Ukraine farm industry bids to be 'Breadbasket of Europe'

From Diana Magnay, CNN

January 19, 2011 -- Updated 1025 GMT (1825 HKT)

Ukraine's MHP is the country's leading poultry business

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Ukraine is the world's largest exporter of sunflower oil and the third-largest exporter of grain
• Government says modern technology needed to increase grain production
• Some argue land reform is key to attract foreign investors

CNN's global series i-List takes you to a different country each month. In January, we visit Ukraine and look at changes shaping the country's economy, culture and social fabric.

Kiev, Ukraine (CNN) -- One-hundred-and-thirty kilometers south-east of Kiev in the Ukrainian countryside is one of Europe's largest poultry production facilities.

The Myronivka poultry farm produces 220,000 tons of chicken a year. In plain speak, that's two and a quarter million chickens killed here each week -- reared, fed, slaughtered and processed with what it says are the lowest production costs of any Ukrainian poultry business.

That's one reason why producer MHP, which runs this farm alongside a myriad of other crop-production facilities, breeder farms and fodder plants, is the country's market leader in the business of chickens.

"If you want something done right then do it yourself," says CEO Yuriy Kosiuk, sitting in an ornate meeting room decorated with porcelain cockerels at the company's swish Kiev headquarters.

Ranked eighth on the country's rich list in a December edition of the Kiev Post, Kosiuk says the agricultural sector in Ukraine is up and coming, but you need the right management.

"You have to have the right people to manage the business processes like we do," he says. "And you have to have the strength to invest a lot of money into projects because investment and our management style is very untypical."

Kosiuk has one distinct advantage over his European competitors. The black soil on which he farms is famously fertile.

It's the reason Ukraine was known as the "Breadbasket of Europe" and why it is even now the world's largest exporter of sunflower oil and the third-largest exporter of grain.

At the moment Ukraine is gathering anywhere from 38 to 50 million tons of grain and we can double that
--Borys Kolesnikov, Ukraine Deputy Prime Minister

For Kosiuk, that means he can feed his chicks with the grain and sunflower cake grown in the neighboring fields. And he can fertilize those fields with litter from his chicken-houses. "Outsourcing" for him is a dirty word.

The sector's potential is also attracting a host of foreign investors -- just over 1,500 as of January 2010, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

But the government acknowledges it has to make substantial reforms to encourage further investment.

"At the moment Ukraine is gathering anywhere from 38 to 50 million tons of grain and we can double that production just by introducing modern technologies," says Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Borys Kolesnikov.

Part and parcel of that is reforming state agribusinesses and financial institutions to bring them in line with EU standards. There's also the issue of land ownership.

Since Ukrainian independence in 1991 there's been a moratorium on selling land. Sergiu Trygubenko, from the Ministry of Agriculture, says: "With no investment and no technology we can't do anything. And in order to have that we need to create an investment climate in the sector, which I think means opening up the land market."

The government still won't give a definitive answer as to when it will lift the moratorium. But Kosiuk says it doesn't matter to him. He rents the 300,000 hectares he farms from thousands of small landowners and plans to rent another 100,000 in the years ahead.

"I don't think it's even a problem for foreign investors," he says. "I think the key to success in this sector is the right management and only 20% is about the money."

Kosiuk is certain that at a time of global food shortages, Ukraine's black soil has a vital role to play in putting the country firmly on the map as a global food producer.

Sibusiso Vilane: An adventurer's journey to the top of the world

From Nkepile Mabuse and Diane McCarthy, CNN

January 19, 2011 -- Updated 1107 GMT (1907 HKT)

Sibusiso Vilane: The first black African to conquer Everest

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• South African Sibusiso Vilane is the first black African to climb Mount Everest
• Vilane has scaled the highest mountains on seven continents
• He spent 12 years working in the bush as a conservationist

Every week CNN International's African Voices highlights Africa's most engaging personalities, exploring the lives and passions of people who rarely open themselves up to the camera. This week we profile Sibusiso Vilane, the first black African to climb Mount Everest.

(CNN) -- Having endured ferocious snow storms and frigid temperatures, Sibusiso Vilane climbed his way into the record books in 2003, becoming the first black African to conquer Mount Everest.

Standing on top of the world, the South African adventurer says, was the highlight of his life.

"Realizing that finally I was there, that the message that I had been carrying for 60 days, that we Africans can reach great heights, was all over the world -- the feeling was even if I could collapse at that time and pass out and die, I would not have had a problem. I would have been the happiest person ever," Vilane says.

The news of his landmark ascent made headlines across the world and turned Vilane into an instant celebrity in South Africa.

"It was amazing because when I left I didn't think that the whole country was going to be so excited and so cheerful," Vilane says.

Nelson Mandela hailed him "a real hero," while then-President Thabo Mbeki said his feat had made all South Africans "stick out our chests in justifiable pride and wonder."

Scary moments on Everest

Endurance in the Antarctic

Gallery: Adventurer Sibusiso Vilane

But conquering Everest's treacherous slopes wasn't the only time the adventurer would make history.

In January 2008, Vilane became the first black African to walk completely unassisted to the South Pole -- "unassisted" meaning that Vilane, along with his summit partner Alex Harris, undertook the journey on foot, dragging all their food and equipment -- weighing 130 kilograms -- behind them.

The pair walked 1,113 kilometers in 65 days in one of the world's most dangerous terrains. Antarctica has the strongest winds on the planet, which can blow at speeds of over 300 kilometers per hour, while temperatures can go down to -40 C.

When they finally reached their destination, they were left with just two days of emergency supplies.

Vilane describes the arduous trek as "the toughest, most challenging thing that one can ever endure," but is quick to add that the experience never got the better of him.

"It never broke me down," Vilane says, "I don't think it made me meet my physical limits yet."

Born in South Africa's north-western province of Mpumalanga, Vilane spent most of his childhood in a remote village in Swaziland.

He says his tough childhood has made him passionate about helping children in need. In 2005, Vilane climbed Everest for a second time, raising $40,000 for two children's charities.

"I've always had the desire to help children. That comes from my childhood -- I was helped by people when I was young and I was using that as a charity climb, so that is what got me back again into climbing," he says.

You've got to dream and then set out to achieve your dreams.
--Sibusiso Vilane

Vilane says he makes up for his small stature with mental strength and courage. "I may not be that big but I'm a giant at heart and I think that is the most important thing," he says. "If your mind is really that big, if it is an Everest size, then you can be able to reach the top."

When Vilane is not enduring the world's roughest terrains he works in the bush as a conservationist, the job that he considers his first love.

His other career -- as an adventurer -- came about when he met John Doble, the former British High Commissioner to Swaziland, who introduced him to mountain climbing and funded his first ascents.

Doble asked Vilane, who was working as a game ranger, why there weren't many world-famous black mountain climbers.

"I said to him, 'it's not that we can't do this sport, it's because we don't understand it -- should we be exposed to it I'm sure we can do it,' and that is how I got into it," Vilane says.

Vilane has been a member of the "Seven Summits" club since 2008 after reaching the top of the highest mountains on seven continents, becoming the first black African to join the elite club.

He says he hopes his feats will inspire young Africans to reach the top in their own life journeys.

Vilane says: "I just want them to realize that they are unique as Africans and we can match the world with anything we do -- be it sport, be it business, be it anything.

"You've got to dream and then set out to achieve your dreams. There will be challenges but it's about just being persistent and not giving up."

Teo Kermeliotis contributed to this report

Church letter warns against mandatory reporting of child sex abuse

By the CNN Wire Staff

January 19, 2011 -- Updated 1304 GMT (2104 HKT)

2010: Pope 'sorry' for Ireland abuse

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Irish bishops have had mandatory reporting rules since 1996, their spokesman says
• 1997 letter warns bishops to follow canonical law
• Letter was sent to bishops in Ireland
• Program says Pope Benedict XVI doing more than previous popes to tackle abuse

Belfast, Northern Ireland (CNN) -- A 1997 letter from the Vatican's representative to bishops in Ireland warns them to follow church law in investigating cases of suspected child sex abuse by priests and expresses "serious reservations" about requiring that such cases be reported to the police.

The Vatican has responded by calling the letter "deeply misunderstood."

And a spokesman for the Conference of Irish Bishops said they have since 1996 had a policy of reporting suspected abuse to the police.

The two-page letter, written by Apostolic Nuncio Luciano Storero, was sent to bishops in Ireland in response to a document they had sent to the Vatican that recommends mandatory reporting of cases of suspected child sex abuse by priests.

2009: Irish child abuse report out

2010: Irish Catholics divided

After studying the Irish bishops' document, the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy said it contains "procedures and dispositions which appear contrary to canonical discipline and which, if applied, could invalidate the acts of the same bishops who are attempting to put a stop to these problems.

"If such procedures were followed by the bishops and there were cases of eventual hierarchical recourse lodged at the Holy See, the results could be highly embarrassing and detrimental to those same diocesan authorities," Storero wrote.

"In particular, the situation of 'mandatory reporting' gives rise to serious reservations of both a moral and a canonical nature," he added.

The letter was obtained by Irish state broadcaster RTE for a religious-affairs program broadcast Monday. RTE said it had received the letter from an Irish bishop and that Catholic officials in the country had previously refused to release it. A lawyer for the Vatican sent a copy of the letter to CNN.

The RTE program "Would You Believe?" said Pope Benedict XVI is now doing more than any previous pope has done to tackle abuse, but asked whether that has been enough.

Martin Long, a spokesman for Irish Catholic bishops, said the pope had twice in the past year urged them to follow procedures the church established to protect children.

"Also the Irish Church maintains its policy of mandatory reporting of abuse allegations," Long said, calling on the Irish government "to introduce law which facilitates mandatory reporting of allegations of sex abuse."

Jeffrey Lena, the lawyer representing the Holy See in the United States, said in a statement that "the letter in question has been deeply misunderstood."

He said its primary purpose "was to help ensure that bishops who discipline their priests for sexual abuse did so in a manner that would ensure that the priest not avoid punishment based upon technical grounds. This is precisely the opposite of what has been reported in many press accounts."

The letter also raised questions about the canonical validity of what Lena called the "study document" produced by the Irish Bishops' Conference. "As such, contrary to media reports, the letter did not constitute a rejection of the position of the conference," he said. "Finally, and again in stark contrast to news reports, the letter nowhere instructed Irish Bishops to disregard civil law reporting requirements."

A Vatican spokesman, Federico Lombardi, said the letter rightly insists that canon law be respected to ensure that guilty priests have no grounds for recourse.

"We need to remember that the letter was written before the norms of 2001," which clarified the matter, he said.

But victims' and survivors' groups in Ireland said the letter proves the protection of pedophile priests from criminal investigation was not only sanctioned by Vatican leaders but ordered by them. One in Four, an organization representing victims of sexual abuse in Ireland, said the letter raised questions about the inquiry into child sex abuse by clerics in Ireland.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests raised similar concerns. "In the mid 1990s, Irish bishops wanted to start telling law enforcement about horrific child sex crimes," the group said in a statement. "Top Vatican bureaucrats told them no. That's what this newly-released letter shows. We can't help but wonder how many other similar documents -- in which the Vatican thwarts local efforts to combat abuse -- remain hidden in church records across the world."

"It's certainly an embarrassment for the Vatican," said CNN Senior Vatican Analyst John L. Allen, Jr. "It's another confirmation that, in the late 1990s, there was deep ambivalence in the Vatican about how far they should go in terms of reporting priestly sex abuse to civil authorities."

But, he added, "It's not a smoking gun because it is not a directive. Not an order. This is one Vatican official giving his opinion. It is not a policy document."

Current Church policy calls for such cases -- learned about outside the confessional -- to be reported to police, he said.

CNN's Ben Brumfield and journalist Peter Taggart contributed to this report.

Bolivia hopes for buzz with coca campaign

By Peter Wilkinson, CNN

January 19, 2011 -- Updated 1230 GMT (2030 HKT)

Bolivia's coca energy drink

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Bolivia urges countries to back campaign to have coca taken off U.N. list of banned drugs
• Coca is widely used in Andes as a mild stimulant in drinks and herbal medicine
• Advocates say leaves, which contain small amounts of cocaine, have several benefits
• U.S. expected to oppose moves to have coca legalized

(CNN) -- For almost half a century the chewing of coca leaves, a practice dating back thousands of years, has been banned internationally. Now, Bolivia is urging countries to back a campaign to have coca removed from a United Nations list of banned drugs.

Coca is widely used in the Andes as a mild stimulant and herbal medicine. Advocates say the leaves, which contain small amounts of cocaine, have several health and social benefits and dismiss claims it is dangerous.

Bolivian President Evo Morales, a former union leader for coca growers, has said "sacred" coca in its raw state is not an addictive drug and emphasizes that it has had a legitimate medical purpose for hundreds of years.

But coca remains the raw ingredient for the purified forms of cocaine, which are illegal for non-medicinal, non-government-sanctioned purposes in virtually all countries.

According to the Washington Office on Latin America, (WOLA) an American non-governmental organization, the United States is likely to oppose any move to have coca leaf removed from the 1961 U.N. Single Convention on Narcotics Drugs. The International Narcotics Control Board is also opposed to any lifting of the ban.

In an attempt to win over doubters, Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca is on a European tour this week, urging leaders there not to block its campaign. If no objections are raised by January 31, the change will take place automatically, according to the WOLA.

Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez told Choquehuanca on Tuesday that Spain understands Bolivian's petition and has shown its interest to mediate on this issue so an agreement could be reached, according to EFE.

If the change in the status does take place it could mean coca products being sold around the world as well as energy drinks, flour and even toothpaste derived from the leaves.

One of these, Coca Colla, which trades on the name of the more famous U.S. soft drink that originally contained coca, has been a hit since its launch last year in Bolivia, and another was launched on Tuesday.

The new product, called "Coca Brynco," was launched at an official ceremony in Bolivia's capital La Paz, emphasizing support from Morales's government for the venture, Agence France-Presse reported.

Bolivia is currently the world's third biggest coca producer after Colombia and Peru, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, so if its campaign to legalize coca leaves is successful the country has much to gain.

CNN's Claudia Rebaza contributed to this report.

Fresh but peaceful protests in Tunisia's capital

From Tommy Evans and Rima Maktabi, CNN

January 19, 2011 -- Updated 1219 GMT (2019 HKT)

CNN crew caught in Tunisia tear gas

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Hundreds of people march to a police line and chant
• Witnesses say the police demeanor appears more relaxed
• One official said the government isn't meeting on Wednesday

Tunis, Tunisia -- Another day of demonstrations in Tunisia's capital city commenced Wednesday, a peaceful rally in a city wracked by violent protests.

A crowd that grew to about 1,000 people tramped down Avenue Habib Bourguiba, singing the country's national anthem and chanting against the former ruling party and the former president, who fled the country last week amid the country-wide grass-roots uprising.

The people strode to a police line and met the officers eyeball to eyeball, but there was no conflict. Witnesses said the police demeanor appeared more relaxed than in previous days with the officers holding their ground but not acting aggressively.

This is in contrast to other days in Tunis, when police lobbed tear gas and dispersed peaceful throngs of marchers with batons.

U.S. flies 70 citizens out of Tunisia

Tourists beaten on Tunisian street

Why are Tunisians still protesting?

Tunisian protesters want to clean house

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• Tunisia

As protesters chanted, an army helicopter flew over the city and that drew a cheer from the crowd, which views the army as a calming factor in the street conflict and sees the police as aligned with former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his Constitutional Democratic Rally party.

This comes as Tunisian officials attempt to keep afloat the country's unity government, formed earlier this week with members of the opposition and the Ben Ali party.

But there have been difficulties in getting that administration going because protesters are demanding that more should be done to sweep the old guard out of power.

Tunisia's interim president and prime minister resigned from the ousted leader's ruling party, state TV said Tuesday, a move seen as a gesture to placate angry street demonstrators and keep the unity government afloat.

But at least four ministers from opposition parties have pulled back from the new government, leaving some observers concerned that the coalition may collapse before it can set up new elections.

Asked whether the unity government will collapse if demonstrations continue, Minister of Social Affairs Moncer Rouissi said that everyone has the right to demonstrate but that will not stop the government from fulfilling its duties.

'Alien' artist Giger: Monsters came from my nightmares

By Laura Allsop for CNN

January 19, 2011 -- Updated 1043 GMT (1843 HKT)

(CNN) -- It is fitting that the creator of one of the most heinous and iconic movie monsters of all time should have once been plagued by nightmares.

Swiss artist H.R. Giger brought his night terrors to the big screen in Ridley Scott's critically-acclaimed 1979 film "Alien."

The iconic extraterrestrial and the myriad other monsters in Giger's early paintings and sculptures were inspired by nightmares that he would sketch out upon waking.

Giger told CNN: "I feel very, very safe and happy and I have no more nightmares but at the time, in earlier days, I could heal myself through doing my work."

Those who have seen the film will find the image of the alien hard to shake: an empty-eyed, salivating beast, it was taken from Giger's 1977 book of images, "Necronomicon," which Ridley Scott was given during the pre-production stage of "Alien."

I have not to work absolutely now, I like to be free to dream.
-- H.R. Giger, artist

Giger was promptly commissioned to create the film's eponymous creature and in 1980, won an Academy Award for "Best Achievement for Visual Effects."

The alien and other creatures, which Giger affectionately refers to as "my monsters" were used in all the subsequent "Alien" films. Now, Giger is once again looking at collaborating with Scott for a highly anticipated "Alien" prequel.

The project is shrouded in secrecy, from the design to the lead actress. Giger is excited about the possibility of working again with Scott but, he said, "I can't talk about it right now. It's too early."

Contracts are being worked on; meanwhile fan sites are abuzz with speculation about the look and plot of the film.

Giger's fantastical and otherworldy art is well-suited to science-fiction and horror movie making. In addition to "Alien," he worked as a designer on the 1995 sci-fi horror film "Species," and as a conceptual artist for the 1986 film "Poltergeist II: The Other Side."

And in the 1970s, he worked on production designs for experimental director Alejandro Jodorowsky's doomed adaptation of Frank Herbert's science fiction novel, "Dune."

An exhibition celebrating his film design work is opening in March at the Kunsthaus Wien in Vienna in March. But Giger began his career as an artist and continues to draw.

Recurring themes and visuals in his work include the "Birth Machine," a strange apparatus featuring hollow-eyed babies peering out of test tubes; and a woman staring out from a mask of snakes.

I think his ideas are very existential.
--Stina Hogkvist, curator, Take Me To Your Leader

A solo exhibition of Giger's work is currently on view in a castle in the sleepy Swiss village of Sarnen, while sketches and early film props are currently on view as part of a group show at the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo, called Take Me To Your Leader.

Giger's vision may be frightening, says the show's curator Stina Hogkvist, but it is also avant-garde.

"He can't really be defined in the simple way," she said. "Of course it can be scary but it can also be dystopian."

"I think his ideas are very existential," Hogkvist continued. "What makes up a human being; when does a life start, when does it end; what is natural and what is unnatural. It's always interesting and always relevant."

Nowadays, Giger, who is in his 70s, contents himself with drawing, writing in his diary and with his museum in Gruyeres, which houses his own work but also an art collection boasting works by Salvador Dali and Ernst Fuchs.

"I have not to work absolutely now. I like to be free to dream," he said.

With as febrile an imagination as his, future visions may well prove to be out of this world.

Travel Websites Urged To Give Malaria Warning

8:47am UK, Wednesday January 19, 2011

Lulu Sinclair, Sky News Online

Travel websites offering last-minute deals should give "explicit" warnings on the risk of malaria, according to a group of specialist doctors.

Gambia is a popular destination for winter sunshine holidays

Holidaymakers who book late bargains can find they have no time to organise malaria prevention tablets or seek the right advice, they said in a letter to the British Medical Journal.

The specialists in infectious diseases from James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough use the example of three Brits who recently returned from Gambia, all of whom had booked through the same travel website and not looked for proper medical advice before travelling.

None had any tablets that would help prevent malaria - and all three contracted severe malaria and were admitted to hospital within two weeks of returning home.

The malaria bug is carried by mosquitos

"Imported cases of malaria are relatively common in the UK, mostly from West Africa, with a considerable proportion occurring in holidaymakers.

"The Gambia is a popular winter sun destination for UK travellers. Malaria is highly endemic there and is a risk to travellers throughout the year," John Widdrington's team writes.

"This risk could be avoided by taking appropriate chemoprophylaxis tablets and taking action to cover up or use sprays and creams to avoid bites.

"The increasing use of websites to make late holiday bookings can make it more difficult to organise medical advice and malaria chemoprophylaxis.

"In addition, many travel websites and holiday brochures - including the website used by our patients - make no specific reference to the risk of contracting malaria.

Gambia is on Africa's west coast

"Travel websites need to include explicit messages about taking medical advice and effective chemoprophylaxis before travelling to malaria endemic areas.

"Advice on allowing sufficient time to organise this might reduce the particular risk to people making late bookings."

The Association of British Travel Agents told Sky News Online: "Most often travel websites do have information on their website about what travellers need to do to protect themselves before they go away.

"Sometimes the issue of booking late means that travellers do not read everything on websites. Similarly airline websites do not carry this type of information.

"It is not only obligatory for Abta members to make their clients aware of compulsory vaccinations (malaria tablets are never compulsory), but also to advise them to seek medical advice."