The 13 aspiring members were not admitted to yesterday’s emergency European Union summit on the Iraq crisis but they were invited to Brussels today for a briefing from Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis, holder of the rotating EU presidency.

Many were seething at Mr Chirac’s charges at a closing news conference last night that their joint statements siding with Washington were “childish and irresponsible” and could damage their prospects of joining the bloc.

The French leader, who has led diplomatic resistance to what he sees as a US-British rush to war, said the candidates had “missed a great opportunity to shut up”. He said they should have consulted the EU before issuing statements in support of the USA. European Parliament leaders condemned the outburst when Mr Simitis reported to deputies on the summit’s outcome today.

Liberal Democrat leader Graham Watson called it “gratuitous and condescending”. Hans-Georg Poettering, leader of the centre-right European People’s Party, the largest grouping, warned against pitting eastern against western Europe, or the EU against the USA.

“Were we to define our relationship in such a way that European integration is seen as something running counter to our relations with the USA, then we would be jeopardising the future of the European Union,” he said.

A joint statement issued after the four-hour summit said: “War is not inevitable. Force should be used only as a last resort. It is for the Iraqi regime to end this crisis by complying with the demands of the Security Council. “Iraq has a final opportunity to resolve the crisis peacefully.”

Anti-war Germany went along with the statement even though Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has insisted that Germany would not support or participate in military action even if the Security Council backed it.

Mr Schroeder told reporters that he had made the leaders omit a warning that “time is rapidly running out”. Instead, they said the arms inspectors should be given the time and resources that the Security Council believed they needed.

Mr Chirac said: “The European mini-crisis has been overcome.” But apart from igniting a new feud with the candidate countries, Mr Chirac continued to bicker with British Prime Minister Tony Blair over the need for and timing of a second UN resolution that would declare that Iraq had failed to cooperate with the inspectors and faced serious consequences.

Mr Chirac said only the arms inspectors could determine when the process should end, and France would oppose any second UN resolution at this stage to authorise military action. Mr Blair said the issue was not a second resolution but the disarmament of Iraq.

“I think that most people understand that if that cannot be done peacefully it has to be done by force,” Mr Blair said.

Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld has a typewritten list of risks, according to The Times. He refers to it constantly, updating it with his ideas and suggestions from senior military commanders, and discusses it with President (George W.) Bush, the newspaper said.

According to diplomatic sources here, the resolution is expected to be submitted to the Security Council after an open debate in which member-states that are not represented on the Council would also participate.

The debate, is expected to hear calls for giving more time to UN weapons inspectors to fulfill their task and opposition to American plan to take military action.

More than six hours after the blaze started, firefighters with breathing apparatus were hunting for bodies and dragging out survivors at the underground station in Taegu in the southeast of the country. Dense, dark smoke was billowing from vents and stairwells.

An official at the Taegu Emergency Rescue Centre said 134 persons were dead, 136 injured and 99 were missing.

A total of 600 passengers were aboard the train when the fire started around 10 a.m. (6 a.m. IST), YTN television said.

More than 100 persons were killed and another 100 injured in a gas explosion on Taegu’s only subway line in 1995.

“A man in his 40s, dressed in a tracksuit, set fire to a plastic milk carton containing a flammable liquid and threw it inside the subway train,’’ Yonhap news agency quoted a witness as saying.

The police said a male suspect had received medical treatment and was being transferred to a police station. There were no further details on the suspect or his motives, although doctors said he was to undergo psychiatric tests.

South Korean President Kim Dae-jung sent his condolences to the families of victims. A witness said many passengers were unable to escape the train as the doors had closed prior to departure. Most of those hurt were being treated for smoke inhalation.

The minister, who announced the decision while making a statement on the blasts at a religious institution in northern Dinajpur on Thursday, said the ban had become effective from February 9, a day after the outfit was formally launched. Three persons, including two teachers of the madarsa, where the blasts occurred, were arrested after the incident.

Kawsar Hossain Siddiquie, convener of Al-Hikma, while announcing its launching on February 8, had said the outfit was financed by Dawood Ibrahim, who heads the list of most-wanted terrorists in India and is the prime accused in the Mumbai blasts case. The opposition welcomed the move, saying that the government had admitted to the presence of terrorist elements in the country.

LAS VEGAS HAS BIGGEST STRIPTEASE CLUB
LAS VEGAS: Las Vegas is seldom outdone in anything. Now it has what is claimed to be the biggest striptease club in the world. The Sapphire Gentlemen’s Club has room for up to 800 dancers. It has four stages for women as well as so-called skyboxes from which guests can watch the dancers from 60 ft up. Tourism officials said admission was $ 20 per head. And it doesn’t matter when you want to go: the club is open round the clock. DPA