December 20, 2004

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 DECEMBER 20, 2004


1//The Guardian, UK--LEGAL ADVICE ON ID CARDS KEPT SECRET (The government has banned the release of advice given by Lord Goldsmith, the attorney general, to cabinet ministers on whether the controversial bill to introduce ID cards for 55 million British citizens will invade people's privacy or human rights. The disclosure comes as ministers today face a revolt from Labour MPs and opposition politicians over plans to introduce ID cards. MPs will today be asked to accept a blanket assurance from the former home secretary, David Blunkett, that "the provisions of the identity cards bill are compatible with the European convention of human rights." ….The government's ban on the release of the information came to light after Chris Pounder, editor of Data Protection and Privacy Practice, published by solicitors Pinsent Masons, applied for the document under the open government code. He was refused access on the grounds that its release "would harm the frankness and candour of internal discussion." His concern arises from the fact that up to 50 items of information could be held on the ID card, including people's medical history and bank and mortgage details. He is also concerned that eventually the ID card would be essential for anybody using public services, even if the government did not intend this. He has lodged an appeal.)

2//The Moscow Times, Russia--MYSTERY BIDDER WINS YUGANSK FOR $9.4 BLN (A mystery shell company won the biggest auction in Russian history Sunday with a $9.37 billion bid for jailed billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky's most valuable asset, Yuganskneftegaz. A Tver-registered company called Baikal Finance Group won once-mighty oil giant Yukos' core production unit after state energy champion Gazprom, the clear favorite and only other contestant, declined to counter a bid that was $503 million above the starting price. Investors and analysts said the sale of a company that accounts for 11 percent of Russia's oil production to an unknown entity marked a new low in the state's 18- month-long legal assault on Khodorkovsky and his empire…"We can assume that in the end Gazprom will be the beneficial owner -- the only other possibility is Surgut," said Eric Kraus, chief strategist at Sovlink, referring to No. 4 oil producer Surgutneftegaz. Surgut CEO Vladimir Bogdanov ran President Vladimir Putin's 2000 election campaign in the western Siberian region where the company is headquartered.)

3//Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran--IRAN, EU TO DISCUSS DETAILS OF LIGHT-WATER REACTOR IN JANUARY (Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said here Sunday that a European delegation is to visit Iran after the New Year holidays to discuss construction of a 'research' nuclear reactor in the Islamic Republic… The visit follows Iran's agreement with the Europeans last month to suspend uranium enrichment activities in return for a package of incentives, including EU's assistance in the construction of a light-water power reactor in Iran… Iran has also been invited for the first time to a session of the 25-member club of the countries mastering nuclear fuel cycle, the official added. Tehran insists that its nuclear program is solely aimed at power generation and strongly rejects US claims that the program is a front to build atomic bombs… The EU is Iran's biggest trading partner, with oil accounting for over 80 percent of Tehran's exports to the EU. Iran also sells agricultural products -- mainly pistachios -- as well as textiles and carpets to the EU.)

4//The Daily Star, Lebanon--GCC CONFERENCE OPENS IN MIDST OF FAMILY FEUD AND GROWING INSTABILITY IN IRAQ (The Gulf Cooperation Council conference opens Monday amid an increasingly unstable security situation in Iraq and a trade disagreement between Saudi Arabia, its largest member, and Bahrain, the country hosting this week's summit. It emerged late on Sunday that Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and de facto ruler Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz will not attend the summit. The move follows criticism in Riyadh of Bahrain's decision to sign a free trade agreement with the United States earlier this year. Saudi Arabia has also been critical of Bahrain's decision to sign a unilateral defense pact with Washington…Saudi Arabia's disagreement with Bahrain is unlikely to derail the summit, despite Riyadh's insistence that the trade deal Bahrain has with the U.S., and to a lesser extent the defense pact, will weaken Gulf solidarity. But other GCC members - Kuwait, Oman and the UAE - are also poised to sign similar agreements with Washington in the coming year…Saudi Arabia is traditionally seen as America's most staunch ally in the Middle East but it is understood Riyadh fears its influence in Washington may be slipping.)

5//Aljazeera.net, Qatar--MUSLIM TV REACHES OUT TO BROADER US PUBLIC (After years of criticising what they view as anti-Muslim bias in the mainstream media, Muslim Americans now have a television station to call their own. The 30 November launch of Bridges TV has given the American Muslim community a chance to convey a more authentic representation of Islamic culture, many Muslim activists say… The Bridges launch could not have come at a better time for Muslim Americans frustrated by media coverage that often associates Islam with terrorism and violence, according to Ibrahim Hooper, communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations… Bridges offers a diverse programming line-up that includes shows on cookery, travel, history, women's issues and politics. It even has cartoons for children. The station is available through Globecast World TV, a satellite service provider with roughly one million subscribers - 100,000 of whom are Muslim Americans, Hassan said. In addition, Bridges recently signed a deal with Comcast Cable, a national cable company with 22 million subscribers, and is working on carriage-affiliation agreements with several regional cable providers… Hassan said the stations had received "a lot of emails from non-Muslims who watch.""American Muslims are really motivated to find a voice, but we are also finding that mainstream Americans are really motivated to listen," he said.)

* * *

1//The Guardian, UK Monday December 20, 2004
http://www.guardian.co.uk/idcards/story/0,15642,1377360,00.html

LEGAL ADVICE ON ID CARDS KEPT SECRET
David Hencke, Westminster correspondent

The government has banned the release of advice given by Lord Goldsmith, the attorney general, to cabinet ministers on whether the controversial bill to introduce ID cards for 55 million British citizens will invade people's privacy or human rights.

The disclosure comes as ministers today face a revolt from Labour MPs and opposition politicians over plans to introduce ID cards. MPs will today be asked to accept a blanket assurance from the former home secretary, David Blunkett, that "the provisions of the identity cards bill are compatible with the European convention of human rights."

The Guardian has learned that parliament's joint committee on human rights, which will scrutinise the bill, has yet to pronounce on safeguards and will not get direct access to the documents.

Lord Goldsmith's advice to ministers is known to contain detailed arguments about whether people's rights would be infringed if they were denied access to public services and closely argued points about the powers of the security services, the police, and other authorities to access details of people's medical history, finances and personal details.

The documents would also include a frank assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the bill. Normally some information is provided about legal discussions in a public memorandum with the bill - but in this case it appears to have been confined to one sentence.

David Davis, shadow home secretary, said: "There is really no reason why in this case the attorney general's views on this should be kept secret."

(SNIP)

The government's ban on the release of the information came to light after Chris Pounder, editor of Data Protection and Privacy Practice, published by solicitors Pinsent Masons, applied for the document under the open government code. He was refused access on the grounds that its release "would harm the frankness and candour of internal discussion."

His concern arises from the fact that up to 50 items of information could be held on the ID card, including people's medical history and bank and mortgage details. He is also concerned that eventually the ID card would be essential for anybody using public services, even if the government did not intend this. He has lodged an appeal.

(MORE)


2//The Moscow Times, Russia Monday, December 20, 2004. Page 1.
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2004/12/20/001.html

MYSTERY BIDDER WINS YUGANSK FOR $9.4 BLN
By Catherine Belton and Guy Faulconbridge, Staff Writers

A mystery shell company won the biggest auction in Russian history Sunday with a $9.37 billion bid for jailed billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky's most valuable asset, Yuganskneftegaz.

A Tver-registered company called Baikal Finance Group won once-mighty oil giant Yukos' core production unit after state energy champion Gazprom, the clear favorite and only other contestant, declined to counter a bid that was $503 million above the starting price.

Investors and analysts said the sale of a company that accounts for 11 percent of Russia's oil production to an unknown entity marked a new low in the state's 18-month-long legal assault on Khodorkovsky and his empire. Officials at the Federal Property Fund, which organized the auction, said they were as clueless as everyone else as to who was behind the winner.

"It came as just as much of a surprise for us as it did for you," acting fund chairman Yury Petrov told reporters.

More than 100 reporters packed inside a conference hall in the Federal Property Fund for a ringside seat to a live broadcast of the culmination of a campaign that acquired a new dimension last week when Yukos filed for bankruptcy in Texas and won a U.S. injunction barring Gazprom and its Western financiers from participating in Sunday's auction.

Although the government scoffed at the idea of an American court weighing in on what it insists is an internal affair, analysts and investors said Gazprom's refusal to bid and the last-minute emergence of Baikal suggested the Kremlin was attempting to minimize legal risks.

"Like many scandals, the final denouement is just one more joke, and the joke is pretty sad," said Ian Hague, who manages $900 million in emerging-market assets at Firebird Management in New York. "[Baikal] is effectively a special purpose vehicle for Gazprom or the government. They don't have the money, so they will get it from the state."

(SNIP)

Despite Gazprom's denial that it had anything to do with Baikal, nearly every analyst and investor reached Sunday said they believed it to be a vehicle somehow linked to the state or to Gazprom and that eventually Gazprom will control the asset. According to Itar-Tass, Baikal's registered address in Tver is the same as a subsidiary of Gazprom.

"We can assume that in the end Gazprom will be the beneficial owner -- the only other possibility is Surgut," said Eric Kraus, chief strategist at Sovlink, referring to No. 4 oil producer Surgutneftegaz. Surgut CEO Vladimir Bogdanov ran President Vladimir Putin's 2000 election campaign in the western Siberian region where the company is headquartered.

Surgut denied any links to Baikal.

(MORE)


3//Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran, Mon 2004-12-20
http://www.irna.ir/?LANG=EN&PART=_HOME&TYPE=HP/?SAB...

IRAN, EU TO DISCUSS DETAILS OF LIGHT-WATER REACTOR IN JANUARY

Tehran, Dec 19, IRNA -- Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said here Sunday that a European delegation is to visit Iran after the New Year holidays to discuss construction of a 'research' nuclear reactor in the Islamic Republic.

"A European delegation will come to Iran after the January holidays to discuss details of this issue," he told reporters during his weekly news briefing.

The visit follows Iran's agreement with the Europeans last month to suspend uranium enrichment activities in return for a package of incentives, including EU's assistance in the construction of a light-water power reactor in Iran.

Iran is already building a nuclear reactor in the southern city of Bushehr with Russian assistance under a 800-million-dollar deal, with the project planned to come on stream in 2006.

Asefi said Iran and the European side held their first nuclear committee session in a European city Friday and discussed their 'peaceful nuclear cooperation' as well as 'tangible guarantees' in the implementation of their agreements.

"Preliminary discussions were held concerning the equipment used in the Bushehr plant and other power plants and it was agreed that such negotiations would continue.

"Talks were also held on tangible guarantees which (are reflected in) the principles of the Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Treaties.

"It was agreed that we reach an understanding on these two subjects so that both we receive our due rights and the Europeans' concerns are removed," he added.

The two sides, however, will hold their 'political and security' session Tuesday, Asefi said.

Iran has also been invited for the first time to a session of the 25-member club of the countries mastering nuclear fuel cycle, the official added.

Tehran insists that its nuclear program is solely aimed at power generation and strongly rejects US claims that the program is a front to build atomic bombs.

Iran agreed last month to suspend uranium enrichment under an agreement reached in Paris with Britain, France and Germany, which represent the European Union, in exchange for trade, technology and
security incentives.

Uranium enrichment is allowed under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), to which Iran is a signatory, and the country wants it as part of its efforts to master a nuclear fuel cycle.

(SNIP)

On the economic front, the European Union is exploring possibilities for cooperation with Iran in energy, trade and investment as well as refugees and drugs control.

The EU is Iran`s biggest trading partner, with oil accounting for over 80 percent of Tehran`s exports to the EU. Iran also sells agricultural products -- mainly pistachios -- as well as textiles and carpets to the EU.


4//The Daily Star, Lebanon Monday, December 20, 2004
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10...

GCC CONFERENCE OPENS IN MIDST OF FAMILY FEUD AND GROWING INSTABILITY IN IRAQ
By Michael Glackin, Daily Star staff

MANAMA: The Gulf Cooperation Council conference opens Monday amid an increasingly unstable security situation in Iraq and a trade disagreement between Saudi Arabia, its largest member, and Bahrain, the country hosting this week's summit.

It emerged late on Sunday that Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and de facto ruler Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz will not attend the summit. The move follows criticism in Riyadh of Bahrain's decision to sign a free trade agreement with the United States earlier this year.

Saudi Arabia has also been critical of Bahrain's decision to sign a unilateral defense pact with Washington.

It is understood that the Saudi delegation to the summit will now be headed by the foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, who last week called the trade pact a "clear violation of the GCC's economic accords."

On the purely political front, the GCC formally called on the people of Iraq to support next month's elections.

Speaking ahead of the official opening of the conference and before Sunday's fatal car bombings in Karbala and Najaf, GCC Secretary General Abdel-Rahman bin Hamad al-Atiyyah said: "The Gulf states want stability in Iraq."

He added: "We reaffirm our support for a unified Iraq and free elections that will include all the Iraqi people."

(SNIP)

Saudi Arabia's disagreement with Bahrain is unlikely to derail the summit, despite Riyadh's insistence that the trade deal Bahrain has with the U.S., and to a lesser extent the defense pact, will weaken Gulf solidarity.

But other GCC members - Kuwait, Oman and the UAE - are also poised to sign similar agreements with Washington in the coming year.

Bahrain's Finance and Economy Minister Abdullah Hassan Seif downplayed the growing rift between the two countries.

(SNIP)

Bahraini Information Minister Nabil al-Hamr added that Saudi Arabia was now only "voicing reservations" about the deal. He added that efforts are under way to "convince Saudi Arabia that these accords, far from being detrimental, serve the interests of all Gulf states."

Saudi Arabia is traditionally seen as America's most staunch ally in the Middle East but it is understood Riyadh fears its influence in Washington may be slipping. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers in the Sept. 11 attacks were from Saudi Arabia. Last year the US Air Force shifted it regional base away from Saudi Arabia to Qatar, a move which to many underpinned the declining influence of Riyadh. Bahrain also plays host to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet.

The GCC consists of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates and has a combined GDP of around $380 billion.


5//Aljazeera.net, Qatar Saturday 18 December 2004, 20:55 Makka Time, 17:55 GMT
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/91B0FD3E-4A1C...

MUSLIM TV REACHES OUT TO BROADER US PUBLIC
By Ben Duncan in Washington DC

After years of criticising what they view as anti-Muslim bias in the mainstream media, Muslim Americans now have a television station to call their own.

The 30 November launch of Bridges TV has given the American Muslim community a chance to convey a more authentic representation of Islamic culture, many Muslim activists say.

The new English satellite channel is a Muslim-run venture that combines "lifestyle, cultural and entertainment" programming designed for Muslim Americans, as well as non-Muslims looking to educate themselves on a religion that is increasingly prevalent in the public discourse, according to Muzzammil Hassan, the president of Bridges.

"We're trying to build bridges of friendship and understanding between American Muslims and mainstream America," Hassan said.

The Bridges launch could not have come at a better time for Muslim Americans frustrated by media coverage that often associates Islam with terrorism and violence, according to Ibrahim Hooper, communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

"I think it gives American Muslims a voice in popular culture and it gives a more accurate portrayal of the reality of the American Muslim existence," Hooper said.

Diverse programming
Bridges offers a diverse programming line-up that includes shows on cookery, travel, history, women's issues and politics. It even has cartoons for children.

The station is available through Globecast World TV, a satellite service provider with roughly one million subscribers - 100,000 of whom are Muslim Americans, Hassan said.

In addition, Bridges recently signed a deal with Comcast Cable, a national cable company with 22 million subscribers, and is working on carriage-affiliation agreements with several regional cable providers.

(SNIP)

The station's decision to broadcast only in English or with English subtitles is part of a concerted effort to appeal to Muslims of all sects and ethnic backgrounds.

The Bridges website says the goal is to promote discussion and debate of "various philosophies and sects" in a way that "caters to mainstream Islam as defined by belief in the oneness of God, acceptance of Muhammad as a messenger from God and a seal to all prophets."

While Bridges was conceived primarily as a television station designed for the Muslim American community, Hassan said they were reaching out to the broader public.

Motivated mainstream
Programming development, he said, was based on research that examined the preferences of both Muslim and non-Muslim viewers.

"The secondary market is the mainstream Americans who are curious about Muslim culture," Bridges said.

For Muslim viewers, research indicated that "foreign films, food shows and travel shows" were the top priorities. Non-Muslim viewers, meanwhile, were most interested in lifestyle shows, programmes that offered Quran lessons and political talk shows.

Hassan said the stations had received "a lot of emails from non-Muslims who watch."

"American Muslims are really motivated to find a voice, but we are also finding that mainstream Americans are really motivated to listen," he said.

Balanced message
At a time when both public and government scrutiny of the Muslim community is at an all-time high, supporters of Bridges TV say it is necessary to incorporate a balanced message, devoid of any religious or political extremism.

(MORE)