P RA VA SI B H A R A T H E E Y A D A Y

INAUGURAL SPEECH BY PRIME MINISTER SHRI ATAL BIHARI VAJPAYEE 2ND PRAVASI BHARATIYA DIVAS CONFERENCE
14:23 IST

Prime Minister Shri A tal Bihari Vajpayee inaugurated Second Pravasi Bharatiya Divas conference here today. Mr. Bharat Jagdeo, the President of Guyana, Shri L.K. Advani, Deputy Prime Minster of India, Shri Yashwant Sinha, Minister of External Affairs were among those present on the occasion. Prime Minister also gave away Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards. Following is the text of Prime Minister's speech on the occasion.

"I am delighted to be with all of you once again at this inaugural function of the 2nd Pravasi Bharatiya Divas. I still carry the memory and melody of that occasion, exactly a year ago, when we were left enchanted by the jugalbandi of Ustad Bismillah Khan's shehnai and Pandit Ravi Shankar's sitar. What they together created was both soul-stirring music and a pointed metaphor and we felt the same way today as we heard another enchanted Jugalbandi by L. Subramaniam and Sultan Khan. It reminded us that Pravasi Bharatiya Divas itself is a celebration of the jugalbandi between the 22-million strong Indian Diaspora and your motherland, between the Bharatvasis and the Bharatvanshis. Together we constitute the Global Indian Family. Together, we are announcing the arrival on the world stage of a Shining India, an India that has resolved to regain her past glory and indeed surpass it, an India that will both be an economic powerhouse and a major contributor to humanity's all-sided evolution to a higher level.

I extend a warm welcome to President Bharrat Jagdeo of Guyana. He is an outstanding example of the new generation of Bharatvanshis. I thank him for having so readily agreed to be the Chief Guest at this Second Pravasi Bharatiya Divas. I heartily congratulate all those who have been honoured with this year's Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award. This year we have conferred the Award, posthumously, on Kalpana Chawla. She epitomized the values that are so laudable in overseas Indians. A daughter of India, she became an exemplary citizen of the US and went on to become a Citizen of the Universe. Her journey from Karnal to the Cosmos will continue to inspire young Indians - indeed, young people all over the world. I am especially happy that her husband is amongst us to receive the Award. In honouring the 12 individuals with the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Samman, we do honour the entire Indian Diaspora. Your varied successes and accomplishments fill every Indian with joy and pride. For example, who would have thought that the average income of an Indian American would be 50 per cent higher than the national average in USA, especially since most of the Indian immigrants who went there in the '60s and the '70s had less than 10 dollars in their pocket?

Also, who would have thought that nearly half of the Rs. 55,000 crore remittances from NRIs so far would come from our nearly 25 lakh emigrant brothers and sisters from one single Indian State, Kerala? Today almost the entire services sector in the Gulf, which is one of the world's richest regions, is handled by Indian technicians, nurses, teachers and scores of other professionals. India's achievements in information technology have attracted the attention of the entire world. And these include the achievements of both Indians in India and Indians overseas. Not a week passes without some news item or some comment in western countries about India having emerged as the preferred place for IT-enabled services. Sometimes this is also projected as a loss of jobs to India. However, these fears are misplaced. In today's highly competitive global markets, it is natural for companies and organizations to use technology and internationally available human resources in ways that enhance their efficiency. What India's trained manpower is offering through IT-enabled services is a win-win situation for both India and the sourcing countries.

All these achievements have been possible because of the hard work, competence, integrity, and unwavering loyalty to your host country that are the common attributes of the Indian Diaspora in all parts of the world. These attributes, and the successes that they have bred, have no doubt raised the stature of the Indian community in your respective countries. But, collectively, they have also brightened India's image in the world. Friends, as we take delight in the growing successes of the Indian Diaspora, it is instructive not to forget the pain and sufferings that early Pravasi Bharatiyas had to go through. In many countries, such as Mauritius, South Africa, Caribbean Islands and Fiji, our forefathers were taken as indentured labourers. The injustice meted out to them remains a dark chapter in India's history. At the same time, their determined struggle against adversity is a source of inspiration for all of us. If our forefathers were the victims of want and exploitation, our children and grandchildren will be the trailblazers of prosperity and a new era in human development marked by justice and universal brotherhood. Friends, we have assembled here after the passage of one year.

During this period, India's development has gained further momentum. In 2003, we were already one of the fastest growing economies in the world. In 2004, we have got closer to our target of 8 per cent GDP growth rate. Last month, our forex reserves crossed $ 100 billion. We are prepaying our external loans. From an aid-seeking country, India is now emerging as an aid-giving country. There was a time, not long ago, when many people in India bemoaned the phenomenon of "Brain Drain". Today a large number of highly qualified and successful Indian professionals are returning to India because they see that India itself has now become a land of opportunity and achievement. Foreign companies and businesses now look at India as an important emerging market and are keen to invest here. At the same time, there has also been a reverse phenomenon. The year 2003 has seen many Indian corporates emerging as global players with impressive investments overseas and acquisitions of companies abroad. To further reinforce this process,

I am happy to announce that Indian corporates will hereafter be freely permitted to make overseas investments up to 100 per cent of their net worth, whether through an overseas joint venture or a wholly owned subsidiary. The current restrictions including a ceiling of US $ 100 million are hereby being lifted. Similarly, we have decided to permit - indeed, encourage - Indian corporates to go global in the agriculture sector. Accordingly, the existing restrictions on Indian corporates to undertake agricultural activities abroad, whether directly or through an overseas branch, will be removed. This will enable Indian companies to take advantage of global opportunities and also to acquire technological and other skills for adoption in India. Sisters and Brothers, as you are aware, positive winds are blowing in India's external environment. I have just returned from a landmark summit meeting of SAARC countries in Islamabad. The conclusion of a South Asian Free Trade Agreement will herald a new era of trade and economic cooperation in this region. These, coupled with our achievements in the economic field, have palpably elevated India's standing in the world community. They have also opened up exciting new possibilities and opportunities - both for Bharatiyas and Pravasi Bharatiyas. I invite all of you to avail these rapidly expanding opportunities and possibilities. I assure you that, in the years to come, India will surprise the world even more by taking longer and bolder strides ahead. Of course, we are well aware of the many daunting challenges that lie ahead of us. In particular, we want to eradicate poverty faster.

We recognize it as our moral and Constitutional duty. At the same time, it is also a precondition to reaching our goal of making India an all-sidedly Developed Nation by 2020. In this endeavour, we seek your ideas, your suggestions and your participation. Above all, we seek your best wishes. In the year that has passed by, my Government has worked with steadfast attention to implementing the promises made at the first Pravasi Bharatiya conference. We have recently enacted the Citizenship Amendment Bill, which provides overseas Indians in 16 countries the possibility of applying for dual citizenship. I would like to clarify that these 16 countries were chosen because their legal systems were compatible with the concept of dual citizenship and there is a strong representation of people of Indian origin in these nations. We have always been concerned with the welfare of those Indian workers who travel to distant shores in search of higher remuneration. In fulfillment of the promise I made last year at this very forum, a compulsory insurance scheme, called the Pravasi Bharatiya Bima Yojana, for Indian workers migrating to the Gulf region and South East Asia has been introduced since 25th December 2003. The education of our children is a matter of great concern to any Indian parent. I am happy to inform that Indian workers in the Gulf and South East Asia who have had to leave their children behind in India would now enjoy the facility of one-third reservation out of the 15% supernumerary seats across different disciplines in educational institutions. Further, children of NRIs in the Gulf would not be required to pay NRI fees. They would be treated at par with resident citizens.

Today I am pleased to make an announcement which addresses yet another important recommendation of the high-powered committee headed by Dr. L.M. Singhvi. I have heard many of you say that there should be a permanent centre to deal with the multifarious needs of the diasporic community. Accordingly, the Government has decided to set up a Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra in New Delhi, for which we will provide a suitable plot of land and a seed grant of Rs. 25 crore. The responsibility of running it will be entrusted to an autonomous body, which will also raise additional resources from members of the Diaspora. The Government has also decided to install commemorative plaques at ports and places from where significant number of Indians left for foreign lands. I am happy to note that youth is one of the main themes of the Pravasi Bharatiya conference this year. We have great faith in the abilities of young people of Indian origin all over the world. At the same time, we feel as strongly as all of you that it is essential that they be exposed to the land of their forefathers in order for them to see, understand and comprehend their Indianness. We have therefore decided that each year a group of 50 second or third generation Indian youth from different countries will be invited to visit India for 2 weeks.

They would participate in the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas function and also visit 2-3 other States in India. My dear friends, you have come to Delhi when the winter has been particularly cold. But as far as India's performance and prospects are concerned, you can see that it is springtime everywhere. The whole world is looking at India with admiration and hope. As the largest democracy rapidly achieving all-round development. As the cradle of civilization becoming a laboratory of unity in diversity to a shrinking world. Whenever I have interacted with members of the Diaspora during my travels abroad, I have heard them say that there never was a better time to be an Indian and never a better time to be in India. You are our ambassadors in the countries you have chosen to make home. Given your links with India and your stature in your home countries, you are in an unique position to explain what India is, and what India can be, to the audiences in your countries. I therefore urge each and every one of you to take on this role of an earnest ambassador. With these words I open the 2nd Pravasi Bharatiya Divas conference and wish it every success."

Some Arab MPs Express Concern Over Revised School Curricula

Jan 8: Islamic lawmakers in Jordan and other parts of the Arab world have expressed concerns over revamped school curricula devised with the help of UNESCO, fearing Western intervention and the ignoring of Islamic precepts. New textbooks are to emphasize the ideas of tolerance, human rights and democracy.

"We are all in favor of developing the curricula ... because we must catch up with the technical and financial progress achieved by other countries," said Adnan Hassuneh, head of the Jordanian Parliament's education committee. "But this issue has worried us. It is surrounded by a halo of doubt and uncertainties."

Hassuneh said that because the movement to reform textbooks has been led by Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait - all strong U.S. allies - conservatives are "sure that all this comes within the framework of changes that will take place in the future and in light of American hegemony over the region."

Mustafa Hamarneh, director of the Center of Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan, advocates reform in the Arab world but believes it must come from within the countries. He questioned the introduction of the plans, saying they have not received much open discussion.

"The way they are sneaking in these ideas - not only in Jordan but also in Saudi Arabia and in Kuwait - there must be outside pressure," Hamarneh said.

Jordanian Education Minister Khaled Tuqan said there was no political motivation in introducing the plans. "The Ministry of Education is working with [UNESCO] to introduce international values and notions of human rights and peace into curriculums," Tuqan said (Hala Boncompagni, Agence France-Presse, Jan. 6).

Tuqan announced Dec. 30 that the new textbooks would be introduced for the 2004-05 school year. He said the two-year-old project was one element of a "comprehensive human rights program" aimed to "spread reconciliation focusing on values, Islamic teaching as well as Arab and Islamic heritage and international law ... in order to increase awareness among students." Saudi Arabia and Kuwait had earlier announced similar plans (U.N. Wire, Dec. 31).

SHRI ARUN SHOURIE CALLS DIASPORA YOUTH TO TAKE INDIA TO THE WORLD
18:23 IST

The Minister of Communications, Information Technology and Disinvestment, Shri Arun Shourie has called upon the Diaspora youth to bring India to the world. He said that there could be many new opportunities for India because of you. Addressing the Plenary Session of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas on the theme "Diaspora Youth and India: Blueprint for Engagement" here this afternoon, Shri Shourie said that India is emerging as a land of both ideas and opportunities. He said that India is becoming a knowledge society with the working environment changing for better. The Minister said that this has helped in reversing the brain drain. Shri Shourie said that India's perception about itself has drastically changed. ! ;

It no longer fears embarrassing the world, more so the competition in markets, he added. Referring to the potential of Indian youth, the Minister said that 54% of India's population is less than 25 years old and the youth are ready to face the world and distinguish themselves. He said the country is proud of the achievements of the youth in IT Sector who have excelled themselves in the entire world. Shri Shourie said that the notable feature about people working in Indian IT Sector is that their average age is around 26 years. The Minister apprised the Session of various positive developments about India in its neighbourhood as well as in other parts of the world. He said that every country, which had imposed sanctions against India is now engaged in a strategic dialogue with New Delhi. Earlier, presiding over the Session, Shri Jyotiraditya Scindia, Member of Parliament said that India has a massive pool of talent. He said that there are many areas where India can interact with rest of the world.

These include Education and Health. Shri Scindia said that India must take its IITs abroad and at the same time bring in foreign institutions of excellence to its shores. We must also invite foreign investment in private sector in the area of health. Shri Scindia said that India must further improve the skills of the youth who constitute about 70% of our population and must provide them with gainful employment. The Panelists who participated in the Session on behalf of Diaspora included Shri Shrien Dewani, UK; Ms. S. Mitra Kalita, President, South Asian Journalists Association, USA; Shri Parag Khanna, World Economic Forum, USA; Shri Karan Manhas, MLA, Vancouver, Canada; Shri Ravindren C. Ponniah, Student, Malaysia; Shri S. Arunachalam, Hong Kong and Shri Tarun Vijay, Editor, Panchjanya as Panelist from India.

GOVERNMENT URGED TO GIVE FIRST RIGHT OF REFUSAL ON UNUTILISED OVERSEAS ROUTES TO INDIAN AIRLINESPARLIAMENTARY CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE OF CIVIL AVIATION MINISTRY DISCUSSES NARESH CHANDRA COMMITTEE REPORT
16:7 IST

The Parlimentary Consultative Committee attached to the Civil Aviation Ministry has urged the government of accord the first right of refusal for the unutilised routes of Air India to Indian Airlines. The Committee which took up the Naresh Chandra Committee report for discussion was of the view that if Indian Airlines is unable to take up those routes, then only they should be offered to the private domestic carriers. They said, the unutilised routes of Air India should not be given to the foreign airlines.

Members of the Committee complimented the government for yesterday's announcement of reduction in excise on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) and abolition of Inland Air Travel Tax and Foreign Travel Tax. They said, these measures will benefit the passengers as well as the airlines and can increase the volume. They also felt that the issue of Sales Tax on ATF should also be streamlined. Members were of the opinion that those recommendations of the Report which can provide immediate relief to the airlines and passengers should be accepted and implemented at the earliest. They said rationalisation of routes should be carried out and private airlines should be asked to fly in some of the existing non viable routes in order to reduce the pressure on Indian Airlines. They were of the view that Indian Airlines and Air India should be given permission to expand their fleet in order to meet the growth in passenger traffic.

In his opening remarks, the Civil Aviation Minister Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy said that the Naresh Chandra Committee report is being examined by the Ministry in consultation with various other inistries/Departments/Organisations. He requested the Members of the Consultative Committee to send in their observations and said after all the inputs are received, the Ministry will take further steps for formulation of Civil Aviation Policy. Members of Parliament who attended today's meeting are Shri E. Ahmed, Shri Ashok Mohol, Shri Tarlochan Singh Tur, Shri Ram Nagina Mishra, Shri Ratilal K. Verma, Shri Paban Singh Ghatowar, Shri Ramesh Chennithala, Dr. Madan Prasad Jaiswal from the Lok Sabha and Shri Prem Chand Gupta, Shri Sanjay Nirupam, Shri Santosh Bagrodia, Smt. Sarla Maheswari, Shri Dinesh Trivedi, and Shri Rajeev Shukla from the Rajya Sabha.

Service tax procedures simplified

Jan 8: In a bid to further modernize and simplify the administration of Service Tax, the Ministry of Finance has clarified that

1. E-filing of returns has been allowed in respect of all the 58 taxable services. This facility till now has been available in respect of only ten services.

2. Single registration and single return will suffice in case of a service provider who is providing more than one taxable service.

3. Process of registration for service tax has been further simplified and registration will be granted after simple verification of the application made. -Keralamonitor.com

Change in the rates of indirect taxes

Jan 8: Government have decided to make certain changes, which take effect from 9th January, 2004, in the rates of indirect taxes. Salient features of the changes are given below:

I. Overall duty structure (Customs)

1. Peak rate of customs duty on non-agricultural goods is being reduced from 25% to 20%.

2. Special additional duty of customs (SAD) of 4% is being abolished.

3. Customs duty on project imports with investment of at least Rs. 5 crores, in plant and machinery, is being reduced from 25% to 10%.

4. Customs duty on coal is being reduced from 25% to 15%.

5. Customs duty on nickel and articles thereof is being reduced from 10% to 5%.

II. Power sector

1. Customs duty on power transmission and distribution projects is being reduced from 25% to 10%.

2. Customs duty on electricity meters is being reduced from 25% to 15%.

III. Information Technology (IT)/electronics

1. Customs duty on Information Technology Agreement (ITA) bound items is being reduced as per our commitments.

2. Customs duty on specified raw materials/inputs used for manufacture of electronic components or optical fibres/cables is being reduced from 15%/5% to 5%/Nil.

3. Customs duty on specified capital goods used for manufacture of electronic goods is being reduced from 15%/10% to Nil.

4. Specified infrastructure equipment for basic/cellular/internet, V-SAT, radio paging and public mobile radio trunked services and parts of such equipments are being exempted from basic customs duty.

5. Customs duty on cellphones is being reduced from 10% to 5%.

6. Excise duty on computers is being reduced from 16% to 8%.

7. Recorded video compact discs (VCDs) and digital video discs (DVDs) are being exempted from excise duty.

IV. Health

1. Customs duty on specified life saving bulk drugs, formulations, medical equipments is being reduced to 5%. These items are also being exempted from countervailing duty (CVD) by way of excise duty exemption.

2. Customs duty on parts of artificial limbs and specified rehabilitation aids is being reduced to 5%. These items are also being exempted from CVD by way of excise duty exemption.

3. Excise duty on medical, surgical, dental and veterinary furniture is being reduced from 16% to 8%.

4. Mosquito nets treated with pesticide are being exempted from excise duty.

V. Civil Aviation

1. Excise duty on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) is being reduced from 16% to 8%.

2. Inland Air Travel Tax (IATT) of 15% is being abolished.

3. Foreign Travel Tax (FTT) of Rs. 500 per passenger is being abolished.

VI. Water Supply

1. Exemption from customs and excise duties available to water supply projects for drinking purposes is being extended to water supply projects for industrial as well as agricultural purposes.

VII. Trade Facilitation Measures

1. Round the clock electronic filing of customs documents for clearance of goods, presently available in 9 customs formations, is being extended to 23 customs formations.

2. Customs clearances will be based on self assessment and selective examination.

3. Baggage rules are being liberalized:

(i) Duty on 6 items (namely VCD/VCR, washing machines, personal computers, laptop computers, refrigerators of capacity upto 300 L, and cooking range) under Transfer of Residence are being made duty free.

(ii) Duty on 17 items under Transfer of Residence is being reduced from 30% to 15%.

(iii) Import of cinematographic films, exposed but not developed, imported as part of baggage, is being made duty free.

(iv) Quantity of alcoholic liquor/wines allowed duty free under baggage is being increased from 1 litre to 2 litres.

(v) Laptops brought as part of baggage are being exempted from customs duty.

4. Manufacturers will now be allowed to remove semi finished goods and finished goods for further processing or testing, without payment of excise duty.

5. Electronic filing of service tax returns, presently allowed only in respect of 10 services, is being extended to all the 58 taxable services.

6. Service providers providing more than one taxable service will be allowed to take single registration and file a single return.

7. Only a simple verification will now be made for grant of registration for service tax. -Keralamonitor.com

Government simplifies procedures under direct taxes

New procedures to be implemented from April 1, 2004

Jan 8: In order to further simplify the procedures under Direct taxes, Government has decided to amend the Rules and issue necessary notifications in respect of the following:-

Ø No filing of returns for employees having salary income upto Rs. 1,50,000, in whose cases the entire tax payable is deducted at source by the employer. Salary certificate furnished by employer to the Income Tax Department to be treated as return.

Ø Pensioners to be exempt from the purview of one-by-six scheme, thereby exempting pensioners who do not have taxable income, from filing of returns.

Ø For perquisite valuation, rates of interest for housing loans etc., to be reduced, to bring them in line with the prevailing market rates.

Ø Instead of separate certificates to several deductors, there will be just one certificate from the Assessing Officer for no tax deduction at source (TDS) in case of tax exempt entities like trusts etc.

Ø Infrastructure projects to be granted one time approval for purpose of exemption under section 10(23G) to replace the present system of seeking periodical renewals.

Notifications in this connection will issue next week and will come into force from the next financial year, i.e. 1st April, 2004.

Some administrative measures are also proposed for a taxpayer friendly regime. These are:

Ø Furnishing of paperless income-tax returns by introduction of direct filing through internet under digital signatures for salaried taxpayers, professionals like doctors, accountants etc.

Ø Expansion of computer network to cover all 501 Income-tax Offices in the country by June 2004.Ø Number of challan forms for payment of TDS will be reduced from four to one. -Keralamonitor.com

State governments endorses agenda in agricultural marketing

Jan 8: The reforms agenda in the agricultural marketing sector was overwhelmingly endorsed by the State Governments at the National Conference of State Agriculture Ministers held here yesterday. The agenda envisages promotion of direct marketing, contract farming arrangements and development of competitive agricultural markets in private and cooperative sectors. During the discussions, all the State Governments supported the Model Act on Agricultural Marketing, prepared by the Agriculture Ministry. In respect of private markets, a suggestion was made by some States that this could first be tried in respect of horticultural produce, agro-processing industries and for promotion of exports. In respect of Land Policy reforms, States in general welcomed the suggestions with regard to opening of lease markets in land, formation of land share company in agriculture and for allotment of homestead-cum-garden plots to poor farmers and landless labourers to enhance their income level. However, in view of the sensitivity involved in leasing of land, it was felt that further discussions and wider consultations were required in the matter.

Concluding the Conference, the Agriculture Minister, Shri Rajnath Singh appreciated that all the State Governments had agreed to suitably adopt the Model Act on Agricultural Marketing in their respective States and requested the State Governments to do so within a year. He allayed the fears of some of the State Governments that this might adversely affect their revenue receipts and said that the proposed marketing reforms would plug mis-utilisation and theft of the mandi tax and also increase the volume of transactions. He also called upon the State Governments to raise other resources of revenue. In respect of land policy reforms, the Minister assured the gathering that the reform measures would in no way affect the ownership rights of farmers over their land. The Minister also said that farmers' organizations would be consulted to arrive at a consensus in respect of reforms in the land policy sector. -Keralamonitor.com

Presidential assent for Anti-defection bill

Chief ministers asked to restrict size of council of ministers

Jan 8: The Minister of Law and Justice, Shri Arun Jaitley, has written letters along with the copies of the Constitution (Ninety-first Amendment) Act, 2003 and the Notification dated the January 7 2004, to the Chief Ministers of all States to bring the size of the Council of Ministers in conformity with the provisions of the newly inserted clause (1A) in article 164 of the Constitution within six months if the total number of Ministers exceeds the said limit.

The Parliament in its recently concluded session has passed the Constitution (Ninety-seventh Amendment) Bill, 2003 incorporating the suggestions made by the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, on December 16, 2003 (Lok Sabha) and on December 18, 2003 (Rajya Sabha). The said constitution amendment received the assent of the President as the Constitution (Ninety-first Amendment) Act, 2003. The said Act provides:-

(i) that the size of the Council of Ministers in the Union Government and in a State Government should not be more than fifteen per cent. of the total number of Members of the Lower House of the Parliament/State Legislature (the minimum strength of Ministers in case of smaller States being twelve). The second proviso to the clause (1A) of article 164 of the Constitution provides that where the size of the Council of Ministers exceeds the said fifteen per cent. or the number specified in that clause, then the total number of Ministers shall be brought in conformity with the provisions of the clause within a period of six months from the date notified for the purpose by the President;

(ii) that a person disqualified under the anti-defection law shall not be appointed as a Minister nor hold any remunerative political post for the duration of the period commencing from the date of his disqualification where he contests any election to either House of Parliament/State Legislature before the expiry of such period, till the date on which he is declared elected, whichever is earlier. The "remunerative political post" means any office-

(a) under the Central Government or the State Government where the salary or remuneration for such office is paid out of the public revenue of the Central Government or the State Government, as the case may be; or

(b) under a body, whether incorporated or not, which is wholly or partially owned by the Central Government or the State Government and the salary or remuneration for such office is paid by such body, except where such salary or remuneration paid is compensatory in nature'; and

(iii) for omission of para 3 of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution so as to bring split of political parties within the purview of disqualification based on defection. -Keralamonitor.com

NCC has been the foremost youth organization at the national level says Vice President Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat

Jan 8: Vice President Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat has said NCC is the foremost youth organisation at the national level. Inaugurating the NCC Republic Day Camp at Delhi Cantt today, he said it is the nursery of the future citizens, where tomorrow's leaders are groomed. NCC by drawing youth from schools and colleges spread throughout the length and breadth of our country NCC has been able to mould them into united and disciplined citizens. The NCC has lived up to its motto "Unity and Discipline". Shri Shekhawat said it is certainly one of the greatest cohesive forces of our nation. The commitment of the NCC to train the youth of our nation has been most creditable.

Vice President said it is not just a conglomeration of the students from all over the country, but it is rather a glorious organisation which gives to our cadets a unique identity of being an Indian youth. Through discipline, courage and social service, the NCC cadets represent the finest values of our society.

Shri Shekhawat said he is thrilled to see smart turnout, fitness and discipline of the NCC Cadets. This provides an insight into quality of training the NCC gives to its cadets. He called upon the cadets to serve the larger interests of the country with dedication and commitment and said their association with the NCC will be a valuable resources in dealing with the future challenges. Raksha Rajya Mantri Professor Chaman Lal Gupta, senior armed forces were also present on the occasion.

Over 1800 cadets from all over the country are taking part in the Annual NCC Republic Day Camp. Two cadet column of NCC cadets, one for boys and the other for girls are taking part in this years Republic Day Parade. Two NCC bands, one from Birla Balika Vidhyapith, Pillani and the other from Sainik School, Kapurthala will also participate in the march-past. -Keralamonitor.com

UK News

British Navy to get world-class naviation system

Jan 8: Royal Navy ships are to receive a world-class electronic chart and
navigation system, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced today.

A £29 million contract to design, manufacture and support the new
system, known as WECDIS, (Warship Electronic Chart Display and
Information Systems) has been awarded to Lockheed Martin UK Ltd. The
contract award is expected to sustain more than 75 British jobs.

WECDIS is a state-of-the-art system that will provide the Royal Navy
and Royal Fleet Auxiliary with electronic charts and information to
enhance situational awareness. It will greatly increase navigational
accuracy and improve ships' safety.

WECDIS will improve the maritime picture through features that can
overlay military data, such as prohibited areas of minefields, beach
profiles for amphibious landings and dived navigation facilities for
submarines. The technology for each ship will be composed of two
operator control stations together with a laptop and remote station
for route planning.

The introduction of WECDIS will bring an end to the era of using
traditional paper charts and the bridge's navigating table. Official
paper charts have been used since 1795.

Defence Procurement Minister, Lord Bach, said:

"Electronic charting is a vital requirement for our Fleet and WECDIS
is a world-class system. Enhanced situational awareness will ensure
our navigating capability is more accurate, efficient and responsive.
I am delighted that such significant technology will be developed and
produced in this country."

48 major ships will initially be fitted with WECDIS, including the
Invincible class aircraft carriers, all Royal Navy submarines and
Royal Fleet Auxiliary tankers. The first system will be fitted to a
Type 23 frigate in mid-2004.

Announcing the contract award at the London Boat Show today, Flag
Officer Training and Recruiting, Rear Admiral Peter Davies said:

"WECDIS is an important step forward in the history of the British
Navy's navigation. In just a few months time the system will be ready
and installed on the first frigate. With high technology jobs being
secured through the contract award, WECDIS is good news for both our
Armed Forces and British industry." -Keralamonitor.com

Protecting children online

Public awareness campaign launched with new radio advertising and advice for parents

Jan 8: Hard hitting new radio advertising and guidelines for parents to help
keep children safe on the internet are launched by the Government
tomorrow as part of its public awareness campaign to protect children
online.

The £3million campaign was put together as part of the work of the
Government's Task Force on Child Protection on the Internet. This,
the third phase of the campaign is worth £700,000 and will consist of
radio, cinema and online advertising. It will encourage children to
think twice about who they might be communicating with in chat rooms
and give them practical advice to help them stay safe on the internet
and mobile phones.

A Home Office leaflet for parents, 'Keep your Child Safe on the
Internet' has also been revised and updated to include new guidance
on setting up filtering and monitoring systems on their children's
computers and 'jargon busters' to help them to talk to their children
more effectively about the internet.

Paul Goggins, Home Office Minister said:

"The internet is educative, informative and fun and we want children
and young people to continue to enjoy using it. However, we are very
aware of the potential for paedophiles to abuse the trust that
children place in them by attempting to 'groom' them through chat
rooms.

"The first two phases of our awareness campaign have been very
successful with significant increases in the number of parents giving
safety advice to their children and in the number of children who
know not to give out their personal details online.

"But we cannot be complacent; we want to continue to do everything we
can to make sure that children are aware that people are not always
who they say they are on the internet.

"Parents have a key role to play in this and we have updated our
advice leaflets for them to give them practical help on keeping their
children safe.

"This campaign, along with the new grooming offence in the Sexual
Offences Act demonstrates the commitment of the Government to
protecting our children from the insidious use of the internet by
paedophiles." -Keralamonitor.com

Working together - safe farms for the future

Jan 8: At a major summit in Oxford today, DEFRA Minister Lord Whitty and HSC
Chair Bill Callaghan challenged stakeholders in the agriculture
industry to join in a concerted effort to prevent agricultural
accidents and ill-health, one of HSC's priority areas for
improvement.

Bill Callaghan said:

"Further advancements in health and safety cannot be achieved by
enforcement alone; we need the active commitment of everyone involved
in agriculture, to influence the work practices of British farmers.

"Recognising that we need to work with and through others is going to
be fundamental to the HSC's wider strategy up to 2010 and beyond.

"Last year there were 39 agricultural work-related deaths - each a
personal tragedy for the people involved. Our mission is to help
reduce the chances of such deaths, but this is not our responsibility
alone - it is the responsibility of everyone in the workplace.

"Over a fifteen year period to 2000/1 the fatal incidence rate for
employees in the agriculture sector halved. The really striking
statistic, for me, however, is that the fatal rate for the self-
employed doubled in that same period. And agriculture remains the
major sector with the highest rates of ill-health and fatal injury.
Clearly there has to be a focus on preventing accidents among the
self-employed, at the same time as we maintain our efforts to reduce
injuries to employees."

Lord Whitty told delegates:

"Partnership is a key theme of the government's strategy to develop a
sustainable agricultural industry. That is why DEFRA and HSC are
working closely together on farm health and safety matters. We have
also used the opportunity presented by the development of the
strategy to build farm health and safety management into a range of
DEFRA policies. A safe and hygienic working environment is one of the
key principles for sustainable farming and food. We are determined to
tackle the poor health and safety record of the industry as it
represents a threat to that sustainability."

At the summit, leaders of organisations with the potential to
influence and incentivise farmers:

- learnt more about the main ways in which people lose their lives on
farms;

- heard about new strategies and approaches for tackling the
problems; and

- contributed ideas, support and commitment for future work towards
safer farming.

Bill Callaghan concluded:
"This conference marks the beginning of a collective stakeholder
strategy to address the health and safety problems of the farming
industry. We will be undertaking further work to map what ideas
organisations can contribute, before identifying the most effective
levers to bring about improvements; what barriers exist; what
components are needed; and crucially, who is best placed to deliver
the intervention." -Keralamonitor.com

Europe Minister urges Scotland to seize opportunities of EU enlargement

Jan 8: Europe Minister Dr Denis MacShane will underline the economic
benefits of EU enlargement for Scotland's business community during a
visit to Perth, Dundee and Glasgow today.

The visit is part of a programme of events around the country aimed
at raising awareness of EU enlargement. Ten countries from central
Europe and the Mediterranean will join the EU next year as part of
Europe's biggest- ever expansion.

Dr MacShane said: "The New Year is a time for looking forward and
it's going to be a particularly exciting year for Europe. In May ten
new countries will join the European Union. This will mean even more
possibilities to work, study, live and travel anywhere in the
enlarged EU, from Glasgow to Gdansk.

"We need to make people aware of this historic step, as currently one
in three Scots is not aware that EU enlargement is taking place."

During his visit, the Minister will open a new warehouse at
MacNaughton Group in Perth. A third of the company's exports go to
European markets, including Hungary. The Minister will also visit
Rautomead Ltd, a Dundee engineering firm which has strong trading
links with Poland and Czech Republic.

Later, he will visit a new business programme at Dundee's University
of Abertay to discuss wider European markets with up-and-coming
entrepreneurs. Afterwards the Minister will take part in an informal
discussion with students before visiting Shawlands Academy in
Glasgow.

Dr MacShane added

"Scotland has benefited hugely from Britain's EU membership. Glasgow
has blazed a trail, as European City of Culture and last year as City
of Sport. Over a quarter of a million jobs in Scotland depend on
exports to the EU.

"Everyone in Scotland has benefited from wider choice and lower
prices within the Single Market. Prosperity and diversity across our
continent will increase as we will have 25 countries to work with on
the big issues that affect us all. "
-Keralamonitor.com

Mechanic imprisoned for £39,329 theft

Jan 8: A man who was wrongly credited with £39,329 by his bank was sent to
prison for 10 months yesterday after using the money to pay off debts
before going bankrupt.

Car mechanic Dennis Clark, 52, of Trowbridge, Wiltshire was found
guilty by Chippenham Magistrates Court of 17 charges of theft
following a prosecution by the DTI.

The court heard that Citibank International Plc had wrongly credited
£39,329 to Mr Clark's account. The defendant withdrew the money by a
series of internet transfers and cash withdrawals. When the bank
discovered the error and the subsequent withdrawals by Mr Clark it
took proceedings that resulted in his bankruptcy and complained to
the Official Receiver's office in Bristol. The Official Receiver
notified the Prosecutions Branch of the DTI.

Mr Clark only re-paid £1,000. In sentencing Mr Clark, the Chairman
told him that the court believed that he knew it was not his money
and that he decided to dispose of it by paying off debts and
expenses. -Keralamonitor.com

Higher education reforms will protect students and
graduates and give investment and freedom to universities - Clarke

Jan 8: Education and Skills Secretary Charles Clarke today published reforms
to higher education that will protect the poorest students and
graduates, help parents of students, and give universities the
investment and freedom they need to compete with the best in the
world.

Introducing the Higher Education Bill to Parliament, Mr Clarke said
that the reforms mean that from 2006, 30% of the poorest full time
students will be guaranteed at least £3000 in financial support per
year, including bursaries where universities are charging the highest
fees.

To protect the poorest students:
- From 2006 30% of the poorest full-time students will be protected
through a guarantee of at least £3000 a year in help, through:
- £1500 a year HE grant (increased from £1000 a year)
- £1200 fee grant, meaning that the poorest students don't pay the
first £1200 of their fees.

And, where their university decides to charge £3000 for their course,
students in receipt of maximum state support (i.e. £2,700) will not
have to take out any additional loan to pay their tuition fees. So if
these students are on a course costing £3,000, the Office for Fair
Access (OFFA) will expect them to receive financial support of at
least £300 from the university.

Mr Clarke also made clear that the Government supports in principle
moving to combine the £1500 a year maintenance grant with the £1200
fee grant, giving students a single grant of £2700 a year. The
Government will produce a discussion paper and hold a seminar before
the Second Reading of the HE Bill.

To protect all students:
- The student loan will be increased to meet the basic living costs
of the average student. The Government wants to ensure that there
is no need for any student to take on additional commercial loans
to enable them to pay for essential living costs. This is in
response to the recent Student Income and Expenditure Survey
(SIES), a comprehensive survey of full time undergraduate students'
income and expenditure patterns. Final year full time students
studying away from home will now see their loan increase by £340 in
2006/7;
- All students will be protected by abolishing upfront tuition fees
from 2006. Graduates will only pay when they earn over £15,000 a
year (increased from £10,000 at present), at a rate they can afford
through the tax system like national insurance and pension
contributions;
- Variable fees will be capped at £3000, rising only with inflation.
The Bill ensures that the fee cannot be raised above inflation
unless the Government secures the approval of Parliament by a vote
in both Houses. The Government will not raise the cap in real terms
through the next Parliament. The Government will establish an
independent review, working with OFFA to report to Parliament based
on first 3 years of their operation;

To protect graduates:
- The average student will expect to repay their loan in around 13
years. However, for some it may take longer. Those who choose to
take lower paid jobs, those in and out of work and those who take
time out to raise a family will have any amount outstanding after
25 years wiped out
- The point at which graduates start paying back their debt will rise
from £10,000 at present to £15,000, with no real rate of interest.
This means that a graduate earning £20,000 will pay just £8.65 per
week no matter what they owe, against £17.31 per week under the
current scheme.

To protect freedom for universities and give them much-needed
investment to compete in the world:
- All universities will be able to vary fees from £0 to £3000 for any
course. Variability can be between courses within universities not
simply between universities - universities will be free to decide.
- A fair university bursary system. To provide the minimum £300
bursary for courses of £3000, no university would have to use more
than 10% of its additional fee income - even those with the highest
percentage of students from the poorest backgrounds.

Charles Clarke said:
"Under our new proposals 30% of the poorest full time students will
be guaranteed at least £3000 per year. Disadvantaged students will
get financial support to study what they want when they want.

"We will also protect all students by abolishing upfront fees. This
means no student - or their family - has to find tuition fees before
they start their course. And we will help them further by increasing
the student loan in line with living costs. Students shouldn't have
to rely on credit card and commercial debt.

"Universities will be able to vary fees from £0 to £3000 - but fees
can vary between courses, not just between universities. The bursary
system will also be fair on both students and the universities who
will use some of their extra income to provide them. .

"Variability remains key. We do not agree that a substantially higher
fixed fee would be the way to raise additional resources. It would be
deeply damaging.

"We would be denying Universities the freedom to incentivise
industrial, vocational, scientific, technical, engineering and
sandwich courses, or foundation degrees, which are vital for the
economic future of this country. "-Keralamonitor.com

One million children receiving free fruit

Reid sets out vision to improve public health

Jan 8: One million children are now receiving free fruit at school every
day, Health Secretary John Reid announced today.

The milestone has been achieved under the National School Fruit
Scheme (NSFS), set up to promote healthy eating and help tackle
obesity.

Mr Reid said the scheme typified his vision for improving the
nation's health - encouraging and educating people about healthy
choices and ensuring the Government tackles the causes as well as the
consequences of ill-health.

He announced £77 million new Government funding to enable NSFS to be
rolled out nationwide. Until now, the scheme has operated in four
pilot regions with £42 million in National Lottery good cause funding
from the New Opportunities Fund.

Mr Reid also published a new survey showing youngsters who regularly
eat fruit at school as part of the scheme consume more fruit outside
school hours.

The survey shows that:

- over a quarter of children and their families ate more fruit at
home after their school joined the scheme;

- nearly half of all parents questioned think the scheme has made
them more aware of the importance of fruit for a healthy diet; and,

- eight in 10 parents say their child always or often ate the fruit
provided at school.

Announcing the funding on a visit to Walnut Tree Walk School in
Kennington, London, a school participating in the scheme, John Reid
said:

"Encouraging children to eat more healthily is vital if we're to
tackle the increasing problem of child obesity.

"We said that every child aged 4-6 years old would be entitled to a
free piece of fruit each school day, and this new funding will
deliver on this commitment.

"The scheme is a key element of our efforts to combat obesity and
encourage a healthier population. We're developing action plans on
food, healthy eating and physical activity and we've set the food
industry a deadline to outline their commitments to reducing salt
levels in their products."

In a letter sent to public health professionals across England to
mark the extension of NSFS, Mr Reid says the scheme is an example of
how the Government can improve the nation's health in a positive way
through encouragement and education.

In the letter, setting out his vision for improving public health, Mr
Reid writes:

"We need to give people the information they need to make healthy
choices about the way they live their lives.

"Whether it's giving up smoking, helping them to take enough exercise
or choosing a healthy diet, we need to give people the opportunities
to change their lifestyle and the support they need to maintain those
changes. That's the way to deliver, long-term, sustainable
improvements in the nation's health.

"I am convinced that, although Government has a role to play, real
change has to be the result of personal decisions by individuals."

Mr Reid says in the letter that his decision to give up smoking was a
case in point.

"Tomorrow it will be one year since my last cigarette. That was my
own decision, taken for intensely personal reasons, but it was taken
in the light of Government education programmes about the dangers of
smoking, and it was helped by supplies of NHS nicotine replacement
gum."

He adds:

"The Government inherited a situation where Britain's health spending
had fallen steadily behind other countries. That's why our first
priority has been to grow the treatment capacity of the NHS at an
unprecedented rate.

"But we must also continue to tackle the causes as well as the
consequences of ill- health, and take prevention seriously as a cure.

"The statistics speak for themselves, the biggest killers - coronary
heart disease and cancer - are responsible for 200,000 deaths per
year. And over the last few decades, health inequalities have
widened. Smoking still kills 120,000 people each year. Obesity has
almost trebled in the last two decades and shortens life by as much
as nine years."

The funding breakdown to extend NSFS across the whole of England is
£33.5 million in 2004-05 and £43.5 million in 2005-06. Since April
2002, the scheme has been operated through good cause Lottery money
by the New Opportunities Fund.

Baroness Jill Pitkeathley, Chair of the New Opportunities Fund, said:

"We are delighted to see the school fruit scheme we have piloted roll
out across England. The benefits of developing healthy eating habits
as a child are immeasurable and the risk of developing a serious
illness in later life is greatly reduced by having a healthy diet
throughout your childhood.

"The scheme has demonstrated how we can effectively link up education
and health services for local people. Throughout its duration, I have
heard heart-warming stories about how schools involved in the
programme are teaching young children about the importance of a
healthy balanced diet. The School Fruit Pilot programme has been a
great example of how Lottery money can be targeted to help improve
people's quality of life."-Keralamonitor.com

WHO News

Many countries not on target to reach health-related Millennium Development Goals

World Bank, World Health Organization convene high-level meeting to map out strategy for meeting health MDGs

Geneva 8 Jan: The World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank today warned that many developing countries will not be able to reach health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) unless clear actions are taken, starting now and with a concerted effort over the next 12 years. More worryingly still, the organizations noted that the health Goals are particularly difficult to meet and that progress towards them is slower than towards some other MDGs.

The eight MDGs were set at the United Nations Millennium Summit in September 2000, where 189 countries committed to ambitious targets for improving the health and well-being of hundreds of millions of people in the developing world by 2015 . Four of the Goals relate to health: to reduce maternal mortality by three-quarters and child mortality by two-thirds, halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other infectious diseases, and improve access to safe drinking water and essential drugs.

"When these kinds of targets are set, it seems too soon to take urgent action, and then, after a few short years, it seems too late," said Dr LEE Jong-wook, Director-General of WHO. "Where the targets are the product of a large consensus there is also the hazard of everyone waiting for everyone else to risk making the first move. We still have time to avoid these pitfalls with the targets for 2015, but to do so we have to act now."

The World Bank estimates that progress against child mortality has so far been so slow that no sub-Saharan country in Africa is on target to reach that MDG. At the current pace in the developing world as a whole, only 16% of countries (representing 19% of the developing world's population) are on track for this goal. Similarly, only 17% of developing countries are likely to meet the maternal mortality MDG; here, Latin America and the Caribbean are faring worst, with just 4.2% of countries on track to meet the target. In addition, only 40% of developing countries are on track to reach the malnutrition MDG.

"Even with general economic growth and faster progress on the non-health MDGs, many regions will still miss many of the health MDG targets. We need to look at measures such as committing increased resources to meeting the health-related MDGs, and using those resources more effectively in countries," said Mr James Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank. "Donor harmonization in resource mobilization and use, strengthening human resources in the health sector and improving monitoring and evaluation, through the optic of a strong country and equity focus, will be particularly important."

Lack of progress towards the health MDGs is likely to affect progress towards other MDGs, such as those concerned with education. Furthermore, for example, access to clean water and education for mothers are both key determinants of infant and child mortality rates. Coming together in a high-level meeting in Geneva on 8 and 9 January, some of the most influential people in the development field, including representatives from concerned countries, development agencies and UN organizations will assess progress so far towards meeting the health MDGs, and most importantly, map out what needs to be done if the world is to stand a realistic chance of reaching those goals.

The meeting will note that slow progress in health is particularly distressing as many of the "technologies" needed to improve health are available and affordable. The difficulty is getting them to people: in other words, building strong health systems in all countries. Lack of resources is a huge constraint but that it is not the only issue. Delivering quality health services in poor countries is a complex challenge, involving human resources, reliable health information and ensuring that the poorest people are reached. Countries providing aid need also to work together better - both to raise more money and to ensure that advice given to poor countries is consistent. All these issues will be discussed in detail during the meeting.

Recognizing the complexity of the health agenda, participants represent a broad group with differing perspectives: Ministers of Finance alongside Ministers of Health, donor agencies alongside recipient countries. The meeting will issue a final communiqué which is expected to identify critical actions - both at the country and international community levels - which will facilitate the scaling up of interventions aimed at reaching the MDGs. -Keralamonitor.com

UN News

China Declares Second Suspected SARS Case

Jan 8: A 20-year-old waitress hospitalized with fever on Dec. 31 in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou was today declared the country's second suspected SARS case of the season, just as the first patient was released after being pronounced recovered.

Health officials were investigating how the woman might have contracted the virus and were disinfecting her home and other places she had been, Associated Press reports.

About 48 people who had "close contact" with her have been quarantined and 52 others were under "close medical observation," although none of them has shown any symptoms.

The World Health Organization, meanwhile, has dispatched a six-person team to the city to help Chinese health officials investigate the first case.

"The joint mission's major concerns will center around the potential human, animal and environmental sources of SARS infection," the organization said in a statement (Stephanie Hoo, AP/Newsday, Jan. 8).

Chinese health officials also announced that an extermination campaign against rats in Guangzhou would begin Saturday, just as the extermination of 10,000 civet cats believed to be spreading the virus was under way.

The Straits Times cites the Information Daily newspaper as reporting that "the whole city will go about killing rats, not leaving out even one household" (Straits Times, Jan. 8).

China's first SARS patient, a 32-year-old television producer, said today that he has never touched or eaten civet cats, and that he did not know how he caught the illness.

So far, 2,443 civet cats have been drowned in disinfectant of liquefied in pressurized pots, The Age newspaper reports.

Overseas experts and the WHO have raised concerns about the hasty culling, saying the move was premature and potentially misguided because authorities may be targeting the wrong animal.

"The virus is relatively promiscuous. It can infect many different animal species, probably also including rodents, so taking all those things together, the question really is whether the culprit is indeed the civet cat," said Dutch virologist Albert Osterhaus, of the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam (The Age, Jan. 8).

Meanwhile, an editor whose newspaper broke the news of the first new SARS case, thereby embarrassing the Communist government, was detained and questioned by prosecutors, AP reports.

Cheng Yizhong, editor in chief of the Southern Metropolitan Daily, was taken from his office in Guangzhou by three members of the municipal prosecutor's office, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said, according to AP.

Cheng declined to comment on the issue, saying only that "this matter should be over."

According to the Information Center, "Provincial party leaders are extremely unhappy that the Southern Daily failed to get the approval from the provincial party committee to print the SARS story" (Christopher Bodeen, AP/Yahoo! News, Jan. 8).

World Tobacco Demand, Production To Rise, FAO Says

Jan 8: The rising demand for tobacco in developing countries is set to overwhelm the trend in the developed world of falling tobacco use and fuel greater worldwide tobacco production through 2010, according to a study published today by the Food and Agriculture Organization.

Projections of Tobacco Production, Consumption And Trade to The Year 2010 predicts that even though per-person consumption rates are falling across the globe - including in developing countries - the population and income growth expected in developing nations will counteract that effect. By 2010, the study says, tobacco users in the developing world will consume 5 million metric tons, or 71 percent, of the world's tobacco. China alone will likely account for about 37 percent of the world's tobacco users, with India the second-largest consumer at 25 percent or more.

Demand in developed countries is expected to continue tapering off as anti-smoking campaigns kick in and population growth slows. FAO researchers estimated that developing countries will consume 2 million metric tons in 2010, 10 percent less than in 1998.

Overall, the FAO study says, tobacco production by 2010 is projected to exceed 7.1 million metric tons - higher than the 1997/99 figure of 5.9 million metric tons, although lower than the all-time high of 7.5 million, in 1992.

The U.N. agency forecasts a shift in production to developing countries, since maintaining profitability in developed countries is getting tougher and production costs are lower in developing countries. Already China produces 35 percent of the global tobacco crop, followed by India, Brazil, the United States, the European Union, Zimbabwe and Turkey.

The FAO study recommends addressing demand in the developing world through policy.

"Reducing demand in the developing countries would be rather difficult given projected population and income growth trends," the report says. "Mitigating these trends, however, and reducing consumption per adult using a combination of tax and direct restriction policies would also be an important achievement" (FAO release, Jan. 8).

Two More UNRWA Clinics Open In Jordan

Jan 8: Two new U.N. health centers opened yesterday in Jordan to serve Palestinian refugees, bringing to 23 the number of clinics operating in the country under the aegis of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

UNRWA Commissioner General Peter Hansen and U.S. Ambassador to Jordan Edward Gnehm presided over the ceremonial opening. The United States, the UNRWA's largest donor, contributed $315,000 for the construction and equipment of the centers. Last year, the United States contributed $129 million to the agency.

Located in Kraymeh and Mashare in the Jordan Valley, the two centers will offer preventive and curative health care and family planning services for 35,000 Palestinian refugees living in the area (Jordan Times, Jan. 7).

Judge Demands Kenyan Schools Admit HIV-Infected Children

Jan 8: A judge yesterday gave Kenya's government one day to persuade public schools to admit HIV-positive children, after the country's largest AIDS orphanage sued the government over the refusal of several Nairobi elementary schools to let its children attend classes, Associated Press reports.

"Our demand is simple - we want these children to be in class," said Ababu Namwamba, an attorney for the Nyumbani home, adding that the orphanage would be satisfied with nothing less than a declaration from the Ministry of Education banning discrimination against HIV-positive children in Kenya's public schools.

A senior ministry official, Keraga Mutahi, said Tuesday that it was already the government's policy to give "equitable and nondiscriminatory access to education," and that no child was to be denied access on the basis of health, including HIV status (Chris Tomlinson, AP/Yahoo! News, Jan. 7).

Kenya's Daily Nation reports that state lawyers John Gacivih and Rosemary Owino denied claims of discrimination, arguing it was not a government policy (Tony Kago, Daily Nation, Jan. 8).

Rev. Angelo D'Agostino, a Roman Catholic priest who founded the orphanage, said five schools in Nairobi routinely deny admission to the orphans, despite the country's recent enactment of a law providing for free primary education for all children.

"Once they (the schools) find the child is from Nyumbani, they find some sort of excuse like they're too full, they don't have any room or whatever, so that's where we have the problem," D'Agostino said (Tomlinson, AP/Yahoo! News).

High Court Judge Martha Koome said the two parties needed to reach an amicable solution that would not stigmatize the children (Kago, Daily Nation).

Mass Extinction Looms By 2050, Climate Study Finds

Jan 8: Global warming could force one-fourth of the globe's plant and animal species to the brink of extinction by 2050, according to a study published today in the journal Nature.

Chris Thomas, University of Leeds conservation biology professor and lead author of Feeling the Heat: Climate Change and Biodiversity Loss, said the earth's rising temperatures, in tandem with burgeoning agriculture and the proliferation of invasive species, would leave many plants and animals with vanishing habitats. If all threatened species were able to relocate to more suitable climates, only 15 percent would face extinction by mid-century. If none could relocate, that number would soar to 37 percent, Thomas said, adding that the reality would doubtless lie between the two extremes.

"The midrange estimate is that 24 percent of plants and animals will be committed to extinction by 2050," Thomas said. "We're not talking about the occasional extinction - we're talking about 1.25 million species. It's a massive number."

Some species are equal to the task of migrating to new habitats, Thomas said, others less so. The silver-studded blue butterfly, for example, is a weak flier dependent on a food source found in clusters separated by large gaps, and it cannot make the journey between habitats (Guy Gugliotta, Washington Post, Jan. 8). In general, mountain species are better off since they can simply move uphill to cooler climes, whereas flatland species face the daunting task of making latitudinal adjustments (Paul Brown, London Guardian, Jan. 8).

The Washington Post reports that the study marks the first time scientists have analyzed the effects of climate change on a global scale. Whereas previous research has focused on smaller areas or species groups, this study combined the work of 19 scientists studying the decline of more than 1,100 species in five regions on four continents encompassing 20 percent of the earth's surface and a wide range of terrestrial zones (Gugliotta, Washington Post). It did not examine the oceans.

U.N. Environment Program Executive Director Klaus Toepfer said the report highlights the need to curb global warming through the cutbacks in greenhouse gas emissions outlined in the Kyoto Protocol. The global agreement has foundered on the unwillingness of the United States and Russia to impose restrictions on industry.

"This alarming report underlines again to the world the importance of bringing into force the Kyoto Protocol," Toepfer said (Alister Doyle, Reuters, Jan. 8).

Booming Herbal Medicine Industry Said To Threaten Plants

Jan 8: Spiraling demand for herbal medicine is threatening to wipe out up to one-fifth of the world's 50,000 medicinal plant species, New Scientist reported today.

Up to 80 percent of people in some countries use herbal treatments, and the industry is valued at over $20 billion, according to Alan Hamilton, author of a World Wildlife Fund report to be released later this year.

"It's an extremely serious problem," he told New Scientist. Hamilton also contributed to a second report, Herbal Harvests with a Future, scheduled to be unveiled next week by the United Kingdom-based advocacy group Plantlife International (New Scientist, Jan. 8).

Threatened species include the bearberry - used to treat kidney and digestive problems - as well as tendrilled fitillary, used for respiratory problems, and a saw-wort known as costus or kusta that is used for skin disorders, Plantlife says (BBC Online, Jan. 8). Tetu lakha, a tree found in south Indian and Sri Lankan rainforests and used in anti-cancer drugs in Europe, is also reportedly endangered.

"With demand and commercialization growing fast, the future of the wild plants which have helped most of humanity for centuries is now more uncertain than it has ever been," said Martin Harper of Plantlife.

The group accuses industry officials of harvesting ingredients wastefully and failing to ensure the sustainability of the plants on which its products rely. It says that 11 of the 16 herbal companies in the United Kingdom harvest all their plants from the wild, and the other five grow only a small proportion.

Plantlife has urged industry to invest in cultivation and to label products that have been harvested in a sustainable way (New Scientist).

The British Herbal Medicine Association argues the claims are exaggerated (BBC Online).

U.S. Budget Deficit Threatens World Economy, IMF Warns

Jan 8: A rising U.S. budget deficit and trade imbalance may create such a burden of foreign debt that it could cause financial instability in the United States and the rest of the world, a report released yesterday by the International Monetary Fund says.

According to the report, the U.S. budget deficit last year reached $374 billion, a record in dollar terms, and it is expected to exceed $400 billion this year. In a few years, the report says, the United States could have a foreign debt equal to 40 percent of its total economy - "an unprecedented level of external debt for a large industrial country."

The U.S. situation would affect the rest of the world because global interest rates would go up, slowing global investment and economic growth (Becker/Andrews, New York Times, Jan. 8).

The Wall Street Journal reports that the higher the interest rates, the less the population is likely to spend on such goods as houses and cars, resulting in a weak cash flow and weakened economic growth (Greg Ip, Wall Street Journal, Jan. 8).

According to the Times, White House officials have dismissed the IMF report, saying that U.S. President George W. Bush expects to reduce the budget deficit by half over the next five years.

Some economists, however, said they agree with the IMF's concerns.

"The IMF is right," said the director of the Institute for International Economics in Washington, C. Fred Bergsten. "If those twin deficits - of the federal budget and the trade deficit - continue to grow you are increasing the risk of a day of reckoning when things can get pretty nasty" (Becker/Andrews, New York Times).

U.S. Federal Reserve Governor Donald Kohn warned yesterday that if "the fiscal path does not change ... interest rates will be higher than they otherwise would be."

He also said that the decline in the dollar's value in recent years might be an indication that foreign investors are less willing to buy U.S. stocks and bonds, which is important because the purchase of such instruments helps pay down the country's budget deficit.

Kohn, however, said that the apparent lack of interest from foreign investors in U.S. stocks and bonds is not likely to push down the dollar or the value of those stocks and bonds (Ip, Wall Street Journal).

In order to reverse the budget deficit, the IMF report urges the Bush administration to balance the federal budget through tax increases and spending restraint (Reuters/Los Angeles Times, Jan. 8).

19 Million Urban Latin Americans Unemployed, ILO Says

Jan 8: Around 19 million Latin Americans living in urban centers are currently unemployed, a report released yesterday by the International Labor Organization says. The number represents about 4 percent of Latin America's population of 500 million.

The report also shows that the average salary of employed people in Latin America decreased last year, reflecting the economic recession there.

According to ILO regional director Agustin Munoz, the findings confirm the ILO's "worries regarding the model of development applied since the beginning of the 1990s, which put aside the social effects of economic policies" (Agence France-Presse/Terra, Jan. 7, U.N. Wire translation).

 

Mission Complete, UNHCR Closes Field Offices In Croatia

Jan 8: The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has closed its last three field offices in Croatia, marking what it said was a "sea change" in the formerly war-ravaged country.

UNHCR offices in Knin, Sisak and Osijec were shuttered at the end of December, ending UNHCR field operations in the country. The agency set up its main office in the country's capital, Zagreb, in 1991 during the country's fight for independence, and eventually established 10 field offices throughout Croatia, employing hundreds of staff members to protect the rights of refugees and oversee delivery of aid.

The Zagreb office will remain open to work with local relief agencies and the Croatian government to ensure the needs of asylum seekers and refugees continue to be met

The UNHCR presence in Croatia was part of its larger network in the former Yugoslavia - an operation that was Europe's largest relief job since World War II. UNHCR delivered aid to 3.5 million people throughout the region in a vast operation directed from the Zagreb office.

The agency helped refugees through some of the most trying times of the former Yugoslavia's breakup. "As the region's wars grew in intensity, UNHCR staff often worked through the night to assist refugees, sometimes carrying war victims off trucks that had brought the 'ethnically cleansed' straight from concentration camps," UNHCR said yesterday.

With the signing of the Dayton peace agreement in 1995, UNHCR began to focus on the return and reintegration of Croatian refugees, and by the end of 2003, more than 100,000 Croatian Serbs and 230,000 internally displaced persons had returned to their homes.

Among UNHCR's last jobs in Croatia was organizing field trips for donor countries and other aid organizations to areas of refugee return in Lika, central Croatia. The trip allowed the donors and aid groups "to come face to face with the challenges facing some 220,000 Croatian Serbs who remain in exile, mostly in Serbia and Montenegro," the agency said.

"For most of us, this visit was indeed the last field trip in our official capacity," said Segolene Adam, a UNHCR official at the agency's Knin office. "The returnees we visited were sometimes very old acquaintances who came back with the first repatriation convoys to Krbava field near Udbina with UNHCR assistance" (UNHCR release, Dec. 7).

U.N., Red Cross Appeal For $70 Million For Iran Quake Aid

Jan 8: U.N. Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland today appealed for an additional $70 million in aid following the devastating earthquake Dec. 26 in Bam, Iran - approximately $30 million for U.N. efforts and $40 million for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Egeland, who arrived in Iran yesterday, estimated that $100 million has already been pledged since the earthquake, which he called "an impressive international expression of solidarity."

"I came to see how the relief work is going and also to introduce the second phase of launching an appeal of 90 days for further relief and reconstruction work," he told reporters in Bam.

The federation said in Geneva that it needs $42 million to help an estimated 210,000 people over eight months and to ward off the threat of disease outbreaks.

"The scale of the disaster is so great that emergency relief will be required for several months to come," said the federation's president, Juan Manuel Suarez del Toro (Agence France-Presse/ReliefWeb, Jan. 8).

According to the United Nations, temporary shelter, food, water and sanitation are immediately needed to help around 45,000 people who were left homeless after the earthquake. That number could rise to 75,000 when many people return from hospitals or relatives' homes.

So far, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has pledged more than $80 million for relief efforts in Bam, where some 30,000 people were killed and 25,000 of the area's 29,500 buildings were destroyed (U.N. release, Jan. 7).

Last night, a 57-year-old man was rescued from the rubble after spending 13 days buried. Dr. Mahdi Shadnoush, chief physician at a Ukrainian field hospital providing aid to quake victims, called it "a miracle."

"He had no access to food but only water," Shadnoush said. "We hope to keep him alive, but we cannot guarantee it."

According to the head of the hospital, Mohammad Reza Tahmasebi, the man was a member of the Baluch ethnic group, known for tolerating harsh conditions.

On Saturday a 97-year-old woman was rescued from her buried home (Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press/Yahoo! News, Jan. 8).

AFP reported yesterday that Iranian authorities have put a major oil-and-gas-producing area in the southwest of the country on a state of maximum alert after 26 earth tremors were felt in the region in less than 36 hours since Tuesday.

The tremors measured between 2.7 and 4.9 on the Richter scale, compared with the 6.6 temblor that struck Bam.

"[President Mohammad Khatami] has given the order to the concerned services to be on maximum alert and we are very worried," said Sattar Akbarzadeh, prefect of Masjed Soleiman, a town situated around 280 miles southwest of the capital, Tehran (AFP/Yahoo! News, Jan. 7).

Netherlands To Try Former D.R.C. Officer For Torture

Jan 8: The trial of a former Congolese officer, arrested in the Netherlands on suspicion of committing atrocities in his home country in the 1990s, will start in March, marking the first time a foreign suspect charged with crimes committed abroad will go on trial in the Netherlands, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday.

Dutch prosecutors charge that 51-year-old Sebastian Nzapali, also known as the "King of Beasts," committed human rights abuses including rape and torture during the regime of former Democratic Republic of the Congo dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. The former officer will be prosecuted under the 1984 U.N. Convention against Torture, which gives states universal jurisdiction to try suspects accused of that crime.

Prosecutors say three D.R.C. citizens have filed complaints against Nzapali, accusing him of torturing them personally or under his supervision.

Nzapali was arrested in September in the Netherlands, where he had come in 1998 to seek asylum following the fall of Mobutu's regime the previous year (AFP, Jan. 7).

Report Shows Decline Of Press Freedom With War On Terror

Jan 8: Press freedom declined last year and the number of journalists killed and imprisoned on assignment increased dramatically, in part because of the U.S.-led war on terror, watchdog group Reporters Without Borders said in a report released Tuesday.

Forty-two journalists were slain compared with 25 last year, according to the study, and at least 501 media were censured compared with 389 in 2002. As of Jan. 1, 124 journalists and 61 "cyber-dissidents" were imprisoned worldwide.

"The relentless increase in violations of press freedom since 2001 is, without a doubt, related to the war against terrorism and the anti-terrorism laws adopted in certain countries in response to the attacks of Sept. 11," the report said. The group called the Middle East a "red alert" for violations of press freedom - 16 journalists were killed there in 2003, 14 of them in Iraq.

Measures of press freedom in Latin America remained relatively stable compared with last year, although journalists continue to be imprisoned in Cuba, the report said. Internal conflicts and the policies of certain authoritarian regimes such as that of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe reportedly contributed to a worsening situation for a free press in Africa.

Of European nations, only Italy - where President Silvio Berlusconi owns a number of media outlets - demonstrated the potential for a decline in freedom of the press (Benedicte Mathieu, Le Monde, Jan. 6, U.N. Wire translation).

U.N.-Appointed Commission To Help Guatemala Fight Crime

Jan 8: The United Nations and the government of Guatemala yesterday signed an agreement that establishes a U.N.-appointed commission responsible for investigating and prosecuting members of criminal groups and clandestine security services in the country, as well as suspects accused of attacking human rights activists, journalists or members of the judiciary.

According to Associated Press, it is the first time the United Nations has the authority to prosecute suspects under a country's justice system.

Under the agreement, the commission, officially called Commission for the Investigation of Illegal Groups and Clandestine Security Organizations in Guatemala, "shall not accept or seek instructions from any government or any other source" and must be given complete access to all of the country's prisons and military installations without prior notice.

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan will be responsible for appointing the head of the commission, AP reported. Guatemala's Parliament must now ratify the agreement, which will remain in force for two years with the possibility of extension.

Gang violence in Guatemala has been widespread since the end of its 36-year civil war, in 1996. The country is also a transit point for shipping narcotics to Mexico and the United States (Nick Wadhams, AP/Yahoo! News, Jan. 7).

U.S. Exaggerated Iraqi Weapons Claims, Report Finds

Jan 8: A report released today by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace criticizes the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush for overestimating Iraq's weapons capabilities and says Washington should bring U.N. inspectors into the hunt for weapons programs.

According to the report, the National Intelligence Estimate produced by the Bush administration for Congress in October 2002 "went far beyond the consensus intelligence assessments of the preceding five years ... [by including] 40 distinct caveats or conditions usually dropped by officials" in public statements.

It also described as "questionable" and "unexamined" the administration's assertions that Iraq or another rogue state might sell unconventional weapons to terrorists. A more logical conclusion, the Carnegie report says, is the reality that terrorists could attain weapons from "poorly guarded stockpiles" in politically unstable countries such as Pakistan, North Korea, Russia and the former Soviet states, where corruption and destitute conditions could allow terrorist groups access to nuclear weapons or materials.

The report concludes that the United States should bring the United Nations into the investigations of Iraq's weapons program. The administration has resisted allowing U.N. weapons inspectors, who had seven years' prior experience in Iraq, to work with its Iraq Survey Group. Including U.N. inspectors would help determine whether past U.N. sanctions were successful in deterring the development of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and if they might work in other countries. The Carnegie report also recommends that the U.N. Security Council create a permanent inspection agency to monitor proliferation of biological and chemical weapons.

Appearing on ABC's "Nightline" last night, Secretary of State Colin Powell countered the study's assertion of an exaggerated U.S. response toward Iraq's weapons program, emphasizing the fact that Saddam Hussein had used chemical weapons in the late 1980s against Iraqi Kurds. Powell said that fact, along with intelligence reports, led administration officials to the conclusion that "[Hussein's government] had intent, they still had capability and they were not going to give up that capability." Powell said it was still too early for him to draw definite conclusions about the extent of Iraq's weapon's program, as the Iraq Survey Group, led by David Kay, had not finished its work (Walter Pincus, Washington Post, Jan. 8). Kay, not having found any weapons of mass destruction as of yet, revealed a month ago that he may leave his post.

The New York Times reported today that the Bush administration has withdrawn a 400-member military team whose job was to hunt for military equipment. This, according to some military officials, signals that the administration no longer expects to find caches of chemical and biological weapons. The 1,400-member Iraq Survey Group remains in place (Douglas Jehl, New York Times, Jan. 8).

Iraqi Leaders Seek U.N. Involvement In Transition

With less than five months left until the June 30 transfer of power from the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority to Iraqi hands, Iraqi leaders in the U.S.-appointed Governing Council are pressuring the United Nations to return international staff to the country and take a leading role in the transition process.

A Shiite representative of the Governing Council, Abdel Aziz Hakim, asked U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan in a Dec. 29 letter for U.N. help guiding Iraq's transition to self-rule. According to diplomatic sources, the letter, reportedly one of many from the council requesting support from the United Nations, reflects a deepening divide in Iraq; the majority Shiite population desires direct elections, while Sunnis and other minorities want a legislature elected by caucuses.

Annan has yet to respond to Hakim's letter. Annan pulled all international staff from Iraq after the August bombing of U.N. headquarters, and according to Associated Press, Annan believes it to be "still too dangerous to return."

Hakim's letter comes before a Jan. 19 meeting in which Annan is scheduled to meet with the current president of the Governing Council and a representative of the Coalition Provisional Authority to discuss the details of the United Nations' role in Iraq until June 30. Some Security Council members are skeptical of the United Nations' capacity to tackle a large role in the transition process, since currently it has no international staff in Iraq and the deadline is fast approaching (Nick Wadhams, AP/Yahoo! News, Jan. 8).

Rebel Insurgency Injures 35 U.S. Soldiers

Insurgents fired mortars into a U.S. military base west of Baghdad yesterday, injuring at least 35 U.S. soldiers. Few details were available, but a statement released by the Pentagon said, "The wounded soldiers were given first aid and have been evacuated from the site of further medical treatment" (Andrew Buncombe, London Independent, Jan. 8)

The attack comes at a time when the Bush administration is growing increasingly fearful of Iraq's fracturing along ethnic lines. According to the New York Times, administration officials are urging Kurdish leaders to compromise on their demands for a fully autonomous state in the north.

Officials have said that Paul Bremer, head of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, told Kurdish leaders yesterday that a Kurdish state with all its current powers - and those that it is demanding - threatens the future unity of Iraq.

Kurdish leaders have rejected Bremer's request and, according to a Kurdish spokesman, are demanding nothing less than the complete autonomy that the Kurdish region has enjoyed since 1991. Furthermore, the Kurds desire control over their own armed forces, taxing power, and oil revenues in Kirkuk and Khanakin, two oil-producing centers that U.S. officials do not view as part of the original Kurdish region.

"Bremer really lowered the boom on them," said one U.S. official. "He told them they're going to have to be flexible, and to recognize the existence of a federal state of Iraq and to disband their militias" (Steven Weisman, New York Times, Jan. 8).

U.S. Backs State-Controlled Iraqi Oil

U.S. officials are set to recommend state ownership and management of Iraqi oil, mirroring the model used by neighbors Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The company will answer to a government oil minister. The decision to essentially shut out U.S. and other foreign investment in Iraqi oil partially counters allegations that the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was an oil grab, according to the London Guardian.

All the while, the Pentagon opened up bids to rebuild Iraq with contracts work $5 billion, inviting tenders for 17 construction projects and promising a competitive, open and transparent process. There are 63 countries participating in the bids, minus those such as France, Russia, Germany and Canada, which did not support the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

As Western companies are rushing for access to the Iraqi market, PepsiCo signed a deal yesterday to bottle and distribute products in Iraq. This move is expected to create 2,000 local jobs (David Teather, London Guardian, Jan. 8).

12 Killed In Ambush In Afghanistan; Two Arrested For Bombing

Jan 8: Twelve people were killed yesterday in a road ambush in southern Afghanistan blamed on the Taliban while two people have been arrested for the twin bombings Tuesday that killed at least 15 people in Kandahar.

Tuesday's bombings took place in a crowded district in Kandahar shortly after midday, when many children were returning home from school, according to Agence France-Presse.

Among the 15 dead were 12 children, while 40 of the 58 injured were also children, said Hamid Elmi, deputy spokesman for President Hamid Karzai.

Yesterday, 12 people from the ethnic Hazara group were killed in an ambush, also in the southern provinces, when "a minibus which was on its way from Uruzgan to Helmand was attacked by unknown armed men" who fired on the vehicle, Helmand district security police chief Abdul Rahman Sabir said. Sabir blamed Taliban militants, saying they sought to inflame hostilities between majority Pashtuns and minority Hazaras, who are primarily Shiite and have been singled out for discrimination before (AFP/Yahoo! News, Jan. 8).

A Taliban official yesterday reversed previous denials of involvement and apologized for Tuesday's bomb attack, saying it was a botched attempt to target U.S. troops, the Los Angeles Times reports.

"It was a mistake by our mujahideen," or holy warriors, senior Taliban commander Mullah Sabir Momin said. "We wanted to target the Provincial Reconstruction Team office in the city, but because of a small mistake, this plan failed." The team in Kandahar is a civilian-military group under U.S. command (Los Angeles Times, Jan. 8).

According to a Reuters report, the Pakistani army said it has launched an operation against suspected Islamic militants in tribal lands near the Afghan border, where al-Qaeda and Taliban fugitives are thought to be sheltering.

Military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan implied that some contact had been made with a group of suspects in Northwest Frontier province (Reuters, Jan. 8).

Rights Group Decries Intimidation In Constitutional Process

Human Rights Watch today lamented insecurity in Afghanistan, saying the domination of the constitutional approval process by warlords and factional leaders raises serious concerns about whether the country can hold free and fair elections this year.

"Human rights protections were put on paper," said John Sifton, the group's researcher on Afghanistan. "But there were a lot of missed opportunities and complaints about threats and corruption during the convention."

Afghanistan's constitution does not adequately address the role of Islamic law and its relationship to human rights protections, the rights group said, and conservative factions could use appointments to the new judiciary to implement interpretations of Islam that may violate human rights standards.

The document also fails to address the issue of accountability of past war crimes and serious human rights abuses, despite the country's recent history of mass atrocities, according to Human Rights Watch.

The group said such abuses as political intimidation and vote-buying that took place before and during the convention proved that warlords and local factions continue to dominate Afghanistan's political processes.

"A constitution cannot itself reduce the power of the warlords," Sifton said. "But an open political process in drafting it could have weakened their influence. Instead, the warlords flexed their muscles and proved that they still hold a lot of power."

During elections for delegates to the convention, Human Rights Watch documented cases of death threats and corruption, and a general atmosphere of intimidation at election sites.

"The atmosphere of fear and corruption at the convention, and efforts by U.S. officials and the Karzai government to secure bloc votes from factional leaders, affected how robustly some provisions were debated," Sifton said. "The entire process casts doubt on the elections that are to be held here later this year."

The group has called on the international community to provide better security for the country, which would signify global commitment to the new constitution, and urged the United Nations to bolster its human rights protection and monitoring staff there (Human Rights Watch release, Jan. 8).

Asian Development Bank Approves Grant To Repair Irrigation Systems

The Asian Development Bank has approved a $5 million grant from a poverty-reduction fund established by Japan for a project to repair and rehabilitate about 120 small-to-medium-scale irrigation systems in three northern Afghan provinces.

"Helping the communities to repair their irrigation structures will effectively restart and strengthen livelihoods," said ADB rural development specialist Donneth Walton (ADB release, Jan. 8).

Syria, Libya And Iran Seek Improved Relations With Neighbors

Jan 8: Recent diplomatic overtures by Syria, Libya and Iran suggest that those countries are eager to improve relations with their neighbors and the West, the Wall Street Journal reports today.

Syrian leader Bashar Assad traveled this week to Turkey, the first visit by a Syrian head of state in more than a half century, for talks that may focus on the possible renewal of peace negotiations with Israel that stalled in 2000. Turkey - which has itself seen improved relations with Syria recently, perhaps as a result of shared concerns over Kurdish autonomy in Iraq - has offered to help broker possible talks between Syria and Israel (Chazan/Pope, Wall Street Journal, Jan. 8).

Assad introduced the possibility of renewed talks with Israel during a New York Times interview last month. Two senior Israeli Cabinet ministers said today that Israel should act on the opportunity to restart peace efforts but that they would not immediately consider withdrawing from all of the Golan Heights occupied by Israel since the 1967 Mideast war.

"There is a need to examine seriously Syria's intentions," Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said during a radio interview today, adding, "It is a long way from calling for peace talks to agreeing to leave the Golan Heights."

Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said of Syria, "They need a peace agreement with us like the air that they breathe ... a lot more than we do."

Other Israeli officials have been more dismissive of Assad's offer. Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz called the declarations "not serious" and said Syria needed to dismantle militant groups before negotiations could take place. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has also said Syria should take actions to crack down on terrorists operating from its territory.

An Arab-Israeli lawmaker from Sharon's Likud Party was reportedly visiting Syria to discuss new talks, however, and media reports said an Israeli official met in Europe with a Syrian counterpart to discuss the subject (Peter Enav, Associated Press/Yahoo! News, Jan. 8).

Libya has also recently made a series of efforts to improve its standing with Israel and the West, including agreeing to recompense victims of families killed in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and to abandon its nuclear and chemical weapons programs. Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi is also reportedly considering establishing ties with Israel, which would mark a departure from Tripoli's stalwart rejection until now of Israeli legitimacy.

"Libya clearly feels that the road to the White House passes through Israel," said Raanan Gissin, a senior adviser to Sharon.

Iran has taken actions to normalize relations with Egypt, agreeing recently to change the name of a street in the Iranian capital of Tehran named after Lieutenant Khaled al-Islambouli, who assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981 (Chazan/Pope, Wall Street Journal).

Libya's attempts to ease tensions with the West may be beginning to bear fruit, the Wall Street Journal reported today, as representatives from U.S. oil companies recently met with officials from Tripoli and planned another meeting for next week to discuss the possible return of U.S. business.

According to Abdulhafid M. Zlitni, chairman of Libya's National Oil Corp., three oil companies known as the "Oasis Group" - ConocoPhillips, Amerada Hess Corp. and Marathon Oil Corp. - as well as a fourth company, Occidental Petroleum, are expected to discuss investment possibilities.

The Oasis Group was banned from doing business in Libya in 1986 when U.S. sanctions were first imposed, and Libya has viewed the return of U.S. business as key to rejuvenating its failing economy. Libya has been reorganizing its oil holdings in anticipation of sanctions being lifted, the Wall Street Journal reports (Robbins/Warren/Greenberger, Wall Street Journal, Jan. 8).

Despite the possible rapprochement between Israel and some of its neighbors, violence continued today as a Palestinian was killed when Israeli troops fired into the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, Reuters reports (Jan. 8).

Richard Cook, the new director of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency in Lebanon, pledged yesterday to help improve living conditions in the country's Palestinian refugee camps, which he called potentially worse than in the Gaza Strip and West Bank (Beirut Daily Star, Jan. 8).

Ivory Coast Commission Meets On Long-Delayed Disarmament

Jan 8: Representatives of Ivory Coast's government met with rebels in the Ivorian capital Yamoussoukro yesterday to hammer out the details of a disarmament program mandated by a peace accord reached 12 months ago.

The three-day workshop for the national disarmament commission aimed to produce a step-by-step guide to demobilizing as many as 20,000 military troops and 40,000 civilians who took up arms over the course of the civil conflict, which erupted in September 2002. A peace deal struck in January 2003 ostensibly ended the uprising against President Laurent Gbagbo, but violence and political squabbling persisted throughout the year, and the implementation of the accord was repeatedly stalled.

Agence France-Presse reports, however, that in recent weeks the rebels, who control the north and west of the country, and Gbagbo loyalists, who hold the south, have started dismantling roadblocks and withdrawing heavy weaponry from the 400-mile buffer zone dividing the country.

French Lieutenant Colonel Christian Rollier, who attended the workshop along with representatives of the West African peacekeeping forces in the country, told the agency the aim was to pay fighters to surrender their weapons. "The idea is that each one has enough to tend to his own needs, and the needs of his family, for six months," Rollier said (AFP/ReliefWeb, Jan. 7).

Annan Praises Rebels' Return To Government

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan yesterday welcomed the return of the rebel group Forces Nouvelles to the government, saying he hoped it would "give fresh impetus to the peace process" (U.N. release, Jan. 7). The opposition group backed out of the coalition government on Sept. 23, saying Gbagbo's side was failing to uphold its obligations under the peace accord (U.N. Wire, Sept. 24).

U.N. Urges Ethiopia To Cooperate In Border Dispute

Jan 8: The U.N. Security Council said yesterday it is disappointed with Ethiopia's rejection of an independent ruling on its border dispute with Eritrea and reaffirmed the final and binding nature of the decision, which was issued by the Boundary Commission based in The Hague in April 2002.

"Council members, while acknowledging the cooperative attitude of the Eritrean government toward the commission, appealed to both parties to initiate demarcation on an expedited basis," the Security Council said in a statement (Integrated Regional Information Networks, Jan. 8). The process to demarcate the border, based on the commission's ruling, was suspended indefinitely in October (U.N. Wire, Oct. 31).

Ethiopia has refused to accept the commission's April 2002 ruling that placed the village of Badme in Eritrea, and has called for an "alternative mechanism" to the Boundary Commission.

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has appointed former Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy as a special envoy to jump-start the stalled peace process. Council members stressed that this did not constitute an "alternative mechanism" (IRIN).

Council members also yesterday expressed concern about Eritrea's recent tightening of restrictions on the movements of U.N. Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea staff and the administrative difficulties imposed by both countries, which Munoz said "unnecessarily complicate the work of UNMEE staff" (U.N. release, Jan. 7).