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ponedjeljak, 13.04.2009.

Arab League’s ‘Reconciliation’ Summit A Bust

Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir – just indicted for war crimes in Darfur by the International Criminal Court (ICC) – arrived to a red-carpet and hero’s welcome; Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak boycotted the entire gathering; Libyan President Muammar Qaddafi walked out during the opening session; King Abdullah II of Jordan left early, apparently for not having been greeted by the Emir of Qatar but by another member of the royal family; and Hamas was not even invited. Having accomplished little, the summit adjourned one day early.

Overshadowing the gathering of Arab leaders and the League’s stated agenda of ‘reconciliation’ between the decidedly pro-American, anti-Iranian camp of nations (represented by Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia) and those more willing to recognize Iran as an important regional power (namely Syria and Qatar), was the presence of al-Bashir.

In embracing al-Bashir and “rejecting” his indictment, the Arab League thumbed their noses at the West and the ICC, who called for his arrest but ignored the war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza. It may have been an understandable move by the League (which no doubt involved a bit of collective self-preservation), but certainly was not good public relations.

Next, attention was focused on the volatile and unpredictable Libyan leader. In the morning session, he railed against Saudi King Abdullah who he said was “made by Britain and protected by the United States.” To ensure the truthfulness of these words would be quickly forgotten, he went on to declare, “I am an international leader, the dean of the Arab rulers, the king of kings of Africa and the imam of Muslims and my international status does not allow me to descend to a lower level.” He then stormed out of the hall.

Hosni Mubarak of Egypt chose not to attend the summit altogether, the second year in a row he has snubbed it. His reasons were juvenile and partially borne out of jealousy for Qatar upstaging Egypt’s traditional role as powerbroker in the Arab world and mediator of its internal disputes. It was after all the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Ibn Khalifa al-Thani, who brokered the agreement last year between Lebanon’s March 8 Coalition (Hezbollah, Amal, and the Free Patriotic Movement) and the ruling March 14 Alliance, resulting in an equitable allocation of cabinet seats, eventual election of President Michel Suleiman and an end to the long standoff.

The Emir also convened an emergency Arab summit in Doha during Israel’s assault on Gaza earlier this year, and helped with reconciliation efforts between Hamas and Fatah (and between King Abdullah and Qaddafi during the summit). His backing of Hamas in the Gaza war was another reason Mubarak kept well clear of Doha.

It was Sheikh Ibn Khalifa al-Thani who appeared to have made the most cogent and germane remarks, warning of the potential catastrophic effects the global economic crisis may have on the Middle East, stating, “… the Arab world is in the direction of the wind and the eye of the storm.”

With looming economic concerns, the brouhaha over Beshir’s presence, and some notable absences (the kings of Morocco and Bahrain also did not attend); little if any time was spent on the fallout from Israel’s barbaric attack on Gaza. Other than to reiterate the League’s endorsement of the 2002 Saudi Peace Plan calling for full recognition of Israel in exchange for a complete Israeli withdrawal to pre-1967 borders, the League’s position appeared stagnant at a dynamic time.

After an inhumane embargo which had deprived Gaza of basic humanitarian supplies and necessities, the use of white phosphorus against civilians by the Israel Defense Forces, and countless reports of the deliberate targeting of innocent men, women and children (first by Palestinian eyewitnesses, then verified by humanitarian agencies and now confirmed by Israeli soldiers), the Arab League was mute.

To prevent other leaders from boycotting the summit, the remarkable decision of not extending an invitation to Hamas – the democratically-elected Palestinian government –was made. In the meantime, Israeli annexation of Palestinian territory and demolition of homes continues unabated under the new leadership of a right-wing prime minister, a fascist foreign minister and a coalition of extremist religious parties.

Not only did the Arab heads of state fail to heal their deep rifts, they did not tackle the thorny issue of relations with Iran or even begin to address the ramifications an increasingly likely Israeli attack will have on the region. Instead, egos, petty disputes, red-carpet welcomes and diplomatic snubs held sway.

Once again, ordinary citizens of the Middle East this week were reminded why the Arab League has become an utterly irrelevant, feckless institution.

- 14:36 - Komentari (0) - Isprintaj - #

World 'ignored Rwanda genocide'

Paul Kagame, the Rwandan president, has criticised world powers for "abandoning" the country to genocide in 1994, in which more than one million people were slaughtered.

The president made his comments to nearly 20,000 people on Tuesday at a ceremony marking the the 15th anniversary of the mass killings.

Kagame said of those who commanded the UN forces at the time: "They left them to be murdered. Aren't they guilty?

"We are not like those who abandoned people they had come to protect."

The ceremony was held in Nyanza, a site where thousands of people were killed four days after an attack on UN Belgian forces in the town led those troops to withdraw.

"They left even before any shot was fired. We are not cowards. They [world powers] are part of that history and the root causes of the genocide," he said.

Kagame laid a wreath as part of the ceremony and lit a torch in memory of the genocide's victims, mainly minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus killed by Hutu fighters known as the Interahamwe.
In depth

The ceremony also involved the reburial of some of the remains of those massacred in Nyanza.

Al Jazeera's Yvonne Ndege, reporting from Nyanza, said: "Many of them [those who fled to Nyanza] had come here to seek refuge and protection from a small UN mission that was based here.

"Of course, the UN eventually pulled out and at least 5,000 people met their deaths in a very brutal manner."

Benoit Kaboyi, the executive secretary of Ibuka, a genocide survivors' organisation, said: "Nyanza marks the failure of the international community. It is the failure of humanity as a whole."

Kigali has repeatedly accused world powers of not doing enough to hunt down the perpetrators of the genocide, many of whom remain at large in countries such as France, Belgium, Canada, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Rwanda has also criticised nations, particularly France, of failing to acknowledge their role in allowing the killings.

Latest figures released by the UN and Rwanda's government say that at least 1.2 million people were killed in the genocide.

The beginning of the genocide was signalled in April 1994, when a plane carrying Juvenal Habyarimana, the former Rwandan president, and Cyprien Ntaryamira, his Burundian counterpart, was shot down.

The killings of minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus by Interahamwe fighters continued over the next 100 days.

The genocide remains a source of tension, with some survivors saying they are targets for intimidation by their former foes and Hutus complaining of marginalisation by Kagame's government.

Rwanda's criminal investigations department has said that 2,178 cases of murder, torture and intimidation of genocide survivors had been recorded since 2007.

- 14:34 - Komentari (1) - Isprintaj - #

Battered Japanese whalers return

Japan's whaling fleet has returned to its home port after violent clashes with anti-whaling activists damaged its ships and left the Antarctic hunting season's catch well short of its target, officials have said.

The Fisheries Agency said three vessels docked in Shimonoseki, a port town about 800 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, on Monday while the mother ship was due in on Tuesday.

Two other ships returned to Japan last week.

Officials said the six vessels had caught 679 minke whales and one fin whale during its five-month hunt, short of the targeted 935 minke whales and 50 fin whales in the hunt that began in November.

Some of the vessels had mangled guard rails and large scratches in their sides as a result of heated run-ins with a boat from the Australian-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, the agency said.

It said bad weather and the skirmishes with anti-whaling activists had meant the fleet could not carry out whaling for a total of 16 days.

"This season's catch was reduced as a result of the interference by protesters," Shigeki Takaya, an agency spokesman, said.

The Sea Shepherd which chased the Japanese fleet more than 3,200km through the Antarctic ocean withdrew in February after increasingly hostile exchanges between the two sides.

Injury risk

Japan says the hunt is to further research on the mammals [AFP/Australian Customs]

Captain Paul Watson, a spokesman for the anti-whaling campaign, said the Steve Irwin broke off the chase because the risk of serious injury at sea was too great.

But the operator of the Japanese whaling fleet accused the activists for escalating the attacks by ramming two Japanese vessels and pelting whalers with acid-filled glass bottles.

Kazuo Yamamura, the president of Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha, the company which runs the fleet, said he was upset by damage allegedly caused to his ships by Sea Shepherd.

"I'm enraged, and my blood is boiling with anger," he told reporters on Monday.

Japanese officials have also described the environmentalists as "terrorists" and "pirates", and demanded the Australian take action against Sea Shepherd.

Japan officially stopped commercial whaling after agreeing to a global moratorium in 1986, but began what it calls a scientific research whaling programme the following year.

While whale meat is no longer a common food in the country, meat from the hunt is sold in Japanese supermarkets and upscale restaurants.

Whaling for research purposes is allowed under a loophole in the regulations overseen by the global whaling watchdog, the International Whaling Commission.

- 14:32 - Komentari (0) - Isprintaj - #

Health chiefs pay smokers and obese to change habits

Obese patients in Kent, southern England, are being paid up to Ł425 ($1000) to lose weight by the National Health Service in a trial to test whether financial incentives can be used to change unhealthy behaviour.

In Essex, pregnant women who smoke are being offered up to Ł100 in food vouchers on the NHS if they give up. Payments are made after one week, one month and one year.

A review of the use of financial incentives in health says the approach has divided Britain's health community. Some condemn it as bribery and coercion, which rewards people for unhealthy behaviour. Others see it as the obverse of taxation, giving money back to people for healthy behaviour instead of making them pay (in tobacco and alcohol duty) for unhealthy behaviour.

Personal financial incentives are increasingly being used to persuade people to change unhealthy habits. But unlike tax they are targeted at individuals rather than populations. One of the highest rewards was offered by General Electric in the United States to staff who stopped smoking. They were paid up to US$750 ($1300) with the major part (US$400) payable only after 12 months of abstinence.

Theresa Marteau, professor of health psychology at Kings College, London, lead author of the review published in the online version of the British Medical Journal, said: "The theory is that much of our behaviour - 45 per cent - is habitual. The idea of incentives is to help break bad habits and once the new habit is established, the incentive can be removed. But unless you change the environment the chances of success are reduced."

She added: "This is about understanding human frailty. Most people don't want to be overweight or keep smoking but find it difficult to do anything about it. If we can kick start a change in their habits then that is good for them and for the rest of us."

Paying people to change their habits works because it offers immediate rewards for behaviour that will only provide a health benefit in years ahead. The approach was recommended last month in a report by Health England, a government advisory group chaired by a former No 10 health adviser, Professor Julian Le Grand.

Le Grand, a health policy expert at the London School of Economics, said: "One of the main problems facing both individuals and the Government is that we reap the costs of unhealthy activities in the future whereas we experience their pleasures and benefits today. The 18-year-old smoker does not think about dying of lung cancer at 60. Policies have to be developed that bring some of the costs of unhealthy activities - or the benefits of healthy ones - back from the future."

The idea of paying patients to promote health originated in the developing world where it has been successfully used to encourage one-off responses, such as attendance at clinics or uptake of vaccinations. But changing behaviour has proved harder. A review of 17 trials of the use of payments to help people give up smoking found the effects only lasted as long as the incentives were paid. Similarly nine weight loss trials showed no benefit from payments after 18 months.

- 14:29 - Komentari (1) - Isprintaj - #

Three sherpas to stay on top of Everest for 24 hours

Three Sherpa brothers hoping to set a new record by spending 24 hours at the top of the world set out Sunday for the summit of Mount Everest.

The trio - Pemba Dorje, 31; Nima Gyalzen, 23; and Phurba Tenzing, 20 - boarded a plane in Katmandu, Nepal's capital, and flew to a small airport on the foothills of Everest. They were expected to trek to the base camp with their team, climbing gear and supplies in the next few days.

The brothers plan to reach the 29,035-foot (8,850-meter) summit in May and spend 24 hours at the top, known as "the death zone" because of the extreme weather. Most climbers linger there for only a few minutes, just long enough to take a photograph.

Several friends and supporters of the brothers gathered at the airport to wish them success.

"It is going to be difficult, but we are confident because all of us have reached the Everest summit many times and we are all experienced climbers on the mountain," Dorje told reporters at the airport.

At the summit, they will face extreme cold weather, low air pressure, brain-starving low levels of oxygen, high winds and blizzard conditions.

The last record was set by Babu Chhiri, who spent 21 hours at the summit in 1999. A veteran mountaineer, he died in 2001 during an expedition

The brothers said they planned to pray, take notes of the changing temperatures and the effect they have on human bodies.

Dorje holds the record for the fastest climb of the world's highest mountain, sprinting from a base camp to the summit in just eight hours 10 minutes.

Sherpa tribesmen were mostly yak herders and traders living in the Himalayas until Nepal opened its borders to tourism in 1950. Their stamina and knowledge of the mountains makes them expert guides and porters.

They typically have no family name and are called after the days of the week they are born.

- 14:27 - Komentari (0) - Isprintaj - #

US Navy guns down Somali pirates, rescues kidnapped captain

Snipers on a US Navy ship cut down three Somali pirates in a lifeboat and rescued an American sea captain in a surprise nighttime assault in choppy seas today, ending a five-day standoff between a team of rogue gunmen and the world's most powerful military.

It was a stunning ending to an Indian Ocean odyssey that began when 53-year-old freighter Capt. Richard Phillips was taken hostage Wednesday by pirates who tried to hijack the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama. The American was held on a tiny lifeboat that began drifting precariously toward Somalia's anarchic, gun-plagued shores.

The operation, personally approved by President Barack Obama, quashed fears the saga could drag on for months and marked a victory for the U.S., which for days seemed powerless to resolve the crisis despite massing helicopter-equipped warships at the scene.

One of the pirates pointed an AK-47 at the back of Phillips, who was tied up and in "imminent danger" of being killed when the commander of the nearby USS Bainbridge naval ship made the split-second decision to order his men to shoot, Vice Adm. Bill Gortney said. The lifeboat was being towed by the Bainbridge at the time, he said.

A fourth pirate was in discussions with naval authorities about Phillips' fate when the rescue took place. He is in US custody and could face could face life in a US prison.

The rescue was a dramatic blow to the pirates who have preyed on international shipping and hold more than a dozen ships with about 230 foreign sailors. But it is unlikely to do much to quell the region's growing pirate threat, which has transformed one of the world's busiest shipping lanes into one of its most dangerous. It also risked provoking retaliatory attacks.

"This could escalate violence in this part of the world, no question about it," said Gortney, the commander of US Naval Forces Central Command.

Abdullahi Lami, one of the pirates holding the Greek ship anchored in the Somali town of Gaan said: "Every country will be treated the way it treats us. In the future, America will be the one mourning and crying," he told The Associated Press. "We will retaliate (for) the killings of our men."

Jamac Habeb, a 30-year-old self-proclaimed pirate, told The Associated Press from one of Somalia's piracy hubs, Eyl, that: "From now on, if we capture foreign ships and their respective countries try to attack us, we will kill them (the hostages)."

"Now they became our number one enemy," Habeb said of US forces.

Phillips was not hurt in several minutes of gunfire and the US Navy's 5th Fleet said he was resting comfortably on a US warship after receiving a medical exam.

- 14:25 - Komentari (1) - Isprintaj - #

Woman ignores rape girl's pleas for help

A 13-year-old girl pleaded for help from a stranger minutes before she was dragged into bushes yesterday and raped in a daylight attack near a busy road.

Police say the girl approached a woman filling her car at the BP station on Great North Rd in Waterview, west Auckland, and begged for help after being followed by a stranger for about a kilometre from Pt Chevalier.

The woman reportedly told the girl to keep away from the man, and drove off.

Police are urging the motorist to contact them.

Detective Sergeant Andy King last night told the Herald the man posed a huge risk to the community, and it was feared he could strike again.

"This is a real blitz attack, for want of a better word, on a very vulnerable young girl.

"He was harassing her off and on the whole way ... he ended up grabbing her by the arm and dragging her into some nearby bush area and raping her."

The girl - who is believed to live in the area - was followed from the Pt Chevalier shops, along various walkways that run through the area.

It is believed the man tried to strike up a conversation with her before going into the BP petrol station, where a security camera was operating.

Soon after leaving the service station, the man dragged the girl into secluded bushes in the Esplanade and raped her.

The girl told police he continued to follow her for several minutes after the assault, before running off. She did not see which way he went.

The girl went home and told her mother after being released by her attacker.

Mr King believed the attack was the first of its kind since since another Oakley Creek Reserve attack about three or four years ago.

He said children were home for the school holidays, and he advised parents to keep a close eye on them.

"Stranger attacks on women are unusual, but for it to happen in broad daylight like this, and to a young girl, makes it incredibly scary."

Mr King said the attacker appeared to know the area well and police are appealing for sightings or any information about him.

The victim has described him as a Maori or Polynesian, aged between 20 and 30, of a solid build and about 1.82m tall.

The man had his hair tied back in a very bushy ponytail and was wearing a dark-coloured cap and dark wrap-around sunglasses.

He was wearing a brown or khaki coloured T-shirt emblazoned with a white Puma logo and Puma cat motif, long khaki army shorts, with white socks and shoes and had a white stretchy athletic bandage on his left elbow.

Mr King said police would continue to interview witnesses and make a wide canvass of the area. They would use their intelligence database to identify potential offenders.

The girl had a medical assessment yesterday and was to be interviewed by a specialist child interviewer tomorrow or on Wednesday.

- 14:23 - Komentari (1) - Isprintaj - #

Man arrested for Waterview rape

Police have arrested a man for the alleged rape of a 13-year-old Auckland girl.

The 34-year-old drain layer will appear in Auckland District Court tomorrow charged with sexual violation by rape, two charges of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, abduction for sexual connection, and aggravated wounding by stupefying.

The charges follow an alleged incident in the west Auckland suburb of Waterview yesterday afternoon in which the girl was attacked while walking from the Pt Chevalier shops towards Waterview.

The 13 year old victim told police that she was accosted and followed by a male, and forced into some bushes where she was sexually violated.

The girl - who is believed to live in the area - had allegedly been followed from the Pt Chevalier shops, along various walkways that run through the area.

The girl went home and told her mother after being released by her alleged attacker.

The girl had a medical assessment yesterday and was to be interviewed by a specialist child interviewer tomorrow or on Wednesday.

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- 14:21 - Komentari (0) - Isprintaj - #

Pakistani Taliban urge lawmakers to back Swat peace deal

A spokesman for the extremists has warned that Pakistani lawmakers who do not support a peace deal with the Taliban that imposes Islamic law in a northwestern trouble spot will be considered apostates.

Muslim Khan did not say on Monday whether the Taliban would punish legislators opposing the deal other than to say a militant council would discuss the matter.

Apostasy, or abandoning Islam, is a serious charge that in some quarters carries the death penalty.

The provincial government in northwest Pakistan agreed in February to impose Islamic law in the Swat Valley and surrounding areas in exchange for a cease-fire with Taliban fighters who have terrorised the area for some 18 months, killing hundreds.

However, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has delayed signing the agreement.

- 14:19 - Komentari (0) - Isprintaj - #

At least 21 killed in Poland fire

Fire has ripped through a homeless hostel in Poland, killing at least 21 people and injuring 20 more.

The blaze broke out around 1am on Monday in Kamien Pomorski, near the Baltic Sea coast.

Polish television showed the charred, gutted shell of the building surrounded by fire engines.
These news feeds are provided by an independent third party and Channel 4 is not responsible or liable to you for the same.

- 12:32 - Komentari (0) - Isprintaj - #

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