North South Magazine - May 2013 - Volume 6 Issue 4

International current affairs magazine for news & views to bridge the global divide
May 2013 volume 6 No4 price 3.00UK
Why Guantanamo remains open?
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Africa News Agency
Reporting African Affairs and Events to the World

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contents
35 32 63
02 Editorial 03 News and Briefs 12 Over the Top
Cover story shameful blunder Guantanamo prison Nigerias sectarian 31 violence rages on Guantanamo US 15 UN-France-EU Mali 28 security challenge
news & views to bridge the global divide
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37 Environment 38 Innovations 39 Business Briefs
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31 Terrorists
49 Arts & Entertainment 51 Travel & Tourism 53 Science News 55 Motoring 57 Book Reviews 59 ICT 63 Sports 65 Life & Style
17 First-hand experience at
A lawless enclave 18 Obama and the sinews of 22 American power Guantanamo Bay background 23 UN rights chief calls for closure 24 of Guantanamo prison
33 Musharraf back into

custody but for how long? Burma accused of blatant 34 ethnic cleansing
35 L ibya faces serious

features EU brokered historic accord 25 between Serbia and Kosovo Dangerous waters: China27 security challenge Chancellor Merkel 36 has to save the EU
Japan relations on the rocks
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May 2013
northsouth
Group Publisher
The Lord Newall, DL

Editor-in-Chief
editorial

Everyone outside the US is puzzled by the countrys seeming inability to do the right thing when it has the opportunity to do so after President Barack Obama took over from George W. Bush. On several occasion during President Obamas campaign he promised to immediately close Guantanamo prison once he is elected. He said on the political TV programme 60 Minutes, I said repeatedly that I intend to close Guatanamo Bay and I shall follow on that and I said repeatedly that America does not torture and I shall make sure that we dont torture. Those are part and parcel of an effort to regain Americas morale stature in the world. Yet, nearly six years on, Guantanamo Bay prison is still open and there is plan for it to be closed and the detainees to be moved to one of many maximum-security prisons in the US and address the issue of complying with the Sixth Amendment of the US Constitution. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) agreed last month with President Barack Obamas assessment that Congress has kept the infamous prison facility open but avoided the question of whether a damning new report ((http://bit.ly/10D5Taf) on the prison gives momentum to the effort to shut it down. A detailed analysis by the bipartisan Constitution Project found it was indisputable that the US had considered and carried out torture on Guantanamo detainees. The United States may not declare a nation guilty of engaging in torture and then exempt itself from being so labeled for similar if not identical misconduct. Senator Reid himself argued in 2009, that Guantanamo makes us less safe. But he also led the Senate that year in rejecting the $80 million Obama requested to close the prison where people are being indefinitely detained. The detainees, some of whom are now protesting their imprisonment with a prolonged hunger strike, have languished at Guantanamo for more than a decade in many cases. The military said it counted 84 detainees as hunger strikers, four days after guards fired four shots at prisoners who the authorities say resisted being moved into single and isolated cells. Fifteen of the 84 hunger-striking detainees are being force-fed and three of them are held under observation in hospital. Human rights groups say prisoners are frustrated with the militarys failure to decide their future. The US is currently holding 166 men at the facility, most without charge. The Bush Administration bears the blame for the brutal torture inflicted on some of the detainees and both the Bush and Obama administrations bear stigma of denying detainees basic human rights along with their ineffectiveness in resolving this ongoing problem that tarnishes the US global image. The United States must stop holding prisoners without charge or trial and must stop torturing them directly or through other rogue and unscrupulous regimes. Unless the Obama administration and Congress address the issue of Guantanamo prison, Americas moral values and human rights principles will remain questionable.
Ali Bahaijoub
Africa Editor
Franklin Adesegha
World Affairs & Book Review Editor
Guy Arnold
Business Editor
Alan Brown
Reiner Gatterman Sam Standing

Travel & Tourism Editor Asia Editor
Europe Editor
Michael Barnard Saskia Willis
Art & Entertainment Editor North America Editor
Jem Sturgess
MIDDLE EAST Correspendent
Fay Ferguson
Staff Reporters
Robert Colville
Associate Editor
Michael Knipe
Associate Editor
Kaye Whiteman
F. Adesegha
Marketing & Advertising
Stefan Dzhestanov
Graphic Designer
Address: North-South Publications Head office, City Business Centre Unit 17, Lower Road, London SE16 2XB, United Kingdom Tel: +44 020 72523000 Email: northsouthmag@aol.com Website: www.northsouthmag.com
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news
Foreign investors are increasingly resorting to investor-state arbitration to settle investment disputes, with a record number of cases filed last year, according to a new report released by the united nations Conference on trade and Development (unCtAD). the report, recent Developments in Investorstate Dispute settlement (IsDs), showed that 62 new cases were filed in 2012, of which 68 per cent of respondents were from developing or transition economies. Foreign investors challenged a broad range of government measures, unCtAD reported, including revocations of licences, breaches of investment contracts, irregularities in public tenders, changes to domestic regulatory frameworks, withdrawal of previously granted subsidies, direct expropriations of investments and imposition of taxes. nine decisions in 2012 awarded damages, including the World Banks International Centre for the
Global investment disputes hit record in 2012, UN
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settlement of Investment Disputes (ICsID), which ordered Ecuador to pay $1.77 billion to occidental Petroleum Corp as compensation for taking over its assets in 2006. the monetary award was the highest in the history of Investor-state Dispute settlement (IsDs). In addition, for the first time in treaty-based IsDs proceedings, an arbitral tribunal affirmed its jurisdiction over a counterclaim lodged by a respondent state against the investor. By the end of 2012, the total number of known cases reached 518, and the total number of countries that have responded to one or more IsDs claims increased to 95, according to unCtAD. the overall number of concluded cases reached 244, out of which approximately 42 per cent were decided in favour of the state and 31 per cent in favour of the investor. Approximately 27 per cent of the cases were settled.
apple and yahoo may add news and sports to siri

Apple and Yahoo are believed to be discussing a closer partnership for the iPhone, iPad and siri that would open up more of Yahoos data, such as sports and news, according to the the Wall street Journal. While sources told the paper that the deal was not imminent, they did note that talks were taking place. Apples ios already makes use of Yahoo Finance on the built-in stocks App and taps Yahoo sports for siri. Yahoos efforts are part of CEo Marissa Mayers mobile focus. she is reportedly working to get her companys web services loaded onto more devices, and Apple is a crucial partner. Apple has moved away from Google, dropping its Maps and Youtube apps, as the two have become fierce competitors in the mobile space. Yahoo and Google are also direct competitors, so its chance of gaining a foothold on Android remains slim.
ageing population across EU driving dependency ratio

vthe ration of working age adults in the European union (Eu) to those of retirement age shrunk from roughly five to one in 1992 to under four to one last year, figures published by Eurostat. there were 26.8 per cent as many people aged 65 and older as there were people of working age in 2012. And though the total age dependency ratio, which also includes dependents under 15, has only risen slightly, a smaller younger 3
May 2013
generation foreshadows a yet higher old age ratio, as the elderly live longer and fewer children are born to support them. there is a sharp divide within the Eu. In Germany and Italy there are only just over three times as many working age residents as there are over-65s, whereas there are only 18 per cent as many over 65 in slovakia, Ireland and Cyprus as there are aged 16 to 64.
northsouth
Migrant workers often exploited in Middle East

An estimated 600,000 migrant workers are tricked and trapped into forced labour across the Middle East, according to a report by the UN International Labour Organisation (ILO), highlighting in particular the visa sponsorship system between in-country employers and workers. The report entitled, Tricked and Trapped: Human Trafficking in theMiddle East, was based on more than 650 interviews conducted over a two-year period in Jordan, Lebanon, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) about how the workers are tricked and trapped into forced labour and sexual exploitation, and the constraints that prevent them from leaving. The Middle East hosts millions of migrant workers, who in some cases exceed the number of national workers substantially. In Qatar, for example, 94 per cent of workers are migrants, while in Saudi Arabia that figure is over 50 per cent, according to ILO. Meanwhile, in Jordan and Lebanon migrants also make up a significant part of the workforce, particularly in the construction and domestic work sectors. Those industries are particularly susceptible to abuse due to the Kafala or sponsorship system. Most migrant workers need to be sponsored by their in-country employer for visa and legal status; a system the ILO calls inherently problematic because it creates an unequal power dynamic between the employer and the worker. The report points to deficits in labour law coverage that reinforce underlying vulnerabilities of migrant workers as well as significant gaps in national legislation that restrict the ability of migrant workers to organize, to terminate their employment contracts and to change employers. The authors noted that the lack of inspection procedures maintains the isolation of domestic workers in private homes and heightens their vulnerability to exploitation. While in male-dominated sectors, such as construction, manufacturing, seafaring and agricultural sectors, workers are routinely deceived with respect to living and working conditions, the type of work to be performed, or even the existence of a job at all, ILO reported.
Famine forecasting systems still failing to spur action

Famine forecasting systems have improved dramatically over the last 30 years, says a report but governments and agencies continue to ignore their warnings while political hurdles must be tackled if progress is to be made. Further scientific improvements to famine forecasting will do little to save more lives without reforms to the way in which the humanitarian community uses them, according to a report, published by Chatham House, an independent think-tank based in London, United Kingdom. Despite being preventable because of sophisticated early warning systems, famine crises continue to be deadly. This is because warnings are systematically ignored by donor governments, agencies and governments in affected countries, says the report. The report, Managing Famine Risk: Linking Early Warning to Early Action, draws on experiences from recent famines in the Horn and Sahel regions of Africa, where little action was taken regardless of warnings being issued months ahead. A food crisis is a slow-onset disaster, it says, that allows plenty of time to anticipate the problem and take precautionary action. But while the warning side of this equation works well, the precautionary actions side commonly fails for a variety of reasons, and the report offers recommendations to help bridge the gap between early warnings and responses. While governments in affected countries should focus on building capacity and reducing vulnerability among at-risk groups, humanitarian agencies need to improve their preparedness by taking initiatives such as arranging for emergency supplies, it says. Although early warning systems are fairly advanced for some regions because of technological innovations including satellites, mobile phones, and other information and communication technologies, the report suggests that many governments still need to invest in early warning systems at the national level. But he cautions that it is easier to focus on improving early warning systems than it is to address some of the institutional and political failures that prevail in the humanitarian system. For full report visit: http:// w w w. c h a t h a m h o u s e . o r g / s i t e s / d e f a u l t / fi l e s / p u b l i c / R e s e a r c h / E n e r g y, % 2 0 E n v i r o n m e n t % 2 0 and%20Development/0413r_ earlywarnings.pdf
northsouth
May 2013
news
Anxiety and alcohol linked to heavy Facebook use, study

In a quest to learn what leads some people to turn to Facebook to connect with others, doctoral student Russell Clayton of the Missouri School of Journalism found that anxiety and alcohol use seem to play a big role. For his masters thesis, which appears in the May issue of Computers in Human Behavior, Clayton surveyed more than 225 college freshman about two emotions, anxiety and loneliness, and two behaviours, alcohol and marijuana use. He found that the students who
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reported both higher levels of anxiety and greater alcohol use also appeared the most emotionally connected with Facebook. Those who reported higher levels of loneliness, on the other hand, said they used Facebook to connect with others but were not emotionally connected to it. It probably is not terribly surprising that those who are anxious may feel more emotionally connected to a virtual social setting than a public one, which Clayton acknowledges in a news release.
World poverty to end by 2030, WB

The world can end extreme poverty by 2030, according to the World Bank (WB) president Jim Yong Kim, who also pointed out that this feasible but ambitious goal should bring unity, urgency, and energy to our collective efforts in the fight against poverty. Meeting this deadline, he said, will require strong, stable growth across the developing world, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Jim Yong Kim said it will also require policies to enhance inclusiveness and prevent increases in inequality, and ensure that growth translates into poverty reduction, most importantly through creating jobs. Other requirements, he said, include transformational changes in fragile states, which are home to an increasing share of the worlds poor. Potential shocks, such as climatic disasters or new fuel, food, or financial crises, will have to be averted or mitigated, he said. The world has made impressive progress in the fight against poverty in recent decades, a fact too often lost in the headlines of immediate crisis conditions, according to the WB. On the strength of robust private sector growth underpinned by improved economic governance, today extreme poverty is in retreat across the developing world, the Bank said. In 1990, 43 per cent of the developing world lived on less than $1.25 a day by 2010 this figure had dropped to 21 per cent. The first Millennium Development Goal, to halve extreme poverty, was achieved five years ahead of time.
Chinese scientists develop cheap e-notebook for the blind

Chinese scientists have developed and tested a prototype electronic notebook for the blind that is designed to be cheap to manufacture. The e-notebook, called B-Notes, allows people to take notes or memos using Braille or recorded speech. It is similar in size to a mobile phone. B-Note makes use of technologies developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Computing Technology (ICT), including translation software. Prototype e-notebooks were trialled on ten blind people. Wang Xiangdong, technical leader of the ICT team that developed the device, says that Braille can be conveniently input using a panel on the e-notebook. Currently, there are almost 39 million blind people in the world, according to the WHO. And according to the China Disabled Persons Federation, there are more than 12 million visually disabled people in China.
The e-notebook is expected to be available in China later this year at a cost of $80 to $130. The e-notebook has three main features. First is the Braille input. The e-notebooks input panel has an array of mini keys that allows users to type. Second is the intelligent translation system, which is up to 95 per cent accurate. When the e-notebook is connected to a computer, preinstalled software moves all Braille in the device over to the computer and translates it into Chinese characters. Third, the e-notebook has a voice interface. There are voice prompts to guide users through the devices various operations. Currently, the notebook can only translate Chinese Braille to Chinese characters. But if other countries express an interest in the device, it will be possible to produce e-notebooks that translate other versions of Braille into other languages.
May 2013
northsouth
High blood pressure affects 1 in 3 adults worldwide

High blood pressure is a condition which affects more than one in three adults worldwide. For millions of people, high blood pressure will lead to fatal heart attacks, debilitating strokes, and chronic heart and kidney disease. As the worlds population ages and grows, unhealthy behaviours an unbalanced diet, a lack of physical activity, smoking, harmful use of alcohol together with stressful lifestyles, all increase the chances of developing high blood pressure. All regions of the world are affected. HelpAge International, the network that improves the lives of older people, published last month the results of its own survey of civil society organisations working with older people in 42 countries. The results reveal a shocking global picture of the work which still needs to be done to provide adequate information and screening for this easily treatable condition which affects one billion people around the world. Older peoples organisations in 70% of the countries that responded said there was no easily accessible programme of free screening for older people available in their countries. The survey revealed a clear lack of information with 58% of countries saying there was no form of information campaign about the effects and importance of treatment. Only 46% said free drugs were provided to older people for the treatment of high blood pressure and of those, 70% said these free drugs were not easily obtainable in rural areas. HelpAge International is calling for the introduction and improvement of information campaigns about hypertension to encourage people to get their blood pressure tested. It also calls for free universal screening for all people over 60 for the detection of high blood pressure and free drugs for the treatment of hypertension. Among the key points raised in World Health Organisations global brief on hypertension, published to coincide with World Health Day, is the important role for civil society in garnering political support and mobilising society to address hypertension and other noncommunicable diseases. In some countries, civil society institutions often fill gaps in services and training and are significant providers of prevention and health care services.
UK tech prodigy makes millions by selling app

A London teenager has become one of Britains youngest millionaires after selling a popular smartphone app to Yahoo he developed at 15. Nick DAloisio, 17, designed and built Summly, an iPhone app that condenses news articles for reading on the move after teaching himself to write computer code. Since its launch, the app has reached about one million downloads. Summly had been sold for a sum believed to be close to 20 million ($32m). The acquisition, which will see Summly shut down, comes as part of Yahoos new plan to focus on mobile services under Marissa Mayer, the former Google executive who joined Yahoo in the summer. Since taking over, Mayer has completed a number of so-called acqui-hires acquisitions made in order to hire the talented staff behind a business rather than for the business itself with DAloisio by far the youngest to date. The teenagers family is the majority owner of the business, although Summlys profile has been helped by a number of big name investors such as Stephen Fry and actor Ashton Kutcher. Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shings investment fund Horizon Ventures also provided the backing to get the app off the ground. Although he is not yet old enough to be a director at his own company, Nick DAloisio has been making iPhone apps for almost as long as they have existed. Having got hold of his first computer at nine, he taught himself how to write code from books and web tutorials at home. In 2008, aged 12, he designed FingerMill, a virtual treadmill for fingers, and in 2011 DAloisio created Trimit, an early version of Summly which could analyse news articles and condense them into bitesized versions. The success of Trimit beat everyones expectations when it hit Apples iPhone App Store, and the company named it app of the week. The attention attracted an investment from Hong Kongs Li Ka-Shing, which gave DAloisio the funds to hire a team and set up a London base from which to launch a redesigned version of Trimit, now called Summly, last year. In the months that followed, Summly gained hundreds of thousands of users and DAloisio was forced to put his studies on hold as he flew to California for investment meetings. The 17-year-old says he will continue to study for his Bacclaureat in the evening while he works in Yahoos London office during the day, where he is expected to stay and work on integrating the Summly experience into the Silicon Valley firms apps.
northsouth
May 2013
news
New arms treaty to reduce human cost

The United Nations refugee chief applauded the approval by the General Assembly of the first-ever treaty to regulate the global arms trade, stressing that it will help to reduce the terrible human cost of this lucrative enterprise. Refugees know the costs of armed conflict better than anyone. For them in particular, as well as the millions more forcibly displaced inside their own countries by armed violence, the adoption of this treaty is badly needed, said Antnio Guterres. The goal for all of us must now be effective implementation. A 2011 study commissioned by UNHCR, entitled The Global Burden of Armed Violence, documented that more than half a million people die as a result of armed violence every year, fuelled in many cases by the widespread availability of weapons. Many more suffer horrific injuries and abuses, including rape, while still more are forced from their homes. According to the office of the UN High Commissioner for
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Refugees (UNHCR), there are at least 15 million refugees plus 26 million internally displaced people worldwide. In the vast majority of cases, conflict and armed violence are the causes of their flight. The Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which regulates the international trade in conventional arms, was adopted by the 193-member Assembly last month by a vote of 154 in favour, 3 against and 23 abstentions. It regulates all conventional arms within the following categories: battle tanks, armoured combat vehicles, large-calibre artillery systems, combat aircraft, attack helicopters, warships, missiles and missile launchers, and small arms and light weapons. Among other provisions, the new treaty which will enter into force once it receives 50 ratifications includes a prohibition on the transfer of arms which would be used in the commission of genocide, crimes against humanity and certain war crimes.
Majority of poor in Mexico are children, report

More than 20 million children and adolescents in Mexico are estimated to live in poverty, and five million of them in extreme poverty, the United Nations Childrens Fund UNICEF) reported in a joint study with the Mexican Government. The economy has grown well over the past years but this does not always mean that the poor are better off, said the UNICEF Representative in Mexico, Isabel Crowley. According to 2010 figures, 46.2 per cent of Mexicos residents lived in poverty a figure that rises to 53.8 per cent among children. The study also found that nearly 14 per cent of Mexican children under five years of age are stunted, meaning they are slowed in their development often as a result of malnutrition. The rate is higher in rural areas and reaches nearly 33 per cent among indigenous children. The study highlights that child poverty is very damaging to the individuals and the country overall. When children live in poverty it can have an irreversible impact on their development, and increases the probability of being passed on to future generations, UNICEF said in a news release.
North Pole may support shipping by mid-century

With Arctic sea ice reaching record lows, people have begun to explore routes through Canadas Northwest Passage and the Northern Sea Route above the coast of Russia. These routes have the potential to significantly shorten transit times between Asia and both Europe and North America, reducing shipping costs and fostering international trade. At the moment there is little guarantee that the routes will be open in any given year, which is enough to keep shippers from taking full advantage of the shrinking ice. Having a better grip on when the ice is likely to recede enough to allow shipping would greatly aid planning. Two geographers at University College London took a series of climate models and ran the numbers for two emissions scenarios. Based on their estimates, lightly reinforced vessels could cross directly over the pole by mid-century.
May 2013
northsouth
UK starts secret cyber hack unit to counter fraud

The British government has set up a secret cyber crime fighting centre with many of Britains top companies in a bid to counter the growing threat of online hacking attacks. The fusion cell, located in an undisclosed part of London, has been established with the backing of more than 160 companies from a range of sectors along with government intelligence departments such as MI5 and the National Crime Agency. Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude said the Cyber Security Information Sharing Partnership would let government and businesses create a picture of cyber threats and how to deal with them. As it happened, last month saw what was dubbed the biggest cyber attack in history, leading to millions of internet users around the world suffering slower speeds. An email blocking service, Spamhaus, alleged that a Dutch website hosting company, Cyberbunker, had started an attack on Spamhaus in conjunction with gangs from Eastern Europe. The attack affected other web services that use Spamhauss systems, causing slower internet connections.
Report hails flexible working model

Desk-bound office working is no longer appropriate for modern businesses as flexible arrangements become more popular, according to a new report. Mobile phone giant Vodafone said firms could save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year if they simply freed up desk space and embraced flexible working. A survey of 500 workers found that one in five believed their employers were rooted to the idea that staff should have their own desk space. Most senior staff agreed they measure success by results rather than time spent in the office, but more than a third had not considered flexible working as a way of cutting costs.
Scottish independence referendum Sept 2014

The Scots will vote on whether or not to become an independent country on 18 September next year, it has been officially announced. The long-awaited date for the historic ballot was announced by Scotlands first minister Alex Salmond, who said the historic day would help to decide the nations future. Mr Salmond announced the date as the Scottish independence referendum bill was published. The bill is the most important legislation to be introduced since the devolved Scottish Parliament was established in 1999, the first minister said. The vote is taking place after the Scottish National Party won an unprecedented majority in Holyrood (Scottish Parliament) in the 2011 election. Scotts would have to choose between staying part of the United Kingdom or opting out for independence.
UN calls for total ban of chemical weapons

Warning that the fog of war must never again be composed of poison gas, UN Secretary-General Ban Kimoon appealed to the 188 States Parties to the United Nations-backed treaty outlawing chemical weapons to do all in their power to bring on board the eight nations that still have not signed on. Eight countries remain outside of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) Angola, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, Egypt, Israel, Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan, and Syria and Mr. Ban has repeatedly urged them to join. I urge all of you who are in a position to do so to show political leadership and encouraging these countries to join the Convention, he told Third Review Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention in The Hague, the Netherlands, last month.
$87bn needed to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria

The United Nations representatives and international donors wrapped up discussions last month on how to finance an estimated $87 billion needed by the UN-backed Global Fund to bring under control the global threat posed by HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria during the 2014-2016 period. According to a needs assessment by the Global Fund and partners, the fight against HIV/ AIDS alone will cost some $58 billion in 2014-16, with additional $15 billion for tuberculosis and $14 billion for malaria. The assessment was drawn up with technical partners at the UN World Health Organisation (WHO), UNAIDS, Roll Back Malaria and the Stop TB partnership. Forecasts presented to the conference showed that, with adequate funding, more than 18 million adults eligible for treatment could be on antiretroviral therapy by 2016, up from 8 million now; that almost 6 million people could be saved from TB; and that 196,000 more lives could be saved every year from malaria. In December, the World Health Organisation warned that funding for prevention and control of malaria which kills an estimated 655,000 people every year and sickens millions more has levelled off after rapid expansion between 2004 and 2009.
northsouth
May 2013
news
Civil society actors more important than ever, report

Civil society actors including NGOs, labour organizations, faith groups and a range of other emerging actors are more important than ever. The past decade has seen the rise of the increasingly aware, connected and educated global citizen demanding new ways of engaging with business and governments in a time of economic and political turbulence. The Future Role of Civil Society report is the outcome of an eightmonth project, in collaboration with KPMG International and involving over 200 leaders and experts, looking at how trends in technology, politics, society, economics and the environment are affecting the evolution of civil society and its implications for stakeholders. The report presents the main global
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trends impacting the relationships between sectors, highlights the value that civil society provides and explores how the role of civil society might change over the coming two decades as a result. A particular challenge highlighted for civil society leaders is to balance the emerging roles of facilitator, enabler and constructive challenger towards other sectors, while adapting to the rapidly shifting context of a technology-driven and uncertain world. Leaders from business, government and international organizations will gain insight into new models of approaching societal challenges that draw on the unique resources and perspectives of civil society actors.
North Korea demands to join nuclear club

North Korea has demanded to be recognised as a nuclear weapons state, rejecting a US condition that it agrees to give up its nuclear arms programme before talks can resume. After weeks of tension on the Korean peninsula, including North Korean threats of nuclear war, Pyonyang appeared willing to at least talk about dialogue in response to calls for talks from both the United States and South Korea. It also rejected as groundless and unacceptable the US and South Korean condition that it agrees to dismantle its nuclear weapons and suspend missile launches.
Assange confident over his election to Australias Senat

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (pictured), who is holed up in the Ecuadors embassy in London, gave an upbeat assessment on his chances of winning a seat in Australias Senate. Assange cited an opinion poll that gave him 27% voting intentions ahead of the election on 14 September. WikiLeaks, the whistleblowing activist site founded by Assange, plans to put up candidates for the election as Assange fights extradition from Britain to Sweden, where authorities want to question him over alleged sex crimes. Assange has been living inside Ecuadors embassy since June 2012 as Britain refuses him safe passage to the Latin American nation. The activist has voiced fears that the United States wants to try him because he angered US officials through massive leaks of sensitive diplomatic correspondence and material on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The site launched last month a searchable archive containing 1.7 million US State Department documents from 1973 to 1976.
World arms spending declines, SIPRI

Global military spending dropped in 2012 for the first time in more than a decade thanks to deep cuts in the United States and Europe which made up for increases in countries such as China and Russia, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI. Military expenditure as a whole fell 0.5 per cent to $1.75 trillion (1.14 trillion) last year in the first decline in real terms since 1998, SIPRI said.
May 2013
northsouth
APs Twitter hcked to falsely report White House explosion

Anyone that follows the Associated Press on Twitter just heard news of an unprecedented national crisis. Two Explosions in the White House and Barack Obama is injured, the APs account tweeted. Fortunately people spotted the fake and spread the word on twitter. No doubt this was aided by the fact that no other news agencies reported the news. The formatting was also uncharacteristic of the style guide-enforcing AP, with a bizarre capitalisation of Explosions and referring to the president by his first name. The news wire has since confirmed its account had been hijacked, referring to the tweet in question as bogus. But effects of the major hack not the first to impact a news agency on Twitter are already being felt. The Dow plummeted nearly 100 points following the worrying tweet, though stocks have largely bounced back from the dive.
World obese
population tops 1.7bn

There are now more overweight and obese adults in the world than there are people living in China, according to a study which shows about 1billion are overweight and 475million obese compared with 1.3billion Chinese. The number has more than doubled since 1980 and 200million school-age children are also too fat, giving a combined total of nearly 1.7billion. The good news is that the number of people at risk of starvation has dropped by 130million to 870million since 1990. But Professor Martin Wiseman, of the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), warned: The rising levels of obesity around the globe are a huge concern. Excessive body weight has long been linked to ill health and early death and is the second biggest risk factor for cancer after smoking. It is also associated with diseases such as heart disease and type-2 diabetes. The figures were revealed ahead of a conference in London on excess weight, cancer and physical activity, hosted by the WCRF and International Association for Study of Obesity. Mr Wiseman added: We urgently need to address this situation by encouraging healthy diets and more physically active lifestyles.
South African troops not in CAR to protect business

President Jacob Zuma has denied sending troops to Central African Republic, CAR, to protect a company linked to his party. The African National Congress (ANC) leader told a memorial service that 13 soldiers killed there were promoting peace.
Global migration reached 214 million in 2010

The global total of international migrants has increased to 214 million in 2010 from 155 million in 1990, with the number of internal migrants even larger as most move within their countries rather than across national borders, according to the Secretary-Generals latest report on new trends in migration. Among major factors contributing to these growing trends, the report spotlighted changes in socioeconomic conditions, conflict, environmental degradation, an increase in human trafficking and the integration and disintegration of countries. Given the growing numbers of
international migrants, Mr. Ban urged the global community to pursue five key goals in resolving what he described as a complex issue that demands a comprehensive solution. In particular, he underscored the need for safe, legal channels of migration; the alignment of migration policies to the demands of the labour market; addressing the problems of those migrants without legal status; promoting integration into host societies; and facilitating so-called return or circular migration that allows migrants to return to their native homes at the right time.
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from north-south Books

WESTERN SAHARA CONFLICT:
Historical, regional and international dimensions
Historical, regional and international dimensions
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Rare two-headed bull shark found in US
A two-headed bull shark has been found in the Gulf of Mexico, US scientists have confirmed. The specimen a world first for a bull shark was a single fish with two heads and not conjoined twins, experts from Michigan State University confirmed. It has two heads, hearts and stomachs, with the remainder of its body joined at the bank to form a single tail. The two-headed wonder was discovered when a fisherman in the Florida Keys caught its mother and gutted her in April 2011. The study was published online in the Journal of Fish Biology. He is thought to have supported himself by selling virtual goods for real money. He apparently has a monthly income of 2,000 yen, or $340, of which $80 is paid as a fee to the cafe every month. China has a well-documented problem with young peoples addictions to gaming, with reports of camps designed to cure children of their internet cravings. It was reported earlier this year that the father of a 23-year-old Chinese man hired online assassins to kill his avatar repeatedly, in the hope his son would give up and get a job.
Chinese game addict spent 6 years in internet cafe

A Chinese video game addict has spent the last six years living in an internet cafe, according to reports. Li Meng apparently almost never leaves his chair, except to buy food and take the occasional shower, at the cafe in Chinas north-east city of Changchun, in the Jilin province. Reports suggest the bespectacled youth clearly hadnt been to a hairdresser for a long time. One person told the Beijing Times: He generally comes at night to play the game, gets sleepy during the day and sleeps here. From time to time he will be out to take a bath.
Girl fakes own funeral so she can enjoy it

Chinese student Zeng Jia wanted to experience her own burial service and wake, so she splashed out on a ceremony with mourners, flowers and a coffin. She even paid for a team of make-up artists to make her appear more dead and hired a photographer to picture her lying motionless in a casket with a Hello Kitty doll on her chest and origami doves hanging above her. After spending an hour lying in state, as mourners filed past and eulogised about her life, she got up to join her own wake. Revealing why she fixed her own funeral, she said: It struck me that people spend all that time and effort on someone when they are gone and they cannot appreciate it. I wanted to see what people would think of me so I decided to hold my funeral while I could enjoy it, she added. Ms Zeng, of Wuhan, Hubei province, China, came up with the idea after her grandfathers recent death.
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Army veteran sparks outrage by tattooing his dog

An army veteran has sparked outrage after tattooing his dog and publishing the results on his Facebook page. Ernesto Rodriguez tattooed his 5-monthold purebred American Pit Bull at his tattoo parlour. He inked the dogs name, Duchess, and an emblem representing her bloodline on his pets stomach. He then posted an image of the tattoo on Facebook, prompting a mass outcry from animal lovers resulting in the local health department being contacted. Rodriguez, from Pinnacle, North Carolina, USA, defended his actions, claiming the tattoo was no different to horses and cows being branded. The health department has subsequently issued Rodriguez with a cease and desist order, meaning he has to stop tattooing people until he gets proper zooming permits.
Diabetic dad has 4 kidneys and 3 pancreases

A diabetic father is living a healthy life with four kidneys and three pancreases inside him. Carl Jones had a transplant when his original organs failed and needed a second operation when the replacements stopped working four years later. Each time, surgeons opted not to remove what was already there to help his body cope with the trauma. Its mad having all that inside me Ive got enough organs for a small family, the 32-year-old said. The only bad thing is it makes it hard for me to lose weight because Ive got all that in the front of my stomach. Mr Jones, of Carmarthen, South Wales, was diagnosed with type-1 diabetes as a child. He spent hundreds of hours on a dialysis machine before his first kidney and pancreas transplant in 2004. The van driver added: I can only give all my thanks to the people who donated their organs. I may have four kidneys and three pancreases but they have all the heart.
Toto: the technologically advanced toilet

On a visit to the toilet, the user is greeted as it raises its lid. The seat is warm, after easing yourself, the toilet demands that you select the desired water pressure and style from a remote control panel to wash and blow-dry that part of your body as there is no loo roll. At $3000, Toto, which hails from Japan is trying to take over London. With adverts all over the city, reports say it will only be a matter of time before Britains richest and laziest start buying in bulk. For some disabled people, this toilet might prove a life-improving invention. And its makers, of course, call the creation an unparalleled cleansing experience.
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US DirecTV to offer programmes for dogs

If you feel bad about leaving your dog home all day while you work, DirecTV in the USA will offer a solution of sorts: TV programming for dogs. The satellite provider will begin offering DogTV for $5.99 a month in the third quarter, according to Bloomberg. The channel broadcasts content is aimed at canines and includes scenes with and without other animals, animation sequences and a variety of moving objects, according to DogTV. Relaxation segments on the channel also show sleeping dogs and some nature scenes accompanied by soothing music. Such programming, developed using scientific studies and advice from trainers, is already available via the Internet for $9.99 a month. Cox customers in California can also get Dog TV programming for $4.99 a month.
Man wears deer head mask every day for 5 years

Chinese painter Luo Dan, 32, has worn a deer head mask every day for the past five years. He began wearing the unusual disguise in 2009 and quickly got used to putting it on while working or relaxing in his spare time. The painter/designer says the mask helps him to find creative inspiration and, most importantly, his inner deer. The deer is a tame animal, he explained. Wearing its mask, I could find a long-missing inner peace. When I wear the mask, I feel I am a deer from within. Its unclear how long he plans to wear the deer mask, but given the headgears remedial powers it is unlikely he will be giving it up anytime soon.
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cover story
Guantanamo US shameful blunder H
unger strikes are frequent at Guantanamo Bay prison, but the current protest, which began in February, is reportedly one of the longest and most widespread. Several prisoners have joined a hunger strike at the US detention facility, bringing the total number to 84, according to US military officials. Sixteen of the protesters are being force fed, and three of them are under observation in hospital as their health is failing. The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross last month expressed opposition to the force-feeding of prisoners and said he urged Obama to do more to resolve the untenable legal plight of inmates held there. The US is currently holding 166 men at the Guantanamo prison without charge. Guantanamo officials deny claims that the strike began after copies of the Koran were mishandled during searches of prisoners cells. Violence erupted at the prison last month as the authorities moved inmates out of communal cellblocks where they had covered surveillance cameras and windows. Nearly 100 of the detainees have been reportedly cleared for release but remain at the facility because of restrictions imposed by Congress. The US military detention centre in Cuba was opened on 11 January 2002 to hold suspects captured in counter-terrorism operations after the 11 September 2001 attacks in New York and Washington. Every year on 11 January global human rights groups organise protests to mark the anniversary and remind US President Barack Obama of his promise to shut down Guantnamo prison and uphold human rights. Amnesty Internationals very active Chapter 19 organized the protest, erecting a cage and supplying the orange jumpsuits to create a powerful visual for the demonstration. Together the groups publicised their demands: All detained people must either be charged and fairly tried, or be released; The cases of the publicly cleared detainees, including Shaker Aamer and Djamel Ameziane must be resolved; End indefinite detention and remove detention provisions in the
Guantanamo prisoner being carted on a makeshift stretcher
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National Defense Authorization Act; End unlawful killings with drones and other weapons; Ensure accountability for torture, unlawful killings and other abuses. These are powerful messages that the whole world is aware of and so should American lawmakers and Obamas administration. In a report presented to the Russian state Duma, or lower house of parliament, last month Russian foreign ministry denounced US double standards on human rights, saying the situation in the United States is a far cry from the ideals that Washington proclaims. Washingtons pretensions of being a leader in the defense of human rights and democratic values were not justified, especially taking into account the fact that the situation in this domain in the United States is far from being a happy one, Foreign Ministrys human rights envoy Konstantin Dolgov told Russian lawmakers. The report criticised the US for failure to close the notorious prison in Guantanamo Bay. Russia also accused the United States of using human rights as a pretext for interference in internal affairs of other countries around the world. Shortly after his inauguration in January 2009, President Obama signed an official order to shut down the facility within a year, describing it as a sad chapter in the American history. Later, however, the White House reportedly decided against the closure, citing legal and logistical complexities surrounding the detention and prosecution of inmates held without any charges. Last month, an independent task force issued a damning review of the Bush-era interrogation practices, saying the highest US officials bore ultimate responsibility for the indisputable use of torture, and it urged President Obama to close the
Guantanamo detention camp by the end of 2014. In one of the most comprehensive studies of US treatment of terrorism suspects, the nonpartisan panel concluded that while brutality has occurred in every American war, never before had there been, the kind of considered and detailed discussions that occurred after 9/11 directly involving a president and his top advisers on the wisdom, propriety and legality of inflicting pain and torment on some detainees in our custody. Torture occurred in many instances and across a wide range of theaters (And) It is indisputable that the United States engaged in the practice of torture, the 11member task force, assembled by the nonpartisan Constitution Project think tank, said in their 577-page report. The study, by the 11-member panel convened by the Constitution Project, is a legal research and advocacy group. The report catalogued abusive interrogation techniques such as water-boarding, sleep deprivation and chaining prisoners in painful positions. The task force also concluded that force-feeding hunger striking detainees is a form of abuse and should end. But at the same time the United States has a legitimate interest in preventing detainees from starving to death, the panel said. The use of torture, the report concludes, has no justification and damaged the standing of our nation, reduced our capacity to convey moral censure when necessary and potentially increased the danger to US military personnel taken captive. Interrogation and abuse at the CIAs so-called black sites, the Guantnamo Bay prison in Cuba and war-zone detention centers, have been described in considerable detail by the news media and in declassified documents, though the Constitution
Project report adds many new details. It confirms a report by Human Rights Watch that one or more Libyan militants were water-boarded by the C.I.A., challenging the agencys longtime assertion that only three Al Qaeda prisoners were subjected to the near-drowning technique. It includes a detailed account by Albert J. Shimkus Jr., then a Navy captain who ran a hospital for detainees at the Guantnamo Bay prison, of his own disillusionment when he discovered what he considered to be the unethical mistreatment of prisoners. The scathing critique of methods used under the Republican administration of former President George W. Bush also sharpened the focus on the plight of inmates at Guantanamo, which Bush opened and his Democratic successor has failed to close. The panel, which included leading politicians from both parties, two US retired generals and legal and ethics scholars, spent two years examining the US treatment of suspected militants detained after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks. Ironically, the report concluded there was no firm or persuasive evidence that the use of such techniques yielded significant information of value. The task force, while concluding that US and international laws were violated, did not recommend legal action against any of those involved but insisted on tighter rules to prevent a recurrence of torture. We as a nation have to get this right, Asa Hutchinson, a Republican former congressman and undersecretary of the Department of Homeland Security during the George W. Bush administration and co-chairman of the panel, told a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington. The panel urged the US
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government to release as much classified information as possible to help understand what went wrong and cope better with the next crisis. Publicly acknowledging this grave error, however belatedly, may mitigate some of those consequences and help undo some of the damage to our reputation at home and abroad, the report said. The panel studied the treatment of prisoners at Guantnamo Bay, in Afghanistan and Iraq, and at the CIAs secret prisons. It found that the United States violated its international legal obligations by engineering enforced disappearances and secret detentions. It questions recidivism figures published by the Defense Intelligence Agency for Guantnamo detainees who have been released, saying they conflict with independent reviews. The panel describes in detail the ethical compromise of government lawyers who offered acrobatic advice to justify brutal interrogations and medical professionals who helped direct and monitor them. And it reveals an internal debate at the International Committee of the Red Cross over whether the organization should speak publicly about American abuses; advocates of going public lost the fight, delaying
public exposure for months, the report finds. The core of the report, however, may be an appendix: a detailed 22-page legal and historical analysis that explains why the task force concluded that what the United States did was torture. It offers dozens of legal cases in which similar treatment was prosecuted in the United States or denounced as torture by American officials when used by other countries. The report compares the torture of detainees to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. What was once generally taken to be understandable and justifiable behavior, the report says, can later become a case of historical regret. While the Constitution Project report covers mainly the Bush years, it is critical of some Obama administration policies, especially what it calls excessive secrecy. It says that keeping the details of rendition and torture from the public cannot continue to be justified on the basis of national security and urges the administration to stop citing state secrets to block lawsuits by former detainees. Obama banned abusive interrogation techniques such as waterboarding when he took
office in early 2009, but the widely condemned military prison at the US Naval Base in Cuba has remained an object of condemnation by human rights advocates and makes a fallacy of US policy on human rights. The task force called the indefinite detention of prisoners at Guantanamo abhorrent and intolerable and called for it to be closed by the end of 2014 to coincide with US troops withdrawal from Afghanistan. It also recommended that by then, the 166 Guantanamo prisoners should be tried in civilian or military courts, repatriated or transferred to countries that would not torture them, or moved to US jails. The United States is a signatory to the international Convention Against Torture, which requires the prompt investigation of allegations of torture and the compensation of its victims. The question is whether the Obama administration will be able to deliver by 2014 or it will resort to delaying tactics including legal, legislative and political obstacles. While Obama says he remains committed to closing down Guantanamo, he has come up with no plan so far in his second term to eradicate this blemish on US contemporary history. Ali Bahaijoub
First-hand experience at Guantanamo prison
ndy Worthington, an author and filmmaker who has written extensively about Guantanamo Bay prison, reminded Al Jazeera that it was Obama who also signed an executive order that allows for indefinite detention. 48 men have been designated for indefinite detention without trial under the Obama administration, Worthington told Al Jazeera. Worthington believes that Guantanamo, as an institution, is a form of torture, as is indefinite detention without trial.
In 2004, the International Committee for the Red Cross expressed concern about the mental health effects of open-ended detention on prisoners in Guantanamo. That hasnt changed, added Worthington. If they were worried bout their mental health eight years ago, what state are they in now? Worthington pointed out that hunger strikers in the prison are still being subjected to force-feeding, then had these strong words for President Obama: Dont pretend you are not a vile regime that puts
people away forever. Adnan Latif , a Yemeni with mental health issues, died there recently. Hed been approved for transfer over and over and over again, yet at the cost of $700,000 per year, the US has been holding a man for eight years, and eventually he died. How would the American people feel if an American was captured by a foreign power and then told he would be released, then wasnt, and eventually died? Its not going to go down well, is it? But Obamas recent re-election campaign was mute on the subject
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of Guantanamo. And according to David Nevin, the Lead Counsel on Khaled Sheikh Mohammeds defense team, the prison isnt closing anytime soon. Its currently being expanded, Nevin told Al Jazeera. Theyve just spent $730,000 on a new soccer field for the detainees, millions are to be spent on upgrading the internet, and there is new home construction everywhere. You go down there and walk around and you dont get any impression that this place is going to close anytime soon. It looks for all the world like a prison that will go on indefinitely. The numbers According to lawyers and researchers affiliated with the Guantanamo Bay story, Al Jazeera is able to provide the following numbers. There are, at present, 166 men still being held at the prison. Only three dozen of them were allegedly involved in terrorism. 86 of those who remain have already been cleared for release by the Guantanamo Review Task Force, which includes career officials, lawyers and other experts from the governmet, and from US intelligence agencies. 779 people have been held in Guantanamo, and 532 prisoners
were released under the Bush Administration. Thus far, only 70 have been released under the Obama Administration. The disparity in the figures is attributed to at least 10 men who remain unaccounted for, and there have been deaths in the prison that many attribute to suicide or murder. Men still being held include Shaker Aamer, who is the last British resident in Guantanamo and has long been cleared for release. The last two Kuwaiti citizens in the prison, Fawzi Al Odah and Fayiz Al Kandari remain, despite neither having ever had any charges against them. According to what both men told their defense attorneys, they have been threatened with dogs, deprived of sleep, sexually
humiliated, placed in stress positions for extended periods of time, and subjected to extreme temperatures and loud music. Both men filed habeus corpus petitions challenging the basis for their detention without charges, but their petitions were denied, and they have no charges against them. Several Afghans remain, including Shawali Khan, who said he was sold to US forces ten years ago. Abdul Ghani, said to be a pomegranate farmer and scrap metal merchant remains held, along with Djamel Ameziane, one of the last Algerians in Guantanamo, whom the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights has long since been demanding his release. Alan Brown
A lawless enclave
hat is at stake in this case is the authority of the Federal courts to uphold the rule of law, Judge John Gibbons said during his 2004 argument before the US Supreme Court during a trial where he represented several Guantanamo detainees versus George W. Bush and the United States. Respondents assert that their actions are absolutely immune from judicial examination whenever they elect to detain foreign nationals outside our borders, Gibbons, a conservative judge who strongly believes that Guantanamo should be closed, continued. Under this theory, neither the length of the
detention, the conditions of their confinement, nor the fact that they have been wrongfully detained makes the slightest difference. Respondents would create a lawless enclave insulating the executive branch from any judicial scrutiny now or in the future. In concluding his opening argument, Gibbons summed up what many Guantanamo critics believe to be the fundamental problem with the prison. What the executive branch is saying here is we dont have to account to anyone, anywhere, he said. While most US citizens appear to have forgotten about the now infamous
prison, Gibbons believes they do so at their own peril. The average American should continue to care about what is going on in Gitmo because the average American ought to be interested in having provisions of the Constitution honoured, Gibbons told Al Jazeera. If the Congress and executive can gang up to eliminate the habeas corpus guarantee, what else in the Constitution can they gang up on to eliminate? Gibbons is clear about what he feels needs to happen. The prison should be closed, and US military personnel involved in detaining people brought to
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Guantanamo torture
Guantanamo and their treatment there should be court-martialed. However, he singles out the US President as who is ultimately responsible. But theres no point in talking about punishing the president, Gibbons said. Because the only way that would happen is through a Congressional impeachment, and I dont have the votes.Nevertheless, Gibbons believes Obama should immediately issue orders to repatriate those in the prison who can be repatriated, and those Obama thinks should be punished should be transferred to a detention facility in the US and have a criminal indictment returned against them. Gibbons added, If Obama cant get that, he should release them. Nevin from Khaled Sheikh Mohammeds defense team feels similarly. What were seeing at Guantanamo isnt fair, Nevin told Al Jazeera. Its result oriented, not process oriented. They [US government] want a conviction, and want to make sure therere no acquittals. You see this in emails and its astounding. This is a capital case, and if the government has its way were going to execute these guys at the end of the day. Like Judge Gibbons, Nevin believes the US President is ultimately responsible for what he believes are
war crimes having been committed at Guantanamo. Weve tortured them, he said of the treatment of the detainees. But its still being kept secret. Theyve committed war crimes by torturing these guys, and it went all the way to the White House. His experience with the government while working to defend Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, however, has led him to even darker conclusions. According to Nevin, anything and everything their client tells them is considered top secret classified by the USgovernment,becausethegovernment takes the position that Guantanamo detainees were tortured, and torture was part of the governments method of protecting national security. The men were tortured, so therefor they arent allowed to speak of that since they were the ones tortured, Nevin told Al Jazeera while holding up his hands in disbelief. The government wrote that these men were participants in the interrogation program! The theory is that as a result of their participation, they acquired information about secret government programs, and now being in possession of this classified information, they are not US citizens and now might use this information to the detriment of the US, so every word out of their mouth is classified
information. In January 2007, Sami al-Haj and several other inmates went on hunger strike in order to protest their treatment in Guantanamo. In response to the hunger strike, which lasted 438 days until he was freed on 1 May 2008, alHaj and the other participating inmates were force-fed. Al-Haj lost over 21 kilos due to his being force-fed liquids via a tube inserted up his nose on a daily basis. We had no rights to go to court, no access to judges, no way to see our case and get it cleared, Al-Haj said about why he held his hunger strike. There was no limit on the time we could stay there, and when they gave us this military court, there was no chance for us to know about their secret evidence. Al-Haj, who was the only journalist who has been taken to Guantanamo, said another reason he conducted his hunger strike was in protest over the way the prison guards and interrogators insulted our religion. They defiled our holy books, they put them in toilets and flushed them, they wrote nasty things inside them, and the interrogator stood on the book and tried to make us answer his questions. Al-Haj confirmed what both Nevin and Wright said when he told of the other reason he conducted his hunger strike. We started seeing them kill detainees, and the US said the detainees killed themselves, he said. I asked about this, to try to being a group to investigate. Nevin added something shocking. If you wanted a way to do illegal things to people and then keep them from talking about it, I dont know how you could dream up a better way to keep them quiet other than killing them. Wright, Nevins co-defender, felt similarly. This is a system created to provide some veneer of legitimacy to killing these men, to silence these witnesses of torture, he said of what he sees happening at Guantanamo. It has no foundation within fundamental
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principles of justice and human rights law. Violations of International Law Bill ONeil is an international lawyer who is the Director of Conflict Prevention and Peace Forum, a program of the Social Science Research Council in Brooklyn, New York. ONeil pointed out the fact that by its actions in Guantanamo, the US has violated the Convention against Torture, which it has ratified and is thus legally bound to uphold. In addition, torture is prohibited as a violation of international customary law, regardless of treaty ratification. The Bush administration tried to narrow the international definition of torture so that essentially the prisoner/ detainee would have to approach death or suffer an amputation of a limb, ONeil explained to Al Jazeera. This was a transparent attempt to exclude from the definition torture water-boarding and other practices documented at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, thus making these practices legal. Yet no one would ever accept such a dilution of the meaning of torture as defined and understood under international law. See Article 1 of the Convention: clearly what happened in certain US detention centers constituted torture. ONeil pointed out numerous other violations of international law the US has committed at Guantanamo. Article 4 of The Convention against Torture requires the US to make torture a criminal offense and includes those who participate or are complicit in acts of torture. Article 7 of the Convention requires the state to prosecute persons alleged to have committed the criminal offense of torture. As such under international law binding on the US, those involved in planning, ordering and overseeing those acts in Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and elsewhere that constituted torture (and those subordinate officers who were ordered to commit torture cannot use the defense of following superior orders) should be investigated and if
the evidence so indicates, prosecuted, ONeil said. Thus, if it can be shown that former President (George W.) Bush, Vice President [Dick] Cheney, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and on down the chain of command participated or were complicit in torture, they should be prosecuted, he added. Andrea Prasow is a Senior Counterterrorism Counsel and Advocate for Human Rights Watch. Her groups position on what has happened, and continues to happen at Guantanamo is clear. Fundamental principles of Human Rights Law have been violated by conditions of confinement in the past, and at present, and are violated by people being arbitrarily held without due process, Prasow told Al Jazeera. According to Prasow, the simple framework is that people captured cannot be held indefinitely. The US government believes people can be held indefinitely if they are with Al Qaeda, but thats not the state of the law, she added. In Guantanamo, people are being held without any access to any sort of proceeding, then there were the combatant status tribunals that were created to avoid Supreme Court intervention, but the basic framework of how you can deny someone of their liberty is not being applied with respect to the men in Guantanamo. Then those that are tried at military commissions do not in many respects meet the requirements of international law. So even in those respects their rights are being denied or insufficiently protected. Even with Guantanamo prison having been operating as long as it has, information about horrific practices there continues to surface. This October, whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks released more secret files from the US government pertaining to the treatment of prisoners at military prisons like Guantanamo that included guidelines for military officials that revealed systematized human rights abuses. According to WikiLeaks, the
But how likely is that to happen?
documents, which include the 2002 manual for staff at Camp Delta at Guantanamo, reveal a formal policy of terrorising detainees during interrogations, combined with a policy of destroying interrogation recordings, which have led to abuse and impunity among US officials. People in the US should care deeply about the fact that the US government is refusing to comply with international law, Prasow said. It has implications for the treatment of everyone around the world. What will this government do when it wont comply with basic legal requirements? Like Nevin and Wright, Prasow points out how the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo is also a basic national security concern. When the US treats people as if they are not human, there are very real implications on how the rest of the world perceives the US, she added. Nevertheless, Prasow is not holding her breath that anyone in the US is going to be prosecuted for the blatant violations of international law that have occurred at Guantanamo. But she felt there are things that the Obama administration should indeed do. The president could create a bipartisan commission to investigate the extent of what has happened and expose the Human Rights violations. Only by that will people see the extent of what has happened and why it is so important that we never go back to that again, she said. When former Bush administration officials travel around the world they should be investigated and prosecuted under those countries domestic laws.
The greatest tragedy of the Obama administration is that they continue to use the state secrets privilege, Prasow said. These ongoing lawsuits have been dismissed because of the state secrets privilege, and theres no justification for that. She thinks the reality is that it is
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impossible for a former detainee, who is entitled to compensation under international law, to be awarded their rightful compensation in the US primarily because of US law and the state secrets privilege the Obama administration continues to exercise. According to Prasow, the Obama administration, under international law, is required to afford people redress for ill-treatment. But that has not been afforded them, she added. And it should. Prasow, like Judge Gibbons, said there is a very simple legal method that could and should be used to close Guantanamo. You can prosecute these people in US federal courts, and then release the others who are not prosecuted, she said. The Obama administration could do this. That is precisely how you close Guantanamo, by following the law.
Keeping promises
Despite how easy it would be for the Obama administration to close the prison, it, and most of the illegal practices associated with it, continue. The CIAs so-called rendition/ detention/interrogation programme remains classified at the highest levels of the US government, Wright told Al Jazeera. They [US government] dont want any light shown on the
commission of war crimes by senior officials in the White House, the CIA, DOD [Department of Defense], and DOJ [Department of Justice] and other agencies, or those people who designed the torture regime. While the vast majority of information regarding how Wright and Nevins client, Mr. Mohammed, has been tortured remains classified, what has been released and/or declassified is shocking enough in and of itself. So-called enhanced interrogation techniques were applied to Mr. Mohammed during his period of CIA forced disappearance. He was subjected to 183 mock executions, literally brought to the brink of death and back on the water-board 183 times, in one month alone. He was subjected to sleep deprivation for approximately 180 hours straight, and there were threats to kill his family members. Mr. Mohammeds defense team continues to struggle within a system that is clearly stacked against them. Whats insidious for us is that its the fundamental thing you do when you represent someone is you take the things they tell you and you develop a defense for the case, and this often means repeating information they tell you, said Nevin. We cant do that here. Wright added, The
entire cocktail of torture, abuse, and other mistreatment the government subjected Mr. Mohammed to remains classified, and hopefully we will be able to seek some accountability on these issues. Sami al-Haj, who now heads the Human Rights Department for Al Jazeera, believes the primary purpose of a place like Guantanamo for the US is to intimidate people. Because anybody who is anti-US can be brought to this place and tortured, he said. But also they use it to try to collect information, and they try to make agents [spies] out of the detainees. While the Bush administration is responsible for having opened the prison as well as creating the regime of indefinite detention, torture, and widespread human rights abuses, the Obama administrations refusal to deal with this has, according to Prasow, created an environment of a lack of accountability. Their refusal to prosecute anyone in the Bush administration has sent a message that people can get away with murder. When you combine the permissive environment under the Bush administration and that system being rubber-stamped by the failure to prosecute under the Obama administration, you have a bi-partisan administration that is willing to look the other way on Guantanamo. Meanwhile, detainees who remain within Guantanamos walls, as well as the hundreds who have been released from the hell within those walls, have had neither redress nor compensation for their trauma. Al Jazeera asked al-Haj if he could talk with President Obama, what would he say? I would tell Obama to keep his promise to close Guantanamo. He should respect his promise. Al Jazeeras requests for response from the White House remain unanswered.
Amnesty demands closure of Guantanamo
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Obama and the sinews of American power

ne of the earliest and most welcome pledges made by the US President Barack Obama during the election that first brought him to power was his promise to close down Guantanamo Bay. Pictures of the inmates and the ways in which they were mistreated and humiliated did nothing but damage to Americas international image. Now we are well into Obamas second term and Guantanamo Bay remains to mock the liberal instincts of a president who appears to be a prisoner of his military on the one hand while he is thwarted by an antagonistic Congress on the other. What purpose, it may be asked, does Guantanamo Bay serve except to demonstrate to the world the arrogance of a super power that has neither the need nor the inclination to justify its actions? Back in the 1950s, half a century away from todays power considerations, President Eisenhower warned of the danger of a military-industrial alliance that would get out of control. His warning went largely unheeded; instead, we can examine the spread of the American hegemony: the spread of US bases around the world (one count suggests 900) as though Washington alone has the means and the right to maintain world order while in a largely passive Europe the US base structure remains as it was in the Cold War. The only reason today for an American controlled NATO is to maintain US military and psychological control over the one region that might otherwise challenge US supremacy. Bases have spread like a fungus. Was it the choice of the military or of Obama to single out China for military attention and turn it into the new threat to US power, a threat that is easily discernible as opposed to terrorists or Jihadists. The shift to the east has clearly become a major military policy. By 2020, according
to presidential statements, 60 per cent of US naval power will have been shifted to the South Pacific as though China has become an immutable threat that can only be contained with maximum force. The more the United States ring fences China with military power, the more China will have to respond by building up its own military power. The ring fence policy is a military response to the growth of Chinas power and almost certainly has been forced upon Obama rather than being his own choice. Meanwhile, the chance of USChinese cooperation has been offered by the crazy posturing of North Koreas Kim Il Jung and raises the question: if the US and China can work together on this issue surely they can also do the same in relation to many others. It does not seem to have occurred to US policy makers, however, that a friendly, stand off, non-military approach to China would pay dividends. US pressures upon Australia are at the core of the ring fence policy and, moreover, are indicative of the American determination to enroll as many of its allies or sympathisers as possible in a confrontation with China. It is a dangerous, simplistic approach to what Americans see as the China threat. Recently, Australia has been discovering the dangers of a special military relationship with the United States. In 2011, the US persuaded Australia to allow a small base for marine training to be established in the north of Australia at Darwin. Chinas reaction, as also to other US military manoeuvres since then, was to accuse Washington of reverting to Cold War psychology and practices. The next US move was to ask for a port base south of Perth where an Aircraft Carrier fleet could be established. Australia said no but the US move was the thin end of the wedge. The US administration will return with other demands for
that is how it works. Australia does not want China to see it as part of an anti-China US military build-up in Asia. US pressures may well force Australia to make a choice between China as a trade partner and the US as a military partner: it is a dilemma Australia would like to avoid. Meanwhile at home, Obama had to deal with a ridiculously hostile Senate over the question of gun law. The president reacted furiously to the Senates rejection of a package of modest gun controls. Their rejection illustrated the power of the gun lobby. These intransigent supporters of the right of all Americans to bear arms appear to believe that it is a statement of American manliness. The Senates rejection of even mild reform amounted to an arrogant dismissal of US public opinion, a rebuff for Obama and a defeat for common sense. The only winners were the National Rifle Association. If we return to the military establishment, its annual budget is over $700 billion, equivalent to the total expenditure of the next dozen countries including China, Russia, India, Britain, France, and others while Chinas expenditure alone comes to about $90 billion. There is no possibility that China could catch up the Americans in the near or quite distant future yet the US policy of ring fencing China continues. The consequence will in the end be exactly what no one wants: China will become increasingly angry and fearful of US policy and increase its expenditure upon expanding its military forces until a confrontation becomes inevitable. Only Obama can arrest such a policy and if he thought in such terms once he has clearly abandoned such an approach now. What appears to be painfully true is that Obama has surrendered China policy to the hawks and is set upon a policy that will eventually lead to confrontation. Guy Arnold
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Guantanamo Bay background
What is now known as Guantanamo Bay detention camp had been used by the United States in the 1970s to temporarily house Cuban and Haitian refugees intercepted as they tried to get to the US from the Caribbean, Franklin Adesegha writes.
n the 1990s, America used its Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay to hold refugees who fled Haiti in Camp Bulkeley until US District Court Judge Sterling Johnson Jr. declared the camp unconstitutional on June 8, 1993. As a result, the last Haitian migrants departed in late 1995. In October 2001, the US, under the administration of President George W Bush, began the war in Afghanistan to overturn the Taliban and dislodge al-Qaeda. The US said persons fighting with the Taliban and al-Qaeda were not part of a legitimate government force, and so classified them as enemy combatants. To house persons captured during the conflict, the United States Department of Defence constructed a new detention facility at its Guantanamo Naval base. Structures, including interrogation centres, were gradually added for the detainees. Since January 2002, a total of 779 had been taken to Guantanamo, 200 of which were released by 2004. Although the Bush administration said most of the men had been captured in fighting in Afghanistan, a 2006 report by the Centre for Policy and Research at the Hall University Law School in the US reviewed data for the remaining 517 men in 2005
and established that over 80 per cent of the prisoners were captured not by Americans on the battlefield but by Pakistanis and Afghans, often in exchange for bounty payments. According to the report, the US offered $5,000 per prisoner and distributed leaflets widely in the region. Top defence officials often referred to these prisoners as the worst of the worst, but a 2003 memo by the then Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld said, We need to stop populating Guantanamo Bay with low level enemy combatants. Suggesting that those taken into custody may not necessarily be affiliated with groups on US terrorist lists. There are reports that an estimated 17 to 22 minors under the age of 18 were detained at Guantanamo Bay, in apparent contravention of international law. It has also been disclosed that in July 2005, a total of 242 detainees were moved out of Guantanamo, including 173 who were released without charge. Sixty-nine were transferred to the custody of governments of other countries, according to the US defence department. Eight men are believed to have died in the prison, six of which the US defence department
said were suicides. US figures reported three men, two Saudis and a Yemeni, had committed suicide on 10 June 2006. In September 2006, the then President Bush announced that fourteen high-value detainees were to be transferred to military custody of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp from civilian custody by the CIA. He admitted that these suspects had been held in CIA secret prisons overseas, known as black sites. The suspects include Khalid Sheik Mohammed, presumed to be Number three in the al-Qaeda leadership. He was captured in Pakistan in 2003; Ramzi bin al-Shibh, an alleged wouldbe September 11, 2001 hijacker, and Abu Zubaydah, who was believed to be a link between Osama bin Laden and many al-Qaeda cells before he was captured in Pakistan in March 2002. During his 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama described Guantanamo as a sad chapter in American history and promised to close down the prison in 2009. More than four years after being elected, and now in his second term, President Obama has still not closed Guantanamo. As of April 2013, a total of 166 detainees remain in Guantanamo. So, what difficulty has he? It turns out that closing Guantanamo would have meant moving prisoners to facilities in the United States for detention or trial. The US Congress, for its part, is strongly opposed to having the prisoners on American soil, which means the prospects of closing Guantanamo will remain very low and that the issue may remain a broken promise by the Obama administration.
Guantanamo hunger strike prisoner being escorted by US millitary
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UN rights chief calls for closure of Guantanamo prison

UN human rights chief Navi Pillay
he UN human rights chief called on the United States last month to close down the Guantanamo prison camp, saying the indefinite imprisonment of many detainees without charge or trial violated international law. Navi Pillay said the hunger strike being staged by some inmates at the Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base in south-eastern Cuba was a desperate act but scarcely surprising. We must be clear about this: the United States is in clear breach not just of its own commitments but also of international laws and standards that it is obliged to uphold, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement. US President Barack Obama pledged four years ago to close the controversial facility, opened by the Bush administration in January 2002 to hold men captured in counter-terrorism operations after the deadly September 11 attacks on
Camp X-ray detainees
America. Pillay voiced deep disappointment at the US governments failure to close Guantanamo despite its repeated commitments, but welcomed comments by a White House spokesman reiterating the intention to do so while citing
congressional legislation as the prime obstacle. About half of the current 166 detainees have been cleared for transfer either to home countries or third countries for resettlement, Pillay said. As a first step, those who have been cleared for release must be released, she said. Others reportedly have been designated for further indefinite detention. Some of them have been festering in this detention centre for more than a decade, she said. Guantanamo detainees accused of crimes should be tried in civilian courts, especially as the military commissions do not meet international fair trial standards despite improvements since 2009, said Pillay, a former UN war crimes judge. Of the 166 remaining detainees, only nine have been charged or convicted of crimes, according to military records. The 166 detainees are from 23 countries, the Red Cross says.
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EU brokered historic accord between Serbia and Kosovo

erbia had rejected a European Union-brokered deal on normalising ties with its breakaway province of Kosovo. The EU had given Serbia an ultimatum to relinquish its effective control over northern Kosovo in return for the start of EU membership talks. Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic and Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci returned home to consult colleagues and decide on future steps to take. After a week of reflection and consultation and in a move that would open doors to talks on European Union (EU) membership for Belgrade, Serbia and Kosovos prime ministers agreed to a historic agreement last month to settle their fragile relations in Brussels, after over a decade of deep animosity. This constitutes a milestone for the regions recovery from the collapse
features
of Yugoslavia. However, Thousands of demonstrators marched against the Serbian government to protest against the agreement to normalise relations with breakaway Kosovo. Flag-waving Serbs chanted Treason, Treason, as they gathered in the capital Belgrade hours after the government unanimously approved the EU-brokered deal. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who had been mediating in the talks, said the prime ministers of both sides had initialled an agreement during talks in Brussels, capping six months of delicate negotiations. The pact tackles the ethnic partition of Kosovo between its Albanian majority and a small Belgrade-backed pocket of some 50,000 Serbs in the north, a schism that has dogged regional stability since Kosovo seceded from Serbia
in 2008. It will also likely open the door to greater international integration of Serbia which was only backed by Russia during the Balkans war. Serbia and Kosovo are the last young states to emerge from the ashes of federal Yugoslavia but which Belgrade considers the cradle of the Serb nation. Serbia hopes the deal will be enough to win the green light from the EUs 27 members for the start of talks on Serbian accession to the bloc. That process could unlock Serbias potential as the largest market in the former Yugoslavia and lure much-needed foreign investment to its struggling economy. The European Commission would likely recommend the start of accession negotiations with Serbia, and set Kosovo on the road to a preaccession association agreement.
Catherine Ashton between Serbian PM and his Kosovo counterpart
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An excerpt of the deal said that Serbia and Kosovo had agreed not to block each others EU accession. Kosovos Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, who led a guerrilla army in an insurgency against Serb forces in 1998-99, told reporters: This agreement represents a new era ... This agreement will help us heal wounds of the past, if we have the wisdom and knowledge to implement it in practice. Under the agreement, the north of Kosovo will be absorbed into the legal framework of the country but retain limited autonomy in areas of health, education, policing and courts. Implementation will not be easy, in a region bristling with weapons and sectarian animosity. In a sign of possible resistance to come, Serb municipal lawmakers in northern Kosovo demanded a referendum on whether Kosovo should be part of Serbia or Belgrade should accept the conditions set down by the EU to clinch accession talks. The ethnic Serbs living in northern Kosovo, up to 50,000 people in and around the divided city of Mitrovica, have rejected the authority of the government in Pristina, the Kosovan capital. They have created so-called parallel institutions, including hospitals and schools, all financed and supported from the Serbian capital, Belgrade. The Belgrade government fully endorsed the EU-brokered agreement and it looks set to settle for good the ongoing dispute between Kosovo and Serbia. The agreement marks a seminal moment in the regions recovery from Yugoslavias bloody collapse, when some 150,000 people were killed in wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo in the last decade of the 20th century. Serbia was an international pariah until strongman Slobodan Milosevic was ousted in 2000. After neighbouring Croatia joins the EU on 1 July, anchoring Serbia in accession talks would belatedly help to drive reform and cement stability. Though Serbia says it will never recognise Kosovo as a sovereign state, the deal reflects a sea change in official policy given that Belgrade wants to come to terms with the loss of its southern province in exchange for the economic boost of closer ties with the EU. Steeped in history and myth for Serbs, Kosovo broke away from Serbia in 1999, when NATO carried out 11 weeks of air strikes to halt the killing and expulsion of ethnic Albanians by Serbian military forces under Milosevic waging a brutal counter-insurgency campaign. Kosovo became a ward of the United Nations, but Belgrade retained de facto control over the northern Serb pocket. The partition has frequently flared into violence and frustrated NATOs hopes of cutting back a costly peace force that still numbers some 6,000 soldiers. 13 years ago, Kosovo was a country that was totally devastated with over a million of its citizens driven away from their homes and thousands of people missing, many unspoken for. A fundamental milestone was achieved on 19 October 2012, when the Serb Prime Ministers Ivica Dacic and his Kosovo counterpart Hashim Thaci met for the first time during a session of the European Union-mediated dialogue. A second meeting followed on 7 November. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in February 2008, but Serbia does not recognise it. Almost 100 countries, including the United States and 22 of the 27 EU countries, have recognised Kosovo. Tensions between ethnic Serbs and ethnic Albanians have flared up over the years, particularly in the north of Kosovo which has an ethnic Serbian majority, unlike the rest of Kosovo, where ethnic Albanians are the majority. The situation in the north of Kosovo remains fragile, as evidenced by public reactions to decisions of courts involving highprofile war crimes defendants over the past weeks, which highlight the sensitivity around matters of reconciliation and justice. The UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) is fulfilling its mandate and working in coordination with other international organisations on the ground, and has been able to prevent recent flare-ups from taking place. Established in 1999, UNMIK is mandated to help ensure conditions for a peaceful and normal life for all inhabitants of Kosovo and advance regional stability in the western Balkans. It began its operations when North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) forces drove out Yugoslav troops amid bloody ethnic fighting between Serbs and Albanians, but it gave up its administrative role when Kosovo Albanians declared independence. The UN, the EU and the international community supported the dialogue process and provided appropriate resources and political backing to encourage sustainable agreements between the conflicting parties. It is not clear how the EU-brokered accord will be implemented on the ground in northern Kosovo, where hardline Serb leaders vehemently reject any authority coming from Kosovos ethnic Albanians, and consider the region a part of Serbia. Nonetheless, normalisation of relations remains the ultimate key to future progress towards a lasting peace for both Serbia and Kosovo. Alan Brown
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Dangerous waters: China-Japan relations on the rocks
he worlds second and third largest economies are engaged in a standoff over the sovereignty of five islets and three rocks in the East China Sea, known as the Diaoyu in Chinese and the Senkaku in Japanese, according to a report published by the International Crisis Group which examines the dangerous standoff between the two Asian countries over the sovereignty of the group of islands. Tensions erupted in September 2012 when Japan purchased three disputed islands from their private owner to keep them from the nationalist governor of Tokyo. In response, Beijing implemented a series of measures including the establishment of overlapping administration in the disputed waters. Both sides law enforcement agencies and militaries currently operate in close proximity in disputed naval and aerial space. Unlike foreign ministries, these actors have less institutional interest in containing crises and enjoy an information monopoly allowing them to shape domestic perceptions. The two countries lack the mutual trust and communication mechanisms to manage incidents, let alone to discuss intentions or operating protocols. In the event of a skirmish, heightened nationalism, especially in China, could constrict the room for diplomatic manoeuvres to deescalate the situation.
Chinas actions reflect a reactive assertive tactic used previously in the South China Sea, whereby it exploits perceived provocations in disputed areas by other countries to take strong countermeasures to change the status quo in its favour. Interpreting the Japanese governments decision to purchase the islands as a unilateral change to the status quo, China implemented a series of pre-planned actions with the goal of changing the facts on the ground. The most important was when Beijing declared territorial baselines around the islands in September, thus increasing the number and length of its law enforcement patrols to directly challenge Japans de facto control of the area. Many Chinese strategists perceive Japan to be a former empire continuing on a downward slide while Chinas star is rising. For them, the time is right to respond resolutely and stake its ground with its eastern neighbour. Nationalism makes the sovereignty dispute in the East China Sea a highly explosive issue for China, more so than the South China Sea. Due to the brutal Japanese occupation of China in the 1930s, sentiments over the status of the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands run deeper in the Chinese psyche than any other territorial dispute in modern Chinese history, with the exception of Taiwan. Beijing has for years exploited anti-Japan sentiment through patriotic education campaigns and has used nationalism to justify assertive actions. But while in the past it could more easily dial up or down nationalism through control of state-run media,
the rapid rise of internet use has eroded that control and begun to shape the context of policymaking. The government must now satisfy increasingly outspoken and critical citizens. Complementary economic ties essential to both given Chinas prioritised commitment to strong economic growth and Japans desire to rebuild its stagnated economy have provided strong incentives to keep this dispute from escalating into armed conflict, a scenario neither side wants. But despite expressions by both governments that they wish to avoid a war, potential for escalation has increased and there is deepening pessimism on both sides over the prospects of a peaceful settlement. The strategic mistrust that characterises relations has been aggravated by their respective domestic situations. Without top leaders setting the tone for crisis mitigation, a tradition of backchannel diplomacy has disappeared. The relative weakness of Chinas foreign ministry complicates bilateral relations and prevents effective crisis management, as it is the official and often the only channel open to Tokyo. Meanwhile, the China hands in Japan who traditionally helped manage the relationship have been sidelined. While there is little hope of a resolution of the sovereignty dispute in the near future, Tokyo and Beijing urgently need to work toward establishing communication mechanisms and strengthening crisis mitigation in order to avoid a larger conflict. For the full report visit: http:// www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/ asia/north-east-asia/245-dangerouswaters-china-japan-relations-onthe-rocks.pdf?utm_source=chinajapan-email&utm_medium=3&utm_ campaign=mr-email
Disputed islands Diaoyu in Chinese and the Senkaku in Japanese
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UN-France-EU Mali security challenge
he UN Security Council unanimously approved on 25 April the creation of a 12,600-strong peacekeeping force in Mali starting 1 July, which will be supported by French troops if needed to combat Islamist extremist threats in the West African country. France, aided by some 2,000 troops from Chad, began a military offensive in January to drive out Islamist fighters, who had hijacked a revolt by Malis Tuareg rebels and seized two-thirds of Mali. The UN peacekeeping force, to be known as MINUSMA, will assume authority from a UN-backed African force deployed there to take over from the French. Most of the African force, known as AFISMA, is likely
to become peacekeepers. The UN peacekeeping force in Mali will be the third largest, behind deployments in Democratic Republic of Congo and Darfur in Sudan, and costs up to $800 million annually. France has started withdrawing its 4,000-strong force and plans to have just 1,000 by the end of the year. Paris had said Malis north was in danger of becoming a springboard for extremist attacks on the region and the West. French forces would be able to intervene to support MINUSMA when peacekeepers are under imminent and serious threat and upon the request of the secretary-general, according to the UN resolution. Malis rapid descent into
instability from what seemed a promising democratic trajectory has been in the news since rebels in the North occupied a large area as big as France and the situation was exacerbated further by a military coup in March last year that disrupted constitutional rule. Three months after France launched a military offensive against armed rebels in the West African country who were poised to overrun the capital Bamako, around 500 instructors and support staff from 22 EU states are expected to train Malian soldiers for the purpose of countering extremists who quickly overran half of the expansive country last year following a military coup on
EU soldier training Malian troops
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22 March that made matters worse and left a political and military vacuum threatening not only Malis security and stability but also that of neighbouring states. The European Union (EU) Training Mission has begun rebuilding Malis fractured army so it can defend the country against fresh attacks by Islamists in the North when French forces withdraw this month providing the security situation is table and the UN forces take over in a smooth transition. Known as the European Union Training Mission in Mali (EUTM), the group is tasked with restoring military capacity to four Malian army battalions. The operations initial mandate is set to last 15 months, with an estimated cost of 12.3 million euros. It will not be involved in combat operations. Everyone in the Malian army is aware of its weakness, the institution is ready to reform itself with the EUs help, said French Brigadier General Franois Lecointre, who heads EUTM. General Lecointre noted that the EUTM would have to completely rebuild a Malian army that had collapsed after years of being snubbed and ignored. But the EUTM also appeared intent on not repeating past mistakes -- notably those committed by the United States. France, Malis former colonial ruler, counts the highest number of soldiers within EUTM. The 200troop strong French contingent includes 48 infantry instructors, 90 soldiers in charge of EUTMs protection and other staff with logistical and medical duties. They arrived as French combat troops gradually started pulling out of the war-torn country last month. British Secretary of Defence Philip Hammond said a 40-man training team from the United Kingdom (UK) was being sent as part of EUTM to assist Malians in restoring
order and denying terrorists a safe haven in their country. The violent insurgency has not only disrupted their country, but also poses a clear threat to national interests here in the UK, Hammond said in a statement. The British training team was joined by six personnel from the Republic of Irelands Defence Force, in a military cooperation project a senior British officer called a historic occasion. Officials highlighted the EUTM multinational character: Swedes and Lithuanians were among the instructors, Germans would assist as medical personnel, Belgians would pilot helicopters, while Spaniards and Czechs would help fulfil the security detail, they said. European officials insist the EUTM mandate is to restore peace and the rule of law throughout the Malian territory, and foster reconciliation between war-torn communities. France started withdrawing some of its 4,000 troops at the end of April, and plans to leave a support force of 1,000 soldiers after elections promised for July. With France aiming to cut its military presence to 1 000 soldiers by yearend and the first 120 arrived back in France last month. However, analysts fear that preparations will not be completed by July and warn that a botched election could sow the seeds for further unrest and north-south conflict in the landlocked former French colony. In 2012, rebel offensive painfully exposed a Malian army that was underpaid, burdened with defunct weapons or lack of them and poisoned by divisions. Tuareg separatists with an intimate knowledge of the countrys desert north and well-armed Muslim jihadists gradually drove away Malis army from a region roughly
the size of France. Adding to the chaos, an army captain, Amadou Sanago, led a March coup that toppled democratically elected president Amadou Toumani Toure. Like many soldiers in Mali, some of whom even defected to the rebellion with valuable equipment, Sanogo had received US army training. However, no one knows exactly how many Malian soldiers are left, but estimates put the number around 6,000 men. Over the next year, EUTM says it expects to train about 3,000 Malian soldiers in a dedicated military academy located about 60 kilometres from the capital, Bamako. By this summer, the first 670 Malian EU-trained-soldiers are expected to be combat-ready and will be deployed to northern Mali, where French and Chadian troops are still fighting pockets of resistance from Islamic insurgents allegedly linked to the al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) led by Algerian rebels. In his report to the Security Council on the situation in Mali, the UN Secretary-General Ban Kimoon proposed two options for UN engagement in the country, where renewed fighting since January 2012 has uprooted hundreds of thousands of people and prompted the Malian Government to request assistance from France to stop the military advance of extremist groups. Under the first option, a UN multidimensional integrated political presence would operate alongside AFISMA, the African-led International Support Mission in Mali, which the Council authorised in December, at the request of the Bamako government, to support national efforts to recover the north from the insurgents. The second option involves the establishment of a UN multidimensional integrated stabilisation mission under a
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Chapter VII mandate alongside a parallel force. In addition to a political mandate, the mission would carry out security-related stabilisation tasks, protect civilians and create the conditions for the provision of humanitarian assistance. Under this second option, the bulk of AFISMA would be re-hatted under this UN stabilisation mission. Most of the military, police and civilian components would operate in the north, with a light presence in Bamako, Under-SecretaryGeneral for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman told the Security Council, as he briefed the 15-member body on Mr. Bans proposals. Feltman also noted that, under either option, the UN would maintain a strong focus on the political aspects linked to the creation of suitable conditions for elections and reconciliation. The UN has offered its support for the holding of free, fair, transparent and credible polls, which interim President Dioncounda Traor says he intends to hold by 31 July 2013. On the humanitarian front, the UN reported that while access has improved in some parts of the country, the situation remains highly volatile, particularly in Timbuktu and Gao. Currently, nearly 500,000 people are estimated to have fled and sought refuge either in Malian host communities or in neighbouring countries. Also, while arbitrary acts of violence against Tuaregs and Arabs have recently decreased, there is still a risk of reprisal against members of these communities, who are alleged to be associated with the armed groups. Worryingly, it appears from reports that new patterns of human rights violations have emerged, including retaliatory attacks based on ethnicity, said Feltman who added that the most significant development in the political process remains the adoption in January of a Roadmap for the Transition, which highlights two priority tasks for the transitional government: The restoration of territorial integrity and the organisation of free and fair elections. The Roadmap also provides for reform of the armed forces and dialogue with groups who renounce terrorism and adhere to the unitary nature of Mali and its constitution. In that connection, Feltman noted that the UN Office in Mali (UNOM), which Was deployed in January, is providing good offices aimed at facilitating contacts between the Government and those groups that wish to take part in the search for a political solution to the crisis. It is of critical importance to ensure the security imperative does not detract from the primacy of politics in Mali, in both the short and long term. In addition to national dialogue, multiple dialogues need to take place between and within communities and between various actors, including the Malian armed forces, he concluded. All multinational troops will confront a mounting series of attacks claimed by insurgents since France launched its military intervention against al-Qaedalinked groups that had seized northern Mali. The French-led operation, which began on 11 January, forced the militants from cities they had seized for 10 months in the chaotic aftermath of a March 2012 military coup. French troops quickly drove insurgents from most of their northern strongholds, but significant pockets of resistance remain in Gao, as well as in the fabled desert city of Timbuktu and the Ifoghas mountains. French and African forces have faced continuing suicide blasts and guerrilla attacks in reclaimed territory. Attacks were claimed by the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), one of three rebel groups that had seized the north. Ansar Dine (Defenders of the faith) is another group that allied themselves with the Tuareg rebels who proclaimed independence of the north as Azawad while the third and most dangerous Aqmi remains the most lethal and potent threat to Mali and the Sahel region. Hundreds of thousands of Malians have been displaced by the fighting and the north remains vulnerable to guerrilla-style counter attacks, despite the presence of thousands of African troops under the AFISMA banner. This is expected to become the backbone of the 12.600-strong UN peacekeeping mission. The Tuaregs have had a raw deal from Mali, Niger, Chad and Algeria. They have been seeking autonomy of their territory which lies between the four countries and the Malian government reneged on numerous agreements in the past. Tuareg rebels remain in control of Kidal, a key town near the border with Algeria, complicating the political process. The MNLA say they are willing to drop their claims of independence for northern Mali in return for greater regional autonomy. They have so far rejected calls to disarm and begin political negotiations and have accused the Malian army of carrying out revenge attacks on ethnic Tuaregs. As the proliferation of jihadist and insurgent groups seems to exacerbate the situation In Mali and the Sahel region, AQIM has recently launched a campaign throughout North-West Africa to recruit new fighters to pose new challenges to the international military coalition that has a difficult task ahead. Ali Bahaijoub
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Terrorists
hen is a terrorist not a terrorist? When, for example, he belongs to Mossad? As soon as it was established that the Tsamaev brothers were responsible for the Boston marathon bombs and were Chechens by origin although they had grown up in the United States, Vladimir Putins appointed ruler of Chechnya, Khadzhi Ramzan Kadyrov made a public statement to the effect that any attempt to link the two brothers to Chechnya would be unfair. They grew up in America, their views and convictions were formed there. He continued: The root of the evil should be sought in America. Chechnya has its own grisly history of terrorism and wants none from America. In the meantime the Israeli author and journalist Yossi Melman was being interviewed about Israel
and Iran. He said: It would be more convenient for Israel if the US attacked Iran because they have the capacity to do so. He argued that an Israeli strike on Iran was highly unlikely. Asked about Israeli spies in Iran, he responded: Iran is considered by the Israeli government and intelligence as the number one priority and therefore there is a lot of intelligence involved in order to get information. But when you say Israeli spies it does not necessarily mean that Israel is recruiting and trying to send its own spies into Iran. There are other means of collecting information. Melman admitted that Israel was behind the assassination of Iranian scientists. Comparing Irans search for nuclear weapons capacity with that of North Korea, Melman made an interesting statement: ---Iran wants
nuclear weapons for various reasons. They want to have hegemony in the region. Nuclear weapons in the hands of a country means national pride, scientific infrastructure, technological development. But also it gives the regime guarantees of survival. We see the North Korean example. They have developed nuclear weapons. --- But they know that if you have nuclear weapons no one is messing with you. This is the precedent and Iran wants to repeat it. Diplomacy has failed with North Korea and is also failing with Iran. (Israels case in a nutshell. Why cannot Iran and Israel agree a joint policy of MAD mutually assured destruction as did the USA and the USSR in the Cold War?) Guy Arnold
Nigerias sectarian violence rages on

Nigeria faces a long-running insurgency in its predominantly Muslim north, and despite efforts by the government to bring the situation under control, the violence appears to continue to escalate, writes Franklin Adesegha.
ecent intense fighting between the military and Islamist militants Boko Haram in the north eastern town of Baga, Borno State, has led to the killing of at least 185 people. In that encounter, rocketpropelled grenades and heavy gunfire were used in bombarding the remote town near the border with Chad leaving some 2,000 homes destroyed. Two Nigerian policemen and five attackers were killed in a midnight raid on a police station by suspected members of the Islamist sect Boko Haram in northeast Yobe state, the military at the end of April. The attack occurred less than a week after a bloody gun battle between Islamist insurgents and joint military forces from Nigeria, Chad and Niger in neighboring Borno
state. That clash may have been one of the deadliest since Boko Haram launched an uprising in 2009. The Nigerian Red Cross is checking reports from locals that 187 people died, although government officials have said this figure is inflated. Boko Haram and other Islamist groups, such as the al Qaedaaffiliated Ansaru, have become the greatest threat to security in Africas second largest economy and top oil producer. According to reports, residents fled into the bush and returned a few days later only to find much of the town destroyed and human and animal corpses strewn through the streets. One local journalist said this marked a significant escalation in
the insurgency in the area, with the militants using heavier weapons than in previous attacks. One resident told the Associated Press: To get food to eat in the town now is a problem because even the markets are burnt. We are still picking corpses of women and children in the bush and creeks. Residents said most of the bodies had been burned beyond recognition in blazes that had destroyed much of the town. Witnesses said the dead included civilians, members of the security forces and the attackers. Borno state military spokesman Lt Col Sagir Musa denied the high number of casualties saying such a high number was unthinkable. He told the AFP news agency, On my honour as an officer, nothing like
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Alleged members of Boko Haram
that happened. Correspondents note that the Nigerian military often plays down the number of people killed in clashes with militants. Not long ago, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan set up a new committee to look at how an amnesty for Boko Haram, can be implemented. This was in response to a call by religious and political leaders in north-eastern Nigeria for amnesty for the Islamist militants. The president responded by asking a team of security advisers to look into the possibility of granting amnesty to the militants. The team reported to the National Security Council leading to the establishment of the committee which will try to engage key members of Boko Haram and define a comprehensive and workable framework for resolving the crisis of insecurity in the country. The committee will consider a 60-day timeframe for dialogue and disarmament, and look into support for victims of the violence. The presidential committee comprises 25 members including the military, academics and politicians. Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has voiced shock and sadness at reports of high numbers of civilians killed in Borno State following the armed clashes there between Government forces and Boko Haram. The Secretary-General reiterates his firm conviction that no objective sought can justify this resort to violence, Bans spokesperson said, adding He expresses his condolences to the bereaved families and calls on all extremist groups to cease their attacks. Last year, more than 100 people were killed when Boko Haram attacked churches in the northern state of Kaduna, drawing widespread condemnation from the UN. Mr. Ban underscores the need for all concerned to fully respect
human rights and safeguard the lives of civilians, the SecretaryGenerals statement said. Boko Haram which means Western education is forbidden in the local Hausa language wants to carve out an Islamic state in northern Nigeria. The country is split evenly between the largely Muslim north and the predominantly Christian south. For the north to become an Islamic state, Nigeria will have to be split into two countries the likelihood of which is very remote. For the presidents plan of granting amnesty to work, there has to be a cessation of violence on both sides, meaning the violent clashes between government forces and
Boko Haram must stop. Without a ceasefire, any talk of disarmament and bringing the situation under control will be pointless. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan is awaiting a report from a panel he set up to offer an amnesty to the insurgents if they give up their struggle for an Islamic state. Boko Haram has so far shown no interest in talks and two mediators have already pulled out. The sect, which wants an Islamic state in a country divided roughly equally between Christians and Muslims, has killed hundreds of people in guerrilla-style attacks, mostly targeting security forces in its northeastern stronghold.
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Musharraf back into custody but for how long?
ormer Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf appeared in an antiterrorism court in Islamabad last month where he was remanded into prison custody as he faces allegations of ordering the illegal sacking and detention of a number of judges in 2007, including the countrys chief justice, after declaring a state of emergency and suspending the constitution. The decision then sparked widespread protests that eventually weakened his government so much that he was forced to call new elections and eventually step down. A judge has said that decision amounts to terrorism, which is why the case was sent to an anti-terrorism court. Such courts are closed to the media and the public. The general who ruled Pakistan for nearly a decade before being forced to step down was brought to the Islamabad courthouse surrounded by heavy security as supporters and opponents gathered outside the court. Musharrafs lawyer, Malik Qamar Afzal, said the judge ruled that he would be given judicial remand, which means that he would be held in jail until the next hearing in the case on 4 May. Musharrafs legal team has been pushing for his estate on the edge of the capital to be declared a sub-jail under the Pakistani legal system, which would mean that he would essentially be held under house arrest.
Musharraf returned to Pakistan in March from four years in self-imposed exile to make a political comeback and contest the 11 May election. But he was greeted with little popular support and was disqualified from running in the election. Pakistans election board barred him from contesting polls in one constituency and the Supreme Court agreed to look into a treason complaint against him, hurting his efforts to win back influence. Musharraf seized control of Pakistan in a coup in 1999 when he was army chief and spent nearly a decade in power before being forced to step down in 2008. He returned despite Taliban death threats and a raft of legal challenges. His arrest is a significant act in a country where senior army officers have long seemed untouchable. The army is still considered the most powerful institution in Pakistan, but its aura of impunity has declined in recent years, especially in the face of an activist judiciary. Musharraf has described the allegations as politically motivated. These allegations are politically motivated, and I will fight them in the trial court, where the truth will eventually prevail, Musharraf said in a message posted on his Facebook page after his arrest. Musharraf faces charges of failing to provide adequate security to former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto before her assassination
in 2007. He also faces accusations in connection with the death of a separatist leader in the south-western province of Baluchistan. He denies any wrongdoing. His arrest is a vivid reminder that he no longer has the clout to ride roughshod over the countrys battered institutions and finds himself in a tricky position. His decision to come back to Pakistan in March looks increasingly to have been a terrible blunder that may cost him dear. Pakistans military establishment, though not obviously meddling in politics before the May polls, has not lifted a finger in an effort possibly to dampen the chances of the election frontrunner, Nawaz Sharif, whose Pakistan Muslim League or PML is likely to emerge strongest. Sharif has been explicit in criticising the army, ever since Musharraf led it in toppling him as prime minister in a coup in 1999. With the current president, Asif Zardari, who had precious little credibility as a politician when he took over the reins of power of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, after the death of his wife, Benazir Bhutto, the army could well be hatching to encourage the cricketstar turned politician Imran Khans political movement which is gaining momentum and could become a serious rival to the PML not to the mention the popular activism of the cleric, Tahir-ul-Qadri, in January, who came from nowhere to stir up confusion in Pakistans political arena before elections. Musharrafs trial may serve as a deviation from the intense rivalry between the participating parties on the eve of important elections that may result in some unexpected surprises. The big question, however, is whether the army will be able to leave one of their senior officers go to prison or it will intervene peacefully or by force. Ali Bahaijoub
Musharraf leaving court
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Burma accused of blatant ethnic cleansing
he government of Burma (Myanmar) has encouraged and aided a campaign of ethnic cleansing against minority Rohingya Muslims in the countrys western state of Rakhine, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW). Burmese officials, local community leaders and Buddhist monks coordinated mob attacks on Muslim villages in October, the New Yorkbased right group said. The group claimed it had evidence of mass graves and forced displacement. The violence has been very systematic and widespread, but we also documented the organising and instigation of a campaign against the Rohingya, Phil Robertson, HRWs deputy Asia director, said. The British newspaper The guardian published a video footage that clearly shows Burmese police standing by as Buddhist mobs wielding sticks and swords attack Muslims in Meikhtila where more than 40 people were killed and 12,000 displaced in March. This happened on the same day that the European Union (EU) announced that it had lifted sanctions against the regime as a reward for recent reforms, which include travel restrictions on around 500 Burmese individuals, an asset freeze of 1,000 companies, and bans on EU investment in certain sectors such as timber and mining. The footage, apparently shot by police officers, shows Buddhist crowds looting and ransacking a Muslim jewellery shop, cheering when Muslims are attacked, and setting fire to mosques and houses. Later, a man who has been set alight and is believed to be Muslim can be seen lying in the road, surrounded
by a crowd of people. Pour water on him, a man in the crowd commands. Let him die, shouts another. No water for him. Both Buddhist monks and police can be seen through much of the footage the monks often taking part in the violence, the police watching immobile as it progresses. In Rakhine, more than 125,000 Rohingya and other Muslims have been forcibly displaced, denied access to humanitarian aid and are unable to return home, HRW report said. At least 180 people have died in two outbreaks of Buddhist-Muslim violence in Rakhine since June 2012, according to the official toll, but rights groups like HRW believe the real figure is much higher. In a report based on more than 100 interviews, it said that it had uncovered evidence of four mass grave sites in Rakhine, accusing the security forces of trying to destroy evidence of crimes. In one instance in June, HRW said, a government truck dumped 18 naked and half-clothed bodies near a camp for displaced Rohingya, describing it as an attempt to scare residents into leaving permanently. Robertson said his organisation had sent letters to the Burmese government, but that officials had basically denied the Rohingya, as a group, existed. They did provide information about the casualties and the arrest that took place, but essentially they side-stepped many of the key issues that we were seeking clarification on, Roberton said of the Burmese governments response to accusations it was sanctioning crimes against humanity. Robertson added that the international community was not taking accusations of ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya seriously enough, amid widespread international support for Burmese efforts to make
Rohingya persecuted Muslims
the Southeast Asian country more open and democratic. The European Union suspended most of its sanctions against Burma last year following sweeping reforms, but last month, it went even further by agreeing to lift all sanctions with the exception of the embargo on arms. The measure will also allow European companies to invest in Burma, which has significant natural resources and borders economic giants China and India. Where we see the situation in Rakhine state, where there is ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, and no one is being held accountable for that, that raises some very serious concerns about the commitment of the Burmese government, Robertson noted. A series of political and economic reforms have taken place in Burma since the president, Thein Sein, took office in 2011, such as the release of some political prisoners, the opening up of its economy and the easing of media restrictions. The violence in June and October resolved nothing. Tens of thousands of Rohingyas remain displaced, in squalid camps that will become even more hazardous to their health with the onset of the rainy seaso. At least 20,000 have taken to the seas to flee and more than 500 have drowned. Yet the Buddhist Rakhines, a majority in the state but themselves a minority in Myanmar, are no closer to the goal many espouse: the mass deportation of the Rohingyas to Bangladesh, from where they say they came as illegal immigrants. Having failed to achieve the ethnic cleansing many Rakhines want, they are enforcing a de facto apartheid and the government is doing nothing. Unless urgent measures are taken by the authorities to address the situation, Burma will once again be considered as a pariah state. Alan Brown
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Libya faces serious security challenge

t a time when the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has been experiencing unprecedented political change and opportunities for democratic openings, many observers and analysts have turned to Libya in search of the sought-after democratic transformation. However, its domestic political scene and record on basic rights have increasingly come under scrutiny while security remains a major challenge to the Tripoli government. The French embassy car bomb last month injured two guards and caused serious damage to the building. The impact of the explosion severely damaged two villas and two cars parked near the building. This is the first such attack in Tripoli since the end of the 2011 war that ousted then Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi. France, under the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy, led air raids against Gaddafis forces after the rebellion against his regime erupted. The bombing of the French embassy comes eight month after Jihadist militias stormed the American consulate in Benghazi and killed the
Libyas militias
ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three of his colleagues. No one has been charged with the crime and insecurity is still the buzz word that most Libyans want addressed as violence intensifies, especially on the countrys periphery. Extremist Islamist militias have reappeared in the east, running checkpoints in Benghazi and in Derna, further east along the coast, which has long had a reputation for hosting extreme Islamists. Weapons are spreading from Libya at an alarming rate, fuelling conflicts in Mali, Syria and elsewhere and boosting the arsenals of extremists and criminals in the region, according to a UN report published last month. Illicit flows from the country are fuelling existing conflicts in Africa and the Levant and enriching the arsenals of a range of non-State actors, including terrorist groups, according to the UN 94-page report, which was dated 15 February but only published last month. The proliferation of weapons from Libya continues at an alarming rate, the
report said. The experts said transfers of arms to Syria - where a two-yearold civil war has killed more than 70,000 people - had been organised from various locations in Libya, including Misrata and Benghazi, via Turkey or northern Lebanon. The significant size of some shipments and the logistics involved suggest that representatives of the Libyan local authorities might have at least been aware of the transfers, if not actually directly involved, the experts said. The report also found that in the past year flows of Libyan weapons to Egypt appeared to have increased significantly. While trafficking from Libya to Egypt represents a challenge primarily for Egypts internal security, in particular in relation to armed groups in the Sinai, some of the materiel appears to have crossed Egypt to further destinations, the experts wrote. The report said weapons from Libya were also being transported through southern Tunisia, southern Algeria and northern Niger to destinations such as Mali, but some arms were
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remaining in those corridor countries for use by local groups. These zones also serve as bases and transit points for non-state armed groups, including terrorist groups and criminal and drug trafficking networks with links to the wider Sahel region, according to the report. The UN Security Council made it easier for Libya in March to obtain non-lethal equipment such as bulletproof vests and armoured cars but expressed concern at the spread of weapons from the country to nearby states. The Council urged the Libyan government to improve its monitoring of arms and related material that is supplied, sold or transferred to the government - with approval of the UN sanctions committee that oversees the arms embargo. Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan told the Security Council that the government had control of its borders with Algeria, Niger, Chad, Sudan and Egypt. Zeidan said he wanted the council to lift the arms embargo on Libya, but council members said they never received an official request. There are many necessary cures to Libyas pervasive insecurity, but few more urgent than repairing its judicial system. Victims of Gaddafis regime, distrusting a government they view as impotent in security matters, take matters in their hands; some armed groups, sceptical of the states ability to carry out justice, arbitrarily detain, torture or assassinate presumed Gaddafi loyalists; others, taking advantage of disorder, do violence for political or criminal aims. While Libyans have become disillusioned with the political, economic and security reforms that have not yet to be implemented, the country is caught in the throes of the troubling security challenge. If a strong initiative is not undertaken rapidly by the Libyan government and its Western and Arab allies, the country risks implosion, anarchy or a return to authoritarianism. Ali Bahaijoub
Chancellor Merkel has to save the EU

ne very clear lesson that the European crisis has taught us is that German power in the European Union (EU) cannot be ignored: the German government carries great responsibility in relation to the present Eurozone crisis as well, more generally, for the state of stagnation in the EU. There is European resentment, close to anger, at the self-righteous German assumption that all will be well if only feckless Greeks, Italians and Spaniards behave like austere Germans. Chancellor Merkel, it is implied, must accept that adjustments have to be symmetrical. In other words, if the most indebted members of the Eurozone are to cut their deficits, Germany in return must shed some of its surplus. Such an assumption raises the question of contracts: are these binding, whether a member is feckless or not or are they made to be broken? The British often boast that they accept the terms of an agreement and apply them when others clearly do not do so. Yet at the present time Britains Prime Minister David Cameron is straining every nerve, so far without success, to have whole
Angela Merkel with Francois Hollande
swathes of the EU treaties altered because Britain no longer finds them acceptable. A Greek-German MEP, Jorgo Chatzimarkis, accuses Berlin of hypocrisy and bullying the EU poorer members and criticises Merkel for her handling of the European crisis. The big question is whether Germany and it must be soon is ready to be the saviour of Europe. Germany should not forget that European Union is the goal while the euro is no more than a means to this end. In other words, the euro crisis should not be allowed to destroy the EU. According to another critic, Stefan Kornelius, Chancellor Merkel is tired of being viewed as a sadist
bullying the eurozone. At the same time it seems clear that her political convictions will not permit her to change course. The debate remains one-sided: Merkel must come down to the level of the feckless ones, not the other way about. George Soros has entered the debate to argue that the EU is the goal and the euro a means to an end and not an end in itself. The euro crisis ought not to be allowed to destroy the EU. Meanwhile, Cyprus, which has been bailed out, cannot repay its debt and the EU cannot continue to throw money at it. The entire banking system needs a radical overhaul. Guy Arnold
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environment
Antarctic ice melting at record rate, study

Summer ice is melting at a faster rate in the Antarctic peninsula than at any time in the last 1,000 years, new research has shown. The evidence comes from a 364-metre ice core containing a record of freezing and melting over the previous millennium. Layers of ice in the core, drilled from James Ross Island near the northern tip of the peninsula, indicate periods when summer snow on the ice cap thawed and then refroze. By measuring the thickness of these layers, scientists were able to match the history of melting with changes in temperature. Lead researcher Dr Nerilie Abram, from the Australian National University and British Antarctic Survey (BAS), said: We found that the coolest conditions on the Antarctic peninsula and the lowest amount of summer melt occurred around 600 years ago. At that time temperatures were around 1.6C lower than those recorded in the late 20th century and the amount of annual snowfall that melted and refroze was about 0.5%. Today, we see almost 10 times as much (5%) of the annual snowfall melting each year. Summer melting at the ice core site today is now at a level that is higher than at any other time over the last 1,000 years. And while temperatures at this site increased gradually in phases over many hundreds of years, most of the intensification of melting has happened since the mid-20th century. Levels of ice melt on the Antarctic peninsula were especially sensitive to rising temperature during the last century, he said. What that means is that the Antarctic peninsula has warmed to a level where even small increases in temperature can now lead to a big increase in summer melt, Abram added.
Forestry sector contributes $468 billion yearly

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that forestry products contribute nearly $468 billion annually to the global economy, while studies being presented at the United Nations Forum on Forests show that we may have grossly underestimated the actual economic, social and environmental values. In his report on forests and economic development, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pointed out that forests have played a major role to influence patterns of economic development, support livelihoods and promote sustainable growth, in many countries. He went on to say that if the contribution of the forestry sector to gross domestic product (GDP) alone is in the neighbourhood of $468 billion per year, it is projected to be two to three times greater for benefits that are not included in GDP figures. A study by FAO in Uganda, cited in the report, demonstrates that forests provide fuel-wood for local energy consumption, which accounts for 40 per cent of the local economy, and the non-cash component is three times the value of the cash component.
Tanzania poaching among worst in Africa

Tanzania has one of the worst poaching rates in Africa, with an average of 67 Elephants killed daily, it has been reported. In the past year, the buffalo population has decreased from 70,000 to 40,000, elephants from 2,500 to 500 and rhinos from 1,000 to fewer than 20, according Ahmed Mbugi, outreach programme manager for Tanzania and National Parks. The decline is due to intensive poaching perpetrated by local communities for subsistence and commercial purposes, he said.
Indias new tiger reserve in Tamil Nadu state

Home to 25 tigers, the new tiger reserve occupies 272 square miles. It is Indias 42nd tiger reserve and part of the larger Sathyamangalam Wildlife Sanctuary.
It allows the movement between several adjacent parks, creating one the largest contiguous tiger habitats in the world.
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nnovatons

As part of the countrys growing emphasis on green technology research, Brazilian scientists have developed plastic solar panels that could revolutionise power generation from this clean, renewable energy source. What looks like a thin, flexible sheet of regular plastic is actually a solar panel printed with photovoltaic cells, which convert sunlight into electricity. This new material, totally unlike the heavy and costly silicon-based panels commonly used to generate solar power today, was created by scientists at CSEM Brasil, a research institute based in the southeast Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. Made by incorporating organic photovoltaic cells into common polymers, the new panels resemble transparent sheets of plastic with stripes where they have been printed with carbon-based organic polymers. The technology to produce these organic photovoltaic cells has been studied in Europe and the United States for a number of years, and has now been further developed in Brazil. According to its inventors, the new solar plastic could represent a minor revolution in the way clean energy is produced from sunlight. While the capacity for power generation is almost the same, its small size means that it can be given uses that are almost impossible for silicon panels, said the chairman of CSEM Brasil, Tiago Maranho Alves, a physical engineer who participated directly in the research. The lightweight, flexible new material can be used to power the electrical components of automobiles and in electronic devices like mobile phones and wireless computer keyboards and mice. But the Brazilian researchers are concentrating on the production of solar panels, which can be used to cover relatively large areas, like windows. A panel with a surface area of two or three square metres could be sufficient to generate the energy needed in a house lived in by a family of four, Alves told Tierramrica. Because of its good cost-benefit ratio, it could also be an option for bringing energy to remote areas without electric power service. In Brazil, with a population of over 192 million, there are still close to a million places in this situation, he added. Ease of transport is one of the main advantages of the new panels over silicon panels. The plastic can also be used to cover buildings and venues like airports and sports stadiums, avoiding the need to set aside an area for the installation of conventional solar panels. Some ten million dollars were invested in developing the formula for the new Brazilian-made material, and investment is expected to double in the coming year. The method has not been made public, since it is still classified as a trade secret.
Brazilian-made plastic solar panels, Electric Rotorcraft clean energy breakthrough
maker unveils model with 18 motors

A German company has unveiled the latest version of its electricallypowered rotorcraft designed to carry two people. Like its predecessor, the Volocopter, the new VC200 from e-volo makes use of multiple electric motors, each with its own propeller to provide the lift and thrust. In the case of the two person version, there are 18 spinning rotors above the heads of the pilot and passenger. This is a bit better than the original which had 16 electric motors and propellers, but the pilot sat above the spinning blades. The company believes the new aircraft will be capable of more than 100 km/h (62 mph) and it hopes to eventually have more than one hour flight time. On most of the electric aircraft seen and flown in the past few years, the flight time is usually a bit less than initially hoped (with a few exceptions). And pushing an hour with 18 motors spinning does seem optimistic. But e-volo admits current battery technology and the take off weight of 990 pounds will allow for batteries to power just 20 minutes of flight.
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busnessbrefs

Foreign direct investment in BRICS up substantially

Foreign direct investment (FDI) going into and out of the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa collectively known as BRICS is mounting in global influence, according to a report by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The latest Global Investment Trends Monitor (GITM) shows that over the past decade, FDI going into BRICS has more than tripled, totalling $263 billion in 2012. This figure represents 20 per cent of world FDI flows, and is a significant increase considering it was only 6 per cent in 2000. Meanwhile, investment from BRICS into other countries has climbed from $7 billion in 2000 to $126 billion in 2012, rising from 1 per cent of world 39
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flows to 9 per cent, with China and Russia accounting for the majority of these investments. In particular, the report highlights that foreign investment from BRICS into Africa represented 25 per cent of Africas inflows last year, with most funds going to the manufacturing and services sectors. While labour costs in Africa may not differ significantly from those in the firms home economies, the dutyfree, quota-free access of African countries and Chinas zero-tariff measures for African least developed countries (LDCs) have generated manufacturing investment. Brazil has expanded its business in the new African ethanol industry in countries like Angola, Ghana and Mozambique; China is one of the top
investing countries in LDCs such as Sudan and Zambia; an Indian company recently acquired an African mobile phone network; and Russian banks are expanding to countries such as Cte dIvoire and Nigeria. The report notes that this growing relationship between BRICS and Africa is likely to be reinforced in the future due to the rapid economic growth and industrial upgrading currently taking place in BRICS countries. However, the main share of BRICS outward investment is still in developed economies, with 34 per cent of their stocks going to the European Union. The report notes that these investments are in large part driven by market-seeking motives as well as mergers and acquisitions across borders.
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UK firms want EU powers reined in

MOST British firms want a renegotiation of Britains membership of the European Union (EU) with powers returned to London, a study by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has found, with businesses citing dangerous laws from Brussels that undermine the United Kingdoms (UK) competitiveness and stifle recovery. Of the 4,000 firms surveyed, 60 per cent said renegotiation would be positive for the economy. Just 11 per cent felt it would be damaging. Despite UK efforts to cut red tape, the tide of regulation from the EU in areas like health and safety is dragging on growth, the BCC said. More than half of firms highlighted employment law as the most important area that needs repatriation. Only 15 per cent of the firms surveyed thought maintaining the status quo with Europe would be positive, while 23 per cent think further integration would be
beneficial. Meanwhile 18 per cent favour a full withdrawal from the EU though 60 per cent fear that change would be damaging. The study should provide a boost to David Cameron, who has spoken of his desire to shake up Britains relationship with the EU.
The BCC believes the Prime Minister has a strong hand in Europe, because the UK is Germanys biggest export market, which provides an incentive for the state to keep Britain happy. It believes the UK would find allies across the EU as businesses across the Union face the same restrictions, slowing growth internationally.
London aims to be Islamic money hub

The British government launched a campaign last month to promote London as a centre for Islamic finance, seeking to counter growing competition in that industry from rising centres such as Dubai and Kuala Lumpur. London has attracted a large amount of Islamic business; more than $34bn worth of sukuk, Islamic bonds which are structured under religious principles such as a ban on interest payments, have been issued through the London Stock Exchange. London has attracted a large amount of Islamic business; more than $34 billion worth of sukuk, Islamic bonds which are structured under religious principles such as a ban on interest payments, have been issued through the London Stock Exchange. But competition from cities where Islamic funds originate is increasing. Kuala Lumpur is building its credentials as a centre for foreign companies to issue sukuk outside their domestic markets, while Dubai announced in January that it would revise regulations to attract sukuk issuance and trading. Britain has introduced legislation facilitating Islamic finance, and in 2009 it came close to issuing Europes first sovereign sukuk. The issue was ultimately postponed indefinitely because the government felt it would not provide value for money, Farmida Bi, European head of Islamic finance at law firm Norton Rose in London, said.
Warning over Chinese debt

A senior Chinese auditor has warned that local government debt is out of control and could spark a bigger financial crisis than the US housing market crash. Zhang Ke said his accounting firm, ShineWing, had all but stopped signing off on bond sales by local governments as a result of his concerns. We audited some local government bond issues and found them very dangerous, so we pulled out, said Zhang, who is also vicechairman of Chinas accounting association.
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Merger mania sends deals up over $650bn

A spate of big money deals announced by US corporations yesterday helped propel global Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) activity soaring past $650 billion (425.4bn) for this year, as dealmaking marched back into the spotlight. Moves by US satellite TV provider Dish Network to buy mobile phone company Sprint Nextel for $25.5 billion and a $13.6 billion deal between genetic testing firms Thermo Fisher Scientific and Life Technologies helped send M&A values to $650.2 billion for 2013 so far. Meanwhile, investor Royalty Pharma raised its offer for Irish drug maker Elan, valuing a deal at nearly $7.3 billion. With (European Union (EU) regulators clearing plans for Liberty Global to buy Virgin Media for 15bn and private equity group CVC revealing it had held takeover talks with listed gaming company Betfair proved the third best merger since the start of 2012. The surge in dealmaking has helped increase global M&A by 15 per cent on the $568.1 billion total recorded for this time last year.
80% of Arab banks ready for new rules
IMF fears world addicted to ultra-low rates

Markets and businesses are becoming hooked on ultra-low interest rates and may react badly when the time comes to tighten monetary policy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned central banks.
Britain leads world in calculated use of the corporate leak

Leaking details of a takeover approach before its formal announcement is more common in the United Kingdom than anywhere else, research from Cass Business School says.
EU approves plans to cap City bonuses
Tens of thousands of City workers were a step closer to having their bonuses capped by new the European Union (EU) rule, after the European Parliament approved the plan last month to ban variable pay rising above the level of salaries.
EU wont help carbon trading

European Union politicians rejected last month a plan to prop up the worlds biggest carbon market, sending it plunging to a new record low and raising questions about its survival. A plenary session of European Parliament rejected by 19 votes a proposal to temporarily remove some of the oversupply that has overwhelmed the market for permits to emit carbon dioxide.
Cyprus to relax citizenship requirements

Cyprus is to relax citizenship rules for bank depositors who lost large amounts of money in the deal with the EU and IMF, in a bid to keep foreign investors interested in the island state.
Eighty per cent of Arab banks are in a position to meet new international regulations on the level of reserves they need to hold while all banks in Bahrain meet these standards. That was the message from Union of Arab Banks (UAB) chairman Adnan Ahmed Yousif on the sidelines of the annual Arab Banking Conference, which took place in Manama, Bahrain, last month. Mr Yousif, who is also chief executive of Al Baraka Banking Group, said there were 103 banks from 22 countries taking part in the event which had attracted more than 200 delegates on its first visit to Bahrain as a venue. He said the Arab banking industry was well prepared to implement the Basel III international regulations which will come into force over the next few years as banks are told to strengthen their reserves and liquidity.
China's economic growth stumbles in early 2013

China's rate of economic growth unexpectedly slipped in the first three months of 2013, according to official figures released today that show the country's GDP grew by 7.7 per cent in the first quarter.
Commodity traders $250bn harvest

The worlds top commodities traders have pocketed nearly $250bn over the last decade, making the individuals and families that control the largely privately-owned sector big beneficiaries of the rise of China and other emerging countries.
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China weathered global economic and financial crisis of past 5 years

Chinas prospects stirred interest as the BRICs met in South Africa and a new survey by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCDE) found China on course to become the worlds largest economy by 2016. The OECD study says China has weathered the global economic and financial crisis of the past five years better than virtually any OECD country and should be able to continue catching up and improving living standards over the next decade. While the OECD study says China needs to shift to more environmentally friendly modes of consumption and production, a new Climate Institute/ GE Low-Carbon Competitiveness Index finds that France, Japan, China, South Korea and the United Kingdom are currently best positioned to prosper in the global low-carbon economy. Chinas economy expanded rapidly in recent years despite a dire international context, though it slowed in 2011-12. Rebalancing has made headway: externally, the current account surplus has fallen sharply, from over 10% of GDP in 2007 to under 3%; domestically, growth has lately been pulled more by consumption than by investment. With the slowdown, inflation has been brought under control. More recently, activity has regained momentum, helped by policy easing and a pick-up in infrastructure spending, but the global economic context remains fragile. If needed, there is room for further cautious monetary and fiscal stimulus. In a longer-run perspective, China has now overtaken the euro area and is on course to become the worlds largest economy around 2016, after allowing for price differences. Living standards will continue to improve fast provided reforms are implemented, most of which feature in the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) and in the conclusions of the November 2012 18th CCP Congress. For the full report by the OCDE visit: www.oecd.org/eco/ surveys/Overview_CHINA.pdf
Luxembourg announces end of bank secrecy with EU

Luxembourg last month gave into mounting pressure from its fellow European countries and agreed to share bank account details of EU citizens who have savings there from 2015. The decision, which follows fierce lobbying from the European Commission and Germany, puts pressure on Austria now the only EU country which does not share such information to follow suit. Luxembourgs decision means the automatic exchange of data about EU citizens holding bank accounts in the country, with the aim of cracking down on tax avoidance in particular on interest income from savings. Germany said on Tuesday that the EUs five largest economies Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Spain had agreed to deepen cooperation in a bid to tackle tax evasion. Luxembourg is one of Europes biggest financial centres and its banking sector is estimated to be 22 times the size of its economy, The European Commission said yesterday that it remained in talks with Austria, and was hopeful it would decide to follow Luxembourgs lead.
Lehman Brothers Holdings to hand out $14bn to creditors

Lehman Brothers Holdings said it plans to distribute about $14.2 billion (9.4bn) to creditors this month, as the company winds down following its emergence last year from bankruptcy protection.The distribution will be Lehmans third since it emerged from Chapter 11 protection in March 2012. Lehman said the payout will increase total distributions to about $47.2 billion (31.3bn), with two-thirds going to third parties. The company has also said it hopes to distribute more than $65 billion, on average about 21 cents on the dollar for allowed claims. The companys wind-down is expected to take several years. Lehman is still litigating against JP Morgan Chase, once its main clearing bank, and others to maximise potential payouts to creditors.
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Credit Suisse buys wealth arm

private banking operation, the worlds fifthlargest with nearly SFr800 billion ($900bn554bn) under management. But the deal underscores Credit Suisses efforts to beef up private banking, which tends to deliver a smoother revenue stream than investment banking. Credit Suisse is also trying to slash costs at the private banking operation by one billion francs by 2015 and has already folded the smaller asset management arm into that unit.
Fracking will not cause serious earthquakes, study

Fracking, the controversial process of extracting shale gas by blasting water into rocks at high pressure, will not cause serious earthquakes, according to a study conducted by Durham Universitys Energy Institute which concluded that just three earthquakes detectable by humans since 1929 could be attributed to hydraulic fracking. Most of the tremors caused by the process will not be felt, the study concluded. In contrast, the study found that other manmade actions such as mining or filling reservoirs could cause more serious earthquakes of up to 5.6 on the richter scale. The study should provide relief for UK fracking firm Cuadrilla Resources, which has had to fight opposition from environmentalists.
Credit Suisse is buying Morgan Stanleys wealth management arm in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, acquiring $14 billion (8.6 billion) in assets in a move to offset exposure to more volatile investment banking. The assets are tiny by the standards of Credit Suisse's
Chinas currency unlikely to supplant dollar

Chinas currency, the renminbi (RMB), is unlikely to topple dollar as the world reserve currency except possibly in the very long term, according to Lawrence H. Summers, Professor at Harvard University and a former US Treasury Secretary. Summer also spoke of the reality that China holds some trillions of dollars of liquid financial assets around the world, on which it is earning an extremely low rate of return, while at the same time there are important shortages of investments in key sectors of the world. Huge amounts of capital are flowing from poorer countries to richer ones and will require important deliberations, he said at the World Economic Forum in Davos. 43
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UK second most budget hike socially developed The European Commission last month called for its budget to be globally, study
The United Kingdom (UK)is the worlds second most socially developed country, according to research from Harvard Business School and the Social Progress Imperative. The UKs second placing came despite having the lowest GDP per capita, measured at purchasing power parity, of the top five, and was down to scoring strongly on basic human needs, social infrastructure and opportunity. In first place was Sweden, with a social progress index of 64.81, followed by the UK, then Switzerland, Canada and Germany. The US, Australia, Japan, France and crisis-hit Spain rounded off the top ten. The so-called Social Progress Index, as the list is known, has been two years in the making and came from an original idea proposed by the World Economic Forums Global Agenda Council.
EU demands new
increased because it overspent in 2012 and now has bills to pay which it cannot currently afford.
Berlusconi's empire slips to first loss

Silvio Berlusconis media empire, Mediaset, has slipped to its first ever annual loss, of 287.1m (243m), as a weak Italian advertising market forced the company to scrap its dividend.
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BRICS economies want their own development bank

The BRICS economies discussed setting up a new development bank that would rival the IMF and the World Bank, but so far they have failed to reach an agreement. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa represent together a fifth of global GDP but have struggled to convert their economic weight into political clout in the international arena. At their Durban summit, the groups fifth since 2009, the heads of state discussed plans to create a joint foreign exchange reserves pool as well as the infrastructure bank. China and Brazil agreed to swap up to the equivalent of $30 billion in each others currencies if need be so that their commercial ties will not suffer if a new banking crisis causes
dollar trade finance to dry up. The three-year agreement, signed before the start of the summit, marked
a step by the two largest economies in the emerging powers group to change global trade flows.
New forecast says Spanish dip will deepen further this year
Spain will have to brace itself for yet further worsening in its economic climate this year, the Bank of Spain warned. On top of last years 1.4 per cent slide in economic output, the economy will shrink 1.5 per cent this year, the central bank said. This goes sharply against the governments own expectation that GDP will fall only 0.5 per cent through 2013 as a whole, but is broadly in line with what independent economists are forecasting for the stricken Eurozone member. Private agents remain immersed in a process of deleveraging, families have seen a notable shrinking of income, public accounts continue on their path toward sustainability, and residential investment has not yet hit bottom, the bank said, explaining why its prediction for the year was so gloomy. Spain, under Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, has brought its budget deficit down from close to nine per cent in 2011 to 6.7 per cent last year, and hopes to reach the EUs three per cent ceiling in 2016.
Obama urges Republicans to accept budget

US President Barack Obama called on the Republicans court, challenging his opponents to compromise over the new proposed $3.77 trillion government budget. Obamas budget projects that it would cut the deficit to $744 billion in 2014, or 4.4 per cent of GDP, from an estimated $973 billion in 2013. Americas national debt has ballooned to around $16.8 trillion in recent years.
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UK Europes top destination for investment

A majority of US business leaders would invest in the United Kingdom (UK) ahead of any other European country, according to figures published by Cubitt Consulting (CC) and BritishAmerican Business (BAB). Sixty-three per cent of US bosses surveyed by the two establishments said the UK was their first choice for European investment, ahead of just 16.7 per cent who picked Germany, and 6.7 per cent who chose France. And despite a raft of regulations, levies and taxes hitting the City, Londons competitiveness as a financial centre has actually improved compared to Europe since the financial crisis, according to 65 per cent of respondents. Some 56.7 per cent also picked London as their top choice for a stock market flotation in the next 12 months, ahead of New York with 21.7 per cent and Hong Kong with a tenth of votes. Britains main benefit is the language it shares with the US according to 33.3 per cent of respondents, while 23.3 per cent thought the biggest draw was the highly skilled workforce. A fifth said UK expertise was most important, and 13.3 per cent cited the countrys geography. By contrast, just five per cent put their investment down to sound infrastructure, 1.7 per cent to good governance, and a further 1.7 per cent to light-touch regulation. The regulatory burden was given as the second biggest barrier to investment, BAB and CC said, just behind high tax and just ahead of access to funding and high labour costs.
UAE banks survive global crisis

The United Arab emirates (UAE) banking industry survived the global economic crisis during the last five years and showed growth in almost all indicators, according to the annual report issued by the UAE Banks Federation. UAE banks witnessed remarkable growth in total assets which increased by approximately eight per cent to Dh1.791 trillion in 2012, enabling the banking sector to remain the Arab regions largest in terms of assets.
Shell warns of shale gas delays

The development of shale oil and gas reserves around the world will be much slower than in North America, a senior executive at Royal Dutch Shell has warned. Andrew Brown, Shells head of international oil and gas production, said the lack of equipment and skilled staff would hold back the growth of output.
IMF boss warns threat from big banks remains
1 in 5 of Eurozone firms downgraded in 2012 amid crisis

Nearly a fifth of the euro areas nonfinancial firms and almost a third of its financial companies were downgraded by Standard & Poors (S&P) in 2012, the ratings agency revealed.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Christine Lagarde (pictured above) pushed for further reform of the banking sector, warning the threat from large banks was more dangerous than ever.
Scotland faces pound problem

An independent Scotland would have its economic and fiscal policies severely restricted if it attempts to keep using the pound after leaving the UK, according to a damning report released today by the Westminster government.
EU fears US bank rule hurts Europe

Top European Union (EU) official Michel Barnier has written to the Federal Reserve to protest against rules which make foreign banks in the US hold extra capital. The commissioner argues the rules risk a protectionist reaction that threatens global regulatory harmony.
Biggest lenders must not rely on each other

The worlds biggest banks should limit their transactions with each other to protect themselves against any major customers going bust, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision proposed.
Shell to explore China shale

ENERGY giant Shell got a boost from its China drilling programme as the government approved a production sharing contract to explore a shale gas block.
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London is still top global financial centre

vLondon has held onto its position as the worlds leading financial centre, yet faces increasing competition from Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and Zurich. The United Kingdoms capital city came out top of the latest Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI), maintaining a 20 point lead above New York. Yet while London and New York gained 22 points in the rankings, some cities climbed at a sharper rate thus narrowing the gap between their centres and the top. Sixth placed Tokyo and fourth placed Singapore both saw 34 point jumps, while fifth placed Zurich was up 32 points according to the GFCIs 2013 calculations. Hong Kongs score grew by 28 points, maintaining its third place position in the tables. Offshore centres continue to gain ground in GFCI 13 with good
improvements in their ratings, the report also noted. Jersey and Guernsey remain the leading centres followed by Monaco which ranks 35th, up by 25 ranks and 57 points [since last year]. The report also revealed
priorities for people looking to invest in emerging markets. The stability of the macroeconomy, the legal and regulatory environment, and openness of trade are considered the most important factors.
Huawei not interested in US

Huawei has given up its quest to conquer the market for telecom network equipment in the US, where the Chinese companys sales efforts have been repeatedly blocked by security fears. We are not interested in the US market any more, Eric Xu, executive vice-president, said at the companys annual analyst summit last month. US security officials and politicians have repeatedly identified Huawei as a threat an allegation the Chinese company has consistently denied to US national security.
Banks accused of harming competition in swaps data

A major banking industry body was accused by the European authorities of conspiring to shut down competition in the credit default swaps (CDS) market. The European Commission claimed the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (Isda) may have tried to stop exchanges entering the market and providing CDS data. The commissions inquiry found preliminary indications that Isda may have been involved in a coordinated effort of investment banks to delay or prevent exchanges from entering the credit derivatives business, it said, adding that, such behaviour, if established, would stifle competition in the internal market in breach of EU antitrust rules. The investigation opened in April 2011 and suspects the banks could have monitored the market to foreclose the development of certain CDS trading platforms. This could have been achieved through collusion or an abuse of a possible collective dominance, the EC explained. Isda denied any wrongdoing. Isda is aware that it has been made subject to these proceedings, the body said in a statement. Isda is confident that it has acted properly at all times and has not infringed EU competition rules. Isda is co-operating fully with regulatory authorities, it said.
China manufacturing slows in April

Manufacturing activity in China has slowed down in April, indicating that the country is still recovering from its decline in economic growth.
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Profits up for Google and Microsoft

reported a $6.1 billion profit for its third quarter, up from $5.1 billion in the same quarter last year. Sales also rose from $17.4 billion to $20.5 billion. Most of the boost came from deferred sales income from across its products. Meanwhile Google reported thumping revenues of almost $14 billion for the quarter, up by nearly a third year on year. Overall net income came in at $3.35 billion. This compares well to the $2.89 billion posted this time last year but this years figure includes revenues and costs associated with its Motorola Mobility mobile phone business, which it acquired in August last year. The price advertisers are willing to pay Google to advertise fell four per cent from a year ago, the sixth time in a row it has fallen. This quarters figure is slower than the six per cent slump posted last quarter. Google is currently pushing ahead with its Glass project, with the spectacles currently being dispatched.
TECH software giants Google and Microsoft both reported quarterly profit rises as Microsoft announced chief operating officer Peter Klein was quitting the business. Pressure from falling PC sales and flatlining growth from Windows, which has been exacerbated by muted pickup of its new Windows 8 operating system, have all hampered the company. However, despite these problems, Microsoft
Lords call for legal action against EU finance tax

The United Kingdom (UK) is failing to combat Europes dangerous new financial transactions tax (FTT), a committee of peers in the British House of Lords argued last month, urging the government to take legal action against the proposals.
Global business optimism up

Global business optimism rose to its highest level for two years in the early stages of 2013, according to a poll of executives from the accountancy firm Grant Thornton. This sense of confidence is driving investment, the accountancy said, with 38 per cent of respondents planning extra investment in machinery and plant over the coming 12 months, up from 31 per cent three months ago, with firms huge cash piles coming into play.
British legal sector worth $32bn to the economy

Legal services firms nearly doubled their contribution to the British economy over the past decade, making the country the biggest legal market in Europe. The legal sector added 20.9 billion ($32bn) to GDP during 2011, according to figures released by TheCityUK, up from 10.6 billion in 2001. This meant the United Kingdoms (UK) legal sector which generated 26.8 billion ($42bn) of fees in the 2011-12 financial year accounted for some seven per cent of the global trade in legal services, more than in any other European country. Some 340,000 people worked in the legal services industry in 2011, according to TheCityUK, and the industry earned a 3.3 billion ($5bn) trade surplus in that year.
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Fitch warns on Spanish banks

Spains banks still need to shrink rapidly and bail in more investors if the sector is to return to health, ratings agency Fitch warned.
Drop in natural disasters helps Lloyds profits

The Lloyds of London insurance market swung to a profit last year as the number of natural disasters fell worldwide. Lloyds of London posted a 2.77 billion ($4.3bn) profit for 2012, in spite of 10 billion ($16bn) in claims including 1.4bn ($2bn) in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, making the storm that battered North America one of the costliest disasters in Lloyds history. The gain compares to a 516 million ($800m) loss in the previous year, which was the second-worst performance in the markets 325year history. in 2011, there were catastrophes in Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Japan and North America.
IMF warns of easy money timebomb

Printiong money for years on end risks long-term damage to the economy and parts of the financial sector, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned.
Top fund managers take home less

The 25 highest paid hedge fund managers collected $14bn in pay and paper profits on their own investments last year, down from $22bn in 2010, in a sign of the industrys struggle to improve client portfolios. It was the lowest total since 2008, when most large hedge funds lost money.
Decade to normalise Fed accounts

It may take the Federal Reserve until 2022 to bring its massive balance sheet back toward a more historically normal size, Goldman Sachs economists argue in new research.
Want to reach decision makers in emerging markets in Asia, Africa, Latin America & the Middle East?
Twitter signs biggest ad deal yet

Social network Twitter signed a multi-year deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars with Publicis Starcom Mediavest Group.
north south
For advertising rates etc, contact Franklin Adesegha +44 20 72323000 northsouthmag@aol.com
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arts
Spanish museums adapt to budget cuts

Spains top museums are raising entry prices, opening for longer hours and sending works abroad in touring exhibitions in a scramble for new revenue to offset steep government cuts to their budgets. Spains conservative government has slashed spending on culture by nearly 20 per cent this year to 722 million euros ($940 million) as part of the steepest budget cuts since the country returned to democracy following the death of Francisco Franco in 1975. The cuts, aimed at reining in Spains public deficit, have prompted various survival strategies by state-funded museums such as the Thyssen-Bornemisza, which displays works by artists such as El Greco and Pablo Picasso in an 18th century palace in central Madrid. The Prado, Spains leading art museum, will receive 30 per cent less state funding this year. The Reina Sofia, home to Picassos 20th century masterpiece Guernica, will get 25 per cent less and the ThyssenBornemisza 33 per cent less. A three-month exhibition of paintings by US artist Edward Hopper drew 322,421 visitors to the Thyssen-Bornemisza, making it the most viewed temporary exhibition in the museums 20-year history. The museums strategy is to stage shows by popular painters like Hopper that are sure to draw art lovers alongside shows that appeal to people who do not usually go to art museums, such as an exhibition of jewellery from the Cartier Collection that wrapped up last month and drew 101,531 visitors, helping to boost the museums overall visitor numbers last year to a record 1,255,281. Sending works abroad is another strategy for increasing revenue. A 14-week exhibition of over 100 works from the Prados collection which explores the evolution of Spanish painting from the 16th century wrapped up at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas on 31 March. Museums have also stepped up their hunt for private donors. The number of individual members of the Foundation of Friends of the Prado more than doubled last year to 22,831 from 9,132 in 2010. Members receive free entry to the museum and access to private events in exchange for yearly donations of up to 3,000 euros. The foundation provided the museum with just over one million euros last year. But since Spain does not have a longstanding tradition of private sponsorship of the arts and few tax incentives for donors like those which exist in Britain and the United States, raising money is not easy, said the Reina Sofias director Manuel Borja-Villel.
&
The art of Tudor and Stuart fashion exhibition
entertanment
The Queens Gallery, Buckingham Palace, in London, will stage an exhibition of under the theme In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion from 10 May 6 October 2013. This exhibition will trace the changing styles of the 16th and 17th centuries and the spread of fashions through the royal courts of Europe. For the Tudor and Stuart elite, luxurious clothing was an essential component of court life. Garments and accessories conveyed important messages about wealth, gender, age, social position, marital status and religion. Paintings, drawings and prints from the Royal Collection, among them works by Sir Anthony van Dyck, Hans Holbein the Younger and Rembrandt, will go on display alongside rare surviving examples of clothing and accessories.
China is now number 2 box office
China surpassed Japan in 2012 to become the worlds second-largest movie market, behind the US, with box office receipts in the worlds most populous nation up 36 per cent to $2.7 billion.
Propaganda: Power and Persuasion exhibition

The British Library in London is organising an exhibition from 17 May 17 September 2013 to illustrate the impact of Propaganda: Power and Persuasion and explore how different states have used propaganda during the 20th and 21st centuries, in peace-time and in war. Posters, films, cartoons and textbooks reveal the many ways by which the state tries to influence its citizens.
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Amazon AutoRip offers vinyl purchasers free mp3

For as long as we can remember, each new CD we have purchased has made a trip to our computer for a good, old fashioned ripping, first thing out of the plastic. So the concept of offering up free MP3s with the purchase of a compact disc always felt a bit superfluous (particularly in these days when fewer and fewer are buying music in a physical form). The increasingly popular concept of offering up downloads with the purchase of a vinyl LP, on the other hand, makes sense. Indeed, it is a lot harder for most of us to transfer music onto PCs. Amazon is now embracing the concept by extending its AutoRip promotion to records, giving consumers a 256 Kbps cloud-based copy of the music they buy on vinyl. The promotion extends to thousands of titles anything sporting the AutoRip logo is included.
Apple patent let you buy iTunes songs while offline

Do you want to buy a new song or video from iTunes even though youre offline? A new Apple patent envisions a way, at least sometime down the road. Granted to Apple last month by the US Patent and Trademark office, the patent appropriately named On-device offline purchases using credits describes a system of using credits to purchase iTunes content that is stored on your device but which you do not already own. The goal is to allow you to unlock and play iTunes songs, videos, and other items without having to be online. You would first buy credits that you can apply to future offline iTunes purchases. You would also have a library of items on your mobile device that you do not actually own but may wish to purchase. These items could include recommendations from iTunes that were downloaded the last time you were online.
Rolling Stones concert sold out in 5 mins

The Rolling Stones concert in Hyde Park, in London, on 6 July, was sold out in less than five minutes and there is speculation that they could play a second date. Their performance will be almost 44 years to the day since they first played there. All 65,000 tickets for the bands return to the site of their historic 1969 performance were sold almost as soon as public booking opened. The price for a basic ticket is 95 ($150).
New $40m Mary Rose museum opens 31 May

The famous Tudor warship, Mary Rose, reveals her secrets 500 years after she sank. The ship that captured the worlds imagination when she was raised from the seabed in 1982 now has a museum built around her, reuniting the ship with its contents and crew. The Museum is a giant air lock and time capsule. Visitors enter a controlled environment to experience a unique journey through the ship and Tudor life. The most comprehensive collection of Tudor artefacts in the world will be showcased - from personal belongings such as wooden eating bowls, leather shoes, musical instruments and even nit combs complete with 500-year-old lice through to longbows and two tonne guns. For the first time crew members are being brought to life through forensic science: visitors can come face to face with a carpenter, cook and archer and even Hatch the ships dog. The new Mary Rose Museum will form the centrepiece to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, England, home to The Royal Navy, one of the United Kingdoms major visitor destinations and only 90 minutes from London. For more information visit: www. historicdockyard.co.uk.
Summer exhibition at Royal Academy of Arts

The Royal Academy of Arts summer exhibition in London is taking place from 10 June to 18 August 2013. This highly popular exhibition is now in its 245th year. Displaying some of the best of contemporary art, the exhibition features more than 1,200 works by both new and distinguished artists.
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travel
& toursm
to truly deliver the sEs. We should learn the lessons from the failure of rP1 to deliver the efficiency needed to put sEs back on track. AnsPs and member states need the right incentives to drive the sEs. the European Commission understands this. But we have seen a progressive weakening of their strong position under pressure from member states which continue to protect inefficient, state-owned AnsP monopolies over the needs of travelers and the environment for more efficient air traffic management, said tony tyler, IAtAs Director General and CEo. Passengers, airlines and the wider European economy are losing Eur 5 billion every year from inefficient air traffic management. thats the cost of the fragmentation of European airspace. But once again it looks like the cost-efficiency targets will be woefully short of what is required. the solution is a binding performance scheme, administered by a Europe-wide independent economic regulator. Its the only way to motivate AnsPs to rationalize the duplication and waste of the current system. For example, Europe does not need the 63 air traffic control centers that it has today. We could have more efficient service with no more than 40, said tyler. the actual targets for rP2 will be finalized in December. Based on the evidence of the framework agreed last week, we are not optimistic that the numbers will be sufficiently ambitious. that will mean business as usual instead of the reform needed. the single European sky should by now have become a great and successful European project. But following this development, airspace users will be asking themselves why they should continue to support it financially or in any other way, said tyler.
single European sky performance scheme set to disappoint again
the International Air transport Association (IAtA) criticised the decision of the European single sky Committee to endorse weakened Performance and Charging scheme regulations for air navigation services over the period 20152019. the decision was made in March and impacts the calendar years 2015-2019 (known as reference Period 2 or rP2). If this decision is allowed to stand, regulators will have permitted a second period of weak regulation for the critical single European sky (sEs) project. Diluted targets were previously set for rP1 covering 2012-2014, which air navigation service providers (AnsPs) could readily meet without the reforms needed
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newS & viewS to bridge the global divide
Chinese tourists spent more than any other nationality

thanks to rapid urbanization and rising disposable incomes in their country, Chinese tourists spent $102 billion during their travels in 2012, more than any other nationality, making the Asian nation the worlds number one tourism source market, according to the World tourism organization (unWto). the volume of international trips by Chinese travellers has grown from 10 million in 2000 to 83 million in 2012. their expenditure abroad has also climbed rapidly, increasing by 40 per cent from 2011 to 2012. the relaxation of restrictions on foreign travel and an appreciating Chinese currency have contributed to this boom in tourism. In 2005 China ranked seventh in international tourism expenditure, and has since successively overtaken Italy, Japan, France and the united Kingdom. With last years surge, China leaped to first place, surpassing the top spender, Germany, and the united states. Both of these counties spent close to $84 billion in 2012. other emerging markets have also increased their share of world tourism spending over the past decade. russia saw an increase of 32 per cent in 2012, spending $43 billion, which brought it from seventh to fifth place in the international tourism spending rankings. Brazil also experienced a significant increase, which allowed it to move from the 29th position in 2005 to the 12th position in 2012. Countries which have traditionally ranked high in tourism expenditure also experienced growth albeit at a slower pace than emerging economies. spending on travel abroad from Germany and the us grew by 6 per cent each, while uK spending grew by 4 per cent allowing the country to retain its fourth place in the list of major source markets. Expenditure by Canada grew by 7 per cent, while both Australia and Japan grew by three per cent. France and Italy were the only countries in the top ten to record a decline in international tourism spending of -6 per cent and -1 per cent, respectively.
Dubai seeks 15 million tourists by 2015

the tourism industry is one of the leading drivers of Dubais economic growth and despite being buoyant and competitive; there are numerous opportunities for additional investment, especially given future growth forecasts for this important sector, according to a top official of Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry who said that Dubai expects 15 million tourists by 2015.
InterContinental hotels to offer free wi-fi

IhG, the hotel group that owns Crowne Plaza, InterContinental and holiday Inn hotels, is to offer internet access free of charge at all of its properties to anyone who has joined its free IhG rewards Club (ihg.com). the move came after the groups research revealed that 43 per cent of travellers preferred not to stay in properties that charge for wi-fi access. Members do not even have to be checked in to log on: free access to cardholders is extended to those using lobbies or bars.
UN agencies launch campaign informing tourists about illicit goods
tourists can help reduce demand for illicit goods and services that fund organised criminal activity, the united nations World tourism organization (unWto) agencies working on tourism and on crime said, announcing plans for a new public information campaign. the campaign will encourage tourists to make informed decisions and help reduce demand for trafficking in persons, cultural artefacts, wildlife, fauna and flora such as ivory
products, as well as counterfeit goods, and illicit drugs, according to a press release from the World tourism organization (unWto) and the united nations office on Drugs and Crime (unoDC). to be launched later this year, the campaign will be built around the message that the demand for even harmless products can have devastating effects on the lives of innocent people, on wildlife or on cultural property. the campaign will seek to engage the tourism industry including hotel chains, travel agencies and airlines to lend support in raising awareness among tourists and help contribute to limiting these illicit markets.
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Computer to predict breast cancer survival

the signatures play roles in cancer growth, the ability of the cancer to invade tissues and the ability of the immune system to kill cancer cells, said study researcher Dimitris Anastassiou, director of Columbia University's Genomic Information Systems Laboratory. To test how well the model worked for patients with breast cancer, the researchers entered it in a contest called the Sage Bionetworks/DREAM Breast Cancer Prognosis Challenge. The goal of the contest, which included 350 teams, was to build a model that could accurately predict breast cancer survival. The online contest employed crowdsourcing -- teams could borrow ideas from each other to improve their models. Researchers first developed their model using genetic and clinical information from about 2,000 women with breast cancer. They then tested their model on a new data set of 184 women with breast cancer. The researchers did not know how long these patients had lived. The model by Anastassiou and colleagues worked the best. Given two patients, their model could predict which one would live longer 76 percent of the time. It also ranked patients based on how long it thought they would survive. With more refinement, Anastassiou said the model could help researchers decide how to treat individual patients. Anastassiou said he wants to conduct a study to see if the gene signatures in his model can be combined with, or replace some of the biomarkers researchers use today to better predict survival. Right now, the model is not ready to be used by doctors or patients. The study is published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
science news
A new computer model may help researchers better predict how long breast cancer patients will live, a new study suggests. The model uses gene signatures -- sets of genes that are all "turned on" at the same time in a patient's cancer -- to estimate how long patients will live. These signatures are actually present in many types of cancer, and the researchers identified them in earlier work. The genes in
Developing adaptable prosthetics for amputees comfort

Amputees may lose their limbs as the result of tragic accidents or due to military combat. For some losing a limb can feel like losing their freedom. Approximately one in every 1,000 people in the United Kingdom is an amputee and one in 100 in Angola. Now, engineers at Bournemouth University in southern England are turning an academic concept into a practical product that could lessen the misery for thousands of amputees. They are creating a smart socket - a lower-limb prosthetic that can adjust itself 53
May 2013
to fit the changing shape of the limb stump with which it connects. The design team says the fit will be so comfortable that amputee service personnel may even be able to return to active combat.Many prosthetic limbs remain unused simply because they can be so uncomfortable over time, said Bryce Dyer, a senior lecturer at the universitys Design Simulation Research Centre, where mechanical engineers and clinicians led by Professor Siamak Noroozi are developing the technology. Fitting a false limb is currently a bit of a black art, he added. Prosthetists traditionally require decades of experience to do their job successfully and are dependent on the subjective feedback of patients, with no other method of measuring fit. Additionally,
present technology does not allow for changes in volume - patients stumps may swell or contract. Its like having your feet change size on a daily basis and expecting your shoes still to fit comfortably, he said. Calling on combined expertise, Bournemouth Universitys School of Design, Engineering & Computing is using artificial intelligence to create a self-learning system that will measure interactions between socket and limb stump during the fitting and wear. It is very much at a research and development stage, said Mr Dyer. Currently, the team is also attempting to miniaturise the technology to make it light and portable as well as incorporating wireless technology.
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The law gets a step closer to catching criminals

Criminals beware because in the future the technology to bring you to justice may only be a few feet away. Indeed, a revolutionary technique to capture shoeprints invisible to the naked eye at crime scenes has been developed by a researcher funded by the United Kingdoms Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council. Dr Kevin Farrugia from Scotlands University of Abertay adapted existing print visualisation techniques to enable shoeprints left on fabrics or floor coverings to be revealed clearly and in detail. The technique works on fresh and older prints and therefore could be used to investigate older cases of unsolved crime. Dr Farrugia said: Footwear marks can be made in many contaminants, for instance blood, mud, urine and dust. They can be left on all sorts of different fabrics, like cotton or denim, as well as on patterned and dark material - which makes them more difficult to see. When someone steps in wet blood, the first few prints they leave will be a wet smudge, so no fine detail from the footwear sole can be recovered, he added. However, as the marks fade and becomes less visible, the pattern on the sole of the shoe, by contrast, becomes much clearer and better defined. And its these prints - the ones that we cant actually see - that are the most useful at a crime scene, especially when it isnt possible to recover other types of evidence such as fingerprints and DNA, because they can tell you things like what size, and even what brand, of shoe the perpetrator was wearing when they committed the crime, he added. More importantly, because everyone walks differently, the sole of their shoes will have acquired what we call random and individual characteristics that are specific to that shoe and person, which means, when the police have got a suspect, they can get their shoes, and if the shoes match, it can lead to a conviction, said Dr Farrugia. The lifting and retrieval of a shoe p r i n t from a fl o o r e d surface is an important technique in forensic detection employed by scene of crime officers in the UK. There are many databases dedicated to the identification of the tread marks made by a shoe. These databases contain thousands of shoe print treads for comparison, mostly of which are trainers. One of the first problems to overcome when attempting to lift a footprint from a crime scene is trying to identify if there are indeed any prints to be lifted. The problem is further complicated by the fact that there may be many footprints all overlapping one another, making just a smudged mess.
Intelligent GPS that helps mountain rescue

Next-generation smartphone navigation is being developed by British experts as part of a European collaborative fitness and safety project. Based in Cambridge, England, Augmentra - the company behind the successful ViewRanger smartphone application - is now developing a new generation of informative navigation software that will improve outdoor safety. The work is part of a new European project known as DOSSy (Digital Outdoors and Safety System) coordinated by the University of St Gallen in Switzerland. Involving among others Germanys Red Cross and the Swiss Alpine Club, this aims to help facilitate enjoyment of mountain pursuits regardless of age by developing an app that includes intelligent navigation, location and context triggered safety features. Augmentras co-founders are both outdoor enthusiasts. One, Craig Wareham, explained: The DOSSy project is a step change in mobile navigation. It will enable information about the terrain, weather and fitness of the individual to help guide the user. It will also provide a new dimension for rescue teams as it will allow much richer information to be accessed about the lost or injured person. DOSSy is part of the wider Ambient Assisted Living Joint Programme, a European Commission activity aimed at enhancing the quality of life of older people, including those known as silver hikers. Wareham said, our ViewRanger GPS app is more advanced in that it provides active navigation. It uses predetermined waypoints to direct the users on the right course, with alerts if you go off track. Conditions change rapidly in the mountains and 90 per cent of incidents occur during foul weather or after nightfall. The less fit and elderly are particularly vulnerable to falls or becoming disoriented. The communications facility provided by the smartphone opens up access for various relevant data to be fed into the app, said Wareham,adding that weather can nowadays be predicted with high accuracy.
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54
motoring
Student-built car gets 3,587 mpg

last years trials amidst engine trouble. We took our frustrations from last years event and used them as motivation to return better than ever, said Laval team manager Philippe Bouchard. We trained our new team members and spent twice as much time fine-tuning the engine and building the car. Lavals feat was certainly impressive, but it is only the best result in North and South America. In the European Eco-marathon, a French team hit 8,914 mpg back in 2003. That record still stands. The numbers are a little lower, but still substantial, in the UrbanConcept category. It asks students to build road-worthy cars complete with running lights, a steering wheel, a brake pedal and four wheels a rule that would immediately disqualify the Reliant Robin. Getting top honours was the UrbanConcept car from Mater Dei High School in Evansville, IN which got 849.2 mpg. Their car looks kind of like an unholy cross between a Talbot Lago and a Corbin Sparrow, but its not about design, its about science.
The one-seater city taxi

German engineers have unveiled a bizarre looking one-seater cab they say could be the future for congested cities. The Voi concept vehicle, developed by students from Technische Universitat Muenchen in cooperation with Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, was revealed at the at the 3rd Taiwan International Electric Vehicle Show. Its inventors claim it is as agile and affordable as a scooter while as safe and comfortable as a car. The Voi has a front 'pod' that can be changed for different tasks. The 2-wheel Voi electric scooter is designed as a transporter for densely populated megacities where congested traffic is a major problem. 'For anyone living in a megacity, being stuck for hours in a gridlock is a part and parcel of everyday life,' its developers say. The Voi multipurpose electric 2-wheel vehicle has already been tested in its passenger configuration. Positioning the driver at the rear of the scooter allows for a compact design with an enclosed passenger cabin in front that shields occupants from the elements, the designers said. The lightweight scooter can reach speeds of 30 mph with a range of around 50 miles, they said, with zero tailpipe emissions. It is also not limited to transporting passengers, the designers said - its modular front pod can be swapped for a cargo box or even a mobile kitchen, making it a multipurpose urban vehicle. In Vietnamese, 'voi' literally translates to 'elephant', and is a symbol of a safe and intelligent way of transport.
A team of student engineers from a Canadian college have built a car that could get you 3,587 miles on a single gallon of petrol. The bobsled-on-wheels was built as part of Shells Eco-marathon Americas, in which high school and college students compete to build energy-efficient vehicles. It is the fourth time in five years that students from Quebecs Universit Laval won in the prototype gasoline category, breaking the competitions record for most efficient gasoline vehicle. It is also an important validation for the team, who bowed out of
Electric scooter that pulls like a suitcase

Priced at $3200 , the Moveo electric scooter could make parking problems for commuters a thing of the past. Moveos carbon body folds in the middle and can be pulled along like a suitcase. The machine weighs 25kg, has a top speed of 28mph and a range of 35km (22 miles). Tamas Slezak, CEO of Hungarian developers Antro Group, hopes it will suit commuters in big cities around the world. 55
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University team comes up with top-secret solar racer

competition in 2013 has more strict requirements than in the past. The goal of the new registration is to get the slew of entrants to create cars that resemble something anything that could finds its way onto a showroom floor. Among the criteria, the cars must have four wheels (last year they could have three), a full field-of-vision for the driver, and a seat that is higher than the drivers feet. The team has finalised the design and finished the moulds. Now, the engineers are working on the carbon fibre body and will be constructing until early June, when they plan to have the Generation completed. Until then, schematics and photos remain classified so not to tip off the competition.
Dutch team first in solar race across Australia

A car built by college students and powered by the sun crossed almost 1,900 miles of Australian desert in 33 hours flat to take first place in the worlds premier endurance solar auto race. It is the fourth consecutive time the Nuon Solar Team has won the Panasonic World Solar Challenge. A record 57 teams from 17 countries raced 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) across some of the most beautiful, if inhospitable, countryside imaginable. The winning team, 11 students from Delft University of Technology, spent 11 months developing the Nuna 4. It is about 15.5 feet long, weighs about 419 pounds and has 65.5 square feet of photovoltaic solar panels. The Nuna 4 completed the weeklong race across the continent from Darwin to Adelaide in 33 hours at an average speed of 56.46 mph. They reached Adelaide 96 minutes before Belgiums Umicore Solar Team. The United States was represented by the University of Michigan, which took seventh place, Stanford University and the Sundancer team from Houston Vocational Center, a high school in Houston, Missouri. The biennial race started in 1987 to showcase the latest developments in solar technology. The inaugural competition drew 23 teams; the General Motors Sunraycer took top honours with an average speed of 42 mph. The competition has grown steadily in the years since, as has the velocity of the cars. The average speed topped 64 mph in 2005, when the Nuna 3 reached a top speed of 91 mph.
A team of engineers from the University of Michigan is currently finishing the Generation, their latest solar car. U of M is a regular favourite to win the biggest solar car competitions: the North American Solar Challenge (from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Naperville, Illinois) and the World Solar Challenge (from Darwin to Adelaide in Australia). The Generation is the teams entry into the 2013 World Solar Challenge, which begins this October, and the
Blind drivers at the steering wheel soon?

Innovations in automated driving have led to speculation that blind people may be able to drive a car. This time last year, Google released a video showing a blind man driving a car. He was seen going to a local drive-through restaurant near his home in San Jose, California, and later collecting dry cleaning without any difficulty. Steve Mahan, the driver, heads the Santa Clara Valley Blind Center and had not been in the driver's seat of a car since giving up his licence eight years earlier after losing 95 per cent of his sight. On this occasion, the only action he performed was to press a start button. He could not control the car independently, but the video showed an intent to make driving more accessible and safe for everyone. Public transport is not very developed in the US, so being without a car leaves one isolated and could contribute to problems such as unemployment. The driverless car uses a combination of GPS, laser, radar and 3D environment data that was likely to have been collected by Google's other cars, the ones whose picture-taking brought us Street View. Google's automated cars have already travelled 300,000 miles and caused no accidents. This is said to be safer than the average driver. Ingmar Posner, an engineer at the mobile robotics group at the University of Oxford, is part of an engineering team working on a car that will be able to take the strain off the driver with partial automation. A car that is able to drive itself on familiar routes has been shown off at an event at Oxford University. The technology uses lasers and small cameras to memorise regular journeys like the commute or the school run. The engineers and researchers behind the project are aiming to produce a low-cost system that "takes the strain" off drivers. The technology may be heading in one direction, but there are other barriers to the prospect of blind people driving - namely lawmakers and other road users.
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book revews
the new IndustrIal revolutIon consumers, globalisation and the end of mass Production
Peter Marsh
yale University Press 2012
price 25.00
riting about this book, Peter Mandelson (former uK business secretary, and former European trade commissioner) claims that the world is at the beginning of the fifth but the first truly global, industrial revolution. he also suggests that we are entering an age of industrial democracy in its truest sense. he did not define what he meant by industrial democracy in its truest sense and his claim, not ever backed up in the body of the book, reminded me of Fukuyamas claim that he was writing about the end of history. history is still with us and an evolving industrial revolution, now spurred forward by massive new players (the BrICs), continues to reveal how innovation and the arms industry are laying the foundations for new industrial advances. the book is described as part primer for the general interest reader, part guide for those in
the manufacturing industry; the new Industrial revolution explores 250 years in the history of manufacturing and then examines the characteristics of the industrial revolution that is taking place right now. Examples of changing desires on the part of consumers reduce the latter to a degree of banality, thus: Peoples desire for cheap variation is readily apparent. take the different types of yoghurt in super markets, the huge variety of clothes in different retailers and the explosion in tV channels and internet sites. In manufacturing, affordable choice has taken a long time to evolve. It has passed through four distinct stages and is now in a fifth. the different stages have always been based on a balance
between two approaches customization and standardization and whether goods are made in small or large amounts. these two approaches have been with us for ages. Explanations of lean production are taken from an MIt researcher John Krafcik who quotes other writers who tell us that lean production employs teams of multi-skilled workers at all levels of the organisation and uses highly flexible, increasingly automated machines to produce volumes of products in enormous variety. A key concept, the author tells us, is to eliminate waste in terms of unnecessary stocks of spare parts or complete products. But does this not happen anyway? the author is best at the history of industrial revolution. In his final chapter the new industrial revolution, the author tells us that the fifth industrial revolution started in 2005 and will last until 2040: that at least will give China and India time in which to organise their huge workforces. At the end of the book I was still groping to understand how the fifth industrial revolution differed in its essentials from the first such revolutions. Guy arnold
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book revews
INVISIBLE ARMIES
An Epic History of Guerrilla Warfare from Ancient Times to the Present
Max Boot
W.W. Norton and Company 2013
he author has undertaken a mammoth task: 567 pages of text and a further 200 of notes and bibliography covering guerrilla warfare from Alexander the Great to the terrorists of our present age and he has produced a work that will be the definitive reference book on the subject for years to come. Until now, for many people guerrilla warfare began with the Peninsular War (1808-14) where the word guerrilla first emerges: a war so brutally depicted by the artist Goya. It is a modern irony that Alexander fought some of his most brutal and dangerous battles (329327) in Afghanistan and that wild and rugged country has provided the backdrop for guerrilla warfare for the Russians during the 1980s and the Americans since September 11 2002. To lift a phrase to describe the book from Boots text, it is about irregular warriors who have always given conventional
armies fits. Since the end of WWII insurgency and terrorism have become the dominant forms of conflict. This is not a startlingly new discovery but rather a new recognition of what has always been: guerrillas have challenged the fixed power of empires since earliest times. Historians have long sought to explain why empires have collapsed but few have paid enough attention to the gnawing away at the periphery of empires that has been the longstanding contribution of guerrillas. In our own time, from Algeria and Vietnam to Afghanistan, Chechnya, Lebanon, Somalia and Iraq insurgents have shown a consistent ability to humble great powers. That, in a nutshell, is what this book is about. In his various narratives the author exposes the pitilessness of both sides in wars where the mobilised power is faced by guerrilla insurgents.
Language is applied variously to the two sides: guerrillas are terrorists but then so are the armies of settled states: the Romans achieved peace by turning the land of the insurgents into a desert. Many times, but certainly not always, it is a question of the weak beating the strong. The constant warfare of guerrillas versus settled states produced some remarkable military figures from the picturesque Garibaldi to the colonial representative soldier Lyautey in Morocco (1912-1925). During WWII we created special forces to operate behind enemy lines and these earned great admiration for their exploits that supposedly were clearing the way for regular forces to follow. The end of Empires looms large in our own time and witnessed many wars of national liberation that have created new states and new perceptions of what war is about and how it should be conducted. The Algerian War of Independence (1954-62) led to a level of brutality practiced by both sides and produced a modern justification for the use of torture that is used by both kinds of combatant. The wars that brought an end to empires were also training grounds for ongoing guerrilla warfare in a world where exploding populations and the search for resources from oil to fresh water will provide the reasons for conflict just as the rise of radical Islam (Gods Killers) provides a new moral justification for conflict. This is a remarkable book, deeply researched, that explains a great deal about conflicts that too often are only regarded from one viewpoint. Guy Arnold
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technology
million websites provided by seven different search engines. Mercifully malware was fairly rareacross the 40 million sites, AV-Test found 5,000 pieces of malwarebut the results did show that Googles search engine was safest, at least out of those tested. Most susceptible to malware was the Russian engine Yandex, but Bing faired only a little better, throwing up 1,285 malicious results compared to Googles 272. Apple will unveil its next iPhone on 20 June and kick off sales in July. At least, thats the claim from Japanese Mac enthusiast site MacFan. Marking its 20th anniversary as a Mac-oriented Web site, MacFan suggests that the next-generation iPhone will take the stage at an Apple event on Thursday 20 June. The new iPhone will then go on sale a few weeks later in early July, as reported by Electronista. The report further claims that Apple will launch the much-rumoured low-cost iPhone in August and target it as a pre-paid device for developing markets such as China and India. Electronista dubs the rumour plausible but does not indicate where or how MacFan got its information. A June or July launch timeframe for the iPhone 5S has been proposed by other Apple watchers and even a couple of analysts. Apple did release the original iPhone and the iPhone 3G, 3GS, and 4 during the June and July period and only switched to fall for the iPhone 4S and 5.
Not all search engines are created equaland when it comes to Microsofts Bing, it seems that malicious websites are happily returned far more often than by Google. An 18-month project by German independent testing lab AV-Test reveals that Bing returns five times as many results which link through to malware infested websites than Google. The study considered a total of 40
Bings search results yield 5 times more malicious sites than Google Phone 5S to launch in June
Google launches Windows RT tablet prices fall tool to manage Prices of Windows RT devices have data after death started falling, signaling an attempt
You may be a stickler for keeping control of all the data in your many online accounts, but what will happen to that data after death? It is a question that Google is addressing with the announcement of a new tool, the Inactive Account Manager, that gives Google users the option to have information from inactive accounts wiped from the system. Those who use the Inactive Account Manager can choose to have their data deleted three, six, nine or 12 months after it becomes inactive. Users can also select trusted contacts to receive information from various Google services such as Blogger, Gmail, Picasa Web Albums, Google Voice and YouTube. Accounts become inactive when users have not logged in for a certain amount of time, meaning that events other than death could trigger the notifications. 59
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by PC makers to quickly clear out stock after poor adoption of tablets and convertibles with the operating system. Microsoft released Windows RT for ARM-based devices and Windows 8 for Intel-based devices in October last year. The price drop is an acknowledgement that Windows RT has apparently failed, analysts said. Windows RT devices were not in demand, and prices fell.
A smaller cheaper version of the Galaxy S 4 will arrive on the heels of the big S 4 in May, according to Businessweek. Rumours of the S 4 Mini have been circulating since before the official announcement of the regular-sized one, with the rumblings picking up steam in recent weeks. The author of the Businessweek article, who had very good access to Samsung for his story, appears to have revealed information that the company has not yet made public.
iSamsung to launch a Galaxy S IV Mini
northsouth
PC sales worldwide tumble

Global sales of PCs fell 14% in the first three months of the year, the biggest fall since research firm IDC (International Data Corporation) started tracking the industry in 1994. IDC said 76.3 million units were shipped, a figure that underlines the appeal of tablets and smartphones as alternatives to PCs. The firm said Microsofts latest version of Windows had failed to revitalise the industry. Recession had also led companies to put back renewal of their PCs, IDC said. The firms vice president, Bob ODonnell, said: Unfortunately, it seems clear that the Windows 8 launch not only didnt provide a positive boost to the PC market, but appears to have slowed the market. Windows 8 is designed to work well with touch-sensitive screens, but the displays add to the cost of a PC. Together, the changes and higher prices have made PCs a less attractive alternative to dedicated tablets and other competitive devices, Mr ODonnell said. IDC also said that, traditionally, companies replaced PCs every three years, but that during the economic downturn this was more likely to be every five years. This is horrific news for PCs, said BGC financial analyst Colin Gillis. Its all about mobile computing now. Hewlett-Packard, the worlds largest maker of PCs, saw a 24% fall in shipments in the first quarter compared with the same period a year ago. Chinas Lenovo Group, number two in the market, is benefiting from sales to first-time buyers in China and other developing countries. Its sales held steady, IDC said.
Yahoo mail partners with dropbox

It is no secret that Yahoo is overhauling all of its flagship products, including mail. The service has been given a refresh on both the web and mobile, and the company announced a partnership with file-backup and sharing service Dropbox. The partnership will make it easier to send, receive and manage attachments in Yahoo! Mail. In case you do not know it, Yahoo! Mail is still the Number three most-used mail service in the world behind Hotmail and Gmail. But the last time we checked, it was Number one in the United States. By acting nimbly, the company can add small tweaks and enhancements thanks to partnerships like this that will give it a potential edge against the competition. This is good news for both companies, specifically Dropbox. This brings a new audience to the service, which has become a mainstay in the workplace and small teams of collaborators.
Disney shuts down AT&T re-prices LucasArts studio Galaxy S4

Disney announced last month the closure of the company company behind games ranging from Monkey Island and Grim Fandango to X-wing vs. TIE Fighter and Jedi Knight. Disney is shutting down internal development of games through its LucasArts subsidiary. After evaluating our position in the games market, weve decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the companys risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games, Disney said in a statement. As a result of this change, weve had layoffs across the organization. We are incredibly appreciative and proud of the talented teams who have been developing our new titles. While it seems the LucasArts name will live on as a brand to handle Star Wars game licensing going forward, the developer is, for all intents and purposes, no more. A day after the HTC-One pricing was announced; AT&T clarified its launch plans for the Samsung Galaxy S 4. It was already known the phone would be available on pre-order for $250 on 16 April, but AT&T has now specified that this will be for the 32GB model; the 16GB flavor will actually be $200, both with two-year commitments. This certainly does not help HTCs hopes of conquering the
world, though the $200 One will at least hold twice as much internal storage as the GS 4 (although Samsungs flagship at least offers expandable memory, whereas the One does not). AT&T still has not announced an official release date yet, so thats the last remaining piece of the puzzle yet to be revealed. northsouth
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informaton & communcaton

technology
videos, etc.) over the victim account even without any installed apps on the victim account And the worst part? The victim would not even need to click allow, so they were expunged from the process entirely. Just to clarify there is no need for any installed apps on the victims account, Even if the victim never allowed any application in his Facebook account, I could still be getting full permissions.
Facebook security flaw gives hacker access to all account

You probably do not know Nir Goldshlager, but up until recently, he could have known you. That is because Nir discovered a major privacy flaw in Facebooks OAuth, the system developers use to access all sorts of information every time you hit that innocent, little allow button. Nir gained access to virtually anyones entire Facebook account. As the hacker explained on his site: I found a way in to get full permissions (read inbox, outbox, manage pages, manage ads, read private photos,
Do not upgrade your Windows XP PCs, be innovative

Unveiled at the same time as the original Apple iPod in October 2001, Windows XP now has less than a year to live as Microsoft plans to withdraw extended support on April 8, 2014. But Ovum analysis suggests that 28% of corporate Windows computers are still running XP (70% are running Windows 7), suggesting that there is plenty of contemplation going on within organizations as they consider their options. For users there are two options to consider either desktop virtualisation or replacing Windows XP laptops with tablet computers.
Apple brings two-step ABC working on live verification to Apple ID TV streaming app
ABC is reportedly planning an app that will let cable subscribers stream live network TV to a tablet or smartphone, according to the New York Times. Lots of networks have apps where you can watch shows with a delay. CBS just released one last month. But this will be the very first time a major network has launched one that lets you watch shows in real time. So you could actually watch any programme while you ride the bus to work, for example. Apparently ABCs app will work much like the Watch ESPN or Watch Disneyapps. Log in with your cable account, and watch whatever is on. In fact, those titles are probably a good guess at what ABCs version might look like, considering Disney owns all three stations.
It has been a strong selling point from Google for security-minded users, and now Apple has finally come on board with a two-step verification process for Apple ID and iCloud users. The system works much the same as with Google and others: you first need to enable it on the Apple ID website, then you can use your mobile device to receive verification codes as needed (either via text message or the Find my iPhone app) to sign into various Apple services. You can also stash a recovery key away in the event you lose or are locked out of your phone.Adter testing, it appears that the functionality is slowly rolling out to US-based users, but in practice, the changes are not actually sticking. Plenty of time-outs are been registered and even after registeringadevice; it appears that the verifications are not sticking within the Apple ID account.
Amazon working on a $99 7-inch Kindle Fire HD

Amazon is apparently working on a $99 7-inch Kindle Fire tablet and will start shipping it this year. At a price that low, the Kindle Fire would be able to more easily compete at the tail end of the Android-based tablet market an area which is today dominated by low-cost tablets out of China, often sold for under $100. The $99 Kindle Fire HD will also still sport a TI processor like the rest of the lineup, and will have a 1280800 resolution, like todays Kindle Fire HD 7. This report follows an announcement that Amazon made last month about reduced prices on its Kindle Fire HD 8.9 devices.
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Sony unveils low One-third of US and mid-range drivers text and drive Android phones
Nearly a third of American drivers apparently have a death wish, based on data released by the Centers for Disease Control. The CDCs study is based on data collected in the US and the organisation found that approximately one in three American drivers send or read text messages on their cell phones (mobile phones) while driving. This data, published in the CDCs Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, showed more than half of two demographic groups, women from 18 to 24, and men from 25 to 34 years of age, admitted to texting while driving within the 30 days prior to taking the survey. Sony has announced two new Android smartphones that will join its Xperia range later this year, the Xperia SP and the Xperia L. Both are designed to fill out the refreshed portfolio kicked off by the high-profile launch of the Xperia Z, Sonys 5-inch flagship Android device with LTE support and a 13-megapixel camera. The Xperia SP, on the other hand, is a mid-range device with LTE support, while the Xperia L is aimed at the mid-to low-end. There is plenty of competition in both these spaces already, but Sony will be hoping that its industrial design prowess and exclusive software features such as its Walkman app with support for Music Unlimited- can help differentiate these handsets from the competition. The Xperia SP has a 4.6-inch, 720p Reality Display with a 1280720 resolution.
Samsungs Smart Hub TVs on sale

Samsung wants to make it easier for viewers to search and discover new content on TV. The company will begin shipping TVs with a completely rethought user interface called the Smart Hub experience. Smart Hub aims to help users spend less time searching for shows and movies and more time actually watching them. The updated technology, which Samsung unveiled at the CES and comes with a slew of new apps and features, will debut in the companys upcoming line of 2013 TVs, which Samsung says is its sixth-generation line of smart (i.e. Internet-connected) TVs. The units will ship later this month in the US, starting with the LED 8000 and Plasma 8500 series.
Google to release an Android-powered laptop this year
How to send text message as fax with mobile phone

Since Googles Chromebook initiative has so far failed to turn the PC market on its head, the company may be planning to shake things up even more by releasing a notebook based on its hugely popular Android operating system. The latest rumours from Digitimes indicate that Google is building an Android-powered notebook PC that may show up at the end of the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter. Digitimes suggests that the Androidbook will be the handiwork of Sundar Pichai, the longtime boss of Googles Chrome division who recently took over from longtime Android chief Andy Rubin as head of Googles mobile operating system. Text messaging is pretty much synonymous for communication. It has gained a lot of popularity within the last few years due to the technologies that are available in phones. Not only can you text message another persons phone, but you can also text messages ones email address. You can also text message to a specific fax machine, though it depends on the capabilities of the fax machine you are sending to. You need to verify that the fax machine has the ability to receive messages via cell phone. For more information visit: http://www.ehow.com/ how_7326832_send-message-faxcell-phone.html?utm_source=smdisqus&utm_medium=test255
Verizon offers LG Lucid2, smartphone for beginners

The original LG Lucid came to Verizon just a little over a year ago as a mid-range device, and its sequel, the Lucid2, is now ready to come down the pipeline in similar capacity. It believed to be Big Reds version of the LG Optimus F5. The free device is aimed at the first-time smartphone buyer and is available online. Among its boasted features is a Starter Mode
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Bekham dethrones Messi and Ronaldo in earnings

The former England captain and since January Paris St Germain player, David Bekham, is now the best paid footballer in the world with 36 million euros annual revenu followed by the Barcelona football club Argentinian forward Lionel Messi with 35 million euros and the Portuguese Real Madrid goal scorer Cristiano Ronaldo in third place with 30 million euros annually, according to the French forthnightly publication France Football. Bekhams annual salary is 1.7 million euros (141.000 euros per month), bonuses of 1.3 millions euros and earns 33 million euros from advertising contracts. The three-time European Ballon dOr (Golden ball), Messi receives an annual salary of 12.5 euros (1.04 million per month), 500.000 euros as bonus and 22 million euros from advertisements. Ronaldos annual salary is 13 million euros (1.08 million euros per month), 500.000 euros as bonus and 16.5 million euros from advertising and other partnership contracts. Real Madrids Portuguese manager Jos Mourinho, remains the best paid football coach in the world with a salary of 14 million euros. He is followed in second place by the Italian coach of Paris St Germain, Carlo Ancelotti, with 12 million euros and in third place with 11 million euros comes another Italian Marcello Lippi who manages the Chinese club of Guangzhou Evergrande. Arsenals French coach Arsene Wenger is in sixth position with an annual salary of 9.4 millions euros.
sports
Zidane names Bales Europes best player

Soccer legend Zinedine Zidane has hailed English Premier league player Gareth Bale (pictured) as the best player in Europe this season. Tottenham winger Bale is a transfer target for Spanish giants Real Madrid, where Zidane has a part-time role coaching youngters after five years there as a player. Zidane was at Lyons Stade Gerland in February to watch Bale, who produced a strong second-half display as Spurs drew 1-1 and moved into the last 16 of the Europa League. Welshman Bale is understood to be happy to stay at Tottenham for at least one more year, as long as they qualify for next seasons Champions League.
Goal-line technology at confederation's cup

The GoalControl-4D goal-line technology system will be tried by FFA at this summers Confederations Cup in Brazil, it has been announced. Developed by German company Goalcontrol, the system uses 14 high-speed cameras located around the pitch which are directed at both goals. It beat off competition from the British built Hawkeye camera system, which is already used in cricket and tennis, plus two bids which use magnetic fields to detect if the ball has crossed the line. If the trials are successful, GoalControl-4D will be used at next years World Cup, also in Brazil.
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Froch wants title back from Kessler

English boxer Carl Froch has revealed he still loses sleep over the defeat to super-middleweight rival Mikkel Kessler in Denmark three years ago. Commentators called their 2010 clash in Herning, where Kessler earned a unanimous decision, "one of the best fights of the modern era" and more fireworks are predicted when the pair meet again at the O2 Arena in London on May 25. Aged 35, Froch said: "It's difficult to put into words, how much this fight means to me. I've fought nine or 10 title fights back to back but Mikkel Kessler has everything. "Mikkel is an honourable man and is coming to the UK to give me a chance to avenge the defeat... My blood is boiling and I'm ready to go." "I've got so much respect for this man but he inflicted my first professional defeat. It's a bitter pill to swallow - I still think about that loss when my head hits the pillow. "He took away everything that meant everything to me at the time. My professional career, as far as I was concerned, was in tatters. I avenged that defeat by winning my world title back in my next fight and then boxed in the Super Six. "If you follow boxing, you'll know I've had some epic battles with top level fighters, but you'll know I've still not had the chance to avenge the defeat against Kessler, so this for me is a chance to set the record straight.
Millionaire footballers hit by French top rate tax

Football stars in Frances Lique 1 (Premier League), including former England captain David Beckham, have been asked to pay up after being told they would be exempt from a 75 per cent tax rate on the super rich. About 100 players in French footballs top flight are paid more than 847,600 a year (more than one million euros), the income level that triggers the 75 per cent tax rate. While Beckham claims he is playing for Paris St Germain for free by donating his salary to charity, Frances Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault wants him to donate a huge chunk of his salary to the tax man. Beckham, 37, lives in a Paris hotel, but has a family home in London, which technically means he could avoid paying French taxes on his 200 million ($320 million) fortune.
Arsenal profit slides as sales of players raise less revenue

The English Premier League football club Arsenal made a pretax profit of 17.8 million ($28 million), according to published interim accounts, down from 49.5 million ($80m) a year earlier as the club raked in less from selling big name players and played four fewer home games during the period.
Liverpool FCs debts increase
The English Premier League football club Liverpools debts have increased by 21.8 million ($33 million), according to published accounts, as prolonged absence from the top flight of money-spinning Champions League takes its toll.
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life & style
Japanese man Jiroemon Kimura, who holds the distinction of being the world's oldest living person, celebrated his 116th birthday on 19 April. Born on 19 April 1897, Mr Kimura is believed to be the last known man to have lived across three centuries. He worked as a postman until he was 65 years old before taking up farming until he was 90. Guinness World Records has certified Mr Kimura as the world's oldest living person and the oldest living man. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in a message to Mr Kimura that "it is absolutely amazing" to have his two records. The mayor of Kyotango City in
World's oldest man celebrates 116th birthday

western Japan where Mr Kimura lives also dropped by for a visit. Mr Kimura currently lives at home under the care of his grandson's widow and eats his meals thrice a day. He has 14 grandchildren and dozens of great- and great-great grandchildren, reports say. He is one of only 12 people in the world still alive who was born before the turn of the 20th century. Japan is also home to the world's oldest living woman, Misao Okawa, who is 115 years old.
A glass of beetroot juice daily lowers blood pressure, study

A glass of beetroot juice a day may help reduce blood pressure, according to a study published in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension. Researchers from Barts Health NHS Trust and the London Medical School said that high blood pressure patients who volunteered to drink 250ml of beetroot juice daily registered a drop of 10mm of mercury (mmHg). A previous study involving participants with normal blood pressure, three years ago, also suggested there could be health benefits to drinking juice that contains nitrate -- a chemical that reduces blood pressure. The lead author of the study Dr Amrita Ahluwalia pointed out that those more at risk of a stroke or heart disease, caused by high blood pressure, may also benefit. In a statement, researchers highlighted that Beetroot juice contains dietary nitrate, which may help relax blood vessel walls and improve blood flow. Increasing intake of foods rich in dietary nitrate may be an affordable and attainable way to manage blood pressure, they added. Our hope is that increasing ones intake of vegetables with a high dietary nitrate content, such as green leafy vegetables or beetroot, might be a lifestyle approach that one could easily employ to improve cardiovascular health, said Ahluwalia.
Consumers of sugary drinks face early death, researchers
Soft drinks could be causing nearly 200,000 deaths a year across the world, research shows. Consumption of sugary drinks has been linked to deaths from diabetes, heart disease and cancer. By far the highest death toll associated with sodas and sweetened drinks was caused by diabetes with a total of 133, 000. US researchers based their findings on data from a major investigation of globabl disease. Mexico, which has one of the highest levels of of sugary drink consumption, had the greatest overall death rate, while the lowest was in Japan, where soft drink consumption is historically low.
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sunshine may reduce arthritis, researchers

Living in a sunnier climate may reduce the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, according to us researchers. their study of more than 200,000 women, published in the journal Annals of the rheumatic Diseases, suggested a link between sunlight and the risk of developing the disease. they speculated that vitamin D, which is produced in sunlight, may protect the body. Experts warned that people should not spend all day in the sun.
rheumatoid arthritis is caused by the body's own immune system attacking the joints and it can be intensely painful. It is more common in women, but the reason why a patient's own defences turn against them is unknown.. the report's authors said: "our study adds to the growing evidence that
exposure to uV-B light is associated with decreased risk of rheumatoid arthritis." Dr Chris Deighton, the president of the British society for rheumatology, said it was an "interesting study" which "gives us more clues" about how the environment can affect the chances of getting rheumatoid arthritis.
Plastic chemical may expose foetuses to cancer

France's food safety agency (AnsEs) raised the alarm again over the use of bisphenol A, a chemical found in certain plastics, saying it may expose unborn children to breast cancer later in life. Bisphenol A, or BPA, is a common component of plastic bottles and canned food and drink linings, but some studies have linked it to brain and nervous system problems, reproductive disorders and obesity. AnsEs urged pregnant women to avoid food preserved in cans, or drinking water from polycarbonate water fountains found in many office buildings which it said was a "source of exposure to bisphenol A". It also advised them to avoid handling till slips. the agency said bisphenol A could be dangerous if ingested, inhaled or simply by touching products that contain it, including thermal paper like that used to make cash register slips. In a report summarising several global scientific studies on the topic up to July 2012, AnsEs said its experts were "moderately" confident of the evidence pointing to a risk to babies in the womb. "the conclusions show that certain exposure of pregnant women to BPA poses a risk for the mammary glands of the unborn child," the agency said in a report that wrapped up a threeyear investigation. AnsEs stressed there were still many uncertainties in the data. Advised by agencies like AnsEs, the French parliament in December voted to ban BPA's use in baby food packaging from 2013 and in all food containers from 2015. the European union, united states and Canada have outlawed its use in baby bottles. the chemical is still used around the world in plastic products, and the united states said last year it would not impose a general ban of BPA as there was no evidence of harm to adults. AnsEs also cautioned against replacing bisphenol A with a substitute from the same chemical family, saying not enough was known about other bisphenols like M, s, B, AP, AF, F and BADGE. "these substances share a chemical structure," the agency pointed out.
Laughing in pain
An incurable side-effect of a rare disorder has triggered laughter in a ten-year-old boy from Wareham, Dorset in England. samuel Coffens outwardly jolly nature masks the fact he has Angelman syndrome, which means he has severe learning difficulties, suffers from epilepsy and cannot talk. Espite him also having an abnormally high pain threshold, his mother, Amelia, said: he is such a happy child; he is a pleasure to be around. he is the happierst child in the world. Laughing and smiling is his way of communicating.
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International current affairs magazine for news & views to bridge the global divide

May 2013 volume 6 No4 price 3.00UK

Why Guantanamo remains open?

africa internet country code

Africa News Agency

Reporting African Affairs and Events to the World

news & views to bridge the global divide

33  Musharraf back into

35 L  ibya faces serious

Japan relations on the rocks

The Lord Newall, DL

Reiner Gatterman Sam Standing

Michael Barnard Saskia Willis

Art & Entertainment Editor North America Editor

MIDDLE EAST Correspendent

Marketing & Advertising

Ali Bahaijoub, Editor

Global investment disputes hit record in 2012, UN

apple and yahoo may add news and sports to siri

ageing population across EU driving dependency ratio

news & views to bridge the global divide

Migrant workers often exploited in Middle East

Famine forecasting systems still failing to spur action

Anxiety and alcohol linked to heavy Facebook use, study

World poverty to end by 2030, WB

Chinese scientists develop cheap e-notebook for the blind

news & views to bridge the global divide

High blood pressure affects 1 in 3 adults worldwide

UK tech prodigy makes millions by selling app

New arms treaty to reduce human cost

Majority of poor in Mexico are children, report

North Pole may support shipping by mid-century

news & views to bridge the global divide

UK starts secret cyber hack unit to counter fraud

Report hails flexible working model

Scottish independence referendum Sept 2014

UN calls for total ban of chemical weapons

$87bn needed to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria

Civil society actors more important than ever, report

North Korea demands to join nuclear club

Assange confident over his election to Australias Senat

World arms spending declines, SIPRI

news & views to bridge the global divide

APs Twitter hcked to falsely report White House explosion

population tops 1.7bn

South African troops not in CAR to protect business

Global migration reached 214 million in 2010

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news & views to bridge the global divide

Chinese game addict spent 6 years in internet cafe

Girl fakes own funeral so she can enjoy it

Army veteran sparks outrage by tattooing his dog

Diabetic dad has 4 kidneys and 3 pancreases

Toto: the technologically advanced toilet

news & views to bridge the global divide

US DirecTV to offer programmes for dogs

Man wears deer head mask every day for 5 years

Guantanamo prisoner being carted on a makeshift stretcher

news & views to bridge the global divide

First-hand experience at Guantanamo prison

news & views to bridge the global divide

33 Musharraf back into

35 L ibya faces serious

Disputed islands Diaoyu in Chinese and the Senkaku in Japanese

Musharraf leaving court