MIDDLE EAST

SADDAM TRIAL TO BEGIN IN OCTOBER

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Iraqi authorities plan to put Saddam Hussein on trial within five days after the October 15 referendum on the new constitution, an official close to the proceedings said yesterday. American officials scrapped the death penalty in 2003 but Iraqi authorities reinstated it after the transfer of sovereignty so they would have the option of executing Saddam if he is convicted of crimes committed during his regime.

– Associated Press

MINISTERS CONSIDER TURKEY’S E.U. ADMISSION

Acrimonious discussions among E.U. foreign ministers on admitting Turkey opened yesterday, amid mounting tensions between Ankara and several E.U. governments. The discussions, which ended without any agreement, were overshadowed by dramatic offstage tensions, as leading politicians in France, Germany, Turkey, and Cyprus issued threats, warnings, and counter-threats about the start of talks scheduled for October 3.

– The Daily Telegraph

ISRAELI, PAKISTANI FOREIGN MINISTERS MEET

JERUSALEM – Israel hailed a diplomatic breakthrough yesterday with Pakistan as the first fruit of its Gaza pullout and a harbinger of warmer ties with other Muslim nations, after the first public meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries. Israel’s foreign minister, Silvan Shalom, met publicly for the first time with Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri of Pakistan, a Muslim country that has long taken a hard line against the Jewish state, a development that both ministers linked to Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

– Associated Press

CARIBBEAN

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO LOOKS TO BECOME SPANISH-SPEAKING BY 2020

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago – After 200 years of turning its back on geography, this English-speaking former British colony is searching for its Latin American soul. Trinidad and Tobago has set the lofty goal of becoming a Spanish speaking nation by 2020. Only about 1,500 of Trinidad’s 1.3 million citizens are Spanish-speakers. The effort to transform the islanders bilingual is partly motivated by shifting trade ties, officials say.

– Los Angeles Times

WESTERN EUROPE

HUMAN REMAINS IN FEED MAY HAVE CAUSED MAD COW EPIDEMIC

LONDON – A professor of neurology at the University of Kent, Alan Colchester, said the most likely origin of mad cow disease and the subsequent deaths was the import from the Indian subcontinent of bone meal containing infected human remains. Since the first case of BSE was reported in Britain in 1986, the original cause has remained unknown. The most widely favored candidate has been the transmission of sheep scrapie to cattle through feed.

– The Daily Telegraph

SOUTHERN AFRICA

ZIMBABWE MAKES $120M PAYMENT TO IMF

JOHANNESBURG – The cash-strapped government of Zimbabwe made a surprise payment of $120 million to the International Monetary Fund this week. The payment represents less than half of the $295 million in overdue debt that Zimbabwe has accumulated since falling behind on its payments in 2001. IMF officials declined to elaborate on what effect it would have when the IMF’s board of governors meets next week in Washington to consider whether to expel Zimbabwe.

– The Washington Post

EAST AFRICA

BANANA PRICES MAY SOAR AS DISEASE THREATENS UGANDAN CROP

NAIROBI, Kenya – Uganda could lose its entire crop of bananas, its staple food and a key export earner, because of the spread of the little-known bacterial wilt disease. Whole fields in 33 districts have been torched to contain the escalating outbreak, first seen in 2001. The disease reportedly kills more than 90% of fruit on trees it affects. The country is the world’s second largest producer of bananas after India, raising fears that supermarket prices could rise if Uganda’s crop fails.

– The Daily Telegraph