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India-South Africa cooperationin IT, Community Affairs.

INDO-RUSSIAN AGREEMENT ON NUCLEAR SAFETY -RETAIL TRADING OF GOVERNMENT SECURITIES LAUNCHED -ISRO COMMERCIALISES TECHNOLOGY FOR PRODUCING ADVANCED HEAT PIPES -SUBSIDY FOR BATTERY OPERATED VEHICLES -PROF. PREM NARAIN TO GET NATIONAL AWARD IN STATISTICS -- keralamonitor.com

The Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee holds a meeting of Chief Ministers of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh in New Delhi on January 16, 2003 (Thursday). Photo shows the Chief Minister of Bihar Smt. Rabri Devi , the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shri Digvijay Singh , the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Sushree Mayawati and the Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare Shri Shatrughan Sinha. (KM Photo)

K E R A L A M O N I T O R - International News Full Reports

IRAQ: U.S., Chief U.N. Inspector At Odds Over March Arms Report; Inspectors Visit Iraqi Scientist At Home Cyprus Accepts Request To Host War Relief; Turkey Builds Tent City- LEBANON: Annan Calls For Six-Month Extension Of Peacekeeping Mission IRAN: UNDP Launches Water Project, Warns Of Future Floods

Sex, Rape and Crime

SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS DURING THE CIVIL WAR

"Four children between ten and twelve years used me. They were so small I could barely feel them inside me. The small ones tried to imitate the older ones and one of them kept saying, "I'm trying it, I'm trying it." It was the war that brought that humiliation. I kept comparing them to my own children; my first-born son is ten. I forgave them because they are children. It was not of their own making. They must have been drugged."

Sierra Leone: Sexual Violence Widespread in War

New Limits on Female Education in Afghanistan
In Western Province of Herat, School Restrictions; Gender Segregation

(New York, January 16, 2003) — Newly announced rules on female education
in the western Afghan province of Herat prohibit men from teaching women
or girls in private educational courses and uphold strict gender
segregation in all schools, Human Rights Watch said today. Because of a
shortage of female teachers, the restrictions will result in a severe
limitation on the ability of women and girls to receive proper
education. More

MSN Arabia Travel Channel relaunches region's popular travel website

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15 January 2003: Immediate access to 500 airlines, 50,000 hotels, thousands of holidays and three-quarters of a million car hire options is now available to travellers at the click of a mouse - with the relaunch today of the Middle East's most popular travel website. The high-speed service is available through www.mytravelchannel.com, part of the MSN Arabia portal which enjoys an average of more than 650,000 visits a month and more than a million unique visitors since it started.

Finding and booking travel needs, in Arabic and English, from the comfort of home or office, is now simpler and swifter than ever. And as part of the relaunch promotion, every 100th flight booked on line and flown will be completely free. Maurice Flanagan, Emirates Group Managing Director, said: "In the last year we've listened to our customers and trading partners and have used their feedback to develop the new enhanced site. They have given us tremendous insights on the information and services we should provide and how customers want to interact with the site.

"Thanks to the relaunch, we expect more than a million people a month from across the region to be visiting the site by this time next year, helping them to meet and fulfil their business and leisure travel needs." As well as flights and bookings from all major cities in GCC, Levant and Egypt, the new site provides immediate access to a huge range of other travel products.

Its scale is simply enormous. David Robertson, Emirates' eVentures Business Development Manager for MSN Arabia Travel Channel, said: "The technology behind the site allows us to access the world's largest travel and hotel booking system.

"As well as having a global vision, we rely greatly on local partners who understand local markets. Local travel agencies in each country where we operate provide the vast majority of the flights on our site. "This means users have access to competitively-priced fares at all times, and the convenience of being able to pick up tickets locally, or have them delivered direct to their door," he said.

Students from Zayed University helped to make the site the region's largest fully Arabised travel portal. Larry Lee, ZU Dean, explained: "We always look for opportunities to introduce our students to the real world of e-commerce. "MSN Arabia Travel Channel's wealth of expertise has greatly helped our students to understand the techniques and skills needed to develop a major real-time website."

Simon Lewis, Manager MSN Arabia Travel Channel, said: "The students enthusiastically gave their time and energy to develop and test the Arabic part of the site, and provided independent verification of its potential based on multi-cultural research. "They also gave us their own unique perspective on the Internet and the positive effect it is having on their day-to-day lives," Mr. Lewis said.

As part of the relaunch, MSN Arabia Travel Channel will run various promotions in coming months, the most attractive of which is that every hundredth flight booked through the site will be absolutely free. Regular free flights, holidays, cruises and hotel stays will also feature on the site, arranged in partnership with many top world airlines, cruise companies, tour operators, hotel groups and car hire companies.

Mr. Robertson said: "As well as the expected benefits of simplicity, cost effectiveness and convenience, we believe customers will find the new site enjoyable and fun to use." Visit www.mytravelchannel.com Also visit KM Travel and Tourism Page