European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 17, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 14 stars and stripes saturday March 17206 Japan sceptical about us move on n Korea Tokyo Japan reacted cautiously to a us move that could ease financial restraints on communist North Korea saying thursday it was unlikely to Trig Ger major breakthroughs in the International dispute Over Gyongy Angs nuclear weapons program i do not think this will Lead to any sudden change in direction chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shioza said the us Treasury department on wednesday wrapped up an investigation of a Macau Bank that the United states accused of help ing North Korea launder Money from counterfeiting and other Ille Gal activities the us action could open the door for overseas regulators to re lease some of the million in korean assets held by Banco Delta Asia the United states had promised to resolve the Case this month As part of International efforts to Roll Back the communist regimes nuclear weapons pro Gram Russia Greece Bulgaria sign Oil pipeline pact Athens Greece Russia Greece and Bulgaria signed a Deal thursday to build a 175mile pipeline to transport russian Oil to a port in Northern Greece the pipeline from Bulgaria Black sea port of Burgas will transport crude to the port of Al sex Andropolis the project will improve networks in Southeast Ern Europe that transport Oil and Gas from the Caspian sea Region to the european Union Zimbabwe West fueling opposition to regime Harare bwe accused Western govern ments of supporting an opposition it insists is fomenting violence and awaited the arrival thursday of an african mediator after the nations political and economic crises saw an upsurge in violence main opposition Leader Morgan Tsy Angira and scores of other activists were injured As police cracked Down on a weekend opposition meeting one activist was shot dead sunday thursday to Vangi Rai 54 was awaiting the re sults of a brain scan after doctors reported they suspected a Skull fracture brain injury and inter Nal bleeding Wii French resistance hero Aubac Dies at 94 Paris Lucie Aubac a hero of the French resistance who helped free her husband from the Gestapo and whose dramatic life Story became a hit film has died she was 94 Aubac whose Maiden name was Lucie Bernard died wednes Day in a Hospital in the Paris sub Urb of Essyle Moulineaux said her daughter Catherine Vallade born on june 29 1912 in the Centra Eastern City of Macon Aubac was working As a history and geography teacher when she and her husband jewish Engi Neer Raymond Samuel helped create liberation Sud one of the first networks for the resistance fighting against the nazi occupation of France she received the legion of Honor Frances highest award for her work in the resistance from the associated press suicide fire up in Afghanistan report finds More women choose death Over Bleak life by Alisa Tang the associated press Kabul woman committed suicide by setting herself ablaze after her father inlaw tried to rape her an other set herself on fire because her Broth ers would not let her marry preferring that she remain their servant at Home yet another told her Mother before she died that her husband beat her daily testimony gathered by the afghan inde pendent human rights commission Docu ments How Hie for Many afghan women re Mains so Bleak that some choose a horrific and painful death instead the group interviewed about 800 afghans whose Sisters daughters and Daugh ters inlaw have killed themselves by self immolation to escape Domestic abuse forced marriage and other social customs the report and anecdotal evidence from other rights workers suggests the phenomenon is growing with desperate women some times mimicking what they have seen reported on to its really a big problem in Afghanistan said Nabila Wafiq a researcher for the Aid group Medica Mondale which has inter viewed women who survived their self Immo lation attempts when we asked most people Why they committed self immolation they said that when they take pills they dont die but when they commit self immolation they believe they will die 100 percent reports from Herat in Western Afghani Stan show about 90 women set fire to them selves last year there and More than 70 per cent died Afghanistan poor health system can do Little for the badly burned the commission report released last week covers bad his Herat Farah Nimrod and Kandahar provinces that Media and other re ports suggest Are the worst affected however women rights advocates suspect that self immolation is a nationwide problem the study indicates a marked increase in reported cases in two of the provinces two years ago in Farah province there were 15 cases of self immolation reported that Fig ure had jumped to 36 in the first six months of last year the commission found Kandahar province had 74 cases two years ago and 77 cases in the first six months of this past year the statistics were recorded according to Afghanistan Calendar year 1385 which ends March 20 of the other three provinces Herat and bad his showed a slight upward trend and Nimrod a slight decline Hussein Hasrat a researcher who worked on the commissions report said the data suggested a jump in the number of women com mitting suicide by fire however he acknowledged it was possible that the recorded in crease was a result of better data Pavel in a file photo professor Muhammad Yunus founder of Graveen Bank a Micro credit institution explains to villagers the benefits of the system at Alampur Village in Dhaka Bangladesh in 2004 Yunus and the Graveen Bank were awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2006 Nobel Winner wants to Lead Bangladesh by Nora Boustany the Washington Post Muhammad Yunus the Nobel peace prize recipient who turned Small scale lending to Village women into a powerful Force against poverty in his native Bangladesh and other Low income countries was Busy breaking other barriers wednesday he became the first Man to be formally honoured by vital voices global partnership a women empowerment group in Washington he also Reaf firmed that he was launching his own political party citizens Power and plans to run for president in up coming elections at Home in that struggle a Man world famous for helping powerless women will be up against political parties run by two very powerful women known As the battling Begum sheikh Hasina of the Swami league and Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh nationalist party both were born into prominent political families and control effective vote gathering machines so far Yunus has failed to generate a significant political following in Bangladesh which is in the grip of army emergency Powers mass arrests and a political crisis Many of his supporters say that a Man known for honesty and pure motives should not dirty himself in politics the Bangladesh news Media have also been highly critical in an interview wednesday Yunus said that in Bangladesh women empowerment has pro Gressed dramatically despite strikes bombings and assassinations that have often hindered economic life ninety seven percent of his Graveen Banks 7 million borrowers Are women he pointed out that 70 percent of the Banks borrowers Are also depositors most children of borrowers Are in school though their parents Are generally illiterate he said the Bangladesh Mih tary declared emergency Powers on Jan 11 after rioting and political stale mate elections that under constitutional require ments were to take place that month were postponed the delay was in part due to International concerns Over alleged padding of voter registration lists by the ruling Bop Yunus said he would resign from Graveen Bank once the official Campaign period begins but would continue to prioritize women As a National resource this is not just politics for getting elected but be cause they Are a real strength he said Yunus said he was saddened by Media criticism of his planned candidacy people will say anything to deface you he said but he declined to respond to specific allegations this is the time to create some thing a new Core of talented Young people rather than have All this meaningless infighting turkish jails redesigned in Effort to appease eur by Christopher Torchia the associated press Usak Turkey turkeys Model prison resembles a muted austere summer Camp where militants killers and miscreants weave carpets in workshops study computers play Withers and volleyball and jog on gym tread Mills they can even attend anger management class its a far cry from the horror depicted in the Oscar winning movie Midnight express nearly 30 years ago a tale set in a turkish jail that lingers in popular culture worldwide despite turkeys re cent efforts to modernize prisons in line with european standards Turkey Hopes the tidy jail in the Western City of Usak one of two prisons selected As pioneers of a european backed Reform pro Gram will help reverse that image an associated press team toured the recently inaugurated prison part of turkeys bid to transform itself in order to join the european Union the prisoners tidy in jeans and sweaters walk Down Neon it win Dowless corridors painted in Bright colors drawings by convicts of Lush landscapes and tourist posters of yachts Golf courses and Istanbul landmark Blue mosque add to the manufactured cheerfulness they visit a Library that offers translated books by Tolstoy and Stephen King Shane bryans a former prison governor in Britain who advised Turkey on reforms said changes have not been Only cosmetic theres been significant Progress across the prisons in Turkey bryans said a lot of the bad image has gone however there Are still older prisons where conditions Are very Basic but bryans said Turkey needed to Roll out More handbooks on rules and rights to prison staff and inmates and renovate More old prisons housing dozens of convicts in packed wards