Rice Winds Up Mideast Visit With No Sign of Progress

The United States' top diplomat has concluded a peace mission to Israel and the Palestinian territories. But she has little to show for it.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wound up her visit by hosting a trilateral meeting with the Israeli defense minister and Palestinian prime minister. But after two days of talks in Jerusalem and the West Bank there was no sign of progress in peace talks sponsored by the United States.

The headline of the visit was Rice's unusually harsh criticism of Israeli settlement expansion in disputed East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Rice did not speak to reporters before she left Israel. But on Sunday, she was clearly angry over Israeli plans to build 1,300 new homes in East Jerusalem, on land the Palestinians claim for their future capital.

"No party should be taking steps at this point that could prejudice the outcome of a negotiation, and I want to make very clear that the United States will not consider these activities to affect any final status negotiations including final borders; these are to be negotiated between the parties," she said.

　

Israel says it has the right to build anywhere in Jerusalem because it will remain the capital of the Jewish state in any final peace agreement.

Israeli spokesman Mark Regev says there are differences but not a crisis.

"Success isn't guaranteed. There are a lot of sensitive issues on the table, but I can say that we in Israel, and I believe the Palestinian leadership too, are committed to doing the work that needs to be done," said Regev.

Palestinian analyst Mahdi Abdel Hadi is less optimistic. He says settlement activity is eroding support for the peace process.

"Israel is controlling the land and this is creating more hate and more frustration, more anger among the Palestinians," said Hadi.

　
Disputes over settlements, Palestinian refugees and the status of Jerusalem have put further doubt on the U.S. goal of a peace agreement by the end of the year.

Indonesia's Most Active Volcano Erupts

An erupting volcano on Indonesia's Java island has sent ash and hot air onto surrounding villages, injuring at least six people. 

Scientists say Mount Merapi, Indonesia's most active volcano, began erupting late Tuesday after days of rumbling that signaled a major eruption was possible. 

Journalists in the area reported seeing at least six people being taken to a hospital with burns from the ash and hot air. They said villagers who ignored warnings to evacuate were fleeing in panic. A two-month-old baby died as her mother fled the area.

Before the eruption, Indonesian authorities evacuated several thousand children and the elderly from villages on the volcano's slopes to makeshift shelters. But thousands of other villagers stayed behind to take care of their livestock and crops.

Mount Merapi last erupted in 2006, killing two people. A similar eruption in 1994 killed at least 60 people, while a 1930 eruption killed 1,300.

Americans waste more energy in the food they throw away, than Switzerland or Sweden consume in a year

Researchers at the University of Texas, Austin say that points to a painless way to save energy: stop wasting food.
According to a new study in the Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, food waste and the energy required to produce it, represent an unrecognized opportunity to conserve energy and reduce climate changing emissions.
Scientists at the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy set out to answer three questions about the relationship between food and energy use: how much energy is in food, how much food is wasted and how much energy is in the wasted food.
Wasting energy
Michael Webber, the center's associate director and co-author of the study, says between eight and 16 percent of U.S. energy consumption is tied up in food production, transportation, preservation and disposal. "And then we throw away at least a quarter of that food. Some people say even 50 percent."
What Americans spend on food has declined in relative terms for decades. And, because food is so abundant and cheap, Americans are not as concerned about tossing it out.
So, Webber and his colleagues calculated how much energy was needed to produce the trashed food. "We found that there's at least two percent of the nation's energy consumption is embedded in food we throw away. And that ends up being a pretty big number because of how much energy we consume overall as a nation."
Putting brakes on food waste
Two percent is more energy than Switzerland or Sweden consume in a year and the equivalent of about 350 million barrels of oil.
Webber's study suggests that putting the brakes on food waste would be good for the planet and the pocketbook. "It might reduce our emissions. It might reduce our environmental impacts. We just have to find a way to do it so that it is affordable as well. It might be we save money because we are wasting less money on food we don't eat."
Webber says that the study is based on old data badly that needs to be revised. But still he says the numbers are good enough to make a point: food waste is a waste of energy. "I think the next step for us at a research level is to get a better sense of what's going on, get better data, get better scientific analysis. At the same time perhaps we could consider some policy options to reduce the waste."
According to the study, the most wasted foods were fats and oils, dairy products, grains, eggs, fruits and vegetables.

Bush Launches Fundraising Drive for Tsunami Victims

President Bush has launched a nationwide fundraising effort to encourage private contributions for relief groups helping those affected by the devastating earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean.
President Bush says the new fundraising effort will be led by two former presidents, his father, George Herbert Walker Bush, and the last president from the Democratic Party, Bill Clinton.

Accompanied by the two men in the White House Roosevelt Room, Mr. Bush said he is grateful to the former presidents for taking on such an important responsibility.

"In the coming days, President Clinton and Bush will ask Americans to donate directly to reliable charities already providing help to tsunami victims," the president said. "Many of these organizations have dispatched experts to the disaster area and they have an in-depth understanding of the resources required to meet the needs on the ground."

President Bush says Americans are already showing their generosity through contributions to aid groups. He hopes this new effort targeting both individuals and corporations will further complement official U.S. assistance.
"From our own experiences, we know that nothing can take away the grief of those affected by tragedy," he said. "We also know that Americans have a history of rising to meet great humanitarian challenges and of providing hope to suffering peoples. As men and women across the devastated region begin to rebuild, we offer our sustained compassion and our generosity and our assurance that America will be there to help."

President Bush last week promised $350 million in U.S. government assistance for affected countries. That is ten times the $35 million that Washington initially pledged.

That first amount drew some criticism, considering the size and wealth of the United States when compared to other countries' contributions. There was also some criticism of the president himself for not cutting short his Texas vacation and returning to Washington.

Now back at the White House, President Bush is starting the first week of the year with a big push on tsunami relief efforts. He has dispatched a U.S. delegation to the region led by Secretary of State Colin Powell and the president's brother, Florida Governor Jeb Bush.

After launching the new fundraising effort, President Bush and former presidents Bush and Clinton visited the embassies of India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand to sign condolence books for those killed.

In an interview with NBC television, President Clinton says the Sri Lankan ambassador told them of an airstrip covered in crates where one of the challenges now is distributing aid that has already arrived. President Clinton says that is why cash contributions are often more useful.

"If you give money, even if it is a small amount of money, it will aggregate up," the former president said. "They will send it to the aid agencies on the ground and then they will spend it right there for what is most needed. And you won't have to worry about the cost and the time delay of physically getting other things overseas."
Both former presidents say they are in this fundraising effort for the long haul and hope Americans realize that any amount of assistance, no matter how small, will help someone somewhere.

The United Nations reports it is running a record funding-shortfall of $4.8 billion for its aid operations in 16 crisis-ridden countries

The United Nations says it has received less than half of the $9.5 billion it needs to carry out it humanitarian operations this year.

The United Nations says the number of people needing help this year is 43 million compared to 28 million last year. As a consequence, more money is needed to care for them. The United Nations says it requires $1.5 billion or 19 percent more money this year to run its operations.

Unfortunately, the top U.N. humanitarian official, John Holmes, says the world is in worse financial shape this year than last and this is having an effect on U.N. fund-raising capabilities.

"It is also the case that the global recession itself is having an effect on the number of people in need," said Holmes. "Climate change and the adverse weather that that has an influence on means that there is continued poor harvest in many countries-and again that has an influence, a significant influence on agriculture and therefore on the amount of food assistance that is required. And, food is always the biggest single component of these appeals."

　
Holmes says Sudan is running the biggest shortfall of $916 million.

He says deepening drought and a rise of Somali refugees in Kenya are putting greater pressure on that country. He says the more people need assistance in the Palestinian territories, particularly in Gaza, because of the conflict with Israel early this year.

But Holmes notes the most dramatic need is in Pakistan.

　
"Pakistan has seen probably the most dramatic and dramatically changing humanitarian situation this year with up to two million people fleeing the military operations in parts of NW Frontier Province. Up two million, as I say. That has meant scaling up, putting up or scaling up a major aid operation with a consequence of large figure of dollars attached to it," he added.

　

Other areas of concern include Zimbabwe, which continues to suffer from food security. But Holmes says U.N. aid workers have been more successful in assisting people in the country since the creation of the power-sharing government.

　
The U.N. humanitarian official says other situations include the 250,000 Tamil civilians who remain displaced in camps in the northern part of Sri Lanka. He says millions of Iraqi refugees in Syria and Jordan, as well as millions of Iraqis displaced in their own country continue to need food, water, shelter and other basic relief.

Despite reports that many industrialized economies are beginning to emerge from their worst economic crisis in decades

The findings come from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris.

　
Indications that unemployment continues to rise is grim news for leaders heading to the G-20 summit in the United States next week. The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reports unemployment reached its highest level among industrialized nations of 8.5 percent in July.

　

OECD unemployment division chief Stephan Scarpetta says the number of jobless among the OECD's 30 member countries is expected to climb even higher next year, to nearly 10 percent. That translates into 57 million people out of work.

　
"Unfortunately, despite the most recent indicators that suggest the [economic] recovery may be in sight somewhat earlier than we were expecting only a few months ago, it will take far [longer] for the recovery to materialize in terms of significant improvement in the labor market," he said.

　

The United States, Spain and Ireland are among those countries with the fastest rising unemployment. All three were affected by the collapse of high housing prices. The damage spread to other sectors of the economy.

　
Scarpetta says young people are among the hardest hit. In Spain, for example, more than one in three young workers are unemployed.

So as world leaders discuss the financial and economic crisis during their meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Scarpetta says it is important they also address the social dimensions of the crisis - like unemployment.

　
"The good news is that countries have already acted quite quickly and decisively, I would say," he said. "Part of the stimulus packages have been additional resources for labor markets and social policies."

But efforts by governments to extend and prolong unemployment benefits, and to offer more job counseling and training have not kept up with the rising numbers of jobless. Scarpetta says that means countries will need to target their resources more selectively and to ensure that the most vulnerable members of the labor force benefit.

Officials with Afghanistan's new peace council say they are in the early stages of beginning a process to negotiate peace with Taliban militants

This comes a day after the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, said NATO has facilitated the safe passage of Taliban leaders to Kabul for talks with the Afghan government.
The spokesman for Afghanistan's High Council for Peace tells VOA there have been "unofficial" discussions between the Afghan government and the Taliban.
Bryali Helali says these talks have been in Kabul, other areas of Afghanistan and even other countries. He says Taliban officials are protected during these discussions.
"The protection was provided not only by the international security forces, but as well as the government of Afghanistan," said Helali. "This is something routine that is happening in Afghanistan."
Helali's comments Saturday come a day after the top commander for the international forces in Afghanistan, U.S. General David Petraeus, said NATO is facilitating the safe passage of Taliban leaders to Kabul as part of the alliance's support for President Hamid Karzai's reconciliation efforts.
Officials have not released details of any security arrangements.
The Taliban have not commented since Wednesday, when they issued a statement categorically denying any contact with the Afghan government.
Bakhtar Aminzai is the president of the National Peace Jirga of Afghanistan, an association of students, professors, lawyers, clerics and others in the country. He tells VOA in Kabul that he does not believe the world will ever see the Afghan government and Taliban leadership at the same table while the war continues.
"In Afghani communities, it is impossible to talk direct enemy to enemy. In Afghan tradition, we have totally independent people between two parties," said Aminzai.
He says he believes the most effective mediators between the two sides will be either the United Nations or fellow Islamic countries.
Afghan officials are urging the people to be patient, saying there still is a long way to go for any peace.
This year has been the deadliest for international forces since the start of the nine-year war. More than 2,000 foreign troops have died since 2001.