NEW
PALESTINIAN PRIME MINISTER SAYS ARAFAT IS STILL IN CHARGE
May
22, 2003 ABC News
reports: "New Palestinian
Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas said President Yasser Arafat remained in charge
despite a U.S. and Israeli refusal
to deal
with him, and said his stamp of approval
should precede any political
action.
'Arafat
is at the top of the (Palestinian)
Authority. He's the man to whom we refer, regardless of the American or Israeli
view of him,' Abbas, also
known as Abu Mazen, said in an interview with Egypt's semi-official
al
Mussawar weekly.
'For
us, Abu Ammar is the president elected by the Palestinian
people and he is the chairman of the whole Palestinian
Authority. We do not do anything without his approval,'
Abbas said, referring to Arafat by his nom de guerre.
After
a power struggle with Arafat, Abbas came to power last month amid intense U.S.
pressure for Palestinian
reforms. Washington accuses Arafat of doing too little to rein in militants.
'I
will not allow
any serious differences between Arafat and me,' Abbas told
al
Mussawar's editor-in-chief Makram Mohamed Ahmed in Gaza. 'There may be
day-to-day differences...But there will be no serious problems that lead to
'divorce'.'
Abbas
reiterated his backing and respect for Arafat, who symbolizes the struggle for
independence for most Palestinians
and Arabs. The prime minister said he would not travel abroad until the
president was also
allowed
full freedom of movement…"
WARNING
OVER NEW KILLER DISEASES
May
22, 2003 BBC
News reports: "Global
health
chiefs have urged countries around the world to be on
alert
for new killer diseases. The World Health
Organization has warned that new diseases could spread in the wake of the
deadly SARS virus. Officials
have urged governments to work more closely together to try to deal
with the threat.
The
call
was made at the WHO's annual
assembly of its 192 member states in Geneva on Monday. Dr David Heymann, head of its communicable
diseases unit, suggested fresh outbreaks of deadly viruses were
almost
inevitable.
'There
will be more outbreaks like SARS, there's bound to be more,' he told journalists.
He said the biggest threat would be an outbreak of a deadly strain of
influenza. 'The big concern is influenza,' he said.
The
last flu pandemic in 1919 claimed 40 million lives across the globe. SARS has so far claimed over 600 lives and
has infected nearly 8,000 cases, mainly in Asia…"
CANADA
SENDS SHOCK WAVE WITH MAD COW CASE
May
21, 2003 The
Washington Post reports:
"Canada reported its first case of mad cow disease in a decade on Tuesday,
a potentially
devastating revelation for the country's huge beef industry just weeks after
its economy was damaged by the SARS threat.
A
cow in Alberta, Canada's top cattle-producing province, tested positive for
brain-wasting bovine spongiform encephalopathy,
or mad cow disease, in a test taken after it was slaughtered last winter,
officials
said.
'It
was (detected) just a few days ago. The actual
test was taken Jan. 31 from a cow in Fairview, Alberta,' an official
with the Canadian Beef Export Federation said. 'It's just one isolated case of
an eight-year-old cow.'
Canada's
only other case was in 1993, but the animal
was imported from Britain, where the disease caused a crisis and sparked a U.S.
ban on British beef imports. Its carcass was destroyed, as was its herd.
The
animal
with the latest case 'did not enter the food chain' and its northern Alberta
herd will be slaughtered, as will any other found to be affected, Canadian
Agriculture Minister Lyle Vanclief told a nationally
televised news conference in the Alberta capital
of Edmonton.
Still,
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman quickly slapped a temporary ban on beef
imports from Canada because of
the
case…"
SOUTH
KOREA TURNING TOUGH ON NORTH KOREA
May
21, 2003 The
Associated Press reports:
"South Korea, an advocate of restraint since the North Korean nuclear
crisis erupted in October, is running out of patience with its communist
neighbor. One week after meeting
President Bush, South Korean leader Roh Moo-hyun still backs engagement with
the North and says war must be avoided at all
costs.
But
South Korean officials
are now talking
tougher, if not with the same vigor as their American
allies.
The South Koreans acknowledge, albeit
vaguely, that means other than engagement might be needed to deal
with the North and its suspected development of nuclear weapons.
U.S.
officials
are considering economic containment as one possibility if dialogue
doesn't work, and they haven't ruled out the military option.
South
Korean frustration was apparent at economic meetings in Pyongyang Wednesday
after North Korea warned of 'unspeakable disaster' if the South confronts the
communist state over its nuclear development.
'We
should not respond emotionally
to North Korea's strong remarks, but we should not cling to talks
with North Korea while throwing away our pride,' said Kim Gwang-lim, South
Korea's chief delegate.
Another
meeting was not scheduled following the North Korean threat Tuesday, and the
South Koreans planned to head home on Thursday…"
EU
PEACEKEEPING FORCE READY
May
20, 2003 The
Age.com.au reports: "European Union
defense ministers declared their new, 60,000-strong rapid-reaction force ready
for a 'full range' of peacekeeping operations, but conceded that hardware
shortfalls
will make it hard to send and protect the troops.
Gaps
in Europe's military arsenal
'limited and constrained' the force's ability to deploy quickly, defend itself
if a conflict intensifies or handle more than one mission simultaneously, the
ministers said in a statement.
Meeting
in Brussels, they pledged to intensify efforts to acquire new equipment ranging
from transport planes and air-to-air refueling to precision weapons and
protection against germ warfare or poison gas attacks.
'A
lot more remains to be done,' said Javier Solana, the EU's foreign and security
policy representative. 'It needs to be done as a matter of urgency.'
The
force is the centerpiece of the EU's plans launched four years ago to develop a
military wing to tackle peacekeeping, humanitarian operations and regional
crises, like those that tore the Balkans
apart in the 1990s.
Progress
on the reaction force puts the EU on track to make good on an offer to take
over NATO's 17,000-strong peacekeeping mission in Bosnia at the start of 2004.
EU
officials
also
stressed the advances in defense cooperation, despite deep divisions within the
bloc over the Iraq war and plans backed by France and Germany to create a
separate European military headquarters, which have been rejected by most other
EU nations as a threat to NATO unity…"
OVER
1000 DEAD IN ALGERIAN EARTHQUAKE
May 22, 2003 Reuters reported, “The death toll from
Wednesday's earthquake around Algiers now stands at 1,092 with a further 6,782
people injured, Algerian state radio quoted Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid
Zerhouni as saying Thursday. Zerhouni also
said this was a preliminary figure.
The
number of known casualties
has risen steadily since the tremor struck Wednesday evening and the fate of
some people buried under shattered buildings is still not known.
Compiled by L. Jim
Tuck, Pastor
ljtuc@msn.com
UCGIA, Oakland, San Jose, Stockton, & Santa Rosa, California
