Iran impedes press coverage More than 100 media workers and bloggers were arrested in Iran since the country's controversial presidential election. This tally was published by Reporters Without Borders (RWB), a pressure group. The organisation notes that at least 23 of the journalists arrested are still behind bars. More than 50 journalists and bloggers are said to have fled the country. Those who stayed are subject to constant harassment, according to RWB, and judges are starting to deliver verdicts in “Stalin-style show trials”. Journalists are reported to get harsh sentences of five or six years in prison without any possibility of appeal. (cir)

Corporate action for desert power At the end of October, a planning company was formed and officially launched by the Desertec consortium that wants to export solar power from the Sahara to Europe. Baptised the Desertec Industrial Initiative (DII), the new company will be headed by Dutch CEO Paul van Son, who now faces the task of finding investors for the billion-euro project (see also E+Z/D+C 7-8/2009, p. 270). The founding members of the DII are ABB, Abengoa Solar, Cevital, Desertec Foundation, Deutsche Bank, E.ON, HSH Nordbank, MAN Solar Millennium, Munich Re, M+W Zander, RWE, Schott Solar and Siemens. Desertec’s long-term goal is “to satisfy a substantial part of the energy needs” of the Middle East and North Africa and meet 15 % of Europe’s electric power demand. (cir)

Verdict in Abu Omar case In early November, 22 agents of the American central intelligence agency (CIA) and one air force pilot were sentenced to several years in prison by a Milanese court in absentia. They were found guilty of having abducted the radical Egyptian imam Abu Omar in Italy in 2003. Furthermore, seven Italians were charged, of whom the court sentenced only two. Evidence for the indictment of the other five was missing. Referring to state secrecy rules, the Italian government kept the documents shut away. Three additional Americans could not be sentenced due to diplomatic immunity. Omar was abducted in Italy in 2003 and then brought to Egypt via Germany. In his home country, he was interrogated and, according to own statements, detained until 2007. Human Rights Watch speaks of a historic verdict that proves the tenacity of the Milanese prosecutor. (se)

Albino’s murderers convicted In November a Tanzanian court sentenced four men to death for the murder of a 50-year-old albino man. According to Al Jazeera, they dismembered their victim after killing him. The Arabic news channel reports that there has been a spate of attacks on Tanzania’s estimated 200,000 albinos over the past two years, most of the incidents occurring in the north-west of the country. Behind the wave of violence is the superstitious belief in some parts of Africa that an albino’s body parts bring luck and good health. According to Tanzanian press reports, however, only seven people have been brought to justice so far. (cir)

Little progress at food summit “Stop hunger!” – this demand was raised in front of the historical colosseum as well as in the conference halls of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Rome. However, the world’s most powerful governments failed to act, so the world food summit only passed a non-binding declaration without financial commitments. Ahead of the conference, Jacques Diouf, the head of the FAO, had demanded that donor countries supply $ 44 billion annually. Non-governmental organisations criticised the results of the conference. FIAN, for example, spoke of a “document of standstill”, pointing out that there is nothing new in the formal recognition of a right to food. On the other hand, FIAN and other civil-society organisations applauded the decision to strengthen the role of the UN’s Committee on World Food Security which is to coordinate policymaking in future. (cir)

Chinese funding for Africa China promised $ 10 billion in concessional loans for Africa’s least developed countries at the forum on Sino-African cooperation in the Egyptian resort Sharm El-Sheikh in mid-November. That is twice the amount China promised at the same event last year. Moreover, China’s Prime Minister Wen Jiabao promised that debts of the poorest African countries would be cancelled. Further details on loans and debts cancellation were not published.

China is investing heavily in various African countries’ oil industries and buying natural resources in big amounts. According to CNN, “China has struck deal after deal with African countries, often buying natural resources in exchange for building infrastructure and providing loans”. Since 2007, China has been importing 18 % of its oil from Angola. Times Online reports that China gave credit “worth up to $ 20 billion to fund Angola’s post-war reconstruction”. In Nigeria, China also has a big interest in oil contracts, which the Nigerian government currently plans to renegotiate. According to a Nigerian newspaper, China’s direct foreign investment in the country increased heavily in the last years and now reached $ 6 billion. Nigeria needs funds for infrastructure investments. (se)

Palestinians lack water Israel does not supply enough drinking water to Palestinians. That is the conclusion of a new report Amnesty International published in late October. According to the document, each Palestinian only has 70 litres of water per day. The World Health Organisation recommends a daily minimum of 100 litres. Jewish settlers in the West Bank are said to have around 300 litres at their disposal per head and day. According to AI, the situation is worse in Gaza.

Israeli officials, however, claim the report is inaccurate and say that the ministry of infrastructure is supplying Palestinians with more water than agreed upon in Oslo. According to Israeli sources, Israelis in the West Bank use 400 litres of water a day while Palestinians use 200.

Meanwhile, the UN general assembly has accepted the report about the war in Gaza by special investigator Richard Goldstone (see D+C 11/2009, p. 404). Israel criticises the report as “deeply flawed”. 114 countries voted for the resolution that Arab states brought to the assembly. 18 states, including Germany and the US, rejected the resolution. (se)

New index assesses financial secrecy The international Tax Justice Network (TNJ) unveiled its first Financial Secrecy Index (FSI) in November. In it, a country’s ranking depends on two factors: the level of its secrecy and the scale of its international financial activities. The countries with the highest rankings are those with the least transparent laws and massive financial transactions. Leading the field is the US state of Delaware. But right behind it in the top ten are no less than five European countries: Luxembourg, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Belgium.

“Secrecy is a major feature of the global financial system,” observes John Christensen, the director of TNJ’s international secretariat. He says that legislatures compete with one another to attract as much money as possible. The FSI is a response to OECD’s lists of tax havens, which, according to Jens Martens of the Global Policy Forum, are “a blunt tool marked by political considerations”. Martens says that – especially after the experience of the financial crisis – governments and banks need an objective instrument for assessing and eliminating the risks associated with secretive financial centres. The international Tax Justice Network is an association of civil-society organisations, scholars and individuals. (cir)
»» www.financialsecrecyindex.com

USAID’s new director Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appointed Rajiv Shah to head the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in November. Shah is 36 years old and a health professional. Until now he had served as an undersecretary in the Department of Agriculture, where he was in charge of research, education and economic affairs. Earlier he led the rural development division at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. According to The Hindu, the Chennai-based newspaper, Shah is the highest-ranking Indian-American ever to serve in a US administration.

The director-post of the USA’s top development agency had been vacant since President Barack Obama’s inauguration in January 2009. One reason was the intensive vetting procedure, which some candidates are reluctant to undergo. Experts consider the present US aid system to be uncoordinated and wasteful. Obama and Clinton want to change that and plan to strengthen the presently rather uninfluential agency. Shah’s most important task will therefore be a complete renewal of the system. One reason for reform is that reconstruction is a pillar of Obama’s Afghanistan strategy. According to press reports, Obama wants to increase US foreign aid by $ 50 billion. Additionally, $ 20 billion are to be allocated for fighting hunger worldwide. (se/cir)

Jobs for peace The majority of South Africans have profited from the economic and social policy of post-Apartheid governments, according to a recent study by researchers from the German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA) in Hamburg. The ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), is said to have “largely succeeded in securing political stability”.

After the end of Apartheid, the governments of Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki radically reformed the South African economy, and focused on fostering a competitive market economy. As a result, the number of jobs rose sharply, and productivity and incomes have increased. The GIGA analysts list the construction of homes for the poor, the development of the health and education sectors and the country's good infrastructure as factors that helped to secure many years of sustained growth. Moreover, new "black enterprises" and a growing black middle class are considered signs of success.

Nonetheless, unemployment and extreme inequality remain the greatest challenges the “rainbow nation” faces, the authors warn. Their list of the country's problems also includes inefficient administrative bodies, a poorly developed service sector and rising crime.

Due to the global financial crisis, South African export earnings have decreased sharply and many companies have laid off employees. President Jacob Zumas' government is seeking to enhance competitiveness through monetary policy and further reforms. According to the GIGA team, however, it is to early to assess success. For social peace to last in South Africa, they say, it is vitally important to eliminate unemployment through high growth. (cir)

Exposed to climate change “We don’t want a global suicide pact, we want a global survival pact,” said the Maldivian President, Mohamed Nasheed at the first Climate Vulnerable Forum in November. The forum’s aim is to promote the interests of developing nations that are particularly at risk at the Climate Summit in Copenhagen in December.

“Our acute vulnerability not only allows us to perceive the threat of climate change more clearly than others, but also provides us with the clarity of vision to understand the steps that must be taken to protect the Earth’s climate system and the determination to see the job done,” the delegates agreed.

The Republic of Maldives, for example, committed itself to achieving carbon neutrality and encourages other vulnerable countries to follow its lead. Nasheed argues: “If those with the least start doing the most, what excuse can the rich have for continuing inaction?” (se)