NEW YORK, Jan 18 (NNN) : The new Iraqi sanctions policy of the United Nations ran into trouble yesterday as Russia rejected the nomination of Swedish diplomat Rolf Ekeus as the new UN chief arms inspector for Iraq.
After failing to get a consensus from the Security Council members on any of the two dozen names he had suggested during the statutory period of 30 days, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan recommended Ekeus Swedens ambassador to Washington who he said was "the person he thinks is best for the job".
Even as Annan told the Security Council members that he was "putting the ball in their court", Dimitry Feoktistov, deputy spokesman for the Russian delegation to the United Nations, said that the candidacy of Ekeus "is unacceptable to Russia." Feoktistov said this was "the answer from Moscow" to a letter from the Security Council president, Richard Holbrooke, US ambassador to the United Nations.The letter had given the 15 council members until noon Tuesday New York time to object to Annans recommendation.
There was no reason given by Moscow for rejecting the nomination of Ekeus, but it said "it is important to continue consultations." Iraq had already rejected Ekeus, who headed the now defunct Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM) from 1991 to 1997, as its first chairman.
"As they say in English its old wine in new bottles," Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz told reporters in Baghdad, adding "how can they name the person who put together UNSCOM to head a new body." Gulf War veterans suffer ailments NEW YORK, Jan.
18 (NNN) : A new study has found Gulf War veterans more likely to experience traumatic injuries such as broken bones, or respiratory problems such as asthma, compared with soldiers who did not serve in the 1991 conflict.
The study, which examined hospitalisation rates in the two groups, was the first time that "the postwar hospitalisation experiences of reserve and former military Gulf War veterans and non-deployed veterans (have been) compared." "This is noteworthy because Gulf War veterans who have developed cancer and other chronic diseases have wondered whether these illnesses might be related to service in the Gulf," according to the study published in the January issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.
India, Russia to sign strategic partnership MOSCOW, Jan 18 (NNN) : Russia and India will sign a strategic partnership accord this summer, according to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko.
Speaking here on his return from a bilateral economic summit in New Delhi, he told ITAR-TASS news agency that whoever wins the Russian presidential elections in March will visit India in summer to sign the key accord which he described as an "important political act." Noting that trade between the two countries had increased by more than a fifth in 1999, he said the two countries had also agreed to strengthen economic ties, particularly in energy and aviation.
In particular they plan to step up joint production of the IL-114 plane and to modernise their fleets of MI-17 and MI-8 helicopters, he disclosed Further, he said, the Russian monopoly electricity supplier SEU will also supply power to India.
Russia rejects European call for Chechen ceasefire MOSCOW, Jan 18 (NNN) : Rejecting fresh European calls for a truce and an end to the prolonged conflict in Chechnya, Russia yesterday intensified its attack on Grozny, carrying out one of its heaviest bombardments of the capital of the breakaway republic.
However, the Russian forces reportedly failed to make much of an impact against the Chechen fighters though Russian forces claimed to have seized the symbolically important village of Vedeno, the home base of the dreaded Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev.
Interfax news agency said nine soldiers had been killed since Sunday in the Grozny battle.
A Russian army spokesman said around 90 Chechen rebels had been killed in operations yesterday.
Russian public television said Russian air force planes had been pounding Grozny all day.
It said reconnaissance photos showed about 20 large fires burning in Grozny and that the oil refinery and several fuel and ammunition dumps were ablaze.
Military officials, cited by Interfax, said Russian warplanes and helicopter gunships had carried out 110 missions between Sunday and Monday, bombing the capital and rebel hideouts in the mountainous south.
Meanwhile, here in Moscow, visiting Council of Europe chief David Russell-Johnston again called for an immediate truce and peace talks with Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov.
"Russia should declare another ceasefire if possible," he said, expressing serious concern over loss of civilian lives.
However, the appeal was rejected outright by acting Russian President Vladimir Putin, who urged the "international community to understand and judge the events in the North Caucasus not on the basis of propaganda but on facts, and real events." "The situation in the North Caucasus is not easy but it is under control," Putin said even as Russel-Johnston emphasised that "the degree of action has been disproportionate." Putin, however, told Lord Russell-Johnston that he would fully co-operate with the Council of Europes fact-finding mission, which is in preparation for a special debate on the Chechen war on January 27.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov also ruled out a ceasefire and bluntly told prospective visitors to Moscow not to visit Russia if they were going to preach sanctions over the Chechen war.
"If someone wanted to come here with sanctions, there wouldnt be any point in them coming to Moscow or the region" he said.
The visiting delegation is scheduled to go to the war zone later today for talks with local leaders, including Ingushetias President Ruslan Aushev.
Australian Mufti, others jailed in Egypt DUBAI, Jan 18 (NNN) : An Australian Mufti was yesterday jailed for a year, along with an Egyptian priest, his son and four others, by an Egyptian court for smuggling antiques to Australia.
Reports from Cairo citing sources said the sentenced was pronounced by a court in Quena, southern Egypt, against the head of Australias Muslims and the others.
The court also condemned to hard labour for life four other people who were found guilty of killing a policeman who spotted them carrying on an illegal dig.
The reports said that Mufti Tag el-Din Hamed, 49, an Egyptian naturalised Australian, was charged with conspiring a year ago with priest Nassef Elias Michael, his son Bassem Michael and other Egyptians to buy archaeological artefacts and conduct digs in isolated spots.
He planned to export the articles in his luggage and sold them outside Egypt.