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May 5, 2001

Iran's Khatami Registers as Presidential Candidate
May 4, 2001 -- Iran's President Mohammed Khatami has ended months of uncertainty over his political future by announcing he will stand for re-election in next month's vote for president. Khatami, who is widely expected to win the June eighth ballot, turned in his registration forms Friday at the Interior Ministry in Tehran. He won the presidency in a landslide four years ago, but has seen his power severely curtailed by Iran's conservative judiciary and other hardline institutions.

US Voted Off UN Human Rights Commission
May 4, 2001 -- The United States has lost its seat on the United Nations Human Rights Commission for the first time since it helped found the body in 1947. In voting for spots on the 53 member commission, the United States came in fourth in balloting for three seats allocated to Western countries. Sweden, France and Austria were chosen to fill the seats on the Geneva-based panel. Some diplomats said the reason for the U.S. loss was retaliation for frequent U.S. criticism of rights abusers worldwide. Diplomats expressed concern that the rejection could strengthen anti-U.N. sentiment in Congress, which has not released hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid dues the United States owes the world body. Human rights groups also expressed concern that countries with questionable human rights records, such as Sudan, Uganda, Sierra Leone and Togo, earned commission seats Thursday. The Human Rights Commission probes human rights abuses around the world. Former U.S. first lady Eleanor Roosevelt served as the commission's first chairperson.

North Korea Agrees To Extend Missile Moratorium
May 3, 2001 -- A European Union delegation reports that North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il is promising to delay missile tests for several more years. The head of the visiting EU delegation says Kim made the promise during two days of talks in North Korea's capital, Pyongyang. After talks in the North, the EU delegation is now holding talks with South Korean officials. The EU delegation is headed by Prime Minister Goran Persson of Sweden, which holds the rotating European Union presidency. Persson is the first EU chief and the first Western European government leader ever to visit North Korea. North Korea alarmed its neighbors and the United States when it test-fired a long-range missile over Japan several years ago.

China Launches Personal Attack Against Bush
May 3, 2001 -- China has again condemned President Bush's missile defense plan and also launched a personal attack against the U.S. leader. The latest comments come in an article in China's largest newspaper. The state-run People's Daily newspaper says Bush's recent policies are driven by weakness and the need for media attention. Aside from attacking the character of the U.S. leader, China’s state media voiced the Chinese government's strong opposition to the proposed U.S. missile defense plan. The future theater missile defense system could not only neutralize Beijing's small nuclear arsenal, but could shield Taiwan which is a much more troubling possibility to Chinese leaders.

Arroyo Vows to Crush Philippine Rebellion
May 1, 2001 -- Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has vowed to crush what she says is a carefully planned rebellion against her by supporters of jailed former President Joseph Estrada. Arroyo Tuesday ordered the arrest of several prominent opposition politicians, accusing them of inciting the rebellion. Among them are three prominent members of the Philippine senate who are allied with Estrada. Arroyo, who overthrew Estrada in January after the Philippine Senate failed to oust him in an impeachment trial, declared a state of rebellion in Manila Tuesday, after thousands of Estrada faithful clashed with police outside the presidential palace. Under Philippine law, Arroyo’s declaration means people can be arrested without a formal warrant, and the military can be used to put down unrest.

US Urges China to Allow Greater Freedom of Worship
April 30, 2001 -- The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has urged the Bush administration to pressure China for greater freedom of worship, and to stop imprisoning believers and religious leaders. In its annual report, the commission said China's communist government last year expanded its crackdown on unauthorized religious communities and tightened regulations on official religious organizations. The multi-denominational commission called on the U.S. government to join a growing private campaign to deprive China of the 2008 Olympic Games because of its human rights record.

Allied Forces Respond to Iraqi Attack in No Fly Zone
April 30, 2001 -- The U.S. military is reporting an exchange of fire with Iraqi forces in northern Iraq. The U.S. European Command says American and British aircraft bombed Iraqi air defense sites Monday after Iraqi forces fired anti-aircraft artillery at coalition air patrols from sites northwest of Mosul. The last such encounter in the north was more than three weeks ago, on April 6. U.S. and British planes, based in Turkey, fly regular patrols over northern Iraq to enforce a "no fly" exclusion zone for Iraqi military aircraft. The allies set up no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq more than nine years ago to protect Kurds in the north and Shi'ite Muslims in the south from air attack by Iraqi government forces following crushed revolts after the 1991 Gulf War.

India Plans Large Exercise Near Pakistan
April 30, 2001 -- India has announced plans to conduct its largest military exercise in 13 years near the border of arch-rival Pakistan. The Indian defense ministry said Monday the exercise, labeled "Poorna Vijay" or "Complete Victory" would help train troops in the event of a nuclear war. Some 60,000 troops are expected to take part in the exercise, which will be held early this month. No specific date was announced. India and Pakistan have fought three wars with each other, and both countries set off nuclear devices in May, 1998. The main obstacle to better relations continues to be the dispute over Kashmir.

Russian Forces Help China In Mock Conflict
April 30, 2001 -- Russian military forces intervened in a mock nuclear conflict between China and the United States over Taiwan during strategic exercises that included Russian preparations to use nuclear weapons on U.S. forces in Asia, according to a report in today’s Washington Times. The war games took place in late February and included practice bombing runs with Russian Tu-22 Backfire bombers that flew close to Japanese airspace. "The Russians were practicing nuclear intervention against U.S. troops on Taiwan," said an intelligence official familiar with classified reports on the exercise. In Moscow yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin met Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan as part of preparations for the signing of a treaty of friendship and cooperation between the two countries in July. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said the treaty "will play a great role in enriching the relations between our countries in all spheres." The pact also "will further strategic stability and security around the world," he said.

China Looks To Foil U.S. Missile Defense System
April 29, 2001 -- Fearful that an antimissile defense could embolden the United States to intervene in crises on China's doorstep, Beijing is focusing on low-cost ways to thwart the plan, including ways to attack the defense system itself, China's top arms control official said. "We have seen that the United States wantonly bombed Yugoslavia and that Yugoslavia had no means to retaliate," the official, Sha Zukang, said in an interview with the New York Times. "Once the United States believes it has both a strong spear and a strong shield, it could lead them to conclude that nobody can harm the United States and they can harm anyone they like anywhere in the world. There could be many more bombings like what happened in Kosovo." Determined to establish its sovereignty over Taiwan, China has steadily built up its military power in the region. In so doing, it has become a rival of the United States for influence in the western Pacific.

Document Reveals 1987 Bomb Test By Iraq
April 29, 2001 -- Iraq tested a bomb in 1987 that cast a radioactive cloud in the open air and was meant to cause vomiting, cancer, birth defects and slow death, according to a secret Iraqi report, details of which were published by the New York Times. Radiation sickness from the bomb, the Iraqi document said, would "weaken enemy units from the standpoint of health and inflict losses that would be difficult to explain, possibly producing a psychological effect." Death, it added, might occur "within two to six weeks." While the existence of Iraq's effort to build a radiological weapon has been known for several years, the 1987 Iraqi report sheds light on the secret effort. The bomb was basically a dud, says Gary Milhollin, director of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, a private group in Washington that acquired the secret Iraqi report from a United Nations official. The Iraqis decided to scrap the project because radiation levels were considered too low to achieve the grisly objectives. The project nonetheless "shows Iraq's intention" to develop weapons of mass destruction, Milhollin added.

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