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Britain and US in crisis talks over North Korea's nuclear weapons By Andrew Grice, Political Editor 01 April 2003 Britain and the United States will discuss how to tackle the crisis over North Korea's nuclear weapons programme today amid signs that Pyongyang intends to exploit the war in Iraq.At the talks in Washington, the UK and US are expected to agree to seek a United Nations statement urging North Korea to "pull back from the brink" by reversing its decision to withdraw from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Although Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, has said America could fight wars...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix said after a first round of disarmament talks with Iraqi officials on Saturday that the discussions were "very substantial." "We had a long day of discussion. They were useful discussions," Blix told reporters after he and chief U.N. nuclear expert Mohamed ElBaradei had held 4-1/2 hours of talks in Baghdad with an Iraqi monitoring team led by presidential adviser Amer al-Saadi. Asked how he would describe the discussions, Blix said: "Very substantial." Blix and ElBaradei are in Baghdad less than a week before they next report to the U.N. Security Council....

PYONGYANG, North Korea -- Face to face talks between North Korea's leader and a South Korean presidential envoy did not take place as expected in Pyongyang Tuesday after Kim Jong Il failed to appear for the meeting. Presidential envoy Lim Dong-won waited until late into Tuesday night in the North's capital, Pyongyang, for an expected meeting with Kim on the nuclear crisis, Reuters reported a Seoul official as saying. The reclusive leader never showed. "Lim Dong-won will return to Seoul without having a meeting with Kim Jong Il" said a South Korean Unification Ministry official. No reason was given for...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraqi scientists are refusing private interviews with U.N. inspectors despite the strong urgings of the Iraqi government, a senior Iraqi official said Thursday. But Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said Thursday that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had threatened cooperative scientists with death. "Today we know from multiple sources that Saddam has ordered that any scientist who cooperates during interviews will be killed, as well as their families," Wolfowitz said in New York. Despite the scientists' balking at interviews, Lt. Gen. Hossam Mohammed Amin said Baghdad hopes the chief U.N. inspectors will submit a progress report to...

TOKYO: North Korea on Thursday threatened to call off talks with Japan on security issues unless Tokyo returns to Pyongyang five Japanese who are visiting their homes decades after they were abducted to the communist state. "Japan is creating a new obstacle to an improvement in relations between Japan and DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea -- North Korea) in violation of an inter-government agreement," a North Korean foreign minstry spokesman said. The statement was carried by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) monitored here. The five abductees, including two married couples and the wife of a US defector,...

Iraq Wants Talks with U.N. on Arms Inspections Thu Aug 15, 4:09 PM ET By Inal Ersan ABU DHABI (Reuters) - A top Iraqi official said in remarks broadcast on Thursday that Baghdad was ready to discuss the return of U.N. arms inspectors provided the talks are not preceded by any conditions. In what appeared to be another bid by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's government to stave off a possible U.S. strike, Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan told Abu Dhabi Television in an interview Iraq was "open for dialogue" with the United Nations But he also said Baghdad was preparing...

Majority of Iranians support holding discussions with the USA, despite the fact that they consider the United States as an enemy of Iran, Iran News reported on Monday. According to two polls carried out by the ministries of culture and information, 71-78 percent of those surveyed favored holding talks with Washington, while 65-70 percent did not consider holding such talks to be humiliating. However, the two polls, which were requested by the parliament's National Security Commission, indicated that only 26 percent of the participants viewed the United States as a likable country. In addition, according to the Iranian newspaper, the...

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is to blame for the failure of U.N.-Iraq talks on the return of arms inspectors to Baghdad, Iraq's most influential newspaper said on Monday. "The secretary-general wanted to discuss one issue, the return of arms inspection teams, ignoring other related issues such as queries raised by Iraq," Babel newspaper said in a front-page editorial. Iraq and the United Nations failed on Friday to reach an agreement to resume weapons inspections after intensive talks involving Annan and Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri. The failure of the talks was "deliberate and went in line with the desire of...

The delegation of Arab people's forces led by Mr. Sa'ad Qaasim Hamoudi and delegation of Chinese Society for the international understanding started talks in Peking on Saturday. Mr. Hamoudi reviewed latest developments in relations between Iraq and the Security Council and the next round of talks with the U.N Secretary General. He called on China to practice its role in demanding lifting embargo without conditions, canceling the illegitimate no-fly zones and stopping US-British aggression against civilians and installations. He also called to void the Zionist entity of weapons of mass destruction in accordance with para 14 of resolution 687. Mr....

Iran's judiciary admitted Sunday that its decision last month to brand public support for talks with the United States a criminal offence was based on a rumor. Deputy chief justice Hadi Marvi, quoted by the official IRNA news agency, said "a rumor went round that the National Security Council intended to ban discussions with the United States.". That prompted the courts to make illegal all talk of opening discussions with Washington "based on this rumor and with the goal of defending the ... National Security Council," he added. The council, headed by liberal-minded President Mohammad Khatami, groups Iran's government and...

United Nations Spokesman Fred Eckhard on Monday confirmed that the next round of talks between UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and a high-ranking Iraqi delegation would be held in early July. He would not, however, provide information on the exact dates or location. "Early July it is. It is probably going to be coordinated with one of the secretary-generals trips. We are not ready to announce that trip yet," he told the daily briefing, according to KUNA. Later on, a UN official said that Kofi Annan is scheduled to travel in early July to Geneva and Rome. The talks may,...

Saudis tell Bush to moderate Israel support 25-04-2002By Randall Mikkelsen CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah have met amid Saudi warnings that Bush must moderate U.S. support for Israel or risk "grave consequences." The two leaders met for nearly five hours on Thursday at Bush's ranch as world oil prices jumped on reports -- later denied by the Saudis -- that frustration over perceived U.S. favouritism toward Israel could drive Saudi Arabia to consider supporting an Iraqi suspension of oil exports. The U.S. side declined to immediately characterise the talks, but a...

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - U.S. peace envoy Anthony Zinni has held talks with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat at his Ramallah headquarters, hours after Israeli tanks rumbled out of the West Bank city. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's decision to end a three-day reoccupation of Ramallah, announced as Zinni arrived on Thursday, drew praise from U.S. President George W. Bush. Speaking in North Carolina, Bush said the Israeli military withdrawal overnight from Ramallah and two other West Bank cities was a positive development and he was hopeful Zinni would succeed in bringing about a ceasefire in the 17-month conflict. "I've said...