Saudi, Kuwait to tackle border issue
Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Abdullah arrived in Kuwait on Saturday for talks between the two OPEC members which are expected to cover rising world oil prices and a regional dispute over an oil and gas-rich border area.

Highlighting the importance Kuwait places on the "brotherly" visit, Emir Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah broke with protocol and was at the airport to receive Prince Abdullah. The prince, who is around 76, has been effectively running most of the day-to-day affairs in the world's largest oil producer and exporter since King Fahd had a stroke in 1995. Prince Abdullah's three-day visit comes almost 10 years after Iraqi troops stormed into Kuwait almost unopposed on August 2, 1990, and occupied it for seven months. Saudi Arabia was the launchpad for the 1991 US-led Gulf War against Iraq and Kuwaitis have a high sense of gratitude for Riyadh's role in the crisis. Officials and diplomats said the two sides were expected to try and tackle the sticky border issue and rising oil prices.

China's state media shakeup
China's Communist Party has made sweeping changes at the top level of major state media organisations as President Jiang Zemin called for a reinvigoration of ideological enthusiasm and political work. Bai Keming, a former vice-head of the party's central publicity department, has become director of party mouthpiece, the People's Daily newspaper, replacing Shao Huaze. Tian Congming, director of the state administration of radio, film and television since 1998, was named president of the official news agency Xinhua following the death of Guo Chaoren on June 15 from an unspecified illness. Xu Guangchun replaces Tian as director of the state administration of radio, film and television. Wang Chen becomes a deputy head of the party's central publicity department, Xinhua news agency reported. He was formerly editor-in-chief of the official Guangming daily. Yuan Zhifa will replace him as editor-in-chief of the Guangming daily, moving from his former position as a deputy editor-in-chief of the people's daily. Thechanges follow a recently launched political ideological campaign, the "three representatives", which was hailed by Jiang, also general secretary of the Communist Party, as a powerful tool to address rampant corruption in the party and government.

UN summit focus on global poverty
Five years after they pledged to improve the lot of the world's poor, governments at a United Nations summit agreed today to throw their weight behind a renewed effort to combat global poverty but offered few firm commitments. "Determined to give new momentum to our collective efforts to improve the human condition," delegates at the UN General Assembly's special session reaffirmed pledges made at 1995's first poverty summit in Copenhagen, which since then have largely been ignored. Their final statement of aims stressed the importance of debt relief, market access and more aid for developing countries, but recognized that "there is no single universal path to achieving social development."

-- (Reuters & Agencies)