New protests by Iraqi journalists greeted UN arms experts yesterday, the 50th day of inspections, as the US deployed more troops to the Gulf, fueling anti-war demonstrations across the globe.
However, rumors that President Saddam Hussein might go into exile were roundly dismissed by his cousin, Ali Hassan al-Maji.
"These are stupidities ... and one of the methods of psychological warfare against Iraq," said Majid, a member of Iraq's decision-making Revolution Command Council.
Arab diplomats were quoted earlier this week as saying Turkey was working on an exile plan with several Arab states.
Majid, who spoke to al-Jazeera television from Damascus, was to have visited Egypt to deliver a message to President Hosni Mubarak, but the trip has been postponed.
Syria, along with other neighbors of Iraq and Egypt, is trying to find a formula acceptable to both Washington and Baghdad to head off a US-led war.
Turkey has invited Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Iran to a summit to save Iraq.
In Baghdad, several hundred angry Iraqi journalists blocked the exit gate from the inspectors' headquarters.
Iraqi security forces kept control, but UN vehicles had to go out through an entry gate, edging their way through the crowd, fists raised, shouting "Down Down Bush."
The journalists' union, headed by President Saddam Hussein's eldest son, Uday, staged a first demonstration on Friday to commemorate the outbreak of the Gulf War on Jan. 17, 1991.
Meanwhile, a UN team returned to visit Baghdad University, while more inspectors entered a rocket factory south of the capital.
In Japan, thousands of people took to the streets yesterday in the first of a series of weekend rallies worldwide against war.
More than 4,000 people demonstrated in Tokyo, in the biggest of about 10 rallies held across the nation.
Demonstrations were also expected in the US and Latin America, western Europe, Russia and the Middle East.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to start construction of its 1.4-nanometer chip manufacturing facilities at the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP, 中部科學園區) as early as October, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported yesterday, citing the park administration. TSMC acquired land for the second phase of the park’s expansion in Taichung in June. Large cement, construction and facility engineering companies in central Taiwan have reportedly been receiving bids for TSMC-related projects, the report said. Supply-chain firms estimated that the business opportunities for engineering, equipment and materials supply, and back-end packaging and testing could reach as high as
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