PROTEST AGAINST OFFSHORE BLOCK DEAL 50 injured as police charge into demo

Countrywide protests today, march towards PMO Sept 10

NewAge, 3 September, 2009

More than 50 people, including the member-secretary of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports, Anu Muhammad, were injured when police charged into marchers heading for Petrobangla headquarters in the capital midday Wednesday in protest against the government’s decision to award three offshore blocks to international oil companies.

About 1,000 leaders and activists of the committee gathered at Muktangan where they held a rally in the morning before marching towards the Petrobangla office at Karwan Bazar where the protesters were to lay siege.

Policemen charge at economist Professor Anu Muhammd with truncheons as he fell on the road during a police attack on a peaceful procession of the national committee to protect oil, gas, mineral resources, power and port which was marching to lay siege to the Petrobangla head office in Dhaka on Wednesday. —New Age photo

The national committee announced the programme in protest at the government’s decision to award three blocks to two IOCs with a provision allowing them to export up to 80 per cent of gas. The committee feared such a move would threaten the country’s energy security.

Police swooped on the protesters and clubbed them indiscriminately after they broke through the barricades set up by the lawmen at Paltan crossing at around noon and tried to march towards the Petrobangla office.

Angry protesters fought pitched battles with police at Bijoynagar for about half an hour before dispersing. They attacked vehicles during the clash forcing traffic to make a detour.

Both legs of Anu Muhammad, also a professor of economics at Jahangirnagar University, were badly fractured in the police attack while a number of other left-leaning political leaders and activists, including Saiful Huq, Mushrefa Mishu, Jannatul Marium Tania, Montu Biswas, Srikant Samaddar, Biplab Mandal, Gazi Shafiullah and Sumi Akhtar sustained injuries.

Anu Muhammad interview from hospital. Interview by Shahidul Alam, Drik

The injured were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital and most of them were released after first aid. Professor Anu Muhammad was shifted to Square Hospital from DMCH.

Journalists trying to visit Anu Muhammad at Square Hospital were refused permission to see him. When contacted, the hospital management said it might have been done at the advice of the attending doctors.

Condemning the police action Anu Muhammad told reporters that their campaigns were aimed at protecting the natural resources of the country. ‘We are not against the government; we are against the move to export our natural resources. It is the government’s responsibility to protect the lives and property of the citizens. I don’t understand why the police pounced on us,’ he said.

Later, the committee held a meeting at the office of the Communist Party of Bangladesh at Paltan.

The committee convener Sheikh Mohammad Shaheedullah at a press conference said that the police had charged baton on their peaceful demonstration because the government was desperate to protect the interest of international oil companies instead of national interest.

‘We strongly condemn the unprovoked attack. This has exposed the fascist attitude of the government,’ he said demanding immediate action against the police officers involved in the attack.

Shaheedullah warned that the government would not be able to foil their movement by resorting to repression. He vowed to continue the movement until the decision to allow gas export was scrapped.

The committee announced fresh programmes protesting at Wednesday’s police action. The programmes include countrywide demonstrations and a protest rally at Muktangan in the capital this afternoon. The committee will march towards the Prime Minister’s Office from Muktangan at 11:00am on September 10. Besides, it will hold rallies and processions in different thanas of Dhaka city and elsewhere in the country.

The committee will announce further action programmes, including hartal and siege, if the government does not refrain from leasing the offshore gas blocks, he said.

Shaheedullah, justice Golam Rabbani, Syed Abul Maksud, CPB general secretary Mujahidul Islam Selim, Workers Party general secretary Bimal Biswas, Workers Party (reconstituted) convener, Haider Akber Khan Rano, Gana Front leader Tipu Biswas, CPB leaders Ruhin Hossain Prince and AN Rasheda, Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal leader Bazlur Rashid Firoz and professors MM Akash, Shamsul Alam, Mesbah Kamal, Pias Karim, ethnic minority leader Rabindranath Soren and former state minister for power and energy Anwarul Kabir Talukder attended the Muktangan rally.

The speakers said that the prime minister’s approval of offshore oil and gas exploration deals in the Bay of Bengal with two international companies, ConocoPhillips and Tullow Oil plc, ran counter to her poll campaign pledges.

The cabinet committee on economic affairs, headed by the finance minister, on August 24 approved offshore oil and gas exploration deals with the two companies in three sea blocks in the resource-rich Bay, on condition that they would not operate in the disputed areas in the blocks.

At the rally, Shaheedullah said they demanded cancellation of the Model Production Sharing Contract 2008, approved by the last interim government, saying pressure from ‘colonialists’ had been behind it.

Anu Muhammad said the present government was not working as the true representatives of the people. ‘The energy ministry and Petrobangla are working for multinational companies,’ he said. ‘Till now three of 28 blocks have been allocated to international companies and gradually the rest will be given to them,’ he said.

Mujahidul Islam Selim said that Sheikh Hasina during her first stint as prime minister had told the then US president Bill Clinton in 2000 that Bangladesh would not export gas without ensuring a 50-year domestic supply. ‘After such a promise, this latest agreement is extremely treacherous,’ he said.

Different left-leaning political parties and organisations, meanwhile, condemned the police attack on the ‘peaceful’ march of the national committee.

The Communist Party of Bangladesh president Manzurul Ahsan Khan and general secretary Mujahidul Islam Selim in a press statement termed the police attack fascist and contrary to democracy and basic rights of the people.

Workers Party president Rashed Khan Menon and general secretary Bimal Biswas, condemned the police attack and called on the government to drop the plan to lease out the three offshore gas blocks to international companies.

Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal convener Khalequzzaman, Ganatantri Party president Mohammad Afzal, general secretary Nurur Rahman Selim, Democratic Revolutionary Party president Nirmal Sen, general secretary Mushrefa Mishu, Revolutionary Workers Party president Khandaker Ali Abbas, general secretary Saiful Huq, Workers Party (reconstituted) convener Haider Akbar Khan Rano, Ganasanghati coordinator Zonayed Saki, Jatiya Mukti Council president Badruddin Umar and secretary Foizul Hakim, Garments Workers Unity Forum, Anti-imperialist Students Unity, Nayaganatantrik Gana Morcha, Chhatra Oikya Forum, Bangladesh Khetmajur Samiti, Green Voice and Bangladesh Paribesh Andolan leaders also condemned the police attack.

Phulbari Day Today

Staff Correspondent, NewAge, August 26, 2009

Photo: Zakir Kibria

Different socio-political organisations will observe Phulbari Day today in remembrance of the demonstrations against Asia Energy’s planned open-pit mining at Phulbari in Dinajpur on August 26, 2006.

Three people were killed and many were injured when lawmen into protests against at the Phulbari coal field in August 2006.

Four days after the demonstrations, the then BNP-led government on August 30 signed a six-point agreement with protesters, spearheaded by the national committee to protect oil, gas, mineral resources, power and port to expel Asia Energy from Bangladesh and ban open-pit mining.

The committee, however, expressed its dismay at the non-implementation of the agreement as Asia Energy is still active in the country. The national committee and different left-leaning political organisations have chalked up programmes to mark August 26 as Phulbari Day.

The committee will place flowers at Shaheed Smritistambha at Phulbari and hold a rally there. The committee will also place flowers at the Central Shaheed Minar and observe the day in other places.

Jatiya Gana Front will hold a rally and bring out a procession in Muktangon to mark the day. The organisation in a statement said any move for open-pit mining in Bangladesh would be stopped. Samajtantrik Chhatra Front will also bring out a procession on the Dhaka University campus on the occasion demanding expulsion of Asia Energy from Bangladesh.

Further information:

Phulbari Resistance

Phulbari Resistance on Facebook

Michael Moore’s ‘Capitalism: A Love Story’

‘CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY‘ – In Theaters October 2nd

“It’s a crime story. But it’s also a war story about class warfare. And a vampire movie, with the upper 1 percent feeding off the rest of us. And, of course, it’s also a love story. Only it’s about an abusive relationship.

“It’s not about an individual, like Roger Smith, or a corporation, or even an issue, like health care. This is the big enchilada. This is about the thing that dominates all our lives — the economy. I made this movie as if it was going to be the last movie I was allowed to make.

“It’s a comedy.” — Michael Moore

Tengratila blow-out victims demand full compensation

The Daily Star, June 24, 2009

Tengratila Dabi Aday Bastobayon Parishad at a press conference yesterday demanded payment of arrear compensation from Canadian company Niko for the massive damage caused by the blow-out at Tengratila on June 24 of 2005.

The blow-out took place when the Canadian company was conducting a relief well drilling at the remote location in Doarabazar upazila in Sunamganj district to seal the original one, which on January 7 the same year had suffered a huge blow-out.

“We will continue pressing the Niko to clear the arrear compensation to the villagers around. We also demand resuming activities in the gas field and establishment of a 50 MW power plant near the gas field,” said joint convener of the parishad, Nurul Amin, who read out a statement at the press conference at Sylhet Press Club.

The two separate committees formed by the government after the incident mentioned loss worth Tk 746 crore including Tk 85 crore in environmental loss but things have remained unsettled yet. The company did not even pay the total amount of agreed compensation to 616 poor families, who were forced out of their homesteads for months, goes the statement.

The parishad will form a human chain in front of the central Shahid Minar at Chouhatta in Sylhet city today (Wednesday) to press the ‘legitimate’ demands.

The June 24 blow-out at Tengratila caused destruction to huge gas and trees and croplands in the surrounding areas during the following weeks.

Thousands of people had to leave their homesteads as the huge fireball leapt 150 feet over the gas field.

The raging flames took about two months to go down totally.

Still bubbles due to gas emission are marked on the water bodies around and fish in the ponds often die due to the gas leakage, a number of locals said.

Shell settles Nigerian killings lawsuit

AlJazeera, June 9, 2009

Royal Dutch Shell has been accused of supporting the execution and torture of protesters opposed to its operations in Nigeria during the 1990s.

As a lawsuit against the company over the issue was due to go to trial in New York, the oil company agreed to settle out of court, paying $15.5m to the families of executed activists. 

Al Jazeera’s Andrew Simmons reports.

Further resources:

Media release: Royal Dutch Shell forced to to settle human rights case out of court

Remember Saro-Wiwa project

Visit the website: shellguilty.com

Shell Settlement with Ogoni People Stops Short of Full Justice

Courtroom Intifada

AlJazeera, 3, 2009

Continuing People & Power’s series of films into how some of the world’s biggest corporations are facing trial, Juliana Ruhfus travels to the West Bank village of Bilin.

Villagers and protesters are taking their longstanding campaign against Israel’s seperation wall to the courts.

Helped by an Israeli legal maverick have now a filed a case against the international construction companies who are building the settlements.

They claim they have violated international human rights law by building on occupied land.

Shell in court over alleged Nigeria crimes

AlJazeera, June 2, 2009

Royal Dutch Shell is to go on trial in a US court over alleged crimes against humanity and exploitation of the oil-rich Niger Delta more than 10 years ago.

The Dutch oil giant is accused of sponsoring a terror campaign by Nigerian security forces that led to the death of activist and author Ken Saro-Wiwa along with eight others in 1995.

Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey reports.

New report reveals how UK companies get away with human rights abuses overseas as Parliamentary Inquiry is launched

Monday 4 May 2009, by The Corporate Responsibility (CORE) Coalition

UK companies that have committed human rights abuses overseas far too often get away with it, a new report launched today (1 May) reveals.

Reviewing examples from Kenya, India, Bangladesh, Georgia and Nigeria. the report, entitled “The Reality of Rights: Barriers to accessing remedies when business operates beyond borders”, finds that in cases of alleged human rights violations, systemic failures have too often led to victims not receiving adequate redress.

Although previous research in this area has highlighted legal obstacles to victims seeking justice, this is the first comprehensive study of the very real political, social and economic obstacles that prevent victims receiving adequate remedy.

The report’s key findings include:

• Governments’ desire to attract foreign investment undermines their protection of the rights of those affected by the investment;

• A serious lack of trust in the independence of legal systems undermines victims’ desire to pursue claims; 

• Victims are pressured not to act and those that still want to often can’t afford to.

The report concludes that the UK Government has a responsibility to ensure UK companies do not continue to get away with violating human rights abroad. A new UK Commission on Business, Human Rights & The Environment is proposed to provide guidance to companies on what standards they must adhere to when operating abroad, and act as a forum for hearing and resolving allegations of infringements.

The findings of this report will be submitted to The Joint Committee on Human Rights, who have just launched an Inquiry into Business and Human Rights (deadline for submissions today, 1 May).

Hannah Ellis, Coordinator of The Corporate Responsibility (CORE) Coalition said:

“Too many UK companies are breaching human rights when they operate abroad Our report reveals why so many companies continue to get away with it.

“The Government has no excuse not to act now. We believe the solution is a new UK Commission for Business, Human Rights & The Environment. We hope it will be discussed urgently by the Government..”

Mary Robinson, President of Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative and former President of Ireland, who contributed the foreword to the new report, said:

“The innovative approach this report puts forward is a significant contribution to ongoing debates which should be taken seriously by governments and businesses committed to responsible action at home and abroad.”

For more information, please contact: • The Corporate Responsibility (CORE) Coalition: Hannah Ellis. +44 (0) 207 566 1601. +44 (0)7952 876 929 Hannah.ellis@corporate-responsibility.org http://www.corporate-responsibility.org. • The London School of Economics and Political Science: Sue Windebank. + 44 (0) 20 7849 4624 S.Windebank@lse.ac.uk http://www.lse.ac.uk

Download the report: The Reality of Rights: Barriers to accessing remedies when business operates beyond borders

A case of global proportions: Alaska village files suit against energy giants

AlJazeera, May 26, 2009

People & Power visits Alaska where Native American villagers have brought a law suit against energy giants, alleging one of the largest conspiracies in the world.

Download: Kivalina villager’s complaint for damages (PDF)

Civil society wants substance, not procedural delays at UN conf on crisis

A statement calling upon governments not to take procedural arguments as an excuse to further delaying the substantive negotiations on the urgently needed global policy responses to the current crisis is being circulated to negotiators at the UN. 

Statement on the negotiations about the outcome of the UN Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development 

Choike.org May 15, 2009 

Download: Draft outcome document for the June UN Conference on the crisis

1. We are facing a global systemic crisis, which originated in the rich countries of the North, their unsustainable consumption and production patterns and the irresponsible economic behavior of their dominant social actors. The crisis affects billions of people all over the world, pushing many millions of them into unemployment and poverty, and violating their economic, social and cultural rights. 

2. The response of the G20 was not sufficient to address the root causes of these multiple crises of food, climate, financial markets and sustainable development. 

3. The global crisis needs a global response involving all societies that are affected by crisis. Therefore, the United Nations is the only legitimate forum through which the crisis can be resolved. This is the reason why we highly welcomed the decision of governments in Doha to hold a UN Conference on the world economic and financial crisis and its impact on development. 

4. Since the Doha Conference it has taken diplomats in New York more than 16 weeks to agree on the modalities of the “Crisis Conference“. They are responsible for the delay, they are responsible for the lack of time for the substantive negotiations on the outcome of the conference. 

5. Civil Society Organizations and Networks produced comprehensive statements listing their recommendations and demands on how to address the current crisis, starting with the “Civil Society Benchmark Paper” in the run-up to the Doha Conference 2008. 

6. Many of our demands are reflected in the recommendations presented by the “Stiglitz Commission” in March 2009. For this reason we regard these recommendations as a good basis on which to build a new global economic and financial system . 

7. Many of our positions are also reflected in the first draft outcome document presented by the President of the General Assembly (PGA) on 8 May 2009. We understand that the recommendations in this document contain short-term measures that have to be implemented immediately as a response to the current crisis, such as the sufficient funding for a global stimulus package, and long-term measures, such as the establishment of a new Global Reserve System or the proposal for a Global Tax Authority. We agree that the UN conference in June has to come up with immediate responses to the crisis and simultaneously decide on an intergovernmental time-bound process towards the long-term reforms. 

8. In contrast, the draft document by the Co-Facilitators, dated 6 May 2009 neither specifies the necessary short-term actions nor does it contain concrete commitments for longer-term structural reform measures. It mainly reconfirms – by recycling already agreed language – decisions taken at the Doha Conference and the G20 Summits. The policy recommendations in this document lack any sense of urgency. The recommendations on institutional reforms (para. 47) are interesting but, according to the Co-Facilitators, they only “might be considered”. Such a diplomatic phrase makes any recommendation completely useless. If governments agreed on such an outcome document, they would further weaken the UN as the global forum for economic policy coordination and decision making and would completely fail to find meaningful answers to the current crisis. 

9. We understand that under the current time pressure it will be difficult for governments to agree on a comprehensive set of radical reform measures as outlined in the draft of the PGA. But, a consensus on many concrete reform proposals that are on the table can still be reached. Among the decisions that are of high priority and could be taken at the UN Conference without any further delay are the following: 

– The initiative to establish a Global Panel on Systemic Risks in the World Economy, following the model of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, bringing together academics, civil society and policy makers. 

– The decision to upgrade the Committee of Experts on International Cooperation on Tax Matters to an intergovernmental Commission on Tax Matters as a functional commission of ECOSOC by the end of 2009. 

– The political commitment to introduce an internationally coordinated Financial Transaction Tax in order to mobilize additional resources for a short-term Global Stimulus Fund and the longer-term implementation of the Internationally Agreed Development Goals, including the MDGs. 

– The establishment of a Global Economic Coordination Council within the UN system. 

– The decision to review the Agreement between the UN and the Bretton-Woods-Institutions (BWIs) in order to enhance coordination and policy coherence by integrating the BWIs as specialized agencies completely into the UN system. 

10. We call upon governments not to take procedural arguments as an excuse to further delaying the substantive negotiations on the urgently needed global policy responses to the current crisis. 

Signatures 
Jens Martens and James Paul, Global Policy Forum 
Roberto Bissio, Social Watch 
Beverly Keene, Jubilee South 
Andrea Baranes and Antonio Tricarico, Campagna per la Reforma della Banca Mondiale 
Mirjana Dokmanovic, Women and Development Europe (WIDE) 
Gigi Francisco, Development Alternatives wirh Women for a New Era (DAWN) 
Patricia Blankson Akakpo, Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT) and ABANTU for Development (ROWA) 
Josep Xercavins i Valls 
Philo Morris, Medical Mission Sisters 
Aldo Caliari, Center of Concern 
Rudy De Meyer, 11.11.11 
Verena Winkler and Simon Stocker, Eurostep 
Eva Friedlander, IWAC, the International Women’s Anthropology Conference 
Luke Fletcher, Jubilee Australia 
Anne Jellema, Action Aid 
Mark Herkenrath, Alliance Sud, Switzerland 
Klaus Schilder, terre des hommes Germany 
Magaly Pineda, CIPAF, Rep.Dominicana 
Feminist Task Force of the Global Call to Action against Poverty 
Arjun Karki, LDC Watch 
Sarba Khadka, South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication-SAAPE 
Mana Dahal Rural Reconstruction Nepal-RRN 
Edward Oyugi, Social Development Network, Nairobi, Kenya 
Oksana Kisselyova, Liberal Society Institute, Ukraine 
Cartas A. Kapele, Children Education Society (CHESO), DAR ES SALAAM – TANZANIA 
Fernanda Carvalho, IBASE – Brazilian Institute for Social and Economic Analysis 
European Network on Debt and Development (EURODAD) 
ATTAC Hungary 
Milan Smrz, Czech section of Eurosolar 
Joseph M. Sammut, Social Watch, Malta 
Christine Andela – COSADER (Collectif des ONG pour la Sécurité Alimentaire et le Développement Rural) – Cameroun 
Marta Benavides – Instituto Internacional de Cooperación entre Pueblos (IICP) – El Salvador 
GCAP – Sudan 
Jubilee Debt Campaign (UK) 
Tom Kucharz, Ecologistas en Acción (Spain) 
Transnational Institute 
Institute for Policy Studies, Global Economy Project 
Dr. Hassan Abdel Ati – National Civic Forum – Sudan 
Malgorzata Tarasiewicz – Network of East-West Women, NEWW-Polska 
AWID (Association for Women¹s Rights in Development) 
Rede Brasil sobre Instituições Financeiras Multilaterais 
Marek Hrubec, Centre of Global Studies, Czech Republic 
Zelená Pro Planetu, Czech Republic 
Henri Valot, Policy Advisor CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation 
Professor Aijaz Qureshi: Social Watch Pakistan- IDF 
Zulfiqar Halepoto- Sindh Democratic Forum (SDF) and Social Watch Pakistan 
Nazeer Memon- Sindh Agriculture Forum 
Abrar Kazi – SDF- water expert and technocrat 
Rural Reconstruction Nepal (RRN) 
Public Finance Monitoring Center 
Women’s Working Group on Financing for Development 
Egyptian Association For Community Participation Enhancement (EACPE) 
CARDET, Cyprus 
National Social Watch Coalition – India 
Action for Economic Reforms 
Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM) 
Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND) 
Ziad Abdel Samad 
Mariama Williams, Integrated Policy Research Institute (IPRI) 
Yves Conze, Integrated Policy Research Institute (IPRI) 
Carla Bakboord, MSc Cultural Anthropologist, Executive Director Equality & Equity for Gender&Social Development, Suriname 
El Amel Association For Social Development in Algeria 
Women for Change 
Genoveva Tisheva- Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation 
Development Network of Indigenous Voluntary Associations (DENIVA), J.B. Kwesiga 
Network of Ugandan Researchers and Research Users (NURRU), David Obot 
Tomas Tozicka – Jubilee Czech 
Hanaa Edwar, Iraqi AlAmal Association 
David Obot (NURRU), Kampala-Uganda 
J.B.Kwesiga (DENIVA), Uganda 
Hamarneh, Vanda, Syria 
Consumers Association of Penang 
Friends of the Earth, Malaysia 
KOPIN (Koperazzjoni Internazzjonali) Malta 
Instituto Latinoamericano de Servicios legales Alternativos (ILSA) – Colombia 
Klaus Heidel, Werkstatt Ökonomie e.V., spokesperson Social Watch Deutschland/Forum Weltsozialgipfel (Social Watch Germany) 
International Gender and Trade Network (IGTN). 
Rene Suša, Humanitas, Society for human rights and supportive action, Slovenia 
Africa Development Interchange Network (ADIN) 
Sanayee Development Organization (SDO). Kabul, Afghanistan 
UK Coalition Against Poverty. Eileen Devaney 
Baudouin Schombe, Coordonnateur National Reprontic 
Bretton Woods Project (UK) 
FOCO – Foro Ciudadano de Participación por la Justicia y los Derechos Humanos 
DECIDAMOS, Campaña por la Expresión Ciudadana, Paraguay 
Social watch Mocambique 
Jiri Silny, Ecumencial Academy Prague, Czech Republic 
Vagn Berthelsen, Secretary General of IBIS 
Sisters of Mercy (of the Americas) 
Marta Scarpato, Consultora sindical, Italia 
Mayalu Matos Silva, Brazil 
Carlos Martinez Garcia, Presidente de ATTAC España 
Martín Pascual, Fundación Cenda, Chile 
CIDEP, Asociación Intersectorial para el Desarrollo Económico y el Progreso Social (El Salvador)I 
Reseau Marocain pour le Droit a la Sante, Dr Aziz RHALI. Maroc 
Antonio J. González Plessmann, Activista venezolano de Derechos Humanos 
WEDO (Women’s Environment and Development Organization) 
Red de Control Ciudadano, Costa Rica 
Secours-Catholique/Caritas France 
Instituto de Estudos Sócioeconômicos – INESC, Brasil 
Lunaria, Italy 
War on Want 
Carlos Martinez Garcia, Presidente de ATTAC España 
Socio Economic Rights Initiaitive/Social Watch Nigeria 
Global Economy Program 
Coordinación de ONG y cooperativas – CONGCOOP 
Uganda Coalition for Sustainable Development 
SLUG – The Norwegian Coalition for Debt Cancellation 
African Women’s Development and Communication Network/FEMNET Africa 
K.U.L.U.-Women and Development, Denmark 
Plataforma 2015 y más, España 
Third World Network 
CAP 
SAM 
Red Latinoamericana sobre Deuda, Desarrollo y Derechos – LATINDADD 
Women Headed Households Empowerment (PEKKA)

Further Resources: 

UN Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development

Official Website of the Conference

Breaking News: UN postpones summit over crisis

UN General Assembly postponed the celebration of the UN Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development, to happen in late June, sources reported Friday. According to UN spokesperson Spanish Enrique Yeves, recently many delegations asked the President of the Assembly Miguel D Escoto to postpone the already scheduled date of the encounter, since it coincided with other several international events. He also stressed the delegations to participate are still involved in the negotiations on the project of the event, convened by D Escoto, so that the crisis can be intensively debated by the 192 UN member countries. The Summit, previously scheduled for Jun.1-3, will take place on June 24-26, as it stated a missive sent to UN countries member, from the Head of Cabinet of the President of General Assembly Norman Miranda