• Sixth Council meeting of International Network for Bamboo and Rattan today

    New Delhi, Oct 15 ANI: The Sixth Council meeting of the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan INBAR will begin here today This is for the first time that the council meeting is being organised outside its headquarter in China. India being chair of the council session is hosting the Sixth Council Session. This meeting will provide guidance for future thrust of INBAR activities. INBAR has 34 member countries at present, which include 13 in Africa, 10 in Asia, 10 in America and one in Oceania. The member countries are: Argentina, Bangladesh, Benin, Bolivia, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Peru, Rwanda, The Philippines, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Surinam, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Uganda, Venezuela and Vietnam. INBAR is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to improve the social, economic, and environmental benefits of bamboo and rattan. It connects a global network of partners from the government, private, and not-for-profit sectors in over 50 countries to define and implement a global agenda for sustainable development through bamboo and rattan. The Director General of INBAR will give an overview of the global bamboo and rattan sector as background information for new council participants to understand the work of INBAR. There will be thematic discussion on the INBAR membership benefit package developed on the basis of findings of INBAR surveys. There will be also discussions on capacity building and training, technology transfer, project development, fund raising and implementation and information dissemination. The INBAR council has approved the accession of one new member state that is Suriname in last January. The agreement is open for signature by any member state of the United Nations or its specialised agencies. ANI
    2008-10-15 03:00:00

  • MEXICO CITY

    INT4International/CrimeCrime-weary Latin Americans lose faith in state mechanismMexico City, Oct 4 IANS Six out of 10 people in Mexico, Colombia and Brazil have said they depend more on security outside the due process of law given the high crime rate and corrupt law enforcement in their countries, says a recent report quoted by the EFE news agency.During the presentation of the report at the headquarters of the Mexico City municipal government recently, former Bogota mayor Antanas Mockus said that 28 percent of Mexicans are prepared to carry a gun to defend themselves, while in Barranquilla, Colombia, that figure was 23 percent.The survey was carried out among 10,000 people over the age of 14 in several cities of Colombia, Brazil and Mexico, said Mockus, who was accompanied by Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard.The Colombian politician said that the survey touched on topics such as trust in public officials and leading figures in the social and political sector and asked respondents about their values and perception of the judicial system, as well as of various government institutions.Most of those polled were sceptical about their country's police officers, politicians, judges and even clergy, and said they put more trust in relatives, friends, fellow students and workers and even in their neighbours and teachers.The survey also showed that 19 percent of respondents in Mexico City said extra-judicial punishment of criminals was justified and 10 percent even said they favoured legally unwarranted killings of lawbreakers.Ebrard said the study will help in the formulation of public policies to combat impunity and crime."It's a very pertinent study that we should use to develop broad, intensive actions to change some of the results presented to us today, because to the extent we achieve that, we'll have a better society," Ebrard told EFE.Mexico has been rocked by a wave of violent crime involving warring drug cartels that has left some 6,000 dead - mostly gang members and police - over the past two years. A rise in the number of kidnappings has also sparked outrage among the population.Colombia has suffered through a decades-old armed conflict involving leftist guerrillas, far-right paramilitaries and army soldiers in which civilians have often been the victims, although levels of violent crime in major cities have dropped in recent years.Lack of public safety is also a major concern in Brazil, with parts of large cities such as Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo controlled by heavily armed drug gangs.Police have committed numerous rights violations in trying to recapture control of the slums, while corrupt off-duty or former police are known to extort "protection" money from local residents.--IANSdkg/jg 468 Words04100807
    2008-10-04 00:01:06

  • Colombia drugs war exodus 'rises'

    A Colombian rights group says there has been a big jump in the number of displaced people, but the government disputes this....
    2008-10-01 05:38:08

  • Spanish seeking Basque in Ireland

    Interpol is asked to contact Gardai about a Basque separatist who may be living in Dublin in a house belonging to one of the Colombia Three....
    2008-09-24 12:16:17

  • Palin gets an introduction to foreign policy - Los Angeles Times

    The AgePalin gets an introduction to foreign policyLos Angeles Times&ampnbsp;- 1 hour agoAlaska Gov. Sarah Palin meets with Afghan President Hamid Karzai for the UN General Assembly. The Republica...
    2008-09-24 02:13:26

  • Betancourt not willing to return home because of threats

    INT4International/Politics/TerrorismBetancourt not willing to return home because of threatsBogota, Sep 23 DPA Former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, who was held hostage by leftist rebels for more than six years before her rescue in early July, has said she is not yet ready to return to her country because of death threats issued by the rebels. "Returning to Colombia is my dream," Betancourt told Colombia's Caracol Radio in a telephone interview from New York Monday. "At this moment I have security difficulties, but I have to solve that in a very intelligent way without running any risks because this is a very sensitive issue for my family." The former senator, who was the most high-profile hostage held by the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia FARC when she was freed in a military operation by Colombian forces July 2, explained that her family has asked her not to return to the South American country as long as the security conditions are not more adequate. Betancourt had already said in the past that FARC considered her and the 14 former hostages that were freed along with her as "fugitives." For this reason, she said she intended not to take any risk. "I have received threats and unfortunately it is a complicated situation," Betancourt said. Still, she stressed that she would keep investing her efforts into the task of securing the release of hundreds of other hostages held by FARC. Betancourt said she did not intend to run for president again in Colombia in 2010. "It cannot be clearer: I have no intention of doing politics in Colombia, that is, there are many other ways of helping Colombia, even if you can never say never," she said. She further thanked Brazil for the proposal that she take over as head of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Unesco, set to become vacant in 2009. Unesco "is not my top priority either," Betancourt said. --DPAskp/348 Words23090142
    2008-09-23 00:00:04

  • Colombia seizes 'key Farc data'

    Colombian forces say they have seized data on thousands of Farc rebels, dealing a huge blow to the Marxist group....
    2008-09-22 21:09:09

  • Sydney, Sep 22 IANS Pakistani cricket authorities see the Islamabad blasts over the weekend as a human tragedy, while the Australians and New Zealanders recall their security concerns in going to the strife-torn Pakistan.

    SPO10SportsAustralians, New Zealanders recall fears visiting PakistanSydney, Sep 22 IANS Pakistani cricket authorities see the Islamabad blasts over the weekend as a human tragedy, while the Australians and New Zealanders recall their security concerns in going to the strife-torn Pakistan. The prospect of going to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy upset players in Australia and New Zealand last month after an earlier bomb attack outside Islamabad.If the Champions Trophy had been played as scheduled originally, the England and South African teams may have been staying at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad when it was destroyed by a suicide bomb Saturday night that killed 46 people.Rawalpindi was dropped as a venue, but that did not satisfy some of the participating nations who threatened to pull out of the Champions Trophy over security concerns. Eventually, the International Cricket Council ICC, instead of moving it another country, put off the eight-team tournament by a year. Originally, England and South Africa were drawn to play in Rawalpindi Sunday, while Australia would have been playing the West Indies in Karachi. Teams playing in Rawalpindi stay in its twin city Islamabad, the nation's capital, where the Marriott has traditionally been the hotel used by touring teams, reports the Australian. Cricket security expert Reg Dickason confirmed Sunday that the Pakistan Cricket Board wanted the Australian team to stay there during its Test and one-day tour scheduled for last March and April. The tour was abandoned over safety and security concerns. Dickason claims he advised against staying at the Marriott as the hotel, particularly its restaurant, was too close to the road. He wrote a strong report warning against playing the Champions Trophy in Pakistan. While Rawalpindi was removed as a Champions Trophy venue, leaving only Lahore and Karachi, Dickason believes the September 12-28 tournament would probably have been abandoned after the bombing had it gone ahead. Dickason, who has worked with the Australia team for a decade and also the England and New Zealand teams, was strongly criticised for his unequivocal report. The Pakistan Cricket Board PCB was particularly vitriolic, while the ICC relied on less definitive reports which claimed the risk was "manageable". Dickason wrote the strongest of the four reports commissioned on the Champions Trophy, which was used by Cricket Australia CA, New Zealand Cricket and the England Cricket Board to ultimately the oppose Pakistan as a venue. However, South Africa, on government security advice, was the first team to officially pull out of the tournament. This was telling given that South Africa's murder rate per capita, one in little more than 2000, is second worst in the world behind only Colombia. CA, which has been strongly criticised by Pakistan for backing out of touring the country, expressed its sadness following the attack. "Our reaction is that it's terribly sad and tragic news," CA public affairs manager Peter Young said. "Australian cricket has got a lot of friends in Pakistan and I think everyone at the national level is really sorry to hear this sort of continuing news coming out of the place. "We enjoy playing against them and we have tours coming up there next year of course. Everyone is praying quite fervently that the domestic situation there settles down so people can live their life in peace and hopefully we can start playing cricket there again," he said. --Indo-Asian News Serviceabr/dg608 Words22091518
    2008-09-22 06:00:00

  • U.S. says Venezuela officials aided rebels in Colombia

    The United States accused three top aides to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of helping Colombian guerrillas traffic cocaine and topple the Colombian government, the first time the Bush administratio...
    2008-09-13 17:14:12

  • Chilean media hails 4-0 win over Colombia in World Cup qualifier

    Chilean sports media hailed on Thursday their 4-0 win over Colombia at the National Stadium of Santiago as the most gorgeous in the era of coach Marcelo Bielsa, saying it enables the team to remain in...
    2008-09-12 17:47:09
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