Iraqi politicians agree deal on sharing oil, says Kurd minister

Written by: Michael Howard in Sulaymaniya.
Thursday June 21, 2007
The Guardian.

Iraq's Kurdish leaders said last night they had struck an important deal with the central government in Baghdad over a law to divide up Iraq's oil revenues, which is seen by the Bush administration as one of the benchmarks in attempts to foster national reconciliation.

Ashti Hawrami, the minister for natural resources in the Kurdistan regional government, told the Guardian the text had been finalised late last night after 48 hours of "tough bargaining" with Baghdad. The deal represented "a genuine revenue sharing agreement" that was transparent and would benefit all the people of Iraq and help pull the country together, he said.

Iraq's oil revenue accounted for 93% of the federal budget last year. Iraq sells about 1.6m barrels a day.

Mr Hawrami said the law provided for the setting up of two "regulated and monitored" accounts into which external and internal revenues would be deposited. The external account would include items such as oil export earnings and foreign donor money, while the internal fund would consist largely of customs and taxes. The federal government in Baghdad would take what it needed, and the rest would be automatically distributed to the Kurdistan regional government, which would get 17%, and to Iraq's governorates "according to their entitlement". Revenues would be distributed monthly, he said.

Mr Hawrami said the system would better enable Iraqis to track how and where the oil funds were being spent. The Kurds, for example, have complained that remittances to their self-rule region have been being held back by up to six months in Baghdad. Iraq's Sunni Arabs had also expressed concerns that they might miss out on their share.

Iraq's finance minister, Bayan Jabr, and the oil minister, Hussein Sharistani, were accompanying the president, Jalal Talabani, on a state a visit to China and could not be contacted for comment.

The new deal came days after a visit to Iraq by the US defence secretary, Robert Gates, during which he rebuked politicians for failing to reach consensus on sharing oil revenues. The US sees the deal as a benchmark of progress toward reconciliation.

A western diplomat in Baghdad said last night: "Fair-sharing of Iraq's oil revenue is important to finding a sustainable political solution in Iraq. But on its own it will not halt the sectarianism."

Full coverage:

• Special report: Iraq.
• The trial of Saddam Hussein.

Britain and Iraq:

• In memoriam: 100 British troops killed in Iraq
• Special report: UK politics and Iraq.

Interactive guides:

• Saddam's trial.
• More click-through graphics on Iraq.

Key documents:

• Full text of speeches and documents.

Audio reports:

• Audio reports on Iraq.

In this section:

• Mental stress of troops in Iraq no bar to longer duty, US says.
• Kidnapped Britons being held by group backed by Iran - US general.
• Iraqi politicians agree deal on sharing oil, says Kurd minister.
• 10,000 US troops attack Sunni insurgents.
• Number fleeing homeland starts to rise.
• US hopes soldiers play it safe with new pack of ancient site cards.
• Patrol discovers horrific abuse of Iraqi orphans.
• US to increase Iraq tours despite trauma warnings.
• Chronicle of US chaos in Iraq wins £30,000 non-fiction prize.
• Iraq was on course until 2003 UN bombing, says Blair.
• US troops kill 22 in offensive against al-Qaida in Iraq.
• Baghdad mosque bombing kills 75.
• Browne admits to mistakes surrounding sailors captured by Iran.
• US forces launch major assault on Diyala.
• Playing cards teach US troops to respect ruins.

Billy Graham: Wife 'had a great reception in heaven'

Source: CNN, June 16, 2007.

MONTREAT, North Carolina (AP) -- Ruth Graham retained her beauty even in death and surely "had a great reception in heaven," an ailing Billy Graham told mourners who gathered Saturday to remember his beloved wife.

"I wish you could look in that casket because she's so beautiful," said Graham, clinging to his walker. "She was a wonderful woman."

Ruth Graham died Thursday at age 87 following a lengthy illness. Her husband's closest confidant, she was remembered as a spiritual stalwart and modest mentor who provided a solid foundation -- both biblically and geographically -- for her globe-trotting husband.

"The mama that we saw at home was the mama that the world saw," said their son, Franklin, who is now the head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. He recalled his mother's headstrong and quirky nature, telling the crowd about the time she overcame a locked bedroom door by crawling on the roof, then throwing a cup of cold water through his window to wake him.

"I thank you mama for your example, for your love, for your wit, for your humor, for your craziness," he said. "I love you for all of it, and I'm going to miss you terribly."

After preaching to more than 210 million people around the world during a six-decade career, Billy Graham, 88, is largely confined to the couple's home in Montreat by several ailments, including prostate cancer and Parkinson's disease. He was not expected to speak Saturday but surprised the crowd with his words, perhaps spurred by the sight of his 19 grandchildren.

"God bless all these grandchildren. Some of them I haven't seen in a long time. Some of them I've never seen," he said, drawing laughter from the audience. "Lots of love to everyone, and thank you."

Graham changed her dream of being missionary.

Born in 1920 to medical missionaries in China, and after spending some of her high school years in what is now North Korea, Ruth Graham vowed to never marry and dreamed of working as a missionary in Tibet.

That changed after she met Billy Graham at Wheaton College in Illinois. They were married in 1943 at Montreat Presbyterian Church, where she attended services for the rest of her life.

As Billy Graham took his crusades and traveling ministry around the country and the world, Ruth Graham usually remained in the small North Carolina mountain town of Montreat, raising their five children while writing poetry, books and counseling college-age youth. (Watch how Ruth Graham lived out her faith )

Her sister, Rosa Montgomery, said Graham charged ahead with her spiritual mindset even as a young girl -- once praying that God soon make her a martyr. Though married to a famous Baptist preacher, Ruth remained a lifelong Presbyterian.

Ruth Graham was bedridden for months with degenerative osteoarthritis of the back and neck, and she fell into a coma Wednesday following a recent bout with pneumonia. A spokesman said she died peacefully with her husband and all five of her children at her bedside.

"Though our hearts are heavy with loss, we dare rejoice, for Ruth is home with you," said the Rev. Richard White, Graham's pastor at Montreat Presbyterian. "Her sorrows are ended."

Her simple coffin, adorned with flowers, was chosen after son Franklin noticed inmates at the Louisiana State Penitentiary building the caskets for themselves and others who could not afford to purchase regular coffins.

N. Korea: Atomic inspectors can return

Source: CNN, June 16, 2007.

(CNN) -- North Korea has invited inspectors from the U.N. nuclear watchdog back into the country to monitor the shut down of its main nuclear reactor, state media reports.

A letter inviting a "working level" delegation to visit and monitor the suspension of the operations of nuclear facilities was sent to the International Atomic Energy Agency, North's Korean Central News Agency reported Saturday.

Earlier Saturday, frozen North Korean funds that were thawed as part of a February agreement to get Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear program were transferred out of a bank in Macau, China, to a Russian bank, where North Korea has an account.

Ri Je Son, North Korea's director general of the General Department of Atomic Energy, sent a letter to the IAEA confirming that transfer of the funds was completed as required before the invitation would be extended, according to KCNA.

Francis Tam Pak-yuen, Macau's secretary of economy and finance, said more than $20 million went from Banco Delta Asia to a North Korean account in a small private Russian bank via the Macau Monetary Authority, the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Russian central bank.

The funding, $25 million, was frozen at the bank in late 2005 at the request of the United States, which claimed some of the funding came from illegal activities. As part of a February deal agreed upon during six-party talks aimed at North Korea's denuclearization, however, the funds were freed.

North Korea had been expected to announce its steps in implementing the six-party agreement upon confirmation of the money transfer. Under the agreement, North Korea will shut down its Yongbyon reactor and allow the IAEA back into the country to monitor the process.

Besides freeing up the funds, countries involved in the six-party talks are to provide emergency energy assistance equivalent to 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil.

The agreement was reached in September after six-party talks involving North Korea, the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia.

At a February 13 meeting, a set of initial actions were agreed upon, including freeing the Macau funding.

In exchange for North Korea's denuclearization, the nations have pledged to provide the reclusive Communist nation with political and economic incentives and security guarantees.

Four North Koreans get their wish

Source: CNN, June 15, 2007.

TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- Four North Koreans who arrived by boat at a Japanese port two weeks ago left Japan on Saturday for South Korea, their desired destination, police said.

Three men and a woman taken into custody in northern Japan on June 2, believed to be a couple and their two adult sons, arrived in a small wooden boat after a sea journey they said had begun on May 27.

The four said they wished to go to South Korea, and Japanese officials had said they would be treated sympathetically. (Full story.)

A police spokesman at Narita airport, just east of Tokyo, said the four had departed on Saturday morning for South Korea.

NHK public television showed the family boarding the plane, their faces concealed by blankets. The plane left shortly before 10 a.m. (0100 GMT).

The four told police they left Chongjin on the east coast of North Korea and headed south, but changed course due to heavy security and ended up at Fukaura in Japan's northern Aomori prefecture, 800 km (500 miles) to the east.

They were quoted in the media as saying that they were lucky to be able to eat bread every other day. But local media reports said they were wearing wristwatches, raising questions about how poor they actually were.

Some North Korea watchers said the watches suggested they might be middle class and their departure hinted at growing frustration among middle class North Koreans since the poor couldn't leave and the elite wouldn't need to.

Japan can grant asylum seekers a six-month permit under its immigration law, and a 2006 "North Korean human rights law" also states the government must take measures to protect and support defectors from North Korea.

North Korean defectors have fled to Japanese missions and other premises in China in the past, and Tokyo has allowed them to leave for third countries, but it is rare for North Koreans to flee to Japan.

Their arrival had raised concerns that relations between Tokyo and Pyongyang -- which have no diplomatic ties -- could worsen if North Korea demanded their return, but no such demands were made.

Japan is feuding with North Korea over the fate of Japanese citizens kidnapped decades ago by Pyongyang's agents to help train spies.

Abe has said that without a resolution to the abduction issue, Japan will not provide funds for a multilateral deal reached in February under which North Korea agreed to scrap its nuclear arms program in return for energy aid.

N. Korea's frozen $20M on the move

Source: CNN, June 15, 2007.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Money at the heart of a dispute that caused North Korea to delay its nuclear disarmament was finally making its way Friday to the communist nation after months of delay.

The transfer of funds previously frozen in a Macau bank could lead North Korea to start shutting down its nuclear weapons program. But the North is certain to want to count every last penny of its $25 million before fulfilling a February pledge to stop making atomic bombs.

"The transfer is in progress," South Korea's chief nuclear envoy, Chun Yung-woo, told reporters Friday. "Let's wait and see how long it takes for North Korea to confirm it."

Chun, arriving from Washington where he met his U.S. counterpart over the nuclear standoff, did not provide further details of the transfer. He said resolving the bank dispute constitutes "removing the first obstacle to implementing" the February disarmament deal.

"The future task of denuclearization is much more difficult than the (banking) issue," he said.

The money had been frozen at Macau's Banco Delta Asia since 2005, when the U.S. blacklisted the bank for allegedly helping the Pyongyang regime pass fake US$100 bills and launder money from weapons sales.

The North made the money's release its main condition for disarmament and boycotted international nuclear talks for more than a year, during which it conducted its first-ever bomb test in October.

But to win the North's promise to start dismantling its nuclear program, the U.S. agreed to give its blessing for the money to be freed and said it would happen within 30 days. The transfer has instead taken more than four months as the North insisted that it be sent electronically to another bank, apparently to prove the money is now clean.

Macau's secretary of economy and finance said Thursday the money has been transferred, but it remained unclear if it was the entire amount or whether it had reached its destination.

"Banco Delta Asia transferred more than $20 million out of the bank this afternoon in accordance with the client's instruction," Francis Tam told reporters on the sidelines of a business gathering.

North Korea could seize on any shortage of funds to hold off on disarmament. Since the latest nuclear standoff began in late 2002, Pyongyang has repeatedly displayed its profound lack of trust of the U.S. and blamed any sign of American hostility as a reason to stall arms talks.

The North did not yet comment on the transfer.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki on Friday pressed Pyongyang to take concrete action regardless of the fund issue.

"We strongly urge North Korea to carry out the measures they have committed to as early as possible regardless of the" bank issue, he said.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso expressed skepticism that the money transfer would immediately resolve the deadlock, Kyodo News agency reported.

"Even though the fund transfer problem is resolved, North Korea could come up with more demands," Aso said. "There is no guarantee we can resume the six-party talks right away."

Negotiators from China, Japan, Russia, the U.S. and the two Koreas last all met for arms talks in March.

China taking on U.S. in cyber arms race

Source: CNN, June 14, 2007.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- China is seeking to unseat the United States as the dominant power in cyberspace, a U.S. Air Force general leading a new push in this area said Wednesday.

"They're the only nation that has been quite that blatant about saying, 'We're looking to do that,"' 8th Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Robert Elder told reporters.

Elder is to head a new three-star cyber command being set up at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, already home to about 25,000 military personnel involved in everything from electronic warfare to network defense.

The command's focus is to control the cyber domain, critical to everything from communications to surveillance to infrastructure security.

"We have peer competitors right now in terms of doing computer network attack ... and I believe we're going to be able to ratchet up our capability," Elder said. "We're going to go way ahead."

The Defense Department said in its annual report on China's military power last month that China regarded computer network operations -- attacks, defense and exploitation -- as critical to achieving "electromagnetic dominance" early in a conflict.

China's People's Liberation Army has established information warfare units to develop viruses to attack enemy computer systems and networks, the Pentagon said.

China also was investing in electronic countermeasures and defenses against electronic attack, including infrared decoys, angle reflectors and false-target generators, it said.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry rejected the U.S. report as "brutal interference" in China's internal affairs and insisted Beijing's military preparations were purely defensive.

Elder described the bulk of current alleged Chinese cyber-operations as industrial espionage aimed at stealing trade secrets to save years of high-tech development.

He attributed the espionage to a mix of criminals, hackers and "nation-state" forces. Virtually all potential U.S. foes also were scanning U.S. networks for trade and defense secrets, he added.

"Everyone but North Korea," he said. "We've concluded that there must be only one laptop in all of North Korea -- and that guy's not allowed to scan overseas networks," Elder said.

In October, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff defined cyberspace as "characterized by the use of electronics and the electromagnetic spectrum to store, modify, and exchange data via networked systems and associated physical infrastructures."

The definition is broad enough to cover far more than merely defending or attacking computer networks. Other concerns include remotely detonated roadside bombs in Iraq, interference with Global Positioning Satellites and satellite communications, Internet financial transactions by adversaries, and radar and navigational jamming.

India escapes U.S. list of worst human traffickers

Source: CNN, June 13, 2007.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- India, which advocacy groups say may have as many as 65 million forced laborers, was spared the worst ranking on the State Department's new list of nations where humans are bought and sold.

Countries not doing enough to combat human trafficking could face sanctions if they don't take steps to improve.

The annual Trafficking in Persons report, released Tuesday, says that as many as 800,000 people -- largely women and children -- are trafficked across borders each year. Many are forced into prostitution, sweatshops, domestic labor, farming and child armies.

U.S. officials told CNN the question of India's ranking caused a heated debate between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte.

Negroponte wanted India listed as a Tier 3 country, or worst offender. Rice overruled him out of concern about alienating the Indian government. India is on the Tier 2 watch list.

Rice agreed to undertake a special evaluation of India in six months, and then take action if India does not make improvements.

Mark Lagon, ambassador at large for the State Department's Trafficking in Persons office, said Tuesday that "many different variables" played into the decision.

"I would be perpetuating a fraud to say that we don't look at multiple factors in our relationship with countries any time we take a step on a particular issue like human trafficking," he said.

Worst offenders could face penalties.

The United States added Kuwait, Malaysia, Qatar and Bahrain to Tier 3 as countries that are destinations for trafficking victims who are exposed to sexual exploitation and forced labor. (Read the report).

Saudi Arabia, a nation considered friendly toward the United States, also is a Tier 3 country.

The State Department also lists Burma, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, Uzbekistan and Venezuela as Tier 3 countries, defined as those "whose governments do not fully comply with the minimum standards" set by American law and "are not making significant efforts to do so."

These countries have 90 days to take additional steps to combat trafficking or face penalties. Penalties could take the form of sanctions, including withholding of non-humanitarian and non-trade-related U.S. assistance and U.S. opposition to assistance through international financial institutions.

President Bush can waive sanctions if he deems it in the United States' interest.

The Bush administration has increased attention to the trafficking problem in recent years as a part of its focus on promoting democracy and human rights as the cornerstone of Bush's foreign policy agenda, specifically in the Middle East.

The United States, however, is not immune to the problem. The State Department estimates 14,500 to 17,500 people are trafficked into the United States each year.

Trafficking victims rescued in the United States are eligible for a special visa and help getting their passports back from their traffickers.

Other countries on the watch list.

The United States put several countries on notice that they risk being put on the Tier 3 list if they fail to take adequate steps to combat human trafficking. China, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Mexico, the Philippines and Russia were among 32 on a Tier 2 watch list, and under U.S. law will receive special scrutiny and be subject to an interim assessment before next year's report.

India was put on the watch list for the fourth year in a row "for its failure to show increasing efforts to tackle India's large and multidimensional problem," according to the report.

The report found while the Indian government was making significant efforts to combat trafficking, it "did not recognize the country's huge population of bonded laborers," which advocacy groups estimate to range from 20 million to 65 million.

The report also found efforts by Indian law enforcement agencies to punish traffickers "uneven and largely inadequate."

Rahul Chhabra, spokesman for the Indian Embassy in Washington, told CNN that the Indian government is reviewing the report.

The U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 mandated the State Department report as a way of combating human trafficking around the world and punishing those responsible.

Sudan accepts revised plan for joint Darfur force

Source: , June 12, 2007.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) -- Sudan on Tuesday accepted a revised plan for a joint African Union and United Nations peacekeeping force of between 17,000 to 19,000 troops in Darfur, a senior African Union official said.

African Union, United Nations and Sudanese officials held a two-day meeting to discuss a force whose deployment would mark the final phase of a three-stage U.N. plan to bolster a poorly equipped and underfunded force of 7,000 AU peacekeepers, which has been unable to end four years of death and destruction in Darfur.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir agreed to the package in November, but stalled acceptance of the first two phases and has since backtracked on his approval. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Monday that al-Bashir told him he fully agreed to the proposed "hybrid" force but was adamant that all of the troops must come from Africa.

"In view of the explanation and clarification provided by the AU and the U.N. as contained in the presentation, the government of Sudan accepted the joint proposals on the hybrid operation," said Said Djinnit, the African Union's top peace and security official.

The decisions made Tuesday still have to be approved by the U.N. Security Council and the African Union's Peace and Security Council, Djinnit said.

He was reading a joint African Union, U.N. and Sudan statement after the two-day meeting.

Sudan has not changed its position on the hybrid force, said Mutrif Siddig, a senior Sudanese Foreign Affairs Ministry official who attended the meeting in the Ethiopia capital, Addis Ababa. The country has always demanded that the force be under African Union command and its members be Africans only, Siddig told journalists.

"It has been our stance from the beginning to have the hybrid operation. ... But we rejected the transfer of the African mission to the United Nations," Siddig said, referring to the overall command of the peacekeeping force.

"If African countries do not have enough troops or are not willing to contribute [to the force], in consultation with the Sudanese government, the United Nations and African Union, we are ready to recruit other countries according to our agreement," Siddig said.

At U.N. headquarters in New York, Security Council diplomats said they had been informed that Sudan's acceptance had conditions, including requiring all troops in the hybrid force to be Africans. That could make putting together a robust force difficult, if not impossible, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because there has been no public announcement.

"I'd like to see what the agreement is," said U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad. "If the agreement is unconditional support of the package, then we obviously would welcome that, because the letter we got yesterday was a little bit more of the same kind of pattern we have seen before of vagueness and lack of clarity."

"But if this is a clear, unconditional acceptance of the AU-U.N. concept it's welcome. Now we move to the implementation, which is another issue that has been there in the past, where there has been acceptance and then implementation has been a problem," Khalilzad said.

"The participants further agreed on the need for an immediate comprehensive cease-fire accompanied by an inclusive political process," Djinnit said, adding they called on countries to step up and quickly contribute troops and money toward the operation.

Djinnit said that there will be more discussions on the force's size and one factor will be whether there will be enough air transport to move the troops around Darfur.

Advertisers not wary of 'Genocide Olympics'

Source: CNN, June 13, 2007.

Despite a possible backlash against China for its investments in Sudan, some media buyers say marketers will still embrace next year's Olympics.

By Paul R. La Monica, CNNMoney.com editor at large.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Summer Olympic Games in Beijing are more than a year away. But a growing backlash against China's ties to the government of Sudan could have some major consequences for GE (Charts, Fortune 500) and its NBC Universal entertainment division, which will broadcast the Olympics in the U.S., as well as several high profile corporate sponsors.

Actress and human rights activist Mia Farrow, who also acts as the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Goodwill Ambassador, has been referring to next year's games as the "Genocide Olympics," due to the conflict in Dafrur that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.

China has invested heavily in Sudan's oil industry and some have argued that the country has not exerted as much influence as it could to stop the violence in Darfur.

Farrow has urged people to contact sponsors of the Olympics to ask them to withhold their corporate support of the games until there is a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Darfur.

China's new cultural revolution

Members of both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate sent separate strongly worded letters to Chinese president Hu Jintao last month saying that unless the Chinese government steps up pressure on Sudan to curb the violence in Darfur, China risks tarnishing its image before the Olympics.

The letter from the House warned that the Olympics could be a "disaster" marred by protests.

And Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico and Democratic presidential candidate, suggested in a debate with other candidates earlier this month that the U.S. might want to consider boycotting the Olympics if China doesn't do more to stop the bloodshed in Darfur.

A representative for NBC was not immediately available for comment about how a possible boycott or protests could affect the company. GE (Charts, Fortune 500) is also a sponsor of next summer's Olympics.

Coca-Cola (Charts, Fortune 500), one of the top sponsors of the games, said in a statement e-mailed to CNNMoney.com that the company "has been sponsoring the Olympic Games since 1928 and believes that the ideals of the Olympic Movement of building a better world through sport, friendship and fair play are more relevant than ever. Our sponsorship allows these positive messages to reach a broader audience and inspire both athletes and spectators. The Coca-Cola Company does not have a role in the internal policy decisions of sovereign nations such as China and the Sudan."

Coca-Cola added that it recently gave $750,000 to the Red Cross and Red Crescent for humanitarian relief in Darfur and that the company has no direct foreign investment in Sudan and does not conduct business with the country's government.

Representatives for other big sponsors, including Lenovo and Visa and Eastman Kodak (Charts, Fortune 500), were not available for comment.

But a Hong Kong-based spokeswoman for Manulife (Charts), the insurance company that owns John Hancock and is also a Olympic sponsor, said in an e-mail with CNNMoney.com that the company has so far not received any calls or complaints about the company's involvement with the Olympics.

A spokesman for the U.S. subsidiary of Panasonic, another Olympics sponsor, said Panasonic, which is owned by Japanese consumer electronics giant Matsushita (Charts), had no comment about the controversy and referred CNNMoney.com to Ben Seeley, a spokesman for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Switzerland. Seeley was also not immediately available for comment.

The Olympics are a multi-million dollar marketing opportunity for sponsors, as the games tend to attract large worldwide audiences. And the stakes are particularly high for NBC, which just finished in fourth place in the ratings race for the third consecutive season, and is clearly in sore need of improved ratings.

Warren Buffett and Darfur

At last month's upfront presentation to media buyers and advertisers in New York, NBC spent a sizable chunk of time at the end of the event touting the Summer Games.

Yet, several media buyers said, that so far, the Sudan issue does not appear to be playing a major role in determining whether or not marketers want to buy commercial time during the Olympics.

"It's still a little early but I have not heard any concerns or backlash yet," said Andy Donchin, director of national broadcast with Carat USA, a media buying firm based in New York.

However, the possibility of more protests are something to keep an eye on.

"Politics and controversy are always a concern with the Olympics but at this point, it's sort of below the surface. I haven't heard of any specific advertisers that are worried about it because it's not top of mind yet," said Bill Carroll, a vice president and director of programming with Katz Television Group, a consulting and media buying firm based in New York.

That may change though.

"This is an issue that bears watching. Any time there is a negative dynamic associated with something as positive as the Olympics, it's one of many concerns that a network and advertisers could have," said John Rash, senior vice president and director of broadcast negotiations with Campbell Mithun, a media buying firm based in Minneapolis.

Carroll agreed, adding that if stories about China's association with Sudan becomes even more prevalent in the coming months, some advertisers might not be eager to have ties to an event referred to as the "Genocide Olympics."

NBC: No big comeback

"If China and Darfur becomes a more contentious situation then advertisers may want to avoid getting in the middle of it. Obviously, advertisers respond to their consumers. If there is a negative reaction to being an Olympics sponsor, advertisers will have to consider that," Carroll said.

But one sports marketing expert said some advertisers are still a little wary of becoming involved in the Olympics but not for political reasons.

John Rowady, president of rEvolution, a sports marketing and media company based in Chicago, said some of his firm's clients have expressed reluctance about the Olympics merely because China is a relatively new and untapped market for marketers.

So while some companies may not want to aggressively market in China itself, Rowady doesn't think fears of a backlash will effect domestic spending on advertising associated with the games.

"A lot of people are sitting on the fence to determine what their plans should be for the Olympics. Many companies may skip the Olympics just because they won't feel comfortable marketing in China just yet and not due to politics," he said. *.

Read FORTUNE's Chasing the Dragon blog about China.
Bush announces sanctions against Sudan.

Chad may allow peacekeepers on Sudan border

Source: CNN, June 12, 2007.

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Chad may allow international peacekeeping troops to deploy along its border with Sudan to create safe passage for humanitarian aid to the war-torn Darfur region, the president of the African country said Tuesday.

President Idriss Deby said Chad was under intense international pressure to accept such a plan, but he wouldn't provide specifics nor confirm if he would allow U.N. troops to be deployed on Chad's border.

"Chad is a poor country, and it cannot stand up to the pressures by the world's major powers and the United Nations," Deby told reporters in Cairo after talks with the Arab League's top diplomats.

"In the past, we refused the international troops, but now the situation does not allow that, and if there will be further deterioration, we won't be able to resist," he said.

Deby said Arab and African countries have failed to put an end to the humanitarian disaster in Darfur, where more than 200,000 [400,000] people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced in four years of fighting between the government and regional rebels.

The Chadian president's comments come as a senior African Union official said after a meeting in Ethiopia that Sudan accepted a revised plan for a joint African Union and U.N. peacekeeping force of between 17,000 and 19,000 troops that would replace an ill-equipped and understaffed AU force currently deployed in Darfur.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir agreed to a "hybrid" force in November but later backtracked on his approval. During a visit to Sudan on Monday, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said that al-Bashir told him he fully agreed to the proposed "hybrid" force but was adamant that all of the troops must come from Africa.

As part of France's efforts to boost diplomatic efforts on Darfur, Paris has announced it plans to host an international conference on Darfur later this month that will bring together European countries along with Egypt, the United States and China, Sudan's key diplomatic ally.

The conference will focus on creating the safe passage so humanitarian aid can reach people in the western Sudan region, Arab diplomats in Cairo said, speaking on condition of anonymity, because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Deby said the suggestion of the safe passage was made to him by Kouchner during his stop in Chad earlier this week.

But so far, Sudan has not agreed to attend the conference.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol has said that the timing was not right to attend and suggested that international initiatives be handled mainly by the United Nations and African Union.

Just for the record, there are rumors that the UN peacekeepers are worse than the AU.

North Korea test-fires missiles

Source: CNN, June 8, 2007.

SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- North Korea test-fired several short-range missiles Thursday off its west coast, South Korea's defense ministry officials told CNN.

The test comes nearly two weeks after Pyongyang test-fired a short-range missile off its east coast.

Short-range missiles have an approximate range between 90 and 500 miles (150-800km), according to the U.S. State Department. (Whoopie. When is the last time they got anything right?)

After North Korea's May 25 missile test, U.S. envoy Christopher Hill said "this is not unusual."

"From time to time, their military tests these short range missiles," Hill told reporters.

"It is obviously not anything that is ever going to contribute to their security, and we would prefer they spend their time figuring out how to denuclearize and how to join the international community. But this is not unusual."

Hill is the chief U.S. negotiator for talks on North Korea's nuclear program

CNN Seoul Bureau Chief Sohn Jie-Ae contributed to this report.