January 10, 2005

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.

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WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR JANUARY 10, 2005

1//The Toronto Star, Canada--CANADA WILL SIGN ON TO MISSILE DEFENCE: AMBASSADOR (The United States is optimistic Canada will sign on to President George W. Bush's missile defence plan before the end of March, Ambassador Paul Cellucci has told The Canadian Press. Cellucci, who is scheduled to leave his post this spring, said he expects the issue will be resolved before he returns to the U.S. "We've been told that it will be dealt with over the next couple of months," he said during a brief conversation. Asked if, based on his discussions, he anticipates that Canada will take part in the controversial missile shield, Cellucci replied: "Yes." "We continue to hope that Canada makes a positive decision on the missile defence program, which we believe is consistent with the mission of NORAD." Participation in missile defence represents a potentially explosive issue for the federal Liberals and could conceivably bring down their minority government.)

2//The Scotsman, UK--BROWN PEACE OFFER AS FEUD SPIRALS ON (Gordon Brown last night called for a truce with Tony Blair after their bitter power struggle threatened to spin out of control and engulf Labour’s general election campaign. The Chancellor issued an extraordinary call for "unity" - in the wake of a book, written with the help of his allies, which accused the Prime Minister of reneging on a promise to resign last year. Although Mr Blair joined the plea for calm, their battle seemed to have developed its own momentum yesterday - with a former Labour minister calling for Mr Brown to be sacked before the election. Excerpts from Brown’s Britain, published next week, were released yesterday detailing how Mr Blair decided to quit after the Hutton Inquiry finished - saying to Mr Brown that he had lost the trust of the country. For six months, Mr Blair stuck to this plan - according to the book - but betrayed the Chancellor last summer when he decided to stay on.)

3//Inter Press News Service Agency, Italy--DETRITUS OF WAR KEEPS CLAIMING NEW VICTIMS (For the first time, many more civilians are being killed and maimed in Afghanistan by dud munitions than by landmines, which were more or less outlawed in 1999 but linger around the world as the wreckage of earlier wars. A study published in Friday's British Medical Journal says that the biggest problem is now unexploded ordnance (UXO)--incidentally, much easier and cheaper to get rid of than landmines--which includes grenades, bombs, mortar shells, and cluster munitions that fail to detonate on impact… In November 2003, dozens of humanitarian groups from 42 countries joined together at The Hague in the Netherlands to urge a global moratorium on the use, production and trade of cluster munitions, which scatter hundreds of "bomblets" and are responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians worldwide. They hoped to convince governments who had signed the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), a 1980 treaty banning the most inhumane and indiscriminate weapons, to ratify a new protocol on UXOs… "But the main holders of these weapons--the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom--have taken some measures that may be commendable but are not enough to stop the problem." "It is very difficult to influence these countries, as we've seen in the landmine campaign," he said. "They have significant geopolitical security needs, and they are insulated against public opinion in many ways. The first step is to establish an international norm.")

4//The News International, Pakistan--IAEA TO TAKE SAMPLES FROM IRANIAN SITE (Iran said on Sunday it has given the UN's atomic watchdog permission to take so-called environmental samples from a suspect military site in order to disprove US allegations of secret weapons-related activities. "The question is not of a visit to the military installations of Parchin. The agency had asked to take samples from the green areas of Parchin because the Americans and others have made accusations," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters.)

5//Xinhuanet.com, China--EU BECOMES CHINA’S LARGEST TRADE PARTNER (From January to November 2004, the trade volume between China and Europe had reached US $159.3 bln, 34.7 percent higher as against the same period in 2003. The EU has surpassed Japan and the US to become China's largest trade partner; and China has become the second largest trade partner of the EU, only next to the US, sources from the Ministry of Commerce of China say. The Sino-European economic and trade ties underwent a rapid growth last year pushed by the high-level exchanges between China and Europe. Following the EU enlargement May 1, 2004, the EU has surpassed Japan and the US to become China's largest trade partner.)

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1//The Toronto Star, Canada Jan. 9, 2005. 04:51 PM
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Content...

CANADA WILL SIGN ON TO MISSILE DEFENCE: AMBASSADOR
Robert Russo, Canadian Press

OTTAWA — The United States is optimistic Canada will sign on to President George W. Bush's missile defence plan before the end of March, Ambassador Paul Cellucci has told The Canadian Press.

Cellucci, who is scheduled to leave his post this spring, said he expects the issue will be resolved before he returns to the U.S.

"We've been told that it will be dealt with over the next couple of months," he said during a brief conversation.

Asked if, based on his discussions, he anticipates that Canada will take part in the controversial missile shield, Cellucci replied: "Yes."

"We continue to hope that Canada makes a positive decision on the missile defence program, which we believe is consistent with the mission of NORAD."

Participation in missile defence represents a potentially explosive issue for the federal Liberals and could conceivably bring down their minority government.

The Bloc Quebecois and the NDP are unalterably opposed to any participation in the U.S.-led project. Conservative Leader Stephen Harper has said he would want to see the terms of any deal between Canada and the United States before lending his party's support to Canadian participation.

There is considerable public opposition to a Canadian role in the program — particularly in Quebec, the province that will likely hold the key to any hopes the Liberals have for forming a majority government in the next election.

Even more troublesome for Prime Minister Paul Martin is the significant opposition to missile defence in his own caucus.

Martin has indicated that Parliament will be consulted on the issue, but he has been less clear on the exact mechanism for the process and on the sequence of events.

(MORE)

2//The Scotsman, UK Mon 20 January 2005
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=26182005

BROWN PEACE OFFER AS FEUD SPIRALS ON
Frasier Nelson, Political Editor

Gordon Brown last night called for a truce with Tony Blair after their bitter power struggle threatened to spin out of control and engulf Labour’s general election campaign.

The Chancellor issued an extraordinary call for "unity" - in the wake of a book, written with the help of his allies, which accused the Prime Minister of reneging on a promise to resign last year.

Although Mr Blair joined the plea for calm, their battle seemed to have developed its own momentum yesterday - with a former Labour minister calling for Mr Brown to be sacked before the election.

Excerpts from Brown’s Britain, published next week, were released yesterday detailing how Mr Blair decided to quit after the Hutton Inquiry finished - saying to Mr Brown that he had lost the trust of the country.

For six months, Mr Blair stuck to this plan - according to the book - but betrayed the Chancellor last summer when he decided to stay on.

In a quote certain to be repeated in the coming election campaign, Mr Brown is then said to have told the Prime Minister: "There’s nothing that you could ever say to me now that I could ever believe."

When challenged repeatedly on BBC1’s Breakfast With Frost whether he led Mr Brown to believe he would quit before the election, Mr Blair said only "you don’t do deals over jobs like this". He said the story was "reheated" speculation.

But in a sign of how seriously the issue is being taken, Mr Brown summoned television journalists to 11 Downing Street where he distanced himself from "books and gossip".

"Nothing will distract us from the fundamental unity that is needed and the shared purpose that is imperative for both the future of the country and the future of the Labour Party," he said.

Mr Blair’s allies said the Chancellor realised he had overstepped the mark - and that the interview was designed to accept defeat. The Prime Minister was in a determined mood, they said, and was furious about being called a liar in the book.

Mr Blair and Mr Brown will jointly address a meeting today of Labour MPs, and ask them to preserve a united front ahead of the election. But yesterday, several MPs said much of the damage had already been done.

(MORE)

3//Inter Press News Service Agency, Italy January 7, 2005
http://ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=26956

DETRITUS OF WAR KEEPS CLAIMING NEW VICTIMS
Katherine Stapp

NEW YORK, Jan 7 (IPS) - For the first time, many more civilians are being killed and maimed in Afghanistan by dud munitions than by landmines, which were more or less outlawed in 1999 but linger around the world as the wreckage of earlier wars.

A study published in Friday's British Medical Journal says that the biggest problem is now unexploded ordnance (UXO) -- incidentally, much easier and cheaper to get rid of than landmines -- which includes grenades, bombs, mortar shells, and cluster munitions that fail to detonate on impact.

Using data collected by the United Nations Mine Action Centre and the International Committee of the Red Cross, researchers discovered that in fact, the casualty ratio had precisely "flipped" in recent years. As the proportion of injuries from UXO went from 37 percent in 1997 to 57 percent in 2002, the proportion of injuries from landmines fell correspondingly from 57 percent to 36 percent.

And these numbers only tell part of the story, said one of the two lead researchers, Dr. Oleg Bilukha of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States.

"The real casualties are at least twice as much, maybe more," he told IPS. "For example, deaths represent only 7 percent, while in other countries (burdened with landmines and other UXO) we know that they are 30 to 50 percent of casualties."

In essence, if the victim didn't live long enough to make it to the nearest clinic, their death went unreported. Tragically, nearly half of the injuries from dud munitions were among children, mostly boys, who had been playing or tampering with the explosives.

Most of the landmines in Afghanistan are left over from the decade-long Soviet occupation of the 1980s, but watchdog groups say that newer UXO accumulated during the U.S. invasion to oust the Taliban regime in October 2001.

According to Human Rights Watch, "cluster bombs played a role throughout the U.S. air campaign. In the first week alone, Air Force B-1 bombers reportedly dropped fifty CBU-87s, containing 10,100 bomblets, in five missions."

Bilukha was cautious in explaining the rising toll in Afghanistan, noting that the numbers started shifting before the U.S. air attacks and that the available data is too limited to map specific battle areas to specific injuries.

But he hoped the study would inform policy debates about how to modify these munitions to make them less dangerous to civilians.

"Should we make (cluster and other munitions) more noticeable, so people will not stumble over them, or less noticeable, so children will not pick them up? This is the question we are posing," he said.

In November 2003, dozens of humanitarian groups from 42 countries joined together at The Hague in the Netherlands to urge a global moratorium on the use, production and trade of cluster munitions, which scatter hundreds of "bomblets" and are responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians worldwide.

They hoped to convince governments who had signed the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), a 1980 treaty banning the most inhumane and indiscriminate weapons, to ratify a new protocol on UXOs.

Just over a year later, the Cluster Munitions Coalition says that the lack of progress has "called into question the usefulness of the CCW" treaty itself. In an irate closing statement at the CCW's annual meeting last fall, Coalition delegates complained that a session of military experts tasked with addressing the humanitarian impact of cluster munitions was adjourned after just half an hour.

"Some of the more progressive governments -- Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, New Zealand -- are starting to see that this is a problem, and made statements at the CCW," said Thomas Nash of Mines Action Canada.

"But the main holders of these weapons -- the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom -- have taken some measures that may be commendable but are not enough to stop the problem."

"It is very difficult to influence these countries, as we've seen in the landmine campaign," he said. "They have significant geopolitical security needs, and they are insulated against public opinion in many ways. The first step is to establish an international norm."

(MORE)

4//The News International, Pakistan Monday January 10, 200 --Zeeqa'ad 28, 1425 A.H.
http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/jan2005...

IAEA TO TAKE SAMPLES FROM IRANIAN SITE

TEHRAN: Iran said on Sunday it has given the UN’s atomic watchdog permission to take so-called environmental samples from a suspect military site in order to disprove US allegations of secret weapons-related activities.

"The question is not of a visit to the military installations of Parchin. The agency had asked to take samples from the green areas of Parchin because the Americans and others have made accusations," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters.

He said Iran will allow UN nuclear experts to take environmental samples at the military site but won’t allow them to inspect military equipment. "To demonstrate that we have nothing to hide and that the Iranian nuclear programme is peaceful, we have authorised the agency to take these samples," he added.

Environmental sampling involves taking swabs or soil samples to detect the presence of nuclear activity. The IAEA inspection visit to Parchin is expected to take place within the next few days or weeks, officials have said. The IAEA has been seeking access to Parchin since July.

Tehran has strongly denied carrying out any nuclear-related work at the site, and insists its nuclear drive is merely aimed at generating electricity. Parchin is an example of a so-called "transparency visit," where the IAEA is going beyond its mandate under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to check if nuclear materials have been diverted away from peaceful use.

(MORE)

5//Xinhuanet.com, China 2005-01-10 11:17:07
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/...

EU BECOMES CHINA’S LARGEST TRADE PARTNER

BEIJING -- From January to November 2004, the trade volume between China and Europe had reached US$ 159.3 bln, 34.7 percent higher as against the same period in 2003.

The EU has surpassed Japan and the US to become China's largest trade partner; and China has become the second largest trade partner of the EU, only next to the US, sources from the Ministry of Commerce of China say.
The Sino-European economic and trade ties underwent a rapid growth last year pushed by the high-level exchanges between China and Europe. Following the EU enlargement May 1, 2004, the EU has surpassed Japan and the US to become China's largest trade partner.

Germany, Holland, the UK, France and Italy are principal trade partners of China inside the EU. China's trade volume with the five countries takes 72 percent of gross trade volume with Europe. China and Europe has achieved the goal set at the sixth meeting of the Chinese and European leaders in October 2003: to realize trade volume of US$ 150 bln, two years earlier than expected.

In addition, the EU is the fourth largest source of foreign investment of the Chinese mainland(Hong Kong, the US and Japan being the top three sources) and the No. 1 source of techniques.

Germany has secured the leading role in EU's trade with China which remains Germany's top trade partner in Asia and second only to US in the world.

By the end of October, 2004, EU companies had set up 19193 businesses in the fast growing economy. Contractual foreign capital from EU was worth 73.46 billion USD while the actual inflow totaled 41,74 billion USD.

EU is also the largest technologies exporter to China so far. By the end of October last year, China had introduced 18530 items of technologies which involved 80 billion USD worth of contracts. From Jan.-October, 2004, China bought 1728 technologies from EU with contracts valuing 4.6 billion USD, making up 25.4 percent and 41 percent of China's total imports of technologies respectively.

There are pending issues which hinder the further rise of the Sino-EU trade. China hopes EU will recognize China's market economy status and lift the arms sale ban. It also complains against EU's trade barriers, especially technical and environmental barriers, as well as increasing anti-dumping charges against Chinese exports. EU asks for wider market access to China.

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