中国信息流--Secrets of China: 2009-12-06

Friday, December 11, 2009

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Copenhagen Climate Change Talks Facing Pressure for a Deal

The international conference on climate change opens Monday in Copenhagen, Denmark, hosting thousands of participants and observers hoping to reach a deal to combat global warming. Initial expectations have been scaled back, but pressure remains for a substantive political agreement.

Sonja Pace | Copenhagen 06 December 2009

Photo: AP

U.N. climate official Yvo de Boer speaking to reporters in Copenhagen, 06 Dec 2009

The international conference on climate change opens Monday in Copenhagen, Denmark, hosting thousands of participants and observers hoping to reach a deal to combat global warming. Initial expectations have been scaled back, but pressure remains for a substantive political agreement.

For the next two weeks this city plays host to experts, officials, activists and eventually world leaders as they try to clinch a deal.

Speaking to journalists on the eve of the conference, top U.N. climate official Yvo de Boer said it is time to act.

"Time is up," said Yvo de Boer. "Over the next two weeks, governments have to deliver a strong and long-term response to the challenges of climate change."

The goal was to reach a legally binding agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, blamed for heating up the atmosphere. But big questions remain over who cuts, by how much, who pays and what it will cost.

Initial expectations for Copenhagen have been scaled back to try to reach political agreement on a framework, with a detailed, binding treaty to follow.

More steps will be needed, said Yvo de Boer, but he remained confident.

"Never in the 17 years of climate change negotiations have so many different nations made so many firm pledges together," he said.

That, said de Boer, makes this conference a turning point already. Certainly many Copenhagen residents hope that is true and they see climate change as a crucial issue.

MAN: "I think the most important thing we can politically is to force the leaders to take seriously the problems we are facing."

MAN: "The issue is important for my future and my children's future as well."

COUPLE: "It is very important. Super important - it involves all of us whether we live here in Denmark or whether we live in Asia or in North America, for that matter."

MAN: "I think it is very important for the people in the world that we do something about it right now."

Copenhagen has embraced the conference - with posters and reminders of what is at stake at almost every corner. One exhibit has taken a different tack - with large posters of some of the world's beauty spots - remaining wilderness and wildlife.

The exhibit is meant as a message to world leaders, when they come here, to make sure such beauty remains for future generations.

Junior Achievement Inspires Future Business Leaders

Faiza Elmasry | Washington, DC 03 December 2009

Photo: JA web

Junior Achievement brings business people to classrooms to share their experiences with students

Junior Achievement is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. The non-profit, which educates and inspires young people about workplace readiness and entrepreneurship, just released results from a survey that shows some 50 percent of teens would like to start their own businesses someday.

Students learn the dynamics of running a small business and start their own enterprise

Fostering financial literacy among young people and preparing them for the workplace has been the mission of Junior Achievement since it was founded in 1919.

"We are the oldest business and economic education organization in the world," Junior Achievement Executive Vice President Jack Kosakowsky says. "We're now serving 9.2 million young people around the globe in 123 different countries."

Junior Achivement goes to schools

Kosakowsky says his group's programs connect students to local volunteers.

"It's typically a business person that will come in and share the very basic concepts of business with young people," he says. "But unlike a lot of more traditional education, where it is a lecture, everything that we do is experiential, so we put young people into situations where they can actually be engaged in an activity; for example, starting their own mini-student company [where they] experience those same challenges that we as adults would have when we start a business.

Environment related concepts interest many students

Young entrepreneurs, he says, are interested in running a wide variety of businesses.

"We had young people who would start a lot of environmental related companies," he explains. "So we've had students' companies that have gone into recycling. We had out of Norway, a program where a student developed a new type of ski sock that had a special padding in it, and was actually able to get a patent on that and has taken it to market and been very successful. I'm thinking of a student company in South Africa that developed a water carrying device that they were able to take to market and be very successful with," Kosakowsky says.

Learning the ropes of running a business

Running a business is an opportunity to network and develop more skills

Sixteen-year-old Sylvia Cheung was introduced to Junior Achievement last year when she joined a student company in Houston, Texas.

"We have 33 company members. We're from different schools but we just meet on Saturdays from 4:30 to 6:30, it's an after school activity," she says.

Through these weekly meetings, Cheung has learned a lot about running a business, from planning and fund-raising to marketing. Her company took part in Junior Achievement's annual conference held in Boston Massachusetts last summer.

"We were selling a variety of products. [We sold] T-shirts, we also sold mini-air fresheners. We actually made them ourselves," she says. "We bought the materials from local companies. This year, we're going to change our T-shirts and make them from recyclable cotton."

Building a business from the 'grounds' up

Higher Grounds Café, in West Hills, California, started with 10 students, and now has 50 members working together to sell fair trade, certified organic tea, coffee and cocoa grown by farmers in Africa. High school senior Chellsey Cruz joined the company two years ago.

"The business was inspired by the movie Black Gold, which was a documentary that premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival," she recalls. "It's about farmers in Ethiopia who are struggling to survive on the poor prices they get for their coffee. After watching that video, we decided to start a business to provide them with fair prices," she says.

Last year, Higher Grounds Café was named Junior Achievement's company of the year. The success of the business, Cruz says, has taught her a valuable lesson in life.

Entrepreneurs stay focused on the quest for success

"I think I learned the skill of really staying focused and staying with a project, because at the beginning our business was not very popular, we were not selling very much, but I learned to stick with it and to not give up," she says. "It taught me to be dedicated, and that if you want to be successful, you have to put in a lot of time and effort. You really have to work at it," she says.

Bo Fishback, spokesperson for the non-profit Kauffman Foundation, says, "It's hugely important and it's never too early to start embedding that kind of mindset," he says.

Fishback encourages young people to join programs like Junior Achievement and says now is the best time to go into business.

"America was really built on the backs of the entrepreneurs who were able to see problems as opportunities and go and fix them," he says "It creates a societal change, an economic growth, it creates jobs. As the world has become so interconnected, it's provided an opportunity for entrepreneurs no matter where they are to access any market that exists," Fishback adds.

Junior Achievement's Kosakowsky agrees that world markets have become more accessible. He says that gives young entrepreneurs a unique opportunity to make a profit while making a difference for communities around the world.

UN Report Links Reproductive Rights and Education With Climate Change

Women are most affected by climate change and should be included in environment talks

Rosanne Skirble | Washington, DC 03 December 2009

Photo: GMB Akash/Panos Pictures

Women in a flood-prone community in Gaibandha, Bangladesh, gather once a week to share ideas about how to adapt to worsening climate and rising seas

Putting the brakes on worldwide population growth could help curb dangerous greenhouse gas emissions, says a new United Nations report called, The State of the World Population 2009. The report says an effective way to achieve both goals is to empower women with education and reproductive rights.

Poor women farmers bear the brunt of climate change

Andi Gitow, UNTV

The lake is all that remains of a glacier near the rural town of Batijlaca, Bolivia. Bolivia's glaciers are melting rapidly, jeopardizing water supplies to rural and urban communities

Lead author Robert Engelman says this is the first study in which a U.N. agency connects climate change to the status of women. He notes that women manage households, are more likely to be poor and live in areas vulnerable to floods, rising seas and storms.

That makes it harder for them get food, water or energy for their families. Engelman says the unequal burden they shoulder from climate change has been largely ignored. This hasn't gone unnoticed by women's groups or indeed by the authors of this report, who will be in Copenhagen at this month's U.N. climate summit.

Women can be a powerful force if included in talks

GMB Akash/Panos Pictures

Women in a flood-prone community in Gaibandha, Bangladesh, gather once a week to share ideas about how to adapt to worsening climate and rising seas

Engelman says any new global warming deal that comes from the meeting must address the special impact of climate change on women, as a matter of equality and human rights. "If they can be at tables, negotiating tables, village councils, whatever, these perspectives can really inform their work on climate change."

The U.N. report describes how women can be a powerful force in climate-change mitigation. "They produce most of the food in Africa," and Engelman notes, "their own efforts to improve their farm soil and grow the most resilient crops can literally suck carbon out of the air and put it into soil and in the roots of plants.

The report finds that where women's groups are most active, there tends to be less deforestation. Engelman adds, however, that in their role as environmental stewards, women sometimes face major obstacles imposed by their low status relative to men.

Education and family planning can play a role

Sala Lewis/UNFPA

A family receives family planning advice at Kivunge Hospital, Zanzibar

Worldwide, 200 million women lack access to family planning services they want or need, says Engelman, who is also vice president for programs at the Worldwatch Institute.

Decades of family planning research, he says, make it clear that girls empowered with education and access to family planning services, have smaller families when they become adults. Family planning is not a quick fix to climate change, Engelman says. But he believes educating women and giving them access to health care and reproductive choice are steps in the right direction.

For government leaders, policy makers and climate negotiators meeting in Copenhagen, he says the central message of the U.N. population report boils down to this: "Women – their lives, their status and their human development – matter to climate change, now and in the future."

Iran Defies the International Community

Judith Latham | Washington 04 December 2009

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s defiance of the international community reached new heights this week. In a speech on Thursday, Mr. Ahmadinejad said Tehran is no longer willing to negotiate with the international community over any aspect of its nuclear program. He announced his nation’s intention to produce a higher grade of nuclear fuel on its own.

Overview of the IAEA's 35-nation board meeting at Vienna's International Center, in Vienna, on Thursday, Nov. 26, 2009. (AP Photo/Hans Punz)

AP

Overview of the IAEA's 35-nation board meeting at Vienna's International Center, in Austria, on Thursday, Nov. 26, 2009. (AP Photo/Hans Punz)

President Ahmadinejad also denounced as “illegal” a resolution passed last week by the International Atomic Energy Agency that condemned Iran’s secret development of a uranium site near the city of Qom. In response to the IAEA censure, Iran then announced it would build another 10 uranium enrichment sites.

The controversy over Iran's nuclear programs centers in particular on Iran's failure to declare sensitive enrichment and reprocessing activities to the IAEA. Enrichment can be used to produce uranium for reactor fuel or, at higher enrichment levels, for weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful.

Escalating the War of Words

The United States and Israel have expressed concerns about Iran’s nuclear intentions, and they have not ruled out the possibility of using military action to stop Iran from creating a nuclear weapon. But President Ahmadinejad said this week that his nation will push forward with its nuclear program, adding Israel and it backers “cannot do a damn thing to stop it.”

However, according to journalist Nathan Guttman of the Jewish Daily Forward, Israelis see Iran’s defiance of the international community in terms of business as usual. “Israelis believe all that Iran is doing is employing delay tactics to gain more time to win another week, another month, or maybe another several months before the international community imposes sanctions that might be harmful to its nuclear program,” Guttman said. “So it’s time to move forward with international sanctions against Iran.”

Pursuing an Erratic and Confusing Policy

“Iran seems to be pursuing a deliberately confusing policy of moving in one direction and then in another,” said Ali Reza Nourizadeh, director of the Center for Arab-Iranian Studies in London. He says Tehran has taken advantage the international community’s inability to develop a unified position to buy time for itself. One move in the right direction, he suggests, was Russia’s support last week for the IAEA censure.

Iran’s stand against international pressure plays well at home. “Although Iran’s recent threat to build 10 new uranium enrichment plants may be totally unrealistic, it nonetheless serves a useful domestic purpose,” according to British journalist Ian Williams, who reports from the United Nations in New York. People in the West tend to forget that even the members of the political opposition are staunchly in favor of Iran’s nuclear program, Williams noted. “This is very much about pride; it’s not about reality. It’s a response to a profound resentment on the part of the Iranians that they are getting singled out in this way,” Williams explained.

Defiance and Domestic Insecurity

President Ahmadinejad’s criticism of the international community has sharpened since his re-election in June. And opposition charges of a fraudulent election and the government’s subsequent brutal crackdown against anti-government protestors made Mr. Ahmadinejad ripe for international condemnation. In fact, however, the response was relatively muted.

The stepped-up rhetoric unleashed at both traditional friends and foes in the international community may be intended for another audience. “Mr. Ahmadinejad is not recognized by millions of Iranians as the legitimate president of Iran, so he needs some sort of revolutionary legitimacy by showing that he is the man that millions of Muslims and Arabs look to as their leader,” said Nourizadeh. He suggests the Iranian president is intent on having Iran recognized as a super-power in the region.

Iran’s Nuclear History

Mid 1950s Iran’s nuclear program is launched with help from the United States’ Atoms for Peace program.

1967 The Tehran Nuclear Research Center is established. A U.S.-supplied 5-megawatt nuclear research reactor becomes operational.

1968 Iran signs the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, making its nuclear program subject to International Atomic Energy Agency verification.

1979 The Iranian Revolution overthrows the Shah. The new government temporarily disbands, then revives Iran’s nuclear program with less Western assistance.

2002 An Iranian dissident group reveals the existence of two nuclear sites under construction. The IAEA immediately seeks access to these facilities and co-operation from Iran regarding its nuclear program.

2003 An IAEA investigation concludes Iran has failed to meet its obligations under the NPT safeguards agreement to report those activities to the IAEA.

2005 The IAEA reports a formal finding of NPT non-compliance.

2006 The IAEA reports its findings to the UN Security Council.

The Council demands Iran suspend its enrichment programs.

The Council imposes sanctions after Iran refuses to comply.

2009 The IAEA says Iran continues to enrich uranium contrary to the decisions of the UN Security Council. The IAEA reports that, due to a continued lack of co-operation by Iran, it cannot determine whether Iran is using its nuclear program for military purposes.

Australian Research Shows Warmer Water Raises Aggression In Fish

New research in Australia has shown that coral reef fish can undergo radical personality changes in warmer water, work that suggests climate change may make some marine species more aggressive. Experiments have been conducted on two species of young damselfish on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, which have shown that water temperatures can alter a fish's behavior.

Phil Mercer | Sydney 04 December 2009

Researchers at the University of New South Wales in Sydney have said that a slight increase in water temperature of just one or two degrees Celsius may cause some fish to become up to 30 times more active and aggressive.

Scientists believe that as the water becomes warmer, the animals' metabolism rapidly speeds up. Fish are ectotherms and their body temperature is the same as the environment around them.

There are concerns that as the world's oceans heat up under the effects of climate change, then bolder, more active fish may increasingly become targets for predators.

Dr. Peter Biro, from the University of New South Wales School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, explains this theory.

"If you are an individual fish swimming around the environment and you are active all the time, you are going to be visible and encounter predators more than an individual that is inactive, right, and so these activity level differences and boldness level differences in relation to temperature are going to have effects on risk to predation," he said. "And as a result of the warmer water temperatures animals were more active and they were more bold in the face of predators and that essentially got them killed."

Biro said the idea that fish have personalities may seem surprising but that such knowledge is important to help scientists understanding how animals respond to ecological challenges.

It is unknown what the long-effects of climate change may have on fish populations, although the team at the University of New South Wales believes that certain species could well adapt to warmer conditions.

Problems, however, could occur if the warming of the oceans fluctuates erratically, which would make it more difficult for marine animals to acclimatise.

The research was conducted on damsel fish, which are small, brightly coloured specimens that inhabit Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

Scientists have insisted the future of the world's largest coral system is threatened by pollution, global warming and rising levels of acidity in the ocean.

The reef stretches for more than 2,000 kilometers along the Australian continent's northeast coast and is home to a sparkling array of mollusks, fish, sea snakes and birds. The World Heritage Area attracts more than 2 million visitors every year.

US Soccer Team Pleased With World Cup Football Draw

The United States has had what were described as difficult draws for the past few World Cups, but no one is saying that this time.

Parke Brewer | Washington 04 December 2009

Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS

Ceremony host Carol Manana is silhouetted during the 2010 World Cup draw in Cape Town, South Africa

The 32-team draw for next year's football World Cup in South Africa was held Friday in Cape Town. The U.S. Soccer Team is pleased with the teams it will face in the first round.

The United States has had what were described as difficult draws for the past few World Cups, but no one is saying that this time.

While the U.S. Soccer team will open Group C play against England, which is ranked ninth in the world, it will then play Slovenia, ranked 33rd, and Algeria, ranked 28th. Both Slovania and Algeria needed to win playoffs to reach the World Cup finals. Algeria defeated Egypt and Slovenia beat Russia.

Of course the big focus will be on the Americans' opening match against England, and U.S. coach Bob Bradley had these comments for reporters in a telephone conference call from Cape Town. "Opening the World Cup with that type of game, a game that I think will just bring tremendous interest in the United States. It'll be special for our fans. The little that I've heard from our players, text messages (on his cell phone) and that kind of thing, you can really tell already that this is a match that has them very, very excited," he said.

Coach Bradley added that while Slovenia and Algeria are not big names, they have good teams.

With the match-up against England, U.S. star midfielder Landon Donovan is likely to face his superstar English teammate on Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Galaxy, David Beckham. "I don't know how many players from our league will actually be participating in the World Cup, so to play against one of them would be pretty special in its own right. And to play against your own teammate is obviously pretty incredible. And I don't know how many other opponents will be able to say that against each other. It'd be a lot of fun," he said.

The U.S. will open its World Cup campaign on June 12 against England in Rustenburg. The Americans will face Slovenia in Johannesburg on June 18 and play Algeria June 23 in Pretoria.

Iran's Supreme Leader Blames West for Student Protests

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Americans are at the top of Iran's list of enemies and the British are the most dreadful of those enemies

Edward Yeranian | Cairo 06 December 2009

Photo: AP

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

"Today, the propaganda of arrogant nations of the world is the main source for the existence of conflict inside Iran," says Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blasted the United States and other Western countries for stirring up trouble inside Iran, a day before students are expected to hold peaceful demonstrations on university campuses across Iran.

Both the Iranian government and student opposition activists are gearing up for what many are expecting will be a large turnout of demonstrators, Monday, on university campuses across the country.

December 7 is known as "national students' day" in Iran, and it marks the anniversary of the 1953 slaying of three students by Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi's security forces, following a coup against populist Prime Minister Mohammed Mosadegh, earlier that year

Eyewitnesses say hundreds of students have received threatening emails, this week, warning them not to participate in Monday's demonstrations. Pro-government Basij militia members are also reported to be present in large numbers on campuses across the country.

Internet connection speeds in Iran are also reported to be extremely slow, amid word the government is again trying to hamper communications between Iranians and the outside world. Foreign media have also been warned not to cover Monday's rallies.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei lashed out against the West, saying it was responsible for sowing discord inside the country.

He says that today, the propaganda of arrogant nations of the world is the main source for the existence of conflict inside Iran.

The Ayatollah also used extremely virulent language against the United States and Britain, calling them Iran's top enemies.

He says Americans are at the top of Iran's list of enemies and the British are the most dreadful of those enemies. He also asserted the United States and other nations have tried to isolate Iran for the last 30 years, but have failed and will continue to fail.

Meanwhile, security forces reportedly arrested a number of women protesters at a Tehran park, who meet regularly to protest their children's detention in government prisons.

The Iranian government arrested hundreds of student activists, journalists, intellectuals, political leaders and professors during weeks of unrest following a disputed June 12 presidential election that incumbent Mahmoud Ahmedinejad claims to have won, despite complaints of widespread vote-rigging.

Analyst Ali Nourizadeh, of the London-based Center for Arab and Iranian Studies, says the Iranian government is doing its best to prevent students from protesting, but he thinks student determination to go ahead with Monday's rallies is stronger:

"The regime has already started four, five weeks ago arresting students. And many students received warnings that they will be expelled from universities, and [the government] has sent hundreds of their basij and basij students to certain universities," he said. "Therefore, they are prepared, but I think the determination, and students will to show their strength, to show that they are not frightened, ... is stronger than the regime's intimidation and threats."

Nourizadeh also says that the students have reportedly invited their parents to participate, in order to prevent security forces from attacking them.

Iran's top police official, Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddem, told a Tehran newspaper that any "illegal gathering outside universities will be harshly dealt with."

World Bank Wants Climate Change Issue to Be Connected to Development

Robert Zoellick says rich countries need to appreciate developing needs of poorer countries

Anjana Pasricha | New Delhi 05 December 2009

The World Bank wants the issue of climate change to be connected to strategies of growth and development. The World Bank also says that strong economic growth in India is helping the world recover from the global financial crisis.

World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick says he expects a series of political commitments at the United Nations conference on climate change starting next week in Copenhagen.

Zoellick, who is in India to meet top leaders, was speaking to reporters in New Delhi Friday.

He says that to bring developing countries into the process of cooperating on climate change, richer countries will have to appreciate their development needs. For example, Zoellick points out that 400 million people in India, and about 10 per cent in several countries of Sub Saharan Africa, still have no access to energy.

The World Bank wants to assist developing countries in adopting low carbon use as they try to generate more electricity and develop new industries.

Zoellick says that in India for example, there is tremendous potential to tap hydro power and solar power. "This has multiple benefits because it is not only solar production. But we think there is opportunities given some of the great technology capabilities in India to develop this as another industry which can also be a source of exports," he said.

Zoellick says developing nations should also focus on improving energy efficiencies in existing industries and sectors such as transportation to cut down their carbon emissions. "In much of the developing world there are still huge gains to be had, win-win gains by using energy more efficiently," he said.

The World Bank chief says India is playing an important role in helping the world emerge from the recent economic slowdown. He expects the country to return to the high rates of growth of eight to nine per cent over the next one or two years. "India is now a rising economic power that handled the recent economic crisis very well. It contributed to world economic stability and could become a pole of global economic growth over time," he said.

He however adds that there is still a long road ahead for India's poor. He says the challenge for the country is to improve development and infrastructure. India is one of the largest recipients of World Bank aid - it has received more than $5 billion this year to support projects in areas such as power, roads, water and rural development.

Iraq's Parliament Approves Election Law

The bill took shape during several months of intense debate over how much parliamentary representation should be given to Iraq's minority groups.

VOA News 06 December 2009

Iraq's vice president Tariq al-Hashemi speaks during a Press conference in Baghdad, Iraq, 03 Dec 2009

Photo: AP

Iraq's vice president Tariq al-Hashemi speaks during a Press conference in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, 03 Dec 2009

Iraqi lawmakers overcame long-standing divisions Sunday to pass a law needed to conduct parliamentary elections early next year.

Parliament approved the law late Sunday in a nearly unanimous vote.

The new law expands parliament from the current 275 seats to 325 seats.

The bill took shape during several months of intense debate over how much parliamentary representation should be given to Iraq's minority groups.

Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi said the law resolves his objections. He had demanded revisions to give his Sunni minority group a greater political voice.

The vice president vetoed an earlier version of the law that did not meet this condition.

The White House congratulated the Iraqi people and their elected representatives in passing the law and called it a "decisive moment for Iraq's democracy."

According to a White House statement, both President Barack Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden spoke Sunday with Kurdistan Regional Government President Masoud Barzani. The U.S. leaders affirmed America's commitment to a long-term relationship with Iraq, including the K.R.G.

The United States has linked the pace of its military withdrawal from Iraq to the elections, which are considered a test of the country's ability to provide its own security.

Iraqi leaders had warned that if the law was further delayed, the elections previously planned for January would be postponed for at least a month.

On the outskirts of the Iraqi capital Sunday, gunmen stormed a police checkpoint in Abu Ghraib, killing four officers.

US National Security Adviser: 'Clock is Ticking' on Iran

The U.S. national security adviser says Washington is still open to nuclear negotiations with Iran, but the picture is not a "good one."

VOA News 06 December 2009

Photo: AP

National Security Adviser James Jones (File)

The U.S. national security adviser says Washington is still open to nuclear negotiations with Iran, but the picture is not a "good one."

Jim Jones said Sunday the "clock is ticking" toward the end of the year, when President Barack Obama plans to review U.S. diplomatic efforts with Iran.

Senior U.S. officials have proposed pursuing new sanctions at the U.N. Security Council if Iran does not cooperate with the international community on its nuclear program.

The United States and other world powers suspect Iran is developing nuclear weapons. Tehran says its program is peaceful.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused world powers Sunday of lying about Tehran's nuclear program to isolate the country.

Iran recently announced plans to build 10 new uranium enrichment plants.

General David Petraeus, the head of the U.S. Central Command, said Sunday a lot of experts have questioned Iran's ability to do that.

But, he said, Iran's recent activity has caused enormous worry and concern.

Ethiopian Newspaper Shuts Down, Editors Flee

Press-freedom groups are expressing concern about the state of Ethiopia's independent media as the country prepares for national elections

Peter Heinlein | Addis Ababa 06 December 2009

One of Ethiopia's leading weekly newspapers has shut down and its senior staff left the country in the face of what they say is a government campaign of intimidation and black propaganda. Press-freedom groups are expressing concern about the state of Ethiopia's independent media as the country prepares for national elections.

As campaigning begins to heat up for next May's parliamentary vote, Ethiopia is without one of its few independent political voices. Addis Neger, a weekly Amharic-language newspaper known for its lively discussion of political issues, printed its final edition Saturday.

In a news release, the paper's editors blamed their decision to close on what they called 'another crackdown on free speech and freedom of the press in Ethiopia'. Managing Editor Mesfin Negash was quoted as saying, 'the government ... habit of aggressively stepping into the [area of controlling] public opinion ... had made [their] task impossible'.

The news release carried a Washington dateline, and noted three of the paper's top editors had left the country after learning the government was preparing criminal charges against them based on a new anti-terrorism law.

Attempts by VOA to reach Ethiopian government spokesmen Saturday and Sunday were unsuccessful. A news release issued by the media freedom group Reporters Without Borders quoted government communications minister Bereket Simon as saying the government had no intention of targeting the newspaper.

But a government paper recently carried a number of opinion columns containing scathing criticisms of Addis Neger.

In a telephone interview from the United States, Addis Neger's Editor-in-Chief Tamerat Negera told VOA his staff became frightened when the government paper publicly accused them of violating Ethiopia's tough anti-terrorism law.

"The government official daily newspaper, Addis Zemen was publishing repeated articles incriminating us with and associating us as terrorists with an intention to destroy Ethiopia, the entire nation, and as a threat to the stability and democracy of the country," said Tamerat Negera.

Tamerat says he and his colleagues had been warned they were facing long jail terms.

"We had reliable information from government sources that the government was intending to prosecute the founders and the editors of our newspaper with utmost possible highest charge which could go as far as 20 years in jail, and we discussed this and decided this is unbearable," he said.

Several human-rights and press freedom groups have expressed concern about the anti-terrorism law and other recently approved statutes they say could restrict freedom of expression.

Reporters Without Borders Saturday condemned what it calls 'a climate of fear' prevailing in Ethiopia. The group's statement says the specter of the media and opposition crackdown that followed the disputed 2005 election is resurfacing before next May's vote.

Hundreds of demonstrators, political leaders, journalists and human-rights activists were arrested in connection with the violent protests that erupted following the 2005 election, in which the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front retained power.

Thirteen newspapers were closed down in the aftermath of the 2005 protests. None reopened.

Addis Neger began publishing in September, 2007. Its circulation of 30,000 made it one of Ethiopia's most widely read non-government newspapers.

U.S. special envoy Bosworth arrives in Seoul en route to Pyongyang

U.S. President Barack Obama's special envoy for North Korea Stephen Bosworth arrives for his North Korean trip, at Incheon international airport, west of Seoul, South Korea December 6, 2009. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

SEOUL, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Stephen Bosworth, U.S. special envoy to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), arrived in Seoul on Sunday before his scheduled visit to Pyongyang for a U.S.-DPRK bilateral meeting.

Flying from London, Bosworth landed at South Korea's Incheon International Airport at local time 04:00 p.m. (0700 GMT) and directly headed for Seoul, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.

As U.S. President Barack Obama's special representative for DPRK policy, Bosworth visited Seoul before he makes a three-day visit to Pyongyang where he is expected to meet DPRK's Vice Foreign Minister Kang Sok-ju.

During his stay in Seoul, Bosworth will meet with South Korea's high-ranking officials, including Seoul's top nuclear envoy Wi Sung-lac and Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan, to check up on the issues to be brought up at the U.S.-DPRK negotiation table.

The U.S. envoy, accompanied by four other members including Sung Kim, U.S. negotiator to the six-party talks, will leave for the DPRK Tuesday morning from the Osan Air Force Base.

Bosworth's trip to Pyongyang is reportedly made in purpose of persuading the DPRK back to the six-way nuclear talks.

The U.S. has repeatedly stressed that it is not interested in engaging in any nuclear dialogue besides the six-way talks that involve the U.S., China, Russia, Japan, and South Korea and the DPRK.

Despite of heightened attention on the upcoming trip from the international community, local experts and government officials are warning against excessive expectations, local media said.

Considering the trip marks as the first U.S.-DPRK dialogue made since the inauguration of the Obama administration, it is highly unlikely that the trip alone is enough to bring the DPRK back to the multilateral negotiation table, according to Yonhap.

It is also uncertain whether the U.S. envoy will have a chance to meet with DPRK top leader Kim Jong-il during his visit, Yonhap added.

Wrapping up his stay in Pyongyang on Thursday, Bosworth will return to Seoul, where he will brief the Seoul government on the result of the trip.

He will fly to Beijing on Friday, and head for Washington on Dec. 15 after visiting Tokyo and Moscow.

Philippines arrests dozens, seizes weapons in province under martial law

MANILA, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Philippine troops on Sunday arrested dozens and discovered a second weapons cache as they continued to disarm a local political clan linked to last week's massacre of 57 people in the volatile south.

A military and police team during a raid to a ranch owned by Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. found a stash of 39 assorted high-powered guns including two M-60 light machineguns, a grenade launcher and a cal.50 and cal.30 machineguns, the authorities said.

Philippine police's Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) personnel unearth munitions at the farm of the Ampatuan clan in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao in southern Philippines December 6, 2009. Soldiers using sniffer dogs and shovels dug up rifles, machineguns and hundreds of crates of ammunition at a farm owned by the powerful political clan linked to a massacre of 57 people in the southern Philippines, officials said on Sunday.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

It is the second time in this week security forces seized large amount of high-powered weapons allegedly owned by the Ampatuans to supply the family's 200-strong private army.

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on late Friday imposed a martial law in Maguindanao as police and soldiers moved to disarm and arrest the Ampatuan clan, who are suspected of ordering the mass murder of people on a local political rival's election convoy last Nov. 23 in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao.

Andal Ampatuan Jr., mayor of the Datu Unsay town, was arrested and charged with 25 counts of murder.

According to the Philippine law, a martial law allows arrests to be made without warrants and civil rights are suspended for a preliminary period of 60 days.

National police chief Jesus A Verzosa said a total of 47 persons have been arrested in Maguindanao since the martial law was declared.

Philippine police's Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) personnel recover munitions at the farm of the Ampatuan clan in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao, in southern Philippines December 6, 2009.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

He said those arrested are undergoing investigation for involvement in an armed resistance against the government as indicated by the massing of forces in several towns, mobilization of local government employees for a stand-off with government forces and stockpiling of weapons.

Armed Forces chief Gen. Victor Ibrado told the thousands of para-military soldiers loyal to the Ampatuans to surrender or to face the military's might.

Ibrado said at least 2,000 militiamen, locally known as civilian volunteer organization (CVO), were monitored to have been massing up in different areas in Maguindanao, a reason for the government to declare the martial law.

"They should surrender and they should also surrender their firearms because we are finding the CVOs involved in the massacre. If they do not surrender, they fight, then we have no other choice," he said.

Russia announces fireworks ban in public venues

MOSCOW, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- A ban on the use of fireworks in Russia's public gathering venues was issued on Sunday, following a deadly nightclub blaze in Urals that killed 112 people and injured a further 130.

Rescuers work at the site after a blast in the city of Perm, Russia, Dec. 5, 2009. (Xinhua/RIA Novosti)

Sergei Shoigu, Russian Emergency Situations Minister, instructed the emergencies ministry to monitor the implementation of the ban on pyrotechnics, particularly during the New Year and Christmas celebrations.

Flames sparked by indoor fireworks ripped through the "Lame Horse" nightclub in the Russia's Ural city of Perm overnight to Saturday when about 230 people celebrated there the venue's eighth anniversary.

It was reported that many victims were suffocated or crushed to death at the club's single exit.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has declared Monday a day of national mourning for the dead.

Flags fly at half mast to mourn over the victims of the fire at a nightclub, in the Ural city of Perm, Russia, Dec. 6, 2009. The fire engulfed the "Lame Horse" club at about 11:15 p.m. Moscow time Friday (2015 GMT) during an indoor fireworks display, held to celebrate the venue's eighth anniversary, killing at least 109 people and injuring more than 130 others. (Xinhua/Lu Jinbo)

Urgent inspections of fire safety standards at mass gathering spots nationwide had been ordered, said Shoigu, adding that the emergencies ministry would soon submit proposals on harsher punishment for the violations of fire safety rules, which has been common cause of incidents with high casualties in Russia in recent years.

The owner, the co-owner and the manager of the nightclub, an art director and a private operator in charge of the fireworks have been arrested.

Investigators are preparing to file charges against four suspects of the tragedy, said Marina Zabbarova, head of the Perm regional investigative committee.

"The club's owner, who is in a hospital, is among the suspects in the case, but investigative actions with him are so far impossible," said the investigation authority.

A child lays flowers in condolence over people killed in the fire inside the Lame Horse restaurant in Perm on Dec. 6, 2009. (Xinhua/Lu Jinbo)

Nearly 100 of the over 130 injured in the calamity had been sent to St. Petersburg Hospital, Russia's top hospitals in Moscow, and Chelyabinsk hospital in the Urals.

Health and Social Development Minister Tatiana Golikova said all of the injured remain in critical condition.

Perm, a city on the Kama River some 1,200 km east of Moscow, is the capital of Russia's Perm region.