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Sunday,
April 13, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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France, Russia want key role for UN in Iraq
Indian bodies helped Libya’s missile plan: CIA |
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SARS claims two more lives Cannibalism helped
curb ailments
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France, Russia want key role for UN in Iraq
Saint Petersburg, April 12 Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder demanded a central role for the world body in the reconstruction of Iraq but implicitly acknowledged their powerlessness by ending their meeting without a joint declaration. Mr Putin told an audience of jurists at the Saint Petersburg Law Faculty that the three leaders, who had strongly opposed the US-led drive to war on Baghdad without UN approval, agreed that only the UN could oversee the rebuilding of Iraq. "The United Nations must play a central role to assure Iraq’s sovereignty," Mr Chirac said. In comments likely to further strain relations with Washington, the three leaders said the future world order was at stake as only the United Nations could ensure that Iraq’s reconstruction was taking place within the framework of international law. Mr Schroeder, who was awarded an honorary law degree from the university where Mr Putin himself once studied, stressed that the UN Security Council must confer legitimacy on any reconstruction efforts in Iraq. "The United Nations is the only organisation that rests on universal and cooperative notions," he said. All three countries lobbied furiously against a draft UN resolution that would have authorised military force against Iraq, arguing that the disarmament of Iraq was being achieved by peaceful means through the work of UN weapons inspectors. WASHINGTON: With political nerves on edge about Iraq’s future, global finance chiefs gathered in Washington at the weekend to consider how to help rebuild the war-ravaged country and to pump up their own economies. Finance ministers from the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, Canada, France and Italy — the Group of Seven industrialised countries — met over dinner on Friday night ahead of formal sessions that were to wrap up about mid-Saturday with a communique. US Treasury Secretary John Snow said this week he wanted to have ‘’framework’’ talks at the G7 session about Iraqi reconstruction, once the war finally ends, including some sort of deal over forgiving the war-ravaged country’s past debts. Germany, France and Russia led opposition to the war, saying the United Nations should have had more time to carry out arms inspections in Iraq. The G7 meeting is taking place on the fringes of the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank and some participants still were manoeuvring over the roles the UN and the two global lenders would play in rebuilding Iraq. AFP, Reuters
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Russia may write off Iraq debt Saint Petersburg, April 12 “I believe that we could begin to discuss the principles of this issue at the G8 summit in Evian. In any case, we are ready to do so,” he said, referring to a June meeting of the Group of 8 leading industrial nations. U.S. Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said yesterday Russia, France and Germany could contribute to rebuilding Iraq by writing off some or all of the loans they made to Iraq under President Saddam Hussein.
Reuters |
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Kurds leaving
Kirkuk Kirkuk (Iraq), April 12 “Yesterday, we withdrew half of the Peshmerga forces and today we are moving the remaining forces,” Iraqi Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani told reporters in Kirkuk. Talabani said the withdrawal did not include those who were asked by the Americans to stay. Kurdish commander Mam Rostam said any fighters the Americans asked to stay would also withdraw eventually. “When everything is settled, the others will leave,” he said.
Reuters |
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Indian bodies helped Libya’s missile plan: CIA
Washington, April 12 The report, released yesterday, says the suspension of UN sanctions in 1999 allowed Libya to expand its efforts to obtain ballistic missile-related equipment, materials, technology and expertise from foreign sources. “Outside assistance—particularly from Serbian, Indian, Iranian, North Korean and Chinese entities—has remained critical to its ballistic missile development programme. On the report said: “In November 2000, China committed not to assist, in any way, any country in the development of ballistic missiles that could be used to deliver nuclear weapons, and to enact at an early date a comprehensive missile-related export control system.” But Chinese entities continued to provide Pakistan with missile-related technical and material assistance during the reporting period (the first six months of 2002). Pakistan has been moving toward domestic serial production of solid-propellant short range ballistic missiles with the help of Chinese entities, the report said. The CIA says that China may also have broken its pledge not to assist any country in the development of nuclear weapons, by assisting Pakistan after making the pledge. “We cannot rule out, however,” says the CIA, “some continued contacts subsequent to the pledge between Chinese entities and entities associated with Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme.” PTI
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SARS claims two more lives
Beijing, April 12 “Ten imported cases of atypical pneumonia have been found in the inner Mongolia autonomous region. In two of these cases, the patients have died,” the official Xinhua news agency said, quoting authoritative experts. The 10 cases were all reported in the regional capital Hohhot. Two patients have recovered while others are still being treated. HANOI: Vietnam reported a new SARS case on Saturday although another patient was removed from the list after he was found not to be carrying the disease. The latest case was a man from the Ninh Binh province, who had been in close contact with a 67-year-old patient infected there. WILLINGTON: A 65-year-old man was in isolation in hospital on Saturday as New Zealand’s first suspected SARS case. The man was admitted to hospital in Palmerston North, 140 km north of Wellington, on Friday night after returning from visits to Hong Kong and China. BANGKOK: Thailand has reported a new probable SARS case. Agencies
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Cannibalism helped curb ailments
Paris, April 12 John Collinge of University College London said in a study published in the Science journal yesterday that some of our prehistoric ancestors were believed to have been frequent consumers of human flesh - which can spread “prion” diseases. The practice of cannibalism was widespread and “not just some rarity that happened in New Guinea”, he said. AFP
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