Bin Laden urges Europeans to quit Afghanistan: tape

DUBAI, NOV 30 (Agencies): Osama bin Laden urged Europeans to break ranks with the United States and quit Afghanistan, while stressing he alone was behind the 9/11 attacks, in a tape attributed to him on Al-Jazeera television.

The United States "insisted on invading" Afghanistan even though it knew that the Afghans were not behind the 2001 attacks, and "Europe walked behind it," the voice purported to be that of the Al-Qaeda chief said in a "message to the European peoples." "It would be better for you if you (restrained) your politicians who flock to the White House and worked actively to end the wrong done to the oppressed," he said in the audiotape broadcast yesterday.

"I am responsible" for the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, the speaker said.

Qatar-based Al-Jazeera aired a head shot of a smiling bin Laden wearing a white headdress.

"The truth, as I said before, is that the Manhattan events were in retaliation for the killing of our kinfolk in Palestine and Lebanon by the US-Israeli alliance and that I am responsible for them," the voice said.

"I affirm that the Afghans - government and people - had no knowledge whatsoever of these events and America knows that," since it captured and interrogated some ministers from the Islamist militant Taliban movement, which was ousted from power by a 2001 US invasion.

By following in the footsteps of the US in Afghanistan, Europe could only be a "subordinate" to Washington, as attested to by the fact that "you entered this war and US soldiers were exempted from accountability in European courts.

India made strides against illiteracy, but concerns remain: UN UNITED NATIONS, NOV 30 (Agencies): India has made major strides in combating illiteracy, but the actual number of uneducated people has not fallen due to factors like rising population, a UN report has said.

The report by the UN Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) also said primary school enrolments increased significantly in much of the developing world over the past few years, but high costs continued to limit access to education.

An estimated 72 million children of primary school age - or about 10 per cent of the world's children of that age group - still do not attend any school but the figure is down sharply from 96 million almost a decade ago.

The UNESCO reported improvement in percentage of girls attending classes and amount of money spent on education but said adult illiteracy levels still remain "stubbornly high" because of rising population and cost of schooling.

The report card presented especially for developing countries, including India and China, showed that world might not be able to reach the Millennium Development Goal of primary education for all by 2015 unless a major effort and resources are committed.

The Asia's record, the report found, is mixed.

India, for instance, has made major strides to combat illiteracy but owing to several factors, including population increases, the actual number of illiterate people has not fallen, it said.

But China's well-targeted, domestically funded programmes aimed at geographic areas and specific age groups, with systematic follow-ups had made the country the region's highest achiever, the report said.

More than three-quarters of illiterate people live in just 15 countries, including eight of the nine high-population countries - India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Brazil, Egypt and Nigeria, the report said.

It noted that adult literacy rates have increased in most of them since 1985-94 decade but continuing growth in population in some, including Bangladesh, have increased the number of illiterates in absolute numbers.

In China, the number of adult illiterates dropped sharply by 98 million which largely accounts for rise in literacy rates in developing nations, it said.

"China's achievements stem from sustained increases in primary school participation, highly targeted literacy programmes and development of literate environment." Globally, the report said, there are 89 literate women for every 100 literate men but disparities are still marked in South and West Asia which have 67 literate women for every 100 men.

Arab states fare better with a ratio of 74:100 as also sub-Saharan Africa (76:100).

The report showed that primary school enrolment jumped by 39 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa and 22 per cent in South and West Asia - the two regions struggling the most to achieve "education for all" - between 1999 and 2005.

Briefing reporters, Nicholas Burnett, UNESCO's Assistant Director-General for Education, said at least 11 of the 25 countries posting the most rapid enrolment gains during the period had abolished school fees.