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Annan
unlikely to raise UNITED NATIONS, Mar 8: United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, who leaves here tomorrow for an eight-day tour of India,...more Southeast
Asia one BERLIN, Mar 8: Southeast Asia is becoming one of the world’s favourite tourism destinations, according to experts familiar....more Fiji
political chaos WELLINGTON, Mar 8: Fiji’s acting President refused to accept the mass resignation of the interim Government declared illegal....more New
Tamil SC judge flays COLOMBO, Mar 8: A newly-appointed judge of Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court.....more |
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New data base documents WASHINGTON, Mar 8: Trafficking of women and children is on the rise worldwide, with a greater movement of sex slaves from african countries to the United States, Canada, and Europe, says a human rights report. ...more Chicken
advert LONDON, Mar 8: Britain’s advertising watchdog has scolded a chicken sauce advertisement for upsetting Hindus. The "chicken tonight" television commercial showed a woman meditating and chanting in front of a ready-to-cook chicken while sitar music played in the background........more Aspirin
use linked to lower NASHVILLE, TENN, Mar 8: Taking Aspirin over an extended period likely reduces a woman’s risk of developing a type of ovarian cancer, suggesting Aspirin shrinks inflamed tissues that may cause the disease, a study has said.......more Indian
businessman OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, Mar 8: A wealthy Indian businessman wept as he was taken into custody after pleading guilty to charges of illegally bringing young girls from his homeland to California for sex......more |
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Annan unlikely to raise Kashmir issue during South Asia tour UNITED NATIONS, Mar 8: United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, who leaves here tomorrow for an eight-day tour of India, Pakistan and some other South Asian countries, is unlikely to raise the Kashmir issue on his own or offer any suggestion for its solution, diplomats and officials said. He is not likely to offer his good offices even if Pakistan seeks his intervention, they said. Pakistani diplomats here said that military ruler General Pervez Musharraf would definitely talk about Kashmir. In that case, Annan is likely to encourage India and Pakistan to resolve the issue building on the ceasefire in the state declared by New Delhi, an official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said. However, diplomats said that Islamabad will be on the defensive as Annan is expected to urge it to help end terrorism and prevail on Taliban to close terrorist training camps in the territory controlled by them. While urging this, he would be only acting within the Security Council resolution which had toughened sanctions against Taliban to force them to close terrorist training camps and hand over Saudi dissident Osama Bin Laden for trial, they said. Though Pakistan denies that it has any influence on the Taliban, western diplomats think otherwise. Annan is scheduled to visit Pakistan on March 10 for a day and leave for Nepal on March 11. He will visit India for four days from March 15. He will also visit Bangladesh. In India, another official said, the scope of talks would be much wider encompassing subjects from peacekeeping and international security to financing for development, expansion of the Security Council and UN reforms in general. The basic thrust of his visit to Pakistan would be to ensure that Afghan refugees are not driven back to face starvation and death, an official said, pointing to the fact that several dozens of Afghanis, especially children, have perished due to lack of shelter, food and winter clothing. Asked whether he would offer any money to Pakistan to help refugees, the official remarked, he is not carrying any. Another point he is expected to stress is the need for the military rulers to restore democracy at the earliest in Pakistan, he said adding Musharraf is expected to explain what his Government is doing about it. (PTI) |
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Southeast
Asia one of world’s favourite BERLIN, Mar 8: Southeast Asia is becoming one of the world’s favourite tourism destinations, according to experts familiar with business talks at the five-day International Tourism Exchange (ITE) that concluded in Berlin. Southeast Asia constitutes a region of nearly 500 million people, ranging from some of the richest in the world, such as bruneians, to the poorest, including the laotians and burmese. Put together, the 10 countries - Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, the Philippines, Myanmar, Singapore and Malaysia - which also constitute the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) - are a fascinating mosaic of cultures, religions and peoples. They are rich in oil as well as forests. They boast of some of the world’s best hotels and the world’s best airlines and airports. They attract millions of European visitors every year, especially Germans, who are world champions in globe-trotting. Over the last three years, since the economic crisis hit, they had lost their competitive edge, mainly due to internal political and social problems that have been well documented in the European and international media, thus making travellers think twice before deciding holiday plans. Now they are struggling to make a comeback on the world tourism stage. Depending on their local conditions, they are all following different policies to promote tourism, create jobs, generate foreign exchange and attract investment. The southeast Asian nations’ resolve was underlined when the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) signed a bilateral co-operation agreement with Cambodia at the ITE Berlin last saturday. Thailand has worked closely with its neighbouring countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) to boost visitor flows within the region. Last October Tourism Ministers of four GMS countries - Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand - signed a tourism co-operation accord. The agreement envisages a close co-operation among the four countries in the fields of transportation and telecommunication linkages, travel facilitation, tourism development planning, tourism investment, human resources development, joint promotion and marketing, public and private participation and multilateral co-operation. In 2001, the TAT will maintain the amazing Thailand slogan, focus on niche tourism products including golf, health spas, agro-tourism, diving, and co-ordinate with the neighbouring countries in ASEAN and greater Mekong subregion to promote regional tourist destinations. More products and services will also be specially designed to attract specific market segments. Latest statistics show an increase of 11.34 percent to 6.94 million in arrivals during January-September 2000 over the same period of 1999. In January-June 2000, tourism-generated foreign exchange earnings for the Thai economy grew by 9.57 percent over the same period of 1999. In Cambodia, which is one of the poorest countries, tourism is the second largest foreign exchange earning industry. The strategy is to position cambodia as a leading ‘culture and nature tourisms destination’, based on the attraction of Angkor Wat, the ancient temple complex that is renowned as one of Southeast Asia’s most famous cultural landmarks. From January to November 2000, international arrivals by air to cambodia reached 313,464, up by 32 percent over the same period of 1999. The main markets were USA, comprising 13.4 percent of the total, China (11.63 percent), France (9,61 percent), Taiwan (8,28 percent), and Japan 7.43 percent. According to a study entitled ‘The future of tourism’, Cambodia’s main policy objective is to raise the living standards of its people. "This means creating jobs and attracting investment," says the report by Imtiaz Muqbil of the travel impact newswire, Bangkok. The author points out that over the last few years, the Cambodia Government has created more favourable conditions for investors by enacting new laws to improve the competitiveness of service suppliers and liberalise trade in services. Also Laos, one of the world’s poorest countries - that is entirely landlocked - has been opening up to tourism since 1990, after the government selected the industry as one of the priority growth areas. As a result, says the National Tourism Administration of Laos (NTAL), during 1999-2000, a total of 1.3 million visitors came to laos. In 1999 alone, total revenue from tourists was calculated at more than 97 million us dollars, as compared to only 2.25 million dollars in 1991. Tourism earnings in 2000 are expected to have reached some 100 million dollars. This is attributed to the visit Laos year campaign last year to mark the 25th anniversary of the Laos’ socialist revolution. One of the last two ASEAN countries still under a military Government, Myanmar continues to face the stigma of being a dictatorship under economic sanctions from both the US and Europe. Hence, while the country is known to be one of the region’s most attractive destinations in terms of culture, nature and historic heritage, many visitors avoid going there as a political statement expressing their opposition to Myanmar Government policies. To develop its tourism industry, Myanmar has signed tourism co-operation agreements with Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and China and has worked very closely, among others, with the Singapore Tourism Promotion Board. The country does little promotion in Europe but continues to focus on attracting visitors from the Asia-pacific countries. However, through travel agents abroad, Myanmar does make its presence felt at ITE Berlin. The reason: Together with other southeast Asian countries, Myanmar does not wish to miss the trends indicated by figures for 2000 published by the World Tourism Organization (WTO/OTM). Triggered by a strong global economy and special events held to commemorate the new millennium, world tourism increased by about 7.4 percent last year - marking the highest growth rate in nearly a decade and almost double the rise of 1999. According to the WTO/OTM, nearly 50 million more international trips were made in 2000. This amounts to the same number of new tourists as a country such as Spain or the United States receive in the entire year. The total number of international arrivals swelled to a record 698 million. "Tourism at the turn of the century is growing faster than even our most optimistic predictions," says WTO/OTM Secretary-General Francesco Frangialli. "In the year 2000 people found more reasons than ever to travel abroad-the summer olympics, the European football championships, Expo 2000, the Vatican jubilee, to name a few." Receipts from international tourism also climbed to 476 billion dollars, an increase of 4.5 per cent over the previous year. All regions of the world hosted more tourists in 2000, although the fastest developing area continued to be East Asia and the pacific with a growth rate of 14.5 per cent and some 14 million more tourists than 1999. (REUTERS) |
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Fiji political chaos
continues as President WELLINGTON, Mar 8: Fiji’s acting President refused to accept the mass resignation of the interim Government declared illegal by the court of appeal last week and asked it to stay on, it was reported from the capital Suva today. As the Great Council of Chiefs, paramount body of the majority indigenous Fijian population, met, Ratu Josefa Iloilo asked the unelected administration to remain in power until he can take steps to restore a constitutional Government, radio New Zealand reported. A correspondent said that although the administration was continuing to rule illegally, the President was apparently concerned about creating a power vacuum if he accepted resignation of the 20-strong cabinet before deciding whether to reconvene the Parliament in place before last may’s nationalist coup or call a new election. The move continues political uncertainty created last week when the court of appeal ruled that the interim administration under Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase, which was appointed under a state of emergency in the wake of the coup, was illegal. It was unclear what legal authority the President had to ask the Government to stay on. The situation in Suva was very confused as people awaited the outcome of the Great Council of Chiefs meeting. Political parties dominated by indigenous Fijians are looking to the chiefs for direction to an outcome which will ensure their dominance. Former Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry, the first member of the ethnic Indian minority to lead the country, was ousted in last year’s coup. He is in the middle of a power struggle over leadership of the Fiji Labour Party which headed the ousted multi-racial coalition Government and on Wednesday advised iloilo to dissolve Parliament and call a new election. This was later dubbed "unwise" by his former deputy and rival for the leadership, Dr Tupeni Baba, who held separate talks with the President. Baba favours formation of a Government of national unity, embracing all parties, and has offered himself as its Prime Minister. The situation was further clouded on thursday when the Great Council of Chiefs reportedly sacked its chairman, Sitiveni Rabuka, who himself led two military coups in the nationalist Fijian cause in 1987. He is now blamed for the 1997 constitution that helped the Chaudhry Government into power, New Zealand’s TV3 reported. (DPA) |
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New Tamil SC judge flays Lanka’s anti-Tamil system COLOMBO, Mar 8: A newly-appointed judge of Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court has raised a storm by flaying "discrimination" against Tamils and demanding restoration of rights "snatched" away from them. "The vast majority of the denizens of the north-east provinces seek the restoration of their rights, and not devolution of powers," Justice C V Wigneswaran said, in an unusually hard-hitting speech at a ceremony held to welcome him and another new judge to the apex court yesterday. Arguing for according equal status to his language in the country’s constitutional system, the Tamil judge said the "wrong done by enthroning one language (Sinhala) in 1956, could never be erased, unless Tamil was recognised as the dominant language of the north and east". We should recognise that Tamil language and culture are to Tamils what Sinhala language and culture are to the Sinhalese, he said. Raising issues that have been rankling in the Tamil psyche in Sri Lanka for decades, Wigneswaran said the hurt caused by the anti-Tamil riots of 1958, 1977 and 1983 could never be assuaged easily. His ceremonial address was in reply to speeches of welcome in the presence of Chief Justice Sarath N Silva, and other judges and members of the bar, headed by Attorney General K C Kamalasabayson. (PTI) |
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New data base documents trafficking of women WASHINGTON, Mar 8: Trafficking of women and children is on the rise worldwide, with a greater movement of sex slaves from african countries to the United States, Canada, and Europe, says a human rights report. The protection project, which gathers information on the trafficking of women and children, has compiled an online data base and report documenting the scope of the problem in more than 190 countries and laws aimed at tackling the issue. "The simple reason for the growth of trafficking in recent years is that it is profitable. Traffickers know that the potential profits are high and that the risk of prosecution is relatively low," said Laura Lederer, Director of the project, which is based at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC. "With low risk and high profit potential, human trafficking may well become the new crime of choice," she added. One surprise from her research was the tremendous amount of traffic from african countries into Europe, the United States Canada and other countries, Lederer said. "There’s been such a media focus on Thailand, Russia and the Ukraine, countries in Africa have been ignored," she said. Nigeria, South Africa, Mali, Zambia, Gambia, Togo, Ethiopia, and the democratic republic of Congo are among the African countries featuring prominently in her report, released on the eve of international women’s day. In addition, she said there was a lot of traffic to middle eastern countries such as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Lederer said their research showed that while laws existed in many countries, they did not have the political support needed to implement them. "This is a human rights abuse but also a law enforcement problem," she said. Lederer said it was impossible to provide exact figures on the extent of the problem because it was criminal in nature. "These are all guesstimates," she said of official figures. According to US Government estimates, 50,000 women are brought to the United States each year and forced to work as prostitutes. The report said many of these sex slaves came from countries such as Russia, Ukraine, Thailand, Mexico, the Czech Republic and China. With globalization, the sex industry increasingly involves vast networks of organized criminals, modern mafia and corrupt Government officials, lederer said. She pointed to one case in Cambodia where the US hotel chain best western was being used as a brothel. The local owner was from Canada, the manager from Singapore, the recruiter from Romania and the women from a number of countries in Eastern Europe. The clients came from across the world. Russia and newly independent states such as Ukraine are among the biggest "senders" of women and children along with a host of African countries moving them to European countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands and France. Lederer said she hoped the data base, which will be updated daily, will help those fighting against the sex slave trade. The web address for the data base is http://www.Protectionproject.Org. (REUTERS) |
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Chicken advert ‘insult to Hindus’ LONDON, Mar 8: Britain’s advertising watchdog has scolded a chicken sauce advertisement for upsetting Hindus. The "chicken tonight" television commercial showed a woman meditating and chanting in front of a ready-to-cook chicken while sitar music played in the background. She then ticked off the chicken for not joining in her meditation chant. The independent Television Commission upheld the complaints of Hindu viewers who said that the commercial was insulting and offensive because it ridiculed their religion. The manufacturer, Van Der Bergh Foods, apologised for any offence but said it had not intended to imply a reference specifically to Hinduism. (REUTERS) |
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Aspirin use linked to lower risk of ovarian cancer NASHVILLE, TENN, Mar 8: Taking Aspirin over an extended period likely reduces a woman’s risk of developing a type of ovarian cancer, suggesting Aspirin shrinks inflamed tissues that may cause the disease, a study has said. The 12-year study involving 748 women, 68 of whom suffered from epithelial ovarian cancer, found a 40 percent lower risk of the disease in women who reported having taken Aspirin three or more times a week for a six-month period compared to those who had not. The study, presented yesterday at a meeting of the society of gynecologic oncologists, said Aspirin use likely suppressed inflammation of the epithelium, or lining, in the ovaries that scientists believe may lead to ovarian cancer. Inflammation can often be brought on by endometriosis or pelvic inflammatory disease. Cancer of the ovary is the fourth-leading cause of cancer death among US women. "If confirmed by larger prospective studies, these results could have a considerable impact on the treatment and prevention of gynecologic cancers, as well as spark greater interest in researching the broader anti-cancer effects that aspirin may hold," said study author Arslan Akhmedkhanov of the New York University School of Medicine. But he added that further research was needed and cautioned against routine use of Aspirin because of the potential side effects, such as gastrointestinal bleeding. Three out of four studies on the effect of Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDS), which include Aspirin, on ovarian cancer have found the protective benefit. The other study did not show an effect. (REUTERS) |
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Indian businessman pleads
guilty to OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, Mar 8: A wealthy Indian businessman wept as he was taken into custody after pleading guilty to charges of illegally bringing young girls from his homeland to California for sex. Lakireddy Bali Reddy, 63, was yesterday ordered to pay two million dollars in restitution to a group of East Indian women he reportedly imported as sex-slaves and low-wage workers at his businesses. Reddy has been described as the richest landlord in Berkeley, a university city near San Francisco. His lawyer tried in vain to convince the federal judge to allow Reddy to remain free until formal sentencing. But the judge said the severity of the charges left her no choice but to jail Reddy. The plea bargain worked out between Reddy and prosecutors calls for him to serve five to six years in prison as well as paying restitution . Reddy was arrested in February 2000 by police who believe he brought girls here from his home city of Velvadam and used them as sex slaves and low-cost workers at his properties and businesses. Reddy owns a real estate business, more than 1,000 apartment units, a tech company and restaurants. His assets have been estimated at more than 50 million dollars. Evidence indicating he brought girls into the us illegally and used them for sex came to light after Sitha Vemireddy, 17, died of carbon monoxide poisoning in a Berkeley apartment owned by Reddy. Sitha and her 15-year-old sister were found unconscious in the apartment in November 1999. (AFP) |
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