World Media Watch for October 18, 2004.....

[Gloria]

Full WMW up at Buzzflash.com and
http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical/current.htm

WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR OCTOBER 18, 2004

1//The Guardian, UK--HOON TO FACE MPs AS MILITARY UNEASE GROWS (The defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, will confirm today that the British military is considering sending as many as 600 soldiers to previously US-patrolled hotspots south of Baghdad, as it considers a wider role for troops ahead of the planned elections in January. British defence sources made clear yesterday that there was widespread unease among military commanders about the deployment, in particular the suggestion that troops were being used in a "political gesture" to support the agenda of the Bush administration in the run-up to the presidential election next month. "There is unease about us being drawn in to the whole American election thing," one source said.)



2//The Daily Times, Pakistan--ITALY MAY BEGIN WITHDRAWING IRAQ TROOPS NEXT YEAR, SAYS MINISTER (Italy could begin withdrawing its troops from Iraq next year, Defence Minister Antonio Martino was quoted as saying by newspapers on Sunday. “An immediate withdrawal will be inexplicable. But a first step could be a reduction in our contingent during 2005,” the Corriere de la Sera quotes Martino as saying on Saturday on the sidelines of an Italian television programme. The defence minister is the first senior Italian official to suggest a rough time-scale on disengaging Rome’s 3,000-strong contingent. He said any withdrawal or reduction in the Italian contingent was conditional on democracy returning to Iraq in the form of “ fully legitimate government” following January elections.)

3//eTaiwanNews.com, Taiwan--KOREA WANTS TO EXTEND IRAQ TROOP DEPLOYMENT (The Seoul government is to seek approval from the country's parliament to extend the deployment of South Korean troops in Iraq by a year, news reports said yesterday. The defense ministry decided last week to extend the mission which was originally due to expire at the end of the year, Yonhap news agency said. The cabinet will soon ask parliament to allow up to 3,600 South Korean troops to stay in Arbil, a Kurdish-controlled town in northern Iraq, until the end of 2005, Yonhap said. When asked about the report, Shin Geoung-Ja, a defense ministry public relations official, said: "We can neither confirm nor deny it.")



4//The Moscow Times, Russia--GAZPROM BUYS INTO IRAN NUKE CONTROVERSY (The head of Russia's nuclear watchdog said on Friday that a unit of gas monopoly Gazprom has extended its reach into the atomic sector by buying a majority stake in Russia's key nuclear company. The Kremlin wants to tighten control over the strategic energy sector via Gazprom despite criticism by Russia's liberals that the move contradicted market-economy principles… The move also means Gazprom would have a say in Atomstroieksport's key project -- construction of the controversial $1 billion Bushehr nuclear plant in Iran. The United States accuses Iran of seeking weapons of mass destruction and says Tehran can use Russian know-how to make nuclear arms.)



5//Inter Press News Service Agency, Italy--GLOBAL AGREEMENTS THREATEN MEDIA, PRIVACY (The growing use of international treaties to bypass the will of national parliaments, by bodies waging the so-called "war on terrorism," increasingly threatens civil liberties and freedom of the media, warn privacy advocates. When U.S. officials -- reportedly the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), though the agency denied it Tuesday -- last week sought to gain access to computer servers hosting websites of Independent Media Centres (or Indymedia), a worldwide, alternative citizen-based news network, it was in response to a request by the Swiss police under the Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement…All the signatories to the cybercrime treaty -- which include Canada, the United States (which has not ratified the agreement) and European Union (EU) countries -- are obliged to have their legislatures pass lawful access laws that give police increased power to seize records of email messages by people under criminal investigation, as well as force Internet service providers (ISPs) to store transmission data for a period of time.)