Bolivia 's answer to UN summit

Environmentalists, indigenous leaders and celebrities are gathering in Bolivia this week for a self-styled People's Climate Change Summit. It is being billed as an alternative to the United Nations meeting last December in Copenhagen. Evo Morales, Bolivia's president, says he wants to highlight issues largely ignored by delegates in Copenhagen. Al Jazeera's Craig Mauro reports on the expectations for the conference being held in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba.

Source: Al Jazeera

Australia races to stabilise ship

Officials say the Shen Neng 1 was going full speed in a restricted zone 'totally off limits' to shipping [EPA] Australian authorities are battling to stabilise a stranded Chinese coal carrier which is threatening to break up on the Great Barrier Reef and spill more oil into the pristine waters of the World Heritage site. The Shen Neng 1 ran aground on Saturday when it hit a shoal off the eastern state of Queensland at full speed, rupturing a fuel tank and causing a 3km-long slick. "One of the most worrying aspects is that the ship is still moving on the reef to the action of the seas, which is doing further damage," Patrick Quirk, the general manager of Marine Safety Queensland, said. Salvage experts boarded the Chinese-registered 230-metre bulk carrier, which is loaded with 65,000 tonnes of coal and about 975 tonnes of heavy fuel oil, on Monday. Quirk said the initial report was that the ship's main engine room had been breached, the major engine damaged and the rudder seriously impacted. One tug boat was already at the scene to stabilise the vessel and another was to arrive later on Monday, while aircraft are being used to monitor the spill in waters teeming with marine life. Delicate operation Anna Bligh, the premier of Queensland state, said salvage crews were assessing how they might refloat the carrier stranded some 70km east of the Great Keppel resort island, but warned that the operation could take weeks. The bulk carrier was loaded with 65,000 tonnes of coal and 975 tonnes of heavy fuel oil [EPA] "This is going to be a very specialist and delicate operation," she told Australia's Nine news network. Bligh had earlier said there was "a very real risk that the vessel may break apart" and the authorities fear an oil spill will damage the world's largest coral reef. "If this ship was to break further apart, if there was another very significant oil spill, then we would not only see tonnes of oil into the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park but modelling shows it is likely to come up onto the beaches of Shoalwater Bay, which is a national park area," Bligh said. The vessel hit Douglas Shoal, in a protected part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, 15km outside the nearest shipping channel and where shipping is restricted by environmental law. Conservationists expressed outrage that bulk carriers can travel through the reef without a marine pilot with local expertise and Larissa Waters, a spokeswoman for the environmentally focused Queensland Greens political party, said the state government was "being blinded by royalties and their short-sightedness will go down in history as killing the reef". But Bligh said the ship was in a restricted zone that was "totally off limits" to shipping and the ship's Chinese owners could be fined up to A$1m ($920,000) and the captain handed a A$250,000 fine.

Source: Agencies

USD 20m demand to release Saudi tanker

	Attacks by pirates increase between January and March

Somali Pirates demand USD 20 million to release the Saudi oil tanker with thirteen Sri Lankan crew members says Sri Lankan consul general in Jeddah.

Saudi tanker Al Nisr Al Saudi was captured by Somali pirates two weeks ago.

Speaking to BBC Sandeshaya the Consulate General of Sri Lanka in Jeddah, Safarullah Khan said, “the captain of the ship has contacted the company and informed that all thirteen Sri Lankan crew members are in good health”.

International Committee of Red Cross was not given permission to visit the ship though the pirates have allowed crew members to contact their relatives.

Captured Sri Lankan crew members Jacob Xavier Venice Robinson Parceloan Hewapatige Iranga Jayasinghe Robert Joseph Vijemuni Elmo Anslam Zoysa Selvarasa Rajavale Balakrishnan Jeyarajan Kanagasabhapathi Dushyanthan Arumaisekaran Basil Raja Luxmikanthan Kajendran Arogyasami Pillai Brito Laurence Savarimuthu Athputha Raja Rajagopal Jeyakumar Owners of Saudi tanker

“Pirates are contacting us to negotiate the ransom but they are not thinking on humanitarian terms. However, they promised us that they will not harm anyone” the consul general said.

Negotiations

According to him Sri Lankan diplomatic officials were not able to establish direct contacts with the pirates while having to rely on the information given by captors to families in Sri Lanka.

Pirates are asking for a twenty million US dollar ransom to release the ship and its crew along with the Greek captain.

Negotiation is taking place between the company and pirates and the consul general is hopeful that the matter can be resolved soon.

“Normally it takes about three months but we never know they may even release the crew tomorrow or can keep them for longer” he added.
The tanker, travelling from Japan to Jeddah, was empty when pirates hijacked the vessel and took its crew captive.

Pakistan navy test fires missiles

Video released by the Pakistani Navy showed a test missile being fired at a ship in the Arabian Sea Pakistan's navy has successfully test-fired missiles and torpedoes from ships, submarines and aircraft in the Arabian sea, officials say. The tests were followed by a statement saying they sent a "clear message to forces having nefarious designs". India and Pakistan regularly test their missile systems and they normally notify one another ahead of such tests. Last month the two sides held their first formal talks since the November 2008 Mumbai attacks. India says the attacks, which left 174 people dead - including nine gunmen - were partly planned on Pakistani soil. It is not clear if the missiles tested on Friday were capable of carrying nuclear warheads. The tests included anti-surface missiles, air-to-surface missiles, and surface-to-surface missiles, the AP news agency reported. Last month India successfully tested a nuclear-capable surface-to-surface missile.

Drone raid 'kills 12' in north-west Pakistan

US drone attacks are being stepped up along the Afghan-Pakistan border Two missile strikes by US drone aircraft have killed at least 12 suspected militants in north-west Pakistan, security officials say. The attacks took place in the tribal area of North Waziristan. The identities of those killed in the attack, the latest of more than a dozen this year, are not yet known. North and South Waziristan are known to provide sanctuary for al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, who are often targeted by drones. Locals say the attacks have destroyed many training camps and compounds. They have also killed dozens of local and foreign militants, officials say. Wednesday's first strike took place at Mizar Madakhel village, some 50km (30 miles) west of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan. This was followed by a second attack in the same area. The first attack targeted a vehicle and a compound which were being used by suspected militants, killing eight of them, reports say. The second strike targeted two vehicles, which killed another four. Correspondents say the United States has stepped up drone attacks in the region since seven CIA officers died in a suicide bomb attack at a US base across the border in Afghanistan last December. More than 700 people have died in nearly 80 drone strikes since August 2008. Pakistan has publicly criticised drone attacks, saying they fuel support for militants, but observers say the authorities privately condone the strikes. The American military does not routinely confirm drone operations, but analysts say the US is the only force capable of deploying such aircraft in the region.

At least 21 killed in Bangladesh fire

Bangladesh has around 4,000 textile factories and many of them have poor safety standards [Reuters] At least 21 people have been killed and 50 others injured in a Bangladesh clothing factory fire, police officials say. The officials said that the six-storey building was engulfed in flames for more than two hours at the Garib and Garib Newaj garment factory in Gazipur district on Thursday. Local television stations said at least 21 people had died of burns or suffocation. Most of the casualties were likely to be women, who make up the bulk of Bangladesh's two million textile workers. The cause of the fire was not immediately known. Labour rights groups say Bangladesh has around 4,000 textile factories and many of them are prone to fires as a result of poor safety standards. The textile industry in Gazipur district, located 50km north of the capital Dhaka, is one of the country's most important, accounting for more than $10 billion in exports annually, or 80 per cent of total exports mainly to the United States and Europe.

Source: Agencies

Iran says will respond to any new sanctions

--Reuters--

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks during a news conference in Tehran February 16, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Raheb Homavandi

TEHRAN (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday any country that tried to impose new sanctions on Iran would regret its actions, as the United States and Russia voiced shared concern about Tehran's nuclear program.

Ahmadinejad was speaking a day after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sought oil giant Saudi Arabia's support to help win Chinese backing for additional sanctions. Clinton said a new round of sanctions should target Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

"Iran will retaliate ... of course, if somebody acts against Iran our response will definitely be firm enough ... (to) make them regretful," Ahmadinejad told a news conference, without elaborating. "Sanctions will not harm Iran."

In Washington, the White House on Tuesday would not rule out any options -- including a military option -- for dealing with Iran's nuclear ambitions.

"I wouldn't rule out anything," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told a news briefing, adding that Iran's refusal to engage on its nuclear program was proof that the program "is not of the means and type that they have tried to convince others that it's for."

A joint letter from the United States, Russia and France expressed concern about Tehran's nuclear work and said its decision to escalate uranium enrichment -- rather than implement a nuclear fuel swap -- was unjustified.

Ahmadinejad said talks were still under way on the proposed fuel exchange and the issue was not yet closed.

He did not give details, but Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was visiting Tehran on Tuesday to try to salvage the U.N.-brokered uranium exchange deal amid growing calls for new sanctions against Iran.

"We have passed our own original proposals. We have brought up some ideas to unlock the impasse," Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Burak Ozugergin told Reuters in Ankara.

The State Department said it was not aware that any talks were under way, and repeated that any negotiations would have to take place with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which brokered the fuel swap proposal.