Pakistan makes troops threat over India standoff

Seen on The Sunday Times 30/11/2008 images from Getty Images and Routers. Related articles from other sources at the bottom of this page.
Relations between India and Pakistan were on a knife edge today as Indian authorities combed through the wreckage of last week's attacks on Bombay and interrogated the one Pakistani militant captured.

A senior Pakistani security official has warned that Pakistan would pull back troops fighting Islamist militants on the Afghan frontier if India builds up its forces on Pakistan's border, as it did after an attack by Pakistani militants on India's parliament in 2001.

He said the next 48 hours would be crucial for the two nuclear-armed neighbours, which have fought three wars since winning independence from Britain in 1947, and almost went to a fourth after the Indian parliament attacks.

"If something happens on that front, the war on terror won't be our priority," the senior security officer told journalists at a briefing.

"We'll take out everything from the western border. We won't leave anything there."

His threat was clearly designed to encourage the United States and its allies to temper India's response to the attacks, which it has blamed on "elements" in Pakistan – most likely the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

U.S. President George W. Bush has pledged his support for India, now considered a U.S. ally, but Washington also has close ties to Pakistan, its key Muslim partner in the War on Terror.

Pakistani troops are currently engaged in their biggest operation so far against al Qaeda and Taleban militants near the border with Afghanistan, where U.S. intelligence believes Osama bin Laden is hiding.

India's coalition government, led by the Congress Party, is under enormous political pressure to respond to the Bombay attacks so that it does not appear soft on terrorism in the run-up to national elections due by May.

It is convening an all-party meeting today to discuss the attacks and answer criticism of its response – particularly why it took seven hours for counter-terrorist National Security Guard commandos to arrive in Bombay.

Indian Home Minister Shivraj Patil resigned early today, in the wake of the brutal Islamist attacks in Mumbai according to Indian television reports.

Meanwhile, there were fears that more Britons may yet be found dead in the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Bombay, hours after India commandos killed the three gunmen who were still holed up in the building to end one of the bloodiest terror strikes to hit India.

The coordinated attacks began on Wednesday night, when terrorists struck ten sites including two luxury hotels, a backpacker bar, a Jewish community centre, and Bombay's main train station.

Police had put the death toll at 195, but revised it down this morning to 174, including one Briton, with 239 more injured.

This morning, security forces were still combing the Taj, searching for unexploded ordnance and corpses. The first pictures of the interior of the building showed a scene of smashed glass and splintered woodwork.

Unexploded grenades littered the floor beside the hotel pool.

National Security Guard commandos said they discovered 30 bodies in a single room after storming the Taj Mahal hotel.

The British Deputy High Commissioner in Mumbai, Vicki Treadell, said she could not rule out further British fatalities.

Asked if she could confirm whether all British nationals were accounted for, she said: "I can't confirm that because the picture has yet to be clarified.

Indian security forces now believes that ten or eleven terrorists were involved in the attack. They are working on the assumption that the men sailed from Karachi in Pakistan before hijacking a fishing boat and slaying its crew about halfway to Bombay.

That fishing vessel was found adrift off the city shore with the body of one dead man, his throat slit, and a satellite phone aboard.

That the number of terrorist suspects has been dramatically lowered since Wednesday, when it was thought that there were about 25 gunmen, has triggered fears among the Bombay public that some terrorists may yet be at large. In the chaos of Wednesday night, police sources had said that several had escaped.

Police sources have identified the one militant to be caught alive so far as Azam Amir Kasav, a 21-year-old from the town of Faridkot in the Pakistani province of Punjab.

He was caught after he opened fire with an automatic rifle at Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Bombay's main train station, to kill indiscriminately. According to reports, he later pleaded not to be allowed to die after being shot by police.

Indian officials are convinced that the attack on Bombay bears the hallmark of Lashkar-e-Taiba, which was also blamed for the 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament, where terrorists stormed the building with guns and grenades, taking hostages as part of a suicidal mission.

They also believe that Lashkar-e-Taiba does not act without the sanction of some part of Pakistan's shadowy security services – though how far up the chain leads is a matter of intense debate.

Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan's President, made an unprecedented offer on Friday to send the head of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency to India to help with the investigation.

However, the ISI said it had not been consulted and Pakistan's government later reversed the decision and said it would send a lower-ranking official instead.

The u-turn will again raise questions over how much control Pakistan's civilian government has over the ISI.

Pakistan's civilian government has over the ISI.

Indian officials have denied reports that they had found evidence to suggest that two of the terrorists were British-born Pakistanis.

However, they have not yet ruled out the possibility of a British link.

A senior Indian intelligence source said that suggestions that British citizens of Pakistani origin had checked into the Taj Mahal Palace hotel some weeks before the attacks to reconnoitre the building were being taken seriously.

Credit card and passport details of thousands of guests will be pored over by forensic computer experts, he said.

Unconfirmed reports in the Indian media have suggested that the terrorists were able to stockpile explosives inside the hotel and intended to blow up the entire building.

A Foreign Office rapid deployment team, including members of the British Red Cross specialising in trauma, has flown to Bombay to provide assistance.

Seen on the Times

Mumbay Terrorist declares: I was ordered to kill until the last breath

Some among the dead

Seen on the Daily Telegraph

The planning of the attack

India raises security footing to the war level

Jihadists see invasion as a triumph

United States and the European Union announce final design for GPS-Galileo common civil signal

European Comission, Brussels - July, 26 2007

On 26 July 2007, the United States and the European Union announced their agreement to jointly adopt and provide an improved design for their respective Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals. These signals will be implemented on the Galileo Open Service and the GPS IIIA new civil signal.

Building on the historic cooperative agreement on GPS and Galileo signed between the two parties in June 2004, a joint compatibility and interoperability working group overcame technical challenges to design interoperable optimized civil signals that will also protect common security interests.

The resulting GPS L1C signal and Galileo L1F signal have been optimized to use a multiplexed binary offset carrier (MBOC) waveform. Future receivers using the MBOC signal should be able to track the GPS and/or Galileo signals with higher accuracy in challenging environments that include multipath, noise, and interference.

The agreement to jointly use MBOC on these interoperable civil signals demonstrates the close U.S. and EU cooperation since 2004 to ensure GPS and Galileo are compatible and interoperable at the user level. Future civilian users will enjoy the benefits of multiple GNSS constellations providing greater signal availability and coverage around the world. Incorporating MBOC into both GPS and Galileo will enhance commercial opportunities for the development of new GNSS products and services. Manufacturers and product designers will have the benefit of adequate lead time to ensure products developed will meet the needs of users around the world.

EC Director General Matthias Ruete said, “Today’s announcement underscores Europe’s commitment to interoperability between Galileo and GPS and to managing the Galileo program in an innovative partnership with the United States. The international GNSS community, including the U.S., will have full and transparent access to information on how to access Galileo and GPS services. This should facilitate the rapid acceptance of Galileo in global markets side by side with GPS.”

U.S. State Department Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Reno Harnish said, “We are pleased by the adoption of this key improvement to the common civil signal design. The U.S.-EU collaboration that produced this innovation and led to its joint adoption reflects the strong working relationships that we have developed on GPS and Galileo. This technical milestone represents the next step in our ongoing commitment to open standards and market-driven innovation that will benefit all users world wide. We look forward to continuing cooperation in our work with the European Union.”

Find out more information about Galileo by pressing here

European Commission welcomes abolition of the death penalty in Rwanda

European Comission, Brussels - July, 26 2007

European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Louis Michel, and Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, today welcomed the formal abolition of the death penalty in Rwanda.

Commissioner Michel congratulated the Rwandan government and the Rwandan people on this important decision: "It is with great satisfaction that I have learnt that Rwanda has formally adopted the law abolishing the death penalty. This important decision confirms the political and democratic commitment of the country towards national reconciliation. This significant step sends an important signal to the international community, showing Rwanda's commitment and respect for human rights. I hope that this decision will encourage other countries in Africa to follow".

Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner said: "I warmly welcome Rwanda’s decision to join the ever-increasing number of abolitionist countries in the world. Rwanda’s remarkable decision makes a significant contribution towards the abolition of the death penalty on the African continent and in the world at large. When a country like Rwanda, with the terrible violence it has known in its recent past, has chosen to break the cycle of violence that the death penalty represents, it should be a compelling example to other countries around the world."

The European Union campaigns across the world for abolition of the death penalty. This stance is rooted in the belief in the inherent dignity of all human beings and the inviolability of the human person, regardless of the crime committed. The European Commission is an active advocate for abolition through all instruments at its disposal. Initiatives at the political level include formal demarches and declarations. In addition, the EU also provides support on a more practical level through projects funded under the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights.

Rwanda, a country marked by the legacy of genocide, has made impressive progress since 1994. National and local elections were held in 2003 and 2006 respectively. Basic human rights and fundamental freedoms are formally protected by the 2003 constitution, which also provides for institutions to monitor and protect these rights. Unity and reconciliation activities have increased with the nationwide roll-out of the Gacaca process in 2006 and the acceleration of the work of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Both are scheduled for completion in 2008. Rwanda's improving governance environment is reflected in its recent African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) report, endorsed by African Heads of State in 2006.

EC co-operation with Rwanda has evolved significantly over the past 15 years in order to adapt to the country’s circumstances. In the pre-genocide period, the focus was on projects in the areas of rural development and transport. In the aftermath of the genocide and civil war, EC Cooperation took the form of humanitarian aid, emergency aid and physical rehabilitation, along with some support to the judicial system. The emphasis was on mobilising resources for discrete projects rather than building a coherent and structured programme.

Since 2000, Rwanda has been a partner in the European Development Fund (EDF). This has served as a transition between post-conflict relief/reconstruction and long term development aid focused on poverty reduction. Over the last 5 years, a total of over €215 million has been provided through the EDF, in close alignment with the Rwandan Government’s Poverty Reduction Strategy. In coordination with other donors, EC co-operation has focused on macroeconomic support linked with social sectors (health, education), rural development (including infrastructure) as well as some support to governance initiatives and regional integration. The EC will continue its co-operation with Rwanda under the 10th EDF for the period 2008-2013.

Human Rights Policy on the European Comission for more press here

UK expulsion of Russian diplomats political: Russia

Britain is more interested in playing politics than solving the poisoning murder of ex-Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko, senior Russian prosecutors said on Monday.

The prosecutors hit back at British claims that Moscow was blocking efforts to solve the crime, saying the British investigation was flawed and had been too hasty in naming a Russian man as the chief suspect.

"I do not think our friends should criticize our justice system. I think their efforts would be better spent improving their own system," Alexander Zvyagintsev, Russia's deputy Prosecutor-General, told a news conference.

"Sometimes it seems to us that Britain is not so much interested in the supremacy of the law as it is in the ambitions of certain officials."

The murder of Litvinenko, who died from radioactive poisoning in a London hospital last November, has brought relations between Britain and Moscow to their lowest point since the end of the Cold War.

British prosecutors want to try Russian Andrei Lugovoy for the murder, but Moscow has refused to hand him over, citing a constitutional ban on the extradition of Russian citizens.

London earlier this month expelled four Russian diplomats in protest at Moscow's refusal to extradite Lugovoy. In a tit-for-tat response, Moscow threw out four British diplomats.

Britain's decision to expel the diplomats was "plainly groundless, inappropriate, unjustified and lies exclusively in a political framework," said Zvyagintsev. "We refused extradition on the basis of the law."

He said it was also "discourteous" of the British government to expect Russia would amend its constitution to clear the way for Lugovoy's extradition.

PEOPLE "PUT AT RISK"

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown denied his country was politicizing the Litvinenko case.

"We cannot tolerate a situation where all the evidence is that not only was one person assassinated but many other people were put at risk," he told a news conference in London.

"We want the Russian authorities even at this stage to recognize that it is their responsibility to extradite for trial the Russian citizen who has been identified by prosecuting authorities," Brown added.

The case is politically charged because Litvinenko's associates -- who include vocal critics of the Kremlin now living in London -- accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering his murder. The Kremlin denies involvement.

Another senior prosecutor said British detectives investigating the Litvinenko murder seemed to have decided from the outset that Lugovoy was guilty.

Britain was displaying "a one-sided approach to the investigation and a desire not to see the contradictions," said Andrei Mayorov, deputy head of the Prosecutor-General's serious crimes department.

Russia was open to requests from Britain to try any suspect in Russia, but only if sufficient proof of guilt was provided, said Zvyagintsev.

"Unfortunately, without documentary material and expert testimony we do not have enough the information to open a prosecution here in Russia," he said.

REUTERS

Turkish Markets Rise After Erdogan Is Re-Elected

Turkey's benchmark stock index surged to a record and the lira hit a six-year high after voters re- elected Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, strengthening his mandate to pursue European Union talks and budget discipline.

The ISE National 100 Index rose as much as 5.6 percent, the lira increased 1.8 percent against the dollar and benchmark bond yields dropped 29 basis points to a 13-month low.

Turkish assets have been among the world's best performers this year on expectations that a victory for Erdogan would extend a record 21 consecutive quarters of economic growth that have helped double average income to $5,500, creating a boom in demand for loans and consumer goods. Erdogan won entry talks from the EU in 2005, which has helped fuel investor optimism.

``This is the most market-friendly outcome,'' said Peter Bodis, who manages $1.1 billion in emerging Europe equities at Pioneer Investments in Vienna. ``People voted about the economic direction. The Turkish population wants changes, and this government's reforms were very positively received.''

Erdogan's Justice and Development Party took 47 percent of the vote, up from 34 percent in 2002, according to the state-owned Anatolia News Agency. That's likely to give the party 340 lawmakers in the 550-seat parliament in Ankara, CNN Turk television said.

Fivefold Increase

The ISE index has surged fivefold since 2002, when Justice was first elected. The ISE National 100 Index today rose 5.1 percent, closing at 55,625.4. The lira traded at 1.250 to the dollar. Yields on lira-denominated bonds closed at 17.17 percent, according to ABN Amro benchmark prices. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.

Leading today's stock market rally were lenders Akbank TAS and Turkiye Garanti Bankasi AS. Akbank rose 6.5 percent to 9.80 liras while Garanti climbed 7.9 percent to 9.55 liras.

``The election outcome portends a renewed effort to modernize the Turkish economy,'' Moody's analyst Kristen Lindow said in an e-mailed report today. ``Proceeding with stalled economic reforms could ultimately provide favorable ratings momentum.''

Turkish foreign debt is rated Ba3 by Moody's Investors Service and BB- by Standard & Poor's, three levels below investment grade.

Bond yields had fallen 3.7 percentage points since the start of the year and the lira had gained 11 percent against the dollar.

State Sales

Justice has pledged to overhaul Turkey's social security system, revive a sale of state-run electricity grids that was delayed until after the elections and seek buyers for state-owned lender TC Ziraat Bankasi AS, the country's highways and the national lottery.

Since taking power in 2002, Justice has found buyers for state-run companies such as phone operator Turk Telekomunikasyon AS that previous governments failed to sell. Inflation slowed to 8.6 percent in June from more than 70 percent at the start of 2002. The government cut the budget deficit to 0.7 percent of economic output last year from 14.7 percent in 2002 as part of a $10 billion International Monetary Fund accord designed to fight inflation.

Erdogan called the balloting after the secularist military and courts blocked the election of Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul as the party's candidate for president. Gul, like Erdogan, was a member of the Welfare Party, which was forced from power in 1997 and later banned for Islamic activities.

Presidential Compromise

Erdogan's second-term majority won't be enough for him to pick the next president, who is elected by parliament, without support from other parties, opening the way for a compromise that might defuse the dispute between the government and army.

The secularist Republican People's Party won 21 percent of the vote and is likely to take 112 seats in the assembly. The Nationalist Action Party drew 14 percent, which may translate into 71 seats. The remaining 27 lawmakers will be independents, most of them from the mainly Kurdish southeast of the country.

Justice ``may lose some of the trust they've been accumulating'' if the party fails to win broader support for its presidential nominee, said Jean-Dominique Butikofer, who helps manage about $725 million in emerging-market debt at Union Bancaire Privee in Zurich.

The process for electing the next president is likely to begin in mid-August and last for about a month.

Justice will seek ``consensus'' over the presidency, and will try to persuade opposition parties to support its candidate, which may still be Gul, Justice lawmaker and Erdogan adviser Egemen Bagis said in a telephone interview.

Army Influence

Under Justice, Turkey has taken steps to curb the influence of the army in politics and reduce human rights abuses, measures which were demanded by the EU.

Erdogan's victory may help the central bank cut its benchmark interest rate, which has held at 17.5 percent for a year.

Bank Governor Durmus Yilmaz said on June 28 he wouldn't cut interest rates until the slowdown in inflation is sustained and ``uncertainties'' surrounding the elections are resolved.

`There's an expectation in the market that interest rates are high and after there's stability they'll go down,' said Berrin Onder, chief executive of Istanbul-based brokerage Ak Yatirim, in a phone interview.

Lower rates may revive a boom in consumer borrowing that's slowed in the past year and boost profits at lenders such as Akbank and Garanti.

Turkey attracted $11 billion in foreign direct investment in the first five months, on course to surpass the record $19.8 billion that came in last year as companies such as Citigroup Inc. and Vodafone Group Plc bought into the $400 billion economy.

The country's gross domestic product expanded at annual 6.8 percent in the first quarter, driven by record exports to the EU and increased government spending on roads and water supplies. The economy has grown at an annual average pace of about 7 percent since 2002.

Bloomberg News

EU to observe Presidential and Parliamentary Elections in Sierra Leone

The European Commission is deploying an EU Election Observation Mission (EOM) for the Presidential and Parliamentary elections in Sierra Leone scheduled to take place on 11 August 2007. The EOM is a European Commission contribution to supporting peace and democracy in Sierra Leone.

Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, said: “The second post-conflict elections are crucial for sustaining peace and furthering democracy in Sierra Leone. In line with the UN Peace Building Commission, for which Sierra Leone is a priority country in its efforts to build sustainable peace in Africa, I believe that the country deserves every support contributing to genuine elections. I have therefore decided to deploy an EU EOM led by the Member of the European Parliament Marie Anne Isler Béguin.”

The EOM Core Team of seven people and 28 Long Term Observers (LTOs) will be deployed during July to assess the campaign period and pre-election preparations around the country and, in addition, 42 Short Term Observers (STOs) will be deployed over the election-day period to observe voting, counting and the tabulation of results. It is planned that the EU EOM will remain in country in case of a second round of the Presidential election. The EU EOM will continue its operations for a number of weeks after the election-day in order to assess the post-election period.

The European Commission is one of Sierra Leone’s most important development cooperation partners and is providing funds to assist the country in implementing its development and socio-economic reform agenda. The European Commission supports the organisation of Sierra Leone’s elections with €7.5 million. For additional information, see also:

For more information on this project, please visit EU Commission website http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/europeaid/projects/eidhr/index_en.htm

Geneva's School of Diplomacy, president Murphy: "Somalia and Bosnia: Applying and Misapplying Lessons of the Past"

The President of the Geneva School of Diplomacy, Mr. Colum de Sales Murphy, gave a talk at the School for International Training (SIT)entitled "Somalia and Bosnia: Applying and Misapplying Lessons of the Past".

Mr. Murphy talked of his own experience as former High Official of the United Nations Organization in the field of peace negotiation in Somalia and Bosnia Herzegovina. Amongst the many remarks he made, he talked of the invention of the "Mogadishu Line" concept in Somalia and how it was misused later on in Bosnia. Using the quotation from George Santayana, the Spanish-American poet and philosopher who said that "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it", Mr. Murphy reiterated the need for the international community to not remake the same mistakes of the past.

If you want a short summary of Mr. Murphy's experience in Bosnia, please check the review by Stanley Hoffmann, on Foreign Affairs

Article Released by the GENEVA SCHOOL of DIPLOMACY

Spanish law firm GARRIGUES-AFFINITAS prices for good corporate governance in Latin America

Net Serviços de Comunicação of Brazil and Desarrolladora Homex of Mexico are the winners of the first edition of the “Garrigues-Affinitas Prizes for Good Corporate Governance in Latin America.” The prizes were delivered this afternoon at the Intercontinental Hotel in Madrid during the 8th Latibex Forum, which has brought together more than 70 Latin American companies.

Net Serviços de Comunicação was the winner in the category “Latibex Company with the best corporate governance practices” and Desarrolladora Homex won in the category “Registered Latin American company (non-Latibex) with the best corporate governance practices”

Antonio Zoido, Chairman of the Madrid Stock Exchange, and Trinidad Jiménez, Secretary of State for Ibero-America, delivered the prizes. Trinidad Jiménez congratulated both prize-winners, “which succeeded in applying good rules of corporate governance, sometimes going beyond their own standards and those of their countries, which has even more merit.”

The purpose of the Garrigues-Affinitas Prizes for Good Corporate Governance in Latin America is to recognize the efforts made by Latin American companies in implementing good corporate governance and transparency policies.

The prizes will be awarded annually, and the winners will be announced during the Latibex Forum, an event organized by Latibex for Latin-American companies which trade in Euros on the Madrid Stock Exchange.

The jury for the first edition of the prizes was chaired by Antonio Garrigues, president of Garrigues law firm and Affinitas. In selecting the prize-winners, the jury considered shareholders’ rights, fair treatment, the role of interest groups, communication and the transparency and responsibility of the candidates’ boards of directors, among other factors.

Net Serviços de Comunicação is the largest cable television operator in Latin America. Founded in 1991, the company currently operates in 44 cities in Brazil, providing services to more than six million subscribers.

Net Serviços de Comunicação stands out for its high degree of social responsibility, which has led the company to promote many educational, cultural and environmental projects. “With this prize everyone in our company is a winner. We are proud to receive it because transparency and good corporate governance was the first decision we took in our company. We firmly believe that it is one of the necessities of our business,” affirmed Edgar Prado Lopes, Director of Treasury Services for Net Serviços de Comunicação.

Desarrolladora Homex, S.A. was founded in Mexico in 1989 and has focused on the design, construction and sale of affordable entry-level and middle-income housing. One of Mexico’s largest construction companies, in 2004 Desarrolladora received the “Socially-Responsible Business” award given by the Mexican Center for Philanthropy and Alliance for Corporate Social Responsibility in Mexico. “The prize was awarded to Homex, but I know that the investors are happiest of all, because it means that we are doing the right thing ethically,” said Eustaquio de Nicolás, chairman of Homex’s board of directors.

Along with the prize winners, the finalists for the Garrigues-Affinitas Prize were YPF Repsol and Molinos Río de la Plata (Argentina); Suzano Petroquímica (Brazil); Endesa Chile and CMPC (Chile); Bancolombia and Interconexión Eléctrica S.A. (Colombia); Bimbo (Mexico); Pro-Futuro AFP and Ferreyros S.A. (Peru). At the award ceremony, Antonio Garrigues encouraged all Latin American companies to follow the finalists’ example and make advances in the introduction of ethical practices: “No one can question that ethics are profitable. There is no future without good corporate governance.”

Affinitas was created on February 4, 2001 by four law firms: Garrigues, which promoted the alliance; Barbosa, Müssnich & Aragão Advogados (Brazil), Bruchou, Fernández Madero, Lombardi & Mitrani Abogados (Argentina) and Mijares, Angoitia, Cortés y Fuentes S.C. (Mexico). The law firms Garrigues Portugal, Barros & Errázuriz (Chile), Gómez-Pinzón Abogados (Colombia) and Miranda e Amado Abogados (Peru) have since joined the alliance. Currently, Affinitas unites 2500 professionals working in 40 offices throughout 12 countries.

Monaco elected to the UN Commission on Sustainable Development

During the meeting of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) that took place on 27 July 2006, the Principality of Monaco was elected, for the first time, to the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development.

The Commission is composed of 53 Member States seating for a three year term. Every year, a third of the membership is renewed by the ECOSOC.

The function of the Commission is to monitor the application of Agenda 21 which was adopted in 1992 at the Rio Summit. During its next session, which will take place in New York from 30 April to 11 May 2007, the Commission will discuss the issues of air pollution, climate change and energy consumption with sustainable development.

The Mandate of the Principality of Monaco will begin at the end of that session.

- View the internet website on the Commission on Sustainable Development

London 2012 Olympics survey

"Almost two thirds of Londoners think the capital's tax payers will end up footing the bill for the 2012 Olympics going over budget"
(According to BBC London poll)


Mayor Ken Livingstone said the Olympics would cost Londoners 38-pence a week - the same as the price of a walnut whip.

To review questions and answers go to BBC London 2012 Olympic Survey by clicking here