Iran Abortions
Unofficial sources report of the death of Iranian girls under the age of 15 as a result of illegal abortion. The statistics show that out of every 10 under 16-year-old girls who seek an abortion, one loses her life. Moreover certain Internet sites report of an average of 15 foetuses being discovered per day in Tehran’s garbage. Most of the mothers that die are between 16-30. People seek abortion after an unwanted or illegal sexual relationship. These people usually have no way but to pay colossal sums of money and in search of this much money they may create other problems for themselves. The death of a woman in Tehran led the Police to an underground center, which was run by two women and a number of men. In only a 4-month period the center had carried out more than 70 illegal surgical operations. Annually 50 million abortion cases are reported in the world out of which 30 million are illegal.

Jordan
(Halaby-AP)
Baghdad was invaded and went bust. About 600 miles west across the desert, Amman went boom. While some residents of the hilltop, sand-coloured capital are complaining, the government is happy with an influx of Iraqi cash to offset its $7 billion foreign debt. Real estate prices have at least doubled as Iraqis with satchels full of cash buy apartments and villas by the fistful. Former members of Saddam’s Baath Party climb out of long, black sedans and sidle into the fanciest restaurants. Russian women serve drinks to Iraqi truck drivers crowding belly-dancing joints before making the dangerous journey back to Baghdad. Now the country of 5.5 million reckons it has 400,000 Iraqis — or double that number, by unofficial estimates. One of them is Saddam’s eldest daughter, Raghad, who moved to Amman along with her younger sister, Rana, shortly after Baghdad fell two years ago and they can be seen shopping in the western-style shops with their coterie of bodyguards in tow. While Ayad Allawi, a former prime minister of postwar Iraq, owns a multimillion-dollar villa opposite the Israeli embassy. Villa prices have nearly doubled and range from $353,000 to $2.8 million, while apartment prices have tripled to $212,000. Official statistics show that 53% of foreign buyers are Iraqis, who spent $84 million on 1,147 homes between January and August of this year — a 137% jump from the same period a year ago. Iraqi investment — primarily in factories and import-export — has doubled to $92.5 million in one year. Jordan clearly has been overwhelmed. It briefly tried to close government schools to Iraqi children, but backed down under pressure from the Iraqi government, and also revoked fines imposed on Iraqis who overstayed their visas. The Interior Ministry says only 27,000 Iraqis in the kingdom have residency permits.

Iran
Iranian customs authorities are rejecting goods labelled ‘Arabian Gulf’. Iranian officials have not disclosed the reasons behind the decision but political analysts point to the different naming of the Gulf by Iran and GCC countries. Iran maintains the body of water must be officially called the ‘Persian Gulf’. GCC finance ministers are meeting to discuss the impasse
Just watching for trends….Female civil servants at Iran’s culture ministry and female journalists at the state newspaper and news agency must be out of the office by dusk to be with their families, a directive said. The directive did not specify what punishments women would face if they disobeyed the decree.

Colombia
Oil rivals cocaine as one of Colombia’s principal exports. The Cano Limon-Covenas oil pipeline transports almost 20% of Colombia’s oil production. The pipeline originates in the Department of Arauca in northeast region of Colombia. It carries oil nearly 500 miles to the Caribbean port of Covenas. And it’s the most vulnerable and desirable target in Colombia for terrorists. The pipeline has been a principal infrastructure target for terrorist attacks by Colombia’s insurgent groups for many years. During 2001, attacks on the pipeline cost the Colombian government an estimated $500 million in lost revenues for the year. The United States agreed to assist Colombia in protecting the first 110 miles of the pipeline where most of the attacks were occurring. Since fiscal year 2002, the United States has provided about $99 million in equipment and training to the Colombian Army to minimize terrorist attacks along the first 110 miles of the line

Israel
Turkey and Israel are currently hammering out a deal to allow Israel to buy water from Turkey. Israel is keen on the deal because it knows that the Manavgat plant, which would pump the badly needed liquid is about to be privatized. In March 2004, Israel and Turkey signed a “political agreement” (rather than a commercial one,) according to which Israel will import 50 million cubic meters of drinking water per year from Turkey over a 20-year period. The water purchasing agreement did not set timetables, nor has the route of the pipeline been agreed. The agreement does not include a water price formula as well; however, according to estimations, the water price in the Turkish loading facility will be around 13-18 cents per cubic meter. Adding the transport cost, the water price is expected to be approximately 70-80 cents per cubic meter. Thus, the price of one cubic meter of water may amount to approximately one dollar

Sudan
Omdurman National Bank in Sudan has launched and implemented the country’s first ATMs, says global channel banking software solutions provider CR2. The bank has rolled out its first 10 ATMs in the capital city, Khartoum and will roll out a further 12 throughout the country including Port Sudan and Wad Medini

Silk Route
The world’s two most populous countries, India and China, are working to set up their first direct trade link since a 1962 border war by reopening a section of the famed Silk Road. The point of contact is the 4545m Nathu La pass on the border between India’s Sikkim and China’s Tibet where hundreds of Indian workers are repairing roads and building customs facilities. The trading post, 52km east of the Sikkim capital, Gangtok, is the clearest sign of rapprochement between the two countries, which still dispute much of their 4000km border that stretches from Kashmir in the west to India’s far-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh. The initial trade is expected to be much the same as in the Silk Road days, with Chinese silk, yak tails and raw wool likely to hit Indian markets via the small village of Sherathang, about five kilometers from the Nathu La pass.

Uganda/LRA
The deputy leader of Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels has entered Congo after striking out west for the first time from his hideouts in the mountains of southern Sudan. During two decades of war, fighters from the cult-like group had never crossed over the White Nile, supposedly because they feared losing the magical protection of their leader, the self-proclaimed prophet Joseph Kony. Kony’s deputy, Vincent Otti, and about 50 fighters forded the river last week before burning homes on the road between the Sudanese towns of Juba and Yei.

Yemen
Yemen has detained more than 10,000 illegal African immigrants this year, after more than 100 would-be migrants drowned this month trying to reach the Arab republic. 10,750 people have been seized in Yemeni cities and on the coast, which faces the Horn of Africa, including more than 10,000 Somalis and 350 Ethiopians. The Somalis are being held at a detention camp in the southern Abyan province, while the others were repatriated.