SOUTHEAST ASIA

TSUNAMI DEATH TOLL ESTIMATES RISE SHARPLY

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Indonesia’s Health Ministry declared yesterday that more than 70,000 people previously listed as missing are dead, significantly raising its estimate for the death toll from last month’s tsunami.

If confirmed, the overall tsunami death toll in 11 countries would climb to over 221,100, including 166,320 dead in Indonesia.

However, the Health Ministry’s count differed sharply from other Indonesian government tallies. The Social Affairs Ministry has been keeping a count that yesterday stood at 114,978 dead and 12,132 missing.

Officials have frequently cautioned that compiling accurate figures for the dead or missing is almost impossible, and that a definitive death toll may never be reached.

The Associated Press has used the Social Affairs Ministry count for its tally of the dead. The total death toll compiled by AP from governments in each country is at least 162,228. The United Nations on Tuesday listed the number of dead in the December 26 disaster at 165,493.

Indonesia is not the only country suffering from confusion in the count. In Sri Lanka, the Public Security Ministry and National Disaster Management Center have put out tolls of 38,195 and 30,920, respectively. The AP total is based on the disaster center’s number.

– Associated Press

WESTERN EUROPE

CATHOLIC CHURCH IN SPAIN SUPPORTS CONDOM USE

MADRID, Spain – In a substantial shift from traditional policy, the Catholic Church in Spain has said it supports the use of condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS.

“Condoms have a place in the global prevention of AIDS,” Juan Antonio Martinez Campos, spokesman for the Spanish Bishops Conference, told reporters after a meeting Tuesday with Health Minister Elena Salgado to discuss ways of fighting the disease.

The Catholic Church has repeatedly rebuffed campaigns for it to endorse the use of condoms in the fight against AIDS. The Vatican states that condoms, because it is a form of artificial birth control, cannot be used to help prevent the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Martinez Campos said the church’s stance was backed by the scientific world. He cited a recent study by experts in the medical magazine Lancet that supported the so-called “ABC” approach of abstinence, being faithful to partners and using condoms.

“The Church is very worried and interested by this problem,” he said.

The change in view was welcomed by the Spanish Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Transsexuals. and Bisexuals. “I think it was absolutely inevitable that the Church would change its stance,” said federation president Beatriz Gimeno.

– Associated Press

STRIKE DISRUPTS FRENCH RAIL SERVICE AND HOSPITALS

PARIS – Commuters crammed aboard the few trains left running and surgeons operated on only emergency cases as strikes over job cuts and pay disrupted French rail service and hospitals yesterday.

The strikes were part of consecutive protests this week by trade unions seeking to brake reforms of France’s welfare system, public sector, and labor laws pursued by President Chirac’s conservative government.

Paris’ suburban rail network was hit badly by the strike, which started Tuesday and was to last until Thursday morning, with between 60% and 84% of trains canceled, rail operator SNCF said. Commuters were forced to stand shoulder-to-shoulder on the few trains still in service.

Tempers sometimes frayed in the push-and-shove. But strikes are a regular part of life in France and some commuters said they could sympathize with the strikers. Unions were protesting SNCF’s budget for 2005, approved yesterday, which the rail operator said includes plans to cut 3,290 posts through retirements that won’t be replaced.

“People have to defend their rights, it is normal,” said Okou Sali, waiting for a train. “But we are paying the consequences. … It is not normal to take us hostage.”

– Associated Press

EASTERN EUROPE

YUSHCHENKO CLEARS LAST ELECTORAL HURDLE

KIEV, Ukraine – Western leaning reformer Viktor Yushchenko’s long and tension-filled drive to become Ukraine’s president cleared its final hurdles before dawn today when the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by the losing candidate and government newspapers printed election results.

After deliberations that stretched to 2:30 a.m., the court announced it had rejected the appeal of Viktor Yanukovich, the former prime minister who was seen as likely to bring Ukraine closer into Russia’s sphere of influence.

But the verdict came only after government newspapers went to press with the election results – a move that means the inauguration date can be set. Yushchenko’s camp has said it hopes for the inauguration to be held tomorrow or Saturday.

Yushchenko won a December 26 election that was a court-ordered rerun of a fraud-ridden ballot in November in which Yanukovich, who was then Prime Minister, was declared the winner.

The court annulled that election’s results after Yushchenko’s camp appealed, and as tens of thousands of pro-Yushchenko demonstrators massed in downtown Kiev.

– Associated Press