Support the thread starter resolutely  I replied to a poem I had composed.
Pledge to fight to the death to defend the Diaoyu Islands and related islands.
Fish boats bumped into the fleet; with a stealthy heart and an arrogant form, they again showed their wolfish appearances; the little evil ghost of Japan stirred up unrest and caused trouble.
Never go back to that time when we appeared humiliated when we signed the treaty. Strengthen China. Sharpen the sword and shine the knife. Bury the approaching enemies.
September 11, 2010
I agree with the analysis of the thread starter. If a war really came, I would like to be Hua Mulan, to protect and defend our home, to spread the prestige of our country, and to pledge to fight to the death for the defense of our national dignity. Resolute bump up!
I wish very much to be born in that passionate and upsurgent Mao Zedong Long March, to lose my head, to shed my blood, to completely extinguish all enemies of China who are wrong, and to spread our dragon prestige.
How long did we tolerate Japan?
@my fellow citizens,
Hello everyone, we all know about the September 18 th incident, but now Japan again has a premeditated plan for another incident on the sea, like the Lugou Bridge.
Japan surprisingly defied the strong condemnation of the whole world, and openedly invaded our country's sacred territory, the Diaoyu Islands.
As we all know, the Diaoyu Islands have always belonged to China. For historical reasons, what originally belonged to us has become controversial.
As a fellow citizen, I ask my fellow citizens, what is ours and why are negotiations necessary? So Japan is going even further, they want to create the fact of occupation, can we allow this? Absolutely not.
My fellow citizens, Japan's militarism has brought grave disasters to the Asians.
Especially China suffered the ravages of Japan for several long decades.
In the Northeast, the Japanese military unit 731 cruelly experimented with extremely brutal methods on Chinese, Korean and other Chinese living people. The Nanjing Massacre added a layer of blood that will never fade away to the ancient capital. The bloody big battles in Hengyang and Changsha bare the bones of the dead for over 1,000 kilometers and killed everything off.
My fellow citizens, there are too many instances of heinous crimes committed by Japan in China that are difficult to record without exhausting all the bamboo strips, to be cited.
Just as those ten million deceased souls who lost their lives wandered over the Pacific Ocean and found it difficult to rest in peace.
All those who experienced that era must still remember it vividly. When we turn and read these historical pages, even our younger generations also cry with tears streaming down on our cheeks, and our blood boils with indignation.
Now that Japan actually wants to reverse the verdict on its history of aggression, fellow citizens and Chinese in Asia will wake up.
Although it is painful to look back on these 100 years of shame, we must go face it. History is our creation, our choice, and its issues are not resolved.
We are not afraid because of responsibility. Even though the territory is small, it is related to a matter of dignity. No matter how the winds and clouds change, the interests of the country and the national unity guarantee honor. We cannot let our native land be separated, scarred and wounded.
My fellow citizens, the advent of the 21 st century means for the Chinese nation a time when we are beset by difficulties on the inside, but pressed on the outside, and we face many challenges.
How should we go about the Taiwan issue, the Tibet issue, the South China Sea issue, the surrounding environment, or aggressive foreign forces against China?
Fellow citizens, what do you ask? Please look at the world map, the crescent @-@ shaped encirclement suppresses our breath, strangles our development, and covets our national territories.
We never fear the enemy, but we don't want to make enemies. We don't fear war, but we don't want war.
We must urgently arrange armies and strengthen all military forces on land, sea and air.
Although the Chinese nation has flourished several times over thousands of years, it has never before had the ambition to expand its territory outward.
We follow a foreign security strategy philosophy that applies benevolence and virtue because we don't impose what we don't want on others.
The tolerance and liberality of a country is similar to the tolerance and liberality of an individual: we must insist that we are not hurt in order to avoid hurting other people.
Tolerance is certainly not fearful, and sincerity does not have to be cowardice.
China's exemption of Japan from World War II war reparations served benevolent peace.
My fellow citizens, the People's Heroes Monument is a condensed history of a Chinese nation striving for continuous improvement.
The magnificent solemn posture represents the sacred expectation of peace.
From time to time, when many heroic and tragic scenes of shining spears and armored horses come to mind, a string of thoughts agitates my memory.
From those yellow pages of history, my thoughts go as I see Kangxi, a famous Emperor who, hundreds of years ago, ruled generations, contemplated alone in his hall of audience how to achieve the unification of the territory, and also Abraham Lincoln, a former U.S. president who wandered alone in the dark of the great hall, thinking about the integrity of the Union.
Although the world is peaceful, forgetting war is certainly dangerous. My fellow citizens, although we want development and peace, we must never blindly exercise forbearance, but if we want development and peace, we must never exercise forbearance. In modern times, the poverty and backwardness of China is aggravated by the Boxer Protocol of nation betrayal and humiliation. Falling behind leads to bullying.
Without strength, where will peace come?
We must focus on national defense education, build up a great wall at the heart of 1.3 billion people, and establish a full range national defense system capable of attack and defense.
Best defense against attack. We should strengthen forces that can engage in ultra @-@ long range attacks, and improve great depth combat capability in all aerospace at great distances.  On the basis of avoiding influence on the national economic development, increase investments and construction in the defense industry, accelerate the modernization and internationalization of military equipment, and establish high @-@ tech elite and high @-@ quality high @-@ quality divisions.
The battle horns were about to sound, people were already fully equipped, ready to go.
We accomplish nothing without the support of the people, but we are all powerful with their support.
My fellow citizens, there is a time when we say no to others. Therefore, we must achieve.
1. Establish guaranteed funds, improve working environments and working mechanisms, and recruit back hundreds of thousands of information technology professionals emigrating to and lingering in the United States and around the world through China.
2) Create a few battle groups of nuclear @-@ powered aircraft carriers.
3. Manufacturing 5000 advanced combat aircraft of various kinds.
4. Research and deployment of a high @-@ speed ICBM with a range of more than 10,000 nautical miles that could break into missile defense systems is accelerating.
5. Nuclear experiments will resume and military forces will be established in space.
6. Retain 1000 nuclear bombs equal to 10 million tons of trinitrotoluene and install nuclear warheads on all short and middle @-@ range missiles when needed.
7) Retain 30 strategic nuclear submarines capable of inflicting three devastating nuclear strikes on the enemy.
8. Abandon your commitment to not first use nuclear weapons.
9. Retention of preemptive strike rights when national security is threatened
My fellow citizens, only when we are confident of ourselves and improve ourselves can we strive to be strong. Qin Shi Huang unites China. Zheng Chenggong recovers Taiwan. As responsible citizens, we must carry on the far @-@ sightedness, insight and strong will of our predecessors.
Now, that piece of land, far away from the embrace of the motherland, shakes, moans, and calls: "By moving forward courageously, let us carry forward the unfulfilled wishes of the previous general."
As I read history, the heaviness and anger in my heart simmers, so that I am concerned about the nation. Though I was born in a cloth gown and included among the common people, I am willing to serve our country voluntarily to make the motherland prosperous and splendid once again, and I will not regret even if I die. Showing heaven my sincere and patriotic heart would be adequate.
Here, in the classical form of Ci, I compose poems to voice the aspirations of my heart.
Paint a deep red lip.
Protect the Diaoyu Islands!
We bitterly lost our Ryukyu Islands.
How can we allow the Diaoyu Islands to fall to other countries?
100 years of vicissitudes.
Smoke and clouds chased the flying waves.
The youngest brother is still a tender youth.
All directions wandered, and seals were born.
Look over the flag.
We brandished our weapons and crossed to the east.
Let the horse drink from the Pacific Ocean.
2002 @-@ 06 @-@ 26
The title of the other article was "My Taiwan compatriots have a dream", "I need to build a memorial museum or a temple for Chinese national heroes", "How long will we tolerate it," "China will never beg for the Olympics, but expect them," "There will be more hardship history if we forget the hardships of history," "There is only one country and one culture," "States can decline when sports are overdeveloped," "Google has no right to make irresponsible remarks about the US," "We will tolerate the US," "We need to tolerate the US," "We need more than ever beg for the Olympics," "We will never beg for the hardships of history" "We will never beg for the hardships of history" "Forget the hardships of the hardships of history if we forget the hardships of history" if we forget about the hardships of history" if we forget the hardships of history; only one country and one nation and one country; hateful housing prices; hateful prices; pity people who cann't tolerate the US; Google has no responsibility for its remarks about the US; we tolerate the US?
Why didn't we fight for little Japan?
What are the Chinese still tolerating?
They even ridden on our heads.
Are the Chinese still gutting this?
We should tell the whole world that others cannot bully China at will.
It's time to show our strength. China has been calm for too long.
Currently, all of our citizens' lives are too careless. Officials are too extravagant.
We already have no cohesion now. China needs to start a war. A harsh slap on the face of countries following the rear of the United States.
Let them know that the US is not a panacea. If we win, we can increase the influence of China. And citizen cohesion will improve. If we lose, we can clean out the incompetent bureaucrats and make the trash get out. Let China have new blood and be updated. Let China get up.
Go China!
I suggest that China strengthen its guards of the Diaoyu Islands and guard it daily to protect the fishermen and the sovereignty of our country. If Japan dares to invade our territory by military force, we will fight a small scale war to defend ourselves, regardless of the cost. China cannot lose.
We need a show in life, but really p. if you show yourself in the embrace of someone.
I just passed by.
This is what the whole society is like, including the stars.
Damn, not sexy.
It's totally unacceptable.
Agreed, just cheap entertainers; their reputation in feudal China makes somewhat sense.
Their lives would look glorious.
A group of people from nine professions.
Life is hard.
Shocking.
That's normal. And whores are always heartless and performers are not righteous.
They want money, not face.
Look at the wolf near Ms. Fan with the glasses - you know the actor had to drink with him without being forced out or even framed.
son @-@ of @-@ a @-@ bitch.
As long as it's something loveliness to eat, it's okay.
No one is easy. Live is like a show, you have to look at the script to know how to perform.
It's all somebody.
The top scorer in the Imperial Examination is a person in all 360 walks of life. There is so much effort and endeavor behind the top scorer in the Imperial Examination. This is humiliating for the word "bean vermicelli".
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Overdo.
Reality.
Shoot those hooligans.
a cheap performer
a cheap performer
The entertainment circle is dirty. All the men in it are birds, beasts, and scum.
Pity them but who's to blame? Those star females aren't easy.
Everybody does this, how can you make money if you don't?
Women are proud when in front of others, but in a melancholy mood when they stay alone.
To put it plainly, nowadays's stars are just popular prostitutes from ancient times. Since they are now famous prostitutes, it should just be normal for them to drink or even sleep with some high officials.
Stop talking about other people, just behave.
What should we do in the future? Will we face such hard choices too? Capacity alone is not enough to succeed?
More suffering is disguised for the look of glory indisputable.
It's not so bad because they're just playing in their circles and if they didn't keep it in mind they wouldn't see it.
But there's the old guy Zhang Jizhong, who behaves like a hooligan in his own circle and also thinks he's virtuous without talent; when he had nothing to do, he made a TV series to wreck the people of the whole country.
Both take what they need.
How can China have pure innocent girls?
The story is now very shocking in the entertainment world. There is a rumor that Hsu Yuki was forced out because he refused to drink with the guests arranged by the company and had to switch to working with a lawyer assistant instead to make ends meet.
The much @-@ envied stars often encounter social engagements or circumstances they are not welcome to join in.
After all, they cann't make decisions on many things because it must have to do with many aspects and the interests of many people.
Sometimes a very normal dinner party, which seems to us ordinary people, may not be that simple for stars as we imagine.
Stars have a lot of contracts and if they tackle well their money sources will roll in. If she doesn't tack well her heels will come out by force or even frame.
Star and smart females are two kinds. Those first kind people have always held a very high integrity and sternly rejected all such invitations.
The second kind is good at playing tricks and achieving their objectives with their own seed money.
It is rumored that even some super @-@ star females will win their first roles this way.
After drinking some alcohol, an advertiser or show sponsor may have a chance to lie on a star female's shoulder, feel her chin, or kiss her cheek, and the most enduring attitude a star female would adopt.
They are the very people in the lower 9 professions.
Those stars are just pretending and actually living damn good lives than this.
Agreed, just cheap entertainers; their reputation in feudal China makes somewhat sense.
Agreed.
Oh well, acting isn't easy.
They deserve it, that's what they asked for.
It dawned on me that nothing is easy.
Women are birds and beasts, and men are worse than birds and beasts.
*@ brawls @*
*@ brawls @*
It willn't take long.
Route 288, which runs around the southwestern quadrant of the Richmond New Urban Region, opened in late 2004.
It already changed the development patterns for the worse and caused localised congestion of traffic around its exit.
The Richmond Times @-@ Dispatch told the tale of the impact of the Huguenot Trail in Powhatan County today.
Will Jones reports that traffic has more than doubled in one section of the Huguenot Trail since 288 opened.
Speeds and accidents surged as well.
So far this year, there have been 17 reported accidents near the intersection of Winterfield Road and Winterfield Road, up from 12 all of 2004.
Dale Totten, a resident engineer with the Virginia Department of Transportation, notes that if they had more money, the department would have four lanes on the road, which would cost about $13 million.
Of course VDOT doesn't have the money to construct roads in the Richmond region.
Because VDOT spent all their frigging money on 288 because of local politicians and boosters.
Where's Homer Simpson when you need him?
Doh, this was a major moment.
As we predicted, Route 288 will generate residential development overtaxing the country @-@ local roads in the scarcely populated areas all around its exit.
Other people choose where they work and live, but limited @-@ access highways can relieve traffic for people who drive back and forth between Chesterfield and Goochland Counties.
and they create congestion of trafficking in new places.
I was surprised by only how rapid this was.
I even think it could be a 3 or 4 year lag.
Think about the liability that Route 288 has created for all of its exits, as it has already created a $13 million road construction just at this one exit.
Another prediction.
After a few more years of scattered subdivision development and approval of mega @-@ commercial projects at the intersection of 288 and major roads, the need for new road improvements will soar.
Before the end of the decade we can well see the unfunded liabilities zooming well past the original $400 million it took to build the original highway.
For the brainiacs who think Route 288 is such a great idea:
Thank you for nothing.
I think we could spend that 400 million better elsewhere.
I don't think you should blame 288 for the creation of those people.
What is the alternative if they are enough to create a new congestion for trafficking in new places?
Would traffic be congested in the old places additionally?
Now you understand how people like TMT in Fairfax feel.
I usually take a pro @-@ road position.
But while there is a glaring need in other parts of the state, 288 is definitely an excess.
Richmond virtually does not have traffic.
The rush hour lasted 30 minutes.
And you give them a beltway from largely rural areas.
There's nowhere to go.
Just think about how this money could be spent on another Potomac crossing facility or the desperately needed road improvements in NOVA.
Virginia Centrist: To add insult to injury, the rest of the state helped pay for 288 when last year's budget deal, so that will wipe out the debt.
Very nice of you all to oblige us.
It doesn't make much sense though.
Same old problem as it.
If you get ahead of needs, you will be accused of causing sprawl.
If you build in a place where the need is already acute, it is a claim that you cannot pave your way out of congestion.
Anonymous
That's a fair point.
5 @:@ 26 makes a good point.
But this situation hammers home the validity of the state auditor's report finding that transportation projects are funded by the CTB and VDOT based on the best lobbyists, rather than on a comprehensive state transportation plan.
I submit that this is a disgraceful situation that should not be tolerated.
And Senator Chichester and his toadies are pouring more money into these flawed institutions, making this worse.
Where are the transportation expenses going?
In Virginia, it is for the benefit of private business plans and not to serve the public interest.
You all are dead wrong.
Walter Stoch no less stated that money for economic development was intended to be paid for Route 288.
C'mon folks.
I don't understand your point, TMT.
When was the last time you stuck in traffic and didn't go into some sort of business?
Seems to me that the whole point of the road is to facilitate the public interest in getting and keeping private business.
OVERWHELMING NEED FOR BUSINESS SUPPORT - Of course, a Sunday drive, a trip to Grandma's, and a soccer game.
No wonder we suffer congestion problems because our road expenditures do not match the increase in business or state domestic product.
If we recognize that the primary benefit of the road is to businesses, we should do two things.
Businesses should pay for more transportation bills that they will of course pass on to us and we should incentivize businesses to locate themselves when they are putting the least stress on the system, even if it means more travel overall.
Why is it so hard to understand?
The solution is to have functional human settlement patterns and to balance the capacity of transportation systems with the travel demand generated by land use.
All else is spin.
EMR
In Virginia, TMT said, it was for the benefit of private business plans and not to serve the public interest.
I don't see the point in this statement as it appears to demonize private business plans and put the public interest above all else.
I think they are tightly intertwined to be virtually the same.
The local problems are obvious, as this cookie dough is lumpy.
But if we demonize business long enough, we will eventually, in aggregate, find that we are all working for the devil.
I don't see the point in claiming that the solution is a balance in the ever changing dynamic nature.
Even you see rail to Dulles as a positive because it is a job center that promotes bidirectional rail demand.
I agree.
In fact, those are sufficient reasons to build it all by themselves.
All I'm saying is that the exact same logic should be applied to the roads.
To make maximum use of our investments, they should have a destination at both ends.
We need more places to get closer to the balance you say we need.
Reality check here.
I drive past Watkins Landing every morning and evening.
I commuted back and forth on the Huguenot Trail from where I work.
I've never seen anything remotely like a traffic flood.
It's a 55 mph zone for a car that goes 75 @-@ 100 miles a morning.
There is already a plan to widen the Huguenot Trail because of the heavy demand from development on the Chesterfield side, new schools, and a whole bunch of existing development that was zoned years ago and funneled through Robious Road earlier.
For those of us who actually use 288, it's a wonderful road, rather than a bottleneck in Powhatan and west Chesterfield counties due to its lack of roads.
We can develop commercially, and our work can be closer to life.
You might think that is an irrational use of land.
I have no desire to live in any city.
I refused to work in the downtown area.
I refuse to use mass transit that is unsafe for commuting females who work long hours at irregular hours.
And I happen to like large lots being developed.
I don't understand exactly how I'm supposed to keep a horse on a 1/4 acre lot.
A gallon of gas can go for $10.
and I still pay to live in the country.
Many people legitimately prefer horses, hunting, gardening, and certain types of small businesses, which makes them not want to live in urban cores.
This infatuation with living in a city truly baffles me.
Anonymous 6:37 - You have every right to live in a country if you wish to.
But you are not right that the rest of the state will underwrite the construction of a $400 million highway for easier shopping and getting to work.
In the debate over Route 288, there has been a consistent overlooking of what else could have been spent the $4 billion.
Much traffic congestion could have been alleviated if the money had been applied to other pressing road projects, or even no road projects, god forbid.
Ray Hyde, my comments are directed at investors who lobby to place roads near property owners and to the incompetent system that funds these requests regardless of whether they are linked to a master transport plan or not.
I'm 24 and have a 2.5 year old mother.
I've been breaking up with my son's father since August.
I wanted to start dating other people and my sons father said he would have nothing to do with him if I did.
He is very possessive and controlling, but because we are together he has no right to be.
There is too much going on in his life right now and he thinks we might work despite me telling him several times I don't love him and he doesn't love me.
I want him there for his son, but he doesn't need me too.
But he has no one. His family doesn't get along with him and they have issues.
I don't want to be miserable anymore, and the longer he's around, the more miserable I'll be.
I don't want him not there for his sons, he's a good father or at least trying to be.
I believe every child needs both parents whether they are together or not.
But he thinks if he cann't have me, no one can.
What do I do with my life?
A threat from your ex using your son is very bad.
You mustn't give in to that, otherwise it will just escalate.
You have the right to live your life and be happy, so don't cave to his threats.
If he really loves his son, he will see him regardless, but this is just a typical control method that people like him use.
Others have said things like "I'll kill you if you leave me" - will it get through to you?
Date.
Meet all kinds of people.
Do what you want.
If it were up to him volunteering to walk out of both of your lives, you would probably be better off without him.
I agree, but one other thing, it's not his business if you date.
I didn't tell him.
Not because he's threatening, but because he's not concerned about your personal life.
Can you document his threats?
You really need.
Quit taking his calls and make him leave a voice mail.
Make him email or text you.
Keep that record.
Get a lawyer and divorce.
Try legal aid if you cann't afford one.
Tell your ex that all communications need to go through a lawyer.
Bus drivers, people at the tills, and the people who deliver your food want EXACTLY the change.
Don't they realise you don't get a pile of change from the bank?
Someone has to take a note somewhere?
People get lazy.
I'd like to be as near as possible because I don't like counting copper all day.
They just tell you to get on the bus (take a £20 note on the bus, they're lazy as hell).
It is illegal to pay a certain amount with a load of coins, so you can only pay something like 30 cents using a penny coin.
Hello, I started university in September but obviously didn't gel with it immediately like most people.
However, I know it will take some time to adjust as I've always been very introverted, shy and especially anxious, along with all the rest.
All my housemates and I went out the first night I was here, and it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do.
When I'm sober, I go to a student union bar by myself.
But there's a more point. Here's the facts.
I don't enjoy university after being here for about 5 months, I'm disillusioned with the courses, the set projects and the delivery of the courses much.
University will make out much better than it seems.
I had a bad start to the first term, the student finance was delayed adding to the level of stress, and I was so worried that I couldn't make progress with my work, so the pile of all of this is, in conclusion, because of all of it.
I was assigned a counsellor at university and I saw her about 5 @-@ 6 times a week in block sessions and honestly it didn't really work out as I never opened up to her.
Only half @-@ heart.
I'm now loaded up with work, have to hit major deadlines, am depressed, and the anxiety has resulted in me feeling miserable all the time.
I no longer have a counsellor as you can only have one at so many sessions at a time and I doubt if I didn't already have one it would help me much this time.
I lack motivation, I don't feel comfortable with my lecturer, I feel like I want to give in, but I cann't bring myself to do so as I would end up in a dead end job and aspire to be someone I am not.
I'd rather die than be uneducated and not live the life I want to, and dropping out of uni would make matters worse.
I'm 21 and will turn 22 this year, I don't have much time left to fail, I have to do something.
I failed in college once and did another course so I could get into uni. I don't want to go through the system over and over and consistently fail.
Can someone please give me some advice?
Maybe go see your doctor and see if there is a way you can get to extend your deadline to try and ease the pressure a bit?
Send your tutor an email like this post and they will consider the mitigating circumstances - don't worry, they have seen all before, including some much more uncomfortable admissions - I know because I used to work in the university admin department.
Break your work into chunks you can manage.
Concentrate on one bit of work at a time, obviously start with the most urgent assignments.
Don't shut yourself off from your housemates and do well, try new things from the very beginning. Keep at it now.
I would recommend you go see your doctor too.
Speaking to someone can benefit you if you've always been an anxious person, my friend gets therapy on the NHS so it's really normal because of anxiety.
And try to get an extension of the deadline. To be honest, I'm sure your university would allow it.
Keep strong, keep carrying on life, it's going to get hard.
My mum divorced. She had a horrible time with my stepfather and the new freedom she found sent her round the bend.
She was epileptic, manic depressive, with a huge anger problem.
She is constantly horrible to me.
When I was at home I couldn't cope with her bursts out and her hateful and nasty remarks.
I'm an 18 year old with a 95% bursary studying 6 th form full time in a high pressure private school at my breaking point.
I cann't work at home because she shouts at me.
Then I was angry at my teachers.
At one minute she was lovely as if I had my mummy back, then at the next minute she turned into the most spiteful living human.
I haven't passed my A2 and I've already accepted that I'm defeated and this year of my life has made me fail.
Who knows, maybe I can come back from this. The most amazing thing was the university offered me, but I couldn't even accept it. I never made a grade.
I wish I could wipe her out of my life, things would be so much better for her.
But then I thought I was just selfish.
But surely this doesn't mean my life is like this?
It should have been so much better.
But I feel like I have no control over this downhill spiral.
And I don't know what to do.
Thanks for reading.
Nice vent.
You cann't get her a section for that.
Does she even have a history of mental illness or a diagnosis?
You sure don't know if you're not going to get a good grade, so accept a place if you can.
Life throws things at you all the time.
Outsider if not someone in your family.
I had to deal with verbal abuse from my dad for 8 years before I came to uni and honestly the only reason I'm here is because it's the only way out.
Work hard if you really want out.
It really does sound like you need support somewhere else if she cann't consistently give it to you.
You could call Childline or something like that?
You can go to the library on a Saturday and study there for a good 8 hours.
Can you go to a friend's house to form a study group?
Do you want her sectioned because it's a bit of an ass pain and you blame it for all your problems?
I know how you feel.
My mum spits the hell out of me too.
I highly recommend taking up smoking.
Oh, tsr will grow up and stop nagging. It's a joke.
I think over the last 1 @-@ 2 years I have become much weaker as a person and my personality has dulled down in a way trying to make friends with some people at university.
But being overly nice to people leads them to believe they can say or do whatever the hell they want about me.
They showed absolutely no respect.
For example, I say hello to someone from university and they ignore me, but after 30 minutes they decide they want me to help them with some work and I give it to them.
It caused a lot of anger and distress in my life and really started affecting my concentration at university.
Has anyone got any experience handling this sort of thing or how to go about gaining some respect again?
You just said no.
If you are particularly uncomfortable with it, do it gradually.
You could start by saying sorry, I'm busy.
Of course you don't go over the top with it to go in the completely opposite direction.
If you think in your mind no, you say no.
When they start to realise you aren't going to bend over backwards for them, they start to respect you more.
Well, this really is such a bad attitude. Of course, you can be respected if you're nice, but not to the point of just letting them do anything to you. That's not nice, that's a fool.
I don't know if anyone is reading this but I just feel desperate and feel the need to tell someone.
I left home in September and started university. I was incredibly anxious about doing this, but I delayed thinking about this until I got here. I'm here now and have been for over two weeks. I feel terribly overwhelmed by it all and feel unintelligent and socially awkward.
Since moving to secondary school I have struggled emotionally for the majority of my life, although I lost my dad around the age of 9 and have always used to blame it for my feelings. I have had two counselling periods in my life from December 2009 until this year around March, roughly 15 months.
At the moment I feel like problems in my life are incredibly overwhelming and making me ever more doubtful of my always low self @-@ esteem. I am unable to concentrate on work, often find myself becoming very quiet in social occasions, and doubt myself about anything and everything.
My two counsellors didn't diagnose me with depression and suggested I didn't suffer from it, but depression is a huge worry for me as it caused my dad's death and suicide.
I have tried to solve my problems before and have found exercise and meditation particularly useful, and have also tried things like self help books and tapes. However, in general, I feel that this is my life? I waste one chance at existence and one chance at being a young man. These feelings have beaten me away.
I simply don't know what to do and when I think I will I never follow through with it. My friends often say I'm lazy and I cann't disagree a lot of the time. I feel like people are trying everything anyone can do to help and I fail time and time again.
Sorry to anyone reading this jumbled mess, I feel a bit like a self seeking moaner, but I truly feel despair.
When people are in new situations and feel pressured to socialise with strangers and fit into a new role such as a university student, existing feelings towards people become more intense.
I'm not a health professional and can speak only from personal experience, so I strongly suggest you see a qualified health professional about how you feel about and worry about depression.
Most people feel unintelligent and awkward when they first get to university, so you're definitely not alone there. However, you should really get an appointment with a counselling service at your university. It doesn't really matter if anyone tells you if you're depressed. You obviously have some problems at the minute and could use some support. Meditation and exercise are really helpful so try to do them. However, you have to engage with help and life in general to get somewhere, but don't beat yourself up because you feel unmotivated to do anything at the minute. A lot of people feel like this and hopefully passes when you begin to feel better. Be kind to yourself and get some help. Labels aren't as important as your experiences.
Good luck.
I think a lot more people feel the same way as you, but medicate themselves using friends, probably not a solution as such, but definitely better to be around friends when you're depressed than being alone and depressed (either way feel free to PM me if you fancy a chat).
If I were you, I would focus on idols. You aspire to someone like someone who came from a bad background and ended up successful, happy, having a family, getting married etc. You don't want to be them, but someone you admire and respect.
You focus on what you have achieved in life, you don't state what you are studying or indeed why. Because you want experience? Because your mum wants you to go? Because you need a degree for the career you want?
Either way, when you get your degree, sum up why you're there and work your bottom off to get the best grades you can, because you'll have something to say (hey, I didn't fail, I worked hard and passed)
X
I hope this helps.
I'm pretty much autistic (not diagnosed with dyspraxia, but I think the doctor misdiagnosed me), but nearly all the time I walk on my toes.
I'm more comfortable with it.
What makes them decide that toe walking is a sign of autism because it seems so random and doesn't always indicate autism?
Well, I may have signs of something on the autism spectrum, but who doesn't have one or two?
You guys know what I mean.
Walking on toes can be a symptom of autism.
Headache can be a symptom of a brain tumor.
Feeling tired a lot can be a symptom of leukaemia.
Symptoms don't always apply but if they are symptomatic in a lot of cases (which in this instance clearly is the case) it's worth noting as without notes nothing is ever diagnosed.
I used to walk on my toes, but I was born with strange toes that curled under and had to be straightened by surgery two years ago.
My brother is autistic but I don't notice it either, but the spectrum is so broad and I probably have mild Asperger's so I have communication problems and don't pick up on social reactions @/@ body language.
But then I don't have a proper diagnosis, and even having some symptoms doesn't necessarily mean you have a certain condition.
I didn't walk with my toes for years, so I don't walk with my toes much.
I have dyspraxia.
So maybe you're dyspraxic or have a short tendon.
It's been drilled into people who do dance @/@ gymnastics @/@ ballet etc. to the point that I find it more comfortable now.
I don't read too much into random symptoms like that.
Hello, I'm a 12 year old girl (two days from now I'll be 13) who is addicted to self @-@ harm.
I started slitting each individual finger with scissors when I was 7 and I never stopped from that day on.
It's getting worse as I have a scar on my leg from slitting it with staples in my ex boyfriend's name because if I bled I wouldn't stop cutting.
I have several slits in my arms.
They healed, then I cut myself with the staples I robbed the school with a razor.
I take around 5 paracetamols and other drugs and take them with lager and vodka when a cut cann't be found.
As I write this, I'm really tempted to cut my arms or burn myself.
I'm addicted, I'll cut again when one heals.
I think about it daily.
I'm 12 and my life is sick of me already.
This is a source of this, my dad left when I was 7 and doesn't want to know me anymore.
He just cares about his new little girl, his wife, his new life without me.
My best mate died when I was 10.
I was in a relationship with a 16 year old boy and was forbade from speaking to him because of the age difference.
My mum also suffers from bipolar and I have depression.
I don't want to stop.
I don't care what is done to me, I want it done time and again to torture myself. I hate myself.
But I love my best mate loads, he means the world to me and if I do anything he will do it.
I wouldn't tell him if he found out.
I don't want to hurt him. I don't want him to hurt me.
What do I do?
Thanks for reading.
Are you on any drug or getting any therapy on any drug?
You should talk to the nurse at your school or your GP and tell them what's going on.
A school teacher can be someone you trust and can tell.
People can help you if you tell them.
If you keep it bottled up inside, it's likely to only get worse.
Trust me, it would be better to get these things done as early as possible, rather than letting them get even worse.
Please don't do this.
I'm 17 and started self harm last year, mainly cutting my arms, but I stopped a few months ago.
It's hard, but you can do it.
I feel so much happier, but seeing the scars reminds me so painfully of how I felt at that time, and how strong those feelings were that I wanted to do such things to myself.
Also, strong. You can do it. I found it saved through poetry writing and keeping a journal.
Self @-@ harm is addictive, but you can overcome it.
Remember self @-@ harm does not define who you are.
You can overcome it.
So I think I got a form of OCD, I found this past year that every time I went out, especially uni, I always checked my belongings to make sure I didn't lose or leave anything behind.
I often have to check twice in one go, and then for some reason I cann't resist checking again after 30 seconds.
Why is this?
Am I crazy or something?
It happens most often where I carry many things, but rarely, and I check even many times a day. Is this to any extent OCD?
What can I do about this?
If I don't check, I get very anxious, which sort of goes away after 15 @-@ 30 minutes, but often I get so much anxiety that I cann't wait that long.
I feel doomed if I lose my wallet or my phone, or I feel doomed.
I just wish I could go out without worrying every 2 minutes if I left or lost something.
I really don't know what to do and am afraid to go to a general practitioner.
They probably never heard of some compulsion like this and I just don't know what to do.
Do any of you have similar rituals?
People think I'm crazy, but it's very strangely difficult to get out of this.
What advice can you give me?
I used to do this my way through college, had a list of items I knew I had on me, and used compulsive checking on the bus.
I have more severe anxiety now and I think this is a warning sign, so just try weaning from the habit when it's relatively fresh and definitely visit your doctor but also tell yourself not to keep these things in check. I know it's easier said than done.
Don't worry about that, the doctor will see a much worse case.
I did an OCD class today  emoticon
One way to get rid of it is to just avoid compulsive actions, so don't check if you've lost something and just leave it be.
Your anxiety levels will gradually decrease, so hopefully your OCD will disappear over time, but for the duration your anxiety levels will increase.
That just sounds like you are overly anxious rather than having really bad OCD to me.
I'm very obsessive, to the point where I get up 20 times a night to check all the locks in my house, in particular.
Sometimes I'm convinced they aren't locked, even though I know they are.
When the obsession starts really interrupting your daily routine, I think it becomes a real problem.
You are definitely not crazy so don't worry and I'm sure your GP understands the issues.
I go to therapy also for other reasons and they encouraged me to pick a number (obviously less than 20) to check and stick to it and cut down.
I thought it was an idea to teach myself, and if I checked 5 times or 20 times, I'd still be okay.
So far I'm a lot better and I think there's definitely hope for anyone who wants to improve.
I'm usually pretty calm about things, I like to take things as they come and don't worry too much.
But over the past month @-@ two, I have found myself becoming really anxious about things, and I am not talking about merely feeling nervous out of the blue.
I began to feel irrational panicked over a variety of things that I didn't worry about too much beforehand, that didn't even come to mind as something that would cause alarm bells to ring in my head.
I'm not sure if this is due to a lifestyle change (going from care free students to unemployed graduates) or a sign of other issues, but this is beginning to bug me as it affects my confidence and happiness.
I've spoken about it to a few people, including my parents, but all thought the same thing, that I was going through a random phase and should hold off acting until a serious problem was clear.
So wonder what the best thing to do?
Do you speak to a doctor about it and see if anti anxiety pills can take the edge off of things?
I see I can speak to a counsellor?
Or should I take the advice of the close people around me and just keep an eye on the anxiety until it becomes a problem?
Well, don't start trying to keep an eye on your anxiety, it will make you tense and more likely to panic, so that's a circle of demise there.
As soon as you start feeling a bit panicked about anything, I would recommend trying to focus on something with a guarantee that will make you smile or feel happier.
If you cann't do that, get one of your friends to make you laugh when you start feeling panicky, it worked for me and I suffered random panic attacks lol.
I'm starting to just start worrying really about the tiny things, even though they aren't as severe as you sound.
I find that just talking to someone else about what makes you anxious helps.
I find that mentioning my worries to my mum and seeing her react to the situation in the calm way I should react makes me feel better about it, so I know it's not a big deal and I don't need to be anxious about it, but perhaps not in a moaning way.
But if it gets worse, go to the doctor.
I have a friend who suffers from severe anxiety who can prevent her from leaving the house and doing things because she is so worried about what could go wrong.
The doctor gave her medication and it made her much better.
Texas needs help, especially Austin.
Helping survivors in the Gulf
Mega link to the site.
a href="http://www.keshertalk.com/archives/2...g_hurrica.html"> http://www.keshertalk.com/archives/2...g_hurrica.html /a>
Hurricane Refugees Helped in Austin, Texas, September 3, 2005
I used to live in Austin, TX and I just got emails from the synagogue (before) and a large online community in Austin.
Houston was overloaded and many refugees proceeded to Austin.
If you live in the Austin area and want help, many resources are listed in the extended entry.
There are new Jews in the affected areas, and some theodicies contradict the theological idiocy of free float.
Jewish organizations are collecting relief funds.
Refugees are being taken in by churches in South Texas.
If you need news about your loved ones, there is a list of people and places evacuated.
Rice U, a Texas university in Austin, and Texas A & M coordinated with Tulane to enroll college students displaced by the floods.
Trinity U is also in San Antonio.
If you wish to volunteer immediately, please contact the Austin Chapter of the American Red Cross at 512 @-@ 929 @-@ 1229.
There may need to be a message left and it can take up to a day for your call to be returned.
Austin COORDINATES Katrina Relief
Here's a look at the volunteers.
Here's a look at the evacuees:
Here's a list of a lot of relief efforts and fundraising events in Austin:
Here's a list of more:
The Austin Jewish Community Center website has updates on local relief efforts.
The Jewish Community Center Austin also provides free access to a fitness facility and free use of towels and showers.
For more information, please contact 738 @-@ 58 @-@ 5000.
Counseling and housing assistance will be coordinated by Jewish Family Services, 512 @-@ 250 @-@ 1043.
There is also a housing hotline.
Please leave a message and someone will get back to you as soon as possible, and if space is needed in an apartment, office, home room, etc., or can be offered, please call at 512 @-@ 250 @-@ 1043 or email Mitch Sudolsky at mitch.sudolsky@jcaaonline.org.
The Burger Center shelter is now closed and everyone is being sent to the Convention Center.
The Capital Area Food Bank can use donations and volunteers.
They collected and prepared boxes of non @-@ perishable food for local shelters and meal programs to help the Katrina effort.
Goodwill Industries expects a massive amount of clothing and other items to be donated, so if you're in Austin and plan to donate stuff, it's a good time to do so.
Things like the First Baptist Church in Oak Hill.
We have free standing houses on the grounds of our church.
It has three bedrooms, air conditioning, and a kitchen.
We could take in six mothers and babies under 6 months and more if we had the room.
I also started a waiting list.
We are not taking in men and are prepared for security issues with boyfriends and others, but we mainly want assurances of privacy for other women.
I'm trying to find my dad a near house at our church later this week if I can.
We are trying to place these people in jobs and private houses as soon as possible.
We need supplies for a comfortable nursing chair, a rocker, a nursing foot stool, a boppie, a sling, baby cloths, diapers.
Wipes, baby toy, changing table, diaper genie, bed rail, futon, sheet towel, nursing wear, new mom's cloth, think elastic!
loose t @-@ shirts, nursing bra, nursing pad.
Basically, you're imagining a camp for newborns.
Mail supplies for mom's relief to First Baptist Church, Oak Hill, 6907 Convict Hill RD, Austin, TX 78749 and call Ann Bennett at 301 @-@ 8203 for more information.
Beginning Friday, September 2, United Van Lines trucks will be stationed at the Junior College Athletic Association to collect items approved by the American Red Cross, including new or gently used cloths, staples for toothbrushes, toothpaste, diapers, non @-@ perishable food items, such as bottled water, peanut butter, tuna fish, granola bars and cereal bars.
Please separate clothing items and label by child, woman or man!
Clothes should be separated from food items or other necessities.
The Junior College Athletic Association will distribute these goods as more information becomes available about who will accept them, local and regional needs.
For more information, please contact Liza Levine at (512) 735 @-@ 8078, Alan Potash at (512) 735 @-@ 8012, and Hayley Wasser at (512) 735 @-@ 8082.
As of this weekend, hotel rooms are available.
The Holiday Inn, which works with the Red Cross, is located at 8901 Business Park Drive, at 49 and 59 dollars per night, phone 343-0888.
The Renaissance Austin Hotel at the Hurricane Katrina Block, 9721 Arboretum Blvd, 59 dollars a night, 343 @-@ 2626.
For the beginning of Sunday, the Doubletree Hotel (determined rate) is at 6505 North IH 35, call Jon McFarland's cell phone at 470 @-@ 5715, and the AmeriSuites at 3612 Tudor Blvd, $231 @-@ 8491, call Linda Wilson or Joan Buquet at $231 @-@ 8491.
The Austin Area Interreligious Ministry asks clergy, leaders and members of the Austin faith community to come together to First Baptist Church on Thursday, September 15, 2005.
We begin with an interfaith service of reflection, song and prayer.
subsequently we had a strategy session focused on developing an infrastructure to care for refugees coming into Central Texas and those who remain in the state of their home.
We are also focusing on developing a group of spiritually trained care responders who will be available to meet the pastoral needs of the people in crisis.
And on Thursday, September 15, 2005, there will be a service of inter @-@ faith worship with a time of reflection, prayer, and singing at 7 @:@ 30 p.m. and a strategy meeting at First Baptist Church, 901 Trinity Street, downtown, at the intersection of Trinity and 9 th streets, at 8 @:@ 30 p.m.
Plenty of parks are available.
If you can attend, please respond by emailing aaim@aaimaustin.org or calling (512) 386 @-@ 9145. Food will be provided for $3.00.
Posted by Judith at 09 @/@ 03 @/@ 2005 15 @:@ 23
Helping Gulf survivors
Mega link to site
a href="http://www.keshertalk.com/archives/2...g_hurrica.html"> http://www.keshertalk.com/archives/2...g_hurrica.html /a>
Local news here shows more volunteers and food than victims, but by all means send everything you get.
somebody is going to use it.
Dell could buy one home for every victim that makes it here.
We are in the 9 th section above the Leogane area.
We went hungry and our houses were destroyed.
Please help us a little.
9 @/@ 02 @/@ 2010 20 @:@ 51
Medicine and tents needed.
We count on your assistance because people have asked us to find them this stuff.
Hot plate food every day.
Thank you.
19 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 05 @:@ 49
I lost my entire family and could not find anyone to help me.
I don't clearly know the last time I ate anything.
27 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 12 @:@ 16
Good morning, we are in Pelerin.
We need some food, water and hygiene supplies.
Please come. You cann't let us perish. Please.
20 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 08 @:@ 17
Phone number  None of us in the Rue Petrel extension behind College Mevar got any help.
20 @/@ 02 @/@ 2010 13 @:@ 51
Good day.
We listen to the Voice of America.
We are located in Tiboukan, section 24 Gresye.
We are starving, we need medicine, we need food.
Please help.
22 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 13 @:@ 19
I'm from Saint Marc. I'm at Alliance University in Delmas. The earthquake made me come back to find my mother. She couldn't do anything for me. I need a land.
23 @/@ 02 @/@ 2010 14 @:@ 23
The condition was bloody due to the child being underwent delivery at the corner of Delmas 31 and Rue Marien.
24 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 11 @:@ 09
The big guy took the prelate to sell for 250 gourdes on Delmas 32 and the street bookman did not find it.
23 @/@ 02 @/@ 2010 09 @:@ 17
We need water to drink.
So please tell us how to pray, because we almost don't believe in God and our prayers never arrive at him.
8 @/@ 03 @/@ 2010 09 @:@ 45
Good afternoon.
We live at the top of the mountain Saint Antoine in Dubois.
Hunger kills us.
WE NEED HELPFUL HELPFUL HELPFUL HELPFUL HELPFUL HELPFUL HELPFUL HELPFUL HELPFUL HELPFUL HELPFUL HELPFUL HELPFUL HELPFUL HELPFUL HELPFUL HELPFUL HELPFUL HELPFUL HELPFUL HELPFUL HELPFUL HELPFUL HELPFUL HELPFUL HELPFUL HELPFUL HELP!
19 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 13 @:@ 20
We are OJCAD in the Duffort @/@ Leogane area. We have about 800 families needing help. Thanks a lot.
7 @/@ 02 @/@ 2010 00 @:@ 29
Please help the people in Carrefour, Magloire Ambroide Avenue, aid will not reach this area, please do something like shelter near the church of Salem.
21 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 10 @:@ 45
I'm in Croix de Bouquets and need a tent and a coupon.
16 @/@ 02 @/@ 2010 09 @:@ 04
No one was talking about the homes destroyed in Kenscoff.
23 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 15 @:@ 24
Should we crawl on Route Nationale 1 at Cite Boston to help you?
20 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 14 @:@ 22
We don't have water, food, or shelter.
We found medical aid.
Even if it was difficult to be at Pond Branch, people in Brat Darbonne would have found the box.
Please bring some to us too.
5 @/@ 02 @/@ 2010 13 @:@ 11
Good evening, I would like you to pass the message on to me.
Place called Fort @-@ Jacques (Donte?)
(): These people never receive anything.
Please pass this message to me.
15 @/@ 02 @/@ 2010 10 @:@ 38
Please help me.
Please send us aid @/@ help.
We are located in the Mandine area of Petion Ville.
Thank you.
26 @/@ 02 @/@ 2010 14 @:@ 32
Good evening, I hope you keep La Tortue in mind, there are a lot of wounded people coming to La Tortue and they don't have clothes or food for them.
19 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 17 @:@ 40
I live in La Plaine. My wife is pregnant. She was injured by falling rocks.
She cann't walk.
We didn't find anyone to help us.
We are in the Moya area.
18 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 08 @:@ 36
We're in Bon Repos, we're victims, and we need water. Something about werewolves?
24 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 05 @:@ 15
We are in the Mathieu building in the 3 rd commune section of Grand Riviere in Leogane. We are waiting.
19 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 02 @:@ 01
Save our souls, we need water and food, we are around Delmas 95, next to the Carribean market, after the bridge.
24 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 07 @:@ 10
I cann't resist anymore because my resources are finished. We at the nway in Croix @-@ des @-@ Bouquets never receive any help. We used to see things go to other parts.
19 @/@ 02 @/@ 2010 12 @:@ 41
We need food, tents, healthcare in Port @-@ de @-@ Paix.
6 @/@ 02 @/@ 2010 21 @:@ 22
We are at the local pinson on Delmas 1
We have great needs for food and water.
21 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 11 @:@ 18
We are located in La Plaine, Bon Repos, Moleya 7, Ruelle Mackendi and Impasse Celeste 40.
19 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 10 @:@ 34
We died of thirst on Martisan road 25 @/@ bis. Doctors without Frontiers brought us food and water.
21 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 13 @:@ 54
We live in Sainte Marie on Impasse Nicolas in Canapevert. We need tents, water, food and poison to kill bugs.
Nobody has yet come to where we live to help us.
5 @/@ 02 @/@ 2010 13 @:@ 01
We are down the street in the Haitian Coast Guard next to the EDH electric company on the road, please send the responsible authority because we are on the street. Thank you.
21 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 13 @:@ 24
There are a lot of helpers coming to Plateau Central. There is no help. We saw a lot of trunks full of rice, but they stopped and wanted to sell it elsewhere.
9 @/@ 02 @/@ 2010 03 @:@ 19
The wounded at Saint Michel hospital had no medicine.
This looks like part of a cut off message.
18 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 07 @:@ 07
I'm at Thomassin 32 in Pyron area.
I'd like to have some water.
Thank God we're fine, but we desperately need water.
Thank you.
17 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 03 @:@ 35
We are in bad shape.
Our living conditions are not good in our place at an impasse.
Name is in the Silo.
19 @/@ 02 @/@ 2010 06 @:@ 55
We are in Fontamara at Louis St (Route 1 and 2) and have not received anything and need water.
Thanks, we'll wait for you.
22 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 12 @:@ 36
We are dying of hunger, please help us, Patience is the second narrow street.
20 @/@ 02 @/@ 2010 13 @:@ 27
Good evening Digicel.
We are here on the second level of the Church of Saint Maire.
We have yet to receive anything other than water.
Please what can you do to help us?
9 @/@ 02 @/@ 2010 0 @:@ 50
We are tradeswomen in Dessalines and Rue Perodin.
We have a problem.
I have a lot of people in my house.
Help me.
19 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 21 @:@ 50
Save our ship!
We live at Ruelle Alix Roy road.
We never found help and also had a little baby on our own.
Please do something for us.
3 @/@ 02 @/@ 2010 1:16
I live in the Bon Repos area of Croix @-@ des @-@ Bouquets on National 1 in the Moya area near the police station there and we need assistance with everything.
18 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 16 @:@ 33
We are.
We are at St. Nicholas Hospital in Saint @-@ Marc and we need water, food and medicine.
And many people have left the capital to come to the city now, send help.
19 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 17 @:@ 49
We in Clercine 26 have never received any help.
We need food and water close to Village Theodate, please.
8 @/@ 02 @/@ 2010 13 @:@ 52
We are at the Immaculate Conception Hospital in Les Cayes, completely on Rue Duvivier. Thanks a lot, may God bless you.
20 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 13 @:@ 29
Hello, I cann't find a tent for people living in the coastal city of Delmas 2.
19 @/@ 02 @/@ 2010 15 @:@ 39
SetC @-@ SMS @-@ 093
SetC @-@ WP @-@ 03
m3807
You know what to do.
I'm sleeping outside in Place Canape Vert.
I couldn't find a tent to sleep in.
I don't have food and money.
21 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 13 @:@ 29
SetC @-@ SMS @-@ 094
SetC @-@ WP @-@ 04
m1456
We are located at Monrepos 38 Carrefour.
We don't have more water.
21 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 08 @:@ 34
SetC @-@ SMS @-@ 095
SetC @-@ WP @-@ 05
m3519
We live in La Plaine and have been sleeping on the streets since Tuesday.
Our house was destroyed.
We die of thirst and hunger.
We cann't take this anymore.
We would like to know when help will come.
18 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 13 @:@ 26
SetC @-@ SMS @-@ 096
SetC @-@ WP @-@ 06
m1367
We plead on the new road in Renaissance Village.
We plead for help for our hunger deaths. The new army @-@ built TN directly links Solei with the National 1 Highway.
In this area, there are many old sugar cane working villages that have been turned into slums or poor residential neighborhoods.
20 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 08 @:@ 45
SetC @-@ SMS @-@ 077
SetC @-@ WP @-@ 07
m3311
We are in the Ranche Croix des Bouquet area and have no water or food.
21 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 08 @:@ 52
SetC @-@ SMS @-@ 038
SetC @-@ WP @-@ 08
m3031
I'm in Lesdunes in Artibonite and I'm not preventing this and I need help too.
9 @/@ 02 @/@ 2010 13 @:@ 25
SetC @-@ SMS @-@ 099
SetC @-@ WP @-@ 09
m3956
How can we find help and food in Rue Menos and Fontamara 43?
21 @/@ 03 @/@ 2010 19 @:@ 08
SetC @-@ SMS @-@ 100
SetC @-@ WP @-@ 01
m3812
Sivilien Sagesse: They need help in Gros More, they need help, medication, food and water in Artibonite, thank you.
21 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 12 @:@ 33
SetC @-@ SMS @-@ 101
SetC @-@ WP @-@ 02
m2839
We are at Mahotiere 75 and have no food, water or tents.
6 @/@ 02 @/@ 2010 16 @:@ 00
SetC @-@ SMS @-@ 102
SetC @-@ WP @-@ 03
m3142
We ask the Ministry of Public Health to help us with fly and mosquito shelters.
especially in Canapè Vert.
4 @/@ 02 @/@ 2010 0 @:@ 13
SetC @-@ SMS @-@ 103
SetC @-@ WP @-@ 04
m3411
There is no way to sleep by me Please help me I am waiting for a response God bless you all.
I'm in the Departement Sud in Saint Louis Du Sud.
16 @/@ 02 @/@ 2010 07 @:@ 53
SetC @-@ SMS @-@ 104
SetC @-@ WP @-@ 05
m3554
Hello, it's raining, we have no carpets or tents at Boukman Street, Delmas 33, we need some help.
19 @/@ 02 @/@ 2010 16 @:@ 45
SetC @-@ SMS @-@ 105
SetC @-@ WP @-@ 06
m0851
The problem in Paco Lazon is that the General Police Department wants you to know that they are almost out of food and water.
17 @/@ 01 @/@ 2010 06 @:@ 46
SetC @-@ SMS @-@ 106
SetC @-@ WP @-@ 07
m3422
How about St. Marc?
St. Marc people from Port @-@ au @-@ Prince found food.
Are we hungry?
12 @/@ 02 @/@ 2010 20 @:@ 51
SetC @-@ SMS @-@ 107
SetC @-@ WP @-@ 08
m2956
We got doctors and water, but we had no food, thank you, we were found today at the church on Andre Street, Brochet 99.
9 @/@ 02 @/@ 2010 01 @:@ 42
SetC @-@ SMS @-@ 108
SetC @-@ WP @-@ 09
m3376
Good morning, we hear you.
We live in Canape Vert in Saint @-@ Hilaire.
We need help, but we never get it.
13 @/@ 02 @/@ 2010 13 @:@ 17
In Osaka on Sunday, some 2500 main university students formed a human chain of Japanese characters spelling out "no war" to protest the ongoing United States @-@ led military campaign in Iraq.
"We cannot forgive this war," 20 @-@ year @-@ old Miyako Fuji told the Jiji news agency.
I want to join together with each of us anti @-@ war individuals in our feelings.
The Jiji news agency said protesters carrying placards reading "Stop war, love and peace" as they formed a human chain after 5 p.m. (6 p.m. GMT) over the expected 2,000 people who showed up at Osaka Castle in the downtown city neighborhood.
The protests followed a string of other protests that have involved tens of thousands of peace activists across Japan since January.
According to a poll released Saturday by Kyodo news agency, 78 percent of the 100 people surveyed opposed military action in Iraq.
A separate poll of 1846 adults published Tuesday by the leading newspaper Yomiuri showed that 64 percent of adults felt Japan had no choice but backed the United States, and only 12 percent said Japan had every reason to back the war.
British Chancellor Gordon Brown on Tuesday named the current head of the organization that regulates Britain's energy and the new chairman of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) financial watchdog.
Callum McCarthy, a former senior banker, began one of the most important jobs in the London financial world in September as incumbent Howard Davies stepped down.
Davies left to become chairman of the School of Economics at the University of London, one of the best known parts of the University.
Brown said McCarthy would bring an unrival combination of experience in the public sector, senior practitioners in the financial services industry and a chairman of a highly successful regulatory organization to the Federal Security Agency.
McCarthy is currently head of the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets, which regulates Britain's privatised energy industry.
McCarthy previously held senior positions at Barclays Bank, BZW and Kleinwort Benson as well as being a former top civil servant at the Department of Trade and Industry.
Under Davies' watch, the Financial Services Authority became a sole British regulator of financial services in November 2001, taking on various functions from nine separate agencies.
At least three family members were hacked to death by a tribal mob in the northern Indian state of Tripura for allegedly practicing witchcraft, police said Thursday.
The spokesman said between 25 and 30 armed group men attacked a house belonging to a quack doctor from a village 60 kilometers (40 miles) south of the Tripuras state capital Agartala in the Tultuli region Wednesday.
The mob dragged out three family members and killed them with machetes and spears before fleeing the area, the spokesman said by telephone in Agartala.
The deaths included 55 @-@ year @-@ old quack doctor Nityalila Naotia, her teenage son, and another unidentified family member.
The spokesman said Naotia is believed to be a practicing sorcerer and to cast evil spells on villagers using her black magic, prompting groups in the village to eliminate them.
Police arrested 4 people on suspicion of connection to the killings.
Superstitious beliefs, black magic and demonology are integrated into tribal customs in parts of the state of Tripura and other states in northeast India.
Many tribes practice a faith believed to be a mix of black magic and superstition.
30 people died in weeks of unseasonal rains in Oman.
MUSCAT, April 19
Police said Saturday that 30 people had died in Oman during a week of unseasonally heavy rains, including five Indians, four Pakistanis and a United Arab Emirates family swept away in their cars.
The 7 @-@ person family was killed when a wadi (dry river) overflowed due to rains in the Wilayat region near the border with the UAE. Police spokesman Abdullah al @-@ Harty said: "We recovered 7 bodies and a vehicle.
The deaths included 5 Indians and 4 Pakistanis, according to Indian and Pakistani embassy officials.
The decomposing body of construction worker Dharam Datt Choyal of the western Rajasthan state was found Friday, said Bhupinder Singh, the first secretary of the Indian embassy.
Two other Indian workers are still missing after Choyal's truck was swept up by flash floods Monday in the capital Muscat.
Police reported on Wednesday that 16 people had died since the rain began two days ago.
The sun was back out on Saturday and traffic normally ran in the capital.
The wet spell that started with a bang Monday seems to be ending, meteorology officials said.
The largest market in Muscat, Muttrah Souq, reopened Saturday after three days of knee @-@ deep flooding.
A Pakistani court in the central Punjab province sentenced a Christian man to life in prison for blasphemy conviction, police said Sunday.
District court judge Shahid Rafiq in the industrial city of Faisalabad found Ranjha Masih guilty of defiling Koran verses during a 1998 protest rally for a minority Christian community.
In the verdict handed down Saturday, they said, the judge also ordered Ranjha to pay a fine of 50000 rupees, or about 870 US dollars.
Ranjha was accused of tearing down a billboard in Faisalabad carrying Koran verses during a demonstration by Christians after a Faisalabad bishop committed suicide under a blasphemy law in 1985.
When a judge convicted Christian Ayub Masih of under @-@ law in 1998, Faisalabad Bishop John Joseph, a law @-@ against campaigner, shot him in the head outside a Sahiwal district court.
Ayub Masih was charged in 1996 with blasphemy for allegedly defending British author Salman Rushdie, whose Satanic Verses infuriated radical Islamic clerics who accused him of defaming Islam.
Last year a Pakistani supreme court acquitted Ayub Masih, who denied uttering words against Islam or the Prophet Mohammad.
Blasphemy is punishable by death under Pakistan's Penal Code.
However, a convicted blasphemer has never been executed in the country.
Christian rights activists campaigning against the anti @-@ law campaign introduced by the late military dictator General Zia @-@ ul @-@ Haq said the anti @-@ law campaign would mainly be used to persecute Christians or settle land feuds.
The Los Angeles Times said Friday that beleaguered French media group Vivendi Universal is in advanced negotiations to sell its theme park business to US firms for around $1 billion.
The report came as the money @-@ owed group said it planned to sell off its US unit Vivendi Universal Entertainment and other assets to focus on telecom activities and its business with French cable television.
The Times said Vivendi Universal was in negotiations to sell its flagship theme park to the New York investment firm Blackstone Group as the first step in dismantling its entertainment empire.
Vivendi Universal officials in the United States were not immediately available for comment Friday.
Blackstone Group is reportedly planning to buy Vivendi's theme park division, which includes Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Orlando in Florida, as well as Universal's interests in Spanish and Japanese parks, sources close to negotiations told the paper.
Blackstone already holds a 50 percent stake in the two parks that make up Universal Orlando.
Earlier this week, Vivendi confirmed press speculation that it was planning to shed its entertainment assets, including its famous movie studio, Universal, and its television assets, before the end of the year.
Chief Executive Jean @-@ Rene Fourtou told shareholders at the annual general meeting Tuesday that the sale of Vivendi Univeral Entertainment is a major goal for 2003 and negotiations are already underway.
However, Fourtou said he had not yet received a firm offer for his giant US music business, Universal Music Group, and had not taken a final decision on its future.
The group that once was a French utility company must reshape to slash its huge debt burden of around 18 billion dollars.
The group recorded its biggest ever net loss in France in 2002 with sales of 28.7 billion euros.
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom stressed Qatar's role in the Middle East peace process Wednesday during talks in Paris with his Qatari counterpart Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al @-@ Thani.
Shalom told a joint press conference that a strong relationship between the tiny Gulf state and recently appointed Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas could boost peace.
We will discuss the Middle East peace process.
Over an hour of talks, Shalom said, "We assert that the parties, both Israel and the Arab world, are willing to do everything we can to return to the negotiation table."
Qatar is a very important country in this issue.
Using the Abbas alternative name, he said he knew of Abu Mazen's special relations with the Qatari foreign minister.
Shalom's meeting with his Arab counterpart was the first since he took office as Israeli foreign minister on February 27.
In the face of criticism from other Arab countries, Qatar has economic links with Israel, but has not maintained diplomatic relations with Israel.
Shalom flew to London afterwards for talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.
The White House said Tuesday that US President George W. Bush told Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien by telephone Monday that he looked forward to seeing him at an upcoming summit including major industrialized nations and Russia.
A few days before the June 1 @-@ 3 summit in France, Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer said the two leaders would discuss the upcoming G @-@ 8 meeting, US @-@ Canadian relations and other international concerns.
Both said they look forward to seeing each other in Evian.
They also touched on Afghanistan, the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the global economy, Fleischer said.
Bush has indefinitely postponed a visit to Canada, instead choosing to host Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who has endorsed the military campaign against Iraq amid a chilling in relations over the anti @-@ Canadian war in Iraq.
Chretien told reporters Monday that he had discussed a wide range of issues with Bush, who has not spoken to him since late February, including Iraq, the upcoming summit of the industrially powerful Group of Eight and aid to Africa.
We have always had good terms.
"We disagree on just one item," the Canadian leader said.
A provincial chief of India's main opposition Congress party told an election rally Saturday that the prime minister and president would be bachelors because India suffers from a curse of nature.
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and President Abdul Kalam offend Hindu rain god Varuna while remaining bachelors, Indian newspaper The Times quoted Indian Minister Digvijay Singh as saying.
The country is ruled by a bachelor president and an unmarried prime minister.
Singh said the Hindu book shastras say that this is very auspicious and will cause widespread heatwaves and droughts.
He added that President Kalam's status as a bachelor, not just Prime Minister Vajpayee, makes the country dry, arid and fertile.
Vajpayee's ruling Bharatiya Janata party secretary general Pramod Mahajan retorted that Singh's statement was in contempt.
India is reeling from a heatwave since mid @-@ May that has killed 1,403 people.
The western country desert state of Rajasthan is also bracing for a 5 @-@ year @-@ straight drought.
The second baby's skeleton was found in a rural Wisconsin home where the dead infant of a 22 @-@ year @-@ old woman was discovered in a blue plastic container on June 8, an official said Monday.
The mother, Kristin Scott, told police she had secretly given birth to two babies -- one in April 2001, an unknown sex baby, and the other, a full @-@ term girl, on January 14, 2001, at her parents' home in Byrds Creek, Richland County.
Police arrested her Saturday in Abilene, Texas, where she moved in with a friend on June 2.
She was held on $50,000 bail on charges of first @-@ degree reckless homicide and hiding a corpse when an infant born in January died.
Scott told police she did not tend to the baby and the baby died 30 minutes later.
She said the baby had to die, according to the criminal complaint.
After going to look for the source of the foul odor in the woman's house, her parents, William and Nancy Scott, found the decomposing body of the first baby in the woman's closet.
Scott told investigators, before he moved around to Texas, that he had moved those bodies to sometimes a closet in a house in Byrds Creek, a trunk in his car and a closet in his apartment in Richland Center, the complaint said.
The sheriff did not release any other details about the second baby.
Palestinian security forces returned Monday to positions held in the Gaza Strip before the 33 @-@ month @-@ old Palestinian uprising broke out, as Israel removed all major checkpoints in coastal territories, Palestinian security sources said.
Police officers taking up positions across the Gaza Strip, enjoying freedom of movement they had not known since the Intifada exploded in September 2000, the source said.
The Palestinian police took over all posts and positions held before 28 September 2000.
For the first time since the start of the intifada they have been free to move cars and weapons, sources said.
The move marks a huge step forward in carrying out a United States @-@ backed Middle East roadmap aimed at ending months of bloodshed and creating lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Police took up positions there and in neighboring Beit Lahiya, he said, following the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the northern town of Beit Hanoun late Sunday.
They will also deploy them along Israeli borders.
The credibility test for the Palestinian Authority, which must show it means business when it comes to reining in hardline groups plotting attacks on the Jewish state, will be the handover.
The Israeli Intifada (army) has allowed Palestinians free circulation on the trans @-@ Gaza highway for the third time in almost three years as troops abandoned three major checkpoints across the coastal territory.
After the army's withdrawal, traffic flowed freely in the junctions of Netzarim south of Gaza City, Kissufim near Deir al @-@ Balah in the central Gaza Strip, and the Guest House junction just south of Deir al @-@ Balah.
Three military checkpoints on the highway that runs the entire length of the Gaza Strip transform the trip south to north from an ordinary 30 @-@ minute ride into a grinding two @-@ or three @-@ hour ordeal, and come to symbolize the horror of occupation.
According to sources, Israel has implemented most of the agreements with the exception of a few issues, pointing out that Israel has not yet removed the two military observation posts at the junction of Kissufim and the Guest House.
Several other roads remained temporarily closed but free to move along the trans @-@ Gaza highway, he said.
The Karni @-@ Netzarim road, which runs east @-@ west across the route, and a section of the highway that passes close to the settlement of Kfar Darom, just south of the Guest House junction, are still closed, he said, adding that they are likely to open in the coming weeks.
Another road leading from the southern border town of Rafah to Khan Yunis will open within 10 days, he said.
Addressing Palestinian complaints, Israeli military sources confirmed that troops had installed gates at the crossing of Netzarim and at the junction of the southern Guest House, but said the troops were only there when Jewish settlers needed to use the road.
The ban on allowing Palestinian men under 35 to freely move is still in force but is expected to be lifted after Monday or early Tuesday.
The army will also hand over to the Palestinians control of the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, a source in security said.
6 Palestinian police officers were allowed to return to the Palestinian cross @-@ border section which was taken over by Israeli troops shortly after the uprising started.
Israel must jointly manage the cross @-@ border Rafah border with Egypt under the 1993 Oslo accords granting Palestinians measures of autonomy although Israel has finally taken control of the zone.
Israel has been manning sections of Palestine for more than two years, although the cross was in principle open for movement between the two territories but frequently closed for unexplained reasons.
Witnesses said five Iraqi civilians, including a woman, were killed Monday when a missile fired by a US @-@ led coalition warplane hit their house.
They said their houses are located in one of the most populous areas in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, Al @-@ Azamiyah.
One house was destroyed during the strike and casualties were removed from the area.
A US @-@ led coalition force launched a new round of air strikes in Baghdad at 14 @:@ 30 p.m. Monday (11 @:@ 30 GMT).
They said huge explosions were heard in different parts of the Iraqi capital Baghdad and air raid sirens were heard in Baghdad, adding that Iraqi artillery against the aircraft began firing back.
At least 130 Iraqi civilians have been reported killed since the war started five days ago, but coalition leaders have repeatedly assured that they will make every effort to minimize civilian casualties in the current Iraq war.
According to other reports reached here, five Syrian bus passengers were killed and 10 others injured Sunday morning when a US missile hit a bus traveling near the Iraqi border.
Vehicles carried Syrians fleeing the Iraq war.
Tornadoes kill 16 people in eastern China
Hefei, July 9
A fierce tornado swept through Wuwei county in eastern China's Anhui province Tuesday night, killing 16 people and injuring 162.
A tornado struck several towns Tuesday at 2 @:@ 10 p.m. and Wednesday at 2 p.m., the state relief disaster office said.
57 people are still being treated in hospital for serious injuries.
The storm affected 23,681 people, destroyed 715 houses and caused an estimated direct economic loss of 24 billion yuan (290 million US dollars), officials said.
To date, 1786 people have been transferred to safe places.
Rescue teams, medical staff and relief materials including tents and food have arrived in the affected areas.
Lack of precaution blamed for avalanche accidents in northwest China
Menyuan, northwest China, April 5
Searches continued Tuesday for two outdoors tourists missing in the avalanche in China's northwest province of Qinghai, with lack of precautions listed as the main reason for the tragedy, which already left one dead.
The six tourists had no experience climbing snow @-@ covered mountains and had little knowledge of the terrain, said Deng Haiping, head of a state mountaineering administration charged with rescue operations.
All the members of the outdoor sports clubs are six people in the capital of Qinghai province, Xining.
One of the three survivors, Lu Shimin, said that two of them had climbed such a mountain for the first time.
"They don't have compasses, altitude measuring apparatuses, let alone special communication equipment usually used in mountains," Deng said.
He also said the snow slide was a "bold idea" that caused a deadly avalanche.
The accident occurred Saturday afternoon when six people slid down from a high mountain of 3700 meters in Ertanggou in Menyuan Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.
The three avalanche survivors reported to the police, who then started rescue operations with the help of villagers.
One body was found early Sunday morning.
One of those listed as missing is in Hong Kong, rescue organization headquarters said, but his identity was not defined.
Deng said he could have taken an ID card with him, his name was only known in Mandarin as Hung Zhihua, and the local government would try to find out his identity through the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
A fifth rescue team has been dispatched to search for the missing and more than 140 rescuers are now involved in operations.
However, rescue work was hampered by thick snow and signs of new avalanches, Deng said.
"In the past three days, we have found no missing clues but two helmets," Deng said.
Officials in Los Angeles mull ways to accommodate Katrina evacuees.
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 6
Los Angeles county and city officials tried Tuesday to determine the best way to accommodate the at least 2,000 evacuees expected to be brought to the gulf coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will assemble key members of their administrative organizations over the Labor Day weekend to assess whether the county and city can host thousands of displaced families who survived the disastrous hurricane, officials said.
Molina and Villaraigosa committed to taking at least 2,000 evacuees.
Local officials earlier announced the creation of a city @/@ county Katrina evacuation task force in Los Angeles to immediately and in the long term assist survivors with the transition.
Local efforts are coordinated by state emergency services offices, federal government, city and county departments, and non @-@ profit organizations like the Red Cross.
The Los Angeles County emergency operations center was activated jointly by county and mayor supervisors to prepare intensive responses involving evacuation assistance.
Dozens of people have already traveled to Los Angeles County from the Louisiana and Alabama ruin and are sheltering at the non @-@ profit Dream Center.
The newly @-@ formed task force is prepared to assist in shelter, support services, information and coordination of private sector assistance in order to find more permanent housing for the evacuees as soon as possible.
Molina and Villaraigosa called on the private sector and non @-@ profit organizations to help provide for the needs of children and families coming into the Los Angeles area.
At least 33 people dead in Rajasthan floods
NEW DELHI, Aug 22
Death toll in Rajasthan floods touches 33 as five more have been swept away in the past 48 hours in the desert state where nine districts face the fury of monsoon rains.
The situation continued to be bad in Udaipur, Dungarpur, Barmer, Pali, Sirohi, Jalore, Kota and Jhalawar districts.
Over 1,500 villages and towns spread throughout this district continue to be submerged.
Relief operations were also hampered in some places by continued rains.
In areas affected by the flooding, electricity and telephone networks were disrupted, and widespread flooding affected the road and rail traffic networks.
Schools and colleges are definitely closed in the lakeside city of Udaipur.
Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje said the situation was still grim in flood @-@ affected areas.
The chief minister said the flood situation had improved slowly and less water was flowing from the dams where water was constantly discharged, an indo @-@ Asian news service quoted him as saying.
Raje said an assessment of losses due to the floods would be done soon and a memorandum would be sent to the Indian government seeking assistance in rehabilitation and relief operations.
The Indian Army continued relief operations in the state's flood @-@ affected areas and Indian helicopters dropped food packets in the affected areas.
7 dead, 98 injured in tornado in eastern China
Hefei, July 4
Disaster relief authorities said 7 people were confirmed dead and 98 others injured in the tornado that hit an eastern Chinese city Tuesday.
In a press release Wednesday, the state disaster relief office said seven people's bodies were found in the debris of the collapsed building, including three bodies in Renhe and four in Qinlan.
All the injured villagers were treated at local hospitals.
One of the 10 seriously injured was in critical condition, doctors said.
Officials still calculated damage to the eastern city of Tianchang in China's Anhui province, where a tornado packing winds of 100 kilometers (60 miles) per hour destroyed more than 100 homes and forced the evacuation of three villages with at least 1,100 people.
Vice @-@ Governor of the province Zhao Shucong led a relief team to Tianchang Wednesday morning, promising relief funds, materials and medical assistance.
Many provinces in China have reported disastrous weather in recent weeks as floods hit the centre and south of the country while draughts persist in the north.
The floods on Monday caused 233 deaths and destroyed 118,500 houses in 18 areas, while the draughts left nearly 7400,000 people short of drinking water, the state flood prevention and draughts headquarters said.
Residents were evacuated after a massive land slide in central China.
YICHANG, Hubei Province, April 20
About 200 people were evacuated Sunday night amid threats of a massive land slide going on in central China's Hubei province, local authorities said.
Head of Xingshan County's land and resource bureau Du Honghui said 200 sheltered people, including teachers and residents, had been evacuated from Gaoyang middle school.
Continued rains triggered a slide of 60000 cubic meters of land.
Its 2,000 cubic meters caused rock mud to flow, inundating a nearby primary school and a village with 37 homes.
As of 2 @:@ 30 p.m. Sunday, the classroom ground floor of the teaching building in Gaoyang's central primary school, which had all the damaged windows, pupils' desks and chairs, was covered in 1 meter deep mud.
The playground was inundated with 30 @-@ 50 centimeters of mud.
Du said rescue efforts are underway and the land @-@ sliding situation is being closely monitored.
No casualties were reported because the primary school had no classes over the weekend.
Since Monday, authorities have decided to suspend primary school classes for 3 days.
So far, up to 106 millimeters of rain has fallen.
Weather forecasters said the rain would continue in the coming days, continuing to swell the exudation of underground water at the land @-@ sliding sites.
Disaster relief staff expect land @-@ sliding areas to worsen due to bad weather.
In Hubei province, rainstorms of up to 141 millimeters (mm) have killed two people in the past three days.
The motorcycle driver was swept away as he passed over the bridge.
Other people were killed by light strikes.
A storm that caused flash floods in some areas affected nearly 830,000 people in 16 counties or cities in Hubei province, the state government said.
Earthquake hits Indonesian city of Sukabumi
JAKARTA, Oct 27
A magnitude @-@ 5.2 earth quake shook the city of Sukabumi in the western Java province of Indonesia on Monday, but no casualties or material losses were reported, the Meteorological and Geophysics Agency said.
The epicenter of Sunday's earth quake at 4 @:@ 12 local time (2 @:@ 12 GMT) was located 12 kilometers (11 miles) below sea level at latitude 7.87 south and longitude 107.23 east, around the southeast city of Sukabumi (111 kilometers) and the southwest city of Bandung (13 kilometers) in western Java province.
Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, sits within a Pacific fire ring, an edge of a tectonic plate prone to seismic upheaval.
A 5.0 earth quake hit the Solomon Islands and hit the Solomon Islands.
WELLINGTON, Dec 18
A magnitude @-@ 5.0 earth quake hit the Solomon Islands in the southern Pacific on Thursday and no casualties or damage were reported.
The U.S. geological survey said the quake occurred at 19 @:@ 22 p.m. local New Zealand time (6 @:@ 22 GMT) with the epicenter 455 kilometers (145.5") northwest of Honiara.
A magnitude @-@ 5.3 earth quake also hit the southern Pacific country of Vanuatu earlier that day, causing no casualties or damage.
The quake occurred at 16 @:@ 20 local time in New Zealand, 3 @:@ 20 GMT, with an epicenter at the northeastern city of Port @-@ Vila, 90 kilometers (80 miles) away, 258.5 kilometers (124 miles) deep.
Nargis survivors recount the tragedy
YANGON, May 13
Some survivors of some cyclones who came the hard way from disaster @-@ hit home regions to seek shelter with relatives in Yangon in its aftermath recounted bitter experience with the recent cyclone Nargis that stroked their areas Tuesday.
Villagers in Laputta, in the delta division of the southwestern Myanmar state of Ayeyawaddy, who escaped the storm's death with much hardship, said they had experienced a terrible human tragedy.
Farmers in Pinzalu, a village far from Laputta lying in the deepest part of the city, said they stood the hardest hit in a township with a total collapse of houses and 20 @-@ foot @-@ high tide waves driven by the cyclone storm.
He said he tried to swim to escape if his two young daughters were carried, and one daughter died shortly in a violent storm.
He had no alternative, but abandoned his dead daughter in the waves, and tried for a long time to keep afloat by holding a fallen tree branch nearby.
After the storm winds stopped for a moment, another of his daughters was found dead in his hands.
He recalls that when the tragedy started, the tide wave swept away his parents, and he was left living alone.
"The storm waves swept away many other people in my village similarly," he said, adding that he walked to Laputta afterwards, witnessing all the houses in the village under water on the way.
Faced with hunger, he found no drinking water or food, so he tried to survive by drinking fallen coconut juice.
Another woman villagers told local media that she escaped by staying on the roof of the hut but was stroked by falling bamboo by the wind.
Stormy overnight, strikers were swept away.
"Walking through Laputta, I saw many people die on the way, and I estimate the storm killed three quarters of the people in my village," she said.
She described that only five people remained living nearby in the village of Yway Ywa.
A teacher in Yay Wai Ywa village spoke to the local Weekly Eleven News about her village being erased hours after the storm started, adding that most of the dead were females.
"A whole village was crying in the storm because of the world's devastation, and some family members died together in series of road lays," she said.
"I have not found dependent relatives in Laputta, but I am resting in some spoiled pagoda pavilion with shelter," she exclaimed.
"Some well @-@ wishers donated millet gruel," she said, but she had to queue for it.
Local doctors worry about hygiene issues as tens of thousands of homeless victims' urine disposal develops and in the health's view also constitutes a threat of thousands of unsettling dead bodies.
Nargis, a deadly tropical cyclone over the Bay of Bengal, severely hit five divisions and states (Yangon, Bago, Ayeyawaddy, Kayin and Mon) on May 2 and 3. It covered coastal towns in Ayeyawaddy including Haing Gyi, Pathein, Myaungmya, Laputta, Mawlamyinegyun, Kyaiklat, Phyarpon, Bogalay and 45 townships in the biggest city Yangon, sustaining the heavy ever and infrastructure damage.
According to the official death toll updated until Monday, a total of 31938 people lost their lives in the cyclone storm, 29770 remain missing altogether and 1403 people were injured.
2007 @-@ 08 @-@ 21
Iran, Islamic Republic of (IR)
International; weapons; politics; proliferation; energy
The International Atomic Energy Agency reached an agreement with Iranian officials stating that there are no remaining issues and ambiguities regarding Iran's nuclear program and activities.
U.S. and European officials suspect that Iran's civilian nuclear energy program masks efforts to obtain technology that could be used to produce an atomic bomb.
U.S. and European officials suspect that Iran's civilian nuclear energy program masks efforts to obtain technology that could be used to produce an atomic bomb.
U.S. and European officials could impose a fourth round of sanctions on Tehran as the U.N. Security Council most likely considers Iran's nuclear energy program in September 2007.
The International Atomic Energy Agency will distribute limited copies of the IAEA report before the 35 members of its board meet on 11 September 2007.
The findings reflect an agreement between the agency and Tehran on 070821 that Iranian officials began publicizing the week of 070812.
The accord said there remained no issue and no ambiguity regarding Iran's nuclear program and activities.
According to the IAEA report there were significant steps forward in the work plan, according to a Reuters account.
A senior U.N. official was quoted by Reuters as stating that the Iranian government's efforts to enrich uranium were slow.
The IAEA report stated that Iranian officials must continue to build confidence in the scope and nature of Iran's nuclear program present and future.
On 30 August 2007 Iranian officials stated that they would cooperate with the IAEA to prevent further rounds of international sanctions.
Iranian representative to the IAEA Ali Asghar SOLTANIEH stated to the Fars News Agency in Tehran that the report emphasizes that there are no signs or evidence indicating the diverting of Iran's nuclear activities and that all Iran's nuclear materials have been audited.
Some non @-@ proliferation experts stated that the IAEA ceded too much to Iran.
Arms control experts David Albright and Jacqueline Shire of the Washington @-@ based Institute for Science and International Security wrote in a criticism published the week of 19 August 2007 that the idea of closing the file violated fundamental safeguard principles and that the agreement did not specify that Iranian officials would provide the IAEA with access to key people, facilities and documents necessary for the Agency to verify answers to questions.
Independent experts stated that Iran's latest agreement with the IAEA to allow inspectors access to more nuclear sites and information was short of Western demands that Iran halt production of concentrated uranium that could potentially be used in the bomb.
U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey stated that Iranian officials have not met any international obligations regarding the Iranian nuclear program but that the report may offer some new details or insight into Iran's development of the program.
Casey stated that the continuation of the nuclear program to move forward shows that the Iranian regime continues to defy the international community.
Most non @-@ proliferation experts in the West stated that the 070821 agreement contained little that could dissuade policymakers in Washington, London, Paris and Berlin from moving forward with another round of Security Council sanctions.
Experts stated that many of the issues of transparency reported to have been resolved in the agreement on 070821 should have previously been resolved.
Executive Director of the non @-@ partisan Arms Control Association in Washington Daryl G. Kimball stated that the agreement addresses the problem of the Iranian government's pursuit of enriched technology and capabilities that could lead to production of nuclear bomb material.
Kimball stated that the Iranian government's design is to deflect criticism and pressure and claim progress has been made.
Iranian officials stated that collaboration with inspectors could reduce if there were more sanctions.
The Security Council voted unanimously to impose sanctions on Iran despite limitations to the penalties demanded by the U.S. due to pressure from China and Russia.
In an interview with state @-@ controlled Iranian television Soltanieh stated that the reports and measures make irrelevant and unjustified interventions by any other international organization including the Security Council.
2007 @-@ 09 @-@ 30
Israel (IL)
proliferation; technology; international; politics
A document was distributed to the Nuclear Suppliers Group outlines Israel's proposal to allow the group to allow international transfers of nuclear technology to states that have not signed on to non @-@ proliferation rules.
The proposal could complicate the Bush administration's efforts to win an exemption for India from engaging in the nuclear trade.
Israeli officials convinced a key group of nations engaged in nuclear trade to adopt a new international guideline allowing the transfer of nuclear technology to states that have not signed on to non @-@ proliferation rules.
Non @-@ signatory countries of the Nuclear Non @-@ Proliferation Treaty (NPT) including India, Israel and Pakistan prohibit participation in international nuclear trade including the purchase of reactors, uranium fuel or yellowcake.
In March 2007 a document highlighting Israel's proposal was distributed to the 45 members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
The Israeli presentation was made without papers that would allow for an official denial.
The NSG chairman's letter said the Israeli presentation was offered on 17 March 2007 in the context of the NSG's debate on Indian officials' bid for exemption.
Only India and Israel of the non @-@ signatories to the treaty qualify for admission to the NSG under India's proposal.
The Israeli plan offers 12 criteria for allowing nuclear trade with non @-@ treaty states.
One criterion indicates Israel's status as an undeclared nuclear weapons state and says that the State should be allowed to engage in the nuclear trade if it applies stringent physical protection, control and accounting measures to all nuclear weapons, facilities, source materials and special nuclear materials in its territory.
The document was circulated on Capitol Hill in September 2007 as the Bush administration worked toward an agreement with Indian officials.
Executive Director of the Arms Control Association in Washington Daryl Kimball stated that the Israeli documents could affect the debate over India.
Kimball stated --
The dynamic in the NSG is that country officials do not want obstacles such as India being the largest and the United States the most powerful.
A consensus on India will be difficult to reach at the NSG meeting in November 2007.
Israel's proposal gives officials in some countries reasons to suggest an alternative approach to specific exemptions.
Israel's record in following international nuclear rules is good, better than India's.
The Bush administration rejected Israel's proposal while tying the Israeli government to the U.S. government.
The proposal could complicate the Bush administration's efforts to win an exemption for India from engaging in the nuclear trade.
President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice view the pact as an important part of the Bush administration's foreign policy legacy.
The deal is controversial in India and Congress must give approval.
The delay in winning approval of the Indian deal could negatively affect the administration's foreign policy legacy, with the most negative effect being in election years.
State Department spokesman Tom Casey stated that the U.S. government views the Indian deal as unique and does not see it as precedent for any other country, including Israel.
Israeli Embassy spokesman David Siegel stated that it would be grossly inaccurate to suggest that the Israeli government would demand exemptions or link the effort to any other issue, including the Indian debate.
Seigel stated --
The Israeli government has never asked or requested the NSG to exempt Israel from nuclear supply guidelines.
Israel is recognized for full fledged adherence to the NSG Guidelines.
The Israeli Government urged the NSG to consider adopting a multiple @-@ tier, criterion @-@ based generic approach to nuclear technology transfer.
Some NSG officials have previously suggested an approach similar to the Israeli plan.
Modifying the NSG Guidelines as the Israeli officials propose would considerably enhance the non @-@ proliferation regime.
2008 @-@ 07 @-@ 26
Iran (IR)
International; proliferation
Ahmadinejad announced the expansion of Iran's capability to produce uranium.
Iran refuses to commit to halt expansion hints at possible halts in future.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated to scholars in the northeastern city of Mashbad on 26 July 2008 that Iran has expanded its arsenal of centrifuges that produce enriched uranium to over 5000.
Ahmadinejad asserted in a statement for the first time since Iran's approach to implement 6000 centrifuges was announced in April 2008.
Iran articulated the goal of 50000 centrifuges operating at the enrichment plant near the town of Natanz.
The international community demanded Iran halt nuclear material production.
The media reports differ from the number of centrifuges Ahmadinejad cited.
Iranian news agencies reported Ahmadinejad stated that Iran had 6000 working centrifuges but subsequently removed the statement from the Internet.
Another Iranian news agency stated that Ahmadinejad referred to hundreds of thousands of centrifuges.
In the absence of information about the function of the centrifuge, experts discounted the significance of Ahmadinejad's claims.
A Western diplomat in Tehran speaking on condition of anonymity stated that although Ahmadinejad's assertions hinder resolution of the diplomatic standoff between Iran and the West, the centrifuge number is less important than the operation and efficiency of the machines.
Jeffrey G. Lewis, an arms control expert at the New America Foundation stated that the New America Foundation is aware of Iran's goal of assembling 6000 centrifuges but does not know the operational status of the machines.
Diplomats and arms control experts stated that technical problems hinder Iran's enrichment program.
Iran has repeatedly asserted that Iran's nuclear program aims only at the production of electricity because producing nuclear weapons contradicts Islamic principles.
The US, Israel, Europe and the majority of Western arms control experts believe Iran will pursue the capability to produce a bomb if an immediate decision is made.
Experts stated that producing weapons @-@ grade uranium from reactor @-@ grade materials is relatively simple.
Ahmadinejad stated that the West is still pursuing a resume of negotiations after Iran resisted Western demands to halt Iran's nuclear activities.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana recently presented 2 offers to Iran.
There is a US @-@ endorsed package of incentives to cease production of enriched uranium.
There was a 6 @-@ week pre @-@ negotiation and freeze @-@ in @-@ freeze period in which Iran did not add centrifuges and the West refrain from promoting a 4 th round of economic sanctions against Iran at the UN Security Council.
US officials have repeated statements that negotiations cannot begin before Iran verifiably halts all its enrichment @-@ related activities despite the fact that the Bush administration recently agreed to a proposed freeze and dispatched Burns to Geneva.
On 26 July 2008 Iran refused to respond to Solana's offer at talks in Geneva attended by US Undersecretary of State William J. Burns.
The talks constitute the highest level diplomatic contacts between the US and Iran in nearly 30 years.
Solana, Burns and European envoys set a deadline for Iran's positive response before initiating new sanctions including a prohibition on the sale to Iran of refined petroleum products vital to Iran's economy.
Iranian officials refused to commit to stopping the expansion or observing the deadline.
On 26 July 2008 Ahmadinejad appeared to suggest that Iran could potentially halt expansion with a number of centrifuges higher than previously expected for over six weeks.
Ahmadinejad stated that if the number does not increase, the West would consent to between 5000 and 6000 existing operating centrifuges.
If highly enriched, 5000 centrifuges could produce enough nuclear material for a power plant or an atomic bomb.
6000 continuously running centrifuges can produce weapons @-@ grade uranium for 6 months.
The International Atomic Energy Agency stated in May 2008 that Iran possesses 3500 operating centrifuges.
2008 @-@ 11 @-@ 14
Iran (IR); Russian Federation (RU); China (CN); France (FR); United States (US)
International; weapons; proliferation; Government; politics; energy
The diplomatic meeting in Paris concluded without an agreement on further steps to pressure Iran to halt uranium enrichment at the Iranian facility at Natanz.
Diplomats stated to media on 081114 that officials from the United States, Europe, Russia and China did not reach an agreement to further act to persuade Iran to halt uranium enrichment at the American facility at Natanz during a meeting in Paris on 081113.
A highly technical uranium enrichment process could produce fuel for nuclear power plants and fissile material for atomic weapons.
The meeting on 081113 ended without any new measures announced.
After the meeting on 081113 the French Foreign Ministry released a statement declaring that the international community reaffirms the importance of a dual track approach to diplomatic engagement with Iran and towards sanctions work.
Russia and China resist new sanctions against Iran.
Russia and China have close political and business ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran and do not feel domestic pressure to act against Iran.
The United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran have no close political and business ties and feel domestic pressure to act against the country.
Russia and China hold veto power over Security Council decisions.
Russian diplomat Sergei Ryabkov was quoted by the Moscow news agency Interfax as saying that no parties had struck a deal on sanctions against Iran at the meeting on 081113 and that Western countries were in favor of sanctions against Iran but China and Russia did not support them.
The meeting on 13 November 2008 will be attended by Sergei Ryabkov.
A report released this week reported significant progress by Iran on a heavy @-@ water research reactor facility near Arak.
Eventually, a heavy @-@ water Iranian research reactor near Arak could produce plutonium that could be used in nuclear weapons.
Satellite images published by the Institute for Science and International Security show significant progress in the construction of a heavy @-@ water research reactor facility near Arak between February 2008 and October 2008.
David Albright stated that the Iranian heavy @-@ water research reactor near Arak has evaded notice by the international security community.
David Albright stated that satellite images say that the Iranian heavy @-@ water research reactor near Arak has made significant progress and has progressed from a building frame to a largely finished facility in the past 1.5 years.
David Albright is a former arms inspector and director of the Washington D.C. @-@ based Institute for Science and International Security.
Iran stated that Iran will pursue nuclear technology to produce energy and conduct research.
The United States and its Western allies suspect that Iran's production efforts are a precursor to creating a nuclear weapons infrastructure.
Production of low @-@ grade uranium is legal under international arms control regulations.
Iran's latest nuclear technology development shows the complex technical and diplomatic challenge facing the incoming foreign policy team of President @-@ elect Barack Obama -- to take on the task of stopping Iran from mastering technology that could be used to manufacture and deliver nuclear weapons.
The administration of President George W. Bush managed to synchronize American policy with European Union leaders, British, French and German leaders to press for tougher sanctions and diplomatic action against Iran in the last month it has been in power.
The International Atomic Energy Agency is expected to release a critical report on Iran next week.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is a United Nations nuclear watchdog agency.
There is a decrease in hopes that another set of United Nations Security Council sanctions will be imposed before the end of President Bush's term if no new initiative on Iran's nuclear program emerges from the 081113 talks in Paris.
In diplomatic maneuvers Iran continues to work toward mastering nuclear and missile technology.
Some Israeli officials stated that they were alarmed by Iran's test firing a two @-@ stage solid fuel rocket with a 1200 @-@ mile range this week.
Tel Aviv is less than 650 miles from Iranian territory.
2002 @-@ 04 @-@ 06
Russian Federation (RU)
International; science; energy; weapons
A high @-@ security Russian laboratory complex storing anthrax, the plague and other deadly bacterium faces losing electricity due to a lack of payment to the electricity utility Mosenergo.
A large repository of deadly anthrax, plague and other bacteria stored in a high @-@ security Russian laboratory complex 100 miles south of Moscow threatens electricity loss.
Officials from the Moscow region's electricity utility Mosenergo arrived recently at a Russian laboratory complex and threatened to turn off the electricity due to lack of pay.
The Russian laboratory complex was a campus of 90 buildings and during the Soviet era served as a location for secret biological weapons programs.
The incorrect headline in Izvestia stated that Moscow is under threat from a deadly virus from a Moscow regional depository.
There are no viruses at the State Scientific Center of Applied Microbiology in Obolensk.
At the State Scientific Center of Applied Microbiology there are every kind of deadly bacterium studied for use in the Soviet Union's secret biological weapons program.
There are large virus repositories in Siberia.
Officials from Russia and the West stated that the power cut @-@ off at the State Scientific Center of Applied Microbiology is unlikely to result in any threat to public health.
Officials from Russia and the West stated that there was not enough certainty to know whether the loss of power at the State Scientific Center of Applied Microbiology was a public health threat.
General Nikolai N. Urakov stated by telephone that the State Scientific Center of Applied Microbiology has quite reliable protection systems in case of emergencies.
The Director of the State Scientific Center of Applied Microbiology is General Nikolai N. Urakov.
The State Scientific Center of Applied Microbiology is working with Western scientists to convert the complex into a biomedical manufacturing site.
General Nikolai N. Urakov stated by telephone that the people of the State Scientific Center of Applied Microbiology were scared by this sudden threat of shutting down electricity because of a kind of psychological pressure.
General Nikolai N. Urakov stated by telephone that if power is shut down at the State Scientific Center of Applied Microbiology, scientists will have to destroy all bacteriological experiments in the way.
General Nikolai N. Urakov would like the United States and Western countries, who have contributed about 6 million American dollars to the transformation of the former bioweapon complex, to contribute another 5 million American dollars a year to pay the electric bills and arrears of the State Scientific Center of Applied Microbiology.
American scientists who work closely with the State Scientific Center of Applied Microbiology stated that the Russian government is responsible for paying the State Scientific Center of Applied Microbiology's electric bills.
The West's aid to the conversion of General Nikolai N. Urakov's bioweapons laboratory at one time peaked in 1997 when it was learned that Iran offered to purchase the State Scientific Center of Applied Microbiology's experts.
It is known that the sense of crisis was orchestrated by Russian scientists and military leaders who now depend on Western finance to destroy nuclear, chemical and biological weapons in order to increase financing.
American scientist Randall Lee Beatty is working to convert the State Scientific Center of Applied Microbiology in Obolensk.
Beatty stated that this threat of electricity cuts at the State Scientific Center of Applied Microbiology is a crisis.
Randall Lee Beatty is the director of the International Science and Technology Center.
The International Science and Technology Center funded approximately half of General Nikolai N. Urakov's budget to support about 350 Russian biowarfare scientists and technicians.
Randall Lee Beatty stated that it was known that the State Scientific Center of Applied Microbiology had not paid its electricity bills for 14 months.
Randall Lee Beatty stated that the State Scientific Center of Applied Microbiology is one of the world's most important archives of dangerous pathogens and that it is a shame that it has been destroyed due to non @-@ payment to the electricity utility.
Approximately 3000 strains of bacterium are stored at the State Scientific Center of Applied Microbiology and many of them are stored in cryogen casks cool with liquid nitrogen and isolated from the environment in layered enclosures and oversize air handling systems that depend on electricity to function.
The greatest danger of shutting down electric power at the State Scientific Center of Applied Microbiology is defrosting of living germs currently preserved in frozen state.
Expert in biological warfare at the Monterey Institute of International Studies Raymond Zilinskas stated that the main threat from the cut in power to the State Scientific Center of Applied Microbiology is not the possibility of escape by organisms but the possibility of escape by organisms.
Raymond Zilinskas stated that in the worst case the bacterium would have been defrosted and the clean up afterward would have been a real mess because it wasn't known for certain if all the bacterium would have died.
The confrontation between the electricity utility Mosenergo and the State Scientific Center of Applied Microbiology in Obolensk is another example of how the basic imperative of capitalism to sustain enterprise may dangerously clash with old remnants of Soviet weapons science.
Russian National Power Company cut off electricity at a strategic base where nuclear missiles are on high alert due to overdue power bills in 2000.
Nuclear missile silos do not lose power.
Armed troops marched to the substation and turned power back on.
The national company United energy systems cut power in January and February 2001 at a number of military installations around Russia.
The power @-@ lost military installations include a monitoring center for the Russian Space Forces in Kamchatka.
In most cases of military installations where electricity was cut off, electricity was restored quickly.
Investigations often show that utilities and the military are tugging at war, forcing the military to spend budget funds on electricity power instead of diverting money to other uses.
Some of the budgetary funds cut at times include building a country residence for the general.
2004 @-@ 07 @-@ 24
Brazil (BR)
International; crime; Government; narcotics
Brazil implemented a law allowing the Air Force to target drug traffickers in Brazilian airspace.
The US is concerned about liability if a civilian plane is misidentified.
Brazil announced that the Air Force began shooting down aircraft used in trafficking illegal drugs in Brazilian airspace.
The plan required eight precautionary steps before an order to shoot down the plane could be issued.
Prior to the policy taking effect late in 041000, a publicity campaign notified ranchers and others of the need to file a flight plan.
The law permitting such actions was originally approved in 1998, but President Fernando Henrique Cardoso from 1995 to 2003 never put the policy into effect.
The United States dissuaded Cardoso from signing the decree because the United States was concerned that the U.S. government and companies could be exposed to lawsuits if a civilian aircraft was accidentally downed.
In April 2001 the United States reduced previous support for operations targeting drug @-@ running aircraft when Peruvian jets shot down a small plane misidentified as a drug carrier and killed Peruvian missionaries and their children.
A relative of the victim sued the US government and won a settlement because the US government provided intelligence and technical support for the operation.
A US State Department official stated --
A US law may forbid assistance to countries that implement the shooting @-@ down law, under certain conditions.
The US agreed with Brazil's assessment that the threat from drug traffickers was very serious and increasing.
The US government consults with the Brazilian government on provisions of Brazilian law.
Brazilian Defense Minister Jose Viegas stated Brazil has encountered difficulties in securing US support for the plan but recent bilateral talks have led to certainty that the Brazilian government will accept the decree without exposing Brazil to commercial sanctions.
Brazilian officials expressed hope that the US would endorse the policy before it went into effect.
The US is scheduled to provide 102 million dollars in drug and law enforcement aid to Brazil in 2004.
Former Air Force Chief and current Director of the Air Institute of Estacio de Sa University in Rio de Janeiro General Mauro Jose Miranda Gandra stated that while the measures are courageous steps by the government, the impact may be more political than practical due to the restrictions the Brazilian government has imposed on the government.
A Brazilian official stated that the policy could not apply against aircraft boarded by children.
Viegas stated that limits are necessary.
Gandra stated that the provisions undermine the essential purpose of the decree by granting immunity to drug smuggling aircraft carrying children and thus introducing the possibility of kidnapped children being used as human shields.
Viegas stated in an interview in Brasilia that the government uses the law to more powerfully dissuade drug traffickers who previously entered Brazilian airspace because they felt the Air Force did not pose a threat.
The government was prompted to act by the deteriorating public security situation of increasingly powerful and violent drug gangs in Sao Paolo and in particular Rio de Janeiro.
Drug gangs in Rio de Janeiro have more firepower than the police and have successfully attacked police stations and forced businesses and schools to close.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stated in an interview with foreign correspondents in 2003 --
The policy is a matter of national sovereignty and security.
Some drug @-@ running aircraft pilots felt retributive so confidently that they made obscene gestures toward the pursuing Brazilian Air Force pilots.
Brazil prohibits the death penalty as a punishment for criminal acts, but the law is in question.
Some legal experts and other commentators have stated that the statute amounts to the de facto execution of a drug trafficker contrary to the government's claims.
The O Estado de Sao Paolo daily newspaper stated in an editorial for the week of 040718 @-@ 040724 that extreme measures raise ethical and juridical problems that exceed any potential benefits.
The penalty was applied extrajudicially through an administrative decision of the Air Force commander.
These people gain the life @-@ and @-@ death power over crew members and non @-@ regular flying passengers.
Brazil inaugurated the 1.4 billion @-@ dollar SIVAM radar system in 2002 that will allow the government to for the first time monitor air activity throughout the expansive Amazon region.
The system uses American technology.
Illegal flying initially declined by 30% due to concerns among traffickers about improved tracking capabilities, but subsequently reaccelerated.
Brazil recorded 4128 unauthorized flights in 2003.
Some of these flights are innocently violated by ranchers flying between plantations in the Amazon.
Viegas stated that deliberate violations of Brazilian airspace by apparent drug smugglers realizing that the government is unable to retaliate have increased significantly.
In April 2001 the most notorious drug @-@ dealing boss in Rio de Janeiro, Fernandinho Beira @-@ Mar, was captured in Colombia in a drug @-@ gun pipeline involving left @-@ wing guerrillas.
The northern Amazon corridor of Brazil has become an increasingly busy and essential route for the global drug trade and is used to smuggle arms, gold and diamonds.
One of the most important drug and gun smuggling routes across the northern tier of the Amazon is reportedly running from Colombia to Suriname across the Amazon.
Colombia is the only country currently to have a policy of targeting drug trafficking aircraft.
Colombia is the source of much of the cocaine and heroin sold in the United States.
2005 @-@ 07 @-@ 16
Venezuela (VE)
International; weapons; leader; military
Venezuela and its domestic critics worry about the Venezuelan president's weapons dealings with Russia, curbing his military cooperation with the United States, and planning to train as many as two million Venezuelan civilians to repel a possible superpower invasion.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's weapons dealings with Russia, his curbing of military cooperation with Russia, and plans to train as many as two million civilians to repel an imperialist superpower invasion have worried the United States and domestic critics of Chavez.
Chavez insisted the move was purely defensive and borne of an overdue need to update obsolete military hardware and protect Venezuela from nations that might want to take control of Venezuela.
Venezuela is the largest South American petroleum producer.
Domestic Chavez opponents scoff at the idea that the US would ever invade Venezuela and charge that Chavez truly intended to arm a huge cadre of loyal reservists to protect him in any internal uprising and pose a militarized counterweight to the US influence in Latin America.
Cuban leader Fidel Castro is a major ally of Chavez and the two are growing closer.
Chavez's detractors in the US government say that purchasing arms and indoctrinating civilian militias may be even more troublesome part of Chavez's strategy to restructure Venezuelan democracy by the image of a militarized Cuban @-@ style socialist regime and foment left @-@ wing revolutions throughout South America.
US military strategists say they are increasingly concerned that radical moves inspired by Chavez could foment such a revolution.
The political mainstream in Latin America has shifted leftward since the late 1990 s.
This shift leftward is largely a reaction to the perceived failure of free market economics.
The left was elected to lead Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Ecuador and Venezuela.
Chavez supporters at home countered that the United States has a century @-@ long history of open and covert armed intervention in Latin American domestic politics and said the United States had no right to question Venezuela's defense preparations.
Carlos Roque Espinoza Leon said the Venezuelans never asked what the US marines would do.
b> Espinoza Leon /b> is a pro @-@ Chavez defense specialist serving in Venezuela's National Assembly.
Espinoza said Peru has 500,000 rifles and no one said anything.
"No one is complaining that Colombia is the most militarized country in Latin America," Espinoza said.
Espinoza said the US history is full of aggression in Latin America.
"The Venezuelans must do whatever is necessary to protect Venezuela," Espinoza said.
Chavez famously said that the so @-@ called Venezuelan Bolivarian Revolution was peaceful but armed.
Chavez was first elected in 1998 and was rated 71% popular in an independent poll by the firm Datanalisis.
In Russia, China and Iran, Venezuelan military analyst Alberto Garrido said Chavez was looking for allies to promote a multi @-@ polar world to counteract US dominance and encourage grass @-@ roots movements in Latin America that would throw US government influence.
Lorenzo Campos is a farmer in the northern Venezuelan state of Anzoategui and is being trained as a reservist.
"The people of Venezuela want the world to know that they are not prepared to attack anyone and that protecting Venezuela is their mission," Campos said.
In May 2005 Chavez's government announced details of a 1.8 billion dollar deal with Russian firms to purchase 100000 AK @-@ 103 assault rifles with 30 rounds of ammunition each and a technology transfer to Venezuela to manufacture the rifles.
The deal works out to $16,22 per rifle.
This price is considerably less than the $825 @-@ 850 price for the same weapons ordered by US mail.
The Venezuelan government also intends to buy 10 Russian helicopters, 10 transport planes and 6 naval craft from Spain.
Venezuelan officials said the government is negotiating with Brazil to buy around 24 air support and training planes.
Chavez insists, and even his staunchest military critics here agree that the purchase is essential to updating old weaponry, such as decades @-@ old Belgian FAL military rifles.
Retired General Fernando Ochoa Antich said it was exaggerated to say Chavez was engaged in arms buildups.
Ochoa was defense minister in 1992 during a failed coup by then @-@ lieutenant @-@ colonel Chavez.
Ochoa stated that Venezuela has not purchased arms in the past 25 years and said Chavez has not bought weapons aggressively under threat to his neighbors.
Ochoa said that Venezuela has never bought Russian arms before and suggested that Chavez bought the arms to become independent of the US.
Ochoa asked why Chavez buys rifle calibers popular as subversive forces in Latin America and stated that Chavez's political support for radical leftist movements makes him a continental menace.
The US Pentagon has openly questioned what Chavez was doing with the old FAL rifles and whether Chavez could share weapons or ammunition with Latin American guerrilla forces.
The US government has provided no evidence that Chavez armed or funded a left @-@ wing insurgency.
Military analysts and specialists on the Colombian FARC guerrillas say the rebels have plenty of money for weapons and drug trafficking and are not interested in old Belgian rifles or Chavez's assistance.
A 2003 study published by the US Defense Intelligence Agency reports that more than half of the weapons seized by Colombian guerrillas between 1998 and 2001 with foreign military markings originate from Venezuela.
implying that corrupt or sympathizing members of the Venezuelan military could be aiding the guerrillas.
Perhaps Chavez' domestic opponents were more distressed by the ideological training that critics say Chavez had in mind for the military and the new civilian reservists.
Chavez earlier in 2005 called for the so @-@ called revolutionary units to start preparing the public to resist a superpower aggressor, and said the first step in resisting the superpower aggressor would be training between 100,000 and 200,000 volunteers to back up the active duty armed forces in the coming years.
Military analysts estimate that Venezuela's active duty armed forces number 83000.
People's defense units will be created in neighborhoods, state companies, and the Free University established under Chavez, and will report directly to the President.
The government insists the reserves will support the armed forces and will not act on a fifth column in the event of a possible coup against Chavez.
Espinoza said the reserves should not be used for troops that would shock any political party and that in a civil war, it is up to each person to decide which side to take.
General Julio Ramon Quintero Viloria is the reserve commander.
Quintero said in an interview that the armed forces hope to train 50,000 civilians in the second half of 2005 on 20 weekends and could train 300,000 more in 2006.
Quintero said the Venezuelans do not want a colony of any empire and must be ready for any possibility.
In June 2005 100,000 reservists and the Venezuelan navy engaged in a massive war game to repel stronger invaders.
In June 2005 40 employees of state oil companies and 1,200 soldiers participated in a similar exercise.
The pro @-@ Chavez circles here warn of asymmetric warfare.
Asymmetric warfare is a term coined by US military strategists to describe conflicts between unequal combatants in which the weaker side employs guerrilla tactics.
The US government has given Colombia 335 billion dollars in military aid over the past 5 years.
Chavez's loyalists fear that the US government could instigate a proxy war between Colombia and Venezuela to oust Chavez and control Venezuelan oil.
In an interview, a senior US official dismissed the notion that the US government wanted to invade Venezuela as completely and utterly absurd.
The official said the Chavez side wishes to make a negative relationship because of a political calculation that Mr. Chavez will reach power through constant confrontation with the US.
Another development troubling the United States is Chavez's rollback of military cooperation and joint exercises.
The US military has had a Cooperation Office at a Venezuelan fort for 50 years.
Chavez shut it down in 2004.
5 US military trainees and students participating in the exchange program were ordered to leave the country in April 2005.
Analysts say Chavez is likely trying to indoctrinate his public and armed forces.
Analysts say it has not been proven that Chavez used those forces to aid leftist revolutions elsewhere.
2007 @-@ 06 @-@ 18
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (KP)
proliferation; international
The North Korean government may begin shutting down the plutonium @-@ producing reactor in June 2007 in the first step toward disabling the reactor by December 2007.
Assistant Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Christopher Hill stated on 18 June 2007 that the North Korean government could begin in June 2007 to shut down the plutonium @-@ producing reactor in the first step toward disabling the reactor by December 2007.
Hill is the United States' head negotiator for North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
Hill stated that stalled efforts to dismantle North Korea's nuclear weapons program may move ahead after the weekend of 070616 @-@ 070617 when International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors visited on invitation of Pyongyang officials for talks on verification and monitoring of the shut @-@ down.
Following talks with Chinese negotiator Wu Dawei Hill stated that the shutdown was long anticipated.
Hill stated that the shutdown could happen in weeks, but not months.
The Associated Press reported on 18 June 2007 in Vienna, Austria that the IAEA stated that a team would visit Pyongyang the week of 24 June 2007 to discuss how inspectors would verify the shut @-@ down.
Hill stated that IAEA inspectors held talks with Pyongyang officials about sealing the reactor, including the installation of television monitors at the site.
North Korean officials refused to proceed with a February 2007 agreement to begin decommissioning the Yongbyon reactor until funds worth 25 million dollars held in Macao banks in North Korean linked accounts were transferred to North Korea.
The money was frozen as United States officials accused Banco Delta Asia of financial crimes complicity with North Korea.
The funds were wired to the New York Federal Reserve Bank on July 14, 2007 after months of disagreement over the method of return of the funds.
The funds are supposed to be sent to Russia's Central Bank before being transferred to a North Korean government @-@ controlled account at a North Korean commercial bank.
Hill stated that the week of 17 June 2007 talks with disarmament negotiators from Russia, South Korea and Japan will take steps to recoup time lost in the organization of financial transfers.
The discussions also involved setting a timetable for the 6 nations to resume arms control talks.
Under an agreement reached in February 2007 North Korean officials pledged to shut down the Yongbyon reactor and allow inspectors to verify and monitor the shutdown in return for a shipment of 50000 tons of fuel oil.
In the next phase of the agreement North Korean officials will declare all nuclear programs and disable all facilities in return for further 950,000 tons of fuel oil.
Hill stated that the next phase of the agreement could technically be concluded by December 2007.
2007 @-@ 08 @-@ 27
Iran, Islamic Republic of (IR)
International; weapons; proliferation; Government; energy
Leading arms control experts criticized the new nuclear activity plans released by Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency of the U.N. as ineffective and dangerous.
Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency of the U.N. released a plan on August 27, 2007 to resolve the issue by December 2007.
The issue has not been resolved for 4 years.
The plan meant to allay suspicions of Iran's past nuclear activities.
An agency official stated that the plan was a breakthrough.
On 28 August 2007 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated at a news conference in Tehran --
The investigation into Iran's nuclear activities is now closed.
None of the other members of the International Atomic Energy Agency have cooperated as well as Iran.
Iran is a nuclear nation.
Iran has a nuclear fuel cycle.
Iran has not succumbed to international pressure to curb Iran's nuclear project.
Iran's nuclear project is for peaceful purposes.
The United States and some European nations believe Iran's nuclear project is to make nuclear weapons.
Several Western governments and leading arms control experts have stated that Iran is attempting to avoid further U.N. Security Council punishment.
Western governments include the United States and France.
The Government and experts believe Iran is making the attempt.
The arms control process is slow.
avoiding answering the question of whether Iran has violated the treaty in the past.
President of the Institute for Science and International Security David Albright stated --
Iran's claims are unverifiable.
The International Atomic Energy Agency does not have access to people, documents and sites.
The International Atomic Energy Agency will lose the right to make further questions in the future.
The unusual development set a bad precedent.
The International Atomic Energy Agency could be tricked because it is eager for the deal.
The International Atomic Energy Agency plan announced --
Iran resolved questions about its past plutonium experiments without explaining how.
Senior Fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies Mark Fitzpatrick stated --
The International Atomic Energy Agency's plan is superficial.
The International Atomic Energy Agency plan has drawn out negotiations for many months.
The International Atomic Energy Agency plan may leave Iran with an incomplete and misleading answer to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The International Institute for Strategic Studies is located in London.
Plutonium is a material that can be used to make nuclear weapons.
The Institute for Science and International Security is a private research organization located in Washington.
The International Atomic Energy Agency is based in Vienna.
2007 @-@ 11 @-@ 15
Iran, Islamic Republic of (IR)
proliferation; international; business
The Nuclear Suppliers Group list shows that Iran has been denied purchase of nuclear @-@ related materials approximately 75 times since 1998 on suspicion that the materials could be used to build bombs.
The Nuclear Suppliers Group list shows that Iran has been denied purchase of nuclear @-@ related materials approximately 75 times since 1998 on suspicion that the materials could be used to build bombs.
The 45 @-@ nation Nuclear Suppliers Group is an offshoot of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and is charged with monitoring international trade to ensure that nuclear technology transferred for peaceful purposes is not directed toward military use.
The Nuclear Suppliers Group is composed of technologically advanced countries.
According to a statement of the Nuclear Suppliers Group's mission to act, countries will act on an individual basis to block trade that violates export controls devised to maintain international cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
The Nuclear Suppliers Group does not have enforcement power beyond notifying companies of violations of its guidelines.
The Nuclear Suppliers Group keeps the data private and meets largely in secret.
Most of the denials of purchase have occurred since 2002 and are the result of intervention by members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
Diplomats from countries interested in exposing the extent of Iran's efforts to acquire so @-@ called dual @-@ use items that could be converted to weapons production have availed themselves of a trade denial list.
The list will be availble unless the diplomat and the country of the diplomat are unidentifiable.
The list names companies from Australia, Finland, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates and Iran that were prevented from carrying out the deal because the sale items were suspected of being of military usefulness.
The list of items offered for sale in a blocked deal includes nickel powder, components of petrochemical plants, compressors, furnaces, steel flanges and fittings, electron microscopes, radiometric ore sorting machines, valves and tubing, lasers, rotating drilling rigs, mass spectrometers and nitrogen production plants.
End @-@ use organizations in Iran include the Iranian government and its Atomic Energy Organization, power companies, engineering companies, petrochemical and oil @-@ refining companies, gas companies, the aircraft industry, schools, universities, engine manufacturers, mineral research centers, helicopter support companies and plasma physics centers.
Diplomats stated that 75 denies only represented the actions of 7 of the 45 member states.
Diplomats stated that the actual number of denials of sales of dual @-@ use products to Iran is probably much higher.
Western diplomats stated that the government in Tehran uses front companies undetected to receive technology and convert it into weapons production as the standoff with Iran continues over Iran's nuclear program.
Iran has signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty but is not a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
2008 @-@ 08 @-@ 08
Georgia (GE); Russian Federation (RU)
International; Government; dissent; war and conflict; weapons; politics
20080808 Russia carried out air strikes on targets in Georgia.
Air strikes escalate conflict in Georgia's separatist areas.
20080808 Russia carried out air strikes on targets in Georgia.
Air strikes escalated conflict in Georgia's separatist areas.
The conflict will test Russia's power and military reach.
Russian troops and armored vehicles entered South Ossetia earlier on August 8, 2008.
The presence of Russian troops is supporting the bitter conflict between the separatist areas and Georgia.
The violence was condemned by the U.S., other Western nations and NATO.
The U.S., other Western nations and NATO demanded a cease @-@ fire.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice demanded Russia withdraw its forces.
Russian soldiers remain in Georgia.
Georgian officials reported at least one air strike on the Black Sea port of Poti late on 080808.
Russia and Georgia showed no indication of relenting.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin stated that the war was started.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili accuses Russia of a well planned invasion.
Georgia mobilized military reserves.
Georgian government web sites intermittently crashed on August 8, 2008.
The crash was a signal of a cyber warfare campaign against Georgia.
Disputes can renew sustained conflicts in the Caucasus.
The Caucasus is an important conduit for oil flow from the Caspian Sea to the world market.
The conflict in the Caucasus lasted for years along the border with Russia.
The most recent conflict in Chechnya occurs in the province of Chechnya.
Russia's military incursions into Georgia indicate Russia's confidence and resolve.
Russian military incursions provide a test of Russian military capacity.
During his two terms as president Putin attempted to modernize and re @-@ equip the Russian military.
Earlier in 2008 Russia announced broad expansion of support for the separatist region.
Georgia labels Russian support as an annexation act.
On August 8, 2008 reports were conflicting over whether Georgian or Russian forces had won control of Tskhinvali.
It was not clear late on August 8, 2008 whether Russian and Georgian soldiers were combating on the ground or were limited to fighting between separatists and Georgian forces.
Tskhinvali is the capital of Georgia.
Georgia is mountainous.
Georgia is a rebel province.
2008 @-@ 09 @-@ 19
Iraq (IQ)
International; Telecom; technology; crime; leader; media; dissent
Iran's Fars news agency stated that hundreds of Shiite @-@ related websites were defaced or blocked by hackers known as XP.
The defaced and blocked websites include the official website of Iraq's Shiite leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al @-@ SISTANI.
The XP group stated that any website containing material contrary to Sunni teachings was hacked.
Iraq's official website of Iraq's Shiite religious leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al @-@ Sistani was defaced and blocked from sectarian @-@ motivated cyber attacks on Shiite @-@ related sites.
It was unclear whether the attacks began on 18 September 2008 or the morning of 19 September 2008.
Al @-@ Sistani's website was offline the evening of 19 September 2008.
Another website related to one of Al @-@ Sistani's religious organizations, www.al @-@ shia.com, was also affected.
The alternative address a href="http://www.sistani.com"> www.sistani.com /a> is still in operation.
Iran's Fars news agency stated that the XP group blocked access to approximately 300 Shiite @-@ related sites on 18 and 19 September 2008.
The hacking claim and Iran's assertion that the XP group is based in the United Arab Emirates cannot be independently verified.
On 19 September 2008 several Iranian news sites stated that many of the attacked Shiite and Iranian @-@ related web sites are normally running again.
The statement signed by the group XP was posted on the home page of Al @-@ Sistani's web site and stated that the attacks were Sunni Muslims.
According to the statement:
The XP group has carried out similar attacks on other Shiite sites in the Persian Gulf and Iraq.
The XP group erased the site as they did with other Rafidha sites.
Rafidha means "rejector" and is an insult used by Sunni extremists to describe Shiites.
Al @-@ Sistani promoted sexual deviation and the Iranian agenda in Iraq by being born there.
Any website that materializes contrary to Sunni teachings will be punished.
The statement also consisted of a YouTube video clip of American comedian Bill Maher ridiculing Al @-@ Sistani's fatwa on whether certain positions of sexual intercourse are permitted for married couples.
The ayatollah's office in Najaf declined to comment on the cyber attacks.
Fars reported that counterattacks were carried out against two major Wahhabi web sites belonging to the puritan strain of Sunni Islam dominated in Saudi Arabia.
2008 @-@ 10 @-@ 08
Somalia (SO); Ukraine (UA); Kenya (KE)
Crime; weapons; international; money
Somali pirates who hijacked a Ukrainian freighter carrying a large arms cargo have approached a deal to release the ship.
Questions regarding arms shipping en route to Kenya and possible clandestine arms deals between Kenya and South Sudan emerged.
Maritime officials and people associated with Somali pirates who hijacked a Ukrainian freighter carrying a large cargo of arms on 080925 stated on 081008 that the pirates may soon collect ransom for the freighter.
The parties came close to reaching a deal to pay the pirates millions of dollars and free the ship after a difficult negotiation likened by several people involved in bazaar @-@ style haggling.
Businessman Ahmed Omar of Xarardheere, Somalia stated that the pirates agreed to ransom the ship for approximately 8 million U.S. dollars to the ship's owners and that the ship could be freed on 081008 or 081009.
Xarardheere is a notorious pirate base on the Somali coast.
Kenyan maritime officials stated that critical details have yet to be agreed upon.
One such detail involves pirates' requests for guarantees that the American warship armada currently encircling the pirates will not arrest or attack them.
Kenyan maritime officials stated anonymously that such negotiations would be complex and involve more than financial aspects.
On 8 October 2008 officials stated that there had been progress and that the parties had approached the agreement.
The pirates initially requested 35 million U.S. dollars and then reduced it to 2 million U.S. dollars.
The pirates have consistently expressed their willingness to negotiate financial figures.
More than 25 ships were hijacked in 2008 off the Somali coast to hold ransom for typically 1 @-@ 2 million U.S. dollars.
Pirates who boarded the Ukrainian ship stated that the ship, its boarding cargo and 20 sailors would be released upon receipt of payment in United States dollars (the pirates preferred a 100 dollar bill).
The question is what was the original destination of the arms shipped on board the Ukrainian ship.
The Kenyan government claimed the weapons on board were shipped to the Kenyan military shortly after the freighter was hijacked on 25 September 2008.
Ships are on route to Kenya's main port, Mombasa.
Weapons aboard the ship included 33 T @-@ 72 tanks, 150 grenade launchers, 6 anti @-@ aircraft guns and large quantities of ammunition.
Evidence of weapons in Kenya's clandestine arms deals with the Southern Sudan separatist region subsequently emerged.
The deal is most likely to remain secret if the pirates do not hijack the ship and begin speaking to the media via satellite phone.
The Ukrainian officials were adamant in denying any wrongdoing.
Ukrainian diplomat in Kenya Oleh Belokolos stated --
Ukraine has not supplied any armaments to the South Sudanese government or has any plans to do so.
All appropriate paperwork has been validated.
Ukraine abides by all United Nations rules and arms control agreements.
Ukraine inherited an enormous stockpile of weaponry after the collapse of the Soviet Union and now has a major arms deal.
Kenya's deal with Ukraine is considered suspicious because Kenya mainly relies on the United Kingdom and other Western countries for heavy weapons supplies.
Kenyan politicians demanded answers and called for several commissions to examine the situation.
Southern Sudan is an autonomous region which is currently increasing its military using Soviet @-@ designed tanks.
The United States military stated that its priority is to ensure that ships are not unloaded with weapons and are not sold to Islamist insurgents in Somalia.
The pirates denied any interest in weapons and claimed not to be aware that tanks were part of the cargo when they hijacked the ship.
Last week pirate spokesman Sugule Ali stated in an interview that the pirates' sole interest in the deal was money.
2008 @-@ 11 @-@ 28
Afghanistan (AF)
Narcotics
Head of the U.N. Drug Office Antonio Maria Costa said Afghanistan has produced so much opium in recent years that the Taliban have cut back poppy cultivation, stockpiled raw opium and made efforts to support prices and preserve a major source of financing the insurgency.
Head of the U.N. Drug Office Antonio Maria Costa said Afghanistan has produced so much opium in recent years that the Taliban have cut back poppy cultivation, stockpiled raw opium and made efforts to support prices and preserve a major source of financing the insurgency.
Costa said this to reporters last week as the U.N. Drug Office prepared to release its latest survey of Afghanistan's opium crop.
Surveys show poppy cultivation has retreated in much of Afghanistan and is overwhelmingly concentrated in seven of the 34 provinces where the insurgency remains strong, mostly in the southern provinces.
The survey was issued on November 27, 2008.
The United Nations found that the result was a 19% reduction in the amount of land dedicated to opium in Afghanistan, while the total tonnage of opium produced dropped just 6%.
The study stated that high output per acre was attributed to a good growing season in the south.
The southern region is a heavily irrigated area where the Taliban maintain a strong presence in five provinces and have systematically encouraged opium cultivation to finance their insurgency for several years.
The U.N. estimates that the insurgents made much of the opium trade last year.
"A lot of the war effort can be funded between 2 and 3 billion dollars," Costa said.
The Taliban have produced amounts of opium far exceeding world demand over three successive bumper crops.
The result was a glut that depressed prices by approximately 20 percent, Costa said.
Costa said the opium stockpile by the Taliban, drug lords and even some farmers is evidence that prices have not already collapsed.
There is also increasing amounts being processed in Afghanistan.
Costa added that the insurgents held significant amounts of opium.
Costa said there was a surplus of as much as 11000 tons -- more than twice what the world has demanded in the past three years -- and threatened to devalue their stockpiles.
The United Nations found that Afghanistan produced 8500 tons of opium in 2008.
The world demand is estimated at about 4,400 tons per year.
The Taliban have been passive in cultivation this year and are putting less pressure on Afghan farmers to plant opium poppies.
This then supports current prices.
Costa is an Italian diplomat who served for six years with the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.
2001 @-@ 10 @-@ 05
South Africa (ZA)
International; terrorism; Government; money
The South African government imposed a ban that prohibits people from inside or outside South Africa from being recruited as mercenaries or as foreign military assistance.
The Citizen stated on 06 October 2001 that it is illegal for South Africans to involve themselves in mercenary activities or render assistance to foreign military forces either inside or outside South Africa.
The Citizen newspaper stated that the South African Foreign Ministry announced on October 5, 2001 that the South African government would impose a ban on mercenary activities following reports that 1,000 Muslim military trainers had enlisted to leave South Africa for Afghanistan to fight the Taliban against the United States.
The report claimed that Muslims Against Illegitimate Leaders claimed that 1,000 military trained Muslim men had volunteered for their services and received the backing of local businessmen.
The report claimed that all 1000 muslim men with military training were over 18 years old.
b> Muslims Against Illegitimate Leaders /b> is a Cape Town @-@ based group.
The Muslim Judicial Council refuted the report.
South Africa's Foreign Ministry stated that South Africa's Foreign Military Assistance Act prohibits people from inside or outside South Africa from being recruited as mercenaries or foreign military assistance.
South Africa's Foreign Military Assistance Act means that no person is allowed to offer military assistance to any state, state organ, group or other country unless permission is granted by the National Conventional Arms Control Committee.
South Africa's Foreign Military Assistance Act means that foreign military assistance can be rendered only in accordance with agreements approved by the National Conventional Arms Control Committee.
The South African Foreign Ministry stated that any person found to have violated South Africa's Foreign Military Assistance Act or to have failed to receive permission to participate in foreign military activities may be prosecuted and sentenced to a fine or imprisonment.
2002 @-@ 07 @-@ 01
Peru (PER)
International; money; crime; human rights; Government; narcotics; politics; leader
Former Peruvian spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos was convicted of taking unlawful control of the National Intelligence Service during the tenure of ex @-@ President Fujimori.
Montesinos was sentenced to 9 years and 4 months for the conviction.
Montesinos plans to appeal the sentence.
Vladimiro Montesinos, a former Peruvian spy chief in the government of ex @-@ President Alberto Fujimori, was convicted on July 1, 2002 of taking illegal control of the National Intelligence Service when he was only supposed to advise spy agencies.
Montesinos was sentenced to 9 years and 4 months in prison for abuse of authority.
The sentence also ordered Montesinos to pay a 3 million dollar fine as compensation to the state.
Anti @-@ corruption judge Saul Pena stated that Montesinos admitted to charges of abuse of authority.
This was the first ruling in which Montesinos was charged with more than 50 charges including corruption, drug trafficking, dealing illegal arms and human rights violations.
Montesinos is alleged to run a bribery network.
Leaked videotapes show Montesinos bribing congressmen to switch to the government party and triggered events that culminated in Fujimori's resignation in November 2000.
Fujimori was accused of dereliction of duty and embezzlement and has been in self @-@ imposed exile in Japan since resigning to avoid legal action by Peruvian authorities under the protection of dual nationality.
Montesinos fled Peru in October 2000 but was captured in Venezuela on June 23, 2001.
Montesinos will hear the sentence at the Callao Naval Base where he has been imprisoned since 2001.
Montesinos stated that he had consulted with defense lawyers regarding his appeal.
2002 @-@ 07 @-@ 25
Hong Kong
International; Government; crime; weapons; narcotics
Hong Kong police are trying to prevent the Triad or transnational criminal syndicates from engaging in criminal activities.
Hong Kong police recently smashed a transnational stealing syndicate specializing in exploiting youngster to commit various crimes, a cross @-@ border criminal syndicate and a local Triad gang.
According to the Oriental Daily News, Hong Kong police's recent efforts to cut down five of the so @-@ called Triad branch leaders or those called district team leaders within a short period of time demonstrate their determination to eradicate criminal activities.
Hong Kong police have recently worked closely with the Public Security Bureau in Guangdong for intelligence exchange and carried out a series of raids and operations.
The Hong Kong police were cracking down on the Triad activities from 18 July 2002 to 24 July 2002 including drug trafficking, illegal arms possession, theft, burglary, robbery, sales of pirate and obscene records, off @-@ duty cigarettes and trafficking dangerous drugs.
Police reported dispatching over 100 staff on 020724 to storm a propitiatory dance and a wine party organized to settle some disputes between two Triad groups at a disco nightclub in Mongkok, Kowloon.
Police eventually arrested 3 branch leaders and 14 core Triad members.
Police sources confirmed to the Xinhua News Agency on 25 July 2002 that all 17 people arrested were still being detained for questioning.
A Hong Kong police source was quoted as saying that the operation succeeded in netting all 17 people as a result of Hong Kong police efforts to infiltrate relevant gangs here.
Police sources also intimated that more Hong Kong police crackdowns on Triad's other gangs would follow.
Hong Kong police efforts to fight off organized criminals involve active cooperation with police on mainland China and in other regions.
The so @-@ called first target conference of the Far East International Drug Enforcement Conference was held in Hong Kong earlier in July 2002.
Hong Kong was chosen to host the event following IDEC's decision at a meeting held in Bolivia in February 2002.
Some 42 senior counter @-@ narcotics officers from mainland China, Hong Kong, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and the United States attended the meeting.
A Hong Kong police internal news letter recently reported that the aim of the conference is to provide a flexible and forward @-@ thinking environment for information sharing and positive action against organized transnational drug traffickers.
Hong Kong police intelligence exchanges with police in mainland China are particularly intense.
A delegation of 11 members of mainland China's National Narcotics Control Commission recently visited Hong Kong to study how the police here enforce their anti @-@ narcotics laws.
The team of 11 people is chaired by Chen Cunyi, deputy director of the Bureau of Narcotics Control of China's Ministry of Public Security, and briefed by Hong Kong police on the enforcement actions carried out in Hong Kong, and led by Ip Lau Chuen, head of Hong Kong's Narcotics Bureau.
The Hong Kong police also exchanged mutual concerns with China's National Narcotics Control Commission and discussed a number of issues including anti @-@ drug trafficking and money @-@ laundering activities.
The mainland parties closed their visit after meeting with Hong Kong deputy assistant crime commissioner Yam Tat Wing and discussed proposals for further cooperation to combat cross @-@ border drug trafficking activities.
2002 @-@ 07 @-@ 25
Peru (PER)
Narcotics; crime; military; government
Peruvian military documents disclosed the links between the former head of intelligence Montesinos and drug trafficking.
A document signed by a former high @-@ ranking Peruvian army officer disclosed on 020725 mentioned the drug trafficking links and could further compromise the situation of Vladimiro Montesinos, the former head of Peru's National Intelligence Service.
According to a front @-@ page story in Peru's national newspaper El Comercio, Montesinos may have authorized drug deals by military leaders in Alto Huallaga to find leaders of the rebel group Shinning Path and the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement.
The Alto Huallaga region is located northeast of the capital Lima.
The story is based on the Attorney General's Office's final report.
The Attorney General's Office report collected the accused documents handed over by an unnamed general of the Peruvian army.
El Comercio said the government of then @-@ President Alberto Fujimori put into effect the Scorpion intelligence operation in 1992 to fight terrorism and drug trafficking in the Amazon basin.
Several agents infiltrated the group as part of the planned Scorpion to gather information on those commanding the main rebels and drug trafficking.
An additional order was also made to transport cocaine to cover up the agents.
Montesinos is a close advisor to former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori.
Fujimori resigned in November over the bribery scandal and is now imprisoned in Lima over alleged connections to the scandal.
2002 @-@ 08 @-@ 29
Nepal (N)
terrorism; dissent; military
A bomb defused in Kathmandu injured a soldier after the state of emergency expired.
Kathmandu police officers reported --
One Royal Nepal Army soldier was seriously injured 020829 when a bomb disposal team attempted to defuse a bomb left on an electricity pole in Okubahal near Sundhara in Kathmandu's Lalitpur district.
The bombs are believed to have been planted by anti @-@ government insurgents.
An injured soldier was admitted to the army hospital in Kathmandu.
There was no report of any other damage or casualties during the incident.
This bomb was the second to explode in Kathmandu since a bomb exploded the morning of 28 August 2002 in a supermarket at Bishalbazar in the heart of the city.
The explosion damaged the windowpanes of approximately 12 shops and injured two customers.
The state of emergency expired on evening of 28 August 2002 and the Nepali government has not yet decided to reimpose it.
2002 @-@ 09 @-@ 05
Nepal (N)
terrorism; politics; dissent
Anti @-@ government insurgents in Nepal escalate bombings and murders following the end of the state of emergency.
The insurgents planned attacks during the mid @-@ term parliamentary elections.
A 9 @-@ month @-@ long nationwide state of emergency in Nepal expired on 28 August 2002.
Violence committed by anti @-@ government insurgents across Nepal has escalated and there have been threats of bombings and explosions throughout Nepal.
20020828 @-@ 20020904 there were at least 5 major bombing incidents in the Kathmandu Valley.
The bomb exploded on 28 August 2002 in a supermarket in central Kathmandu, injuring two people.
On 29 August 2002 one soldier was killed by a bomb in the Lalitpur district of the Kathmandu Valley.
Two separate bombing incidents occurred after 020829 in the municipality of Lalitpur and a shop in Kathmandu.
The bomb explosion occurred on 4 September 2002 at Kathmandu metropolis offices.
Outside the Kathmandu valley, anti @-@ government guerrillas murdered many activists of the ruling Nepali Congress and other parties and burned or bombed several buildings.
Underground insurgent leaders stated in an interview with the English @-@ language daily Kathmandu Post that the insurgents disrupted the 2002 November 13 mid @-@ term parliamentary elections in a comprehensive and violent manner.
The British embassy in Nepal warned Nepali nationals of increasing anti @-@ government offenses and advised them to avoid areas cordoned off by British security personnel on 29 August 2002.
The embassy stated that intelligence assessments suggest anti @-@ government guerrillas may be preparing a campaign in the city to complement their country activities.
The US State Department stated that risks to US citizens and interests have been heightened by anti @-@ government insurgents in Nepal after recent bombings, particularly outside the Kathmandu Valley.
The US State Department stated publicly on 03 September 2002 that anti @-@ government insurgents planned new violence before a general strike declared on 16 September 2002.
The Government of Nepal considers reimposing a state of emergency to maintain law and order.
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba stated that he would consult with concerned people and political parties on the possibility of extending the state of emergency.
Due to tensions, Deuba aborted a planned trip to Johannesburg for the World Summit on Sustainable Development and returned immediately to Nepal after a 9 @-@ day visit to Europe.
The Nepali government imposed a state of emergency on 26 November 2001 after anti @-@ government guerrillas unilaterally defied the government's 4 @-@ month @-@ long cease @-@ fire negotiations and attacked army barracks and police posts.
2002 @-@ 10 @-@ 19
Nepal (N)
terrorism; dissent
The guerrillas killed and wounded several policemen in Nepal following the breakdown of peace talks with the Nepali government.
The state @-@ run Radio Nepal reported on 20 October 2002 that at least three policemen were killed and 19 other policemen wounded when anti @-@ government guerrillas ambushed their vehicles in western Nepal on the evening of 19 October 2002.
Security officials were quoted by Radio Nepal as stating --
Three police personnel including an inspector and a sub @-@ inspector were killed as two police vehicles moved into the Tikapur area of Kailali district in search of guerrillas.
The dead and wounded policemen were all in the first vehicle.
Vehicle drivers were also killed in the ambush.
Five police personnel are still missing.
Police personnel wounded were brought to Kathmandu and Nepalgunj for treatment and additional security personnel were mobilized in the area to defend against guerrillas.
Anti @-@ government insurgents have increased violent activity across the Himalayan kingdom since a 9 @-@ month @-@ long nationwide state of emergency expired at the end of 20020800.
The Nepalese government initiated peace talks with the guerrillas in August 2001 to find a peaceful solution to the guerrilla insurgency that has killed more than 5,000 people, including policemen, guerrilla members and civilians, since it began in the Himalayan kingdoms in 1996.
The three rounds of talks held were not concluded because the guerrillas demanded the establishment of a republican state, an interim government and a new constitution which the Nepali government rejected.
More than 3700 guerrillas and scores of security personnel have been killed since the Nepali government imposed a state of emergency on 26 November 2001 following a series of attacks on the Nepali security forces after breaking 4 @-@ month @-@ long cease @-@ fire talks with the government on 23 November 2001.
2002 @-@ 11 @-@ 23
China (CN); Russian Federation (RU); Kazakhstan (KZ); Kyrgyzstan (KG); Tajikistan (TJ); Uzbekistan (UZ)
International; terrorism; politics
Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan reported that members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization had proceeded with the organization's construction and had begun anti @-@ terrorism discussions at a meeting in Moscow 021123.
On 23 November 2002 Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan stated that member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization have made progress in the construction of the organization and cooperation among member nations.
Tang met in Moscow on 23 November 2002 with 5 foreign ministers from Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to discuss SCO construction, a series of international and regional issues.
Tang stated that the SCO is currently focusing on the construction of the mechanism and the preparation work to create a secretariat has entered a key stage with the joint efforts of coordinators and experts from 6 countries.
Tang also stated that the Chinese government seeks to complete the draft of relevant documents before next year's SCO summit and attempt to officially open the secretariat after the summit.
Tang stated that the SCO still faces a very stern fight against terrorism and cited the October 2002 Moscow hostage crisis.
Tang stated that the terrorist attacks in Moscow masterminded by national and regional separatists demonstrate the need and correctness of efforts to reduce the three forces of terrorism, separatism and extremism.
Tang stated that all SCO member countries should deepen and expand security cooperation by adopting a deal to jointly fight three forces and terrorist organizations and by creating a regional anti @-@ terrorist organization in Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek as soon as possible.
Tang stated that the Chinese government is appreciative of and supports proposals by some Central Asian countries to enhance anti @-@ drug cooperation.
Tang stated that the Chinese government has signed a multilateral pact of anti @-@ drug cooperation.
Tang stated that anti @-@ drug measures are one of the top tasks for regional anti @-@ terrorist organizations.
Tang stated in a statement that economic cooperation is a key area of cooperation among SCO member countries.
In order to gain substantial benefits from economic and trade cooperation, all member States should strengthen their common political sense and regard it as a strategic problem that can affect regional security and the development of the SCO.
Tang also referenced the volatile world situation and stated that it is a common pressing task for all SCO members to manage threats from nontraditional security spheres such as terrorism, drug trafficking, weapons smuggling and transnational money crime.
Tang stated that the current age is still dominated by peace and development because of the stable general situation in the world and the wave of forward economic development.
Tang stated that the international community is watching closely the SCO because more countries and international organizations are willing to conduct dialogue and cooperation with the SCO.
Tang stated that SCO should further enhance exchanges and cooperation with other parties with a wider visibility and a more positive posting, thereby strengthening its international influence, also reflecting SCO's principle of non @-@ alignment, anti @-@ third party principle and open @-@ up principle.
Tang stated that the SCO passed a temporary pact on SCO's foreign policy at a meeting on 23 November 2002.
Tang stated that the pact officially started activities of SCO exchanges with other organizations and promoted Shanghai's spirit of equality, cooperation, multicultural respect, search for common development, mutual trust and mutual benefit.
2002 @-@ 12 @-@ 28
Iraq (IQ)
International; proliferation; weapons
United Nations inspectors searched 7 Iraqi sites for banned weapons 021228.
Spokesman Hiro Ueki said United Nations arms inspectors visited 7 sites in Iraq 021228 in search of prohibited weapons of mass destruction.
A team of biological experts from the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission visited the Yaffa juice plant of the National Food Industries Co. in Baghdad's Zafaraniyah industrial area.
The Yaffa plant is self @-@ financing, has mixed ownership and was previously declared as a site to be monitored as there was some dual @-@ use equipment there.
A biological team returned to the veterinary vaccine site at Al Kindi following a previous inspection carried out on 22 December 2002.
Some United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission missile experts conducted an unannounced visit to the Al Qaib warhead @-@ filling factory in the Al Qa Qaa complex which undertakes to fill warheads for the Al Samoud and Al Fatah missiles.
The United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission's chemical team, supported by missile and biological teams, inspected the Ibn Younis Center, a mechanical design establishment in Baghdad.
Hiro Ueki said the site was located in a large compound occupied by other companies and institutions, including the ruling Bath Party's regional offices, and the whole compound would be inspected by United Nations arms experts.
Other inspectors carried out field operations on 021228 separately at the Hadre Air Force munition testing site near Mosul 400 kilometers north of Baghdad and at two private trading companies.
There are currently 105 inspectors in Iraq, including 99 from the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission and 6 from the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The inspectors must give the United Nations Security Council their first report on Iraq's weapons program by 030127.
2003 @-@ 04 @-@ 28
France (FR); India (IN)
International; weapons; military; money; Government; technology
France and India have signed a deal estimated at 2 billion US dollars to manufacture 6 advanced diesel @-@ propelled Scorpene submarines in India through licensed production.
French Defense Minister Michele Alliot @-@ Marie is conducting a security dialogue with Indian leaders on the deal.
France offered India on April 28, 2003 a long @-@ term military cooperation in joint development, technology transfer and sales of high @-@ tech weapons systems.
France and India have signed a deal estimated at 2 billion US dollars to manufacture 6 advanced diesel @-@ propelled Scorpene submarines in India through licensed production.
French Defense Minister Michele Alliot @-@ Marie is conducting a security dialogue with Indian leaders.
Alliot @-@ Marie stated --
International cooperation is needed especially after the recent war in Iraq.
France wants to deepen its intensification of defense relations with India.
France has upgraded and maintained optimum operational use of weapons systems sold to India.
In 2002 France offered to sell upgraded Mirage 2002 @-@ 5 and technology transfer and thermal imagers for India's Russian @-@ made T @-@ 72 and T @-@ 90 tanks as well as an artillery angle determination system to India.
France agreed.
High @-@ intensity mining was stringed through control lines in Kashmir.
Cross @-@ border terrorism is checked.
Upgraded Indian tanks' fire control systems.
Alliot @-@ Marie met one on one with Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes before talks with a level delegation on 28 April 2003.
Alliot @-@ Marie arrived Sunday.
2003 @-@ 06 @-@ 24
France (FR)
International; Government; dissent; crime; terrorism; leader
French Foreign Minister characterized the recent raid on the People's Mujahedeen in Paris as part of the fight against terrorism.
French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said on June 3, 2003 that the French government considers the crackdown on Iran's armed opposition People's Mujahedeen as part of a terrorist operation.
De Villepin said on French info radio that the People's Mujahedeen claimed responsibility for numerous attacks in Iran and that this dimension of terrorism cannot be hidden.
De Villepin said the arrest was a decision of justice and there was no diplomatic factor in these affairs.
De Villepin said the French acted strictly on the basis of justice with the determination to try all to fight terrorism.
French police raided the People's Mujahedeen headquarters in northwest Paris on June 22, 2003.
The People's Mujahedeen accuses French authorities of carrying out the operation as part of a deal with the Iranian government.
The Iranian government denies this claim.
The judiciary is now investigating 17 Mujahedeen members for alleged links to terrorist organizations and funding terrorist activities.
Some 160 people were initially detained as police cracked down on over 10 of the People's Mujahedeen's locations in France.
Police raided and seized a Paris map with out @-@ marked streets related to the United States embassy, bulletproof jackets, transmission equipment, more than 200 computers and about 9 million American dollars in cash.
The People's Mujahedeen is classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Iran.
The People's Mujahedeen was formed in 1960 by young college @-@ educated Iranians and is described as an Islamist leftist organization.
The People's Mujahedeen staged terrorist attacks inside Iran in 1970 and killed several US military personnel and civilians working in Teheran on defense projects.
The People's Mujahedeen was part of a broad coalition initially supporting the Iranian Revolution and participating in the 1979 takeover of the US Embassy in Teheran.
The People's Mujahedeen and the government have fallen out and have been building military and political bases in Europe since the 1980 s.
In recent years the People's Mujahedeen has claimed responsibility for assassinating several Iranian regimes.
These assassinations included the assassinations of former director of Evin Prison in Teheran Assodalah Ladjevardi in August 1998 and Ali Sayad Chirazi, former chief commandant of the Iranian army and general in April 1999.
2003 @-@ 07 @-@ 09
Australia (AU)
International; weapons; Government; leader
Under pressure from the United States and the creation of the Proliferation Security Initiative, Australian Prime Minister John Howard hesitated to use military force to intercept suspected drug @-@ or weapons @-@ smuggling vessels belonging to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The Australian government is hesitant to use Australian military to intercept Korean vessels suspected of trafficking weapons or drugs.
The Australian Associated Press quoted Australian Prime Minister John Howard on 9 June 2003 as stating that the Australian government would not consider a military contribution at this stage.
Howard stated that the Australian government is considering ways and means to deal with a very big problem and that the Australian government must choose a description and words that make sense given that the Australian government is dealing with volatile issues and a country that is not operating as the Convention says.
During a week @-@ long visit to the region the week of 030714 Howard referenced future talks with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and South Korean President Roh Woo @-@ hyun on the issue.
The United States government recently formed the Proliferation Security Initiative with 11 members.
The Proliferation Security Initiative started a meeting in Brisbane on 9 July 2003.
Members of the Proliferation Security Initiative consider ways to intercept ships or aircraft suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction.
The United States government suggested in a report that the Australian military could be involved in stopping the nation from transporting weapons both over high seas and through the waters of Australian territory.
2003 @-@ 11 @-@ 07
South Africa (ZA); Brazil (BR); India (IN)
International; politics
Brazilian President Lula da Silva arrived in Pretoria, South Africa on 031107 to discuss bilateral politics and economic issues with South African President Thabo Mbeki scheduled for 031108.
The South African Press Association reported on 07 November 2003 that Brazilian President Lula da Silva arrived in Pretoria, South Africa in the evening of 031108 to discuss bilateral politics and economics with South African President Thabo Mbeki scheduled for the morning of 031108.
The discussion will be held in Pretoria, South Africa.
South African foreign affairs spokeswoman Manusha Pillay stated that the aircraft for Lula da Silva landed at the Waterkloof Air Force base shortly after 1730 GMT.
Lula da Silva's visit to South Africa followed the holding of the second meeting of the Brazilian @-@ South African Joint Commission in Pretoria in May 2003.
The Joint Commission is jointly chaired by South African Foreign Minister Dlamini @-@ Zuma and Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim.
Dlamini @-@ Zuma participated in the Brazil @-@ Africa Forum in Fortaleza, Brazil in June 2003.
The South African Foreign Affairs Department stated that the historic strategic agreement between India and Brazil and a result of the Brazil @-@ Africa Forum outline a plan for trilateral political and economic cooperation.
The group includes India, Brazil and South Africa in recent negotiations by the World Trade Organization which advocates support for the development agenda of under @-@ developing countries.
The South African Foreign Affairs Department stated that relations between South Africa and Brazil are strategic in that Brazil has the largest African @-@ origin population outside of Africa in South Africa.
South Africa's Foreign Affairs Department stated that South Africa and Brazil share opinions on a variety of global issues including the importance of multilateralism and the expansion of the United Nations Security Council.
Lula da Silva's discussion with Thabo Mbeki also addressed new threats such as terrorism, drugs, illegal weapons trafficking and AIDS to international security.
South Africa's Foreign Affairs Department stated that Brazil is South Africa's largest trading partner in Latin America.
Brazil's trade with South Africa totaled 696 million United States dollars in 2002 and 296 million more in the trade balance going to Brazil.
The South African Foreign Affairs Department stated that a South African delegation briefed Brazilians on progress of the Africa Union and the New Partnership for Africa's development.
2004 @-@ 04 @-@ 03
Russia (RU)
International; Government; technology; military; space; leader
French President Jacques Chirac became the first Western leader to visit the top @-@ secret Russian space test and control center Titov in Krasnoznamernsk.
French President Jacques Chirac became the first Western leader to visit the top @-@ secret Russian space test and control center Titov on 040403.
Chirac flew to Krasnoznamernsk for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the space center.
Putin and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov greeted Chirac at the space center in Krasnoznamernsk some 40 kilometers (25 miles) southwest of Moscow.
Closed Soviet era military facilities were founded in July 2005 and collect and analyze all information gathered from Russian military spy satellites.
The space center is also involved in the launch of ICBMs and is working on a plan to develop an early warning defense system.
The meeting between Putin and Chirac was held for 2 hours.
Russian Space Forces commander and lieutenant @-@ general Vladimir Popovkin reported to Chirac and Putin and said that Russia's priorities include expanding Russian @-@ French space cooperation.
France is the lead country of the European Space Agency.
Chirac's visit occurred at a time when the Russian government displayed unease over NATO's latest expansion to its borders and the imminent enlargement of the European Union into the former Soviet sphere of influence in eastern Europe.
Putin said at a press conference following the meeting that Russia's national security defense activities are not aggressive and do not target anyone.
The Titov space center is a military facility and is run by the Russian Space Forces and operates with tight security.
Putin said Chirac visited there, indicating that Russia is developing the most advanced weapons system but will find it possible to make acquaintance with French partners in this project.
Putin stressed that this points out the Russian transparency and openness in security matters.
2004 @-@ 04 @-@ 07
Philippines (PH)
International; terrorism; media
The record of the Philippine Immigrations Bureau shows that two high @-@ profile terrorist suspects are most likely to stay in the Philippines.
The ABS @-@ CBN news channel reported on April 7, 2004 that records from the Philippines Immigrations Bureau show that at least two high @-@ profile terrorist suspects are most likely to stay in the country.
ABS @-@ CBN News stated that 1 of the 2 suspects was identified as Isamudin Raduan Hambali.
Hambali was allegedly the mastermind of the 2002 bombing of Bali.
The records of the Philippine Immigrations Bureau show that Hambali was allowed to enter and leave the Philippines in 2001.
Hambali is on the most wanted terrorist blacklist in Asia.
Hambali was arrested in Thailand in 020200 and 070000.
The Immigrations Bureau stated that it only recently received intelligence reports on Hambali's record in the country.
According to the records, Osama bin Laden's brother Sheik Mohammed Khalid has traveled to the country on a number of occasions.
Sheik Mohammed Khalid is allegedly funding terrorist networks in the Philippines.
A high alert was placed for the military and police for the holy week starting 040405.
Six Abu Sayyaf suspects were captured last week in a separate raid in Metro Manila.
The allegations are foiled by a plot by the suspects to launch terrorist attacks as devastating as the Madrid bombings in Spain.
President Gloria Macapagal @-@ Arroyo said in a statement on April 7, 2004 that the government is closely watching foreigners in the country who can teach local rebels and terrorists how to make bombs and money @-@ launder for terrorist organization al @-@ Qaeda.
The news channel ABS @-@ CBN is a local television station in Manila.
2004 @-@ 04 @-@ 29
China (CN); Germany (DE)
International; Government; technology; politics; economy
The Chinese premier discussed plans for broad cooperation with Germany, an important trade partner, ahead of a visit to Europe.
Wen stated that the main purpose of the visit to Germany is to advance trade, economic and technological exchanges.
In an interview with Dieter Stolte on 29 April 2004 Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao stated that the Chinese and German governments should establish solid cooperation, enhance consultations on major international issues and further strengthen trade and technology exchanges.
Wen was interviewed by Die Welt before his imminent visit to Europe.
Starting on 02 May 2004 Wen schedules a visit to 5 European nations including Germany.
Wen stated that the Chinese people are familiar with Germany in particular because of the profound influence of Karl Marx on Germany's revolution and economic construction.
Wen stated that Germany is the country of many world renowned thinkers, writers, philosophers and artists.
Wen stated that Gottfried Leibnitz's forerun of classic German philosophy called Chinese confucian thought to have influenced the enlightenment movement in China in the 18 th century.
Wen stated that Wen will visit Germany to advance trade, economic and technology exchanges.
The Governments of China and Germany are expected to further increase cooperation in this regard.
Wen spoke of a brief visit to Frankfurt during a tour of northern nations in 1988 and stated that the friendship between China and Germany is sincere and fruitful and active.
Wen pledged to establish development goals for the Sino @-@ German relationship and stated that mutual trust constitutes the foundation of Sino @-@ German bilateral relations.
Wen stated that China's trade with Germany amounts to 41.8 billion U.S. dollars and totals 1 @/@ 3 of China's trade volume with Europe.
Wen stated that trade between China and Germany is expected to double between China and Europe in 2010.
Wen stated that the Chinese and German governments plan to cooperate closely in high @-@ tech research and development as well as in medium @- and small @-@ sized enterprises.
Wen stated that it is important to create channels to settle trade disputes between China and Germany and that China and Germany should address their concerns.
China is considered the most important trading partner in Europe.
Wen cited Germany as a place to support this state, where 600 of China's 7000 enterprises with international investments are located.
Wen stated that the Chinese government supports enterprises investing in Germany with loans, insurance, foreign exchange, financing and investment.
In this regard, Germany has invested much less in China than Germany has, since it only recently started investing in China.
Wen stated that German investment projects in China exceed 3,500 and the total investment is near 10 billion U.S. dollars.
Some German firms such as Volkswagen, Siemens and Daimler @-@ Chrysler have a reputation for high quality and efficiency.
Wen stated that Chinese enterprises can progress and learn modern management through cooperation with German partners.
Wen stated that the countries are China's closest technology transfer partners in Europe.
Wen stated that China considers relations with the EU as a crucial part of China's diplomatic strategy and that China and Europe will develop a comprehensive scheme partnership in 2003.
Wen stated that Wen was optimistic that the EU would soon lift the arms embargo on China and give China economic and market status.
Wen stated that the arms embargo was an outdated result of the Cold War.
Wen stated that China is deeply concerned about the current situation in Iraq and has sympathy for the Iraqi people.
Wen stated that China and Europe have similar positions on the issue of Iraq reconstruction.
Wen stated that the United Nations should play a dominant role in the Iraq reconstruction process and that every country should participate.
Wen stated that China is willing to participate in the Iraq reconstruction process.
Wen stated that war is easy to win but peace is much more difficult.
Wen stated that Wen is deeply worried about the increasing tensions between Palestine and Israel and that the Chinese government hopes that the Palestinian @-@ Israeli dispute can be resolved through political negotiations so that the two countries can share land in peace.
Regarding the situation in Palestine and Israel, Wen stated that relevant UN resolutions must be implemented.
Wen stated that the Chinese government supports plans for peace in the Middle East and remains firm against violent retaliation.
When asked to comment on how to temper China's rapid @-@ growing economy and realize balanced growth, Wen stated that the Chinese economy is generally very healthy, it grows fast, corporate profits increase, agricultural production improves, foreign trade volumes expand, financial revenue and individual income grow rapidly.
The Chinese government has increased macro controls over the economy, employed all necessary administrative methods, restricted excessive construction of fixed assets, causing the prices of capital goods to rise and straining the supply of coal, electricity, oil and transport.
Wen stated that the Chinese government controls loans and land supplies and is advancing reforms of the systematic structural causes of the current economic problems.
Regarding the issue of social balance, Wen stated that the new Chinese leadership has begun to resolve problems of coordination between city and country development and different regions, and is focusing on the balance of economic growth and social progress, domestic construction and external work, development and respect for nature.
When asked to comment on German Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's promise to support the sale of nuclear fuel from Hanau to China, Wen stated that China and Germany will cooperate in this field to exclusively utilize peaceful nuclear energy with equality and mutual benefit.
2004 @-@ 09 @-@ 22
China (CN); Kyrgyzstan (KY)
International; Government; crime; dissent; terrorism
China and Kyrgyzstan pledge to jointly try to crack down on terrorism and other threats to regional and global security.
China and Kyrgyzstan agreed in a joint communique that terrorism, separatism and extremism still pose a major threat to regional security and stability.
On 22 September 2004 visiting Chinese premier Wen Jiabao and Kyrgyz premier Nikolai Tanayev signed a communique.
The communique said China and Kyrgyzstan will strengthen coordination and cooperation of relevant authorities in accordance with the Shanghai Convention on combating terrorism, separatism and extremism and the China @-@ Kyrgyzstan agreement on cooperation to combat terrorism, separatism and extremism.
The communique added that China and Kyrgyzstan would continue to adopt strong joint measures to fight all forms of terrorism to maintain peace and tranquillity in China and Kyrgyzstan and the whole region according to the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
China and Kyrgyzstan agreed that cracking down on eastern Turkistan's terrorist forces would be a major part of an international anti @-@ terrorism campaign.
The so @-@ called eastern Turkistan terrorist groups are comprised of a number of terrorist cells with seceding in mind.
The communique said China and Kyrgyzstan agreed to promote consultation and cooperation on issues of common concern according to the framework of the United Nations and other international organizations.
China and Kyrgyzstan said in a communique that peace, stability and a just and rational world political and economic order should be established on the basis of the UN Charter and the norms and principles of international law.
China and Kyrgyzstan also agreed that international disputes should be solved by peaceful means, that the United Nations should play a leading role in safeguarding peace and security in the world, and that efforts should be made to diversify development modes.
China and Kyrgyzstan further agreed in a communique that the purpose and principles of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization conform to reality and that the development trend and activities of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization are conducive to regional peace and stability.
The communique said China and Kyrgyzstan are willing to work together with other members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and take effective measures to fight terrorism, separatism, extremism, drug trafficking, illegal immigration and cross @-@ border crime.
The communique said China and Kyrgyzstan are also ready to expand their cooperation with other SCO members in economic and other fields, promote relations with other countries and international organizations, and strengthen the SCO's role in maintaining regional and global peace and development.
2004 @-@ 10 @-@ 09
Vietnam (VN); Germany (DE)
International; Government; technology; politics; economy; money; leader
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder attended a meeting with Vietnamese government leaders after the 5 th Asia @-@ European Meeting summit in Hanoi.
Officials from Germany and Vietnam signed 5 financial, technical and business cooperation documents totaling over 265 million dollars.
20041010 media reports stated that Vietnamese and German officials pledged to further relations in the fields of investment, trade and technology and to support each other at the United Nations.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder will attend the 5 th Asia @-@ European Meeting summit in Hanoi on 08 October 2004 and 9 October 2004.
During separate talks and meetings with Schroeder held on 041009 Vietnamese leaders stated that the Vietnamese government supports the German government's bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council and wants to strengthen relations between the two countries.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai stated that Schroeder's visit was important for Vietnam's relations with Germany and closer cooperation between the two continents.
Officials from Vietnam and Germany signed 5 financial, technical and business cooperation documents totaling over 265 million US dollars.
The document covers two stages of financial cooperation from 2003 to 2005, the purchase of 16 locomotives from Vietnam Railway Corporation and equipment for local cement plants.
At a meeting with Schroeder, Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong stated that the Vietnamese government would like to receive more technology transfer and experience from Germany and that Vietnam would develop in the industrialization process.
Schroeder stated that Vietnam is of great importance to German officials in an attempt to strengthen ties between the two countries.
The Government of Germany supports the Vietnamese government's bid for non @-@ permanent membership in the UN Security Council for the term 2008 @-@ 2009 and encourages small and medium @-@ sized Vietnamese enterprises to do business with Germany.
The German government offered the Vietnamese government official development assistance worth more than 480 million dollars from 1990 to 2003 primarily in the areas of poverty reduction, agricultural development, healthcare and economic reform.
Vietnam's trade volume with Germany rose 7.7% in 2003 to reach 1.4 billion dollars, of which 8.15 billion came from exports.
2004 @-@ 12 @-@ 19
Hong Kong (HK); China (CN)
technology; international
Hong Kong University will collaborate with mainland Chinese universities, businesses and the government sector to coordinate training programs and research centers to promote the commercialization and transfer of high technology research.
In 2004, Hong Kong's tertiary institutes made active contributions to improving Hong Kong's high technology research and development relations with mainland China.
Hong Kong University collaborates with mainland China's tertiary education, business and government sectors to direct training programs and research centers to promote research commercialization and technology transfer.
In June 2004 Hong Kong Polytechnic University joined the national scientific and technological university park of the Virtual University Park in Shenzhen, China, becoming Hong Kong's first tertiary institute to establish research centers and training facilities in mainland China.
Poon Chung @-@ kwong, President of PolyU, stated that the public and private sectors in Hong Kong are strengthening their connections with mainland China in various areas.
Poon stated that Hong Kong @-@ China cooperation facilitates more effective promotion by universities of technology transfer and development of human resources on the mainland, creating positive results for Hong Kong and China.
In June, the City University of Hong Kong and the University of Science and Technology of China in Anhui signed an agreement to jointly establish a high level joint research center in Suzhou.
The University of Science and Technology of China was established by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The agreement is based on the principle of mutually beneficial collaboration in which both universities complement each other's strengths through joint research projects, research student supervision and teaching, and administration of professional training opportunities.
The University partners with educational institutes and joins large @-@ scale high @-@ technology exchange programs in mainland China to enhance disciplined communication between mainland and Hong Kong.
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology demonstrated its latest research and development achievements at the sixth annual China Hi @-@ Tech Fair held in Shenzhen in October 2004.
HKUST will demonstrate more than 30 new technologies and products covering a wide range of technologies, including nanotechnology, multimedia, logistics, radio frequency identification technology, advanced manufacturing and biotechnology.
HKUST will also collaborate with prominent mainland manufacturers to develop high @-@ capacity lithium batteries based on nanomaterials.
This collaboration is the most recent in a series of successful technology transfer agreements reached by HKUST.
HKUST President Paul Ching @-@ Wu Chu stated --
HKUST increased funding for research on new technologies required by industry in the Pearl River Delta.
The University continues to leverage extensive relationships with international research institutions and multinational corporations to enhance the development of advanced technologies that can be immediately and practically applied in China.
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, September 1 st, by reporter Guojun Yang
At a meeting today at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse with Vice Premier and concurrent Minister of Thailand's Domestic Affairs Chavalit Yoncayu, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission Huaqing Liu said that it is of great importance for China to develop friendship with the Thai government, people, and the Thai Armed Forces, and especially economic and trade cooperation with Thailand.
Huaqing Liu said the Chinese and Thai people have a traditional friendship, and the relations between China and Thailand are also very friendly.
He said that this visit by Vice Premier Chavalit and other high @-@ level leaders from China and Thailand would benefit mutually to promote further development of relations and efficient cooperation between China and Thailand in all fields.
Chavalit said he was extremely happy to meet Vice Chairman Liu.
He said that in recent years, China's economic development has accelerated, and the Thai government and people feel extremely happy.
He said he agreed with Huaqing Liu's opinion that Thailand and China should further develop various forms of economic and trade cooperation.
(End)
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, September 1 st
At a news conference held this afternoon, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guofang Shen announced that on the invitation of President Zemin Jiang, Hungary's President Gentzs Aerpade will make a state visit to China on September 14 th - 17 th.
He also announced that Premier of the Gabon Republic Casymier Auye Muba will make a formal and friendly visit to China from 6 September to 11 September on the invitation of Premier of the State Council Peng Li.
On the invitation of Premier Peng Li of the State Council, John Malsela, premier and first vice @-@ president of the Tanzanian United Republic, will make an official visit to China from September 9 th to the 13 th of September.
(End)
Xinhua News Agency, Bishket, April 23 rd, by reporters Menjun Ju and Xiaoguang Hu
Today, the principles of concerned parties such as China and Kirghizia signed 6 documents here.
Premier Peng Li and Kirghizian President Akayev attended the signing ceremony.
The 6 documents include an agreement on loans by the Chinese people to the Kirghizian government, an agreement to form a combined Economy and Trade Committee by the Chinese and Kirghizian governments, a note exchange on the Chinese presentation of materials to Kirghizia, a cultural cooperation agreement between China and Kirghizia, a ratifying letter for an exchange of consul treaties and a cooperation agreement with China's Trade Promotion Council and Chamber of Industry and Commerce.
Kirghizia President Akayev and Premier Peng Li answered reporters' questions after the signing ceremony.
Akayev highly commended the results of the conference with Peng Li.
He expressed that this visit by Premier Peng Li would promote the peace, security and stability of Central Asia.
He felt that the document signed recently was very important to enforce good neighborhood relations and friendly cooperation between both countries.
Premier Peng Li said this visit would improve mutual friendship and understanding and set a good foundation for further cooperation between China and Kirghizia.
He expressed hope for the stability and development of Central Asia and for the continued improvement of people's living standards.
Peng Li hoped Kirghizian news media would relay Chinese greetings to Kirghizians.
(End)
Xinhua News Agency, Tokyo, September 1 st, by reporter Yiguo Yu
The Japanese delegation participating in the sixth Far East and South Pacific Region Handicapped Sports Meet will hold a grand swearing @-@ in ceremony in Tokyo this afternoon.
Japanese flags were hanged from the chairman's stage.
Sportsmen, coaches, doctors, nurses and delegation officials sat neatly below the stage.
The ceremony grounds were filled with an atmosphere of confidence and eagerness for progress.
Vice Minister of Japan's State Welfare Ministry Souyasen delivered a bolstering departure speech to the delegation.
Souya said the Far South Sports Meet being held in Beijing will be an international sporting meeting that will attract the world's attention and will have the largest scale to date.
He hoped that all athletes would fully demonstrate the strength and skills they have cultivated day by day, since athletes from various countries should honestly compete as Japanese competitors.
Souya emphasized that the Japanese delegation must use this opportunity of participating in the Beijing Far South Sports Meet to deepen friendships with athletes from various countries and to expand the scope of international friendly relations.
Souya handed over the delegation flag of the Japanese delegation to Banminyan, the delegation's head and director of the Tokyo Handicapped Integrated Sports Center.
With a tight, ordered, warm and serious swearing @-@ in ceremony, this reporter feels that the Japanese Handicapped Sports Team is well trained, disciplined, and possessive of fighting spirit.
The Japanese delegation flew to Beijing on the 2 nd.
After the closing ceremony of the Sports Meet, they will remain in Beijing for 2 days to carry out activities of interaction with relevant Chinese parties, visit and tour Beijing, and will return to Japan on the 13 th.
(End)
In the script broadcast today titled Mongolian handicapped athletes prepare for Far South Sports Meet, the Sports Association Chairman Lahagewasulen should be changed to Lahagewasu at the end of paragraph 3.
Xinhua News Agency, August 31 st
Xinhua News Agency, Seoul, August 31 st, by reporter Shuifu Tang
The Le Tian Cup Go competition between China and Korea started today in Fushan, Korea's second largest city.
In the first round of competition, the Chinese team defeated the relatively stronger Korean team 4 @-@ 3.
Both sides have 7 Go players competing today.
The Chinese team defeated the Korean team's Guibing Cui at level 9, Xiaoguang Liu at level 6, Hao Chang at level 6, Fengzhu Xu at level 8, and Dayuan Cao at level 8. The Chinese team defeated the Korean team's Guibing Cui at level 9, Xiaoguang Liu at level 9, Hao Chang at level 6, Fengzhu Xu at level 8, and Dayuan Cao at level 8.
Among the middle games, Xiaoguang Liu, Hao Chang and Weiping Nie won.
Dayuan Cao won with an advantage of 7.5 mu.
Korea's XunXuan Cao, 9 th level, defeated China's Jing Lui, 5 th level, Korea's Changhao Li, 7 th level, defeated China's Xiaocun Ma, 5 th level, and Korea's Changhe Liu, 6 th level, defeated China's Jianhong Wang, 5 th level.
Among the middle games, XunXuan Cao won.
Changhao Li won with an advantage of 6.5 mu and Changhe Liu with an advantage of 7.5 mu.
Chinese delegation leader Runan Wang presented that the Korean team is stronger overall speaking than the Chinese team when he received a telephone interview from the reporter.
But the Chinese team performed better today and won.
Today, the performance of our young competitor Hao Chang, who defeated the Korean team's Fengzhu Xu in the middle game, stood out especially.
Before, Fengzhu Xu has won many championships in international competitions.
Before, he had completely won 9 games against Chinese Go players.
The Chinese and Korean Go teams shifted to Seoul on September 1 st and competed for the second time at the Le Tian Hotel on the 2 nd.
If the Chinese and Korean teams draw 7 @-@ 7, the result of the competition between Weiping Nie of the Chinese team and XunXuan Cao of the Korean team will determine the final result according to the rules discussed and agreed upon by both sides.
This time the competition prize money will be 100000 United States dollars. The team that wins the competition will get 70000 United States dollars and the team that loses will get 30000 United States dollars.
(End)
Xinhua News Agency, Rome, September 1 st, by reporters Aiguo Yang and Changrui Huang
Preliminaries for the Seventh World Swimming Championship on the one @-@ meter diving board will be held here this morning.
Chinese competitors Lan Wei and Sheng Chen qualified for the semi @-@ finals.
With a preliminary total score of 355.35 points, Wei Lan of Guangdong, who is 26 years old this year, occupies the leading position.
Sheng Chen of Hubei with a total score of 342.60 points, who is 19 years old this year, is temporarily in the 6 th position.
German athlete Bao Lizuo with a score of 355.02 points, slightly lower than Wei Lan, was the temporary second place competitor.
The competitor from Zimbabwe, temporarily placed 3 rd, Si Aiwan, scored a total of 354.39 points.
After the competition, the chief coach of the Chinese diving team said to our agency reporters: "Sheng Chen is a little nervous today."
He also said our athletes are not very used to competing under strong sunlight.
They are mostly trained indoors at home.
Looks like we still need more outdoor training.
He felt there would be more new competitors from our country participating in this competition.
They still lack experience in international competition.
Preliminary competitions for women diving from a 10 @-@ meter platform will be held this afternoon.
In the competition, Mingxia Fu, who won the championship for our country in the Olympic Games, and Bin Chi, a competitor from Hebei, who won the championship in the World Cup, will participate.
(End)
Xinhua News Agency, Rome, September 1 st, by reporters Changrui Huang and Aiguo Yang
The performance of the female competitors of the Chinese diving team, Mingxia Fu and Bin Chi, in the first six rounds of preliminary competitions in diving on a 10 meter platform at the Seventh World Swimming Championships, which will be held here today, was ideal, and hopes of entering the heat were a sight.
During this reporter's dispatch in the first six rounds of competition, Mingxia Fu occupied the first position with a total point score of 339.12 and Bin Chi occupied the third position with a total point score of 290.19.
If it wasn't for the accident, it was already a sight for them to hope to enter the heat.
American competitor Richard occupied the second position.
Her performance was 303.00 points.
Lan Wei and Sheng Chen, who competed against us this morning, had already gained a heat right in the preliminary competition of men's diving from a one @-@ meter platform.
The preliminary women's water polo competition today resulted in the following: Hungary defeated Canada 13 @-@ 7, France defeated Brazil 10 @-@ 9, Australia defeated Germany 10 @-@ 8, Russia defeated the Netherlands 7 @-@ 6, United States defeated Kazakhstan 10 @-@ 5 and Italy defeated New Zealand 12 @-@ 2.
In total, 12 teams participated in the competition.
(End)