Sunni Arabs signaled readiness to end their boycott of the commission drafting Iraq's constitution while the US ambassador to Baghdad began his new job calling for broad participation in the process as a key deadline loomed.
Zalmay Khalilzad, the former American ambassador to Afghanistan, said another priority will be improving US reconstruction aid, now widely viewed as lagging and leaving Iraqis demoralized.
"My approach will be to under-promise and over-deliver," Khalilzad said Saturday as he took up his new duties.
In a strange twist, al-Qaeda in Iraq posted a videotape showing a reportedly slain Egyptian diplomat discussing foreign access to tourist areas near Sharm el-Sheik in what appeared to be an attempt at justifying Saturday's deadly attacks in the Red Sea resort.
"If you seek evidence of how the Jews are desecrating the land of the Muslims, contemplate the words of the Egyptian ambassador about Jewish access and desecration of the land of Israel," said a statement accompanying the video.
The terror group also claimed responsibility for abducting two Algerian diplomats in Baghdad.
Iraqi police, meanwhile, announced the capture and purported confession of a suspected mastermind of the July 16 bombing in Musayyib that killed nearly 100 people in one of the deadliest attacks since the fall of Saddam Hussein in April 2003.
Work on the draft charter stalled after 12 remaining Sunni members announced a walkout following the Tuesday assassination of colleagues Mijbil Issa and Dhamim Hussein al-Obeidi.
The committee is working against an Aug. 15 deadline for completing the charter -- considered a key step in the establishment of a broad-based, constitutional government -- and the Sunni walkout raised doubts whether the document could be finished on time.
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Al-Qaeda takes credit for kidnapping of diplomat
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
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