Nepal Tourism Year-2011 promoted in India Travel Mart

Nepal promoted Nepal Tourism Year 2011 (NTY-2011) in India International Travel Mart (IITM) in Hyderabad, India.

Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) along with other private travel trade companies participated in the travel mart from December 3 to 5, 2010 to promote NTY campaign.

During the event, Nepal promoted and distributed all tourism information. The event was fruitful for promotion of NTY-2011 as the visitors were interested and interacted with private tour companies and looked for special tour package, NTB said.

Most of the visitors were seen interested to visit Nepal for adventure, leisure and religious purposes.

Nepal Tourism Year-2011 promoted in India Travel Mart: "Nepal Tourism Year-2011 promoted in India Travel Mart"

On Sri Lanka, ICC Prosecution “Could Be an Option” for State Party Nationals -ICP

UNITED NATIONS, December 7 -- With International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo at the UN on Tuesday, Inner City Press asked him about the killings in Sri Lanka and if and when the ICC could take action. Video here, from Minute 21:14.

Ocampo began with the obvious, that Sri Lanka is not a state party to the Rome Statute of the ICC. But as Inner City Press pointed out in its question, several of those suspected of war crimes in Sri Lanka have dual citizenship, some with countries that ARE members of the ICC.

Ocampo said that if there becomes “clarity that nationals of state parties committed crimes, that could be an option.” Videohere, from Minute 23:29.

Inner City Press: Investigative Reporting from the United Nations: "On Sri Lanka, ICC Prosecution “Could Be an Option” for State Party Nationals"

UN begins evacuating personnel out of Ivory Coast due to election outcome

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast: Hundreds of residents have fled Ivory Coast, United Nations officials said Tuesday, as the UN also began evacuating some 500 staffers after a contentious election that resulted in both candidates claiming the presidency.

UN Development Program country director Andre Carvalho said hundreds of people have fled to neighboring countries, and that officials feared more would leave if violence broke out.

“While there has not been any major violence, people have started fleeing into Ghana and Liberia,” he said.

The international community has recognized opposition leader Alassane Ouattara as the winner of last week’s runoff vote. Both Ouattara and President Laurent Gbagbo claimed victory in the poll and took oaths of office, and Gbagbo has defied pressure from France, the US and the UN to step down.

Carvalho said the uncertainty over the poll has interrupted daily activities in the world’s largest cocoa-producing nation.

To read more click on the link

begins evacuating personnel out of Ivory Coast - Arab News

China Bid for high-speed rail record

"BEIJING - China aims to break the high-speed rail world record in a trial run next year, industry sources said on Tuesday.

An experimental train - under development by CSR Corp Limited for test but not operational purposes - will 'try to break the 574.8-km/h record' set by France's TGV (Train Grande Vitesse, or high-speed train) in April 2007, CSR sources said at the 7th World Congress on High Speed Rail in Beijing on Tuesday.

On Dec 3, a high-speed passenger train manufactured by CSR set an operating speed record of 486.1 km/h on a test run on the Beijing-Shanghai line.

The sources did not elaborate on the exact date the test will be carried out.

As China's high-speed trains are running faster, its ambition to tap the world's high-speed railway market is also speeding up.

A railway linking Vientiane, capital of Laos, with the Laos-China border, which China will help to build, may see construction start in 2012, Somsavat Lengsavad, standing deputy prime minister of Laos, said on Tuesday."

Bid for high-speed rail record:

The Sarkozy's Syrian gamble leaves Americans skeptical

The policy of opening of Nicolas Sarkozy regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has generated much skepticism on the U.S. side. Washington would have preferred a less hurried and more clearly subject to conditions, considering that Damascus remains a major source of problems (arms transfers to Hezbollah of Lebanon, support for Hamas, interference in Iraq).

In telegrams obtained by Wikileaks U.S. and consulted by Le Monde , the French president's approach is described as "a big gamble" involving "risk" .Some cables express "dismay" at the attitude of the Elysee, and note the differences with the Quai d'Orsay , perceived as more strict towards Damascus.

"The French presidency has learned its lesson from its failed attempts last year to work with Syria" , written as an American diplomat in Paris in May 2008. Another telegram seems ironic, in June 2008, that "the emissaries of the Elysee consider their visit to Damascus as a success" .

To read more click on the link: The Sarkozy's Syrian gamble leaves Americans skeptical - LeMonde.fr