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.
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
Tsunami waves were possible in three areas of Kamchatka in Russia’s Far East, the Russian Ministry for Emergency Services said yesterday after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit the nearby Kuril Islands. “The expected wave heights are low, but you must still move away from the shore,” the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app, after the latest seismic activity in the area. However, the Pacific Tsunami Warning System in Hawaii said there was no tsunami warning after the quake. The Russian tsunami alert was later canceled. Overnight, the Krasheninnikov volcano in Kamchatka erupted for the first time in 600 years, Russia’s RIA
CHINA’s BULLYING: The former British prime minister said that he believes ‘Taiwan can and will’ protect its freedom and democracy, as its people are lovers of liberty Former British prime minister Boris Johnson yesterday said Western nations should have the courage to stand with and deepen their economic partnerships with Taiwan in the face of China’s intensified pressure. He made the remarks at the ninth Ketagalan Forum: 2025 Indo-Pacific Security Dialogue hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Prospect Foundation in Taipei. Johnson, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time, said he had seen Taiwan’s coastline on a screen on his indoor bicycle, but wanted to learn more about the nation, including its artificial intelligence (AI) development, the key technology of the 21st century. Calling himself an
South Korea yesterday said that it was removing loudspeakers used to blare K-pop and news reports to North Korea, as the new administration in Seoul tries to ease tensions with its bellicose neighbor. The nations, still technically at war, had already halted propaganda broadcasts along the demilitarized zone, Seoul’s military said in June after the election of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung. It said in June that Pyongyang stopped transmitting bizarre, unsettling noises along the border that had become a major nuisance for South Korean residents, a day after South Korea’s loudspeakers fell silent. “Starting today, the military has begun removing the loudspeakers,”
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