Top Changes

2007 has been a dramatic year. At least in the political scene, quite a number of major political figures have been changed or elected officially. Here are some that I know:

16th May 2007 - Nicolas Sarkozy succeeded Jacques Chirac as the 23rd President of French Republic and assumed office on the said date.

20th May 2007 - Jose Ramos Horta succeeded Xanana Gusmao (current Prime Minister) as the 2nd President of East Timor.

15th June 2007 - Salam Fayyad was appointed the 6th Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority, succeeding Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas.

27th June 2007 - James Gordon Brown succeeded Tony Blair (Anthony Charles Lynton Blair) as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom as well as Leader of the Labour Party (on 24th June 2007).

15th July 2007 - Shimon Peres succeeded Moshe Katsav as the 9th President of the State of Israel.

8th August 2007 - Xanana Gusmao succeeded Estanislau da Silva as the 4th Prime Minister of East Timor.

14th September 2007 - Viktor Zubkov succeeded Mikhail Fradkov as the Prime Minister of Russia.

26th September 2007 - The 90th Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe resigned abruptly on 12th September 2007 after less than one year in office. He was then replaced by Yasuo Fukuda.

16th November 2007 - Muhammad Mian Soomro succeeded Shaukat Aziz as the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

25th November 2007 - Nader al-Dahabi succeeded Marouf al-Bakhit as the Prime Minister of Jordan.

3rd December 2007 - Kevin Rudd succeeded John Howard as the 26th Prime Minister of Australia in the 2007 Federal Election on 24th Nov 2007.

10th December 2007 - Cristina Fernández de Kirchner succeeded her former-president husband Néstor Carlos Kirchner Ostoić in the October 2007 General Election in Argentina.

20 December 2007 - Lee Myung-Bak was elected as the President of South Korea, succeeding Roh Moo-Hyun and will assume office on 25th Feb 2008.

In the mean time, Pakistan will hold their election in January 2008 and we can expect Vladmir Putin’s second term as President of Russian Federation will expire in May 2008. Also, US Presidential Election of 2008 will be held on 4 Nov 2008.

Genetically modified wine - Unleash the war on terroir

An oenological wish-list for the drinking season


FOR the beleaguered winemakers of France, threats come in many guises. One French grower complained that each bottle of New World wine that lands in Europe is a “bomb targeted at the heart of our rich European culture”. But few things agitate French winemakers more than other winemakers' unspeakable irreverence towards the terroir, the mix of soil and climate found in the place where a vine is grown. The strength of feeling is so great that the country even has its own breed of, er, terroiristes. A group of masked, militant French winemakers has attacked foreign tankers of wine, bricked up a public building and caused small explosions at supermarkets.

Now France's balaclava-clad winemakers have a new horror to see off: transgenic wine. Scientists have unpicked the genetic secrets of pinot noir, the grape that produces some of the world's finest wines and also contributes to some blends of champagne (see article). It turns out to be the offspring of two very different parent varieties—they have less genetic material in common, in fact, than humans do with chimpanzees. The researchers' findings, which cast light on the origins of pinot noir's subtle flavours, will make it easier to engineer new varieties that can grow in places where cultivation is impractical today. Efforts to create transgenic grapevines are well advanced, and transgenic wine yeasts are already starting to appear in American winemaking.

Alas, those working on transgenic vines have failed to heed the lessons of earlier GM-food fiascos. They are creating what the producers want (disease-resistant grapevines) rather than making tweaks that also appeal to consumers.

What sort of traits might consumers want, you ask? More reliable flavours for one thing. No longer need you doubt whether a wine truly does possess flavours of exotic coffee, chocolate, Asian spice, roast duck and blackberry and prune liqueur. Genes from those very animals and plants could be spliced straight into the grape's genome. Forget hours spent swilling, swirling, sniffing, gurgling and spitting—it will all be there in black and white, in the sequence data.

From Saint-Amour to Viagra
Why should sauvignon blanc be stuck with boring old gooseberry and cabernet sauvignon with cassis? Genomics could beget some novel wine flavours and combinations to ensure the wine really does go with the food: pinot noir with cranberries, pork, and sage and onion stuffing, perhaps.

And why stop there? It would surely be wise to boost the levels of wine's beneficial ingredients and add a few more for good measure. Consistent amounts of resveratrol, quercetin and ellagic acid will help improve cardiovascular health and may even confirm what the French have known all along—that drinking red wine is good for you.

A gene for producing acetylsalicylic acid, better known as aspirin, would help to prevent heart attacks and blood clots. You could get your doctor to supply your daily half-bottle by prescription. The aspirin's analgesic effect would head off hangovers before they even started. Caffeine could be added to keep drinkers awake during boring dinner parties. And it may even be possible to insert a gene to produce sildenafil citrate, the active ingredient in Viagra. For many men that would help to prevent the ultimate wine-induced humiliation.

The possibilities are endless—all that is needed is a little imagination. Too bad if all this leads to an outbreak of militant shrugging among the good vintners of Burgundy. Times have changed. Scientists have a clear duty. Following the lead of many world leaders, they must make it clear that they are not willing to negotiate with anyone who supports terroirisme.

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The Economist

19th Dec 2007

Europe's car industry - Collision course

New emission rules hit German carmakers

IF BALI failed to produce much besides cop-outs and compromises, at least the European Commission showed that it means business when it comes to tackling carbon emissions. Transport-related CO2 emissions in the European Union grew by one-third between 1990 and 2005 and now constitute 27% of the EU total. Of these, the commission reckons, cars and vans are responsible for about half.

On Wednesday December 19th the commission published its final proposals for cleaning up Europe’s cars. Although it will be at least a year before they become law and there is still scope for some of the details to change there is now little doubt that in only a few years’ time European carmakers will have to meet the world’s strictest CO2-emission standards

At present Europe’s cars emit an average of about 160 grams of CO2 per kilometre (g/km). There has been some reduction since carmakers were last threatened with legislation a decade ago, but progress has been painfully slow—about 1.5% a year rather than the 3% needed to meet the voluntary target of 140g/km by 2008 that the industry agreed to a few years ago. The commission is therefore insisting that by 2012, the fleet-average emissions from new cars sold in the EU must not exceed 130g/km, with another 10g/km reduction coming from other sources, such as low rolling-resistance tyres, more efficient air-conditioning and greater use of biofuels.

The proposals have split Europe’s car industry down the middle. The French and the Italians, represented by PSA Peugeot Citroën, Renault and Fiat, have so far been fairly sanguine. In 2006 their fleets, heavily biased towards fuel-efficient small cars, averaged 142-147g/km. It will not be easy for them to meet the new rules without increasing the cost of their cheap, low-margin cars, but they are close enough to be confident that they can get there.

For the Germans it is a different matter. Volkswagen makes plenty of small cars but its fleet-average emissions have actually been rising slightly because of the recent success of its Audi brand. But it is Mercedes-Benz and BMW that feel most threatened by the commission’s plans. Their brands are synonymous with big, powerful cars that promise luxury and high performance. Mercedes props up the 2006 emissions league table with a fleet average of 188g/km, and BMW is next from bottom with 184g/km.

BMW has at least been making an effort to burnish its environmental credentials. As well as reducing the weight of its cars, it is now extending across its range a package of fuel-saving tricks called “Efficient Dynamics”. This brings together the latest engine technologies with energy-saving auxiliary units, automatic start-stop and regenerative braking.

By contrast, Mercedes still seems to be in a state of denial. It has heavily promoted its BlueTec technology, but that is primarily designed to deal with clean-air regulations in America (which have limited the sales of diesel cars), not to meet European CO2 rules. Along with BMW, General Motors and Chrysler, it has developed a new hybrid system called Two-Mode. But this is an expensive option that is likely to find its way only slowly into the firm’s sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) and bigger saloons.

Meanwhile, both BMW and Mercedes continue to build cars that are bigger than the ones they replace and have ever more powerful engines. Both firms insist that as long as customers want such cars, they will build them, particularly as they are highly profitable and popular in export markets such as America, Russia and China. They also point out, correctly, that removing their high-end models entirely from the European market would have only a minimal impact on carbon emissions, because they are a tiny proportion of the overall fleet. They argue that the makers of small cars, which sell so many more vehicles, should have to do more to reduce emissions—perhaps by reducing their fleet averages well below the EU’s proposed 130g/km limit.

Intensive lobbying by BMW and Mercedes, with support from the EU’s industry commissioner, Günter Verheugen (who happens to be German), and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has had some effect. To the fury of green campaigners, the commission has agreed to a “weight dispensation” that will allow makers of heavier cars (ie, the Germans) to produce higher fleet-average emissions.

The commission is determined not to let the premium carmakers off the hook, however, so much will depend on the slope of the weight/CO2 graph. The most grossly polluting vehicles may not be numerous, but if they do not attract stiff penalties the emission rules will lose all credibility. The commission would like to impose fines of €95 ($137) per car per gram on emissions exceeding 130g/km. Without any weight allowance, the existing Mercedes fleet would attract a penalty of about €5,500 a vehicle. In practice the final figure will be lower. But the commission is adamant that although it does not want to destroy the German carmakers’ business, they must be under real financial pressure to develop and implement radical fuel-saving technologies.

Even though it is clear what new technologies will be needed (smaller engines, more efficient automatic transmissions, various kinds of hybrid and greater use of biofuels) the Germans will struggle. Given that a new car takes five to seven years to develop, new technologies cannot be incorporated straight away, they argue. A further problem, according to Ricardo, an automotive consultancy, is that there are not enough engineering resources to go round. As things stand, the Germans have no hope of avoiding substantial fines unless they are given longer to comply and are prepared to change their mix of models. Neither looks likely.

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The Economist

20th Dec 2007

Thailand's election

“WE'RE not selling fish sauce, this is an election rally,” jokes Sombat Ratano as he walks alongside his campaign truck with a microphone, hailing the voters of a rural village in Ubon Ratchathani province. In Isaan, Thailand's poor and populous north-east region, support is still strong for Thaksin Shinawatra, the prime minister deposed by a military coup in September 2006. Mr Sombat is a candidate in the December 23rd general election. He is standing for the People's Power Party (PPP), a reincarnation of Mr Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai (TRT), which was disbanded after the coup. As he tours the village, he drops Mr Thaksin's name at every opportunity, promising to revive the policies—from cheap health care to farming loans—that made the former prime minister popular.

Pakistan is not the only Asian country where a dodgy military regime is running a general election under dubious electoral rules in the hope of keeping out a similarly dodgy civilian whom it overthrew. The difference is that unlike Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan, the exiled Mr Thaksin is not being allowed to take part in the vote himself, and there may be slightly more hope that things will come out right in the end.

Middle-class Bangkokians, who are as snooty about their country cousins as any metropolitan elite anywhere, often say that “uneducated” rural voters such as those in Isaan were bribed and tricked into voting for Mr Thaksin. But rural voters were quite rational in handing him landslide victories in 2001 and 2005. He was Thailand's first party leader to promise and deliver a comprehensive set of policies aimed at the mass of voters. The allegations of corruption, conflicts of interest and vote-buying that surround him are serious but hardly unusual: such practices are endemic in Thai politics.

The gravest allegation against Mr Thaksin is that in a “war on drugs” in 2003 he seemed to be encouraging extra-judicial killings of suspected drug-dealers by police. An investigation into this, started after the coup, remains incomplete—perhaps because the policy, however brutal, was also popular. Amid signs of resurgent amphetamine abuse, the PPP unashamedly talks of reviving it.

On his shirt Mr Sombat bears the logo of King Bhumibol's 80th birthday celebrations, held earlier in December. This is a subtle riposte to the military junta's accusation that Mr Thaksin and his party do not respect the country's revered monarch, whose portrait is as omnipresent in the Isaan countryside as it is around Bangkok's royal palaces. The PPP has also hired Samak Sundaravej, an arch-royalist, as stand-in leader while Mr Thaksin remains abroad. Though close to the palace, Mr Samak is a foe of General Prem Tinsulanonda, the king's chief adviser and, Thaksinites allege, mastermind of the coup.

Many parties, old and new, are contesting the election. Some have brought military men on board, hoping for army backing. Niran Pitakwatchara, a local doctor standing in Ubon Ratchathani for Matchimathipataya, one of the new parties, reckons voters have started to see the flaws in Mr Thaksin's policies. But all the other parties, including Mr Niran's, have adopted copycat versions of them—making them awkward to attack.

The generals who staged the coup claimed to be saving Thai democracy from Mr Thaksin's abuses. Their dictatorship has been a pretty mild one and they are keeping their promise to hold the election by the end of 2007. But they presumably hoped the former leader would be forgotten by now. He has not been. Though Thailand's quirky opinion polls must be treated with caution, most predict that the PPP will win comfortably more seats than its nearest rival, the Democrats, although not a majority. The widespread assumption is that the Democrats will nevertheless form a ramshackle coalition. The problem is that Abhisit Vejjajiva, the Democrats' leader, though young and handsome, may not command enough respect to lead a fractious government.

Until the coup, Thailand seemed to be escaping its historic cycle of alternating military dictatorships and weak civilian rule. By the late 1990s it had become a beacon of multi-party democracy in Asia. Whether that beacon will shine again is unclear. If a Democrat-led coalition takes office, the PPP seems likely to make its life difficult and short-lived. If the PPP leads the next government, a peace pact with the generals is possible but the military men are bound to be nervous. The PPP promises to rescind a political ban that a tribunal created by the junta imposed on Mr Thaksin and 110 allies. If he returns, he would be able to scrap the amnesty that the coupmakers granted themselves—and put them in the dock.

General Anupong Paojinda, a new army chief who took over in October, insists there will be no coup even if the Thaksinites win. Then again, General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, his predecessor, repeatedly made the same promise right up to the moment he overthrew Mr Thaksin.

The generals, courtiers and bureaucrats who have been in charge for the past 15 months have ruled dismally. Thailand's economy is now one of the slowest-growing in booming Asia. The army-appointed interim government has become ever more invisible as its popularity has sunk. General Sonthi, presumably fearing humiliation, quietly dropped plans to stand in the election. But it is unclear whether the army and its civilian backers have learned the old lesson that coups and extra-constitutional excursions tend to make political crises worse and do not produce good government.

Thailand's judicial and regulatory institutions are on trial in the election. For example, a new Election Commission, appointed with little dissent in the turmoil shortly before the coup, faces accusations of partiality. It absolved the military junta of plotting to subvert the election by undermining the PPP, despite the discovery of army documents detailing the plot. But the commission is now threatening to disqualify the PPP over the less serious matter of a video clip in which Mr Thaksin breaches his ban on politicking and urges support for his party.
The commission and courts will have lots of complaints to handle after the polls close. If they enforce the rules impartially and promptly, they could set Thailand back on the road to democracy. If they are arbitrary, biased or dilatory, they may doom it to more years of instability—especially if they leave the impression that the people have voted for Thaksinism, only to have their will subverted.

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The Economist

19th Dec 2007

Climate of fear hangs over Myanmar

For many in Myanmar life is daily struggle simply to get enough food to survive.

In a narrow street in central Yangon, people push their way through a frenzied crowd to get a free plate food.

Many stuff their pockets with rice and vegetables to save for later. Barefoot children throw lollipops and soft drinks into plastic bags, to be shared out later with others whose only home is the street.


It's hard to believe that just 60 years ago Myanmar was one of the richest countries in the region, supplying most of Asia with rice.

Nowadays, despite the country's abundant natural resources, it can barely feed it's own people.

Just four months ago, unannounced fuel price hikes pushed food costs up threefold, triggering street protests that were led by monks and ended with the army turning its guns on the demonstrators.

Today, to talk about food is to criticise the government. So no matter how much the people suffer, few are brave enough to open up.

I asked one woman why food was so expensive. Even with her identity hidden she wouldn't respond, such is the state of fear in Myanmar today.

Yangon's Shwedagon pagoda is one of the country's most important religious shrines and became one of the centres of the protests in September.

Now, in the streets around the pagoda, everything looks normal. Kids sell flowers or offer to wash the hair of worshippers to earn extra money for their families.

Hopes for the future
Inside the 2,000 year old monument, devotees light candles and touch their heads to the marbled ground.

Elderly monks collect alms and give out blessings, as though encouraging the faithful to keep their hopes up for the future.

Along the streets leading up to the Sule Paya Pagoda where troops fired on unarmed civilians, pavements are a riot of colours with stalls hawking goods such as tomatoes, multi-patterned longyis, cameras, gems and watches.

Everyone seems happy, everything seems calm. But of course appearances can be deceptive.

Many of the monestaries which were shut in the wake of the crackdown are still closed.

Dissident monks are banned from returning to their sanctuaries and the dreaded undercover police are everywhere, watching for any signs of agitation that could lead to more protests.

The United Nations estimates that at least 4,000 people were detained following the protests.

Up to a thousand remain in detention or have disappeared. Many activists have gone underground and even those who sympathise with them live in fear of being arrested in the middle of the night.

I found one man willing to talk, but we had to walk through the streets for an hour before he found a place he felt safe enough to talk.

Desperate
The situation in Myanmar, he said, had become desperate.

"The business is very slow so the people are suffering. We also feel depressed. Our spirits are a little down."

He told me that the generals had put forward a series of economic initiatives based on its "Roadmap to Democracy".

More encouraging though was their engagement with the opposition, the National League of Democracy, and its leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi.

But he said the way forward wouldn't be easy.

"Within this period we will have so many struggles and sometime it may be bloody".

For now the primary concern for most in Myanmar is how to stay alive.

These days a bowl of noodles costs the equivalent of 80 cents - an enormous amount for a people who, on average, live off just one dollar a day.

While spirits are low, people in Yangon say they still have hope, if not for democracy then at least for a government that does not starve them to death.

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Al Jazeera English

19th Dec 2007

US Congress raises auto fuel standards, boosts biofuels

The US Congress overwhelmingly approved Tuesday a bill raising fuel efficiency standards for the first time since 1975 and offering massive support for biofuels, in an effort to slash US dependence on foreign oil.

The bill requires the auto industry to reduce fuel consumption in most cars and light trucks by 40 percent, raising the fuel efficiency standard to 35 miles per gallon (15 kilometers per liter) by 2020.

The current Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard is around 27.5 miles per gallon for cars and just over 22 miles per gallon for light trucks.

The bill also calls for a sixfold increase in the use of ethanol, a biofuel, to 136 billion liters per year by 2022. The provision is a boon to US farmers as the United States uses corn to produce ethanol.

In addition, the legislation sets new energy efficiency standards requiring the use of more electricity-efficient light bulbs and appliances.

Pressure for action on energy policy has been mounting as Americans become increasingly frustrated at rising gasoline prices amid warnings that the United States must wean itself of foreign oil from the unstable Middle East.

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NST 19 Dec 2007

Back from Guantanamo

Adil Hassan Hamad can scarcely believe he is back with his family in Sudan, because only days ago he was still in the US's Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.

"I am very, very happy and not believing this," Adil tells Al Jazeera, "That I am here with my family - even now I feel this could all be taken away at any moment."

In 2002, Adil and another man, Salim Mahmoud Adam, were picked up from their homes in Peshawar, Pakistan, by Pakistani troops and were later handed over to the US.

Most of his children were babies when their father, who was then working as the director of a hospital in Afghanistan, was taken to Guantanamo.

His daughter, Rahma, now six, was only a few months old when he was taken and now her father seems like a stranger.

"She knows I am her father," says Adil, balancing Rahma on his knee and holding her close. "But she's not used to me."

"Like a cage"
Since his release from Guantanamo, family, friends and neighbours have come to Adil's home in Khartoum to greet a man many thought they might never see again.

Adil recounts stories of torture, interrogation and solitary confinement when speaks of his time in the prison.

"The cell was all made of iron on iron. You don't see anyone or hear anything," he says.

"It was a boring and miserable life... psychologically very tiresome. It was like a cage ... like an animal living in a cage."

Among those present to celebrate Adil's return is Assim al-Haj, brother of Sami al-Haj, the Al Jazeera cameraman imprisoned in Guantanamo six years ago.

He listens to Adil's story of his release from the prison, but knows that his brother's health is deteriorating in captivity.

"Injustice and abuse"
More than 750 people have been held in Guantanamo since January 2002 and only three have been formally charged.

Even with the recent releases, over 270 detainees remain in Guantanamo Bay.

The US supreme court has reviewed the legal status of Guantanamo prisoners on several occasions and found in favour of the inmates - that they should be allowed to have the legality of their detention examined by US courts.

The US administration, which argues that since the base is outside the country rights under the US constitution do not apply, has avoided following this judgment.

Amnesty International, the UK-based human rights group, has called Guantanamo "a symbol of injustice and abuse" and called on the US government to close the down the prison "in a transparent manner which fully respects the human rights of those detained and brings to fair trial all those who are accused of recognisable crimes".

But though the US has drawn international criticism for holding foreign nationals captive in Guantanamo, there are few signs that the US has any plans to close the prison.

Adil and Salim were two of 15 people, the rest Afghan, recently released by the US. Neither have ever been told why they were imprisoned.

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Al Jazeera English

18th Dec 2007

The debate: THW grant detainees in Guantanamo Bay fair trials.

Japan tests interceptor missile

The Japanese military has successfully test-fired an interceptor missile from a ship at sea, destroying a mid-range ballistic missile in space.

Monday's $55m test off Hawaii was the first time a US ally had shot down a ballistic missile from a ship at sea.

The Japanese navy and the US missile defence agency called the test "a major milestone in the growing co-operation between Japan and the US".

But it may deepen Chinese concerns that Tokyo could use the technology to help the US defend Taiwan if conflict erupted across the straits.

The interceptor fired by the JS Kongo knocked out the target warhead about 160km above the Pacific Ocean, said the US agency, which carried out the test together with the Japanese and US navies.

The JS Kongo is the first of four Japanese destroyers due to be outfitted to counter missiles that could carry chemical, biological or nuclear warheads.

North Korean threatExperts say the test target resembled the Rodong missile owned by North Korea, which has a shorter range than the Taepodong missile North Korea sent over Japan nearly a decade ago.

But North Korea is believed to have an arsenal of about 200 Rodongs, and Japanese defence experts say it represents the greatest threat to Japanese security.

Riki Ellison, a prominent missile-defence advocate who monitored the test, said that by intercepting a missile similar in speed and size to those in North Korea's arsenal "Japan has proven its capability to defend and protect their country from North Korean missiles".

Tokyo has invested heavily in missile defence since North Korea test-fired a long-range missile over northern Japan in 1998.

Shigeru Ishiba, Japan's defence minister, described the successful test as "extremely significant".

"We will continue to strive to increase the system's credibility," he said, insisting the missile shield was worth the high cost.

"We can't talk about how much money should be spent when human lives are at stake."

Japan plans to have spent a total of $11.2bn on missile defence over the four years to March 2008 using the US-developed Aegis combat system, according to the defence ministry.

China offered a muted reaction to Japan's anti-missile test, saying only that it hoped Tokyo's actions would be positive for peace and trust in Asia.

"We hope that the actions of Japan are beneficial to the peac and stability of the region and conducive to mutual trust of the countries in the region," Qin Gang, China's foreign ministry spokesman, said.

Palestinians win $7.4bn aid pledge

A follow up article about Palestinian aid pledge.

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International donors have pledged $7.4bn in aid at a one-day conference in Paris aimed at helping improve the Palestinian economy and underpin the Middle East peace talks.

Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, said on Monday that the Palestinians would receive the money over the next three years.

"Our goal had been for $5.6 billion. Now we have $7.4 billion," he said at the end of the conference.

The Palestinian government had asked the more than 90 assembled donors for $5.6bn to finance an ambitious development plan to stem the economic decline in the West Bank and Gaza.

"Without the continuation of this aid and without the liquidity needed for the Palestinian budget, we will have a catastrophe in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank," Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, said.

Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, also spoke of the need to secure the funding, calling the conference the Palestinian government's "last hope" to avoid bankruptcy.

Major donors
The European Union pledged $650m over the next year, while France and Kuwait promised $300m over the next three years.

Most of the $555m promised by the US had been previously announced, but is yet to be confirmed by congress.

Britain and Germany pledged a combined $1.08bn by 2010.

However, the World Bank says the situation will improve only if Israel eases restrictions on the movement of Palestinian people and goods.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, said: "The Paris conference must provide immediate support for all the Palestinian territories. "Our financial support will also be used for the population of Gaza. Its prolonged isolation carries great political, economic and security risks.

"The entry points must be reopened to let the economy breath. A full and immediate freeze of settlement activity is a priority."Peace negotiations
Monday's donor conference came after last month's talks in the US city of Annapolis, the first peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians in seven years.

The renewed peace talks are aimed at achieving an agreement on Palestinian statehood by the end of 2008.

But at the conference, Abbas ruled out talks with the Hamas movement which seized total control of Gaza in June.

He said that Israel must freeze Jewish settlements "without excuses" if it wants to be seen as a serious peace partner."If we want to launch serious talks to end the conflict as we and the world have decided to do, then how can a key party pursue settlement activity and expansion?" he said.

Tzipi Livni, Israel's foreign minister, did not directly address the settlement issue, but welcomed the Palestinian plans "as a serious effort to build the basis for a responsible Palestinian state".

Rice said the settlement dispute was "ever more reason that it's time to get an agreement" and appealed to both sides not to "consider every bump in the road to be a barrier".

"There is an assumption here that there is not going to be turbulence in this process. There is. I don't care how much you talk to people before, I don't care how much work you do. There will be turbulence."

Political support
The success of the gathering will be measured in more than financial terms. Pledges are also being seen as political support for Abbas.

Of the $5.6bn the Palestinian Authority hoped to secure, 70 per cent would have gone to reducing the government's deficit.

The remainder would have been used for development projects.
Jacky Rowland, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Paris, said: "What we've been hearing from people attending the conference has been the mixture of opportunity and also risk.

"The opportunity now to cease the political momentum started at Annapolis, the good relations and the willingness to engage between the Israeli prime minister and the Palestinian president.

"But at the same time, really quite stark warnings of what is at stake if in fact this money does not come through and the international mission to rebuild the Palestinian economy and build the foundations of a state are not successful.
"Clearly the subtext of this conference is to boost the authority, popularity and credibility of the authorities of President Abbas, at the expense of Hamas."

Gaza 'collapse'
In a report coinciding with the talks, the UN warned that Israel's restrictions on the Gaza Strip had pushed the local economy to the brink of collapse, reducing production to 11 per cent of capacity.

The UN Development Programme report said: "The private sector in the Gaza Strip is on the verge of collapse with no scope for recovery unless the strict imposed closure regime on the strip is lifted."

Israel has so far balked at removing checkpoints scattered across the occupied West Bank, citing security concerns.

It has also tightened its military and economic cordon around Gaza since Hamas gained control in June following factional fighting with Abbas's Fatah movement.

Familiar sound
Al Jazeera's David Chater in Gaza said: "There is a very familiar sound coming out of the conference in Paris from the donors, the diplomats and the politicians.

"The [recent] UN report [shows] that there is a huge dislocation between the fine words and the promises we're hearing in Paris and the situation that we are hearing on the ground.

"Nothing has changed, it's getting worse."

On the ground, Israel killed at least five Islamic Jihad fighters in the Gaza Strip on Monday, including a senior commander and a leading rocket maker, prompting the group to threaten suicide bombings in revenge.

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Al Jazeera English

18th Dec 2007

World powers gather in Paris to bankroll Palestinian state

I find this Conference of Donors for a Palestinian State a new move to help establish a better condition for the Palestinians. It sounded like the same old relief and developmental aids but this time they believe the brand new PM Salam Fayyad will manage the funding and hence the development of state well.

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Major powers and key donors gathered Sunday in Paris for a conference aimed at raising billions of dollars to help the emergence of a viable Palestinian state and give political impetus to the newly-relaunched peace process with Israel.

Ninety international delegations are expected at Monday's Conference of Donors for a Palestinian State, the biggest of its kind since 1996, which aims to shore up the process jumpstarted in the US city of Annapolis last month.

President Mahmud Abbas is seeking 5.6 billion dollars (3.85 billion euros) spread over 2008 to 2010 for an ambitious development plan to underwrite a promised state and tackle economic hardship in the Palestinian territories.

The amount the Palestinians needed for 2008 was "around 1.6 to 1.7 billion," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told journalists accompanying her on the plane to Paris.

Sources in her delegation said the United States was prepared to shoulder one third of the financial burden in 2008 by forking up 550 million dollars. The German government, meanwhile, promised 200 million dollars by 2010.

"This is an historically large figure. I think this is the largest assistance package that we have ever done for the Palestinians," a senior US official told journalists on condition of anonymity.

Delegates gathering for the occasion include UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Rice and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Former British prime minister Tony Blair, peace envoy for the Middle East quartet -- the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States -- is co-chair of the event along with host country France, peace-broker Norway and the European Commission.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni will represent Israel, which is under pressure to lift restrictions on freedom of movement in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip to allow the Palestinian Authority's plan to take shape.

Livni and Abbas held a meeting in a Paris hotel Sunday afternoon after which the Palestinian leader highlighted French President Nicolas Sarkozy's diplomatic credentials.

"He maintains close links with all the parties, Israel and the Arabs, which allows him to play an important role," Abbas said of his host.

Sarkozy will open the proceedings, at Abbas' side, with a speech at 9:30 am (0830 GMT) on Monday, before handing over to French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner for the rest of the day.

At the US-sponsored meeting in Annapolis, Maryland last month, Israel and the Palestinians pledged to seek a peace deal by the end of next year, relaunching negotiations frozen for seven years.

Abbas has said he is confident Paris will clinch the necessary aid -- 70 percent in budget support and 30 percent for development projects -- sending a powerful signal of backing for the peace process.

"It is urgent to stabilise the Palestinian economy and implement measures on the ground that will improve the daily lives of Palestinians," said Sarkozy's spokesman David Martinon.

The Palestinian development plan has been drawn up by the West Bank-based government of the economist Salam Fayyad, whom Abbas appointed prime minister when the Hamas radical Islamist group seized armed control of the Gaza Strip.

In an interview with AFP, Fayyad said his government had undertaken important economic reforms which should reassure donors that their money will not be wasted.

"The reforms are not abstract slogans but concrete actions which he have taken. I can say with certainty that Palestinian financial management is no longer a cause for concern," he said.

Aside from budget support, the Palestinians say the largest chunk of development aid would go to projects in education, health and women's emancipation.

Between 30 and 40 percent of projects would be in the Gaza Strip -- with guarantees to ensure funds do not reach the Hamas militants in control of the territory, according to French and Palestinian sources.

The United States praised Abbas's government before the opening of the conference.

"You have the best Palestinian government since Oslo. This is not only the best Palestinian government, it is also the most moderate in the Arab world," said the senior US official.

Conference members are expected to urge Israel -- which operates 550 checkpoints in the West Bank -- to gradually lift restrictions on movement between Palestinian towns and villages, while asking the Palestinians for a big push to improve security conditions.

"The two have to move forwards in tandem," said a French diplomat, though he said the funds would not be strictly tied to either condition.

The senior US official said Rice may also publicly push Israel to halt construction of new Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

"We may say something publicly. ... Settlement activity is one of the central concerns everybody has."

The Middle East quartet is expected to meet on the sidelines of the conference, while several high-profile participants -- including Ban, Fayyad, Livni and Blair -- held an informal dinner with Kouchner on Sunday evening.

Rice will have a bilateral meeting with Sarkozy on Monday afternoon, his office said.

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From NST 17th Dec 2007

CLinn

Murder and terror blackout

Media craze comes in seasons. Probably because one high-profile case (often shocking, tragic and sudden) often leads to the reporting of cases similar to it. News-worthy, they call it. Just like suicide cases after a financial crisis; gun laws after random massacres by depressed and neglected (mental illness activists are crying out for more funding to treat more patients) murder and terror has hogged the headlines. Face it, do you want to know more about LIMA or the notorious congregation of people? :)

Terrorist, some call them. Then they were "linked to terrorists". Mainstream and alternative media are at loggerheads at what is the actual situation. People who are on the ground tells a different story. Like the problems facing one of the many structures of our motherland, one of the people I met asked, why is the shutdown scantily reported? What ensued was various speculations and views on what happened. And when we report the (actual?) situation, will it fuel the cause of the perpetrators? like the gun massacre in Virginia High, Finland and the case of Robert Hawkins of late?

The debate is: is lack of information actually fueling the sentiment or diffusing the situation? =)

I WANT TO BE FAMOUS - SHOULD THE MEDIA STOP HELPING?

Robert Hawkins predicted in his suicide note that he’d be famous once he carried out his plan, and he was right. Yesterday, he killed eight people and himself in a Nebraska shopping mall and today his face and name is featured on thousands of TV stations, websites and newspapers.Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people at Virginia Tech in April. He too was confident the media would play its part. Between his two attacks he sent a video to a major US network and days later we all watched him.

Is it time the media took a collective decision to report such massacres with only the bare facts? No pictures, no suicide note, no videos, in the public domain. No live reports from the scene and no blanket coverage? Could it work? Should it be done?

TERRORIST RAGE: NOT JUST MIDDLE EASTERN PROBLEM

Alicia Crall

In a terrorist attack last Tuesday, one congressman and one civilian were killed and several local councilmen and radio journalists were injured in a bombing in an upscale cafe'.

If this story does not sound familiar, it is because it was barely covered in the news media. Considering how "terrorist aware" the news has become, why did this story not merit coverage?
It is because this terrorist bombing took place, not in the Middle East, but in Columbia.

I found this story while on the CNN Web site. I watch the news regularly, so I was surprised a terrorist attack killing a government official was not reported.

Click here to read more...

Debatabase has this to say: Terrorism, should not be allowed publicity

Cheers, and till we meet, have a great training!

PS: the debate research and ppt slides can be summarized and uploaded here for the benefit for those unable to attend the training.