I. INDIANEXPRESS - Pre-marriage Thalassaemia (Cooley's Anemia) test necessary, say experts
“The nine thalassaemia endemic states of country, including Himachal, need to ensure pre-marriage thalassaemia test for eradication of the disease.” Endorsing the idea, clinical haematologist from Christian Medical College, Ludhiana, Dr Joseph John said the national as well as the states’ health policies needed to focus on creating awareness about this disease that could be prevented and detected at pre-natal stage. According to experts, if both parents are thalassaemic, the chances of their child carrying thalassaemia are very high. It is thus advised that people getting married should take a blood test and ensure that both partners are not carrying the thalassaemia trait. In case they do, right treatment can prevent the child from carrying the virus. “We need to learn from Cyprus, which had high prevalence of thalassaemia earlier. With the government enacting a law for pre-marriage tests for thalassaemia and the Church taking an active role, the country is now thalassaemia free. Sardinia, too, has improved its status due to active awareness campaigns. The country is not reporting any new births with thalassaemia,” said Dr Naveen Kakkar, another haematologist from CMC. Read more by visiting AHEPA's website.
II. FINANCIALMIRROR - Cyprus leaders to meet U.N. chief on Nov 18
The Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders will meet U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York on November 18 to take stock of U.N.-mediated talks aimed at reuniting the Mediterranean island that has been divided for 36 years, the United Nations announced on Saturday. The announcement said the meeting would take place "in the framework of the ongoing negotiation process." It gave no further details, but Ban is compiling a report on the status of the peace talks, which is due out in November. Progress has been slow, and the two leaders are still discussing how to reconcile property disputes, one of several topics that need to be resolved. The U.N. mediator in the talks, former Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, expressed hope last month that a deal on the divided island could be brokered by the end of the year. Downer told Reuters in an interview he was convinced leaders of the two rival communities wanted a deal, but that compromise was required from both sides. "It would be good to get the bulk of the work done by the end of the year," he said. "Just in terms of the negotiations they can do it, whether they will I don't know. But they can do it." Downer oversees meetings between Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu and Greek Cypriot leader Demetris Christofias. The United Nations has never laid out a specific timetable for the conclusion of the talks. Discussions on relinking Cyprus as a federation involve questions of power-sharing, the re-mapping of boundaries and how many of Cyprus's thousands of internally displaced can return to their homes.
III. B92 - UN chief welcomes dialogue on Kosovo
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed the announcement that the dialogue between Belgrade and Priština will begin soon. He pointed out that the process will open a new phase in relations between the two parties and help consolidate peace and stability in the region, Serbian state broadcaster RTS said today. In his regular quarterly report that was distributed to ambassadors of the UN Security Council member states last weekend, Ban Ki-moon offered the world organization's support in the negotiation process that will be carried out under EU supervision. He, however, noted that the parties involved will have serious challenges to face due to growing tension in the Kosovo north. He called on the parties to launch the dialogue as soon as possible and thus use the advantage of the positive moment that has been created over the last few months, the report reads. Ban Ki-moon also called on the UN SC members to offer their support so as to avoid any unilateral actions which might stir up more passion. Ban warned that "Kosovo officials and media" are campaigning against the presence of UNMIK in the north of Kosovo, which puts UN staff in jeopardy. As in all of his previous reports to the Security Council, the UN secretary-general warned about the very small number of Kosovo returnees, as according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, only 706 persons, of whom one third were Serbs, returned to their homes in Kosovo in the last three months.
IV. KATHIMERINI - FYROM adamant on identity issue
Greece will have to recognize the existence of a Macedonian language and identity to settle its name dispute with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), one of the neighboring country’s top officials has told Sunday’s Kathimerini. Speaking after Prime Minister George Papandreou and his FYROM counterpart Nikola Gruevski met on Friday for inconclusive talks in Brussels, FYROM Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Vasko Naumovski said that Greece had to accept “reality.” “The reality that the existence of a Macedonian identity, nation, language and state cannot change.” Nevertheless, the FYROM official was hopeful that a solution could be found soon. “We believe that if there is honest will on both sides, we can get closer to a final solution very quickly,” said Naumovski in reference to a NATO summit at the end of November when the issue will be raised again.
The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines on Monday urged the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to compel ships using the "Pirate Alley" off Somalia to build in fortified rooms where crew members can hide in the event of an attack. TUCP secretary-general Ernesto Herrera said the installation of "panic rooms" should be among the additional defensive measures taken by merchant ships to thwart pirates prowling the Gulf of Aden. He cited the experience of 16 crew men aboard the German freighter MV Beluga Fortune, who were rescued unharmed after Somali pirates seized their ship on October 24. The sailors were rescued unharmed after they sent out a distress call, cut off the ship's fuel supply, shut down all power on the bridge, and dug themselves in a safe room before they could be overwhelmed by the pirates. Unable to take charge of the ship, or hold any crew member hostage, the pirates were eventually forced to abandon the vessel. The marauders were already gone when British and German forces rescued the crew members. Herrera said the panic rooms should have communications equipment, adequate food, water and ventilation provisions to enable crew members to survive until they are rescued. Recently, pirates hijacked yet another vessel, the Panama-flagged tanker MV Polar, off Somalia. The ship's 24 crew members included 16 Filipinos. The Gulf of Aden is part of the vital Suez Canal shipping route between the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Sea in the Indian Ocean. The gulf is known by the moniker "Pirate Alley" on account of the growing piracy in the area. Over 21,000 ships navigate the Gulf of Aden every year. Herrera said many if not all of them are bound to have Filipino sailors on board. Foreign shipping firms, mostly based in the U.S., the United Kingdom, Japan, Norway, Germany, Greece, Cyprus, and Singapore, employ more than 350,000 Filipino sailors. Without counting the MV Polar and its crew, Somali pirates are still holding 19 vessels with 428 hostages.
VI. DEUTSCHEWELLE - German foreign minister calls for NATO-Russia missile defense system
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle kicked off a three-day tour of former Soviet republics in Moscow on Monday, where he called for a joint NATO-Russia missile defense system to be put in place. Westerwelle's remarks came ahead of a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. In October, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to try and find common ground ahead of a NATO summit in Lisbon later this month. Medvedev announced he would attend the summit and said he was open cooperating with NATO on a missile defense system, but Russia was still wary of the idea.
VII. HINDUSTANTIMES - Churches set ablaze in Russia's North Caucasus
Three churches were set ablaze on Monday in Russia's mainly Muslim North Caucasus region where Moscow is trying to tame a spreading Islamist insurgency. Two Russian Orthodox churches and one Baptist Church were set alight in the predominantly Muslim province of Karachayevo-Cherkessia, Russian news agencies said, adding no one was hurt in the attacks. "An unknown group of people set fire to the Russian Orthodox church in the village of Ordzhonikidze, it is practically completely burnt," Interfax reported, citing Kazim Baybanov, a spokesman for the local ministry of interior affairs. Vandalism of churches is rare in Russia's mainly Muslim North Caucasus, where Christian communities live amongst Muslims. A decade after Moscow drove separatists out of power in Chechnya in the second of two wars, the North Caucasus is plagued by near-daily violence. Youths angry about poverty and fuelled by the global ideology of jihad (holy war) are fighting for an independent state separate from predominantly Christian Russia, where they want to establish Sharia, Islamic law. However, Karachayevo-Cherkessia, which has a sizeable Christian minority, has seen almost no violence. The insurgents consider the North Caucasus, including Karachayevo-Cherkessia, to be occupied territory. Archbishop Feofan of the Christian-majority cities of Stavropol and Vladikavkaz, also in the North Caucasus, told state news agency RIA he was going to the site of the arson. Local authorities said they would restore the Orthodox churches as soon as possible.