Iraq and the US tried to clear the way for passage of a new UN resolution by devising a plan for military partnership when the US-led occupation ends officially on June 30. \nUS Ambassador John Negroponte, who hopes for a vote in the 15-nation Security Council today, said a revised draft, the fourth in two weeks, was to be introduced yesterday. \nThe one hitch that might prevent quick adoption of the US-British measure on Iraq's future is a proposed amendment from France stating explicitly that Iraqi consent would be needed for any major military offensives by US-led forces. \nBut diplomats said it was doubtful Washington would agree to the language France had suggested. \nYesterday, Russia also said it still had reservations, but was pleased at changes in the amended resolution. \n"Intensive diplomatic consultations ... have led to further positive changes in the Anglo-American draft resolution," Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov told Interfax news agency. \n"Nevertheless, there are still some issues to be agreed further." \nThe control of the 160,000 US-led troops has been the most contentious issue in the resolution, which gives international endorsement to the interim government and authorizes a multinational force under American command. \nAt a special session on Sunday, the Security Council received separate letters from US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Iraq's new prime minister, Iyad Allawi. \n"We're confident that they do the trick," said Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry of Britain. He said his government understood that "the policy on sensitive offensive operations will require the assent" of a new Iraqi ministerial committee. \nBut the letters do not spell that out, prompting France, backed in part by China, Germany, Algeria and Chile, to request that the resolution make clear Iraq can block a major campaign, such as the American assault on Fallujah, which Iraqis opposed. \nThere was also no hint the changes would accommodate the Kurds, who are threatening to quit the government unless the UN resolution endorses the autonomy granted to them under a law passed in March to serve as Iraq's interim constitution. \n"We are not bluffing here, we are serious -- it's the right of our people," Nechirvan Barzani, head of the Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq, said on Sunday. \nAllawi announced yesterday that the Kurds and other Iraqi factions had agreed to disband their militias, in a deal that effectively outlaws fighters loyal to a rebel Shiite cleric.
Three cases of Candida auris, a fungus that can cause a yeast infection known as candidiasis in humans, have been reported in Taiwan over the past few years, but they did not display drug resistance, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said yesterday. Lo made the statement at a news conference in Taipei, one day after the Washington Post reported that the potentially deadly fungus is spreading in US hospitals. The fungus was first discovered in Japan in 2009 and poses a danger to immunocompromised people, with an estimated mortality rate of 30 to 60 percent, Lo
‘DIRE’: Taiwan would not engage in ‘dollar diplomacy,’ the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, after China reportedly offered Honduras up to US$3 billion to establish relations The government yesterday recalled its ambassador to Honduras after the Central American nation sent its foreign minister to China, signaling that it would sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Suspicions concerning ties with Honduras are rife after Honduran President Xiomara Castro on Tuesday last week wrote on Twitter that her country would pursue diplomatic ties with China. Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduardo Enrique Reina traveled to China on Wednesday “to promote efforts for the establishment of diplomatic relations” on instructions from Castro, Reuters yesterday quoted Honduran presidential spokesman Ivis Alvarado as saying. The government “has decided to immediately recall the ambassador to Honduras
SWITCH TO BEIJING: The government severed diplomatic relations about an hour after Honduras announced the move, saying that no semi-official ties would be maintained Taiwan severed diplomatic ties with Honduras and ended all cooperation with the Central American country, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, about an hour and a half after the Honduran Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Twitter at 8am Taiwan time that the nation would cut its ties with Taiwan. Honduran President Xiomara Castro on Wednesday sent Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduardo Enrique Reina to Beijing to negotiate the establishment of diplomatic relations. She announced the plan on March 14 on Twitter. “To safeguard Taiwan’s sovereignty and dignity, Taiwan is terminating diplomatic ties with Honduras with immediate effect” after communication with
‘NOTHING NEW’: China should not use Tsai Ing-wen’s transits through the US as a pretext to step up aggressive activity in the Taiwan Strait, a Washington official said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is to stop over in the US on her way to and from Central America next week, but her administration would not confirm a meeting with US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Tsai’s delegation is to leave Taipei on Wednesday next week and stop over in New York City, Presidential Office spokeswoman Lin Yu-chan (林聿禪) told a news conference yesterday. Tsai is then to head to Guatemala on Saturday next week for talks with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei and to meet with Taiwanese expatriates, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. On April 3, Tsai is scheduled to travel
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