'Thousands dead' in Chinese quake

BBC News

Between 3,000 and 5,000 people may have been killed by an earthquake measuring 7.8 in just one county of south-western China's Sichuan province, reports say.

Some 10,000 people are also feared to have been injured in Beichuan county.

Desperate efforts are under way to find survivors. One school that collapsed has buried an estimated 900 students.

President Hu Jintao has urged "all-out" efforts to rescue victims of the quake, which hit 92km (57 miles) from Chengdu, Sichuan's provincial capital.

Cries for help

There are harrowing reports from the scene of the school collapse in Dujiangyan city - about 100km (60 miles) from the epicentre.

Teenagers buried beneath the rubble of the three-storey Juyuan Middle School building were struggling to break free, while others were crying out for help, state news agency Xinhua reported.

Parents were watching as cranes excavated the site. Villagers rushed to help with the rescue.

Two girls said they escaped because they had "run faster than others".

Dozens of aftershocks have been reported since the quake, which was the strongest to hit Sichuan province in more than 30 years, Xinhua reports.

State television said the quake had not caused major damage to Chengdu, which has a population of more than 10 million people, or to the nearby Three Gorges Dam.

Troops and helicopters have been sent to the stricken area to help with relief work.

The BBC's Quentin Somerville says the Chinese army has a good record of mobilising and getting people to safety.

He also says news is coming through very fast from the affected area - it is one of the most open and speedy responses to an emergency he has ever seen from Chinese state media.

The quake was felt as far away as Beijing, he says, meaning millions of people will feel connected to the disaster and will be watching TV screens closely to see how the government responds.

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UN wants RI to lead Myanmar relief efforts

The Jakarta Post, Abdul Khalik and Lilian Budianto 

With the United States and other Western countries denied access to cyclone-ravaged Myanmar, the UN is asking Indonesia to take the lead in the region to help the reclusive country cope with the disaster. 

Indonesia could draw on its experience with the 2004 tsunami in Aceh to help Myanmar handle the disaster, UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) executive director Noeleen Heyzer said. 

"Indonesia did amazing work in responding to the tsunami in Aceh and has become a leader in effective natural disaster response. Therefore, I would like ESCAP to facilitate a strong Indonesian role in Myanmar," she told The Jakarta Post on Friday. 

About 150,000 people were killed when an earthquake-caused tsunami struck Aceh and Nias in December 2004. 

The cyclone that swept through Myanmar last weekend has left more than 100,000 dead, according to local and foreign observers in the military-run country. 

Heyzer, who is also a UN under-secretary-general, said Myanmar needed considerable advice on coordinating a response the way Indonesia did for the tsunami. 

"The tsunami was a dreadful disaster, but there was no further disaster from the spread of disease. People had water and food, and a good health system and sanitation. And there was a coordinated response of foreign aid from across the world," she said. 

Heyzer said she was seeking to bring Indonesia and ASEAN on board to work together with ESCAP in a regional cooperation framework to push the Myanmar junta to allow in more foreign aid. 

"I am preparing to go to Myanmar to show my sympathy at this time and hopefully to talk with leaders there. I think it's time to bring in friends to provide the quickest and the most effective response for the people of Myanmar in this particular situation," she said. 

Indonesia sent Myanmar relief aid Thursday worth US$1 million. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono sent a letter to Myanmar military junta leader Sr. Gen. Tan Shwe to convey his and Indonesia's condolences and sympathy over the cyclone. 

Presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said Yudhoyono's letter shared Indonesia's experiences in handling the tsunami. 

Presidential advisor on foreign policy Ali Alatas told the Post the letter also discussed Indonesia's experiences in managing foreign aid. 

A military and international relations expert with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Kusnanto Anggoro, similarly urged Indonesia to use its good relationship with Myanmar to persuade the country to receive immediate international aid to avoid making the humanitarian disaster worse. 

"This is a golden opportunity for Indonesia to play a greater role in Myanmar by forming a bridge between the West and the military junta, and to show them how Indonesia received foreign aid without compromising its sovereignty," he told the Post. 

As of Friday, the military junta was still rejecting relief aid from the United States and European countries and was refusing to grant visas to Western humanitarian workers. 

The United States and France have threatened to use force to intervene in the reclusive country for humanitarian reasons.

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Images of Aceh Earthquake 9.2 /Tsunami Disaster December 2004

Myanmar death toll 'nears 4,000'

YANGON, Myanmar (CNN) -- Almost 4,000 people have died and another 3,000 remain missing in Myanmar as a result of this weekend's devastating cyclone, state media reported Monday.

The soaring death toll was announced as the reclusive southeast Asian country's ruling military junta issued a rare appeal for international assistance in the face of an escalating humanitarian crisis.

The Associated Press reported that resident ambassadors had been summoned to a foreign ministry meeting after a state of emergency was declared across much of the country following the 10-hour storm that left swathes of devastation in its wake. 

The government of neghboring Thailand said Myanmar's leaders had already requested food, medical supplies and construction equipment, AP reported. The first plane-load of supplies was due to arrive Tuesday, a Thai spokesman said. 

Scenes of the destruction showed flooding, roofs ripped off buildings, uprooted trees and downed power lines after cyclone Nargis battered the Irrawaddy delta throughout Friday night and Saturday morning. 

"After about noon, the sky cleared and everybody came out and were just stunned," said Shari Villarosa, U.S. Charge D' Affaires in Yangon. "People on my compound who had been there for about 15 years say they had not seen anything like this here, ever." 

Residents of Yangon trudged through knee-deep swirling brown waters Monday as the delta city remained mostly without electricity and phone connections 

A spokesman for the Red Cross said the emergency aid group was working with its Myanmar agency to provide drinking water, temporary shelters and blankets and warned that urgent action was needed to limit outbreaks of disease. 

"I think one of the biggest needs right now is to stave off disease," said spokesman Eric Porterfield. "We will be helping with the distribution of clean drinking water and setting up shelters." 

Relief agencies met at the United Nations' Bangkok headquarters Monday to coordinate their response to the disaster. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it had released 200,000 Swiss Francs (about $190,000) to help with the aftermath. 

The U.S. aid group World Vision also said it had responded to a government request for assistance. 

"The biggest need is getting water for the two million affected people," World Vision spokesman Casey Calamusa told CNN, adding that it was rare for the government to ask for help. The ruling junta under sharp criticism from many nations for using force to suppress pro-democracy protests last year.   

"Most Burmese with whom we've been in touch report they lost their roofs, although so far everyone we have been able to contact reports that they and their families are safe," said a Yangon-based diplomat who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. 

Earlier Monday, an editor for an independent Myanmar newspaper based in Thailand told CNN that people in the Southeast Asian nation were angry over the response to the disaster by the ruling military junta. 

"People are very angry with the slow response coming from the military government," said Aung Zaw of Irrawaddy news magazine. 

Zaw said communication was down across large areas of the country. He also said the casualty figures could rise. 

"Very few people have access to these areas to estimate damage and how many people have been killed."  

Khin Maung Win, a spokesman for the Democratic Voice of Burma -- a broadcast media group run by opposition expatriates -- said the whole of the delta region had been affected and entire villages had disappeared. 

Pictures from inside the country showed a cyclone-ravaged region with tin huts crushed under trees. Bicyclists navigated around large branches that littered the deserted roads. 

A man with his pant legs rolled up waded through knee-deep water and strained to clear massive limbs that were blocking the entrance to a house. 

"The cleanup is beginning, but this will take a long time," the diplomat said. "The damage around town is intense."   

"Fuel is not easily available. International emergency assistance would be needed within seven days. There is no food for eating," Win said. 

Food prices -- already rising steeply -- climbed further. Long lines could be seen at gas stations in Yangon. Many of the stations were operating on generators. At one gas station more than 100 buses lined up to refill. 

"International emergency assistance would be needed within seven days," the diplomat said. 

Despite widespread damage, Myanmar's junta plans to proceed with a referendum on the country's constitution on May 10 -- the fourth step of a "seven-step road map to democracy" -- according to state-run media reports. 

Cyclone overshadows Myanmar referendum - Voting began in Hlegu near Yangon and other parts of cyclone-ravaged Mayanmar Saturday on a referendum for a controversial constitution -- but the balloting was delayed for two weeks in the hardest hit areas, including the capital. CNN - full story

The government has said elections would be held in 2010 to choose a representative government to replace the military junta. 

An official at the Myanmar consulate in Canberra, Australia, said she believed the referendum would go on as scheduled. "We haven't had contrary information," she said. 

But the announcement was met with skepticism from pro-democracy opposition leaders. 

"It looks as though it would be impossible to have a referendum on Saturday in those areas," Larry Jagan, a freelance journalist who has covered Myanmar affairs for many years, told CNN. 

"The question is, will the regime decide to postpone the referendum in those particular areas, and hold it in other parts of the country?. Or will they go ahead and hold it anyway, and do the best they can?" 

Myanmar last held multi-party elections in 1990, when Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy handily won. The military junta ignored the results. Suu Kyi, who is currently under house arrest, has been in detention without trial for more than 12 of the past 18 years.

RI is "environmental superpower": US envoy

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - In observance of Earth Day, US Ambassador to Indonesia Cameron R. Hume has written an article titled "Indonesia: Environmental Superpower". Following is his article sent to ANTARA on Tuesday:

Anyone who happened to go by the U.S. Embassy over the past few days might have noticed changes. On Saturday, a group of Indonesian children helped put the finishing touches on seven different murals depicting some of the flora and fauna of Indonesia. I am proud to have their paintings displayed outside the Embassy, and glad to see that they are thinking of the environment at a young age. Today is Earth Day, and it is important to take stock of what we are doing to protect these children`s future environment.

Indonesia was a fitting host for the recent UN Climate Change Conference in Bali, in part because its rich biodiversity and natural resources are unsurpassed. Indonesia possesses the highest marine biodiversity on the planet, and one of the largest and most biodiverse tropical forests in the world.

Indonesia is an environmental "superpower," and a natural leader in global efforts to protect the environment. Yet the country faces tremendous challenges to ensure that the next generation will inherit these vast environmental riches. Indonesia is the world`s third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, due mainly to large-scale deforestation. Illegal logging is widespread. Energy needs and emissions from power generation and transportation are rising fast. The destruction of coral reefs, overfishing, and other unsustainable practices threaten the livelihoods and welfare of tens of millions of Indonesians who depend on the ocean`s resources, as well as irreparable damage to Indonesia`s unique ecosystems.

Indonesia is taking steps to face these challenges. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the Government of Indonesia are cracking down on illegal logging and taking action to improve forest governance. They are in the process of implementing a new timber legality standard that will constrict trade in illegally harvested timber.

They have launched a National Climate Change Action Plan and a National Action Plan for the Orangutan Protection. Recognizing the importance of coral reefs and threats to their sustainability due to climate change and unsustainable exploitation, President Yudhoyono also launched the regional Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) during the Bali conference. Fittingly, 2008 is the International Year of the Reef.

Much work remains. Protecting our planet is a long-term, cooperative endeavor. The United States can be Indonesia`s "super-partner", and President Yudhoyono has invited increased U.S. environmental partnership. We already collaborate on anti-illegal logging activities, and support the Heart of Borneo Initiative to protect the forest habitat in Kalimantan. We work together to protect endangered orangutans. Our two governments are negotiating a large fund to conserve tropical forests, under the Tropical Forest Conservation Act. We already fund marine programs in Indonesia and the region, and have pledged initial support of over $4 million to the Coral Triangle Initiative.

Indonesia needs electricity to grow, but it should use clean-coal and renewable energy technologies to meet its rapidly increasing energy needs. Indonesia can retrofit existing "dirty" electricity-generating coal plants, build new, cleaner ones, and harness Indonesia`s potential 27,000 megawatt geothermal capacity. The Clean Technology Fund that President Bush announced last year, and which the United States is developing in cooperation with the World Bank, Japan, the United Kingdom, and other partners, has the potential to be an important tool in dealing with the clean energy challenge.

Working together, we can protect rainforests, conserve biodiversity, avoid the collapse of global fisheries, and combat climate change. The challenges are great, but our cooperation shows great promise for the future

On this Earth Day, let us remind ourselves that we are all connected. How Indonesia and the U.S. treat their forests and oceans will affect the rest of the world, and all of our children`s futures

.

Carter outlines Hamas' terms for peace deal

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Former President Jimmy Carter said Monday that Hamas is prepared to accept peace with Israel if the Palestinians approve any agreement negotiated with Israel.

Former President Jimmy Carter, above, held meetings with exiled militant Hamas leader Khalid Meshaal.

Carter's comments came after controversial meetings Friday and Saturday in Damascus, Syria, with exiled militant Hamas leader Khalid Meshaal.

"If President (Mahmoud) Abbas of the Palestinians and Prime Minister (Ehud) Olmert reach an agreement for peace, and if it is submitted to the Palestinians and the Palestinians approve it... Hamas will accept it," Carter said in a Monday interview with CNN.

Carter's series of meetings with top Hamas officials this past week have drawn condemnation from the U.S. and Israeli governments for engaging in diplomacy with a group they consider a terrorist organization.

Carter's tour of the Middle East has also included a meeting in Cairo with two senior Hamas politicians before his meetings with Meshaal.

"I'm not a negotiator, I'm just trying to understand different opinions and communicate, provide communications between people that won't communicate with each other," Carter said Tuesday at the beginning of his trip.

Most Israeli officials have refused to meet Carter during his trip, angry over his insistence that Israel should talk to Hamas. Many Israelis dislike Carter's observations about Israeli policies toward Palestinians in his recent book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid."

U.S. and Israeli officials believe Carter's meetings with Hamas will achieve little, and could actually harm the Middle East peace process.

"Regrettably, Hamas will try to take political advantage of this," Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch told CNN on Friday. However, he added, "I think President Carter's sincere, this man worked hard on peace."

Later Friday, at a State Department briefing in Washington, spokesman Sean McCormack said, "I don't think people are going to confuse the efforts of a private citizen ... with the very clear policies of the United States government."

"We think it is not useful for people to be running to Hamas at this point and having meetings with Hamas," said U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley.

For the Israelis, a military solution is an elusive one -- but reaching out to Hamas, Israel insists, will not bring peace.

"Hamas is conducting war against the citizens of Israel," said Ron Prosor, Israel's ambassador to Britain. "What do you say to people who say: 'Why don't you talk, try and talk, and not to shoot'? It sounds very good but the question is, at what stage do you do that?"

And McCormack said Friday: "We find it very odd that one would encourage to have a conversation between the Israeli government and Hamas, which doesn't even recognize the right of the Israeli government to exist. So how can you have -- is that really the basis of a conversation?"

Carter, the man who helped broker the historic peace agreement between Egypt and Israel in the late 1970s, has said he's simply on a "study mission" to support peace, democracy, and human rights in the region.

"It's my dream and my hope, that someday in my lifetime, hopefully this year, we'll see a major breakthrough," Carter said.

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Longer queues for free food in wealthy Singapore: charities

Singapore (ANTARA News) - Rising food prices are driving more people in Singapore, the wealthiest economy in Southeast Asia, to join the queue for free meals, charities said Monday.

Thirty percent more people are turning up daily to fill their stomachs at the Singapore Buddhist Lodge, which serves free vegetarian meals, the temple's president Lee Bock Guan said.

During weekends the figures are even higher, when about 5,000 people arrive for the free food compared to 3,000 three months ago, he told AFP.

"Food prices have gone up and for them, their wages have not gone up as much," he said, adding the needy are coming from all walks of life.

"Their income is not enough to cope with the higher food prices."

Lee said donations from some of the temple's wealthiest members are still strong, allowing it to handle the rising demand.

The Care Corner Seniors Activity Centre, which serves free breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea, said inflation has led 10 percent more elderly citizens to turn up for meals, compared with two months ago.

Some of them have started to take more food at lunch and bring the extra home for their dinner, said a centre worker who declined to be named.

The Young Women's Christian Association, which cooks meals and delivers them to the needy, said it is operating at peak capacity serving 200 people each day -- despite a drop in rice donations.

 

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'The best job I have ever had in my life'

KAOLACK, Senegal (CNN) -- After the sudden death of her 26-year-old daughter left five grandchildren in her care, Viola Vaughn searched for peace.

More than 1,500 girls are involved in Viola Vaughn's program in six locations; about 1,000 are waiting to join. 

More than 1,500 girls are involved in Viola Vaughn's program in six locations; about 1,000 are waiting to join.

Though she was a native of Detroit, Michigan, Vaughn had worked in Africa for most of her life and considered it home. So she and her husband returned there to raise their new brood and "watch the coconut trees grow." 

"But the universe had other things in mind for me," says Vaughn. 

She couldn't have imagined those plans would include both further tragedy and the motivation to provide educational opportunities to hundreds of failing schoolchildren. 

Soon after their move to rural Kaolack, Senegal, in 2000, Vaughn's husband -- jazz musician Sam Sanders -- died of black lung. Amid her grief, she found comfort in her grandchildren, ages 4 to 12, and filled her days home-schooling them. Her success soon garnered attention from the locals. 

"There was a little girl that my granddaughter played with. This little girl kept coming around and wanting to be taught with my grandchildren," recalls Vaughn. 

"I went to see this child's mother, and her mother said she had already failed school once, that she couldn't pass because she wasn't smart enough. Well she was smart enough to come find me. And I said, 'OK, I'll help you.' " 

Within two weeks, Vaughn had 20 girls in her house who were failing school and asking her to teach them. 

Vaughn learned that the regional pass rate for girls was low because it was rooted in the economic need of young girls to work at home. They begin missing classes, then failing exams, often ultimately failing or dropping out of school. 

Video - Vaughn tell the story of how one little girl sparked 10,000 » 

So in 2001, Vaughn turned her grandchildren's bedrooms into classrooms and began supplementing girls' education. 

"I found every one a girl younger than she and said, 'You're responsible to make sure she learns.' I taught them how to teach each other." 

It worked. In two years, the group of girls had grown to 80 -- and they were succeeding in school. With a grant, Vaughn was able to hire teachers, and the program continued to expand despite her attempt to set a limit of 100 girls. 

"The girls wanted to take it to 10,000," says Vaughn. 

To keep their "10,000 Girls" education program going, the girls asked Vaughn to teach them to bake. They began selling cookies and juice and were able to buy books and supplies. 

Soon after, they got their older sisters, aunts and cousins -- who had already failed out of the school system -- involved in baking and selling goods. The entrepreneurial element of the program was born. 

Video - Vaughn describe her "10,000 Girls" program » 

"They were supporting their cause," says Vaughn. "It was something remarkable." 

Today, in addition to a pastry shop and catering business, "10,000 Girls" runs a sewing workshop and the girls export their handmade dolls and household linens overseas. 

Half of the funds from these projects go back to the girls; the remainder supports the education program, no longer in Vaughn's house. 

Video - Vaughn explain how the unique dolls are sewn in the workshop » 

More than 1,500 girls are involved in Vaughn's program in six locations; about 1,000 are waiting to join. 

"We have girls who were told they'd never get through high school who are at university now," beams Vaughn. "We hope that if we get 10,000 girls out there, 1,000 girls will come back to Kaolack and work. It would revolutionize the whole region. 

"Here I am, retired, and this is the best job I have ever had in my life."

Gates: Businesses need to embrace the poor

Cnet News.com, Ina Fried

MIAMI--In two separate speeches on Friday, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates made the case that businesses need to see serving the poor as part of their mission and that governments need to see private businesses as potential partners.

One of the big topics for both audiences was the notion of microfinance--improving the access to credit and banking to the poor.

"The idea of how they create loans for the poorest is part of it," he said at the Government Leaders Forum. But although today microfinance has focused on loans, there is more to it. "We need to get savings and even some insurance products."

Gates talked about how technology can play a role, noting that when payment is tied to the cell phone, it offers the potential for lower interest rates.

In every industry, Gates said, businesses need to start thinking about how they can use some of their energy and resources, say 6 percent, to expand their reach to poorer segments either in their own country, or globally. Food companies need to focus on micronutrients, while drug companies should devote some energy to diseases that affect largely the poor, such as malaria and tuberculosis.

Already, he said, there are examples of companies in each industry doing this.

"Cell phone companies, banks, energy companies, technology companies, food companies, we have a lot of good examples in each of those industries," he said at the Inter-American Development Bank meeting.

But while there are a few leaders who are onboard, Gates acknowledged that his notion of creative capitalism has not been uniformly embraced. "Many of the companies are skeptical," he noted. "As we have examples of success we can overcome that."

Education was another key topic, with one questioner at the Government Leaders Forum asking Gates about whether computer labs or one-to-one computing projects are the way to go.

"The costs of moving to a one computer per child are fairly high and yet in the long term that's what we recommend," Gates said. With computer labs, Gates said, the most enthusiastic students tend to gravitate to the machines, monopolizing their use, while students who need the practice the most fall behind and never catch up.

He noted that many countries have already set up pilot programs, with one region in Spain providing laptops to 10,000 students. At the same time, he said such projects require years of planning

He also talked up the potential of one of his favorite technologies--the Tablet PC.

"Today that machine is something like a $1,000 machine," he said. "Over the next three or four years that will become a $400 machine."

He noted that his daughter uses one instead of textbooks at her school, and can forward her homework to her dad.

"I can help her out on anything where she's confused," he said. Assignments are turned in electronically and returned by e-mail. "It's just so natural for her."

Burma Wishes for Indonesian-Style Democracy

Thursday, 27 March, 2008 | 15:34 WIB 

TEMPO Interactive, Singapore: Special representative of the United Nations for Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, yesterday said that the Burma military junta wishes for Indonesian-style democracy. 

“The Junta wants to implement the model of Indonesian democracy where there is a change from the military government to civilian before becoming democratic,” said Gambari in a special interview with the Singapore newspaper, The Straits Times. 

Gambari, who has just visited Burma early this month, said the Burma government is also interested in learning Thailand's experience that once was a military-based government until the political party of People Power (PPP) supporting former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, won the election last January. Before that took place, the military was the power holder after Thaksin was forced down through a non-bloody coup in September 2006. 

At the present time, the junta has completed a constitutional draft to be decided in a referendum in May. They will hold an election in 2010. 

The draft is aimed at keeping the military power. It is mentioned in the draft that Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s opposition leader, is forbidden to attend the election, and 25 percent of the parliamentary seats are the junta’s. Moreover, the president will have powers that he can appoint and dismiss parliamentary and justice officials. 

Pro-democracy activists certainly disagree with this draft. Tun Myint Aung, leader of the Student Group of the 88 Generation, suggests people reject the draft. 

AFP/Faisal Assegaf

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President praises Indonesian Islamic film "Ayat-ayat Cinta"

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the Indonesian film "Ayat-ayat Cinta" (Verses of Love) can be a medium to promote a better understanding of Islam.

The president made the statement after watching the film directed by Hanung Bramantyo at Studio XXI at EX Plaza here on Friday night.

"The film can be a good medium for getting the right message of Islam across," said Yudhoyono, who was accompanied by his family, including his sons Agus Harimurti and Edi baskoro as well as his daughter-in-law Annisa Pohan.

The Indonesian head of state who claimed he wiped tears from his eyes several times when watching the film, said Islam was frequently misunderstood by the public.

Yudhoyono added that all Indonesian Muslims who had watched the film should be able to explain to the rest of the world that Islam is a peace-loving religion full of tolerance and harmony.

According to the president, the film directed by Hanung Bramantyo was a reflection of Islam, its ability to rise above mere symbols enabling the world community to coexist despite its diversity.

Among the ministers who accompanied President Yudhoyono in watching the film were Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik, Religious Affairs Minister Maftuh Basyuni, Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu, Women`s Empowerment Minister Mutia Hatta, People`s Welfare Coordinating Minister Aburizal Bakrie, Minister/State Secretary Hatta Rajasa and Presidential Spokesman Dino Pattidjalal.

Besides the ministers, artists who played in the film also took part, namely Fedi Nuril, Melani Putria, Rianti Cartwright, Carissa Putri, and Zaskia Addya Mecca.

Senior artist Chritine Hakim, Director Hanung Bramantyo, producer of the film Manoj Punjabi and author of Ayat-ayat Cinta novel Habibiurrahman El Shirazy also attended the event.

Saudi King calls for interfaith dialogue

By DONNA ABU-NASR and ABDULLAH SHIHRI, Associated Press Writers

Yahoo/AP

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - The Saudi king has made an impassioned plea for dialogue among Muslims, Christians and Jews — the first such proposal from a nation with no diplomatic ties to Israel and a ban on non-Muslim religious services and symbols.

The message from King Abdullah, which was welcomed by Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders, comes at a time of stalled peace initiatives and escalating tensions in the region.

Muslims have been angered by cartoons published in European papers seen as insulting the Prophet Muhammad and by the pope's baptizing on Easter of a Muslim journalist who had converted to Catholicism.

"The idea is to ask representatives of all monotheistic religions to sit together with their brothers in faith and sincerity to all religions as we all believe in the same God," the king told delegates Monday night at a seminar on "Culture and the Respect of Religions."

The specifics of Abdullah's initiative — and who would participate — remained unclear, in particular whether Israeli religious leaders would be invited to a Saudi-brokered dialogue. The kingdom and all other Arab nations except Egypt and Jordan do not have diplomatic relations with Israel and generally shun unofficial contacts.

The call — the first of its kind by an Arab leader — was significant. The Saudi monarch is the custodian of Islam's two holiest shrines in Mecca and Medina, a position that lends his words special importance and influence. Abdullah said Saudi Arabia's top clerics have given him the green light — crucial backing in a society that expects decisions taken by its rulers to adhere to Islam's tenets.

It also raises the possibility that a religious dialogue could have a political impact in the Middle East, easing tensions between Arabs and Israelis in a way that years of off-and-on negotiations and political conferences have failed to do.

The White House welcomed the king's gesture.

"We think increased dialogue is a really good thing," presidential spokeswoman Dana Perino said Tuesday. "And, of course, when you have someone like the king of Saudi Arabia, and all of his stature, that is recommending such a dialogue, it can only give us hope that there would be further recognition of everyone's right to freedom and freedom of expression and religion. So we are encouraged by it."

Abdullah said he planned to hold conferences to get the opinion of Muslims from other parts of the world, and then meetings with "our brothers" in Christianity and Judaism "so we can agree on something that guarantees the preservation of humanity against those who tamper with ethics, family systems and honesty."

Abdullah, who said he discussed the idea with Pope Benedict XVI when they met at the Vatican in November, framed his appeal in strictly religious and ethical terms, aimed at addressing the weakening of the family, increasing atheism and "a lack of ethics, loyalty, and sincerity for our religions and humanity."

A Saudi official with knowledge of the proposal said it was not intended to have a regional political angle, saying "the initiative is not aimed at the Middle East but at the whole world. It's a global initiative." The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

But Abdullah, considered a reformer in Saudi politics, has in the past proposed peace deals with Israel, saying his country and other Arab nations are willing to recognize the Jewish state as long as it gives up land to Palestinians.

Prominent Saudi cleric, Sheik Muhammad al-Nujaimi, said he saw no reason why any Saudi official, including Abdullah, cannot meet with Jewish religious leaders. "The only condition is for the rabbi not to be supportive of the massacres against the Palestinian people," he said.

In Israel, Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger welcomed Abdullah's call.

"Our hand is outstretched to any peace initiative and any dialogue that is aimed at bringing an end to terror and violence," he said in a statement.

Rabbi David Rosen, head of inter-religious relations at the American Jewish Committee and a former chief rabbi of Ireland, said framing the dialogue in religious terms was key.

"Religion is all too often the problem, so it has to also be the solution, or at least part of the solution and I think that the tragedy of the political initiatives to bring peace has been the failure to include the religious dimension," he said.

Yossi Beilin, a former Israeli peace negotiator, said a Saudi-backed dialogue between Muslims and Jews "could be a balancing factor" against extremists but cannot replace diplomacy.

"Negotiations need to be negotiations and you don't mix religion into a diplomatic conflict, because then there is a danger of turning it into a religious war," he said.

Michael Cromartie, chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which monitors religious freedom globally and makes policy recommendations, called the proposed dialogue long overdue.

"I don't care who you put in the room — the fact they're having the conversation can only help," he said. "It's a courageous thing for the king to do. One should not expect Utopia, but it's a start to have an open and free dialogue in a country with a reputation for religious oppression."

Saudi Arabia follows a severe interpretation of Islam known as Wahhabism, and it was not clear whether Abdullah's call would be followed by steps in the kingdom to relax the ban on non-Muslim worship services, as well as symbols from other religions, such as crosses and Bibles.

Abdullah's contacts with Benedict are also significant.

Benedict angered many Muslims with a 2006 speech in which he cited a medieval text that described some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman," particularly the command to spread the faith "by the sword." He later expressed regret t