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| May 10, 2004 |
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World Media Watch by Gloria R. Lalumia BUZZFLASH NOTE: WMW provides BuzzFlash readers foreign views and perspectives that are not usually available from the media here in the U.S. The presentation of these articles from these international publications is not an endorsement of their viewpoints. * * * WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR MAY 10, 2004 1//SwissInfo, Switzerland--SWITZERLAND CONDEMNS ABUSE OF IRAQI PRISONERS (The Swiss foreign minister, Micheline Calmy-Rey, has condemned the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by coalition forces. On Friday she summoned the United States and British ambassadors to express her outrage and denounce the abuse as an unacceptable breach of humanitarian law. Calmy-Rey said she told the US and British ambassadors to Bern, Pamela Willeford and Simon Featherstone, that the mistreatment of prisoners contravened international regulations. During a meeting at the Swiss foreign ministry, she reminded both diplomats that Switzerland - as the depositary state of the Geneva Conventions - had a special obligation to ensure that humanitarian law was upheld.) 2//The Jordan Times, Jordan--ARAB FOREIGN MINISTERS FOCUS ON POLITICAL REFORM (Arab foreign ministers turned their focus Sunday to the thorny issue of political reform, on the second day of closed-door talks aimed at preventing a repetition of the embarrassing collapse of an annual summit in March...Another official of the Cairo-based League, on condition of anonymity, said the secretariat of the 22-member organisation had drawn up a draft statement on "the Arab vision of internal reforms."...The official also said that the "Greater Middle East Initiative," which Washington is championing to bolster democracy in the region, was not on the agenda of the ministers' meeting. The United States says it wants to launch the scheme during a summit of the Group of Eight (G-8) industrialised nations in June. But several Arab countries, including US allies Egypt and Saudi Arabia, have criticised the initiative, fearing Washington wants to impose its own cultural models on the region.) 3//The
Daily Times, Pakistan--PAKISTAN-A VIBRANT PRESS
UNDER CONSTRAINT SINCE 2003 (The press in
Pakistan, last year, remained fiercely independent
in its criticism of the country's military regime,
observed the South Asian Free Media Association
in its recently published report, "Media Monitor
2003". It claimed the rise of the religious
right and growing militancy in the name of religion
caused problems for various parts of the media:
the secular section of the press came remained
under pressure while journalists supporting orthodox
religious views came down hard on the Musharraf
government.) * * * 1//SwissInfo, Switzerland May 9, 2004, 1:31 PM SWITZERLAND CONDEMNS ABUSE OF IRAQI PRISONERS The Swiss foreign minister, Micheline Calmy-Rey, has condemned the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by coalition forces. On Friday she summoned the United States and British ambassadors to express her outrage and denounce the abuse as an unacceptable breach of humanitarian law. Calmy-Rey said she told the US and British ambassadors to Bern, Pamela Willeford and Simon Featherstone, that the mistreatment of prisoners contravened international regulations. During a meeting at the Swiss foreign ministry, she reminded both diplomats that Switzerland - as the depositary state of the Geneva Conventions - had a special obligation to ensure that humanitarian law was upheld. "We cannot keep silent about such incidents," Calmy-Rey said in an interview with the "SonntagsBlick" newspaper. Her remarks come just days after the Swiss-run International Committee of the Red Cross revealed that it had warned Washington a year ago about alleged prisoner abuse. (SNIP) She added that Switzerland had been asked by the Iraqi interim governing council to lead efforts to monitor human rights in the country. Calmy-Rey also used her interview with the newspaper to appeal for a swift transition of power in Baghdad and an end to the occupation of Iraq. In an apparent reference to the US authorities, the Swiss foreign minister said difficulties could not be solved by violence. She reiterated calls for the United Nations and the international community to take a greater role in Iraq. She added that Switzerland had expressed concern a year ago that military intervention in Iraq could destabilise the whole region. "It makes me sad to see that our assessment of the situation appears to have been accurate," said Calmy-Rey.
ARAB FOREIGN MINISTERS FOCUS ON POLITICAL REFORM CAIRO (AFP) - Arab foreign ministers turned their focus Sunday to the thorny issue of political reform, on the second day of closed-door talks aimed at preventing a repetition of the embarrassing collapse of an annual summit in March. In preparation for the postponed summit, which is now tentatively scheduled to take place in late May at the original venue in Tunis, the ministers on Saturday discussed the Iraq and Arab-Israeli conflicts. On the second day in the Egyptian capital, "the ministers are to debate reforms in the Arab world as well as internal reform in the Arab League," Hisham Zaki, spokesman for Arab League chief Amr Musa, told AFP. Another official of the Cairo-based League, on condition of anonymity, said the secretariat of the 22-member organisation had drawn up a draft statement on "the Arab vision of internal reforms." The draft would combine proposals from several Arab countries, including Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Tunisia and Yemen. The official also said that the "Greater Middle East Initiative," which Washington is championing to bolster democracy in the region, was not on the agenda of the ministers' meeting. The United States says it wants to launch the scheme during a summit of the Group of Eight (G-8) industrialised nations in June. But several Arab countries, including US allies Egypt and Saudi Arabia, have criticised the initiative, fearing Washington wants to impose its own cultural models on the region. Underlining the sensitivity of the Cairo talks, Tunisia's Foreign Minister Habib Ben Yahia announced Saturday that the size of the delegations would be limited in a bid to preserve the confidentiality of the discussions. (MORE)
PAKISTAN-A VIBRANT PRESS UNDER CONSTRAINT SINCE
2003 By Waqar Gillani LAHORE--The press in Pakistan, last year, remained fiercely independent in its criticism of the country's military regime, observed the South Asian Free Media Association in its recently published report, "Media Monitor 2003". It claimed the rise of the religious right and growing militancy in the name of religion caused problems for various parts of the media: the secular section of the press came remained under pressure while journalists supporting orthodox religious views came down hard on the Musharraf government. The report observed the most important development for the media took place in October 2002 when the outgoing military regime promulgated a set of six press ordinances before inducting the elected government. These were denounced by the All Pakistan Newspaper Society (APNS) (representing the country's publishers) and the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) (of working journalists) as "illegitimate, unethical and unconstitutional". The SAFMA critically scrutinised the ordinances and proposed six alternative draft laws. Meanwhile, the authorities withheld government advertisements in a bid to arm-twist certain newspapers. The Sindhi press, known for its hard-hitting reporting and the Nawa-i-Waqt group of newspapers were both targeted by the government. The report observed that 12 Sindhi newspapers had to wind up their operations in recent years due to lack of government advertising. One of the most serious attempts by the government to check the free flow of information occurred when the authorities blocked Internet news sites, on the pretext of censoring pornographic material. Three journalists and an author lost their lives in December as they were preparing a documentary on the Taliban. The incident, reports SAFMA, caught the attention of the international media.
BEWARE OF SNACKS, POLL WATCHERS TOLD Vigilance. Alertness. Flashlights. And anti-diarrhea tablets. Poll watchers would need these to safeguard the votes of their candidates from possible cheating in Monday's election. Some candidates who have big campaign funds already had their poll watchers undergo training for specific reminders on how to spot cheating techniques. Those who have meager funds would rely on volunteers to observe the counting of votes. In Caloocan City, Representative Enrico Echiverri had warned his poll watchers never to eat snacks other than those provided by his camp. He told the Inquirer he had received information that some groups might provide contaminated snacks in the polling precincts during the counting. After a few minutes, poll watchers and teachers who would eat the snacks would have to go out of the room to go to the toilet, he said. That would give others an opportunity to tamper, change or snatch ballots or tally sheets, Echiverri added. Echiverri is running for mayor against former mayor Macario Asistio Jr., Representative Edgar Erice and Gigi Malonzo. Erice said he had also provided his watchers flashlights in case of brownouts during the counting. Resorting to intentional brownouts is an old method of cheating, Erice said, adding that during the few minutes of darkness, ballots and boxes could be snatched and replaced. (MORE)
SUMMER HEAT WILL CAUSE DEADLY OZONE Thousands of Britons may be forced to wear charcoal masks and stay indoors this summer to avoid deadly fogs of ozone that will pollute the country during heatwaves, scientists have warned. They have discovered that last August's heatwave caused plants and trees to release waves of a chemical called isoprene, which contributes to the production of ozone in the air. Scientists now believe ozone killed up to 600 people last summer. (SNIP) But the latest ozone study, carried out by a team led by Alastair Lewis, of York University and funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, has discovered that a dangerous new factor arises when temperatures soar into the high 30s. 'We went to Chelmsford to study ozone and isoprene levels last year,' said Lewis. 'By chance, we picked the two weeks of the heatwave. What we discovered was startling. When the temperature reached the high 90s and topped 100, plants and trees ... start to produce greatly increased amounts.' It is thought that isoprene acts as a kind of heat-shock molecule, protecting leaves from damage when temperatures rise above 35C. When plants are short of water, they produce even more. However, in the atmosphere isoprene acts as a catalyst driving the rate at which sunlight breaks down nitrogen oxide and turns it into ozone. The more isoprene there is, the more ozone is generated, effectively wiping out the moderate success the government has had in reducing levels. (SNIP) While most advice for dealing with the heat involves staying in the shade and drinking plenty of water, the response to pollution by ozone, which irritates the lining of the lung, is more draconian. Vulnerable individuals are told to avoid major road junctions (where car exhaust levels are high), stay indoors and wear masks. The team's discovery will intensify calls for Britain to introduce even tougher new regulations to reduce emissions of car exhaust gases, the basic ingredient that fuels ozone production. | ||||||
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