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.
MILITARY BOOST: The procurement was planned after Washington recommended that Taiwan increase its stock of air defense missiles, a defense official said yesterday Taiwan is planning to order an additional four PAC-3 MSE systems and up to 500 missiles in response to an increasing number of missile sites on China’s east coast, a defense official said yesterday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the proposed order would be placed using the defense procurement special budget, adding that about NT$1 trillion (US$32,88 billion) has been allocated for the budget. The proposed acquisition would include launchers, missiles, and a lower tier air and missile defense radar system, they said The procurement was planned after the US military recommended that Taiwan increase
POLITICAL AGENDA: Beijing’s cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival events are part of a ‘cultural united front’ aimed at promoting unification with Taiwan, academics said Local authorities in China have been inviting Taiwanese to participate in cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations centered around ideals of “family and nation,” a move Taiwanese academics said politicizes the holiday to promote the idea of “one family” across the Taiwan Strait. Sources said that China’s Fujian Provincial Government is organizing about 20 cross-strait-themed events in cities including Quanzhou, Nanping, Sanming and Zhangzhou. In Zhangzhou, a festival scheduled for Wednesday is to showcase Minnan-language songs and budaixi (布袋戲) glove puppetry to highlight cultural similarities between Taiwan and the region. Elsewhere, Jiangsu Province is hosting more than 10 similar celebrations in Taizhou, Changzhou, Suzhou,
TWO HEAVYWEIGHTS: Trump and Xi respect each other, are in a unique position to do something great, and they want to do that together, the US envoy to China said The administration of US President Donald Trump has told Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) “we don’t want any coercion, but we want [the Taiwan dispute] resolved peacefully,” US ambassador to China David Perdue said in a TV interview on Thursday. Trump “has said very clearly, we are not changing the ‘one China’ policy, we are going to adhere to the Taiwan Relations Act, the three communiques and the ‘six assurances’ that were done under [former US president Ronald] Reagan,” Perdue told Joe Kernen, cohost of CNBC’s Squawk Box. The act, the Three Joint Communiques and the “six assurances” are guidelines for Washington
DEEPENING TIES: The two are boosting cooperation in response to China’s coercive actions and have signed MOUs on search-and-rescue and anti-smuggling efforts Taiwan and Japan are moving to normalize joint coast guard training and considering the inclusion of other allies, the Japanese Yomiuri Shimbun reported yesterday. Both nations’ coast guards in June sent vessels to the seas south of the Sakishima Islands to conduct joint training, the report said, adding that it was the second joint maritime training exercise since the nations severed formal diplomatic ties in September 1972. Japan dispatched the Nagoya Coast Guard’s Mizuho, a 134m, 6,000-tonne patrol vessel which can carry a helicopter, while the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sent the 126m, 4,000-tonne Yunlin, one of its largest vessels, the report
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