Libya says Mediterranean Union will divide Africa: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi - the only one who was invited to the launching of the Mediterranean Union, but declined to attend - he prefers to see Arab dominance in Africa - not North Africa as part of a European Alliance.

RENATA GOLDIROVA for the EUobserver, August 5, 2008.

Libya’s leader Muammar Gaddafi has reaffirmed his critical stance towards the Union for the Mediterranean - the brainchild of French President Nicolas Sarkozy - saying it will divide the 53-nation African Union.

In addition, he has accused the EU of wanting to dominate its southern partners, once under European colonial rule.

UN’s Ban Distances Himself from Sudan’s Bashir, After Off the Record Lunch with Journalists.

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, August 1 — With Sudan’s President Omar Al Bashir threatened with an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court, it has been reported that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has been advised by his lawyers to “distance himself politically” from Al Bashir. The London-based newspaper Al Hayat, with a long-time correspondent at UN Headquarters, sourced this to “Ban aides.”

  At the August 1 UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Ban’s spokesperson Michele Montas if the report is true. “I don’t have a response,” Ms. Montas said. But was Ban advised to distance himself from Al Bashir? “I’m sure that issue was discussed with the Secretary-General,” Montas said, adding that is Ban’s decision what to do with such advice. Video here, from Minute 23:16.

   Further inquiry by Inner City Press leads to the inference that the sourcing of the story was Ban Ki-moon himself. It is an open secret that Ban has been holding a series of off-the-record lunches with select reporters, including on July 30 the Al Hayat correspondent. Whether a shifting of the sourcing from Ban to his aides — or perhaps in fairness a subsequent confirmation by aides — complies with Ban’s understanding remains to be seen.

  The question arises, as the trigger for this piece, why would Ban be distancing himself from the advice or decision that he be distant from Bashir? What is gained by telling select journalists, on the condition that they not report it, that he is taking seriously the ICC Prosecutor’s charges of war crimes including rape, and of genocide, by Al Bashir? Perhaps it was understood that they would report it?

Messrs. Ban and Bashir, distance for distancing not shown

  Some say that the decision to step back from Al Bashir is as much personal as legal. Just before ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo formally announced that he is seeking an arrest warrant against Al Bashir, Ban telephoned Bashir. Afterwards, Sudanese state media characterized the call as one in which Ban was critical of the prosecutor. Ban’s office ultimately responded to the characterization, and criticized statements by Sudan’s Ambassador to the UN. When Inner City Press asked, on the record, which statement were being criticized, there was no answer. But was there an off the record answer?

  The series of lunches continued on August 1, when Ms. Montas was seen escorting a half dozen journalists to the elevator. Would the lunches become on the record? Would they cease?—————

UN DAILY NEWS from the
UNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICE
1 August, 2008
=========================================================================䅁

SECRETARY-GENERAL SOUNDS ALARM ON FRAGILITY OF SUDAN’S NORTH-SOUTH PEACE ACCORD

The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) ending Sudan’s long-running
north-south civil war has faced some of its most “volatile and challenging”
months since it was signed in 2005, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon writes in
a report made public today.

Recent incidents – including the May attack by the rebel Justice and
Equality Movement (JEM) on Omdurman, near the capital Khartoum, and
fighting between the Sudanese armed forces (SAF) and the Sudan People’s
Liberation Army (SPLA) in Abyei – serve as “stark reminders of the
fragility of peace in the Sudan,” Mr. Ban says in his latest report on the
accord.

Additionally, he notes that such instability highlights how the people of
Sudan would suffer if the CPA – which he characterizes as “the bedrock for
sustainable peace in the Sudan” – were to fail.

Steps taken to consolidate the peace agreement have been thwarted by the
crisis in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, where as many as 300,000
people are estimated to have been killed as a result of direct combat,
disease or malnutrition since 2003. Another 2.7 million people have been
displaced because of fighting between rebels, Government forces and allied
militiamen known as the Janjaweed.

“Ultimately, peace in the Sudan is indivisible,” the report states, given
that Darfur is part of the north and the CPA is the basis of the peace
process between north and south.

One of the biggest obstacles to implementing the accord, the
Secretary-General says, has been the disputed town of Abyei, which lies in
an oil-rich area close to the boundary between north and south Sudan.

“The root cause of the problem has been the failure of the two parties to
agree on an approach to implement the Abyei Protocol,” he notes, referring
to the agreement to end the deadly fighting in the town.

In June, the National Congress Party and the Sudan People’s Liberation
Movement (SPLM) agreed on a road map to resolve the Abyei dispute,
including through arbitration.

Mr. Ban says that implementing this road map in good faith would spur
progress in other areas, and urges both sides to complete their
redeployment out of the area as soon as possible.

But the Abyei issue should not overshadow the other areas where
improvements towards achieving the CPA need to be made, he warns.

The Secretary-General congratulates the parties for having implemented a
key benchmark of the peace accord, conducting a national census, but calls
for the prompt demarcation of the 1 January 1956 border.

“The delay in this process has caused the two sides to deploy forces along
border areas to attain better bargaining positions, creating a de factor
border line as a consequence.”

* * *

DARFUR: TOP UN RELIEF OFFICIAL ‘DEEPLY TROUBLED’ BY ATTACKS ON AID WORKERS.

The top United Nations relief official today called for full respect for
humanitarian principles in the face of continuing attacks on aid workers in
Darfur, a troubled region in western Sudan.

“I am deeply troubled about the continuing threats and attacks against
humanitarian agencies working in Darfur,” John Holmes,
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said in a statement.

“Following two attacks against their teams and premises in just one week,
Médecins Sans Frontières has announced it has no choice but to evacuate its
team from two locations in North Darfur. The departure of MSF team leaves
some 65,000 people without essential medical assistance,” he said.

Mr. Holmes, who also serves as the Emergency Relief Coordinator, said that
the armed opposition groups in Darfur had a clear obligation to guarantee
the personal and physical safety of relief workers and access to vulnerable
populations. He added that the Government also had a responsibility to
ensure security throughout its territory.

Calling for aid organizations to be allowed to work in peace, he said that
so far this year, 180 humanitarian vehicles had been hijacked, 145 aid
workers kidnapped and nine killed.

“Impunity for such attacks must end. Hundreds of thousands of people rely
on the assistance these aid organizations deliver and we cannot afford to
have them absent from Darfur,” he stressed.

The region remains beset by violence and instability five years after
rebels began fighting Government forces and allied militiamen known as the
Janjaweed. More than 300,000 are estimated to have died, either through
direct combat, malnutrition or disease, and another 2.7 million others have
been displaced from their homes since 2003..

Yesterday, the Security Council adopted a resolution extending by 12 months
the mandate of the hybrid United Nations-African Union peacekeeping
mission, known as UNAMID.,

BAN DRESSES DOWN TO ‘COOL’ THE UN - as per an August 1, 2008, UN press release.

In lieu of his usual business suit, United Nations Secretary-General donned a more casual outfit, as part of the “Cool UN” initiative which seeks to curb the world body’s greenhouse gas emissions, which kicked off today.

The three-pronged scheme seeks to limit the use of air conditioning, slash emissions and save money for the UN.

“We are not just cutting back suits and ties,” Mr. Ban told reporters, adding that the month-long “Cool UN” programme at the Secretariat in New York will make a 10 per cent saving in energy consumption. Use of steam will be cut by more than 4 billion pounds, the equivalent of 300 tons of carbon dioxide in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.

The UN estimates that the scheme will also result in financial savings of more than $100,000.

If the initiative is extended beyond August and into the winter, savings will be even greater, the Secretary-General noted.

Calling on the support of the UN family and Member States, he said that
“ultimately, this will be important for our common efforts in addressing
climate change issues.”

The main UN premises in Bangkok, which houses over a dozen of the
Organization’s entities, joined the Secretariat today in rolling out the
“Cool UN” scheme.

Like the Secretariat in New York which is raising the thermostats by five
degrees from 72 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit in most parts of the landmark
building, ESCAP turned up the temperature by 2 degrees Celsius. Most of its
staff members also came to work today in lighter clothing, including
national dress.

“Cool UN” is just one of several schemes ESCAP is involved in to slash
energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Since 2002, it has cut
back electricity consumption by 16 per cent yearly by replacing old and
inefficient appliances such as power transformers, elevators, air
conditioners, lights and pumps.

ESCAP’s service also has pilot solar panels and wind turbines, and water
usage has been reduced by 30 per cent every year through new
higher-efficiency water closets and using recycled water for the main
gardens.

—————–

UN’s Ban in Shirt-Sleeves, a Cooling Room Next Door, Asked about Double-Standards by Fox.

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, August 1 — Television camera crews were waiting for the UN’s Ban Ki-moon on Friday morning; he showed off for them a short sleeved shirt and lack of tie. To set an example, he said, of action for climate change, the UN will raise the temperature in the building by five degrees. A photo opportunity was scheduled for 9:15 in Ban’s office, but upon arrival the Press was told there would not be enough space. It was said Ban would take no questions, that no reporters should go upstairs.

Ultimately questions were allowed, by CNN, Fox and Inner City Press.

The Fox TV reporter demanded that Ban address the “double standard” in the cooling of rooms on the 38th floor. Ban’s office felt warm, but a conference room next door was, the Fox team estimated, closer to 60 degrees. Ban said, “I have been sometimes very warm in this room, I have to switch to the next conference room.” To some, this meant that he will have his own cooling spot upstairs, which Fox called a meat locker, while other UN staff, particularly in rooms facing the sun and East River, sweat through August.

The Staff Union, in a July 31 meeting, questioned whether Ban had consulted with the UN medical service.

UN’s Ban and “two advisors,” cooling room and Fox’ double-standards question not shown

Inner City Press asked Ban if he is encouraging Presidents like George Bush and Nicolas Sarkozy to follow his lead. “I don’t have any control over member states,” he said. “They are sovereign member states… I will be happy if member states follow.” In fact, South Korea and Japan, for example, already have such programs. Ban added that when he met with Japan’s foreign minister, they did so without ties.

The Press was then escorted down to the UN’s third and fourth sub-basements, control and machine room. One staffer said, “This won’t really reduce greenhouse gasses, but it might save us money.” He said that under Kofi Annan, something similar was tried, in order to save money. When Inner City Press asked how much money had been saved, he said to ask the spokesperson’s office. Inner City Press did, at Friday’s briefing, and will publish the answer when received.

And at 6:16 p.m. on Friday the following arrived –

“The UN introduced a cost-savings program in 2002 in response to significant budget cuts made by the General Assembly at the time. The program included the total shutdown of the fan system every night after 6 p.m. There were other measures that were introduced, such as reduced service to the conference rooms and reduction in mail service. Most of the services were later restored. No specific savings figure is available.”

We can further report that, at least for today, complaints were becoming widespread about being too hot, about whether the savings were worth it and, yes, about what some called Ban Ki-moon’s cool room on the 38th floor…

As the UNSG, Ban Ki-moon Hosted the Foreign Minister of Israel Ms. Tsipi Livni, we wonder if she was received in the “cool room.” We know she never wears a tie, but we also know that when Israel’s Founding Prime Minister David Ben Gurion’a office had no air conditioner or a fan, this applied also for him. Further, unless he had to come to the UN, he never wore a tie anyway. Could the UNSG be asked to allow himself the same measure of equality as David Ben Gurion instituted in the new reborn State of Israel? As we predicted in our first version of this posting, the one that did not include the Matthew Lee material, we were clear that the above was instituted by the UN only when it will deal this to the staff, but will have no meaning when the UN potentates show up.

UNESCO TEAMS SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETE RETURN OF ETHIOPIAN OBELISK TO ORIGINAL
SITE

One of Ethiopia’s most iconic monuments, the 1,700-year-old Aksum Obelisk,
has been successfully reinstalled at its original location after the third
and final block was mounted in place this week by teams from the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The monument’s reinstallation, completed yesterday, took place six decades
after Italian soldiers carted the obelisk off to Rome during Benito
Mussolini’s invasion in 1937.

UNESCO said locals living near the Aksum World Heritage site in northern
Ethiopia, close to the Eritrean border, greeted the end of the
reinstallation with joy, organizing spontaneous musical concerts. An
inauguration ceremony has been slated for 4 September 2008.

The Aksum Obelisk, which is 24 metres high and weighs 150 tons, is the
second largest stela – or upright stone slab or tablet – on the Aksum World
Heritage site. It has become a symbol of the Ethiopian people’s identity.

After mediation by UNESCO, Italy decided to return the obelisk in April
2005, and paid for the dismantling in Rome and subsequent transport and
reinstallation. The monument’s size meant it had to be cut into three
pieces before being reinstalled.

We love, personally, Brazil - and have many friends in this stirring giant of a country. www.SustainabiliTank.info has much to thank to Brazil since our early visits to the country close to 35 years ago. Our Brazil button on this web - shows this only in small part. It was in Brazil we learned about the power Renewable Energy has to free us of all those effects that result from the addiction to petroleum. Furthermore, it was a nuclear physicist, Prof. Jose Goldemberg of Sao Paulo who made it clear to us, already then, that nuclear power is no solution. It was Dr. Jaime Rothstein of Sondotecnica, Rio de Janeiro, who already then showed us how the economy can benefit from moving away from oil imports and grow from local programs. He wrote those ideas up still at the time that Brazil was run by Generals and I witnessed how he presented his ideas to them and they saw the clear National interest in what he was saying.

We also love Fortaleza - the town in the State of Ceara, Northeast of Brazil - pushing 3 million people (in reality nobody knows the exact number of inhabitants - this because of the fact that the boom in the city has attracted additional people from the country-side) and that sits on the “shoulder” of Brazil. We were introduced to this town by Professor Jose Oswaldo Carioca who was the Rapporteur from Brazil, on topics of Biomass, to the preparatory meeting of the UN Conference on New And Renewable Sources of Energy (UNCNRSE - Nairobi, 1981). We have been many times to Fortaleza - and kept up contact with him and his people from the University of Ceara - the last time at the meeting in November 2007 that dealt with Green Chemistry.

Brazil’s secret is that with 185 million people it is dependent on the US only for 2.5 percent of its gross national product, compared with 25 percent of G.N.P. for Mexican exports - so, if the US economy slows down it does not have to have a major impact on Brazil. Brazil has a huge internal market, and the moment former President - Professor Henrique Cardozo - understood this - and made a go for developing this market by helping the poor and not only worry about the rich, and when his successor - “Lula” (Fernando Henrique Cardoso) of labor-leader fame, continued these policies of respecting the conventional economy while at the same time enhancing the social aspects of the country - Brazil started to boom. Brazil today is the Latin progressing giant that did not get stuck in populism rhetoric, but did go directly for fattening up the ranks of its middle class.

We follow on this website the Brazilian effort to open further doors to its economy in the US - as spearheaded by its diplomats and business people at the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce (BACC) headquartered in New York. Today I was full of surprise by the practical recognition of The New York Times - as evidenced by the Center-Front-Page serious reporting on Brazil that originated in Fortaleza. Brazil is following China and India, as third developing country that makes progress by having turned to help its own poor people. Sure, with a population only as big as 1/6.5 as the two larger upstarts, but with a territory their size, and natural riches that are immense, it has the potential to move forefront lined up with these other two giants. As it is becoming also an oil power - the sky is the limit - and the Brazilian diplomacy starts showing its muscle. So, the article’s timing, as a follow up to the crash of the WTO negotiations, should be viewed as a warning to the US that some countries - now led by China, India, and Brazil, will not allow themselves pushed around by a US-EU leadership that thinks very little of the impact of economic decisions on those “others.” China, India, and Mexico will suffer if the US and EU economies falter, but not Brazil. The Brazilians will just simply continue with their “Bolsa Familia” social programs and their successful microcredit programs, spearheaded by government banks like the Bank of the Northeast, and get more and more people to buy refrigerators and TVs. They will expand electricity use, and will drive using biofuels. They seriously develop solar, wind, and sea-wave technologies - and at their own pace the huge oil resource they found off-shore. I said “at their own pace,” because they are in no hurry to deplete those resources because others want to buy the oil. They will release some of this oil to the market - and this as refined products - just about as much as they think that is needed as funds for their national development program. We hope that they will not allow anyone to push them beyond as far as they find it to be to their own interest. Exporting soy beans and products, as well as other agricultural products, and ores, is just fine. They are going also for high-tech and medicines. All what they want is access to markets - like the ethanol market in the US and in Europe. If these are not forthcoming, there is no push to give in to demands by other economic powers. So, please read the following article carefully - so it is getting clear why Brazil can indeed afford to stand up to these other powers.

Strong Economy Propels Brazil to World Stage. Strong Economy Propels Brazil Into Long-Anticipated Global Role.

By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO
Published: July 31, 2008, The New York Times - FRONT PAGE MAJOR ARTICLE.

From FORTALEZA, Brazil — Desperate to escape her hand-to-mouth existence in one of Brazil’s poorest regions, Maria Benedita Sousa used a small loan five years ago to buy two sewing machines and start her own business making women’s underwear. Also - Recent oil discoveries off the coast of Rio de Janeiro State have led to a construction boom in the port town of Angra dos Reis.

Riding a Wave of Growth:

Today Ms. Sousa, a mother of three who started out working in a jeans factory making minimum wage, employs 25 people in a modest two-room factory that produces 55,000 pairs of cotton underwear a month. She bought and renovated a house for her family and is now thinking of buying a second car. Her daughter, who is studying to be a pharmacist, could be the first family member to finish college.

“You can’t imagine the happiness I am feeling,” Ms. Sousa, 43, said from the floor of her business, Big Mateus, named after a son. “I am someone who came from the countryside to the city. I battled and battled, and today my children are studying, with one in college and two others in school. It’s a gift from God.”

Today her country is lifting itself up in much the same way. Brazil, South America’s largest economy, is finally poised to realize its long-anticipated potential as a global player, economists say, as the country rides its biggest economic expansion in three decades.

That growth is being felt in nearly all parts of the economy, creating a new class of super rich even as people like Ms. Sousa lift themselves into an expanding middle class.

It has also given Brazil new swagger, providing it, for instance, with greater leverage to push for a tougher bargain with the United States and Europe in global trade talks. After seven years, those negotiations finally broke down this week over demands by India and China for safeguards for their farmers, a clear sign of the rising clout of these emerging economies.

Despite investor fears about the leftist bent of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva when he was elected to lead Brazil in 2002, he has demonstrated a light touch when it comes to economic stewardship, avoiding the populist impulses of leaders in Venezuela and Bolivia.

Instead, he has fueled Brazil’s growth through a deft combination of respect for financial markets and targeted social programs, which are lifting millions out of poverty, said David Fleischer, a political analyst and emeritus professor at the University of Brasília. Ms. Sousa is one such beneficiary.

Long famous for its unequal distribution of wealth, Brazil has shrunk its income gap by six percentage points since 2001, more than any other country in South America this decade, said Francisco Ferreira, a lead economist at the World Bank.

While the top 10 percent of Brazil’s earners saw their cumulative income rise by 7 percent from 2001 to 2006, the bottom 10 percent shot up by 58 percent, according to Marcelo Côrtes Neri, the director of the Center for Social Policies at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Rio de Janeiro.

But Brazil is also outspending most of its neighbors on social programs, and overall public spending continues to be nearly four times as high as what Mexico spends as a percentage of its gross national product, Mr. Ferreira said.

The momentum of its economic expansion is expected to last. As the United States and parts of Europe struggle with recession and the fallout from housing crises, Brazil’s economy shows few of the vulnerabilities of other emerging powers.

It has greatly diversified its industrial base, has huge potential to expand a booming agricultural sector into virgin fields and holds a tremendous pool of untapped natural resources. New oil discoveries will thrust Brazil into the ranks of the global oil powers within the next decade.

Yet while exports of commodities like oil and agricultural goods have driven much of its recent growth, Brazil is less and less dependent on them, economists say, having the advantage of a huge domestic market — 185 million people — that has grown wealthier with the success of people like Ms. Sousa.

In fact, with a stronger currency and inflation mostly in check, Brazilians are on a spending spree that has become a prime motor for the economy, which grew 5.4 percent last year.

They are buying both Brazilian goods and a rising flood of imported products. Many businesses have relaxed credit terms to allow Brazilians to pay for refrigerators, cars and even plastic surgery over years instead of months, despite some of the highest interest rates in the world. In June the country reached 100 million credit cards issued, a 17 percent jump over last year.

At Casas Bahia, a modestly priced Brazilian furniture-store chain, the number of customers buying items on installment nearly tripled to 29.3 million from 2002 to 2007, said Sônia Mitaini, a company spokeswoman.

Riding a Wave of Growth - continued:

Other signs of new wealth abound. In Macaé, an oil boomtown near Rio de Janeiro, contractors are racing to finish new shopping malls and luxury housing to keep up with demand from oil-service firms. At a port in Angra dos Reis, a town known for its spectacular islands, some 25,000 workers have found jobs building oil platforms.

Petrobras, Brazil’s national oil company, shocked the oil world in November when it announced that its Tupi deepwater field offshore of Rio de Janeiro could hold five billion to eight billion barrels of oil. Analysts think there could be billions of barrels more in surrounding areas.

While the oil will be expensive and complicated to extract, Petrobras has said it expects to be producing up to 100,000 barrels a day from Tupi by 2010, and hopes to produce up to a million barrels a day in about a decade.

The new oil plays are setting off an investment boom in Rio de Janeiro, with an estimated $67.6 billion expected to flow into the state by 2010, according to the Rio de Janeiro State Federation of Industries, an industry group. Petrobras alone expects to invest $40.5 billion by 2012.

Some economists say a slowdown in the rest of the world’s economy, especially in Asia, which is soaking up much of Brazil’s exports of soybeans and iron ore, could crimp growth here. “But that probability is small,” said Alfredo Coutiño, the senior economist for Latin America for Moody’s Economy.com.

In fact, because Brazil’s economy has become so diversified in recent years, the country is less susceptible to a hangover from the struggling United States economy.

Brazil’s exports to the United States represent just 2.5 percent of Brazil’s gross national product, compared with 25 percent of G.N.P. for Mexican exports, according to Moody’s.

“What makes Brazil more resilient is that the rest of the world matters less,” said Don Hanna, the head of emerging market economics at Citibank.

The rest of the world certainly has helped. Soaring prices for minerals and other commodities have created a new class of super rich.

The number of Brazilians with liquid fortunes exceeding $1 million grew by 19 percent last year, third behind China and India, according to a survey by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini.

At the same time, President da Silva has deepened many of the social programs begun 10 years ago under Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who as president ushered in many of the structural reforms that laid the foundations of Brazil’s stable growth today.

In Ms. Sousa’s case, for instance, she owes much of the success of her underwear business to loans she has received from the Bank of the Northeast, a government-financed bank that has awarded microloans to 330,000 people to develop businesses in this fast-growing region.

Other programs, like Bolsa Familia, give small subsidies to millions of poor Brazilians to buy food and other essentials. Bolsa Familia, which benefits 45 million people nationwide in distributing an annual budget of about $5.6 billion, has been far more effective at raising per-capita incomes than recent increases in the minimum wage, which has risen 36 percent since 2003.

The bottom-up nature of such social programs has helped expand formal and informal employment as well as the Brazilian middle class. The number of people under the poverty line — defined as those earning less than $80 a month — fell by 32 percent from 2004 to 2006, Mr. Neri said.

The programs have been particularly effective here in Brazil’s northeast, historically one of poorest parts of the country. Residents here have received more than half the $15.6 billion doled out in social programs from 2003 to 2006, according to Empresa de Pesquisa Energetica, an arm of the Energy Ministry.

People here are using that new wealth to buy items like televisions and refrigerators at a faster rate than the rest of the country. The northeast, in fact, passed the country’s south in electricity use this year for the first time, the energy agency said.

Many families have bridged the gap to the middle class by using Bolsa Familia to meet basic needs, and then applying for small loans to start businesses and escape the informal economy. That is what Maria Auxiliadora Sampaio and her husband did in Fortaleza, a coastal city of 2.4 million people. They were receiving Bolsa Familia payments of about $30 a month, which they used to support their three children. Then, two years ago, Ms. Sampaio used a microloan of about $190 to buy nail polish and kick-start her manicure business, which she runs from home.

Today she is making around $70 a day — about four minimum salaries per month, she said. With her next loan she plans to put about $140 toward a stove to sterilize nail clippers, which today she does with hot water.

The fruits of her new business have allowed the couple to retile their house and buy a television and a cellphone. This month her husband, who works at a Cachaça factory, was able to realize a dream: to buy a drum set.

He plans to use it in a band that plays forró, a traditional music in the northeast. “We always ate and paid bills, but he waited and waited,” and finally bought the set for about $780, she said.

“I feel like we are part of this group of people that are coming up in the world,” said Ms. Sampaio, 28. “When you don’t have anything, when you don’t have a profession, don’t have the means to live, you are no one, you are a mosquito. I was nothing. Today, I am in heaven.”

 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/world/…

 From:    liasieghart at hotmail.com
Subject: new publication - Towards an Effective Implementation of the CDM in the Middle East and North Africa Region – A Perspective from Yemen.
Date: July 30, 2008

Dr. Lia Carol Sieghart
International Advisor
DNA Secretariat
Ministry of Water and Environment
Sana’a, Republic of Yemen
Mob: + 967 7117 8 9994
 www.cdm-yemen.org

The paper aims by taking Yemen as an example to outline some of the reasons why the CDM in the MENA Region has not picked up to its full potential so far. It is anticipated that this publication will assist decision makers, policy analysts and others concerned with the CDM process to deliberate the perceived opportunities and barriers, which may open up ways and means for the CDM in the Region through cooperative action at various levels and sectors of interest.”

Feedback is welcome, please email  sieghart at yemen.net.ye

We did and we got the above statement by the Minister from their website. The Website has also a list of projects and seems to include openness for outside involvement.