ISRAEL-OPT: Gaza's main hospital struggling to cope
GAZA CITY, 30 December 2008 (IRIN) - Gaza's main hospital, Al-Shifa, is struggling to cope with the influx of people injured in the Israeli air strikes which started on 27 December, according to medical sources.
Staff and patients are also fearful Israel might target it, as the leaders of Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls the enclave, have held press conferences there.
The hospital has already moved some medical facilities below ground.
The head of the international cooperation department of Gaza's health ministry, Medhat Abbas, told IRIN: "Al-Shifa has never received hundreds of patients all at once. Hospital staff are using sheets to staunch bleeding, and many patients have died because of the lack of supplies and equipment."
A statement issued by the Israeli branch of Physicians For Human Rights, an NGO, on 30 December said: "The Israeli attack finds the current health system in the Gaza Strip in a state of total collapse due to the harsh siege imposed on the Gaza Strip for a year and a half, and the closure preceding it."
Abbas reported a shortage of staff, including nurses and surgeons, at Al-Shifa, which is in desperate need of antibiotics, tubes, urine bags, dressings and gloves for emergency operations. The hospital was already facing shortages of medicines and medical supplies due to the Israeli blockade.
Generators at Al-Shifa, designed to operate two or three hours daily, are operating 12-16 hours a day due to the rolling blackouts, said Abbas. He feared they could overheat and malfunction.
Medical aid via Egypt
Egypt briefly opened the Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt on Sunday [28 December] to allow nine trucks of medical aid from the Egyptian Red Crescent and Health Ministry to enter Gaza. It also opened the border on 29 December to allow in truckloads of Qatari aid. Such aid, though helpful, cannot fill the gap, according to medical sources.
"The Rafah border must be opened," said Abbas. "Israel is trying to destroy us."
"Our capabilities are limited. Since August we have not received basic medications. The ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross]. has been unable to deliver a shipment [of medicines] for one month," said health ministry spokesperson Hamam Nasman. "One hundred and five drugs and 230 basic supplies, such as alcohol, cotton and needles. are out of stock."
Bodies piling up
Over 1,330 people had been injured, and 180 were in a critical condition, according to the health ministry.
Although the hospital's morgue was said by hospital officials to be adequate, bodies were piling up outside the hospital as additional make-shift intensive care units were created to treat the flow of emergency cases, said an IRIN journalist at the scene.
There are usually six functional operating rooms at Al-Shifa hospital. "Six additional operating rooms were opened and we began sending victims to other lesser endowed hospitals for treatment after all the beds were full," hospital director Hussein Ashur told IRIN. He said there was a shortage of blood for transfusions.
Fatimah Salem, 53, lies in a coma in Al-Shifa hospital, torn apart by debris while at work for a local charity near the targeted prison in Gaza City. "My mother was not firing rockets at Israel," said her son, Majed.
tisdag 30 december 2008
måndag 22 december 2008
Israel violated the truce
Gazans: Israel violated the truce
By Mohammed Ali, a humanitarian aid worker in co-operation with Oxfam
Many Palestinian families in Gaza have had to rely on UN humanitarian assistance [GALLO/GETTY] In June, Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed to a ceasefire following weeks of intense fighting in Gaza.
Under the terms of the ceasefire, Hamas and its affiliates would refrain from firing home-made rockets into Israel and the latter would halt incursions and attacks on the Gaza Strip.
The Egyptian-brokered agreement also called for an easing of Israel's restrictions on the borders, thereby allowing goods into the besieged territory.
However, the fragile truce between Israel and Gaza was breached by an Israeli raid and Palestinian rocket fire on November 4.
Since then Israel has accused Gazan fighters of launching dozens of home-made rocket attacks at Israeli towns and the Hamas leadership has countered by saying Israeli air raids and military action have killed several Palestinians.
The Israeli blockade on Gaza has sparked much international criticism as precipitating a looming humanitarian crisis in the Strip.
Al Jazeera spoke to residents of the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza about the truce, its effects, and whether it should be renewed.
see more on http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2008/12/20081218102459596978.html
By Mohammed Ali, a humanitarian aid worker in co-operation with Oxfam
Many Palestinian families in Gaza have had to rely on UN humanitarian assistance [GALLO/GETTY] In June, Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed to a ceasefire following weeks of intense fighting in Gaza.
Under the terms of the ceasefire, Hamas and its affiliates would refrain from firing home-made rockets into Israel and the latter would halt incursions and attacks on the Gaza Strip.
The Egyptian-brokered agreement also called for an easing of Israel's restrictions on the borders, thereby allowing goods into the besieged territory.
However, the fragile truce between Israel and Gaza was breached by an Israeli raid and Palestinian rocket fire on November 4.
Since then Israel has accused Gazan fighters of launching dozens of home-made rocket attacks at Israeli towns and the Hamas leadership has countered by saying Israeli air raids and military action have killed several Palestinians.
The Israeli blockade on Gaza has sparked much international criticism as precipitating a looming humanitarian crisis in the Strip.
Al Jazeera spoke to residents of the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza about the truce, its effects, and whether it should be renewed.
see more on http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2008/12/20081218102459596978.html
onsdag 10 december 2008
Villagers bombed in August still living with relatives
AFGHANISTAN: Villagers bombed in August still living with relatives
HERAT, 9 December 2008 (IRIN) - Mullah Gol Ahmad lost several members of his extended family when US forces dropped bombs on Azizabad village, Shindand District, Herat Province on 22 August. His house was destroyed and he and four members of his family have lived with relatives ever since.
He said he needed to rebuild his home but had no money to do so: "We cannot live with relatives for ever. We have to rebuild our own house and move there."
Akhtar Mohammad, whose house was also damaged in the incident, voiced similar concerns. "For several months we have been accommodated by our relatives and now they expect us to leave, but we have nowhere to go".
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the Afghan government said some 90 civilians - 60 children, 15 women and 15 men - were killed when the bombs hit Azizabad http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/LSGZ-7HVGG2?OpenDocument]. Up to 35 houses were either destroyed or damaged and dozens of families were displaced. About 900 people were affected, UNAMA said.
US forces have repudiated these figures, saying about 30 civilians died as a result of the bombing, the New York Times reported on 7 October [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/washington/08inquiry.html].
Inadequate aid?
Afghan President Hamid Karzai visited Azizabad on 4 September and gave assurances that people would be given shelter as well as access to basic services such as water, education and health; he also promised financial aid.
The government has paid US$2,000 to the family of each killed civilian and $1,000 to every wounded civilian, Sadiq Modaber, head of the Secretariat of the Ministers' Council, told IRIN on 7 December, adding: "Thirty-nine members of the martyrs' families have been sent [to Saudi Arabia] for Haj [pilgrimage]."
UNAMA said UN agencies delivered "life-saving assistance" to hundreds of affected people in late August, but local people said the one-time financial and food aid package was too little to enable them re-establish a normal life.
"Our biggest problem is lack of shelter. The money the government paid us barely covered our immediate needs," said Haji Golalai, a local resident, adding that he had no money to repair his damaged house.
Some said they had used the government money for "mourning rituals" and had nothing left to repair their damaged properties or pay for other needs. Others sounded a note of despair: "Money cannot return to us what we have lost," one elderly man told IRIN.
As the conflict intensifies, civilians are increasingly in the firing line. Over 1,400 non-combatants were killed January-August 2008, according to UNAMA [http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/EGUA-7JJM7B?OpenDocument].
Tens of thousands have also been displaced due to the conflict, and humanitarian access to almost half the country has been impeded due to the growing number of attacks on aid workers, aid agencies say.
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HERAT, 9 December 2008 (IRIN) - Mullah Gol Ahmad lost several members of his extended family when US forces dropped bombs on Azizabad village, Shindand District, Herat Province on 22 August. His house was destroyed and he and four members of his family have lived with relatives ever since.
He said he needed to rebuild his home but had no money to do so: "We cannot live with relatives for ever. We have to rebuild our own house and move there."
Akhtar Mohammad, whose house was also damaged in the incident, voiced similar concerns. "For several months we have been accommodated by our relatives and now they expect us to leave, but we have nowhere to go".
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the Afghan government said some 90 civilians - 60 children, 15 women and 15 men - were killed when the bombs hit Azizabad http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/LSGZ-7HVGG2?OpenDocument]. Up to 35 houses were either destroyed or damaged and dozens of families were displaced. About 900 people were affected, UNAMA said.
US forces have repudiated these figures, saying about 30 civilians died as a result of the bombing, the New York Times reported on 7 October [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/washington/08inquiry.html].
Inadequate aid?
Afghan President Hamid Karzai visited Azizabad on 4 September and gave assurances that people would be given shelter as well as access to basic services such as water, education and health; he also promised financial aid.
The government has paid US$2,000 to the family of each killed civilian and $1,000 to every wounded civilian, Sadiq Modaber, head of the Secretariat of the Ministers' Council, told IRIN on 7 December, adding: "Thirty-nine members of the martyrs' families have been sent [to Saudi Arabia] for Haj [pilgrimage]."
UNAMA said UN agencies delivered "life-saving assistance" to hundreds of affected people in late August, but local people said the one-time financial and food aid package was too little to enable them re-establish a normal life.
"Our biggest problem is lack of shelter. The money the government paid us barely covered our immediate needs," said Haji Golalai, a local resident, adding that he had no money to repair his damaged house.
Some said they had used the government money for "mourning rituals" and had nothing left to repair their damaged properties or pay for other needs. Others sounded a note of despair: "Money cannot return to us what we have lost," one elderly man told IRIN.
As the conflict intensifies, civilians are increasingly in the firing line. Over 1,400 non-combatants were killed January-August 2008, according to UNAMA [http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/EGUA-7JJM7B?OpenDocument].
Tens of thousands have also been displaced due to the conflict, and humanitarian access to almost half the country has been impeded due to the growing number of attacks on aid workers, aid agencies say.
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onsdag 3 december 2008
US Warned India of Mumbai Attack
US Warned India of Mumbai Attack
US intelligence twice alerted India of a maritime attack on Mumbai, including Taj Mahl hotel. (Reuters)WASHINGTON — A month prior to the devastating attacks, the US warned its strategic Asian ally of possible maritime terrorist attacks against its financial capital and even named the iconic Taj Mahl hotel as a top target.
"US intelligence indicated that a group might enter the country by water and launch an attack on Mumbai," a US counterterrorism official told CNN, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.
Another intelligence official told ABCNews that US intelligence agencies warned their Indian counterparts in mid-October of a potential attack "from the sea against hotels and business centers in Mumbai."
Mumbai Attacks & Aftermath (Special)
A second government source said specific locations, including the Taj hotel, were listed in the US warning.
At least 188 people, including 22 foreigners, were killed and nearly 300 injured in attacks on ten Mumbai targets, including its luxurious Oberoi and Taj Mahal hotels.
It too Indian commandoes 60 hours to bring the situation under control and overcame militants who had taken scores of people, mostly westerners, hostage.
The three-day long siege left a trail of destruction in the 565-room Taj Mahal Palace, a 105-year-old Victorian building that is a Mumbai's flagship.
Indian officials have confirmed to CNN that US officials, twice, warned them of a water-borne attack.
The warnings were followed by tightened security measures at hotels, before they were later reduced.
Ratan Tata, the chairman of the company that owns the Taj Mahal hotel, has admitted that they were warned of a possible attack.
"It's ironic that we did have such a warning and we did have some measures," he told CNN on Sunday.
"But if I look at what we had -- which all of us complained about -- it could not have stopped what took place."
Failure
There is widespread public anger over intelligence and security failings that led to the attacks.
The Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), India’s external intelligence agency, reportedly provided several intercepts from signals intelligence over the last three months suggesting an attack on a Mumbai hotel was imminent.
"This should have been enough to let police know that: 1) Hotels were the target. 2) The attackers would use the sea route," the Hindustan Times reported on Tuesday.
"…these intercepts were clear, detailed and specific. So, are the police lying? Was this information not passed on? Or was it just incorrectly processed?" it asked.
"So far, there are no answers."
Vilasrao Deshmukh, the chief minister of Maharashtra state, offered to resign Monday, December 1, after his deputy stepped down over the devastating attacks.
Deshmukh was widely criticized on Sunday when he visited the wreckage of the Taj Mahal hotel.
Interior Minister Shivraj Patil resigned on Sunday and has been replaced, while the country's powerful national security adviser offered to quit but will likely stay.
The head of the country's Coast Guard also "retired" on Sunday.
IOL & News Agencies
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US intelligence twice alerted India of a maritime attack on Mumbai, including Taj Mahl hotel. (Reuters)WASHINGTON — A month prior to the devastating attacks, the US warned its strategic Asian ally of possible maritime terrorist attacks against its financial capital and even named the iconic Taj Mahl hotel as a top target.
"US intelligence indicated that a group might enter the country by water and launch an attack on Mumbai," a US counterterrorism official told CNN, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.
Another intelligence official told ABCNews that US intelligence agencies warned their Indian counterparts in mid-October of a potential attack "from the sea against hotels and business centers in Mumbai."
Mumbai Attacks & Aftermath (Special)
A second government source said specific locations, including the Taj hotel, were listed in the US warning.
At least 188 people, including 22 foreigners, were killed and nearly 300 injured in attacks on ten Mumbai targets, including its luxurious Oberoi and Taj Mahal hotels.
It too Indian commandoes 60 hours to bring the situation under control and overcame militants who had taken scores of people, mostly westerners, hostage.
The three-day long siege left a trail of destruction in the 565-room Taj Mahal Palace, a 105-year-old Victorian building that is a Mumbai's flagship.
Indian officials have confirmed to CNN that US officials, twice, warned them of a water-borne attack.
The warnings were followed by tightened security measures at hotels, before they were later reduced.
Ratan Tata, the chairman of the company that owns the Taj Mahal hotel, has admitted that they were warned of a possible attack.
"It's ironic that we did have such a warning and we did have some measures," he told CNN on Sunday.
"But if I look at what we had -- which all of us complained about -- it could not have stopped what took place."
Failure
There is widespread public anger over intelligence and security failings that led to the attacks.
The Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), India’s external intelligence agency, reportedly provided several intercepts from signals intelligence over the last three months suggesting an attack on a Mumbai hotel was imminent.
"This should have been enough to let police know that: 1) Hotels were the target. 2) The attackers would use the sea route," the Hindustan Times reported on Tuesday.
"…these intercepts were clear, detailed and specific. So, are the police lying? Was this information not passed on? Or was it just incorrectly processed?" it asked.
"So far, there are no answers."
Vilasrao Deshmukh, the chief minister of Maharashtra state, offered to resign Monday, December 1, after his deputy stepped down over the devastating attacks.
Deshmukh was widely criticized on Sunday when he visited the wreckage of the Taj Mahal hotel.
Interior Minister Shivraj Patil resigned on Sunday and has been replaced, while the country's powerful national security adviser offered to quit but will likely stay.
The head of the country's Coast Guard also "retired" on Sunday.
IOL & News Agencies
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tisdag 2 december 2008
ISRAEL-OPT: Power cuts, fuel shortages affect health and water supplies
ISRAEL-OPT: Power cuts, fuel shortages affect health and water supplies
WEST BANK/GAZA, 2 December 2008 (IRIN) - Adel Abu Sido, 31, a taxi driver from Gaza City, stands over his two-week old premature baby, Hadil, dreading her air supply may abruptly stop.
Hadil's incubator is not reliably providing enough oxygen due to the inconsistent power supply at Al-Shiffa Hospital, the main healthcare centre in the Gaza Strip.
The fuel for hospital generators has nearly run out and a shortage of basic medical supplies has left Al-Shiffa with only 20 percent of the oxygen supply it needs, forcing medical professionals in Gaza to make hard choices, said Gaza health ministry spokesperson Hamam Nasman.
"Fifty percent of hospital equipment at Al-Shiffa has stopped functioning due to the lack of electricity and spare parts since this more than 20-day blockade started," said Gaza health minister Basem Naim, adding that 95 basic medications are out of stock.
Asthma patients waiting for inhalers are being turned away, as hospital pharmacists scavenge local pharmacies.
"Al-Shiffa Hospital is using its secondary generator nearly 20 hours a day to power the hospital, since there is not enough fuel in stock to operate the primary generator," said spokesperson Nasman. Under normal circumstances the secondary generator has the capacity to power the hospital only three hours a day.
Israeli Defence Ministry spokesperson Shlomo Dror said: "The fuel supply to Gaza was only interrupted for three days to send a political signal to Hamas that the lull is not going to continue while they encourage shooting at civilians." Israel is interested in continuing the ceasefire, he said.
Washing machines - used to sterilize sheets and uniforms - have stopped due to the lack of fuel at the hospital.
Rolling blackouts
Rolling blackouts are now common across Gaza, particularly in Gaza City, the largest population centre. Hundreds of thousands are left without electricity during winter, which means no water for many residents who live in high-rise buildings dependent on electric water pumps.
Israel sealed all commercial and passenger border crossings to Gaza on 4 November, when an Israeli military incursion into Gaza prompted Palestinian militants to resume daily rocket-fire into Israeli towns. Before the Israeli ground operation to locate a tunnel, a five-month Egyptian- brokered ceasefire had been largely holding.
Israel has restricted imports into Gaza, including food, fuel, medical supplies and other basic necessities despite the truce, which calls on militants to halt rocket attacks in return for Israel easing its embargo on the territory.
"This time throughout this whole truce since June none of us have been able to bring in anything extra that would create a reserve so we had nothing to call upon," said Karen Abu Zayd, commissioner-general of UNRWA, the UN Palestinian refugee agency.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Gaza is running on less than half the electricity it requires for normal consumption, a result of the blockade on fuel and mechanical parts. [http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_protection_of_civilians_weekly_2008_11_18_english.pdf]
Impact on water, sewage
The lack of fuel and electricity has caused water and sewage systems in Gaza to collapse.
The Coastal Municipal Water Utility (CMWU) in Gaza has said that due to the power outages and the lack of fuel, 20 percent of wells are not functional and 60 percent are only partially functional. Furthermore, malfunctioning sewage systems have raised concerns about possible flooding and leakage during the forthcoming rainy season.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called for an immediate end to Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip on 18 November, which she said breached international and humanitarian law. [http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=28983&Cr=palestin&Cr1]
es/ar/cb/bp[END]
IRIN
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WEST BANK/GAZA, 2 December 2008 (IRIN) - Adel Abu Sido, 31, a taxi driver from Gaza City, stands over his two-week old premature baby, Hadil, dreading her air supply may abruptly stop.
Hadil's incubator is not reliably providing enough oxygen due to the inconsistent power supply at Al-Shiffa Hospital, the main healthcare centre in the Gaza Strip.
The fuel for hospital generators has nearly run out and a shortage of basic medical supplies has left Al-Shiffa with only 20 percent of the oxygen supply it needs, forcing medical professionals in Gaza to make hard choices, said Gaza health ministry spokesperson Hamam Nasman.
"Fifty percent of hospital equipment at Al-Shiffa has stopped functioning due to the lack of electricity and spare parts since this more than 20-day blockade started," said Gaza health minister Basem Naim, adding that 95 basic medications are out of stock.
Asthma patients waiting for inhalers are being turned away, as hospital pharmacists scavenge local pharmacies.
"Al-Shiffa Hospital is using its secondary generator nearly 20 hours a day to power the hospital, since there is not enough fuel in stock to operate the primary generator," said spokesperson Nasman. Under normal circumstances the secondary generator has the capacity to power the hospital only three hours a day.
Israeli Defence Ministry spokesperson Shlomo Dror said: "The fuel supply to Gaza was only interrupted for three days to send a political signal to Hamas that the lull is not going to continue while they encourage shooting at civilians." Israel is interested in continuing the ceasefire, he said.
Washing machines - used to sterilize sheets and uniforms - have stopped due to the lack of fuel at the hospital.
Rolling blackouts
Rolling blackouts are now common across Gaza, particularly in Gaza City, the largest population centre. Hundreds of thousands are left without electricity during winter, which means no water for many residents who live in high-rise buildings dependent on electric water pumps.
Israel sealed all commercial and passenger border crossings to Gaza on 4 November, when an Israeli military incursion into Gaza prompted Palestinian militants to resume daily rocket-fire into Israeli towns. Before the Israeli ground operation to locate a tunnel, a five-month Egyptian- brokered ceasefire had been largely holding.
Israel has restricted imports into Gaza, including food, fuel, medical supplies and other basic necessities despite the truce, which calls on militants to halt rocket attacks in return for Israel easing its embargo on the territory.
"This time throughout this whole truce since June none of us have been able to bring in anything extra that would create a reserve so we had nothing to call upon," said Karen Abu Zayd, commissioner-general of UNRWA, the UN Palestinian refugee agency.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Gaza is running on less than half the electricity it requires for normal consumption, a result of the blockade on fuel and mechanical parts. [http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_protection_of_civilians_weekly_2008_11_18_english.pdf]
Impact on water, sewage
The lack of fuel and electricity has caused water and sewage systems in Gaza to collapse.
The Coastal Municipal Water Utility (CMWU) in Gaza has said that due to the power outages and the lack of fuel, 20 percent of wells are not functional and 60 percent are only partially functional. Furthermore, malfunctioning sewage systems have raised concerns about possible flooding and leakage during the forthcoming rainy season.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called for an immediate end to Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip on 18 November, which she said breached international and humanitarian law. [http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=28983&Cr=palestin&Cr1]
es/ar/cb/bp[END]
IRIN
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Markets dive on US 'recession'
Markets dive on US 'recession'
Wall Street's plunge of nearly eight per cent wiped out more than half of last week's gains [Reuters]
Asian markets have fallen sharply following heavy losses on Wall Street in the wake of grim economic reports, including one that said the US was already in recession.
Stocks in Japan and Hong Kong plunged more than five per cent before regaining some ground on Tuesday, a day after Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the US Federal Reserve, said the US economy was still under considerable strain.
Markets elsewhere in Asia also tumbled following the plunge on Wall Street overnight.
But the Shanghai Composite was in positive territory amid expectations of more stimulus measures from the government.
"Investors here have hopes for more official steps to aid the economy, though the index is still likely to test the 1,700-point level within days," Zhou Lin, an analyst at Huatai Securities, said.
In the US, the Dow Jones industrial average lost nearly 700 points or eight per cent on Monday, wiping out more than half of last week's big gains amid a litany of bad economic indicators confirming that the US economy was in recession.
The US National Bureau of Economic Research, a private non-profit group of economic analysts, concluded that the country's 73-month economic expansion had come to an end in December 2007.
The bureau did not forecast the duration of the recession.
"There is significant weakness in resources. The fact that [the] US has called a recession ... highlights the concerns for global economy," Savanth Sebastian, an equities economist with Commsec, said. The White House acknowledged the report but did not refer to the current economic crisis as a recession. In Australia, the central bank slashed interest rates on Tuesday by one percentage point in another attempt to stave off a recession.
The reduction was the fourth in a row by the Reserve Bank of Australia and took the cash rate to 4.25 per cent. Analysts had expected a 0.75 percentage point cut on Tuesday.
Source: Agencies
Wall Street's plunge of nearly eight per cent wiped out more than half of last week's gains [Reuters]
Asian markets have fallen sharply following heavy losses on Wall Street in the wake of grim economic reports, including one that said the US was already in recession.
Stocks in Japan and Hong Kong plunged more than five per cent before regaining some ground on Tuesday, a day after Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the US Federal Reserve, said the US economy was still under considerable strain.
Markets elsewhere in Asia also tumbled following the plunge on Wall Street overnight.
But the Shanghai Composite was in positive territory amid expectations of more stimulus measures from the government.
"Investors here have hopes for more official steps to aid the economy, though the index is still likely to test the 1,700-point level within days," Zhou Lin, an analyst at Huatai Securities, said.
In the US, the Dow Jones industrial average lost nearly 700 points or eight per cent on Monday, wiping out more than half of last week's big gains amid a litany of bad economic indicators confirming that the US economy was in recession.
The US National Bureau of Economic Research, a private non-profit group of economic analysts, concluded that the country's 73-month economic expansion had come to an end in December 2007.
The bureau did not forecast the duration of the recession.
"There is significant weakness in resources. The fact that [the] US has called a recession ... highlights the concerns for global economy," Savanth Sebastian, an equities economist with Commsec, said. The White House acknowledged the report but did not refer to the current economic crisis as a recession. In Australia, the central bank slashed interest rates on Tuesday by one percentage point in another attempt to stave off a recession.
The reduction was the fourth in a row by the Reserve Bank of Australia and took the cash rate to 4.25 per cent. Analysts had expected a 0.75 percentage point cut on Tuesday.
Source: Agencies
måndag 1 december 2008
Statement by European Commissioner Michel on humanitarian situation in Gaza and West Bank
Statement by Commissioner Michel on humanitarian situation in Gaza and West Bank
European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Louis Michel, today expressed his increasing concern for the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Commissioner Michel stated, "I am extremely concerned by the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza caused by the continued closure of the Gaza crossings. Since 4th November, only one crossing (Kerem Shalom) has been open for four days only (17, 24, 26 and 27 November), with limited quantities of humanitarian food supplies allowed through. I have repeatedly condemned rocket attacks targeting Israeli civilians and I reiterate this condemnation today. However, the continued closure of Gaza crossings is a form of collective punishment against Palestinian civilians, which is a violation of International Humanitarian Law (IHL)." The European Commission highlights the need for an end to all impediments to the freedom of movement of civilians and humanitarian workers as well as actions that can lead to increased numbers of internally displaced people. Commissioner Michel added, "In both Gaza and the West Bank, my main concern is that humanitarian aid gets to the civilian populations in need of it most. That's why the neutrality, impartiality and independence of humanitarian organisations must be respected allowing their representatives immediate, free and secure access to vulnerable Palestinian populations in both Gaza and the West Bank." Background:
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European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Louis Michel, today expressed his increasing concern for the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Commissioner Michel stated, "I am extremely concerned by the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza caused by the continued closure of the Gaza crossings. Since 4th November, only one crossing (Kerem Shalom) has been open for four days only (17, 24, 26 and 27 November), with limited quantities of humanitarian food supplies allowed through. I have repeatedly condemned rocket attacks targeting Israeli civilians and I reiterate this condemnation today. However, the continued closure of Gaza crossings is a form of collective punishment against Palestinian civilians, which is a violation of International Humanitarian Law (IHL)." The European Commission highlights the need for an end to all impediments to the freedom of movement of civilians and humanitarian workers as well as actions that can lead to increased numbers of internally displaced people. Commissioner Michel added, "In both Gaza and the West Bank, my main concern is that humanitarian aid gets to the civilian populations in need of it most. That's why the neutrality, impartiality and independence of humanitarian organisations must be respected allowing their representatives immediate, free and secure access to vulnerable Palestinian populations in both Gaza and the West Bank." Background:
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fredag 28 november 2008
Unilever withdraws from an Israeli settlement
PRESS RELEASE
November 27th 2008
Unilever withdraws from an Israeli settlement
United Civilians for Peace (UCP) welcomes Unilever’s decision to divest from a factory based in an illegal Israeli settlement on the West Bank. This decision comes in a period in which UCP and Unilever Netherlands are engaged in a constructive dialogue about Unilever’s presence in Barkan. UCP and Unilever discussed the ethical considerations with regards to investment in settlements and Unilever’s responsibilities within the framework of Corporate Social Responsibility.
In 2006, a report by United Civilians for Peace concluded that the Anglo-Dutch multinational owns a 51% share in Beigel & Beigel, a pretzel and snacks factory. This factory is located in Barkan, an industrial zone in Ariel, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Last Wednesday, Unilever announced their decision to divest from Beigel & Beigel.
Since the publication of the report “Dutch economic links in support of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian and/or Syrian territories” in 2006, UCP has advocated the departure of Unilever from the settlement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This resulted in a constructive dialogue with Unilever Netherlands and UCP research into the legal and ethical implications of Unilever’s investment in Beigel & Beigel.
The research document titled: “Improper Advantage: A Study of Unilever’s investment in an illegal Israeli settlement” concludes that:
- The land of the Barkan industrial zone was confiscated from surrounding Palestinian villages by a military order issued by the Israeli Defence Force issued in 1981, and declared “state land”. International Law prohibits the confiscation of occupied land not for military purposes.
- Because the factory is located in an illegal settlement, Unilever complies with violation of Palestinian human rights and the structural discrimination of Palestinian workers.
- Beigel & Beigel benefits from subsidies that are allocated by the Israeli government to the industrial zones in the settlements. Also, the factory has been guaranteed a state grant for a plan of expansion.
The report is available as of Friday November 28th.
UCP congratulates Unilever with their decision to divest. This important and constructive step shows that Unilever takes serious both the provisions of international law as well as its Corporate Social Responsibility. Israeli settlements form a major obstacle to a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians and the industrial zones play an important economic role in maintaining these settlements.
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November 27th 2008
Unilever withdraws from an Israeli settlement
United Civilians for Peace (UCP) welcomes Unilever’s decision to divest from a factory based in an illegal Israeli settlement on the West Bank. This decision comes in a period in which UCP and Unilever Netherlands are engaged in a constructive dialogue about Unilever’s presence in Barkan. UCP and Unilever discussed the ethical considerations with regards to investment in settlements and Unilever’s responsibilities within the framework of Corporate Social Responsibility.
In 2006, a report by United Civilians for Peace concluded that the Anglo-Dutch multinational owns a 51% share in Beigel & Beigel, a pretzel and snacks factory. This factory is located in Barkan, an industrial zone in Ariel, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Last Wednesday, Unilever announced their decision to divest from Beigel & Beigel.
Since the publication of the report “Dutch economic links in support of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian and/or Syrian territories” in 2006, UCP has advocated the departure of Unilever from the settlement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This resulted in a constructive dialogue with Unilever Netherlands and UCP research into the legal and ethical implications of Unilever’s investment in Beigel & Beigel.
The research document titled: “Improper Advantage: A Study of Unilever’s investment in an illegal Israeli settlement” concludes that:
- The land of the Barkan industrial zone was confiscated from surrounding Palestinian villages by a military order issued by the Israeli Defence Force issued in 1981, and declared “state land”. International Law prohibits the confiscation of occupied land not for military purposes.
- Because the factory is located in an illegal settlement, Unilever complies with violation of Palestinian human rights and the structural discrimination of Palestinian workers.
- Beigel & Beigel benefits from subsidies that are allocated by the Israeli government to the industrial zones in the settlements. Also, the factory has been guaranteed a state grant for a plan of expansion.
The report is available as of Friday November 28th.
UCP congratulates Unilever with their decision to divest. This important and constructive step shows that Unilever takes serious both the provisions of international law as well as its Corporate Social Responsibility. Israeli settlements form a major obstacle to a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians and the industrial zones play an important economic role in maintaining these settlements.
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tisdag 25 november 2008
India uncovers Hindu terror group that carried out bombings blamed on Islamists
At least 10 people, including monk and army officer, held By Andrew Buncombe in Delhi Sunday, 23 November 2008 India is in something of a state of shock after learning from official sources that its first Hindu terror cell may have carried out a series of deadly bombings that were initially blamed on militant Muslims. The revelation is forcing the country to consider some difficult questions. At least 10 people have been arrested in connection with several bomb blasts in the Muslim-dominated town of Malegaon in the western state of Maharashtra in September, which left six people dead. But reports suggest that police believe the cell may also have carried out a number of previous attacks, including last year's notorious bombing of a cross-border train en route to Pakistan, which killed 68 people. Among the alleged members of the cell are a serving army officer and a Hindu monk. Bomb attacks are not uncommon in India – there has been a flurry in recent months – but police usually blame them on Muslim extremists, often said to have links to militant groups based in either Pakistan or Bangladesh. As a result, the recent cracking of the alleged Hindu cell has forced India to face some difficult issues. A country that prides itself on purported religious and cultural toleration – an ambition that in reality often falls short – has been made to ask itself how this cell could operate for so long. India's military, which prides itself on its professionalism, has been forced to order an embarrassing inquiry. The near-daily drip of revelations from police has also caused red faces for India's main political opposition, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), ahead of state polls and a general election scheduled for early next year. The BJP and its prime ministerial candidate, Lal Krishna Advani, have long accused the Congress Party-led government of being soft on terrorism that involved Muslims. However, the BJP has refused to call for a clampdown on Hindu groups, and last week Mr Advani even criticised the police over the way they questioned one of the alleged cell members, a woman called Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur. The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, phoned his rival to ask him not to politicise the issue or the investigation. "There is a strong case so let the police do their job," he told Mr Advani. While some commentators have expressed surprise about the discovery of the alleged cell, others have pointed out that there has been growing concern about the possible threat from Hindu extremists. In the summer, two members of a right-wing Hindu group were killed while putting together a bomb, and two other suspected members of the same group died in similar circumstances in 2006. Meanwhile, senior right-wing leaders have made no secret of their wish that Hindus should form suicide squads to protect themselves against Muslim extremists. Bal Thackeray, leader of a group called the Shiv Sena, which has been responsible for communal and regional violence in Mumbai, wrote recently in the party's magazine: "The threat of Islamic terror in India is rising. It is time to counter the same with Hindu terror. Hindu suicide squads should be readied to ensure the existence of Hindu society and to protect the nation." Observers say the fact that the police have arrested the alleged cell members amid considerable political pressure suggests the growing professionalism of its security forces. "It's the first Hindu cell and it's the first time Hindus have been shackled and taken to jail," said Professor Dipankar Gupta, a sociologist at Delhi's Jawarlahal Nehru University. "I'm quite pleased with the way the police have done their jobs."
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torsdag 20 november 2008
Christian Aid about Gaza - Food and medicine must never be used as weapons
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Food and medicine must never be used as weapons Israel is collectively punishing innocent civilians by withholding and controlling food and medicine to Gaza, says Christian Aid. ‘With the recent upsurge in violence it is Palestinian and Israeli civilians who will pay the price of failure and silence, and lose hope itself’, says William Bell, middle-eastern advocacy officer at Christian Aid. Despite repeated calls from the international community, Gaza remains closed to food and medicine. For almost one and a half years, 1.5 million Palestinians have endured collective punishment as a result of Israel’s tight closure of Gaza. In recent weeks the situation has once again deteriorated further with a resurgence of violence. Last week, UNRWA, the UN agency responsible for assisting Palestinian refugees, announced that it had run out of food to distribute. With 80 per cent of the population dependent upon food aid, the situation is critical but the crossings into Gaza – the only points of entry for people and goods - remain tightly closed. Increasingly goods are smuggled through tunnels from Egypt into Gaza, but the high cost of items brought in this way, are out of reach for many ordinary Gazans. ‘There is a huge concern for November food supplies. UNRWA only works with registered refugees, but what about non-refugees? Tunnels are the only way of getting food and other goods, but this is only for people with money’, says a Christian Aid partner in Khan Younis. The international community has failed to develop a new strategy for ending the closure of Gaza. Similarly reconciliation between Palestinian factions has remained elusive leaving Palestinians without a genuinely representative body to press for a solution to the crisis. ‘Simply letting food into Gaza is not enough’, says Costa Dabbagh, from Near East Council of Churches, a Christian Aid partner. ‘We are fed and kept alive without dignity and the international community should be blamed for it. We are not given hope. …it is not acceptable for us to be waiting for food to come. We want to live freely with Israel and other countries in peace, we are not against any individual or government, but we are against imprisonment.’ Despite an agreement on cessation of violence since June 2008, Gazans remain isolated from the world and continue to live in abject poverty. Although getting food supplies into Gaza is a vital first step, Christian Aid believes steps must be taken to resolve the political crisis before people will see a real change in their lives.
- ends - For more information or interviews with Christian Aid partner organisations in Gaza contact Nadene Ghouri on 07590 710942 or nghouri@christian-aid.org or William Bell on 07973 827535 Notes to Editors: 1. Christian Aid works in some of the world's poorest communities in more than 50 countries. We act where the need is greatest, regardless of religion, helping people build the life they deserve.
- ends - For more information or interviews with Christian Aid partner organisations in Gaza contact Nadene Ghouri on 07590 710942 or nghouri@christian-aid.org or William Bell on 07973 827535 Notes to Editors: 1. Christian Aid works in some of the world's poorest communities in more than 50 countries. We act where the need is greatest, regardless of religion, helping people build the life they deserve.
tisdag 18 november 2008
Oxfam is greatly concerned about Foreign Secretary David Miliband
"Oxfam is greatly concerned that Foreign Secretary David Miliband neglected to address the Gaza blockade during his visit to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory. Only the bare minimum of goods have entered Gaza in the past couple of days and Oxfam fears a serious worsening once again of the humanitarian situation if urgent action is not taken. David Miliband and the UK government must not continue to remain silent in the face of such human desperation." said Barbara Stocking, Oxfam Great Britain's Chief Executive. "Gazans have been stripped bare of ways of coping after 18 months of blockade and are extremely vulnerable to the latest clamp down. Not only is the flow of food, fuel and medicines at a trickle, but sewage and water systems could soon grind to a halt. The cycle of violence is causing harm to civilians on both sides of the Gazan border. It is vital that both unnaceptable attacks on Israeli towns like Sderot stop, and that ordinary Gazans are not punished by this crippling blockade. For this reason we urge David Miliband and the UK government to put more emphasis on resolving the crisis as a matter of urgency.” Michael Bailey
fredag 14 november 2008
Statement by leading British NGO - Oxfam International on the Gaza Blockade
This is a statement by Oxfam International on the Gaza Blockade: "World leaders must step up and exercise all their political might to break the blockade of Gaza. As a matter of humanitarian imperative, Israeli leaders must resume supplies into Gaza without further delay. If Israelis and Palestinians alike don’t exert every effort now to maintain the truce which has held since last June, the result could be catastrophic for civilians both in Gaza and in nearby Israeli towns,” said Oxfam International Executive Director Jeremy Hobbs.
"For nearly a year and a half unimpeded access to fuel, food, medicines and essential goods has been routinely denied. Failure of the international community to act decisively will only exacerbate human suffering and could further endanger chances for peace." Hobbs said.
Please contact Mike Bailey on: (00 972 572 233 014) for further information or interviews with Oxfam staff in Gaza and the region
OXFAM
Oxfam works with others to overcome poverty and suffering.
"For nearly a year and a half unimpeded access to fuel, food, medicines and essential goods has been routinely denied. Failure of the international community to act decisively will only exacerbate human suffering and could further endanger chances for peace." Hobbs said.
Please contact Mike Bailey on: (00 972 572 233 014) for further information or interviews with Oxfam staff in Gaza and the region
OXFAM
Oxfam works with others to overcome poverty and suffering.
tisdag 11 november 2008
Obama Told Not to Fear Jewish Lobby
Obama Told Not to Fear Jewish Lobby
By IOL Staff
"Last week's election proved again that domestic issues are of greater interest to American Jews than relations with Israel," wrote Eldar. (Google photo)CAIRO — Akiva Eldar, the chief political columnist and editorial writer for Israel's Ha'aretz daily, has a clear message for US President-elect Barak Obama before he assumes office as America's 44th president.
"Obama has nothing to fear from the right-wing Jewish lobby," the prominent Israeli journalist and author wrote on Monday, November 10.
The Israeli lobby, led by the influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), is usually seen as a major factor in sharing America's Middle East foreign policy, especially regarding the Palestinian-Israeli peace process.
Obama had promised to be actively engaged as an Israeli-Arab conciliator early on in his term.
He once dismissed Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories as "not helpful."
"My interest is in solving this problem not only for Israel but for the United States."
But fears of excessive pro-Israel bias were stoked by Barak appointment of Rahm Emanuel, an American Jew who had volunteered at an Israeli army base during the Gulf war, as his chief of staff.
Dr. Benjamin Emanuel, Rahm's father, said he was convinced that his son's appointment would be good for Israel.
"Obviously he will influence the president to be pro-Israel," he was quoted as saying by the Jerusalem Post.
"Why wouldn't he be? What is he, an Arab? He's not going to clean the floors of the White House."
Emanuel personally escorted Obama last June when he gave a strongly pro-Israel speech to AIPAC and held a private meeting with AIPAC's Executive Board.
Better Chance
"Let him remember that human and civil rights also apply to the Palestinians, not only to black Americans," said Levy. (Google Photo)
But Eldar, who served as Ha'aretz US Bureau Chief in the 1990's, believes Obama has all what it takes to break free from the strains of the Jewish lobby in the US.
"Obama won the Jewish electorate's sweeping support (78 percent)."
He stressed that Republican John McCain's pledge to move the American Embassy to occupied Jerusalem did not sway the Jewish voters.
"Last week's election proved again that domestic issues are of greater interest to American Jews than relations with Israel. The group that believes that territories are more important than peace is negligible."
The Israeli journalist notes that Obama will be serving in a far favorable atmosphere, giving him bigger room to draft his Mideast foreign policy.
"In contrast to the first president Bush, most of Washington's power centers will stand beside the first black president: The two houses of Congress have Democratic majorities, the press is in love."
He said a new generation of politicians who advocate an active American involvement in the Middle East peace process is being aided by J Street, a new Jewish lobby challenging AIPAC.
Eldar added that at least 31 Congressional candidates adopted by the organized Jewish peace camp defeated their opponents.
This, believes the Israeli journalist and author wrote, gives a new meaning for the "friend of Israel" concept which had become a synonym for supporters of the Israeli occupation.
The same argument was made earlier this week by Gideon Levy, another journalist for Haaretz and former spokesman for Shimon Peres.
"When we say that someone is a 'friend of Israel' we mean a friend of the occupation, a believer in Israel's self-armament, a fan of its language of strength and a supporter of all its regional delusions," he wrote.
"When we say someone is a 'friend of Israel' we mean someone who will give Israel a carte blanche for any violent adventure it desires, for rejecting peace and for building in the territories," added Levy.
"Let us now hope that Obama will not be like them.
"That he will put his whole weight behind a deep American involvement in the Middle East…That he will help end the siege on Gaza and the boycott of Hamas, that he will push Israel and Syria to make peace, that he will spur Israel and the Palestinians to reach a settlement," added the Israeli journalist.
"Let him use his clout to end the occupation and dismantle the settlement project. Let him remember that human and civil rights also apply to the Palestinians, not only to black Americans."
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By IOL Staff
"Last week's election proved again that domestic issues are of greater interest to American Jews than relations with Israel," wrote Eldar. (Google photo)CAIRO — Akiva Eldar, the chief political columnist and editorial writer for Israel's Ha'aretz daily, has a clear message for US President-elect Barak Obama before he assumes office as America's 44th president.
"Obama has nothing to fear from the right-wing Jewish lobby," the prominent Israeli journalist and author wrote on Monday, November 10.
The Israeli lobby, led by the influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), is usually seen as a major factor in sharing America's Middle East foreign policy, especially regarding the Palestinian-Israeli peace process.
Obama had promised to be actively engaged as an Israeli-Arab conciliator early on in his term.
He once dismissed Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories as "not helpful."
"My interest is in solving this problem not only for Israel but for the United States."
But fears of excessive pro-Israel bias were stoked by Barak appointment of Rahm Emanuel, an American Jew who had volunteered at an Israeli army base during the Gulf war, as his chief of staff.
Dr. Benjamin Emanuel, Rahm's father, said he was convinced that his son's appointment would be good for Israel.
"Obviously he will influence the president to be pro-Israel," he was quoted as saying by the Jerusalem Post.
"Why wouldn't he be? What is he, an Arab? He's not going to clean the floors of the White House."
Emanuel personally escorted Obama last June when he gave a strongly pro-Israel speech to AIPAC and held a private meeting with AIPAC's Executive Board.
Better Chance
"Let him remember that human and civil rights also apply to the Palestinians, not only to black Americans," said Levy. (Google Photo)
But Eldar, who served as Ha'aretz US Bureau Chief in the 1990's, believes Obama has all what it takes to break free from the strains of the Jewish lobby in the US.
"Obama won the Jewish electorate's sweeping support (78 percent)."
He stressed that Republican John McCain's pledge to move the American Embassy to occupied Jerusalem did not sway the Jewish voters.
"Last week's election proved again that domestic issues are of greater interest to American Jews than relations with Israel. The group that believes that territories are more important than peace is negligible."
The Israeli journalist notes that Obama will be serving in a far favorable atmosphere, giving him bigger room to draft his Mideast foreign policy.
"In contrast to the first president Bush, most of Washington's power centers will stand beside the first black president: The two houses of Congress have Democratic majorities, the press is in love."
He said a new generation of politicians who advocate an active American involvement in the Middle East peace process is being aided by J Street, a new Jewish lobby challenging AIPAC.
Eldar added that at least 31 Congressional candidates adopted by the organized Jewish peace camp defeated their opponents.
This, believes the Israeli journalist and author wrote, gives a new meaning for the "friend of Israel" concept which had become a synonym for supporters of the Israeli occupation.
The same argument was made earlier this week by Gideon Levy, another journalist for Haaretz and former spokesman for Shimon Peres.
"When we say that someone is a 'friend of Israel' we mean a friend of the occupation, a believer in Israel's self-armament, a fan of its language of strength and a supporter of all its regional delusions," he wrote.
"When we say someone is a 'friend of Israel' we mean someone who will give Israel a carte blanche for any violent adventure it desires, for rejecting peace and for building in the territories," added Levy.
"Let us now hope that Obama will not be like them.
"That he will put his whole weight behind a deep American involvement in the Middle East…That he will help end the siege on Gaza and the boycott of Hamas, that he will push Israel and Syria to make peace, that he will spur Israel and the Palestinians to reach a settlement," added the Israeli journalist.
"Let him use his clout to end the occupation and dismantle the settlement project. Let him remember that human and civil rights also apply to the Palestinians, not only to black Americans."
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SOMALIA: Hostility rises in Hargeisa after suicide bombings
SOMALIA: Hostility rises in Hargeisa after suicide bombings
HARGEISA, 10 November 2008 (IRIN) - Somalis displaced to the self-styled independent republic of Somaliland from other parts of the Horn of Africa country have faced increasing hostility after three suicide bombing incidents in late October.
Reports of criminal incidents targeting non-Somaliland Somalis in Hargeisa, Somaliland's capital, have prompted Interior Minister Abdillahi Ismail Irro to call for restraint.
"I am calling on Somaliland citizens not to harm or take aggressive actions against the refugees from Somalia [by] linking them to the criminals, because these people were not part of the attacks; on the contrary, only a small number of people were involved in the crimes which we are now investigating. I urge you to report any suspects to the nearest police station instead of taking the law into your own hands," Irro said.
Somaliland considers Somalis displaced from outside Somaliland as refugees and only recognises those displaced within Somaliland as internally displaced.
Several people from southern Somalia in Hargeisa said they were now living in fear while others had been thrown out of their residences since the bombings, which targeted the presidential palace, a UN compound and the Ethiopian embassy.
The bombers have been linked to the Al-Shabab militia group based in Mogadishu.
Mohamed Abdirahman 19, who has been in Hargeisa for about a month, said: "The people of Hargeisa welcomed me when I first came to Somaliland after leaving Mogadishu; everybody was so nice to me and used to give me meals but this changed within 24 hours of the bombings.
"I was quickly thrown out by my hosts. Whenever I walk along the street, I try not to talk to anyone because I fear that if I am identified as a Somali citizen, I will face difficulties because the suspects were believed to have come from Mogadishu," Abdirahman told IRIN.
However, Abdirahman was taken in by another family on 3 November.
"I am now living with another family neighbouring my former hosts; I hope the situation will improve soon," he said.
Fadumo Hassan, another Somali resident, was robbed by people who posed as policemen investigating the bombings.
She said: "A day after the bombings, four men came to my home in Kodbur district here in Hargeisa; they claimed they were police officers and wanted to inspect my house in relation to the attacks; I allowed them into the house where they conducted a search. After they left, it was established that they were thieves and had stolen money and jewellery from me. I don't know how I will recover my property."
Meanwhile, Somaliland police have arrested freelance journalist Hadis Mohamed Hadis, another Somali citizen, who has been in Somaliland for the past six years.
The police declined to give a reason for his arrest.
HARGEISA, 10 November 2008 (IRIN) - Somalis displaced to the self-styled independent republic of Somaliland from other parts of the Horn of Africa country have faced increasing hostility after three suicide bombing incidents in late October.
Reports of criminal incidents targeting non-Somaliland Somalis in Hargeisa, Somaliland's capital, have prompted Interior Minister Abdillahi Ismail Irro to call for restraint.
"I am calling on Somaliland citizens not to harm or take aggressive actions against the refugees from Somalia [by] linking them to the criminals, because these people were not part of the attacks; on the contrary, only a small number of people were involved in the crimes which we are now investigating. I urge you to report any suspects to the nearest police station instead of taking the law into your own hands," Irro said.
Somaliland considers Somalis displaced from outside Somaliland as refugees and only recognises those displaced within Somaliland as internally displaced.
Several people from southern Somalia in Hargeisa said they were now living in fear while others had been thrown out of their residences since the bombings, which targeted the presidential palace, a UN compound and the Ethiopian embassy.
The bombers have been linked to the Al-Shabab militia group based in Mogadishu.
Mohamed Abdirahman 19, who has been in Hargeisa for about a month, said: "The people of Hargeisa welcomed me when I first came to Somaliland after leaving Mogadishu; everybody was so nice to me and used to give me meals but this changed within 24 hours of the bombings.
"I was quickly thrown out by my hosts. Whenever I walk along the street, I try not to talk to anyone because I fear that if I am identified as a Somali citizen, I will face difficulties because the suspects were believed to have come from Mogadishu," Abdirahman told IRIN.
However, Abdirahman was taken in by another family on 3 November.
"I am now living with another family neighbouring my former hosts; I hope the situation will improve soon," he said.
Fadumo Hassan, another Somali resident, was robbed by people who posed as policemen investigating the bombings.
She said: "A day after the bombings, four men came to my home in Kodbur district here in Hargeisa; they claimed they were police officers and wanted to inspect my house in relation to the attacks; I allowed them into the house where they conducted a search. After they left, it was established that they were thieves and had stolen money and jewellery from me. I don't know how I will recover my property."
Meanwhile, Somaliland police have arrested freelance journalist Hadis Mohamed Hadis, another Somali citizen, who has been in Somaliland for the past six years.
The police declined to give a reason for his arrest.
måndag 10 november 2008
Secret Pakistan-US Deal
Secret Pakistan-US Deal
By Aamir Latif, IOL Correspondent
Some 15 attacks have been conducted by US drones in the tribal area in the last two weeks, killing over 200 people, mostly civilians. (Reuters)ISLAMABAD — A clandestine agreement between the new Pakistani leadership and the US allows American drones to strike targets inside the restive tribal belt where suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban militants are reportedly taking shelter.
"Under this secret deal, Pakistan will keep complaining about US air strikes. It will also summon the US ambassador to the Foreign Office to register its protest, but no action on the ground would be taken," a senior official of President Asif Ali Zardari-led government told IslamOnline.net on the condition of anonymity.
The deal reportedly clinched after Zardari's first official visit to Washington in September.
"The secret accord provides new mechanics for coordinating predator attacks and a jointly-approved list of high-value targets," said the official.
Thirteen people were killed and many injured in a US missile attack on a residential compound in North Waziristan on Friday, November 7.
Local sources told IOL that most of the deceased were women and children.
Some 15 attacks have been conducted by US drones in South and North Waziristan during the last two weeks, killing over 200 tribesmen, mostly children and women.
However, US and Pakistani intelligence officials insist that some top Al Qaeda leaders, including its deputy chief of operations Khalid Habib, were among the dead.
According to Pakistani officials, Habib was killed on October 16 in a predatorstrike on targets in South Waziristan.
"Now, officially, Pakistan will oppose any violation of its airspace and issue statements protesting the drone attacks, but will not go beyond that," said the government official.
Pakistan is the key supply route for US troops in Afghanistan.
Security analysts believe that if Islamabad had been serious about its protest, it would have at least threatened to halt supplies to Americans forces in neighboring Afghanistan.
Economic Price
Sources link the secret deal to Pakistan's crashing economy and dire need of financial assistance.
"The US administration has made it clear that the drone attacks are essential to get rid of Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders, who have been hiding in South and North Waziristan," said the senior government official.
"And if Pakistan doesn't allow that then it (US) will not help arrange an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan."
Pakistan is desperately seeking a sum of 5 billion dollars to avoid a default.
Government officials say negotiations with the IMF have almost been completed, and a loan will soon be issued.
Well-paced government sources say Pakistan agreed to the secret deal with Washington after the World Bank cancelled last month its 300-million-dollar loan, which had already been approved.
"It was certainly not the IMF that pressurized the World Bank. It was America that forced the World Bank to do that," said the senior government official.
But the government categorically denied any such secret deal with Washington.
"This is totally baseless," Ashfaq Gondal, the federal secretary information, told IOL.
"There is no secret accord with US. Only Pakistani forces are responsible for any action within its territory."
He insists that had there been any such deal, the president and his premier could not have protested American strikes in the tribal area.
"The president and the prime minister have continuously been condemning such attacks. They are against our sovereignty," said Gondal.
Asked why Islamabad stops at mere publicized protest, Gondal said: "I can't tell you right away what action Pakistan can take against the strikes. But I totally deny any such secret deal."
By IOL
By Aamir Latif, IOL Correspondent
Some 15 attacks have been conducted by US drones in the tribal area in the last two weeks, killing over 200 people, mostly civilians. (Reuters)ISLAMABAD — A clandestine agreement between the new Pakistani leadership and the US allows American drones to strike targets inside the restive tribal belt where suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban militants are reportedly taking shelter.
"Under this secret deal, Pakistan will keep complaining about US air strikes. It will also summon the US ambassador to the Foreign Office to register its protest, but no action on the ground would be taken," a senior official of President Asif Ali Zardari-led government told IslamOnline.net on the condition of anonymity.
The deal reportedly clinched after Zardari's first official visit to Washington in September.
"The secret accord provides new mechanics for coordinating predator attacks and a jointly-approved list of high-value targets," said the official.
Thirteen people were killed and many injured in a US missile attack on a residential compound in North Waziristan on Friday, November 7.
Local sources told IOL that most of the deceased were women and children.
Some 15 attacks have been conducted by US drones in South and North Waziristan during the last two weeks, killing over 200 tribesmen, mostly children and women.
However, US and Pakistani intelligence officials insist that some top Al Qaeda leaders, including its deputy chief of operations Khalid Habib, were among the dead.
According to Pakistani officials, Habib was killed on October 16 in a predatorstrike on targets in South Waziristan.
"Now, officially, Pakistan will oppose any violation of its airspace and issue statements protesting the drone attacks, but will not go beyond that," said the government official.
Pakistan is the key supply route for US troops in Afghanistan.
Security analysts believe that if Islamabad had been serious about its protest, it would have at least threatened to halt supplies to Americans forces in neighboring Afghanistan.
Economic Price
Sources link the secret deal to Pakistan's crashing economy and dire need of financial assistance.
"The US administration has made it clear that the drone attacks are essential to get rid of Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders, who have been hiding in South and North Waziristan," said the senior government official.
"And if Pakistan doesn't allow that then it (US) will not help arrange an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan."
Pakistan is desperately seeking a sum of 5 billion dollars to avoid a default.
Government officials say negotiations with the IMF have almost been completed, and a loan will soon be issued.
Well-paced government sources say Pakistan agreed to the secret deal with Washington after the World Bank cancelled last month its 300-million-dollar loan, which had already been approved.
"It was certainly not the IMF that pressurized the World Bank. It was America that forced the World Bank to do that," said the senior government official.
But the government categorically denied any such secret deal with Washington.
"This is totally baseless," Ashfaq Gondal, the federal secretary information, told IOL.
"There is no secret accord with US. Only Pakistani forces are responsible for any action within its territory."
He insists that had there been any such deal, the president and his premier could not have protested American strikes in the tribal area.
"The president and the prime minister have continuously been condemning such attacks. They are against our sovereignty," said Gondal.
Asked why Islamabad stops at mere publicized protest, Gondal said: "I can't tell you right away what action Pakistan can take against the strikes. But I totally deny any such secret deal."
By IOL
måndag 3 november 2008
Call for greater protection of DRC civilians
Call for greater protection of DRC civilians
As thousands of refugees in eastern Congo go without food and shelter for yet another day, international development agency ActionAid urges the UN Security Council to strengthen its mandate to enforce peace in the region.
"The humanitarian situation here is completely out of control," said Alpha Sankoh, ActionAid's country director in DRC.
"Refugees are being deliberately targeted before our very eyes - we cannot allow this to continue," he added.
"The protection of women and children is paramount, particulalry as so many are on the move seeking safety. And to ensure this happens, the role of the UN peace keeping forces needs to be reviewed."
Intense diplomatic pressure has resulted in the leaders of Congo and Rwanda agreeing to an emergency summit with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner joining a trail of envoys descending on the region.
The breakthrough came as a result of intense diplomatic pressure amid warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe as tens of thousands fled fighting, looting and rape by armed groups.
Alpha Sankoh said it was essential that Miliband and Kouchner use their influence to press all parties to enter into negotiations to work towards an internationally enforced ceasefire.
"They must do everything in their power to ensure UN peacekeeping forces protect civilians and guarantee safe passage for humanitarian workers," he added.
ActionAid hopes to resume relief efforts to refugees in camps in the conflict area as soon as the security situation allows.
ENDS
As thousands of refugees in eastern Congo go without food and shelter for yet another day, international development agency ActionAid urges the UN Security Council to strengthen its mandate to enforce peace in the region.
"The humanitarian situation here is completely out of control," said Alpha Sankoh, ActionAid's country director in DRC.
"Refugees are being deliberately targeted before our very eyes - we cannot allow this to continue," he added.
"The protection of women and children is paramount, particulalry as so many are on the move seeking safety. And to ensure this happens, the role of the UN peace keeping forces needs to be reviewed."
Intense diplomatic pressure has resulted in the leaders of Congo and Rwanda agreeing to an emergency summit with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner joining a trail of envoys descending on the region.
The breakthrough came as a result of intense diplomatic pressure amid warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe as tens of thousands fled fighting, looting and rape by armed groups.
Alpha Sankoh said it was essential that Miliband and Kouchner use their influence to press all parties to enter into negotiations to work towards an internationally enforced ceasefire.
"They must do everything in their power to ensure UN peacekeeping forces protect civilians and guarantee safe passage for humanitarian workers," he added.
ActionAid hopes to resume relief efforts to refugees in camps in the conflict area as soon as the security situation allows.
ENDS
torsdag 30 oktober 2008
SRAEL-OPT: Israel tries to block Gaza health conference
SRAEL-OPT: Israel tries to block Gaza health conference
RAMALLAH, 30 October 2008 (IRIN) - Some 100 academics and mental health workers were denied entry to the Gaza Strip to attend an international medical conference, but the conference took place anyway - by video link, with one group gathering in Gaza City and another in Ramallah.
The conference, organised by the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP) on 27-28 October, focused on the mental health impact of the Israeli blockade of the enclave (since June 2007 when Hamas took over).
However, for many this "virtual" method proved less productive, as the foreign experts and local health workers were generally unable to conduct sustained discussions and take advantage of each other's knowledge and proficiency.
"It made it harder to exchange experiences," said Samir Qouta, a psychologist at the Islamic University in Gaza, told IRIN.
"Denying the foreigners entry to Gaza made mutual interaction impossible, but still the conference took place - and that in itself is a big achievement," said the GCMHP's Husam el-Nounou.
Gaza's border crossings were closed, exports banned and imports restricted to humanitarian goods after the Islamist Hamas movement took over in the territory.
The denial of entry for many of the Gazan health workers and visiting experts served to highlight just how isolated the enclave is from the rest of the world.
Israeli security officials said the conference was political in nature and would have helped serve the interests of Hamas.
Conference goers denied they had any interest in partisan issues.
Few mental health experts
"According to my research, the siege is affecting social and economic life," said Qouta, adding "the impact is especially clear on the children."
"The quality of life has really deteriorated," he said.
Health experts say lack of medication and a shortage of specialised doctors in the enclave are having an adverse effect on people's well-being in general, but mental health is particularly affected as there are very few experts in the enclave, and patients cannot easily travel abroad.
"The siege is making it worse. The people are suffering more," Qouta said.
Even with the difficulties in running the conference, many participants felt they still learned and were able to share with each other, using technology like the video link and email.
"Also, our colleagues in Gaza now know they have support and solidarity from mental health experts abroad," said W.H.G. Wolters, a clinical psychotherapist from the Netherlands who attended the conference.
He noted the tough challenges mental health workers in Gaza face in carrying out their work.
"The workers face severe stress and traumatisation, in addition to having to face their own survival in the difficult situation," Wolters said.
In some cases, they had to treat their own family members, further complicating an already daunting job.
shg/at/cb[END]
IRIN
RAMALLAH, 30 October 2008 (IRIN) - Some 100 academics and mental health workers were denied entry to the Gaza Strip to attend an international medical conference, but the conference took place anyway - by video link, with one group gathering in Gaza City and another in Ramallah.
The conference, organised by the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP) on 27-28 October, focused on the mental health impact of the Israeli blockade of the enclave (since June 2007 when Hamas took over).
However, for many this "virtual" method proved less productive, as the foreign experts and local health workers were generally unable to conduct sustained discussions and take advantage of each other's knowledge and proficiency.
"It made it harder to exchange experiences," said Samir Qouta, a psychologist at the Islamic University in Gaza, told IRIN.
"Denying the foreigners entry to Gaza made mutual interaction impossible, but still the conference took place - and that in itself is a big achievement," said the GCMHP's Husam el-Nounou.
Gaza's border crossings were closed, exports banned and imports restricted to humanitarian goods after the Islamist Hamas movement took over in the territory.
The denial of entry for many of the Gazan health workers and visiting experts served to highlight just how isolated the enclave is from the rest of the world.
Israeli security officials said the conference was political in nature and would have helped serve the interests of Hamas.
Conference goers denied they had any interest in partisan issues.
Few mental health experts
"According to my research, the siege is affecting social and economic life," said Qouta, adding "the impact is especially clear on the children."
"The quality of life has really deteriorated," he said.
Health experts say lack of medication and a shortage of specialised doctors in the enclave are having an adverse effect on people's well-being in general, but mental health is particularly affected as there are very few experts in the enclave, and patients cannot easily travel abroad.
"The siege is making it worse. The people are suffering more," Qouta said.
Even with the difficulties in running the conference, many participants felt they still learned and were able to share with each other, using technology like the video link and email.
"Also, our colleagues in Gaza now know they have support and solidarity from mental health experts abroad," said W.H.G. Wolters, a clinical psychotherapist from the Netherlands who attended the conference.
He noted the tough challenges mental health workers in Gaza face in carrying out their work.
"The workers face severe stress and traumatisation, in addition to having to face their own survival in the difficult situation," Wolters said.
In some cases, they had to treat their own family members, further complicating an already daunting job.
shg/at/cb[END]
IRIN
måndag 27 oktober 2008
Syria accuses US of deadly raid
Syria accuses US of deadly raid
Syria has accused the United States of killing at least eight people in a helicopter raid in the country's east, close to the border with Iraq.
The government condemned the act as "serious aggression" and summoned the senior US and Iraqi envoys to Damascus to protest against the raid, the Syrian Arab news agency (Sana) reported on Sunday.
A US military official speaking on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press in Washington that the raid by US special forces were targeting al-Qaeda-linked foreign fighters moving through Syria into Iraq.
"We are taking matters into our own hands," AP quoted him as saying.
Syrian state television said American helicopters raided the village of Sukariya, which lies 550km northeast of Damascus, before flying back towards Iraqi territory.
"Four American helicopters violated Syrian airspace around 4:45pm local time [13:45 GMT] on Sunday," state television and Sana news agency reported.
During the raids, two of the helicopters landed and dropped off eight US soldiers, who then entered a house, Syrian media reported.
"American soldiers ... attacked a civilian building under construction and fired at workmen inside, causing eight deaths," the reports said.
Children killed
The government said civilians were among the dead, including four children.
"Syria condemns this aggression and holds the American forces responsible for this aggression and all its repercussions"
Syrian government statement"Syria condemns this aggression and holds the American forces responsible for this aggression and all its repercussions. Syria also calls on the Iraqi government to shoulder its responsibilities and launch and immediate investigation into this serious violation and prevent the use of Iraqi territory for aggression against Syria," a government statement said.
Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, there have been some instances in which American troops crossed areas of the 600-km border in pursuit of fighters, or aircraft violating Syria's airspace.
But Sunday's raid, if confirmed, would be the first conducted by aircraft and on such a large scale.
Akram Hameed, one of the injured who said he was fishing in the Euphrates river, told Syrian television he saw four helicopters coming from the border area under a heavy blanket of fire.
"One of the helicopters landed in an agricultural area and eight members disembarked," the man in his 40s said. "The firing lasted about 15 minutes and when I tried to leave the area on my motorcycle, I was hit by a bullet in the right arm about 20 metres away," he said.
Syria TV showed what it said was the injured wife of the building's guard, in bed in hospital with a tube in her nose, saying that two helicopters landed and two remained in the air during the attack.
US reaction
The alleged attack came just days after the commander of US forces in western Iraq said American troops were redoubling efforts to secure the Syrian border, which he called an "uncontrolled" gateway for fighters entering Iraq.
US Major-General John Kelly said on Thursday that Iraq's western borders with Saudi Arabia and Jordan were fairly tight as a result of good policing by security forces in those countries but that Syria was a "different story".
IN VIDEO
US raid on Syrian soil"The Syrian side is, I guess, uncontrolled by their side," Kelly said. "We still have a certain level of foreign fighter movement."
However, Lieutenant-Colonel Chris Hughes, a spokesman for US forces in western Iraq, said the US division that operates on the Iraqi side of the border was not involved in Sunday's incident.
A Pentagon spokesman in Washington said he had no immediate information on the reported strike but would check further while the White House and CIA declined to comment.
The US and the US-backed Iraqi government frequently say Damascus is not doing enough to stop anti-US fighters, including those from al-Qaeda, from crossing the border into Iraq.
The area targeted by Sunday's raid lies close to the Iraqi border city of Qaim, which in the past has been a crossing point for fighters, weapons and money used to fuel the armed Sunni opposition against Iraq's Shia-led government.
Thabet Salem, a political analyst, told Al Jazeera that the US had appeared to have taken the building workers for infiltrators.
"The Syrian government will be very worried because from the beginning of the Iraq war in 2003 until now, nothing has happened [in Syria]. There have maybe been a few cases, but nothing like eight people killed inside Syria," he said.
"It will raise questions as to why this is happening at this moment - towards the end of the current US administration.
"Syria has deployed large numbers [of security staff] and they have checkpoints every four kilometres along the border. The Syrians have, according to my information, stopped five or six thousand people trying to cross the Syria-Iraq border throughout the last few years."
Iraq security
The raid comes 10 days after Iraqi forces arrested seven Syrian "terrorist" suspects at a checkpoint near the city of Baquba, a base for al-Qaeda fighters, the Iraqi government said.
But last month, Jalal Talabani, Iraq's president, told his US counterpart George Bush that Iran and Syria no longer pose a problem to Iraqi security.
Syria's first ambassador to Iraq in 26 years took up his post in Baghdad this month, bringing more than two decades of discord between the nations to an end.
In September, Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, said she had met Walid Muallem, Syria’s foreign minister, to discuss Middle East peace efforts.
Syrian and American diplomats said the talks touched on Iraq, Lebanon and Middle East peace negotiations.
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies
Syria has accused the United States of killing at least eight people in a helicopter raid in the country's east, close to the border with Iraq.
The government condemned the act as "serious aggression" and summoned the senior US and Iraqi envoys to Damascus to protest against the raid, the Syrian Arab news agency (Sana) reported on Sunday.
A US military official speaking on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press in Washington that the raid by US special forces were targeting al-Qaeda-linked foreign fighters moving through Syria into Iraq.
"We are taking matters into our own hands," AP quoted him as saying.
Syrian state television said American helicopters raided the village of Sukariya, which lies 550km northeast of Damascus, before flying back towards Iraqi territory.
"Four American helicopters violated Syrian airspace around 4:45pm local time [13:45 GMT] on Sunday," state television and Sana news agency reported.
During the raids, two of the helicopters landed and dropped off eight US soldiers, who then entered a house, Syrian media reported.
"American soldiers ... attacked a civilian building under construction and fired at workmen inside, causing eight deaths," the reports said.
Children killed
The government said civilians were among the dead, including four children.
"Syria condemns this aggression and holds the American forces responsible for this aggression and all its repercussions"
Syrian government statement"Syria condemns this aggression and holds the American forces responsible for this aggression and all its repercussions. Syria also calls on the Iraqi government to shoulder its responsibilities and launch and immediate investigation into this serious violation and prevent the use of Iraqi territory for aggression against Syria," a government statement said.
Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, there have been some instances in which American troops crossed areas of the 600-km border in pursuit of fighters, or aircraft violating Syria's airspace.
But Sunday's raid, if confirmed, would be the first conducted by aircraft and on such a large scale.
Akram Hameed, one of the injured who said he was fishing in the Euphrates river, told Syrian television he saw four helicopters coming from the border area under a heavy blanket of fire.
"One of the helicopters landed in an agricultural area and eight members disembarked," the man in his 40s said. "The firing lasted about 15 minutes and when I tried to leave the area on my motorcycle, I was hit by a bullet in the right arm about 20 metres away," he said.
Syria TV showed what it said was the injured wife of the building's guard, in bed in hospital with a tube in her nose, saying that two helicopters landed and two remained in the air during the attack.
US reaction
The alleged attack came just days after the commander of US forces in western Iraq said American troops were redoubling efforts to secure the Syrian border, which he called an "uncontrolled" gateway for fighters entering Iraq.
US Major-General John Kelly said on Thursday that Iraq's western borders with Saudi Arabia and Jordan were fairly tight as a result of good policing by security forces in those countries but that Syria was a "different story".
IN VIDEO
US raid on Syrian soil"The Syrian side is, I guess, uncontrolled by their side," Kelly said. "We still have a certain level of foreign fighter movement."
However, Lieutenant-Colonel Chris Hughes, a spokesman for US forces in western Iraq, said the US division that operates on the Iraqi side of the border was not involved in Sunday's incident.
A Pentagon spokesman in Washington said he had no immediate information on the reported strike but would check further while the White House and CIA declined to comment.
The US and the US-backed Iraqi government frequently say Damascus is not doing enough to stop anti-US fighters, including those from al-Qaeda, from crossing the border into Iraq.
The area targeted by Sunday's raid lies close to the Iraqi border city of Qaim, which in the past has been a crossing point for fighters, weapons and money used to fuel the armed Sunni opposition against Iraq's Shia-led government.
Thabet Salem, a political analyst, told Al Jazeera that the US had appeared to have taken the building workers for infiltrators.
"The Syrian government will be very worried because from the beginning of the Iraq war in 2003 until now, nothing has happened [in Syria]. There have maybe been a few cases, but nothing like eight people killed inside Syria," he said.
"It will raise questions as to why this is happening at this moment - towards the end of the current US administration.
"Syria has deployed large numbers [of security staff] and they have checkpoints every four kilometres along the border. The Syrians have, according to my information, stopped five or six thousand people trying to cross the Syria-Iraq border throughout the last few years."
Iraq security
The raid comes 10 days after Iraqi forces arrested seven Syrian "terrorist" suspects at a checkpoint near the city of Baquba, a base for al-Qaeda fighters, the Iraqi government said.
But last month, Jalal Talabani, Iraq's president, told his US counterpart George Bush that Iran and Syria no longer pose a problem to Iraqi security.
Syria's first ambassador to Iraq in 26 years took up his post in Baghdad this month, bringing more than two decades of discord between the nations to an end.
In September, Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, said she had met Walid Muallem, Syria’s foreign minister, to discuss Middle East peace efforts.
Syrian and American diplomats said the talks touched on Iraq, Lebanon and Middle East peace negotiations.
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies
fredag 24 oktober 2008
China urged to join global bailout
China urged to join global bailout
European leaders are urging China to help efforts to tackle the financial crisis [AFP]
Leaders from Asia and Europe have opened a summit in Beijing with a call on China to do more to tackle the "unprecedented" challenges posed by the global financial crisis.
Representatives from the 43 countries attending the Asia Europe Meeting (Asem) on Friday were hoping that China can help shape reforms in the world's financial system and address economic imbalances at the core of the meltdown to stave off a possible global recession.
Speaking ahead of the summit, Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, said China, India and Japan need "to be on board" as the world tries to avert a global recession.
"We swim together or we sink together," he said, calling for tighter Asia-Europe co-operation in order to survive the crisis.
"I very much hope that China can make an important contribution to the solution to the financial crisis. It's a great opportunity for China to show a sense of responsibility."
European governments have already committed more than $2 trillion to banks and money markets in efforts to shore up investor confidence.
But unlike Europe's co-ordinated effort, Asian governments have for the most part limited their intervention to cutting interest rates, guaranteeing bank deposits and injecting money into the credit markets.
Barroso said the two regions "face challenges which don't respect any borders".
'No one immune'
"No one in Europe or Asia can seriously pretend to be immune. We are living in unprecedented times, and we need unprecedented levels of global co-ordination."
On Thursday Hu Jintao, the Chinese president, said the world economy looked "grim and complicated".
"The emerging markets and developing countries are confronted with financial risks, weak foreign demand and mounting inflation," he was quoted as saying by China's Xinhua news agency.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, has said he will seek Asian backing for his bid to radically restructure the Western-dominated global financial system.
Sarkozy, who currently holds the rotating European Union (EU) presidency, wants the emerging giant economies of China and India to have a bigger role in the world's economic decision-making.
Liu Jianchao, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, agreed that there was a need to "explore the possibilities for reform of the international financial structure" but gave no specifics on how to stabilise the markets.
Meanwhile, a diplomatic spat threatened to derail the summit's main agenda after the European Parliament on Thursday awarded its top human rights Sakharov Prize to Hu Jia, an activist imprisoned by the Chinese government on subversion charges.
In criticising the move, Liu raised China's "strong dissatisfaction at the decision by the European Parliament to give the award to a jailed criminal in China, in disregard of our repeated representations".
The spokesman, however, later tried to downplay any impact the move may have on the two-day biennial summit.
Source:
Agencies
European leaders are urging China to help efforts to tackle the financial crisis [AFP]
Leaders from Asia and Europe have opened a summit in Beijing with a call on China to do more to tackle the "unprecedented" challenges posed by the global financial crisis.
Representatives from the 43 countries attending the Asia Europe Meeting (Asem) on Friday were hoping that China can help shape reforms in the world's financial system and address economic imbalances at the core of the meltdown to stave off a possible global recession.
Speaking ahead of the summit, Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, said China, India and Japan need "to be on board" as the world tries to avert a global recession.
"We swim together or we sink together," he said, calling for tighter Asia-Europe co-operation in order to survive the crisis.
"I very much hope that China can make an important contribution to the solution to the financial crisis. It's a great opportunity for China to show a sense of responsibility."
European governments have already committed more than $2 trillion to banks and money markets in efforts to shore up investor confidence.
But unlike Europe's co-ordinated effort, Asian governments have for the most part limited their intervention to cutting interest rates, guaranteeing bank deposits and injecting money into the credit markets.
Barroso said the two regions "face challenges which don't respect any borders".
'No one immune'
"No one in Europe or Asia can seriously pretend to be immune. We are living in unprecedented times, and we need unprecedented levels of global co-ordination."
On Thursday Hu Jintao, the Chinese president, said the world economy looked "grim and complicated".
"The emerging markets and developing countries are confronted with financial risks, weak foreign demand and mounting inflation," he was quoted as saying by China's Xinhua news agency.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, has said he will seek Asian backing for his bid to radically restructure the Western-dominated global financial system.
Sarkozy, who currently holds the rotating European Union (EU) presidency, wants the emerging giant economies of China and India to have a bigger role in the world's economic decision-making.
Liu Jianchao, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, agreed that there was a need to "explore the possibilities for reform of the international financial structure" but gave no specifics on how to stabilise the markets.
Meanwhile, a diplomatic spat threatened to derail the summit's main agenda after the European Parliament on Thursday awarded its top human rights Sakharov Prize to Hu Jia, an activist imprisoned by the Chinese government on subversion charges.
In criticising the move, Liu raised China's "strong dissatisfaction at the decision by the European Parliament to give the award to a jailed criminal in China, in disregard of our repeated representations".
The spokesman, however, later tried to downplay any impact the move may have on the two-day biennial summit.
Source:
Agencies
onsdag 22 oktober 2008
Iraq Wants US Pact Changed
By: IOL
"The cabinet unanimously sought amendments to the text of the pact so it can be acceptable nationally," said Dabbagh. (Reuters)BAGHDAD — Dealing another blow to proposed security pact, the Iraqi government called on Tuesday, October 21, for more changes to the controversial agreement that would govern the stay of US troops beyond the end of thus year.
"The cabinet unanimously sought amendments to the text of the pact so it can be acceptable nationally," Ali al-Dabbagh, a government spokesman, said in a statement.
The government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki convened earlier today to discuss the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which lays the legal basis for US troops presence after the expiry of the UN mandate by the end of this year.
"The cabinet called on the ministers to submit their suggestions to be included in the negotiations with the US," Dabbagh said.
He added that ministers would meet over the coming days to "give their opinions and consult and provide the amendments suggested" before submitting the amended draft to the US negotiating team.
Maliki told the ministers that the deal was unacceptable in its current drafting.
"He made observations on the need for further changes, because he wants to market it," the participant told the Washington Post on condition of anonymity.
Iraqi and US negotiators recently finalized the text of the agreement, which was expected to have been sealed by the end of July.
The cabinet must approve the draft before it can be sent to the 275-member parliament.
The ruling United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), a powerhouse coalition of mostly Shiite groups including Maliki's Dawa party, is pressing for more changes to the text.
The 30 MPs loyal to influential Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr have already declared opposition to the agreement.
The majority of Sunni lawmakers have also spoken out against the pact, seen to be mainly endorsed by the two main Kurdish parties.
Reluctant
"The consequences of not having a SOFA and of not having a renewed UN authorization are pretty dramatic in terms of consequences for our actions," Gates said.
US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates warned Tuesday of dramatic consequences of not concluding the deal.
"The consequences of not having a SOFA and of not having a renewed UN authorization are pretty dramatic in terms of consequences for our actions," he told reporters.
A similar warning was made a day earlier by Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"We are clearly running out of time," he said, adding that the Iraqi military lacks the ability to bring about security when the UN mandate expires on December 31.
"And in that regard there is great potential for losses of significant consequence."
While the US State Department is publicly insisting the draft is a final version, senior officials are not ruling out the possibility of renegotiating parts of the deal.
A senior US official, who spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity, cited Iraqi objections to the language on jurisdiction for US troops, the troop pullout dates and the conditions for troop pullout.
According to the draft deal, American troops should pull from Baghdad and other towns by 2009 and leave the country by 2011, unless asked to stay by the Iraqi government.
Baghdad is seeking the power to arrest and try Americans accused of crimes not related to official military operations, plus jurisdiction over troops and contractors who commit major crimes in the course of their duties.
Under the draft, US forces or contractors who commit "major and premeditated murders" while off duty and outside US facilities would fall under Iraqi jurisdiction.
All other crimes -- and murders committed inside US facilities or by on-duty forces -- would fall under American jurisdiction.
Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has ruled the possibility of pushing the deal through parliament before the White House elections.
"It is unlikely that the Iraqi parliament will approve the SOFA before the American presidential election on November 4," he said.
"Because of the differences among the political groups, we don't believe the deal will be approved now."
"The cabinet unanimously sought amendments to the text of the pact so it can be acceptable nationally," said Dabbagh. (Reuters)BAGHDAD — Dealing another blow to proposed security pact, the Iraqi government called on Tuesday, October 21, for more changes to the controversial agreement that would govern the stay of US troops beyond the end of thus year.
"The cabinet unanimously sought amendments to the text of the pact so it can be acceptable nationally," Ali al-Dabbagh, a government spokesman, said in a statement.
The government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki convened earlier today to discuss the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which lays the legal basis for US troops presence after the expiry of the UN mandate by the end of this year.
"The cabinet called on the ministers to submit their suggestions to be included in the negotiations with the US," Dabbagh said.
He added that ministers would meet over the coming days to "give their opinions and consult and provide the amendments suggested" before submitting the amended draft to the US negotiating team.
Maliki told the ministers that the deal was unacceptable in its current drafting.
"He made observations on the need for further changes, because he wants to market it," the participant told the Washington Post on condition of anonymity.
Iraqi and US negotiators recently finalized the text of the agreement, which was expected to have been sealed by the end of July.
The cabinet must approve the draft before it can be sent to the 275-member parliament.
The ruling United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), a powerhouse coalition of mostly Shiite groups including Maliki's Dawa party, is pressing for more changes to the text.
The 30 MPs loyal to influential Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr have already declared opposition to the agreement.
The majority of Sunni lawmakers have also spoken out against the pact, seen to be mainly endorsed by the two main Kurdish parties.
Reluctant
"The consequences of not having a SOFA and of not having a renewed UN authorization are pretty dramatic in terms of consequences for our actions," Gates said.
US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates warned Tuesday of dramatic consequences of not concluding the deal.
"The consequences of not having a SOFA and of not having a renewed UN authorization are pretty dramatic in terms of consequences for our actions," he told reporters.
A similar warning was made a day earlier by Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"We are clearly running out of time," he said, adding that the Iraqi military lacks the ability to bring about security when the UN mandate expires on December 31.
"And in that regard there is great potential for losses of significant consequence."
While the US State Department is publicly insisting the draft is a final version, senior officials are not ruling out the possibility of renegotiating parts of the deal.
A senior US official, who spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity, cited Iraqi objections to the language on jurisdiction for US troops, the troop pullout dates and the conditions for troop pullout.
According to the draft deal, American troops should pull from Baghdad and other towns by 2009 and leave the country by 2011, unless asked to stay by the Iraqi government.
Baghdad is seeking the power to arrest and try Americans accused of crimes not related to official military operations, plus jurisdiction over troops and contractors who commit major crimes in the course of their duties.
Under the draft, US forces or contractors who commit "major and premeditated murders" while off duty and outside US facilities would fall under Iraqi jurisdiction.
All other crimes -- and murders committed inside US facilities or by on-duty forces -- would fall under American jurisdiction.
Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has ruled the possibility of pushing the deal through parliament before the White House elections.
"It is unlikely that the Iraqi parliament will approve the SOFA before the American presidential election on November 4," he said.
"Because of the differences among the political groups, we don't believe the deal will be approved now."
tisdag 21 oktober 2008
Preparing for massive demobilisation
SUDAN: Preparing for massive demobilisation
KHARTOUM, 21 October 2008 (IRIN) - Sudan is planning to disarm, demobilise and re-integrate over 180,000 soldiers into civilian life, but the ambitious scheme to rebuild war-shattered communities could raise false expectations, observers warn.
"We are looking in total at the demobilisation and reintegration of 182,900 adults across east, north and south Sudan, not including any possible operations in Darfur," said Adriaan Verheul, chief of the UN programme supporting the government-run scheme.
"This will make it the biggest DDR operation in the world."
The programme is a key part of a 2005 north-south peace deal that ended one of Africa's longest civil wars, in which over 1.5 million people are estimated to have been killed and another six million displaced.
Run jointly by northern and southern government commissions, the numbers will be split equally between the northern Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the southern ex-rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA).
"It will serve [the] stabilisation of peace in the country," said William Deng Deng, chairman of the southern DDR commission, in recent comments to Sudan's official news agency SUNA.
Initial lists run to 50,000 names, and planning maps mark out proposals for work to begin. Child soldiers are the first focus, with some 1,300 already demobilised.
In addition, 2,900 ex-rebels in eastern Sudan, who fought for a decade in separate battles before a 2006 peace deal, have taken the first tentative steps towards peace.
"The aim is to turn soldiers into civilians able to make enough money to take care of themselves and their families without their army salaries," Verheul told IRIN.
The head of the northern DDR commission, Sulaf al-Dein Salih, said progress was going well in the east, expressing "satisfaction" at the disarmament process "in both north and southern Sudan".
Staggered demobilisation scheme
Under a staggered demobilisation scheme, soldiers put forward by their commanders will be assessed, electronically registered and given medical checks at special centres.
They will also get a US$400 lump-sum payment, 10 weeks rations for a family of five, and a package to help start a new life as civilians, including basic tools, a mosquito net, plastic sheeting and a wind-up radio.
Later, each retiring fighter will receive reintergration support worth $1,750, including vocational training to learn a new career, or backing to establish a small business or farm.
"It's a political process with security objectives, but uses development methods and has a humanitarian impact," said Verheul.
Darfur poses threat
Building peace in Sudan is a slow and often shaky process. Many worry that continuing war in the western region of Darfur could destabilise peace efforts elsewhere, especially with potential genocide charges looming over President Omar al-Bashir.
National elections are due in 2009, followed by a 2011 referendum in the semi-autonomous south on whether it should become fully independent.
Tensions remain high, especially in flashpoint border zones, and former enemy armies are watching over their neighbour's capabilities with concern, nervous of reports that the other is rearming.
In the grossly underdeveloped south, an area about the size of Spain and Portugal combined but with virtually no tarred roads, militias and heavily armed civilians still dominate many regions.
Even apparently basic tasks, such as transporting fighters to demobilisation centres, will pose giant logistical challenges.
"You cannot demobilise a soldier and then put him out on the street without the means to survive and a minimum of dignity," said Verheul.
"Reintegrating former military personnel is often difficult; they may not find the new life appealing, or they don't have the right education for civilian jobs - or there might not be enough jobs for them on the market."
Guaranteed funding needed
Experts say it is vital core funding is guaranteed before the bulk of demobilisation begins, warning that ex-soldiers not provided with a new means of income could themselves pose considerable risks.
And the programme is far from cheap - costing US$385 million for the crucial three-year reintegration phase.
The cash is planned to come from the UN, international donors, and $45 million from Sudan.
Officials are upbeat about the prospects: "Policies are in place, planning is under way and the funding for some initial steps is available," the UN's top envoy to Sudan, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, said in a recent report.
A pilot project for adult fighters is due to start in November in Blue Nile State, with around 1,000 soldiers from both north and south expected to take part.
"If successful, this will be repeated in other areas," Verheul said.
Building confidence
However, around half of the first batch of 50,000 put forward are war-wounded or disabled, a point some critics say means that active military forces will not be reduced.
Verheul dismissed this, arguing there is a need to treat all ex-combatants with respect, to encourage those still able to fight to find a new income.
"No parties in a DDR programme come forward with their best soldiers first," said Verheul. "One must build confidence, to get a more serious reduction in military forces later."
Many Sudanese who were affected by the war are hoping for the best. Like many whose villages were destroyed in Sudan's 21-year civil war, tea seller Mary Jok knows the cost of conflict.
"There's been fighting most of my life," said the 40-year old widow, who ekes out a living from a tiny street stall in the Sudanese capital, [Khartoum] where she fled a decade ago. "My daughters died and my sons were taken to fight," she said.
On the scattered stools in the dust around Mary Jok's tea stall, customers say there is both hope and cynicism at the programme.
"We have heard grand plans before," said Ahmed Ali Mohammed, a teacher. "But we want peace to develop Sudan. We need it to work - there are too many people today who know only how to fight."
IRIN.
KHARTOUM, 21 October 2008 (IRIN) - Sudan is planning to disarm, demobilise and re-integrate over 180,000 soldiers into civilian life, but the ambitious scheme to rebuild war-shattered communities could raise false expectations, observers warn.
"We are looking in total at the demobilisation and reintegration of 182,900 adults across east, north and south Sudan, not including any possible operations in Darfur," said Adriaan Verheul, chief of the UN programme supporting the government-run scheme.
"This will make it the biggest DDR operation in the world."
The programme is a key part of a 2005 north-south peace deal that ended one of Africa's longest civil wars, in which over 1.5 million people are estimated to have been killed and another six million displaced.
Run jointly by northern and southern government commissions, the numbers will be split equally between the northern Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the southern ex-rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA).
"It will serve [the] stabilisation of peace in the country," said William Deng Deng, chairman of the southern DDR commission, in recent comments to Sudan's official news agency SUNA.
Initial lists run to 50,000 names, and planning maps mark out proposals for work to begin. Child soldiers are the first focus, with some 1,300 already demobilised.
In addition, 2,900 ex-rebels in eastern Sudan, who fought for a decade in separate battles before a 2006 peace deal, have taken the first tentative steps towards peace.
"The aim is to turn soldiers into civilians able to make enough money to take care of themselves and their families without their army salaries," Verheul told IRIN.
The head of the northern DDR commission, Sulaf al-Dein Salih, said progress was going well in the east, expressing "satisfaction" at the disarmament process "in both north and southern Sudan".
Staggered demobilisation scheme
Under a staggered demobilisation scheme, soldiers put forward by their commanders will be assessed, electronically registered and given medical checks at special centres.
They will also get a US$400 lump-sum payment, 10 weeks rations for a family of five, and a package to help start a new life as civilians, including basic tools, a mosquito net, plastic sheeting and a wind-up radio.
Later, each retiring fighter will receive reintergration support worth $1,750, including vocational training to learn a new career, or backing to establish a small business or farm.
"It's a political process with security objectives, but uses development methods and has a humanitarian impact," said Verheul.
Darfur poses threat
Building peace in Sudan is a slow and often shaky process. Many worry that continuing war in the western region of Darfur could destabilise peace efforts elsewhere, especially with potential genocide charges looming over President Omar al-Bashir.
National elections are due in 2009, followed by a 2011 referendum in the semi-autonomous south on whether it should become fully independent.
Tensions remain high, especially in flashpoint border zones, and former enemy armies are watching over their neighbour's capabilities with concern, nervous of reports that the other is rearming.
In the grossly underdeveloped south, an area about the size of Spain and Portugal combined but with virtually no tarred roads, militias and heavily armed civilians still dominate many regions.
Even apparently basic tasks, such as transporting fighters to demobilisation centres, will pose giant logistical challenges.
"You cannot demobilise a soldier and then put him out on the street without the means to survive and a minimum of dignity," said Verheul.
"Reintegrating former military personnel is often difficult; they may not find the new life appealing, or they don't have the right education for civilian jobs - or there might not be enough jobs for them on the market."
Guaranteed funding needed
Experts say it is vital core funding is guaranteed before the bulk of demobilisation begins, warning that ex-soldiers not provided with a new means of income could themselves pose considerable risks.
And the programme is far from cheap - costing US$385 million for the crucial three-year reintegration phase.
The cash is planned to come from the UN, international donors, and $45 million from Sudan.
Officials are upbeat about the prospects: "Policies are in place, planning is under way and the funding for some initial steps is available," the UN's top envoy to Sudan, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, said in a recent report.
A pilot project for adult fighters is due to start in November in Blue Nile State, with around 1,000 soldiers from both north and south expected to take part.
"If successful, this will be repeated in other areas," Verheul said.
Building confidence
However, around half of the first batch of 50,000 put forward are war-wounded or disabled, a point some critics say means that active military forces will not be reduced.
Verheul dismissed this, arguing there is a need to treat all ex-combatants with respect, to encourage those still able to fight to find a new income.
"No parties in a DDR programme come forward with their best soldiers first," said Verheul. "One must build confidence, to get a more serious reduction in military forces later."
Many Sudanese who were affected by the war are hoping for the best. Like many whose villages were destroyed in Sudan's 21-year civil war, tea seller Mary Jok knows the cost of conflict.
"There's been fighting most of my life," said the 40-year old widow, who ekes out a living from a tiny street stall in the Sudanese capital, [Khartoum] where she fled a decade ago. "My daughters died and my sons were taken to fight," she said.
On the scattered stools in the dust around Mary Jok's tea stall, customers say there is both hope and cynicism at the programme.
"We have heard grand plans before," said Ahmed Ali Mohammed, a teacher. "But we want peace to develop Sudan. We need it to work - there are too many people today who know only how to fight."
IRIN.
måndag 20 oktober 2008
Bernanke eyes new stimulus package
Bernanke eyes new stimulus package
An easing of credit markets has increased confidence among investors in US stocks [AFP]
Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the US federal reserve, has suggested a second "stimulus package" could be used to stave off an economic slowdown.
"The stabilisation of the financial system, though an essential first step, will not quickly eliminate the challenges still faced by the broader economy," he told the US House of Representatives budget committee on Monday.
"... with some risk of a protracted slowdown, consideration of a fiscal package by the congress at this juncture seems appropriate," he said.
The central bank chairman's comments were his first official endorsement of a second package to follow about $100bn handed to taxpayers over the summer in a bid to boost the US economy through increased consumer spending.
Aljazeera's Cath Turner, reporting from Washington, said: "It's a significant shift in thinking by Bernanke - in July he said it was too early to consider another package.
"This time though, Bernanke suggested some of the stimulus should be directed at the credit markets - making credit more available to consumers, homeowners and businesses."
'Serious slowdown'
Asked by reporters whether the US was now in a recession, Bernanke said there was "a serious slowdown in the US ... whether it's called a recession or not is of no consequence".
IN DEPTH
How the financial bubble burstQ&A: The US financial meltdownReacting to the financial crisisWall Street gripped by uncertaintyTurner said Bernanke had been "very careful to avoid using the word "recession" as he would aware of the potential disastrous affects on markets if he was to further dent investors' confidence.
In a White House statement, George Bush, the US president, said he was "open" to the idea of a second economic stimulus plan.
Henry Paulson, the US treasury secretary, announced that nine major US banks had taken up a government offer to buy shares in their corporations.
"Our purpose is to increase confidence in our banks and increase the confidence of banks so that they will deploy - not hoard - their capital," he said.
"And we expect them to do so, as increased confidence will lead to increased lending." A total of $250bn has been set aside for the programme - part of the $700bn rescue package that was signed off by congress - and several other banks are also expected to apply.
'Increased confidence'
The Dow Jones index of leading US shares closed 4.7 percent, or 413 points, higher at 9,265 following what traders said was an increased confidence among investors who saw an easing of credit markets as a sign the government's attempts to aid the economy were working.
London's FTSE 100 earlier closed 5.41 per cent higher at 4,282.67 points. Shares on Paris' CAC index ended up by 3.56 per cent and Frankfurt's Dax closed 1.12 per cent higher.
The increases came after Sweden unveiled a plan to support banks with $200bn in credit guarantees in a move to improve liquidity and also said it would also create a $2bn "stability fund" to bail out any Swedish banks that run into solvency problems.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose by nearly 3.5 per cent in early trading on Tuesday to reach 9,319 points.
Al Jazeera and agencies
An easing of credit markets has increased confidence among investors in US stocks [AFP]
Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the US federal reserve, has suggested a second "stimulus package" could be used to stave off an economic slowdown.
"The stabilisation of the financial system, though an essential first step, will not quickly eliminate the challenges still faced by the broader economy," he told the US House of Representatives budget committee on Monday.
"... with some risk of a protracted slowdown, consideration of a fiscal package by the congress at this juncture seems appropriate," he said.
The central bank chairman's comments were his first official endorsement of a second package to follow about $100bn handed to taxpayers over the summer in a bid to boost the US economy through increased consumer spending.
Aljazeera's Cath Turner, reporting from Washington, said: "It's a significant shift in thinking by Bernanke - in July he said it was too early to consider another package.
"This time though, Bernanke suggested some of the stimulus should be directed at the credit markets - making credit more available to consumers, homeowners and businesses."
'Serious slowdown'
Asked by reporters whether the US was now in a recession, Bernanke said there was "a serious slowdown in the US ... whether it's called a recession or not is of no consequence".
IN DEPTH
How the financial bubble burstQ&A: The US financial meltdownReacting to the financial crisisWall Street gripped by uncertaintyTurner said Bernanke had been "very careful to avoid using the word "recession" as he would aware of the potential disastrous affects on markets if he was to further dent investors' confidence.
In a White House statement, George Bush, the US president, said he was "open" to the idea of a second economic stimulus plan.
Henry Paulson, the US treasury secretary, announced that nine major US banks had taken up a government offer to buy shares in their corporations.
"Our purpose is to increase confidence in our banks and increase the confidence of banks so that they will deploy - not hoard - their capital," he said.
"And we expect them to do so, as increased confidence will lead to increased lending." A total of $250bn has been set aside for the programme - part of the $700bn rescue package that was signed off by congress - and several other banks are also expected to apply.
'Increased confidence'
The Dow Jones index of leading US shares closed 4.7 percent, or 413 points, higher at 9,265 following what traders said was an increased confidence among investors who saw an easing of credit markets as a sign the government's attempts to aid the economy were working.
London's FTSE 100 earlier closed 5.41 per cent higher at 4,282.67 points. Shares on Paris' CAC index ended up by 3.56 per cent and Frankfurt's Dax closed 1.12 per cent higher.
The increases came after Sweden unveiled a plan to support banks with $200bn in credit guarantees in a move to improve liquidity and also said it would also create a $2bn "stability fund" to bail out any Swedish banks that run into solvency problems.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose by nearly 3.5 per cent in early trading on Tuesday to reach 9,319 points.
Al Jazeera and agencies
UN joins government in anti-poverty drive
THAILAND: UN joins government in anti-poverty drive
BANGKOK, 17 October 2008 (IRIN) - The UN and Thai government went walking in support of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on 17 October, with the deputy interior minister, Preecha Rengsomboonsuk, and the representative of the UN Children's Fund Thailand country office, Tomoo Hozumi, joining more than 2,000 people in Ayutthaya Province to raise poverty awareness.
About 10,000 Ayutthaya citizens from every social sector joined the opening ceremony at the city hall after the walk. The two representatives made pledges to fight poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
"We tried to adopt his Majesty the King's initiative on sustainable development and emphasised three main issues: encouraging people to save, providing jobs for them, and making them help one another in solving poverty," Touchrich Tanaluck, chief community development officer of Ayutthaya, told IRIN. "We believe this policy will help us achieve our goal in the '180 Day Roadmap for Poverty Reduction' campaign."
The campaign was launched on 15 August 2008 by former Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's government to raise the annual income of almost 180,000 Thais who live below the national poverty line through decentralisation. Each province has its own policy and campaign to achieve its goal.
Nampeung Tulayathit, the head of the women's association of Bangpra-in district in Ayutthaya, told IRIN she saw the event as a good start for the Thai government. "I believe they could reach their goal in the 180 Day Campaign because this is the one of the rare occasions when I saw many departments, ministries, and all other sections of our society come together and be serious about the issue."
The event also included exhibitions on how to solve poverty and poverty reduction "clinics" - information centres set up by the Ministry of Interior with many Thai ministries and departments to encourage domestic and individual savings, health promotion, and empowerment of the poor. Many follow-up events will take place between 17 and 19 October.
ns/mw
[END]
BANGKOK, 17 October 2008 (IRIN) - The UN and Thai government went walking in support of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on 17 October, with the deputy interior minister, Preecha Rengsomboonsuk, and the representative of the UN Children's Fund Thailand country office, Tomoo Hozumi, joining more than 2,000 people in Ayutthaya Province to raise poverty awareness.
About 10,000 Ayutthaya citizens from every social sector joined the opening ceremony at the city hall after the walk. The two representatives made pledges to fight poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
"We tried to adopt his Majesty the King's initiative on sustainable development and emphasised three main issues: encouraging people to save, providing jobs for them, and making them help one another in solving poverty," Touchrich Tanaluck, chief community development officer of Ayutthaya, told IRIN. "We believe this policy will help us achieve our goal in the '180 Day Roadmap for Poverty Reduction' campaign."
The campaign was launched on 15 August 2008 by former Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's government to raise the annual income of almost 180,000 Thais who live below the national poverty line through decentralisation. Each province has its own policy and campaign to achieve its goal.
Nampeung Tulayathit, the head of the women's association of Bangpra-in district in Ayutthaya, told IRIN she saw the event as a good start for the Thai government. "I believe they could reach their goal in the 180 Day Campaign because this is the one of the rare occasions when I saw many departments, ministries, and all other sections of our society come together and be serious about the issue."
The event also included exhibitions on how to solve poverty and poverty reduction "clinics" - information centres set up by the Ministry of Interior with many Thai ministries and departments to encourage domestic and individual savings, health promotion, and empowerment of the poor. Many follow-up events will take place between 17 and 19 October.
ns/mw
[END]
fredag 17 oktober 2008
Donor response to food crisis inadequate, agencies say
Donor response to food crisis inadequate, agencies say
DAKAR, 16 October 2008 (IRIN) - Food security experts say international donors' response to the world's food crisis has been inadequate when compared to interventions to contain the global financial meltdown.
"Huge financial resources have been mobilised by the international community in a matter of days" in response to the global financial crisis, wrote Teresa Cavero in a report by the international NGO Oxfam released on 16 October - World Food Day.
While the US government put up US$700 billion to bail out financial institutions in one day, on 3 October, total global development aid for 2007 was $104 billion, according to Alexander Woollcombe, food security advocacy adviser at Oxfam in Dakar.
This year's food crisis threw an additional 75 million people into hunger and poverty in 2007 according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The World Bank estimates there are currently 967 million malnourished people in the world.
FAO says the financial crisis, following on the heels of the food price crisis, could deepen the plight of the poor in developing countries.
Remittances dropping
FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf stated in a 15 October news release: "Borrowing, bank lending, official development aid, foreign direct investment and workers' remittances - all may be compromised by a deepening financial crisis."
There are no precise numbers yet about the impact of the financial crisis on developing countries, said Josef Schmidhuber, senior economist at the FAO's Global Perspectives Unit, but he noted that when industrialised countries face a crisis, fewer people work and fewer remittances are sent to developing countries.
"We're already hearing noises from Mexico that fewer remittances are being sent back. These [remittances] are more important than credits and foreign direct investment," he stressed.
Mexico receives $22 billion in annual remittances, and Bangladesh $4 billion, according to Schmidhuber. In Haiti and Honduras remittances make up over 20 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
Response 'a slow trickle'
The FAO's Schmidhuber said donors promised $20 billion in aid to agriculture at the Rome FAO conference in June 2008, but according to Oxfam, five months on just $1 billion of this has been dispersed. Oxfam's Woollcombe said this is partly because "it takes time to distribute cash for agricultural production. The problem is it is not clear when or where it is actually coming."
The UN has estimated that $25 billion to $40 billion is needed to lessen the impacts of high food prices on developing countries.
"With the new commitments of the financial crisis, I would not be surprised if we don't get much more than the trickle that has arrived so far," said Schmidhuber.
The UK government's commitment of US$ 1.4 billion pledged at the Rome meeting still stands, said Matt Wells, spokesperson for the UK Department for International Development (DFID).
"Yes, there are challenges we are all facing, but we are continuing to call on other donors not to let the economic crisis deflect the fact that we need to remain focused on supporting those most in need," Wells told IRIN.
Building up resilience
To boost vulnerable people's resilience to crises, Oxfam and the Washington DC-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) stress the need for donors and international finance institutions to support 'social protection' such as aiding access to health and education, which they say will have a knock-on boost on their food-purchasing power.
Such measures could include targeted cash transfers, nutritional interventions, and fee waivers on targeted services, according to an October World Bank report 'Rising food and fuel prices: addressing the risks to future generations.'
It is the erosion of the global food system's resilience that underlies the food price spikes, according to Steve Wiggins, research fellow at the UK-based Overseas Development Institute.
The world needs to replenish severely depleted global grain reserves, which have dropped from 30 percent to 19 percent of annual grain use, Wiggins said. "Rebuilding stocks would help to calm nerves and restore the resilience of the global food system."
See related story: Cereal banks in Niger
FAO's Schmidhuber said as an alternative to real grain reserves, which are expensive to build and keep up, 'virtual grain stocks' should be developed; developing countries would purchase the right to buy at subsidised prices.
He said such alternatives would lead to a more efficient market that could also protect poor communities, adding that export bans and subsidies in the developed world distort markets and discourage production.
Progress is being made on both sides, he said. "We are starting to see a convergence between the developing and developed world as they shift these opposing approaches."
As the FAO's World Food Security Committee discusses these and other challenges in Rome from 14 to 17 October, Schmidhuber said governments should start by taking a simple step. "They need to do what they've said they are already committed to doing, and deliver the money."
aj/np
IRIN.
DAKAR, 16 October 2008 (IRIN) - Food security experts say international donors' response to the world's food crisis has been inadequate when compared to interventions to contain the global financial meltdown.
"Huge financial resources have been mobilised by the international community in a matter of days" in response to the global financial crisis, wrote Teresa Cavero in a report by the international NGO Oxfam released on 16 October - World Food Day.
While the US government put up US$700 billion to bail out financial institutions in one day, on 3 October, total global development aid for 2007 was $104 billion, according to Alexander Woollcombe, food security advocacy adviser at Oxfam in Dakar.
This year's food crisis threw an additional 75 million people into hunger and poverty in 2007 according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The World Bank estimates there are currently 967 million malnourished people in the world.
FAO says the financial crisis, following on the heels of the food price crisis, could deepen the plight of the poor in developing countries.
Remittances dropping
FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf stated in a 15 October news release: "Borrowing, bank lending, official development aid, foreign direct investment and workers' remittances - all may be compromised by a deepening financial crisis."
There are no precise numbers yet about the impact of the financial crisis on developing countries, said Josef Schmidhuber, senior economist at the FAO's Global Perspectives Unit, but he noted that when industrialised countries face a crisis, fewer people work and fewer remittances are sent to developing countries.
"We're already hearing noises from Mexico that fewer remittances are being sent back. These [remittances] are more important than credits and foreign direct investment," he stressed.
Mexico receives $22 billion in annual remittances, and Bangladesh $4 billion, according to Schmidhuber. In Haiti and Honduras remittances make up over 20 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
Response 'a slow trickle'
The FAO's Schmidhuber said donors promised $20 billion in aid to agriculture at the Rome FAO conference in June 2008, but according to Oxfam, five months on just $1 billion of this has been dispersed. Oxfam's Woollcombe said this is partly because "it takes time to distribute cash for agricultural production. The problem is it is not clear when or where it is actually coming."
The UN has estimated that $25 billion to $40 billion is needed to lessen the impacts of high food prices on developing countries.
"With the new commitments of the financial crisis, I would not be surprised if we don't get much more than the trickle that has arrived so far," said Schmidhuber.
The UK government's commitment of US$ 1.4 billion pledged at the Rome meeting still stands, said Matt Wells, spokesperson for the UK Department for International Development (DFID).
"Yes, there are challenges we are all facing, but we are continuing to call on other donors not to let the economic crisis deflect the fact that we need to remain focused on supporting those most in need," Wells told IRIN.
Building up resilience
To boost vulnerable people's resilience to crises, Oxfam and the Washington DC-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) stress the need for donors and international finance institutions to support 'social protection' such as aiding access to health and education, which they say will have a knock-on boost on their food-purchasing power.
Such measures could include targeted cash transfers, nutritional interventions, and fee waivers on targeted services, according to an October World Bank report 'Rising food and fuel prices: addressing the risks to future generations.'
It is the erosion of the global food system's resilience that underlies the food price spikes, according to Steve Wiggins, research fellow at the UK-based Overseas Development Institute.
The world needs to replenish severely depleted global grain reserves, which have dropped from 30 percent to 19 percent of annual grain use, Wiggins said. "Rebuilding stocks would help to calm nerves and restore the resilience of the global food system."
See related story: Cereal banks in Niger
FAO's Schmidhuber said as an alternative to real grain reserves, which are expensive to build and keep up, 'virtual grain stocks' should be developed; developing countries would purchase the right to buy at subsidised prices.
He said such alternatives would lead to a more efficient market that could also protect poor communities, adding that export bans and subsidies in the developed world distort markets and discourage production.
Progress is being made on both sides, he said. "We are starting to see a convergence between the developing and developed world as they shift these opposing approaches."
As the FAO's World Food Security Committee discusses these and other challenges in Rome from 14 to 17 October, Schmidhuber said governments should start by taking a simple step. "They need to do what they've said they are already committed to doing, and deliver the money."
aj/np
IRIN.
onsdag 15 oktober 2008
IRAQ: Cholera deaths rise to eight as disease spreads
IRAQ: Cholera deaths rise to eight as disease spreads
BAGHDAD, 15 October 2008 (IRIN) - About 500 confirmed cholera cases have been registered in Iraq since the latest outbreak of the disease on 20 August. Eight people have died, a government spokesman said on 14 October.
"So far there have been 479 cases in 12 provinces: Babil 230 cases, Baghdad 73, Diwaniyah 61, Basra 50, Karbala 39, Najaf nine, Anbar eight, Maysan three, Arbil two, Samawa two, Kut one and Diyala one," said Ihsan Jaafar, director-general of the public health directorate and a spokesman for the ministry's cholera control unit.
Jaafar told IRIN cholera-related deaths had reached eight, with two new death cases in Qadissiyah and Babil provinces south of Baghdad.
Those who have died of the disease are a 10-year-old girl, a 61-year-old man, a child over five in Babil Province, two children under five in Qadissiyah Province; a three-year-old boy in Maysan; and an adult and a child in Baghdad.
Spreading north?
There is evidence of the disease spreading north: two cases were confirmed in Arbil, a city some 350km north of Baghdad. The disease was previously confined to central and southern Iraq.
"We are continuing to intensify our measures in all fields such as raising awareness among residents, and monitoring restaurants and food and drinks-related factories and stores; we have already closed a number of them and destroyed tonnes of material," Jaafar said.
According to Richard Finkelstein, co-author of Medical Microbiology, cholera occurs primarily during the summer months, possibly reflecting the increased presence of the organism in rivers and lakes during these months, as well as the enhanced opportunity for it to multiply in unrefrigerated foods.
The Iraqi Health Ministry and the World Health Organization have blamed the country's rundown water and sanitation infrastructure for the outbreak.
Cholera is a gastro-intestinal disease typically spread by contaminated water. It can cause severe diarrhoea, which in extreme cases can lead to fatal dehydration. Treating drinking water with chlorine and improving hygiene conditions can prevent the disease.
sm/ar/cb[END]
IRIN.
BAGHDAD, 15 October 2008 (IRIN) - About 500 confirmed cholera cases have been registered in Iraq since the latest outbreak of the disease on 20 August. Eight people have died, a government spokesman said on 14 October.
"So far there have been 479 cases in 12 provinces: Babil 230 cases, Baghdad 73, Diwaniyah 61, Basra 50, Karbala 39, Najaf nine, Anbar eight, Maysan three, Arbil two, Samawa two, Kut one and Diyala one," said Ihsan Jaafar, director-general of the public health directorate and a spokesman for the ministry's cholera control unit.
Jaafar told IRIN cholera-related deaths had reached eight, with two new death cases in Qadissiyah and Babil provinces south of Baghdad.
Those who have died of the disease are a 10-year-old girl, a 61-year-old man, a child over five in Babil Province, two children under five in Qadissiyah Province; a three-year-old boy in Maysan; and an adult and a child in Baghdad.
Spreading north?
There is evidence of the disease spreading north: two cases were confirmed in Arbil, a city some 350km north of Baghdad. The disease was previously confined to central and southern Iraq.
"We are continuing to intensify our measures in all fields such as raising awareness among residents, and monitoring restaurants and food and drinks-related factories and stores; we have already closed a number of them and destroyed tonnes of material," Jaafar said.
According to Richard Finkelstein, co-author of Medical Microbiology, cholera occurs primarily during the summer months, possibly reflecting the increased presence of the organism in rivers and lakes during these months, as well as the enhanced opportunity for it to multiply in unrefrigerated foods.
The Iraqi Health Ministry and the World Health Organization have blamed the country's rundown water and sanitation infrastructure for the outbreak.
Cholera is a gastro-intestinal disease typically spread by contaminated water. It can cause severe diarrhoea, which in extreme cases can lead to fatal dehydration. Treating drinking water with chlorine and improving hygiene conditions can prevent the disease.
sm/ar/cb[END]
IRIN.
PHILIPPINES: "Humanitarian crisis" risk in Mindanao
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tisdag 14 oktober 2008
Israeli parties in 'coalition deal'
Israeli parties in 'coalition deal'
Labour leader Barak would become senior deputy prime minister if a new coalition assumes power [EPA]
Israel's Kadima and Labour parties have reached an agreement in principle for the formation of a new coalition government.
The deal, reported in Israeli newspapers on Monday, paves the way for Tzipi Livni, the foreign minister, to become the next prime minister.
Ehud Barak, Labour's leader, will be named senior deputy prime minister, next only to the prime minister in rank.
Livni, 50, was asked by Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, on September 22 to form a new government after Ehud Olmert, the incumbent prime minister, announced he would resign over corruption allegations.
Reporting on the developments, David Chater, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Jerusalem, said: "There has been marathon talks between the two sides - 18 hours so far.
"Israeli media say it has been signed, but our contacts with the Kadima party say that although agreement is close, it has not actually been signed.
"But we are very near to that giant step of Tzipi Livni becoming the next prime minister."
Concessions
Chater said that the Labour party did not get the increases in the government budget they were asking for as part of the deal.
However, it did get some of the concessions they wanted, for instance, an increase in student fees.
But the seats of Labour and Kadima do not add up to a majority needed to run parliament. The support of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party is necessary to gain a majority.
The Shas party has demanded increases to child subsidies and a promise not to negotiate with the Palestinians over Jerusalem, to join the coalition.
Livni has set a deadline of October 27 to form a coalition. Otherwise elections to choose a new prime minister will have to be held.
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies
Labour leader Barak would become senior deputy prime minister if a new coalition assumes power [EPA]
Israel's Kadima and Labour parties have reached an agreement in principle for the formation of a new coalition government.
The deal, reported in Israeli newspapers on Monday, paves the way for Tzipi Livni, the foreign minister, to become the next prime minister.
Ehud Barak, Labour's leader, will be named senior deputy prime minister, next only to the prime minister in rank.
Livni, 50, was asked by Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, on September 22 to form a new government after Ehud Olmert, the incumbent prime minister, announced he would resign over corruption allegations.
Reporting on the developments, David Chater, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Jerusalem, said: "There has been marathon talks between the two sides - 18 hours so far.
"Israeli media say it has been signed, but our contacts with the Kadima party say that although agreement is close, it has not actually been signed.
"But we are very near to that giant step of Tzipi Livni becoming the next prime minister."
Concessions
Chater said that the Labour party did not get the increases in the government budget they were asking for as part of the deal.
However, it did get some of the concessions they wanted, for instance, an increase in student fees.
But the seats of Labour and Kadima do not add up to a majority needed to run parliament. The support of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party is necessary to gain a majority.
The Shas party has demanded increases to child subsidies and a promise not to negotiate with the Palestinians over Jerusalem, to join the coalition.
Livni has set a deadline of October 27 to form a coalition. Otherwise elections to choose a new prime minister will have to be held.
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies
måndag 13 oktober 2008
UK Intelligentsia Blast Terror Detention
UK Intelligentsia Blast Terror Detention
"In 42 days we will have made you different. You may be charged, you may be released. You will always be different," Kennedy writes.CAIRO — Forty-two of Britain's most renowned writers and intellectuals have picked up their pens in a rare protest against the government's plan to detain terror suspects without charge for up to 42 days, ahead of a crucial vote on the controversial legislation.
"We don’t know how lucky we are, to live in a nation where police officers have all of six weeks to discover why they’ve locked us up," award-winning author Phillip Pullman writes in a sarcastic essay as part of the 42 Writers for Liberty campaign.
"Ask them after 41 days why a prisoner is still behind bars, and they can honestly and innocently say 'No idea, mate,' But give them that extra day, and they’ll crack it."
In a protest not seen since leading figures in the arts world clashed with the Margaret Thatcher government in the 1980s, the top writers are speaking out against a bill extending pre-charge detention for terror suspects from 28 to 42 days.
The literary protest, coordinated by the human rights group Liberty, saw the writers publishing a collection of satire, essays, fiction and poetry to protest the proposal on the website www.42writers.com.
In her piece, novelist Stella Duffy lists things that can take 42 days to accomplish including writing the first six chapters of her first book; going through two rounds of chemotherapy; undergoing in-vitro fertilization and watching the garden change from summer to autumn.
AL Kennedy, winner of the Costa Book of the Year Award, warns that being held for 42 days without charge would leave a permanent scar on any individual.
"In 42 days we will have made you different. You may be charged, you may be released. You will always be different," she writes in her essay.
"We will always be in how you think. We do not need to hurt you. We will steal you from yourself."
Sleepwalking
"There's a real danger that people in Britain are sleepwalking into an assault on our human rights," said Allen.
The literary protest runs in parallel with a mass protest planed by Amnesty International against the detention limit as a gross attack on liberties.
"There's a real danger that people in Britain are sleepwalking into an assault on our human rights," Kate Allen, UK director of Amnesty, said on the organization's website.
"Plans to extend detention without charge should be abandoned once and for all. We don't want them returning under another guise - not next month, not next year."
The detention limit bill will face Monday a new vote at the House of Lords, where it is expected to meet fierce opposition.
This comes four months after the government survived a rebellion of 36 Labour MPs to pass the bill by just nine votes in the House of Commons.
Extending terror detention has been an ongoing subject of controversy in Britain since 2005, when the Tony Blair government failed to get parliamentary approval to increase the limit to 90 days.
Civil rights groups lament that most other countries have detention periods shorter than 28 days.
Amnesty's rally will see protesters marching through the streets of Leeds dressing gowns and slippers and clutching pillows and blankets.
The rally will see the first public screening of Amnesty's new film, "Sleepwalk", by Oscar-shortlisted directing duo DarkFibre.
"This film is Amnesty's wake up call - we have got to stand up for our basic freedoms," says Allen.
"Hard-won liberties are at stake."
By IOL
"In 42 days we will have made you different. You may be charged, you may be released. You will always be different," Kennedy writes.CAIRO — Forty-two of Britain's most renowned writers and intellectuals have picked up their pens in a rare protest against the government's plan to detain terror suspects without charge for up to 42 days, ahead of a crucial vote on the controversial legislation.
"We don’t know how lucky we are, to live in a nation where police officers have all of six weeks to discover why they’ve locked us up," award-winning author Phillip Pullman writes in a sarcastic essay as part of the 42 Writers for Liberty campaign.
"Ask them after 41 days why a prisoner is still behind bars, and they can honestly and innocently say 'No idea, mate,' But give them that extra day, and they’ll crack it."
In a protest not seen since leading figures in the arts world clashed with the Margaret Thatcher government in the 1980s, the top writers are speaking out against a bill extending pre-charge detention for terror suspects from 28 to 42 days.
The literary protest, coordinated by the human rights group Liberty, saw the writers publishing a collection of satire, essays, fiction and poetry to protest the proposal on the website www.42writers.com.
In her piece, novelist Stella Duffy lists things that can take 42 days to accomplish including writing the first six chapters of her first book; going through two rounds of chemotherapy; undergoing in-vitro fertilization and watching the garden change from summer to autumn.
AL Kennedy, winner of the Costa Book of the Year Award, warns that being held for 42 days without charge would leave a permanent scar on any individual.
"In 42 days we will have made you different. You may be charged, you may be released. You will always be different," she writes in her essay.
"We will always be in how you think. We do not need to hurt you. We will steal you from yourself."
Sleepwalking
"There's a real danger that people in Britain are sleepwalking into an assault on our human rights," said Allen.
The literary protest runs in parallel with a mass protest planed by Amnesty International against the detention limit as a gross attack on liberties.
"There's a real danger that people in Britain are sleepwalking into an assault on our human rights," Kate Allen, UK director of Amnesty, said on the organization's website.
"Plans to extend detention without charge should be abandoned once and for all. We don't want them returning under another guise - not next month, not next year."
The detention limit bill will face Monday a new vote at the House of Lords, where it is expected to meet fierce opposition.
This comes four months after the government survived a rebellion of 36 Labour MPs to pass the bill by just nine votes in the House of Commons.
Extending terror detention has been an ongoing subject of controversy in Britain since 2005, when the Tony Blair government failed to get parliamentary approval to increase the limit to 90 days.
Civil rights groups lament that most other countries have detention periods shorter than 28 days.
Amnesty's rally will see protesters marching through the streets of Leeds dressing gowns and slippers and clutching pillows and blankets.
The rally will see the first public screening of Amnesty's new film, "Sleepwalk", by Oscar-shortlisted directing duo DarkFibre.
"This film is Amnesty's wake up call - we have got to stand up for our basic freedoms," says Allen.
"Hard-won liberties are at stake."
By IOL
Stop Bush's War on Terror: Analysts
Stop Bush's War on Terror: Analysts
By; IOL
"The approach this administration took is breaking down," Lewis said. (Google)
WASHINGTON — With the Bush administration near the end of its term, demands are picking up steam to change Washington's anything-goes approach to the "war on terror".
"Things are starting to come a little unglued," James Lewis, a national security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Sunday, October 12.
"The approach this administration took is breaking down. Some of it is, as it loses its political steam and its credibility, people are willing to speak out."
Seizing on the public fear of terrorism following the 9/11 attacks, the Bush administration invaded Afghanistan and Iraq under its "war on terror" campaign.
Coercive interrogations, indefinite detentions, secret overseas prisons, and warrantless surveillance of phone calls and emails were among the tools used by the administration.
"If it proves to be true, I think you'll see further demand for oversight and further demand for control," said Lewis.
The Bush administration has long resisted calls for radical changes in its "war on terror" approach.
Last year, it amended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to permit the government to monitor communications that begin or end overseas.
Attorney General Michael Mukasey this month signed new guidelines on FBI operations to give it broad new powers to conduct surveillance and use other intrusive investigative techniques on Americans.
The administration has blocked a court order to release 17 Chinese Muslim Uighurs from Guantanamo into the US, and has plodded on with trials by military trial of detainees at Guantanamo Bay despite repeated legal setbacks.
"The sense that what they are doing is right and necessary is very strong still in the Bush administration," said Lewis.
New Approach
Analysts say that the new administration should craft a new approach on fighting terror.
"Every democratic nation that has had to grapple with a terrorist threat has been obliged to alter some of the rules -- the rules of intelligence collection, police powers and so on," said Brian Jenkins, a terrorism expert at the RAND Corporation.
"And that's okay so long as you modify the rules and work within the rules.
"Where things begin to go wrong is where people assert that the rules don't matter," he said.
The RAND Corporation said in a recent study that the US should stop using the "war on terror" label and shift its strategy against terror groups from the current heavy dependence on military might to greater use of policing and intelligence work.
Jenkins believes that the new administration should shore up international support against terrorism by acting in ways that reflect US values.
"I think as a first step we should close down Guantanamo. It is a symbol of things that are wrong," he said.
Calls for closing the notorious camp have gone nowhere despite a broad consensus that Guantanamo has been a costly mistake.
The US has been holding hundreds of detainees at its notorious Guantanamo detention center for years.
It declared them "enemy combatants" to deny them legal rights under the American legal system.
"We need to promptly identify and release those who are wrongly held, we need to develop a patently fair (legal) procedure," said Jenkins.
By; IOL
"The approach this administration took is breaking down," Lewis said. (Google)
WASHINGTON — With the Bush administration near the end of its term, demands are picking up steam to change Washington's anything-goes approach to the "war on terror".
"Things are starting to come a little unglued," James Lewis, a national security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Sunday, October 12.
"The approach this administration took is breaking down. Some of it is, as it loses its political steam and its credibility, people are willing to speak out."
Seizing on the public fear of terrorism following the 9/11 attacks, the Bush administration invaded Afghanistan and Iraq under its "war on terror" campaign.
Coercive interrogations, indefinite detentions, secret overseas prisons, and warrantless surveillance of phone calls and emails were among the tools used by the administration.
"If it proves to be true, I think you'll see further demand for oversight and further demand for control," said Lewis.
The Bush administration has long resisted calls for radical changes in its "war on terror" approach.
Last year, it amended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to permit the government to monitor communications that begin or end overseas.
Attorney General Michael Mukasey this month signed new guidelines on FBI operations to give it broad new powers to conduct surveillance and use other intrusive investigative techniques on Americans.
The administration has blocked a court order to release 17 Chinese Muslim Uighurs from Guantanamo into the US, and has plodded on with trials by military trial of detainees at Guantanamo Bay despite repeated legal setbacks.
"The sense that what they are doing is right and necessary is very strong still in the Bush administration," said Lewis.
New Approach
Analysts say that the new administration should craft a new approach on fighting terror.
"Every democratic nation that has had to grapple with a terrorist threat has been obliged to alter some of the rules -- the rules of intelligence collection, police powers and so on," said Brian Jenkins, a terrorism expert at the RAND Corporation.
"And that's okay so long as you modify the rules and work within the rules.
"Where things begin to go wrong is where people assert that the rules don't matter," he said.
The RAND Corporation said in a recent study that the US should stop using the "war on terror" label and shift its strategy against terror groups from the current heavy dependence on military might to greater use of policing and intelligence work.
Jenkins believes that the new administration should shore up international support against terrorism by acting in ways that reflect US values.
"I think as a first step we should close down Guantanamo. It is a symbol of things that are wrong," he said.
Calls for closing the notorious camp have gone nowhere despite a broad consensus that Guantanamo has been a costly mistake.
The US has been holding hundreds of detainees at its notorious Guantanamo detention center for years.
It declared them "enemy combatants" to deny them legal rights under the American legal system.
"We need to promptly identify and release those who are wrongly held, we need to develop a patently fair (legal) procedure," said Jenkins.
fredag 10 oktober 2008
Market crisis worsens
Market crisis worsens
Markets around the world are reeling [AFP]
Share markets in Asia have gone into free fall, indicating the global financial crisis was deepening despite increased efforts by governments and institutions to stem the bleeding.
Japan's Nikkei index plunged more than 11 per cent on Friday to fall below the 9,000 level for the first time since 2003 and hover close to the 8,000 mark, before recovering slightly in the afternoon session.
Yoshinori Nagano, the chief strategist at Daiwa Asset Management, said no one was buying.
"Fundamentals don't matter any more and there's no explanation for such a plunge," he said.
Shares dived elsewhere in Asia. India's main stock index fell more than nine per cent on opening and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell by more than eight per cent.
Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX200, South Korea's Kospi and Singapore's Straits Times index also dived steeply, all losing around seven per cent following Wall Street's nearly 700-point drop on Thursday, before they reversed some losses.
Singapore in recession
Singapore's government announced on Friday that its economy was in recession, after releasing figures showing real Gross Domestic Product was down for a second quarter.
IN DEPTH
How the financial bubble burstQ&A: The US financial meltdownReacting to the financial crisis
The city-state heavily dependent on trade, making it very sensitive to hiccups in developed economies.
Elsewhere in Asia, Indonesia's share market remained suspended on Friday after it plunged more than 20 per cent during the week.
There are fears that the country could slide into bankruptcy despite assurances by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the president, that the situation is "fully under control".
The IMF and the World Bank are due to hold their annual meetings on Friday and over the weekend, while finance ministers from the G7 group of wealthy nations will converge on the meetings' sidelines in Washington DC this weekend for talks on the crisis.
Currency reserves loan
A Japanese newspaper said Japan was to propose an IMF loan scheme at the meeting to give countries facing financial crisis access to the trillions of dollars in currency reserves held by Asian and Middle Eastern governments.
Experts are calling for a concerted global effort to restore confidence [GALLO/GETTY]The IMF-led scheme would be available to smaller emerging countries, not G7 members or other large nations, according to the Nikkei newspaper.
Under the Japanese plan, the IMF would ask the country that is to receive the funds to draw up a plan for revitalising its financial sector including writing off its bad assets.
The new emergency loans would be funded by the approximately 200 billion yen ($2bn) contributed by IMF member countries plus loans from the foreign currency reserves of countries such as Japan, China and Middle Eastern oil exporters.
The massive declines in Asia and on Wall Street comes despite the IMF reactivating an emergency aid process for countries seeking help in the global financial crisis, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the institution's president, said on Thursday.
He warned that the global economy was "on the cusps" of a recession and added that the IMF was "ready to answer any demand by countries facing problems".
The declines also come after the US Federal Reserve and central banks across the world from Europe to Asia cut interest rates to contain the market meltdown.
Co-ordinated action urged
James Henry an economist and investigative journalist, told Al Jazeera that the crisis "is not contained, it's spreading to a global level".
IN VIDEO
Robert Zoellick on the financial crisis
More videos ... "This is something that policy-makers have to get under control in the next week or so, otherwise we're in for a very deep depression," he warned.
Henry said central bank rate cuts and the plan to buy bank's bad assets have not worked.
What is needed is a "global stabilisation fund" to recapitalise banks with equity – as opposed to just buying their bad debt - and a stimulus package with some debt relief for borrowers, he said.
"But it requires much more co-ordination across boundaries than we've had before," he added.
Robert Zoellick, the president of the World Bank, also called for a concerted effort by the world's wealthiest nations to work together on the crisis, telling Al Jazeera on Thursday that "the scope of this problem is much larger than what we can deal with".
"In the short term what the G7 needs to do is to try to take the actions it's starting to take - co-ordinated central bank actions ... to try to clean up the assets, to try to make sure there is liquidity in terms of banks being willing to provide funds to corporations and others [and] recapitalise the institutions," he said.
Markets around the world are reeling [AFP]
Share markets in Asia have gone into free fall, indicating the global financial crisis was deepening despite increased efforts by governments and institutions to stem the bleeding.
Japan's Nikkei index plunged more than 11 per cent on Friday to fall below the 9,000 level for the first time since 2003 and hover close to the 8,000 mark, before recovering slightly in the afternoon session.
Yoshinori Nagano, the chief strategist at Daiwa Asset Management, said no one was buying.
"Fundamentals don't matter any more and there's no explanation for such a plunge," he said.
Shares dived elsewhere in Asia. India's main stock index fell more than nine per cent on opening and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell by more than eight per cent.
Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX200, South Korea's Kospi and Singapore's Straits Times index also dived steeply, all losing around seven per cent following Wall Street's nearly 700-point drop on Thursday, before they reversed some losses.
Singapore in recession
Singapore's government announced on Friday that its economy was in recession, after releasing figures showing real Gross Domestic Product was down for a second quarter.
IN DEPTH
How the financial bubble burstQ&A: The US financial meltdownReacting to the financial crisis
The city-state heavily dependent on trade, making it very sensitive to hiccups in developed economies.
Elsewhere in Asia, Indonesia's share market remained suspended on Friday after it plunged more than 20 per cent during the week.
There are fears that the country could slide into bankruptcy despite assurances by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the president, that the situation is "fully under control".
The IMF and the World Bank are due to hold their annual meetings on Friday and over the weekend, while finance ministers from the G7 group of wealthy nations will converge on the meetings' sidelines in Washington DC this weekend for talks on the crisis.
Currency reserves loan
A Japanese newspaper said Japan was to propose an IMF loan scheme at the meeting to give countries facing financial crisis access to the trillions of dollars in currency reserves held by Asian and Middle Eastern governments.
Experts are calling for a concerted global effort to restore confidence [GALLO/GETTY]The IMF-led scheme would be available to smaller emerging countries, not G7 members or other large nations, according to the Nikkei newspaper.
Under the Japanese plan, the IMF would ask the country that is to receive the funds to draw up a plan for revitalising its financial sector including writing off its bad assets.
The new emergency loans would be funded by the approximately 200 billion yen ($2bn) contributed by IMF member countries plus loans from the foreign currency reserves of countries such as Japan, China and Middle Eastern oil exporters.
The massive declines in Asia and on Wall Street comes despite the IMF reactivating an emergency aid process for countries seeking help in the global financial crisis, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the institution's president, said on Thursday.
He warned that the global economy was "on the cusps" of a recession and added that the IMF was "ready to answer any demand by countries facing problems".
The declines also come after the US Federal Reserve and central banks across the world from Europe to Asia cut interest rates to contain the market meltdown.
Co-ordinated action urged
James Henry an economist and investigative journalist, told Al Jazeera that the crisis "is not contained, it's spreading to a global level".
IN VIDEO
Robert Zoellick on the financial crisis
More videos ... "This is something that policy-makers have to get under control in the next week or so, otherwise we're in for a very deep depression," he warned.
Henry said central bank rate cuts and the plan to buy bank's bad assets have not worked.
What is needed is a "global stabilisation fund" to recapitalise banks with equity – as opposed to just buying their bad debt - and a stimulus package with some debt relief for borrowers, he said.
"But it requires much more co-ordination across boundaries than we've had before," he added.
Robert Zoellick, the president of the World Bank, also called for a concerted effort by the world's wealthiest nations to work together on the crisis, telling Al Jazeera on Thursday that "the scope of this problem is much larger than what we can deal with".
"In the short term what the G7 needs to do is to try to take the actions it's starting to take - co-ordinated central bank actions ... to try to clean up the assets, to try to make sure there is liquidity in terms of banks being willing to provide funds to corporations and others [and] recapitalise the institutions," he said.
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