Australia apologizes for Aborigines' pain

SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- The Australian government apologized Wednesday for years of "mistreatment" that inflicted "profound grief, suffering and loss" on the country's Aboriginal people.

New Prime Minister Kevin Rudd read the apology Wednesday to Aborigines and the "Stolen Generations" of children who were taken from their families.

"To the mothers and fathers, to the brothers and sisters we say sorry. And for the indignity and degradation on a proud people and a proud culture we say sorry."

For 60 years, until 1970, the Australian government took mixed-race Aboriginal children from their families and put them in dormitories or industrial schools, claiming it was protecting them.

As a result of the policy, "stolen" children lost contact with their families and heritage, received poor education, lived in harsh conditions, and often endured abuse.

"There is nothing I can say today that will take away the pain... Words are not that powerful," Rudd said in the Australian Parliament.

He said that the apology was the start of a new approach towards Aborigines which included helping them find their lost families, closing pay gaps and a 17-year difference in life expectancy between Aborigines and white Australians.

He said new policies would be introduced to provide better healthcare and education to Aborigines.

"The mood of the nation is for reconciliation now," Rudd said.

The policy was largely a secret until a decade ago, when a government inquiry and high-profile movie exposed it. That sparked a mass movement, supported by many white Australians, demanding an apology.

Former Prime Minister John Howard refused to offer an apology, saying the current generation should not be held accountable for past misdeeds. He instead issued a statement of regret.

Rudd, who defeated Howard last November, made an apology part of his election campaign. Howard's successor as leader of the Liberal Party, Brendan Nelson, supported the apology Wednesday.

"The apology ... is ... very much just the first step," said a spokeswoman for Jenny Macklin, the minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.

"We have serious inequalities between indigenous and nonindigenous Australians. The apology is symbolic, but there's a lot of hard work to be done to reverse those inequalities."

Mary Farrell-Hooker counts herself among the Stolen Generations and is now a spokeswoman for an Aboriginal activist group. The Stolen Generation became Australia's controversy (Video)

She is of mixed race and was one of 12 children of alcoholic parents. Her father was in jail for raping her sister when her mother was hospitalized after a suicide attempt.

"The police came to the school and told me they were taking me to the hospital to see my mom," Farrell-Hooker told CNN. "We never went to the hospital."

Instead, Mary, then 12, was taken to a series of foster centers. At one of them, she said, she was repeatedly raped by a white "house father."

"He would actually come into the room and force himself onto me, rape me, molest me," she said. "If I didn't do what he wanted, he would threaten to do the same to my sister and (threaten to) split us up."

Her parents came to find her, she said, but were repeatedly turned away. She tried to run away but said the police always returned her to her tormentor.

Aboriginal people have been waiting decades for an apology, and the Australian public appear to welcome the government's move, according to CNN's Jacqueline Head in Sydney.

Head said many Australians believe saying sorry is long overdue, but some doubts remain over what it will achieve in the long term -- whether it will help open doors for Aboriginal people seeking rights and compensation or whether it will fail to secure indigenous people a better future.

Some white Australians don't believe the apology will bring about reconciliation.

"I think Australians will be sorry for many generations for offering this apology now," said Piers Akerman, a conservative commentator.

He said Aboriginal compensation claims will now gain new vigor.

To symbolize what the government hopes will be a fresh approach to the future, a group of indigenous Australians performed a traditional welcome ceremony Tuesday of dancing and singing to mark the start of parliament's new session. As the traditional owners of the land which parliament sits on, the performers "welcomed" the lawmakers onto it.

"For thousands of years, our peoples have observed this protocol," said Matilda House, an Aboriginal elder at the ceremony. "It is a good and honest and decent and very human act to reach out to make sure everyone has a place and is welcome."

Spielberg boycotts Olympic role

BBC News

US film director Steven Spielberg has withdrawn as an artistic adviser to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

In a statement, he accused China of not doing enough to pressure its ally Sudan to end the "continuing human suffering" in the troubled western Darfur region.

"I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue business as usual," said Mr Spielberg.

At least 200,000 people have been killed and two million forced from their homes in the five-year conflict.

In a statement, Mr Spielberg said: "At this point, my time and energy must be spent not on Olympic ceremonies, but on doing all I can to help bring an end to the unspeakable crimes against humanity that continue to be committed in Darfur."

He said: "Sudan's government bears the bulk of the responsibility for these on-going crimes but the international community, and particularly China, should be doing more."

'Tremendous potential'

Sudan, with its vast oil reserves, sells some two-thirds of its oil to Beijing.

In turn, Beijing sells weapons to the Sudanese government and has defended Khartoum in the UN Security Council.

As a result, China has been criticised for its links with a government ostracised by many for its role in the ongoing crisis in Darfur.

Earlier on Tuesday, as part of a "Global Day of Action" focusing on Darfur, an open letter signed by Nobel Peace Prize laureates and former Olympians was sent to China's president.

"We are all aware of the tremendous potential for China to help bring an end to the conflict in Darfur," said the letter, delivered to the Chinese mission to the United Nations by actress Mia Farrow and former Olympic swimmers Shannon Shakespeare and Nikki Dryden.

Related Article:

China 'regrets' Spielberg action

Saudis clamp down on valentines

BBC News

Religious police in Saudi Arabia are banning the sale of Valentine's Day gifts including red roses, a local newspaper has reported.

The Saudi Gazette quoted shop workers as saying that officials had warned them to remove all red items including flowers and wrapping paper.

Black market prices for roses were already rising, the paper said.

Saudi authorities consider Valentine's Day, along with a host of other annual celebrations, as un-Islamic.

In addition to the prohibition on celebrating non-Islamic festivals, the authorities consider Valentine's Day as encouraging relations between men and women outside wedlock - punishable by law in the conservative kingdom.

The Saudi Gazette reported that some people placed orders with florists days or weeks before Valentine's Day in anticipation of the ban, which is a regular occurrence.

"Sometimes we deliver the bouquets in the middle of the night or early morning, to avoid suspicion," one florist said.

Others were planning to travel to the more religiously liberal neighbouring countries, Bahrain or the United Arab Emirates, to celebrate.

Saudi Arabian authorities impose a strict Islamic code that prevents men and women from mixing.

Australian journalists given new insights into Indonesia

The Jakarta Post

Organized by the Australian Consortium of In-Country Indonesia Studies (ACICIS), in partnership with Atma Jaya University, a group of Australian university students are on a six-week Journalism Professional Practicum in Jakarta. The program is designed to provide them with a greater insight into the realities of contemporary Indonesia. ACICIS deputy director David Reeve, a long-time Indonesian observer from the University of New South Wales, outlined the program for Alpha Amirrachman, who recently interviewed Reeve by email for The Jakarta Post.

Question: What aspects are the young Australian journalists learning in this program and how will it help them enhance their understanding of Indonesia?

Answer: Australian students will get a high-profile internship at a placement rarely offered to Australian journalism students. They will learn about Indonesian language, culture and society, and the life of a journalism professional in an overseas setting. We are very keen to encourage Australian journalism students to see Indonesia in a more positive way.

We are doing this program for the benefit of the students. But of course we hope that in the future it will be of benefit to both countries to have maybe hundreds of Australians in the media who have had a strong and positive experience in Indonesia.

How do you see the role of media in shaping relations between Indonesia and Australia?

I think that for people who have personal knowledge and experiences of Indonesia, the press does not have much role in shaping their beliefs. For those people, the press provides information but not attitude. That's why we are working through our programs to expose more and more students to Indonesia.

For the general public, the media can shape attitudes, and these have the potential to sway governments, particularly in difficult times. I'm thinking of the emotions in Australia around the Schappelle Corby case, when some Australian media played a shameful role. But then, other media reported well. It's a mix. Overall, I think that good relations are stronger than bad press.

What do you think Australian journalists are lacking when reporting on Indonesia?

I think both governments were dishonest in making the press a scapegoat for other things that were wrong. Australia has a great tradition of sending good correspondents to Indonesia. Several of them have written excellent books on Indonesia, helping Australians to understand Indonesia. That foreign correspondent tradition has been going on for some 50 years. They have been a high quality lot overall. But some reporters and editors back in Australia have been much less good.

You are right to see a "politics of fear" at work here; irresponsible stereotyping -- which is itself a tradition in Australian media for at least 150 years. What worries me now is the decreasing role for foreign correspondents in the Australian media. If that continues it will be a serious loss.

What do you think Indonesian journalists are lacking when reporting on Australia?

I enjoy reading all Indonesian reporting on Australia. I find it fascinating, and I don't mind whether it is positive or negative, well-sourced or badly informed. I find it all very interesting for what it tells me about Indonesian attitude. But as a scholar, I must say that some Indonesian reporting seems much better then others. The weaker journalists lack good contacts, lack personal experience and interpret events through prejudice and malice. That can actually make it more interesting to read, though less informative to the public. But that's the same all over the world. The good Indonesian journalism on Australia is of a high standard.

What are the various constraints Australian correspondents have come across in the process of foreign news reporting in Indonesia?

During the Soeharto era, Australian journalists had to be careful about reporting on Indonesia because there was always the threat that their visas would be canceled if they concentrated on "negative" news like human rights abuses, anti-government protests and independence movements in East Timor, Aceh and West Papua. In 1986 all Australian journalists were banned from Indonesia, and it took some time for all media organizations to be readmitted. Nowadays, Indonesia's free press means foreign journalists are not restricted, except in access to Papua and, perhaps, Aceh. However, there are still some underlying tensions because of perceived negative reporting in Australia on separatist issues, as well as the high profile given by the Australian media to terrorism in Indonesia and drug cases.

Both countries appear to enjoy a certain degree of press freedom. Does this freedom necessarily foster close neighborly ties?

Press freedoms are not meant to foster neighborly ties. That is not what they are for. They are for the health of the societies in which they operate. Neighborly ties are built in other ways. If they are good and strong ties, they have nothing to fear from press freedom. I think that all of us have experienced press freedoms and press restrictions. Even at its worst (rumors, defamation), a free press is better.

Do you think the killing of five Australian journalists in East Timor in 1975 still haunts Australian journalists and still has the potential to disturb Indonesia-Australia relations?

Yes, this issue still haunts some Australian journalists and also particularly the families of the journalists killed. Not surprisingly. Both governments would like to believe that the problem is behind them. I think that is true. The issue has remained alive for 32 years, and still has potential to disturb in the future. Both governments will try to play it down. But this is an issue with complex legal and moral aspects. It is hard to see what the best option would be. I also think of the large number of journalists killed around the world in 2007. It is always a bad idea to attack journalists.

Burma sets date for popular votes

BBC News

Burma will hold a constitutional referendum in May followed by general elections in 2010, the country's military junta has said.

The regime had set out what it called a roadmap for democracy but had not previously given any firm timetable.

It made the announcement on state television and radio late on Saturday.

Burma has been under military rule since 1962. The country saw rare nationwide protests against the ruling junta in August and September.

Saturday's announcement said that "multi-party democratic elections will be held in 2010, according to the new constitution.

"It is suitable to change the military administration to a democratic, civil administrative system, as good fundamentals have been established," the regime said.

Briton in UFO report says aliens stole dog

Fri Feb 8, 2008 7:22pm GMT

LONDON (Reuters) - The abduction of a dog stood out among 135 reports of UFO incidents received by the Ministry of Defence last year.

Flaming objects, bright lights behaving erratically, odd shapes flying in the sky and even a village blackout following silently exploding lights are also among the reports of unidentified flying objects from all over the country, according to details released on Friday under freedom of information rules.

But the report from Wales of the dog abduction grabs attention.

"The witness saw spaceships and then said that one of them abducted his dog, car and tent when he and some friends were out camping," reads the report received on Jan 3 this year.

In a report from central England in December last year the witness reported a giant craft shining a light into a rear window before shooting off, while another in June counted 15,000 lights in the sky.

(Reporting by Jeremy Lovell)

Putin vows 'arms race' response

BBC News

Russia's President Vladimir Putin says the world is engaged in a new arms race and Nato is failing to accommodate Russia's concerns.

Russia has been using oil revenues to bolster its military

In an address to parliament, Mr Putin condemned Nato's expansion and the US plan to include Poland and the Czech Republic in a missile defence shield.

"It is already clear that a new phase in the arms race is unfolding in the world," Mr Putin said.

He said other countries were spending far more than Russia on new weapons.

But Russia would always respond to the challenges of a new arms race by developing more hi-tech weaponry, he said.

Military muscle

Referring to Nato's activities in Central and Eastern Europe, Mr Putin said "there are many discussions on these, but... we have still not seen any real steps towards finding a compromise".

"In effect, we are forced to retaliate, to take corresponding decisions. Russia has, and always will have, responses to these new challenges," he said.

In December, Russia said it was planning naval exercises in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

It has also resumed long-range patrols by its bomber aircraft.

The practice was suspended after the collapse of the Soviet Union and was revived last August, as part of a more assertive foreign policy pursued by President Putin.

Higher oil prices have enabled Russia to reinvest in its armed forces, but its military capabilities remain far below what they were during the Soviet era, correspondents say.

American Woman Boasted of Saudi Freedoms To Bush Brother Before Arrest at Starbucks

Thursday, February 07, 2008

By Sonia Verma, Foxnews

Two weeks before Yara, an American businesswoman, was arrested by Saudi Arabia's religious police for sitting with a male colleague at Starbucks, she said she strolled past the very same cafe with another businessman: Neil Bush.

Bush, President George W. Bush's younger brother and CEO of the education software company Ignite!, was in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, speaking at an economic forum hosted by King Abdullah for hundreds of influential business leaders.

Yara, who does not want her last name revealed because of safety concerns, is a managing partner at a Saudi financial company. She went to hear Bush speak, and she said she invited him later to tour her company's offices, to give him a sense of what life was really like for women living in the capital.

"I was boasting about Riyadh, telling him it doesn't deserve its bad reputation," she said. "I told him I never experienced any harassment. I'd had no trouble as a woman. It was business as usual."

But on Monday, Yara learned that she had been wrong. She was thrown in jail, strip-searched, threatened and forced to sign false confessions by the kingdom's "Mutaween" police.

"When I was arrested, it was like going through an avalanche," she said. "All of my beliefs were completely destroyed."

Yara's crime: sitting with a male business partner in the "family-only" section of the Starbucks -- the only area of the café where women and men can sit together. In Saudi Arabia, public contact between unrelated men and women is strictly prohibited.

Yara, who was born in Tripoli, Libya, to Jordanian parents, grew up in Salt Lake City. She moved to Saudi Arabia eight years ago with her husband, a prominent businessman.

The 37-year-old mother of three said she had an "all-American" upbringing in Utah and lived most of her life in the U.S. before moving to Riyadh.

She described herself as secular, and apolitical. "I am anti-political," she said. "I have never advocated for anything in my life."

She said she made a point of wearing an abaya and a headscarf, like most Saudi women, "out of cultural respect."

"I observed the rules and tried not to stand out in business settings," she said.

But on Monday, when the power failed in her company's offices, Yara and her male colleagues decided to use a nearby Starbucks, which has wireless Internet, as a temporary workspace.

She settled into a booth with a male colleague and opened her laptop. Moments later, she was arrested.

"Some men came up to us with very long beards and white dresses. They asked, 'Why are you here together?' I explained about the power being out in our office. They got very angry and told me what I was doing was a great sin," Yara recalled.

The men were from Saudi Arabia's Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, a 10,000-strong police force charged with enforcing dress codes, sex segregation and the observance of prayer times.

Yara said they grabbed her mobile phone and pushed her into a taxi bound for Riyadh's main prison. There she was interrogated, strip-searched and forced to sign and fingerprint confessions of guilt.

Later, she was made to stand before a judge who condemned her behavior, telling her she would "burn in hell."

She said she spent hours in a filthy prison cell with dozens of other women who had been arrested by the religious police, before her husband used his political connections to secure her release.

She has since vowed to remain in Saudi Arabia and continue working, but she says she will never return to Riyadh and now travels with a bodyguard.

And her family is furious that the American Embassy hasn't done more to support her.

An embassy official said her case was being treated as "an internal Saudi matter" and would not offer further comment.

Starbucks was waiting to learn more about the facts surrounding the incident, a company spokesman said.

“Starbucks was very concerned by reports that a customer was asked to leave one of our stores and arrested,” said Brandon H. Borrman, a spokesman for the company.

“Starbucks takes pride in respecting different cultures, and as a global company with locations in 44 countries, we recognize that religious customs, social norms and laws will vary among the communities where we work,” he said.

Yara said she carries her American passport with her as a precaution. But on Monday, she said, her identification was confiscated by the religious police, who told her they didn't care about her citizenship.

She is taking medication to treat post-traumatic stress while she recovers from her ordeal at her family's home in Jeddah.

"Thank God they did not harm her more," said her husband, Hatim.

"The psychological impact is beyond description," Hatim said. "She's normally a very calm, stable woman. Now she's afraid to leave our compound."

FOXNews.com's Sara Bonisteel contributed to this report.

20 face lash, prison for dancing in Saudi Arabia

Judge sentences foreigners for partying, alcohol, unmarrieds mingling

MSNBC, Feb. 4, 2007

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - A Saudi Arabian judge sentenced 20 foreigners to receive lashes and spend several months in prison after convicting them of attending a party where alcohol was served and men and women danced, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The defendants were among 433 foreigners, including some 240 women, arrested by the kingdom's religious police for attending the party in Jiddah, the state-guided newspaper Okaz said. It did not identify the foreigners, give their nationalities or say when the party took place.

Judge Saud al-Boushi sentenced the 20 to prison terms of three to four months and ordered them to receive an unspecified number of lashes, the newspaper said. They have the right to appeal, it added.

The prosecutor general charged the 20 with "drinking, arranging for impudent party, mixed dancing and shooting a video for the party," Okaz said.

The paper said the rest of those arrested were awaiting trial.

Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islam under which it bans alcohol and meetings between unrelated men and women.

The religious police, a force resented by many Saudis for interfering in personal lives, enjoys wide powers. Its officers roam malls, markets, universities and other public places looking for such infractions as unrelated men and women mingling, men skipping Islam's five daily prayers and women with strands of hair showing from under their veil.

In May, the Interior Ministry restricted the powers of the religious police to just arresting suspects, because the police sometimes had held people incommunicado and insisted on taking part in ensuing investigations.

W.H.O. and Bloomberg Open Global Antismoking Project

By Donald G. McNeil Jr., The New York Times

Published: February 8, 2008

Tobacco could kill up to a billion people during the 21st century, as cigarette sales soar in poor and middle-income countries even as they drop in wealthier ones, says a report issued Thursday by the World Health Organization.

The report, financed by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s foundation, suggests a six-point program for fighting the tobacco industry’s influence.

“The W.H.O. is described by the tobacco industry as its biggest enemy,” Dr. Margaret Chan, the organization’s director general, said at a news conference introducing the report. “Today we intend to enhance that reputation.”

Nicknamed Mpower and based on a partly successful program for fighting drug-resistant tuberculosis, the report suggests raising cigarette taxes, banning smoking in public places, enforcing laws against giving or advertising tobacco to children, monitoring tobacco use, warning people about the dangers and offering free or inexpensive help to smokers trying to quit.

The report, to which Bloomberg Philanthropies contributed $2 million, is the first to compile global data on how many smokers or tobacco chewers each country has, how much they pay in tobacco taxes, and how antismoking efforts are faring.

Among its conclusions: poor and middle-income countries collect 5,000 times as much in tax revenue from tobacco as they spend in fighting its use. Only 5 percent of the world has no-smoking laws like those in New York City. Uruguay does more than any other country to reduce smoking.

Mayor Bloomberg, who is well known for his antipathy to smoking, said in presenting the report that it would be re-issued annually and would grade countries. “The United States would get a C or D,” he said, New York, an A or a B.

His statement puts him at odds with W.H.O. The agency has traditionally been cautious about offending members, and in interviews, officials from its Tobacco Free Initiative specifically said countries would not be graded.

Perhaps the oddest aspect was that the report itself was presented as if it were a campaign for menthol cigarettes, full of pictures of happy children and mottos like “fresh and alive.” It even came with what appeared to be a pack of Mpower-brand cigarettes, with a cheerful blue bubbles logo and a mock warning on the box — which actually contained a pad and pens.

That also seemed to fly in the face of the sort of harsh ads that Mayor Bloomberg endorsed, like those showing dying smokers croaking through tracheotomy tubes.

After the presentation, officials hastened to explain that the “cigarette pack” was not meant for the public, but to catch the eyes of health and finance ministers in poor countries.

“We’re co-opting the tobacco industry’s branding strategies to capture the attention of government officials,” said Sandra Mullin, a spokeswoman for the World Lung Foundation, which contributed to the report. “We want to show that they don’t own those mottos — freshness and fun and health.”

Huge rise in British UFO sightings

By Gary Cleland, Telegraph.co.uk

Clusters of up to 100 mysterious objects, bright white lights and strange, triangular shaped objects are just some of a huge surge in UFO sightings reported to the Ministry of Defence last year.

The number of UFO sightings reported to the MoD is up from 97 to 135

The ministry has opened up its own "X-Files" for 2007, revealing 135 UFO sightings from across the UK.

If aliens are choosing the UK as a holiday destination, it appears it is becoming more popular, as the number if sightings has shot up since 97 were reported in 2006.

Last year the MoD released details of UFO sightings for the first time, including an archive back to 1998. Previously, details of classified reports were kept secret for 30 years. Discs, formations, white or orange lights, triangular shaped craft and pipe-like objects were all spotted buzzing around the sky in 2007.

In Duxford, Cambridgeshire on April 12, a witness reported seeing fifty objects, each with an orange light, assembling in the sky before ascending.

Two pilots in different planes above Alderney in the Channel Islands reported the same UFOs on April 23. They saw one bright orange craft, then a gap, followed by an identical object.

In Portsmouth, Hants, in October, a witness watched as "an oval/spherical shaped object approached an aircraft, and appeared to accelerate very fast, and then wobbled from side to side.

"Another object appeared in roughly the same vicinity and then stayed stationary."

In the West Midlands in December, one witness got a shock when a UFO shone a light into her window. The MoD logged: "A giant craft shone a light into the witness's back window. It shot off fast at first to the North East and then started to move at a slow pace."

Another report noted a "an exceedingly bright light, which was stationary, but sometimes flew off" over the Wiltshire skies.

Hilary Porter, from the British Earth and Aerial Mysteries Society (BEAMS) said sightings were becoming increasingly common. She said: "There has been a huge influx of UFOs. Absolutely enormous. There has been these huge formations than have been coming.

"We have had so many calls from people that have seen these huge formations. We have had call after call after call, from business people right down to ordinary folk in their cars. “There have been some very close encounters that have been quite unnerving for the people involved. We have had other people reporting orb sightings."

Others maintain that the vast majority of the sightings can be explained. Many are helicopters or other human designed craft like weather balloons and satellites, while others are optical illusions or unusual cloud formations. The MoD made the decision to release the files after a Freedom of Information request.

A spokeswoman said the ministry does not investigate each and every report. "We only investigate if there have been any objects in British air space that may be military," she said.

"Unless there's evidence of a potential threat we don’t investigate to try to identify it."

Videos hint at public discontent in Cuba

By Shasta Darlington, CNN

HAVANA, Cuba (CNN) -- In a rare public expression of discontent, a video obtained by CNN shows Cuban students grilling a top official about low wages and why Cubans are barred from tourist hotels and from traveling abroad.

Ricardo Alarcon, the president of Cuba's National Assembly, was grilled about government policies.

During a meeting between Ricardo Alarcon -- the president of the National Assembly -- and students at the University of Computer Science, the young people voiced some of the concerns many Cubans share in private, but don't often air publicly.

"It seems to us a revolution cannot advance without a plan," Eliecer Avila said, standing at a microphone. "I'm sure it exists, we just want to know what it is."

He asked about restrictions to Internet access and why workers are paid in Cuban pesos but have to buy many basic goods in another currency that is 25 times as expensive -- the "convertible peso" that foreign tourists are required to use.

"That means a worker has to work two or three days to buy a toothbrush," he said.

In the video of the recent meeting with students, Alarcon said he didn't have the expertise to address all of the questions, but he devotes 30 minutes to responding to Avila's queries. CNN obtained the video from students who asked to remain anonymous.

While acting President Raul Castro last year publicly called on Cubans to tell officials what they think is wrong with the country, the forums that followed have been controlled in where they've taken place and in what issues are open for discussion.

The university video opens a rare window on public debate in Cuba, as students pressed Alarcon for answers on government policies.

When asked why there are restrictions on Cubans traveling abroad, Alarcon said: "I wish all the Cubans could go out and get to know the world outside."

"I think it would be the end of the ideological battle in this country. When the people see how things really are, what's real, how other people live," he said.

Asked why Cubans aren't allowed to enter the island's tourist hotels freely, Alarcon told students about his times in New York, as Cuba's ambassador to the United Nations.

"How many times did they kick us out of a store?" he asked. "Because by the Latino accent and the color of our hair they realized we weren't Anglo-Saxons and shouldn't be in the store?"

Another video obtained by CNN shows a recent meeting held to explain a new tax on Cubans working for foreign companies.

The unpopular proposal drew open jeers and mocking laughter, something officials here aren't used to. While the questions and complaints on the video are nothing new, it is unusual to hear them voiced so openly.

The unusually aggressive questions come ahead of what could be a decisive meeting of Cuba's National Assembly on February 24. Recently elected deputies will meet for the first time to select the new Council of State and its president -- a position held by Fidel Castro for decades.

But the ailing 81-year-old leader -- who handed over day-to-day control of the government 18 months ago -- has suggested that he may be ready to throw in the towel, permanently passing the reins of power to Raul, his younger brother, and to a "younger generation" of leaders.

Arief Budiman: Defying the Chinese stereotype

Dewi Anggraeni, Contributor The Jakarta Post, Melbourne, Australia

A pertinent stereotypical image of the ethnic Chinese throughout Southeast Asia is that they are bent on making money and interested in little else.

In reality, there have been many whose interests lie in anything but making money, apart from that necessary for living, naturally.

One example is Arief Budiman; the intellectual, academic, social and political analyst and once political activist, who in 1997 was appointed Chair Professor of the Indonesian Program at the University of Melbourne, Australia.

Though currently living in Melbourne with his wife Leila, the Harvard graduate is still very Indonesian at heart. Whenever he is in Indonesia, he feels well and truly "fleshed out".

"I enjoy life here. I follow Australian politics and find it interesting, in a cerebral sense. Political crises in Australia for instance, somehow do not touch me too deeply. On the other hand, I live Indonesian politics. I'm there in a primordial sense. The ups and downs of Indonesian politics affect me emotionally," he said.

Arief, whose Chinese name is Soe Hok Djin, began to pave a remarkable path for himself from his days as a secondary school student in the 1950s at the prestigious Kanisius Catholic school in Jakarta.

He was always top of his class. His immediate circle of friends included Jakarta's young elite, from both indigenous and Chinese families.

In those days, he said, there was mutual acceptance on everybody's part. They did rubbish each other on their ethnicity from time to time, but he did not feel specifically singled out, because nobody was excluded: be they Javanese, Sundanese, Batak, Menadonese, or Chinese.

Even after he had moved on from school life, Arief did not feel particularly ethnic Chinese, except when he had contact with the state bureaucracy. When applying for a passport, for example, he was asked to pay more, merely for being ethnic Chinese.

On the other hand, when he became increasingly known as an activist, those who knew him would not hesitate to give him preferential treatment.

He said he was once at the airport on his way to a conference out of town and joined the queue to check in. Suddenly, a uniformed man approached him and asked: "Are you Arief Budiman?"

When he said yes, thinking he was probably going to be taken away for interrogation, the official said: "Come with me. You don't have to wait in the queue. You are a celebrity".

"I have always felt Indonesian. Indonesia is my country. It's other people, mostly people who don't know me, who keep reminding me that I am not quite Indonesian, that I'm Chinese," he said.

For that reason, he has sometimes felt he has been thrown in limbo; not fully Indonesian yet not fully Chinese either.

Arief is well regarded by those who know of his activities and his achievements. The ethnic Chinese communities he has been in contact with in Indonesia think highly of him.

"They tell me that they're proud of me because I am proof that given the opportunity an ethnic Chinese can succeed in any field of his choosing, pointing to the fact that I've made my name not through success in business and commerce, as is usually expected (of Chinese)."

In 1970, he decided to change his name and asked his Minang wife Leila to pick one suitable for him.

However, not everyone was happy with this decision.

Benedict Anderson, a well-known American author-academic and a close friend of Arief and Leila's, told them names were sacred and that changing them would be tantamount to disrespect.

Arief went ahead because he wanted to give other ethnic Chinese the message that it was all right to do so.

He has always believed in assimilation of the ethnic Chinese into the indigenous population, adding it should be done naturally and voluntarily, without force or pressure.

Although he was attracted to young women of ethnic Chinese descent, it never occurred to Arief to marry any of them. He wanted to "marry out". He said when he met Leila, the mutual attraction was very strong and he knew he wanted to marry her.

There was no opposition from his family. Leila's however, gave one condition: he had to become Muslim.

"They didn't want her to marry a non-Muslim, because they believed only by marrying a Muslim man would a Muslim woman be secure in her faith."

With his family's blessings, Arief agreed to become Muslim. He explained to Leila, however, that he believed in God, but not God as fashioned by any institutionalized religion. And he hasn't moved from that stance.

Arief has recently retired, though he still retains an office at the university. He is free to travel to Indonesia whenever he pleases; something he very much looks forward to, as it gives him the opportunity to be involved in public lectures while continuing to observe political events in Indonesia.

At 66, Arief feels he still has a lot to offer his country. With the benefit of his experiences and the breadth of his perspective, indeed he has.

Russia 'suspicious' about Iranian nuclear programme after missile test.

BBC News

Russia thinks the launch of an Iranian rocket into space raises suspicion over the true aim of its nuclear programme, a foreign ministry official has said.

"Long-range missiles are one of the components of a [nuclear] weapons system," Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov told Interfax.

Therefore Monday's test launch of Iran's Explorer-1 space rocket was "of course, a cause for concern", he said.

Iran insists its nuclear programme is purely for peaceful energy production.

Stallone challenges Myanmar junta, eyes "Rambo 5"

Bangkok (ANTARA News) - Not satisfied with slugging it out with Myanmar's military government on celluloid in his latest "Rambo" film, Sylvester Stallone wants to go there and confront the junta face-to-face over human rights.

Stallone, who said he was gearing up to make a fifth and final instalment in the blood-and-guts series, told Reuters that media reports of his film becoming a bootleg hit in the former Burma, and an inspiration to dissidents, was a pinnacle in his movie career.

"These incredibly brave people have found, kind of a voice, in a very odd way, in American cinema... They've actually used some of the film's quotes as rallying points," Stallone, 61, said in a telephone interview.

"That, to me, is the one of the proudest moments I've ever had in film."

Residents in Yangon told Reuters this week that police had given strict orders to DVD hawkers to not stock the movie -- named simply "Rambo". Locals said fans had "gone crazy" over lines in the hero's brusque dialog such as: "Live for nothing. Die for something."

In the film, Vietnam War veteran John Rambo -- best known for mowing down enemies with an M60 machine gun in the 1980's -- comes out of retirement in Thailand to save a group of Christian missionaries from a sadistic Myanmar army major.

Stallone said that, rather than make a film about Iraq or Darfur, he focused on a lesser-known crisis before Myanmar suddenly grabbed the spotlight in September when the military junta crushed a pro-democracy campaign led by Buddhist monks.

Officials put the death toll from the crackdown at 15, but diplomats and aid groups say it is much higher and some media have reported hundreds -- or thousands -- were killed.

"People finally got the idea of how brutal these people are," said Stallone.

Invite me, please

Stallone's movie specifically focuses on the Karen tribe of eastern Myanmar. UK-based Christian Aid says the Karen and other groups have suffered half a million cases of forced relocation and thousands more have been imprisoned, tortured or killed.

Many ethnic rebel groups have fought Burmese governments for more autonomy since independence from Britain in 1948. Stallone said he was in communication with some, and several former

freedom fighters acted in the movie.

And he hopes the film can provoke a confrontation.

"I'm only hoping that the Burmese military, because they take such incredible offence to this, would call it lies and scurrilous propaganda. Why don't you invite me over?" he said.

"Let me take a tour of your country without someone pointing a gun at my head and we'll show you where all the bodies are buried... Or let's go debate in Washington in front of a congressional hearing... But I doubt that's going to happen."

"Rambo" opened last month second in north American box office returns to the ancient Greek warrior spoof "Meet the Spartans", making $18.2 million in its first week.

Stallone said he was happy with what he described as "the bloodiest, R film (for) a generation" and hoped to make another.

"It will depend on the success of this one, but right now I think I'm gearing one up. It will be quite different," he said.

"We'll do something a little darker and a little more unexpected."

Obama and Clinton: A Democratic Dream Ticket?

Democratic Party Buzzes About Enemies Teaming Up on Single Ticket

By JAKE TAPPER and AVERY MILLER

ABC News, Feb. 1, 2008

The image of the two Democratic front-runners at last night's debate in Los Angeles was striking -- a black man and a white woman. One of the two is poised to make history, and they are both bringing in tens of thousands of new voters.

And there's one way to top it -- for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to join forces on a single Democratic dream ticket.

U.S. Democratic presidential candidates, Illinois Senator Barack Obama and New York Senator Hillary Clinton participate in a televised debate at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. (GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images)

Last night, when CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked, "Would you consider an Obama-Clinton or Clinton-Obama ticket going down the road," neither candidate denied the possibility.

"Well, there's a difference between those two," Obama laughed. "But her service to this country has been extraordinary. And I'm glad that we've been walking on this road together."

Clinton dittoed it. "Well, I have to agree with everything Barack just said."

Now, the possibility is the talk of the town.

"Intensity is important," Democratic strategist Michael Feldman said. "Keeping every strand of the base constituency of the Democratic Party together and energized, moving into the fall, is also very important."

Choosing a running mate is a very complicated process -- and unfortunately, there's no such thing as a vice presidential match.com.

If Obama were to choose Clinton as a vice presidential running mate, she would bring experience and support in New York -- a state Obama would win anyway.

If Hillary were to name Obama her running mate, he would inject her campaign with grassroots enthusiasm and support in Illinois, though she would win that state on her own.

A hypothetical match.com might suggest that Clinton or Obama should pick someone from a swing state such as Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland or former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner or Florida Sen. Bill Nelson.

This morning, on "Good Morning America" political expert George Stephanopoulos suggested that the longevity of the candidates' campaigns made it more likely they would end up on a single ticket.

"Because they're both fighting it out through Super Tuesday, I think they are better than ever before," he said. Stephanopoulos entered into a bet with "Good Morning America" anchor Diane Sawyer, wagering that Clinton would pick Obama if she gets the nomination.

But the hugs, smiles and chivalry on display for voters last night belie serious tensions between the two candidates.

"Clinton-Obama is not a dream ticket," Democratic strategist Donna Brazile said. "It's a fantasy ticket."

Obama resents Clinton campaign tactics involving race, and the Clintons are mad because Obama is standing in her way and belittling their legacy.

"There's a lot of blood on the flood and, clearly, you can disinfect, you can mop it up, and you can also sweep it aside but you cannot ignore the fact that there's been a vigorous debate within the Democratic Party," Brazile said.

But bitter primary opponents have sometimes settled their differences in time to join forces for the general election. John F. Kennedy made peace with his primary opponent and eventual vice president Lyndon B. Johnson. George H.W. Bush assailed Reaganomics as "voodoo economics," then came onboard as Reagan's No. 2.

So the idea of enemies uniting for mutual political gain? It's as American as apple pie.

Kenyan parties 'agree peace plan'

BBC News

Kenya's feuding leaders have agreed on a plan to end the political and ethnic violence gripping the country, former UN chief Kofi Annan has said.

"We have agreed an agenda covering both short-term issues and also long-term issues," Mr Annan said.

The deal was agreed by representatives of both President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga.

The announcement came after fresh outbreaks of fighting left at least 18 people dead in the west of the country.

Mr Annan said the rival parties had agreed a four-point framework for talks which should end the violence within the next two weeks.

The BBC's Adam Mynott in Nairobi says the deal is a good start which should have an impact on the level of violence on the ground.

But the two parties were still very, very far apart, he says, with President Kibaki saying he won December's disputed presidential election fair and square, and Mr Odinga claiming it was rigged.

Hate messages

The talks are due to last a month and items on the agenda include:

• ending the violence
• humanitarian situation
• resolving the political crisis
• land and historical injustices

"We believe within seven to 15 days, we should be able to tackle the first three agenda items," Mr Annan said.

"The first is to take immediate action to stop the violence."

Mr Annan said the parties had agreed on 18 action points to end the violence, including demobilising militia gangs, refraining from provocative speeches and ending text messages which have been inciting hatred.

His announcement followed a visit by his successor, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who called on all sides in Kenya to stop the violence.

Poisoned

But there have been further reports of bloodshed, rioting and fighting in parts of the Rift Valley.

Police say a 3,000-strong mob armed with bows and arrows, spears, clubs and machetes, killed at least 10 people, including a policeman, in western Kenya.

Kalenjin man is discovered hiding in a house with poisoned arrows near the western Kenyan town of Kericho on 1 February 2008

Clashes have continued across Kenya despite talks

The incident took place in Anaimoi, a trading post in the Kericho district of western Kenya.

"People from the whole village attacked the policeman and killed him," says police commander Walter Aliwa.

The area's MP David Too was shot dead by a policeman on Thursday.

Police say the killing was the result of a domestic dispute but the opposition say he was assassinated.

In a separate incident, eight people were poisoned and hacked to death in an apparent revenge attack for the MP's killing.

U.S. stance on climate change shifting, conference delegates say

CNN

HONOLULU, Hawaii (AP) -- A meeting on climate change ended without concrete targets for slashing greenhouse gas emissions, but participants praised what they saw as a new willingness by the United States to discuss possible solutions.

A demonstrator dresses as a polar bear at the climate change conference to protest global warming.

Delegates from the 16 nations that emit the most pollutants, plus the European Union and the United Nations, gathered in Hawaii this week at the invitation of the U.S. to discuss what should be included in a blueprint for combatting climate change.

Among the topics were energy-efficient technologies, ways rich countries could help developing countries, and countering deforestation.

Delegates said the U.S. showed a new flexibility since earlier climate change meetings, and that they were able to talk frankly about their differences.

"We're happy the position of the United States is changing," Brice LaLonde, France's climate change ambassador, said at a news conference Thursday following the two days of closed-door talks at the University of Hawaii.

LaLonde pointed to bills in Congress addressing climate change and the Bush administration's move to host the Hawaii meeting as evidence for a shift by Washington.

But he said France hoped for additional changes, specifically for the U.S. to join other industrialized nations in agreeing to a national mandatory greenhouse gas reduction target.

"Of course, we want more. We hope in the next weeks after these discussions that we'll be able to deliver more," LaLonde said. "But it's a good start."

Delegates didn't discuss the details of a European Union proposal for industrialized countries to slash emissions by 25 to 40 percent, said Artur Runge-Metzger, the European Commission's head of climate change negotiations.

The emissions reduction proposal -- and U.S. opposition to it -- was one of the biggest sticking points of a contentious climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia, in December.

The Bali conference ended with the U.S. agreeing to join nearly 190 countries to craft a blueprint for fighting climate change by 2009. But that happened only after participants loudly booed repeated U.S. objections to the document.

Britain's environment minister, Phil Woolas, said no nation wants to be singled out as the obstacle to progress on climate change.

"Bali has put the spotlight on you, doesn't it. There's no country that wants to be the party pooper," Woolas said during a break in the Hawaii talks.

He added that delegates shared a sense that work needs to get done because of the dire consequences of rising temperatures, sea levels and environmental catastrophes.

"There's a realization that we have to get an agreement; otherwise we're all going to drown," Woolas said.

Chief U.S. delegate Jim Connaughton, the White House environmental chief, said President Bush has long highlighted the importance of reducing emissions.

He pointed to U.S. efforts supporting hydrogen energy, funding for energy efficient technologies and partnerships with other countries.

"We like to prepare, plan and announce. This is what the president has done consistently since 2001. As you can see, it's gaining increasing appreciation," Connaughton said after the talks.

The U.S. has been seeking voluntary pledges from nations for specific cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

Nations represented at the conference account for 80 percent of emissions that scientists say contribute to global warming. In addition to the U.S., Britain and France, they are Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Korea and South Africa.

Environmentalists had voiced skepticism about what the Hawaii talks would accomplish, given the U.S. opposition to mandatory national reduction targets of the kind agreed to under the Kyoto Protocol a decade ago.

The EU has proposed cutting its overall emissions by 20 percent from 1990 levels, or 14 percent from 2005.

Demonstrators were absent Thursday, but about a dozen had protested the day before outside the meeting to object to what they said was insufficient commitment from the Bush administration to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Others drew blue chalk lines along Honolulu city streets to show where high tide would be after decades of global warming and rising sea levels.

Other related topics (CNN)

• In Depth: Planet in Peril
• In U-turn, U.S. agrees to global warming deal
• Researchers study coral threats
• UK: Coasts under climate threat