• New Report Shows "Sprinkles" are Working to Prevent and Treat Childhood Nutrition Epidemic

investment and, hopefully, the Europeans and Japanese will step up to the plate as well and will be spending about $10 billion a year, as we all know we need, then the global marketplace for generic drugs will change. And there could be new manufacturers, new ones in India, China, and also in Africa. There is a company in Ghana that's looking into this. There's a South African company and a Kenyan company that I've heard about that could develop that capacity.
INSKEEP: And I want to mention that you're listening to TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News.
Sophia Mukasa Monico is in the studio with us here. You are from Uganda. I'm interested as you look at the possibility that the United States might be spending billions of dollars over the next several years in Africa, a good chunk of that might go to Uganda, what concerns do you have about the idea of American funding, foreign funding, coming to your country? I suppose that money could be spent in the right way, and I suppose it could also be spent in the wrong way from your perspective.
Ms. MONICO: Well, Americans have always been in Uganda, and they have always been in the lead in responding to HIV and AIDS. I'll just give you an example. The first donor to support TASO was USAID. So that shows how they have already been there, and that was in 1987 when the epidemic was still very young. So money coming in as it's going to come and will be building on something that has already been there before because I don't see--apart from antiretrovirals, all the other activities that the American government is planning to do are already taking place in Uganda and they're being supported by the US government.
INSKEEP: This is a question of increasing them, though.
Ms. MONICO: Exactly. It's just an expansion question.
INSKEEP: Can I ask you about other countries? Are there some suspicions about exactly what the United States' motives are or the way that this money is spent, different requirements that might be attached to it, Paul Zeitz?
Dr. ZEITZ: Yeah. I think there is a lot of questions right now about the administration's intentions. Dr. Fauci talked about a network model that's been used in Uganda. That sounds great, but I've never seen one thing work everywhere in Africa. And I really believe strongly that we need to give the people in these countries the right to determine how this money should be programmed. And there's a lot of concern about the fact that this is being--nine out of the $10 billion of new money is being programmed directly by the US government.
We believe strongly that a multilateral approach through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria has already proven its ability to buy drugs at best world prices, number one. This week they're announcing their second round of grants, and with that, nearly 500,000 people will be newly given antiretroviral drugs. We already have a mechanism that's working. Why should we create a new parallel US structure?
INSKEEP: [phone], the number to call. Tracy called us from Blacksburg, Virginia.
And, Tracy, welcome to TALK OF THE NATION. I guess we're not going to hear from Tracy. Sorry about that. We will continue our discussion there. [phone] is the number to call.
I suppose one issue that you can raise here is the issue simply of public attitudes, of whether people are willing to talk openly about this disease. It seems that Uganda is one place where people are. What about other parts of Africa? Are Africans willing to confront the problems of this disease in an open way and the way that their behavior can affect this disease in an open way?
Dr. ZEITZ: My observation is that things are dramatically changing in the last two years. I traveled last year to four African countries--Mozambique, Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa--and it's a new environment. Everyone knows that the crisis is still getting worse in most countries, and as the death rates go up, people start talking about it more and people want to do something about it, especially young people. They want to be part of the African renaissance. They want to stop poverty. They want to be part of the global community. And the United States has an opportunity to lead the world in the African renaissance. President Bush has made the first steps with this AIDS program.
INSKEEP: OK. Sophia Mukasa Monico, thanks very much for joining us this afternoon. Really appreciate your taking the time.
Ms. MONICO: Thank you for inviting the Global Health Council.
INSKEEP: OK. And we will continue our discussion after the break. Here one big question of course is whether this is going to be passed by Congress. And we will talk to Jim Kolbe, a key member of Congress on this issue, and we'll continue to take your calls at [phone].
I'm Steve Inskeep. It's TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News.
(Announcements)
INSKEEP: This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Steve Inskeep in Washington. Join Ira Flatow on the next "Science Friday" for a conversation with scientist Craig Venter about his philosophy and vision for genomics. Who should own the human genome? That's the next TALK OF THE NATION, next "Science Friday."
Right now, we continue our conversation about President Bush's announcement of a new plan to fight AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean. And, as always, you can join our conversation. All you have to do is pick up the telephone, call us at (800) 989-TALK. Our e-mail address is [e-mail]. Our guest still in the studio here, Dr. Paul Zeitz, executive director of the Global AIDS Alliance.
And joining us now on the phone from Tucson, Arizona, is Republican Congressman Jim Kolbe of Arizona.
Congressman, welcome.
Representative JIM KOLBE (Republican, Arizona): Thank you. Good to be with you.
INSKEEP: I suppose you were in the audience the other night for the president's speech.
Rep. KOLBE: I was. I listened to it.
INSKEEP: Were you surprised?
Rep. KOLBE: Well, I had been called by the White House shortly before since I'm chairman of the Foreign Operations Subcommittee, which will be responsible for providing the funding for this. So I did know about it. But I thought it was a pretty dramatic proposal on the part of the president.
INSKEEP: Now why only $1 billion for this thing called the Global AIDS Fund that's already been set up by the United Nations to pay for things like treatment and prevention of AIDS?
Rep. KOLBE: Well, I just heard the comments that were made, and I think they're valid comments, about we have something that's working there. But there are questions, I think, yet about the Global AIDS Fund. I just spent a few days in Geneva this last week with the Global Fund, and I was down in Haiti earlier this month. And one of the things that concerns me is--the whole idea of the Global AIDS Fund is that we're going to deliver health care in a way that's been different, not through the traditional bureaucratic international organizations that we've had before. We need something that's more nimble, quicker, can respond.
And I think the Global Fund is showing some of that, but there are some questions, I think, and one of them is the fact that 100 percent of the coordinating council, the CCMs, as they're called in each of the countries, have government officials running them and 75 percent of the principal beneficiaries are government agencies. And while that's not necessarily bad, I think it's just a cautionary question that I think needs to be looked at. So the president is proposing a pretty large increase, though, in the funding for the Global Fund. And there's nothing that says that if it works and we're convinced that it's working the right way, we can't shift funds in that direction as the years go by.
INSKEEP: Congressman, stay with us for a moment, if you would, please.
Rep. KOLBE: Sure.
INSKEEP: We got a call from Reese(ph), in Tempe, Arizona.
Reese, welcome to TALK OF THE NATION.
REESE (Caller): Thank you.
INSKEEP: You have a question?
REESE: Yeah. Last night here on our local NPR station, KJZZ, Republican Congressman Jeff Flake was interviewed and said that he thought this was a nice sounding thing that presidents like to put in these addresses but he didn't know of many Republicans that would support it in view of the problems we have at home. I want to ask the congressman to be level with us, be honest with us about the Republican Party's enthusiasm about this proposal. I think it's telling that he didn't even know about it until he heard it in the State of the Union address. It doesn't sound like it's been talked up too much in his own party.
INSKEEP: Well, he said he got a little bit of a surprise call there. But in any event, Congressman Kolbe, I guess the question is: Is it realistic that this is actually going to pass at this level of funding?
Rep. KOLBE: I think it is realistic. Yeah, there is strong support for this among Republicans and Democrats. I didn't hear Jeff Flake's comments. Jeff's a good friend of mine. But I think he's just wrong on this. I think there is very strong support among Republicans about doing this. Look, this is not only a moral imperative, but it also has national security implications. If we have a collapse of the institutions of government in Africa, we're simply going to be creating a breeding ground for new terrorist activities. So there are strong national security reasons, but I think there's a moral imperative to do it as well.
And I think the mood in Congress--you saw that change when you saw Senator Helms come out last year before he retired and endorsed the idea of increasing funding. It's a little unusual for Senator Helms to be talking about additional foreign assistance. There's strong support for this, I think, among Republicans and Democrats.
INSKEEP: Paul Zeitz of the Global AIDS Alliance, earlier you were saying that that's the key question for you, whether the money gets passed. Do you doubt the sincerity of the Republican or Democratic leadership in Congress on this particular issue?
Dr. ZEITZ: Well, I think the first test will be President Bush's budget request next week. We'll know what the truth is about his intention. If he's asking for the $3 billion or the start-up of this initiative in the next year's budget, then we'll know. We heard about his mother-to-child prevention initiative earlier in the program. That was announced in June, and not one dollar has been programmed for that yet. So really, it's the president's budget. I am sure that there is bipartisan support, like Congressman Kolbe has said, and I believe that it will pass. And I believe, though, also that we need to continue to build the pressure and advocacy from around the country so that all members of Congress know that their constituents care about this issue, they want to see it funded. And we encourage people to go to our Web site, stopglobalaids.org to learn about the issue as it's evolving over the course of the year.
INSKEEP: It's TALK OF THE NATION.
Congressman Kolbe, you wanted to add something very briefly?
Rep. KOLBE: Well, I agree with Dr. Zeitz that creating public support for this is absolutely critical. I think the president's budget will reflect his support for this and that we will see the funds included there. But there's going to have to be both an authorization, the Frist bill or something along that lines. There will need to be some changes in that, but we'll need to have that passed and then we'll need to have the funding for it each year. But it is going to be a struggle given the budget constraints that we have. But I think there's support for it.
INSKEEP: Congressman, you got time to stay while we take one more question from the audience?
Rep. KOLBE: Sure.
INSKEEP: Frank has been holding patiently in Reno, Nevada.
Frank, welcome to TALK OF THE NATION.
FRANK (Caller): Yeah, thank you. This, I think, is real important. I've spent time in Lusaka, Harare, Lilongwe, Kampala, etc., and one of the things that the health-care workers say to me is just the medicine isn't enough. They need the food and the water, you know, as well for the digestion and the whole thing. Because just giving the medicines, that isn't enough. It's too hard on the systems. They need the nutrition as well.
INSKEEP: Paul Zeitz, you've spent a lot of time there. I mean, are people actually receiving drugs in some cases who are--I mean, they're starving to death at the same time that they're doing this.
Dr. ZEITZ: Well, I agree with Frank that we need to look at this initiative comprehensively, and we need to ensure that people that are receiving these drugs have access to clean water and have good food and nutrition. There is a lot of challenges to do this, but there also is a lot of capacity and a lot of infrastructure, as Frank may know, to deliver these drugs through the health system that's there, through churches and other non-governmental organizations, and also through the private sector. There's a huge moral imperative. We have to act now and we have to use existing infrastructure and build new infrastructure to be able to expand access to these drugs and other things.
INSKEEP: Congressman Kolbe, I'm sure it's difficult for someone in your situation to take care of, or try to deal with every problem in Africa at once, but is there a combination of problems here, really?
Rep. KOLBE: Well, it is a combination of problems. It's absolutely correct it has to be looked at in a comprehensive and a holistic fashion. And one of the things I think I've learned in the time that I've been in this job and traveling in places in Africa is that it isn't just money. It has a lot to do with leadership. Dr. Zeitz talked about what he thinks is the changes taking place. And I agree. I think there's some very positive things. We see terrific programs in places like Uganda and Senegal which have been tremendously successful. But unfortunately, in some countries like Zimbabwe, you continue to have total denial by the government there. And even in South Africa, a very advanced and enlightened country, unfortunately, we don't have the kind of leadership from the president there that we really need for the programs. So it's a matter of leadership as well, and you also have to deal with these other issues. So economic and development assistance goes along with these health-care needs.
INSKEEP: Congressman, just a few seconds left in this segment of the program, but I'd like to ask where this money is going to come from given that the government is running a deficit now. I mean, is that $15 billion easily available or will something else have to be reduced?
Rep. KOLBE: Well, it's not going to be easily available, but I believe that this is something the president has made a moral commitment to, and I think the Congress will as well--it will come just as all the other pieces of the budget come, from our revenues as well as from some borrowing. But looking domestically, we need to turn the economy around, get the economy growing again so that we can have the tax revenues to put us back in the black.
INSKEEP: And how soon, Congressman, will your subcommittee be taking up this issue?
Rep. KOLBE: Well, as soon as we get the president's--well, first of all, we've got to get the 2003 budget finished. We're still four months behind on that, and the Senate's passed it, but we have to go to conference now and work out those differences.
INSKEEP: OK.
Rep. KOLBE: We expect the president's budget for 2004 to be up on the Hill, I think, in another about eight, 10 days. And at that point we'll begin hearings on it, though there will also be a supplemental to deal probably with the war in Iraq. But there will be--we'll have hearings on this, and we have a commitment to get our bills out of the House before the break at Fourth of July, before the end of June.
INSKEEP: Full plate. OK. Congressman Jim Kolbe...
Rep. KOLBE: Full plate--you're right about that.
INSKEEP: ...thanks very much for taking the time. Really appreciate it.
Rep. KOLBE: Thank you very much. Bye now.
INSKEEP: And we also need to say goodbye to our other guest. Dr. Paul Zeitz is executive director of the Global AIDS Alliance. He's here in Studio 3A.
And thanks very much for taking the time.
Dr. ZEITZ: Thanks a lot.
INSKEEP: You're listening to TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News.
Document totn000020030131dz1u00001

BUSINESS

SHOWING OFF THE SHOW-ME STATE

By Repps Hudson Of The Post-Dispatch

913 words

15 January 2003

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

SLMO

FIVE STAR LATE LIFT

C1

English

Copyright 2003, St. Louis Post-Dispatch. All Rights Reserved.
Missouri marketing specialist Yan Li sees his job of promoting trade and investment as a two-way street.
Yan Li is looking for a few good Missouri companies -- companies with broad horizons, active imaginations and modest budgets.
Li, the state's international-marketing specialist, will leave March 29 for a 12-day trip to China, and he'd like to lead several more businesses like that of Jim Jones.
Jones and his wife, Betty Jones, own Wildwoode Trees & Seeds LLC in Stockton, Mo., about 125 miles south of Kansas City.
Jim Jones went with Li on his most recent -- Li's third -- trade mission to China in 2000. The purpose, as with all such nuts-and-bolts missions, was to help small and medium-size Missouri companies make contacts that turn into business opportunities -- and boost payrolls and state tax revenues.
These are not the politician-led, taxpayer-financed, high-profile trips that often catch flak for being junkets. Those missions are important, however, because state officials must lay the groundwork for missions like Li's.
Missouri's exports to the People's Republic of China totaled $177 million in 2001, No. 6 among buyers of the state's goods and services. The same year, Hong Kong spent $101 million for Missouri's good and services, making it No. 14.
For Li and the other trade specialists at the Office of International Marketing in Jefferson City, helping businesses make and cultivate contacts abroad is a way to ensure that Missouri remains competitive in global markets.
"'Globalization' is no longer a buzzword," said Angela Kinworthy, office director. "It's a part of the state's economy."
As do his colleagues, Li sees his job of promoting trade and investment as a two-way street: helping Missouri businesses make valuable personal contacts abroad while helping foreign firms and investors find opportunities here.
"We want to sell products, technology and services," Li said. "My job is to help Missouri companies export."
So far, two St. Louis- and one Kansas City-area businesses have signed up to visit Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Lang Fang in Hebei province. Hebei is Missouri's sister state in China.
Since Jones went with Li to China two years ago, he has returned several times, made lasting friends among the Chinese, played host to C hinese business delegations - and built up his business.
A forester educated at the University of Missouri in Columbia and a former Peace Corps volunteer, Jones, 60, is running the kind of small business that is ideal for Li's trade mission. He sells tree seeds, seedlings, grafts and cuttings.
In a telephone interview, Jones said China has a strong policy of reforestation, so he's exporting such native Missouri trees as black walnut, oak and pine.
Jones wouldn't say how much his company makes from its Chinese contacts first cultivated on his trip more than two years ago.
"It's significant," he said in a telephone interview. "It's a big part of our business now."
While large companies have their own foreign operations, small companies in Missouri that want to open up foreign markets must rely on Li and other trade specialists in the Department of Economic Development, whose expertise spans the globe.
"If you have a problem, you have someone just a phone call away from a knowledgeable person who speaks Chinese," Jones said.
Geri Scott agreed. She plans to fly to Hong Kong on March 29. The co-owner, with her husband, of HLS Inc. of Normandy, Scott will be making her second trip to China with Li.
She and her husband, Dr. Hillard L. Scott, a physician in family practice, have built up a relationship with a businessman in Ghana in West Africa. She wants to develop business ties with Chinese companies that make forklifts, which she will export to Ghana.
She said Li and the trade development office have helped to establish their bona fides with the Chinese businesses. The Chinese now know they will be paid for the forklifts, and the Ghanaian businessman will get the equipment he needs, Scott said.
"All the paperwork is done here," she said. "The state of Missouri will benefit from the taxes."
Scott also praised the efforts and expertise of Li and his colleagues.
"They're jewels. They really are," Scott said. "They show what a small business can do with two countries. ... I'd be out beaucoup money to make the contacts. I'd be looking for a needle in a haystack.
"As it is, I let them know what I need, and they make the contacts."
Cost of the mission is about $3,700, which includes a $1,200 registration fee, airfare, room and board. The fee covers business arrangements with Chinese government officials.
===
Find out more
For more information: Contact Yan Li at 1-573-751-4999 or [e-mail]
To register via the Internet: showme.ded.state.mo.us/dynded/wcp.oim_vi ew?x_organization=17 and scroll down to the entry for the China trip. The deadline to register is Jan. 24.
Reporter Repps Hudson: E-mail: [e-mail] Phone: [phone]
PHOTO, MAP | (1) Color PHOTO by DAWN MAJORS / POST-DISPATCH - Geri Scott, vice president of HLS Inc. of Normandy, has used Missouri's trade development office to increase her business with China.
Document SLMO000020040521dz1f0021t
News

A grim day in Naveh Sha'anan

MATTHEW GUTMAN

Reuters

840 words

7 January 2003

The Jerusalem Post

JPST

Daily

01

English

(Copyright 2003 The Jerusalem Post)
The scene on Tel Aviv's Rehov Naveh Sha'anan at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, precisely 24 hours after twin terrorist bombings killed 22 people, was part apocalyptic, part circus, but mostly sad.
In an agonizing series of funerals, many of the victims were laid to rest Monday, while two bodies, probably those of foreign workers, remain unidentified. Among the victims were 14 Israelis, a Bulgarian, a Chinese, two Romanians, and a Ghanaian. Forty of the 108 people injured remain hospitalized.
The Nablus al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades cell of Fatah, responsible for November's Kibbutz Metzer shooting, among others, is being held responsible for the second deadliest attack since the eruption of violence 28 months ago.
Police believe that the two terrorists were driven to the Naveh Sha'anan neighborhood near Tel Aviv's old bus station, where they detonated two bombs with 15 kg. of explosives. So heavy were the devices, packed with nails, bolts, and shards of steel, that police say they must have been carried in knapsacks rather than on explosive belts.
But by Monday evening, the smell of frying felafel wafted in the air; life looked grim but it continued. While street vendors chose to stay home, shops, even those with shattered windows, had chosen to open for business.
A shuddering Itzik Ya'acobov, 42, whose felafel restaurant lies just five meters from the site of the bombings, recalled how the force of the blast impaled the head a corpse on the sign of his store.
With workers clearing a gutted storefront before him, Benny Bar, self-appointed "Naveh Sha'anan real estate king," preached courage through his bullhorn. "Be strong my neighbors," he said, clamping a black cowboy hat to his head as if it were going to blow away. "Know that what we need is a divorce. The time has come to separate from the Arabs. Let's keep our friends the foreign workers, let's employ only Jews and foreign workers. After all, when was the last time one of them attacked us? We are safe with them and they are safe with us."
The crowd around him cheered, while foreign workers passing through the pedestrian mall on their way to work or to shop, nodded, understanding that the tone was favorable to them.
Across the street, beside the shredded plastic Indian belonging to the demolished Maestro Pub, a group of Chinese workers had built a makeshift shrine to a fallen friend. Dressed in their finest, they kneeled beside symmetrical piles of apples and a box of pastries. They then stood, some sniffling, for a moment of silence around the Chinese symbol for mourning, Na'am, which they fashioned from Jewish memorial candles.
Passersby stood with them in sympathetic silence. Even normally apathetic cameramen, passing huddles of mourners, tiptoed delicately around the candle arrangement.
Following the bombings, it was feared that wounded foreign workers would avoid seeking medical treatment for fear of being deported. But Tel Aviv police chief Cmdr. Yossi Sedbon reiterated the police's promise of immunity to all victims.
Einat Gal, director of the Physicians for Human Rights's foreign workers clinic, located just meters from the blast sites, said she was relieved to see that only one man had shown up for treatment, and that was after he was released from the hospital. She expects that others might trickle in seeking psychological aid. "This is a community that is affected psychologically like every other community. And they, too, will suffer from psychological trauma," she said. Many of the some 200,000 illegal workers have no medical insurance and private treatment is prohibitively expensive.
Samar, a Tulkarm-born Palestinian who lives on Rehov Naveh Sha'anan with her Jewish husband, expressed her shock over the attacks. "It hurts me that people were killed for nothing, for sitting and drinking beer. I walk there every day, I know those people. Our Koran, you know, says such things are strictly forbidden," said Samar, who works at Beit Halohem, a restaurant for disabled IDF veterans. "Believe it or not, they all accept me. They all know I am Palestinian, but have never said a word to me. That is why my heart bleeds now after the bombing."
Incredibly, the pedestrian mall's rehabilitation has already begun in earnest. By Sunday night, hours after the bombing, both government damage assessors and local contractors were hard at work planning the restoration of the bomb site.
Ya'acobov, a Naveh Sha'anan native whose father sold felafel from a cart for 40 years on the same street, said "of course people still come. We have no where else to go, even though we know this is not the end of it."
Photo; Caption: Palestinian suicide bombers Samer al-Nouri and Boraq Halfa, who killed 22 people and wounded over 100 in Tel Aviv on Sunday, are seen in handout photos from Fatah's al- Aksa Martyrs Brigades, which claimed responsibility for the attack.
Document jpst000020030107dz170005s

A Section

Israelis Reach Out to Foreign Victims; Immigrants Urged to Seek Treatment

John Ward Anderson

Washington Post Foreign Service

1,286 words

7 January 2003

The Washington Post

WP

FINAL

A08

English

Copyright 2003, The Washington Post Co. All Rights Reserved
TEL AVIV, Jan. 6 -- The scene of the deadly suicide bombings Sunday in Tel Aviv was transformed today into a boisterous hub of street cleaners, police officers, social workers, carpenters and painters who turned out en masse to help the victims pick up the pieces of their homes, their businesses and their lives.
Twenty-four people, including the two bombers, died in the double blasts -- which occurred 30 seconds apart in southern Tel Aviv at a crowded bus kiosk and at a money exchange on a pedestrian boulevard 200 yards away -- making it the second-deadliest attack in Israel since the start of the Palestinian uprising more than 27 months ago. Israeli police said late today that of the 20 dead identified, 14 were Israelis and six were foreigners -- two from Romania and one each from Ukraine, Bulgaria, China and Ghana. More than 100 people were injured, and 57 remained hospitalized. Officials today also revised the death toll of bystanders to 22; earlier reports said 23 were killed.
In response to the attack, Israel today barred Palestinian leaders from traveling to London for a Jan. 14 conference on peace talks and Palestinian reform that Prime Minister Tony Blair planned to host. Israeli officials also announced that they would prevent the Palestinian Central Council from meeting on Thursday to ratify a new Palestinian constitution, which contains many reforms favored by the United States, including establishing the post of prime minister.
A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, Jonathan Peled, said Israel's security cabinet also moved for a "clampdown on a few Palestinian colleges or universities that are hotbeds of terrorism" to subdue "dangerous elements." He said that people could be arrested and parts of the campuses closed, but that the policy was not aimed at wholesale closings.
The attack Sunday occurred in a neighborhood crowded with foreign workers, many here illegally, who have poured into Israel in the last decade to replace Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip who have been prevented from traveling to jobs inside Israel because of security concerns. As many as 400,000 people from Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Asia live and work in Israel. Perhaps half of them are here illegally, lured by the boom economy of the 1990s and largely tolerated by the government, immigration experts and officials said.
Last night and today, social workers from the municipality and counselors from public and private aid groups distributed fliers in English, Spanish, Romanian, Chinese and other languages urging injured foreigners to seek medical help. Israel's immigration police, which because of the plummeting economy have launched a campaign to deport low-paid foreign workers, announced that people seeking hospital treatment would not be expelled, even if they were in Israel illegally. The labor minister ordered the National Insurance Institute to offer expense-paid trips to Israel to the families of injured foreign workers.
It was unclear whether the government's measures would calm the misgivings of illegal workers.
"It's all just a performance for the Israeli public," said Adi Laxer, the foreign workers coordinator for Kav La'Oved, or the Hotline for Migrant Workers. "As soon as things quiet down, the campaign to throw them out will resume."
"In the past, there have been cases where hospitals reported foreign workers [to police] and it led to their expulsion," said Shabtai Gold, head of public outreach for Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, which operates a walk-in medical clinic near the blast sites that specializes in helping migrant workers. "Their whole experience with authority has been one of distrust."
Israeli security officials said that they believe foreign workers are not targets. But they congregate in densely packed, easily accessible public places, where suicide bombers can blend into the crowd and have deadlier impact. Of the approximately 700 people killed in attacks by Palestinian militants in the past 27 months, 27 were foreigners, according to the Israeli Foreign Ministry and the human rights organization B'Tselem.
Today, hordes of police officers, television crews and gawkers stood and stared at the damage. Workers used trowels to fill in pockmarks and scrape plaster across the facades of buildings on the wide pedestrian boulevard that stretches about 500 yards between Tel Aviv's old and new bus stations.
A small shrine with dozens of memorial candles was set up outside the money exchange, near the McChina restaurant and carryout.
The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militia group linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, on Sunday asserted responsibility for the blasts and identified the two bombers as young men from Nablus, a center of militant activity in the West Bank about 35 miles northeast of Tel Aviv. The group said in a statement that the bombings were in retaliation for the Israeli army's recent destruction of houses belonging to the families of Palestinian militants in Nablus.
Today, Fatah and other elements of al-Aqsa denied responsibility and said the two bombers were not on their membership rolls. A strongly worded statement by the Palestinian Authority said, "The leadership declares its insistence and determination to confront firmly -- out of a principled moral and political belief -- the perpetrators and planners of these operations and those who support them."
The bomb on the pedestrian boulevard exploded less than 10 yards from a pub where another bomber killed himself and wounded 32 people a year ago. A third attack along the pedestrian mall occurred in July, about 200 yards west of Sunday's blast; two men blew themselves up in tandem, killing five people.
The brick walkway, which is lined with shade trees and lampposts, is home to a hodgepodge of convenience stores, fast-food restaurants, bars, sex shops, international calling centers, money exchanges and budget clothing stores that cater to Israel's foreign workers -- many of whom live in group apartments. Stores have 50-pound sacks of rice stacked in front like sandbags, along with shelves piled high with noodles and spices from the Far East.
Because of its low-price stores, the area also draws many Israeli shoppers. Many storefront signs are in multiple languages; a butcher advertises meats in Romanian, Hebrew, English and Chinese.
"There's nothing to do -- we will continue this way. Who lives lives, and who dies dies," said Oliver Lupu, an illegal worker in one of the shops who said he came to Israel from Romania six years ago. "You don't know where the next attack is going to be. You drink a cup of coffee, you go to the bathroom and boom!"
"It can happen to anyone -- it doesn't matter if you're Israeli or foreign," said a 31-year-old from Ghana who would give his name only as Francis.
"I'm going to buy a phone card to call the Philippines because they are very worried," said Daniel Agayao, 31, who said he had a worker's visa and was in Israel legally.
Some counted their blessings.
"I was very, very lucky," said Itzik Teva, 48, the owner of a barbershop 60 feet from the first bomb blast, at a busy bus stop. He had just seated a customer, Teva said, "and then 'Boom!' -- there was an explosion" that blew out his two plate-glass windows and sent pieces of shrapnel flying.
"We escaped to a corner, and then another explosion came, 'Boom!' and the plaster from the ceiling fell all around us. If I had been standing at the door, I would have been killed."
Researchers Eetta Prince-Gibson and Samuel Sockol contributed to this report.
Document wp00000020030107dz170001z

World Leasing Yearbook 2002
726 words

18 December 2002

M2 Presswire

MTPW

English

Copyright 2002 M2 Communications, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
The World Leasing Yearbook is acknowledged as the standard source book for the asset funding and leasing industry. The new 23rd edition provides an unrivalled and valuable reference for all players in the market.
It features over 100 authoritative articles by leading industry experts on global leasing and a comprehensive and unique directory of over 5,000 companies active in the sector.
The extensive introductory section provides an informed discussion of current trends and debates in the marketplace. There is a special report on the current status of the aircraft leasing market following the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and also on the leasing software and IT market.
A unique ranking of the top 50 leasing markets by size worldwide completes this essential guide.
The Yearbook also features profiles on leasing in the following regions:
Argentina - Australia - Austria - Bangladesh - Belgium - Brazil -Canada - Chile - China - Colombia - Czech Republic - Denmark - Egypt -Estonia - Finland - France - Germany - Ghana - Greece - Hong Kong -Hungary -India - Ireland - Italy - Japan - Korea - Kuwait - Luxembourg - Malaysia - Netherlands - New Zealand - Nigeria - Norway - Pakistan -Panama -Poland - Russia - Saudi Arabia - South Africa - Spain - Sri Lanka -Sweden - Switzerland - Taiwan - Turkey - United Kingdom -United States of America.
The World Leasing Yearbook includes the most comprehensive directory on the leasing industry in the world. Lists over 5,000 companies providing leasing services worldwide including general leasing companies, specialist leasing companies (vehicles, computers, aircraft, vendor/sales aid, shipping, real estate, etc.), merchant or investment bankers, consultants, brokers, packagers, lawyers and accountants.
The World Leasing Yearbook is the only annually-updated reference book on leasing. Thoroughly revised and updated each year, it is internationally acclaimed as the standard reference book on the subject.
For a complete index of this report click on http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/358
Report Index:
INTRODUCTION
Another record-breaking year!
American leasing powers ahead in 2000
The `911` effect on the aircraft leasing industry
Aircraft leasing today - new realities: emerging from crisis
Pricing and structuring techniques in tax lease financings
Synthetic leasing
Perpetual assets - what are they and what are their effects?
Setting and mitigating residual value risk
Japanese leveraged lease versus Japanese operating lease
The IFC`s leasing activities 1977-2001
Leaseurope statistics
International Accounting Standards Board
Leaseclubs
The Unidroit Convention on International Financial Leasing
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Lease evaluation and administration software in Europe and the US
Web-enabled lease management technology
CRM in the leasing industry
Using the Web to create a unique competitive advantage
Know your assets, like you know your customers
Internet opportunities - fact or fiction?
Leasing software in Europe
Leasing software in the US
COUNTRY REVIEWS
-- Argentina
-- Australia
-- Austria
-- Bangladesh
-- Belgium
-- Brazil
-- Canada
-- Chile
-- China
-- Colombia
-- Czech Republic
-- Denmark
-- Egypt
-- Estonia
-- Finland
-- France
-- Germany
-- Ghana
-- Greece
-- Hong Kong
-- Hungary
-- India
-- Ireland
-- Italy
-- Japan
-- Korea
-- Kuwait
-- Luxembourg
-- Malaysia
-- Netherlands
-- New Zealand
-- Nigeria
-- Norway
-- Pakistan
-- Panama
-- Poland
-- Russia
-- Saudi Arabia
-- South Africa
-- Spain
-- Sri Lanka
-- Sweden
-- Switzerland
-- Taiwan
-- Turkey
-- UK
-- USA
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Document mtpw000020021218dyci003pe

AFP Asia-Pacific news agenda Duty editor: Rob Woollard Tel: Hong Kong (852) 2829 6200
687 words

2 November 2002

Agence France-Presse

AFPR

English

(Copyright 2002)
Nov 2 (AFP) - Asia-Pacific news highlights for Saturday:
+ Sri Lankan peace talks enter third day after rebels
protest against their leader's 200-year sentence
+ US fears a repeat of Bali bomb attack in other
parts of Southeast Asia
+ Troubled Indian Kashmir's new state government
due to be sworn in
AUCKLAND: America's Cup challenger yachting series continues. (Yachting-Amcup)
BANGKOK: Monitoring investigation into a string of bombings and arson attacks in the predominantly Muslim south following the arrest of a suspect tied to the case. (Thailand-unrest)
BEIJING: Reporting on disappearance of worker with Japanese organization helping North Korean refugees in China. (China-NKorea)
Men's World Cup Table Tennis Championships take place in China's Shandong province. (TTennis-Chn)