MIDDLE EAST

AMERICAN AMBASSADOR SUGGESTS IRAQ’S CONSTITUTION MAY CHANGE

BAGHDAD, Iraq – The American ambassador suggested yesterday there may be further changes to the draft constitution in order to win Sunni Arab approval, saying he believed a “final, final draft” had not yet been presented.

Meanwhile, American F-16s launched air strikes near the Syrian border, destroying three houses and killing a “known terrorist,” the American military said. Iraqi authorities said fighting had broken out in the area between a tribe that supports foreign fighters and another that backs the government.

Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad spoke two days after Shiite and Kurdish negotiators bypassed Sunni Arab negotiators and finished the draft, despite Sunni objections. The law says the version signed off on by parliament Sunday cannot be amended. But Mr. Khalilzad said the door could be open for changes declared as “edits” to the approved text.

– Associated Press

WESTERN EUROPE

BRITISH GOVERNMENT PROPOSES BAN OF ‘EXTREME’ PORNOGRAPHY

LONDON – Yesterday the British government announced plans – the first, it said, by any Western country – to ban the downloading and possession of violent sexual images. Police and anti-porn campaigners welcomed the proposal but free-speech groups called it censorship, saying there was no proven link between violent imagery and violent behavior.

The government’s proposals would make it an offense to possess “extreme pornographic material which is graphic and sexually explicit and which contains actual scenes or realistic depictions of serious violence, bestiality, or necrophilia.” Viewing such material would constitute possession. Those convicted would face up to three years in prison.

The government’s proposal is a long way from becoming law. Interested parties have until December 2 to comment on the plans, which would then have to be drafted into a bill and passed by Parliament before taking effect.

– Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS

U.N. AGENIES AGREE TO PAY IRAQ UNSPENT OIL-FOR-FOOD DOLLARS

The nine U.N. agencies involved in the oil-for-food program have agreed to pay Iraq about $40 million in oil proceeds they received in 2003 to finish their work but never spent, United Nations officials said yesterday.

A U.N.-backed probe of the scandal-tainted operation, led by a former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman, Paul Volcker, has been investigating the nine agencies and their handling of the money. The cash, which came from Iraqi oil revenue, was a flat fee and there had been no expectation that it would be returned.

Nonetheless, Iraqi officials and Mr. Volcker’s team had raised questions about the message that would be sent by keeping it. The U.N. controller, Warren Sach, sent a letter on the issue to the nine agencies and all have agreed to pay back any surplus, a U.N. spokeswoman, Marie Okabe, said.

– Associated Press

SOUTHERN AFRICA

ZIMBABWE ADOPTS SWEEPING CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES

HARARE, Zimbabwe – Lawmakers approved sweeping constitutional changes yesterday that prominent lawyers have called the greatest challenge yet to Zimbabwean civil liberties.

Parliament voted 103-29 to endorse the constitutional overhaul that sharply restricts private property rights and allows the government to deny passports to its critics. The 22-clause Constitutional Amendment Bill now goes to President Mugabe to sign into law. The overhaul also calls for a new 66-seat Senate to be formed, which critics charge the ruling party will use to increase its patronage powers.

– Associated Press

SOUTH AFRICA ENDS MEDIATOR ROLE IN IVORY COAST

South Africa’s government said its role as a mediator in the crisis in Ivory Coast had come to an end, adding that the west African country may “explode” into violence if elections due by October 30 were delayed.

The accord, drawn up by South African mediators, was designed to end a three-year conflict in the world’s top cocoa-growing nation. The main opposition parties in the Ivory Coast yesterday backed demands by rebels for President Gbagbo to step down and make way for a transitional government, saying fair elections by the deadline are not possible.

– Bloomberg News