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11/20/2008
U.N. Looks to Doha Summit for Answers
Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 19 (IPS) - As the spreading global financial crisis threatens to cripple banks, stock markets and manufacturing industries in the developing world, the United Nations is now focusing on the outcome of a major international conference on Financing for Development (FfD) scheduled to take place in Doha next week. The oil and gas-rich emirate of Qatar, which is hosting the conference, is seeking a high political profile for a meeting open to all 192 member states, compared with last week's economic summit in Washington which was restricted to 20 developed and developing nations. Ambassador Nassir Abdelaziz al-Nasser, the permanent representative of Qatar to the United Nations, says his government is pulling all the stops to ensure that FfD will be a key summit meeting of world leaders who could help alleviate the current crisis. "We expect a number of heads of state and government to attend the summit meeting," he added As of last week, he said, the list of world leaders expected to attend the meeting include those from France, Spain, South Korea, Turkey, South Africa, Japan, Australia, Mexico, and possibly Brazil, Indonesia and Italy, along with the head of the European Commission. The head count is expected to increase by next week.
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Obama Urged to Strengthen Ties with U.N.
Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON, Nov 19 (IPS) - A bipartisan group of some three dozen senior foreign policy figures has released a statement calling for President-elect Barack Obama to make strengthening long-troubled U.S. relations with the United Nations a major priority in his new administration. It calls, among other things, for the incoming administration to pay U.S. debts to the world body on time, join the much-criticised Human Rights Council (HRC) in order to better influence its direction, and seek Senate approval of key treaties signed by past U.S. presidents but never ratified. It also calls for the new administration to lead U.N. efforts on nuclear proliferation, climate change, and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), an ambitious set of targets adopted in 2000 that include increasing foreign aid from wealthy countries like the United States in order to, among other things, halve the proportion of poor people living on less than one dollar a day by 2015. Among the signatories are three former National Security Advisors -- Gen. Brent Scowcroft, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and Samuel Berger -- as well as four former Democratic cabinet officers, including former secretaries of state Madeleine Albright and Warren Christopher, and former defence secretaries Harold Brown and William Perry. The full statement will be published in a full-page ad in the New York Times Thursday. "The next president has a unique opportunity to revitalise the U.S.-U.N. relationship as a symbol of America's commitment to constructive international cooperation. This investment will pay off substantially by helping to enhance our standing internationally and strengthen our ability to keep America safe and strong," according to the statement, which was released Wednesday by the United Nations Foundation (UNF) and the Partnership for a Secure America (PSA).
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IPS and UNDP Launch Second Journalism Prize on MDGs
Diego Cevallos
EXICO CITY, Nov 19 (IPS) - Next year will be a tough time for the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, which means it will be more than ever necessary to avoid backsliding in the efforts to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and journalists have an important role to play in that task, UNDP regional director Rebeca Grynspan said Wednesday. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) director for Latin America and the Caribbean was speaking at the launch in Mexico City of the second "Latin America and the Millennium Development Goals" Journalism Award sponsored by the U.N. agency and the Inter Press Service (IPS) international news agency. The prize, which "pays homage to journalists who help make utopia achievable," takes on special importance in this time of crisis, said Grynspan. It also urges reporters to come up with new ideas and proposals for coverage of issues and life stories linked to the MDGs, she added. Journalists can and should focus on the relationship between the MDGs, adopted by the international community in 2000, and the impact of the current global financial crisis, which this region had no hand in causing but which will nonetheless affect it, said Grynspan. A total of 466 articles from 19 Latin American and Caribbean countries, written in Spanish, Portuguese or English and published in print media in the region between Oct. 1, 2006 and Jun. 30, 2007, were submitted for the first edition of the UNDP/IPS prize.
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World Willing to Pay More for Green Energy
Wolfgang Kerler
NEW YORK, Nov 19 (IPS) - A new poll by WorldPublicOpinion.org, a global network of research centres, finds that a majority of people in 21 nations support greater use of alternative energies like wind and solar and modifications to make buildings more energy efficient, even if costs more in the short term. "People perceive that oil is running out and that it is necessary to take steps right away to replace it as a source of energy," Steven Kull, director of WorldPublicOpinion.org, told IPS. "They really think in the long run." An average of 77 percent of respondents thought policy-makers should require utilities to invest more in alternative energy, with country results ranging from 50 percent support in Russia to 89 percent in South Korea. With an average agreement of 74 percent, almost the same enthusiasm was shown for greater efforts to make buildings more energy efficient. The lowest support, 54 percent, was found in the Palestinian Territories, while an overwhelming 89 percent of French and British want to see stronger commitments by their governments. In contrast, fewer than half of the nations polled favour more emphasis on nuclear energy, coal or oil to meet energy demands in the future. Only in Kenya, Argentina, Jordan and Nigeria did researchers find more than 50-percent support for building new coal- and oil-fired power plants. However, the average support for new coal and oil-fired plans lies at 40 percent, while only 33 percent say coal and oil should be deemphasised. With 40 to 30 percent, a question on the construction of new nuclear power plants found very similar results. Still, overall support for alternative energies is much higher.
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Sailors At Sea Over Violence
Miren Gutierrez
ROME, Nov 19 (IPS) - The oil tanker Sirius Star may be the largest ship to have been hijacked so far, but piracy is far from rare. In all 251 such incidents worldwide have been reported this year to the Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) of the International Maritime Bureau. For ship crew, sailing can often be a matter of life and death. In the first six months of 2008, 71 vessels were boarded, 12 vessels were hijacked, and 11 vessels were fired upon. A total of 190 crew were taken hostage. Seven were killed, and another seven are missing, presumed dead, according to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB). The IMB is a non-profit organisation established in 1981 as a focal point in the fight against maritime crimes and malpractices. "The overall number (of incidents) is slightly higher than last year...but in the Gulf of Aden and the east coast of Somalia there has been an increase of hijacking incidents with hostages, of incidents with guns and rocket-propelled grenades, of fire aboard the ships. The level of violence associated is a lot higher," says IMB Manager Cyrus Mody in a telephone interview from London. Sailors have been advised by Commercial Crime Services (CCS), the anti-crime arm of the IMB's International Chamber of Commerce, to "be extra cautious and to take necessary precautionary measures" around Bangladesh, Indonesia, India, the Malacca Straits, the Philippines, the Singapore Straits, Lagos and the Bonny River (Nigeria), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, Somalian waters, Brazil, Peru and the Arabian Sea. "But the waters around Somalia, including further south off Kenya, are very high risk areas, the most dangerous," says Mody.
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Tibetan Movement May Dump 'Middle Way'
Antoaneta Bezlova
BEIJING, Nov 19 (IPS) - Eight months after Tibet's capital of Lhasa was rocked by violent anti-Chinese protests positions have hardened, casting gloom on prospects for progress on the Tibetan stalemate. More than 500 Tibetan exile leaders have gathered in Dharamsala, India, for emergency talks over their future strategy on China. The Dalai Lama's admission of failure in his "middle way" approach -- a policy of compromise and peaceful dialogue that he has pursued for years with Beijing -- has led to calls by some radical followers to push for outright independence for Tibet. The prime minister of Tibet's government-in-exile said the talks this week could lead to a dramatic new path for the Tibetan movement if the congress decided to drop the Dalai Lama's moderate path of compromise. "If the outcome of the present meeting is we should switch over from the 'middle way' to independence, we will gladly follow that," Samdhong Rinpoche said. He added the exile parliament would have the final say over any decisions made this week. Beijing responded with a harsh warning, saying any attempt to split the Himalayan region from China were "doomed".
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Newsbriefs
What Future For MONUC?
Cuba & China Strengthening Friendly Ties
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11/19/2008
On Top of Humanitarian Disaster, A News Blackout in Gaza
Cherrie Heywood
RAMALLAH, West Bank, Nov 18 (IPS) - Israel has imposed a virtual news blackout on the Gaza Strip. For the last ten days no foreign journalists have been able to enter the besieged territory to report on the escalating humanitarian crisis caused by Israel's complete closure of Gaza's borders for the last two weeks. Steve Gutkin, the AP bureau chief in Jerusalem and head of Israel's Foreign Press Association, said that he personally "knows of no foreign journalist that has been allowed into Gaza in the last week." Gutkin said that "while Israel has barred foreign press from entering Gaza in the past, the length of the current ban makes it unprecedented." He added that he has received no "plausible or acceptable" explanation for the ban from the Israeli government. AP has relied on reports from two of its journalists who were able to enter Gaza days before the closure began and are currently stuck there. A delegation of European Union parliamentarians was also prevented from entering Gaza to assess the situation on the ground and to hold talks with Hamas leaders. They subsequently broke the naval siege of Gaza by entering the coast's territorial waters from Cyprus by boat, defying the Israeli navy. During talks held with Hamas, the EU parliamentarians were able to get a historic commitment from the Islamic organisation to recognise Israel's right to exist within the internationally recognised 1967 borders. Hamas further offered a long-term ceasefire in return for Israel legitimising Palestinian rights.
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Don't Bank On Them
David Cronin
BRUSSELS, Nov 18 (IPS) - Public confidence in Belgian banks has eroded considerably over the past few months. A series of multi-billion euro rescue plans, reports of lavish executive bonuses and investigations into whether shareholders were misled about solvency levels have fuelled fears that the savings of the hard-pressed ordinary citizen are anything but safe. Less noticed, though arguably more disturbing, are revelations that the country's banks invest in projects that damage the environment and abuse elementary human rights. By visiting the 'Bank Secrets' website (www.bankgeheimen.be), savers can monitor what is done with the money they lodge in their accounts. It says that there is a "very high" chance that Fortis, Citibank and ING invest in harmful projects, and a "high" risk that Dexia and KBC do. Netwerk Vlaanderen, the Flemish human rights organisation which set up the website, has used four main criteria to assess projects that banks finance: if they involve the manufacture of weapons; if they respect the employment standards recommended by the International Labour Organisation; if they are ecologically destructive and; if they involve cooperation with repressive regimes. Netwerk campaigner Matthias Bienstman says that the financial crisis presents a "real opportunity for change" in the investment policies of banks, given that the bailouts they have received from the exchequer should make them more responsive to public concerns.
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Pact Will End Iraqi Dependence on U.S. Military
Analysis by Gareth Porter
WASHINGTON, Nov 18 (IPS) - The text of the U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) signed by U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari Monday closes the door to a further U.S. military presence beyond 2011 even more tightly than the previous draft and locks in a swift end to Iraqi dependence on the U.S. military that appears to be irreversible. The agreement ends the Bush administration's aspiration for a long-term military presence, aimed both at projecting power in the region from bases in Iraq and at maintaining that Iraqi military dependence on U.S. training, advice and support. The agreement represents an acute embarrassment for the Bush administration, which had taken the position through most of the summer that the agreement would be consistent with its demand for a "conditions-based" withdrawal. Instead of adjusting its rhetoric to reflect the actual agreement, White House press secretary Dana Perino took the line Monday that the agreement contains only "aspirational dates" for complete withdrawal and for withdrawal from Iraqi cities and towns. That was a Bush administration demand that was still in the negotiating text as of Aug. 13, in the form of language referring to "time targets" rather than a firm deadline for withdrawal and which even allowed the two sides to "review" the "conditions that might lead to one side asking the other to extend or reduce the time periods" for withdrawal from cities and complete withdrawal. But the Bush administration soon dropped those demands, perhaps in the recognition that a Barack Obama administration would withdraw even more rapidly than the date set in the agreement.
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www.ipsnews.net
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RIGHTS-CAMBODIA: Khmer Rouge Through Blinkered Eyes
MEDIA-SRI LANKA: Under Fire Journos Learn Survival Skills
U.S.: Obama Urged to Strengthen Ties with U.N.
LATIN AMERICA: IPS and UNDP Launch Second Journalism Prize on MDGs
DEVELOPMENT: U.N. Looks to Doha Summit for Answers
CUBA-CHINA: Strengthening Friendly Ties
HEALTH-AFRICA: Research and Policies Lack Civil Society Input
CLIMATE CHANGE: World Willing to Pay More for Green Energy
U.S.-MEXICO: Fence to Carve Up Fragile Border Preserve
CHILE: Women Kick Off ‘New Stage’ in Sports
ECUADOR-COLOMBIA: No Thaw in Sight
TRADE: Sailors At Sea Over Violence
PERU: My Mining Deposits Are Under Your House
POLITICS-DR CONGO: What Future For MONUC?
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