RI to get $6m tsunami

RI to get $6m tsunami aid grant from ADB

Indonesia is to get a US$6 aid package from a Japanese-financed anti-poverty fund to rehabilitate areas affected by last December's tsunami disaster, the Asian Development Bank said on Sunday. The Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, managed by the Philippines-based lender, is to provide a $2.5 million grant to help farmers in Aceh restore their livelihoods, the bank said in a statement. An additional $1.5 million grant will help rehabilitate 30 hectares of coral reefs and 300 hectares of mangroves damaged by the Dec. 26 tsunami. The third component of the aid package is a $2 million grant to develop prototypes of affordable and earthquake-resistant housing. -- AFP

Russia's Iraq 'unfriendly': Talabani

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has urged Russia to forge better ties with the Iraqi authorities, saying that the Kremlin's "unfriendly" stance hurts Russian companies' chance of returning to the nation's lucrative oil market. "Russia's current policy (regarding Iraq) is not a realistic policy. I would say this position conveys a rather unfriendly look," Talabani was quoted as saying in an interview with the Interfax news agency on Sunday. The traditionally strong, Soviet-era ties between Russia and Iraq have lapsed since the ouster of Iraq's former President Saddam Hussein by U.S.-led coalition forces in March 2003. Russia saw contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars (euros) frozen in the oil, gas and power station-building sectors. The future of those deals has hinged on approval from Iraq's new leaders, as well as security concerns after several Russian workers were killed or kidnapped last year. -- AP

China rejects papal gesture

China rejected on Sunday a papal invitation extended to four Chinese bishops to attend a synod in Rome, citing the Vatican's diplomatic recognition of Taiwan and health and age reasons. While it recognized Pope Benedict's XVI "good intentions", China's Catholic Patriotic Association (CPA) criticized the Vatican for publishing the invitation although the bishops were unable to attend. One of those invited is a member of an underground church which is loyal to the pope. "If the Holy See has deep sincerity to improve China-Vatican relations, we hope they take real actions, rather than put up two barriers," Xinhua news agency quoted the CPA as saying. However, CPA said the invitation was a sign of the new pope's readiness to recognize China's official church and "regard it ... as an active gesture to create conditions for the promotion of normalization of relations between China and Vatican." -- DPA