In Brief

Hero’s welcome DHAKA – Muhammad Yunus, banker to the poor and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, returned to a hero’s welcome in the Bangladesh capital yesterday after a visit to Norway to pick up the award.

Yunus and the Grameen Bank he founded were cited for their work to lift millions out of poverty by giving loans to the desperately poor, especially women in rural Bangladesh. * Government resigns BISHKEK – The Kyrgyz government tendered its resignation yesterday and was waiting for word from President Kurmanbek Bakiyev as to whether he would accept it, the prime minister said.”I will appeal to the President to accept our resignation …I will do this straightaway,” premier Felix Kulov told a government meeting attended by 15 of the 19 government members.* In agreement MOSCOW – Russia’s foreign minister said yesterday a new draft UN Security Council resolution on Iran over its nuclear programme largely met Moscow’s concerns and could become the basis of a consensus decision.”The new resolution prepared by the EU3 (European big three) that is now being discussed in the Security Council has to a large extent taken into account our approaches,” Sergei Lavrov told Interfax in an interview.* Tsunami housing problems JAKARTA – Efforts to provide housing for survivors of the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia’s Aceh province still face obstacles two years after the disaster, a senior reconstruction official said yesterday.Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, was hardest hit among the areas in the Indian Ocean region affected by the tsunami that left about 170 000 people dead or missing in Aceh and displaced half a million.At least 57 000 permanent houses of 128 000 required for tsunami survivors have been built but many have not been occupied, said Heru Prasetyo, director for donor relations at the Aceh reconstruction agency, or BRR.Nampa-AP-AFP-Reuters* Government resigns BISHKEK – The Kyrgyz government tendered its resignation yesterday and was waiting for word from President Kurmanbek Bakiyev as to whether he would accept it, the prime minister said.”I will appeal to the President to accept our resignation …I will do this straightaway,” premier Felix Kulov told a government meeting attended by 15 of the 19 government members.* In agreement MOSCOW – Russia’s foreign minister said yesterday a new draft UN Security Council resolution on Iran over its nuclear programme largely met Moscow’s concerns and could become the basis of a consensus decision.”The new resolution prepared by the EU3 (European big three) that is now being discussed in the Security Council has to a large extent taken into account our approaches,” Sergei Lavrov told Interfax in an interview.* Tsunami housing problems JAKARTA – Efforts to provide housing for survivors of the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia’s Aceh province still face obstacles two years after the disaster, a senior reconstruction official said yesterday.Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, was hardest hit among the areas in the Indian Ocean region affected by the tsunami that left about 170 000 people dead or missing in Aceh and displaced half a million.At least 57 000 permanent houses of 128 000 required for tsunami survivors have been built but many have not been occupied, said Heru Prasetyo, director for donor relations at the Aceh reconstruction agency, or BRR.Nampa-AP-AFP-Reuters