EASTERN EUROPE

RUSSIA TO BUILD THREE NUCLEAR REACTORS BY 2010

MOSCOW – Russia plans to launch three new commercial nuclear reactors over the next five years and upgrade existing ones to higher standards, including stronger protection from possible terror attacks, top nuclear officials said yesterday.

American officials have warned repeatedly about the dangers of poor security at Russia’s nuclear plants and other facilities – and the possibility of international terrorists either getting their hands on weapons material or staging an attack at a poorly guarded facility.

In December, Russia started up its 31st nuclear reactor, at the Kalinin nuclear power plant in western Russia. By 2010, the nation will have 34 reactors, said the head of the state-controlled Rosenergoatom consortium in charge of Russia’s nuclear power plants, Oleg Sarayev.

“We aren’t going to take any of the currently operating reactors off duty during that period, and work has already started to modernize the reactors approaching the end of their designated lifetime,” Mr. Sarayev said at a news conference.

During recent years, Russia has overcome a public backlash against nuclear power that followed the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and has supported an ambitious program to develop its nuclear industry.

– Associated Press

WESTERN EUROPE

HEAD OF U.N. REFUGEE AGENCY HANDS OVER LEADERSHIP

GENEVA – U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers stepped down yesterday amid sexual harassment allegations and handed over leadership of the agency to his deputy, bidding an emotional farewell to the agency’s 6,000 staff around the world.

A veteran American foreign service officer and former ambassador to Laos and Pakistan, Wendy Chamberlin, will serve at the helm until a long-term replacement is named.

Mr. Lubbers, who claims that the allegations against him are “made up” and “slander,” announced his resignation Sunday. He maintains his innocence and initially offered to stay on until a permanent successor was found.

– Associated Press

EUROPEAN BAN ON NAZI SYMBOLS IS SHELVED

BRUSSELS, Belgium – The European Union’s justice and interior ministers yesterday shelved proposals to ban the use of Nazi symbols after failing to agree that it could help fight racism and anti-Semitism.

Britain, Denmark, Hungary, and Italy voiced concerns that a ban of symbols like the swastika could curb freedom of expression.

On the table was a proposal by the Luxembourg justice minister, Luc Frieden, that rules to combat racism should include a ban “on displaying symbols inciting hatred and violence.”

“The rules must not hinder the freedom of expression,” the Italian justice minister, Roberto Castelli, told reporters, but he added that there could be room for a ban on racist symbols in soccer stadiums.

The German justice minister, Brigitte Zypries, said the goal of any ban on the use of Nazi symbols, which already exists in Germany and Austria, “should only be used to fight neo-Nazis.”

A ban on such symbols was dropped because of opposition, she said. Talks resumed instead to draft common rules to fight racism and xenophobia.

– Associated Press

ANGLICANS: U.S., CANADIAN CHURCHES WILL WITHDRAW FROM CHURCH

Anglican primates agreed yesterday that the American Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada would withdraw from a key body of the global Anglican Communion after failing to overcome internal church disagreements about the election of a gay bishop in America and the blessing of same-sex unions there and in Canada.

The agreement marked the first formal breach in the communion over the explosive issues of sexuality and biblical authority. A statement from leaders of Anglican national churches who met this week in Northern Ireland also called on the two churches to explain their thinking on gay issues at another Anglican meeting in June. The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, Frank Griswold, said the debate would continue and that his fellow church leaders had made room “for a wide variety of perspectives.”

– Associated Press

EAST ASIA

TAIWAN PLEDGES NOT TO EXCLUDE UNIFICATION WITH CHINA

Taiwan’s president pledged yesterday he would not shut the door on eventual unification with rival China if Beijing expressed goodwill – one of his most specific pronouncements on the issue.

President Chen, long viewed as rejecting the possibility of unification, clarified his position at a meeting with James Soong, leader of the opposition People First Party. They signed a joint declaration afterward.

The two have held widely diverging views on handling communist China, which claims that this self-ruled, democratic island is part of its territory and threatens war if Taipei declares formal independence. China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949. Unification is a passionate top priority for China’s leaders, who have routinely berated Mr. Chen as a traitor to Beijing.

Mr. Soong has accused Mr. Chen of lacking a consistent China policy and of provoking Beijing. he president has criticized the opposition as too accommodating toward the communist giant.

In their joint declaration, they promised they would “not rule out the possibility of any model of relationship evolving on the basis of goodwill.” The wording was clearly chosen to include the possibility of eventual unification.

– Associated Press