India's Economy Expands At Record Rate

India's economy grew at a record 9.4 percent last year - its fastest pace in nearly two decades. But as Anjana Pasricha reports from New Delhi, growth levels could moderate in the coming year.

The government says the 9.4 percent growth in the fiscal year that ended in March is higher than earlier expectations. It is also the fastest growth since 1989, and was fueled by robust growth in manufacturing, exports, and the services sector.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram says growth rates of over eight percent for a fifth straight year show that the time has come to "shed skepticism about the sustainability of high growth" in India.

Independent analysts agree, and say the economy is expected to maintain strong growth over the next five to six years.

Economist D.K. Joshi says high domestic demand in recent years has fueled investment in sectors ranging from cement and steel to automobiles and telecommunications.

"With the demand being so high, the existing capacity was not able to service the demand, so a lot of investments were taking plac," said Joshi. "So now investment has become the driver of growth."

However, economists say the coming year could see a slight dip in growth rates as banks stop extending low-cost loans to consumers in a bid to cool the economy.

They also point out that India is unlikely to be able to match the more than ten percent growth that has been taking place in the world's other big economy - China.

Economist Joshi says India's full potential is being held back by the country's grossly inadequate infrastructure.

"I think moving from the current rates of growth to over ten percent, that will be a challenge," he said. "If your electricity is priced higher and is unreliable, if your ports are congested, that can actually slow down our growth momentum, that is the immediate concern."

But overall, optimism remains high. And that is being reflected in the country's stock markets, which traded at some of their highest levels after the latest growth numbers were released recently.

US, Spain Urge Venezuela to Reopen Opposition TV Station

The United States and Spain have called on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to reopen an opposition-backed television station whose closure has prompted angry street protests.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Venezuela Friday to cease what she called "attacks on free press."  She spoke in Madrid after talks with Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos. 

The Spanish official said he had expressed his wish that Venezuelans should have guarantees in the freedom of their information.

The Venezuelan government refused to renew the license of Radio Caracas Television on Sunday, saying it violated broadcast laws.

Demonstrators have rallied throughout the week to protest the ban.  Police have arrested more than 180 people, mostly university students and minors, for alleged violent acts during the protests.

The U.S. State Department has issued a travel warning to Americans planning trips to Venezuela, urging them to avoid the demonstrations.

Radio Caracas Television (RCTV) continues to report and broadcast news on its own website and the popular YouTube website.  The government has replaced the television station with a new state-funded channel, Venezuelan Social Television.

Former presidential candidate Manuel Rosales, a leading opponent of President Chavez, has called for a referendum to decide whether RCTV should be allowed back on the air.

On Monday, Venezuelan officials said they were investigating another television channel, Globovision, alleging it had encouraged an attempt on the president's life.  Globovision officials have rejected the allegations.

UN Secretary General Frustrated Over Darfur Conflict

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says he is frustrated by the ongoing conflict in Sudan's Darfur region, but believes that progress is being made. As Victoria Cavaliere reports from VOA's New York Bureau, the Secretary General also thinks that a long-awaited U.N.- African Union peacekeeping force will soon be in place in Darfur.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (file photo)

On Tuesday, the United States leveled tough new sanctions against Sudan for its continued stalling on an upgraded peacekeeping force in Darfur.

The conflict between ethnic Sudanese rebels and the government backed janjaweed militia has left more than 200,000 people dead and displaced some 2.5 million Sudanese.

But, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon is appealing for more time in dealing with the conflict in Darfur-including placing a hybrid U.N. African Union peacekeeping force in the region.

After months of pressure, Sudan agreed in November to allow thousands of U.N. peacekeepers into Darfur to assist overwhelmed African Union forces already there.  But, Khartoum has since stalled on letting the peacekeepers in.

Last week, the two sides completed plans for a 23,000 member peacekeeping force, but the African Union has yet to formally submit the plan to Sudan. 

Mr. Ban says he has been frustrated by the delays, but says he believes Khartoum has made some positive steps recently.

"Please bear with me," he said.  "This process may be slow, painful, but I believe we are moving towards early resolution on this issue."

The United States and Britain say they are drafting a new U.N resolution that would impose stricter sanctions on Sudan.  Other Security Council members, including South Africa and Russia, have questioned the timing of the proposed resolution. Beijing says it opposes all further penalties on Khartoum.

Secretary Ban dismissed suggestions that countries should boycott the 2008 Olympic games in China over allegations Beijing is ignoring the bloodshed in Darfur.

"The Chinese government has been exerting their utmost efforts, as I understand and appreciate," he added.  "I have been discussing this matter with the Chinese government too. "

China has strong oil interests in Sudan and human rights groups have accused Beijing of doing too little to pressure Sudan to end the Darfur civil war.

Palestinian Abductors Release Video of BBC Reporter

Kidnapped BBC Gaza Correspondent Alan Johnston appeared for the first time Friday in a videotape released by his captors. VOA's Jim Teeple has details from our Jerusalem bureau.

Handout image released 01 June 2007 courtesy of IntelCenter is a video still from new hostage video of BBC reporter Alan Johnston

The video appeared on the al-Ekhlaas web site, which is often used by Islamic militants. Looking healthy and clothed in a red sweater against a black backdrop, Johnston spoke for about three minutes. Saying his kidnappers have treated him well, the veteran BBC correspondent read a statement that condemned Israeli, British and U.S. policies in the Middle East.

"Every day there are Palestinians arrested and imprisoned for no reason," he said. People are killed on a daily basis. The economic suffering is terrible, especially here in Gaza where the Israeli, the Israeli (unintelligible) here - absolute despair after nearly 40 years of Israeli occupation which has been supported by the West."

The video appeared to be heavily edited, with some of Johnston's comments sounding clipped, and repeated out of context.

A logo of the group that is reportedly holding him, Jayash al-Islam, or the Army of Islam, also appeared on the video. A speaker from the group whose voice had also been on an audio tape released in early May, repeated the group's demand for the release of radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada al-Filistini, who is in British custody suspected of having links to al-Qaida.

The speaker, who identifies himself as a member of Jayash al-Islam, says if Britain frees Abu Qatada, it will reciprocate by releasing Johnston.

British authorities say as a matter of policy they will not make any deals for the release of Johnston, or any other British citizens seized by kidnappers.

The release of the tape was condemned by Palestinian government officials who have repeatedly called for Johnston's immediate release. Palestinian security authorities say they know where Johnston is being held in Gaza but have avoided using force to free him out of fear that he will be harmed.

Johnston, the only western correspondent based in Gaza, was abducted on March 12, making him the longest-held western hostage ever seized in Gaza. In the video that was released on Friday, Johnston attempted to speak to his family but the video was cut before he could complete his message.

Bush, Talabani Reaffirm Need for Iraq to Meet Goals

President Bush met Thursday with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. VOA's Paula Wolfson has the story from the White House.

President Bush (r) and Jalal Talabani at the White House, 31 May 2007

The meeting ended with both men reaffirming the need for the Iraqi government to meet certain goals, or benchmarks.

President Bush said the United States supports the effort.

"I told the president that I'm fully committed to helping the Iraqi government achieve important objectives, we call them benchmarks," said President Bush.

Those benchmarks include drafting and implementing an oil revenue sharing law, and finding ways to bring the various factions in Iraq together.

President Bush told reporters that he is sending an emissary to Iraq to help turn these goals into reality. She is Meghan O'Sullivan, who recently stepped down as the Iraq coordinator on the president's National Security Council.

"She's going back to serve with Ambassador [Ryan] Crocker, to help the Iraqis - and to help the embassy help the Iraqis meet the benchmarks that the congress and the president [of the United States] expect to get passed," he said.

Just last week, Mr. Bush signed a war funding bill that threatens to withhold U.S. aid for Iraq if these benchmarks are not met.

President Talabani said progress is being made in key areas, but he acknowledged problems remain.

"I don't deny difficulties," said President Talabani. "I don't deny shortcomings. I don't deny that still we are suffering from some problems. But we are determined to [meet] benchmarks and we are determined to move forward and achieve."

The Iraqi president came to Washington from the midwestern state of Minnesota where he has been receiving medical treatment. His last visit to the White House was in September, 2005.

Syria, Hezbollah Condemn UN Vote to Establish Hariri Tribunal

Rafik Hariri

Syria's state-run press has roundly criticized the U.N. Security Council's vote to set up an international tribunal for suspects in the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.  Damascus has long said it will refuse to turn over any Syrian suspects to the court.  Establishing the tribunal has also been an extremely divisive issue in Lebanon, where the Shi'ite armed group Hezbollah denounced the Security Council move as a violation of Lebanon's sovereignty.  VOA's Challiss McDonough has more from our Middle East bureau in Cairo.

Rafik Hariri's son, Saad Hariri, called the UN move a "historic moment" and a victory for justice.  But his political rivals in Hezbollah issued a statement calling the new U.N. resolution "a violation of Lebanese sovereignty and aggressive interference in Lebanon's internal affairs."

Syria's state-run newspapers condemned the U.N Security Council decision, calling it an American-Israeli plot for "political vengeance" against Syria.

Damascus has previously said it will refuse to cooperate with the tribunal if it indicts any Syrian officials, and the state news agency, SANA, said Syria's position has not changed.  An early report by the investigator probing the killings implicated several senior Syrian officials, and Damascus has said it will not allow its citizens to be tried by foreign courts.

But after the Security Council voted, Damascus made an effort to portray its objections as rooted in concern for Lebanese interests, rather than its own.

Political Analyst Sami Baroudi

 Political science professor Sami Baroudi of the Lebanese American University says it is possible that Syria's outright rejection of the tribunal is part of a long-term negotiating tactic.

"I'm not really sure whether the Syrian regime can completely [do] just blanket rejection of any cooperation.  I think that would sort of complicate relations with other Arab countries and with the international community, and I don't think they're really ready for a step like that," Baroudi says.

The morning after the vote, the Iranian foreign minister paid a surprise visit to Damascus for talks with President Bashar al-Assad that included Lebanese developments.

In Lebanon, where Rafik Hariri and 22 others were killed by a massive car bomb blast more than two years ago, an international court to try the killers has long been an extremely divisive issue.  The prime minister supports it; the president does not.  The cabinet and the anti-Syrian majority bloc in parliament support it, but most of the opposition parties oppose it, especially those allied with Syria.

Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berry, an opposition leader with close ties to Damascus, has refused to convene the legislature for months to avoid holding a vote on the court.  So the Security Council approved the tribunal under the legally-binding Chapter 7, without the plans being ratified by the Lebanese parliament. 

The longtime U.N. spokesman in Lebanon, Timur Goksel, now teaches at the American University of Beirut.  He said given the domestic political deadlock, the Security Council had little choice

"It had to be done, there's no doubt about it.  We need justice in this country, in Lebanon.  The problem is, it's too much personalized here. It's become not an affair of the state, an affair about justice, or a country or anything, but sort of a competition or a contest between the different political groups in the country. This is very unhealthy."

Opposition leaders have mostly been careful to say they do not necessarily object to the idea of the tribunal itself, but to the way it has been set up.  Despite months of wrangling, they were unable to agree.  Goksel says they still object to the idea of a court being "imposed" on Lebanon from outside.

"This is something Lebanon should have done by itself," Goksel says.  "After all, this court is going to apply Lebanese law.  But the judges will not be Lebanese, the majority of judges, and some people are not comfortable with that, which is understandable.   On the main opposition side, especially on the Hezbollah side, I believe it's not against the court, but they just are afraid that this court might be used against them."

But since it will likely be at least a year before the court starts its work, Goksel is optimistic that there is time to resolve the outstanding issues.

"If a few political leaders can keep their mouths shut and not try to score points out of this for their own ends, I think this will be all right," Goksel says.

France and the United States have both hailed the tribunal as a positive step for Lebanon.  And Lebanese government officials who supported the establishment of the tribunal say they hope it will help push the country back toward political consensus. 

But some analysts say the way the Security Council vote fell shows that the international community is also divided on the issue.  Five countries -- Russia, China, Indonesia, South Africa and Qatar -- abstained from the vote and have voiced concerns about imposing the tribunal on Lebanon in the absence of a political consensus there. 

When the international court convenes, which will be somewhere outside Lebanon, it will become the first U.N.-backed tribunal in the Middle East.  Similar courts have been held for the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone.  It is still not clear where the court will be located.  The Netherlands, which has hosted other tribunals, says it is not interested. 

Putin Blames Washington for New 'Arms Race'

Vladimir Putin, 31 May 2007

Russian President Vladimir Putin has condemned Thursday what he called U.S. "imperialism" in world affairs. The comments came during an increasingly tense period in U.S.-Russian relations. Bill Gasperini has more for VOA from Moscow.

Speaking to reporters in the Russian capital, President Putin said U.S. plans to place missile defense systems in Europe were starting a new "arms race."

His remarks coincided with a Russian test of a new, multi-warhead intercontinental missile that the Russian military says is capable of penetrating any anti-missile system.

Mr. Putin said the tests of the new missiles were a response to U.S. steps that have upset the strategic balance in the world.

Mr. Putin says "some members of the international community are nursing a desire to dictate their will to all and everyone on any issue, without coordinating their actions with common norms of international law."

Mr. Putin's statements were some of the strongest yet by the Russian president on the U.S. plans to deploy an anti-missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Washington insists the shield will be defensive in character, but the Kremlin considers the plan a threat to Russia's security.

In a speech earlier this week, President Putin said the anti-missile plan could turn the European continent into a "powder keg."

Speaking in Germany on Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice dismissed the idea that the U.S. missile shield is a threat to Russia.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (l) and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, 30 May 2007

"And so I would hope that rather than continuing to worry about something that seems to us in fact just not at all possible, which is that, given the size of the Russian nuclear deterrent, that somehow this system is going to threaten the Russian nuclear deterrent," said Condoleezza Rice. "I would note that President Putin said just yesterday [Tuesday] that Russia's ballistic missiles can overwhelm, penetrate, destroy any shield that we might build. We quite agree."

The escalation in rhetoric comes days before President Putin is due to meet President Bush at the annual G-8 summit of leading industrialized nations in Germany. The White House has announced that the two presidents will hold a special summit in the United States in early July.

The missile debate is just one issue in an increasingly tense relationship between the former adversaries.

The U.S. and Russia disagree over how to deal with Iran's nuclear program and the state of democratic reforms and human rights in Russia.

In remarks Thursday, White House spokesman Tony Snow took a more positive view of the U.S.-Russian relationship and dismissed the possibility that the U.S. missile plan will revive the cold war.

Koreas' Talks Fizzle Over Nuclear Weapons, Aid

Talks between North and South Korea have faltered, with the two sides producing no substantial agreement despite talking since Tuesday. As VOA's Kurt Achin reports from Seoul, the main sticking point is Seoul's refusal to send aid across the border until the North implements a nuclear disarmament agreement.

In a tersely written joint statement Friday, North and South Korea said they would continue to seek ways to promote cooperation and peace on the Korean peninsula.

South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung (L) and his Northern counterpart Kwon Ho Ung (C) leave hotel after four days of high-level talks in Seoul, 01 Jun 2007

However, after four days of ministerial meetings, the delegates failed to set a date for future talks. They also did not resolve a dispute over South Korean aid.

North Korea is nearly two months overdue on a deadline for shutting down its main nuclear facility, as it promised to do earlier this year. South Korea says it will not send aid, including 400,000 tons of rice, to the impoverished North, until Pyongyang fulfills its promise.

South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman Koh Kyoung-bin said Friday that the South made its position clear during this week's talks.

He says South Korean delegates told the North that Pyongyang's implementation of the February agreement would be crucial in persuading South Korean taxpayers, whose money would fund the promised rice shipment.

North Korea blames a technical banking issue for its delays in implementing the nuclear agreement, saying it will take no action until $25 million of its money has been transferred out of a bank in Macau. No international bank has been willing to touch the money because the United States alleges it was linked to illegal North Korean activities, such as money laundering. U.S. officials say the problem will be resolved soon.

Relations between the two governments have been fitful over the past several years. Since 2000, South Korea has tried to encourage the North to engage more fully with the rest of the world and improve its economy. Seoul has spent billions of dollars in food aid and economic development projects in the North.

But Pyongyang often backs out of talks or other joint programs because of perceived slights or pressure from Seoul.

Public opinion in the South soured on the engagement policy in 2006 after North Korea tested a nuclear weapon, despite three years of disarmament talks with South Korea, the United States, China, Russia and Japan.

In an apparent reference to the United States, North Korean delegates criticized the South several times this week for letting "outside powers" interfere with North-South cooperation.

Bush Focuses on Africa in G8 Lead-Up

President Bush is focusing on U.S. aid to Africa in the days leading up to the Group of Eight Summit in Germany. VOA's Paula Wolfson reports from the White House.

President Bush wears an AIDS awareness pin on his lapel as he speaks about the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), 30 May 2007

One day after urging a major increase in a U.S. program to fight AIDS, the president announced a new initiative to help African entrepreneurs.

In a speech to a coalition of groups concerned with international development, Mr. Bush said the United States will provide technical assistance to help African nations strengthen their financial markets. He said the goal is to create new private equity funds that will mobilize up to a billion dollars of additional private investment in Africa.

"It's in our interest that we help provide capital to African entrepreneurs," he said. "We want them to find access to capital, and we want them to have access to markets because we want to improve their lives."

President Bush also said he wants to make more money available for education programs in Africa and elsewhere. He said he is asking Congress to provide an additional $525 million over the next five years to bolster existing programs.

"And the goal is to provide basic education for four million additional children on the continent of Africa and across the globe," he said.

On Wednesday, Mr. Bush urged the U.S. Congress to take a major step in the fight against AIDS in Africa.

Next year, the mandate for the current five-year American program to combat AIDS abroad will expire. The president said he wants Congress to extend the program for another five years and to double the funding from $15 billion for five years to $30 billion.

Thai Woman Wins Landmark Compensation in Australian Sex-Trafficking Case

An Australian tribunal has awarded compensation to a Thai woman who was forced to work as a prostitute in Sydney when she was 13. It is the first time a victim of sex trafficking has received damages from the tribunal. Phil Mercer reports from Sydney.

Jetsadophorn Chaladone was brought to Australia with her father's permission in 1995 and had hoped to be employed as a nanny.

Instead she was put to work in a brothel by a gang of traffickers and was told she had to pay off a $28,000 debt.

Australian immigration officials raided the brothel just over a week later. By then, Jetsadophorn had been forced to have sex with dozens of men.

The New South Wales Victims Compensation Tribunal has recognized the depression and post-traumatic stress she suffered as a result. The tribunal has ordered that Jetsadophorn be paid compensation from a government fund for crime victims. The amount has not been disclosed.

She now lives in northern Thailand and has said the money will help pay for her son's education.

Her story was told in the documentary "Trafficked" by film maker Luigi Acquisto.

He told journalists the tribunal's decision is an important victory for this young victim of Australia's sex trade.

"She felt that she'd done something wrong, she felt ashamed, and she carried that with her for a long time, even though she was only 13 at the time when she was trafficked," he said. "And now she realizes, because of the affirmation by I guess Australia, that she was in fact a victim, that she didn't do anything wrong, and that justice, to some extent, has been done."

Australia introduced laws against sex trafficking and slavery in 1999.

The government in Canberra has signed anti-trafficking agreements with Cambodia, Burma, Laos and Thailand to improve international cooperation. Trafficking in humans for the sex trade or forced labor is a significant problem in those countries.

International Health Officials Urge Widespread HIV Testing

The World Health Organization and UNAIDS, the United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, Wednesday issued new guidance on HIV testing, saying millions of people are infected with the deadly virus but are unaware they have it. As VOA's Jessica Berman reports, the international bodies say health providers should offer to test people instead of waiting for patients to request HIV tests.

A young HIV-infected woman lying in an Abidjan hospital

In issuing new guidelines, UNAIDS and the WHO said 80 percent of people who are infected with the virus that causes AIDS are unaware of their situation.

An estimated 40 million people throughout the world are living with HIV. More than 60 percent live in Africa.

Kevin De Cock, the director of the HIV/AIDS program at the World Health Organization, says the guidelines are essential if people are to be treated. "We think these new guidelines are extremely important as we struggle to move towards universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support which the countries of the world have committed to," he said.

Instead of waiting for patients at walk-in clinics and hospitals to request HIV tests, Paul De Lay of UNAIDS, says the guidelines urge health care workers to offer HIV tests as a routine part of medical care. "It encourages health care providers to recommend an HIV test to people who show symptoms of illness, or who likely benefit in health terms from an HIV test," he said.

But the officials say under no circumstances should people be coerced into taking a test, nor should one be administered without their consent. The officials say those who test positive must also receive counseling afterward.

In addition to getting AIDS treatment they might ordinarily not receive, De Cock says people who know their HIV status are less likely to spread the infection to others. "There are data from the United States certainly showing safer behavior once people know their HIV infection status. Because the overwhelming majority of HIV-infected people wish to do everything they can to prevent transmission to others," he said.

Experts say it is unclear how the recommendations for HIV testing will be received in cash-strapped nations, particularly in Africa. According to one expert, the health care systems in many countries are in disarray, and many people who are HIV-positive fail to seek care until they are very sick.

Many Lebanese Welcome UN Hariri Tribunal

The U.N. Security Council resolution establishing an international court to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was welcomed by supporters of the former prime minister. From the Lebanese capital, VOA's Margaret Besheer reports.

A clock at the Prime Minister's tomb counts the days since his murder

It has been 836 days since the popular former prime minister was assassinated in a massive truck bombing along Beirut's seaside that also killed 22 others.

The assassination, blamed on neighboring Syria, set off a wave of events that led to Damascus withdrawing its troops from Lebanon after a nearly 30-year presence. It also triggered a series of murders of several prominent anti-Syrian journalists and politicians in Lebanon.

Prime Minister Hariri's son and political heir, Saad, welcomed Resolution 1757, which narrowly passed with 10 votes in favor and five abstentions.

Hariri's tomb is covered in white flowers with a Lebanese flag overhead

In a televised address late Wednesday, Saad Hariri said the world community has given Lebanon an important victory.

Hariri became emotional, invoking his father and saying he was loved by all Lebanese and was a friend to all Arabs. He said he feels his father's presence with him always and certainly at this moment when the international tribunal has been declared.

Separately, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora addressed the Lebanese people urging unity.

He says the Security Council's decision should not be considered a victory for any one party or specific group in Lebanon. Rather, he says, it is a victory for all Lebanese everywhere.

Mr. Siniora had tried to get the Lebanese government to approve the establishment of the tribunal, but pro-Syrian factions stalled the effort, causing a political crisis that has effectively paralyzed the government.

Children lay flower tributes and light candles at the tomb

Following their late night television appearances, both men went separately to the grave of Mr. Hariri in central Beirut to pray. Many supporters had gathered there earlier in the day ahead of the U.N. vote to pray, leave flowers and light candles.

Chawkee Farhat was among the visitors.

"Tonight is a special night, it is an important night and it is an important event in the history of our country, and hopefully it is a turning point," said Chawkee Farhat.

Ziad, a law student at Beirut Arab University, says he came to show his support for the international tribunal.

"We are here to say we never forgive anyone who did this assassination - this inhuman assassination - because this person [Hariri] did nothing to anyone," said Ziad. "He did not harm anyone. All he wanted was peace and Lebanon to flourish."

Supporters pray at the tomb hours before the UN vote

Mr. Hariri's tomb lies in the shadow of a grand mosque he built and in an area of the capital that he rebuilt after Lebanon's bloody 15-year civil war ended in the early 1990s.

Nader Nakib, president of the Youth Association of Hariri's Future Movement, says Hariri's supporters have waited two years for this moment.

"You cannot get him back, definitely, but at least we can give him peace," said Nader Nakib. "He can rest in peace because he would know that the assassins would be tried, for once at least, in the Middle East."

Security was tightened across the Lebanese capital Wednesday evening. Fireworks, the firing of guns and the use of motorbikes were all banned overnight to preserve public safety. But despite the ban, celebratory fireworks could be heard in the city.

Iran's Crackdown on Visiting Iranian-Americans Raises More Questions About Tehran's Agenda

The news that a fourth Iranian-American may have been arrested in Iran for alleged espionage has heightened questions about the Tehran government's seemingly contradictory behavior.  Iranian and U.S. officials have just completed their first publicly acknowledged high-level meeting to discuss stabilizing Iraq.  As VOA correspondent Gary Thomas reports, the arrests may be a sign of divisions within Iran's leadership.

Haleh Esfandiari, Director of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson Center

The crackdown on Iranian-Americans visiting their native land is both puzzling and ominous to Western-based analysts of the Iranian political landscape.

Karim Sadjapour was living and working in Tehran for the International Crisis Group until recently.  He says the atmosphere there has changed markedly in recent months.

"The mood in Iran in terms of the crackdown on political speech and societal openness is as bad as it's been since the early days of the revolution," he said.

The government has accused at least three visiting Iranian-Americans of espionage, including Haleh Esfandiari, director of the Middle East program at the non-governmental Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars in Washington.  Also charged are Kian Tajbakhsh, an urban planning consultant with George Soros' Open Society Institute, and Parnaz Azima, a journalist with the U.S. government-funded Radio Farda.

U.S. officials have emphatically denied that they were engaged in any espionage activity, with White House spokesman Tony Snow Wednesday labeling the allegations "preposterous."

Esfandiari's husband, Shaul Bakhash, who teaches modern Middle Eastern and Iranian history at George Mason University, says he is as perplexed as anyone else about the matter.

"After all, my wife, as the director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center, has merely organized conferences, meetings, and talks," he said.  "She has brought Iranians, respected Iranian academics and scholars and analysts, to the Wilson Center.  The Iranian government does exactly the same thing in reverse.  Its own research centers invite scholars and academics and the like from the United States, from Europe, from others, to conferences in Iran."

However, some American scholars planning to visit Iran recently for such a conference found their visas suddenly revoked.

Bill Samii, an Iran specialist at the Center for Naval Analysis, says U.S.-Iran talks on Iraq and the crackdown in Tehran underscore divisions within the secretive circle of Iran's leadership.

"We always get back to this argument about this sort of bifurcated nature of the Iranian governmental system in which you have various factions and various leaderships or various centers of power pursuing different agendas," he said.  "And I think that that's what we're seeing in this case."

Karim Sadjapour, now with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, says there is what he calls "schizophrenia" in Iran's ruling circles.  He says there are entrenched hardline elements who have vested political and financial interests in maintaining the hostile relationship between Iran and the West.

"So any time you see a movement toward a dialogue with the U.S. or a warming of ties between Iran and the West, you have these hardline elements that aim to scuttle this dialogue," he explained.  "So this is why we may see these things simultaneously: at the same time the Iranian government is talking to the U.S. about Iraq, you see the hardliners behind the imprisonment of people like Haleh and Kian to try to torpedo these talks from going forward."

Sadjapour adds that he is sad that it is now too dangerous for him, as an Iranian-American, to go back to Iran.  But he says he now has to be less circumspect in his analysis of Iranian affairs.

"I've resigned myself to the fact that Iran is no longer a safe place to live and work for those of us who are dual nationals and those of us who work on issues of U.S.-Iran relations and Iranian internal politics," he added.  "And in some ways, it's liberating to know that I can't go back.  I feel upset that I am unable to go back.  I still have family.  But in some ways we can be more honest in our analysis because we have to, I think, be very clear in pointing out that the behavior of the Iranian government, and at this moment, is simply unacceptable."

It is not clear when, or even if, any of the accused will face trial.  Bill Samii points out that espionage cases are held before Revolutionary Courts, which have great flexibility and discretion.

US Envoy Wraps Up Meetings in China on North Korea Banking Issue

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill is heading back to Washington after a day of meetings with Chinese officials. As he left he reported no progress on resolving a transfer of North Korean accounts from a Macau bank. As Daniel Schearf reports from Beijing, North Korea has refused to move forward on a nuclear deal until it has the money.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill departs from a hotel in Beijing, 31 May 2007

The chief U.S. envoy to six-nation talks on North Korea's denuclearization, Christopher Hill, told reporters Thursday that Washington and Beijing are trying to find a solution to send $25 million from a Macau bank to North Korea.

"We'll just try to get it done as soon as possible. And, when it's done - then we can talk about how it was done and why it took so long," he said.

Hill would not elaborate on what options China and the United States were exploring or when he thought the issue could be resolved.

He says the transfer is a complex governmental issue also involving talks with the private sector.

North Korea missed an April deadline to shut down a nuclear reactor in exchange for aid and diplomatic incentives. It has boycotted talks on its nuclear disarmament until it has the money.

Hill said the United States had demonstrated its willingness to get the money to North Korea and there was no reason for Pyongyang to stall on shutting down its Yongbyon nuclear reactor.

"The North Koreas are fond about talking about a level of trust. I think we've established that we are really working to resolve this matter," he said. "We will resolve it. And, I think they ought to get going on their obligations because there is no purpose in that reactor operating today and I think they know that. So, rather than stand around waiting for us to do things perhaps they should get going on their own obligations."

The North Korean accounts were frozen in 2005 on U.S. suspicions the bank was aiding North Korean money laundering and other crimes. Washington agreed in December the money could be released if North Korea returned to nuclear negotiations.

But so far, neither side has found a bank willing to handle money that was the subject of the U.S. investigation.

Suspect in Litvinenko Murder Says Former Russian Intelligence Agent Worked as British Spy

The Russian suspect in the killing of ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko maintains he is innocent and says Britain tried to recruit him to provide intelligence. Andrei Lugovoi spoke in Moscow for the first time since British prosecutors charged him with the crime, last week. Bill Gasperini has more from Moscow.

Andrei Lugovoi made a series of charges in the spy case, including that the British special services tried to recruit him.

Lugovoi says British intelligence wanted him to collect "compromising information" on Russian President Putin.

He says the man he is accused of killing, Alexander Litvinenko, worked for British intelligence.

Andrei Lugovoi speaks during Moscow press conference, 31 May 2007

Lugovoi spoke for more than an hour at a news conference, telling a tale of intrigue and blackmail that could have come from a spy novel.

He claims British intelligence may even have played a role in Litvinenko's murder - if only indirectly.

Last week, British prosecutors said they have enough evidence to charge Lugovoi with the killing of Litvinenko, who died of poisoning by the rare radioactive substance polonium-210.

Litvinenko lived in exile in London and was a fierce critic of President Putin.

Traces of polonium were later found in many places Lugovoi had visited on his way to and from London, where he met with Litvinenko in an upscale hotel.

Later that day, Litvinenko became ill. He died three weeks later in a London hospital.

Lugovoi also suggests exiled Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky - another fierce Kremlin critic - might have been behind the killing. Many Russian officials have said Berezovsky masterminded the murder as a way to damage the Kremlin's reputation.

President Putin and other top Russian leaders have long denied any involvement in Litvinenko's killing.

Britain has asked Russia to extradite Lugovoi, to stand trial. Moscow rejects that, saying it would violate the Russian constitution.

President Mbeki's Zimbabwe Mediation Criticized

South African President Thabo Mbeki's role as a mediator between Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe and the opposition MDC is being criticized.  Mbeki is mandated by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to mediate between the government and the opposition. But some opposition members of South Africa's parliament say President Mbeki has shown leniency and even favoritism toward President Mugabe. 

Wetshotsile Seremane is the spokesman on African affairs for the opposition Democratic Alliance. He explained to VOA why the opposition in South Africa is not pleased with President Mbeki's mediation role.

"The reason is that they are putting conditions for the opposition that they must cease being violent; they must accept that it is a legitimate government. This is very wrong. When you mediate, you don't take sides. You try to equalize the situation. You ask all parties that they must not be violent against each other. But in this case when you tell the victims that they must not be violent, and at the same time they must change their opinion in terms of whether they regard the unfair election that were not free as fraudulent, it is being unfair," he said.

Seremane said the South African opposition perceives President Mbeki's mediation strategy as favoring President Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

"We are not passing judgment. We are saying whatever you do, do it on an even-handed manner. To use the old idiom, what is good for the goose is good for the gander. Don't try and be careless as though you have got a certain bias to others and not to others too," Seremane said.

South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dllamini-Zuma had reportedly told critics to stop taking a war approach to President Mbeki's mediation efforts.

But Seremane described the minister's comments as those of a pseudo-democrat who does not want to use the tenets of democracy.         

"What she is doing, she's being very reckless and childish in a sense that people are dying there. You can report me as saying that it is absolute nonsense and irresponsibility to say all is well let's forget about it. The people are suffering in Zimbabwe, and they are transferring over here. And if we fold our hands, there's going to be trouble in South Africa and the whole southern Africa area will burn," he said.

Seremane said President Mugabe's criticism that some MDC members had been getting training in South Africa to cause trouble in Zimbabwe is typical of most dictators.

"If you look at all dictators, that's cheap propaganda they have been using. Sometime I think that everywhere there is a tonic, it must be an enemy of Africa. As I pointed out, there is a prophetic composer. He said our problem that is in Africa, we keep on complaining that we are suffering. But if we look deep into ourselves, we are our own creator of this suffering because we are afraid to confront each other," Seremane said.

He said it is a figment of President Mugabe's own imagination that Britain or the opposition in South Africa is seeking his overthrow.

"The opposition in South Africa wants Zimbabwe to succeed as it has the potential to be some country that we can be proud of. But power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Now we can say the police have gone out of their minds. If you just say the government is doing this which is wrong, you 're dead. Our Bantustans were just like that," Seremane said.

President Bush Seeks Extension of AIDS Relief Program

United States President, George Bush Wednesday asked Congress to provide an additional 30 billion dollars to be used to fight the worldwide HIV/AIDS epidemic for the next five years. The money is expected to extend the mandate of the President's Emergency Program for AIDS Relief, which is due to expire in September 2008. Mr. Bush also announced his intention to double the initial 15 billion dollar commitment, already considered the largest international health initiative dedicated to a specific disease.

Ambassador Mark Dybul is the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator. From the Washington D.C. he talked with VOA about the significance of President Bush's announcement.

"The significance of President Bush's announcement is that the American people will stand with the people around the world to fight against HIV/AIDS for at least a ten-year period, a decade of compassion generosity and hope. That we will continue to support the expansion of services and continue the services of those receiving them, it means individuals and communities would be transformed. And we are going to do it in way that it continues to support their effort to tackle their efforts that build hope, that creates the environment of hope," Ambassador Dybul said.

He called on the rest of the world to join the United States efforts in fighting the deadly HIV/AIDS disease.

"What we need is for the rest of the world to respond in similar way. With this massive commitment of resources, it is still not enough. We need the rest of the world, both developed and developing countries, particularly middle-income countries to do the same. If they all respond in the same way that the president has done on behalf of the American people, we can tackle this epidemic," he said.

Ambassador Dybul said President Bush's announcement would go a long way in reaching out and helping those living with the disease.

"As President Bush pointed out, we would be able to expand from supporting treatment for two million to two point five million. In fact he announced today (Wednesday) currently, the American people are supporting treatment for one point one million people.  So from this point forward it would more than double the number of people receiving therapy. They would support prevention for 12 million new infections and support care for 10 million, including five million orphans and vulnerable children," he said.

He reiterated the president's initiative would give hope to people living with the HIV/AIDS.

"What that means is will prevent infections so that the parents can stay alive to take care of their children, will take care of people who are suffering from this epidemic and who would otherwise die. HIV/AIDS is a death sentence without care and treatment, what it means is communities will remain whole. What it means is communities would have hope and would continue to tackle not only HIV, but also other problems in their communities… the American people have been there to support people on the ground," he pointed out.

Ambassador Dybul said the president's initiative would be expanding the successes it has so far achieved.

"The president outlined new goals for preventing care and treatment programs and what would we be doing is expanding the great success so far… but that success is working in countries with folks in country from all sectors… to support their efforts to tackle their epidemic, have the American people partner with other people in the world, so that they own their epidemic, and they own their response and have hope because of that," he said.

Ambassador Dybul explained some of the achievements the president had chalked with his initiative.

"President bush has doubled development over all and quadrupled development resources for Africa in his tenure. And so we are going to be connecting with all of the programs that the president has been expanding," he said.

One Million South African Workers Set to Strike Friday

About one million South African public sector workers are set to go on strike Friday demanding higher pay. It would be one of the country's largest strikes in more than a decade.

VOA reporter Delia Robertson is following developments. From Johannesburg, she spoke to VOA English to Africa Service reporter Joe De Capua about the strike.

"There is a bargaining chamber. In other words, it's group bargaining with public sector workers. So, it affects educators. It affects health workers. It affects a whole range of groups of people working for the government. And I think about 19 unions are part of this bargaining chamber," she says.

The main issue is money. "The government has offered a package that includes a six percent pretty much across the board increase. Plus various other elements are included in that package relating to health care and so on. The unions have rejected that offer and are demanding an across the board 12 percent increase," she says. The government has called the union offer too expensive.

Negotiations have had little effect so far. Robertson says, "There have been talks between the government and the unions. And currently they are considering a document as a basis for negotiation I suppose you would call it. Some proposals put forward by technical teams representing both sides. But they won't resume talks until next week and so the strike is scheduled to begin tomorrow (Friday) and this time includes so-called independent unions. These are unions not affiliated to any of the umbrella organizations such as the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). 

American Hostages Released in Nigeria

Four American oil workers kidnapped in Nigeria this month have been released.  Officials confirmed the release Thursday and said the four men have been handed over to their employers.
 
Nigerian officials say no ransom was paid for the release of the hostages.  The new governor of Delta state, Emmanuel Uduaghan, took personal charge of the negotiations and subsequent release of the men.
 
Emma Amanzie, the only journalist who met with the Americans while they were in captivity and who covered their release, says they were very relieved.
 
"They were happy but the signs of the suffering they faced is visible on their faces and their bodies," she said. "For them, they want to rush back as soon as possible, to their families in America.  They are so happy that they are out.  They passed through a lot of things which they cannot just say now.  They are shocked, they are still dazed."
 
More than 40 unidentified gunmen, armed with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, seized the men from a construction vessel off Nigeria's oil-rich southern coast.  Some Nigerian security personnel guarding the facility were hurt in the attack.
 
Growing violence in the Niger Delta has forced a 25 percent drop in petroleum exports from Nigeria, Africa's largest oil exporter.
 

Eight foreign oil workers of different nationalities stand together after being released at Port Harcourt, Nigeria, 3 May 2007

Newly installed President Umaru Yar'Adua has appealed for an end to the violence.  The new leader has promised to tackle the region's long-standing grievances.
 
Nearly 200 foreigners, most of them oil workers, have been kidnapped in the region since the beginning of 2006.

Intel unveils dual-channel TV demodulators

Intel has unveiled its first digital TV dual-channel demodulators housed on a single piece of silicon for the consumer electronics (CE) market segment. The new Intel CE 6250 dual-channel COFDM demodulator and CE 6251 dual-channel diversity-enabled COFDM demodulator expand Intel's CE offerings by allowing manufacturers, such as UK CE manufacturer TVonics, to deliver highly integrated advanced digital home entertainment capabilities for a variety of future consumer entertainment devices, such as personal video recorder set-top boxes (PVR STBs), integrated digital TV (iDTV) and TV-enabled personal computers (PC-TV).

Shipping in excess of 11 million DVB-T demodulator chips in 2006, Intel is building on the performance and power advantages established by its single channel devices.

To meet the needs of the DTV platforms in the European region, the Intel CE 6250 and CE 6251 are fully NorDig Unified 1.0.2 standard compliant.

By operating as two individual channels in a PVR, the Intel CE 6250 demodulator is specifically designed to give consumers the flexibility to watch one program while recording another, including a real-time broadcast picture-in-picture feature in iDTVs instead of a broadcast recording. For PC-TV cards, PCI Express and Mini-TV cards, it allows consumers to watch and record, download and edit TV programs.

The new demodulators use less than 280 mW (milliwatts) for a typical application.

Intel's new dual channel single chip demodulators are currently shipping. These devices are designed in 0.13 CMOS (complementary metal oxide silicon) technology and available in compact 80-pin LQFP (low-profile quad flat pack) measuring just 10 x 10 mm. Intel supports the products with a comprehensive evaluation system that includes a TNIM reference design, evaluation software and PC interface. Source code software device drivers are also available.

US 24-Hour Cable Business Channel to Launch in Africa

U.S. cable television network CNBC is preparing to start the first 24-hour news and information channel dedicated to covering sub-Saharan Africa.

Network officials say CNBC Africa will launch Friday from its main headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa.  The network will also have bureaus in Lagos, Abuja, Nairobi and Cape Town.

The network will emphasize business, economic and financial market news from around the continent.  It says it will also feature live broadcasts from CNBC's Europe, Middle East, Asian and U.S. networks and allow for several hours of local programing.

Network officials say they will present news to Africans from an African perspective.  African governments frequently complain about Western coverage of their continent, saying it focuses too much on negative events such as natural disasters.

CNBC and its affiliates claim to reach more than 200 million households worldwide.

The channel is owned by NBC Universal, the broadcasting unit of U.S.-based General Electric.

WHO Official Says Newer, Better Drugs Needed to Fight TB

It's estimated that one third of the world's population, about two billion people, are infected with TB. About two million die of the disease each year. The head of the WHO's Stop TB Partnership says progress is being made in getting treatment to those in need. But he warns better drugs are needed to fight new forms of tuberculosis.

Marcos Espinal, Stop TB Partnership

Dr. Marcos Espinal says the Stop TB Partnership and the Global Drug Facility, in Geneva, have helped millions of people over the past six years.

"We have been able to put in countries about 10 million treatments for people with tuberculosis, using our grant mechanism and also our direct procurement service. And 78 countries have benefited from the Global Drug Facility, which is basically the main project of the Stop TB Partnership," he says.

The facility provides drugs and supplies needed to diagnose and treat those with TB. It also provides technical assistance for drug management. Poor countries can apply for the aid online or through an e-mail application.

Dr. Espinal says while progress is being made in expanding treatment, new multi-drug and extremely drug-resistant forms of TB have emerged.

"MDR and XDR-TB are probably the most difficult challenge we are facing now, along with the co-infection of HIV. These are the two greatest challenges the international community is facing to address the TB problem. But XDR is even more scary because at the moment we don't have drugs that could fight XDR-TB," he says.

He says XDR-TB results when patients fail to complete the entire course of treatment, which can take up to six months. As a result, a resistance to current medications is developed.

He says, "The best tool we have to fight XDR-TB is preventing XDR by ensuring patients take their first line treatment supplied by the Global Drug facility."

Dr. Espinal is bringing the warning about XDR-TB to US officials.

"This is one of the reasons we're in Washington - to raise awareness. To tell the people of the US that by supporting the Global Drug facility they are supporting the fight against XDR-TB and Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis. Because if we get into a massive epidemic of XDR-TB, we will not be able to solve the problem so easily," he says.

The head of the Stop TB Partnership says new and better TB drugs are expected by 2010, but drugs that work well against XDR-TB may take longer.

USAID, the US Agency for International Development, is one of the major supporters of the partnership and drug facility.

President Bush Reported Ready to Call for Extension of AIDS Relief Program

President Bush is reported ready to ask the U.S. Congress to provide an additional $30 billion towards battling the worldwide HIV/AIDS epidemic.

The Washington Post says says Mr. Bush will make the call during a White House ceremony Wednesday. The money will double the president's initial $15 billion pledge made in his 2003 State of the Union address.

The mandate for the President's Emergency Program for AIDS Relief expires in September 2008. Mr. Bush will ask Congress to extend that for another five years.

Quoting senior administration officials, the newspaper says the increase will provide lifesaving treatment to more than two million people.

The program currently allocates $10 billion to initiatives in 15 "focus countries" that are among most severely affected by AIDS.

The focus countries include the African nations of Botswana, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Guyana, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda, plus Haiti, Guyana and Vietnam.

The other $5 billion is devoted to initiatives in the rest of the developing world, and to support for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.

President Bush Picks Robert Zoellick to Head World Bank

President Bush has nominated former US trade representative Robert Zoellick to be the next president of the World Bank. He would replace Paul Wolfowitz, who's resigning amid controversy over helping his girlfriend get a high paying job.

Robert Zoellick

Zoellick was first considered for the bank post in 2005. He later accepted a job as deputy secretary of state and worked on the Darfur crisis. He then accepted a job with a private investment firm.

Sebastian Mallaby is with the non-partisan Council on Foreign Relations -- and a former correspondent with The Economist and the Washington Post. He spoke to VOA English to Africa Service reporter Joe De Capua about Robert Zoellick's qualifications.

"Bob Zoellick is a good choice in many respects. He has a very quick strategic sense. He was the prime mover in the DOHA round of global trade talks, which as you remember, were focused on developing countries. And so in that process, he demonstrated extreme effectiveness in working with developing countries' ministers of trade and also rich (countries') foreign ministers of trade. And that's the kind of political diplomatic skills you need to get the World Bank out of its current hole and reestablish its credibility worldwide," he says.

Commenting on Zoellick's work at the State Department, Mallaby discusses his efforts to solve the Darfur crisis. He says, "Darfur is almost an impossible problem to fix…. I think he did as good as anyone could do on that issue, frankly. He also when he was at the State Department did a good job on framing the big picture of US/China trade relations."

As for any controversy surround the nomination, he says, "I think there's a lot of people waiting to create controversy because for one reason for another they feel sore about the World Bank. There are people who are on the left who think that the World Bank is too dominated by the United States. They're going to oppose anybody who's put in there by the United States. There are people on the right who say that the World Bank is unnecessary because private capital markets can deliver money to developing countries these days."

Asked why Zoellick was not chosen in 2005 instead of Wolfowitz, he says that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had requested Zoellick take the job as her strong right hand man.

New Report Says Promises of Gleneagles Summit Unfulfilled

As the G8 summit in Germany approaches, a new report's been released saying G8 countries have failed to fulfill the promises they made two years ago.

The group ActionAid says many commitments were made to poor countries at the Gleneagles summit in Scotland. The new report is entitled "Merkel's Moment," which is named after the host of this year's summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Collins Magalasi is head of ActionAid's South Africa country program. From Lilongwe, Malawi, he spoke to VOA English to Africa Service reporter Joe De Capua.

"The 2007 report is very specific about the relationship between what is happening on the ground and what the G8 had promised and what they have managed to contribute to that. Because this is a time when the G8 credibility on Africa is on the line because according to their agenda, Africa is their main topic of discussion. And so far they have to show that they're serious…particularly in the relation to HIV and AIDS, where 8,000 people die every day while the G8 are going to be meeting," he says.

What's more, he says, "The other reason we have produced that report is we're building on the publicity that was built around the G8 Gleneagles declaration. In 2005, they had promised to increase by $50 billion in the aid that they contribute to developing countries. In 2006, a year later, in fact what they had released was even less than what they had promised to do a year before that. And here we are in 2007, we are saying the G8 must come back on track because there are still funding gaps."

He singles out Germany, France and Italy as the top three in not meeting their aid promises. Magalasi says Chancellor Merkel has the opportunity to readdress the promises that were made in 2005.

Britain's Blair Says Farewell in Sierra Leone

British Prime Minister Tony Blair continues his farewell tour of Africa in Sierra Leone Wednesday, the second stop in his three-country tour. The impoverished in west African country is where the prime minister is widely credited with ending a brutal 10-year civil war. Naomi Schwarz has more from VOA's West Africa bureau in Dakar.

Tony Blair (file photo)

British Prime Minister Tony Blair received a warm reception in Sierra Leone, a country that credits the prime minister with turning the tide in its brutal civil war and bringing an end to the 10-year nightmare.

In thanks, representatives of Sierra Leone's 149 paramount chiefs, local traditional rulers in the former British colony, will name Mr. Blair one of their own at a ceremony in the township of Mahera. In addition he will receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Sierra Leone.

As Mr. Blair considers his legacy after he steps down next month, Patrick Smith, editor of British-based Africa Confidential says Mr. Blair may hope people will remember his role in ending the Sierra Leone conflict.

"Sending the British troops into Sierra Leone in 2000 was regarded almost unequivocally as a foreign policy success," said Smith. "Three years later when he sent the troops into Iraq and Afghanistan it has been regarded almost unequivocally as a foreign policy failure. So he probably has a bit of nostalgia for Sierra Leone because of that."

Frances Fortune, with Sierra Leone non-governmental organization Search for Common Ground, says Sierra Leoneans have not forgotten the role the British played.

"England is Sierra Leone's best friend," she said. "Sierra Leoneans are very grateful to the support that the United Kingdom has given to the country to help them deal with the war and the aftermath of the war."

Britain has long had a close relationship with the West African nation founded with British help by freed slaves in the 1700s. Africa Confidential editor Smith says Mr. Blair also has personal ties in the country.

"Blair's own family had strong ties to Sierra Leone. His father was an examiner at the Furrow Bay College, which was one of the earliest universities in West Africa," added Smith. "So I think he has both the national and personal ties to Sierra Leone."

Search for Common Ground's Fortune says Sierra Leoneans hope the new leaders in Britain will continue to support development in Sierra Leone. She says infrastructure, particularly roads and electricity, is still lacking, and this impedes growth.

"If we are going to be able to attract investors we need to tackle some of the very larger issues that are limiting the ability of investors to come here and work effectively," said Fortune.

She said the country is also working hard to combat corruption and poverty.

'World Music' Celebrates 20 Years

The term "world music" is being used to loosely describe non-Western music that was previously described as "folk music" or "ethnic music". Reporting for VOA from London, Tendai Maphosa reports world music also includes modern, cutting edge pop music styles from various regions of the world.

Twenty years ago a group of British record company executives got together in London and coined the term "world music" to describe music other than mainstream western pop. They were frustrated by the fact that a growing number of people interested in music "from out there," as some describe it, could not find it because record stores did not know how to file and categorize it.

The editor of fRoots magazine, Ian Anderson, told VOA that World Music was, and still is, no more than a bin in a record shop.

"All it ever was was a way of creating opportunities [that] could be heard by people," he said. "Nobody ever suggested there was a thing called "World Music." In fact at the first meeting we tried to find the term that included the most things and excluded the least, so Tropical because that missed out ... Ethnic was boring or World Beat because that left out stuff that did not have drums."

Anderson added none of those responsible for creating the term ever imagined world music would become such accepted currency in most parts of the West. He said artists who otherwise were not given any respect in their own countries are now looked at differently after touring or doing the World Music Festival circuit. And having a World Music section in most record stores has resulted in higher sales.

An unidentified Nigerian man plays African drums at a show to mark 2006 World Music Day in Lagos, Nigeria

The term has also been adopted by the BBC to recognize the efforts of local musicians around the world. Its sixth-annual Awards for World Music honored the best local music from five geographical categories: Africa, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and North Africa, and Europe.

For example, Canadian-based Somali rapper K'Naan was honored as newcomer of the year. K'Naan was born in Mogadishu and escaped from Somalia to Canada with his family.

The winner of the Asia-Pacific category was India's slide-guitar maestro Debashish Bhattacharya. He said world music has given him a platform to promote his art.

"I have [a] different variety of inspiration in my life, but this is a special inspiration when I am working to bring Indian raga music into the world genre since ... the last 15 years," he said.

But not everyone agrees with the use of the term. Some musicians say music is music, and their records should be filed along with western music not separated.

Former Talking Heads front man David Byrne launched one of the most scathing attacks on the term in a 1999 article headlined "I Hate World Music." He accused its creators of "ghettoizing" the music.

Anderson dismisses the musicians who resent the use of the term, saying it has not harmed the careers of good musicians. As for Byrne, his record label Luaka Bop now uses the term on its Web site, so he may have changed his mind.

French singer Agnes Jaoui (2ndR) performs after being awarded Best World Music Album of the Year during 22nd "Victoires de la Musique" (French Music Awards) ceremony in Paris, 10 March 2007

But the term is hardly used or even known in most of the places where the music it describes originates.

Yusuf Mahmoud, who promotes a festival of traditional Zanzibari music, and Hildegard Kiel, who runs a music school on the island, are trying to revive interest in Zanzibari traditional music, which was falling out of favor as people preferred western music.

"The term 'world music' seems to be something, which is kind of understood perhaps in different ways by the foreign visitors to the island, particularly from Europe and also maybe North America, but for Tanzanian people I can honestly say the term 'world music' means nothing," Mahmoud said.

Mahmoud and Kiel were also among those given awards by the BBC's Radio 3, as was the late Malian king of the desert blues, Ali Farka Toure, who won two Grammies before he died of cancer in 2006.

WHO Official Says Newer, Better Drugs Needed to Fight TB

It's estimated that one third of the world's population, about two billion people, are infected with TB. About two million die of the disease each year. The head of the WHO's Stop TB Partnership says progress is being made in getting treatment to those in need. But he warns better drugs are needed to fight new forms of tuberculosis.

Marcos Espinal, Stop TB Partnership

Dr. Marcos Espinal says the Stop TB Partnership and the Global Drug Facility, in Geneva, have helped millions of people over the past six years.

"We have been able to put in countries about 10 million treatments for people with tuberculosis, using our grant mechanism and also our direct procurement service. And 78 countries have benefited from the Global Drug Facility, which is basically the main project of the Stop TB Partnership," he says.

The facility provides drugs and supplies needed to diagnose and treat those with TB. It also provides technical assistance for drug management. Poor countries can apply for the aid online or through an e-mail application.

Dr. Espinal says while progress is being made in expanding treatment, new multi-drug and extremely drug-resistant forms of TB have emerged.

"MDR and XDR-TB are probably the most difficult challenge we are facing now, along with the co-infection of HIV. These are the two greatest challenges the international community is facing to address the TB problem. But XDR is even more scary because at the moment we don't have drugs that could fight XDR-TB," he says.

He says XDR-TB results when patients fail to complete the entire course of treatment, which can take up to six months. As a result, a resistance to current medications is developed.

He says, "The best tool we have to fight XDR-TB is preventing XDR by ensuring patients take their first line treatment supplied by the Global Drug facility."

Dr. Espinal is bringing the warning about XDR-TB to US officials.

"This is one of the reasons we're in Washington - to raise awareness. To tell the people of the US that by supporting the Global Drug facility they are supporting the fight against XDR-TB and Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis. Because if we get into a massive epidemic of XDR-TB, we will not be able to solve the problem so easily," he says.

The head of the Stop TB Partnership says new and better TB drugs are expected by 2010, but drugs that work well against XDR-TB may take longer.

USAID, the US Agency for International Development, is one of the major supporters of the partnership and drug facility.

Nigerians Hope for More Gasoline with New Government

Many Nigerians hope their new president, Umaru Yar'Adua, will urgently address the issue of gasoline scarcity after he is sworn in today.  Even though Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer, massive exports and poor refineries mean Nigerians often face long lines when trying to get gasoline for themselves. VOA's Nico Colombant reports from the main southern oil-producing city, Port Harcourt.

It is the rainy season, right now here in the oil-rich but gasoline-poor Niger Delta. The mud is not making long lines at gas stations any easier.

In Nigeria people wait in long lines for gasoline

Motorists and motorcyclists wake up early and battle traffic to try to get their hands on gasoline at this station. It offers some of the cheapest prices in town.

But the wait can be costly, according to a taxi driver who blames the government. "Many of us now are supposed to be making the money and we are using that time here on this line. They are supposed to look after this for us."

People are also late getting to work.

Nigeria is Africa's biggest producer of oil, yet because most of the crude is exported and the country's refineries are in a very bad shape, this situation is not unusual. 

The unfortunate irony is not lost on Maurice Piebe. "Why are we suffering in abundance of natural resources?" he asks.  "This is a serious case and pathetic really."

Some of the motorists are used to long lines, but they say it has not been this bad in a long time.  One man who says his full name is Obi believes it is a bad sign as a new government is about to take office. "We produce oil here.  We have refineries and they do not work.  I do not think it is a good omen.  It is quite unfortunate," he says.

When the wait is too long, some, like Ima King, just give up. "I will use legs and go to where I parked my car. I cannot drive any further. The car is empty."

Others try to get some illegal gasoline sold on the side of the road. Quality must be tested by dipping a finger into what is for sale. It is not always good gasoline.

Illegal gasoline is sold roadside to motorists

A seller prefers to remain unnamed since he is doing something illegal. He explains the price is double or even triple the cost in the local naira currency than at normal stations. One dollar is about 125 naira. "I would like to sell at 1500 [naira] per liter.  Twenty liters for 2500 [naira].  It is a black market."

To make matters worse right now, refinery workers are protesting the recent privatization of several of Nigeria's refineries. They say they were not properly consulted and that the process was not transparent.

Government officials say privatization is needed to make the refineries more efficient, and to attract more private investment into producing gasoline for the local Nigerian market.

But unions are threatening a long shutdown of the refineries if negotiations do not make progress, and the privatization scheme is not reviewed.

Union leader Adamu Abubakar Umaru, says he understands this could make lines even longer, but that ordinary Nigerians, must understand it is for everyone's good. "We are doing it for the interest of the common man. And for the common man, it is painful. They will suffer for our actions."

In the meantime, many gas stations simply run out of gas, making a dire situation even worse, and bringing lots of internal economic activity to a standstill.

APEC to Push For Cleaner Technology Instead of Carbon Trading to Combat Climate Change

Ministers from members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum - known as APEC - have decided at a meeting in Australia that development of clean energy technologies should take priority over a carbon-trading system. The conference being held in the northern city of Darwin will help officials set the agenda for an APEC leaders' summit in Sydney later this year. From Sydney, Phil Mercer reports.

A handout picture shows the towers in what part of the world's biggest solar power plant will look like to be located near Mildura in the north-east of the Australian state of Victoria (October 2006)

Climate change will be a key issue at September's APEC summit, which will bring together leaders of some of the world's largest economies - and some of the worst polluters.

At a meeting in Darwin Wednesday, APEC energy ministers decided that developing clean technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is more important to the world's climate at this stage than a so-called carbon-trading system.

Carbon trading sets limits, for both companies and whole countries, on emissions of carbon dioxide, one of the key greenhouse gases thought to be contributing to climate change. The system also puts a price on carbon emissions, providing a financial incentive for firms to clean up pollution: if they have leftover emission allocation, they can sell it to others like a commodity.

U.S. representatives, however, argued that such a system would be difficult to introduce given the vastly different circumstances among APEC's 21 members, which include the U.S., China, Japan, and a host of smaller economies from Asia and Latin America.

Australian Industry Minister Ian MacFarlane says cleaning up coal-fired power stations, which accounts for most power generation in Australia, is a priority.

"We need to develop and adopt a mix of cleaner stationary power generation technology and energy efficiency and conservation," he said.

The energy ministers' meeting in Darwin is one of a series held by APEC officials that will set the agenda for the September summit in Sydney.

The Australian government is planning a major advertising campaign to boost it environmental credentials ahead of national elections later this year.

Australia, like the U.S., has refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, which sets national limits on carbon emissions. Canberra has insisted that ratifying the treaty would damage the country's coal-driven economy - but insists that Australia is still meeting its international environmental obligations.

Australia nevertheless is one of the worst polluters in the developed world. A recent study showed that its greenhouse emissions have been rising far faster than the global average.

US, Chinese Officials Discuss Difficult North Korean Funds Issue

The chief U.S. negotiator on North Korea's nuclear programs has been meeting with Chinese officials in Beijing to try to resolve problems in transferring money from a Macau bank to North Korea. Pyongyang has refused to resume six-nation talks on its nuclear weapons program until it has possession of the $25 million in the previously frozen accounts, and the U.S. official stays it still might take some time. Daniel Schearf reports from Beijing.

Christopher Hill talking to reporters in Beijing, 30 May 2007

Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill met Wednesday with his Chinese counterpart to six-nation talks, Wu Dawei, to see if they can find a way to transfer the money and resume negotiations to end North Korea's nuclear programs.

The six nations, which include also South Korea, Russia, and Japan, agreed in February to a preliminary timetable for North Korea's nuclear disarmament. The deal included North Korea shutting down its main nuclear reactor by mid-April, but that deadline passed with no action because the transfer was stalled. Pyongyang says it will not act until it has its money in hand.

The funds are in several North Korean accounts at Macau's Banco Delta Asia. They were frozen in 2005 on U.S. suspicions that the bank was aiding North Korean money laundering and counterfeiting.

After meeting Chinese officials Wednesday, Hill told reporters it has been difficult for any bank to move the money because of legal concerns and regulatory issues.

"I know that it's hard to believe that something technical can go on for a couple months," he said. "But it really is a technical matter, which cannot just be solved though political means, but rather needs a complex set of technical solutions which involves several agencies of government on our side. So, it's not easy."

The issue of the funds has bedeviled the disarmament process for almost two years now. After the accounts were frozen, Pyongyang boycotted the negotiations, and last October, it tested a nuclear explosive.

The North Koreans were persuaded to return to talks after the U.S. said it would work to free the Macau funds. It did so earlier this year, but still hasn't figured out how to transfer the money to North Korea.

North Korea Stays Mum on Nuclear Weapons as Talks Open With South

North and South Korea have formally opened high-level talks in Seoul, but delegates from the North are remaining silent so far about Pyongyang's commitment to dismantle its nuclear programs. VOA's Kurt Achin reports from the South Korean capital.

South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung, left, walks with North Korea's delegation chief Kwon Ho Ung, 30 May 2007

At Wednesday's opening session of minister-level talks between the two Koreas, South Korea told the North the two countries' relationship depends on Pyongyang implementing a promise it made in February to begin shutting down its nuclear weapons program.

Koh Kyoung-bin is a spokesman for South Korea's Unification Ministry.

Koh says in Wednesday's opening remarks, South Korean delegates told the North that mutual trust and cooperation is linked to Pyongyang's implementation of the February nuclear agreement.

Pyongyang promised during talks in Beijing with South Korea, Russia, China, Japan and the United States that it would shut down its main nuclear production facility within 60 days.

That deadline passed without action more than a month and a half ago, however, with Pyongyang citing a technical banking issue involving funds frozen in a Macau bank as the reason for its delay.

Spokesman Koh says the North Korean delegates made no mention whatsoever of the nuclear issue in their opening remarks Wednesday.

He says the only verbal references of any kind to the nuclear issue at the Wednesday morning session came from the South Korean side.

North Korea also did not initially bring up a South Korean promise of massive aid in the form of rice and light industrial supplies. South Korean officials have said they would delay shipping that aid until Pyongyang starts implementing the February agreement.

Instead, North Korea spoke favorably about the range of inter-Korean joint projects that have been established since the two countries held their first and only summit in 2000. Koh says the North Korean delegates urged the South to keep inter-Korean relations independent of influence from "outside powers."

He says the North Koreans called on the South to stop antagonizing the North by staging joint military drills with the United States.

The United States stations about 28,000 troops here in South Korea to deter a repeat of North Korea's 1950 invasion. The three-year war that resulted from that invasion has never come to a formal end: fighting was halted by a "temporary" armistice in 1953.

Venezuelans Protest Shutdown of Private TV Station

Venezuela's replacement of a popular opposition television station with a new state-backed network drew fierce criticism that President Hugo Chavez is curtailing democratic freedoms. Demonstrators, including university students, gathered at several locations in Caracas Monday after Radio Caracas Television ceased broadcasting and was replaced with a new state-funded channel. Venezuelan security forces have fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters. Injuries were reported. In Caracas, VOA's Brian Wagner reports angry crowds protested across the capital Monday.

The state-backed Venezuelan Social Television began operations shortly after midnight, occupying the same frequency used by Radio Caracas Television. Communications officials had ordered the private station to hand over control for its transmitting equipment, after refusing to renew RCTV's public broadcasting license.

The new station's inaugural broadcast included traditional Venezuelan song and dance and a statement from the station's president, Lil Rodriguez.

Rodriguez says Venezuela has emerged as a self-respecting nation and now it has a new resource to broadcast messages of dignity for the nation and its people.

Promotional material for the new station said programming will include news, sports, soap operas and documentaries aimed at embracing pluralism and cultural diversity in the nation. Some of the programs broadcast Monday included cartoons and documentaries about rural areas and farming projects in the nation.

RCTV executives have condemned the decision to remove the private station from public airwaves and have vowed to challenge the move in the courts. Critics held marches late Sunday outside the National Telecommunications Commission to oppose the government's decision. Police said 11 officers were injured in clashes with protesters.

Demonstrators in Caracas protest government's closing of Radio Caracas Television, 28 May 2007

RCTV employees and university students staged protests Monday in parts of the city to criticize what they say is an attack on free speech. Bank worker Marycel Montiel said she joined one protest to denounce the authoritarian policies of President Chavez.

Montiel says the closing of RCTV is an affront to free speech in Venezuela, and compared it to measures taken in Cuba. She says the Venezuelan people do not want the nation to become another Cuba; they want freedom.

The European Union's German presidency Monday expressed concern about the government's failure to hold and open competition for the TV license and said it expects Mr. Chavez to uphold freedom of speech.

Supporters of television station Radio Caracas Television, RCTV, protest in Caracas, 26 May 2007

Meanwhile, Information Minister Willian Lara warned of possible legal measures against other media outlets for alleged political attacks on the government. In a press conference, Lara accused U.S. broadcaster CNN and Venezuelan cable network Globovision of using video images to create subliminal messages and false information. He says officials may file lawsuits in Venezuelan courts and abroad against the broadcasters.

Globovision chief Alberto Federico Ravell rejected the charges as ridiculous and baseless.