New UN forum launched to promote cross-cultural understanding

MADRID: Personalities from the worlds of politics, religion and the arts launch a new UN forum Tuesday aimed at bridging the divide between different cultures in the wake of 9/11 and other terror attacks.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero hosts the first Alliance of Civilizations Forum, which he proposed at the UN General Assembly in September 2004, six months after the Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people.
Also attending will be Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a co-sponsor along with Zapatero, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and former Portuguese president Jorge Sampaio, the UN high representative for the Alliance of Civilizations.
Sampaio said the forum was urgently needed to promote dialogue between civilizations, cultures and religions after the "complex international situation after September 11 and after other terrorist attacks which have marked this decade.
The two-day gathering is set to announce initiatives aimed at promoting greater understanding between cultures.
One of these will be the launch of a multi-million dollar media fund, to be run independently of the UN and set up by private philanthropists and media agencies.
Shamil Idriss, Acting Director of the Alliance of Civilizations, said the fund would "support major film productions that help to promote cross-cultural understanding and combat stereotypes."
Another project to be announced will be a Rapid Response Media Mechanism, aimed at reducing tensions in times of cross-cultural crises, Idriss said.
Iranian Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi praised the forum Monday as "good response" to resolving differences between civilizations.
"After hearing the debates and the dialogue, we will realise there is no clash between civilizations," she said. "Civilizations do actually have many points in common. We should start from those common points that we have."
Other participants in the forum's two plenary sessions will include Turkey's Nobel literature laureate Orhan Pamuk, Brazilian author Paulo Coelho, Queen Noor of Jordan, Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa and the former president of Ireland, Mary Robinson.

US rejects Chavez call to remove FARC terror group label

 

 

WASHINGTON: The United States has rejected Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's call for the international community to stop branding Colombia's leftist rebels as terrorists.
"You'll excuse me if we don't take that advice," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
"Look, they earned their way on to the terrorism list," McCormack said, noting that FARC continues to hold many hostages, including three Americans, despite their release of two Colombian politicians last week.
"If there is any reason whatsoever to take a group off the terrorism list, then that's done," McCormack said. "But I'm not aware of any substantial change in a pattern of behavior by the FARC that would merit their being taken off the list."
Chavez last week described the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) as legitimate armies with political goals that must be respected and urged governments to remove the terror label.
McCormack said the United States remains concerned about the three Americans hostages, contractors in anti-drug operations who were captured by FARC after their plane was shot down in 2003.
"They should be released, unconditionally, so that they can be reunited with their families," McCormack said. "There's no reason on Earth to hold those people."
The head of the US military, Admiral Michael Mullen, said Chavez's proposal would not help Latin America.
"I'm honestly not surprised by that support," Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters after a visit to the headquarters of the US Southern Command in Miami.
"I don't think it is helpful long-term for building the kind of stability that we need to see in this part of the world," Mullen said.
Chavez, who was an intermediary in the release of the two Colombian women last Thursday, said afterwards that the guerrilla groups had legitimate national programs.
They "are not any terrorist body, they are real armies that occupy territory in Colombia," Chavez said.
"They must be recognized, they are insurgent forces that have a political project ... which here is respected." But Colombian President Alvaro Uribe flatly rejected the call

Russia's Lavrov accuses Britain of imperial nostalgia: agency

MOSCOW: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday that Britain's refusal to close two cultural centres in Russia appeared to reflect nostalgia for a lost empire, a local news agency reported.
"Of course we understand that historical memory, possibly connected with nostalgia for colonial times, is prevailing," Lavrov was quoted as saying. "But this is not the language in which you can talk to Russia."

Surgeons hail operation on baby gorilla-Cyst removed near zoo ape’s spine during ‘Star Trek’ experience

 

SEATTLE - Veterinarians and pediatric surgeons combined their efforts to remove a cyst near the spine of a baby gorilla at the Woodland Park Zoo, an operation they believe is the first of its kind.

During the hourlong operation Thursday morning at the zoo, surgeons from Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center joined zoo vets in removing the mass, which was 1.2 to 1.6 inches (3 to 4 centimeters), said Dr. Richard G. Ellenbogen, a neurosurgeon and chairman of the department of neurological surgery at the University of Washington, which is affiliated with the hospital.

The surgery also confirmed that the as-yet-unnamed baby gorilla has a mild case of spinal bifida, which doctors said should not be a concern as she grows older.

"This gorilla operation was an amazing 'Star Trek' type of experience for the team from Children's and the UW," Ellenbogen said.

The baby, the 12th successful gorilla birth for the zoo and the third offspring of Amanda, 37, and the father, Vip, 28, arrived in October with the cyst at the base of her back, but because of the way gorillas hold their babies it was some time before the deformity was noticed.

Experts hoped to wait until the gorilla was a bit older and could tolerate surgery better but grew concerned as recent tests showed it had become infected and was growing toward the spine, raising a risk of meningitis, said Dr. Kelly E. Helmick, the zoo's interim director of animal health.

Before the surgery, zookeepers trained the mother, Amanda, to carry her baby to them so they could give antibiotics to help fight the infection, Helmick said.

After the operation, the gorilla was placed on a table outside of the operating room to be given fluids and kept warm in a large pink blanket while awakening from the anesthesia. About 30 minutes later, the creature yawned and opened her eyes, her pink and purple pacifier at the ready and a small stuffed gorilla on the counter nearby.

As soon as zookeepers returned her to Amanda, the mother grabbed the infant and began nursing, Helmick said.

"It was a touching reunion between mom and baby," she said.

Gorillas naturally pick at each other to remove dirt and insects, so the sutures were buried under the skin and covered with surgical tissue glue, while Amanda's nails were painted red so she would be distracted and pick at her nails instead of at her baby's incision.