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US mulls stopping aid if no peace deal in Sudan UNITED NATIONS, Nov 9: The United States next week intends to tell Sudan and its southern opposition that offers of aid may be withdrawn if an .....more Syndrome predicts heart disease in healthy adults NEW ORLEANS, Nov 9: Middle-aged adults who do not yet have heart disease but have a spectrum of symptoms called metabolic syndrome are ....more Solheim, Balasingham arrive to kick-start Lanka’s peace bid COLOMBO, Nov 9: Special peace envoy of Norway Erik Solheim and LTTE’s London-based chief negotiator.....more Little
east-west romance BERLIN, Nov 9: The Berlin wall fell 15 years ago but an "iron curtain" still divides the city as far love and romance are concerned.. .......more |
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Muslim groups urge Iraqis to abandon Falluja assault BAGHDAD, Nov 9: Muslim leaders urged members of Iraq’s fledgling security forces yesterday to refuse to fight alongside US troops storming .....more Palestinians head for showdown with Arafat’s wife PARIS, Nov 9: Senior Palestinian officials headed for a showdown with the wife of Yasser Arafat today as pressure mounted on her to lift the veil of .....more Cleric’s lawyer violence needed at times NEW YORK, Nov 9: A US lawyer accused of aiding militant Muslims said in testimony on Wednesday there are ...more Benetton offers land to argentine Indians BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA, Nov 9: Italian clothing retailer Benetton offered to give mapuche Indians a portion of its vast lands....more |
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US mulls stopping aid if no peace deal in Sudan UNITED NATIONS, Nov 9: The United States next week intends to tell Sudan and its southern opposition that offers of aid may be withdrawn if an agreement is not signed soon to end Africa’s longest-running civil war, its UN Ambassador said. The UN Security Council is conducting a rare formal session in Nairobi Nov 18-19 to pressure all parties to sign an agreement in the south by the end of the year and solve the crisis in Darfur in western Sudan. Although headlines have focused on Darfur, council members are worried that preliminary agreements in the south may unravel. The United States and the European Union have put on hold promises of funds for all sides until a pact is signed. A draft resolution to be adopted in Nairobi "encourages" the World Bank and others to develop a reconstruction and economic development package, including debt forgiveness, once an agreement is reached in the south. US Ambassador John Danforth, the Current Council president and organizer of the trip, went further and said some offers would not last forever. "We have been waiting for action by the Government of Sudan and by the (southern) Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM) for a very long period of time," he said recently. "But it would be presumptuous to say, and I think it would be wrong to think, that any offer that’s put on the table by the international community will be there for long," Danforth said. The UN mission, including Secretary-General Kofi Annan, will meet privately with with Sudanese ministers, rebel leaders and African officials. Six protocols have already been signed between Khartoum and the SPLM, but are not in force. They include agreements on Governmental power sharing, the country’s oil wealth as well as integrated security forces in southern Sudan, the Nuba mountains, the southern Blue Nile and Khartoum. In six years, southerners would be entitled to a referendum to determine whether they wanted to form their own state. The UN envoy to Sudan, Jan Pronk, told the Council that the southern deal, involving a new constitution, a federal structure for Sudan, could serve as a model for Darfur. He said the main obstacle was the financing of an army in the south and the "parties seem reluctant to move." "Strong political language is needed. They will listen to it if the big powers say it," Pronk said, referring to the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France. In the past 21 years, 2 million people, mostly civilians, have died from violence in the south as well as disease and famine in a country rich in oil. The rebellion in the south was aimed at the Khartoum Government dominated by Arab Muslims. The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement is composed mainly of African animists and Christians, but throughout the country there are hundreds of ethnic, tribal divisions and language groups. In Darfur, where there is no religious division, African rebels protested against Government rule and started an armed revolt nearly 18 months ago. The Sudanese Government called on Arab tribesmen to launch raids, which resulted in rape, killings and uprooting of more than 1 million civilians. In recent weeks, Pronk has questioned how much control the Government has over the Darfur militia. He also said Darfur rebels, aligned with those in the south, were provoking the Arab tribesmen in hopes foreign troops would intervene and they will have posts in a Government. Danforth acknowledged "no side has clean hands," but he said, "I don’t think that any modicum of blame should be in anyway reduced from the Government of Sudan." (AGENCIES) |
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Syndrome predicts heart disease in healthy adults NEW ORLEANS, Nov 9: Middle-aged adults who do not yet have heart disease but have a spectrum of symptoms called metabolic syndrome are very likely to also have clogged arteries, researchers said. The findings suggest primary care doctors should be screening patients for the signs of heart disease early and often, the researchers yesterday told a meeting of the American heart association. Then patients can begin to exercise and eat better to prevent heart disease, they said. The association defines metabolic syndrome as having three of five risk factors — a top blood pressure reading of more than 130, a blood glucose level of 120 or more, which can indicate risk for diabetes, high triglyceride levels, low levels of low density lipoprotein or "good" cholesterol, and a large waist. Association President-elect Dr Robert Eckel says 27 percent of the US population has metabolic syndrome — a relatively new term describing a condition that doctors agree shows a predisposition to heart disease. Dr Kwame Akosah and colleagues at the Gundersen Lutheran health system in La Crosse, Wisconsin, studied 246 adults with an average age of 53, looking for the signs of metabolic syndrome. None of the volunteers had any obvious symptoms of heart disease and they all qualified as having at low risk of heart disease using standard measures. Of the people they studied, 75 had metabolic syndrome, Akosah told a meeting of the heart association. The researchers also did an ultrasound scan of the Carotid artery. These scans can find a thickening of this artery that shows whether the blood vessels are becoming clogged in a process called Atherosclerosis. Of the 75 people with metabolic syndrome, 75 percent also had the beginnings of a clogged Carotid Artery, his team found. "If somebody had metabolic syndrome, in spite of a low (heart) risk category, that person had a greater than 2.5 times risk of having atherosclerosis present," Akosah said. Many adults do not start getting standard physicals until the age of 40. The heart experts said the studies show Americans should see their doctors earlier and get blood glucose tests as well as blood pressure and cholesterol tests. While glucose is a test traditionally used to diagnose diabetes or pre-diabetes, it is clear that high glucose levels also point to a risk of heart disease, they said. In a second study, Dr Donald Lloyd-Jones of northwestern university in Chicago looked at statistics from a study of 2,400 adults that began nearly 20 years ago. He found that people whose weight stayed stable were much less likely to develop metabolic syndrome than people who gained 15 pounds (7 kg) or more over 15 years. "Only 18 percent of our volunteers were able to maintain a stable weight," he said in an interview. They measured body mass index, a comparison of height to weight used globally to measure obesity. "Even if you started lean, if your BMI increased over the next 15 years, you had very steady changes in all the risk factors," Lloyd-Jones told a news conference. For instance, in men whose BMI went up over the 15 years, triglycerides, an important component of cholesterol, went up an average of 3 points a year. Men whose weight stayed stable gained only 1 point a year. After 15 years, only 3.6 percent of the volunteers who had maintained their weight had developed metabolic syndrome, compared to 18 percent of those who gained weight. Lloyd-Jones said metabolic syndrome is something everyone can prevent. "It’s all about calories. It is definitely a lifestyle issue," he said. (AGENCIES) |
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Solheim, Balasingham arrive to kick-start Lanka’s peace bid COLOMBO, Nov 9: Special peace envoy of Norway Erik Solheim and LTTE’s London-based chief negotiator and political Advisor Anton Balasingham arrived in Sri Lanka early this morning to kick start the fresh bid to resume the stalled peace talks. While Mr Solheim commenced his shuttle diplomacy in meeting leaders of the four-party Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) in Colombo, Mr Balasingham was airlifted in a special military helicopter to Wanni, where he will hold strategic discussions with the elusive rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran on the possible resumption of talks. A rebel source in Kilinochchi confirmed the arrival of Mr Balasingham and his Australian-born wife, Adale Anne by military helicopters at the Kilinochchi Hindu college ground this morning. The arrival of the two key figures in Sri Lanka’s peace process comes exactly a day prior to the visit of Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen and his deputy Vidar Helgesen. The top-Norwegian delegation led by Foreign Minister Petersen is scheduled to meet President Chandrika Kumaratunga tomorrow afternoon, before his visit to the rebel-held Kilinochchi district for a crucial meeting with rebel chief V Prabhakaran on Thursday. A Tamil party source said that Mr Balasingham’s visit to Wanni two days prior to the meeting between the LTTE leadership and the visiting Norwegian Foreign Minster, was to prepare the ground and "to map out a ‘comprehensive strategic plan’ to be adopted if and when the talks resume with President Kumaratunga’s Freedom Alliance Government". Although the political pundits here were of the view that the decisive visit by the Norwegian Foreign Minister would see a ‘breakthrough’ with regard to the resumption of the direct peace negotiations, it is to be noted that Mr Petersen, before undertaking his visit to Sri Lanka, has said that "based on the signals he has received so far from both parties, he has no high expectations". He, however, said that it was rather important to keep engaging the parties at such difficult circumstances. Mr Petersen, before winding up his three-day visit to Sri Lanka, is also expected to meet Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse and leader of the opposition, Ranil Wickremesinghe. (UNI) |
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Little east-west romance 15 years after Berlin wall BERLIN, Nov 9: The Berlin wall fell 15 years ago but an "iron curtain" still divides the city as far love and romance are concerned. Only two percent of the marriages each year in Berlin are between easterners and those across town in the west. It is a rate that reflects the lingering dislike that east and west Germans still have for each other. The euphoria which accompanied the breach of the wall on November 9, 1989 soon dissipated. "I’ve had girlfriends from countries around the world but never west Berlin," said east Berlin student Stefan Rosche, 23. "West Berlin women are too difficult. They’re demanding, pushy and materialistic. Everything about them is so commercial." While streets, bridges and train lines severed for three decades by the Berlin wall were re-connected shortly after its spectacular collapse exactly 15 years ago, there was no emotional rapprochement after the joy wore off. The cold war has been replaced by the cold shoulder. For amore read animosity. Little passion, lots of prejudice — and separate beds. "I couldn’t imagine marrying an ossi because they’re so boring," said Nadja Berendes, a 35-year-old west Berlin woman, using the derogatory term for easterners. "Their past and their lives are so different. They’ve never interested me." Sociologists who have studied the unique polarisation in Berlin say that under normal circumstances a third to a half of the couples in a city of its size and infrastructure would be east-west pairings. Yet according to the state statistics office, Berliners are 12 times more likely to marry foreigners than settle down with a partner from the other side of town. "East Berlin men always struck me as rather dense," said hotel executive Katja Saal, 34. "They don’t have any style. They’re bargain-hunters who talk about how great things were before in east Germany. They don’t understand the real world." She recently married a man from Mexico. The wall may no longer exist but there are countless other barriers. Easterners earn less though they work longer hours. Their life expectancy is shorter. They read different newspapers, vote for different political parties, like different foods, and watch different films. "There is still a large prosperity gap between the east and west, and women tend to marry upwards," said Harald Michel, Managing Director of the Institute for Applied Demography. "That’s why there are a lot of marriages between east Berlin men and women from Poland, Ukraine and Hungary. "There are almost no marriages between east Berlin men and west Berlin women." In fact, there are hardly any east-west marriages at all. Between 1990 and 2000 a total 161,280 couples wed in Berlin and just 4,366 — or 2.7 percent — had east and west addresses. "The numbers were never high but they have been falling since a peak of 3.4 percent in 1995," said Beate Koehn, a researcher at the city’s statistics office, who is from west Berlin and married to a west Berlin man. "It’s a phenomenon." In 2000, the last year before districts were merged, making it impossible to distinguish east-west marriages, there were 296 east-west marriages out of a total of 14,199, or 2.1 percent -the lowest rate in the decade. Koehn said the number had almost certainly remained negligible. At the same time the number of marriages with foreigners in 2000 was 3,383 (24 percent). "It’s a consequence of the wall and decades of division," said Michel, an east Berliner married to an east Berlin woman. "The east Berliners and west Berliners don’t know each other. Half of the westerners never set foot in the east. There is an estrangement that will take another 15 years to overcome." Germany was reunited 11 months after the fall of the wall but the country has been racked by the economic and social repercussions. Easterners sometimes view "wessies" as arrogant know-it-alls who swarmed across the border to trick them, Charlatans who buy and then close eastern firms to eliminate competition. Westerners in turn complain that "ossies" are lazy, unworldly parasites who turned their once powerful economy into a low-growth basket case. "The cultural differences are enormous," said Esther Von Krosigk, 37, a west Berlin author. "The mentalities are so far apart. We speak different languages. Communism left such a deep imprint on them. I’d hesitate before marrying an easterner." "East Berlin men wear the wrong shoes, the wrong clothes and the wrong hair," said a 29-year-old east Berlin woman who recently married a westerner. "They’re the socks in the sandals people." But an east Berlin sales clerk said she had had enough of western men alhough she was at first attracted to them because of their fancier clothes and cleaner hands. "Never again," said Regina Schilling, 42. "I only feel comfortable with eastern men. They don’t need to be in the spotlight all the time." (AGENCIES) |
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Muslim groups urge Iraqis to abandon Falluja assault BAGHDAD, Nov 9: Muslim leaders urged members of Iraq’s fledgling security forces yesterday to refuse to fight alongside US troops storming the rebel-held city of Falluja, where Iraqi units have deserted in the past. Anti-US Shi’ite cleric Moqtada-al-Sadr joined a call by a powerful Sunni Muslim group, saying the siege of Falluja risked further destabilising the rest of Iraq. "We have called on the Iraqi national guard, Army and police not to participate with the occupation forces in attacking Falluja," Sadr spokesman Abdul-hadi-al-Darraji told . "We condemn this attack that will escalate the security situation inside Iraq." Last time US forces tried to take Falluja in April some Iraqi units refused to fight and the assault failed. An uprising led by the fiery Sadr was also raging in the holy Shi’ite city of Najaf at the time and spread to Baghdad’s Sadr city slum. Iraqis, just a fraction of the total 10,000 to 15,000 combined troops in the latest offensive, did join monday’s initial push into Sunni Muslim Falluja. But US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a news conference desertions were a problem. On Friday, an Iraqi commander deserted hours after receiving a full briefing on US plans to storm Falluja, where US and Iraqi leaders say Saddam Hussein loyalists and foreign Islamists leading a relentless insurgency are entrenched. But US commanders said the captain, a Kurd, had no known contacts in Falluja and was unlikely to contact the rebels. It was not clear if other Iraqi soldiers, including former Kurdish Peshmerga guerrillas and former members of Saddam’s Army, had refused to fight in Falluja this time. Hours before the assault, the Muslim clerics association, a national group with influence over some rebels in Falluja, urged Iraqi troops not to join the US-led action. "We call on the Iraqi forces, the national guard and others who are mostly Muslims ... To beware of making the grave mistake of invading Iraqi cities under the banner of forces who respect no religion or human rights," it said in a statement. "Beware of being deceived that you are fighting terrorists from outside the country, because by God you are fighting the townspeople and targeting its men, women and children and history will record every drop of blood you spill in oppressing the people of your nation." Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has vowed to crush insurgents behind daily bombings, killings and kidnappings in Iraq ahead of elections due by the end of January. He visited frontline troops to offer encouragement just before the assault began. "Your job is to arrest the killers but if you kill them then let it be," he said, according to a pool report. "May they go to hell," shouted the soldiers. "To hell they will go," Allawi replied. The clerics association, which has helped negotiate the release of foreign hostages in Iraq, has threatened to boycott the poll if assaults on the Sunni heartland escalate. (AGENCIES) |
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Palestinians head for showdown with Arafat’s wife PARIS, Nov 9: Senior Palestinian officials headed for a showdown with the wife of Yasser Arafat today as pressure mounted on her to lift the veil of secrecy she has imposed on the critically ill leader. Suha Arafat refused to allow any access to her husband even after Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie, Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath and Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) secretary general Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Paris late on Monday to see him. But French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier increased pressure on her by noting President Jacques Chirac had visited her 75-year-old husband last week. "These are old friends of Yasser Arafat," he told France 2 television. "I think it’s simply natural that, in accordance with her, they can meet Yasser Arafat." Suha Arafat, 41, who is widely criticised by Palestinians for living in Chic quarters in Paris while they endured violence at home, has hunkered down behind French privacy laws that give her ultimate control over information on her husband’s health. "Suha still opposes releasing information to the Palestinian leaders on Arafat’s health and has said she will not allow them to visit Arafat in the hospital," a Palestinian official said. "she believes they are in Paris to strip Arafat of his powers." The struggle between the Palestinian leadership and the woman Arafat married late in life has set off a whirlwind of rumours about the reasons for her intransigence. One concerns bank accounts she holds in France with transfers totalling 11.5 million dollar. She has denied charges these funds were improperly diverted from Palestinian coffers in recent years. Asked about these charges, Barnier said bigger issues were at stake and added: "I don’t know what’s true in all that." Palestinian officials say she may want to take revenge on Abbas, who opposed her marriage to Arafat in 1992 and prevented her from accompanying her husband to the White House for the signing of the Oslo peace accords the following year. All three leaders are potential successors and Arafat’s wife has accused them of wanting to "bury him alive". Shaath has said the delegation wanted to get the full facts on Arafat "and end this senseless and really inhuman battle of rumours". Christian Estripeau, the chief doctor treating Arafat in the French military hospital, said yesterday access to the Palestinian President was now strictly limited. "Mr Arafat’s medical condition forces us to limit visits," Estripeau said, although he added Arafat’s condition was stable. Despite the bickering, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday he was impressed by the Palestinian leaders’ handling of Arafat’s absence and said he hoped the "relative calm" in the region would continue. "Since he went to the hospital in Paris I have been impressed by the manner in which the Palestinian leaders back in the territories have been discussing among themselves how to move forward," he told reporters on the way to Mexico. "I hope that sense of quiet and calm can be maintained and (that) it gives us something to work with," he said, reiterating the United States was "ready to engage as soon as it is appropriate to engage" with the so-called road map peace plan. Barnier echoed this message by praising the leaders for their responsibile attitude. "Whatever happens, we need a strong and credible Palestinian authority that reforms itself to make peace with the Israelis." Paris doctors have not diagnosed Arafat’s illness although they have ruled out leukaemia. One Palestinian official said on Sunday Arafat was suffering from liver failure. Israeli media reported Arafat would be taken off life-support equipment after the Palestinian leaders had visited him in the hospital’s intensive care unit. This was not confirmed by French doctors or by Palestinian officials. Arafat’s close circle worries that fears about his health may increase chaos at home. Others fear a power struggle among Palestinians locked in a four-year-old uprising against Israel. (AGENCIES) |
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Cleric’s lawyer violence needed at times NEW YORK, Nov 9: A US lawyer accused of aiding militant Muslims said in testimony on Wednesday there are times when violence is needed to change oppressive Governments and institutions, including those that "perpetuate capitalism." The lawyer, Lynne Stewart, 65, is on trial on charges she helped an imprisoned client, the radical cleric Sheik-omar-abdel-Rahman, communicate with Egypt’s Islamic group. The group is on the US Government’s list of terrorist organizations. Stewart has denied any wrongdoing and maintains she was doing her duty as a lawyer representing a client being held incommunicado. She could face 15 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charge against her, providing "material support" to terrorists. During cross-examination, Stewart, was grilled on her own radical views. She unabashedly described what she felt was the need for uprisings seeking change, even if such actions result in death. "I believe in politics which lead, in my view of history, to violence being exerted by people on their own behalf to effectuate change," she said. "I believe entrenched institutions will not be changed except by violence. "The American revolution was accomplished violently." Stewart explained that was not advocating random violence against innocent individuals, although deaths do occur because people are in the wrong place at the wrong time. "I don’t believe in Wanton massacres like Luxor," she said referring to the Islamic group’s 1997 attack that killed close to 60 foreign tourists. Instead, she said she believed attacks should be against institutions, including those that "perpetuate capitalism." she said these would be entities "that hold the keys to power." "I believe in the right of self-determination," she said. The charges against Stewart stem from her representation of Abdel-Rahman, an Egyptian convicted in 1995 of conspiring to attack US targets, who is serving a life sentence. Prosecutors say the plot included the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and plans to attack the United Nations and other landmarks. Stewart is charged with lying to the Government by violating agreements to abide by special prison restrictions aimed at stopping Abdel-Rahman from sending messages that could result in terrorism. The rules restricted the cleric’s access to mail, the media, telephones and visitors. Among the allegations is that Stewart gave a correspondent a statement issued by the cleric in 2000 saying he had withdrawn his support for the Islamic group’s cease-fire in Egypt. The journalist was subpoenaed in the case. (AGENCIES) |
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Benetton offers land to argentine Indians BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA, Nov 9: Italian clothing retailer Benetton offered to give mapuche Indians a portion of its vast lands in Argentina’s Patagonia, which the Indians have sought to claim as ancestral lands. In a goodwill gesture, Benetton has offered to donate 6,178 acres (2,500 hectares) of its nearly 2.2 million acres (900,000 hectares) to Adolfo Perez Esquivel, a Nobel peace prize winner who has backed indigenous birthright claims to the lands. "Luciano Benetton has announced in a letter to Adolfo Perez Esquivel ... That he will put at his disposal 2,500 hectares of good-quality, productive Patagonian land ... Which he may use as he sees fit to benefit local indigenous groups," Benetton yesterday said in a press release. Perez Esquivel was not immediately available to comment on whether he had accepted the donation. Relations between Benetton and the Mapuche community have been poor since an Argentine judge in May ordered a Mapuche family to leave the Patagonian farm it occupied in 2002, after a Benetton unit proved ownership of the land. Mapuches trying to eke out a living off the land have occupied several estates in Argentina and Chile in recent years as part of a campaign for land rights. A Benetton spokeswoman said the lands being offered near the city of Esquel — 1,240 miles (2,000 km) south of Buenos Aires — were not the plots affected by May’s court ruling. Benetton owns vast tracts of farmland in southern Argentina, where it rears sheep to provide wool for its garments. The company says it employs 600 people. "This step represents a concrete gesture, with an eye to opening a realistic dialogue and mediation on the question of Patagonian lands," Benetton’s statement said. (AGENCIES) Iraq forces move into Falluja railway station FALLUJA, IRAQ, Nov 9: Scores of Iraqi Government forces moved into a Falluja railway station today captured by US Marines after fierce overnight battles with insurgents, a witness said. The Iraqi forces, with assault rifles, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, moved into the railway station in trucks and four-wheel drive vehicles as gunbattles raged nearby. The railway station is a major location in the northwest of the city and was one of the first places to be targeted for a ground assault. Thousands of US and Iraqi troops backed by heavy air support and armour have stormed into the Sunni Muslim city of Falluja in the second major offensive in seven months to try to recapture the insurgent stronghold. "This (the railway station) is a very important place because it sits inside Falluja and gives us a quick path into the city. There are some Iraqi forces around the city, but none in the Centre yet," Hazem Mohammed, an Iraqi Government soldier told . Iraq’s Interim Government and its US backers regard Falluja and the neighbouring city of Ramadi as the heart of the insurgency gripping the country and see retaking the cities as crucial to restoring peace to allow elections due in January. (AGENCIES) Actor Colin Farrell not interested in 007 role LOS ANGELES, Nov 9: Irish actor Colin Farrell says he is not interested in becoming the next James Bond. Working as Alexander the great seems to be enough. In an interview on Sunday to discuss his soon to be released film "Alexander," Farrell, 28, was asked about a suggestion by the outgoing James Bond, Pierce Brosnan, last week that he get the job because "he’ll eat the head off them all." Farrell feigned outrage at the thought of becoming the sixth James Bond in the series, joking he was shocked by Brosnan’s suggestion and if he got the job, he just might employ an Irish accent to confuse fans of the suave British agent. "The idea of me playing James Bond got into the press, but it is not true. I would not like to do it ... They should find someone the audience has no history with,’ Farrell said. Farrell stars in the upcoming oliver stone film "Alexander," which is slated to opened in late November. It was a role that had plenty of action for him as he broke an ankle and a wrist while filming battle scenes on location in Thailand. Finding a successor to Brosnan as agent 007, the character who has sold nearly 4 billion in tickets since "Dr No" hit the screens 42 years ago, has been the subject of intense speculation for months. Brosnan fulfilled his four-film contract with "die another day" in 2002. The next film is not slated to come out until 2006. Others names mentioned as possibilities to put on Bond’s trademark Tuxedo have been Hugh Jackman and Jude law. (AGENCIES) EU’s Bolkestein stands firm on accounting dispute LONDON, Nov 9: The European Union’s top financial regulator refused today to offer concessions on plans to adopt common accounting standards that have been criticised by European banks. Writing in the Financial Times newspaper, Frits Bolkestein said he hoped for a deal on the disputed framework within the next few months. "The alternative to the commission’s present proposal is not another proposal but nothing at all," wrote Bolkestein, the EU’s internal market commissioner. "What is required is goodwill on all sides and a clear focus." The EU wants all its listed companies to start using international accounting standards from 2005 to make it easier to compare balance sheets across the 25-nation bloc. The EU started work on new rules after accounting scandals at enron in the United States and at Italy’s parmalat, which revealed a multi-billion-euro account held in the company’s Bonlat unit in the Cayman islands was fake. But European banks, especially French ones, say it would introduce greater volatility in their books by forcing them to account for derivatives and other financial instruments at market value rather than at historical cost. Bolkestein said the banks were late in joining talks on how to resolve the impasse. "For two years we had urged, Cajoled and, latterly, pleaded for all parties to work together to find sound and sensible solutions," he wrote in the Ft. "The banks, for example, engaged in discussion on the issue far too late." He said there was no reason why outstanding disputes could not be settled in the next few months. (AGENCIES) Another Buddhist beheaded in Thai south revenge BANGKOK, Nov 9: Suspected Muslim militants beheaded an elderly man in Thailand’s south in revenge for the deaths of 85 Muslim protesters last month, the second Buddhist decapitated in a week, police said today. Local people found the head of a 60-year-old rubber tapper next to his Torso in a hut in a plantation in Narathiwat province with two hand-written notes saying the beheading was in revenge for the deaths of Muslim protesters in army custody, police said. "This is trivial compared to the killings of the innocents at Tak Bai district," one quoted the note as saying in reference to the place where seven Muslim protesters were killed and 78 suffocated or were crushed in Army trucks after being detained. Last Tuesday, the head and torso of a Narathiwat Buddhist village leader were found two km apart with a similar note of revenge. At least 22 people, almost all of them Buddhists, have been killed, most in drive-by attacks since the deaths in Tak Bai on October 25. (AGENCIES) |
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