Two car bomb attacks killed 13 Iraqis and a US soldier yesterday ahead of a UN Security Council vote that was expected to approve a resolution on the country's move from occupation to sovereignty.
In the northern city of Mosul, three men in a taxi blew up their vehicle near the mayor's office, witnesses said. The US military said at least nine Iraqis were killed and 25 wounded.
Some bodies were charred beyond recognition.
An hour earlier, a car bomb exploded outside a US base in the town of Baquba, 65km north of Baghdad, killing four Iraqis and a US soldier. Eleven Iraqis were wounded.
US officials say they expect a surge of guerrilla attacks ahead of the formal handover of sovereignty to an Iraqi government on June 30. Discussions at the Security Council on a resolution endorsing the political process have been complicated by international wrangling and by divisions within Iraq.
France said on Tuesday it would back the latest draft resolution on Iraq after its US-British sponsors made last-minute adjustments on military policy.
The US and Britain have called for the 15-nation Security Council to vote on the resolution later yesterday.
France, which has veto power on the council, said it would vote in favor, even though it was not fully satisfied.
"This will not prevent us giving a positive vote in New York to constructively help find a positive way out of this tragedy," Foreign Minister Michel Barnier told France Inter radio.
Most diplomats expect a unanimous 15-0 vote for the resolution, which gives international legitimacy to a newly formed Iraqi interim government and authorizes a US-led multinational force, now at 160,000 troops.
"We think this is an excellent resolution," US Ambassador John Negroponte said. "Iraq is entering into a new political phase, one where it is reasserting its full sovereignty."
The Bush administration was keen for a vote early this week so that disputes over the resolution did not overshadow a G8 summit in Sea Island, Georgia.
At issue was how much control Baghdad's new leaders would have over major US-run military operations after June 30.
Meanwhile, coalition forces freed three Italians and a Polish contractor and captured their kidnappers in a raid on the outskirts of Baghdad last night, Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi said.
Just before word came from the Italian government, the commander of the Polish-led multinational force, General Miecyzslaw Bienek, said that the three Italians and a Polish contractor were freed by US special forces.
The hostage-takers "certainly were captured," Berlusconi told private TG5 TV. "The operation was carried out without bloodshed" after the hideout was under observation for a few days, he said.
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying