Extracts. Chinese Red Cross Offers Aid to Quake-Striken India Chinese Red Cross sent a message of condolence to its India <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/india.html> n counterpart and offered US$50,000 of urgent aid to the people of the quake-striken areas in India. In the message, Chinese Red Cross expressed its sympathy to people of the devastated areas and hopes that they could restall their normal life soon. The earthquake, measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale and the worst in 50 years, hit the western Indian state of Gujarat at 8:46 am (0316 GMT) on Friday, killing at least 7,000 people and the death toll is still rising with rescue efforts going on. According to official sources, the Chinese government is arranging further steps to solicit urgent help to the Indian people. **** Barak Freezes Contacts With Arafat Until After Election Israeli caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Barak has decided to halt peacemaking contacts with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and his officials until after Israeli prime ministerial election on February 6, his office said Sunday. "Prime Minister Ehud Barak has decided not to continue diplomatic contacts with Arafat and his people until after the election in Israel," Barak's office said in a statement. "Security contacts for calming the situation on the ground, stopping the violence and thwarting terrorism will continue. The Israeli government continues to stand by the peace process on the basis of insistence on Israel's vital interest," it said. Senior Palestinian officials had said Barak and Arafat would hold a summit in Stockholm on Tuesday. However, the statement said Barak has informed Sweden's leaders and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan of his decision. Barak told his cabinet early Sunday that it was unclear whether a possible meeting between him and Arafat would take place despite efforts by Annan and European leaders to arrange it. The meeting was designed to deliver a more detailed declaration of the progress the Israelis and the Palestinians have achieved so far as a follow-up to their joint statement at the close of the peace talks Saturday night at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Taba. Israeli senior negotiators including Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, Justice Minister Yossi Beilin and the Prime Minister's Bureau chief Gilad Sher had advised Barak to meet with Arafat. Barak was concerned, however, that a declaration at the meeting with Arafat would list all the concessions he would make in order to attain a peace deal with the Palestinians, which might produce an adverse effect on his chances of winning the upcoming election. Barak, who is seeking a re-election, is trailing behind opposition Likud prime ministerial candidate Ariel Sharon by a significant margin of 14 to 19 percentage points only nine days prior to the election. **** Beijing to Establish More Nature Reserve Parks Beijing plans to establish another 12 nature reserve parks in its outskirts by the year of 2005, said an official with the Beijing Municipal Forestry Administration. The official said that the capital city established five new nature reserve parks in Wild Dark Lake, Wuling Mountain, Yunmeng Mountain and two other suburban areas, which cover 22,000 hectares of land. So far, Beijing has a total of 18 nature reserve parks whose area accounts for over five percent of the city's total area. By year of 2005 the number of nature reserve parks of the city will reach 30. Beijing stipulates that tree-logging and tourism are forbidden in the nature reserve parks for protection of the ecological environment. Beijing began to set up its first group of two nature reserve parks in 1985 and the city's largest nature reserve park is the 18, 000-hectare Lamagou Nature Reserve Park which is a home to wild leopards and other 56 kinds of wild animals. _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
