The UN Security Council was set yesterday to acknowledge but not formally recognize Iraq's interim government, as a message attributed to ousted dictator Saddam Hussein called on Iraqi Shiites to wage holy war against the US-led occupation.
The US promised to produce proof of Iraq's efforts to develop banned nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, while gunmen claiming links to al-Qaeda left calling cards at the scene of a deadly shootout with US troops.
Security Council members were scheduled to vote on a US resolution that acknowledges but does not formally recognize Iraq's interim administration, diplomats said Wednesday.
PHOTO: AFP
The original US draft put to the other four permanent members of the council for consultation had proposed saying that UN members "endorse" the Governing Council of Iraq set up by the US and Britain.
But some diplomats said this gave too much legitimacy to the Baghdad administration. According to a copy of a new draft, the Security Council will only say that it "welcomes" the new administration.
John Negroponte, the US ambassador to the UN, accepted the change and requested a vote, the sources said.
"To say `endorse' would not have been passed," said one senior representative from a Security Council member country.
Iraq has been at the center of more than a year of battles at the UN with Britain siding with the US in deciding that Saddam was a major threat, while the other permanent members -- China, France and Russia -- said military action was not necessary.
Part of the dispute centered around the threat posed by Saddam, with Washington and London insisting his pursuit of banned weapons required immediate action.
In Washington, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said investigators were steadily uncovering evidence that the former Iraqi leader did indeed have weapons of mass destruction and that it would be released to convince a skeptical world.
Powell said David Kay, the CIA official overseeing the search for Iraqi arms, would produce solid evidence proving President George W. Bush and other US officials "knew what we were talking about" when they accused Saddam of possessing banned weapons.
"David Kay, who is in charge of the research effort, has reported to us recently that more and more information is coming forward as he is able to read all the documents that he's captured and as he is able to interview people who were involved in these programs," Powell said.
"And as he assembles this information and is in a position to present it, I think the people of the world will see that the United States and other nations who felt as we did knew what we were talking about."
Meanwhile, Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television aired the tape attributed to Saddam calling on Iraq's top Shiite Muslim religious authority, to "proclaim jihad so that all the Iraqi people are united against the occupation."
It also praised a top Shiite leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.
Sistani is viewed by US officials as a crucial force for moderation in postwar Iraq. But he has voiced unease at the occupation and opposed plans for a US-backed interim Governing Council to draw up a new constitution for Iraq.
"Sayyed Sistani has our respect," the message read, using the title for a descendant of the prophet Mohammad.
In Baghdad, calling cards touting a link to al-Qaeda were found at the scene of a deadly shootout with US troops, as an Iraqi boy was killed in the first clash between US forces and Shiite Muslims in the capital.
Two US soldiers were also killed in a pair of roadside bombs targeting military convoys north of Baghdad, the US military said.
Several business-card-size leaflets were found at the scene of the 7pm firefight in downtown Baghdad, bearing the words "Death to the collaborators of America -- al-Qaeda."
By 2027, Denmark would relocate its foreign convicts to a prison in Kosovo under a 200-million-euro (US$228.6 million) agreement that has raised concerns among non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and residents, but which could serve as a model for the rest of the EU. The agreement, reached in 2022 and ratified by Kosovar lawmakers last year, provides for the reception of up to 300 foreign prisoners sentenced in Denmark. They must not have been convicted of terrorism or war crimes, or have a mental condition or terminal disease. Once their sentence is completed in Kosovan, they would be deported to their home country. In
Brazil, the world’s largest Roman Catholic country, saw its Catholic population decline further in 2022, while evangelical Christians and those with no religion continued to rise, census data released on Friday by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) showed. The census indicated that Brazil had 100.2 million Roman Catholics in 2022, accounting for 56.7 percent of the population, down from 65.1 percent or 105.4 million recorded in the 2010 census. Meanwhile, the share of evangelical Christians rose to 26.9 percent last year, up from 21.6 percent in 2010, adding 12 million followers to reach 47.4 million — the highest figure
A Chinese scientist was arrested while arriving in the US at Detroit airport, the second case in days involving the alleged smuggling of biological material, authorities said on Monday. The scientist is accused of shipping biological material months ago to staff at a laboratory at the University of Michigan. The FBI, in a court filing, described it as material related to certain worms and requires a government permit. “The guidelines for importing biological materials into the US for research purposes are stringent, but clear, and actions like this undermine the legitimate work of other visiting scholars,” said John Nowak, who leads field
LOST CONTACT: The mission carried payloads from Japan, the US and Taiwan’s National Central University, including a deep space radiation probe, ispace said Japanese company ispace said its uncrewed moon lander likely crashed onto the moon’s surface during its lunar touchdown attempt yesterday, marking another failure two years after its unsuccessful inaugural mission. Tokyo-based ispace had hoped to join US firms Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace as companies that have accomplished commercial landings amid a global race for the moon, which includes state-run missions from China and India. A successful mission would have made ispace the first company outside the US to achieve a moon landing. Resilience, ispace’s second lunar lander, could not decelerate fast enough as it approached the moon, and the company has
RSS