Gloria R. Lalumia's World Media Watch for January 28, 2008

WORLD MEDIA WATCH

Summaries are excerpted from the source articles; the featured article follows the summary section.

1//The Guardian, UK--BROWN TO UNVEIL KEY BLAIRITE REFORMS

Gordon Brown will tomorrow embrace a Blairite blueprint for the reform of Britain's welfare state - one that was dismissed by the Treasury weeks before last year's handover of power in Downing Street. In a bid to burnish his reforming credentials, which the Tories are likely to dismiss as a U-turn, the Prime Minister will throw his weight behind plans to step up the involvement of private companies and voluntary groups in helping to return the long-term unemployed to work. ... 'Gordon Brown is clearly the heir to Blair,' Purnell, a protege of the former Prime Minister, said. 'They created New Labour together and he is building on the reforms of the last 10 years but there is unfinished business' of reform. ... Brown will tomorrow show his determination to embrace radical reform when he throws his support behind a groundbreaking welfare reform report issued last year by David Freud, an investment banker. The Treasury last year dismissed one of the report's most radical proposals, which had been welcomed by Blair: to fund contracts for the voluntary and private sectors to help the long-term unemployed return to work in 11 pilot areas.

Purnell told The Observer that the government will endorse the report and go further. In language that would once have sparked war between the Blair and Brown camps, Purnell said that Labour is 'ideologically neutral' between the three sectors - private, public and voluntary. 'Progressives want to make the world a better place. If people can do that using the private sector, the public sector or the voluntary, why not? We are ideologically neutral between all three; we want to use all three.'

AN EXPANDED EXCERPT OF THIS FEATURED ARTICLE FOLLOWS THE SUMMARIES

2//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong
SHARIF PICKED TO TAME PAKISTAN'S MILITANCY

Seven years after the invasion of Afghanistan to oust the Taliban, Dell Dailey, the US State Department's counterterrorism chief, reveals there are "gaps in intelligence" about militants in the Pakistani border regions and there is not enough information about what's going on there. There's not enough information on al-Qaeda, on foreign fighters and on the Taliban, yet speculation is rife that nuclear-armed Pakistan will soon be under siege by Islamic militants. And Major General David Rodriguez, who commands US forces in eastern Afghanistan, warned this week that Taliban and al-Qaeda militants have postponed their spring offensive in Afghanistan as they want to focus their efforts on destabilizing the Pakistani government. Therefore, given the assassination of the "great hope" Benazir Bhutto last month, the million-dollar question is: What political force can calm this visible storm raging in the country? It is now emerging that Washington and London, the two major stakeholders in the "war on terror", see former premier Nawaz Sharif as the answer. The British Foreign Office played a crucial role in backroom talks with Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shebaz Sharif to get them, since their recent return from exile, to play a major political role once Parliament is in place after next month's general elections. Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (PML) is expected to win a considerable number of seats, if not a simple majority. ... Asia Times Online contacts believe the matter transcends local political wheeling and dealing over power-sharing, and that Washington and London want Sharif, as he will rally popular support for the "war on terror" as he is close to the religious segment of society and the most likely to be able to tame militancy.

3//Naharnet.com, Lebanon
SEVEN PEOPLE KILLED AS STONE-THROWING PROTESTORS RIOT IN BEIRUT

Sporadic bursts of gunfire were heard over Beirut Sunday after violent demonstrators -- protesting power cuts -- tossed stones at Lebanese troops and blocked main roads with blazing tires and burning garbage bins. Seven people were killed and more than 19 others were wounded. Among the victims was an official from Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri's Amal movement. The others were four Hizbullah activists, a rescue worker and a civilian. The official was identified as Ahmad Hamza, Amal's representative in Hay Mouawwad quarter of Shiyah, where protests first broke out at around 4 pm. "Hamza has passed away after being shot in the back," an Amal official told AFP, adding that he was unable to identify the source of the fire. The bloodshed came amid fears of civil unrest in Lebanon which has been gripped by a prolonged presidential crisis, and two days after a massive car bombing killed a top intelligence officer and four other people. Violence swept the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of Hizbullah which is spearheading a campaign against the ruling March 14 coalition. Youths wielding sticks and iron bars went on the rampage, pelting cars with stones and setting some on fire while the army was out in force in a bid to prevent the riots from spreading to nearby Sunni and Christian districts. The riots were the worst since January 2007 when seven people were killed in clashes between students loyal to rival camps, prompting the army to impose a brief curfew for the first time since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war. ... March 14 blamed the opposition for the unrest saying it was being manipulated by its supporters Syria and Iran. "The forces of the Syrian-Iranian axis are fomenting unrest and these events are very dangerous," it said in a statement. "The opposition, which answers to Syria and Iran, is solely responsible for the blood spilled today." The army shut down many roads to stop the protests from spreading, and soldiers also took positions on rooftops. But as night fell, riots spread to reach the airport highway, where demonstrators cut the main road with burning tires. Soon afterwards protestors cut the Mar Elias road in west Beirut while gunfire rang out sporadically across the southern suburbs. Riots also reached south Lebanon, where the coastal highway between Sidon and Tyre was closed by blazing tires. The road to Baalbek in east Lebanon's Bekaa valley was also briefly closed. A car that had been set ablaze exploded, triggering panic in Beirut where only two days ago a massive car bombing killed a top anti-terror officer and four other people. A top security official warned the riots could spread unless politicians reined in their supporters.

4//RIA Novosti (Russian News & Information Agency), Russia
RUSSIA DELIVERS 7th FUEL SHIPMENT TO IRAN NUCLEAR PLANT

Russia delivered early Saturday a seventh fuel shipment to the Bushehr nuclear power plant it is building in southern Iran, the Islamic Republic's state-run media said, citing Iranian nuclear officials. With the latest shipment of 11 metric tons, Russia has so far supplied a total of 77 metric tons of low-enriched uranium to the light-water NPP, which has been the focus of international attention over fears Iran is developing nuclear weapons. The first delivery to the plant, being built by Russian contractor Atomstroyexport, came on December 16, 2007 following months of project delays that Moscow attributed to payment arrears, but which Iran blamed on pressure from Western nations. The last shipment will be delivered according to a previously agreed timetable by the end of February. Under a bilateral intergovernmental contract, Russia is set to deliver a total of 82 metric tons of nuclear fuel divided into eight shipments. Deliveries are monitored by the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Iranian government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham earlier said Tehran expects bilateral relations to gain much from the fuel deliveries. "Russia and Iran maintain good, developing relations. The deliveries of nuclear fuel for the Bushehr nuclear power plant are also a good pretext for boosting cooperation between our countries," he said. ... Tehran plans to hold tenders for the construction of 19 new nuclear reactors and to generate 20,000 megawatts of electricity at its NPPs in the next two decades.

5//Arab News, Saudi Arabia
ASEAN READIES FOR NEXT DEVELOPMENT STEP

The rise of China and India on the world economic stage has sent a wake-up call to the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to get their own houses in order. This was pretty evident from the deliberations at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting. There was a time when the world looked at East Asia with awe. However, political problems and economic meltdown in the late 1990s left the East Asian tigers clawless. But now they are trying to infuse new life into the organization, and instead of sharpening their claws, this time the focus is on sharpening their business acumen. Rather than taking on China and India, the South East Asian nations are now calling for joining hands with these two emerging giants with a view to make the most of the region's economic dynamism. To turn disadvantage into advantage, ASEAN leaders are calling for deepening trade ties with China, South Korea and Japan as well as India. "Such a strategic alignment will not only assist the process of regional integration in Southeast Asia but also bring ASEAN countries -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- closer to the major players in East Asia," Abdullah Badawi, prime minister of Malaysia, told participants in a high-level plenary session titled "The Emerging Asian Community: The Role of ASEAN." ASEAN leaders see the present as the time for the group's next step. "The phenomenal rise of China and India has taken much of the limelight from the ASEAN stage. While the players of East Asia and the Pacific still value the ASEAN processes of dialogue and consultation, they have also began to realize that they need their own tract to promote their own interests," said ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan. ... The emphasis will be on fuzzy paws rather than sharpened claws. "It is in that manner that the ASEAN leaders are trying to turn the challenge of the rise of China and India into the boon of the rise of East Asia," Pituswan said. "But they realize, too, that this new model of economic cooperation could be perceived as a potential fortress of Asia, as the European Union was once feared. They need to keep their promise of open regionalism."

FEATURED ARTICLE

1//The Guardian, UK Sunday January 27, 2008

BROWN TO UNVEIL KEY BLAIRIETE REFORMS

Nicholas Watt, political Editor

The Observer

Gordon Brown will tomorrow embrace a Blairite blueprint for the reform of Britain's welfare state - one that was dismissed by the Treasury weeks before last year's handover of power in Downing Street.

In a bid to burnish his reforming credentials, which the Tories are likely to dismiss as a U-turn, the Prime Minister will throw his weight behind plans to step up the involvement of private companies and voluntary groups in helping to return the long-term unemployed to work.

James Purnell, the new Work and Pensions Secretary, who will unveil the plan with the Prime Minister tomorrow, today hails the move and makes the extraordinary claim that Brown should now be seen as the true 'heir to Blair'.

'Gordon Brown is clearly the heir to Blair,' Purnell, a protege of the former Prime Minister, said. 'They created New Labour together and he is building on the reforms of the last 10 years but there is unfinished business' of reform.

Purnell's remarks come as supporters of Blair expressed delight that Brown promoted key allies of the former Prime Minister in last week's reshuffle and is now talking the language of 'ultra- reform'. The Prime Minister was forced to reshuffle his cabinet after Peter Hain resigned as Work and Pensions Secretary after he delayed declaring donations to his campaign for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party.

Brown will tomorrow show his determination to embrace radical reform when he throws his support behind a groundbreaking welfare reform report issued last year by David Freud, an investment banker. The Treasury last year dismissed one of the report's most radical proposals, which had been welcomed by Blair: to fund contracts for the voluntary and private sectors to help the long-term unemployed return to work in 11 pilot areas.

Purnell told The Observer that the government will endorse the report and go further. In language that would once have sparked war between the Blair and Brown camps, Purnell said that Labour is 'ideologically neutral' between the three sectors - private, public and voluntary. 'Progressives want to make the world a better place. If people can do that using the private sector, the public sector or the voluntary, why not? We are ideologically neutral between all three; we want to use all three.'

(SNIP)

'Some voluntary groups are going to be absolutely perfect in terms of dealing with certain groups,' Purnell said. 'In other cases the private sector will be able to bring innovation into the system. If you can find a way of creating the contract so that the private sector is incentivised to be rewarded out of reduced benefit payments, that can create a very good set of incentive structures for people to tackle long-term unemployment.'

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Copyright 2008, Gloria R. Lalumia

WORLD MEDIA WATCH