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WTO meeting results in 33 million US dollar loss to Cancun
The 5th Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) resulted in a 33 million US dollar loss to Cancun, in the southeastern Mexican state of Quintana Roo, Cancun Mayor Juan Garcia said on Wednesday.
The strict security measures put in place during the five-day event cost Cancun 30 million dollars in tourist revenue, the greatest loss for the Caribbean resort, Garcia said during a special session of the city council. He proposed erecting a monument in memory of South Korean Lee Kyung-Hae, a protester who committed suicide on Sept. 10 at the beginning of the WTO event.
The damage done by anti-globalization demonstrators on businesses and municipal infrastructure totaled 2.72 million dollars, Garcia said.
Some marinas and commercial centers in downtown Cancun also suffered losses due to closure during the event, but the Hotel Zone along the shore was the only sector making profits as it was crowded during the two weeks, he said.
Internet forum to examine US blockade of Cuba
An Internet forum on the damage to Cuba by the four-decade-old economic blockade imposed by the United States will be held on Thursday with the participation of Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez.
This conference will start at 10:00 a.m. local time (1500 GMT) on
http://forum.cubavsbloqueo.co.cu. Participants will be able to ask questions and voice their opinions on the issue.
The organizers gave an assurance that Perez will respond to questions of the "internauts" interested in learning the details related to the embargo unilaterally applied by 10 US presidents in a row.
The exchange through the Web will be 48 hours after the Cuban government presented to the United Nations Secretary General
Kofi Annan a report on the UN resolution related to the blockade.
Cuban official statistics show the economic embargo, which
Cuba terms as genocidal, obsolete and irrational, has caused a loss of more than 72 billion US dollars to the Caribbean state.
The report, "The Need to Put an End to the Economic, Trade and Financial Blockade Imposed by the United States Against Cuba"
will be debated on Nov. 4, during the 58th session of the UN General Assembly, which opened on Tuesday.
Since 1992, the United Nations has pronounced every year in favor of lifting the blockade, but the White House, far from listening to the demand of the international community, has intensified its hostile anti-Cuban policy, Cuban authorities said.
Spanish judge indicts Bin Laden for Sept. 11 attacks
Spain's top anti-terrorist judge, Baltasar Garzon, Wednesday indicted 35 people, including Osama bin Laden, for preparing in Spain the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on United States territory.
In a 700-page indictment, Garzon issued an international arrest warrant for bin Laden and set an "exact date" of Sept. 24 for those already arrested in Spain to appear in court.
Of the people, 33 are accused of being members of the terrorist network al Qaeda, while two are accused of collaborating with the terrorist organization.
They will also face charges of "terrorist assassination," fiscal fraud, extortion, forgery of commercial documents and illicit possession of arms, according to the dossier. The terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, on the United States, left nearly 3,000 people dead.
Spanish press reports said 11 of the accused were being held
in prison in Spain, six were paroled and 16 were on the run. But there was no mention of the situation of the remaining two.
The charges came after Garzon, judge of the Audiencia Nacional or Supreme Court, conducted an extensive investigation on the activities of the separatist group, Basque Homeland and Freedom (ETA), an alleged Spanish cell of al Qaeda's network. The group was dismantled by the Spanish government in November 2001.
Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, alias Abu Dahdah, head of the organization, was among the accused.
Abu Dahdah came to light as British security services found hisname in a document during the Afghanistan war, the dossier said. It also said the terrorists started the attack preparations in as early as 1997.
The dossier said that in that year, Ghasoub Al Abrash, a follower of Ghaleb Kalaje, "Abu Thala," the financial agent of
the Spanish cell, "travels to the United States and records the different objectives, and then he gives this information to Abu Khaleb in Spain in 1998." Abu Khaleb was one of the al Qaeda leaders.
Abu Khaleb sent the tape, in which there were numerous shots from different angles and distance of US facilities, buildings and representative monuments like the Twin Towers, to members of the terrorist network in Afghanistan.
The German city of Hamburg had been chosen as the principal headquarters of the commando that would launch the attacks, said the dossier. The details of the attacks were finely tuned in the United States, and "in Spain the final details were taken care of," it added.
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