Toll for Americans in Iraq hits 3,000By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writer 40 minutes ago
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military announced Sunday the deaths of two soldiers, raising the number of Americans who have died in the Iraq' war to at least 3,000, a somber milestone in the 46-month-old conflict.
On the final day of an exceedingly bloody year, Saddam Hussein was also buried in the town where he was born.
There was a relative lull in the bombings and assassinations that have threatened to rip Iraq apart along sectarian seams. Police reported finding 12 bodies dumped in Baghdad Sunday as well as 12 other violent deaths nationwide, both relatively low numbers by recent standards.
The day after Saddam was hanged in Baghdad, his body was transferred by American helicopter to the U.S. military base at Tikrit, 80 miles north of the capital, officials in Tikrit said.
He was interred in a compound he built in the village of Ouja, a few miles south of Tikrit, where he was born 69 years and eight months before.
Tikrit, the capital of Salahuddin province on the Tigris River, was a major power base for Saddam, who ruled Iraq through intimidation and fear for nearly a quarter century.
Hundreds of clan members and supporters visited Saddam's burial place, which was likely to become a shrine to the fallen leader. Dozens of relatives and other mourners, some of them crying and moaning, attended Saddam's funeral shortly before dawn.
Witnesses said the building was decorated with teak wood walls in a Moroccan motif. The domed burial chamber was about 20 feet tall and hung with a green chandelier.
A few mourners knelt before his flag-draped grave with a large framed photograph of Saddam propped up on a chair nearby.
"I condemn the way he was executed and I consider it a crime," said 45-year-old Salam Hassan al-Nasseri, one of Saddam's clansmen, who attended the interment.
Mohammed Natiq, a 24-year-old college student, said "the path of Arab nationalism must inevitably be paved with blood."
"God has decided that Saddam Hussein should have such an end, but his march and the course which he followed will not end," Natiq said.
Police on Saturday blocked the entrances to Tikrit and said nobody was allowed to leave or enter the city for four days. Despite the security precaution, gunmen took to the streets, carrying pictures of Saddam, shooting into the air and calling for vengeance.
Saddam was captured in an underground hide-out near Ouja on Dec. 13, 2003, eight months after he fled Baghdad ahead of advancing American troops. He was convicted and sentenced to death last month for crimes against humanity for his role in the killings of 148 Shiite Muslims from Dujail after a failed 1982 assassination attempt there.
His burial place is about two miles from the graves of his sons, Odai and Qusai, in the main town cemetery. Both sons and a grandson were killed in a gunbattle with the American forces in Mosul in July 2003.
"We received the body of Saddam Hussein without any complications. There was cooperation by the prime minister and his office's director," clan chief Sheik al-Nidaa told state-run Al-Iraqiya television. "We opened the coffin of Saddam. He was cleaned and wrapped according to Islamic teachings. We didn't see any unnatural signs on his body."
The American death toll in Iraq rose to at least 3,000, according to an Associated Press count.
The milestone was reached following the announcement Sunday of two additional deaths.
The White House said the president mourned each death but would not issue a statement about the 3,000th.
One soldier was killed Saturday in a roadside bombing in the capital, the military said. The soldier's name and unit were not given.
The Department of Defense said on its Web site that another soldier died Thursday and identified him as Spc. Dustin R. Donica, 22, of Spring, Texas. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division.
In his New Year's greeting,
President noted the continuing violence in Iraq. "Last year, America continued its mission to fight and win the war on terror and promote liberty as an alternative to tyranny and despair," Bush said in the statement wishing Americans a happy new year.
"In the New Year, we will remain on the offensive against the enemies of freedom, advance the security of our country, and work toward a free and unified Iraq. Defeating terrorists and extremists is the challenge of our time, and we will answer history's call with confidence and fight for liberty without wavering."
At least 111 U.S. service members have been reported killed in December, the bloodiest month of 2006. That brought the toll of U.S. military deaths in Iraq to at least 820 in 2006, according to the AP count.
TOPICS
Indonesia's take over, abuse of East Timor helped along by Australia's fear, betrayal
Madrid airport bombing suspends ceasefire agreement between Spain, Basque separatists
Shattered Arctic ice shelf creates massive new island, scientists rethink global warming effects
Is US/Israel military strike on Iran in the tea leaves for 2007?
Child prostitution a global epidemic
Political enemies force to share power in Ukraine
No longer a death sentence, AIDS has many South African insurers reevaluating coverage
South American frontier a human trafficker's paradise
2006 deadliest year in a decade for reporters
Texan stages pig races in protest of mosque construction next to his property
How fearful Australia deserted East Timor
Tony Stephens
JUST three months after Indonesia invaded East Timor 30 years ago, the Australian government of the prime minister, Malcolm Fraser, was covertly supporting the tiny colony's complete integration into its giant neighbour, according to cabinet documents from 1976, released today. The 1976 cabinet papers, released under the rule that keeps them secret for 30 years, show that while the foreign minister, Andrew Peacock, was saying publicly Indonesian forces should withdraw and there should be a genuine act of self-determination, Australia's defence chiefs were taking a realpolitik view. A defence committee report of February 5 noted that although Indonesia was unlikely to take military action against Australia or Papua New Guinea, "Indonesia is a power with long-term potential for a significant assault against Australia".The report went on: "Attempts to deny Indonesia its objective and to secure its co-operation in a military withdrawal from East Timor and in a genuine act of self-determination are therefore likely to meet intractable political and practical difficulties and ultimately to prove futile." Paradoxically, more than two decades years later, in 1998, a member of that original Coalition ministry, the Prime Minister, John Howard, was a key player in ensuring East Timor gained independence in a referendum. Sydney Morning Herald (12/31)
Spain suspends dialogue efforts after ETA bombs airport
MADRID - Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on Saturday suspended moves towards a dialogue with Basque separatist organization ETA after the group said it carried out a car bomb blast at Madrid's Barajas airport. Five out of 19 people slightly hurt in the blast required hospital treatment while fears grew for the safety of two Ecuadorian men reported missing.Both were understood to have been asleep in vehicles inside the terminal that was hit by some 200 kilograms (440 pounds) of explosives. The explosion, which ended the "permanent ceasefire" ETA called on March 22, came as a blow to Zapatero, who had for months tried to open a dialogue between his government and Basque radicals seeking independence for the northern Basque region. "I have ordered the suspension of all initiatives linked to developing talks with ETA", Zapatero said after interrupting a family holiday to return to the Spanish capital. ABS-CBN (Philippines) (12/31)
Arctic ice shelf shatters, creates an island
A giant ice shelf broke free from Canada's remote Arctic 16 months ago, but no one was on hand to witness the creation of 55-million-square-foot, free-floating island of ice. Later, scientists using satellite images realized the mass of ice broke clear from the coast of Ellesmer Island, about 497 miles (800 kilometers) south of the North Pole. Laurie Weir, who monitors ice conditions for the Canadian Ice Service, was poring over satellite images in 2005 when she saw the Ayles Ice Shelf had split and separated. Weir notified Luke Copland, head of the new global ice lab at the University of Ottawa, who decided to find out what happened. Using U.S. and Canadian satellite images, as well as data from seismic monitors, Copland found the ice shelf collapsed in the early afternoon of Aug. 13, 2005. "What surprised us was how quickly it happened," Copland said. "It's pretty alarming. Even 10 years ago scientists assumed that when global warming changes occur that it would happen gradually so that perhaps we expected these ice shelves just to melt away quite slowly, but the big surprise is that for one they are going, but secondly that when they do go, they just go suddenly, it's all at once, in a span of an hour." People's Daily Online/Xinhua (12/31)
The Risks, Perils and Potential Disasters of 2007
Patrick Seale, Al-Hayat
Although peering into the fog of the future is always a hazardous business, it would not be rash to say that, of all the potential man-made catastrophes that might afflict the world this coming year, for sheer destructiveness none would surpass an American/Israeli attack on Iran. Is such an attack probable, or even possible? Regrettably, it is. In the current confrontation with Iran, the military option remains very much on the table. In both the U.S. and Israel, the same military planners, political lobbyists and armchair strategists that pressed America to attack Iraq are now urging it to strike Iran - and for much the same reasons. These reasons may be briefly summarized as the need to control the Middle East's oil resources and deny them to potential rivals, such as China; the wish to demonstrate to friend and foe alike America's unique ability to project military power across the globe; and, last but not least, Israel's determination to maintain its supremacy over any regional challenger, especially one as recklessly provocative as Iran's President Mahmud Ahmadinejad. To be effective, an American/Israeli strike against Iran would have to destroy not only its nuclear facilities but also its ability to hit back, that is to say its entire military-industrial complex. The attack would have to be so devastating as to rob Iran of the will and the means to retaliate. This could take weeks of air and missiles attacks and, because of the size of the country and the dispersal of its military assets, would be exceedingly difficult to achieve. It seems more than likely that, if attacked, Iran will, one way or another, manage to strike back - against U.S. troops in Iraq, against Israel, and against U.S. bases and U.S. allies in the Gulf. Dar Al Hayat (Lebanon) (12/31)
Child prostitution becomes global problem, with Russia no exception
Southeast Asia is thought to be the hotbed of child prostitution. According to UNICEF, more than one million children in Asia including Thailand, Philippines, and India, have been sold to brothels or street pimps for sexual exploitation. In the meantime, ECPAT (Ending Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking), a nongovernmental organization, argues that the number of children involved in prostitution is much higher. ECPAT estimates indicate that 20% of 20 million of children in India alone are part of the commercial sexual exploitation network. According to ECPAT, about 100 thousand children are forced into child prostitution in Taiwan. Child prostitutes are in demand in other counties too. Venezuela has around 40 thousand underage prostitutes; there are approximately 25 thousands prostitutes aged 12 to 17 in the Dominican Republic; Peru has about 500 thousand child prostitutes, another 500 thousand child prostitutes are in Brazil; Canada has 200 thousand child prostitutes. From 300 thousand to 600 thousand of 2 million prostitutes in the USA are children and teenagers under 18. Most of them are under the category of street prostitutes. The above statistics clearly indicate that child prostitution has become a global problem. As for Russia, it is hard to come up with accurate numbers regarding child prostitution. The numbers do vary depending on the definition of the phenomenon, measuring instruments, and a current government policy. One can only make a judgment by putting together pieces of information reported in different cities and regions of Russia. For example, the Moscow police said that more than 1,000 children had been involved in prostitution activities in 1993. According to data released by the police of the Seaside Region, child prostitutes accounted for 25% of all prostitutes taken into custody in 2000. The proportion increased to around 27% in 2001. Pravda (Russia) (12/31)
Government Chaos Dashing Hopes of New Beginning
By Walter Mayr
The hero and antihero of Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution are now sharing power in Kiev. The political trench warfare between President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych is shattering the Ukrainian people's dreams of a new beginning and moral rebirth. In Ukraine, questions about the future invariably entail an excursion into the past. It's a journey that passes through electronic security gates in the Kiev building that houses the Ukrainian cabinet, into a Soviet-made elevator and up to the seventh floor -- where courtiers whisper, petitioners wait patiently and a padded door opens silently. The prime minister approaches from the depths of the room. "Hello," says Viktor Yanukovych. For a moment it seems as though time had stood still here. Yanukovych was prime minister once before when the so-called Orange Revolution broke out and hundreds of thousands marched through the streets of Kiev, shivering in the cold, singing and waving orange flags -- in an effort that eventually brought down Yanukovych's corrupt regime. It happened two years ago. Yanukovych was the principal target of popular fury when crowds took to the streets to demonstrate against election fraud and nepotism, against corruption and the regime's failure to investigate contract killings of its opponents. Ukrainians were demonstrating against everything for which they believed the policies of President Leonid Kuchma and his would-be successor Yanukovych stood for. Der Spiegel (Germany) (12/31)
Aids causes life insurers to take stock
Mariette le Roux Cape Town, South Africa
As Aids continues to reap a grim toll among South Africans in their prime, life insurers are being forced to re-evaluate the products and services they offer. "HIV is not a death sentence anymore," said David Patient, among the first to take out life cover with new company AllLife, which caters exclusively for HIV-positive people traditionally shunned by long-term insurers. "Thanks to improved access to ARV [antiretroviral treatment], HIV today is a manageable disease like diabetes. HIV-positive people who adhere to their drug regimen should have a life expectancy of 25 to 30 years." Few companies provided life cover to people with HIV, and those that did charge excessive premiums, said Patient.This meant thousands could not get a home loan, provide financially for loved ones after their death or borrow money to start a business. AllLife co-founder and managing director Ross Beerman said the time has come for a change in the long-term insurance industry. "Our clients are investing in their future -- buying a house, starting a business, furthering their studies," he told Agence France-Presse. "People are accessing financial-service products they were not able to before. They are investing in themselves." South Africa has the world's second heaviest caseload of HIV/Aids, with about 5,5-million in a population of 47-million infected. Mail & Guardian (South Africa) (12/31)
Latin America's secret slave trade
Oliver Balch reports from the triple frontier of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, where humans have become the most sought-after contraband.
Guardian Unlimited
Sit by the swimming pool of the exclusive Iguazú Jungle hotel and you can watch the "contrabandistas" emerging from the undergrowth. All day, an army of smugglers can be seen passing along the mountainous path that separates Argentina from Brazil. Locals know it as the "pique". It is just one of a dozen or more unofficial crossing points on the so-called triple frontier, the name given to the porous border area where Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil meet. Everything from fake branded clothing to Class A drugs are ferried back and forth along these clandestine routes. The list of contraband goods now also extends to human beings.The human-trafficking business is estimated to be worth over £10bn a year, making it the world's third most profitable criminal activity after drug-smuggling and gun-running. Many of those trafficked through the triple frontier are destined for the illegal labour market in Brazil or Argentina. The trade in babies for adoption is also widely reported. But a large proportion end up as sex workers. Many end up in brothels across the region, although a high number are destined for the triple frontier's own thriving sex industry. Children are particularly vulnerable to human traffickers. Charities working with at-risk children in the border region estimate that as many as 3,500 young people could be involved. Argentina Star (12/31)
2006 a deadly year for journalists
CBC News
This past year was the deadliest for journalists in more than a decade, according to media watchdog Reporters without Borders.The Paris-based group said in its annual report released Sunday that at least 81 reporters were killed while on duty in more than 20 countries in 2006. That compares with 63 who died on the job the previous year. Another 32 people working alongside journalists, including translators, drivers and technicians, were killed, compared with five in 2005. For the fourth year running, Iraq claimed the highest number of deaths involving journalists — 39 — most of them Iraqis. The second-most dangerous place for reporters in 2006 was Mexico, with nine deaths, followed by the Philippines, with six. Reporters without Borders said it was the worst year for journalists since 1994, when 103 reporters died on the job, almost half of them during the genocide in Rwanda. CBC (12/31)
Mosque plans trigger neighbor's pig races
KATY, Texas (AP) -- A man unhappy with an Islamic association's plans to build a mosque next to his property has staged pig races as a protest during afternoon prayers. Craig Baker, 46, sold merchandise and grilled sausages Friday for about 100 people who showed up in heavy rain. He insisted he wasn't trying to offend anyone with the pigs, which are forbidden from the Muslim diet. "I am just defending my rights and my property," Baker said. "They totally disrespected me and my family." Muslims don't hate pigs, they just don't eat them, said engineer Kamel Fotouh, president of the 500-member Katy Islamic Association in this Houston suburb. "I don't care if he races, roasts or slaughters pigs," said Yousef Allam, a spokesman for the group. The dispute began when the association asked Baker to remove his cattle from its newly bought land. The association plans to build a mosque, community center, athletic facilities and a school. Baker agreed to move his cattle but thought the Muslims also wanted him off the land his family has lived on for more than 100 years.Earlier this month, Baker conceded that the Muslims probably aren't after his land, but he said he had to go through with the pig races because "I would be like a total idiot if I didn't. I'd be the laughingstock now because I've gone too far." All the same, Baker plans to continue the weekly pig races until interest dwindles. The association never meant to imply it wanted Baker to move, Allam said. "If we somehow communicated that to him, then we apologize," he said. Resident Susan Canavespe said the pig racing wasn't mean-spirited -- "It's just Texas-spirited." CNN (12/31)
TOPICS
Hussein is executed, "It was very quick", witness testifies
Japan factory caught hiring immigrant child labor, told to stop it though no punitive action expected
Pilgrims in Saudi Arabia face cold wave at the beginning of haj
African origin Jews wins suit against U.S. prison for violation of religious rights
UN foot-dragging on Somalia believed intentional
Hundreds feared dead in sinking of Indonesia ship
2006 death toll in Palestine triple last year
Kidnappings of 'Dirty War' witnesses blamed on para-militaries by Argentina's Kirchner
Rare international cooperation by U.S. nets war crime charges for deported Bosnian Serbs
AIDS spreading unchecked in Washington D.C. as monitoring agency suffers staffing and funding shortfalls
Saddam's execution: 'It was very quick'
His face uncovered, his demeanour calm, Saddam Hussein said a brief prayer as Iraqi policemen walked him to the gallows yesterday and put a noose around his neck. After decades of fear, violence and a despotic rule, the end was brief as the former Iraqi leader was hanged at dawn in Baghdad for crimes against humanity. "It was very quick. He died right away," one of the official Iraqi witnesses told Reuters. However, the execution did not end the violence in Iraq. Car bombs set off by suspected insurgents from Saddam's once dominant Sunni minority killed over 70 people in Baghdad and near the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf, striking areas populated by Shi'ite Muslims oppressed for decades and now in the ascendancy. President George W. Bush, who branded Saddam a tyrant and a threat to global security even though alleged nuclear and other weapons were not found after the 2003 invasion, hailed the execution as a "milestone" on Iraq's path to democracy, but others - including the UN - condemned the trial which led to his execution. New Zealand Herald (12/30)
Gifu firms illegally hired Brazilian immigrants' children
TOKYO — Two temporary-job placement agencies in Gifu Prefecture had hired 12 children of Brazilian immigrants of Japanese origin for factory work in violation of Japan's labor regulations, officials of the labor ministry's Gifu bureau said Friday. The detection highlights the problem that many children among an increasing number of immigrant workers in Japan choose to work, rather than attend school, due to language problems and hardships in their families' livelihoods, experts say.A local labor standards inspection office has already told the two firms to stop the violation and the children are no longer at work, according to the officials of the Gifu Prefecture Labor Bureau.The two firms hired a total of 12 boys and girls aged 13 to 15 from around February at an hourly wage of 850 yen at the lowest, and sent them to factories of several companies in Gifu, including parts manufacturers, with which it has such service contracts, they said. The Labor Standards Act bans employment of any children aged up to 15, regardless of their nationality, from the viewpoint of child protection. Japan Today (12/30)
Pilgrims brave cold wave to begin Haj
Mohammed Wajihuddin
MINA (MECCA): Despite strong instruction from the local police not to venture out of home during Haj and brave a cold wave, Shahnawaz Alam sneaked into Mina on Thursday night. Without the relative comforts of a tent at Mina, Shahnawaz stayed up the night on a pavement, seeking Allah's mercies for himself and his family back home in India. Shahnawaz is not alone who, after ignoring the Saudi government's appeal to the residents of Mecca to stay away from the holy sites during Haj, sneaked into Mina and the plains of Arafat, swelling the pilgrims' number to around 3 million. "It's a dream come true. People spend their life's savings to come here. I think I got a call from Allah when he gave me a job in the holy city," said Shahnawaz, a worker with a Mecca-based construction company. "Why should I let this opportunity? when I am here." Times of India (12/30)
Black Hebrew inmate sues US prison
By AP AND JPOST.COM STAFF
RICHMOND, Virginia- In a ruling favorable to an inmate belonging to the Black Hebrews sect, who sued after a prison denied his request for kosher meals, a federal appeals court upheld a federal law that protects the religious rights of incarcerated people. The state of Virginia had challenged the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act after inmate Ira Madison complained in a 2001 lawsuit that prison officials were violating the act by denying him a kosher diet. Virginia argued that Congress had exceeded its authority by tying compliance with the act to federal funding for prisons. But the appellate judges rejected that argument, saying the law does not force states to change prison policies. "Because Virginia voluntarily accepted federal correctional funds, it cannot avoid the substantive requirements of RLUIPA," Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III wrote Friday. The law, enacted in 2000, blocks any government from passing a land use regulation - such as a zoning law - that would discriminate against a religious organization. It also prohibits prisons from blocking prisoners from worshipping as they please. Jerusalem Post (12/30)
U.N. Remains Paralysed Over Fighting in Somalia
Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 28 (IPS) - When the United Nations failed to take immediate action during the month-long Israeli attacks on Lebanon last July, the Security Council was accused of deliberately dragging its feet to provide more time for a decisive military victory by the Jewish state. The 15-member Security Council took more than a month to adopt a resolution calling for a ceasefire, by which time hundreds and thousands of Lebanese civilians had been killed by Israeli airstrikes which left parts of Beirut in shambles. "We will probably watch a similar scenario in the Horn of Africa if the Security Council does not act immediately," predicts an Arab diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. Since Sunday, the militarily-strong Ethiopian government has been unleashing its firepower against the ragtag forces of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) based in the capital of Mogadishu. The Ethiopian government, which has received tacit support from the United States, is backing the forces of the Baidoa-based Transitional Federal Government (TFG) engaged in a turf battle with the UIC inside Somalia. Inter Press News Service Agency (12/30)
Indonesia ship sinks with hundreds aboard
JAKARTA, Saturday - A ferry with at least 600 aboard sank in bad weather during the night as it travelled between Borneo and Java islands, Indonesian navy officials said today. This is the second ferry disaster in as many days in Indonesia after a vessel sank on Thursday in rough seas off Sumatra island. High seas and bad weather were hampering rescue efforts in the Java Sea, the Navy officials said, but 26 survivors had been found. “The latest development (is) we have found 26 people. 17 were secured by fishermen and nine others by a small navy ship,” Toni Syaiful, a Navy spokesman in the East Java city of Surabaya, said by telephone. “They have been taken to Bawean island. They wore lifejackets,” he said. Bawean is 663 kilometres (412 miles) east of Jakarta, in the Java Sea. Central Java Navy commander Colonel Yan Simamora told Elshinta news radio the ship, the “Senopati”, had been travelling between Indonesia’s Central Kalimantan province on Borneo to Central Java province on the country’s main island. “The ship sank about midnight last night,” he said, adding that it was difficult to evacuate the survivors because of bad weather. Kenya Daily Nation (12/30)
Palestinian death toll triples this year
By Eric Silver in Jerusalem
The number of Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces in the West Bank and Gaza Strip tripled this year, according to an Israeli human rights organisation. B'Tselem said 660 Palestinians had been killed during 2006, including 141 minors. The report claimed that at least 322 of those killed were not fighters. At the same time, B'Tselem recorded a drop in the number of Israelis killed during the year. Palestinians killed 17 civilians, including one minor, and six members of the security forces. In Gaza alone, since the kidnapping of Corporal Gilad Shalit in a cross-border raid on 25 June, Israel has killed 405 Palestinians, including 88 minors. Of this total, 205 were defined as non-combatants. B'Tselem said the number of civilians killed showed a "deterioration in the human rights situation in the occupied territories". That impression was reinforced by the demolition of 292 homes, housing 1,769 people, 279 of them in the Gaza Strip. Israel also demolished 42 Arab homes in East Jerusalem built without a permit. Independent (United Kingdom) (12/30)
Argentine president blames paramilitaries for kidnappings
BUENOS AIRES (AFP) - President Nestor Kirchner has blamed ciminal elements linked to the past military dictatorship for the kidnapping of two witnesses in the trials of suspected human rights abusers. He said the recent abductions were meant to "put the breaks on the trials" and vowed to reject any call for amnesty for wrongdoers. "This president will not allow any type of amnesty" for hundreds of former military and police on trial around the country for crimes committed under the past military regime," Kirchner said on national television and radio. Kirchner's 10-minute speech came two days after human rights activist Luiz Gerez, 51, a key witness in several trials, was kidnapped. Three months ago 77-year-old bricklayer Julio Lopez, whose testimony helped put former chief of police Miguel Etchecolatz behind bars for life, also went missing. An Argentinian truth commission estimated several thousand people were killed or made to disappear during the country's 1976-1983 military dictatorship. Amnesty laws later protected many in the military from justice. Argentina Star (12/30)
Bosnian Serbs deported by US are indicted for war-crimes
As a result of landmark international cooperation, the two men were charged last week in connection with the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.
By Beth Kampschror Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
SARAJEVO, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA – Mladen Blagojevic and Zdravko Bozic would probably be living unassuming lives as Bosnia Serb refugees in the Arizona desert if it weren't for a landmark international detective effort to track down war-crime suspects. Instead, they're in custody in wintry Bosnia, where they were charged last week in connection with the 1995 Srebrenica massacre. The case, say court sources, marks a precedent in international cooperation in the prosecution of war crimes, and could show the way forward for both the US and other countries that may be unwittingly hosting war-crimes suspects on their territory. "I would describe the cooperation with the US as unprecedented, as these are the first cases where war-crimes suspects have been returned to the country where the crimes were committed to face charges," says Toby Cadman, counsel to the prosecutor at Bosnia's war-crimes chamber. Mr. Blagojevic and Mr. Bozic were deported to Bosnia earlier this year after being arrested in the US for not disclosing their service in the Bosnian Serb military when its forces overran the Bosnian Muslim enclave of Srebrenica and killed up to 8,000 men and boys - a crime ruled genocide by the UN war-crimes tribunal in The Hague. On Dec. 21, they were indicted for crimes against humanity by Bosnia's war-crimes chamber and charged with the detention, murders, and forcible transfer of Srebrenica Muslims. Christian Science Monitor (12/30)
An Overwhelmed D.C. Agency Loses Count of AIDS Cases
By Jose Antonio Vargas, Washington Post Staff Writer
In late August, barely a month into her new job, Marie Sansone of the District's AIDS agency was astounded by what she discovered: five boxes of unexamined HIV and AIDS cases that had not been touched in more than a year. In the boxes were records of 2,000 to 3,000 cases that had yet to be entered in the city's database. The records are mostly from 2004 and 2005, some from 2003. Who's getting sicker, who needs treatment, who died. All boxed up. "Oh, my goodness," Sansone, surveillance chief for the city's Administration for HIV Policy and Programs (AHPP), remembers saying. "We were flabbergasted, just flabbergasted," adds Sansone's boss, AHPP Director Marsha Martin. That information is critical to managing a spreading epidemic, now in its 25th year. Under guidelines from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, AHPP is required to collect, maintain and distribute statistics on the disease, which dozens of community-based organizations depend on for their prevention and treatment programs. City officials acknowledge that the District is behind in tracking new cases of HIV, as well as in reporting the number of deaths from AIDS complications. AHPP reports that about 10,000 District residents -- nearly 1 in 50 -- have AIDS. It estimates that between 17,000 and 25,000 have HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Though AHPP started collecting HIV data in 2001, it has yet to release the statistics, and it hasn't released data on AIDS-related deaths since 2002. In contrast, Baltimore issues yearly and quarterly updates of HIV cases and AIDS-related deaths. With the additional five boxes, the District's big problem just got bigger. "This is very, very, very serious," Sansone says. "Getting through these boxes is of the highest priority." And Sansone's historically disorganized, chronically understaffed surveillance department shoulders the weight of correcting the public record. Since early September, Sansone and her staff have been going through the five boxes, looking at each case, going back to local health care providers to complete reports, making sure that an HIV case is not counted as an AIDS case and vice versa. She's kept a weekly tally. By the end of September, they'd added 15 AIDS cases and 236 HIV cases. Washington Post (12/30)
TOPICS
Indonesia not warming to Australia's prisoner exchange proposal
In run-up to 2008 Olympics, China loosens restrictions on foreign press, chides overseas coverage
Families of post-9/11 Pakistan "disappeared" protest for answers on whereabouts, says Human Rights groups
Israel army judge criticizes detention of thousands of Palestinians arrested in 2006 without charges
Criticism of Libyan death sentence for foreign medics "insensitive" to Libyan people, foreign minister accuses
Social mobility in South Africa a mystery to be studied
50 Indian boys freed from slavery, but millions more toil away in Asian sweatshops
Rwanda genocide suspects to appear in UK court to face charges
U.S. relaxing its undermining of the International Criminal Court
Nepal receives first U.N. arms monitors as country moves towards peace and democracy
Jakarta rejects prisoner exchange draft
By Olivia Rondonuwu in Jakarta
AUSTRALIANS jailed in Indonesia could get lighter terms or serve their time back home under an Australian proposal for a prisoner exchange agreement between the two countries. The Australian proposed draft for a prisoner exchange agreement – obtained by news agency AAP – would allow a judicial review of a convict's case in their home country and, possibly, allow their sentences to be reduced. "The continuance of (their) punishment... after the transfer will be regulated by the law and procedure in the recipient country," the draft states. "And if the basic nature of the punishment and the term is not suitable with the recipient party then the recipient can adjust the punishment to its own regulation for similar crime." Schapelle Corby was sentenced to 20 years in jail for trying to smuggle marijuana into Bali, but this week was given a one-month remission. Members of the Bali Nine group were given various sentences ranging from 20 years in jail to the death penalty for trying to smuggle heroin from Indonesia to Australia. Herald Sun (Australia) (12/29)
Foreign journalists 'welcome in China'
The country's top information official yesterday said his office is a "constructive partner" to foreign journalists, whom he expects to report on China more objectively. The State Council Information Office has not only been pushing publicity-shy officials to talk to the media, but also promised to help implement new regulations that give foreign journalists unprecedented freedom in reporting China. "We cordially welcome international journalists to come and see China for themselves for interviews and exchanges," said Cai Wu. "Through your on-the-spot reporting and interviewing, I'm confident you will come to new conclusions on China." Cai was speaking at the last press conference organized by the information office of the State Council China's cabinet this year, when it invited 59 ministers and vice-ministers to meet the media on 58 occasions. Acknowledging "encouraging progress" made by the foreign media in covering China the volume of coverage rose by up to 40 per cent year-on-year Cai said the number of objective reports on the Chinese economy and society increased. But, he said: "As for overseas reports on China's situation, I think the proportion of positive or totally objective stories is still quite small." Some renowned press organizations have carried investigative reports and comments on China by those who had never been to the country or know little about it but base their reports on so-called material provided by some unreliable sources, he said. "I don't think this is responsible reporting." People's Daily Online/Xinhua (China) (12/29)
9/11: protest over missing persons in Pakistan
Nirupama Subramanian
ISLAMABAD: A day after police broke up a peaceful march to army headquarters by the families of men who have gone missing in Pakistan since 9/11, the families were back on protest, this time near a mosque in the heart of the capital. This time, an MP of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal lent weight to the protests after Friday noon prayers by turning up at the protest. A representative of the Islamic Defence of Human Rights, which helped to organise the families, told journalists that the missing men were picked up by 's intelligence agencies simply because "they were religious minded, prayed regularly and had beards." The Supreme Court is hearing a petition filed by 41 families. Prodded by the court, the Government tracked down 23 of the missing men. The case is posted for January 8. The IDHR said if the Pakistan government had sold the missing men to the U.S. in the course of the "war on terror" for $5,000 dollars a head, it was willing to pay the Government $6,000 for their return. The Hindu (India) (12/29)
'2,700 Palestinians held without trial'
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
A top IDF judge disclosed on Tuesday that 2,700 Palestinians have been detained without trial this year, criticizing the military prosecution for not filing charges against some of them. Col. Shaul Gordon, chief justice of the army's West Bank appeals court, told the soldiers' weekly Bamahane that 2,000 of the detainees filed appeals, and their detention was shortened in many cases. He said even the ones who do not file appeals are reviewed. The practice of administrative detention has been harshly criticized by Palestinians and human rights groups, who say that if the IDF has evidence against suspects, it should put them on trial. The IDF has responded that sometimes evidence is too sensitive to submit to a trial. Gordon, who is leaving his post after six years, backed the critics in some cases. Jerusalem Post (12/29)
Libya condemns foreign pressure in HIV case
Tripoli, Libya Western criticism of death sentences handed to five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor by a Libyan court shows a lack of respect for the Libyan people, Libya's foreign ministry said late on Thursday. The medics were sentenced last week for deliberately infecting 426 children in the late 1990s with the virus that causes Aids. More than 50 of the children have since died. Some Western scientists say negligence and poor hospital hygiene are the real culprits and the six are scapegoats, but in Libya the verdict came as a welcome act of defiance of the West. Condemnation poured in from Western governments and rights groups after the sentences were passed, with Bulgaria, the European Union (EU) which it joins next month and Amnesty International among the swiftest critics. Washington said it was disappointed. The Libyan government defended the court's ruling, saying it had the authority to handle the case and came to its decision in the presence of international human rights and civil society groups. Mail & Guardian (South Africa) (12/29)
DEVELOPMENT-SOUTH AFRICA:Unlocking the Mysteries of Social Mobility
Christina ScottCAPE TOWN, Dec 28 (IPS) - From sprawling shack settlements to the presence of destitute people begging for small change at traffic lights, there is ample evidence that poverty is a pervasive and destructive force in South African life. Less clear is why some manage to beat the odds to escape poverty, and others not. "Everyone knows that poverty exists," says Ingrid Woolard of the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU) at the University of Cape Town, in South Africa. "But to fight it we need much more detail about what forces propel some people out of unemployment and into jobs while others remain behind, without work, without skills. For that, and to track obstacles in similar transitions from high school to further education, we need to monitor large numbers of people over long periods of time." Starting in 2007, this is exactly what will happen. Inter Press News Service Agency (Africa) (12/29)
`Slavery' ends for 50 boys working at India factories
By Muneeza Naqvi, Associated PressNEW DELHI -- For two years, 12-year-old Bhola worked more than 15 hours a day without being paid or allowed to visit his parents. On Thursday, he and 49 other child laborers were enjoying their first full day of freedom. The boys, ages 8 to 14 and whose parents are poor farm laborers in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, were rescued early Wednesday by a non-governmental organization, in cooperation with local authorities. They had been brought to New Delhi to work in small factories making elaborately embroidered fabric called zari. The embroidery requires working with very fine needles on which the children often hurt themselves."We freed these 50 children after some frantic parents came to us saying that they were unable to get in touch with their children," said Kailash Satyarthi of Bachpan Bachao Andolan, or South Asian Coalition on Child Servitude. The children were held in the factories and not allowed to visit their parents. On Thursday, some of the children described to reporters how they were often slapped and beaten with leather belts. "For two years, these children have worked for free. ... This is a sort of slavery," Satyarthi said. "There are a million such places where the child labor laws are laughed at." Chicago Tribune (12/29)
Rwanda 1994 Genocide Suspects Are Due to Appear in U.K. Court
By Nick AllenDec. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Four men accused of taking part in the 1994 Rwanda genocide, that saw as many as 800,000 people killed, are due to appear in a U.K. court today. They were arrested last night on extradition warrants at the request of the Rwandan government, London's Metropolitan Police said in an e-mailed statement. The men will appear at City of Westminster Magistrates Court in London today, a court official, who declined to be named, said by telephone. The suspects were detained simultaneously at different addresses in London, Manchester, Essex and Bedfordshire, police said. They are accused of ``killing members of the Tutsi ethnic group with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, that group,'' according to a warrant issued by the court on Dec. 27. The killings are alleged to have taken place between Jan. 1 1994 and Dec. 12 1994. The men are also accused of conspiring to kill Tutsis and aiding and abetting others to kill Tutsis, according to the warrant. Bloomberg (12/29)
U.S. sees ICC in more benevolent light
By GEORGE GEDDAASSOCIATED PRESS WRITERWASHINGTON -- "An international kangaroo court," thundered Sen. Jesse Helms. "A shady amalgam of every bad idea ever cooked up for world government," said Rep. Tom DeLay. The wrath of the two former conservative legislators was directed at the International Criminal Court around the time of its founding in 2002. As the comments suggest, the U.N.-mandated court presented a fat target for many in Congress - and the administration. The concern was that American servicemen hunting down terrorists abroad might not be safe from politically motivated prosecutions. That concern remains, but the Bush administration is indicating a somewhat more benevolent overall view these days. The court is the first permanent institution authorized to try individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes when national courts are unable or unwilling to do so. Defenders of the court see it as a sorely needed "trap for tyrants." When the administration formally rejected U.S. participation in May 2002, war crimes Ambassador Pierre-Richard Prosper said, "We've washed our hands (of the ICC process); it's over." Well, not quite. While standing by its core opposition to ICC's claimed jurisdiction over Americans, the administration has noted with satisfaction that the court has swatted aside efforts by some groups to encourage ICC prosecutions of Americans in Iraq and elsewhere. It also has relaxed sanctions on member countries that have refused to sign agreements with the United States to forbid ICC prosecutions of Americans on their territory. U.S. military training programs in many countries that had been suspended were restored because the Pentagon concluded the restrictions were undermining efforts to combat terrorist threats. Seattle Post-Intelligencer (12/29)
First U.N. arms monitors arrive in Nepal
KATHMANDU, Dec 29 (Reuters) - The first group of U.N. arms monitors has arrived in Nepal to manage the weapons of Maoist guerrillas and the government army as part of a peace deal between the two sides, a top U.N. envoy said on Friday. Ian Martin, personal representative of the U.N. secretary-general to the Himalayan nation's peace process, said six monitors arrived on Thursday and they would be part of a team of around 35 people pledged by the world body. "A first task will be registration, initially of weapons and then of combatants," Martin told reporters. "They will be operational from Jan. 7." The U.N. says a full monitoring mission will take some time to be in place and has not set a deadline. Last month, the government and the Maoists signed a landmark peace deal declaring an end to a decade-old revolt in which more than 13,000 people have been killed. Under the deal, the Maoists are supposed to join an interim government after locking their arms up with the U.N. which will also supervise an equal number of arms to be surrendered by the government army. The interim administration is to oversee elections planned in June 2007 for an assembly to map the country's political future and decide the fate of the monarchy which the Maoists want abolished. Reuters/AlertNet (12/29)
TOPICS
Indian Prime Minister breaks taboo and compares "Untouchables" to blacks in apartheid South AfricaFighting resumes in the Congo
Haiti slums become battleground for UN peacekeepers
Israel approves Egyptian sell of weapons to Palestinian Hamas party
Pakistan plan to mine border with Afghanistan comes under fire from human rights groups
Malnutrition still a plague in Africa
Ethiopia and Somalia troops rout Islamists and march on Mogadishu
First ever mosque prepares to open in East Berlin to great consternation from some Germans
Guyana AIDS program compared to Enron
Argentina "Plaza Mother" leader that exposed Argentina "Dirty War" crimes, dies
PM touches on the untouchableMaseeh Rahman
THE Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, has become the first leader of his country to compare the condition of low-caste Hindus with that of black South Africans under apartheid. Mr Singh drew the parallel at a conference in New Delhi on social and caste injustices, saying it was modern India's failure that millions of Dalits, often called untouchables, were still fighting prejudice."Even after 60 years of constitutional and legal protection and support, there is still social discrimination against Dalits in many parts of our country," Mr Singh said. "Dalits have faced a unique discrimination in our society that is fundamentally different from the problems of minority groups in general. The only parallel to the practice of untouchability was apartheid."By raising the spectre of apartheid the Prime Minister has publicly repudiated the stand taken by the previous BJP-led government. At a United Nations human rights conference in 2001 Dalit activists had pushed for a resolution linking the treatment of low-caste Hindu untouchables to race-based oppression. The resolution proved abortive thanks to concerted opposition from official Indian delegates. They maintained that unlike in apartheid South Africa, the constitution in India did not endorse or tolerate any form of discrimination. Sydney Morning Herald (12/28)
More clashes reported in Congo
KINSHASA — Fighting resumed Thursday in Democratic Republic of Congo's restless eastern Nord-Kivu region between dissident soldiers and regular army forces a day after clashes killed 18 insurgents, U.N. officials said. Combat between the two sides took place in Bugusa, some 75 kilometers north of Goma, the region's main town. Fighting in the same region Wednesday between government soldiers and breakaway forces of dissident general Laurent Nkunda left 18 rebels dead and five government soldiers wounded, the U.N. Mission in DRCongo (MUNOC) said. Troops loyal to Nkunda, a former officer facing war crimes charges, have occupied since early December the Rutshuru hills near the Rwandan border where Bugusa is located. A senior army official has been stationed in the area for the past week to "follow the evolution of the situation close up," military sources say. The regional unrest has reportedly displaced some 50,000 people. Local authorities contacted by telephone Thursday also reported people heading toward the country's border with Uganda. Japan Today (12/28)
UN forces in Haiti battle gangs in slum
PORT-AU-PRINCE: UN troops and Haitian police have battled gangs as they tried to purge a kidnapping gang from a shantytown in the capital, leaving five people injured by gunfire, the United Nations said. Witnesses in Cite Soleil, the largest shantytown in Haiti and partly controlled by armed gangs, said that five people were killed during the UN operation. According to a UN statement, the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) and the Haitian national police destroyed part of the turf of the Belony gang in the Bois Neuf quarter. A gun battle erupted during the operation that was aimed at curbing gang activity in the capital, the statement said. Last Friday, MINUSTAH and the police had conducted an operation in the same neighborhood that left more than a dozen killed and nearly 30 injured. MINUSTAH announced that it would continue to support police operations in a crackdown on crime and lawlessness in Port-au-Prince Meanwhile, hundreds of supporters of former president Jean Bertrand Aristide demonstrated peacefully in the capital to protest the UN operations and call for the return of Aristide from exile in South Africa. International Times (Pakistan) (12/28)
With approval of Israeli gov't, Egypt transfers thousands of rifles to Fatah
By Amos Harelssacharoff
Egypt transferred a large quantity of arms and ammunition to Palestinian Authority security organizations in the Gaza Strip yesterday. The move was carried out with Israel's approval and was made in an effort to bolster Fatah affiliated groups, following clashes with Hamas paramilitary organizations. The shipment included 2,000 AK-47 rifles, 20,000 magazines and two million rounds of ammunition. The arms and ammunition were transferred from Egypt to Israel through the Kerem Shalom crossing, in coordination with the Israel Defense Force and with the government's authorization. The four trucks carrying the weapons were accompanied by Military Police, and crossed into the Gaza Strip through the Karni crossing, where PA security personnel received the shipment. Senior members of various Fatah affiliated groups in the Gaza Strip have complained of their inferior firepower when confronted by Hamas forces. One of the main reasons they point to for their inability to counter Hamas is the fact that the radical Islamic organization controls most of the smuggling of arms into the Gaza Strip through tunnels running from Sinai to Rafah in the South. Ha'aretz (Israel) (12/28)
PAKISTAN: Humanitarian groups condemn landmine plan
PESHAWAR, 27 Dec 2006 (IRIN) - The Pakistani government’s plan to lay landmines and build a fence along its border with Afghanistan has been condemned by humanitarian groups. It follows criticism from Kabul and the US that Pakistan has not been doing enough to stop pro-Taliban militia from crossing into Afghanistan. Pakistan’s military has been ordered to survey what is needed to lay landmines in “selected places” and build the fence along the 2,400 km border. Asma Jahangir, the chairman of Pakistan’s Human Rights Commission (HRCP), said that the plan announced on Tuesday was a “complete violation of all humanitarian norms”. "It is no way to deal with the problem of cross-border militancy," said Jahangir. Kamran Arif, a Peshawar-based lawyer and vice-chairman of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province’s HRCP branch, said the border divided tribes and families for whom there were currently no visa requirements when they moved between the countries. "The placing of landmines will have very grave humanitarian repercussions as children wander freely around this area and the border is not demarcated. Many (children) play near it and cross it all the time," said Arif. "People, including the Afghan refugees, have still not forgotten the deaths and injuries caused by the mining during the Afghan war, and now we could have a new catastrophe once this latest plan goes ahead." IRIN News (United Nations Press Office) (12/28)
When Africa's malnutrition victims survive
By Michael Wines
SHIMIDER, Ethiopia: In this corrugated land of mahogany mountains and tan, parched valleys, it is hard to tell which is the greater scandal: the thousands of children malnutrition kills, or the thousands more it allows to survive. Malnutrition still kills here, though Ethiopia's infamous famines are in abeyance. In Wag Hamra alone, the area that includes Shimider, at least 10,000 children below age 5 died last year, thousands of them from malnutrition-related causes. Yet almost half of Ethiopia's children are malnourished, and most do not die. Some suffer a different fate. Robbed of vital nutrients as children, they grow up stunted and sickly, weaklings in a land that still runs on manual labor. Some become intellectually stunted adults, unable to learn or even to concentrate, inclined to drop out of school early. There are many children like this in the villages around Shimider. Nearly 6 in 10 are stunted; 10-year-olds can fail to top an adult's belt buckle. They are frequently sick: diarrhea, chronic coughs and worse are standard for toddlers. Most disquieting, teachers say, many of the 775 children at Shimider Primary are below-average pupils, often, well below. International Herald Tribune (12/28)
Mogadishu retaken as Somali Islamists flee
Sam Knight and agencies
Somali government forces, supported by Ethiopian soldiers, entered Mogadishu unopposed today after the leaders of Islamist militias that have controlled the city since June fled last night."We are in Mogadishu," said Mohamed Ali Gedi, the Prime Minister of Somalia's interim Government, after talks with the clan elders who are the ultimate powerbrokers in the ravaged capital. "We are coordinating our forces to take control of Mogadishu."A spokesman for the interim Government said that Somali soldiers backed by Ethiopian tanks and aircraft started moving into the outskirts of the city after seizing the main roads in Mogadishu early today. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the Government had abandoned its plan for a siege and decided to take Mogadishu after being told that the leaders of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) had left their base and that armed clans were beginning to loot the city, which has around 2 million inhabitants. London Times (12/28)
EAST BERLIN'S FIRST MOSQUE
The Muslims Are Coming!
By Michael Scott Moore and Jochen-Martin Gutsch in Berlin
A citizens' group in Berlin turned out this week for a candlelight vigil to protest plans for a new mosque in their neighborhood. It will be the first to be built in the former East Berlin, where almost no Muslims live -- but no one can quite explain why it shouldn't be there. At the end of a rundown suburban street lined with bare trees and flaking apartment facades, a small group of people hold candles or colored Glo-sticks. A few hold signs -- "Democracy yes! Caliphate no!" -- and some carry German flags. "The mosque is supposed to go up right here," says Günter Bronner, a blustery white-haired man with glasses pushed up on his forehead who's lived in the neighborhood for 42 years. He points to a drab piece of land at the end of the street where a defunct sauerkraut factory stands. "They want to have a minaret with a muezzin who gives the call to prayer five times a day. Can you imagine? Five times a day over our rooftops." Officials gave the go-ahead last Friday for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association to build a new mosque in Heinersdorf, an eastern neighborhood of Berlin where very few Muslims live. It will be the first mosque on the once-Communist eastern side of the city, and an organization of locals turned out Wednesday to protest. "It was pretty brazen to hand this (approval) to us as a Christmas present," quipped Joachim Swietlik, head of the citizens' group, who claims that 90 percent of Heinersdorf doesn't want the mosque. Der Spiegel (Germany) (12/28)
The HIV/AIDS Enron?
Commentary
ONE supposes that it was only a matter of time before some aspect of the frenzied HIV/AIDS cirque caved in on itself. That time seems to be now. The recent publication of an article on potential fraud in the America's PEPFAR programme almost tangentially highlights Guyana's troubles with implementing the multi-million dollar prevention and care programmes which have been created under the project. The specific report which may shed a brighter light on the PEPFAR's problems in Guyana is one entitled "Audit of USAID/Guyana's Progress in Implementing the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief [PEPFAR]". The report was submitted to USAID/Guyana's Director, Dr. Fenton Sands, in May of this year. It cites, for example, the shifting goalposts of success indicators held by the main implementing agency in Guyana. It also mentions an average of 83% of information coming from top local HIV/AIDS NGOs as either inaccurate or unverifiable. The problem with this document is its sheer thoroughness. The official report is in fact a revised one which takes into account the objections made by various agencies involved. But even with that consideration, the fact that the programme has fallen short in so many areas still comes through as clear as day. What could have gone wrong? The answer can be told two-fold. Guyana Chronicle (12/28)
Nelva Méndez de Falcone, a ‘Plaza’ Mother, Is Dead
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BUENOS AIRES, Dec. 28 (AP) — Nelva Méndez de Falcone, a pioneering member of an Argentine group that protested the disappearance of loved ones during Argentina’s “Dirty War,” died Monday in La Plata, 30 miles southeast of here. She was 76.The cause was an unspecified lung problem for which she had been hospitalized for her last 10 days, her family said. She was one of the first members of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, white-scarved activists who for decades have pressed to learn the fate of their children who vanished during the 1976-83 dictatorship.Ms. Méndez de Falcone’s 16-year-old daughter, María Claudia Falcone, was arrested and tortured in 1976 by the military’s security services along with six other students who were accused of organizing demands for a reduction in public transportation fares. María Claludia and five other students remain unaccounted for and are believed to have been killed. New York Times (12/28)
TOPICS
New French Polynesia president ally of Chirac as election delivers blow to independence movement
As talks open between China and Japan, WWII atrocities against Chinese hover historically
Historic British massacre of peaceful Indian protesters being taught in English schools, causes furor to Empire defenders
1/3 of Israel's children live in poverty, state report concludes
Soap production provides economic hope in drought-stricken Kenya
Holland makes record donation to UNICEF of $201 million
Sex trafficking major issue for Romania and Bulgaria
Jolie, Pitt spend Christmas with Colombian war refugees
NATO must do more to assist Afghan civilians
New UN appointee to Darfur a true rights warrior
French Polynesia elects new president
PAPEETE - A politician close to France's ruling UMP party was elected President of French Polynesia on Tuesday, replacing the pro-independence former incumbent after a vote denounced by the loser as "robbery". Gaston Tong Sang, 57, an ally of longtime regional boss Gaston Flosse, who is a friend of French President Jacques Chirac, was elected by the assembly which runs day-to-day affairs in the French territory by 31 votes to 26 for his rival Oscar Temaru. The vote, which follows a censure motion earlier this month to oust Temaru's government, followed months of protests against high prices in the territory which includes Tahiti and is supported financially by Paris. The former president attacked the procedure before the vote had even been taken."There can be no democracy in a country that is under the control of another power," he said in remarks given mainly in Tahitian rather than French. "The UMP is interfering in the running of the state, it's robbery, it's a coup d'etat that's being prepared." New Zealand Herald (12/27)
Nanjing Massacre can not be denied, says Chinese FM spokesman
The Japanese invasion of China and the Nanjing Massacre are historical facts that can not be denied, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang on Tuesday. "There is a mass of ironclad evidence for the Nanjing Massacre, and the international community has reached a final conclusion on it long ago," said Qin. He was responding to a journalist's question on whether the Nanjing Massacre would be discussed at the first joint China-Japan study of history which opened here Tuesday. Qin did not confirm whether Chinese and Japanese experts would discuss the Nanjing Massacre issue. Chinese President Hu Jintao and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed in October to begin the history research of the two countries by the end of the year, and the two foreign ministers agreed to release the results by the end of 2008. Qin said he hoped the experts could conduct the study on the basis of principles of the three political documents signed between China and Japan and face history "correctly." "We hope the study of 2,000 years of history between China and Japan as well as modern and post-World War II history will enhance the objective understanding of historical facts," said Qin. People's Daily Online/Xinhua (China) (12/27)
Jallianwala Bagh massacre stirs Britain
Rashmee Roshan Lal
LONDON: Britain is to teach its schoolchildren about the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in an optional curriculum course offered nationally for the first time ever, 87 years after trigger-happy General Dyer ordered a peaceful, unarmed, pro-independence meeting of civilians in Amritsar to be tragically fired upon. The new curriculum, with its allegedly relativist view of the legacy of the Raj, aims to give British schoolchildren aged 11 to 14 years "valuable insight" into shared, if painful and often controversial aspects of the relationship between India and Britain. Britain's lead curriculum watchdog said on Wednesday that the course was designed to end in students being able to evaluate different interpretations of the Amritsar massacre. However, in a deeply cautious, some say derisory, reference to India's own interpretation of events surrounding the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, the official guidance warned teachers over 13 pages to monitor web-based resources carefully, as aspects of Indian history are "produced with a heavy bias and may contain materials that could cause offence". Times of India (12/27)
33% of Israeli children live under poverty line
By RUTH EGLASH
More Israeli children than ever are suffering from divorce, poverty, abuse, neglect, trauma and crime, according to the annual report published Wednesday by the National Council for the Child. "For many children in Israel, life is really, really bad and nothing is done to help them," said council director Dr. Yitzhak Kadman in an interview with The Jerusalem Post. "It has not always been like that. Twenty years ago, for example, only eight percent of the child population lived under the poverty line; today that figure is 33%." Kadman presented the report, which puts Israel's child population at 2,326,400 or 33% of the total population, to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Wednesday. "He promised millions of shekels to help children at risk and to improve early childhood education, including protecting the Tipat Halav system [early development health clinics]," said Kadman of his meeting with Olmert. "I hope the prime minister means what he says. We just can't continue on like this. Instead of helping children whose life is really bad, most people just see a growth in the number of bad or violent kids." Jerusalem Post (Israel) (12/27)
Soap that offers a clean start for drought-hit villagers
In an arid region of Kenya, access to know-how can prove life-changing
Xan Rice in Namoruputh
As locations for soap factories go, this one takes some beating. There is heat, dust, and a vista of semi-desert. There are some cattle. There is no electricity. The nearest town is more than an hour's drive away. Yet in a small building off the main road - the only road - a group of Turkana women sit proudly next to neatly stacked piles of their stock. Hand soap for 40p. Cream soap for an extra 10p. Perfumed soap, 60p. Shampoo and body lotion too. Here, smell it, they say. Rub some lotion into your hands. Santina Epat, a young woman with braided hair, leaves the building and walks towards a dry riverbed. Next to it, in neat rows, are dozens of prickly aloe vera plants, ready to be harvested for their sap - a key ingredient in the soap. "These plants can survive drought," said Ms Epat, chairwoman of the Aloe Soap Growers in Namoruputh, north-western Kenya. "They make our lives feel more secure." She explained that the soap-making project had started in 2005, when the Turkana region was in the grip of one of the ever more frequent droughts. The pastoralists' animals - the main source of wealth and income - were dying. Money was as scarce as the rain clouds. Guardian (United Kingdom) (12/27)
Holland Donates 201m Dollars to UNICEF
United Nations, Dec 26 (Prensa Latina) The government of Holland donated to the UN Children´s Fund (UNICEF) 201 million dollars to educate youths victim of armed conflicts and natural disasters, among other crisis. Finance Director Karin Hulshof says the largest donation from one single country in 60 years will be used in meeting the UNICEF main goal, educating the children victim of emergency situations, so the donation will help improve these programs. The funds are expected to benefit 25 million children from 40 countries, including 10 million youth deprived from education and improve teaching to another 15 million. As beneficiaries lie Sudan, Liberia, Central African Republic, Congo Kinshasa, Lebanon, occupied Palestine territories, Haiti, Sri Lanka, Ivory Coast, Uganda, Lebanon, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Swaziland. Prensa Latina (Cuba) (12/27)
FEATURE-Sex slavery plagues Romania and Bulgaria
This is part of a package of stories ahead of Romania and Bulgaria's entry into the European Union on Jan. 1)
By Justyna Pawlak
BUCHAREST, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Anca thought girls who spoke on television about being sold into sex slavery were paid to invent such stories to boost tv show ratings. That was until she answered a friend's invitation to join her in Germany and work as a dishwasher in a town near Hamburg. When she arrived, her passport was taken away and her captors forced her to work as a prostitute for their clients. Three months later she slid down two floors on a drainpipe, ran several kilometres (miles) through a forest and finally found a taxi that took her to a police station and safety. "The girl who invited me won her freedom by bringing in two other girls," said Anca, a quiet 20-year-old from a Romanian village. She asked for her real name to be withheld to protect her from her captors. As they prepare to join the European Union, Romania and Bulgaria are struggling to contain human trafficking and smuggling, particularly in drugs, which is endemic in the Black Sea region that will soon become the EU's eastern border. Every year, thousands of women such as Anca, some as young as 13, are kidnapped or lured by promises of well paying jobs or marriage and sold to gangs who lock them up in night clubs and brothels or force them to work on the streets. Reuters/AlertNet (12/27)
Jolie, Pitt spend Christmas with refugees
The United Nations says Hollywood couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt handed out presents to Colombian war refugees in Costa Rica on Christmas Day. Jolie, a goodwill ambassador for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and Pitt were without their three children as they visited refugees who had fled armed conflict in Colombia. Reuters says the lightning visit has only been revealed to the media to avoid paparazzi photographers. Jolie has called for more awareness of the plight of refugees around the world. "It is especially shocking that such a tragedy can go on, year after year, with the rest of the world paying so little attention to it," the UN agency reported her as saying. The central American country is home to an estimated 10,000 Colombian refugees. "My Christmas message to Colombian refugees and to the millions of displaced people in Colombia is that the world has not totally forgotten them," Jolie said. During their Costa Rican trip, the pair visited Colombian businesses funded by micro-credits, including a bakery where they were given a Christmas cake. ABC (Australia)/ Reuters (12/27)
NATO must follow U.S. lead in helping Afghan civilians
By Sarah HolewinskiIn Kabul a few weeks ago, I met Sahib Dad, an Afghan father. During the 2001 U.S. invasion, two of his girls were killed when a U.S. bomb missed its target and exploded in their playground. He says he never saw an American face, never received an apology. At the time, the United States had no program in place to provide compensation for his loss or aid for his family. Meanwhile, the Taliban brought cotton to wrap the dead and food, money and medical care for his wife's severe head injury. That's straight out of the insurgency playbook. And it's one reason the insurgents are winning small battles everyday. There is still time to avoid defeat (or a bloody debacle) in Afghanistan. But NATO forces, which in October took command of military operations there from the United States, must recognize what America has learned the hard way in Iraq: You can't win the war if you don't win the people. Because of its experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States is gradually, and belatedly, accepting what is still a radical principle in modern warfare — that militaries have a responsibility to compensate and comfort the civilians they harm, even if the harm is accidental. The U.S. military now hands out condolence payments for loss of life, injury and property. The payments are characterized in the military lawyer's handbook as a "symbolic gesture" only, but it's a gesture that is so important. The payments — usually a few thousand dollars — don't assign blame. They show compassion for families struggling with loss. USA Today (12/27)
A Major Victory on Darfur
In a major victory for our work on Darfur, last week Secretary-General Annan named Jan Eliasson, formerly foreign minister of Sweden and head of the U.N. General Assembly, as special envoy to Sudan. It was a critical step on the road to peace in the region, and a key development in a year filled with accomplishments. But to make this appointment a real turning point, Mr. Eliasson must use all his experience and stature to press the Sudanese government directly to fulfill its existing international obligations. He must also ensure that the European Union, the U.S., China, Russia and members of the Arab League are all actively engaged in resolving the conflict. We face 2007 determined to continue our work to re-energize the peace process in Darfur. One strategic focus for HRF will be China, which holds an important key to resolving the crisis through its economic and other ties with the government of Sudan. Human Rights First (12/27)
TOPICS
Democracy advocates rounded up in Christmas raid by Fiji junta members
Sadness marks two year anniversary of Asia tsunami
Boycotting Pakistan elections 'Undemocratic' , states Pakistan information minister
Does Syria want peace, ponders Israel Foreign Minister as possibility of talks increase
Privacy violated admits U.S. Homeland Security
How will same sex marriage affect life in South Africa?
Legal case in Texas has ramifications for religious freedom throughout country
Two Iranians picked up by troops in Iran when invited diplomats, protests Iranian government
Sudan ready to accept to UN peace-deal
Hundreds die in Nigerian pipeline explosion
Six activists seized by military in Fiji
Christmas Day got off to a rocky start in Fiji with six pro-democracy campaigners reportedly being hauled in by soldiers for questioning. The six were taken to the army barracks in Nabua shortly before midnight on Christmas Eve, the Fiji Times newspaper reported -- Fiji is one hour behind New Zealand time.It named the six as Fiji Women's Rights Movement executive director Virisila Buadromo, her partner Arshad Daud, businesswoman Laisa Digitaki, businessman Imraz Iqbal, and youth activists Jackie Koroi and Pita Waqavonovono. Efforts by the newspaper to contact the activists and the military were unsuccessful. The Pacific Centre for Public Integrity slammed the military's actions as cowardly and deplorable. Early this month military commander Voreqe Bainimarama took over the country in the Fiji's fourth coup in 20 years, drawing swift international condemnation. New Zealand Herald (12/26)
Prayers, tears mark tsunami anniversary
BAN NAM KHEM, Thailand - With prayers and flowers and tears, from Thailand's beaches to the islands of India, mourners paid tribute to their loved ones Tuesday on the second anniversary of the Asian tsunami. Emotional ceremonies across the region recalled the day when giant waves rose from the sea, killing 220,000 people in a sweep of devastation that washed entire villages away -- and left many that survived struggling to recover."I lost my father and his wife and my brother two years ago," said Linda Sander, who had come from Sweden to join hundreds of mourners at Ban Nam Khem, a tiny fishing village in hard-hit Thailand. Some threw flowers out to sea as dawn broke, tears welling in their eyes. Others stood in silent remembrance of the 5,400 killed in the village, more than half of whom were tourists."I feel strange," said Sander, who had booked a room in the same hotel as her doomed family. "I will attend every ceremony held today." Similar scenes were replayed around Asia, as people still grappled with the tragedy and destruction two years after one of the worst natural disasters ever recorded. With no comprehensive early-warning system in place, the waves wreaked havoc in a matter of moments -- rising up after a massive 9.3-magnitude undersea earthquake to rip through schools and hospitals, hotels and whole towns. ABS-CBN (Philippines) (12/26)
Those inclined to boycotts, resignations are ‘Undemocratic’, says Durran
iQUETTA: Federal Information Minister, Muhammed Ali Durrani said Tuesday said that resignations and boycotts mirror an undemocratic set of mind and the people with these traits are not liked by the common men. Addressing a press conference here, the Muslim League opted for President Musharraf as its candidate and he would be fully supported. “The next general elections would be fair and transparent; we are primed to give guarantees of all kinds to remove reservations of the opposition, if they have any,” he said. The federal information minister said that the government would establish a "Media University" in Islamabad with four sub-campuses in all the provincial capitals which would be interlinked through satellite system. The International News (Pakistan) (12/26)
FM: Before agreeing to talks, we must ask if Syria wants peace
By Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz ServiceForeign Minister Tzipi Livni said Tuesday that before any change in policy regarding negotiations with Syria could be considered, Israel would have to ask itself whether the talks could lead to any sort of peace agreement. "We must ask ourselves if the significance of Syria's signals is that [Syrian] President Bashar Assad wants just negotiations with Israel or if he also wants to reach peace at the end of the process," Livni told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. "We must know what we are going to get at the end of the process." Livni did not clarify her own stance on the matter during her address to the committee, but said Syria was interested in holding talks in order to improve its own situation in the international arena and reduce the global pressures it has faced in recent years. Ha'aretz (Israel) (12/26)
Homeland admits privacy violation
WASHINGTON, (AP): The Homeland Security Department admitted it violated the Privacy Act two years ago by obtaining more commercial data about US airline passengers than it had announced it would. Seventeen months ago, the Government Accountability Office, Congress' auditing arm, reached the same conclusion: The department's Transportation Security Administration "did not fully disclose to the public its use of personal information in its fall 2004 privacy notices as required by the Privacy Act." Even so, in a report Friday on the testing of TSA's Secure Flight domestic air passenger screening program, the Homeland Security department's privacy office acknowledged TSA did not comply with the law. Instead, the privacy office said, "TSA announced one testing program, but conducted an entirely different one." In a 40-word, separate sentence, the report noted that federal programs that collect personal data that can identify Americans "are required to be announced in Privacy Act system notices and privacy impact assessments." Arab Times (Kuwait) (12/26)
Same-sex marriages: What next?
Riaan Wolmarans Johannesburg, South Africa Trou is nie perdekoop nie, goes the old Afrikaans saying: marriage is even harder than buying a horse; it shouldn't be a rushed decision or taken lightly. After all, it's till death -- or divorce lawyers -- do us part. And there is one kind of marriage that has most certainly not been taken lightly, nor has its advent been quick: that between man and man, or woman and woman. This year, South Africa became the fifth country in the world -- and the first in Africa -- to legalise gay marriages, following a circuitous legal journey through the highest courts of the nation. The Civil Union Act allows same-sex or opposite-sex couples to register a voluntary union -- by marriage or civil partnership. Same-sex couples can be married by civil marriage officers, or by religious marriage officers who do not object to this duty. Opposition to the new legislation was predictably fierce. Motsoko Pheko, MP for the Pan Africanist Congress, called the Bill "repugnant", and African Christian Democratic Party leader Kenneth Meshoe warned MPs that they would face divine wrath because they rejected God's laws. Despite eventual votes of support from some Cabinet heavyweights, it is not known how much more opposition would have sounded from the ranks of the African National Congress had the ruling party not instructed its members to vote in favour of the Act. Still, the Act's passing was a logical and unavoidable outcome, from a constitutional perspective. "It would have been a surprise if indeed this hadn't gone through, because it would have contradicted what the African National Congress had committed itself to [in the Constitution]," says Tim Trengove-Jones, a University of the Witwatersrand lecturer who has commented and published widely on gay politics in South Africa. Mail & Guardian (South Africa) (12/26)
Texas City Tests Religion Law
By JIM VERTUNO, Associated Press Writer
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - When a pastor created a rehabilitation program for parolees near his church, the city of Sinton stepped in to stop it. Within months of the program's start in 1998, officials in the small city just north of Corpus Christi barred prison parolees from living within 1,000 feet of churches, schools and other certain areas. Grace Christian Fellowship's challenge of that 1999 ordinance has reached the Texas Supreme Court. The church and its pastor, Rick Barr, say the city broke a Texas law that state legislators passed later in the year to curtail government interference in religious practices. The Texas Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments in March or April on whether Sinton's zoning ordinance violates the state's Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a law that then-Gov. George W. Bush endorsed. Under the law, state and local governments must show a compelling interest, such as protection of public health or safety, before limiting the practice of religion. Sinton is a test case that scholars and activists say could influence other states that have similar religious freedom laws. Backing the Grace Christian Fellowship is the Liberty Legal Institute, the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Center for Law and Justice, founded by Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson. ``It's significant,'' said Kelly Shackelford of the Liberty Legal Institute. ``What kind of powers does government have to look at a church, say they don't like it, and ban it from the city?'' Guardian (United Kingdom) (12/26)
U.S. investigating Iranians detained in Iraq
Argentina Star
The White House says the detention in Baghdad of several Iranians suspected of inciting attacks against Iraqi troops validates the U.S. claim of Iranian meddling in Iraq. A spokesman said Monday U.S. officials want to finish their investigation of the detained Iranians before characterizing their activities. He said two detainees with diplomatic immunity were handed over to Iraqi authorities, and that U.S. officials are working with Iraq's government on the status of the remaining ones. U.S. forces in Baghdad detained several Iranians in raids last week. Iraqi officials say President Jalal Talabani had invited two of the Iranians to the capital, and that he was unhappy American forces had detained them. The New York Times reported that at least four Iranians remain in U.S. custody, and that the U.S. says they are senior Iranian military officials. The United States has accused Iranian agents of stirring up sectarian violence in Iraq by arming and training Shi'ite militias. Tehran says it only has political and religious links with Iraqi Shi'ites. Argentina Star (12/26)
Sudan president accepts U.N. peace deal
By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer
UNITED NATIONS - Sudan's president said he accepts a U.N. package to help end escalating violence in Darfur and is ready to discuss a cease-fire, according to a letter circulated Tuesday. President Omar al-Bashir said in the letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan that Sudan is ready to immediately implement two recent agreements endorsing a three-step U.N. plan to strengthen the beleaguered 7,000-strong African Union force in the vast western region of the country. Al-Bashir also dropped his opposition to a hybrid AU-U.N. force that would be deployed as the final step in the peace plan. However, U.N. Security Council diplomats cautioned that al-Bashir remains opposed to any large-scale deployment of U.N. troops and has backtracked on agreements regarding Darfur in the past. The letter also leaves unresolved the size and command of the hybrid force. Yahoo News (12/26)
Pipeline explosion kills at least 200
LAGOS, Nigeria (CNN) -- At least 200 people were killed outside Lagos, Nigeria, in a massive explosion and fire that ignited as crowds carried away buckets of refined fuel from a tapped fuel pipeline, the Nigerian Red Cross said. Extreme heat has prevented rescue workers from recovering bodies, and they fear the death toll could rise significantly. At least 60 others were injured with burns, Nigerian Red Cross Secretary General Abiodun Orebiyi said. "The explosion happened in a densely populated area, and that is why we're having these high casualty figures," Orebiyi added. (Watch how the pipeline incinerated buildings around the site ) The fire burned for nearly 12 hours after the blast, which happened around 1 a.m. local time (7 p.m. ET Monday) before it was brought under control, Orebiyi said.By Tuesday afternoon, it was still unclear how many people were killed. "We can see more bodies that have been burned," he said. "We have yet to determine the number of hundreds that have died in this explosion." CNN (12/26)
