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Here you can find different kinds of news along with their audio files which can help you so much with your listening
Rice: Iranian Nuclear Move Requires Strong UN Steps
By David Gollust
State Department
12 April 2006
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says Iran's claims of an advance in uranium enrichment will require strong steps by the U.N. Security Council when it reconvenes on the issue at the end of the month. The secretary promised a steady U.S. diplomatic effort on the issue.
Secretary Rice says Iran's defiance of calls that it stop uranium enrichment will require strong action by the U.N. Security Council if the council is to maintain its credibility.
But Rice also says the United States is pursuing a steady diplomatic course on the issue, with officials saying the Bush administration is not seeking emergency action by the Security Council, despite Tuesday's Iranian announcement.
The secretary's comments added to a growing chorus of international concern about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's assertion that Iran was moving toward enriching uranium on an industrial scale for what Tehran says are peaceful purposes.
Rice addressed the Iranian nuclear issue in a talk with reporters as she began a meeting with the President of Equatorial Guinea, saying the Iranian leader's statement is just a step that will further isolate the Tehran government.
"It demonstrates that Iran is not adhering to the international community's requirements," she said. "And I do think that the Security Council will need to take into consideration this move by Iran, and that it will be time, when it reconvenes on this case, for strong steps to make certain that we maintain the credibility of the international community on this issue."
Rice said the Bush administration would be steady in its diplomatic track on the Iranian nuclear issue, because it believes that concerted and coherent diplomatic policy will convince the Iranians to return to compliance with international demands.
Earlier this week, administration officials downplayed news reports the administration was contemplating military action against Iran, though saying no options had been foreclosed.
The Bush administration has long said that Iran's nominally peaceful nuclear program has a concealed weapons component.
Rice said again the current conflict is not about Iran's right to have a civil nuclear-power program, but she said the world does not believe it should have the capability and technology that can lead to a nuclear weapon.
State Department officials said the United States is not asking for any change in the Security Council timetable for action on the Iranian issue.
The council is due to convene April 28 to hear a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Iran's response to the so-called president's statement it issued late last month calling on it to halt sensitive nuclear activities.
The officials said Rice telephoned IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei to ask him to reinforce demands that Iran comply with its non-proliferation requirements when he told talks in Tehran later this week.
Source : VOA News
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Key US Senator Backs Direct Talks With Iran
By Paula Wolfson
Washington
16 April 2006
A top Republican in the U.S. Senate says the Bush administration should hold direct talks with Iran on Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
Senator Richard Lugar, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, says direct talks with Iran could be helpful.
"I think that it would be useful," he said.
During an appearance on the ABC television program This Week, the Indiana Republican also stressed the need for direct U.S. talks with Russia and China about the best way to put pressure on Iran. Both countries are permanent veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council and have made clear they are reluctant to impose sanctions on Tehran. Lugar suggested it might be best to intensify diplomacy and put any discussion of sanctions aside for the time being.
"I believe for the moment, that we ought to cool this one too," he added. "The rhetoric has been pretty hot and heavy with the president of Iran on TV constantly. It appears to me that they [the diplomats] are not making that much headway and we need to make more headway diplomatically."
The Bush administration has long maintained that the best way to deal with the Iranian nuclear issue is through a multilateral approach. It has supported negotiations led by three European nations - Britain, France and Germany - and urged action by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Security Council.
One strong congressional supporter of the president's strategy is Senator Mitch McConnell. The Kentucky Republican split with Senator Lugar on the issue, explaining his view on the Fox television network's Fox News Sunday program.
"When the president went into Iraq, they accused him of being too unilateral. And now, he is applying a multilateral approach in Iran and they say it ought to be unilateral in Iran. Nobody seriously thinks there is a unilateral solution to the Iranian nuclear crisis," said McConnell.
But the stand espoused by Senator Lugar got some strong support on U.S. television from a leading Senate Democrat, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut. He also appeared on Fox News Sunday.
"The Iranians have been very interested for us to be very directly involved, with the Europeans or not," he commented. "The point is we almost have no contact at all. They are asking us to sit down and talk about Iraq with them because they are concerned about that. That is an opening."
Meanwhile, two former members of the White House National Security Council have weighed in with their opinion on the use of military force against Iran. In an article written for the New York Times newspaper, Richard Clarke and Steven Simon warned against such action, saying it could be more damaging to U.S. interests than the struggle in Iraq.
President Bush has maintained he wants to resolve the matter diplomatically, though military action is always an option. He told a group of foreign policy students last week that in the case of Iran, multilateral diplomacy remains the best course, playing down media reports alleging military planning for a possible attack is under way.
Iran has maintained its nuclear program is purely civilian in nature and is designed to generate electricity. But the United States and its allies have argued that civilian program is really a cover for the development of nuclear arms.
Source : VOA News
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Pilgrims Celebrate Easter Sunday in Jerusalem
By Robert Berger
Jerusalem
16 April 2006
Christians around the world are celebrating Easter, marking the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Robert Berger spent the day among pilgrims in Jerusalem, and filed this VOA report.
Thousands of Christians converged on the holy places in Jerusalem to celebrate Easter, beginning at the crack of dawn.
It's a chilly Easter sunrise here at the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem, but pilgrims have come out to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. The site is said to resemble the place where Jesus was buried. Facing an empty ancient tomb from biblical times, the worshippers proclaimed: the Lord is not here, He is risen.
Mr. Wright came all the way from Nashville, Tennessee in the United States. He told VOA that walking in the footsteps of Jesus on Easter is an experience of faith.
"I'm just sitting down and kind of letting it soak in. There's so much history here, and to imagine what happened and how important it is, it's a little overwhelming," Wright says.
The main Easter celebration was a solemn liturgy at one of the holiest places in Christianity.
A fragrant cloud of incense is rising above the ancient stone tomb here in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, believed to be the site of Jesus' resurrection. Priests in white robes are celebrating Easter mass surrounded by pilgrims from around the world. The church is packed this year-unlike in previous years when Israel-Palestinian violence scared pilgrims away.
Israeli police and soldiers patrolled the cobblestone streets of Jerusalem's Old City, but the atmosphere was calm. Jonathan Fambrough is from the U.S. city of Atlanta.
"There's really so much security, there is so much, in my feeling, my experience, safety," Fambrough says. "And, you know, I feel just as at home here as I would in New York City. And I think it's just absolutely silly that people don't come here because of security."
So pilgrims enjoyed a peaceful Easter in the turbulent Middle East.
Source : VOA News
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UN Warns Sudanese Refugees in Chad Have Nowhere to Go
By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
16 April 2006
The UN refugee agency warns some 200,000 Sudanese refugees who fled to Chad from Darfur would have nowhere to go were they to be expelled from the country. A UNHCR spokeswoman tells VOA, the agency has heard nothing official from the authorities in Chad about possible expulsions.
UNHCR spokeswoman, Jennifer Pagonis, says she does not want to speculate about what would happen to the refugees were they to be expelled.
"Obviously, they cannot go to Darfur," she said. "The situation there is not suitable for the return of refugees there. They still fear persecution. The situation in Darfur is not good. Even our own activities in the region have been curtailed because of the security situation. So, they cannot go back to Darfur. We certainly hope that we can continue working with the Chadian government."
On Friday, Chad's president threatened to expel the Sudanese refugees by the end of June, unless the international community took steps to stop, what he called, Sudan's efforts to undermine his government. The government issued this warning in the aftermath of a failed coup attempt by rebels who, Chad claims, are supported by the Sudanese government.
Since war between Sudanese-backed militia and rebel groups broke out in Darfur three years ago, tens of thousands of people have been killed and about two million made homeless. An estimated 200,000 fled to neighboring Chad seeking asylum.
Pagonis tells VOA the UNHCR has been working very closely with the Chadian government since the beginning of the influx of refugees from Darfur in 2003. She hopes the cooperation between them can continue.
"We have good contacts with the government. We talk to them regularly and we will certainly be talking to them now about this. You know Chad has had a very large burden in dealing with these 200,000 refugees," reminded Pagonis. "They are in an extremely difficult, hostile area, part of the country, in terms of the physical terrain. And, it certainly has not been easy for them. That is why the UNHCR has been there helping them cope with this. So far, we have managed under pretty difficult circumstances. So, we think that we can at least try to continue that."
Pagonis says there are only about 12 resettlement countries in the world. She says it is unlikely that other countries would be willing to take 200,000 refugees. She says she does not believe a solution lies in that direction, nor does it lie in sending them home.
She says the refugees from Darfur have suffered enormously and it would be unthinkable for them to be put through another horrendous situation. She urges all parties to respect the refugees and to respect their right to asylum.
Source : VOA News
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China's President Calls for Talks With Taiwan
By Daniel Schearf
Beijing
16 April 2006
Chinese President Hu Jintao says new talks with rival Taiwan should begin as soon as possible to maintain peace in the region. Mr. Hu's remarks come just days before he is due to meet President Bush in Washington.
Hu Jintao said Taiwan and China should resume talks on an equal footing and on the basis of a 1992 consensus, in which the two sides agreed the island and the mainland were part of "One China."
China and Taiwan split in 1949 after a civil war. Since then China has considered independently-ruled Taiwan a breakaway province that must be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary.
Mr. Hu made the call for early negotiations Sunday in a televised meeting with Lien Chan, the former chairman of Taiwan's main opposition party. Mr. Lien was in Beijing for a cross-straits economic forum.
Without specifying current government members, Mr. Hu said Sunday elements in Taiwan were creating obstacles to better relations by refusing to honor the consensus.
Mr. Hu says ignoring the people's wishes, some people are denying the consensus of 1992 and deliberately damaging the status quo, which is that the mainland and Taiwan belong to one China. He adds that only by honoring the consensus can the two sides achieve the goal of peaceful development and common prosperity.
Beijing has sought to isolate Taiwan's independence-leaning President Chen Shui-bian by developing ties with the opposition Nationalists. Mr. Lien's visit to the two-day economic forum was his third in the past year.
The United States has urged China to talk directly to Taiwan's leaders but the Beijing government says it will not negotiate with anyone who does not honor the 'One China' policy.
China has also repeatedly stressed the importance of improving economic ties with Taiwan and on Saturday pledged a package of trade and economic benefits, including aviation, agriculture and finance deals.
Mr. Hu also announced that China's economy grew by more than 10 percent in the first quarter of this year. However, he insisted China was not deliberately pursuing high-speed growth and was more concerned about the environment and people's livelihood.
Mr. Hu's visit to the United States begins on Tuesday. While there he will meet with President Bush for talks that will include Taiwan and trade issues.
Source : VOA News
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Indian Court Lifts Ban on Bombay's Famous Dance Bars
By Anjana Pasricha
New Delhi
16 April 2006
An Indian court has lifted a ban imposed on dancing-girl bars in the western city of Bombay. The bars were an integral part of nightlife in Bombay, the city that is home to India's entertainment industry.
A year ago, the Maharashtra state government brought the curtains down on more than 600 dance bars in Bombay, where tens of thousands of girls used to sway to popular numbers from Indian films as customers showered them with money.
These ritzy bars were a longtime feature of Bombay's vibrant nightlife. But the state government ordered them shut, saying they were hubs for prostitution and crime, and were corrupting youth.
But angry bar owners, bar girls, and women's rights activists rejected the government's contention and launched a bitter fight. They said the bars provided clean entertainment to the middle classes.
The dance bars' supporters argued that they were tame by the standards of many similar establishments across the world. The girls remained fully clothed during performances and customers were prohibited from touching the dancers.
Nearly 75,000 dancing girls were thrown out of work by the ban, which shut down bars across the state. In the past year, many of the dancers had to leave Maharashtra in search of alternate work and women's activists have expressed fears that some may have been forced into prostitution.
Now the dancing girls have reason to cheer again. This week, the Bombay High Court overturned the ban, calling it unconstitutional and saying it violated the dancing girls' right to choose their employment.
Varsha Kale heads the Bar Girls Union, which, along with the bar owners, has waged the legal battle to have the ban lifted.
Kale says the girls did not get any alternative work, despite government promises to provide them with jobs. She says they faced unemployment, but had confronted the hardship with great fortitude.
One of the dancing girls, Vandana, told local television news channels that she hopes the court order will enable her to work again.
Vandana says she danced to earn a living for her family. She says it was a respectable occupation and she worked hard like anyone else to earn an income.
The bar owners are getting ready to open their shutters - but the fight is not completely won yet. The Bombay High Court says the state government can appeal against its verdict to the Supreme Court within two months. The authorities say they may do just that.
Source : VOA News
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Berlusconi Resigns as Italian PM
By Sabina Castelfranco
Rome
02 May 2006
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has resigned, paving the way for a center-left government led by Romano Prodi. His resignation came more than three weeks after Italy's general elections.
For weeks, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi refused to concede defeat in Italy's general elections. His challenger, Romano Prodi, who heads a center-left coalition, won by a narrow margin. Berlusconi finally went to the presidential palace to meet with the Italian head of state.
A presidential spokesman read a statement that said that Berlusconi had resigned and President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi has asked him to remain temporarily as caretaker prime minister.
Earlier, Berlusconi has presided over a short cabinet meeting in which he announced his decision to resign. Berlusconi was elected leader of the center-right coalition in 2001 and has been the longest serving prime minister in Italy since World War Two.
After learning of Berlusconi's resignation, Prodi - the winner of the elections - said democracy goes on, sometimes slowly, but it goes on. He expressed the hope that the political vacuum would not last long.
Berlusconi has pledged to lead a fierce opposition.
Meanwhile, Prodi has been working on his line-up for Italy's new government. It is up to the Italian president to give Prodi the mandate, but it remains unclear whether a new president will need to be elected first, because Ciampi's term expires later this month.
Ciampi had indicated he wanted his successor to give the new prime minister his mandate. But there has been widespread speculation that Ciampi might change his mind to put an end to the political delay.
Ciampi has stressed the need for Italy to quickly revive the country's zero-growth economy. He has also said political tensions must ease if the nation is to work together on that goal.
Source : VOA News
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Suicide Bombings in Afghanistan Increase Sharply
By Benjamin Sand
Islamabad
02 May 2006
A suicide attacker has hit a military convoy on patrol outside the Afghan capital, Kabul killing a civilian. Suicide bomb attacks have increased dramatically in Afghanistan during the past few days.
The bomber apparently detonated a car packed with explosives as Canadian troops traveled along the main road leading from the capital to the American military base in Bagram.
Officials said the blast killed the suicide bomber and a local Afghan man. The Canadians reportedly escaped serious injury.
NATO spokesman Major Luke Knittig says international peacekeepers moved in quickly to secure the area.
"We have put a quick reaction force at the scene that is providing investigative and medical assistance," he said.
The early morning attack was the latest in a string of suicide bombings in recent days.
Officials count at least five attacks in the past two days, and more than 20 in the past two months.
Taleban insurgents recently vowed to intensify their four-year-old fight against the U.S.-backed central government.
The hard-line Islamic group took control of Afghanistan in the late 1990s, providing sanctuary to Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida terrorist organization. The Taleban was driven from power in 2001 by a U.S.-led invasion.
Earlier this year, fugitive Taleban officials claimed they had recruited some 200 suicide bombers to attack government and foreign military targets.
But Afghan and coalition officials say their development and peacekeeping projects will go ahead as planned.
Major Knittig, the NATO spokesman, says national and international forces are ready for whatever the Taleban has in store.
"It is part of a test that we fully expected, and you're seeing growing capacity, particularly from Afghan security forces, to deal with this threat," noted Knittig.
NATO has about 10,000 troops in Afghanistan, and will add another 5,000 later this year when it expands its security force to the country's southern and eastern provinces.
Last year, approximately 1,600 people in Afghanistan were killed by insurgent-related violence, the highest number since the invasion.
More than 300 people have been killed this year, including 15 American and at least seven Canadian soldiers.
Source : VOA News
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Rapid Containment Key to Preventing Bird Flu Pandemic
By Nancy-Amelia Collins
Jakarta
02 May 2006
The World Health Organization says it may be possible to prevent or delay a human bird-flu pandemic if countries immediately act to contain outbreaks.
The World Health Organization says rapid intervention at the earliest signs of a human bird-flu outbreak may prevent hundreds of millions of infections and millions of deaths.
The WHO regional director for the Western Pacific, Shigeru Omi, says once there are signs the H5N1 bird-flu virus is spreading among people, there will only be two or three weeks to prevent or at least slow down a global pandemic.
"If some initial sign, initial indication a pandemic happen, we have to immediately pick up, detect this initial sign or signals and we have to implement all the necessary measures," Omi says.
Omi says those measure include giving large numbers of people anti-viral drugs, restricting travel, quarantining infected areas and closing schools. He says all countries must be held accountable for these measures.
"There is a responsibility for countries to implement and improve the quality of surveillance and to implement these public measures such as restriction of movement if there are the signs of the pandemic starts," Omi says.
Omi made the remarks in Jakarta during a ceremony to mark $70 million in aid pledged by Japan to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to fight the H5N1 virus.
The aid includes a stockpile for Southeast Asia of half a million doses of Tamiflu, considered the best treatment for bird flu so far.
ASEAN Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong says the group's 10 members last year organized themselves to better fight the spread of the bird flu virus.
"In fact, in countries like Thailand and Vietnam the work has been very strong and we believe that the preventive measures have helped us to contain the spread of the disease," Ong Keng Yong says. "So we are using lessons learned from these countries to tackle the potential threat."
The H5N1 virus is now endemic in Asia, where millions of birds have been culled across the region to halt the spread of the disease.
Since 2003, bird flu has infected more than 200 people - mostly in Asia - and killed roughly half of them.
Although most victims have caught the virus from close contact with infected birds, health experts fear the virus may mutate to a form easily passed between humans.
Source : VOA News
The audio file link :
Journalists Call for Press Freedom in Ethiopia
By Cathy Majtenyi
Nairobi
02 May 2006
On the eve of World Press Freedom Day, Ethiopian journalists and others in Kenya are calling for the Ethiopian government to release more than a dozen journalists imprisoned following last year's elections and to respect freedom of the press and expression.
Ethiopian journalist Wemdesen Teklu, now a refugee living in Kenya, described to reporters how difficult it is to be a journalist in Ethiopia. "I left my country in 2001 due to just on-going harassment and persecution - if you remember the Addis Ababa university students getting harassed," he said. "So, due to that reason, I was forced to leave my country with the students. I have been in jail many times and I have been also tortured. This is what I experienced in my country when I was in jail. I am writing just the truth.... I did not do any crime."
Wemdesen said Ethiopian authorities have banned all independent media, and that 63 journalists have been charged with treason and other offenses since October of last year. Of those, five were VOA reporters charged with treason in absentia. Those charges have since been dropped.
He said 16 journalists - including a pregnant newspaper editor - remain in prison and could face the death penalty merely, he says, for being critical of the government.
Wemdesen and other Ethiopian journalists living in Kenya are calling for the Ethiopian government to release the imprisoned journalists and respect the country's constitution, especially regarding freedom of expression and freedom of the press.
More than 100 journalists, opposition politicians and supporters, activists, and others who protested the results of last May's elections in Ethiopia face treason, genocide, and other charges. They accused the ruling party of committing electoral fraud to win last year's elections.
Their imprisonment and trials have been condemned internationally, most recently by U.N. Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International released a report urging the Ethiopian government to release at least 40 of the detainees, which the organization calls prisoners of conscience.
The secretary general of the Kenya Union of Journalists Ezekiel Mutua was on hand to lend his support to the Ethiopian journalists. "In reality, there is no free press in Ethiopia," he said. "In reality, journalists are jailed for writing any negative reports about the government. In reality, journalists in Ethiopia are being turned into puppets of the regime, and if you do not tow the line, then you are targeted as an enemy of the state."
The Ethiopian government says the journalists and others in jail are guilty of fomenting violence.
Wednesday is World Press Freedom Day.
Source : VOA News
The audio file link :
Bush Says Diplomacy Best Option for Dealing With Iran
By Paula Wolfson
Washington
09 May 2006
President Bush says he thinks diplomacy is the first and most important option in dealing with Iran's nuclear ambitions. Mr. Bush was asked about the dispute during a trip to the state of Florida.
The focus of the trip was supposed to be health care for the elderly. But when senior citizens got a chance to ask questions, they asked about Iran.
The president told them the goal is to prevent Iran from using its nuclear program to develop atomic weapons. He said in the case of Iraq, diplomacy failed to bring Saddam Hussein in compliance with international demands. But he said this time, diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute may succeed.
"The first choice and a choice that I think will work with the Iranians is diplomacy," Mr. Bush says. "And I believe we can accomplish this through diplomacy."
He made the remarks at a time when members of the United Nations Security Council are struggling to find the best way to put pressure on Iran, with China and Russia resisting calls for economic sanctions.
The president said he would not negotiate in public, and would let the diplomats do their work in private. But he made clear, while there are differences in strategy, they all agree the overall aim is to prevent Iran from getting nuclear arms.
"The first step toward good diplomacy is to have different countries agree on a common goal, which is that the Iranians should not have the capacity and-or nuclear weapons," Mr. Bush says.
Mr. Bush said through hard work, the countries dealing with the Iran nuclear issue will remain bound together. He said they all recognize the danger inherent in a nuclear-armed Iran. He said they understand the consequences, and added Tehran must understand the consequences of its continued defiance.
"It's very important for the Iranians to know they will be isolated in the world," Mr. Bush says. "The rest of the world, much of the world, shares the same demands that those of us involved in negotiations say."
The president made no mention of the letter, relayed to him Monday by the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The 18-page letter has many criticisms of the Bush administration, but does not refer directly to the impasse over Iran's nuclear ambitions. It was quickly rejected by Bush administration officials, and the White House has made clear Iran should not expect a formal written reply.
Source : VOA News
The audio file link :
Iran's Leader Blasts US, Calls Democracy a Failure
By Peter Heinlein
United Nations
09 May 2006
Iran's president has declared in a letter to President Bush that democracy has failed worldwide, and accused the United States of spreading hatred. U.S. officials have dismissed the letter as unhelpful in addressing the standoff over Iran's nuclear program.
In a rambling 18-page letter, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad criticizes President Bush's handling of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and accuses the United States of spreading lies about the Iraq war.
A copy of the letter obtained by VOA through European diplomats Tuesday makes almost no reference to Iran's nuclear intentions. Instead, it focuses on alleged wrongdoing by the United States.
In the document, the Iranian leader contends that the people of the world have lost faith in international institutions, and refers to Western-style democracy as a failed concept.
He several times mentions the Koran and urges what he calls "a return to the teachings of the divine prophets."
News of the letter had briefly raised hopes of a breakthrough in the standoff over Iran's nuclear program. But in comments to the Associated Press, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the contents do not address the nuclear issue in a concrete way.
Rice met late into the night Monday with foreign ministers of the other Security Council nations and Germany to discuss strategy on Iran.
Afterward, Britain's new Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett, called the lengthy session "important but difficult." But she acknowledged there had been no agreement on any of the outstanding issues, and that the ministers had issued instructions to diplomats to continue working.
"We've sent officials away to work towards how we can express the clear determination and the insistence that Iran should comply on this matter with the will of the international community," she said. " So there is a good deal of work officials have to do against the background of clear common ground as to our objectives."
A senior U.S. official briefing reporters said prospects for agreement in the next week are "not substantially good." On the other hand, the official said he was encouraged that, "no one is leaving the table."
In a speech in Florida Tuesday, President Bush said he was committed to a diplomatic solution.
Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said there are as many as six issues still to be resolved before a resolution could be passed.
Diplomats on all sides say there is broad agreement that Iran should be prevented from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability. But veto-wielding Security Council powers China and Russia have objected to any Council action that would legally require Iran to halt its nuclear enrichment activity.
China's U.N. ambassador, Wang Guangya, acknowledged that Beijing opposes any action that could lead to sanctions against Iran. But he told VOA that China would prefer to find a diplomatic solution that avoids the use of a veto.
"Veto is always there, but nowadays in the Council it is how to work constructively," the ambassador said. "So each member has to consider the concerns of the others. We want to be a constructive player."
There was no immediate word on when discussions would resume on a draft Iran resolution put forward last week by France and Britain, with German and U.S. backing. The resolution would carry the force of law under Chapter Seven of the U.N. Charter, but Western and Asian diplomats say Russia has proposed compromise language that would soften the impact of the measure.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency reported to the Security Council last month that it could not confirm Iran's nuclear program was only for peaceful purpose because Tehran has not been fully open. But it found no firm evidence of a weapons project.
Source : VOA News
The audio file link :
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Dozens of Taleban Rebels Reportedly Killed in Afghanistan Clash
By Benjamin Sand
Islamabad
24 May 2006
U.S. Military officials in Afghanistan say 24 Taleban rebels have been killed in a clash with government and coalition forces in southern Afghanistan. U.S. officials have also apologized for an air strike earlier this week that reportedly killed 16 civilians.
Officials say the rebels were killed in a firefight Tuesday in Uruzgan province in southern Afghanistan. Several government soldiers were also reportedly killed.
It was the latest in a series of clashes in the past two months in which about 300 people have been killed.
In addition, coalition officials acknowledged responsibility for an air strike Sunday that reportedly killed Afghan civilians in a remote part of southern Kandahar province.
A spokesman for the United States military, Colonel Tom Collins, apologized for the loss of innocent lives. But he defended the action, telling reporters in Kabul that the strike was ordered after coalition troops came under fire.
He says U.S. commanders did not know civilians were in the houses when the U.S. planes attacked, and he accused Taleban insurgents of intentionally using civilian houses for protection.
"The ultimate cause of why civilians were injured and killed is because the Taleban knowingly, willfully chose to occupy homes of these people," said Collins.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered an inquiry into the incident.
In a written statement Tuesday, Mr. Karzai expressed concern over U.S. tactics, but also condemned the Taleban's use of so-called human shields.
Collins also told reporters that rebel activity has been rising in several southern Afghan provinces, which were the Taleban's traditional stronghold.
"There are several hundred hard-core Taleban fighters," he said. "And we know for a fact that in recent weeks they have grown in strength and influence in some parts of Kandahar, Helmand, and Uruzgan."
Local officials in the region say rebel activity typically rises during the summer and does not mean the government is losing popular support.
This year's violence has been the rebel's deadliest so-called "summer offensive" since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taleban regime in 2001 for harboring terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.
Source : VOA News
The audio file link :
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Terrorist Mastermind Zarqawi Killed in Iraq
By Michael Bowman
Washington
08 June 2006
U.S. forces have killed al-Qaida's top lieutenant in Iraq, Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in an airstrike northeast of Baghdad. The news has been met with jubilation in much of Iraq, and been welcomed by world leaders.
Spontaneous street celebrations erupted in parts of Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq after Iraqi and U.S. officials announced Zarqawi and several of his top aides had been killed.
At a news conference in Baghdad, cockpit video was shown from one of two U.S. warplanes, each of which dropped a massive bomb on a farmhouse that had been used as a terrorist safe haven near the provincial capital of Baquba.
"We had absolutely no doubt whatsoever that Zarqawi was in the house," said Major General William Caldwell. "There was 100 percent confirmation. And that was the deliberate target we went to get [strike]."
The commander of coalition forces in Iraq, General George Casey, said Zarqawi's body had been conclusively identified by fingerprint matching, facial recognition, and scars the terrorist mastermind was known to have.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari proclaimed, "It is a great day for the people of Iraq."
At the White House, President Bush also welcomed the news.
"Zarqawi personally beheaded American hostages and other civilians in Iraq," the president noted. "He masterminded the destruction of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad."
Mr. Bush added: "I congratulate our troops on this remarkable achievement. Zarqawi is dead. But the difficult and necessary work in Iraq continues. We can expect the terrorists and insurgents to carry on without him."
British Prime Minister Tony Blair echoed the cautious tone. Mr. Blair said a blow against al-Qaida in Iraq is a blow against al-Qaida everywhere - but added that many obstacles remain in the battle against terrorism.
Speaking in Brussels, U.S. Defense Secretary Ronald Rumsfeld said American forces had been tracking Zarqawi for some time. Once located, they opted against a ground assault on the terrorist den out of concern that Zarqawi might escape. Rumsfeld, who is attending a meeting of NATO defense ministers, said no single person has had the blood of more innocent people on his hands in recent years than Zarqawi.
"Given the nature of the terrorist networks, really a network of networks, the death of Zarqawi - while enormously important - will not mean the end of all violence in that country, and one ought not to take it as such," he said. "But let there be no doubt that the fact that he is dead is a significant victory in the battle against terrorism in that country, and I would say worldwide."
Already, U.S. military commanders are examining who might succeed Zarqawi as al-Qaida's top operative in Iraq.
Zarqawi's death came as Iraq's parliament approved Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's nominees for the ministries of defense and interior, ending weeks of political gridlock over the posts in Iraq's new unity government.
Source : VOA News
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US Lawmakers Hail Zarqawi Death
By Dan Robinson
Capitol Hill
08 June 2006
Members of Congress are welcoming the death in a U.S. air strike in Iraq of terrorist Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, calling the event a new opportunity for progress in Iraq.
Lawmakers reacting to the death of Zarqawi praised U.S. military forces, and expressed hope the development could give Iraq's new government and its people a new chance for peace.
In the House of Representatives, speaker after speaker took to the floor describing Zarqawi as a bloodthirsty terrorist responsible for the brutal deaths of Iraqis and foreigners.
"I commend U.S. and Iraqi forces for this extraordinary accomplishment," said Mike Pence, a Republican from Indiana. "The leading enemy of freedom in Iraq is dead. Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi is gone, let freedom reign in Iraq."
House Majority Leader John Boehner spoke to reporters.
"The elimination of the terrorist Zarqawi represents another important milestone achieved for the Iraqi people and the global war on terror. It is an important tangible success, and Americans today, I think, are safer as a result," he said.
Other reaction came from House Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi, who praised U.S. forces for finding Zarqawi as well as the filling of two important posts in the Iraqi government.
"I salute the efforts of the American troops who worked tirelessly to track down the terrorist Zarqawi," she said. "His death and the naming of the Iraqi defense and interior ministers, should hasten the day when Iraqis take responsibility for their security and American troops can come home."
While there was widespread praise in Congress for U.S. military forces and the intelligence efforts that went into the air strike that killed Zarqawi, some lawmakers used the development to renew calls for a plan to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq.
"We need to declare victory with the Zarqawi killing and this is a time too [to] also declare that the Iraqi government has completed the formation of its cabinet and we can start withdrawing our troops," said Diane Watson, a California Democrat.
Asked if it was premature to suggest that the elimination of Zarqawi could help speed the departure of U.S. forces, House Democratic leader Pelosi said it should be viewed in conjunction with the appointment of Iraqi defense and interior ministers.
That was echoed by Senate Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist. He said both developments are major steps forward, adding that while major challenges remain he is more optimistic than ever that a free and stable Iraq can be achieved.
There was also this reaction from Senator John Cornyn.
"Our intelligence and military forces have demonstrated their exceptional abilities and reminded us yet again that through patience and resolve we will continue to win the war on terror and advance the cause of freedom around the globe," he said.
The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Congressman Pete Hoekstra, said that while the killing of Zarqawi is a significant step forward in the fight against radical Islam and its campaign of terror, the job is far from complete.
Source : VOA News
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Islamic Group Controlling Somali Capital Faces Authority Challenges
By Alisha Ryu
Nairobi
08 June 2006
After months of fighting against an alliance of secular Somali factional leaders to seize Mogadishu, an organization called the Union of Islamic courts says it is now in control of the capital. The union is already facing major challenges to its authority, and Somalis are once again bracing for a new round of fighting.
It has been three days since the Islamic courts' militia pushed a self-styled, anti-terror coalition of factional leaders out of the city and declared victory.
But the African program director of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, Suleiman Baldo, tells VOA that it would be premature to assume that the Union of Islamic courts is now fully in control.
"Now, it is the test of governing Mogadishu, the test of surviving clan politics," he said. "This is the reality of the place, and they have to show an ability to navigate the complexities. I think the issues of administration of Mogadishu and clan politics overlap, because to have a stable administration that is acceptable to all, they need to associate with all of the major clans and influential players in Mogadishu, and not to impose an administration of their own exclusively."
The clan based Union of Islamic courts was established more than a decade ago to try to restore law and order in a country torn apart by warlords and factionalism.
But experts on Somalia say the Islamic group's efforts to promote a conservative religious agenda at the expense of clan allegiance have bred resentment among some clan elders. Now, there are signs that the Union of Islamic courts is on a collision course with at least one of the country's powerful sub-clans.
On Tuesday, the influential Abgal sub-clan in northern Mogadishu held a large demonstration, vowing never to accept the authority of the Islamic courts.
Abgal leaders have appealed for clan unity in fighting the Islamic courts, and to defend the town of Jowhar, 90 kilometers north of the capital, where the defeated Mogadishu-based factional leaders are now said to be regrouping to launch a counter-attack.
Jowhar is a stronghold of Mohammed Dheere, one of the leaders of the 11-member, anti-terrorism alliance and an Abgal sub-clan member.
Meanwhile, a top Islamic courts official, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, has announced that he is stepping down as chairman. The cleric is an Abgal, prompting some in Mogadishu to speculate that pressure from clan elders may have played a role in Ahmed's decision to resign.
Ahmed was seen as a relative moderate in the courts' leadership, which includes Sheikh Hassen Dahir Aweys, a hard-line radical cleric accused of having ties to al-Qaida.
Suleiman Baldo at the International Crisis Group says he believes, if Aweys is chosen to replace Ahmed as expected, there is little chance that peace talks will ever be held with factional leaders, or with Somalia's transitional government in Baidoa.
The president of the transitional government, Abdullahi Yusuf, once spearheaded a successful campaign in the northern region of Puntland against al-Itihaad al-Islamiya, a radical Somali Islamist group headed by Aweys.
Source : VOA News
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Afghan, NATO Officials Confident of Alliance's Expanded Role
By Al Pessin
Brussels
08 June 2006
Afghanistan's defense minister and the chief of NATO expressed confidence that alliance forces will be effective at taking responsibility for security in most of the country, in spite of the recent increase in attacks by insurgents and criminals. The two men spoke at a NATO defense ministers meeting, the first such gathering to be attended by an Afghan defense minister.
Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak says he is confident the NATO forces are up to the job of fighting Taleban and al-Qaida insurgents, drug traffickers and other criminals.
"We are fully confident that NATO is quite capable to expand to stage three, and later on to stage four," he said.
Stage Three is the NATO expansion into southern Afghanistan, scheduled for the coming months, and Stage Four is NATO's expansion into eastern Afghanistan, expected by the end of the year. At that time, NATO will have responsibility for security in all of the country, except the capital, with U.S. troops leading the active hunt for insurgents.
The move has raised concern among some Afghans that there will be less security than the U.S.-led coalition has provided. Standing with the Afghan defense minister, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de hoop Scheffer said that is a misperception.
"Let no one doubt NATO's resolve nor doubt our capability to carry out this mission, because that is exactly what we will do," he said.
But Scheffer also acknowledged that the expanded Afghanistan mission will be a challenge for NATO's multi-national command and the many governments that must support the effort.
"Yes, we will be tested, but we will react robustly, as has already been done by British forces, Canadian forces, Dutch forces. And nobody should be under any illusion that NATO will be chased away from that region. We will not be," he said.
Minister Wardak said he believes his forces, along with coalition and NATO troops, will get control of the situation in the south within a couple of months.
"We will have maybe one or two months [in] which there will be a little bit of crisis. But with the measures already taken, I think that in a short period I think we will see a drastic change in the security situation in the south," he said.
Minister Wardak said he does not believe the recent spike in violence is a resurgence by the Taleban. Rather, he said the group is trying to take advantage of the transition to a greater NATO role, and trying to convince Europeans to oppose the deployment of their troops in Afghanistan. Both he and the NATO leader predicted that the insurgent effort will fail.
Source : VOA News
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AU Struggles to Seal Peace Deal in Darfur
By Noel King
Debbis, Darfur, Sudan
08 June 2006
The task of urging holdout rebels to sign the Darfur Peace Agreement has fallen to the African Union, which brokered the deal in Abuja, Nigeria. It is a difficult job, and across the region, AU peacekeepers are working relentlessly to entice the rebels into accepting the Darfur deal.
Colonel Richard Lourens and his team of a dozen African Union troops and observers are flying deep into rebel-held territory.
This is not a combat mission. Instead, it is an attempt to coax holdout Darfuri rebels into accepting a peace agreement that they do not want.
Rebels from a holdout faction of the Sudan Liberation Army have agreed to meet Lourens outside of the tiny village of Debbus.
But the meeting begins poorly as the heavily armed rebels say they have decided that they don't want to speak to Lourens.
The colonel is clearly frustrated.
"I want them to understand that I am here to assist and I am here to help," he said. "And they must understand that there is a peace process going on. And I want to come and help them, but they must help me to help them."
These rebels are aligned with Abdel Wahid Moahmed Nur, a commander with the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) who says the May 5 Darfur Peace Agreement does not offer Darfuris enough.
Nur wants more compensation money for victims of this brutal war and a Darfuri vice president.
Since the signing of the accord, violence has intensified between supporters of Nur and Minni Minnawi, the SLA commander who did sign the agreement.
The rebels in this region call Minni Minnawi a traitor for accepting the peace deal.
Rebel Commander Ibrahim Abdallah is one of the first to air his concerns.
"This is not peace," he said. "Minni has no ground here, no civilians, no forces, nobody in Darfur. Minni has nothing in Darfur. What he signed is a peace agreement between him and the government. This is not for the Darfuri people. I am standing in front of you to tell the international community that they must know: our rights first and then peace later."
The Sudan Liberation Army split in November, with many rebels allying themselves with Minnawi. But Nur has retained immense popular support on the ground and these people think of him as a hero for refusing to accept the peace agreement.
The rebels tell Lourens they believe the African Union is conspiring with the Sudan government. They demand international intervention in Darfur.
Sudan is under intense pressure to allow a United Nations peacekeeping force to take over from the African Union, which has struggled with funding problems and a weak mandate.
But the nation has taken a hard-line position, comparing international intervention in Sudan to that in Iraq and Vietnam.
After deliberations, the rebels agree to lead Lourens to their village so that his team can inspect the humanitarian situation there.
A few hundred women and children have stayed in Debbus despite raids by militias known as janjaweed. The rebels are protecting them from the janjaweed.
It is clear that the people here will not accept the peace deal until the rebels do.
Kultuma Mohamed has lost four sons to the war, and says she will stay in Debbus despite the dangers.
"I won't go to the camps. I will stay here and die with my sons, the rebels," she said.
It is a difficult afternoon for Lourens, but he remains upbeat.
He hands out African Union caps to the men who inspect them before tugging them on. He gives candy to the children and cold drinks to the women.
By the end of the afternoon Lourens is optimistic and says he is certain the people here have come to understand that the African Union is here to help.
The rebels are not so sure. Ibrahim Abdallah told VOA, "We don't trust him yet."
Source : VOA News
The audio file link :
Bush Hosts Chilean President at White House
By Scott Stearns
Washington
08 June 2006
President Bush and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet say they are working together to improve social conditions in South America. It was their first meeting since her January election.
President Bush welcomed the new Chilean leader to the Oval Office, hoping to build on warm relations with the previous Socialist government in Santiago.
While U.S. relations with other Latin American leftists, including Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Bolivia's Evo Morales, are often strained, President Bush has found a commercial and political ally in Chile - an ally he hopes to keep in President Bachelet.
"I appreciate very much your dedication to values that are important: human rights and human decency, the right for people to be able to speak freely and to vote," said Mr. Bush.
President Bush told President Bachelet that America shares that same sense of social justice and focus on education. He says it is very important for the United States to remain engaged in South America and continue good relations with Chile.
President Bachelet, a former political prisoner and defense minister, says it is her intention to continue that relationship.
"We have political, commercial relationships. We really are happy about how our relations have developed, and we have talked and shared opinions about how we can build a region in peace, about how we can fight together against poverty, for social justice, how we can help strengthen democracy in the region, and how we can look after issues [such] as energy innovation, education, health and so on," added Ms. Bachelet.
A 2004 free trade agreement between the countries has boosted commercial ties as the Bush administration has heralded capitalism in Santiago as a model for the region.
On a visit to the capital in November of 2004, President Bush also praised Chile's privatized pension system as a model for how he would like to change America's federal retirement program.
There are differences, chiefly Chile's support for an International Criminal Court that President Bush opposes. There is also Venezuela's campaign to fill the Latin America/Caribbean seat on the U.N. Security Council, a post that Washington would rather see filled by Guatemala.
President Bush and President Bachelet had lunch at the White House following their talks. Ms. Bachelet also visited a school outside Washington, which she attended in the early 1960s, when her father was the military attaché at the Chilean Embassy.
Source : VOA News
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Thailand Marks King's Diamond Jubilee with Spectacular River Procession
By Scott Bobb
Bangkok
08 June 2006
Thailand is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the coronation of its revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest reigning monarch. Dozens of royal leaders from around the world are attending the celebrations, which include religious ceremonies, royal exhibits and lavish tributes to the Thai monarch. The most spectacular of these is a procession Monday night of 52 royal barges down Bangkok's Chao Praya River before the king and his guests. Correspondent Scott Bobb has this report from the Thai capital on the months of preparations that go into the rare performance.
It is midday at the Thai Royal Navy boatyard on Bangkok's Chao Praya River and Captain Kamphol Rahong is barking instructions as his men prepare for the royal barge procession.
The 700-year-old ceremony displays the traditional way in which Thai kings travel for important events such as coronations and major religious ceremonies.
During the procession, four royal barges, each the length of several city buses and about two meters wide, glide down the river escorted by 48 other barges in a formation of five columns.
Kamphol captains the king's barge, which is the considered the most beautiful. It is called Suphannahongse after a swan-like steed from Thai mythology. Hewn from a single giant tree nearly 100 years ago, it is carved to look like a swan and is ornately decorated in gold and red.
It is powered by 50 oarsmen, and carries two steersmen, nine standard bearers and two officers.
The oarsmen of the four royal barges use a special stroke. They raise their oars high in the air, emulating a swan spreading its wings, before they dip them into the water.
There have been only 14 royal barge processions since King Bhumibol Adulyadej was crowned 60 years ago. The occasion this time is to mark the anniversary of his coronation. The king, the world's longest reigning monarch, is revered by the Thais, because of his many good deeds and his discreet intervention during several political crises.
Kamphol, who trains the 2,000 oarsmen in the procession, says the crews have been practicing for more than seven months.
"First, we practiced on land for 40 working days and then we practiced on the water for 49 days. We held minor rehearsals for two days and four nights, and finally three dress rehearsals," he said.
Two steersmen guide each barge. Standing at the stern, they use long oars to keep the boats in position in one of five columns in the middle of the river.
Chief Petty Officer Viroj Photites is the senior steersman on the king's barge. He says the greatest danger comes from the wind, which can blow the barges into each other.
"The Suphannahongse Royal Barge must stay in the middle of the river," he said. "If I cannot control it, the other steersman must help until we are out of danger."
The oarsmen synchronize their strokes by chanting. Lieutenant Nattawat Aramklua, the cantor, says all crewmen consider it a great honor to serve the king in this important part of Thai culture.
"It is Thai tradition, Thai culture inherited from the ancestors from a long time ago," he noted. "It's a tradition that links us to the king who is respected by every Thai."
During the procession, Nattawat will sing for more than two hours without stopping.
The song, written especially for this occasion, glorifies the king and praises his kingdom.
Once the oarsmen are seated in their boats for this rehearsal they pray and then practice their stroke.
The barges are then backed out of their berths and into the river channel.
The barges are positioned up the river and about an hour later they sail past the royal palace.
Thousands of spectators line the shores. Many are wearing yellow shirts, with the royal crest on the front, made especially for the occasion. They have been waiting for hours in the heat to watch this rare ancient performance.
As the stately barges glide by, silence descends on the crowd, and only the sound of the drums and the chanting of the oarsmen float across the river.
Source : VOA News
The audio file link :
More Foreigners Leave Lebanon
By Challiss McDonough
Beirut
19 July 2006
Israel launched fewer air strikes on Beirut Tuesday as foreign countries ferried their citizens out of Lebanon. But aid agencies and the Lebanese government are warning of a dire humanitarian crisis if the Israeli blockade of Lebanon continues.
There were far fewer air strikes around Beirut on Tuesday than on any day since the Israeli offensive in Lebanon began last week. The United States and several European nations have negotiated safe passage with the Israeli military to relay thousands of their citizens to safety.
The British destroyer HMS Gloucester docked in Beirut and took 180 people on board. The ship's commander said it would travel overnight to Cyprus and offload the passengers there before turning around and heading back to Beirut to pick up more. A second British destroyer will also join the evacuation effort.
In remarks broadcast on British television from the dockside, British Ambassador James Watt rejected criticism that the British response was too slow. "Well firstly, there was question of taking the entire British community on one destroyer. We were always going to do it in batches. We've made that clear in our public messages for days. We will be moving much bigger numbers tomorrow and even bigger numbers the day after that," he said.
The U.S. evacuation plan has come in for even more criticism over its slow pace. The Americans have evacuated a few hundred by helicopters, but mass rescues of the thousands of American citizens in Lebanon have not yet started. U.S. Embassy staff and the State Department in Washington said they will be ramping up the rescue efforts over the coming days, using military and commercial ships.
An unknown number of people, including both foreigners and Lebanese citizens, are still stranded in southern Lebanon, which has come under the most severe attack since the Israeli offensive began. Eight members of a Canadian-Lebanese family were killed in an air strike in the south on Sunday.
The roads leading out of the region have been destroyed, and continued air raids are making it nigh impossible for the United Nations or individual countries to get people out of that region. Ambassador Watt said they are his top priority. "There are others, and those are the ones who are really on my mind, who are stuck in the south of the country, who can't move up to Beirut and we can't go down there easily because of the difficult military situation. We are working on solutions for that. They're the ones we're really concerned for," he said.
In the meantime, the United Nations is bracing for a major humanitarian catastrophe if the Israeli blockade of Lebanon continues much longer. There are already some signs that people are hoarding essential supplies, like drinking water, in expectation of shortages over the coming weeks.
The acting head of the UN refugee agency's Beirut office, Arafat Jamal, said the agency is already planning to confront that situation if it arises. "For us, speaking for my agency, we have a lot of stockpiles for example in Jordan, and a few in Syria, that we are very much thinking of bringing over. These are basically contingency stocks mainly intended for Iraq, we thought there might be an emergency over there, but we will divert them to Lebanon now," he said.
UNHCR is sending an emergency response team to Lebanon to help with the crisis. The U.N. estimates that up to half a million people have been forced from their homes by the air strikes.
Source : VOA News
Audio file link :
Evacuation Not Option For Many Foreign Nationals in Lebanon
By Challiss McDonough
Beirut
18 July 2006
Western nations are moving to evacuate thousands of their citizens from Lebanon as Israel's air strikes there intensify. The airport and seaports have been closed after being repeatedly bombed, and most of the main roads out of the country have also been shelled. France and Italy have taken more than 1,600 Europeans out to Cyprus by boat, and Britain is planning to use two warships for its evacuation. But stranded citizens of some countries cannot turn to their governments for help.
An agitated crowd gathered Tuesday afternoon outside the Beirut office of the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR), Western governments have been evacuating their citizens on ships, helicopters, planes and buses. But these refugees and migrants, mostly from Iraq and sub-Saharan Africa, have no homes to escape to.
Peter Tek came to Lebanon nine years ago from southern Sudan.
"As you know the situation is really very difficult, we left Sudan because there's a war," said Mr. Tek. "We are here, and we are facing the same fate."
Unlike the tourists from Western countries who are leaving Lebanon in droves, Somali refugee Hassan Adahu does not have a government he can turn to for help.
"I'm from Somalia. I don't have money, I don't have food, I don't have anything," he said. "What I can do? Somalia, it doesn't have an embassy here."
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says there are about 20,000 Iraqi refugees living in Lebanon, most of them in the Shi'ite areas of the south that have come under the heaviest bombardment. The agency fears some of them are still trapped, along with an unknown number of Lebanese citizens who have not been able to get out of the south yet.
The UNHCR is trying to help move everyone who needs help, both Lebanese and foreigners, to safer locations. Arafat Jamal, the acting officer in charge at the UNHCR in Beirut, says the agency's own workers have also been affected by the violence.
"Because of the emergency, many of our national staff, who form the backbone of this office, have fled to the mountains," he said.
Jamal says the agency is managing a massive crisis with only a fraction of its usual staff. Not only does it have to work with the refugees it normally deals with, but the U.N. refugee agency is also helping find shelter for hundreds of thousands of displaced Lebanese.
Jamal says it is still not clear exactly how many people have fled their homes.
"To be honest, a few days ago the figure was 22,000. And by yesterday, I heard that the government was saying was 400,000. I'm inclined to believe the bigger figure. It seems that it is a massive displacement problem," he added.
Jamal says Lebanese citizens and foreigners, such as the refugees outside his office, are all being offered the same options and the same support. And rather than see his staff shortage as a problem, Jamal says the U.N. refugee agency is using its own displaced workers to scout out new shelters in the mountains than can host more people, and to assess the needs of the ones already there.
But although finding shelter for displaced people is a priority, Jamal says the most urgent thing right now is getting what he calls the "besieged population" out of the heavily bombarded south.
"I would say that probably the more critical area is evacuation from areas of danger," he explained. "That's obviously a lot harder to do. We're trying to negotiate humanitarian corridors, both to get people out and in, but this is a much more complex issue."
Aid workers and the Lebanese government have been turning schools around the country into temporary shelters for people who have been forced to abandon their homes. Although that is working well so far, Jamal, head of the UNHCR office in Beirut, says it is only a temporary solution.
"I think the worry is that two weeks from now, if the blockade continues, these places are going to be a disaster, particularly in terms of sanitation, n terms of once the water closes up, once the toilets clog up, children, diseases, et cetera. Then it's going to be a big problem, and then the U.N. will be needed in terms of supplies."
It is not clear how much longer the Israeli military offensive in Lebanon will last. A top Israeli general told Israel Radio on Tuesday that it could last "a few weeks."
Source : VOA News
Audio file link :
Iraqi Christians Flee Fighting
By Margaret Besheer
Ainkawa, Iraq
18 July 2006
Caught up in the sectarian attacks claiming dozens of Iraqi lives each day is the country's small Christian community. The Dora neighborhood of Baghdad has traditionally been home to many Iraqi Christians, but many have fled to the calm of the northern city of Ainkawa, where they are trying to resume their lives.
Hundreds of years ago, Christian missionaries brought their faith to parts of what is modern-day northern Iraq. A small community of mostly Chaldean Catholics and Assyrians has grown in cities across the north, as well as in the Dora neighborhood of Baghdad and to the south in the port city of Basra.
Today, Iraqi Christians account for between two and three percent of the country's nearly 27 million people.
As sectarian violence grows between Shi'ites and Sunni Arabs, the Christian community has stayed out of the conflict. But many Christians have become victims of the violence, some caught in random acts of terror, others targeted because they are not Muslim.
Many have fled the capital for the Christian town of Ainkawa, near the city of Irbil, in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq.
Youssef owned a restaurant in Baghdad's Dora district. Forced to flee the violence, he now works as a security guard at a church in Ainkawa. "I left my restaurant and brought my sons here because the terrorists kill everyone: the barber, the baker, the supermarket owner. They just kill indiscriminately," he said.
Firas also lived in the Dora neighborhood of Baghdad. He left two months ago and says very few of his neighbors are still there. He says he left because he feared for his life. "If you are in a Shi'ite neighborhood and they see your identity is Christian, okay, you will at least suffer or they will kill you, easily. Same in Sunni places," said Firas.
Sometimes, those who have fled have experienced the worst horrors. A businessman we will call Fouad, to protect him and his family, was kidnapped in Baghdad. He is reluctant to recall his ordeal. "I do not want to remember it. Leave it," he said. "What is the use of this story? Every day hundreds are kidnapped in Baghdad."
But after some prompting, he told VOA that gunmen abducted him and held him for five days. He does not know where they took him, as they covered his head with a hood the entire time.
He says the first two days he was sure they would kill him. In the end, his family paid the kidnappers $170,000 for his safe return.
But Father Tariq from Saint George Church in Ainkawa says it is not just Baghdad Christians who are fleeing the violence. He says families came from Basra, Mosul and Kirkuk, as well as Baghdad. Altogether, about 700 families have come to the area.
Sally is a Christian from Kirkuk. She left the city about a year ago and came to Ainkawa. She says the situation in Kirkuk is very bad: there are bombs, explosions and kidnappings.
Randa is also from Kirkuk. She used to work at a church there, but fled two months ago. She says car bombers attacked three churches in the same day. "It was horrible, and we were afraid, so I left my job and my home," she said.
Many who have fled say they hope they will be able to return to their homes in a year or two. But others say they will stay in their Christian enclave in the north.
Source : VOA News
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Victims Struggle to Rebuild Weeks After Indonesia Quake
By Michael Coren
Jakarta
18 July 2006
Hundreds of thousands of people in central Indonesia still spend each night under plastic tarps - more than six weeks after their homes were destroyed in an earthquake. The government hopes to house about 1.2 million displaced people before the heavy rains return in November. But reconstruction cannot begin until officials ensure new buildings will withstand another earthquake in this disaster-prone region - such as the one that struck only on Monday July 17, causing a deadly tsunami. Michael Coren recently visited Yogyakarta, which was hardest-hit by the May 27 quake, and has this report on the recovery process.
In the Bantul district outside Yogyakarta, piles of bricks and splintered beams line the roads. Scraps of clothes, packets of noodles and shattered bedroom furniture tell of life before the 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit the densely populated island of Java in May.
At least 5800 people died in the quake and 50,000 were injured - a far smaller toll than that inflicted on Indonesia's Aceh province by the 2004 earthquake and tsunami. But the tremors here toppled more than 150,000 homes, leaving 1.2 million people without housing - a far greater number than in Aceh. And hundreds of thousands of other homes need major repairs.
Here in the hardest-hit area of Bantul, Surawan, a 56-year-old teacher, has spent weeks repairing their shattered home for his wife and two children. Strips of bamboo form unfinished walls. Squares of battered plastic and canvas serve as a roof.
Surawan says he is rebuilding with anything he can find. Although he is unsure how his home will look or how long it will last, this is the best he can do.
The World Bank says it is the need to rebuild and repair all those homes that has made the May earthquake one of the most costly in the developing world in a decade. The World Bank and the Indonesian government estimate full reconstruction will cost $4 billion - at least $700 million for housing alone.
That is a heavy burden for the Indonesian government, which also is coping with the effects of the tsunami and a 2005 earthquake on the island of Nias.
Help from overseas has poured in - volunteers, medical supplies, water and tool kits. Christine McCormick is the emergency coordinator for the relief group Save the Children.
"Things to a certain extent have improved," she said. "If you go around Yogya (Yogyakarta), you can see people are doing their best to get back to normal, rebuild their homes, getting on with earning a living. But there's still a lot that needs to be done."
The survivors are scattered across hundreds of square kilometers of rice paddies, forest and isolated villages.
"Mainly people are living close to their homes or what's left of their homes … and living in whatever they can make into some sort of shelter," she said.
George Soraya, a senior official at the World Bank, says blame for the disaster's price tag can be laid on the doorstep of the houses themselves.
"The earthquake was as damaging but it should not have created that much if the houses were of a good quality," he said.
Families in Central Java often build homes simply by stacking bricks atop layers of dirt. When the ground began to shake on May 27, the unsupported walls gave way almost instantly.
The government plans to subsidize new homes and enforce neglected building codes - so that new structures will survive future quakes. However, donations and government funds have been slow to arrive to fund the housing reconstruction.
Few believe government assistance will arrive from Jakarta soon. Muhammed Sulaiman, public works director for the city of Yogyakarta, echoed concerns from aid agencies that national rebuilding efforts have stalled for financial and bureaucratic reasons, as the government struggles to cope with the cost of three disasters.
"All I know is that it's not enough. It's a very small amount that is ready. This money is not sufficient for all the needs," he said.
The government and the victims of the quake decided not to repeat the practice seen in Aceh, where homeless people were quickly placed in temporary barracks often far from their homes. Instead, most people independently formed rough shelters near their destroyed homes, and now wait for aid to rebuild. Many recovery workers say they may wait for months before construction begins.
Source : VOA News
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Security Council Considers Amendments to Truce Plan in Lebanon
By Barbara Schoetzau
New York
07 August 2006
At the United Nations, the Security Council is discussing amendments to a French-American sponsored resolution to end the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Diplomats met throughout the weekend to consider proposals put forth by Lebanon and Qatar, the only Arab nation currently serving on the Security Council.
France and the United States presented a negotiated draft resolution Saturday calling for a full cessation of hostilities leading to a permanent cease-fire and political solution to the crisis in Lebanon.
But Lebanon is urging the council to revise the resolution to include a demand that Israel immediately withdraw its forces from Lebanon and turn over its position to UN peacekeepers. According to the Lebanese proposal, the peacekeepers would help the Lebanese army deploy throughout southern Lebanon, which is now in control of Hezbollah forces, to the Blue Line, the U.N.-drawn boundary with Israel.
France's U.N. ambassador, Jean Marc de la Sabliere, says council members are trying to take into consideration all points of views, including those of the Arab League, which is sending a delegation to meet with the council.
"I said when we secured the text in the council that this text could be improved so I am going to work to day to improve the text," he said. "We have to take into account the concerns of all."
The Arab League envoy to the United Nations, Yahya Mahmassani, say the withdrawal of Israeli troops behind the Blue Line and a cease-fire are the top priorities. Next, he says, is putting the disputed Shebaa Farms area under U.N. jurisdiction pending its delineation. Lebanon claims the area, which Israel seized area during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. But the United Nations says it belongs to Syria and that Syria and Israel should determine the area's fate. Hezbollah says Israel's occupation of the Shebaa Farms area is the reason for its fight with Israel.
"The third point: there should be the transfer of the two Israeli soldiers and the Lebanese prisoners, including those who were abducted recently," noted Mahmassani. "There should be an equity. It should be done simultaneously. They way it is now in the present draft, it has a discriminatory tone and we do not accept it."
Once the Security Council passes the resolution, a second resolution is expected to deal with the issue of sending an international force to implement a cease-fire and a long-term solution to the situation in Lebanon.
Source : VOA News
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Senior British Police Officer Says Anti-Terror Efforts Alienating Muslims
By Gary Thomas
London
07 August 2006
One of Britain's top police officers says anti-terror laws risk creating more radicals among the country's Muslim population. In a speech delivered Monday, he says toughened counter-terrorism laws in Western countries are fueling indirect discrimination against Muslims.
In a blunt speech to the National Black Police Association in Manchester, Assistant Police Commissioner
said anti-terror efforts have created a climate of what he termed "Islamophobia". Such a climate, he said, has angered young Muslims and made them susceptible to exploitation by Islamic radicals.
Commissioner Ghaffur, who is Britain's most senior Muslim police officer, called for a full judicial inquiry into the root causes of radicalization in Britain's Muslim communities.
"What we need is an evidence-based approach to identifying what the real causes are," he said. "And I, therefore, support those who have been calling for an independent review of the issues young Muslims are facing in the community themselves."
Britain is home to more than 1.5 million Muslims, most of them immigrants from South Asian countries and their descendants.
Fifty-two people were killed in suicide attacks on London's subway system on July 7 of last year. The attackers were all young British Muslims. Following that attack, Britain tightened its anti-terror laws.
Commissioner Ghaffur said people were being stopped and searched on the basis of appearance, rather than intelligence information.
Massoud Shadjareh, chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission of Britain, told VOA that what he described as racial profiling by police has become more commonplace since the subway attacks. "Unfortunately, we have been sort of facing cases after cases of people who have been unduly sort of stopped, and not just stopped and searched, but stopped and harassed and searched," said Shadjareh. "And it's been totally counterproductive. It's about time that the Metropolitan Police acknowledged the problem and tried to find remedies."
Shadjareh endorsed Commissioner Ghaffur's call for a judicial inquiry, but said it should examine what he said is a growing Islamophobic climate in Britain. "I don't think radicalization, which means different things to different people, is the issue," he noted. "I think what we need, we need a full inquiry into the level of Islamophobia that is being played out in the policing, and find remedies to ratify that."
A British Home Office spokesman said Britain's counter-terrorism efforts are not aimed at any one race or religion or particular group, but at terrorists, and that the government is committed to improving relations with the Muslim community.
Source : VOA News
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15 Aid Workers Found Executed as Fighting Continues in Sri Lanka
By Patricia Nunan
New Delhi
07 August 2006
Fifteen aid workers have been found executed in the eastern Sri Lankan town of Muttur - where fighting between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels has raged for nearly two weeks. Other humanitarian groups are trying to reach the town to provide assistance to civilians there, but have been prevented by an ongoing battle over a water reservoir.
Aid officials say 15 Sri Lankans - all ethnic Tamils working for the French aid agency, Action Against Hunger - were found dead in their office in Muttur. All had been shot in the head, and most were laying face down, suggesting an execution.
They had been working to provide ongoing assistance to victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
Muttur has been in the middle of 13 days of fighting between government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels.
Relief officials are concerned. Vignati Davide is a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross.
"The I.C.R.C. local staff is stuck in Muttur town," Davide explained. "We lost contact with them during the weekend. We know for sure they left our offices on Friday due to the shelling that hit slightly our offices. But nobody so far could enter Muttur."
Officials from the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies, an umbrella group of Sri Lankan aid organizations, are traveling to the area to investigate the deaths.
Fighting began when government troops tried to secure a reservoir, held by Tamil rebels, who cut off water supplies to villagers in government-held land.
It is the worst violence since Norway helped broker a cease-fire in 2002.
But it is hardly the first cease-fire violation. An estimated 850 people have died in tit for tat incidents between the government and the rebels this year alone.
Senior Norwegian envoy, Jon Hanssen Bauer, is in Sri Lanka to try to save the tattered truce and stop the situation in Muttur from degenerating into all out war.
Sri Lanka endured two decades of ethnically fueled civil war as the Tamil Tigers fought for a separate homeland from the majority Sinhalese.
Source : VOA News
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Sri Lanka Says Tamil Rebels Propose Peace Talks
By Patricia Nunan
New Delhi
13 August 2006
The Sri Lankan government says the Tamil Tiger rebels have offered to resume peace talks, which could bring an end to nearly three weeks of fighting in the country's north and east. But international monitors mediating peace efforts say they have received no formal communications about talks, and fighting between the two sides continues.
Sri Lankan officials say the Tamil Tiger leadership had offered Friday to return to the negotiating table - a proposal the government signaled it would be keen to accept. Since then, officials say, they have not heard from the Tamil Tigers.
Friday's initial messages were relayed informally through ceasefire monitors from the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission, the SLMM. But its spokesman, Thorfinnur Omarsson, says any possible talks remain on hold, because the SLMM has received no official communication from either side.
"It's not yet there," he said. "We hope that they will do it, but we are still waiting for a formal request."
No comments about peace talks have been posted on a pro-rebel webpage that frequently carries comments from the Tamil Tiger leadership.
A day after the rebels' reported offer to meet the government, fighting erupted on the Jaffna peninsula in the north of the country - the second front to open between the two sides in recent weeks.
The government holds the peninsula, but it borders rebel-held land where the Tamil Tiger leadership is based. Communication with the area is difficult.
Clashes are also continuing in eastern Trincomalee district, where the fighting is now in
The violence erupted when the government launched an offensive to take control of a water reservoir in rebel territory, after the Tamil Tigers blocked water from flowing to villagers on government-held land.
It was the worst eruption of violence since the two sides signed a ceasefire in 2002. The truce, brokered by Norway, was meant to put an end to more than two decades of ethnically-fueled civil war that has claimed some 60,000 lives.
The Tamil Tigers demand independence for predominantly Tamil areas in the north and east of the country, because of what they say is repression by the Sinhalese majority, which controls the government in the south.
Source : VOA News
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Vietnam in Uphill Battle Against Corruption
By Matt Steinglass
Hanoi
13 August 2006
As Vietnam prepares to ratify the U.N. Convention Against Corruption, the government continues its campaign to eradicate one of the country's most entrenched economic problems. But, progress is slow and one recent case has raised concerns in the foreign business community.
Vietnamese government officials are gearing up to adopt new anti-corruption measures when the country ratifies the United Nations Convention Against Corruption.
Nguyen Van Thanh, head of research at Vietnam's Government Inspectorate, says ratifying the U.N. convention goes along with a host of other measures that will make Vietnam a more transparent place to do business.
"From our point of view, it is very important for the investors to see the developing of our transparency, and if we do that we can get more investors internationally into Vietnam," he said.
Vietnam is involved in a massive anti-graft campaign, and the National Assembly recently passed a comprehensive law on corruption.
Since last year, Vietnamese government inspectors have uncovered a series of major corruption scandals.
The worst, at the Transportation Ministry, involved tens of millions of dollars and cost the minister and other senior officials their jobs.
Other investigations have targeted Vietnam Airlines and the government oil monopoly, PetroVietnam.
Soccer stars have been jailed for running illegal gambling rings, teachers have been caught helping students cheat on final exams, and a top official of the government inspectorate itself has been suspended for accepting bribes.
While welcoming moves toward transparency, some foreign investors remain worried.
A recent case of corruption by a government worker has embroiled a foreign company in both civil and criminal lawsuits and raises concerns that the laws are being applied unfairly and arbitrarily.
Incombank, a state-owned bank, has sued ABN AMRO for $5.4 million. It claims the money disappeared in speculative deals the Dutch bank made with an Incombank manager who was not authorized to trade currency. ABN AMRO says the trades were legal.
The manager has been arrested on charges of losing state resources through economic mismanagement. Two local ABN AMRO employees have also been detained.
Incombank spokesman Tran Duy Bich says the police think the Dutch bank is at fault.
Bich says the police decided that ABN AMRO had broken the law, and recommended Incombank demand its money back. He says Vietnam could expel ABN AMRO if it does not comply.
Previous finance cases have been investigated by Vietnam's State Bank, not the police. That change has some foreign investors in Hanoi worried.
"We are concerned by the criminalization of some civil cases in Vietnam," said Alain Cany of the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam.
Foreign businessmen still put little trust in Vietnam's legal system, which is not independent of the government or the governing Communist party. Many business leaders say it is impossible to win a case against a state-owned company.
Source : VOA News
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India's Cola Companies Face Bans Over Alleged Pesticide Contamination
By Anjana Pasricha
New Delhi
13 August 2006
In India, six states have announced bans on the sale or manufacture of soft drinks produced by U.S. companies Coca-Cola and PepsiCo following allegations that they contain high pesticide levels. The controversy has sparked a heated debate in India over the issue of water and food contamination.
The controversy erupted last week when a New Delhi-based environmental watchdog said soft drinks produced by the cola giants contain pesticide residues 24 times higher than those set by the Bureau of Indian Standards.
Coca-Cola and Pepsi have rejected the study by the Center for Science and Environment, saying their soft drinks are "the safest beverages you can drink today."
They say their Indian products meet international standards.
This is the second time the controversy has erupted. A study in 2003 by the same environmental group also claimed to have found high levels of pesticides in the drinks produced by the cola companies.
But this time the cola giants are facing more heat.
The communist government in a southern Indian state, Kerala, has imposed a total ban on production and sales of the soft drinks. Five other states have announced partial bans on the sale of the soft drinks in schools, hospitals and government offices.
The Indian Supreme Court has demanded that the companies reveal their recipe, so that allegations of high pesticide levels can be verified with further tests.
But consumer groups say the campaign against the soft drinks ignores the bigger picture. They say many Indian foods and beverages have high levels of pesticides because intensive use of chemicals by farmers has contaminated the groundwater. They are asking the government to focus on the wider issue of pesticide proliferation.
The head of the Mumbai-based Consumer Guidance Society of India, A.R. Shenoy, is calling for stricter implementation of safety standards in all food products, not only soft drinks.
"We have a lot of problems in other foods also, but who cares, who bothers? We have larger problems of water getting contaminated with microbes, and these are the microbes that will put you off [make you sick] because of diarrhea," he said. "Basically in the system as such there is no regulatory mechanism."
The cola companies are also trying to emphasize the wider issue of pesticide contamination as they mount a public relations campaign to calm consumers.
They have published prominent newspaper advertisements saying pesticide levels in their products are well below levels detected in other foodstuffs such as tea, eggs, grains, fruits and dairy products.
Controversy is not new to cola products, seen by some Indian nationalist groups as symbols of Western cultural imperialism. Coca-Cola pulled out of India in 1977 after the government insisted it reveal its formula, but returned 16 years later.
Coca-Cola and Pepsi control nearly all of India's soft drinks market. The 2003 study saying the drinks contained high levels of pesticides briefly dented sales, but the issue quickly faded from public memory.
Source : VOA News
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