The INS Tabar, an Indian warship, encountered three pirate vessels approximately 320 miles south-west of the Omani coast in the Gulf of Aden late Tuesday.* When the pirates fired upon the Tabar, it retaliated, sinking the “mother ship” and forcing the would-be hijackers to abandon one of their two speedboats. The second speedboat escaped and there is no casualty count at this time.
At least 92 ships have been attacked in and around the Gulf of Aden so far in 2008, more than triple the number in 2007, according to the International Maritime Bureau. At least 14 of those ships are still in the control of hijackers. This includes a Ukrainian freighter loaded with tanks, artillery and other weaponry and a Saudi supertanker with two million barrels of oil valued at approximately $100 million. The pirates responsible for these attacks are mostly based in Somalia and the UN estimates between $25 to $30 million has been paid in ransom to them this year.
International anti-piracy patrols have been deployed in the area since August and international shipping organizations hope the Indian Navy’s actions set an example for addressing the hijackers. Meanwhile, the cost of increased piracy is expected to spread to consumers as shipping companies face higher insurance bills.
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On 18th November, 2008, Navi Pillay, the UN Human Rights Commissioner called for an immediate end to the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. Pointing out that the Israeli action was a flagrant violation of International Law and denied the residents of Gaza their most basic human rights, Ms. Pillay said:
“By function of this blockade, 1.5 million Palestinian men, women and children have been forcibly deprived of their most basic human rights for months”….“This is in direct contravention of international human rights and humanitarian law. It must end now”
She welcomed the Israeli decision to allow a limited number of trucks in the Gaza strip on 17th November, 2008 but stated that a full-fledged lifting of blockade was absolutely necessary to address the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation there. She pointed out that more than half of the civilian population in Gaza consists of children who are in dire need of humanitarian protection.
In a parallel development, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said that UNRWA has been unable to get supplies and was turning away mothers from food centres without powdered milk for their babies.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon telephoned the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and expressed over the deteriorating situation in the Gaza strip and called upon the Israeli Prime Minister to facilitate free movement of supplies within and UN personnel into Gaza. The Israeli Prime Minister remained non-committal regarding any specific action.**
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OTTAWA (AFP) — Women ski jumpers said on Tuesday they had taken legal action over the non-inclusion of their event in the 2010 Vancouver winter Olympics, claiming it was "discrimination."

The supreme court of the province of British Colombia will decide next April if the absence of women's ski jumping events is illegal or not.

The legal action was filed by six of the best women's ski jumpers against the Vancouver Olympic Organising Committee (VANOC).

"We are satisfied that we have gone ahead with legal action," said group spokeswoman DeeDee Corradini. Others included in the six are former American champion Karla Keck and former Canadian Marie-Pierre Morin.

The men's ski jump competitions have been on the Olympic programme since 1924 but the International Olympic Committee has refused to create a women's event, claiming there are not enough elite women to justify its inclusion.

Patients from Brazil have asked the Delhi patent office not to grant a patent pending on the HIV drug tenofovir because it would prevent the import of low-cost generic medicines from India they say are important for their national AIDS treatment programme, upon which 1,80,000 Brazilians depend.
This is the first time that a group from outside the country has challenged a patent pending in the country since the introduction of product patents in India in 2005. It shows how far other developing countries rely on the production of generic medicines and illustrates the strength of the demand for exports from the Indian pharmaceutical industry.

ABIA (Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association) filed the opposition jointly with the Indian non-governmental organisation SAHARA (Centre for Residential Care and Rehabilitation) on Thursday to a patent submitted by Gilead Sciences before 2005 and kept in waiting. The Patent Amendment Act, 2005 (Section 25) allows any affected party to object to a patent before it is granted. ABIA and Sahara are appealing on the grounds that the drug is a modification of an already known compound and therefore not eligible for a patent under Section 3(d) of India’s patent law. Gilead also has a patent pending for tenofovir before the patent office in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

“We want more options to promote competition in the market and bring down drug prices,” Gabriela Chavez, a pharmacist with ABIA told The Hindu over telephone from Brazil. “If the patent is granted in Brazil but not in India, Brazil has the option to apply for a compulsory licence [a provision for public health emergencies sanctioned by the World Trade Organisation] to buy the drug at lower cost from Indian companies. If the patent is not granted in Brazil or India, Brazil has the option to import either the key ingredients or the finished medicines from Indian companies,” she said.
Drug resistance

Tenofovir is recommended by the World Health Organisation as a treatment for those who suffer side effects from other HIV drugs or those who develop drug resistance. An estimated 31,000 people living with HIV are expected to receive tenofovir through Brazil’s national AIDS programme by the end of 2008, said Gabriela Chavez. The Brazilian government is buying the drug direct from Gilead at the negotiated price of $1,387 (Rs. 59,571) per patient a year, according to its 2007 budget figures. The lowest priced generic versions of the drug are available in the Indian domestic market at $158 (Rs. 6,770). Some Indian pharmaceutical companies in 2006 signed an agreement with Gilead enabling them to manufacture the drug but preventing them from exporting it or its raw materials to some middle income countries including Brazil. If the patent is not granted in India, companies can compete for the domestic market but only those who have not signed the agreement with Gilead will be able to export.

By Ms.Bobby Aanand, Metropolitan Jury.

On Tuesday, November 11, the Rwandan President Paul Kagame declared Germany violated his country’s sovereignty when it arrested one of his aids, Rose Kabuye,* and subsequently expelled the German ambassador. Germany responded by asking the Rwandan ambassador to leave Berlin.
Kabuye, chief of protocal for the Rwandan President, was arrested Sunday at Frankfurt International Airport on a French warrant. She is wanted in connection with the 1994 fatal attack on the plane of former Rwarndan President Juvenal Habyarimana. Kabuye is suspected of housing the Tutsi cammando unit blamed for shooting down the plane.
While Hutu extremist accuse the Tutsi fighters led by Kagame of shooting down the plane and killing the then President Habyarimana, a Hutu, some believe that Rwanada’s hard-line Hutus may have staged this accident, shooting down the plane to create a pretext for mass violence against Tutsis.
Kabuye’s arrest may affect Rwanda’s cooperation efforts with the European Union with respect to the recent fighting in Congo. The African Union has also expressed displeasure with the arrest.
It remains unclear whether Kabuye had diplomatic immunity in Frankfurt. Ties between Rwanda and France have been strained since the issuance of warrants for nine associates of Kagame over the plane crash. The Tutsi-led government accuse France of training and arming the Hutu militias and former government troops who led the genocide in Rwanada in April 1994. The 100-day slaughter killed over 500,000 minority Tutsis and some moderate Hutus, ending with Kagame’s forces ousting the Hutu government that orchestrated the killings.
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Ministers of Law from the ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) met in Brunei in late October for their seventh ASEAN Law Ministerial Meeting (ALAWMM). *Topics of discussion centered around the legal implications of the November 2007 adoption of the organization’s first legally binding charter, including cooperation in criminal adjudication, extradition, counter-terrorism, and trade law. *According to the group, the introduction of a formal charter creating a rules-based intergovernmental organization will necessitate a greater role for ALAWMM within ASEAN as legal cooperation between member states becomes more important. *The body of law ministers had last met in 2005 and will hold its next meeting in Cambodia in 2011.
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The General Assembly and the Security Council of the United Nations voted last week to elect five new members to the International Court of Justice.* The five judges haling from Jordan, France, Brazil, the United Kingdom, and Somalia were affirmed for a nine-year term beginning in February 2009.
The International Court of Justice consists of 15 judges - three for Africa, two for Latin America, three for Asia, five for Western Europe and other States, and two for Eastern Europe and Russia.* One third of the membership is renewed every three years, and no two judges may be from the same country.
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United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon encouraged the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and neighboring nations (namely, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and South Africa) to take “urgent measures to contain the present crisis created by the upsurge of fighting in eastern DRC” at a UN-backed summit hosted by the African Union on November 7. He expressed deep concern at fresh fighting in the province of North Kivu between Government forces (FARDC) and the National Congress in Defence of the People (CNDP) and stressed that the escalation of violence would be felt not only by the Congolese people but across the region. *He called for efforts to broker a political solution, which would involve a ceasefire, disengagement of troops, and disarmament of armed groups. In addition, he requested that the Security Council add 3,000 troops to reinforce the 17,000-strong UN peacekeeping force in the DRC, known as MONUC. Currently, 5,000 peacekeepers are in North Kivu, trying to carry out MONUC’s mandate to protect civilians from the violence. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that the total number of internally displaced people in North Kivu since September is now estimated at 252,000, in addition to the existing 800,000 displaced from earlier hostilities.
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A World Trade Organization report published on November 5 has confirmed that growth in world merchandise trade slipped in 2007 to 6% from 8.5% in 2006. *One of the primary causes of the slowdown is the reduction of import demand in the United States, Europe and Japan. Realignments in exchange rates and fluctuations in commodity prices also contributed to uncertainties in the global markets in 2007. *
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On 4th November 2008, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno-Ocampo expressed concern over the situation in the Kivus area of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He further reiterated that his Office is closely monitoring the reports on the attacks on civilian populations in the area.
Armed conflict*between the Laurent Nkunda led National Conference for the Defence of the People (CNDP), Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and the military of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC)*has been continuous since the beginning of this decade.
Recalling that the ICC has jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed in the territory of the DRC or by Congolese nationals since 01 July 2002, the Prosecutor observed that “Crimes must stop. The people in the two provinces of North and South Kivu have already suffered too much. Rapes, massive displacements are serious crimes and will not go unpunished”
The Office of the Prosecutor is investigating commission of such crimes by individuals belonging to all the groups operating in the area, including the CNDP, the FDLR and the FARDC. *After meeting a delegation of Congolese Parliamentarians, the Prosecutor urged all actors, including regional and international organizations, to assist the DRC authorities, particularly in the execution of the ICC arrest warrant against Bosco Ntaganda, who is the chief of staff of Laurent Nkunda’s CNDP and has an active role in the conflict. The focus of this investigation will be announced shortly by the Prosecutor. For further information, please click here

Ali Hamza Ahmad Sulayman al-Bahlul, far left, holding up a handwritten sign during a hearing. (AP/Canadian Press, Janet Hamlin)

Just in this morning: Faced, literally, with no opposition, U.S. military prosecutors have won a conviction in the second war-crimes trial at Guantanamo Bay. Ali Hamza al-Bahlul, who stood accused of making propaganda videos for al Qaeda and was charged with conspiracy, solicitation to commit murder and supporting terrorism, was convicted this morning by a military jury, according to an early AP report.

Bahlul, a Yemeni, instructed his lawyers to mount no defense over the course of his trial, which ended Friday.

Each count carries a possible sentence of life in prison. Sentencing was to immediately follow the announcement of the verdict.

On Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for an end to the violence in the North Kivu province in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The intensity of the conflict between Government forces (FARDC) and a militia group known as the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), led by former general Laurent Nkunda,*has increased in the past several days*.
Over the past several days, more than 45,000 people have fled internally displaced persons camps (IDPs) in North Kivu, while over 1,000 other Congolese have sought refuge in Uganda. The conflict between the FARDC and the CNDP, which began in August, has left 250,000 Congolese homeless and another 850,000 in IDPs.
Mr. Ban referenced “the use of civilians as human shields,” “the exchange of heavy weapons across the…DRC-Rwanda border,” “the collapse of discipline” among government forces, and “the targeting of UN peacekeepers” as particularly deplorable elements of the conflict. In addition, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) reported an inability to deliver over 100,000 metric tons of food due to the violence.
Nevertheless, Mr. Ban praised the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC, MONUC, for its efforts to protect civilian lives. In recent days, he dispatched senior advisors to the region to meet with key leaders. Mr. Ban’s Special Representative Alan Doss emphasized, “What we want is for the CNDP to enter a process and stay in the process and remain committed to agreements they have signed.” To that end, Mr. Ban announced that “MONUC will use all necessary means, within the limits of its capacity to carry out its mandate,” which includes attempting to bring the CNDP and Congolese government to the negotiate in order to end what Mr. Ban has termed “a humanitarian crisis of catastrophic dimensions.”
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Office of the Press Secretary
October 17, 2008

by Rose Garden

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. (Applause.) Please be seated, thank you. Welcome to the White House. I'm pleased to stand with the representatives of seven countries -- the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, and South Korea -- that have met the requirements to be admitted to the United States Visa Waiver Program. Soon the citizens of these nations will be able to travel to the United States for business or tourism without a visa. I congratulate these close friends and allies on this achievement, and I thank you for joining us here.

I also thank Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of the Homeland -- Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff for working hard to make sure this day has finally arrived. Appreciate other members of the administration here and members of the Diplomatic Corps.

All of the nations represented here today allow American citizens to travel to their countries visa-free. The United States has not accorded their citizens the same privilege. For years the leaders of these nations have explained to me how frustrating it is for their citizens to wait in lines and pay visa fees to take a vacation or make a business trip or visit their families here in the United States. These close friends of America told me that it was unfair that their people had to jump through bureaucratic hoops that other allies can walk around.

I told them I agree with them. I also told them that in the world after September 11th, we could only expand travel opportunities if we increased security measures at the same time. So nearly two years ago, my administration asked Congress to modernize our Visa Waiver Program in a way that accomplished both of these goals. I appreciate the bipartisan support this initiative has received on Capitol Hill. My administration worked with Congress to pass a law allowing us to admit new countries to the Visa Waiver Program. These countries agree to share information about threats to our people. They also agree that their citizens use a new system that requires travelers to register online ahead of their visits to the United States. These citizens will travel to the United States only if they have tamper-proof biometric passports. I'm grateful to the dedicated officers from the United States and our allies who worked hard to complete the agreements to meet these new requirements.

Because of this good work, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has notified our Congress that the administration intends to use its new authority to admit seven countries into the Visa Waiver Program. In about a month, we will be proud to extend to citizens of these seven countries the privilege of visa-free travel.

Today's announcement signifies a new chapter in the relationship between the United States and your nations. It is a testament to the strong bonds of friendship that unite our people.

This is a significant achievement, but it is only the start. A number of America's other close friends are participating in a process called the "visa waiver road map" that is helping them qualify for the Visa Waiver Program. I welcome the ambassadors from these "road map" countries -- Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Malta, Poland, and Romania. We thank you for coming today. We thank you for your friendship. And we look forward to the day when your countries join the Visa Waiver Program.

I believe the best foreign policy for America is one that lets people from other countries get to know this country firsthand. Throughout our history, some of the strongest advocates of freedom have been those who came to America and saw the blessings of liberty with their own eyes. Extending this opportunity to some of our closest allies deepens our friendship and makes all our countries safer. I'm grateful to all the countries here for seeking to strengthen the ties between our citizens. I look forward to even stronger partnerships in the years ahead.

Thank you for coming. (Applause.)

Imprisoned Chinese dissident Hu Jia was awarded the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought on October 23, 2008, in a move some hope will lead to his release. Hu Jia, whose work has focused on bringing awareness to issues like AIDS, the environment, and the 1989 pro-democracy movement, was arrested in late 2007 and convicted of subversion after he presented video testimony to the European Parliament about the human rights situation in China.
Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering said the prize was meant to demonstrate that “the European Parliament firmly and resolutely acknowledges the daily struggle for freedom of all Chinese human rights defenders.” The U.S. has been a vocal critic of his arrest, according to State Department spokesman Darby Holladay. Holladay told America.gov that the international community also hopes that the award “will demonstrate to China’s leaders the enormous esteem the international community holds for [Hu Jia’s] important work as a human rights defender, and that China will release him immediately.”
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Violence has broken out in Congo as forces loyal to former Congolese General Laurent Nkunda launch attacks on government troops. These rebel forces are believed to be preparing a strike on the city of Goma. Only ten months ago, rebel groups met in Goma to sign a peace agreement. As a result of the rising violence, almost*45,000 refugees have fled to a U.N. refugee camp outside of the city. The*U.N. is attempting to prevent forthcoming raids by deploying attack helicopters to the region.
Spokesman for the U.S.*State Department, Sean McCormack, has stressed the United States’ support of U.N. peacekeeping efforts, and McCormack has urged Mr. Nkunda to resume talks with the DRC government. In a statement made on October 28, McCormack said,*“The U.S. calls on all parties to the Goma Agreements and the Nairobi Communiqué to respect their commitments and renounce the use of arms.”
The United States has been a long-time supporter of the U.N.’s peacekeeping mission in Congo. *Since 1998, the U.S. has delivered over $220 million in emergency aid to victims of the conflict, and has also played a role in efforts to enhance stability in Congo and surrounding regions.
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On October 24 President Bush signed NATO accession protocols for Albania and Croatia, bringing the two nations one step closer to joining the organization.
Senate ratification of the protocols and the presidential signature follows the extension of an official invitation to the two nations at NATO’s summit in Romania last April. All 26 NATO members must ratify before they can join the alliance, which could happen as soon as 2009.
The accession of Albania and Croatia - as well as preliminary approaches towards Macedonia, and assessments of Georgia and the Ukraine - is dependent on proof that the nations “are firmly on the path of democratic and internal reforms.” Engagement also reflects NATO’s current attempt to increase its level of cooperation in preparation for the alliance’s 60th anniversary this coming April.
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Dr. Maxwell Mkwezalamba, the African Union Commissioner for Economic Affairs, announced on October 29 that the African Union (AU) is organizing a conference with the African Development Bank in Tunis next month. Various AU*ministers of finance and central bank governors will meet to discuss the impact of the global crisis on Africa and come up with a common African position on how to address its challenges and mitigate its effects. *A subsequent meeting is planned for January of next year.
To download the AU press release, please click here.

AP - A federal jury has ended its first day of deliberations in the trial of a U.S. Border Patrol agent accused of fatally shooting an illegal immigrant near the Arizona-Mexico border.

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Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attacks in Northern Somalia on October 29, 2008. These attacks included a suicide car bombing at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) compound in Hargeisa which killed two UN staff and injured six others. Mr. Ban’s spokesperson states the Secretary-General “stresses the neutrality of the United Nations as well as humanitarian personnel, and urges all parties to support and facilitate the delivery of assistance to the Somali population.” Other explosions in the Hergaisa area and in Putland did not involve UN premises.
Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991.* Despite the signing of a UN-brokered peace deal to end the fighting between the Transnational Federal Government (TFG) and the rebel Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS), recent months have been filled with violence
The UN assists peace efforts in this area through the UN Political office for Somalia (UNPOS), which is lead by the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah. A Deputy Special Representative, Charles Petrie, was appointed to assist these efforts.
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This just in: Another victory for Salim Hamdan — the former driver for Osama bin Laden who faced a Gitmo military commission over the summer. And another loss for the Bush administration.



Salim Hamdan at the legal complex of the U.S. Military Commissions, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, July 24, 2008. (AP/Janet Hamlin)

As the WSJ reported two weeks ago, prosecutors filed a motion asking that Hamdan?s sentence be reconsidered, arguing that the military judge lacked authority to credit Hamdan for the time he served in pretrial confinement. Without such credit, Hamdan, who was captured in November 2001, would face an extra five years. With the credit, however, his time is up in December. (Whether he goes home is another matter.)

But today, the WSJ reports, a military judge rejected the Bush administration’s move to extend Hamdan’s time in detainment. According to the story, Captain Keith Allred, the military judge, said in a two-paragraph order that he had read the filings and legal citations, as well as reviewed the sentencing hearing transcript. “The prosecution motion to reconsider, reassemble, reinstruct and re-announce a sentence is denied,” he wrote.
“The administration’s effort to vacate the Aug. 7 sentence and require the [jurors] to travel back to Guantanamo to resentence Mr. Hamdan never made sense to us and it apparently did not make much sense to the military judge either,” Harry Schneider, a civilian attorney for Hamdan, told the WSJ.

Prosecutors, who were at Guantanamo Thursday for other cases, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Although Hamdan’s punishment is slated to end by January, notes the WSJ, the government maintains it may continue to detain him indefinitely thereafter, on grounds that he remains an “enemy combatant” who could take up arms against U.S. forces.