Final preparations were underway in the Swiss Alps yesterday for an annual meeting this week of the world's elite to ponder tough topics, ranging from the future of Iraq to the fall of the dollar.
Security will be tight at the 33rd World Economic Forum (WEF), which is set to run from tomorrow to Sunday, attracting more than 2,000 high-status guests from 94 countries to the small ski resort of Davos.
Fresh from talks in New York, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, US overseer in Iraq Paul Bremer and a delegation of Iraqi ministers are due to make an appearance at the event, along with US Vice President Dick Cheney.
Also headlining is Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, taking a break from upcoming parliamentary elections, and Libyan Prime Minister Shukri Ghanem.
It will be Libya's first appearance at the forum in more than two decades in recognition of recent diplomatic steps taken by Tripoli, which vowed in December to abandon all programs to develop weapons of mass destruction.
Under a theme of security and prosperity equals peace, participants will be kept busy at working breakfasts, lunches and dinners slotted around seminars, brainstorming sessions and workshops from 7:30am to 10:30pm.
On the economic front, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, US Commerce Secretary Donald Evans and Japan's Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Heizo Takenaka are among the big guns due in town.
They will likely use the occasion to put their heads together over the swooning dollar, setting the stage for a Group of Seven finance ministers meeting in early February.
In addition, attempts to relaunch global free-trade talks will feature on the agenda, as the Swiss government plans to host a sideline World Trade Organization meeting on Friday, which is due to gather more than 20 trade and economics ministers.
The latest round of WTO negotiations, due to conclude by Jan. 1, 2005, has been on hold since a meeting in Mexico last September, which failed after bickering over cross-border investment and competition added to a more fundamental dispute over farm subsidies.
Back at the main forum, the Middle East peace process will also be explored, with Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Jordan's King Abdullah II and two promoters of the so-called Geneva Initiative due to make an appearance.
And the impact on businesses of the EU's expansion to 25 countries from 15 later this year will be addressed.
Despite the big names expected at the event -- including 85 government representatives from Europe, 43 from North America and more than 40 from the Middle East -- Latin America's presence will be smaller than planned after Argentina's President Nestor Kirchner decided to pull out.
Although the organizers do not expect large demonstrations, security at the forum will be tight, and an unofficial protest is expected on Saturday.
About 2,000 army personnel are on the ground in Davos along with several hundred police, local officials said, adding that a maximum of 6,500 armed forces were on hand for deployment.
The Swiss authorities plan to close the airspace around the resort to reduce the threat of terrorism, while surrounding roads will be effectively sealed off to block any anti-globalization protesters, the WEF said.
For the time being, however, all was peaceful in Davos.
"The whole village is in a very calm state and I don't see any major problems coming up," said Andre Schneider, WEF managing director and chief operating officer.
As for the threat of a terrorist attack at the prestigious event, there was no sign of trouble at the moment.
However, the authorities were ready for action if the need arose.
The police believe there are between 1,000 and 1,500 people in Switzerland who are likely to answer a call to travel to Davos to demonstrate.
A demonstration against the forum attracted a few hundred people in Fribourg and also Bern. Several protesters received minor injuries when the police opened fire on them with rubber bullets.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person