the visit, Her Majesty Queen Rania participated in several activities pertaining youth and micro projects financing.	





Document 001003162 ends.


	
Beijing, November 12 (XINHUA) -- Many Chinese farmers have begun growing crops in computer-controlled rooms instead of tilling fields with spades. 
	
	
 They apply fertilizer, water fields and treat insect pest with equipment controlled by computers in intelligent farm workshops. Their products, in high quality and great variety, are shipped to supermarkets and hotels and sold at a good price. 
	
	
 More than 150 agro-technological guiding systems have been set up in Yunnan, Anhui, Jilin and Hainan provinces to teach farmers how to cultivate grain crops, vegetables, fruit and aquatic products. 
	
	
 In the 20 demonstration zones built between 1998 and 2000, grain output was increased by 2 billion kg, saving 640 million yuan in production costs. 
	
	
 Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and the cities of Shanghai and Beijing are experimenting with the satellite positioning technology for accurate control of fertilizer application. 
	
	
	





Document 001003165 ends.


       

Benjamin Franklin Federal Savings & Loan Association said it plans to restructure in the wake of a third-quarter loss of $7.7 million, or $1.01 a share, reflecting an $11 million addition to loan-loss reserves. 

The Portland, Ore., thrift said the restructuring should help it meet new capital standards from the Financial Institution Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act.
A year ago, Benjamin Franklin had profit of $1.8 million, or 23 cents a share. 

In over-the-counter trading yesterday, Benjamin Franklin rose 25 cents to $4.25. 

The company said the restructuring's initial phase will feature a gradual reduction in assets and staff positions.
The plan may include selling branches, consolidating or eliminating departments, and winding down or disposing of unprofitable units within 18 months. 

Initially, the company said it will close its commercial real-estate lending division, and stop originating new leases at its commercial lease subsidiary. 

Details of the restructuring won't be made final until regulators approve the regulations mandated by the new federal act, the company said. 




Document 001003167 ends.


	
Spanish daily warns USA its treatment of suspects could alienate allies 
	
	
 Text of unsigned editorial, "Prisoners in Guantanamo", by Spanish newspaper El Pais web site on 21|January 
	
	
 The USA's credibility will be tarnished if it allows the prisoners captured in Afghanistan and transferred to Guantanamo, the naval base it holds in Cuba, to face military courts without any guarantee whatsoever of a fair trial. If the Bush administration is stubborn enough to persist with this attitude, it could cause a rift with a European public opinion that showed only solidarity and generosity after the terrorist attacks of 11 September. It could also alienate itself from a large part of its allies, even if, militarily speaking, Washington is conducting its campaign in virtual isolation. The emergency legislation carried through in the wake of 11 September means that the USA does not see these detainees from Afghanistan as prisoners of war to be treated according to the Geneva Convention, whose 1997 protocol it has yet to sign, but as "unlawful combatants", or "people arrested on the battlefield". According to the US administration, they can be tried outside US territory before secret military courts and they can be condemned, even to death, without the assurance of having been found guilty "beyond all reasonable doubt". A court-martial according to the usual procedure would have guaranteed them a much sturdier legal defence. The US Association of Legal Professionals is of the opinion that these military tribunals cannot pass sentence on any crimes other than those derived from violations of the right to war. A clear contradiction of this situation is the fact that, in response to a terrorist action, Washington has gone to war in Afghanistan, even if it hasn't officially declared war on the country. The Geneva Convention rules that prisoners must be freed or repatriated after the hostilities have ended. It so happens that among the detainees taken to Guantanamo there are three British nationals, an Australian and various Saudis, amongst others. Australia has already said it would prefer a civil trial or an international tribunal. It is an idea that could be worked on, especially since, in contrast to the fate of those held at the Cuban base, John Walker, the 20-year-old US "convert" to the Taleban being held in Afghanistan, will be tried with the full protection of the law by a civil court in the USA and, at the moment, stands accused of crimes that do not carry the death penalty, although they could put him in jail for life. Everyone should be given the same opportunities and protection before the law so, by the same token, suspected members of Al-Qa'idah being held in Europe, whose numbers have risen in recent days, will be tried by civil courts, including in Spain. A team from the International Red Cross is interviewing each of more than 100 Taleban and Al-Qa'idah members being held prisoner in Guantanamo about the treatment they are receiving, a situation that Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said does not interest him. Humanitarian organizations, however, believe that the Geneva Convention can be applied to these prisoners and that it states that they must be treated humanely and be subject to other rights in the place that has been baptized "Camp X-Ray", in allusion to the building of the covered sheds with barbed wire in place of walls [that house the prisoners]. It may be the moment to offer the world's television channels, from CNN to Qatar's Al-Jazeera, full access [to the camp]. Guaranteeing justice in the way we perceive it, even for the possible promoters of terrorism, is a question of principles that impedes, among other things, comparisons with the regime on the other side of the fence to the US base. Perhaps this is why Fidel Castro has not spoken out against what might go on in Guantanamo. 
	
	
	





Document 001003168 ends.



   Cubans celebrate Venezuelan president's return to power, compare botched coup to Bay of Pigs

 



  HAVANA - (AP) -- Thousands of Cubans celebrated Venezuelan 
President Hugo Chavez's return to power at a rally Tuesday, 
likening the failed coup against the Cuban ally to the 
disastrous U.S.-backed effort to overthrow Fidel Castro's 
government 41 years ago.

  About 4,000 Castro supporters -- workers, students, housewives 
and retirees -- gathered on the streetcorner where the Cuban 
leader declared the country socialist in a speech on the eve of 
the April 17, 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion by an American-trained 
exile army.

  ''This commemoration acquires special relevance this year,'' 
said Jorge Arias, a top local Communist Party official.

  He said it was a ''beautiful historic coincidence'' that the 
celebration came so soon after Venezuelans ``have written a page 
of dignity and honor by going out into the streets to overthrow 
the coup attempt.''

  Both Castro and Chavez are leftists who see themselves as 
revolutionary leaders.

  Castro considers Chavez a friend and his closest political ally 
in the region, and their close ties have rankled the United 
States.

  Cuba was swift to denounce the Venezuelan president's ouster 
Friday -- reversed two days later when Chavez was reinstated by 
loyalist military officers after demonstrations calling for his 
return.

  The Bush administration brushed aside suggestions Tuesday that 
it quietly encouraged the removal of Chavez.

  At the Bay of Pigs, a CIA-trained force of about 1,500 exiles 
invaded in an effort to overthrow Castro's government, which had 
seized power 28 months before. The attempt failed, and about 100 
of the invaders were killed and 1,000 captured.




Document 001003169 ends.


 
  
  
    
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Document 001003170 ends.



Mugabe Wins Despite Biased Propaganda

 



  
TEHRAN TIMES INTL. DESK

  TEHRAN -- President Robert Mugabe easily won Zimbabwe's election 
on Wednesday despite biased propaganda unleashed against him by 
some Western countries, accusing him of being unfair towards the 
opposition.

  Results announced by Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede at 0800 
GMT showed Mugabe with 1,634,382 votes, well past the 50 percent 
of ballots cast that he needed to extend his 22-year rule for 
six more year.

  His challenger, former trade unionist Morgan Tsvangirai, trailed 
almost half a million votes behind. Mudede said 3.1 million 
people voted in the three-day election.

  There were fears of a violent reaction from Tsvangirai's 
supporters, and security forces were put on high alert and 
police put up road blocks on approach roads to the capital 
Harare.

  Australia said it feared violence if voters thought the election 
had been stolen. Canberra is a member of a Three-Nation 
Commonwealth task force monitoring the election.

  Tsvangirai, saying Mugabe has destroyed the economy of the once 
prosperous nation, accused the president of systematically 
stealing the election to hide his deep unpopularity with voters, 
Reuters reported.

  Mugabe's government has dismissed criticism of the poll, which 
Information Minister Jonathan Moyo called "exemplary".

  Western countries queued up to condemn the election in which the 
78-year-old president faced his first real challenge.

  The United States, condemning the reduction of polling stations 
in opposition urban strongholds, said the election was 
"seriously flawed" and riddled with irregularities.

  Australia and Britain led an unsuccessful call for commonwealth 
sanctions against Mugabe before the election.

  New Zealand said on Wednesday it was ready to impose sanctions 
against Zimbabwe if the commonwealth decided not to suspend the 
country after the vote.






Document 001003171 ends.



   Harsh detention for Afghan prisoners

 



  Taleban and al-Qaeda prisoners flown from Afghanistan to an 
American naval base in the Caribbean are being held in tough 
conditions of detention.

  A temporary detention centre called Camp X-Ray has been set up 
at the base in Guantanamo Bay, an isolated US outpost on the 
edge of Fidel Castro's Cuba.

  The prisoners are being housed in cells measuring 1.8 by 2.4 
metres (six feet by eight feet) with open, chain-link walls, a 
concrete floor and wooden roof.

  They face intense interrogation by US officials anxious to track 
down Osama Bin Laden, the alleged mastermind behind the 11 
September suicide attacks on New York and Washington.

  The US authorities have not granted the detainees 
prisoner-of-war status, meaning they are not protected by the 
Geneva Convention.

  Washington wants military tribunals to try the prisoners, and 
the cases are expected to be heard outside the US.

  As the base is located outside sovereign territory, the 
prisoners have no legal rights under the US constitution, and no 
right of appeal to federal courts.

  
'Are they kennels?'

  Jeffrey Kofman, an American journalist who has visited the base, 
said the facility was "very, very minimal".

  The cells had concrete floors, wooden roofs and wire mesh walls. 
Prisoners had a foam mat to sleep on, two towels - one for 
washing, the other to use as a prayer mat - and some form of 
chamber pot, he said.

  "It was a far more bares bones facility than frankly I expected 
to see. They say they will be holding the detainees in cells, 
but really they are cages...

  "One person said: 'Are they kennels?', to which one of the 
military staff in charge said: 'No they're not kennels, they are 
cells, and they're within the bounds of the Geneva Convention. 
What we are operating is humane treatment, but we're not 
offering comfort'."

  
International concern

  The human rights group Amnesty International voiced concern 
about the "cages" used for accommodation, saying they would 
"fall below minimum standards for humane treatment".

  The first group to arrive - 20 prisoners described by US 
military officials as "the worst elements of al-Qaeda and the 
Taleban" - wore goggles covered with tape and had their hands 
tied. Some also wore leg shackles.

  They wore surgical masks as some prisoners had tested positive 
for tuberculosis and at least one prisoner was sedated.

  They will spend most of their time separated, although they will 
be allowed out of their cells in small groups for meals, showers 
and some recreation.

  
They will be allowed to pray according to their faith.

  
Mosquitoes

  The camp gets chilly at night and there are swarms of 
mosquitoes.

  The base - known by US servicemen as "Gitmo"- is surrounded by 
mangrove swamps, salt marshes and dense bush - and the sea is 
shark-infested.

  The camp perimeters - lit up at night - has watchtowers and two 
fences topped with razor wire constantly patrolled by heavily 
armed marines.

  
At night the camp is lit up with halogen floodlights.

  Members of a movement that tried to prevent women working may be 
disconcerted to find that some of their guards are women.

  "We have no intention of making it comfortable," Marine 
Brigadier-General Michael Lehnert told Reuters news agency. "It 
will be humane."

  Hundreds of marines and military police have been flown to 
Guantanamo Bay to expand the compound to house up to 2,000 
prisoners.

  American marines landed in Guantanamo during the 
Spanish-American war in 1898, and the base was established under 
a 1903 treaty.

  After Fidel Castro led the Communists to power in Cuba in 1959, 
then US President Dwight Eisenhower refused to relinquish the 
base despite strong objections from Havana.

  Although Washington continues to pay the rent - set 100 years 
ago at 2,000 gold coins a year, and now worth about $4,000 - Mr 
Castro refuses to cash the cheques.

  Cuban Frontier Battalion troops continue to watch their US 
counterparts along the 28-kilometre fence, but tension has 
diminished since the end of the Cold War.

  
Hunt continues

  American officials have named al-Qaeda and Taleban leaders 
killed or captured as frustration grows that some senior Taleban 
figures are reportedly slipping through the net.

  Among those who have not been questioned by the US military are 
three former Taleban ministers who turned themselves into the 
new Afghan authorities - only to be allowed to return to their 
homes.

  The most important is former Justice Minister Mullah Nuruddin 
Turabi - known to be close to Taleban leader Mullah Omar - 
former Defence Minister Mullah Ubaidullah and former Industry 
Minister Mullah Saadudin.

  US officials are eager to question the three, who they believe 
may have vital clues about the whereabouts of Mullah Omar and 
Osama Bin Laden.

  The hunt continues for Bin Laden himself and Mullah Omar, who is 
believed to have escaped by motorbike as thousands of Afghan 
soldiers closed in on his suspected hideout.

  Also on the wanted list are many more of Bin Laden's top 
lieutenants who are believed to have evaded capture. They 
include Ayman al-Zawahri, the Egyptian Islamic Jihad leader who 
is Bin Laden's close adviser and personal doctor.


Copyright @ BBC




Document 001003173 ends.


	
Islamabad, March 6, IRNA -- Leading Pakistani defense analyst Hameed Gul on Wednesday rejected this year's US State Department report on human rights, saying it was "a pack of blatant lies and propaganda." A former director-general of the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Hameed Gul told IRNA in an interview here that each country which resisted American hegemony was deemed a violator of human rights. "In a fit of force, the US wanted to subjugate the entire world community and was not ready to tolerate any hurdle in this direction and the recent report on human rights was also a manifestation of its hegemonistic designs," the lieutenant general (retd) continued. Hameed Gul was of the opinion that the US was the only country in the world that had no respect for any religion, faith, norms, decency, human rights and rules. "It is unprecedented in the history of the comity of nations that the US forcibly wanted to prevent countries from upholding religious and cultural values," he said. "The US is the most fraudulent, terrorist and extremist country. The world would never forget the barbarities it committed on the innocent Afghan people, women, children and the elderly," he firmly said. In order to realize its vested interests in the region, he said the US and its allies unleashed oppression against the Afghan people and used latest weaponry against the defenseless nation. In this regard, he made a quick reference to the ongoing killings of Indian Muslims. "Since the rioting erupted last week, over 600 people, mostly Muslims, have been brutally murdered in the hands of extremist Hindus in India, but the US and other so-called civilized nations kept a shameful mum," he remarked. The Americans, he pointed out, see violations of human rights when a country or a group of people become hurdles in the realization of their vested interests. "What Israel is doing in Palestine against the Muslims is also one of the worst examples of rights abuses but the US is again silent, but when Palestinians react to Israeli attacks America is quick to The logical solution to the Palestinian issue is a free and independent state for the people of Palestine as enshrined under UN resolutions, he said. But the US is denying this, he added. He said it clearly means that the Muslims have no right to defend themsleves against their oppressors. "America wants total submission of Muslims across the globe," Hameed Gul said. "The situation requires a concerted moral resistance by Muslims scholars; if they remain indifferent to each other's plight in the hands of imperialist forces led by the US, they would be crushed one by one," he warned. Muslims rulers should forge unity in their ranks to resist the ever-increasing US influence; otherwise, they would be targeted one by one, Hameed Gul concluded. 
	
	
	







Document 001003176 ends.



Argentine Leader Quits as Economy Begins a Free Fall

 



  BUENOS AIRES, Dec. 20 - President Fernando de la R?signed 
today, halfway through his four-year term, swamped by violent 
protests and looting that erupted when his government failed to 
reverse a deepening economic crisis.

  The resignation letter, which was delivered to Congress late in 
the day, followed violent food riots and protests here and in 
several cities. At least five demonstrators were killed today, 
bringing the death toll to 21 since the protests began early 
Wednesday.

  The president had made a last- ditch effort to form a unity 
government today with the leading opposition party, but when 
that was rejected, he announced he would leave.

  Argentina, with widening budget deficits, is heavily indebted to 
foreign lenders and is battling to prevent more defaults. After 
a series of budget cuts and a patchwork of economic programs, 
the country lacks a coherent economic and monetary strategy, and 
has no consensus as to what should be done.

  Mr. de la R?resignation will put the country's immediate 
future in the hands of the moderate opposition party that 
controls Congress and had recently begun blocking many of the 
former president's policies.

  Ram?uerta, the president of the Senate, is to become 
Argentina's provisional president for at least 48 hours while 
the Congress decides how to prepare for new elections, which are 
likely sometime next year. Under the law, a new president should 
be installed within three months.

  But Congress can change that, and how it will play its hand will 
be largely left to opposition leaders, including a former 
president, Carlos Sa?nem, and Senator Eduardo Duhalde, who 
lost to Mr. de la R? the 1999 elections.

  Whoever takes power is expected to face the same tough choices 
that defeated the indecisive Mr. de la R?aced with recession 
and declining exports, some Wall Street analysts have predicted 
that Argentina will devalue its currency by unhinging the peso 
from its unusual one-for- one link to the dollar.

  While such a move would lower prices and spur growth by making 
the country's goods more attractive, it could also prove ruinous 
to millions of borrowers and to the nation's banking system 
because most loans in the country are repayable in dollars, not 
pesos.

  Mr. de la R?government collapsed with surprising rapidity, 
as the police fired shotguns at demonstrators in front of his 
palace, tear gas seeped into presidential offices and fires 
filled the grand boulevards and avenues of Buenos Aires with 
towers of black smoke.

  Thousands of demonstrators massed and set bonfires in front of 
the Congress and presidential palace throughout the day, until 
riot police, including some on horseback, stormed through the 
crowds this afternoon clubbing people while reinforcements fired 
water cannon and rubber bullets.

  Defiant crowds chanted "assassins, assassins, assassins," making 
the scenes of anarchy reminiscent of the turbulent days of 
military rule from 1976 to 1983. With the 5 deaths today, more 
than 1,000 demonstrators and looters were arrested. More than 50 
police officers were reported hurt in the disturbances in the 
capital alone.

  The violence today followed looting and rioting in 11 of 
Argentina's 24 provinces on Wednesday, and much damage to 
private businesses, especially food stores. Mr. de la R?eclared a state of siege for 30 days on Wednesday, giving him 
the right to suspend such Constitutional rights as freedom of 
assembly and speech, and giving him free rein to arrest at will.

  But his assumption of emergency powers appeared only to incite 
greater protests, beginning with an outpouring of thousands of 
people Wednesday night onto the streets of Buenos Aires, banging 
pots and pans and demanding Mr. de la R?resignation.

  In an attempt to save his government, Mr. de la R?4, went on 
national television on Wednesday night and apologized to the 
people for their disappointment in his administration's 
performance. He called on the opposition party, known as the 
Justicialist party, "to participate in a national unity 
government in which they can bring in their ideas and programs."

  When that call was rebuffed, Mr. de la R?ld his closest 
aides that he had no choice but to tape a televised resignation 
address.

  As soon as Nicolas Gallo, a senior personal aide to Mr. de la 
R?old reporters late this afternoon that the president had 
decided to resign, the streets began to calm. The text of the 
speech said the resignation was to "assure the peace."

  Mr. Gallo told reporters, "the president wanted to avoid more 
suffering." He said "history will judge" how Mr. de la R?
administration would be seen. "It's been a very sad day," he 
added.

  Most opposition party leaders have called for the devaluation of 
the peso and suspension of payment on the country's debts.

  They are also suggesting that business and consumer loans that 
are now valued in dollars be revalued into new peso amounts that 
would reduce the overall debt. The lower loan amounts would 
benefit individuals whose income is expected to decline by 30 
percent to 50 percent in a peso devaluation.

  This scheme is designed to help middle-class people with home 
mortgages and car loans that are currently valued in dollars.

  The losers would be bank lenders because the loans would not be 
fully repaid. Other losers could well be Argentine businesses 
that owe dollar debts abroad but collect revenue in pesos at 
home. It would take a greater number of devalued pesos to repay 
their dollar loans.

  "I believe the economy can be stabilized and grow during a 
transition government," said Governor Adolfo Rodr?ez Saa of 
San Luis Province, an influential member of the opposition.

  Mr. de la R?decline began in October 2000 with the 
resignation of his vice president, Carlos Alvarez, over the 
government's handling of charges that bribes were paid to 
opposition senators to pass a new labor law.

  Mr. de la R?ruling Alianza coalition of centrists and Social 
Democrats fractured, and his cabinet became a revolving door of 
officials and constantly changing economic policies.

  Then, in October, his coalition suffered a devastating defeat in 
legislative elections that gave the opposition control of both 
houses of Congress.

  Cabinet officials on Wednesday publicly accused the Buenos Aires 
governor, Carlos Ruckauf, a former vice president and one of the 
most powerful leaders of the opposition, of instigating the 
looting to overthrow the government.

  During an emergency meeting of the cabinet on Wednesday, 
ministers debated whether to openly confront Governor Ruckauf 
with charges of treason. Some aides to Mr. de la R?gued that 
the federal government should seize Governor Ruckauf's Buenos 
Aires provincial police force in order to control the rioting 
that surged in the working-class neighborhoods that surround the 
capital city.

  But Mr. de la R?sitated, and instead declared a state of 
siege, which failed to bring peace. Now Mr. Ruckauf is 
considered a major presidential contender.



Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company




Document 001003177 ends.


	
BETHANY - The number of illegal immigrants in Swaziland seems to be increasing. Last month members of the Umbutfo Swaziland Defence Force [USDF] found 594 illegal aliens in the country. 
	
	
 The USDF found 43 Somalians inside two kombis in Maphiveni and 23 others were found without travel documents at Matsamo border and were handed over to the Horo police. At least 507 illegal Mozambicans have been found, as well as eight South Africans, two Tanzanians, and one Burundian. 
	
	
 According to the army spokesman, Corporal Nhlanhla Dlamini, the key areas where most of the immigrants were found was Lomahasha, Mhlumeni and Sitsatsaweni. "We have discovered that there is a certain family around Lomahasha, which is suspected of assisting illegal immigrants with shelter and transport. The army would like to request whoever is engaged in this criminal activity, to stop," he said. 
	
	
 Last month, 53 cattle were also stolen around the country, of which 17 were spotted inside Mozambique driven by three men armed with rifles thought to be AK47s. The Mozambican soldiers have promised to act quickly. 
	
	
 The USDF also found four stolen cars in different places in the country. These include a Nissan Skyline in Mafutseni, a Mercedes Benz, A Toyota and an Isuzu 2.5 diesel at Nkalashane. 
	
	
	





Document 001003178 ends.


	
Australia's plans to construct a space port on Christmas Island, located just a stone's throw, a mere 500 kilometres south of Jakarta, has concerned some in the Indonesian Government. Although diplomatic overtures to express official objections have not yet been made, the government through the National Space and Flight Agency has already warned of the possible risks facing Indonesia. The nation should certainly be concerned about the plans to build a rocket launch pad, work on the infrastructure for which is due to start in 2002, with launches beginning from 2004. The problem is, this large-scale project right in our own backyard could not only potentially cause space debris consisting of bits of rocket, fuel and satellites to fall into Indonesian territory, but will also disrupt flights and shipping. 
	
	
 If a rocket launch fails, debris weighing hundreds of tonnes will be scattered over the densely-populated island of Java or the tourist island of Bali, and on to the east as far as Timor. 
	
	
 The memory Russia's Mir space station which after 15 years fell to earth on 23 March 2001 is still fresh of. Fortunately shrapnel from the former space station, which measured 33 x 30 x 27 metres and weighed 137 tonnes, burned up as it re-entered the earth's atmosphere somewhere over the Pacific Ocean between Chile and Australia. Nevertheless, intact pieces of debris weighing up to 20 to 30 tonnes fell into the Pacific Ocean. 
	
	
 Prior to that, two Soviet satellites struck the earth. Cosmos 1402 in January 1978 fell over the Northern Hemisphere and Cosmos 954, which contained radioactive substances, crashed above the uninhabited tundra of Canada in September 1977. 
	
	
 Even more worrying is the possibility that a space station could be transformed into a military base and pose a threat to Indonesia's national sovereignty. At such close proximity, if bilateral relations with Australia were to take a turn for the worse, firing at Indonesia would be extremely easy. 
	
	
 On the other hand, Christmas Island is certainly an ideal location for rocket launches due to its proximity to the Equator and the geostationary orbit (GSO). [passage omitted on technical details of operation of GSO] 
	
	
 Notwithstanding the above, in reality only three of the 15 launch pad centres worldwide are located near the Equator - Kourou, San Marco and Sriharikota. But the famous US space centre, the Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral in Florida is located relatively far from the Equator. Therefore, plans to construct a space port should be moved from Christmas Island if Australia is really willing to listen to Indonesia's objections. 
	
	
 International law governing accountability if one nation's space debris falls on another is already in existence. The main convention is the UN Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects, 28 March 1972, known as the 1972 Liability Convention. 
	
	
 The Convention basically sets out the responsibility of the launching state, either jointly or collectively, for the consequences of a launch failure from the time of launching through to the re-entry of a satellite to the Earth's atmosphere. The Convention also sets out various claims that can be made by states who have suffered damages as a result of other states' space projects. 
	
	
 As the nation most likely to suffer the impact of the Australian Space Port, Indonesia could rely on the simplest article in the Liability Convention, Section 14. This section allows states who have suffered damages to claim compensation through the International Claims Commission, which acts as the representative of the appellant state against the launching state (in this case Australia) or any other international organisation which can be classed as a launching state. 
	
	
 Of course, lodging a claim is not as simple as clapping one's hands. Indonesia at the very least needs to sign the UN Convention on Space as well as ratify several other treaties governing national activities in outer space. 
	
	
 These UN Conventions are the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies 1967 (Space Treaty 1967), the Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects 1972 (Liability Convention 1972), and finally, the Convention on Registration of Objections launched into Outer Space 1974 (Registration Convention 1974). 
	
	
 So far, the Indonesian Government has only ratified the 1972 Liability Convention. This convention only applies to space objects that fall into Indonesian sovereign territory. Indonesia has only adopted one compensation principle, the Absolute Liability principle. This principle means that the burden of proof that the claimant state has suffered damages does not lie on the state submitting its damages claim. It is sufficient at law to demonstrate the fact of the damage caused as a result of the space object identified as belonging to the launching state or a state that has participated in the space object launching. 
	
	
 A National Space and Flight Agency working paper suggest a high degree of difficulty if Indonesia, as a state that has suffered damage, were to lodge a damages claim. In the case of objections to the Christmas Island space station, Indonesia would need to be able to show that damage that has occurred within its territorial area was caused by space objects launched from the Christmas Island station. This would of course require advanced technology and great cost to bring the matter to a claim submission. 
	
	
 But in conversation with Kompas on Sunday (17 Mar), one of Indonesia's few space law experts, Prof Dr Priyatna Abdurrasyid, expressed a different opinion. Indonesia would not need to produce further evidence to substantiate its claim, he said. It would suffice to submit a claim to the UN Claims Commission and state that the space debris in Indonesia had originated from the Australian space centre. 
	
	
 "If Australia then denies the claim, we need only demand that Australia produce proof that the space debris did not originate from its space centre activities. If a deadlock in negotiations occurs, the parties can ask the UN Claims Commission as a neutral party to act as adjudicator. This is no different to arbitration hearings to resolve other cases," Priyatna said. 
	
	
 Unfortunately, historical precedent shows that claiming compensation is no easy matter. In claiming compensation from the Soviet Union over Cosmos 954, Canada was forced to navigate numerous procedural complications. This is a very important lesson for Indonesia. 
	
	
 Unlike other experts, Priyatna believes that Indonesia should not be too concerned [about the Australian planned space station]. "In principle, my personal opinion is that we shouldn't go against the current. Rather we should the use the current to our mutual benefit," he said. 
	
	
 Meaning that rather than challenging and issuing objections to the Australian space project, Indonesia should take advantage of our southern neighbour's space activities. 
	
	
 "The Space Treaty 1967 obliges launching states to open as widely as possible the opportunity of cooperation with other states in all its activities. The treaty also pledges that the launching of space objects be purely for humanitarian purposes and not for military purposes," Priyatna said. 
	
	
 The basic principles of the Space Treaty 1967 oblige Australia as the launching state to open the possibility of humanitarian cooperation in the field of space endeavour. "Australia is not allowed to prevent other states who want to cooperate on its space centre. Indonesia can exploit this principle of the Space Treaty 1967. Rather than issuing a letter of objection to the Australian Government, wouldn't it be better to join them in our own national interest?" he asked. 
	
	
 The kangaroo country should implement risk management procedures before opening the space station on Christmas Island, and open as widely as possible the opportunity of cooperation with other states, and open complete access to cooperation to all states without exception. These principles are upheld in the Space Treaty 1967. 
	
	
 Australia should adhere to the Cardinal Principle of International Law, which states that all nations in the world must first respect and promote the humanitarian interests and progress of all humankind. But the problem is, who can ensure that these guidelines will indeed be adhered to? 
	
	
	





Document 001003181 ends.


	
The UN International Conference on Financing for Development opened in Monterrey on 18 March (Telam photo) 
	
	
 Monterrey, Mexico--Choked, hushed voices, some of them astounded, are not guessing correctly about the dilemma of the chicken or the egg into which the Argentine crisis has become converted, almost grotesquely: will the International Monetary Fund (IMF) endorse concrete aid to the country, apart from the presumable good intentions of its board members and technicians, without the approval of George W. Bush? 
	
	
 "Certainly not," was the comment made in a private dialogue with La Nacion by a diplomatic source from the United States who, with a legion of colleagues, is attending the United Nations Conference on Financing for Development that opened yesterday in Monterrey, Mexico. 
	
	
 And, while striding hastily through the large facilities of the International Business Center (Cintermex), he sketched an explanation: "Argentina is the leading case of an era in which everyone pays dearly for his mistakes, and somehow manages as best he can. If someone earns 1,000 and spends 1,500, he will inevitably succumb to bankruptcy. The same thing is happening to the countries now. However, since this is a new concept, there may be room for negotiation." 
	
	
 Apparently not in Monterrey, where Bush will have a full agenda, and without contacts with other chief executives, except for Mexico's President Vicente Fox, and Canada's Prime Minister Jean Chretien, since they are trading partners in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). "Well, one never knows," slipped in the source, becoming lost on an escalator. 
	
	
 Eduardo Duhalde's agenda, during his first departure from the country since he assumed the presidency, calls for a key meeting on Friday with the IMF's managing director, Horst Koehler, (which he will attend accompanied by Economy Minister Jorge Remes Lenicov), and two occasions on which he will have the floor, addressing the world (for five minutes on one, and three minutes on the other) concerning the topic under discussion; the Monterrey Consensus: or greater assistance from the developed countries to those that are underdeveloped, which in fact will be approved by consensus. 
	
	
 As soon as he arrives on Wednesday, Duhalde will meet with Fox, perhaps spearheading the explanation of the Argentine situation to Bush: a possibility that is not entirely clear among the Mexican officials, especially since, in principle, the virtual plan will have to take place step by step. "First I listen, and then I will see," commented one of them to La Nacion. It was learned that Foreign Minister Carlos Ruckauf and Foreign Secretary Jorge Castaneda may already have talked about this. 
	
	
 More Political Than Economic 
	
	
 It is common knowledge, among most of the small groups, that the Argentine crisis is more political than economic, and that, as one Latin American diplomat accredited to the UN remarked, the formula in question does not hold much mystery: "A rapprochement with the United States is indispensable, because it is the only one that can extricate them from this." 
	
	
 Very well. How? With a strategy that would permit Duhalde, if he does not receive a clear signal from the IMF, not to call for elections in 90 days, for example, and to become a lame duck, waiting for his successor, he explained. 
	
	
 The source commented: "Argentine is in a position to be an alternative reference point for the United States, to the detriment of Brazil which, in view of the internal and external vicissitudes facing Fernando Henrique Cardoso, is, day by day, becoming somewhat weak." 
	
	
 These are geostrategic plans at moments when time is exerting pressure, and also pressing the speed at which the world turns. With 58 chief executives immersed in signing a document which, as La Nacion was told by the Argentine ambassador to the United Nations, Arnoldo Listre, gives a clue to the direction in which we are heading: "It shows a new organization in which the market economy is accepted as a fundamental factor for development and, unlike the cold war, is rid of the North-South confrontation." 
	
	
 In that document, the Monterrey Consensus, free trade, the amendment on the distortion with agricultural subsidies, and the treatment of the external debt as fundamental pivotal points, benefit Argentina. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan himself said, in his time, that the situation of indebted, undeveloped countries must be consideed, so as to avoid the repetition of a crisis such as ours. In the documents, Argentina ranks in 59th place for its per capita income: $7,440, according to the World Bank's report on development: a substantially devalued figure after the default and the end of the currency board arrangement. Despite this, it gives a clue to the gap that existed, and still exists, between the reality and the statistics of the international credit agencies. 
	
	
 According to some sources, the crisis is in a bind: the IMF is asking for more belt-tightening, and the government is asking for more money. Ergo: without belt-tightening there is no money, and without money there is no belt-tightening. Then what? A source from the United Nations observed ironically: "If Chile were Iraq, and if President Ricardo Lagos were Saddam Hussein, Argentina would have Bush's full support." Chile is not Iraq, nor is Lagos Saddam, fortunately, of course. 
	
	
	





Document 001003182 ends.


	
TAIPEI, Sept 27 (AFP) -- Taiwan is expected to officially become a full member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in March 2002, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Steve Chen said Thursday. 
	
	
 "March appears to be a more reasonable estimate while earlier admission cannot be entirely ruled out," according to Chen, also Taiwan's chief WTO negotiator. 
	
	
 After having secured the approval of a working panel in Geneva, Taiwan's entry has yet to be ratified at the WTO's ministerial meeting set for Qatar in November and then undergo parliamentary deliberation at home, he said. 
	
	
 Chen said Taiwan is set to reduce the average tariff rate on 1,021 farm products to 12.9 percent after its WTO accession from 20.0 percent currently. 
	
	
 "We will also phase out internal protection of such products and remove export subsidies." 
	
	
 At the same time, the average tariff rate on 3,470 industrial items would be slashed to 4.2 percent eventually from the current 6.0 percent, he added. 
	
	
 Under a quota system, the tariffs on imported cars would be reduced from 30.0 percent in the first year after Taiwan's WTO entry to 17.5 percent in 10 years, he said. 
	
	
 Chen said Taiwan's external trade has less of a need to readjust itself in the post-WTO era as it has long functioned under a market-oriented economy and already largely conforms to international conventions. 
	
	
 Taiwan-made products stood a good chance of becoming even more competitive thanks to wider access to overseas markets and lower costs for material imports, he said. 
	
	
 However an expected increase in farm imports would certainly have an impact on the domestic agricultural sector, he said. 
	
	
 The vice minister said Taiwan's service industry was unlikely to sustain an excessive impact as it has been largely opened to private and foreign participation. 
	
	
 Instead, service ventures in the financial, transport and telecom sectors should benefit from the introduction of advanced skills and expertise from abroad, he added. 
	
	
	





Document 001003184 ends.


	
West aims 'to prop up MDC' 
	
	
 Herald Reporter - THE United States has imposed targeted sanctions on President Mugabe and other senior Government officials for the alleged deteriorating political situation in the country, the US embassy said at the weekend. 
	
	
 However, the Government has said the sanctions are meant to prop up the opposition MDC ahead of next month's presidential election. Foreign Affairs Secretary Mr Willard Chiwewe said the West was in a hurry to prop up the MDC. 
	
	
 The move follows the European Union's decision last Monday to impose sanctions on Cde Mugabe, Cabinet ministers, senior Government and military officials, including a freeze on their alleged overseas assets and a travel ban to the 15-nation bloc. 
	
	
 Dismissing the EU move last week, President Mugabe said Zimbabwe would withstand the sanctions imposed by Britain and its allies and would never abandon the land issue. 
	
	
 "They are saying that they are placing sanctions on leaders so that they don't come to Europe. What is Europe. 
	
	
 "What will I be wanting in Europe? We can visit other countries in Asia and Africa," he said at a rally in Nkayi. 
	
	
 The EU decision was roundly condemned by African countries, which described the move as neo-colonial. Nigeria, Tanzania, South Africa and the Organisation of African Unity lambasted the EU. 
	
	
 In a show of solidarity with Zimbabwe, Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa said African countries should not let themselves be manipulated by the EU and other powerful nations. 
	
	
 "This is neo-colonialism and economic colonialism. I'm saying this because some are beginning to forget that it was in Berlin where they had gone to decide on the Balkanisation of this continent into countries which they later came to colonise." 
	
	
 Namibia said Zimbabwe had the right to invite observers for its elections. It said there was no justification in the EU's move and the body should not regard itself as more competent than others in election observation. 
	
	
 In a statement yesterday, the US embassy said the travel ban has been imposed on the President, senior Government officials, "certain persons" with business dealings with Zimbabwe Government officials and their families. 
	
	
 The US embassy said the sanctions also applied to those who "formulate, implement, or benefit from policies that undermine or injure Zimbabwe's democratic institutions or impede the functioning of a multi-party democracy. 
	
	
 "The United States believes that targeted travel restrictions against those who are responsible for Zimbabwe's crisis will advance positive change by signalling our support for the democratic forces in Zimbabwe and focusing international scrutiny on the appropriate actors," the US embassy said.	





Document 001003185 ends.


       

Sun Microsystems Inc., snapping back to profitability after its first quarterly loss as a public firm, said it earned $5.2 million, or seven cents a share, in the fiscal first quarter. 

Sun, a maker of computer workstations, reported sales of $538.5 million for the quarter ended Sept. 29, up 39% from $388.5 million a year earlier.
In the 1988 period, the company earned $20.6 million, or 26 cents a share. 

Sun's results were slightly better than expectations.
Earlier this month, the company said it expected to break even for the quarter on sales of $530 million. 

In a statement, Scott McNealy, Sun's chief executive officer, said the company's performance was hampered by problems tied to the introduction of a major new family of computers in April.
One of those new computers, called Sparcstation 1, accounted for nearly half of the 28,000 systems Sun shipped in the quarter, he said.
More than two-thirds of the systems shipped, meanwhile, were products introduced in April. 

But problems in manufacturing, forecasting demand and getting the bugs out of a new management information system made it extremely difficult for Sun to meet demand for its newest computers well into the summer.
These problems also resulted in Sun reporting a $20.3 million loss for its fourth quarter ended June 30. 

Mr. McNealy said the issues that hurt Sun's performance earlier this year are now "largely" behind the firm, and he indicated that Sun's profitability should increase throughout the fiscal year. 

Sun also reported a record backlog of orders.
While this indicates continued strong demand for the company's desk-top computers, Sun faces increasing competition from Digital Equipment Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. Recently, analysts have said Sun also is vulnerable to competition from International Business Machines Corp., which plans to introduce a group of workstations early next year, and Next Inc. 




Document 001003187 ends.



   US-Japan climate talks end

 



  Representatives from Japan and the United States have finished 
two days of talks Tuesday on climate change in Tokyo.

  They discussed ways of co-operating in the science and 
technology fields to prevent global warming.

  The meeting was the first between the two countries since 
President George Bush unveiled a new US plan calling for 
voluntary limits on greenhouse gas emissions based on economic 
growth rather than mandatory targets.

  At the start of the meeting, the US said it would promote 
research and development into climate change.

  
Japan says it still intends to ratify the Kyoto protocol.

  President Bush caused an international outcry when he rejected 
the 1997 Kyoto protocol on climate change last year, saying it 
hindered US economic growth.

  
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service


Copyright @ BBC




Document 001003188 ends.


	
Islamabad, March 18, IRNA - Central Leader of Pakistan People Party (PPP) and former provincial minister of North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) Seyed Qamar Abbas has rejected US state department report on Human Rights in Iran and other countries, saying America has no right to make such a report as it is itself the violator of human rights. He told IRNA in an interview on Monday, "America has killed thousands of innocent people in almost all parts of the globe particularly in the Muslim world. America, in the guise of its so-called war on terror, has killed and injured thousands of innocent Afghans and the prisoners of war are maltreated." A couple of weeks ago, the US state department in its annual report had revealed that Iran, Pakistan and some other countries are the violators of human rights. "America has a double standard policy. It denounces human rights violation but supports Israel for perishing the Muslims in Palestine and Lebanon," Abbas criticized. He said those countries and nations which are independant in real sense of the world and do not take dictation from the US or accepts its supremacy are labelled as human rights violators. "Those who submit to its policies are showered upon favours," he added. "America always follows its interests. In its so-called war against terrorism and against weapons of mass destruction lies its covert motive and that is its strategic and economic interests," Abbas added. However, he hoped that the people of the world can no more be kept in dark. "They can see and observe the unjust and discriminatory policies of America. People do not believe whatever the America says," he concluded.	





Document 001003191 ends.


 
 
     		
 	
 		all right Amy how are you doing today
 	
 	
 		fine fine
 	
 	
 		oh all righty i think we know what we're going to speak about um tell you what i'll start off how's that
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		okay you go ahead
 	
                   	
 		um i personally think to set a mark with the judicial system and we're talking about criminals criminal cases that they should bring back
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		
 
 		hangings on weekends
 	
 	
 		in public places
 	
 	
 		in public places there is one state that does that by the way
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		really what is that
 	
 	
 		i want to say Oklahoma i saw report something the other night about it
 	
 	
 		hm
 	
 	
 		they don't do them real often which is obviously the death penalty
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		yeah
 	
 	
 		um but i think if we quit uh building these Taj Mahals with the color TVs
 		and sixty dollars sixty thousand a year to keep an inmate in there on a on a on a life sentence we should start hanging them and get it over with and let's just screwing up the system uh
 	
 	
 		yeah well the sentences are so unbelievable i just saw on the news last night that they said the average time a sentenced murderer you know is in jail is two years before he's paroled and a rapists is like six months and a burglar is like two months
 	
 	
 		that's pathetic
 		that's pathetic it's
 	
 	
 		because they just say there's either no room in the system you know in the jails for them or
 		you know it's just that it seems like the automatic sentences if if a judge has leeway on what he's going to you know sentence someone for between you know two months and uh fifty years and you know what's his whim to decide it should be two months
 	
 	
 		this is true and and and and and the way the law reads uh if they sentence you to
 	
 	
 		you know it's crazy
 	
 	
 		life in prison then he's available for parole if it's if it's life and a day then he's not eligible for parole so what you know let's quit BSing with the system
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		well even if it's life like you say we end up spending sixty thousand dollars a year to keep some you know joker in there for life we could spend that money you know for starving children that are starving or twelve million other things would be more useful than that
 	
 	
 		exactly
 	
 	
 		so to me if somebody has life you know beyond a reasonable doubt they should that should be it you know particularly for some of these really
 	
 	
 		a life for a life
 	
 	
 		i mean there are so many just major major serial murders and it's not just like one instance or something it's just uh horrifying some of the murders that go on
 	
 	
 		the old Charles Manson case i mean the guy is really
 	
 	
 		yeah and the yeah there's just everyday you hear on the news of another one like that um
 	
 	
 		
 
 		just shouldn't be allowed to to even even live uh about the issue about sentencing by the judge
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		the the judge presently has an opportunity to intervene
 		uh when there's uh my understanding when there's uh a verdict and it for example there's a hung jury here in Fort Worth two day in eight to four and bam bam the guy got off
 		uh he was uh he he was a veterinarian and killed two a father and a son okay
 	
 	
 		right yeah i heard about that on the news yeah
 	
 	
 		um kind of gets back to the second request we've been asked to look at is most criminal cases requiring an ananimous verdict the a situation like that i'd say no let's just go like a regular vote eight to four tells me that there were eight
 		there's a percentage certain percentage of the people there with sixty percent of the people uh seventy percent of the people said hey
 	
 	
 		right rather than have to retrial the whole whole thing and spend all the money for people to you know go back to court and all the lawyers and i mean it just winds up costing the taxpayers a fortune you know a fortune to keep doing that
 	
 	
 		the guy's guilty
 		exactly
                          
 	
 	
 		and the victims you know the family of these people that have been murdered they just have to have it dragged on for years and years before they ever get any resolution
 	
 	
 		exactly because it's not next day they have the start the trial which is X number of months and just prolongs the situation that much more
 	
 	
 		right
 		yeah yeah
 	
 	
 		i think that that if it's if it's not a split decision uh go with the highest number and let's just get on with the program
 	
 	
 		yeah yeah
 	
 	
 		uh but as far as the sentencing by the judge i would have to vote against that since there's a jury because that's what the juries are for is to make the decision um what are your feelings
 	
 	
 		yeah yeah
 		well if i i saw on one of the talk shows this woman judge i believe from Florida and she just has just really stiff penalties and i saw that in in the hands of a judge that really was conscientious and really
 		you know took the pains to give a sentence for what was deserved it could you could have a a judge that would really make a good impact but likewise you could have the flip side
 		and have some judge that was paid off or you know had good a good old boy network or for whatever reasons you know politics just let all kinds of people through so he he would have a heck or she would have a heck of a lot of power
 		you know if used wrongly so at least the jury system does something to prevent that you know or help it with it anyway i don't know if it prevents it but  seems like the jury system does have it's advantages
 		but i also i've also heard on trials that sometimes they go through like three hundred jurors before they hand pick these jurors that they think are going to be the ones that are going to be the most lenient you know
 		and i don't know how much they're getting just a jury of their peers at that point they're really getting a select group it's not just random people
 	
 	
 		hm
 	
 	
 		it almost should be the first twelve people that they you know that have on a list are the ones that are on the jury and that's it
 	
 	
 		yeah yeah i get back to Price's comment when he uh was found guilty he said well he didn't have any blacks uh you know from his neck of the woods well give me a break you know
 	
 	
 		you know
 		
 
 		he'd have to have his whole family up there for him to feel like he's got his peers or something yeah
 	
 	
 		exactly
 		yeah yeah i mean you're you're in Dallas so everybody i can't believe they can uh like in a murder situations they look for juries who don't know anything about the system well or know anything about the the occurrence you'd have to be pretty dense
 	
 	
 		yeah
 	
 	
 		you'd be in have to be in a cave not to know what's going on or moving it to Lubbock or somewhere possibly is not the answer
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		oh they'd have to move it to Taiwan for people not to know about it practically
 	
 	
 		this is true so true well this has been an interesting conversation
 	
 		yeah yeah
 		well really this is breaks up my afternoon from changing diapers and mopping floors i mean what can i say no i'm at home with two little kids preschoolers  my husband works for TI
 	
 	
 		oh so you're at the house you're not at the plant
 		oh hold it
 		oh that's good that's good i thought i heard a holler there in the background but i wasn't sure
 	
 	
 		so yeah
 		oh yeah i've got the dog and two kids waiting here i am locked up in the laundry room  okay thanks a lot bye-bye
 	
 	
 		oh goodness well i'll let you get i enjoyed it bye
 	
 	
 		
 
 		
 		
 	


Document 001003194 ends.



    Guantanamo to hold terror prisoners

 



  The U.S. naval base at Guantamano Bay, Cuba, once a detention 
center for thousands of Cubans and Haitians seeking freedom in 
America, may soon become a prison for men with a radically 
different view of the country.

  The Pentagon is planning to house captured al Qaeda terrorists 
and Taliban fighters for an undetermined time at the base on the 
island's isolated eastern coast, Defense Secretary Donald 
Rumsfeld said Thursday.

  Despite the logistical hurdle of moving at least several dozen 
presumably dangerous men around 8,000 miles from Afghanistan, 
Rumsfeld called Cuba ``the least worst place.''

  U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, said she supported the 
idea, in part, because it would underscore the naval base's 
strategic importance at a time when some members of Congress 
have urged returning the territory to Cuba.

  ``It's an excellent location,'' she said. ``It gives new life to 
Gitmo,'' as the base is often called.

  Because the base is not on U.S. soil, people detained there are 
not entitled to American residency and eventual citizenship 
privileges. U.S. officials began using it as an offshore holding 
station during a Haitian refugee crisis in 1991. During the 
1994-95 rafter crisis, 50,000 Cubans and Haitians were housed 
there in a tent encampment after U.S. naval vessels had picked 
them up at sea.

  The prisoners from Afghanistan are not expected to arrive for 
weeks, and Rumsfeld said there are no plans to stage military 
tribunals or trials at the base, which is home to about 1,100 
members of the Navy and Marine Corps.

  The biggest challenge may be getting prisoners from South Asia 
to the Caribbean. Some prisoners are reportedly being held on 
warships in the Afghan region. Others are at a U.S. military 
compound in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where U.S. forces built a 
stockade of sorts to house them.

  
1999 PLANS

  At the Southern Command in Miami, the Pentagon's base for 
military operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, 
spokesman Steve Lucas said planners had pulled out blueprints 
from April 1999 -- when the Clinton administration had briefly 
considered housing up to 20,000 refugees from the Kosovo 
conflict at the base.

  Then, the concern was how to make comfortable traumatized 
victims of civil war uprooted from a violent, cold climate. 
Planners scrambled to deploy healthcare workers and Muslim 
clergymen before the White House abandoned that idea.

  In this instance, military sources said, the number of prisoners 
would be much smaller -- perhaps in the dozens -- and the 
logistics would focus more on security at the 45-square-mile 
base and less on the comfort of prisoners who are considered 
either members of a terrorist network or supporters of 
terrorists.

  As of Thursday, the United States had an estimated 45 prisoners 
in custody. Guantanamo has detention space for about 100 people.

  ``All of this is pretty well-planned out because we have used it 
to house illegal migrant detainees in the past, Cubans and 
Haitians,'' Lucas said. ``It will be a little bit of a different 
situation but a lot of the basic stuff is the same.''

  
SLICE OF U.S.

  With an outdoor movie theater, bowling alleys, a McDonald's and 
a mini-mall, Guantanamo Bay is a curious slice of Americana on 
the edge of the Caribbean. As of 1999, 2,400 civilians were on 
the base, including the families of the sailors and Marines who 
manage the port and patrol the fence line that separates the 
base from communist-ruled Cuba. No updated figure was available 
Thursday.

  The base is extremely isolated. Visitors can reach it only under 
strict military escort and with prior permission from the 
Pentagon, aboard special small shuttle flights that reach the 
base by a circuitous flight from the United States. On rare 
occasions, Cuban defectors get there by swimming through 
dangerous waters or by traversing a Cuban minefield.

  There is also a gate between Cuba proper and the base that is 
sometimes opened for meetings between military commanders, or to 
repatriate Cubans who have been taken to the base.

  Cuban leader Fidel Castro has long argued that the U.S. military 
occupation of the base is illegal, while U.S. officials say the 
base exists under a lease agreement that was part of a 1934 
treaty with Cuba. Some Washington diplomats consider giving back 
the land a potential carrot for negotiation with a democratic 
Cuban government.

  Ros-Lehtinen suggested Thursday that the move might raise the 
hackles of Cuba's government, but Rumsfeld dismissed those 
concerns.

  
``We don't anticipate any trouble with Mr. Castro,'' he said.



Copyright 2002 Miami Herald




Document 001003195 ends.


       

Orkem S.A., a French state-controlled chemical manufacturer, is making a friendly bid of 470 pence ($7.43) a share for the 59.2% of U.K. specialty chemical group Coates Brothers PLC which it doesn't already own, the two sides said. 

The offer, which values the whole of Coates at #301 million, has already been accepted by Coates executives and other shareholders owning 12.4% of the company.
The acceptances give Orkem a controlling 53.2% stake in the company. 

Orkem and Coates said last Wednesday that the two were considering a merger, through Orkem's British subsidiary, Orkem Coatings U.K. Ltd. 

Orkem, France's third-largest chemical group, said it would fund the acquisition through internal resources.
The takeover would be followed by a restructuring of Orkem's U.K. unit, including the addition of related Orkem businesses and possibly further acquisitions.
Orkem said it eventually would seek to make a public share offering in its U.K. business. 




Document 001003198 ends.


	
During the past weeks Europe and America witnessed the arrangement of important international conferences, which could on the one hand guarantee the peace and stability of the world, or could instead deteriorate the conditions. The conference in New York, which dealt with a ban on demand for light arms, and the Genoa Conference which had a much wider and extended agenda, had two common features between them. The first was that large and numerous bodies of dissidents were opposing the wishes and interests of a small but powerful group. The second feature was that both conferences ended without effective result, and the decisions taken and resolutions adopted there lacked conclusiveness and were not operational. The Bonn Conference however, which dealt with the global environment and examined the condition of world climate, could be appraised as an exception and a relative success. 
	
	
 After two weeks of discussion and exchange of views at the New York Conference, it was decided to pay heed to the resolute demands advanced by the majority of the participants, who emphatically insisted on the imposition of a ban on the sale of light weaponry. But paying heed was not tantamount to endorsement of the demand launched by those countries; rather, the final result came out as a compromise solution and a relative back up by the majority group. 
	
	
 The joint demand and stand by the majority of countries attending the conference was encountered by firm opposition by the United States [of America]. American delegates at the conference maintained that any restriction or ban on the sale, possession, and carrying of light armaments was practically the same as limiting the freedom of action [as published] of American citizens, and equal to reducing their margin of security. This is while possessing arms for self-defense is itself a factor that breeds insecurity. Critics of the meeting, on the margin of the conference, up held the view that the American government, instead of heeding the wishes of international community, and protecting the security of world nations, and above all the safety of its own citizens, has paid more attention to the interests of corporations and huge arms producers and military-industrial complexes that reap tremendous profits annually from the sale of such armaments. (It should be noted that the issues moved at the conference were declared unofficial and lacking validity [legal force] even for the participating countries.) [Sentences are as published] The most important of the three conferences, which subsequently gained even more prominence, was the conference in Genova; perhaps even more so for the results "not obtained" at the conference, and which led to the subsequent intense dissatisfaction and frustration of the leading industrial states attending the meeting. The governments attending the conference had a long and varied agenda, including: economic globalization, the anti-missile shield defense project, the Kyoto Protocol and environmental protection, the political and military crises in the Middle East, the Balkans, and Afghanistan, moratorium on the accumulated debt of the poor countries, and ... [as published] They meant to reach some form of agreement or understanding about those issues, but unexpected events left all that in limbo and uncertainty. The conference opened with fierce demonstrations by the opponents of economic globalization, who maintained that what is being concocted by globalization is in fact poverty. When Italian police intervened and roughly handled the demonstrations, things got out of hand; the already volatile situation reached boiling point, violent clashes broke out, and the killing of one protestor overshadowed all other issues. The whole incident was in fact unprecedented in the history of European democracies, and has prompted a whole range of controversies and debates. 
	
	
 It can safely be claimed that the events in Genoa have influenced [overshadowed] the very conferences in New York and Bonn; whereas, from the onset, the weak results of Genoa was foreseeable for most observers. Because, from the very start it could be predicted that on the subject of economic globalization, the developed and capitalist states were going to come across fierce opposition by dissident groups and the supporters of economic growth in poor countries. 
	
	
 Regarding the American proposed Anti-Missile Defense System too, neither Russia, China, Japan, nor even the European Union, had shown any enthusiasm; rather they had all expressed their reserves on the project. Concerning the environmental protection issue, the emission of toxic and greenhouse gases, and warming up of the planet earth's climate too, which was somehow related to the [agenda of] Bonn Conference, America had relentlessly demonstrated its paradoxical [as published] [controversial] position and particular stance opposed to that of other developed states by her previous abandonment of the Kyoto Protocol. Whereas, beforehand, it was anticipated and hoped that the agreements reached at Genoa would help bring about beneficial results for the Bonn conference as well. Even the eagerness for playing an intermediary role in the Middle East crisis has given rise to fierce competition between America, European Union, and Russia and China. And it is likely that until each party seeks its own particular interest in the conflict, and until the rivalry persists, the question would continue to remain unresolved. 
	
	
 What, however, was most remarkable in the conferences in New York and Genoa, was the fact that most decisions made, were based on interests and tastes of particular groups [lobbies]. Here are the views expressed by two of the prominent characters attending the Genoa Conference. Jacques Chirac, the French President, responding to the protests leveled by opponents of globalization, had said: "They have no right to present themselves as defenders of the world poor..." Similarly, Gerhard Schroeder, the German Chancellor, too had claimed that the participants at the summit meeting were the true, legitimate, and elected representatives of the people of their countries. In the remarks made by these political leaders, one point is interesting and calls for reflection: if these leaders reject the interference of others in the condition and destiny of the poor nations, while present themselves legitimate and competent to make far reaching decisions for them, then it must be said that they are only the elected [leaders] of their own nation [people], and this does not entitle them to act as representative or legal attorney of all people worldwide! [Exclamation mark as published] In view of the criticisms, which have been made, they could perhaps be also considered to be the representative of powerful corporations that have placed the whole "world economy" under their influence, and as a result of that they are also controlling the world of politics globally. 
	
	
 At the Bonn Conference too, the agenda was to tackle and discuss the most urgent and indispensable factors concerning the life of humankind. The remarkable feature of this conference was the joint resolution adopted by 180 countries worldwide --- in regard to protection of environment, and above all reducing the emission of greenhouse gases ---, which has isolated America in an undeniable way. It was due to this isolation that America, in spite of discrediting [undermining] the Kyoto Protocol and declining to comply with the Bonn Conference [resolution], was forced to at least make a promise to cooperate in preventing an increase in air pollution. 
	
	
 To recap, if there ever existed any possibility that at the conferences of New York and Genoa questions regarding: promotion of world security, improvement of economic conditions, defusing regional and global crises and conflicts, checking unleashed competition for rearmament, reduction of the gap between the mainstream and peripheral countries, and ... could be addressed and appropriate, serious, and worthy measures for their solution could be adopted, the opportunity was very easily lost and the meetings flopped completely. As regards the recent conference (Bonn Meeting), although the past gatherings like the Hague meeting and Kyoto conference have proved to be failed experiences, nevertheless as the climatic and atmospheric crises are growing more serious, one can be optimistic and hopeful about the success of such protocols and pacts, and implementation of the agreements, even though they are not protected by any sanctions. 
	
	
 ENDALL ARZK 
	
	
	





Document 001003199 ends.


       

Sony Corp. completed its tender offer for Columbia Pictures Entertainment Inc., with Columbia shareholders tendering 99.3% of all common shares outstanding by the Tuesday deadline. 

Sony Columbia Acquisition Corp., formed for the Columbia deal, will formally take ownership of the movie studio later this month, a spokesman said.
Sony is paying $27 a share, or $3.55 billion, cash and is assuming $1.4 billion of long-term debt. 

Still unresolved is Sony's effort to hire producers Jon Peters and Peter Guber to run the studio.
Sony's planned acquisition of Guber/Peters Entertainment Co. for $200 million is scheduled to close Monday.
Guber/Peters has been locked in litigation with Warner Communications Inc. in an attempt to get out of an exclusive production contract with Warner.
Both sides are in talks to settle the dispute. 




Document 001003200 ends.


       

Unisys Corp. 's announcement Friday of a $648.2 million loss for the third quarter showed that the company is moving even faster than expected to take write-offs on its various problems and prepare for a turnaround next year. 

At the same time, the sheer size of the loss, coupled with a slowing of orders, made some securities analysts wonder just how strong that turnaround will be at the computer maker and defense-electronics concern. 

"Unisys is getting clobbered.
Just clobbered," said Ulric Weil, an analyst at Weil & Associates who had once been high on the company. "The quarter was terrible, and the future looks anything but encouraging." 

Unisys, whose revenue inched up 3.7% in the quarter to $2.35 billion from $2.27 billion in the year-earlier quarter, had an operating loss of about $30 million.
On top of that, the Blue Bell, Pa., concern took a $230 million charge related to the layoffs of 8,000 employees.
That is at the high end of the range of 7,000 to 8,000 employees that Unisys said a month ago would be laid off.
Unisys said that should help it save $500 million a year in costs, again at the high end of the previously reported range of $400 million to $500 million. 

The company also took a write-off of $150 million to cover losses on some fixed-price defense contracts, as some new managers took a hard look at the prospects for that slow-growing business.
In addition, Unisys set up an unspecified reserve -- apparently $60 million to $70 million -- to cover the minimum amount it will have to pay the government because of its involvement in the defense-procurement scandal.
Unisys also noted that it paid $78.8 million in taxes during the quarter, even though tax payments normally would be minimal in a quarter that produced such a big loss. 

The tax payments will leave Unisys with $225 million in loss carry-forwards that will cut tax payments in future quarters.
In addition, Unisys said it reduced computer inventories a further $100 million during the quarter, leaving it within $100 million of its goal of a reduction of $500 million by the end of the year. 

Still, Unisys said its European business was weak during the quarter, a worrisome sign given that the company has relied on solid results overseas to overcome weakness in the U.S. over the past several quarters. 

The company also reported slower growth in another important business: systems that use the Unix operating system.
That would be a huge problem if it were to continue, because Unisys is betting its business on the assumption that customers want to move away from using operating systems that run on only one manufacturer's equipment and toward systems -- mainly Unix -- that work on almost anyone's machines. 

In addition, Unisys must deal with its increasingly oppressive debt load.
Debt has risen to around $4 billion, or about 50% of total capitalization.
That means Unisys must pay about $100 million in interest every quarter, on top of $27 million in dividends on preferred stock. 

Jim Unruh, Unisys's president, said he is approaching next year with caution.
He said the strength of the world-wide economy is suspect, and doesn't see much revenue growth in the cards. 

He also said that the price wars flaring up in parts of the computer industry will continue through next year.
He said the move toward standard operating systems means customers aren't locked into buying from their traditional computer supplier and can force prices down.
That, he said, is why Unisys is overhauling its whole business: It needs to prepare for a world in which profit margins will be lower than computer companies have been used to. 

"We've approached this not as a response to a temporary condition in the industry but as a fundamental change the industry is going through," Mr. Unruh said. "The information-systems industry is still going to be a high-growth business, and we're confident that we have tremendous assets as a company.
But we don't minimize the challenges of the near term." 

Securities analysts were even more cautious, having been burned repeatedly on Unisys this year.
Some had predicted earnings of more than $4 a share for this year, up from last year's fully diluted $3.27 a share on earnings of $680.6 million.
But the company said Friday that it had losses of $673.3 million through the first nine months, compared with earnings a year earlier of $382.2 million, or $2.22 a share fully diluted, as revenue inched up 1.4% to $7.13 billion from $7.03 billion.
And Unisys is expected to do little better than break even in the fourth quarter. 

So Steve Milunovich at First Boston said he is cutting his earnings estimate for next year to $2 a share from $3. "I was feeling like I was too high to begin with," he said. 

Mr. Weil of Weil & Associates said he will remain at $1 a share for next year but said he wonders whether even that low target is at risk. "The break-even point for next year is much lower, but is it low enough?" he asked. 

Reflecting the concern, Unisys stock fell a further 75 cents to $16.25 in composite trading Friday on the New York Stock Exchange. 




Document 001003202 ends.


       

The portfolio unit of the French bank group Credit Lyonnais told stock market regulators that it bought 43,000 shares of Cie. de Navigation Mixte, apparently to help fend off an unwelcome takeover bid for the company. 

Earlier yesterday, the Societe de Bourses Francaises was told that a unit of Framatome S.A. also bought Navigation Mixte shares, this purchase covering more than 160,000 shares. 

Both companies are allies of Navigation Mixte in its fight against a hostile takeover bid launched last week by Cie.
Financiere de Paribas at 1,850 French francs ($297) a share.
Navigation Mixte's chairman had suggested that friendly institutions were likely to buy its stock as soon as trading opened Monday. 

The Credit Lyonnais purchase, for 33,000 regular common shares and 10,000 newly created shares, is valued at about slightly more than 80 million French francs. 




Document 001003205 ends.


	
[Computer selected and disseminated without FBIS editorial intervention] 
	
	
 Seoul, Feb. 14 (Yonhap) -- North Korea will be one of the key agenda items for U.S. President George W. Bush during consecutive stops in Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing from Feb. 17-22, diplomatic experts said Thursday. 
	
	
 Bush's Asian trip was initially scheduled for October last year but was delayed due to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States and subsequent U.S.-led war in Afghanistan. 
	
	
 The North Korea issue flared up after Bush labeled North Korea, Iran and Iraq an "axis of evil" in his Jan. 29 State of Union address, taking issue with their alleged attempts to secure weapons of mass destruction. 
	
	
 Seoul, Tokyo, Beijing and Washington all have interests in resolving the North Korea issue. 
	
	
 The Feb. 20 talks between President Kim Dae-jung and Bush will focus on U.S. charges that the North is developing weapons of mass destruction for export to other "rogue" nations. 
	
	
 The two leaders will also address North Korea's conventional military posture, while reconfirming their traditional cooperation in dealing with North Korea. 
	
	
 North Korea will also likely come up when Bush meets Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Chinese President Jiang Zemin. 
	
	
 In a related development, the Seoul government reportedly decided to resume talks with North Korea to deliver the concerns of the United States and the international community about its weapons of mass destruction and conventional weapons. 
	
	
 The decision apparently aims to make Seoul the primary negotiator in talks with Pyongyang. During the Kim-Bush summit, the Kim administration will convey its plans to the United States. 
	
	
 Bush's Asian trip could serve as a turning point for his government's North Korea policy. 
	
	
 North Korea has likened Bush's "axis of evil" remark to a declaration of war. Afterwards, Bush's aides downplayed the severity of Bush's words, saying the administration seeks negotiations with the North, not war. 
	
	
 In addition, Bush will discuss ways to further the three countries' support for the U.S.-led anti-terrorism campaign and extend its mission beyond Afghanistan. 
	
	
 This will be Bush's first visit to Seoul since his inauguration early last year and his third meeting with President Kim. The two met in Shanghai last October and in Washington last March. 
	
	
 While in Tokyo from Sunday to Tuesday, Bush is likely to support Koizumi's economic reform efforts and express U.S. willingness to help Japan regain its economic vitality. 
	
	
 Visiting China Feb. 21-22, Bush and Jiang will address follow-up steps for China's recent entry into the World Trade Organization and the struggle against AIDS, besides the North Korea issue. 
	
	
	





Document 001003207 ends.


	
Tehran, Dec 9, IRNA -- Tehran-based Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) on Sunday expressed concern about return of the period in which force and weapon had the last say in international relations. 
	
	
 The IHRC said in a statement to mark December 10, "international day for human rights" that the international community has formulated numerous documents to honor human rights after 50 years of bitter experience and the heavy losses that the humanity has suffered. 
	
	
 The statement said that several hundred documents have been signed to promote human rights and different cultures have put forward their outlooks about human rights and envisaged measures to stop violation of human rights. 
	
	
 The IHRC called for prohibition of discrimination, torture, arbitrary detention and honoring the human rights, political rights, the rights of associations, the women's rights as well as the rights envisaged in the international declaration for human rights as recommended by the divine religions several centuries ago. 
	
	
 The statement regretted that provisions of the international declaration for human rights have not been materialized. "The human communities have suffered heavy human losses in the course of devastating world wars and understood that any progress in human communities is dependent on honoring the human rights," it said. 
	
	
 The IHRC said that the international conference against racism in Durban, South Africa August 31-September 7, 2001 was a turning point in the international campaign to honor human rights. 
	
	
 The statement deplored the injustice against the Palestinian nation and violation of human rights of political activists, journalists, the religious minorities, the children and women in some parts of the world. 
	
	
 The IHRC said that all nations and religions condemned the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. The solidarity would bring about an international campaign to dry up the roots of terrorism and expand peace and security in the international community, but, certain countries resort to military power and embark on trampling upon human rights of civilians. 
	
	
 The statement urged the statesmen in different countries to heed the religious teachings calling for respect for human rights and said that no peace will be established without honoring human 
	
	
 Meanwhile, in another development, the Geneva-based United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson called on Israel to stop bombing the Palestinian targets in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and allow in international monitors. 
	
	
 She denounced Israeli terrorist attacks against Palestinian activists, urging it to halt what she called targeted killing of Palestinians.	





Document 001003210 ends.


	
Beijing 10 Nov (Xinhua) -- Expert's View on Global Climate Change Protocols 
	
	
 The seventh Conference of the Parties (COP 7) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was held in Marrakesh, Morocco, from 29 October to 9 November. Dr. Ren Guoyu, an expert meteorologist at the National Climate Center of China, pointed out that the Kyoto Protocol was only the first step to resolve global warming during his interview with Xinhua News Agency. He indicated that there is a long way to go and a great deal of effort to put in before global warming can be successfully arrested. 
	
	
 According to Dr. Ren, humans released excessive amounts of greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere in the past century, particularly in the past 50 years. Carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere is higher than any time in the past several hundred thousand years. This excessive emission of greenhouse gases has caused the mean global temperature to rise by 0.4 to 0.8 degree C in the past 140 years. If emission of greenhouse gases is not rigorously limited and is allowed to continue to climb, then the average global temperature may surge by 1.5 to 5.8 C. The sea level will rise by nine to 88 millimeters. It will be disastrous to many countries. In addition, global warming will bring about frequent extreme weather phenomena, such as cold spells, heat waves, torrential rain, and tornadoes, to threaten our society. He also warned that an abrupt climate change might take place when a critical value of temperature rise is exceeded. In certain regions, the temperature may rise suddenly and sharply. In other regions, it may fall precipitously. It will have a deleterious effect on mankind. This disaster can only be averted if we all join in to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to stop global warming. 
	
	
 According to this expert, the United States is the largest greenhouse gas-emitting country in the world. And its total emissions continue to rise. In March, the new Bush Administration openly declared it would rescind its promise to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the "Kyoto Protocol." Its excuses include that it will harm the US economy and there is insufficient participation by developing nations. Dr. Ren was critical of this irresponsible decision by the US Government. He indicated that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is accumulated over the past 100-200 years. The amount of greenhouse gases emitted by most developing nations in the past several decades only represents a small fraction of the total emission. This increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is caused by industrialized nations. Furthermore, on a per capita basis, emissions by developing nations are also far less than that by industrialized nations. China's per capita emission is only one-sixth that of the United States. It mainly requires the joint effort of industrialized nations to resolve global warming. It is a mistake for the United States to use such an excuse to evade its responsibility. 
	
	
 He also pointed out: Although the Kyoto Protocol did not set a reduction target for China, however, China is very concerned about global climate change-related issues in recent years. It has significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions by efficiency improvement, energy conservation, and development of advanced energy technology. Its effort is well recognized around the globe. 
	
	
 To implement the Kyoto Protocol, according to Dr. Ren, usually a country would incur an economic loss equivalent to 1 percent of its GDP when it tries to lower greenhouse emissions 1 percent. There is no way for a weak, developing nation to absorb such a burden. It needs monetary and technical assistance from industrialized nations. However, to protect their own interests, a few industrialized nations repeatedly made outrageous demands in past UNFCCC conferences. In the Bonn conference in July, Japan even made new demands regarding the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Finally, a compromise was reached after developing nations and the EU made a significant concession. The Kyoto Protocol was significantly weakened as a result. During this conference, countries such as Japan, Russia, Australia, and Canada played the same tactic again to try to delay the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol. The United States continues to refuse to fulfill its obligations. Negotiation was stymied. In order to implement the treaty as soon as possible, developing nations and the EU agreed to a compromise. However, future negotiations are not expected to be smooth either. 
	
	
 As a reminder, Dr. Ren pointed out: The Kyoto Protocol is merely a gesture for mankind to stop global warming. Fundamentally, the targets set by the Kyoto Protocol are far less than what actually will take to effectively curb global warming. The Kyoto Protocol will officially be implemented after Earth Summit 2002 to be held in September in Johannesburg, South Africa. Mankind should continue to work on a solution to global warming. The next step will be even more difficult. It is a long road ahead of us. Dr. Ren suggested that developing nations should also join forces in emissions reduction in the future. 
	
	
 Attachments: w101116b.pdf	





Document 001003213 ends.


	
Today the Council of EU environment ministers adopted the Commission's proposal for a decision to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. The European Commission strongly welcomes this decision. By taking this decision, the EU has reaffirmed its commitment to pursuing multilateral solutions to issues of global concern. With its decision to ratify the protocol at EU level, the European Union stays true to its ambition to enable the Kyoto Protocol to come into force by the World Summit on Sustainable Development in August/September 2002. The decision also makes the Member States' greenhouse gas reduction commitments (the so-called "Burden-Sharing Agreement") agreed in June 1998 legally binding. The EU continues to call for the United States to participate in the global framework for addressing climate change. 
	
	
 The President of the European Commission Romano Prodi said: "Today is an historical moment for European efforts to combat climate change. I am very pleased that the Council has now approved the Kyoto Protocol thus enabling the EU to proceed with its ratification. I am confident that Member States will take the necessary steps in order to allow for a simultaneous ratification together with the European Community before 1 June 2002. Once again, the EU is exercising leadership in addressing this global environmental problem, as we have done in Bonn and Marrakech last year. We can only tackle climate change effectively through a multi-lateral process. I urge our partners both in the developed and in the developing countries to also ratify the Kyoto Protocol soon. We want the Protocol to enter into force before the World Summit on Sustainable Development this summer." 
	
	
 Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom stated: "This is indeed a good day for the climate and for sustainable development. The scientific evidence on climate change is stronger than ever. All countries have to act, but the industrialised countries have to take the lead. To protect our climate we will have to reduce emissions. We all know that even the targets in the Kyoto Protocol are only a first step if we want to prevent the severe consequences that climate change could have." 
	
	
 "Action to fight climate change is vital to achieve sustainable development, Mrs. Wallstrom added. I am convinced that improving the environment through technological progress can actually enhance our competitiveness and economic growth. This is what sustainable development is about: Protecting our eco-system while ensuring economic prosperity." 
	
	
 The Commissioner also stated that she was grateful for the strong support received from the European Parliament to secure timely EU ratification, and pleased with the confirmation by the candidate countries that they are on track to ratify. The Commissioner finally welcomed indications by Japan, New Zealand and Norway that they are preparing for ratification, and strongly called on others, notably Russia, to do the same. 
	
	
 "The fact that at least 25-30 industrialised countries are likely to ratify the Protocol within this year is a clear signal that the Kyoto Protocol, with its legally binding targets and timetables, is the only effective international framework for combating global warming." 
	
	
 Referring to President Bush's climate change plan for the US that he announced on 14 February the Commissioner noted: "These proposals will not lead to a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States but allow a significant increase. The EU has legally bound itself today to actually reduce its emissions. We continue to urge the United States to return to the Kyoto process." 
	
	
 The Commissioner concluded by stressing the need for further EU emission reduction measures: "The European Commission has already proposed measures to reduce emissions at the lowest economic cost, including an EC-wide emissions trading scheme to begin in 2005. Further proposals are in the pipeline. However, all Member States have to take their responsibility to ensure that they meet their burden-sharing targets." 
	
	
 Together with the Member States, the European Community's instrument of ratification will now be deposited with the United Nations by 1st June, so as to enable the entry into force of the Protocol by the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg this September. 
	
	
	





Document 001003215 ends.


 
  
  
    
      It's hard to believe that the holiday season is only two months away.
      At Pleasant Run, Inc. we are making plans and arrangements for our
      children and families.
      Every year we seek companies, organizations and individuals to sponsor
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      After our caseworkers meet with these families and their children they
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      beds, cleaning supplies, etc. We meet these needs immediately. But, the
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      We are asking you to consider sponsoring one of our families for this
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      please contact Lisa Lusk or Marcia Whited at 693-9222. We would like to
      have families matched with sponsors non later than xxxx. Thank you for
      considering this opportunity to make this a memorable holiday season for
      a family in need.
      Sincerely,
    
  



Document 001003216 ends.


	
The head of the Spanish Government, Jose Maria Aznar, told Argentine President Fernando de la Rua that Spain has absolute confidence in Argentina's economy, and that Madrid has placed a "strategic bet" on Argentina overcoming its economic crisis, said official sources in Spain. During a private dinner held Tuesday [16 October] at Moncloa Palace, the seat of the Spanish presidency, the leaders examined Argentina's economic problems and the electoral setback suffered by the governing Alliance in the elections held Sunday [14 October] in Argentina, according to sources within the Spanish foreign ministry. 
	
	
 At the dinner attended by Aznar and De la Rua, who both also took part in the inauguration of the Second International Congress of the Spanish Language in Valladolid (center) that day, Spanish Economy Minister Rodrigo Rato, Interior Minister Mariano Rajoy, and Foreign Minister Josep Pique were also present. 
	
	
 Rato explained the macroeconomic measures that were applied in Spain to De la Rua, at a time when the Argentine Government is aiming for a zero deficit. 
	
	
 According to the Spanish foreign ministry, Aznar and De la Rua also spoke about the next Ibero-American Summit, which will take place this November in Lima, as well as relations between the European Union and Latin America. 
	
	
 The Spanish leader also took advantage of the occasion to tell the Argentine head of state about his last telephone conversation--which took place on Monday [15 October]--with US President George W. Bush, regarding the progress of military operations in Afghanistan. 
	
	
 During that conversation, Bush and Aznar also spoke about the situation in Argentina, the Spanish president told De la Rua. 
	
	
	





Document 001003217 ends.



Commercial relations between Egypt and China witnessed much development

 



  
Egypt-China, Politics, 1/21/2002

  Chinese President Jiang Zemin said he would probe with President 
Mubarak who will start an official visit to Beijing next 
Wednesday, strategic cooperation between the two countries, hot 
international issues such as combating terrorism, the situation 
in the Middle East and in Afghanistan.

  In an interview with AL Ahram newspaper, the Chinese President 
said economic and commercial relations between Egypt and China 
have witnessed a balanced development adding that the volume of 
economic and commercial cooperation expanded to register 900 
million dollars in the year 2000, up with 21 than the preceding 
year.

  He said China is prepared to cooperate with Egypt in the 
technological field at various levels, indicating that there are 
high prospects for cooperation in the fields of scientific 
research, technology, industry and human resources development.

  The Chinese President said the key to solve the issue of the 
Middle East lies in reaching a just settlement for the 
Palestinian cause and return of the land occupied by Israel.

  The Chinese President said his country objects to the Israeli 
policies represented in military attacks, economic siege on 
Palestinians and expansion of the Jewish settlements as well as 
to the acts of violence against innocent civilians.

  He said all parties concerned should work for resuming peace 
negotiations as soon as possible, based on the United Nations 
resolutions on the Middle East issues, the principle of land for 
peace and commitment to agreements and notes of understandings 
which have been reached.

  The Chinese leader said President Mubarak telephoned him after 
last September 11th incidents urging him to do his best for 
saving the peace process between Palestinians and Israel.

  He said his country has repeatedly, through proper diplomatic 
channels, urged the Israeli side to fulfill its pledges and to 
respond favorably to endeavors aimed at reaching a settlement in 
the Middle East through negotiations.

  He indicated that China would continue to play its role in 
supporting the peaceful settlement in the Middle East adding 
that he would discuss with President Bush, who will visit 
Beijing next month, ways of reactivating the peace process 
between Palestinians and Israelis.

  The Chinese President said China fully supports the restoration 
by the Palestinian people of their legitimate rights including 
the right to establish the Palestinian State, adding that China 
recognized Palestinian State when it was declared in 1988.

  The Chinese President said the September 11 incidents have 
shocked the world and imposed many changes, referring to the 
emergence of problems with universal nature such as 
international terrorism, adding that multi-polar system is the 
only guarantee for the establishment of international system.

  The Chinese President said the economic open door policy and 
reform in China has managed to establish a strong economic 
structure and has enhanced Chinese competitiveness.




Document 001003219 ends.


	
TAIPEI, Feb 17 (AFP) - Taiwan is keeping a wary eye on US President George W. Bush's China visit despite assurances by Washington that Taipei's interests would not be traded away during the trip. 
	
	
 Washington had guaranteed Taipei that it would not dilute its backing for the island in return for better relations with Beijing, Taiwan's foreign ministry spokeswoman Chang Siao-yueh told AFP. 
	
	
 "Through some proper channels, we have been told that there should not be surprises" during Bush's visit to China, she said. 
	
	
 The top US official handling Taiwan affairs, Richard Bush -- no relation of the president -- also sought to ease Taipei's concerns during a visit to the island last month. 
	
	
 "He made it clear that relations between Taipei and Washington are getting better," said Joseph Wu, deputy director of National Chengchi University's Institute of International Relations. 
	
	
 Richard Bush is chairman and managing director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) -- a body authorised by Washington to handle exchanges since it switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979. 
	
	
 The US president embarked on a week-long tour of Asia late Saturday with stopovers in Japan, South Korea and China. 
	
	
 He will meet Chinese President Jiang Zemin on February 21 and 22. 
	
	
 Wu said he believed overall Taiwan interests were protected from knocks by the Bush administration because the island enjoyed "strong support" among decision-makers in the White House, the State Department and the Department of Defense. 
	
	
 Washington announced in April 2001 the most comprehensive arms package to Taipei since 1992, including four Kidd-class destroyers, eight diesel submarines and 12 P-3C submarine-hunting aircraft. 
	
	
 The sale infuriated Beijing which regards Taiwan an integral part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary. 
	
	
 Before leaving for Asia, Bush said he would discuss with Beijing trade issues arising from China's entry into the World Trade Organisation, the global war on terror and the fate of Taiwan. 
	
	
 The president has called for a peaceful resolution of the sovereignty dispute between Taipei and Beijing which split at the end of a civil war in 1949. 
	
	
 Taiwanese officials are nonetheless concerned. 
	
	
 In a speech through videoconference to hundreds of Taiwanese and Taiwanese American students from Harvard, Yale, Columbia and other US universities, Taiwan's Vice President Annette Lu on Saturday warned of Beijing's attempt to obstruct cross-strait ties. 
	
	
 "As usual, Beijing will try its best to persuade President Bush into saying something disadvantageous to Taiwan," she said ahead of Bush's Asian trip. "Such a mindset will impair the healthy interaction between Taiwan and the People's Republic of China." 
	
	
 Taiwan's foreign ministry has set up an ad hoc group to monitor Bush's Asia trip around-the-clock and report to President Chen Shui-bian, Chang said, adding Taipei's de facto embassy in Washington had a similar task. 
	
	
 Compounding fears is speculation that Bush may sign a fresh communique with China in return for Beijing's support on issues such as anti-terrorism and prevention of nuclear proliferation. 
	
	
 The two countries have sealed three joint communiques since the end of the 1970s. 
	
	
 The first was issued during then-president Richard Nixon's landmark trip to China in 1972 while another one, signed during the Ronald Reagan era, agreed to gradually reduce arms sales to Taiwan. 
	
	
 Wu defended Taipei's cautious approach, warning that Beijing could try to use the situation to gain the upper hand. 
	
	
 "Taiwan's interest would be harmed if the Chinese leaders took advantage of the occasion by making remarks unfavorable to Taipei and Washington failed to defend Taipei," Wu warned. 
	
	
 Taipei was angered when then-president Bill Clinton pledged the "three nos" during his China visit in 1998. 
	
	
 Clinton said he did not support independence for Taiwan, the policy of "two Chinas" or "one China, one Taiwan" and agreed that Taiwan should not be a member of any organisation to which statehood is a requirement. 
	
	
	





Document 001003220 ends.


	
Moscow, 27 April: Palestinian Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Nabil Shaath will arrive in Moscow on Monday, 29 April, diplomatic sources told Interfax today. The Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation plays the role of a foreign relations agency for Palestine. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov is expected to receive Shaath on 30 April to discuss ways to overcome the current crisis in the Middle East. During Shaath's visit, a regular session of the Russian- Palestinian working committee on the Middle East is to be held. The visit of the Palestinian minister will be held in the run-up to the second meeting of mediators from Russia, the USA, the UN, and the European Union in Washington in early May, which will be attended by Ivanov and US Secretary of State Colin Powell. 
	
	
	





Document 001003221 ends.


	

	
	
 HARARE -- Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has accused Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe of deliberately withholding food from some areas of the drought-ravaged country as punishment for not voting the correct way in March's election. 
	
	
 Mr. Tsvangirai, the 50-year-old leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, alleged in an interview that a starvation policy is part of a major campaign of retribution the ruling ZANU-PF has waged against him and his supporters. 
	
	
 He also spoke about the support his country's opposition movement has received from abroad, and his pending trial on treason charges, both issues with Canadian connections. But he focused on the violence and hunger that have plagued many Zimbabweans since the controversial presidential election, at least in part a state-orchestrated operation aimed at crushing the opposition, he said. 
	
	
 "I feel very strongly for these people," Mr. Tsvangirai said. "This is just the pursuance of a vendetta. The situation has escalated wildly since the election. It's part of Mugabe's grand strategy to target the MDC's supporter base." 
	
	
 He said the situation is worst in southern Zimbabwe, where opposition to ZANU-PF is strongest. 
	
	
 "The first targets are the farmers and their workers, then rural-area sympathizers," he said. 
	
	
 The United Nations World Food Program warned last week that as many as 1.5 million Zimbabweans face starvation from the drought, compounded by government-sponsored invasions of white-owned commercial farms that have crippled production of maize and wheat. Ground corn, known locally as "mealie meal," is the staple diet of millions of Zimbabweans who can afford little else. 
	
	
 Mr. Mugabe acknowledged the country's agricultural problems last week, declaring a "state of disaster" brought on by drought and sabotage by white farmers. He made no reference to the economic upheaval caused by the farm invasions, but the government says it is trying to import supplies from South Africa, China, Argentina and Brazil. 
	
	
 Because of restrictions on foreign reporters in Zimbabwe, it was impossible to obtain direct government comment on Mr. Tsvangirai's allegations. But non-governmental organizations operating in the country also said they have been seeing evidence of discriminatory food distribution. 
	
	
 "Food is now a major issue," said Shari Eppel of Amani Trust, a human-rights organization. ". . . We have come across cases of people having to have a ZANU-PF card before they are allowed to buy from the Grain Marketing Board," which is the body that controls imports and sales. 
	
	
 In the southwestern region of Matabeleland, for example, cases have been reported where people had to go through a "cleansing" routine to purge them of their MDC sympathies before being allowed to buy corn. 
	
	
 "According to reports we have received, they are taken to the police to denounce the MDC, then to the war veterans, where they go through a public confession," Mrs. Eppel said. "Then they are taken to the local headman to be kept under observation. After a few days, he decides if they can be allowed to buy grain from the GMB." 
	
	
 Meanwhile, Mr. Tsvangirai alleged, the land-reform plan, nominally launched to resettle one million poor families, is actually putting commercial farms in the hands of presidential cronies and members of the ruling party elite. 
	
	
 He said beneficiaries of the program have included government ministers, MPs, army and police officials -- even Mr. Mugabe's in-laws. 
	
	
 "The situation we see now is what I call the Last Supper -- it is ZANU-PF's final feast," Mr. Tsvangirai said. "It is a case of take what you can while you can. " 
	
	
 The opposition leader commended Canada and other countries for invoking sanctions against Mr. Mugabe's regime. But he said Zimbabwe's future rests largely with its own people. 
	
	
 "The international community can support us so far, but it can never remove the shackles of repression," he said. "The burden really lies with Zimbabweans to fight peacefully for their own freedom." 
	
	
 He said the violence, hunger and economic turmoil are strengthening his country's appetite for a public campaign for change. 
	
	
 "There is no struggle without casualties, but we don't want to engineer any reckless action," he cautioned. ". . . A systematic, strategic program of mass mobilization is necessary to confront a stolen victory and an illegitimate government." 
	
	
 Mr. Tsvangirai also touched on his own legal battle with the government: On May 31, he is to stand trial on a charge of treason, accused of plotting to have Mr. Mugabe assassinated. 
	
	
 The opposition leader has denied the charge all along, and although he was reluctant to go into depth about a case still before the courts, he did make brief reference to the prosecution's star witness, Montreal-based consultant and former Israeli intelligence agent Ari Ben-Menashe, who may or may not travel to Zimbabwe for the trial. 
	
	
 "If the prosecution's key witness is reluctant to testify, how will they proceed?" Mr. Tsvangirai asked. "There is no case to answer." 
	
	
 
	
	
	





Document 001003222 ends.



    Foreign firms furiously lobby in Argentina

 



  BUENOS AIRES -- Foreign multinational companies trying to avoid 
billions in losses furiously lobbied Argentine lawmakers and the 
new government ahead of today's final vote on emergency 
legislation to devalue the peso and end the country's decade-old 
currency parity with the U.S. dollar.

  U.S. and other foreign banks, telecommunications, transport and 
energy companies are expected collectively to lose billions of 
dollars if lawmakers approve President Eduardo Duhalde's 
controversial economic package.

  Presidential spokesman Eduardo Amadeo said Duhalde was stunned 
by the intense efforts to reverse the package. Amadeo said the 
president told him, ``I have never had so many calls in my life 
from all the groups saying they don't want us to touch them.''

  The economic package nonetheless was passed by Argentina's lower 
house late Saturday night and is expected to gain easy passage 
through the Senate today.

  The most frantic lobbying Saturday came from banks, phone 
companies and petroleum firms from Spain. Analysts estimate they 
stand collectively to lose more than $3 billion.

  The companies are worried by Duhalde's proposal to devalue the 
peso and scrap a policy known as convertibility that kept the 
peso's worth the same as a U.S. dollar.

  It attracted much foreign investment in the 1990s because 
companies were promised that their profits in pesos would always 
be worth the same in dollars.

  But the rock-solid link between the peso and dollar made 
Argentine exports overpriced abroad and manufacturers moved next 
door to Brazil, where it is half as expensive to operate.

  Argentina is now broke. The government cannot pay pensioners or 
state workers. To prevent a run on the banking system, it has 
maintained a $250-per-week limit on cash withdrawals.

  Many political analysts fear a return to street violence when 
the devaluation measure passes and companies seek to avoid 
losses by raising prices for food and medicine.

  On Saturday, Congress began debating an emergency package that 
would grant vast special powers over the economy to Duhalde, 
Argentina's fifth president in less than three weeks.

  He has announced that Argentina cannot pay its creditors the 
$132 billion they are owed. His package of legislation seeks -- 
at the expense of foreign and domestic companies -- to ease the 
pain on an increasingly angry middle class, the largest in South 
America.

  
MOST DEBT IN DOLLARS

  More than 80 percent of personal debt in Argentina is in 
dollars, and most of that debt is held by the middle class.

  To help them, Duhalde proposes converting mortgages, car loans 
and other consumer debt under $100,000 into pesos.

  If the Argentine peso is also devalued about 30 percent, as is 
expected, a car loan of $10,000 would be worth about $7,000.

  Foreign banks control almost half of the deposits in Argentina. 
They want the dollar value of debt to remain constant, no matter 
what the devaluation of the peso. Duhalde does not agree and has 
resisted the lobbying, his aides said.

  But to help banks make up losses, he plans to take gas exports 
and direct that money to shoring up banks.

  Foreign companies are also trying to reverse a portion of the 
emergency package that proposes to end a decade of billing in 
dollars at the gas pump, or for fixed and cellular phone 
services, water and power bills and the like.

  For foreign companies, especially those from Spain that have 
invested heavily throughout Latin America, the issue goes beyond 
how Argentina resolves its crisis. They fear that if Argentina 
can break promises made in contracts, other nations may try to 
do the same in less dire times.

  ``If it is successful in Argentina, it could become a 
reference,'' said Eduardo Curia, an independent economist in 
Buenos Aires.

  
CONTINUING EFFECT

  ``It's a ripple effect. It doesn't just hit the initial direct 
investment in Argentina but all those suppliers throughout the 
chain of supply that can be impacted,'' said Meril Markely, a 
Houston-based director of tax and accounting services in South 
America for KPMG.

  Foreign companies that took over former state transportation, 
phone and energy companies want -- but appear unlikely to get -- 
some form of indexing so they can raise their prices to 
compensate for what is expected to be a widening gap between the 
peso and dollar.

  U.S. companies had investments totaling more than $16 billion in 
Argentina through 1999, according to the State Department. Much 
of the investment is in petroleum and gas, telecommunications 
and energy.



Copyright 2001 Miami Herald




Document 001003225 ends.



   Canada to hand any war captives to U.S.

 


SubHead:   Backbenchers protest: Eggleton tells MPs to remember the real issue: Sept. 11

Author:     Sheldon Alberts

  OTTAWA - Canadian troops will hand over any enemy fighters they 
capture to the Americans, Art Eggleton said yesterday, 
dismissing concerns from Liberal backbenchers about the 
treatment of Taliban and al-Qaeda prisoners by the U.S. 
military.

  At a joint meeting of the foreign affairs and defence 
committees, Liberals Marlene Jennings and John Godfrey 
challenged Canada's policy after Mr. Eggleton, the Minister of 
National Defence, said he is satisfied the United States is 
treating prisoners humanely and in accordance with international 
law.

  Mr. Eggleton warned the Liberal MPs they should not forget the 
horror of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks when considering the 
plight of Taliban or al-Qaeda prisoners.

  "These are people that inflicted terrible death and pain on 
people on this continent, at the World Trade Center in New York 
and in Washington," he told reporters. "These are people who are 
part of a terrorist movement that is a threat to the security 
and safety of Canadians, Americans and other people in the 
world. They should be brought to justice. Let's remember that."

  The official death toll from the Sept. 11 attacks stands at 
3,122, including 25 Canadians.

  Next month, a battle group of 750 Canadian troops will join U.S. 
forces in Afghanistan. Their mission includes hunting down any 
remaining Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters.

  "We do not have detention facilities and our intent would be to 
turn them over," Mr. Eggleton said.

  "I have no reason to believe that they have not been treated 
fairly, but it is up to the International Red Cross to determine 
that."

  Mr. Godfrey, a Toronto MP, accused the Americans of violating 
international law by blindfolding and shackling prisoners who 
were transferred this week from a detention centre in Kandahar 
to the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

  Mr. Godfrey said, "When I see those hooded prisoners being put 
on planes to Cuba, I say to myself, 'Would we allow that, if 
Canadian troops were taken?' "

  "The lack of respect for the human person, I can't believe that, 
under any convention, that the Americans haven't already 
violated international law by treating people this way," Mr. 
Godfrey told Mr. Eggleton. "They are still human beings, and 
before we commit -- before we approve of this -- we have got to 
sort this out."

  Ms. Jennings, a Montreal MP, demanded assurances that Canadian 
soldiers will not turn over any prisoners unless the U.S. 
guarantees they will not face the death penalty.

  Human rights groups have criticized the U.S. military's 
treatment of prisoners captured during its current cleanup 
operation in southern Afghanistan.

  The U.S. commanders consider the prisoners to be "unlawful 
combatants" as opposed to prisoners of war, a distinction that 
allows the U.S. to provide different treatment under 
international law.

  Mr. Eggleton said there is no evidence U.S. authorities have 
failed to provide humane care, and he said U.S. commanders have 
assured Canada they will follow international law.

  "Do I believe that they are following the Geneva Convention? 
Yes."

  Yesterday, a Red Cross team arrived at the Guantanamo Bay 
detention centre to inspect the conditions of the 110 Taliban 
and al-Qaeda prisoners being held there. Canadian officials met 
with the Red Cross inspectors this week in Ottawa.

  "If there were serious problems that they had with the treatment 
of detainees by authorities, we didn't hear it from the 
International Red Cross. Quite the contrary," said James Wright, 
a senior Foreign Affairs official.

  About 40 members of Canada's special forces unit, known as Joint 
Task Force 2 -- are already operating with U.S. troops in 
Afghanistan. About two dozen members of a Canadian 
reconnaissance team arrived in Kandahar on Sunday in advance of 
next month's deployment of the 750-member battle group from the 
3rd Battalion of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.

  JTF-2 members have not yet taken any prisoners in Afghanistan 
but they have been on missions in which prisoners were taken, 
Mr. Eggleton said.

  U.S. military officials say they are being "guided" by the 
Geneva Convention.

  Still, Mr. Eggleton said Canada wants further clarification on 
how the tribunals that judge the prisoners will comply with 
international law. He wants this information before the main 
contingent of Canadian soldiers arrives in Afghanistan in 
mid-February.

  One possible policy, he said, would be for Canadian troops 
operating with members of the U.S. 101st Airborne Regiment to 
simply defer to the Americans when prisoners are being taken.

  Mr. Godfrey said it is unacceptable for Canada to allow any 
ambiguity in policy toward the U.S. treatment of prisoners.

  "I don't think we can turn a blind eye or outsource our moral 
obligations," Mr. Godfrey said.



Copyright @ 2002 National Post Online |




Document 001003228 ends.


	
ANKARA, Dec 15 (A.A) - Interior Minister Rustu Kazim Yucelen released a decree on Saturday, and announced measures to be taken against illegal migration by sea. 
	
	
 The decree said that human smuggling incidents from the Turkish coasts to Greek islands, Italy and France increased recently due to economic, social and political reasons. 
	
	
 It said that the Coast Guard units had intercepted a total of 6 thousand 743 foreigners since January 1, 1996. 2,816 of these foreigners were captured in the first 11 months of 2001. 
	
	
 The Coast Guard Command has been working on a report to give detailed information about its activities against human smuggling and number of foreigners intercepted between January 1 and November 26, 2001. 
	
	
 According to the report, Turkish and Greek flagged ships, fishing boats and speed boats were used by human smugglers. 
	
	
 ``Most of the illegal migration incidents by sea happened in western provinces of Izmir, Aydin and Mugla. 28 out of 63 incidents were reported in Bodrum township of Mugla. These incidents generally increase in spring and fall. Turkish citizens from southern and southeastern provinces accounted for 31 percent. Iraqi and Afghan immigrants followed them. Having regard to the fact that 95.1 percent of foreign immigrants were coming from African and Middle Eastern countries, it becomes more difficult to prevent illegal migration from under developed countries to European countries via Turkey,`` it added.	





Document 001003230 ends.


	
Taipei, Jan. 3 (CNA) -- Premier Chang Chun-hsiung expressed alarm Thursday at reports that a legislator was kidnapped and held for three days in a Taipei hotel, saying that his government will do its utmost to stop gangsters from preying on lawmakers. 
	
	
 Presiding over an inter-agency conference on social order, Chang asked the police to catch the gangsters who allegedly detained Legislator Huang Hsien-chou at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Taipei. 
	
	
 Later that day, a man was arrested in Taipei in relation to the case. Chang Fu-shun, 27, is said to be the younger brother of Chang Hui-hua, who allegedly invited Huang to meet her at the hotel and who Huang claimed was in the hotel room when he was detained. 
	
	
 Huang claimed the previous day in Taichung that he had been trapped by the gangsters, who had pretended to be his political supporters. 
	
	
 Huang told reporters that the gangsters, who included at least two men and a woman, made an appointment to meet him at the hotel Dec. 26. When he arrived, he claimed, one of them offered him a drink and he lost consciousness after drinking it. 
	
	
 When he awoke, he found that his hands and feet had been bound. The gangsters demanded NT$2 million from him but finally settled for NT$800,000 which they withdrew using Huang's credit card. 
	
	
 Huang was released Dec. 31 and reported to police that day. 
	
	
 Huang revealed what he claimed to be the whole story at a news conference Wednesday night after press reports said he had in fact been caught with prostitutes in the hotel and blackmailed. 
	
	
 The police said that the hotel room had been paid for by a woman who checked in under the name of Lin An, which they said was an alias used by Chang Hui-hua. 
	
	
	





Document 001003231 ends.


AFGP-2002-600002

(Full translation)

(Document page 1)

Thoughts about Security of Principal Squads

Praise Allah who said provide those who believed with security and peace be
upon our prophet.

The enemy confronting our society falls in three categories:
1. Hostile intelligence organizations, such as the United States, Saudi Arabia,
Egypt, Pakistan and the Jews.

2. The straying group who are atheists and apostates.

3. The existing environment. They include the deposed regime, the tribal cliques,
the hired fighters, and the standard criminals.

The above groups pose the following dangers:
1. Attacking for the purpose of:
  a. Assassination
  b. Kidnapping
  c. Aerial raids and artillery attacks
2. Sabotage
   a. Setting fires
   b. Explosions
   c. Technical sabotage
   d. Chemical sabotage
3. Spying
   a. Recruiting a member of society
   b. Planting a mole within society
   c. Spying surveillance operation
4. Stealing
5. Pests:
   a. Poisonous such as snakes and scorpions
   b. Harmful such as rats and cockroaches
   c. Sickening such as mosquitoes

In order to face these dangers, we resort to a plan which includes the external
factors, the internal factors and spying.
External: All actions and methods adopted to confront dangers from outside.
 Internal: All actions and methods adopted to confront dangers from within.
Spying: Confronting infiltration operations carried out by spying agents or moles.

(Document page 2)


Chapter One
External Security

First: Choosing the Location
1. Choosing mountainous locations, preferably 1-3 hours from main cities, which
have water resources.
2. Being close to cities is important in order to have important services.
3. If a mountainous location is unviable, then choose a location next to official
  Buidings so as to avoid being bombarded.
4. Again, if the above is not possible, then choose a location next to residential
   areas, for the same reason as above.
5. The location should be away from airports and main highways. It is preferable
   it has its own private access in order to protect it and control it better.

Second: Protection Methods
1. Outside Protection:
  a. Barriers, walls, parking lots.
  b. Human protection
     - Patrols close to locations
     - Patrols distant from the location.
  c. Animal protection: Dogs
  d. Electronic protection: Cameras, alarm equipment, night vision
     equipment...etc.

(Document page 3)
             
Permanent Protection:

*Barriers
They are erected according to the nature of the location. They can take one of the
following forms:
-1. Steel pipes: Insert 4 inch pipes in the ground at 50 centimeters apart and a
height of one meter then fill them with cement.
-2. Barrels: They are filled with cement and place around the building, especially
at the entrance to prevent cars from crashing into it.
 3. Ditches: They are better than road bumps because they are harder to see. The
  ditch should be 30 centimeters deep and 20 centimeters wide. Passage ways for
  cars and pedestrians should be designated.

4. Road bumps: Six successive bumps should be constructed at 500 meters from
   the location. The distance between the first and fourth bump should be 100
   meters, and the distance between the fourth and the sixth should be 50 meters,
   so cars cannot travel fast in the direction of the building.

5. Barbed Wires: They should be placed around the building, around the walls,
   or on top of the walls.

6. Nails Obstacle
   These are placed at the main gate in order to puncture the tires of any car
   crashing in.

*Fences
Fences are the best form of permanent protection. It shields off all activities which
take place inside the location. The following should be considered when erecting
fences:
1. The fence which is built out of bricks or concrete should be 4 meters high, then
topped with one meter high barbed wire fence. It is preferable that the barbed
wires slant outwards at a 70 degrees angle.

2. The thickness of the fence should be 60 cm and the distance between it and the
building should be 2 meters.

3. Secret gates should be built 50 meters apart to be used for emergency only.
However, they should not be identifiable from the outside part of the fence.

4. It is preferable that any location has only 2 emergency gates and far away from
one another.

5. No other outside gates should be erected. If it is necessary to have an outside
entrance for the control tower, then access to the location should not be
constructed.

6. If the location is in a highly dangerous zone, then two parallel fences should be
built to be 3 meters apart. The space between the two fences could be mined in
order to prevent infiltration.
 7. It is preferable the fence be square or rectangular in shape. A circular shaped
fence is harder to protect because of hidden angles.
                     
Parking:

Parking areas are of importance because most sabotage operations are done with
cars. Therefore, it is important to adopt following:

1. The parking lot should be 50 meters away from the fence. If the nature of the
terrain does not allow it, then it should be on the other side of the road.

(Document page 4)

2. Under no circumstance a car, even that which belongs to the location should be
permitted to park next to the fence.

3. Assign a parking spot for visitors which would not make them feel insulted.
Usually such parking spots are on the side of the lot.

4. Inside parking lot should be strictly designated to the location's cars in order to
protect them from sabotage. Also, the visitors with high security clearance should
be designated parking spots inside the location.

5. Cars parked inside the location should have their front facing the fence so they
could be used quickly in case of emergency.

6. All parking regulations of the location should be followed strictly followed.

Human protection
Buses
Some buses should be exposed and others should be camouflaged.
A. Exposed Busses
  One at the tip of the road
  One in front of the location
  One at the back of the location
  The buses should have the following:
  1. Light armor and rocket launchers
  2. Wireless equipment to report dangerous activities
  3. Writing materials to jot down suspicious activities or license plate numbers.
  4. Sand bags arounf the busses to protect them from gun fire.
 B. Camouflaged Buses
These are camouflaged to look like commercial companies' vehicles or traveling
salesmen's vehicles. They are entrusted with the task of tracking down the
movement of strangers who are approaching the location.

Kiosks:
The objective of having kiosks is they serve as communication points between the
guards and the visitors or those who are approaching the building and deal with
them according to their requirements. The following should be observed:
1. Kiosks should be placed at entrance gates to check visitors when approaching
the building.
2. Kiosks should be placed at key important locations where24 hour security
watch is required.
3. The Kiosk should be designed to stand all weather conditions, and provide a
full coverage of the area it is placed at.
4. The Kiosk should be equipped with wireless communication equipment, and a
mechanist to open and close the gate automatically.
5. Direct the visitors' cars to special parking spots, away from the fence and the
control tower.

Towers:
The following should be observed:
1. The lower part of the tower should serve as a shelter for the guards, when
needed. Going up the tower should be from inside.

(Document page 5)

2. The towers should be located in a manner where they can easily communicate
with one another, and totally cover the area they are guarding. They should have
telescopes in order to constantly control the areas around them.

3. Entrances to the towers should be totally camouflaged.

4. They should have a protruding area to better control their surroundings.

Outside Patrols
The locality cannot be fully protected without having patrols roaming on the
outside area of the fence. The above mentioned protection procedures are only for
observation purposes, while patrols check the fences, the barriers, and the towers,
and submit periodic reports on their findings. It also checks on guard posts.
 They also engage with persons approaching the locality and support the guards in
their duties. They also provide extra fire power in when guards or other patrols
are engaged in a gun battle.
These patrols are formed as follows:
1. Single patrols which consist of two people checking the outside area of the
location.
2. Common patrols which consist of one man and a dog, also checking the outside
area of the location. These patrols tour the area during specific times such as,
dinner, dawn, dusk, and midnight.
The patrol should be armed with light weapon such as Kalashnikovs and RPGs,
and cover the area on foot.

Area Patrols
These patrols comb the greater area surrounding the location periodically;
anywhere between 3 and four times a week The patrol should be lead by a
security officer in order to take immediate actions if the need arises. Also, the
duty of area patrols is to discover new paths and shelters in the area in order to
hide fighters after a Jihad operation against the enemy.
The area patrol is different from the single patrol in that:
1. It has a vehicle equipped with a machine gun.
2. It can use horses to canvass the area, but the patrol should be formed of 2 or 3
people at least.

(Document page 6)

Chapter Two
Internal Protection
This kind of protection should be done without drawing attention so that people
inside the location would feel at ease. The location should have a fence with
towers that is equipped with visual and aural equipment.

(Document page 7)

First: Guarding
Patrols
Night Password
Body guards
 Second: Regulations for Visitors and their Belongings
1. Individuals
a. Trustworthy � Arabs and foreigners
b. Untrustworthy � Arabs and foreigners
c. Unknown � Arabs and foreigners
d. Reporters and news people.

2. Belongings:
a. Cars
b. Personal effects
c. Electronic equipment
A strict control system should cover the above items.

Third: Defense Plan � Firefighting
1. Two 2 inch faucets. One between the doors of Abi Sa'd and Abu Khalil, and
the second between the doors of Khaled and Abu Mohammad. A third faucet next
to the guest's bathrooms.
2. A 70 meters long hose of one inch thickness should be placed next to each
faucet..
3. Abu Khalil...Rida...Sa`d are responsible for the first faucet.
   Khaled...Abdul Muhaymen... al-Aswani are responsible for the second faucet.
   The other residents are responsible for the guests' quarters.
4. Next to each faucet place 6 pails of sand for emergency use.
5. A special water tank to be erected on top of Sheikh Said's kiosk.
6. Place 3 fire extinguishers: one in the infirmary, one in the school and one in the
guest house.
7. In case of fire, all people are evacuated to safe places.
8. Separate furniture from the rest of the house if possible so the fire will not
spread.
9. Train women on the use of lanterns and candles.
10. Matches and kerosene should be stored away from children.
11. Women should be told that the best way to put our a fire is to cut off the
oxygen supply to the flames, and therefore they should use wet blanket over the
flames.
12. In the absence of men at home, women and children should vacate the house
as quickly as possible.

(Document page 8)
 Administration Staff Responsibilities:
1. Buy equipment and machinery soonest.
2. Install the yanks and the faucets.

Firefighters Responsibilities:
1. Firefighting training
2. Evacuation training.
3. Supervise the fire equipment in order to ensure:
   a. It remains in place
   b. Does not get damaged
4. Run some tests to identify the negatives:
   The security team should:
   a. Publish a periodic bulletin and distribute to all residents, advising them
      how to safely store gaz and logs.
   b. Keep the firefighters alert at all times.
   c. Report any thing that might be a fire hazard.
   d. Warn against the safety of children's toys.
   e. Urge everyone to take precautions and guard their homes tightly.

Fourth: Defending the Location Plan
Fifth: Securing supply of food and water.
Sixth: Supply mechanical and electronic equipment.
Seventh: Provide labor force.
Eighth: Provide security to top dignitaries.
Ninth: Control pests.

(Document page 9)

Chapter Three
Counter Terrorism
Spying:
1. Recruiting
2. Placing Spies
  a. Arabs
  b. Foreigners
3. Kidnapping
 


Document 001003232 ends.


	
Guangzhou, October 22 (XINHUA) -- A forum on the WTO (the World Trade Organization) and the Chinese economy was held here Monday. 
	
	
 It was held during the ongoing 90th Session of the Chinese Export Commodities Fair from October 15 to 26 in this provincial capital of south China's Guangdong Province. 
	
	
 The forum attracted wide attention both at home and abroad, as China is to be admitted into the WTO at the forthcoming new round of WTO multilateral trade talks in Doha, Qatar, in November. 
	
	
 Over 200 economists, officials and entrepreneurs attended the forum. 
	
	
 Experts said the Chinese economy will have tremendous opportunities after China's entry to the WTO, while it will also face many challenges which will require accelerated and profound reform in enterprises, the financial system and social security. 
	
	
 Wu Jinglian, a leading Chinese economist, said the WTO agenda sets a transition period of only five years for China's adaption to the WTO rules and practices. 
	
	
 He suggested that the six major risks China will confront include the development of medium-sized and small enterprises, and the setting up of a sound social security system and a society ruled by law.	





Document 001003233 ends.


	
JOHANNESBURG March 16 Sapa MBEKI TO MEET WITH MUGABE AND TSVANGIRAI IN HARARE ON MONDAY 
	
	
 (CORRECTS TITLE OF AUSTRALIAN PM, UPDATES WITH ZUMA ATTENDING INAUGURATION) President Thabo Mbeki would fly to Harare on Monday to meet Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and later with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, presidential spokesman Bheki Khumalo told Sapa on Saturday. 
	
	
 Khumalo said Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo would also attend the talks, which would culminate on Tuesday when the two met Australian Prime Minister John Howard in London. Mugabe was to be inaugurated again as Zimbabwean president on Sunday following his controversial re-election last weekend. He was first elected Prime Minister in 1980 and has effectively ruled the country ever since. 
	
	
 Mbeki, Obasanjo and Howard have been mandated by the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Australia to decide what action should be taken on the situation in Zimbabwe. Their decision would be based on the Commonwealth observer team's report on the legitimacy of the election as well as those prepared by the Southern African Development Community, the Organisation of African Unity and the SA Observer Mission. The Commonwealth team earlier this week said that "the conditions in Zimbabwe did not adequately allow the free and fair expression of will by the electorate". 
	
	
 The SADC on Saturday endorsed the vote, despite its Parliamentary Forum, which judging that the March 9-11 election "did not conform with the norms and standards of the SADC Parliamentary Forum," signed on to by Zimbabwe. The team from the organisation's Council of Ministers, on the other hand, considered the vote a "true reflection" of the people's will. 
	
	
 The Organisation of African Unity (OAU) also backed Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's re-election, with its observer team describing the poll as "transparent, credible, free and fair". South Africa's observer mission also endorsed the vote, saying in an interim report that "(o)verall ... the authorities charged with conducting the elections discharged their work satisfactorily." The team acknowledged that the election campaign had been characterised by "polarisation, tension and incidents of violence and intimidation." In terms of the Commonwealth's mandate, action against Zimbabwe could range from collective disapproval to suspension. 
	
	
 Mbeki was, however, already on the record as saying that the Commonwealth also had other issues to consider. CHOGM had also decided to look at ways of helping Zimbabwe with land reform and food aid. State-sanctioned land invasions, several times declared illegal by Zimbabwe's courts, as well as a drought have disrupted Zimbabwe's food production and famine is already looming in much of the country. 
	
	
 Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said Mbeki's deputy, Jacob Zuma would represent the country at the controversially re-elected President Robert Mugabe's latest inauguration, scheduled for Sunday in Harare. No reason was provided why Mbeki could not attend. Reports from Lagos indicated that Obasanjo would also not attend. 
	
	
 Several other heads of state had by Saturday indicated they would attend, including Tanzania's Benjamin Nkapa and Malawi's Bakili Muluzi, currently also the SADC's president. Mamoepa said the key points on the agenda now was Zimbabwe's economic recovery and social stability "within the context of national unity." 
	
	
 Source : Sapa /le/pk Date : 16 Mar 2002 17:36	





Document 001003234 ends.


       

Total Assets Protection Inc., rebounding from its earlier loss, expects to report earnings from operations of about $200,000 for the third quarter, J.C. Matlock, chairman, said. 

Net income includes an extraordinary gain of about $100,000 from the reversal of bad debt and interest income.
Revenue was about $4.5 million.
In the 1988 third quarter, the company posted a net loss of $876,706, or 22 cents a share, on revenue of about $5.1 million. 

Total Assets plans and designs computer centers, computer security systems and computer backup systems. 




Document 001003236 ends.


	
Following the end of the Cold War, the United States has become the world's sole superpower and the trend of pragmatism in its foreign policy has become clearer and clearer. Pragmatism is, in the first place, the United States' traditional policy. After coming to power, unilateralism and pragmatism have become Bush's main foreign policy line. Alternate use of and complementary nature of pragmatism and unilateralism constitute the characteristics of the Bush administration's diplomacy. 
	
	
 Once coming to power, Bush insisted on deploying the National Missile Defense System [NMD]. The international community and even US western allies, including US neighbor Canada, have consistently opposed the plan. Despite the opposition, Bush went it alone. One of the main US diplomatic goals for this year is to persuade the international community to accept the NMD and Russia to agree to revise the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty [AMD] by flashing a carrot on a stick. At one time, he said the new US missile defense system would not pose a threat to the international security and would not trigger an arms race; on another occasion, he stated the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty signed by the Soviet Union and the United States in 1972 was "a product of the Cold War era," and thus has lost its binding force. He even claimed that to develop the NMD, the United States would be even prepared to scrap the ABM. Over the past year, Bush increased funds for research and testing for the N!
MD and accelerated the test frequency of the anti-missile system. Even after the adoption of the resolution on "maintaining and abiding by the "Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty" on 29 November at the 56th United Nations General Assembly, the United States still persisted in carrying out a fifth missile interception test. In a word, the US development of the NMD is for the purpose of "attacking other countries and at the same time preventing other countries from attacking it," thereby genuinely securing its status of being the "sole super power." 
	
	
 The Sino-US plane collision event that occurred on 1 April can best illustrate the US alternate application of the "two-isms" in its diplomacy. In the plane collision event, if one goes by the US logic, only the US spy plane is permitted to spy at other people's doorsteps; the host, on the other hand, does not even have the right to look after its doors and to protect its yard. The responsibility for the event, in which a Chinese plane crashed and a Chinese pilot perished, lies completely with the US side. The US side not only refused to apologize to China but also claimed that "US crew members were detained by the Chinese side." It was only because of it being deterred by the Chinese Government's firm position and due to the fact that the US crew members were still in China that the United States was compelled to offer an apology. But after the Chinese side released all the US crew members, major US political figures changed their stance immediately and threatened to use human rights, trade, and Olympics hosting issues to "retaliate" against China. 
	
	
 Since coming to power, Bush, proceeding from the US immediate interests, has also adopted the pragmatism and unilateralism position with regard to international treaties. This March, catering to the interests of the US oil and coal barons who have made large political donations to the Republican Party, Bush announced, without prior consultations with its allies, that the United States would not enforce the "Kyoto Protocol" which is aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the world. This announcement was met with unanimous condemnation by the international media. 
	
	
 In July, the Bush administration decided to let the "Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty" "freeze" in the Senate. Hard on the heels of that decision, the US negotiation representative Marie Chevrier announced in Geneva that the Bush administration would not support the implementation of the "Biological Weapons Convention" and that the United States strongly objected to the concrete enforcement plan of this convention. 
	
	
 The Bush administration either refuses to sign, ratify, or implement international treaties or asks for their revision. It only wants the international treaties that benefit the US security and economy and globalization. It does not want anything to do with the international treaties, mechanisms, and organizations that restrict or prevent US freedom. It does not want anything to do with countries and organizations that do not follow its orders or that always cause troubles to it. 
	
	
 After the 11 September attacks on the United States, the international community strongly condemned the terrorist acts and expressed sympathy and support to the American people. Supported by the world, the United States launched the "war against terrorism" of this century. Bush stressed that the war is not only the "US war" but also a "world war." The United States views itself as a "major force of anti-terrorism," for in the world only the United States has the capability to carry out the global war against terrorism. Bush said, "Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists" and "any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime." The United States wants all the countries in the world to stand behind it in the fight against terrorism and decides which country is its enemy or friend on the basis of that country's attitude toward it. It is in fact like using multilateral diplomacy to enhance US unilateralism. But the United States obviously practices pragmatism in its treatment of Pakistan -- a frontline state in the fight against Pakistan. Before the 11 September event, the United States kept its distance from Pakistan and imposed sanctions on it. But after declaring a war against terrorism the United States not only drew Pakistan to its side but also provided aid to it. Whether the United States will continue to treat Pakistan in a responsible manner, it is anybody's guess. 
	
	
 Attachments: rw1205us.pdf	





Document 001003241 ends.


       

West German and French authorities have cleared Dresdner Bank AG's takeover of a majority stake in Banque Internationale de Placement (BIP), Dresdner Bank said. 

The approval, which had been expected, permits West Germany's second-largest bank to acquire shares of the French investment bank. 

In a first step, Dresdner Bank will buy 32.99% of BIP for 1,015 French francs ($162) a share, or 528 million francs ($84.7 million).
Dresdner Bank said it will also buy all shares tendered by shareholders on the Paris Stock Exchange at the same price from today through Nov. 17.
In addition, the bank has an option to buy a 30.84% stake in BIP from Societe Generale after Jan. 1, 1990 at 1,015 francs a share. 




Document 001003242 ends.


 
  
  
    
      November 27, 1995
      Dear Friend:
      What kind of people benefit by your contribution to Pleasant Run
      Children's Homes?
      Little ones, like Baby Jessica, caught in the struggle between
      adoptive and birth parents. Older kids, like Tracy and Kerry, left
      homeless after a recent murder-suicide in Indianapolis claimed Mom and
      Dad. Young adults, like Mary T., a jobless mother of three, trying
      desperately to keep her kids out of trouble in a crime-ridden
      neighborhood. Real people!
      There are thousands more. Families are being torn apart, and too
      often, children are the victims. Kids like Tommie J., made a ward of the
      court because of repeated beatings by an alcoholic father; Alice, sent to
      a group home to get help because of severe behavior disorders; and John
      H., a recovering alcoholic, rebuilding a relationships with his family so
      they can live together again.
      Pleasant Run Children's Homes began serving children nearly 130 years
      ago. Then the task was to help children who lost parents in the Civil
      War. Today, we serve children and families with a multitude of problems:
      emotional, physical, psychological and sexual abuse. Some come from
      families where, through therapy, there is hope for reunification. For
      others, "families" are the counselors are housemates at the group homes
      where they live.
      The biggest tragedy is that the problems don't go away; they only
      grow. In 1994 Pleasant Run served 346 children and 125 families. In 1995
      we will serve over 850 children and 340 families. In 1996, these figures
      will triple. The children and families who come to Pleasant Run are given
      the opportunity to become happy, loving, and productive members of our
      society. They welcome the chance to belong, to become self- sufficient,
      to regain their self-esteem and confidence. Often it is a long, hard
      struggle, but the results are well worth it.
      For Pleasant Run to continue to serve abused and neglected children
      and their families, we need your support. The Funding sources are
      shrinking, but the needs grow explosively. Please "help good kids get
      better" by sending us a contribution today. Your gift will give children
      and families hope for improved tomorrows.
      Sincerely,
      Mary Roth
    
  



Document 001003243 ends.


	
Harare, March 17 (XINHUA) -- Despite Western pressure on him over his re-election victory, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was sworn in on Sunday as the country's head of state to serve another six-year term. 
	
	
 With a 21-gun salute sounding and four fighter jets sweeping overhead, the colorful inauguration took place amid thunderous applause by thousands of ruling party supporters. 
	
	
 Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku presided over the swearing-in ceremony, which was witnessed by leaders of some other African countries, including Malawian President Bakili Muluzi, Namibian President Sam Nujoma, Democratic Republic of the Congo President Joseph Kabila, Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano, Tanzanian President Benjamin Mukapa, South African Vice-President Jacob Zuma, Zambian Vice-President Enock Kavendele. 
	
	
 Zimbabwe's top judge, who was dressing in British-style scarlet and black robes and shoulder-length horsehair judicial wigs, bedecked Mugabe with a red sash of office. 
	
	
 "I, Robert Gabriel Mugabe do swear that I will be faithful to the laws of the Republic of Zimbabwe, so help me God," said Mugabe who was flanked by first lady Grace. 
	
	
 Mugabe, who is from the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), won last weekend's presidential election by polling 1,685,212 against his closest rival Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) who polled 1,262,401 votes. 
	
	
 At the State House, where the ceremony was held, thousands of ZANU-PF supporters in clothing emblazoned with Mugabe's portrait, were singing and dancing to celebrate his victory, with a hope that Mugabe will finally deliver on his promises to give them the land currently owned by the country's white minority. 
	
	
 In his inauguration speech shortly after he was sworn in as president, Mugabe vowed to continue with his government's controversial land reform program. 
	
	
 He told thousands of cheering supporters that "land reforms must proceed with greater speed and strength" to shore up the economy, badly battered by years of political instability. 
	
	
 He said the program, under which the government was taking over idle farms from white farmers, who own the bulk of Zimbabwe's arable land, to resettle landless blacks, would form the centerpiece of his efforts to revive the economy. 
	
	
 "We want to make sure that blacks play a meaningful role in the economy, and we will do that through the land reforms," said Mugabe. 
	
	
 In the run-up to the March 9-11 poll, critics had accused the Zimbabwean leader of stirring up the emotive land issue merely to garner support in the country's closest-fought election since independence in 1980. 
	
	
 But he told the nation that in spite of stiff opposition to the agrarian reforms from powerful Western countries, especially the country's former colonial power of Britain, he would press ahead to seize farms from whites and resettle blacks. 
	
	
 "That message has not been accepted in Britain, that Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans. This is our land, and we have no intention of owning a piece of land in Britain," said Mugabe. 
	
	
 He described his victory in the poll as "a stunning blow to imperialism" and thanked African countries for supporting Zimbabwe in its stand-off with Western countries over the agrarian reforms. 
	
	
 Many African leaders have supported Mugabe's re-election victory in Zimbabwe's crucial election, which they said was " transparent, credible, free and fair". 
	
	
 Mugabe said Zimbabwe needed their continued support against what he called hostile international attention. 
	
	
 "When they aim at Zimbabwe, it is not Zimbabwe alone, they have other countries in mind." 
	
	
 In his campaign for re-election, the Zimbabwean leader repeatedly accused Britain and its Western allies of trying to re-assert neocolonial rule in Zimbabwe, and the region, by installing a compliant opposition party in power. 
	
	
 "Thanks to the people, our people and the people of Africa for this joint effort in rejecting this neocolonial attempt. Africa is for Africans," said Mugabe. 
	
	
 However, Mugabe is under strong regional pressure to form a government of national unity, incorporating his closest rival in the poll, to ensure political and economic stability in Zimbabwe. 
	
	
 South African President Thabo Mbeki and President Olusegun Obasanjo are expected in Harare Monday for talks with the Zimbabwean leader on a possible government of national unity. 
	
	
 The two, along with Australian Prime Minister John Howard, are members of a Commonwealth panel charged with assessing the election and recommending possible action by the group against Zimbabwe. The panel was scheduled to meet in London on Tuesday. 
	
	
 Diplomats here said a government of national unity was partly intended to allow Britain and the United States to save face over their insistence on the MDC' s victory in Zimbabwe's election. 
	
	
 The European Union (EU) and the US have joined the opposition in alleging the election was neither free nor fair and threatened more sanctions on Zimbabwe. 
	
	
 A final communique issued on Saturday evening after the Barcelona EU summit said, "The European Union will maintain its humanitarian assistance to the people of Zimbabwe and will consider possible additional targeted measures against its government." 
	
	
 Sunday's inauguration ceremony was boycotted by EU countries, the US and some members of the Commonwealth. 
	
	
 Also, the opposition's 57 members of parliament stayed away. 
	
	
 In his inaugural address, Mugabe extended an olive branch to the opposition to join him in rebuilding the country's economy, which has suffered three years of consecutive decline, but did not say in what role. 
	
	
 "Our energy is better spent on reviving the economy than plotting to bring down each other," he said. 
	
	
 "The call to all of us, whether in the ruling party or in the opposition, is that we unite and come together as one people. There are areas where we must work together because we have a common destiny," said Mugabe. 
	
	
 The MDC party rejected the voting results, claiming the government rigged the poll in favor of incumbent President Mugabe. 
	
	
 MDC leader Tsvangirai said pre-election violence prevented his party from campaigning in rural areas, the stronghold of the ruling party, and that thousands of his supporters in towns were disenfranchised when they failed to vote because authorities reduced polling centers in urban areas. 
	
	
 The ZANU-PF government denied rigging the election, saying Mugabe won on the strength of the appeal of ZANU-PF's land policy. 
	
	
 Analysts said Mugabe received much of his votes from the rural areas, where voter turnout was considered much higher than in towns and cities. 
	
	
	





Document 001003244 ends.


 
  
  
    
      October 7, 1996
      Name Address City, ST Zip
      Dear Name:
      In the summer of 1993, the Marion County Commission on Youth began
      what can best be described as a "new era" in its history. MCCOY was
      reorganized as an independent, not-for-profit agency, separate from local
      government. It retained, however, the same mission with which it had been
      charged from its inception: to serve as a catalyst for effective,
      coordinated, and collaborative service delivery to youth in our
      community.
      For the past three years, MCCOY has been actively engaged in
      accomplishing this declared mission in cooperation with many others:
      youth service providers, youth, funding bodies, and interested citizens
      to name a few.
      We have met with a number of successes along the way, most notably the
      Summer Fun Line, the Metro Summer Bus Pass, and the development of ten
      neighborhood youth councils. A Providers Council and a Youth Coalition
      are building relationships that will hopefully bear great fruit in the
      years to come. The formation of The Community Academy, a pilot project
      directed at expelled students from local school systems, has come about
      as a result of MCCOY's efforts to mobilize community agencies in response
      to a pressing issue.
      McCoy is actively represented and working with numerous community
      collaborations where we regularly raise our voice to speak out for the
      inclusion of young people in both decision-making and program planning
      processes. One concrete example is a joint project undertaken in the
      United Northwest Area in partnership with The Junior League of
      Indianapolis and Community Partnerships with Youth from Fort Wayne,
      Indiana. As a team, these three organizations are working with
      neighborhood youth and adults to build a "Caring Neighborhood with Youth"
      , mobilizing the assets of young people and adults as partners to build a
      better neighborhood for all.
      Since its re-organization, MCCOY has established its unique niche
      within the community by refraining from direct service programming and
      focusing on what it does best: helping to identify youth needs, convening
      groups of individuals and organizations which can address those needs,
      and moving toward collaborative solutions. McCoy has only one interest:
      the well being of Marion County's young people.
      McCoy invites the support of The __ Company Foundation in the amount
      of $10,000.00 to support such activities as:
      ---- the co-ordination of youth leadership training and youth
      empowerment efforts at the neighborhood level by means of
      neighborhood-based youth councils; ---- the promotion of youth employment
      opportunities; ---- the facilitation of ongoing discussions regarding
      effective and efficient youth service delivery;
      ---- the provision of technical assistance and guidance to
      neighborhoods which seek positive youth-adult relationships;
      ---- the development of community-wide supports for the positive
      growth of all Marion County young people.
      In the last several years, the business and corporate community has
      recognized that the positive development of youth is directly related to
      the development of a competent workforce. Youth who are supported and
      encouraged by both a family and a society that values
      
      Them have a much greater likelihood of becoming productive and
      contributing members of adult society. While we have made significant
      inroads, there remains much to be done and it is clear that we cannot do
      it alone. We seek the financial support of the Foundation to help us be
      successful in creating the atmosphere in our community where young people
      can grow and develop well. Your contribution will enable us to both
      continue and expand the good work we have begun in making Indianapolis a
      city famous for its commitment to youth and families.
      In our fund raising efforts to date, we have received the support of
      local government, foundations, and corporations as well as the personal
      financial commitments of individual MCCOY Board members. We believe there
      is no more appropriate time to have a coordinated and collaborative
      effort to financially support the services MCCOY offers to the community
      as a whole.
      Thanking you in advance for your support, we remain,
      Sincerely,
      John T. Neighbours Philip B. Roby President Treasurer
      John F. Brandon Executive Director
    
  



Document 001003245 ends.


	
JAMMU, Apr 2 -- Chief Minister Dr. Farooq Abdullah today accused Pakistan army for breeding terrorism in India to remain in power against the wishes of their people who want peace. 
	
	
 'For their sustenance and survival, Pak generals have been throttling the voice of Pakistanis who wish to live in friendship and cordiality with their neighbours', the Chief Minister said while addressing a function organised by United Public High School at Channi Himat here this afternoon. 
	
	
 The Chief Minister described Pakistan as mother of terrorism and said if the world has to rid itself from this menace, the perpetrators across the border had to be dealt with firmly. He said mere positioning of army at borders was not enough as infiltration was still continuing. The ultras were indulging in blood-shed and their lunaticism has touched such heights that they were not even sparing the worship places, he said and referred to the attack in Raghunath bazaar and temple complex. He cautioned the people against the enemy and said that extra vigil will certainly help in nabbing suspects. 
	
	
 Reiterating that Pakistan will not give up terror, the Chief Minister said that ultimately the demon they have reared will eat up their own vitals. 'Those digging graves for others, get engraved themselves', he said while citing the example of Afghanistan. He said Pakistan is attempting hard to put India in communal flames so that forces are withdrawn from the borders to deal with the internal situations, thereby leaving field day for ultras to cross over to this side. 
	
	
 Dr Abdullah also dwelt on the spread of education saying that teaching younger generation means steering the nation to prosperity and progress. 'Concentrate on those today who are the builders of nation tomorrow', he asked the teachers community while appreciating the involvement of parents in career building of their wards. 
	
	
 Responding to the demands put forth in a memorandum by the residents of Chhanni Himmat, Narwal, Malik Marker Bye-Pass, Chhanni Bija, Chhanni Rama, Chhanni Kamala and Ambedkar Nagar, the Chief Minister said that he will get examined the issue regarding addition of 11th and 12th classes in the area. He called for launching a coaching class for various competitive exams, as the area has no such facility. 
	
	
 Dr Abdullah also dwelt on various social services in the area and said that answer to meeting the growing demand of tap water in various localities of Jammu is tapping of Chenab water for the purpose. In this regard, he said, a Rs 400 crore scheme had been prepared a few years back that is currently under process for implementation. 
	
	
 Expressing concern over dwindling moral values in the society, the Chief Minister said that youngsters must get inspiration from their glorious past and respect their parents and teachers. He said due regard to elders and teachers is imperative for harmonious society. 
	
	
 Dr. Abdullah presented best teacher award and appreciated the performance of student artists who presented cultural items. 
	
	
 Minister for Sports and Labour, Mr. Harbans Singh was the chief guest. He also spoke on the occasion. 
	
	
 Among others present were, Mr. Mohammed Syed Akhoon and Mrs Bimla Luthra, MLAs [Ministers of Legislative Assembly] besides students and parents. 
	
	
 Mr Akhoon presented a memento to the Chief Minister on behalf of the management of the school.	





Document 001003246 ends.



   Tokyo irked by US stance on Kyoto

 



  TOKYO - Coral reefs will die from water that's too hot. Polar 
bears will have less room to roam, crowding some of them out of 
existence. Birds will start flying an extra mile north each 
year, and may starve when they get there.

  These are among the dire possible consequences of global 
warming, say climate-change experts. At no time was it clearer 
that countries should take steps to slow this process than when 
150 countries signed the Kyoto Protocol in 1997.

  But now, with President George Bush saying the US will not 
ratify the protocol - which was shaped in part to fit 
Washington's concerns five years ago - the accord's ultimate 
effectiveness is in doubt, and many US allies are irritated.

  For Japan, a nation of nature-lovers, the shaping of the accord 
on their soil was a source of pride - and proof that they were 
still relevant players on the world stage.

  "It is absolutely inadmissible for the US, which is the greatest 
gas-emitting country, to once again turn its back and present 
something that is against Kyoto Protocol and the framework 
convention on climate change," says Mie Asaoka, president of the 
Kiko Network, a Tokyo environmental-umbrella organization 
representing about 150 Japanese groups.

  The clash over how to stop global warming while allowing 
sluggish economies to prosper occurs at an awkward point in 
US-Japanese relations. US analysts looking east say that as 
Japan's economic dominance in Asia diminishes, so will the 
importance of the US-Japan relationship as a whole.

  The US Department of Defense recently left Japan off its list of 
nations contributing to the post-Sept. 11 war on terror. 
Realizing the accidental slight, the US later apologized for 
overlooking Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's efforts - 
considered tremendously ambitious here - to alter the 
interpretation of Japan's post-World War II pacifist 
constitution in order to dispatch warships for noncombat 
support.

  During Mr. Bush's visit here last month, Mr. Koizumi gently 
balked at the president's proposed alternative to the Kyoto 
agreement, saying that Japan would "like to see further efforts" 
on the part of the US.

  While there are no protesters in the streets, there is an air of 
indignation here over Washington's "do-it-our-way" decision on 
something that effects the whole globe.

  Among the Kiko Network's handouts is a pamphlet with a cartoon 
of the world. On one end, Koizumi defensively holds up the Kyoto 
Protocol. On the other, a fiendish-looking Bush seizes a weeping 
globe in his monster-size hands.

  In the eyes of Japan and many US allies, the Bush 
administration's decision not to ratify the Kyoto Protocol is 
one of many signals that Washington is growing increasingly 
unilateralist in the six months since the Sept. 11 attacks on 
America. From pulling out of Kyoto - which is in the process of 
being ratified by the European Union - to labeling Iran, Iraq, 
and North Korea an "axis of evil" and prime targets in the next 
phase of the war, America's allies are seeing in the US a 
growing tendency to act first and consult later.

  The Bush administration is offering its own alternative plan, 
the Clear Skies and Global Climate Change Initiatives, which 
aides say are more market-sensitive and will reduce the worst 
air pollutants by 70 percent while finding a strategy to cut 
greenhouse gas intensity by 18 percent over the next 10 years.

  But environmental advocates say Bush's alternative will allow 
the US to continue to increase the amount of gas it emits. They 
fear that, because the US is forging its own way, smaller 
nations that are expected to ratify the Kyoto Protocol could 
start backing out. This could lead to a two-tier system in which 
the US and a few others - Australia and Canada may follow suit - 
will choose their own targets, while the rest of the world will 
be limited to the stricter Kyoto limits.

  
Not everyone in Japan is upset with Bush's alternative.

  Japanese industry has already gone through vigorous 
energy-saving - and thus environmentally friendly - drives after 
the two energy crises of the 1970s and 1980s, says Mitsuru 
Shinozaki, a spokesman for Keidanren, the country's most 
influential business lobby. After the Earth Summit of 10 years 
ago, he says, Japan discussed and implemented a self-action plan 
to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions. "Any further policy to 
reduce emissions," he says "will hurt Japanese industrial 
competitiveness."

  
back to top

  
Untitled


Copyright @ 2002 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights 
reserved.




Document 001003247 ends.


          IN THE NAME OF GOD, MOST GRACIOUS MOST MERCYFUL


 So this is the reality we're living in al-Anbar in general, and Ramadi in particular, that is
the head Sheiks of some tribes, and symbols of the Islamic Party, sat with the Americans
in Jordan, and other places, to fight terrorism and its people.
The Sheiks started teaching people about these ideas, this conspiracy is led by two sides,
the first is the heads of the tribes, the second is the leaders of the Islamic Party and
mosques speakers, so they announced their war on the Mujahidin, it increased during the
elections for the new constitution, their danger was so great, that hundreds of people
volunteered in the police and the army, and thousands of people participated in the
elections, renouncing their religion, and listenning to the erratics. After we took a look at
the situation, we found that the best solutions to stop thousands of people from
renouncing their religion, is to cut the heads of the Sheiks of infidelity and erratic.
Before we start reviewing the events that accured here, we ask two questions:

First: If there were people who are raping thousands of muslim women taking their
honor, and stealing muslim money and land, and other people who don't rape or steal, but
they take the religion away from thousands of muslims, what's more important, religion,
or honor and land? What we learned from muslim scholars is that robbing the religion
from muslims, is greater than robbing their honor and land, god said "turmoil is greater
than murder", and for those devils, their danger is greater than who rapes, or rob and steal
money or land.

Second question: Why did we announce and started fighting the Shiites and police from
the start, even thought most of the Jihadist sectors and the public didn't understand what
we want, and didn't know the importance of starting with those, so what's the objection
on killing and executing the Sheiks now and without a notice, with continiuing making
people understand it, just like we did by killing the police then, were people satisfied with
us? Actually lot of the public thinks that who killed the police is Badr organization or
gangs from Iran ! and that who's killing Shiites is hired by Israel and the U.S. to start an
ethnic war and so on.

 From what we saw, the damage caused by those erratic infidels (Tribes Sheiks, The
Islamic Party) is more dangerous than the Shiites and the peaceful police as people call
them. You Sheik announced war on those, with the opposings of many sectors and
scholars of decision making. The brothers now are wiping out the heads of infidelity, as
soon as they started, and never claiming responsibility, we found among us who wants to
make fuss about it, and regretfully some of the brothers with us in the organization (al-
Qa'ida) see it as nonsense, and god is my witness.

My Sheik, here's some of the events that happened in Ramadi:

   1- Sheik Nasr al-Fahdawi, Sheik of AlbuFahd tribe, was nominated to be the
      governor of Anbar, this man worked so hard fighting the (Tanzim)organization,
      with all he's got, from money to power, and reputation in Ramadi, so we tried this
@       with him: First, we backed off during the elections, they had checkpoints, using
       tens of his tribesmen who started checking cars, they violated our brothers many
       times, they even announced it, then our brothers attacked the field leader, the
       brain behind people revolting at al-Anbar in AlbuFahd, so the brothers raided his
       house in the middle of the night wearing the national guards uniform and driving
       similar cars, they took him and killed him thank god. The next morning his
       households and neighbors started talking to the tribe saying it was the national
       guards, they added that they heard some of them speaking English, meaning that
       the Americans are the ones who took Abu Dhari (Sheik Nasr al-Fahdawi), no one
       claimed responsibility for his killing, thank god.

   2- Around the same period, our brothers on the other side of Uphrate river, killed
      Jasim al-`Awwad in al-Malahima and AlbuHazim, he's considered as important
      as Abu Dhari in AlbuFahd, he's a big spy / agent, invited Americans to his house
      for big dinner parties many times, regardless, our brothers didn't claim
      resposibility for killing him.

   3- After our brothers killed three of the infidels in AlbuFahd, some of them claimed
      he's for Jihad, at the same time, protects with his soldiers the election centers, and
      encourages people to volunteers in the police force and the Iraqi army, and it was
      the second hit for Nasr al-Fahdawi. In the morning infidels announced in their
      satellite channels that Nasr al-Fahdawi welcomed Ibrahim al-Ja'fari in Ramadi,
      then by noon, they announced his assasination, thank god. Then there was a
      complete change of events than is was before thank god, cousins of Sheik Nasr
      came to the Mujahidin begging, announcing their repentance and innocense,
      saying we're with you, we'll do whatever you want. The turmoil is over, our
      brothers now are roaming the streets of AlbuFahd without any checkpoints.

For the other tribes, their reaction was as follows:

1- Sheik of al-Bubali tribe in al-Jazira, Sheik Sarhan, who's one of the traitors, and every
time one of their traitors gets killed, he shows outrage and packs his tribe with their guns
against the brothers, after the cleaning in AlbuFahd, the brothers killed three of the spies
in his tribe, and for the first time there was no reaction against the brothers, but instead he
came to them, asking for forgiveness, and he's ready to cooperate.

2- Sheik of Albu'Ubaid (Salah al-Dhari), who slaughtered thirty sheeps in one dinner
party, where he invited heads and Sheiks of tribes in Ramadi, to encourage their youth to
join the police and the national guard, and that's two days before the murder of Sheik
Nasr al-Fahdawi, after that he announced his repentance at the mosque twice infront of
Albu'Ubaid tribe, denouncing who joins the police and army, and sorry for all he's done,
without any pressure or threats from the brothers, also the brothers didn't announce the
claim for any of the killings. When Mazhar al-`Alawani a candidate for the elections was
murdered, his pictures were all over Ramadi, where the entire Albu'Alwan tribe was
supporting him, proud of him, one day before the elections, the brothers killed him while
he was visiting Ramadi, no one from his tribe openned his mouth, instead they got more
 scared and weaker. The same with the killing of Muhammad Saddak the Sheik of
AlbuJlayb tribe, and president of al-Anbar revolutionists, who released statements in
mosques and markets, promising to eliminate who he called Sheiks of sodomite and thift,
and agents for the Zionists, like our brother Abu Mustafa Midhatt, our brother Abu
Khattab, and Sheik Abu al-Harith al-Shar'i, and many others, this vicious organization
(al-Anbar revolutionists) attempted to assasinate our brother Abu Khudayr, in Ramadi,
when armed men shot him, was injured in the thigh. Sheik Muhammad Saddak said
himself that he's nominated for the position of the interior minister, and Sheik Nasr al-
Fahdawi for the governor of Anbar, like the Americans promised him, and Abu Raghghal
al-Dulaymi and others thank god, his was eliminated by the brothers inside the city of
Baghdad, until now no one knows who killed him in Baghdad, with all that, our policy is
to eliminate the heads of infidelity without any announcements.

 As for the heads of the Islamic Party, our brothers been monitoring them for so long, but
ignored them during the elections, then their vicious role appeared, with their call to form
police and army after the elections, we found that the main thinker behind the Party's
ideas is Sheik Abd al-Ghafur al-Kubaysi the Imam and speaker of of al-Shafi'i mosque in
Ramadi, and made his mosque the center of all the Party's meetings, with all that, he
didn't stop fighting the brothers with his speeches at the mosque, so the brothers
assasinated him near his house, after he left the mosque going home, and there was no
reaction by the Islamic Party or people, except that they raised signs condemning the
killing. The same thing exactly happened after the killing of Abu Bilal in Ramadi, the
manager of the media office at the Islamic Party as it was announced in some media
sources, he disallowed and torn any Jihad related posters on the walls, he was caught in
the act by the brothers, they beat him and arrested him, he routed out lots of the Party's
leaders, like Abd al-Ghafur al-Kubaysi, and their conspiracies against the Tanzim (al-
Qa'ida organization), he was ill, got transferred to a hospital where he later died, there
were no puplicity to his death by people, expect condemning it by the corrupted satellite
channels. We did not follow this policy until we ran out of time, from past experience
where we let things go, like Kataib al-Hamza (Hamza brigades), and AlbuMahal tribe in
al-Qaim, where we should've eliminated them then, but what happened happened, also
Muhsin Abd al-Hamid etc... and you Sheik said that yourself god bless you, also in
Fallujah where brothers neglected on killing the heads of infidelity, and what happened
also happened.

 Now we have Kabisah, this small village announced this week that 130 policemen
volunteered from there, next day they started working, it was secretly prepared from
before, and the Islamic Party was behind recruiting those policemen, like we proved.
Our state council forbids from targeting Sunni police, or killing and eliminating the
infidels and traitors without going back to the council, and you know that assasinations
are about good apportunities, and monitoring a person could take days or weeks. The
best solution is to cut the head of the snake.
We say that the brothers are following this method, that's what we learned from you and
promised you, I said that this is Abu Bakr's period, toughness toughness, we in Iraq will
defend the muslim nation, and Jihad is everybody's responsibility, don't miss it.
 Other groups pretends that they never killed an Iraqi or Sunni in particular, and that its
goals are patriotic, what we know about our Jihad, that it's Jihad of faith, and what you
stated over and over before my Sheik about the method of the group, and the honorable
resistance in many of the speeches to our brothers and people, in fact Sheik we are joyous
for forming the state council, although we say, to save this blessed work, which we pray
to god that Islam and muslims would benefit from it, everyone should agree on our policy
in the war against the renegade, without these restrictions we have at the state council.
We have no problem with you saying for us to give the name of the person before killing
him, but we owe god, this will only be a delay for us, and time is not on our side, and for
you to say to kill him outside his city, sometimes it take months before the person leaves
his city, like if it's in Baghdad for example, that's difficult, and time is not on our side,
we waited to cut the heads of the renegades in Hit, then 130 renegades came out to us for
the reason that we didn't destroy the Islamic Party there, but we're working on it, for
example we didn't kill Nasr al-Fahdawi at his home in al-Sajriyah, but the guys waited
for him until he got out of the Ramadi province.

We need premission for these names:

1- Sheik Hatim Abd al-Razzaq Mu'jil al-Ka'ud, Sheik AlbuNimr tribe.
2- Sheik Anwar Abd al-Razzaq al-Kharbit, AlbuKhalifah.
3- Sa'id Nattah, one of AlbuJlayb Sheiks.
4- Maj. Gen Sa'ab al-Rawi.
5- Dr. Muhammad Mahmud Latif, Prince of the movement.
6- Maj. Gen. Khalid `Arrak Hutaymi.
7- Mamun al-`Alwani, al-Anbar governor, attached to you the security report in
   Ramadi.
8- Zahir Muhammad `Awwad al-`Ubaydi, manager of Sunni endowment, for attending
   the last meeting with al-Ja'fari, also for attending a conference in Jordan, that was
   presesnted to you, he's one of the people calling to form the police and national
   guard, we'll kill him outside al-Ramadi zone, when he goes to the government
   building.

             
We have restrictions on beheading the heads of the Islamic Party members, the Sheik of
the tribes, and renegages, present it to the council if you prefer:

1- There must be time priorities.
2- Must differenciate between the infidels, which is in the public eyes, and who works
   behind the scenes, as a mastermind.
3- Must differenciate between who's in the village, where relations are stronger, than it
   is in the city, where there's different people with different ideas.
4- Differenciate between an area where there are brothers have interests in (financial �
   religious), and area they don't.
5- Differenciate between who's in a position where he's liked and respected, and
   another who's not.
 6- There's who we prepare for him in few steps, like bringing him down through the
    media, then kill him, or kill his assistant who does the work for him, and see his
    reaction, then kill him, or fight him through the media, until his publicity is dead.
7- First kill the corrupted and the ones with negative effects , before the ones who try to
    guide people, and has a positive effect.
8- Differenciate between targets in the Islamic Party, or the Ba'ath Party, who proved
    their failur to people in running the nation, and Sheiks and leaders of the tribes where
    most people especially in villages love and respect them, the first kind's reaction is
    lefting signs and comdemning, the second kind blames, and sometime opens a front
    against us.
9- Whoever we can't kill, and can't reach, we shhould at least warn or threaten him so
    he could back off at least.
10- I case there was a tribe who's not obaying, and their renegade is abvious, the
    Mujahidin release a statement to expose them, with mass media, then do vicious
    military operations against them, so they would be a lesson to others.
11- If the targer was decent, and has good reputation, but he's a hypocrite, only teases
    the Mujahidin, we kill him gradually, by killing his big supporters.
12- We should make the public and the ignorant know clearly about our policy fighting
    the renegades, so they won't side with them for their fight against the Mujahidin.
13- Priority in killing those who are damaging to us and mulims, before the ones who are
    not.
                     

 With stating this to you, we know your intend, whenever we meet with you, you tell us
that this is the right way, but we want this in writing by the state council, so all of our
members would observe it, but if it's not writtin it will go away after you're gone, if you
die of get killed, the council after you inshallh (in god's well) will stay on good grounds,
where the fate of an entire nation depends on it, god is the protector of his religion, let's
have a big role in it, we ask god to keep us guided not lost.
 


Document 001003248 ends.


	
US President George W. Bush's East Asia tour came to an end with his final stopover at China. There were no remarkable agreements at the summit talks with Chinese President Jiang Zemin other than Jiang Zemin and Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao's promise to visit the United States. Yet, the biggest significance lies in that the United States and China reaffirmed cooperation for the world and Asia's peace and stability. 
	
	
 Bush's visit to China was set on the date of the 30th anniversary of "former US President Richard Nixon's visit to China," which is said to be the "week that changed the world." This displayed intentions of both the United States and China to make Bush's China visit a "new milestone" for the two countries' relations based on the trust built by Nixon's visit (as US Ambassador to China Clark Randt cited). 
	
	
 Recently, both US and Chinese authorities often use the phrase, "direct and constructive relationship of cooperation." At the US-China summit talks, the gap between the two countries' points of confrontation such as on the issues of Taiwan and Iran, China's exportation of weapons of massive destruction, human rights, and religious suppression was not bridged. This means that regardless of such points of confrontation, the two countries will develop a relationship of cooperation. 
	
	
 At the first half of last year, the US-China relations drastically worsened. Bush redefined China as a "strategic competitor" and increased the sales level of arms to Taiwan. The row between the United States and China on the US missile defense program, China's suppression of the religious group Falungong, and the collision of the US and Chinese military aircraft was only becoming worse. 
	
	
 The two countries' relations began to improve since China expressed active support for international cooperation against terrorism in the wake of the simultaneous terrorist attacks on the United States last September. Bush made a commitment to a "constructive relationship of cooperation" at the US-China summit talks (in Shanghai) last October, and the US-China relations was restored. 
	
	
 As the exceptional comment on China that Bush made in his speech to the Japanese Diet during his visit shows, Bush's desire to develop ties with China is very strong. It is not that China is only making a dynamic economic progress and becoming a military superpower. It is preferable to gain China's understanding and cooperation on antiterrorism and strategic issues. 
	
	
 Of course, China will not concur with the United States' position, but it appears that the United States is trying to strengthen relations so that it can always convey a clear message to the Chinese side. 
	
	
 Bush's China visit this time also seemed as if the United States was returning to the engagement policy it took toward China during the Clinton administration era. Yet, the United States plans to take the policy of strengthening cooperation with China and involving China further in the international community. For the US-China cooperation to become a "new milestone" for peace and stability, it is necessary for China to become a nation with higher transparency. 
	
	
	





Document 001003251 ends.



   Zambia hails result

 



  LUSAKA -- Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa yesterday hailed the 
re-election of his Zimbabwean counterpart Robert Mugabe and 
called on defeated opponent Morgan Tsvangirai to accept the 
controversial result.

  "I am pleased to learn of the re-election of President Robert 
Mugabe as president of Zimbabwe," Mwanawasa said in a statement.

  "As chairman of the Organisation of African Unity and president 
of a friendly neighbour, I congratulate President Mugabe on his 
re-election," Mwanawasa said.

  Three of the 10 losing presidential candidates in Zambia's 
December 27 vote have petitioned the Supreme Court to nullify 
the results, charging that Mwanawasa won the election by fraud. 
-- Sapa-AFP






Document 001003252 ends.


	
Members of the US Congress and their guests have applauded 70 times during President George Bush's Annual State of the Union speech. In his address, Bush changed the warning from the "evil empire", the term used by former President Ronald Reagan to describe the Soviet Union and communism, to the "access of evil", the United States' new enemy. This enemy comprises several nations and terrorist organizations. Bush specifically named North Korea, Iran, and Iraq, countries that were formerly referred to as pariah and evil nations. It seems that the definition of the term pariah nations is the obstacle that prohibits or prevents the free world from imposing sanctions on them. 
	
	
 President Bush used his speech to give details about what the September terrorist operations have revealed. It now transpires that we are living in a world threatened by tens of thousands of terrorists and that more are on the way. They are now getting trained in terrorist camps that are scattered in scores of nations. 
	
	
 In his speech, President Bush upped the intensity of the US military-political rhetoric but kept things vague regarding his administration's policy on Iraq or the future of ties with North Korea. President Bill Clinton's administration tried to encourage rapprochement between the two Koreas. 
	
	
 The striking thing was the reference to Iran. A week ago President Bush warned Iran against obstructing stability in Afghanistan. By mentioning it in his speech, Bush has affirmed that his administration is thinking of a way to deal with it. Although it is one of many countries surrounding Afghanistan, Iran has an effective role to play in that country. 
	
	
 Some were surprised by President Bush's repeated reference to Iran as among the countries that make the "access of evil." This is because following the September operations there were some hints suggesting that Washington was viewing Iran from a new angle. 
	
	
 What might have changed the Bush administration's position are the mixed signals coming out of Iran, which represent a true reflection of the internal political climate in that country. For years the political groups within the Iranian authority have been speaking with different voices. 
	
	
 As regards Iraq, despite the hints of war in President Bush's speech there were other hints suggesting that he might resort to other means to achieve his goal, such as economic pressure, diplomatic isolation, total boycott, limited military operations, and support for the opposition groups. 
	
	
 There was a smell of danger in President Bush's speech and it was clear in the United States' decision to adopt a tough policy. By reviewing the scattered cases of terrorism, Bush has turned the world into a single front against terrorism and against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. It is as if he returned the world to the Cold War era, when the US foreign policy was driven by the notion of anti-communism. The problem is that many mistakes were committed then, and they were serious mistakes, in the name of this policy. It is feared now that the fight against terrorism might be a cover for other goals. 
	
	
 Because the speech was about the State of the Union, President Bush seemed like he was underlining the "unilateral" role of the United States, thus dropping the coalition against terrorism. It is important to recall that the entire world that came out in protest against the September 11th attacks urged Washington to coordinate with its partners and allies. 
	
	
 In the wake of the Bush speech, the questions that arise are: How will the US administration reconcile between the domestic pressure to take action in the world on its own and other pressure to consult with its allies and friends in the world before embarking on any action? Bush has talked about some goals without telling us about the means that he will use to achieve them. One of these goals is how to prevent terrorists and countries that seek to acquire weapons of mass destruction from threatening the United States and the world. Another goal is to prevent countries that support terrorism from threatening the United States and its allies with weapons of mass destruction and terrorism. 
	
	
 The important thing is that the firmness that was apparent in Bush's speech means that the world should take seriously the possibility that the United States might achieve these goals. 
	
	
 Attachments: ATTAX6QU	





Document 001003254 ends.


	
A 26 November 2001 article in Zhongguo Renkou Bao reported that in April 2001, the State Family Planning Commission initiated its transprovincial floating population investigation by surveying the marriage, birth, and birth control situations of 27,879 migrant women between the ages of 15 and 49. 
	
	
 Of the women surveyed, 87.2 percent (24,310) were married, higher than the national average of 82.3 percent (according to the 1997 National Population and Reproductive Health Survey). The average number of 15- to 19-year-old migrant women who are married with children is higher than the national average. The average for migrant women in the other age groups is lower than the national average. 
	
	
 Only about 30 percent of the migrant women who are married with two or more children have obtained official migrant population marriage documentation as required by the Procedures For Managing Floating Population Family Planning. This is less than the registration rate of migrant women with no or one child. 
	
	
 The percentage of married migrant women using contraceptives is 90.6 percent, higher than the national average of 83.4 percent. Moreover, those with children mostly use long-term contraceptive methods. The rate of using long-term contraceptive methods is higher among women with one son than women with one daughter. Those with two children mostly undergo sterilization. However, the use of sterilization among "households with two daughters" is significantly less than among households with at least one son. 
	
	
 This document is based exclusively on the content and behavior of selected foreign public media. It is issued without coordination with other U.S. Government components.	





Document 001003256 ends.


	
(CORR)Spanish premier, EU leader urge Russia to ratify Kyoto Protocol 
	
	
 (Correcting "handed over" in line 2 to read "sent". Corrected version follows.) 
	
	
 Text of report by Spanish news agency Efe 
	
	
 Barcelona, 14 March: The current president of the EU, Jose Maria Aznar, and the president of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, have sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin in which they urge him to promote the ratification by Russia of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. In the letter, to which Efe has had access, Aznar and Prodi explain that on 4 March the council of EU environment ministers agreed the adoption of a decision for approval of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change on behalf of the European Community. They explain that this agreement is an important step for the EU in fulfilling the political pledge to achieve ratification of the Protocol before the Johannesburg summit on sustainable development. To this end, Aznar and Prodi report that only the internal ratification processes in each of the member states have now to be concluded and they emphasize that these are at an advanced stage and in some cases have been completed. "Therefore, we have complete confidence that the instruments of ratification of the European Community and of the 15 member states will be able to be lodged with the Secretariat of the United Nations within the time scale anticipated, in other words, in early June of this year," they add. However, the letter emphasizes that for the Kyoto Protocol to be able to enter into force in the near future it is not enough for EU ratification to be guaranteed and they thus urge Putin to ensure that Russia also moves ahead with ratification. They make this request "convinced of the Russian Federation's resolute commitment to the Kyoto Protocol" and believing that in this manner the EU and Russia would continue to show the "leadership" which they believe they have shared "with such fruitful results, in international cooperation in the fight against climate change". 
	
	
	





Document 001003259 ends.


	
MANILA, Nov 24 (AFP) - President Gloria Arroyo praised Malaysia on Saturday for the swift arrest of Muslim leader Nur Misuari, whose forces embarked on a fresh rebellion this week in the southern Philippines. 
	
	
 Arroyo was "very satisfied that the Malaysian government has been efficient enough to arrest him," her spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao told DZBB radio here. 
	
	
 Foreign department spokesman Victoriano Lecaros said the arrest should serve as "a warning to terrorists that they will find themselves on inhospitable ground within ASEAN," referring to the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations. 
	
	
 Tiglao separately told AFP that Manila would hold talks with Kuala Lumpur on the deportation of the former guerrilla leader turned politician. The neighbors lack an extradition treaty. 
	
	
 He suggested that Kuala Lumpur would have to take the initiative, saying that Misuari had apparently violated Malaysian law by entering the country without a passport. 
	
	
 Manila wants to put Misuari on trial for rebellion in connection with a revolt on Monday which claimed at least 113 lives. 
	
	
 The Philippine foreign ministry this week cancelled Misuari's regular and diplomatic passports as a Jolo court ordered his arrest. 
	
	
 He is the founder of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) group and governor of the Muslim self-rule Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). 
	
	
 Misuari launched his revolt after Arroyo decided to back an MNLF rival in an election to be held Monday to choose the next ARMM governor. 
	
	
 The government has deployed thousands of troops to Jolo to deter attempts by Misuari followers to disrupt the balloting. 
	
	
 Malaysia's official Bernama news agency said that Misuari and six of his men were arrested on an island off the Malaysian state of Sabah, which is on Borneo island, while trying to enter the country illegally. 
	
	
 A source at the Malaysian embassy in Manila said the Royal Malaysian Police intercepted Misuari's speedboat and arrested all its occupants. 
	
	
 The boat was being checked for weapons, said the source, who would not be identified. 
	
	
 Malaysia, which had given sanctuary to Misuari and his guerrillas in the early 1970s, has called on Misuari to end a bloody six-day-old rebellion by his followers in the southern Philippine island of Jolo. 
	
	
 Lecaros, from the foreign ministry, said the arrest was a sign that the ASEAN, "particularly Malaysia, is succeeding in the effort against terrorism." 
	
	
 The group pledged to counter terrorism at a summit in Brunei this month as well as a summit with their main trading partners in Shanghai in October. 
	
	
 ASEAN includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. 
	
	
 Lecaros said that Misuari had developed ties with the Abu Sayyaf rebel group that has carried out a spree of kidnappings. 
	
	
 US and Philippine officials say the group has links with Saudi militant Osama bin Laden, blamed for the September 11 attacks on the United States that killed about 4,000 people. 
	
	
 "Misuari is not just any lawbreaking person," Lecaros said. 
	
	
 "The Philippine government has information that Mr. Misuari has of late developed some links with the Abu Sayyaf about whom more need not be said," he said. 
	
	
 Bernama quoted Malaysian police chief Norian Mai as saying police would try to hand Misuari and his men over to the Philippine government as soon as possible. 
	
	
 Tiglao said he had been informed that Misuari was taken to the Sabah state capital of Kota Kinabalu. 
	
	
 He expressed the government's determination to put Misuari in jail. 
	
	
 "Definitely," he said. "We have to enforce the law." 
	
	
	





Document 001003263 ends.



Pakistan rejects US human rights report

 



  ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Tuesday slated US State Department's 
country report on human rights situation in Pakistan and 
labelled it "factually inaccurate and unwarranted."

  "The report fails to acknowledge the important policy measures 
and initiatives by the Government of Pakistan to promote and 
protect human rights," a Foreign Office spokesman said.

  The spokesman said that the US report ignored the implementation 
of almost all initiatives announced and set at an April 2000 
human rights conference.

  These initiatives included the promulgation of the Juvenile 
Justice System Ordinance, the establishment of a Permanent 
Commission on the Status of Women, police and jail reforms, 
national policy and Plan of Action for elimination of child 
labour and establishment of a fund for rehabilitation of working 
children.

  The spokesman said: "The Government has amended Pakistan 
Citizenship Act of 1951 to enable women of Pakistani descent to 
claim Pakistani nationality for their children born to foreign 
husbands. A mass awareness campaign was launched as part of the 
observance of the Year 2000 as the Year of Human Rights and 
Human Dignity."

  "Pakistan also ratified ILO Conventions 100 on equal 
remuneration and 182 on the elimination of worst forms of child 
labour. It signed the Optional Protocols to Convention on the 
Rights of Child. Recently, the system of joint electorates has 
been introduced respecting the wishes of the minority 
communities," the spokesman said.

  The spokesman said that despite these developments, the report 
states `the Govt's human rights record remained poor'. "This is 
unacceptable and a gross misstatement of facts," the spokesman 
said.

  "The Government of Pakistan, therefore, feels constrained to 
reject the assessment of the report about Pakistan, and the 
tendency of some states to sit in judgement over others. The 
cause of human rights would be better served if all states, in a 
spirit of cooperation and understanding, address the problems 
they face in promoting and protecting human rights."

  He said that the Government of Pakistan remains committed to 
promoting and protecting human rights and will welcome the 
assistance of friendly countries towards that end.






Document 001003266 ends.


	
Hanoi, Feb. 9 (VNA) -- Vietnam and the United States will organize a scientific conference on human health and the environmental effects of Agent Orange/Dioxins in Hanoi's Daewoo Hotel from Mar. 3-6. 
	
	
 According to the National Institute of Environment and Health Sciences (NIEHS) of the US, the conference will offer scientists worldwide opportunities to exchange scientific information on the effects of Agent Orange/Dioxins on human health and the environment and discuss measures to reduce the hazards of this toxic chemical. Scientists will evaluate available dioxin-related research results and define present requirements for further research. 
	
	
 NIEHS said that the conference will mark the start of joint scientific research on the impact of defoliant sprayed by the US Air Force during the war in Vietnam. It is expected to lay a foundation for further bilateral cooperation projects in this field as well as seeking funding for future projects. 
	
	
 According to unofficial reports, between 1961 and 1971, US aircraft sprayed 72 million liters of toxic chemicals, including 44 million liters of Agent Orange, containing 170 kg of dioxin, in Vietnam. Dioxin is an extremely poisonous chemical that causes cancer, immune system malfunction and birth defects. 
	
	
 When the US war ended in 1975, three million Vietnamese had been killed, 4.4 million wounded and two million affected by toxic chemicals, mainly Agent Orange. In the first decade after the war, about 50,000 children were born with deformities or paralysis to parents affected by toxic chemicals.	





Document 001003267 ends.



 
     		
 	
 		here goes Sharon
 	
 	
 		okay
 	
 	
 		well  what do you think about Nolan Ryan being the first baseball player to earn a million dollars
 		that's the only thing i found out tonight
 	
 	
 		oh you found that out tonight i hadn't even heard that that's great i think he deserves every penny of it
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		yeah
 	
 	
 		but there are some others out there that i don't believe deserve the money they're getting
 	
 	
 		well isn't it funny how baseball's getting less than like football players would
 	
 	
 		oh yeah
 	
 	
 		wonder because football
 	
 	
 		and they play a lot they play a lot longer season too
 	
 	
 		and a lot more games right
 	
 	
 		yep that's exactly right
 	
 	
 		uh-huh
 	
 	
 		but i think let's see the teams that were there last year were
 		see somebody from California i don't even know who won the pennant last year
 	
 	
 		beats me i mean i know Yankees have won a lot of games through the years
 	
 	
 		yeah  not lately though
 	
 	
 		we have been talking about this i tried to call earlier
 	
 	
 		uh-huh
 	
 	
 		and we had made a list of all these uh baseball teams and the cities that they were from then i started cleaning and i don't know where i even put that paper i yeah i was just cleaning and throwing
 	
 	
 		threw it away  oh gosh let's see the teams that  i think the A's were in it last year the Oakland A's and i think it was
 		i don't think it was an all California baseball
 	
 	
 		well have you ever played baseball
 	
 	
 		i play softball
 	
 	
 		well that's what i did when i was growing up
 	
 	
 		yeah
 	
 	
 		that was fun
 	
 	
 		yeah that's fun  that's a whole different sport
 	
 	
 		uh-huh
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		let's see but i think i think the Rangers need to go and i think the Pirates will go
 		and uh
 		let's see
 		Rangers have got a new guy this year i don't remember his name either
 	
 	
 		do you ever go see the Rangers
 	
 	
 		every once in a while i i like to go on the nights when there's not anybody out there not very many people out there it's a lot more fun when you're not fighting a crowd
 	
 	
 		yeah i think it's fun i like just looking at the billboards
 	
 	
 		yeah but sometimes when i if you go out there during the day you just fry under the sun
 	
 	
 		
 
 		yeah it's nice at night
 	
 	
 		yeah
 	
 	
 		that's when i've been
 	
 	
 		it is
 	
 	
 		
 
 	
 	
 		and and do you know anything about that new stadium have you seen all those pictures that they're going to put out there
 	
 	
 		well
 		no
 	
 	
 		yeah that that huge it's suppose to be a huge stadium and it's going to have little shopping centers in it and little like a lake or something running through it and uh they're going to try to make it a real community center out there
 	
 	
 		and you're going to be able to buy your what was no wait
 	
 	
 		of course
 	
 	
 		what was it about the liquor
 	
 	
 		that's that's in uh Texas stadium where the football players play
 	
 	
 		was that
 		
 
 		oh yeah see you just
 	
 	
 		and they're never going to let liquor in there
 	
 	
 		well they're trying
 	
 	
 		i know but they try every year and every year they get thrown out
 		it's so stupid because they let you take it in there but they don't they don't allow you to sell it don't allow them to sell it there
 	
 	
 		uh-huh
 	
 	
 		but uh that new stadium's going to be real nice and i heard that there's uh
 		that you can bid on that stadium last night on the news i heard they said you could you could bid on the stadium to have it named after you
 	
 	
 		kind of right
 	
 	
 		it's going to it's going to go to the highest bidder
 	
 	
 		oh
 	
 	
 		
 
 	
 	
 		well that's the way to do it
 	
 	
 		so
 		yeah so that could be your you know fifteen minutes of fame
 	
 	
 		you hear that that's my kids turning on their music let me see  Holly turn it down
 	
 	
 		oh
 	
 	
 		i think it's the Bartman the Simpsons
 	
 	
 		oh God  i stay away from them
 	
 	
 		
 
 		i wish i could
 	
 	
 		i bet you do
 	
 	
 		yeah well where are you
 	
 	
 		in Plano
 	
 	
 		okay i'm in Garland
 	
 	
 		oh you are
 	
 	
 		yeah my husband my husband teaches in Plano
 	
 	
 		oh what's he teach
 	
 	
 		C V A E
 	
 	
 		uh-huh
 		so what do you do
 	
 	
 		i teach but i teach for Dallas
 	
 	
 		oh you do
 	
 	
 		for right now i'm trying to get out
 	
 	
 		is that a tough system to be in
 	
 	
 		uh-huh
 	
 	
 		real hard
 	
 	
 		uh-huh i mean it's good because they they try new things you know but it's like
 	
 	
 		yeah i would think it
 	
 	
 		they'll try something and then they throw it out and get something else you know and you get tired of that
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		that's typical bureaucracy though that's that's i think it's going to be any where you go it's just worse in the bigger cities than it is in the smaller ones i don't know sometimes the smaller ones are just as bad
 	
 	
 		
 
 		yeah
 		well but they can't be though they don't have as much money
 	
 	
 		yeah but the politics the politics gets worse in the small towns sometimes
 	
 	
 		most the time
 		oh man but in Dallas you don't even know who's in in administration there's so many of them
 	
 	
 		you don't even know who to payoff huh
 	
 	
 		i mean somebody walks in the classroom and you don't know what they're there for you know when they're coming how long they're going to be
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		oh how funny
 	
 	
 		you know it's just them there they are and they're writing the whole time
 	
 	
 		no communication whatsoever
 	
 	
 		no i had them walk out of my class and not say their name anything and i finally got to where i go okay i'm Debbie Moore you know may i ask who you are and what you are in my classroom for
 	
 	
 		
 
 	
 	
 		you know because you know you never know where they're going  what they'll report or
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		i know
 	
 	
 		and they'll tell you they've written something down and you
 	
 	
 		and you haven't you and you never see it
 	
 	
 		hope they're telling you
 		
 
 		no huh-uh
 	
 	
 		that's got to be frustrating
 	
 	
 		oh it is
 	
 	
 		how long have you taught taught Dallas schools
 	
 	
 		uh this is my eleventh year
 	
 	
 		ooh that's about uh ten too many
 	
 	
 		no actually it's now my job's
 		good much better than a lot
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		uh-huh
 	
 	
 		because i'm Chapter One and all i do is teach reading all day long
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		oh
 	
 	
 		and it's just ten children at a time
 	
 	
 		well that's not bad
 	
 	
 		no it's good and you've got a lot of federal money too
 	
 	
 		but hasn't it changed a lot over the years
 	
 	
 		teaching  oh yes
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		or working in the system
 	
 	
 		yes when i first started teaching i remember i went up to my job and i said okay i want to see a curriculum guide you know so i'll know what i'm suppose to teach and they go
 		we don't have one of we don't even know where one is
 	
 	
 		
 
 		oh God
 	
 	
 		and  i go okay i mean you just you did what you  wanted to do
 	
 	
 		oh
 		how funny
 	
 	
 		and now they tell you what to teach and how long and
 		you know what day
 	
 	
 		yeah you don't know which is you don't know which is worse
 	
 	
 		what period
 		yeah no i know which is worse
 	
 	
 		yeah i guess so yeah being told what to do is worse
 	
 	
 		
 
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		so how long are we suppose to talk for
 	
 	
 		well you can talk for ten minutes but you don't have to
 	
 	
 		oh you can
 	
 	
 		yeah and no if you talk to ten then they come over on and say oh you've extended your limit and please say good-bye within the next five seconds
 	
 	
 		oh i haven't ever talked that long
 	
 	
 		well you know i hadn't either till last night i was talking to this retired administrator from Cleveland Ohio we started talking about gangs you know
 	
 	
 		oh how funny
 		he lives in Cleveland
 	
 	
 		yeah
 	
 	
 		wow
 	
 	
 		and everybody else that i've talked to has been right around here
 	
 	
 		yeah
 	
 	
 		but she was real interesting
 	
 	
 		huh
 	
 	
 		and then tonight this woman called have you taken any incoming calls
 	
 	
 		the yours is my second one
 	
 	
 		okay so hers was the first one i got
 		gotten and uh
 		oh she was telling me all her problems
 	
 	
 		
 
 	
 	
 		and it went over ten minutes
 	
 	
 		did she did she did you all not talk about the topic at all
 	
 	
 		well yeah we did but the topic was boring i thought what would you serve uh if you were having a dinner party
 	
 	
 		oh
 		oh gosh
 		
 
 		what was i'm trying to remember oh the other the one i talked about the other night was good it was
 		um about movies you know who what have you seen at the movies lately and stuff like that
 	
 	
 		oh yeah i could go on and on about that
 	
 	
 		me too because we go all the time the guy i was talking to never goes he was boy it sounds like your really up on this and i said i see at least two a week  so
 	
 	
 		ooh neat
 	
 	
 		that was real good to talk about that have you seen like uh Silence Of The Lambs
 	
 	
 		no
 	
 	
 		you've got to go see that
 	
 	
 		the last one i saw was Dances Of The With The Wolves Of The Wolves
 	
 	
 		yeah we talked about that one too and he he said he didn't think it should of gotten all those awards he thought it was too long but
 	
 	
 		oh i enjoyed it i mean it was just more for my money
 	
 	
 		i
 		i did too
 		yeah i didn't think it was too long at all
 		um he said after about the first hour he started looking at his watch
 	
 	
 		huh
 	
 	
 		the other one you need to go see is Sleeping With The Enemy
 	
 	
 		uh-huh
 	
 	
 		and how old are your kids
 	
 	
 		one is eight and one is eleven
 	
 	
 		you probably don't want to take them to see Silence Of The Lambs
 		it's it's not it's not too cool for kids
 	
 	
 		they usually pick their own
 	
 	
 		i bet they do
 	
 	
 		you know they've got it all figured out
 	
 	
 		yeah they want to see all the horror movies
 	
 	
 		well and Ninja Turtles
 	
 	
 		yeah Ninja Turtles got to have those
 	
 	
 		but most of the time really we watch them on the video
 		don't you just massive rental
 	
 	
 		oh yeah you bring that's well heck that's a lot cheaper then uh taking them out to the show
 	
 	
 		going to
 		i know
 	
 	
 		especially if you get them for a couple of nights you don't have to watch them all at one night one time
 	
 	
 		that's what we do especially when it's bad weather man just
 	
 	
 		yeah
 	
 	
 		plug it in
 	
 	
 		of course you have to get there early if you want to get anything
 	
 	
 		i know
 	
 	
 		decent
 		well
 	
 	
 		it's good when you go to Tom Thumb though and they're cheap and nobody's got them yet unbelievable
 	
 	
 		that's true
 		that's true we saw um
 		Heroes Has Always Been Cowboys tonight
 	
 	
 		uh-huh
 	
 	
 		it was okay it was kind of slow and i felt like it kind of got chopped off at the end you know
 		it just it and i don't know it one of those movies it's not going to be around long it'll be a dollar movie in no time
 	
 	
 		do you read
 	
 	
 		not very much no
 	
 	
 		no
 	
 	
 		i don't have the patience to read
 	
 	
 		see i do that to make myself go to sleep at night
 	
 	
 		yeah oh my mom and dad read all the time
 	
 	
 		you saw Field Of the Dreams right a long time ago
 	
 	
 		yeah sure did
 	
 	
 		so i was reading the book and it's called Shoeless Joe
 	
 	
 		oh really
 	
 	
 		it was so wonderful and then i was um i decided well i like this author so i got a uh book of his short stories and that's been real good
 	
 	
 		who's the who's the author
 	
 	
 		don't don't ask me  The Ghost Of Shoeless Joe was the name of the book
 	
 	
 		oh
 		
 
 		Shoeless Joe was it like the movie
 	
 	
 		yes quite a quite a bit but you know in the movie the guy was black
 	
 	
 		okay
 		right
 	
 	
 		he wasn't in the book
 	
 	
 		huh
 	
 	
 		that's one difference
 		there really wasn't a lot of difference
 	
 	
 		i didn't uh see i never even heard that there was a book tied in with that movie
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		that's interesting
 	
 	
 		so
 	
 	
 		that was a good movie too
 	
 	
 		well do you think we've covered baseball
 	
 	
 		i think so
 	
 	
 		okay well have a good night
 		
 		
 	


Document 001003270 ends.


	
Researchers from the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot and the Technion in Haifa have developed a computer so tiny that a trillion of them could fit into a laboratory test tube. The "computers" are biological molecules, using DNA for software and enzymes for hardware, and can solve a billion mathematical problems a second. 
	
	
 Such tiny devices could one day fit into cells and supervise biological processes, or even synthesize drugs. DNA strands exist in almost every body cell -- they are biological software that tell each cell and molecule what to do. 
	
	
 "If you look at the mechanism of a cell, a lot of what goes on inside is computation. We don't need to teach the cell new tricks, we just need to put the existing tricks in the right order," says Prof. Ehud Shapiro of the Weizmann Institute, who headed the research. 
	
	
 Some scientists believe DNA-based computers could have an advantage over existing computers based on silicon chips. Artificial chips have reached their limits and can't get any smaller. But, say the scientists, tiny DNA strands can store huge amounts of information in minuscule space -- one cubic centimeter of DNA can store more information than a trillion CDs. 
	
	
 Prof. Shapiro says the molecular computer is the first of its kind. Although computers with DNA input and output have been made before, they have always involved a laborious series of reactions, each requiring human supervision. "Previous biological computers were the same size as the room in which the supervisors and computer equipment worked," said Shapiro. "With the new method, all you need do to get an answer is put all the ingredients into a test tube, mix them together, and check to see what the output is." 
	
	
 For now biological computers only know how to answer simple questions with a "yes" or "no" response. A typical question would be: In the sequence "AAB" is there an equal number of As and Bs? 
	
	
 Nevertheless, several researchers worldwide have hailed the computers as an important new development. "They work better than anything I've seen so far," said Eric Baum, a computer scientist at the NEC Research Institute in Princeton, New Jersey. Although he questions whether biomolecular computers will ever become really useful, he believes they are a "step in the right direction." 
	
	
 Professor Shapiro and a growing number of other scientists believe DNA-based computers may lead to a number of useful applications -- they could be planted inside cells, where they would watch for irregularities or even synthesize drugs. 
	
	
 The computer simulates the cell's natural mechanisms with an accuracy level of 99.8 percent. Natural DNA processes also involve inaccuracies which are corrected by other genes, says Shapiro, and it is almost impossible to reach absolute accuracy using biological systems. However, for the uses for which the computers are designated, this level of accuracy is adequate. 
	
	
 So how does such a computer work? Let's say the computer wants to know whether the number of times a "B" DNA type appears in a DNA section is odd or even. The DNA section -- the "input" -- is inserted into a chemical solution along with enzymes to be used as the computer's "hardware". Other DNA sections are added, which act as "software". 
	
	
 A software section sticks to the input with the help of an enzyme. If the tip of the input is "B", the input will be labeled as having an odd number of "B" sequences. Another enzyme then cuts the section and reveals the next sequence. Each time "B" appears, the label on the input changes from "even" to "odd" and back again. Once the computer has dissected the entire input, it can determine whether the sequence appeared an even or odd number of times according to the last label -- the "output". 
	
	
 The computer can also do other calculations, such as checking whether the "B" sequence appears at least once, or at most once, by inserting different types of software DNAs.	





Document 001003271 ends.


	
[Computer selected and disseminated without FBIS editorial intervention] 
	
	
 Taipei, Feb. 21 (CNA) -- Relations between Taiwan and the United States have increasingly become "harmonious and close" since U. S. President George W. Bush took office and Bush's current mainland visit is unlikely to affect the two-way ties, a presidential aide said Thursday. 
	
	
 Secretary-General of the Presidential Office Chen Shih-meng said the U. S. has repeatedly assured Taiwan that Bush will stick to his commitments to help protect Taiwan and he will not do or say anything that could damage Taiwan's interests while visiting mainland China. 
	
	
 According to Chen, the main purpose of Bush's mainland trip is to thank Beijing for its cooperation in the U.S.-led anti-terrorist war following last year's Sept. 11 terror attacks on Washington and New York. 
	
	
 Meanwhile, Chang Shiao-yue, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reiterated that the United States had briefed Taiwan on Bush's mainland visit before his departure and made it clear that the trip would not hurt Taiwan's interests. She added the ministry has set up a task force to monitor developments and deal with all contingencies.	





Document 001003276 ends.


	
Srinagar, May 7: Thirteen militants, including five top Lashker-e-Toiba men, two Special Police Officers and a girl were killed in militancy related incidents in the state since last evening as security forces arrested a suspected militant and recovered some explosive material from his possession. 
	
	
 Three militants were killed in an encounter with the troops at Nambal, Jumasthal Behak (Kulgam) in Islamabad district yesterday. The slain militants owing allegiance to Lashker-e-Toiba have been identified as Abu Saifullah, Abu Talha and Abu Huraira. 
	
	
 Three Ak rifles, 9 magazines, a wireless set, 5 hand grenades and some ammunition were claimed recovered from the site of the encounter. 
	
	
 Police said two militants were killed in an encounter with the troops at Saile (Budgam) today. The slain militants have been identified as Muhammad Ashraf Bhat alias Sikander and Bashir Ahmad War. 
	
	
 The police claimed recovery of 2 Ak rifles, 8 magazines, 2 wireless sets, a UBGL [Under Barrel Grenade Launcher], 2 hand grenades, 7 rifle grenades and 205 Ak rounds from the site of the encounter. 
	
	
 Reports from Jammu said the security forces killed three militants in an encounter in Khanetar area of Poonch. The troops on specific information about the presence of militants in the area, launched an operation this evening. 
	
	
 As they were surrounding the area, the militants opened fire and in the retaliatory action three of them were killed, official sources said. The encounter was still continuing. 
	
	
 Two Lashker militants Abdul Qazi alias Chotu and deputy district commander Bau Dujan alias Dujana were killed in an encounter by the members of Village Defence Committee (VDC) at Lopara village of Dachan area of Doda early today, IGP [Inspector General of Police] (Jammu) P L Gupta said. 
	
	
 He said the two slain militants, both hailing from Pakistan, were in the 'the most wanted' category of militants and were carrying a reward of Rs 1.5 lakh each on their heads, which would be distributed among the VDC members. 
	
	
 BSF [Border Security Force] killed a militant in Kot Kuba area of Jammu after he sneaked into the Indian side early this morning. 
	
	
 Security forces shot dead two militants during an encounter at Parnali in Mahore tehsil of Udhampur district last night. Their identity was not available. 
	
	
 A girl, abducted by unidentified gunmen from Mahore tehsil of Udhampur district on May 3, was found dead on the banks of Ans river in the area yesterday. 
	
	
 Militants killed two brothers, Mohammad Abbas and Abdul Jabar, at Sadwan village in Doda district yesterday. The deceased, both former Special Police Officers (SPOs), were shot dead by militants when they were attending a panchayat to settle a marriage dispute. 
	
	
 Militants exchanged fire with security forces during area domination patrol at Gunpora in Shopian area of Pulwama district today. However, there was no report of any casualty. 
	
	
 Security forces apprehended a suspected militant, Ghulam Hassan, from Nagbal Ganderbal on the outskirts of Srinagar last night. He led to the recovery of an IED [improvised explosive device] weighing five kg and fitted in a wooden box and two detonators from the area, said a police spokesman.	





Document 001003280 ends.


	
Geneva, May 10 (XINHUA) -- The insurer Swiss Life has pulled the plug on its planned expansion in China, preferring to concentrate on its core European markets, according to a report by Swiss Radio International (SRI). 
	
	
 The company said on Friday it had already closed its representative office in Guangzhou city, southern China, and was in the process of closing another in Beijing. A spokeswoman said the insurer did not have a license to sell life insurance in China. 
	
	
 SRI reported that Swiss Life decided to pull out of the Chinese market earlier this year. Last month, it announced it was cutting 800 jobs worldwide as part of a recovery plan. 
	
	
 The company ran into trouble after an expansion drive cut into profits. The bottom line was also hit when management failed to rein in costs. 
	
	
 The report said that Chinese mainland was seen as a massive potential market for insurers, who should find it gradually easier to sell their products now that Beijing had joined the World Trade Organization. The Chinese insurance market grew 40 percent in 2001.	





Document 001003281 ends.



    Russian ship might have missed proper linkup with space station

 



  CAPE CANAVERAL -- (AP) -- A Russian supply ship docked to the 
International Space Station on Wednesday, but may not have 
latched properly into place.

  NASA officials said it was not clear whether the potential 
problem would delay tonight's planned launch of space shuttle 
Endeavour on a station delivery mission.

  The concern is that a loose fit might damage the orbiting 
complex because of the force imparted by a docking shuttle.

  The unmanned Progress ship, carrying more than a ton of food, 
fuel and other supplies, was launched from Kazakstan on Monday. 
It pulled up to the space station right on time, and the linkup 
initially appeared to go well.

  But NASA later said Russian flight controllers outside Moscow 
did not receive the expected indication that the hooks had 
closed and latched.

  The space station's steering system, turned off for the docking, 
remained off an extra three hours to give Russian flight 
controllers time to study the problem. Some laboratory equipment 
and other items were switched off to conserve power.

  Everything was turned back on after Russian engineers determined 
the supply ship was attached securely enough for the steering 
system to operate.

  Russia's Mission Control worked into the night to assess the 
problem.



Copyright 2001 Miami Herald




Document 001003283 ends.


	
Leaders of the United States probably withheld their breath Monday evening while watching on television what Russian President Vladimir Putin was about to say to his people. After Putin's statement they rubbed their palms at length. It amounted to much more than what one could have expected. The military great power that towers over Afghanistan has committed itself to overthrow the ruling Taliban system, and has pledged to support the US "anti-terrorism military operation" now being prepared. Putin has exceeded the "positive neutrality policy" his country (the Soviet Union at the time) has pursued during the Gulf War, and whose continued validity the military leaders also regarded as desirable. The situation in which Putin has agreed to open former Soviet military airfields to American armed forces in three (former Soviet) Central Asian countries could be regarded as dramatic. These countries are Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Although these are sovereign states, and the final decision would have been in their hands, people familiar with the actual balance of power indicate that these states would have done nothing, had Moscow wanted a different thing to happen. 
	
	
 One cannot underestimate the significance of the fact that Russia has opened its airspace. True, Putin only permitted (Americans) to deliver via Russian airspace aid to the "theater of the anti-terrorism military operations," (i.e. not soldiers and weapons). Nevertheless, this amounts to such high degree of Russian-American cooperation in a wartime situation, the two sides have never attained during the past 10 years. And Putin has established the prospect of taking further steps in this regard. 
	
	
 Accordingly, Russia has joined the anti-terrorist coalition of the United States virtually without reservation. Putin has written the name of Moscow on the registration page of the American side. He wanted to become an ally, and that's what he has become. But making this complex decision was not easy for him. Reformers told Putin all along that he should take advantage of "the rare opportunity for (Russia) to become integrated with the civilized world." But main stream Russian military policy has been to keep a distance from America, the country that has been historically responsible for "educating" the Taliban that had caused the demise of Soviet occupation forces in Afghanistan. In the end, a certain consideration that differed from the above two proved to be decisive. It had to do with Chechnya. Putin has no greater desire than to present to the West the Chechen independence movement as a chapter of "international terror." He did not succeed with that so far. He was criticized more than recognized for his policy. At this time however, he taught a lesson to the Americans. After the Americans had promised everything good and nice, Putin remarked almost as an aside that the events in Chechnia "could be interpreted only in the context of the struggle against international terrorism." In reality, Putin asked for a free hand regarding Chechnia, some understanding, or even that the Americans look the other way. Putin did not receive what he sought in a quick response from Washington, namely, that the State Department would continue to encourage political dialogue between Moscow and the Chechen insurgents. Nevertheless, one could not fail taking note of the fact that in the same response the United States called upon the Chechens to "unconditionally and without delay to terminate every contact with international terrorist groups," and that they accept Putin's offer to make peace. If we view this warning against the background that Putin's government has always seen Usama Bin Ladin's hands behind "Chechen terrorism," we were witnessing a late recognition of Moscow's views. 
	
	
 The Russian President has understood this American recognition. In Berlin, where he was the center of stormy celebration, he vindicated for himself the deeper truth that may be seen behind terror. He argued that had the West not continued to keep alive during the past several years the Cold War stereotype of a threat from the East, but would have concentrated instead on terrorism, the common enemy, the twin towers of New York may not have collapsed. "Accordingly, at this time it is your turn to think," Putin said. Feeling like a true ally, he was able to ask for a place for Russia almost inconspicuously - in NATO. This would have been a joke only yesterday. Today, at the threshold of expansion, it is no longer a joke. 
	
	
 
	
	
	





Document 001003284 ends.


	
Belgian premier says EU leaders will discuss American strikes at summit 
	
	
 Text of report by Belgian RTBF radio on 14|October 
	
	
 The carrying out of the operations in Afghanistan and their mistakes have caused unease in the ruling majority's ranks in Belgium. Some senators spoke about this on Mise au Point [programme] on the television. The PRL [Liberal Reform Party] and the PSC [Christian Social Party] opposition party continue to support the strikes but criticize the fact that the humanitarian operations are taking place alongside them. Ecolo and Agalev [ecologist parties] are asking for the ending of the bombing of Afghanistan. For the PS [Socialist Party], Senator Jean Cornil still supports them, while being increasingly critical. Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt has announced on Flemish television that Europe will discuss the American actions in Afghanistan next Friday [19 October] in Gent [northwest of Brussels] during the informal [EU] heads of state and government summit. 
	
	
	





Document 001003285 ends.


 
  
  
    
      
      Name Address City, State, Zip
      Dear Name,
      It's tough growing up today. We know that children do better when they
      have a network of caring adults to nurture and motivate them. When young
      people don't have that support, they need other resources for
      encouragement to guide them along the way. Big Sisters helps bridge that
      gap by providing children with the resources they need -- Big Sisters
      volunteers.
      Big Sisters are mentors and friends who empower girls to more fully
      reach their potential, experience life's opportunities and perhaps begin
      to dream. The relationships that are formed provide strong foundations
      from which healthy values and strong self-confidence can grow, helping
      youth become strong, independent adults of tomorrow.
      This year we will serve over 1,000 girls through our mentoring
      programs. This is an impressive number; but for each girl served, more
      are left unserved. Over 150 girls are currently waiting for a Big
      Sister.
      You can make an impact by supporting Big Sisters Annual Campaign and
      our $200,000 goal. If you are a regular contributor to the Annual
      Campaign, I encourage you to consider increasing your gift by 10%. If you
      have not supported Big Sisters in the past, please join me in doing so by
      completing and returning the enclosed pledge form.
      Early adolescence is the most vulnerable age for youth. But caring
      adults like you can reach out and help. It's the perfect time to make a
      world of difference.
      Sincerely,
      
      
    
  



Document 001003288 ends.


       

CAMBREX Corp., Bayonne, N.J., declared its initial quarterly of five cents a share, payable Dec. 1 to stock of record Nov. 10.
The maker of specialty chemicals has about 5.9 million shares outstanding.
The company said the move recognizes its strong financial position.
Although profits were "squeezed" in 1989, mainly as a result of higher raw-material costs, the company said it is confident about future earnings and cash flow for 1990 and beyond.
In national over-the-counter trading yesterday, Cambrex shares rose 50 cents to close at $13 a share. 




Document 001003289 ends.


	
SHUTTLEWORTH-MBEKI by Mariette le Roux BLOEMFONTEIN April 27 Sapa MBEKI SPEAKS TO `AFRONAUT' IN OUTER SPACE 
	
	
 Contact was made on Saturday between outer space and the Free State city of Bloemfontein when President Thabo Mbeki spoke to Africa's first astronaut Mark Shuttleworth, aboard the International Space Station. 
	
	
 Speaking via a live satellite link from Bloemfontein, the president praised the so-called "Afronaut" for his contribution to science and Africa's renaissance. "Yes ambassador, how are you?" Mbeki started the 10-minute conversation, broadcast live at the Free State rugby stadium. Shuttleworth described his journey so far as very exciting, saying the flight had been smooth and everything was going according to plan. 
	
	
 "I have had moments of terror and moments of sheer exhilaration," he proclaimed. "I have never seen anything as beautiful as earth from space. I cannot imagine anything as beautiful as that." The 28-year-old Internet millionaire said he was sleeping comfortably, and the food was not too bad either. He showed the president an empty tin of what had contained his lunch - pork and potato. 
	
	
 "So far, we've only come to try the Russian food, which was tasty. I am sure the American food will be just as good," Shuttleworth told the president. He also reported that he had started setting up for several scientific experiments he was planning to do on board the ISS. 
	
	
 Mbeki expressed South Africa's pride at Shuttleworth's efforts, saying they would go a long way towards inspiring young people to take up subjects like engineering, mathematics and science. Shuttleworth agreed that this was essential towards Africa's rebirth. He said he had seen the most magnificent sunset and sunrise over Africa, at which Mbeki asked him to bring pictures "so that we can know what we look like to you from up there". 
	
	
 South Africans should be looking up smiling when he returns, Shuttleworth replied. Shuttleworth also expressed his condolences to the family and friends of Safety and Security Minister Steve Tshwete, who died on Friday night, a message Mbeki undertook to convey. The president then toasted Shuttleworth with a glass of champagne, saying: "I am sure this will go down in our history as one of those moments where we made quite a leap forward." 
	
	
 Shuttleworth, accompanied by Russian flight commander Yury Gidzenko and Italian cosmonaut Roberto Vittori, reached the ISS at 0755 GMT, two days after blasting off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The world's second space tourist, Shuttleworth was paying 20 million dollars for his 10-day journey into space, where he would carry out experiments into the HI virus which causes AIDS. The team is to return to earth on May 5. 
	
	
 Source : Sapa /mlr/shob Date : 27 Apr 2002 14:16	





Document 001003291 ends.



U.S. Closely Monitoring Situation in Argentina

 



  The Bush administration was closely monitoring the situation in 
Argentina where escalating economic crisis led to a wave of 
bloody street violence and looting, the White House said on 
Thursday.

  "Argentina is a valued ally and friend, and the United States is 
monitoring developments in Argentina. We are concerned about the 
events," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters at a 
regular news briefing.

  Argentine President Fernando De la Rua declared a national state 
of siege Wednesday night and ordered additional security forces 
into the streets to control violence that left at least six 
people dead and hundreds wounded or arrested. It was Argentina's 
worst unrest in a decade.



Copyright by People's Daily Online, all rights reserved




Document 001003292 ends.


       

Amdahl Corp., a maker of mainframe computers, reported a sharp decline in net income for its third quarter, citing pricecutting by competitors and adverse effects from a strong U.S. dollar. 

Net income fell 37% to $32.9 million, or 30 cents a share, from $52.2 million, or 48 cents a share, in the year-ago period.
Revenue rose 15% to $534.3 million from $464.7 million. 

Amdahl's results were somewhat worse than expected.
Jay Stevens, an analyst with Dean Witter Reynolds, said he expected the Sunnyvale, Calif., company to earn 35 cents a share for the quarter and said the firm's weaker profit was partly the result of increased competition from International Business Machines Corp., Amdahl's principal competitor for mainframe sales. 




Document 001003293 ends.


	

	
	
 [Unattributed editorial: "The Hidden Message in the Chavez Downfall"] 
	
	
 Oil prices took a sharp downward trend after the quiet semi-coup d'etat by the American affiliated Venezuelan army generals who deposed the popularly elected president of Venezuela Hugo Chavez on Friday. The price of crude had taken a dramatic upsurge in the aftermath of the ever-deteriorating Middle East crisis, the unilateral cut off of Iraqi oil by Saddam Hussein and similar threats by several other oil producing countries. The dethroning of Chavez by the Americans is a message that disobeying Uncle Sam would have cataclysmic consequences. 
	
	
 The US had repeatedly asked Chavez and the Venezuelan government to increase the level of their oil output as well as exports. However, Chavez who is known for his ala Fidel Castro left-leaning anti-American philosophy had on a number of occasions rebuffed US requests for more oil exports. In direct response, the Americans, who preach democracy to the entire planet, recognizing that they could no longer tolerate someone like Chavez reverted to their old bullying and dictatorial tactics and arranged for an army coup by several avowed pro-American generals, who managed to remove Chavez from power in a few short hours. 
	
	
 Venezuela is the third largest exporter of oil within OPEC and the fourth as far as worldwide production is concerned. Venezuela is an important oil producing nation since its oil directly impacts crude prices in international markets. There is very little doubt that Chavez did not voluntarily resign his office and was in fact removed from power by the army. Evidently, during a phone conversation on Friday Chavez told his daughter that he was forced to resign and accept the army's non-negotiable conditions. 
	
	
 In any event, it is more than apparent that the United States intends to play a conspicuous role and exert increasing pressure as far as the oil issue is concerned. It seems that by wielding its authority and exercising dictatorial powers as the world's only superpower, the United States is determined to play a front and centre role in the intricate international game of oil prices and the free flow of this all-important strategic product otherwise known as the "Black Gold". The fall of Hugo Chavez in Caracas is a crystal-clear message and warning by the US to anyone in the world who is contemplating to use oil as a political tool in the future. 
	
	
	





Document 0010010 ends.


	
President Fernando Henrique Cardoso made a harsh appraisal of the situation in Argentina in a private conversation with a group of Swedish businessmen last Friday in Stockholm. He said that, in face of the economic and government paralysis, it is not possible to rule out the risk of a breakdown in the nation's institutions. "There is concern over a degeneration of the democratic process in Argentina," the president stated, according to two of the meeting's participants. The Argentine question was raised by the president of the Swedish Trade Council, Ulf Dinkenspiel. He said he believed that the risk of contagion in the region has been overcome, but he asked President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who was in Argentina before traveling to Europe, for a more complete evaluation. The Brazilian president said that a solution for Argentina, even over a longer term, is not a sure thing, due to the institutional risk. 
	
	
 In his appraisal, the solution will demand many sacrifices by the elites and by the people, a true restructuring of the national compact. That restructuring has to go beyond the relations between the provinces and the central government, a traditional question in Argentina, the president said. However, that is likely just an aggravating factor in the crisis: the politicians who are running the Argentine process are almost exclusively from Buenos Aires or the province of Buenos Aires, like Governor Carlos Ruckauf. 
	
	
 According to Fernando Henrique, President Eduardo Duhalde has "quite a sharp insight" into the scope of the crisis. He also has a quality deemed necessary for exercising his office in the current crisis: political flexibility. After favorably describing Duhalde, the president asked for understanding and support for his Government. 
	
	
 Fernando Henrique was heard "with interest and attention," as they say in diplomatic jargon, but he did not move the group. One of the businessmen present told Valor that the uncertainties in relation to Argentina involve not only the future, but mainly the country's present. "We simply do not understand what is going on there," the businessman summarized. 
	
	
 
	
	
	





Document 0010012 ends.


	
Taro Kono (39), son of former Foreign Minister Yohei Kono and twice elected lower house Liberal Democratic Party member, wrote a critical comment on the US president's speech before the Japanese Diet on 19 February. The following is a translated excerpt from an article by Kono published in his e-mail magazine, Gomameno no Hagishiri ( Futile Resistance ), on 19 February. Kono issues his e-mail magazine almost daily. 
	
	
 "During President Bush's speech, I thought of heckling; 'What are you going to do with the Kyoto Protocol?' and 'How about CTBT?' but I refrained. The President used the words 'common values,' but is it really true? I think 'value sharing,' not 'burden sharing' or 'power sharing,' is needed for today's Japan-US relationship. The United States says the CTBT is unacceptable; that nobody cares about the BWC; that there should not be a Kyoto Protocol; that US citizens have the right to own handguns; that land mines are necessary; that the SOFA needs no revision, just a change in application; and then we should attack Iraq together. This is not acceptable. Ambassadors from Middle Eastern countries immediately came and asked me what I thought of the President's speech." This document is based exclusively on the content and behavior of selected foreign public media. It is issued without coordination with other U.S. Government components.	





Document 0010014 ends.


       

The government is sharpening its newest weapon against white-collar defendants: the power to prevent them from paying their legal bills.
And defense lawyers are warning that they won't stick around if they don't get paid. 

The issue has come to a boil in Newark, N.J., where federal prosecutors have warned lawyers for Eddie Antar that if the founder and former chairman of Crazy Eddie Inc. is indicted, the government may move to seize the money that Mr. Antar is using to pay legal fees. 

The warning by the U.S. attorney's office follows two decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court last June.
In those cases, the high court ruled that federal law gives prosecutors broad authority to seize assets of people accused of racketeering and drug-related crimes, including fees paid to lawyers before an indictment. 

If the government succeeds in seizing Mr. Antar's assets, he could be left without top-flight legal representation, because his attorneys are likely to quit, according to individuals familiar with the case.
A seizure also would make the case the largest -- and one of the first -- in which lawyers' fees have been confiscated in a prosecution unrelated to drugs. 

"The people who suffer in the short run are defendants, but the people who suffer in the long run are all of the people, because there won't be a vigorous private bar to defend the Bill of Rights," says Gerald Lefcourt, a criminal defense attorney who says he has turned down a number of cases to avoid possible fee seizures. 

Mr. Antar is being investigated by a federal grand jury in Newark, where prosecutors have told him that they may soon seek an indictment on racketeering and securities fraud charges.
Under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law, or RICO, the government has the authority to seek to freeze or seize a defendant's assets before trial. 

According to individuals familiar with Mr. Antar's case, prosecutors issued their warning this week after one of Mr. Antar's attorneys asked whether legal fees might be subject to seizure.
In a letter, prosecutors told Mr. Antar's lawyers that because of the recent Supreme Court rulings, they could expect that any fees collected from Mr. Antar may be seized.
Prosecutors have told Mr. Antar's attorneys that they believe Mr. Antar's allegedly ill-gotten gains are so great that any money he has used to pay attorneys derives from illegal activities.
Therefore, they said, the money can be taken from the lawyers even after they are paid. 

Justin Feldman and Jack Arseneault, attorneys for Mr. Antar, both declined to comment on the matter. 

In Newark, U.S. Attorney Samuel A. Alito said, "I don't think there's any legal reason to limit forfeiture of attorney's fees to drug cases." Mr. Alito said his office "just responded to an attorney's question about whether we would go after attorney's fees, and that is different from actually doing it, although we reserve that right." 

Mr. Antar was charged last month in a civil suit filed in federal court in Newark by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In that suit, the SEC accused Mr. Antar of engaging in a "massive financial fraud" to overstate the earnings of Crazy Eddie, Edison, N.J., over a three-year period.
Through his lawyers, Mr. Antar has denied allegations in the SEC suit and in civil suits previously filed by shareholders against Mr. Antar and others. 

The SEC has alleged that Mr. Antar aimed to pump up the company's stock price through false financial statements in order to sell his stake and reap huge profits.
Mr. Antar, the SEC said, made more than $60 million from the sale of his shares between 1985 and 1987. 

The Justice Department has emphasized that the government's fee-forfeiture power is to be used sparingly.
According to department policy, prosecutors must make a strong showing that lawyers' fees came from assets tainted by illegal profits before any attempts at seizure are made. 

Still, criminal defense lawyers worry that defendants are being deprived of their Sixth Amendment right to counsel and a fair trial if the government can seize lawyers' fees.
They also worry that if the government applies asset-forfeiture laws broadly, the best defense lawyers will be unwilling to take criminal cases unless they are assured of being paid. 




Document 0010016 ends.



   Violent protests in Argentina; president Duhalde calls for calm

 



  BUENOS AIRES - President Eduardo Duhalde yesterday pleaded for 
patience as he works on the country's economic crisis. The call 
came after another night of violent clashes.

  "We can't solve all of the country's problems in three weeks," 
he told local radio, hours after tens of thousands of Argentines 
took to the streets around the country in a pot-banging 
demonstration. At least 13 people were reported injured in the 
overnight clashes outside the government palace, known as the 
Casa Rosada, and dozens of people reportedly were detained.

  Duhalde, who took office on January 2 as Argentina's fifth 
president in a month, vowed his government would unveil a new 
economic program to rescue the country from four years of 
recession.

  "I only ask of all Argentines one thing: keep up the hope," 
Duhalde said. "I'm only here for two years, and my promise is 
that at the end of my term, I'll leave the country back on 
track.

  Daily protests have engulfed Argentina: Popular rage has boiled 
over against Duhalde's decision to devalue the peso by more than 
30 percent and further tighten a banking freeze that has locked 
most Argentines' savings into bank accounts.

  The beleaguered president made no mention of the widely despised 
banking freeze that has presented a nettlesome challenge to his 
three-week-old administration: how to give Argentines their 
savings back without prompting an all-out collapse of the 
financial system. The banking curbs were put in place December 1 
by then-president Fernando De la Rua to halt a run on the banks. 
But after the devaluation of the peso, many banks say they 
simply don't have the money to return to depositors.

  Late Friday night, Argentines' impatience peaked, and Duhalde 
faced the second and most widespread protest since he assumed 
the presidency after similar protests forced his predecessors 
from office. Under a driving rain, more than 10,000 Argentines 
banged pots and pans in the Plaza de Mayo to protest the banking 
freeze, shouting insults at the country's political leaders, the 
Supreme Court, and banks - all of whom the Argentines blame for 
plunging the country into its worst economic crisis in decades.

  Thousands more crowded street corners and downtown streets in 
cities around the country, including Mar del Plata, Cordoba, 
Mendoza, Rosario and Salta. The protest marked the first 
organized protest, led by labor and neighborhood groups who also 
called for the protest via e-mail and the Internet. But what 
began as a peaceful protest in downtown Buenos Aires, later 
turned violent as riot police riding on motorcycles used tear 
gas and rubber bullets to disperse hundreds of peaceful 
demonstrators. Rock-throwing youths responded as the rally wound 
down.

  Demonstrators lingered in the streets for hours early yesterday 
before crowds began melting away before dawn. "Get out! Get 
out!" people chanted, venting their anger at Duhalde's 
government. artWriter(hight): objectSubHeader(position): 
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@ CopyRight 2002 Ha'aretz. All Rights Reserved.




Document 0010017 ends.


       

Billions of investors' dollars are pouring out of the nation's junk-bond mutual funds, undermining a pillar of support in the already reeling junk market. 

Last week alone, an eye-popping $1.6 billion flowed out of the junk funds, or nearly 5% of their total assets, according to estimates by Dalbar Financial Services Inc., a Boston research firm. 

In the past two months the nation's 88 junk funds have lost a total of about $6 billion -- more than 15% of assets -- through sales or transfers of junk-fund shares, Dalbar says.
It made the estimates based on data collected from more than a dozen big junk funds. 

Interviews with three major fund groups -- Fidelity Investments, Vanguard Group Inc. and T. Rowe Price Associates Inc. -- confirm the trend.
Their junk funds combined have had net outflows totaling nearly $500 million, or about 13% of their junk fund assets, in the past two months. 

Some fund managers say negative publicity has exacerbated investors' concern about recent declines in junk-bond prices. "People have been seeing headline after headline after headline and saying: `I can't take it anymore -- I'm getting out, '" says Kurt Brouwer of Brouwer & Janachowski, a San Francisco investment adviser. 

The withdrawals could spell trouble for the $200 billion junk market.
If the heavy outflows continue, fund managers will face increasing pressure to sell off some of their junk to pay departing investors in the weeks ahead.
Such selling could erode prices of high-yield junk bonds, already weakened by a rash of corporate credit problems. 

Mutual fund groups haven't lost control of much of the outgoing money, says Louis Harvey, Dalbar's president.
Mutual fund officials say that investors have transferred most of it into their money market accounts, and to a lesser extent, government-bond funds.
So the impact on the $950 billion mutual fund industry as a whole probably will be slight. 

But tremors are likely in the junk-bond market, which has helped to finance the takeover boom of recent years.
Mutual funds are the among the largest holders of junk, accounting for more than a quarter of the entire high-yield, high-risk market.
The 88 mutual funds investing solely in junk bonds hold assets of about $32 billion.
Other funds hold a smattering of junk bonds, too. 

The $1.5 billion Fidelity High Income Fund has had a net outflow of about $150 million in the past two months.
About $60 million streamed out last week alone, double the level of the week following last month's Campeau Corp. credit squeeze.
About 98% of the outflow was transferred to other Fidelity funds, says Neal Litvack, a Fidelity vice president, marketing, with most going into money market funds. 

"You get a news item, it hits, you have strong redemptions that day and for two days following -- then go back to normal," says Mr. Litvack.
The fund, with a cash cushion of more than 10%, has "met all the redemptions without having to sell one thing," Mr. Litvack says.
He adds: "Our fund has had {positive} net sales every month for the last three years -- until this month." 

Vanguard's $1 billion High Yield Bond Portfolio has seen $161 million flow out since early September; $14 million of that seeped out Friday Oct. 13 alone.
Still, two-thirds of the outflow has been steered into other Vanguard portfolios, says Brian Mattes, a vice president.
The fund now holds a cash position of about 15%. 

At the $932 million T. Rowe Price High Yield Fund, investors yanked out about $182 million in the past two months.
Those withdrawals, most of which were transferred to other T. Rowe Price funds, followed little change in the fund's sales picture this year through August. "The last two months have been the whole ball game," says Steven Norwitz, a vice president. 

Junk-fund holders have barely broken even this year, as fat interest payments barely managed to offset declining prices.
Through Oct. 19, high-yield funds had an average 0.85% total return (the price change plus dividends on fund shares), according to Lipper Analytical Services Inc. That's even less than the 4.35% total return of the Merrill Lynch High-Yield Index. 

Fidelity's junk fund has fallen 2.08% this year through Oct. 19, Lipper says; the Vanguard fund rose 1.84%; and the T. Rowe Price fund edged up 0.66%. 

People who remain in junk funds now could get hit again, some analysts and fund specialists say.
Many funds in recent weeks and months have been selling their highest-quality junk issues, such as RJR Nabisco, to raise cash to meet expected redemptions. 

Funds might be forced to accept lower prices if they expand their selling to the securities of less-creditworthy borrowers.
And then, asset values of the funds could plunge more than they have so far. 

Says Michael Hirsch, chief investment officer of Republic National Bank and manager of the FundTrust Group in New York: "It's a time bomb just waiting to go off." 




Document 00100110 ends.


	
For 10 days, the second Belgian astronaut will get to the International Space Station [ISS] on board the brand new Russian Soyuz TMA-1 space ship. 
	
	
 On Thursday [29 November] the Belgian Government formally committed itself, vis-a-vis its Russian and European partners (the European Space Agency [ESA]), to pay Frank De Winne's ticket into space. The highway to the stars is looking radiant for the Belgian "cosmonaut." 
	
	
 The formal agreement regarding Frank De Winne's flight with the Russians was signed in Brussels on Thursday by Charles Picque, the Minister for Science Policy, and his government commissioner Yvan Ylieff. 
	
	
 The document, a letter sent to both the ESA (European Space Agency, to which Frank De Winne currently reports) and the Russian Rosaviacosmos space agency, guaranteed the payment by Belgium of the expenses tied to this space trip. So on 4 November 2002, that is to say, in a little less than one year, the second Belgian to reach space will take off from the Baikonor cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on board a brand new Soyuz space ship: the TMA-1. It is a ship that is more modern and bigger than the current Soyuzes. 
	
	
 On it Frank De Winne will serve as the on-board engineer. So he will be the second most qualified crew member on board, behind the on-board comander, who still needs to be appointed by the Russian space authorities. This appointment is not expected for a few weeks. So, if that should prove necessary, De Winne will be able to personally pilot the space ship. This is a first on a "TMA," which attests to the confidence the Russian and European partners have put in him. 
	
	
 An example? In Brussels on Wednesday [28 November], the French astronaut Claudie Haignere, who had just completed a flight in space together with the Russians that in every way was identical to the one scheduled for De Winne, could not find enough praise for our fellow citizen, with whom she trained for several months in Moscow. 
	
	
 "Frank worked at Star City with much intensity. In several weeks, he learned the indispensable bases of the Russian language. He is making appreciable efforts to meet the other foreign cosmonauts who are in training there and share his experiences. His dynamism is an asset. People there are really unanimous about him," she told us. 
	
	
 "This assessment confirms us in our choices," a delighted Ylieff said. 
	
	
 Some Particularly Financial Choices 
	
	
 As is known, Frank De Winne's taxi flight lasting about 10 days comes with a price tax: some 600 million [Belgian] francs (15.5 million euros). This is an amount that Belgian yesterday pledged to pay to Russia. An initial segment of 2.5 million euros (Frank's training costs) will reportedly be paid in the next few days. 
	
	
 Several avenues have been explored to collect the overall amount. The latest, and also undoubtedly the most logical, is internal to the SSTC, the federal Scientific, Technical, and Cultural Services, which, in particular, manage the country's space budgets. 
	
	
 The sum in question will come from the SSTC's space budgets and be deducted in several years (two or three). The SSTC's overall budget will not suffer from this. Nor will the space sector's in particular. 
	
	
 Cancellation Insurance 
	
	
 "Budgets will remain constant," explained Eric Beka, the SSTC's secretary general. The sums obtained will result from the assignment of a portion of the space budget to this mission (and its many related scientific fall-outs) rather than to other optional programs. 
	
	
 In a word, De Winne's ticket into space has been financed. And his "parachute" too. "Since there is no other Belgian astronaut at the ESA who is capable of replacing Frank De Winne for this mission if it suddenly proved impossible for him to carry it out, we are also expecting to take out 'travel insurance' for our 'cosmonaut,'" Yvan Ylieff also said. "This should insure that we can recover the sums involved, that in the prospect of another space trip." One million euros will be devoted to this "cancellation" insurance. 
	
	
 About 10 years ago, Dirk Frimout was the first Belgian astronaut to go into earth orbit. That was with the US Atlantis shuttle. In a few weeks the second Belgian to go up there will don a Russian cosmonaut's space suit. It will be a mission that will be rich in promises. De Winne will thus qualify technically in space piloting. He will become one of the best elements in the corps of European astronauts. In addition, he will carry the projects of Belgian scientists and industrialists active in the space sector far. As Picque emphasized, "for many years, each franc invested by Belgium in space has brought in three francs." Who said that space investments were not interesting? 
	
	
	





Document 00100111 ends.


	
TEHRAN The concluding ceremony of the First International Police and Security Equipment Exhibition was held last Thursday, the exhibition's Public Relations Office said in a statement. 
	
	
 At the ceremony, which was held in the presence of some security and government officials as well as a large number of foreign ambassadors and military attaches from 15 foreign countries, the participants praised those companies which emerged superior at the exhibition. 
	
	
 At this ceremony, Seyed Mohammad Jalali Parvin, the managing director and a member of the board of directors of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Law Enforcement Forces' Cooperatives Foundation, presented some awards to the superior companies which had taken part at the exhibition. 
	
	
 Touching on the importance of modern technology in preventing and reducing crimes in society, Parvin also thanked the active participation of local and foreign companies at Iran's First International Police and Security Equipment exhibition. 
	
	
 He also assessed the achievements of the exhibition as very useful and satisfactory, hoping that the police and security forces would be equipped with the latest and most modern technology so that they can expedite their activities in their campaign against crimes. 
	
	
 Pointing to the presence of Interpol officers and the representatives, ambassadors and military attaches from different countries, including Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia and Italy, Parvin said despite the fact that it was the first exhibition of its kind in Iran, it was extensively welcomed by many companies. 
	
	
 He also gave the news about the holding of a similar exhibition by Iran and Russia in Moscow and hoped that the Iranian companies would present their equipment at this exhibition. 
	
	
 At this ceremony, the Iranian Sa-Iran, Ava-e Nasr-e Novin and Mahan Industry companies as well as foreign companies from Russia, Britain, and the Netherlands received awards as the superior companies at the exhibition.	





Document 00100114 ends.


                          
                  
                
This is an employment contract between AL QAEDA and a potential recruit. 
 It contains a definition of AL QAEDA organization, and six main points: 1-Duties.   
 2-Holidays.     3-Salaries and Travel tickets.          4-Advice.        
 5-Reward and Punishment.                                     6-Pledge. 
 
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. 
 (T.C: verse from the Koran) 
AL QAEDA: 
An Islamic group with an aim of Jihad.  Carrying out Jihad is the main reason the members of 
AL-QAEDA have gathered , together with performing the different duties of 
Islam as much as possible, shouldering together the duty of Jihad and preparing the efficient 
duties during conflicts. 
Its belief: 
The faith of Sunna and Jama'a (group) in general, and in detail following the example of the 
worthy ancestors.  

   Objectives of  AL QAEDA:  
Support God's religion, establishment of Islamic rule, and restoration of the Islamic Caliphate, 
God willing. 

AL QAEDA's sphere of activity : 
International and transitional according to AL QAEDA's policy. 
Requirements of joining AL QAEDA: 
1 -Abiding by AL QAEDA rules, its beliefs and objectives as previously mentioned.
2 -Obedience to the leaders in charge as much as possible, without disobeying Islamic rules. 
3 -No connection between AL QAEDA membership and any other Islamic group. 
4 -Maintain secrecy in work-related issues.  
5- Physically healthy (except in administrative work) 
6-The candidate should not be in question when it comes to religion, integrity or his morality. 
7-Reciting the pledge of AL-QAEDA. 

             

    AL-QAEDA's  Regulations and Instructions:  
First:  Duties 
1- Preserving the unity of AL QAEDA is an important and legitimate goal, which occurs by      
fearing God in private as well as in public.  (Surat 65, 5).  This is fulfilled  through humbleness 
and flexibility towards the brothers and the rest of the Muslims, good manners, rejection of 
disputes, and mutual agreement and settlement of differences.  (TC:  Koranic verse). 
2- Preserving Islamic morals and avoiding means of corruption and bad companions, 
through verification  and confirmation of news. (T.C: Koranic verse) To observe good 
conduct and filial piety even if they were infidels. 
3- Adherence to eating Islamic Halal food (T.C: Koranic verse). 
4- Maintaining physical fitness and military exercises as much as possible. 
5-Do not talk about work assigned by AL-QAEDA with others, even if they are AL-QAEDA 
 members.  The only person you can discuss work with is your direct commander (Amir), unless 
you  are asked to do otherwise or if your work demands participation of others, and then through 
guidance of the leadership. 
6-The call to adhere to Islam in general, and spreading the concept of Jihad specifically, starts  
with relatives and friends. (T.C: Koranic verse)You may not be able to do this, if your work 
 demands extreme secrecy, like Naeem IBn Mas'uud (May God bless him).
7-Safeguard AL-QAEDA's general funds and do not mishandle these funds. (Albukhairi) 
8-Sincerity in providing advice to commanders and to your brethren in AL-QAEDA, without 
harboring deception. 

Second: Vacations 
 (T.C: Koranic verse) 
1-The married have a vacation by rotation for a week every three weeks, and in certain cases 
AL-QAEDA may deny this vacation for four months. 
2-A bachelor can have a vacation by rotation for five days every month.  ALQAEDA may 
deny his request for vacation in certain cases. 
 3-Request for vacation travel should be submitted two and a half  months before the travel date. 
The request would only be considered if it had been submitted in a timely manner as indicated, 
except in special cases. 

Third: Salaries and tickets 
 (T.C: Koranic verse) 
1- The salary of a married Mujahed brother is 6500 Pakistani Rupee, and 500 Rupee for every 
newborn. 
2 Salary of the bachelor Mujahed is 1000 Pakistani Rupee 
3- The bachelor Mujahed qualifies for a round trip ticket to his country after one year from 
joining the organization.  He can take a one month vacation.  He doesn't get reimbursed if 
the ticket is not used, but he has the right to change it to a ticket to perform 
the pilgrimage.   This period starts from the date of  joining AL-QAEDA. 
4-The married Mujahed and his family qualify for round trip tickets to their country of origin 
after two years, and one month vacation. Tickets can not be reimbursed if unused. 
 5-The brother who wants to leave AL-QAEDA without a legitimate excuse does not qualify    
for financial assistance or any of the previously mentioned privileges . 

                     

Fourth: Reward and Punishment 
( T.C: Koranic verse) 
And accordingly: 
1- AL-QAEDA missions and its different plans proceed according to Islamic law provision. 
2- Disputes related to AL-QAEDA missions between member brethren should be judged by      
qualified personnel, which is carried out by the immediate commander (Amir) of the conflicting 
parties.   He must inform the officials to settle the matter.   
 3- Personal disputes between member brethren could be judged by qualified members of AL- 
QAEDA or outsiders.  Corrupted courts should not judge the matter. 
All members commanders as well as subordinates must obey these rules. 

Fifth:  Advice 
A- Maintain provision of legitimate justice, and justice is the establishing the human's 
behavior in religion. Two points are considered: 
1-Piety in religion:   Perform religious duties according to certain supererogatory exercises 
of devotion.  Avoid the forbidden, one should abstain from great or minor sins. 
2-Practising chivalry:  One should adopt whatever makes him look good and avoid what 
degrades him. (T.C: Koranic verse), (Abu Aldara'). 
 B- Exert your utmost and every conceivable effort for the sake of achieving the rightful 
objectives of ALQAEDA. (T.C: Koranic verse) 
The sign of truth is: 
1-Your effort in serving your religion is greater than the effort exerted in your worldly matters 
and your family. (T.C: Koranic verse), (Albukhari).
2-Your effort in serving your religion should be greater than the effort exerted by the infidels to 
support their lies . 
C- Thorough study of legal curricula, and utilizing time in doing this, and thereby providing 
the Muslim brother with an Islamic vision for contemporary events.  Knowledge without  
work is a burden on the person, and knowledge without work is useless. 
D- If you are a specialist in any field, then you have to master your specialization.  If you 
could serve the objectives of AL-QAEDA  through your specialization, than inform your 
leadership of that. 
E- The brethren are advised to avoid disagreement and argument in religion, discussing  
religion without proper knowledge is prohibited , and questions of differences are referred to 
powerful knowledgeable leaders. (Suraat Alnissa') 

Six: The pledge 
Its legitimacy and its purpose:   
The legitimacy of the pledge: 
Pledges among Muslims concerning obedience and permissibility is legitimate and conceivable 
so that every party trusts the other. (Suraat Yuseef) 
So if a Muslim vows to do something, he must fulfill it. (Suraat Annahl) 
The purpose of the pledge: 
Matters subject to pledge are either legitimate or permissible duties, legitimate duties like 
Jihad and obedience to leaders is first in importance.  A legitimate duty for a Muslim and a 
pledge conforms what is a duty by law, and it is a duty even if it is not subject to a 
pledge. According to what has been previously mentioned, than AL-QAEDA secures the pledge 
of its followers, which includes commitment to its policies and objectives preceded by the 
 commander's (Amir) pledge.   

I pledge by God's creed to become a Muslim soldier to support God's religion, and may God 's 
word be the most supreme.  I pledge to adhere to the holy book  and Assuna and commit to the 
brothers committed with us in this mission, so God is my witness. 
An oath from the Mujahed brother: 
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. 
 I vow by God's creed to obey those responsible in this mission, in thick and thin, and 
thereupon may God 's word be most supreme.  By supporting God's religion, I am a warrior 
in this mission regardless of my position, as long as the work is existing.  I have to preserve 
the secrecy of work in AL-QAEDA , so God is my witness. 
Seven: Breaking the pledge 
The sin of the Breaker of the pledge (Suraat Alraa'd) (Albukhari) (Fath Albari 418/4) 
Our last prayer is to thank God the creator of the universe. 
                                                                                        
                                                                                   
 



Document 00100116 ends.


       

Automatic Data Processing Inc. plans to redeem on Nov. 16 its $150 million of 6.5% convertible subordinated debentures due March 1, 2011. 

The computing-services concern will pay $1,059.04 for each $1,000 face amount of debt.
The conversion price for the debentures is $41.725 a share.
In New York Stock Exchange composite trading Friday, Automatic Data closed at $46.50 a share, down $2.25. 

If all the debt is converted to common, Automatic Data will issue about 3.6 million shares; last Monday, the company had nearly 73 million shares outstanding. 

Automatic Data is redeeming the bonds because the after-tax cost of the interest on the bonds is higher than the dividend yield on the common, a spokesman said. 




Document 00100118 ends.



Taiwan Caucus a US Provocation: Commentary

 



  On April 9, the 23rd anniversary of the United States ' 
troublemaking Taiwan Relations Act, the US Congress is due to 
unveil a 70-member Taiwan caucus.

  Most congressional caucuses are issue-based or for particular 
racial groups but this one will be devoted solely to Taiwan, an 
inalienable part of China.

  It is claimed that the caucus will serve as an official channel 
for legislators from both the United States and the island to 
exchange ideas.

  Such a provocative move will obviously overshadow the renewed 
Sino-US relations. On a more dangerous level, it may provide 
fodder to Taiwan's military forces and play into the hands of 
Taiwan separatist extremists.

  One of the group's goals is to promote US military ties with 
Taiwan.

  This comes at a time when there have been conspicuous signs of 
ever-increasing US-Taiwan military ties.

  In mid-March, the US side granted Taiwan "Defence Minister" Tang 
Yiau-ming a visa so he could attend a conference sponsored by US 
military contractors in Florida. On the sidelines of the 
conference, he met senior Bush administration officials 
including Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Assistant 
Secretary of State James Kelly.

  On March 22, Admiral Dennis Blair, commander-in-chief of the US 
Pacific Command, told the House Armed Services Committee that 
the United States and Taiwan can maintain a military balance 
across the Taiwan Straits if both sides continue modernizing 
their armed forces.

  It seems that this so-called military balance is what Taiwan 
leader Chen Shui-bian wants.

  Last Wednesday when receiving a special delegation from the US 
House of Representatives, Chen said that the strong support of 
the US Congress - which led to US arms sales to Taiwan in April 
last year - ensured a balanced cross-Straits military situation 
and peace in the Taiwan Straits.

  "President Bush reaffirmed the US promises to all Taiwanese and 
repeatedly declared he would abide by the Taiwan Relations Act - 
to provide Taiwan with the necessary protection against 
Beijing," Chen was quoted by the Taipei Times as saying.

  
In most cases, those who sow the wind will reap a whirlwind.

  The robust military build-up may not bring the so-called balance 
but menace instead cross-Straits peace and stability.

  Helping Taiwan build its military muscle will only foment 
pro-independence forces. Since the latest remarks and events may 
give these forces the impression that the United States is on 
their side and ready to provide military protection, they may 
become provocative enough to push the island to the edge.



Copyright by People's Daily Online, all rights reserved




Document 00100119 ends.


	
Stop the circus 
	
	
 1/24/02 1:26:16 AM (GMT +2) 
	
	
 A YEAR after gently attempting to nudge Zimbabwe's government into embracing minimum conditions that allow for a free and fair presidential election, several local and international groups find themselves back to square one, unable to move the Harare authorities even an inch. Several diplomatic missions from organisations such as the European Union (EU), the Commonwealth, the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and Africa's powerhouse Nigeria have come and gone from Harare empty-handed. 
	
	
 So have been attempts by Zimbabwe's civic bodies such as the Crisis Group, the National Constitutional Assembly, well-meaning churches such as the Roman Catholics and even the so-called National Economic Consultative Forum. 
	
	
 In their own ways, these groups have sought dialogue rather than confrontation to prod President Robert Mugabe to see reason and put his nation first and not to embark on the suicidal path that he has chosen. 
	
	
 Predictably, their advice has fallen on stones because, whatever their suggestions, Mugabe could not care less, interested only in retaining power at any cost. 
	
	
 With the presidential election only a month away, all these organisations appear not only to have grown too tired of insisting on their initial demands, but of actually scaling them back, frustrated that no one is listening. 
	
	
 For example, most of these groups have long urged the formation of an independent electoral commission to take charge of the preparations and conduct of the ballot, but are now reluctantly willing to accommodate Mugabe's partisan Electoral Supervisory Commission. 
	
	
 These bodies have long called for the deployment of independent election observers, both Zimbabwean and international, and yet none are in place even a few weeks before the polls. 
	
	
 What is clear - if this was not so obvious all along to some of these organisations - is that nothing whatsoever will deter Mugabe from doing anything and everything to claim victory in the ballot, however fraudulent. 
	
	
 Therefore the time to stop this tragic circus - many would say madness - is either now or never. 
	
	
 For the EU and the Commonwealth, which are due to meet shortly, they should realise that they are running out of meaningful options to influence the course of events in Zimbabwe. 
	
	
 Even by the EU's own submissions just two weeks ago, its international observers - and not pliant ones handpicked by the government to validate a sham - should have been on the ground by now, but the 15-nation bloc is still talking to Harare! 
	
	
 What is the point of engaging in dialogue with a government that is only interested in buying time while it fervently escalates a campaign of bludgeoning its citizens in the hope of frightening voters into supporting Mugabe? 
	
	
 What is South African President Thabo Mbeki's point when he says the SADC must ensure that Zimbabwe has a free election when, as he knows, nothing practical is being done by the regional body to ensure that Mugabe indeed complies? Either the EU and the SADC - as indeed all others - take meaningful action now that will move the Harare authorities or they forever hold their peace. 
	
	
 For example, the EU and the SADC - as all others - must refuse to send observers if these are not allowed to be on the ground by the end of this week or early next week at the very latest. 
	
	
 It follows therefore that all these groups must reject in advance the fraud that is being staged under the guise of an election, unless Mugabe urgently meets all the minimum conditions that allow for a semblance of a free and fair ballot. 
	
	
 And as all must now know - Mbeki included - Mugabe has no chance at all of winning any ballot that is free from intimidation and violence, notwithstanding his desperate last-minute act to try to buy votes using the hurried land reforms.	





Document 00100121 ends.


 
  
  
    
      July 30, 1999
      Dear Name:
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Document 00100124 ends.


	
Spanish premier, EU leader urge Russia to ratify Kyoto Protocol 
	
	
 Text of report by Spanish news agency Efe 
	
	
 Barcelona, 14 March: The current president of the EU, Jose Maria Aznar, and the president of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, have handed over a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin in which they urge him to promote the ratification by Russia of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. In the letter, to which Efe has had access, Aznar and Prodi explain that on 4 March the council of EU environment ministers agreed the adoption of a decision for approval of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change on behalf of the European Community. They explain that this agreement is an important step for the EU in fulfilling the political pledge to achieve ratification of the Protocol before the Johannesburg summit on sustainable development. To this end, Aznar and Prodi report that only the internal ratification processes in each of the member states have now to be concluded and they emphasize that these are at an advanced stage and in some cases have been completed. "Therefore, we have complete confidence that the instruments of ratification of the European Community and of the 15 member states will be able to be lodged with the Secretariat of the United Nations within the time scale anticipated, in other words, in early June of this year," they add. However, the letter emphasizes that for the Kyoto Protocol to be able to enter into force in the near future it is not enough for EU ratification to be guaranteed and they thus urge Putin to ensure that Russia also moves ahead with ratification. They make this request "convinced of the Russian Federation's resolute commitment to the Kyoto Protocol" and believing that in this manner the EU and Russia would continue to show the "leadership" which they believe they have shared "with such fruitful results, in international cooperation in the fight against climate change". 
	
	
	





Document 00100128 ends.


	
The American Department of State, in its annual report on human rights, has accused a number of countries, including Iran, of human rights violations. This is taking place at a time when the government of [George W.] Bush has been identified as the top violator of human rights of the last Christian year because of the restrictions imposed on the American citizens under the excuse of fighting terrorism. So far the Bush administration has denied its citizens their legitimate rights, has set up military courts to try the people charged with terrorism without giving the accused the right of appeal or the basic right to appoint a lawyer. Moreover, the American administration has violated the rights of the minorities and in particular the Muslim minority who have migrated to America. The American administration is keeping the Taleban and Al-Qa'idah prisoners in metal cages named detention centres and it is refusing to identify them as prisoners of war. This is another example of human rights violations in America. Only after the extensive protest of the world [media] and the human rights organizations, the American administration was compelled to partially recognize this right. The most interesting point is that America has been expelled from membership of the international human rights organization, because of its repeated violation of human rights. How can, under such circumstances, America allow itself to express an opinion over the issue of human rights in other countries? It seems that America's unilateral policy does not identify any limits for itself. The American administration, during Bush's presidency in particular, has adopted unilateral policies over such international issues as the reduction of strategic arms, environmental concerns including the Kyoto protocol, proposal to set up an international criminal court and lately over the fight against terrorism. The State Department's current expression of view on human rights records of other countries is in fact the continuation of the same unilateral policy pursued by the American administration. That is, American administration assumes the right to interfere in all international issues and internal affairs of other countries, but itself does not care about the concern of the global community vis-a-vis the American policies which at times influence a large part of the world. It is a human virtue to express concern on human rights issues in the world, but the American authorities - after massacring thousands of innocent people in Afghanistan under the excuse of fighting terrorism which is still continuing - cannot expect the people of the world to take seriously the annual report issued by their Department of State on human rights. They cannot, therefore, blame the world for viewing such reports as a tool to advance America's foreign policy.	





Document 00100130 ends.



   Canadian to join Endeavour crew

 


SubHead:   Steve MacLean will 'ride and fly' Canadarm 2

Author:     Rick Mofina

  OTTAWA - An Ottawa-born physicist will be the next Canadian in 
space.

  Allan Rock, the Industry Minister, announced yesterday that 
Steve MacLean, 47, has been assigned to fly aboard the Space 
Shuttle Endeavour in April, 2003.

  The flight will be his second time in space. He flew onboard the 
Space Shuttle Columbia in 1992.

  Dr. MacLean will join the Endeavour crew for the 10-day mission 
to complete the next stage of assembling the International Space 
Station. He will join other astronauts in four spacewalks to add 
trusses to the station and deploy additional solar panels. Two 
Russians are also among the six-member crew.

  Canadarm 2, a crane-like device attached to the station, will be 
used to its fullest extent when Dr. MacLean moves a 
communication aerial from one end of the craft to the other. "I 
cannot tell you how pleasing it is to my own ears to hear me say 
that during my mission I'm going to ride and fly Canadarm 2," 
said Dr. MacLean.

  In May, Dr. MacLean will be working at the Johnson Space Center 
in Houston, during the next shuttle shot to the station. As 
capsule communicator, Dr. MacLean will relay information between 
the shuttle crew and Mission Control during flights.

  Dr. MacLean tugged a red Canadian Olympic hockey shirt over his 
blue astronaut flight suit yesterday, telling reporters he 
wanted to get several more for the rest of the Canadian control 
crew to wear while working on the mission in May.

  But Marc Garneau, the head of Canada's Space Agency, said how 
many more international astronauts will follow Dr. MacLean into 
space is an issue Canada and other nations are facing after the 
U.S. said last year it will reduce the scope of the space 
station program.

  "There will be an impact starting probably in 2004," Dr. Garneau 
said, adding that the U.S. cuts mean reduced scientific 
experiments and reduced shuttle flights. Dr. Garneau pointed to 
the station's rescue vehicle as a key example of the program's 
reduction.

  The space station's emergency rescue ship to return the crew is 
a Russian Soyuz spacecraft that can only accommodate three crew 
members. U.S. budgetary problems means plans to build a larger 
craft have been halted.

  Space agencies from Russia, Japan, Europe and Canada, partners 
in the space station program, will meet in March to discuss 
their concerns over its future.

  "The pressure at this point is to try and get our American 
colleagues to live up to the obligation that is embodied in the 
inter-governmental agreements we all signed,"said Dr. Garneau, 
Canada's first astronaut.When it is fully constructed, the space 
station's lifespan is 20 years, so it is vital to enlarge the 
size of the crew, Dr. Garneau said. Construction of the space 
station began in the mid-1980s.

  "The clock is ticking. It [the station] has a limited 
lifetime,"said Dr. Garneau. "So it's very important for us to 
get back up to that crew size of six or seven. I'm confident 
that we're going to find a way around it. At the moment it's a 
challenge."



Copyright @ 2002 National Post Online |




Document 00100133 ends.


	
ZANU PF readies for war 
	
	
 By Basildon Peta Special Projects Editor 10/18/01 9:43:45 PM (GMT +2) 
	
	
 ZIMBABWE is amassing huge quantities of arms and ammunition using two African allies in preparation for next year's crucial presidential election, it has been established. Financial Gazette investigations in the past one-and-a-half months have revealed that the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Namibia are helping Zimbabwe circumvent an international arms embargo to buy huge quantities of guns and bullets for next year's ballot. 
	
	
 The arms embargo was imposed on Harare last year by Europe and the United States on President Robert Mugabe's government because of its appalling human rights record. 
	
	
 The investigations show that Zimbabwe is importing and massing an assortment of guns at army bases around the country in preparation for the poll, which is expected to be violent. 
	
	
 Most of the guns have been arriving secretly at Suri Suri airbase in Chegutu before they are distributed to other military bases and some will be sent to farms where self-styled war veterans have established bases to intimidate voters. 
	
	
 The bulk of the weapons have arrived from the DRC in that country's military cargo plane. 
	
	
 The weapons consist of a significant portion of French-made guns, most of which top government sources say will be distributed to war veterans who are central to the ruling ZANU PF party's re-election strategy in the presidential poll. 
	
	
 The sources say Zimbabwe, after the massive depletion of its armoury because of its participation in the three-year-old DRC war, has been finding it extremely difficult to replenish its arms stocks because its traditional and cheaper arms suppliers in Europe are refusing to sell it arms. 
	
	
 This had forced the army to implement some unpalatable measures, including the grounding of most of its entire fleet of Hawk fighter aircraft due to Britain's refusal to sell spare parts. 
	
	
 Virtually all European Union member states have severed ties with Zimbabwe and imposed an arms embargo on the country. 
	
	
 "Although we can still buy a number of arms from countries like Russia and China, a greater part of our fairly priced weapons, ammunition and spares have been sourced from mainly European countries like Britain, Sweden, France and others over the years. We can no longer buy arms from Europe at the moment because of the problems here," said a top Ministry of Defence source. 
	
	
 "We have been left with no alternative but to buy some weapons via our allies in the DRC who have access to some of these European weapons that we have preference for." 
	
	
 Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi declined to comment on the allegations of sanctions busting and the massing of guns at army bases around the country. 
	
	
 "Just avoid that one for now. I am not going to comment on that one," Sekeramayi said yesterday before immediately cutting off his telephone. 
	
	
 Asked why weapons of French origin were finding their way into Zimbabwe in an interview last month, Jerome Sautier, the first counsellor at the French embassy in Harare, and Lieutenant Colonel Dault, the defence attache, said France was not selling any arms to Zimbabwe. 
	
	
 The two said they had no knowledge of the arrival of French arms in the country but said France sold arms to several African countries which could in turn re-sell them to other countries. They said they did not know whether this was the case with Zimbabwe. 
	
	
 "In Africa, we have military relationships with many countries. We have, for instance, sold arms to many French-speaking countries. These arms can in turn be re-sold by those other countries," said Sautier, adding that there was also the possibility of illegal arms trafficking outside the authority of the French government. 
	
	
 The first secretary at the Namibian High Commission in Harare, Mati Jose, said he had no knowledge of Namibia helping Zimbabwe to bust the arms embargo while the DRC's ambassador to Zimbabwe Mawapanga Mwanananga could not be reached for comment. 
	
	
 Authoritative military sources said the army will be training and arming war veterans to ensure that Mugabe is re-elected in the ballot which must be held by the end of March. 
	
	
 A number of bases have been established for the war veterans throughout Zimbabwe, particularly in those areas which did not have army camps. 
	
	
 The sources said the war veterans will operate from these bases, their main objective being to make it impossible for the MDC to campaign in rural areas. 
	
	
 Opposition supporters would also be harassed and ejected out of the rural areas to disable them from voting in their constituencies. A number of war veterans have in fact already been armed. 
	
	
 The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said in a statement that ZANU PF supporters who smashed MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai's vehicle and thwarted his planned meeting with his party's structures in Sanyati last week were armed with guns. 
	
	
 A senior government official said: "I sympathize with those who want change in the presidential elections but judging by the groundwork that ZANU PF is doing to deal with the opposition, I am afraid to say that I don't see that change coming."	





Document 00100134 ends.


       

GOODY PRODUCTS Inc. cut its quarterly dividend to five cents a share from 11.5 cents a share.
The reduced dividend is payable Jan. 2 to stock of record Dec. 15.
The Kearny, N.J.-based maker of hair accessories and other cosmetic products said it cut the dividend due to its third-quarter loss of $992,000, or 15 cents a share.
In the year-ago quarter, the company reported net income of $1.9 million, or 29 cents a share.
The company also adopted an anti-takeover plan. 




Document 00100137 ends.


	
There are now 158 al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners held in eight-by-six-foot open-air steel cages at the US naval base of Guantanamo Bay, while another 270 are in the custody of US forces in Afghanistan. They too are likely to be flown to similar camps sooner or later, though their shifting has been put on hold in the face of deep international outrage at the way Washington is treating these prisoners. Secretary Rumsfeld has justified the atrocious conditions by resorting to verbal quibbling by designating them as 'unlawful combatants' or 'battlefield detainees', to avoid giving them PoW status under the Geneva Conventions. TV footage has shown hooded and shackled prisoners in steel cages, reminiscent more of Nazi concentration camps than a civilised detention facility. No figure has been provided by Washington nor demanded by Islamabad, but a fairly large number of these dehumanised detainees are believed to be Pakistanis. Saudi Arabia, France and even Britain have protested over the inhuman treatment, and demanded repatriation of their nationals. 
	
	
 Unlike Pakistan, these governments have at least gone to the trouble of finding out how many of their citizens, no matter how misguided, are being held. Human rights groups have also condemned this grave violation of the Geneva Conventions. Islamabad's silence does not set a healthy precedent. The guilt or otherwise of these detainees can be determined only by a competent court. The USA itself admits that one of the possible fates of these prisoners is to stand trial in competent courts in their own countries. If the US is willing to allow their repatriation back home to stand trial under Pakistani laws, why is Pakistan so coy about exercising this option? Incidentally, another 325 Pakistanis are currently rotting in Afghan jails. In this case also, Islamabad is pretending they do not exist. Pakistan has pledged $100 million for Afghan reconstruction. It should at least take up its own citizens' plight with the Karzai administration. Despite the powerful compulsions it is apparently labouring under, Islamabad should at least seek details of the Pakistanis being held at Guantanamo Bay, so that their cases can be taken up with Washington later. A proactive approach, for once, is called for. 
	
	
	





Document 00100138 ends.



Chinese space exploration: When will a Chinese cosmonaut fly into space?

 



  Shenzhou-3 orbited the Earth 108 times, and successfully landed 
on the targeted site in inner Mongolia: the Chinese space 
program is developing.

  The 47th congress of the International Federation of 
Astronautics that took place six years ago in Beijing was 
remarkable for the large number of cosmonauts who participated. 
There was even an Austrian there, but the country who organized 
the forum, the third country on the rating of space explorers, 
was not represented. This can partially be explained with the 
third position on the rating.

  A Czech, Austrian, Bulgarian, or a Dutch citizen is not entitled 
to give the command "Go!" like Yury Gagarin did if they are only 
guests on the Russian Soyuz station or American Shuttle. China 
will not agree to put its citizens on a foreign spaceship, as it 
must launch its own space vehicle from its own cosmodrome. Mao 
Tse-tung was passionate about this idea. Here is an interesting 
detail from his unpublished "Moscow speech" that was delivered 
to Chinese students studying in Russia. Mao Tse-tung mentioned 
the fact of the recent Soviet launch of the first ever 
satellite, weighing 70 kilos; then he turned to the Chinese 
ambassador and asked him: "Do you weigh 70 kilos, ambassador Liu 
Xiao? "A bit less than that,"   was the answer. "There you see! 
The Soviet Union can launch ambassador Liu Xiao into space! 
America cannot do it so far." 
  Was it only the wish of socialist propaganda in those words? 
That speech was delivered on November 15, 1957, and the Central 
Committee of the Communist Party of China authorized its rocket 
production program a year before that, in October of 1956 (on 
Mao Tse-tung's initiative). The specialized Fifth Institute of 
the Defense Ministry was established for that purpose. Two years 
ago, in October of 1955, Beijing received a person with the 
reputation of the "Chinese Korolev"   Qian Xuesen, who came to 
China from the USA, where he had settled after graduating from 
Shanghai university, so it would be better to call him "Chinese 
von Broun." Xuesen continued his studies at California Technical 
University, having obtained a Doctor of Astronautics degree, 
and, as the say, the title of US Air Force colonel. He then was 
employed at a US Air Force rocket engine lab and succeeded 
there. In the summer of 1950, he made an attempt to move to 
Beijing. FBI agents caught him and his wife at the airport of 
Los Angeles, as well as luggage that contained 896 pounds of 
books and records. Xuesen was released only after five years 
only, after the "quarantine" during which he was not allowed 
access to the secret information. Xuesen became the supervisor 
of the research works in the field, but the Chinese spaceships 
of the Shenzhou type looked like the Russian Soyuz, specialists 
say.

  At the same time, when the Chinese von Broun managed to reach 
China, there were other bearers of fresher secrets there   from 
the country, which could "launch ambassador Liu Xiao into 
space." The Chinese students who graduated from Russian 
universities and Soviet experts of nuclear and missile 
technologies. The "elder brother" (the Chinese people used to 
call the Soviet Union this) was not against helping the "younger 
brother" in the field of modernization.

  By the time of Mao Tse-tung's "Moscow speech," the Chinese were 
actively searching for a site for their rocket range. The 
committee of the competent departments prepared seven variants 
with the help of Soviet experts. The choice was made for a site 
in the Gobi Desert. The construction of the Jiuquan cosmodrome 
was started there; it was put into operation at the end of 1958. 
China's three (unmanned) spaceships were launched into space 
from there:

  Shenzhou-1 was launched on November 20, 1999; it stayed in the 
orbit for about 24 hours, having orbited the Earth 14 times.

  Shenzhou-2 blasted off on January 10, 2001, staying about a week 
in the orbit, having flown 108 times around the planet.

  Shenzhou-3 (blasted off on March 25) stayed in space for the 
same period of time, with the same number of circuits around the 
Earth.

  The current goal is to examine the module and its contents (like 
in the first two cases). However, it is evident now that China 
has reliable rocket systems; it has mastered the art of space 
navigation and soft landing of a spaceship. China knows how to 
build its own spaceships, and there are people who can become 
cosmonauts. Their training is in full swing (Russia is 
reportedly participating). As China's experts believe, there 
should be at least four test unmanned flights performed before 
they can launch a man into space.

  Therefore, the "Chinese Gagarin" will probably say "Go!" no 
later than 2005. China is also working on programs for Chinese 
cosmonauts to fly to the Moon, as well as a space station.

  
Andrey Krushinsky


Copyright @1999 by " Pravda.RU ". When reproducing our materials 
in whole or in part, reference to Pravda.RU should be made. The 
opinions and views of the authors do not always coinside with 
the point of view of PRAVDA.Ru's editors.




Document 00100139 ends.


	
JAKARTA (JP): Protesting Muslim students in favor of Palestinian solidarity tried to force their way into the U.S. Embassy compound on Jl. [Road] Medan Merdeka Selatan in Central Jakarta on Wednesday, prompting clashes with the police officers who tried to block them away, reports said. 
	
	
 Some 500 protesters, among them from KAMMI (Indonesian Muslim Student Committee), breached the barbed wire barricades in front of the embassy, El Shinta radio reported live from the scene around 3:50 p.m. [0830 GMT] Wednesday. 
	
	
 Police tried to disperse the crowds but the protesters beat the security personnel with sticks and flag poles. 
	
	
 No immediate report of casualties was available, but the police reportedly managed to herd the students away from the embassy gate. 
	
	
 The protesters were showing their support to Palestinians following Israel's recent incursion into Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's West Bank headquarters in Ramallah, which killed at least five security personnel. The students believe the U.S. is allied with Israel. 
	
	
 Heavy traffic congestion took place in almost every connecting roads near Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan in Central Jakarta following the protest.	





Document 00100142 ends.


       

Savin Corp. reported a third-quarter net loss of $35.2 million, or 31 cents a share, compared with year-earlier profit of $3.8 million, or one cent a share. 

A spokesman for the Stamford, Conn.based company said operations had a loss of $5.5 million for the quarter; in addition, the loss was magnified by nonrecurring charges totaling $23.5 million and $8.2 million in asset-valuation adjustments that he described as "unusual." The charges were partly offset by a $2 million gain on the sale of investments of two joint ventures, he said. 

Revenue declined 8% to $85.7 million, from $93.3 million a year earlier.
Savin cited "a general softening in the demand for office products in the market segments in which Savin competes." 




Document 00100143 ends.


              
  
  
    
      June 6, 2000
      Name Address City, ST Zip
      Dear Name:
      Pat LaCrosse asked me to send this information inviting you to join
      the Georgia O'Keeffe Circle of the Indianapolis Museum of Art's Second
      Century Society (SCS). The SCS brochure I am enclosing will give you the
      historic significance of SCS, as well as listing activities and specific
      benefits awarded to donors at the Georgia O'Keeffe level. Your Georgia
      O'Keeffe membership, please note, includes free admission to all
      art-related activities of the IMA's Young Friends of Art group.
      Additionally, I am sending traditional background materials on the
      Museum and the two latest issues of our Previews Magazine detailing
      upcoming events, exhibitions, and educational programs.
      These are particularly exciting times at the Indianapolis Museum of
      Art: Progress continues on the J.K. Lilly estate-Oldfields, our Ravine
      Garden has been restored to its original splendor, and there is national
      attention showered on our current exhibition of Japanese Painting.
      (please see The New York Times article I have included.) With thousands
      of trees and flowers in bloom, we are having a beautiful Spring!
      Our extraordinary permanent collection, facility, and grounds, we
      understand full well, would not be possible without the philanthropic
      support of civic-minded men and women. In joining SCS, you join the ranks
      of those who believe that bringing art and art education to the city
      makes life better, richer, and more rewarding for the entire
      community.
      A Second Century Society response card and return envelope are
      enclosed. Should you have questions or if I can be of assistance in any
      way, please call me: 317.923.1331, ext. 248.
      Sincerely,
      ARLETTA B.NEWTON Donor Relations Coordinator Enclosures/
      P .S. Both our Barefoot in the Grass family picnic (July 23,2000) and
      the annual SCS Founders Day celebration (October 11,2000) are free for
      Georgia O'Keeffe members. Mark your calendars!
      
                     
  


Document 00100144 ends.


     
        CNN_ENG_20030614_173123.4         
                                  NEWS STORY           
           2003-06-14 17:59:34            
      
      
      
welcome back to "people in the news."
       
             
      
the intifada, the spontaneous 1987 palestinian uprising against the
israeli occupation, heralded the rise of the muslim fundamentalism. in
what had been a mostly secular palestinian movement. the most popular
of these groups hamas, an acronym for islamic resistance movement. in
english it means zeal, its aim -- the destruction of israel.
       
      
hamas is an islamic movement. at the very beginning, it was encouraged
by israel because they thought it was a counter weight to palestinian
nationalism which is, of course, a secular movement.
       
      
hamas was founded in 1988 by a blind paraplegic cleric who was
influenced by the islamic muslim brotherhood, with backing from
israel, he set up sharities in the improverished strip in the 1970s.
       
      
slowly it became more and more politicized, and more and more extreme
in its demands for an islamic state.
       
      
the extremism took the form of suicide bombings and terrorist attacks.
but hamas had already become an important part of palestinian society
through its charity work and its influence increased over time by
providing community services when the palestinian authority did not.
       
      
hamas plays on the palestinian authority's failure to produce. its
basic message, the palestinian authority is corrupt, it fails to
deliver, hamas is not corrupt. hamas cares about the person on the
street and it does deliver. unfortunately, those same charitable
organizations, those same charity committees that funnel the funds to
needier palestinians, also serve to support terrorist attacks.
       
      
israel and the united states say arafat has not been tough enough on
terrorism, and have attempted to force him out of the current peace
process. the prime minister known as abu mazen must now contend with
the rejection of side by side palestinian and israeli states. a
cornerstone of the new peace plan. he's trying to get hamas to co-
exist with israel. conservative israelis are skeptical.
       
      
he is not working against hamas, he is working in tandem. he is
negotiating with them. he is not telling them to disband and regulate
their weapons, so i have no faith in the ability of abu mazen to put
terror aside.
       
      
reporter: settlers call the just concluded israeli-american-
palestinian summit a surrender, and were not impressed.
       
      
translator: the armed intifada must end and we must use and resort to
peaceful means in our quest to end the occupation and the suffering of
the palestinians, and the israelis, and to establish the palestinian
state.
       
      
hamas and other palestinian militant group rejected abbas' call to end
their attacks with a deadly raid on an israeli army outpost in gaza.
       
      
we are all saying that the resistance will continue despite the summit
in aqaba.
       
      
israel retaliated on hamas, namely al-rantissi, it missed him and
killed civilians.
       
      
translator: hamas will not drop our weapons, even if all leaders are
assassinated.
       
      
reporter: since the second intifada began in 2000, over 700 israelis
have been killed, during the same time there have been more than 2,000
palestinian deaths according to the red crescent. including hamas
leaders targeted for assassination.
       
                      
      
if you want an end to terrorism, if you want an end to violence, you
have to give people hope and you have to give them a stake in the
political process. i think that hamas is ready to join the political
process, however, if the only price for the political price is you
must fight hamas, if that's what they are requiring abu mazen to do,
they are almost mandating that he will fail.
       
      
the main test of mahmoud abbas, will be to establish an overall
command of all armed groups, if not, it doesn't have a chance. you
know, leaders have to do things
       
       
       
          2003-06-14 18:04:27           
      
















Document 00100148 ends.


	
KABUL, Feb 10 (AFP) - Interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai is to travel to the United Arab Emirates on Sunday, completing visits to the three countries that recognized the Taliban regime before September 11. 
	
	
 Kabul announced the Afghan embassy in Islamabad would reopen next week after Karzai's historic fence-mending visit to Pakistan on Friday. He has also made an official trip to Saudi Arabia. 
	
	
 In another step to heal festering wounds, Karzai on Saturday pardoned 350 captured Taliban soldiers, saying they were "innocent" and part of a general amnesty that allowed foot-soldiers to go free. 
	
	
 But the Afghan interim government branded Mullah Abdul Wakil Mutawakel, the Taliban foreign minister who surrendered to US forces in Kandahar Friday, as a war criminal who should be put on trial. 
	
	
 Taliban leaders "created misery for our people. The world has suffered because of what they did ... They deserve justice and to be treated as war criminals because they supported terrorism," Interim Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said. 
	
	
 One of the closest aides to reclusive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, he is seen as a potential source of crucial evidence against Omar and bin Laden, the chief suspect of the September 11 terror attacks who has eluded a US-led manhunt so far. 
	
	
 The United States meanwhile brought another 34 al-Qaeda and Taliban captives to a detention camp on a US naval base on Cuba Saturday, bringing the total of detainees held there to 220. 
	
	
 The new arrivals were dressed in standard-issue zippered orange jumpsuits. Because each was bound and shackled, the blue jackets they wore on the 27-hour flight were removed by scissors-wielding US troops as the prisoners descended from the plane into the tropical heat. 
	
	
 In Geneva the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it and Washington were at odds over Washington's decision not to recognise captured Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters as prisoners of war. 
	
	
 "There are divergent views between the US and the ICRC on the procedures which apply on how to determine that the persons detained are not entitled to prisoner of war status," the ICRC said in a statement. 
	
	
 "The US and the ICRC will pursue their dialogue on this issue." 
	
	
 US President George W. Bush decided Thursday that the 1949 Geneva Conventions would apply to captured Taliban fighters taken from Afghanistan to a US military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but not to al-Qaeda members there. 
	
	
 However, Washington said that neither group would be accorded prisoner of war status. 
	
	
 Concern also continued over signs that the US was expanding its war on terror to other countries. 
	
	
 While taking care to avoid directly criticizing Bush, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said it was unrealistic to see the world in terms of good and evil states. 
	
	
 In an interview published by the Swiss daily newspaper Blick on Saturday, Annan was asked about Bush's statement describing Iran, Iraq and North Korea as part of an "axis of evil." 
	
	
 Annan said, without specifically mentioning the US: "You can not divide the world between the good and the evil, because between them there are shades of gray." 
	
	
 EU commissioner Chris Patten, also speaking in a newspaper interview, accused Bush's administration of a dangerously "absolutist and simplistic" stance. 
	
	
 It was time European governments spoke up and stopped Washington before it went into "unilateralist overdrive", he told the British newspaper The Guardian. 
	
	
 In Ottawa, the Group of Seven industrialized nations called for intensified efforts to freeze terrorist financing and reported that at least 100 million dollars had been frozen since September 11. 
	
	
 "Significant results have already been achieved," said the final communique of finance ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States. 
	
	
 "Since September 11, almost 150 countries and jurisdictions have issued orders to freeze terrorist assets and over 100 million dollars has been frozen worldwide," it said after the two-day gathering in Ottawa and in nearby Quebec. 
	
	
 In another sign of progress in cracking terrorist networks, court sources in Paris said an Islamic militant under investigation for an alleged plot to attack the French city of Strasbourg had admitted meeting two other terrorist suspects at a training camp in Afghanistan. 
	
	
 Yacine Akhnouche, arrested Monday, told police he had met suspected shoe bomber Richard Reid and Zacarias Moussaoui at a training camp in Afghanistan in 2000, during one of several stays in the country. 
	
	
 Moussaoui, a Frenchman of Moroccan descent, is the first person charged in connection with the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington. 
	
	
 Reid, a British national, was arrested after allegedly trying to light a fuse attached to explosives in his shoes while on a Paris to Miami flight on December 22. 
	
	
 Karzai meanwhile continued to wrestle with security problems as rival warlords tried to fill the power vacuum left by the fall of the Taliban. 
	
	
 On Saturday he met representatives of two warlords who clashed violently last week over who should be governor in eastern Paktia province. 
	
	
 "This is a very serious matter and Karzai wanted himself to be involved in finding a solution," Deputy Border Affairs Minister Mirza Ali told AFP. 
	
	
 Fifty people were killed in a two-day battle when Karzai's appointed governor, Padsha Khan, sent his forces to secure the governor's house in the provincial capital Gardez. 
	
	
 They were driven out by rival warlord Saif Ullah, who has refused to give up power. 
	
	
 Karzai has blamed Khan for the fighting and said it was "one more reason why we should finish warlordism in this country." 
	
	
 The clash has called into question Karzai's ability to govern beyond the Kabul area and bolstered his appeal for the deployment of more international troops in his country. 
	
	
 The search for kidnapped US journalist Daniel Pearl stretched into its 18th day in Pakistan with no sign of the Wall Street Journal correspondent, who was abducted while researching a story on Islamic militancy. 
	
	
	





Document 00100151 ends.


	
The great leader [yongdoja] Comrade Kim Chong-il has pointed out: 
	
	
 "Although the imperialists and reactionaries speak ill of socialism and pretend to be the 'advocates of human rights,' they are the ones who really abuse human rights." 
	
	
 At a recent United Nations meeting, the United States picked a quarrel with us by speaking as if our country had a "human rights problem." This was not the first time the United States acted this way. More often than not, the United States, acting as if it were an "adjudicator of human rights," published the so-called "Annual Human Rights Report" and "Annual Report on International Religious Freedom," attempting to teach a lesson or two to countries -- including our country -- it deems disagreeable. 
	
	
 The United States, however, is not qualified to speak of "human rights" in other countries. One can easily talk in a similar manner of the racial discrimination in the United States which is becoming more serious with the passage of time. Many people in the United States have their human rights ruthlessly trampled upon simply because they are colored. 
	
	
 According to a poll conducted jointly by the US daily "The Washington Post" and Harvard University, people are wondering whether the American society is not reverting to the 1960s when racial discrimination was very serious. A total of 1,709 people, including blacks, Latinos, and Asians, participated in the poll. They responded that three out of ten blacks could not find job or have been denied responsible positions in the workplace simply because they were blacks and eight out of ten blacks and two thirds of the Latinos and Asians said they had suffered persecution and had been subjected to abusive language. 
	
	
 Ali Barr [name as published], a black man working at a TV station in Atlanta, has recently experienced racial discrimination in a restaurant. When Ali Barr and his company entered the restaurant, ten white people inside the restaurant appeared surprised to see them and a waitress told them to leave the premise immediately. Recalling the scene, Ali Barr said: "Myself and my company were racially discriminated against. I can never forget what I saw that day as long as I live." 
	
	
 As a result of racial discrimination, many among the ethnic minorities reportedly have been driven out of urban areas. According to 2000 vital statistics released not so long ago in the United States, one out of four residents of the suburban areas was an ethnic minority. This figure is said to be 5 percent higher than it was a decade ago. 
	
	
 People will likely remember the fact that the United States withdrew its delegation from the UN conference against racism held last September in Durban, South Africa. In the beginning, the United States refused to send a delegation, but eventually dispatched a low-level delegation. When voices critical of the Israelis' violation of the Palestinian people's human rights were raised at the conference, the United States went so far as to withdraw its delegation. 
	
	
 Since this is how a government claiming to represent its people behaves in international settings, it is no wonder people at home follow the government's example. 
	
	
 Instead of talking about "human rights issues" of other countries, the United States should find out how things are in its own house where the abuse of human rights is rampant and make effort to rectify the practices. 
	
	
	





Document 00100158 ends.


       

First Security Corp. said it tentatively agreed to acquire Deseret Bancorp. for stock valued at about $18 million. 

Terms call for First Security to issue about 0.55 share of its stock for each Deseret share held, or a total of about 550,000 First Security shares.
It has about 12.3 million shares outstanding. 

Deseret, with about $100 million in assets, is the parent of the Deseret Bank, which has six offices and headquarters at Pleasant Grove, Utah.
The purchase price is equal to about 1.65 times Deseret's roughly $10.7 million book value, or assets less liabilities. 

Salt Lake City-based First Security, with $5.4 billion in assets, said the agreement is subject to shareholder and regulatory approval, and that it hopes to complete the transaction early next year. 




Document 00100159 ends.


	
Mugabe must be confronted with constitution issue 
	
	
 Lovemore Madhuku 3/21/02 1:40:54 AM (GMT +2) 
	
	
 IT will be a monumental tragedy for Zimbabwe and the future of the democratisation process if we fail to draw proper and useful lessons from the debacle surrounding the just-concluded presidential election. I must warn at the outset that there are two groups of persons whose analyses must be handled with caution. The first group is the media. The second group is that of "winning" and "losing" politicians. 
	
	
 These two groups dominated the pre-election period with all sorts of analyses and predictions whose value is yet to be ascertained. 
	
	
 Yet I must declare my interests at the outset. From those very first days sometime in early 1997 when, alongside colleagues like Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube, Brian Kagoro, Priscilla Misihairabwi, Everjoice Win and Tawanda Mutasa, I participated in formulating the concept of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), it has been clear to me that the sole purpose of the current Zimbabwean constitution is to preserve and protect the rule of ZANU PF. 
	
	
 My view then, and indeed those of my colleagues, was that a democratic environment in which free and fair elections are the norm, and in which citizens enjoy real freedoms, could only be created if a new, democratic and people-driven constitution were put in place. In terms of that view, it is almost impossible to change the government through an election conducted in terms of the current constitution. 
	
	
 This is the view I still hold so strongly that I must confess it may cloud my assessment of the just-concluded presidential elections. 
	
	
 There is little doubt that the presidential election was neither free nor fair. An election which fails to meet the standard of being "free and fair" produces an illegitimate outcome. 
	
	
 This much must be regarded as admitting of no doubt. However, this says nothing about the way forward. This election was not stolen on March 9 and 10 2002, nor is the outcome illegitimate merely on the allegations of rigging arising from the events of the polling days. 
	
	
 The lesson to be learnt from this poll is that until Zimbabwe has a genuinely democratic constitution enshrining universally recognised norms and institutions for the holding of an election, a free and fair ballot will remain a mirage. 
	
	
 Politicians who in the run-up to the election peddled theories about how the "will" of the people would prevail notwithstanding the labyrinth of constitutional provisions loaded against a free and fair election must now admit that they were wrong. Most of the problems faced in this election have their roots in the defective nature of our constitutional framework. I now proceed to illustrate this truth. 
	
	
 First, the voter registration process was not transparent and was conducted in such a way as to favour the ruling party. The main reason for this lack of transparency is that in terms of the current constitution and laws, voter registration is conducted by officials appointed by, and answerable to, the President. 
	
	
 In other countries, this process is handled by an Independent Electoral Commission which is an impartial body and whose independence is guaranteed by the constitution. In our case, the so-called "supplementary voters' roll" was nothing but a list of names of ZANU PF supporters compiled under dubious circumstances but it was given legal validity by President Robert Mugabe acting is terms of the current constitution and laws. 
	
	
 Secondly, the designation of polling stations, as is now well known, was specifically done in a way that favoured ZANU PF by granting ridiculously few polling stations in urban areas. This was done by officials appointed by, and answerable to, Mugabe. In other countries, this is done by an Independent Electoral Commission, which is constitutionally enjoined to act impartially. 
	
	
 Third, it is alleged that some key election officials such as presiding officers were Central Intelligence Organisation operatives. In other countries, there is no scope for such madness. An Independent Electoral Commission appoints professional election officials. 
	
	
 Fourth, there were the so-called "no-go areas" in Mashonaland Central, West, East and some parts of the Midlands. Parliament also passed the Public Order and Security Act which the police deliberately misinterpreted to suppress the opposition. 
	
	
 Our constitution does not specifically provide for political rights such as free and equal campaigning platforms for competing political parties. If such rights had been enshrined, it would have given the opposition the right to approach the courts for orders directing the police to facilitate free campaigning in the so-called no-go areas. 
	
	
 Fifth, equal access to the public media is not guaranteed by our constitution. This enabled the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation to abuse its position by broadcasting ZANU PF propaganda only. 
	
	
 Finally, and more significantly, the President enjoys enormous powers under the current constitution which he used to further his electoral chances. It was the President who directed that there be tripartite elections in Harare. And in doing this, he overrode court orders to the contrary. 
	
	
 The tripartite elections contributed to what ultimately became a "low" turnout in Harare. 
	
	
 After the Supreme Court nullified the General Laws Amendment Act, the President used his powers to reinstate most of its provisions through a statutory instrument. Thus, it was the President who banned postal voting by all Zimbabweans outside their constituencies except members of the army and the police. The latter are alleged to have voted for Mugabe. 
	
	
 The ban on monitoring of elections by civic society was also reinstated. There were other countless examples of the President's use of the powers he enjoys under the current constitution to mould the electoral process in his favour. 
	
	
 The conclusion to be reached from this whole picture is that under the current constitutional and legal framework for the holding of presidential elections, it is almost impossible to vote out an incumbent President. It was naive for the Movement for Democratic Change to believe that the people's anger against Mugabe was, in itself, sufficient to carry the day in an election, whatever the circumstances. 
	
	
 The issue is not about Mugabe. If Mugabe were to announce his retirement before the expiry of his six-year term and ZANU PF were to field any of his less illustrious colleagues as a presidential candidate, without a fundamental change to the rules, Zimbabweans will learn an even more bitter lesson: ZANU PF will "steal" that election again. 
	
	
 We do not need to wait for that scenario before we embrace the need to fight for a new constitution. We have learnt our lesson and it will be irresponsible to seek to dispute this clear fact. 
	
	
 This brings us to the way forward. Two points must be made. 
	
	
 First, there has been no spontaneous uprising against Mugabe notwithstanding the widespread disbelief that greeted his victory among many voters, particularly those in urban areas. ZANU PF had anticipated such an uprising, hence the massive intimidatory show of force that was evident in the deployment of security forces in every part of the country during and after the announcement of the election results. 
	
	
 Secondly, key African countries have accepted Mugabe's victory while almost the entire Western world has "rejected" the election results. These two points are crucial in any discussion of the way forward. 
	
	
 Various options have been discussed, but the better way forward is to confront the Mugabe regime with the constitutional question. Constitutional reform is at the heart of any new democratic discourse in Zimbabwe. 
	
	
 Mugabe must be forced to yield to a new process of constitutional reform leading to a new constitution. There must be mass action for a new constitution. 
	
	
 Mass action for a new constitution places Mugabe in a difficult situation. He cannot be heard to defend the current constitution, which has been roundly condemned by all. He has used the current constitution to stay in power. 
	
	
 Even the African observers who endorsed Mugabe's re-election have also criticised the constitutional framework governing elections in Zimbabwe. 
	
	
 More fundamentally, the struggle for a new constitution is a question of principle, not personalities. It is a legitimate struggle which Mugabe cannot dismiss as a Western imperialist ploy because its demands are clear and unambiguous: a more democratic system of government, a more democratic framework for conducting elections, an expanded Bill of Rights and so on. 
	
	
 Mugabe has no moral excuse for shooting people merely demanding a new constitution. 
	
	
 The masses required for such a struggle to succeed need not be substantial. This struggle does not need a spontaneous uprising. A core of determined and committed Zimbabweans is sufficient for this purpose. 
	
	
 It is critical that a new constitution be in place as soon as possible so that any future election is held in a transparent and credible manner. 
	
	
 A presidential election is not necessarily six years away. Under the current constitution, the President has no powers to designate a successor, should he decide to retire. A fresh election must be held within 90 days. 
	
	
 The same situation arises if the President dies while in office. Never again should Zimbabweans go into an election under the current constitution. 
	
	
 A criticism which has been levelled against this way forward is that mass action aimed at confronting Mugabe with a demand for a new constitution translates into recognising him when in fact his government is illegitimate. This is useless sophistry. 
	
	
 Mugabe is a political fact. In legal jargon, to those who do not recognise his presidency, he remains the de facto President. It is him who must be confronted with such a demand as constitutional reform. 
	
	
 The NCA last December completed a draft constitution which Mugabe, through Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, refused to receive. That draft must be forced on Mugabe and the NCA hopes that Zimbabweans will join in this noble cause to put in place a secure framework for good governance in Zimbabwe. 
	
	
 - Lovemore Madhuku is task force chairperson of the National Constitutional Assembly and a lecturer in law at the University of Zimbabwe.	





Document 00100163 ends.


	
Minister of Science and Technology Ronaldo Mota Sardenberg headed Brazil's delegation to the Seventh Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Marrakesh. 
	
	
 After four years of arduous negotiations, the Marrakesh conference ended successfully at 0600 hours last Saturday. Its objective was to complete the regulations governing the Kyoto Protocol and thereby create political and technical conditions for the latter's ratification by the international community. 
	
	
 With the protocol in effect, it will be possible to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases in the industrialized countries and, consequently, to combat the global warming of the atmosphere for the benefit and well-being of future generations all over the planet. 
	
	
 The problem is neither simple nor minor. A great many countries, including Brazil, are helping to improve our knowledge of the issue. The latest available scientific report states flatly that the global warming already observed--about 0.5 degree Celsius--is due to human activity and results from the emission of carbon dioxide and other gases. If nothing were done, the temperature of the atmosphere would rise by a few degrees this century with unmistakable and potentially disastrous effects. Particularly affected would be the world's poorer regions. 
	
	
 Brazil's objectives were fully achieved. The understanding prevailed that climate change is global and presents a challenge to the world's leaders. It had already been decided in Kyoto to set goals for reducing emissions, initially for the industrialized countries so that distribution of the resulting burden would be accepted as fair by all. 
	
	
 Now the international community is being forced to face reality: there is only one way to prevent those effects or reduce them to the minimum: emissions must be limited. But the cost is high and requires a change in the way energy is generated as well as in means of transportation and agricultural practices. 
	
	
 Since 1997, President Fernando Henrique Cardoso has frequently interacted with other world leaders to overcome obstacles and open up paths to negotiation. A formidable deadlock occurred, however, at the meeting in The Hague at the end of 2000, and it seriously threatened the protocol's future. At a new meeting in Bonn in July of this year, thanks to the efforts of many delegations, including that from Brazil, which played a leading role, it was possible to isolate five areas for negotiation. 
	
	
 Only three important points were left over for Marrakesh. The first had to do with the legal status of the protocol, a question that had already been the object of a political accord in Bonn. But only now has it been possible to express the matter in satisfactory terms. The countries and even the companies involved won the assurance in Marrakesh that actual implementation of the protocol will be carried out in a legally binding manner. 
	
	
 The second big challenge was to regulate in detail the compensation mechanisms for reducing emissions. The one that interests us in particular is the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which applies to countries such as Brazil. The proper regulation as finally achieved represents a balance between restrictions on free use of the mechanisms so as to ensure that the reductions are real--that is, physical and not just bookkeeping exercises--and, at the same time, to keep some flexibility in the controls so as not to burden the compensation transactions excessively. It was possible to ensure the environmental integrity of the protocol and to maintain control over the mechanism. 
	
	
 The third big challenge concerns land use: a change in the way land and forests are used so as to prevent the inclusion of activities that do not lead to a real reduction in emissions. An example of this is the simple presence or aging of forests. The controversy over that subject contributed to the deadlock at the conference in The Hague last year, since the pressure to include such activities was very strong in view of their zero cost. 
	
	
 Brazil contributed greatly to the success in Marrakesh. President Fernando Henrique Cardoso spoke with his colleagues at bilateral meetings and emphasized to the French National Assembly and the UN General Assembly the need for multilateral diplomacy in dealing with a problem involving the basic principle of shared but differentiated responsibility on the part of all countries. 
	
	
 Also contributing were our talks with ministers of various key countries in the negotiations, ranging from China, India, Nigeria, Iran, and Argentina among the developing nations to Japan, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany among the industrialized countries. Also contributing was the excellent technical preparation and mature action of the Brazilian delegation, which consisted of experienced negotiators. Also contributing was the interested and well-organized participation of nongovernmental sectors in Brazil, including the private sector. Their participation was a demonstration, not always seen in other countries, that government and the private sector are working together in the country's interests. 
	
	
 The CDM Executive Committee will actually begin operating as soon as the Kyoto Protocol takes effect. The idea for the CDM originated, at least in part, in a concept successfully advocated by Brazil during the Kyoto negotiations in 1997. 
	
	
 Ever since a ministerial meeting in 1999, I have advocated that that mechanism begin its activities as quickly as possible, a step that was finally accepted in Marrakesh. Brazil was elected by consensus, and with the support of Latin America, to the CDM Executive Committee. 
	
	
 The Kyoto Protocol expresses the world's political will and is becoming the dominant norm in that field from the standpoint of international public law. Even the United States, which declared for its own reasons that it did not intend to ratify it, has been giving indications that it will adopt domestic measures using concepts capable of being harmonized with those set forth in the protocol. That will facilitate their possible convergence later with the international system. 
	
	
 President Fernando Henrique Cardoso announced at the United Nations that he would submit the protocol to the National Congress for ratification. It is predicted that a sufficient number of countries will do the same so that the protocol will take effect before the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in September 2002. That will be proof, on its 10th anniversary, of the success of the Rio Conference, where this whole important effort began. 
	
	
	





Document 00100165 ends.


	
["Opinion" U.S. Human Rights Claims Only Empty Rhetoric] 
	
	
 The U.S. State Department on Monday published its annual report on the status of human rights in other countries in the year 2001. In this report, when referring to Iran, the United States repeated its allegations against the Islamic Republic but failed to provide any evidence in support of its baseless charges. 
	
	
 Among the unfounded allegations was the claim that the Islamic Republic enjoys no social base and is an unpopular system because of its human rights violations. However, the massive participation of millions of Iranians in the grand rallies on Feb. 11 to mark the anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution and defy U.S. threats against this country once again revealed the emptiness of U.S. charges against Iran. It is quite clear that such baseless accusations are only made to tarnish the image of Iran, since it follows an independent policy and refuses to bow to U.S. domination. 
	
	
 It is interesting that the U.S. State Department's annual global human rights report came this year at a time when Washington itself is being sharply criticized by most countries and international human rights organizations for the killing of a large number of innocent civilians in Afghanistan and the torture and inhuman treatment of the Taleban and Al-Qaeda prisoners at its military base at Guantanamo Bay. 
	
	
 Indeed, the U.S Administration, which claims to advocate international human rights issues and which tries to play the role of a world policeman, is actually condoning the most atrocious human rights violations committed in the United States itself. The ugliest crimes are perpetrated against inmates in U.S. prisons, and the mistreatment of ethnic minorities by the U.S. police is so appalling that on several occasions it has led to massive riots. For instance, a bloody riot was ignited in Cincinnati when an Afro-American youth was shot dead for no reason by police officers. 
	
	
 Although the United States claims to advocate human rights, its harsh treatment of its own citizens and its hegemonic and belligerent policy towards other nations prove that the claim is just empty rhetoric.	







Document 00100166 ends.



   Zimbabwe vote a test of patience

 



  HARARE AND RUSHINGA, ZIMBABWE - Martha's neighbors know her as a 
high-ranking district official of Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF 
Party, the woman who drills local children each Friday in the 
party doctrine. But in her heart, the 38-year-old widow supports 
the opposition and keeps a Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) 
membership card hidden in a cooking pot.

  "We just want someone who can give us food, hospitals, school 
fees. A better life," says Martha, explaining why she voted for 
MDC candidate Morgan Tsvangirai.

  There are many Marthas here, people who marched to ZANU-PF 
anthems and cheered President Robert Mugabe at rallies, while 
secretly planning to vote for Mr. Tsvangirai. "People pretend to 
be ZANU-PF because they are afraid. They wear the T-shirts and 
go to the rallies, but inside, they don't believe," she says.

  After months of fear and intimidation, Zimbabweans streamed to 
the polls this weekend in record numbers to cast their votes in 
the country's first contested election since independence 22 
years ago. Many arrived at overburdened polling stations in the 
early hours of the morning and waited in the hot sun for the 
entire day without food.

  "You see this tarred road and this grass? That was my bed," says 
Janet, a Harare secretary, who waited for more than 27 hours at 
a polling station in the impoverished Harare suburb of 
Kuwadzana. "I wanted to go home, but I have to vote," she says. 
"This is a crucial presidential election. This is our future."

  Even as voters went to the polls over the weekend, the 
intimidation and attempts at rigging continued. The government 
slashed the number of polling stations in urban areas where the 
MDC is favored, while boosting the number in rural ruling-party 
strongholds. In Kuwadzana, there were seven polling stations for 
about 55,000 people. Rural Bindura had 41 polling stations for a 
smaller number of people.

  Now the country's 5.6 million voters are waiting anxiously for 
the results of the poll to be announced, although the voting, 
which was supposed to end Sunday, may stretch on for days. The 
question foremost in the minds of most Zimbabweans is whether 
attempts to rig the election through voter intimidation, last- 
minute election-law changes, and outright fraud have succeeded.

  An increasing number of local election monitors and 
international observers say the vote rigging has been so 
thorough that hopes for a free election are dead.

  "The main cheating took place long before election days," says 
Brian Murphy of the Zimbabwe Citizens support group, an 
organization whose members spread around the country this 
weekend privately monitoring the elections. Mr. Murphy points to 
the lack of independent voter education, the lack of any 
independent radio stations, and the ban on holding opposition 
rallies in many districts as just a few examples. "This is not a 
fair election," he says.

  
There is a deep faith here, however, in the power of democracy.

  Edward Murchabaiw arrived at a Rushinga polling station at 6 
a.m. in a wheelbarrow, his emaciated frame drowing in a faded 
blue suit-jacket. Murchabaiw, diagnosed in the last stages of 
AIDS, does not believe he will live to see the results of this 
election. But he wanted to sound his voice. "I am happy now," he 
says with a bright smile after voting. "I have made a 
difference."

  In urban areas, lines snaked for more than a mile and angry 
voters sometimes tried to push their way into polling booths. 
Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at one restless crowd, 
injuring at least 12 people. Some polls stayed open all night, 
with people voting by flickering candlelight or under harsh 
fluorescent bulbs.

  "The intention, of course, is that you frustrate as many voters 
as you can. Mugabe is trying to move the goal posts to 
disenfranchise people, these people he thinks will vote against 
him," said Tsvangirai, visiting one polling station where 
thousands waited angrily to cast their votes, waving their hands 
in the open-handed signal of the MDC.

  In rural areas, many polling stations stood empty by midday. 
Lines were not a problem, but transparency was.

  The MDC says that 52 percent of its rural polling agents were 
chased away, abducted, or refused accreditation by government 
officials, leaving the voting process open to widespread abuse. 
Old and illiterate voters were assisted by ZANU-PF officials who 
often directed them to vote for the incumbent president.

  At the Chaparandza Primary School in the rural Rushinga, Mary 
Mugumira, wearing a wool "USA 1997" hat, a long traditional 
dress, no shoes, and a confused look, asked the presiding 
officer to vote for her. He refused, but sent her to talk to the 
election officers - both of whom represented the ruling ZANU-PF 
party. A moment later she had decided, and the polling agent, 
smiling, put an "X" mark on the ballot in the space marked 
"Robert Mugabe, ZANU-PF."

  Despite everything, there is still hope in Zimbabwe that this 
election may bring change.

  "I am happy because I finally got to vote," says a jubilant 
Colin Chipepera, after waiting for more than 12 hours in one 
Harare voting line. "I think this is the final nail on the 
government's coffin. Even with all their tricks, there are too 
many of us."


Copyright @ 2002 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights 
reserved.




Document 00100167 ends.


       

Dow Jones & Co. extended its tender offer of $18 a share, or about $576 million, for the 33% of Telerate Inc. that it doesn't already own until 5 p.m. EST, Nov. 6. 

The offer, which Telerate's two independent directors have rejected as inadequate, previously had been scheduled to expire at midnight Friday.
Dow Jones said it extended the offer to allow shareholders time to review a supplement to the Dow Jones tender offer circular that it mailed last Friday. 

The supplement contains various information that has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission since Dow Jones launched the offer on Sept. 26, but it doesn't change the terms and conditions of the offer except to extend its expiration date. 

In Delaware Chancery Court litigation, Telerate has criticized Dow Jones for not disclosing that Telerate's management expects the company's revenue to increase by 20% annually, while Dow Jones based its projections of Telerate's performance on a 12% revenue growth forecast.
In the tender offer supplement, Dow Jones discloses the different growth forecasts but says it views the 20% growth rate "as a hoped-for goal" of Telerate's management "and not as a realistic basis on which to project the company's likely future performance." 

Telerate shares fell 50 cents on Friday to close at $20 each in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.
Dow Jones shares also fell 50 cents to close at $36.125 in Big Board composite trading. 

Dow Jones has said it believes the $18-a-share price is fair to Telerate's minority shareholders.
Late last week, representatives of Dow Jones and Telerate began negotiations about the terms of the offer, but those talks didn't result in any changes in the offer. 

Telerate provides information about financial markets through an electronic network.
Dow Jones, which owns 67% of Telerate, publishes The Wall Street Journal, Barron's magazine, community newspapers and operates financial news services and computer data bases. 




Document 00100170 ends.



   New Argentine president quits after a week; March vote nixed

 



  BUENOS AIRES - Argentina ended 2001 leaderless and penniless 
yesterday with its new interim president resigning a week into 
the job and the country fearing more bloodshed and the loss of 
savings frozen in the banks.

  Plunged into chaos by looting and deadly riots that forced 
Fernando de la Rua to resign as president a week ago, Argentina 
fell deeper into anarchy when interim leader Adolfo Rodriguez 
Saa quit on Sunday after losing his party's support.

  But bickering politicians agreed the crisis was too serious to 
subject Argentina to the pressure of quick elections, which had 
been scheduled for March, and decided yesterday to choose an 
interim leader to rule until 2003, when De la Rua's mandate was 
to end.

  Argentina's biggest political force, the Peronists, who ruled 
from 1989-99, withdrew support from Rodriguez Saa, accusing him 
of being power-hungry, and convinced other parties to accept in 
his stead Peronist heavyweight Senator Eduardo Duhalde.

  Governor Carlos Ruckauf of the vast Buenos Aires province said 
all parties had to "help the Peronists in a national salvation 
government ... with consensus that the person in charge until 
2003 should be Duhalde."

  De la Rua's cowed Radical Party agreed, with senior party 
official Federico Storani saying it would be "madness" to hold 
elections now "because the interim government wouldn't have the 
power to apply measures to get us over this crisis."

  Landed with the provisional presidency for 48 hours, the head of 
the lower house of Congress, Eduardo Camano, called on senators 
and deputies to hold a legislative assembly today which should 
rubber-stamp Duhalde's appointment.

  The country of 36 million people is living in fear of more shop 
looting and violence that killed 27 people before De la Rua 
quit, of more riots like those that erupted on Friday and of 
more misery as a four-year-old recession grinds on.

  Already, Latin America's third-largest economy has declared a 
moratorium on foreign debt payments - Rodriguez Saa's first act 
as leader - and commerce has halted since cash withdrawals were 
limited to $1,000 a month to stop a panic run on banks.

  
`Shameful'

  Ordinary Argentines have been pouring into the streets night 
after hot summer night, banging pots and pans demanding, and 
eventually receiving, the resignation of De la Rua, his 
unpopular economy minister and aides to Rodriguez Saa who were 
suspected of corruption.

  "It's shameful. Until all those above us stop stealing, 
Argentina has no way out," said a woman lining up outside a bank 
in the rain from before dawn to try to get her cash.

  With New Year celebrations canceled for fear of violence in the 
worst crisis since the country's last military coup in 1976, 
security chief Juan Jose Alvarez said the capital had been 
"strongly reinforced with patrols by the federal police, the 
coast guard and the border police."

  "Today we are millimeters away from a civil war," said Leopoldo 
Moreau, a Radical Party congressman.

  But despite the heavy guard on the president's Pink Palace and 
the Plaza de Mayo outside, there were no rumblings of 
intervention by the military which has been subordinate to 
civilian rule since 1983.

  While the moratorium on part of Argentina's $132-billion public 
debt, heralding the biggest default in history, had long been 
expected by markets that have dumped Argentine bonds this year, 
Rodriguez Saa's plans for a new currency caused alarm.

  He had planned to alleviate the cash crunch by minting the 
"argentino" to circulate alongside pesos, which have been backed 
up and pegged one-to-one to U.S. dollars for a decade, providing 
monetary stability and zero inflation.

  But the argentino would only be backed by the bricks and mortar 
of government buildings such as the Pink Palace, and analysts 
have warned it could devalue and spark inflation.

  U.S. President George W. Bush said yesterday he was worried 
about Argentina, but was confident the country would "stay 
together" until it chooses a new leader while offering

  
help once things stabilized.

  "Obviously I'm worried. Argentina is a very important part of 
our hemisphere," Bush said. "Once they come up with a plan to 
sustain economic growth, we'll work with them."



@ CopyRight 2002 Ha'aretz. All Rights Reserved.




Document 00100171 ends.


	
With the impression that the excursion of the government's top brass to New York did not change the picture much, and that the game is continuing in Buenos Aires for now, Argentina's creditors are preparing for the debt negotiation with various concerns in mind. 
	
	
 The first one, which was revealed piecemeal during the tour headed by Fernando de la Rua, is that Domingo Cavallo has become irritating. The bankers made it clear that they prefer Daniel Marx, and not the minister's confrontational style. 
	
	
 As El Cronista was told by a source from an investment bank who followed the visit closely, that issue has various aspects: the economy minister's gradual loss of credibility, the confusion about the role of Jacob Frenkel and Merrill Lynch, and the economic team's apparent lack of a strategy, as well as the Alliance government's obvious domestic difficulties. 
	
	
 The creditors have in mind a negotiation in which they would be represented by a more heterogeneous steering committee than during the 1980's: not only large banks, but also portfolio administrators, pension funds, insurers, and other investors. 
	
	
 In fact, the Emerging Markets Creditors Association (EMCA), which meets today, Tuesday, in New York, to deal with the Argentine case, wrote a letter to Cavallo saying that "a consultation process is an important part of the solution," and cautioning that "the way in which Argentina negotiates with its creditors now will have direct effects on its chances of gaining access to the markets in the future." 
	
	
 "Cavallo cannot say 'take it or leave it,' as in the local swap," noted the source, as an example. Marx understands "the importance of the menu" for gaining the creditors' good will. Among the latter there is consensus that there will be a remission of capital and/or interest, but there must be options that are geared to the situation of each one. 
	
	
 Another concern about the negotiation has been generated by the leading role given to Jacob Frenkel, Merrill Lynch's international vice president. The source added: "As an adviser, he could be very useful, but the relationship with Merrill Lynch bothers many other creditors." 
	
	
 The creditors interpret strategy to mean a clear definition of what is and what is not negotiable. According to the source, "A key man is the finance secretary: he must specify the government's fiscal margin." He spoke even more clearly about the finance secretary: "Marx is sufficiently patriotic, he has a pleasant personality, and he knows enough about the market to be a good negotiator. If he left now, it would be a disaster for the government," was his response. 
	
	
 On the other hand, for now, the creditors do not see any signals of concrete support from the G-7. A paper published yesterday by the CS First Boston bank noted: "The most recent statements from Washington suggest that it (the G-7 support) is unlikely, but we are not precluding the possibility of surprises." 
	
	
 Faced With the Crisis, Giavarini Accentuates His Influence 
	
	
 Foreign Minister Adalberto Rodriguez Giavarini continued to cultivate his new role as conciliator in the United States yesterday, at a meeting with his counterparts from the Mercosur [Common Market of the South] countries. 
	
	
 The minister's current priority involves binding wounds opened by his colleague in the Economy Ministry, Domingo Cavallo, which have put the regional union in general, and the relations with Brazil in particular, in a risk zone. 
	
	
 Rodriguez Giavarini has not failed to attend to other matters of his ministry, such as meeting with his Chinese colleague, and preparing to visit Germany, where he will meet tomorrow with President Fernando de la Rua, who will travel there from Buenos Aires. 
	
	
 But it is evident that, during the past few weeks, the official has taken responsibility for a fundamental task: to tone down Cavallo's tendency toward confrontation. That conduct has heightened the suspicion aimed at Argentina, a disadvantageous situation, with De la Rua even risking his own future in an interview with the US president, George W. Bush, in which Cavallo ultimately did not participate, at the president's order. 
	
	
 Finance Secretary Daniel Marx has again handled some of the negotiations for the restructuring of the debt, after a management by Rodriguez Giavarini. The foreign minister convinced the president of the political disadvantage that would be entailed by leaving that official aside, on the verge of complex dialogues with the US Treasury, and with multilateral and financing agencies. 
	
	
 There were meetings at Olivos over the weekend of 3-4 November, which resulted in the official decision to appoint Marx as the main negotiator of the fine print in the agreements. The latter will be reached in the event that the international holders of Argentine bonds agree to swap the instruments, which yield high interest, for others with rates not exceeding 7 percent. 
	
	
 Cavallo had delegated his debt swap strategy to external advisers, such as the attorney, Horacio Liendo, and the Israeli economist, Jacob Frenkel. 
	
	
 The foreign minister warned De la Rua personally about the leap into the void that would be represented by leaving Marx out of the negotiations, when he is one of the few to have a smooth-flowing dialogue with the IMF staff officials. 
	
	
 Rodriguez Giavarini's management took place when there was a deluge of doubts about the sustainability of the plan announced by Cavallo. 
	
	
 There were hours during which he had feverish contacts with international diplomats and leaders. 
	
	
 Resulting from these dialogues were communiques from the G-7 and the Treasury, with contents to be discussed. But those agencies are not putting their letterhead on anything. 
	
	
	





Document 00100172 ends.


	
[As of filing time, the UK media monitored by FBIS have not been observed to report the statement by UK Foreign Secretary Straw cited below] 
	
	
 LONDON, Jan 20 (AFP) -- Britain said Sunday [20 January] that al-Qa'ida suspects held at a US base in Cuba must be treated humanely, following the release of photographs showing prisoners kneeling, manacled, blindfolded and wearing ear muffs. 
	
	
 "The British government's position is that prisoners, regardless of their technical status, should be treated humanely and in accordance with customary international law," said Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in a statement. 
	
	
 "We have always made that clear and the Americans have said they share this view." 
	
	
 He also said Britain was seeking information from the United States about the circumstances in which photographs of the detainees, which appeared on the front pages of British newspapers Sunday, were taken. 
	
	
 The 110 prisoners were brought to Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay after being captured during the US-led military campaign in Afghanistan include three Britons. 
	
	
 Pictures taken by a US Navy officer and released to the media show a group of prisoners, suspected members of Usama Bin Ladin's al-Qa'ida network, kneeling in orange jump suits and mancled at the waist. They are wearing dark goggles to blot out the light, ear muffs to keep out sound and mittens. 
	
	
 The right-wing Mail on Sunday, which could normally be expected to support the United States over its "war on terrorism", ran the photographs under the headline "Tortured". 
	
	
 "They (the prisoners) can hear nothing, smell nothing, feel nothing," the middle-market tabloid said. 
	
	
 "Manacled hand and foot, they kneel in submission. Is this how (US president George W.) Bush and (British Prime Minister Tony) Blair defend our civilisation?" 
	
	
 The pictures of the detainees "shackled like wild animals" were so shocking that they were "certain to intensify the international outrage at the conditions in which they are being kept" the Mail on Sunday said. 
	
	
 Straw pointed out the United States had accepted visits to Guantanamo Bay by a team from the International Committee of the Red Cross and by British officials. 
	
	
 "I await the British officials' report. As for the photographs of detainees published today, I have asked our officials in Guantanamo Bay to establish with the US the circumstances in which these photographs were taken." 
	
	
 The United States says the detainees are illegal combatants, not prisoners of war, and thus do not have rights under the Geneva Convention of 1949, which sets out the laws of war. 
	
	
 London has previously insisted it supports US reassurances that the men are being treated humanely.	





Document 00100174 ends.


 
  
  
    
      MMM F_NAME L_NAME TITLE COMPANY ADDRESS CITY,ST ZIP March 4, 1999
      Dear LTR_NAME:
      CCI has come a long way in the last five years. We've worked hard to
      structrue the organization so that we've ready to move boldly into the
      next century, and I believe that we have an exciting and successful
      future ahead of us.
      One of the areas we've decided to focus on is development. It's clear
      that if we don't increase our base of private funding, we won't have the
      kind of control we need to ensure the continued success of our centers
      and the very important services they offer. In 1998, CCI served 31,484
      individuals right in their own backyards. Where else would that many
      people turn if CCI weren't there to help?
      The community initiatives committee is working with our development
      office to put together a long-range fundraising plan that will ultimately
      bring more money into our centers. This in turn will help us to increase
      and even improve the services we offer.
      With this in mind, I am asking each one of you to make a personal
      contribution of $50, $100 or even $1,000 to show that you believe in the
      work that we do and are willing to support it with both your time and
      your finances. This way when we go out to ask for community support and
      are asked about our board giving level, we can show our in-house
      commitment through 100% board participation. I also encourage you to seek
      additional support through your company, church, or service
      organization.
      I know that our staff and committee members will be happy to go with
      you to talk to these group if you need their help. We're at an exciting
      juncture and it won't be long until we start seeing solid results from
      our efforts. Your financial support of the development process is just
      one step in making CCI a stronger, more efficient and ultimately more
      effective federation of service providers. Please, make your contribution
      today.
      Sincerely,
      J.Chris Graffeo Chair
      P.S. If you have any questions, feel free to call Valery De Long at
      CCI, 638-3360 x23.
    
  



Document 00100175 ends.


	
[Computer selected and disseminated without FBIS editorial intervention] 
	
	
 Seoul, Aug. 29 (Yonhap) -- LG Electronics Co. said Wednesday that it has established a code division multiple access (CDMA) mobile phone service system in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, to begin service on Sept. 1, Uzbekistan's Independence Day. The opening ceremony for the CDMA system was held there Monday with LG Electronics Co. President Park Chung-gun, Uzbek Deputy Prime Minister Anatoliy Isaev, Perfect Mobile President Alexey Martinson and other dignitaries attending, an LG spokesman said. LG signed a contract in March for the shipment of the CDMA equipment with Perfect Mobile, which has the exclusive right to do CDMA business in the central Asian state. LG has established 30,000 circuits of 800 Megahertz CDMA system in Tashkent, the Uzbek capital, and is planning to increase the facility to up to 200,000 circuits by 2004. LG also plans to upgrade the current system beginning 2002. President Park said that the opening of the LG CDMA mobile phone service in Uzbekistan will have an impact on neighboring central Asian states. "We hope that this will serve as an occasion for LG to make inroads into the Central Asian region." Uzbekistan is the largest country in central Asia with a population of 23 million and rich in natural resources. The state-run Uzbektelecom and four private companies offering services in the Global System for Mobile Communications (GMS) has about 100,000 subscribers. hdh@yna.co.kr	





Document 00100176 ends.



Angry at Vote, Commonwealth Bars Zimbabwe

 



  LONDON, March 19 - Flanked by the presidents of South Africa and 
Nigeria, Prime Minister John Howard of Australia today announced 
a yearlong suspension of Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth, a group 
of 54 nations, mostly former British colonies. The unusual step 
was meant to punish President Robert Mugabe for his stewardship 
of elections this month that were widely criticized outside 
Africa as rigged.

  The two African leaders, Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and 
Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, maintained a cryptic silence while 
Mr. Howard spoke, endorsing the decision by their presence at a 
news conference but avoiding embroilment in a debate over 
whether they now view Mr. Mugabe's presidency as illegitimate.

  While less than an expulsion, the move still deepened the 
diplomatic isolation of Zimbabwe, which has already been 
battered by political violence, hunger, economic decline and the 
threat of labor unrest. It means Zimbabwean officials will be 
barred from meetings held by the Commonwealth, an organization 
that carries some cachet as an important club bridging the 
north-south divide.

  The suspension was decided by the three men, who met as a 
committee charged with deciding the Commomwealth's response. The 
decision, made at the headquarters in Marlborough House, has 
left two of the men facing an acute dilemma.

  Mr. Mbeki and Mr. Obasanjo - both of whose countries have under 
past undemocratic regimes been excluded from the Commonwealth - 
are torn between solidarity with a fellow African leader who was 
a crusader against colonialism, and their commitment to 
democratic standards as part of African economic regeneration. 
Mr. Howard was chairman of the three-nation committee.

  The move avoids an open rift between its majority members in 
Africa and Asia, some of which have tended to side with Mr. 
Mugabe, and rich, white-ruled countries like Britain, Canada and 
Australia, which have criticized him. Yet it adds one more voice 
to those labeling Mr. Mugabe a pariah and increasing pressure on 
him to seek reconciliation, possibly through new elections.

  The opprobrium spread further today when Switzerland became the 
latest country to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe, "in view of the 
manipulation of the presidential elections and ongoing human 
rights violations," the Swiss government said.

  Under other restrictions, Mr. Mugabe and Zimbabwe's most senior 
leaders are already barred from travel to the United States and 
the European Union.

  "The committee has decided to suspend Zimbabwe from the councils 
of the Commonwealth for a period of one year with immediate 
effect," Mr. Howard said, reading the statement alone, 
apparently as a face-saving gesture to Mr. Mbeki, whose own 
election observers in Zimbabwe found the vote "legitimate."

  The response to Mr. Mugabe's behavior was seen by many outsiders 
as a token of South Africa's and Nigeria's own commitment to 
democracy as a way of fostering economic renewal. At a meeting 
in Monterrey, Mexico, for instance, the financier George Soros 
said today that the Zimbabwe elections "have cast doubt on the 
ability of the African states to create suitable conditions for 
private investment."

  If the Commonwealth had not suspended Zimbabwe - an act Mr. 
Howard saw as "at the severe end" of available punishments - 
such criticism would only have sharpened. Yet many African 
politicians, including Morgan Tsvangirai, the Zimbabwe 
opposition leader defeated in the election, had expressed doubt 
that the Commonwealth would take any action at all.

  The suspension was accompanied by suggestions for easing 
Zimbabwe's drastic food shortages and economic decline. The 
Commonwealth also supported moves to resolve the country's 
violent crisis over the seizure of white farmers' land, backing 
Mr. Mugabe in his commitment to redistribute territory among 
landless black Zimbabweans. This was apparently intended to keep 
the door open to dialogue.

  "Land is at the core of the crisis in Zimbabwe," Mr. Howard said 
in his statement.

  According to the statement, the leaders of South Africa and 
Nigeria will continue to talk to Mr. Mugabe about ways to lift 
the suspension.

  For all its critics say it is ineffective, the Commonwealth has 
nonetheless sought to project itself as an arbiter of democratic 
legitimacy among often delinquent members.

  In the 60's, white-ruled South Africa quit the Commonwealth 
rather than be suspended over apartheid; Nigeria was suspended 
in the 1990's during military rule because of the execution of 
the human rights activist Ken Saro Wiwa. Fiji has been suspended 
twice, once for 10 years. Pakistan has been suspended since the 
military coup two years ago that brought Gen. Pervez Musharraf 
to power.



Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company




Document 00100177 ends.


 
  
  
    
      Some of the strongest critics of our welfare system are the people who
      have become dependent on it.
      Their complaint: the system discourages working because unemployment
      provides benefits that many entry-level jobs don't include.
      That's where you --and Goodwill --come in. We help people train for
      and find jobs that make it possible for them to get off of welfare. Last
      year, Goodwill placed 511 people in jobs, more than double the number we
      placed in 1993.
      While the debate on welfare reform is gathering like a storm at sea,
      the people who need jobs are floundering. We need your support to
      continue getting people off of public assistance.
      Welfare is not the answer. And welfare reform is an uncertain solution
      with an unknown starting date. Goodwill works. Right now.
      Please give the largest gift you can to Goodwill today.
      Sincerely,
      Jack Dustman Chairman
    
  



Document 00100178 ends.


       

Service Corp. International said it expects to report net income of 15 cents a share for the third quarter.
The company said it expects to release third-quarter results in mid-November. 

The funeral home and cemetery operator changed from a fiscal year to a calendar year in December.
In the comparable year-ago quarter, the second quarter ended Oct. 31, Service Corp. had a loss of about $12.5 million, or 26 cents a share, on revenue of $175.4 million.
Results for that quarter included a $30 million, or 40 cents a share, write-down associated with the consolidation of a facility. 




Document 00100179 ends.


	
["Opinion": "Independence of UNCHR impugned by biased reports"] 
	
	
 The United Nations human rights rapporteur, Maurice Copithorne, on Friday once again repeated his stereotyped allegations against the Islamic Republic by expressing concern over what he called human rights violations in Iran. Copithorne, who has served in the UN post since 1995, through his Iran reports to the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR), whose 53 member states open an annual six-week session on March 18, has clearly shown that he is under the strong influence of Zionist circles and Washington's biased attitude towards the Islamic Republic. The UN rapporteur's new report on Iran, which he submitted to the commission on Friday, includes nothing new. In most cases he described the legal punishments like floggings and executions of murderers and major drug traffickers that are applied based on the Shria, or Islamic law as human rights violations. In other cases, he made unfounded charges by accusing Iran of discrimination against women and minorities. He made such charges despite the fact that women's political, social and cultural participation is not less than that of men. Women in Iran hold managerial, academic and parliamentary posts and even have positions in the government and the cabinet. And as far as minorities are concerned, they enjoy rights equal to those of the Muslim majority, as they have their own representatives in Parliament and practice their religion quite freely. In his report, the UN human rights rapporteur also interfered in Iran's internal affairs. For instance, he denounced as a human rights violation the banning and seizure of satellite dishes in Iran, while the measure has been taken in line with the law. He also tried to portray a false image of the Judiciary and its officials and went so far as to accuse the Judiciary officials of human rights violations! This spiteful attitude clearly shows that Copithorne is only a hireling tasked with tarnishing the image of the Islamic Republic and its senior officials. Interestingly, although Copithorne has not visited Iran since 1996, he continues to submit his Iran reports to the UN Commission on Human Rights without having any knowledge of the realities in the Islamic Republic. This means that his annual anti-Iran reports are only dictated to him by Zionist circles and arrogant powers like the United States that lost their illegitimate interests in Iran with the victory of the Islamic Revolution and downfall of their puppet Pahlavi regime. Publishing such biased reports will only create mistrust among nations regarding the objectives and independence of the UN Commission on Human Rights. 
	
	
	





Document 00100180 ends.


	
Military violence constitutes -- in very exceptional circumstances -- a necessary evil in this very imperfect world. That is a bitter pill to swallow in a thoroughly non-militaristic society such as ours, where the clash of weapons provokes healthy reactions of repulsion. But unfortunately there is little one can do about it. Without armed violence the Nazi regime and similar forces that had the wind in their sails in Europe in the 1930s, would not have fallen. In the battle against the new forms of terrorism that reached a tragic culmination on 11 September, a limited form of military violence could also not be ruled out. 
	
	
 The many and often confusing reports we have received over recent weeks on who may be responsible for the attacks already allows a clear pattern to be detected. The network with which Usama Bin Ladin and his followers tried to destroy the very foundations of the West has ramifications worldwide, vast amounts of money, and thanks to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan also a number of excellent training and attack bases. The fight against the new, transnational terrorism requires an exceptionally broad and committed strategy. But to build this strategy, targeted attacks on the infrastructure available to Bin Ladin were necessary. 
	
	
 The United States and its principal allies have acted with exceptional caution over recent weeks to the unbelievable provocation of the 11 September attacks. They took pains to build a broad coalition, and tried to make it clear to their own population and the international community that the enemy is not Islam but a very well defined and perverse interpretation of this religion. And they placed the stress on the battle of endurance that must follow. 
	
	
 The attacks on targets in Afghanistan that began yesterday [7 October], remain a risky enterprise. The coming days will reveal whether or not they were effective, were sufficiently precisely targeted and limited in scope. That is a clear condition for this first, unavoidable phase in the battle against terrorism to be humanly acceptable. But they cannot be any real talk of success until the broad strategy against terrorism begins to bear fruit. A strategy that worldwide must include both a degree of repression but most importantly constructive and positive measures. 
	
	
 Whatever the case, we are entering a difficult period. There is a real danger that the wounded but not yet eliminated network will play its "trump card" and commit further acts of terrorism. The economic impact of the 11 September attacks was already disastrous, with clear effects on the world economy, hitting the poorest countries by far the most. The whole operation against terrorism can have positive but also unintentionally negative effects on the international stage. But we had no choice. To have sat back with arms folded would have made us all hostages. 
	
	
	





Document 00100181 ends.


	
France's Chirac says Argentina must make necessary choices 
	
	
 Text of report by French news agency AFP 
	
	
 Paris, 2 January: During a telephone conversation on Wednesday [2 January] with the director general of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Horst Koehler, President Jacques Chirac stressed the need for Argentina to be able to "make the choices" imposed on it by the crisis it is going through. Reporting on the conversation, Elysee [presidency] spokeswoman Catherine Colonna said that the head of state had "expressed the hope that the Argentine authorities will know how to make the choices needed for their country's future". "France, like its partners, is in contact with international financial institutions," the president said, "and is ready to support the action of the IMF with a view to attaining a solution to this crisis." Jacques Chirac, Mrs Colonna said, also raised with the IMF director general "the situation of a number of other countries, among them Lebanon in connection with the consolidation of economic reforms in this country, with which France has special ties"!
. 
	
	
	





Document 00100185 ends.


       

Trustcorp Inc. will become Society Bank & Trust when its merger is completed with Society Corp. of Cleveland, the bank said. 

Society Corp., which is also a bank, agreed in June to buy Trustcorp for 12.4 million shares of stock with a market value of about $450 million.
The transaction is expected to close around year end. 




Document 00100188 ends.



The Fall And Rise Of Hugo Chavez

 


Washington Times 
April 25, 2002 
Pg. 18

  
The Fall And Rise Of Hugo Chavez

  In Venezuela, the dust is finally settling after the dramatic 
turbulence of the past two weeks. President Hugo Chavez is once 
again at the helm of power, and the military has returned to its 
barracks. But there are many grieving Venezuelans who aren't 
quite at peace. Their loved ones were gunned down, first by 
sympathizers of Mr. Chavez and subsequently by supporters of the 
short-lived interim government.

  Mr. Chavez was ousted in a military coup on April 12 after 17 
persons were killed during an anti-Chavez protest, apparently by 
sharpshooters faithful to the president. Pedro Carmona, a 
powerful businessman, stepped into power on Friday but was 
forced to resign the next day. Following the coup, 40 persons, 
mostly Chavez supporters, were killed while protesting.

  A probe of what transpired should be in the offing. Mr. Chavez 
has placed his cronies in every democratic institution, from 
congress to the courts, and is expected to prevent any honest 
inquiry. So far, Mr. Chavez appears complicit in the initial 
wave of killings. According to taped radio conversations 
broadcast yesterday in Venezuela on radio and television, Mr. 
Chavez ordered tanks and troops to surround the presidential 
palace, as unarmed civilian protesters marched against him on 
April 11. The Chavez administration said it ordered the 
deployment to "prevent public order disturbances." Given the 
death toll, Mr. Chavez's claims seem rather flimsy.

  This is most unfortunate. Venezuela is this hemisphere's 
second-oldest democracy. At a time when democracy is losing 
currency in many countries, particularly Argentina, coups could 
be potentially destabilizing to the region. "We are happy to 
collectively have overcome the era of coup d'etats in the 
region, and when events in Venezuela took on the appearance of a 
military coup there was a reaction by everyone," said Brazil's 
President Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Mr. Cardoso's concerns are 
quite valid, but he has downplayed some of Mr. Chavez's more 
alarming faults.

  The Venezuelan leader has struck friendships with Cuban, Libyan 
and Iraqi leaders with great fanfare, and his open defiance of 
U.S. interests has wooed Venezuelans wary of U.S. power. Indeed, 
after all the muscle-flexing, Mr. Chavez has little to offer the 
Venezuelan people. He has choked off foreign investment by 
doubling the royalty payments oil companies must pay to the 
government and by restricting corporate ownership on some oil 
projects to 49 percent. He has also alienated workers at his 
country's state-owned oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela, by 
replacing long-serving professionals with his supporters. In 
fact, Mr. Chavez consolidated his power by rewriting the 
country's constitution in 1999.

  Interestingly, Mr. Chavez initially rose to power in the 1990s 
because of the discontent with former President Carlos Andres 
Perez, who had ordered the military to shoot at crowds in 1989. 
And, while only time will tell if he would voluntarily give up 
power when his term in 2006, one thing is certain: A serious 
investigation of the massacre of April 2002 is certainly called 
for.




Document 00100189 ends.


	
On their knees during an inspection, and chained up in their orange overalls. With small blue masks over their mouths, ear muffs on their ears, and goggles covered up with sticky tape. Opposite the cages, those cages of theirs not even two meters by three meters -- which seen together look like a chicken farm run by a sadist -- built from wooden beams and sheets of metal, cement, and barbed wire, exposed to the rain and the wind of the Tropics. Their beards shaven off: for hygiene, say the camp's military commanders; to humiliate them in their religion, reply human rights defenders half the world over. That world which had looked in tears at the photos and the pictures of September 11, the Towers collapsing, and the infamy against civilization, and which is now discovering these other photos, the first ones to come out of Camp X-Ray, the open-air prison which the United States has set up at Guantanamo base, their historic outpost on the island of Cuba. One hundred and forty-four is the number, so far, of prisoners captured in the 100 days of the Afghanistan war, and taken here from Kandahar air base on a 27-hour flight, blindfolded, gagged, tied up, and dosed up with sedatives on the C17 cargo planes belonging to the Stars and Stripes air force. They are Taliban, and perhaps members of al-Qa'ida, but nobody can say so with certainty because their names are not known, and there are no formal charges. 
	
	
 Their number will rise to at least 1,000 over the next three months. The government has 30 million dollars ready to build in Guantanamo ('Gitmo' to generations and generations of Marines) nine top-security prisons just for them: But up until then it will keep them in the cages. "We could keep some of them for an undetermined period, they are dangerous individuals," announced Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Without a trial, without an attorney. Because they are prisoners, admittedly, but in the view of the Americans they do not have the status of prisoners of war, and the Geneva Convention is not valid for them: "They are unlawful combatants, and we are not running a recreational center. I do not have the slightest concern over their treatment. In any case, they are better off than they were when we caught them," added the Minister. But the photos of 'Gitmo' are now in danger of removing the United States from the niche of affection and solidarity which September 11 had guaranteed it in the hearts of many people. 
	
	
 It is hard not to see a desire for revenge in cages which recall 'Hotel Hanoi', set up by the North Vietnamese, or the punishment cells in Japanese camps in the 'Bridge on the River Kawi.' Even its most loyal ally, Great Britian, is showing signs of disquiet in the statements made by its members of parliament, and in the reports carried by its media. The BBC has been posing questions about those photos which "are stirring up protests," and many people believe them to be "a scandal": photos taken in part at the landing of the C17s after the trip from Afghanistan, which already showed the prisoners reduced to objects, with gags, masked goggles, and ear muffs. "Those people were ready to gnaw through the cables of the C17 to make it crash," said Richard Myers, the Chief of Staff. "They are pictures which do not represent everyday life at the camp. They wore the muffs and the goggles during the trip. And the masks are to prevent tuberculosis from spreading," assured the commander of X-Ray, Brigadier General Mike Lehnert. But the head of the medical staff of Amnesty International, Jim West, has claimed that "there is no other explanation for these measures than the attempt to degrade the human condition." "I am shocked -- he said -- because they still wear the ear muffs and the goggles inside the camp. As for the hospital masks, it is highly unlikely that tuberculosis can spread in open places." Other human rights groups have talked in terms of "sensory segregation,'" "In that condition, you suffer from hallucinations," stated Helen Bamber, from the Medical Foundation for Protecting Victims of Torture, on television. Four envoys from the Red Cross arrived Saturday, and will talk with the prisoners. But 'torture' is a word which is now filtering through in insidious fashion. 
	
	
 The Americans are issuing denials, saying "There is no inhumane treatment, and we are open, as far as possible, to the suggestions of the Red Cross." As for the rest, they are raising the objection of reason of State, and an emergency which is definitely not over: Since September 11, 1,500 suspected terrorists have been captured in 50 countries, but the intelligence services claim that at least 10,000 affiliates of al-Qa'ida are still scattered across the world, "their network all around us." The inmates at 'Gitmo' must confess, and serve as a warning to their comrades who are still free: This is the unpleasant truth. The status of prisoners of war (which, by law, ought not to be decided on by Rumsfeld, but by a tribunal) would protect them from interrogation, and would guarantee that they get a trial, by court martial, that was much fairer than that of the secret special tribunals which Bush is trying to set up. "Our system will in any event be much fairer than that of the!
 Taliban, and of Usama," the President said. "But if the yardstick of our juridical civilization is the Taliban, we are ruined," noted one or two commentators. 
	
	
 In the camp, life is regulated by prayers (five times a day, the only freedom allowed) and by searches. Three meals (cereal bars, rice, beans, fruit), showers, and medical checks with handcuffs on. A small foam mattress to try and sleep, with the light of the halogen lights on their faces. 
	
	
 Around the fenced off area, two acres in size, stand seven towers with sub-machine guns and grenade launchers. And then there are helicopters, patrolling the skies without interruption. 
	
	
 Outside the camp, there lies the absurd small piece of the United States which is Guanatanamo on Cuban soil: a McDonald's outlet, the school with its yellow bus for the children of families living on the base, the store windows with the latest roller-blades at 50 dollars, and the cinema, currently showing 'Domestic Disturbance.' And, around this small piece of the United States, the Cuba of old man Castro, who up until now has not batted an eyelid, and has renounced using the scandal of X-Ray and attacking the 'hated Yankees' with his propaganda, relying on the possible end of the embargo against his regime. 
	
	
 The 'Gitmo' camp is many things. It is a clash of civilizations, and it is perhaps about to become the first global prison in the new world: Yesterday Stockholm announced that in a cage of Guantanamo there is a Swedish citizen, while the next ones due to arrive are six Algerians, who have nothing to do with the war in Afghanistan, and who were arrested in Bosnia on a tip-off from the US secret services, because they are suspected of preparing an attack against the US embassy in Sarajevo (one of them is said to have phoned a member of al-Qa'ida). A Bosnian judge had ordered them to be released, on grounds of lack of evidence, but the US troops had them handed over, and will soon bring them here. The matter raises major questions of international law. Morton Haplerin, from the Council for Foreign Relations, said: "It is clear that the United States sees Guantanamo as a place where it can gather persons caught in all parts of the world. But it is not clear what they are thinking of doing with these people." Kenneth Roth, of Human Rights Watch, claims that this policy could offer a pretext to less democratic countries among those countries which are allies of the Americans, "to suppress any domestic dissent." If a tip-off truly is enough to end up in a cage on the other side of the Ocean, the new history of 'Gitmo' has only just begun. 
	
	
 
	
	
	





Document 00100191 ends.


	
Finance Minister Pedro Malan insisted yesterday on the need for a "more profound constructive engagement" on the part of multilateral institutions and governments in helping Argentina. According to Malan, another approach is necessary in this period of transition of the Argentine crisis. He suggests the definition of a series of priorities. "The priority now is to unshackle the credit system, for there is no modern economy that can function without credit. Credit needs banks, a functioning payment system. This priority is urgent right now," he told participants in the seminar on "The Euro and Brazil," organized by this newspaper. 
	
	
 Malan criticizes the stance taken by multilateral institutions like the IMF, who are asking for reforms in Argentina before the country can receive financial help. 
	
	
 Given the degree of uncertainty that prevails over the inflation, foreign exchange and interest rates and over the economy's real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) this year, the approach should not be the traditional one, the Finance Minister says. 
	
	
 Pedro Malan's attitude in relation to Argentina is very different from that of Jaime Caruana, governor of the Bank of Spain, the Spanish central bank. To Caruana, Argentina has to "create a broad program that generates internal and external stability and discuss it with the IMF." 
	
	
 The Bank of Spain Governor did not want to detail what points Argentina should deal with to expand its program. 
	
	
 Spain is one of the leading investors in Argentina, whose instability had a big impact on the results of Spanish banks in 2001. But Caruana said that the banks "did their homework" and made provisions for their investments in Argentina. 
	
	
 Malan noted that as part of the constructive engagement in relation to Argentina, a group of experts spent the day with authorities from that country, recounting their experiences in situations like the one the Argentines are facing. In the group were former Bank of Mexico Governor Miguel Mancera, who dealt with the peso crisis in 1995; a former Chilean Central Bank president who faced the 1982 crisis, when the Chilean GDP dropped by 14 percent; former IMF Fiscal Affairs Director Vito Tanzi; an expert in restructuring the Spanish debt; and former Brazilian Central Bank President Gustavo Loyola, who lived through the time of the Collor government's withholdings and of the Proer [Program to Encourage the Reorganization and Strengthening of the National Financial System] - the program to restructure the Brazilian banking system. In Argentina's defense, Malan says that Brazil's Mercosur partner "has sought to define with clarity the fundamental issues of its basic regimes - foreign exchange (floating exchange rate regime), monetary (they intend, after phase of transition, to define their inflation goal system, which was important to Spain from 1995-1998) and fiscal." This, the Minister insists, is why "it makes no sense to demand that everything be done in one or two weeks," referring to what the IMF and some governments, like that of the United States, are asking. 
	
	
 Malan defends a single currency for Mercosur. "We want to keep alight the flame of a single currency in the region in future, even if a distant one," but until then, "there is the job of consolidating the institutions in the political and institutional sphere, of productive restructuring and of modernizing the State" in six countries - Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and Bolivia. 
	
	
 The Minister says he is radically opposed to the idea of dollarizing the Brazilian economy. "We do not want to yield on Brazil's having its own currency, its regional currency. Dollarization is a not very trivial process of negotiation with the country that issues the currency, in this case the dollar, involving complex questions about the role of ultimate lender, the role of the Federal Reserve in the supervision and regulation of the banks in the dollarized country." According to Malan, the dollarization process is irreversible. 
	
	
 The Minister believes that tension between Brazil and Argentina, resulting from the floating of the real in 1999, will tend to disappear because the neighboring country is opting for a floating exchange rate system. Malan predicts that Argentina will be more competitive when it emerges from the crisis. "A little calm is needed, the ability to look ahead, not let oneself be carried by the difficulties of the moment," he emphasizes. 
	
	
 According to the Minister, Mercosur managed, after an "enormous technical effort,' something that did not exist in the region two years ago - the harmonization of the statistics of the member countries, Bolivia and Chile, which were not comparable before. 
	
	
 "Today we have comparable statistics; there is a macroeconomic monitoring group in the Finance Ministry and experts from the six countries' central banks who meet regularly. Based on this effort of statistical harmonization, we announced, in December 2000, an agreement for basic convergence parameters. The presidents of the six countries endorsed certain goals in relation to the debt, GDP, nominal deficits as a proportion of the six countries' GDPs, and maximum inflation. Whoever says that these are small steps is incapable of recognizing the European Union's experience," the Minister says. According to Malan, "long marches start with first steps." 
	
	
 This was an important step that President Fernando Henrique Cardoso called a little Maastricht, that is, the search for convergence parameters that serve as a reference point for talks between experts from the six countries, the Minister says. 
	
	
 To Malan, however, more important than the harmonization of the parameters and the little Maastricht is the search for convergence of policies in a broader sense - structural, macro and microeconomic ones. The Finance Minister says he hopes, for Mercosur, something similar to what happened in the EU: "an ability to look decades ahead and not let oneself get beaten down, like in some countries that dedicate themselves to lamenting, that see the difficulties as being insurmountable, and the problems as being unsolvable." Malan defends a different posture: "to set aside the notion of cynicism, skepticism, that things will not work out," and believe, like the Europeans, that there is a future to be built by the Mercosur countries and Chile and Bolivia, the associate members. 
	
	
 The Minister says that after the October elections in Brazil, it will be necessary to make more progress in the process of making changes to which the country has been committed over the past years. 
	
	
	





Document 00100192 ends.



Navy Officer Balances Religious Responsibilities

 


 
 
Miami Herald 
January 31, 2002 
Navy Officer Balances Religious Responsibilities 
By Carol Rosenberg 

  GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba -- You're the first-ever 
American Muslim cleric to minister to a prison camp full of 
suspected terrorists and one confides he has a weapon.

  
Do you keep the secret?

  
Or do you breach religious confidentiality?

  If you're U.S. Navy Lt. Abuhena Mohammad Saiful-Islam you search 
for a third way to resolve the clear conflict of interest 
between the crescent moon pin stuck in your left lapel and the 
lieutenant's bars on the right side of your uniform.

  ``I will say, `Give it to me,' -- and not tell the general who 
had it,'' he says softly but firmly. ``I'll make sure that he 
doesn't have it.''

  A 39-year-old life-long, practicing Muslim, the soft-spoken 
Bangladesh immigrant is navigating uncharted waters and juggling 
complicated loyalties -- all while managing an international 
spotlight he has never experienced before.

  As a U.S. military chaplain, his contacts with prisoners are 
governed by the same confidentiality as that of a priest, 
minister or rabbi in the clergy corps. Saiful-Islam is by 
training an imam, or a prayer leader, who guides the faithful in 
a mosque during the five-times-a-day Muslim prayer.

  At Camp X-ray, he is also serving the function of a muezzin, the 
person who announces the call to prayer, commonly from a tower 
called a minaret. In his case, he is using a public address 
system and recording the prayer for five-times-a-day broadcast.

  Sometimes he laughs uncomfortably when questioned by 
journalists. Sometimes he looks bewildered. But mostly he's a 
busy man, trying to soothe Muslim sensitivities over the rugged 
chain-linked-fence cells at Camp X-ray.

  
Advocate

  Saiful-Islam arrived at the detention center for suspected 
terrorists on Jan. 24 and made his debut by chanting the 
pre-dawn call to prayer to wake up alleged leaders of 
Afghanistan's Taliban militia and members of Osama bin Laden's 
al Qaeda network.

  Since then, he has emerged as their advocate, arguing that the 
U.S. military can safeguard its soldiers while adding a few 
amenities of everyday Islamic life.

  Soon, he says, traditional white knit skullcaps will arrive for 
the captives to top off their fluorescent orange jumpsuits.

  Saiful-Islam has also asked for some copies of the Koran, in 
Urdu, a language of Afghanistan and Pakistan, plus large-type, 
Arabic copies for those with bad eyesight or those who read like 
elementary school children.

  ``These things are hard to find in America, and Gitmo is far, 
far away,'' says Saiful-Islam, a husband and father of a nearly 
2-year-old daughter in California.

  Until he emerged as the chaplain of choice for this special 
assignment from among only 14 Muslim clerics in the U.S. armed 
forces, he was the only cleric specifically assigned to a Marine 
Corps base -- at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

  Military recruiters building a Muslim chaplains corps spotted 
Saiful-Islam in 1993, while he was an enlisted man working as a 
payroll clerk in the Pentagon and studying part-time to become a 
Muslim cleric.

  He was commissioned as an officer in 1998, just a year after 
obtaining U.S. citizenship and nine years after leaving his 
homeland to study in America.

  The first time he was sent to a theater of combat came in 
October when he served as chaplain at Operation Brightstar, a 
huge military exercise in Egypt not far from the World War II 
battleground called al-Alamein.

  
No Answers

  His role has a curious juxtaposition, which he sums up simply. 
Captives at Camp X-ray are entitled to spiritual solace, he 
says, even though he doesn't accept radical interpretations that 
have led them to an unorthodox battlefield against the so-called 
Great Satan, the United States.

  ``I, of course, don't agree with their cause,'' he says, ``and 
neither does the religion, Islam.''

  But after several days of four- and five-hour shifts inside the 
camp, hearing the prisoners' requests, he said exchanges have 
not dipped that deeply into the doctrinal.

  
Mostly, they ask about their fate, and when they might go home.

  
``I don't have any answer for them,'' he says.

  Conversations between the cleric and the captives have taken 
place, one on one, in his native Bengali and Urdu. Others 
require the services of Arabic interpreters -- who, like 
Saiful-Islam, are U.S. military men in battle dress uniforms.

  So far no one has asked him how a practicing Muslim can also 
wear the uniform of the U.S. armed forces. It was a question he 
had expected. But instead, he says with surprise, ``They all 
want to speak with me. They all raise their hands'' to catch the 
attention of the U.S. government's designated spiritual leader.

  ``If they don't trust me with their needs, they don't get it,'' 
he says, with a sigh. ``I wish I had more time.''




Document 00100193 ends.


       

CMS ENERGY Corp. said management would recommend to its board today that its common stock dividend be reinstated at a "modest level" later this year.
The Dearborn, Mich., energy company stopped paying a dividend in the third quarter of 1984 because of troubles at its Midland nuclear plant.
In addition, CMS reported third-quarter net of $68.2 million, or 83 cents a share, up from $66.8 million, or 81 cents a share, a year ago. 




Document 00100196 ends.


	
[Computer selected and disseminated without FBIS editorial intervention] 
	
	
 Seoul, Nov. 16 (Yonhap) -- The number of employees working on a temporary or daily basis have increased drastically as companies moved to slash labor costs after the financial crisis in 1997, the National Statistical Office (NSO) said Friday. NSO statistics showed that the number of workers employed on a temporary and daily basis rose by 888,000 to 6,962,000 in October compared with late 1997. The number working on a temporary basis went from 4,182,000 in late 1997 to 4,641,000 last month and that for those hired on a daily basis surged to 2,321,000 from 1,892,000 during the cited period. The number of full-time workers declined 626,000 to 6,525,000 during the same time span. "Demand for those working on a temporary or daily basis is risiing because companies are trying to save labor costs amid the continued economic slowdown," an NSO official said. Over 90 percent of full-time workers receive retirement allowances and bonuses but the comparable numbers fell to 10 percent for temporary workers and 1 percent for those employed on a daily basis. About 80 to 90 percent of full-time workers were registered for the national pension, employment and health insurance systems while the comparable numbers shrank to 20 percent and 2 to 3 percent for temporary workers and those hired on a daily basis, respectively. hdh@yna.co.kr	





Document 00100198 ends.


	
ISLAMABAD, Nov 24 (AFP) - Japanese Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka held "warm" talks here on Saturday with a senior UN official on the refugee crisis in Afghanistan and the hazards facing those wanting to return, a Japanese official said. 
	
	
 The talks focused on the need to rehabilitate Afghanistan to pave the way for the safe return of the estimated four million Afghan refugees living in neighbouring countries, foreign ministry spokesman Daisuke Matsunaga said. 
	
	
 He told a news conference that Filippo Grandi, regional emergency coordinator for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), had thanked Japan for its contribution to international efforts to aid the refugees. 
	
	
 "The talks were very warm," Matsunaga said at the end of the meeting. 
	
	
 He added that Grandi had outlined to Tanka a four-pronged approach to the crisis -- improving conditions in camps, expanding the UNHCR's ability to deal with any further refugees, assisting non-governmental organisations involved in dealing with the crisis, and encouraging refugees to return to their homes. 
	
	
 Returning refugees, however, faced minefields, a lack of educational facilities and ruined irrigation systems. 
	
	
 These problems would have to be dealt with under international plans to rebuild Afghanistan, which is estimated may cost 10 billion dollars and may take, Grandi told Tanka, three to four years to achieve. 
	
	
 In the meantime, however, the UNHCR, through its Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance to Afghanistan (OCHA), was trying to provide tents, clothing and heaters to returning refugees as well as to displaced people within the country wanting to return to their towns and villages. 
	
	
 Tanka, who arrived in Pakistan on Friday for talks on the reconstruction of Afghanistan and to reward Islamabad for its role in the war against terrorism, was due to meet Pakistani counterpart Abdul Sattar later Saturday and President Pervez Musharraf on Monday. 
	
	
 Japan has taken a leading role in the international drive to rebuild Afghanistan and in January is to host a meeting of finance and foreign ministers from more than 22 countries to build a platform for commitments to rebuild a country shattered by more than two decades of war. 
	
	
 It has offered financial support to Pakistan, including the rescheduling of around 550 million dollars in debt and the provision of about 40 million dollars in emergency budgetary and refugee assistance. 
	
	
 Since the terrorist strikes in the United States, more than 135,000 refugees have crossed into Pakistan, but the United Nations says the true figure is much higher. 
	
	
 Even before September 11, Pakistan was playing host to an estimated 2.5 million refugees who had fled Afghanistan through 22 years of war and ethnic bloodshed. 
	
	
	





Document 001001100 ends.


XIE20000420.0165 2000-04-20 
U.S. Congressman Concludes Landmark Visit to Iraq 
BAGHDAD, April 20 (Xinhua) -- 
             
U.S. Democratic Party Congressman Tony Hall left here Thursday after 
concluding his landmark visit to Iraq, which has been under sweeping U.N. sanctions since 1990. 
In a statement, Hall expressed regret over the negative impacts of the decade-old sanctions on Iraqi people. 
During his four-day stay, Hall visited hospitals and health institutions in Baghdad and the southern Muthana 
Province. 
The U.S. lawmaker got acquainted with the sufferings of the Iraqi children because of acute shortage of food 
and medicine as a direct result of the embargo, reported the Iraqi News Agency (INA). 
He also witnessed cases of malnutrition and poliomyelitis that have doubled since 1990, when U.N. 
imposed the sanctions against Iraq for its invasion of Kuwait, said the INA. 
Hall said on Monday that he regretted the miserable humanitarian situation in Iraq while visiting a hospital 
in the Mansour district of the Iraqi capital. 
                      
Iraq has claimed that over 1.2 million people, mostly children and the elderly, have died during the last 10 
years, and blames the deaths on shortages of food, medicine and other essential supplies. 
Iraq has been accusing the U.S. and Britain of deliberately impeding the implementation of the U.N. oil-for-
food deal which allows Baghdad to sell oil under U.N. supervision, thus worsening the humanitarian crisis 
in Iraq. 
Hall's landmark visit to Iraq started on Sunday evening when he arrived here by land from Amman, Jordan. 
Upon arrival, Hall said that his visit, the first of its kind by an American congressman since the 1991 Gulf 
War, was not political but humanitarian. 
"There are a lot of issues I want to look at, but the issue of humanitarian concerns is number one," he said. 



Document 001001101 ends.


	
CAPE TOWN March 14 Sapa SA ADOPTS CALM AND FORWARD-LOOKING APPROACH TO ZIM 
	
	
 President Thabo Mbeki and the South African government had adopted a serious, calm and forward-looking approach to Zimbabwe, a government statement said on Thursday night. 
	
	
 For a second day since President Robert Mugabe swept to victory in a controversial poll, Mbeki again avoided pronouncing on the freeness and fairness of the election. 
	
	
 Mbeki is one of three world leaders who has to decide on behalf of the Commonwealth whether punitive action should be taken against Harare. 
	
	
 The president was still consulting world leaders and assessing a host of observer mission reports, the statement said. 
	
	
 "On the basis of all these reports and consultations, and proceeding from the principle that South Africa will act as part of a collective international effort, a comprehensive statement will be made in due course. 
	
	
 "The South African government believes the most urgent challenge is to work with the Zimbabwean people for economic recovery and social stability, and to promote a climate for national unity in pursuit of these objectives. 
	
	
 "This is in the interest of our country, our region and our continent," the statement said. 
	
	
 Mbeki was in constant consultation with Commonwealth secretary-general Don McKinnon and Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo and Australia's Prime Minister John Howard, it said. 
	
	
 Mbeki, Obasanjo and Howard were mandated at the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Australia, to decide on Zimbabwe's fate once the Commonwealth observers mission submitted its report on the presidential election. 
	
	
 Earlier on Thursday, the Commonwealth observer team said in an interim report that "the conditions in Zimbabwe did not adequately allow free and fair expression of will by the electorate". 
	
	
 All eyes are now on the Commonwealth troika on whether it will decide that the Mugabe government should be penalised. 
	
	
 In terms of the Commonwealth's mandate, action against Zimbabwe could range from collective disapproval to suspension should it be decided that Mugabe was returned to power undemocratically. 
	
	
 The South African government had taken note of the reports from various observer missions, including the Commonwealth, which had also urged "all Zimbabweans to put aside their differences and to work together for the future of the country", the statement said. 
	
	
 Other reports included one from the Southern African Development Community's council of ministers who declared the election "substantially free and fair" and the other from the Organisation of African Unity which said "in general the elections were transparent, credible, free and fair". 
	
	
 The government had also noted the SA Observer Mission (SAOM) report which had found that although the election was not adequately free and fair, it should be considered legitimate, the statement said. 
	
	
 The statement was silent on the SADC parliamentary observer team report which said the regional bloc's own election norms and standards -- which Zimbabwe was signatory to -- had not been met. 
	
	
 It confirmed that Deputy President Jacob Zuma had been sent as Mbeki's special emissary to Harare on Thursday and said this was a result of Pretoria's "serious, calm and forward-looking approach". 
	
	
 Zuma's spokeswoman Lakela Kaunda told Sapa, the deputy president had given Mugabe a special message from Mbeki and congratulated him on his re-election, based on the SAOM's interim report. 
	
	
 Kaunda declined to give details and said Zuma would report back to Mbeki later on Thursday. 
	
	
 Zuma was accompanied by Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana, who served on the Southern African Development Community ministerial task team on Zimbabwe. 
	
	
 Zuma also held talks with his Zimbabwean counterpart Simon Muzenda. 
	
	
 Foreign news agencies said Zuma told Zimbabwean state radio on his arrival in Harare on Thursday that "those discrediting Zimbabwe's electoral process should listen to what the Africans are saying". 
	
	
 He said the South African government was happy with the SAOM report that the elections were legitimate. 
	
	
 SAOM head Sam Motsuenyane said in a radio interview on Thursday that although the election was legitimate it stopped short of being free and fair. 
	
	
 He was unable to explain the apparent contradiction. 
	
	
 In a statement released later on Thursday, Kaunda said Zuma's visit was part of ongoing consultation between the two governments. 
	
	
 Zuma had informed Mugabe of the SAOM report and that it was part of a process involving various bodies such as SADC, the OAU and the Commonwealth. 
	
	
 As a member of these organisations, South Africa would await these reports before responding definitively on the issue. 
	
	
 "Both the Deputy President and President Mugabe agreed on the need for continued consultation and co-operation between the two governments to address economic matters such as the shortage of grain, and continued co-operation, trade and investments and a number of other bilateral issues." 
	
	
 Zuma also pledged continued support for Zimbabwe and its people, she said. 
	
	
 Source : Sapa /aq/im Date : 14 Mar 2002 20:15	





Document 001001103 ends.


 
  
  
    
      
        a brief History
        Prehistoric man in Asia Minor (now modern Turkey) or Greece
        could look out across the Aegean toward the horizon and see the faint
        silhouette of land. Their curiosity pushed them to build vessels that
        were strong enough to ford the open seas and reach these islands,
        marking the start of the long legacy of Mediterranean seafaring.
        Around 7000 b.c. , the Phoenicians set out from what is now
        Iran to explore their surroundings. They eventually reached the
        islands, and founded colonies on the islands in the northernmost part
        of the Aegean Sea. An important early material, obsidian, was
        discovered on the island of Milos. Obsidian is a hard, vitreous
        volcanic rock, which could be fashioned into tools for cutting and
        stabbing. The high quality of the seam on Milos ensured that the area
        remained popular with early travelers.
        The basic elements of life in the Aegean began to come
        together as early as 5000 b.c. , and were already in place by the late
        Bronze Age (c. 2700 b.c. ). The major changes were not to daily tasks
        and routines, but to the political power base, which changed regularly
        and not necessarily peacefully throughout the ages.
        Cycladic Culture
        At around 3500 b.c. , a sophisticated culture evolved in the
        Cyclades islands. The distinctive, sculpted marble figures of the era
        are now being reproduced in vast quantities as souvenirs. You will find
        original examples in the archaeological museums throughout the
        Cyclades, although one of the earliest examples is in the museum on
        Paros. The people farmed and fished; on the dawning of the Bronze Age
        in 2700 b.c. , they began to work with metals. The Cycladic culture was
        influenced by societies in the east, importing the pottery wheel from
        Mesopotamia. They also continued to trade in obsidian and the local
        marble.
        The Minoans and the Myceneans
        Farther south in Crete, the Minoan culture developed after
        2000 b.c. into the most significant of its age, spreading its influence
        throughout the region by trade and diplomacy. Santorini (Thira), the
        next major island north, was heavily influenced by Crete, and the
        settlements of Thira and Akrotiri thrived at this time. The magnificent
        frescoes and mosaics found at Akrotiri are in Athens at present, but
        the remains of the buildings at the site provide ample evidence of the
        sophistication of the culture here.
        Around 1500 b.c. , a massive volcanic eruption at Santorini
        destroyed not only Akrotiri  --  under feet of ash and pumice  --  but the
        whole Minoan civilization. Massive tidal waves swept over Crete, and
        other parts of the Mediterranean, smashing buildings and drowning many
        thousands of people.
        In the wake of this tremendous natural upheaval, the Aegean
        Islands next came under the influence of the Mycenaeans (at around 1300
        b.c. ), who had a base in the Peloponnese region of the Greek mainland.
        The Mycenaeans were an acquisitive race who came to conquer, not to
        trade. Their extensive military campaigns were later chronicled by
        Homer in his epic poems The Odyssey and The Iliad.
        The Rise of Athens
        The Dorians, who came overland from northern Europe,
        conquered the Mycenaeans. They were a barbaric race, and their custody
        of the area brought about a dark period during which the written word
        was forgotten and art disappeared. They held sway over islands off the
        northern Greek coast, but the Phoenicians kept control of the main sea
        routes; south of the area, trade continued as usual. At the same time,
        city-states began to grow in influence on the southern Greek mainland.
        Athens became the most powerful, heralding the start of the classical
        Greek period. However, Greece was not yet a country; each city-state
        was self-governing and autonomous.
        The new culture spread throughout the Mediterranean, helped
        by a huge increase in migration from the mainland to new settlements
        such as Carthage, a Greek city on the African coast of the
        Mediterranean. Culture and the arts flourished once again. Athletic
        prowess was admired and the Olympic games were constituted in 776 b.c.
        , to promote friendly competition. Homer wrote his epic works on Chios;
        and lyrical poetry was much admired, particularly the work of the poets
        Archilochos on Paros and Sappho on Lesvos.
        The preeminent islands of this era were Delos, a sacred
        island and center of religion ruled by Athens; Samos, ruled by the
        tyrant Polycrates; and Naxos, whose ruler Lygdamis undertook some major
        building projects. Archaeology shows that, during this time, societies
        lived mainly in coastal trading towns with little settlement
        inland.
        The Persian Wars
        As Athens rose in influence and power in the West, it was
        matched in the East by the rise of the Persian Empire. From a power
        base in Anatolia, the Persians overran the eastern Aegean Islands and
        set their sights on the Cyclades. In 490 b.c. , they captured sacred
        Delos and razed the settlements on Naxos. The island communities were
        undecided about which side to back for a time. Paros and Andros
        contributed to the Persian armory, while others supported Athens. The
        two superpowers finally clashed at the epic battles of Marathon and
        Salamis in 480 b.c. The Persians were defeated, and Athens duly
        punished the islands that had turned against it.
        Following its victory, Athens introduced the concept of a
        mutual protection alliance (a kind of NATO of the ancient world).
        Several islands and Greek city-states agreed to work together, and
        created a treasury to fund their plans, which was held on the island of
        Delos. The alliance became known as the Delian League. Although there
        were minor internal wrangles, the league controlled the Aegean and the
        greater Athenian Empire for most of the fifth century b.c. Later, in
        454 b.c. , the treasury was transferred to Athens and its deposits were
        used to finance the construction of many of the major buildings and
        temples of the Classical Age.
        In 431 b.c. , Athens began a war with its neighbor and
        league member Sparta. Although the islands saw little action, as the
        war went on they could see that Athens was slowly losing its power.
        Before the end of the war in 401 b.c. , many islands had already
        transferred their allegiance to the victors, who were led by Philip II
        of Macedon. He was followed in 336 b.c. by his son Alexander the Great,
        one of the most remarkable leaders in history. His rise to power
        ushered in the Hellenistic period.
        Hellenistic and Roman Periods
        When Alexander went on to conquer lands as far to the east
        as India, the Aegean became a crossroads for the long trading routes.
        Delos became one of the largest marketplaces in the empire. Following
        Alexander' s death, his lands were divided among his generals. Much of
        the Aegean came under the rule of the Ptolemies, along with Egypt.
        Cleopatra was a member of this famous ruling clan.
        Although in 88 b.c. , Mithradates made a swift and
        successful raid from the East across Asia Minor and the Aegean Islands,
        the next major power change brought influence from the West. The Greek
        Hellenistic Empire was gradually, and peacefully, absorbed into the
        Roman Empire.
        The Byzantine Empire and the Coming of Christianity
        The Romans ruled a pagan empire, but the Aegean had an
        important influence on the early development of Christianity. In a.d.  
        95, St. John arrived on Patmos, a small rocky island in the Dodecanese,
        as a political prisoner. It was here that he wrote what was to become
        the final book of the New Testament, the Book of Revelation. It wasn' t
        until a.d. 330, however, when the newly converted Emperor Constantine
        made Byzantium, renamed Constantinople, capital of his Eastern Empire
        that Christianity was assured of its dominant role in future Greek
        life.
        The Byzantine Empire had powerful and well-fortified
        cities, but the countryside and the outlying islands were ravaged by
        waves of invaders. In an attempt to counter a threat from the Saracen
        Muslims, a new potent religious force from the East, the Byzantine army
        forcefully enlisted the men of the islands. Disease took a further
        toll. By the time of the Crusades, many of the Aegean islands had been
        practically depopulated.
        As the Byzantine Empire weakened at the end of the first
        millennium, Crusader forces were sent from Western Europe to counter
        the Muslim forces and retake Jerusalem for the Christian faith.
        Unfortunately, their zeal was not matched by their discrimination. The
        crusaders swept through the l;and of Byzantium slaughtering Christians
        as well as Muslims, civilians as well as soldiers. Constantinople was
        taken by Crusader forces in 1204, and they stripped the city of manyof
        its finest treasures  --  which now grace the public buildings of
        Venice  --  although a large consignment of books and manuscripts was
        transferred to the monastery at Patmos before the city fell.
        While Byzantine land was being divided, there was no one in
        control of the seas, so pirates raided towns on many of the islands. To
        counter this, the populations moved from their homes on the coast and
        built settlements inland, out of sight of the raiding parties. This
        created a pattern seen today throughout the Aegean of a small port
        (skala) which serves an inland settlement or chora, making it easier to
        protect the island from attack.
        The minor Aegean Islands were taken by various powerful
        European noblemen, many of whom were Genoese or Venetian, such as Marco
        Sanudo on Naxos. The noblemen had free rein to create their own
        fiefdoms. The Venetians fortified their main towns  --  Naxos Town and
        Antiparos Town are wonderful examples of this  --  creating labyrinths of
        narrow alleys and cul-de-sacs that were designed to confuse and to
        demoralize invaders. The Genoese took control of the eastern Aegean
        Islands, which were considered the most valuable for agriculture and
        trade.
        After a final bloody defeat by the Muslims in 1309,
        Christian forces were forced from the Holy Land. The Knights of St.
        John, a holy military force, made their way to Rhodes and Kos in the
        Dodecanese. They began the process of building their strong citadels,
        and reinforcing the Christian faith on the islands. However, they had
        not seen the last of their Muslim foe. A force was gaining strength in
        the east to threaten their new bases.
        The Coming of the Ottoman Turks
        The Ottomans were roving invaders who came from the east,
        taking land in what is now Turkey. By the end of the 13th century, they
        began their first raids on the Aegean Islands. In 1453, they took
        Constantinople, and immediately made it their capital, renaming it
        Istanbul.
        They then set their sights on the islands of the Knights of
        St. John and, after an unsuccessful siege in 1480, they finally ejected
        the knights from the Dodecanese in 1522. In 1566, they wrested Chios
        from the Genoese, bolstering their hold on the eastern Aegean Islands,
        but the Cyclades remained in Venetian hands for another generation or
        more  --  Tinos was the last to fall in 1715. The Ottomans brought new
        influences to the islands that they controlled, forming a large empire
        that stretched around the eastern Mediterranean.
        Toward Greek Independence
        However, a movement was growing on the Greek peninsula
        against Ottoman rule and for an independent Greek state. In 1770,
        Russia came to aid the Greeks (defined by their Orthodox religion
        rather than by historical geographical boundaries), declaring war on
        the Ottoman Empire and occupying several Aegean islands until 1774.
        Graffiti written by Russian soldiers can be seen in the caves of
        Antiparos.
        Although this attempt was unsuccessful, the campaign for a
        Greek state continued into the 19th century and began to grow in
        strength. The Aegean Islands played their part. Lesvos, Chios, and
        Samos lay in the important shipping lanes, and patriots began
        disrupting Ottoman cargo traffic. In return, the Turks violently put
        down every insurrection, including the massacre on Chios, when 22,000
        people were slaughtered.
        The Ottoman Empire was weakening, however, and in 1821, the
        peoples of the Greek mainland achieved nationhood for the first time.
        The Cyclades and the Sporades island chains were also included in this
        new state. A new sense of identity enveloped Greek peoples throughout
        the Aegean, thus commencing a movement to expand Greece and unify the
        disparate Orthodox populations.
        The Twentieth Century
        A series of disastrous decisions at the beginning of the
        20th century began to sound a death knell for the Ottoman Empire. The
        Turks lost a short war with Italy, and were forced to relinquish the
        Dodecanese islands to the Italians. Greece took this opportunity to
        absorb the islands of the northern and eastern Aegean and to add
        Macedonia to its mainland territories.
        Following this debacle, the Ottomans then allied themselves
        to Germany in the World War I, losing more territory with the defeat of
        the Germans in that war. Greece was handed a strip of land along the
        western coast of Asia Minor, which for over 2,000 years had had a
        substantial Greek population. Greece moved in to administer the land,
        but a new influence upset any grand dreams of making this region a part
        of greater Greece.
        In 1923, Turkey broke away from the tired Ottoman rulers,
        and Kemal Ataturk rose to power on a wave of popular support. He
        promised a modern state for his people, but as the situation became
        volatile, civil strife broke out in Turkish cities, and those
        considered Greek were victims of threats and violence. Many had to
        leave their birthplaces, fleeing to Lesvos, Chios, and Samos, the
        Greek-ruled islands just offshore. Thousands of people arrived with
        little more than the clothes they wore, putting great strain on the
        resources of the islands. Finally, Greece was ousted from its new
        territory in Asia Minor, which became part of the new Turkish
        state.
        Greece attempted to stay out of World War II, but Mussolini
        saw Greece as an ideal addition to his Italian empire. His forces made
        a series of attacks from their bases in the Dodecanese islands,
        including sinking a Greek naval vessel in the harbor of Tinos Town, but
        they only succeeded in strengthening the resolve of the population
        against them. Later the Germans came in force and occupied many of the
        islands.
        After the war, in 1949, the Dodecanese islands finally
        became part of the Greek nation. But the country was politically
        fragmented, with arguments between monarchists and republicans, right
        and left, and tension escalated into civil war. The struggle bypassed
        most of the islands, although there was fierce fighting on Samos. Even
        after the fighting stopped more than a decade later, the country was
        not stable.
        At the same time, the massive growth in air and road
        transport saw shipping decline in importance. The Aegean Islands, which
        for centuries had been important ports on the trading routes, became
        the backwaters of this new transport network and the economies of
        several islands came close to collapse.
        In 1967, the military took the reins of power in Athens,
        and until 1974, the  ``Colonels''  held sway with a repressive and brutal
        regime. Many Greek islanders chose to leave rather than live in poverty
        and terror, and many made new homes in the United States and Australia.
        The expansion of air travel began the age of mass tourism, and Greece
        along with the Aegean Islands became exciting destinations for northern
        Europeans escaping their damp, cool summers.
        In 1982, Greece joined the European Common Market (now the
        European Union). Since this time, membership has been of great monetary
        benefit to the country. The EU has given large subsidies to develop
        Greece' s infrastructure and grants to excavate and protect its ancient
        monuments.
        Airfields have been constructed on a number of the islands,
        and road systems have been expanded and im proved. Private investment
        has even made an increasingly modern ferry fleet possible.
        Politically, the 1990s have been relatively quite times for
        the islands, although the divorce of Greek prime minister Andreas
        Papandreou and his subsequent marriage to a much younger woman caused
        consternation within conservative Greek society.
        As the Balkans flared to war once again, Greek nationalism
        has stirred, and there have been discussions in the kafeneion about the
        land of Macedonia returning to the fold of its forefathers. Whether
        this will ever happen remains to be seen, but perhaps the aid offered
        by Greece to Turkey after 1999' s devastating earthquake is a sign that
        the animosity between these two traditional enemies is beginning to
        diminish.
      
    
  



Document 001001104 ends.



   Zimbabwean presidential vote begins

 


Author:     ANGUS SHAW

  HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Zimbabweans waited in long lines outside 
polling stations Saturday, some knitting and playing with their 
children, while waiting for the chance to vote in elections that 
present the strongest challenge yet to President Robert Mugabe.

  Following a campaign wracked by intense violence and 
intimidation blamed on the ruling party, opposition leader 
Morgan Tsvangirai said he was pleased to see so many people 
voting, believing a strong turnout favored him over the man who 
has ruled this country since independence in 1980.

  But with voting going very slowly at some stations, Tsvangirai 
accused authorities of holding things up to hurt his chances in 
the two days of voting.

  "The intention, of course, is that you frustrate as many voters 
as you can. Mugabe is trying to move the goal posts to 
disenfranchise people, these people he thinks will vote against 
him," Tsvangirai said, urging voters in line to be patient.

  At one polling station on the outskirts of the capital, Harare, 
between 800 and 1,000 people were standing in line, but only 
about 100 people had voted in 21/2 hours. The number of polling 
stations in urban areas, considered opposition strongholds, were 
cut by half by the government. People were also uncertain about 
where to vote.

  In what appeared to be a show of force, witnesses in Harare 
reported unusually large number of soldiers and military 
vehicles around the capital. Government officials declined to 
comment on the deployment.

  Tsvangirai (pronounced CHAN-ger-ai), a union leader, is 
promising reforms in this southern African nation, which is 
mired in its worst economic crisis since independence. Inflation 
is over 110 percent, unemployment at 60 percent, and hundreds of 
thousands of people are going hungry.

  Mugabe, whose rule had never faced significant dissent until 
recent years with the economic troubles, has painted Tsvangirai 
and his Movement for Democratic Change as servants to white 
interests and Western powers who want to see the country fail.

  After casting his ballot, Mugabe lashed out at his critics. 
"They are supporters of the opposition," he said. "It is not 
only prejudice, it is bias against the (ruling party), bias 
against President Mugabe, and bias in favor of the opposition."

  Mugabe's name did not appear on the list at the polling station 
in the Harare township where he had planned to vote. His aides 
were informed of the gaffe, and he was whisked to another 
station, where his name was listed.

  Human rights groups and many political analysts say that the 
campaign was too tainted for elections to be free and fair.

  Police have canceled scores of opposition rallies and Mugabe has 
used his presidential powers to restore controversial election 
laws struck down by the Supreme Court that appear to make it 
easier to rig the vote. The opposition says scores of its 
polling agents have been detained or harassed

  The government refused to accredit most independent Zimbabwean 
voting monitors, but many of them showed up outside of polling 
stations anyway. In the rural town of Chininga, 12 farmers were 
arrested after helping election monitors reach polling stations, 
the Commercial Farmers Union said Saturday.

  The few pre-election polls reveal voters' fears - with one 
reporting that 70 percent of people questioned refused to say 
who they would vote for.

  "That's my secret, I can't tell you," Ronnie Dube, a 48 year-old 
carpenter, said when asked how he would vote. "I want to vote 
for a good future."

  Lines snaked around polling stations in Harare, one of them more 
than a mile long. The lines were far longer than during 
parliamentary elections in June 2000, which saw a strong 
challenge to Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic 
Front party, though it narrowly won.

  Mugabe, 78, has promised public works initiatives if he is 
re-elected and has pledged to continue his controversial program 
of seizing white-owned farms and giving them to landless blacks. 
Whites make up less than one percent of the country's population 
but own about a third of the nation's commercial farmland.

  Tsvangirai, 49, is promising to revive the economy, end 
corruption and promote a more orderly land reform system. He 
urged supporters Saturday to vote despite government 
intimidation.

  "I know you are tired; I know you are scared and I know you are 
hungry. But have courage, people of Zimbabwe, the darkest hour 
is always before the dawn," Tsvangirai said in a statement.

  Some 150 people have died in politically motivated violence over 
the last two years, many of them black opposition activists 
believed to have been killed by ruling party militants.

  Two weeks ago, Tsvangirai was charged with treason in connection 
with an alleged plot to assassinate Mugabe.

  The opposition had asked the Supreme Court to overturn Mugabe's 
decree restoring the controversial election laws, as well as to 
resolve confusion over voter registration and the location of 
polling stations and allow the polls to remain open if long 
lines made it impossible for some to vote. The court decided 
Friday night to defer a decision until after the election.

  Voting went smoothly in the village of Nkayi, one of the 
communities hardest hit by pre-election violence, about 90 miles 
north of Bulawayo. But Friday night an opposition polling agent 
said she was harassed by ruling party militants, who also sat in 
front of the polling station chanting slogans Saturday morning, 
opposition officials said.




Document 001001105 ends.


	
TAIPEI, Feb 21 (AFP) - Taiwan Foreign Minister Eugene Chien on Thursday hailed US President George W. Bush for not trading away the island's interests to Beijing. 
	
	
 Chien said the closed-door meeting between Bush and his Chinese counterpart Jiang Zemin suggested there remained differences to be tackled. 
	
	
 As to the Taiwan issue, Chien said: "The press conference showed the result of the discussions entirely match our forecast..." 
	
	
 Chien voiced his gratitude to Bush for "having honored his commitment" he pledged to Taipei before his Asian trip, which also took him to Japan and South Korea. 
	
	
 Taiwan's foreign ministry spokeswoman had said ahead of Bush's departure for Asia that Washington had assured Taipei its interests would not be harmed. 
	
	
 Taiwan's foreign ministry has set up an ad hoc group to monitor the trip around-the-clock and report to President Chen Shui-bian. Taipei's de facto embassy in Washington has been given a similar task. 
	
	
 Chien said he also hoped "Washington will continue to enhance its ties with Taipei while seeking to mend fences with Beijing." 
	
	
 Bush, who arrived in China Thursday morning, said the United States hoped for a "peaceful settlement" to tensions between China and Taiwan and stressed Washington's policy on the island had not altered. 
	
	
 "The position of my government has not changed over the years," Bush said. 
	
	
 "We believe in the peaceful settlement of this issue." 
	
	
 Bush reiterated his support for the Taiwan Relations Act, under which the United States is committed to providing the island with the means to defend itself. 
	
	
 Beijing has repeatedly threatened to take Taiwan by force should the island declare formal independence. 
	
	
 In a speech to the Japanese Diet (parliament) on Tuesday, Bush said the US would continue to support its allies in the Asia Pacific region. 
	
	
 "We will continue to show American power and purpose in support of the Philippines ... Australia ... and Thailand ... America will remember our commitments to the people on Taiwan," he said, without elaborating. 
	
	
 
	
	
	





Document 001001106 ends.


	
Kenya: "Highly contagious" type of tuberculosis reported in Embu 
	
	
 Text of report by Kenyan newspaper Daily Nation web site on 11|February 
	
	
 An outbreak of a highly contagious type of tuberculosis has been reported in Embu [central Kenya]. Health authorities said yesterday that more than 27 people had tested positive for the severe sputum smear type of tuberculosis. A TB expert, Dr Joel Kangangi, said one person infected with the bacteria could spread it to more than 10 people in a day. The doctor, however, said no deaths had been reported. The worst affected areas are Dallas, Majengo and the Shauri Yako slums with a population of 17,000 people. Dr Kangangi, an assistant director of medical services attached to the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Programme, said 56 per cent of those infected with TB were also HIV-positive. Health personnel have been deployed to the affected areas to carry out random screening of residents to contain the outbreak. Yesterday, Dr Kangangi carried out random checks on hundreds of residents in Dallas estate. He was accompanied by the Embu Medical Officer of Health, Dr Nicholas Muraguri, and a team of health personnel. The medic blamed the outbreak on congestion in the slums and failure to observe basic hygienic practices. The residents are being advised to ensure that their houses were well ventilated to avoid multiplication of germs. They are also being advised to seek medical attention immediately they detect symptoms of the disease. The symptoms include prolonged cough, chest pains, fever and loss of weight and appetite.	





Document 001001107 ends.


	
Tashkent, 18 March: Turkey will give 1.2m dollars in free assistance to servicemen in Uzbekistan. Chief-of-Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces Huseyin Kivrikoglu arrived in Uzbekistan on Saturday [16 March] at the invitation of Uzbek Defence Minister Kadyr Gulyamov, sources in the Turkish Embassy in Tashkent told Interfax. 
	
	
	





Document 001001108 ends.



Six days that shook Venezuela

 



  CARACAS (AFP) - Here are the main events of the crisis that 
shook Venezuela over the past six days, in which at least 41 
people were killed and 323 were injured:

  Tuesday, April 9: Venezuela's largest trade union joins a strike 
by managers at the country's massive state-run oil company, 
demanding the resignation of a new board of directors appointed 
by President Hugo Chavez.

  Wednesday, April 10: Union leaders extend the strike for 24 
hours because of what they call Chavez's `aggressive' and 
`intolerant' response to their demands. The strike is later made 
indefinite.

  - Oil exports, which account for 80 per cent of Venezuela's 
foreign revenues, are threatened as the strike stops production 
at the country's major refineries.

  Thursday, April 11: Some 50,000 people, including business and 
union leaders, mass to demand Chavez's resignation. The 
government urges supporters to back Chavez.

  - Chavez orders a suspension of broadcasts by private television 
networks opposed to him.

  - Pro-government and opposition demonstrators face off in 
Caracas. At least 15 people are killed and almost 100 are 
wounded.

  - A group of 10 top military officials declare their opposition 
to Chavez.

  
- Leading military officials in the Chavez government resign.

  Friday, April 12: Army commander General Efrain Vazquez 
announces that Chavez wants to resign.

  - Business leader Pedro Carmona replaces Chavez as the new 
President, dissolves the National Assembly, dismisses the 
Supreme Court, revokes 49 controversial Chavez decrees and 
announces Presidential elections in one year.

  - Latin American leaders meeting in Costa Rica for a trade 
summit denounce Venezuela's breakdown of constitutional order.

  Saturday, April 13: In Washington, the Organization of American 
States says it is prepared to apply against Venezuela a charter 
requiring sanctions for any member that abandons democracy.

  - Pro-Chavez rioting breaks out in Caracas and other parts of 
country.

  - The commander of Venezuela's paratrooper brigade - Chavez's 
old unit - refuses to recognise orders of the interim 
government.

  - Chavez is transferred from an army base in Caracas to the 
island of Orchila, in the Caribbean Sea.

  - Thousands of Chavez supporters march towards the Presidential 
palace.

  
- Carmona takes refuge at Tiuna Fort, southwest of Caracas.

  - Top military leaders say their support of Carmona is 
conditional upon his respecting democratic institutions and 
allowing Chavez to leave Venezuela freely.

  - Carmona announces the restoration of the National Assembly, as 
Chavez cabinet members move into the Presidential palace and 
hold a meeting.

  - Carmona resigns the interim presidency, and Chavez's 
vice-President, Diosdado Cabello, takes over as acting 
President. Carmona is arrested along with his cabinet and 
general staff. Cabello promises to restore constitutional order.

  Sunday: Chavez leaves Orchila Island aboard a helicopter and 
heads to Caracas.

  - Chavez officially re-takes the presidency in an emotional 
Presidential palace ceremony at 4:30 am (0830 GMT). He then 
calls for peace, calm, and `the unity of the country.'

  - Emergency workers say that in total, at least 41 people have 
been killed and 323 injured in rioting around the country since 
Thursday.




Document 001001109 ends.


       

Waxman Industries Inc. said holders of $6,542,000 face amount of its 6 1/4% convertible subordinated debentures, due March 15, 2007, have elected to convert the debt into about 683,000 common shares. 

The conversion price is $9.58 a share. 

The company said the holders represent 52% of the face amount of the debentures. 

Waxman sells a variety of hardware products for the home repair market. 




Document 001001110 ends.


	
[Computer selected and disseminated without FBIS editorial intervention] 
	
	
 Paris, July 11 (CNA) -- Taiwan's economy will become totally dependent on mainland China within the next few years, causing the island to lose control of its own political fate, a French weekly warned Thursday. 
	
	
 The Nouvel Observateur said that Beijing is unlikely to annex Taiwan by force, despite its deployment of missiles along its coastal provinces opposite Taiwan, but is instead resorting to smarter tactics, bringing the Taiwan authorities to heel through Taiwan businessmen who are eager to explore the mainland Chinese market. 
	
	
 The weekly said that mainland China has attracted more than US$50 billion in investment from Taiwan thus far, while the Taipei authorities bowed to pressure from its own businessmen to lift restrictions on investment in mainland China in May, a move expected to speed up the flow of Taiwan capital to its arch rival. 
	
	
 Barring any reversal to the trend, the weekly quoted U.S. magazine Business Weekly as saying that Beijing might bring the island to its knees without firing one bullet. 
	
	
 Another factor which might deter Beijing's military adventurism in the Taiwan Strait is Washington's "readiness to fight Beijing for Taiwan," which will bear witness to Washington's determination to remain a power in Asia, according to the magazine. 
	
	
 The publication quoted Wu Guoguang, a professor at Hong Kong University, as saying that any concessions by Washington on the Taiwan issue could trigger a defection of its Asian allies, including Japan, to Beijing's fold. 
	
	
 But Beijing's leaders are not likely to blink on the issue either because an independent state in Taiwan would boost the schisms in Tibet and Xinjiang and threaten the regime in Beijing, the magazine claimed. 
	
	
 Although there is only scant possibility of a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait, the Nouvel Observateur said, Beijing's military buildup in its southern coastal provinces still makes the region "the most heavily armed place in the world next only to the Middle East," and a dangerous flashpoint in the 21st century.	





Document 001001115 ends.


	
Brussels - New confidential documents indicate that current Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the army's former leadership were directly responsible for massacres in the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila in 1982. Lawyers for the survivors, who have filed a complaint against Sharon in Belgium, said this. 
	
	
 On behalf of some Palestinian survivors, lawyers Luc Walleyn and Michael Verhaeghe on 18 June filed a complaint with the Brussels Public Prosecution Office against Sharon and other Israeli and Lebanese persons deemed responsible for the massacres in Beirut. 
	
	
 A few days after filing the complaint, the lawyers received a stack of documents in Hebrew and in English regarding the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the Sabra and Shatila events. The documents include meeting reports, and intelligence service and interrogation reports. The lawyers refused to reveal the source of the documents. 
	
	
 Judging from a few texts that De Standaard was given access to, the documents seem to be related to the Israeli Kahan Commission. This special commission investigated the Sabra and Shatila events in 1982-1983. It published a report, but not all the documents and interrogation reports were released, because they were deemed damaging to the state's interests. 
	
	
 Walleyn are Verhaeghe are convinced of the authenticity of the documents. They gave the entire stack to Investigating Magistrate Patrick Collignon. The lawyers expect that the Public Prosecution Office will request Israel to confirm the documents' authenticity. 
	
	
 It had already been known that Lebanese Phalangist militias, which perpetrated the massacres, cooperated closely with Israel, but according to the lawyers, various documents now indicate that Israel and the Phalange had planned the actions in the camps in advance, that Israel exercised complete control over the militias, and that, in the wake of the massacres, the Israeli army instructed the Phalange to assume responsibility. "In practice, the Phalangist militias operated directly under Israeli command. Senior generals and Sharon bore command responsibility [preceding two words published in English] for the militias' actions. According to Belgian and international criminal law, they could be held responsible," Verhaeghe said. 
	
	
 Tomorrow, the Chamber for Indictments will begin the debate on Investigating Judge Collignon's questions on the legitimacy of the case against Sharon. A ruling is expected by the end of this year or early next year. 
	
	
 In the meantime, the lawyers have also initiated a civil suit against Elie Hobeika, the militia leader who is regarded as one of the main perpetrators of the massacres. In the complaint, Hobeika had not yet been called by name. The lawyers deemed it wise to do this now because one of Collignon's questions is connected with the juridical consequences of a Lebanese amnesty law. 
	
	
	





Document 001001116 ends.


     
       wsj_1640.mrg        
             
Electronic theft by foreign and industrial spies and disgruntled employees is costing U.S. companies billions and eroding their international competitive advantage .
That was the message delivered by government and private security experts at an all-day conference on corporate electronic espionage .
`` Hostile and even friendly nations routinely steal information from U.S. companies and share it with their own companies , '' said Noel D. Matchett , a former staffer at the federal National Security Agency and now president of Information Security Inc. , Silver Spring , Md .
It `` may well be '' that theft of business data is `` as serious a strategic threat to national security '' as it is a threat to the survival of victimized U.S. firms , said Michelle Van Cleave , the White House 's assistant director for National Security Affairs .
                       
The conference was jointly sponsored by the New York Institute of Technology School of Management and the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association , a joint industry-government trade group .
Any secret can be pirated , the experts said , if it is transmitted over the air .
Even rank amateurs can do it if they spend a few thousand dollars for a commercially available microwave receiver with amplifier and a VCR recorder .
They need only position themselves near a company 's satellite dish and wait .
`` You can have a dozen competitors stealing your secrets at the same time , '' Mr. Matchett said , adding : `` It 's a pretty good bet they wo n't get caught . ''
The only way to catch an electronic thief , he said , is to set him up with erroneous information .
             
Even though electronic espionage may cost U.S. firms billions of dollars a year , most are n't yet taking precautions , the experts said .
By contrast , European firms will spend $ 150 million this year on electronic security , and are expected to spend $ 1 billion by 1992 .
Already many foreign firms , especially banks , have their own cryptographers , conference speakers reported .
Still , encrypting corporate communications is only a partial remedy .
                       
One expert , whose job is so politically sensitive that he spoke on condition that he would n't be named or quoted , said the expected influx of East European refugees over the next few years will greatly increase the chances of computer-maintenance workers , for example , doubling as foreign spies .
Moreover , he said , technology now exists for stealing corporate secrets after they 've been `` erased '' from a computer 's memory .
He said that Oliver North of Iran-Contra notoriety thought he had erased his computer but that the information was later retrieved for congressional committees to read .
No personal computer , not even the one on a chief executive 's desk , is safe , this speaker noted .
W. Mark Goode , president of Micronyx Inc. , a Richardson , Texas , firm that makes computer-security products , provided a new definition for Mikhail Gorbachev 's campaign for greater openness , known commonly as glasnost .
Under Mr. Gorbachev , Mr. Goode said , the Soviets are openly stealing Western corporate communications .
He cited the case of a Swiss oil trader who recently put out bids via telex for an oil tanker to pick up a cargo of crude in the Middle East .
Among the responses the Swiss trader got was one from the Soviet national shipping company , which had n't been invited to submit a bid .
The Soviets ' eavesdropping paid off , however , because they got the contract .
      



Document 001001117 ends.


	
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Nov 1 (AFP) -- About 1,000 armed Pakistani tribesmen crossed into Afghanistan on Thursday to fight with the Taliban against the United States, witnesses said. 
	
	
 They crossed the border at Bajaur agency in North West Frontier Province on 50 vehicles, the witnesses said. Taliban vehicles were waiting on the other side of the border in Afghanistan's Kunar province. 
	
	
 The fighters were led by Maulana Mohammad Ismail, leader of the radical Tehreek Nifaz-e-Sharia Mohammadi.	





Document 001001118 ends.


	
Nairobi, April 26 Kyodo -- A Kenyan national working for Japan's leading Asahi Shimbun newspaper was shot dead Thursday night in Nairobi in a botched car robbery, police sources said Friday. 
	
	
 Julius Ndegwa, 43, was confronted by a group of armed gangsters around 10 p.m. as he approached his vehicle, which was parked at a sprawling estate east of Nairobi, the police said. 
	
	
 Eyewitnesses said the robbers shot Ndegwa in the chest after he resisted their attempts to snatch his car keys. He was rushed to hospital by bystanders, but died before arrival. 
	
	
 "They shot at him as he tried to open the door to the car, and died on arrival to a nearby hospital," a senior policewoman, Chief Inspector Nancy Thuku, told Kyodo News in Nairobi. 
	
	
 Ndegwa joined the Asahi Shimbun's Nairobi Bureau in 1989 as a driver assigned to the bureau chief, and also worked as the assistant to the bureau chief. He was the official driver of Nairobi Bureau Chief Shingo Egi at the time of his death. 
	
	
 He leaves behind a wife and four children. 
	
	
 A senior police officer was shot dead two months ago by armed gangsters in the same crime-prone area where Ndegwa was killed. 
	
	
	





Document 001001119 ends.


	
[Computer selected and disseminated without FBIS editorial intervention] 
	
	
 San Francisco, April 1 (CNA) -- Current relations between the Republic of China and the United States are in unprecedented good shape, the de facto ROC ambassador to Washington, D.C., said in Las Vegas Monday. 
	
	
 Since the United States switched its diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, ROC Representative to the United States Chen Chien-jen said substantive Taiwan-U.S. relations have never been as close as they are at the present time. 
	
	
 Chen made the remarks at a luncheon given by himself in honor of directors and supervisors of the World Federation of Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce (WFTCC), who were meeting in Las Vegas. 
	
	
 Chen cited several events to back up his positive and optimistic views on ROC-U.S. relations, including U.S. concerns for security in the Taiwan Strait, continued quantitative and qualitative increases in U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, upgrading of high-level engagement, as well as explicit support by the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services for Taiwan's participation in the World Health Organization (WHO). 
	
	
 In his view, Chen said, the ever firmer U.S. support for Taiwan partly stems from its recognition of the island's remarkable progress in democratization and liberalization. 
	
	
 Noting that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have been admitted to the World Trade Organization (WTO), Chen said Taiwan and mainland China will be able to engage in constructive interactions under the WTO framework. 
	
	
 Moreover, Chen said, Taiwan can from now on conduct trade and economic exchanges with all other WTO members under the principles of equality, fairness and reciprocity. 
	
	
 The current WFTCC meeting has focused discussions on how to pool the resources and wisdom of Taiwan businesspeople around the world to expand their share of the world market as well as to help promote Taiwan's bid to join the WHO. 
	
	
 Chen said he admires all Taiwan businesspeople's patriotism and contribution to Taiwan's and their resident countries' economic development over the years. 
	
	
 More than 600 representatives of Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce from 49 countries on six continents are attending the WFTCC meeting. New ROC Deputy Representative to the United States Tsai Ming-hsian and Chang Fu-mei, chairwoman of the Overseas Chinese Affairs commission, are also attending.	





Document 001001122 ends.



   China plays down friction with US over Taiwan

 


Author:     REUTERS [ THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2002 6:28:05 PM ]

  BEIJING: China played down sensitive differences with the United 
States over Taiwan on Thursday, with President Jiang Zemin 
holding his tongue over US commitments to arm the 
diplomatically-isolated island.

  Jiang portrayed talks with US President George W. Bush on the 
issue as low-key, telling reporters both sides had "expressed 
opposition to 'Taiwan independence' and the hope of solving the 
Taiwan question peacefully".

  Jiang's subdued tone, despite US pledges to press on with arms 
sales to Taipei and a "defence summit" with Taiwan officials 
next month, underlined his desire to avoid disputes with 
Washington ahead of a leadership handover this autumn.

  Jiang said Bush had restated Washington's long-standing 
commitment to Beijing's "one China" policy, which states that 
Taiwan and the mainland belong to a single country.

  But in a clear signal of continued support for Taiwan, Bush said 
he would honour a pledge to help arm the island China has 
regarded as a rebel province since a 1949 civil war split.

  "The position of my government has not changed over the years. 
We believe in peaceful settlement of this issue," Bush told a 
news conference after talks with Jiang on the first day of his 
visit.

  "We will urge there be no provocation. The United States will 
continue to support the Taiwan Relations Act," he said.

  The United States passed the Taiwan Relations Act in the same 
year as it switched diplomatic relations from Taipei to Beijing 
in 1979, reaffirming its commitment to Taiwan and pledging to 
maintain arms sales to the island.

  
Taiwan relieved

  Chinese analysts who advise and comment on policy also played 
down tensions between China and the United States over Taiwan -- 
which Beijing always says is the most sensitive issue in their 
bilateral relationship.

  "The Taiwan problem is an old problem and is still there," said 
Jin Canrong, a top researcher at the prestigious China Academy 
of Social Sciences.

  "But with China and America widening their scope of cooperation 
the priority of the Taiwan problem in bilateral relations will 
be lowered."

  Bush's statement will come as a relief to Taiwan, which has been 
watching his two-day visit closely fearing Washington may give 
something new away to China in return for Beijing's support for 
the US-led war on terrorism, analysts said.

  The democratic island run by President Chen Shui-bian of the 
pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party relies on the 
United States as its main arms supplier and trading partner.

  
Bush stands firm

  Washington angered Beijing last year by offering Taiwan the 
biggest arms package in a decade -- including submarines for the 
first time -- and saying Washington would do "whatever it takes" 
to protect the island.

  China had demanded that Washington end arms sales to Taiwan and 
step back from explicit statements of support for the island, 
which Beijing has threatened to attack if it declares 
independence or delays reunification talks indefinitely.

  
But Bush has stood firm during his Asian tour.

  Speaking to Japan's Diet, or parliament, before heading to 
Seoul, Bush reassured Taiwan by saying: "America will remember 
our commitments to the people on Taiwan."

  In another controversial move, the US Defence Department said on 
Wednesday it would take part in a closed-door conference next 
month that private organisers call a "defence summit" with 
Taiwan, an event which would typically anger China.



Copyright @ 2001 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. |




Document 001001125 ends.


	
A report about settlement activity in Palestinian territories has confirmed that 36 new settlement sites--settlement enclaves--have been created since Sharon became Prime Minister of Israel less than a year ago. 
	
	
 The annual report published by the National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Colonization in cooperation with the International Solidarity Establishment for Human Rights said that the nuclei of 36 new settlements were established from March 2001 to the end of November 2001 in various parts of the West Bank. 
	
	
 Also the report, whose findings were announced at a press conference yesterday, noted that three military positions were turned into civilian settlements and work had started on a new settlement called Giv'at Sal'it in the southern valleys region. 
	
	
 Taysir Khalid, member of the PLO Executive Committee and of the political bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, advocate Faris Abu-Hasan from the Solidarity Establishment, and Hasan Ayyub, director of the National Bureau for Defense of Land, took part in the conference. 
	
	
 Construction activities carried out in settlements during the period totaled 49. In addition, 102 mobile caravans were added to settlements and new settlement sites and more than 705 donums were added to existing settlements. The report also noted that work on bypass roads continued at a rate faster than that of the government of Barak who gave free rein to settlement activities. Sharon's government has embarked on building 10 bypass roads, some of which were approved by the previous government. The report estimated that building these roads threatens the bulldozing and destruction of more than 31,730 donums. 
	
	
 The report highlighted the damage caused to the agricultural sector as a result of settlement activity. It also noted that settlers and the occupation authorities pursue a comprehensive destructive policy on a wide scale vis-a-vis citizens' property to consolidate facts and settlement plans drawn up by the occupation government. 
	
	
 It said that about 487,093 fruit trees were uprooted during the second half of last year and 32,000 donums of agricultural land were bulldozed. The total losses of the agricultural sector amounted to $432 million according to Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture data. 
	
	
 In the Gaza Strip 1,051 donums were annexed to existing settlements, 32 new housing units were built, and work on 190 additional units was started. And 1,857 donums were bulldozed during the building of bypass roads in the strip. 
	
	
 Taysir Khalid explained that "the Palestinian intifadah has raised the settlement issue anew--one of the causes of the intifadah--in unprecedented force as a basic element and condition for reaching any solution." 
	
	
 He pointed to the allocations in the Sharon Government's budget for supporting and widening settlements and building new ones, despite the crisis and recession from which Israel's economy suffers. 
	
	
 He said: "At a time when Israel's economic growth rate declined to 1.5 percent and the budgets of the Ministry of Labor and Welfare and other ministries were cut, Sharon's government maintained its support for settlements and increased it to compensate for the growing exodus from settlements." 
	
	
 He stressed the need to concentrate on resisting settlement activity, settlers and their militias, and abstaining from subjecting this file to any discussion as a condition for halting the intensified settlement activities and removing existing settlements. He explained that the intifadah has proved that the settlement battle is not over. 
	
	
 He noted that the year since Sharon became Israel Prime Minister and his pursuit of a destructive, aggressive policy against the Palestinian people has "proved that the conflict with the Palestinian people who cling to their national rights cannot be settled by force." 
	
	
 Advocate Faris Abu-Hasan pointed to the violation of international laws represented in settlement activity and settlement building, and to Israel's continuing refusal to respond to international appeals and violation of relevant international laws. 
	
	
 He explained that settlement building constituted two grave violations of international law, especially the Geneva Convention, and pointed to international law provisions that forbid moving population of the occupying state to the occupied territories. 
	
	
 He said: "There are two grave violations, the first concerns settlement building and the transfer of settlers to the Palestinian territories on which tens of settlements have been built. The second is Israel's enacting of laws that facilitate expropriating Palestinian land and settlement activity, a matter that is considered among the war crimes." 
	
	
 He surveyed the attacks against unarmed citizens carried out by settlers, the legal protection and backing they are provided by Israeli governments, and the encouragement that this gives them to continue their assaults. He pointed out that there is an alternation of roles between settlers and the army in carrying out aggressions against Palestinians and terrorizing them. 
	
	
 He indicated that settlements have emerged as military bastions and bases for launching attacks against Palestinians during the intifadah. He explained that Palestinian population centers were used as human shields for the protection of settlements, and that about 90 percent of the bombardments to which Palestinian population centers were subjected originated in settlements. 
	
	
 He confirmed that 30 Palestinians were martyred at the hands of settlers, 60 persons were hit by settlers' bullets, while more than 77 others were injured in various assaults by settlers. 
	
	
 He stressed that since the outbreak of the intifadah in 1987, 18 percent of all Palestinians martyred were killed by settlers. 
	
	
 He noted that during the current intifadah settlers uprooted more than 6,580 fruit trees, destroyed more than 4,099 cultivated donums, while 85 houses, 90 commercial premises, more than 100 cars, and 17 ambulances were damaged as a result of attacks carried out by settlers. 
	
	
 He referred to the legal cover and protection settlers enjoy, and the encouragement this gives them to continue their aggressions. He explained that an Israeli court recently sentenced a Palestinian member of a group accused of opening fire in which no one was hurt to seven years imprisonment. While a settler who opened fire on a group of Palestinians wounding four of them was sentenced to four years imprisonment by an Israeli court. 
	
	
	





Document 001001128 ends.


       

General Motors Corp. 's big defense and automotive electronics unit, GM Hughes Electronics, said net income fell 22% in the third quarter, reflecting declining military spending and slumping GM vehicle production. 

Meanwhile, net at GM's finance arm, General Motors Acceptance Corp., fell 3.1%.
By contrast, Electronic Data Systems Corp., GM's data processing subsidiary, boosted net 16%. 

GM closed down $1.875 at $44.875 in New York Stock Exchange trading yesterday.
Earnings for GM common stock, reflecting the performance of GM's core automotive operations, will be disclosed this morning.
GM Class H, which represents a dividend interest in Hughes earnings, closed at $29, up 25 cents in Big Board composite trading.
GM Class E, which represents a dividend interest in EDS profit, fell 75 cents to $52.25 on the Big Board. 

The earnings drop at GM Hughes Electronics is a sign of tough times at both the defense operations of Hughes Aircraft Co. and GM's North American automotive operations, which are a primary customer for the Delco Electronics Corp. side of the GM Hughes unit. 

Profit at the unit fell to $110.6 million, or 37 cents a share, from $142.4 million, or 45 cents a share, largely because of a $24 million one-time charge associated with Hughes's previously announced plan to reduce employment by at least 6,000 people by year end.
Even excluding the charge, however, net fell 5%. 

In addition, GM's North American vehicle production fell 8.4% from a year ago, which hurt Delco Electronic's earnings, a company spokesman said.
That decline was reflected in revenue for the GM Hughes unit, which edged down to $2.58 billion from $2.63 billion. 

In the nine months, GM Hughes net fell 6.6% to $486.6 million, or $1.48 a share, from $521 million, or $1.58 a share.
Revenue rose 3.5% to $8.47 billion from $8.18 billion. 

At GMAC, net dropped 3.1% to $234.5 million from $241.9 million.
The finance unit attributed the decline to higher borrowing costs compared with a year earlier.
GMAC said its automotive financing and leasing business rose 35% in the U.S., largely because of dealer and customer incentives used to boost sales.
GMAC profits are combined with earnings from the rest of GM's operations and attributed to the company's traditional common stock. 

In the first nine months, GMAC's earnings fell 8% to $859.5 million from $930.2 million. 

At EDS, third-quarter profit jumped 16% to a record $110.9 million, or 93 cents a share, from $95.9 million, or 79 cents a share.
Revenue rose 12% to $1.37 billion from $1.22 billion. 

In the nine months, EDS earned $315.8 million, or $2.62 a share, up 13% from $280.7 million, or $2.30 a share.
Revenue rose 14% to $4.03 billion from $3.54 billion.
Revenue from non-GM accounts was 45% of EDS's total business in the latest nine months, compared with 40% a year earlier.
The company has said it wants to boost non-GM revenue to at least 50% of its total business by the end of 1990. 




Document 001001129 ends.


Reference: CEP20020523000297 Moscow Interfax in English 1517 GMT 23 May 02

		INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC
		INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL
		TECHNOLOGY

	 MOSCOW. May 23 (Interfax) - The Russian Aerospace Agency is 
continuing its active search for a space tourist candidate who 
would fly to the International Space Station (ISS) in autumn, 
agency director Yuri Koptev told Interfax on Thursday. The 
agency has received three official applications for a commercial 
flight. A source in space circles told Interfax that the 
applications came from one Russian citizen, a woman from 
Australia and one more unnamed person. In line with established 
rules, the agency is processing the applications. In the 
meantime, two Americans, a singer from the boy group NSYNC Lance 
Bass and former NASA Associate Administrator Lori Garver, are 
completing medical examinations at the Institute for Biomedical 
Problems in Moscow to be okayed for a flight. At a joint news 
conference in Moscow this month, Interfax was told that both 
Americans are expected to announce intentions to fly to space. 
The Russian pop group Na-Na has not given up plans for a space 
flight either. The singers passed the necessary medical tests 
last year. However, the Russian Aerospace Agency told Interfax 
that it has not received any official applications from either 
the Americans or the Russian pop group. It added that there is 
growing public interest in space tourism around the world, and 
that it is now seen as a vehicle for increasing personal 
popularity. At the moment, the probability of the third space 
tourist making a space flight this year is 70-80%, informed 
sources told Interfax on Thursday. The set of services related 
to a taxi mission to the ISS on a Russian spaceship ranges 
between $18 and $20 million, agency sources said.  	

Central Eurasia
Russia
Russia



Document 001001132 ends.


	
Bangkok, Aug. 28 (CNA) -- The Taipei-based Chinese Federation of Labor (CFL) attended the Asian regional meeting of the International Labor Organization (ILO) held Tuesday in Bangkok, mainly because of its work to protect foreign laborers in Taiwan. 
	
	
 CFL President Lin Hui-kuan led the Taiwan delegation to the meeting in the name of observer of the International Confederation of Free Trade Union (ICFTU). It was the first time that a Taiwan labor group has been invited to participate in a meeting of the ILO, which is an affiliate of the United Nations. 
	
	
 The CFL's participation in the meeting did not meet with any objection from Beijing, as it attended as an observer of a non-U.N. organization. Beijing opposes Taiwan's participation in any international organization in which sovereignty is a prerequisite. 
	
	
 Lin told CNA that the CFL gained high appraisal in its efforts to protect the rights of Thai, Filipino, Indonesian and Vietnamese workers in Taiwan. 
	
	
 Taiwan is the only country in Asia that allows foreign laborers to enjoy the same salary levels as their local counterparts, which elevates its image in international society, Lin added. 
	
	
 He indicated that although Taiwan is not a U.N. member, it has signed two international agreements related to labor affairs and abides by all the regulations stipulated by the ILO. 
	
	
 Recently, Lin added, the Republic of China government was about to eliminate the minimum wage requirement for foreign workers mainly due to pressure from the business sector. However, through the protests of local labor groups, foreign laborers' working rights were protected, bringing extra attention to the power of Taiwan labor groups. 
	
	
 Lin noted that Taiwan is one of the ICFTU founders and that its participation in the ILO can serve as a model for Taiwan to take part in international activities. 
	
	
 Lin and his delegation are scheduled to return home Sept. 1 after the quadrennial meeting.	





Document 001001136 ends.



Many fear violence after Zimbabwe vote

 



  HARARE, Zimbabwe Wellington Chinyama sat down in a barber's 
chair, unfolded his newspaper and without glancing up asked the 
young man trimming his hair the question that seems to be on 
virtually everyone's mind here: "So Joseph, have you prepared 
yourself for Zimbabwe's civil war?"

  As Zimbabweans go to the polls this weekend to re-elect or oust 
Robert Mugabe, the only leader the country has ever known, the 
question of who will win the election seems almost secondary to 
how the loser and his followers will respond.

  Surveys show the challenger, Morgan Tsvangirai, a trade union 
leader, ahead of Mugabe. But a surge in political violence and 
accusations that the governing party changed election laws to 
rig the vote have fanned widespread concerns among Zimbabweans, 
election monitors and foreign diplomats that neither political 
party nor their supporters are prepared to accept the final 
tally.

  "It does not take a vivid imagination to envision a scenario on 
the ground where either rioters or the military take to the 
streets in the days to come," an African diplomat said.

  Most disturbing are pronouncements by senior government 
officials and military leaders that they would not allow this 
former British colony to be led by Tsvangirai and his political 
party, the Movement for Democratic Change. In a television 
interview broadcast the other day, Didymus Mutasa, a spokesman 
for Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party, said that he and other 
veterans of the country's independence war found the prospect of 
a Tsvangirai government intolerable.

  "People have said being ruled by the MDC is being ruled by Ian 
Smith," Mutasa said, referring to the prime minister of 
white-ruled Rhodesia, as the country was known before gaining 
independence in 1980. "Under these circumstances, if there were 
to be a coup, we would support it very definitely."

  At least 34 people have died in political violence this year, 
almost all of them supporters of the Movement for Democratic 
Change. State Department officials this week accused Mugabe's 
government of numerous human rights violations during the 
election campaign, an allegation vehemently denied by ZANU-PF 
officials.

  A newspaper reported that Mugabe had put the armed forces on 
"high alert" and had recalled soldiers from neighboring Congo, 
where they have been deployed in that country's civil war. 
Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri denied the reports.

  Many Zimbabweans see this weekend's election as a contest 
between immovable forces: a 78-year-old autocrat desperate to 
remain in power and an opposition party dominated by restless 
young citizens weary of government corruption, food shortages 
and unemployment.

  "If Mugabe announces that he has won the election, I think that 
people will not believe it and will storm the castle," said 
Sibongile Mbuyiso, an opposition supporter. "But if the MDC 
wins, I believe Mugabe will announce martial law, throw 
Tsvangirai in jail for plotting to kill him and send the army 
into the streets."

  Government officials last month charged Tsvangirai and two other 
officials of his party with high treason for allegedly plotting 
to assassinate Mugabe. That charge is based largely on a heavily 
edited videotape in which Tsvangirai refers to the "elimination" 
of Mugabe.

  Tsvangirai was responding to a question posed by a Canadian 
publicist with whom he was meeting and who subsequently signed a 
contract with ZANU-PF. Political analysts say the charges may 
have laid the groundwork for Mugabe to jail Tsvangirai as a 
last-ditch effort to stay in power should he lose the election.

  But that outcome is certainly not a foregone conclusion. 
Opposition officials say that 22 of their polling agents have 
been abducted in the past week, and a surge in violent attacks 
in swing districts could persuade enough opposition supporters 
to vote for ZANU-PF to ensure Mugabe's victory.

  In addition, governing party officials have revised election 
laws and procedures in a manner that could change the outcome of 
the vote, according to independent election observers.

  ZANU-PF officials have told election observers that they intend 
to increase the number of polling stations in rural areas 
believed to be their strongholds and reduce the number of 
stations in urban areas, where there is strong support for the 
opposition. Observers say that could produce long voting lines 
and discourage some Tsvangirai supporters from casting ballots.

  ZANU-PF election officials also plan to use civil service 
employees to monitor the vote-counting and bar independent 
monitors from nonprofit organizations from assisting in such 
routine tasks as transporting ballot boxes to counting stations. 
A residency requirement introduced last month bans registered 
voters from casting ballots if they cannot provide leases or 
utility bills in their names. That, according to foreign 
diplomats and Tsvangirai supporters, could disenfranchise 
hundreds of thousands of young opposition supporters who live 
with their parents.

  "Clearly, Mugabe is doing everything he can to steal this 
election," said John Makumbe, a political science professor at 
the University of Zimbabwe.

  Tsvangirai said at a news conference Thursday night that if he 
won the election, he would not prosecute Mugabe. That could ease 
pressure on Mugabe to remain in power to avoid prosecution for 
his government's attack in the 1980s in Matabeleland, the home 
of the Ndebele tribe, which at the time posed the most 
significant threat to his leadership. An estimate of the number 
of people killed in the operation ranges from 10,000 to 20,000.


Copyright @ 2002 the International Herald Tribune All Rights 
Reserved






Document 001001139 ends.


	
JERUSALEM. April 4 (Interfax) - Israeli soldiers will leave the Pilgrim's House in Bethlehem, which is owned by the Moscow Patriarchy, after they fulfil their military tasks. This was the response by the Israeli army to the demand made by the Russian Orthodox Church to leave the Pilgrim's House so as not to undermine the peacekeeping mission of the Moscow Patriarchy in the Holy Land. The press service for the Israeli army told Interfax on Thursday that "now, it is in a state of war, and at such a time, it uses all possible points of observation." The army representatives said "it is necessary to reduce possible civilian casualties, including among the Palestinians." "During the military operation in Bethlehem, a necessity emerged to enter the Pilgrim's House and to use it for surveillance. But once the military tasks are fulfilled, the Israeli soldiers will leave this building," the press service said. The representatives told Interfax that Israeli soldiers "strictly adhere to moral norms, respecting sanctuaries of all religions, and will act the same in the next stages of the war against terrorism." The Israeli army has also strongly denied reports about an assault on the Cathedral of the Nativity in Bethlehem, which allegedly began recently. "Contrary to some media reports, Israeli soldiers are not storming into the church, but they have to respond to continual fire by Palestinian snipers, who have taken positions near the church," the press service said. The representatives of the Israeli armed forces said that "rumors about the assault have been prompted by false information, which is being circulated among foreign journalists by Palestinian sources." [IS EUROPE EEU EMRG RU NEWS] tm tl &amp;lt;&amp;gt; 2036 040402 MSK 
	
	
	





Document 001001140 ends.


	
A cow grazing near the village of Meresti [Harghita County] was bitten by a fox suffering from rabies. As a consequence, the cow was infected as well. This is the first such case here, and the third one since 1999. The symptoms appeared within a few days. The owner though that the animal was suffering from some intoxication, which was confirmed also by the veterinarian called to examine the cow. Very soon, however, the symptoms indicated that it was suffering from rabies: it was banging its head against the crib and it was very restless. The owner put down the animal, although the vet had forbidden him to do so. The latter took the cow's head to a lab, where they found that it had been suffering from rabies. The owner and a neighbor who had helped him put down the animal were sent urgently to the Hospital for Infectious Diseases in Miercurea Ciuc, where they received preventive anti-rabies treatment. The carcass of the cow was burned and buried, and the stable was disinfected.!
 The Harghita County Sanitary and Veterinary Directorate has started an anti-rabies campaign, in which they are to vaccinate more than 70,000 cattle, horses, sheep, and pigs in 22 localities.	





Document 001001142 ends.


	
On Tuesday [11 December] Prime Minister Leszek Miller will establish a crisis management staff that is to coordinate the operations of all institutions responsible for state security. Krzysztof Janik, minister of internal affairs and administration, has announced the establishment of a special police task force. 
	
	
 According to the minister of internal affairs and administration, the prime minister will personally head the staff. Its members will include the chiefs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration and the Ministry of National Defense. It is to have the status of a ministry and coordinate the activities of ministries and various institutions in crisis situations, for example in the eventuality of a terrorist attack. 
	
	
 Minister Janik has said that the state of heightened alert introduced in Poland after the 11 September attacks will be upheld at least until the conflict in Afghanistan ends. 
	
	
 Minister Janik has also announced the establishment of a special police task force which is to be a counterpart of the Polish Operation and Maneuver Reaction Group [GROM]. It is to ultimately employ 350 officers prepared to take part in international missions. 
	
	
 Moreover, Krzysztof Janik has presented a plan of action to tighten our eastern borders. 
	
	
	





Document 001001143 ends.


	
BSE case reported in southwestern France 
	
	
 Text of report by French news agency AFP 
	
	
 Auch, 2 March (AFP): A fourth case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was recently confirmed in the Gers department [of southwestern France], the Gers prefecture announced on Saturday [2 March]. The animal concerned was a milk cow and the farm has not been named. In accordance with the new regulations which came into force last week, all the animals in the herd will be slaughtered except for those born after 1 January 2002, the prefecture said. The first two BSE cases in Gers were detected last August, and a third was confirmed at the end of January in a 6-year-old milk cow. 
	
	
	





Document 001001144 ends.


	
Beijing, 19 Mar (Wen Wei Po)--In response to the US decision to allow Tang Yao-ming to visit the United States, experts on Taiwan affairs said here in interviews with this reporter that this showed a lack of sincerity by the United States in improving Sino-US relations. If US moves go beyond China's limits of tolerance, it will seriously affect Sino-US diplomatic relations. 
	
	
 Yu Keli, deputy director of the Institute of Taiwan Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences [CASS], said that since taking office, the Bush administration has gone farther and farther in "interfering in China's internal affairs and meddling in the Taiwan issue" and has entirely run counter to the aspirations of the two peoples for the healthy development of Sino-US relations. 
	
	
 Sun Yan, assistant professor at the International Relations College of the Beijing University, also held that on the issue of international anti-terror cooperation, the United States wanted to rope in China in order to remove obstacles to its next phase of attack against Iraq. This does not mean that China and the United States have achieved any progress on the Taiwan issue. Compared with the Clinton administration, the Bush administration evidently is in retrogression on the Taiwan issue. 
	
	
 Li Jiaquan, research fellow at the CASS Institute of Taiwan Studies, said: During his visit to China, Bush steered clear of the Sino-US three joint communiques and one China on two important occasions, his joint conference with Jiang Zemin and his speech at Qinghua University. However, in his meetings with Jiang Zemin and Zhu Rongji, Bush stressed one China and the Sino-US three communiques. The two cases contrast sharply. On public occasions Bush seems to show consideration for the US anti-China forces and pro-Taiwan faction and to even appease Taiwan separatists. "Bush cannot conduct himself in an upright manner and he speaks insincerely!" 
	
	
 Li Jiaquan felt that it is very appropriate to quote a line from Guo Moruo, "confounding right and wrong, being kind to the enemy and hard on friends," to describe the United States. Japan's militarism used to be the US enemy, while China used to be a friend of the United States. Now the United States sees her former friend as an enemy and her former enemy as a friend. 
	
	
	





Document 001001146 ends.


	
[Computer selected and disseminated without FBIS editorial intervention] 
	
	
 [By Yukiko Ochi] Tokyo, Feb. 17 Kyodo -- (EDS: CLARIFYING PLACE DEMONSTRATION WAS CONDUCTED, ADDING DETAILS) 
	
	
 Environmentalist groups staged a protest against the U.S. alternative to the Kyoto Protocol on curbing global warming near the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo on Sunday prior to President George W. Bush's arrival in the capital. 
	
	
 About 50 members of various Japanese and U.S. nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) opposed to the U.S. alternative to the 1997 pact gathered around 1 p.m. at Tameike-Sanno Station, close to the embassy in Tokyo's Minato Ward. 
	
	
 "We cannot accept it by any means. It is very regrettable that the United States has taken a negative stand," Masaaki Nakajima of Friends of the Earth (FoE) Japan said. 
	
	
 Protesters carried banners reading, "Ratify the Kyoto Protocol," and "Koizumi say 'No' to Bush: Stick to Kyoto Protocol." 
	
	
 The demonstration came amid heightened security around the embassy as well as elsewhere in Tokyo for the president's visit. 
	
	
 Representatives of the NGOs including Kiko Network, Peace Boat and FoE Japan handed a letter addressed to Bush to a guard at the embassy. 
	
	
 In the letter, the NGOs said, "We, Japanese environmental NGOs concerned about climate change, were terribly dismayed by your new climate change plan." 
	
	
 On Thursday, Bush unveiled the new plan that calls for voluntary limits on greenhouse gas emissions by companies in accordance with economic growth instead of mandatory reduction targets. 
	
	
 Bush sparked international outcry when he rejected the Kyoto Protocol last March, saying it would mean sacrificing U.S. economic growth. 
	
	
 "We think this plan cannot be an 'alternative' to Kyoto Protocol because it would allow the current greenhouse gas emissions of the United States to increase by around 30% compared to 1990 level in 2010," the letter said. 
	
	
 "We demand of you, Mr. President, to reconsider your climate policy plan immediately and re-enter the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol is the only existing international framework to prevent dangerous climate change," it added. 
	
	
 Measures to tackle global warming will be among the main issues Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Bush will discuss when they meet Monday in Tokyo, according to Japanese and U.S. officials. 
	
	
 Kiko Network also sent an e-mail message to Koizumi urging the premier to call on Bush to return to the Kyoto Protocol at an early stage and to inform him of Japan's plan to ratify the Kyoto Protocol after the Diet approves ratification during the current Diet session. 
	
	
 Meanwhile, Peace Boat also handed a separate letter addressed to the president to the guard, calling on the U.S. to take leadership in helping developing countries through "peaceful dialogue and fair economic support." 
	
	
 In reference to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington last year, the letter said, "Don't push the Japanese government or any other government to cooperate in your 'war against terrorism'." 
	
	
 It also called on the U.S. to stop all air raids on Afghanistan, cease nuclear experiments and reduce U.S. military bases in Japan, among other requests.	





Document 001001147 ends.


   IRAQ-POVERTY (Washington)  
             
Rep. Tony Hall, D-Ohio, urges the
United Nations to allow a freer flow of food and medicine into
Iraq. Hall, who recently returned from a trip to Iraq, said U.N.
economic sanctions have hurt millions of civilians there. By AUSTIN
ZALKIN.
                      




Document 001001148 ends.


	

	
	
 Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax 
	
	
 Moscow, 17 January: The Russian government has established a new mechanism to cover the export of dual-purpose technology to Iraq, which is subject to international supervision and control, the government information department said. In connection with this, a number of documents on exports of controlled goods and technology to Iraq, passed in 1997 and 2001, have been made obsolete. The federal executive authorities, in particular the Economic Development and Trade Ministry, have been directed through the Russian Foreign Ministry "to cooperate with the United Nations Supervision, Control, and Inspection Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency on issues connected with the functioning of the international mechanism for constant supervision and control in relations to Iraq". 
	
	
	





Document 001001150 ends.


       

CNW Corp. said the final step in the acquisition of the company has been completed with the merger of CNW with a subsidiary of Chicago & North Western Holdings Corp. 

As reported, CNW agreed to be acquired by a group of investors led by Blackstone Capital Partners Limited Partnership for $50 a share, or about $950 million. 




Document 001001156 ends.


	
It has now become our right to announce clearly that the United States had become one of the sides of the axis of evil according to the same criteria set by the United States itself, and declared by its President George Bush. Namely that the countries of the axis of evil, from his point of view, are those that produce, develop, and amass weapons of mass destruction in a way that threatens the security and stability of its neighbors, as well as all the countries in the world. 
	
	
 Thus, after the US mass media and newspapers revealed the report by the Pentagon that listed seven countries to be attacked with US atomic weapons in case US national security was threatened, it became clear that the United States develops and produces weapons of mass destruction to threaten the stability and security of the world, and that it violates the United Nations Charter attacking independent and sovereign nations. 
	
	
 Of course the second side in the US axis is Israel, and definitely the third side will go to no one but Britain, as it conforms to the same criteria and because it completely supports the US stance and considers it the absolute right in all cases. The countries of the US axis are similar, for they cooperate, are joined by a strategic bond, and each defends the other and supports it with words and deeds. We can review, for example, the voting results in the Security Council to see how Washington always defends Israel, then how Britain always justifies the stances by both countries in admirable harmony. 
	
	
 Therefore, the United States endeavors hard to save Israel from the serious crisis that Sharon has put himself into. Thus roles were distributed specifically and clearly, and each role was drawn accurately and with care, exactly as was the case in the great movie "The Second Wife" between the tyrannical mayor with power, Abu-al-Ila, the simple peasant who owns nothing but the clothes on his back and a gang of children, and his wife, who was coveted by the mayor. 
	
	
 Immediately a neutral intermediate appears, represented in the fake imposter Shaykh, who is the friend of the mayor in the axis of evil. Then you find a dramatic portrayal of the reversed situation in which the Shaykh, or in this case the "US," Anthony Zinni, advises Abu-al-Ila, "Palestinian," to bow and accept the mayor's, "Israel's," demands, or else he would be convicted of possessing weapons of destruction in the eyes of the authorities. So now we only wait for the advice of Haj Zinni to obey those in authority, so that we would not become terrorists like Iraq, North Korea, and Iran! 
	
	
	





Document 001001158 ends.



Endeavour Shuttle To Be Launched To ISS

 



  The launch of the US Endeavour shuttle has been planned for 
Wednesday night, December 5, at 01:45 a. m. Moscow time. 
Shuttle's tanks have been filled with fuel. The vehicle is 
currently located at the launch site on the Cape Canaveral, 
Florida. This information was disclosed by a NASA representative 
at the Russian Mission Control.

  According to NASA experts, the primary objective of the 
shuttle's mission is to deliver to the International Space 
Station (ISS) the 4th long-term expedition led by Russian 
cosmonaut Yuri Onufriyenko. The new expedition also includes two 
American astronauts - Carl Walz and Daniel Bursch. This crew 
will replace the 3rd long-term expedition (American astronaut 
Frank Culbertson and two Russian cosmonauts - Vladimir Dezhurov 
and Mikhail Tyurin,) which has been aboard the ISS since August 
13.

  Endeavour will also deliver an Italian Raffaello cargo module 
with additional equipment for the ISS and the Starshine small 
satellite, which will be subsequently launched from the station. 
It will be launched into space for scientific purposes. The 
satellite has been built according to students' design. NASA 
representatives also said that the satellite will be surveyed 
and used by several American universities.


Copyright @1999 by "Pravda.RU". When reproducing our materials 
in whole or in part, reference to Pravda.RU should be made.




Document 001001159 ends.


 
  
  
    
      July 28, 1999
      Dear
      Join us for the "Sale of the Century" at JCC Auction '99, on Saturday,
      November 13, 1999. The 9th annual JCC Auction will benefit the numerous
      scholarship programs of the Jewish Community Center of Indianapolis, a
      United Way agency. Because you are an organization that cares, you are
      invited to become an integral part of this fabulous event by becoming a
      corporate sponsor for JCC Auction '99.
      The JCC would be very pleased to welcome your organization as a
      corporate sponsor. We are seeking to build partnerships between
      businesses and our not-for-profit agency. As a sponsor, you and your
      guests will have a special evening, knowing that your tax deductible
      contribution will help support preschool, childcare, senior and
      resettlement services, as well as quality cultural events in our
      community.
      Enclosed is a corporate sponsorship package that includes a sample
      auction book from last year's event, JCC market statistics and an
      overview of the many programs that will be preserved and strengthened
      through your generous support.
      One of us will call you to discuss how your company can become an
      important highly visible partner with the JCC in support of our
      scholarship programs. If you have any questions, please feel free to call
      Myrna Weinberger at 251-9467, ext. 256. Thank you in advance for your
      consideration.
      Sincerely, Judy Laikin, Chair Auction '99 Sponsor Committee
      
    
  



Document 001001163 ends.



   Zimbabwe's president is sworn in

 


SubHead:   Lawmakers boycott event

Author:     BY JON JETER

  HARARE, Zimbabwe - President Robert Mugabe was sworn in Sunday 
for his fifth term in office following a bitterly fought 
election that the opposition and many Western governments 
denounced as rigged.

  Speaking publicly for the first time since government election 
officials declared him the winner four days ago, Mugabe returned 
to the themes he struck during his campaign against Morgan 
Tsvangirai, a former trade union leader.

  Mugabe is a former rebel leader who led this country to 
independence from Britain 22 years ago. He told an audience 
assembled in the colonial-style State House mansion that his 
victory was a triumph against the West and whites who he said 
had aligned against him and his governing party, the Zimbabwe 
African National Union-Patriotic Front.

  
''We have dealt a stunning blow to imperialism,'' he said.

  Several African heads of states attended the ceremony, including 
President Sam Nujoma of Namibia and President Joseph Kabila of 
the Democratic Republic of Congo.

  But the 57 lawmakers from the opposition Movement for Democratic 
Change boycotted it, as did representatives from the United 
States, European Union countries, New Zealand and Canada. All 
said they were protesting an election they said had been tainted 
by months of political violence and intimidation, last-minute 
changes to electoral laws, and the disenfranchisement of tens of 
thousands of voters in Harare -- an opposition stronghold -- who 
failed to vote because the government reduced the number of 
polling stations.

  Mugabe, 78, remained defiant, blaming racism for the criticism 
and pledging to accelerate his land-reform program, under which 
the country's most fertile land has been seized from white 
commercial farmers for redistribution to poor, landless blacks.

  ''Thanks to the people of Zimbabwe for loudly saying: Never 
again shall Zimbabwe be a colony,'' Mugabe said. ''It is our 
people who decide, who must say so, not you, sirs and not the 
one person in 10 Downing St., Tony Blair,'' Mugabe said, 
referring to Britain's prime minister.

  The takeovers and occupations of farms, lack of transparency and 
political violence have led many international donors to cut 
funding to Zimbabwe, which is in the fourth year of a recession 
and a worsening food shortage.

  Mugabe appealed to the nation and the opposition to reconcile to 
address the pressing economic needs, but fell short of proposing 
a government of national unity. South African President Thabo 
Mbeki and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo are pressing 
Mugabe to accept such an arrangement to avoid deepening 
international sanctions and suspension from the Commonwealth of 
Britain and its former colonies.

  While a South African observer mission has said the elections 
were ''legitimate,'' Mbeki has not yet commented on them.

  As the leader of the region's most robust economy and most 
respected democracy, many Western leaders are looking to Mbeki 
to denounce the results and provide some reassurance that the 
continent is committed to democratic principles and property 
rights.

  Investors and Western diplomats have said they might interpret 
Mbeki's support for Mugabe or the elections as a sign that 
Africa is not intent on revitalizing its economies through good 
government and expanded international trade.




Document 001001165 ends.


	
Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, 6 Dec (AFP) -- A pollero (immigrant smuggler), suspected of having facilitated the entry into the United States of illegal aliens from the Middle East, was arrested and is being investigated by the United States and Mexico, the authorities informed this Thursday. 
	
	
 Attorney General Francisco Cayuela confirmed that preliminary investigations indicate that the gang of Mexican Saul 'El Guero' Medina specialized in smuggling illegal aliens from the Middle East, in addition to car theft. 
	
	
 Medina, who was arrested in the Mexican city of Matamoros off the Gulf of Mexico and which borders Brownsville (Texas, mid-south), is being investigated by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Guillermo Narvaez, Tamaulipas Ministerial Police Chief of Police, confirmed. 
	
	
 The Ministerial Police discovered that the "El Guero" Medina's gang operated from Matamoros and had branches in India, Brazil, Guatemala, Pakistan, Honduras, and El Salvador. 
	
	
 Narvaez explained that the FBI has requested information on this gang, which used false documents such as resident cards, licenses, social security numbers, and seals of the State of Texas Justice Department. 
	
	
 The US authorities began to investigate this gang's activities and its possible connection with the 11 September terrorist attacks, after the arrest of a group of Brazilians and another group of Iranians in Texas in October. It was also discovered that these illegal immigrants were carrying false documents. 
	
	
 Saul Medina was arrested in Matamoros and had 14 stolen vehicles in his possession. He was also safeguarding 9 illegal aliens, among them one of Indian origin.	





Document 001001167 ends.


	
US envoy retired General Anthony Zinni is to arrive in the region under circumstances similar to those that surrounded his first visit to Palestine and Israel. The Israeli Government works to abort his mission in advance by storming Palestinian territories, assassinating citizens it alleges have links to security activities, and arresting innocent citizens. The only change is that the Israeli authorities have denied any link between a number of Palestinian martyrs and prisoners on one hand and the armed organizations on the other, saying they were mere unarmed citizens, who were accidentally present near regular Israeli targets. 
	
	
 Palestinians, during Zinni's presence in the region, abided by calm and cease-fire and are doing the same now. Meanwhile, Israel provokes Palestinians to draw vindictive reactions in order to win the world community's sympathy, particularly that of the United States, using the international anti-terror war and branding as terrorism any legitimate Palestinian conduct to get rid of occupation and settlements. For that purpose, Israel likens such reactions to what occured in the United States on 11 September. The world community, however, believes that in their struggle for liberation and independence, Palestinians seek negotiations for a peaceful settlement as a strategic option and a legitimate rejection of Israel's colonialism, imposed on the Palestinian people by force for more than 34 years now. 
	
	
 Israel's provocation is too harsh to be tolerated. The Israeli Government says it should have a free hand to storm the Palestinian areas; assassinate or arrest Palestinian citizens; demolish homes, headquarters, and establishments; uproot thousands of trees; and besiege cities and villages as it likes. While committing themselves to peace, Palestinians bear this patiently and suppress fury, hoping that the US-dominated world community will acknowledge that Palestinians seek calm and a just peace in order to end occupation and settlement in their territories and to enjoy freedom, dignity, and independence, like other world nations. 
	
	
 Past weeks' Incidents, President Arafat's cease-fire declaration, the anti-violence campaign, the other activities that Israel brands terrorism, and Israel's unjustified escalation show that Palestinians are totally committed to the peace process and the previous agreements and understandings. This is because the Palestinians have the goal of peace in mind, while the Israeli Government does its utmost to hamper the peace process, entrench occupation, and step up settlement building. US envoy Zinni is supposed to have realized these clear-cut facts through his reading of the latest developments in the region. 
	
	
	





Document 001001168 ends.


 
  
  
    
      
        A Brief History
        Jerusalem' s recorded history begins with its mention in
        Egyptian court records 4,000 years ago, but there had been human
        settlements here for centuries, probably millennia, before that. At the
        beginning of the second millennium b.c. , Jerusalem was a Canaanite
        mountain stronghold on a secondary trade route, far less important than
        biblical cities such as Hazor, Megiddo, Beth Shean, and Shechem. The
        earliest name associated with the city, Ur usalim, perhaps meant  ``city
        of Shalim''  or  ``founded by Shalim. ''  Scholars speculate that Shalim
        might have been an ancient Semitic deity of peace, for the name
        resembles the modern Hebrew and Arabic words for  ``peace'' : shalom and
        salaam, respectively. If true, this is an ironic name for a city that
        would become one of the most constantly and bitterly embattled places
        on the face of the earth.
        Biblical Jerusalem
        In the Bible, Genesis 14:18 -- 20 records that Abraham visited
        the city of  ``Salem''  in approximately 1800 b.c. and was blessed by the
        city' s ruler, Melchzedik, who offered him bread and wine. The city is
        not mentioned again in the Bible until the time of the great poet
        warrior, King David, who captured the city from the Jebusites in about
        1000 b.c. The Bible describes how David' s soldiers conquered Jerusalem
        by discovering a water tunnel under the walls and using it to take the
        city by surprise. Warren' s Shaft, part of a Canaanite water system
        discovered by 19th-century archaeologists and open to visitors, might
        be the very tunnel infiltrated by David' s army.
        Perhaps because Jerusalem was in neutral territory not
        allotted to any of the twelve rival tribes of Israel, David made it the
        capital of his newly formed kingdom and brought the most talented
        artisans, dedicated priests, magical poets and musicians, and the most
        formidable soldiers from each of the tribes to live in his city. He
        also brought the Ark of the Covenant, the portable tabernacle
        containing the Tablets of the Law received on Mount Sinai, to the
        Spring of Gihon, just outside the walls of Jerusalem. There the Ark
        rested until it was placed in the Temple, built in approximately 960
        b.c. on Mt. Moriah, the high point at the northern end of the city.
        The Temple (today known as the  ``First''  Temple) was completed
        by David' s son and successor, King Solomon. According to biblical
        tradition, although David bought the land for the Temple and carefully
        assembled its building materials, he was deemed unworthy of
        constructing the Temple because he was a man of war with blood on his
        hands. At the Temple' s dedication, Solomon addressed his God:  ``... the
        Heavens, even the Heaven of the Heavens, cannot contain Thee; how much
        less this House that I have built? '' 
        The site of the Temple eventually became identified as Mt.
        Moriah, on which it stood, where Abraham was called to sacrifice his
        son Isaac. Along with this splendid house of worship, Solomon built a
        royal palace, mansions for his wives, temples for the foreign gods
        worshipped by the princesses he had married, and towers for the defense
        of the capital. Under the wise reign of Solomon, the city flourished as
        the capital of an empire that stretched from Damascus to the Red Sea
        and controlled the trade routes from Egypt to Phoenicia. The Temple and
        royal palace were adorned with gold and ivory from Africa and with
        cedar from Lebanon; the beauties and glories of Jerusalem under Solomon
        have captivated readers of the Bible for almost 3,000 years. But with
        his death the empire collapsed, and the Israelite kingdom was divided
        into two separate, impoverished, often warring nations: Israel, with
        its capital at Shechem in the north, ruled by a series of northern
        dynasties; and the smaller kingdom of Judah, with its capital at
        Jerusalem, from which the Davidic dynasty continued to rule. The Bible
        tells us that the cruelty and impiety of the rulers of both kingdoms
        aroused the fury of the great Prophets.
        In 701 b.c. the Assyrian armies of Sennacherib destroyed
        Israel and moved southward to besiege Jerusalem. Thanks to King
        Hezekiah' s hidden water tunnel, the city narrowly escaped destruction.
        The end of David' s dynasty came in 587 b.c. , when Nebuchadnezzar, King
        of Babylon, invaded Judah to lay siege to Jerusalem. When it fell, the
        Temple and all the buildings were burned. The people of the
        once-glorious city were forced into an exile known as  ``the Babylonian
        Captivity. '' 
        In time, the kingdom of Babylon was overthrown and the
        Israelites were permitted to return to Jerusalem in 539 b.c. The city
        was now under the more tolerant rule of the Persians, but rebuilding
        was slow work. The Second Temple was finished in 515 b.c. , but much of
        the city still lay in ruins.
        Jerusalem submitted peaceably to the rule of the Greeks in
        332 b.c. under Alexander the Great and, subsequently, to his
        Hellenistic successors as well as the Egyptian Ptolomeys and the Syrian
        Seleucids. When Seleucid rulers outlawed Judaism, Jews led by Judah
        Maccabee and his brothers staged a revolution in 167 b.c. and, against
        all odds, restored the primacy of Jewish religious life in Jerusalem.
        The Macabbees cleansed the Temple of Hellenistic idols and the blood of
        pagan sacrifices; the eight-day celebration of Hanukkah (Feast of
        Dedication) commemorates their victory. The Hasmonean dynasty,
        descendants of the Maccabee family, ruled an independent Jewish
        Commonwealth that stretched from the Negev to the Galilee. Jerusalem
        grew, surrounded with a formidable wall and defended by towers beside
        the Jaffa Gate. The Hasmoneans ruled until Pompey' s Roman legions
        arrived in 63 b.c.
        Roman Jerusalem
        After the initial years of Roman administration and
        political infighting, Rome installed Herod (scion of a family from
        Idumea, a Jewish kingdom in the desert) as King of Judea. He reigned
        from 37 to 4 b.c. , during which time he fortified the Hasmonean wall
        and rebuilt the defense towers beside Jaffa Gate, the foundation of
        which still stand. Several palaces were built and a water system
        installed. Herod also completely rebuilt the Temple, making it one of
        the most important religious centers in the Roman Empire. The courtyard
        around the Temple was expanded to accommodate hundreds of thousands of
        pilgrims, and the Temple Mount was shored up by retaining walls made
        with great stone blocks. One of these walls, the Western Wall, is today
        a major reminder of Jerusalem' s greatness under Herod. A massive
        fortress was built overlooking the Temple Mount, which Herod named
         ``Antonia''  in honor of his Roman friend and benefactor, Mark Antony.
        For all his accomplishments, Herod was nevertheless hated
        by his subjects; he taxed, he tortured, and he ordered the massacre of
        male Jewish infants in an attempt to do away with the heralded Messiah.
        When Jesus was born in about 4 b.c. , Joseph and Mary escaped Herod' s
        paranoia by fleeing into Egypt with the new-born infant. They returned
        to live in the Galilee village of Nazareth, making pilgrimages to
        Jerusalem.
        According to biblical accounts, Jesus spent his life
        ministering in the Galilee Valley. In about a.d. 30 he and his
        followers went for Passover to Jerusalem, which was in unrest at this
        time, dissatisfied with Roman domination. Jesus' s entry into the Temple
        caused a commotion; after the Passover dinner he was arrested by the
        temple priests, who were under direct Roman rule. Jesus was put on
        trial quickly and condemned to crucifixion, a Roman form of execution
        for political and religious dissidents as well as for common criminals.
        In a province rife with rebellion and retaliation, the execution in
        Jerusalem of yet another religious leader from the Galilee did not by
        itself have an immediate effect on history.
        After Jesus' s crucifixion, harsh Roman rule continued until
        a.d. 66, when the Jews rebelled. For four years Jewish zealots fought
        against the might of Rome. At the end, the Roman general Titus laid
        siege to Jerusalem in a.d. 70, finally attacking its starved and
        weakened defenders. Those who didn' t escape were executed or sold into
        slavery. The Holy City and the Temple were destroyed. The last of the
        zealots held out for another three years at Masada (see page 76). Half
        a million civilians died in the Galilee and Judea as a result of this
        first revolt against Rome, a number unequaled in ancient warfare.
        Christian and Islamic Jerusalem
        For 60 years Jerusalem lay in ruins, until the Roman
        Emperor Hadrian ordered the city rebuilt as a Roman town dedicated to
        Jupiter. In outrage, the Jews began a second revolt against Rome, led
        by Simon bar Kochba. The ruins of Jerusalem were briefly liberated,
        but, in the end, Jewish resistance to Rome was defeated with great loss
        of life. The planned new Roman city, Aelia Capitolina, was built over
        the ruins of Herodian Jerusalem, and Jews were barred from residing
        there for all time. Jerusalem' s physical existence as a spiritual city
        seemed finished, but its spiritual power for Jews, and for the
        struggling new Christian religion, remained. For the next two centuries
        Aelia Capitolina enjoyed an innocuous history.
        But the Roman Empire became Christian in the fourth
        century, and Jerusalem became a center of religion once again. Queen
        Helena, a devout Christian and the mother of Emperor Constantine the
        Great, made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 326 to identify the sites
        associated with Jesus' s life. She found that the city' s most beautiful
        Roman temple, dedicated to the goddess Aphrodite, stood on the site of
        the crucifixion. The temple was demolished and a vast, Classical-style
        church was built around Golgotha (the hill where Jesus' s crucifixion
        was believed to have taken place). Throughout Jerusalem, other spots
        important to Jesus' s life were commemorated with religious structures.
        Pilgrims came from all over the Roman (and, later, Byzantine) Empire
        during the following centuries, but the prosperity they brought lasted
        only until 614, when Persian armies overtook Judea and reduced
        Jerusalem to rubble again. In 629, Jerusalem was recaptured by the
        Byzantines.
        Still reeling from the effects of the Persian devastation,
        Jerusalem was conquered in 638 by the forces of Islam. The Temple Mount
        was identified in Islamic tradition as  ``the farthest spot''  (in Arabic,
        el-aksa), the site to which the Prophet Muhammad was transported in one
        night from Mecca on a winged horse, as described in the 17th chapter of
        the Koran. From here the Prophet ascended to the heavens and was
        permitted to glimpse paradise. The rock on the Temple Mount from which
        he ascended, at or close to the site of the ruined Temple, was
        commemorated by the construction of the Dome of the Rock in 691. The
        Dome of the Rock remains Jerusalem' s most striking monument; it is
        counted among the most beautiful buildings ever created. By about 715,
        the El-Aksa Mosque, third holiest place of prayer in Islam (after Mecca
        and Medina), had been built on the southern side of the Temple Mount.
        Jerusalem continued under Islamic rule for the next four and a half
        centuries. In 1099, under their leaders Godfrey de Bouillon and
        Tancred, the Crusaders captured the Holy City for Christendom by
        slaughtering both Muslims and Jews.
        Crusaders, Mamelukes, and Turks
        The Crusaders established a feudal Christian state with
        Godfrey at its head. They built many impressive churches during the
        term of the first Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, but in 1187 they were
        driven out by Muslim forces under the great warrior Saladin. During the
        Sixth Crusade (1228 --  1229), the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II managed
        to secure Jerusalem for the Christians by negotiation.
        The Christians, however, could not hold the city. After
        they lost Jerusalem, a Mongol invasion swept through, and in 1244 the
        Mameluke dynasty of Egypt took control, ruling Jerusalem for the next
        250 years. The city struggled to rebuild from Crusader wars and
        invasions. Much of the best Islamic architecture in the city was
        constructed in the Mameluke era, but the past thousand years had taken
        their toll: Jerusalem was unable to regain the prosperity it had
        enjoyed in earlier times.
        In the early 16th century, the Ottoman Turkish Empire was
        advancing through the Middle East. Jerusalem fell to the Ottomans in
        1517, remaining under their control for 400 years. Suleiman the
        Magnificent rebuilt the walls and gates in the form they retain to this
        day. Fountains, inns, religious schools, and barracks were constructed.
        But when Suleiman died, his empire, including Jerusalem, began a long
        period of decline. The Holy City remained a backwater until the 19th
        century, when renewed interest among Christian pilgrims made it the
        destination of thousands of travelers each year.
        19th-Century Aspirations
        At the same time, many Jews sought religious freedom and
        fulfillment by moving to Palestine (as the Holy Land was traditionally
        called) and especially to Jerusalem. In the 1890s, Theodor Herzl
        (1860 -- 1904) worked to organize a movement, Zionism, to create a Jewish
        state. Chaim Weizmann (1874 -- 1952), a scientist born in Russia but later
        a British subject, did much to put Herzl' s hopes into practice.
        Weizmann was an important figure in the negotiations with the British
        government that led to the Balfour Declaration of 1917, supporting the
        idea of a Jewish  ``national home''  in Palestine that also respected the
        rights of existing non-Jewish people already living there. The problem
        was that British strategists, who were fighting the Ottoman Turks in
        1917, had secretly promised the lands to their World War I Arab
        allies.
        In 1922 the League of Nations granted the British a mandate
        to administer Palestine. Jerusalem flourished during the early years of
        the Mandate. Modern neighborhoods, hospitals, schools, and the Hebrew
        University were built in West Jerusalem, the new Jewish enclave. But
        Arab opposition to new Jewish immigration and construction in Palestine
        led to increasing strife; by 1946, Jerusalem was an armed camp. In 1947
        the United Nations voted for the partition of Palestine into two
        states, one Jewish and one Arab, with Jerusalem as an international
        city that belonged to neither. But lacking the means to enforce its
        decision, the United Nations was powerless to halt the fighting that
        erupted as the British withdrew their troops in 1948.
        Modern Israel
        The State of Israel was declared during this difficult
        time. In response, member states of the Arab League sent troops to help
        the Palestinian Arabs. West Jerusalem, separated from the rest of the
        new Jewish nation, held out under siege for several months until
        Israeli forces secured a land corridor connecting the city to the
        coastal areas. Jews were evacuated from the Old City' s Jewish Quarter,
        and thousands of Arab families fled their homes in West Jerusalem. As a
        result of armistice agreements in 1949, Jerusalem was divided: West
        Jerusalem was to be under Israeli control, and East Jerusalem
        (including the Old City, with its Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and
        Armenian quarters) came under Jordanian authority. Free access to holy
        sites for members of all religions was guaranteed by the armistice
        agreements. However, with the city partitioned by fortifications and
        barbed wire, no Israeli or Jewish pilgrims were allowed to visit the
        Western Wall or other Jewish sites in East Jerusalem.
        For the next 19 years, Jerusalem was two cities. Political
        and religious boundaries were aggravated by occasional incidents of
        terrorism or sniping until the Six Day War in June 1967. Within three
        days the city was completely in Israeli hands, and in two weeks it was
        physically and administratively reunited. Jerusalem' s mayor, Teddy
        Kollek, spent the next 25 years orchestrating a vast program of
        development, adding new cultural institutions and parks and instituting
        neighborhood restoration projects while tirelessly me diating the
        concerns of Jerusalem' s many communities.
        Today, as always, Jerusalem is a city of controversies:
        religious Jews in conflict with secular Jews; Palestinians calling for
        independence; many residents protesting a wave of high-rise development
        that many claim will turn the Holy City into a holy megalopolis. But
        the ideas and mystique that have always made this an extraordinarily
        special place rise above the ebbing and flowing concerns of present-day
        Jerusalem as it continues to tug at the world' s attention into the new
        millennium.
      
    
  



Document 001001169 ends.


                                  
    
           Launching the Electronics Free Trade Zone in Dubai       
     
   
           Dubai 01-82 (AFP) - Crown Prince of Dubai Al Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoom crown prince of Dubai launched today, i.e. on Saturday, an electronics free e-trade zone which has been named "Dubai Internet City"       
    
   
           The cost in the first stage of this unique project is estimated at 200 million dollars.       
    
             
   
           Sheikh Mohammed, who is also the UAE Defence Minister, said during the launching ceremony "we wish to make Dubai a center of modern economy".       
    
   
           The minister who has a personal website on the internet, further said that he wanted Dubai to become the best place in the world for the advanced (hitech) technological companies.       
    
   
           He said that it would he possible for the companies working in the electronic trade sector to make Dubai their headquarters, and to establish offices here and provide employment and own machinery in the zone opened to companies fully owned by the foreigners.        
    
                      
   
           The electronic trade free trade zone is situated in the north of Dubai, close to the free industrial zone in Jabal Ali Mountain, an area which is considered to be the first in the country, and tenth in the world for transit movement.       
    
   
           Launching 'Dubai Internet city ' coincided with the opening of the annual information fair in Dubai which is considered to be the biggest in the Middle East - Gulf Information Technology Getix.'       
    
      



Document 001001170 ends.


	
KABUL, Feb 3 (AFP) -- Fresh fighting has broken out between rival warlords in the northern Afghanistan city of Mazar-i-Sharif, a defence ministry official said Sunday. 
	
	
 There was a "one to two hour" battle Saturday between forces loyal to Uzbek warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostam and those of rival Tajik commander Atta Mohammad, defence ministry official Mira Jan said. 
	
	
 No one was injured, and the fighting stopped when local authorities intervened, Jan told AFP. 
	
	
 "It was a minor clash, but investigations are continuing. We will identify the culprits of these clashes and punish them," he said. 
	
	
 It was the second reported clash in a fortnight involving the forces of Dostam, the interim government's deputy defence minister, and Tajik fighters. 
	
	
 Dostam's fighters and ethnic Tajiks loyal to former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani previously battled in Kunduz province, east of Mazar-i-Sharif, leaving 11 dead. 
	
	
 Dostam and Rabbani's factions are seen as uneasy partners in the fragile Northern Alliance that fought the Taliban militia from 1996 until the hardline Islamic regime crumbled in the face of US bombing in November. 
	
	
 Jan called the fighting between local commanders a symptom of the 23 years of war that has devastated Afghanistan. 
	
	
 "These battles have always happened in our country. Most of them occur usually for personal interests," he said. 
	
	
 The factional infighting has raised fears that long-standing ethnic rivalries could again split the country after the defeat of the Taliban. 
	
	
 
	
	
	





Document 001001171 ends.


Ohio Congressman Arrives in Jordan
             
AMMAN, Jordan (AP)  U.S. Representative Tony Hall arrived in
Jordan on Saturday en route to Iraq, where he is expected to look
into the plight of Iraqis after nearly 10 years of U.N. trade
sanctions.

   Hall, an Ohio Democrat and one of very few U.S. congressmen to
visit Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War over Kuwait, is scheduled to
embark Sunday the 12-hour overland trip to the Iraqi capital,
Baghdad.

   He did not speak to reporters in Jordan, but he told The
Associated Press before leaving the United States that he hopes to
"separate the humanitarian work from the political issues."

   During his four days in Iraq, Hall said he wanted to investigate
reports from relief agencies that a quarter of Iraqi children may
be suffering from chronic malnutrition.

   He said he would pay particular attention to what happens to
food and medicine entering the country under the U.N. oil-for-food
program. If supplies are not reaching the people who need them,
Hall said, he wanted to find out whether the United Nations or
relief agencies needed to handle things differently, or whether
"Iraq needs to get out of the way and let us do the job."
                       
   The Iraqi government blames the embargo for the malnutrition,
infant mortality and other hardships.

   The sanctions cannot be lifted until U.N. inspectors certify
that Iraq has eliminated its weapons of mass destruction and the
means to produce them. Iraq says it has done so and has barred
inspectors since late 1998.

   At least one other congressman has visited Iraq. Energy
Secretary Bill Richardson went to Baghdad in 1995 while a
representative for New Mexico.


Document 001001175 ends.


Reference: CEP20020515000133 Moscow Interfax in English 1021 GMT 15 May 02

		HEALTH

MOSCOW. May 15 (Interfax) - As of today, 194,000 HIV cases have been registered in Russia, Federal AIDS Center director Vadim Pokrovsky said at an Interfax press conference on Wednesday. The number of HIV cases totaled around 177,000 in December 2001, Pokrovsky said. Thus, HIV cases are up by 17,000, he said. Furthermore, "HIV develops over a very long period of time. People become ill in seven or eight years, therefore, doctors cannot monitor all who have contracted the infection," he said. The government should take urgent measures to prevent and cure HIV and AIDS, he said. Otherwise, the surging epidemic could turn into "a national security threat," he said.	

Central Eurasia
Russia
Russia



Document 001001176 ends.



    `Axis of evil' charge raises questions

 



  WASHINGTON -- President Bush's declaration that countries such 
as Iran, Iraq and North Korea represent an ``axis of evil'' that 
must be prevented from acquiring weapons of mass destruction 
touched off questions around the globe Wednesday.

  White House spokesmen said Bush's blunt language during his 
State of the Union Address Tuesday did not mean that U.S. 
military action against any of the three was imminent.

  But the president's remarks clearly expanded the scope of his 
anti-terrorism campaign while elevating the fight against the 
spread of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons to a major 
foreign-policy priority, U.S. officials said.

  The president told Congress that Iran, Iraq and North Korea pose 
``a grave and growing danger'' because they seek weapons of mass 
destruction and have links with terrorist groups. He repeated 
the theme Wednesday during a town hall meeting in North 
Carolina, saying, ``The United States of America will do 
whatever it takes to defend our security.''

  All three nations Bush named angrily rejected his remarks. 
President Mohammad Khatami of Iran, whose attempt at reforms 
have gotten American support, accused the United States of 
``warmongering.''

  ``He spoke arrogantly, humiliatingly, aggressively and in an 
interfering way -- and worse than anything, it is an insult to 
the Iranian nation,'' Khatami said at a Cabinet session 
Wednesday night.

  Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, responding to Bush's 
``axis of evil'' remark, said the U.S. government ``is the 
source of evil'' in the world.

  And North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) 
monitored in Seoul had this to say: ``The remarks were merely a 
shenanigan aimed at continuing with its policy of agression 
against us.''

  The rhetoric also caused shudders in U.S. allies South Korea, 
where President Kim Dae-jung has rested his reputation on easing 
a half-century of confrontation with the heavily armed communist 
North, and Japan, which is also within missile range of North 
Korea.

  ``I don't think it is a wise thing to corner the North Koreans 
and cut any routes to talking with them,'' said Yukihiko Ikeda, 
a Japanese congressman and former foreign minister.

  American intelligence has known for a decade or more of attempts 
by Iran, Iraq and North Korea to develop nuclear weapons, 
poisons and germs.

  But Bush's pledge to do whatever is necessary to stop them and 
nations like them appeared to represent a significant hardening 
of the U.S. position.

  
For Iran, Bush's condemnation marked a return to confrontation.

  Secretary of State Colin Powell and other officials had 
expressed optimism that Tehran's moderate behavior after the 
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks could lead to an opening with the 
Islamic nation.

  But U.S. officials have watched with chagrin in recent weeks as 
Iran has funneled weapons to its proxies in western Afghanistan 
and attempted to ship sophisticated arms to Yasser Arafat's 
Palestinian Authority. Israel seized the shipment Jan. 3.

  Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld had particularly harsh 
words for Iran Wednesday, saying it had been training terrorists 
``for a long time.''

  As with Iran, the Bush administration has tried talk and threats 
with North Korea.

  After assuming office, Bush initially declined to continue the 
Clinton administration's talks with Pyongyang on halting its 
development and export of ballistic missiles but eventually 
offered talks. Pyongyang has yet to respond.

  The president also named Iraq as a nation that ``continues to 
flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror.''

  But U.S. intelligence officials say there is no evidence that 
Iraq played a role in the Sept. 11 attacks or has been 
particularly active in sponsoring international terrorism in 
recent years.

  Tom Infield of the Philadelphia Inquirer in Washington and 
Herald wire services contributed to this report.



Copyright 2002 Miami Herald




Document 001001177 ends.


	
Beijing, April 9 (XINHUA) -- The Taiwan issue is purely China's internal affair and no other country in the world should interfere, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said in response to claims from a high-ranking US military official that the US would do everything needed to protect Taiwan. 
	
	
 The remarks seriously violated the commitments made by the US government in the three Sino-US Joint Communiques, said Zhang, adding that those remarks, out of ulterior motives, interfered in China's internal affairs. 
	
	
 Zhang stressed that history had repeatedly proved that US arms sales to Taiwan and its elevation US-Taiwan relations would only incite the separatists in their attempts to split Taiwan from mainland and would lead to the deterioration of Taiwan Straits situation and boiled down to the jeopardy of the interests of the US itself. 
	
	
 The spokeswoman urged the US to strictly abide by the serious commitments that it had made to the Chinese government and Chinese people and stop the wrong actions so as to avoid further damage to Sino-US relations. 
	
	
 The Taiwan issue was at the core of Sino-US relations, reiterated Zhang, emphasizing that any measures or remarks that ran against the three Sino-US Joint Communiques would undermine Sino-US relations. 
	
	
 "We hope US behaves as it says, strictly abide by the three Sino-US Communiques and stop using the Taiwan issue to interfere in China's internal affairs," Zhang said. 
	
	
	





Document 001001178 ends.



   Not 'gonna be a long, long time' till you can be a rocket man

 



  The International Space Station is not exactly the 
Waldorf-Astoria. And a Russian Soyuz capsule will never boast 
the creature comforts of a stretch limo.

  But that doesn't bother an increasing number of well-heeled 
executives and celebrities willing to pay millions of dollars 
and spend a few months training in exchange for a quick trip to 
orbit.

  Welcome to the dawn of space tourism, where opportunities to 
view spaceship Earth from aboveare rare, visions of the future 
are grand, and Everyman seems willing to shed planet Earth, if 
briefly. The latest "tour-o-naut" to buckle up and place his 
tray table in the upright, locked position is South African 
venture capitalist Mark Shuttleworth. He launched with two 
cosmonauts on a space-station resupply flight yesterday from the 
Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. He is the second fare-paying 
visitor to the station, following in the bootsteps of Dennis 
Tito, a US businessman who took that same trip last year.

  They aren't alone. "Another eight to 10 people have expressed 
interest" in a Soyuz trip to the space station, notes Tereza 
Predescu of Space Adventures, an Arlington, Va., company that 
arranges the flights.

  
'N space?

  Russia's next resupply flight is scheduled for October, and two 
Americans are vying for the passenger seat: former National 
Aeronautics and Space Administration associate administrator 
Lori Garver and boy-band 'N Sync's Lance Bass. Aerosmith rocker 
Steven Tyler also is reportedly eyeing a future flight.

  "There is a lot of pent-up demand, at least emotionally" among a 
large number of people to journey into space, says John Logsdon, 
of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University in 
Washington, D.C.

  For example, in 2000, Harris Interactive surveyed Americans' and 
Canadians' willingness to travel into space as tourists. 
Overall, 86 percent of the 2,022 respondents would be interested 
in a trip to space. Extrapolating from the results, Space 
Adventures, which commissioned the study, estimates that 10,000 
people a year would be willing to pay $100,000 apiece for a 
quick up-and-down suborbital flight, a la Mercury astronaut Alan 
Shepard. That translates into a $1 billion-a-year business.

  If they received the trip as a promotion or gift, 80 percent of 
the respondents said they'd take an intercontinental 
space-plane, 70 percent would take a space-station tour or an 
orbital flight, and 74 percent would be willing to take a 
suborbital journey.

  For space tourism to truly take off, however, several things 
must happen, says Frank Sietzen of the Space Transportation 
Association, an aerospace-industry group in Arlington, Va.

  "You need a strong, growing US space transportation system, and 
the federal ... decision that it's in the national interest to 
fund ... a second generation reusable launch vehicle to supplant 
the shuttle at a sufficiently low cost that it would be 
commercially viable," he says. Out of that effort would come the 
rocket or rockets that would service commercial passenger 
flights.

  He likens the effort needed to one the US Air Force undertook in 
1951, when it began developing an aerial tanker to refuel jet 
fighters and bombers. The result, he continues, was the KC-135, 
known commercially as the Boeing 707, the first commercial jet 
to be used worldwide.

  The government is moving in that direction with NASA's Space 
Launch Initiative. The agency has budgeted $4.8 billion through 
2006 for the development of safer, more reliable, and cheaper 
follow-ons to the shuttle. It looking beyond the SLI to a 
program designed to develop a third-generation of launch 
vehicles.

  Others are not waiting for the government to act. Some 20 
companies and groups worldwide are in a competition for a $10 
million purse offered to the first firm that can build and fly a 
two-stage, reusable rocket that can carry three people on a 
suborbital flight and be refurbished for its next flight within 
two weeks. Yesterday, a Canadian team paraded a mockup a 
60-foot-long "Canadian Arrow" through the streets of Manhattan 
in a pitch coinciding with Mr. Shuttleworth's launch.

  Known as the X Prize, the contest is modeled after the prizes 
that stimulated growth of commercial aviation early in the last 
century, says X Prize Foundation president Peter Diamandis.

  
Modern barnstormers

  Noting that Charles Lindbergh's record-breaking trans-Atlantic 
solo flight was a response to the offer of an aviation prize, he 
adds that within six years of that flight, commercial passenger 
flights became common. He expects a similar commercial response 
after his prize is issued.

  "People paid what for them were large sums of money" to fly with 
early-20th century barnstormers "to see the world from 2,000 
feet," he says. He expects a similar response when an X Prize 
winner emerges. Indeed, Space Adventures already has payments 
from roughly 100 customers willing to fly with astronautical 
barnstormers once a winner emerges, perhaps as early as 2004 or 
2005.

  The contest already is stimulating a range of related efforts, 
ranging from states trying to set up space ports for tourism 
flights, to Federal Aviation Administration development of 
licensing requirements for private commercial launch facilities 
and passenger operations.

  Where Dr. Diamandis sees relatively short-term opportunity, 
however, others suggest a viable space-tourism industry is still 
a decade or more away. "It will happen," he says, "but not in 
the time frame that will please tourism's advocates."


Copyright @ 2002 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights 
reserved.




Document 001001181 ends.


 
  
  
    
      August 10, 1999
      Mr. Caring Philanthropy 01234 Giving Way Contribution, USA 56789
      Dear Mr. Philanthropy,
      "The urgency you feel to make changes is just the extent that change
      will be made. Do not sit this one out. Do not play it safe. Understand
      the world and change it where it needs to be changed... Make our society
      better. Make a world worthy of the children that your generation will
      bear." -- Carl Sagan
      You can help make positive changes in the lives of at-risk youth in
      central Indiana. We often hear about economic poverty, but what some of
      these young people are growing up with is emotional poverty-they have
      often given up on hope and the possibility of a successful future. With
      your help, we can change that.
      Many Little Sisters are preparing to go back to school this fall full
      of hope and with a positive outlook. Thanks to our Big Sisters
      volunteers, these young people are self-confident, believe in themselves
      and are beginning to realize their full potential. A recent study bypositive
      Public/Private Ventures (PPV) showed that girls who had a Big Sister for
      just one year:
      reduced first-time drug use by 46% lowered school absenteeism by 52%
      cut violent behavior by 33% enhanced school performance showed improved
      peer and family relationships
      Former Little Sister Amy, now 18-years old, is a testament to the Big
      Sisters program.
      "I was matched with my Big Sister in June of 1992. Since then, she and
      I have grown very close and I have been able to experience lots of new
      things. We go to movies, dinner, concerts, and other stuff like that, but
      I have also been able to participate in charity events and fundraiser
      type things.
      Not only did I have a lot of fun with my Big Sister, but I learned a
      lot from her too. I have become more open-minded, more responsible, and,
      most importantly, I have gained a lot more self-confidence. I am very
      thankful to the Big Sisters program for allowing me this very special
      opportunity.
      In 1998, Big Sisters served 972 young people through its many
      programs. But the need is still great. Over 170 young people are still
      waiting for a mentor.
      You are an important part in making sure these young people are
      matched with caring adult mentors. Will you make a financial gift to Big
      Sisters in 1999 that will ensure that more young people receive the
      guidance they need, that more young people stay in school, stay off drugs
      and make good choices?
      Your contribution will be used to recruit and retain quality
      volunteers. It will also be used to help maintain the infrastructure that
      fosters and supports the development of effective relationships,
      including volunteer orientation and training and ongoing supervision and
      support by a professional staff. This year your gift can go farther!
      Gifts of $100 or more will be matched thanks to a special 25th
      Anniversary $100,000 Challenge Grant and will be placed in the Growth For
      Girls Fund. This fund will support the goal of having 550 mentoring
      relationships by the end of 1999 and 1,200 by the end of 2004.
      If you would like to find out more about the Big Sisters program,
      please call us, (317) 634-6102 and ask for Ellen Robinson. Thank you very
      much for your time, attention and consideration.
      Sincerely,
      Andrew T. Burns Patron Relations Chairperson
      P.S. When you give to Big Sisters, you can get 50% back! For a minimum
      contribution of $250, you become eligible for a 50% Indiana state tax
      credit through the Indiana Department of Commerce Neighborhood Assistance
      Program (NAP). A limited number of credits are available. To receive an
      application form, check the NAP box on the enclosed pledge card or call
      us, (317) 634-6102, ext. 20.
    
  



Document 001001186 ends.


	
Tajikistan: drug-busting hampered by obsolete equipment 
	
	
 Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax 
	
	
 Moscow, 5 July: Due to poor technical equipment, Tajikistan seizes only 10 per cent of the drugs transited through its territory from Afghanistan, Director of the Tajik anti-drug agency Rustam Nazarov has said. "Since our technical equipment is far from perfect, we perhaps seize even less than 10 per cent," Nazarov said in an interview with the Thursday edition of Nezavisimaya Gazeta. Out of 2,200 kg of drugs seized this year in Tajikistan, only 837 kg were seized at the border, and the rest inside the country, Nazarov said. "Our agency seriously needs equipment for detecting drugs," he said. "We do not have special devices for inspecting large automobiles and cargoes," Nazarov said, adding that his service does not have enough communications equipment, either. 
	
	
	





Document 001001187 ends.


	
Some Israeli officials, particularly Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eli'ezer, have stated that the success or failure of US envoy Zinni's mission hinges on the Palestinians only because they might carry out a suicide or shooting attack that will make Israel retaliate, thus bringing the region back to the cycle of violence. Consequently, Zinni will find it difficult to attain a cease-fire and commence the implementation of the Tenet understandings and Mitchell recommendations. 
	
	
 This allegation contradicts the simplest fact on the ground, as Israel is the one that occupies most of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and Israel is the one that possesses vast military power which it uses to make incursions into and raid Palestinian cities and refugee camps; to intimidate women and children; to assassinate innocent activists and citizens; to destroy buildings, facilities, infrastructure, roads, water pipes, and electricity and telephone poles; to attack Palestinian ambulances and kill medical teams; and to carry out other retaliatory, suppressive, and devastating practices. 
	
	
 The entire world -- not the Palestinians alone -- is waiting to hear an official Israeli statement regarding its recognition of the Palestinian national rights and its readiness to withdraw from all lands occupied in 1967, put an end to the settlement activity in the West Bank and Gaza, and support the establishment of an independent Palestinian state de facto. Such a statement will actually constitute the beginning of a real era of peace and the end of the era of violence and counterviolence. Clearly, the Palestinian side has acceded to all demands -- even more than that -- when it recognized Israel's right to exist on 78 percent of historical Palestine. It cannot make more concessions. Such an Israeli statement would not only serve Zinni's mission but would also accelerate the attainment of a permanent arrangement in which Israel would gain peace and security in exchange for its withdrawal from the Palestinian lands, the end of its colonialist occupation, and the renunciation of its mentality of domination and expansion, which have caused calamities and catastrophes in the past five decades. 
	
	
 The coming days and weeks will show whether Israel is actually ready to positively and objectively deal with the Palestinian national rights without trying to maneuver, place obstacles, or set impossible conditions during Zinni's mission. In any case, Zinni's mission is to make sure that certain measures are adopted as soon as possible to pave the road to a political settlement of the Palestinian question. Israel's compliance with the required commitments will be the real test not only of its readiness to facilitate the US envoy's mission but also its readiness to establish a just peace which is in the interest of all parties concerned.	





Document 001001189 ends.


U.S. Congressman Arrives in Iraq for Landmark Visit
BAGHDAD, April 16 (Xinhua) --
                  
U.S. Congressman Tony Hall arrived
here Sunday evening, becoming the first U.S. lawmaker to visit Iraq
since the 1991 Gulf War.

Hall, heading a three-member delegation, arrived here at 19:17
(1517 GMT) by land from Jordanian capital Amman, and stayed at the
five-star Mansour Hotel.

At the entrance of the Mansour Hotel, Hall made a brief
statement, saying that he came to Iraq because he has heard for a
long time about the humanitarian situation here, especially the
malnutrition among the Iraqi children and the increasing mortality
rate of the children and the elderly.

He also said that his visit will mainly focus on the
humanitarian situation of Iraq, which has been under crippling U.N.
sanctions since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, the primacord of the
1991 Gulf War.

"The visit is not a political visit, it is a visit of
humanitarian concerns," he added.
                          
"There are a lot of issues I want to take a look at, but the
issue of humanitarian concerns is number one," he said.

During his stay in Iraq, he will visit several places, including
hospitals and schools, in Baghdad and southern Iraq, where the U.S.
and Britain imposed a no-fly zone, with the claimed aim of
protecting Shi'ite Muslims from possible attacks by Iraqi
government.

Bombing targets in the no-fly zones in southern and northern
Iraq by U.S. and British warplanes have almost become a daily
occurrence, causing serious civilian casualties.

When asked by Xinhua if there is any plan for him to meet Iraq
officials, he said "I have not been asked to meet any top Iraqi
officials. My concern is with the Red Cross, the (Iraqi) Red
Crescent, to see what they have to show me, to see with my own eyes
and make up my own mind."

However, it has been reported that Hall is expected to meet
Iraqi Health Minister Umid Medhat Mubarak and representatives of
all international aid organizations working in Iraq.

Iraq has claimed that more than 1.5 million people, mostly
children and the elderly, have died of curable diseases due to the
decade-long U.N. sanctions.

Iraq has accused the U.S., which vehemently opposes the lifting
of the sanctions against Iraq, of using the sanctions as a tool to
contain the Iraqi regime headed by President Saddam Hussein.

Earlier this year, some 70 U.S. congressmen sent a letter to U.
S. President Bill Clinton, calling for an end to the humanitarian
crisis in Iraq by having the sanctions lifted. 



Document 001001190 ends.


	
STAVROPOL. Jan 8 (Interfax-AVN) - Two citizens of Iraq were detained on the Russian border on Monday when they attempted to cross into the country illegally from Azerbaijan, a spokesman for the North Caucasus regional border guard department told Interfax- Military News Agency. The two detainees aged 26 were taken to a picket of the Derbent border guard detachment for a probe into the incident. Servicemen of the Sochi border guard department protecting a section of the Russian-Georgian frontier apprehended another violator on Monday, the spokesman said. A 33-year-old citizen of Romania tried to enter Russia illegally from Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia. According to the spokesman, heavy snowfalls and the risk of avalanches still limit the traffic on the Caucasus highway and Military Georgian highway. The Nizhny Zaramag checkpoint on the Russian-Georgian border is closed temporarily. The Verkhny Lars checkpoint is operating, but the number of people using it is very small. As many as 117 people and 58 vehicles crossed the border through that checkpoint on Monday, the spokesman said. @ 2002 Interfax-Military News Agency, All rights reserved. News and other data on this web site are provided for information purposes only, and are not intended for republication or redistribution. Republication or redistribution of Interfax content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Interfax-Military News Agency. 
	
	
	





Document 001001192 ends.


	
LONDON, Jan 24 (AFP) -- British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Thursday [24 January] it was "far preferable" that British prisoners held at the US Navy base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba should face justice in Britain. 
	
	
 Three Britons are among 158 captured al-Qa'ida and Taliban fighters detained at the camp. They were captured in Afghanistan during the US-led military campaign against the country's now-crumbled hardline Taliban regime. 
	
	
 "It is far preferable if they are British citizens for them to come to the United Kingdom and face justice here," Straw told BBC radio. 
	
	
 He was speaking after American John Walker Lindh, captured while fighting for the Taliban, arrived handcuffed and shackled at Dulles International Airport outside the US capital late Wednesday and was taken to a nearby jail. 
	
	
 He faces trial in his own country on charges of conspiring to kill US nationals and supporting terrorist groups. 
	
	
 The US military put on hold transfers of prisoners to the Cuba base Wednesday. 
	
	
 International criticism of conditions at the makeshift camp have grown since the first detainees were transferred from Afghanistan earlier this month. 
	
	
 The prisoners are being held at the temporary outdoor detention facility called "Camp X-Ray" where each has a separate cell with a concrete floor, wooden roof and chain-link walls.	





Document 001001193 ends.


 
  
  
    
      March 29, 1999
      Name Address City, ST Zip
      Dear Name:
      The 1999 Invest in Youth Campaign is in full swing. As a former board
      member, the success of the YMCA is still important to me. We must be able
      to reach all youth and families interested in values-based programs. The
      Invest in Youth campaign helps insure this.
      New initiatives in the inner-city are taking hold. The Urban Mission
      Branch is reaching out to middle school youth with programs based on
      caring, honesty, respect and responsibility for themselves and others.
      For some, these are very different messages from the ones heard in the
      street. They are learning to make positive choices concerning alcohol,
      tobacco and other drugs and to support each other when those choices are
      challenged.
      You have shared in the vision and the leadership of the YMCA of
      Greater Indianapolis. I now invite you to continue to support the mission
      and the message that is so important to building strong kids, strong
      families and strong communities. Please consider joining the Chairman's
      Roundtable with a gift of $1,000. I have enclosed a pledge card for your
      convenience. We would like to announce the success of this year's
      campaign at the Annual Meeting on April 27, so please return you pledge
      or gift within the next 30 days.
      Thank you.
      Sincerely,
      Richard H. Gilbert, Jr. Past Board Member YMCA of Greater
      Indianapolis
      
    
  



Document 001001194 ends.


 
  
  
    
      Dear ,
      A few months ago you received a letter from me telling the success
      stories of people who got jobs with Goodwill's help.
      Here's another story of success from what might seem like an unlikely
      source: Goodwill's controller, Juli. She tells me that the 3,666 people
      we helped find jobs in 1998 earned approximately $49 million dollars. In
      addition to that, by helping them find jobs, Goodwill reduced the state's
      Public Support tab by an estimated $4 million. Your gift to Goodwill will
      help us do even more this year because your gift will be used to directly
      support our work.
      What kind of work does Goodwill do?
      Goodwill finds jobs for people with mental and physical disabilities.
      After Maureen's job coach taught her how to do her job in a restaurant,
      we helped Maureen step out of the shadow sometimes cast over people with
      physical and mental disabilities and find a fulfilling job smack dab in
      the middle of society. Remember what she said in my last letter? "If I
      wasn't working here...I would be sad..."
      Goodwill helps people get off of public assistance. Sherry learned
      through our Future Works class that she could rise out of the mire of the
      welfare system and support her family. At Goodwill she gained in
      self-confidence, in her vision of her future and in the job skills she
      needed to find and keep a good job. "Coming to Goodwill was the first
      step toward my becoming totally independent. I am now... totally off of
      welfare."
      Goodwill prepares people for life-long employment. Cornell found a
      number of employment options that he never dreamed existed after a
      work-site injury forced him out of his job at a foundry. He trained in
      desktop publishing and combined his enthusiastic work ethic with
      new-found skills in a burgeoning industry. "I've got more than a job;
      I've got a career."
      Goodwill provides jobs at Goodwill. After a lifetime of trials, Donna
      not only earned her GED at Goodwill, she earned a job here. "I rode a
      bike to Goodwill in the rain and snow. I wanted to be there...I had my
      second chance to change my life."
      Your gift to Goodwill will help the many people who want to tell their
      own stories of success. Your support will help them go to work.
      Please use the enclosed envelope to give a generous gift to Goodwill
      today!
      Sincerely,
      William A Carter, Chairman Goodwill Industries Foundation
      P.S. Your gift is a wise investment in the community. For every dollar
      donated to Goodwill in 1998, we helped our "graduates" earn an estimated
      $102. That money was then spent in a variety of ways, adding fuel to our
      thriving economy.
      
    
  



Document 001001196 ends.


	
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 25 (AFP) -- Malaysia on Friday sent an official protest to the US embassy here over the "inhumane" treatment of Taliban and al-Qaeda detainees held at a US naval base in Cuba. 
	
	
 Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar was quoted by Bernama news agency as saying the detainees should be treated as prisoners of war according to international law. 
	
	
 "We are not protesting the effort to fight terrorism but we feel that the Taliban and al-Qaeda detainees are war prisoners and they are subjected to the Geneva Convention," he said. 
	
	
 "At the moment, treatment is rough and not in line with guidelines set under international law . . . their condition is not satisfactory and the treatment given to them is inhumane." 
	
	
 The memorandum of protest came a day after Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad criticised the treatment of the detainees. 
	
	
 European nations have also criticized conditions at the US base after a US Department of Defense photograph showed a group of prisoners shackled, blindfolded, kneeling and wearing ear muffs. 
	
	
 US President George W. Bush has rejected charges of ill-treatment and was satisfied the military was upholding US traditions of humane treatment of prisoners while protecting the troops guarding them. 
	
	
 So far, 158 al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners have been transferred from Afghanistan to the isolated Guantanamo base on Cuba's southeastern coast. Another 270 are being detained by the US military in or near Afghanistan.	





Document 001001197 ends.


       

Italian chemical giant Montedison S.p.
A., through its Montedison Acquisition N.V. indirect unit, began its $37-a-share tender offer for all the common shares outstanding of Erbamont N.V., a maker of pharmaceuticals incorporated in the Netherlands. 

The offer, advertised in today's editions of The Wall Street Journal, is scheduled to expire at the end of November. 

Montedison currently owns about 72% of Erbamont's common shares outstanding. 

The offer is being launched pursuant to a previously announced agreement between the companies. 




Document 001001198 ends.


	
Harare, March 14 (XINHUA) -- Despite the shortcomings of incumbent President Robert Mugabe's rule which has seen Zimbabwe's economic decline in recent years, the 78-year-old leader has carried off the palm in the country's closest-fought presidential election since independence 22 years ago. 
	
	
 The nationwide polling results, released by the country's electoral authorities Wednesday, gave Mugabe of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union -- Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) 1,685, 212 votes, or 56 percent, against his closest rival, Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), with 1, 258,401 votes, or 41.7 percent. 
	
	
 "I am 77 years old, but I am still going strong. My fist carries a force, which can make one tumble and roll over 77 times," Mugabe boasted in a recent rally. 
	
	
 After defending his "crown" to his last-ditch efforts, the veteran statesman, who bragged him a "young old man" with abundant reserves of energy to continue ruling Zimbabwe, has finally won the political boxing match against Tsvangirai, a more youthful opponent, who celebrated his 50th birthday on Sunday. 
	
	
 Analysts said Mugabe, the last of the old African nationalists who rode to power on the colonial winds of change, has won on the strength of the appeal of ZANU-PF's land policy, under which the government was seizing idle farms from white farmers, who own the bulk of the country's arable land, to resettle landless peasants. 
	
	
 They said the re-elected president received much of his votes from the rural areas, where voter turnout was considered much higher than that in towns and cities. 
	
	
 Their comments were echoed by rural voters, who said the majority of them, who voted for ZANU-PF, were voting for land, and they will get it. 
	
	
 "People in the rural areas support the ruling party because our party has been genuine on its policy on land reform. The government has been giving us land and that will win us votes," said Kudakwashe Mapfumo, whose family was among the first beneficiaries of the land reform. 
	
	
 "We were given a piece of land which my parents have been able to farm and provide us with food," said Mapfumo, a ZANU-PF activist. 
	
	
 Analysts said another reason for Mugabe to win the poll is his wise campaign strategy. 
	
	
 Mugabe, whose strongholds are in the countryside, took election campaign to urban areas, where Tsvangirai enjoyed much support among those urban workers. 
	
	
 While depending heavily on his rural support, Mugabe told thousands of urbanizers he would focus on housing and job creation if re-elected. 
	
	
 "We want to come up with policies that will result in the creation of more jobs for the youths and those leaving school and colleges. The issue of good housing and similar services is also a top priority of the government," Mugabe said in a recent rally held in the capital Harare, the biggest political fortress for the MDC party. 
	
	
 Of the 1,685,212 votes Mugabe garnered, there are some more votes coming from towns and cities, which were boosting his lead in the crucial poll. 
	
	
 Despite the economic hardships and food shortages currently experienced by Zimbabweans, analysts said there are other major achievements Mugabe's government is credited for. 
	
	
 During Mugabe's 22-year-rule, the country used to boast of having a good education system and a good health system, which was to some extent affected by the lackluster economy. However, a large number of middle-aged people, who benefited from Mugabe's reign, are still nostalgic about the lost time and voted for him with a strong hope for economic revival. 
	
	
 Although some things have gone wrong under ZANU-PF leadership, Zimbabweans still chose Mugabe, the political strong man, because they said they were lured by his Millennium Economic Recovery Program. 
	
	
 Under his blueprint, the government hopes to stabilize the economy through curtailing state expenditure, reforming public enterprises and expanding agriculture. 
	
	
	





Document 001001205 ends.


       

A.L. Williams Corp. was merged into Primerica Corp., New York, after a special meeting of Williams shareholders cleared the transaction, the companies said. 

Primerica, which had owned nearly 70% of Williams, will pay about 16.7 million shares, currently valued at almost $472 million, for the rest of Williams.
The financial-services company will pay 0.82 share for each Williams share. 

Williams shares, which were to be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange after the close of composite trading yesterday, closed at $23.25, off 12.5 cents.
Primerica closed at $28.25, down 50 cents. 

Williams, Duluth, Ga., is an insurance and financial-services holding company.
Its subsidiaries' services are marketed by closely held A.L. Williams & Associates.
Primerica, as expected, also acquired certain assets of the agency and assumed certain of its liabilities.
Terms weren't disclosed. 




Document 001001212 ends.


	
US President Bush, after visiting Japan and South Korea, will follow with a visit to China. Whether Bush will, like Clinton, damage Taiwan's interests is receiving the deep concern of all quarters. The protection of Taiwan's interests under the US-Japan alliance structure is fairly strong. Before President Bush visits China, Japanese naval strategy expert Kawamura Sumihiko and missile expert Sato Mamoru were exclusively interviewed by a reporter of this newspaper. They reiterated the importance of Taiwan's strategic position and at the same time put forward their views with regard to the situation in the Taiwan Strait. 
	
	
 Kawamura: Japan and Taiwan are both exporting nations. Stable ocean traffic is an absolute necessity. Last year, approximately 5.1 billion tons of goods passed through the world's oceans, about one third of which passed through the sea areas of southern China. Half of this one third was transported to Japan through the sea areas near Taiwan. The traffic on Taiwan's seas is extremely important to Japan. If Taiwan becomes a part of China, all of Taiwan's sea areas will be threatened. China is currently in the process of actively expanding as a maritime nation. Its purpose is to ensure resources and the lives of a population of 1.5 billion people. However, China is not a nation that is able to abide by international rules, and for this reason, there will inevitably be conflicts on the ocean. Under these circumstances, Taiwan and Japan both must recognize clearly the important role of the navy. 
	
	
 Question: What is your appraisal of Taiwan's navy? 
	
	
 Kawamura: Frankly speaking, Taiwan's navy is worrisome. Anti-submarine combat strength is extremely low, and in particular there are many old style naval aircraft that, compared to Japan, are possibly 30 to 40 years behind. Torpedo strength is also insufficient. The Navy's problems are very large. For example, there is only one submarine attached to each naval base. It can only be said that this is nothing more than an embellishment and fundamentally cannot accomplish anything. Taiwan should make an all out effort to augment naval combat strength. In past Taiwan-US arms sale negotiations, the PC-3 early warning aircraft and the MH53 helicopter that Taiwan has made requests to purchase are entirely suitable to Taiwan's needs. The PC-3's intelligence exchange system is extremely important and is not inferior to the Aegis destroyer. 
	
	
 Question: Will the United States sell Aegis destroyers to Taiwan? 
	
	
 Kawamura: One of the reasons that the United States has all along not provided Aegis destroyers to Taiwan is that in the past the United States considered Taiwan's armed forces to be the armed forces of the Nationalist Party, not the armed forces of the nation. Nationalization of the armed forces after Lee Teng-hui (Li Teng-hui) and the loyal attitude of the armed forces after Chen Shui-bian (Ch'en Shui-pien) came into office have already gradually allowed the United States to feel at ease. Although Japan and the United States haven't recognized it, in reality, the United States, Japan and Taiwan currently are already situated in a kind of virtual alliance. I reckon that at the last stage, the United States will provide the Aegis destroyer to Taiwan. It is not possible that the Republican Party will get along with China, Taiwan can again wait for a little while. 
	
	
 Question: Where is China's true threat to Taiwan 
	
	
 Sato: China's threat to Taiwan is the use of the three methods of missiles, amphibious landing, and submarine blockades. The most likely method is to use missiles to threaten Taiwan psychologically. 
	
	
 Question: How should Taiwan respond to China's missile threat? 
	
	
 Sato: I gave a speech on this issue in Taiwan. Taiwan has some people who very obviously purposely play up China's use of force to scare Taiwan. In 1996, the Chinese People's Liberation Army indeed fired four missiles near Taiwan, but this was a kind of propaganda war. Before the United States attacked Afghanistan, it first explained the reasons to every nation of the world, and China using missiles to attack Taiwan is certainly not simple. If China only uses common warheads, at most, it would only make a few holes in Taiwan. If warheads with biological weapons are used, China has no means to justify this to international public opinion. During the Second World War, Germany fired 7,000 V1 and V2 missiles at England and England did not surrender. Recently, old Yugoslavia fired 3,000 missiles at Kosovo and Kosovo also did not surrender. This is an issue of will. 
	
	
 Question: What is the significance for Taiwan of the United States and Japan jointly researching TMD theater missile defense system technology? 
	
	
 Sato: After the 9-11 incident, the United States will be even keener on developing TMD. Taiwan is also very important to the United States, especially Taiwan's strategic position. The possibility of the TMD anti-missile system covering Taiwan in the future is very great. Currently, Taiwan's Patriot missiles are effective against guided missiles. I reckon that the probability of war occurring between China and Taiwan is smaller than small. Not using peaceful methods to resolve the Taiwan issue won't do, and I reckon that the US-Japan summit talks will discuss the issue of the two shores. 
	
	
 However, Taiwan announcing independence to the outside world is a variable. Taiwan announcing independence is not itself a problem, but because Taiwan announcing independence would bring unrest and a domino effect would occur with regard to Tibet and Xinjiang, this is China's greatest fear. There would be no difference between Taiwan announcing independence to the outside world and the current situation. Taiwan has no need to announce independence, and there won't be any problem if only the name "Taiwan" is used. 
	
	
 
	
	
 Attachments: TYSP 19 feb 02-1.pdf	





Document 001001213 ends.



72 Hours At Camp X-Ray

 


St. Petersburg Times  
February 20, 2002 
Pg. 1

  
72 Hours At Camp X-Ray

  As the detention camp reaches capacity, reporters are invited to 
watch the interplay between detainees, guards and doctors.

  
By Paul De La Garza

  GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - It begins as a shiny speck in 
the southeast skies of the lone landing strip here at Gitmo, the 
oldest U.S. base overseas. Within minutes the lumbering, gray 
C-141B Starlifter flies low over the tarmac and over a patch of 
palm trees, as if part of an annual air show. On a hot and windy 
afternoon, the deep blue waters of the Caribbean serve as the 
postcard backdrop.

  When the cargo jet finally lands, approaching the landing strip 
from the west, the noise is deafening.

  Almost immediately a crack security force of mostly baby-faced 
Marines surrounds the plane. They wear black baseball leg guards 
and bulletproof vests and carry M-16 rifles.

  Meanwhile, Humvees mounted with .50-caliber machine guns and 
40mm grenade launchers take their positions. A Navy helicopter 
whirls overhead.

  Once the aircraft is secured, the freak show begins, a sort of 
"Hannibal the Cannibal" production. Down the back ramp of the 
mammoth aircraft, the guards slowly unload the latest detainees 
from the war in Afghanistan, 34 altogether.

  Wearing bright orange wool knit caps, blacked-out goggles, 
earmuffs, white surgical masks, bright orange jumpsuits, denim 
jackets, beige mittens (taped around the wrists), handcuffs and 
ankle shackles, the detainees don't look natural.

  
They look like giant bright orange flies.

  After a 25-hour flight of mostly sitting, the prisoners hobble 
along as the Marines, who look twice as big, walk them out and 
frisk them. One soldier handles a captive like a mannequin - 
moving him back, forward, and to the side - before lifting him 
straight off his feet and onto one of two waiting buses.

  
"Walk! Walk!" the guards shout.

  
"Shut up! Head down!"

  "Man, they must be so scared," says a TV camerawoman watching 
with an international media pool from about 400 yards away.

  
"It must be freaky," chimes in her colleague.

  The prisoners are here because the military considers them 
"hard-core" terrorists - willing to escape, to kill themselves 
and others. But now they do pretty much as directed. They walk, 
they shut up, they lower their heads. They board buses that will 
take them to a ferry that will take them across Guantanamo Bay 
to a detention facility known as Camp X-Ray.

  A sign near the ferry slip conveys some of the strange vibe of 
Guantanamo, a 45-square mile naval base in which the detention 
camp comprises some 3 acres. The sign touts the area's wildlife 
- the brown pelican, the Antillean manatee, the bottlenose 
dolphin, the hawksbill turtle.

  "Watching wildlife can be a lot of fun," says the sign. "A pair 
of binoculars is helpful."

  Last Wednesday, the 10th flight from Kandahar to the 
southeastern tip of Cuba arrived, bringing the total number of 
detainees at Camp X-Ray to 288. A day later, another 12 came, 
effectively filling the camp to capacity.

  Base officials allowed reporters to record audio and report the 
landings live via cell phone for the first time since the 
flights began arriving Jan. 11. They refused to allow cameras.

  The last time the Pentagon released pictures of the detainees - 
on their knees, wearing the goggles, and surrounded by guards - 
the images created an international uproar. Rights groups cried 
inhumane treatment.

  Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld denied the allegations, 
insisting that the detainees have it better here than in 
Afghanistan.

  And he did what he routinely does when questioned about the way 
the United States is prosecuting the war on terrorism: He 
reminded critics of Sept. 11.

  When the detainees arrive at Camp X-Ray, they are told they're 
in Cuba and then undergo a 45-minute intake process, which, like 
the airstrip landing, is monitored by the Red Cross.

  The routine includes a delousing, or chemical washdown, and a 
physical. The detainees also get fingerprinted and photographed.

  They get a toothbrush, mint-flavored toothpaste, a bottle of 
"Lively Salon" antidandruff shampoo, soap, flip flops, a foam 
sleeping mat, two buckets, a washcloth, a canteen, a prayer cap, 
two blankets, a sheet, a Koran and two towels, one for praying.

  And, strangely, they get to write home. It's not that the U.S. 
military has a soft spot for the mothers of the Taliban or 
al-Qaida. Instead, base officials try to glean the prisoners' 
real names from the letters, as many tend to give multiple 
aliases during interrogations.

  When they're done, they're assigned to the cells in which they 
will begin their new lives. These are 8-feet-square, with 
chain-link sides and tin roofs. The Halogen lights stay on all 
night.

  The next day starts with prayer call about 5 a.m. A sign on a 
pole at the edge of the camp points the direction to Mecca. The 
prisoners come from 31 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Yemen, 
Pakistan, Algeria, England, Egypt, Australia, France, Russia, 
Belgium and Sweden. Base officials say there are Christian 
prisoners as well as Muslims.

  After prayer, the detainees' day goes like this: breakfast, a 
shower (every other day), sick call, noon prayer, lunch, 
recreation (15 minutes a couple of times a week), mail call, 
sunset prayer, dinner, evening prayer and bedtime around 9 p.m.

  Each meal the detainees get is considered halal, or religiously 
appropriate for Muslims. A typical breakfast includes oatmeal, 
an orange, fresh bread and a bottle of water. For lunch, it's 
pasta or vegetable stew, dry cereal including Froot Loops, a box 
of raisins, two granola bars, a bag of chips, and bag of peanuts 
and water.

  
For dinner they get white rice, red beans, a banana and water.

  U.S. Army Capt. Sean Campion, one of the camp guards, 
characterizes life at Camp X-Ray as "utter boredom."

  "If you do your job right," says Campion, 32, of Kansas City, 
Mo., "nothing is scheduled to happen."

  The guards mostly communicate with the prisoners via simple 
English commands and hand signals.

  "We're not holding any lengthy debates with them or anything," 
Campion says.

  Marine Corps Lt. Abuhena Mohammad Saiful-Islam, 39, speaks more 
with the detainees than almost anybody at the camp. As the 
Muslim chaplain, he ministers at the facility up to five hours 
every day.

  He says that with the start of the Muslim month of pilgrimage, 
during which the faithful journey to the holy city of Mecca, he 
detects more anxiety in the camp. Base officials are considering 
a special meal for March 10.

  "The role of chaplain is unique," Saiful-Islam says. "We don't 
go with a preconceived idea that the person is so and so. As a 
chaplain we approach them as a human being.

  
"We don't hate the sinner," he says, "but we hate the sin."

  Somebody asks Saiful-Islam if the relationship between the 
detainees and God has changed since their capture.

  "They haven't said that God has abandoned them, because they 
know," he says. "That's the hope that they have, that God is 
their only hope.

  "They do ask me what's going to happen. At this moment, I don't 
have an answer."

  Concertina wire and nine guard towers surround Camp X-Ray. The 
American flag is everywhere - painted on the guard towers, 
flying high in front of the facility.

  Unlike other parts of the base, the camp does not have a pretty 
setting. Turkey vultures hover over thick brush and scraggly 
hills.

  It is day two at X-Ray for the 34 newly arrived from Kandahar. A 
German shepherd and his handler patrol the camp's perimeter. 
Bright orange figures sit in their cells, some of them praying. 
One or two prisoners run for exercise in a fenced area, wearing 
handcuffs but no ankle shackles.

  Every so often a prisoner is led to one of five interrogation 
rooms, freshly built wood buildings with air conditioners and no 
windows. Three guards accompany him - one on either side and one 
behind.

  One of the guards puts a hand behind the head of the detainee, 
forcing him to look down. This is done to "provide positive 
control," says U.S. Army Col. Terry Carrico, in effect the 
prison warden.

  "It means he can't look ahead. He can't make a plan. They don't 
know where they're going. That's a technique across correctional 
facilities in the United States."

  Except for an occasional spitting incident or threat, officials 
say, the prisoners are docile. Base officials suspect that the 
people already in custody pass the word along to the new 
arrivals that they will be treated okay.

  "In the beginning, they were very unsure," says Carrico. "They 
didn't know if we were going to take care of them, hurt them or 
kill them."

  Some guards don't want to talk about their views of the 
prisoners. But U.S. Army Capt. Darrell Sides, 30, of Fort 
Benning, Ga., makes no bones about considering them terrorists.

  "We were all watching television Sept. 11," he says. "The 
security here I would consider tighter than death row in a 
prison in the United States."

  The morning run to Fleet Hospital 20 takes place as scheduled. 
This is for prisoners needing medical attention, as a fair 
number do. Some are underweight, others are missing toes, 
fingers and limbs.

  The hospital is several miles from Camp X-Ray, off Recreation 
Road. Along the way, if allowed, the detainees would get to see 
a bit of Americana, a portrait built over the past century.

  U.S. forces seized Guantanamo Bay during the Spanish-American 
War. In 1903, the U.S. government signed a lease with the 
Republic of Cuba. That contract, extended indefinitely in 1934, 
can be broken only by mutual agreement.

  The growth of the base has left Camp X-Ray surprisingly close to 
a suburban-style military community of beige, green and yellow 
houses in subdivisions with names like Caribbean Circle and West 
Iguana.

  Two boys in white karate outfits run down palm-lined Sherman 
Avenue. Another child, no more than 3 or 4, plays on a gym set, 
with a young woman keeping a watchful eye.

  Also up the road is the W.S. Sampson Elementary School, replete 
with yellow school buses, the Morale Welfare and Recreation 
Cooper Field with baseball and soccer fields, and the base's 
outdoor movie house, which is playing the movie, The Majestic.

  The 20-bed hospital is a high-tech, air-conditioned white tent 
which looks like a futuristic movie set, with low ceilings, 
fluorescent lighting, and padded white walls, floors and 
ceilings. The staff calls it a "temper tent."

  On this morning, U.S. Navy hospital corpsman Shuron Jerome, 19, 
of Houston is poring over a box of Valentines sent to Guantanamo 
by schoolchildren in Pennsylvania.

  
"Wish you could be with your family," one child has written.

  Jerome says the hospital feels no different than a hospital in 
the states, save for the high security and the various languages 
the detainees speak, including French, Russian, Urdu and Arabic. 
Most understand a little English, she says.

  While she sees the detainees as patients, she allows that 
they're not "regular patients." She often finds herself 
thinking, "Oh, my God, they could be related to this or related 
to that. But I still try to treat them as a patient."

  Fleet Hospital 20 has nine patients today. The bulk of the work 
includes blast and gunshot wounds from the war in Afghanistan.

  Just the other day, however, a surgeon took out the eye of a 
patient who had suffered a sports injury when he was younger. 
The pressure on the eye had become unbearable.

  The story got international play because it seemed to underscore 
the fact that tensions between the Americans and the detainees 
were easing. Indeed, the patient invited the surgeon for a cup 
of tea after the operation.

  The staff gives reporters a quick tour of the hospital, allowing 
photographs of some sections but not of the patients.

  As an al-Jazeera television crew walks through, the staff rolls 
out a patient who has just had his right index finger amputated 
as a result of a gunshot wound. The cameraman continues filming 
while a nurse covers the patient's face.

  In the recovery room, the patient's body starts trembling. The 
doctors explain this is a common reaction as patients awake from 
anesthesia. Still, it provides a bit of drama.

  "Michel! Michel!" yells a doctor still in her operating clothes. 
"You're doing good."

  Another doctor, speaking with a French accent, adds, "Good job, 
buddy."

  Finally, an interpreter comes in to talk to the patient. Eight 
other young-looking men, with shaved heads and beards growing, 
recover in their cots. Most of them sleep.

  The medical staff relies on linguists to help communicate with 
the patients, but they've also come up with their own 
inventions, such as a longhand list of English phrases and their 
Arabic counterparts. In a pinch, they show the patients the 
list, which includes the following phrases: I'm in pain. 
Thirsty. Hungry. Bathroom. Urinate. Arm. Hand. Leg. Back. IV 
Hurts. Cold. Hot. Sick, will throw up.

  While calm has returned to Fleet Hospital 20, officials 
elsewhere on the base are bracing for what they say may be 
inevitable: the death of one of the detainees. Not at the hands 
of the guards. But with 300 already in custody, and scores in 
poor health to begin with, they say something is bound to 
happen.

  In a briefing with reporters, Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Michael R. 
Lehnert, the commander of the prison project, says, "We continue 
to work to improve living conditions for both the detainees and 
our security forces."

  Within a couple months, he says, the operation will move to 
another part of Guantanamo called Radio Range, where utilities 
are more readily available and cells will have cots, air 
conditioning and toilets. The general is awaiting congressional 
approval before building for Radio Range begins.

  
For now, with the camp at capacity, flights here have stopped.




Document 001001218 ends.


	
Cuito, 25 Jan (Angop)- A road convoy which came in from Benguela Province carrying 1,500 metric tons of assorted goods arrived in the city of Cuito, the capital of Bie Province, on Tuesday [22 Jan]. The aim of this aid is to reduce the shortages faced by local population. 
	
	
 According to convoy chief Eusebio da Silva Ferreira, the convoy included 35 trucks, and it ferried 720 metric tons of corn, 623 metric tons of peas, and 157 metric tons of beans. He added that the above mentioned products will help offset the difficult social conditions of more than 460,000 people in need in the province. 
	
	
 These aid goods have arrived at a time when the World Food Program, WFP is cutting down on air transportation of aid to Bie Province from 3,500 metric tons to 2,000 metric tons. This is because of the high costs involved, and the poor conditions of the local landing strip. Because of these problems, the WFP has not been able to provide all the necessary assistance to people in need, who are estimated to total more than 460,000. 
	
	
	





Document 001001225 ends.



   China slams US arms sales to Taiwan

 


Author:     AFP [ THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2002 3:21:26 PM ]

  BEIJING: China on Thursday slammed increasingly close ties 
between the United States and Taiwan, demanding an end to 
official exchanges between the two and to US weapons sales.

  "The continual sale of arms by the United States or upgrading of 
relations with Taiwan will only lead to tensions across the 
straits," foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said.

  "We demand the US strictly abide by the commitments it has made 
to China, correct its erroneous acts or remarks so as to avoid 
new harm to China-US relations."

  Zhang further expressed alarm over Washington's announcement on 
Wednesday that defense department officials will soon visit 
Taiwan to discuss the sale of eight diesel electric submarines.

  "China has always resolutely opposed any form of official 
exchanges or military intercourse between the United States and 
Taiwan," Zhang said.

  "The Taiwan issue is the most important and sensitive issue at 
the core of Sino-US relations," she said at the biweekly 
ministry briefing.

  Military tensions in the Taiwan Strait were "not in the 
self-interests of the United States," she warned.

  She refused to confirm an April 26 to May 3 visit by Chinese 
Vice President Hu Jintao to Washington, as reported in the Hong 
Kong press. The visit, if Beijing allows it, is widely expected 
to be centered on China's dissatisfaction over the Taiwan issue.

  China has considered Taiwan a renegade province since 1949 and 
has threatened to bring it back by force if it continues to 
indefinitely refuse proposals for "peaceful reunification."

  Beijing has also long refused to establish diplomatic relations 
with any nation that maintains official contact with Taiwan, 
although it has encouraged economic exchanges between Taiwan and 
all nations.

  Zhang also bashed remarks made last month by US Deputy Defense 
Secretary Paul Wolfowitz at a meeting in Florida, attended by 
visiting Taiwanese Defense Minister Tang Yao-Ming.

  "The United States is committed to doing whatever it takes to 
help Taiwan defend itself," said Wolfowitz, echoing President 
George W. Bush's remarks made when he first took office last 
year.

  "Our position is clear," he continued. "We don't support Taiwan 
independence, but we oppose the use of force."

  Wolfowitz expressed concern about China's continuing deployment 
of forces and tactical missiles to areas across the straits from 
Taiwan.

  US officials denied Wolfowitz's remarks reflected a change in US 
policy on Taiwan.

  Zhang said: "The remarks of the US official are a ... violation 
of US commitments made (on Taiwan) and interference in China 
internal affairs. China is firmly opposed to the remarks."

  Chinese missile tests over Taiwan in 1996 resulted in Washington 
deploying two aircraft carrier battle groups to the region.



Copyright @ 2002 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. |




Document 001001228 ends.



U.S. wants Kyoto dropped from U.N. meet agenda

 



  
Tadayoshi Sakaguchi Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

  The United States, having pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol, is 
now objecting to its implementation in 2002 being mentioned as 
one of the goals for a global environmental agenda being drawn 
up at the United Nations.

  The United States has demanded that wording on bringing the 
Kyoto Protocol on global warming into effect in 2002 be excluded 
from the implementation documentation of a global environmental 
agenda being drawn up at the third session of the preparatory 
meeting of the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development 
(UNCED), sources said Thursday.

  The Kyoto pact grew out of the Conference of the Parties (COP) 
to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, which itself 
came out of UNCED.

  The United States has pulled out of the protocol, which obliges 
developed countries to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, and 
announced in February a voluntary U.S. plan to slow the growth 
of global warming gasses.

  The latest move, a sign that the United States is stiffening in 
its attitude toward the pact, will likely draw the ire of other 
countries, including those in the European Union as well as 
Japan, which want an early implentation of the Kyoto protocol.

  The implementation documents, being drawn up at an 
intergovernmental meeting at U.N. headquarters in New York, are 
based on a chairman's paper announced at the second session of 
the preparatory meeting in January. It states how to implement 
Agenda 21--a U.N. global action program for environmental 
restoration, preservation and social development.

  The chairman's paper stated that the countries will do their 
best to ensure 1997 Kyoto Protocol is put into effect in 2002 to 
curb global warming. It also stated developed countries would 
give financial and technical support to those countries 
vulnerable to climate change, such as island nations, and 
alleviate the global warming's impact by introducing devices 
such as satellite observation systems to monitor rising sea 
levels.

  The U.S. government delegation, however, demanded that these 
statements in the chairman's paper be reworded to say that 
countries would tackle climate change in line with the schedule 
agreed upon at COP7 (the seventh session of COP), which mapped 
out implementation of the Kyoto Protocol at an appropriate time.

  Furthermore, concerning assistance to island countries, although 
the U.S. delegation agreed to establish satellite observation 
systems, it demanded that wording about the impact of global 
warming be deleted. The delegation said that a causal relation 
between unusual climatic phenomena and greenhouse gas emissions 
has not been proved.

  The general opinion among other developed countries, however, is 
that the scientific data is commonly interpreted as linking 
droughts, floods and rising tides to global warming.

  
===

  
Cabinet OK's ratification draft

  The Cabinet endorsed for Diet approval a bill for ratification 
of the Kyoto Protocol as well as a revision bill on measures to 
fight global warming. The bill was submitted to the Diet later 
that day.

  In preparation for ratification, the government has already 
adopted a framework that would achieve the protocol's target on 
greenhouse gas emissions. After the Diet ratifies the protocol, 
work will begin on cutting gas emissions.

  
Copyright 2002 The Yomiuri Shimbun




Document 001001231 ends.


	
Brussels -- This week, the Second Chamber will initiate the debate on euthanasia. It will discuss the bills on euthanasia and palliative care that the Senate approved in the autumn of 2001. 
	
	
 Ever since then, the Senate's work has been subject to increasing criticisms, including from groups that support a possible law on euthanasia. The criticisms mainly focus on the applicability of the Senate's bill, the lack of a palliative filter prior to committing euthanasia, the supervisory role of the assessment committee, which is likely to be understaffed, and the nonexistence of fixed penalties for unjustifiable cases of euthanasia. 
	
	
 The Chamber will treat the bill differently than the Senate, which worked with a joint justice and public health committee. The Chamber's health, environment, and social emancipation committee will only have an advisory role. Yesterday [8 January], this committee initiated a hearing on palliative care. It includes a few VLD [Flemish Liberal Democrats] deputies who are very critical of the senators' work. According to the CD&amp;amp;V [Christian Democratic and Flemish], this is why this committee has only been given an advisory function. 
	
	
 Moreover, the Chamber's justice committee seems to want to go it alone regarding the euthanasia debate. This committee is scheduled to start the debate on the Senate's euthanasia bill today. 
	
	
 However, SP.A [Dutch-speaking Socialist Party - Different] Deputy Fred Erdman has drafted his own bill "regarding the problems connected with terminating one's life and the condition of terminally ill patients." VLD Floor Leader Hugo Coveliers and party member Maggie De Block also have a bill on euthanasia. A resolution proposed by Yolande Avondroodt (VLD) requesting working out a "palliative care plan according to a patient's needs" is based on this bill. 
	
	
 The Chamber apparently wants to push ahead with the debate on euthanasia because available speaking time is very limited. 
	
	
	





Document 001001233 ends.


	
If the attack on the World Trade Centre was intended to be a warning to America to abandon its anti-Arab policies, the warning was not heeded. The attacks have accomplished for the Bush administration and Israel what no political or social force within America has ever been able to accomplish in recent memory. The attacks have been a great gift to pro-Israel groups in America, as well as Israel. The notion of a right-wing Zionist state ardently propelled by right-wing America is a dream come true for pro-Israel groups. 
	
	
 Soon after the World Trade Centre attacks, we started to witness the beginning of a concerted effort by the Bush administration and the media to cast Arabs and Muslims as the new enemy of America. The campaign has been successful so far, and has not been seriously challenged by Arab and Muslim Americans who have been struggling to merely distance themselves from terrorism. The early signs of the newly-shaped American perception of their conflict with Arabs and Muslims have started to surface. Complete disregard for the plight of the Palestinians despite timid warnings to Israel to show restraint is indicative of the new political perspective. 
	
	
 Indeed, American foreign policy towards the Arab and Muslim worlds was not much better before Sept. 11, but since then tactful political manoeuvring has given way to forthright disregard for the Arab viewpoint. This is only the beginning of a new Arab-American relationship. Although it is difficult to imagine that the American foreign policy towards Arab issues could become worse than what it has been, my sense is that it will be much more difficult to argue the Arab viewpoint in the American decision-making quarters. Whatever little leverage the Arab countries used to have to moderate the American foreign policy bias has but disappeared. 
	
	
 The attack on the World Trade Centre was particularly disheartening to a fledgling Arab and Muslim American community that had made a tremendous amount of progress in introducing Arabs and Muslims as legitimate political constituents on the American political scene. It was once hoped that a well-organised Arab and Muslim community in the United States could curb the attacks on Arabs and Muslims in the media and start to do what Arab and Muslim governments had not done by injecting the Arab viewpoint into the American political discourse. 
	
	
 As bad as the prospects of change seem to be at this juncture, I don't believe fresh efforts are doomed to failure. There is need for a partnership between Arab and Muslim governments and existing Arab and Muslim communities in the United States to counterbalance the anti-Arab and anti-Muslim forces in America. 
	
	
 The American society is a dynamic, changing one that can be swayed if presented with the right message on a consistent basis. Since the attacks, I have had a chance to speak to many Americans who have no grasp of the Arab viewpoint. I have to say that Americans are not innately biased against Arabs and Muslims. Many people here are not happy with the influence that small pressure groups have on their foreign policy. Many people are enthusiastic about a new Arab-American relationship that is based on mutual respect and understanding. 
	
	
 A strong case can be made for change in the American foreign policy at the grassroots level. However, like any other legitimate message, it costs money, sustained effort, and organisation to put it out. The Arab and Muslim communities in the United States have made a great progress without considerable support from the Arab and Muslim governments. I believe much more can be accomplished if closer attention is paid to the potential for change from within America. Supporting our schools and community centres is a good starting point. 
	
	
	





Document 001001234 ends.


	
The Annual Human Rights Report of the US State Department has been strongly criticized and condemned by many countries. Though the report has been made public for 10 days, its contents, which are inaccurate and lacking good will, continue to be commented on by the world media. 
	
	
 Many countries in Asia, Europe, Africa, and Latin America have rejected the content of the US Human Rights Report, calling it a brazen distortion of the situation, a wrongful and illegitimate move, and an interference in the internal affairs of other countries. 
	
	
 Recently, the Information Office of the Chinese People's Congress released a report on human rights in the United States in 2001, criticizing violations of human rights there. The report quoting data from the Christian Science Monitor, points out that the murder rate in the United States is 5.5 per 100,000 people. In the United States, torture and pressure to confess crime is common. Many people have been sentenced to death for crime they did not commit as a result of an unjust legal system. More than 12 million children are living below the poverty line. According to the report, one American woman is beaten every 15 seconds. Evidence show that human rights violations in the United States have been ignored for many years. 
	
	
 These facts are well understood by the US Administration as human rights violations take place every day. The United States has been preparing annual reports on human rights in 190 countries for 25 years while ignoring the real situation at home. World analysts remarked that the US evaluation of the practice of human rights in other countries depends on the level of political relations between the United States and those countries. 
	
	
 This year, the US report devotes many pages to commenting on human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Iraq. The US judgment of the practice of human rights depends on US interests as well. The British News Agency Reuters remarked that in the 2000 human rights report, the United States criticized Egypt for trying suspected terrorists in military courts. However, such a criticism is absent in the 2001 human rights report as the United States is planning to try the al-Qa'ida and Taliban detainees in military courts while refusing to grant them POW status. 
	
	
 It is clear that the United States pays no attention to fundamental human rights unless they serve its political purpose. In light of the United States' malicious goals, its Annual Human Rights Report for 2001 is facing strong protest and criticism from the world. Many Americans have given evidence to prove the wrong judgment of their administration against human rights in other countries, especially in Vietnam. The Washington Times last weekend carried an article by Andrew Welsdan, a representative of the US Fund for Reconciliation and Development, rejecting the report's allegation of human rights in Vietnam. The article stressed that people in Vietnam are free to practice any religion, whether they are buddhists, catholics, or protestants. 
	
	
 The Annual Human Rights Report released by the US State Department is not convincing as it is inaccurate and fabricated.	







Document 001001235 ends.



Japan, U.S. Differ Over Global Warming Issues

 



  Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and visiting U.S. 
President George W. Bush differed over the Kyoto Protocol and 
how to prevent global warming but agreed to cooperate on that 
issue.

  Bush repeated his rejection of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol aimed 
atcurbing global warming, and pushed for the alternative he 
announced last week.

  Koizumi, meanwhile, called the new U.S. plan "a very 
constructive proposal," but asked for more efforts from the 
UnitedStates.

  "It is for the U.S. to decide whether to take part in the 
protocol or not, but I hope we will continue with our efforts so 
we can move in the same direction," said Koizumi, who supports 
theKyoto Protocol.

  "Both the economy and the environment can be improved 
together.We'd like to see further efforts on the part of the 
U.S.," the Japanese leader added.

  Bush rejected the Kyoto pact last March, saying that it would 
hurt U.S. economic growth.

  The U.S. president announced an alternative proposal last 
week,calling for voluntary limits on greenhouse gas emissions by 
companies in accordance with economic growth instead of 
mandatory reduction targets presented in the Kyoto pact.

  The proposal is criticized by environmentalists as ineffective 
for solving global warming and warn that under the plan U.S. 
greenhouse gas emissions will continue to rise.

  In Monday's summit talks, Bush and Koizumi agreed to cooperate 
together with other countries, including developing nations, on 
the issue of global warming.

  Japan and the U.S. can cooperate over the development of new 
technologies in the field and that such technologies will help 
notonly the environment but also economic development, they 
agreed.



Copyright by People's Daily Online, all rights reserved




Document 001001236 ends.



   Venezuela's new dawn

 



  
BBC correspondent in Caracas

  Venezuelans awoke on Friday to a country transformed by the 
dramatic and violent events of the last 24 hours, which left at 
least 11 people dead and more than 80 injured.

  A general strike and an escalating oil industry stoppage that 
had threatened to cripple the country's economy were no more - 
and the country not only had a new president, business leader 
Pedro Carmona, but a new name.

  The country was no longer the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, 
in honour of South American independence hero Simon Bolivar, one 
of former president Hugo Chavez's heroes.

  Now it is simply the Republic of Venezuela. The name change was 
Mr Carmona's first act as head of the transition government.

  His second was to announce the end of the three-day general 
strike he had called with the head of the Confederation of 
Venezuelan Workers (CTV) leader Carlos Ortega in support of 
protesting managers from state oil company PDVSA.

  
Shellshocked

  Managers were striking because Mr Chavez had filled the 
company's board of directors with his supporters.

  Despite the announcement, traffic was lighter than a normal 
Friday and many Venezuelans did not turn up for work.

  The country is in shellshock. On Thursday a peaceful rally of 
more than 100,000 mainly middle class Venezuelans had ended in 
bloodshed.

  As marchers called for Mr Chavez's resignation outside 
Miraflores, the presidential palace, shots were fired into the 
crowd. Eyewitness Euridice Ledesma said snipers fired on the 
marchers from rooftops near the palace.

  Film footage also caught armed supporters of Mr Chavez firing 
indiscriminately at the marchers.

  Later army chief, General Efrain Vasquez said some "Bolivarian" 
groups were indeed armed.

  "It was horrible. These groups were shooting at defenceless 
people," said photographer Luis Gomez.

  
Chavez's last day

  At the time, Mr Chavez was addressing the nation to assure them 
his government respected people's right to demonstrate and 
freedom of the press.

  Moments later he announced that he had taken five national 
television channels off the air for "telling lies about the 
government".

  The shootings were the final straw for the military. A 
succession of officers filled the TV screens to say they 
supported the people and that the killings were "not tolerable".

  As tanks surrounded Miraflores, Mr Chavez was holed up with 
senior military officers in a bid to save his presidency.

  In the early hours of the morning, chief of the armed forces 
General Lucas Rincon held a brief news conference to say Mr 
Chavez's resignation had been demanded and accepted.

  Earlier his wife, Marisabel, and children had left Caracas in 
the cover of darkness on a PDVSA jet for Barquisimeto in western 
Venezuela.

  Mr Chavez is currently detained at Fuerte Tiuna army base in 
Caracas and could face possible charges for his role in the 
killings.

  News of Mr Chavez's resignation caused hundreds of flag-waving 
and whistle-blowing Venezuelans to surround the city's air force 
base, La Carlota, in the hope of seeing Mr Chavez' departure 
from the country.

  Mr Chavez's exit has left Venezuela with a power vacuum and no 
obvious long-term leader. The challenge now is to heal the deep 
social divisions that exist within the country.

  "I think people are happy because Chavez has fallen. But there's 
also a feeling of uncertainty about how the country's obvious 
problems are going to be solved," said Ms Ledesma.


Copyright @ BBC




Document 001001239 ends.


       

Advanced Medical Technologies Inc. said it purchased 93% of a unit of Henley Group Inc. 

Advanced Medical paid $106 million in cash for its share in a unit of Henley's Fisher Scientific subsidiary.
The unit makes intravenous pumps used by hospitals and had more than $110 million in sales last year, according to Advanced Medical. 




Document 001001240 ends.



America is axis of evil for the Arab world

 



  The American president is not really popular in the Arab world. 
George Bush has become an object for harsh criticism after his 
recent statement about the axis of evil. If Yasser Arafat is 
trying to do something to pacify the West, other Arab 
politicians and journalists are not afraid of saying something 
daring.

  The Egyptian governmental newspaper Al-Ahram wrote that Bush 
used the same language in his State of the Union speech that 
Osama bin Laden used in his video messages. The editor of the 
Al-Quds newspaper published in London Abd Al-Bari Atvan went 
further and compared George Bush with Hitler. The editor wrote 
that Bush showed in his speech that he is craving for blood and 
is ready to declare war on half of the world in order to take 
revenge. The editor believes that Bush is willing to wage war 
against Iran and Iraq, because they have weapons of mass 
destruction, but Bush does not want to notice that Israel also 
has these kinds of weapons. Atvan said that Bush's speech looked 
like one of Hitler's. The threats to Iran and Iraq were like 
Hitler's threats to Poland and Czech republic. The editor of the 
Arabic newspaper believes that one should do everything possible 
to put an end to Bush's imprudence, otherwise the war that he is 
going to have will overshadow the World Wars.

  Palestinian Alhayat Aljadeeda media outlets and the Voice of 
Palestine radio repeatedly called America the enemy of the 
Palestinian people after that "axis of evil" statement.

  North Korea said America was the "devil's empire." The official 
Korean news agency stated that Bush used "the hypothetical 
threat against North Korea as the pretext for the considerable 
increase of military spending."

  The Soviet Union was also called the "evil empire" years ago. It 
seemed that such labels would never come into the picture again. 
However, it is becoming rather fashionable now for countries to 
exchange harsh words with each other like kids.

  
Sergey Borisov


Copyright @1999 by "Pravda.RU". When reproducing our materials 
in whole or in part, reference to Pravda.RU should be made.




Document 001001242 ends.


	

	
	
 The tragic and shocking events that shook the United States, destroying a number of its economic, urban, and military landmarks, have aroused grief and sorrow worldwide. This is because the terrorist violence has struck innocent women and children and defenseless civilians. The scenes of destruction reminded the Palestinian people of the ongoing devastation and the Palestinians who are falling victim to the Israeli acts of bombardment, targeted assassinations, and incursions into Palestinian towns and villages, including Bayt Jala, Gaza, Khan Yunus, Rafah, Janin, Tulkarm, Ramlallah, Jericho, Nabulus, and others. 
	
	
 Nobody who has a live conscience and human feelings, whether he is Palestinian or otherwise, could not have been moved by these events and expressed sympathy for the families of the US victims, regardless of the US political stances that are totally biased to Israel and Israel's use of the most advanced US weapons to curb the Palestinian intifadah. This is because the Palestinians were, and still are, hoping that the Americans would realize, if they have not already realized, the justice of the Palestinian cause and the enormous injustice suffered by the Palestinians, who were expelled from their homeland, whose land was occupied, and who were deprived of the minimum political and human rights. 
	
	
 If any people are going to be moved by the scenes of destruction that involved Manhattan, the World Trade Center, and the Pentagon, it is the Palestinian people. These people saw the majority of their security sites destroyed and the residential neighborhoods and apartment buildings parallel to the combat lines with the Israeli army and settlements in the West Bank and Gaza targeted by the Apaches helicopters and large-caliber artillery and machine guns. 
	
	
 However, for Israel to take advantage of the US tragedy to claim that it is standing in one ditch with the United States against the violence of terrorism, this is a twisted logic. This is because Israel is an occupation state, one that is persecuting the Palestinians and denying them the right to exercise their national and sovereign rights. Such a comparison would be theoretically valid if Israel withdrew from the occupied territories but the violence of terrorism against it continued. 
	
	
 While the world is busy following the news of the attacks on the US targets and feeling sorry for these acts, Israel carried out an incursion into Janin and the neighboring villages, bombarded more Palestinian internal security sites, demolished more homes in East Jerusalem, and killed an additional number of Palestinian activists and non-activists, including an 11-year-old girl. 
	
	
 It is very important for the United States to realize the difference between the US and Israeli cases. The Palestinians want nothing from Washington but to understand their cause and stand beside right and justice. What is required of Israel is to withdraw, both on the military and settlement fronts, from the territories occupied in 1967, and the United States should push its ally Israel in that direction. This would put an end to sensitivities, hatred, and injustice and spread peace in the region and the world. 
	
	
	





Document 001001244 ends.


	
JOHANNESBURG Aug 19 Sapa DEFENCE FORCE CHIEF IN CHINA 
	
	
 SA National Defence Force (SANDF) chief General Siphiwe Nyanda has left for China, SABC radio news reported on Sunday. 
	
	
 SANDF spokesman General Chris Pepane said this was Nyanda's first goodwill visit to China. 
	
	
 The visit is aimed at strengthening military relations between the two countries. 
	
	
 Nyanda is scheduled to return after a week and he will then immediately travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 
	
	
 Source : Sapa /gf/am Date : 19 Aug 2001 16:41	





Document 001001254 ends.


	
France's Chirac talks to Pakistan's Musharraf 
	
	
 Text of report by French news agency AFP 
	
	
 Paris, 28 December (AFP): President Jacques Chirac urged a "de-escalation" between India and Pakistan during a telephone conversation on Friday [28 December] evening with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, the Elysee [French presidency] said. The French head of state, who is spending the seasonal holiday at the Bregancon fort in the Var [department], took the initiative of telephoning his Pakistani opposite number to convey "his very strong concern at the rising tension between India and Pakistan", the same source said. "Everything must be done by everyone to bring about de-escalation," Mr Chirac added. He stressed that "the present cycle will lead to a dangerous situation". 
	
	
	





Document 001001255 ends.


	
DURBAN March 19 Sapa SA OBSERVER: ZIM ELECTIONS NOT FREE AND FAIR 
	
	
 Another member of the South African Observer Mission to Zimbabwe says the past weekend's presidential election in the southern African country was not free and fair. Methodist Bishop Purity Malinga on Tuesday echoed the sentiments of South Africa's Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) chairwoman Brigalia Bam that Zimbabwe election did not conform to international standards. 
	
	
 Bam on Sunday said she believed Zimbabwe's election was not free and fair, adding they were not in line with international standards as well as those of her organisation. Malinga, who represented South African churches on 50-member mission, told journalists during breakfast at the Diakonia Council of Churches in Durban, that she was uncomfortable with the manner in which the team had been treated -- even before they left South Africa. 
	
	
 "We were also advised to be vigilant in what we say in private and in public," Malinga said. Each member was handed a booklet containing guidelines on Zimbabwean election laws. "Personally I felt that one is going to be used here, but I nevertheless hoped the presence of outsiders in Zimbabwe would stop some illegal acts which may have been committed." 
	
	
 The booklet was published by the Electoral Institute of South Africa, in Pretoria. Malinga said according to the guidelines in the booklet, the election had been legitimate. She believed that SAOM head, Dr Sam Motsuenyane had probably based his findings on the guidelines. In a preliminary, Motsuenyane declared the Zimbabwe poll "legitimate", adding they could, however, not be openly described as free and fair. 
	
	
 Malinga, who was based in southern Matabeleland near Beitbridge, said the election were characterised by -- among others -- intimidation. "Even in the queues at polling centres there was a lot of fear and tension. The election was run by the police and the army who carried weapons. Under these circumstances nobody can feel free." 
	
	
 She said international observers were treated with suspicion by the police. "At one station were not allowed in and told that we had nothing to do with the Zimbabwe issue. At another station we were ordered to stay at least 100 metres away. Even local observers could not enter these stations," she said. 
	
	
 "Many people were also unable to vote because their names were not on the voters' role. They were turned away in twenties, thirties and fifties." SAOM on Monday stopped short of declaring the Zimbabwean presidential election free and fair, but the African National Congress majority on the committee declared the poll "credible". 
	
	
 The majority report, endorsed only by the ANC, said the observer mission had noted that over three million Zimbabweans had cast their votes and this substantially represented the will of the people. The Inkatha Freedom Party, Democratic Alliance, New National Party, African Christian Democratic Party, the Pan Africanist Congress and the United Christian Democratic Party had disagreed with the ANC conclusion. 
	
	
 The United Democratic Movement was still undecided. Other delegates in SAOM aligned themselves with the findings of the Southern African Development Community parliamentary forum that said the vote had not met SADC's norms and standards. The United States, Britain, local Zimbabwean observers, and the Commonwealth observer team also described the poll as not free and fair. 
	
	
 Source : Sapa /cp/im Date : 19 Mar 2002 13:14	





Document 001001257 ends.


 
  
  
    
      June 26, 1995
      Dear Friend:
      This is not newsletter. It is a fund-raising appeal.
      But there's no reason why we shouldn't share good news at the same
      time. Federal, state and local governments are freezing or withdrawing
      much-needed funding sources for people who are truly in need. In spite of
      that, Pleasant Run Children's Homes, with the help of hundreds of
      volunteers and others who really care, continues to make a significant
      impact on the futures of families and kids in need of help.
      We all hear about today's increases in neglect, abuse and abandonment
      of those who can't fight back: children. Yet few of us hear enough about
      kids who live through these adversities and do make the grade.
      The positive side. These are special children. They come into a
      Pleasant Run program... whether it's for therapeutic help in their own
      homes (which nurtures whole families), through foster care families or in
      the familial surroundings of our residential homes.
      For some, it's a matter of weeks or months; for others, it's years.
      They leave Pleasant Run, generally, ready and able to contribute to
      society. We're proud of our children and all that they overcome.
      We are a not-for-profit, multi-service agency. We wouldn't exist if
      the need weren't there. The numbers of children who deserve our services
      are rising... as quickly as our programs can grow to serve them.
      Please help us help them. Pleasant Run Children's Homes... "where good
      kids get better."
      Sincerely,
      Mary Roth Tom Hirschauer
    
  



Document 001001258 ends.



   
   
      
         My name is Bonnie Rindner and I was born in San Antonio, TX, and the story I'm going to tell is about my mother.
         Um, a little background first.
         Her, let's see, her mother's family were wealthy people at one time.
         They owned car dealerships and extensive land.
         Um, I don't know if they were farmers or not, but I know they were land owners, um, many acres and, um, her grandmother was raised in wealth.
         Uh, then the Depression came and apparently everyone lost all their money.
         Um, she was raised in MO, and she married a man, this is my grandmother I'm talking about.
         And they were very poor by this point, and they had, I think, seven children.
         And one particular Christmas, things were very, very difficult.
         There was no money to buy any presents at all, um, for the children, and my grandfather, who was killed when my mother was 16, this was, of course, way before that, um, he must have been a very positive person because what he did with the situation was he, he told the children that there were no presents this Christmas because they had given them all to Santa to take the poor children and this made the children feel happy and proud of themselves and it gave them a good feeling that they had done something very nice for someone less fortunate than themselves.
         Um, I felt like that was a way to face that situation with such hope and with joy and with love.
         And although I never met my grandfather, I have never forgotten that story and when I hear of him I think what a wonderful, wonderful person he must have been.
      
      
         And how long have you lived in Charlotte?
      
      
         Oh, I have lived in Charlotte, um, for a year.
         Um, I lived in Charlotte for five years.
         We came here in 1986, we lived here for five years, then we moved to Raleigh for seven years and now we've been back one year.
      
      
         Well, good.
      
   



Document 001001259 ends.


	
The European Union, which is historically and geographically more closer to the Middle East than the United States, had to make a move after the Europeans ran out of patience toward the worsening US stand that supports the Israeli right-wing policies. 
	
	
 The United States pressured the weaker side, the Palestinians, who are under occupation and subjected to repressive Israeli measures, including assassinations, arrests, incursions into cities, demolition of hundreds of homes, and uprooting of thousands of trees. The United States, which is pleased with Israel, did not see these Israeli practices and instead focused its attention on the Palestinians' reactions that were generated by the Israeli provocations. 
	
	
 Meanwhile, a European initiative, launched by all the European Union members, gradually began to take shape. Spain and France, which were at the forefront, led an intensive media drive to highlight what is actually happening in the Palestinian territories and extricate the peace process from the stalemate. 
	
	
 The peace process was deadlocked as a result of the oppressive Israeli military campaign against the Palestinian nationalistic move and Israel's insistence on suspending the political negotiations and focusing on military actions to subjugate the Palestinian people and liquidate their legitimate rights and aspirations. 
	
	
 Perhaps the most important characteristic of the new European initiative is the fact that it annuls the hardline Israeli-US stand, which rejects any kind of political negotiations unless the violence stops completely. 
	
	
 The Europeans were in the right when they emphasized that this unrealistic stand brought the peace process to a deadlock and plunged the Palestinians and Israelis into an endless cycle of violence. Therefore, the political negotiations should be resumed ahead of any effort aimed at achieving a peace acceptable to both sides. 
	
	
 The European plan is sensible because it calls for setting up a Palestinian state in the territories that were seized in 1967 in line with the international resolutions provided that the Israeli side officially agrees to this move. 
	
	
 Under this plan, the negotiations should focus on a mechanism for Israel's withdrawal from the occupied territories, ending the settlement activity, finding a just solution to the issue of Palestinian refugees, and allowing time to reorganize the Palestinian house from within with a view to achieving democracy and introducing a multi-party system. The Palestinian leadership and President Yasir Arafat welcomed this plan a few weeks ago. 
	
	
 There is no doubt whatsoever that the Palestinian people welcome and support the new European initiative because it is bold and fair and seeks to revive the peace process on realistic and just bases. This initiative is not partial. It does not turn a blind eye to the Israeli practices, occupation, and settlement activity and dismisses the notion of punishing the wronged Palestinian people who have been deprived of all their national and human rights. 
	
	
 This initiative disapproves of the flimsy pretexts to increase the Palestinians' suffering and encourage the Israeli right-wing stands, which is what the US Administration has been doing lately. 
	
	
 The European initiative will serve as a test of not only Israel's intentions toward the peace process that are known for being negative, but also as a test of the US stand. This initiative will show whether the United States will give up its complete and blind bias toward Israel in order to achieve a just solution restoring the Palestinian people's legitimate rights and guaranteeing peace, security, and stability for all nations in the region. 
	
	
	





Document 001001260 ends.


       

Tony Lama Co. said that Equus Investment II Limited Partnership has proposed changing the offer for the company to $13.65 in cash and stock from an all-cash transaction. 

Under terms of the new proposal, Equus, managed by Equus Capital Corp., Houston, would pay $12 cash and one new preferred share with a liquidation preference of $1.65 a share for each of Tony Lama's 2.1 million shares outstanding.
Previously, it offered $13.65 a share in cash, or $29 million. 

The El Paso, Texas, maker of Western boots and leather accessories said the preferred stock would accrue dividends at a 12% rate, but wouldn't be paid for the first two years.
The stock would be redeemed in five years, subject to terms of the surviving company's debt. 

Neither Equus nor Tony Lama gave a reason for the changed offer and Tony Lama couldn't be reached for comment.
However, Tony Lama said it would promptly submit the offer to a special committee of the company's board. 




Document 001001261 ends.


	
Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax 
	
	
 Moscow, 21 January: President Vladimir Putin visited the Khrunichev space centre on Monday evening [21 January]. In one of the workshops, he was told in detail about manned and unmanned spacecraft. The centre's chief, Aleksandr Medvedev, reported to the president about the development of Russia's segment on board the International Space Station [ISS]. Rosaviakosmos Director Yuriy Koptev, in his turn, told the president that, at present, Russia was actively interacting with European countries on "the interchangeability" of the ISS' American segment. Koptev explained that the USA has suspended the ISS development programme until a deficit of 4.7bn dollars is paid off. According to Koptev, such interaction with Europe would make it possible for six spacemen to be on board the ISS rather than the current three, as well as to use a Russian Soyuz rocket as a rescue spaceship. The director-general of the Khrunichev centre briefed the head of state on how the heavy Proton rocket-booster had been upgraded. According to the director, it is this rocket booster that launches almost all of Russia's military and civilian satellites into space. According to Medvedev, the main upgrading work included "the replacement of the control system, improvement of design data, the determination of ecological measures at the first stage, and the improvement of the rocket-booster at the boosting unit's expense." The upgrading and especially the last part - the boosting unit - have made it possible "to surge on the foreign market" and provided for a great economic and commercial effect from the launch of an upgraded Proton rocket-booster, said Medvedev. In all, since the first launch of Proton in 1965, according to Medvedev, 284 launches of this rocket have been made, all from the Baykonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Accompanying the president at the Khrunichev centre are Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov, deputy chief of Presidential Administration, Sergey Prikhodko; chief of staff, Anatoliy Kvashnin, presidential assistant, Yevgeniy Shaposhnikov, Deputy Defence Minister Aleksey Moskovskiy and Space Forces Commander Anatoliy Perminov. 
	
	
	





Document 001001263 ends.


	
COTABATO CITY - An alleged member of Nur Misuari's elite force said Saturday there is a plan to rescue their jailed leader. 
	
	
 MacArthur Rasul, who claims to be a spokesperson of Misuari's Mutallah Force, said the group was just waiting for orders to mount the rescue operation. 
	
	
 Rasul told Radio Mindanao Network here that some 1,000 members of the Misuari force have been on standby and are prepared to spring their leader from detention in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, at anytime. 
	
	
 Misuari, charged with rebellion for the Nov. 19 mutiny staged in Jolo by his followers, is locked up at the Fort Sto. Domingo police detention facility in Sta. Rosa. His pocket rebellion and a subsequent hostage-taking situation resulted in over 100 deaths. 
	
	
 "Our field commanders are just waiting for orders from the higher hierarchy," Rasul said. 
	
	
 Rasul admitted, however, that even if there was a strong desire among Misuari's followers to free him, the plan would fail if the jailed rebel leader went against it. 
	
	
 "If Chairman Misuari would go against (the rescue), we cannot do otherwise (but follow) because he is our commander in chief," he said. 
	
	
 But while admitting to the plot, Rasul said Misuari's followers were also appealing to the Macapagal administration to free their leader. "For the sake of peace," he said. 
	
	
 Rasul said they could not understand why the government was so hard on Misuari when it was lenient with other leaders who revolted in the past. 
	
	
 "If the government was able to extend amnesty to our Christian brothers, like (former renegade Army officer Gregorio) "Gringo" Honasan and others, why can't it accord the same privilege to Chairman Misuari?" Rasul asked. 
	
	
 Local Government Assistant Secretary Abraham Iribani called on Saturday for sobriety among Muslim leaders and Moro National Liberation Front commanders amid alleged attempts by certain groups to start a religious war over Misuari's detention. 
	
	
 "We should remain calm and let the law take its course," Iribani, designated government spokesperson for Misuari's case, said he told a group of Muslim leaders and MNLF commanders in a dialogue in Zamboanga City. 
	
	
 Irabini said he explained to them that Misuari was being held for rebellion, and not because "he was a Muslim, a member of the Bangsamoro people or an MNLF leader." 
	
	
 Some Moro groups had claimed Misuari's detention was an affront to the Muslim people and should be cause for a "Muslim war." 
	
	
 "I told them the act of rebellion happened in public and the charges were not just fabricated," Iribani said in a phone interview. 
	
	
 Dialogue 
	
	
 The local government official held a dialogue with the Muslim leaders to officially report to them Misuari's status and answer their questions about his arrest and detention. 
	
	
 Iribani also dismissed reports that renegade MNLF commanders were plotting to stage bomb attacks in Mindanao and Metro Manila to protest Misuari's arrest. 
	
	
 "That's not true," he said. 
	
	
 Iribani said he explained to the Muslim leaders that Misuari's personal demands, including access to the media, could not be granted because these were not within his rights as a detainee. 
	
	
 As this developed, the number of lawyers who will defend Misuari grew to 28, after former Davao City Mayor Benjamin de Guzman and two others agreed to serve as his counsel. 
	
	
 De Guzman said it was lawyer Macapanton Abbas Jr. who asked him, former vice mayor Dominador Zuno Jr. and city councilor Victorio Advincula to join the team of lawyers that would defend Misuari in court. 
	
	
 Misuari's other lawyers warned yesterday the country's judicial system, more than their client, will be on trial because of the legal nuances surrounding his arrest. 
	
	
 The deportation of Misuari by Malaysia also drew flak from opposition legislators who warned that it could trigger a reaction in the government's peace efforts. 
	
	
 Maguindanao Rep. Didagen Dilangalen said the prosecution of Misuari for rebellion could force the government to revive the cases against other rebel leaders, particularly of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the National Democratic Front. 
	
	
 Sen. Aquilino Pimentel expressed the same apprehension. 
	
	
 Aside from the sensitive legal questions, Pimentel said there is a growing impression that Misuari could pose a security threat to the country. 
	
	
 Among the other members of Misuari's defense team are former Integrated Bar of the Philippines president Arthur Lim, former Court of Appeals justice Omar Amin, former labor relations commissioner Musib Buat, Salvador Panelo, US-based Elly Pamatong and former ARRM solicitor general Jose Lorena. 
	
	
	





Document 001001265 ends.


	
With international consensus having been reached regarding a treaty to combat climate change, a ``red light'' has been issued to South Korea's heavily carbon-dependent industries. 
	
	
 Last Saturday, representatives of 165 countries finally agreed on the rules to implement the 1997 Kyoto Protocol after two weeks of negotiations held in Marrakech, Morocco. 
	
	
 According to the accord, about 40 industrialized countries must cut or limit emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases by an average of 5.2 percent from 1990 levels by 2012. 
	
	
 Scientists believe these ``greenhouse'' gases (GHG), which mainly result from burning fossil fuels, raise the earth's temperature and change the climate by creating floods, droughts, and other abnormal weather phenomena. 
	
	
 As South Korea is not included in the Annex I parties, composed of industrialized countries, the accord, which is expected to go into effect some time next year, is not likely to affect the country for a while. 
	
	
 Although a member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), South Korea is still regarded as a developing country and is not obliged to reduce its GHG emissions under the treaty. 
	
	
 But considering that South Korea has the highest growth rate of carbon dioxide emissions in the world, it will not be able to fend off international pressure to join in the global campaign to reduce greenhouse gases much longer, experts note. 
	
	
 According to statistics released by International Energy Agency (IEA), a Paris-based agency affiliated with the OECD, South Korea was found to have recorded the highest growth rate of carbon dioxide emissions in 1999, showing a 75.5 percent increase since 1990. 
	
	
 In terms of the amount of emissions, South Korea discharged 410 million tons of carbon dioxide in 1999, ranking tenth in the world. 
	
	
 If industrialized countries start cutting back on GHG emissions from 2008, when the first target period begins, South Korea will become the seventh most carbon dioxide-producing country in the world, according to IEA figures. 
	
	
 But the government has not taken any concrete steps regarding the cutback of greenhouse gas emissions, maintaining a wait-and-see approach instead. 
	
	
 ``As South Korea has `developing country' status, we are not in a position to voluntarily express our course of action,'' said Yoon Jong-soo, director of the global environment office at the Environment Ministry. 
	
	
 ``We estimate Korea will probably join the countries cutting back emissions no later than 2018. Until then, we plan to step up efforts to gradually change our energy structure and reduce greenhouse gases by promoting research on renewable energy and energy-efficient technologies,'' he said. 
	
	
 Jun Mu, deputy director of the industry and environment team at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), said, ``So far, industries have been rather passive in dealing with emission reductions, as is has been something that was considered to lie far off in the future. 
	
	
 ``We will first start gathering the opinions of business leaders regarding Korea's ratification of the treaty, while continuing to promote the development of energy-efficient technologies,'' he said, adding a special committee on climate change was formed under KCCI last January. 
	
	
 The international treaty to tackle climate change was first envisioned in Kyoto four years ago, but due to the conflicting interests of developed and developing countries as well as other contentious issues such as emission reduction mechanisms and targets, it is yet to go into effect. 
	
	
 The protocol faced danger of being shelved altogether, when the U.S, which is responsible for one-fourth of all CO2 emissions in the world, decided to abruptly withdraw from the climate change treaty last March. The Bush administration fears the treaty will have a negative effect on its economy and maintains that developing countries, such as China and India, should also be subject to mandatory emission targets. 
	
	
 But due to the strong initiative of the global community, led by the European Union, countries agreed on a set of rules to implement the climate change treaty _ with or without the U.S. 
	
	
 In order for the protocol to be implemented, it must be ratified by at least 55 parties, including enough industrialized countries to represent at least 55 percent of the total carbon dioxide emissions in 1990. 
	
	
 A total 43 countries have ratified he treaty so far, with Korea yet to ratify. 
	
	
	





Document 001001266 ends.


	
Sharp divisions between Western countries, Africa emerge 
	
	
 Political Reporters - SHARP divisions between Western countries and Africa have emerged over the fate of Zimbabwe's presidential election results while China has thrown its weight behind President Mugabe. 
	
	
 The United States, Britain and several Western countries declared that the outcome was illegitimate while African leaders and China upheld the elections. 
	
	
 The United States, which has already imposed sanctions on the country, was quick to say that President Mugabe had systematically subverted democracy, with other European nations saying that there were signs the country's presidential poll was deeply "flawed". 
	
	
 In stark contrast, election observers from black African nations Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya and Namibia endorsed the vote that returned President Mugabe to power for a fifth successive term. 
	
	
 US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Washington was considering new sanctions following the results of the March 9-11 election. 
	
	
 He said there was overwhelming evidence that polling was neither free nor fair. 
	
	
 "The pre-election period was marked by a sustained Government-orchestrated campaign of intimidation and violence, and the numerous and profound irregularities in the electoral process itself resulted in an outcome that does not reflect the will of the people of Zimbabwe," Powell said. 
	
	
 He said that for more than two years President Mugabe's administration had "systematically subverted democratic principles and processes" and his actions had resulted in thousands of Zimbabweans being disenfranchised. 
	
	
 However, local political scientists yesterday said the comments coming from the US and some Western countries were not surprising, as they had already made their decisions not to accept President Mugabe's victory before the election. 
	
	
 Dr Ibbo Mandaza, the chairman of the Southern African Regional Institute for Policy Studies and editor-in-chief of the Zimbabwe Mirror, blamed the media and some sections of the academia whom he said "acted in collusion with people outside the country with their own agenda against this country and tried to shape perceptions about the developments in Zimbabwe". 
	
	
 He said there was also too much interference from the British, especially over the issue of land. 
	
	
 Dr Mandaza ruled out any possibility of a rebellion, saying that the vanquished had no such capacity since they were the minority. 
	
	
 Committed 
	
	
 "The West can't do anything about Zimbabwe as long as the people of Zimbabwe are committed to see this country prosper. There won't be a rebellion because the majority voted for President Mugabe. They don't have the capacity and in any case it is not necessary," he said. 
	
	
 University of Zimbabwe lecturer Dr Vimbai Chivaura said Africa had never had the same interests with the West and it would be foolhardy for one to expect them to give a favourable comment over the presidential elections. 
	
	
 "Our interests have nothing to do with how people report about us. The West is our enemy and it would be surprising if they gave any favourable comment about us," he said. 
	
	
 Dr Chivaura said the fact that the majority of Zimbabweans had voted for President Mugabe indicated that they were not concerned about what the British or the Americans were going to do. 
	
	
 "We don't have to worry. We should continue with our business as usual and we can't expect the Commonwealth to say something positive about Zimbabwe when its head is the Queen," Dr Chivaura said. 
	
	
 The reaction from Western governments, according to Reuters, was in stark contrast to remarks by election observers from Nigeria, South Africa and Namibia. 
	
	
 A Nigerian group said it had recorded no incident serious enough to threaten the integrity of the election and South African observers described the poll as "legitimate". Namibia's observer team said the election was "watertight, without room for rigging". 
	
	
 An observer team from the Organisation of African Unity hailed the election as "transparent, credible, free and fair". 
	
	
 Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi congratulated President Mugabe, saying his victory was "testimony of the confidence and high esteem the people of Zimbabwe hold you in". 
	
	
 The congratulatory message carried by South African Vice-President Mr Jacob Zuma was an affirmation of the southern African countries' recognition of the elections. This deals a blow to Western reliance on South Africa to transmit their sanctions message. 
	
	
 Mr Mbeki's stance on the elections signals a oneness that the continent has not enjoyed in the past and lack of which the West has exploited to put into power their puppets. 
	
	
 As events unfold in Zimbabwe and the will of the people is realised with the election of Cde Mugabe, a senior State Department official said Washington was now expected to freeze any assets held by President Mugabe and his close associates in the United States. 
	
	
 However, since this threat was made several months ago, the European Union and the United States have failed to produce any evidence that President Mugabe had such foreign assets. 
	
	
 The Zimbabwean President has dismissed these allegations and openly invited these countries to confiscate whatever they find. The United States and European Union imposed a travel ban on the Zimbabwean leadership last month in a bid to bolster the chances of the opposition MDC candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, of winning the elections. 
	
	
 UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan acknowledged he was getting conflicting reports about whether the poll was conducted fairly, and urged Zimbabweans to refrain from violence. 
	
	
 Triumphed 
	
	
 Some European governments appeared to be holding fire until the EU had reviewed reports from poll observers, but none expressed surprise that Cde Mugabe had triumphed over challenger Morgan Tsvangirai. 
	
	
 Norway, which had 25 observers during the poll, was one of the first European states to openly denounce the election. 
	
	
 "The presidential election in Zimbabwe has not satisfied the fundamental requirements for a democratic election," Foreign Minister Jan Petersen said in a statement. 
	
	
 British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told reporters: "For months, the Government of Zimbabwe has conducted a systematic campaign of violence and intimidation, designed to achieve an outcome - power at all costs." 
	
	
 He declined to say what action Britain, the former colonial power, would now take, but said it was consulting the EU and the Commonwealth. 
	
	
 France and Germany also said early information pointed to the vote failing to be free and fair. 
	
	
 President Mugabe won 56 percent of the vote against 42 percent for Mr Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change. 
	
	
 Mr Tsvangirai accused President Mugabe, in power for the past 22 years, of systematically stealing the election by using intimidation, special laws and dirty tricks. 
	
	
 Human rights group Amnesty International said it was concerned about the high risk of violence in the aftermath of the election, particularly against opposition supporters. 
	
	
 "Action should be taken to ensure that the post- election period is free from the human rights abuses that have marred the run-up to the presidential elections," it said. 
	
	
 "Military presence is being built up in towns such as Bulawayo, Gweru and Kwekwe and human rights defenders are coming under increased threat," it said. 
	
	
 Observers from the 14-member Southern Africa Development Community's (Sadc) Parliamentary Forum, which was financed by the European Union after it was kicked out of the country, said: "The electoral process could not be said to have adequately complied with the norms and standards for elections in the Sadc region." 
	
	
 Australian observers said they feared violence if voters thought the election had been stolen. But no violence has occurred so far. 
	
	
 Nigeria, South Africa and Australia were mandated by the Commonwealth to report on the poll after the 54-nation group failed to agree to suspend Zimbabwe at its summit last month. 
	
	
 New Zealand said on Wednesday it stood ready to impose sanctions if the Commonwealth chose not to suspend Harare. 
	
	
 Canada said it was still studying observers' reports, but Prime Minister Jean Chretien told parliament: "I agree ...it does not look very good".	





Document 001001268 ends.


       

The Finnish government and major creditors of bankrupt shipyard Waertsilae Marine Industries Oy agreed in principle to form a new company to complete most of the troubled shipyard's backlog of 15 ships. 

The new company will attempt to limit the shipyard's losses, participants said. "The situation is that the bankruptcy court will get out of the shipbuilding business.
Everything will be taken over by the new company," said Christian Andersson, executive vice president of Oy Waertsilae, former parent of Waertsilae Marine. 

Once its ownership is finalized, the new company will open talks with state-appointed receivers to buy or lease Waertsilae Marine's shipyard facilities.
Subcontractors will be offered a settlement and a swift transition to new management is expected to avert an exodus of skilled workers from Waertsilae Marine's two big shipyards, government officials said. 

Under an accord signed yesterday, the government and Union Bank of Finland would become major shareholders in the new company, each injecting 100 million Finnish markkaa ($23.5 million).
Oy Waertsilae is to contribute 200 million markkaa, most of it as subordinated debt, and take a minority stake in the new company. 

Customers holding contracts for Waertsilae Marine's undelivered ships are expected to subscribe most of the remaining 170 million markkaa in share capital, government officials said. 

Waertsilae Marine's biggest creditor is Miami-based Carnival Cruise Lines Inc. Carnival, which has three ships on order from Waertsilae Marine, presented claims for $1.5 billion damages in the bankruptcy court this week. 

Waertsilae Marine's bankruptcy proceedings began Tuesday in a Helsinki court. 




Document 001001271 ends.


	
Two IDF soldiers were lightly wounded in gunfire exchanges near the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. They were evacuated to Jerusalem's Hadassah-En Kerem Hospital. 
	
	
 Sources in Bethlehem reported that the IDF has occupied the Palace Hotel at the outskirts of the Church of the Nativity compound. The Palestinians also reported that the IDF has entered the village of Ubaydiyah east of Bethlehem and is conducting searches and arrests there.	





Document 001001272 ends.


	

	
	
 Kazakhstan's external trade turnover, not counting unregulated trade, reached 11,305,400,000 dollars in January-September 2001, up 14 per cent year on year, the Kazakh State Agency for Statistics has said. The agency said that the trade balance was favourable, at 1.84bn dollars over the period (the balance in January-September 2000 was favourable, at 2.89bn dollars). The CIS countries accounted for 30.9 per cent of total exports over the period (compared with 27 per cent over the same period in 2000). 
	
	
	





Document 001001273 ends.



Camp X-Ray Or Club Med?

 


 
 
San Francisco Chronicle  
January 24, 2002 
Pg. 23 
Camp X-Ray Or Club Med?  
By Debra J. Saunders 

  AFTER SPENDING months in frigid Afghanistan caves subsisting on 
Allah knows what, the 158 detainees the United States is holding 
in tropical Guantanamo Bay must think they've died and gone to 
heaven.

  
Well, heaven without the 72 virgins.

  The detainees should look at the balmy Camp X-ray -- replete 
with running water, three square meals a day and modern medical 
care -- as a sort of Taliban version of Club Med. Call it Club 
Gitmo.

  Yet, some Americans and Brits have been hollering about the U.S. 
treatment of these tough guys. British newspaper headlines have 
screamed about U.S. "Torture!" and "Monstrous Inhumanity," while 
stories say prisoners are treated "like wild beasts" in "cages." 
Amnesty International issued a press release accusing the United 
States of "keeping prisoners incommunicado, (using) sensory 
deprivation, the use of unnecessary restraint and the 
humiliation of people through tactics such as shaving them" in 
an effort to 'break' the spirit of individuals ahead of 
interrogation."

  It should be noted that much of the uproar is over photographs 
of the detainees taken as they were being transported from 
airplanes to their cells. The military wisely shackles prisoners 
during transport: That's when it's easiest for violent people to 
hurt others.

  Also, a British Foreign Ministry team, which spent three days at 
Club Gitmo, reported that three British citizens being held 
there had "no complaints about their treatment."

  As the Washington Post reported, Foreign Office Parliamentary 
Secretary Ben Bradshaw also explained that there were "no gags, 
no goggles, no earmuffs and no shackles while (the prisoners) 
are in their cells."

  Still, some people just have to bash the United States. And they 
apparently don't care if the criticism makes them look clueless 
as to what really is inhumane. Take the sensory deprivation 
charge. Does Amnesty International think that wearing a hood on 
an airplane is sensory deprivation, instead of a security 
measure? Isn't the Taliban code all about sensory deprivation?

  As for the "unnecessary restraint," one detainee has announced 
that he wants to kill an American before he leaves Cuba, and 
another detainee bit a guard, according to Pentagon spokesman 
Capt. Riccoh Player. So make that "necessary restraint."

  I was embarrassed by some of the press corps' comments during 
Tuesday's Pentagon briefing. Talk about clueless. First, there's 
the reporter who likened living in the tropics without air 
conditioning to "torture."

  Then there's the reporter who asked Secretary of Defense Donald 
Rumsfeld if American Taliban John Walker will be treated the 
same as the detainees. "Will he be put in an 8-by-8-foot cell 
that has no walls but only a roof?" was the follow-up question.

  
I'd guess that's one journalist who's never been to a prison.

  "In an 8-by-8-foot space, (on some ships) we would cram half a 
dozen sailors," was one U.S. official's reaction.

  Then there's the status of the detainees. Some Brits and Amnesty 
International want them to be officially classified as POWs. The 
detainee status however, gives the U.S. military the leeway to 
interrogate these former operatives about any future terrorist 
attacks.

  White House spokesman Ken Lisaius rightly noted of the Club 
Gitmo guests that, "for the most part, they're members of al 
Qaeda and if they were free, they'd engage in murder once 
again."

  You could understand the outrage if the U.S. military were 
torturing or otherwise mistreating the detainees. Instead, 
Amnesty International and the comrades are outraged that the 
military is treating al Qaeda captives like prisoners. Oh, the 
horror.

  You get the feeling that if Rummy booked these tough guys into a 
Motel 6, they'd complain that there's no room service.




Document 001001274 ends.


	
Prague -- The UN has confirmed to the Czech Republic the successful ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, the aim of which is to ensure the reduction of the so-called greenhouse gases, Environment Minister Milos Kuzvart told the participants in a UN conference on climatic changes in the Moroccan city of Marrakech yesterday. The Czech Republic is the first country of the Visegrad group to have completed the ratification process. The Kyoto Protocol, which was signed four years ago, provides for a 5.2% reduction in the emission of polluting gases by industrial states in 2008-2012, compared with the 1990 level.	





Document 001001276 ends.



   In praise of those 'damn Yankees'

 


Author:     David Warren

  WASHINGTON - On the face of things, it is hard to see how any 
reasonable person could object to the "war" the United States is 
now waging against international terrorism and terrorist 
regimes. The targets in this conflict are the common enemy of 
all civilized men and women, regardless of race, colour or 
creed; and the magnitude of the threat they pose was revealed to 
the world on the morning of Sept. 11. That the United States is 
compelled, through the unpreparedness of its allies, to conduct 
this fight in its military dimension almost single-handedly, 
should be a cause for soul-searching gratitude among those 
allies, hardly the resentment we have so often seen.

  To be fair, so far as truth can be discerned from polls, the 
free Western world is indeed grateful, and on balance quite 
supportive of the cause the Americans are leading. Where there 
are not even polls, in the tyrannies of the Middle East, of 
Africa and Asia, there is occasional evidence of the respect 
that the United States can command -- the belief that for all 
its flaws, the United States remains the champion of freedom.

  Perhaps the best evidence of this is the huge demand for U.S. 
visas -- especially in places such as the West Bank and Gaza. 
Potential terrorists may well be concealed among them, but for 
the great majority, it is common knowledge that the United 
States is a land of freedom and opportunity -- the preferred 
destination of the world's emigrants for the better part of the 
past two centuries. Action is more eloquent than words, and the 
real attitudes of people are often revealed in what they take 
for granted.

  This is especially true of intellectuals, the sometime masters 
of paradox (though sometimes paradox is their master). The many 
thousand generously funded U.S. universities are magnets for 
young literates from every culture. Often enough, the radicals 
who spout anti-American doctrines imbibed them amidst the safety 
and leisure of U.S. campus life. And in their confusion of ends 
and means, they make free use of technology and media largely 
developed in that America.

  The world's most prominent self-styled "Palestinian refugee," 
Edward Said, is the perfect example of this: a man who would be 
nothing without the chic and prestige conferred by elite U.S. 
universities and the publishing institutions of New York, N.Y. 
This man, who advanced a mendacious critique of "Orientalism," 
is himself a product of the scholarship he demeaned; and is able 
to command audiences in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East 
because of his success in America.

  Second only to the terrorism itself, this more muted and often 
self-satisfied anti-Americanism puts a great evil on open 
display. And while the conventional and verbal anti-Americanism 
is in a different league from the terrorist strikes -- closer to 
hypocrisy than to murderous hatred -- I think the two are 
animated by a common cause: a cause to be sought in the murk of 
the individual human soul, not in the externals of political 
argument.

  I come to this view after three decades of adult life, having 
encountered and often tried to resist anti-Americanism in 
several countries. Again and again, I have discovered it is a 
simple prejudice, rather than a product of comprehensive 
reasoning: for the charges brought against those "damn Yankees" 
shift loosely between the U.S. polity and people, and are no 
sooner effectively rebutted than more charges come forward in 
their place. There is a quality of "knowingness" about them, a 
flavour of conspiracy -- as if the world's most open nation and 
society were secretly behind every local misfortune. "We all 
know."

  In the column I wrote on the very day of the September 
catastrophe, I touched upon the envy of America, which I 
believed to be its "root cause." This column drew incredulous 
responses from several fairly sophisticated readers. In the 
words of one, "I can't believe anyone would sacrifice themselves 
and many others over something as petty as envy."

  Almost five months later, I feel more certain that my analysis 
was essentially right: We must look to moral rather than 
political causes to understand this "natural" antipathy that so 
much of the planet shares.

  Voices stilled by horror in the wake of the terror attacks on 
America, resumed their anti-American tirade when the United 
States took action in Afghanistan, and recently raised the pitch 
over the prisoners issue at Guantanamo Bay. And even in the 
first hours after the catastrophe, CBC was unselfconsciously 
airing a procession of guests making liberal use of the "but" 
construction. ("Yes, that was horrible ... but we have to 
realize why the Americans are so hated.")

  It was no surprise to me, though a surprise to others, to find 
both right-wing tabloids and left-wing pundits joining the fray 
in Europe over what I have come to call, facetiously, "the Gitmo 
Gandhis"; to see the speed with which even mildly conservative 
fellow-Canadians jumped to the conclusion that the United States 
was mistreating its "hostages," and wilfully ignoring Geneva 
Conventions that few had ever read. Nor are they now eager to 
retreat, after the collapse of all their arguments and thorough 
investigations by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

  For while the "left" has compounded anti-Americanism into dogma, 
the "right" in Canada, Europe and beyond, participates in the 
envy of U.S. success. From British lords down to humble 
skinheads, sneering at the American "vulgarity" confers a 
comforting sense of personal and national vindication, when no 
other prop can be found.

  Let me pause only briefly to allow that America is imperfect, 
like all earthly things; that its governments and people have 
committed many sins; that might does not make right; that power 
and wealth are not good in themselves; that goodness, truth and 
beauty may be found in every country and town. Let us even, 
sometimes, expect more from people born to every earthly 
advantage, and sometimes less from those born without.

  The mistake is to assume that envy is something so petty. Our 
ancestors wisely placed it among the mortal sins. It is a canker 
in the heart, that spreads by vanity through the human soul, 
turning worldly into spiritual failure. It can never be right to 
indulge this disease.

  We are told it is wrong to hate our enemies. What begins to 
happen when we hate our friends?



Copyright @ 2002 National Post Online |




Document 001001277 ends.


	
BAGRAM, Afghanistan, Dec 7 (AFP) - In a foretaste of resistance to foreign peacekeepers by the Northern Alliance, an uneasy atmosphere reigns between US forces and their Afghan allies at the Bagram airbase north of Kabul. 
	
	
 Once the main Soviet airbase during Moscow's 1979-89 invasion of Afghanistan, Bagram has now become the hub for flights into the country as Kabul's own airport cannot be used because of unexploded US bombs. 
	
	
 Although Northern Alliance control the main entrance to the base, some 60 kilometres (35 miles) north of Kabul, just inside the perimeter there is a checkpoint manned by heavily-armed US soldiers. 
	
	
 A few feet (metres) ahead down the road, British commandos are on guard duty. 
	
	
 A contingent of the US 10th mountain division has taken up base at Bagram, joining some 150 British Marines, to establish a humanitarian air corridor for international aid but also to ensure security at the crucial airbase. 
	
	
 "By no means are we trying to set up a permanent presence here, we just want to help," said US military spokesman Sergeant-Major Ray Cordell. 
	
	
 But the ill-disciplined alliance troops showed little-disguised irritation at the Americans' dominant role at Bagram, refusing to allow journalists through to speak to the US soldiers. 
	
	
 The top alliance commander in the area, General Babajan, driving out of the base to inspect positions along with some US and British officers, good naturedly shrugged off any problem. 
	
	
 "Our cooperation? It is good, you can see they (the Americans) are here," he said smiling. But then asked about permission to visit the base, Babajan replied: "You have to talk to the Americans, they're in charge here." 
	
	
 The balance of authority became clear when the general invited journalists to accompany the military convoy, an order swiftly countermanded by the US officers. 
	
	
 At the checkpoint, five US soldiers armed with M-4 carbines were manning the post, assisted by a sniffer dog. 
	
	
 The US military will not say how many troops they have brought to the base but their presence has already provoked an armed incident. 
	
	
 A group of journalists who toured Bagram accompanied by US soldiers on Wednesday were halted in their tracks by a burst of gunfire by alliance soldiers next to their vehicle. 
	
	
 "When it gets to the point that Northern Alliance troops start firing in the air just next to a car with reporters, you have to do something about it," said Cordell. 
	
	
 He said that Northern Alliance commanders were irritated by images of armed US soldiers on Afghan soil, and so media access to the base had to be temporarily suspended. 
	
	
 "They don't want their people to see pictures of foreign troops in Afghanistan," he said. 
	
	
 But the spokesman also admitted that the US troops reminded the Afghans of the Soviet military invasion. 
	
	
 "We have the same caps as the Soviet soldiers, that brings back bad memories for the Afghans," said Cordell. 
	
	
 Ironically, some 200 armed Russians, who appeared to be from the military although they were dressed in uniforms of Russia's emergencies ministry, set up camp 10 days ago in the centre of Kabul. 
	
	
 Moscow said they are there to help re-establish its embassy and deliver humanitarian supplies. 
	
	
 But Russia, which armed the alliance throughout its five-year civil war with the Taliban, has offered unequivocal political support for the loose coalition of ethnic minorities which swept into Kabul on November 13. 
	
	
 Under the power-sharing accord signed in Bonn on Wednesday, which should see a new interim government take power on December 22, a mainly Muslim UN-mandated security force is to be deployed in Kabul. 
	
	
 However Northern Alliance defence minister General Mohammad Qasim Fahim said the same day that he had rebuffed a British offer to send troops to Kabul in the coming days and insisted he wants a strictly limited UN force.	





Document 001001278 ends.


	
GABORONE Sept 17 Sapa SADC, USAID SIGN DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENTS 
	
	
 Executive secretary of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Prega Ramsamy and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on Monday signed dollar-based agreements to up American aid to SADC in three areas. 
	
	
 In rand-terms, an additional R7,77-million was committed for drought relief to bring the total to R44-million; R6,48-million to support the objective of achieving an integrated regional market in southern Africa, bringing the total committed to R189-million; and R898560 in support of strengthening regional economies through non governmental organisations, bringing the total committed to the programme to R88,99-million. 
	
	
 The three programmes are virtually open ended, being topped up as projects finish and others are initiated. "This signing sends a message to SADC of the importance with which the new US administration views regional integration in southern Africa," US ambassador to Botswana John Lange, who is also the special representative of the US government to SADC, said. "It is US policy to continue this type of cooperation." 
	
	
 Ramsamy also condemned last Tuesday's terror attacks in the United States. "The SADC secretariat condemns unreservedly and in the strongest terms this act of terrorism," he said. Replying, Lange said: "The day September 11, 2001 has become one of the worst days in American history. "It was not only an attack on our global village, but the foundations of democracy. We are grateful for the strong support expressed by the international community, particularly the SADC member states." 
	
	
 Ramsamy also read a joint statement made on Thursday at the close of a meeting of SADC foreign and finance ministers in Blantyre, Malawi, labelling the terror attacks ghastly and barbaric. "We learnt of the attacks with great shock and sorrow," the ministers said. "We strongly condemn this ghastly and barbaric act of terrorism and wanton destruction of property and the loss of innocent lives. The people of the US are known for their strong sense of justice which will no doubt see them through this trying time and bring the culprits to book." 
	
	
 The 14 members of SADC are: Angola, Botswana, Democratic Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe. 
	
	
 Source : Sapa /le/wj Date : 17 Sep 2001 19:53	





Document 001001280 ends.


       

BLOCKBUSTER ENTERTAINMENT CORP. said it raised $92 million from an offering of liquid yield option notes.
The gross proceeds from the sale of the notes, which will be due on Nov. 1, 2004, will be used to reduce existing debt and for general corporate purposes, the company said.
The debt reduction is expected to save the Fort Lauderdale, Fla. home video concern about $2 million a year in interest expense.
The zero-coupon subordinated notes have no periodic interest payments.
Each note is being offered at $308.32 per $1,000 principal amount at maturity, representing an 8% yield to maturity.
In addition, each note can be converted into Blockbuster Entertainment common stock at a rate of 13.851 shares per note.
Merrill Lynch Capital Markets Inc. is the sole underwriter for the offering.
The notes will have a principal amount of $300 million at maturity.
Blockbuster shares closed yesterday at $18.75, down $1.125, in New York Stock Exchange trading. 




Document 001001281 ends.


       

ONEIDA Ltd. declared a 10% stock dividend, payable Dec. 15 to stock of record Nov. 17.
The Oneida, N.Y., maker of consumer, food-service and industrial products also declared a quarterly cash dividend of 12 cents a share, with the same payable and record dates.
The cash dividend paid on the common stock also will apply to the new shares, the company said.
The move rewards shareholders and should improve the stock's liquidity, Oneida said.
The company has about 8.8 million shares outstanding.
In New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday, Oneida's shares closed at $18.375 a share, unchanged. 




Document 001001282 ends.



Argentina's Chaos Raises New Doubts on Monetary Fund

 



  WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 - The deadly riots in Argentina, the 
collapse of its government and another multibillion dollar 
bailout gone awry have raised fresh questions about the 
effectiveness of the International Monetary Fund and the 
financial policies of the United States, the fund's leading 
shareholder.

  Latin American and European government leaders today joined 
protesters in Buenos Aires, Wall Street traders and financial 
experts in putting at least part of the blame for Argentina's 
problems on the lending agency and the Clinton and Bush 
administrations.

  Some say the monetary fund showed callousness by failing to give 
new aid to Argentina early this month, as the country's economic 
program, designed with I.M.F. approval, was forcing painful 
austerity measures on its citizens. Others say the fund made the 
opposite mistake, repeatedly offering loans to Argentina despite 
indications that the country's policies had become unworkable, 
delaying the day of reckoning.

  These criticisms, even if contradictory, increase pressure on 
the I.M.F. and the Bush administration to articulate a clear 
policy toward financial rescue efforts, which often come under 
fire even when they are judged successful.

  Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill came into office publicly 
denouncing multibillion dollar bailouts, saying that either they 
fail outright or they allow foreign governments to get away with 
bad policymaking and investors to get away with bad bets.

  In practice, however, the Bush administration has yet to take a 
clear stance on such bailouts and has made international 
financial policy a low priority.

  Peru's finance minister, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, complained today 
that the fund bungled its dealings with Argentina by adopting 
inconsistent policies that were at turns passive and inflexible. 
"The fund is partly to blame for this because the fund did not 
sound the alarm in time and then took a very hard line when 
things were incredibly difficult," he told Peruvian radio.

  Hubert Vedrine, the French foreign minister, assailed the I.M.F. 
for abandoning a longtime client and imposing "demands that have 
been excessive or at the wrong time." The French, who like the 
United States are significant fund shareholders, have called on 
the lending agency to step up its involvement to help Argentina 
recover.

  After some hand-wringing about jeopardizing the money of 
American "plumbers and carpenters," Mr. O'Neill supported a 
multibillion loan for Argentina in August. He has also backed 
two large rescue packages for Turkey, a strategic ally that has 
faced tough financial problems.

  When Argentina's crisis worsened in recent weeks, Bush 
administration officials did not take a firm position, allowing 
the I.M.F. to make the call on withholding additional loans, 
people involved in the fund's deliberations said.

  Even the harshest critics of the I.M.F. put most of the blame 
for Argentina's current plight on a succession of governments in 
Buenos Aires. But many say the monetary fund should have called 
government officials to account sooner.

  Argentina adopted a strict fixed- currency regime and overhauled 
its banks in the early 1990's. It tamed inflation and became, 
for a spell, a glowing economic success story.

  But subsequent governments allowed spending to grow out of 
control, building up a foreign debt that became impossible to 
maintain. Argentina also fell into a deep recession four years 
ago. The government beseeched the I.M.F. for help to stay 
solvent as it tried to work through its problems.

  Backed by both the Clinton and Bush administrations, the I.M.F. 
twice came to the rescue, beginning late last year.

  The idea was to help the country defend its fixed currency, 
which had become a political touchstone, while avoiding default 
on $132 billion in foreign debt, allowing it to continue good 
relations with foreign investors.

  The terms of the aid program were wrenching. The government 
agreed to slash spending during a deep recession to increase the 
chances of making debt payments on schedule.

  "If Argentina got its core economic policies right, it would 
have avoided this problem," said Charles Calomiris, a finance 
and economics professor at Columbia University who has been 
sounding the alarm about Argentina for months. "But the I.M.F. 
and both the Clinton and Bush administrations let them stay in 
denial. They all wanted the problem to fall on someone else's 
watch."

  It is always a tough call to cut off aid, Mr. Calomiris said. 
But he argued that by delaying, the fund helped Argentina dig 
itself into a deeper hole.

  "If you do not show leadership and make it happen early, then 
you face a catastrophe," he said.

  Michael Mussa, the I.M.F.'s chief economist until last spring, 
said the fund was justified in providing aid to Argentina late 
last year.

  But he said that he disagreed with the decision by the fund and 
the Bush administration to continue the aid program in August, 
when he said the situation in Argentina had likely deteriorated 
beyond repair.

  "The fund made a mistake in not saying no in August," Mr. Mussa 
said. "The situation might have been more controllable then."

  The difficulty, of course, is that such calls are much easier to 
make in hindsight. Mr. Mussa acknowledged that even when the 
political and economic situation in Argentina was more stable, a 
move to delay debt payments or devalue the currency ran the risk 
of rattling financial markets and even causing a financial 
implosion in the region.

  In contrast, by watching Argentina wrestle with its finances 
over a period of months, financial markets anticipated the 
possibility of a default. The chances of contagion are now 
viewed as minimal.

  Moreover, it is difficult to place blame for Argentina's 
economic program squarely on the fund when much of the policy 
was designed by Argentina itself, sometimes over the objections 
of the fund's economists.

  At an August meeting at I.M.F. headquarters, fund officials told 
Domingo Cavallo, Argentina's economy minister, that the country 
would be better off delaying debt payments.

  Argentina, however, was determined to pay its debts in full and 
keep its fixed currency in place, fulfilling what it viewed as a 
promise to its citizens and creditors who had been told for 
years that pesos were as good as dollars. It outlined strict 
fiscal policies that it claimed would allow it to meet its 
obligations.

  But by December, as Mr. Cavallo resorted to freezing bank 
accounts and raiding pension funds to find enough hard currency 
to make debt payments, collapse looked imminent. The fund 
decided to suspend aid for a program that appeared to have 
little chance of success.

  Though there were unique elements, Argentina's demise seems 
certain to add to the doubts about the wisdom of bailouts, 
doubts that have grown in recent years. Nearly every major 
financial rescue effort, including those in Mexico, Thailand, 
Indonesia, South Korea, Russia and Brazil, has come under 
intense scrutiny from the left and the right, albeit for widely 
varying reasons.

  Fund officials say privately that they cannot avoid financial 
bailouts altogether. The lesson of Argentina, they say, is that 
they need to find a way to say no before the people they are 
supposed to be helping take to the streets.



Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company




Document 001001283 ends.


	
ISTANBUL, Dec 21 (A.A) - Rauf Denktas, the President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) said on Friday that Cyprus is wanted to be given as a gift to those who stole the Cyprus government by means of EU membership. 
	
	
 ``I expect the Turkish world to resist to that as much as Turkey does and to act consciously to defend the law and justice,`` he said. 
	
	
 The Turkish States and Communities Friendship, Brotherhood and Cooperation Congress started the same day. 
	
	
 Addressing the meeting, Denktas said that this week is ``Martryrs Week,`` adding that ``it is the 38th anniversary of the struggle started to annihilate Turks in Cyprus...We fought for half of our lives to prevent the occupation of Cyprus from Greece and not to make the island a Greek dagger that is thrust into the heart of Anatolia. I wish the representatives of the Turkish world to bring this message to their friends.`` 
	
	
 Noting that the agreements signed in 1960 for Cyprus were considered as nonexistent by many countries, Denktas said that the international society treated the island as if it was a Greek Cypriot Republic and treated its Turkish partner as if it was a minority. 
	
	
 Denktas said that they are ready to live together with Greek Cypriots in the island, adding that they don`t have the will to send Greek Cypriots from the island. 
	
	
 ``We wish them to give up their wish and policy to throw us from the island. They should not condemn us with lies and by deceiving the world,`` he said. 
	
	
 Denktas noted that there is no Cypriot nation in the island and there can`t be a minority if there is no nation, stressing that he will launch efforts to make Cyprus a friendship bridge between Turkey and Greece. 
	
	
 Calling on the representatives of the Turkish world who attended the congress, Denktas said that Turkish Cypriots are not minority in the island and representatives should explain this fact in every place which they visit. 
	
	
 Also asking for help from the Turkish press, Denktas said that ``I ask for help from the press as I will negotiate for peace and compromise to solve Cyprus question. I would like these representatives to explain the fact to the EU, which forgot the 1960 Constitution that the Turkish Cypriots are not minority and the Greek Cypriot side which wants to join the EU unilaterally and as if it was the legitimate government of Cyprus is not expected in the EU.`` 
	
	
 Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, TRNC, autonomous federal states namely Altay, Bashkortostan, Chuvashia, Khakassia, Gagauz Place, Chechnia, Crimea, Saha, Tatarstan, Tuva, and Turks living in Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Kosovo, Western Thrace, the U.S., Europe, Middle East and Afghanistan attended the meeting which was held under the auspices of former Turkish President Suleyman Demirel. 
	
	
	





Document 001001285 ends.


       

Poughkeepsie Savings Bank said a plan to sell its South Carolina branch offices to First Citizens Bank, of Columbia, S.C., fell through. 

Poughkeepsie also expects to post a one-time charge of $8.3 million, resulting in a net loss for the third quarter.
The charge represents a write-down of the goodwill associated with Poughkeepsie's investment in the banks it is trying to sell and its North Carolina branches as well. 

The thrift announced the plan Aug. 21.
Among other reasons, high fees regulators imposed on certain transfers of thrift deposits to commercial banks "substantially altered the economics of the transaction for both parties," Poughkeepsie said. 

Additionally, the bank is increasing its loan-loss reserves for the third quarter by $8.5 million before taxes. 

In the year-earlier third quarter, Poughkeepsie Savings had net income of $2.8 million, or 77 cents a share. 

Poughkeepsie said it is continuing to try to sell itself, under a June agreement with a dissident-shareholder group.
The bank also said its effort would continue past the Nov. 1 deadline set in that agreement and that the litigation between the two sides might resume as a result.
The thrift and the holders had suspended their lawsuits as part of the agreement. 




Document 001001287 ends.


	
Nairobi, March 13 (XINHUA) -- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's reelection has been praised by the Organization of African Unity (OAU), African countries, but condemned by some western countries. 
	
	
 The OAU observer team in Zimbabwe described the election held on March 9-11 as "free and fair." 
	
	
 "On the basis of observations made during the voting, verification and counting process on the ground and objective realities, the OAU observer team wishes to state that in general the elections were transparent, credible, free and fair," the team's leader Gertrude Mongella said. 
	
	
 In his congratulation message to his Zimbabwean counterpart Robert Mugabe, Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa calls him a champion of democracy. 
	
	
 "I am pleased to send my warm congratulations on the renewed and the deserved presidential mandate the people of Zimbabwe have given you," Mkapa said. 
	
	
 "It would be a great tragedy for anyone to determine the outcome of an African election in Europe," Mkapa said. 
	
	
 "It was upon the people of Zimbabwe to decide who should lead them and they have done that loudly and clearly." 
	
	
 "The people of Zimbabwe have re-elected you because you have been same (consistent) in defending their inalienable rights to their country's freedom, democratic and sovereign government," Mkapa said. 
	
	
 Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi congratulated Mugabe on his reelection, saying his victory and that of his ZANU-PF party was " testimony of the confidence and high esteem the people of Zimbabwe hold in you". 
	
	
 Within the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC), a team from the SADC Council of Ministers considered that the vote in Zimbabwe was a "true reflection" of the people's will. 
	
	
 The chief SADC parliamentary observer Duke Lefhoko said that " the results are the affair of the people of Zimbabwe." 
	
	
 The SADC Council of Ministers in a statement appeals to the people of Zimbabwe to accept the results. 
	
	
 The South African government in a statement welcomes the fact that the actual elections and subsequent processes have proceeded without any significant conflict among the participants. 
	
	
 The statement said, according to the Preliminary Report of the South African Observer Mission, Zimbabwe's elections should be considered as legitimate. 
	
	
 The Nigerian government, a key player in Africa's reaction to events in Zimbabwe, will announce on Thursday its verdict on the elections, Information Minister Jerry Gana said. 
	
	
 However, Zimbabwe's presidential election was condemned by some western countries. 
	
	
 US Assistant Secretary for African affairs Walter Kansteiner in a statement called Zimbabwe's election flawed, saying that the US would consider further sanctions against Mugabe and his government. 
	
	
 British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said "for months the government of Zimbabwe has conducted a systematic campaign of violence and intimidation, designed to achieve an outcome -- power at all costs." 
	
	
 He said that Mugabe has "stolen" Zimbabwe's vote, an outcome that would have "enormous implications for the nature of UK-Zimbabwe relationship." 
	
	
 France's Foreign Ministry spokesman Francois Rivasseau said that Zimbabwe's "election cannot be considered as substantially free and fair." 
	
	
 Germany's Foreign Ministry spokesman Andreas Michaelis said that "all information points to the fact it cannot be assumed there were equal chances for the candidates in this election." 
	
	
 Denmark's Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller said his government will cut aid to Zimbabwe and likely shut down its embassy in Harare. 
	
	
 He also said the European Union will consider toughening sanctions on the Mugabe regime when foreign ministers meet ahead of the Barcelona summit on Friday and Saturday. 
	
	
 Denmark gave Zimbabwe aid worth 9.42 million euros (8.3 million US dollars) in 2001 and made available 2 million euros more in 2002 to complete projects already underway. 
	
	
 Zimbabwe's incumbent President Robert Mugabe has won the country's closest-fought presidential election since independence 22 years ago, the final election results showed Wednesday. 
	
	
 According to the nationwide election results, Mugabe gained 56.2 percent of the total 2,998,758 valid votes, or 1,685,212 votes, while Morgan Tsvangirai of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) getting 41.96 percent, or 1,258,401 votes. 
	
	
 About 3.4 million of the 5.6 million registered voters in Zimbabwe were estimated to have voted in the controversial election that ended Monday after a high court extended the voting into a third day. 
	
	
	





Document 001001289 ends.


       

Integra-A Hotel & Restaurant Co. said its planned rights offering to raise about $9 million was declared effective and the company will begin mailing materials to shareholders at the end of this week. 

Under the offer, shareholders will receive one right for each 105 common shares owned.
Each right entitles the shareholder to buy $100 face amount of 13.5% bonds due 1993 and warrants to buy 23.5 common shares at 30 cents a share.
The rights, which expire Nov. 21, can be exercised for $100 each. 

Integra, which owns and operates hotels, said that Hallwood Group Inc. has agreed to exercise any rights that aren't exercised by other shareholders.
Hallwood, a Cleveland merchant bank, owns about 11% of Integra. 




Document 001001290 ends.


	
[Computer selected and disseminated without FBIS editorial intervention] 
	
	
 Seoul, March 5 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. State Department on Tuesday (KST) rated the human rights situation in North Korea "poor" in its annual human rights report, casting dark clouds on the already tense relationship between Pyongyang and Washington. Recently, North Korea strongly denounced comments made by U.S. President George W. Bush during his Seoul visit last month accusing the North Korean leadership of starving its people while developing weapons of mass destruction. In the department's human rights report, the United States did not use the term "axis of evil," which first appeared during President Bush's State of the Union address in late January. However, the report comprehensively blamed the North Korean authorities for committing wrong-doings in terms of human rights. It also took issue with the lack of religious freedom in the communist country. The U.S. report stated North Korean residents have no power to peacefully replace their government and cited reports of executions of citizens in the North. The report particularly designated North Korea, along with Myanmar, China, Iran, Iraq and Sudan as countries of special concern in connection with religious oppression. Such an unfavorable report for North Korea is likely to produce a negative effect on Pyongyang-Washington relations for the time being. North Korea is expected to call the U.S. administration's report a "groundless plot" or an "intervention of domestic affairs." "The U.S. report is feared to further encourage North Korea's resistance against the United States, which was triggered by Bush's recent Seoul visit," a government source said Tuesday. Meanwhile, some experts do not regard future Pyongyang-Washington relations with such pessimism, saying this year's U.S. human rights report on North Korea was not as severe as previous years. yct9423@yna.co.kr	





Document 001001293 ends.


 
  
  
    
      December 1998
      Your contribution to Goodwill will mean more than you may know.
      To help you see how much your contribution means, I'm sharing with you
      The words of people who have lived Goodwill's mission. We want you to
      Know why your support of Goodwill is so important.
      Your gift to Goodwill is important because people with physical and
      Mental disabilities sometimes need an extra hand to know the pride that
      comes with work.
      "I was sad when I couldn't go to the snack bar to buy a soda. Now I
      can buy a soda and spend money. I like working and making money. I have a
      savings account. I can write my name on the deposit slip. If I wasn't
      working here ...I would be sad ..." -- Maureen
      Because turning welfare recipients into tax payers just makes
      sense.
      "When I first came to Goodwill I was a single parent with little or no
      self-esteem. I was on welfare and without my diploma. Coming to Goodwill
      was the first step toward my becoming totally independent. I am now
      ...totally off of welfare. I really like my job." -- Sherry
      Because people want to work.
      "I'd never finished high school. I had no experience or skills ... The
      only thing I did know for sure was here's a chance to change things for
      me and my children... I rode a bike to Goodwill in the rain and snow. I
      wanted to be there ...I had my second chance to change my life." --
      Donna
      Because teaching a man to fish will keep him fed for his entire
      life.
      "Before I got to Goodwill, I was on a mission. I just wanted a job. It
      didn't matter what the job was, I just wanted one. Now, I'm on a journey.
      I've got more than a job; I've got a career. My instructor played a role
      like no other instructor I've ever had I appreciate everything that
      Goodwill has done for me." -- Cornell
      Each year, we help thousands of people who face tremendous obstacles.
      Their one common goal: they all want to work. A robust economy helps by
      providing job opportunities, but to be honest, most of the people who
      aren't working today are quite simply the ones who face the greatest
      obstacles.
      The kinds of services we provide help people deal with obstacles like
      health care, transportation and child care -problems that are big enough
      on their own without being compounded by factors like physical and mental
      disabilities, illiteracy and lack of job skills.
      Last year, Goodwill helped 3,300 people find jobs that increased their
      self-sufficiency. Your gift to Goodwill will be used directly to support
      services that will help even more find jobs.
      Right now, there are thousands of people who do not know what it feels
      like to support themselves. You can help them to know that feeling.
      Please help Goodwill and help people find jobs. Use the enclosed card
      and give a generous gift to Goodwill today!
      Sincerely,
      James M. McClelland President
    
  



Document 001001296 ends.


	
Settlers Have Taken Palestine Hostage 
	
	
 A few days ago the parties in the Palestine conflict found themselves at a crossroads. The escalation of the conflict has now cost over 1,000 people their lives in the space of the past 18 months. 
	
	
 One-third Israelis, two-thirds Palestinians. Circumstances have led to a situation where today the two parties in the conflict find themselves on the road that leads swiftly to the abyss. 
	
	
 On Thursday the Arab Summit in the Lebanese capital of Beirut ended with the adoption of a resolution whose content illustrated how far the Arab world has come since the summit that took place in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum in 1967, shortly after the Israeli victory in the Six Days War. 
	
	
 It was then that the Arab heads of state adopted the three noes: no to negotiations with Israel, no to recognition, no to peace. 
	
	
 On Thursday the summit adopted a resolution that proposed the recognition of the Jewish state, normal relations, and an end to the conflict in return for Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territories that Israel has occupied for almost 35 years. 
	
	
 Even the mention of one of the cardinal problems between Israel and the Palestinians - the future of the 3 million Arab refugees - was couched in terms softer than at any time in the past. 
	
	
 The summit's declaration was the best piece of news the Middle East has produced since the Oslo Accords between Prime Minister Yitzhaq Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat were signed on the lawn in front of the White House in Washington in 1993. 
	
	
 The resolution that was put forward by Saudi Arabia was a plea addressed to the Israeli people over the heads of Ariel Sharon's government. No Arab leader was in any doubt that from Sharon's standpoint the resolution was not welcome. 
	
	
 The resolution forced him into a corner. Sharon neither can nor will give up the occupied territories, and so he would be unmasked in the eyes of the whole world as the man standing in the way of peace in the Middle East. 
	
	
 A few hours after the end of the summit chance came to Sharon's rescue. 
	
	
 On Thursday evening a Palestinian suicide bomber attacked a hotel in Natanya where a couple of hundred people had gathered for the traditional Passover meal. Twenty-two people were killed, in addition to the suicide bomber, and 130 were injured. 
	
	
 The bomber was a member of Hamas, the radical Muslim organization. He was known to the Israeli intelligence service. His name figured on a list that Israel had shortly before handed over to the Palestinian security service. 
	
	
 Despite Arafat's promise to take action to neutralize the people on the list, he did not lift a finger. 
	
	
 That same night the Israeli security cabinet met. They decided to take steps to destroy the "Palestinian terrorist structure, arrest its leaders, confiscate arms, and so on." 
	
	
 As a first step Israeli forces were sent into the main Palestinian town, Ramallah, where Arafat has his headquarters and from where the autonomous Palestinian areas are administered. 
	
	
 A few weeks previously Sharon had described Arafat as "irrelevant." Now he declared that Arafat was an "enemy." 
	
	
 He is now a prisoner in his own headquarters. The Palestinian Authority has effectively ceased to function. 
	
	
 Prior to the Natanya massacre Washington had imposed a number of limitations on Sharon. Israeli's antiterrorist operations must not bring the Palestinian Authority to collapse, Israeli forces must not reconquer the territories under the jurisdiction of the authority, and Arafat the man must not be molested. 
	
	
 This time Washington is largely keeping silent. It has not sent the usual appeals to both sides. Quite the reverse: Anonymous U.S. sources say that Washington holds Arafat responsible for the fact that U.S. mediator Anthony Zinni's endeavors to arrange a cease-fire have now foundered. 
	
	
 According to these sources, Sharon had accepted the cease-fire proposal, while Arafat hesitated. Before he had announced his agreement, the Natanya massacre and the Israeli counteraction occurred. 
	
	
 For the time being at least the United States has thus given Sharon a free hand. His problem is that he does not know what to do with it. The action that is currently taking place can at best only throw the terrorist groups off balance for a time. 
	
	
 It cannot solve the Israeli people's security problems, because the root of the terrorism is the Israeli occupation and the Israeli settlements on occupied territory. 
	
	
 The settlers, who number around 220,000 people, have taken the Israeli Government and consequently both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples hostage. 
	
	
 Sharon is a master of escalation. He demonstrated this he as defense minister during the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, which led to Arafat's being forced into exile in Tunis. It is likely that at present Sharon is entertaining similar thoughts and wants to create step by step a situation that will make it possible for him to rid himself of his enemy. 
	
	
 But this is a conflict without winners. Military superiority cannot solve problems that are fundamentally of a political nature. The day the Israeli tanks again leave Ramallah they will have sown the seed for new terrorist actions. 
	
	
 Terrorism thrives in an atmosphere of hate, and the Israeli occupation and the use of military force are creating the fertile soil from which future terrorists will be recruited. 
	
	
	





Document 001001300 ends.


             
Paula_Zahn	female	native	 Questions about the facts or what were presented as facts that led the United States into the war in Iraq
Paula_Zahn	female	native	 spilled into open warfare today on the Senate floor /.  Democrats forced the Senate into a rare closed door session /.  Republican leader Bill Frist said the Senate was hijacked /.  ~CNN's Ed Henry was there /.
Ed_Henry	male	native	 A Democratic sneak attack that sent shock waves through the Senate /.
Harry_Reed	male	native	 Mr. President enough time has gone by /.  I demand on behalf of the American people that we understand why these investigations aren't being conducted /.
Ed_Henry	male	native	 Democratic leader Harry Reed accused Republicans of failing to probe allegations the White House manipulated intelligence to justify the war in Iraq /.
Harry_Reed	male	native	 And in accordance with rule twenty-one I now move that Senate go into closed session /.
speaker20	male	native	 President I second the motion /.
Ed_Henry	male	native	 An easy but rare maneuver with extraordinary consequences /.  The Senate chamber was locked down , television cameras shut off , so law makers could go into secret session to debate /.
Ed_Henry	male	native	 Republican leader Bill Frist was enraged /.
Bill_Frist	male	native	 Not with the previous Democratic leader or or the current Democratic leader have ever I been slapped in the face with such an affront to the leadership of this grand institution /.
Bill_Frist	male	native	 There has been at least consideration for the other side of the aisle before a stunt /.  and this is a pure stunt /.
Ed_Henry	male	native	 Reed refused to back down demanding the Republican led intelligence committee finish a long awaited report on whether the Bush administration twisted intelligence /.
Harry_Reed	male	native	 This investigation has been stymied stopped , obstructions thrown up every step of the way /.  That's the real slap in the face /.  that's the slap in the face /.  And today the American people are going to see a little bit of light /.
Ed_Henry	male	native	 What's really going on is Democrats feel emboldened by the indictment of Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff believing this is their chance to issue a broader indictment of the Bush administration /.
Harry_Reed	male	native	 We have lost over two thousand of our best and bravest /.  over fifteen thousand have been seriously wounded /.  We are spending more than six million dollars a month with no end in sight /.  and this Republican led Senate intelligence committee refuses to even ask the hard questions about the misinformation /-
Ed_Henry	male	native	 Republicans insist they're completing the investigation /.  and this is just a distraction /.
Bill_Frist	male	native	 This is purely political /.  This is settling settling an old political score /.
Ed_Henry	male	native	 Democrats say they also want to signal they're ready to stand up to the Republican majority and may even filibuster the president's latest Supreme Court pick Samuel Alito a move that would make these events seem like the opening fireworks in a much nastier battle /.
                      
Ed_Henry	male	native	 Ed Henry ~CNN Capitol Hill /.
Paula_Zahn	female	native	 So do you think we just saw the outlines to what the midterm election battlelines might look like /?  A debate that's likely to rage on for many many months to come /.
Paula_Zahn	female	native	 Turning our attention now to something that has a lot of folks concerned /.  You've been hearing an awful lot about avian or bird flu /.  The most common and deadly form has already spread in birds from South Asia to Europe /.
Paula_Zahn	female	native	 And now there is real concern that the virus could mutate and become devastating to humans /.  In fact some health experts say it's just a matter of time /.
Paula_Zahn	female	native	 Today President Bush unveiled a seven point one billion dollar plan to prepare for a possible flu pandemic /.
Paula_Zahn	female	native	 Now much of that money would go toward stockpiling enough vaccine to protect twenty million healthcare workers and other first responders
Paula_Zahn	female	native	 speeding up production of vaccines and buying the anti-viral drugs (( Tamoflu )) and (( Rolenzo )) which in some cases prevent flu infection /.
Paula_Zahn	female	native	 And we now turn to senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupto who has just gotten back from South Asia
Paula_Zahn	female	native	 where bird flu has in the past two years killed at least sixty-two people
Paula_Zahn	female	native	 about half of those who were struck with it /.  Hundreds of millions of birds around the world have been destroyed to try to contain the disease /.
Paula_Zahn	female	native	 And Dr. Gupto now just joins us from the Emory University hospital in Atlanta /.  Always good to see you doctor /.  So /-
Dr_Gupto	male	native	 Thanks /.
Paula_Zahn	female	native	 I know you've had a chance to study the the plan the president put forth today /.  Does it go far enough in your estimation /?
Dr_Gupto	male	native	 You know what's sort of interesting Paula /.  on one hand it is it is remarkable that the president is devoting as much time and as much money uh all towards a disease that doesn't exist yet /.  Pandemic flu doesn't exist yet /.
Dr_Gupto	male	native	 But a lot of people are talking about it /.  and I think that's remarkable to a lot of people who are eh who are citizens and a lot of people in the public health community as well /.
Dr_Gupto	male	native	 On the other hand to be able to outline and do the thing that were talked about today to basically completely revamp the public health system so that local officials can talk to state officials that can talk to federal officials to be able to pinpoint exactly when a cluster of bird flu happens that takes probably a lot more money and a and a really a complete revamping of our public health systems /.
Dr_Gupto	male	native	 The other thing Paula really important is that they talk a lot about the fact that our- we're a lot better at taking care of patients now than we were in nineteen eighteen , we have a lot of ~ICUs a lot of ~ICUs in the hospital behind me that can take care of critically ill patients /.
Dr_Gupto	male	native	 The problem though at any given time eighty to ninety percent of those ~ICU rooms are full so we just don't have the surge capacity and that's going to cost lots and lots of money to create a health system where we can take care not only of the ill now but the ill that might come in with a pandemic Paula /.
Paula_Zahn	female	native	 Uh let's talk about the other (( problem )) of the plan where the president will spend uh or wants to spend a billion dollars to stockpile antiviral medicine like (( Tamaflu )) and (( Rolenza )) /.  Do we even know if these two medications are going to be effective against a strain that hasn't even presented itself /?
Dr_Gupto	male	native	 Here here's the important thing about that /.  We don't know for sure /.  A lot of people focusing a lot of energy on (( Tamaflu )) and (( Rolenza )) /.  These are antiviral drugs /.  they are not vaccines /.  They are antiviral drugs uh designed to basically shorten uh how bad the flu might effect you uh try to lessen its impact /.
Dr_Gupto	male	native	 But we only know that it might work because of laboratory studies and animal studies uh uh in particular /.  The way to really study it would be to knowingly expose people to bird flu /.  and nobody will actually ever do that study for obvious reasons /.
Dr_Gupto	male	native	 So it's just theoretical really for the most part that those will work Paula /.
Paula_Zahn	female	native	 Dr. Sanjay Gupto thanks for the update /.  By the way are you catching a cold /?
Dr_Gupto	male	native	 A a little bit /.  You know I just got back /.  and the ninteen hour plane ride /.  Not bird flu though /.  I can assure you that Paula /.
Paula_Zahn	female	native	 Chicken soup /.
Dr_Gupto	male	native	 That's right /.  Just what the doctor ordered /.
Paula_Zahn	female	native	 Works all the time /.  Yeah right /.  I made a free house call for you doctor /.  Coming up on News Night Tonight , cooking a turkey is fine /.  (( appearing )) in one isn't /.



Document 001001301 ends.


	
France says time is right for joint US-European action on Mideast 
	
	
 Text of report by French news agency AFP 
	
	
 Paris, 10 April: "The conditions are now in place for the United States and the European Union to combine their efforts to work for peace," the French Foreign Affairs Ministry said on Thursday [as received - presumably meant to read Wednesday 10 April] following the Madrid meeting on the Middle East. United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the European high representative for the common foreign and security policy (CFSP), Javier Solana, and the foreign ministers of Spain and Russia, Josep Pique and Igor Ivanov, on Wednesday called on Israel to "withdraw immediately" from all Palestinian areas that have recently been occupied and collectively expressed their full support to the Middle East mission US Secretary of State Colin Powell is going to undertake. "This support will be an asset for Mr Colin Powell, to whom we renew our support in his difficult mission," according to the communique of the spokesman of the French Foreign Affairs Ministry, Francois Rivasseau. 
	
	
	





Document 001001303 ends.


       

Conseco Inc. said it is calling for the redemption on Dec. 7 of all the 800,000 remaining shares outstanding of its $1.875 Series A convertible preferred stock at $26.805 a share. 

The insurance concern said all conversion rights on the stock will terminate on Nov. 30.
Until then, Conseco said the stock remains convertible into common stock at the rate of 1.439 shares of common stock for each share of preferred stock, which is equivalent to a conversion price of $17.50 a common share.
In New York Stock Exchange trading Friday, Conseco closed at $19.50, down 25 cents. 




Document 001001308 ends.



   WHAT THEY SAID: No tears for Tobin, but some for al-Qaeda

 


Author:     Jane Taber

  OTTAWA - The plight of prisoners and politicians has been 
weighing heavily on the minds of editorial writers and pundits 
in and around the nation's capital.

  It's been a week now since Jean Chretien's Cabinet shuffle and 
the dramatic departure of Brian Tobin -- seven days during which 
the print pundits have had time to ponder his actions.

  
And what they have said about him has not been pretty.

  Still, before discussing the antics of Mr. Tobin and the 
elevation of Ottawa's John Manley to the status of golden boy, 
there is the controversial, and more pressing, matter of the 
plight of the al-Qaeda fighters imprisoned at a U.S. military 
base in Cuba.

  "Even thugs deserve humane treatment," reads the headline of the 
Ottawa Citizen editorial.

  "Conditions for detainees in Guantanamo Bay are harsh: wire-mesh 
cells 2.4 by 1.8 metres, a sleeping mat and blanket, a bucket 
for a toilet," writes the Citizen. "But that doesn't necessarily 
make them inhumane. On the other hand, U.S. assurances that it's 
treating the prisoners humanely don't mean that's so."

  The Citizen argues that Canada should "insist" the United States 
"allow a 'competent tribunal' to decide the legal status of the 
detainees, as required by the Geneva Convention. ... That might 
make it more difficult to find Osama bin Laden and his remaining 
thugs. But laws keep us from behaving like them."

  The Sudbury Star agrees: "This conflict must now move to its 
next stage. A tribunal, formed by the United Nations, must 
address the issue of these captured fighters and determine how 
they will be dealt with."

  Editorial writers at The Daily Press in Timmins disagree. In an 
editorial appearing this week, the newspaper is unequivocal in 
its U.S. support. "We can't help but wonder if some politicians 
and civil rights advocates are overreacting when it comes to the 
treatment of captured al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters by the 
United States.

  "For the U.S. military to treat the prisoners any differently 
might very well imperil American lives," reads the editorial. 
"If Osama bin Laden is still alive, we suspect he is giving the 
civil rights advocates a hearty thumbs up."

  No one, however, is giving a hearty thumbs up to Mr. Tobin. 
Rather, his sudden departure from politics provoked much 
criticism.

  "No tears will be shed in this corner since Brian Tobin's 
departure represents his third consecutive betrayal of voters," 
Walter Robinson, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers 
Federation and a regular columnist in The Ottawa Sun wrote 
yesterday. "Mr. Tobin seems content to be back home on the Rock 
playing with his bag of marbles and collecting his parliamentary 
pension."

  In the Citizen, columnist Rosa Harris-Adler wrote a 
devastatingly sarcastic piece, ridiculing Mr. Tobin's assertion 
that he was leaving for family reasons. She chronicles what she 
imagines his first week post-politics would have been like:

  "Day One: Brian decides it's finally time to learn how to diaper 
the baby. With some effort, he pins the flailing child down on 
the changing table only to discover there are no diapers in the 
house. Brian gives up in confusion."

  By Day Seven, however, Ms. Harris-Adler notes that though Mr. 
Tobin has finally mastered the diapering process, his "baby" who 
is 15 years old is "not amused."

  And Michel Vastel, a columnist in Le Droit, writes a goodbye to 
his "favourite Newfie." He says that Mr. Tobin walked on too 
many toes, and made too many enemies in Ottawa. He also wrote 
that while the former minister may have been one of the 
longest-serving MPs, he was also one of the most "unstable," 
noting his career was like a "rough sea," with highs and lows 
and never calm.

  The vitriol continues. In The Kingston Whig-Standard Paul 
Schliesmann writes, "Canadians don't need the kind of politician 
Brian Tobin had become -- flighty, opportunistic and lacking in 
commitment to his job as a Member of Parliament."

  The pundits in Ottawa, it seems, have saved all of their praise 
for John Manley, the new Deputy Prime Minister and a hometown 
favourite. "[Mr. Manley] has proven to be a sensible manager who 
Canadians can trust," says a Sun editorial, observing that he 
emerged from the Sept. 11 crisis as a "sensible, serious voice 
in Cabinet." And the Citizen calls Mr. Manley "competent and 
scrupulously honest."

  "Mr. Manley's continuing responsibility for national security, 
along with the added clout he gains as Deputy Prime Minister, 
bodes well for the country."



Copyright @ 2002 National Post Online |




Document 001001309 ends.


	
Havana, January 12 (XINHUA) -- Cuba will not create obstacles to the U.S. decision to hold part of the Taliban and al-Qaeda war prisoners at the U.S. naval base of Guantanamo, the Cuban government said in a statement on Friday. 
	
	
 This is the first time that the Cuban government has expressed its position over the U.S. holding of the Taliban and al-Qaeda prisoners in its territory. 
	
	
 Guantanamo is part of the Cuban territory, but the Cuban government will not create obstacles to the U.S. transfer of the war prisoners there, it said. 
	
	
 The Guantanamo Bay has been in U.S. hands since the Spanish- American War in 1898. The United States has refused to give up the facility, which is sealed from Cuba by a heavily guarded, 27- kilometer perimeter fence, despite Cuban objection to its continued existence. 
	
	
 In the statement, the Cuban government said the country would maintain close contacts with the U.S. military personnel in the naval base. 
	
	
 A first group of 20 war prisoners from Afghanistan arrived Friday afternoon at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo on the southeastern tip of Cuba, about 1,000 kilometers from the capital city of Havana.	





Document 001001311 ends.


	
ISLAMABAD, Oct 29 (AFP) - The Taliban on Monday said an unspecified number of Americans had been arrested in Afghanistan. 
	
	
 "There have been arrests," Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Salam Zaeef told a news conference here when asked if any Americans had been arrested in Afghanistan. 
	
	
 "I don't know how many there are or where they are or what their condition is," he said.	





Document 001001314 ends.


	
KOTA BAHARU, Jan 26 (Bernama) -- PAS has asked the United States to stop its bad treatment of Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters being held at the X-Ray Camp in Guantanamo Bay, off Cuba. 
	
	
 PAS President Datuk Fadzil Noor said PAS did not agree to such treatment of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda soldiers as they were prisoners-of-war and should be accorded treatment as provided for under the Geneva Convention and in line with Basic Human Rights. 
	
	
 "...To seek vengeance, the United States has ignored principles of justice, human rights principles and all international principles which it had accepted," he told reporters after opening a seminar for PAS elected representatives from throughout the peninsula here. 
	
	
 Yesterday, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar was reported to have said that Wisma Putra (Foreign Ministry) had handed an official protest to the United States over its bad treatment of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda detainees. 
	
	
 Malaysia felt that the Taliban and Al-Qaeda soliders should be treated under provisions of the Geneva Convention. 
	
	
	





Document 001001316 ends.


	
Yesterday [4 March] the US Department of State publicized its yearly report in which it analyzes the "human rights situation in the world." The authors' particular concern is raised by the situation in China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia. In these countries in 2001, "human rights were violated particularly frequently and unceremoniously." Israel was also the target of no small number of critical shots. 
	
	
 China is charged with, "under the pretext of the international antiterrorist campaign," beginning "a new offensive on religious minorities, persecuting Muslims in its Xinjang-Uighur autonomous region." Russia is accused of the "excessive use of force" against Chechen separatists, of "injudicial" shootings and arrests in Chechnya. Saudi Arabia is accused of torture, to which prisoners in this country are subject to. 
	
	
 However, the State Department gives the Saudi government its due, recalling Crown Prince Abdallah's peacemaking initiative, proposing that the Arab world recognize Tel-Aviv in exchange for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from occupied Palestinian lands. Possibly, in the eyes of the report's authors, such a step on the part of Riyadh excuses it to a certain extent for its other transgressions. 
	
	
 Something similar is said regarding Israel's fight against the Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist groups. Figures are cited: last year 200 individuals died at the hands of terrorists, and more than 1,500 were injured. Officially Israel recognizes the Palestinians' rights to their lands in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank of the Jordan River, but it is conducting a war without rules, "utilizing force in an inappropriate volume." Although, of course, these super-rigid activities are to a great extent warranted, the State Department notes. Incidentally, the State Department does not consider Russia's involvement in the antiterrorist campaign a "mitigating factor." 
	
	
	





Document 001001317 ends.



   Brazil and Germany call for implementation of Kyoto Protocol by September 

 



  Brasilia, 14 (Agencia Brasil - ABr) - In a document entitled 
Partnership Brasil-Germany: Action Plan, both countrires have 
expressed interest in seeing the Kyoto Protocol take effect by 
the Sustainable Development Summit (Rio+10), that takes place in 
South Africa, next September. Brazil and Germany also call on 
other countries to ratify the protocol and work to enforce it.

  The document also states that Brazil and Germany intend to 
expand cooperation in the area of environment and sustainable 
development. Both countries expect to present common positions 
at the Rio+10 meeting. Finally, the document stresses the 
importance of the Pilot Program for Protection of Tropical 
Forests (PPG-7) and German participation in the program. (AB)

  @ All material may be reproduced as long as the source is 
acknowledged




Document 001001318 ends.


       

StatesWest Airlines, Phoenix, Ariz., said it withdrew its offer to acquire Mesa Airlines because the Farmington, N.M., carrier didn't respond to its offer by the close of business yesterday, a deadline StatesWest had set for a response. 

However, StatesWest isn't abandoning its pursuit of the much-larger Mesa.
StatesWest, which has a 7.25% stake in Mesa, said it may purchase more Mesa stock or make a tender offer directly to Mesa shareholders. 

StatesWest had proposed acquiring Mesa for $7 a share and one share of a new series of StatesWest 6% convertible preferred stock it values at $3 a share.
Earlier, Mesa had rejected a general proposal from StatesWest to combine the two carriers in some way. 

StatesWest serves 10 cities in California, Arizona and Nevada.
Mesa flies to 42 cities in New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado and Texas. 




Document 001001319 ends.


	
AMMAN -- Jordan said it will sign the Kyoto Protocol, a UN pact on impeding global greenhouse gas emissions, following a recent Cabinet decision, according to Faris Juneidi, director general of the General Corporation for Environment Protection (GCEP). 
	
	
 "Soon, the government will delegate Jordan's representative to the United Nations, HH Prince Zeid Ben Raad, to sign the protocol," Juneidi told The Jordan Times on Tuesday, adding that an exact date for signing of the environmental agreement had not been set. 
	
	
 In 1997, at a UN conference in Kyoto, Japan, the Kyoto Protocol legally obliged developed countries to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions by 8 per cent (below 1990 levels) between 2008 and 2012. 
	
	
 Although developed countries are the world's main source of large-scale air pollution, Jordan's decision to sign the protocol is aimed at stressing its "commitment towards the different international conventions," Juneidi said. 
	
	
 With the signing of the protocol, he said, GCEP hopes to attract more funding to contribute to the international community's efforts in reducing greenhouse gases, which trap heat in the earth's atmosphere thus causing climate change. 
	
	
 GCEP, an agency operating under the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and the Environment, is the country's point of reference for environmental pacts. 
	
	
 On Monday, the 15 European Union member states agreed to be formally bound to the Kyoto accord, and complete the ratification by June 1 this year. 
	
	
 In March 2001, the US administration opposed the protocol by saying that it contravenes US economic interests, a decision slammed by European Union countries at the time. Instead the US government produced its own alternative climate change strategy aimed at encouraging industries to trim their emissions. 
	
	
 Other developed countries like Canada have shown reluctance towards signing the Kyoto Protocol, saying it would cut the national GDP by up to 2.5 per cent in 2010 and cause economic damage worth 30 billion Canadian dollars ($19 billion). 
	
	
	





Document 001001320 ends.



China Disapproves Use of 'Axis of Evil' in International Relations

 



  Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said Friday that 
China disapproves of the use of such words as the "axis of evil" 
in international relations.

  Kong made the remark when asked to comment on the different 
views given by the New York Times and the Washington Post 
recentlyon a statement by the U.S. leader describing the 
Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Iran and Iraq as the 
"axis of evil" nations.

  "We disapprove of the use of such words in international 
relations," said Kong, who also made the same comment when 
answering related questions earlier.

  China has noticed that U.S. public opinion and general public do 
not agree to the wording of "axis of evil," he said, pointing 
out that the consequences are bound to be serious if the logic 
of the wording is followed.

  China always holds that anti-terrorism campaigns should be based 
on irrefutable evidence, and anti-terrorism attacks should not 
be expanded arbitrarily, said Kong.

  He stressed that handling state-to-state relations should follow 
the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, the 
Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence, and the principle that 
all countries should be treated on an equal footing. This is the 
only manner that is conducive to safeguarding long-term peace 
and stability in the world and related regions.



Copyright by People's Daily Online, all rights reserved




Document 001001321 ends.


	
JAKARTA (Agency): Indonesia will not follow Argentina and halt payment of its national debt, top economics minister Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti said as quoted by AFP on Monday [24 December]. 
	
	
 When asked by journalists whether Indonesia had any plans to halt repayment on its US$70 billion national debt, Dorodjatun said: "No." 
	
	
 He declined to comment further but said the country would continue to honor its commitment with the International Monetary Fund, which is coordinating some $5 billion in aid to help the country overcome its current economic crisis in return for reforms. 
	
	
 Indonesia's foreign debt currently stands at $140 billion, $70 billion of which is government debt. 
	
	
 On Sunday, Argentina declared it was halting payments on its $132 billion national debt, the biggest default in history.	





Document 001001322 ends.


	
[Computer selected and disseminated without FBIS editorial intervention] 
	
	
 Tokyo, Oct. 8 Kyodo -- Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will shorten his one-day visit to China on Monday by three hours due to the launch of U.S. and British retaliatory strikes in Afghanistan for the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States, government officials said. 
	
	
 Koizumi left for Beijing on Monday morning an hour after the originally scheduled time and will return to Tokyo two hours earlier than scheduled, the officials said. 
	
	
 But, Koizumi has not changed his plan to visit the Marco Polo Bridge, the site of the 1937 clash that led to an eight-year war between Japan and China, and a nearby museum commemorating China's anti-Japanese movement, they said.	





Document 001001324 ends.


	
Beijing, April 29 (XINHUA) -- Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri invited Chinese entrepreneurs to invest in his country at a luncheon was held here Monday in his honor. 
	
	
 Hariri said that trade and exchanges between the two nations were developing, and Lebanon hoped China would become its strategic partner in trade and economy, investment and modern technology exchanges, urging a greater role from entrepreneurs in developing bilateral ties. 
	
	
 Yu Xiaosong, president of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), said trade between China and Lebanon last year surged 40 percent from the year before, and cooperation in agriculture, infrastructure and contracting projects also recorded great progress. 
	
	
 He encouraged entrepreneurs from China to invest in Lebanon, and those from Lebanon to seek more cooperation opportunities in China. 
	
	
 Over 70 entrepreneurs from both sides attended the luncheon. 
	
	
	





Document 001001325 ends.


       

Courtaulds PLC announced plans to spin off its textiles operations to existing shareholders in a restructuring to boost shareholder value. 

The British chemical and textile company's plan, which requires shareholder approval, would create a new, listed U.K. stock with a probable market capitalization between #300 million ($473 million) and #400 million, analysts said.
The establishment of the separate company, to be called Courtaulds Textiles, could be effective as early as next year's first quarter. 

Investors welcomed the move.
Courtaulds' shares rose 15 pence to 362 pence, valuing the entire company at about #1.44 billion. 

Courtaulds' spinoff reflects pressure on British industry to boost share prices beyond the reach of corporate raiders.
Courtaulds' restructuring is among the largest thus far in Britain, though it is dwarfed by B.A.T Industries PLC's plans to spin off roughly #4 billion in assets to help fend off a takeover bid from Anglo-French financier Sir James Goldsmith.
The divested Courtaulds textile operations had operating profit of #50 million on #980 million in revenue in the year ended March 31. 

Some analysts have said Courtaulds' moves could boost the company's value by 5% to 10%, because the two entities separately will carry a higher price earnings multiple than they did combined.
In addition, Courtaulds said the moves are logical because they will allow both the chemicals and textile businesses to focus more closely on core activities. 

Courtaulds has been under pressure to enhance shareholder value since takeover speculators -- including Australian financier Kerry Packer -- surfaced holding small stakes last year.
Though Mr. Packer has since sold his stake, Courtaulds is moving to keep its institutional shareholders happy.
Even without a specific takeover threat, Courtaulds is giving shareholders "choice and value," said Julia Blake, an analyst at London stockbrokers Barclays de Zoete Wedd. 

In a statement, the company said: "Both parts can only realize their full potential and be appropriately valued by the market if they are separately quoted companies.
The sharper definition and the autonomy which each will thereby gain will benefit shareholders, customers and employees." 

Courtaulds Chairman and Chief Executive Sir Christopher Hogg will remain in both posts at the surviving chemical company after the spinoff. 




Document 001001328 ends.


	
TAIPEI, Sept 26 (AFP) -- Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian on Wednesday reiterated Taipei's full support for the United States as Washington prepared to launch reprisals against Afghanistan. 
	
	
 "On behalf of the government and people of the Republic of China (Taiwan's official name), I would like to extend our full support to the George W. Bush administration in its any decision and act against terrorists," Chen said while meeting Oregon governor John Kitzhaber. 
	
	
 Taiwan "would not stand idly by" because "the attacks were not only a challenge to the US but also a disruption of peace for mankind," Chen said in a statement released by the presidential office. 
	
	
 "The ROC government will be with the US government firmly." 
	
	
 Chen again voiced his condolences to the families of the thousands of Americans killed when hijacked planes plunged into the New York World Trade Center and Pentagon on September 11. 
	
	
 Chen's remarks came as the US was massing forces to launch reprisals against Afghanistan, where the prime suspect Usama bin Laden is believed to be in hiding. 
	
	
 Taiwan's Foreign Minister Tien Hung-mao had vowed to back the US in fighting terrorism saying Taiwan had "no option" but to do so, despite a lack of diplomatic ties between Taipei and Washington. 
	
	
 Since his inauguration last year, Bush has backpedalled from his predecessor Bill Clinton's policy of engagement with China. 
	
	
 In April Bush approved the biggest US arms package to Taiwan since 1992. 
	
	
 Washington has remained the biggest arms supplier to Taiwan despite switching diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979. 
	
	
	





Document 001001329 ends.


	
On the afternoon of August 29, after several delays due to various causes, Japan successfully launched its H2A rocket No. 1 into space from Tanegashima Space Center. This milestone puts Japan's aerospace development program back on track. 
	
	
 The carrier rocket is the foundation of space exploration and utilization. It is also the first hurdle to overcome to realize any astronautical program. Japan previously developed the L and M series of launch vehicles. However, these two rockets are primarily used to launch low orbit satellites. In order to launch large stationary satellites, Japan developed the H series rocket. The major performance characteristics of the H series rocket are comparable to those developed by the United States and some European nations. The Japanese aerospace community takes a great deal of pride in this achievement. 
	
	
 In order to compete with the United States, Europe, and China, Japan decided to drastically reduce its costs, especially in every aspect of rocket design and manufacture. It adopted the simplest design and implemented various cost-cutting measures in an attempt to lower the manufacturing cost per satellite from 19 billion yen to 9 billion yen. It is supposed to be the next generation rocket that is both inexpensive and highly reliable. However, things did not go according to plan. This low cost approach brought about a series of satellite launch failures. In November 1999, a "multi-purpose" satellite was launched by H2 rocket No. 8. It did not enter its predetermined orbit and had to be destroyed. This was the third failure in a row. After this incident, Japan began to redesign the main engine of the H2 rocket. Eventually, the H2A rocket was developed. 
	
	
 In addition to carrier rockets, Japan also invested heavily in the development and utilization of various satellite technologies. Japan wishes to build a $21 billion per year aerospace industry centered on commercial satellite development. In the field of satellite communications, Japan's National Space Development Agency (NASDA) spent $310 million to develop the ETS-8 (Engineering Test Satellite 8) satellite. This satellite doubled the capacity of the test satellite previously launched by Japan. This program not only puts Japan in the lead in providing new mobile communication services in the Asia-Pacific region, but also allows Japan to test some new satellite communication techniques to be introduced worldwide. A Japanese made H2A rocket will launch this satellite in 2002. 
	
	
 Military surveillance satellites are also included in its development plan. Japan has prepared a military space program and allocated $1.3 billion to implement it. It will create a military surveillance satellite system consisting of two optical satellites and two radar satellites. 
	
	
 Japan also has a huge space power plant plan. It proposes to construct a gigantic solar power plant in space. The power generated will then converted to microwaves to be received by microwave receiver stations on earth. It is then converted back to electricity. In addition, it also plans to develop 12 satellites, a new generation of unmanned space lab, a space station supply system, and a space shuttle in the next 5 years. 
	
	
 In the past decade, despite its stagnating economy, Japan has still put space exploration as a top priority item in its space program. The Japanese aerospace industry has an ambitious plan to explore the planets. Its first target is the moon. Presently, Japan is implementing these plans in different stages. "Lunar A," one of the major projects, is aimed at delivering two penetrators on the moon to collect various data. One will be located near the landing site of Apollo 14 and the other near a ring-shaped mountain range on the dark side of the moon. "Selene," a project that has a $200 million price tag, will be launched in 2003. It is comprised of two lunar orbiters and a soft landing spacecraft. The soft-landing vehicle will be responsible for data collection and transmission back to earth for further processing. 
	
	
 Japan is determined to become a major power in aerospace. It is its national policy. It is also the path to becoming a major military power. Between 1970 and the end of 1999, Japan launched a total of 66 satellites. In terms of quantity, it is only behind the United States and Russia. In addition, it also takes part in the international space station project and has developed its own astronauts. Japan also has a relatively strong aerospace industry. In 1998, its revenue was 1.1 trillion yen, which represents a 10.5 percent market share worldwide. 
	
	
 After two years of stalemate, the Japanese government recently reorganized its aerospace development agency. Furthermore, it set priorities for the next five years. They include a spy satellite, a data relay satellite to transfer data between satellites, an unmanned universe lab system, a test satellite for communications and broadcasting, an observation satellite for environmental protection, "Kibo" the Japanese experimental module of the space station and its supply system, and the H2A carrier rocket to launch all the spacecraft mentioned earlier. By 2010, Japan will increase its global market share in aerospace to 17.4 percent. This is the goal set by the Japanese. 
	
	
	





Document 001001330 ends.


       

This hasn't been Kellogg Co. 's year.
The oat-bran craze has cost the world's largest cereal maker market share.
The company's president quit suddenly.
And now Kellogg is indefinitely suspending work on what was to be a $1 billion cereal plant. 

The company said it was delaying construction because of current market conditions.
But the Memphis, Tenn., facility wasn't to begin turning out product until 1993, so the decision may reveal a more pessimistic long-term outlook as well. 

Kellogg, which hasn't been as successful in capitalizing on the public's health-oriented desire for oat bran as rival General Mills Inc., has been losing share in the $6 billion ready-to-eat cereal market.
Kellogg's current share is believed to be slightly under 40% while General Mills' share is about 27%. 

Led by its oat-based Cheerios line, General Mills has gained an estimated 2% share so far this year, mostly at the expense of Kellogg.
Each share point is worth about $60 million in sales. 

Analysts say much of Kellogg's erosion has been in such core brands as Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies and Frosted Flakes, which represent nearly one-third of its sales volume.
Kellogg is so anxious to turn around Corn Flakes sales that it soon will begin selling boxes for as little as 99 cents, trade sources say. 

"Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios have eaten away sales normally going to Kellogg's corn-based lines simply because they are made of oats," says Merrill Lynch food analyst William Maguire. "They are not a happy group of people at Battle Creek right now." Kellogg is based in Battle Creek, Mich., a city that calls itself the breakfast capital of the world. 

Another analyst, John C. Maxwell Jr. of Wheat, First Securities in Richmond, Va., recently went to a "sell" recommendation on Kellogg stock, which closed Friday at $71.75, down 75 cents, in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. "I don't think Kellogg can get back to 40% this year," he said. "Kellogg's main problem is life style.
People are reading the boxes and deciding they want something that's `healthy' for you -- oats, bran." Mr. Maxwell said he wouldn't be surprised if, over the next two years or so, General Mills' share increased to 30% or more. 

In announcing the plant delay, Kellogg Chairman William E. LaMothe said, "Cereal volume growth in the U.S. has not met our expectations for 1989." He said construction wouldn't resume until market conditions warrant it. 

Kellogg indicated that it has room to grow without adding facilities.
The company has five other U.S. plants, including a modern facility at its Battle Creek headquarters known as Building 100, which is to add bran-processing and rice-processing capacity next year. 

General Mills, meanwhile, finds itself constrained from boosting sales further because its plants are operating at capacity.
A large plant in Covington, Ga., is to come on line next year. 

A Kellogg officer, who asked not to be named, said the Memphis project was "pulled in for a reconsideration of costs," an indication that the ambitious plans might be scaled back in any future construction.
Initial cost estimates for the plant, which was to have been built in phases, ranged from $1 billion to $1.2 billion. 

A company spokesman said it was "possible, but highly unlikely," that the plant might never be built. "As we regain our leadership level where we have been, and as we continue to put new products into the marketplace and need additional capacity, we will look at resuming our involvement with our plan," he said. 

The new facility was to have been the world's most advanced cereal manufacturing plant, and Kellogg's largest construction project.
The company had retained the Fluor Daniel unit of Fluor Corp. as general contractor. 

But in recent weeks, construction-industry sources reported that early preparation work was slowing at the 185-acre site.
Subcontractors said they were told that equipment orders would be delayed.
Fluor Daniel already has reassigned most of its work crew, the sources said. 

Last Friday's announcement was the first official word that the project was in trouble and that the company's plans for a surge in market share may have been overly optimistic.
Until recently, Kellogg had been telling its sales force and Wall Street that by 1992 it intended to achieve a 50% share of market, measured in dollar volume. 

Although he called current market conditions "highly competitive," Mr. LaMothe, Kellogg's chairman and chief executive officer, forecast an earnings increase for the full year.
Last year, the company earned $480.4 million, or $3.90 a share, on sales of $4.3 billion. 

As expected, Kellogg reported lower third-quarter earnings.
Net fell 16% to $123.1 million, or $1.02 a share, from $145.7 million, or $1.18 a share.
Sales rose 4.8% to $1.20 billion from $1.14 billion. 

The company had a one-time charge of $14.8 million in the latest quarter covering the disposition of certain assets.
The company wouldn't elaborate, citing competitive reasons. 




Document 001001331 ends.


	
TOKYO, Feb 18 (AFP) -- US President George W. Bush said Monday that all options were on the table to deal with Iraq, Iran and North Korea, even as Germany warned against any "adventure" in Iraq. 
	
	
 At the start of his Asian tour, Bush dismissed a chilly reception by US allies to his "axis of evil" rhetoric, telling reporters in Tokyo, "I will keep all options on the table. 
	
	
 "We want to resolve all issues peacefully, whether it be Iraq, Iran or North Korea," Bush said, speaking next to Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. 
	
	
 Bush has lumped those three countries together in what terms an "axis of evil," in language that has riled US allies. 
	
	
 The president renewed his pledge to thwart terrorist groups who want to "mate up" with regimes hoping to acquire weapons of mass destruction and said "nations will come with us" if the US-led war on terrorism is extended. 
	
	
 "People who love freedom understand that we cannot allow nations that aren't transparent, nations with a terrible history, nations that are so dictatorial they're willing to starve their people, we can't allow them to mate up with terrorist organizations," Bush said. 
	
	
 Asked about French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine's criticism of the "axis" concept as "simplistic," Bush said: "I understand what happens in the international arena; people say things. 
	
	
 "But the leaders I've talked to understand, exactly, what needs to happen. 
	
	
 "They understand that our commitment is not just in Afghanistan, that history has given us a unique opportunity to defend freedom," he added. 
	
	
 Bush, who arrived in Tokyo Sunday at the start of a week-long trip that will also take him to Seoul and Beijing, held talks with Koizumi on the war effort in Afghanistan. 
	
	
 But the leaders did not "specifically" talk about military action against any other country, a senior US administration official said. 
	
	
 Bush is due to travel to Seoul Tuesday and the following day will visit the heavily fortified no-man's land between South Korea and communist North Korea. 
	
	
 The United States maintains some 37,000 troops on the Korean peninsula, and Bush has called the de-militarised zone dividing South Korea from its hardline communist northern neighbour "one of the most dangerous places on earth". 
	
	
 But his tough stand on P'yongyang has provoked concern in Seoul, where President Kim Tae-chung, who is in the last year of his five-year term, has been trying to prise the hermit state out of isolation. 
	
	
 South Korean ministers fear Bush's tough talking may put back by years Kim's so-called Sunshine Policy of establishing a permanent peace. 
	
	
 Angry anti-US protests erupted in Seoul ahead of Bush's arrival with police storming the American Chamber of Commerce and detaining 32 students occupying the building. 
	
	
 During the three-hour occupation, protesters hurled leaflets proclaiming Bush to be a "war freak". 
	
	
 US diplomats say Bush will seek to support Kim's Nobel Prize winning policy by offering new talks with the North, while remaining firm about North Korea's missile sales and its feared chemical and biological weapons programmes. 
	
	
 North Korea remains unconvinced, calling Bush the head of "an empire of evil." Its state media said last week that Bush "is the most bellicose and heinous" US president, and added his visit was only intended to "fan up war hysteria". 
	
	
 Even though US officials have stressed that no firm military plans exist for expanding the war on terror launched after the September 11 attacks, they said late Sunday that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein should go. 
	
	
 "We've made no secret of the fact that we think that the world will be much safer when the Iraqi people have a regime that they deserve instead of the regime that they have," National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice told CBS television. 
	
	
 Washington has long accused Baghdad, under UN sanctions since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, of developing weapons of mass destruction. 
	
	
 But Baghdad insisted Sunday it could not be a threat to the United States. 
	
	
 "It is the United States that is threatening Iraq and not the contrary. They are the ones attacking Iraq, not the other way round," said Ath-Thawra, mouthpiece of the ruling Baath party in Baghdad. 
	
	
 "Even if Iraq possessed such weapons, it could not threaten the United States. How could it threaten a country that possesses weapons of mass destruction that could destroy entire planets?" 
	
	
 In Berlin, Germany's chief government spokesman Uwe-Karsten Heye told journalists, "The federal government cannot imagine that the United States government has an interest in engaging in an adventure" in Iraq. 
	
	
 Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder had pledged "undivided support" for the fight against terrorism a week after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, saying, "Germany is ready for risks, including military ones, but not for adventures." 
	
	
 He had also insisted on the right of the allies to be informed and consulted about US plans. 
	
	
 The German government spokesman said it would be "useful" if UN observers could enter Iraq again to check for weapons of mass destruction. 
	
	
 German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer last week sharply criticised Bush's "axis of evil" remarks, telling a newspaper that such a concept "gets us nowhere." 
	
	
 Iran, which has long had tense relations with its western neighbor, voiced opposition to a new US strike against Iraq. 
	
	
 "We hope that the issue would be solved through peaceful means, with initiatives from the UN secretary general and a more active role by the UN," Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi told a news conference. 
	
	
 "We also hope that Iraq gives a favourable response and allows UN weapon inspectors" to return to the country, he added. 
	
	
 Kharazi said that some 150 foreigners arrested recently on Iran's border with Pakistan were not members of the al-Qaeda terror network, but admitted some could be sympathisers and would be sent back to their home countries. 
	
	
 Among those being held were 40 women, between 70 and 80 children and a number of men of European, North African and Middle East origin, including a handful of Afghans. 
	
	
 A diplomatic source said the affair could become "embarrassing" for European countries, "because of the insistence of the Americans on judging for themselves" those who supported al-Qaeda. 
	
	
 Washington alleges that Tehran has allowed al-Qa'ida fighters and members of the Taliban regime to enter Iran, which Iranian officials have hotly denied but said they would act if provided with evidence. 
	
	
 In another verbal attack Kharazi accused the United States of wanting to exercise "world dictatorship" since the "horrible attacks" of September 11. 
	
	
 "America's rulers have proved that they cannot be trusted," he said. "They are seeking unilaterally to become the masters of the world and want to sweep aside all competitors from other countries." 
	
	
 Afghan interim Interior Minister Yunus Qanooni told AFP that two suspects in last week's murder of aviation and tourism minister Abdul Rahman had been arrested in Saudi Arabia and could be sent back to Afghanistan. 
	
	
	





Document 001001332 ends.



   Fate of 'detainees' hangs on US wording

 



  PARIS - The future of the Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters being 
held in Cuba is as unclear as the view through the darkened 
goggles they were made to wear when they stepped off the plane 
at the US military base in Guantanamo Bay.

  Already, Washington's refusal to grant them official 
prisoner-of- war status has sparked protests from human rights 
groups, and a disagreement with the International Committee of 
the Red Cross (ICRC), which oversees the Geneva Conventions. But 
for the US, the POW designation has little to do with steel 
manacles or open-air cells. Rather, it appears to be 
sidestepping the conventions in order to craft an unusual legal 
strategy that will enable it to try Al Qaeda suspects in special 
US military tribunals.

  Fifty men are currently being held in Guantanamo, in 
six-by-eight foot concrete-floored cells, with wooden roofs and 
chainlink fence "walls" that leave them open to the elements. US 
military engineers are preparing to build up to 2,000 such 
cells, if necessary; more than 400 prisoners are still being 
held in Afghanistan.

  Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told re- porters that "we do 
plan to, for the most part, treat them in a manner that is 
reasonably consistent with the Geneva Conventions, to the extent 
that they are appropriate."

  But he was careful to refer to the prisoners as "unlawful 
combatants" or "battlefield detainees," not prisoners of war. 
That description severely reduces the rights that the men would 
have as POWs under the Geneva Conventions, and prompted a 
rebuttal from the International Red Cross.

  "We say they should be presumed to be POWs, and it is not up to 
the ICRC or to the US military authorities to decide, but up to 
the courts," said Michael Kleiner, an ICRC spokesman.

  He recalled that a US court determined that former Panamanian 
strongman Manuel Noriega was a POW, despite the government's 
refusal to classify him as such following his capture. The issue 
goes to the heart of the US administration's hopes of 
prosecuting Al Qaeda leaders suspected of involvement in 
terrorist attacks against US targets. Under the third Geneva 
Convention, prisoners of war may only be tried in the same 
courts and according to the same rules, as soldiers of the 
country that is holding the prisoners. That means the Al Qaeda 
suspects could not be tried in the special military tribunals 
whose rules are currently being worked out, but only by regular 
US military courts using the Uniform Code of Military Justice. 
That would give the prisoners the right to a three-tier appeal 
system reaching possibly to the Supreme Court.

  "This is one reason why the Americans are nervous about applying 
the POW convention in all its glory," says Adam Roberts, an 
expert on international law at Oxford University in England, and 
editor of "Documents on the Laws of War."

  US Attorney General John Ashcroft said Tuesday that the 
administration would seek criminal charges in a civil court 
against the American Taliban prisoner John Walker Lindh, rather 
than send him to a military tribunal. Mr. Ashcroft said he would 
not face the death penalty.

  US officials say that the foreign prisoners captured in 
Afghanistan are not covered by the third Geneva Convention 
because they were "bands of people that I don't think would meet 
the criteria of organized military activity," as Pentagon 
spokeswoman Susan Hanson put it.

  The Pentagon has also stressed that the prisoners are being well 
treated, given three "culturally appropriate meals" a day, and 
the opportunity to shower, exercise, and receive medical 
attention.

  Human rights organizations, however, have raised questions about 
the prisoners' housing conditions, which according to the Geneva 
Convention should be the same standard of those enjoyed by their 
guards.

  "If US POWs were ever kept under these conditions, the United 
States would complain, and rightly so," says James Ross, a 
senior legal adviser with the New York-based Human Rights Watch. 
The ICRC is to send a team to Guantanamo by the end of this 
week, US officials have said, to inspect Camp X-Ray.

  Meanwhile Pentagon legal experts are currently working on a 
procedure to decide on the prisoners' fate. US policy towards 
them "is a new construct of the new military situation we find 
ourselves in," dealing with irregular forces from a variety of 
countries who are suspected of terrorism rather than traditional 
war crimes, Ms. Hanson says.

  Little is clear, however. "There are a bunch of lawyers who are 
looking at all these treaties and conventions and everything, 
trying to figure out what is appropriate," Mr. Rumsfeld told 
reporters last week.

  "They are a bit of a tangle, these people," says Prof. Roberts. 
Under the Geneva Conventions, POWs must be returned home at the 
end of the war. But Saudi or Egyptian detainees, for example, 
could face mistreatment at the hands of their governments, which 
means Washington would be forbidden by international law to hand 
them over.

  It is also unclear what would constitute an end to the war on 
terrorism. And if some individuals were found to be a continued 
danger, the US authorities would be reluctant to release them.

  "I don't think anything quite like this was envisioned when the 
Geneva Conventions were drawn up," says Tom Farer, dean of 
Denver University's Graduate School of International Studies and 
a former special assistant to the Defense Department's special 
counsel.

  "What is worrying," adds Prof. Roberts, "is that by calling 
these people 'battlefield detainees', the United States seems to 
be creating a legal limbo where it is not clear what the legal 
standards are."

  
back to top

  
Untitled


Copyright @ 2002 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights 
reserved.




Document 001001333 ends.


	
Islamabad -- The new Governor of Punjab, retired Lt. Gen. Khalid Maqbool (winner of the Hilal-e-Imtiaz Military medal), was born on 9 March 1948. He joined the Pakistan Army in May 1966. In the 1971 Pak-India war, he served in an infantry regiment at the Kashmir front. During his career, he remained as Brigadier of the Infantry Division and a Corps Commander. He also served as chief instructor at the National Defense College, and Command and Staff College, Quetta. 
	
	
 Lt. General (Retd) Khalid Maqbool was the defense and military attache at the Pakistani Embassy in the United States for two and a half years. He was also the Military Secretary of the former Governor of Balochistan, retired Lt. Gen. Rahimuddin Khan. 
	
	
 He is a law graduate from the Punjab University. He received his Masters of Science degree in the war wing from the National Defense College. He passed the Infantry Officer's Advanced Course and Senior International Defense Management Course from the United States. 
	
	
 Retired Lt. Gen. Khalid Maqbool is from the Baloch Regiment. He was promoted to the rank of Lt. General on 28 October 1998, following which he was made the Corps Commander of Lahore. He became the Chairman of the National Accountability Bureau on 26 September 2000. 
	
	
 He retired from the Pakistan Army on 27 October 2001 and was nominated as the Governor of Punjab. He has one daughter. 
	
	
 
	
	
	





Document 001001336 ends.



   Shuttle Atlantis thunders toward space station

 


Author:     BY PHIL LONG

  CAPE CANAVERAL - Seven astronauts and a truckload of hardware 
are racing toward the International Space Station following the 
successful blastoff Monday of the space shuttle Atlantis.

  The launch was the first of six scheduled for the next seven 
months in a flurry of activity designed to get the space station 
closer to completion.

  Riding three new main engines that belched an orange pillar of 
fire, Atlantis thundered off the seaside launch pad at 4:44 p.m. 
A computer glitch marred the countdown as engineers frantically 
reloaded software, finishing the job with just 11 seconds to 
spare.

  The launch came after a four-day delay caused when a liquid 
hydrogen vent pipe sprung a leak during fueling on Thursday.

  ''You spent a few extra days in Florida,'' NASA launch director 
Mike Leinbach told Atlantis commander Mike Bloomfield moments 
before liftoff. ``But it's time to take a ride.''

  The launch was a milestone in U.S. space flight. Mission 
specialist Jerry L. Ross, a grandfather, became the first 
astronaut to make seven space flights.

  In four space walks during the 11-day mission, astronauts will 
install the ''keystone'' center support unit for the 
International Space Station.

  The 44-foot-long, 27,000-pound ''S-Zero'' structure's first job 
will be to support a new solar energy array nearly an acre in 
size, stretching more than a football field in length.




Document 001001337 ends.



Club Fed And Our Invisible Troops

 


 
 
DefenseWatch (sftt.org) 
January 30, 2002 
Club Fed And Our Invisible Troops 
By David H. Hackworth

  The brouhaha created by breast-beating human-rights groups over 
our military's treatment of the terrorist scuzz now vacationing 
at the Pentagon's recently opened Cuban Club Fed - eagerly aided 
and abetted by a press too prone to the sensational - is 
something else. These bleeding hearts claim we're brutalizing 
the captives by forcing them to wear orange jumpsuits, sleep on 
mats, exercise daily, shower frequently and eat special food.

  My buddy, a Connecticut cop, finds the protests fascinating. He 
says, "I'm having a lot of trouble concentrating on my job 
because of the prisoners at Guantanamo."

  Then, with a twinkle in his eyes, he adds: "Are they getting 
enough sleep, the right diet, enough prayer time? We have to 
keep them happy and healthy. They only want to murder all of us 
the first chance they get."

  Amen. Their perp pal responsible for the first World Trade 
Center attack jabbed a sharpened comb into a guard's eye while 
he was in the pokey. This time around, they've already bitten 
one of the soldiers guarding them and threatened to kill anybody 
else who gets too close. After all, these are the folks who 
spent their leisure time back in Afghanistan skinning captives 
alive - when they weren't playing soccer with their heads.

  
Think of them as kamikaze killers looking for an edge.

  However you want to categorize these creeps - who are living a 
lot better at Club Fed than they ever did in the caves of Tora 
Bora - Geneva Convention rules are for uniformed soldiers, not 
for skyjackers who fly commercial planes filled with moms and 
dads into office buildings manned by civilians operating 
computers, or for zealots who kill Arab women because they drive 
a car or don't cover their faces. Al-Qaeda is a terrorist 
organization, not a state, and its crazies wear street gear and 
operate disguised as civilians. Terrorists dressed to pass like 
these were often shot right on the spot during World War II and 
the Korean War.

  I'm personally offended that none of the whistle-blowers seems 
to give a damn about the welfare or safety of our sons and 
daughters guarding these thugs. Have you read any stories about 
the dangers they face? Have any of our politicians bothered to 
inspect our kids' living conditions when they've jetted into 
Gitmo to check out the terrorists' treatment and pick up some 
tube time?

  Had anyone checked, they would have discovered that our U.S. 
Army Military Police guarding the terrorists think the prisoners 
are being treated a lot better than they are. They're not 
pleased that the brass, the lawmakers and the press are more 
interested in the well-being of the detainees than the soldiers 
guarding them, and that they might as well be invisible.

  Here's what our soldiers from the Army's 401st MP Company out of 
Fort Hood, Texas, who are the main monster-watchers, are saying:

  "We live like crap down here with no extra pay or tax break, and 
we feel that no one up above gives a rat's ass about us," a 
sergeant says. "Our officers are more concerned with doing 
Pentagon damage control concerning the detainees than looking 
after the troops."

  "The detainees sleep on soft mats on a nice surfaced floor while 
we sleep on cots inside tents with dirt floors. They get four 
hot meals a day, fresh fruit, regular issues of snacks such as 
sunflower seeds, regular clean clothes laundered by the Marine 
supply system," says another soldier. "We get canned food and 
MREs, canned fruit. We buy our own snacks and do our own 
laundry."

  "The Marine general here says we can have a beer when off duty, 
but our Army leadership is running so scared that it set a 
no-drinking policy," says another troop. "We are responsible 
enough to secure the prisoners, but not enough to have a beer."

  "The Red Cross put us in a very dangerous situation with their 
demands, and sadly our leadership went along with it," a soldier 
said. "We've been told to lie to Marine inspectors over 
standards and requirements. The Marines are right, the Army's 
wrong, and we're stuck in the middle."

  Maybe someday, do-gooders, editors, lawmakers and senior Army 
leaders will remember our soldiers are human beings with human 
rights, too, and get their side of the story. Charity should 
begin at home.




Document 001001342 ends.



   Midweek: Wheel turns with a vengeance for the Taliban

 



  AS Camp X-ray in Cuba's Guantanamo Bay continues to fill with 
Muslim militants who had sworn to die rather than be captured, 
even the little we see of their situation makes it clear they're 
in hell.

  Many in the outside world are disturbed by conditions in 
"Gitmo". The United States dismisses such concerns: it's a 
prison, after all; remember the Black Hole of Mazar-iSharif.

  Anxiety arises, however, from the sense that the cultural gulf 
between these prisoners and their captors is so vast that the 
latter genuinely do not see how a diet of peanut butter and 
bagel chips can be considered cruel and inhuman punishment.

  The suffering of these particular prisoners is, indeed, 
particularly great. Their prayers are now led by a victorious 
enemy soldier - what could be worse? Quite a lot, as it happens. 
Crouched in their cages in Cuba, they must know that back in 
Afghanistan TVs are glowing, Bollywood is bellowing, men are 
shaving, women unveiling and sending their daughters to school.

  One can feel sorry for the hapless vanquished now on that limbo 
rock in the Caribbean, and hope that some might follow the 
threads of their tortured consciences back out of the labyrinth, 
having duly met and been eaten by the Minotaur.

  Still, it might be doubly difficult for the Afghans among them 
ever to go back, if the new administration of their home country 
goes ahead with rebuilding the Buddhas of Bamiyan for their 
potential as a tourist attraction.

  It's been almost a year since the Taliban blew up those 
monumental 1,500-year-old sandstone statues in northcentral 
Afghanistan, at which time the only way for the rest of us to 
handle the insult to human sensibilities was to emulate the 
Gautama Buddha himself, and profess relief.

  Those statues probably hadn't been a good likeness of him, 
anyway. His clothes probably never looked quite like that - the 
statues' fashion sense had been clearly influenced by the 
Greeks, what with Alexander the Great having passed through on 
his way to giving up with India.

  As for likenesses, the Buddha said on his deathbed: "All 
composite things arise and decline. Work out your salvation with 
diligence." So he is unlikely to have been enamoured of statues.

  Which, one supposes, was indeed the motivation of those who blew 
away those statues to leave two giant holes in the Afghan 
landscape, in the process paying unthinking tribute to some of 
the Buddha's subtlest and most profound teachings on the nature 
of impermanence and the perils of delusion.

  Besides, those statues had been defaced long before they were 
finally reduced to rubble. One of them had lost not just its 
face but its entire head. The other had a big hole in its 
crotch, at which someone had launched a rocketpropelled grenade 
back in '98.

  Judging by its demeanour, the statue hadn't felt a thing. But 
the Taliban commander who aimed that RPG was certainly ascribing 
human characteristics to a lump of stone. Which was most 
disturbing of all, because such was the very sin that rocket was 
supposedly intended to expunge.

  So those poor bullet-scarred statues made everyone look sad and 
foolish, and their final immolation a year ago put them out of 
their misery, so to speak.

  Even at the time, though, this was a stretch for even the most 
ardent apologist. The veil of compassion was hardly elastic 
enough to pull over those two great big holes in the earth.

  That was the moment at which the fabric of compassion tore, and 
worlds cracked apart; when the contrast and conflict of 
civilisational values became so great as to remove any sense of 
common ground - even on which to do battle. On both sides of the 
divide after that gratuitously destructive event, anything went. 
And did, spectacularly.

  Of all the unconscionable things the Taliban did to Afghan 
society in the six years of their reign, their demolition of the 
Buddhas of Bamiyan last March cleaved the rift between 
civilisations that was rammed wide open by hijacked aircraft 
over America just six months later, and which the US has since 
cauterised with the molten metal of its military might.

  And so it has come ironically to pass that, one year on, a new 
Afghan order is dreaming of rebuilding those statues, while 
what's left of the Taliban now sits in cells a world away, 
beardless, bald and clad in saffron.


Copyright @ The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad, Balai 
Berita 31, Jalan Riong, 59100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.




Document 001001343 ends.


	
BEIJING, Nov 8 (AFP) - United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson began a visit to China on Thursday with a warning to her hosts not to use the war against terror as an excuse for repression. 
	
	
 Robinson told reporters in Beijing she would raise individual cases of prisoners as well as her concerns about the "widespread" use of torture in China and the treatment of people in the regions of Tibet and Xinjiang. 
	
	
 Robinson, who is due to attend discussions on human rights education and meet President Jiang Zemin during her two-day trip, began the visit by signing an agreement between the UN and China on further cooperation in human rights dialogue during 2002. 
	
	
 Afterwards, answering questions alongside co-signatory Vice Foreign Minister Wang Guangya, she made it clear measures to crack down on terrorism should not be used to justify rights abuses. 
	
	
 The former Irish president said she was concerned at "a worrying trend in a number of countries to use the excuse of combating terrorism to clamp down on freedom of expression and legitimate dissent which is not violent". 
	
	
 She specifically highlighted the situation of the ethnic Uighhur Muslim population of Xinjiang, China's furthest west region, where rights groups have claimed a crackdown against separatists has been stepped up since the September 11 attacks on the United States. 
	
	
 In anti-terror campaigns, "there must also be very clear boundaries and I am worried specifically about the Uighur population in Xinjiang, I am worried about the situation in areas like Tibet for example, which I wish to raise," she said. 
	
	
 Any cooperation with China over rights issues would not blunt further criticism, she pledged. 
	
	
 "I adopt a two pronged approach. One is to encourage this cooperation and the other is to express concerns about serious situations of human rights violations or shortcomings, that I will also do." 
	
	
 China later denied there were abuses in Xinjiang and Tibet and said the real issue was separatists -- Uighurs who want an independent state of East Turkestan and Tibetans associated with the Dalai Lama -- taking advantage of the international crisis. 
	
	
 In Xinjiang and Tibet, "the situation there is very good" said foreign ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao. 
	
	
 "If there are problems out there it is the issue of separatists who want to undermine the situation, and a very important issue is the East Turkestan terrorists and the Dalai Lama separatist clique," he told a press briefing. 
	
	
 That the fight against Xinjiang "terrorists" was part of the global anti-terror battle "should be very clear, no double standards should be pursued here," he added. 
	
	
 China has repeatedly said it is "a victim of terrorism" in Xinjiang, which borders Afghanistan, and there have been reports of Uighur activists being rounded up following the September 11 attacks. 
	
	
 Robinson said that among other issues she would bring up was the "widespread" problem of torture in China. 
	
	
 "I will also raise some individual cases and express concerns. I do this in each country that I visit," she said. 
	
	
 However despite previous discussions "I haven't had as much progress on individual cases as I have wished to," she added. 
	
	
 Analysts have warned that however tough Robinson's talk, international attention is probably too firmly focused on the anti-terror coalition, of which China is a part, to place much pressure on Beijing over human rights. 
	
	
	





Document 001001345 ends.


	
He says his letter in answer to the antiglobalists' arguments is "personal," but Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt is taking good care that his partners opinions' are being heard, that general considerations alternate with real initiatives, that concessions are sufficiently concrete, and that his letter that will be published this Monday [10 September] will attract worldwide attention. His timing is right. First, his foreign trade minister, Annemie Neyts, has to create the right climate. Today, she will read a declaration on globalization in the European Parliament; later this week she will preside the informal meeting of EU foreign trade ministers in Bruges. During this meeting, she has scheduled a meeting with peaceful antiglobalists, "but there is little I can do," she said in an interview. 
	
	
 "This is no blind violence but rather targeted violence," Annemie Neyts said referring to the antiglobalist movement that set Gothenburg and Genoa, among other cities, ablaze. "However, the movement is more than that. There are also peaceful protesters. We should listen to them. The current generation, too, is entitled to receive answers. The protest movement is colored by leftist ideology. They thought they had lost the game, and all at once they see an opportunity to resume their ideological fight against capitalism. We should keep listening and arguing, but adopt a cautious approach. In 1968 [Paris student revolt] I was annoyed at politicians who sided with us just to gain popularity." 
	
	
 Neyts, who has also been presiding the Liberal [free market-oriented] International for two years, spontaneously talks about the 1968 events on several occasions during the interview. "The current protest movement is still in a phase that we called contestation in 1968. But the protesters are not the only ones who are worried about the gulf between north and south." 
	
	
 Neyts noticed this while reading the local press in Kenya, where she has recently been on a holiday, and in Morocco. "All the country's problems are now often attributed to globalization, also country-specific problems such as corruption, for instance." 
	
	
 Neyts is convinced that gaining access to development is a much more complex phenomenon than is generally accepted. "It is reassuring to believe that the Tobin tax [on speculative capital movements] will stimulate development, but there is more to it. I think that the development debate does not focus enough on political development and political stability. How do you create political parties? How do you set up an efficient judicial system?" 
	
	
 Neyts is a resolute defender of world trade and the World Trade Organization (WTO). "Trade alone will not save the world," Neyts said, "but in as far as it refers to the free exchange of products and movement of persons, it constitutes an important factor for economic development." 
	
	
 "In the 1930's, the first reaction to the economic depression was to close all borders. The situation only got worse. Today, we opt for an international cooperation model. There is no alternative to it but conflict, isolation, nationalism, and ultimately war. International cooperation is slow and does not function optimally, but the alternatives are worse." 
	
	
 The WTO is accused of fostering trade anarchy. This implies that it would totally liberalize trade. The WTO seeks to do exactly the contrary. The WTO issues regulations and penalties in case these regulations are not observed. Moreover, the WTO is a young and small organization, and not a cold monster as some people are depicting it." 
	
	
 Neyts understands that developing countries may feel uneasy about the kind of trade negotiations that are conducted at WTO level. "And this is not only a feeling. Out of 140 members, not even 50 percent has a permanent delegation in Geneva. Those countries do not possess the necessary expertise to conduct such highly technical negotiations." 
	
	
 However, the WTO should not be loaded with all the world's sins. "There is not one developing country that wants to link social regulations to WTO regulations. They think that this is some sort of new protectionism by the West following the abolishment of tariff barriers (except for agriculture). That is not what it is all about." 
	
	
 Neyts rejects all forms of violence, but understands the protests. "Certain excesses at EU meetings and, above all, at 'summits,' the so-called 'high masses,' sometimes call for a reaction. There is an immense gulf between the hype surrounding a summit and its result, which is often worded in illegible conclusions. This is even worse in the case of G-8 meetings. Closing off a zone by means of containers, as was done in Genoa, is an act of objectionable brutality." 
	
	
 "Therefore, it is a positive development that all 'summits' will be held in Brussels as of 2003," Neyts said. "This will remove the hype surrounding them." 
	
	
 However, a clear answer that would silence all protests does not exist. "We are living in a politically highly sophisticated society. Following the closure of the Renault plant in Vilvoorde, we issued a law known as the Renault law. At the time, the brutality with which this closure was implemented was unheard of, but now we have legal instruments to avoid this." 
	
	
 "Unfortunately, Renault's Vilvoorde plant did effectively close down, "but this is a question of overcapacity in the automobile industry." According to Neyts, many initiatives to alleviate discontent have recently been taken. "The Belgian delegation to the WTO negotiations will include nongovernmental organizations. The WTO texts include passages about the need to heed civilian society and to pay attention to durable development." 
	
	
 "Actually, I do not know what else we can do. I think that the antiglobalists do not realize what has already been done. Their criticism that we obstruct agricultural products from the south is justified. But this can only change if we negotiate. To do this, regulations and a structure like the WTO are needed. Otherwise, what will happen is that existing trade blocks will grow stronger. The least developed countries will be left behind." 
	
	
	





Document 001001347 ends.


	
The Argentine TV station Todo Noticias ["All News"] reported yesterday that President Fernando Henrique Cardoso on Saturday night telephoned Cordoba Province Governor Jose Manuel de la Sota, of the Justicialist Party (PJ) -- who once served as ambassador to Brazil -- to voice his concern over incidents in the country. 
	
	
 "Cardoso told De la Sota that the images of the protests at the Plaza de Mayo show a country on the verge of a civil war," one of the channel's journalists commented. 
	
	
 According to the reporter, the Brazilian president apparently advised De la Sota to move forward the elections, initially slated for March 2002. But neither Itamaraty nor the Planalto Palace confirmed the president's phone call to the governor of Cordoba. 
	
	
 Legislators Request Action from the Brazilian Government 
	
	
 Concern has spread to Brazilian legislators. Violent attacks at the Argentine legislature sounded alarm bells in the Brazilian political arena, to the point that senators of the official and opposition parties defended more concrete support from the Brazilian Government for Argentina. Deputy Jose Genoino (Workers Party -- Sao Paulo) said that the wave of looting threatens Argentine democracy. He asked that Brazil promote meetings in the South American continent, or serve as intermediary in negotiations with international institutions. 
	
	
 "This is an unpredictable, anarchical situation. We don't know where it will go, against whom. It is dangerous! In addition to Argentina there are other countries in crisis, such as Colombia and Venezuela. We have a very risky scenario. Any step backward for democracy on the continent would be a disaster. Brazil cannot stand by with its hands folded just watching all of this," Genoino affirmed. 
	
	
 PSDB [Brazilian Social Democracy Party] President Jose Anibal (Sao Paulo) said that Cardoso has already placed himself at the disposal of the Argentine Government to talk to international financial institutions. He noted, "Brazil should adopt an open posture with relation to Argentina, which is experiencing a tragedy." 
	
	
 For Jose Agripino Maia, PFL [Liberal Front Party] leader in the Senate, although Brazil has detached itself from Argentina, it should not disregard the message of the crises that is devastating the neighboring country. 
	
	
 "The political warning must be heeded. Either one pays attention to the will of the people or what happened will happen." Maia commented. 
	
	
 Senator Heloisa Helena (Workers Party -- Alagoas) said that Latin American countries should always join together to speak with international economic institutions, in order to maintain autonomy in their economies: "Now we see what happens when one country abdicates its financial autonomy. I hope that this can alert the Brazilian Government to revise its relationship with the IMF." 
	
	
 Analysts: Lack of Alternative for Power 
	
	
 Political scientists agree: Argentina lacks a political force that can stand up to Peronism and Radicalism. This is viewed as the main impediment to the establishment of political order in the country. USP [University of Sao Paulo] professor Emir Sader believes that Peronists will remain in power after the elections, slowly growing weaker, allowing room for the emergence of new leadership. 
	
	
 "The degree of pauperization will be brutal. Everything depends on how long it takes for Peronism to burn out and new leadership to emerge," Sader said. 
	
	
 For the political scientist, Argentina cannot wait for assistance from the American Government. Latin America is no longer important because the focus now is on global security and no longer on the international economic order. 
	
	
 Sader affirmed, "The new policy of (US President George W.) Bush is to permit decay. The concern now is security. All eyes are on Pakistan, China, and Russia." 
	
	
	





Document 001001348 ends.



Elaborating on the 'axis of evil'

 



  PRESIDENT GEORGE Bush's National Security Adviser Condoleezza 
Rice has recently "defined" the context and scope of the term 
"axis of evil" that Bush used in his State of the Union address 
a few weeks ago to describe Iraq, Iran and North Korea. The 
criteria set by Rice are the following: the three countries in 
question are repressive and grave human rights violators, and 
aggressively seeking weapons of mass destruction.

  By all conservative estimates, there are scores of other 
countries which can easily qualify as repressive and violating 
human rights. The rule, as far as human rights are concerned, is 
that every nation which does not enjoy pluralistic democracy is 
violating human rights and is therefore oppressive. There are 
many countries in the world that hardly qualify as pluralistic 
democracies. On this count, the national security adviser may 
have erred.

  As for her wording regarding acquisition of weapons, what is 
particularly noteworthy is the use of the words "aggressively 
seeking" nuclear, biological or chemical weapons. In other 
words, countries which are seeking or developing such arsenal at 
a slow pace do not seem to come within the scope of the "axis of 
evil". One can name more than a dozen countries which are 
contemplating the acquisition of mass destruction weapons at one 
speed or another. All other countries which are seemingly 
refraining from acquiring such weapons are doing so not so much 
to escape being branded as "evil" but rather because they have 
neither the knowledge nor the money to join the "nuclear club".

  Come to think of it, acquiring weapons of mass destruction per 
se may not be a correct basis for judging whether a nation is 
good or evil. The mere development or possession of mass 
destruction weapons is not in itself a reason to label a state 
as evildoer. After all, the US is the first nation to have 
developed nuclear weapons. Moreover, the US is the first and 
only nation ever to deploy such weapons.

  Perhaps the real criterion in this context is whether the 
nuclear country is democratic in every sense of the word.

  Washington seems to be particularly disturbed and feel that its 
own national security is being threatened only when the nations 
which acquire mass destruction weapons are authoritarian or 
repressive, irrespective of the pace of amassing weaponry. This 
is, in fact, the fear of all countries, as they feel that 
democratic regimes are more restrained and responsible when it 
comes to resorting to weapons of mass destruction. If this is 
the case, Rice could have elaborated more precise criteria for 
membership in the "axis of evil," by establishing more clearly 
the connection between the nature of the regime and the 
acquisition of weapons of mass destruction.




Document 001001349 ends.


       

Heritage Media Corp., New York, said it offered to buy the shares of POP Radio Corp. it doesn't already own in a stock swap. 

Heritage, which owns 51% of POP's 3.6 million shares outstanding, said it will exchange one share of a new preferred stock for each POP common share it doesn't already own.
Depending upon how many warrants and options are exercised prior to completion of the transaction, Heritage would issue between 1.8 million and 2.35 million preferred shares, a Heritage spokesman estimated.
In national over-the-counter trading yesterday, POP plunged $4 to $14.75. 

The preferred stock, which would have a dividend rate of $1.76 a year, would be convertible into Heritage common at a rate of four common shares for each preferred.
New York-based POP Radio provides, through a national, in-store network, a customized music, information and advertising service which simulates live radio.
Heritage owns and operates television and radio stations and in-store advertising and promotion programs. 




Document 001001351 ends.


	
[Computer selected and disseminated without FBIS editorial intervention] 
	
	
 Taipei, Sept. 26 (CNA) -- It is unlikely that the Vatican will establish diplomatic ties with mainland China any time soon, judging from their differences on religious issues, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokeswoman Chang Siao-yue said Wednesday. 
	
	
 Chang's remark came in response to a foreign wire report that mainland China and the Vatican are preparing to bridge their differences and may even pave the way for full diplomatic relations. 
	
	
 Beijing authorities are expected to take advantage of a large religious meeting slated for October 14 in Beijing to develop the possibility of setting up formal relations with the Vatican, according to the report. 
	
	
 In response, Chang said the Beijing leadership will have chances to boost exchanges with Holy See officials in the next few weeks, including in the religious meeting to be held Oct. 14-18 in Beijing and another one scheduled for Oct. 24-25 in Rome. 
	
	
 In addition to Catholic scholars from around the world, former Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti will also take part in the symposium to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the start of Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci's mission to China in 1601, Chang noted. 
	
	
 The MOFA spokeswoman affirmed that from the angle of Eastern and Western cultural exchanges, the sponsoring of similar conferences will be instrumental to mainland Chinese people's better understanding of Catholicism and its contributions to Chinese society. 
	
	
 As for the development of diplomatic relations between mainland China and the Vatican, Chang noted that differences between the Beijing leadership and the Holy See on religious issues dates from long ago, so it is impossible for the Vatican to broach this issue with Beijing for the time being. 
	
	
 Chang also reaffirmed the solid and cordial diplomatic links between the Republic of China and the Vatican.	





Document 001001352 ends.


	
The first 12 Romanian soldiers will leave for Afghanistan this evening. They will be carried to the ISAF deployment area by a C-130 Hercules aircraft. Two additional transports will carry the other soldiers (a total of 48). The Romanian soldiers are military police and will be in charge of escorting, patrolling, protecting humanitarian convoys, and controlling access points. Romania has put a C-130 Hercules aircraft at the ISAF's disposal for transport operations in the aforementioned zone. Through our special correspondent Doru Dragomir who will accompany the Romanian contingent, Ziua will keep its readers informed about the way the Romanian detachment will arrive in Kabul and the first missions the Romanian soldiers will carry out in the ISAF framework. 
	
	
 
	
	
	





Document 001001353 ends.


	
[Computer selected and disseminated without FBIS editorial intervention] 
	
	
 Bangkok, 09 April Kyodo -- Thailand expects China's official response to its proposal for a free-trade agreement Friday when Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra meets Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji on the sidelines of a regional economic conference, local dailies said Tuesday. 
	
	
 Thaksin will leave Thailand on Thursday to visit Hainan Island in southern China to attend the first meeting of the two-day Boao Forum for Asia, which starts Friday. 
	
	
 Local dailies quoted senior Commerce Ministry official Boontipa Simaskul as saying that if China agrees to form a bilateral free-trade area, the time frame will be set immediately. 
	
	
 Boontipa, head of the ministry's Department of Business Economics, said the time frame of the bilateral free-trade area would be shorter than the 10-year time frame envisaged for a free-trade area between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Thailand is a member. 
	
	
 Senior officials from the 10-member ASEAN and China are due to meet in Beijing from May 13 through 15 to draw up a blueprint for a regional free-trade area. The meeting is the first since the initiative got the nod from their leaders during the annual ASEAN-China leaders' summit in Brunei last November. 
	
	
 The China-ASEAN free-trade area would be the world's largest with a combined market of nearly 1.8 billion people, a regional gross domestic product of US$2 trillion and international trade worth $1.2 trillion. 
	
	
 ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. 
	
	
 Thailand and China had preliminary talks on a bilateral free-trade area last year. 
	
	
 Thaksin will also meet with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and South Korean Prime Minister Lee Han Dong on the sidelines of the conference before leaving for home Friday evening.	





Document 001001357 ends.


	
The government got through the first day of transactions on the floating foreign exchange market without too many difficulties. After a week-long currency holiday and to the surprise of many, the dollar hit only 2.4 pesos and closed at 2.1, with no need for intervention by the Central Bank. 
	
	
 The average prices at exchange offices had the dollar closing yesterday at 1.85 bid and 2.15 asked. On the wholesale market, however, the dollar closed at 2 bid and 2.03 asked. The exchange rate on the retail market, which started at between 2.3 and 2.4 pesos, fell sharply in the early afternoon hours after some exporters began settling their positions. 
	
	
 "Exporters held out until they saw that the dollar would not top 2.4. At that point they started selling, and the exchange rate fell back to 1.75," one trader said. Also pushing the dollar down were the restrictions that still exist on the foreign exchange market and the scant trading liquidity. 
	
	
 Yesterday was also the first day that holders of salary direct-deposit accounts were able to access all their money. Although theoretically this threatened to increase the amount of money in circulation, it did not because of the shortage of pesos at many automatic tellers around the city. "Buying dollars for more than 2 pesos is not a good deal," said Alfredo Piano, the head of the company that bears his name. Meanwhile, economist Miguel Bein, a former secretary of economic policy, said that "the overshooting already happened when the dollar went from 1 to 2 pesos. As was to be expected, people did not want to support prices beyond 2.15 pesos to the dollar." 
	
	
 Not all banks refrained from selling greenbacks, though. After deciding that it would take in all of the dollars in the banks' possession, the Central Bank decided late Friday to suspend the order. Thus, some mid-sized private banks moved into the retail foreign currency market. 
	
	
 "There are still no regulations. The Central Bank has not yet explained what transfers can be made or what the authorization rules will be for these transactions. Until it does so, the wholesale market, which is the one that can stand up to the Central Bank, is going to remain closed," explained one trader at a front-line bank. 
	
	
 "The calm was due to the fact that there were no importers around, because they do not have authorization," said Jorge Fogwill of Scotiabank Quilmes. "If there are no importers, the market has no reason to heat up, and as long as this continues, there will be no need for the Central Bank to intervene," he added. 
	
	
 Traders are expecting as calm a session today as yesterday, at least until the Central Bank decides to spell out which transfers it will authorize in the future. 
	
	
 Atmosphere Heats up in Financial District Exchange Offices 
	
	
 The boards at exchange offices were again the focus of greatest attention in the Buenos Aires financial district. Thousands of people turned the corner of Sarmiento and San Martin, where most of the agencies are concentrated, into a pedestrian mall. 
	
	
 As if they were strolling through a shopping center, savers peered into exchange office windows, looking for the best price. Only after walking up and down several blocks and comparing the quotes did people get in line and endure the midday heat to buy or sell the coveted greenback. 
	
	
 The people in these lines were in a foul mood. "To sell dollars I have to stand in this line for two hours or so," shouted Alberto, a laboratory executive. Three persons who were standing near him immediately asked him, almost in unison, at what price he was willing to sell. This was a common scene, as savers could avoid long lines this way. 
	
	
 Miguel, an unemployed man from Entre Rios, offered another way to avoid the wait. For five pesos he would stand in line while his "customer" had a soft drink or took care of other business. 
	
	
 The presence of the crowd prompted occasional passers-by to express animated opinions and engage in almost philosophical debates about conditions in the country. "Great, keep on buying dollars so there'll be more and more poor people in the country," shouted one. "What do you want them to do when no one believes in the peso anymore," came the reply. 
	
	
 Unauthorized street traders flourished, expecting to make a killing. But the Federal Police cleared the area. In an operation that morning they arrested 12 illegal currency traders near Corrientes and San Martin. The police presence did not stop them from seeking out savers, however. "I'm not sure whether I should wait in line or sell to one of the street traders, because they'll even give me a few cents more," said Fabian, a 36-year old attorney. 
	
	
 As if the crowd and people's nerves were already not enough to heat up the atmosphere, at noon a march by the Argentine Production Movement and the demonstrations against banks wound up scaring away several savers, who decided to conduct their transactions another day. "You can't live with this level of hysteria," said Jorge, a 67-year old retiree who in all his years cannot recall a comparable situation. 
	
	
 Weak Dollar Sends Merval Index Down 10.68 Percent 
	
	
 The Buenos Aires Stock Exchange's Merval index fell 10.68 percent on the first day of the single foreign exchange market. Shares fell as prices corrected vis-a-vis the exchange rate of the dollar. 
	
	
 Some specialists felt that the peso's appreciation against the dollar triggered a wave of selling on the stock market as the share prices set in accordance with a higher exchange rate than the one now drooped. They also explained that the stock market's behavior would be hard to predict in the coming days since it will depend mainly on the greenback; as a result, many are saying that there will be "upward and downward price swings." 
	
	
 In a session that traders described as "wait and see," trading volume hit 32.6 million pesos. The board showed 25 stocks lower, 11 higher, and 5 unchanged. 
	
	
 Among the biggest losers were Acindar (down 14.88 percent), Banco Frances (down 13.68 percent), Perez Companc (down 11.31 percent), and Telecom Argentina (down 10.96 percent). Among the strongest gainers were Gas Natural Ban (up 12.7 percent), Banco Bansud (up 7.69 percent), Instituto Rosembusch (up 4 percent), and Sociedad Comercial del Plata (up 2.7 percent). 
	
	
 The Merval index moved as expected at the start of a week in which the dollar did not change much in spite of the major uncertainty caused by the return of the single foreign exchange market after 11 years when one peso equaled one dollar. 
	
	
 Trends 
	
	
 Last Wednesday the Merval index posted a sharp 5.94 percent rise when the stock exchange reopened. At that point investors were anticipating a possible jump in the dollar when the currency market reopened. 
	
	
 Yesterday, however, the Merval closed down sharply at 410.84, in keeping with the trend over the past two days. 
	
	
 The stock market had anticipated a dollar exchange rate that did not come about. Therefore, investors began selling their shares, which prompted a sharp drop in the Merval index. 
	
	
 According to analysts, the trend in the stock market is closely linked to the price of the dollar. Hence, when investors saw that the dollar was trading at between 1.9 and 2.3 pesos, they began selling off their shares to make as much profit as they could. 
	
	
 In the view of Leopoldo Oilvari Sivori of Bacque Sociedad de Bolsa, "the behavior of the stock market is linked to the exchange rate. Last week it rose because we had different expectations about the value of the dollar, but today it is correcting the 20 or 30 cents that the dollar is down." He went on to say that the investors who bought shares in recent months start selling as quickly as possible when they see that the dollar exchange rate is not what they expected. 
	
	
 In addition, exporters have started settling their pending transactions. According to traders, "in this way the market got liquidity and pushed prices lower." 
	
	
 Investors saw equities as a way of hedging against a possible rise in the dollar. But when the greenback failed to achieve its expected value, investors who bought shares at a specific price started selling to earn some spread before the dollar could go lower. 
	
	
 Last Friday the Merval index closed down a marginal 0.32 percent after a session that traders had predicted would be calm. 
	
	
 Some specialists feel that "anything could happen" this week, but the trend is downward. 
	
	
	





Document 001001361 ends.


       

Reed International PLC said that net income for the six months ended Oct. 1 slipped 5% to #89.7 million ($141.9 million), or 16 pence a share, from #94.8 million ($149.9 million), or 17.3 pence a share. 

The British paper, packaging and publishing concern, said profit from continuing lines fell 10% to #118 million from #130.6 million. 

While there were no one-time gains or losses in the latest period, there was a one-time gain of #18 million in the 1988 period.
And while there was no profit this year from discontinued operations, last year they contributed #34 million, before tax. 

Pretax profit fell 3.7% to #128 million from #133 million and was below analysts' expectations of #130 million to #135 million, but shares rose 6 pence to 388 pence in early trading yesterday in London. 

Reed is paying an interim dividend of 4.6 pence, up 15% from 4 pence a year earlier. 

Sales fell 20% to #722 million. 

Earnings were hurt by disposal of operations in its restructuring, Reed said. 




Document 001001363 ends.



   Khatami congratulates Venezuelan nation for Chavez' return

 



  Tehran, April 20, IRNA -- President Mohammad Khatami on Friday 
evening congratulated the Venezuelan government and nation for 
the victory and restoration of the legitimate government of 
President Hugo Chavez after a failed military coup in that 
country.

  During a telephone conversation, President Khatami told his 
Venezuelan counterpart, President Hugo Chavex, that the return 
of the legitimate president and government to power was a 
victory of justice and freedom.

  The Iranian president also expressed the hope that with the 
return of President Chavez the Venezuelan government would be 
able to achieve its exalted objectives with the support of the 
people.

  Referring to the difficult period the venezuelan nation went 
through in the past week, President Chavez said the 
anti-democractic attempts to topple his government failed with 
the help of the Almighty God and the people.

  As to the re-establishment of legal order in his country, Chavez 
briefed the Iranian president on the latest developments in his 
country.

  Referring to the objective of those who were behind the military 
coup in Venezuela, Chavez said they wwanted to have Venezuela 
come out from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting 
Countries (OPEC) and therefore tried to produce more oil in 
order to undermine the organization.

  President Chavez thanked President Khatami for his telephone 
call and wished success for the Iranian government and nation.

  The two presidents expressed a mutual desire to meet in the near 
future.

  Iran, Sunday last week, sent congratulations to Venezuela on 
hearing of the return of the rule of law and reinstatement of 
the legitimate government of President Chavez after the two-day 
military collapsed.

  On Saturday it condemned the the ouster of the democratically 
elected president of Venezuela, saying, "resorting to a coup and 
the use of force is not an acceptable method to bring about 
political change and the method is not in conformity with the 
norms of present human society."

  Chavez was brought back to the Venezuelan presidential palace 
early Sunday by helicopter from a Caribbean island where he was 
detained after the coup and thereafter resumed his functions as 
president.

  Chavez, whose mandate was due to end in 2006, was forced out of 
office by the country's armed forces who blamed him for the 
deaths of 15 people during demonstrations in the streets of 
central Caracas against an opposition protest which later became 
violent.

  Chavez is a staunch supporter of oil production cuts in order to 
boost prices in the world market.

  He initiated a successful Caracas OPEC summit in September 2000, 
the second in the 40-year existence of the Organization of 
Petroleum Exporting Countries. FS/LS End




Document 001001366 ends.


	
That Angela Merkel, the chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union, wanted the job had long been an open secret, although no one but she knew how far she was prepared to go. But it was the uncertainty with which her rival, Bavarian Premier Edmund Stoiber of the Christian Social Union, the CDU's Bavarian sister party, also shrouded himself that made the question of who would lead the Union parties into the 22 September elections as chancellor candidate against incumbent Gerhard Schroeder, so exciting. Mr. Stoiber has come a long way from his refusal to sacrifice himself for the CDU in an election that once looked impossible to win, through his statement that he would under no circumstances run against the wishes of Ms. Merkel and her party, to his willingness to take her on in a divisive vote if necessary. 
	
	
 Mr. Stoiber carefully tread the path to the candidacy, spurred on by many and reined in by others. But he let slip the opportunities to turn back, because the forces that drive him -- his desire to affect change, his sense of duty to his peers and his ambition -- would not permit him to pass up the biggest chance of his political life. Mr. Stoiber seized it once the CDU made clear that it preferred him to its own chairwoman. That has always been the basic premise for a CSU chairman to accept the candidacy on behalf of the bigger sister party. It does not, of course, guarantee success at the polls -- or even solidarity in the campaign. 
	
	
 Certainly, Mr. Stoiber has done everything in his power to spare himself the fate of his mentor, Franz Josef Strauss. Rather than force himself on the CDU, he waited to be called. Having marginalized their own leader, the CDU grandees cannot afford to leave the chancellor candidate in the lurch as well. The most cogent argument in Mr. Stoiber's favor is that he will be running as a hopeful and not as the ticket of last resort. The CDU chose him because it believes in victory. The government is floundering, more seriously than anyone would have thought six months ago. The Union parties could not have wished for a better situation from which to launch their campaign. If anyone in their ranks can turn this to their advantage, it is Mr. Stoiber. 
	
	
 Nonetheless, he will be made to realize that he cannot command the CDU, that his power base lies in Munich and not in Berlin, and that the invitation of kingmakers to accept the crown comes at a cost. Nor will Mr. Stoiber have any illusions of what it means to lead an election campaign, although he can be confident in the knowledge that what is at stake is not Edmund Stoiber, nor the Union, but Germany as a whole.	





Document 001001369 ends.


	
CARACAS, Feb 7 (AFP) - Venezuelan Air Force Colonel Pedro Soto arrived outside the presidential residence late Thursday, leading thousands of opponents of President Hugo Chavez calling on Chavez to step down. 
	
	
 Tension escalated as around 100 Chavez supporters arrived at La Casona residence, in an exclusive district of eastern Caracas, around 11:30 pm (0330 GMT Friday), provoking fears of confrontations between the two sides. 
	
	
 "We are here at the president's house, where a man sleeps every day, and we are waiting for him to tell us when he's going to resign, when he's going to call elections," Soto told reporters, adding that protesters would stay put until Chavez arrived. Chavez's whereabouts were unclear. 
	
	
 Soto had urged some 5,000 supporters to march on the presidential palace, in an earlier address from Altamira Square, saying he said he was going to demand Chavez's resignation. 
	
	
 But ruling Fifth Republic Movement (MVR) party lawmaker Nicolas Maduro also called on Venezuelans to go out into the streets to defend the Chavez government. 
	
	
 "We invite the people of Caracas to go into the streets en masse and defend and support President Hugo Chavez and the revolutionary process," Maduro said, flanked by other MVR deputies. 
	
	
 And he accused the opposition of having put on a spectacle using Soto. 
	
	
 Earlier in the evening a crowd prevented a group of military police from arresting Soto, hours after he appeared at an event in a Caracas hotel, calling Chavez "undemocratic" and demanding the president's resignation. 
	
	
 Television images showed Soto fleeing his home, dressed in a civilian grey suit, in a red military vehicle with a driver. "I'm fleeing from injustice and totalitarianism," Soto yelled to reporters. 
	
	
 Moments later the vehicle was stopped by military intelligence agents in Boyaca Avenue. 
	
	
 The group of officials designated to make the arrest appeared to have desisted, as dozens of Chavez opponents, including lawmakers, moved in to prevent Soto being taken away. 
	
	
 Interior Minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin late Thursday guaranteed citizens' right to protest peacefully. 
	
	
 "There is a right to express oneself and to demonstrate as long as it doesn't put people's property and state institutions at risk," the minister said from government headquarters at the Miraflores Palace. 
	
	
 "People have the right to express themselves as long as it is in line with the law," Rodriguez Chacin said, but pointed the finger at Soto as a "traitor" and "opportunistic leader." 
	
	
 Shortly before Soto's arrival at the palace, presidential chief of staff Rafael Vargas said that "total calm" reigned in the nation, and underlined his belief that Soto's protest had been planned in advance by oligarchs. 
	
	
 "We saw it coming, it's been timed to coincide with the visit by Organization of American States (OAS) representative Santiago Canton, to try and say that in Venezuela there's no freedom of expression," Vargas said. 
	
	
 Venezuela's Defense Minister Jose Vicente Rangel insisted there was "absolute calm" in the nation's barracks, denying rumors of mobilizing of troops. 
	
	
 However, he added that Soto would receive advice from a military attorney and two civilian lawyers before whom he would have to make a deposition about his critical opinions on Chavez's regime. 
	
	
 In a public event organized at a posh Caracas hotel earlier Thursday, Soto said 75 percent of Venezuelan officials and troops shared his view that Chavez should resign as president. 
	
	
 "The president must go, he should resign, and before he does so, he should organize elections so that he leaves the country with a democracy, in the hands of a civilian," Soto boldly proclaimed at the "pro-freedom" forum. 
	
	
 "A government in which the president controls the Supreme Court, the National Assembly and the Armed Forces cannot be called a democracy," Soto charged. 
	
	
 Soto said military discontent was running high because the armed forces were being used to Chavez' political ends. 
	
	
 He cited the government's Bolivar 2000 Plan which uses military staff and civilian crews for social projects. Soto called them "outside the scope" of the military's duty "to protect national sovereignty." 
	
	
 The harsh criticism of the populist former paratrooper Chavez by Soto came on the heels of an unusually blunt week of US criticism of the Venezuelan president. 
	
	
 US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Tuesday questioned Chavez' commitment to democracy and the war on terrorism and criticized his visits to countries like Iraq and Libya. Powell said Chavez was aware of the complaints. 
	
	
 And on Wednesday, Central Intelligence Agency director George Tenet told a Senate panel that he was worried about growing unrest in Venezuela, which is the United States' third largest supplier of crude oil. 
	
	
 
	
	
	





Document 001001371 ends.


       

Despite continuing problems in its newsprint business, Kimberly-Clark Corp. posted a 20% gain in third-quarter net income. 

The consumer-products and newsprint company said net rose to $108.8 million, or $1.35 a share, from $90.5 million, or $1.12 a share, a year ago.
Sales rose 6.2% to $1.45 billion from $1.37 billion. 

After a flat second quarter tied largely to lower newsprint earnings, Kimberly-Clark attributed the gain to improved results in its consumer businesses in North America, Brazil and Korea.
Those gains came from higher prices, particularly for disposable diapers and tissue products, and from increased sales, primarily for feminine-care products, the company said.
Newsprint results continued to be depressed, the company added, because of industrywide price discounting. 

The quarter-to-quarter comparison was also enhanced by charges taken in the year-earlier period, including $11 million related to the modernization of a pulp and newsprint mill in Alabama.
In the 1989 period also, interest expense and tax rates were lower than a year ago. 

In the first nine months, profit rose 10% to $313.2 million, or $3.89 a share, from $283.9 million, or $3.53 a share.
Sales rose 6.7% to $4.27 billion from $4 billion. 

In New York Stock Exchange composite trading, Kimberly-Clark closed at $66.50 a share, up $1.50. 




Document 001001373 ends.


	
Spanish daily urges caution in judging USA's treatment of suspects 
	
	
 Text of unsigned editorial, "Treatment of the prisoners", by Spanish newspaper ABC web site on 22|January 
	
	
 The dissemination of some photos taken of a group of detainees in Guantanamo has aroused international controversy. Critics condemn the inhumane nature of the treatment the prisoners are receiving, handcuffed, immobilized with shackles, subjected to sensory deprivation and confined to minute cells. If these accusations are confirmed, the only possible definition will be torture and the violation of human rights. However, we may be witnessing a distortion of reality, and even in some cases pure falsehoods. The photos were sent voluntarily to the press by the American authorities, who clarified that they depicted a group of 20 dangerous prisoners who had recently arrived at the base and undergone a process of identification prior to their confinement. These were in no way their normal living conditions. But the decisive fact is the presence for days of the International Committee of the Red Cross, which is preparing a report and which, as usual, has refused to make any statements. It will speak in its report. Herein lies the difference. In the countries in which torture is systematically carried out, for example Cuba or China, inspection by international organizations is not permitted. The result of the report will have to be taken into account before political and moral judgments of guilty or not guilty are made. For the time being, the members of the British government who interviewed three prisoners of their nationality have received no complaints about the treatment they are receiving. Indications exist that the system to which the prisoners are subjected is excessively harsh. The United States government does not help dispel the suspicions when it refuses to consider them prisoners of war and therefore to apply the Geneva Convention to them. Nor does it seem proper to cite the fact that the base is not on American soil because it is a rented base. Backing from a majority of the public would not serve, either, as justification for the possible excesses and violations of rights. But for the time being, what exist are indications and shadows of suspicion which must materialize or be dispelled through knowledge of the facts from the relevant reports. It is another matter to launch into scandal or anti-Americanism. In any case, the attitude of the American authorities has nothing to do with the one previously and currently displayed by dictatorships and totalitarian systems, including communist ones, which permit neither inspection nor the dissemination of photographs. But this enormous difference is not enough. It must be known as soon as possible whether or not terror has been established in Guantanamo. 
	
	
	





Document 001001374 ends.


	
KABUL, Jan 25 (AFP) -- A 21-member commission to organise a special "Loya Jirga" tribal council to set Afghanistan on the path to elections was named here Friday during a historic visit by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. 
	
	
 At a joint news conference with Annan, interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai read out the members of the commission, which he described as "the most important task for the interim administration and for the United Nations". 
	
	
 Annan, paying the first visit to Afghanistan by a UN chief in more than 40 years, acknowledged factional differences that had held up the naming of the group. 
	
	
 "It wasn't easy to put the list together," Annan said, explaining the 21 names had been whittled down from a shortlist of 300. 
	
	
 "I know that not everybody will be entirely happy with the list, but it is a good list and let's support them and work with them." 
	
	
 The commission includes at least one woman, as vice chair, in line with the demand for female representation outlined in last month's Bonn accord which set up Karzai's interim authority. 
	
	
 "We set out to get a group that would be independent, a group of men and women that would have integrity, who are highly respected within the society, to request them to help organise the Loya Jirga," Annan said. 
	
	
 The 21-member council must determine procedures and the number of people who will participate in the Loya Jirga, or traditional council of tribal elders. 
	
	
 The Bonn accord paved the way for the formation of a six-month power-sharing interim administration that took office in Kabul on December 22. 
	
	
 The Loya Jirga has to appoint a transitional authority that will rule the war-ravaged country in the lead-up to democratic elections, which must be held within two years. 
	
	
 The special commission is obliged to draft rules and procedures relating to the allocation of seats on the Loya Jirga for people in Afghanistan as well as for Afghan refugees living in Pakistan and Iran. 
	
	
 It also has to include representatives of Afghans who have left the country and settled abroad, as well as of civil society organisations and Islamic scholars, intellectuals and traders. 
	
	
 It must decide on rules and procedures for the convening of the Loya Jirga, as well as when and where it should meet, and for how long. 
	
	
 It also has to ensure that the process for indirect election or selection of members of the Loya Jirga is both transparent and fair. 
	
	
 Karzai reaffirmed his determination that the interim government would not interfere in the commission or Loya Jirga. 
	
	
 Annan said he hoped the commission members "together with the UN will be successful in their work and give Afghanistan a fair Loya Jirga".	





Document 001001375 ends.


       

HEALTHDYNE Inc., Atlanta, said its subsidiary, Home Nutritional Services Inc., registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission an initial public offering of four million shares of common.
The in-home health care services provider said it will sell 1.8 million of the new shares, while Home Nutritional Services will sell the remaining 2.2 million.
The company estimates the offering price at between $14 and $16 a share.
The company said it expects to use the proceeds to repay certain bank debt and for general corporate purposes, including establishing new operating centers and possible acquisitions.
Home Nutritional currently has 10 million shares outstanding.
It will have 11.8 million shares outstanding after the offering, with Healthdyne owning about 65% of the total. 




Document 001001377 ends.


 
  
  
    
      June 10, 1997
      Name Address City, ST Zip
      Dear Mrs. Name,
      Confidence. An understanding that, above anything else, success
      requires genuine effort, a willingness to set challenging goals. Caring
      about others.
      These are the attributes we want all children to have. You help
      Jameson campers reach for them. If these special children are to become
      the adults we all need them to be, we have to lead them in the right
      direction right now.
      Jameson points the way for children who need that extra hand and I
      hope you'll continue your support this year. You're last gift of $50.00
      helped make it possible for us to provide guidance, encouragement and fun
      to nearly 400 Indianapolis area children. And not just during the summer,
      but throughout the year.
      What has your support of our campers meant to them and what have they
      been able to accomplish because you care?
      The best indicator I can give you of the positive effect our
      year-round contact has is the growth in and deeds of the Youth Leadership
      teens. In just the past few years this program has grown from a few kids
      and a few extra activities to a team of almost 60 young adults taking on
      real projects. YL teens will make J.C. juniors happen again this year for
      7 and 8 year old campers. A five day camp, J.C. juniors introduces
      at-risk children to Jameson two years earlier than we could previously
      reach them. That means we now have the opportunity to be a stable,
      positive and important part of each child's life for an entire
      decade.
      The teens have also decided to raise money to provide camperships for
      other campers because they know what Jameson has meant to them. And their
      activities aren't isolated to Jameson. The teens have undertaken a
      volunteer project to regularly visit with sick children at a local
      hospital.
      Please consider renewing your gift today. The kids need your
      leadership now more than ever. If you can increase your last donation, we
      would appreciate that show of support for the campers and their efforts
      to overcome obstacles and create successful lives.
      Thank you again for helping point the way.
      Sincerely,
      Julie Marsh, Executive Director
      P.S. You make it possible for us to help special kids with learning
      disabilities, behavior problems and economic disadvantages to gain the
      confidence required to put genuine effort into achieving real goals. I
      hope you'll continue -- and if possible increase - your support for these
      great kids.
    
  



Document 001001382 ends.


	
US Ambassador to Indonesia Ralph L. Boyce praised the Indonesian government on Monday [18 Mar] for its efforts to protect foreign investors in the country, including Americans, but warned that investors were still concerned about the security of their investments. 
	
	
 Boyce acknowledged that the Indonesian government had taken serious steps to ensure the personal safety of American investors and other foreigners, who appeared at risk several months ago during the political tension following the US-led war against Afghanistan's Taliban regime. 
	
	
 "We take seriously the government's responsibility to protect Americans -- not only Americans but also other foreigners in Indonesia. We welcome it." 
	
	
 But, he said, "Investors will come to Indonesia not based on fears, somehow, that they would be physically threatened, but rather in the hope that the capital invested in Indonesia would be secure and that means transparency, rule of law, protection legally, etc.," Boyce told a press conference. 
	
	
 Some local radical groups threatened to attack U.S. interests and citizens in Indonesia following the U.S. government's move to strike at Afghanistan several months ago. 
	
	
 Some U.S. companies temporarily closed their offices here following the threats. 
	
	
 But the government was quick to give assurances about the safety of foreign workers in Indonesia. 
	
	
 Boyce, along with 12 members of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Singapore, earlier met with President Megawati Soekarnoputri and Minister of Trade and Industry Rini M. Soewandi. 
	
	
 The AmCham delegation is in Indonesia for a two-day visit to assess business opportunities in this country. The delegation is led by AmCham Singapore president Landis W. Hicks. 
	
	
 The delegates include Tan Hup Thye from Refco Singapore Pte Ltd., Stuart Dean of GE International, and Edward Gilbert of Merrill Lynch (Asia Pacific) Ltd. 
	
	
 "The Singapore-based members of this mission want to hear from senior members of the Indonesian government about efforts to expand foreign business participation in the economy. We know that Indonesia is a country of enormous potential and believe that now is the time to build our future together," Hicks said in a statement. 
	
	
 Meanwhile, Rini said after a meeting with the AmCham delegation that almost all of the delegation members had praised the current security situation in the country. 
	
	
 Rini said she had pointed to the Batam and Bintan islands as secure places for doing business, citing the small number of labour disputes in both islands. 
	
	
	





Document 001001383 ends.


Reference: CEP20020521000259 Moscow Interfax in English 1336 GMT 21 May 02

		ENERGY
		INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC
		INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL

	 MOSCOW. May 21 (Interfax) - Supplies of Russian natural gas to 
the Romanian market were discussed during a meeting between 
Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and Romanian Ambassador to Russia 
Aurel Konstantin Iliye, the company said in a press release. 
According the release, the sides also discussed gas storage on 
Romanian territory and the setting up of a joint venture in this 
area. Iliye confirmed the interest of the Romanian government in 
developing more dynamic and broader cooperation with Gazprom. He 
proposed to Gazprom to participate in a tender for the 
privatization of petrochemical companies in Romania and also to 
consider that country "as partner for supplies of oil and gas 
equipment to Russia," the press release said. The ambassador 
passed on an invitation from Romanian Prime Minister Adrian 
Nastase to Miller to come to Romania on a working visit. The 
press service noted that Miller accepted this invitation.	 

East Europe
Central Eurasia
Balkan States
Russia
Romania
Russia



Document 001001384 ends.


	
The buffer zones that Ariel Sharon intends to establish are an explicit admission that Israelis can no longer live by the sword, that the occupation is not working, and Israeli reprisals are not meeting with success. Thinking of building a Great Wall of China in the Middle East, replete with elaborate fences and tunnels, is conceding that Israel is not safe, not a normal country. It cannot integrate itself into the region, it is an alien seedling and, thus, it is better to isolate and fortify itself as a lowly outpost. 
	
	
 A total disengagement from the Palestinians, complete with walls and razor wire, might provide Israel its long-desired security and might free it of the burden of trying to control seven million desperate Palestinians, any number of whom are willing to die in order to end the occupation. But separation will not mean an end to the occupation and no Israeli government can provide security as long as it persists in its efforts to maintain its presence beyond Israel's pre-1967 borders and to retain territories inhabited by millions of Palestinians. By now, it should be clear to everyone that retaliating against every act of Palestinian resistance with Israel's superior ability to punish Palestinians does not provide the security that Israelis are demanding. 
	
	
 The only way out of the current spiral of violence is for Israel to limit itself to areas within which it can assume responsibility for its citizens' security. This means a return to Israel's pre-1967 borders. 
	
	
 Practically speaking, a buffer zone will be near impossible to erect. A physical border between Israel and a new Palestinian state will be twisted and distorted to accommodate Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Gaza. Unilateral separation without a negotiated agreement could be realized - only if Israel is willing to uproot around 100 settlements. Sharon says flatly he will not withdraw from a single settlement. He thinks that every settlement is important and is determined that Israelis must retain as much land in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as possible. 
	
	
 Then there is the eventual goal of the peace process: the coexistence of Israel with the state of Palestine. But Israel has not once deigned to propose that the Palestinians live with the Israelis as full citizens in the same sate. Israel does not want the Palestinians to be part of the same country, or have one of their own. 
	
	
 By a margin of 2-1, Israelis think Sharon has no plan to end the violence and the buffer idea buttresses this long-standing view. Sharon has not brought the Israeli public security. With grim determination, he has destroyed the peace process and the Oslo agreements. And now he doggedly continues to demolish and prevent any hope of a road to peaceful coexistence. Israelis do not wonder any longer how to get along with Palestinians but how to avoid the need for it. Sharon has ensured that Israelis are rapidly absorbing the lesson that no place in Israel can be considered safe. 
	
	
 A wall and miles of fences is not the best of solutions. Does anybody believe that the intifada can end as long as Israel persists in the occupation of the territories and Palestinians are willing to die in large numbers to deny Israel that privilege? 
	
	
	





Document 001001388 ends.


       

Aetna Life & Casualty Co. 's third-quarter net income fell 22% to $182.6 million, or $1.63 a share, reflecting the damages from Hurricane Hugo and lower results for some of the company's major divisions. 

Catastrophe losses reduced Aetna's net income by $50 million, including $36 million from Hugo.
Last year catastrophe losses totaled $5 million, when net was $235.5 million, or $2.07 a share.
The year-earlier results have been restated to reflect an accounting change. 

The insurer has started processing claims from the Northern California earthquake nearly two weeks ago.
But because these claims are more difficult to evaluate and have been coming in more slowly, the company has no estimate of the impact of the earthquake on fourth-quarter results. 

In New York Stock Exchange composite trading Friday, Aetna closed at $60, down 50 cents. 

In the latest quarter, Aetna had a $23 million loss on its auto/homeowners line, compared with earnings of $33 million last year.
Profit for its commercial insurance division fell 30% to $59 million, reflecting higher catastrophe losses and the price war in the property/casualty market for nearly three years. 

However, Aetna's employee benefits division, which includes its group health insurance operations, posted a 34% profit gain to $106 million. 

Third-quarter results included net realized capital gains of $48 million, which included $27 million from the sale of Federated Investors in August and a $15 million tax credit. 

In the nine months, net rose 4.3% to $525.8 million or $4.67 a share, from $504.2 million, or $4.41 a share, last year. 




Document 001001389 ends.


	
US President Bush has ordered the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to assassinate America's opponents wherever in the world they may be! 
	
	
 This directive is issued at a time when the American government is claiming to lead the fight against terrorism throughout the world. 
	
	
 When the Imam (may God be satisfied with him) issued the fatwa against Salman Rushdie for insulting the Prophet (peace be upon him) and the holy Koran, the countries that are so-called supporters of human rights protested against the fatwa. They said it was an act of terrorism that was against international law and said it crushed human rights principles! In a coordinated move the European countries all recalled their ambassadors from Tehran in order to put the Islamic Republic of Iran under pressure. 
	
	
 By clarifying the Imam's edict the Islamic Republic of Iran made the people of the world understand that insulting the Prophet was in fact violating the rights of millions of people throughout the world. This was not simply a directive from God that was confirmed by all the clerics throughout the Islamic world. 
	
	
 Now the United States has issued an assassination order against millions of human beings without having any proof, reason or documentation. The only reason for this would be opposition to the United States. It would therefore be appropriate for all Islamic countries to withdraw their ambassadors from the United States. If the European countries were honest in the withdrawal of their ambassadors from Iran, blaming Iran for violating human rights, then they should recall their ambassadors from the United States. After all the United States is not violating the rights of one human being, but many many human beings. 
	
	
 It seems that following the blow that the Americans received on September 11 in New York and Washington, the United States is determined to take justice to pre-historic times. It is obvious no country will put up with this cruelty. No one will allow this human achievement, which is the discovery of God-given human rights, which is achieved after thousands of years of research, to be wasted away. 
	
	
 The United States thinks that it can silence the justice-seeking cries of the peoples of the world with the sound of explosions from 7-ton bombs and it thinks that it can justify its own inhuman behavior in the shadow of this noise. Attachments: Image-1.gif Image-2.gif	





Document 001001390 ends.


	
MDC leader Tsvangirai at it again in South Africa 
	
	
 Herald Reporter 
	
	
 OPPOSITION youths are agitating to get guns to "shoot" President Mugabe "out of office," MDC leader, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai said in South Africa yesterday. 
	
	
 Speaking in an address to the Cape Town Press club, Mr Tsvangirai, who is on a visit to South Africa, was quoted by Reuters as saying he was having to "rein in militants keen to fight President Mugabe's rule". 
	
	
 "The first choice is to commit ourselves to the constitutional path with all its obstacles. We are saying we will not resort to any violent overthrow or to any violent means," he was quoted as having said. 
	
	
 "...You have people who are 20 years and 30 years (and) below who are asking if we can get guns and go and shoot the man out of office, but I say: Please, that is the most dangerous thing you can ever do," he said. 
	
	
 Mr Tsvangirai endorsed a United States proposal for targeted sanctions against President Mugabe and members of his Government but said full economic sanctions would be a ruinous mistake. 
	
	
 The US Congress is set to consider the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Bill, which seeks to impose sanctions on Harare. 
	
	
 Mr Tsvangirai called for international action to ensure a free and fair presidential election. 
	
	
 But he opposed any steps that could plunge the country deeper into a recession that has already pushed unemployment, inflation and interest rates above 60 percent. 
	
	
 "If sanctions are imposed on Zimbabwe, it will not survive. That is why, as MDC, we are reluctant at this stage to endorse the sanctions option. 
	
	
 "Until such time as Mugabe actually subverts the electoral process - when one goes to that extreme, international sanctions will be an option. 
	
	
 "However, we do support certain limitations on the villains of the crisis in Zimbabwe," he said. 
	
	
 Mr Tsvangirai might face charges of contravening the Law and Order Maintenance Act for allegedly threatening to violently remove President Mugabe from power last year. 
	
	
 His trial was set to start at the High Court in May but the case was referred to the High Court after he challenged the legality of LOMA in the Supreme Court. 
	
	
 The superior court has since heard State and defence arguments on the legality of the charges being laid against the opposition leader and reserved judgment. 
	
	
 If the Supreme Court rules in favour of Mr Tsvangirai, who if convicted on the charges might face life imprisonment, the Attorney General's Office will have to draw up a new charge. 
	
	
 But if the appeal fails, the matter will be referred back to the High Court for trial. 
	
	
 Charges against the MDC leader arose after he allegedly told a crowd at the party's first anniversary last year that "... Zvatichada, what we would like to tell Mugabe today is that... please go peacefully. If you don't want to go peacefully, we will remove you violently." 
	
	
 That according to the State constituted a breach of the LOMA. 
	
	
 The MDC leader also alleged that the Government was trying to provoke protests that could be used as an excuse to suspend democracy. 
	
	
 But analysts expressed concern that the MDC leader is "flirting with mercenaries in South Africa". 
	
	
 "But anyone who wants to speak the language of violence where Zimbabwe is concerned is playing with fire. Zimbabwe's performance in Mozambique, Somalia and the DRC speaks for itself. 
	
	
 "The quickest defeat of Tsvangirai and his MDC lot would come if they chose the path of violence," an analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity said.	





Document 001001391 ends.


	
These days, the Israeli government is adopting a relatively new tactic regarding its plan to withdraw from the Palestinian cities and towns that it had re-occupied more than three weeks ago. It is not implementing an immediate and total withdrawal -- as demanded by the international community as a whole and the United States in particular -- but a phased and partial withdrawal. It does not leave any city or town except after reaching what it calls a security agreement with the Palestinian side for a cease-fire in that particular city or town. 
	
	
 The Israeli Government hopes that this tactic would eventually lead to an integrated and total agreement when all its parts are put together to form a map of "cantons" that Israel envisions for the occupied Palestinian lands. Israel says that it carried out this tactic in Bethlehem and Bayt Jala, or so it claims, and yesterday, it claimed that it carried out the same tactic in Qalqiliyah when the Palestinian security forces returned to the three centers that had been re-occupied by the invading Israeli forces. The Israeli press and other media outlets point out that future withdrawals from the cities parts of which are still under Israeli occupation will be carried out in accordance to this tactic of phased and partial withdrawal. Israel seems to think that this tactic will circumvent the Palestinian move toward independence and will put an end to the Palestinian intifadah by surrounding the areas of tension and dealing with them separately. 
	
	
 The facts show that this Israeli tactic is new only in execution. Talking about it and about its possible use are several months old and, more exactly, they have been going on since the Israeli Government headed by Ari'el Sharon came to power about nine months ago. This tactic is no more than an improved carbon copy of the style of "divide and rule." It actually reflects Israel's determination not to deal with the Palestinian issue as one united and indivisible whole. The inevitable result of this tactic -- if it succeeds in temporarily calming down the situation -- is that it will take back conditions to their former state of tension after the withdrawals are completed from all the Palestinian cities. The core of the matter is not in the method that Israel is using to crush the Palestinian moves and confiscate the will of the Palestinian people for liberation and independence. The core of the matter lies in a just and acceptable political framework that Israel is supposed to approve and participate in to put a final end to the occupation and to the settlement construction activities. Such a political framework would lay the firm foundations for a comprehensive peace based on justice and recognition of the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people. Only such a peace can bring security and stability to all the parties without exception. 
	
	
 This being the case, it would be better for both Israel and the Palestinians to have an immediate and parallel Israeli withdrawal from all the occupied parts of several Palestinian cities. Only such an immediate and parallel withdrawal would expedite the return to serious negotiations between the two sides based on the reference point of ending the occupation, ending settlement construction activities, and restoring the full inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. 
	
	
	





Document 001001392 ends.


	
Defense Minister Jose Vicente Rangel supports the position established by the Venezuelan foreign ministry to emphasize the government's sovereignty on international issues, referring to the statements given by US Secretary of State Colin Powell, questioning President Hugo Chavez Frias' activities. 
	
	
 "I read General Colin Powell's statements and (Venezuelan Foreign Minister) Colonel [Luis Alfonso] Davila's statements, and I endorse Colonel Davila's statements," Rangel expressed. 
	
	
 Nevertheless, he wanted to clarify some of Powell's statements. Regarding "Venezuela's friends," Rangel recalled that President Chavez is not the only one who visits those "strange countries." 
	
	
 "For example, Mexican President Vicente Fox recently visited Cuba in a friendly manner; the government of Iran has been visited by high-ranking US representatives; and there is a relationship between the United States and Korea. We have yet to visit Korea and the relationship with Iraq and Libya is a result of the fact that both countries are OPEC members." 
	
	
 Regarding ties with Colombian guerrilla groups, Rangel warned there "is a clear elucidation; we are implementing a policy that was not even designed by President Chavez Frias. Our position is clear, we support no Latin American guerrilla group, much less the Colombian guerrilla groups, and what we want is for peace to prevail in that country." 
	
	
 Likewise, the defense minister reiterated that "the nation's position regarding terrorism is extremely clear, categorical, and decisive: Venezuela repudiates terrorism, not now but always; it does not endorse [terrorism] and considers [terrorism] an aberration that goes against mankind; and this is part of the current Venezuelan Government's ideology, philosophy, and policy." 
	
	
 Rangel thinks Venezuela has shown effectiveness regarding issues of interest with the United States, above all regarding drug trafficking issues. "We have confiscated 20 times more drugs in Venezuela than previous governments, and this is attested by the US authorities, with whom we have close contact." 
	
	
 Where is the evidence? 
	
	
 Moreover, Rangel challenged parliamentary opposition to "present the evidence regarding the purchase of that video," presented by journalists last week. 
	
	
 He said that he does not believe DIM [Military Intelligence Directorate] officials sold that video for 40 million bolivares, as stated by Opposition Bloc deputies. 
	
	
 Nevertheless, he does not rule out the possibility of going to the National Assembly and presenting a report if this is decided. "Being an old parliamentarian, I love that activity and I would gladly go to Congress to provide an explanation. This is part of the democratic debate and, just as the opposition has rights, the government also has the right to provide an explanation." 
	
	
 Consulted about Colombia's position, stating that the video issue has not been clarified, Rangel was emphatic when he said: "The Venezuelan Government will provide sufficient details in a matter of hours."	





Document 001001393 ends.


       

Di Giorgio Corp. said it's continuing talks with potential buyers of certain units, but has reached no agreement on any deals. 

Di Giorgio, a food wholesaler and building products maker, is seeking alternatives to an unsolicited $32-a-share tender offer of DIG Acquisition Corp., a unit of Rose Partners Limited Partnership.
DIG is the vehicle being used to pursue to acquisition. 

Robert Mellor, Di Giorgio's executive vice president, said the company stands to reap more money through the sale of individual units to others than by accepting DIG's offer. 




Document 001001394 ends.


	
GENEVA, Jan 18 (AFP) -- A report by delegates from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), currently visiting prisoners from Afghanistan held at a US base in Cuba, will remain confidential, an ICRC spokesman said on Friday [18 January]. 
	
	
 Darcy Christen also said that among the prisoners transferred to the US navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were three British citizens and possibly some French speakers. 
	
	
 However, the Geneva-based ICRC did not know the number nor the nationality, he said following a comment on Thursday that there could have been French nationals among them. 
	
	
 ICRC envoys are discussing with US officials whether to release the number of detainees and their nationalities, said Christen. 
	
	
 The findings from the visit, which got under way on Friday and is expected to last at least one week, will be presented directly to US authorities, Christen told reporters. 
	
	
 "Confidentiality will be respected in this case. As long as this confidentiality will allow us to get results in the humanitarian sphere we will keep to it," he said, adding it would be the first of a series of visits. 
	
	
 The four-member team, which includes a doctor, will inspect conditions and treatment of the increasing number of Taliban and al-Qa'ida prisoners arriving at the base from Afghanistan. 
	
	
 The ICRC plans follow up on prisoners if they are transferred again later, and try to gain access to new arrivals in coming days. 
	
	
 "It is important to be able to repeat these visits," he said. 
	
	
 The number of detainees being held at the isolated US military outpost on Cuba's southwestern coast rose on Thursday to 110 after the arrival of another 30 prisoners from Afghanistan. 
	
	
 The US has caused controversy by stating the detainees are "unlawful combatants" and have no rights under the Geneva Convention. 
	
	
 The ICRC considers, however, that they are prisoners of war protected by the Third Geneva Convention of 1949. 
	
	
 Christen said "detainees from the battle field" did not exist as a category under humanitarian law, adding that in an international armed conflict anyone captured on the battlefield was presumed a prisoner of war. 
	
	
 "If a doubt exists as to the status of a person, this doubt must be decided by a tribunal acting on the basis of judicial guarantees," he added. 
	
	
 Asked about special courts to be set up by the Bush administration to try the al-Qaeda detainees, Christen pointed out the courts were not yet operating and their procedures were still unknown. 
	
	
 "For us there cannot be special courts. We want to avoid expeditious justice," he said.	





Document 001001396 ends.


	
Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen (Liberal Party) has voiced his approval of the U.S. treatment of the 144 al-Qaida prisoners at the U.S. Guantanamo military base on Cuba. 
	
	
 "The U.S. Government has announced that the United States will respect its international commitments," Fogh Rasmussen said at his weekly press conference on Tuesday [22 January]. 
	
	
 He points out that the United States has allowed the Red Cross to inspect conditions at the Guantanamo base. 
	
	
 Criticism From the Red Cross 
	
	
 He fails to mention, however, that on the international stage the Red Cross has subsequently criticized the U.S. treatment of prisoners. 
	
	
 EU foreign affairs spokesman Javier Solana, among others, has also criticized the United States for not recognizing the al-Qaida prisoners as prisoners of war as understood in the Geneva Convention. 
	
	
 The Swedish Government has also expressed concern about the prisoners' rights. 
	
	
 Fogh: They Must Be Given a Fair Trial 
	
	
 "The prisoners must be treated with respect for their integrity and religion, and they must be given a fair trial," Fogh Rasmussen says. 
	
	
 On Monday Liberal Party foreign affairs spokesman Troels Lund Poulsen said that the debate on prisoners' rights is "an intellectual discussion." 
	
	
 Per Stig Moller: Give Them Rights 
	
	
 Foreign Minister Per Stig Moller (Conservative People's Party) is urging the United States to guarantee the prisoners the status of prisoners of war and in consequence protection under the terms of the Geneva Convention. 
	
	
 "I expect the United States to satisfy the requirements of the international conventions," Per Stig Moller said at a press conference in Berlin on Monday. 
	
	
 " Social Democratic Party: Raise Denmark's Voice 
	
	
 The Social Democratic Party takes the view that the Danish Government should raise its voice against the United States. 
	
	
 "I do not have all the information, but there are some questionable aspects in the U.S. approach," political spokesman Mogens Lykketoft (Social Democratic Party) told Ritzau Bureau. 
	
	
 "Of course the United States has a point when it says that it can be difficult to decide who are terrorists and who are prisoners of war. We must focus on the treatment of them." 
	
	
 The Socialist People's Party is sending an "urgent call" to the government to deliver official criticism to the United States. 
	
	
 "It cannot be the duty of the Danish Government to applaud everything that the Americans do. Even though we support their action, we should criticize this form of treatment of prisoners," Socialist People's Party Chairman Holger K. Nielsen said. 
	
	
 He will now ask the foreign minister to give a written reply outlining the government's position on the issue. 
	
	
 Danish People's Party: Are They Danes? 
	
	
 The Danish People's Party sees no reason to criticize the United States. 
	
	
 "To begin with, I have great confidence that what the Americans are doing in relation to these prisoners is reasonable. I can imagine that the United States has had good reasons for transporting them to Cuba," foreign affairs spokesman Peter Skaarup (Danish People's Party) says. 
	
	
 As long as no Danes are involved, the Danish People's Party does not think that Denmark should interfere. 
	
	
 "This could of course become necessary if a Dane were involved. Otherwise it must be a matter between the United States and the countries which have citizens who are directly affected," Peter Skaarup said, alluding to the United Kingdom and Sweden. 
	
	
	





Document 001001398 ends.


	
Amman -- Jordan, bound by environmental clauses in the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the US, is currently mulling over signing the Kyoto Protocol on global warming even though Washington turned down the protocol six months ago. 
	
	
 Having clauses on the protection of environmental and labour rights in the body of the FTA does not stop the government from signing environmental agreements refused by the US, according to Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and the Environment Abdul Razzaq Tbeishat. 
	
	
 He explained to The Jordan Times that "in Jordan, we conclusively believe that development cannot be achieved unless the environment is protected." Certain steps have to be taken with regard to this objective -- including signing the Kyoto deal, he said. 
	
	
 He announced the government's intentions to sign the Kyoto treaty on Sunday during a workshop on climate change, organised by the ministry and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 
	
	
 In 1992, Jordan signed the UN Climate Change Convention that compels nations to curb global warming, which is blamed on gases produced by factories and cars that burn fuel. The Kyoto climate treaty is another international effort to limit greenhouse gases and fight global warming. 
	
	
 Asked whether signing the Kyoto Protocol will affect Jordan and US efforts to upgrade the Kingdom's environmental framework, Tbeishat said that signing the protocol will have a "positive" outcome on Jordan. 
	
	
 He explained that both the US and Jordan have different issues to deal with on a national level, including environmental issues. 
	
	
 "In the US, they have their own circumstances," the minister said. "But here, we are a developing country and we care about having clean industry...the whole world knows our position, [which is] to achieve sustainable development." 
	
	
 The Kyoto Protocol was agreed upon by 160 countries under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The convention was created in 1992, and adopted in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997. 
	
	
 Under the agreement, industrialised nations must reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases by an average of 5.2 per cent (from 1990 levels) from between 2008 to 2012. 
	
	
 After the Clinton administration signed the Kyoto Protocol in November 1998, the new Bush administration overturned the decision last April, as the US was facing a faltering economy and rising energy prices. 
	
	
	





Document 001001399 ends.



Endeavour Shuttle To Return On Monday

 



  The Endeavour shuttle is expected to land on the US Cape 
Canaveral launch site, Florida, at 08:55 p. m., Moscow time, the 
Russian Mission Control reported.

  The shuttle will bring back to the Earth its crew, which has 
spent 7 days on-board the International Space Station (ISS,) and 
the 3rd long-term expedition to the ISS, namely, American 
astronaut Frank Culbertson and two Russian cosmonauts Vladimir 
Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin. Back on the Earth, they will report 
about the results they have obtained since August 13.

  The primary objective of the shuttle's mission to the ISS was to 
deliver the 4th ISS crew and research equipment. According to 
the Mission Control, the shuttle's crew has perfectly 
accomplished its mission.

  On its way home, the shuttle launched into space the Starshine 
micro-satellite, which had been designed by students. According 
to the Mission Control, the satellite which is no larger than a 
volley ball, has been made by thousands of students who were 
polishing small pieces of glass subsequently putting them on its 
surface. It slightly resembles of these rotating glass balls 
which are usually used in disco clubs. It is believed that the 
glass will make it possible to see the satellite at night. 
Students of several universities, in their turn, will be 
calculating its speed and its orbit parameters.

  The 4th long-term expedition to the ISS is led by Russian 
cosmonaut Yuri Onufriyenko. There are two US astronauts under 
his command - Carl Waltz and Daniel Bursch. This crew will stay 
on-board the ISS till May 2002.


Copyright @1999 by "Pravda.RU". When reproducing our materials 
in whole or in part, reference to Pravda.RU should be made.




Document 001001402 ends.


       

Dow Jones & Co. said it extended its $18-a-share offer for Telerate Inc. common stock until 5 p.m. EST Nov. 9. 

The offer, valued at about $576 million for the 33% of Telerate that Dow Jones doesn't already own, had been set to expire Nov. 6. 

Dow Jones, which owns about 64 million of Telerate's 95 million common shares outstanding, said that about 24,000 shares have been tendered under its offer. 

Telerate's two independent directors have rejected the offer as inadequate.
In composite trading on the New York Stock Exchange, Telerate shares closed at $19.50, up 12.5 cents. 

Telerate provides an electronic financial information network.
Dow Jones publishes The Wall Street Journal, Barron's magazine, and community newspapers and operates financial news services and computer data bases. 




Document 001001403 ends.


	

	
	
 Moscow, 27 November: Russia intends to modernize and extend the service life of 11 power units in its nuclear power stations by 2005. This is one of the provisions of the federal programme Energy-Efficient Economy that covers the period from 2002 to 2005 and sets guidelines until 2010, the Government Information Department reported on Tuesday [27 November]. The programme calls for the overhaul of nuclear power stations with a view to extending their safe and efficient operation, extending the service life of power units, resumption of the construction of power units and compiling a list of promising sites for future nuclear power stations. Its other provisions include the overhaul and construction of new plants for making fuel elements and the overhaul of "wet" nuclear waste storage facilities. In the next stage, 2006-2010, the efficiency of existing nuclear power stations will be stepped up by increasing the utilization of current capacity, extending their service life and increasing capacity by using new-generation power units In 2005, the capacity of all Russian nuclear power stations should total 25.24 GW. It will increase by 3 GW in 2002-05 and by 4.81 GW in 2006-10 to 30.05 GW. When nuclear power stations account for nearly 20 per cent of total energy generated in the country, nearly 52bn cubic metres of gas will be saved in 2005 and 65.5bn cubic metres in 2010. The construction of nuclear power stations in Iran, China, India, Kazakhstan and Ukraine will provide 42bn dollars in 2002-2005 and 24bn dollars in 2006-2010. 
	
	
	





Document 001001404 ends.



Soldiers Unite To Defend Camp X-Ray

 


London Daily Telegraph 
January 25, 2002

  
Soldiers Unite To Defend Camp X-Ray

  American Marines are bruised by criticism of their treatment of 
Taliban and al-Qa'eda prisoners, reports Toby Harnden in 
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

  Before dawn, the prison camp echoes to the voice of the muezzin 
as the Muslim inmates are called to prayer. It is 5.17am and 
Lieut Abuhena Mohammad Saiful-Islam of the US navy is performing 
his first duty as Camp X-Ray's chaplin and imam.

  "God is great, God is great," the officer chants in Arabic 
through a loudspeaker. "I bear witness that Mohammed is his 
messenger. Come to pray, come to success."

  The detainees recite the Koran together, the first of the day's 
five prayer sessions.

  By mid-morning, they are lounging on mats on the concrete floors 
of their 8ft-square cages, the blistering sun beating on the tin 
roofs. Some hang their towels out to dry in the breeze. A few 
call to each other. Others stand or pace around before slumping 
again.

  A Humvee moves slowly around the perimeter as US Marines, M16 
assault rifles at the ready, stand guard. From seven wooden 
watchtowers, guards train their weapons on the captured Taliban 
and al-Qa'eda fighters, who are clad in orange jump suits. One 
man is moved back to his cage, his ankles and wrists in 
shackles.

  This is Guantanamo Bay, a sleepy and almost forgotten American 
outpost of 45 square miles on the eastern coast of Cuba.

  Seized by 646 Marines in whaling boats in 1898 during the 
Spanish-American War, it has been in US hands ever since - 
Gitmo, for short, or the Pearl of the Caribbean for those 
soldiers with a sense of humour. On entering Camp X-Ray, one 
inmate vowed to kill an American before he left. Another 
detainee bit a guard trying to subdue him and, two days ago, 
another spat on a military policeman.

  Such incidents have been rare, however, and most of the camp's 
158 Muslim fanatics are compliant, the guards say.

  "They're just chilling out, that's exactly what they're doing," 
said Staff Sgt Chuck Albrecht. "Our guys are pretty dirty. The 
detainees are washing every day. They get granola bars, a box of 
apple jacks and fresh fruit."

  Like most Marines and MPs making up the 1,200-strong force, 
Staff Sgt Albrecht is angry at accusations that the detainees 
have been mistreated.

  The Marines live in an encampment 100 yards from Camp X-Ray's 
gates. Some of their tents saw service in the Korean War. There 
are holes in them, but for now the problem is the stifling heat. 
"The conditions my men live in are very similar to those of the 
detainees," said Col Terry Carrico.

  The detainees may be shackled, even as they are operated on at 
the Gitmo hospital, but they have brand new copies of the Koran 
and Lively Salon anti-dandruff shampoo that promises "a gentle 
formula to restore moisture to your beautiful clean hair". Under 
the tin roofs, there is wood to absorb the sun's heat and keep 
them cool.

  Some of the detainees had wrinkled faces, a Marine officer 
noted. "We'll probably be giving them moisturiser next."

  Brig Michael Lehnert said each al-Qa'eda fighter would be given 
eight to 75 Swiss francs per month - as per the Geneva 
Convention - if their rank was revealed and PoW status accorded.

  They get "culturally appropriate" halal meals. So do the 
American soldiers, at Cuba's only McDonald's restaurant or the 
all-ranks bars where popcorn and pizzas are the only fare.

  When the detainees wanted water, they got water, said Staff Sgt 
Monte Webster, an MP. The camp interpreters had even devised a 
set of hand signals if a Taliban leader was caught short and 
needed to use the portable lavatory.

  There are jokes at Camp X-Ray but the sense of danger is ever 
present. The detainees' toothbrushes are shortened so that they 
cannot be used as weapons. During a trial in New York in 1998, 
an al-Qa'eda suspect used a comb to stab a prison warder through 
the eye into his brain.

  "Sometimes you're afraid for your life because these people are 
trained to kill you," said Specialist Fabian Rivas. "They're 
willing to give their life to take yours."

  Newspaper coverage of Camp X-Ray in Britain, as relayed by 
American television and radio, has come close to eroding morale 
this week.

  Specialist Rivas said he ignored the press. "It's propaganda. If 
I let it get to me I would have a very hard time doing my job."

  Staff Sgt Webster was frustrated. "It bothers me," he said. "We 
as well as the British have always been the ones who've been 
humane. How could anybody say we're treating anybody wrong? They 
don't live it, they don't see it, so how can they talk about 
it?"

  Brig Lehnert accepted that the detainees were living in basic 
conditions but argued that this would improve once permanent 
facilities were built. At the camp, Marine engineers saw and 
hammer away as an interrogation centre and new cages are 
finished. The target capacity is 2,000.

  When the detainees look up at a watchtower, they see the Stars 
and Stripes painted on the front of the sniper's perch.

  A sign pointing to Mecca has just been erected, but the defeated 
fighters are never allowed to forget that America, their sworn 
enemy, now controls them.




Document 001001405 ends.


	
Buenos Aires, 22 April (Telam) -- Justicialist Deputy Jose Manuel Diaz Bancalari said today that the IMF "is seeking to create an uncontrollable social situation" with the demands it has made of the government and, on the other hand, he confirmed the PJ [Justicialist Party] bloc's willingness to support approval of the draft law on bonds submitted by the executive branch. 
	
	
 "It seems as if they are seeking to create an uncontrollable social situation," the legislator stated this morning, referring to the demands presented by the IMF to the country for reaching a new agreement that would bring in foreign financing for the government's accounts. Analyzing the IMF's responsibility in the complex crisis the country is experiencing, Diaz Bancalari stated his impression that "the IMF members want more money for themselves," without admitting "any degree of co-responsibility their managers have had in the things that have happened in Argentina." He believes that "in any negotiation there may be someone who tries to impose conditions by cheating" and said that in the case of Argentina, "the cheaters were the IMF," who "praised the policies (of the last decade) and held them up as an example" and now "they cannot tell us that they did not know what was going on." 
	
	
 "I think there must be reasonable things" in the agreement the country reaches with the IMF, Diaz Bancalari said, and then he asserted that "Argentina is a country in which one can do good business, but what they must know is that there is no more room for shady deals." At the same time, he admitted the political leadership's "own mistakes" and those of his party in particular, acknowledging the existence of a "certain political vision that is infiltrating Peronism, which is a liberal vision." "All the governments are saying that Argentina has to make arrangements first with the IMF before receiving any kind of aid, and they know perfectly well that they are asking us to put 450,000 fellow citizens out of work, and that is only possible with a military government," he asserted. 
	
	
 Regarding the draft law from the executive branch on swapping bonds for fixed-term deposits, he believes that if the Senate "debates and approves it today" the deputies can "debate the issue tomorrow and pass it, so that on Wednesday [24 April] the financial system would be open." 
	
	
 Although he confirmed the PJ bloc's support for the work of President [Eduardo] Duhalde, Diaz Bancalari expressed his surprise at "the statements by some government officials in which they want to make it seem that there is no will to discuss it in our circles." However, he clarified that the willingness to deal quickly with the draft law "does not mean a desire to approve it, because discussing it in the abstract is not very responsible." 
	
	
 The deputy stressed the value of the bonds the government will issue for the depositors, asking who would want "certificates of deposit in bankrupt banks" and saying that instead, "however we move forward into the future, there will always be the state's legal continuity backing the obligation." 
	
	
	





Document 001001406 ends.


       

RJR Nabisco Inc. said it agreed to sell its Baby Ruth, Butterfinger and Pearson candy businesses to Nestle S.A.'s Nestle Foods unit for $370 million. 

The sale, at a higher price than some analysts had expected, helps the food and tobacco giant raise funds to pay debt and boosts Nestle's 7% share of the U.S. candy market to about 12%. 

The candy businesses had sales of about $154 million last year, which was roughly 12% of total revenue for RJR's Planters LifeSavers unit, according to a memorandum distributed by RJR's owner, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., to bankers last December. 

The Nestle acquisition includes a candy plant in Franklin Park, Ill., which employs about 800 workers. 

The sale, which had been expected, is part of KKR's program to pay down $5 billion of a $6 billion bridge loan by February.
Roughly $2 billion of that debt has already been repaid from previous asset sales, and RJR expects to use another $2 billion from the pending, two-part sale of most of its Del Monte unit.
That sale, however, could still fall through if financing problems develop.
Thus, it remains crucial for RJR to obtain top dollar for its smaller assets like the candy brands. 

Louis Gerstner Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of New York-based RJR, called the sale a "significant step" in the company's divestiture program, as well as a "a strategic divestiture." Since KKR bought RJR in February for $25 billion of debt, it has agreed to sell nearly $5 billion of RJR assets.
RJR's executives have said they will dispense with certain brands, in particular, that aren't leaders in their markets. "RJR Nabisco and Planters LifeSavers will concentrate more on our own core businesses," Mr. Gerstner said Friday. 

Baby Ruth and Butterfinger are both among the top-selling 15 chocolate bars in the U.S., but RJR's overall share of the roughly $5.1 billion market is less than 5%.
Nestle's share of 7% before Friday's purchases is far below the shares of market leaders Hershey Foods Corp. and Mars Inc., which have about 40% and 36% of the market, respectively. 

"This means Nestle is now in the candybar business in a big way," said Lisbeth Echeandia, publisher of Orlando, Fla.-based Confectioner Magazine. "For them, it makes all kinds of sense.
They've been given a mandate from Switzerland" to expand their U.S. chocolate operations.
Nestle S.A. is based in Vevey, Switzerland. 

The new candy bars, "make an important contribution to our Nestle Foods commitment to this very important strategic unit," said C. Alan MacDonald, president of Nestle Foods in Purchase, N.Y. 




Document 001001408 ends.


Reference: CPP20020517000014 Beijing China Daily (Internet Version-WWW) in English 17 May 02   [Report by Meng Yan]

		INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC

	 Talks between China and the Association of Southeast Asian 
Nations (ASEAN) about a free trade area went smoothly, senior 
officials said yesterday.  	

  "We are confident the framework will be ready for Chinese and 
ASEAN leaders to finalize at their November summit," said a 
senior official with the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Trade and 
Economic Co-operation (MOFTEC).  	

  But the official declined to disclose details about their 
two-day negotiations, saying these are just working level talks 
and more substantial progress will be made at the China and 
ASEAN economic ministers' meeting in September.  	

  The third China-ASEAN Economic Senior Official's meeting, held 
in Beijing on Tuesday, set up a trade negotiation committee to 
hold in-depth discussions on the framework of a free trade area 
in the region.  	

  The trade negotiation committee hosted its first meeting in 
Beijing in the last two days.  	

  The committee said in a joint statement at the end of the 
meeting that it will try to have the framework finalized at the 
China-ASEAN summit in Cambodia at the end of this year.  	

  The framework is expected to cover a wide range of areas of 
co-operation in goods, services and investment.  	

  The framework will contain guidelines, principles, scope and 
modalities for establishing a free trade area, including early 
harvest, special and differential treatment and flexibility. It 
will also take into account different levels of development 
between ASEAN countries and China.  	

  Premier Zhu Rongji and ASEAN leaders agreed at the fifth 
China-ASEAN leaders' summit in November to set up a free trade 
area within 10 years.  	

  Chinese and ASEAN officials said the decision by Chinese and 
ASEAN leaders to establish a free trade area is a "historic 
milestone in economic co-operation between China and ASEAN" and 
"demonstrates strong commitments by China-ASEAN leaders to 
regional integration and economic globalization as they pursue 
peace and stability and prosperity in the region."  	

  A study by Chinese and ASEAN experts shows China's export to 
ASEAN will increase 55.1 per cent to US$10.6 billion and ASEAN's 
export to China will increase 48 per cent to US$13 billion after 
the establishment of the free trade area.	 

China
East Asia
China
Southeast Asia
China
Thailand
Philippines
Burma
Indonesia



Document 001001411 ends.


	
'Club, EU attempting to perpetuate colonial relationship' 
	
	
 Herald Reporter - THE Government yesterday lambasted the Commonwealth and the European Union for attempting to perpetuate a colonial relationship between Europe and Africa. 
	
	
 In his opening address to a Southern Africa Development Community land task force on Zimbabwe, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cde Stan Mudenge, said Zimbabwe was tired of being dictated to by the EU and the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group instead of being engaged in dialogue. 
	
	
 "The Zimbabwe Government has no mandate from the free and proud people of Zimbabwe to return this country to a colonial or neo-colonial status. 
	
	
 "Too much blood was shed and much suffering endured to achieve our independence and regain our sovereignty for anyone to imagine that they can either dictate or intimidate us into submission," said Cde Mudenge. 
	
	
 Soon after the meeting, the ministers said Sadc would not accept or participate in any form of sanctions on Zimbabwe by the EU or Commonwealth. 
	
	
 "There are different forms of sanctions being talked about. Sadc will not participate in what ever form the sanctions may take," said taskforce chairperson Ms Lilian Patel, who is also Malawi Foreign Minister. 
	
	
 The EU has indicated that it would issue sanctions targeted at a few Government and Zanu-PF officials. 
	
	
 Cde Mudenge told the meeting that while Zimbabwe was addressing issues being raised by the two organisations, the two had not done anything to address issues raised by Zimbabwe. 
	
	
 Instead, they have issued ultimatums and some of the countries have imposed unofficial sanctions, which stood in the way of honest negotiations. 
	
	
 The minister said complying with some of their demands was like giving away the country to its former colonial masters. 
	
	
 The meeting by the Foreign ministers was a follow up to issues that were raised at the recent heads of state and government summit in Malawi. 
	
	
 Ms Lilian Patel said the situation in Zimbabwe required a more mature approach. 
	
	
 "We in Sadc believe that the situation in Zimbabwe does not only require a careful and mature approach but also mutual understanding and patience because of its complexity," said Ms Patel. 
	
	
 She said the taskforce believed that constructive political dialogue was the key way forward to solving problems in Zimbabwe. 
	
	
 The taskforce was also of the view that the international media should be allowed to cover the country's Presidential election, an issue, which has already been resolved by Government. 
	
	
 Cde Mudenge said since the Malawi summit, the Government had taken a number of initiatives to implement most of the decisions in relation to Zimbabwe. 
	
	
 He said the Electoral Supervisory Commission had already identified trainers of monitors. 
	
	
 A countrywide voter education programme had been launched and was currently underway. 
	
	
 The Government had also asked the ESC to co-ordinate the drafting of a code of conduct in consultation with political parties intending to contest the Presidential election. 
	
	
 The process of inviting international observers started a week ago and was continuing. 
	
	
 "Members of the Ministerial Committee will be fully briefed on the actions that are being taken to deal with the problem of violence which has taken place in some parts of the country," said Cde Mudenge. 
	
	
 The ministers will also have a chance to visit an area where political violence has been reported. 
	
	
 Cde Mudenge said the Government and the ruling party had launched campaigns against political violence. 
	
	
 President Mugabe would also soon be inviting all political parties, chiefs, churches, war veterans, media houses and civic organisations to a meeting on charting a peaceful way forward by finding ways of curtailing the incidents of violence. 
	
	
 "The Government continues to uphold the freedom of expression and there are no cases of anyone being tried or having been held in custody for expressing his or her own opinion since the Blantyre Summit." 
	
	
 Cde Mudenge said the judiciary had remained free as shown by two cases, which were won by opposition MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and the Combined Harare Residents Association. 
	
	
 Meanwhile, the Sadc forum said yesterday that it will send at least 39 observers to Zimbabwe a month before the Presidential election. 
	
	
 "We have been assured by the Zimbabwe Government that a formal invitation is coming, and we have set up a team of not less than 39 members who shall observe in the 10 provinces which have about 4,500 poling stations," the chairman of Sadc's Parliamentary forum Mr Sam Mpasu told AFP in Blantyre yesterday. 
	
	
 The observers will be drawn from members of Parliament in the 14-member nations, Mr Mpasu said. 
	
	
 The decision to send the observers was reached in Harare after a one-day meeting of the forum last week, Mpasu said. 
	
	
 The team will arrive in Zimbabwe a month before the crucial March 9 to 10 election, he added. 
	
	
 President Mugabe on Monday said the Sadc was among the groups he had invited to send observers to the polls. 
	
	
 The invited groups comprise mainly African nations, and explicitly exclude Britain, the former colonial power, which has spearheaded criticism of the Zimbabwe Government. 
	
	
 Sources in South Africa, a Sadc member, said earlier that Pretoria would send its own observers to the election, separate from the Sadc team, although President Mugabe did not invite South Africa in his statement on Monday. 
	
	
 The only nation specifically invited to send observers was Nigeria. 
	
	
 Sadc comprises Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Tanzania, Lesotho, Seychelles, Swaziland, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.	





Document 001001413 ends.



U.S. Refuses to Recognize Mugabe Government

 



  U.S. President Bush said Wednesday that flaws in Zimbabwe's 
election will prevent the United States from recognizing the 
government's claim that incumbent Robert Mugabe was the winner.

  Bush told a news conference that the United States is consulting 
with other countries to decide how "to deal with this flawed 
election."

  Bush suspended U.S. entry privileges for Mugabe, his family or 
senior members of his government.

  He also denied entry to those who received "significant 
financial benefit" from dealings with Zimbabwean officials who 
carried out Mugabe's policies.

  U.S. officials said the administration may freeze assets of 
Zimbabwean officials involved in the alleged rigging of the 
democratic process.

  Another possibility is the banning of commercial export licenses 
of defense articles and services.



Copyright by People's Daily Online, all rights reserved






Document 001001416 ends.


	
[Computer selected and disseminated without FBIS editorial intervention] 
	
	
 Tokyo, Dec. 26 (Yonhap) -- Japanese defense authorities have confirmed that the vessel initially suspected of being a North Korean spy ship communicated with the North before being intercepted and sunk by Japanese patrol boats after an exchange of fire in the East China Sea Saturday, Japan's Sankei Shimbun said in its Wednesday edition. The authorities were able to confirm via information provided by the U.S. military that the trawler exchanged messages with the North before it was intercepted by patrol boats off the Japanese island of Amami Oshima. The U.S. forces stationed in Japan provided video information of the vessel after detecting it via a military reconnaissance satellite on Dec. 18. The following day, Japanese defense officials were able to determine that the trawler was using the North Korean Workers' Party radio frequency. An antisubmarine patrol aircraft was dispatched to the scene and located the vessel Saturday, three days after the authorities had received the information from the United States. Although the defense officials declined to give details of the messages exchanged between the vessel and the North Korean side, they said, "The ship may have been involved with the smuggling of drugs used to treat drug addicts." The newspaper added that the Japanese government, which first believed the vessel was a North Korean spy ship based on its shape and equipment, have gained more evidence to support their suspicions. yct9423@yna.co.kr	





Document 001001418 ends.


       

Travelers Corp. 's third-quarter net income rose 11%, even though claims stemming from Hurricane Hugo reduced results $40 million. 

Net advanced to $94.2 million, or 89 cents a share, from $85 million, or 83 cents a share, including net realized investment gains of $31 million, up from $10 million a year ago.
But revenue declined to $3 billion from $3.2 billion. 

Travelers estimated that the California earthquake last month will result in a fourth-quarter pre-tax charge of less than $10 million. 

The insurer's earnings from commercial property/casualty lines fell 59% in the latest quarter, while it lost $7.2 million in its personal property/casualty business, compared with earnings of $6.1 million a year ago. 

Travelers's employee benefits group, which includes its group health insurance operations, posted earnings of $24 million, compared with a loss of $3 million last year. 

In the first nine months, net was $306 million, compared with a loss of $195 million in the 1988 period.
The year-ago results included a $415 million charge in the 1988 second quarter for underperforming real estate and mortgage loans. 




Document 001001419 ends.


	
SPENDING on information technology in Saudi Arabia is expected to reach over $5 billion by the year 2005, according to Dr Mohamed Al-Amri, managing partner of the Dr Mohamed Al-Amri &amp;amp; Company, provider of auditing, accounting, tax services and IT consulting. 
	
	
 He said the bulk of this spending will be on software and services. Saudi businesses today are looking into software applications that will help them retain their clients, expand their market reach and cut down of their operating costs, Dr Al-Amri said in a press statement issued Sunday to the Gazette. 
	
	
 He said that growth on Saudi Arabia s IT spending expected to rise by 34 percent in the next four years will bring Saudi-based businesses capabilities to compete on national and international markets. 
	
	
 According to Dr Al-Amri, the top priority of Saudi businesses these days is the application of customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities. He said the Kingdom is now part of that increasing global spending on CRM, which is projected to hit the $10 billion mark by the year 2005. 
	
	
 Dr Al-Amri said that the growth of Internet in the Kingdom, coupled with the thrust of national companies seeking regional exposure and global competitiveness, is pushing Saudi-based companies to develop web-based strategies for a wider market reach at manageable costs. 
	
	
 Software for e-business and e-CRM capabilities are now being applied by many Saudi companies. Dr Mohamed Al-Amri &amp;amp; Company is the first local company, with Kingdom-wide offices, to become a certified e-CRM ACCPAC partner. 
	
	
 Worldwide revenues in the CRM services markets will increase to over $126.2 billion in 2004. The e-CRM is the use of technology to support customer interactions with little or no human intermediation from the business side. It consists of the use of direct-to-customer channels, through mainly e-mail and the World Wide Web (WWWW), along with other emerging technologies such as WAP. 
	
	
	





Document 001001420 ends.


	
The elected president of the people of Venezuela, "Hugo Chavez" [punctuation as published here and throughout], has once more taken up the reins of power at the presidential palace in Caracas. The rapid events and the changing of power in Venezuela indicate that the putschists did not enjoy a popular base and the Venezuelan people as well as the military in the country did not endorse the coup government of "Pedro Carmona" who was being supported by America. America was the only country that came to the support of the putschists immediately after they took power in Venezuela. Moreover, in its posturing with respect to this country, America declared that democracy had been victorious in Venezuela. America called the action of several military generals, who were supported by capitalist as well as bankers, as the victory of democracy in Venezuela under circumstances where Hugo Chavez had come to power in 1988 through a popular process. What is more, the promoting of a constitutional reform plan and carrying out of extensive economic reforms have led to his re-election in July 2000 as the president of Venezuela for a further six year term. A number of observers believe that the reasons behind America's opposition to Chavez and its support for Venezuela under the generals who carried out the coup against him go back to the domestic and foreign plans and policies of Chavez. Following a series of domestic reforms, especially in the agriculture, energy and banking sectors and describing communism and capitalism as futile, Chavez caused the business leaders, bankers and capitalist to distance themselves from him and thus paved the way for their opposition to his power. The new laws were described by leaders of the economy as deviant and unfair and these leaders organised and stage-managed street demonstrations against Chavez with the help of the biggest trade and commercial unions as well as a sector of the army. Outside the borders of Venezuela, Chavez faced America's hostility. This is something that the American officials have acknowledged on many occasions. They had been thinking about ways of ousting Chavez from the presidential palace in Caracas. Ever since he came to power, Chavez had refused to accept America's biding and had called on Washington on numerous occasions to stop intervening in his country. He also accused America of killing innocent children and people during the Afghan war, met with "Mo'ammar Qadhafi" and "Saddam Hoseyn", the presidents of Libya and Iraq and long-term enemies of Washington, and had a very close relationship with the Cuban leader "Fidel Castro". The combination of Chavez's performance and policies brought on the wrath of American President Bush to the extent that he failed to hide his anger during his visit to Peru. During his meetings with Peruvian officials, Bush spoke of America's dislike of Chavez. Moreover, the American Secretary of State "Powell" also has recently announced in his annual report to the American Congress that taking into account Hugo Chavez's closeness to countries that are not dependent on America, he is not considered to be a trustworthy pawn in the Latin American region. Powell had stressed that Venezuela is able to, as in the past, that is to say, the era of the military rule in that country, play an effective role in America's policies in Latin America. Besides these instances of American hostility towards Chavez, mention must be made of his oil policy within OPEC. In recent years, Chavez caused OPEC oil policies to be strengthened in the face of the positions adopted by oil consumers. He has managed to a great extent to adopt policies aligned with other oil producing states whenever oil crises have emerged that led to reduced oil prices in the market. That is to say, he adopted positions where supply of oil by OPEC would be reduced and oil prices supported. This is while before Chavez, Venezuela used to be called the "errant member" within OPEC, a member that would follow less the concerted decisions of OPEC and observe less its own quotas. This is why one cannot dismiss the effects of the intensification of the Middle East crisis, Iraq's initiative in using crude oil as a political weapon against Washington and the debate on an extensive oil embargo against the supporters of Israel on the events of the past few days in Venezuela as well as America's support for the putschists there. America was trying to guarantee the flow of Venezuelan crude oil to itself by overthrowing Chavez and the seizing of power in the Venezuelan presidential palace by the dependent generals. The people of Venezuela thwarted America in this. Finally, America prescribes liberal democracy for others yet fails itself to accord any value to democratic principles in the world. The Bush administration's support for the Venezuelan putschists is testament to this. Attachments: Image-1.gif Image-2.gif	





Document 001001421 ends.


	
Russia favours creation of "international instruments" to regulate emissions 
	
	
 Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax 
	
	
 Moscow, 16 July: The Russian Foreign Ministry has called for "taking into account Russia's specific interests" in working out international documents concerning the regulation of emissions. A Foreign Ministry statement in connection with the opening of a conference of the signatories to the UN framework convention on climate change in Bonn reads that taking into account Russia's interests "is of vital importance from the viewpoint of prospects for the ratification of the Kyoto protocol inside the state". Russia is "interested in creating international instruments for regulating emissions, which will guarantee the stable economic development of all signatories to international agreements on the climate sphere without any exceptions", the statement reads. "The US decision to withdraw from introducing state measures to regulate the emission of greenhouse gases negatively affects the world community's efforts to ensure the global and efficient character of the Kyoto protocol," the document reads. 
	
	
	





Document 001001422 ends.



   
   
      
         I would say between the ages of 7 to 10 years old it, was a really big thing to go to the movie on Saturday mornings.
         And one particular movie theater we went to, they would show serials every Saturday, which were a continued story.
         So if you missed one Saturday you would miss what happened in a particular episode and you, um, wouldn't know what had taken place.
         So we would go every Saturday morning.
         And also at this theater, they gave prizes to different people.
         And one of the way they gave prizes was, they would take big group photos and everybody, and there were stairs going up to a balcony, real wide stairs.
         And the big group of people would go stand on the stairs and there would be probably 30 or 40 kids in the picture.
         And they'd take the picture and then you would go back the next Saturday after they had been developed and they would have circled 3 or 4 people in the picture and the people whose head was circled would get the prizes.
      
      
         Is that for real?
      
      
         That's for real!
         That really happened!
         And one time I can remember, I think it was Steve, my brother, um, he, and they would give treats like candy, I don't even remember what all kinds of prizes the would give.
         But for some reason, and I think this is really true, he got ice cream sandwiches!
         Like a box of ice cream sandwiches.
         And of course there's nothing to do with a box of ice cream sandwiches when you're at a 2-hour movie!
      
      
         
            
         
      
      
         They're going to melt!
         And another, um, that was in, that was in High Point, NC.
         And then we moved to Charlotte and we used to go to � and I don't think its even still there I don't know if the building is or not � but the Dilworth Theatre.
         I lived in the Dilworth area, and we would go to the Dilworth Theatre and I do remember that it cost 9 cents to get a ticket to get in.
         And we would, could go to the movie.
         We would get maybe 15 cents each to go to the movie, and I sound like I'm 95 years old-
      
      
         
            
         
      
      
         -with those kinds of prices.
         Um, but we would go to the movie and then you would go in and get your, your snack that you wanted.
         And there were several different choices.
         I don't ever remember getting popcorn at the movie until I was a teenager or in my adult life.
         But we would, uh, buy, lollipops is what they call them now, but we called them suckers and we would get often a 2-cent sucker.
      
      
         
            
         
      
      
         Are you making fun?
      
      
         No, I love this story.
      
      
         And the 2-cent suckers is what is referred to now as a Tootsie Roll Pop.
         And we called them 2-cent suckers because every other sucker cost a penny.
         Except these were 2 cents because they had the Tootsie Roll in the middle.
         And there was one other sucker that cost a nickel and we called that an all day sucker, just because you couldn't eat the whole thing for the entire movie and you would really just have that sucker all day long.
         And one other form of refreshment that we got, which really embarrassed my mother because she didn't know anything about this until she went with us to the movie one Saturday, there was a bakery next door to the movie theatre.
         And my brothers and myself were not the only people that did this; all the kids that would go to the movie knew to do this.
         We would go into the bakery and we would ask for-
      
      
         
            
         
      
      
         -a nickel worth of scraps!
         
         
      
      
         And we didn't even have to ask for it because the bakery lady knew us and she knew to have all this ready for all the kids going to the movie.
         And what it was it was broken cookies and broken pieces of whatever happened while they were baking, mistakes.
         So they would fill little bags for us and we would give them a nickel and we could take that to the movie theatre with us.
         And that's all the stories I can remember about the movies right now.
         I do know that I did used to go the movie downtown at the Carolina Theatre.
         And when I was young, it wasn't a strange thing for the kids to just go off and go to a movie.
         I mean, my mother knew where we were going and she knew when we would get back, but today you wouldn't send your seven or eight year old child to a movie theatre alone even if they were with their nine year old brother; you just wouldn't do it.
         And we could skate to the movie or ride a bicycle to the movie and we would do that.
         Which is kind of sad that you can't do that anymore and it's not just because things are, there're bad people in the world but it's too much traffic.
         You have to check everything about a movie, check it out to see what the content is and just wasn't like that when I was growing up
         .
         Also about that same time period in my life, I guess again between seven and ten years old, which seems to be what I remember most vividly, my best friend uh, was Kathy Josey, and she was a next door neighbor also, and we remained friends up until, uh, she was about 35 and she passed away with cancer.
         But we, we remained close friends.
         In fact we shared an apartment, first apartment either one of us ever had.
         And when we were, um, little girls we used to play "Career Girls"!
         
         We did!
         And we used to try to dress up and pretend we were businesswomen.
         And we would go to work and pretend we had an apartment together and then when we grew up, we sure did; we got an apartment.
      
      
         Uh-huh.
      
      
         Um, Kathy and I also used to play other kind of dress ups and it just, it seems like, I remember we both had like our mother's long skirts, or the skirts would be long on us and we would literally wear dress up clothes that belonged to our mothers.
         But we had, Kathy had one pair of pearls or beads of some sort of necklace that was her mother's and I didn't have the necklace.
         And it was really beautiful and I really, really wanted one.
         So we only had the one necklace and we, er, we decided, I don't know if it was jointly or if Kathy was just extremely nice of whatever, but she said I could wear it part of the time.
         And we would literally time the amount of time, we wore it like 30 minutes or 15 minutes or whatever.
         And the way we decided who got to wear it first, and this always kind of bothered me because I know Kathy did this intentionally, she said the youngest one got to wear it first and she was like six months younger than I am.
         So, it, that became
         a normal thing with us.
         Whenever we only had one of something she would always say, "Well, I think the youngest one gets to do it, or wear it or whatever first."
         And, that just always stuck in my mind, that in, in our adult life I brought that up to her and she sort of acted like she didn't know anything about that and I thought to myself, "she does," and then she laughed about it and she realized that she had kinda held a trump card on that one.
         Um, also we did a lot of pretending and as I said we played career girls and the dress ups.
         And my sister and I used to pretend also and Jill is about 2 years younger than I am, maybe two and a half, and we used to play Robin Hood except we didn't have a Maid Marion, we had a Saretha, I don't know where in the world that name came from.
         But we would switch playing Robin Hood, one would play Robin Hood and one would play Saretha.
         And Saretha was the counter, would be the same thing as Maid Marion, and, why, again, I don't know why we didn't use Maid Marion.
         But in my mind I can remember playing that, like all day long.
         And we would go over to my grandparents' and they had a a big white house with a big front porch and, uh, banisters on it and a lot of rocking chairs out on the front porch.
         And it was just a great place to pretend and we would climb up on the porch and on the banisters and we could make those our horses or, uh, it could be a castle; just do many things with it.
         Um, and when we were still living in High Point in our back yard we had a huge, I don't know, I guess it was an oak tree, but it was a really big tree, but it was a climbable tree.
         And it had real large, thick branches extending out to the side and they were fat enough branches where as a child of eight and nine years old we could straddle the branches.
         And that was another game that Jill and I used to play; we would pretend we were in the jungle and we would climb up on the tree and we would straddle the tree branches and pretend it was our elephant.
         And in the yard, we had an old tree that had been cut down and just the stump was remaining and my mother had planted, um, flowers all around that stump and we would use that stump as a, as a throne and the princess got to sit up on that stump on that throne and have all those flowers around her and that would be the throne and she would be the queen or the princess or whatever.
         When I was a teenager, an Audrey Hepburn movie came out called Wait Until Dark.
         And I think I was probably 16 or 17 years old; we were of driving age.
         And I had a group of girlfriends that I ran around with and there were, golly, there might've been 8 to 10 of us who were good friends.
         Everybody had their own "best" friend but then we had one big group that we used to do a lot of things together.
         Um, and we would, had that many girls but we would only go out in a couple of cars and I remember one of the girls, Betty Belle, her dad had a VW Beetle, and we'd fit like 5 girls in that VW Beetle.
      
      
         Did Betty Belle turn Catholic?
      
      
         No, huh-uh.
      
      
         She didn't?
      
      
         No.
         So we went out one night to the movie, but before we went to the movie we went to get pizza and then we went to, and I think the name of the place was The Open Kitchen, and we didn't have chain pizza places like we do now, like Pizza Hut and all that.
         This was just a really neat pizza place that all the kids would go.
         And we went to Open Kitchen and we would have eight or 10 girls and we would order one pizza and all share it and everyone would only get one piece and I think we would make the waitresses mad because we didn't have money to leave tips.
         We would also drink water.
         So it wasn't a good situation for the waitresses, but we had fun and we didn't even think about it.
         We just did what we could get away with.
         Anyway, that night we were gonna go see Wait Until Dark and I think it was on at the Manor Theatre, and I just remember when you have like 10 or so girls going somewhere to the same place it's kind of a, pretty much of a spectacle; we're all in this long line and we're giggling and laughing and cutting up and having really a great time.
         So we bought our tickets and we went into the Manor Theatre and we found a row of seats and we sat, file, all filed in.
         And I just remember seeing, and I was sitting in a middle section, I was not on an end so I had girls I knew on both sides of me.
         And I just remember that movie was, had a lot of hype about being really scary and suspenseful and it's nothing like these movies that are out today like Scream and, what is it?
         Nightmare on Elm Street whatever it is, where they're actual horror movies.
         This was, uh, a real intense, um, drama and, just very scary; kept you on the edge of your seat.
         And there was a scene in the movie I remember where every one of us, and it wasn't just our group, but so many people in the theatre, they screamed out at one time.
         And that's really all I remember about that night, it was just a lot of fun.
         And I really hope that my daughters have had some nights like that and has had good times like that, that I can remember going out with good friends.
      
   



Document 001001423 ends.


	
NEW DELHI, April 22 -- INTERNATIONAL call charges have finally started tumbling down, with Bharti Telesonic Ltd -- the long-distance arm of the Bharti group offering tariffs that are up to 40 percent lower than the existing rates. 
	
	
 Announcing this at a news conference, Mr Sunil Mittal, Chairman &amp;amp; Managing Director, Bharti Enterprises, noted that the tariffs, which would be made available on its ILD [international long distance] services being launched on May 1, would be revised downwards as and when the market demanded it. 
	
	
 "The present rate cut of up to 40 percent on peak-time rates is likely to be lowered after Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) and the other ILD operators, who are yet to begin services, announce their rates. Unlike the STD [subscriber trunk dialing] services where a further rate cut may not be feasible, in the international services there is scope for more improvement," he said. As per the tariff plan announced by Bharti, peak-time call charges to the SAARC [South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation] region will be offered at Rs 21.18 per minute as against the present Rs 21.82, while for the rest of the world it will be Rs 24 per minute as against Rs 31.30 to Rs 40 that are applicable now. 
	
	
 For non-peak hours, the call rates for the SAARC regions are being lowered to Rs 18 from Rs 18.95 per minute and for the rest of the world at Rs 21.18 per minute from the current Rs 27.69 to Rs 36. 
	
	
 Mr Mittal noted that although the original plan was to launch the ILD services (IndiaOne) by the middle of this month, the company was still awaiting security clearances and the commissioning certificate from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). 
	
	
 Interconnect agreements had already been signed with almost all cellular operators. The agreement with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) would also be signed in the next couple of days. 
	
	
 He also said that agreements with as many as nine foreign carriers across the globe had already been signed. They include AT&amp;amp;T, Sprint, Teleglobe, Eteselat, Saudi Telecom, British Telecom and SingTel to name a few. These nine carriers account for 90 percent of the traffic coming to India. 
	
	
 "Bharti, after requisite clearances, will offer its network to all carriers on a non-discriminatory basis. Carriers will now connect to Bharti's network and enjoy rates that will enable them to offer deep discounts to the end-consumer. A total investment of Rs 100 crore is planned for the project, of which Rs 75 crore has already been spent," he said. 
	
	
 IndiaOne had laid approximately 14,000 km of optical fibre cable covering 90 cities. The company has contracted submarine cable capacity from network i2i, and backed it up with satellite connectivity to build in redundancy. The ILD network is based on IP [Internet Protocol] centric backbone. The multiservices platform comprises TDM [Time Division Multiplexing] switch layer, an ATM [Asynchronous Transfer Mode] and IP layer and intelligent network to offer value-added services, he said. 
	
	
 The company, he said, also planned to start offering Internet telephony services in the near future and deploy Voice over Internet Protocol to strengthen its ILD presence. 
	
	
	





Document 001001426 ends.


 
   
   
      
         
            Stephanopoulos Analyzes His Own Crime

            There was former Clinton aide George Stephanopoulos on ABC's This
Week this morning, furrow-browed and "heartbroken with all the evidence
coming out" against the president. Last week, when the Lewinsky story was only
a few hours old, Stephanopoulos popped up on Good Morning America to
demonstrate his concern. "These are probably the most serious allegations yet
leveled against the president. There's no question that, if they're true, they
... could lead to impeachment proceedings."

            Is Chatterbox alone in thinking there is something strange and even
disgusting about Stephanopoulos' eager show of independence from the president?
The problem isn't so much his disloyalty. Political figures turn on each other
from time to time, for good and bad reasons; we're used to it. Stephanopoulos
wants to run for the Senate and doesn't want to seem a Clinton stooge. By
lending credence to the Lewinsky charges, and treating Clinton's familiar
defenses as the lies and half-lies they seem to be, Stephanopoulos shows he's
not a fool.

            The trouble is that Stephanopoulos himself helped propagate those lies in
the first place. During the 1992 campaign, when Gennifer Flowers first brought
Clinton's philandering to public attention, Stephanopoulos--as Clinton's chief
spinner, distracter, and all-around bullshit artist--played a crucial role in
discrediting Flowers and anyone else who tried to point out the truth, namely
that Clinton had a disturbing zipper problem. (Don't say Stephanopoulos didn't
know. Again, he's not a fool.) Simply put, Stephanopoulos did as much as any
man to get the country into the mess he now so telegenically laments.

            The 1993 documentary The War Room captures some of his efforts on
tape. Early in the film, with the Flowers crisis in full bloom, Sam Donaldson
interviews Stephanopoulos, who blames it all on the "Republican attack
machine." "Gov. Clinton has no character problem," Stephanopoulos declares.
Donaldson suggests that on 60 Minutes Clinton had admitted to
infidelity. "He said he had problems in his marriage," says Stephanopoulos,
correcting Donaldson's deviation from the pre-scripted fudge-phrase of the day.
(Today, of course, the president's defenders claim that Clinton admitted
infidelity on 60 Minutes and that the fully informed voters simply
didn't care.)

            Near the end of The War Room, Stephanopoulos gets a call from someone
who apparently claims to have a list of Clinton paramours, which he is about to
publicize. Stephanopoulos skillfully bullies and cajoles him into keeping
quiet. "You would be laughed at ..." he tells the caller. "I guarantee you that
if you do this you'll never work in Democratic politics again. ... Nobody will
believe you and people will think you're scum."

            You might say that Stephanopoulos helped invent the philander-protection
techniques that seem to have made Clinton so overconfident of his ability to
not get caught. He was one of Clinton's principal enablers, to use a word
employed by Maureen Dowd in today's New York Times . When Democrats
wonder why there is so much resentment of Clinton, they don't need to look much
further than the Big Lie about philandering that Stephanopoulos, Carville (and
a cooperative campaign press corps) helped to put over in 1992.

            Now the dissembler and enabler has become the scholar and ABC News analyst.
It's as if Roy Cohn went on television in the mid-'50s to soberly rue the
damage wreaked by Sen. Joe McCarthy, without any apology for his own role. Much
has been made of the way famous wrongdoers (e.g.: Dick Morris, Marv Albert)
rebound too quickly in our celebrity culture. But usually at least a nanosecond
of contrition is required. Stephanopoulos is cashing in without even going
through the minimal motions of holding himself accountable for misleading the
country. If Clinton, as is now increasingly clear, was a time bomb waiting to
explode, then Stephanopoulos helped smuggle him into the White House and
muffled the ticking.

         
      
   












Document 001001429 ends.



   Officials bristle at US human rights report

 



  
Response is being prepared

  
Khalil Fleihan

  
Daily Star correspondent

  Local authorities have expressed dissatisfaction - but not 
surprise - with regard to excerpts about Lebanon in the US State 
Department's annual report on human rights, a copy of which has 
been delivered to the Foreign Ministry.

  An official source who described the reaction on Tuesday said 
the criticism was an annual event and emphasized that it was not 
directed at human rights in Lebanon only, but covered several 
other countries in as well.

  A copy of the report, which criticizes what it described as the 
weakening of the central government's prerogatives, has been 
handed over by the deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in 
Awkar, Carol Kalin, to the Foreign Ministry's acting 
director-general, Naji Abi Assi.

  The source said that the ministry would soon deliver copies of 
the report to the various ministries concerned, especially the 
Interior and Municipalities Ministry, prior to relaying its 
observations to the State Department in Washington.

  The report was seen as discrediting Lebanon by portraying the 
country as being undemocratic or uncivilized and abusing human 
rights, the source added. According to the source, the 
authorities' dissatisfaction with the contents of the report has 
been conveyed to US Ambassador Vincent Battle, who returned from 
Washington on Saturday after participating in a conference of 
American envoys posted to Arab countries.

  Each year, Lebanon sends an explanation to the State Department 
about the factors outside of the government's control.

  The source said the most serious point in the report was an 
observation that the judiciary was subjected to political 
pressure, but referring to it as being "independent in 
principle."

  The report's reference to intelligence agents' monitoring the 
activities of opposition politicians and tapping the phones of 
certain government leaders "is a serious matter and harms 
Lebanon's image as a democratic country," the source added.

  On the other hand, the report praised the role played by the 
Lebanese press, describing it as containing daily criticism of 
the government and its practices.

  
Your feedback is important to us!

  We invite all our readers to share with us their views and 
comments about this article.

  
Please type in your comment below and press 'submit'

  You must fill in your name and email address just in case we 
need to get in touch with you.

  The editor may decide to publish your comment as a letter to the 
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  Your personal information will be kept confidential and will 
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Please contact me as soon as possible regarding this matter.

  
DS

Copyright@ 2000 The Daily Star. All rights reserved.






Document 001001430 ends.


	
JOHANNESBURG Feb 12 Sapa ALLEGED ISRAELI MAFIA MEMBER TO STAND TRIAL IN AUGUST 
	
	
 Alleged Israeli mafia member Lior Saad will stand trial in August for the murder of the estranged husband of a close friend of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. 
	
	
 The Johannesburg Magistrate's Court ruled on Tuesday Saad would stand trial from August 12 to 30 for the murder of diamond merchant Shai Avissar, who disappeared in 1999. 
	
	
 Avissar's body was found in a shallow grave on a smallholding near Pretoria on October 17, 1999. 
	
	
 The diamond merchant was married to Hazel Crane, a close friend of Madikizela-Mandela. 
	
	
 Saad will remain in custody until the trial. 
	
	
 Source : Sapa /nn/wj Date : 12 Feb 2002 14:15	





Document 001001432 ends.


	
The war maniacs of the United States' Bush administration continue to spew out vicious remarks against us, despite the strong protest and denunciation of people around the world. 
	
	
 Following his vicious remarks that called our country an axis of evil in his State of the Union address, it has already been revealed that [US President Bush] talked nonsense that the targets of the US anti-terrorism war will include not only international terrorist organizations but also countries that develop weapons of mass destruction [WMD]. There is no question about the WMD-developing countries he pointed out, including our country as well as Iraq and Iran. 
	
	
 High-ranking officials of the US administration, including US Vice President Cheney, actively chimed in with his absurd remarks. Inspecting US Air Force bases some time ago, Cheney maintained that the United States would not accept WMD threats. High-ranking officials of the state and defense departments made preposterous remarks, saying that our country is the world's biggest exporter of WMD, ballistic missiles, and relevant technology. This is another diversionary tactic to divert the criticism of people around the world, which was provoked by the fact that Bush had made an announcement on an axis of evil and it had caused a great controversy to the world, to us. 
	
	
 As everyone knows, the United States is currently getting strong criticism, denunciation, and rejection from many countries of the world, and is being cornered by impartial public opinion and the people due to Bush's referring to Iraq, Iran, and our country as an axis of evil. Bush, in fact, should not have made such remarks in his State of the Union address. Because the remarks absolutely do not go with the reputation of the United States, which is carrying out all kinds of vicious conduct. 
	
	
 The United States is indeed the ring leader and empire of evil, which perpetrates spiteful conduct of all kinds worldwide. It is the United States that possesses the world's largest quantity of WMD and inflicted nuclear disaster on humankind. It is also the United States that has placed the international situation in such a complex state and is going haywire to dominate the world. 
	
	
 It cannot be anything but gangster-like logic for such a country to label other countries, which are dignified sovereign states and UN members, as an axis of evil. Hence, the whole world is currently decrying the United States to such an extent. 
	
	
 According to a report, a majority of the residents even within the United States are denouncing Bush's reckless remarks. As a matter of fact, the fellow who wrote Bush's address inevitably submitted his resignation. Foreign news reported that the US White House announced that David Frum, a White House official who wrote President Bush's address, had submitted his resignation. This, in fact, signifies that he inevitably had to leave the White House, driven out by the anti-Bush hot winds from around the world. The US imperialist war maniacs are clinging to a new conspiracy in order to escape such a predicament and divert the arrows aimed at them in other directions. What they have crafted out of this was our so-called sales of weapons of mass destruction [WMD] and ballistic missiles and concerned technology sales. In order to add credibility to the US imperialist war maniacs' conspiracy, they did not forget to label our country as the number one country in WMD and ballistic missiles sales and concerned technology sales that were already mentioned. How accustomed they are to trickery! However, no one will fall for their acts. 
	
	
 As we mentioned earlier, it is the United States which produces and possesses the greatest number of nuclear weapons and WMD and it is also the United States that threatens other countries the most with these [weapons]. Not satisfied with this, the United States is trying to develop new nuclear weapons by resuming underground nuclear tests in the future. It is simply a blatant act of the world's worst rogue state to do someone harm. 
	
	
 The conduct of the United States will only invite worse criticism and rejection from world people in the future. The US authorities should stop these acts and making remarks that smear their own faces. We will continue to [unmonitorable for 20 secs] to US unjust acts in the future. We will fight the US imperialist war maniacs, including Bush, who try to threaten national dignity to the end and settle scores with them. The United States can never dampen or bend our unwavering will.	





Document 001001433 ends.


       

AVON RENT-A-CAR & TRUCK Corp. said it declared a dividend of one warrant for each three shares of common stock.
Currently, Avon, based in Santa Monica, Calif., has 3.3 million common shares outstanding.
About 1.1 million Class C warrants were issued, the company said.
Each of the Class C warrants will enable the holders to purchase one share of common stock at $5.50.
The warrants may be exercised until 90 days after their issue date.
Avon also said it will issue an additional 243,677 of the Class C warrants to holders of its Class A, Class B and unclassified warrants.
Issuance of those warrants will be at the rate of one-third warrant for each warrant exercised. 




Document 001001438 ends.



   Cardoso says US decision on greenhouse gases is positive

 



  Brasilia, 13 (Agencia Brasil - ABr) - Today president Fernando 
Henrique Cardoso declared that the US decision to adopt measures 
to control greenhouse gases is positive, even though there was a 
formal decision not to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. "The United 
States is an important party to the convention. I hope the 
measures adopted domestically will have the same effect as 
adhering to the Kyoto Protocol," said Cardoso. (AB)




Document 001001439 ends.


	
JAMMU, India, Nov 11 (AFP) - Indian security forces Sunday killed 11 Muslim militants in Indian-administered Kashmir, police said. 
	
	
 The separatists were killed in two separate encounters in the Mandi area of the southern Poonch district, 225 kilometres (140 miles) northwest of Kashmir's winter capital Jammu. 
	
	
 Security forces cordoned off two rebel hideouts in the villages of Jalian and Bandi Kama Khan. 
	
	
 Police and militants exchanged heavy gunfire, killing six rebels in Bandi and five in Jalian, Jammu police senior superintendent Kamal Saini said. 
	
	
 Saini said the rebels, most of them foreign mercenaries, had recently entered the district across the Line of Control -- the de facto border that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan. 
	
	
 Police have killed 50 militants in Poonch in the past 15 days, he added. 
	
	
	





Document 001001442 ends.


 
  
  
    
      July30,1999
      Name Address City, ST Zip
      Dear Mr. Ratcliff:
      CCI is a federation of 13 neighborhood-based multi-service centers
      whose mission is to identify and meet the human service needs of
      residents throughout Marion County in the most effective, efficient and
      comprehensive way possible. In 1998, we served a total of 31,484
      low-income individuals through job training and placement assistance,
      youth and senior programming, family counseling, emergency assistance,
      and much more.
      As you can see from the enclosed map, your Target store is located in
      the heart of four of our service areas. The centers that serve these
      areas, Mary Rigg Neighborhood Center, Hawthorne Community Center,
      Southwest Multi-Service Center, and Christamore House, have teamed up to
      run an exciting job readiness program for 14 and 15 year old area
      residents called the Summer Enrichment Program. Between June 21 and
      August 31, 45 youth will spend 20 hours a week developing life management
      and work ethic skills, learning the computer, visiting area colleges, and
      interacting with guest speakers. The end result will be kids who have a
      better understanding of and vision for their own future, be it college or
      a career.
      The Summer Enrichment Program will conclude with a celebration that
      includes family and friends. We would like to offer our youth a small
      reward for their participation by presenting them with gift certificates
      from Target. Therefore, we are asking you to donate 45, $10 gift
      certificates that can be used toward the purchase of school supplies or
      clothing, in the total amount of $450. In return, we will recognize
      Target as a sponsor during our event and in the event program.
      Target is well known for it's support of the community, and we believe
      that the Summer Enrichment Program represents your interests and concerns
      quite well. I will be happy to supply any additional information you may
      need and thank you for your consideration of our request. We look forward
      to hearing from you.
      Sincerely,
      Valery De Long Director of Development
    
  



Document 001001444 ends.


	

	
	
 Text of report in English by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS 
	
	
 Moscow, 24 March: Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov is departing for Mongolia on Sunday afternoon [25 March] on an official visit, the premier's press secretary, Tatyana Razbash, told ITAR-TASS. The official programme of Kasyanov's stay in capital Ulaanbaatar will begin with a tete-a-tete meeting with Mongolian Prime Minister Nambaryn Enhbayar on Monday, followed by talks in an extended format and signing of several agreements. Besides this, the Russian prime minister is scheduled to meet with Mongolian President Natsagiyn Bagabandi and the parliamentary speaker, Sanzhbegiyn Tumur-Ochir. On Tuesday, 26 March, Kasyanov will address Russian and Mongolian entrepreneurs and visit Science and Technology University. He is also expected to be awarded the title of honorary doctor of the university. On Tuesday night, Kasyanov will wind up his Mongolian tour and leave for Vietnam for an official visit. The turnover of goods between Russia and Mongolia has reached 240m dollars. Russia exports petroleum products, electricity, machinery and equipment to Mongolia and imports copper concentrate and meat. Moscow has expressed the wish to import more Mongolian meat. Russia's Ambassador to Mongolia Oleg Derkovskiy believes that there are no problems in relations between the two states and the common border stretching for 3,500 kilometres is a border of peace and good neighbourliness. Moscow and Ulaanbaatar are continuing a political dialogue, actively developing bilateral trade, and consulting each other on international problems where their stands coincide or are close. At the same time, the ambassador said in an interview with ITAR-TASS that large Russian capital and businesses "are not active enough in dealings with Mongolia" at the moment. 
	
	
	





Document 001001445 ends.


	
Tehran, April 13, IRNA -- Police in Iran have recently seized 824 kilos of illegal drugs, mostly opium, during a series of operations in which three smugglers were killed and 18 others injured, police officials said Saturday. The biggest seizure, amounting to 697 kilos, was made in the city of Iranshahr in the Sistan Baluchestan province, where four fire arms were also confiscated. The rest of the hauls were made in the provinces of southern Fars and southeastern Khorasan. Meanwhile, a police head said Saturday that some 877 kilos of narcotics had been seized in the south of the Tehran province in the last Iranian year which ended on March 20, 2001. The bulk of the seizures was opium, weighing 534 kilos, besides 118 kilos of hashish plus other drug assortments. Police dismantled 72 gangs of drug traffickers in the period and arrested 12,910 people on drug-related offenses. An official in the southeastern city of Kerman said Saturday that police in the Kerman province had seized 100 kilos of morphine from drug traffickers in recent days. Iran accounts for 80 percent of the opium and 90 percent of the morphine intercepted in the world, according to the International Narcotics Control Board. The Islamic Republic has launched a relentless anti-drug campaign since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, in which more than 3,100 policemen have lost their lives. Iran's anti-drug campaign costs the country 800 million dollars per year, according to officials. An official said recently that the Iranian police had seized 112 tons of illegal drugs and arrested 306,000 people on drug-related charges during last Iranian year which ended on March 21, 2001. 
	
	
	





Document 001001448 ends.



   Joyous South African enjoying view on space station

 



  CAPE CANAVERAL - (AP) -- A South African space tourist received 
a warm welcome aboard the international space station on 
Saturday and settled in for an eight-day, seven-night stay that 
cost him $20 million.

  Internet entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth is only the second 
person to pay his own way into space, and by the look of it, he 
considers the money well spent.

  The 28-year-old smiled broadly as he floated into the space 
station and was embraced by its three occupants. One orbit, or 1 
  hours later, South African President Thabo Mbeki called to 
congratulate the first African citizen in space.

  ''It's amazingly roomy,'' Shuttleworth told the president. 
``Although it's very, very large, we have to move very 
carefully. As you can see around us, there are tons of very 
precious and very sophisticated equipment. We hope that we will 
be good guests.''

  As for his liftoff two days earlier from Kazakhstan, ''I had 
moments of terror, moments of sheer upliftment and 
exhilaration,'' Shuttleworth said.

  ``I have truly never seen anything as beautiful as the Earth 
from space. I can't imagine anything that could surpass that.''

  The world's latest space tourist -- dubbed an Afronaut back home 
-- has generated huge excitement in South Africa.

  ''The whole continent is proud that, at last, we have one of our 
own people from Africa up in space,'' said Mbeki, taking part in 
celebrations for Freedom Day, marking the 1994 elections that 
ended Apartheid. ``It's a proud Freedom Day because of what 
you've done.''

  Shuttleworth's parents were relieved to see their 
adventure-seeking son, an entrepreneur who made his fortune off 
the Internet, safely aboard space station Alpha. They watched 
from Russian Mission Control outside Moscow as the Soyuz capsule 
smoothly docked with the space station 250 miles up.

  ''It was one of the dangerous procedures and my stomach was in a 
real knot before it started. But I'm feeling much better now,'' 
said his mother, Ronelle Shuttleworth.

  The three men who have been living on the orbiting outpost since 
December, and won't return to Earth until June, were delighted 
to have company. ''It's always great to see new faces,'' said 
American astronaut Carl Walz.

  Shuttleworth and his Soyuz crewmates, Russian cosmonaut Yuri 
Gidzenko and Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori, accomplished 
their primary job with the successful docking of their 
spacecraft. It will now serve as the space station's lifeboat.

  When the three leave next Saturday night, they will use the 
Soyuz that has been attached to the station for the past six 
months.

  One year ago today, California money manager Dennis Tito became 
the world's first paying space tourist, courtesy of the 
Russians.

  NASA opposed Tito's trip, saying he would interfere with space 
station work and possibly even endanger the crew. The Russians 
prevailed, however, and the rift between the two countries' 
space programs lasted for months.

  To avoid further conflict, NASA and the space agencies of 
Russia, Europe, Canada and Japan established criteria for future 
space station visitors. Shuttleworth met all the guidelines and 
went through eight months of cosmonaut training in Russia and 
one week of instruction at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

  Because of his U.S. training, Shuttleworth will have more leeway 
aboard the space station than Tito did.

  Shuttleworth is flying several science experiments, including 
one for AIDS research. He wore a white patch with an embroidered 
red ribbon on his blue cosmonaut uniform to symbolize the fight 
against AIDS.

  He also plans to chat with South African schoolchildren via ham 
radio over the next week.

  Long before his flight, he created the ''Hip To Be Square'' 
campaign -- or Hip2B2 -- to promote science and math education 
in South Africa.

  Shuttleworth, who is among the world's younger space travelers, 
joined his country's president on Saturday in calling for ``a 
need for Africans to embrace the future and the importance of 
education, and especially science and mathematics.''

  ''I hope that our first steps into space will influence the 
generation to make that part of their lives, too,'' he said.




Document 001001449 ends.


	
ANKARA (A.A) - 21.04.2002 - Foreign Minister Ismail Cem left on Sunday for Spain to attend the Fifth Meeting of Foreign Ministers of Europe-Mediterranean Process. 
	
	
 The meeting which will bring fifteen European Union (EU) members countries and twelve Mediterranean countries together will be held in Valencia and start on Monday. 
	
	
 An ``Action Plan`` on how the process should function in coming period and which issues that the process should focus on is foreseen to be accepted at the meeting in which political, economic, social and cultural issues concerning the Mediterranean basin will be discussed. 
	
	
 During the talks, also developments about the Middle East peace process will be evaluated and Cem will hold bilateral contacts with foreign ministers of some of the participating countries on the Middle East dispute.	





Document 001001450 ends.


       

Oshkosh Truck Corp., Oshkosh, Wis., estimated earnings for its fourth quarter ended Sept. 30 fell 50% to 75% below the year-earlier $4.5 million, or 51 cents a share. 

The truck maker said the significant drop in net income will result in lower earnings for the fiscal year.
In fiscal 1988, the company earned $17.3 million, or $1.92 a share, on revenue of $352.9 million. 

Oshkosh Truck attributed the downturn in its earnings to higher start-up costs of its new chassis division, a softer motor-home market and higher administrative costs of compliance with government contractor regulations. 

The company said it is in the process of phasing out John Deere, its current source of production for midsized motor home chassis.
In anticipation of the start-up of its new factory, the company said a larger-than-normal chassis supply has been built to carry it through the transition period. 




Document 001001451 ends.


	
A container from the Swedish nuclear technology firm Studsvik has leaked radioactive materials. The Swedish and US authorities are looking for people who might have been exposed to dangerous radiation, but there is no indication that the container started to leak in Sweden. This is Sweden's most serious incident so far involving radiation. 
	
	
 According to all indications, the radioactive container sent from the nuclear technology firm Studsvik to the US did not leak during transport within Sweden. When the container was transshipped in Paris, measurements showed no abnormal levels, according to the US Transport Department. 
	
	
 The container with the radioactive substance iridium 192 was transshipped at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris by the shipping company Federal Express. The pilot who was supposed to fly the container to the US was equipped with a dosimeter, which measures radiation levels. 
	
	
 The US Transport Department has now informed Studsvik that the measurements done by Federal Express in Paris showed no abnormality. This means that no leak occurred before the container left Paris. "It this information is correct, it means that fewer people will have been exposed to radiation," said Hans-Bertil Hakansson, Studsvik managing director and concern chief, to DN [Dagens Nyheter]. 
	
	
 It is still not clear where the iridium container began to leak. "However, it is extremely unlikely that the leak occurred during the flight from Paris to Memphis," Hakansson said. Studsvik expects to get confirmation of the information it has received today. "But as we received it from a US official, we believe it is reliable," Hakansson said. 
	
	
 The iridium container left Studsvik in Nykoping on 27 December and was shipped via Norrkoping, Arlanda, and Paris to Memphis. On arrival, measurements showed that it was emitting far too much radiation. Measurements done at Studsvik before dispatch had not shown high radiation values. 
	
	
 Yesterday [07 January], the National Institute of Radiation Protection (SSI) announced that it could not exclude the possibility of people who had come into contact with the container suffering acute health effects from radiation. The event is classified as a level-three incident on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES), and is the most serious ever in Sweden. 
	
	
 The SSI is now attempting to trace people who could have been exposed to the radiation leak. The SSI says that this involves about ten people in Sweden. The iridium container will be examined in New Orleans by US authorities and Studsvik's own personnel within the next few weeks. "When we open it, the whole picture will be cleared up," Hakansson said. 
	
	
 All shipments from Studsvik Isotope Service have been halted until further notice. 
	
	
	





Document 001001453 ends.


	
After their withdrawal from Bethlehem, Bayt Jala, and Qalqilya, the Israeli forces withdrew from Ramallah yesterday, but they maintained the siege and closure around the city. This means that the suffering of the citizens in Ramallah, like the suffering of the citizens in Bethlehem, Bayt Jala, and Qalqilya, will continue on the roadblocks, affecting their medical, economic, educational, and social life. No other people in the world have seen such suffering. The main and perhaps only reason for this suffering is the continuing Israeli occupation and its heavy burden on Palestinian citizens. 
	
	
 The Israeli withdrawal was a correction of a mistake the Israeli Government made when it decided to reoccupy parts of the main West Bank cities following the assassination of Israeli minister Rehav'am Ze'evi. The reoccupation was a kind of collective punishment for the inhabitants of those cities and the villages around them, villages that constitute an organic and vital extension of the cities. The Israeli forces destroyed buildings and installations in those cities, arrested dozens of citizens, and killed dozens others. That showed that the ruling right-wing coalition in Israel is pursuing an occupational policy and is not, in the first place, willing to recognize the firm national Palestinian rights to freedom, independence, and the end of occupation and settlement. 
	
	
 This policy, which disregards the need to establish a just peace based on the need for the Palestinian people to regain their freedom and independence, is reflected in statements made by the Israeli officials, who brag about the large number of Palestinians who were killed or arrested by the Israeli forces. It is also reflected in the fact that the ruling Israeli coalition has no agreed-upon political plan and that the settlement plans and initiatives that are attributed to this Israeli official or that are unable to meet the minimum legitimate Palestinian demands. These initiatives and plans largely try to keep as much hegemony and as many settlements as possible on Palestinian lands, resources, airspace, and crossing points. 
	
	
 In its approach to the national Palestinian rights the Israeli Government is playing the cat and mouse game. It is trying to use the time factor to perpetuate the occupation. It is also working to push the Palestinians and the world into new labyrinths and tunnels, inside the old tunnels, to distract them from the main and central demands. The cycle of reoccupation-withdrawal-reoccupation is part of this approach, which is no secret to anyone. 
	
	
 The only way to peace lies in the full Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territories that were occupied in 1967 and the termination of the occupational and settlement presence in these territories. The way to peace does not lie in devious methods to circumvent the inalienable Palestinian rights. Such methods would only complicate things and add fuel to the raging fire. 
	
	
	





Document 001001454 ends.


	

	
	
 Dushanbe, 16 January: The Iranian bank Tijorat will open a branch in Khujand [the centre of Tajikistan's northern Soghd Region]. The press secretary of the Iranian embassy in Tajikistan, Alii Tusi [name transliterated], told Asia-Plus that the decision had been taken at a meeting last week between an Iranian delegation and the administration of Soghd Region and Khujand. The Iranian delegation, including a representative of the Iranian bank, was led by the deputy Iranian ambassador to Tajikistan, Mohammad-Reza Forqani. During the visit to Soghd, the Iranian diplomats visited higher educational establishments and Zafarobod District. The main aim of the visit was to reach agreements on expanding economic ties between Iranian investors and businessmen in Soghd.	





Document 001001455 ends.


	
New York -- The warlike tone of the State of the Union speech delivered by George Bush Tuesday evening has prompted responses as critical abroad as they are enthusiastic in the United States. Be that as it may, the aim pursued by the White House seems to have been achieved. This is to re-mobilize the country behind the war on terrorism and to prevent Americans, by returning to a more normal life, from concerning themselves chiefly with the daily repercussions of the Enron affair and rising unemployment. 
	
	
 In his fellow countrymen's eyes, the test constituted by 11 September has revealed George Bush's talents as a war leader. He is clearly more comfortable in this role than he is in he management of routine matters. His force of conviction when he preaches the struggle of good against evil largely explains his exceptional popularity ratings (83 percent of favorable opinions, according to the latest ABC and Washington Post surveys.) So on Tuesday evening George Bush tried to reproduce the tone of his 20 September speech in order to galvanize the country. "The United States will not allow the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the most destructive weapons. Whatever the cost of our country's defense, we will pay it. The evil is real, and it must be combated... even in the midst of tragedy, specially in the midst of tragedy, God is there..." 
	
	
 The unanimous opinion of the media is that he was successful in this. His speech was "brilliant, full of strength and eloquence. The pursuit of the war on terrorism has given Americans a new illustration of his character and his confidence in the country's leadership," the New York Times said. According to the Washington Post , "the President's intensity was equal to the need to pursue the war." Television commentaries were even more full of praise. "Solid and often eloquent remarks," CBS' Ran Rather said. CNN's Bill Bennett called it "a speech of moral strength." According to Fox's Juan Williams, "the words came straight from the heart." 
	
	
 The condemnation of the "axis of evil" comprising Iran, Iraq, and North Korea was applauded by Republican and Democrat hawks, and barely challenged by a few foreign relations experts. George Bush has succeeded not only in returning the war to the front pages of the newspapers, ousting the Enron affair and the budget deficit, but also in forcing the Democratic opposition to unite against the enemy. Dick Gephardt, the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, and Tom Daschle, the Democratic leader in the Senate, have attempted the impossible feat of "setting partisan attitudes aside and supporting our President 100 percent in the war on terrorism," while at the same time trying to criticize economic and social policy. 
	
	
 As for responses abroad, in order to make them somewhat less sharp, the administration has introduced some qualifications. This, among other things, by specifying that no military operations are planned against any of the three countries cited. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer even added that the expression "axis of evil" was not used in an allusion to the notorious Rome-Berlin-Tokyo axis. 
	
	
 However, George Bush is not about to change his rhetoric. "In the antiterrorist struggle, as far as I am concerned there is black and white, and no shades of gray," he said Thursday 31 January during an election campaign visit to Atlanta, Georgia, and to Daytona beach, Florida. 
	
	
 The President said he was confident about the US allies' support against countries trying to acquire mass destruction weapons. "The rest of the world needs to be with us, because such weapons can be targeted on them as well as on us." He again urged these countries to "clean their own homes." "If you are one of the countries that develops mass destruction weapons, and you are willing to ally with a terrorist group, or you currently support terrorism, or if you do not sincerely share the values precious to us, then you too will be under surveillance," he said. 
	
	
	





Document 001001458 ends.


	
ISTANBUL, Feb 12 (A.A) - While the sessions continue within the framework of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC)-European Union (EU) Joint Forum, the preparatory works of the joint declaration expected to be released following the forum also continue. 
	
	
 Diplomatic sources told A.A correspondent on Tuesday that how the Middle East issue would take place in the joint declaration was the main agenda of the deliberations. 
	
	
 Turkey, which pays attention to remain neutral in the deliberations as the host country, does not take an active role in the deliberations held by the EU and OIC officials. 
	
	
 Sources said that while Islam countries request that Israel be harshly condemned in the joint declaration for its policy towards Palestine, the EU side thinks that this issue should be mentioned but a more cautious stance should be assumed. 
	
	
 A high-level official told A.A correspondent that Turkey had not taken an active role in those deliberations so far but that it was ready to intervene if the two sides did not reach a compromise. 
	
	
 Meanwhile, the same official said that he did not agree with the comments that the Forum was ``OIC-EU front against the United States.`` The official noted that the forum was organized to prevent the probability of conflicts of civilizations that had come to the agenda after September 11. To this end, the official said, the forum did not aim to create new disagreements. 
	
	
 Palestinian Foreign Minister Farouk Kaddoumi, who is also attending the forum, called on Monday that Israel should be harshly condemned in the joint declaration to be issued at the end of the forum.	





Document 001001459 ends.


	
On Monday 28 January, the US National Security Council convened for an uncomfortable meeting; the main issue to be debated was known as early as the week before, following an unprecedented split that had emerged in the US Administration. These were some of the leaders called to express their opinions: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Dick Cheney, John Ashcroft (general prosecutor and chief of the Justice Department), CIA Director George Tenet, General Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and others. President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell also participated in this business. 
	
	
 The issue at stake was apparently simple: the status of the detainees, members of al-Qa'ida and Taliban fighters captured by US troops in Afghanistan in recent months and recently transferred to a detention base at Guantanamo Bay. Eventually, President Bush agreed to reconsider some of the decisions he had announced a short time previously. In other words, he admitted he had been wrong -- and that at time when opinion polls in the United States are, without exception, very favorable to him. 
	
	
 This is about the following: on 18 January 2002, President Bush publicly announced two decisions, which, owing to the President's firmness in announcing them, seemed unyielding: first, the President said the 158 pro-Taliban fighters brought to Guantanamo Bay were not defined by US courts as prisoners of war; therefore, the United States does not believe it is its duty to grant them prisoner-of-war rights under the Geneva Convention, which regulates (since 1949) the status of this category of detained combatants. In the actual situation we are discussing, the issue is the privileges ensured by the Convention: according to that act, no detained combatant can be forced to reveal to the interrogator anything other than his name, rank, military serial number, and birth date. And, most of all -- this is a very important detail in this case -- the Convention forces the country that holds prisoners of war to release them immediately when the conflict is over. 
	
	
 In all likelihood, President Bush made that statement on 18 January following a consultation -- which was "rather brief," some US observers believe -- with Ashcroft, who was strongly supported by Cheney. Obviously, this decision simplified things, and it allowed the US judiciary to conduct the investigation of the 158 detainees as it sees fit. The United States wanted this very much, because so far the identity and citizenship of those they call "terrorists" (or "killers" in Bush's languages without nuances) rather than prisoners in a conventional war have not been published for reasons that are easy to understand. According to information circulated by the main US newspapers, the detainees are citizens of 25 countries, including England, France, Australia, Yemen, Algeria, and even Sweden (!). Saudi Arabia alone says "more than 100" of the 158 are Saudi citizens (a figure the Americans see as exaggerated), and Saudi Interior Minister Prince Saud Nayif recently said that his country would like to have them repatriated, to be tried at home. 
	
	
 The surprise -- for the US administration and the US media -- came with a statement made by Powell. Following his recent world tours, Powell suggested that the President accept the validity of the Geneva Convention for the pro-Taliban detainees. According to his own assertions, the obvious concern of some Western European leaders -- US allies -- and of some important European governmental and non-governmental institutions about the treatment the detainees are being subjected to, especially following the publication of certain images of the Guantanamo Bay camp that could be interpreted in various ways, played a key role in this position. Sometimes the criticism was unexpectedly tough: Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said "the US Government cannot choose to wage war in Afghanistan with guns, bombs and soldiers, and then assert the laws of war do not apply." Therefore, even if Powell agrees with the refusal to grant prisoner-of-war status to the 158 captives, he believe that the US refusal to cover the captives under the Geneva Convention would set a precedent that could affect the fate of US soldiers sent out to risky areas of this planet. In a first phase, the rest of the administration was baffled by Powell's opinion, but shortly afterward Rumsfeld sided with him, supporting his proposal in front of the President. According to interpretations on which the individual in question refused to comment, Condoleezza Rice, the US President's national security adviser, played an important role in supporting Powell's opinion. 
	
	
 Therefore, the dispute of opinions in the administration became a lesson in applied democracy. Eventually, making a sum of the proposals offered by his main advisers, President Bush admitted on Monday, following the National Security Council meeting, that the captives at Guantanamo Bay will be covered under the "spirit of the Geneva Convention," even if their special status comes from the fact that they will continue to be designated terrorists, rather than prisoners of war. As for their possible repatriation, it cannot be taken into consideration, as long as the war against terrorism is far from over. 
	
	
 The fact that the President reconsidered his own statement of 18 January led to diverse reactions. There is irony -- including from the sober The New York Times , which wrote in its Tuesday issue that in his Monday speech the President "twice called the 158 pro-Taliban fighters 'prisoners,' then stopped himself, and used the word 'detainees.'" At first sight, this seems to be nothing more than a terminology issue. However, I believe it is more than that. In this concern about details -- about cold-blood accomplices to murder, because that is what these al-Qa'ida disciples at Guantanamo Bay are -- the US Administration proves it is capable of admitting it is not infallible, which is the equivalent of respect for democracy. And, as a last detail, let us remember that, harassed everywhere by journalists and commentators, no US leader ever thought of finding "monkeys" [reference to a statement made by Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase] among media workers or scapegoats among the weirdoes who use hundreds of websites to call on the administration to stop supporting the Jews or to exterminate the Arabs. 
	
	
	





Document 001001461 ends.


	
On Saturday [13 April]--two days aftr Chavez had been removed from power by a military coup--thousands of supporters of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez took to the streets, and after occupying the Presidential palace, they returned him to power. We asked Ali Kianushrad, member of the Majles National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, to state his views on the recent developments in Venezuela, Chavez's removal, and his return to power. 
	
	
 Question: How do you assess the sudden downfall and more sudden return of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela? 
	
	
 Answer: The Venezuelan experience during the past few days showed that regimes that are based on the votes and support of the masses and adopt relatively independent policies toward the big powers and especially America are not favored by the American leadership. The Americans' hasty and immediate support for the coup shows that the Americans are in no way in favor of national and independent rules coming to power. 
	
	
 Also, the Venezuelan President's return to power once again showed that if rulers are endorsed and supported by the people, the people's determination can affect decisions and that the people's presence on the scene can prevent rules and decisions with which they totally disagree. 
	
	
 Question: How do you assess Iran's reaction to the overthrow of the Chavez Government and to his return--something on which the Foreign Ministry issued a statement? 
	
	
 Answer: We have good relations with Venezuela, and there was no reason for us to be satisfied in any way with the overthrow the rule there, especially when the Venezuelan regime's policies enjoy the extensive support of the Venezuelan people and when there are points un its independent policies on oil that converge with our policies and have been positively assessed by the Islamic Republic of Iran. 
	
	
 Question: Did the opposition by the Rio Pact member countries and some other countries play a role in Chavez's return to power? 
	
	
 Answer: The incidents and developments in Venezuela and Chavez's return to power were so rapid that the possibility of intervention by other powers in his return to power is very small. But undoubtedly there are basic doubts that exist about the coup and America's immediate support, and what springs to mind is the great possibility of some countries' intervention in Venezuela's domestic affairs. 
	
	
	





Document 001001463 ends.


	
Beijing, July 17 (XINHUA)-- DaimlerChrysler AG said Monday that the international recall of Mercedes-Benz luxury cars did not affect vehicle owners in China. 
	
	
 A written statement made by the company's China branch revealed that no glitches had been found in China since its last recall in 1999, Tuesday's China Daily reported. 
	
	
 The Germany-based auto giant recalled 150,000 Mercedes-Benz luxury cars throughout Europe and the Middle East on Friday to fix a defect that could cause the driver's side air bag to deploy prematurely, the newspaper said. 
	
	
 The recall conducted in China in 1999 was purely a precautionary measure and no reports of any incidents in China had been received at that time, China Daily quoted the statement as saying. 
	
	
 The exclusion of China from the recall has led to claims that the firm was biased against Chinese customers. The China Consumers Association said Monday that it had received five complaints of problems related with Benz cars in China, according to China Daily. 
	
	
 The problem was first discovered in March 1996 in Indonesia and led to a November 1999 recall of cars in the United States and Asia, where hot, humid conditions were thought to trigger the air bags. 
	
	
	





Document 001001464 ends.


       

Some lousy earnings reports whacked the stock market, but bond prices fell only slightly and the dollar rose a little against most major currencies. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 39.55 points, to 2613.73, in active trading.
Long-term Treasury bonds ended slightly higher.
The dollar rose modestly against the mark and the yen, but soared against the pound following the resignation of Britain's chancellor of the Exchequer, Nigel Lawson. 

Analysts have complained that third-quarter corporate earnings haven't been very good, but the effect hit home particularly hard yesterday.
Compaq Computer nose-dived $8.625 a share, to $100, and pulled other technology issues lower after reporting lower-than-expected earnings after the stock market closed Wednesday.
Later yesterday the nation's major auto makers added to the gloom when they each reported their core auto operations were net losers in the third quarter. 

The less-than-robust third-quarter results came amid renewed concern about the volatility of stock prices and the role of computer-aided program trading.
Taken together, the worries prompted a broad sell-off of stocks.
The number of stocks on the New York Stock Exchange that fell in price yesterday exceeded 1,000, a key measure of underlying sentiment among technical analysts. 

Although the government said the economy grew an estimated 2.5% in the third quarter, in line with expectations, analysts are increasingly predicting much more sluggish growth -- and therefore more corporate earnings disappointments -- for the fourth quarter. 

"There are a lot more downward revisions of earnings forecasts than upward revisions," said Abby Joseph Cohen, a market strategist at Drexel Burnham Lambert. "People are questioning corporate profits as a pillar of support for the equity market." 

The bond market was unmoved by the economic statistics.
While bond investors would have preferred growth to be a little slower, they were cheered by inflation measures in the data that showed prices rising at a modest annual rate of 2.9%.
That is another small encouragement for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates in coming weeks, they reasoned. 

In major market activity: 

Stock prices fell sharply in active trading.
Volume on the New York Stock Exchange totaled 175.2 million shares.
Declining issues on the Big Board outstripped gainers 1,141 to 406. 

Bond prices were barely higher.
The Treasury's benchmark 30-year rose fractionally.
Yield on the issue was 7.88%. 

The dollar rose modestly against most major currencies.
In late New York trading the dollar was at 1.8400 marks and 142.10 yen compared with 1.8353 marks and 141.52 yen Wednesday.
The dollar soared against the pound, which was at $1.5765 compared with $1.6145 Wednesday. 




Document 001001466 ends.


	
Military threat persists after events in Venezuela, Spanish daily says 
	
	
 Excerpt from unsigned editorial, "Coup against the coup", published by the Spanish newspaper El Pais web site on 15|April 
	
	
 It may or may not be to the liking of the Western foreign ministries which shared to some extent Washington's pleasure at the ousting of Hugo Chavez, but the course of events in Venezuela has shown that he has the support of the majority of the population, who want him in the presidency, from which he was deposed and in which he was reinstalled by the military in a confused uprising... Criticisms of Chavez's governance have been widespread in the democratic world, above all in the past year, in which he has taken to visiting dictators like Castro or Saddam Husayn and writing to terrorists like the famous Carlos, instead of meeting his promises of prosperity and fair shares. Debatable decisions of his have caused a deep social polarization and brought him into confrontation with representative sectors of civil society, against which he used more demagogy than arguments. But the latest events reveal that his popularity had not collapsed. The coup misjudged its strength and Carmona remaining in power could have led to a serious division of the armed forces. This possibility and the proliferation of expressions of support for the overthrown leader among the military officers made a change of course advisable, with the forced resignation of Carmona and the even more meteoric period in office of Chavez's vice-president, Diosdado Cabello, who only took up the post in order to give his leader time to reappear. All of this leaves in the air a feeling of military uncertainty, after a two-way trip in 24 hours which will undoubtedly leave deep wounds in armed forces which clearly have not given up their wish to exert a decisive influence in political life. The civilian opposition, which in the absence of political parties was organized around the employers' organization and the trade unions, does not come out of it well either. But President Chavez too is seriously damaged by his links to the groups of armed followers who left a score of dead in Thursday's !
[1!
1 April] crushing of the demonstrations. The today revived president will have to tackle the future with different methods. It is time for the former officer to rethink, to set priorities, to understand that the Cuban model no longer works even for Havana, to give up, as he has promised, revanchism and to understand that Venezuela is a Western country where there is no reason for it to be impossible to improve the fate of the Venezuelans and eradicate the eternal scourge of corruption, within a framework comparable to that of the rest of the world. All of which, incidentally, is something of which Chavez has done very little so far. 
	
	
	





Document 001001467 ends.


	
As prisoners from Al-Qa'ida and Taliban are being transported to the cells of the US Guantanamo base in Cuba, the United States' war on terrorism enters a new stage that is completely different from that of armed confrontation in Afghanistan. 
	
	
 Amidst the heat of military battles in Afghanistan, and on the background of the double crime that hit the United States, international opinion is now willing to overlook some inhumane practices that were made on this or that front. However, the situation has changed fundamentally since the batches of Al-Qa'ida and Taliban prisoners started arriving one after the other to Guatanamo base shackled and caged in cages that are no longer than eight feet and wider than six. The attention of the world moved from Afghanistan to Cuba to follow what Amnesty International considers an "uncomfortable situation" for the detainees. This has prompted two of Washington's closest allies, Britain and Australia, to express their "concern" over the way the prisoners were transported from Afghanistan and the way they are being treated in captivity. 
	
	
 It is obvious that statements by US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that the detainees are "illegitimate fighters" upon home the Geneva convention on POW's does not apply have not helped alleviate world concern over the US abandoning its (until now) well-known commitment to the principles of justice in treating the Al-Qa'ida and Taliban prisoners. 
	
	
 The continued US ambiguity in using the title of prisoners, and specifically prisoners of war or "illegitimate" combatants, and the possibility of trying them in private and closed martial court, do not help the United States maintain international sympathy with its war. 
	
	
 As the campaign of Western criticism of the United States heightens, it has become urgent for Washington to clarify its stand on treating the prisoners and their destiny so that it would not be recorded in history that the number one democracy in the war won the war on terrorism in weeks and lost the reputation of commitment to principles of human justice that it took centuries to gain. 
	
	
	





Document 001001469 ends.


Lawmaker Appeals for Innocent Iraqis
By HASSAN ABDULWAHAB, Associated Press Writer
             
   BASRA, Iraq (AP) A U.S. lawmaker assessing the impact of U.N.
sanctions on Iraq said Wednesday it is important not only to force
Baghdad to give up its weapons of mass destruction but also to do
more to ease the hardships on ordinary Iraqis.

   Rep. Tony Hall, D-Ohio, did not call for a lifting of sanctions
imposed on Iraq for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, but said the
United Nations should make sure that sanctions do not hurt innocent
Iraqis.

   "It was very, very important" to compel Iraq to rid itself of
weapons of mass destruction so that "it cannot use or export them
to other countries," he told Associated Press Television News.

   But he insisted the international community can do a much better
job in helping Iraq deal with its economic and health problems.

   One way would be to speed up the flow of health supplies and
other urgent commodities to the country under a U.N. humanitarian
program, he said.
                     
   Iraq says the United States and Britain hold up delivery of
needed supplies, using their clout in the United Nations. The U.S.
government says it wants to ensure that Iraq is not buying items
that appear to be humanitarian in nature but that could be used for
making weapons.




Document 001001471 ends.


       

Ralston Purina Co. reported a 47% decline in fourth-quarter earnings, reflecting restructuring costs as well as a more difficult pet food market. 

The St. Louis company earned $45.2 million, or 65 cents a share, compared with $84.9 million, or $1.24 a share, a year earlier.
Sales in the latest period were $1.76 billion, a 13% increase from last year's $1.55 billion. 

For the year ended Sept. 30, Ralston earned $422.5 million, or $6.44 a share, up 8.9% from $387.8 million, or $5.63 a share.
This year's results included a gain of $70.2 million on the disposal of seafood operations.
Sales for the full year were $6.6 billion, up 13% from $5.8 billion. 

Ralston said its restructuring costs include the phase-out of a battery facility in Greenville, N.C., the recent closing of a Hostess cake bakery in Cincinnati and a reduction in staff throughout the company.
The battery plant, which makes rechargeable nickel cadmium and carbon zinc products, will be closed over the next year or so, a spokesman said. 

Ralston attributed its fourth-quarter slump partly to higher costs of ingredients in the pet food business as well as competitive pressures, which required higher advertising spending.
For the year, pet food volume was flat, the company said. 

Its cereal division realized higher operating profit on volume increases, but also spent more on promotion.
The Continental Baking business benefited from higher margins on bread and on increased cake sales, it added. 

Ralston said its Eveready battery unit was hurt by continuing economic problems in South America. 

Ralston shares closed yesterday at $80.50, off $1, in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. 




Document 001001475 ends.


	

	
	
 One in four children in the KwaZulu-Natal capital of Pietermaritzburg has been orphaned by Aids, and the number is set to rocket in the next 10 years. 
	
	
 A study by Dr Neil McKerrow, chief paediatrician at Pietermaritzburg's Metropolitan Hospitals Complex, shows that 50 000 Aids orphans live in the city. The number rises to 100 000 if surrounding areas in the Midlands are included. 
	
	
 McKerrow estimates that the number of orphans in the Midlands will top 250 000 by 2010. 
	
	
 His figures refer to children under 16 who have lost their mothers, in line with a World Health Organisation definition. According to Statistics SA, the city has 193 000 children in that age group out of a total population of 573 000. 
	
	
 Although there are care centres and orphanages in Pietermaritzburg, McKerrow's study found that extended families and the community were willing to take in these children. 
	
	
 Six years ago McKerrow and a colleague at the Edendale Hospital, Annelise Verbeek, pioneered a study entitled Models of Care for Children in Distress, a term they coined for abandoned, displaced and orphaned children in the region. 
	
	
 They found that 6% of children in Pietermaritzburg were Aids orphans. Six years later, the number has risen to 25%. 
	
	
 At an informal meeting three weeks ago, the city council was told that, according to estimates from teachers, there were now as many as 100 000 Aids orphans in the city, but city health officials say these numbers appear to be too high. 
	
	
 McKerrow's estimates are based on household counts coupled with mathematical models used by the WHO. 
	
	
 KwaZulu-Natal has the highest rate of HIV infection in SA, with 36% of the population infected. McKerrow estimates there are 4.6 million orphans countrywide. 
	
	
 Yvonne Spain, the co-ordinator of Children In Distress, a network of more than 50 organisations and people, said communities were absorbing the children, "but the fact of the matter is that, as multiple deaths occur, that safety net will fall apart". 
	
	
 The director of the provincial Aids Action Unit, Dr Sandile Buthelezi, admitted the city faced "quite a problem" and suggested this week the figures might even be higher than McKerrow's. 
	
	
 He said: "The number of orphans is not a static thing. . . Every day an orphan is being created and I know the problem is enormous in the province." 
	
	
 Buthelezi said the provincial health department was working closely with the welfare community and the private sector to secure funding for bodies working with Aids orphans.	





Document 001001476 ends.


	

	
	
 In perfect agreement with the latest polls on the popularity of President Hugo Chavez, the most recent study by Alfredo Keller has confirmed the resounding and sustained fall of the approval rating the President had at the beginning of his administration. 
	
	
 The study was conducted among a sample of 1,000 adults from different socioeconomic groups in Caracas, Maracaibo, Valencia, San Cristobal, Barquisimeto, Maracay, Barcelona, Puerto La Cruz, Puerto Ordaz, and Maturin. 
	
	
 The most telling result is that more than half of those polled believe that it is necessary to remove Chavez from office to solve the crisis. From this group, 49 percent believe that a hypothetical replacement of the chief of state should take place through the institutional channels, whereas 5 percent agree with using forceful means. 
	
	
 Against this 54 percent, 43 percent of those polled prefer to let him govern until the end of his term in 2007. 
	
	
 The recorded trend on the President's approval rating also registered a drop. Whereas his approval rating reached 84 percent and his disapproval rating reached 11 percent in April 1999, both ratings crossed one another at 46 percent in August of this year. This November, his disapproval rating reached 58 percent and his approval rating, 33 percent. 
	
	
 This result also reflects the collapse of the myth of a polarization between rich and poor, which applied at the beginning of his administration. According to this, only 20 percent believe the rich and powerful are against Chavez. However, 78 percent of those polled believe there are many poor who oppose him. 
	
	
 This study shows a very clear pronouncement in favor of calling a referendum to redraft the Constitution and restore the balance of power: 75 percent agreed with the referendum, whereas 20 percent rejected it. 
	
	
 Although Chavez' edge in voter's preference continues to shrink, the effects of a divided opposition still keep him in first place (which shows the strength of radical Chavez supporters). Given several names of possible presidential candidates, 25 percent voted for the current leader; 21 percent for Henrique Salas Romer; 16 percent for Julio Borges; 13 percent for Alfredo Pena; and 5 percent for Francisco Arias Cardenas. 
	
	
 [Caracas El Universal (Internet version) in Spanish on 8 December carries a related 153-word report that indicates: "The latest polls conducted by four of the country's leading firms show a drop in the popularity of President Hugo Chavez. According to Datanalisis' November poll, 57.4 percent of those polled feel as bad or worse than in the past and 55.3 percent believe their main problems are in the economic area. The population's disapproval of the government's job reaches 93 and 88.4 percent on the insecurity and unemployment problems, respectively. If the elections were held tomorrow, Chavez would still win, but his lead collapsed from 40 to 24 percent. Popular support for [Caracas Mayor Alfredo) Pena climbed from 5.5 to 16.8 percent." 
	
	
 Caracas El Universal (Internet version) in Spanish on 9 December carries a related 684-word report that indicates: "According to Luis Christiansen, director of Consultores 21 polling firm, President Chavez is facing two of the four key ingredients for the decline of any government: Unresolved major problems and a drop in the leader's popularity. The third is the perception of the President as an incapable leader, which is already happening, and the fourth is that Venezuelans are able to find a substitute leader. The first factor deals with the nation's general mood. Venezuelans' level of optimism is currently the same reported in 1998; that is, they are feeling pessimistic. The difference is back then, Chavez' candidacy raised expectations. This lasted two years and people are feeling pessimistic again. To the president's misfortune, 80 percent of Venezuelans believe there is a solution for the unemployment problem. As Christiansen explains, 'if Venezuelans did not see unemployment as a problem that could be solved, they would not blame it on Chavez' incapacity. Four of every 10 Venezuelans are blaming this problem on him.' As for the second factor, 43 percent find nothing positive in the government's actions. Chavez' strengths include his personal qualities (27 percent) and clear desire to work (17 percent). In other words, Christiansen points out these are the strengths of a campaigning candidate instead of a president with three years in office. The fact that two-thirds of Venezuelans consider Chavez responsible for the country's problems shows that he is losing strength in the third aspect of stability: The President's ability to keep hope is shrinking. Finally, the Consultores 21 analyst notes that today, the number of extreme Chavez opponents (42 percent) is larger than that of extreme Chavez supporters (18 percent), which could bring about a confrontation for power. He added that Chavez still leads voter's preference with 28 percent."] 
	
	
 
	
	
	





Document 001001478 ends.



U.S. Begins First Airlift of Prisoners

 



  WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 - A C-17 Globemaster cargo plane carrying 20 
heavily guarded Taliban and Al Qaeda prisoners left a Marine 
Corps base in southern Afghanistan today on its way to the 
United States naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the first wave 
of hundreds of detainees who will be held there.

  The Pentagon provided few details about the flight, but senior 
military officials said more than 40 specially trained military 
police officers guarded the prisoners on the flight, which was 
expected to make one stop before reaching Cuba, possibly as 
early as Friday morning.

  The prisoners, their hands and feet shackled and their heads 
covered by hoods, were loaded single file onto the plane at 
Kandahar Airport. Pentagon officials said some prisoners might 
also be sedated during the more-than-20-hour flight, but it was 
not clear whether that had happened.

  A Pentagon official said earlier this week that the United 
States did not consider the detainees prisoners of war, but that 
they were still being afforded the protections under the Geneva 
Convention guidelines.

  At Guantanamo Bay, the prisoners will be taken to a makeshift 
detention center known as Camp X- Ray, where they will be locked 
in 6- by-8-foot cages made of concrete and chain-link fence to 
await intensive interrogation and, possibly, trial before 
military tribunals.

  As workers prepared the camp in Cuba for as many as 2,000 
prisoners, search crews in Pakistan continued to comb the 
wreckage of a Marine Corps tanker plane that crashed on 
Wednesday in southwestern Pakistan. Seven marines died in the 
fiery accident.

  Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld said today that there 
was no evidence that the crash had been caused by hostile fire.

  Pentagon officials also said today that the United States was 
preparing to send a force of more than 100 soldiers, many of 
them Special Operations forces, to the Philippines to help train 
Filipino troops to fight Muslim militants from the Abu Sayyaf 
group.

  Though the American forces are expected to be involved initially 
in advising and training Filipino counterterrorist units, senior 
American military officials have said they could become involved 
in direct military action if the Philippine government requested 
it.

  Amnesty International issued a statement today saying that 
sedating prisoners or shackling them for an entire flight would 
violate international standards prohibiting "cruel, inhuman or 
degrading" treatment.

  Mr. Rumsfeld said today that he did not know how the prisoners 
would be restrained during the flight. But he defended the use 
of strong measures, saying the Pentagon had closely studied 
violent uprisings by Taliban and Al Qaeda prisoners held in the 
northern Afghan city of Mazar- i-Sharif and in Pakistan.

  About 20 minutes after the C-17 lifted off from the base at 
Kandahar Airport, marines came under small- arms fire near one 
of the runways. No one was injured and the identify of the 
snipers remained unknown tonight, military officials said.

  Military officials also said John Walker Lindh, the American who 
was captured with Taliban forces near Mazar-i-Sharif, was not 
among the prisoners transferred today. Mr. Walker is still being 
held aboard the assault ship Bataan in the Arabian Sea, the 
officials said.

  American forces in Afghanistan were holding a total of 371 
prisoners today, including 351 at Kandahar and 19 at Bagram air 
base north of Kabul. But the number keeps rising as American 
military and intelligence officials continue interviewing 
thousands of prisoners held by anti-Taliban militias.

  Camp X-Ray has cells for about 100 detainees, and will soon be 
expanded to hold 220. During the next few months, military work 
crews will build permanent facilities for as many as 2,000 
prisoners.

  Mr. Rumsfeld declined to discuss details about the growing 
American involvement in the Philippines, where Abu Sayyaf 
guerrillas have been battling government troops in the southern 
island of Basilan. The rebels, who have been linked to Al Qaeda 
in the past, are holding two American hostages for ransom.

  But earlier this week, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul D. 
Wolfowitz said that American Special Operations forces might 
become involved in "direct support of Philippine military 
operations," though he added that the government seemed 
"anxious" to do the job itself.

  "There's no question that we believe that if they could clear 
the Abu Sayyaf group out of Basilan Island, that would be a 
small blow against the extended Al Qaeda network," Mr. Wolfowitz 
said.

  In November, President Bush promised to give the Philippines a 
$100 million antiterrorism aid package that would include 
weapons, training and shared intelligence. Since then, the 
United States has sent an array of equipment to the Philippine 
military, including a C-130 cargo plane, 30,000 M-16 rifles and 
8 UH- 1 Huey helicopters.

  In eastern Afghanistan, American B-1 and B-52 bombers dropped 
precision-guided weapons on the sprawling Al Qaeda training camp 
at Zhawar Kili near the Pakistan border today for the sixth time 
in just over a week.

  Senior military officials have said they are increasingly 
concerned that there are other equally sophisticated and 
well-fortified underground complexes elsewhere in Afghanistan 
that could become guerrilla bases for remnants of the Taliban 
and Al Qaeda forces.

  At the Pentagon, Mr. Bush signed a $318 billion military 
spending bill today for the 2002 fiscal year. "Today more than 
ever we also owe those in uniform the resources they need to 
maintain a very high state of readiness," Mr. Bush said. "Our 
enemies rely upon surprise and deception. They used to rely upon 
the fact that they thought we were soft. I don't think they 
think that way anymore."



Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company




Document 001001479 ends.


       

Shoney's Inc. said it will report a write-off of $2.5 million, or seven cents a share, for its fourth quarter ended yesterday.
The restaurant operator cited transaction costs from its 1988 recapitalization as a result of a $160 million restructuring of its bank debt. 

The write-off will be reported as an extraordinary item in the company's 1989 operating results. 

In addition, the effective interest rate on the $410 million of total remaining bank debt after the restructuring is 10.66%.
The combined effect of these changes is expected to save the company about $4 million in interest expenses next year, or six cents a share. 

Shoney's said the latest restructuring affected bank indebtedness that was incurred to finance $585 million of the company's $728 million recapitalization that took place in 

The company has made payments of $175 million against the original $585 million of bank debt incurred in connection with the recapitalization.
These payments consisted of $54 million in scheduled payments and $121 million in prepayments, funded by $82.8 million from operating cash flow, zero-coupon subordinated debt and assets sales. 




Document 001001481 ends.


 
  
  
    
      Come one, Come all to the Inaugural Jameson Grill
      The only fund raising event in the world where you can bring your
      entire family, other employees, or maybe even your neighbors.
      Saturday, September 20,1997, from 2:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m., marks a
      special day, as Jameson Camp will hold its first ever Jameson Grill. A
      fund raiser dedicated to you and your family having fun!!
      For this event, when you purchase a corporate picnic table, you will
      be able to bring 16 people. (and if you need room for a couple of more,
      we can swing that too!)
      The Grill will feature enough activities that you and your kids will
      have a tough time deciding what to do. From basketball, kickball,
      volleyball, archery, crafts, an egg toss, and even a walk through our
      creek, you will have plenty to do to get you good and hungry.
      Hungry, you bet! We'll prepare a hog roast and hot dogs for the kids,
      with all the fixings.
      In addition, we will have soft drinks and a raffle, so that you can
      walk home with a great prize!
      The Jameson Grill has been designed to be nothing but fun for you,
      your family, employees, and maybe even your neighbors.
      Join in this wonderful event and help Jameson Camp continue to provide
      the year-round support that gives kids a chance to create dreams.
      Simply fill out the enclosed card, and we will see you at the
      Grill!
      One of our volunteers will be contacting you soon.
      Questions? Call Pat Bray at 241-2661 or e-mail, jcfundrzr@aol.com
      
    
  



Document 001001482 ends.



   Mugabe confident of victory in historic Zimbabwe vote

 



  HARARE-Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe predicted victory 
Saturday as he cast his ballots in presidential and local 
elections at a primary school in Harare's working-class suburb 
of Highfield.

  Asked if he would accept the results of the hotly contested 
election, Mugabe said: "I will accept it, more than accept it 
because I will have won."

  The 78-year-old former guerrilla leader, who has governed since 
independence in 1980, took another swipe at the former colonial 
power Britain and other western nations, which he said have 
prejudged the vote.

  "They don't want the president of Zimbabwe to remain the 
president of Zimbabwe," he told reporters outside the school.

  Mugabe has faced widespread criticism and sanctions from the 
European Union and the United States over alleged rights 
violations and manipulation of the election process.

  Tinkering has left voting procedures so confusing in Harare that 
even Mugabe and his top aides appeared unsure of where the 
president was to vote.

  Mugabe was clearly expected to turn up at Mhofu School in 
Highfield, where state television had a truck posted and had 
been broadcasting live since polls opened early Saturday.

  Several of Mugabe's ministers and senior aides were also on hand 
to see their leader cast his ballot, as well as a throng of 
reporters and camera operators.

  But it turned out the president would perform his civic duty 
instead at Kudzanai School, also in Highfield. Mugabe had to 
vote at that particular ward in order to be able to cast ballots 
both for president and for mayor in Harare, which is holding the 
two elections simultaneously.

  The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) complained 
that the set-up was deliberately confusing in a ploy to 
discourage the urban vote, which is thought to favor Mugabe's 
challenger Morgan Tsvangirai. -AFP

  
@ Pakistan Observer 1998-2001






Document 001001483 ends.


	
Poll shows more Ukrainians against US campaign in Afghanistan 
	
	
 Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax 
	
	
 Kyiv, 29 December: Forty-three per cent of Ukrainians disapprove of the antiterrorist operation being carried out by the US in Afghanistan, according to a poll of 1,000 Ukrainian citizens conducted by GfK-USM at the request of the Institute of Politics between 25 and November and 5 December. At the same time, over a third - 34 per cent - support America's military campaign. "Afghanistan is a historic memory for a whole generation of our compatriots and that is why they fear being drawn into the conflict. This should be a message for the authorities as concerns the stand the country has taken on this issue," Director of the Institute of Politics Mykola Tomenko told a press conference in Kyiv today. The lower the living standards of those polled, the less frequently they spoke in support of the US campaign, Tomenko said. For instance, 29 per cent of those who consider themselves "poor" support America and 46 per cent do not, while among those with "high" and "average" income levels 39 per cent approve of US policy and 45 per cent disapprove. 
	
	
	





Document 001001486 ends.



   Argentina braces for currency fall

 



  BUENOS AIRES - Nostalgia runs deep in Argentina. Even before its 
faltering economy produced an epic-sized default, and the 
country was thrust into its worst crisis since democracy was 
restored in 1983, Argentines were obsessed with their past 
triumphs.

  But now a different variety of nostalgia appears to be emerging. 
Some call it the Ford Falcon syndrome, a reference to the 
classic gas-guzzler that inefficient Argentine automakers 
continued to turn out in droves 20 years after it disappeared 
from US showrooms.

  The man whom some economists say is leading the step backward in 
time is the country's new president, Eduardo Duhalde, 
Argentina's fifth in two weeks. After four years of crippling 
recession, Duhalde and others are questioning whether 
Argentina's decade-long pursuit of free market reforms is the 
right solution.

  With his appointment by Congress last Wednesday to finish the 
two years left in the term vacated by ex-President Fernando de 
la R?he Peronist Duhalde is now promoting a number of 
emergency measures that would turn back the clock on liberal 
economic reforms.

  On Friday, President Duhalde asked Congress for broad new powers 
to end the country's decade-old currency regime that pegs the 
peso to the US dollar, to intervene in the banking system, to 
institute price controls, and to protect local industry and 
jobs. It was approved overwhelmingly by the lower house of 
Congress late Saturday and was expected to be passed by the 
Senate yesterday.

  Everyone from the International Monetary Fund in Washington to 
the traditional protectionists in Buenos Aires thought 
devaluation was necessary, if painful. But some analysts are 
concerned that Duhalde will follow it up with a return to the 
protectionism and failed policies that dominated the country's 
economy for half of this past century, until ex-President Carlos 
Menem changed course last decade and ushered in an era of 
stability.

  "He must think he can defy gravity, because he's pursuing the 
same crash course that Argentines and the rest of Latin America 
rejected a decade ago," says Christopher Ecclestone, head of 
investment boutique Buenos Aires Trust.

  Duhalde's embrace of the past can be partly explained by the 
nature of the Peronists themselves, whom Argentine literary 
giant Jorge Luis Borges once referred to as neither good nor 
bad, just incorrigible.

  The party, founded by Gen. Juan Domingo Peron in the 1940s, has 
long dominated Argentine politics, thanks to a deft mix of 
populist policies, nationalist rhetoric, and political 
patronage. A weekend poll by Aresco consultancy showed 52 
percent of Argentines "highly" in favor of Duhalde's stated 
economic plans and another 34 percent giving him "medium" 
approval - an indication of public confidence.

  But at a time when the country is desperate for investment and 
international aid to prevent an economic crisis from exploding 
further, it is unclear how far Duhalde could actually turn back 
the clock even if he wanted to.

  For starters, there's a wariness among economists that an 
expected 30 to 40 percent devaluation could spark a return to 
the chaotic days of the late 1980s, when 5,000-percent inflation 
was rampant. Already, everything from bread to computer parts 
has been marked up by as much as 20 percent in anticipation of 
the devaluation.

  To contain inflation and fill an expected $11 billion budget 
deficit this year, government officials say a rescue package of 
at least $15 billion is needed from the IMF and other lenders. 
Otherwise, the country's cash-strapped banks, which are being 
forced to accept lesser-valued pesos for loans made almost 
entirely in dollars, will collapse.

  But few expect the government's plan for reviving the country's 
moribund economy to elicit much support abroad. In fact, quite 
the contrary.

  Already a swarm of powerful lobbies representing foreign 
companies have descended on Buenos Aires to fight government 
plans to introduce price and capital controls. The government is 
also taking heat for its plans to violate privatization 
contracts signed a decade ago and unilaterally lower the rates 
mostly foreign-owned utilities can charge for public services 
like water and gas.

  "He's not just steering the economy into disaster, but he's 
breaking fundamental concepts like right to savings and the rule 
of law," says Abel Viglione, senior economist at local think 
tank Fiel. "No matter what economic policy is in place, that 
sort of trust takes several years, if not an entire generation, 
to rebuild."

  But the stiffest opposition may yet come from the Argentines 
themselves. Despite widespread fatigue caused by successive 
austerity drives, such as limiting bank withdrawals to $1,000 
per month, the overwhelming majority of Argentines still prefer 
the stability of the current economic model - despite its many 
shortcomings - to the disorder of a closed economy.

  Surveys show that more than 70 percent of the public opposes any 
changes to convertibility, as the currency regime is known.

  "Those who want to devalue are shameless," says Maria Estevez, a 
schoolteacher who earns $600 a month. "They want to hold us 
hostage and force us to buy goods that can be bought cheaper and 
better quality imported."

  Instead of blaming globalization, most Argentines point to 
corrupt politicians and indifferent institutions for 
precipitating the current crisis.

  For such an ambitious economic program to work requires a strong 
leader with popular support to implement it. But that's exactly 
what Duhalde most lacks. Although he's so far successfully 
rallied the country's political class behind him, Duhalde, a 
former vice president to Menem and two-time governor of Buenos 
Aires province, has been dogged by allegations of corruption 
throughout his career. His reputation as an old-style party boss 
was behind his defeat at the polls in 1999, when he posted the 
worst showing ever by a Peronist presidential candidate.


Copyright @ 2002 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved.




Document 001001489 ends.


	
Urumqi, January 21 (XINHUA) -- The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China will invest 420 billion yuan (51 billion U.S. dollars) in fixed assets during the country's 10th Five-Year Plan period for 2001-2005, compared with 254 billion yuan in the 1996-2000 period. 
	
	
 Nearly 60 percent of the investment will come from the central government and state-owned enterprises, a local official said Monday. 
	
	
 In 2001, the region's investment in fixed assets increased 15 percent year on year to 70.6 billion yuan, with investment in technical renovation and real estate development up 23.9 and 65.5 percent, respectively. 
	
	
 Fixed asset investment planned for this year will be 80.7 billion yuan, an increase of 15.2 percent. The money will mainly be used for the construction of 27 key projects in the fields of water conservancy, energy, transportation and environmental protection. 
	
	
 Wang Lequan, secretary of the regional committee of the Communist Party of China, has listed comprehensive treatment of the Tarim River and the project to ship natural gas from Xinjiang to eastern China as the most important projects for this year. 
	
	
 In 1996-2000, Xinjiang completed a big number of major transportation, energy, water conservancy and telecommunications projects with 254 billion yuan of fixed asset investment. 
	
	
 Upon operation of the double-track railway line linking Lanzhou in Gansu Province with Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, and the southern Xinjiang railway line which links Kashi with Turpan, the mileage of railways in Xinjiang has reached 3,008 km. 
	
	
 Xinjiang now also has 33,500 km of highways, with more than 60 air routes linking the region with the outside world. 
	
	
	





Document 001001495 ends.


       

Dime Savings Bank of New York was cleared by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to acquire Starpointe Savings Bank of Somerset, N.J., the banks said. 

Starpointe holders, who approved the plan last April, will receive $21 in cash a share, or a total $63 million.
The FDIC cleared the move yesterday, and the banks must wait at least 30 days before closing the purchase.
A closing date hasn't been set.
The thrifts agreed to the transaction in August 




Document 001001497 ends.



   US human rights report termed inaccurate

 



  ISLAMABAD, March 5: The government on Tuesday rejected the US 
State Department Report on human rights as "factually inaccurate 
and unwarranted" adding that it reflected tendency of some 
states to sit in judgment on others.

  "The reports fails to acknowledge the important policy measures 
and initiatives by the government of Pakistan to promote and 
protect human rights," said a statement issued by Foreign Office 
spokesman in which the report was termed as factually inaccurate 
and unwarranted. It pointed out that all the goals set at an 
April 2000 human rights conference had been achieved, which it 
added had been ignored by the report.

  Enlisting these initiatives, it recalled that these include 
promulgation of the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, the 
establishment of a permanent commission on the status of women, 
police and jail reforms, national policy and plan of action for 
elimination of child labour and establishment of a fund for 
rehabilitation of working children.

  The government, it added, has amended Pakistan Citizenship Act 
of 1951 to enable women of Pakistani descent to claim Pakistani 
nationality for their children born to foreign husbands. A mass 
awareness campaign was launched as part of the observance of the 
Year 2000 as the year of Human Rights and Human Dignity, it 
added.

  In addition, it said, Pakistan also ratified ILO Conventions 100 
on equal remuneration and 182 on the elimination of worst forms 
of child labour. It signed the Optional Protocols to Convention 
on the Rights of Child. Recently the system of joint electorates 
has been introduced respecting the wishes of the minority 
communities, it said. Despite these developments, the report 
states "the government's human rights record remained poor."

  "This is unacceptable and a gross misstatement of the facts. The 
government of Pakistan therefore, feels constrained to reject 
the assessment of the report about Pakistan, and the tendency of 
some states to sit in judgment over others."

  "The cause of human rights would be better served if all states, 
in a spirit of cooperation and understanding address the 
problems they face in promoting and protecting human rights," it 
said.



@ The DAWN Group of Newspapers, 2002






Document 001001498 ends.


	
Washington, 17 Apr (Xinhua) -- A farce of coup d'etat was staged in Venezuela recently. The leader of the coup had no sooner warmed the coveted seat than he had to beat a retreat under pressure upon pressure domestically and internationally. According to US news media, that coup in Venezuela had something to do with the United States. This maybe a surprise to many people. 
	
	
 Coup d'etat is an unusual means to seize a country's political power. It is an unpopular means because it goes against the tide of the world today. By the same token, the coup in Venezuela has incurred widespread condemnation and objection from the international community, including the Latin American states, except the United States. The US Government's first reaction gave much food for thought when it said Venezuela's constitutional president Chavez "had himself to blame" for the coup. This is far out of tune with the attitude the United States used to take when a coup occurred in other countries. 
	
	
 As the saying goes, when you pull up the turnip, mud comes with it. Just as Venezuela restored its constitutional rule and Chavez was returned to power, the New York Times came up with a shocking story: the US Government and senior military officials were in contact with the Venezuelan coup organizers. In recent months, they met with the coup organizers for several times and gave consent to the overthrow of Chavez. Faced with the media's reports, the White House and the Pentagon have had to make statements publicly. They acknowledged their contacts with leaders of the coalition of opposition factions who took part in the coup, but denied having supported them. The Pentagon spokesperson Clarke went a step further to explain that US Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary [Rogelio Pardo-] Maurer for Western Hemisphere Affairs met with Venezuelan Armed Forces Supreme Commander and Inspector General Lucas Rincon in December of last year and made it clear to the latter that the United !
States "supports democracy" and that "we in no way would support any coups or unconstitutional activity." 
	
	
 Since the United States "supports democracy," then why did Maurer have that meeting with Rincon? Why didn't the United States inform Venezuela's constitutional government of the coup attempt by Rincon and the others? 
	
	
 For every effect, there is a cause. After taking the Office of Presidency, Chavez has implemented an independent foreign policy and seemed to be not in step with the United States in many respects. Take one example. To the United States, Iraq's Saddam Regime is a thorn in the eye and flesh which must be removed. But Chavez in his 2000 visit to some OPEC member states made a stop at Baghdad where he held talks with Saddam. In addition, while the United States is disgusted with the Cuban Government under Castro, the Chavez Government has kept a close relationship with the Cuban Government. Probably this is the major reason why the United States is happy to see a change of government in Venezuela. 
	
	
 In the past, whenever a coup occurred in some Latin American countries, there was always a backdrop of US involvement. The only guideline determining US rejection or support of the government of a [foreign] country is whether it follows US baton and whether its domestic and foreign policies are in accord with the US "national interests." On this matter, "supporting democracy" is but a signboard used by the United States. Hence one can see that it is not to be surprised that the United States chimed in with the Venezuela's coup organizers. Only it was a little too early to get excited. 
	
	
	





Document 001001501 ends.


	
Ariel Sharon would want the Israeli public to believe that it is a war out there and that the Palestinians are bent on destroying the state of Israel. This is the only way he can keep the support of his coalition government and the general public. Israelis are not expected to abandon their prime minister in the middle of a war! And as long as this pretence of a vicious war against Israel holds, Sharon can keep his waning grip on power for more time. 
	
	
 But the truth of the matter is that Israel and the Palestinians are not at war. Palestine is not an independent state with an army that may soon, if unchecked, march into the streets of Tel Aviv or overrun Jerusalem. Israel already occupies the West Bank and Gaza Strip and has done so since June 1967, when Israel and neighboring Arab states fought a six-day war. In October 1973 Israel fought a real war on two fronts, one against Syria and the other against Egypt. In 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon and its troops reached Beirut in a one-sided war that was aimed at destroying the PLO and burying Palestinian claims to their land for good. 
	
	
 Throughout these wars and invasions, the West Bank and Gaza Strip and millions of Palestinian inhabitants succumbed under the mighty stranglehold of Israeli occupation. Little has changed since then. Palestinian territories remain under occupation and the political process that was launched in the early 1990's to end it has floundered. 
	
	
 The first popular uprising, the Intifada, of 1987 and then the second one, which erupted 18 months ago, were desperate means by conquered Palestinians to end the occupation. They are also legitimate options of national liberation. Those who say the Palestinians had never tried non-violent means of resistance forget that they had endured more than 20 years of occupation pleading their cases before their occupiers and world public opinion. In 1987, they revolted, resorting to stones, demonstrations and strikes, and the Israelis responded swiftly by breaking their limbs and shooting unarmed civilian demonstrators in cold blood. 
	
	
 The Palestine Human Rights Information Group reported at the end of 1993 that "since the start of the first Intifada, Israeli troops and settlers had killed 1283 Palestinians. An estimated 130,472 Palestinians had been injured, 481 expelled, 22,088 held without trial, 2533 houses demolished or sealed and, equally important for the eventual division of the land, 184,257 Palestinian trees uprooted." Throughout these years Israel kept on building new settlements or "fattening" existing ones and expropriating Palestinians lands. 
	
	
 It is a fact that Palestinians are becoming more militant and that the nature of their resistance to occupation is changing dramatically. But it is not war by any military definition. In the past 18 months more than 1200 Palestinians have been killed, mostly civilians, and mostly in their homes, camps, offices, schools, and factories -- not on the battlefield. Many thousands were maimed and injured, hundreds of homes demolished and thousands of hectares of farmland destroyed. If these statistics amount to anything, they point to the continuing waste of human life and property that millions of Palestinians under occupation endure on a daily basis. 
	
	
 Sharon would want to describe his aggression as a war. He would want to show the Israelis that they will not be safe unless his army escalates that aggression to a point where the Palestinians would beg for surrender. But judging from how the cycle of violence accelerated in the past few weeks, the war that the former general wants to ignite is not going to come. Instead, he has invented a reality that is much worse than war. It is chaos bordering on a binge of wanton killing that is achieving nothing in political or military terms for either side. What Sharon has succeeded in doing is to radicalize the Palestinians even further. And by applying the pressure cooker effect he will only reap sporadic but painful retaliatory responses from young and hateful Palestinians who seek liberation in death rather than staying alive under occupation. 
	
	
 Sharon is managing and sustaining a pogrom that puts every Jew and every Israeli to shame, because the enemy for Sharon's soldiers is largely invisible. Their shells and bullets are gunning down innocent people on daily basis. Palestinian reprisals also hurt innocent Israelis because Sharon and his policies have made every Israeli an enemy and a target. 
	
	
 There is no war other than the blind and murderous rage of a defeated colonial power. Against the backdrop of a brutal occupation, the only war that Sharon is waging is against the only possible salvation, which is an eventual peaceful coexistence between two peoples who will have to learn to accept and to share the same land.	





Document 001001502 ends.


       

Coleco Industries Inc., a once high-flying toy maker whose stock peaked at $65 a share in the early 1980s, filed a Chapter 11 reorganization plan that provides just 1.125 cents a share for common stockholders. 

Under the plan, unsecured creditors, who are owed about $430 million, would receive about $92 million, or 21 cents for each dollar they are owed.
In addition, they will receive stock in the reorganized company, which will be named Ranger Industries Inc.
After these payments, about $225,000 will be available for the 20 million common shares outstanding. 

The Avon, Conn., company's stock hit a high in 1983 after it unveiled its Adam home computer, but the product was plagued with glitches and the company's fortunes plunged.
But Coleco bounced back with the introduction of the Cabbage Patch dolls, whose sales hit $600 million in 1985.
But as the craze died, Coleco failed to come up with another winner and filed for bankruptcy-law protection in July 1988. 

The plan was filed jointly with unsecured creditors in federal bankruptcy court in New York and must be approved by the court. 




Document 001001504 ends.


	
Becoming a captive after being defeated in a war apparently is bad, but being not treated as a "prisoner of war [POW]" is even worse. While mankind has unquestionably become more civilized with respect to "humanitarian treatment for POWs" today on the basis of the principles in international law in comparison with ancient times when POWs were slaughtered or enslaved, we should watch out for the possible regression in this regard. 
	
	
 Each Side Has a Different Story with Respect to the Treatment for POWs 
	
	
 It is reported that the US Armed Forces are regarding the captives interned in Guantanamo as dangerous terrorists and Islamic Muslims. They say that these captives not only receive humanitarian treatment, their religious belief is also respected. 
	
	
 One US military officer in charge of the prisoners' camp said that the most of the prisoners are young people in their 20s or 30s, and that they are locked up separately in cells 2.5 square meters each. He said the US Armed Forces have given each prisoner living necessities, such as towel, toothpaste, soap, and shampoo; and each prisoner has a twin bed with soft mattress to sleep. Besides, he said, each prisoner has a "Koran" and can even receive a mat for prayer. Lisa Ewing [name as transliterated], a female US police officer who watches the POWs said to reporters: "Each day we wake them up when it is time for prayer and bring them breakfast." 
	
	
 The first-day menu for the prisoners shows that they had a package of vacuum-packed Italian vegetable noodle and a package containing peanuts, granola bars, and a box of colorful, sugar-coated cereal, a favorite of American young people. The menu also includes oatmeal, raisin, potato chips and a pretzel. While these foods are strange to the prisoners, the United States has indeed abided by the dietary rules that Muslims have to follow. Of course, there is clean water for the prisoners to drink. 
	
	
 Under the request of organizations, such as the International Red Cross, and the media, the United States let them go to Guantanamo to inspect the situation of the detainees there. Thus, the prisoners' living conditions in that day were basically transparent. 
	
	
 If the above reports were true, then the treatment for the prisoners would be beyond reproach. Certain American people also maintain that the US way of treating the prisoners is not reproachable. Christopher, a physician working in the prisoners' camp, said: "We really treat them well." 
	
	
 The international community, however, has different descriptions and views on this issue. 
	
	
 A medium has this description for the Guantanamo prisoners' camp: The 2.5-square meter cement cell is way below the standards of cells built for American prisoners. Fully-armed watchful US prison guards and naval personnel make the rounds of inspection in the camp. The prisoners, dressed in orange one-piece overall, are hand-cuffed. Their movements are quite confined. Whenever they are allowed to take a walk outside their cells, take a bath or go to the toilet, their hands are still tied, and they are supervised on the two sides by two US soldiers. They are not allowed to look around, talk, hear, or touch anything; nor are they allowed to move freely. 
	
	
 A British newspaper maintains that the "X-ray prison camp" in Guantanamo is full of "cruelties" and "torture." British Secretary of Foreign Affairs Straw said: "All detainees, regardless of their identities, should receive the treatment in line with the humanitarian spirit and the principles of international law." Ann Crawd [name transliterated], chairwoman of the UN Human Rights Commission, pointed out: "The United States shall not play with human rights and may not violate the Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War that we have signed." 
	
	
 US Strategy -- a Strategy for Testing the Next Moves 
	
	
 The US move of disclosing the state of the detainees in Guantanamo and allowing international organizations and the media to inspect is a wise one, otherwise the international community will have all sorts of misgivings about the treatment for the detainees. But people still question why the US Government refuses to characterize the detainees in Guantanamo as prisoners of war while claiming that the treatment for them is in line with the Geneva Convention on POWs. Basing on the media reports, the US Government has many things to consider on this issue. 
	
	
 Evidently, after the September 11 pains, the US Government is harboring deep hatred for these prisoners. Now that these prisoners are in its hands, it is not likely that the US Government will let them off easily. It may even want to seek revenge and use them to reassert its authority. If it chooses to characterize these detainees as POWs, then it must release some of them sooner or later and it is very likely that these people will again attack the United States with terrorist means. 
	
	
 However, respect for human and their rights is an expression of mankind's progress, and the United States always underscores these values and ideas. Because the prisoners have the dual identities being the enemies and the weaker parties, the US Government must not act as if it is venting its personal grudge against them while detaining them. 
	
	
 These prisoners not only are citizens of the belligerent country, but also are citizens of nonbelligerent countries, even citizens of the United States' allies, such as Britain. Thus, the United States cannot simply consider this issue as "contradiction between the enemy and itself," it must also consider international relations. 
	
	
 Therefore, on the issue of defining these prisoners' "status," the United States must test the attitudes of the international community, especially the attitudes of European countries. Before the war, the United States appeared as an upholder of justice; while it still wants to handle problems like an upholder of justice after the war, it must win support. 
	
	
 What appears does not seem to be what the United States wants, however. 
	
	
 The Detainees' Status -- an Issue Concerning Their Life and Death 
	
	
 After visiting the Guantanamo prisoners' camp, many international organizations and media are accusing the United States of being too harsh for the prisoners. They say that that there are too many restrictions in the camp, the cells are too small...Mary Robinson, senior UN special commissioner for human rights, said: "We must urge the United States to pay attention to respecting the obligations prescribed in international law." 
	
	
 However, these are merely superficial issues concerning the Guantanamo detainees. The core issue is whether the Taliban and al-Qaeda members are "POWs" or "unlawful combatants." 
	
	
 Avna Kidlon [name as transliterated], senior policy advisor to Amnesty International, said: "The status of the detainees is an issue concerning their life or death. If the United States insisted that these prisoners are to be tried at a military tribunal, it is almost certain that they will be sentenced to death. This violates the international norms and is not in line with the proper procedures." 
	
	
 This is the crux of the issue. 
	
	
 US Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld said that the Afghanistan's Taliban and "al-Qaeda" members are "unlawful combatants," not "POWs," and so the United States would not treat them as POWs and they would not enjoy any rights prescribed in the Geneva Convention on POWs. 
	
	
 Apparently the international community does not support the US viewpoint and measures. 
	
	
 This is the first time in war history that "terrorists" have become war prisoners. While the international community does not have any universally acknowledged definition for "terrorist," there is also not any established provision in international law for assessing the punishments for "terrorists." In particular, there is not any precedence to be used as reference. 
	
	
 One thing the international community feels incomprehensible is that why are these Taliban and "al-Qaeda" members not considered as POWs since, before the war they were organized combatants, the battles they fought were also organized resistance, and they were obviously captured in battles during the war? 
	
	
 Moreover, the Taliban and "al-Qaeda" members came from many countries in the world and the "POW" issue involves the laws and dignity of many countries. What worries the West and some other countries most is that, if the United States refuses to treat these detainees as POWs, then their soldiers may be treated the same way as the Guantanamo prisoners should they be captured by the Taliban remnants and other radical organizations when they take part in the United Nations' peace-keeping missions. 
	
	
 Without a doubt, the United States' "willfulness" is what has greatly annoyed some countries and international organizations. Before the war, US President Bush, in his war mobilization speech, declared that the country was in a state of war. What followed was the Afghanistan war. After winning the war, the US Government has come up with many other excuses to deny the captives' POW status. 
	
	
 Thus, even though Uncle Sam's certain worries are justified, his hegemonic way of setting the rules all by himself is hardly convincing. If the United States chooses to disregard the Geneva Convention the way it follows this time, the legality and sanctity of international law will be substantially reduced. If similar problems occur in the future, other countries will have no universally-acknowledged rules to follow. 
	
	
 Taking these factors into consideration, Powell, a soldier-turned statesman and a moderate, advised Bush: We might as well give the Guantanamo detainees the POW status. 
	
	
 Promulgated in 12 August 1949, the Geneva POW Convention became effective on 21 October 1950. The United States is one of the signatories. The convention has specified the treatment for POWs and their privileges. Now let us compare the convention's provisions and the media's descriptions of the detainees in terms of their dignity, lodging, clothing, activities and trial. 
	
	
 The current treatment for the detainees: 
	
	
 The prisoners were brought to the prisons in a brutal manner. The pictures clearly show that the prisoners in orange one-piece overall are blind-folded by thick black cloths, their hands and feet are tied up, and they were kneeling on the ground. 
	
	
 Each prisoner is interned in a cell that is 2.5 square meters in size. This little cell will house two or more prisoners with the arrival of more captives in the future. The camp's temperature has exceeded 32 degrees Celsius. 
	
	
 The prisoners' hands and feet are shackled. The prisoners in the orange one-piece overall not only cannot move freely, but they may not be able to breathe normally. 
	
	
 The entire camp is surrounded by fences. There are watchtowers at its four corners. When the prisoners are let out for exercise, take a bath, or go to the toilet, their hands must still be tied up, and two US soldiers will accompany them. These detainees are instructed not to look around, not to talk, not to listen, and not to touch anything. In short, they are not allowed to move freely. 
	
	
 One military tribunal will try these prisoners. There will not be a jury, and these captives may not appeal. 
	
	
 The Convention's provisions are: 
	
	
 POWs shall be protected under all circumstances. They shall receive humanitarian treatment, and they shall especially not be subjected to any outrage, coercion and humiliation, or harassment by the curious public. Reprisal against the prisoners of war shall be prohibited. 
	
	
 Housing conditions for POWs should be the same as those of the troops stationing in the Detaining Power in the same area. This provision shall be applicable in POWs' dormitories, such as the total area and the minimum cubic space. 
	
	
 Clothing, underwear, and footwear shall be supplied to POWs in sufficient quantity by the Detaining Power; and they must be adequate for ensuring POWs' health. 
	
	
 POWs shall have the opportunity to exercise. The exercise should include sports, games and outdoor activities. All the captive camps should have enough room for this purpose. The use of tobacco shall be permitted. 
	
	
 They shall be tried with US soldiers in the same court for war crime. There should be a jury, and they are entitled to appeal. 
	
	
 Attachments: zm0131cc.pdf	





Document 001001505 ends.



   Africa, West split over Mugabe's win

 


SubHead:   Chretien to await observers' report before acting

Author:     Jan Cienski with files from Jane Taber in Ottawa

  HARARE, Zimbabwe - As Robert Mugabe moved to consolidate his 
victory in elections most observers denounced as rigged, an ugly 
split was opening up in the response from black African nations 
and the West.

  Mr. Mugabe, Zimbabwe's leader for all its 22 years of 
independence, won a fifth term in office yesterday, defeating 
his opponent Morgan Tsvangirai in an election marred by 
violence, intimidation and the manipulation of electoral laws.

  According the Registrar-General's office, Mr. Mugabe received 
56% of the 3.1 million votes cast to Mr. Tsvangirai's 41%.

  The win gives the 78-year-old Mr. Mugabe a six-year term in 
office and was hailed by Patrick Chinamasa, Zimbabwe's Justice 
Minister, as a "runaway victory."

  Mr. Tsvangirai was less complimentary, calling the election "the 
biggest electoral fraud I have ever witnessed in my life." He 
said the result "does not reflect the true will of the people of 
Zimbabwe."

  The despondent former union boss appeared befuddled by the 
result, as if he had never expected Mr. Mugabe to pull out a 
victory using just about every shady tactic in the book.

  "We foresaw electoral fraud but not daylight robbery," he said 
during a brief news conference yesterday.

  George Bush, the U.S. President, led the criticism from the 
West, saying Washington would not recognize Mr. Mugabe's 
government. "We do not recognize the outcome of the election 
because we think it's flawed," Mr. Bush said. "And we are 
dealing with our friends to figure out how to deal with this 
flawed election."

  Colin Powell, his Secretary of State, implied the United States 
may impose new sanctions in addition to an existing travel ban 
affecting Mr. Mugabe's inner circle.

  Jack Straw, Britain's Foreign Secretary, condemned Mr. Mugabe 
for waging a "systematic campaign of violence."

  Jean Chretien, the Prime Minister, was more muted in his 
criticism. Mr. Chretien, who this month headed off a move to 
suspend Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth in advance of the vote, 
said the election of Mr. Mugabe "does not look very good" but 
insisted Canada must wait for the results of a Commonwealth 
report before acting.

  "There is a committee made up of three heads of governments and 
states who will be meeting within two weeks to analyze the 
report of the observers and render a decision," he told the 
Commons yesterday. "We have to follow the process of receiving 
the report from the observers before coming to a definite 
conclusion."

  Opposition critics attacked the Prime Minister for not 
immediately denouncing the election.

  John Reynolds, the Canadian Alliance leader, said Zimbabwe 
should be suspended from the Commonwealth and its High 
Commissioner to Canada "sent packing" until "we straighten this 
mess out."

  In contrast with the West, Zimbabwe's neighbours, including 
regional superpower South Africa, found little to object to in 
the election.

  Sam Motsuenyane, head of a 50-member observer mission from South 
Africa, said the result "should be considered legitimate" and 
blamed the difficulties faced by some voters on "administrative 
oversight."

  The observer team from the Organization of African Unity 
announced that, "in general, the elections were transparent, 
credible, free and fair."

  "The ... team wishes to commend the electoral and polling 
officers for the able manner in which they conducted the 
elections," said Gertrude Mongella, leader of the OAU observers.

  Mr. Mugabe has not been seen since Friday's pre-election rallies 
and made no appearance or comment yesterday.

  Mr. Tsvangirai seemed at a loss over what to do next, saying 
that the leadership of his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) 
would have to meet to come up with a strategy to counter Mr. 
Mugabe's victory.

  
The confusion was widespread throughout his party.

  "We expected we were going to win this election," admitted Hilda 
Mafudze, an MDC member of Parliament who had been threatened by 
Mr. Mugabe's toughs and prevented from campaigning in her home 
riding south of Harare. Mr. Mugabe ended up winning there by 
more than 6,000 votes.

  "It's something we were not prepared for," she said. "We have 
just got to sit down and brainstorm and come with something 
concrete to do."

  Although Mr. Tsvangirai said the people were "seething with 
anger," Mr. Tsvangirai ruled out open rebellion.

  "We seek no confrontation with the state," said the MDC leader, 
who is already facing treason charges for allegedly plotting to 
assassinate Mr. Mugabe, a charge he says was trumped up.

  Domestic observers tended to side with the MDC, denouncing the 
election as fraud-tainted and unfair.

  The Crisis in Zimbabwe Committee, a coalition of church and 
civic groups, called for Zimbabweans to protest the elections 
tomorrow in a "constitutionally acceptable" manner. Zimbabwe's 
security laws make it illegal to call for a general strike.

  The government was taking no chances of a popular uprising, 
putting the military on alert and setting up police roadblocks 
around Harare and other large cities.

  In the working class suburb of Highfield, a strong MDC zone, a 
middle-aged street vendor just clucked and shook his head when 
asked whether people would protest Mr. Mugabe's re-election.

  "Ahh, this country is going to the dogs. But we are scared. We 
are not going to go out on to the streets," he said, looking 
nervously over to where triumphant activists from Mr. Mugabe's 
Zimbabwe African People's Union - Patriotic Front had ripped up 
stacks of a pro-opposition newspaper.

  On the streets of the capital, where Mr. Tsvangirai found his 
greatest support, there was no sign of revolution brewing.

  Thousands of voters in Harare were chased away from polling 
stations on Monday night by police, despite waiting for three 
chaotic days to cast their ballots.

  The MDC says the disorganization in Harare was planned by Mr. 
Mugabe in order to disenfranchise Mr. Tsvangirai's supporters.

  According to the government, as few as 42% of Harare's 800,000 
voters cast their ballots while the rate of participation in Mr. 
Mugabe's rural strongholds approached 69%, a figure disputed by 
the MDC. In many cases neither the MDC nor neutral observers 
were able to monitor voting in more remote polling stations.

  For South Africa, the main concern is regional stability, not 
the niceties of participatory democracy. Zimbabwe's economy has 
imploded, unemployment is near 60%, inflation is running at 112% 
a year and many people in this former breadbasket are going 
hungry.

  South Africa is already trying to stem the flow of economic 
migrants fording the Limpopo River for a better life south of 
the border. The last thing South Africa wants is to add 
thousands of refugees fleeing war and political turmoil.



Copyright @ 2002 National Post Online |






Document 001001506 ends.


	
KINSHASA, July 14 (AFP) - Some 60 representatives of civil society, parties, rebel groups and government in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are to take part in preparatory talks on reviving political dialogue in the vast country next month, an official said Saturday. 
	
	
 A representative of the facilitator of the talks, Hacen Ould Lebatt, told a media conference here that 38 civil society delegates, representing seven of the DRC's 11 provinces, had already been designated. 
	
	
 The round of consultations ahead of the start of formal negotiations between the various parties -- dubbed the "inter-Congolese dialogue" -- will begin August 20 in the Botswana capital Gaborone, the facilitator of the talks, former Botswana president Ketumile Masire, announced this week. 
	
	
 Masire's team, which has criss-crossed the former Zaire to prepare for the talks, is currently pursuing its mission in the provinces of Bandundu, Bas-Congo, Equateur, and in the capital Kinshasa, Lebatt said. 
	
	
 Masire said this week he was determined to "ensure that people from all corners of the country are allowed to express their views", adding that he wanted to avoid a "superficial" exercise. 
	
	
 The national dialogue is a feature of peace accords signed in 1999 by all warring parties in the former Zaire -- two rebel groups, their backers Rwanda and Uganda, and the Kinshasa government and its allies, Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia. 
	
	
 Masire was brought back into the DRC peace process in February this year as facilitator for the inter-Congolese dialogue by President Joseph Kabila. 
	
	
 The young president's father Laurent, assassinated in January, had sidelined Masire after accusing him of being biased in favour of the rebels. 
	
	
 Lebatt told the media conference that deep divergences remained concerning the designation of delegates to represent DRC political parties, and those to represent the parties who signed the Lusaka agreement. 
	
	
 "The political players must overcome their divisions by finding a formula for consensus," said Lebatt, who is former foreign and cooperation minister of Mauritania. 
	
	
 The Lusaka accord merely speaks about "political opposition", he said. "One must ask 'opposition to whom and what?'." 
	
	
 Lebatt said the facilitation team expected to draw up a final list of participants by August 6. 
	
	
 The conflict in the former Zaire broke out when rebels backed by Laurent Kabila's erstwhile allies Rwanda and Uganda launched an insurgency in August 1998. 
	
	
	





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Russian guards seize 87 kg of heroin on Tajik-Afghan border 
	
	
 Text of report in English by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS 
	
	
 Dushanbe, 21 July: A patrol of Russia's border guards discovered two sacks filled with narcotics on the Moskva border detachment's section of the Tajik-Afghan border on Friday [20 July]. An expert examination showed that the sacks contained 86.9 kilos of pure heroin, head of the press service of Russia's Border Troops in Tajikistan Colonel Aleksandr Kondratyev told ITAR-TASS on Saturday. Drug dealers have lost some 3,600 kilos of narcotics including more than a tonne of heroin on the Tajik-Afghan border since the beginning of the year, the colonel said. During the year 2000 border guards confiscated 2,950 kilos of drugs, including 670 kilos of heroin, Kondratyev noted. 
	
	
	





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BAGHDAD. April 3 (Interfax) - Russian companies sold 70 million barrel of Iraqi crude on international markets in the framework of the 11th phase of the UN Oil for Food program. Russian First Deputy Fuel and Energy Minister Ivan Matlashov made this announcement during a bilateral roundtable discussion coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the USSR-Iraq Friendship and Cooperation Treaty. Russian companies will have exported 118.6 million barrels of oil from Iraq during the six-month phase ending on May 29, Matlashov said. During the 10th phase, lasting between June and November 2001, Russian companies sold 115.3 million barrels. Russian companies will have sold around 1 billion barrels of Iraqi crude for approximately $15 billion during all 11 phases stipulated in the 1996 Iraq-UN memorandum. This accounts for roughly 40% of Iraq's total oil exports, he said. In April, the UN Sanctions Committee will probably lift restrictions from Russia-Iraq contracts in different spheres valued at about $900 million. The United Nations has allowed the implementation of contracts worth some $200 million. Of this, Russia's Zarubezhneft foreign trade organization secured 45 contracts valued at about $140 million. Zarubezhneft has shipped $45 million worth of equipment and materials in keeping with 33 contracts. The Iraqi side has pledged to "take into consideration the Russian Fuel and Energy Ministry's recommendations" related to allocation of oil export quotas to its Russian partners. 
	
	
	





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[Computer selected and disseminated without FBIS editorial intervention] 
	
	
 Tokyo, Sept. 7 Kyodo -- Defense Agency Director General Gen Nakatani left Friday for the United States, Indonesia and East Timor, government officials said. 
	
	
 Nakatani is scheduled to attend ceremonies commemorating the 50th anniversaries of the signings of the Treaty of Peace with Japan and the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty in San Francisco on Saturday, they said. Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka will also attend the events. 
	
	
 The defense chief will be in Indonesia on Monday flying in via Hong Kong for talks with his local counterpart and other defense officials. 
	
	
 He plans to arrive in East Timor on Wednesday for an inspection and to meet with local leaders and United Nations officials to discuss the possibility of sending members of Japan's Self-Defense Forces to a U.N. peacekeeping mission there. 
	
	
 The Defense Agency chief will return home on Sept. 15.	





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More Prisoners Detained in Guantanamo Bay Join Hunger Strike

 



  Strike Triggered by a TurbanAccording to military sources at the 
U.S. base, the hunger striker was first triggered on Wednesday 
when the guard took the turban off the detainee's head while he 
was still praying.

  The sources argued that it was against the rules of the prison 
because the turban could be used to conceal a weapon.

  Bush Criticized for Treating Detainees InhumanelyAs more inmates 
joined the hunger strike, some of them reportedly chanted 
rhythmically on Thursday. Prison officials have reportedly 
strengthened the already heavy security at the prison for 
precautions.

  The Bush administration has been under international criticism 
for not treating the detainees humanely. It recently bowed to 
international pressure to grant the Taliban prisoners the status 
of prisoner of war but still refused to cover al Qaeda prisoners 
with the same treatment.



Copyright by People's Daily Online, all rights reserved




Document 001001521 ends.


	
SALONICA (A.A) - 15.04.2002 - State Minister Kemal Dervis for Economy arrived in Salonica city of Greece on Sunday to attend a conference to be organized by the Black Sea Commerce and Development Bank, and to hold a series of contacts with Greek officials. 
	
	
 State Minister Dervis held a press conference at the Turkish Consulate General in Salonica after his arrival. 
	
	
 Speaking at the press conference, Dervis said, ``economic cooperation between Turkey and Greece will make an important contribution to the Balkans, Middle East and the Black Sea regions. I call it as formation of good economic neighborhood. Turkey and Greece can cooperate in many fields like they have been doing so within structure of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC). For instance, tourism will become the most rapidly developing field for the next two decades. Turkey and Greece have the opportunity of cooperating in tourism.`` 
	
	
 Recalling that the new tender law had enabled everyone to join public investment tenders, Dervis said that Greek investors could benefit from the law. 
	
	
 Noting that financial crisis came to an end in Turkey, Dervis said, ``financial crisis and panic ended. However, I do not mean that we overcame all problems. We should act carefully. We envisage a 3 percent growth in 2002. We also plan to decrease inflation from 70 percent to 35 percent.`` 
	
	
 State Minister Dervis will deliver a speech at the conference. 
	
	
 He is also scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting with Greek Development Minister Akis Tsokhatzopoulos. 
	
	
 After his meeting with Greek businessmen, Dervis will come together with Greek Minister Yeoryios Paskhalidhis for Macedonia and Thrace on Monday. 
	
	
 Dervis will depart from Greece later in the day after paying a visit to Salonica Mayor Vasilis Papayorgopoulos. 
	
	
 State Minister Kemal Dervis has said that regional cooperation structures like the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) were not the antithesis of globalization. 
	
	
 Dervis who arrived in Salonica on Sunday attended the opening of the conference entitled, ``Black Sea Business Day`` which was organized by Black Sea Commerce and Development Bank. 
	
	
 Speaking at the opening of the conference, Dervis defined the regional cooperation as formation of good neighborly field and said, ``the success of Western Europe after World War II laid in its creation of the good neighborly field. For example, South America is not a good neighborly field, and therefore, all regional countries are suffering from difficulties.`` 
	
	
 Dervis said that regional countries` making investment in any sector was not a loss for the other regional countries, but was a benefit, and stated that the investors who got used to the region would also come to the other countries and this was effective especially in tourism sector. 
	
	
 Dervis said that the power of the globalization were stronger than the effects of regionalization. 
	
	
 Dervis went on saying, ``for example, the European Union (EU) is a story of success. It is impossible not to wonder at the creators of the EU. Europe should not be considered as a block which has the definite borders. There were earlier iron curtain countries and their borders were definite. Now they are not. We do not know how Europe will develop towards southeast and east 15 or 20 years later.`` 
	
	
 Dervis who defined the BSEC bank as an interesting idea, said that he believed that if that bank developed within a few years and entered the international markets, the bank would contribute to the improvement of the region in following years. 
	
	
 Dervis stated that Turkey had shown a great economic performance in last 20-25 years, and added that Turkish economy grew by 7-8 percent. 
	
	
 He said, ``unfortunately, crises followed those rapid growth periods lasting for 3-4 years. But around 4.5 percent growth was caught. However, it could be better. We have made many reforms in last period. A total of 21 laws prepared. We will have low inflation and a stable economy as of 2003-2004.`` 
	
	
 Dervis who touched on the cooperation between Turkey and Greece, said, ``the cooperation between Turkey and Greece also have great importance symbolically. I hoped that Turkish and Greek foreign ministers will visit Middle East jointly. This will show that they can convey the message of peace to the third countries.`` 
	
	
 Dervis came together with Greek Development Minister Akis Tsokhatzopoulos following the opening of the ceremony.	





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 Text of report by Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency 
	
	
 Baykonur, 15 March: Preparations on the Progress M-1 N257 transport spacecraft, which is scheduled to be launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on 21 March, are nearing completion at the Baykonur space vehicle launching site [in Kazakhstan]. Specialists at the space vehicle launching site told an Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency correspondent that Progress had been filled with rocket fuel components and compressed gases and it had been taken to an installing and testing facility of the Energiya [Energy] Rocket Space Corporation for the final operations to be carried out. The general assembly of the Soyuz-U booster-rocket (BR), which is to boost Progress M-1, is scheduled for 18 March. After the BR has been assembled, the state commission will take a decision to take the rocket to the launching site. A total of six space launches from Baykonur, including four cargo launches, scheduled within the ISS programme this year.	





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   Brazil hopes US will not interfere in greenhouse effect negotiations

 



  Brasilia, 13 (Agencia Brasil - ABr) - President Fernando 
Henrique Cardoso said today that he does not believe the United 
States will interfere in international negotiations on 
controlling greenhouse gas emissions. Cardoso also said he 
believes the US is committed to joining other nations in 
fighting the problem and will adopt domestic measures, although 
they have formally renounced the Kyoto Protocol.

  Cardoso made his remarks as he sent congress a message calling 
for ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by Brazil and committing 
the country to reducing greenhouse emissions by 5.2% by 2012. 
The world's biggest sources of greenhouse gases are: United 
States 36%, Russia 17.4%, Japan 8.5%, Germany 7.4%, Great 
Britain 4.3%, Canada 3.3%, Italy 3.1%, Poland 3% and France 
2.7%. (AB)




Document 001001529 ends.


	
LONDON, March 19 (AFP) - The Commonwealth suspended Zimbabwe for one year on Tuesday, taking action against the regime of President Robert Mugabe a week after controversial elections returned him to power. 
	
	
 The surprise decision comes after the 54-nation group failed to reach agreement on sanctions against Harare before the voting, when African leaders rallied around the anti-colonialist Mugabe, who has held power since independence from Britain in 1980. 
	
	
 "The committee decided to suspend Zimbabwe from the councils of the Commonwealth for one year with immediate effect," Australian Prime Minister John Howard told reporters here. 
	
	
 "This issue will be revisited in 12 months' time," he said. The decision, taken by a three-way panel of Howard and presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, follows a damning report on the March 9-11 vote by Commonwealth observers. 
	
	
 The report concluded the poll had been marred by violence, intimidation and suspect electoral practices designed to benefit Mugabe, a conclusion also reached by the Zimbabwean opposition and much of the West. 
	
	
 Zimbabwe's Information Minister Jonathan Moyo immediately blasted the decision to lump his nation in with Pakistan, which is also currently suspended from the Commonwealth. 
	
	
 "It is a bad report that can only lead to bad decisions," Moyo said, denouncing the report as "opinionated" and "one-sided" and saying it "lacks credibility and cannot withstand any objective scrutiny." 
	
	
 A spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair said: "He clearly welcomes the decision by the Commonwealth troika and believes that it is absolutely the right thing to do." 
	
	
 Foreign Secretary Jack Straw also praised the decision, saying that "the message could not be clearer." 
	
	
 New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff welcomed the Commonwealth's suspension of Zimbabwe but said New Zealand was likely to impose sanctions anyway. 
	
	
 Goff said that while he welcomed the suspension, it appeared it had been done reluctantly. 
	
	
 "To some extent we have the sense that this is a halfway house," he said. 
	
	
 The panel had been expected to defer or reject calls for Zimbabwe's suspension after Mbeki and Obasanjo held talks Monday with Mugabe and defeated opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, and apparently proposed to mediate in talks between the two sides. 
	
	
 The suspension validates "our own refusal to accept the result as legitimate," said Welshman Ncube, secretary general for Tsvangirai's opposition Movement for Democratic Change. 
	
	
 The suspension came just after Switzerland said it was slapping sanctions on the southern African country, including a freeze on financial assets which might be held by government officials in Swiss banks. 
	
	
 Tsvangirai had earlier suggested that "Mbeki and Obasanjo are not going to allow that (suspension), they are going to present a position that the Zimbabweans are talking, so there may be a deferment of any action." 
	
	
 Although Mbeki has not specifically given his own views, an official South African observer team said the election result should be respected. 
	
	
 Tsvangirai, who had been tipped to win a free and fair election, has said he would negotiate with a view to running a fresh election and "restoring legitimacy" but on Tuesday he ruled out any "meaningful discussions" unless Mugabe's government cracked down on violence. 
	
	
 "The presidential elections are over," the information minister said. "They were held in terms of our laws and our constitution, and the next election is not for six years." 
	
	
 Mugabe was declared the winner of the presidential vote with 56 percent of votes to Tsvangirai's 42 percent. 
	
	
 Most international observer groups have condemned the conduct of the poll, as have many Western governments, notably Britain and the United States. 
	
	
 But at a summit in Australia earlier this month ahead of the election, Commonwealth leaders postponed action against Harare over its defiant stance on the presence of certain international observers to monitor the voting. 
	
	
 In his inauguration speech on Sunday, Mugabe promised to accelerate his controversial land reforms begun in July 2000, which aim to resettle blacks on white-owned farms in a bid to reverse colonial-era injustices. 
	
	
 The land reforms have been marred by political violence led by liberation war veterans who support Mugabe. The latest killing of a white farmer, Terry Ford, came just a day after Mugabe's inauguration. 
	
	
 Critics of the land reforms say the measures have also aggravated a food shortage in Zimbabwe that threatens to worsen because of drought. 
	
	
 Washington is still mulling a response to the election and "continuing its conversations with allied nations about what the proper response should be to the fraudulent election in Zimbabwe," said Ari Fleischer, spokesman for US President George W. Bush. 
	
	
	





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[Computer selected and disseminated without FBIS editorial intervention] 
	
	
 Tokyo, Jan. 17 Kyodo -- Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who just completed a whirlwind tour of five Southeast Asian nations, said Thursday he longed for more leisurely trips -- but added that may have to wait until he leaves his post. 
	
	
 "I would like to visit various countries at a more leisurely pace -- meet with the people of the land and travel not only to the capital but also to rural cities for sightseeing," the premier told a gathering in Tokyo. 
	
	
 "But when I think of my duties as prime minister, I can't visit one country and not go to the other, or stay in one country for three days and stay in the other for only a day. If I am to visit several countries in a limited time, it is always one or two days at best," he said. 
	
	
 "Of course, if I step down as prime minister, I can visit one country for a week each," he said. 
	
	
 But the premier also said that although short, he thinks his visits to the countries are still meaningful. 
	
	
 "There is a saying, seeing is believing. Even if it's only for a day or two, it is significant to visit a country and exchange views with the people of the country in person," he said. 
	
	
 Koizumi made a weeklong tour of the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore earlier in the month. He stayed for less than a day in most countries.	





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AMMAN -- A three-day workshop on money laundering started on Monday, with the participation of officials from several Arab banks, discussing the impact and size of this problem in the Middle East. 
	
	
 During the workshop, organised by the Union of Arab Banks (UAB), participants will also review legislation Arab countries have introduced to combat this phenomenon as well as the ways and means by which money is laundered. 
	
	
 Participants will also explore the role of banking and financial institutions in combating money laundering and the American and European approaches to fighting this problem. 
	
	
 According to UAB Secretary General Fu'ad Shakir the size of money laundering worldwide ranges from 2 to 5 per cent of the world's gross domestic product, which could run up to $1.5 trillion. 
	
	
 He said that banks, real estate, construction projects, stock markets, investing in losing companies and gambling are among the favourite targets for money launderers. 
	
	
 The source of this money includes drug trafficking, arms deals and prostitution which are the major sources of what has been termed as "dirty money." 
	
	
 The process of money laundering starts with what has been termed as Placement, or injecting the dirty money into the market, followed by Layering, or removing all traces of the money laundered and finally Integration, where the money becomes "clean". 
	
	
 Although interest in this issue started in the 1980's, world attention on money laundering intensified following the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington, Shakir, who was addressing the participants, said. 
	
	
 He said that Arab banks and financial institutions were targeted by the anti-terrorism campaign that followed the attacks. 
	
	
 "Our institutions are far away from this money laundering phenomenon and Arab governments have amended banking laws to combat money laundering," Shakir said. 
	
	
 Jordan was among the Arab countries which introduced measures to fight this problem including tightening banking rules and imposing strict controls on money transfers. 
	
	
 Punishment for money laundering was also introduced, illegal money is confiscated and tough jail terms are given to violators. 
	
	
 Money launderers target countries with low risk of detection, soft tax systems and lenient banking regulations, Shakir said. 
	
	
 He said, according to international agencies which combat this phenomenon, statistically the United States ranks first in term of destination, origin and flows of laundered money. 
	
	
 In Europe, Italy and Russia top the list while China ranks first among Asian countries. 
	
	
 According to Shakir, money laundering in the Arab world is "very minimal" but he said that Lebanon and Egypt are classified by international agencies as among the countries that have not taken necessary measures to combat this problem. 
	
	
	





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[Computer selected and disseminated without FBIS editorial intervention] 
	
	
 Beijing, Jan. 12 (Yonhap) -- Criminals have been increasingly preying on Korean travellers and residents in China with the increase of exchanges between the two countries since the opening of diplomatic relations in 1992. Over the past three years, 15 Koreans were murdered, 177 were assaulted, 95 kidnapped or illegally confined, and 64 robbed, the Korean Embassy in Beijing said Saturday. The figures are feared to be higher since many cases were not reported, an embassy official said. The most frequent crimes involved the loss or theft of Korean passports, according to the official. Last year alone, 1,800 Korean passports were reported missing in China -- 1,000 in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, 400 in Beijing and 200 in Shanghai, the official said. Missing passports find their way to human traffickers, he said. 
	
	
 "About 90 percent of foreigners' missing passports are Korean's, and the missing passports are being used mostly for crimes like illegal entry, downgrading the nation's credibility in the international community," the official said. The number of crimes committed by Koreans has also been on the increase. Among the crimes are illegal trafficking or forgery of passports, drug production and transportation, smuggling, overstaying visas and drunk driving, the official said. Last year, 1.6 million Koreans travelled to China, up from 1.34 million in 2000, and the number of Korean students in China hit 16,000, more than any other country; Japan trailed with 15,000 students, the official said. hsj@yna.co.kr	





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Westinghouse Electric Corp., capitalizing on a major restructuring program, expects operating margins of more than 10% and double-digit per-share earnings growth next year, top officers told securities analysts here. 

John C. Marous, chairman and chief executive officer, also said the company expects sales from continuing businesses to rise 8.5% annually through the next three years. 

In 1988, the company earned $822.8 million, or $5.66 a share, on sales of $12.49 billion. 

Since 1983, Westinghouse has shed 70 businesses that it didn't expect to produce 10% operating margins while acquiring 55 businesses. 

In the past 20 months alone, Paul E. Lego, president and chief operating officer, said the divestiture of $300 million of slow-growth, low-profit businesses has been more than offset by $600 million in profitable acquisitions. 

Westinghouse expects to meet its corporate goals despite a softening in the economy.
Even if the gross national product is either flat or in the growth range of 2% to 2.5%, "we can handle that," Mr. Marous said.
GNP is the total value of the nation's output of goods and services. 

A bright spot is the company's power-generation business, which is experiencing a surge of growth for the first time in years.
Mr. Marous said the business will achieve higher sales this year than the company's target goal of 8.5%. 

While Westinghouse hasn't had a nuclear power plant order from a U.S. utility in about a decade, excess capacity is beginning to shrink.
Mr. Lego said the company foresees the need for a major boost in new-generation capability throughout the 1990s. 

Westinghouse also is well positioned to sell steam turbine and gas turbine plants to independent power producers.
The company's ability to respond to energy needs world-wide will be enhanced through a recently announced venture with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mr. Lego said. 

He said the independent power segment could grow to provide as much as 50% of near-term generation capacity, adding: "We expect to supply a significant share of this market." 

Westinghouse also expects its international sales to soon grow to 25% of total corporate sales from 20% last year.
The company is negotiating with the Soviets to build a Thermo King truck-refrigeration plant that would produce about 10,000 units annually. 

Mr. Marous said Westinghouse would own 70% of the facility.
The deal, which will involve an initial $20 million investment, was struck with a handshake, he added. 

Company officials also said that any gain from the sale of Westinghouse's 55% stake in its transmission and distribution venture with the Swiss firm of Asea Brown Boveri will be offset by a restructuring charge in the fourth quarter.
The executives didn't disclose the size of the expected gain. 

Capital expenditure in 1990 will rise slightly, Mr. Marous said, from an estimated $470 million this year. 




Document 001001540 ends.


	
Washington, January 27 (XINHUA) -- US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arrived at the US Naval Base at Guantanamo, Cuba, to get a firsthand look at the detention camp for Taliban and al-Qa'ida members. 
	
	
 Rumsfeld's itinerary for his trip to Camp X-ray at Guantanamo included a tour of the facilities and meetings with military leaders and US troops who are keeping watch over the 158 Afghan war detainees there. 
	
	
 Rumsfeld has asserted repeatedly that the detainees are getting good treatment and refused to grant them war prisoner status. 
	
	
 "They are not POWs, they are unlawful combatants," Rumsfeld told reporters at the US Naval Base. "They will not be determined to be POWs." 
	
	
 Human rights groups and some European countries, including Britain, Germany and France, are upset over the Bush administration's refusal to classify the detainees as prisoners of war, which would give them the protections of the Geneva Conventions. 
	
	
	





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Sun Microsystems Inc., a computer maker, announced the effectiveness of its registration statement for $125 million of 6 3/8% convertible subordinated debentures due Oct. 15, 1999. 

The company said the debentures are being issued at an issue price of $849 for each $1,000 principal amount and are convertible at any time prior to maturity at a conversion price of $25 a share. 

The debentures are available through Goldman, Sachs & Co. 




Document 001001543 ends.



   Cardoso says main challenge facing Chavez is reestablishing normalcy

 



  Brasilia, 16 (Agencia Brasil - ABr) - President Fernando 
Henrique Cardoso says that the principal challenge facing the 
president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, is reestablish normalcy 
following the conflicts of last week. Cardoso spoke of opening 
communication channels and achieving social harmony.

  Chavez told Cardoso he has no intention of seeking revenge 
against the military personnel who supported the failed attempt 
to remove him from office. Former president of the United 
States, Jimmy Carter, has come out in support of Chavez's 
promise to set up dialogue tables and is scheduled to visit 
Venezuela in the near future. (AB)




Document 001001544 ends.


	
By Alexander Kovalyov 
	
	
 MOSCOW, March 28 (Itar-Tass) -- The Russian Rosaviakosmos space agency is planning to carry out two space launches from the Baikonur cosmodrome in April this year, a space agency official told Itar-Tass on Thursday. 
	
	
 According to the timetable a short-term space expedition to the International Space Station is scheduled for lift of for April 25. The expedition will comprise Russian mission commander Yuri Gidzenko, Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori and second tourist cosmonaut Mark Shuttleworth of South Africa. 
	
	
 The launch of a direct-TV telecommunication spacecraft by a Russian booster rocket Proton is tentatively slated for April 28.	





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AMMAN -- Authorities on Sunday [24 March] released an alleged business associate of Majd Shamayleh, the prime suspect in a bank fraud case under investigation, on JD1 million bail bond, nearly two weeks after he was detained in connection with this case, judicial sources said yesterday. 
	
	
 Munther Halasa was one of the six detainees suspected of involvement in the questionable bank loans case which the government referred to the State Security Court prosecutor for investigation. 
	
	
 The sources said Halasa also made a deposit of $6 million at the Central Bank of Jordan. 
	
	
 Two other suspects, who are clerks at the HSBC Bank, were released on bail last week. 
	
	
 Halasa and the other two suspects are out on bail pending further investigations, the sources said. 
	
	
 Fifty-five people, including former officials, businessmen and bankers are believed to be involved in the case. 
	
	
 The State Security Court has imposed a ban on news coverage of the investigations, citing Article 38 of the Press and Publications Law. 
	
	
	





Document 001001547 ends.


       

A group of investors led by Giant Group Ltd. and its chairman, Burt Sugarman, said it filed with federal antitrust regulators for clearance to buy more than 50% of the stock of Rally's Inc., a fast-food company based in Louisville, Ky. 

Rally's operates and franchises about 160 fast-food restaurants throughout the U.S.
The company went public earlier this month, offering 1,745,000 shares of common stock at $15 a share.
Giant has interests in cement making and newsprint. 

The investor group includes Restaurant Investment Partnership, a California general partnership, and three Rally's directors: Mr. Sugarman, James M. Trotter III and William E. Trotter II.
The group currently holds 3,027,330 Rally's shares, or 45.2% of its commmon shares outstanding.
Giant Group owned 22% of Rally's shares before the initial public offering. 

A second group of three company directors, aligned with Rally's founder James Patterson, also is seeking control of the fast-food chain.
It is estimated that the Patterson group controls more than 40% of Rally's stock. 

Rally officials weren't available to comment late yesterday. 

For the year ended July 2, Rally had net income of $2.4 million, or 34 cents a share, on revenue of $52.9 million. 




Document 001001549 ends.


	
AMMAN -- The unemployment rate among the country's 48,000 engineers has dropped by 1.5 per cent since last year, a senior official at the Jordan Engineers Association (JEA) said on Thursday. 
	
	
 The rate last year was around 8.5 per cent, but in the first two months of 2002 it dropped to 7 per cent, said JEA President Azzam Hneidi. The total of unemployed engineers currently stands at 3,360, he said. 
	
	
 The association last year provided 867 unemployed engineers with job opportunities in several public and private institutions, thereby contributing to the decline, according to Hneidi. 
	
	
 The association will continue contacting the government and private institutions to supply them with engineers, he added. 
	
	
 Both the JEA and the Ministry of Housing and Public Works last year trained 759 new engineering graduates over the course of one year to prepare them for job opportunities, he said. 
	
	
 One of the JEA's obligations stipulated in its bylaws is to provide training for its members. This training takes the form of a full-time internship lasting from six months to one year, during which graduates are placed in professional settings to gain firsthand experience in the workplace. 
	
	
 "The aim is to give the engineers a real chance to practise what they studied in theory at university," said Hneidi. 
	
	
 Engineers specialised in the electricity field, for example, are hired to work in an electric company for eight hours per day. 
	
	
 "The trainee is paid between JD120-150 per month, and the association defrays JD30-50 of that monthly salary," said the JEA official. 
	
	
 The association annually allocates JD100,000 for training graduates. This year it plans to increase the number of trainees to 1,000 graduates, which will require more funds. 
	
	
 "The association is willing to cover it," Hneidi said. 
	
	
 As the engineering sector has more graduates than job openings, the association's representative offices in the Gulf states look to bring engineers from Jordan to work in the Gulf, said Hneidi. 
	
	
 Unemployment prevails mainly among chemical, mechanical and civil engineering graduates, he said, adding that engineers specialised in electrical, computer and architectural engineering have no problem finding jobs. 
	
	
 The number of students in Jordanian public and private universities' engineering departments is around 6,000, excluding those in agricultural engineering. Around 2,000 new engineers enter the job market on an annual basis. 
	
	
 Currently, many engineering students in universities prefer to specialise in the electrical or computer disciplines because the demand for them is higher. 
	
	
	





Document 001001551 ends.


	
The hero of the Gulf War, Colin Powell, did not exactly cover himself in glory in his diplomatic mission to the Middle East as the US president's envoy. His task was to create "a peaceful environment" in the region currently affected by an unrecognized and undeclared war between Israel and Palestine. 
	
	
 The man who defeated Iraq in 1991 in only six weeks issued a message, saying that the most he hoped for was something less than a mutual cease-fire agreement. Another round of talks will be held today between Powell and the chief players in the Middle East. But the current development of events, that is, the standstill situation, makes it clear that US foreign policy has been put to a very serious test in which the United States needs to discipline its decades-long ally, Israel, and not ruin its relations with the Arabs. 
	
	
 The impression is that, under US sponsorship, the international community deliberated too long about the violence in the Middle East. The latest round of violence was initiated on the day in September 2000 when Ariel Sharon took it upon himself to provoke his Muslim neighbors by visiting an Islamic religious building. Sharon, who used to be a colonel and who is directly responsible for the massacre in the Beirut camps Sabra and Shatila, used his return to power as an opportunity to settle the accounts with his years-long enemies. 
	
	
 Powell's words, "we are working on this plan," are unclear, because he did not say what the plan is, and Israel's call for a conference on the Middle East is also unclear. In relation to the first ambiguity, Powell's words definitely cannot be taken seriously, considering that precisely Washington is the one that has been practicing a one-sided approach to the events in the Middle East for 18 months now and it was the chief opponent of the positioning of peace troops between the two warring sides. With an average $3 billion military aid for Israel and a strong Jewish lobby at home, the Untied States cannot play any other role in the Middle East conflict but protector of the Israeli state. In its warnings and appeals for peace, the United States openly "takes a side" in this conflict, labeling the other side terrorists, similar to those who carried out the attacks on the Twin Towers in New York. 
	
	
 It would be entirely improper if, in its defense of Israel, the United States continues to exert pressure on neighboring Arab countries, such as, Syria and Lebanon, which have been accused of supporting terrorist organizations, such as the Hezbolah. It is worrying that among Powell's priorities in Beirut were the talks on the activities of the Hezbolah, with an announcement that terrorists might open a new front. In some circles, these concerns over an alleged new front are seen as an attempt to resolve the smaller Israel-Palestine problem with a bigger one. For example, a new Israeli-Arab war. 
	
	
 The international community received a lot of negative points for the Middle East. Maybe Joschka Fischer's plan for suspending Germany's military aid for Israel, that is, possible EU economic sanctions against Tel Aviv is honorable, but it is a late and disturbingly long-term plan. Europe does not have a united stance on the violence in Ramallah, Nablus, Bethlehem, and the Palestinian refugee camps, despite the clear situation that Israel is the only country in the world that secures its borders by occupying territories of another state. 
	
	
 The EU's efforts and US President Bush's peace initiative through Secretary of State Powell seem like a late resolution, considering that approximately one month ago the Arab countries participating in the summit in Beirut held out an olive branch to Israel through the plan of Saudi Arabia's heir to the throne, Prince Abdullah, which contained two points: recognition of a Palestinian state [as published] in an Arab neighborhood, in return for recognition of the Palestinians' right to their own country. Israel did not even have the goodness to look at this plan, demonstrating arrogance toward everything Arab. In the same manner Israel asked Arafat to leave Ramallah and Palestine, labeling him a troublemaker and politician incapable of controlling the Palestinian suicide bombers. 
	
	
	





Document 001001553 ends.


       

Crossland Savings Bank's stock plummeted after management recommended a suspension of dividend payments on both its common and preferred stock because Crossland may not meet the new government capital criteria effective Dec. 7. 

In composite trading on the New York Stock Exchange Friday, Crossland closed at $5.25, down $1.875, a 26% decline. 

A spokesman said the savings bank may not qualify for the capital requirements because, under the proposed guidelines, its $380 million of preferred stock doesn't meet the "core capital" criteria outlined under the new Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989.
He added that final guidelines to be published in early November will determine whether the bank is in compliance. 

Crossland said it retained three investment bankers to assist it in developing and implementing a financial restructuring plan.
It wouldn't identify the bankers. 

Additionally, Crossland reported a third-quarter loss of $175.5 million, or $13.44 a share, compared with net income of $27.1 million, or $1.16 a share, a year ago.
A major factor in the third-quarter loss was the write-down of $143.6 million of goodwill. 

The spokesman said that the proposed guidelines caused Crossland to revise its business objectives and, consequently, to write down the asset value of some previous acquisitions.
Crossland recorded an additional $20 million in loan loss reserves in the third quarter. 

Net interest income for the third quarter declined to $35.6 million from $70.1 million a year ago.
However, non-interest income rose to $23.5 million from $22 million.
Third-quarter loan originations dropped sharply to $663 million from $1 billion a year ago. 

Standard & Poor's Corp. lowered the rating on Crossland's preferred stock to double-C from single-B-minus and placed it on CreditWatch for possible further downgrade.
It also placed on CreditWatch for possible downgrade other securities, including the double-B-minus/B rating of Crossland's certificates of deposit and the single-B rating of its senior subordinated capital notes.
About $518 million of debt is affected. 




Document 001001554 ends.


	
Beijing, 3 Feb (Xinhua)-- In his recent State of the Union address, US President Bush quite unexpectedly labeled Iran, Iraq, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea [DPRK] as an "axis of evil." That statement immediately caused extensive controversy. It goes without saying that the three countries mentioned reacted strongly to it and other countries also found it very abrupt, so they all started trying to decipher the message within. Does an "axis of evil" really exist in today's world? The answer should be negative. 
	
	
 At the mention of the word "axis," one would inevitably be reminded of the military alliance formed by fascist Germany, Italy, and Japan during World War II in the 1940's. That military alliance was powerful and constantly on a quest of expansion. It was brutal and reeked of blood, turning the whole world upside down. Their cause was an unjust one and therefore had little support. They were destined to collapse, disintegrate, and meet with a total failure; their reputation was ruined in historical records; and they earned eternal notoriety. Obviously, the "title" of "axis" is something in international relations that every country would do anything to avoid, so Iran, Iraq, and the DPRK naturally want to clean themselves of the dirty water that someone else have thrown on them. 
	
	
 To form an "axis," it is imperative to form an alliance, but there is no alliance whatsoever among Iran, Iraq, and the DPRK. In particular, Iran and Iraq are at loggerheads with each other to this day. In terms of strength, these three countries cannot be mentioned in the same breath as Germany, Italy, and Japan in the 1940's. Quite on the contrary, these three are all developing nations and have experienced slow economic development because of sanctions imposed by the West, so there is no chance of them boosting their military strength significantly. 
	
	
 That being the case, why has the only superpower in today's world insisted that they are the new "axis of evil?" According to President Bush, all these three countries "sponsor terrorism" and attempt to "develop weapons of mass destruction." But so far, there has been no conclusive evidence indicating that the government of any of them was involved in the "11 September" incident of terrorist attacks that happened in the United States last year. Moreover, Iran made a clear stand in support of the war against terror after the incident. As to whether or not they have developed weapons of mass destruction, all three countries have denied it, but the United States does not believe them. However, even if they did have this kind of weapons, who would dare to use them against the United States, the world's number one nuclear nation, either directly or indirectly through terrorists, while risking the danger of being completely annihilated? Actually, these three countries do have one common denominator, i.e., that their values and polices do not agree with those of the United States and none of them are on good terms with the United States. That is why many people suspect the purpose of the United States' putting Iran, Iraq, and the DPRK in the box of "evil axis" is to prepare public opinion for possible strikes against these old foes under the banner of fighting terror. 
	
	
 At present, very few in the international community have responded in favor of the theory of "evil axis," because many countries, including China, have made clear their stand against willful expansion of the war against terror. The other day, Russian Foreign Minister Ivanov said: "It is unacceptable to Russia to mechanically extend the scope of antiterrorist action to any country, including Iraq." Furthermore, the Russian side has stressed time and time again that the United States' accusations against Iran, Iraq, and the DPRK should be settled within the UN framework and raised objections to any hostile action against these three countries without authorization from the Security Council. In fact, even the US ally, Britain, and other Western countries have indicated that the antiterrorist military action should be conducted with restraint, for otherwise the danger of losing control will emerge. It seems that the market for the theory of "evil axis" is still limited. 
	
	
	





Document 001001555 ends.


 
   
   
      
         
            Even More "Proving Rape"

            Chatterbox feels that the Wall Street Journal editorial page's
coverage of Juanita Broaddrick's rape charges against Bill Clinton (see
"Proving
Rape ," "More Proving
Rape," as well as Michael Kinsley's
"Readme"column in the current issue) cries out for the introduction of the
Scientific Method into the usually mushy business of assessing press
responsibility. With that in mind, Chatterbox hereby inaugurates the
Intellectual Dishonesty (henceforth to be known as the Indis )
Index . Here's how it works: Publications that refuse to acknowledge
(even if to refute the importance of) highly significant but inconvenient facts
in their news or opinion coverage of controversial events will score one
point for the initial offense. They will then score one point for
every subsequent issue or broadcast or Internet posting after the first offense
is noted by Chatterbox if they continue not to report said inconvenient
fact--and an additional two points on days when the news organization
runs a follow-up without making note of said inconvenient fact.
Publications receiving a score of 10 will be inducted into the Indis Hall of
Fame . Publications that get all the way up to 20 will be faxed a likeness
of Joseph Stalin. (Chatterbox would prefer not to invoke the phrase
"intellectual dishonesty," because it's pompous and falsely suggests that only
intellectuals can be intellectually dishonest. But Chatterbox doesn't know any
other easily understandable phrase that describes this particular kind of
offense.)

            For the purposes of this survey, the Wall Street Journal will be
counted as a separate and distinct publication from the Journal 's
editorial page, because, in essence, it is.

            The Journal editorial page continues not to acknowledge that Norma
Kelsey, the friend and employee to Juanita Broaddrick who is one of two people
partially corroborating Broaddrick's rape accusation, is the daughter of a man
whose murderer was pardoned by Gov. Bill Clinton. (A responsible account of the
whole controversy in today's New York Times reports that Kelsey says the pardon
had nothing to do with her corroboration.) The Journal editorial page
gets one point for failing to note the pardon in its initial Op-Ed by
Dorothy Rabinowitz on Feb. 19. Because it has published three times since the
initial omission, it scores an additional three points. And because it
published an editorial Feb. 22 taunting the rest of the press for not following
it on the story--and still didn't mention the pardon--it scores an extra
two points. That comes to a total of six . Chatterbox feels
certain that the Journal editorial page will provide some follow-up
tomorrow to tonight's NBC broadcast of its own Broaddrick interview, which
means that if the Journal editorial page continues to take no action it
will be in the Indis Hall of Fame by Monday at the latest!

            Chatterbox considered but rejected the idea of awarding Rabinowitz bonus
points for having "eventually convinced" Broaddrick to grant an interview to
the New York Times (as the Times reports in today's story). But
the Scientific Method does not permit any tinkering with the Indis
Index 's scoring procedures. And besides, Rabinowitz's efforts on the
Times ' behalf weren't really unethical, just puzzling, given the two
newspapers' intense rivalry. When Chatterbox asked the Journal 's DC
bureau chief, Alan Murray, who exercised good judgment in not breaking
the Broaddrick story (and--full disclosure-- is Chatterbox's former boss), to
comment about a Journal employee's feeding sources to the Times ,
he replied: "I don't really have any comment on what the edit page did. They do
their thing, we do ours." Which is what Journal news employees are
instructed to say whenever the editorial page causes them cringing
embarrassment.

            For her part, Rabinowitz explains to Chatterbox that her efforts on behalf
of the Times were more indifferent than the Times made them
sound. "Ms. Broaddrick told me Sunday that a Times reporter had appeared
at the house in the a.m., and that she had refused an interview," Rabinowitz
writes in an e-mail message. "I asked her why she had decided to talk to the
New York Post 's Steve Dunleavy, and refused a Times reporter. She
said Dunleavy caught her by surprise. She asked if I thought it would be all
right to talk to the Times reporter. I told her it would be--certainly
as all right as talking to Dunleavy. She said, 'Well, I'm sorry I didn't.' She
said she would if he called again. I passed this on to [ Times reporter]
Felicity Barringer during our second day's interview chat. So--that's how it
happens that in the New York Times piece today I'm
described--solemnly--as having 'eventually convinced' her to repeat the story
to the New York Times."

            
               --Timothy Noah
            

         
      
   



Document 001001556 ends.


	
TOKYO, Feb 17 (AFP) - Some 300 people demonstrated in Tokyo Sunday against US bases in Japan and the US military campaign in Afghanistan ahead of President George W. Bush's arrival for an official visit. 
	
	
 Demonstrators carried banners which read, "US must stop war. US bases out now from Okinawa." The Japanese southern island hosts 25,000 of the 51,000 US troops stationed in Japan. 
	
	
 The peaceful protest was held at Ebisu park some four kilometers (2.5 miles) west of the US embassy, where the US president is to stay until Tuesday. No one was arrested, police said. 
	
	
 "We firmly oppose Bush's war expansion policy," said Kenju Watanabe, an official of Japan-South Korea People Solidarity, a Tokyo-based citizens' group at the rally. 
	
	
 The government plans to deploy some 18,000 police to boost security during Bush's first visit to Japan as president. 
	
	
 "We are also against Japan's cooperation with the United States over any military action," Watanabe said. 
	
	
 Two Japanese warships left for the Indian Ocean on Tuesday to replace vessels already there in support of US-led military operations in Afghanistan. 
	
	
 The Japanese parliament passed a law last October allowing its military to give medical and logistical support to US forces in any action against Taliban-ruled Afghanistan but only in "non-combat zones." 
	
	
 It was the first time since World War II that parliament had passed legislation allowing Japanese troops to support US military action outside Japan and surrounding areas. 
	
	
 Another rally was held near the US embassy by some 50 members of environmental non-governmental organizations against a US alternative to the Kyoto climate change treaty. 
	
	
 Protesters carried banners reading "Ratify the Kyoto Protocol" and "Koizumi say 'No' to Bush: Stick to Kyoto Protocol." 
	
	
 On Thursday, Bush unveiled an alternative to the treaty he spurned last year, but some environmentalists claim that the proposal only benefits corporate America. 
	
	
	





Document 001001557 ends.


	
Burundi: Abducted fishermen released by rebels in southwest - agency 
	
	
 Text of report by Burundi news agency Azania 
	
	
 The 28 fishermen who were abducted on Tuesday [28 August] morning in Lake Tanganyika have been released without any ransom being paid. According to reports received from family members in Rumonge [southwestern Burundi], the fishermen were freed by their kidnappers, the FDD-FNL [Forces for the Defence of Democracy-National Liberation Forces] rebels, who had confused the fishermen's boat to be that of the Burundi army.	





Document 001001558 ends.


                    
                  
                            
                     
        
                         
                                                                      
                                                                         
      
       
              
                      
                                                                                  
                                           
                                                                                                                                       
                               
                                                     
                                          
                 
                                  
                            
                                 
                         
                                     
                                                                                        
                 
                                                                                                  
                              
                                              
                                                              
                                                                
                                   
                                                                                   



         
      Kim:
I have completed the invoices for April, May and June and we owe Pasadena each month for a total of $3,615,910.62.  I am waiting to hear back from Patti on May and June to make sure they are okay with her.  Do you want me to pay Pasadena on Friday for these months or do you want me to hold off until I finish July and August?  Again, I do not have all of the information for July and August, so I cannot give you any numbers.  If I go by what is currently in the system as a guide, Pasadena would owe Enron a little over $1 mil.  I need to forecast the money today, so please let me know what you would like to do.

FYI-I will be out of the office all next week.

Megan

       
          

                 

       
                  
                            
                     
        
                             
                                                                           
                                                                    
      
       
              
                    
                                                                                  

         
      Thanks you so much for working on these as fast as you have - there was a priority in getting them out.  However, as you know, the less cash outlay that we have right now the better.  Lets wait and try to offset the amount we owe them with what they owe us - so I say wait until you get July and August done.  What do you think the time frame is on this?  And when would be the earliest that we would make the payment?

Thanks,

Kim

                          
                      
                                          
                         
                         

Kim:
I have completed the invoices for April, May and June and we owe Pasadena each month for a total of $3,615,910.62.  I am waiting to hear back from Patti on May and June to make sure they are okay with her.  Do you want me to pay Pasadena on Friday for these months or do you want me to hold off until I finish July and August?  Again, I do not have all of the information for July and August, so I cannot give you any numbers.  If I go by what is currently in the system as a guide, Pasadena would owe Enron a little over $1 mil.  I need to forecast the money today, so please let me know what you would like to do.

FYI-I will be out of the office all next week.

Megan

       
          

                 

       



                                          
                  
                            
                     
        
                             
                                                                           
                                                                    
      
       
              
                    
                                                                                  

         
      Patti is the one with the details, I'm just the deal maker and don't have access to any of the systems.  All I know is what fixed priced baseload deals we have.  I have no idea what flows.  I hope Patti can help you soon.  Let me know if you don't hear from her today.

Thanks,

Kim

                          
                      
                                          
                         
                             

If I can get all of the information today, I can tell you this afternoon.  It doesn't take long to create the calc sheets.  I understand from Janine that you or Patti can provide me with the detail that I need.  If necessary, I can come pick it up.  I have sent Patti a list.

For payment, we have to forecast the money two days out.  So, if I know today, I can pay on Friday.

Megan

                          
                              
                                          
                 
                             

Thanks you so much for working on these as fast as you have - there was a priority in getting them out.  However, as you know, the less cash outlay that we have right now the better.  Lets wait and try to offset the amount we owe them with what they owe us - so I say wait until you get July and August done.  What do you think the time frame is on this?  And when would be the earliest that we would make the payment?

Thanks,

Kim

                          
                      
                                          
                         
                         

Kim:
I have completed the invoices for April, May and June and we owe Pasadena each month for a total of $3,615,910.62.  I am waiting to hear back from Patti on May and June to make sure they are okay with her.  Do you want me to pay Pasadena on Friday for these months or do you want me to hold off until I finish July and August?  Again, I do not have all of the information for July and August, so I cannot give you any numbers.  If I go by what is currently in the system as a guide, Pasadena would owe Enron a little over $1 mil.  I need to forecast the money today, so please let me know what you would like to do.

FYI-I will be out of the office all next week.

Megan

       
          

                 

       



                                           
                  
                            
                     
             
        
                             
                                                                           
                                                                    
      
       
              
                    
                                                                                  

         
      thats fine - we can't pay them anyway


                          
                      
                                           
                         
                             

I'll check with Patti later today.

On payment...We are now having to forecast five days out.  If I don't know today, I cannot pay Pasadena until next Thursday.  

Megan

                          
                              
                                          
                 
                             

Patti is the one with the details, I'm just the deal maker and don't have access to any of the systems.  All I know is what fixed priced baseload deals we have.  I have no idea what flows.  I hope Patti can help you soon.  Let me know if you don't hear from her today.

Thanks,

Kim

                          
                      
                                          
                         
                             

If I can get all of the information today, I can tell you this afternoon.  It doesn't take long to create the calc sheets.  I understand from Janine that you or Patti can provide me with the detail that I need.  If necessary, I can come pick it up.  I have sent Patti a list.

For payment, we have to forecast the money two days out.  So, if I know today, I can pay on Friday.

Megan

                          
                              
                                          
                 
                             

Thanks you so much for working on these as fast as you have - there was a priority in getting them out.  However, as you know, the less cash outlay that we have right now the better.  Lets wait and try to offset the amount we owe them with what they owe us - so I say wait until you get July and August done.  What do you think the time frame is on this?  And when would be the earliest that we would make the payment?

Thanks,

Kim

                          
                      
                                          
                         
                         

Kim:
I have completed the invoices for April, May and June and we owe Pasadena each month for a total of $3,615,910.62.  I am waiting to hear back from Patti on May and June to make sure they are okay with her.  Do you want me to pay Pasadena on Friday for these months or do you want me to hold off until I finish July and August?  Again, I do not have all of the information for July and August, so I cannot give you any numbers.  If I go by what is currently in the system as a guide, Pasadena would owe Enron a little over $1 mil.  I need to forecast the money today, so please let me know what you would like to do.

FYI-I will be out of the office all next week.

Megan

       
                   
          

                 

       

         





Document 001001561 ends.


	
LONDON, Jan 19 (AFP) -- British members of parliament Saturday [19 January] called for a meeting with the US ambassador and urged the government to make a clear statement in response to growing concerns about the treatment of al-Qa'ida suspects, including three Britons, held at an US detention centre in Cuba. 
	
	
 The cross-party Parliamentary Human Rights Committee said it was lobbying for a meeting with US ambassador to London William Farish over fears that the 110 detainees held at Camp X-Ray, Guantanamo Bay, are being kept in inhumane conditions. 
	
	
 The makeshift outdoor facility houses single cells, each with a concrete floor, wooden roof and chain-link walls. 
	
	
 The United States says the detainees are illegal combatants, not prisoners of war, and thus do not have rights under the Geneva Convention of 1949, which sets out the laws of war. 
	
	
 London meanwhile insists it supports US reassurances that the men are being treated humanely. 
	
	
 Ann Clwyd, chairperson for the committee and a member of the ruling Labour party, said it was "playing with words" to suggest that the detainees were not prisoners of war. 
	
	
 Clwyd said the purpose of meeting Farish was to "to voice concern about the treatment of all the people taken prisoner in Afghanistan, not just the ones being held in Cuba, and we want an acceptance that they are prisoners of war." 
	
	
 She added that there was "substantial concern" among Labour members and called for a government statement on the situation. 
	
	
 "It's time we had a clear statement on the position of the prisoners and what the British role now is. We fought the war shoulder to shoulder, now it seems that we are being frozen out of the aftermath. 
	
	
 "It's time we became much firmer with the Americans and insisted on the human rights we are all signed up to." 
	
	
 The government has sent a team of officials to the camp to assess the conditions of the British prisoners. 
	
	
 Newspaper reports here Saturday said that it had also sent intelligence agents to interrogate the detainees, something the Foreign Office refused to comment on.	





Document 001001562 ends.


	
A cargo ship intercepted in the Channel after a tip-off that it might be carrying terrorist materials was today given the all clear, police said. 
	
	
 The 450ft long vessel Nisha, carrying 26,000 tonnes [metric tons] of raw sugar, was stopped on Friday morning [21 December] amid fears it could be transporting noxious, hazardous or dangerous substances. 
	
	
 But after a detailed examination of the ship, which is currently moored off the Isle of Wight, nothing suspicious was found, police said. 
	
	
 Assistant Commissioner David Veness, head of Scotland Yard's specialist operations, said: "New information, combined with the relentless efforts of scientific experts, our detailed knowledge of the ship and its movements, and very careful examination of the vessel over the last three days leads us to be completely satisfied that the Nisha is not a suspicious vessel and does not pose a danger." 
	
	
 The Nisha was halted by anti-terrorist police, the Royal Navy and Customs and Excise officials after a tip-off that it contained "terrorist material" and the Royal Navy frigate HMS Sutherland intercepted her in international waters, about 30 miles south of Beachy Head. 
	
	
 The MV Nisha is operated by the Great Eastern Shipping Company, based in Bombay, India. 
	
	
 It had recently stopped in the east African country of Djibouti, a neighbour of Somalia, which has been linked to Usama Bin Ladin's al Qa'ida terror network. 
	
	
 The ship had sailed from Mauritius and was carrying a cargo of sugar to the Tate &amp;amp; Lyle refinery on the Thames at Silvertown in east London, according to the company. 
	
	
 Police had earlier indicated they expected the search to take a number of weeks, because of the vessel's size and design, but experts completed the job today. 
	
	
 Anti-terrorist officers said they were also satisfied that the ship's crew and owners had not committed any offence. 
	
	
 Mr Veness said the ship was now in a position to continue its journey, but completion of the voyage was still subject to consultation with all interested parties. 
	
	
 He added: "We have not detected any signs of interference and we do not believe that the seals of the holds have been interfered with. 
	
	
 "We had anticipated that detailed examination of the ship might take rather longer. This was to ensure that there was no chance of risk to the public. 
	
	
 "The cargo ship Nisha was intercepted and boarded as part of an intelligence-led operation. 
	
	
 "This was the right and proper course of action to take. Thankfully, the ship has been proved not to pose a danger to the public." 
	
	
 Mr Veness praised the crew and ship's owners for their co-operation and said: "We remain vigilant and are totally committed to ensuring the safety of the public. 
	
	
 "We would take similar action in the future if there was a potential risk to the public." 
	
	
 The Nisha's cargo of raw sugar is owned by the Mauritius Sugar Syndicate, which had chartered the vessel, and the vessel was due to dock in east London yesterday. 
	
	
 The chairman of the British arm of the Great Eastern Shipping Company, Sudhir Mulji, confirmed that the vessel had stopped over at Djibouti before its current journey to drop off American grain as part of a food aid shipment. 
	
	
 The ship then went on to Mauritius to pick up the sugar and left on November 20 to transport it to Britain. 
	
	
 The Great Eastern Shipping Company, which has offices in India, London, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, is a leading Indian shipping and offshore service provider with a fleet of 38 cargo-carrying vessels.	





Document 001001563 ends.


	
[Headline of editorial] By Adbolhassan Sobhani "Pot Calling the Kettle Black" 
	
	
 Addressing Friday worshippers gathered at Tehran University, Iran's former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on Friday criticized the treatment of Taleban and Al-Qa'idah prisoners in Guantanamo military base in Cuba. The former president and current chairman of the Expediency Council said that these prisoners are put in chain, in cages in summer and in winter. He said that the Americans are treating these prisoners like "an ostrich". They neither believe that these prisoners are truly prisoners, nor do they believe that they are "captives." After pointing its finger of blame at tens of regimes and governments around the world for decades. Washington needs to review its own history of crimes against humanity, especially the non-WASP humanity. What is non-WASP humanity? Non-White Anglo-Saxon-Protestant humanity is that part of humanity whose eyes are not bluest of the blue and whose hair is not blondest of the blonde. According to Americans, this sort of humanity does not qualify for any of the laws that have been legislated by international organizations, by any accepted world conventions. (John Walker, "the American Taleban" has not been taken to Guantanamo because he is not part of the non-WASP humanity). The treatment of Al-Qa'idah and Taleban prisoners will go down in history as the most shameful detentions in the history of post-war incarceration in the 21st century. The US President George W. Bush has said that he does not recognize the detainees in Guantanamo military base as war captives, and hence he will not accord them the rights and privileges that they would automatically get under Geneva Convention. The argument by Bush is that these detainees are members of a terrorist group and hence they do not qualify as members of a defeated country or an army. Even if we assume that George W. Bush has a point in making this argument, it is not up to him to decide who is a captive or who is not a captive. An international tribunal consisting of experts on international law should decide on this issue, not Mr. Bush whose knowledge of international law leaves plenty to be desired. The world is watching how the US is treating the detainees in Guantanamo. The world well remembers how the United States has been calling other countries as violators of human rights, while it has been involved in one of the grossest type of human rights violations. The case of the United States is like the case of that pot who called the kettle black. If the United States is truly committed to human rights, it should show it in its treatment of the detainees that it has transported in chain to another side of the globe. This is in no way defending the Taleban or the Al-Qa'idah members, some of whom might be guilty of the most heinous crimes against the poor oppressed people in Afghanistan. The point is that if the United States keeps pontificating and preaching about human rights, it can't suddenly forget about its past lectures to other countries and nations. [end] 
	
	
	





Document 001001564 ends.


	
President Hugo Chavez has warned that certain sectors have once again taken up the idea of looking forceful way out in Venezuela, either through a coup or an attack that would end his life. He added that for that purpose they are seeking someone in the FAN [National Armed Forces] who could assume power in Venezuela. 
	
	
 "Since they have realized that this train is not stopping and that they are not going to stop it or run it off the track, ideas about destabilization have once again surfaced. Once again, ideas that Chavez has to be killed, that four shots would solve the problem, have emerged. It is a futile illusion because it is a lie. Even if such a thing were to happen, it would not solve the problem," the president said during his year-end message to the Vargas and Caracas garrisons, speaking from the Caracas Poliedro. 
	
	
 Chavez added that "they are going around looking for a Pinochet, analyzing man by man to see who could be the Pinochet that they could pit against Chavez, and I am sure that there is no Pinochet in the FAN. I would venture to assure you that," he said. 
	
	
 The president charged that attacks targeting his person have gone on for over 10 years, and that he has been accused, among other things, of ties with the guerrillas, of buying arms and trying to set up a communist regime in Venezuela. He added that he would not find it at all strange if, at some time or other, they even managed to connect him with the terrorist Usama Bin Ladin, because he is sure that his opponents will use any strategy to try to discredit him. 
	
	
 Chavez said that more efforts would be made in 2002 to get the country moving ahead since he believes that it will be quite difficult politically, economically and socially. He noted that as the year draws to a close, the indicators are positive for Venezuela, then emphasized that the country has regained such internationally recognized posts as the presidency of the Group of the 15 and the Group of the 77. 
	
	
 The president complained about the mass media, accusing them of reporting whatever suits them. He pointed out that his annoyance does not extend to the journalists, but is directed at the owners of newspapers and radio and television broadcasting stations. 
	
	
 As for Argentina's decision not to pay its debt, the president said the measure would give the economy and people some breathing room. He wished the new Argentine Government good luck and is confident that it will get the country moving forward. 
	
	
 Chavez recalled that only a few years ago, Argentina was depicted as the model to follow. Now, however, the situation has reversed negatively as a result of the neoliberal policy to which he is opposed. He said that Venezuela was led away from that path because the same thing would have happened here. 
	
	
 The chief of state also recalled that the previous governments viewed the Colombian guerrillas as enemies of Venezuela, which led to operations in Colombian territory to attack the rebel groups. In his opinion, this was a serious error that resulted in victims and loss of Venezuelan lives because we were meddling directly in an internal conflict in Colombia." [quotation marks as published] 
	
	
 "We were meddling in an internal conflict of another country, which is a violation of international law and which in turn gave the guerrillas the right to attack our military units." 
	
	
	





Document 001001566 ends.


	
Paris -- The French Armed Forces' operations abroad in 2001 will have entailed an overspend of 3.290 billion Francs [Fr]. The expenditure has not increased much from 2000, since during that year it totalled Fr3.255 billion. The financial impact of operations in Afghanistan, which are expected to mobilize some 5,000 men, will not take effect until 2002. Outside Afghanistan, and outside Africa, under the terms of its defense agreements, France has deployed in 2001 some 10,750 members of its Armed Forces and of the gendarmerie, most of the personnel being stationed in Kosovo (5,890) and Bosnia-Herzegovina (2,820.) 
	
	
	





Document 001001569 ends.



Finance Minister of Argentina Resigns Post

 



  The uncertainty of Argentina's precarious financial situation 
deepened yesterday when Daniel Marx, the finance secretary, 
resigned.

  Mr. Marx stepped down as Argentina paid $700 million in 
short-term debt owed to local banks by forcing pension funds to 
buy government bonds. The payment was the first of two in 
December that would hold off a default on its public debt.. 
Argentina has been struggling to contain its public debt, now 
totaling about $132 billion, after four years of recession.

  In discussing his decision, Mr. Marx suggested that it was time 
for someone else to oversee the government's negotiations with 
its creditors. "It's a cycle," he said. "I had also some 
personal things to deal with."

  Mr. Marx added that he would still work with the government, in 
a capacity that had not yet been formalized. "I agreed to 
continue to work on the national debt issues for Argentina," he 
said.

  In the last few weeks, working with the economy minister, 
Domingo Cavallo, Mr. Marx had been trying to persuade 
Argentina's foreign creditors to accept lower interest rates on 
existing debts. Domestic creditors already agreed, under some 
duress, to swap roughly $40 billion in obligations for new 
loans. Mr. Marx said that his foreign consultations had been 
proceeding "according to schedule."

  There was no doubt, however, that Mr. Marx's job had recently 
become tougher. The International Monetary Fund decided last 
week to delay the release of $1.3 billion in aid, which is 
needed to cover a budget shortfall. During the last few months, 
political infighting has eroded the government's ability to 
adhere to the zero-deficit rule favored by the I.M.F. and 
promised by Mr. Cavallo.

  Mr. Marx's resignation also followed a national strike on 
Thursday by union members, shopkeepers and unemployed workers, 
which brought the country close to a standstill. The strikers 
were protesting federal budget cuts and restrictions on 
withdrawals from bank accounts.

  Mr. Cavallo instituted the banking controls on Dec. 1 to stave 
off a run on Argentina's banks. Depositors who worried that the 
peso's fixed one-to-one exchange rate with the dollar was about 
to be broken by a devaluation, despite Mr. Cavallo's insistence 
to the contrary, were withdrawing dollars from bank accounts. A 
sudden, widespread drop in deposits threatened to choke economic 
activity and worsen the country's financial troubles.

  The controls were a sign of the financial pressures on 
Argentina, according to Vincent Truglia, an analyst at Moody's 
(news/quote). "They were indicative of the very difficult 
situation that the country was in and continues to be in," he 
said.

  Mr. Marx declined to say in an interview whether he had favored 
imposing the restrictions.

  Mr. Marx became finance secretary in December 1999 after a 
career in private finance and a stint on the board of 
Argentina's central bank. The finance secretary is effectively 
the economy minister's deputy, with specific responsibility for 
the public debt.

  Mr. Marx kept his job through the resignation and replacement of 
two economy ministers, Jose Luis Machinea and Ricardo 
Lopez-Murphy, and the return of Mr. Cavallo to government. His 
technical knowledge and strong relations with Argentina's 
foreign creditors won him considerable respect at home and 
abroad.

  Mr. Marx is known for favoring market-based rather than 
regulatory solutions to economic problems, a reputation shared 
by Julio Dreizzen, who resigned as finance undersecretary on 
Oct. 29, citing personal reasons.

  Mr. Marx's departure may pave the way for Miguel Kiguel, an 
economist from the Justicialist opposition party, to join Mr. 
Cavallo's team. On Thursday, Argentina's president, Fernando de 
la Rua  met with Carlos Sa?nem, a former president and 
leader of the Justicialists, to discuss economic strategy. The 
appointment of Mr. Kiguel to succeed Mr. Marx may be seen as a 
way to bring the Justicialists into Mr. De La Rua's ruling 
coalition, forming a sort of national unity government to 
address the economy.



Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company




Document 001001570 ends.


	
The dismissal in Venezuela of Minister of Interior and Justice Luis Miquilena, who up to that point had been the central figure in the process that put Hugo Chavez in power, again triggers the red light in those countries which, like Argentina and Colombia, border on Brazil. Dramatic things may be happening in the Venezuelan situation, and it is more than time for Brazilian diplomats to take notice of South American necessities. 
	
	
 It has long been known that President Fernando Henrique Cardoso has influence on Chavez, who has asked him for advice more than once. The US Government itself considers him a kind of link for dealing with the situation in Venezuela. That situation has changed considerably since Chavez issued, by decree, a package of 49 laws of a nationalizing character. Those laws affect almost everything in the country, from petroleum to land ownership. Shortly after that, on the occasion of the attack on the twin towers in New York, Chavez said that the US reaction to Taliban terrorism was also a terrorist act, thereby straining his relations with Washington. 
	
	
 Chavez' short but tumultuous time in power, which he achieved by electoral means following a failed mutiny, arouses fears concerning the future of Latin America's oldest democracy. From election to election and plebiscite to plebiscite, Venezuela is moving rapidly toward a "legal coup" that may be the logical consequence of the clashes inside Miraflores Palace. 
	
	
 While on the outside the population expresses its discontent with resounding pots-and-pans demonstrations, cracks are appearing inside the government among the 13 parties that supported Chavez in his rise to political power. It was to be expected that the new laws--a consequence of the economic crisis--would have different effects on the union leaders, radical left-wing politicians, and populist militants represented in the government. Bad government management complicates any situation. 
	
	
 The changes made by Chavez in his team expose the cracks in the coalition. In response to the reaction in the street, the radical wing opposes any agreement with opposition groups. The moderate wing supports dialogue with the opposition to try to reduce political tension. As the opposition raises its head, the climate of plots takes shape. The noise from the pots and pans does a poor job of hiding the opposition's desire to launch a kind of civil disobedience, an indication that Venezuela has finally entered a dangerous stage. 
	
	
 Venezuela's economic situation forms a wretched background for the ideological experiments of the Bolivarian Constitution that Chavez got approved by plebiscite. The worst recession in recent decades has been alleviated only by the recent increase in petroleum prices. Eight hundred firms have closed their doors. Half the active population is in the informal economy. All of that stands in brutal contrast to the 1970's, the decade of the petroleum boom, when Andres Perez was the "socialist Little Father." Over $200 billion in royalties was squandered with no benefit at all for the population. When the price of petroleum fell the first time, the Venezuelan economy went down the drain. 
	
	
 The electoral path followed by Chavez when his attempt at an open coup failed may now be the aperitif for the probable "democratic coup" that is being prepared from the inside out. 
	
	
	





Document 001001571 ends.


	
GROZNY/MOSCOW. April 11 (Interfax) - A source in Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Thursday that it could be stated "with a large degree of confidence" that Jordanian-born Chechen rebel warlord Khattab was killed in a Russian "intelligence and combat operation." 
	
	
 "One can say this with a large degree of confidence as, in the past two months, Khattab has not made his presence obvious in any way - he hasn't been on air, and actions by militants in the region controlled by Khattab are uncoordinated too. Reports by our informers also confirm the likelihood of his death," the source said. 
	
	
 The source, who had taken part in the operation, did not disclose its dates. 
	
	
 "An agent from among the Arabs who are fighting in Chechnya had earlier been recruited by the special services of one of the states in the CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States] and was involved in the operation to liquidate Khattab," he said. 
	
	
 The source, interviewed by Interfax in Grozny, expressed confidence that that the command of the Russian forces in Chechnya would soon "be able to obtain documentary confirmation" that Khattab was dead. 
	
	
 Official FSB sources in Moscow, when asked by Interfax, declined to make any comments. 
	
	
 Nor has Interfax been able to obtain confirmation from any other source. 
	
	
 Repeated reports last year and this year said Khattab had been killed, but none of them has been confirmed by documentation.	





Document 001001574 ends.


       

Consolidated Freightways Inc. reported a 77% drop in third-quarter net income, citing expected losses in its Emery Worldwide shipping business. 

The Menlo Park, Calif., company said net was $7.4 million, or 22 cents a share, down from $32.3 million, or 86 cents a share, a year ago.
Revenue totaled $1.01 billion, a 43% increase from $704.4 million, reflecting the company's acquisition of Emery earlier this year. 

Profit also suffered because of "intense" discounting in its long-haul trucking business, the company said. 

Analysts had expected Consolidated to post a slim profit, and the company's stock was down only 25 cents to $30.25 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday. "They have to continue to tighten their belts," said Craig Kloner, an analyst at Goldman, Sachs & Co. 




Document 001001575 ends.


       

Young's Market Co., a wholesaler of spirits, wines and other goods, said it will merge with a new corporation formed by the Underwood family, which controls Young's. 

Under terms of the agreement, shareholders other than the Underwoods will receive $3,500 a share at closing, which is expected in December.
The Underwood family said that holders of more than a majority of the stock of the company have approved the transaction by written consent. 




Document 001001583 ends.


	
On Sunday [25 November], the Belgian Army will begin relieving its troops that are stationed in Kosovo within the scope of the NATO-led peace force (KFOR [Kosovo Force]). The replacement force will also include a Luxembourg contingent -- as has been the case since 1999 -- as well as a Romanian company including 84 troops. The army announced this on Friday [23 November]. The relief operation, which will involve some 900 troops, will begin on Saturday and last until 12 December, the Armed Forces' press service pointed out. 
	
	
	





Document 001001584 ends.


	
With all the horrific news that has been coming out of the occupied territories recently and now the shocking swing to the extreme right in the French presidential elections with its threat to France's ethic and religious minorities, virtually no attention has been paid to the reported discovery that two serving US Army officers were involved in the recent failed coup against Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez. 
	
	
 The White House is said to be embarrassed by the report. That must rank as the understatement of the year. The story could have devastating consequence for the Bush administration. A week ago, after Chavez had been reinstated by his supporters, the White House denied any role in the failed military coup, although it admitted that US officials had met Venezuelan opposition leaders beforehand. But they had been told that Chavez, whose friendship with Libya, Iraq and Cuba has angered Washington, should only be replaced by legitimate, constitutional means; the US would not support a coup. 
	
	
 The question now is: Did the White House lie? If it turns out to be true that the two US colonels were involved in the failed attempt, there can be no other conclusion. The two colonels would not have been acting on their own. They must have been under orders -- orders stretching all the way back to the Oval Office. This spells serious trouble for Bush. The whiff of scandal and conspiracy is in the air -- and the American media, ever addicted to conspiracy theories, is not going to let it go. It -- and the opposition Democrats, still smarting at his election victory -- will dig for dirt as long it takes. Even if it finally turns out that the two colonels were operating without the knowledge and approval of the White House, it will be a disaster for Bush. Americans will want to know who exactly is running their country. 
	
	
 For the rest of the world, however, the story already confirms the suspicions that the Bush administration is hell-bent on eliminating its enemies by whatever means possible, legal or illegal. The involvement of US military personnel in the putsch suggests a return to the old days when the CIA would organize coups and assassinations to further US interests. The record is long and to Washington's eternal discredit: the CIA's attempts to kill Fidel Castro, its involvement in the coups in Guatemala in 1954 and in Chile in 1973. President Clinton had, it was thought, closed the book on such nefarious activities. Apparently not. The Clinton era turns out to have been merely an interlude. 
	
	
 Coup making might have been acceptable during the Cold War. It certainly is not any more. Chavez may be a petty-minded populist who had done great damage to his country's economy; but he is also the legitimately elected president of Venezuela. Any US involvement in the attempt to remove him by force puts Washington firmly on the wrong side of international law. What makes it all the worse at this particular point in time is that it makes a mockery of George Bush's war against international terrorism. The world, he says, has to be involved in the struggle against those who seek to attack and destroy law and order and legitimate government. Yet he throws law, order and legitimacy to the wind when it suits him. 
	
	
	





Document 001001588 ends.


	
LONDON, March 7 (AFP) -- The mother of a Briton detained at a US naval base in Cuba set up for alleged Taliban and al-Qa'ida fighters has launched High Court proceedings aimed at forcing Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to arrange legal access for her 22-year-old son. 
	
	
 Lawyers for Zumrati Juma, mother of Feroz Abassi, on Wednesday [6 March] added that they would press the British government to take action to shut down the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where 300 prisoners, including five Britons, are being held. 
	
	
 "We are also seeking an order that the Foreign Secretary should make a protest to the Americans about the circumstances of these unlawful detentions," lawyer Louise Christian said. 
	
	
 "And we are seeking a declaration that the British government demands that Abbasi should not face trial in a military tribunal with the death penalty." 
	
	
 Washington has refused to grant "prisoner of war" status to any of the detainees, captured in Afghanistan during the war on terror, claiming they are "unlawful combatants". 
	
	
 The Red Cross among other international organisations has criticised the United States, saying all prisoners should be protected under international law until a tribunal decides their fate. 
	
	
 The legal application brought Wednesday could see the British government face charges under the Human Rights Act 1998 of "aiding and abetting" the United States in unlawfully detaining the men against United Nations guidelines.	





Document 001001589 ends.


	
Today, in order to find a correct solution to the Middle East issue, it is important to frustrate Israel's territorial ambition and create conditions for Palestine to create an independent state of its own. Apart from this, we cannot talk about the settlement of the Middle East issue. 
	
	
 The great leader [suryong] Comrade Kim Il-song taught: 
	
	
 "Imperialism is the source of war and the disturber of peace." 
	
	
 It is an urgent matter for Israel to withdraw completely from the occupied land of Palestine. 
	
	
 Israel makes itself appear to be withdrawing its troops from some of the occupied Palestinian autonomous areas. On 17 November, Israeli troops pulled out of Tulkarm, a West Bank area of the Jordan River. 
	
	
 However, this is no reason to be optimistic about the situation. 
	
	
 Toward the end of October, Israel declared that it would withdraw from some of the Palestinian autonomous areas where the situation was "relatively calm" and pretended to be abiding by the decision. However, it stopped withdrawing its troops halfway through under the pretext of "unstable situation" and occupied them again. There is no way of knowing whether or not Israel will halt the withdrawal of its troops again under any pretext as it did before. 
	
	
 On 18 November, the following day Israel began withdrawing its troops from Tulkarm, Israeli troops deliberately gunned down two Palestinians in the Palestinian autonomous areas as if they were quarries. On 20 November, the Israeli army bulldozed dwelling houses in the Palestinian autonomous area and even committed such an atrocious act as wounding Palestinians without hesitation. As a result, the situation has become tense again. 
	
	
 It was in fact due to strong international pressure that Israel began withdrawing its troops from the Palestinian autonomous area. 
	
	
 In September last year Israeli Prime Minister Sharon, the then leader of the opposition party, visited a holy place in Kuds [Jerusalem], throwing Israel and Palestine into a fierce fight. Sharon's remarks and behavior that were insulting to the Palestinians infuriated Palestine. The desperate fight even took tolls of women and children. 
	
	
 The clash between Israel and Palestine briefly appeared to be abating in the wake of the large-scale attack incident [taesupkyok sakon] against the United States. However, it has become fierce again after Israeli minister of tourism was assassinated. Taking advantage of this, Israel occupied six cities located in the Palestinian autonomous areas by the use of force. 
	
	
 The United Nations and many countries around the world began paying attention again to the situation in the Middle East that is becoming more complicated. International pressure is on Israel again. 
	
	
 Caving in to the international pressure, the United States pretended to support the creation of an independent Palestinian state. The United States, which is currently waging a war in Afghanistan, tried to shore up support from Arab states and Islamic world through a crafty ruse. Seeing through the US scheme, Israel refused to continue the troop withdrawal from the Palestinian autonomous area. 
	
	
 Israel has never abandoned its aggressive ambitions. 
	
	
 Convinced that the United States can never abandon it completely, Israel is dragging its feet on the withdrawal of troops citing a variety of excuses. 
	
	
 Israel is adamantly against the creation of a completely independent Palestinian state. Israel's scheme is to make Palestine a vassal state and bring it under its control. This is why Israel agreed to discuss the issue of granting independence to Palestine on conditions that Palestine claim only a small piece of territory and waive its right to raise [organize] a regular army. 
	
	
 As such, Israel's territorial ambition is persistent and clever. 
	
	
 The US administration is about to call on Israel to support the creation of a Palestinian state with East Kuds as its capital. 
	
	
 Commenting on this, many Arab states and international opinion emphatically said that it is nothing more than a political stratagem to win support for its war in Afghanistan and to further expand the sphere of its domination in the Middle East. 
	
	
 The United States, which has been in the van of invading other countries, is about to put pressure on Israel, not because it is now more sympathetic to Palestine or finds Palestine more tolerable than before, but because of its own national interests. 
	
	
 It is quite obvious that Israel will employ a crafty trick in the future to realize its burning territorial ambition. It is also obvious that the aggressive US policy toward the Middle East will remain unchanged. 
	
	
 The prospect for the settlement of the Middle East issue is still bleak due to those who stand in the way of the settlement. 
	
	
	





Document 001001591 ends.



Guantanamo's Unhappy Campers

 


Weekly Standard 
February 11, 2002

  
Guantanamo's Unhappy Campers

  
The only abuse the detainees are experiencing is self-inflicted.

  
By Matt Labash

  GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA -- It's 5 A.M. at the Roosevelt Roads Naval 
station in Puerto Rico, and 20 journalists straggle to the gate 
in sleep-deprived silence to catch a plane to Guantanamo Bay. 
Many of us haven't been up this early in years. But after flying 
thousands of miles, then pub-crawling through the streets of Old 
San Juan last night, we are here because our military escorts 
insist we show up at this time, though the flight actually 
leaves four hours later. "The military operates on one 
principle," explains a savvy veteran: "Hurry up and wait."

  If we're not happy, that goes double for our public affairs 
babysitters. "I'm up to my ears in Vieques," says Navy Lt. Corey 
Barker, of the nearby bombing range/public relations fiasco that 
has been protested by everyone from Al Sharpton to obscure 
Kennedys. Now, Barker is stuck minding us as we light out for 
Guantanamo, the American naval station on the southeastern tip 
of Cuba. It is there that 158 al Qaeda/Taliban prisoners are 
being detained because, depending on who you ask, it is an 
ideal, sunny clime, it's not subject to the get-out-of-jail 
escape hatches of U.S. federal law, or because, as one senior 
Pentagon official says, "The lawyers didn't want to go on 
14-hour flights to some guano rock in the Pacific."

  Inside the air terminal, our baggage handlers check us in with 
the efficiency of Bulgarian DMV workers. A sign on the wall says 
"Air Terminal of the Year 2000." "I'd hate to see who got second 
place," whispers one reporter. As we wait for our flight on a 
creaky Pan Am jet, we are shunted off to the "VIP" room, so 
named because it has a coffee pot and seascape paintings that 
look pilfered from a south Florida retirement village. Here, we 
are given our media "indoctrination" packages, never an 
encouraging word if you aspire to reportorial autonomy. As we 
sit watching CNN, an unfounded rumor gains currency. Though it's 
Saturday, and we're supposed to be in Cuba until Monday, the 
military has changed plans and is going to make us leave 
Guantanamo Sunday morning. "One thing's for sure," says a wire 
reporter, "you won't have to sort through all your notes to 
decide what to lead with."

  Fearing an abbreviated schedule, I commence valuable 
newsgathering. Knowing that in some Taliban-held provinces, 
pederasty rivaled headless-goat polo (buzkashi) as the favorite 
pastime, I ask a Naval officer if there are any reports of 
Guantanamo prisoners turning to man-love. "Oh God no," he says. 
"Though there are some Air Force personnel over there, so who 
knows what's going on?"

  Another officer relays something we'll hear repeated often: that 
because of international political pressure, the prisoners are 
getting coddled. The latest report has Army guards directing 
detainees on which way to pray to Mecca. "They're actually going 
to paint arrows on the floors of the cells so they'll know to 
face north," he says. "You mean east," I say. "North, east, 
whatever," he replies, "I'm Lutheran--I don't know where the 
hell it is."

  A FEW hours later, we touch down at the Guantanamo landing strip 
on the isolated leeward side of the base (Gitmo, as it is 
nicknamed, is actually bisected by Guantanamo Bay). After 
getting sniffed by a German shepherd who's more interested in 
bombs than my colleague's Percocet, we're escorted to the media 
center, an ugly wood-paneled affair that sits next to a pink 
hangar. After another hour or two of waiting, a mouthy reporter 
loudly calls his editor so we can all hear him report the 
latest: "Same shit, different day. Though they're really 
cleaning up the media center. Curtains, an air conditioner, even 
a freakin' bulletin board!"

  The hospitality ends there. A stern sign on the bulletin board 
admonishes us to clean up after ourselves. The goodies set out 
on a table (grape beverage powder and apple jelly from 
meals-ready-to-eat packs) practically scream, "Can't wait till 
you leave." Many of us had secretly harbored the fantasy that we 
could talk our overseers into letting us go right up to the 
prisoners' cells, the terrorist equivalent of a field trip to 
the ASPCA.

  But as a gaggle of public affairs officers enter, they lay down 
two immutable laws: There will be no access to detainees (the 
Geneva Convention forbids making them a "public curiosity"). And 
we can go only where the officers take us. Running the public 
affairs show is Army Lt. Col. William Costello, a bearish 
soldier who looks like the kind of guy who enjoys breaking 
things on his face. His hard, dark orbs dart to and fro while he 
delivers a good news/bad news proposition. The good news is 
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld will be visiting the 
detainees' Camp X-Ray the next morning. The bad news is that the 
unfounded rumor is founded--the Pentagon press corps is coming 
with him, and we'll be forced to leave a day early.

  Immediately, an angry media throng closes in on Costello, the 
air now containing an Altamont-like level of violence. "My 
editors are going to crush my nuts," says one reporter, probably 
female. "This is crazy," I say, "How am I supposed to get enough 
material for a piece?" "Not my problem," replies Costello. "This 
is bullshit," thunders another print reporter. "You're making us 
leave as the biggest story gets here." "You're not allowed to 
stay," says Costello. "Why not?" snaps the reporter. Costello's 
blood rises as his high-and-tight haircut stands up like an 
angry-dog scruff: "BECAUSE ... YOU'RE ... NOT ... STAYING!" 
"Welcome to the Pearl of the Antilles," deadpans Lt. Commander 
Brendan McPherson, in a limp cruise-director chirp.

  It's understandable if public affairs types are a little testy. 
There's an obvious culture clash (military personnel don't get 
paid to ask why; journalists don't get paid otherwise). Besides 
that, ever since the detainees started arriving on January 11, 
Gitmo and the joint forces being run under Southern Command have 
experienced the PR equivalent of what my ever-subtle 
colleagues--borrowing from Special Forces terminology for 
disastrous missions--call a "goat f--." In the richest irony of 
the war on terrorism, the Department of Defense, which normally 
goes out of its way not to make news, caused an international 
outcry by releasing still shots of detainees being brought to 
Camp X-Ray.

  As they were transported and in-processed, al Qaeda members were 
photographed kneeling, wearing earmuffs, shackles, and blackout 
goggles. Though these seemed perfectly reasonable precautions to 
take when transporting by C-141 members of an organization 
already responsible for one prison uprising (Mazar-i-Sharif, 
which resulted in a CIA operative's death) and several suicide 
plane crashes, human rights groups and international media, led 
by a chorus of Euro-whiners, immediately lapsed into hysterics.

  The British press, with typical understatement, claimed 
prisoners were being "brutalized, tortured, and humiliated," and 
that the whole operation was nothing more than "a sick attempt 
to appeal to the worst red-neck prejudices." Tony Blair pointed 
out that the three British al Qaeda members being held at Gitmo 
have had no complaints. But that didn't stop the Mirror's 
Stephen Moyes from method reporting by donning an al Qaeda rig. 
"Wrapped in the suffocating orange boiler suit," he wrote, "I 
lost any sense of dignity"--a loss he could have just as easily 
sustained by rereading his own copy.

  Sillier still were protestations from such humanitarians as 
Saddam Hussein and the government of Malaysia (Prime Minister 
Mahathir Mohamad has made some of the loudest noise, though 
Amnesty International dings him for arresting the speechwriter 
of a political rival, who was then blindfolded, stripped naked, 
punched, verbally abused, and forced to simulate homosexual 
acts--none of which is alleged at Camp X-Ray). About the only 
foreign leader who has supported the American detainee camp, 
ironically, is Fidel Castro, who is either angling to end the 
embargo or inching ever closer to dementia. (He declared January 
"Americans' Month" and invited Jimmy Carter for a visit.)

  All of this has made Camp X-Ray personnel a sensitive lot. On 
the ferry crossing over to the windward side where the camp is 
located, I sit next to a now mellow Lt. Col. Costello, who has 
decided to patch things up with the reporter he snapped at, and 
who, after getting the sign-off from Southern Command, has 
cleared us to stay through Rumsfeld's visit. Costello, like many 
Gitmo types, is baffled at the uproar over the prisoners' 
treatment. "Soldiers and Marines that are guarding the detainees 
at Camp X-Ray have worse conditions than the detainees," he 
says. Much has been made over their being kept in outdoor cells, 
invariably called "cages," which are topped with corrugated 
tin-covered wooden roofs that keep what little rain Gitmo gets 
(six inches a year) off the prisoners. Costello says their 
eight-by-eight cells contain about twice as much space as 
soldiers have in their crowded, unventilated tents a few hundred 
yards away.

  "They're getting warm showers, clean laundry, hot chow," 
Costello says of the prisoners. "They're getting 2,600 calories 
a day. I'm not getting 2,600 calories a day. I'm running my ass 
off chasing you guys around." (One of the medics treating 
detainees claims that a full quarter of them were suffering from 
malnutrition when they were captured.)

  But we don't have to take Costello's word for it. We can see for 
ourselves, sort of. After a quick stop at McDonald's (the only 
one in Cuba), our white school bus transports us past beautiful 
seaside vistas and brownish cactus-infested scrub, past 
ramshackle housing and up a hill, which features an abandoned 
auto yard that the locals used to call Sears. It's where they'd 
strip old junkers for parts then used on jerry-rigged jalopies 
called "Gitmo specials."

  Across from Sears is Camp X-Ray, a teeming hive of concertina 
wire, canvas tents, guard towers, and newly constructed plywood 
interrogation shacks with window-unit air conditioners. The 
chain-link cells themselves don't need air conditioning, since a 
comfortable Caribbean breeze (temperatures range from the low 
70s at night to the low 80s during the day) continuously 
circulates through the encampment.

  Restricted to an area about 150 yards away from the open-air 
cellblocks, we observe the camp from a slight elevation that 
CNN's John Zarrella calls "Heartbreak Ridge," so named "because 
if you're a journalist, it breaks your heart that you can't get 
closer." Gitmo has actually been the site of a lot of heartbreak 
over the years.

  It broke Christopher Columbus's, when he stopped here on his 
second New World voyage. He left after failing to find gold, 
threatening to cut off the tongues of his crew if they didn't 
agree to pretend they'd reached Asia. It also rankles Castro, 
who has wanted to throw us off the island for four decades, but 
can't because of a pre-Revolution lease agreement. Likewise, 
when thousands of Cuban rafters were detained here for months in 
the mid-'90s, many grew so unhappy with Gitmo's ghostly 
desolation that they'd do anything to leave, including inject 
diesel fuel into their veins, drive tent stakes into their 
limbs, even swim back to Castro's Cuba.

  By comparison, the al Qaedans look pretty fat, if not happy. 
They laze away in the shade of their cells. They sleep on 
inch-and-a-half-thick isomats, the same ones that are issued to 
our military. With the assistance of a Muslim Navy chaplain, 
they pray five times daily. (Quick studies, the al Qaedans 
didn't need arrows painted on their cell floors. A single 
signpost next to an American flag points the way to Mecca.) And 
while American prisoners in the Hanoi Hilton often spent years 
in solitary confinement and received no medical care (John 
McCain to this day can't comb his own hair), X-Ray detainees get 
daily sick calls from all manner of doctors, from optometrists 
to podiatrists. The prisoners (who represent about 25 different 
nationalities but mostly are Saudis) can also freely chat with 
each other about God knows what: prison uprisings, the demise of 
Talk magazine, trades of Froot Loops for garlic bagel chips.

  Their restroom arrangements are pretty spartan. They get a white 
bucket for emergency squirts, while they are instructed to hold 
two fingers up for the alternative. At that time, a guard 
shackles them and takes them to the port-o-loo. While the 
military has spared no expense in construction costs (in three 
weeks, they built a completely operational field hospital 
staffed by 160 medical personnel--two more than there are 
prisoners), they've saved a fortune in toilet paper. It's the 
detainees' cultural preference not to use any. "We don't shake 
their hands," says one camp guard.

  In addition to the aforementioned amenities, detainees also 
receive two towels, a Koran, a shortened toothbrush (still long 
enough to file into a shiv), a canteen, a bucket of water, 
fluoride toothpaste, and shampoo. Not just any shampoo, but 
"Lively" salon anti-dandruff shampoo--a "luxurious shampoo in a 
gentle formula that restores moisture, shine, and body to your 
beautifully clean hair." Those who think the prisoners are 
getting coddled (Rep. John Mica, a Florida Republican, visited 
the camp and said it's "too good for the bastards") will be 
happy to know that the shampoo is not jojoba-enriched.

  WHILE public affairs officers these days are going to great 
lengths to talk about how docile the prisoners are, detainees 
have been reported biting a guard, spitting, and threatening to 
kill Americans. When I skirt away from my minders and visit the 
Marine snipers' tent, I learn it went well beyond that.

  The snipers, of course, are the camp's deadliest sharpshooters, 
ropy young bucks (21-23 years of age) who seem largely culled 
from the western or southern United States, where firearms are 
often regarded as extra appendages. Their tent looks like a 
Marines-issued college dorm room: Skoal-juice bottles, laundry 
hanging everywhere, and a spade-like sniper insignia banner 
tacked to a tent wall. If there is a prison uprising, it is 
these gentleman who will man the guard towers and introduce the 
rioters to their 72 black-eyed virgins.

  At some point, that might become necessary, they tell me, as 
plotting is obviously afoot. Sgt. Matt Lampert of Montana says 
the other day one of the prisoners was caught "with a piece of 
cloth stuffed with rocks that was tied off at the end." Sgt. 
Rodney Davis says that during chowtime, he sees them through his 
scope "making terrain models out of their food." And unlike say, 
Afghan prisons, where starving detainees are reportedly begging 
to be sent to Gitmo, there's plenty of food to play with. "They 
get fed better than us, sir," says Lampert. When I ask the 
Marines if they've seen anything weird, they laugh sheepishly, 
looking at each other. Finally, Sgt. Josh Westbrook, who sports 
a forearm tattoo of flaming baby heads, steps up. "They know 
they're being watched," he explains, "so they'll stare at you, 
and while they stare at you, they'll, uh, masturbate."

  According to these Marines, they don't just pleasure themselves 
to freak out the snipers, but also to embarrass the female Army 
guards in the camp's interior. The weirdness doesn't end there. 
They've also eaten their toiletries and urinated on equipment. 
"The other day," says Westbrook, "one of the guys tried to do a 
naked cartwheel." In the most bizarre twist, Lance Corporal 
Devin Klebaur says a few have also been known to "put toothpaste 
in their ass." "What's the purpose?" I ask. "I'm not sure," he 
says, puzzled.

  After leaving the snipers, I collar other grunts who say they 
believe the prisoners are more apt to act out whenever they see 
one of the regular visitors from the International Committee of 
the Red Cross enter the camp. "They're looking to be 
disciplined," says one, so that any aggressive guard behavior 
will make it look as if they're being brutalized by the American 
military in front of international witnesses. ICRC visits, says 
another soldier, are the highlight of a prisoner's day, since 
they've been spotted "giving the unshackled prisoners cookies 
and milk, cigarettes, shaking their hands." Many organizations 
who haven't been to Gitmo, like Human Rights Watch, have been 
extremely critical of the prisoners' treatment, while the ICRC 
has aired no complaints. Still, says another soldier, "They're a 
pain in the ass. We see them offering them cookies, hugging them 
like they're best buddies. They're undermining everything we're 
trying to do."

  What we're trying to do isn't exactly clear at this point. We 
are certainly interrogating the prisoners, though base sources 
won't divulge any information that's been gleaned. The prisoners 
will likely be formally charged and tried, though when I called 
a senior Pentagon source to find out by whom and when, the 
source said, "If you find out, will you please tell me?"

  ON SUNDAY, Rumsfeld visits, and we hope for illumination. 
Sitting on a bus on the tarmac, waiting for the secretary to 
emerge from his plane, we pass the time as journalists do, 
discussing the AP-style spelling of "bin Laden," speculating 
whether the prisoners will get an Internet cafe (one of them has 
asked for video games), and making fun of the fresh-meat 
Pentagon press corps, who are overdressed in heavy wools instead 
of our much cooler island linens.

  One of Rumsfeld's security agents mounts our bus, telling us the 
ground rules: no photos on the tarmac, no fighting, no hitting 
Rumsfeld in the head with a boom mike. After Rumsfeld tours Camp 
X-Ray with four senators and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of 
Staff, Richard Myers (who is so overshadowed by the secretary's 
rock star aura that one reporter has to ask who he is), Rumsfeld 
meets the press on Heartbreak Ridge. He gives the sort of hooah 
performance that has endeared him to both the troops and the 
press. While he remains as firm as ever that the detainees are 
"illegal combatants," not "prisoners of war," which would afford 
them more rights under the Geneva Convention, he nicely avoids 
plucking the only hair worth splitting--whether the captives' 
status is his call. (Human rights hawks say the matter should be 
decided by a "competent tribunal," whatever that is.)

  Even if it isn't up to Rumsfeld, the argument seems rather 
academic. It's hard to imagine anyone who has actually read the 
Geneva Convention wanting to confer POW status on alleged al 
Qaeda members. Doing so would not only make the terrorists 
eligible for repatriation to their home countries, but also 
would forbid their being punished for trying to escape, allow 
them to receive "scientific equipment" from home, and even 
confer upon them the right to dentures--in case they lost their 
teeth while, say, biting a guard. Most ludicrous, they would be 
afforded "advances of pay" in an amount "never ... inferior" to 
that which we pay our own armed forces. If you're a terrorist 
from Central Asia, it's not a bad deal: Kill Americans, get 
arrested, then get a pay raise from America.

  With all the global bellyaching about the detainees' right to 
humane treatment, it's hard to imagine them getting better 
treatment than they're already receiving. On my last day at 
Gitmo, all I have time to eat is a stale Ding Dong and a greasy 
plate of onion rings. My public affairs keepers couldn't care 
less. By contrast, for breakfast and lunch alone, the prisoners 
are served oatmeal, an orange, peanut butter, margarine, a 
"culturally appropriate" halal meal, and a giant snack pack 
containing Froot Loops, raisins, a Nature Valley granola bar, 
baked garlic bagel chips, and Bullseye barbecue-seasoned 
sunflower kernels. Still, the overseers of the prison are 
concerned that detainees aren't getting enough pita bread with 
their meals, and they're planning to make the food spicier, just 
the way the prisoners like it back home.

  While we wait, we journalists have to stand in the hot sun most 
of the day. After hours, we are confined to our Consolidated 
Bachelor Quarters, sleeping four to a duplex room on cots, some 
without pillows or blankets. We aren't even allowed to go the 
beach, a few hundred yards away from our building (though, 
emboldened by the rum we imported from Puerto Rico, a colleague 
and I make a mad dash under a guard searchlight for the 
bathwater Caribbean anyway). Besides drinking, our only 
entertainment is a pool table--one cue is cracked, the other is 
missing its tip. The prisoners, by contrast, get to read their 
Korans, while novels and more "religious books" are on the way.

  At the end of their day, they get a good night's sleep in a 
single cell. At the end of our day, we are told that a C-141 
(the same plane that transported the detainees) just became 
available, and we are prematurely hustled off so the military 
can dump us in Nowheresville, New Jersey, on a Sunday night 
after every rental car place in the state has closed.

  Perhaps the international community is right. The treatment 
being meted out at Guantanamo is inhumane. To see for yourself, 
don't bother canvassing Camp X-Ray prisoners. Just get a Gitmo 
press pass.

  
Matt Labash is senior writer at The Weekly Standard.




Document 001001592 ends.


	
Recently, US President Bush, in the State of the Union address he gave before Congress, recklessly picked on our country, saying we develop and possess weapons of mass destruction [WMD]. He then spewed out all kinds of vicious remarks, picking on a few countries, which included our country, as countries that destroy so-called peace of the United States and the world and that we are part of an axis of evil. This markedly reveals [the United States'] extremely dangerous attempt to link our Republic to terrorism by force and crush us at all costs with military strength and is no more than showing, to the international community, Bush to be the most vicious war maniac himself. 
	
	
 As we all know, our Republic is currently exerting every effort possible for peace on and reunification of the Korean peninsula and for the world's peace and security. At the beginning of this year, for instance, our Republic's government clearly conveyed, again, its steadfast position and will to achieve the fatherland's reunification, the greatest ardent desire of the nation, within the first few years of the 21st century at all costs by the united efforts of the nation. It convened a joint meeting by the Republic's government and political parties and organizations and announced the three appeals and three proposals, which reflect the entire nation's unanimous desire and will. This is the fairest and the most realistic and patriotic manifestation for opening a decisive breakthrough in the achievement of the fatherland's reunification cause this year at all costs by the united efforts of our nation under the banner of the 15 June North-South Joint Declaration. It is also a remarkable measure for safeguarding peace and security on the Korean peninsula. 
	
	
 In the meantime, our Republic's government has shown our principled position on terrorism on several occasions in accordance with the trend of the international community's opposition to terrorism. We have signed and joined anti-terrorist treaties such as International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism. We have thus actively contributed to the preservation of global peace and security. 
	
	
 Despite all of this, however, US President Bush linked our country to terrorism by force and spewed out virulent remarks that our country is threatening the world's peace. What a brazen-faced deception of reality and unbearable insult to a sovereign state! What we cannot condone more than anything is that Bush arbitrarily designated our country as part of a so-called an axis of evil. 
	
	
 Good and evil are two completely contradictory concepts. In the current international community, promoting peace and stability, safeguarding a country and nation's sovereignty, and protecting people's lives and properties are good. Anything that goes against this can be said to be evil. 
	
	
 Our Republic is currently making every possible effort to reclaim national sovereignty by reunifying the fatherland as soon as possible and safeguard peace and security on the Korean peninsula and of Northeast Asia. Our Republic is also fiercely waging a fight against war or the exercise of military force in resolving international issues and is seeking ways to combat terrorism, and the international community is praising these efforts. 
	
	
 As can be seen from the aforementioned, there is no real evidence either to link our Republic to terrorism or to designate as an evil country. The real ringleader of evil and the base of evil is the United States. Manifest examples are the following facts. Over the recent 10 years alone, the US imperialists perpetrated open [word indistinct] state-level terrorism against sovereign states, such as Iraq and Yugoslavia, with preposterous reasons and pretexts. They are posing a grave threat to the world's peace and security, blabbing about the establishment of an invasive missile defense system. 
	
	
 In reality, the United States is truly a country that has no qualifications and face to take issue with other countries by saying that they are an evil and so on. Nevertheless, Bush is impertinently picking a quarrel regarding our Republic by saying this and that and viciously spoke ill of the DPRK. This is truly a very despicable act. 
	
	
 The shabby conduct by the US President Bush is nothing but revealing before the world each and every one of his political immaturity and moral corruption. As soon as the New Year set in, he proclaimed this year as a year of a war and then poured all kinds of abusive words against our Republic. Herein lies his wicked intention. It is to provoke an aggressive war opposing countries that they are not satisfied with, in particular the DPRK, and crush those countries through military strength. Through this, the United States is aiming to move away from the political and economic crisis that it is currently suffering from and continue to realize the policy of hegemony. 
	
	
 However, Bush is greatly miscalculating. Just like those who enjoy fire are bound to die by being burnt, the only thing that will be left to war maniacs like Bush, who tries to find a way out of a crisis through aggression and war, is a bitter destruction. 
	
	
 Our heroic People's Army and people will never tolerate the US imperialists' reckless military oppressive attempt and will pose a merciless annihilating blow to the aggressors. 
	
	
	





Document 001001597 ends.


	
KHARTOUM, Feb 13 (AFP) - Sudanese rebels have released a group of fishermen they had held for the last six months after charging that their boat belonged to the Sudanese government army, their employer said Wednesday. 
	
	
 Salmah Trading and Investment Company said its fishermen, who were captured last August while fishing in the Fangak area in south Sudan's Upper Nile region, were set free Tuesday by the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA). 
	
	
 "The release was due to tremendous efforts by the citizens who benefit from the company's services," the company said in a statement received by AFP, without elaborating further. The statement did not indicate the exact number of the freed fishermen but an official of the company said they were originally 11 in number. 
	
	
 The Sudanese government had always denied that the boat belonged to the army. The rebels released the boat shortly after the fishermen were captured. 
	
	
 The private trading company said in its statement that it would continue with its services "for the benefit of the people of southern Sudan." 
	
	
 Sudan's civil war has raged since 1983 when the SPLA took up arms in a bid to end domination of the mainly Christian and animist south by the Islamic government in the north.	





Document 001001598 ends.


	
Mbeki, Obasanjo envoys in fresh bid to save Mugabe 
	
	
 Staff Reporter 3/28/02 1:22:20 AM (GMT +2) 
	
	
 AFRICAN superpowers South Africa and Nigeria this week stepped up efforts to broker a comprise between Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to ward off the crisis of illegitimacy facing controversially elected President Robert Mugabe's new administration. Presidents Thabo Mbeki and Olusegun Obasanjo, sensing outright isolation of Mugabe and the refusal by many Zimbabweans and the West to recognise his win, have dispatched African National Congress secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe and prominent West African diplomat Adebayo Adedeji to try to hammer a compromise between ZANU PF and the MDC. 
	
	
 The MDC has also refused to recognise Mugabe's re-election, saying the March 9-11 vote was massively rigged and thousands of its supporters denied the vote. 
	
	
 The two envoys met MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Thursday and Saturday last week and outlined their brief and how they intended to proceed in trying to break the impasse. 
	
	
 They also met the top leadership of ZANU PF, which included national chairman John Nkomo and administration secretary Emmerson Mnangagwa, both heavily tipped to become vice presidents and possible successors to Mugabe. 
	
	
 Mbeki and Obasanjo have given the duo three weeks to come up with a solution that will help bridge the rift between the two political parties and arrest the deteriorating political and economic crisis in the country. 
	
	
 According to sources, the two Zimbabwean political parties were asked to draw up agendas for talks as the first step to finding a compromise to the current crisis. 
	
	
 Diplomatic sources say African leaders are frantically making efforts to bring the MDC on board through the formation of a coalition government in order to facilitate recognition of the Zimbabwean government by the international community and unlock much-needed foreign aid that has been suspended. 
	
	
 The MDC has said it wants fresh elections conducted under international supervision by the United Nations within the shortest possible period. 
	
	
 ZANU PF however wants the MDC to accept the result of the presidential election and join it in a coalition government whose composition is not yet clear. 
	
	
 The sources said the formation of a coalition government being pushed by Mbeki and Obasanjo was the most ideal way to stave off international isolation of Zimbabwe but has been received with mixed feelings by the governing party. 
	
	
 Others say ZANU PF only wants the MDC on board to facilitate international recognition and the financing of its economic recovery programme and land reforms. 
	
	
 It is also believed that some hardliners in ZANU PF want the current treason charges against Tsvangirai to be used as a bargaining chip to arm-twist the MDC leader into a compromise with Mugabe. 
	
	
 The 54-nation Commonwealth, the 15-nation European Union and most of the former Eastern Bloc states, the United States, the Scandinavian countries and most Western states and Japan have refused to recognise Mugabe's re-election saying it was a blatant fraud and marred by state-sponsored violence. 
	
	
 Mugabe has received support from regional leaders as well as Nigeria, Russia, Iran and China.	





Document 001001600 ends.


	
Excerpt from report by Kazakhstan Today news agency web site 
	
	
 The Kazakh Oil national oil company's enterprises produced 4.9m t of oil in the [first] nine months of this year, that is 11.6 per cent up year on year. The extraction of oil over and above the plan - 336,000 t - was possible due to the launching of new wells and measures taken to intensify the production process, the company's press service reports. An increase in the extraction was possible thanks to the company's active investment policy which has been conducted since 2000, the press service says. Capital investments in production increased by 37 per cent in the first nine months of this year compared to the same period of 2000. Capital was invested in renewing the main facilities, increasing volumes of drilling and wells and upgrading them. The company processed 1,697,000 t of oil and fully provided the Atyrau oil refinery [in the west of the country] with oil. Kazakh Oil paid more than 34bn tenge [the current exchange rate is 148 tenge to the dollar] to the budget in the period, that is 60 per cent up year on year... 
	
	
	





Document 001001602 ends.


	
BEIJING, April 11 (AFP) - China on Thursday slammed increasingly close ties between the United States and Taiwan, demanding an end to official exchanges between the two and to US weapons sales. 
	
	
 "The continual sale of arms by the United States or upgrading of relations with Taiwan will only lead to tensions across the straits," foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said. 
	
	
 "We demand the US strictly abide by the commitments it has made to China, correct its erroneous acts or remarks so as to avoid new harm to China-US relations." 
	
	
 Zhang further expressed alarm over Washington's announcement Wednesday that defense department officials will soon visit Taiwan to discuss the sale of eight diesel electric submarines. 
	
	
 "China has always resolutely opposed any form of official exchanges or military intercourse between the United States and Taiwan," Zhang said. 
	
	
 "The Taiwan issue is the most important and sensitive issue at the core of Sino-US relations," she said at the biweekly ministry briefing. 
	
	
 Military tensions in the Taiwan Strait were "not in the self-interests of the United States," she warned. 
	
	
 She refused to confirm an April 26 to May 3 visit by Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao to Washington, as reported in the Hong Kong press. The visit, if Beijing allows it, is widely expected to be centered on China's dissatisfaction over the Taiwan issue. 
	
	
 China has considered Taiwan a renegade province since 1949 and has threatened to bring it back by force if it continues to indefinitely refuse proposals for "peaceful reunification." 
	
	
 Beijing has also long refused to establish diplomatic relations with any nation that maintains official contact with Taiwan, although it has encouraged economic exchanges between Taiwan and all nations. 
	
	
 Zhang also bashed remarks made last month by US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz at a meeting in Florida, attended by visiting Taiwanese Defense Minister Tang Yao-Ming. 
	
	
 "The United States is committed to doing whatever it takes to help Taiwan defend itself," said Wolfowitz, echoing President George W. Bush's remarks made when he first took office last year. 
	
	
 "Our position is clear," he continued. "We don't support Taiwan independence, but we oppose the use of force." 
	
	
 Wolfowitz expressed concern about China's continuing deployment of forces and tactical missiles to areas across the straits from Taiwan. 
	
	
 US officials denied Wolfowitz's remarks reflected a change in US policy on Taiwan. 
	
	
 Zhang said: "The remarks of the US official are a ... violation of US commitments made (on Taiwan) and interference in China internal affairs. China is firmly opposed to the remarks." 
	
	
 Chinese missile tests over Taiwan in 1996 resulted in Washington deploying two aircraft carrier battle groups to the region. 
	
	
	





Document 001001603 ends.


       

Esselte AB, the Stockholm office supplies company, as expected, proposed to acquire the 22% it doesn't own of its U.S. unit, Esselte Business Systems Inc. 

The price in the proposal is $43.50 for each of the 4.9 million shares the parent doesn't own, or $213.2 million. 

In New York Stock Exchange composite trading, Esselte closed yesterday at $43.50 a share, up $1. 

A committee of outside directors for the Garden City, N.Y., unit is evaluating the proposal; the parent asked it to respond by Oct. 31.
The unit said it can provide no assurance a transaction will occur. 

Esselte AB sold the minority stake five years ago in a $40 million international share offering.
The unit, which is the holding company for Esselte's non-Swedish units, accounted for 58% of sales and 71% of operating profit last year. 

Separately, Esselte Business Systems reported third-quarter net income fell 5.9% to $9.5 million, or 46 cents a share, from $10.1 million, or 49 cents a share, in the year-ago period.
Sales rose 2.9% to $329.2 million from $320 million. 




Document 001001605 ends.



   Why Kyoto is a rip-off

 



  According to a study released last week by the Canadian 
Manufacturers and Exporters, implementation of the 1997 Kyoto 
global warming treaty would cost our economy 450,000 jobs and as 
much as $40-billion. But Jean Chretien is not worried. "I don't 
accept these figures," the Prime Minister said. "There is 
nothing to be gained by frightening people when all the facts 
are not known."

  But the $40-billion figure, far from being conceived to 
"frighten" Canadians, is plucked straight from government 
documents. According to a report released in 2000 by the 
National Air Issues Co-ordinating Committee on Climate Change, a 
group staffed by officials from the federal, provincial and 
territorial governments, hitting Canada's Kyoto target may mean 
"the loss of roughly one year's growth, or, viewed in absolute 
terms, in 2010, the loss in annual economic output of 
approximately $40-billion (or $1,100 per capita)."

  This is not a price worth paying. Governments are expected to 
protect the national economy, and they should deviate from that 
mission only when crucial national interests are at stake 
(fighting terrorism, for example). Yet rising temperatures pose 
little threat to Canada. In its authoritative Feb., 2001, report 
on the projected impacts of global warming, the 
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change identified several 
threats to Canadian ecosystems, but concluded that our farmers 
would generally benefit from warmer temperatures. (Non-farming 
Canadians, most of whom spend at least part of the winter months 
scraping ice off their cars, chopping firewood and shovelling 
their walks, will profit as well.)

  As for the globally felt benefits that would follow from 
Canada's implementation of the Kyoto protocol, they are slight. 
By 2010, our $40-billion sacrifice would yield an expected 
reduction in annual carbon and carbon-equivalent emissions of 
about 46-million tonnes -- just 1/200th of the world's total 
projected greenhouse gas output.

  Even if Canada managed to convince the United States and every 
other Kyoto signatory to ratify the protocol, world carbon 
dioxide emissions would still soar. According to the U.S. Energy 
Information Administration, world energy consumption will 
increase by about 60% between now and 2020, with most of the 
upsurge expected to come from developing nations, which are not 
covered by the Kyoto Protocol. Under the fully implemented 
treaty, carbon dioxide emissions would grow 26% during the 
1990-2010 period. Without Kyoto, the figure would be 34%. The 
worldwide cost of that 8% dip: about $2-trillion in lost GDP -- 
give or take a trillion.

  There are better ways to spend that money. Instead of trying to 
cap carbon dioxide emissions -- a costly burden at home and an 
impossible task in the developing world -- we should focus on 
abating the damage global warming does in at-risk nations. If 
scientists are correct, higher temperatures and rising sea 
levels will depress grain yields in Africa and parts of Asia, 
fuel the spread of diseases, and threaten coastal nations such 
as Bangladesh and Senegal. But these problems can be abated, or 
even eliminated, with Western assistance. While helping Third 
World nations plant new crops, vaccinate people and relocate 
coastal towns will be costly, the bottom line will likely be 
only a fraction of Kyoto's 13-digit price tag.

  
RELATED SITES:

  
(Each link opens a new window)

  
Backgrounder on The Kyoto Accord

  
Prepared by Canada's environment minister.

  
Kyoto Protocol

  
Download the full text in pdf here.

  
Climate Change/Kyoto Protocol Activities

  A list of related meetings, conferences projects and reports on 
the accord hosted by the United Nations Industrial Development 
Organization.



Copyright @ 2002 National Post Online |




Document 001001606 ends.


	
The US President is giving two kinds of speeches. The first is improvised and not devoid of slips of the tongue. The second is carefully written and studied from every aspect, and represents the official policy of the country. There is controversy about which type is more credible. Perhaps improvisation is a better indication of the inclinations and personal convictions of the President, because by improvising he is expressing what runs through his mind since the tongue is an extension of the heart. On the other hand, written speeches are more indicative of the policy drafted by the decision-making circles for a final decision by the President. 
	
	
 The State of the Union Address, given by the President in a joint meeting of the House of Representatives and Senate every year, is a pre-prepared speech. Every phrase in it was carefully studied, particularly the phrase that referred to Iran, Iraq, and North Korea as an axis of evil. 
	
	
 Axis is a term that was created by Mussolini signifying the alliance of Germany, Italy, and Japan. As for evil, it is a term used by former President Reagan to describe the Soviet Union, although its evil was self-destructive, causing the country to collapse from within. 
	
	
 The new axis of evil, which Bush has come up with, by combining the words of Mussolini and Reagan, was not a successful choice. If it was viable to describe terrorist organizations as evil, then it is not viable to do the same for countries. Besides, politicians refer to good and evil only for purposes of intimidation and exaggeration. 
	
	
 During World War II, the axis countries were very strong and bound by an alliance. The new axis, however, represents small developing countries that are not linked by any alliance or cooperation. In fact, Iraq and Iran were involved in the longest destructive war during the second half of the 20th century. 
	
	
 As for North Korea, it is a country living in isolation and is keeping its good and evil from everyone else. Its name was only mentioned in the axis of evil to remove suspicion around the United States' hostility to Islam. 
	
	
 As for Iran, the United States is eager to open a dialogue with it, especially since the reform school in Iran is progressing at the expense of the traditional, conservative school. It is very unlikely that the United States would be involved in a war with it. 
	
	
 This leaves Iraq, which the Washington circles want to antagonize and to go to war with. 
	
	
 If the United States wages a war against Iraq then this would not be out of necessity, like the war against terrorism. It would be a choice that confirms the extremist inclinations of some members of the US Administration.	





Document 001001607 ends.



   Annan welcomes restitution of constitution in Venezuela

 



  Tehran, April 16, IRNA -- United Nations Secretary-General Kofi 
Annan telephoned Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela on April 15 
to express satisfaction that the process of restoring 
constitutional order in Venezuela was underway.

  According to UN Information Center in Tehran, he appealed for 
national reconciliation and underscored the importance of an 
inclusive democratic system in the country.

  In response, President Chavez reiterated his commitment to the 
principles of constitutional rule, legality and democracy and 
his determination to pursue a broad-based national dialogue.

  The Secretary-General welcomed the return of calm to the 
country, and noted his readiness to assist in the effort to 
strengthen the democratic dialogue, the rule of law and human 
rights in Venezuela. MP/AR End




Document 001001608 ends.


       

Polly Peck International Inc. 's agreement to acquire 51% of Sansui Electric Co. proves that foreign companies can acquire Japanese companies -- if the alternative for the Japanese company is extinction. 

Polly Peck, a fast-growing British conglomerate, will pay 15.6 billion yen ($110 million) for 39 million new shares of Sansui, a well-known maker of high-fidelity audio equipment that failed to adjust to changing market conditions.
Japanese government officials, eager to rebut foreign criticism of Japanese investments overseas, hailed the transaction as proof foreigners can make similar investments in Japan.
Polly Peck's chairman, Asil Nadir, echoed the official Japanese view of the accord, which was announced Friday. 

"The myths that Japan is not open to concerns from outside has, I think, been demolished at a stroke," Mr. Nadir said. 

But analysts say Sansui is a special case.
It expects to post a loss of 6.4 billion yen for the year ending tomorrow and its liabilities currently exceed its assets by about 13.8 billion yen. "If you find sound, healthy companies in Japan, they are not for sale," said George Watanabe, a management-consultant at Tokyo-based Asia Advisory Services Inc. 

Statistics on acquisitions by foreigners vary in detail, because unlike Sansui, which is listed on the Tokyo and Osaka stock exchanges, most of the Japanese companies acquired by foreigners are privately held.
But by all accounts foreign companies have bought only a relative handful of Japanese companies this year, while Japanese companies have acquired hundreds of foreign companies. 

Nor do analysts expect the Sansui deal to touch off a fresh wave of foreign purchases.
If the strong yen and the high stock prices of Japanese companies weren't deterrents enough, webs of cross-shareholdings between friendly Japanese companies and fiercely independent Japanese corporate attitudes repel most would-be acquirers. 

Usually when a Japanese company is ready to sell, it has few alternatives remaining, and the grim demeanors of Sansui's directors at a joint news conference here left little doubt that this was not the company's finest hour.
Sansui was once one of Japan's premier makers of expensive, high-quality stereo gear for audiophiles. 

But in recent years, the market has moved toward less expensive "mini-component" sets, miniaturized amplifiers and receivers and software players that could be stacked on top of each other. 

Some of Sansui's fellow audio-specialty companies, such as Aiwa Co. and Pioneer Electric Corp., responded to the challenge by quickly bringing out mini-component products of their own, by moving heavily into the booming compact disk businesses or by diversifying into other consumer-electronics fields, including laser disks or portable cassette players.
Sansui was late into the mini-component business and failed to branch into other new businesses. 

As the yen soared in recent years, Sansui's deepening financial problems became a vicious circle.
While competitors moved production offshore in response to the sagging competitiveness of Japanese factories, Sansui lacked the money to build new plants in Southeast Asia. "Our company has not been able to cope very effectively with" changes in the marketplace, said Ryosuke Ito, Sansui's president. 

But even a Japanese company that looks like a dog may turn out to be a good investment for a foreign concern, some management consultants maintain. 

Yoshihisa Murasawa, a management consultant for Booz-Allen & Hamilton (Japan) Inc., said his firm will likely be recommending acquisitions of Japanese companies more often to foreign clients in the future. "Attitudes {toward being acquired} are still negative, but they're becoming more positive," Mr. Murasawa said. "In some industries, like pharmaceuticals, acquisitions make sense." 

Whether Polly Peck's acquisition makes sense remains to be seen, but at the news conference, Mr. Nadir brimmed with self-confidence that he can turn Sansui around.
Sansui, he said, is a perfect fit for Polly Peck's electronics operations, which make televisions, videocassette recorders, microwaves and other products on an "original equipment maker" basis for sale under other companies' brand names. 

He said Polly Peck will greatly expand Sansui's product line, using Sansui's engineers to design the new products, and will move Sansui's production of most products other than sophisticated audio gear offshore into Polly Peck's own factories. 

"Whatever capital it (Sansui) needs so it can compete and become a totally global entity capable of competing with the best in the world, that capital will be injected," Mr. Nadir said. 

And while Polly Peck isn't jettisoning the existent top-management structure of Sansui, it is bringing in a former Toshiba Corp. executive as executive vice president and chief operating officer. 

Such risk taking is an everyday matter for the brash Mr. Nadir, who is 25% owner of Polly Peck as well as its chairman.
He took Polly Peck, once a small fabric wholesaler, and used it at as a base to build a conglomerate that has been doubling its profits annually since 1980.
In September, it announced plans to acquire the tropical-fruit business of RJR Nabisco Inc. 's Del Monte foods unit for #557 million ($878 million). 

Last month, Polly Peck posted a 38% jump in pretax profit for the first half to #54.8 million from #39.8 million on a 63% rise in sales. 

Joann S. Lublin in London contributed to this article. 




Document 001001609 ends.


	
[Computer selected and disseminated without FBIS editorial intervention] 
	
	
 Taipei, Feb. 18 (CNA) -- Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien said Monday he does not expect any surprise developments to come from U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to mainland China later this week. 
	
	
 "The United States has more than once briefed us on the main purposes of Bush's Asia tour before his departure and repeatedly guaranteed that Taiwan's interests won't be sacrificed during Bush's trip," Chien told a news conference. 
	
	
 Bush arrived in Japan Sunday at the start of a three-nation Asia tour that will also take him to South Korea and mainland China. 
	
	
 Noting that this is Bush's first visit to the Asia-Pacific area following his attendance at the annual informal leadership meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum last October, Chien said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is keeping close tabs on the current trip. 
	
	
 According to Chien, the government has set up a special task force to facilitate communications with the United States and analyze relevant developments. "The task force is working around the clock to monitor Bush's visit to Japan, south Korea and mainland China," he added. 
	
	
 The minister further said that since the communication channels between Taiwan and the United States have been operating smoothly, MOFA can fully grasp any possible developments. "We hope that people will keep calm. They need not be nervous," he said. 
	
	
 Chien said he appreciated statements made by Bush prior to his departure that Taiwan is a friend of the United States and that the Taiwan Strait issue should be resolved peacefully. 
	
	
 Chien said the Republic of China government hopes that the United States will continue to play the role of "promoter, stabilizer and balancer" in cross-strait relations. 
	
	
 In his view, Chien went on, the main purpose of Bush's current Asia visit is to promote world peace and security. "Bush hopes to take advantage of his trip to forge a consensus with U.S. allies in the Asia-Pacific area on his administration's fight against terrorism and the proliferation of nuclear weapons. 
	
	
 He said Bush is expected to discuss bilateral security cooperation, Japan's economic reforms and financial aid to Afghanistan in his talks with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. 
	
	
 During his trip to Seoul, Chien said, Bush is expected to exchange views with South Korean leaders on arms procurement and policies toward North Korea. 
	
	
 "As for the topics to be touched upon in Bush's talks with Beijing leaders, the agenda will include mainland China's agricultural market opening, religious freedom and human rights condition, missile shield and Taiwan Strait issues," Chien noted.	





Document 001001610 ends.


	
Taipei, Oct. 8 (CNA) -- The United States military action in Afghanistan will help spur global investment sentiment by brushing aside many uncertain factors, Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) Chairman Chen Po-chih said Monday. 
	
	
 Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, investors across the world have been mired in uncertainties, Chen said, adding that should the war against Afghanistan not spread too much, the impact on the global economy will be limited. 
	
	
 The CEPD head, however, pointed out that it is still too early to comment to what extent the war would affect the local economy now that it is impossible for it to regain momentum by the end of this year. 
	
	
 Wu Hui-lin, a researcher at Change Hua Institution for Economic Research, however, predicted that business conditions in the world market would rebound very robustly in the short term, as the new hi-tech war will not last long and "high-risks will bring about high investment returns." Wu said optimistically that "it is unnecessary to wait until next year for the recovery to take place" on the ground that "vast damage will produce opportunities for construction." Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks against the United States, countries across the world have been closely monitoring subsequent developments and have taken measures to cope with possible situations, Wu said, noting that short-term pains will eventually pass and everyday life will get back to normal soon.	





Document 001001612 ends.


	
ALMATY. March 14 (Interfax-Kazakhstan) - A railroad link opened between Almaty and Tehran when train No. 19/20 Almaty - Tashkent - Turkmenabad - Seraks - Meshked - Tehran departed from Almaty-2 station on Thursday evening. In line with a memorandum signed by the Iranian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkish, Turkmen and Uzbek railroad administrations in Baku on October 31, 2001, the link will be extended to Istanbul when a railroad is built around Lake Van. The train will cover the 3,300-kilometer route to Tehran through Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Iran in 68 hours. Both tourists and businessmen are likely to use the route, the Kazakh Railroad Company believes.	





Document 001001619 ends.


	
BEIJING, April 16 (AFP) -- China Tuesday welcomed Venezuela's return to political stability and expressed support for President Hugo Chavez's promise for a dialogue on national reconciliation following his return to power after a coup. 
	
	
 "We appreciate the return to stability of Venezuela's domestic situation," foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said. 
	
	
 "We believe that under the leadership of President Chavez, the people of Venezuela will devote themselves to political stability and economic development and make more progress in social advancement." 
	
	
 Chavez, who returned to power Sunday, promised Monday to invite a broad spectrum of Venezuelan society to participate in a dialogue on the country's problems. 
	
	
 As a friend of Venezuela, China hoped to further strengthen friendship and cooperation with the country, Zhang said. 
	
	
	





Document 001001623 ends.


	
Beijing, December 20 (XINHUA) -- China believes that the Argentine government and people will overcome the current difficulties, revive their economy and maintain their social stability, said Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue here Thursday. 
	
	
 Zhang made the remarks at a regular press conference when asked to comment on the current situation in Argentina. 
	
	
 Zhang said recently some serious disturbances such as shop robberies and traffic breakdowns occurred in Argentina, and some groceries owned by overseas Chinese as well as Argentine citizens with Chinese origin were among those looted. 
	
	
 She added that the Argentine government has declared a 30-day emergency. 
	
	
 China is very concerned about this matter, and the Chinese Embassy in Argentina has asked the Argentine government to ensure the life and property safety of the overseas Chinese and Argentine citizens with Chinese origin, Zhang said.	





Document 001001628 ends.



Bush Plan Expected to Slow, Not Halt, Gas Emission Rise

 



  President Bush is set to announce a plan today calling for 
voluntary measures to slow but not halt the growth in emissions 
of heat-trapping gases linked to global warming, White House 
officials said last night.

  The climate proposal is Mr. Bush's response to the Kyoto 
Protocol, the 1997 treaty accepted but not yet ratified by all 
other large industrialized countries, which would require cuts 
in such emissions by 2010 to well below their 1990 levels. Mr. 
Bush rejected the treaty last March, calling its targets 
arbitrary, its schedule too costly to meet and its terms, which 
are not easily applied in large developing countries, unfair.

  The program he is to announce this afternoon would slow the rate 
of growth in emissions in relation to the growth of the overall 
economy. It would use $4.6 billion in tax credits over the next 
five years to encourage companies and individuals to limit those 
emissions.

  Utilities, for example, would get incentives to build 
power-generating windmills; homeowners would get new tax credits 
for buying solar panels or more efficient cars.

  The one thing the climate policy would not do is require 
anything of anybody, sticking with the position Mr. Bush has 
held for more than a year on the climate issue: that firm limits 
on the so-called greenhouse gases would drag down the economy.

  The administration's approach, he plans to say, is based "on the 
common-sense idea that sustainable economic growth is the key to 
environmental progress - because it is growth that provides the 
resources for investment in clean technologies," according to an 
advance text.

  On another emissions issue unrelated to climate, aides said Mr. 
Bush would call today for mandatory restrictions on three other 
kinds of pollutants from power plants: mercury, sulfur dioxide 
and nitrogen oxides. In contrast to proposals by 
environmentalists and many Democrats, however, the plan would 
delay such cuts until 2010 or later.

  Last night, administration officials called the voluntary 
approach on climate the most reasonable path for the time being. 
A senior administration official did say, however, that if 
insufficient progress was being made by 2012, there could be a 
move toward some kind of limits. "If we're not making progress 
toward our goal," he said, "we will be considering a full range 
of programs."

  Some environmental groups criticized this kind of checkup, 
saying it puts off any measuring of progress until well after 
Mr. Bush is out of office.

  Under the administration's proposed target, the growth rate of 
emissions of carbon dioxide would drop nearly 18 percent by 2012 
- to 151 metric tons for each $1 million in gross domestic 
product, from the current level of 183 metric tons.

  But environmental groups sharply criticized this kind of 
yardstick, saying that it merely reflects an existing trend 
toward using energy more efficiently and adding that as long as 
the economy grows, this would not result in emissions 
reductions.

  Alluding to the date of the speech, Jennifer Morgan, the climate 
policy director for the World Wildlife Fund, called it "a 
valentine to the coal and oil industry that will allow emissions 
to increase without any time frame, eternally."

  One provision of the new climate plan would be to greatly expand 
a program encouraging businesses to monitor and report their 
emissions of greenhouse gases. Those that participate, 
voluntarily, would gain credits that might eventually be used in 
a trading scheme similar to that used for other pollution.

  White House officials said this could prompt industries to 
change behavior, the same way similar reporting requirements 
instituted in the late 1980's resulted in big cuts in releases 
of toxic chemicals.

  Philip E. Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, 
a private lobbying group, criticized this approach, saying: "The 
president's global warming proposal appears to be another 
faith-based initiative: we should have faith that major 
corporations will line up to volunteer cuts in their carbon 
pollution. That approach has failed for a decade now, since the 
president's father set up the first voluntary program."

  And Myron Ebell, a climate policy expert at the Competitive 
Enterprise Institute, a private group whose free- market views 
are frequently embraced by industry, criticized the idea from 
the opposite ideological direction.

  "What looks like voluntary will actually be coercive," Mr. Ebell 
said.

  The president is leaving for Asia on Saturday and has been under 
pressure to present a climate plan before visiting Japan. Japan, 
which has avoided criticizing the administration over its 
rejection of the treaty, has been eager for a sign that Mr. Bush 
is concerned about the issue. Several experts on the treaty said 
that his decision to make the announcement now was very likely 
influenced by this situation.

  The proposed plan on nongreenhouse emissions from power plants - 
mercury, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides - would impose 
mandatory limits but would allow companies to exceed them by 
buying credits from others that reduce pollution below required 
levels.

  There would be no similar limits on power plants' emissions of 
carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. In the face of lobbying 
from coal companies and utilities, Mr. Bush abandoned a campaign 
pledge last March to control the four plant emissions together 
and has shown no signs of reconsidering that idea.

  As hints of the emerging plan circulated in e-mail messages by 
environmental groups and conservative groups, it appeared that 
no one was particularly pleased.

  An official at an energy company that had been pressing the 
White House to revise power plant rules said the best news was 
that there was something finally on the table to discuss.

  "At least they're coming out with something," the official said. 
"It may not be what everyone wants, but it recognizes that the 
Senate is going to deal with climate on its power plant bill."



Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company




Document 001001629 ends.


	
Venezuelan FAN [National Armed Forces] officers, non-commissioned officers and troops point out in a bulletin, which will begin to be circulated today [2 February], that the president seeks to destroy the military and "substitute it with a socialist popular militia similar to that in Cuba." 
	
	
 As a decade is about to have gone by since the 4 February [1992] coup attempt, a group of active soldiers requests, through a bulletin, the interdiction of President Hugo Chavez, as well as his immediate trial for alleged crimes against the res publica and the military institution. 
	
	
 Circulation of the 18-page document will begin today. It is primarily directed to the Venezuelans and also to "all the free peoples of the world." 
	
	
 Its adherents are 3,400 general, high-ranking and subordinate officers, professional career non-commissioned officers and professional military troops, whose signatures -- for their own security and that of their families and properties -- are deposited in the ABN AMOR Bank in Curacao and will be published in the media 72 hours after Chavez has left office. The document indicates that the FAN is an apolitical institution. It is, therefore, believed that the present situation represents a group of departures whose rectification is imperative. 
	
	
 Following a brief introduction, it recalls that on 4 February 1992 the now president violated his military oath when he rose up in arms against the democratic institutions. 
	
	
 "He was defeated by the institutional Armed Forces, judged and retired (he had to be expelled) with dishonor from these, and the president, Doctor Rafael Caldera, dismissed his trial. This did not annul his expulsion from the Armed Forces through retirement, but it did revoke his legally corresponding sentence," says the bulletin. 
	
	
 Changes in the Military 
	
	
 The bulletin's authors recall that in 1958 a decentralizing process was begun within the military. This process originated the replacement of the General Staff with a Joint Chiefs of Staff. They point out that the concentration of command into a single entity is obsolete, "it is obsolete, it does not work for deployments or in the preparation for these, nor for operations control, regardless of the area in which they are carried out." 
	
	
 "Now President Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias destroys what had been accomplished throughout more than half a century and intends to return to the obsolete military organization, not knowing the meaning of the duties of the organization, control and harmony organisms that military actions must have. The president's actions have no other objective than to destroy our traditional and glorious Armed Forces and, consequently substitute it with a socialist, popular militia, similar to that in Cuba," they add. 
	
	
 Further on, they criticize the authorization of Cuban militiamen to parade in the Carabobo camp, when they invaded [Venezuela] in the 1960's and backed an armed rebellion, for which Fidel Castro "never apologized." They revealed that Cuban soldiers piloted the MIG airplanes that flew over Caracas on 10 December. 
	
	
 The FN-30 rifle given to Castro, besides constituting a military crime, was seen as an act of submission. The weapon, they maintain, must be returned. 
	
	
 Friend of the Guerrillas 
	
	
 "Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias is linked to the Colombian guerrillas that have damaged so much of their own country and periodically raid our territory, causing physical and material damages to our population," says the document. 
	
	
 Further on, it is stated that Jose Vicente Rangel's appointment was rejected within the FAN, not because he is a civilian, but because of his affinity toward Colombian rebel groups. 
	
	
 This official, "expelled US personnel working under the Military Cooperation Agreement, signed in 1951 with the United States, from Fort Tiuna to please Fidel Castro. The agreement had arisen from the incorporation of Venezuela into the Loan and Lease System in 1941," they state. 
	
	
 They warn that distancing the United States risks the operational capability of the military units "due to the lack of logistic support in the purchase of spare parts and all kinds of advising." 
	
	
 Praetorian Promotion 
	
	
 According to the document's signing soldiers, the president is a true oligarch because he has even turned many of the members of his class at the Military Academy into a Praetorian Guard. 
	
	
 Chavez, they add, "has demoralized and corrupted the Armed Forces through the prerogatives of an elite that discredits and kills the institution, taking away the will to react and defend institutionality from its officers." 
	
	
 "The president boasts that all the officers of the Armed Forces are committed to the 'revolution.' With this he intends to mean that military thought is subordinated to his own personal sentiments and ambition, thus dishonoring the constitution and laws. Furthermore, such boasts constitute a serious insult to the Armed Forces, which are committed only to the Republic and its democratic system." 
	
	
 Disqualified 
	
	
 The document contends that Chavez's conduct is not in line with the majesty of a president. "His intentions, his actions, his disguises, his demerits, his inability to judge, his changing and contradicting personality disqualify him from ruling over the destinies of the country, because his performances clearly show serious unbalanced states of mind, which expose all Venezuelans to national and international ridicule. 
	
	
 "President Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias' is not a military pathology, but that of a man blinded by power, who believes himself to be the incarnation of our Liberator [Simon Bolivar]. The president veils his fears and traumas and seeks to hide behind a military uniform, which to the Venezuelan Armed Forces' misfortune, being dishonorable to it" says the bulletin. 
	
	
 Another question refers to the oil supply to Cuba. The president would have exceeded his authority in giving to Cuba the returns from the export of oil. This would set the basis for a preliminary hearing. 
	
	
 The President to Court 
	
	
 To close, the central ideas of the active soldiers' document are condensed into 18 points. Outstanding among these are: 
	
	
 The FAN is apolitical and non-deliberating. This institution does not commit itself to the Chavez 'revolution.' They oppose the commemoration of military uprisings. Soldiers will never point their weapons at unarmed people The FAN is not responsible for the president's excesses. Chavez commits a crime by handling public funds as if they were his own. They will not allow the president to continue using military uniforms and insignia, nor directly [and single-handedly] give promotions. "The Armed Forces of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela order all military personnel that is presently carrying out civilian duties to return to their respective units to carry out their corresponding military duties." "The Armed Forces of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela demand the interdiction of Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias as President of the Republic and thus the immediate cancellation of international treaties made by a disqualified president, in particular the agreements with Cuba, as well as the expelling of all Cubans that are presently working in Venezuela as physicians, advisors, trainers, etc." They demand a stop to all agreements with China and trials for corrupt officers. They maintain that Chavez must be taken to trial for treason, embezzlement and for theft of military weaponry. They call on the civilian society to exercise its rights and kick Chavez out of power. 
	
	
 The FAN Is Manipulated 
	
	
 According to the bulletin, one of the most serious consequences of the president's attitude has to do with the decrease in the country's defense capabilities. The decision to decommission or relocate numerous Army and National Guard units is related to this. 
	
	
 "Military morale is at stake due to a breakdown in discipline and the words and actions of the president in discrediting the officers, even to the point of forcing some high-ranking officers to make statements alien to them," it says. 
	
	
 The document warns that the president is not allowed to wear his military uniform. When he does so "he disguises himself because he has ceased to be a soldier of the Fatherland and destroys the fundamental principles of subordination." 
	
	
 He humiliates the higher-ranking officers by forcing them to receive him with full military honors under such conditions. This leads "to a lack of discipline of the subordinates and exposure to public despise." 
	
	
 Concerning Plan Bolivar 2000, the bulletin points out that Chavez has used the FAN for tasks that are not appropriate or that must only be carried out in cases of emergency. 
	
	
 [Chavez] diverts the functions of the Armed Forces with the irresponsible Plan Bolivar 2000, committing them to social action tasks that totally lack planning and administrative control. Corruption in the handling of funds, without audits, control nor sanction, with Mr. President's consent, is a result of his intentions of dismantling, destroying and demoralizing the Venezuelan Armed Forces," maintains the document. 
	
	
 We Are Poorly Paid 
	
	
 Those signing the document distanced themselves from those that state that Venezuelan society is going through a militarization process. "We ask that the Venezuelan civilian society understand that in our country there is no militarism as such, only the appointment of retired officers that have recovered their civilian rights and under no context represent the Armed Forces. They are only out-and-out followers of President Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias." 
	
	
 The authors make it clear that the retired soldiers have left behind their service to the military institution, be it by their own decision or forced by the circumstances. Therefore, they no longer have command. Only the right to a pension, "established according to the earned wages, the obtained rank, the number of active years counted toward such a pension and the contributed amortization." 
	
	
 "The country would be badly militarized when 90 percent of the soldiers in public posts of the present administration are retired soldiers who, according to the constitution, have recovered 100 percent of their citizen rights. The rest of us soldiers have such right limited. Some members of the Venezuelan society, historians, philosophers, playwrights, journalists, artists and other free thinkers all think and state that militarism exists in Venezuela. They are so wrong and far from this reality. Nevertheless, it is true that many of these retired officers have dishonored the uniform, have been tried and, unfortunately for the nation, pardoned or their trial was dismissed, or the charges prescribed," they point out. 
	
	
 They denied that the FAN is an elitist institution though, according to themselves, about 30 percent of its members have completed at least two careers. 
	
	
 "The statements on raises to salaries and wages of members of the Armed Forces by the president are false. The professional troops earn approximately 160,000 bolivars a month, close to the minimum wage. In general, the salaries of all the Armed Forces are the lowest of the civil service." 
	
	
 They complained about the deficiencies of the benefits given to them through the National Armed Forces Social Welfare Institute (IPSFAN): insufficient mortgage loans, supermarkets that are not competitive enough in relation to others, etc. 
	
	
 "Concerning the allocation of seniority (social benefits), a large proportion of the officer corps has had to request it prematurely to satisfy present needs because the salary is not enough, thus [economically] compromising their old age. There is practically no hospital medical attention for the members of the Armed Forces because military hospitals are being used to give service to the [civilian] population though Plan Bolivar 2000, instead of improving and increasing the capacity of the already existing [civilian] hospitals, clinics and outpatient departments." 
	
	
 The declaration points out that the president has developed a sermon according to which the soldiers are the regime's beneficiaries. This is to generate "antagonism" within the public opinion. 
	
	
 "This is the major fear that the president has imposed on the population every time he threatens it with the use of the Armed Forces to subjugate it," rounds off the bulletin. 
	
	
 They indicated that such a situation "is now intolerable for the dignity of the Armed Forces."	





Document 001001630 ends.



   President unleashes army, rocket launchers, MiG-21s

 


SubHead:   Rumblings of rebellion: Opposition aghast at 'state terrorism'

Author:     Jan Cienski

  HARARE, Zimbabwe - Elements of Zimbabwe's army began leaving 
their barracks yesterday in an ominous sign that Robert Mugabe 
intends to rig this weekend's presidential election and is 
preparing for a fight if the opposition challenges him.

  Meanwhile, a group of up to 800 veterans of Zimbabwe's 
independence war has asked for foreign help to mount a rebellion 
against Mr. Mugabe if he steals the election.

  In Harare yesterday, Michael Quintana, editor of Africa Defence 
Journal, said he had toured military barracks in the capital and 
found soldiers were moving out in small groups of three trucks 
at a time. At Cranborne Barracks on the outskirts of the 
capital, he saw soldiers towing a BM-21 multiple-rocket 
launcher, a fearsome weapon that can can fire 40 122mm rockets 
in six seconds.

  "I was surprised to see the [rockets] coming out. They have 
never been used before, not even in the war in the Democratic 
Republic of Congo," Mr. Quintana said.

  He estimated two-thirds of the soldiers in each of the barracks 
had moved out.

  Three MiG-21 fighters flew low over farmland in Mashonaland West 
in an apparent intimidatory display meant to underline the 
threat being spread by ruling party thugs: "If President Robert 
Mugabe loses the election, we will go to war."

  Observers and the opposition worry Mr. Mugabe, the country's 
only President in 22 years of independence, is becoming 
increasingly reckless in his attempt to hold on to power.

  Already, his ruling Zimbabwean African National Unity-Patriotic 
Front party has moved to disenfranchise thousands of supporters 
of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

  The government-controlled election watchdog, the Electoral 
Supervisory Commission, accredited only 300 of the 12,500 
election monitors requested by the opposition Movement for 
Democratic Change. The party says 22 MDC election monitors have 
been abducted.

  Meanwhile, the government is planning to call on teachers, 
police and the army to supervise voting.

  "This is our major concern," said Reginald Matchaba-Hove, head 
of the independent Zimbabwe Election Support Network.

  The official election watchdog refuses to indicate the number of 
ballots that will be issued, making it easier to stuff ballot 
boxes, and has not said where the polling stations will be 
located.

  The voting rolls include the names of as many as 80% of the 
people in Zimbabwe who have died in the past two years, while 
thousands of the living will not be allowed to cast their 
ballots.

  Much of the country's tiny white minority has been 
disenfranchised and Mr. Mugabe issued a decree, earlier ruled 
illegal by the Supreme Court, which forces people to vote in 
their home districts. Thousands of MDC supporters have been 
chased from their homes and have sought refuge in Harare and 
other large cities. They will now have to brave gangs of ZANU-PF 
thugs if they want to vote.

  "If I stay in Harare, I will not be able to vote," said Desire 
Chikondi, an MDC party worker whose house was burned down this 
week by ZANU-PF youth militia members and who is now hiding out 
in the MDC's Harare headquarters.

  "I will take my risk and vote," he said, insisting he will 
travel this weekend to his hometown of Domboshawa, 27 kilometres 
north of the capital.

  In Harare, an MDC stronghold, the government has cut the number 
of polling stations by as much as 35%, the party charged.

  Meanwhile, as many as 100,000 soldiers and police officers have 
already voted under the watchful eye of their commanders and far 
from the gaze of any outside observers, Mr. Matchaba-Hove said.

  The government is also apparently continuing to register ZANU-PF 
supporters long after the official closing of the voters roll.

  Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC leader who is giving Mr. Mugabe his 
toughest challenge, accused his opponent of conducting a 
calculated campaign of intimidation.

  "The violence we have experienced in this country is state 
terrorism against its own citizens. It is using state agencies, 
state institutions that have been built specifically to 
terrorize the population," Mr. Tsvangirai said yesterday.

  The MDC says as many as 34 of its supporters have been killed 
since the presidential campaign began in January and fears are 
rising there will be an explosion of violence next week, no 
matter what the result of the election.

  If Mr. Mugabe wins, "We are going to fight, my friend," said an 
MDC supporter and trader in Harare's main market, while senior 
government officials have indicated they will not respect an MDC 
victory.

  Zimbabwe's army chief has already warned about the result of a 
Tsvangirai victory. Didymus Mutasa, ZANU-PF's external affairs 
chief, told South African television this week that if Mr. 
Tsvangirai wins, ZANU-PF will support a coup. "Many, many of us 
did not go to fight the settler regime in order to install a 
British puppet like Tsvangirai," he said.

  Despite the rising chorus of domestic and international outrage, 
Mr. Mugabe continues to campaign around the country.

  At a rally yesterday in his hometown of Chinhoyi, Mr. Mugabe 
returned to a favourite theme -- an attack on former colonial 
power Britain.

  "Now is the time to teach everyone, the British first, that when 
it comes to the issue of defending our national sovereignty, we 
shall not retreat," he said to an enthusiastic crowd of about 
8,000 supporters.

  He predicted victory and vowed to continue pursuing Mr. 
Tsvangirai after the election. The opposition leader has been 
accused of trying to assassinate Mr. Mugabe.

  "No murderer will go unpunished. No one we know to have planned 
such deeds will escape," Mr. Mugabe said in comments carried by 
state-owned television.

  The leaders of the Zimbabwean Liberators' Peace Forum, an 
association of mainly Matabele veterans who fought in the 
Rhodesian war through the 1970s, issued a dramatic request for 
help from both within Zimbabwe and beyond. Matabeleland has long 
been a bastion of resistance to Mr. Mugabe and an MDC 
stronghold.

  The appeal, which amounted to a de facto call to arms, risks 
being represented by Mr. Mugabe's government as proof of foreign 
military meddling in Zimbabwe.

  One of the country's state-owned newspapers carried a front-page 
story yesterday claiming Britain and the United States were 
preparing to support military insurgency in Zimbabwe.

  "We are appealing for financial and logistical support for a 
struggle," said Aleck Ndlovu, one of three directors who run the 
forum.

  "We are willing to defend the interests of the people of 
Zimbabwe at all costs and will not stand idly by if the election 
is clearly not free and fair," he said. "Our people are hungry 
and they are tired of what has happened here. People are willing 
to fight it out."



Copyright @ 2002 National Post Online |




Document 001001631 ends.


	
At a Japan-US summit meeting on 18 February, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi expressed some understanding of US President George W. Bush's remarks that Iran, Iraq, and the DPRK (North Korea) are an "axis of evil." This left the impression that Japan stands alone on this issue because European countries have been cool to Bush's "axis of evil" rhetoric. However, it will be difficult for Japan to provide support to the US, as it did when the US attacked Afghanistan, if US forces launch military action against Iraq. It can be said that the Japanese Government has put itself in a difficult position. 
	
	
 At a meeting of several officials held at the outset of the summit, the President first took up economic issues and then referred to his "axis of evil" remark. He urged Japan to follow the US by saying: "The international community needs to cooperate to change Iran, Iraq, and North Korea's action pattern (of spreading weapons of mass destruction). All options (including military action) are on the table." 
	
	
 European countries are critical of Bush's "axis of evil" remark. French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine criticized the remark as "simplistic interpretation of the world." However, Koizumi said, "I take the remark as the indication of the President's strong resolve to fight terrorism." 
	
	
 The US has repeatedly suggested the possibility of its taking military action against the government of Iraqi President Saddam Husayn. It is possible that if the US military attack Iraq, Japan, which has shown understanding of the axis of evil remark, will be asked to provide active support to the US as it did during US attacks on Afghanistan. 
	
	
 However, it will be difficult for the Self-Defense Forces to provide logistic support to US forces attacking Iraq under a special antiterrorism law aimed at eradicating terrorism, which was enacted after terrorist attacks in the US on 11 September. "It is also politically very difficult" to enact a new law considering the declining support for the Koizumi Cabinet, said a source within the Prime Minister's Official Residence. 
	
	
 If Japan does not give any support to possible US attacks on Iraq despite its understanding of the axis of evil rhetoric, Bush's expectations on the Koizumi administration will certainly change to disappointment. Although the Japanese Government has expressed understanding of Bush's axis of evil remark, it does not hope to see the US taking military action. 
	
	
 Because of this, Koizumi noted the need for the international community to cooperate in tackling Iraqi issues and enthusiastically asked Bush to not take the bold course of launching military action. 
	
	
 In reply, the President said, "We want to resolve all issues peacefully, and we intend to continue diplomatic efforts." However, it is unclear whether Japan can actually prevent the US from taking military action.	





Document 001001632 ends.


	
Taipei, Aug. 17 (CNA) -- The Republic of China [ROC] government will push for Chinese language education among the vast number of Chinese communities in Southeast Asia, a high-ranking ROC official said Friday. 
	
	
 Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission (OCAC) head Chang Fu-mei made the remarks after concluding a symposium on work in the Asia-Pacific Chinese communities. 
	
	
 Chang said after visiting Chinese communities in the United States, New Zealand and Southeast Asia that education and cultural work needs to be further strengthened in the Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. 
	
	
 With the limited funding to which her commission is entitled, Chang said, OCAC will focus its educational and cultural work on Chinese communities with the fewest resources, such as those in Myanmar [Burma], Vietnam and Indonesia. 
	
	
 The minister went on to say that although mainland China is squeezing Taiwan's development space in the world community with its huge resources and strong diplomacy, the ROC can still break through its difficulties as long as it implements democracy and obtains the support of overseas Chinese communities. 
	
	
 A total of 38 overseas Chinese community leaders from nine Asian and Pacific countries attended the symposium, at which the participants also exchanged views on cross-Taiwan Strait relations. 
	
	
	





Document 001001634 ends.


	
Israel's persistent and deliberate fuelling of the cycle of violence in the Palestinian territories is pushing our already turbulent region towards inevitable chaos and war. 
	
	
 This behaviour further confirms what has long been very clear; the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is more interested in pursuing its expansionist designs on occupied Palestinian and Arab land than in engaging in serious peace-making -- a route that would require its unreserved commitment. 
	
	
 And therefore, it has blatantly obstructed all international, US, European, and regional efforts to consolidate an Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire as a prerequisite for the implementation of the Mitchell and Tenet recommendations. 
	
	
 Many observers inside and outside the region had rightly feared that Israel would callously exploit the Sept. 11 tragedy in the US to intensify and accelerate its aggression against the Palestinians and crush their efforts towards claiming their legitimate rights to freedom and independence. 
	
	
 The Sharon government is doing exactly that, in total disregard and utter defiance and disrespect of advice from Washington and London, as well as other governments, for restraint and a quick return to the negotiating table. Instead, it opts for brute force in dealing with a crisis, the exit from which, can only be achieved by the resumption of peace talks on the basis of the Mitchell report and the Tenet understandings. 
	
	
 The US expects its friends to provide it with understanding, cooperation and full support in confronting the perpetrators of the devastating attack on its centres of economic and military power. 
	
	
 But instead of reciprocating, Israel, the state that since its creation has benefited most from US protection and backing, has turned out to be a fair-weather friend. Its self-seeking manipulation of the tragedy, which, if Tel Aviv has not noticed, has affected every corner of the earth, adds yet another burden upon Washington. Sharon's likening of his invasion of Palestinian territories and the assassinations to the US-led war against the Taleban and Osama Ben Laden is abhorrent. Sharon's deceptive ploys cannot negate the fact that President Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian National Authority have and are still, even while under attack, doing their utmost to demonstrate their unambiguous commitment to stop violence, maintain the ceasefire, and get back to negotiations. 
	
	
 As the entire world is engaged in handling one of the most serious crises of our time, it is about time that Sharon and his government realise that predatory behaviour will not be tolerated for long. There is an evident international resolve to put an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict in all its aspects. The calls from Washington and London for the just and legitimate realisation of Palestinian statehood as part of such a settlement, should be viewed by the Israeli leadership as a guarantee of Israel's peace and security, but continued violence and aggression, as history has shown time and again, is a recipe for disaster. 
	
	
	





Document 001001635 ends.


	
AMMAN -- The government is preparing official replies to two recent international reports on human rights practices in Jordan. 
	
	
 The replies to an Amnesty International report issued on Feb. 5 and a US State Department country report on human rights practices in Jordan issued on March 4 will be ready next month, said Ambassador Abdul Latif Bawab. "We have contacted all concerned authorities, starting with the Interior Ministry and law enforcement agencies, to gather comments and suggestions to be included in our replies," said Bawab, who is responsible for the international organisations desk at the Foreign Ministry. 
	
	
 In a report entitled "Jordan: New Security Measures Violate Human Rights," Amnesty International expressed concern about laws and amendments introduced to the Penal Code after the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the US as part of an anti-terrorism package. 
	
	
 The temporary laws "expand the scope and definition of terrorism and place additional restrictions on freedom of expression and the press," the Amnesty report said. 
	
	
 The 12-page State Department annual report on human rights in the Kingdom said there were cases of arbitrary arrests and incommunicado detentions in 2001. 
	
	
 Bawab declined to comment on the merits of the reports, saying the government will make its replies to the reports public when they are ready. 
	
	
 Ambassador Bawab only said the State Department's report was "repetitive," pointing out that in some cases it contained three or four separate references to the same incidents, some of which were already mentioned in previous years' reports. 
	
	
 "Our reply is going to be brief, because we feel that the report is repetitive," Bawab said. 
	
	
 According to US official sources, only 10 per cent of the countries on which the State Department publishes human rights annual reports issues official replies. 
	
	
 "We do not have to reply, but we have been replying for years, because we believe in our good [human rights] record and feel that we have nothing to hide," Bawab said. 
	
	
 On Sept. 25, amendments to the Penal Code stipulated sentences of up to three years in jail and a JD5,000 fine for the publication of reports "sowing the seeds of hatred and malice," or disparaging the Royal Family and heads of state of friendly countries. 
	
	
 Another amendment defined terrorism as "any act of violence or use of threat, regardless of reason and aim, executed individually or collectively to disturb public order and endanger public safety and security." 
	
	
 According to Amnesty, these amendments "criminalise peaceful activities unrelated to politically motivated violence." 
	
	
 The State Department report alleged that "the government restricts freedom of assembly" and "there are significant restrictions on citizens' rights to change their government." 
	
	
 It also cited "a lack of transparent investigations into allegations of wrongful deaths that occurred during police detention in previous years." 
	
	
 Jordan is a signatory to most rights conventions, from the 1948 Universal Declaration on Human Rights to the Civil Covenant on Human Rights and the more recent Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. 
	
	
 The government is currently taking legislative steps for the establishment of a National Centre for Human Rights (NCHR), following recommendations by a Royal Commission on Human Rights established by His Majesty King Abdullah in March 2000 and chaired by Her Majesty Queen Rania. 
	
	
 The country's eight independent human rights organisations have welcomed steps to set up the NCHR, which, according to the draft law for its creation, will act as an "ombudsman" office to look into individual claims of human rights violations and abuses. 
	
	
 Neither Amnesty International's nor the US State Department's report mention the steps taken for the establishment of an ombudsman office, which would be the first of its kind in the region. 
	
	
 According to human rights activist Saeda Kilani, reports by the State Department and other international watchdogs are no longer received with "shock" by public opinion and officialdom alike, thanks to increased public awareness and access to information. 
	
	
 "A few years ago, these reports were shocking: It was only from such documents that many heard for the first time about issues such as domestic abuse or honour crimes in Jordan," said Kilani, who is also the Jordan representative of Transparency International. 
	
	
 "But now more people know about these issues, public awareness and access to information have increased, and special centres for women and children are being established," she continued. 
	
	
 As awareness increases and public institutions start addressing issues that were taboos only a few years ago, additional pressure is on the authors of human rights reports to be more accurate, Kilani noted. 
	
	
 "Now more people will be able to judge if a report is not so well sourced, or thoroughly investigated," she said. 
	
	
	





Document 001001636 ends.


	
Head of Commonwealth observer team arrives 
	
	
 Former Nigerian Head of State, Abdul Salam Abubakar, who is leading the Commonwealth observer team, has arrived in Harare and will be in the country until the end of next month's presidential election. 
	
	
 Mr Abubakar was met at the Harare International Airport yesterday by officials from the Electoral Supervisory Commission, Foreign Affairs and representatives from the Commonwealth Secretariat. 
	
	
 Meanwhile, 35 Commonwealth observers from 10 countries have been accredited by the Department of Information and Publicity accreditation team. This brings to 52 the number of Commonwealth observers and to 187, the total of foreign observers. 
	
	
 The Commonwealth support team is composed of observers from Canada, Nigeria, South Africa, Togo, Mauritius, Jamaica, Zambia, New Zealand and Kenya. 
	
	
 The Commonwealth observers said they would be holding meetings with different stakeholders from today to the day of the election in order to familiarise themselves with developments in the country. 
	
	
 A total of 186 local and 20 foreign journalists were accredited yesterday to cover the election. The numbers are expected to increase as more journalists were accredited yesterday.	





Document 001001639 ends.


	
GATUNA, Rwanda, July 6 (AFP) - President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni began talks here Friday in a bid to mend soured relations between their neighbouring countries. 
	
	
 The two heads of state met under an canvas awning set up for the occasion a few hundred metres (yards) from the Gatuna border post, an AFP correspondent reported. 
	
	
 The formerly close allies fell out in 1999, the year after each sent troops to back rebel movements in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, when mounting rivalry lead to violent clashes between their own armies there. 
	
	
 Museveni and Kagame have met three times since the fighting broke out in the DRC city of Kisangani, the main town in the northeast of the country, but without patching up their differences. 
	
	
 In March, Uganda declared Rwanda a hostile nation because of tensions arising from Kigali's alleged support for a rival to Museveni in a presidential election. 
	
	
 The two countries have each accused the other of backing dissidents. 
	
	
	





Document 001001640 ends.



    Tiny debris outside space station halts shuttle launch

 



  CAPE CANAVERAL -- A tiny piece of space debris floating outside 
the International Space Station caused NASA to scrub Thursday 
night's launch of the space shuttle Endeavour.

  The space shot might be rescheduled for this evening, but a 
decision won't be made until this morning, a NASA official said 
Thursday. The shuttle will take seven astronauts to the 
International Space Station, where three of them will begin a 
six-month stay aboard the orbiting science lab.

  On Wednesday, an unmanned Russian supply rocket filled with 
food, clothes, toilet supplies and other items arrived at the 
station but had trouble docking.

  Sensors and photos showed that debris about the width of a piece 
of string or wire is preventing a solid fit on the docking, said 
Jim Van Laak, NASA manager of operations and integration for the 
space station.

  NASA experts were worried that if the Russian supply vessel were 
not securely docked, it might jar loose and damage the space 
station.

  Van Laak said Russian space officials believe the soft bump that 
happens when Endeavour docks at other port on the station would 
not jar the Russian supply ship loose. But NASA officials want 
further study because they are concerned it might damage the 
locking mechanism for the supply ship.

  ``What we are concerned about is a wobbl ing'' that could damage 
the locking mechanism, Van Laak said.

  A bigger question is when to send Russian cosmonauts outside the 
station to fix the problem without messing up the space crew's 
tight work timeline. There won't be a final answer until this 
morning, Van Laak said.



Copyright 2001 Miami Herald




Document 001001645 ends.



China criticizes US human rights report

 



  BEIJING - China issued its annual report on human rights in the 
United States on Monday, accusing Washington of turning a blind 
eye to abuses in its own land while criticizing other countries 
for theirs.

  The report by the Information Office of the State Council, 
China's Cabinet, listed evidence of police abuses, poverty, 
racial discrimination and lack of personal safety in the United 
States, the official Xinhua news agency said.

  It also accused Washington of "wantonly infringing" on the 
sovereignty of other nations through military operations and 
stationing US forces overseas, Xinhua said.

  The report also slammed US President George W. Bush's 
administration for withdrawing from the Kyoto Protocol on 
cutting greenhouse gases.

  China releases the report every year in response to a US State 
Department report on global human rights conditions, which 
usually accuses China of widespread abuses. The US report came 
out last week.

  "Once again the United States, assuming the role of `world judge 
of human rights' has distorted human rights conditions in many 
countries and regions in the world, including China, and accused 
them of human rights violations, all the while turning a blind 
eye to its own human rights-related problems," the Chinese 
report said.



Copyright (c) 2001 The Manila Times |






Document 001001646 ends.



    National Roundup

 



  
FLORIDA ASTRONAUTS REPAIR SPACE STATION WINGS

  CAPE CANAVERAL -- Two space-walking astronauts went out on a 
repair job Monday and wrapped thermal covers around a pair of 
motors that turn the International Space Station's giant solar 
wings.

  NASA hopes the covers will shield the motors against the 
temperature extremes of space and eliminate power spikes and 
stalls. The motors keep the solar wings pointing toward the sun 
and generating electricity.

  Astronauts Linda Godwin and Daniel Tani floated out of space 
shuttle Endeavour and grabbed onto the ship's robot arm for a 
50-foot ride up the side of the space station.



Copyright 2001 Miami Herald




Document 001001648 ends.


       

Kyle Technology Corp. said a Seattle investor has signed a letter of intent to buy the company for about $3.1 million, or $1.20 a share. 

The investor, Donald A. Wright, plans to run the company, said a spokesman for Kyle. 

The transaction has been approved by Kyle's board, but requires the approval of the company's shareholders.
Kyle manufactures electronic components. 




Document 001001650 ends.


	
The profound economic crisis in Argentina has coincided with a wave of social tension during recent days. Riots and widespread strikes, attacks on government buildings, and the plundering of stores have left scores of dead and casualties. Public dissatisfaction and an increase in the people's anger in this country have finally resulted in the collapse of Fernando Delaroe's government following several days of protest. 
	
	
 Because of the misguided policies of Argentina's politicians, Argentina is in a state of stagnation for a fourth consecutive years. The unemployment rate has passed 18 percent and the hard currency is continuously being devalued. Foreign debts are around $132 billion and poverty is dominating the country like a dangerous virus. 
	
	
 The important point is that Argentina has enjoyed the IMF's advice in the execution of these policies. The main problem that caused the recent shock is also a result of the restrictive economic policies that have been adopted on the advice of IMF experts. Incidentally, the riots also occurred following the IMF's announcement of Argentina's debts. 
	
	
 What is clear is that Argentina's paralyzed economy was unable to tolerate the government's hardline policies, which finally resulted in the situation that we are witnessing today. Although IMF officials deny any connection their policies and the current situation, reports indicate that now an IMF executive delegation is actively making changes to Argentina's economy. Another important point is Argentina's connections with the global economy. This country has attracted a large amount of foreign investment by international companies, from the American continent to Europe. Some $76 billion of the $132 billion debt is accounted for by foreign loans, which were lavished on Argentina. Anyway, now in addition to the IMF, the US government, as the biggest investor in Argentina's economy, is ignoring its commitments in the current situation. 
	
	
 In the heat of crisis, the interim government has introduced new initiatives. Among them are halting the payment of debts and the execution of supportive actions for the poor people, controlling government and state expenses, attempts to increase employment, giving food help and trying to take out new loans, and the adoption of new monetary policies. However, there are a few ambiguous points, such as: 
	
	
 1 -- What amount of Argentina's economic crisis is due to its relations with the global economy and how much effect will it have on the European and US economies due to its present stagnation? 
	
	
 2 -- What reaction is likely from other countries and international institutions to the government's new policies, for instance halting the payment of debts? 
	
	
 3 -- Finally, what fate awaits Argentina's crisis-stricken economy? 
	
	
	





Document 001001651 ends.


Iraq clears visit by Ohio official
By Scott Montgomery

Washington
             
The Iraqi government has agreed to let U.S. Rep.
Tony Hall visit the country next week to assess a humanitarian
crisis that has festered since the Gulf War of 1990, Hall's office
said Monday.

   The Dayton Democrat, who has traveled to other crisis points
including Sierra Leone and North Korea, will spend three days
visiting hospitals and other facilities to seek understanding why
aid has been ineffective in stemming malnourishment and other
medical problems.

   Iraq has been under economic sanctions since the war ended,
which some say have thwarted the country's ability to recover from
the devastation of the bombing campaign.

   The Persian Gulf War destroyed much of the country's medical
infrastructure, according to a report by the World Health
Organization. In 1996 the WHO found that much of the population
existed in a state of ``semi starvation.''

   Hall will be only the second member of Congress to travel in
Iraq since the war, according to Hall's office. The last visitor
was then-U.S. Rep. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, who went to help
a pair of U.S. oilmen in diplomatic trouble.
                       
   Hall flies to Amman, Jordan, on Friday, where he'll spend the
night before driving to Iraq. Flights are not permitted into Iraq.
Hall is to return to Washington on April 22.

   Story Filed By Cox Newspapers



Document 001001652 ends.


       

I was pleased to note that your Oct. 23 Centennial Journal item recognized the money-fund concept as one of the significant events of the past century.
Actually, about two years ago, the Journal listed the creation of the money fund as one of the 10 most significant events in the world of finance in the 20th century.
But the Reserve Fund, America's first money fund, was not named, nor were the creators of the money-fund concept, Harry Brown and myself.
We innovated telephone redemptions, daily dividends, total elimination of share certificates and the constant $1 pershare pricing, all of which were painfully thought out and not the result of some inadvertence on the part of the SEC. 

President 

The Reserve Fund 

New York 




Document 001001653 ends.


	
HONG KONG, Nov 21 (AFP) -- The number of south Asians seeking political asylum in Hong Kong is on the rise following the US-led military campaign in Afghanistan, it was reported Wednesday. 
	
	
 Some 200 South Asians, most claiming to be businessmen, had sought political asylum from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Hong Kong between August and October, double the total number applying over the past seven years, the mass-circulating Chinese paper Oriental Daily News said. 
	
	
 Most of the claimants were from Pakistan, while the rest were from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Indonesia. They entered Hong Kong through the Chek Lap Kok international airport or from Lo Wu checkpoints with the mainland. 
	
	
 A spokesman for the security bureau said Hong Kong would not grant anyone political asylum under present policies. 
	
	
 The senior management of the Hong Kong government, however, was shocked by the surge and was worried that some people might use it as a means to remain in Hong Kong indefinitely, the report said. 
	
	
 It said the immigration department had already been instructed to step up its checks on suspicious travellers. 
	
	
 The world's refugee problem was thrust back into the global spotlight in September following Australia's refusal to accept 438 mainly Afghan refugees rescued from a leaking ship and stranded at sea for days. 
	
	
 Hong Kong closed its last refugee camp, for Vietnamese migrants, last year after the 1,400 remaining boat people were allowed to remain. They were left over from the surge of some 230,000 refugees into the territory following the fall of Saigon in 1975. 
	
	
 The territory spent 8.7 billion dollars looking after them. 
	
	
	





Document 001001655 ends.


 



Chapter 5
A Physics of Semantics?
ach of the chapters of Investigations broaches new territory. Each is tentative and incomplete, pointing but not fully adequate. Yet, I persistently hope, it is better to light one candle against   .   .   .   what? the darkness? the veil beyond which we have had no framework of questions before? There are grounds, reasoned about by the best of philosophers and scientists of the past several centuries, to doubt a physics of semantics. We are on shaky ground. Yet when the first hard frost comes, when the birches have been swung, their crimson leaves scattered carelessly, when crystals splint shallow ponds and old egrets stand dark watch the coming dawn, long-legged, knowing how winter is thin, when the first phase transition of water to ice forms slight solidity across meadow streams, small creatures of flesh and concept tiptoe gingerly to some far side where, perhaps, something new is to be found.
We have lacked a physical definition of an autonomous agent, able to manipulate the universe on its own behalf  the egret whose foreboding of winter leads to lifted wing and steady, powerful flight. The egret is as much a part of physical reality as the atom, and perhaps more than the vaunted quark. But autonomous agents, we who do daily manipulate the world on our own behalf, we to whom  ``intentionality''  and  ``purpose''  are so inevitably attributed by our common languages, we are, by my definition of autonomous agents, also nothing but physical systems with a peculiar organization of processes and properties. If the concept of autonomous agents were something like a useful  or more, a proper  definition of life itself, then autonomous agents span the gap from the merely physical to that new realm of the merely physical where  ``purpose''  is ascribed by all of us to one another.
Semantics enters with purpose. For this to be true, it is not necessary that the carriers of purpose, say, the same bacterium heading upstream in the glucose gradient, be conscious.
I hope my definition of an autonomous agent is useful, an autocatalytic system carrying out a work cycle, now rather broadened by the realization that autonomous agents also do often detect and measure and record displacements of external systems from equilibrium that can be used to extract work, then do extract work, propagating work and constraint construction, from their environment.
Know-how
Bring ourselves empathetically and objectively back three billion years to the mixed microbial community flourishing right about where most of us are now, plus or minus a modicum of layers of surface crustal material.
I want to say that the autonomous agents comprising that community had, individually and collectively, the embodied know-how to get on with making a living in the natural games that constituted their world. Indeed, as I have emphasized before, a biosphere is a self-consistent coconstruction of autonomous agents, ways of making a living, and the search procedures, mutation, recombination, as well as behavioral search open to autonomous agents. Those means of making a living that were well searched out and mastered by the agents and their search procedures became the kinds of  ``jobs''  that were widely filled, the abundant niches of the bio-sphere. There is in this whole self-constructing system a wider know-how, beyond the know-how of any single autonomous agent spinning eagerly in its microenvironment. Yet, clearly, the know-how is distributed. There is no autonomous agent, no one, who knows how the whole system works, any more than anyone at present knows how the global economic system works in its myriad interactions, deals, steals, hopes, and frustrations.
What in the world is  ``know-how'' ? Philosophers distinguish between  ``know-how''  and  ``know that.''  I know how to tie my shoes and am learning how to play jazz drums.  ``Know that''  concerns propositions, most conveniently, human propositions. I know that the moon is  they tell me  not made of green cheese. I know that the earth circles the sun, that the earth is roughly spherical, that chairs are used to sit on.  ``Know that''  brings with it the standard and nonstandard issues of the truth or falseness of propositions as they report states of the world. Perhaps higher primates who are trained to manipulate simple symbols with apparent reference to the world also can  ``know that''  with respect to propositions.
Unlike  ``know that,''   ``know-how''  does not involve propositions about the world.  ``Know-how''  involves procedural knowledge about how to get on in the world. The cheetah streaking after the wildebeest, the athletic genius high jumping, have the know-how to do it.
Does a bacterium know how to make a living in its world? I certainly want to say yes, without attributing consciousness in any way. Watch the myriad subtle turnings on and o of genes, metabolic switching, mechanical twitching, sensing of glucose gradient, swimming and tumbling upstream to higher glucose concentrations. It knows how all right, even if it cannot talk about how it gets on with its business. But then, try to talk about tying your shoes or the skilled driving when you become aware some dozens of miles down the road that you have accomplished the tasks without paying the slightest focused attention.
Thank God for know-how. Know that is a thin veneer on a four-billion-year-old know-how skill abundant in the biosphere. But any autonomous agent proliferating alone or in a congery of other agents, it would seem, is also graced by the selfsame know-how. If we synthesize autonomous agents in the next decades and they coevolve under our rapt gaze over months or years into a modestly complex ecosystem brimming with novel life forms, they too will know how to make a living in their mutually created world plus the boundary conditions we more or less intelligently impose on them.
The know-how is, in these terms, nothing but another view of the propagating closures of catalysis, work tasks, sensing, recording, and acting that we now recognize as inherent in the doings of autonomous agents. The know-how is not outside that propagating organization. The know-how is the propagating organization.
Semantics
All of which brings us, inevitably, to the brink of semantics.
It is simple at its roots, you see. An incoming molecular species arriving in the interior of an autonomous agent really is (i) food; (ii) poison; (iii) a signal; (iv) neutral; (v) something else. 
Once there is an autonomous agent, there is a semantics from its privileged point of view. The incoming molecule is  ``yuck''  or  ``yum.''  I think the major conceptual step to yuck or yum is unavoidable once there is an autonomous agent. And I think we have roughly the Darwinian criteria in mind. If yum, then there will probably be more of this type of agent, osprings of the first. If yuck, it is not so likely this lineage will prosper.
Once yuck and yum, we are not far from C. S. Pierce' s meaning-laden semiotic triad: sign, signified, significans. Like it or not, the glucose gradient is a sign, a predictor, of  ``more glucose that way.''  Granted, the glucose is not an arbitrary symbol, any more than a cloud is an arbitrary symbol of rain. In this restricted sense, signs are causally correlated with that which is signified. By contrast, the relation between the word  ``chair''  and that which it signifies, and on which I am now sitting, is arbitrary. But can chemical signals in bacterial and plant and human communities be arbitrary from a chemical causal point of view? If so, can  ``mere chemicals''  be signs in the full Piercean sense?
I believe it is clear that mere chemistry in an autonomous agent can harbor symbols and signs in the full senses of the words. Consider first the famous genetic code. Triplets of nucleotides in an RNA molecule stand for specific amino acids that will end up incorporated into a protein. The detailed causal machinery involves transfer RNA molecules with their anticodon site and the distant site to which amino acids are attached, the aminoacyle transferase enzymes that charge the amino acid binding site of each transfer RNA with the proper amino acid among the twenty amino acids, the binding of the charged transfer RNA' s anticodon site to the proper RNA code word triplet, the ribosome that glides between adjacent charged transfer RNA molecules and links the successive amino acids into the growing polypeptide chain that hangs free in the cytoplasm, tethered by the ribosome to the messenger RNA molecule as it is  ``translated.'' 
The arbitrariness of the genetic code is exemplified by the evolution of novel transfer RNA molecules, which translate a given messenger RNA code word triplet into a dierent amino acid. As J. Monod properly emphasized three decades ago in a slightly dierent context concerning activation and inhibition of enzymes at allosteric sites on the enzyme that are distant from the catalytic site, the relation of chemical structures that achieve control of catalysis are utterly arbitrary with respect to the chemical structures that undergo the catalysis. The same is true of the transfer RNA where the anticodon site is distant from the amino acid binding site. Because of this, which amino acid is charged onto a particular transfer RNA is utterly arbitrary and controlled by the aminoacyle transferase enzyme that does the charging, plus the structure of the amino acid binding site on the transfer RNA. Both of these can be altered without altering the anticodon-codon matching mechanism. In short, chemistry allows arbitrary organizations of control relations.
It seems fully legitimate to assign the concepts of sign, signified, and significans to the genetic code. It seems legitimate to extend that notion to much of the subtle signaling, chemical and otherwise, within and between autonomous agents, as exemplified by plants that upon infestation by a particular insect secrete a secondary metabolite chemical that  ``warns''  other members of the same species that an insect infestation is happening and to turn on defensive anti-insect secondary metabolites.
The calculus that is Claude Shannon' s elegant information theory has always been about reduction of uncertainty about the statistics of the source of a set of symbols. Nowhere in the core of Shannon' s work concerning the encoding and transmission of information does the meaning, or semantics, of the information enter. This is no criticism, and is widely known and appreciated. There is, however, just a hint of semantics in Shannon' s view that the semantics resides in the  ``decoder.'' 
I cannot buy Shannon' s view unless the decoder is an autonomous agent. If not, then the decoder merely transforms a bit string sent along a communication channel into some other discrete or continuous dynamics  perhaps a set of water-filled bowls is drained by turning on a machine that opens valves between the bowls and to the outside world in particular ways. The patterns of bowl drainage upon receipt of the binary string messages sent along the communication channel constitutes the decoding.
But if the recipient is an autonomous agent such as a bacterium and the incoming molecule is a symbol-sign of a paramecium or an amoeba on the roam and the bacterium swims away and avoids becoming dinner, that sequence of events seems laden with semantics. If only the bacterium could tell us:  ``Did you see that truck of a paramecium coming at me? I' ve run into that one before! I ducked under a boulder, and he never sensed me. I made it home. Pass me some more glucose please, Martha.'' 
I will return in the next chapter to discuss such stories, for I will say that we cannot prestate the configuration space of a biosphere and, therefore, cannot deduce that which will unfold. Thus, among other things, we must tell stories to understand the oriented actions of agents in their worlds. Do not be overly quick to accuse me of anthropomorphizing. I too know the risks, including the common claim that we can always in principle translate from  ``intentional talk''  to the fully predictive causal account of the events in question. But patience. Not only are we unable to prestate the configuration space of a biosphere and predict what will unfold, but we also cannot even translate  in the sense of necessary and sucient conditions  from legal talk to normal intentional talk, let alone from legal talk of Henderson found guilty of murder to a physical talk about sound-wave forms monitored and masses at space-time lines as a description.
Then let' s just be naive for the moment. The semantics of the yuck or yum coming into a simple autonomous agent  say, an early bacterium  is somehow linked with the embodied know-how of that agent in making a living, or failing to make a living, in its world. The semantics of an event is some subset of the fully embroidered, context-dependent set of causal implications of the event, or signal, in question.
 ``For want of a nail, the shoe was lost; for want of the shoe, the horse was lost; and for want of the horse, the rider was lost,''  more or less, said Benjamin Franklin. The semantics of the nail is some subset of this embroidered context-dependent set of implications of the event, or signal, in question to the autonomous agents in the coevolving system.
It seems hard to ascribe purpose, in the sense of acting on its own behalf, to a stone or a chair and easy with respect to an alga. Of course, there is a sense in which my attribution of semantics to autonomous agents is purely tautological. After all, I began by stating that a bacterium swimming upstream in the glucose gradient was acting on its own behalf in an environment, defined an autonomous agent as a physical system able to act on its own behalf, then asked what a physical system must be such that it can act on its own behalf. Now, five chapters later, it is hardly an independent deduction that autonomous agents are the proposed organization of matter, energy, and organization to which purposes can be ascribed in the sense of being able to act on their own behalf. My definition is a definitional circle.
On the other hand, while the definition is circular, like F = MA and Darwin' s  ``natural selection''  and  ``fitness,''  that does not mean that the set of codefined concepts surrounding my definition of an autonomous agent as a reproducing system that does a work cycle fails to touch the real world. Stones and chairs are not, by my definition, autonomous agents. All living cells are. And the stunning fact directly before us, every day, is that autonomous agents do manipulate the world on their own behalf. Watch a pair of nesting birds build their nest.
In short, once we have autonomous agents and yuck and yum, it appears that semantics enters the universe as the agents coevolve and behave on their own behalf with one another in the unfolding of a biosphere.
Knowing
What about  ``knowing'' ?
Daniel Dennett, in his fine book Darwin' s Dangerous Idea, advances a hierarchy of forms of  ``knowing,''  if I may use that term, that have arisen in evolution by Darwinian means. I find his hierarchy congenial and informative. Dennett envisions evolution as a sequence of kinds of construction cranes that bit by bit build up higher-order entities via variation and natural selection.
I do not disagree, although I have placed far greater emphasis on the roles of self-organization in evolution. Here, in Investigations, I am trying to point at the mysterious but utterly natural hopefulness in which an increasing diversity of broken symmetries in the universe creates the diversity of structures and processes that can constitute and identify ramified and ramifying sources of energy, detect those sources of energy, create devices and processes that couple to those sources of energy, and generate yet more diversity that propagates macroscopic order even further. I wonder, in short, at the naturalness and self-generaticity of Dennett' s cranes building cranes building cranes in biospheres, perhaps planetary geologies, and beyond.
But back to the past. Dennett distinguishes  ``Darwinian creatures,''   ``Pavlovian creatures,''   ``Popperian creatures,''  and  ``Gregorian creatures.''  A simple autonomous agent, say, a bacterium, is a Darwinian creature. In its simplest version, the creature evolves by mutation, also recombination and natural selection. For the moment, no behavioral learning is to be considered. So one (or a colony or an ecosystem) of Darwinian creatures adapts more or less as Darwin told us.
At the next level up, say, aplysia, a nervous system is present, and the creature is capable of stimulus-response learning, a la Pavlov. Indeed, aplysia can learn very simple conditioned stimuli  the later analogue is the bell causing the dog to salivate in  ``expectation''  of food.
At the next level (Dennett, perhaps properly, reserves this for us vertebrates) is the Popperian creature. Popperian creatures, in Dennett' s fine phrase, have  ``internal models''  of their world and can  ``run the internal model''  with the clutch disengaged, rather than running the model in real time in the real world. This allows us lucky Popperian creatures to allow our  ``hypotheses to die in our stead.''  I love that image.
Beyond the Popperian is the Gregorian creature  namely, at least humans. Dennett makes the wonderful argument that we utilize our tools  literally stone knives, arrows, digging sticks, machine tools  to enlarge our shared world of facts and processes. This enlarged shared world gives us more know-how, and more know that. Cultural evolution, at some point, begins to burst out-of-bounds. Hard rock music jangles the minarets of Iran. Who knows what new cultural forms will blossom? Chinese cooking lands in Cuba, and Cuban-Chinese cuisine is invented. What' s next under the sun? Who can say?
I very much like Dennett' s ladder of know-how, and eventual know that. Without invoking consciousness, not because it is not worth invoking but because so little sensible has ever been said on the subject, it seems worth asking how much of this hierarchy could be realized by simple molecular systems, even without evoking nerve cells.
I would think a lot of this hierarchy could find molecular realizations. For example, bacteria and amoebae do have a kind of Pavlovian learning already, for they have receptors that accommodate to a constant level of a given signal ligand and sense instead a change from the current level. This is not yet the association of a more or less arbitrary conditioned stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus, but I can imagine chemistry to accomplish the latter. As neurons are supposed to proliferate and form novel synaptic connections that survive if used and to mediate the linkage of conditioned to unconditioned stimulus, why not envision a complex chemistry, say, very complex carbohydrate-synthesis patterns sustained by complex sets of enzymes whose activities are modulated by the dierent carbohydrates themselves, which is true of contemporary carbohydrate metabolism. Such a system might blindly try out variant patterns of synthesis until it could establish a self-sustaining web linking the carbohydrates, the enzymes, and certain protein receptors mediating the linkage between unconditioned and conditioned stimulus, then maintain that linkage by positive feedback loops. The image is not too far from how it is imagined that  ``idiotype''  and  ``anti-idiotype''  immune networks work to sustain synthesis of a set of desired antibodies against an incoming pathogen. In such networks, for which there is modestly good evidence, a given first antibody serves as an antigen that stimulates the body to produce a second antibody that binds to the unique amino acid sequences, called the  ``idiotype''  of the first antibody. In turn, the second  ``anti-idiotype''  antibody stimulates a third, which stimulates a fourth. But this series is likely to form feedback loops because the first and third antibody can often both bind to the same site on the second antibody, hence, the first and third antibodies are similar shapes in shape space. It is not much of a stretch to think of the immune system as a conditioned stimulus response system.
Popperian creatures? Why cannot the molecular-sensing and hypothesis-testing churning concerns of the bacterium as it senses a paramecium churn twenty cycles before kicking in the rotary motor, or not, such that the wee bacterium hides under a boulder of a grain of sand until the beast passes by? Are nerves necessary? Plants, as noted, are said to signal one another with complex secondary metabolites to characterize the particular kinds of insects infesting the glade. There are arbitrary structural relations between the metabolite and the insect, just as symbols in human language are often arbitrary with respect to the signified. Not bad for nerveless nonvertebrates.
I do get stuck at Gregorian creatures. Even here, the free and open creating of new symbol strings in a language, wherever new sentences can be created, is not that fundamentally dierent from the persistent open creation of new kinds of molecules in the biosphere as a whole. If the conversation we recent two-legged ones are having with respect to our digging sticks and atomic bombs is impressive, so too is the chemical conversation in any full-fledged ecosystem, where we are all instrumental in the lives of one another.
I suppose I am naively driven to consider that the biosphere, with its urgent diversity in which, emboldened by all our know-how, we do get on with a very rich conversation, may very early already have harbored all the levels of which Dennett speaks. We humans are just more gregarious with our vocal cords and e-mail, I guess. Smart place, a biosphere, lots to talk about. Four billion years of yammering. Slapstick comedy may have started a long time ago.
Ethics
And what of ethics? Does a whi of ethical issue arise with autonomous agents? Yuck or yum from my point of view if I am an autonomous agent. There are deep reasons for caution. Hume told us long ago about the  ``naturalistic fallacy'' : One cannot deduce  ``ought''  from  ``is.''  From the fact that mothers care for their young, we cannot deduce that they ought to do so, Hume argued. From the fact that Hitler set out to conquer Europe and more and to kill Jewry, we cannot deduce that he ought to have done so.
Indeed, Hume' s injunction underlies the caution of scientists about making ethical statements. We scientists find the facts. You citizens across the globe can argue the ethics. But if Hume warns us not to deduce ought from is, where do values come from at all? Hume' s injunction against deduction from is to ought nevertheless began by recognizing the legitimacy of the category  ``ought.'' 
The eorts following Hume to understand the meaning of ethical assertions have been long, twisted, arduous. Following the dictates of the logical positivists of the Vienna Circle that only those statements capable of verification were meaningful, philosophers as famous as G. E. Moore came to wonder if ethical assertions were merely emotive utterances.  ``It is wrong to kill.''  Becomes,  ``Agggah!''  Does the positivist argument seem persuasive? It has always amused me that the core injunction of the logical positivists,  ``only those statements that are empirically verifiable are meaningful,''  is itself not empirically verifiable. One is reminded of something about hoisting and petards. 
John Rawls of Harvard has argued eloquently that our human notions of fairness derive from what we would all  ``contractually''  agree to, were we to know before birth that we would all be born with diering abilities and endowments. Thus  ``equality before the law''  is one contract that Rawls commends to us.  ``Equality before the law''  is far more refined than the yuck or yum of the bacterium. The emergence of ethics in the evolution of life on this planet is a fascinating issue.
I will content myself with wondering where  ``value''  and the rudiments of  ``intentionality''  come from in the physical universe in the first place and leave social contracts for other eorts. Where is the place of value in a world of fact? 
So, a short soliloquy. Facts are know-that statements. But know-how preceded know that. While fully aware of Hume' s injunction, I think that from the autonomous agent' s perspective, yuck or yum is primary, unavoidable, and of the deepest importance to that agent. I suppose we apply the Darwinian criteria. Too much yuck, this one and its progeny are gone from the future of the biosphere. Without attributing consciousness to an E. coli, or an autonomous agent we may create in the near future, I cannot help but feel that the rudiments of value are present once autonomous agents are around.
And again without attributing consciousness, once an autonomous agent is around is the rudiment of intentionality present? If so, another cornerstone of ethical activity has been laid. Ethical behavior requires first the logical possibility of behavior for which one is responsible. You are not responsible for acts and eects beyond your control. To act ethically, you must first be able to act at all.
But what are  ``acts''  in the first place? Daniel Yamins is a brilliant young mathematician. Now entering Harvard, Dan spent a summer with me at the Santa Fe Institute before he learned to drive, after an earlier summer spent in the laboratory of Jack Szostak at Harvard, where, at age fourteen, Dan was learning to evolve RNA molecules to bind arbitrary ligands. Dan and I struggled that summer to make the distinction between the  ``doings''  of an autonomous agent and mere happenings in and around the autonomous agent. Note we say the E. coli is swimming upstream in the glucose gradient to get dinner. But all sorts of molecular vibrational, rotational, and translational motions are occurring. What are actions and what are mere happenings?
I do not think we were successful in drawing a clean distinction between doings and happenings with clear mathematics. But I sense that the distinction between doings and happenings, Dan' s happy phrasing, is relevant for E. coli, tigers, us, trees, and autonomous agents in general. We will meet a similar problem in the next chapter when we attempt to distinguish between the function of a part of an organism and the other causal consequences of that part of the organism.
Strange and interesting, is it not, that these issues all seem to arise with autonomous agents but not otherwise? Granted that we here seem to confront the language game circularity alluded to earlier, yet I do truly think that the rudiments of semantics, intentionality, value, and ethics arise with autonomous agents. I do not think those rudiments suce to jump over Hume' s naturalistic fallacy. We cannot deduce ought from is in any concrete context, but I think we have the categories of ought and is in the physical universe once we have autonomous agents.

























Document 001001656 ends.



Argentina: Right wing sweeps to victory in face of economic crisis

 



  The right-wing Peronist party Partido Justicialista (Justice 
Party) has won the elections of Sunday 14th October for the 
Argentine Senate and Chamber of Deputies with an absolute 
majority.

  The results of the elections were to be expected in view of the 
catastrophic economic situation of the majority of the country's 
citizens. Argentina has an ever-growing rate of poverty, which 
defies logic given the enormous land/population ratio, with the 
richest soil in South America.

  Once again, the governing class of a South American country has 
proved itself utterly unable to come to terms with the needs of 
the population, basically because it has become removed from the 
reality of the country. The more the poles part, the further the 
political and social distance between the parts.

  The fact that a right-wing party has conquered an absolute 
majority in Argentina proves the desperation of the people, 
although 41% of the population voted with spoiled or void votes. 
The PJ (Peronist) will receive 39 of the 72 seats in the High 
Chamber against 25 of the Government Alliance (of President de 
la Rua).

  In the Chamber of Deputies, the PJ will have 116 of the 257 
members, 17 more than the last election. The Government Alliance 
lost 14 seats and will end up with 88.

  The real challenge facing Argentina is how its economy will 
manage to survive the onslaught of the international credit 
vultures ready to tear its members apart.

  
Marcia MIRANDA




Document 001001659 ends.


	
Hong Kong, 6 Feb (ZTS) News from Washington: 
	
	
 Secretary of State Colin Powell said on 5 February that it was not an alarmist remark when George W. Bush labeled Iran, Iraq, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea [DPRK] as the "Axis of Evil" when he was delivering the State of the Union Speech last week. 
	
	
 Powell's remark came when he attended a hearing sponsored by the Foreign Relations Committee of the US Senate and spoke in defense of the statement of the "Axis of Evil" which has been widely criticized. 
	
	
 According a report, during his two-hour discourse, Powell said that it is correct to describe Iran, Iraq, and the DPRK as the "Axis of Evil." He said: But this does not mean that the United States will launch a war against them. The United States does not rule out the possibility of holding dialogues with the countries of the Axis of Evil. 
	
	
 Powell said: The need to take actions against these countries does not mean that we will launch a war against or invade someone tomorrow. In the near future, this means that the United States will consider the three countries mentioned and other countries that might be mentioned as the major points of its policy. 
	
	
 Powell said: Bush's statement is similar to that of Ronald Reagan who described former USSR as an "Evil Empire." The United States is ready to cooperate with its allies and discuss with them how to deal with such regimes. 
	
	
	





Document 001001661 ends.


	
Any hopes that were raised by the Arab peace plan have been dashed to pieces with Israel attacking the offices of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat at Ramallah. Tanks were moved into Ramallah early Friday morning and subsequently these and bulldozers were used to smash through the perimeter of the compound around Mr Arafat's headquarters. The Palestinian leader has been confined here for several months and the buildings in this complex house the bulk of the security forces of the Palestinian Authority. Over the last few months, Israeli forces have been targeting the symbols of authority of the Palestinian administration. Friday's attack strikes at the heart of this authority. As usual, Israel is projecting its attack as a defensive action - a response to two suicide attacks over the last two days at Netanya and a Jewish settlement, which left about 24 people dead. There is a possibility that the attack on the PA's headquarters could expand into a larger operation. Describing !
Arafat as "an enemy" of Israel, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced an extended military operation against "Palestinian terrorism" "everywhere it exists". 
	
	
 Israel's attack on Arafat's headquarters deals a stinging slap on the face of ongoing Arab efforts to negotiate a political settlement to the ongoing conflict. The just-concluded Arab summit had unanimously adopted a Saudi peace initiative, which called for full Israeli withdrawal from Arab territory occupied in the 1967 war, the creation of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital and a "fair solution" to the Palestinian refugee problem based on UN resolutions. In return, the Arabs had agreed to consider that the Arab-Israeli conflict is at an end, enter into peace treaties with Israel and open normal relations in the context of this comprehensive peace. Israel's immediate response to the peace plan was to dismiss it as a non-starter. The attack on the PA headquarters barely a day after the peace initiative was accepted by the Arabs clearly indicates Israel's rejection of any efforts to negotiate peace through compromise. It has been clear for some time that the Sharon government is planning on settling issues with the Palestinians through invasion and re-occupation of Palestinian land and then offering a settlement based on its terms. As events over the past two years indicate, a strategy based on imposing a settlement through military means will only deepen anger and provoke retaliatory violence from the Palestinians. The attack on the PA headquarters is an explosive move and has put West Asia on the brink of another war. The international community must act immediately to pressure the Israeli government to step back from the dangerous course of action it is determined to pursue.	





Document 001001662 ends.


	
Srinagar, May 5: With the recovery of the charred remains of three more persons from the debris at Varmul today, the toll in the Syed Karim Sahib encounter has risen to six. Elsewhere in the state, seven militants and a securityman were among 11 people killed since yesterday. 
	
	
 A defence spokesman said today the charred remains of three more persons killed in the Varmul encounter on Friday were recovered from the debris of the burnt houses today. He said the recovery of arms and ammunition from the place included six AK rifles, 15 magazines and two radio sets. 
	
	
 In an exchange of fire between the militants and troops at Sadnara, Panzalla in Varmul district today, a civilian Fayaz Ahmad Mir was killed. Police are investigating. 
	
	
 Two militants were killed in an encounter with the troops/SOG [Special Operations Group] at Dhok Wali (Poonch ) during the preceding night. The identity of the slain militants could not be ascertained. 
	
	
 Body of Feroz Ahmad Dar of Gaddapora, Shopian was recovered from village Hajipora today. The deceased, a shopkeeper by profession was abducted by unidentified gunmen from his house during the preceding night. Police have registered a case. 
	
	
 A Lashkar militant was killed in an encounter with the security forces at Chor Gali in Shopian area yesterday. 
	
	
 Unidentified gunmen forced entry into the house of Sulaiman alias Muhammad Sultan of Khawas (Budhal) of Rajouri district yesterday and shot him dead. Police have taken cognizance. 
	
	
 Three unidentified persons were shot dead by the Chola Nallah near LoC [Line of Control] (Poonch) during the preceding night. A soldier sustained injuries in the shoot out. 
	
	
 A soldier Ram Karan Singh died in an exchange of fire with the militants at Bhelti (Doda) today. Details are awaited. 
	
	
 A militant whose identity could not be ascertained was killed in an encounter with the troops at Mutgala (Gool) today.	





Document 001001663 ends.



   Canadarm2 lays track for space railway

 


SubHead:   'A unique and highly complex robot working in an extremely hostile environment': Improved mobility

Author:     Broward Liston

  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The first railway in outer space was 
ready to roll yesterday after astronauts from the space shuttle 
Atlantis prepped it for its inaugural run.

  The rail car, installed outside the International Space Station 
on the crew's first spacewalk, will have a top speed of just 
three centimetres per second, but ground controllers may not 
open up the throttle all the way in their first test today 
anyway.

  The rail car is part of the 13-metre-long S-0 truss, the 
centerpiece of what is to be a 120-metre girder running the 
length of the space station. The completed girder will support 
thousands of square metres of solar panels generating power for 
use throughout the station.

  In a spacewalk lasting more than six hours, astronauts Steve 
Smith and Rex Walheim, the same team that mounted the new truss 
segment on to the station last Thursday, released launch 
restraints on the rail car, which rode to space in the shuttle's 
cargo bay.

  NASA said the Mobile Transporter, as the rail car is officially 
known, was ready for its first test today.

  "As far as speed is concerned, it's probably going to be in the 
fractions of an inch velocity -- on the order of a tenth of an 
inch per second," said Ben Sellari, the launch package manager 
at Mission Control.

  The small trolley is designed to roll the station's Canadarm2 
robotic arm from one construction site to another as work 
progresses on the station over the next several years.

  Captain Marc Garneau, president of the Canadian Space Agency, 
said Canadarm2 has so far performed flawlessly in its pivotal 
role installing the truss segment.

  The massive robotic arm, Canada's contribution to the 
multi-national space station, lifted the truss segment out and 
away from the shuttle's cargo bay and attached it on the 
station's laboratory module.

  The arm was then used for the first time to move the 
spacewalking astronauts to different work sites around the newly 
installed truss.

  Teams of engineers from the CSA and MD Robotics, the 
Brampton-based company that built the arm, were monitoring its 
work closely from the ground.

  An anomaly was detected on one of its joints several weeks ago, 
but the Canadian engineers successfully bypassed the problem 
area.

  "Canadarm2 is a unique and highly complex robot working in an 
extremely hostile environment," said Capt. Garneau. "Problems 
are bound to occur and are part of the normal course of space 
activities ... [but] Canadarm2 operations went smoothly and 
flawlessly yesterday."

  The 18-metre arm, which is powerful enough to lift entire 
station modules, was also rewired so it could draw power through 
the S-0 truss.

  Eight more truss segments will be added on future missions. And 
a handcar will be added to the rail system so astronauts can 
move more easily along the truss, which will be longer than a 
football field.



Copyright @ 2002 National Post Online |




Document 001001665 ends.


	
US President George W. Bush is insisting on his somewhat insane plan to lump Iraq, Iran, and North Korea together. He sees an "axis of evil" here. 
	
	
 France's Finance Minister Laurent Fabius thinks that there is something the United States above all fails to understand: To secure the future, an increase in development aid is absolutely essential. Fabius says he sometimes has "the feeling that they believe countries are poor because they want to be." Spain's head of government and current EU Council President Jose Maria Aznar: "This is a historic moment, since Europeans and North Americans must redefine their alliance." 
	
	
 The Americans do not see this, quite the contrary. Secretary of State Colin Powell would have had to resign had he not given in. He had just recently -- and he was the highest-ranking military officer in the Gulf War in 1991 -- held that an attack against Iraq would be inappropriate, and now he is admonishing the Europeans that they should be criticizing not the United States but the dictatorial regime in Baghdad. 
	
	
 Previously, Powell saw clearly that the antiterrorist chain could break if Iraq were attacked without the approval of the Europeans. Today he says action could be taken without considering the Europeans. The British do not consider themselves to be European and are grateful to the Americans for their help in the Falklands War. Neither the United States nor Europe can count on them. 
	
	
 The "axis of evil" is "not necessarily the expression that the Europeans would use," EU Commissioner for External and Security Policy Javier Solana says, but one should not dwell on the choice of words. 
	
	
 But it is precisely on this choice of words that we should dwell. Evil in politics has truly become an unmanageable concept. Manicheaism comes to us from late antiquity thanks to Manes, the religion's founder. It presupposes that light and darkness, good and evil, mind and matter are irreconcilably opposed forces. It is the Americans, however, who have not been able to live without a convincing concept of the enemy since the time of the Native Americans. 
	
	
 Weeks ago George W. Bush, who appears determined to install a new government in Baghdad, declared the creation of a Palestinian state as good as decided. Protests from Jerusalem. Bush backtracked. He would just as soon avoid a cultural war that had been talked about for so long. One must not force Iran to the side of Saddam Husayn. Jim Hoagland of the Washington Post understood that Bush is planning longer wars. It had been expected of the President that he would manage change in the world, Hoagland noted critically, and not try to change the world by command. 
	
	
 If it were only a matter of objective differences of opinion, than it would all be only half as wild. The differences could be resolved or a compromise could be reached. But the political classes in the United States, and not only they, consider America as something special, as "God's own country." The saying goes: "I'm an American and I'm damned proud of it." 
	
	
 It is the American mentality indeed that we will not be able to change until the end of mankind. So it has not done the US legal system any good that there is no enemy of consequence in sight. Who would have thought ten years ago that the United States would be capable of carrying fighters in an Afghan civil war across the sea and depriving them of their rights? They are vegetating in a place where they have no rights, because the intention is to deny them an appeal before court of law in the United States. It is true that Washington emphasizes repeatedly that the United States is in a war, but the right of all prisoners of war has long been denied these people who are so far only suspects. 
	
	
 Even German foreign policy, however late, has come to its senses. The most US-friendly member of the federal government, Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, reproached Washington for its "narrow concept of security" meaning that there is not enough money for maximum arms procurement and development aid simultaneously. Solidarity has its limits after all. "Alliance partners," according to our Joschka, "are not satellites." 
	
	
	





Document 001001667 ends.


	
[Computer selected and disseminated without FBIS editorial intervention] 
	
	
 Kitakyushu, Japan, Feb. 12 Kyodo -- A 3,986-ton Panamanian cargo ship heading to Taiwan from South Korea sank in the East China Sea late Monday, leaving one sailor dead and another of the 20-member crew missing, the Japan Coast Guard said Tuesday. 
	
	
 Coast Guard officials said the vessel, Triumph Kaohsiung, sank at around 11:30 p.m. at a point about 110 kilometers west of Goto islands in western Nagasaki Prefecture. 
	
	
 Officials said 19 crew members were plucked up from the sea and one died later. 
	
	
 According to the Triumph Kaohsiung crew, the vessel was flooded with water and the engine stopped at around 7 p.m. Monday, and the ship sank four and a half hours later. 
	
	
 The ship was heading to the southern Taiwan city Kaohsiung with a cargo of steel products that was loaded in the South Korean port Pohang. 
	
	
 Coast Guard officials said Japanese coast guard vessels plucked 12 survivors from a lifeboat and seven others from the sea. One of the rescued sailors died later. 
	
	
 Japanese coast guard aircraft and patrol boats were in the area looking for the missing sailor. 
	
	
 The ship's crew consisted of 11 Chinese, one Taiwanese, two Indonesians and six Myanmarese.	





Document 001001671 ends.


	
Bucharest, Feb 28 [Rompres] -- The prospects for the construction of a new unit on Russian technology at Romania's nuclear plant at Cernavoda were sketched out in Moscow during a visit by Romania's Prime Minister Adrian Nastase on 21 February. 
	
	
 Head of International Cooperation Department of Romania's Nuclearelectrica Teodor Chirica says that the VVER-1000 technology to be contributed by Russian experts is accepted in the world because is coated for protection and built on US and German supervision and automation systems. "The Russians have just concluded contracts for the export of four similar reactors, two each to China and India," Chirica told daily Ziarul Financiar on Thursday [28 February]. 
	
	
 Romania has built the first reactor at the Cernavoda n-plant on Canadian technology, having opted for a CANDU type of reactor instead of Russia's VVER-4000. The second reactor, which is to be commissioned in 2005, is also built on CANDU technology and estimated to cost $700 million to complete. 
	
	
 According to Russian specialists, the VVER-1000 type of reactor would cost some $800 million to commission, while Western technology, equipment, and services would cost Romania more than $1 billion. 
	
	
 Given the stake at play, namely electricity exports, other countries have also voiced interest in contributing to the finalization of works on reactor III and IV at Cernavoda. One of these countries is Turkey, a net importer of energy. On a recent visit to Turkey, Romania's Prime Minister Adrian Nastase presented his Turkish counterpart Bulent Ecevit the advantages of investments in the plant at Cernavoda, which include a generation price of $12/MWh. 
	
	
 The price for the energy generated at Cernavoda is some $6 higher than the cheapest energy generated by the water power plants, yet some $20 lower than the energy generated by the thermal plants.	





Document 001001672 ends.


Reference: EUP20020521000454 Tirana ATA in English 1929 GMT 21 May 02

		DOMESTIC POLITICAL
		LEADER

	 TIRANA, may 21 (ATA) -- Parliamentary Commission on Electoral 
Reform is now complete with all members that are to represent 
parliamentary parties.  	

  Socialist Party will be represented in the commission by five 
members: Bashkim Fino, Ylli Bufi, Taulant Dedja, Blendi Klosi, 
and Durim Hushi. From the governing coalition "Alliance for 
State", the Social Democratic Party (SDP) will be represented in 
the commission by Gaqo Apostoli, Human Rights Union Party 
(PBDNj) by Ligoraq Karamelo, and the Agrarian Party by Ndue 
Preka. Democratic Party is to be represented in the commission 
by 2 members, Jemin Gjana and Sokol Olldashi, whereas New 
democratic Party will be represented by Nard Ndoka. Other 
parliamentarian parties will have their representatives as well. 

  The joint majority-opposition commission was completed 
yesterday with the presentation of 5 members from the Socialist 
Party.  	

  Amendments in the code will consist in defining an electoral 
law for the one-round electoral system, and in establishing 
clear procedures of registering candidates, constituents, as 
well as vote counting.	 

East Europe
Balkan States
Albania



Document 001001680 ends.


       

H. Marshall Schwarz was named chairman and chief executive officer of U.S. Trust Corp., a private-banking firm with assets under management of about $17 billion. 

Mr. Schwarz, 52 years old, will succeed Daniel P. Davison Feb. 1, soon after Mr. Davison reaches the company's mandatory retirement age of 65.
Mr. Schwarz, who is president of U.S. Trust, will be succeeded in that post by Jeffrey S. Maurer, 42, who is executive vice president in charge of the company's asset-management group. 

U.S. Trust, a 136-year-old institution that is one of the earliest high-net worth banks in the U.S., has faced intensifying competition from other firms that have established, and heavily promoted, private-banking businesses of their own.
As a result, U.S. Trust's earnings have been hurt. 

But Mr. Schwarz welcomes the competition in U.S. Trust's flagship businesses, calling it "flattery." Mr. Schwarz says the competition "broadens the base of opportunity for us." Other firms "are dealing with the masses.
I don't believe they have the culture" to adequately service high-net-worth individuals, he adds.
U.S. Trust recently introduced certain mutual-fund products, which allow it to serve customers with minimum deposits of $250,000.
Previously, the company advertised at the $2 million level. 

"We have always taken smaller accounts, but now we are looking for smaller accounts that will grow," Mr. Schwarz says. "Our bread and butter is still the $2 million to $20 million account," he says.
The new services allow U.S. Trust to cater to the "new wealth," Mr. Schwarz says. 

Quarterly net income this year has risen just over comparable periods in 1988, when year-end net was below the 1987 level.
In this year's third quarter, for example, net was $10.5 million, or $1.05 a share, compared with $10.3 million, or $1.02 a share, a year earlier.
Assets as of Sept. 30 fell to $2.46 billion from about $2.77 billion. "We will have a reasonably flat year this year," Mr. Schwarz says.
Mr. Schwarz also said costs associated with U.S. Trust's planned move to midtown Manhattan from Wall Street will continue to be a drag on earnings through 1990. 

Mr. Schwarz's great-grandfather founded the New York toy store F.A.O. Schwarz, but his family no longer has ties to the company.
Mr. Schwarz's father was a U.S. Trust trustee until 1974. 

U.S. Trust also created a four-member office of the chairman, effective Feb. 1.
It will include Messrs.
Schwarz and Maurer.
Donald M. Roberts, 54, treasurer, and Frederick S. Wonham, 58, who takes responsibility for the funds-service group, were named vice chairmen and will serve in the office of the chairman.
Mr. Roberts continues as treasurer, and Mr. Wonham remains responsible for the offices of comptroller, planning, marketing and general services. 

Frederick B. Taylor, 48, also was named a vice chairman and chief investment officer, a new post.
He previously held similar responsibilities.
Mr. Taylor also was named a director, increasing the board to 22, but is not part of the new office of the chairman. 

James E. Bacon, 58, executive vice president, who has directed the funds-service group, will retire. 




Document 001001681 ends.


	
The statement by US Secretary of State Colin Powell about the Venezuelan Government triggered yesterday reactions from members of the ruling party. Mostly, they accused Washington of violating national sovereignty after the US ranking official voiced an opinion about Venezuela's foreign policy and questioned the democratic nature of the administration of Hugo Chavez. 
	
	
 Last Tuesday, before the US Senate's Foreign Policy Committee, Powell voiced his concern over "several actions by President Chavez and his ideas of what is a democratic system." He also criticized the visits by the chief of state to countries that are on the black list of supporters of terrorism, published by the administration of President George W. Bush, including Cuba, Libya, and Iraq. Guillermo Garcia Ponce Click here to view picture of Garcia Ponce , chief of the board of directors of the Political Command of the Revolution [CPR], described Powell's statement as "unusual" and added that it does not reflect the friendly relations between Caracas and Washington. 
	
	
 He stressed: "Venezuela's domestic policy is the exclusive concern of Venezuelans because of our historical tradition and because it is a constitutional mandate." He added: "There is no reason for any country to request the agreement of others to determine its conduct and adopt its decisions." Garcia Ponce, who said he was speaking on behalf of the entire CPR, pointed out that it would be "truly inconceivable" that the interference of a state to approve or disapprove the decisions of another or other states became a trait of foreign policy. 
	
	
 "This is not in keeping with the rules of international law and violates the principle of nonintervention in the affairs of other countries," the top representative of the CPR noted. However, he ruled out that the statement by the US Foreign Secretary will lead to a change in the policies of President Chavez. 
	
	
 Deputy Cilia Flores, chief of bloc of the Fifth Republic Movement [MVR], used the same tone to express her opinion. Without mincing her words, she affirmed: "This is an instance of meddling in the policies of this country, which is a sovereign country." She added: "Venezuela designs its own policies in an autonomous manner and, in any event, it is up to Venezuelans to decide them. We respect the sovereignty of all countries and this is why we demand respect for ours." 
	
	
 As for the criticisms of the destinations of the presidential trips, she remarked: "In addition to the fact that we do not have to ask anyone for permission to decide where and when we should visit a country, the President has visited countries with which we have direct trade relations, countries that are OPEC members, with the specific objective of strengthening our economy." 
	
	
 Noheli Pocaterra, vice president of the National Assembly, stressed that it is up to Venezuela to decide its foreign policy and the United States must respect its decision. According to her, the remarks by the US Government spokesman were uncalled-for. She stated: "We are quite respectful of the decisions made by Washington, even if we do not agree with them. We demand equal treatment for our foreign policy." 
	
	
 The opposition seeks intervention or blockade [subhead] 
	
	
 MVR Deputy Pedro Carreno went even further and established a direct relation between the concerns voiced by the Secretary of State and the disclosure of a video that presumably confirms relations between the Venezuelan Government and the Colombian rebel groups. Journalists Ibeyise Pacheco, Marta Colomina, Patricia Poleo, and Marianela Salazar disclosed this video in recent days. 
	
	
 The deputy said that Powell's remarks did not surprise him and added that the US official's opinion is based on reports published by the domestic and international press, which is waging a ruthless war against the Venezuelan chief of state. He noted: "The opposition is succeeding at portraying an image of Venezuela that scares away investors and triggers domestic turmoil to request the intervention of foreign powers in the country." Thus, Carreno excused the White House official, whom - he argued - was misled by the smear campaign and information sabotage that has been unleashed against Chavez in the country and abroad. He took one further step and invited Powell to visit Venezuela to see what is really happening. 
	
	
 He accused the four journalists of plotting with powerful economic groups that presumably contributed the funds to purchase the video from an intelligence agent. He stressed that these journalists should be tried since, according to Article 122 of the Penal Code, any action that instigates interventionist actions is considered treason against the homeland. 
	
	
 Carreno said: "This is what they are trying to accomplish through this campaign and their conduct, which is not that of journalists but of opposition activists, prompted the statement." However, he did explain that he is more concerned about reports that Venezuela has relations with organizations categorized as terrorist by the Bush administration than he is about Powell's statement. He indicated: "These reports have tried to suggest the existence of ties between Miraflores [Presidential Palace] and terrorist groups: There are documents presumably drafted by the FAN [National Armed Forces] expressing discontent with the government; the video disclosed by the journalists; and [Justice First Deputy] Gerardo Blyde's remarks on the creation of militia groups trained by the guerrillas. All this has sounded the alarm for the US Executive and suits the opposition's objectives to bring about an intervention or a blockade, which would hurt the people it claims to defend." 
	
	
 Oddly, he defended the content of the video by affirming - as the President did - that this is evidence of a humanitarian action. He argued: "When the United States has faced a situation involving extremist groups holding hostages, they have sent intermediaries to negotiate and no one has said that this shows they have relations with those groups." 
	
	
 [Caracas El Nacional (Internet version) in Spanish on 7 February carries a related 760-word item that says that some opposition deputies agreed that the government's tactless actions are to blame for the concerns voiced by US Foreign Secretary Colin Powell. The report cites Convergence Deputy Alejandro Arzola saying that Powell's position clearly reflects the concern that exists in the international community and Latin America over the Venezuelan situation: the atmosphere of conflict and the threats against freedom of expression, democracy, and legal security. Arzola stated: "The government's positions are not only harming the country at the domestic level, but also at the international level because thousands of investors are watching on their television sets what is happening in Venezuela, where the rule of law is under fire." Arzola added: Any recommendation by a country friendly to Venezuela, especially a country that is Venezuela's No.1 trade partner, must be heeded, as well as recommendations by the Church and the nation, which is demanding a rectification. The report also cites Democratic Action leader Claudio Fermin, who warned: "When Chavez came to the Presidency, the United States was buying 1.75 million barrels a day. At present, because of the misguided policy of cutting production, we are only selling them 1.1 million barrels. If to this, we add the President's constant aggressive attitude and readiness to establish ties between Venezuela and parasitic economies that give us nothing, but fulfill his political commitments, we will very likely continue to lose our edge in the US market." According to Fermin, the chief of state still does not understand that if there is no confidence, there will be no investments. Movement Toward Socialism Deputy Julio Montoya stated: "The national government has been extremely incompetent in handling relations with the United States. It has been vague about Venezuela's intentions regarding the protection of crude prices and the war on terrorism. Ambiguous situations constitute a breeding ground for bilateral tensions and the fact that currently, we do not even have an ambassador in Washington indicates that we are on the verge of a major breakdown in our relations with our leading trade partner."] 
	
	
	





Document 001001683 ends.


	
As usual, the US State Department published its annual report on human rights practices in world countries last Monday. 
	
	
 And as usual, the portion about China contains little truth and many absurdities, exaggerations and fabrications. 
	
	
 Its aim of the 2001 report is to tarnish China's image and exert political pressure on the Chinese Government, human rights experts said at a seminar held by the China Society for Study of Human Rights (CSSHR) on Friday. 
	
	
 "The United States was slandering China again," said Xirao-Nima, a professor of Tibetan history at the Central University for Nationalities. 
	
	
 It has no right to issue such a false human rights report, experts said. 
	
	
 "The United States has violated the UN spirit of not interfering in other countries' internal affairs," said Jin Yongjian, a former deputy secretary-general of the United Nations. 
	
	
 "The United Nations has held the high goal of protecting human rights," Jin said. "But it never requested or authorized the United States to compile or release such reports." 
	
	
 "The United States has completely violated the UN Charter and the principles of relevant international conferences and documents," he added. 
	
	
 The United States has not only made a procedural mistake, but the facts are incorrect, officials said. 
	
	
 "It somewhat softens its tone in the China human rights report. But it nevertheless uses human rights issues to slander China," CSSHR President Zhou Jue said. 
	
	
 "I have been to Tibet many times. I have seen the truth there, which is very different from what some US politicians with ulterior motives have described," said Xirao-Nima, who is a Tibetan. 
	
	
 Some Westerners who have been there have also seen the ever-improving human rights in the Tibet Autonomous Region, he added. 
	
	
 After visiting the region several times, Italian senator Renzo Gubert, praised the Chinese Government's efforts to protect the indigenous cultural and religious heritage while developing the local economy. 
	
	
 After a visit to Tibet in 2000, the Italian parliamentary delegation issued a press communique agreeing that the development of Tibet is far better than what has been reported by some Western media. 
	
	
 The central government has built and renovated a number of monasteries. From 1989 to 1994, the central government invested 53 million yuan (US$6.4 million) to repair the Potala Palace. Later spent another 4.9 million yuan (US$590,360) to update the palace's fire safety facilities. 
	
	
 Renzo Gubert once said that what impressed him most is that local Tibetans enjoy a high level of religious freedom. The Italian senator's words are in sharp contrast to what was contained in the so-called China human rights report compiled by the United States, which blindly accuses China of restricting religious freedom in Tibet. 
	
	
 The report uses many unsubstantiated stories to illustrate its unwarranted assertions. 
	
	
 "Throughout the report, there are many doubtful phrases, such as 'according to credible reports', 'various sources' and 'anecdotal evidence,' to name a few. It shows that these so-called truths are not true at all," said Xirao-Nima. 
	
	
 To back up their reckless conclusion, the report lists many incidents where it said religious freedom was violated. 
	
	
 Take the case of Li Guangqiang for example. The report said China should not have arrested Li, a Hong Kong businessman, who was charged with smuggling Bibles into the country in July. 
	
	
 "His behaviour has violated the Chinese law," said the Rev Cao Shengjie of the China Christian Council. Cao said the smuggled Bibles were editions translated by the 'Shouters' sect. It is heresy," said Cao. "The 'Shouters' claim they are bigger than Jesus." 
	
	
 The sect has been banned because of its activities in China in the 1980s. 
	
	
 Cao said to meet the demand of the 15 million Protestants in China, 28 million copies of the Bible, including those printed in ethnic languages, have been printed. 
	
	
 The US human rights report also accuses China of taking advantage of anti-terrorism campaigns to crackdown on ethnic group people living in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. 
	
	
 It said the United States fears "a spillover from the anti-terrorist campaign in Afghanistan and a perceived opportunity to legitimize measures against the Muslim Uighur activists under the anti-terrorism umbrella." 
	
	
 "Some US politicians have made a mistake. Those that want to secede from the nation and engage in terrorist activities are terrorists, not any particular ethnic group," said Ma Dazheng, director of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region's Development Research Institute at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. 
	
	
 Whoever engages in terrorism, whether he or she is of Han people or of a minority people, should be brought to the justice, Ma said. 
	
	
 "It is analogous to the US crackdown on terrorists in Afghanistan," Ma said. 
	
	
 The United States often says that although al-Qaida members and the Taliban are Muslims, US troops are bombing them because they are terrorists, not Muslims, he said. 
	
	
	





Document 001001686 ends.


	
JAKARTA (Agency): Indonesia and Singapore have agreed to settle their differences quietly following a row over claims by Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew that terrorist leaders are at large in Indonesia, Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said as quoted by AFP Tuesday. 
	
	
 "The two governments have actually reached an agreement not to settle their dispute openly, but to settle whatever had arisen from the statement by Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew through official channels," Hassan told reporters. 
	
	
 The neighboring countries have several mechanisms for handling disputes, he said, without elaborating. 
	
	
 Lee last month said leaders of regional extremist cells are still at large in Indonesia. A Singapore government statement identified Indonesian Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir as one ofthem. 
	
	
 The claim sparked protests and demonstrations in Jakarta and Hassan called it "provocative". 
	
	
 Singapore late last year 13 suspected members of the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist group for allegedly plotting to blow up US targets there. It says some of them have named Ba'asyir, who runs a Muslim boarding school in Central Java, as a leader. 
	
	
 Ba'asyir last week filed a 100 million dollar libel lawsuit against the Singapore government. 
	
	
 The cleric, who has been questioned by Indonesian police but not detained, denies any links to international terror. But he has described Osama bin Laden, the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks on the US, as "a true Muslim fighter". 
	
	
 Indonesia has come under pressure from several quarters to take tougher action against alleged terrorist leaders but has played down the threat.	





Document 001001687 ends.



   Mugabe says he is wide awake for polls

 


Author:     AP [ TUESDAY, MARCH 05, 2002 3:19:14 PM ]

  HARARE, Zimbabwe: A defiant President Robert Mugabe said his 
party had lost ground to the opposition through complacency, but 
would win this weekend's presidential elections anyway, state 
radio reported on Tuesday.

  "We are now wide awake," Mugabe said at a rally Monday. "We 
won't let the (Movement for Democratic Change) win."

  Mugabe described the opposition as "a donkey being controlled by 
the British," the former colonial power.

  The fledgling MDC won 57 of 120 elected seats in June 2000 
parliamentary elections as Mugabe's popularity plunged amid 
economic devastation and chaos.

  The U.S. State Department released a human rights report on 
Zimbabwe Monday that accused the government of extrajudicial 
killings, undermining the independence of the judiciary and 
waging a "systematic campaign of violence targeting supporters 
and potential supporters of the opposition."

  Security forces tortured opponents, ruling party militants 
abducted people, and police arrested opposition supporters who 
were themselves the victims of crimes. Freedom of the press and 
freedom of assembly were also severely restricted, the report 
said.

  In his speech on Monday, Mugabe thanked African leaders for 
refusing to buckle to pressure to suspend Zimbabwe from the 
Commonwealth of Britain and its former territories at a summit 
of the 54-nation grouping in Australia.

  Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand demanded the 
suspension of Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth to protest 
state-sponsored violence and human rights abuses against the 
opposition.

  Mugabe said the decision to defer the possible suspension until 
Commonwealth observers report back on the election was "a 
victory against Britain's attempts to introduce a new form of 
apartheid" to serve Western interests in developing countries.

  Tendai Biti, the MDC's foreign affairs spokesman, said Mugabe 
was trying to hide his policies of violence and intimidation 
behind his rift with Britain.

  "It is not a Zimbabwe-Britain crisis. Our people are being 
brutalised by fellow black Zimbabweans. This is the issue we 
would want our African brothers to have understood," he said.

  African leaders closed ranks at the Commonwealth summit out of 
fear for their own power, he said.

  "The problems of human rights and good governance are mirrored 
in their countries," Biti said.

  The state-run Herald newspaper, a government mouthpiece, said 
Tuesday British Prime Minister Tony Blair had showed personal 
arrogance, an obsession with Mugabe and "the shallowness of his 
commitment to democracy."

  The election on Saturday and Sunday presents the strongest-ever 
challenge to Mugabe's rule.

  The opposition accuses the government of using violence, 
intimidation and new security laws to cow its voters and to 
prevent it from effectively campaigning.

  Foreign diplomats based in Harare said Monday police prevented 
them from finishing a meeting on Monday with MDC leader Morgan 
Tsvangirai.

  Police declared the meeting with about 35 ambassadors and 
members of their staffs illegal under new security laws 
requiring police permission for political gatherings. Tsvangirai 
called the meeting to discuss food shortages gripping Zimbabwe 
and measures his party was considering to combat them, diplomats 
said.

  
Police had no immediate comment.

  State radio also reported Monday that three opposition lawmakers 
tried to bribe Zimbabwe's air force commander to help calm 
security forces if Mugabe were removed. Opposition officials 
said the claim was part of a government smear campaign.

  Foreign governments have pressed Mugabe to restore the rule of 
law. The president promised he would, but the violence has 
escalated, with dozens killed in February.



Copyright @ 2001 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. |






Document 001001688 ends.


	

	
	
 On March 4, the US State Depart-ment released its annual human rights report. Apart from criticizing the "axis of evil" countries for abusing human rights, it also listed abuses in several countries that are members of the anti-terrorist alliance. 
	
	
 What is most interesting about the reports is the section on Israel. Since Israel suffers from terrorist attacks, the report says, it has been forced to take counter-terrorism measures, making its rights abuses understandable. What's more, post-Sept. 11 restrictions in the US on entering and leaving the country and on air travel, as well as measures curbing the civil rights of accused persons, are not discussed at all. 
	
	
 The report is generally quite frank and its wording strong, but it proposes no corrective action. Consolidating the anti-terrorist alliance and expanding the war against terror are overshadowing concerns about human rights. In exchange for support for its war on terror, the US is tacitly agreeing to ignore abuses by other members of the anti-terror coalition. The most glaring examples are Russia's suppression of resis-tance to its rule in Chechnya, China's suppression of independence advocates in Xinjiang and the Falun Gong movement, and Israel's treatment of Palestinians. US activities, meanwhile, show no sign of promoting the universal values of democracy, human rights and peace. 
	
	
 Six months have passed since Sept. 11 and the focus of US anger has turned to countries that have been labeled "rogue nations" and members of an "axis of evil." The US anti-terrorist alliance has become the embodiment of two-sided justice. "If you're not with us, you're against us." The human rights report poses a substantial challenge to the US interpretation of good and evil. 
	
	
 Put simply, what we are seeing is the naked pursuit of US interests. No one who has ever studied realist political science will find this surprising. To earn legitimacy, however, US interests must be made to appear just. Even though almost all military mobilizations in history have been motivated by notions of good versus evil or of orthodoxy versus unorthodoxy, efforts to present the naked pursuit of US interests as a battle of good versus evil reflect a lack of understanding and tolerance. Demonizing the enemy will guarantee that peace will not be gained through war. 
	
	
 The report expressly points out that, "It is extremely easy for terrorists to find supporters in countries where human rights are not respected and where individual freedom is repressed." To prove that human rights are important ammunition in the battle against terror, then, the US must attack terrorism to make human rights matter to these countries. 
	
	
 If, however, US President George W. Bush still believes in the supremacy of human rights, he must not forget the breeding ground for terrorists that exists within the anti-terrorist alliance. The US is planning to extend military aid to several countries in the alliance to enable them to root out terrorists without using US forces. Such wishful thinking risks making the US an accomplice in the destruction of human rights. 
	
	
 If the US, which claims to be the world's policeman, is incapable of looking beyond US interests or of practicing the universal values of human rights, democracy and peace, then shouldn't the international community reconsider the role played by the UN, or learn from the way the European parliament works? After all, compromising between the interests of many different countries is much better than succumbing to the interests of a single country. It is also an approach better suited to the new century and its increasing international diversity. 
	
	
 Chien Hsi-chieh is a DPP legislator and executive director of the Peacetime Foundation of Taiwan. 
	
	
 Translated by Perry Svensson	







Document 001001689 ends.


	
1 What kind of victory is it that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon thinks he is achieving with his "total war"? After occupying the autonomous Palestinian city of Ramallah, Israeli tanks are pushing further into the Palestinian autonomous areas, occupying other cities and destroying the established -- EU-supported -- infrastructure. The house arrest, temporarily relaxed only after massive international pressure, imposed by Israel's prime minister on Yasir Arafat follows the siege of the Palestinian president's headquarters by Israeli troops. International journalists are being refused access to the cities occupied by Israel, a group of Arab and Israeli peace activists, who wanted to bring food to Ramallah, is expelled by the Israeli Army. 
	
	
 Unimpressed by UN decisions and EU appeals, Sharon is continuing his policy of provocation, which began with his demonstrative visit to the Temple Mount. The last few months have shown that his strategy of suppression has not prevented further suicide attacks, which [attacks] must be emphatically condemned in the strongest terms. On the contrary, it prepares the ground for further hatred and a further escalation of the violence. With his campaign against Palestine Sharon is jeopardizing relations with the Arab states, whose peace offer (Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah's peace plan) he has just turned down. This policy is supposed to guarantee Israel's security? 
	
	
 A few days ago the Israeli prime minister himself referred to the Lebanon war, and in so doing voiced his regret that Palestinian leader Arafat was not killed by Israel at that time. Sharon, who as defense minister in 1982 headed the Israeli Lebanon invasion, at that time -- as was determined by Israel's Supreme Court -- shared responsibility for the massacres in the Palestinian Sabra and Shatila refugee camps and therefore lost his government post in 1983. Sharon, who back then caused serious damage to Israel's international reputation, is well on his way to doing so again. Militarily Israel can win the war against the Palestinians because of its strength; politically -- in the eyes of the world's public -- it looks different. The question arises for the Israeli Labor Party of how long it can still justify a coalition with Sharon. It must be clear to all who want peace that it is time for a different policy. 
	
	
 Israel must -- as was demanded by the United Nations -- withdraw from the occupied territories; international peacekeeping forces should be deployed. A lasting solution to the conflict can only be achieved with the principle of "land for peace" determined at the Madrid Conference in 1991. In return for recognition of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state, Israel's right to security from its neighbors must be guaranteed. In this context everyone must be aware that the core of the problem is still the illegally established Israeli settlements in the Palestinian autonomous regions, which have steadily been expanded in the last few years. 
	
	
 In Israel, 338 who refuse conscription are a sign that increasingly more Israelis feel they are held hostage by 250,000 settlers and are not prepared to go to war for the settlements. All who want peace must be aware that the material basis for a security guarantee for Israel will only be supplied with the withdrawal of all settlers and soldiers from the areas occupied in 1967. 
	
	
 The author is the floor leader of the SPOe [Social Democratic Party of Austria]. 
	
	
	





Document 001001690 ends.


 
   
   
      
         
            No More Kisses

            In light of Secretary of State Albright's imminent trip to the middle east,
the New York Times ,
Los
Angeles Times and Washington Post emphasize the deteriorating situation
there. But USA Today stays with Princess Di.

            The NYT states that when Albright shows up on Tuesday, she will "read
the riot act" to Yassir Arafat about cracking down on terrorism. Her goal will
be to get Arafat to come out decisively and publicly for peace with Israel,
telling him that there can be no more attempts at co-opting Hamas, and "no more
kisses" of its leaders.

            The Times emphasizes the larger geopolitical context. Given that the
troubles on the West Bank have not only frosted relations between Arafat and
Israel, but also those between Israel and Egypt and between Israel and Saudi
Arabia, the paper states that the U.S. is now facing the prospect that the
moderate Arab coalition it built after the Persian Gulf war to contain Iraq and
Iran is falling apart.

            The LAT focuses on new dissension within the Israeli government about
whether or not Israel should continue to maintain forces in southern Lebanon,
dissension fueled when an Israeli commando raid there late last week was
ambushed, with twelve deaths the result. Perhaps the most striking indicator of
a change of mood inside the government reported by the paper is the news that
cabinet member Ariel Sharon, who as Defense Minister in 1982 got Israel
entrenched in Lebanon in the first place, is among those urging a
reconsideration of the deployment.

            Several papers have word that H and R Block has finally wriggled out of its
controlling stake of Compuserve, but it's the Post with the news that
AOL is set to take it over.

            The Wall Street Journal "Outlook" observes, "In the U.S. job
market, the balance of power is shifting to employees from employers," and
states that "the retention frenzy was triggered in part by previous waves of
corporate downsizing," which left behind survivors who took stock of career
options and used Internet job listings and intensified recruiting to land
better offers, which in turn led to counter-offers and higher salaries. This
has led, says the Journal , to annual compensation rising 5-6 percent a
year.

            Much of the continuing Diana coverage is spinning off into the realm of
meta- and meta-meta-pieces. The LAT , for instance, examines what it
takes to be a new "cuddly-feely" Britain born of the national grief experience.
But USAT and the WP also each run pretty newsy Diana pieces as
well. Both reveal that Tony Blair had conferred with Diana about a goodwill
ambassador job shortly before her death, and USAT reports that Le
Figaro says a dying Diana gave two crash witnesses a message for her family
and children.

            Give the NYT credit for getting Mother Teresa back on the front page
and a bonus point for including some criticism of her in the story. "Not
everyone in Calcutta, or India for that matter, is unanimous in praising the
nun, whose organization was able to raise millions of dollars worldwide but
made virtually no significant changes in the social structure of this
collapsing city's poor neighborhoods. Salvation--hers and that of the destitute
she rescued from the gutters--was her aim, not economic or social development
as many others understand it, she said." It's odd, however, that in repeating
this charge, the Times didn't interview the man most closely associated
with it, Christopher Hitchens, or refer to the book where he set it out, The
Missionary Position . Hmmm, wanna bet there was a copy of the book on
somebody's desk at the Times though?

            What's with the top-of-the-front headline the LAT puts over its
picture of Martina Hingis standing next to Venus Williams after beating her at
the U.S. Open--"Venus Brought Back to Earth"? Doesn't that sound like
celebrating a defeat rather than celebrating a victory? How odd--and a good
illustration of how trying to shoe-horn in a "witty" headline can drive you
into an idea that doesn't fit or is undeserved. Given that Ms. Williams'
parents are rather protective of her and that she is a black in a still
pretty-lilly-white sport, don't be surprised if there's a bit of a complaint
about this.

         
      
   



Document 001001691 ends.



   Mugabe rigged Zimbabwe polls: Britain

 


Author:     AFP [ TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2002 8:36:13 PM ]

  LONDON: British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on Tuesday 
there was already "pretty strong" early evidence that President 
Robert Mugabe had "stolen" the election in Zimbabwe.

  Although he refused to make a final judgement on the conduct of 
the weekend presidential poll, he told parliament that if Mugabe 
was declared the winner of a rigged vote, it would have 
"enormous implications" for London's ties with Harare. "If it 
becomes clear, and the evidence is already pretty strong, that 
President Mugabe, in the event he is declared the winner, has 
stolen the election, then that has enormous implications for the 
nature of our relationship with Zimbabwe," he warned.

  "This is a terrible period, not only for Zimbabwe but for those 
who hold the course of democracy dear in Africa and elsewhere." 
Counting in the election, in which Mugabe is battling for his 
political future against opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai 
after 22 years in power, began Tuesday amid complaints in 
Zimbabwe over the conduct of the vote.

  A group of independent local observers said the electoral 
process was neither free nor fair and could spark fresh violence 
in the southern African country. Straw said there had been 
"every sign" of intimidation by Mugabe's Zanu-PF party up to the 
close of polls as well as many reports of irregularities since 
then, including shortage of polling booths in urban areas and 
harassment of opposition election agents in rural areas.



Copyright @ 2002 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. |




Document 001001692 ends.


	
MOSCOW. Jan 14 (Interfax) - Russia stands for the quickest possible investigation of an incident late in December in which Israel seized a ship in the Red Sea loaded with weapons to be smuggled into the Palestinian self-ruled territory, a senior official said on Monday. "It is necessary now to find out the truth about the ship which was carrying weapons to be smuggled, and punish those guilty," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov told Interfax. The ambiguity of the case is "an obstacle to the resumption of efforts to launch the Tenet-Mitchell plan. It is in this key that we are conducting a dialogue with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders." After Israel seized the ship, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon demanded the arrest of the Palestinian officials who, the Israelis claim, were behind the attempt to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip. He threatened to keep Yasser Arafat stranded in Ramallah, in the West Bank, until the Palestinian leader has fulfilled this and other conditions. "If Arafat fails to fulfill them he will be there [in Ramallah] for as long as I remain prime minister," Sharon warned.	





Document 001001693 ends.


	
JAMMU, India, Jan 12 (AFP) -- Four Pakistani soldiers were killed Saturday in cross-border shelling in Kashmir, Indian officials said. 
	
	
 Lieutenant Colonel H.S. Oberoi said Pakistani troops had started shelling Indian border villages in the Krishna Ghati area of Poonch, 255 kilometres (158 miles) northwest of Jammu, Kashmir's winter capital. 
	
	
 Indian forces retaliated, killing four Pakistani soldiers and destroying six bunkers, he said. 
	
	
 He said there were no Indian casualties, although some homes, which had been deserted by villagers, were damaged. 
	
	
	





Document 001001696 ends.


	
Prime Minister Hasan Abshir Farah returned to Mogadishu today [9 May], after having been away for a month to receive medical treatment. He told journalists that he had visited the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain where he held talks with leaders of those countries as well as Somali nationals there. He said Somali nationals in Kuwait and Bahrain had expressed their satisfaction and support for the interim Somali government. 
	
	
 Speaking to Radio Dalmar on arrival at No 50 airstrip, the prime minister said his health was now good and that he would soon resume his national duty. 
	
	
 
	
	
	





Document 001001697 ends.


	
Washington has expressed concern to the Lebanese authorities about the possibility of a Hizbullah attack against Israel within the next couple of days, and requested that efforts be deployed to prevent such a development, official sources disclosed Friday. 
	
	
 The sources said an American message was delivered to the Foreign Ministry on Friday regarding the Bush administration's claims that Hizbullah was contemplating a new military operation to mark the anniversary of the assassination of then-Hizbullah secretary-general Abbas Mussawi. 
	
	
 Mussawi was killed on Feb. 17, 1992, when an Israeli helicopter fired a missile into his car in the South. According to the sources, US fears were based on Israeli information about such a likelihood. 
	
	
 Security sources said that Israel had reinforced security measures along the Lebanese-Israeli border over the past couple of days, having adopted a series of "precautionary procedures." For that purpose, Israeli troops were deployed en masse along the border over the last 48 hours, the security sources said. 
	
	
 Lebanese officials have avoided publicly commenting on the new message from Washington. But the sources reaffirmed that Lebanon remained committed to its position regarding the situation on the border, where violations of the UN's so-called "Blue Line" are usually committed by Israel. 
	
	
 "It is Israel that is responsible for all kinds of provocative activities," one official source remarked, referring in particular to air raids and other aggressive acts against Lebanon. 
	
	
 Lebanese authorities expect the United States to curb such Israeli infractions, the official source added, rather than adopt Israeli claims and seek security for the Jewish state. 
	
	
 According to a government official in contact with US politicians recently, hostility toward Hizbullah has grown tremendously in recent months within the US administration. 
	
	
 The official did not rule out the possibility of seeing such animosity reflect negatively on relations with Lebanon and Syria - and on the region in general - on the eve of the Arab summit scheduled for March in Beirut. 
	
	
	





Document 001001699 ends.


	
During the just-completed Japan-US summit between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and US President George W. Bush, the primary topics discussed covered the actions to be taken against Iraq, Iran, and North Korea designated by the President as the "Axis of Evil," and a recovery of the Japanese economy from the standpoint of global economic stability, resulting in confirmation of Japan-US collaboration. Both topics covered complex issues wherein the future is clouded, but both leaders vowed to assume a bold challenge and exchanged firm handshakes. "Our positions are important not only for our two nations, but for the world," were the words spoken by both leaders in positioning the Japan-US alliance, but they will be faced with difficulties in terms of global security and economic concern. 
	
	
 "History gave the United States an opportunity to defend freedom. We have taken action and our allies have offered their cooperation. Your hypothesis is not irrelevant." 
	
	
 The above statement was made during the joint Japan-US leaders' news conference held at the official Prime Minister's Residence following the Japan-US summit on the 18th by the president, emphatically, in response to a US reporter's question saying, "Will you be able to secure the assistance of allies in response to the 'Axis of Evil'?" 
	
	
 Prime Minister Koizumi aligned himself and established a distinct cooperative stance in response to the President who has displayed unrelenting resolve and confidence in "fighting terrorism," in declaring: "The expression, 'Axis of Evil,' reflects the resolute determination of the United States to deal with terrorism. Japan, too, shall assume the initiative in taking action by collaborating with the United States and global society." 
	
	
 In advance of the summit, officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) had visualized statements in response to the "Axis of Evil," providing for a balance between "collaboration with the United States" and "peaceful solutions." However, Prime Minister Koizumi's message clearly emphasized collaboration with the United States. In reaction to the better-than-expected response, accompanying presidential sources acknowledged: "We obtained extremely strong support." 
	
	
 At noon of the 15th, three days before the summit, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia and the Pacific Mohser Aminzadeh made an emergency visit to Japan and conferred with the then-Administrative Vice Minister Yoshiji Nogami. 
	
	
 Deputy Minister Aminzadeh repeatedly said, "In view of current strong conservative factions assuming a rigid stance against the United States, we cannot speak openly of improving relations with the United States, but reformist President Seyed Mohammad Khatami does not desire a confrontation with the United States." It was a request asking for Prime Minister Koizumi to serve as a bridge in relations with President Bush, who names Iran as a member of the "Axis of Evil." 
	
	
 However, Nogami grimly replied, "If so, Iran should refrain from actions referred to as aid for terrorists. The United States possesses solid evidence. If conditions do not change, there is no way Japan can assume a defensive stand." "The statement concerning 'Axis of Evil' is already showing its diplomatic effect." When MOFA officials noticed Iran sheepishly making an approach, MOFA officials were immensely impressed by the US strategy inherent in the statement about the "Axis of Evil." 
	
	
 Just as President Bush himself has called for "peaceful resolution in connection with actions to be taken against the "Axis of Evil," the United States is viewed as organizing a global encirclement to achieve a diplomatic victory. However, such a scenario can be assured success only if it is underpinned by President Bush's "policy of not excluding a variety of options" inclusive of military action. 
	
	
 During the summit, Prime Minister Koizumi maintained a clear-cut collaborative stance towards the United States and emphasized: "I got the impression that the President was objective and circumspect," but suggested caution in resorting to military action. However, in the backdrop there is the reality that the Japanese Government does not possess a strategy envisioning military actions nor a legal system or organization to collaborate with the United States in the event of military action. 
	
	
 However, according to a Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Diet member who is an expert in defense issues, Prime Minister Koizumi's statements concerning actions to be taken in response to the "Axis of Evil" can be viewed as definitely encompassing a "promise to collaborate on the premise that overseas military actions would be possible." The same source expresses the concern that if Prime Minister Koizumi should retreat from his position in the future, "Not only will he disappoint the United States, but the US' world strategy could be hobbled and lead to questions concerning the significance of the Japan-US alliance." 
	
	
 "The possibility is strong that the United States will launch an attack on Iraq," suggests Takushoku University professor Satoshi Morimoto, who continues, "In collaborating with the United States, Japan should embrace its own strategies. The simultaneous, multiple terrorist attacks of September of last year, have caused a change in US defense strategy to an 'anti-terrorist war,' while the objective of the Japan-US alliance is changing from regional defense to a global strategy. The Japanese and US governments should restructure the Japan-US alliance via a strategy dialogue, and establish new Japan-US role assignments." 
	
	
 In addition, Morimoto lists as specific topics to be covered by the strategy dialogue: (1) China-Asia strategy inclusive of North Korea, (2) Middle East strategy including Iraq and Iran, and (3) Designation of military roles as well as collective self-defense rights. 
	
	
 Japan has expressed its willingness to collaborate in the US world strategy to "fight terrorism." The true value of the "Japan-US alliance critical to the world" now requires action rather than mere lip service. 
	
	
 
	
	
 Attachments: Tokyo Sankei Shimbun 20 Feb 02.pdf	





Document 001001701 ends.


	
Indonesian authorities have been alerted to the presence of another boat believed to be carrying illegal immigrants bound for Australia. Coastwatch Australia says the boat is 75 nautical miles from Christmas Island [Australian territory in the Indian Ocean], but is still in Indonesian waters. 
	
	
 Indonesia has notified merchant shipping in the area to check if the boat needs any assistance. There has been an unconfirmed report that a Norwegian ship has reached the vessel. 
	
	
 Earlier Australia's immigration minister, Philip Ruddock, said it was believed the boat was carrying 80 people. Coastwatch Australia has maintained surveillance flights in the area for the past two days and will continue flights tomorrow.	





Document 001001704 ends.


 
  
  
    
      November 15, 1994
      Dear ,
      Think of your greatest accomplishments. Think of the joy and success
      they bring to you and your loved ones.
      Michael Sims felt that way at age 39 -- the day he earned a job.
      Michael was born with cerebral palsy.  Upon entering the work force, he
      discovered few job opportunities that seemed to match his abilities.
      For several years he performed packaging and clerical work. His most
      recent job lasted only a year before cut-backs eliminated his
      position.
      For 18 long months Michael could not find a job. He resorted to public
      assistance dollars to survive. Finally, Michael called Goodwill.
      At Goodwill, Michael's counselors felt that his personable demeanor
      could be a major attribute and identified for him a possible job-match
      where his people skills could shine.
      After three interviews, Michael proved that he was the right person
      for the job. As the Clubhouse Monitor at Bent Tree Apartments, he now
      provides customer service for 50 to 60 tenants each night.
      At last, he has found success in a job that he loves. Now his goals
      are set on moving up in the company.
      Every year, thousands of people come to Goodwill. Like Michael, they
      share two common characteristics. They face some barrier to employment
      and they want to work.
      With support from people like you, they can overcome their barriers
      and earn success and the self-sufficiency that comes with it. And then
      the pay-off begins for the entire community.
      Individual successes at Goodwill mean fewer persons receiving public
      support and more paying taxes. Last year, participants in Goodwill
      programs earned --and paid taxes on -- wages of nearly $3.5 million.
      Their successes at work also saved taxpayers more than three-quarters of
      a million dollars in public assistance.
      The savings are counted in more ways than dollars and cents, however.
      The families of the new wage earners may feel the accomplishment in terms
      of a house to live in, money to purchase food -- without food stamps --
      and the beginning of a family focused on success, not hopelessness.
      Won't you help make all of these successes possible? Please send the
      largest contribution you can comfortably make. Your gift will help give
      new meaning to the word success -- for people who have seldom had reason
      to use the word.
      Sincerely,
      James M. McClelland President
      P.S. Your gift will make a difference. For every dollar of public
      support Goodwill received last year, we returned $1.59 to the community
      in the form of earned wages and reduced public assistance payments.
    
  

























Document 001001708 ends.


	
Overshadowed by the midst of the tragic events taking place in the occupied Palestinian areas, Venezuela's strong slap on the face of the United States has gone almost unrecognized. I found the statements made by US officials about the recent developments in Venezuela both ridiculous and odd because they all seemed to be playing games. 
	
	
 National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice stated after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez triumphantly returned to power at the request of his own people that she hoped Chavez got the message that his people had sent to him, which is that his policies are not useful to the Venezuelan people. Of course, she knew who should learn a lesson from this situation, but she was playing games. The return of Chavez following the failed coup attempts that the United States first blessed and then disavowed represented a tough blow to US policy in Latin America, which is also known as America's backyard. It proved that the will of the people is stronger than any force or arrogance of power. 
	
	
 It is worth mentioning that the United States is currently implementing the principle that President George Bush announced following the 11 September attacks, which is that those who are not with him are against him. That is why the coup was planned to overthrow Chavez, who visited Iraq and considered suspending oil exports for one month in protest against the Israeli holocaust against Palestinian civilians. 
	
	
 Moreover, US officials have developed a habit of speaking for other peoples and their interests. For instance, Mr. Bush announced recently that Palestinian President Yasir Arafat has betrayed the hopes of his people. Oddly enough, the peoples that US officials like to speak for are the same ones that suffer from unfair US policies, not to mention that those peoples never gave US politicians the right to speak for them. 
	
	
 The conspicuous policy of playing games that US officials continue to adopt in their statements proves that the Bush administration is playing the part of a thug who is feared by all and who likes to punish anyone that complains about his behavior. 
	
	
 The United States does not want to learn the lesson. It continues to twist the logic of things by turning a blind eye to Israeli murderers and describing Palestinian victims as terrorists. It is certainly playing games. 
	
	
	





Document 001001710 ends.


       

RMS International Inc., Hasbrouk Heights, N.J., facing a cash-flow squeeze, said it is seeking other financing sources and waivers from debenture holders. 

The company said that because of softening sales it isn't in compliance with requirements that it maintain $3 million in working capital.
RMS distributes electronic devices and produces power supplies and plastic literature displays. 

RMS said it had a loss of $158,666, or 10 cents a share, in the third quarter, compared with a year-earlier loss of $26,956, or two cents a share.
Sales rose to $3 million from $2.9 million. 

For the nine months, the company reported a net loss of $608,413, or 39 cents a share, compared with year-earlier net income of $967,809, or 62 cents a share.
Sales rose to $9.8 million from $8.9 million. 




Document 001001711 ends.



Africa Endorses Mugabe Victory, the West Condemns It

 


Author:      Ofeibea Quist-Arcton
Credit:      allAfrica.com
Dateline:    Harare

  International reaction to the controversial re-election of 
Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe to another six year term 
varied widely. African observers generally approved of his 
victory, while Western governments denounced it.

  Observer missions from South Africa, Nigeria, Namibia and the 
Organisation of African Unity (OAU) respectively, described the 
poll as "legitimate" - largely satisfactory and transparent, 
credible, free and fair.

  All three observer teams noted long queues and delays in chaotic 
voting.

  The Namibians went as far as to say Zimbabwe's election system 
was "water tight, without room for rigging". The South African 
observer team blamed the long lines of voters unable to vote 
despite waiting many hours on "administrative oversights", a 
description that drew audible laughter from journalists and 
diplomats attending their press conference in the capital, 
Harare on Wednesday.

  President Daniel arap Moi of Kenya congratulated Mugabe, calling 
his victory "testimony of the confidence and high esteem the 
people of Zimbabwe hold in you."

  The observations of the 14-member Southern African Development 
Community (SADC) Parliamentary Forum team differed considerably 
from the other African missions. In sharp contrast to other 
African observer teams, the forum said the conduct of the 
elections fell short of regional expectations.

  "The climate of insecurity obtaining in Zimbabwe since the 2000 
parliamentary elections was such that the electoral process 
could not be said to adequately comply with the norms and 
standards for elections in the SADC region," the forum said in a 
statement.

  That position chimed closely with views expressed by the main 
Zimbabwean monitoring group, the Zimbabwe Election Support 
Network which had 400 observers monitoring the poll and have 
been heavily critical.

  The SADC parliamentarians' view was also echoed by the Norwegian 
observer delegation which said, on Tuesday, that the election 
failed to meet international standards. Norway Prime Minister 
Jan Petersen said in a statement that "The presidential election 
in Zimbabwe has not satisfied the fundamental requirements for a 
democratic election."

  Mugabe's main challenger, Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for 
Democratic Change, has rejected the outcome of the presidential 
poll. He said the result was "illegitimate" and a clear case of 
"highway robbery" by Mugabe, his government and his party, 
Zanu-PF. Tsvangirai warned that his disenfranchised supporters 
were "seething" but implored them to stay calm.

  The MDC leader said systematic cheating, spoiling tactics, rigid 
new laws and sheer obstruction - as well as political violence 
and intimidation - were just some of the irregularities 
practised by the authorities in the run-up to, and during the 
poll.

  Mugabe was announced the winner with 56.1 percent of the vote, 
leaving Tsvangirai trailing behind with 42 percent. The 
government has rejected all criticism, describing the election 
as "exemplary, free, fair and peaceful."

  
Western governments disagree.

  Western governments are lining up to condemn the Mugabe 
government, while the African bloc appears to have opted for 
solidarity in support of Mugabe.

  Jack Straw, the foreign secretary of the former colonial power, 
Britain, which is locked in a verbal war with Mugabe, said the 
Zimbabwean head of state was bent on achieving "one goal, power 
at all costs. It is no surprise that this outcome has now been 
achieved."

  U.S. President George Bush added his voice on Wednesday night, 
categorically rejecting Zimbabwe's presidential poll. "We do not 
recognize the outcome of the election because we think it's 
flawed. We are dealing with our friends to figure out how to 
deal with this flawed election."

  Bush's secretary of state, Colin Powell, earlier concluded: "Mr 
Mugabe may claim victory, but not democratic legitimacy."

  France and Germany also indicated that the election had failed 
the 'free and fair' test.

  The Canadian prime minister, Jean Chretien, said the election 
"does not look very good".

  Australia, which with South Africa and Nigeria has been mandated 
to report on the Zimbabwe presidential poll to the Commonwealth, 
was equally critical.

  "If the people of Zimbabwe have a sense that they have been 
cheated through the election process, it is possible that some 
could resort to violence," said the foreign minister, Alexander 
Downer.

  The United Nations' secretary-general, Kofi Annan, appealed for 
calm after the poll and urged Zimbabweans to refrain from 
violence. Annan acknowledged that he was receiving conflicting 
reports about the conduct of the poll.

  Facing perhaps a legal challenge from the opposition to his 
contested electoral victory, Mugabe is becoming increasingly 
isolated on the international stage. The European Union and the 
United States have already imposed 'smart', selected sanctions 
on Mugabe and 19 people in his inner circle.

  But the Zimbabwean leader has been silent since his final 
campaign rally last Friday, though people are eagerly awaiting 
his victory speech. The president was nowhere to be seen in 
Harare as his supporters took over the downtown streets of the 
capital, loudly celebrating his victory.

  Mugabe's allies and detractors may all hope that he is spending 
the time reviewing the tense situation in the country and 
working out how best to calm fears and concern and rally 
Zimbabweans together.


Copyright @ 2002 allAfrica.com. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). Click here to contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material.






Document 001001712 ends.



    New crew settles in at space station

 



  CAPE CANAVERAL -- (AP) -- Two American astronauts and one 
Russian cosmonaut moved into the International Space Station on 
Saturday, settling in for a half-year stay.

  The three men arrived aboard space shuttle Endeavour the day 
before, but did not have time to trade places with the space 
station crew that has been on board since August.

  The new residents' form-fitting seat liners for the lifeboat had 
to be carried over and installed, and their space suits tucked 
away, before they could call space station Alpha home.

  Russian Yuri Onufrienko couldn't wait to take over as space 
station commander from American Frank Culbertson. The cosmonaut 
kept peeking through a small window before the hatch finally 
swung open between the docked spacecraft.

  Onufrienko will remain on board until May, along with astronauts 
Daniel Bursch and Carl Walz.

  As gear moved back and forth across the threshold, Endeavour's 
astronauts used the ship's robot arm to lift an Italian-built 
cargo carrier from the shuttle and attach it to the station.

  The carrier, named Raffaello, is loaded with three tons of food, 
clothes, science experiments and spare parts. Once emptied, it 
will be filled with dirty laundry, trash and used equipment and 
put back on Endeavour for the ride home.

  The space station's new residents also packed some personal 
items, reflecting their hobbies. Onufrienko, a fisherman, took 
material to tie flies. Bursch has weaving material to make small 
baskets, while Walz has a five-octave keyboard that he calls a 
``psychological support device.''

  By the time Culbertson and his Russian crew mates, Mikhail 
Tyurin and Vladimir Dezhurov, return to Earth in another week, 
they will have spent 128 days in space.



Copyright 2001 Miami Herald




Document 001001716 ends.



   US begins flying Afghan prisoners to Cuba

 



  WASHINGTON: The US military on Thursday began flying al-Qaeda 
and Taliban prisoners under heavy guard from Afghanistan to jail 
at the American Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a military 
spokesman said.

  An Air Force C-17 cargo plane with 20 of at least 371 
"detainees" being held in Afghanistan departed Kandahar air base 
at about 11 am EST (1600 GMT), Marine Corps Maj. Brad Lowell, a 
spokesman for the US Central Command in Tampa, Florida, said.

  "There were 20" on the plane, Lowell said. He declined to say 
when the first prisoners might arrive at facilities surrounded 
by razor wire at the US Navy Base at Guantanamo Bay.

  US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters that major 
security precautions were being taken in moving the prisoners, 
including hard-line, anti-Western followers of fugitive 
guerrilla leader Osama Bin Laden.

  Lowell said some small-arms fire was directed at US troops on 
the Kandahar base after the aircraft took off in the early 
evening Afghanistan time, but that the C-17 was not fired upon. 
No injuries were reported as a result of the gunfire, which came 
from outside the base, he added.

  "The aircraft had departed earlier when the Marines at the 
operating base received fire. At no time was that aircraft in 
any danger. It did not perform any evasive maneuvers," Lowell 
said.

  Marines dealing with Kandahar threat: "The Marines there are in 
the process of dealing with that threat. Our initial reports 
have no injuries."

  A US Marine spokesman in Kandahar told CNN late on Thursday that 
the gunfire came from snipers that penetrated the outer 
perimeter of the base and was not believed to be linked to the 
transfer of prisoners.

  "These were two isolated incidents, in that the detainee 
movement was something that we did not get official notification 
that we were going to do until this morning," Lt. James Jarvis 
said. "I don't believe that it is going to affect our transfer 
of detainees because, quite simply, we have adequate security 
for that."

  In Washington, US defense officials earlier said that 
unprecedented security -- including chains and possibly sedation 
and hoods -- might be used in transporting the prisoners, who 
include members of Bin Laden's al-Qaeda guerrilla network.

  One of the officials, who asked not to be identified, said that 
planning called for the prisoners, not yet charged with crimes, 
to be manacled together and outnumbered by specially trained 
guards carrying incapacitating stun guns.

  Others confirmed a report in USA Today that consideration was 
being given to tranquilizing some of the detainees and perhaps 
even covering their heads with hoods for flights that would take 
more than 12 hours.

  The human rights advocacy group Amnesty International expressed 
concern about reports that the prisoners "may be drugged, hooded 
and shackled," saying that they must be treated with full 
respect for international standards.

  "If restraints are necessary, they must be applied humanely, 
with adequate opportunity for the prisoner to move limbs, use 
the bathroom and eat and drink," the group said in a statement.

  Rumsfeld told reporters on Thursday that every effort would be 
made to secure hardline prisoners, many considered dangerous and 
possibly suicidal followers of Bin Laden. The al-Qaeda leaders 
is accused by Washington of masterminding the September 11 
suicide aircraft attacks on New York and Washington.

  "They (military officials) have been authorized and instructed 
to use appropriate restraints. They are fully aware that these 
are dangerous individuals," he said during a press conference 
with Australian Defence Minister Robert Hill.

  'Willing to kill themselves, others': "There are among these 
prisoners people who are perfectly willing to kill themselves 
and kill other people," Rumsfeld added. He provided no details 
except to say that the Pentagon had consulted experts on prisons 
and prisoners.

  The US military has so far taken control of more than 300 
prisoners at a base in Kandahar and others at Bagram air base 
near Kabul, at Mazar-i-Sharif and aboard the Navy helicopter 
assault ship USS Bataan in the northern Indian Ocean.

  The Pentagon refused to discuss details of the transfer, and 
Defence Department spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said on Thursday 
that no announcements would be made until the first detainees 
arrived at the secluded base, where a high-security, barbed 
wire-enclosed facility is being built.

  "What we have done all along is (said) that they are being 
treated humanely in accordance with the Geneva Convention," 
Clarke told reporters.

  The convention sets out the rights and responsibilities of war 
prisoners and their guards.

  Hundreds of US military police and Marine Corps reinforcements 
have been flown to the "Gitmo" base, as it is called, in Cuba 
and prisoners will be held inside a compound ringed by two 
fences topped with razor wire.

  For most of the day they will be held in small cells with a 
concrete floor and chain-link walls, with spotlights on at 
night.

  It was not known if American John Walker, captured fighting with 
Bin Laden's now vanquished protectors the Taliban, would be 
among those brought to Guantanamo.

  The Defence Department has not announced any decision on how 
many of the detainees will be transferred or how many, if any, 
might face military courts martial authorized by President 
George W Bush in the wake of the September attacks.

  Under close scrutiny from civil rights groups, Rumsfeld has been 
studying how such trials could be held while protecting the 
rights of any defendants and keeping tight security over the US 
war on terrorism declared by Bush after the attacks.



Copyright @ 2001 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. |




Document 001001718 ends.


	
AYDIN, BODRUM, AMASYA Nov 23 (A.A) - Security forces intercepted on Friday 129 people in Didim township of western province of Aydin and in Bodrum township of western province of Mugla as they were trying to proceed to Greece illegally. 
	
	
 There are 56 Iraqis, 34 Moroccans, 11 Pakistanis, 8 Afghans, 7 Turks, 5 Palestinians 8 Iranians among those who were detained for violating Turkish borders and passport law. 
	
	
 Security forces also confiscated six lorries and two automobiles in the operations. 
	
	
 The foreigners will be deported once the legal proceedings are completed. 
	
	
 Meanwhile, police on Friday intercepted 40 Iranians and Iraqis who entered Turkey through illegal ways. 
	
	
 Teams of Security Department who made road control, stopped a lorry driven by Nizamettin Tas. 
	
	
 A total of 40 Iraqis and Iranians, who entered the country through illegal ways, were captured in the trunk of the lorry. 
	
	
 The foreigners, who were interrogated at the Amasya Security Directorate Foreigners Department, will be deported. 
	
	
	





Document 001001723 ends.


	
Following the presidential vote in Zimbabwe, there is just one thing Robert Mugabe cannot be reproached for, and that is having made a secret of his determination to stay in power by every possible means. The electoral hijacking had been announced, prepared, and organized. It has now taken place. Should one be surprised? Since he nearly lost his parliamentary majority in June 2000, the head of state has stated and restated to his supporters that the presidential election was going to be a "war." He was as good as his word. 
	
	
 The "war for land" continued, at the risk of causing famine. The army swore allegiance to the "father of independence," regardless of the verdict at the ballot box. The independence of Zimbabwe's justice system was compromised. The local press was harassed. The opposition MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) was the victim of "state terrorism" that its candidate Morgan Tsvangirai rightly condemned after being beaten in an election loaded against him from start to finish, from drawing up the electoral lists to counting the votes. The real secret of the ballot box will never be revealed. 
	
	
 This "fait accompli" in Zimbabwe is a challenge for the international community. It can only rise to meet it by making some radical changes. Indignant protests apart, nothing was done to prevent the disaster awaiting one of the key countries in southern Africa, seen as the continent's growth pole. The weapon of so-called "intelligent" sanctions proved ineffective, especially as the punitive measures were taken too late and only served to deny Robert Mugabe and his associates trips abroad and access to the funds they have spirited away. They amounted to no more than a ban on holidays and a golden retirement. Finally and most importantly, Great Britain remained locked in the familiar psychodrama between the former colonizer and colonized. Africa, with its own "observers," has just ratified a shameful electoral sham. Kenya and Tanzania even "congratulated" Robert Mugabe on his re-election after the first round. 
	
	
 It is time to speak the language of truth. Either the absence of democracy in Africa is no longer any more of a problem for Europe than the lack of development, or it is time to get serious about "good governance" as a condition for aid. Either the New Partnership for African Development (Nepad) is merely to entertain the international gallery during the occasional conference on "sustainable development" or Africa must itself impose a minimum of probity and respect for fundamental liberties. It has the means. Robert Mugabe remains in power thanks to the maize, oil, and electricity he supplies to South Africa. In Zimbabwe it is better to have an end to the torment than torment without end. 
	
	
 Fortunately, Europe is no longer "Africa's policeman." But it must demand that the countries of Africa put their own house in order. 
	
	
 
	
	
	





Document 001001724 ends.


 
  
  
    
      July 25,1997
      Dear Name,
      What a Summer!
      And we're just getting started!
      I hope you'll consider continuing your support of Jameson's special
      campers by renewing your last gift of $ xxx. I can tell you we need your
      help now as much as ever before.
      All of our Six summer camping sessions are booked to capacity (and,
      truth be told, with maybe one our two extra returning campers squeezed
      in) and we have a waiting list of 60 children who are hoping to come if a
      spot should open. Many more camper referrals are coming from new
      organizations such as school social-workers and family counseling
      agencies. It seems summer options aren't readily available for troubled
      kids whose families have limited incomes, so we're doing all we can to
      make Jameson available.
      That "we" includes the Youth Leadership teens. These 60 or so campers
      have takenon a fund raiser with a goal of raising $16,000 for
      camperships. Two of them told me yesterday that as a group they decided
      they had to earn the right to ask others for help by accomplishing
      something real to help themselves. And that's from kids many people see
      as a problem.
      Even after the summer sessions come to a close, Jameson campers will
      take part in year-round programs designed to keep that positive contact
      with peers and role models alive and important. We've scheduled more than
      15 follow-up camper weekends beginning in September and going around till
      next summers camping season.
      Please, consider renewing your support of these great kids today.
      Sincerely,
      Julie Marsh Executive Director
      P.S. We know our follow-up weekends are going to be better attended
      than ever this fall and winter. If you can give a little more to help
      meet this increased expense we would appreciate your support.
      
    
  



Document 001001725 ends.



   Geneva Convention applies to Taliban, not Al Qaeda: US

 



  WASHINGTON, Feb 7: The White House on Thursday declared that the 
Geneva Convention applies to Taliban forces in the Afghanistan 
phase of the war on terrorism, but not to Osama bin Laden's Al 
Qaeda followers.

  "President Bush today has decided that the Geneva Convention 
will apply to the Taliban detainees but not to the Al Qaeda 
international terrorists," Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer told 
reporters.

  The move comes after fevered criticism - including from key US 
allies - stemming from alleged mistreatment of Taliban and Al 
Qaeda detainees the United States is holding at "Camp X-Ray" in 
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

  "It will not change their material life on a day-to-day basis: 
they will continue to be treated well because that's what the 
United States does," said Fleischer, who noted neither group 
would be granted prisoner of war status. And, "Al Qaeda is an 
international terrorist group and cannot be considered a state 
party to the Geneva Convention. Its members therefore are not 
covered," by the accord, said the spokesman.

  DETAINEES ARRIVE IN CUBA: A new group of 28 prisoners captured 
in Afghanistan arrived by air on Thursday, bringing the total 
number of detainees to 186.

  Six of the detainees were transported on stretchers aboard the 
C-141 cargo flight that left Kandahar, Afghanistan on Wednesday 
for the 25-hour flight.

  Earlier on Wednesday, the US military resumed controversial 
flights of heavily guarded Al Qaeda and Taliban captives from 
Afghanistan to a naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a senior US 
official said.

  The official, who asked not to be identified, told newsmen that 
the first flight of captives in more than two weeks had left 
Afghanistan late on Wednesday and was to arrive at the isolated 
prison camp late on Thursday. The official did not say how many 
prisoners were on the flight.

  Flights carrying up to 30 of what the Pentagon calls "detainees" 
were suspended on Jan 23 by defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld 
pending expansion of outdoor jail facilities at the American 
base.

  A total of 158 captives, whom the Pentagon has refused to 
classify as prisoners of war, are already being held and 
interrogated at Guantanamo amid criticism they have not been 
treated properly under the Geneva Convention.

  None has yet been charged with a crime, but Washington has 
maintained that the prisoners are being treated humanely.

  The shackled and blindfolded captives are being flown to Cuba 
from Kandahar in southern Afghanistan under tight guard and are 
being housed at the base in 8-by-8-foot cage-like outdoor cells.

  The detainees at "Gitmo," as US soldiers call the base, are of 
various nationalities. Saudi officials have said that 100 are 
from the Gulf kingdom and have demanded they be returned to face 
justice at home.

  Bush said last week he was willing to consider Saudi Arabia's 
request on a case-by-case basis but U.S. officials doubted it 
would happen any time soon.-AFP/Reuters



@ The DAWN Group of Newspapers, 2002




Document 001001729 ends.


	
BRUSSELS, June 29 (AFP) -- Nearly 100 donor countries and international organizations opened their checkbooks here Friday to bail out struggling Yugoslavia after Slobodan Milosevic's lightning transfer to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague. 
	
	
 "Nobody is happy when a former president is taken before the tribunal in The Hague, but it had to happen and the sooner the better," Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Miroljub Labus told reporters on his arrival here. 
	
	
 The donors' conference, co-sponsored by the European Commission and the World Bank, was hoping to raise 1.25 billion dollars (1.47 billion euros) for Yugoslavia this year for urgent repairs to infrastructure and salaries to teachers and other civil servants. 
	
	
 By midday, the conference had garnered pledges totalling some 1.37 billion dollars in grants and low- or no-interest loans over the next three years, against the target figure set by the World Bank of 3.9 billion dollars for what Belgrade would need for the three-year period. 
	
	
 The European Commission anounced it had pledged a financial package of grants and loans totalling 530 million euros (450 million dollars). 
	
	
 "This pledge is in addition to the pledges of individual EU member states that will be made separately at the conference," said Gunnar Wiegand, spokesman for External Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten. 
	
	
 Labus said the United States, which had until the last minute been uncertain of attending the conference, contingent on Milosevic's extradition, pledged 181.6 million dollars during the morning session. 
	
	
 A German source said Germany had pledged 153 million marks (66.32 million dollars). 
	
	
 Japanese Ambassador to the EU Takayuki Kimura said his country had pledged 50 million dollars, in addition to technical assistance and another 10 million dollars to the whole of southeast Europe, most of it to Yugoslavia. 
	
	
 Johannes Linn, World Bank vice-president for Europe and Central Asia, said the bank had pledged 150 million dollars for the current calendar year and "over the next three years we expect to support Yugoslavia to the tune of about 540 million US dollars in concessional loans." 
	
	
 Linn said that as a result of recent changes in Belgrade, including the Milosevic extradition, "we will now be talking about Yugoslavia as an integral part of the successful formula of trust for economic recovery in the region." 
	
	
 Aside from the financial assistance, said Labus, "this conference is symbolic for us. We are now fully back into the international community, politically, diplomatically and financially, and that's very important for us. 
	
	
 "We decided to make some bold decisions," he said. "We decided to take the fast track to Europe and implement directly the international rules." 
	
	
 Labus said Milosevic's extradition "is of course a part of the equation," but added "broad economic reforms and democracy that we introduced into the country" had played a major role. 
	
	
 "The fact that Milosevic is on the way to be brought to justice is just a signal that my country is ready to respect all international obligations." 
	
	
 Labus recalled that his country was recovering from "a decade of dramatic economic decline, including trade isolation and sanctions... 
	
	
 "We are in the middle of a very complicated process of changing almost completely our political and economic system...This process is long and painful, but we are determined to win." 
	
	
 Infrastructure, including power, water, rail and roads, he said, were "suffering from many years of decay, mismanagement and the consequences of the NATO 1999 bombing campaign" that ended Belgrade's repression of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority. 
	
	
 "A Yugoslavia that has a firm and decisive program of economic reforms in place is and is increasingly integrated into the wider international community is no longer a dream, it is now a reality." 
	
	
 "There is no quick fix" to the Yugoslav problem, the World Bank's Johannes Linn said. "But the costs of failing to support Yugoslavia as it struggles to break with the past would surely be higher still. 
	
	
 "The possibility of a democratic, stable and prosperous Yugoslavia moving toward integration with Europe is something which we dared not hope for only eight months ago." 
	
	
 In Berlin, Bodo Hombach, coordinator of the Balkans Stability Pact, said several delegations to the Brussels conference told him it was now "easier and more motivating" to supply Belgrade with the aid it desperately needs. 
	
	
 The Stability Pact was launched two years ago to rebuild the region after years of war and communism.	





Document 001001730 ends.


       

The White House said President Bush has approved duty-free treatment for imports of certain types of watches that aren't produced in "significant quantities" in the U.S., the Virgin Islands and other U.S. possessions. 

The action came in response to a petition filed by Timex Inc. for changes in the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences for imports from developing nations.
Previously, watch imports were denied such duty-free treatment. 

Timex had requested duty-free treatment for many types of watches, covered by 58 different U.S. tariff classifications.
The White House said Mr. Bush decided to grant duty-free status for 18 categories, but turned down such treatment for other types of watches "because of the potential for material injury to watch producers located in the U.S. and the Virgin Islands." 

Timex is a major U.S. producer and seller of watches, including low-priced battery-operated watches assembled in the Philippines and other developing nations covered by the U.S. tariff preferences. 

U.S. trade officials said the Philippines and Thailand would be the main beneficiaries of the president's action. 

Imports of the types of watches that now will be eligible for duty-free treatment totaled about $37.3 million in 1988, a relatively small share of the $1.5 billion in U.S. watch imports that year, according to an aide to U.S. Trade Representative Carla Hills. 




Document 001001732 ends.


	
[Computer selected and disseminated without FBIS editorial intervention] 
	
	
 Washington, March 4 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. State Department published its annual human rights country report Monday, reconfirming poor human rights conditions in North Korea. The "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2001," submitted to Congress, said North Korea's human rights record remained poor, and it continued to commit numerous serious abuses. It also estimated that anywhere from several hundreds of thousands to two million people died from starvation and related diseases. Other human rights abuses in the North included extrajudicial executions and disappearances. "Citizens are detained arbitrarily, and many are held as political prisoners and prison conditions are harsh. The constitutional provisions for an independent judiciary and fair trials are not implemented in practice," the report said. On the other hand, the report described South Korea as "generally respecting the human rights of its citizens" although problems remain in some areas. The report pointed out as "remaining problems" in South Korea, police's physical or verbal abuses of detainees at times and the National Security Law (NSL)'s infringement upon free expression and other civil liberties. Other problems cited in the report include domestic violence, rape, child abuse, legal and societal discrimination against women and ethnic minorities. In particular, trafficking in persons was a problem. South Korea was cited in the report as a "major transit point for alien smugglers, including traffickers of primarily Asian women and children for the sex trade and domestic servitude." The report, however, noted the government has taken various steps to improve its human rights record. It also noted President Kim Dae-jung stated repeatedly that promoting the rights of women was a priority goal. In connection with freedom of speech and press, the report said the Seoul government abandoned direct control over the news media, but it continues to exercise indirect influence, and government officials vigorously lobby reporters and editors. It cited controversial massive tax probes of media firms which critics accused of being an attempt to curb media criticism of the government while the government maintained the tax audit was a legitimate activity and long overdue. Meanwhile, the report called Afghanistan "a triumph for human rights in 2001," saying that after the U.S.-led war on terrorism, Afghan citizens have been released from the brutal and oppressive rule of the Taliban and Afghan women, who suffered violence and repression, are now beginning to resume their roles in society. The report also noted improvement in human rights records in such countries as Bahrain, Peru, Qatar and Oman. cjs2001@yna.co.kr	





Document 001001733 ends.


	
Spanish daily blasts "meaningless" US announcement on Guantanamo detainees 
	
	
 Text of unsigned editorial headlined "The USA tramples on the rights of all the Guantanamo prisoners" published by Spanish newspaper El Mundo web site on 9|February 
	
	
 The White House spokesman announced the night before last that the Taleban prisoners being held in Guantanamo will enjoy the treatment envisaged under the Geneva Convention, but not the foreign prisoners from Al-Qai'dah, who the Bush administration considers terrorists. The Geneva Convention is the international treaty signed in 1949 by the USA and other countries, which regulates the treatment of prisoners of war and grants them a set of legal and humanitarian rights. Bush's spokesman added that none of the 158 detainees in Guantanamo is going to be given prisoner-of-war status, which makes the apparently positive part of the White House statement meaningless. The USA refuses to admit that these detainees are prisoners of war because, under the Convention, they would have the right not to answer any questions except to give their name and rank, they could not be tried except for war crimes and they would have to be repatriated after the war ends. So when the White House says it is going to treat the Taleban in accordance with the Geneva Convention, it is pure rhetoric, nothing other than a public relations exercise and will be meaningless in practice. The key issue is not so much whether they are treated humanely and their beliefs respected, but their legal status. If they don't enjoy the advantages of being prisoners of war and do not have the right to be tried under US criminal law, what jurisdiction will be used for these men being held incommunicado in a place that isn't the USA or Cuba? Nobody in the US government has answered this question, even though international organizations like the Red Cross and Human Rights Watch have denounced the defenceless situation of these prisoners, who have no access to lawyers and do not enjoy the minimum guarantees for judicial proceedings which, in their case, do not exist. Donald Rumsfeld and other senior Washington officials have tried to justify what is happening in Guantanamo on the grounds that the detainees are dangerous terrorists. That may be the case, but even the worst criminals have the right to a lawyer and to know the charges against them. It can only be paradoxical that a supposedly model democracy like the USA can trample on the law to such an extent. 
	
	
	





Document 001001735 ends.


	
WASHINGTON -- The ground must be shaking under the feet of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, even as his admirers in the United States, George W. Bush et al, are sabre-rattling about America's new-found "axis of evil". 
	
	
 The news from Israel is almost earth-shattering. Over 20,000 Israelis -- a record number -- rallied for peace in Tel Aviv last Saturday, the biggest demonstration by the reawakened peace camp since the current Intifada was unleashed in September 2000. 
	
	
 Organisers were the Israeli Peace Now movement and the Israeli Peace Coalition. But what was most interesting is that, for the first time, a Palestinian Arab, Dr Sari Nusseibeh, the top Palestinian National Authority official in Jerusalem and president of Al Quds University, addressed the Israeli pro-peace rally. 
	
	
 Speaking in halting Hebrew, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, Nusseibeh said: "I am here to tell you that there is no one to speak to, except Abu Ammar (Yasser Arafat) ... we want a warm peace, not a cold peace, between our nations." 
	
	
 Other participants in the rally were some of the roughly 250 Israeli army reservists who have refused to serve in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, Green Line: Students for Borders, the Meretz Party, Labour Party doves, the Kibbutz Movement, Netivot Shalom, the Bereaved Family Forum, Rabbis for Human Rights, Ta'ayush, Yesh Gvul and Gush Shalom. 
	
	
 Equally significant was the news that the Israeli Council for Peace and Security, a group of 1,000 top-level reserve generals, colonels and Shin Bet (security intelligence) and Mossad (military intelligence) officials are reportedly planning a public campaign for a "unilateral" Israeli withdrawal from all Gaza and much of the West Bank. 
	
	
 The organisation, according to the Israeli paper Haaretz, is calling for "evacuating Gaza, dismantling 50 settlements, the immediate establishment of a Palestinian state, and immediate peace talks with Palestinians, whether there is a ceasefire or not". 
	
	
 As these developments were signalling what one prominent Reform rabbi described as "the resurrection of the moribund peace movement," Israelis were struck, in the words of The Guardian of London, by "a devastating wave" of Palestinian attacks last weekend on "the symbols of Israeli military occupation -- a Jewish settlement, an army base and a road block, (thereby) badly shaking (their) faith" in Sharon, who had promised them peace and security when he came to office a year ago. 
	
	
 "Ariel Sharon's strategy is collapsing," said the influential Ma'ariv newspaper. "At this stage, as difficult as it may be to say so openly, the Palestinians are losing the battles to a superior force, but Israel is losing the war." In Ma'ariv's weekend opinion polls, some 49 per cent of Israelis agreed, saying the "national leadership has lost control of the security situation". 
	
	
 Internationally, there has been commendable movement to find a new beginning, now that the Oslo peace process is certifiably dead and the American ideas limited to the so-called Tenet and Mitchell plans are stuck for 18 months on ground zero. Although the French have not been able to win approval from their fellow-members in the European Union for new Palestinian elections and the establishment of a Palestinian state, the Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique, whose country holds the EU presidency, acknowledged that "we are still debating a number of ideas". 
	
	
 Whether there is merit in all these activities and ideas -- some seem doubtful -- the event that must have rocked the halls of power in Israel and the United States were the bold views of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah were heard. 
	
	
 What the effective ruler of Saudi Arabia had in mind, he told the New York Times on Sunday, was to offer Israel, in an address at next month's Arab League summit in Beirut, "full withdrawal from all the occupied territories, in accord with UN resolutions, including Jerusalem, for full normalisation of relations" with the Arab world. 
	
	
 Crown Prince Abdullah's purpose was "to make clear to the Israeli people that the Arabs don't reject or despise them but the Arab people do reject what their leadership is now doing to the Palestinians, which is inhumane and oppressive". 
	
	
 But he told the paper's columnist Thomas L. Friedman, who has been very critical of Arab governments for sitting on the fence during the 17-month Palestinian uprising, that he has now changed his mind about his prepared speech "when Sharon took the violence, and the oppression, to an unprecedented level". 
	
	
 This Arab position is actually not new. The key party to the conflict with Israel, the Palestinians, have long argued that they were ready to accept the occupied territories, which amount to only 22 per cent of historic Palestine, as their own independent state. But what makes this offer exceptionally generous is the readiness of a key Arab leader to take this stand at the highest Arab political forum and campaign for it. The Arab argument of yesteryears was that peace could be established between Israel and the "front-line" states -- Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinians -- but the remaining Arab states are not obligated to establish diplomatic relations with Israel. 
	
	
 This time around, the tide has changed and the Saudi leader's willingness to take this unprecedented step merits more than positive responses from Israel and the United States. It demands immediate action. 
	
	
	





Document 001001736 ends.


 
   
   
      
         
            Fashioning Paula

            
               USA
Today leads with Texas' settlement of its product-liability lawsuit
against the leading tobacco companies. The top nonlocal story at the Washington Post is the latest development in the Indonesian
economic crisis--a rare and boosterish Suharto press conference in contrast to
a further plunging stock market and food riots in outlying towns. The New York Times
leads with a comprehensive poll about American attitudes concerning
abortion.

            In the Texas case, reports USAT , the defendant companies have agreed
to pay about $15 billion over 25 years to reimburse the state for expenses it
incurred in the treatment of smoking-related illnesses. That makes Texas the
third state to settle such a case, joining Florida and Mississippi. There are,
says the paper, a total of 40 such suits on file, with Minnesota's turn coming
next week.

            The Wall Street Journal states that the plaintiffs' lawyers
hired by Texas to try the case will receive as part of the deal almost $2.2
billion in fees.

            The NYT abortion survey, the first conducted by the paper since 1989, was
based on telephone interviews of 1,101 people and detects "a notable shift from
general acceptance" of having the procedure: from 40 percent to 32 percent. And
the pollsters also detected an increasingly acute sensitivity to abortion
timing: Sixty-one percent of those polled thought abortions should be permitted
during the first trimester, but only 15 percent in the second and just 7
percent in the third. (The piece notes that this last stat helps explain why a
focus on partial-birth abortions has proven politically advantageous for
abortion foes.) Nearly 45 percent of those asked to state the present law on
abortion could not give the correct answer.

            The WSJ notes that the just-concluded football/TV deal will probably
mean even steeper cable bills in the near future. Some local cable
companies, the paper says, expect the fees they'll pay ESPN to go up more than
20 percent. And they're in the habit of passing expenses along to Joe Remote.
Even nonsports fans will be affected, notes the Journal , because ESPN is
usually part of basic cable service. (Which raises the question: Hasn't
technology progressed to a point that would allow cafeteria-style programming
choices by subscribers?)

            A scan of the headlines found cheek-by-jowl on the WP 's Page A6
provides an interesting snapshot of the life of the modern Cabinet officer:
"[Ex-HUD Secretary] Cisneros's Ex-Mistress Pleads Guilty," "[Labor Secretary]
Herman Denies Allegations of Influence-Selling Scheme," and "Two Tyson Foods
Executive Indicted Over Gifts to [Ex-Agriculture Secretary] Espy."

            The WSJ reports that, according to an MIT survey, Americans are twice
as likely to back a tax increase going toward the search for extraterrestrials
than one for gene-cloning research.

            The NYT reports that today's issue of the journal Science will
describe an experiment in which people's biological clocks were reset three
hours by shining a bright light on the back of their knees. The finding, if it
holds up, says the Times , may lead to a simple way for airline travelers
to fight jet lag.

            Yesterday's Los Angeles Times ran a story under the headline "Paula
Jones Works on Her Court Appearance," which, illustrated by pictures of Jones,
was all about the various looks she's had since stepping on the public stage.
The piece concluded that she's finally graduated to an image that's
"sophisticated yet soft." Today's WP "Style" section (that's the
opposite of substance, remember) picks up that ball and runs with it, with a
lengthy discourse on the new PJ. "It is," hyperventilates
the Post , one of the most jaw-dropping public make-overs ever." Jones
apparently has "smoothed the frizzy mane of curls that once reached to such
dazzling heights. Her makeup is now subtle and based on natural, not neon,
hues. Her clothing is inspired by the boardroom instead of the secretarial
pool. She has embraced the markers of dignity, refinement and power." In true
newspaper overkill fashion, the piece backs this up by consulting Cynde Watson,
national makeup artist for Bobbi Brown Essentials, and Steven Zdatny, a
historian at West Virginia University specializing in the aesthetics and
politics of hair.

            The placement of these two pieces is a PR triumph, but one carrying the
seeds of its own destruction: If people know all this work is going into making
Paula Jones seem a certain someone, doesn't that just make it obvious that
she's really somebody else?

         
      
   



Document 001001738 ends.


	
[Computer selected and disseminated without FBIS editorial intervention] 
	
	
 Nagoya, Feb. 15 Kyodo -- Romanian President Ion Iliescu toured a Toyota Motor Corp. plant in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, on Friday, the last day of his four-day stay in Japan. 
	
	
 After holding talks with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in Tokyo on Thursday, Iliescu traveled to the central Japan prefecture to inspect the facility. 
	
	
 The plant produces 14,000 units monthly of Toyota's Crown and other luxury cars, as well as hybrid electric-gasoline autos including the Prius. 
	
	
 Iliescu met with Shoichiro Toyoda, honorary Toyota chairman, and Fujio Cho, president of Japan's largest automaker. 
	
	
 The Toyota executives briefed the Romanian leader about the mechanism for hybrid cars and the firm's efforts to develop a fuel-cell vehicle, the company said. 
	
	
 It is Iliescu's second trip to Japan as president and his third overall, including a private visit in 1999.	





Document 001001740 ends.


       

Dominion Textile Inc. holders adopted a shareholder-rights plan at the annual meeting. 

The so-called poison pill took effect Aug. 9 pending ratification by holders.
Rights attached to the company's common shares were issued that are triggered if a hostile bidder acquires more than 20% of the shares outstanding.
Once triggered, the rights allow holders to buy additional shares at 50% of the then current market price or, at the board's discretion, to receive securities or assets. 

Separately, Dominion Textile posted net income of 4.7 million Canadian dollars ($4 million), or 12 Canadian cents a share, for the fiscal-first quarter ended Sept. 30.
The company had a net loss of C$2.3 million, or 14 Canadian cents a share, a year ago.
Sales were C$348.2 million compared with C$307.2 a year earlier. 




Document 001001747 ends.


	
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 24 (Bernama) -- The Umno Supreme Council Thursday called on the Foreign Ministry to send a memorandum of protest to the United States (US) government over their treatment of Taliban prisoners which was described as inhumane. 
	
	
 Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who is also Umno president, said the party's Supreme Council meeting Thursday also took note of the treatment given by Washington on the 158 Taliban prisoners at X-Ray Camp which had also been criticised by human rights groups in the West. 
	
	
 "The Supreme Council voiced its protest against the United States' handling of the captured Taliban soldiers who were detained in Cuba which the Supreme Council finds inhumane. 
	
	
 "Thus, the Supreme Council calls on the Foreign Ministry to send a memo to the United States government," he said at a press conference after chairing the meeting at the Umno headquarters, here. 
	
	
 According to the report, the US Government had brought 158 prisoners from the US base in Kandahar, Afghanistan to the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, including 14 who arrived on Monday. 
	
	
 The inmates had typically been brought to Cuba in shackles and handcuffs, wearing blacked-out goggles, earmuffs and surgical masks to keep them from biting. 
	
	
 Meanwhile, Dr Mahathir said the Supreme Council meeting Thursday also discussed the dangers posed by the Kumpulan Militan Malaysia (KMM) activities which aimed to topple the government through violence. 
	
	
 "We have enough evidence on their involvement in violent acts and their plans to use violence, as well as their connection with international terrorists," he said, stressing that the KMM had no confidence in the democratic system. 
	
	
 He said the government had identified many members of the group and action to detain those involved had been taken while investigations on the activities of other KMM members were still ongoing. 
	
	
 Dr Mahathir said the government had laws that prevented certain crimes from happening and allowed detention without trial. 
	
	
 However, court action would be taken if there were proofs that they had committed criminal acts, he said.	





Document 001001751 ends.


	
BEIJING, March 6 (AFP) -- China's foreign minister on Wednesday pledged to expand "constructive and cooperative" relations with the United States, in a notably conciliatory performance at his annual get-together with the media. 
	
	
 "We are ready to work together with the US side to narrow differences, expand common ground, increase exchanges and promote cooperation in order to further push forward the constructive and cooperative ties," Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan told journalists. 
	
	
 In a press conference on the sidelines of the current full session of parliament -- his annual opportunity to present China's foreign policy objectives to the outside world -- Tang largely steered clear of subjects over which Beijing and Washington disagree. 
	
	
 Even when the perennially divisive issue of Taiwan was raised by reporters, he offered only mild and routine criticism of US policy towards the island. 
	
	
 China had always "firmly opposed" the US Taiwan Affairs Act, which mandates by law the US defense of Taiwan and forms the basis for US arms sales to the island, he said. 
	
	
 Tang called on Washington to uphold the so-called "one China policy" -- the centrepiece of Beijing's dealings with Taiwan which categorises the island is an inalienable part of mainland territory -- but failed to specifically condemn Washington's arms sales to Taipei. 
	
	
 However he stressed that Taiwan remained the crucial issue between the two. 
	
	
 "I wish to emphasize that the Taiwan question remains the most sensitive and most important issue at the core of the Sino-US relationship," he said. 
	
	
 Sino-US ties have greatly improved since Beijing backed the US fight against global terrorism and its bombing campaign of terrorist targets in Afghanistan following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. 
	
	
 The tone of Tang's press conference was markedly different to that of last year's equivalent event, during which he roundly criticised United States arms sales to Taiwan. 
	
	
 Sino-US relations took a more serious dip a month afterwards during a crisis over the collision between a US surveillance plane and a Chinese fighter jet over the South China Sea. 
	
	
 Tang conceded there had been "twists and turns" following US President George W. Bush's accession to the US presidency in early last year, but said the relationship had improved with Bush's visits to China in October and last month. 
	
	
 "President Jiang and President Bush held an important meeting in Shanghai in October where they agreed that both countries would work together to build a constructive and cooperative relationship. 
	
	
 "This is a very important consensus," Tang said. 
	
	
 When asked whether the anti-terror alliance meant good relations between the country were based purely on expediency, Tang disagreed, saying cooperation "was long-term". 
	
	
 China will seek to improve the relationship still further during visits by President Jiang Zemin and Vice President Hu Jintao to Washington later this year. 
	
	
 Tang further announced that Liu Jieyi, the director general of the Chinese Foreign Ministry section in charge of arms control, was in Washington for talks on weapons proliferation and issues concerning the global security. 
	
	
 US accusations of China's alleged proliferation of weapons of mass destruction have long been countered by Beijing with loud opposition to US weapon sales to Taiwan. 
	
	
 Overall, despite a "grim and complicated" post September 11 international order, China still maintained that "peace, stability and development" remained the main themes characterizing the world environment, Tang said. 
	
	
	





Document 001001753 ends.


	
[First announcer] Hugo Chavez was ousted today as a result of a coup d'etat. Please pay attention to a commentary on this issue. [second announcer] In a rare development, which reminds one of the American-backed coup d'etat by General Pinochet against the legally-elected President of Chile, Salvador Allende, in 1973, the legally-elected President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, was ousted as a result of coordinated operations carried out by a number of army generals, as well as prominent industrialists, capitalists and forces acting as American agents. Venezuela is one of the largest oil producers and exporters in the world. It has vast natural resources and riches. However, despite the passage of 170 years since its independence, it is one of the poorest countries in the world. More than 80 per cent of its population live below the poverty line. Indeed, that is the fate of many Latin and South American countries which have been living for decades under American-backed military regimes that oppressed their own peoples. [passage omitted: On developments in Venezuela after World War II] As a result of developments in the 1990s, Hugo Chavez was elected in the free elections held in 1998. He gained the votes of the vast majority of voters and immediately declared that the aim of his government was to eliminate poverty and injustice and guarantee the independence of his country in the face of foreign interference. Chavez's policies were aimed at eliminating injustice and poverty in his country. Thus he introduced reforms in the economic and commercial arenas, as well as in the oil [industry]. As a result, industrialists and prominent capitalists, as well as defeated political forces acting as foreign agents and the military figures associated with them, became concerned about the situation. Gradually, this led to the formation of a coalition. Indeed, the officials of the Chavez government repeatedly said that foreign intelligence agencies were involved in the formation of that coalition. As far as the issue of foreign policy was concerned, Chavez sought to preserve the independence of his country in the face of American pressure. He pursued an independent policy. One of the main objectives of his policies was to properly utilize Venezuela's vast natural riches, namely oil. In this way, he sought to implement his policy of eliminating poverty. Moreover, Chavez's foreign policies were contrary to American interests in Latin America, as well as in other parts of the world. In Latin and South America, Hugo Chavez established close and friendly relations with Cuban President Fidel Castro and invited him to visit his country. He also supported movements that opposed American intervention in the region, thereby infuriating Washington. That was particularly because his policies enjoyed widespread support among regional countries. Washington was concerned that the Chavez model might affect other [Latin] American countries. Moreover, America also openly opposed Chavez's policies of establishing friendly relations with certain countries that pursued independent regional and international policies. Nevertheless, the most important reason for America's concern was the issue of oil. This issue is closely intertwined with America's policies towards the Middle East. Following Iran's proposal on cutting off the supply of oil to countries that support Israel for one month, which was supported by some oil-exporting countries, there was an increasing probability that Venezuela would also support [the proposal]. Therefore, the ouster of the Chavez government was an effective solution. It also served the interests of the forces that opposed Chavez inside [Venezuela]. Therefore, it seems that the coup d'etat in Venezuela should be assessed as a plot that was hatched for that purpose.	





Document 001001759 ends.


	
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (GDP) 
	
	
 The estimated nominal gross domestic product in January-October 2001 totalled Hr170,427 million, in October -- Hr18,421 million. 
	
	
 The real gross domestic product in January-October measured 109.1% as compared with the corresponding period last year, in October -- 108%. 
	
	
 The growth of real GDP by 9.1% as compared with the relevant period last year was due to an increase in gross value added in the leading forms of economic activity. 
	
	
 INDUSTRY 
	
	
 During the first ten months of 2001, 129.1 billion hryvnyas' worth of industrial goods were produced (services rendered). Compared with the corresponding period last year, output volumes grew 16.1%. Increases in production were achieved in all regions of the country and in all the principal forms of industrial activity. 
	
	
 In the extractive industry production volumes increased 4.1% since the beginning of the year as compared with the same period last year. 
	
	
 In the manufacturing industry , which accounts for nearly three-quarters of all industrial production, output volumes increased 19.6% over the course of the first ten months of 2001 as against the corresponding period last year. 
	
	
 Output volumes in the food industry and in the processing of agricultural products rose 19.8% as compared with January-October of last year. 
	
	
 Light industry achieved an increase of 15.9% in output during the reporting period. Production in the textile industry grew 12%. 
	
	
 At enterprises that process wood and manufacture wood products , output volumes increased 25.9% during the first ten months of the current year as compared with the same period last year. 
	
	
 In the pulp and paper industry , production volumes rose 20.5% as compared with the corresponding period last year. 
	
	
 At enterprises producing nonmetal mineral products , output volumes in January-October of the current year increased 15% as against last year. 
	
	
 Output volumes at metallurgical and metal-processing enterprises increased 8.3% since the beginning of the current year. 
	
	
 Output volumes in machinebuilding enterprises increased 21.7% during the first ten months of 2001 as against the corresponding period last year. 
	
	
 Output volumes at enterprises that produce coke and the products of oil refining increased 57.1%. 
	
	
 In the chemical and petrochemical industry , the increase in production during the period since the beginning of the current year amounted to 11.9%. 
	
	
 Compared with January-October of last year, output volumes at enterprises that generate and distribute electric power grew by 2.4%. During the reporting period, 138 billion kWh of electric power were produced, which was one billion kWh (0.7%) more power than during January-October 2000, despite a 3.7-percent reduction of output of electric power by nuclear power station. Production by thermal and hydroelectric stations increased 3.6% and 11%, respectively. 
	
	
 In January-September 2001, Ukrainian industrial enterprises shipped products (rendered services) valued at Hr112.9 billion, of which sum barter deals accounted for Hr9.1 billion (8.1%) and monetary payments made up Hr87.7 billion (77.7%). In January-September of last year, barter and cash payments accounted for 18.3% and 66.4%, respectively. 
	
	
 AGRICULTURE 
	
	
 The total volume of agricultural output during January-October 2001 increased 9.1% as compared with the corresponding period of 2000, including output by agricultural enterprises with all forms of ownership -- by 19.7%, and by private farms -- 3.2%. 
	
	
 Corn was harvested on an area of 1.1 million hectares (on 90% of the area designated for this crop); the yield was 3.4 million metric tons -- 32.1 quintals per hectare. Sugar beets (factory) were gathered on an area of 842,000 hectares; a total of 15.5 million metric tons of beets was harvested, with an average yield of 184 quintals per hectare, which was 2.4 million metric tons and 7 centners per hectare more, respectively, than at the beginning of November last year. 
	
	
 The amount of sunflower seeds threshed in all categories of farms was 2.4 million metric tons, which was one-third less than in 2000, with average yield per hectare amounting to 10.1 quintals (13 quintals last year). A total of 17 million metric tons of potatoes was produced, which was 14% less than last year (106 quintals per hectare), and 5.4 million metric tons of vegetables, or 2.2% more than on the same date last year (116 quintals per hectare). Potato yield was 16 quintals lower than last year, that of vegetables, higher by 10 quintals. Private farms accounted for 98% of the potato yield (16.8 million metric tons) and 90% of all vegetables (4.9 million metric tons). 
	
	
 During January-October of the current year, as part of rent for land and property shares (parcels), shareholders were issued 1.3 million metric tons of grain, 19,100 metric tons of sunflower seeds, 4,800 metric tons of cattle and poultry (liveweight), 4,800 metric tons of milk and dairy products, 3.5 million eggs, 2,400 metric tons of vegetable oil, and 5,100 metric tons of sugar. 
	
	
 Average prices for farm products sold through all channels during the first ten months of 2001 grew by 8% as compared with the same period in 2000, including animal husbandry products -- by 42%, while the prices of crops dropped by 7%. 
	
	
 CONSTRUCTION 
	
	
 Construction enterprises with all forms of ownership working under contracts performed jobs in January-October of the current year valued at Hr8.3 billion, which amounts to 83.5% of the total sum of contracts concluded for the year. Construction volumes increased over the ten-month period by 6.7% as against the same period last year (over the first nine months -- by 7.2%, over the first eight months -- by 8.2%). 
	
	
 TRANSPORTATION 
	
	
 In January-October 2001, transportation enterprises hauled 632.5 million metric tons of freight, which was 1.1% more than during the first ten months of last year. Freight turnover increased 0.8% and amounted to 325.7 billion ton-kilometers. 
	
	
 Since the beginning of the year, railroads transported 260.9 million metric tons of freight, which was 7.1% more than in January-October 2000. The average daily unloading of freight cars increased overall by 4.1%. A total of 15,100 cars were unloaded per day in the entire railroad system. The amount of freight transported by the domestic commercial sea and river fleet increased 3.1%, including an increase of 6.9% in foreign hauls. A total of 12.7 million metric tons of freight was delivered to customers. The volume of freight processed at commercial and fishing ports and at industrial docks (sea and river) totalled 87.1 million metric tons, constituting an increase of 6.2%. The volumes of interoblast and international hauls by motor transport continue to grow. Freight turnover on motor transport increased 12.1% and reached 6.8 billion ton-kilometers. 
	
	
 The amount of freight transported by pipelines totalled 184.2 million metric tons, which was 2.1% less than in January-October 2000 as a result of a decrease of 5.5% in the volumes of natural gas pipage and a 6.4% decrease in through shipments of oil. The volumes of ammonia transported increased overall by 11.6%, the through shipment of ammonia -- by 7.1%. 
	
	
 During January-October of the current year, 2.7 billion passengers were conveyed by all forms of transport, and the volume of work with passengers totalled 72.1 billion passenger-kilometers, which was 3% and 3.3% more, respectively, than in January-October 2000. 
	
	
 FINANCES 
	
	
 Consolidated Budget revenues for the first nine months of 2001 (according to data from the State Treasury) totalled Hr39.2 billion (25.8% of GDP), which amounts to 74% of the approved sum for the year. Consolidated Budget expenditures totalled Hr37.8 billion (24.9% of GDP), which amounts to 71.4% of the approved sum for the year. 
	
	
 The cost of servicing the state debt amounted to Hr3 billion (2% of GDP), or 7.9% of total expenditures. This cost included the cost of servicing the foreign debt, which amounted to Hr1.7 billion (1.2% of GDP), or 4.6% of total expenditures. 
	
	
 The Consolidated Budget surplus for the first nine months of 2001 amounted to Hr1.4 billion (0.9% of GDP). 
	
	
 In terms of revenues, the State Budget was executed in the amount of Hr28.3 billion (67.3% of the approved sum for the year), or 18.6% of GDP (this percentage takes into account relations with local budgets), with taxes accounting for 57.4% of all revenues. The State Budget of Ukraine was balanced with a surplus of Hr0.8 billion (0.5% of GDP). 
	
	
 On 1 October of this year, debt and credit obligations of all economic entities (with the exception of small enterprises and budget-financed institutions) amounted to Hr217 billion and Hr279.3 billion, respectively. Compared with the beginning of the year, debt obligations increased 17.1%, and credit obligations 8.1%. 
	
	
 EXTERNAL ECONOMIC ACTIVITY 
	
	
 Ukraine's foreign trade turnover of goods and services during January-September 2001 totalled $26.8 billion and had increased 12.2% as compared with January-September 2000. Export volumes of goods and services increased 11.8% and import volumes rose 12.6%, totalling $14.6 billion and $12.2 billion, respectively. 
	
	
 The country's positive foreign trade balance amounted to $2.4 billion ($2.2 billion in January-September 2000). 
	
	
 Ukraine's foreign trade turnover of goods in January-September 2001 amounted to $23.4 billion and increased 13.9% as against January-September 2000. Export volumes increased by 14.6% and those of imports, by 13.1%, amounting to $12 billion and $11.4 billion, respectively. The positive balance of foreign trade in goods amounted to $632.5 million as against $421.8 million in January-September 2000. 
	
	
 Barter deals accounted for 0.4% of the total volume of exports and 0.3% of total import volumes (in January-September 2000 -- 1.7% and 1.8%, respectively). 
	
	
 Exports of Ukrainian customer-supplied raw materials totalled $137.5 million. Imports of finished goods manufactured from Ukrainian customer-supplied raw materials were valued at $741.8 million. Exports of finished products made of imported customer-supplied raw materials were valued at $1,270.2 million. 
	
	
 The total volume of foreign trade in services in the first nine months of 2001 totalled $3,487.3 million and increased 1.8% as against the first nine months of 2000, with exports amounting to $2,604.8 million (an increase of 0.6%) and imports amounting to $882.5 million (an increase of 5.5%). The positive foreign trade balance amounted to $1,722.3 million and decreased by 1.8%. As of 1 October 2001, foreign investors had invested nearly $4.2 billion of direct investments in Ukrainian enteprises. Investments came in from 112 countries. 
	
	
 WHOLESALE AND RETAIL TRADE, THE RESTAURANT INDUSTRY 
	
	
 The total volume of retail trade turnover in retail trade enterprises and the restaurant industry amounted to Hr27.7 billion, which in comparable prices was 11.8% more than the total volume during the corresponding period in 2000. 
	
	
 PRICES AND RATES 
	
	
 From the beginning of the year, the consumer price index (inflation index) measured 103.9% (123.3% during the corresponding period last year). 
	
	
 The price index of industrial goods amounted to 100.7% in January-October 2001 (117.1% during the corresponding period last year). 
	
	
 PERSONAL INCOMES 
	
	
 During January-September 2001, nominal personal incomes increased 24.5% as against the same period in 2000 and totalled Hr76,279 million, while real incomes, determined by excluding compulsory payments, voluntary contributions, and the effects of inflation, rose 6.1%. 
	
	
 Average monthly per capita monetary income in January-September 2001 amounted to Hr172.3 as against Hr137.4 during the corresponding period of 2000. Monetary expenditures and personal savings in January-September 2001 totalled Hr72,852 million, which was 23.1% higher than during the same period of 2000. 
	
	
 The average monthly nominal wage of a staff employee in January-September 2001 amounted to Hr299, which was 37.2% more than during the corresponding period of 2000. 
	
	
 Real wages in January-September of this year increased 18.4% as compared with the corresponding period of last year. In September real wages decreased 1.2% as against August of the current year. 
	
	
 The amount owed in back wages decreased over the past twelve months by Hr2.4 billion, or 42.5%, and on 10 October 2001 totalled Hr3.3 billion. Since the beginning of the current year, the amount of wage arrears decreased by Hr1.6 billion, or by one-third. 
	
	
 Following the complete liquidation of arrears in the payment of pensions and financial assistance by the institutions of the Ministry of Finance and the Pension Fund of Ukraine during September 2000, no arrears accumulated in subsequent periods. 
	
	
 Arrears in the payment of social assistance, provided for by the Law of Ukraine On State Assistance to Families with Children, increased during October of the current year by 46.6% or by Hr4.4 million, and on 1 November 2001 totalled Hr13.8 million. This amount is lower by a factor of 4.5 than the amount owed at the beginning of 2001 and lower by a factor of 5.8 than the amount owed during the corresponding period last year. 
	
	
 According to data submitted by ministries and other executive-branch agencies, arrears in the payment of stipends and financial assistance for students [studenty, kursanty, and uchni] at educational institutions under their jurisdiction increased during October of the current year by 13.3%, and on 1 November 2001 totalled Hr2.2 million, which is less by a factor of 4.2 than the amount owed at the beginning of 2001 and less by a factor of 4.2 than the amount owed during the corresponding period last year. 
	
	
 In January-September 2001, subsidies were disbursed to 2,730,800 families to compensate them for the costs of housing and municipal services and the cost of electric power. The total amount disbursed in subsidies in January-September 2001 was Hr122.3 million. 
	
	
 In addition, 475,800 families (94.4% of the number that had applied) were granted subsidies to compensate them for the cost of purchasing condensed gas and solid fuel. The total amount paid out was Hr112.7 million. 
	
	
 In January-September 2001, the country's population paid Hr4,209.2 million for municipal services, including payment of outstanding debts from earlier periods, which amounted to 83.8% of the amounts charged for this period. 
	
	
 THE JOB MARKET AND THE DEMOGRAPHIC SITUATION 
	
	
 During October, 151,800 jobless citizens applied to the state employment services in search of work, which was 13,500 more people (9.8%) than had applied in September. The number of citizens with unemployed status decreased 14.4% over the past 12 months, including by 1.4% in the past month. This group totalled 971,200 persons at the beginning of November 
	
	
 The drop in the absolute number of unemployed led to a reduction in the registered unemployment rate from 4.2% on 1 November of last year to 3.5% of the able-bodied population of working age on the same date of the current year. 
	
	
 An increase in the number of available jobs (vacancies), accompanied by a drop in the number of unemployed citizens during the past 12 months, has reduced the strain in the labor market. The load coefficient per job (vacancy) during the indicated period decreased from 15 to nine persons as of 1 November 2001. In October 2001, the employment services helped to find jobs for 83,000 persons. This placement rate exceeded the volume of job placements during the corresponding month in 2000 by one-third (32.5%) and by 9% the rate in September of the current year. 
	
	
 During October, the state employment service removed 83,400 persons from its register for a number of reasons (including the fact that some people had found jobs on their own). This number exceeded by 0.5% the number of job placements. In addition, early retirement was granted to 2,700 persons. 
	
	
 During October 2001, Hr48.9 million were spent from the universally compulsory State Social Unemployment Insurance Fund to provide assistance to the unemployed. The average recorded number of unemployed who received unemployment benefits in October 2001 totalled 589,800 persons. 
	
	
 On 1 November 2001, the estimated size of the population of Ukraine was 49 million. During January-September of the current year, the total number of inhabitants of Ukraine decreased by nearly 324,000 persons. The decline in the size of the population is occuring due both to a natural decrease (287,000 persons) and to emigration (37,000). However, compared with the same period last year, the volume of natural decrease of population fell 7.2%. The birthrate measures 7.7 per 1,000 inhabitants as against 7.8 per 1,000 in January-October of last year. At the same time the death rate has dropped from 15.3 to 14.7 per 1,000. 
	
	
	





Document 001001762 ends.


	
Hanoi, May 13 (VNA) -- Vietnam has produced a variety of drugs to control HIV/AIDS in patients suffering with the disease. These include Lamivudin 100mg and Lamizidivir (Lamivudin 150mg and Zidovudin 300mg), according to the Public Health Ministry. 
	
	
 The medicines, jointly produced by the Pharmaceutical Company MST and the Pharmaceutical Plant MST in Ho Chi Minh City, are made of Zidovudine and Lamivudine substances of GMP standards imported from the Republic of Korea and India. 
	
	
 The first Lamizidivir tablets have been sold for VND 19,500 ($1.2) since May of this year, under the permit from the Vietnam Pharmaceutical Control Department. 
	
	
 The department said that it will cost $600 for an HIV/AIDS patient per year at this time, and the following years this cost is expected to stand at just $400/year for one patient as the production of such drugs becomes stable. 
	
	
 Currently, the producer is able to process about 10 million tablets per month to meet the demand for domestic consumption and export as well, according to the Public Health Ministry. In the near future, the ministry added, more kinds of such drugs including Nevirappine, Afaviren and Abavir will be available. 
	
	
 As of March, 2002, 47,514 HIV carriers were discovered across the country, with 6,831 developing full-blown AIDS. As many as 3,780 died of the disease.	





Document 001001763 ends.


	
Tomorrow the government will announce a comprehensive economic and social plan based on the complete elimination of the dollar as a monetary standard through the conversion of deposits and loans into pesos. 
	
	
 For those owing less than $100,000, the conversion will be done at the rate of one to one. For those who owe between $100,000 and $300,000, the conversion rate will be 1.2 to 1, with the government making up the difference between this rate and that of the official dollar. It will help out the banks, as El Cronista reported, by giving them a bond or certificate against future revenues from the tax on crude oil exports (5 billion) and with part of the assistance that the IMF will reportedly provide (4 billion). Debts of more than $300,000 will continue to be converted at 1.4 to 1. 
	
	
 Barring last minute changes, no announcement is expected about allowing the peso to float freely, as the IMF would like, or about changes in the timetable for easing bank withdrawal restrictions. Under these restrictions, which were established by Domingo Cavallo and tightened by his successor, Jorge Remes Lenicov, the country's savers are barred from accessing more than 65 billion (pesos and mainly dollars) that they have on deposit. 
	
	
 This constraint, combined with the difficulties of even withdrawing money for daily use from salary direct-deposit accounts, has heightened social unrest, as people have staged marches, banging on pots and pans, and other demonstrations to protest the prevailing economic situation. 
	
	
 Some analysts feel that the fledgling Duhalde administration is making a mistake by ending convertibility without first resolving the problems that will arise from this decision, which was a foregone conclusion here in Argentina and the rest of the world. What is more, the IMF tried to convince Cavallo to abandon the one-to-one peg in an orderly fashion. 
	
	
 The fact that the former minister and President Fernando de la Rua, who later stepped down, were opposed to such a move drove the IMF even further away from lending any support. Its last show of support was the $8 billion in aid to support the "zero deficit" tactic. 
	
	
 Such budgetary discipline turned out to be impossible, thus shattering the rigid convertibility system and putting entire sectors of the economy out of commission. Lack of confidence led to massive withdrawals of savings into safer places. 
	
	
 The outflows forced some banks to ask the government to set limits. Cavallo could think of nothing better than the curbs on withdrawals. According to former Minister Roque Fernandez, it was "the worst mistake in the history of the Argentine economy," while influential businessman Arnaldo Musich (FIEL [Latin American Economic Research Foundation]-Techint) considered it an "inexcusable" mistake. 
	
	
 Burdensome Legacy 
	
	
 The last of the provisional governments that took over from the abbreviated De la Rua administration decided quickly to end the currency board system. But not until tomorrow, one month after taking office, will it announce a comprehensive plan to overcome the worst crisis in the country's history. 
	
	
 Duhalde will confirm that $2 billion will be made available immediately to mitigate the social disaster. This money was approved by the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank. 
	
	
 Accompanied by Remes, he will talk tomorrow about what the assistance will be used for: to fulfill the promise to create a million jobs, to provide basic health care, and to undertake small infrastructure projects. The president will also mention imminent political reform, which he will call on Congress to enact. 
	
	
 The rest of his remarks will be solely about the economy, about which millions of Argentines have been obsessed for some years now. Mortgage loans, the debts of small and mid-sized companies, and automotive loans under $100,000 will be paid back in the identical amount of pesos. The same will go for secured loans under $300,000 and personal loans of up to $10,000. 
	
	
 Debts over these amounts will have to be repaid at 1.4 to 1, although the government will defray 20 cents on the dollar so that debtors will actually pay 1.2 pesos. 
	
	
 The banking restrictions will, for the time being, remain unchanged, but the tacit assumption is that the timetable for easing them will be speeded up "as soon as conditions permit." It has been confirmed that there will be "coupons" for savers who want to buy things, with their frozen funds as collateral. 
	
	
 The president will also break down the budget for the press and promise to issue currency in a controlled manner (not to exceed 3.5 billion pesos) and to undertake the difficult task of reversing the sudden decline in wealth (4.9 percent) without pushing inflation beyond 15 percent. 
	
	
 The dollar will be allowed to float as soon as possible, as the government has promised the IMF. Everything depends on the anticipated aid of between $15 billion and $20 billion, which is what has been requested of Washington. 
	
	
 Adjustment Index Will Be New Variable 
	
	
 One of the points on which the Duhalde administration's economic plan will be based is a monetary benchmark that will govern the issuance of pesos and the refunding of deposits in dollars that have been frozen in accounts. 
	
	
 To this end, Jorge Remes Lenicov's economic team has developed an index or formula including such parameters as projected annual inflation rates, the government's budget, the exchange rate of the dollar, and issuance of money by the Central Bank. 
	
	
 This system, which will serve as a financial tool for redrafting most of the contracts involving economic activity in the new, post-convertibility era, is similar to the "Celic" index that Brazil uses or the "Unidad de Fomento" that Chile used until August 2001. 
	
	
 The monetary benchmark that Brazil employs and that Chile used to is the most common one in today's world and is based on an inflation target. On the basis of this target a rule is developed to determine the interest rate needed to hit the target for price rises. The amount of money issued thus winds up being a function of these variables, not a target in itself, so that monetary policy can be used as a tool for promoting economic recovery. 
	
	
 Until August of last year Chile had an incremental adjustment mechanism that included an exchange rate band with a ceiling and floor. Monetary adjustments were based on what was called the "unidad de fomento," an indexing system that included various price indices and adjusted contracts in accordance with actual changes. 
	
	
 Brazil started using an inflation target once its 1999 devaluation stabilized the real and achieved low inflation. 
	
	
 The government explained that it theoretically saw tools like the "unidad de fomento" as a way of adjusting the deposits of savers that will remain subject to restrictions until at least next year. The index will persumably not be applied for another two or three months, and it has not been ruled out that it may include loans already converted into pesos. 
	
	
 Renes is working alongside a group of technicians from the IMF, World Bank, US Treasury Department, and Central Bank of Brazil, whose services were also used during the crises in Mexico and Indonesia. 
	
	
 [Buenos Aires Ambito Financiero in Spanish on 1 February adds the following: "The following are the main measures that will be announced tomorrow: 
	
	
 "'Dirty' float for the dollar: The decision has been made to abolish the official exchange rate (1.4 pesos to the dollar) and to move towards a single, floating rate. The Central Bank will intervene in the market, but only to prevent sudden swings. Intermediate solutions have been completely ruled out, such as periodic adjustments of the exchange rate (a crawling peg) or a band, which would oblige the Central Bank to intervene by selling dollars to defend a given value of the peso. The government wanted to wait until it had sealed an accord with the IMF before going to a float. But since the negotiations will take several weeks, as Remes will not be flying to Washington until 14 February, the idea is to move ahead before receiving international aid. Another possibility is to have released at least the $2.6 billion that has been pending disbursement since December in order to bolster reserves before the peso is allowed to float. 
	
	
 "Total release of salary direct-deposit accounts: All employees will soon be able to access their entire salary by making cash withdrawals from savings accounts. This will completely eliminate the ceiling of 1,500 pesos per month that had been set in the January version of the banking restrictions. This measure will benefit only the 4 percent of workers who earn more than that amount, which until now was subject to the restrictions. The danger, which the economic team is aware of, is that any additional money withdrawn will go straight into purchases of dollars since this could represent the percentage of income that an individual is able to save. The measure is designed to send a signal so that people gradually regain confidence. Raising the withdrawal ceiling in the case of regular savings accounts to 1,500 pesos a month was under consideration yesterday, but for now the limit of 1,200 a month will continue to apply, with the possibility of gradual increases in the near future. 
	
	
 "Deposits to be converted into pesos at 1.4 to 1: Time deposits in dollars will be converted into pesos at the official rate. Once they have been converted, the refund timetable for dollar deposits will initially be maintained. In other words, refunds will not begin until January 2003. If an agreement is reached with the IMF and economic conditions improve, the timetable will likely be moved forward so that people can get cash. The possibility of keeping a portion of a time deposit in dollars, which President Duhalde has requested, has not been altogether ruled out, but there are legal problems with implementing it. In the case of time deposits in pesos, the refund timetable is being maintained; it provides for withdrawals in cash as of March. 
	
	
 "Installment checks for time deposits: The money subject to a refund timetable may be used for purchases, but with restrictions. It cannot be credited to demand deposit accounts. Therefore, it can be used only to purchase items such as cars and apartments. The 12, 18, or 24 installments into which time deposits will be divided, depending on their amount, may be endorsed. Transfer of the time deposit will be authorized only in the case of a purchase. But the account holder will not be able to move it from one bank to another. The big drawback to this system is that hardly anyone will be willing to sell real estate for peso-denominated installment checks that can be cashed sometime in the future. They can be used, though, for smaller transactions or to pay for part of a purchase. 
	
	
 "Issuance of bonds indexed according to the value of the dollar: The Central Bank will soon start issuing bonds in pesos to offer the public another alternative to purchasing dollars. The idea is to issue very short-term bills (30 days, for now) that will be indexed to any ongoing depreciation. An arrangement with an attractive implicit interest rate could also be devised. It will not be easy, of course, to drum up demand with the country in full-fledged default. 
	
	
 "No withholding on oil exports: In conclusion, the government has decided to reverse itself on the 20 percent tax that it was planning to levy on these exports. 'We would not have raised all that much money and would have been sending a very bad signal overseas by discriminating between sectors,' acknowledged a senior source in the Economy Ministry. In any event, the oil industry may be asked for an advance on taxes due, as had been under consideration a couple of weeks ago. If any withholding arrangement is implemented, it will apply to all exports, not just some. 
	
	
 "Bonds in dollars to compensate banks: The banks will receive long-term government bonds in dollars as compensation for the losses that will arise from conversion into pesos on their balance sheets. Estimates are that under the arrangement that has been devised the red ink will total more than 12 billion pesos or some $6 billion. The banks have also agreed with this option. They wold rather hold a financial claim on the government than place the entire burden on their debtors, who would be forced to declare bankruptcy if they got no relief. 
	
	
 "Phase 1 of the swap remains in dollars: Banks, Pension and Retirement Fund Management Companies, and insurance companies exerted strong pressure to prevent all accounts from being converted into pesos at 1.4 to 1. They managed to keep their bonds in foreign currency and are supposed to start collecting interest this April. It is likely, however, that before that the government will move ahead with a comprehensive debt rescheduling, including international and local investors who were involved in the first phase of the swap."] 
	
	
	





Document 001001764 ends.


	
President Bush's projection of Iran, Iraq and North Korea as 'axis of evil' and his threat of military action against them has evoked world-wide criticism. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said after meeting US Vice President Dick Cheney in Washington that there is no evidence of weapons' proliferation against these nations to substantiate the US charge. French officials said that the rhetoric of good and evil is not suitable for the realities of today's world. Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said that Bush has made a 'big mistake' by lumping the three nations together as they are different from each other. NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson said in New York that credible evidence will be prerequisite for NATO's support for any military action against the three nations. 
	
	
 The lumping of Iran, Iraq and North Korea as 'axis of evil' by President Bush has certainly not raised US image. It has rather tarnished it, since the international community expects a mature, compassionate and civilised conduct from the United States as the only superpower in the world. It should have been on the side of the smaller and weaker nations, rather than targeting them one by one in the pursuit of its global agenda. It should have worked to eliminate injustice, instead of trying to harass other countries for national prejudices. The world expects a civilised conduct from the United States in place of arrogance, discrimination and injustice. Washington is, in fact, treading a path of coercion, intimidation and blackmailing against the smaller and weaker nations. President Bush is intolerant to the dissent to his policy of domination in total negation of the lofty principles of morality, ethic and democracy, which he assertively holds so dear to his heart. If terrorism is to be fought successfully, the United States should better withdraw its support to the forces of injustice, tyranny and oppression in the world. Fight against poverty alone will not be a productive effort to fight terrorism. It's injustice that breeds hatred and revolt. Let Middle East be the test ground for US sincerity to fight terrorism. Its unfettered support to Israel is based on injustice and this distortion in its policies needs to be removed to ensure its own security as well as that of its allies. 
	
	
	





Document 001001768 ends.



   Peronist to head Argentina at least till March elections

 



  BUENOS AIRES - Veteran Peronist Adolfo Rodriguez Saa was set to 
become the country's interim president yesterday, taking power 
after a devastating economic crisis toppled President Fernando 
de la Rua.

  Lawmakers meeting in a special session late yesterday were 
expected to approve the 54-year-old lawyer and provincial 
governor as president. De la Rua was brought down after violent 
protests against his economic steps left 27 people dead and more 
than 200 people injured.

  Taking on a job many in his own Peronist party spurned, 
Rodriguez Saa is expected to serve as president at least until 
new elections, tentatively scheduled for March 3. The leader 
elected then will finish out the two years of de la Rua's term.

  A populist who has ruled a western arid province for 18 years, 
Rodriguez Saa will have to deal with an economy on the brink of 
defaulting on its $132 billion public debt and struggling with 
more than 18 percent unemployment.

  His appointment would restore Argentina's largest party, the 
Peronists, as the country's dominant political force after the 
most widespread social disturbances since the late 1980s, when a 
previous financial crisis rocked this South American country of 
36 million. The party also controls Congress.

  Rodriguez Saa yesterday told the television network Todo 
Noticias he would announce an economic plan to ease the crisis. 
"I will work with all my might on behalf of my country. I am 
going to work hard and with honesty," he said.

  He has reportedly suggested Argentina will have to declare a 
moratorium on payments on its crushing debt load and has vowed 
to leave in place a key economic law pegging the Argentine peso 
to the U.S. dollar.

  Polls indicate that a majority of Argentines support keeping the 
peg in place, despite increased calls from many economists and 
several political leaders that only a devaluation can help the 
economy rebound.

  Argentines wary of surging unemployment, rising poverty, salary 
cuts and tax hikes are deeply skeptical of more calls for 
belt-tightening, the centerpiece of policies advocated by De la 
Rua and his economy minister Domingo Cavallo.

  "Enough. No more austerity plans!" said Pablo Arteaga, a 
36-year-old dentist whose wife is a state worker whose salary 
has fallen by 13 percent in recent months. "That was the message 
the people sent to De la Rua and all the other political 
leaders."

  De la Rua resigned Thursday, following two days of protests, 
food riots and supermarket looting. He complained that it was 
the Peronists who forced him from office by disregarding his 
call to join a government of national unity - his last-ditch 
effort to remain in office after the declaration of a state of 
emergency failed to quell the rioting.

  Rodriguez Saa is reportedly considering easing banking 
restrictions imposed by De la Rua, limiting to $1,000 the amount 
of money Argentines can withdraw from their accounts. A run on 
the banks had threatened a devaluation of the peso.



@ CopyRight 2001 Ha'aretz. All Rights Reserved.




Document 001001771 ends.


       

Jayark Corp. agreed to pay $4 million in cash, $2 million of 12% convertible debentures, and 1.6 million common shares to acquire closely held Kofcoh Imports Inc. 

In over-the-counter trading Friday, Jayark was quoted at 87.5 cents bid, down 15.625 cents.
At the market price, the transaction has a total indicated value of $7.4 million. 

Kofcoh is a New York holding company for Rosalco Inc., which imports furniture and other items.
David L. Koffman, president and chief executive officer of Jayark, holds about 40% of Kofcoh, Jayark said. 

Jayark, New York, distributes and rents audio-visual equipment and prints promotional ads for retailers.
In the quarter ended July 31, Jayark had an average of 5.6 million shares outstanding. 

The transaction is subject to approval by a panel of disinterested directors, the company said, adding that shareholder approval isn't needed. 




Document 001001774 ends.


	
THE ABDUCTION of a French diplomat's wife on Thursday has introduced a political dimension to the kidnap-for-ransom pestilence that has spread dramatically during the past 10 months. 
	
	
 The kidnap gang freed her and her driver within two hours of seizure. No ransom was paid. 
	
	
 The abduction, however, delivered a more devastating blow on the capacity of the Macapagal administration to crack down on kidnap syndicates than the grim statistics trotted out by Teresita Ang-See, the Chinese-Filipino anti-crime "crusader," who has relished the role of Cassandra to the Philippine National Police under the new administration. 
	
	
 Since 1992 when organized crime became a leading preoccupation in the national agenda, the main victims of the predatory syndicates have been Ang-See's compatriots in the Chinese-Filipino community. 
	
	
 The conventional explanation is that because of their wealth, they are the logical prey from which to extract ransom money--a perverse form of nationalist racism and redistribution of national wealth. 
	
	
 The Abu Sayyaf kidnapping of foreigners in Sipadan, Malaysia, and in Dos Palmas, Palawan, broke this ethnicity pattern. 
	
	
 But the seizure of the diplomat's wife and her driver was the first time in 10 years that the gangs struck at members of the diplomatic community, whose immunity has been somehow respected by organized syndicates. 
	
	
 The seizure sent alarm bells ringing in the diplomatic community in this country. The repercussions in the home governments and countries are as damaging as the prolonged hostage-taking by the Abu Sayyaf of French, German, Malaysian, Lebanese and Finnish nationals during the Estrada administration. 
	
	
 Then President Joseph Estrada had to cancel visits to Paris and other European capitals in 2000 after he was told that he would receive a hostile reception from the European public over the lengthy impasse of negotiations for the hostages' release. 
	
	
 From my own sources in the diplomatic community, as well as in the Philippine National Police, the diplomat's wife and her driver went to the French school in Bicutan at around 10 a.m., in response to a call from school authorities who reported that her son had some accident. 
	
	
 On the way, a group of about six armed men in uniforms blocked her brand-new car (which had no diplomatic plate) at Better Living Subdivision, Paranaque, and boarded it. 
	
	
 The gang drove the car around the vicinity while they interrogated the victims for about two hours. The hijackers asked them for money--one million pesos was mentioned--which she had supposedly withdrawn from the bank. She told them she had not withdrawn such money and that she was the wife of a senior French diplomat. The gunmen let her go. 
	
	
 The PNP, which believes it was a case of mistaken identity, could not explain why it took the gang two hours to know the identity of the lady. 
	
	
 After detaining them for about two hours, they drove her and the driver to a squatters' area and dropped them off near the Bicutan exit, but not before they took her necklace and wallet. 
	
	
 They did not take her ring and other pieces of jewelry. The gang fled with the car, and the victims took a tricycle home. The details of the crime and the swift release are less important than the political implications. Whether the incident was plain holdup, as the PNP would like to see it, the abduction reinforced the growing perception in the diplomatic community and foreign governments that there is a breakdown in law and order and that the Macapagal administration is not in control. 
	
	
 This perception is also fueled by the crime statistics of Ang-See, who represents the pessimistic outlook in contrast to the more dismissive outlook of the PNP whose statistics are less alarming than those of Ang-See. 
	
	
 While Ang-See's statistics, derived mainly from non-official sources, paint a grim picture, they should not be ignored. 
	
	
 At the same time, the PNP can't be burying its head in the sand and offering explanations all the time, rather than check the rise of kidnappings. 
	
	
 Ang-See's close collaboration with former PNP chief, now Sen. Panfilo Lacson, is an open secret. Some administration officials wonder whether she paints doomsday scenarios just to embarrass the administration and to portray the contrast in performance between the PNP under Lacson and the current PNP leadership, which has no love lost with Lacson. 
	
	
 Since the members of the diplomatic community had previously been immune from the predatory attacks of the gang, the abduction of the diplomat's wife naturally has generated anxieties among foreign governments about how safe their diplomats are in this country. 
	
	
 There is a strong perception in the diplomatic community that the abduction was a fake kidnap-for- ransom and was a political act to demonstrate the administration's incapacity to put crime under control. 
	
	
 The reasoning behind this perception is that if the gangs were after ransom money, it did not matter whether their victims belonged to the diplomatic community. 
	
	
 The perception is that there was a political message in the abductions staged by some groups that are determined to make this government fail. 
	
	
 A number of embassies here, including the American, French, German and Japanese, have issued advisories to their nationals warning them of risks when travelling in some parts of the country. 
	
	
 The advisories have been prompted by domestic lawlessness and political turbulence rather than by a possible outbreak of insidious terrorist attacks associated with al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden and provoked by the American military action in Afghanistan. 
	
	
 At the rate syndicates are abducting targets--regardless of their ethnic identity and their diplomatic status--with impunity, the administration faces a more serious and direct challenge to its capacity to govern from the specter of lawlessness than from the daunting problem of sparking an economic recovery amid the global economic downturn. 
	
	
 We don't need al-Qaida terrorist attacks in this country to bring the government down in turmoil, create uncertainties in the business community, and frighten tourists and investors away. 
	
	
 The diplomatic community's perception of President Macapagal is that she is organized, knows her economics, does her homework, and has been unscathed by scandals that have been rubbed on her skin by a scandal-mongering opposition. 
	
	
 But the downside is that the deterioration of peace and order is her nemesis that is undoing all her diplomatic initiatives in the world stage to project the Philippines as a staunch ally in the US-led coalition in the war on international terrorism. 
	
	
 Some diplomats raise questions about her priorities. They think she is travelling too much, while internal problems sap the country's energy, and that she has misplaced strategic priorities in her overseas visits. 
	
	
 The fire is raging at home, these sources say, not in the United States, China, Japan or Afghanistan. Her hoses have to be directed at internal terrorism. She has more dangerous enemies at home than elsewhere.	





Document 001001775 ends.


AFGP-2002-602187 (full translation)

Page 1

[The late Bin Baz was the grand Muslim scholar in Saudi Arabia. Al-Maqdasi, a

Jordanian militant, is sympathetic to Al-Qaida. He was acquitted in Jordan of

charges that he had ties to Al-Qaida. In a recent interview with Al-Jazeera he spoke

against the Arab regimes. Immediately after the interview, he was apprehended

again by the Jordanian authority.]


             
Sheik Rida, fear God. You are not fair when you belittle Sheik Bin Baz's blunder and

exaggerate the one by Sheik Maqdasi...

Sheik Maqdasi did not criticize Sheik Bin Baz's only for his edict which emphasizes not

to consider a regime an apostate if it hasn't adhered to Islamic laws. Well, this is not the

case. If, you study the evidences and statements released by these people, we tend to

appreciate their ignorance which was based on prominent views. We had done that

before with others who were known for their serious blunders. I'm not going to illustrate

these evidences and statements; God is my witness, I don't want to deceive anyone.

However, I will mention one of these evidences reiterated by them. Indeed, the Sheik

issued two edicts regarding the same issue that contradict each other...

First, he forbade seeking the aid of infidels when the Syrian Mujahiddin asked Saddam

Hussein to overthrow the regime of Hafiz Al-Assad in Syria. However, he allowed the

Gulf regimes to depend on the infidels in attacking Saddam Hussein.

[He issued] more edicts to accommodate the policies of the Saudi regime. This behavior

and not the edict itself forced them to be deceptive. I am sure that you are aware of all
 these suspicions that surround the regime's [Religious] scholars. So, try to appreciate the

Muslims' position, especially if these suspicions are credible.

Brother Rida, I plead to you through this article to understand the views of others, just

like we try to understand the views of those who went astray.
 Page 2



My dear sister, I hope all is well. How is Turkey? I hope you are enjoying your stay

there.

I wrote a letter to Ayman. Please print it on a thin paper; may God reward you.

Please read this message if you have the time. I am open for any suggestions.

I hope I can communicate with you through the Messenger before you depart Turkey.

Send my regards to my aunt, uncle and grandmother.

Take back the stuff which Ayman asked you to carry to Saudi Arabia.

I apologize for any inconvenience.



Peace be upon you.
                      


Document 001001776 ends.


	
These days, when everything seems to be collapsing in the Middle East, both the Palestinians' chances of finally having a state in which their people would be sovereign, and the Israelis' chances of integrating themselves into a region where -- need we be reminded? -- the Arabs are in the overwhelming majority, we believe it our duty to voice a few basic truths. 
	
	
 One of us is a Palestinian patriot (and not a nationalist). The other has no other homeland than France, which does not, however, lead him to deny his heritage from ancient Israel (which contains, like all heritages, the best and the worst) nor to be indifferent to the destiny of those millions of Jews who have something in common with him. 
	
	
 We are both historians. 
	
	
 However, we will not look back at the entire century that has just passed. There was a quarrel concerning Zionism. Those involved in it had no shortage of arguments, whether Arab, Jewish, or simply clear-headed. Zionism established itself in a sensitive region of the world at a time when nothing seemed more "normal" than to settle in someone else's territory. 
	
	
 The United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand were all created at the conclusion of a colonial process. 
	
	
 No one today challenges their existence despite the crises arising from this process and which were cited by an Aboriginal athlete at the Olympic Games in Sydney. 
	
	
 Likewise, the more recent creation of Israel was accompanied, under the indifferent gaze of the Western and Soviet world, by the forced exodus of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. Today, these refugees and their descendants do not call into question the existence of the state of Israel as long as the injustice suffered is recognized and the implementation of their rights is negotiated fairly. 
	
	
 Let us content ourselves with reiterating the evidence: Since June 1967, the West Bank and Gaza have been occupied and dominated territories, crushed politically, socially, economically. Despite this, the Palestinian resistance has formally recognized the existence of Israel and begun a peace process in Oslo, while the state of Israel has recognized the Palestinians represented by the PLO and its leader Yasser Arafat. 
	
	
 This process has not achieved its goal. 
	
	
 On the Palestinian side, feeding on the growing frustration of the occupied population, a wing has broken off, conducting a policy of terror and death that horrifies us. 
	
	
 On the Israeli side, despite the process, settlement has increased considerably, eating away at the supposedly autonomous Palestinian territories crisscrossed by "bypass roads." 
	
	
 Today, two forms of terrorism fuel each other. Palestinian terrorism, which existed on a very small scale in the time of Yitzhak Rabin, has taken on a dramatic dimension. But the Israeli response, with its "extra-judicial liquidations," is even more dramatic in a certain sense. It now resembles the destruction of the very people, so structured and organized is it. 
	
	
 Like any form of state terrorism, it is above all contradictory. Yesterday, Yasser Arafat was being asked to police the area he was supposed to be in charge of, while destroying the instruments of his power. Today, he is being completely isolated and the desire to drive him away is scarcely disguised. 
	
	
 Ariel Sharon's immediate exploitation of the 11 September massacres is an unmistakable sign. Sharon compared Arafat to Bin Ladin and Mullah Omar put together. Whom does he think he resembles, if not the perpetrator of the Sabra and Shatila massacres? 
	
	
 How to escape from this situation? From the current perspective, three solutions seem "logical." 
	
	
 The first is the expulsion of the Palestinians from what is known as Eretz Israel, from all of Mandatory Palestine. A recently assassinated minister favored this solution. Can we seriously imagine the crimes that would have to be committed to achieve this result? Can anyone believe that the Arab world could approve of it? What would then remain of the universal character of the prophets of Israel -- that of the second Isaiah, for example -- and of Israeli citizens' hope of one day living in peace in this region? 
	
	
 The other solution is the opposite of the first one: the departure of the Israelis to more hospitable climes, in the United States or Europe. It is absolutely impossible for the time being. But in the future? What would remain of the ideals of those who saw themselves as their liberators of their people and as builders? Asking this question at least serves as a reminder that, although many have already left, thereby reinventing the Diaspora, the Israelis want to stay and do not intend to end up like French Algeria. 
	
	
 The third solution consists of coexistence, whether it takes the form of two separate states or a federation or a confederation. 
	
	
 Two basic principles could still, perhaps, make it possible. 
	
	
 The first is that of not only civic, but also social and economic, equality. This principle applies primarily to the attitudes that must prevail during any future negotiations. It also applies for Palestinian citizens of Israel who, 53 years after the creation of the state, are still far from equal. It furthermore holds for the Israelis who decide to remain in Palestinian territory and who must no longer be encysted there. 
	
	
 The second is that of reciprocity. Any renunciation of sovereignty by either party must be compensated by the other. This applies to all the problems under discussion, including, of course, the issue of Jerusalem and of the refugees. 
	
	
 It must be acknowledged that the government of Ariel Sharon has so far taken the opposite tack and that, while he has grudgingly recognized the Palestinians' right to a state, it has been under conditions such that this state, reduced to a series of Bantustans, has no chance of living and developing peacefully. Extremists on both sides have clearly understood this and have derived nothing but encouragement from it. 
	
	
 The Israeli ambassador in France, Elie Barnavi, recently made two contradictory statements: That all those who, like Nurit Peled, believe that the Sharon government is a "government of death" could easily fit into a telephone booth... and that by their existence they constitute Israel's very honor. 
	
	
 We still want to hope that the "rest of Israel," as the prophets called it, is the "mustard seed" another prophet referred to. 
	
	
 We do hope so, against all hope. 
	
	
	





Document 001001777 ends.


	
STATE VISIT: The US president is getting good reviews from political experts for refusing to restate the `three nos' and declining to endorse peaceful reunification 
	
	
 As US President George W. Bush wrapped up his six-day visit to Asia yesterday, analysts gave their thumbs up to his determination to voice his firm support for Taiwan despite pressure from China to do otherwise. 
	
	
 "We felt gratified and relieved after watching Bush stick to his principles on the issue of Taiwan. He did not make any concessions, even after his meetings with the Chinese leaders in Beijing," said Cheng Tuan-yao, research fellow at the Institute of International Relations in National Chengchi University. 
	
	
 While past trips to China by US presidents have produced agreements or statements that have damaged Taiwan's interests, Bush's visit only enhanced the nation's confidence in his administration, Cheng said. 
	
	
 "Bush has made the first correct step by spurning his predecessor's appeasement of China. Notably, he didn't restate the so-called `three nos' policy," said DPP legislator Parris Chang (Chang Hsu-ch'eng) of Bush's remarks on Taiwan during his two-day trip to Beijing that concluded yesterday afternoon. 
	
	
 Former US president Bill Clinton agitated Taiwan when he gave the so-called "three nos" speech during his visit to China in 1998. The "three nos" include no support for an independent Taiwan; no recognition of "two Chinas'' or one China and a separate Taiwan; and no support for Taiwan's entry into international organizations that require members to be states. 
	
	
 "Bush has been very forthcoming in stating the US commitment to defend Taiwan against the possible use of force by China," said Chang, a specialist in international relations. 
	
	
 Bush reitered his desire for a peaceful settlement of the Taiwan issue several times during his trip to Beijing. The US president also declined to endorse China's version of a "peaceful unification" between Taiwan and China, reflecting the longstanding US position on cross-strait relations, analysts said. 
	
	
 "Of course he would not use the term of `peaceful reunification' ... because the American position is that relations between Taiwan and China should be open-ended," Chang said. 
	
	
 "The three communiques have not committed the US to peaceful reunification," he added. 
	
	
 China's Vice Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, in a speech in Washington earlier this month, urged the US to support "peaceful unification." 
	
	
 But Bush's refusal to respond to a similar push by a student yesterday during the question-and-answer session of his talk at Tsinghua University showed that the US president stuck to the US existing policy, according to analysts. 
	
	
 Cheng pointed out what he saw as the implications of Bush's remarks on missile defense. 
	
	
 "Bush said any missile-defense system was to protect friends and allies of the US from countries with massive destructive capabilities. Although he did not mention Taiwan directly, the implication of this remark seemed to be that Taiwan was not to be excluded," Cheng said. 
	
	
 Bush described Taiwan as a "good friend" of the US during his weekly radio address to the US public that aired last week within hours of his departure for Asia. 
	
	
 Bush's mention several times of the Taiwan Relations Act, the 1979 US law that pledged that the US would supply Taiwan with the defensive weapons it needed to fend off a Chinese attack, also reflected his firm support for Taiwan, analysts said. 
	
	
 China has tried to highlight and accentuate the Taiwan issue during Bush's trip to China, but the US agenda rested instead on anti-terrorism and China's proliferation of arms sale to countries like Iran and Pakistan, Chang argued. 
	
	
 But as Bush concluded his trip to Asia yesterday, it was clear that China failed to elicit from him a statement on the "three nos" and on opposition to Taiwanese independence, Chang said. 
	
	
 The US' rising concerns over China's military expansion and its appreciation for Taipei's support for the US-led war against terrorism drove Bush to stand firm in his support for Taiwan, the DPP legislator said. 
	
	
 The Pentagon's quadrennial defense review issued last September -- which highlighted the rising Chinese threat -- and the recent testimony by the CIA director to the US Senate on China's military modernization were indicative of the Bush administration's perception of China as a growing threat to US national security. 
	
	
 "These two reports seemed to indicate that the Bush administration took China's rising military threat more seriously than did the Clinton's administration. And therefore, the US is much more forthcoming in voicing its support for Taiwan," Chang said. 
	
	
 Fresh from his trip to Washington, where US government officials highlighted Taiwan's contribution to the war against terrorism, Chang said, "Even as a small country, we stood with the US at that critical moment, and the US appreciated that and has reciprocated what we've done."	





Document 001001778 ends.


	
HONG KONG, March 26 (AFP) - China has disallowed a routine port call in Hong Kong for an American naval vessel, a spokeswoman for the US consulate said Tuesday. 
	
	
 "The Chinese government denied a requested visit by the USS Curtis Wilbur, a destroyer, to visit Hong Kong from April 5 to 9," she said adding, "this would have been a routine port call." 
	
	
 "No reason was given for the disapproval," the spokeswoman added. 
	
	
 The bar on the USS Curtis Wilbur with some 346 crew is seen as reflecting Beijing's anger over Washington's decision to allow Taiwanese Defense Minister Tang Yao-ming to visit Florida for a military conference this month. 
	
	
 Beijing has twice summoned the US ambassador for dressings down over the issue, while a state-controlled newspaper reported last week that China was preparing to cancel naval exchanges with the United States in retaliation. 
	
	
 The last time such a request was turned down was in May last year following the collision of a US spy plane with a Chinese fighter jet in international air space over the South China Sea on April 1, 2001. 
	
	
 However, US naval visits to Hong Kong resumed in July. 
	
	
 There were two other similar episodes of permission being denied before that since the 1997 handover of the former British colony to China. 
	
	
 One of them was after the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia was bombed, killing three people, in the US-led NATO air campaign three years ago. 
	
	
 When Hong Kong was under British rule, the US navy made up to 65 port calls a year and Beijing had agreed the stopovers would continue after the territory returned to Chinese sovereignty. 
	
	
	





Document 001001779 ends.


	
Israeli Arab leaders yesterday pledged to fight a proposed 25%-30% cut in National Insurance Institute child benefits for those who have not served in the army or completed national service. The forum of Arab council heads is to meet tomorrow to draw up an action campaign aimed at thwarting the plan, part of a package of recommendations put forward by the Treasury for a NIS 13 million cut in government spending. 
	
	
 Shawqi Khatib, chairman of the monitoring committee of the Israeli Arab leadership, said Arabs would be hardest hit if the government approves the cutbacks in child benefits. Khatib, who also chairs the forum of Arab council heads, said the leadership is diametrically opposed to any cutbacks, particularly when those affecting the lower socio-economic strata of society. 
	
	
 His words were echoed by Muhammad Zaydan, head of the Kafr Manda Local Council. The town, with a population of 14,000, has been at the top of unemployment lists for the past few months. Zaydan said the proposed cut in child benefits would deal a body blow to all those already classed as being below the poverty line. "Those out of work now, who rely on benefits to support their families, will find themselves in an even worse situation," he said. "This is likely to have ramifications for the future, with children skipping school, going out onto the streets, and getting mixed up with crime, drugs, and violence. We already see that now because of the unemployment situation." 
	
	
 Officially, some 23% of the working population are registered as looking for work, but council officials believe the real figures are much higher. They maintain that there are many women and young people who have lost their jobs in the last year who are either no longer registered or did not sign as jobless in the first place. 
	
	
 "I remember when the late prime minister Yitzhaq Rabin did away with the discrimination that had existed for years and equalized child benefits regardless of whether parents had served in the army or not," Zaydan said. "We applauded this move because it was not only just, but it made us begin to feel that we, as Arabs, were an integral part of Israeli society. If this move goes through, we will once again feel that we are being discriminated against." 
	
	
	





Document 001001780 ends.


	
Norway should be in the forefront of combating climate problems. The government wants to play an active role internationally but we should also work on reducing emissions here at home. 
	
	
 "The government wants to point to a significant reduction of climate gate emissions before 2005 after Norway has ratified the Kyoto Protocol in the course of the year," Environmental Protection Minister Borge Brende has written. Between now and 2008, the government's environmental initiative will be given concrete form in a report to the Storting this spring, in which an early quota system will occupy a central place. 
	
	
 Norway and the other rich countries have a moral responsibility to achieve real reductions. Regardless of what Norway and other countries manage to do in this respect, we must prepare ourselves for climate changes. According to the United Nations' climate panel, in the next 10 to 20 years changes in the climate will be almost unaffected by what we do in the way of initiatives in the next few years to reduce emissions of climate gases. The explanation is that the increased concentration of climate gases in the atmosphere and the slowness of the climate system will make a certain degree of global warming unavoidable. 
	
	
 In recent years the RegClim research project, under the aegis of the Norwegian Research Council, has worked to estimate the way the climate will develop in Norway in 30 to 50 years. The main conclusions were that the trend toward warmer weather and more precipitation will presumably continue. 
	
	
 The climate changes will be different from region to region. The western part of Norway will experience the markedly greatest increase in precipition in the fall. North Norway will also get more precipitation in the fall but warmer temperatures in the winter. In the eastern part of Norway the biggest increase in precipitation will be in the winter. In coming years the winters will be less snowy but greener and wetter. 
	
	
 These extrapolations of the state of the climate are not completely reliable. Even if we can say with great certainty that climate changes will come, we need more knowledge about the effects . 
	
	
 How must local societies organize themselves if a couple of hurricanes every year become normal? How should we prepare ourselves for more and bigger floods? What consequences will the increase in temperature have for raising livestock and fish? Will climate changes produce new types of pests that will create problems? For the next few years our goal is to both gain more knowledge and put together good preparedness strategies. 
	
	
 All the world's countries and peoples are affected by climate changes but it is the poor countries that are being hit the hardest. Even if developing countries have contributed to these climate problems to just a slight degree, they will nevertheless bear the greatest burden. 
	
	
 Norway and other industrialized countries, on the other hand, have fairly good prospects of grappling with climate changes because we have an economy to put necessary measures to work. We must avoid seeing environmental problems increase the social differences in the world. For that reason the rich countries-those making the climate worse-must go on the offensive to solve the problems we ourselves have created. 
	
	
 In the Sem statement the coalition government warned of a more offensive climate policy. An offensive climate police will bring costs with it. But if we do not make these expenditures now, the bill for the generations to come will be even bigger. This our conscience ought not to permit us. 
	
	
 The challenge will be to introduce the most cost-effective climate policy possible and at the same time take Norwegian business and industry's competitiveness into consideration. 
	
	
 The elements in a more offensive climate policy are: 
	
	
 Initiatives between now and 2008: The government wants to show demonstrable progress in the reduction of climate emissions by 2005. We are setting the stage for Norway to get national initiatives under way earlier than we are required to under the Kyoto Protocol. The government's policy statement states, among other things, that the establishment of a national quota system should be speeded up. 
	
	
 Implementation of the Kyoto Protocol. The government wants to set the stage for Norway to ratify the Kyoto Protocol next year. There is consensus that a broad quota system with international quota exchange should be used to achieve our emission responsibilities during the first obligatory period, 2008-2012. 
	
	
 Pursue the international climate negotiations. The consensus that has been achieved internationally about the period 2008-2012 is just the first step down the road. For later periods, sharper reductions are necessary and there is also the need to get more countries to take on climate obligations. Norway still wants to play an active role in this process. 
	
	
 The report to the Storting that the government is preparing for the spring will further specify which measures will be implemented between now and 2008. A proposal for an early quota system will be at the center of this report. There exists the potential for significant reductions in climate gas emissions in Norway that will not produced with today's resources. The use of quotas will be a cost-effective means of achieving better results. 
	
	
 A quota is a right to emit a certain quantity of climate gases during a certain period and this right can be sold on a market. The advantages are that the authorities can set a ceiling on all emissions. Businesses that are obligated by a quota can then choose whether they want to buy those quotas they need or introduce measures to reduce emissions. 
	
	
 Many countries, among them Denmark, Great Britain, and Sweden, are already under way developing early quota systems. In addition to being effective, an early quota system would also give business and industry useful experience before the international quota system following the Kyoto Protocol comes into effect in 2008. 
	
	
 In the government's work to put the quota system into shape in Norway, we are now discussing a number of problems. Some of these are: 
	
	
 The range-which gases and sectors should be included in the quota system, and how businesses exposed to competition should be dealt with. 
	
	
 Measures about emissions-how much all of those obligated by a quota can emit. 
	
	
 Fines for exceeding the quota limit. 
	
	
 The possibility of cooperating with other countries' early quota systems. 
	
	
 I am pleased that there now seems to be broad political consensus that in Norway as well we should get under way with an early quota system. 
	
	
 Regardless of the shape of the measures in Norway, Norwegian businesses as well ought to contribute to reducing emissions in poor countries. The green development mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol opens the way for businesses from industrialized countries to pay for the introduction of more environmentally-friendly technology in polluting industries in developing countries. This mechanism can already be used-and before 2008, too. In addition to producing climate benefits, such measures will contribute to development and reduced local pollution in poor countries. 
	
	
 Norway is one of the countries in this world that has earned the most from fossil fuels. This gives us a special responsibility in climate policy-not least vis-a-vis the poorest countries. 
	
	
	





Document 001001782 ends.


	
Shanghai, May 9 (XINHUA)-- The spreading AIDS epidemic is threatening Asia's economic growth, warned officials from the United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the World Health Organization and bank delegates at "Investing in Asia's Health", an Asian Development Bank (ADB) seminar held here Thursday. 
	
	
 Statistics show that about two people in the Asia-Pacific region are infected every minute, and a total of over one million people were infected in 2001. 
	
	
 "AIDS is casting shadow on Asia's economic miracle, and is turning into a global crisis, as the region accounts for 60 percent of world's population," says Michel Sidibe, Director of the Country and Regional Support Department of UNAIDS. 
	
	
 Research newly released by the WHO indicates that societies with a heavy burden of disease tend to experience a multiplicity of severe impediments to economic progress especially to sustainable economic growth. 
	
	
 It suggests that each 10 percent improvement in life expectancy at birth is associated with a rise in economic growth of at least 0.3 to 0.4 percent per year. 
	
	
 "With an alarming infection growth rate in many Asian Pacific countries, care for AIDS is over-burdening the health care system and is taking away from provision of other health services," said Sidibe. 
	
	
 In countries such as China and India where AIDS was still at an early phase of the AIDS pandemic, timely control measures were critical to head off an explosive growth in infection, but these demanded heavy expenditure, he said. 
	
	
 Jeffrey Sachs, director for the Center for International Development at Harvard University and chairman of the WHO Commission on Macroeconomics and Health, believes developing countries should fully recognize the importance of investing in health in their overall development strategy. 
	
	
 In his report, "Macroeconomics and Health: Investing in Health for Economic Development", released by the WHO last December, Sachs estimated that total annual health outlays in world's least- developed countries would rise by 17 billion U.S. dollars by 2007 and 29 billion U.S. dollars by 2015 and AIDS prevention and care would account for half the increase. 
	
	
 However, low-income countries would be able to pay 14 billion U. S. dollars and 21 billion U.S. dollars respectively at best, said Sachs. 
	
	
 The WHO's recommendations for each developing country include increasing investment in health and relevant areas like education, water and agricultural development; the establishing of a temporary National Commission on Macroeconomics and Health (NCMH), chaired jointly by the Ministers of Health and Finance to organize and lead the medical as well as economic war against AIDS and other diseases. 
	
	
 Sachs also addressed the exacerbating condition of the AIDS pandemic in China, saying that China had the technical ability to control AIDS infection, but still needed a comprehensive strategy, including local surveillance network, increasing government subsidiary and free medicine for the poor. 
	
	
 The seminar is part of the serial activities of the ongoing 35th Annual Meeting of ADB's Board of Governors. 
	
	
	





Document 001001783 ends.


	
BEIJING, March 5 (AFP) -- Beijing condemned Tuesday as "unreasonable" an annual US State Department report that criticised China's human rights record for abuses including torture and the repression of religious and ethnic minorities. 
	
	
 "The State Department 2001 human rights report goes against the facts and is interference in China's internal affairs under the pretext of human rights," foreign ministry spokesman Kong Quan said. 
	
	
 "The Chinese government and people express their deep dissatisfaction and firm opposition," he told a press conference. 
	
	
 The 2001 Country Reports on Human Rights, released in Washington Monday, also gave poor grades on rights to North Korea, Iraq, Iran, Myanmar [Burma] and Vietnam as well as mixed reviews to Indonesia and Cambodia. 
	
	
 The Chinese government was devoted to promoting and safeguarding human rights and fundamental freedoms, Kong said, and added there were "numerous cases" of human rights violations in the United States. 
	
	
 "The US government turns a blind eye to this situation and points fingers at the internal affairs of other countries and distorts the status of human rights in other countries. 
	
	
 "This is unreasonable and done with ulterior motives," he said. 
	
	
 Kong also warned Washington against double standards in the global war against terrorism. 
	
	
 Uyghur separatists seeking to establish an independent "East Turkestan" in China's western-most Xinjiang region were terrorists who had cooperated with Afghanistan's former Taliban regime and needed to be wiped out, he said. 
	
	
 "East Turkestan forces are participating in and fighting with the Taliban, this is a fact known to all, they are a component of international terrorist forces and a target of international forces fighting terrorism," he said. 
	
	
 The United States has rejected China's repeated calls to consider Xinjiang separatists as terrorists. 
	
	
 Beijing's human rights record throughout 2001 "remained poor", the State Department concluded in its scathing 70,000-word report. 
	
	
 "Authorities still were quick to suppress any person or group, whether religious, political, or social, that they perceived to be a threat to government power or to national stability, and citizens who sought to express openly dissenting political and religious views continued to live in an environment filled with repression," the report charged. 
	
	
	





Document 001001786 ends.


	
China's minister in charge of Taiwan affairs says Beijing will not resort to force to defend Taiwan despite the changing situation on the island, which he described as "our renegade province". 
	
	
 Wang Yi, who made a three-day working visit to Thailand last week, sought to allay fears amongst allies in Asia about its cross-straits ties with Taiwan. He gave an assurance that the situation would not escalate into war despite the latter's acquisition of offensive weapons from the United States. 
	
	
 "Weapons cannot prevent Taiwan from reuniting with China," he told Thai and Chinese media last week. 
	
	
 Wang's visit, which will also take in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, comes as pressure mounts on both sides to resume dialogue as Beijing is poised to become a member of the World Trade Organisation next year. 
	
	
 Taiwan will follow suit shortly after. 
	
	
 He said Beijing will maintain its pursuit of peaceful unification with Taiwan and welcomed the resumption of dialogue, bogged down since 1999. 
	
	
 At that time, then president Lee Teng-hui demanded political parity by unilaterally redefining bilateral ties as "special state-to-state" relations. 
	
	
 While President Chen Shui-bian has mellowed his stance on independence, he has refused to bow to the "one-China policy", a precondition for dialogue. 
	
	
 In his latest speech, Chen said the long-standing dispute with China must be resolved through dialogue with respect to the principles of democracy and freedom. 
	
	
 Nevertheless, Taiwan heightened its diplomatic campaign through what Wang said was "parliamentarian" or "private diplomacy" to win recognition from Beijing's allies. 
	
	
 Beijing was so worried about the tactic that Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji raised the matter in May with Thai leaders during his official visit to Thailand. He said the number of Thai politicians visiting Taiwan, especially members of Parliament, was increasing at an "unusual" rate. 
	
	
 "We disapproved of these visits because no matter in what capacity these people travel, Taiwan treats them as official visits. To us, parliamentarians still hold a quasi-official status," he said. 
	
	
 Taiwanese officials in Bangkok always claimed these trips from Thailand to Taiwan were voluntary and initiated by the visitors themselves. 
	
	
 Wang said Beijing raised no objections to the so-called stop-over tactic used by Taiwanese leaders as long as the visits do not generate political activities in the host country. 
	
	
 Despite a still-tense relationship, Wang is optimistic reunification will eventually happen as was the case with Hong Kong and Macau. He said the decline in President Chen's popularity could be attributed to the drop in the number of people favouring independence. 
	
	
 "I believe less than 10 per cent of Taiwanese now favour independence," he said. 
	
	
 However, according to broad statistics, Taiwan-born voters favouring independence account for 65 per cent of the island's 23 million population. Wang believes unification will benefit people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits. Last year there were 2.85 million Taiwanese visitors in China, he said. 
	
	
	





Document 001001787 ends.


	
Mr Jaume Matas, Minister for Environment, Spanish Presidency of the EU 
	
	
 Mrs Margot Wallstrom, Commissioner for Environment, European Commission 
	
	
 It is clear that the proposals for US action on climate change are domestic. But the EU is concerned that they will not even be sufficient to reduce US emissions. The "intensity target" proposed allows for further increases in absolute emissions and is not sufficient to effectively fight climate change. On the contrary, the Kyoto Protocol requires most industrialised countries to achieve absolute emission reductions, while they still foresee to have growing economies. 
	
	
 The Climate Change Convention of 1992, to which the US is a Party, requires industrialised countries to stabilise their greenhouse gas emissions at 1990 levels. Achieving this would only be a first step towards stabilising global greenhouse gas concentrations at a level that would prevent dangerous climate change. This is the ultimate objective of the Convention to which the US has subscribed. However, the new plan does not lead to such a stabilisation, but instead will lead to the increase of absolute emission levels. 
	
	
 Over the past years, greenhouse gas emissions intensity in relation to GDP has been falling in the US. The Bush plan is based on a prolongation of this trend thereby in effect foreseeing little more than continuation on a "business-as-usual" path. Current emission projections for the US indicate an increase of 39% above 1990 levels in 2012. While the intensity improvements may reduce this to around 33%, this is still a very substantial increase in absolute emissions. 
	
	
 The EU is concerned about the purely voluntary nature of the actions proposed. Furthermore, a review of the effectiveness of the measures will not take place before 2012. It is striking that the approach which is considered beneficial for other air pollutants, namely to implement cap-and-trade programmes, is not extended to CO2 emissions from the power sector. The EU is of the opinion that a cap-and-trade system is a cost-effective measure to reduce emissions which combines a guaranteed environmental result with the flexibility to reduce emissions where it is least costly. By 2005, the EU intends to implement a cap-and-trade system covering 46% of all CO2 emissions in 2010. 
	
	
 The EU welcomes the fact that the Bush administration has now completed its policy review and has put forward what the US intends to do in terms of domestic climate change policy. The proposals by President Bush may represent a first step in the right direction, where also economic operators in the US are asked to contribute to emission control. However, mandatory monitoring and reporting of emissions at company level would be necessary to adequately assess whether the proposals by President Bush represent an effort comparable to the ones under the Kyoto Protocol. 
	
	
 The EU is determined to proceed with ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by June 2002 in view of entry into force by the time of the World Summit on Sustainable Development. The EU will continue on its current path of emission reduction and is optimistic that other major players, notably Japan and Russia, will join us in these efforts. 
	
	
 The EU will further examine and assess the proposals by President Bush in the weeks to come and is willing to continue the dialogue with the US on this basis. 
	
	
	





Document 001001793 ends.



US And UK Criticise Mugabe's Victory

 


Author:      Johannesburg
Credit:      Business Day (Johannesburg)

  "SA wants Mugabe to accommodate the opposition in his new 
government to form a coalition government," said an official 
source. "They seem to think that this will resolve Zimbabwe's 
political crisis." However, the MDC dismissed the possibility of 
participation in such an arrangement.

  International condemnation of Mugabe's win mounted yesterday 
with US President George Bush and British Foreign Secretary Jack 
Straw delivering further criticism. Bush said: "We are dealing 
with our friends to figure out how to deal with this flawed 
election."

  Straw said Britain did "not recognise the result or its 
legitimacy". He hinted at a tougher policy against Mugabe, 
saying that the European Union would review sanctions at an 
upcoming summit meeting in Barcelona, Spain.


Copyright @ 2002 Business Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). Click here to contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material.






Document 001001794 ends.



U.S. Tells China Taiwan Remarks a Mistake - Xinhua

 



  BEIJING -- The United States told China U.S. President George W. 
Bush had made a mistake when he called Taiwan a country in a 
speech last week, the official Xinhua news agency reported on 
Sunday.

  Washington told China the U.S. government has not changed its 
Taiwan policy and said it would not refer to Taiwan in that way 
again, Xinhua quoted a foreign ministry spokeswoman as saying.

  Reports in Taiwanese newspapers on Friday said Bush called the 
island the "Republic of Taiwan" and a "country" in a speech to 
diplomats and business executives on Thursday.

  Calling Taiwan a country would threaten to compromise a major 
pillar of Sino-U.S. relations, which were set up in 1979 largely 
based on a U.S. nod to the "One China" Principle, which states 
that Taiwan is a part of China, Reuters reported.

  Beijing, which regards the island as a wayward province to be 
reunited with the mainland by force if necessary, asked for an 
explanation on Saturday of why Bush had referred to Taiwan as a 
country.

  Taiwan's ***United Daily News ***quoted a U.S. official as 
saying Bush's labeling Taiwan as a republic was a "slip of the 
tongue" and indicated no shift in U.S. policy.

  Bush was referring to the entry late last year and this year of 
China and Taiwan, respectively, into the World Trade 
Organization, reports said.

  The English-language ***Taipei Times ***newspaper quoted Bush as 
saying it was "important to recognize and to welcome both 
countries, both the Republic of Taiwan, and of course China, 
into the World Trade Organization."

  The Taiwan issue has often caused rough patches in bilateral 
ties and U.S. arms sales to Taiwan have angered Beijing.

  Last month an editorial in the official ***China Daily *** 
newspaper said Beijing felt "betrayed" after a U.S. decision to 
allow Taiwanese Defense Minister Tang Yiau-Ming into the United 
States for talks with Defense officials and warned of a setback 
in Sino-U.S. ties.

  But foreign ministry officials later confirmed both sides were 
moving ahead with plans for a scheduled visit by Chinese 
Vice-President Hu Jintao to the United States in late April.




Document 001001795 ends.


	
Kiev, 22 February: Two US nationals were detained at Boryspil [Kiev international] airport while trying to carry 1 kg of heroin out of Ukraine. UNIAN learnt at the public relations department of the Ukrainian State Customs Service that Boryspil customs and Security Service of Ukraine officials discovered four transparent polyethylene bags with white powder during a customs inspection of two US nationals. The bags were not declared during verbal questioning in the "green channel". The bags were discovered during a personal search in the inspection room and were hidden in the shoe soles. A quick study of the substance, performed by the police, revealed that the powder was heroin. Its total weight was about 1 kg. The [US] nationals were booked on an Uzbek Airlines flight from Ukraine to the USA. 
	
	
	





Document 001001797 ends.


	
WE are not going to remain silent. You can count on that. You know us, said Remi Parmentier, the political director of Greenpeace International. He was responding to a question from Gulf Times whether there would be demonstrations during the WTO ministerial meeting, which opened in Doha yesterday. 
	
	
 Parmentier, however, did not say categorically that there would be street demonstrations. But, he added that the Qatari government had neither sought nor was given any commitment by Greenpeace not to undertake demonstrations. 
	
	
 We discussed a number of conditions for the boat to be allowed to moor here and we have fulfilled all those conditions, the environmentalist told reporters on board the ship at the Doha harbour, before setting sail towards Doha Sheraton, the conference venue. So, we will act very responsibly and I have given all guarantees to Sheikh (Hamad bin Faisal) al-Thani (chairman of the organising committee) that we would be responsible, peaceful and that we would act in a very constructive manner with them. 
	
	
 But, he added that the Greenpeace is here to voice the concerns of millions of people. We are going to give a voice to people that you dont want to hear. And thats the meaning of the Rainbow Warrior being here. And the people who are here are going to voice their concerns and voice their demands. 
	
	
 Parmentier said they would use every possible peaceful means at our disposal to make sure that the voice of the people is heard. He pointed out that Qatar, while presenting Dohas candidature to host the meeting, had made an official commitment that it would allow peaceful protests. 
	
	
 Earlier, the Rainbow Warrior sailed into Doha on Thursday morning, to challenge the WTO to use the 4th ministerial conference to force the United States to commit to the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. 
	
	
 Talking to the press, Greenpeace executive director Gerd Leipold said currently the most important issue is climate change. If we continue to burn fossil fuel at the rate we are going today, we look at a bleak future. Islands will go under, nations will vanish from the face of earth and millions of people will have to leave their homes. 
	
	
 The environmental organisation warned the delegates at the conference that the principles of the WTO would be rendered worthless unless the meeting extracted the commitment from the US on Kyoto Protocol. 
	
	
 The US produces 25% of world green house gases but has only 4% of the population of the world. It just cannot be that one country reaps all the benefits of mock globalisation but does not take any responsibility for the biggest global problem we are facing today. This is fundamentally unfair and unjust, Leipold said. 
	
	
 Parmentier said, on the one hand, the WTO claims to support sustainable development and environmental protection and on the other, it does virtually nothing to protect the environment. 
	
	
 The Kyoto Protocol rejection by the US is in effect a hidden subsidy. This is a breach of the very constitution of WTO. The WTO claims that it wants to protect the environment. Then today, in Doha, they must condemn the US for allowing a hidden subsidy, which according to the US governments own figures is equivalent to between $76.7bn and $300bn by 2010. This is the first test case for WTO. 
	
	
 Parmentier urged the delegates not to even discuss the possibility of a new round of trade negotiations unless the US this week in Doha ratifies the Kyoto Protocol. 
	
	
 He said Greenpeace looked forward to work in partnership with developing countries to get the proper assessment of the impact of the WTO instead of a new round of trade negotiations. In 1993, when the WTO was created everybody jumped without checking whether there was a proper safety net at the bottom. What we are saying is, lets not jump again too quickly and lets check if there is a safety net. And lets consolidate those safety nets before we jump into a new round. This is the only responsible course of action and it will be a historic success for Doha and we want this meeting to be a success. 
	
	
 If in six days time there has been no new round, this meeting will have been a success, because it will force the WTO to change, he said. WTO decisions must not be allowed to overrule international environmental agreements; the precautionary principle must be incorporated in decision-making, and patents on life must be banned, Parmentier added. 
	
	
 On board the Rainbow Warrior are nationalities from 18 countries, including witnesses from local communities who will testify to the adverse effects of WTO global policies. The organisation will also be broadcasting No New Round Radio daily over the Internet. 
	
	
 Parmentier hoped the Qatari authorities would honour their commitment to allow free access to the people of the country to the ship and vice versa. 
	
	
 Answering another question, he said the WTO came to Qatar to hide from protestors. They can run but they cannot hide, he said. 
	
	
	





Document 001001798 ends.


       

Elco Industries Inc. said it expects net income in the year ending June 30, 1990, to fall below a recent analyst's estimate of $1.65 a share. 

The Rockford, Ill., maker of fasteners also said it expects to post sales in the current fiscal year that are "slightly above" fiscal 1989 sales of $155 million.
The company said its industrial unit continues to face margin pressures and lower demand. 

In fiscal 1989, Elco earned $7.8 million, or $1.65 a share.
The company's stock fell $1.125 to $13.625 in over-the-counter trading yesterday. 




Document 001001799 ends.


       

Norton Co. said net income for the third quarter fell 6% to $20.6 million, or 98 cents a share, from $22 million, or $1.03 a share. 

Operating profit for the abrasives, engineering materials and petroleum services concern was $19.2 million, or 91 cents a share, up 3% from $18.7 million, or 87 cents a share. 

The company had a tax credit of $1.4 million.
In the year-earlier quarter, the tax credit was $3.3 million.
Sales rose 8% to $368.5 million from $340.7 million. 

Operating profit in the company's abrasives segment rose 16% while operating profit in the engineering materials segment rose 2%.
However, the company's petroleum services segment, while profitable, was hurt by high financing costs associated with the company's buy-out of a 50% stake in Eastman Christensen Co. from Texas Eastern Corp. last June.
Norton and Texas Eastern had each held a 50% stake in Eastman in a joint venture. 

Norton announced earlier this month that it was exploring the possible sale of all or part of Eastman Christensen. 

For the nine months, Norton had net of $81.2 million, or $3.87 a share, and a tax credit of $4.4 million.
In the year-earlier period, the company had net of $77.2 million, or $3.68 a share, and a tax credit of $7.7 million. 

Norton had operating profit of $76.8 million, or $3.66 a share, up 11% from $69.5 million, or $3.31 a share. 

Sales rose 8% to $1.15 billion from $1.06 billion. 




Document 001001801 ends.



   
   
      
         Hi my name is Sandra Reid and I am part of a family of seven children, um, and my mom and dad have passed away.
         During our young years we were very poor.
         
         We did not have very much but my mom always found a way to keep us busy or keep us entertained, and one of the ways that she kept us entertained was by telling stories, reading poems, and singing to us.
         One of the stories that I would like to share with you is the story that is pretty scary and it sticks out into my mind, I guess, mostly, mainly because it was scary.
         Even though my mom told us lot of scary stories she was always there to hold us in her arms and let us know that the story was not true and that it was we were OK.
         Out of all of my sisters and brothers I was the laziest one of all, as far as working around the house.
         All of my sisters learned to cook by the age of eight.
         I learned after I got married
         so I was a pretty lazy child when it came down to cleaning up and cooking.
         So one night my mother asked me to go inside and wash the dishes.
         Naturally, I start crying, and one of my main ways of getting out of work was always saying something hurt me, either my stomach, or that I had a headache, or something was wrong with my leg.
         Just anything to get out of doing my job.
         So after she noticed that I was going to be just a little stubborn and not follow, do what she tell told me to do, she asked me to come around in the living room with her and the rest of the family.
         So she began to tell this story.
         Once upon a time there was this little girl and her family.
         And the mother asked the little girl to please go in and wash the dishes so that she could go to bed early and not come up, wake up in the morning and see all those dishes on the table.
         And her little girl just complained, "I don't want to wash the dishes.
         I don't want to.
         My leg hurts, my head hurts.
         I don't feel good."
         The little girl disappointed her mother so badly, but her mother said, "How in the world am I ever going to get her to wash these dishes?"
         So she said, "Little girl, little girl, if you don't go in there and wash those dishes like I asked, you something really, really bad is going to happen to you."
         So the little girl just said, "OK I'll go in there and wash the dishes."
         And she was in there stomping and crying and mad and taking all her good time.
         All of a sudden the butcher knife came out of the drawer and it began to roll around in the air.
         And before you know it, the butcher knife came around and cut the little girl's head off.
         And when the little girl went to heaven she was crying down to her dad and saying "Daddy, Daddy!
         Mama cut my head off with the butcher knife."
         Now that knife, when I went to sleep it really scared me.
         But the wonderful thing about it my mom was always there close by to let me know that I was OK.
         Now after that, my mother continued to tell us many, many scary stories and tell us many, many, many poems.
         I'd like to tell you about how I got into becoming a teacher's assistant.
         All my life I always wanted to be a teacher even from the time I started to school.
         That was my dream, to teach school.
         As I told you, in the past we were a very poor family and I never got the chance to go to college because of this.
         Uh, while I was in high school a teacher of mine noticed that I had an extra bone in my foot and she said, "Well now Sandra we can use this as get toward, on your grant to go to college."
         So she said, "Go home and talk to your mother about it and see if we, you know, can follow through with applying for a grant, scholarship grant for you."
         So that night I went home and I asked my mother about it and she said, "Baby, I really want you to go to college.
         It's always been my dream that my children all go to school.
         But because there are so many children in the family there are other things you're going to have to have to go to school and I just don't have the money."
         At that time my dad was in prison at the time, so it made it really hard for my mom.
         I sat there and I cried but I tried to be as understanding as possible because I knew my mother struggled really hard to even keep food on the table for us.
         So I never got a chance to go to school.
      
      
         Did anybody?
      
      
         Yes, my brother went to school.
         He went to Livingstone and then to transferred to Johnson C. Smith, so to make it easier on my mom, to, as far as, you know, him staying at home and going to school too.
         So he graduated from, um, Johnson C. Smith, here in Charlotte.
         I had another sister who went to Gaston College where she got a business degree there.
         I, in later years, I went on to college some but I didn't complete the, uh, whole four years.
         Um, I remember once, when I was working in a mill, and I was spinning yarn, and I was saying to myself, and, I was praying actually, and I said, "God, one day I want to work in the school system.
         If I could just work, even as a teacher assistant I would be happy."
         As the years went by my prayer was answered and I got the chance to work in the cafeteria as a cashier and the principal there came up to me and said, "Have you considered being a teacher assistant?"
         I said, "I would love to."
         So they told me about some classes that I could take at Central Piedmont.
         I'd never gone to college before.
         I was really afraid.
         But he told me to go ahead and try it, so I took the entrance test, and they accepted me into at the school, and I took some courses there.
         After a while, the principal said, "I would like for you to bring me your, um, transcript so I can see what your grades are like."
         Luckily I had all A's.
         I did very well.
         And he asked me to be a teacher assistant the next following year.
         Um, my dream, my prayers were answered.
         I enjoy my job very much.
         I can't think of any job that would make me any happier.
         A few years later, um, I had the opportunity to apply for a scholarship to further my education.
         At first I didn't want to apply for it, but the principal called me during the summer months and said, "Sandra the time is running out, you need to apply."
         And he told me I would have to write this paper.
         Well I didn't like writing at the time
         but I took it upon myself to go ahead and write a paper.
         And I went to, um, one of my staff members and I asked her if she would proofread it, and she thought it was an excellent paper.
         And I went ahead and mailed it in thinking uh I won't get the scholarship.
         Who cares?
         I don't, just so I can work in the school I'll be happy.
         But one day I came in and I looked at my mail and I was accepted.
         
         I couldn't believe it.
         Out of 150 assistants who had applied for this grant only 16 got the opportunity, so I felt very proud of myself.
         So I went on and took the courses, and as I started I think I was taking economics.
         I think that was the last class I took.
         My husband became very ill with cancer and I had to make a decision as to whether I would continue my education or take care of him and I felt like I needed to take care of him because he stood by me so much while I was going to school.
      
      
         But you would have been able to be a, a teacher if you had continued?
      
      
         Yeah, and at the time, I was also working in the classroom.
         I guess you'd say as a sub because the teacher that I was working with at that time was pregnant and she had to take a leave of absence.
         And they hired a sub but the sub didn't do that much.
         I had to take over the classroom.
         So I worked maybe like four months in the classroom and that highly put a damper on my wanting
         to be a teacher from all the responsibility along with the fact that I was taking care of a very sick husband.
         After all of this was, after I, I decided not to continue I've never pursued the fact of going back to school.
         I just got to a certain age and I said, "No I can't do this anymore," so I never went back.
         But I love what I do and, uh, anytime I get a chance to teach in a classroom I go for it so.
      
      
         How many different schools did you teach at?
      
      
         I've only worked at two, two schools.
         The first school I worked at was Enderly Park and then it was closed down.
         So I was in those situations where I first, come first, transfer last, come first to transfer out.
         So I had to, I was offered a job at Ashley Park or Berryhill and I chose Berryhill.
         I didn't particularly want to come here and when I came here everybody noticed that I was really, really sad because I loved being at Enderly Park.
         But then, after awhile, I fell in love with Berryhill.
         If I'm not mistaken I think I've been at Berryhill for I think 17 years, 17, 18 years I've been here at Berryhill so and I hope I never have to leave until I retire.
         
      
      
         And why did the other school close down?
      
      
         Um, the, you know, I really don't know.
         Um, that, I really don't know why they closed that school down because it was a really nice school and everything, but they eventually tore it down because I was there I think the first year I went there was the year they built a really nice gym, and I don't think they used that gym no more than three years.
         I really don't, I don't remember why that school was ever closed but it was.
         And I enjoy what I do.
         That's it.
      
      
         All right thank you.
      
      
         Thank you.
      
   



Document 001001802 ends.



   US human rights report invites scorn

 


Author:     CHIDANAND RAJGHATTA - TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ TUESDAY, MARCH 05, 2002 1:21:47 PM ]

  WASHINGTON: Unprecedented scepticism and scorn accompanied the 
release by the United States on Monday of its annual human 
rights report amid charges of hypocrisy and double standards 
arising from the ongoing war on terrorism.

  Washington's kid glove treatment of its so-called allies such as 
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan came up for withering scrutiny at a 
briefing to release the 2001 Country Reports on Human Rights 
Practices, an annual administrative exercise mandated by the 
Congress that many feel has increasingly become a meaningless 
ritual.

  Amid widespread domestic criticism over curtailment of civil 
liberties, US officials laboured to convince a disbelieving 
press corps that the exercise was evenhanded. The report does 
not look at the state of human rights in the US itself because, 
in the words of one official, "that wouldn't be fair."

  The individual country reports is a compendium of alleged human 
rights violations culled from various sources, mostly the local 
media. The report on India, for instance, is more than 100 pages 
long and painstakingly lists incidents of rights violation 
across the country both by the government and terrorist, 
militant, and subversive groups.

  The human rights report exercise was originally linked to US 
foreign assistance, but increasingly many countries are taking 
it less seriously in the face of Washington glossing over the 
record of its so-called allies. While secular and democratic 
countries such as India merit a litany, a country like Saudi 
Arabia, one of the least free countries in the world, was turned 
over in 32 pages. The US has shown no inclination to punish 
allies it bankrolls such as Egypt and Turkey while berating 
countries less relevant to it.

  Critics in the media sharply questioned such duplicity at 
Monday's briefing as Lorne Cramer, US Assistant Secretary for 
Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour, struggled to defend 
American policy. Excerpts from the briefing:

  Question: Just give us a couple examples what you're doing in 
Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Egypt.

  Assistant Secretary Craner: I'll throw out a few examples. In 
Uzbekistan, we're undertaking a programme to help a variety of 
civil society groups around the country come together to 
formulate future plans. In Kyrgyzstan, we talk about the press 
in Kyrgyzstan, and we're going to help fund an independent 
printing press there. Those are just two examples that are 
coming out of my office.

  
Q: What about Saudi Arabia?

  
Craner: We're getting there.

  Q: Lorne, I want to follow up on Saudi Arabia. I'm a little bit 
surprised by your glib answer. With the demise of the Taliban, 
there is arguably no government in the world that has as bad a 
human rights record as Saudi Arabia does. What is the United 
States doing to actively promote democracy and human rights with 
Saudi Arabia?

  Craner: Well, I would say two things. Number one, I disagree 
that it's the worst violator.

  
Q: Who is the worst violator?

  Craner: I would place Iraq and North Korea and Libya and a 
couple of other countries into that category.

  Q: You didn't answer my question. What is it that we are doing 
in Saudi Arabia to promote that greater voice and greater 
democratic participation?

  Craner: We are talking to the Saudi government about how to do 
that, and we are going to encourage others in the Muslim world, 
in the Arab world, who are trying to make their societies more 
democratic.

  Q: At what levels are we talking? I mean, there's nothing that's 
visible at all to us in the outside world.

  Craner: Okay. I would look at the last paragraph, the last 
couple paragraphs, of the President's State of the Union 
Address.

  Q: But I heard this before. I'm asking specifically about one 
country.

  
Craner: Yes. What are you asking?

  
Q: I'm asking what it is the United States is doing.

  Craner: And I think I've outlined that. We're talking to them at 
many levels about these issues in their country. We're talking 
to a lot of people across the Arab and Muslim world about these 
issues in their countries and about how they can serve as 
examples to others.

  Q: Can I go back to Robin's question on Saudi Arabia? Can you 
point to any kind of tangible things? And when you say we're 
talking to the Government of Saudi Arabia, are we talking to 
them about starting such programs up, or are we just simply 
mentioning that they have a human rights problem?

  Craner: Can I talk about tangible advances in particular 
countries? There are things I would point to. Pakistan's 
decision to eliminate the requirement that religious minorities 
be elected separately from the mainstream electoral system.

  
Q: Is that something we've talked to the Saudis about?

  
Craner: They don't have elections.

  Q: (Inaudible) before -- that previous administrations have done 
before on Saudi Arabia. We've been talking for years with the 
Saudis. What's different?

  
Craner: How do you know that?

  Q: Because other administrations told us that they've talked to 
the Saudis about human rights and democracy issues, 
participation in women's rights and all of it.

  Craner: Well, yeah, I understand. Other administrations have 
talked about these issues. I hope you're gong to see more of an 
effect from this administration.

  
Q: But what is it -- that doesn't answer the question.

  
Craner: What is different currently?

  Q: What's different from what this administration is saying to 
them than previous administrations have said to them?

  Craner: You'll have to judge by the outcome. You'll have to see 
how we do it differently.

  Q: Why can't you give us some indication? What's the big secret? 
You talk about what we're doing tangibly in every other country 
but Saudi Arabia.

  
Craner: Because I don't yet know the effect in Saudi Arabia.



Copyright @ 2001 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. |






Document 001001806 ends.


	
The great leader [yongdoja] Comrade Kim Chong-il has pointed out the following: 
	
	
 "We should conduct proper research work to protect the environment, such as the air and water, in order to maintain people's health and provide them with more hygienic and civilized living conditions." 
	
	
 At the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change held recently in Morocco, Japan laid artificial obstacles to the session by seeking its own profit. In discussing the draft regulations to put the "Kyoto Protocol" into force, Japan openly took issue with the draft regulations only because the contents of the regulations were not in its favor. It grudgingly agreed to it only when some countries made concessions and made amendments to the draft. 
	
	
 Japan calculated that it would suffer a tremendous loss, if the draft regulations were ever passed intact and would be adopted as a legal document. 
	
	
 The session of the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change held this time was to reach on an actual agreement regarding regulatory problems that have to be solved to put the "Kyoto Protocol" adopted in 1997 into force, so that the world may reduce the greenhouse effect and ecological damage, which are becoming more serious with each passing day, protect human lives and health, and provide favorable conditions for the promotion of human civilization. 
	
	
 As is feared by the whole world, preservation of the environment is becoming an awfully grave and pressing problem that is linked to the existence of mankind. How the problems of the global warming and environmental preservation are handled today will have a major impact on the lives and health of people as well as the future development of the world. This is the reason why many people of the world today are demanding that the world take concrete measures for protecting the environment, as they have come to realize its importance. However, as was revealed this time, Japan, which was in a position to take the lead to solve the environmental problems, attempted to back away from solving the problems. 
	
	
 It is a well-known fact that the "Kyoto Protocol" was adopted at the Fifth Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Japan in 1997. According the "Kyoto Protocol," developed countries are supposed to set goals to reduce greenhouse gases emission and officially put the "Kyoto Protocol" into force by the year 2002. For the "Kyoto Protocol" to enter into force, 55 countries have to ratify it. 
	
	
 At the 1997 conference, representatives of many countries of the world supported and welcomed the adoption of the "Kyoto Protocol" as an epoch-making measure to curb the warming of the earth's surface and atmosphere. It was expected that the protocol would be ratified by the countries that signed it and would have a legal binding force. 
	
	
 Emphasizing the significance of the adoption of the "Kyoto Protocol," Japan loudly trumpeted at that time that the adoption of the protocol was "produced by the role" Japan had played. Japan even called for working out practical measures to have it enter into force. Nonetheless, Japan, changing its stand this time, opposed the draft regulations to put the "Kyoto Protocol" into force and even called for liquidation of the draft. This shows how capricious Japan is and how frequently it changes its stand when the stakes matter the most. Of course, behind the Japan's behavior lies its stakes. 
	
	
 According to the "Kyoto Protocol," by 2008 - 2012 Japan is supposed to reduce its greenhouse gas emission by six percent from the 1990 level. If Japan is to achieve this goal, it will have to put a lot of effort. It has to restructure the plants and enterprises, introduce new technology, and upgrade production lines. To do all these things, it needs a tremendous amount of money for investment. Never doing anything unprofitable is the nature of Japan. Accordingly, Japan would never readily agree on putting the "Kyoto Protocol" into force. In the course of calculating the gains and losses of the "Kyoto Protocol" and trying to figure out what it should do, Japan found a good excuse. The United States, which has to do the most to implement the "Kyoto Protocol," has come out opposing the draft regulations. 
	
	
 On the pretext of the US opposition, Japan was attempting to realize its own objective. In the midst of this situation, a Japanese official visited the United States and received the instruction that Japan should avoid inordinate behavior with respect to the issue of implementing the "Kyoto Protocol." That was a hint that it would not be good for Japan to play a leading role in dealing with a matter detrimental to US interests. 
	
	
 Since Japan has no spirit of independence and has always acted on US directions, Japan had continued to put off Diet ratification of the protocol and took such an attitude at the UN session held this time, under the plausible pretext that it would be meaningless to put the "Kyoto Protocol" into force, if the United States were excluded. 
	
	
 What Japan is doing with respect to the issue of putting the "Kyoto Protocol" into force is tantamount to an act of betrayal against mankind in the effort to protect human lives, health, and the earth's atmosphere. 
	
	
 At present, the global warming is a most serious issue, whose gravity is second only to that of a nuclear war. Here, Japan and other developed countries have to assume especially large responsibilities. Nonetheless, Japan is backing away from resolving the issue, although it is in a position to play a leading role. Japan should be condemned by the world for that. 
	
	
 Japan will be unable to escape stronger denunciation and more serious isolation from the world, if it continues to seek only its own profit and create stumbling blocks, and does not do what it is supposed to do to prevent the global warming and seek environmental preservation. 
	
	
	





Document 001001807 ends.


	
VIENNA, Sept 6 (AFP) - The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe agreed Thursday [6 September] to send 25 additional monitors in Macedonia, joining the 26 observers working to prevent a new Balkans war in the republic. 
	
	
 OSCE ambassadors from the organisation's 55 member states agreed to send the additional monitors after Russia lifted its objections to the beefed up presence. 
	
	
 Russia had slowed the decision, which was expected to have been announced a week before, raising concerns about their mandate in contrast with that of the NATO mission to collect weapons from ethnic Albanian rebels. 
	
	
 Macedonia has asked for more monitors, hoping they would help stop the country plunging into civil war between ethnic Albanian guerrillas and the Slav majority of the population. 
	
	
 NATO has entered Macedonia to collect weapons from the guerrillas, but its 30-day mission is due to end on September 26. That means Macedonia's stability will depend on other organisations, including the OSCE. 
	
	
 But the monitors' mandate, established in 1992, only includes surveying the security situation and the return of refugees, an OSCE official said. 
	
	
 The permanent council is still to adopt a new mandate which would make the OSCE, among others, responsible for training a new Macedonian police force, helping to organise a census and new elections, he added. 
	
	
 "In the meantime, doubling the number of monitors should help put people's minds at ease," he said. 
	
	
 The OSCE comprises 55 states in Europe, central Asia, the United States and Canada. Monitors have been present in Macedonia for some years alongside European Union observers. 
	
	
	





Document 001001808 ends.


	
Moscow, 6 November: Three spacecraft will be launched from the Baykonur space centre in November. At the present time, units of the Russian Space Forces at Baykonur have begun preparations for the sixth launch of a Proton-K booster this year. The Proton to be launched on 23 November will put a satellite into orbit for the Russian Defence Ministry's needs. Autonomous tests of a booster are under way at an assembly and testing hangar at Baykonur, and the spacecraft is simultaneously being loaded with fuel components, the press service of the Russian Space Forces reported. On 26 November, a Progress M1-7 transport spaceship should be launched from Baykonur to the International Space Station. Its launch will be carried out by a modernized Soyuz-FG booster designed and manufactured at the Progress aerospace centre in Samara. The engines of the rocket's second and third stages have been modernized, and this will be the second launch of the modernized booster carried out by the Russian Aerospace Agency, Rosaviakosmos. The first one took place on 21 May of this year. The launch of a Zenit-2 booster produced by the Dnipropetrovsk Yuzhmash enterprise is preliminarily scheduled for 30 November. The rocket will put a Meteor-3M hydrometeorological spacecraft into orbit. 
	
	
	





Document 001001809 ends.



   Europe to Tax Israeli Settlement Goods

 



  RAMALLAH (Palestine Media Center): Signaling a toughening policy 
towards the illegal Israeli settlements, the European Union's 
(EU) Origin Committee, which consists of customs experts and 
commissioners, is to discuss imposing taxes on all Israeli goods 
produced in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East 
Jerusalem as well as the occupied Golan Heights.

  The discussion is to be held today, 26 February, and it shall be 
centered on creating a common European policy, which would 
revoke duty benefits awarded to Israeli settlement products.

  The move, which follows the European Union's rejection of 
Israel's military occupation of the Palestinian Territory, 
including East Jerusalem, was the subject of European debate and 
Israeli objection in the past. It also signals the EU's 
discontent over Israel's refusal to provide it with a list of 
the Israeli factories operating in the Occupied Palestinian and 
Arab Territories.

  In November of last year, the EU had issued a warning to 
European importers, specifying that Israeli exports originating 
in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as well as the Golan 
Heights were not included in the free trade agreement with 
Israel.

  At present Israel enjoys a free trade agreement with the EU, 
which exempts it from customs duties.

  While Israel rejects the EU plan for political and economic 
reasons, the EU affirms its position of not recognizing the 
Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as a 
legitimate part of Israel. And while the Israeli settlement 
products only amount to US $100 million of the US $8 billion 
Israel gains annually from its exports to Europe, Israeli 
officials have expressed their worry over the committee's 
deliberations.

  The 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention clearly states that any 
settlement that the Occupying Power creates in an Occupied 
Territory is illegal and considered a war crime. Although High 
Contracting Parties to the Convention have affirmed the 
Convention's de jure applicability to the Occupied Palestinian 
Territory, including East Jerusalem, Israel maintains its 
refusal to respect its obligations as an Occupying Power, which 
would include the dismantling of its illegal settlements in that 
Territory in addition to not exporting any products from them.



Copyright @ 2002 Palestine Chronicle




Document 001001811 ends.


	
Taipei, Oct. 18 (CNA) -- The Republic of China government believes in the US commitment to separating its anti-terrorism campaign from the Taiwan Strait issue, a senior Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) official said Thursday. 
	
	
 Stanley Kao, director of MOFA's North American Affairs Department, made the remarks amid mounting concerns about the possibility that the United States could compromise Taiwan's interests in exchange for mainland China's cooperation in the current US-led war on global terrorism. 
	
	
 Kao said US President George W. Bush's trip to Shanghai is mainly to attend the annual informal leadership meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum to seek expansion of the anti-terrorism coalition. 
	
	
 Prior to his departure for Shanghai, Bush said during his meeting with mainland Chinese President Jiang Zemin, he will reaffirm to Jiang the US support for the "one China" policy as well as its desire to see a peaceful solution to all disputes between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. 
	
	
 Kao said several senior Bush administration officials, including Secretary of State Colin Powell, has also made reassurances that the United States would not seek mainland China's support for the anti-terrorism campaign at the expense of Taiwan. 
	
	
 "We believe in the sincerity of the United States in promising not to mix up its counter-terrorism drive with the Taiwan Strait issue," Kao said, adding that relevant US officials have on many occasions reaffirmed similar commitments to the ROC. 
	
	
 Commenting on a Washington Post report that the Bush administration was considering waiving sanctions that bar sales of military-related equipment to mainland China, Kao said MOFA is trying to obtain more information about the report. 
	
	
 In his view, Kao said the cross-strait balance of military power is critical to the ROC's national security. Noting that the United States has consistently attached great importance to Asia-Pacific regional stability and security, Kao said the robust US arms sales package to Taiwan struck in April this year signifies that the United States is serious about security in the region. 
	
	
 Against this backdrop, Kao said, the ROC government is optimistic about defense cooperation with the United States. 
	
	
 Meanwhile, a foreign wire service report from Shanghai quoted a senior US Department of State official as saying Wednesday that the Bush administration has no plans to ease sanctions against mainland China. 
	
	
 The US official told reporters traveling with Powell en route to Shanghai for an APEC meeting that he unequivocally denied the Washington Post report that said the Bush administration was considering such a move, specifically to allow sales of spare parts for mainland Chinese-owned helicopters as another weapon in the US war on terrorism. 
	
	
 "There's no such sale or waiver contemplated," he said. 
	
	
 The Post quoted US officials as saying the White House was considering a waiver of sanctions imposed after the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing to allow the sale of parts for Black Hawks that Washington sold to mainland China in the 1980s. 
	
	
 It said the helicopters were designed for high altitudes typical of much of mainland China, including its Afghan border. Afghanistan is now under US bombardment for refusing to hand over the chief suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden [Usama Bin Ladin]. 
	
	
	





Document 001001812 ends.


	
BC-HEALTH-LD-CONGO HEALTH-LD-CONGO KIMBERLEY June 18 Sapa POSSIBILITY OF CONGO FEVER RECEDES: DOCTOR 
	
	
 The Kimberley Provincial Hospital said it would probably know by Tuesday whether one of its patients had Congo Fever. 
	
	
 Medical Department head Dr Hamid Saeed said the patient's blood had been sent to the Institute for Virology in Johannesburg for analysis and the results of the first two sets of tests -- for illnesses other than Congo fever -- arrived back on Monday night and were negative. 
	
	
 A set of tests specifically for Congo fever were still outstanding. 
	
	
 Saeed said indications were that those tests would be negative too. He said it was his opinion that the patient -- a woman -- was suffering from tick bite fever. 
	
	
 The two have similar symptoms. 
	
	
 The woman was admitted to the hospital on Saturday after complaining of severe joint pains. 
	
	
 She also had a skin rash and was vomiting. 
	
	
 The patient told hospital authorities she became sick after being bitten by a tick about four months ago. 
	
	
 Although the woman's condition had deteriorated on Sunday it was showing improvement on Monday. 
	
	
 By afternoon she was conversing with her husband after being semi-comatose in the morning. 
	
	
 Between one and 10 cases of Congo Fever are reported in South Africa annually, with about 20 to 25 percent of patients dying, according to statistics from the virology institute. 
	
	
 A total of 158 cases of Congo Fever were diagnosed in southern Africa between 1981 and the end of 2000. 
	
	
 Early symptoms of the disease include severe headaches, red eyes, fevers and cold chills, body pain, and vomiting. 
	
	
 The disease can be contracted if a person is bitten by a certain tick or if a person comes into contact with the blood of a Congo Fever sufferer. 
	
	
 Source : Sapa /le/am/jje Date : 18 Jun 2001 20:47	





Document 001001814 ends.



Mugabe wins poll, amid claims of rigging

 



  HARARE, March 13 (AFP) - Zimbabwe's long-time ruler Robert 
Mugabe swept to victory Wednesday in Presidential elections in a 
vote that challenger Morgan Tsvangirai declared was rigged and 
unacceptable.

  Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede announced on state television 
that Mugabe was re-elected with 1,685,212 votes against 
1,258,758 votes for Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for 
Democratic Change (MDC).

  `I ... therefore declare Robert Mugabe the winner for the office 
of the presidency of Zimbabwe,' Mudede said.

  Observers had warned that should the outcome be seen to have 
been rigged, violence could explode across the volatile southern 
African nation.

  As the results were being announced, about 100 heavily armed 
soldiers moved into Zimbabwe's second city Bulawayao and 
surrounded the MDC offices, where opposition officials had 
gathered.

  Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi has put security forces on 
the highest level of alert, according to state media.

  Police roadblocks were seen on the main roads leading to central 
Harare, security forces were patrolling the city and six police 
officers were stationed outside MDC headquarters.

  
Tsvangirai rejected Mugabe's election victory out of hand.

  `The election was massively rigged,' he told a packed press 
conference. `We therefore as MDC do not accept this result.'

  Foreign governments all but dismissed the outcome even before it 
was announced, threatening to leave Mugabe internationally 
isolated despite his victory.

  British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw cited `pretty strong' 
evidence that Mugabe has `stolen' Zimbabwe's vote, an outcome he 
said would have `enormous implications for the nature of our 
relationship with Zimbabwe.'

  US State Department spokeswoman Lynn Cassel said: `While we must 
wait for the final results, it is abundantly clear that this was 
a seriously flawed election.'

  The MDC leadership was due to meet later Wednesday to discuss 
the poll results, and Tsvangirai was due to address a media 
conference afterwards.

  `We have a national executive meeting ... where we will be 
looking at the figures and give the reaction of the party,' said 
David Coltart, an MDC MP.

  `To put it mildly the figures are very odd, with very low 
turnouts in the cities and massive ones in the rural areas, 
which is unprecedented in this country,' he said.

  Polling stations in Harare were reduced by 32 per cent in favour 
of an increase of voting outlets in rural areas, considered 
Mugabe's support base.

  Of 882,176 people registered to vote in Harare Province, 439,656 
or 49.8 per cent actually did so during the three days of 
polling that began Saturday and saw mile-long queues across the 
capital.

  The MDC, charging that the Mugabe government had followed a 
deliberate strategy of impeding the urban vote, went to the High 
Court and won an extra day of voting on Monday, but polls opened 
several hours late, and only an additional 24,000 votes were 
cast.

  The election is the hardest fought battle for Zimbabwe's top 
post since liberation war hero Mugabe took over after 
independence from Britain in 1980.

  `The election was preceded by months of government-orchestrated 
violence meant to intimidate voters (and) the opposition was 
repeatedly harassed and prevented from campaigning,' she said.

  Turnout across the southern African country was an estimated 66 
per cent in an election fraught by violence, intimidation and 
intense legal wrangling over civic rights and electoral rules.

  Even after the polls closed Monday, Mugabe's government kept up 
the pressure on the opposition by charging MDC Secretary General 
Welshman Ncube with high treason, which the party dismissed as a 
smear tactic. Ncube, along with Tsvangirai and four other top 
party officials, had been accused last month of plotting to 
assassinate the President.

  The tumultuous campaign grabbed international headlines and 
sparked diplomatic rows that landed Mugabe with sanctions from 
the European Union and the United States. Violence has claimed 
at least 33 lives, mostly those of opposition supporters, since 
the start of the year.

  The influential International Crisis Group (ICG) warned that the 
`risk of major violence erupting is exceedingly high' if the 
election was seen to be rigged.






Document 001001815 ends.


	
[Computer selected and disseminated without FBIS editorial intervention] 
	
	
 Tokyo, Jan. 23 Kyodo -- The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average managed to stay above the 10,000 line Wednesday morning thanks to gains by some semiconductor-related shares and automakers. 
	
	
 The Nikkei climbed 50.18 points, or 0.50%, to end the morning at 10,101.16. The broader Tokyo Stock Price Index (TOPIX) of all First Section issues was down 2.73 points, or 0.28%, to 982.40. 
	
	
 The TOPIX hit a session low of 977.42 in early deals, falling below the post-bubble closing low of 980.11 logged on Oct. 15, 1998, for the first time in four trading days on an intraday basis. 
	
	
 Volume on the main section decreased to 303.91 million shares from Tuesday morning's 328.82 million, with losers surpassing gainers 863 to 466, and 153 issues finishing the morning unchanged. 
	
	
 The Nikkei's downside was supported by buybacks and bargain-hunting in reaction to the previous day's 2% fall, which left the index only a step away from the 10,000 line. 
	
	
 "The Nikkei is fluctuating at a level which induces buybacks for technical reasons," said Kazunori Jinnai, general manager at the equity department of Daiwa Securities SMBC Co. 
	
	
 Some chip-related issues such as Tokyo Electron and Advantest ended the morning higher despite an overnight fall in U.S. stocks. 
	
	
 In New York on Tuesday, the Nasdaq composite index plunged 47.81 points, or 2.48%, to close at 1,882.53 and the 30-issue Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 58.05 points, or 0.59%, to 9,713.80. 
	
	
 Brokers said chip-related issues in Tokyo got a boost from an international trade association saying North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment saw orders and shipments rise in December. 
	
	
 Export-dependent automakers also contributed to the Nikkei's rise, with Toyota Motor gaining 20 yen to 3,470 yen and Honda Motor 70 yen to 5,230 yen. 
	
	
 Rubber makers and nonferrous metal firms led the rise, while telecoms, real estate companies, and banks were soft in the morning. NTT hit a record low of 377,000 yen before ending the morning at 383,000. 
	
	
 The volume leader was machinery maker Yuken Kogyo, which shot up 28 yen to 152 yen. 
	
	
 Snow Brand Milk Products dived 37 yen to 187 yen after media reported earlier Wednesday that its subsidiary Snow Brand Food is suspected of disguising Australian beef as domestic to get a government subsidy in connection with mad cow disease. 
	
	
 Snow Brand Food, listed on the Second Section, also shed 7 yen to 85 yen. 
	
	
 Mitsui Construction rose 1 yen to 46 yen after a daily newspaper said Wednesday that the company and Sumitomo Construction will soon begin negotiations on integrating their business operations, a report later denied by the companies. Sumitomo Construction ended unchanged. 
	
	
 Nomura Holdings lost 19 yen to 1,533 yen in the wake of a 79% dive in its group net profit in the April-December period from a year earlier. 
	
	
 The Second Section index shed 17.02 points to 1,675.10 on a volume of 7.06 million shares. In Osaka, the near-term March Nikkei 225 index futures contract advanced 40 points to 10,090.	





Document 001001816 ends.


	
Kazakh president optimistic about future of CIS 
	
	
 Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax 
	
	
 Moscow, 29 November: Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has arrived in Moscow to attend the 10th anniversary summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States, said upon his arrival on Thursday [29 November] that "certain apathy" to the commonwealth has developed in the CIS member countries. Making his point clear, he said that the former Soviet republics "have not completely fallen apart, but have not formed a sufficiently strong alliance on a new basis either". He said, however, that a real unification will take place after all, since the CIS countries have far more reasons for a union that the European Union countries. He said this tendency reflects the economic and cultural traditions of the CIS countries which were formerly part of the Soviet Union. The current summit will hopefully allow the CIS countries to lay new ways towards rapprochement. Concerning the delimitation of the border between Kazakhstan and Russia, Nazarbayev said that this process is continuing without any disagreements and with mutual respect for each other's interests, and that documents on the final delimitation are likely to be signed next year. Getting back to the problem of broadening all-round cooperation between the CIS countries, Nazarbayev said that a new factor - globalization - is accelerating this process. "We cannot stand on the sidelines of this global tendency," the Kazakh president said. 
	
	
	





Document 001001819 ends.



   Mugabe won polls unfairly says West

 



  President Rob-ert Mugabe swept back to power in Zimbabwe 
yesterday after an election fiercely condemned by local 
monitors, the opposition and the West but praised by African 
nations.

  Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, easily beaten by the 
veteran president according to official results, said Mugabe had 
stolen the vote through violence and intimidation and by 
preventing hundreds of thousands of people from voting.

  The US said the election, extending Mugabe's 22-year rule for 
another six years, was "fundamentally flawed". Zimbabwe had 
ignored its commitment to a free and fair poll.

  Two State Department officials said Washington aimed to impose 
financial restrictions against any assets in the US held by 
Mugabe and senior members of his government but could not say 
when they would take effect.

  A deep split appeared between Western nations and African 
countries monitoring the vote, who closed ranks behind Mugabe, 
calling the election legitimate.

  Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede declared Mugabe the winner 
after results were in from all 120 constituencies. He said the 
former guerilla won his fifth term as leader after taking 
1,685,212 votes against 1,258,401 for Tsvangirai.

  The opposition leader said his Movement for Democratic Change 
(MDC) would not accept the result.

  "The election results ... do not reflect the true will of the 
people of Zimbabwe and are consequently illegitimate," he said.

  Norwegian and local observers said thousands of people, mostly 
in opposition strongholds, had been prevented from voting.

  But observers from South Africa, Namibia and Nigeria all said 
Mugabe's re-election was legitimate.

  South Africa and Nigeria together with Australia comprise a 
special Commonwealth group given the power to take measures 
against Zimbabwe if the election is deemed not to have been free 
and fair.

  Zimbabwe security forces went on high alert and erected 
roadblocks around Harare after the result was announced.

  The MDC said dozens of heavily armed soldiers had surrounded its 
office in the second city of Bulawayo. Small groups of armed 
riot police moved into Harare townships loyal to Tsvangirai.

  Several hundred Mugabe supporters danced in celebration and 
carried mock coffins for Tsvangirai in two Harare townships. One 
of the coffins was draped in the US flag.

  
Mugabe's government dismissed criticism of the election.

  Information Minister Jonathan Moyo said the result was a blow to 
British Prime Minister Tony Blair whom Mugabe accuses of 
sponsoring Tsvangirai.

  The former colonial power Britain said that Mugabe had held on 
to power through a "systematic campaign of violence and 
intimidation". Forward this article to a Colleague, Associate or 
Friend



Copyright @ 2002, Gulf Daily News -






Document 001001825 ends.


	
Italian returns from Russian space mission 
	
	
 Text of report in English by Italian news agency ANSA web site 
	
	
 Moscow, 5 May: Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori, a Russian cosmonaut and a paying space tourist, returned to earth today from their ten-day mission, including eight days aboard the International Space Station (ISS). "It was a tough but gratifying experience. I'm ready to go back," Vittori told Italian general Mario Arpino during a telephone call shortly after the Russian Soyuz space capsule made its touch-down in Kazakhstan. Russian officials said the three men, including the world's second space tourist South African millionaire Mark Shuttleworth, were in fine condition. Shuttleworth, 28, who paid the Russians 20m dollars for his jaunt in space, termed the experience "extraordinary." He became the world's second space tourist, after US businessman Denis Tito made a similar voyage a year ago. Vittori, 37, spent eight months at Russia's "Star City" in preparation for his 10-day mission, dubbed Marco Polo by the Italian Space Agency. During his 8 days aboard the ISS he carried out a series of experiments for ISA [as received] and the European Space Agency on health in space Vittori, a colonel and test-pilot with a wife and two small boys, already has three years training at NASA centres in Houston. His training in Russia combined with his knowledge of American techniques will put him at an advantage if the role of station commander should open up in the future, he said before his training started. The role is currently reserved for Americans and Russians. Italy's Umberto Guidoni was the first European to set foot on board the ISS in April 2000, while a third Italian astronaut, Paolo Nespoli, is scheduled to make his trip in 2003-2004. The estimated cost of Vittori's flight with the Russians was around 12.5m dollars. This covered his training, that of a Belgian substitute and the cost of carrying two scientific experiments on board the Russian Soyuz rocket. 
	
	
	





Document 001001826 ends.


	
Beijing has completed the afforestation of 4,000 hectares over the past six months, the municipal forestry bureau revealed yesterday. 
	
	
 "We planted trees mainly in the major five areas that are severely endangered by sandy wind," said Cai Baojun, an official with the bureau in charge of forest planting. 
	
	
 The shifting dunes in Beijing's suburbs and rural areas have been successfully controlled by green barriers of trees and grass, which have also helped upgrade the city's forest proportion to 43 per cent, 23 percentage points higher than the nation's metropolitan average. 
	
	
 A 200-metre belt of trees has been planted on each side of the Yongding, Chaobai, Dasha and Wenyu rivers, which was previously the city's most desertificated land. 
	
	
 Forestry experts said dry weather and temperature fluctuations were the main cause of sandstorms. 
	
	
 The repeated breaching of the embankments of the Yongding and Chaobai rivers also resulted in the desertification of the land with heavy sand being deposited by floods. By 2005, 50 per cent of Beijing's land, including both urban and rural areas, will have been covered with trees. 
	
	
 The green belts have helped protect the crops from sand, wind, drought and floods to guarantee grain production, Cai said. 
	
	
 Over the next 10 years, China will invest 6 billion yuan (US$720 million) to prevent sandstorms hitting Beijing, according to sources from the State Forestry Administration. 
	
	
 Private organizations are also being encouraged to help fight sandstorms, according to the administration's vice-director Li Yucai. 
	
	
 Favourable taxation policies will also be given to people engaged in the transformation of desertificated land. 
	
	
 Beijing was struck by sandstorms several times this spring. It is believed that sand from northern areas, especially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and floating dust from the city's uncovered construction sites are the main causes.	





Document 001001828 ends.


	
Tehran, Oct 21, IRNA -- Visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez here Sunday underscored the need for coordinated efforts among members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to keep oil prices at a 'fair' level. Speaking at a meeting with his Iranian counterpart President Mohammad Khatami, Chavez recalled the looming recession in world oil markets following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S., and remarked that cooperation among OPEC member states, particularly the Islamic Republic is a must to secure their interests. He further called on non-OPEC oil producers to cooperate with the organization to alleviate existing concerns over falling oil prices. President Khatami, for his part, highlighted a collective quest by OPEC member states to stabilize oil prices at a reasonable level. He reiterated OPEC's concern to ensure the interests of producers and consumers, and pledged for cooperation among the members of the organization to protect producers' interests and bring price stability to world oil markets. Elsewhere in his remarks, Khatami lashed out at the recent US-led attacks on Afghanistan, and voiced Iran's displeasure with developments in the war-ravaged country. He reiterated the need to set up a coalition government in Afghanistan comprising all Afghan groups to reinforce stability. Khatami and Chavez agreed that 'Dialogue Among Civilizations' could serve to mitigate clashes of civilizations and would also ensure a durable peace. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez whose country holds the rotating chairmanship of OPEC arrived at Tehran Sunday from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for talks with President Khatami on oil related issues. He is scheduled to leave Tehran Sunday evening for Moscow to follow up his deliberations on the same subject with Russia as one of the most important non-OPEC oil producing countries. The Venezuelan president has been embarked on a tour of several European and African countries including Austria, Libya and Algeria in his efforts to garner support to prop up oil prices. AA/AH End 
	
	
	





Document 001001829 ends.


 
  
  
    
      July 11, 1997
      Name Address City, State Zip
      Dear Mr./Mrs. Name:
      We need your help in continuing the work of Jameson Camp.
      Jameson is a not-for-profit agency established in 1928 to serve the
      youth of central Indiana who have special needs. The camp offers summer
      residential programs for children from ages 7-17, and continues contact
      with the campers and their families with special overnight and weekend
      follow-up events during the school year.
      All children who attend the camp are referred by social workers,
      doctors, teachers, counselors, and other professionals. Many of the
      children have learning disabilities, behavioral problems, or come from
      economically distressed families. The goal of our organized camping
      experience is to improve the total health of the children socially,
      emotionally, and physically.
      This year Jameson Camp is planning an Inaugural fund-raising event:
      The Jameson Grill! This event is designed to be fun for campers, their
      families, friends of the camp, neighbors, staff, and anyone interested in
      finding out more about Jameson. In short, Fun for Everyone!
      The family-friendly event, September 20, 1997, will include a hog
      roast, activities for kids and adults, prizes for activities, and a small
      raffle. Lucky attendees can go home with a great prize. This is where we
      need your help.
      Can you help support this wonderful event by furnishing any type of
      products or services that can be used as prizes for our activities or as
      a raffle prize? Your contribution will help with funding so Jameson Camp
      can continue providing the year-round camping experience that gives kids
      a chance to create dreams.
      Enclosed is a form you can complete and return to us in the
      postage-paid envelope. Or, you can fax us at 241-2760, or e-mail,
      icfundrzr@aol.com. Your quick response will help us begin organizing our
      prizes. After we receive your commitment, we will contact you about
      picking up your contribution. If you have any questions, please call me
      at 241-2661.
      We appreciate your support of our first event of this type.
      Sincerely,
      Pat Bray Director of Development
      Help Blaze The Trail -- 1997 Jameson Camp Thank you for your last
      Annual Fund Gift!
    
  



Document 001001830 ends.


	
United Nations, November 14 (XINHUA) -- It was unrealistic to envisage that people who were suffering from lack of development, poverty, hunger and poor health could fully enjoy their human rights, several delegations stressed Wednesday to the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian, Cultural) of the 56th UN General Assembly. 
	
	
 The committee Wednesday opened a formal debate on human rights questions, including alternative approaches for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms. 
	
	
 Representatives said that the right to development was one of two major preconditions to ensure the universal protection and promotion of human rights, a press release of the committee said. 
	
	
 "The second crucial element, maintaining international peace and security, was also emphasized as the Committee continued its debate on human rights questions, including alternative approaches for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms," it said. 
	
	
 Briefing on the remarks by the representative of Thailand, it said: "Human rights and development were two sides of the same coin, and should be addressed in tandem." 
	
	
 "People should be at the center of social and economic development efforts. They had to be protected from other scourges and social ills, including disease, narcotic drugs, armed conflicts, terrorism and other types of transnational organized crime," it added. 
	
	
 The representative of Eritrea said globalization was not only threatening to further marginalize the developing world and alienate its masses, it was also hampering the ability to exercise the rights and duties enshrined in numerous international human rights instruments, including the right to development. 
	
	
 "Narrowing the development gap between countries was crucial to the realization of universal human rights," said the representative of China Shen Guofang. "Underdevelopment had seriously hindered the capacity of developing countries to protect and promote human rights." 
	
	
 "With the rapid spread of globalization and economic expansion, the situation for poor countries was deteriorating with each passing day," Shen said. 
	
	
 The representative of the United States said that despite the horrors of the terrorist attack, the international community could not truly win the war against terrorism unless human rights were protected. 
	
	
 "There could be no expediency, no compromise, no lapse in vigilance," he said. "Promoting and strengthening human rights and democracy throughout the world was an integral part of the multilateral war on terrorism". 
	
	
 Also speaking on the debate were the representatives of Cuba, Egypt, Morocco, Japan, Venezuela, Mali, Greece and Indonesia. 
	
	
 The committee will meet again Thursday to continue its general debate on human rights questions. 
	
	
	





Document 001001835 ends.


	
Vietnamese Minister of Science, Technology and Environment Chu Tuan Nha told the first Asia-Europe Meeting [ASEM] Environment Ministers' Meeting [ASEM EnMM] in Beijing recently that Vietnam always values environmental protection, including prevention of pollution or degradation, bio-diversity protection, and improvement of the environment in industrial zones and in both urban and rural areas. 
	
	
 He said the Vietnamese Government has mobilized all resources and strengthened its international cooperation in addressing environmental issues. He emphasized the importance of bilateral cooperation between the two continents in dealing with environmental issues, noting that this meeting will serve as a foundation for Asia and Europe's future cooperation. 
	
	
 The Vietnamese Minister called for the establishment of a cooperation forum on the environment which will be held every two years within the Asia-Europe Environment Cooperation Program. The forum will facilitate the exchange of dialogues on policy and of information and experts on the environment. 
	
	
 The ASEM EnMM concluded in Beijing on 17 January with the adoption of a Statement of the Presidium calling for an early implementation of the Kyoto Protocol as well as cooperation and dialogue between ASEM members.	





Document 001001837 ends.


	
BEIJING, Nov 15 (AFP) - China on Thursday said it did not rule out taking part in any international peacekeeping force to maintain stability in Afghanistan. 
	
	
 "We are ready to give sincere and earnest consideration to any effort that will contribute to stability and peace in Afghanistan," foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told reporters. 
	
	
 Her remark was in response to a question on whether China would be willing to participate in a multinational peacekeeping force in Afghanistan. 
	
	
 The issue of peacekeepers in Afghanistan has attained renewed urgency this week following rapid advances by the opposition Northern Alliance against the ruling Taliban militia. 
	
	
 Zhang said the Chinese government was not yet in direct contact with leaders of the Northern Alliance. 
	
	
 "Together with the international community we are ready to work for regional reconciliation in Afghanistan and for regional stability," she said at a regular ministry briefing. 
	
	
 China has played a tiny role in a handful of recent United Nations peacekeeping actions in various parts of the world, including Cambodia. 
	
	
	





Document 001001838 ends.


       

Chandler Insurance Co. said it expects to report third-quarter net income jumped 97% to $2.8 million, or 51 cents a share. 

In the year-earlier quarter, the automobile and trucking insurer had earnings of $1.4 million, or 48 cents a share on a restated basis, on revenue of $16.5 million.
In an interview, W. Brent LeGere, chairman and chief executive officer, said he expects revenue in the latest quarter to total about $28 million.
The earnings-per-share figures reflect a 25% stock dividend in June 1989. 

Mr. LeGere attributed the earnings increase to growth in the company's longhaul trucking insurance lines and the ability to keep premium rates firm. 




Document 001001840 ends.


	
President Fernando de la Rua, Economy Minister Domingo Cavallo The summit between George W. Bush and Fernando de la Rua may have changed many things, but it may also have changed nothing. In the latter case, the blame for this fruitless effort belongs not to the stinginess of the US Government but rather to a mix of shortsightedness and irresponsibility among Argentine leaders. 
	
	
 Argentina had to show the world that the decision to reschedule its public debt is not a default in disguise; moreover, the success of the most recent economic plan is at stake. In spite of all this, our politicians did not meet either of the requirements that were described in detail from abroad: there had to be an agreement between the national government and the provinces in connection with revenue sharing, and Peronism also had to send a clear-cut message that it would help get the 2002 budget passed in Congress. 
	
	
 An accord with the governors would be a clear sign that public spending was going to be brought under control where it is most out of control. And the budget would have been a message from the political community at large, not just from the president and his top ministers, that the zero deficit program enjoys a consensus. 
	
	
 As if not enough messages in this regard had been conveyed through a thousand different channels, the powerful head of the National Security Council, Condoleeza Rice, who is Bush's chief adviser, put it bluntly in public remarks last Thursday that came close to representing interference in the country's domestic affairs. 
	
	
 Rice even went so far as to mention the need for political leadership in Argentina to resolve its economic crisis. Argentine leaders, regardless of their leanings, were thus supposed to demonstrate their commitment to economic austerity and their determination to confirm and honor the institutional timetable of the De la Rua administration. The president, in turn, was supposed to give evidence of his ability to manage the conflict. 
	
	
 De la Rua waited anxiously until Saturday evening for his cabinet chief, Chrystian Colombo, to at least announce that an accord with the Peronist governors would be signed on Monday (this would also have been a sign about the budget, because of the influence that the governors have over their provincial lawmakers). Colombo called him up, but only to tell him that it had all been in vain. 
	
	
 In this sort of crisis there can never be just one guilty party. The government is also paying the price for its delays in putting together a plan in the wake of its electoral defeat, with interest payments on the public debt maturing very soon as well. It was also quite naive to think that Peronism would readily reach an agreement with a defeated administration. The new federal pact will necessarily mean that those who won the elections will have to give up funding. 
	
	
 Domingo Cavallo was not at the meeting with Bush because his president, seeing that his hands would be empty, wanted to ignore economic issues at the summit. He realized that nothing would come of a meeting whose demands had been clearly stated and then not met. Why put emphasis on economic issues, on the only area in which failure would be a foregone conclusion? 
	
	
 Argentina, which in recent days has again been making all of the world's newspapers in the worst sort of way, had to fulfill these requirements because it needed to gain Washington's active, not just verbal, support. 
	
	
 First off, Bush could have brought discipline to his administration in connection with the case of Argentina. Among US Government institutions, the State Department is the one most inclined to help Argentina, followed by the Security Council, albeit less enthusiastically. The Treasury Department, however, in spite of the good offices of its number two man, John Taylor, is still taking the cool approach towards Argentina that its head, Paul O'Neill, had adopted. 
	
	
 The Argentine Government wants fresh funds in order to reschedule its debt, funds that could come from the International Monetary Fund or the US Treasury itself. A less utopian wish is to get multilateral agencies, or some of them, to guarantee the Argentine offers to its creditors. 
	
	
 The De la Rua administration has an even more urgent need: regardless of what might be said, Argentina needs the IMF to disburse as soon as possible more than $1.2 billion that is scheduled for December. 
	
	
 Internal Discipline 
	
	
 In either of these cases, Washington had to be convinced that Argentina deserved bailing out and then act accordingly. How could the United States be asked to do such a thing if Argentina was unable to show a modicum of internal political discipline in advance? 
	
	
 The political accords reached in New York were noteworthy, because the Argentine Government supported all of the US Government's present and future needs in the war in Afghanistan. But those were the US needs. 
	
	
 The Argentine Foreign Ministry had previously stopped importuning Brasilia to have Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Argentine President De la Rua meet jointly with Bush, as they had agreed to do at the most recent meeting between the two countries in Sao Paulo. That sort of meeting would have lent a noteworthy twist to the Argentine case. 
	
	
	





Document 001001842 ends.



Camp X-Ray

 


Time 
January 28, 2002

  
Camp X-Ray

  When is a war prisoner not a POW? When the U.S. brings Afghan 
detainees to Guantanamo Bay

  
By Michael Elliott

  It's not going to be a country club," said Defense Secretary 
Donald Rumsfeld last week, describing the new military detention 
camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and nobody ever expected it would 
be. The 110 al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners admitted to "Gitmo" 
by the end of last week are, said Rumsfeld, "the hardest of the 
hard core," men who had killed "dozens and dozens of people." 
But though it may lack tennis courts and a putting green, the 
amenities are better than you'd find in a cave at Tora Bora. 
True, prisoners are now confined to 6-ft. by 8-ft. chain-link 
enclosures with concrete floors and tin roofs (Rumsfeld thinks 
it's "pejorative" to call them cages). But relief will come; in 
three months, the Pentagon hopes to replace the facility with 
something more permanent.

  In the meantime, the prisoners at Camp X-Ray--as the place has 
been called since the early 1990s when it housed Haitian 
refugees--have been given thin green mats and blankets on which 
to sleep and pray, and are allowed to shower and exercise. They 
are provided with a medical exam upon admission, and their diet 
(is someone making a point about diversity here?) ranges from 
bagels and cream cheese to rice and beans--all eaten with 
plastic utensils--after which the prisoners may clean their 
teeth with specially shortened brushes. (The caution makes 
sense; in 2000 Mamdouh Salim, an al-Qaeda operative awaiting 
trial in New York City for his part in the 1998 embassy 
bombings, used a comb to stab a prison guard through the eye.)

  So far, humanitarian groups have been muted in their criticism 
of the conditions at Guantanamo. Last week a delegation from the 
International Committee of the Red Cross arrived to inspect the 
camp and offer private recommendations on its operation. But in 
the European press, the prisoners' lot has become a public issue 
of contention among those who demand that U.S. conduct be above 
suspicion. Three detainees are said to have claimed to be 
British citizens. Politicians and commentators in London are now 
clamoring that all held in Gitmo must be guaranteed treatment in 
accordance with international law. The Daily Telegraph, a paper 
usually so conservative that it makes Pat Buchanan look 
vegetarian, warned Washington of the need to draw a "distinction 
between civilized society and the apocalyptic savagery of those 
who would destroy it."

  At the heart of the matter is a question of legality. The 
Pentagon has resisted calling the detainees prisoners of war, 
preferring the terms unlawful combatants or battlefield 
detainees. It's easy to see why. Under the Geneva Convention, 
those holding true POWs are bound to release them at the end of 
hostilities; but that is the last thing the U.S. wants to do 
with men who may be al-Qaeda operatives. Moreover, by convention 
(though the law seems to be murky here) POWs don't need to tell 
their captors anything other than their name, rank, serial 
number and birthday. But for Washington, the whole point of the 
detention is to conduct interrogations and thus head off new 
acts of terrorism.

  The Geneva Convention does contemplate that some irregular 
forces captured in battle need not be considered POWs. That may 
well apply to members of al-Qaeda, a free-floating band of 
terrorists. But not all of those at Gitmo are al-Qaeda men. 
Some--the Pentagon won't say how many--were members of the 
Taliban and presumably thought they were part of the Afghan 
army. Are they POWs? Washington says no, because the Taliban had 
no clear chain of command and was not a legitimate government. 
That may be so; unfortunately, as Amnesty International has 
pointed out, under the Geneva Convention the Pentagon has no 
business making such a determination. Those who fall into the 
enemy's hands are entitled to POW status until a "competent 
tribunal" has determined their status. In the case of those in 
Cuba, that hasn't happened.

  More curious still is the matter of the prisoners' ultimate 
fate. Rumsfeld has laid out four options: a military trial, a 
trial in U.S. criminal courts, return to their home countries 
for prosecution, or continued detention "while additional 
intelligence is gathered." The last seems a distinct 
possibility; the Pentagon plans to build 2,000 cells at Camp 
X-Ray. "This will be a big deal down there for at least two 
years, guaranteed," says Army Lieut. General B.B. Bell, who 
commands Fort Hood, Texas, the base from which military police 
have been deployed to Cuba. But it's hard to find a 
justification for such detention in the Geneva Convention or 
anywhere else. Leaving the prisoners "indefinitely beyond the 
reach of any legal regime," said the Economist last week, "would 
put America--pre-eminently a nation of laws--itself outside the 
law."

  Until the Pentagon sorts out the legal issues, criticism from 
Europe is likely to grow. Still, things could be worse. The 
prisoners may be in Cuba, but nobody has yet forced them to 
listen to Fidel Castro's long-winded speeches. Now that really 
would be cruel.

  
With Reporting by Mark Thompson/Washington




Document 001001844 ends.


	
Washington, January 26 (XINHUA) -- US Secretary of State Colin Powell has asked President George W. Bush to reverse the president's decision on al-Qa'ida and Taliban detainees and declare the terrorists as prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention, the Washington Times reported on Saturday. 
	
	
 A four-page internal White House memorandum obtained by the Washington Times shows that Powell made the request and that Bush' s National Security Council plans to meet on the matter Monday morning. 
	
	
 Bush decided on January 18 that hundreds of Taliban and members of Usama bin Ladin's al-Qa'ida army are detainees, and not prisoners of war, and thus not subject to rights in the Geneva Convention. 
	
	
 "The secretary of state has requested that you reconsider that decision," White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales wrote in a memo to Bush. "Specifically, he has asked that you conclude that GPW (Geneva Convention II on the Treatment of Prisoners of War) does apply to both al-Qa'ida and the Taliban fighters." 
	
	
 Human rights groups and some European countries have protested Bush's decision, and have been critical of the living conditions for 158 detainees at the US Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. 
	
	
	





Document 001001845 ends.


	
The term "Axis of Evil" that President George W. Bush used to label Iraq, Iran, and North Korea has now become a hot, much-discussed phrase. The word "axis" reminds me of the grouping of countries during World War I and II that were enemies of the Allies. 
	
	
 Bush deliberate used the term to emphasize to the world the adversarial US position toward the three countries that, according to Washington's claim, still assist terrorists and seek to develop lethal weapons. 
	
	
 As reminder, former US President Ronald Reagan used to call the Soviet Union "the Evil Empire." 
	
	
 Bush's objective is clear. He simply condenses his foreign policy for others to easily understand by distinguishing the evil from the good. He claims that he belongs to the good side and whoever is on the other side is the evil that must be destroyed or at least deserves condemnation. It is not enough that he sees those countries as evil, he wants his allies to feel the same way about them as well. For the countries that regard the three countries as friends or not evil, they are considered to be enemies of the United States. 
	
	
 The events on 11 September forced Bush to overhaul the US foreign policy. Foreign policy was an issue that he never wanted to deal with before. Many believed that Bush was naive about foreign affairs. In the presidential election, he campaigned on economic and education issues and barely scraped through. But the unexpected happened and what followed -- Usama Bin Ladin and the war in Afghanistan -- have elevated foreign policy to become the central part of his administration. 
	
	
 The circumstance has led Bush to again adopt an aggressive policy. He has declared that the war against terrorism will not end at Afghanistan but will spread to other parts of the world. It does not matter where in the world, he will vigorously hunt terrorists down if they are perceived to seek to target the United States. 
	
	
 As Bush has declared that Iraq, Iran, and North Korea are the "Axis of Evil," it emphatically implies that he regards it as duty to stop them from manufacturing or acquiring lethal weapons, be they chemical, biological, or nuclear. 
	
	
 The line that Bush draws between friends and foes has never been any clearer. Basically, he is telling the world the enemies of America is not just al-Qa'ida or Usama Bin Ladin. The countries that possess the lethal weapons are the targets of suppression by the United States. 
	
	
 A close look will show that the United States has already carried out this aggressive policy in abrupt and rapid manner without comprehensively consulting with the countries concerned. For example, some 660 US soldiers have been dispatched to the Philippines to join Filipino soldiers to suppress the Abu Sayyaf. Although the US role is identified as participation in military exercise or as adviser, the real purpose is the soldiers are sent there to participate in missions that the targets are the groups that are regarded as enemies of the United States. 
	
	
 The new US policy deserves to be closely analyzed and monitored. It is necessary for Thai people to understand the important change in the policy of the country whose economic, political, and military influence impact on the world the most. 
	
	
 Whether a country agrees with and regardless of how it views the US policy, the United States is taking the direction that emphasizes its national security and confrontation with the countries that Washington regards as enemies. This may result in more intense armed confrontation. The terrorist groups may step up sabotage of US targets and the US allies. 
	
	
 The US naming of North Korea may annoy China, given its assistance to the United States in the war in Afghanistan. Iran tried to become more helpful to the United States during the war in Afghanistan, but now that it has been identified as an "evil" it likely will readjust its stance. 
	
	
 The world has heated up a notch. 
	
	
	





Document 001001847 ends.


 
  
  
    
      June 21, 1999
      Name Address City, ST Zip
      Dear ,
      Do you remember the combination of elation and apprehension you felt
      when you first left home? The young adults who leave Pleasant Run have
      those same feelings. Very few have family support to get them started.
      Many need furniture, linens and other basic necessities to begin lives on
      their own.
      To help them establish themselves in the community, the Pleasant Run
      Emancipation fund was begun in 1993 by private donors who wanted to
      provide a measure of financial support for those leaving our
      programs.
      Individuals who are being emancipated are eligible to receive up to
      $500 from the Fund if they formally apply and meet four requirements: 1.
      Release by the courts 2. Successful completion of all life skills tests
      3. Positive termination of his or her Pleasant Run program 4. Possession
      of a high school diploma or GED
      Proof of meeting these, two staff reference letters and an essay
      stating why they should receive a grant and how it will be used are all
      reviewed by a Pleasant Run panel, which determines if the applicant
      merits the funds.
      Such fund are often used for college tuition, vocational training or a
      deposit on an apartment.
      Because Pleasant Run is the only "family" for so many, our
      Emancipation Fund is one way we can help a young person take the first
      steps into his or her new life as an independent and productive
      adult.
      Without private donor support, this Fund doesn't exist. Please take a
      few minutes to send a donation to help one or more of our children
      successfully cross that threshold into the future.
      Sincerely,
      Mary Roth Executive Director
    
  



Document 001001849 ends.


	
Dushanbe meeting discusses helping Afghan northern Alliance 
	
	
 Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax 
	
	
 Dushanbe, 13 September: Representatives from Russia, Iran, India, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan discussed giving aid to the Afghan Northern Alliance at a closed-door meeting in Dushanbe on Thursday [13 September], a diplomatic source told Interfax. The new commander of the Northern Alliance, Gen Muhammad Fahim, was introduced to the participants in the meeting. He has replaced Ahmad Shah Masud, who fell victim to an assassination attempt on Sunday. The participants discussed extension of humanitarian and military aid to the internationally recognized Afghan government, the source said. 
	
	
	





Document 001001856 ends.


	
Tehran, Dec 23 IRNA -- President Muhammad Khatami submitted the proposed rls 663,757 billion budget bill for the next Iranian calendar year (starting March 21, 2002) to the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Majlis) on Sunday. In a speech to Majlis deputies which bagan a few minutes ago, President Khatami is outlining the characteristics of the next year's budget bill. According to Management, Planning Organization, the country's budget for next year will have a growth of 45.5 percent over the current year's budget. The general budget for the new Iranian calendar year, 1381 is estimated at rls 243,898 billion, which indicates a 48 percent increase compared to that of 1380. In the budget bill for the next Iranian calendar year, the budget for state-owned companies and the profit-making institutes affiliated to the government has also been estimated at rls 435,842 billion, showing a rise of 45 percent over the previous year. 
	
	
 
	
	
	





Document 001001859 ends.



Britain's Prescott Pushes for Kyoto Pact Backing

 



  VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- The Kyoto Protocol on reducing 
greenhouse gas emissions must be ratified even without U.S. 
support, British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott told an 
international conference on business and the environment on 
Friday.

  Prescott said that while the U.S. decision to reject the Kyoto 
agreement is a cause for concern, pressure will be maintained on 
the Bush administration to go further with its current voluntary 
emission-reduction targets.

  "This is the world's best chance of dealing with a very serious 
threat to it," Prescott told delegates from 65 nations at the 
Globe 2002 conference in Vancouver that ended on Friday.

  Prescott, Britain's front man in pushing the accord, said the 
United States until recently was critical of the science that 
led to the Kyoto pact but has now accepted it, and he remains 
optimistic that the goals of the United States and of other 
signatory nations would converge.

  The Kyoto Protocol calls on countries to reduce emissions of 
so-called greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, which are 
blamed by many scientists for global warming, to pre-1990 levels 
by 2012.

  Named for the Japanese city where it was approved, the pact was 
signed by 84 countries, including the United States and Canada. 
Fifty-five countries responsible for 55 percent of emissions in 
1990 must ratify it for it to take effect. Forty-nine countries 
had done so as of mid-March, according to the United Nations.

  Europe's environment ministers have agreed that all 15 EU 
nations should adhere to the Kyoto Protocol. Ratification could 
win support at an EU summit later this month in Barcelona, 
Spain. The process is expected to be completed by June 1.

  Prescott said the British program aims to cut emissions by 20 
percent, and the country is now half way to that goal.

  The issue has pitted business groups, who claim the accord will 
hurt the global economy, against environmentalists, who warn of 
the dire effects from global warming such as higher ocean levels 
and destruction of various plants and animal species.

  Canada is among the countries that have pledged to ratify the 
accord. Canada's Environmental Minister, David Anderson, is 
under pressure from the country's energy producers to follow the 
U.S. position.

  Prescott came to Anderson's support on Friday, agreeing that 
financial figures quoted by Kyoto opponents in Canada about the 
potential damage to the Canadian economy were "pure fiction."

  A study by the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters Association 
said the accord would cost the Canadian economy up to C$40 
billion by 2010, but a Dutch report released earlier this week 
said it would only be C$727 million.

  "At the least the difference between some estimates clearly 
shows a great deal more talking and assessment is needed," 
Reuters quoted Prescott as telling the delegates, who 
represented both business and environmental groups.




Document 001001860 ends.


       

Hadson Corp. said it expects to report a third-quarter net loss of $17 million to $19 million because of special reserves and continued low natural-gas prices. 

The Oklahoma City energy and defense concern said it will record a $7.5 million reserve for its defense group, including a $4.7 million charge related to problems under a fixed-price development contract and $2.8 million in overhead costs that won't be reimbursed. 

In addition, Hadson said it will write off about $3.5 million in costs related to international exploration leases where exploration efforts have been unsuccessful. 

The company also cited interest costs and amortization of goodwill as factors in the loss. 

A year earlier, net income was $2.1 million, or six cents a share, on revenue of $169.9 million. 




Document 001001864 ends.



Jordan to sign Kyoto Protocol

 



  AMMAN - Jordan said it will sign the Kyoto Protocol, a UN pact 
on impeding global greenhouse gas emissions, following a recent 
Cabinet decision, according to Faris Juneidi, director general 
of the General Corporation for Environment Protection (GCEP).

  "Soon, the government will delegate Jordan's representative to 
the United Nations, HH Prince Zeid Ben Raad, to sign the 
protocol," Juneidi told The Jordan Times on Tuesday, adding that 
an exact date for signing of the environmental agreement had not 
been set.

  In 1997, at a UN conference in Kyoto, Japan, the Kyoto Protocol 
legally obliged developed countries to reduce the amount of 
greenhouse gas emissions by 8 per cent (below 1990 levels) 
between 2008 and 2012.

  Although developed countries are the world's main source of 
large-scale air pollution, Jordan's decision to sign the 
protocol is aimed at stressing its "commitment towards the 
different international conventions," Juneidi said.

  With the signing of the protocol, he said, GCEP hopes to attract 
more funding to contribute to the international community's 
efforts in reducing greenhouse gases, which trap heat in the 
earth's atmosphere thus causing climate change.

  GCEP, an agency operating under the Ministry of Municipal and 
Rural Affairs and the Environment, is the country's point of 
reference for environmental pacts.

  On Monday, the 15 European Union member states agreed to be 
formally bound to the Kyoto accord, and complete the 
ratification by June 1 this year.

  In March 2001, the US administration opposed the protocol by 
saying that it contravenes US economic interests, a decision 
slammed by European Union countries at the time. Instead the US 
government produced its own alternative climate change strategy 
aimed at encouraging industries to trim their emissions.

  Other developed countries like Canada have shown reluctance 
towards signing the Kyoto Protocol, saying it would cut the 
national GDP by up to 2.5 per cent in 2010 and cause economic 
damage worth 30 billion Canadian dollars ($19 billion).




Document 001001865 ends.


	
Osaka, Dec. 7 Kyodo -- A Japanese nongovernmental organization (NGO) in Kobe shipped relief goods such as blankets and sweaters to Afghan refugees at refugee camps in Pakistan on Friday to help them endure the severe winter weather. 
	
	
 Packages of the relief goods, collected by the Asia Africa Cooperation Environment Center (ACEC), went through customs in Osaka. They will be shipped to Islamabad on Tuesday from Narita airport, east of Tokyo, ACEC officials said. 
	
	
 At the request of the Red Crescent Society of Pakistan, ACEC has called for donations of relief goods on its Web site since early November. 
	
	
 On Friday, ACEC shipped some 200 kilograms of the 50 tons of relief goods it has collected. The rest of the goods will be shipped by sea early next year, the officials said. 
	
	
 ACEC is also calling for monetary donations because it needs more money to pay shipping costs, the officials said.	





Document 001001869 ends.


	
Spanish daily urges USA to end "inhumane treatment" of Al-Qa'idah suspects 
	
	
 Text of unsigned editorial, "Guantanamo: a prison with no law", by Spanish newspaper El Mundo web site on 21|January 
	
	
 As Amnesty International has pointedly remarked, the photographs of the detainees in Guantanamo that the US army has unashamedly seen fit to release are reminiscent of the torture centres of eastern Europe in the Cold War. Holding detainees in handcuffs and shackles is not acceptable in a democracy, nor is depriving them of all their senses by putting blindfolds over their eyes, surgical masks over their mouths and noses, and gloves on their hands to disorientate them and subject them to sensory deprivation. The official explanations - they had just got off the plane, the masks are for fear of spreading tuberculosis, they are dangerous - hardly ring true, they discredit the USA and would seem to confirm the prevalent assumption in many allied countries that the superpower has decided to wage war and administer justice all on its own. Proof of that is the refusal to treat the 110 detainees in Guantanamo and the hundreds held in Afghanistan as prisoners of war. For Amnesty International, the Red Cross and any self-respecting democrat, they are prisoners of war and should be treated according the Geneva Convention. In the event of disagreement, as is the case now, with the USA insisting that the issue concerns terrorists who do not belong to any state and who do not have rights as prisoners, the final decision should be left in the hands of "an appropriate tribunal", which must be impartial and independent, as Article 5 of the third Geneva Convention states. Even before these pictures [were released], Human Rights Watch had described the 1.8 by 2.4 metre cages where the prisoners are held as scandalous. The fact that the photographs have been distributed to the press voluntarily by the US authorities would suggest that they aren't even aware of what they are doing or, worse still, that they don't care. "They're terrorists, they're murderers and the USA will treat them as it pleases," is Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's reply to the critics. Fortunately, not everyone in the Bush administration is of the same opinion. Thanks to their efforts and to pressure from allied governments, notably the British government, the commandant at Guantanamo has now allowed the Red Cross into the base with the freedom to interview as many detainees as they please. It's a step in the right direction, but it's only the start. The sooner the inhumane treatment of detainees is put to a end, the better. 
	
	
	





Document 001001872 ends.


	
Regular British troops will not be sent to fight the Taliban, Robin Cook signalled tonight. 
	
	
 His remarks came as the militia began talks on surrendering its spiritual home of Kandahar after Northern Alliance troops finally entered Kunduz. 
	
	
 SAS [Special Air Service] soldiers and their American counterparts are fighting alongside the Alliance as they have swept across large swathes Afghanistan. 
	
	
 But Commons Leader Mr Cook said: "If you look back over the past month there has been no situation in which we have put British troops into the ground civil war and I don't myself imagine that's going to change." 
	
	
 British troops remained on 48 hour stand-by but the situation was "better than anybody could have hoped for", according to Mr Cook. 
	
	
 "We will continue obviously to keep the situation under review, but frankly, I think we should welcome the fact that their presence has not been needed in Afghanistan. This is not a reverse, it's actually an advance," he added. 
	
	
 News of the Kandahar negotiations came after the Taliban control crumbled in their final northern stronghold of Kunduz following mass surrender. 
	
	
 The city's top Taliban commander was among thousands of Afghan and foreign troops who gave themselves up after days of talks interspersed with fighting. 
	
	
 However, night fell before the Alliance could secure the city, increasing the danger of militants fighting back. 
	
	
 Hours after the vanguard entered from the west, a tank column halted its advance from the east, fearing hostile fire. 
	
	
 The surrender took days to hammer out, primarily because hard core Taliban and foreign troops from Usama Bin Ladin's al-Qa'ida terror network did not want to give up. 
	
	
 The fall of Kunduz leaves Kandahar as the Taliban's last major stronghold following the rapid collapse of their regime across the majority of the country. 
	
	
 Hundreds of foreign fighters captured in the siege of the northern city were killed in a prison riot at a fortress outside Mazar-e-Sharif, the Northern Alliance said. 
	
	
 But that did not stop Taliban commanders discussing the surrender of Kandahar, following calls from 70 Afghan tribal leaders for them to avert bloodshed. 
	
	
 "There are some talks and negotiations going on there (in Kandahar) with the Taliban to surrender themselves," Gen Mohammed Zaer Azimi said in Herat. 
	
	
 Ruud Lubbers, the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees, said Afghanistan was not yet secure for aid agencies to operate in and "not enough" food had been taken into the country. 
	
	
 "It is not at all a secure environment," he told the programme. 
	
	
 "So although our international staff went back to Kabul and hope to go back to the other places ... one cannot say it is safe in the country and secure enough. 
	
	
 "So there is quite a job to be done in creating a secure environment for humanitarian assistance." 
	
	
 His concerns echoed those voiced by leading charity Oxfam, which said instability across the country was hampering aid efforts. 
	
	
 But the Prime Minister's official spokesman today said Tony Blair was pleased with the progress that had been made on the military, diplomatic and humanitarian fronts. 
	
	
 "The situation obviously remains fluid from hour to hour but it seems to be going in the right direction," the spokesman said. 
	
	
 The campaign so far showed Alliance military success was the best way of getting food in, he said. 
	
	
 He again stressed that Britain would need to see evidence before it became involved in military action in other countries. 
	
	
 "In terms of the war on terrorism we have always said this is a multi-faceted campaign but equally we have also said any future military action would have to be based on evidence," he said. 
	
	
 "This campaign is not over. We are still in the middle of fighting the war in Afghanistan." 
	
	
	





Document 001001873 ends.



Venezuela's Chief Forced to Resign; Civilian Installed

 



  CARACAS, Venezuela, April 12 - A transitional government headed 
by a leading businessman replaced President Hugo Chavez today, 
hours after military officers forced him to resign. It was a 
sudden end to the turbulent three-year reign of a mercurial 
strongman elected on promises to distance his country from the 
United States while uprooting Venezuela's old social order.

  Mr. Chavez, 47, a firebrand populist who had said he would 
remake Venezuela to benefit the poor, was obligated to resign in 
a meeting with three military officers about 3 a.m. today after 
large street protests on Thursday in which at least 14 people 
were killed by gunmen identified as his supporters.

  Early this morning, Mr. Chavez, in military fatigues and the 
trademark red beret of his left-leaning movement, was driven off 
to the Fort Tiuna army base in Caracas, where he was reported to 
be in custody.

  Pedro Carmona Estanga, the head of Venezuela's most important 
business association, was installed as interim president at a 
ceremony at 6 p.m. He promised that the new government would 
adhere to "a pluralistic vision, democratic, civil and ensuring 
the implementation of the law, the state of law."

  
Elections will be held within a year, officials said.

  The Bush administration laid the blame for Mr. Chavez's 
overthrow firmly with the ousted leader. Officials portrayed the 
ouster as a victory for democracy, even though Mr. Chavez was a 
legitimately elected president.

  "We know that the action encouraged by the Chavez government 
provoked this crisis," said Ari Fleischer, the White House 
spokesman. The Chavez government, he added, suppressed a 
peaceful demonstration and fired on unarmed protesters.

  However, Latin American leaders at a summit meeting in Costa 
Rica criticized Mr. Chavez's ouster as an "interruption of the 
constitutional order."

  A former army paratrooper who won office in 1998, Mr. Chavez 
presided over a stormy era when he seized control of the 
legislature, confronted the old-line political elite and steered 
the country into an alliance with Cuba.

  Mr. Carmona, the president of Fedeca-iras, a business 
association, said early today that Mr. Chavez had "presented his 
resignation." He spoke flanked by military officers who had 
rebelled against Mr. Chavez on Thursday night, the third day of 
a general strike called by his opponents.

  On the streets of this sprawling capital, opponents of the 
government took to the streets in the early morning hours, 
honking horns and waving the gold, blue and red of the 
Venezuelan flag. El Universal, a leading newspaper here, hailed 
the end with these words, "It's over!"

  The interim government quickly moved to undo Mr. Chavez's 
policies, dissolving the National Assembly controlled by his 
supporters, firing members of the Supreme Court and changing the 
country's official name back to the Republic of Venezuela. Mr. 
Chavez had renamed the country the Bolivarian Republic of 
Venezuela.

  In addition, the interim government repealed 49 economic laws 
passed by the Chavez-controlled National Assembly last year, 
legislation that business leaders feared would damage the 
economy.

  While pledging to hold presidential elections within 365 days, 
officials said that Mr. Carmona, who had been a leader in the 
protest movement against Mr. Chavez, will not be able to run.

  Mr. Carmona named new ministers, including two active-duty 
military officers who rebelled against Mr. Chavez on Thursday 
night. He also named retired Brig. Gen. Guaicaipuro Lameda to 
head Petr?s de Venezuela, the huge state-owned oil company, 
which exports most of its oil to the United States.

  Mr. Chavez had fired Mr. Lameda in February and appointed a 
left-leaning ally in his place along with five board members 
close to his government, enraging thousands of office workers at 
the company.

  Mr. Carmona said that operations would return to normal at the 
oil company. It had been crippled when office and production 
workers began staging work slowdowns last week in protest.

  "Venezuelan society has reached a consensus to find a way 
forward, a way that necessitated a transitional government that 
guarantees the reestablishment of democracy," Mr. Carmona told 
reporters

  Mr. Carmona said that the transitional government was being 
formed with "the consensus of civil society and also from the 
military."

  Cuba called the change-over a coup and urged other countries to 
distance themselves from the new government. President Fidel 
Castro and Mr. Chavez had formed a close friendship.

  The interim government today ended Mr. Chavez's policy of 
offering oil to Cuba under terms favorable to Havana.

  Mr. Chavez's daughter, Mar?Gabriela, speaking in an interview 
on state television in Cuba, said that her father had not 
resigned. In a phone conversation Friday morning, just before he 
fell from power, he told her, "I am a jailed president," she 
said.

  The attorney general, Isa? Rodr?ez, also said Mr. Chavez had 
not resigned, but was forced out by military officers.

  President Vicente Fox of Mexico took a strong stand, saying his 
country would not recognize Venezuela's new government until 
elections were held. Diplomatic relations between the two 
countries, however, would continue.

  American officials praised the Venezuelan military and the 
police for defying Mr. Chavez, as well as television stations 
and other media outlets that continued to function despite 
government orders to shut down.

  "We wish to express our solidarity with the Venezuelan people 
and look forward to working with all democratic forces in 
Venezuela to ensure the full exercise of democratic rights," 
said Philip T. Reeker, a State Department spokesman.

  For now, the government focused on clearing up the events 
leading to the violence of Thursday afternoon, remembering the 
fallen and searching for those who were responsible. Mr. 
Chavez's interior minister, Ram?odr?ez Chac? was taken 
into custody, and the police were looking for a strong Chavez 
supporter, Freddy Bernal, the mayor of a district of Caracas.

  Security forces, meanwhile, searched the homes of members of the 
Bolivarian Circles, neighborhood groups that were formed by Mr. 
Chavez's government and that were accused by the interim 
government of responsibility in the shootings.

  Television broadcasts on Thursday showed several men in 
plainclothes firing semiautomatic handguns from a bridge over a 
busy street in downtown Caracas. Among the crowd of assailants 
were people in red berets and T-shirts bearing the name of Mr. 
Chavez's movement.

  Mr. Carmona said that "justice must be done" for the families of 
those killed. He promised that they would receive government 
benefits.

  Among Mr. Carmona's most pressing tasks now will be to assuage 
concerns in other countries about how Mr. Chavez's reign ended 
and deal with the polarization between rich and poor that 
divides this country, analysts familiar with Venezuela said.

  "The goal for his successors is to effectively tackle the 
pressing socio-economic issues that brought Chavez to power with 
so much popular support," said Russell Crandall, a Latin America 
specialist at Davidson College in North Carolina. "Chavez was 
right about the problems he saw in Venezuela. He was wrong about 
the solutions and the Venezuelan people made that very clear."



Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company




Document 001001875 ends.


	
The news leaked from the reoccupied Palestinian cities confirms that Israeli troops have committed dozens of premeditated massacres against the civilian Palestinian population. This carnage is planned and implemented in compliance with decisions from Israeli field marshals. Israel's atrocities are masterminded by high level Israeli officials including Shimon Peres. That's why they declared the reoccupied Palestinian cities closed military areas into which media people are not allowed. 
	
	
 What happened in Bosnia Herzegovina is being repeated on a larger scale in various parts of the occupied Palestinian territories. People are being killed in masses and buried in collective graves. It is a crime against humanity. The Israeli government is committing crimes of war against the Palestinians and should be tried by an international tribunal just like the governments of Rwanda and former Yugoslavia. 
	
	
 An international tribunal for war crimes has been established in Rome and started its works officially last Thursday with the approval of more than 60 countries. This tribunal will be responsible for trying war criminals. This means we will not need a Security Council resolution to establish the tribunal. 
	
	
 The Palestinian people and the entire Arab World are waiting for a proof that international law protects human beings in general regardless of their color, ethnicity and religion. The world community should not tolerate crimes of war. We are waiting to see that international laws are not selective and that they are not applied for political, cultural and ideological considerations. The public opinion in the Arab and Islamic world is following closely what is happening in the occupied Palestinian territories. We expect the World Community to take a step toward referring the Israeli criminals of war to the permanent tribunal for war crimes. 
	
	
	





Document 001001878 ends.


       

Montedison S.p.
A. definitively agreed to buy all of the publicly held shares of Erbamont N.V. for $37 each. 

Montedison now owns about 72% of Erbamont's shares outstanding. 

The companies said the accord was unanimously approved by a special committee of Erbamont directors unaffiliated with Montedison. 

Under the pact, Montedision will make a $37-a-share tender offer for Erbamont stock outstanding.
The tender offer will be followed by the sale of all of Erbamont's assets, subject to all of its liabilities, to Montedison.
Erbamont will then be liquidated, with any remaining Erbamont holders receiving a distribution of $37 a share. 

The companies said the transaction is being structured this way because the laws of the Netherlands Antilles, under which Erbamont is organized, don't provide for merger transactions. 




Document 001001881 ends.


	
DELHI. April 4 (Interfax) - The situation in Central Asia is stable and all threats to its security have been warded off, Russian Security Council Secretary Vladimir Rushailo told Russian journalists in Delhi on Thursday. 
	
	
 He said in answer to an Interfax question that "the situation in Central Asia is on the whole stable." "The anti-terrorist operation in Afghanistan has lessened threats to regional security, but not removed them completely," he said. 
	
	
 Concerning the presence of the U.S. and its NATO allies in the region, Rushailo said that the Russian position on cooperation between the Central Asian states and the anti-terrorist coalition is well known. "We support it. Each state has the sovereign right to determine the forms and methods of its participation in the coalition," he said. 
	
	
 "However, this right should not be exercised to the detriment of the legitimate interests of neighboring states. This is one of the most important rules of the international community," Rushailo said.	





Document 001001883 ends.


	
The Zionist and US administrations have the illusion that they succeeded in defeating the Palestinian people and their valiant intifadah. Therefore, the two administrations, from the position of a "victor," have called for an international or regional peace conference. They have also announced that President Yasir Arafat is no longer fit for the coming phase. In addition, they seek to convince other parties of these two ideas and are waiting for the concerned parties to agree to them, or, at least, to the first one, after which these two administrations will set their own conditions at the table. 
	
	
 It is true that the Palestinian towns are now under occupation, that the Palestinian Authority's institutions have been destroyed, and that Arafat is still besieged at his office as a hostage. It is also true that thousands of Palestinians and their leaders are held hostage, and that the entire Palestinian people are now experiencing the utmost suffering as part of their daily lives. All this is one thing, but the Palestinian people's will is something different. 
	
	
 The Zionists have succeeded in achieving these things, but a deep-rooted fact is that they have not succeeded, and will never succeed, in breaking the will of this valiant people or in forcing the Palestinians into relinquishing their just, legitimate rights and ending their glorious struggle for these rights. It is thus an illusion for these criminal administrations to imagine that they have triumphed and that they are now in a position to dictate their own conditions on this great people. The real victor in this battle is, in fact, the Palestinian people and not the Zionists. 
	
	
 For many reasons, the occupation of Palestinian towns cannot last, so the Zionist forces will have to withdraw from these towns sooner or later. In addition, it is now more impossible than ever to control the movement of three million Palestinians. This is actually one of the deep-rooted facts. 
	
	
 As for the towns and refugee camps that have been destroyed, they will soon be reconstructed by the Palestinian people who have skillfully adapted themselves to the most difficult circumstances. This reconstruction will take place more quickly than what the criminals in Tel Aviv and Washington think. 
	
	
 Most importantly, however, these criminals will have the largest illusion if they imagine that they have succeeded in liquidating the intifadah and destroying its infrastructure after having succeeded in liquidating or arresting a small or large number of the intifadah's leaders and strugglers. Another deep-rooted fact is that the organizations of the Palestinian resistance still preserve their organizational structure and are also characterized by their superb ability to renew their leaders and replace the ones who fall along the path of martyrdom. These criminals know this fact, as much as we, the Arabs, do, because they are in direct contact with it. 
	
	
 As for the intifadah's infrastructure, it has actually widened and turned into volcanoes that are boiling with rage. As has been acknowledged by Uri Avneri, a veteran Zionist writer, the intifadah's structure "exists within millions of Palestinians and also within tens of millions of Arabs in whose chests the fire of anger is blazing." He added: "If more fighters and martyrdom-seeking ones fall, other fighters and martyrdom-seeking ones will emerge, who are ready to follow in their footsteps." 
	
	
 The conclusion to which we come is that the Zionist and US administrations have aggravated the Zionist entity's historical impasse through the crime they have committed together when they had the illusion that "force" can break the Palestinian people's will and impose on this people what other means failed to impose. 
	
	
 Contrary to the visible scene and to the illusion of Sharon and Bush, this Zionist-US crime has confirmed that the Zionist entity's historical impasse is constantly aggravating and that "the Arabs' recognition of this entity's right to exist" is now more distant than before despite some official Arab "recognitions." Millions of Arabs, Palestinians and non-Palestinians alike, now have a conviction stronger than before to the effect that it is impossible to achieve "coexistence" with this usurping, occupying, aggressive, and racist entity. 
	
	
	





Document 001001885 ends.



   
   
      
         Welcome back to our show!
         OK.
         This is Maria, and I don't know your last name.
      
      
         Polk.
      
      
         Oh that's good.
         From Polkton, Maria Polk.
         OK.
         And where did you grow up?
         Were you born in this area here?
      
      
         I was born in Cottonville.
         Right outside of Norwood in Stanley County.
      
      
         Oh, OK.
         When you were little, did your mom read you books, or did somebody read you books in your house?
      
      
         My mama read to me and my sister.
      
      
         Uh-huh.
         What kind of books were your favorites?
         Do you remember any that were maybe a real favorite of yours?
      
      
         Mm, I kind of liked them all.
         Um, I didn't really have a favorite.
      
      
         No?
         Any particular types, like ones with pictures or
         .
         Can you think of a story that they told you that you liked for them to read over and over?
      
      
         Um, I think my favorite was like, "Little Red Riding Hood;" I loved that book.
      
      
         "Little Red Riding Hood"?
         So when you read to yourself did you read different stories than the ones they would read to you?
      
      
         Mmm, basically, something different.
      
      
         Did you get to go to the library when you were little?
      
      
         Uh-huh, all the time.
      
      
         Yeah.
         So, you would check books out?
      
      
         Uh-huh.
         Mostly, I liked to spend time reading encyclopedias--
      
      
         Oh, really?
      
      
         --when I was little.
      
      
         You like to read encyclopedias.
         In your family, do you remember if there was any storyteller?
      
      
         Well, my uncle was always telling stories and, uh, we had this house across the street from where I grew up that was old and he ever finished it.
         He started it and he told stories that, um, um, men being in it that house at night and stuff and for us not to go outside at night.
      
      
         Would he scare you?
      
      
         Yeah.
         So we, at a certain time, we were scared to go over there because we'd always go outside and look at the house across the street.
      
      
         Um, did he tell stories to big groups of people, or just one-on-one?
      
      
         Just to our cousins and all of us that hung around each other all the time.
      
      
         Uh-huh.
         Now, do you have kids at your house?
      
      
         No.
         Only, only on Sunday: my niece and nephew and my cousins.
      
      
         Uh-huh.
         Do you like to read to them?
         Do they bring their books over?
      
      
         I read to my niece.
         She likes the pop-out books.
      
      
         Uh-huh.
         How old is she?
      
      
         She's, ah
         six.
         She likes the pictures that pop out at you.
         She likes for me to read them to her.
      
      
         Can she read to herself yet?
      
      
         Not yet, but she tries to.
         Mostly, she just looks at the pictures.
      
      
         Is she, what grade is she in?
         Do you know?
      
      
         She's in kindergarten.
      
      
         She's in kindergarten?
         OK.
         That's pretty much all I need to know, about how you liked reading and things when you were little.
         Is there anything else you'd like to say about this, that comes to your mind?
      
      
         No, not so much.
      
   



Document 001001886 ends.


	
5:14pm Sat May 4th, 2002 -- Thirty-two non-governmental organisations [NGOs] today said they have suspended all engagements with the Malaysian Human Rights Commission or Suhakam for 100 days since April 24 - when the latest appointments to the commission took effect. Speaking on behalf of the NGOs , human rights organisation, Hakam president Ramdas Tikamdas said the boycott was to protest the government's poor response to Suhakam's numerous recommendations thus far. 
	
	
 "The NGOs note with deep concern that the government has largely ignored Suhakam's maiden report and its freedom of assembly report. 
	
	
 "Whereas the Kesas report, submitted after a public inquiry, earned the disdain and wrath of the Prime Minister (Dr Mahathir Mohamad) who summarily dismissed it as a product of `western biased'," he said during a press conference at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall in Kuala Lumpur. 
	
	
 The Kesas report irked Mahathir after it found the police guilty of using excessive force during a mass anti-government gathering along the Kesas highway on Nov 5, 2000. 
	
	
 The NGOs stressed the government has also failed to respect or recognise Suhakam's recommendations and also lamented the decline of human rights in Malaysia. 
	
	
 Ramdas said the government's failure to adhere to the commission's recommendations creates the impression that Suhakam is nothing but "a mere public relations tool". 
	
	
 "Over the last two years, the state of human rights in Malaysia has deteriorated with increasing numbers of people detained without trial under the Internal Security Act, with blanket police ban on assemblies, with restrictions to the right of free speech and expression and with further restrictive amendments to the election laws, all of which have further denied our democratic space," he added. 
	
	
 The NGOs also noted that the government has yet to show its commitment and respect for universal human rights principles by ratifying the international instruments of human rights, namely the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Covenant Against Torture. 
	
	
 Controversial appointments 
	
	
 Meanwhile, another concern raised was Suhakam's independence following the appointment of former attorney-general Abu Talib Othman as its new chairperson and the decision not to renew the appointments of three commissioners, Anuar Zainal Abidin, Prof Mehrun Siraj and Dr Salleh Mohd Nor. 
	
	
 Ramdas said it was perceived that Anuar and Mehrun, instrumental behind the scathing Kesas report, were dropped for performing their duties without fear or favour. 
	
	
 "The fact that three commissioners have now been axed is a clear signal to other commissioners that their tenure is dependent on whether or not they have pleased the executive. 
	
	
 "This clearly undermines the independence of the Commission and will erode public's confidence on it." 
	
	
 On the other hand, the NGOs said there is nothing in the public records which shows that Abu Talib was committed to protecting civil liberties and advancing human rights. 
	
	
 Claiming that there was "nothing personal", the NGOs said their concern was based on his defense of the 1987 'Ops Lalang' where more than 100 people were detained under the ISA [Internal Security Act]. 
	
	
 They added that Abu Talib, during his tenure as AG [attorney general], was also instrumental for the impeachment of then Lord President Salleh Abas and five Supreme Court judges in 1988. 
	
	
 The NGOs also expressed concern over the appointment of five new commissioners which has led to Suhakam being made up mostly of retired civil servants. 
	
	
 The new commissioners are retired Treasury deputy secretary-general Ramon Navaratnam, permanent representative to the United Nations Hasmy Agam, Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia (Ikim) director-general Dr Abdul Monir Yaacob, retired Education director-general Asiah Abu Samah and retired National Population and Family Development Board director-general Dr Raj Abdul Karim. 
	
	
 "Our concern is whether persons used to the role of policy implementors can objectively assess and critique executive policies which impinge on human rights," said Ramdas. 
	
	
 Elaborating further on the boycott, Ramdas said the NGOs will not hold any dialogues, send any memorandums or complaints to Suhakam. 
	
	
 "In the meantime, we will monitor the commissioners in the discharge of their statutory duties in respect of the pending complaints and inquires," he said. 
	
	
 "We will also note to what extent Suhakam will monitor the government's compliance with previous recommendations on various human rights issues contained in its maiden report to the Parliament as well as its other reports," he added. 
	
	
 Ramdas said Suhakam's performance will be judged not on the number of statements issued or reports produced but on the improvement of human rights in Malaysia. 
	
	
 "When the bill (Suhakam Act ) was tabled in the parliament, our Foreign Affairs Minister (Syed Hamid Albar) promised that this would be a positive development in protecting and promoting human rights in Malaysia. 
	
	
 "We are now looking at Suhakam as an institution to fulfill this promise," he stressed. 
	
	
 According to Ramdas the NGOs will meet again after the 100-day period to review their position. 
	
	
 Apart from Hakam, other notable NGOs involved in the boycott are the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC), Suaram, Amesty International's Malaysian chapter, Jamaah Islah Malaysia (Jim) and Sisters in Islam (SIS). 
	
	
 Boycott unfair 
	
	
 In a related development, Suhakam commissioner Prof Hamdan Adnan told malaysiakini that he was disappointed with the boycott which he described as "unfair". 
	
	
 Instead of resorting to such measures, the commissioner said the NGOs should work with Suhakam for the advancement of human rights in this country. 
	
	
 He added the boycott could create the impression that the NGOs were acting out of self interest and are not honest about championing human rights. 
	
	
 "This action shows that the NGOs themselves do not acknowledge Suhakam and do not want to work with us," said Hamdan.	





Document 001001887 ends.



Mugabe Predicts Victory in Zimbabwe's Election

 



  Zimbabwe's incumbent President Robert Mugabe Saturday predicted 
victory in the country's two- horse presidential race, saying 
that he will accept the outcome of the election because he will 
have defeated Morgan Tsvangirai of the opposition Movement for 
Democratic Change (MDC).

  Looking tired but blithesome after more than a month of daily 
election campaigns throughout the southern African country, 
Mugabe cast his vote in a weekend presidential poll, in which he 
is facing a serious challenge from his main rival Tsvangirai.

  The Zimbabwean veteran leader, who has been in power since the 
country gained independence from Britain in 1980, was 
accompanied to the polling station at a school in the poor 
suburb of Highfield in the capital Harare by family members, 
including two children.

  He told journalists after casting his ballot that he was more 
than confident of winning the election.

  "I will accept the results more than anything because I will 
have won," said Mugabe.

  He said those who thought the election process would be rigged 
were supporters of the MDC party, adding that they were 
prejudging and wanted to direct the process.

  Tension has risen sharply in Zimbabwe in recent months, after 
long and sometimes violent election campaigns. The MDC party has 
accused Mugabe of using violence and other electoral 
manipulation to rig the poll.

  While defying international pressure to back down from his 
controversial land reforms, Mugabe has said he needs a new six- 
year mandate to complete the reforms.

  Under these reforms, the Zimbabwean government has taken over 
excess and idle farms from white farmers, who own the bulk of 
the country's arable land, to resettle landless peasants.

  Nearly 500,000 people have been resettled since the beginning of 
last year.

  However, the program has drawn sharp international rebuke, 
particularly from former colonial power Britain, but Mugabe has 
vowed to press ahead with the reforms.

  The European Union imposed sanctions on Mugabe and 19 of his 
close associates last month, while the United States took the 
same move, accusing Mugabe of violating human rights and 
cracking down on the opposition, the media and judiciary.

  The controversial land reform is the pillar of Mugabe's 
electoral strategy, which political analysts say could work 
either way.

  In Mugabe's view, the March election is a new chapter in his 
long struggle against colonial rule, which he led from the early 
1960s until the country's independence.

  "We have to deliver and safeguard the most important heritage to 
the young generation - land - which was taken from our 
forefathers by force," he told a recent rally.

  Mugabe even talked about his desire to keep safeguarding 
Zimbabwe's sovereignty and land in spirit when he dies, a dream 
which the veteran leader said forced him to sacrifice a bright 
teaching career in the 1950s to lead his compatriots out of 
colonial rule.

  But that ambition would be fully tested at the ballot box this 
weekend.



Copyright by People's Daily Online, all rights reserved






Document 001001888 ends.


	
Hong Kong, 23 Feb (ZTS) -- US President Bush concluded a two-day working visit to China, during which he exchanged in-depth views on Sino-US relations and on major international and regional issues with the Chinese leaders, and reached extensive and important consensus. Both the Chinese and US sides hold that the visit has achieved positive and successful results. Hong Kong media also generally maintained a positive stance toward the trip and welcomed the visit. 
	
	
 Bush's visit to China has been a success. When he revisited the Great Wall, he could hardly hide his excitement. He wanted Chinese officials to show the places where Nixon had stood when he made the ice-breaking visit to the Great Wall 30 years ago. In front of the TV camera, Bush stepped several steps forward from the spot where Nixon had stood. This is to show the world that Sino-US relationship continues to move ahead from the existing basis. In an editorial, Wen Wei Po noted that 30 years ago Nixon developed strategic relations with China due to the US strategic interests and to the need to deal with the Soviet Union, the United States' biggest enemy. Thirty years later, the United States now considers itself the world's sole superpower. But the 11 September event makes Bush aware that the major enemy of the United States is terrorist groups, that US security is threatened, and that without support from other big countries, it will be difficult for the United States to win the war against terrorism. Bush then rediscovered the importance of China -- a big country on the other side of the globe -- and tries to develop "constructive cooperative relations" with China since it is in accord with US strategic interests. The United States appreciates the role that China plays in helping solve the conflict between India and Pakistan. Bush hopes that Jiang Zemin would mediate with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on the US' behalf so that the United States can resume talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. There is a saying that "people in the world work so hard to pursue gains." That Bush chooses to increase contacts with China shows that it is impossible for the United States to deal with global issues alone, nor can it afford to ignore China's major role in international affairs. 
	
	
 We see that Bush stopped referring to the "strategic competitor" remark during his visit in China, since a confrontation between the two biggest countries on both sides of the Pacific brings no good to world peace and economic development. Hong Kong's public opinion hold that Bush's visit to China is like delivering a message to the "China threat" advocates in the US Republican Party: Now is the time to engage China in a positive manner. 
	
	
 In addition, during his stay in China, Bush expressed "admiration" and "surprise" on several occasions regarding the development and changes in China in recent years and on China's tremendous development potential. On 22 February, in a speech at Tsinghua University, Bush again stated that "it is very hard for me to use words to describe the earth-shaking changes in China." A Ta Kung Pao editorial pointed out that obviously Bush did not make these remarks out of courtesy to the hosts, but that development and changes in China did indeed leave a deep impression on Bush and his party. This will have a certain impact on the US Government's readjustment and implementation of policies toward China in the future. 
	
	
 Regarding the major contents and purpose of Bush's speech at Tsinghua University, it was, as overseas public opinion had expected, a promotion of US values to China. In an editorial, Hong Kong's Shang Pao pointed out that in the course of reform and opening up, the United States is a country that the Chinese people want to understand the most and that the United States is a country that is easiest to understand. Not only today, 10 years ago or even in the early days of China's reform and opening up, the broad mass of the Chinese people, young college students in particular, know about US values. The Chinese people not only understand American democracy, freedom, religions, and human rights, they also know quite well about American social, economic, and political problems, which is beyond Bush's imagination. That's why a student asked Bush yesterday how to handle social problems including the problem of the violation of human rights, which is getting worse day after day in the!
 United States. 
	
	
 The Taiwan issue was made prominent during Premier Zhu Rongji's meeting with Bush and in the questions posed to Bush by Tsinghua students. Hong Kong public opinion pointed out that this shows that the Chinese Government and people are extremely concerned about and dissatisfied with Bush's remarks on the Taiwan issue. The US Government should realize that the Taiwan issue is the most important and most sensitive core issue in Sino-US relations. The United States is greatly responsible for the slow settlement of the Taiwan issue and for the "Taiwan independence" forces running rampant. The US Government should earnestly abide by the three Sino-US joint communiques and relevant commitments, and properly handle the Taiwan issue from a strategic and long-term perspective. This is of vital importance to the situation in the Taiwan Strait, to peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as to the healthy development of Sino-US relations. 
	
	
	





Document 001001894 ends.



    Endeavour links to space station with delivery of fresh 3-man crew

 



  CAPE CANAVERAL -- Space shuttle Endeavour docked with the 
international space station Friday, delivering a new 
three-member crew to relieve the men who have been up there 
since August.

  The shuttle pulled up as the two spacecraft orbited 250 miles 
above the Polish-Ukrainian border, ending a two-day chase.

  Space station commander Frank Culbertson had eagerly awaited the 
arrival of Endeavour, his ride home. Although his four-month 
stay was quiet, the retired Navy fighter pilot said he felt 
isolated and frustrated after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

  
His crewmates were two Russians.

  ``We're ready to see you guys,'' Culbertson radioed once 
Endeavour pulled within 1 1/2 miles. He watched as the shuttle, 
a ghostly white against the blackness of space, drew ever 
closer.

  As Endeavour slowly closed the final 40 feet, Culbertson rang 
the ship's bell aboard the space station and announced in the 
tradition of the high seas, ``Endeavour arriving.''

  Culbertson and his crewmates, Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail 
Tyurin, will move out of the space station today. Taking their 
places will be Russian Yuri Onufrienko, the next commander, and 
Americans Carl Walz and Daniel Bursch.

  
They will stay aboard until May.



Copyright 2001 Miami Herald




Document 001001896 ends.


	
Italian farmer charged with illegally slaughtering cattle 
	
	
 Text of report in English by Italian news agency ANSA web site 
	
	
 Benevento, 13 February: A 67-year-old farmer from Benevento near Naples was arrested today on charges of illegally slaughtering cattle. The man was caught by police while secretly slaughtering a cow at his farm. The meat was confiscated and will be tested to see if it is contaminated with "mad cow" disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Police stressed they had stepped up farm inspections across the region of Campania amid heightened concern over illegal slaughtering practices in the wake of Italy's first suspected case of vCJD - the fatal brain-wasting human form of BSE. The case concerns a 23-year-old woman from Menfi in southwest Sicily whom health officials said last week had almost certainly contracted the disease in Italy and at least five years ago. Federico Piccoli, a top neurologist at Palermo hospital who is helping to treat the woman, immediately warned that further cases of vCJD in Sicily were only to be expected because "the illegal slaughter of animals still goes on here". His comments were immediately contested by meat industry representatives and vet associations but the opposition Green party said yesterday there was evidence that illegal slaughtering practices were on the rise in several southern regions such as Campania, Sicily and Puglia and that the meat was entering the food chain. Italy launched a BSE cattle-testing programme in January 2001, in compliance with European Union regulations, and so far 56 cases of "mad cow" disease have been detected. 
	
	
	





Document 001001897 ends.


