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.
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CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
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Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique