Global briefs

USA: The US army's suicide rate in Iraq is about a third 
higher than past rates for troops during "peace time", the 
Pentagon head of health affairs William Winkenwerder said. 
Winkenwerder said that around 2500 troops are waiting for medical 
care after returning from overseas. The army sent an assessment 
team to Iraq late last year to see if anything could be done to 
prevent troops killing themselves. It increased counselling 
services to returning troops after several returned soldiers 
killed their wives and themselves.

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BRITAIN: More than 140 MPs signed a House of Commons 
motion urging the Blair Government to press Israel to scrap its 
425-mile apartheid wall. The motion pointed out that the wall 
denies 400,000 Palestinians access to their jobs, schools and 
hospitals. Richard Burden, who warned: "A new form of apartheid 
is being built as the international community looks on". 
Explaining why 143 MPs have signed his Commons motion, Mr Burden 
said: "The British Government has expressed its concerns about 
the wall, but we should be putting more pressure on Israel to 
stop it, directly, through the EU and through our influence with 
Israel's main benefactor, the United States". Palestine 
Solidarity Campaign spokeswoman welcomed the Commons motion and 
appealed to the Blair Government to demand the dismantling of the 
wall, which said, she said, "created a ghetto".

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INDIA: Trade unions have called for a country-wide general 
strike on February 24 against the "total failure of the right-led 
present government of India to take the required steps to negate 
the pernicious impact of the supreme court judgement on the right 
to strike". The strike will also present an opportunity to 
demonstrate people's resolve to fight against anti-people and 
anti-national economic policies dictated by the World Bank, 
International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organisation. 
These policies have resulted in a worsening economic situation 
with galloping unemployment, growing poverty, reckless 
privatisation and closures, combined with delays in adopting laws 
for safeguarding the interests of workers.

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IRAQ: A US defence contractor best known for its military 
communications hardware won a Pentagon contract worth US$95.5 
million to rebuild an Iraqi television station. The group, 
Florida-based Harris Corporation, will also take over national 
newspaper Al-Sabah and two Baghdad radio stations. The plan to 
group the media properties together as the Iraqi Media Network 
was hatched by the US State Department before the US-led 
invasion. After Baghdad fell, the Pentagon sent equipment and 
media experts from Science Applications International, a US 
defence contractor whose staff is packed with former US military 
and intelligence officers. The network's close ties to the 
coalition and its slow coverage of breaking news have made it 
unpopular with Iraqis, who prefer its competitors, Al-Jazeera and 
Al-Arabiya.