Integrated World News

President Truong Tan Sang visit to US

25072013

 

 President Truong Tan Sang statement at his meeting with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack in Washington D. C on Wednesday, the first working day of his 3-day visit to the United States.

The future Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) must take into account the differences in the development levels of member countries, the Vietnamese leader emphasized.

Sang also asked the United States to remove any barriers preventing Vietnamese goods from entering the country, reported the newspaper.

Cases of price dumping had negatively affected millions of Vietnamese farmers and the country’s efforts in poverty reduction. The United States should soon recognize Vietnam’s market economy status, state-run Vietnam News reported, quoting Sang’s proposal at the meeting.

Vietnamese Ambassador to the United States Nguyen Quoc Cuong who said ahead of the President’s departure that a new framework on the Vietnam-U.S. partnership is expected to reach during the President’s U.S. visit.

“Nearly one decade has passed since the two nations established the current framework of constructive, friendly partnership and multi-faceted cooperation on the basis of equality, mutual respect and benefit,” said the ambassador.

President Sang’s trip is the second official visit made by a Vietnamese head of state in nearly two decades since the normalization of ties with the United States, and the first exchange of high-level delegation in five years, Vietnam News reported, adding that the visit comes at a time when the two nations are diversifying their relations in the drive for development.

Sang’s visit is made on July 24-26 at the invitation of President Barack Obama.

Since 2005, the United States has become Vietnam’s largest export market. Two-way trade turnover has increased continually in recent years. As of May this year, it reached over 11 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 16 percent year on year

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Moscow cannot extradite Snowden:

25072013

In response U.S. Ambassador to Moscow Michael McFaul request to hand over Snowden. Russia could not extradite fugitive U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden under any circumstances, head of the Presidential Human Rights Council said Thursday.

“The extradition is impossible,” Interfax news agency quoted Mikhail Fedotov as saying.

Fedotov said a person who has asked for political asylum cannot be extradited in line with international law. In addition, from a legal point of view, Russia had nothing to do with the U.S. refuge-seeker, he said.

“The problem is that, although Snowden is physically in Russian territory, legally he is not here. While he is in an airport’s transit zone, he hasn’t crossed Russia’s borders. So Russia cannot extradite him or do anything at all with him,” Fedotov said.

Meanwhile, Fedotov said Russia would not violate international law in the situation he described as a dead-end.

“We can do nothing to satisfy our U.S. partners even if we wanted,” he said.

Earlier Thursday, U.S. Ambassador to Moscow Michael McFaul said Washington had asked Russia not to “extradite” Snowden but to “hand him over” to U.S. authorities. Media agencies

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Categories : world News

Violence unabated in Syria

25072013

Violence unabated in Syria today seven people were killed and 62 others wounded when a booby-trapped car ripped through a busy square in a suburb of the Syrian capital of Damascus on Thursday, state media reported.

The blast rocked al-Soyouf Square in the southeastern suburb of Jaramana, state TV said, airing live footage of the blast scene marked by bloodshed and destruction.

The pro-government Jaramana is largely dominated by Christians and Druze minority and has been subjected to many explosions and mortar attacks carried out by opposition fighters.

No party claimed responsibility for Thursday’s blast, but similar ones were claimed by the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front which has recently been blacklisted as a terrorist group by the United States.

The Jaramana blast is the latest of a series of explosions that rocked the capital on Thursday. media agencies

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meets a Syrian delegation

25072013

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has met a Syrian government delegation in Pyongyang. It was Kim’s first meeting with a foreign delegation from a country other than China.

North Korea’s state-run television reported the meeting took place on Wednesday. The Syrians are in Pyongyang to attend celebrations on Saturday marking the 60th anniversary of the armistice that ended the Korean War.

Delegation delivered a message of congratulations to Kim from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

State-run media quoted Kim as saying it is extremely encouraging for the North Korean people that Syria’s ruling party and government have sent a delegation to celebrate the anniversary.Media agencies

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Categories : culture, Education

US stops delivery of F-16s to Egypt

25072013

United States said   a delivery of F-16 fighter jets to Egypt is halted in light of the military’s overthrow of Mohamed Morsi from the presidency.

US Defense Department spokesman George Little told reporters on Wednesday that President Barack Obama decided to stop the planned delivery of four F-16s.Little said Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel informed Egypt’s Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of the decision over the phone on Wednesday.

The decision comes amid unrest following Morsi’s ouster.
A military-led interim government has been installed but violent street clashes continue between troops and the Muslim Brotherhood, which backs Morsi.

Egypt, which has signed a peace treaty with Israel, is a key US ally in the Middle East. The US sends over one billion dollars of military aid to Egypt every year.Media agencies

Dinosaur tail found in desert in northern Mexico

25072013

A team of paleontologists has discovered the fossilized remains of a dinosaur tail in a desert in northern Mexico.

The team said five -meter long tail has fifty connected vertebrae and is completely intact.

Fossilized bones believed to be the dinosaur’s hips were also found near the tail.The fossilized tail is the first ever found in Mexico.

The researchers say further study will be needed to determine what type of dinosaur it is. But they say it could very well be the giant plant-eating hadrosaur, which lived in the latter Cretaceous period, about 74 million to 80 million years ago.

A researcher says it is rare that such a well-preserved dinosaur fossil is found.Media agencies

Badly designed cities promote congestion and pollution

Badly designed cities promote wrong travel choices,
leading to warming and pollution: CSE

• The original design of Indian cities more compact – promoted walking and cycling. Growing sizes of cities and their bad design is leading to urban sprawl, increasing travel distances and time, leading to congestion, global warming and pollution
• Detours caused by car-centric infrastructure like flyovers, signal-free corridors and foot overbridges can increase carbon emissions — this is the result of conversion of small walkable trips to longer motorized trips
• Investments in metro and buses can be wasted if access to public transport systems is not designed well 

New Delhi July 25, 2013: The way a city is designed and planned can have far-reaching implications for the congestion and pollution problems in the city. For example, the urban design of Delhi has led to an increase in travel distances and urban sprawl – said experts attending the second workshop in a two-day workshop series on ‘transport and climate’ organized here today by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). Today’s sessions focused on the overall subject of ‘Designing cities for sustainable mobility’.

Speaking at the workshop, Sunita Narain, director general of CSE, pointed out: “We often tend to ignore the design of the city when we talk of our urban issues — rapid and explosive increase in personal vehicle numbers, slow traffic, clogged roads, killer air and fuel guzzling. How we design our cities decides how we get around and connect with our offices and homes. In fact, getting the design of the urban space right is especially crucial now when India is urbanizing very rapidly, promoting sprawl, making gated communities, forcing longer travel distances, and putting enormous pressure on farmlands.”

Added Anumita Roychowdhury, CSE’s executive director for research and advocacy: “This is transforming our compact cities which had been built originally on a human scale that could be covered by walking, cycling or on a bus. Today’s cities require cars.

CSE’s review of current challenges and their solutions – what emerges

• From compact cities to sprawl: Indian cities have immense strength in their original compact design that reduces the travel trip length, need for motorized travel and emissions. On an average, more than half of all trips in Indian cities are below 5 km. But as cities are growing bigger and sprawling, the distances are increasing. Mega cities like Delhi and Mumbai with population of more than 10 million have an average distance range of 9-12 km, while that in cities like Bengaluru and Hyderabad (populations between 5-9 million) ranges from 7-10 km. However, Indian cities also hold a very large number of poor people who can only afford walking or cycling – thus, mega cities have a walking and cycling modal share of 30-35 per cent.
• Higher travel distance, more motorized travel, higher CO2 emissions: Available data shows that high density cities, with higher share of public transport usage, have lower per capita transport induced carbon dioxide emissions. Some second rung cities and smaller satellite cities like Pune, Bhubaneshwar, Faridabad and Ranchi — with inadequate formal public transport systems and poorer access — have high per capita CO2 emissions. Bigger cities with higher share of motorized vehicles and of public transport show higher CO2 emissions compared to smaller cities dominated by walking and cycling.
• Transport share of CO2 in satellite towns can be more than big metros: Satellite towns are growing and becoming more car-dependent. For instance, in Gurgaon, transport is responsible for more than half of its CO2 emissions; in comparison, transport accounts for 18 per cent of CO2 emissions in Kolkata.
• Challenge of the emerging second rung and smaller cities: The emerging cities traditionally have had a high walk and cycle share, as well as impressive usage of para-transit including autos and cycle rickshaws. As a result, their CO2 emissions are significantly lower than the mega cities. But as these walking, cycling and para-transit systems come under pressure without adequate alternative access or public transport, people are steadily shifting towards personal vehicles. A study by the Union Ministry of Urban Transport has shown that share of personal vehicle usage – cars and two-wheelers – will rise the maximum in the smaller rung cities in the future. This must be prevented as these cities have the opportunity to leapfrog to a more sustainable transportation paradigm if the infrastructure for walking and cycling along with public transport is improved immediately.
• If we compare the total number of private car and two-wheeler trips with the combined walking and cycling trips in some cities of the region an interesting trend emerges. The numbers of car and two-wheelers have already crossed the numbers of walk and cycle trips. Thus these bigger cities are beginning to cross the tipping point. This emerges from the analysis of the data from the Wilbur Smith study done for the ministry of urban development.

Whither Delhi?

• The CO2 challenge of Delhi: Delhi government’s own estimation shows that transportation contributes close to half of the carbon dioxide in the city. An IIT Delhi study shows that if nothing is done about this, the emissions will increase by 526 per cent by 2030. This is a serious challenge if Delhi wants to meet the goals of its climate action plan.
• Urban design of Delhi has increased travel distances and urban sprawl: Delhi has the most sparsely populated central core compared to all prominent global – even western — cities. New Delhi’s density is more than six times lower than the core administrative regions of New York and Madrid.  Delhi has a population of about 17 million, about 1 per cent of which lives in Lutyen’s Delhi.
• Disparity in density pushing growth to periphery and satellite towns: Delhi faces a huge housing deficit of 70,000 housing units a year. But density control bars great part of the core from providing the new stocks. This forces the emerging middle class to live at the periphery. This is increasing travel distances and car dependency. Improved planning in the core and increased density can free up a lot of valuable urban land also in the hinterland.
• Impact of car-centric infrastructure on travel and CO2 emissions: Infrastructure like flyovers, signal-free corridors, etc have an impact on the travel distances in their vicinity and on carbon emissions. This is diagnostic. A walking trip replaced by a car trip near Nehru Place flyover because of the detours can lead to CO2 emissions as much as 434 gram/person trip. In Gurgaon, replacement of direct walking access to metro station at ‘IFFCO chowk’ or ‘MG Road’ can increase walking distance by as much as 800 metre. If replaced by motorable trip, it increases travel distance by 4 to 5 times and the resultant CO2 emissions is up to 504 gram/person trip. In Noida  (Block C, Sec 62 to Todmall market), due to blocking of walkable route to the neighbourhood market, the distance of the optional route increases and travel distance increases by 7 times. Resultant CO2 emissions go up to 308 gram/person trip. The city-wide cumulative impact of these changes can be enormous and completely negate the efforts made to reduce emissions and energy intensity of travel in our cities.
• Prevent gated design: A gated community is closed to general traffic by a gate across the primary access, and is surrounded by fences and walls that further limit public access. These are isolated, exclusive and insulated urban forms and the immediate fallout is increased distances, dependence on personal vehicles and increased energy and pollution intensity of travel for the residents in and around. This is grossly against the professed policy principles of the habitat standards under the National Climate Action Plan.
• Need more innovative approaches to parking provisions to off set its environmental and mobility impacts: It is more important to promote public, common and shared parking to maximize its utility and reduce pressure on land. This should be managed and designed in a way that it caters to the requirement of the residents as well as the incoming traffic. The focus should also be on improved design for shared and common public spaces.
• Rules are weak on traffic impact mitigation strategies: Plans need to demonstrate how through improved walking and public transport access, multi-modal integration and traffic dispersal strategies, the traffic impact of any new development can be mitigated.
• Integrate guidelines in urban design to enhance safety: There has been series of high powered meetings at the level of Central government on gender safety after the recent incident of gang rape in the capital. But most of the discussions have focused narrowly on policing and safety gadgets in buses. Preventive and more sustainable solutions through change in urban design have been ignored. Boundary walls, setbacks, lonely edges and fringes that remove the eye on the street by design  make the city more unsafe.
• Global good practice: California has enacted the Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act (SB 375) since 2008 that aims to reduce per capita emissions by about 7 per cent by 2020 and 15 per cent by 2035. This requires each of California’s 18 Metropolitan Planning Organizations to develop a regional strategy for reducing vehicle miles traveled to address climate change. They need to develop integrated land use and transportation plans, to focus on development around transit. Cities who comply with SB 375’s regional plans receive a larger share of transportation funds as well as regulatory streamlining for projects. California is beginning to see results of these interventions. Two-third of the households living near transit in Los Angeles own one or fewer cars, compared with 46 per cent of the region. Nearly 1/4th of commuters living near transit in LA take transit, walk, or bike, compared with just 8 per cent of the region. About 22 per cent of the jobs in LA County are within walking distance of high quality, fixed-guideway transit.
• Urban design should be consistent with the principles of National Habitat Standards for Transportation: These standards have been made by the ministry of urban development to provide for compact, high density, mixed land use development near new or existing public transportation infrastructure that includes housing, employment, entertainment and civic functions within walking distance of transit. Pedestrian-oriented design features have been advocated to encourage residents to use public transit. The 12th Five Year Plan of the MOUD has also taken on board the principles of integrated land use and transport planning.

The way forward

Need policy interventions at the central and state government levels to have public transport, walking and cycling oriented urban design.

• Ensure well planned, dense and compact city design to reduce travel distances and dependence on personal vehicles. Bring people and jobs closer to public transport systems.
• Improve walking, cycling and para transit access to public transport nodes. Otherwise use of these systems will remain sub-optimal
• Discourage car centric infrastructure (flyover, signal free roads, foot over bridges, etc) that obstruct and destroy movement patterns needed to promote walk, cycle and public transport
• Design cities to enhance safety. Make streets active by design and get rid of lonely edges and fringes. Let the buildings have active frontage
• Urban design interventions will require supportive car restraint policies
  • Parking as a travel demand management measure
  • Fiscal policies to influence travel choices
  • Vehicle taxation policy
  • Congestion and road pricing
  • Follow examples — some global cities have enforced caps on car sales

UN General Assembly’s “Sustainable sanitation: the drive to 2015”,

General Assembly have adopted a resolution on “‪#‎Sanitation‬ for All”, officially designating 19 November as‪#‎WorldToiletDay‬. This new annual observance will go a long way toward raising awareness about the need for all human beings to have access to sanitation.

Despite progress toward the Millennium Development Goals, one in three people do not have a basic toilet. Almost 2,000 children die every day from preventable diarrhoeal diseases. Poor sanitation and water supply result in economic losses estimated at $260 billion annually in developing countries.

In ‪#‎India‬, 600 million people defecate in the open, contaminating their environments and water sources and spreading diseases like diarrhoea, which kills 1000 children under 5 every day.

Proper sanitation is also a question of basic dignity. It is unacceptable that women have to risk being the victims of rape and abuse, just to do something that most of us take for granted. It is also unacceptable that many girls are pushed out of school for lack of basic sanitation facilities.

This new resolution builds on the General Assembly’s “Sustainable sanitation: the drive to 2015”, agreed in 2010, and adds momentum to the Call to Action on Sanitation that I, on behalf of the Secretary-General, launched in March this year.

UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson urges every country to accelerate progress towards a world in which everyone enjoys this most basic of rights.

 

Kerry to meet Syria’s opposition leader

US Secretary of State John Kerry plans to hold talks with the leader of Syria’s main opposition group on Thursday in New York.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters on Wednesday that Kerry will meet Ahmed al-Jarba, the newly elected head of the Syrian National Coalition, at the UN. It will be their first meeting.

Psaki said Kerry will convey American commitment to helping the opposition.

She said the meeting will also be an opportunity to discuss not only the current situation in Syria but how to achieve a political solution.

The United States last month decided to start providing military assistance to Syrian rebels in addition to humanitarian aid.

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His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge.

Prince William waves to the public as his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, holds their baby outside the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital, in central London, July 23, 2013. Britain’s Duchess of Cambridge Kate gave birth to a boy Monday afternoon.”Prince William waves to the public as his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, holds their baby outside the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital, in central London, July 23, 2013. Britain’s Duchess of Cambridge Kate gave birth to a boy Monday afternoon. 

Prince William  and his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, along with  their baby outside the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital, in central London, July 23, 2013 came out for photoshoot for media and the public.

Britain’s Duchess of Cambridge Kate gave birth to a boy Monday afternoon. Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s first baby has been named George Alexander Louis and the baby will be known as His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge.There have since been five other Georges to sit on the throne. Media agencies

Abe onto visit to Southeast Asia

 Japanese PM Shinzo Abe on Thursday onto visit to Southeast Asia to deepen ties as marks the 40th anniversary of friendship and cooperation between Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Abe’s first overseas visits as newly elected prime minister to Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia in last December and Myanmar in May, Abe, currently visiting  Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines for a three-day tour.

Abe will first arrive at Kuala Lumpur and is expected to meet with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak later Thursday.

In Singapore on Friday, Abe will meet with his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong and he also plans to hold talks with U. S. Vice President Joe Biden, who will stop at the country after visiting India.

Abe will pay a visit to the Philippines on Saturday and is expected to meet with the country’s President Benigno Aquino III in Manila.

Interpol police agency issues alert over Iraqi jail breaks

International police agency Interpol has issued an international alert around the Middle East over hundreds of convicts who escaped from two Iraqi prisons. Monday’s jailbreaks from Abu Ghraib prison and Taji prison near Baghdad pose a “major threat” to global security, said Interpol in a statement, noting that “many of the escaped prisoners were senior-level al-Qaeda members, some of whom had been sentenced to death.” The agency said it is working in cooperation with the Iraqi police, gathering photographs and fingerprints of the fugitives to help track them down.

Caroline Kennedy US ambassador to Japan

U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday nominated Caroline Kennedy, the elder daughter of former president John F. Kennedy, as the ambassador to Japan.

Caroline Kennedy was six when her father was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963.  She is the only living child of the former president.

Caroline Kennedy Aged 56,is an author and attorney. “She is the editor of several New York Times best-selling books on topics including constitutional law, American history, politics and poetry,” the White House said.

The younger Kennedy received a B.A. from Harvard University and a J.D. from Columbia Law School. She serves as president of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and chair of the Senior Advisory Committee of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University.

From 1994 to 2011, she served on the Board of Directors of the Commission on Presidential Debates, which organizes debates in presidential elections. In the 2008 election, she endorsed Obama early in the primary race, stumped for him in Florida, Indiana and Ohio, and served as co-chair of his Vice Presidential Search Committee.

Kennedy once considered filling in the vacant Senate seat from New York vacated by Hillary Clinton after she became Obama’s secretary of state, but withdrew later citing “personal reasons.”

Japan is seen as a key ally in the Obama administration’s rebalance toward the Asia and Pacific region. on confirm  by the Senate, Kennedy will be the first woman ever on the ambassadorial post to the Asian nation.

Demonstrations continue in Bulgaria

Demonstrations continue in Bulgaria after night of violence.  At least 4,000 people surrounded Bulgaria’s parliament on Wednesday, during the 41st consecutive day of anti-government protests. There were no clashes with police – a far cry from Tuesday night’s protests, in which more than 20 demonstrators suffered injuries as they attempted to barricade lawmakers inside the building. The protests are demanding greater government transparency and effective measures against corruption in the EU’s poorest country.

Orders arrests of Muslim Brotherhood leader

Egypt’s public prosecutor has ordered the arrests of Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie and eight senior officials in a probe over inciting violence, MENA state news agency reported. Badie was accused of calling for violence at Giza’s Nahda Square and the Republican Guard Headquarters in early July, at the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood in late June, and at the Ittihadiya presidential palace in December of 2012. He was previously detained for questioning, but was released at least once since the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi on July 3. Morsi is being investigated for spying, inciting the killings of protesters, and damaging the economy.

Multiple blasts hit ISI compound in Pakistan.

Multiple blasts hit ISI compound in Pakistan. Three people were killed and at least 40 others wounded as a series of blasts and gunfire hit a heavily guarded intelligence agency and other security forces in the Pakistani town of Sukkur on Wednesday. Four bombs were detonated by up to 10 gunmen, according to the deputy supervisor of police in Sukkur. He suggested that local offices of the Inter-Services Intelligence, the Pakistani military intelligence force, were the main target of the attacks. Pakistan state TV reported that “terrorists” seized the building during the attack.

Bomb blast kills three in Thailand

A bomb blast  killed three people  and injured two in the southern province of Thailand.
Muslim insurgents are active in the area an army spokesperson said that an explosive device was detonated near a hospital in Narathiwat province on Wednesday.
Three teachers in a nearby car were killed and two police officers were wounded.
Teachers have become targets for militants who demand that children receive an Islamic education. 

Muslims separatists have been waging an insurgency against the government for almost a decade in the region.They are seeking greater autonomy for the country’s three southernmost provinces. More than 5,300 people have been killed since 2004, including at least 160 acadmecia and educators.

Russia to participate in meeting with Syrian opposition leaders

Russia to participate in an informal meeting with Syrian opposition leaders.
Russia has confirmed its participation in an informal meeting of the UN Security Council with members of the Syrian National Coalition, according to Moscow’s mission to the UN. The meeting will be convened by the UK this Friday. Saudi-backed leader Ahmed Jarba – the new chief of the coalition – will lead the delegation, according to Mark Lyall Grant, British envoy to the UN. Grant noted that the key issues for discussion included “ending the violence and preparing for the Geneva II conference, as well as addressing the issues of humanitarian access, human rights, refugees and protection of civilians.” So far, attempts to organize a new conference on Syria to establish a political transition plan – which was agreed to in Geneva in June 2012- have not been successful.

Hunt for assassination of Tunisian opposition leader Chokri Belaid

Hunt for the  the assassination of prominent Tunisian opposition leader Chokri Belaid is over  and identified, according to Tunisia’s interior ministry. No details were immediately given, but Noureddin B’Hiri – senior adviser to the prime minister – said that more information will be revealed “soon.” The interior ministry has blamed Belaid’s killing on a cell of radical Islamists. Belaid was killed in Tunisia in February. The murder provoked the worst unrest in Tunisia since the uprising that overthrew President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali two years ago.

Train derails in northern Spain 77 people killed

 

 

High speed train badly derailed took toll of 77 people killed and around 143 injured, a train derailed outside the city of Santiago de Compostela in the region of Galicia in northwestern Spain on Wednesday evening. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is due to visit the scene of the accident. A message , “In the face of a tragedy such as just happened in Santiago de Compostela on the eve of its big day, I can only express my deepest sympathy as a Spaniard and a Galician,” Rajoy said. Rescue workers have found 73 bodies from the wreckage of the train while four other victims died in hospital, a spokesman for the Galicia regional high court told media, adding that the numbers were still provisional.Efe reported that the driver of the train had admitted to speeding when he hit the bend in the tracks, a ll 13 carriages were derailed, and four piled into each other and overturned on the ground. Black smoke was seen billowing from a wagon.Bodies of the victims were dragged out from the smashed train.

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Asciende a 79 el número de muertos por el accidente ferroviario en Santiago de Compostela

Las víctimas mortales en el descarrilamiento del tren ocurrido este miércoles en Santiago de Compostela ascienden al menos a 79, tras los trabajos para mover los vagones siniestrados. ​Hay 20 heridos en estado crítico.Teléfonos para atender a los familiares: 981.551.100 y 900.444.222.

nuevatribuna.es | 24 Julio 2013 – 22:47 h.

 

La cifra de fallecidos en el descarrilamiento del tren registrado el miércoles en Santiago de Compostela asciende a 79 víctimas mortales, según ha informado este jueves el delegado del Gobierno, Samuel Juárez, durante una visita al Hospital Clínico.

En declaraciones a los medios tras interesarse por los heridos y hablar con familiares, Juárez ha puntualizado que no dispone de la cifra total de heridos, pero ha apuntado que hay “en torno a 130″. “De esos, en torno a 20 están en la unidad de críticos en muy mal estado”, uno de éstos aún sin identificar. “Todavía puede incrementarse la cifra de fallecidos”, ha apostillado.

Sobre la posible causa del siniestro, el delegado del Gobierno ha recordado que hay una investigación abierta, pero ha precisado que “no hay ningún indicio que indique que eso no fuera un accidente”. “Aparentemente, los motivos han sido un descarrilamiento y es posible que la velocidad haya tenido algo que ver”, ha reconocido.

La ministra de Fomento, Ana Pastor, ha asegurado que se ya están desarrollando dos investigaciones sobre el accidente ferroviario registrado en Santiago, la judicial y la de la Comisión de Accidentes Ferroviarios, “un organismo independiente adscrito al Ministerio encargado de analizar este tipo de sucesos”.

“Todo el personal sanitario y ferroviario se ha volcado con las víctimas y, a la vez, se trabaja en esclarecer lo que ha pasado para que ocurriera esta terrible desgracia”, indicó Pastor en declaraciones a TVE recogidas por Europa Press.

La titular de Fomento indicó que se trata de que la investigación se desarrolle “con toda la celeridad que se pueda”. “Si se puede tener información hoy, mejor que mañana, para que todos, víctimas, familiares y todos tengamos información sobre lo que ha ocurrido”, indicó Pastor.

No obstante, la ministra apuntó que los técnicos y profesionales encargados de la investigación “trabajan desde el primer momento”, pero “tienen que analizar, tomar declaraciones, analizar la caja negra, y todo lo que tienen que hacer en estos casos”. “Tenemos que confiar en los profesionales”, añadió.

Preguntada por el efecto que el siniestro puede tener en la imagen de la Alta Velocidad Española, Pastor aseguró que “en este momento es preciso preocuparse por que se ha registrado un desgraciado accidente, por investigar sus causas y por apoyar a las víctimas”.

“Todos los días 1,6 millones de personas se mueven en tren y siempre se trabaja por la máxima seguridad, por lo que ante un accidente como este lo que hay que hacer es investigar sus causas”, aseveró la ministra.

Media agencies

Gender equality essential for food Security

25072013

(Restrictions on female land ownership, limited access to credit and farm advisory services, and a lack of education hamper women’s ability to produce and access more food and earn decent incomes due to which worldwide, around 60% of the undernourished people are females)

Highlights of the report titled Gender Equality and Food Security- Women’s Empowerment as a Tool against Hunger by Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Food and Agriculture Association of the United Nations (FAO)

According to the report titled Gender Equality and Food Security- Women’s Empowerment as a Tool against Hunger by Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Food and Agriculture Association of the United Nations (FAO), highlights that gender equality can contribute to food security and describes the relationship between gender-based discrimination and the different channels through which households and individuals access food. It also states that equality of treatment between women and men and food security are mutually supportive, gender equality remains an elusive goal in many regions, and a transformation of traditional gender roles is urgently needed.

Such a transformation can be enhanced with improved information about the range of inequalities and specific constraints facing women. A simultaneous and integrated pursuit of such information and transformation is essential for gender equality strategies and food security strategies to complement each other and maximize their synergy.

The food price crisis in particular may have a negative impact on human development by increasing poverty and inequality; worsening nutrition as families shift to diets less diverse and with lower micronutrient content; reducing the utilization of education and health services; and depleting the productive assets of the poor.

Food security and hunger eradication are among the top priorities on the international agenda today in view of the impact on agricultural productivity of global economic crises, food price spikes, and climate change. The extent to which gender inequalities in general, and the gender gaps in agriculture in particular, thwart attainment of these twin priority goals is a key concern given the vital role of women smallholders in household and community food and nutrition security.

Across the Asia and Pacific region, rural women assume critical roles in attaining each of the pillars of food security: availability, access, and utilization. Their role is thus crucial throughout the agricultural value chain, from production on the family plot, to food preparation, to distribution within the household. However, their roles are generally undervalued and constrained by limitations on their access to resources, services, and labor market opportunities. Most rural households and communities in the region manage their agricultural production systems based on social norms and practices that determine the gender division of labor. In addition, poor education and health indicators for women limit their access to resources and opportunities.

Women are increasingly important as farmers and livestock herders as a result of the agrarian transition and its gendered nature. Their autonomy as food producers, however, is usually very limited by the significant obstacles they face in accessing land, financial services, extension services, and markets, and in benefiting from agricultural research and development. Removal of these obstacles through gender-sensitive approaches would result in significant productivity gains benefiting not only the women concerned, but their households, communities, and society as a whole

Worldwide, around 60% of undernourished people are women or girls and hence it calls for a concerted effort against gender discrimination in access to food being given global priority. Malnutrition also affects the women concerned. However, they also have grave repercussions for their families and households, and on the next generation. In 2008, maternal undernutrition affected more than one-fifth of women in south central and southeastern Asia, and more than two-fifths of women in India and Bangladesh

Worldwide, there are strong regional differences in the extent of discrimination against women and girls. Within Asia and the Pacific, South Asia lags in eliminating such discrimination and in ensuring that women can participate, on an equal footing with men, in decision making

Cycle of gender discrimination

Source: ADB

There is a mutually reinforcing relationship between expanding social and economic opportunities for women. This is particularly true of improving women’s access to education, and strengthening their role in decision making within the household and within society. Greater economic autonomy improves the bargaining position of women within the household and increases their voice in public decision making. Empowerment, in turn, can accelerate the elimination of obstacles to expansion of their opportunities for self-employement and in the labor market. The need for deepening gender mainstreaming and for direct investments in women and girls to close remaining gender gaps and achieve better gender equality outcomes. Investments are needed in women’s and girls’ education, health, and economic empowerment, as well as in public transport facilities, better water services, and clean energy sources especially in rural areas.

Warm Regards,

Dr. S P Sharma