>> SOME CONVERSATIONS...

http://www.moretothepoint.com/
Iraq and the Issue of Imminence listen
The failure to find Iraq's weapons of mass destruction has produced heated controversy over the adequacy of US intelligence as the basis for pre-emptive war. George Tenet's CIA never said the threat from Iraq was "imminent," and that has been the accepted standard for pre-emptive attack. But President Bush says, in this age of terrorism and nuclear weapons, waiting until the threat became "imminent" would have been waiting too long. Was removing Saddam Hussein the right thing to do, even if the intelligence reports were all wrong? Has Pakistan's worldwide sharing of nuclear secrets made it a far more "imminent" threat than Iraq ever was? We get perspective from experts in national security, domestic policy, and foreign affairs.

http://www.theworld.org/latesteditions/20040210.shtml
Scowcraft interview (6:00)
Brent Scowcroft, National Security Advisor to Presidents Ford and Bush-Senior, warned against launching a war against Iraq in an opinion piece for "The Wall Street Journal." Host Lisa Mullins speaks with Mr. Scowcroft about the state of affairs today and whether he feels his warning have been vindicated.

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000100&sid=a.qynHww4aTY&refer=germany
ECB's Trichet News Conf.: G-7 Currency Statement, Economies Listen
Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet speaks at a news conference in Boca Raton, Florida, about the Group of Seven's condemnation of "excess volatility" in exchange rates, ECB monetary policy, strategy for the euro and Europe's economic conditions. He speaks at a meeting of G-7 finance ministers and central bankers. (English and French)

>> thinking through...
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/episodes/current
Getting the Lead Out
Bill Perkins New York City Deputy Majority Lader (D-9th District-Northern Manhattan)
discussing the new lead paint law the city council passed over the Mayor's veto


China Posts $20 Mln Trade Deficit for January, 1st in 10 Months
Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- China had a $20 million trade deficit last month, the country's first in 10 months. Imports rose 15.2 percent to $35.74 billion from a year earlier, while exports gained 19.8 percent to $35.72 billion, the Commerce Ministry said on its Web site.

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>> WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE...

Islamic extremists invade U.S., join sleeper cells
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Islamic radicals are being trained at terrorist camps in Pakistan and Kashmir as part of a conspiracy to send hundreds of operatives to "sleeper cells" in the United States, according to U.S. and foreign officials.
The intelligence and law-enforcement officials say dozens of Islamic extremists have already been routed through Europe to Muslim communities in the United States, based on secret intelligence data and information from terrorists and others detained by U.S. authorities.
A high-ranking foreign intelligence chief told The Washington Times in an interview last week that this clandestine but aggressive network of training camps "represents a serious threat to the United States, one that cannot be ignored." The official said as many as 400 terrorists have been and are being trained at camps in Pakistan and Kashmir.
U.S. intelligence officials said the camps, located in the remote regions of western Pakistan and in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, are financed in part by various terrorist networks, including al Qaeda, and by sources in Saudi Arabia.
Pakistani Ambassador Ashraf Jehangir Qazi denied in an interview that terrorist camps are operating in his country, including the remote regions of western Pakistan or in Kashmir.
"We have never accepted the allegation that there were training camps here, not now, not ever," Mr. Qazi told The Times. "These allegations have persisted despite our repeated denials. I assure you there is absolutely no reason to believe that any terrorist camps exist in Pakistan or Kashmir."
Al Qaeda sleeper cells are believed to be operating in 40 states, according to the FBI and other federal authorities, awaiting orders and funding for new attacks in the United States. Financed in part by millions of dollars solicited by an extensive network of bogus charities and foundations, the cells use Muslim communities as cover and places to raise cash and recruit sympathizers.
Last month, Pakistan and India announced a new round of peace talks on Kashmir, in which Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, the target of two recent assassination attempts, said Pakistan had agreed "not to allow the use of Pakistan's territory anywhere in the world" for terrorism.
In announcing the talks, Gen. Musharraf said his military-led government would act to "eradicate" religious extremists in Pakistan. "We will get to them, I am sure," he said.
But U.S. and foreign intelligence authorities said terrorist training camps have been documented in some of western Pakistan's remote areas and in the disputed regions of Kashmir, and that military officials and others in the Musharraf government have not fully disassociated themselves from al Qaeda or the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
Some U.S. officials have privately expressed concern that members of Pakistan's intelligence community have assisted in the concealment of al Qaeda members and associates.
In December, the government of India said terrorist training camps in Pakistan and Kashmir that had been closed after the September 11 attacks on the United States had been reactivated, mostly along the disputed border area near the so-called Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Indian government said its army had photographs and other evidence of ongoing terrorist training, much of which was turned over to U.S. officials. That information included satellite photos and communication intercepts, U.S. law- enforcement authorities said, that documented 60 to 70 camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir as well as in Pakistan.
Officials at the Indian Embassy in Washington declined comment.
Since September 11, Pakistan has publicly ordered a clampdown on terrorism and arrested hundreds of suspected al Qaeda members and associates, transferring many of them to the United States. The captured include Abu Zubaydah, the organization's top recruiter; Ramzi Binalshibh, paymaster for the September 11 hijackers; and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, chief of operations for Osama bin Laden and mastermind of September 11.
One veteran U.S. law-enforcement official with an extensive history in counterterrorism said many of the training camps in the Pakistan-controlled regions of Kashmir are operated by the Harakat ul-Ansar, an Islamic militant group tied to bin Laden.
The group's leaders joined with bin Laden in signing a February 1998 "fatwa" calling for attacks on U.S. and Western interests. Also known as the "Movement of Holy Warriors," Harakat ul-Ansar has been tied by U.S. and foreign intelligence officials to the January 2002 abduction and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
Several other camps are being operated by an anti-U.S. Muslim group known as Lashkar-e-Taiba, according to U.S. and foreign intelligence officials. Listed by the State Department in 2001 as a terrorist organization, Lashkar-e-Taiba is the armed wing of the Pakistan-based religious organization Markaz-ud-Dawa-wal-Irshad.
Eleven men, including nine U.S. citizens, were arrested last year in Virginia in what authorities called the "Virginia jihad." The men were accused in a 41-count grand jury indictment of engaging in "holy jihad" to drive India out of the disputed Kashmir territory. Six have since pleaded guilty.
The indictment said some of the men traveled to Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist camps in Pakistan, where they were trained in the use of various weapons, including small arms, machine guns and grenade launchers. The indictment also said the trips occurred both before and after the September 11 attacks.
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Palestinian Panel Probes Qureia Cement
By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI
Associated Press Writer
JERUSALEM (AP) -- A Palestinian parliamentary committee is investigating whether Palestinian cement companies are providing Israel with material for a controversial West Bank barrier and have been selling concrete to Jewish settlements.
A Palestinian lawmaker, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tuesday there is evidence that a company owned by Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia's family is among them. But other lawmakers said Qureia was not part of the investigation.
Israel's Channel 10 TV also reported that the Al-Quds Cement Company - owned by Qureia's family - has been providing the materials to help build the barrier, allegations Palestinian officials denied.
The TV report said Qureia was providing the cement to build the concrete slabs right outside his house in Abu Dis, a town near Jerusalem divided by a 25-foot wall.
Television footage also showed cement mixers leaving the Al-Quds company and driving to the Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim, just a few miles away.
The lawmaker who spoke on condition of anonymity said there was "evidence" that Al-Quds was selling cement to Maale Adumim. He said Qureia transferred ownership of the company to another member of his family a few months ago.
The lawmaker said this strengthened suspicions that Qureia was involved in improper activities.
The Palestinian premier was in Rome and unavailable for comment.
Qureia is one of the most vocal opponents of Jewish settlements and the barrier, and he is leading a Palestinian effort to garner global support for the Palestinian position.
Israel says the barrier is needed to prevent Palestinian suicide bombers from entering the country. But the structure dips into the West Bank in some areas, and Palestinians have condemned it as a land grab.
Palestinian efforts led the U.N. General Assembly to ask the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, to hand down an advisory opinion on the barrier's legality. The court is to begin its hearings at the end of the month.
Palestinian lawmaker Jamal Shati, a member of a parliamentary committee that is going to Jordan and Egypt on Thursday to investigate whether Palestinian cement companies are providing Israel with material for the barrier, denied Qureia was part of the investigation.
"But when we open the issue of the concrete it will include everything, not only the wall but also the settlements, because building the settlements is the same as building the wall. There is no difference," Shati told The Associated Press. "This is a very dangerous national issue. This is something that belongs to the core of the Palestinian cause."
Lawmaker Hassan Khreishe, who is also on the inquiry committee, also denied the team was investigating Qureia.
Khreishe told AP the committee was investigating allegations - which originated in an Egyptian newspaper report published in November - that three Palestinian cement companies had illegally imported concrete from Egypt and sold it to an Israeli businessmen.
"We want to know if this cement was used to build the barrier or any other Israeli needs. This is the information we are investigating," Khreishe said. "There are several names mentioned, but for sure, the name of Abu Ala (Qureia) is not mentioned in this issue."
Palestinian Cabinet minister Jamil Tarifi is among those being investigated, said Palestinian officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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Embassy Row
By James Morrison
Moscow mayor upset
The mayor of Moscow is alarmed by the influence of the United States, which he accused of abusing its superpower status.
Yuri Luzhkov, on a recent Washington visit to promote his new book, criticized the Bush administration for pre-emptive strikes against what it deemed terrorist states and called on the United States to explore the root causes of terrorism, our correspondent Megan McCloskey reports.
"Perhaps efforts should have been made to identify the fundamental cause of those acts," Mr. Luzhkov said of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
He complained that the United States is trying to impose its will in international affairs.
"One country is making the decisions for the entire world," he said.
The sovereignty and self-determination of smaller nations are concepts that have "disappeared into thin air," he said.
Mr. Luzhkov, a popular politician in Russia, was re-elected recently to a third term. After his remarks at the Library of Congress last week, he signed copies of his book, "The Renewal of History," for admirers who crowded around him for photographs.

Japan's straight talk
Japanese Ambassador Ryozo Kato wants to recruit Japanese-Americans to help promote greater understanding between Washington and Tokyo, but he does not want apologists for his country.
"To strengthen this relationship, I would like to seek the help of the Japanese-Americans who possess in-depth understanding of the United States, not as 'no-matter-what' kind of defenders of Japan and its policies but as fair-minded, enlightened and effective public arbitrators between the peoples of the two countries," he said after a recent meeting in Washington between Japanese diplomats and U.S. leaders.
Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, Hawaii Democrat and a Japanese-American, pledged to help Mr. Kato improve communications between the two countries, Japan's Kyodo news service reported.
"The time has come to ensure that the relationships between Japanese-Americans and Japan are strong at all levels from business and politics to arts and academia," Mr. Inouye said.
"We want to build bridges of understanding so that our children and grandchildren will be Americans proud of their Japanese ancestry."
Mr. Inouye and Mr. Kato endorsed an education initiative to increase mutual understanding and to encourage Japanese-Americans to participate in the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program, a government program to promote foreign languages in Japanese schools.
They also endorsed a tourism program that will include building support for the 2005 World Exposition in central Japan.

2nd term in Colombia
William Wood, the U.S. ambassador to Colombia, says Washington supports a constitutional amendment to allow President Alvaro Uribe to run for a second term and keep up his tough fight against Marxist rebels.
Mr. Uribe is limited to one term under the Colombian Constitution, but some legislators are seeking an amendment to allow presidents to run for re-election.
Mr. Wood noted Mr. Uribe's popularity, especially because of his fight against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which has been hiding in the country's jungle and mountain strongholds for several months to avoid troops.
"When the country has a firm and popular president like Uribe, this group has always used the tactic of waiting for the next president," Mr. Wood told the El Tiempo newspaper during the weekend.
He said an amendment to the constitution is "an element that the Colombian people ... need to consider."

*Call Embassy Row at 202/636-3297, fax 202/832-7278 or e-mail jmorrison@washingtontimes.com.
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Canadian Government to Probe `Scandalous' Spending in Quebec
Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin announced an investigation of a government program that promoted federalism in Quebec after the auditor general called it a ``scandalous'' use of taxpayers money.
Sheila Fraser, in a report released today, widened her probe of the C$250 million ($188 million) program to include government- owned companies such as the Business Development Bank of Canada, Canada Post Corp., the Old Port of Montreal Corporation Inc. and Via Rail Canada Inc.
Fraser said the spending was often designed to funnel money to advertisement agencies. The agencies received C$100 million between 1997 and 2001 to arrange conferences and sporting events that promoted a united Canada. The program was canceled in December.
Government bureaucrats intended ``to provide commissions to communications agencies while hiding the true source of the funds,'' Fraser said in the report. ``Some officials of the Crown (government-owned) corporations were knowing and willing participants in these arrangements.''
Fraser told reporters in Ottawa she referred the report to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which also received money from the advertisement agencies.
The federal police force is already investigating some of Fraser's past findings about government advertising and sponsorships contracts.
The cabinet minister in charge of the program, Alfonso Gagliano, was recalled from his job as ambassador to Denmark today, before Fraser's report was presented to Parliament.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Greg Quinn in Ottawa at gquinn1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor of this story:
Boyd Erman at baerman@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: February 10, 2004 15:11 EST

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>> SINGAPORE FILE...

Hyflux May Have S$1 Billion in Sales From Desalination Plant
Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Hyflux Ltd., Singapore's biggest publicly traded water-treatment company, may reap as much as S$1 billion ($596 million) in water sales from its desalination plant over its 20-year contract with the Singapore government.
``By selling water, we can actually get a very stable income,'' chief executive Olivia Lum said in a televised interview with Bloomberg News. She said revenue from selling water from the desalination plant will range between S$30 million and S$50 million per year.
Companies like Hyflux are benefiting from a dispute over the price Singapore should pay Malaysia for water that has soured relations between the countries and led the city to try to reduce its dependence on its neighbor. Hyflux last month started building Singapore's first desalination plant.
``The company will be definitely much more stable because you now have recurring income,'' said Tan Chong Koay, who oversees $450 million at Pheim Asset Management in Singapore.
Hyflux reported sales growth slowed to 66 percent in fiscal 2002, from a five-year peak of 154 percent in 2000. Potentially up for grabs are management contracts from Singapore's government, which has built three water treatment plants and is reportedly working on a fourth.
The company said it will seek waste-water treatment contracts if the return is at least 10 percent, Lum said.
``Given their track record with desalination projects, that is certainly a workable strategy for them,'' said Roy Phua who helps to manage the equivalent of $5.6 billion at DBS Asset Management including Hyflux shares. It ``should be positive,''
Rivals
Other companies are also seeking such contracts. SembCorp Industries, Southeast Asia's biggest civil engineering company, is keen to bid to build Singapore's fourth water treatment plant, the Straits Times reported last month, citing Tang Kin Fei, chief executive of the group's SembCorp Utilities unit.
Shares of Hyflux have risen about 61 percent in the past year, compared to a 46 percent gain in the benchmark Straits Times Index.
Hyflux is aiming to expand in countries like China, where its more than 50 contracts are mainly for factory water systems, and India. It wants to help produce drinking water in both countries, which have a combined population of more than 2.3 billion people.
``We want to cooperate with people from the home consumer line,'' Lum said. ``The market is huge -- even for the bottle market, it's exceeding a billion dollars in the whole of Asia.''
`Truck Load of Water'
At present, more than 90 percent of the company's fiscal 2002 sales came from water treatment projects for municipal and industrial customers in China and Singapore. The company wants to expand sales of its Aquosus air-to-water devices, which can extract water from vapor in the air, to homes, schools, and factories.
It's now in talks with several potential Indian distributors and Lum said that with ``polluted rivers everywhere in China,'' the country may need to tap the company's ``membrane'' technology if it's to produce quality water.
In much of Asia, ``they practically can't get access to clean drinking water,'' Lum said. ``They have to depend on the truck load of water delivered to the township and yet they cant be guaranteed of the clean quality of the water.''
To contact the reporters on this story: Leslie Tan in Singapore
at lestan@bloomberg.net Haslinda Amin in
Singapore at hamin1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor for this story:
Bruce Grant at bruceg@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: February 10, 2004 19:01 EST
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