Radio Havana Cuba-11 August 2000 20:00 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 11 August 2000 20:00 *SECOND INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY MEETING SET FOR NOVEMBER *INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON GERMAN SCIENTIST ALEJANDRO HUMBOLDT PLANNED *MATANZAS REGISTERS INCREASE IN THE ARRIVAL OF FOREIGN VISITORS *CONFEDERATION OF CUBAN WOMEN MARKS ITS 40TH ANNIVERSARY THIS MONTH *JAPANESE DESIGNER JUNKO JOSHINO PRESENTS SUMMER FASHION IN HAVANA *Viewpoint: THE US STAR WARS PROJECT IS A THREAT TO THE WORLD *SECOND INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY MEETING SET FOR NOVEMBER Havana, August 11(RHC)- The Cuban capital will be the site of the 2nd International Meeting of Solidarity with Cuba, set for November. More than 4000 experts, representing five continents, have confirmed their attendance. The event is sponsored by the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, ICAP. ICAP president, Sergio Corrieri, stressed that this year's meeting is certainly better organized, though it will be held under very difficult circumstances, due to Washington's continued economic war against Cuba. During a fraternal encounter with members of the visiting 7th Latin American and Caribbean Solidarity with Cuba Brigade, Corrieri explained some of Cuba's strategies in its defense against the blockade and all U.S. anti-Cuba laws, including the Helm-Burton and Torricelli Laws and the so-called Cuban Adjustment Act. *INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON GERMAN SCIENTIST ALEJANDRO HUMBOLDT PLANNED Guantanamo, August 11(RHC)- Experts from eight countries will participate in an International Conference on the life and work of renowned German scientist Alejandro Humboldt, set for September 23rd through the 28th in the eastern Cuban province of Guantanamo. The event is to mark the 200th anniversary of Humboldt's first visit to Cuba. The scientist traveled extensively throughout the island. Researchers from Mexico, Uruguay, Colombia, Nicaragua, Vietnam, Germany, Barbados and Cuba attending the gathering will discuss methods to protect the environment. Delegations from some foreign institutions have also confirmed their attendance, including UNESCO's Regional Office and German universities in Munich, Magdeburg and Rostock. The event's agenda also includes a visit to a National Park in the eastern city of Baracoa, named after the German scientist. The park, a biodiversity center, is a candidate to be named a World Heritage site by the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization organization, UNESCO. The park occupies half the territory of the Cuchillas del Toa, one of Cuba's six biosphere reserves. The event is sponsored by the provincial office of Cuba's Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment, Germany's Humboldt University and a variety of German non-governmental organizations. *MATANZAS REGISTERS INCREASE IN THE ARRIVAL OF FOREIGN VISITORS Matanzas, August 11(RHC)- The central Cuban province of Matanzas has registered an increase in foreign visitors over the past few weeks, with record numbers for this time of year, particularly visitors to the world famous Varadero beach resort and the Zapata Swamp. In Varadero, alone, the number of tourists registered per evening last week was 3000 more compared to the same period last year. The countries with the largest numbers of visitors in tourism facilities in Matanzas are Germany and Canada, followed by Italy, France and Spain. *CONFEDERATION OF CUBAN WOMEN MARKS ITS 40TH ANNIVERSARY THIS MONTH Havana, August 11(RHC)- Cuban Communist Party Political Bureau Member Jose Ramon Machado Ventura praised the work of the Confederation of Cuban Women, the FMC, throughout the island. During an activity involving FMC leaders to mark the organization's 40th anniversary next August 23rd, Machado Ventura gave special recognition to the FMC's work in 30 territories where the women's organization has achieved positive results in areas such as production and women's participation in the Revolution. The FMC rank and file consists of more than 3,600,000 Cuban women. *JAPANESE DESIGNER JUNKO JOSHINO PRESENTS SUMMER FASHION IN HAVANA Havana, August 11 (RHC)-- Japanese designer Junko Joshino presented her summer fashion collection at Havana's Hotel Nacional on Friday. The exhibition is sponsored by Japan Airlines, marking the inauguration of an air link between the Japanese city of Osaka and Havana earlier this month. Also co-sponsoring the event are Cuba's Ministries of Culture and Tourism along with La Maison Fashion Institute. Cuban tourism authorities, representing Cubanacan S.A., say that if things work out, the air link between Osaka and Havana could become a regular flight route by next November. *Viewpoint: THE US STAR WARS PROJECT IS A THREAT TO THE WORLD The recent failures of the tests on the interceptor missiles that are to make up the U.S.'s anti missile program, is a clear demonstration that the system's defensive security is far from perfect. The disastrous results force one to reflect on the true value of the expensive anti ballistic missile project. The destructive power of just one of its nuclear warheads is enough to cause enormous devastation. Such an arms race would force many governments to dedicate large amounts of resources, in an effort to balance the nuclear playing field, rather than allocating money to much needed social programs. Even if the rest of the missiles launched in a single attack were intercepted and destroyed, the consequences could be horrendous if you take into account that just one of the warheads is dozens of times more destructive than the atomic bombs that were dropped 55 years ago over the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And it is only logical to assume that it won't be just one warhead that would penetrate the sophisticated protective shield, which, like all human inventions, is not exempt from deficiencies and errors. If Washington ever used the system, the countries destroyed would be unable to continue buying weapons from the U.S.'s huge military-industrial complex. Those nations would be sent back into the Stone Age if showered by the system's nuclear warheads. Not long ago, Cuban President Fidel Castro likened the planet to a collective ship, in which all nations are sailing, the good and the bad, the powerful and the weak, the rich and the poor, the exploited and the exploiters. If that ship were to sink, he said, we would all go down together. For the majority of humanity, in the Third World, which includes more than 100 countries steeped in poverty, dying of preventable diseases and lacking the most basic needs for development, death by nuclear attack would be just one more horror to face. Most people know about the environmental damage that would be caused by a nuclear war, but if such a war broke out today, the damage would be equal to a thousand years of environmental destruction at current rates. (c) 2000 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. 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