Iraq agreed to allow U-2 surveillance flights over its territory, meeting a key demand by UN inspectors searching for banned weapons as European opposition to American military action mounted.
Baghdad's acceptance of the U-2 flights, as well as its submission of new documents to the UN over the weekend, marked Iraq's latest step to stave off a US-led attack and convince other governments that it was now ready to cooperate in full with UN inspectors.
US President George W. Bush, however, brushed aside Iraqi concessions as too little, too late.
"This is a man who is trying to stall for time," he said Monday after a meeting with Australian Prime Minister John Howard, a staunch US ally against Iraq. "The reason we need to fly U-2 flights is they're not disarming."
Key European governments insist that Iraq's cooperation is sufficient to allow inspections to continue and delay military action. On Monday, France, Germany and Belgium vetoed a US-backed measure to authorize NATO to make plans to protect Turkey in the event of attack by Iraq.
With the threat of war looming large, Baghdad appeared eager to display new cooperation with the inspectors in hopes of encouraging opposition to an imminent military strike. The announcement came days after five Iraqi scientists gave private interviews to the UN weapons inspectors.
"The inspectors are now free to use the American U-2s as well as French and Russian planes," Mohamed al-Douri, Iraqi ambassador to the UN, said in New York.
In a letter sent Monday to UN weapons inspectors, Iraq also pledged to pass legislation next week outlawing the use of weapons of mass destruction,
Yesterday, UN inspectors paid a surprise visit to a Baghdad missile plant as international experts met behind closed doors in New York to assess whether Iraq's short-range missiles can fly farther than permitted under UN edicts.
In their daily rounds of inspections, conducted despite a Muslim holiday in Iraq, a UN team went to a factory that makes molds and casts, including components for Iraq's al-Samoud ballistic missiles, the Information Ministry reported.
Chief weapons inspector Hans Blix reported to the Security Council on Jan. 27 that Iraq's liquid-fueled al-Samoud 2 missile reached a maximum of 183km in test flights, passing the limit of 150km set under UN resolutions imposing controls on Iraqi arms since the 1991 Gulf War.
The Iraqis say that, when operational, the missile's range will fall below 150km.
The findings of the two-day experts meeting that ended yesterday at UN headquarters in New York may be incorporated in an update report Blix must file with the Security Council on Friday. If the missile is found in violation, Blix's UN inspection agency is expected to demand modifications and to plan continued monitoring of the Samoud 2 arsenal.
The reports Friday by Blix and chief nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei are expected to help decide the next steps to be taken by the Security Council in the long-running Iraq crisis.
The council majority, led by France, Germany and Russia, want to continue the inspections and oppose US plans for early military action against Iraq if -- in the US view -- it has not disarmed adequately.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
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
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