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| October 17, 2003 |
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World Media Watch by Gloria R. Lalumia BUZZFLASH NOTE: Once again, these are the views and perspectives of the individual papers, not of BuzzFlash or Gloria. They offer BuzzFlash readers a way of reading what other nations are saying about the crisis, whether we like it or not. We repeat: This is not an endorsement of their viewpoints. * * * 1//Philippine Daily Inquirer,
Philippines--LOVE-HATE WELCOME AWAITS BUSH IN MANILA (Protesters
themselves are getting ready. Effigy makers and banner painters
have been in overdrive, casting Bush as a demon, a rampaging
warmonger and a big bug for protests against his visit...Hundreds
of silk-screened US flags hang to dry before they will be
put to the torch during Bush's eight hours in Manila.) Related: SDF GOING TO SOUTHERN IRAQ IF LDP WINS ELECTION (Samawa has not experienced any attacks against occupation forces since April and is considered the safest area in Iraq, according to a senior official of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority for the region.) 3//The Independent, UK--SADDAM'S NAME MORE POPULAR THAN EVER IN IRAQI OIL TOWN (In the Sunni Muslim heartlands along the banks of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, Saddam is the apparent victor over the US in the eyes of the inhabitants. It is thought the former Iraqi president may even be hiding in the region. Local leaders said guerrilla attacks were happening more frequently because many people who used to work for Saddam, often in his security services, were out of a job, and there had been a furious reaction to the random searches, arrests and shootings by US soldiers.) 4//Mail & Guardian, South Africa--SA GENERIC AIDS DRUGS
BREAKTHROUGH (The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) is celebrating
what it calls a "ground-breaking" decision on Thursday
by the Competitions Commission that found two giant pharmaceutical
firms culpable of charging excessive prices for anti-retroviral
drugs and abusing their dominant positions in the market...The
importance of this case ties into the need for anti-retroviral
drugs to be accessible to the people living Aids. Currently
there are no generic version of the anti-retroviral drugs
sold in the country and therefore the multinational cartels
are able to monopolise the markets through their patent rights.) Related: CROPS GIANT RETREATS FROM EUROPE AHEAD OF GM REPORT (Monsanto, the huge American biotechnology company which has pioneered GM crops, is withdrawing from many of its European operations and laying off up to two thirds of its British workers.) * * * 1//Philippine
Daily Inquirer Posted: 1:05 AM (Manila Time)
| Oct. 17, 2003 LOVE-HATE WELCOME AWAITS BUSH IN MANILA Few people look forward to a visit by George W. Bush as much as Ely Velez Pamatong. Pamatong plans to put thousands of followers into the streets on Saturday to welcome the president of the United States. But while they wave the Stars and Stripes, angry Filipinos fed up with US foreign and economic policies will be burning it, highlighting the country's love-hate relationship with America. "My forces are ready," said Pamatong, a lawyer who has written a book arguing the case for Filipinos to be allowed American citizenship. "These leftists are financed by China." Protesters themselves are getting ready. Effigy makers and banner painters have been in overdrive, casting Bush as a demon, a rampaging warmonger and a big bug for protests against his visit. In a sunny courtyard in the heart of Manila, the more artistic members of labor unions, leftist groups and farmers organizations are crafting the paraphernalia to be carried by the thousands of marchers they have vowed to marshal. Hundreds of silk-screened US flags hang to dry before they will be put to the torch during Bush's eight hours in Manila. "You are not welcome, Mr. Bush," one poster reads. Another shows the US leader cuddling a bomb like a baby, with "Bush No. 1 Terrorist" emblazoned across the bottom. (MORE)
JAPAN OFFERS $1.5B AID FOR IRAQ RECONSTRUCTION Tokyo (AFP) - The Japanese government said Wednesday it would provide $1.5 billion in grant aid for the reconstruction of Iraq in 2004 and planned to make a further pledge at a donors' meeting next week. The pledge comes ahead of a meeting with US President George W. Bush Friday, who in an interview aired earlier Wednesday thanked Japan for its contribution to Iraq reconstruction. "The government of Japan will provide grant assistance totalling $1.5 billion for the immediate reconstruction needs of Iraq," a government statement said. The money is intended to cover reconstruction work "for the coming one year.... It is mostly designed to cope with reconstruction demand for 2004," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told a news conference. "In addition our country plans to send assistance to cope with mid-term reconstruction demand and is earnestly considering it for an announcement at the Madrid assistance conference," opening in the Spanish capital on Oct. 23, Fukuda said. While avoiding mentioning a sum for multiyear aid, Fukuda said further assistance would be mostly loans. The Japanese media have reported Japanese aid would reach $5billion, mostly in loans, from 2005 to 2007. "We can't let the Iraqi reconstruction fail, and Japan must do what it has to do," Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters. "We are faced with financial difficulties, but I decided taking the broader view that Japan must make its decision clear." US Ambassador to Japan Howard Baker said: "I think it is generous. I think it's appropriate, and I think it will contribute significantly to peace and stability in the region. And we're, the United States is very pleased for it." The $1.5 billion will be for civil works projects, including some $500 million for water supply, hygiene and health care and $400 million for power supply, and $100 million for education, Fukuda said. (MORE) RELATED: The
Japan Times Friday, October 17, 2003ay, October 17,
2003 SDF GOING TO SOUTHERN IRAQ IF LDP WINS ELECTION SAMAWA, Iraq (Kyodo) Japan will send Self-Defense Forces elements to the southern Iraq city of Samawa if the ruling coalition comes out on top in the upcoming election, according to a senior Dutch military officer quoting a Japanese fact-finding mission. (SNIP) Samawa has not experienced any attacks against occupation forces since April and is considered the safest area in Iraq, according to a senior official of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority for the region.
SADDAM'S NAME MORE POPULAR THAN EVER IN IRAQI OIL TOWN New babies are being named Saddam by their parents in this oil refinery town 160 miles north of Baghdad, such is the hostility to the US occupation, an official at the local births and deaths registration office said. Iraqis queued yesterday for new dinar banknotes with pictures of Babylonian rulers and a 10th century Iraqi mathematician in place of a smiling Saddam Hussein. But in Baiji, "Long live Saddam" slogans are scrawled everywhere. The mayor's office and a building which housed a pro-American opposition party are burned out, having been set on fire by demonstrators who brandished pictures of the former Iraqi leader. A local sheikh said: "The people have decided that the disasters they suffer under the Americans are worse than those they suffered under Saddam Hussein." He pointed to a small pit in the concrete in the courtyard of his house where a grenade had exploded, thrown by someone who thought him too close to the Americans. In the Sunni Muslim heartlands along the banks of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, Saddam is the apparent victor over the US in the eyes of the inhabitants. It is thought the former Iraqi president may even be hiding in the region. Local leaders said guerrilla attacks were happening more frequently because many people who used to work for Saddam, often in his security services, were out of a job, and there had been a furious reaction to the random searches, arrests and shootings by US soldiers. (MORE)
SA GENERIC AIDS DRUGS BREAKTHROUGH The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) is celebrating what it calls a "ground-breaking" decision on Thursday by the Competitions Commission that found two giant pharmaceutical firms culpable of charging excessive prices for anti-retroviral drugs and abusing their dominant positions in the market. The firms, GlaxoSmithKline South Africa and Boehringer Ingelheim, will have to appear before the Competitions Tribunal -- the commission's prosecuting arm -- to defend their contravention of the Competitions Act. The finding is a result of a complaint made a year ago by a group of 12 people affected by and infected with HIV/Aids who alleged the prices charged by the drug companies are directly responsible for the "premature, predictable and avoidable deaths of people living with HIV/Aids, including adults and children. The importance of this case ties into the need for anti-retroviral drugs to be accessible to the people living Aids. Currently there are no generic versions of the anti-retroviral drugs sold in the country and therefore the multinational cartels are able to monopolise the markets through their patent rights. In India and Brazil generic versions of these drugs cost a fraction of the price compared to those manufactured by the patent-holding multinationals. Competition by generics would drive down the costs of these patent drugs. The TAC welcomed the decision by the commission to find the firms guilty of excessive pricing. "We are encouraged that both GlaxoSmithKline South Africa and Boehringer Ingelheim will have to defend their conduct and their pricing to the tribunal," said Fatima Hassan, Aids Law Project lawyer. "The stark fact is that for the cost of one treatment from the brand-name companies four people with Aids can be treated with cheaper high quality 'generic' copies of the same medicines. In South Africa, tens of thousands of people are dying every year because excessive prices are charged for life-saving anti-retroviral medicines," she told the Mail & Guardian. The Competitions Commission has also recommended to the tribunal that a penalty of 10% of the annual turnover of the firm's sales of anti-retroviral drugs be charged for each year that they have been found to have violated the Competitions Act. The Tribunal could also make an order authorising any company to use the firms' patents to market anti-retroviral generics. (MORE)
GM CROPS SUFFER ANOTHER BLOW LONDON, Oct 16 (IPS) - Genetically modified crops have proved a danger to wildlife in two out of three major experiments carried out in Britain. In the third case doubts have been raised about the experiment itself. The results of the three-year study published Thursday raised serious new questions about dangers from genetically modified (GM) crops. The Government has announced it will investigate the results. Several non-governmental organisations said the results were conclusive enough to warrant an immediate ban on GM crops. The results are being presented to the European Union and are expected to strongly influence EU policy on GM crops. The experiments were carried out on three kinds of crops - maize, beet and spring oilseed rape. GM versions were studied along with conventional crops. Growing conventional beet and spring rape was better for many groups of wildlife than growing GM herbicide-tolerant beet and spring rape, according to the results released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). "Some insect groups, such as bees (in beet crops) and butterflies (in beet and spring rape), were recorded more frequently in and around the conventional crops because there were more weeds to provide food and cover," the report says. "There were also more weed seeds in conventional beet and spring rape crops than in their GM counterparts," according to the report. That finding was crucial, Clare Oxborrow from Friends of the Earth told IPS. "Weeds are a crucial part of maintaining farmland diversity," she said. "Seventy percent of British land is farmland, and a lot of wildlife is associated with farmland." Over the last 50 years, she says, intensification of farming has meant fewer weeds, and therefore fewer birds and insects that could live off them. That has meant a direct threat to wildlife. (MORE) RELATED: The
Independent 16 October 2003 CROPS GIANT RETREATS FROM EUROPE AHEAD OF GM REPORT Monsanto, the huge American biotechnology company which has pioneered GM crops, is withdrawing from many of its European operations and laying off up to two thirds of its British workers. The announcement came on the eve of the publication of the Government's GM crop trials today. Tony Blair is thought to be in favour of GM crops, stressing the need for Britain to be in the vanguard of new industries that could be worth billions of pounds. (MORE) | |||||
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