#113: Peace & international relations : The "Pacific-Realm-Era", Age and World Affairs.

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Envoy pledges UN support for Nigeria’s efforts towards release of abducted schoolgirls

 

Special Representative Said Djinnit. UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré

15 May 2014 – The United Nations is committed to supporting Nigeria’s efforts to ensure the release of the schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram militants, the world body’s newly-appointed envoy to the country said today, as he announced that the UN has initiated preparation of a “support package” that will include assistance for affected families and the girls after their release.

“I wish to reiterate the United Nations’ solidarity with the abducted schoolgirls and their families, the people and Government of Nigeria,” declared Said Djinnit, wrapping up his first visit to the country after being tapped by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to serve as his High-Level Representative.

In a statement issued from the Nigerian capital, Abuja, Mr. Djinnit said the abduction of the more than 200 girls from their school in Chibok on 14 April has been widely condemned by the UN, including the Secretary-General and the Security Council. “I wish to reiterate the strong condemnation by the United Nations of this unacceptable act of abduction of innocent girls,” he added.

Pledging the Organization’s commitment to assist the Nigerian authorities, he announced that the UN has initiated the preparation of an integrated support package that includes immediate support to the affected families, the population and the girls after their release, in particular with psycho-social counselling and helping them reintegrate with their families and communities.

“The package will also include response to emergency needs both in food and non-food items, early recovery support by promoting alternative livelihood, and activities geared towards addressing the long-term structural challenges through capacity building,” he added.

As for the security situation, Mr. Djinnit expressed deep concern at the lingering insecurity in north-eastern Nigeria and noted the UN’s support to the country’s efforts to restore security in the affected areas, while stressing the importance of due respect for human rights and addressing the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the north-east.

During his four-day visit, Mr. Djinnit met with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and other senior Government officials, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Defense and the Minister of Justice. He also met with the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on the abducted girls, and the Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

 

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Obama ignores campaign promise as FCC targets net neutrality

Published time: May 16, 2014 15:49

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US President Barack Obama (Reuters / Kevin Lamarque )

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Court, Internet, Law, Obama, USA

United States President Barack Obama’s commitment to net neutrality is being questioned after the Federal Communications Commission officials appointed on his watch voted Thursday to advance a plan believed by many to be a blow to the open internet.

This week’s three-two decision by the FCC to consider proposed rules regarding net neutrality isn’t the final nail in the coffin of the open internet. Rather, the five-person panel agreed Thursday morning to open up for comments a proposal drafted by Chairman Thomas Wheeler that would set rules in place meant to address a federal appeals court’s decision earlier this year that paved the way for the possibility of paid prioritization with regards to how Internet Service Providers, or ISPs, deliver web content to customers.

As the panel weighs Wheeler’s plan, the public now has 120 days to offer their own critique before another vote is held. In the meantime, though, Pres. Obama is likely to draw fire from critics on his own in light of previous statements he made pledging to preserve and protect the open internet.

“Barack Obama was crystal clear during the 2008 campaign about his commitment to ensuring equal treatment of all online content over American broadband lines,” Haley Sweetland Edwards wrote forTIME on Friday. “But on Thursday, the president made no public statement when three Democrats he appointed to the FCC voted to move forward with a plan to allow broadband carriers to provide an exclusive ‘fast lane’ to commercial companies that pay extra fees to get their content transmitted online.”

Instead, Edwards acknowledged, White House press secretary Jay Carney offered a brief statement reiterating the president’s promise.

Obama, Carney wrote, “has made clear since he was a candidate that he strongly supports net neutrality and an open Internet. As he has said, the Internet’s incredible equality – of data, content and access to the consumer – is what has powered extraordinary economic growth and made it possible for once-tiny sites like eBay or Amazon to compete with brick and mortar behemoths”

Indeed, in 2010 the president’s chief technology officer wrote on the White House’s blog that“President Obama is strongly committed to net neutrality in order to keep an open Internet that fosters investment, innovation, consumer choice and free speech.”

Years before that on the campaign trail, then-Senator Obama said his hypothetical FCC appointments would defend the notion of a “level playing field for whoever has the best idea.”

“As president, I am going to make sure that that is the principle that my FCC commissioners are applying as we move forward,” he said.

With Friday’s vote, however, the FCC is well on track to implement rules that, while not necessarily encouraging the paid prioritization of web traffic, is expected to allow ISPs and other major players tied to the infrastructure of the internet to cut deals with content producers that, prior to January’s appellate decision, were illegal.

“Following the court of appeals decision earlier this year, there are no legally enforceable rules ensuring internet openness,” Julie Veach, chief of the Wireline Competition Bureau, acknowledged at Thursday’s hearing.

In Response, Wheeler said his plan offers “enforceable rules to protect and promote the open internet,”while denying allegations that it authorizes paid prioritization.

“The consideration that we are beginning today is not about whether the internet must be open, but about how and when we will have rules in place to assure an open internet,” he said.

Nevertheless, two of his co-commissioners dissented from his proposal at Thursday’s hearing, and suggested that perhaps the FCC is moving too swiftly to respond to January’s ruling.

As the panel moves forward, however, the president’s campaign trail promise could come under attack. Although all five members of the panel were appointed by his office, the three Democratic members of the president’s own political party, including Wheeler, approved the chairman’s proposed rules. Dissenting were Commissioners Ajit Pai and Michael O’Rielly, both Republicans.

“The FCC is an independent agency, and we will carefully review their proposal,” Carney told reporters on Thursday. “The FCC’s efforts were dealt a real challenge by the Court of Appeals in January, but Chairman Wheeler has said his goal is to preserve an open Internet, and we are pleased to see that he is keeping all options on the table. We will be watching closely as the process moves forward in hopes that the final rule stays true to the spirit of net neutrality.”

But comments from some have suggested that a statement delivered by the White House press secretary might not be enough to reassure fears about the future of the internet. Marvin Ammori, a technology-policy consultant, told the Washington Post this week that Silicon Valley is “very frustrated,” and that the tech community largely threw its weight behind Obama, and not his Democratic challenger, when he vied for the party’s bid ahead of the 2008 elections.

“We’re surprised by his silence, given every indication that the rule being proposed would allow the kind of pay-for-prioritization practices Obama spoke against in the past,” Timothy Karr, a senior director of strategy for the Washington-based media and technology public interest group Free Press, said to the Washington Examiner of the president.

Meanwhile, a petition on the White House website posted after the January ruling by the DC Circuit Court of Appeals has garnered the electronic signature of over 105,000 people asking the president to restore net neutrality.

 

 

 

 

 

 

16 May, 2014

15:04

US fines General Motors maximum $35mn for ignition switch recall delays

The US government has fined General Motors $35 million for delays in recalling small cars with faulty ignition switches, AP reported. The fine is the maximum allowed by law, but it’s only a fraction of the $3.8 billion GM made last year. GM has acknowledged knowing about the problem for at least a decade, and at least 13 people have died in crashes linked to it. However, the company didn't recall the cars until this year. Automakers are required to report safety defects within five days of discovering them.

14:53

Russia starts to fill North Crimea Canal to solve peninsula water problem

The problem of water supplies to Crimea has been partly solved after water from the Biyuk-Karasu River was directed to the North Crimea Canal, RIA Novosti reported on Friday. Water delivery started on May 12, according to the Russian government. Also, at the beginning of May, the waters of the Taigansky and Belogorsky reservoirs were diverted to Biyuk-Karasu’s stream canal. Water supplies from the North Crimea Canal to Feodosiysky reservoir will start around May 23. On April 26, Ukraine shut the North Crimea Canal, by which Crimea receives 85 percent of the freshwater it needs. Crimea’s First Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Temirgaliev said on May 6 the region is now fully independent from the supplies of Ukrainian freshwater.

14:29

Blatter says World Cup in Qatar heat 'a mistake'

It is “a mistake” to hold the World Cup in the searing summer heat of Qatar, FIFA president Sepp Blatter has said. “The technical report on Qatar clearly indicated that it was too hot in summer,” Blatter told Swiss TV station RTS. “But the [FIFA] executive committee decided with quite a large majority that we are going to play in Qatar.” It is “more than likely” that the 2022 tournament will be moved to winter to avoid the extreme heat of June and July in the Gulf nation, Blatter said.

14:01

Uruguay to take 6 detainees from Guantanamo

Uruguayan President José Mujica said on Thursday that his nation will accept six detainees from the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Obama administration should move fast, the Washington Post quoted Mujica as saying. “It can’t be too long,” he said, adding that he only has a “few months of government left.” Uruguay will accept a group of Arabs who have been cleared for release but can’t return to their nations, either because of war, fear of torture or security concerns about their home countries. The offer could free the last four Syrian detainees at Guantanamo Bay, a Palestinian and a Tunisian, the paper said. The White House has long pledged to close the 12-year-old military facility.

13:27

Death toll in Nairobi twin blasts rises to 10, scores injured – sources

Two explosions that have struck the Gikomba market area of the Kenyan capital Nairobi killed at least 10 people and injured scores, the BBC reported. It is not clear what caused the blasts, but recent attacks have mostly been blamed on the al-Shabab militant Islamist group from neighboring Somalia.

13:20

WHO reports large gains in life expectancy

People are living longer, according to the “World Health Statistics 2014” published by the World Health Organization. A girl who was born in 2012 can expect to live to around 73 years, and a boy to the age of 68, according to global averages. This is six years longer than the average global life expectancy for a child born in 1990. Low-income countries have made the greatest progress. The top six countries where life expectancy increased the most were Liberia, Ethiopia, Maldives, Cambodia, Timor-Leste and Rwanda. Women in Japan have the longest life expectancy in the world at 87 years, followed by Spain, Switzerland and Singapore. Life expectancy among men is 80 years or more in nine countries. The longest male life expectancy is in Iceland, Switzerland and Australia.

13:05

Colombian FARC, ELN rebels announce cease-fire for presidential election

Colombia's leftist FARC and ELN rebels on Friday declared a unilateral cease-fire from May 20 to May 28, Reuters said. The period includes the May-25 presidential election, and the guerrillas and the government continued work toward a comprehensive peace plan in negotiations in Havana. “We are ordering all of our units to cease any offensive military action against the armed forces or the economic infrastructure as of 0000 hours on Tuesday, May 20, until 2400 hours on Wednesday, May 28,” rebel leader, Pablo Catabumbo, said in Havana.

12:49

Rebel rocket attack kills 13 people in Syria's Aleppo – reports

A rebel rocket attack killed 13 people Friday in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo, AP said, citing Syria’s state media reports. The rocket attack in Aleppo also wounded 17 people in the city’s northern neighborhood of Achrafieh, according to SANA news agency. The shells also reportedly damaged two houses in the area. The attack came a day after similar shelling on the neighborhood killed three people and wounded 20.

12:42

Russian parliament ratifies prisoners transfer treaty with Egypt

The Russian parliament’s lower house, the State Duma, on Friday ratified an agreement with Egypt that sets the rules for the mutual transfer of convicted prisoners, RAPSI said. The agreement, which was signed in Cairo on June 23, 2009, stipulated the requirements to requests for transfer of convicts, the conditions for transferring the convicts to serve their punishment in the other country, as well as a procedural guarantee of the transferred person’s rights. A convict can be transferred only with the consent of both countries, as well as the convict in question.

12:17

4 killed, several injured in 2 blasts in Kenyan capital

At least four people were killed and several injured after two explosions in the Kenyan capital, Reuters reported. One blast rocked the Gikomba market in Nairobi, according to the country's National Disaster Operations Center (NDOC). “[The] first blast was from a 14-seater [minibus], second blast within Gikomba Market. Four fatalities,” NDOC tweeted.

11:37

Army battles 2 militias in Libya’s east

Fierce fighting broke out Friday in eastern Libya between two militia groups and army troops believed to be loyal to a rogue general at the center of recent coup rumors in the city of Benghazi, security officials said. Military aircraft and helicopters, apparently under the command of Gen. Khalifa Hifter, flew over Benghazi, AP reported. Hifter’s troops also besieged the bases of the Rafallah al-Sahati, which is led by an Islamist commander, and a militia known as February 17, according to the officials. The clashes reportedly wounded nine people and killed a colonel.

10:46

No final oil-for-goods deal yet with Iran – Moscow

Talks with Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh in Moscow on Thursday did not produce a final agreement on a potential oil-for-goods deal, Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak said on Friday. “We did not reach a final agreement,” Reuters quoted Novak as saying. He hopes a deal could be agreed in time for an inter-governmental meeting in autumn. Reports in April said that Tehran and Moscow had made progress on a barter deal that could be worth up to $20 billion. Under the agreement, Moscow would provide Russian equipment and goods in exchange for Iranian oil.

09:52

Yemen security forces foil Al-Qaeda attacks in Sanaa – officials

Yemen has foiled a number of Al-Qaeda attacks on government, military and diplomatic premises in the capital Sanaa, officials said. Several suspected would-be suicide bombers were arrested, Reuters reported. The Interior Ministry said security forces had thwarted “a number of cowardly terrorist operations that Al-Qaeda had planned in the capital” targeting “vital government establishments, security and military headquarters as well as some foreign embassies.”

09:39

Suspected gunmen from Liberia seize village in Cote d’Ivoire, kill 8

At least eight people, including five civilians, were killed when gunmen believed to have come from Liberia seized a border village in western Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Reuters reported. Heavily-armed fighters attacked the village of Fetai early on Thursday, after crossing the Cavally River, which forms the boundary between the two West African neighbors. “The information that I have for the moment is that five villagers were killed in Fetai,” Member of Parliament Yaya Coulibaly said from Grabo, a town 10km from Fetai. The fighting was reportedly continuing on Friday.

08:19

Turkish mine operator says 284 confirmed dead

The operator of the Turkish mine operator, Soma Holding, has said 284 people were confirmed dead, 18 are thought to still be trapped, and 363 were evacuated. “It was an unbelievable accident in a place where there have been very few accidents in 30 years,” Reuters quoted Chairman Alp Gurkan as saying. A fire had not been linked to an electricity sub-station as some reports initially suggested, but a build-up of heat had caused a partial collapse, the operator said. There was no negligence on the part of the company, it said, but the exact cause of the accident is still unknown. Turkey’s Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said on Friday that a maximum of 18 people are still in the coal mine.

07:20

Russia allows foreign personnel at Baikonur space center

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed a decree allowing foreign personnel to participate in launches at the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, RIA Novosti reported. Foreign specialists will be allowed to the sites at the Baikonur space center “where works primarily linked to ensuring the launch of spacecraft are carried out,” according to the decree published on the Russian government website on Friday. Russia has leased Baikonur from Kazakhstan since the collapse of the Soviet Union and pays annual fee of $115 million for the use of the space center.

06:56

UN ‘concerned’ over reports of Ukraine’s use of helicopters with its logo

A UN secretary-general representative, Stephane Dujarric, has said that the UN has voiced concerns to the Ukrainian Permanent Mission to the UN over reports of the use of helicopters with peacekeepers symbols in the Donetsk Region of Ukraine. At least three white helicopters with UN identification marks were reportedlyused in a military operation near the city of Kramatorsk. States that supply equipment for UN peacekeeping operations are obliged to “remove all logos and signs bearing the UN’s name once such equipment has been repatriated to the home country or is no longer being used for official UN purposes,” RIA Novosti quoted UN Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq as saying. UN agencies are said to be “in contact with the Ukrainian authorities” on this issue.

06:39

Crashed Proton-M rocket, Express-AM4R satellite were insured for $224.8mn

A Russian Proton-M rocket and an advanced satellite on board, the Express-AM4R, which crashed outside of Kazakhstan's territory on Friday, were insured for 7.8 billion rubles ($224.8 million). The launch and exploitation were insured by Ingosstrakh Insurance Company, the firm’s Vice-President Ilya Solomatin told ITAR-TASS. The Express-AM4R was considered Russia’s most advanced satellite. The toxic components of the rocket fuel remaining in the third stage of the Proton and the booster unit Briz-M reportedly burned up in the dense layers of the atmosphere.

06:16

Early count shows Modi wins landslide victory, to become next India PM

Opposition candidate Narendra Modi will be the next prime minister of India, Reuters reported, citing early counting results. The pro-business Hindu nationalist and his party headed for the biggest victory the country has seen in 30 years. The alliance led by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was winning the vote count in 325 parliamentary seats, far more than the majority of 272 required to rule. The BJP was ahead even on its own - in 273 seats. The United Progressive Alliance led by the Gandhi family’s Congress party, which has ruled India for the last decade, was leading in just 67 seats - its worst-ever showing.

03:46

US identifies Boko Haram as top priority

The US State Department said it could have listed Nigeria’s Boko Haram militant group as a foreign terrorist organization sooner, adding that freeing the 276 kidnapped schoolgirls is the Obama administration's top priority. The Pentagon and the US Agency for International Development told a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on Thursday that the US is ready to help Nigeria battle Boko Haram, AP reported. The schoolgirls were abducted about two months ago by the militant group. At the same meeting, US officials questioned Nigeria’s capacity to combat the group. “In general, Nigeria has failed to mount an effective campaign against Boko Haram,” the Defense Department's principal director for Africa, Alice Friend, said. "In the face of a new and more sophisticated threat than it has faced before, its security forces have been slow to adapt with new strategies, new doctrines and new tactics."

01:50

Arkansas judge ruling opens door to same-sex marriage licenses

An Arkansas judge expanded his ruling on gay marriages on Thursday, striking down all state laws preventing same-sex couples from marrying. Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza originally ruled that the 10-year-old, voter-approved constitutional ban and a separate state law barring same-sex marriages were unconstitutional. He refused to issue a stay as the state attorney general sought to appeal the ruling. Clerks in five counties issued marriage licenses to gay couples, and 456 of those couples had received their licenses, the Associated Press reported. On Wednesday, the Arkansas Supreme Court rejected Attorney General Dustin McDaniel’s request for a stay on the ruling, but still effectively halted the issuing of licenses by ruling that Piazza’s decision on gay marriage did not change the license law, according to the Washington Post. Piazza’s latest ruling expanded his previous one to strike down the prohibition on clerks issuing same-sex marriage licenses.

 

 

 

 

 

‘US against elections in Syria fearing Assad might win’

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Published time: May 15, 2014 10:32

A Free Syrian Army fighter mans an anti-aircraft gun on the back of a pick-up truck during clashes with forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Sheikh Najjar in Aleppo May 13, 2014. (Reuters / Hosam Katan)

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Bashar Assad, China, Election, France,Human rights, Obama, Politics, Russia,Syria, USA, Violence, War

The victory by Assad in Syria’s elections will give him additional democratic, electorally-bestowed legitimacy and that is the real reason why the US government doesn't want an elected government, geopolitical analyst Brian Becker told RT.

RT: President Obama has just met with the Syrian opposition leader Ahmad Jarbar, but won't talk to the official government representatives or President Assad. Why is that?

Brian Becker: I think it’s an indication that the Obama Administration in spite of the fact that its policy has completely failed, in spite of the fact that its policy of funding, of fueling and arming the armed opposition to the Assad government with the idea that it would invariably succeed in overthrowing the Assad government, in spite of those set-backs to its policies, it’s hanging tough so to speak, showing that it is bestowing the legitimacy or power of the US with the armed opposition.

In spite of the fact that the armed up opposition isn’t winning on the battlefield and as we can see does not have the popular base of support necessary to oust the Assad government, so they are just continuing with the same script. Syrian people are the ones who pay this terrible price in blood and treasure as the bleeding goes on. I think it is wrong.

RT: The statement after their meeting in the White House says there's no future for Assad in Syria, meaning he has to go, but the solution has to be political. How's that possible?

BB: You cannot really have a negotiation with the party that you say has no future in the role of Syria, especially when it is the sovereign government of Syria. This is just a complete misnomer, it is an oxymoron. If the US is serious about coming up with a political settlement, with a negotiated solution, the thing that the Syrian people want, the thing that the Syrian society needs so badly, then they cannot say in advance that there is no future for the Assad government.

And by the way, who are they? Who is the US government to determine which governments leave and which governments fall as if the US has some universal prerogative to determine destiny of other countries? They just do not have those rights. Certainly they do not have the legal right for it.

A missile is fired by Free Syrian Army fighters towards forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the eastern Hama countryside May 14, 2014.(Reuters / Mohamad Bayoush)

RT: Why is Washington saying the presidential election should be postponed, if it wants Assad to leave office?

BB: Because the real fear there, the fear of the Obama Administration is that if the elections go forward, even though we know there is considerable opposition of the Assad government, we also know there is a considerable support of the Assad government, popular support. In election which happens in the time of civil war, as the American government had an election in 1864 in the middle of the US civil war, an election that Abraham Lincoln won. If it were to take place and Assad were to win, that would give additional democratic, electorally-bestowed legitimacy to the Assad government. That is the real reason and the US government does not want an elected government as they think Assad will win the elections.

RT: In his meeting with the Syrian rebels, The US Secretary of State John Kerry allegedly told them they've wasted a year in the fight against Assad. He was critical of the way the supply of aid and weapons to the opposition was handled. What do you make of that?

BB: John Kerry has no right, he is interfering. Can you imagine if another country decided “Oh, you know, there should be more coordinated armed opposition groups inside the US”? The US would recognize it to be completely outside of the political rights and outside the boundaries of international law. But John Kerry, because of the arrogance of power, feels he can speak like this.

John Kerry, I think personally, is frustrated because it was his policy that fueled the civil war. He wanted the bombing campaign last August and September. Obama wisely stepped back and took the lifeline that Russia threw them for a negotiated settlement to get rid of Syrian chemical weapons. John Kerry is frustrated because he is hard-liner, he is neo-conservative in Syria, in Ukraine and all these hotspots, doing what the neo-conservatives have done for the last decade, which is carrying out one reckless venture after another and that has not helped the US.

RT: France believes Assad is hiding part of its chemical arsenal and continues to use it secretly. Is there any evidence for that?

BB: They do not offer any evidence. They have just as little evidence that is no evidence that Kerry and company tried to offer last August and September. They could provide none when there was a real international scrutiny demanding evidence. They just say it is suggested that chlorine tanks were used. Why would the Assad government go back and use chemical weapons right now, when of course that would be the one thing that would undo the international settlement that prohibited foreign Western powers from bombing the country.

He has no real interest in doing this. It just does not make sense. But let us not forget, France is still angry because they are the old colonizers in Syria. They do not want the independent government in Syria. They think Syria should belong to them, to the French empire. They are still living in those days.

Residents arrive on foot to inspect their homes, after the cessation of fighting between rebels and forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, in Homs city, May 10, 2014.(Reuters / Khaled al-Hariri)

‘French frustrated too'

RT: The French foreign minister also said he regrets the decision not to carry out airstrikes against the Syrian government, which they believe used chemical weapons. As far as we know, the UN report never said the government was the one to use it...What’s your take on that?

BB: They are just making things up as they go along. This is the propaganda script. France is the ex-colonizer of Syria, along with the US it represents the most militaristic interventionist wing of the Western military powers. And the French are frustrated because they too think they are along with the US should be able to dictate as they used to dictate the terms of who leaves, who dies, who rules in Syria. They have their mentality of the former colonizer. They are frustrated right now because Assad is not being defeated and so they are frustrated, they are making stories up to delegitimize the government again because they do not want the elections go forward.

RT: Now that the UN envoy for Syria has resigned, what could happen to the peace talks?

BB: He said that the international community was hopelessly divided which meant that Russia and China had failed to acquiesce to the demands of the Western powers, and particularly the US, France and Britain, to carry out the ouster of the legitimate sovereign government in Syria. He recognizes that the Syrian government does not stand alone and is not going to fall. They have international allies, not because the Russians or the Chinese are following the script from Assad’s playback, but because they believe that the US and Western powers do not have the right to militarily intervene over and over again and topple sovereign governments. He sees negotiations are hopeless because the US side and the US-backed rebels really do not want to negotiate.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arson investigation underway as fires continue to ravage Southern California

Published time: May 16, 2014 03:39

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A house burns at the Cocos fire on May 15, 2014 in San Marcos, California. (AFP Photo / David Mcnew)

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Natural disasters, Science, USA

Wildfires continued to whip through southern California on Thursday, forcing more people to evacuate their homes in the San Diego area and inspiring the governor to declare a state of emergency. Officials have opened an investigation into arson.

San Diego County officials have had no choice but to maintain existing evacuation advisories for the thousands of people who live or work in the path of the fires. Orders issued Wednesday prohibited the 9,000 students who normally attend California State University to avoid campus. More were advised to stay away from their usual places of school and employment on Thursday, as the fires showed no sign of slowing down.

“That’s the number one priority, is to save life and then to save property,” San Diego County Supervisor Dianne Jacob said at a news conference on Thursday, as quoted by the Los Angeles Times. “We are not out of the woods yet.”

A wildfire threatens homes in San Marcos, California, on May 15, 2014. (AFP Photo / Jorge Cruz)

The wildfires have so far destroyed 10,000 acres, with emergency crews struggling to contain the flames and prevent additional homes from being put in jeopardy. One person was found dead at a transient camp in the Ambrosia area, but the body was too badly burned for firefighters to determine an identity. No injuries have been reported.

San Marcos was among the worst hit areas, with only five percent of an 800-acre fire under control. An additional 13,000 homes and businesses were named in a new evacuation notice, with Sheriff Bill Gore telling reporters that so many notices were sent out as a “reminder to everybody just how volatile this can be.”

A firefighter pulls a hose into position to battle the Cocos fire on May 15, 2014 in San Marcos, California. (AFP Photo / David Mcnew)

Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for San Diego County, making it possible for officials to take advantage of special resources and funding to battle the flames. An estimated $22 million in damage has already been caused, with Sheriff Gore admitting that arson is among the causes being investigated.

No less than eight fires were blazing in Southern California on Thursday, seven of them in San Diego County. Firefighters have sought to dampen the blazes by dumping water on them from above, with 22 military aircraft working to help overwhelmed local crews. Still, the risk remains extremely high because of dry conditions and strong winds, a lethal combination for firefighters.

“Already this year, Cal Fire has responded to an over 100 percent increase in the number of wildfires than average,” California Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant told the Times on Thursday. “It starts with the drought. The grass, the brush and the trees – not only in San Diego County, really across California – are really dry.”

A firefighter pulls a hose in position while battling the Cocos fire on May 15, 2014 in San Marcos, California. (AFP Photo / David Mcnew)

The entire state of California is experiencing “severe drought” conditions, meteorologists reported on Wednesday. The hot, dry air and record temperatures have only contributed to the devastating flames.

“The combination of hot temperatures, gusty Santa Ana winds and widespread single-digit humidity will bring an extended period of dangerous fire weather conditions to much of Ventura and Los Angeles Counties,” warned the Los Angeles office of the National Weather Service.

Schools will be closed through Friday, officials said, with lower temperatures over the weekend expected to aid firefighters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bilderberg's silent takeover of Britain’s $60bn defense budget

Beginning his working life in the aviation industry and trained by the BBC, Tony Gosling is a British land rights activist, historian & investigative radio journalist.

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Published time: May 16, 2014 10:23

A British Lynx 2 helicopter.(AFP Photo)

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Arms, Budget, Economy, Military, UK

Democracy had another near-fatal stroke, and the military industrial complex further tightened UK defense spending with the appointment of ex-army officer and Tory hothead Rory Stewart MP as the new chairman of Westminster’s Defence Select Committee.

Last week the Home Affairs Select Committee delivered a damning verdict on Britain's defense and secret service oversight, on taxpayer accountability. It said the refusal of the director general of MI5, Andrew Parker, to appear before them and lack of any effective supervision was "undermining the credibility of the intelligence agencies and parliament itself."

Surely nothing could surpass the ‘Dodgy Dossier', the criminal conspiracy that led to the US and Britain, as the Arab League put it in 2003, to 'Opening the Gates of Hell in Iraq'? But with Stuart's appointment to oversee public scrutiny of UK military spending just two weeks before NATO's political cabal of which he's a member, the Bilderberg conference, meets in Copenhagen later this month, it is clear to those who still have eyes to see that those bloody lessons have not been learned and the worse could be yet to come.

The most powerful private club in the world

In their Christmas 1987 edition, The Economist described Bilderberg as ‘Ne Plus Ultra’ the most powerful private club in the world. Its power has certainly not diminished as the decades have rolled by and neither has its secrecy. Although it began with trades unionists and powerful people it wanted to persuade, in its final days Bilderberg has boiled down to a rotten core of bankers, royalty, arms industry, oil and media barons and Rory Stuart MP, in the tradition of Kissinger, Blair, Cameron, Osborne and Balls, has thrown his lot in with them.

In 1943, half way through the war, the US power elite saw that, barring any big surprises, Hitler was going to lose World War Two, so their ‘War And Peace Studies Group’ of the Council On Foreign Relations (CFR) quietly began to prepare the Marshall Plan for the post-war world. Alongside the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a sizable budget was set aside to fund a range of activities which would ensure Europeans didn't vote communist and were welded economically, culturally and politically to the US for the foreseeable future.

British soldier Lieutenant-Colonel Nick Lock (C) checks his equipment before conducting a patrol with soldiers of the 1st Batallion of the Royal Welsh in streets of Showal in Nad-e-Ali district, Southern Afghanistan, in Helmand Province.(AFP Photo / Thomas Coex )

Born in a Nazi ‘witches cauldron’ of British blood

Bilderberg's first chairman, Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, was born into the German aristocracy. He joined the Nazi party at university, then the SS but he married into the Dutch royal family, dropping the silver deaths-head and black SS uniform before the war. His newly adopted Holland was invaded by his old Nazi friends in 1941, so he fled to Britain with Dutch Queen Wilhelmina and his wife, Princess Juliana.

As a former SS officer he was scrutinized by the Admiralty's wartime spymaster, Ian Fleming who, after a year of watching Bernhard, signed him to the British army as a trusted Dutch liaison officer.

With 1944 came one of Bernhard’s most important jobs: to supervise the Dutch underground in the run-up to September's liberation of large parts of Holland. Field Marshall Montgomery’s audacious airborne operation, the biggest in history, depicted in Cornelius Ryan’s 1977 film A Bridge Too Far, was codenamed 'Market Garden' and intended to end the war by Christmas.

As liaison officer for the coming Arnhem deliverance, Bernhard sent in Dutch spy, Christiaan Lindemans, codename 'King Kong', ten days beforehand to prepare resistance fighters for the allies lunge through Eindhoven, Nijmegen and over the Rhein into Arnhem.

But instead of making contact with the Dutch underground, Bernhard’s 'King Kong' found some German soldiers and demanded to be taken straight to the Abwehr, German military intelligence. The allies’ plans for the airborne assault were in enemy hands because Bernhard’s precious Lindemans was a double agent. He had wrecked the allies’ all-important element of surprise.

‘King Kong’ was arrested and quizzed after the war by the British but never got a chance to tell his story because, under Dutch orders, he was whisked off to Germany and died in suspicious circumstances.

Operation Market Garden went ahead on Sunday September 17, 1944, but the British paratroopers at Arnhem were quickly split and surrounded by forces containing self-propelled guns, tanks and crack SS troops, who happened to be resting nearby. Frost's 2nd battalion held on to the bridge leaving the rest of the 1st Airborne Division surrounded in what the Nazis called the Hexenkessel or 'witches cauldron', pinned down in the suburb of Oosterbeek.

On Wednesday 20 September, 1944, as British airborne Colonel John Frost’s remaining paratroopers were being mauled by SS Panzers at Arnhem Bridge, the tanks of the Grenadier Guards, along with US paratroopers, were tantalizingly close, destroying the last German defenses down the road in Nijmegen. Ironically, it was a young captain, who was also to chair the Bilderberg meetings in later life, Lord Peter Carrington, who was leading the Grenadier battle group of Sherman tanks as they took the penultimate bridge. At 8 o'clock that evening, he was just a 20-minute drive from reinforcing Frost at the Arnhem Bridge, and victory.

But although they still had eight hours or so before Arnhem Bridge would finally fall into German hands, Carrington’s force, along with the Irish guards, of a hundred or so tanks inexplicably stopped, just over the Nijmegen Bridge in the village of Lent, for an eighteen hour rest. After the war, 10 SS Panzer Division General Heinz Harmel mocked Carrington saying, “The British tanks made a mistake when they stayed in Lent. If they had carried on it would have been all over for us.”

'Colonel Frost later put the blame,' as Stuart Hills reports in 'By Tank To Normandy', 'firmly on the lack of drive by Guards Armoured,' of which Carrington's Grenadiers were the spearhead. 'Comparing their relatively light casualties with those suffered by the British 1st Airborne and US 82nd. Forty years later,' in 1984, 'he stood on the bridge at a reunion, shook his fist and roared a question into the air for the guards. 'Do you call that fighting!'

So Bilderberg’s first 1954 venue in Oosterbeek, Holland, was highly significant, being the same spot where a decade before the British army had suffered nearly 10,000 casualties in of one of the last Nazi bloodbaths of World War II. Bernhard had given the game away and when it looked like, despite his treachery, the brave allied soldiers might pull it off, Carrington and his corps of tanks ground to a halt for an eighteen hour tea break.

AFP Photo / Dan Chung

Psychos always return to the scene of the crime

Like the psychopath, who feels compelled to return to the scene of the crime, Prince Bernhard returned to Oosterbeek to chair the inaugural Bilderberg meeting in 1954. The conferences led to the signing of the Treaty of Rome, which started the European Economic Community (EEC) three years later.

Surrounded by the great and good of the post war world, the prince hoped nobody would examine his reasons for choosing Oosterbeek. At the best it was an in-joke – at the worst the battle was thrown. Whatever way you look at it sixty years on, the coded message from that first Bilderberg meeting should be clear to us now. Ten years after the war, the Nazis were back.

The seventy year Bilderberg project is almost complete

So seventy years since the Arnhem slaughter and sixty years since the first Bilderberg conference, the EEC has become the EU. NATO's new feudal oligarchy of Western banksters and multinationals own and control all the big political parties as well as almost everything that moves both sides of the Atlantic.

Some saw it coming: former SS general Paul Hausser, who became chief of HIAG, the German SS veterans group after the war, claimed that "the foreign units of the SS were really the precursors of the NATO army." Others detailed the Nazis' transformation from military to financial empire including former CBS News correspondent Paul Manning in his 1981 book 'Martin Bormann Nazi in Exile'.

Bilderberg’s latest wheeze is the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). This treaty makes voting pointless by letting multinationals sue governments and will leave only the thinnest veneer of democracy for the mainstream media to chew on both in Europe and America. The ‘nation states’ will become mere prefectures and the European Commission will be the unelected government of the United States of Europe.

As ordinary people across Europe and America cry out for decent basic standards such as fresh water, food, shelter, healthcare, heating and full employment, the mainstream media barely hear them because this is not the Bilderberg way. Instead, these pinstriped fascists bury us in debt, steal our leisure time, erode quality time with children, friends and family, and then blame us for demanding a fair share of the rewards of human progress.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

 

 

 

State Dept lashes out over second Kerry subpoena to testify on Benghazi

Published time: May 16, 2014 08:22

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US Secretary of State John Kerry.(AFP Photo / Jacquelyn Martin)

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The chair of House Oversight Committee has subpoenaed Secretary of State John Kerry for the second time this month over the 2012 Benghazi consulate attack, prompting an angry rebuke from the US State Department and Democrat representatives.

Darrell Issa issued the second subpoena on Thursday for Kerry to appear on May 29 before his committee and testify on the Benghazi attack, in which four members of the US diplomatic mission, including US Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens, were killed. It came days after he revoked the first subpoena for May 21, which the State Department said was in conflict with the secretary’s schedule.

“I lifted the subpoena requiring Secretary Kerry to testify on May 21 because the State Department made reasonable arguments for an accommodation and told our committee they were seeking a suitable alternative date for his testimony on a voluntary basis. But soon after I lifted the subpoena, the State Department backtracked – stating publicly that we should accept ‘a more appropriate witness’ and refusing to commit to making Secretary Kerry available,” Issa said in a statement.

The State Department replied angrily to Issa’s move, branding his tweet announcing the second subpoena "a headline-grabbing, highly political" attack on "the integrity of the State Department itself."

"This is not the way legitimate and responsible oversight is conducted, and it’s a departure from the days when Rep. Issa himself once lamented that a Secretary of State should not be distracted from the work of national security to testify at the barrel of a subpoena," spokesperson Marie Harf said in a statement.

"We will continue to work with the committee to resolve their request, but we have not made arrangements for a hearing date, and we hope to explore with them whether there are witnesses better suited to answer their questions and meet their needs for oversight."

The Oversight Committee is one of five bodies in the House currently probing the Benghazi attack. Republican representatives voted Thursday on forming a Select Committee with an intention to merge the multiple probes into a single panel. Issa, a Republican, is not part of the select committee, and Democrats believe his second subpoena works against the Republican effort.

“Chairman Issa’s subpoena of Secretary Kerry calls into question the Republicans’ stated purpose of the Select Committee on Benghazi,” Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement.

She said “the Select Committee is a sign of no confidence in Issa just as Issa’s action today is a sign of a lack of confidence in the Select Committee.”

A similar assessment came from Elijah Cummings, senior Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.

“I don't know if this is Chairman Issa's attempt to reinsert himself into this investigation after the speaker removed him, but this looks more and more like the 'sideshow' and 'circus' Speaker Boehner said he would not tolerate,” Cummings said in a statement.

But Boehner's office said the speaker supports Issa’s subpoena, while Issa last week defended the Select Committee idea, saying it would help focus the investigation on the White House actions in the wake of the attack.

Republicans believe that President Barack Obama administration hushed up details of the Benghazi tragedy to protect his re-election campaign. Democrats accuse the Republicans of spinning the investigation to score political points ahead of the November mid-term elections

 

 

Russia to deliver gas to Ukraine only on prepayment - Putin

Published time: May 15, 2014 13:18 
Edited time: May 15, 2014 15:57

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Starting from June 1, Russian gas will only be delivered to Ukraine if it pays for it in advance, said President Vladimir Putin.

Despite Russia suggesting immediate consultations to resolve the Ukraine gas issue in April, there have so far been no specific proposals on ensuring stable deliveries and transit of Russian natural gas coming from EU partners, Putin said in a declaration to foreign leaders.

“Moreover, the situation with payments for Russian gas only got worse over this period of time. Gazprom has not received a single payment for the gas supplied to Ukraine, and the total debt has grown from $2.237 billion to $3.508 billion,” the president stressed.

“And this despite the fact that Ukraine has received the first tranche of the IMF loan in the amount of $3.2 billion,” he added.

According to Putin, it left Gazprom no other choice, but to issue “an advance invoice for gas deliveries to Ukraine, which is completely in accordance with the contract, and after June 1 gas deliveries will be limited to the amount prepaid by the Ukrainian company.”

But the president stressed that Russia remains open to continue consultations on the issue, urging the EU to “more actively engage in the dialogue in order to work out specific and fair solutions that will help stabilize the Ukrainian economy.”

Earlier this week, Gazprom switched to a prepayment system with Ukraine and sent a $1.66 billion bill for June.

Russia has currently priced gas for Ukraine at $485 per 1,000 cubic meters, after canceling two discounts. But Kiev refuses to pay the new price, complaining that the new price doesn’t reflect market conditions and is politically motivated.

Earlier on Thursday, Ukraine said that it is ready to pay Russia about $4 billion, but only if the price is reduced to last year’s level when all discounts were in place.

Naftogaz will make payment at a “fixed temporary price of $268.5 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters,” Igor Didenko, Ukraine’s deputy energy minister, said.

According to Igor Didenko, Ukraine has paid Russia over $300 million since the new government came to power in February.

“There’s just so many bills lying around, and were paying those from January and February,” he said.

European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger and Russian Energy Minister Dmitry Kozak will meet on May 19 in Berlin to discuss Ukrainian energy issues further.

 

 

 

 

 

Vladimir Putin’s declaration to foreign leaders on Ukrainian gas crisis

Published time: May 15, 2014 16:00

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Vladimir Putin addressed foreign leaders in a declaration urging the EU to do more to help resolve the Ukrainian gas debt and support the economy of the crisis-hit state.

Dear Colleagues, 

In early April we suggested immediate consultations in order to work out a coordinated approach to stabilize the Ukrainian economy and ensure stable deliveries and transit of Russian natural gas in accordance with contractual terms. 

Over a month has passed. Consultations with the representatives of a number of non-EU countries have taken place in Moscow, in which our partners told us they completely shared our concerns over the situation with Ukrainian payments for gas deliveries from the Russian Federation, and risks arising from insufficient amounts of gas being kept in Ukrainian underground storage. 

As regards EU countries, we have only had one meeting in Warsaw with a delegation led by European Commissioner for Energy Günther Oettinger, attended also by Ukrainian representative Yuri Prodan. Unfortunately, we have to say that we have not received any specific proposals from our partners about how to correct the situation with the Ukrainian buying company, so that it can meet its contractual obligations and ensure reliable transit. 

Moreover, the situation with payments for Russian gas has only worsened over this period of time. Gazprom has not received a single payment for gas supplied to Ukraine, and the total debt has grown from $2.237 billion to $3.508 billion. 

And this despite the fact that Ukraine is in receipt of the first tranche of the IMF loan, a sum totaling $3.2 billion. 
Given the circumstances, the Russian company has issued an advance invoice for gas deliveries to Ukraine, which is completely in accordance with the contract, and after June 1 gas deliveries will be limited to the amount prepaid by the Ukrainian company. 

I would like to emphasize once again that we were forced to make this decision. The Russian Federation is still open to continue consultations and work together with European countries in order to normalize the situation. We also hope that the European Commission will engage in the dialogue more actively in order to work out specific and fair solutions that will help steady the Ukrainian economy.

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Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi claims victory as India's next Prime Minister

By Madison Park and Harmeet Shah Singh, CNN

updated 11:50 AM EDT, Fri May 16, 2014

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

·         Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi claims victory

·         He is viewed as a pro-business candidate

·         But controversies in his past have led to strained relations with the United States

New Delhi (CNN) -- Narendra Modi, the leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, claimed victory as India's next Prime Minister on Friday, bringing to power a man whose controversial past at one point led the United States to deny him a visa.

Official results were expected late Friday.

 

Viewed as pro-business, Modi, 63, has pledged reforms to revive the nation's flagging economy.

But his past is not without controversy. Throughout his campaign, his relationship with the country's huge Muslim minority came under scrutiny.

Congress Party 'headed to defeat'

In 2002, Gujarat state was wracked with anti-Muslim violence, in which more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed.

 

Modi, the state's chief minister, was criticized for not doing enough to halt the violence, but a Supreme Court-ordered investigation absolved him of blame last year.

Manmohan Singh, India's outgoing Prime Minister, will tender his resignation to the nation's President on Saturday, said Singh's spokesman, Pankaj Pachauri. The Prime Minister's official Twitter account said Singh had called Modi to congratulate him on his "party's victory."

Analysts predict his arrival in India's top office will bring a marked change in direction for the world's most populous democracy, a nation whose modern character has been defined by the defeated Indian National Congress Party, which has been dominant since the country's independence in 1947.

 

Modi's victory had long been anticipated, as polls indicated a slump in support for the ruling Congress Party, which has been dogged by high-profile corruption scandals amid stubborn inflation and a slowed economy.

Congress Party spokesman Randeep Surjewala told CNN, "Trends indicate a victory for the opposition alliance.

"We bow before the wishes of the people of India with all humility. We will continue to play the role assigned to us. We will try with greater vigor and determination to work with the large populace of this country."

Modi's relationship with the rest of the world

The United States denied Modi a visa over the anti-Muslim violence in 2005, suggesting a strained relationship between the U.S. and India's next Prime Minister.

The U.S. State Department has not said what it will do when Modi applies for a visa in the future, now that he is an elected leader, but reiterated that India is an important partner.

"We don't talk about visa applications," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said this week. "We're looking forward to working with the new Indian government when they're elected."

The tensions between Modi and the United States in the past could have an impact on relations during his term, said Arati Jerath, an analyst and journalist in India.

"There is a feeling that Narendra Modi will be much more pro-China than pro-U.S., and that could be rooted to the fact that he's had this tension with the United States over his visa, whereas the Chinese laid out the red carpet for him," Jerath said.

 

Modi's ascent to the national stage

Celebrations broke out as updates from the five-week-long election were released throughout the day. Modi's supporters sang, danced, played music, threw flowers and even brought elephants into the mix as initial results indicated a huge lead for the BJP. Supporters celebrated outside the party's office and in the streets in Gujarat, where Modi has served as chief minister since 2001.

He tweeted: "Good days are here to come."

At a news conference, BJP chief Rajnath Singh declared, "Till some time ago, it was said India's success story is over. Now, the time has come to rewrite India's success story."

India's potential for growth was once mentioned in the same breath as that of China. But the world's second-most populous nation has not delivered.

Modi, a former tea seller, sprang into the national spotlight for his work in Gujarat, where he cultivated an image of a man who gets things done.

Gujarat, a state of some 60 million people, has seen China-like rates of growth in recent years, which have been eyed enviously by the rest of the country. The "Gujarat model" of development means a focus on infrastructure, urbanization and eradicating red tape.

India's stock market surged Friday as initial results suggested a huge lead for Modi and his party.

UK Foreign Minister William Hague congratulated Modi and his party, saying Britain looked "forward to forging an even closer partnership with India."

CNN's Mallika Kapur, Sumnima Udas and Tim Hume contributed to this report.

 

 

 

 

UN-backed report reveals record 33.3 million people displaced by war last year

Internally displaced people shelter at the airport in Bangui, Central African Republic, one of the three countries which experienced the highest levels of new displacement in 2013. Photo: UNHCR/A. Greco

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14 May 2014 – Conflict and violence uprooted a record 33.3 million people within their countries last year, according to a new United Nations-backed report released today, which adds that 63 per cent of them are in five countries – Syria, Colombia, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Sudan.

“We should all be concerned about these numbers and the continuing upward trend,” saidUN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres, who was present at the launch in Geneva of the global overview produced by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, which is part of the Norwegian Refugee Council.

“We have a shared responsibility to act to end this massive suffering. Immediate protection and assistance for the internally displaced is a humanitarian imperative.”

Last year’s figure is a “staggering” increase of 4.5 million from 2012, signalling a record high for the second year running, according to a news release on the report. Nigeria features for the first time, with the report documenting that an “astounding” 3.3 million people there have been displaced by conflict.

Jan Egeland, the Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said that the record number of people forced to flee inside their own countries confirms a “disturbing upward trend” of internal displacement since the Centre first began monitoring and analysing displacement back in the late 1990s.

“The dramatic increase in forced displacement in 2013 and the fact that the average amount of time people worldwide are living in displacement is now a staggering 17 years, all suggest that something is going terribly wrong in how we are responding and dealing with this issue,” he said.

Syria is the largest internal and fastest evolving displacement crisis in the world, according to the report, which noted that 9,500 people are being displaced in the war-torn country per day – approximately one family every 60 seconds.

The three countries experiencing the worst levels of new displacement – Syria, the Central African Republic (CAR) and DRC – together accounted for 67 per cent of the 8.2 million people newly displaced in 2013.

“These trends do not bode well for the future – we have to sit up, listen up and act up by working more closely together to end this misery for millions; humanitarians alone cannot make this happen,” noted Mr. Egeland. “Global internal displacement is everyone’s problem, from politicians to private companies, development actors and lawyers – we all have a role to play.”

 

 

President Xi eyes more foreign exchanges

GOV.cn Friday, May 16, 2014

Chinese President Xi Jinping addresses China International Friendship Conference in Commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) in Beijing, capital of China, May 15, 2014. (Xinhua/Li Xueren) Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday called on organizations to increase the role of people-to-people exchanges so they can contribute more to China's friendship with other countries. Xi made the remarks while addressing a conference marking the 60th anniversary of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), a non-governmental organization. Xi said the association played an irreplaceable role in promoting China's friendship with other countries. Its development showcased the power of people-to-people engagement in promoting world peace and development, and its important role in China's overall diplomacy. Xi said friendship between peoples is a strength to promote world peace and development, as well as a precondition to realize win-win cooperation. Peoples in all countries should strengthen friendly exchanges and join hands in the face of a complicated international situation and severe global challenges. He called on the association to innovate and explore ways to allow for more people-to-people exchanges, and help build more sister cities and promote exchanges between localities. Xi stressed that China loves peace and will not pursue hegemony. China will insist on a peaceful way of development. The CPAFFC has established friendly cooperation with more than 500 non-governmental organizations in 157 countries, and helped the establishment of 2,106 sister cities and provinces between China and 133 nations.

Chinese premier's Africa tour deepens friendship, cooperation: ambassador Vietnamese leaders say bilateral friendship has great significance in building socialism in Vietnam, China Malta, China commemorate ancestor festival, friendship China, Belgium form all-round partnership of friendship, cooperation Cultural exchanges nourish Sino-Kenya friendship China, India open "Year of Friendship" China-France friendship hailed ahead of anniversary celebrations

 

 

 

 

China's FDI inflow up 3.4 pct in April

GOV.cn Friday, May 16, 2014

Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland went up 3.4 percent year on year to 8.7 billion U.S. dollars in April, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on Friday. This came after a decline in March, when FDI edged down 1.47 percent year on year, the first drop in over a year. In the first four months of 2014, China drew 40.3 billion U.S. dollars in FDI, an increase of 5.0 percent from a year earlier, said MOC spokesman Shen Danyang. About 55.8 percent of the FDI went into the service sector, while that to the manufacturing sector dropped 11.4 percent to 14.5 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 35.9 percent of the total. In the January-April period, FDI from the Republic of Korea into the Chinese mainland saw the biggest rise, up 138.5 percent year on year. But FDI from Japan decreased 46.8 percent year on year and FDI from the United States went down 11.4 percent year on year. With an inflow of 32.8 billion U.S. dollars, the affluent east of China continued to grab the lion's share of FDI in the first four months. However, the country's central and western regions have become increasingly attractive to foreign investors. FDI inflows into the central region stood at 4.3 billion U.S. dollars in the first four months, up 33.6 percent year on year. The west bagged 3.2 billion U.S. dollars, up 2.7 percent year on year. China's outbound direct investment by non-financial firms dropped 12.9 percent to 25.69 billion U.S. dollars in the first four months, the ministry said. In the same period, investment in the United States rose 173.3 percent year on year, that in Russia gained 238.5 percent year on year and that in Japan went up 204.3 percent year on year. At a press conference, Shen also said that trade ministers from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) will meet in the coastal city of Qingdao on Saturday to prepare for November's summit. During the two-day meeting, trade ministers from 21 APEC economies will discuss regional economic integration, innovative reform and infrastructure. Trade ministers meetings are in preparation for the "Shaping the Future through Asia-Pacific Partnership" leaders' meeting, to be held in Beijing, 13 years after China hosted the ninth APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Shanghai.

China's FDI inflow falls as economy cools FDI surge reflects confidence in China economy China's Jan. FDI inflow rises 16.11 pct China's FDI inflow grows 5.25% in 2013 China's August FDI growth slows

 

[H.E. KUM Nelson Bame IV]

Indigenous Forum opens with UN officials highlighting sustainable development agenda

UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues opens its 2014 session at UN Headquarters. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

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12 May 2014 – Indigenous peoples must be a part of the ongoing process to define a global development agenda beyond 2015, United Nations officials said today, calling for explicit assertion of their collective rights as well as the promotion of traditional knowledge to tackle issues such as climate change, as the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues opened its 2014 session.

The 13th session of the Permanent Forum, which runs through 23 May at UN Headquarters, will focus on the special theme, “good governance” and also consider matters related to the arrangements for the first-ever World Conference on Indigenous Peoples.

The session also comes as the UN continues its efforts to define the global sustainable development roadmap after 2015, the target date for achieving the anti-poverty Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

“The needs, voices and contributions of indigenous peoples will be a critical part of these efforts,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in his opening remarks, spotlighting climate change as an area of “vital focus.”

Noting that indigenous peoples are often on the frontlines of this existential challenge, he said this fact was borne out yet again on his recent visit to Greenland. On 23 September, Mr. Ban will convene a climate summit in New York focused on action and solutions.

“The traditional knowledge and practices of indigenous peoples can help to close the emissions gap and lead us onto a more sustainable path,” he said, urging Member States to recognize the central role of indigenous peoples in meeting the climate challenge.

Also addressing the Permanent Forum, General Assembly President John Ashe underscored that the MDG outcomes for indigenous people have fallen short of expectations. One of the lessons of this, he said, is that policies designed to promote universal access to culturally sensitive social services have been inadequate, and the international community needs to reconsider its approach.

“In the context of elaborating the post-2015 development agenda, it has been frequently observed that the core concerns of indigenous peoples, both at the national and the international levels, should be recognized in a clear and forthright manner,” he said, noting that this would entail explicit assertion of indigenous collective rights.

In addition, Mr. Ashe said that recent discussions on the post-2015 agenda had also brought to light the universal relevance of values which are particularly dear to the indigenous peoples, such as the freedom from discrimination, the right to live in freedom, peace and security, the protection of biodiversity, good governance, the sustainable management of natural resources, cultural diversity, to cite only a few.

As for the upcoming World Conference, he said that his Office and the wider Assembly are hard at work on ensuring the event effectively addresses the most serious challenges confronting indigenous peoples. To that end, Mr. Ashe had already established a consultation process among Member States and representatives of indigenous peoples on the meeting’s outcome. Further, he announced today that the Interactive Hearing would convene shortly after the Forum wrapped up its 2014 session as a channel for providing input to the preparatory process for the World Conference.

For his part, Martin Sajdik, President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) emphasized that the relationship between indigenous peoples and Governments must be improved. “This is important work and the [ECOSOC] takes this work very seriously,” he said, highlighting that the main theme for the 2014 Annual Ministerial Review relates to challenges for meeting the MDG’s in 2015 and achieving future development targets.

“This is a broad theme upon which the Forum has certainly a lot to say,” said Mr. Sajdik, adding that the Council has established an integration segment aimed at consolidating inputs from various sources, including subsidiary bodies, on how best to ensure a balanced integration of the three dimensions of sustainable development. The first integration segment, which will be held later this month, will be devoted to “sustainable urbanization.”

Moreover, he said the Forum’s annual report will now be considered at one of the Council’s Coordination and Management Meetings (CMM), which are held at various times in the course of the year. The Forum is scheduled to report to the Council at its July CMM. This will provide an opportunity for a closer engagement of the Chair with the Council on the outcome of the current session.

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UPF Chapters Host International Day of Families(IDoF) Programs

Thursday, May 15, 2014

UPF chapters organized a variety of events commemorating the UN International Day of Families, May 15, 2014. Since 2009, UPF has been promoting this UN observance because it considers the family as a microcosm of the global community and because sustainable peace is grounded in the family as the most intimate social unit, the school of love. In Africa programs were organized in Benin, International Day of Families Observed in Nairobi and Nigeria; in the Americas: Argentina and Ecuador; in Asia: Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia and Malaysia; and in Europe: Austria, Czech Republic, France and Italy. International Day of Families Observed in Nairobi The Official Website of the Universal Peace Federation International and the Ambassadors for Peace. View on www.upf.org Preview by Yahoo "By providing economic and emotional sustenance to their members, families can raise productive, caring citizens committed to the common good. Strong, well-functioning families, whatever form they may take, can help reduce poverty, improve the wellbeing of mothers, promote gender equality and uphold human rights," said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in his statement about this year's theme "Families Matter for the Achievement of Development Goals." On this 20th anniversary of the UN International Year of the Family, he encouraged member states to support families in realizing their full potential, factor their needs into development policies and consider their circumstances in addressing conflicts. For detailed reports click here.

 

Visiting the UN on May 15, Ambassador For Peace, Nelson Kum Bame, also met briefly with members of the "Alliance on Civilizations", some UN staff, the ECOSOC and the President of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

The International Day of Families was a bonding day for many at the UN and UPF chapters around the world.

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A man does what he must in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressure -- and that is the basis of all human morality. (JFK)