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China battles stigma and politics in AIDS fight BEIJING, Nov 29: China must overcome the social stigma and political sensitivity surrounding AIDS if it is to succeed in halting its spread, experts .....more Indian-American wins outstanding scientist award NEW YORK, Nov 29: Bhimu Patil, associate Professor at the Texas A M University-Kingsville and associate Director of the Vegetable........more Congo
struggles to KINSHASA, Nov 29: It is an old trick — and one that has been used by Congolese musicians and footballers in the past — but. ......more Bethlehem hopes for Christmas revival after Arafat BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK, Nov 29: As memorial posters of Yasser Arafat fade fast ...more |
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Dubai to air controversial films at new festival DUBAI, Nov 29: The Gulf Arab city of Dubai launches its first international film festival next month, screening many controversial films to Arab....more Japan, Philippines FTA shows foreign worker hurdles TOKYO, Nov 29: Japan and the Philippines are near to clinching a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that will include ......more Sri
Lanka rebel threat COLOMBO, Nov 29: A Tamil Tiger threat to resume civil ......more Pak test fires nuclear-capable Ghaznavi missile ISLAMABAD, Nov 29: Pakistan today test fired its short-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile which could carry ........more |
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China battles stigma and politics in AIDS fight BEIJING, Nov 29: China must overcome the social stigma and political sensitivity surrounding AIDS if it is to succeed in halting its spread, experts and activists said ahead of world AIDS day on Wednesday. The Government was slow to acknowledge the AIDS epidemic and says it has fewer than 1 million cases, but the United Nations has said that number could spiral to 10 million by 2010 unless it steps up its fight against the disease. "In China, AIDS is a political problem," activist Hu Jia, whose organisation loving source is devoted to AIDS education, told . "The communist party said AIDS was a disease of capitalist countries, a problem of gays, sex workers and drug users. They said our country doesn’t have those problems so they could say it wasn’t here," he said of the government’s initial reporting on AIDS in the mid-1980s. That ignorance contributed to the epidemic’s spread through the central province of Henan a decade later, when millions sold blood to unsanitary, often state-run health clinics. Li Xiuping sold her blood 10 times in the 1990s before residents in her Henan village began getting sick. She estimates 170 there have died of the disease. "The farmers from other villages refused to have contact with us once they knew we were from our village. They refused to sell the goods to us," she told . "The local Government has never sent officials to our village to show their sympathy, they are scared and discriminate against us. Our own friends and relatives dare not to have contact with us," she said. It is the social stigma Li suffers that ray yip, China country director for the US centers for disease control and prevention, says is the biggest challenge to fighting AIDS. "It’s keeping health workers afraid of working with people living with HIV/AIDS ... It’s keeping people who are at risk of having HIV/AIDS to be tested," he said, echoing a report on the China news web site that estimated 90 percent of sufferers are unaware or hide the fact they are HIV-positive. In the capital, Beijing, there are signs the Central Government’s attitude is changing. Billboards with red ribbons line a popular bar street, the Ggovernment sponsored a weekend run for AIDS and state media has reported the start of a state-funded needle exchange programme. "After SARS, the Central Government had a huge change," said Hu Jia, whose backpack and baseball cap give the 31-year-old the look of a college student. "But the problem is, the Central Government gives policies and resources, but we never know if they reach where they should. What the people get is very little," said Hu, who himself has been detained for his activist stance against the disease. Even in some of the most progressive parts of the country, conservative attitudes remain. Peking university halted a plan to distribute free condoms on campus last week, underlining the fact sex before marriage remains frowned upon in the society where once people had to show their marriage licence to buy a condom. Hu Jia says he conducted his own experiment to gauge public knowledge of AIDS, stopping 10 people on the street. None of them could name the primary ways the disease was transmitted, and seven thought it could be contracted through mosquitoes. "They (the Government) consider AIDS information a state secret. But public health shouldn’t be a secret. It should be something everyone understands," he said. China’s traditionally strict attitude toward drug use would also have to change, with the country’s drug users as the biggest concentration of HIV-positive people, Yip said. "They will become a source for bringing the next wave of the disease to commercial sex workers, and then from there into the general population," he said. For AIDS sufferer Li, the most important issue is better treatment for infected family, friends and neighbours. "At present, the Government has no medicine supplied to children and there are several infected children in my village," she said. "I hope in the future, children can get better medicines so they can continue their lives." (AGENCIES) |
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Indian-American wins outstanding scientist award NEW YORK, Nov 29: Bhimu Patil, associate Professor at the Texas A M University-Kingsville and associate Director of the Vegetable and Fruit Improvement center, has received the 2004 outstanding young scientist award from the division of Agriculture and Food Chemistry. Dr Patil, who received the award at a ceremony in Philadelphia, has credited his accomplished work in citrus, other fruits and vegetable health benefits research to his father who died 15 years ago. My father was diagnosed with cancer when he was already in the third stage, he told the valley morning star on his return to Texas from Philadelphia. I could not help him, but through my research I hope to help others. That’s my goal. Dr Patil and his eight-member staff are working to isolate compounds found in certain citrus fruits in the Rio Grande Valley, including Rio red grapefruit, that may help reduce the risk of colon and oral cancer and help lower cholesterol, the Texas newspaper said. I was happy to hear the news about the award, Dr Patil said. I owe the success to the students who work with me. Last year, Patil won the research excellence award from the university. He also has received the Paul Harris fellowship from the rotary foundation in appreciation of significant assistance for the better understanding and friendly relations among peoples in the world. In 2002, he received the achievement excellence award by the India association of the Rio Grande valley, and in 2001 the outstanding teacher award from the Department of Agronomy and Resource Sciences. (UNI) |
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Congo struggles to create single army KINSHASA, Nov 29: It is an old trick — and one that has been used by Congolese musicians and footballers in the past — but it still angered many back home. Sent to Belgium to train as instructors for the Democratic Republic of Congo’s new army, 16 "officers" slipped out of classes in small groups and have not been seen since. They were probably not soldiers, simply people with military contacts who wanted to get to Europe. But the case highlights just one aspect in the huge task of building a unified, professional army in Congo after years of factionalised war. "It shows how much work needs to be done. Many of these ‘instructors’ could not even clean a rifle, let alone instruct — they just had good friends," said Freddy Mulumba Kabuye, editor of Le Potentiel, a daily in the capital Kinshasa. The vast mineral rich African country is slowly emerging from a five-year war that sucked in six neighbouring countries and killed three million people, mostly from hunger and disease. Elections are due next June but many of the estimated 300,000 gunmen who made up the Myriad of armed groups are still roaming the country, largely out of control. Fighters from all sides are meant to take part in a programme which would help some return to civilian life and select and train others for the new Unified National Army. But little tangible progress has been made in setting up a new army to protect nearly 60 million people in a country the size of western Europe. "There are clearly blockages from the Congolese side as army unification — and this means getting rid of a power base ahead of elections — is difficult for the groups to deliver on," said one western diplomat in Kinshasa. Nearly a year and a half after they formed a transitional power-sharing Government, the former belligerents are still deeply distrustful of one another and keen to maintain control in their traditional fiefdoms. "But at the same time, the international community has lacked coordination in its approach, so it’s not surprising that what we see now is confusing," the diplomat added. The confusion stems partly from the number of different countries now involved in different army reform plans. Former Colonial ruler Belgium began the process, training the first integrated brigade of fighters — some 3,000 men —earlier this year. Since then, Kinshasa has also signed military deals with Angola and South Africa. South African military sources say they have brought equipment to Congo and are keen to get up and running, but have yet to be provided with a place to work. The Angolans have instructors in the southwest of the country, but no Congolese soldiers to train. Building on their original efforts, more Belgian military advisers arrived last week to assess the progress of the first integrated brigade. They are will help the military to restructure and start to train more instructors. Sitting in his tiny office in Congo’s cavernous military headquarters, where sleeping guards wake up just long enough to ask passers-by for some money to buy a soda, Colonel Aime Mbiato, the head of the military integration unit, concedes that he is a long way behind schedule. He says the delay is not due to a lack of will among the congolese but a lack of promised funding from foreign donors. "Yes, we should have started in January this year. All the planning was done and we nominated all the appropriate people —we were just waiting for the money," he said. Mbiato says he has a 102 million 12-month plan for integrating fighters into the new army but no money was allocated for the project in this year’s budget. Authorities have advanced him 1 million from next year’s funding. But in a country where the Government often complains it has little money, it is doubtful how much more of the 79 million earmarked for him in the 2005 budget he will actually receive. Still unsure of the final size of Congo’s army, officials have put in place an emergency plan to train and deploy at least six battalions (around 18,000 men) before elections in various parts of the country. "It is not a question of will — the men on the ground want to integrate and the Government has shown it is willing. If the international community wants to help make things work they should react by actually financing this plan," Mbiato said. Foreign donors have agreed to come up with 220 million for demobilising fighters and helping them adapt to civilian life. Raising funds for a new army is more difficult. Many donors follow ethical guidelines which forbid them from using aid to buy military equipment or weapons. Many also fear their money will go astray due to rampant corruption. It could be a disastrous blow to efforts to stabilise the Democratic Republic of Congo if a new integrated army is not created soon, regional military analysts warn. "Army integration would break down the warlord aspect of the DRC and put it on a normal footing," said Jim Terrie, from the international crisis group. "The military reflects the political integration that needs to occur. While most armed groups are not integrated, there is always the danger that factions may support different groups or take incoherent action against perceived threats," he added. (AGENCIES) |
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Bethlehem hopes for Christmas revival after Arafat BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK, Nov 29: As memorial posters of Yasser Arafat fade fast in manger square, Palestinians in the birthplace of Jesus dare to hope this Christmas will not be as bleak as the last few. Townspeople ruined by years of bloodshed and blockade are looking to the emergence of new leaders acceptable to Israel and US peace brokers after Arafat’s death to rescue the tourism vital to Bethlehem’s economy. The countdown to Christmas in the Biblical west bank town got off to perhaps the most optimistic start yesterday — advent —since before the Palestinian revolt erupted in 2000. "We loved Arafat like other Palestinians. But he ended up isolated and ineffective. Abu Mazen could reopen doors to the world for us, help us breathe again," said merchant Nasser Allawi, referring to Mahmoud Abbas, favourite to succeed Arafat. The main palestinian faction Fatah has nominated Abbas to replace Arafat as president in a Jan 9 election. Washington deemed Arafat an obstacle to peace but counts on Abbas, a critic of violence, to negotiate with Israel for a Palestinian state. The uprising and Israeli army incursions and clampdowns to subdue militants have wrecked the livelihoods of many ordinary people. It could hardly get any worse in Bethlehem, fabled for its Church of the nativity and cradle of Christianity. Almost all the many shops where olivewood crib scenes once flew off the shelves are boarded up, festooned with washed-out, torn pictures of Palestinian militants slain by Israeli troops. A barrier Israel is building inside the West Bank with the stated aim of keeping out suicide bombers cuts into part of Bethlehem while Jewish settlements are growing on the hills around, compounding the shrine town’s sense of isolation. An Israeli Army checkpoint remains astride the main road from nearby Jerusalem once plied by legions of Christian pilgrims. But in central manger square, there was hopeful talk of a "new era" among townsfolk attending sunday services in the Church of the nativity and the handful of shopkeepers still patiently awaiting customers. "People have a feeling that things will be better again. Abu Mazen will hopefully make something of the new situation, since he is accepted by the world," said Manhal Assaf, behind the counter of the Square’s Tourist Information Centre. Residents said the atmosphere was more relaxed after almost a year free of serious violence since an army raid after a suicide bombing in Jerusalem committed by a Bethlehem militant. "It has been quiet for some time so we have already been seeing a modest recovery in visitors. It depends on the Israelis and Americans, but we do anticipate our busiest Christmas since 1999," said father George Bandak, a nativity Church priest. Some were heartened by a meeting last week, the first in over four years, between the Palestinian and Israeli Tourism Ministers. They agreed to work for easier access for pilgrims to Bethlehem and appealed to Christians to visit the holy land. Others counted on Abbas, a Muslim, to come to the Church of the nativity’s celebrated Christmas eve mass after years in which Israel confined Arafat to his Ramallah compound. "If Abu Mazen comes, it will help show the world that Bethlehem is safe again for tourism," said Yusuf Allawi, who co-manages the family souvenir store with brother Nasser. Some Churchgoers were more cautious about the future. They noted abbas faced an uphill struggle to rein in militant factions and establish his stature in the void left by Arafat. "Things here have a way of being ‘decided’, then suddenly there’s an explosion and we’re back to square one. All we can do is pray Abbas brings us toward peace, so we can work, come and go like normal people," said Shukri Dallal, a food retailer. (AGENCIES) |
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Dubai to air controversial films at new festival DUBAI, Nov 29: The Gulf Arab city of Dubai launches its first international film festival next month, screening many controversial films to Arab audiences for the first time. Organisers say the festival, whose 75 mainly Arab and south Asian films will be followed by seminars, hopes to foster a debate on relations between the west and Arab and Islamic countries. But the December 6-11 event, in which movies will not face the censorship usually practiced by local authorities, will also offer Arab audiences a chance to become more aware of the diversity of the Arab world and see films that touch on the thorny issue of relations with the United States and Israel. It will be the first screening for 13 films in the west Asia and for over 30 films in the conservative Gulf region. Debuting films include "control room", a documentary about Arabic channel Al-Jazeera’s coverage of last year’s Iraq war, and acclaimed British film "The Hamburg Cell", Antonia bird’s look at the Al-Qaeda cell behind the September 11, 2001 attacks. Although Washington has accused Al-Jazeera of provoking anti-US sentiment in the region, the taboo-breaking Qatar-based broadcaster has also riled many Arab Governments with its critical coverage of Arab politics and society. "This is one of the first places I wanted to take it," Director Jehane Noujaim, whose film has not aired in her native Egypt despite scoring US box office success, told . "The subject was in such demand in the United States because of the new perspective it offered for them ... But you need to have real champions of these films (in the west Asia)." Critics say "The Hamburg Cell", which examines the motivations of the men who carried out the attacks, was unlikely to get an airing in the region, where Governments are under US pressure to cooperate with the "war on terror". Saudi Arabia, which has no public cinemas, this year jailed a cleric for making comments sympathetic to the attacks on US cities, which killed around 3,000 people, on Al-Jazeera. Most of the September 11 hijackers were Saudi nationals. Many Arabs resent the United States over a perceived hostility to Islam and backing for Israel against Palestinians. "It’s impossible for Arabs to see these films anywhere else. They are not shown in cinemas or on television," Libyan filmmaker and organiser Mohamed Maklouf told a news conference in Dubai yesterday. The event will also see the regional premiere of Italian director Saverio Costanzo’s "private", an Arabic-Hebrew-English mix portraying a Palestinian family held hostage by Israeli soldiers. It won this year’s prize at the Locarno film festival. "This is a chance for Arabs to look at the Arab world, to see the work of Arab filmmakers in Europe, in exile and in their own countries," organiser Masoud Amralla told . "We need to educate audiences. In these dark ages anything can be forbidden." Steven Soderbergh’s "ocean’s 12" will screen one night after its world premiere and Hollywood stars Sarah Michelle Gellar and Morgan Freeman and producer Harvey Weinstein are to attend. Organisers say the festival, which has cost some 6 million dollars to stage and seen heavy international promotion, will not run a competition in its first year at least. (AGENCIES) |
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Japan, Philippines FTA shows foreign worker hurdles TOKYO, Nov 29: Japan and the Philippines are near to clinching a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that will include letting a trickle of nurses into Japan to help cope with a shortage. But experts say planned restrictions show how cautious Tokyo still is about opening the door to foreign workers, despite an ageing society and an expected shrinkage in the population. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will agree to the FTA — Japan’s third after deals with Singapore and Mexico — when they meet on the sidelines of an Asian leaders’ gathering in Vientiane, Laos, the Nihon Keizai newspaper reported. The deal, which covers industry, agriculture and the services sector and will take effect in 2006, will allow some nurses and nursing care providers from the Philippines, selected from a pool of licensed practitioners, to work in Japan and apply for visa extensions if they become licensed there, the paper said. Philippine Trade and Industry Secretary Cesar Purisima told the deal would be finalised early next year. Philippine Labour Secretary Patricia Santo Tomas said Manila had agreed with Tokyo to send only 100 nurses in the first year. "That’s only the initial group because we also want them to be trained in the Japanese language," she told . "It’s our choice that it is like that because we don’t want to go into a country where we will have problems later on," she said. Japan’s rapidly ageing population and low birth rate mean it must let in more foreign workers to maintain productivity and stay competitive, experts say. But the authorities may be wary about opening the door too wide due to fears about the impact on wages plus worries that foreigners will bring in crime and terrorism. "The days of total opposition to letting in foreign workers are over. Now it’s a question of how fast and under what kind of system," said Sanae Suzuki, a researcher at the Institute of Developing Economies. "It’s important that there be clear rules for letting in foreign labour, otherwise the flow will be hard to control and a trend towards illegal immigrants would be created," Suzuki added. "The message is, the Government wants to maintain control." Foreigners living in Japan totalled 1.85 million in 2003, about two percent of the population. The Government has estimated that there are more than 200,000 illegal aliens staying in Japan and conservative politicians often blame them for the country’s rising crime rate, although statistics do not bear out that assertion. Japan’s greying population means demand for nurses and other care givers is bound to increase in coming years. Nearly one in five Japanese is aged 65 or over and that figure is expected to rise to one in four over the next decade. Japan’s fertility rate — the average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime — hit a postwar low of 1.29 in 2003. However, opposition from the Japan nursing association to lowering the barriers has been stiff. "FTA negotiations focus on specific sectors and it is easy for the matter to become politicised," said Ken-Ichi Takayasu, a senior economist at Japan Research Institute, a think tank. Advisory panels to the Government have repeatedly recommended that Japan ease its barriers to letting in skilled workers in a variety of sectors, and last month another such committee broached an even touchier topic — unskilled foreign labour. Japanese business executives are urging the Government to move faster on FTAs as one way to help ease the entry of the foreign labourers they need. "Businesses know there will be a labour shortage in the future," said Japan Research Institute’s Takayasu. "They are saying ‘get a move on’ with FTAs, but politically it is difficult, so there is a gap." (AGENCIES) |
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Sri Lanka rebel threat seen as pressure tactic COLOMBO, Nov 29: A Tamil Tiger threat to resume civil war is a pressure tactic to push the Sri Lankan Government to open discussions on their demand for self-rule, analysts and diplomats say, playing down fears of a return to hostilities. Reclusive rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran said on Saturday his feared Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam would have no alternative but to forge ahead with a two-decade war that has killed more than 64,000 people if a months-long deadlock on talks is not broken soon. "I don’t see it as an ultimatum. I don’t think it’s anything to get alarmed about," said Rohan Edrisinha, a political analyst with independent think-tank the centre for policy alternatives in Colombo. "I look at it as the Tigers telling the Government to get its act together," he said. "I don’t think anyone will deliberately resume hostilities." In a strongly worded annual address to remember the Tigers’ war dead, Prabhakaran said the guerrilla group’s patience had reached its limit and accused the Government’s Marxist coalition ally — which is fiercely against rebel self-rule —of blocking chances of peace. "If the Government of Sri Lanka rejects our urgent appeal and adopts delaying tactics, perpetuating the suffering of our people, we have no alternative other than to advance the freedom struggle of our nation," he said in his annual policy statement from the rebels’ northern stronghold on Saturday. Analysts and diplomats said they had expected to see tough language from Prabhakaran, and viewed the threat as fiery rhetoric. "Prabhakaran is trying to force the Government’s hand to engage the tigers in a meaningful dialogue by issuing a veiled threat," said Jehan Perera, a political analyst with the Non-Governmental National Peace Council in Colombo. The Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam agreed to a ceasefire brokered by Norway in 2002. The truce is holding but the Tigers pulled out of peace talks last year, leaving hopes of sealing permanent peace in Limbo. The Tigers already have De Facto rule over large areas of the Indian Ocean island’s north and east, which they consider their homeland of Tamil Eelam, and even have their own courts, taxation system and police force. The rebels want to extend their boundaries and enshrine in the Constitution their right to govern themselves before they will even start to talk about a permanent settlement. President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s Government insists the rebels — placed by the United States on a list of banned terrorist organizations alongside Al-Qaeda — must agree to discuss lasting peace before any self-rule. Kumaratunga is due to issue a formal reply to Prabhakaran’s threat later today. "I don’t think at this stage the Government will go back to war," said military spokesman Brigadier Daya Ratnayake. "We have fought for 25 years. We don’t want any more war." Analysts said the pressure was now on the Government to bring into line its junior marxist coalition partner, the hardline nationalist JVP, that is seen as the main stumbling block to forging peace. "It’s time for the President to sit down with the JVP ... And do some extremely clever dialoguing to move the peace process forward," Edrisinha said. "The ball is very much in her court." (AGENCIES) |
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Pak test fires nuclear-capable Ghaznavi missile ISLAMABAD, Nov 29: Pakistan today test fired its short-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile which could carry nuclear and conventional warheads up to the range of 290 kms. New Delhi was informed about the launch as per the understanding between the two countries, an official said making it clear it was not against India and "is part of the Pakistan’s missile development programme". "A successful test of the indigenous surface-to-surface solid-fuel missile HATF-III Ghaznavi with a range of 290 kilometers was conducted," an official statement here said. "Today’s test is part of a series of test planned by Pakistan," Pakistan’s Defence Spokesman Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan said adding "we can not reveal schedule". He said though Ghaznavi has been inducted into the army it required testing to improve some of its parameters. "Whenever we felt it is necessary the tests will be conducted. This is part of our missile development programme," he told private GEO television. The test was part of a series of tests planned to be conducted in order to verify certain parameters and to further refine different subsystems of the missile. The flight date collected indicates that all the design parameters have been successfully validated, the statement said. Today’s test came in the wake of India test-firing its surface-to-surface missile, Aakash, on Friday. "President Musharraf who is on a tour of Latin American countries and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz congratulated the scientists, officers and soldiers involved in the missile programme on the successful test," the statement said. Today’s test followed a visit by Aziz to the national command authority two days ago to review the safety, security as well as the operational preparedness of nuclear and missile programme. It was the third test of the solid-fuel Ghaznavi missile and it was Pakistan’s second major missile launch in the past six weeks. It was earlier test-fired in 2002 and 2003. The test came a surprise to many here as Pakistan had already inducted this missile into the army’s strategic forces command for deployment in February this year. Subsequently, it was announced that it formed part of an integral component of the country’ operational deterrence system’s which also includes Shaheen and Ghauri intermediate range missiles. Defence analysts here said the test of Ghaznavi could be a "response" to recent Indian missile tests. Pakistan claims that all its missiles including Ghaznavi were indigenously developed while critics point out their strong resemblance to North Korean missiles. Pakistan has so far test-fired short and medium range missiles, which included HATAF-1, with a range of 280 kms, HATAF-III with a range up to 290 km, Ghaznavi-600 kms and HATAF-V with range of 1500 km. A Washington-based nuclear Watchdog Institute for Science and International Security recently said Pakistan possesses 50-90 nuclear missiles of different categories. (PTI) Thai Muslims warn forces against fanning extremism NARATHIWAT, THAILAND Nov 29: Islamic extremists do play a minor role in violence in southern Thailand, but the Buddhist nation risks sparking a full-blown religious insurgency with its heavy handed tactics, Muslim community leaders say. They blame increasing attacks on Thai security forces in the mainly Muslim south on criminal gangs and foreign-trained Islamic preachers preying on youths to oppose the Government. Razalee Kayamat, village chief of Kayahmati, a tiny settlement of rubber tappers and vegetable farmers, said foreign-trained Islamic preachers were exploiting the situation by spreading extremist teachings among youths. "The extremist preachers have returned from Indonesia, Pakistan and Libya and are going around spreading lies among the youths," he told today. Imam Hussain Azam Haji Talib of the Narathiat Central Mosque told there were a few extremist preachers in the area, but their influence was limited to young teenagers left to fend for themselves while their parents traded rubber and other goods in Malaysia. "There is no religious crisis here yet, but the situation is explosive," he said before leading evening prayers yesterday. Revenge is also a powerful motive after last month’s death of 78 Muslim protesters in military custody, killed by suffocation or crushed to death after more than a 1,000 people were arrested and crammed into army trucks. Muslims and minority Buddhists had lived in peace for years in the south, Imam Hussain Azam said, but he worried that hardline preachers and tough military action were a recipe for religious conflict. Thai soldiers say they feel under siege in the three southernmost provinces, where Buddhists account for just 20 percent of the 1.8 million population. Motorbike-riding militants carry out almost daily shootings and Arson attacks at roadblocks. Thailand blames radical Muslim teachers for the violence and has even offered free pilgrimages to mecca for Muslim informants. But Muslim leaders said criminal gangs stage some violence as a decoy, trying to distract security forces from normal policing. "They have made us Muslims the scapegoats, but we are the victims. Now the Buddhist Thais and Chinese are also the victims of this situation," said Imam Hussain Azam, speaking fluently in Thai and the Malay dialect of the region. Narathiwat Islamic Council president Abdul Rahman Abdul Samad said Muslims felt like immigrants in their own homeland, powerless to influence events. "We are not brave to face the Government over what it is doing, neither are we brave to tell the extremists to stop what they are doing," Abdul Rahman told at his office in Narathiwat, capital of the province of the same name. The council feels its call for restraint and understanding has fallen on deaf ears, Abdul Rahman said. "We need things done peacefully, but it has only been violence and cruelty dished out so far," he said. Kayahmati village chief Razalee said most Muslims condemned both the Government and militants until last month’s tragedy. "That was pointless and the preachers are seizing on that to influence the youths," Razalee said. (AGENCIES) Ukraine watches SC as poll crisis deepens KIEV, Nov 29: Ukraine’s top court convenes today to try to end an election crisis that threatens to break up the country and is straining relations between Russia and the west. Legal experts said the case is so complex that the Supreme Court is unlikely to be able to satisfy either side in the bitter dispute about whether Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich won the Presidential election through mass fraud. Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko wants his rival’s victory in the Nov 21 run-off be annulled due to fraud and a new vote on Dec 12. Ukraine’s highest legal body, the court consists of about 100 judges and up to 40 may sit today. Their names are kept secret until the last minute to guard against pressure on them. Its rulings have sometimes been at odds with the authorities. Initially it refused to hear Yushchenko’s case. But last Friday, it froze the election dispute by agreeing to examine it and, by barring official publication of the results, delayed Yanukovich’s inauguration. "There are so many options, so many nuances that implementing one of the court’s rulings might prove extremely difficult," Mykola Melnyk of the Supreme Council of Justice Overseeing Ukraine’s Court system told . "A ruling could even complicate attempts to resolve the conflict." The crisis is tearing at the seams of Ukraine’s fledgling democracy. On Saturday, the Parliament Speaker said the country now effectively had three Presidents — outgoing leader Leonid Kuchma, his protege Yanukovich and Yushchenko who swore himself into office last week. Several western Governments had urged Ukraine not to declare Yanukovich the winner until investigations were made into the election just over a week ago which independent observers say contained too much cheating to be a legitimate result. Today morning, thousands of orange-draped Yushchenko supporters were already gathering in the city centre, many likely to march on to the Supreme Court later. Some groups were changing guard at their week-long blockades outside key Government buildings and Presidential buildings. Occasional shouts of "Yushch-en-Ko" rang through the cold, damp morning air. Almost everyone was wearing something orange, the campaign colour of Yushchenko. Firebrand deputy Yulia Tymoshenko, a Yushchenko aide, demanded a coalition Government be formed. She also urged supporters to mass outside the Supreme Court "to defend it from the pressure from the authorities". Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, an influential figure in the region who has credibility on both sides in Ukraine, said Yushchenko was likely to become next President. But he added that a break-up was a real threat in Ukraine. That fear was underscored yesterday, when a pro-Yanukovich region in the east of the country, set a referendum for Dec 5 on forming a republic within a federal Ukrainian state. In another region, also backing Yanukovich, delegates to a regional conference from Russian-speaking parts of the east and south of Ukraine came out in favour of referendum "to determine the region’s status" — shorthand for autonomy. Yanukovich refused to back that move but accused his rival of taking Ukraine to the edge of Catastrophe. Yushchenko retorted that it was the authorities who were playing the "dangerous card of separatism". The election has underscored the divide between the western and eastern sides of Ukraine, rooted in differences in history and language. The attacks on the validity of the election has clearly irked the Kremlin which has questioned whether some in the west are trying to redraw Ukraine’s borders. (AGENCIES) UN panel proposes new criteria for using force UNITED NATIONS, Nov 29: A report by a high-level panel on reforming the United Nations proposes expanding the criteria for UN military action but maintains the need for Security Council approval, UN diplomats said. The report, requested by Secretary-General Kofi Annan and to be released on Thursday, also presents two proposals for expanding council, the most powerful UN body, from 15 to 24 seats. The document includes benchmarks for acting against a terrorist threat and for humanitarian intervention when atrocities are committed against defenseless civilians, provided the security council gives its consent. The international panel of 16 men and women was set up by Annan more than a year ago after the US-led invasion of Iraq, which went ahead without the council’s blessing, and responds to decades of pressure for reform. Particularly since the Sept 11 attacks with triggered a global campaign against terrorism, President George W Bush has increasingly advocated the principle of pre-emptive war to confront perceived threats. Although criticizing the Bush administration’s decision to go to war in Iraq without UN approval, Annan said it was not enough to denounce unilateralism unless the world body also considered thoroughly why nations went to war. The report does not recommend a pre-emptive strike without Security Council approval, according to the diplomats who are familiar with its proposals. It envisages leaving intact a provision in the UN charter that justifies "individual or collective self-defense" in case of an attack. At the same time the report urges the Council to consider action that could be taken against threats from terrorists that have or are seeking Weapons of Mass Destruction, provided all other means have been exhausted, the diplomats said. The report lays the groundwork for next September’s 60th anniversary UN General Assembly, when goals set in a millennium Assembly to reduce poverty and disease are to be re-evaluated. Among the report’s 100 or so proposals is a timetable for rich countries to meet foreign aid goals. The 16-member panel is chaired by Anand Panyarachun, a former Thai Prime Minister, and includes Brent Scowcroft, a former US National Security Adviser. Also on the panel are Yevgeni Primakov, a former Russian Prime Minister, Qian Qichen a former Chinese Foreign Minister, Amr Moussa, the Egyptian head of the Arab league, and Gro Harlem Brundtland, a former Norwegian Prime Minister, among others. On the 15-nation Security Council, which was created nearly 60 years ago and no longer reflects the complex balance of world power, the panel has two proposals — one that is advocated by Germany, Japan, Brazil and India, and another by Italy, Pakistan, Mexico. The Council’s five permanent members with veto rights are World War II victors - the United States, Britain, Russia, France and China. It also has 10 non-permanent nations rotating for two-year terms. Any change has to be approved by a two-thirds vote in the 191-member General Assembly and no veto from the five permanent members. One proposal would add six permanent members, without veto power and probably will include two candidates from Africa to give an Arab country, like Egypt a seat, along with key nations in Asia, Europe and Latin America. It would add three non-permanent members for a total of 24, but the report does not say who should get any of the seats. Germany, which has formed a lobbying group with Japan, India and Brazil for these seats, wants to introduce a resolution in the General Assembly as soon as possible, the diplomats said. The other proposal is for eight semi-permanent seats for four-year terms, subject to renewal and one non-permanent seat, for a total of 24. This is favored by those who are unhappy with the leading candidates. Italy opposes Germany, China has doubts about Japan and several Latin American nations, led by Mexico, oppose Brazil. The United States backs Japan but has remained silent on Germany since it opposed the Iraq war. (AGENCIES) Eighty whales, dolphins die on Australian island CANBERRA, Nov 29: At least 80 whales and dolphins have died after beaching themselves on a remote island between the Australian mainland and the country’s island state of Tasmania. The number of deaths on King island could be higher as some bodies might have been washed back out to sea, said Warwick Brennan, a spokesman for Tasmania’s Department of Primary Industry, water and environment. "What we found at first light this morning...Was 80 animals strewn along several hundred metres of beach. All those animals were dead," Brennan said today. "There was a mixture of adults and juvenile animals. So it was a very grim sight," Brennan told Australian radio. He said there were 55 dead long-finned pilot whales and 25 dead bottle-nosed dolphins on king island beach, around 250 km south of the Victorian state capital Melbourne. A further 17 whales were swimming around 1 km offshore. "The immediate focus for the rescue team will be ensuring that the group does not come closer to shore," Brennan said in a statement. The team is made up department officers, police and volunteers. He said it was unknown why the animals beached themselves. The deaths come a year after 100 pilot whales died on a remote beach on the southwest coast of Tasmania. (AGENCIES) |
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