"UN Security Council members agreed on Friday to appoint Germany as chairman of the council’s sanctions panel on Iraq after the White House dropped its opposition. The United States, until Tuesday, had opposed Germany’s bid to chair the panel because it feared Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s government, which campaigned against an attack on Iraq, might challenge US policy. However, the Bush administration faced opposition from other key council members, such as France and Russia, in trying to block Germany," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The United States was poised yesterday to hasten the moment of truth over Iraqi disarmament by giving UN arms inspectors secret data on suspected weapon sites and the names of scientists likely to have inside information. New signs of US preparations for a possible war on Iraq included President George W. Bush’s cancellation of a trip to Africa on a few weeks notice and a US request to Germany to provide 2,000 troops to guard US bases in the country at the end of January," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The decision by US authorities to vaccinate military and medical personnel against the smallpox virus has sparked a debate about the risks being run by recipients. Thomas Mack, a professor of preventive medicine at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine argued that the current vaccination policy will provide little protection and the cost in deaths from vaccine complications will outweigh any benefit. The problem is that the vaccine carries real and potentially fatal risks. Medical experts are also concerned about the possibility that medical personnel could infect vulnerable hospital patients, especially those with AIDS, with the live virus during the contagious phase in the days immediately after inoculation," reprorted the AFP news service.
"Russia does not consider Iraq’s declaration on its weapons programme to represent a material breach of UN Security Council Resolution 1441. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said on Friday in Washington, as quoted by the Interfax news agency, there is nothing that could be described as a violation of the UN resolution," reprorted the AFP news service.
"The White House is proposing an Internet-wide monitoring centre to detect and defend against major cyber-attacks, but the Bush administration sought on Friday to ease worries it might scrutinise individual users’ e-mails along with other data traffic. Some Internet industry executives and lawyers said they would raise serious civil liberties concerns if the US government, not an industry consortium, operated such a powerful monitoring centre. Such a proposal would require congressional approval," reported the AP news agency.
"Middle East mediators on Friday called for an immediate truce between Israel and the Palestinians, saying peace plans that include creation of a Palestinian state were nearly complete but were unlikely to be unveiled until after Israeli elections in late January," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The United States on Friday took steps to shield itself from international criticism after effectively blocking an agreement to help African and other poor countries gain more access to life-saving drugs. The United States on Friday took steps to shield itself from international criticism after effectively blocking an agreement to help African and other poor countries gain more access to life-saving drugs," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Leaders of France’s Muslim community struck a landmark accord on Friday to form a national, elected council to represent the country’s five million followers of Islam in negotiations with the state," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Aircraft from the United States and its allies dropped leaflets over southern Iraq on Saturday advertising radio frequencies carrying appeals to Iraqi soldiers to desert President Saddam Hussein, the US Central Command said. A total of 240,000 leaflets were dropped referring Iraqis to frequencies on which coalition forces broadcast a series of anti-Saddam messages," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov declared yesterday that a military campaign in Iraq would run counter to Russia’s national interests. Ivanov also said in a television interview that Russia had no intention of joining such a campaign should the United States and Britain go to war against Iraq for its non-compliance with weapons inspections," reported the AFP news service.
"The United States and Britain are planning a massive seaborne invasion of Iraq from the Gulf as the first stage in any ground war. The British defence ministry source said planners were this time leaning towards an amphibious assault in the case of a war with Iraq in part because of the difficulties of protecting a large ground-based army from chemical or biological attack. Washington and London indicated that the prospect of a war to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in early 2003 was now increasingly likely," reported the Reuters news agency.
"An Iraqi minister said yesterday Baghdad will fully co-operate with the UN in a last-ditch effort to avoid war, but said a US-led attack may be all but inevitable. Iraqi Trade Minister Mohammed Mehdi Saleh told the English-language Guld News daily that the goal is not the destruction of alleged weapons of mass destruction but a desire on the part of the American and the British governments to control Iraqi oil and impose their hegemony on the Arab world. But the minister said Iraq would resist through all means an attack against its dignity, pride and future," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A well-known French television journalist died in a Kuwaiti hospital yesterday, a day after he was hit by a tank while covering US military exercises in the Kuwaiti desert. A spokesman at the French embassy in Kuwait told French radio that Bourrat, 50, was hit by a tank after pushing a TF1 cameraman out of its path," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The USA Patriot Act passed in response to the Sept 11 terrorist attacks is the biggest threat to democracy in the United States, Muslim leaders and activists said. The denunciation came at a Muslim-American convention on Saturday, days after vocal protests were held over the detention of hundreds of Middle Eastern immigrants who voluntarily registered with the Immigration and Naturalisation Service under new federal guidelines, and urged for an end to the programme. Council board chairman Omar Ricci said in his opening speech at the two-day annual conference said The Patriot Act is the biggest attack on democracy in America right now," reported the AP news agency.
"Two Arabs were arrested yesterday for threatening to blow up a Royal Jordanian aircraft carrying 173 passengers in a dispute over in-flight food. Abu Dhabi’s Civil Aviation Department said one of the passengers had an argument with a crew member over his meal requirement and told the crew that if he had a bomb he would blow up the aircraft. No bomb was found on board. Police have detained two passengers for interrogation," reported the AFP news service.
"Actress Jane Fonda visited a refugee camp and a hospital in the West Bank on Saturday, capping a three-day visit to the region aimed at promoting peace. The trip was organised by a global movement to stop violence against women," reported the AP news agency.
"Venezuela’s strike may drag on into a third week because of bungled US crisis management and myopic foreign policy, analysts here said. Robert White of the Centre for International Policy, a Washington think-tank, said if the US had some adult supervision in its foreign policy, they could have guided this thing into a constructive channel, but instead we have this foolishness. White pointed to US foreign policy flip-flops, from military intervention to early presidential elections," reported the AFP news service.
"An Afghan soldier was killed and three wounded when a missile was fired at their car on the outskirts of the southern Afghan city of Kandahar yesterday. The attack came on the first anniversary of the inauguration of President Hamid Karzai as Afghan leader, after a US-led military coalition toppled the fundamentalist Taliban government," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Three women, lauded as heroes for snitching on abuses at their places of work – the FBI, WorldCom and Enron Corporation – have been named “persons of the year” by Time Magazine. The magazine bestowed the honour on Coleen Rowley, a special agent at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Sherron Watkins, an executive at the now-defunct Enron Corporation, and Cynthia Cooper, who exposed bookkeeping irregularities at WorldCom," reported the AFP news service.
"North Korea triggered another nuclear alert yesterday when it said it had begun removing United Nations’ surveillance devices from its nuclear facilities and would reopen a mothballed reactor," reported the AFP news service.
"Iraq said on Sunday it had nothing to hide over its arms programmes and that the United States was even welcome to send in CIA agents to direct UN inspectors to sites it deemed suspect. Amir al-Saadi, an adviser to President Saddam Hussein, held a news conference in an apparent public relations drive against ever clearer threats of war coming from Washington and London. Saadi said UN inspections over the past four weeks had shown US and British charges that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction were lies and baseless, but Baghdad was still ready to answer further questions from the Western allies," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The United Nations is drawing up contingency plans in the event of a US-led war in Iraq that could create 900,000 refugees and shatter the nation’s infrastructure, the Times newspaper said yesterday. In a front-page report from New York, citing internal documents, the Times said UN planners expected the worst fighting would be in the three central areas around Baghdad," reported the AFP news service.
"The United States is holding dozens of prisoners at the US Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who have no meaningful connection to al-Qaeda or the Taliban, the Los Angeles Times reported on Sunday. Citing military sources, the paper said that many of the prisoners at the base were sent there over the objections of intelligence officers in Afghanistan who had recommended them for release," reported the Reuters news agency.
"German Finance Minister Hans Eichel said on Sunday the country would not contribute any financial support whatsoever to a war launched against Iraq," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Japan has unofficially offered its support for a US-led attack on Iraq to make up for its belated and largely unappreciated support for the Gulf War in 1991," reported the AFP news service.
"The Australian government has been accused of ignoring the plight of 30,000 illegal immigrants whom unions say are being exploited by unscrupulous employers, some linked to organised crime. A spokeswoman for Labor immigration Julia Gillard said the problem did not just affect the construction industry, citing a recent report by a government department that showed information technology workers were fraudulently brought to Australia on business visas and then exploited by employers," reported the AFP news service.
"Palestinian leaders said on Sunday they were postponing elections scheduled for January because of Israeli military occupation of West Bank cities. Announcing the Palestinian Authority’s decision to indefinitely postpone planned Jan 20 elections, Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said: Due to the Israeli reoccupation, obstruction and closures, it is impossible (to hold the vote)," reported the Reuters news agency.
"North Korea accused hawks in the United States yesterday of pushing the Korean peninsula to the brink of nuclear war and said its armed forces were up to the task of defeating any enemy. The reclusive communist state’s defence minister, speaking after Washington predicted its own armed forces could fight two wars at the same time and win, said his country had modern offensive and defensive means capable of defeating any enemy," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Earlier, the ruling party’s newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, accused Washington of internationalising the crisis and said persisting with this strategy would trigger an uncontrollable catastrophe. KCNA news agency quoted Defence Minister Kim Il-chol as saying that the US hawks are arrogant enough to groundlessly claim that the DPRK (North Korea) has pushed ahead with a nuclear programme, bringing its hostile policy toward the DPRK to an extremely dangerous phase," reported the Reuters news agency.
"With oil prices soaring to a 22-month high on Iraq war fears and dwindling Venezuela supplies, a senior House Republican asked the Bush administration on Monday to release crude oil from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Two large US refineries will run out of crude oil supplies by the end of the month unless some stockpiled crude was released to make up for the lack of Venezuelan supplies, Louisiana Rep Billy Tauzin said in a letter to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. The Energy Department had no immediate comment on Tauzin’s request," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Tens of thousands of foes of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez marched through Caracas on Monday after opposition leaders rejected a government appeal for a Christmas truce in their general strike to try and force the leftist leader to resign. Opposition strikers, an alliance of political parties, unions and business leaders, vowed to press on with the 22-day-old stoppage that has hobbled the nation’s vital oil industry and caused fuel and food shortages," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Nearly 50 Western chemical concerns are likely to face a class-action suit early next year by more than 3,000 sick Gulf War veterans who accuse them of complicity in Iraq’s drive to acquire weapons of mass destruction. The list includes the names of 19 German, 10 British, four Swiss and two French concerns, as well as three companies from the Netherlands, Austria and the United States that supplied materials allegedly used in the Iraqi chemical weapons programme through the 1980s. Attorney for the plaintiffs, Gary Pitts, said essentially what we are saying is that Saddam (Iraqi President Saddam Hussein) was killing people with poison gas against international law, but these companies were enabling him by doing what they did," reported the AFP news service.
"Iraqi warplanes shot down an unmanned US reconnaissance drone over the southern part of the country, as the government of President Saddam Hussein accused Washington of gearing up for a world war. At an Afro-Asian solidarity meeting with Iraq in Badgdad, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz said this is a strategic build-up for a war reaching the level of a world war and targeting the entire Arab nation. With some 65,000 US troops are currently deployed in the Gulf and 50,000 more are expected to be sent to the region, he further said Does it make sense that this troop build-up targets just Iraq and is aimed only at changing the Iraqi regime? The direct target now is Iraq, but after Iraq no one will be safe – neither in Marrakesh (Morocco) nor in Bahrain," reported the AFP news service.
"Iraq’s Christian minority, which feels no less threatened by the anticipated US strike than the Muslim majority, is determined to brush off war fears and have as happy a Christmas as can be," reported the AFP news service.
"The Israeli army pledged yesterday to maintain a low profile in Bethlehem on Christmas eve, pulling troops to the outskirts of the city known as the birthplace of Jesus to allow Palestinian Christians and pilgrims to celebrate the holiday. Still, the city was subdued as it prepared to observe the holiday, the first time since 1994 that Bethlehem has been under Israeli occupation during the holiday," reported the AP news agency.
"Citing security concerns, the Federal Aviation Administration has issued temporary flight restrictions over New York City and Pasadena, California, during the New Year's holiday. Commercial and private pilots are to heed the restrictions," reported the AP news agency.
"A gang armed with crude bombs attacked a church in eastern India on Christmas Eve, injuring six people and robbing members of the congregation. The chief priest was among those injured by bomb splinters in the attack. Anti-Christian sentiment has been on the rise in India since a coalition government led by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's Hindu nationalist party came to power in 1999. There have been several attacks on Christians and their organizations," reported the AP news agency.
"In a Christmas Eve message to Iraqis, Saddam Hussein said his people were ready for martyrdom and American claims his regime possesed weapons of mass destruction would be proven false," reported the AP news agency.
"Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah told several thousand Christian worshippers attending Bethlehem’s Christmas mass today to love their fellow human beings, including Jews, while urging Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian territories," reported the AFP news service.
"The euro rose to its highest level against the dollar in nearly three years Thursday as jitters over North Korea's nuclear program helped push the dollar down," reported the AP news agency.
"Israel’s military intelligence chief told lawmakers any US assault on Iraq is likely to be in early February. Major-General Aharon Ze’evi-Farkash told a parliamentary committee that a US strike would logically follow the Jan 27 deadline for the final weapons inspectors’ report to the UN Security Council," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The UN nuclear watchdog agency said on Wednesday North Korea had moved fresh fuel to a reactor which the United States says must stay mothballed because it can be used to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons. North Korea’s defence minister on Tuesday accused Washington of pushing the Korean peninsula to the brink of nuclear war," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Israel and the United States are to launch a joint project to protect civil aviation from missile attacks. The report comes a week after Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would use talks with his European counterparts to propose a security consortium to deal with the threat," reported the AP news agency.
"The Australian Government said yesterday it would boost security at its overseas embassies and was considering relocating some missions in high-risk locations. A foreign affairs spokesman refused to confirm a report in the Australian newspaper that three missions in the Middle East and South-East Asia would be relocated but said embassy security was under constant review," reported the AFP news service.
"Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi insisted in Tripoli on Wednesday that he still planned to pull his nation out of the 22-member Arab League. Libya will keep to its decision, announced two months ago, as long as the League charter is not re-activated and respected in a way that guarantees effective Arab action against the dangers facing the Arab world," reported the AFP news service.
"Russia brushed aside strong US criticism on Wednesday and said it had agreed with Teheran to speed up building of a US$800mil nuclear reactor in Iran and to consider constructing another. The United States, which has branded Iran part of an axis of evil for allegedly developing weapons of mass destruction, fiercely opposes Iran’s nuclear programme. Russian Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev said Washington had failed to show that Iran had broken any international regulations over the nuclear programme," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Israel’s Health Ministry said on Wednesday it had decided for now against inoculating the general public for the deadly smallpox virus despite mounting fears of a US war on Iraq. But the ministry said it would expand a programme to inoculate thousands more rescue and emergency workers," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A member of a sect that believes life on Earth was created by extraterrestrials claimed yesterday to have produced the world’s first human clone, a baby girl. Brigitte Boisselier, a chemist and head of a company that did the experiment, did not immediately present DNA evidence showing a genetic match between mother and daughter, however. That leaves her claim scientifically unsupported. Bush administration officials had said they were aware of rumours of an announcement but had no plans to comment until after the details were known," reported the AP news agency.
"Iraq said on Thursday it had boosted food rations to let citizens stock up before a possible war with the United States, and accused US and British planes of bombing civilian targets, including a mosque. Iraq also said UN arms experts had found no evidence of banned biological, chemical or nuclear weapons in one month of intrusive inspections across the country. Hussam Mohammad Amin, chief of Iraq’s National Monitoring Directorate in charge of working with UN experts, said the (UN) inspections teams have not found any direct or indirect evidence to prove the credibility of the false claims of the American and British administrations that Iraq is involved in banned programmes or stores banned weapons on its territories. UN inspectors had no comment on Amin’s statements," reported the Reuters news agency.
"While Baghdad and Washington continued their war of words yesterday, the prospects of real fighting got the cold shoulder from Turkey, home to strategic US air bases, which said it wanted UN approval for war before any action," reported the AFP news service.
"Nearly two-thirds of Israelis support an US offensive against Iraq, said an opinion poll published yesterday by the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot. Labour leader Amram Mitzna, who will challenge Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the Jan 28 general elections, accused his rival of sowing panic among the population to divert attention from a graft scandal rocking his own Likud party," reported the AFP news service.
"Suicide bombers in a pair of trucks roared up to the headquarters of the Kremlin-backed government in rebel Chechnya and blew them up yesterday, killing at least 38 people and wounding more than 70. The blasts wrecked much of the government headquarters and dealt a severe blow to the efforts of President Vladimir Putin’s government to portray the republic as returning to normal after more than three years of war between separatist guerilla bands and a massive Russian military contingent," reported the AP news agency.
"North Korea said yesterday it will expel UN nuclear inspectors and reactivate a laboratory that the United States claims can produce enough weapons-grade plutonium for several atomic bombs. The dramatic moves, announced by the North’s official news agency, KCNA, are certain to escalate tensions over Pyongyang’s plan to unfreeze nuclear facilities shut down in a deal with the United States in 1994," reported the AP news agency.
