Dutch Trafigura settles toxic waste case

A Dutch-based oil trading company paid $197 million to secure the release of three executives from an Ivory Coast prison and settle claims that it dumped toxic waste that killed at least 10 people in the West African nation. The three executives from Trafigura Beheer BV were released Wednesday, a spokesman for the firm told The Associated Press.Trafigura, accused of illegally dumping the waste in the Ivory Coast port city of Abidjan, has denied wrongdoing, saying it properly contracted with a local company to dispose of the waste. It said the material it offloaded from the ship, the Probo Koala, in August 2006 was not toxic. A UN report, however, found that the material contained chemicals lethal in high concentrations.Greenpeace and other environmental organizations said the incident was an example of how Africa routinely is used as a dumping ground for waste generated by wealthy nations.

Child welfare : US, Britain faulted

The United States and Britain ranked at the bottom of a UN survey of child welfare in 21 wealthy countries that assessed everything from infant mortality to whether children ate dinner with their parents or were bullied at school. The Netherlands, followed by Sweden, Denmark and Finland, finished at the top of the rankings, while the US was 20th and Britain 21st, according to the report released recently by UNICEF in Germany. One of the study?s researchers, Jonathan Bradshaw, said children fared worse in the US and Britain ? despite high overall levels of national wealth ? because of greater economic inequality and poor levels of public support for families. ?What they have in common are very high levels of inequality, very high levels of child poverty, which is also associated with inequality, and in rather different ways poorly developed services to families with children,? said Bradshaw, a professor of social policy at the University of York in Britain. ?They don?t invest as much in children as continental European countries do,? he said, citing the lack of day care services in both countries and poorer health coverage and preventative care for children in the US.

Iraq shutting borders with Iran, Syria

Iraq has begun closing its borders with Iran and Syria as part of a security crackdown aimed at stopping the flow of foreign fighters and weapons into the country, the US military said yesterday. ?The plan to close the borders went into effect last night. Many points were closed, but I can?t confirm that all were shut,? Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Garver told Reuters. Iraq had said it would shut the borders for 72 hours. The US military said the aim was to allow the layout of border positions to be revamped.

Pakistani man who tried to sell children gets job

A desperately poor Pakistani man who offered to sell his three children has been given a job on the orders of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. The man, Shaukat Ali, was briefly detained by police in the town of Mian Channu in Punjab province this week after he sat on a street with his three boys, aged 10 and younger, beneath a banner reading: ?Children for sale?. His plight was picked up by the media and noticed in high places. ?The Prime Minister?s secretary contacted me through the police and I am being given a government job in Mian Channu ... as a guard,? Ali told Reuters by telephone yesterday. Ali, an unemployed baker, said he had offered to sell his children in a fit of desperation and anger after being able to feed them nothing but watery milk for two days. ?Their cries caused me great pain,? he said. ?I had no price in my mind but just thought they would get something to eat,? said Ali, whose wife died in child birth two years ago. Poverty is a serious problem for many in the country of 160 million people even though economic growth has been around 6-7 per cent in recent years

Senators tell global forum US must lead on warming

At a Capitol Hill meeting that included representatives from the Group of Eight industrialized nations plus China, India, South Africa, Brazil and the European Union, Senator John McCain put the case for action on climate change bluntly and urged the United States to lead the way towards a radical change in its policy against global warming saying it was high time to act.