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۱۳۸۶ فروردین ۳۰, پنجشنبه

Discussing missile defence


18 Apr 2007 - On Thursday, 19 April 2007, a reinforced meeting of the North Atlantic Council was held at NATO HQ in Brussels. The purpose of this session was to exchange views on missile defence.

On the same day missile defence was also discussed at the reinforced meeting of the NATO-Russia Council at ambassadorial level.

Click here to watch the discussion.

more on nato missile defense.

U.S. fails to convince Russia on missile shield in Europe

BRUSSELS, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The United States failed on Thursday to convince Russia on Washington's plan to deploy missile defense facilities in Eastern Europe.

"I would like to underscore that possible deployment of U.S. missile defense site in Europe is not something pleasant to us," Russian ambassador to NATO, Konstantin Totskiy, told reporters after a meeting with ambassadors from NATO countries and U.S. officials.

"We are against the fact that such decisions are taken just unilaterally."

But he added that Russia will not be engaged in an arms race with the United States as its predecessor, the Soviet Union, did in the Cold War.

Russia would rather develop a cheaper "asymmetrical answer" to possible threats posed by the U.S. deployment, said the ambassador.

Totskiy said Russian and American experts hold different views on missile threats to Europe.

The two sides diverge on how soon the threats will come and the scale of them, he said. They also differ on the missile capability of Iran, which the United States has named as a possible source of threat.

Moscow has also concerns that the United States may increase the number of interceptor missiles.

The U.S. and NATO have been saying that the 10 interceptors planned for deployment in Poland do not pose a threat to Russia at all.

Totskiy argued that no nation, even a so-called rogue state, will be able to launch a massive missile attack on Europe unless it has 100 or even several hundred missiles.

Therefore, he argued, the U.S. might have to have more interceptors to shield Europe.

"We know by experience that when we have a system, we will continue its development because the system cannot stop at a point."

Russia's proposal in this situation is to use diplomatic and political measures to prevent certain countries from having so many missiles, he said.

On U.S. offers to have more cooperation with Russia in terms of missile defense, such as sharing early warning data, interoperability of theater missile defense systems and joint exercises, Totskiy said Russia is ready to cooperate, but only on equal footing.

The United States is negotiating with Poland and the Czech Republic for the deployment of interceptor missiles and a radar tracking system in the two countries respectively.

Washington says the system would be able to help most of its European allies fend off long-range missile attacks.

Director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, Lt. Gen. Henry Obering, Undersecretary of Defense Eric Edelman, and chief of the U.S. State Department's non-proliferation bureau, John Rood, presented the U.S. plans to its NATO allies and Russia.

Microsoft aims to double PC base

OLPC
The OLPC project is also trying to bridge the digital divide
Microsoft software will sell for just $3 (£1.50) in some parts of
the world in an attempt to double the number of global PC users.

The firm wants to bring computing to a further one billion people by 2015.

Governments in developing countries can purchase the cut-price software, if they provide free PCs for schools.

Other companies and organisations are also trying to boost computer literacy in developing countries, notably the One Laptop per Child project.

The OLPC are in the final stages of developing a low cost, durable laptop, designed to
work specifically in an educational context.

Millions of laptops will be start to be delivered to developing nations this summer.

This is not a philanthropic effort, this is a business
Orlando Ayala

The eventual aim is to sell the machine to developing countries for $100 but the current cost of the machine is about $150.

The first countries to sign up to buying the machine, which is officially dubbed XO, include Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Rwanda, Nigeria and Libya.

Business drive

The Microsoft initiative was launched by Bill Gates in Beijing under the banner of its Unlimited Potential scheme, a program aimed at bridging the digital divide.

The scheme aims to bring the benefit of computing technology to the remaining five sixths of the world's population, who currently live without it.

Classmate PC
Intel have developed the low-cost Classmate PC

"Bringing the benefits of technology to the next five billion people will require new products that meet the needs of underserved communities," said
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates. One of the first products, that is hoped will reach the next billion people is the Microsoft's student Innovation Suite.

The package includes Windows XP Starter Edition, Microsoft Office
Home and Student 2007, as well as other educational software.

The $3 package will start to be sold to governments in the second half of 2007.

"This is not a philanthropic effort, this is a business," Orlando Ayala of Microsoft told the Reuter's news agency.

In many developing countries, pirated versions of Microsoft software are sold very cheaply.

Governments will be required to provide free computers to schools, capable of running Windows, to be eligible for the discounted software.

The scheme is one of many launched by organisations and big business to address the digital divide.

Search giant Google allows anyone to download its Google Apps, which includes spreadsheet, word processing and email programs, for free. In countries such as Egypt, Kenya and Rwanda, Google has also provided engineers and technical support.

In addition, chip-maker Intel has developed the Classmate PC, while its rival AMD has launched a scheme called 50x15 that aims to put computer technology in the hands of half of the world's population by 2015.

Iran dam opens amid heritage fear

By Frances Harrison
BBC News, Tehran

Sivand dam under construction (photo: courtesy of Iran-Daily/IRNA)
Sivand dam is a massive project that will benefit many farmers
A new dam is due to open in southern Iran amid criticism it will flood an ancient site holding archaeological relics dating back 7,000 years.

The government says the Sivand dam in the Bolaghi gorge is needed by farmers in an area that has become desert.

Heritage activists have appealed to the president to postpone the flooding by some years so excavation can continue.

Archaeologists have discovered ancient wine making vessels, clay kilns and prehistoric caves in the area.

Many relics have been removed to be placed in a museum, but the site itself will be flooded which conservationists argue will be a huge loss.

But the government's going ahead with the inauguration of the dam because farmers in the area desperately need water for irrigation.

Persian empire

There has been much confusion about exactly what damage to Iran's ancient sites the Sivand dam will do.

Archaeologists, including foreign teams, have been working to excavate remains in the gorge that is to be flooded.

They found pools and clay pots belonging to an ancient wine workshop, though today grapes no longer grow in the area.

And 7,000 year old clay kilns have been unearthed, along with prehistoric caves and a unique seven-kilometre stone boundary wall that some believe once enclosed a hunting ground 2,500 years ago.

What has worried some experts is that the dam is very close to Cyrus the Great's tomb and his palace, monuments honouring the founder of the Persian empire.

Some experts argue that the dam will increase humidity in the area, sharply exacerbating an already serious problems with lichen eating away at the 2,500-year-old stones.

The controversy of the Sivand dam has highlighted the bitter struggle between those who want to modernise and develop Iran at any cost and heritage experts who want society to place a greater value on the country's rich ancient heritage and do more to preserve it

French Muslim graves desecrated

Desecrated graves of Muslim WWI soldiers near Arras in northern France
Thousands of North African soldiers fought for France in WWI
Nazi slogans and swastikas have been daubed on about 50 graves in the Muslim section of a French WWI cemetery.

The military cemetery, near Arras in the north of France, is one of the country's biggest and is on the site of some of the war's early battles.

French President Jacques Chirac said the desecration "was an unspeakable act that scars the conscience".

About 78,000 colonial subjects of France, including many Muslims from North Africa, died in the war.

Rival presidential candidates Segolene Royal and Nicolas Sarkozy also condemned the vandalism.

"This desecration is all the more shocking because it affects the graves of fighters who gave their lives for France," Mr Chirac said in a statement.

The official prosecutor's office said none of the graves had been destroyed.

Final rallies in French election

Centre-right UMP candidate Nicolas Sarkozy
Mr Sarkozy has been trying to shed his tough-guy image
The main candidates in the French presidential election have held their final campaign rallies.

A new opinion poll indicates that centre-right candidate Nicolas Sarkozy is still leading with 29%, ahead of the Socialist Segolene Royal at 25%.

The BVA poll also showed the centrist candidate Francois Bayrou slipping a few points to 15%.

But at least one-third of voters remain undecided ahead of Sunday's first round. A runoff is expected on 6 May.

All four main candidates headed south for their last rallies.

Mr Sarkozy appeared before 12,000 cheering supporters packed into a conference hall in Marseille, trying once again to shed the tough image he gained as interior minister.

"To unite the French people, to be able to speak on their behalf, to be able to govern, you must be able to love," he said.

He was joined on stage by footballer Basile Boli and a range of former prime ministers and ministers.

Thumping rock music

Spain's Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero appeared with Segolene Royal in the south-western city of Toulouse.

To the sound of thumping rock music and the cheers of about 15,000 supporters, she promised a "fairer and stronger" France.

"A France that does not discriminate against a job seeker because he does not have the right skin colour, the right name, the right address. This will be the fight."

Socialist candidate Segolene Royal
Ms Royal promised to build a "fairer and stronger" France

Not far away in the town of Pau, Francois Bayrou, leader of the Union for French Democracy (UDF), said rising tensions in France concerned him.

"I want France to be secure and calmed," he said.

Far-right National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, currently polling about 13%, spoke in the party's Riviera stronghold of Nice.

He said a "great national wave will sweep away the oligarchy". He came a surprise second in the 2002 election, beating the Socialist candidate to run against Jacques Chirac in the runoff.

Hard to predict

An editorial in the French daily Le Monde urged voters to send Mr Sarkozy and Ms Royal into the second round, saying it was important for two differing "visions of society" to be represented in the runoff.

There are more than one million newly registered voters, the biggest increase in 25 years. Many of them are young people or French living abroad, whose voting intentions are hard to gauge, BBC European affairs correspondent Oana Lungescu reports.

Another novelty is the use of electronic voting machines in some districts, criticised by the Socialists and some other opposition parties as dangerously unreliable. They will be used by 1.5 million voters.

Six out of 10 voters say they trust neither the left nor the right to govern the country, and one in eight is ready to switch allegiance, Oana Lungescu reports.

Ms Royal hopes to become France's first woman president, but left-wing voters are among the most volatile, surveys suggest. She has several rivals on the left who could undermine her support.

Poll graphic

Le Pen urges halt to immigration

By Emma Jane Kirby
BBC News, Paris

French National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen at rally in Paris, 15 Apr 07
Mr Le Pen stunned France by reaching the second round in 2002
Jean-Marie Le Pen has been in politics for more than 50 years, but at his rally at Porte de Versailles in Paris the crowd greet him as if he was the hottest new act in politics.

Some 5-6,000 people waving flags crammed into the stadium on Sunday to cheer on the National Front leader. The overspill who could not fit in still screamed their approval through the open doors.

"I'm voting for the first time," 19-year-old Frederic told me. "And I'm voting Le Pen because immigration is a serious problem in France - that's not racist, it's realistic and Le Pen will deal with the problem, while candidates like Sarkozy and Royal just pretend it's not happening."

Thirty-five years after the National Front party was founded, stopping immigration remains its dominant theme. Mr Le Pen warned the crowd that France was in danger from the thousands of immigrants who arrive in the country each year.

"This is just the start of mass immigration," he warned from the podium. "If we do nothing, we will be submerged."

Racism debate

Last year a French court convicted the 78-year-old far-right leader of inciting racial hatred. But when I mention this to his supporters they insist he is not racist, just braver than most politicians in tackling taboo subjects.

French National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen at rally in Paris, 15 Apr 07

Eric now lives in London but has come back to Paris for the day just to hear Mr Le Pen talk. "I don't care about racial issues - that's life and it's not my problem. Le Pen is a great guy because he will take action and France needs someone to take action."

Surprisingly perhaps, a recent survey suggests that up to 8% of French Muslims will vote National Front on 22 April.

Fayid Smahi, a regional councillor and National Front member in Paris, claims Mr Le Pen offers much more wholesome values than mainstream politicians.

"Above everything it's his family values we share. When we're eating our dinner, watching TV at night and we see two homosexual men kissing, it upsets us. As Muslims, and as decent French citizens, it shocks us."

Mr Smahi is convinced that Mr Le Pen also offers more hope to second-generation integrated Muslims who face prejudice because of their colour or race.

"Why is there this fundamental injustice in France? Because we are called Fayid, Zubeida, Monir? We are French citizens, have masters degrees, and yet we only get jobs at fast food restaurants. Well, if Mr Le Pen gets elected we will get proper jobs because he believes in putting French citizens - and that's what we are - first."

Solid support

Browsing in the National Front shop at the rally, among the flashing lapel pins and Le Pen baseball caps, a T-shirt catches my eye. On the breast pocket is a cartoon of an Arab man in Middle Eastern dress, laden with bags and suitcases. It carries the slogan "Bon Voyage Mate!"

France was horrified when Mr Le Pen came second in the 2002 presidential race, but that sense of shock has had no negative effect on his ratings.

The polls currently put him in fourth place and suggest that with between 13 and 16% he could get his highest score yet.

For the thousands of people at the rally who enthusiastically yell their support, it is worth remembering that many more voters will show their approval for the National Front more quietly at the ballot box on 22 April.

Approaches to Radical Islam