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Israel, Palestinians face standoff on Arafat burial JERUSALEM, Nov 6: Israel and the Palestinians were on a collision course over the choice of Yasser Arafat’s burial site if the Palestinian leader dies at .....more Cazenove gives up Independence with JP Morgan deal LONDON, Nov 6: UK brokerage cazenove effectively gave up 181 years of Independence on Friday when it sealed a joint venture with J P Morgan .....more EU to agree common asylum policy by 2010 BRUSSELS, Nov 6: European Union leaders have endorsed plans to carry out tougher border checks and agree a common asylum policy .....more India
will become member NEW DELHI, Nov 6: Observing that this country was destined to emerge as an . .......more |
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Lagardere set to post 9-months sales up 6.2 pc PARIS, Nov 6: The media arm of France’s Lagardere, the world’s largest publisher of magazines, is set to report a rise of more than 6 per cent in . .....more China says opposes Iran Security Council referral TEHRAN, Nov 6: China said today it would be better to resolve Iran’s nuclear case without sending it to the UN Security Council, where Beijing.....more Seoul asks Bush to focus on N Korea nuclear crisis SEOUL, Nov 6: South Korean President Roh-moo-Hyun called newly re-elected US President George W Bush and won his agreement that ending ...more Saudi scholars support anti-US Jihad in Iraq RIYADH, Nov 6: Prominent Saudi religious scholars have declared support for militants fighting US-led forces in ....more |
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Israel,Palestinians face standoff on Arafat burial JERUSALEM, Nov 6: Israel and the Palestinians were on a collision course over the choice of Yasser Arafat’s burial site if the Palestinian leader dies at a French hospital where he is in a coma. Arafat loyalists are insisting on the 75-year-old President’s right to a final resting place in Jerusalem, the holy city that Israelis and Palestinians claim as their capital, despite Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s vow to prevent it. Arafat has said he wants to be buried at Islam’s holiest site in east Jerusalem on land captured by Israel in the 1967 west Asia war. However, Israel wants Arafat — admired by Palestinians as their nationalist symbol but reviled by many Israelis — to be buried in the fenced-in Gaza Strip, a tiny coastal territory from where Sharon plans to evacuate Jewish settlements next year. "Jerusalem is a city where Jews bury their kings. It’s not a city where we want to bury an Arab terrorist, a mass murderer," Israeli Justice Minister Yosef Lapid told Channel 10 television. With Jerusalem ruled out, some Palestinian officials see the West Bank — much of which is under Israeli occupation — as the only acceptable alternative site for burying their leader. But senior Israeli security officials oppose the idea. They have nightmare visions of thousands of Palestinians marching towards Jerusalem checkpoints carrying Arafat’s coffin if his body is allowed to be returned to the city of Ramallah. Against a backdrop of rising tensions over Arafat’s deteriorating condition, Israeli security forces went on alert bracing for a possible outbreak of violent Palestinian protest in the event of his death. Arafat was airlifted from Ramallah last week after falling seriously ill at his battered headquarters. A senior Palestinian official yesterday said that Arafat was in a coma between life and death at a military hospital outside Paris. Palestinian officials have refused to discuss funeral preparations openly while Arafat is alive, and his family has also been tight-lipped about their plans. But Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat urged Israel to respect Palestinian sensitivities. "I think it’s premature to talk at this stage about burying or not burying," he told CNN television yesterday. "I hope that the Israelis would understand that one day there will be peace between us ... And they have to be sensitive at this critical time on Palestinians’ feelings and emotions towards their President." Arafat wants to be buried in Jerusalem’s old city at what Muslims call Al-Haram-al-Sharif (noble sanctuary) and Jews call the temple mount. Al-Haram-al-Sharif is Islam’s third holiest shrine. Temple mount is Judaism’s most sacred site. "He may live one more day or he may live a long time," Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said. "But we are doing our best to make sure (his burial) will be in Jerusalem." Israel’s annexation of east Jerusalem after the west Asia war was not recognised internationally. Jerusalem’s status was a key stumbling block when peace talks broke down in 2001, leading to the outbreak of a Palestinian uprising that has dragged on for four years. "Israel will not let them bury Arafat in Jerusalem because it might be interpreted as Israeli recognition that (the Palestinians) have political rights in Jerusalem," said Danny Rubinstein, a veteran commentator for Israel’s Haaretz daily. Sharon’s Government hopes to limit Arafat’s burial options to Gaza. It would underscore Sharon’s intention to press ahead with his unilateral Gaza evacuation despite far-right opposition and no matter who takes the helm of the Palestinian authority. "We’re saying to the Palestinians ‘take your symbol and bury him in Gaza since we’re going anyway’," a Sharon confidant said. Israel and the United States have tried to sideline Arafat in west Asia diplomacy, accusing him of fomenting violence. Arafat denies this. Security sources say a Gaza funeral would also mean fewer headaches for the Israeli Army as Palestinian police would be responsible for protecting Arab and international dignitaries arriving via an Israeli-controlled border crossing from Egypt. By contrast, Israeli forces would be needed to guard foreign delegates in the West Bank, which is largely under army control. (AGENCIES) |
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Cazenove gives up Independence with JP Morgan deal LONDON, Nov 6: UK brokerage cazenove effectively gave up 181 years of Independence on Friday when it sealed a joint venture with J P Morgan Chase co., designed to lift the US bank’s UK presence and give cazenove a broader reach. Staff and shareholders at the blueblooded UK broking firm will share in a 340 million pounds ( 625 million) payout as part of the deal, whose announcement was flagged in a story two days ago citing sources close to the deal. Cazenove chairman David Mayhew, one of London’s best known dealmakers and seen as key to Cazenove’s client relationships, will get about 5.5 million pounds for his shareholding of around 1.6 per cent. At 64 mayhew is nearing retirement but he pledged to stay on to see the deal through. "I do not expect to be out of this job for two to three years," he said at a news conference. The partnership, to be known as Jp Morgan Cazenove, will combine Cazenove’s broking and advisory business with JP Morgan’s UK investment banking arm in a jointly owned company. It paves the way for a full-blown takeover of cazenove by the US bank in five years’ time, when J P Morgan has an option to buy the remainder of the partnership and Cazenove has the right to sell to its partner. Cazenove chief executive Robert Pickering said the deal aimed to preserve Cazenove’s tradition of independent advice. "We will be run and managed as an independent entity, but working in close partnership with J P Morgan," he told in an interview. But he said it would give the broker more muscle in terms of serving clients. "We will be able to execute (deals) in the debt markets in the way we can’t at the moment." Cazenove, Queen Elizabeth’s broker and one of the most venerable names in the city of London financial district, will preserve a level of Independence while gaining access to J P Morgan’s product range, capital and international network. J P Morgan gains access to Cazenove’s top notch client list, which includes 43 of Britain’s blue-chip companies. Keeping these clients loyal is key to the success of the venture, and one told : "We’ll be waiting to see what happens, and how they do it. But from everything we’ve seen so far, we would expect our long-standing relationship with Cazenove to keep going." Analysts said the deal gave J P Morgan access to Cazenove’s solid company relationships. "J P Morgan gets access to the client base it wants," said Richard Bove, a financial services analyst with punk, Ziegel co in New York. "And it doesn’t have to lay out a staggering amount of money for it." Mayhew, who will chair the new venture, said the partnership would enable Cazenove to continue to provide impartial advice, while meeting the changing demands of clients. "Our advice culture will be unimpaired, but our resources and reach will be greater," he told journalists. Yet some rial bankers said Cazenove is giving up its unique selling point: its Independence. "Can you have a structure that harnesses the J P Morgan and Cazenove resources for clients?" asked one senior banker. "It is very hard. Issues like conflict management, fee share — it’s pretty damn hard." Under the terms of the deal, the US bank will pay 110 million pounds ( 202 million) to Cazenove for its share in the joint venture. Cazenove and J P Morgan will both contribute 50 million pounds of capital and Cazenove will pay about 340 million pounds or about 150 pence a share to staff and shareholders, about a quarter of whom are retired partners of the firm. Mayhew declined to estimate the total value of the current deal. "we are not going to put a price on this today," he said. However one source close to the firm said the valuation for the whole of Cazenove implied in the deal was 960 million pounds, below its value of about 1.1 billion pounds — based on a stake sold to institutional investors — when Cazenove incorporated in 2000 to prepare for a flotation that was shelved in January 2003 as stock markets sagged. Cazenove and J P Morgan estimated that the venture would have had pro-forma profit of about 80 million pounds in the year to April 2004, double Cazenove’s profit for that year. The partnership between Cazenove and the no. 2 US bank, negotiated over several months, will involve 70 J P Morgan bankers moving to Cazenove’s moorgate offices in London’s financial district. The venture will have 820 staff in total and no job cuts are planned. Cazenove, broker to blue-chip corporations such as BP Plc, Tesco, Diageo was facing increasing competition from international banks such as citigroup and Morgan Stanley. This led to talks on a sale or partnership to beef up its financial muscle, broaden its geographical reach and widening its product offering. Chief Executive pickering also stays in his job and Michael power remains as finance director as part of a 10 member board. Bill Winters, co-chief executive of the investment bank at J P Morgan, Klaus Diederichs, the US bank’s head of European investment banking and John Corrie, J P Morgan’s head of European equities, will join the board. There will be four vice chairmen: Terry Eccles and Lord Renwick from J P Morgan, plus John Paynter and Nick Wiles from Cazenove. Cazenove’s fund management arm is not included in the venture and J P Morgan’s European equities research, sales and trading will be kept separate. (AGENCIES) |
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EU to agree common asylum policy by 2010 BRUSSELS, Nov 6: European Union leaders have endorsed plans to carry out tougher border checks and agree a common asylum policy by 2010 to fight illegal immigration to the wealthy region. Endorsing the so-called "hague programme" yesterday, leaders from the 25-nation bloc also agreed to improve exchange of information to fight terror and organised crime. Terrorism and immigration have risen to the top of the EU’s agenda following the Sept 11 attacks on US cities in 2001, growing anti-immigration sentiment in Europe, and higher numbers of illegal migrants dying while trying to enter the bloc. "We welcome the fact that the European Council reaffirmed that justice and Home Affairs policy is a top priority in the European Union for the next five years," European Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Antonio Vitorino told reporters. He said the decision of states to do away with national vetoes on EU immigration issues was a boost for EU cooperation. However he lamented the fact that Germany and other states succeeded in keeping their veto on matters linked to legal migration. EU heavyweight Germany has struggled with high unemployment for years and is worried that the bloc could agree rules which would force it to open its labour markets to economic migrants. Vitorino said the EU needed economic migrants from outside the bloc to counter Europe’s problem of ageing populations, seen as a threat to economic growth in the future. "This is an important step towards harmonising our legislations and boosting Europe’s efficiency in these matters," French President Jacques Chirac said of the programme. Another aspect of the strategy is a controversial plan to help African and Asian states protect refugees in their region of origin and stem the flow of illegal migration to Europe. Refugee rights groups and the United Nations have expressed fears such proposals mean the European Union is shying away from its responsibility to take in asylum seekers. But the EU argues the plans mean more aid to refugees in poor countries. The new Hague programme, which sets out policy for the next five years, received a cautious welcome from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ office in Brussels. "It is good to see the momentum stays, but it must be translated into real protection for refugees both inside and outside the EU," a UNHCR official told . "There is a lot of work to be done." (AGENCIES) |
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India will become member of UNSC within few years: former British PM NEW DELHI, Nov 6: Observing that this country was destined to emerge as an economic powerhouse, former British Prime Minister John major today expressed confidence that India would become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council within a few years and also join the G-8 group of top industrial nations. The present permanent five are no longer representative without new additions: India is an obvious candidate to join them, he said, addressing the two-day Hindustan Times leadership initiative meet here this morning. Mr Major said he also saw India joining the G-8 group. Indeed it would be absurd if she does not, since, within 30 years or so, it is likely that India’e economy will be larger than that of France, Germany or the UK or Japan . Speaking at length about UN reforms, he made out a strong case for a significant enlargement of the Security Council. He recalled that when the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia were appointed permanent members of the Security Council, the membership of the UN stood at 49. Today, the membership of the world body had grown to 193. "The present circumstances can no longer continue...The Security Council must be reformed to make it a more representative body." India, Germany, Japan, Brazil and one country from the African continent—South Africa or Nigeria must find a place in the expanded Security Council, he said. The former Prime Minister welcomed the ongoing dialogue between India and Pakistan for resolution of all differences between the two countries. The situation in the sub continent is more hopeful than ever before. Even if the peace process moves slowly, it is well worth having it. After a long time, there is an optimistic scenario in the sub-continent. The "draconian fear" of a nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan had also evaporated after the resumption of the dialogue, he added. (UNI) |
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Lagardere set to post 9-months sales up 6.2 pc PARIS, Nov 6: The media arm of France’s Lagardere, the world’s largest publisher of magazines, is set to report a rise of more than 6 per cent in nine-month sales, driven by solid trading in Europe, according to a poll. Analysts are expecting the group’s magazine business, with titles such as "Elle" and "Paris match," to grow moderately during the period, helped by new titles. Sales in the nine months to September 30, due out on Monday, are expected to reach 6,260 billion euros ( 8,062 billion), up from 5.89 billion during the same period last year, according to 10 analysts polled . The third quarter is crucial for educational publishing, so investors will be closely looking at the group’s books division , which is expected to show a strong improvement in sales. They will also try to get an update on progress at Editis, the publishing business of which Lagardere sold 60 per cent to French holding company wendel investissement in September. Lagardere’s management is not expected to change current guidance for the year for the media arm, which cites growth in earnings before interest, tax and amortisation of between 7 and 10 per cent. Some analysts hope they will be able to question the group on the accounting treatment of Lagardere’s 15 per cent stake in airbus parent eads, following the adoption of international accounting standards next year. They will be keen to know whether the company’s holding will be treated as an associate — meaning it would only include in its accounts some 15 percent of Eads’s net income - or whether it would continue to consolidate its stake, line by line, through the entire profit and loss account on a proportional basis. (AGENCIES) |
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China says opposes Iran Security Council referral TEHRAN, Nov 6: China said today it would be better to resolve Iran’s nuclear case without sending it to the UN Security Council, where Beijing holds the option of vetoing any sanctions against Tehran. Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, on a two-day visit to Iran, said he had discussed Iran’s nuclear case with US Secretary of State Colin Powell and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in recent days. "I told all my colleagues that China supports a solution to this issue within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)," he told a news conference in Tehran. "I really don’t quite know if it will be brought to the Security Council. It would only make the issue more complicated and difficult to work out," he added. Iran last week signed a major preliminary oil and gas investment deal with energy-thirsty China, prompting analysts to speculate that tehran was seeking to curry favour with Beijing in case its nuclear dossier is sent to the Security Council. China is one of five permanent Security Council along with the United States, Britain, France and Russia, with the option of vetoing resolutions. Iran, which denies US accusations of developing nuclear weapons, is engaged in critical talks with the European Union in Paris to avert referral to the Security Council. The talks, which centre on Iran’s uranium enrichment activities, broke off last night without agreement and were expected to continue today. The EU wants Iran to freeze uranium enrichment — which can be used to make fuel for atomic reactors or to make nuclear bombs —before the next meeting of the IAEA board on November 25. But Iran says it will only agree to suspend enrichment for six months at most and will never scrap it efforts to produce its own nuclear fuel as the EU and Washington wants. "The negotiations are complicated and difficult, but both sides are determined to continue the talks. We’ll have to see where they will lead," Iran’s Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi told the joint news conference with Zhaoxing. "It is in the interests of both sides that the issue be resolved in a way that Iran retains its legitimate right to use peaceful nuclear technology and others are assured that Iran is not seeking nuclear weapons," he said. (AGENCIES) |
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Seoul asks Bush to focus on N Korea nuclear crisis SEOUL, Nov 6: South Korean President Roh-moo-Hyun called newly re-elected US President George W Bush and won his agreement that ending the nuclear crisis involving the isolated communist north should be a goal of his second term in office. The two leaders will have an opportunity to discuss the crisis that erupted in late 2002 and threatens to destabilise north Asia when they meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Chile this month. Bush agreed on the need to push forward with stalled six-party talks on ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons programmes, the Presidential blue house said in a statement. "President Roh proposed making the north’s nuclear problem a joint project to solve with close cooperation and to lay the groundwork for peace on the Korean Peninsula and in the world," it said of Roh’s call to congratulate Bush. "The two leaders agreed to strengthen efforts to hold the six-way talks as soon as possible," it said. China, the United States, North and South Korea, Japan and Russia agreed in June to try in September to hold a fourth round of six-way talks involving senior diplomats to try to end the north’s nuclear programmes. However, the discussions never took place with Pyongyang appearing to stall while it waited to see who won the US Presidential election. As part of the process of solving the crisis, Roh met Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura today and agreed that the nuclear talks should make more progress. "Participating countries have bilateral issues that needed to be solved with North Korea, but such issues should be solved multilaterally, for the peace of northeast Asia." With the US election over, Machimura said Tokyo would urge Pyongyang to hold six-way talks within the year, Japan’s Kyodo news agency said, quoting Japanese officials. "It’s essential not to lose momentum on the six-way talks," he was quoted as saying, adding that it was important for Japan, South Korea and the United States to cooperate on this. Machimura later met Foreign Minister Ban-ki-Moon, and the two "basically agreed" to suspend work on the construction of nuclear reactors in North Korea for another year, Kyodo said. No confirmation was available from Japanese Foreign Ministry officials. But news reports have said the United States, South Korea and Japan had agreed to extend the suspension during a meeting of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organisation (KEDO), a US-led consortium, in New York last month. KEDO, formed in 1994 by the three nations, along with the EU, had agreed to build two light-water nuclear reactors in North Korea in exchange for a pledge by Pyongyang to freeze its nuclear programme. Its work was suspended for a year last December to try to persuade North Korea to make good on its offer to abandon its nuclear weapons programme. Japan and South Korea are due to hold a summit in mid-December. The nuclear crisis began in October 2002 when US officials said North Korea had admitted to pursuing a secret uranium-enrichment programme. North Korea now denies having such a programme, and has demanded energy aid and diplomatic concessions in return for freezing an older, plutonium-based nuclear arms programme. The United States says North Korea may have enough fissile material to produce between two and five nuclear weapons. Pyongyang has said the United States must drop what it calls Washington’s hostile policy before the talks can resume. (AGENCIES) |
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Saudi scholars support anti-US Jihad in Iraq RIYADH, Nov 6: Prominent Saudi religious scholars have declared support for militants fighting US-led forces in neighbouring Iraq, saying holy war against occupiers was a duty. The 26 preachers and scholars said Muslims in Iraq should unite to expel the "colonial alliance" from their country, in a statement posted on the internet on the eve of an expected US assault on the militant stronghold of Falluja. "There is no doubt that Jihad (holy war) against the occupiers is a duty for all who are able. It’s a Jihad to drive back the assailants," said the statement, dated Nov 5. The declaration was signed by influential Sunni Muslim scholars including Awad-al-Qarni, Salman-al-Awdah and Safar-al-Hawali, all jailed in a clampdown on Islamists in the 1990s but later released after muting their criticism. Last year’s US-led invasion of Iraq angered many in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam and home to its two holiest cities. Iraqi authorities said last month they had captured 24 suspected Saudi militants, and diplomats say many more may have slipped across the border to fight. Saudi authorities are waging their own battle against supporters of Saudi-born Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who have launched suicide bomb attacks against foreign residential compounds and shot dead several foreigners in recent months. The statement did not explicitly call on Muslims to go to Iraq to wage war, but it did urge them to "stand by their brothers in Iraq". "Those occupiers, there is no doubt they are warring aggressors and it is legitimate to fight them until they leave humiliated. Even earthly laws acknowledge the right of people to resist," it said. "Resistance is a legitimate right, indeed a legitimate duty for the Iraqi people to defend themselves, their honour, land and oil". (AGENCIES) Palestinians in Jordan saddened over Arafat’s health BAQAA CAMP, JORDON, Nov 6: A tearful Halima Ajouri remembers how women wearing Palestinian embroidered dresses ululated Yasser Arafat’s name during traditional camp weddings, drowning out that of the bridegroom. For the 64-year-old woman and her neighbours in the Squalid camp about 10 km north of the capital Amman, the largest in the west Asia, Yasser Arafat’s name is synonymous with her people’s quest for statehood. "It’s Arafat who gave Palestine it’s fame and reputation. Of course we are very yesterday sad," said the tattooed Palestinian woman who has lived through several Arab-Israeli wars since she left her village near ramle in 1948 in present day Israel. Arafat, who lay in a coma between life and death in a French military hospital, still commands strong nationalist support and emotions in the bleak camp home to 120,000 refugees. He is seen as a living symbol of Palestinian nationalism. This has largely overshadowed widespread anger over the signing of the Oslo interim peace accords in 1993, which many diaspora Palestinians said was a sellout of their national rights. "I have been crying for the last day. He is our leader and my countryman," Ibrahim Salam said as his family huddled on the concrete floor glued to the television in the corrugated iron roofed two-room home. Many of Jordan’s 5.3 million citizens are Palestinians whose families settled after successive Arab-Israeli wars, placing the kingdom at the heart of the conflict. The kingdom hosts an estimated 1.8 million Palestinian refugees of the nearly 4 million scattered across Arab countries. Disenchanted camp dwellers vented their anger and frustration at Arab rulers they say let Arafat down as Israel confined him to his half demolished West Bank compound for almost three years. "Arab leaders deserted him and watched Israel imprison him to preserve their chairs as leaders," yesterday said Hamza Najjar, 32, a teacher in one of the bustling camp’s alleyways. But some say widespread despondency and anger over Arafat’s pro-peace policies since a landmark 1993 peace treaty has shifted them from secular nationalism to Islamic politics. This anger has turned increasing numbers towards radical Islam that could threaten stability of the pro-western monarchy. The bleak Alleyway Graffiti shows the stronger support for the militant Palestinian group hamas, sworn to destroying Israel, and its armed wing the Izz-el-Deen-al-Qassam brigades. "We chant pro-Hamas slogans in support of suicide bombings. There are few who chant for Arafat who has deviated from armed struggle and now condemns it," said Hakim Ghoul, a Hamas sympathiser. For many Palestinians, the Israeli-Palestinian peace accord ended hopes of allowing citizens of Palestinians origin to return either to a Palestinian state or to what is now Israel. But even Arafat’s critics feel the demise of a symbol of past resistance and nationalism will still bring an outpouring of emotions on the streets of Palestinian populated areas. "Even though he has belittled our rights we will be sad when he dies. Arafat is part of us regardless of our agreement or disagreement with him. The Palestinian spirit has become embodied and symbolised by this one man," said Adel Salameh, 28, a carpenter in the crowded camp. (AGENCIES) Lithuanians hunting missing radioactive 100 bill VILNIUS, Nov 6: Lithuanian officials have warned the country’s 3.5 million citizens to be on the lookout for a missing radioactive 100 US dollar bank note. Officials in the ex-Soviet state say they don’t know how the note became radioactive, but one theory is that it could have come somewhere in eastern Europe that still has a high level of post-chernobyl contamination. It was discovered in September when it set off alarms at an airport checkpoint and was quarantined in a safe room. But the bank note was reported missing — probably stolen —on tuesday just before it was due to be shipped to a nuclear power plant to be destroyed. The Chief of Lithuania’s radioactive substances security agency, Albinas Mastauskas, told the note was not potent enough to cause burns. But it could pose long-term health risks for children or pregnant women. In Lithuania, one of the European Union’s poorest countries, 100 dollars is equivalent to about two-thirds of the monthly minimum wage. (AGENCIES) Latest coal mine blast in China kills 16 SHANGHAI, Nov 6: A gas explosion in a coal mine has killed 16 miners in northern China, the latest in a string of accidents to hit the mining industry, the official Xinhua news agency said today. Forty-eight miners were working underground at the time of the blast, in the early hours yrsterday at the Shiyawan coal pit, near the city of Shuozhou in the northern province of Shanxi. Xinhua reported that 32 miners escaped, and the cause of the explosion is being investigated. The Shiyawan mine is run by the local township and Churns out about 90,000 tonnes of the hard, dirty hydrocarbon each year. China’s coal industry, already the world’s biggest and most hazardous, produces the main fuel for the world’s seventh-biggest economy and has expanded with little supervision as the country races to keep up with energy demand. Still, coal mine deaths in China hit 4,153 in the first nine months of 2004, down 630 from the corresponding period of last year, official data show. (AGENCIES) Iraq to get help from Bosnia mass grave experts SARAJEVO, Nov 6: A Sarajevo-based organisation which helped identify victims of the Sept 11 attacks on US cities said it would assist Iraq in discovering the fate of those who disappeared under Saddam Hussein’s rule. International groups estimate that more than 300,000 people died under Saddam’s 24-year rule and Iraq’s human rights ministry has identified 40 possible mass graves countrywide. The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) in Bosnia yesterday said it would contribute its sophisticated electronic database system, used to track exhumations from the discovery of mass graves to the identification of remains. The Commission has developed techniques to identify victims from Bosnia’s 1992-95 war, which killed up to 200,000 people. Its technology also helped New York identify people who died in the Sept 11, 2001 strikes on the United States. Kathryine Bomberger, ICMP Chief of Staff, said one of the biggest difficulties facing Iraqi authorities was how to handle forensic information piling up. "Giving them access to (the ICMP’s forensic data management system) will make managing that data dramatically more efficient and will make a huge difference in the identification of missing persons," she said in the statement. The ICPM has identified more than 5,000 people who went missing during the wars that tore apart old Yugoslavia in the 1990s. About 25,000 people remain unaccounted for. It says it is the only organisation which uses DNA analysis to match bone samples from remains found in mass graves and other sites with relatives’ blood samples. (AGENCIES) |
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