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