Annan's SOS call for Iraq
Secretary General Kofi Annan has asked the Security Council to authorise Iraq to purchase 300 million dollars worth of spare parts and equipment to repair its deteriorating oil infrastructure. The recommendation is based on the work of oil experts sent by the Council to determine whether Iraq could export more oil under the expanded oil for food programme.
Taliban, oppn agree on truce, talks
United States has claimed a breakthrough towards peace in war-ravaged Afghanistan saying the hard-line Taliban Islamic militia and opposition alliance had agreed to a truce and peace talks in Islamabad. President Bill Clinton's special envoy Bill Richardson said that the peace talks for a negotiated settlement between Taliban and the northern alliance would take place by April 27 and no military offensive would be launched till then.
Koreas pass the buck for collapse of talks
The week-long high-level talks between North Korea and rival South over aid to impoverished Pyongyang collapsed yesterday with the two sides blaming each other for the breakdown in their first direct contact in four years. "We could not break down the barrier of mistrust," Jeong Se Hyun, chief negotiator of the South Korean delegation said.
Paula to plead against verdict
Paula Corbin Jones, a workaday American woman whose sexual harassment suit against President Clinton cast a shadow on the presidency before it was dismissed on April 1, announced on Thursday that she would appeal a federal court ruling that her suit had no merit.
China rejected US arms control plan, says paper
China recently turned down a United States invitation to join the main international group seeking to limit the spread of missile technology, according to US officials cited in a media report. By not becoming a member of the 29-nation Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), China could continue to export missile components or missile technology to nations such as Pakistan or Iran.
Lax security aids Babbar Khalsa ultra to bolt from custody
A Pakistan-trained militant is learnt to have escaped from the custody of Kurali police from Khijrabad police post near Roopnagar on the night of April 12. The militant, Nirmal Singh Nimma of the Babbar Khalsa International, was reportedly arrested from a rented accommodation at Singhpura road in the township on the night of April 8.
