Rocco Buttiglione, Italy's minister for Europe, has said he is ready to go to Baghdad to testify as a character witness in the trial of Saddam Hussein's former right-hand man, Tariq Aziz.
As a senior Christian Democrat and friend of Pope John Paul II, Buttiglione is unlikely to have agreed without the Vatican's approval.
His offer again focuses attention on the Roman Catholic hierarchy's controversially sympathetic attitude towards Aziz, who was baptized into a church of Christians native to Mesopotamia, the Chaldean Uniat church, which is in communion with Rome. Last year Buttiglione was forced to withdraw as Italy's nominee for the European commission over his alleged views on homosexuality. Though he would not go to Baghdad in his capacity as minister, it creates a problem for Silvio Berlusconi, whose government stood four-square behind the Bush administration's policy of regime change in Iraq.
Aziz, 69, deputy prime minister and foreign minister until the US-led invasion, figured as the eight of spades in the pack handed out to US soldiers to help them identify fugitive leaders, and was arrested in April 2003. He now faces trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. He is accused of taking part in bloody purges of the ruling Baath party in the 1970s and 1980s. He argues that his role was exclusively diplomatic, and that he bears no responsibility for internal abuses by the regime.
Giant pandas Ping Ping and Fu Shuang delighted visitors to Zoo Atlanta during their public debut Friday, chewing bamboo and lounging in their new US habitat while on loan from China. A male named Ping Ping and female Fu Shuang arrived from Chengdu in via a FedEx flight dubbed the “Panda Express,” and are to be hosted in the southern US facility for the next 10 years. Pandas are “animals that have got a unique ability to inspire curiosity, instill passion, evoke joy, and unite people around the globe,” chief executive officer Raymond King told onlookers at Zoo Atlanta. “This extraordinary
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A British monarch has only ever made one state visit to China: Queen Elizabeth II four decades ago. King Charles III would consider undertaking the second, an aide has said. “If the government said, ‘Will the king go to China?’ I think, you know we think about it very carefully,” a senior palace aide told reporters this week. The late queen, Charles’ mother, visited China with her husband, Prince Philip, in October 1986. It came two years after the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration setting out the terms for the return of Hong Kong, which improved relations between the two countries. “This
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