Radio Havana Cuba-15 February 2002 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 15 Febuary 2002 . *UNICEF NOTES CUBA'S ACHIEVEMENTS IN CHILD CARE *US-CUBA SISTER CITY ASSOCIATION MEETS IN HAVANA NEXT WEEK *OLIVER STONE ARRIVES IN HAVANA *BUSH EMISSIONS PLAN CALLED A SWEETHEART DEAL FOR CORPORATE POLLUTERS *RIFT DEEPENS BETWEEN WASHINGTON AND ITS ALLIES *EX-ENRON EMPLOYEES SEEKING JUSTICE GET BACKING, BUT RESTITUTION UNLIKELY *ACTIVISTS WANT US CONGRESS TO TRIPLE ASSISTANCE FOR FIGHT AGAINST AIDS *WORLD COURT DELIVERS DEATH BLOW TO ATTEMPTS TO PUT SHARON ON TRIAL *Viewpoint: LETTING THE GLACIERS MELT AND ROME BURN . *UNICEF NOTES CUBA'S ACHIEVEMENTS IN CHILD CARE Havana, February 15 (RHC)--In its annual report on the State of the World's Children, the United Nations Children's Fund places Cuba among the top ten countries with the lowest infant mortality rate. According to the UNICEF report -- using figures gathered at the close of the year 2000 -- Cuba was in sixth place with a mortality rate of seven deaths for every 1000 live births. Observers pointed out that last year's infant mortality rate dropped to a record low of 6.2 -- placing Cuba in the top three nations of the world. The UN report confirms that Cuba has a lower infant mortality rate than the United States, which weighs in with eight for every 1000 births. On the other end of the spectrum, UNICEF lists Sierra Leone with a staggering figure of 316 infant deaths; Angola with 295 children who die before the age of one; and Afghanistan with an infant mortality rate of 257. In other areas related to childcare, the annual report on the State of the World's Children shows that 96 percent of all children in Cuba are immunized against preventable disease. And the report published by the United Nations Children's Fund shows that 94 percent of all school-aged children attend classes in Cuba, where education -- up to and including university -- is free-of-charge. *US-CUBA SISTER CITY ASSOCIATION MEETS IN HAVANA NEXT WEEK Havana, February 15 (RHC)--The U.S.-Cuba Sister City Association (USCSCA) will hold a weeklong meeting in the Cuban capital next week. The conference, "Building Bilateral Relations: A Continuous Conversation," will get underway on Sunday, February 17th, and run through the 24th. Delegates will discuss a series of issues including how to incorporate food and medicine into their work, the development of truly mutually beneficial programs and the impact of current U.S.-Cuba relations. Sister city relations already exist between Santa Clara and Bloomington, Indiana; Camagüey and Madison, Wisconsin; Havana and Mobile, Alabama; Santiago de Cuba and Oakland, California; Matanzas and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Cienfuegos and Tacoma, Washington. According to Lisa Valanti, USCSCA president, the organization's mission is "to foster sister-city relationships" and understanding through mutually beneficial exchanges between individuals, community groups, organizations and institutions in the United States with their Cuban counterparts. The first sister-city link was established between Cuba's capital and Mobile, Alabama in 1993. Since then several delegations of scholars, artists, religious figures and musicians have traveled between the two cities -- making it possible for an exchange between people of similar interests. Lisa Valanti noted that after the events of September 11th, it is more important than ever to demonstrate a solid commitment to breaking the isolation that both countries have suffered for over 40 years. The president of the U.S.-Cuba Sister City Association said that establishing relations between cities and towns in the U.S. and Cuba is one concrete way for ordinary U.S. citizens to work within their hometowns and demonstrate the majority willingness of the people to normalize diplomatic relations." Organizers of the conference noted that the first state-province agreement, as well as new sister city agreements, would be signed during next week's meeting in the Cuban capital. *OLIVER STONE ARRIVES IN HAVANA Havana, February 15 (RHC)--U.S. film director Oliver Stone is here in the Cuban capital on a working-visit. According to an article in this morning's edition of Granma newspaper, the internationally acclaimed movie director has his sights focussed on making a documentary about Cuba. Speaking with reporters in Havana during a previous trip to the island, Oliver Stone said he has long been interested in producing a movie about Cuba -- which is now confirmed by his current visit to Havana. Over the years, Cuban moviegoers have enjoyed award-winning films by Oliver Stone -- from "Platoon," which was highly critical of Washington's war of aggression against Vietnam, to "JFK," which raised serious questions about the lone-gunman theory in the 1963 assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. *BUSH EMISSIONS PLAN CALLED A SWEETHEART DEAL FOR CORPORATE POLLUTERS Washington, February 15 (RHC)--US President George W. Bush has come under intense fire around the world following his announcement of an alternative gas emissions reduction plan that critics say does not constitute a reduction and is a gift to big business. The Sierra Club accused Bush of using Valentine's Day to give a sweetheart deal to the corporate polluters that funded his campaign. Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope said the Bush administration is sticking to the pollution policies that the energy industry asked for rather than taking the sensible steps that can protect our health. Greenpeace charged that his announced "voluntary" gas emissions reduction plan was written, paid for and delivered by Exxon, and will leave the United States with an increase in emissions of 25 to 30 percent higher than 1990 levels by the year 2010. House Democrat Dick Gephardt said the plan reveals the Bush administration's greater interest in giving assistance to corporate special interests than in achieving genuine reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, while Henry Waxman - a member of the House caucus on climate change - said the plan will make the books of the scandal-ridden Enron firm look honest in comparison. Corporations will not be obliged to meet the targets set in the Bush plan, nor will they have to disclose what progress they make to a central emissions registry, in which participation will also be voluntary. Eileen Claussens, president of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, called the announcement "business as usual." As he announced last year, the president did not include carbon dioxide on the list of restricted emissions, contrary to a pledge made during the 2000 elections. The French government's intergovernmental task force on global warming called the Bush proposals "window dressing" that lack credibility. Britain's Institute for Public Policy Research asserted that Britain has proved that you can cut emissions and still have a healthy economy, that there was no inextricable link between toxic gas emissions and economic growth. Thus far, the only country that has praised Bush's so-called "clean air and clear skies" initiative is Australia. *RIFT DEEPENS BETWEEN WASHINGTON AND ITS ALLIES Washington, Brussels, Moscow, February 15 (RHC)--As US officials in the White House and the Pentagon continue insisting on unilateral action to topple the government of Iraq, the split between Washington and its allies continues to grow. Secretary of State Colin Powell, widely considered the most moderate member of the Bush cabinet, Thursday said the US has to preserve the option to act alone. Thursday evening, senior Pentagon official Richard Perle confirmed that the US was prepared to topple Saddam Hussein with or without the backing of Washington's allies. Perle is chairman of the defense policy board and considered an influential Washington hawk. The remarks led European Union external affairs commissioner Chris Patten, who last weekend issued a scathing criticism of what he called Washington's "absolutist and simplistic" foreign policy, to return to the fray, charging that the, in his words, US "instinct" for unilateralism is profoundly misguided. He told the "Financial Times" that the US success in Afghanistan has perhaps reinforced some dangerous instincts, which, he said are the projection of military power as the only basis for security, the US's reliance on no one but itself, and the belief that allies may be useful as an optional extra. Even Britain, Washington's staunchest European ally, said the point hasn't been reached where action should be taken against Iraq. Canadian Foreign Minister Bill Graham, who Thursday met with Powell in Washington, criticized the US administration's bellicose tone, stressing that invading a sovereign nation for no reason will lead to international chaos. Russian President Vladimir Putin said the United States has no ground for extending the war on terrorism to Iraq. He said: "We know which nation's representatives and citizens were fighting alongside the Taliban and where their activities were financed from, and Iraq is not on this list." Even before Bush's "axis of evil" speech, Arab governments had said they would not support an attack on Iraq. *EX-ENRON EMPLOYEES SEEKING JUSTICE GET BACKING, BUT RESTITUTION UNLIKELY Houston, Texas, February 15 (RHC)--US civil rights leader, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, and the AFL-CIO labor federation have given their backing to ex-Enron employees in Houston fighting to obtain fair severance pay. 4,500 former employees of the scandal-ridden firm have appealed to a bankruptcy court to approve severance pay totaling 100 million dollars. Jackson said he hoped creditors would be merciful and sensitive to these workers' plight, saying they are not asking for a bailout or a handout, but rather, what should rightfully be theirs. They lost their jobs, pensions and savings when the firm collapsed, while some senior executives with inside information are believed to have cashed in their share options right before the collapse - netting millions of dollars. Former Enron employee Debra Johnson said that while a few executives got midnight wire transfers of more than a million dollars, thousands of her colleagues can't afford health care and face eviction from their apartments. But according to Houston lawyer Rhett Campbell, though the former employees are being treated unfairly and Enron should pay everyone in full, the bankrupt firm simply can't pay. Enron went down with 40 billion dollars of debt, and ex-employees will have to fight with creditors such as large banks, trading partners and bondholders. While lawmakers who have spent two intense weeks of congressional committee hearings to find out what went wrong at Enron say they are determined to apportion blame and ensure that the scandal is not repeated at other companies, they are powerless to bring back the lost money. *ACTIVISTS WANT US CONGRESS TO TRIPLE ASSISTANCE FOR FIGHT AGAINST AIDS Washington, February 15 (RHC)--Some 200 US and foreign health and relief groups have called on the US Congress to triple the amount of assistance to the fight against AIDS that the White House proposed for fiscal year 2003. The groups include prestigious organizations like Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, and some three dozen church-related agencies. They sent letters to every member of Congress arguing that Washington should contribute at least 2.5 billion dollars to the anti-AIDS fight overseas next year - one quarter of the yearly amount which the United Nations estimates is the minimum necessary to contain the disease. The letter insisted that without bold investment now, projections are that 100 million people will become infected by 2007, and that AIDS and its related causes in Africa, Asia, and elsewhere threaten to destabilize nations and undermine global security. The statement was issued as the first in a series of congressional hearings on AIDS got underway before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which also met informally with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan Wednesday to hear his own appeal for increased support in the fight against AIDS. Annan told US lawmakers that this is not just a health issue, but also an economic and security issue. Washington intends to spend roughly 575 million dollars this year in bilateral anti-AIDS programs, but AIDS activists insist that the amount is far too little given the size of the US economy compared to that of other donors. Paul Zeitz, co-director of the Washington-based Global AIDS Alliance, said that relative to the size of the US economy, Washington is giving far less to the fight than other donors. The groups have expressed particular outrage at Bush's proposal for next year's budget: a contribution of only 200 million dollars to the Global Fund, and another 644 million to diverse bilateral anti-AIDS programs. *WORLD COURT DELIVERS DEATH BLOW TO ATTEMPTS TO PUT SHARON ON TRIAL Brussels, February 15 (RHC)--The International Court at the Hague has issued a ruling that observers say has sounded the death knell for a Belgian attempt to try Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for war crimes. The court of justice, also known as the World Court, ruled that Belgium had no right to issue an arrest warrant on charges of rights abuse against a former Congolese minister because as a serving minister he was immune from prosecution before foreign national courts. A Belgian Foreign Ministry spokesman said the ruling would most likely result in Belgium's dropping its case against Sharon in the 1982 massacre of hundreds of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon's Sabra and Shatila refugee camps while he was Israeli defense minister. Survivors of the atrocities have started legal proceedings against him in Belgium, where under a 1993 law foreign nationals can, exceptionally, be tried for war crimes committed abroad. Sharon ordered the Israeli army into Lebanon, where according to charges he allowed his Lebanese Christian allies to run amok in the refugee camps, slaughtering hundreds in cold blood. A Belgian judge was due to rule whether the case should go to trial on March 6, but that decision seems to have been overtaken by Thursday's events. Human rights activists deplored the ruling, saying that government ministers who commit crimes against humanity are not likely to be prosecuted at home and will now enjoy impunity abroad as well. According to observers, privately the Belgian government is likely to be relieved due to the tensions that the country's 1993 war crimes legislation sparked with several countries. *Viewpoint: LETTING THE GLACIERS MELT AND ROME BURN Greenland's glaciers are melting by as much as 42 centimeters a year in western parts of the planet's largest island. As a result, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that the level of the world's oceans will increase by fluctuations of 8 to 88 centimeters in the next 100 years. Many islands - such as the Malvinas - will be completely submerged along with great swaths of coastland. The reason for this lies in the increased temperatures that heat the planet's atmosphere due to the emission of harmful gases. Nonetheless, this Greenhouse Effect - as it has come to be known - is of little interest to the president of the most powerful nation on earth. George W. Bush has this week proposed what he terms as a "liberal" alternative to the Kyoto Protocol which almost every nation on earth signed except the United States - the country responsible for 25% of the greenhouse gases that are damaging our atmosphere in the first place. In another remarkable and nonsensical statement from the White House, Bush says that as economic growth is a key factor for the defense of the environment, only such growth can finance the necessary investment for the development of environmentally friendly technology. This, in spite of the fact that the type of economic growth that Bush is referring to involves substantial environmental abuse. If the major energy corporations are supporting the Bush administration's position on this, you can be sure that it is to their advantage and not humanity's - what Sierra Club president Carl Pope calls "supporting sustainable pollution." William Meadows, president of the U.S. Wilderness Society, was more forthright: "This government is bad news for our air, our water, our fauna, our flora and our environment." Without Bush's signature on the Kyoto Protocol, his government is also bad news for our children. This new effort at discussing what should be a non-discussion subject is an attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of the world and maintain the status quo -- allowing Rome to continue burning. (c) 2002 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= rhc-eng-14662 2002-Feb-15 23:58:58