UN peacekeeping forces condemn killing of Chinese oil workers in Sudan

KHARTOUM, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- The UN peacekeeping forces in Sudan condemned on Wednesday the killing of four Chinese oil workers by armed kidnappers in southwest Sudan on Monday.

In a statement, the peacekeeping forces, the UN Mission In Sudan (UNMIS), said it "condemned the kidnapping and killing of four Chinese oil workers in Sudan."

"UNMIS offers its sincere condolences to the bereaved families and calls for the immediate and unconditional release of the remaining hostages," the statement said.

It said it condemns the use of violence for political purposes and "those responsible for this heinous act should be brought to justice."

Four Chinese oil workers, who were abducted with other five in an oil field in the Kordofan region in southwest Sudan, which neighbors the restive Darfur region, on Oct. 18, were shot to death by the kidnapper on Monday.

Three others had escaped the danger but one of them were seriously injured while the other two were lightly wounded. The three persons were transported by Khartoum on Tuesday for treating their wounds.

The fate of another two Chinese oil workers are still unknown

McCain, Palin criticize L.A. Times over Obama video

John McCain and Sarah Palin, the Republican nominees for president and vice president, sharply criticized the Los Angeles Times today for withholding a video of a 2003 event in which Barack Obama, their Democratic rival, praised a Palestinian scholar.

"It must be nice for a candidate to have major news organizations looking after his best interests like that," Palin said in Bowling Green, Ohio. "Maybe some politicians would love to have a pet newspaper of their very own. In this case, we have a newspaper willing to throw aside even the public's right to know in order to protect a candidate that its own editorial board has endorsed."

The Times has said that making the recording public would violate a promise to a confidential source.

The video was mentioned in a Times story in April 2008 on Obama's friendships with Palestinian Americans in Chicago. The story said that Obama attended a farewell dinner for the Palestinian scholar, at which some speakers spoke angrily of Israel's treatment of Palestinians and of U.S. policy toward Israel. It said that Obama spoke warmly at the dinner of the scholar, Rashid Khalidi, but that his comments focused on finding common ground.

McCain, in an interview today with radio station WAQI in Miami, which serves the Latino community, asserted that the tape could shed light on Obama's relationship with William Ayers, the onetime Weather Underground radical who later came to know Obama.

"We should know about their relationship including, apparently, information that is held by the Los Angeles Times concerning an event that Mr. Ayers attended with a PLO spokesman," McCain said. "The Los Angeles Times refuses to make that videotape public. I'm not in the business about talking about media bias, but what if there was a tape with John McCain with a neo-Nazi outfit being held by some media outlet? I think the treatment of the issue would be slightly different."

The Times' April story said that the 2003 dinner was videotaped and that it had obtained a copy. But the story did not say that Ayers attended the event. The story described Khalidi as someone who had spoken to reporters on behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the 1970s, rather than as a PLO spokesman.

To support McCain's statement that Ayers had attended the Khalidi dinner, the McCain campaign cited an account in the New York Sun newspaper. That story did not say that Ayers attended the event, but that a commemorative book associated with the dinner included testimonials from friends and political associates, including Ayers.

The McCain campaign has highlighted Obama's relationship with Ayers over the course of several months, saying that it casts doubt on Obama's judgment.

In a statement Tuesday, The Times explained its decision not to make the video public.

"The Los Angeles Times did not publish the videotape, because it was provided to us by a confidential source who did so on the condition that we not release it," said the newspaper's editor, Russ Stanton. "The Times keeps it promises to sources."

Jamie Gold, the newspaper's readers' representative, said in a statement Tuesday: "The Times is not suppressing anything. Just the opposite -- the L.A. Times brought the matter to light."

Palin, in her morning comments on the subject, said that "if there's a Pulitzer Prize category for excelling in kowtowing, then the L.A. Times, you're winning. But it's not too late, and if there is an ounce of credibility there, if the newspaper wants to keep that shred of credibility, let alone its dignity, then I say the public has a right to know. Let's go to the videotape, L.A. Times."

McCain told a radio interviewer: "Now why that should not be made public is beyond me. ... Of course, Americans need to know, particularly about Ayers, also about the PLO. Hopefully, there will be enough pressure on the L.A. Times that it'll come up, but it's really unfortunate that we have to go through this."

UN's Ban Says Zimbabwe's Mugabe 'Should Meet' World Expectations

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged African leaders Wednesday to take "decisive" action to end the deadlock between President Robert Mugabe and prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai over the allocation of cabinet positions in the national unity government envisioned under a power-sharing agreement.

Speaking to reporters at a U.N. forum on migration in Manila, the Philippines, Ban said the power-sharing process "has been taking too long." He added: "I sincerely hope that President Mugabe will no longer disappoint the international community," Ban said. Mr. Mugabe "should meet" international expectations.

His comments came after the Southern African Development Community's committee or troika on politics, security and defense failed Monday despite 13 hours of talks to bring Mr. Mugabe and Tsvangirai together on the allocation of key cabinets - in particular the Home Affairs Ministry which controls the highly politicized national police force.

The SADC troika referred the matter to a full summit of the 14-nation regional grouping, to take place within the next fortnight at a location as yet not specified.

"Now that the SADC has decided to convene their full summit meeting, I hope these leaders -- considering their responsibility to see peace and stability maintained in their region -- should take very decisive measures to help resolve this crisis," Ban said.

Meanwhile, Secretary General Tendai Biti of Tsvangirai's formation of the Movement for Democratic Change said Tsvangirai might not show up at the regional summit if by that time he has not been provided a passport by the Harare government.

Tsvangirai submitted his passport to the office of the registrar general, which also falls under the Ministry of Home Affairs, to have more pages added but the government has not returned the document to him. He failed to travel to a scheduled SADC summit in Swaziland, saying the emergency travel document issued to him was inadequate.

The government has said it lacks special passport paper due to Western sanctions, but ordinary citizens can obtain passports in 24 hours for a payment of US$250.

SADC Executive Secretary Tomaz Salamao said regional leaders won't get involved in the passport dispute, adding that the summit is likely to be held in South Africa, which now holds the revolving SADC chair, Swaziland, a member of the troika, or Gaborone, Botswana, where the organization has its headquarters.

Sources in Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF party said its politburo met Wednesday and urged the president not to give in to MDC demands, saying the offer to Tsvangirai - control of the Finance Ministry along with the economic and service ministries - is sufficient

Political analyst Charles Mangongera told reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that Ban’s comments put Harare back under the international spotlight.

China vows penalties as melamine eggs scare spreads

BEIJING (Reuters) - Authorities in a northeastern Chinese city on Wednesday vowed severe punishment for those responsible for melamine-tainted eggs turning up in Hong Kong, as the health scare spread to another city in eastern China.

At least four children have died and tens of thousands were made ill amid the melamine scandal, the latest in a series of health scares to sully the "made in China" label.

Chinese products ranging from chocolate to milk powder have been recalled throughout the world due to contamination fears. Melamine, used in making plastic chairs among other things, is often added to cheat nutrition tests.

Chinese eggs have now come under the spotlight, after Hong Kong food safety authorities over the weekend found melamine-tainted eggs produced by Hanwei Group in the northeastern port city of Dalian on local shelves.

Problem eggs have now been found in Hangzhou, capital of the eastern province of Zhejiang, the official Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday, citing quality authorities there who had ordered a city-wide recall of all "Ciyunxiang"-brand eggs.

The tested batch of "Ciyunxiang" eggs, produced by Green Living Beings Development Center based in China's northern Shanxi province, contained 3.5 mg in every kg, Xinhua said.

Calls to the company went unanswered.

China currently has no standard for acceptable amounts of melamine in eggs, but allows only 2.5 mg per kg in most milk products.

There had been no reports of people being made ill from the eggs in Hangzhou, Xinhua said, but the government-led recall -- the first for eggs in China -- suggests the problem may be widespread and could usher in a round of checks nationwide.

Authorities in Dalian on Wednesday blamed tainted chicken feed for the high levels of melamine found in Hanwei Group eggs exported to Hong Kong.

The municipal government promised harsh punishment in a notice posted on its website.

Hanwei apologized to consumers and distributors on Tuesday. Its chairman, Han Wei, said the company had never bought melamine, or added the compound to feed or products.

Han is a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body to parliament, and has been a leading advocate of food safety in China.

It was not immediately clear how the Hanwei eggs passed tests, if any, in Dalian. Chinese officials this month said the melamine health scare was over.

Conservationists Warn of Ecological Credit Crunch

A report by a number of leading conservation groups warns that unless prompt corrective measures are taken, the planet is heading toward an ecological credit crunch. For VOA, Tom Rivers reports from London.
The report is simple and stark. Our demands on natural resources overreach what the Earth can sustain by almost a third.

The World Wildlife Fund, the Zoological Society of London and Global Footprint Network all worked jointly on what is called the Living Planet Report. And these groups conclude that more than three-quarters of the world's population lives in countries where consumption levels are simply outstripping environmental renewal. They say that we collectively are taking more out of the environment than we are replacing.

"What the report shows is that there are quite stable wildlife populations in western Europe and other temperate zones. But in the countries we are consuming most from, in the tropics, those are where there are quite rapid collapses. So we have got to take responsibility for our own consumption because that is impacting on some of the most vulnerable and diverse ecosystems on the planet," said David Norman, the director of British campaigns at the World Wildlife Fund.

In practical terms, Norman says the environmental damage being done in the developing world is tied to the wants and needs of the developed world.

"We are seeing massive forest clearances for example. Still in the Amazon, it is under great pressure and often that is to produce the kinds of goods and services that we need, that we consume in the richer world," added Norman.

For the first time, the report includes a section on what is being called our water footprint. That is a way of estimating not only the water we use everyday, but also the water that is required to make many of the products we use, like for instance, a cotton shirt. Norman says the water footprint takes into account, in this case, the water required to grow the cotton for the shirt.

"We need to manage that water more carefully to ensure that everyone has their fair share," continued Norman.

Overall, the report concludes that if our demands on the planet continue to increase at the same rate, then in just 25 years, we would need the equivalent of two Earths to maintain our present lifestyles.

The WWF's international president says that while about $2 trillion may have been lost recently in the global credit crunch, each year more than twice that figure is lost forever in resources that are taken globally and not renewed.

Pakistan quake kills 170, leaves thousands homeless

WAM, Pakistan (AFP) — Thousands of people in mountainous southwest Pakistan on Wednesday bedded down for a freezing night in the open, after a powerful earthquake destroyed their homes and killed at least 170.

The 6.4-magnitude pre-dawn quake flattened mud houses and triggered landslides in the impoverished province of Baluchistan, killing or injuring their occupants as they slept.

Survivors were sent screaming into the streets in panic, eyewitnesses said.

At least eight villages were badly hit by the massive tremors, local police and officials said, voicing fears that some 46,000 people living in the wider region could now be in need of shelter and other assistance.

An AFP correspondent in one of the worst-affected villages, Wam, said emergency tents had not yet arrived and exhausted villagers had hunkered down in the ruined shells of their homes as temperatures plunged below zero.

They spent the day in a desperate search for loved ones or burying the dead in mass graves, as aftershocks nearly as big as the initial quake pounded the landscape, sending rocks spewing from nearby peaks and sparking fresh panic.

"The local graveyard has been devastated and we have no alternative. We have to bury them in mass graves," said local teacher Malik Abdul Hamid, 35. He said he had lost 15 family members.

"We have so far buried 140 bodies in two mass graves. The dead were mostly women and children."

Dilawar Kakar, mayor of the historic hill town of Ziarat, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of the provincial capital Quetta, told AFP the death toll stood at 170, while about 400 people in the area were injured.

Virtually all houses were reduced to rubble either in the initial quake or by aftershocks. Schools and hospitals were also damaged, he added.

Earlier Khushal Khan, spokesman for the provincial revenue minister Zamarak Khan, said local people had told him about 6,000 people have been made homeless and in one case, 29 members of the same family died.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani both expressed their condolences to relatives of those killed and injured, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it would send enough medical aid and supplies for 50,000 people for three months in the wake of the disaster, while the United States offered an unspecified humanitarian relief package.

"We are currently working with the Pakistani government, the UN (United Nations) and other potential donors to assess the damage," US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

"Once we are able to make that assessment and also talk to the Pakistani government about what their needs might be, we will stand ready to provide an assistance package," McCormack said.

Neighbour and rival India quickly offered any help that might be required, along with Turkey's Red Crescent.

Two teams from the International Committee of the Red Cross have already arrived in the area and are assessing the situation and the needs of the survivors, the humanitarian body said from Geneva.

The first official government figures from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) put the death toll at 115 so far, with nearly 300 injured, its chairman, retired Lieutenant General Farooq Ahmed, told a news conference.

Most of the victims were from outlying villages, but buildings collapsed in Ziarat and communications were cut while the main road to Quetta was also hit, with wide cracks and boulders blocking the way, an AFP reporter said.

Soldiers, helicopters, tents, blankets, food and medical help have been sent from Quetta to Ziarat and an aerial assessment of the damage has begun, the Pakistani military said.

"We have asked the government to send at least 10,000 tents as the temperature in the mountainous town is sub-zero and people need shelter during the night," said Kakar, Ziarat's mayor.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or structural damage in neighbouring Afghanistan, which borders the province, police there said.

Ziarat is a historic hill resort famed for its juniper forests. It receives visitors from all over Pakistan in summer who come to see the holiday home of the country's founder, Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

A 7.6-magnitude earthquake in northwest Pakistan and Kashmir killed 74,000 people and displaced 3.5 million in October 2005.

In 1935 a massive quake killed around 30,000 people in Quetta, which at the time was part of British-ruled India.