United Nations on Wednesday opened its first field office ahead of Southern Sudan's scheduled January referendum on independence

MUNDRI, Sudan The United Nations on Wednesday opened its first field office ahead of Southern Sudan’s scheduled January referendum on independence.The U.N. is expanding its presence across the vast, largely rural southern part of Sudan for the January vote, which is likely to lead to the breakup of Africa’s largest country. The world body is opening offices in each of the region’s 79 counties, some of which are accessible only by helicopter because of violence or heavy rain.

“The referendum is real,” David Gressly, the top U.N. official in Southern Sudan said at the opening of the first county referendum base in Mundri West County in Western Equatoria, the south’s lushest and greenest state. “Mechanics are starting to move forward and today is symbolic of that.”Dozens of U.N. offices are being built from scratch. Barbed wire, security lights, white tents, and a water tank are the main features of the bases, which are being constructed hastily given the quickly approaching vote.

With just over four months until the Jan. 9 referendum, concerns are rising that the vote could be delayed. Voter registration and other key preparations have not begun due to political deadlock between officials from the south and the Khartoum-based north.”Obviously there are a lot of decisions pending,” Gressly said. “But I think it would be wrong to do anything but move ahead.”During nationwide elections in April, the U.N. transported ballot boxes by air to remote areas of the south. U.N. staff also worked with election officials in southern state capitals to train polling staff.For the referendum vote, the U.N. will be supporting officials at the county level. Gressly sees this shift as a sign of the deeper investment the U.N. is making at the request of Sudanese leaders.

At the first office’s launch Wednesday, local officials and government authorities from Juba urged citizens to support the U.N.’s work in holding the referendum peacefully and on time.Officials from the south and north still haven’t agreed on where a north-south border will lie, nor have they decided how to share key resources such as the country’s oil wealth, most of which lies in the south.The south and north ended a more than two-decade civil war in 2005 with the signing of a peace accord that called for the south to hold a referendum on independence.(AP)

two bombs exploded at a Shi'ite procession in the Pakistani city of Lahore on Wednesday

At least two bombs exploded at a Shi’ite procession in the Pakistani city of Lahore on Wednesday, killing up to eight people and wounding 100, piling pressure on a government already overwhelmed by floods.Witnesses said a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of hundreds, after a lull in violence during the floods, the type of attack that Pakistani Taliban militants have claimed in the past.A Lahore local government official said up to eight people were killed in the explosions which came within 15 minutes of each other. There were reports of a third blast.Soon after the blasts, a mob set fire to a police station and several vehicles. People also beat policemen, witnesses said.The renewed violence came as millions of Pakistanis continued to struggle for food and water more than a month after the worst floods in the country’s history.

The floods have ravaged Pakistan’s economy, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said, with massive job losses and soaring inflation expected to hurt a nation whose stability is vital to the U.S. war against militancy.”The floods have inflicted damage to the economy which may, by some estimates, reach $43 billion, while affecting 30 percent of all agricultural land,” Gilani said briefing the cabinet.Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy, with cotton the main cash crop, and the sector is one of the biggest sources of employment.Facing the prospect of long-term economic pain, Pakistan hopes the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will soften the terms of an $11 billion loan. Pakistani and IMF officials are meeting in Washington to work out the impact of the floods.”This economic loss will translate into massive job losses affecting incomes of thousands of families, which may have serious social implications,” said Gilani, whose government was heavily criticized for its slow response to the catastrophe.

GRIM OUTLOOK

Many Pakistanis, who lost homes, families and livelihoods, are furious at the government for not doing enough to help them.The powerful military has taken charge of relief efforts, but Islamist charities, some linked to militant groups, have also stepped in, raising concerns they may exploit public anger.British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said it could take Pakistan years to recover, with threats from water-borne disease and opportunistic militants. “The danger always is that you get groups who have an ulterior motive who provide aid to try to curry favor,” he said after visiting an aid camp.

Pakistan is expected to register economic growth of just 2.5 percent because of the impact of flooding, the information minister said, trimming an earlier 4.5 percent target.The budget deficit is expected to climb to 6-7 percent of gross domestic product in the fiscal year 2010/2011, compared with an earlier forecast of 4.5 percent.Pakistan, a key U.S. regional ally, is also embroiled in a deadly battle with Islamist militants.Before the floods struck a vast swath of the country, the army said it had scored major gains against the Taliban.In two days of air raids starting on Tuesday, Pakistani forces killed up to 62 militants, their family members and other civilians with no ties to the fighters, officials said. Such strikes have undermined public support for the army.Washington has repeatedly urged Pakistan to go after militant sanctuaries in the northwest saying these have helped boost the Afghan insurgency, now at its deadliest.(Reuters)

Amnesty International Urges Bosnia Reject Prohibition Burka

Amnesty International urged the parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to reject the proposed ban on wearing clothes that impede the introduction of the identity of the user, including a veil that covers the entire body.Amnesty says the law violates human rights of women who choose to show the religious, cultural or personal belief. Amnesty also says the headscarf ban can thus forcing some women to stay in the house and withdraw from life in general.

Proponents of the ban say the law aims to address security issues.A bill that prohibits the hijab entire body was about to put on a fine 63 dollars or one week in jail for anyone caught wearing clothes in the middle of the forbidden public.Amnesty also has opposed the proposal Burka ban in other European countries including France and Belgium.

Threats keep dolphin protest out of Japan village

TOKYO The star of “The Cove,” an Oscar winning documentary about a Japanese dolphin hunt, is back in Japan to protest the slaughter but had to cancel his trip to the village at the center of the controversy because of threats from an ultranationalist group.Instead, Ric O’Barry, the former dolphin-trainer for the 1960s “Flipper” TV show, is playing host to a reception Wednesday for some 100 animal-lovers at a Tokyo hotel.On Thursday, he will take a petition signed by 1.7 million people from 155 nations demanding the end of the dolphin hunt to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, escorted by police security.

The 70-year-old had initially planned to take the petition to the Japanese Fisheries Ministry. That was also canceled on advice from Japanese police.”I wish all these people could be in Taiji,” the small coastal village highlighted in the documentary, O’Barry told The Associated Press. “It was too dangerous. The big losers are the people of Taiji.”Taiji, which has a population of 3,500 people, defends the dolphin-killing as tradition and a livelihood. In the past, some of the captured dolphins have been sold to aquariums. Others are eaten as meat.

“The Cove,” which won this year’s Academy Award for best documentary, depicts a handful of fishermen from Taiji who herd a flock of dolphins into a cove and stab them to death, turning the waters red with blood.The Taiji dolphin hunt begins every year on Sept. 1, and a fishing group has confirmed that the hunt is on this year, although boats returned empty Wednesday.O’Barry and other conservationists have made trips before to the village around the beginning of the hunt to express their opposition to what they say is a cruel slaying of animals that are as intelligent as human beings.

His trip last year – covered by the AP – is being shown on the “Animal Planet” TV series in the U.S. starting this month. There are no plans to show the series in Japan.The message of “The Cove” has drawn support from nature-lovers around the world, including celebrities such as Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox and Robin Williams.

The Japanese government allows a hunt of about 20,000 dolphins a year, and it argues that killing them – and also whales – is no different from raising cows or pigs for slaughter.But conservationists disagree. Groups such as the U.S.-based Sea Shepherd have dogged the Japanese whale hunt – which the government allows for academic research but from which the meat is also sold – chasing whaling vessels in an effort to impede their operations.

O’Barry had initially planned outdoor rock-festival-like festivities in Taiji this year, bringing along movie stars who support him. But he can barely step out of his hotel room because of the threats, he said.”The Cove” opened in some Japanese theaters in June. Earlier, some screenings were canceled after getting a flood of angry phone calls and threats by far-right nationalists, who oppose the film as a denigration of Japanese culture.

Protesters have shown up at the distributor’s office in downtown Tokyo, shouting slogans. But many Japanese have never eaten dolphin or whale meat, and are horrified by the butchering of dolphins in “The Cove.””The documentary was shocking for Japanese,” said Akihiro Orihara, 40, who runs vegetarian restaurants in Tokyo and attended O’Barry’s reception. “We need information to be able to make our decision.”O’Barry said he has not given up and plans to be back every year.”Cruelty shouldn’t be the tradition or culture of any nation,” he said. (AP)

The attack on Hutu Rwandan Genocide Could Considered

Johannesburg – A draft report from the UN reveal that if the army of Rwanda and its Congolese rebel groups who become allies, considered to have been a massacre of Hutu refugees in Congo Tribe.Events that took place during the 1990s can be regarded as an act of Genocide.Hearing this accusation, the President of Rwanda Paul Kagame threatened to withdraw their forces joined in the UN peacekeeping forces if such allegations are issued.

Approximately one million ethnic Hutus, including residents who survived the events of the Rwandan Genocide in 1994 to flee to Congo. But the country’s military continues to hunt them down and slaughtered thousands of them in refugee camps built the United Nations. Thus the Associated Press reported on Friday (27/08/2010).Draft report released by UN Human Rights Council states, systematic attacks that took place at the same time spreading out may be causing the deaths of tens of thousands of Hutus.They were killed by various military units deployed by the Rwanda.(AP)

British Airways (BA) strike affected the work of the crew. Thousands of BA cabin crew today began a strike which will last three days

London – British Airlines, British Airways (BA) strike affected the work of the crew. Thousands of BA cabin crew today began a strike which will last three days. The strike is to protest the planned reduction of operational costs that BA will have an impact on worker wages. BA plans to save the previous spending of £ 62.5 million to overcome the negative impacts that arise because of declining passenger, fuel price fluctuations and competition with other airlines. More than 1,000 BA flights will have a three-day cancellation of the strike. Strike was carried out after negotiations between the leadership of the UK’s largest trade union, Unite, Tony Woodley with BA chief executive Willie Walsh at a stalemate. “With great disappointment I have to say that all negotiations had failed,” said Woodley told reporters as quoted by AFP news agency on Saturday (20/3/2010).

“This company (BA) did not want to negotiate, these companies only want to fight with my members,” Woodley added. Total flight BA 1100 from approximately 1950 scheduled flights during the strike will be canceled. BA was determined to keep flying at least 60 percent of passengers who rely on the staff did not join the strike. BA also will use 22 aircraft with the pilot and crew of eight other European airlines. Prime Minister (PM) United Kingdom Gordon Brown called on BA management and the workers to return to talks as soon as possible.