The International Federation of Journalists in their executive meeting in Brussels on 1 of June 2008, decided to expel Force Ouvriere ( France) and Thailand with immediate effects. This came as a result of the lack of compliance of the two members regarding membership fees. In the same line it was an executive decision for Georgia to be warned. The Nigerian Union is also to be written regarding their debts

It was agreed to endorse the application of DJV in Germany for part exoneration of fees for 2008 with an undertaking to pay fees in full from 1 January 2009.  Another application from the Dominican Republics seeking an exoneration of 360 Euros was agreed.

The executive committee agreed to a proposal from the general Secretary to prepare a report on the development of the IFJ press card for the next meeting. He said it would be important to think of strengthening the security and to modernize the format in order to ensure bits place as the only credible international accreditation of journalists

On new membership, the EC committee admitted the The first Trade Union of public Television and Radio Broadcasting Company of Azerbaijan  as full member,Brundi Association of journalists, accepted as associated member, Afghan Independent journalists Association was also admitted as an associate member of the IFJ, the Rwanda Journalists association was also admitted as an associated member

There were rejections to an immediate admission of the Libyan Journalists Association into IFJ. The matter was deferred to the next meeting where a decision will be taken. The Nation Press union of Congo also falls under the same category.

The meeting ended and the next meeting will be hosted by French Union of journalists in Paris November 14-15 2008.

European countries meeting here at an international maritime treaty meeting have agreed to allow greenhouse gases to be buried beneath the north-east Atlantic Ocean as a way to cut CO2 emissions, a major contributing factor to global warming.

WWF welcomes the amendment made to the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic, or OSPAR Convention, to enable carbon capture and storage in the sub-seabed geological formations of the north-east Atlantic.

“We believe that carbon capture and storage, if properly regulated, could be an important weapon in the battle against climate change,” said Stephan Lutter with WWF's North-East Atlantic Marine Ecoregion Programme.

“This could help to keep global warming below 2ºC and help cut global CO2 emissions by more than 50 per cent by mid-century.”

According to scientists, increasing concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere are affecting ocean chemistry — half the CO2 released since the industrial revolution has been absorbed into the sea and has resulted in the formation of carbonic acid. It is predicted that the seas will become more acidic this century than at any time in the past 20 million years.

Corals around the UK and in warmer tropical waters are especially vulnerable, as are many plankton communities, which form the basis of the food chain.

“The impacts to the marine environment from carbon capture and storage will be less than those of climate change and ocean acidification,” added Lutter.

“Nonetheless, strict environmental regulation control and monitoring is necessary. There must be internationally agreed procedures for independent verification and monitoring of storage and related activities before such technologies count against greenhouse gas reduction targets.”

END NOTES:

• The work under the convention is managed by the OSPAR Commission, made up of the European Commission and 15 countries: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.

With an estimated 200 million migrants around the world, governments must strengthen the positive impact of migration on the development of home countries by ensuring people move in a way that is safe and legal, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said.

"We cannot stop this force of human nature, but we can do a great deal to build a better migration experience," Ban said on 10 July in Brussels during the opening of the first Global Forum for Migration and Development (GFMD).

"We can work to strengthen the positive impact of migration on the development of migrants' home countries. We can encourage destination countries to promote the success of migrants, both in their original and their adopted homes," Ban said.

About 800 delegates, including 155 government representatives and observers from international and regional organisations, attended the forum, which was launched by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to create greater international cooperation in addressing migration. Its purpose is to examine how migration can contribute to development and how migration policies should be integrated as a positive factor into development policies, including achievement of the UN's millennium development goals.

Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said: "Today, Europe and the US are spending more money on the control of migration than on development of the countries of origin. But let us be honest, this strategy just isn't working. Worse still, it's selfish and even inhuman."

"There's a great deal we can do," he said. "First and foremost, [we can start] by earmarking the agreed 0.7 percent of our GNP [gross national product] to development cooperation. We've been talking about doing this for quite some time already. Now it's time to deliver on our promises."

Verhofstadt also called for the creation of mechanisms that empower people and countries, "like micro credits, for example".

Concepts discussed at the forum included diaspora bonds; making remittance flows more secure; automatic clearing-house systems to reduce the cost of remittances and facilitate flow; partnership projects to address the brain drain by setting up training facilities for doctors and nurses; and systems to provide pre-departure training and information to migrants about the benefits as well as risks of migration.

"I learned a lot from this meeting," Ann Phoya, from Malawi's Ministry of Health, told IRIN. "The circular migration seems to be a real opportunity: the migrants come back home to give their skills on a periodic basis without losing their status."

José Nvo Masa, from the Ministry of Interior of Equatorial Guinea, said: "We should think south-south before south-north in this matter. In our countries of the CEMAC [Economic Community for Central Africa] for instance, we face a huge wave of illegal and irregular immigrants attracted by oil prospecting. We first need to control this immigration among us."

In his closing remarks, Peter Sutherland, the UN special representative for migration and development, emphasised the unique character of the event: "The forum is a place where policymakers can learn the state-of-the-art in migration and development, and build relationships of trust among each other that lead to practical partnerships,” he said.

The second meeting of the forum is scheduled to take place in Manila in 2008, hosted by the government of the Philippines.

A court in Belgium has sentenced a former Rwandan military officer to 20 years in prison after finding him guilty of involvement in the murder of 10 Belgian soldiers at the beginning of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

Bernard Ntuyahaga, 55, a former major in the army, was sentenced on 5 July, a day after he was convicted. He was accused of responsibility in the disarming of the Belgians, who were then serving in the United Nations peacekeeping force, and in their subsequent killing in Kigali, the Rwandan capital.

Federal prosecutor Philippe Meire had urged the court to pronounce a life sentence.

The court considered as mitigating circumstance the fact that Ntuyahaga was "only a link in an important chain" at a time when incitement and hate messages were being circulated by the then authorities in Rwanda.

According to Rwandan government estimates, 937,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed during three months of bloodletting sparked by the death of President Juvenal Habyarimana when his plane was brought down over Kigali on 6 April 1994.

Ntuyahaga surrendered to Belgian authorities after an international warrant of arrest was issued by a judge there in 1995.

He had denied the charges. "The truth will triumph sooner or later," he said after he was convicted.

Christine Dupont, widow of one of the murdered soldiers, said she was disappointed that Ntuyahaga was not sentenced to life in jail. "Ntuyahaga was without doubt a link in the chain, but he was a major and he had great responsibilities."