The Jordan Times
Haniyeh stuck at Gaza border as unrest grows
GAZA (Agencies) — Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh crossed into Gaza on Thursday, leaving behind money donated by Muslim states, hours after Israel blocked the Hamas leader from returning after a fund-raising tour with $35 million.
Palestinian officials and Western diplomats said Haniyeh had planned to enter the impoverished Gaza Strip from Egypt through the Rafah border crossing with $35 million of cash in suitcases.
But Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz ordered the crossing closed and European monitors left the area, keeping Haniyeh cooling his heels for hours on the Egyptian side.
The closure sparked the storming of the border terminal by dozens of armed Hamas gunmen who forced their way inside.
At least 13 Palestinians were wounded by gunfire after the militants went on a rampage inside the terminal building, smashing windows and furniture and firing into the air and at the building itself, Agence France-Presse reported.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news1.htm
Gulf Arabs signal intent to equal nuclear Iran
By Andrew HammondReuters
RIYADH — Fearing Shiite Iran is on the verge of becoming a nuclear power, Sunni Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states are warning they will not hesitate to join a rumbling regional arms race, analysts say.
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which groups Arab countries in the world's top oil and gas exporting region, said at a summit meeting on Sunday that it has decided to set up a nuclear energy programme for peaceful purposes.
The announcement by the six countries — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman — came amid concerns in the West and in the Gulf that non-Arab Iran's nuclear enrichment programme could produce an atomic bomb.
Israel, which has its own nuclear reactor, has long been suspected of possessing nuclear weapons, and Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert appeared to admit as much for the first time in a television interview on Monday.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news2.htm
Mass abduction in Iraq, US general demands action
Men cry Thursday during the funeral of their brother, one of the six people killed in a Wednesday shooting in Baghdad's Sadr City (Reuters photo by Kareem Raheem)
BAGHDAD (Agencies) — Gunmen in military uniforms kidnapped shopkeepers and bystanders Thursday from a major commercial area in Baghdad, the second mass abduction in the capital in a month, and nearly 30 people were killed or found dead elsewhere in Iraq.
The attackers drove up to the busy Sanak area in about 10 sport utility vehicles and began rounding up people from the stores and the streets.
Reports on the number of victims varied. Two police officers and some witnesses said 50 to 70 people were abducted, but a policeman later said initial reports showed that 21 store owners were seized along with an undetermined number of bystanders. The interior ministry declined to give a number, saying it was still under investigation.
A security official, meanwhile, said an Iraqi kidnap gang released 29 hostages it had seized earlier Thursday.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news3.htm
League chief says more work needed for Lebanon deal
A worker on Thursday carries a cover during the construction of a huge tent on the 14th day of an open-ended protest in Beirut to force the resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora (AP photo by Petros Giannakouris)
BEIRUT (AFP) — Arab League Secretary General Amr Musa said Thursday that more work was needed to settle a protracted political crisis between the Lebanese government and the Syrian-backed opposition.
Musa wrapped up a three-day mediation mission without a deal, hailing progress but urging further talks between the feuding parties over the formation of a national unity government.
The opposition spearheaded by the Tehran- and Damascus-backed Hizbollah has mobilised thousands of protesters in central Beirut since December 1 and threatened to escalate their protests if their demands are not met.
"There was progress, and there is good ground for understanding, but matters demand more efforts," Musa told reporters in the Lebanese capital.
Musa said the Western-backed government and opposition leaders had agreed to form a new commission to discuss a controversial international tribunal into the 2005 assassination of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, widely blamed on Syria.
A UN-proposed Hariri court "is at the top of the agenda because it is an important question linked to finding justice", Musa said.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news4.htm
Police arrest No. 3 of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood
CAIRO (AP) — Police on Thursday arrested the third highest ranking member of Egypt's outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, security officials and the group said.
The arrest came a few days after student members of the group staged a militia-style demonstration at Azhar University outside of Cairo.
Mohammad Khayrat Shater, 55, was taken from his home early Thursday, security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the press.
The Brotherhood said police also arrested more than 180 students and 13 others including Shater's son-in-law.
But security officials could not immediately confirm those arrests.
Shater is the Brotherhood's second deputy and is known as the group's main financier and strategist.
He joined the Brotherhood in 1974 and has been imprisoned four times for a total of seven years on charges relating to his membership in the group.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news5.htm
Saudi divisions on Iraq could strain relations with US
By Salah NasrawiThe Associated Press
CAIRO — Saudi Arabia's royal family and government leaders are deeply divided over how to handle the growing crisis in Iraq and other looming Mideast problems like Iran, with some favouring strong aid to fellow Sunnis and others more cautious.
The split played a key role in this week's abrupt resignation of the Saudi ambassador to Washington. It also could hurt US efforts to forge a new overall strategy to calm Iraq.
More broadly, the internal dispute shows how Arab countries like Saudi Arabia, long key partners in US efforts to stabilise the Middle East, are struggling to decide how to proceed as Iraq boils over and Iran gains influence.
The tension in the region is straining Saudi relations with the United States, despite both countries' assertions that all is fine.
The resignation of Prince Turki Al Faisal, after just 15 months as ambassador to Washington, for example, came after Saudi officials concluded he was not succeeding at building strong ties with the United States, a Saudi official said Wednesday.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news8.htm
Iran elections pose twin test for Ahmadinejad
TEHRAN (AFP) — Iranians vote in double polls Friday that are the first test for conservative allies of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and vanquished reformists since the president's stunning election victory last year.
Iran is choosing a new assembly of experts, the body that selects and supervises the supreme leader, and voting for municipal councils in elections that will provide a crucial reading of the political temperature.
The local elections will provide the clearest indication of whether Ahmadinejad's conservative allies have reinforced their grip on power or if embattled reformers are on the verge of a comeback.
It was in the last such local vote in February 2003 that conservative forces launched a political resurgence that culminated in Ahmadinejad's defeat of reformists and moderates in the 2005 presidential election.
Turnout Friday will be a crucial factor, since the 2003 conservative victory came on the back of the lowest election participation in the Islamic republic's history — which included a paltry 10 per cent in Tehran.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news7.htm
Pinochet’s death is a wake up call for international law
Jonathan Power
The arrest of Augusto Pinochet in London, in October 1998, was a bolt from the blue. It can be said with near certainty that it had never crossed the mind of senior members of the British judiciary who were soon to be landed with untangling the legal intricacies.
Indeed, it was such an impossible idea that until almost the very last moment it never occurred to the ex-dictator himself that he could be vulnerable in the very country where his great friend and supporter, Margaret Thatcher, had been prime minister.
But when Baltazar Garzón, a senior Spanish magistrate, is on your tail you have to watch out. He has bested Felipe González, the former socialist prime minister, for having been party to the use of a police cell to assassinate leaders of ETA, the violent Basque group. He has also had great success in bringing to quick justice the Al Qaeda-inspired group that blew up a railway station in Madrid on the eve of the last general election.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/opinion/opinion4.htm
Iranian Kurd border refugees reject new proposals
AMMAN (IRIN) — Iranian Kurds stuck on the Iraq-Jordan border for nearly two years say they will not leave their makeshift camp until they are resettled in a third country.
Some 200 Iranian Kurdish refugees living in deteriorating conditions categorically rejected recent proposals by US-based NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) to resolve their problem.
One of HRW’s proposals was to organise “go and see visits” to Kawa refugee camp in northern Iraq, where other Iranian Kurdish refugees are currently living — the intention being that the border refugees would move to this officially recognised camp and then have the chance to legitimately seek third-country resettlement.
“There is no need to go and visit Kawa refugee camp in Erbil just to see if we like it. Refugees already living there have told us the camp is not what they hoped for, so there is no use for us to go there,” Khabat Mohammadi, acting as spokesman of the group, said.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/homenews/homenews7.htm
Taiwan, identity politics and China
Gwynne Dyer
“My generation has had really painful experiences over the past six years, because you suddenly realise you are nobody,” explained Andrew Yang, head of the Chinese Council for Advanced Policy Studies, in Taipei earlier this year.
“My parents come from mainland China, so in their eyes I am a second-generation mainlander. I mean, I was born here; I’m part of the society. I was really astonished to see that people are treating me like a second-generation mainlander.... The identity issue is very polarising here.”
Identity politics were very much in evidence last Saturday, when Taiwan’s two big cities voted in mayoral elections that were widely seen as a trial run for the key presidential elections in early 2008.
The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) should have lost by a landslide, given the under-performing economy, high unemployment and constant crises with mainland China since it won power at the national level six years ago, not to mention the corruption scandal that has engulfed President Chen Shui-bian’s own family. But it didn’t.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/opinion/opinion3.htm
The Houston Chronicle
Millions without power in stormy NorthwestWind, rain cause four deaths, close highways in Washington, Oregon
SEATTLE — Howling windstorms and heavy rains caused at least four deaths, closed bridges and highways and cut power to about 1.5 million homes and businesses in Washington and Oregon, authorities said today.
One of the concourses at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport lost power, and an airport spokesman said some flights were canceled.
About 30 flights were scratched at Portland International Airport, a spokesman said, and Amtrak canceled service between Portland and Seattle.
A 41-year-old Seattle woman died Thursday after she became trapped in her basement while it flooded. Neighbors had called for help after they heard screaming.
A 28-year-old man was killed while he slept when the top of a tree snapped off and crashed into his home in a trailer park in McCleary, 18 miles west of Olympia.
Elsewhere in Washington, two people died in traffic accidents involving windblown trees.
In Edmonds, north of Seattle, about 50 residents of an assisted living facility were evacuated after a tree crashed through the third floor, flooding the building, Snohomish County emergency management officials said. No injuries were reported, and residents were sent to other facilities.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4404332.html
Iraq war architect Rumsfeld honored at Pentagon
WASHINGTON — Architect of the unpopular war in Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was praised lavishly for his service to the nation today as he called on Americans to spend more heavily on defense.
President Bush called Rumsfeld "one of America's most skilled, energetic and dedicated public servants."
"We've been through war together," the president said. "We have shared some of the most challenging moments in our nation's history."
"This man knows how to lead and he did," the president said. "And the country is better off for it"
Departing after six years in office, Rumsfeld said he felt "a sense of urgency about the real challenges ahead" in a time of terrorism, unstable dictators and threats of nuclear proliferation.
The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, awakened the world to the existence of a global extremist movement whose adherents believe it is their calling to kill Americans and other free people, Rumsfeld said.
"Ours is also a world of many friends and allies, but sadly, realistically, friends and allies with declining defense investment and declining capabilities and, I would add, as a result, with increasing vulnerabilities," Rumsfeld said. "All of which requires that the United States of America invest more."
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4405069.html
New stealth fighter jet flies from Fort Worth facility
FORT WORTH — The new stealth fighter jet that will replace an aging fleet of military planes took off for the first time today, landing about 30 minutes into a planned hourlong flight.
The shorter time in the air did not mean the pilot of the Joint Strike Fighter, also known as the F-35, encountered problems, said a spokesman for Lockheed Martin Corp., which is building the planes.
"Right now we are characterizing the flight as hugely successful," Tom Jurkowsky said.
The Bethesda, Md.-based company planned an afternoon news conference to discuss the flight.
Runway tests that began last week were completed earlier this week. Officials had been waiting for good weather for the maiden flight, which almost didn't happen Friday because of fog and windy conditions.
The takeoff was witnessed by hundreds at the Lockheed Martin facility where the planes are being built in possibly the largest defense contract ever, $275 billion over the next two decades.
After 10 years of development, Lockheed Martin is moving to the early stages of production for what could be thousands of fighter jets for the American military and eight countries.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/4405480.html
Serial rapist-robber targets men in east Harris County
The serial rapist-robber began his attacks in east Harris County in April and his assaults have occurred every 30 to 60 days.
But what makes this case so unusual is that women are not the target. So far the five victims have all been young, white males in their late teens or early 20s, mostly students still living at their parents' homes.
The attacker is described as a light-skinned black male, clean cut and nicely dressed, in his late 20s. He stands from 5'6" to 6' tall and weighs 200 pounds.
Investigators have released a composite sketch, based on victims' recollections, and are working with the FBI to develop a profile to determine whether the crime spree is racially motivated or what other forces might be driving it.
Investigators also hope the profile paints a picture of the lifestyle of the attacker who has cleverly eluded them.
"I've never seen attacks on males like this in the four years I've worked here," said Harris County Sheriff's Sgt. Bryan Pair.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4405220.html
Serial killer in England may have drugged victims first
LONDON — Their naked corpses showed no signs of struggle, raising questions of whether a suspected serial killer may have drugged the five young women — all addicts and prostitutes — before killing them and dumping their bodies on the outskirts of an English port town.
"The fact that they were drug users will make the work more complicated" for forensic experts, said Sandra Graffham, a Suffolk police spokeswoman.
The fifth victim was identified today as Annette Nicholls, 29, but a coroner was unable to say what caused her death.
One woman died from asphyxiation and another died from what a coroner called "compression to the neck." The causes of death for two others are still unclear because their bodies were found in water.
Forensic psychologists have asked whether the killer lured and then anesthetized the women with drugs. None of the bodies showed signs of significant trauma or sexual assault. However, it will take days to complete toxicology reports that could show whether the women had been drugged or the level of previous drug use, police said.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/world/4405380.html
NASA jostles space station in effort to fix solar panel
HOUSTON — When wiggling a solar array by remote control didn't manage to make it fold up, NASA had an astronaut jostle the space station today by exercising vigorously in an effort to fix the half-retracted wing.
German astronaut Thomas Reiter of the European Space Agency was told to do 30 seconds of robust exercise on a bungee-bar machine called the Interim Resistive Exercise Device.
NASA hopes the problem can be fixed from inside the international space station so astronauts don't have to take a fourth, unplanned spacewalk.
Reiter tried it once, but his exercise didn't appear to change the solar array.
"I'm very sorry to hear that," said Reiter, who has been at the space station since July. "I was training for it for a half year."
Mission Control radioed back, "We'll give you a silver medal for that."
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4404817.html
After 8 years in prison, inmate walks free for now
Retrial possible in assault he says he didn't commitDespite bureaucratic confusion that threatened to spoil his coming home party and delayed his release by several hours, Gilbert Amezquita walked out of the Harris County Jail a free man early this morning — at least for the time being.
But after spending the past eight years trying to prove that he did not commit the near-fatal assault that sent him to prison, the extra time behind bars did not diminish Amezquita's excitement.
"It's been seven years; so I can deal with a few more hours," said Amezaquita as he and his relatives wept and hugged in the early morning fog outside the Harris County Inmate Processing Center on Commerce in downtown Houston.
"I know that I am innocent, and I know I'm going to have my day in court," he added. "But it's just a slow process, and it's taken too long."
Amezquita said he plans to spend time in the next few days just staying close to his family.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4404282.html
Close door, have a seat, pop a cola
Americans consumed more than twice as much high fructose corn syrup per person as in 1980 and remained the fattest inhabitants of the planet, although Mexicans, Australians, Greeks, New Zealanders and Britons are not too far behind.
At the same time, we spent more of our lives than ever — about 8 1/2 hours a day — watching television, using computers, listening to the radio, going to the movies or reading.
This eclectic portrait of the American people is drawn from the 1,376 tables that make up the Census Bureau's 2007 Statistical Abstract of the United States, the annual feast for number crunchers that is being served up by the federal government today.
For the first time, the abstract quantifies same-sex sexual contacts (6 percent of men and 11.2 percent of women say they've had them) and learning disabilities (American Indians are most likely to have been told they have them).
The abstract reveals that the floor space in new private one-family homes has expanded to 2,227 square feet in 2005 from 1,905 square feet in 1990.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4404074.html
Nintendo to recall Wii straps after accident reports
TOKYO — Nintendo said today it will replace 3.2 million straps for its popular Wii computer game controllers after receiving a rash of reports that the devices flew out of the hands of overzealous players.
The recall is a bittersweet development for Nintendo — a costly hitch in its three-way battle with Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360, but also confirmation of the enthusiastic reception worldwide.
The Wii's signature wand-like remote controller is used to mimic the motions of a tennis racket, golf club or sword, depending on the game. But soon after the Wii went on sale last month, people started reporting cases of the controller's strap breaking as they waved it about vigorously.
Nintendo will allow customers to exchange the old straps, which have a 0.024 inch diameter, for a beefed up strap that has a diameter of 0.04 inch, company spokesman Yasuhiro Minagawa said. The worldwide recall is expected to cost the company several several million dollars.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4403662.html
IRS to require more proof to claim deductions
WASHINGTON — Beginning in the 2007 tax year, taxpayers must provide bank records or other information when claiming deductions for charitable donations of money, the Internal Revenue Service said in newly released guidelines.
The IRS said that bank records can include canceled checks, bank or credit union statements and credit card statements that show the name of the charity and the transaction posting date.
Taxpayers may also submit a written communication from the charity with the organization's name, the date of the transaction and the amount of the contribution.
Money donations are defined as those made in cash, or by check, electronic funds transfer, credit card or payroll deductions. For payroll deductions, the taxpayer should retain a pay stub, W-2 wage statement or other document showing the amount withheld for charity along with the pledge card showing the name of the charity.
Previously, taxpayers could back up donations of money with personal bank registers, diaries or notes made around the time of the donation. Such records are no longer sufficient.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/nation/4405379.html
Ailing senator opens eyes after brain surgery
Democrats vow Johnson's illness won't endanger their slim majority in the SenateWASHINGTON — Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson has opened his eyes and shown other small signs of recovery from brain surgery that are encouraging to his family, a spokeswoman said today.
Congressional visitors continued to come to the hospital and comfort family members as the South Dakota senator's progress was closely watched across Washington. His sudden illness raised questions about the Democrats' one-vote majority in the upcoming Senate session.
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid visited Johnson, 59, at George Washington University Hospital again Friday and said he looked "good, fine." Senate Chaplain Barry Black also came by.
Johnson suffered a brain hemorrhage Wednesday that was caused by an uncommon and sometimes fatal condition, and underwent surgery late into the night.
He was responding to the voice of his wife, Barbara, and following directions a few hours after the surgery. When she asked him to open his eyes, he did, and then reached out to hold her hand, said Johnson spokeswoman Julianne Fisher.
"They are just very encouraged by the little things right now," Fisher said Friday.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/nation/4403862.html
Somali leader says al-Qaida gaining ground in Africa
BAIDOA, Somalia — Peace talks with Somalia's Islamic movement are no longer an option, the president said today, warning that the group is allowing al-Qaida terrorists to "set up shop" in the Horn of Africa.
"This is a new chapter and part of the terror group's plan to wage war against the West," Abdullahi Yusuf told The Associated Press during a rare interview at his heavily guarded office in western Somalia.
Tension has mounted in recent weeks between Somalia's government, which has international recognition but little authority, and the Council of Islamic Courts, which controls most of southern Somalia. The United States has said the Islamic movement has links to al-Qaida; Islamic leaders have repeatedly denied it.
"We do not give protection to these criminals," Islamic courts spokesman Abdirahin Ali Mudey said.
Somalia has not had an effective government since warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, plunging the country into anarchy. The government was formed in 2004 with the help of the United Nations, but it has struggled to assert its authority.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/world/4405168.html
Kissing Matt Damon was just part of the job, Jolie says
NEW YORK — What's the biggest difference between kissing Matt Damon and kissing Brad Pitt? "One's a friend and one's my love," says Angelina Jolie, who co-stars with Damon in the upcoming drama The Good Shepherd.
"In reality, both the people we're involved with couldn't have cared less about that (love scene) because they know us," Jolie told Diane Sawyer in an interview that aired Friday on ABC's Good Morning America.
"It's one of those things where it's like the least threatening person," the 31-year-old actress said. "Good luck to you guys, I hope it's not too awkward."
Said Damon, who co-starred with Pitt in the Ocean's Eleven and Ocean's Twelve movies: "It's weird. ... We all know each other."
Damon married Luciana Bozan while filming The Good Shepherd. The couple have a 6-month-old daughter, Isabella.
The 36-year-old actor said getting married had more of an impact than he thought it would. "We already had the house in Florida and everything, and so I didn't. ... I didn't think it was going to really change anything necessarily, but it actually did."
Jolie has said that she and Pitt, who will be 43 on Monday, are in no rush to wed. Pitt has wondered why they should marry when gay couples can't.
"I think ... he was commenting just on the state (that) we all wish for," Jolie said. "That's not really a comment on whether or not we would or if we plan to."
The Good Shepherd, a Universal Pictures release, opens in theaters Dec. 22.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/entertainment/4405277.html
Ala. man loses lawsuit against Vioxx maker Merck
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- State court jurors sided with drug manufacturer Merck & Co. today and rejected the claims of an Alabama man who blamed the painkiller Vioxx for a heart attack in 2001.
Attorneys for Gary Albright had told jurors he should receive as much as $5.75 million in his lawsuit, filed last year.
But a jury of eight women and four men rejected Albright's claims that Vioxx caused his heart attack and that the company failed to reveal potential dangers of the drug before pulling it from the market in 2004.
It was Merck's second victory in a court case this week. On Wednesday, a federal jury in New Orleans rejected a Tennessee man's claim that Vioxx should be blamed for his 2003 heart attack.
In the latest case, Albright's attorney, Tim Davis, had asked the jury to make a decision: "Did profits lead over safety?"
Merck denied that Vioxx had anything to do with the heart attack Albright suffered in March 2001. It also denied withholding information about potential side effects of the medication, which Albright took for arthritis.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/4405166.html
Oil prices continue to climb above $62 a barrel
NEW YORK — Crude oil prices extended its climb above $62 a barrel today, capping a week that reignited the market's supply concerns with news of U.S. oil inventories falling and OPEC's decision to cut output in February.
Global crude oil inventories are still abundant, but many energy traders see any potential decline in supplies as a reason to bid up prices — especially against the backdrop of resilient consumer demand.
Light sweet crude for January delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 27 cents to $62.78 a barrel in midday trading. A day earlier, prices leaped $1.14 after OPEC's announcement.
The delayed cuts by OPEC, spurred by concerns of bulging worldwide inventories and anticipated non-OPEC supply growth in 2007, were seen as a warning to the world's major consuming nations.
Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi said the price of crude did not figure in the decision. "What we're working toward is to rebalance the market and this decision does this," he said.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/4405076.html
All Africa
Africa: Drug-Resistant TB More Widespread Than Thought
Multi-drug resistant tuberculosis is more widespread than thought, warn researchers, who are calling for improvements to the administration of treatments for the killer disease.
Misusing antimicrobial drugs can lead to multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (TB), which is defined as resistant to the two most powerful TB drugs, Isoniazid and Rifampicin.
But researchers warn that multi-drug resistant tuberculosis is only the precursor to extensively drug resistant TB, which is potentially incurable with available drugs as it resists all standard TB drugs and at least one of three second-class drugs.
Looking at four of the six most widely used TB drugs, the scientists -- from the Global Project on Anti-tuberculosis Drug Resistance Surveillance -- found that both multiple and extensive drug resistance were causing growing numbers of new infections, especially in parts of China and the former Soviet Union.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200612150975.html
Africa: White House Pushing Anti-Malaria Campaign
December 15, 2006Posted to the web December 15, 2006
Charles Cobb Jr.Washington DC
Africans are dying from another killer disease that rivals the devastating effect of HIV/AIDS; and Americans can play a major role in helping to prevent it, says the White House.
"I think our citizens will be amazed to hear that last year, about a million Africans died of malaria," President George W. Bush told a White House Summit on Malaria Thursday.
"The vast majority were children under five—their lives ended by nothing more than a mosquito bite. In some countries, more people die of malaria than HIV/AIDS—and last week, a new study showed that people who contract malaria become more likely to spread HIV."
Both President Bush and his wife, Laura, hosted an all-day meeting at the National Geographic Society, which brought together representatives of African governments, U.S. officials, international business organizations and NGOs. The idea of public-private partnerships drives the effort.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200612150225.html
Uganda: Gunfire Rocks Juba as Sudan Soldiers Mutiny
HEAVY gunfire rocked Juba, the administrative capital of the South Sudan government yesterday following a mutiny by part of the military over unpaid salaries. The shooting, which began at 8.20a.m at a military barracks at Gumbo, a few kilometers out of Juba town, later spread into the town centre as the loyal forces battled the mutineers.
There were reports of casualties and civilians beaten up on the streets by the mutineers but this could not be confirmed as the situation remained tense in the morning and the military prevented people from moving out of their houses.
A UPDF officer, Lt. Col. Charles Okori , a member of the ceasefire Monitoring Team was assaulted by mutinous soldiers.
At Civicon Oasis Hotel, where the Uganda government peace negotiating team is staying and Juba Bridge Hotel, the residence for the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) rebel delegation, Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) soldiers asked the delegates to remain in the hotels as the situation is put under control.
"Your Excellency don't move to town, there is shooting but we are trying to see what we can do," an SPLA officer told the leader of the government delegation, Ruhakana Rugunda.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200612150816.html
Sudan: International Criminal Court Prosecutor Says First Darfur Cases Are Almost Ready
The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) informed the Security Council today that he is almost ready to bring cases about some of the worst war crimes committed in the Sudanese region of Darfur during the past three years.
Luis Moreno-Ocampo said he will submit evidence to ICC judges by February at the latest and, ahead of that step, he is now introducing measures to protect victims and witnesses.
According to the text of his statement to the closed-door Council meeting, Mr. Moreno-Ocampo said that his first case will focus on a series of incidents in 2003 and 2004, when conflict emerged in Darfur as Government forces and allied militia clashes with rebel groups seeking greater autonomy.
"The evidence provides reasonable grounds to believe that the individuals identified have committed crimes against humanity and war crimes, including the crimes of persecution, torture, murder and rape, during a period in which the gravest crimes occurred in Darfur," he said.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200612150001.html
Sudan: UN Human Rights Council to Send High-Level Mission to Darfur
The United Nations Human Rights Council today agreed to dispatch a five-member high-level mission to Darfur to assess the situation in the war-torn Sudanese region, the scene of hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths, mass rape, massive forced displacement and other abuses during the past three years.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan immediately welcomed the move, taken in Geneva on the second day of a special Council hearing devoted to Darfur, describing it as "robust action to address the grave human rights situation." The Council decision was adopted by consensus.
"The decision sends a united message that the ongoing violence and killing in Darfur is unacceptable and must stop," Mr. Annan said in a statement released by his spokesman.
The five "highly qualified persons" on the mission to Darfur will be appointed by the Council President, Luis Alfonso de Alba of Mexico, after consultations with the 47-member Council and Sima Samar, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Sudan.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200612130884.html
Côte d'Ivoire: Security Council Extends UN Mission, Renews Diamond and Arms Sanctions
The Security Council today extended by three weeks the mandate of the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) while also renewing the ban on arms and diamond trade with the country, which is divided between a rebel-held north and Government-controlled south.
By a unanimously adopted resolution on UNOCI, the Council also extended the mandate of the French forces supporting the mission until 10 January 2007.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan had recommended a one-year extension, through 15 December 2007, in his latest report to the Council on Côte d'Ivoire.
That report issued a strong call to the parties to restart their stalled peace process and resolve their disputes.
In it, Mr. Annan emphasized that the mandate of Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny and President Laurent Gbagbo was renewed for a "final transition period not exceeding 12 months." He called on Mr. Banny and Mr. Gbagbo to "eschew confrontation and maintain a constructive working relationship."
http://allafrica.com/stories/200612150814.html
Central Africa: Museveni Asks Kabila to Deal With Rebels
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has urged Mr Joseph Kabila, the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo to deal with the myriads of criminal forces in his country.
Addressing delegates at the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region in Nairobi yesterday, president Museveni said that the recently concluded general elections in DRC only solved 50 percent of the problems in the Great Lakes Region because there are several negative criminal groups on the DRC territory including the Lords' Resistance Army.
"We have waited for the elections in the DRC. We now want the government to solve the problem,"Museveni said.
He said most of the criminal forces in the DRC are groups linked to former dictators like Idi Amin and Milton Obote who fled to Sudan, and later DRC, after the NRA took power.
President Museveni urged member states of the great Lakes Region to review the draft pact on security, stability and development.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200612150053.html
Kenya: Regional Presidents in Crucial Peace Talks
Eight regional Heads of State and Governments will today sign an agreement committing themselves to end conflict and promote democracy.
The peace deal will see the leaders committing themselves to mandatory disarmament and extradition of rebel groups.
The agreement, to be signed at Gigiri in Nairobi, will endorse a programme of action that will require the 11 countries of the Great Lakes region, Kenya included, to confiscate arms from all communities possessing illegal weapons.
The leaders, together with a representative of outgoing UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, will also tackle the refugee problem in the Great Lakes region.
They are expected to give a commitment that their Governments will contribute to the proposed Sh67 billion budget for the five-year programme. The leaders attended yesterday's official opening of the conference. They were presidents Kibaki (Kenya), Yoweri Museveni (Uganda), Jakaya Kikwete (Tanzania), Levy Mwanawasa (Zambia), Pierre Nkurunziza (Burundi) and Joseph Kabila (DRC) and Rwanda's prime minister Bernard Mukuza. Others were African Union Commission chairperson Alpha Konare and Mr Annan's representative, Mr Ibrahim Fall.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200612150081.html
Congo-Kinshasa: 'Precarious' Situation in Eastern DR Congo Affects Thousands of Displaced People - UN
Cholera is spreading among tens of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in parts of North Kivu province in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the United Nations has said, warning of a "precarious" situation also involving looting by members of the armed forces.
"Up to 20,000 on the Sake - Goma and Sake - Minova routes have been displaced, but have regained their homes following a stabilization of the security situation," said spokesperson Kemal Saiki from the UN Organization Mission in the DRC (MONUC) at yesterday's weekly press briefing.
"Opportunistic elements of the FARDC (Armed Forces of DRC) took the opportunity to loot and take over the abandoned homes. This situation remains precarious close to Sake, where cholera has spread due to lack of drinking water, and where certain residents have still not retaken their homes."
There are more than 550,000 IDPs in North Kivu province in total, according to estimates from the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the World Food Programme (WFP), and local authorities and aid organizations
.http://allafrica.com/stories/200612150003.html
Central Africa: Leaders Meet Over Peace, Development And Humanitarian Crises
The humanitarian crises precipitated by numerous civil wars in Africa's Great Lakes region can best be mitigated by consolidating peace and political stability to promote development, leaders at a summit in Nairobi said on Thursday.
"We need to consolidate the delicate equation of peace and security, and begin to direct our energies towards reconstruction and development," Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki, the incoming Chairman of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, said.
Regional leaders and representatives of the United Nations, the European Commission and various organizations, meeting in the Kenyan capital, said Great Lakes countries had been battered by conflicts for decades. Civil wars in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Sudan and northern Uganda, for example, had caused untold suffering to civilian populations.
However, hopes for a more stable period have been raised by elections in Burundi in August 2005 and in the DRC. Presidential poll winner Joseph Kabila, who was inaugurated on 6 December, attended the summit.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200612140305.html
Angola: Angola Presents Adhesion Bid to OPEC in Abuja
The Republic of Angola will officially present its adhesion bid to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), as member of full right, during the 143rd extraordinary conference of this world institution, scheduled for next Thursday in Abuja, Nigeria.
ANGOP has learnt on Tuesday in Luanda from the Oil Minister, Desid'rio Costa, who leaves this afternoon bound for Abuja, at the head of a delegation that comprises senior technicians of his ministry.
According to the Government official, the possible adhesion of Angola to OPEC guarantees that, in its capacity of oil producer, the country does not be isolated from the world. "We should head along with the countries that produce crude oil and joining in the sector's protection policy", he underlined.
Asked about the advantages that the country might get from this adhesion, above all in prices, Mr Costa explained that the policy of prices does not depend on the fact that the country is or not affiliated to OPEC. "There is a prices policy established by the international organisation and other countries, and whether they are affiliated or not, they are subjected to respect it", he said.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200612121256.html
Angola: Qatar to Support Angola´s Adhesion to Opec
Angolan Premier Fernando da Piedade receives Qatar´s official Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah
Qatar on Monday praised the Angolan Government for its recent decision of an eventual adhesion to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and promised to help the African country in this matter.
This stance was transmitted to the Angolan Prime Minister, Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos, by Qatar's deputy Premier and Industry and Energy minister, Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, who is in the country since Sunday on a three-day official visit.
The Persian Gulf nation's official said that he also seized the audience to reiterate to the Angolan Prime Minister his country's wish of establishing an interchange with the Southern African nation in various spheres of cooperation, particularly in the oil sector.
Thus, he said that the details of this cooperation will be debated during the talks that he has been holding with the Angolan Oil minister, Desiderio Costa, and other officials of the sector.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200612120679.html
Nigeria: Opec Summit Opens in Abuja
The 143rd OPEC (Extraordinary) Session of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) opens on December 14 in Abuja.
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and OPEC President, Dr. Edmund Daukoru at a press conference on December 13 2006 ahead of the summit said the cartel would take an in-depth review of the market prices as well as the membership of two African countries - Angola and Sudan.
On the possibility of cutting production by member countries the OPEC President said any position on the matter now would be premature and speculative. He pointed that the decision of the cartel to cut output by 500,000 barrels in Doha Qatar last October needs to be reviewed.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200612140731.html
In 2005, the world responded more generously to people's humanitarian needs than at any time in recent history.
Emergency aid towards disaster response undoubtedly outstripped any other year on record. Yet, there were several disasters worldwide, which slipped away – unnoticed and disregarded.
The focus of this year's World Disasters Report, issued by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (Federation), is neglected crises. The report, in its 14th year of publication, looks at communities which languish in the shadows of disaster response – overlooked by aid organizations, media, donors and even their own governments. The 2006 World Disasters Report challenges the assumption that most of the world's "forgotten/neglected" crises are conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa. Instead, it analyzes the impact of neglected natural, technological and health-related disasters. The report digs beneath the surface to identify the factors, issues and solutions which, when neglected, push people into disaster. Hard-hitting field reporting is combined with analysis of aid flows and donor preferences.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200612140222.html
Zimbabwe: Politburo Paves the Way for Mugabe to Rule Up to 2010
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe inched closer to confirming the extension of his hold on power yesterday after a meeting of the ZANU PF Politburo backed proposals for synchronised elections in 2010.
A Politburo member told The Financial Gazette that the purpose of yesterday's meeting was to agree on a final agenda for the ruling party's national conference, which begins in Goromonzi tomorrow.
ZANU PF deputy secretary for Information, Ephraim Masawi, said yesterday that the Politburo had approved a conference agenda on the economy, state of the party and agriculture, and would present it to the Central Committee for final approval today. But he said resolutions from the party's provinces on the elections, which were discussed at the Politburo meeting, would not be on the agenda.
However, the resolutions could still be presented to conference by the provinces and adopted, he said.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200612140173.html
Ghana: Disturbing Findings Come Before Parliament as Asaga Blows Up Secret Oil Deal
The Minority Spokesman on Energy, Moses Asaga yesterday took on the Minister of Energy in Parliament over crude oil liftings from the shores of Ghana, without the knowledge of Ghanaians.
Mr. Asaga, who sought to know from the Energy Minister, why Ghanaians had not been told how much oil was being lifted from the Saltpond Oil fields, since the signing of a production agreement among the Ghana National petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Government of Ghana and Lushann Eternit Energy Limited, a foreign consortium.
Asaga who said he was raising the alarm about the agreement in the house because of the secret nature that the deal had assumed, told The Chronicle in an interview that going by the daily production estimates of the well of 500 to 700 barrels a day, millions of dollars should accrue to the state. This, he said had not been disclosed to Parliament.
Mr. Asaga said after a thorough investigations into the activities and operations of the company, he gathered that the company's production was only known to the GNPC, which he said has failed to establish an oil revenue account.
When he first raised the issue at the committee level, Asaga says the Minister of Energy, Kofi Adda himself declined knowing of any such oil deal.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200612150672.html
Mozambique: UN Envoy Visits Country
James Morris, the UN Special Envoy for Humanitarian Needs in Southern Africa, ended his eighth and final mission to the region in Maputo on Friday, where he called for increased attention to the needs of orphans and other vulnerable children.
In this tour, Morris, who is also executive director of the World Food Programme (WFP), has also visited Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa, repeatedly warning that the future of the region depends on winning the fight against AIDS.
Cited in a UN press release at the end of his visit, Morris said that, although Mozambique has made "tremendous progress", more needed to be done "to guarantee that the next generation can deal with the challenges arising from HIV/AIDS and poverty".
He called for anti-retroviral drugs, that prolong the lives of HIV-positive people, to be made accessible to larger numbers of people "particularly for children and pregnant women so that they may have a better prospect of a longer and productive life".
http://allafrica.com/stories/200612150679.html
Blood Diamond Facts
http://www.diamondfacts.org/
continued ...
