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Saturday,
March 15, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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UN parleys fail to produce compromise on Iraq Cook may lead mutiny: report Bush, Roh agree to resolve standoff
USA okays new AIDS drug Indian wins Whitley Golden award |
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UN parleys fail to produce compromise on Iraq United Nations, March 14
Several senior diplomats, who have been actively participating in the discussions, said after the meeting yesterday that chances of compromise were little and that it would be futile for the USA, Britain and Spain to press vote on their second resolution as they just do not have nine votes needed for adoption of any measure by the council. At the UN, the USA signaled to push back the date of ultimatum to Iraq — March 17 — by a few days which, analysts say, could mean military action towards the end of next week at the earliest. American Ambassador John Negroponte has not called for a vote today and chances of it coming up for vote tomorrow are remote. The sponsors should normally give a 24-hour notice if they want to press for vote. As he came out of UN Headquarters, he told reporters that the time was running out and that his country was prepared to go extra mile if that led to some understanding within the UNSC. However, the Bush Administration in Washington said it could withdraw the resolution. But the effect of withdrawal would be that the USA would decide when to order its almost 260,000-strong military in the Gulf region to attack Iraq. Reports from Washington also said several top advisers of President George W. Bush wanted the resolution to be withdrawn so the USA had flexibility to take its own decision. Chinese Ambassador Wang Yingfan said the USA should withdraw the resolution as it just did not have the required number of votes. Similar views were expressed by Russian Ambassador Sergey Lavrov who said it would not fly. Washington failed to win support from Mexico, Chile and Pakistan despite its sustained and high-pressure efforts with Bush himself doing lobbying at the highest level and they were trying to draft their own proposal which has little chance to fly. But privately, diplomats of some of so-called undecided nations say that they would not mind if the USA took action unilaterally as such a course would let their governments off the hook and save a possible backlash at home. France, Russia, China and Germany are among the council members who oppose the proposal that gives Iraqi President Saddam Hussein time till Monday to disarm or face military action. In the face of the strong opposition, Britain floated a proposal that extends the deadline and gives six specific tasks to Saddam but the French rejected it, calling a ploy that opens doors for war. It was also rejected by Russia and Germany as also Iraq. “We will say no to any resolution that authorises the use of force,” French Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said. The so-called six “undecided” members of the council were also drawing up their own formula to give Iraq “reasonable time” to fulfil tasks but their diplomats said they are aware that there is little chance of it being accepted by Washington. Their proposal would not automatically lead to war as the council would have to meet again to take a decision if Iraq fails to cooperate. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s suggestion of a summit of world leaders interested in solution of the Iraq crisis whether members of the council or not drew cold response from White House, reports suggested. Annan met separately the ambassadors of all 15 council members to urge them to find a way out of the crisis and act unitedly but it was unclear if it had any effect on them. At least, till last evening, no such development was apparent. The reports said US military might be considering to attack these even before the war starts and that it was aware that action could itself lead to war. The US Navy’s warships were positioning themselves and preparing for massive attacks by deadly Tomahawk missiles in initial hours of war if it comes.
PTI |
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Cook may lead mutiny: report London, March 14 “The pair are likely to both make personal resignation statements to a packed House of Commons in a devastating curtain-raiser to a debate and vote on whether to back a war,” Daily Express claimed. “That will maximise the prospects of a clutch of junior ministers following suit and create a `febrile atmosphere’ that is expected to lead to around 170 Labour MPs voting against their leader’s policy,” the report said. The Prime Minister will be left relying on the votes of Tory MPs to carry a motion authorising war to disarm Saddam Hussein in the light of the failure of diplomacy. But Mr Blair has told friends he is determined to face down the revolt and “do the right thing” for the country. According to the report, a Cabinet meeting to endorse military action has been pencilled in for Monday morning and that is the moment when Mr Cook and International Development Secretary Short are likely to walk out. The tabloid said the Commons Leader failed to give full support to the Prime Minister during a Cabinet meeting yesterday. Meanwhile, Britain is considering plans for a crisis summit with the USA and Spain on Iraq, said Downing Street sources. They said a proposal for US President George W. Bush and British and Spanish Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Jose Maria Aznar to meet as early as this weekend was under study. But they stressed that no details had been finalised. The three nations were co-sponsors of a draft resolution that would have given Iraq a deadline of next Monday to disarm or face war.
AFP, PTI |
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Bush, Roh agree to resolve standoff Seoul, March 14 Meanwhile, Britain urged the United Nations to send a strong message of disapproval to North Korea over its suspected development of nuclear weapons. The USA announced that it resumed reconnaissance flights this week off the North’s coast after a hiatus prompted when a US plane was briefly intercepted by North Korean fighter. The flights have added urgency amid reports that North Korea is preparing to test a medium-range missile capable of reaching Japan. Tokyo yesterday sent a battleship equipped with high-tech surveillance equipment off the Korean peninsula.
AP |
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USA okays new AIDS drug Washington March 14 The drug, developed by Roche Holding AG (ROCZg.VX) and Trimeris Inc. (TRMS.O), will provide a new option for AIDS patients running out of alternatives. Fuzeon works by stopping the HIV virus that causes AIDS from entering immune cells. Older medicines attack the virus inside cells. Fuzeon, an injected drug also known as T-20, was approved for use with other anti-HIV drugs to treat advanced HIV infections in adults and children upto the age of six and older. “The accelerated approval of this new drug should provide new hope for those suffering from advanced HIV infection,” Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said in a statement. Some activists are worried about the drug’s price. A Roche official said the US cost would be similar to the approximately $20,000 per year previously announced for Europe. There is still no cure for the virus that has killed 28 million people worldwide and infects 40 million now. Roche officials have said they don’t expect Fuzeon to be suitable for use in Africa — the epicenter of the global AIDS epidemic — given the high cost and complexity of production. In addition, most African patients have not yet developed resistance to existing drugs. “This is strictly a developed world product,” Huff said.
Reuters |
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Indian wins Whitley Golden award London, March 14 Sukumar received the award, popularly known as “Green Oscar”, along with a cash prize of £ 50,000 from Princess Anne at the Royal Geographical Society here last night. This is the fourth year in succession that an Indian has won the award. Last year, a Pune scientist, Dr Anand Karve, won the award for developing a technique to produce clean fuel from sugarcane waste. In 2001, Vivek Menon, chief of the Wildlife Trust of India, was chosen for the award for his fight against poaching of elephants. In 2000, Gargi Banerji, a botanist, won the award for work in conserving medicinal plants in Himachal Pradesh. After receiving the award, Sukumar said he planned to spend the cash prize on providing support to local farmers to mitigate the impact of elephants on their lands as well as to help his field research team, which acts as a “watchdog” — identifying threats such as poaching for ivory and monitoring the health of the elephant population.
PTI |
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