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Of all books published in the United States, he says, only 2.8% are translations from other languages,



 
 
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Old September 25th 04, 12:27 AM
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Default Of all books published in the United States, he says, only 2.8% are translations from other languages,

Of all books published in the United States, he says, only 2.8% are
translations from other languages, and no translated book has reached the US
bestseller lists for years. The figure for Britain is similar. In Germany,
however, the figure is a whopping 40%.




[com-news] Radio Havana Cuba Sep 23



Radio Havana Cuba Sep 23


http://www.radiohc.cu/homeing.htm



Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque Meets with World Leaders at United
Nations

United Nations, September 23 (RHC)-- Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez
Roque is meeting with representatives of UN member-states as part of his
agenda at the United Nations General Assembly.

The island's top diplomat and head of Cuba's delegation has met with his
counterparts from Sudan, Algeria, Rwanda, Egypt, Eastern Timor, Nepal, the
Democratic Republic of Korea and Bahrain. Discussions centered on topics of
bilateral interest and issues related to the current session of the UN
General Assembly, which began Tuesday.

The Cuban delegation also held a meeting with Jean Ping, UN General Assembly
President and Gabon's foreign minister on matters related to reform of the
United Nations. Felipe Pérez Roque also took part in the Meeting of World
Leaders on Actions to Fight Hunger and Poverty earlier this week, called by
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.




US House of Representatives Votes to Remove Travel and Trade Restrictions on
Cuba

Washington, September 23 (RHC)-- Just one day after voting to deny
government funding for implementation of new restrictions on family travel
to Cuba, the US House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to remove
barriers to agricultural sales and student exchanges to Cuba.

However, political analysts on Capitol Hill say that, as in the past,
legislative actions to eliminate sanctions imposed on Cuba for more than 40
years will not be successful, given the determination of the George W. Bush
administration to further tighten Washington's blockade against the island.

The White House is currently threatening to veto the 90 billion dollar
Transportation and Treasury Department appropriations bill if it contains
any language to weaken sanctions imposed on Cuba. The bill for fiscal 2005
programs passed on Wednesday by a vote of 397-12.

Congressional representatives approved two amendments to the bill related to
Cuba. The first, introduced by Democratic Representative Maxine Waters from
California, would make it easier to sell agricultural products, medicine and
medical supplies to Cuba. Sales of healthcare products have been legal since
1992, and cash-only sales of food products were legalized in 2000, but
restrictions on commercial financing and credit guarantees have discouraged
exports.

The second amendment, sponsored by Representative Barbara Lee, a Democrat
from California, prohibits funds to enforce regulations promulgated June 30
this year that erect obstacles to American student programs in Cuba. She
told her colleagues in the House of Representatives that the rules are "just
plain undemocratic and punitive and simply don't make sense for Americans."

The legislation now goes to a House-Senate conference committee, where a
final version will be negotiated. It is there that analysts believe the
Cuba-related language will "disappear" -- as congressional representatives
remove any amendments that may endanger its passing. Last year, similar
legislation faced a certain White House veto. At the last minute, Republican
congressional leaders took out the provisions related to Cuba in order not
to 'embarrass' Bush by forcing him to use his first and only veto.




United Nations Official Praises Local Human Development Programs in Cuba

Santiago de Cuba, September 23 (RHC)-- United Nations Coordinator and
National Human Development Program Representative in Cuba, Bruno Moro, has
praised the island's achievements in human development programs.

Addressing participants at the International Workshop on Local Human
Development in municipalities of fragile ecosystems, the UN official noted
that the local human development program in Cuba is very effective and works
with eight countries and more than 200 organizations.

Bruno Moro told the delegates that "Cuba is an example in this field,
particularly some new initiatives that could be extended to other
countries." The United Nations official also praised the island's strong
institutionalization of programs that facilitate continuity of these
policies.

The three-day international workshop opened Wednesday in Santiago de Cuba.
Among the participants are delegates from Brazil, Argentina, Colombia,
Mexico, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Venezuela, El Salvador and Guatemala. The
agenda includes issues related to local development, international
collaboration, mechanisms, methods and municipal management, participation
and technological alternatives.

The workshop is sponsored by the Cuban Science, Technology and Environment
Ministry, the Canadian Agency for International Development, the
non-governmental organization Alternative, the United Nations Development
Program and the Latin American Council of Social Sciences.




Mexican and Cuban Legislators Work to Improve Bilateral Relations

Havana, September 23 (RHC)-- Cuban and Mexican legislators began working to
improve bilateral relations at the 7th Inter-Parliamentary Meeting on
Wednesday. The meeting officially opened at the Hotel Nacional with the
participation of ten Mexican senators and six congressional representatives,
representing six political parties. Eight deputies from Cuba's Parliament --
known as the National Assembly of People's Power -- were also taking part in
the meeting.

At the opening ceremony, Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcón urged
participants to improve fraternal relations between the two countries based
on honest dialogue among true friends.

On Thursday, the legislators discussed ways to improve bilateral relations
and exchanged information and experiences on their respective congressional
duties. During the final day of the meeting tomorrow, Friday, the Cuban and
Mexican lawmakers will discuss participation in international parliamentary
bodies and approve a Final Declaration.



In Washington, Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi Tries to Convince
Doubting Voters That Things Are Getting Better in His Occupied Country

Washington, September 23 (RHC) - Addressing Thursday a joint session of the
US Congress, interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi tried to convince
doubting American voters that things are getting better in his occupied,
violence-ridden country. In an appearance that many news reports asserted
was an effort by advisers to President Bush to take the sting out of recent
criticism of the administration's management of the Iraq situation, Allawi
told Congress that despite struggles and setbacks "the values of liberty and
democracy" are taking hold.

Allawi's visit comes as troop casualties and civilian kidnappings in Iraq
have increased, large parts of the country have come under the control of
insurgents and doubts have surfaced at the United Nations that democratic
elections can be held in January as planned. Bush has admitted that the
importance he sees in Allawi's visit lies largely in the opportunity for the
Iraqi leader to reinforce for Americans the president's own confident
assessment of Iraq.

But an assessment of Iraq's future put together recently by US intelligence
officials spoke of possibilities ranging from tenuous stability to civil
war, and even some GOP senators have said there is a need for more candid
talk from the White House. Anthony Cordesman, a military analyst with the
Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said the
administration should spend less time staging an attractive photo
opportunity and more time adopting a realistic view of the challenges ahead.
Cordesman told Associated Press Thursday amid Allawi's visit, that public
opinion needs real accomplishments, real progress and honest measures of
capability, not "sound bites of rhetoric which are not substantiated by the
figures being issued in detail by the United States government."

And Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry has kept up the pressure
on Bush, saying that Allawi was sent before Congress to put the "best face"
on a Bush administration policy that has gone wrong. Kerry's remarks come
one day after he told The Associated Press that Bush's statement that a
"handful" of people were willing to kill to stop progress in Iraq was a
blunder that showed he was avoiding reality.




US Airstrikes Against Baghdad Neighborhood Continue, Leaving Civilian
Casualties, Including Children

Baghdad, September 23 (RHC) - On the ground in Iraq, meanwhile, US
airstrikes against the Baghdad Shiite slum of Sadr City continued Thursday,
with at least one person killed and 12 wounded - many of them children,
according to local hospital officials. The Thursday attacks followed a day
of fierce clashes between American troops and fighters loyal to radical
Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. US warplanes and helicopters roared overhead
and residents said loud explosions could be heard for hours. Militia
fighters returned fire with machine guns. An American Bradley fighting
vehicle was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade and caught fire, but it was
not clear if there were any casualties.

It was the third night of violence in the Shiite stronghold as US forces
risk a politically dangerous crackdown on al-Sadr's al-Mahdi Army, in which
many believe that a high number of civilian casualties in this neighborhood
of more than 2 million will further inflame anti-American sentiments.
Hospital officials said at least 10 people were killed and more than 90
wounded in Wednesday's clashes, but the number of civilian casualties in
that fighting was not clear.

At the same time, US troops sealed off the city of Samarra and called in air
strikes in which three people were killed, including an elderly woman,
according to the local police chief. The US military and interim Iraqi
authorities had boasted of pacifying Samarra, but insurgents in the city
launched a series of attacks against occupation troops in recent weeks. And
gunmen killed a senior official of Iraq's North Oil Company Thursday in the
northeastern city of Mosul, less than two weeks after his boss escaped an
assassination attempt.



Washington Accused of Sabotaging Release of British Hostage in Iraq By
Refusing to Free Detained Iraqi Woman Scientist Despite Lack of Evidence on
Alleged Weapons of Mass Destruction


London/Baghdad, September 23 (RHC) - The brother of a British hostage has
accused Washington of sabotaging his brother's release by refusing to free a
detained woman scientist in Iraq - despite the lack of evidence on the
existence of alleged weapons of mass destruction. Paul Bigley told the BBC
that there had been "a shadow of light" when Iraqi ministers said Wednesday
the woman would go free. But just hours later the US ruled out freeing her,
and interim Iraqi authorities fell in line on Thursday - also saying the
scientist would remain imprisoned.

Though interim Iraqi Minister of State Kassem Daoud denied that his
government had bowed to US pressure, Baghdad's about-face revived the issue
of who is really in charge in Iraq, the coherence of interim Prime Minister
Iyad Allawi's government and the degree of Bush administration influence
over him. The incident also raised questions over why the scientist has been
detained for so long when no weapons of mass destruction have been found in
Iraq, prompting some observers to say that her release would be a tacit
admission that Iraq had no such weapons. US authorities have reportedly also
blocked efforts by the Iraqi Ministry of Science and Technology to free some
detained scientists because their expertise is needed to rebuild the
country's scientific potential.




Afghan Presidential Candidates Accuse US of Interfering in Elections


Kabul, September 23 (RHC) - Presidential candidates in Afghanistan have
accused the United States of interfering in the country's electoral process.
Several of the contenders told The Los Angeles Times newspaper that the US
embassy in Kabul has pressured them not to run against pro-American
incumbent, President Hamid Karzai. Candidate Mohammed Mohaqiq, an ethnic
Hazara warlord, said in an interview with the L.A. Times published Thursday
that last month US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad offered him unspecified
rewards if he dropped out of the race.

Mohaqiq said the ambassador also called his most loyal men, and the most
educated people in his party and campaign, to the presidential palace and
told them to pressure him to resign the nomination, and to ask him what he
needed in return. The charges were repeated by several other candidates and
their senior campaign staff in interviews granted to the newspaper, which
asserted that they reflected anger over what many Afghans see as foreign
interference that could undermine the shaky foundations of a democracy the
US promised to build.

Presidential candidate Younis Qanooni, Karzai's leading rival, said he and
13 other contenders, of a total of 18, planned to meet this week in Kabul to
air complaints about Khalilzad's interference. The L.A. Times reported that
Khalilzad has been nicknamed "the Viceroy" because the influence he wields
over the Afghan government reminds some Afghans of the excesses of British
colonialism, and that some of Karzai's rivals think the ambassador has taken
on a new role: that of presidential campaign manager.

This is not the first time the US ambassador has been accused of meddling in
Afghan politics. Delegates to gatherings that named Karzai interim president
in 2002 and ratified Afghanistan's new Constitution last December also
accused him of interfering, even of paying delegates for their support. But
the L.A. Times called the latest allegations perhaps more serious because
the Bush administration is portraying Afghanistan's presidential election as
a democratic victory for the country's people, who suffered under more than
two decades of strife, and has touted bringing Afghan democracy as a foreign
policy success in his election campaign.




War of Words Between Israel and Iran Takes Sharp Turn for Worse


United Nations, September 23 (RHC) - A simmering war of words between Israel
and Iran rose in tone Thursday with Tel Aviv accusing Tehran of replacing
Saddam Hussein as the world's leading exporter of "terror, hate and
instability" and Tehran warning Tel Aviv that it would respond harshly to
any Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities. Israeli Foreign Minister
Silvan Shalom challenged the UN General Assembly to "end its obsession" with
the Jewish state and focus instead on "the active involvement of Iran and
Syria in terrorism."

Shalom told reporters Wednesday that the UN should move toward sanctions
against Iran because Tehran was never going to abandon its alleged quest for
nuclear weapons. Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi responded by saying
that Israel, not Iran, was the greatest threat to all countries in the
Middle East because it is freely producing "nuclear bombs as well as other
weapons of mass destruction."

Israel is widely believed to have the only atomic arsenal in the Middle
East, although it maintains a policy of refusing to confirm or deny its
nuclear capability. Iran also warned that it will react "most severely" to
any Israeli action against its nuclear facilities, after Israel said the
United States was selling it 500 bunker buster bombs. Israeli military
officials said Tuesday that the Jewish state will also receive from the US
nearly 5,000 smart bombs, including the 500 one-ton bombs that can destroy
six-foot concrete walls.




Enquiry Launched into British Collusion in Murder of Irish Lawyer

Belfast, September 23 (RHC)--A full 15 years after he was murdered, the
British government has agreed to launch an official enquiry into the death
of the Irish Catholic lawyer Pat Finucane.

Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy made the announcement after years of
campaigning for an investigation by Finucane's family. Murphy, however,
tempered the promise by saying that the enquiry would be carried out in
secret for what he called national security concerns.

Pat Finucane was killed in 1989 by recently convicted Protestant
paramilitary Kenneth Barrett with apparent British security forces
collusion. The lawyer was targeted for defending IRA members. He was
assassinated before his wife and children while eating at home.

The accusation of British police and army collusion with Protestant
paramilitaries has dogged Downing Street, with London police chief Sir John
Stevens last year determining that there had indeed been some security force
involvement and that the British authorities could have prevented the murder
had they so desired.




Michael Moore to Visit US Campuses in "Slacker Uprising Tour"

New York, September 23 (RHC)-Saying that he could understand why Republicans
would be upset at his plans given that they only have a few more weeks left
in power, world famous documentary maker Michael Moore has announced that he
will tour 60 cities in the days leading up to the US presidential election.

The cities will all be in important swing states and will focus on
university students who usually turn out in low numbers for elections - a
fact, says Moore, that is hardly surprising.

The "Slacker Uprising Tour" will attempt to drag as many traditional
non-voters to the polling booth on November 2 as possible. Prizes will be
offered for people who register to vote, there will be showings of unseen
clips from Moore's coming DVD "Fahrenheit 9/11" and he will lead those who
gather to hear him in what he terms as the "world's largest karaoke
sing-a-long" to US Attorney General John Ashcroft's singing of "Let the
Eagle Soar" made famous by its inclusion in Moore's award winning
documentary.

There are some 100 million eligible voters who do not cast their ballot
through disgust, feelings of disenfranchisement, laziness or cynicism, says
Moore. "I am calling for a non-voter uprising, led by thousands of campus
slackers who proudly sleep 'til noon and who believe papers are for rolling,
not reading...Their motto will be: "Bush and Kerry Both Suck -- That's Why
I'm Voting for John Kerry!"

Michael Moore is openly attempting to rid the United States and the world of
George Bush by getting people to vote for Kerry despite his dislike of the
Democratic candidate. Along with his devastating books and documentaries, he
is seen as a major threat to the Bush re-election campaign.




Arab Literature Avoided by Western Preconceptions and Reluctant Publishers

London, September 23 (RHC)--An article published by The Guardian today
reports that Arab literature barely makes it onto any Western bookshelves
and that nowadays if you want people to read what you are saying it must be
written or published in English.

"Reluctant publishers, translation difficulties and tired preconceptions
have all hampered the progress of Arabic literature in the west", says the
article's author, Brian Whitaker.

Off all books published in the United States, he says, only 2.8% are
translations from other languages, and no translated book has reached the US
bestseller lists for years. The figure for Britain is similar. In Germany,
however, the figure is a whopping 40%.

Books written in Arabic, however, are especially likely to be ignored for
reasons ranging from publisher's preconceptions to lack of translators to
cultural clash. Less than 0.3% of those 40% of foreign authors in Germany
are Arab.

This surprises Whitaker because Arabic is the planet's sixth most important
language with some 186 million native speakers. He also questions why more
Arab authors go untranslated when the region in which they live dominates
the western press day after day.

Peter Ripken, of the German Society for the Promotion of African, Asian and
Latin American Literature accuses western publishers of imposing their own
ideas of what Arab creative writing should be about, selectively translating
books that meet the readers' often prejudiced expectations of the orient and
ridden with cliché sales oriented themes.

The need for Arab culture to be better understood by westerners is ever more
important in these times, say those in favour of closer relations with the
orient, and publishers should be encouraged to be part of this rapprochement
of cultures and peoples.



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