Foreign Desk
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
PERSIAN GULF
173 DETAINEES SHOW SIGNS OF HUNGER, TORTURE AT SHIITE-RUN IRAQI JAIL
BAGHDAD, Iraq – Iraq’s prime minister said yesterday that 173 Iraqi detainees – malnourished and showing signs of torture – were found at an Interior Ministry basement lockup seized by American forces in Baghdad. The discovery appeared to validate Sunni complaints of abuse by the Shiite-controlled ministry.
– Associated Press
MIDDLE EAST
RICE BROKERS MIDDLE EAST DEAL ON GAZA
JERUSALEM – Secretary of State Rice played the heavy yesterday during all-night negotiations in a Jerusalem hotel suite named for slain Israeli peacemaker Yitzhak Rabin, to help seal a deal that was eluding Israelis and Palestinian Arabs. Under yesterday’s deal, the Gaza-Egypt border would tentatively open November 25 and construction of a Mediterranean seaport would begin, Ms. Rice said. Palestinian Arabs would be able to travel across Israel between the West Bank and Gaza in convoys of buses.
– Associated Press
JORDANIANS RESIGN FOLLOWING HOTEL ATTACKS
AMMAN, Jordan – Eleven top Jordanian officials in the wake of last week’s triple hotel bombings, state-run TV announced. Jordan also introduced strict security measures aimed at foreigners and said it was drafting the country’s first specific anti-terror legislation to prevent more such attacks.
Details emerged about the Iraqi woman who failed in her bid to blow herself up in an Amman hotel, with friends saying she had three brothers killed by American forces. Also, the American Embassy said four Americans were among those killed in the attacks.
– Associated Press
EAST ASIA
CHINA, VIETNAM ANNOUNCE EXTREME MEASURES TO FIGHT BIRD FLU
HANOI, Vietnam – Two of the countries hardest hit by bird flu announced extreme measures to fight the disease yesterday, with China promising to vaccinate its entire poultry stock of 14 billion birds, accounting for nearly 21% of the world’s total, and Vietnam launching a campaign to purge its two largest cities, Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, of poultry.
– Associated Press
CHINA TO HONOR PURGED LEADER
BEIJING – China has declared plans to commemorate the birthday of a purged leader whose death led to the mass protests and a bloody crackdown in Tiananmen Square in 1989.The move suggests that President Hu has decided to rehabilitate Hu Yaobang despite fears among his leadership that such a shift could unleash instability.
Hu Yaobang was forced to resign as general secretary of the Communist Party’s central committee in 1987,accused of having “bourgeois tendencies.” He was seen as a liberal who ushered in reforms that set the stage for China’s economic boom.
– The Daily Telegraph
WESTERN EUROPE
WATCHDOG QUESTIONS E.U. ACCOUNTS
BRUSSELS, Belgium – The European Union’s financial watchdog yesterday refused to give a clean bill of health to the E.U.’s annual accounts. The European Court of Auditors said it was unable to give a formal statement of assurance on the 2004 budget of about $20 billion.
The court acknowledged that the European Commission had made “some progress” in reducing errors and “irregularities.” Once notorious farm subsidies had been reined in by a special form of monitoring, known as the Integrated Administration and Control System.
– The Daily Telegraph
BRITAIN AND U.S. FINALIZE DETAILS OF EXIT STRATEGY FROM IRAQ
LONDON – Britain and America are putting the final touches on an exit strategy from Iraq that will be launched with next month’s election of a permanent new government in Baghdad. According to several senior sources, the policy under discussion with Washington envisages the replacement of the current Iraqi prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, with a more effective successor. It would also involve an agreement with the new Iraqi administration on a phased hand-over to Iraqi forces; a reduction in forces that could begin in the middle of next year, and greater involvement by neighboring Arab countries.
– The Daily Telegraph
POLICE USED ‘DUM DUM’ BULLETS TO KILL DE MENEZES LONDON – The Brazilian man shot dead by police in the mistaken belief that he was a suicide bomber, Jean Charles de Menezes, 27, was killed with a type of bullet banned in warfare under international convention.
Modern hollow point bullets are descendants of the expanding “dum dum” ammunition created by the British in India and outlawed under the Hague Declaration of 1899. Their issue was sanctioned after research suggested that they were an effective close-quarters ammunition for use against someone about to trigger a suicide bomb. – The Daily Telegraph
WEST AFRICA
SENEGAL POLICE ARREST FORMER CHAD DICTATOR
DAKAR, Senegal – Police yesterday arrested a former dictator of Chad, Hissene Habre, 63, who was wanted on an international war crimes warrant issued by Belgium 15 years after his fall from power in the destitute central African country.
– Associated Press