Iran rejects report of enriched uranium find

TEHRAN, July 19-- Iran on Saturday denounced a report that International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors had found enriched uranium in environmental samples taken in the country as "suspicious and vague".

"This type of forged news is suspicious and vague, since it is up to the IAEA to make comments on this issue, not diplomats who have no accurate information about it," the official IRNA news agency quoted Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi as saying.

A western media cited unnamed diplomats as alleging that samplestaken from a nuclear facility in Natanz, central Iran, showed Tehran has been enriching uranium without informing IAEA.

"The Natanz facility has not become operational yet. Thus, the claim of enriched uranium had been found there is totally meaningless," Asefi said.He said the facility in Natanz is "under the IAEA safeguards and supervision and no clandestine activity is taking place there." "Allegations that samples taken show levels of enrichment is very questionable and we expect this issue will be clarified in our dialogue with IAEA," Asefi added.

According to IRNA, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei has reportedly denied in Vienna that enriched uranium was found in the samples. Hedescribed the reports as "pure speculation at this stage.

CENTRE COMPLETES FIRST BUY BACK AUCTION OF HIGH COUPON SECURITIES

The Ministry of Finance, in cooperation with the Reserve Bank of India, took yet another innovative step today. The first ever buy back auction of high coupon, relatively illiquid government securities was completed by the Reserve Bank of India today, at 2 p.m. In all 131 offers were received, amounting to a total of Rs. 14,434 crore (face value). As these were above the minimum discount of 7.5 per cent, they have been accepted by the Government.

The market value of these securities bought back, amounts to Rs. 19,394 crore. In lieu of the securities repurchased, Government will simultaneously reissue four liquid securities, of the equivalent face value of Rs. 14,434 crore, to the Banks that bid successfully.

There are many noteworthy aspects of this auction. This was an entirely voluntary auction. It was open, on-line and the auction itself was electronic. Of great significance is also the fact that this is a pioneering effort at internal debt restructuring by the Government.

IAEA experts start inspection in Iran

TEHRAN, July 19 -- A new team of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) started its mission in Iran earlier on Saturday, the official IRNA news agency reported. Spokesman for Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Khalil Mousavi said the visit of the inspectors had been planned earlier, and their mission to inspect Iran's nuclear sites was within the framework of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Meanwhile, IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei said in Vienna on Friday that a group of IAEA experts would visit Iran in the next few weeks to discuss with Iranian officials details of the additional protocol to NPT.

ElBaradei paid a one-day visit to Tehran on July 9, his second trip to Iran since February, and discussed Iran's controversial nuclear issues with Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi and chief of Iran's nuclear agency Gholam-Reza Aqazadeh. The IAEA chief urged Iran to sign the additional protocol to the NPT as a first step to expand cooperation with his agency.

Newly-elected Kuwaiti parliament opens first session

KUWAIT CITY, July 19 -- Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Sabah on Saturday inaugurated the first session of the newly-elected National Assembly (parliament) at the presence of the crownprince and prime minister.

In his opening speech to the 50-seat parliament, elected on July 5th, the emir said Kuwait managed "big strides towards success and is likely to face many issues in the future." Newly-appointed Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah said in his speech that the region is facing a difficult period with security, economic, political, social and cultural challenges.

"The situation requires wisdom, pragmatism and a facing of reality in order to overcome this sensitive historic period with its various changes and dimensions," he said. "We should face these challenges and there should be positive cooperation between the legislative and executive powers as much aspossible so that we will be able to go through the period of transition towards reform and change and to push the wheel of development forward," he added.

The prime minister also presented to the parliament the government's 13-point working programme, which vows to prioritize the fight against terror and reform the oil-rich Gulf Arab state's economy.

The Kuwaiti emir on Monday issued a decree forming a new cabinet, which brought six new faces into government and changes atthe key ministries of the interior and oil and is headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah, the former foreign minister.

Sheikh Sabah's nomination came a week after the ailing Crown Prince and Prime Minister Sheikh Saad al-Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabahsubmitted his resignation following the parliament elections. For the first time since Kuwait's independence in 1961, the postof prime minister is separated from the role of heir to the throne.

Another US soldier killed in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, July 19 - A US soldier was shot and killed while on a patrol mission in Iraqi's capital Baghdad, the US military confirmed on Saturday. The soldier, from the 1st US Infantry Division, was gunned down by a hostile fire late Friday afternoon, said a spokesman of the US military, who neither announced the name of the victim, nor provided further details of the attack.

Recent weeks have seen a sharp rise in attacks against US troops in Iraq. The latest incident pushed to a total of 149 the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq since the war to topple Saddam Hussein's regime broke out on March 20, exceeding the deathtoll of US troops in the 1991 Gulf War.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Friday Iraqis want an interim government to be set up as quickly as possible. "It is important that Iraqis are able to see a clear timetable leading to the full restoration of sovereignty," Annan said, adding, however, that the US-led coalition is responsible for "restoring conditions of security and stability" in Iraq.

US may be forced to fall back on UN on Iraq: newspaper

WASHINGTON, July 19 The Bush administration is finding itself forced back into the arms of the United Nations (UN)although it spurned the world body in its drive to launch a war with Iraq, The New York Times said Saturday. The administration has repeatedly talked about the willingness to seek a new UN mandate on Iraq recently because many other nations are refusing to contribute stabilization troops or reconstruction money to Iraq without UN approval.

With the costs of stabilizing Iraq hovering at nearly four billion US dollars a month, and with American troops being killed on almost a daily basis, United States officials admit that they are rethinking their strategy and may seek a UN resolution for help that would placate other nations, like India, France and Germany.

US officials contend that they are being practical, but within their ranks are policy makers sharply critical of the UN, and there are those who would consider it humiliating to seek its mantle after going to war without the blessing of the world body.

The Bush administration's quandary deepened on Friday when Russia announced that it would consider sending peacekeeping troops to Iraq but only with a UN mandate that would set out a specific mission and timetable.

President George W. Bush's meeting earlier this week with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was part of a flurry of consultations in recent days between US and UN officials.

Condoleezza Rice, national security adviser to Bush, reportedlyreached out to diplomats on the UN Security Council, and Secretaryof State Colin Powell emerged from a meeting with his German counterpart, Joschka Fischer, saying he was discussing ways to expand international support for the Iraq occupation, including seeking a new UN resolution.

"There are some nations who have expressed the desire for more of a mandate from the United Nations, and I am in conversations with some ministers about this, as well as with the secretary-general of the United Nations," Powell said.

The discussions reflect a growing sense that the reconstructionof Iraq will require a new international alliance, The New York Times said. For all their rapid success in the military phase, the US-led forces are struggling to establish stability and normalcy in Iraq,the paper said. The newspaper also noted that a Pentagon advisory panel which had just returned from Iraq reported a pressing need for international assistance.

Death of expert on Iraqi arms fuels Blair's crisis

LONDON, July 19 -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Saturday was in the glare of spotlight over the unexplained death of the British expert on Iraqi banned weapons, which, some media here claim, has plunged Blair into the biggest crisis of his premiership.

David Kelly, 59, who was suspected to be the source of a BBC report claiming the British government had "sexed up" evidence on Iraqi's banned weapons, was found dead Friday, though formal identification has yet to be completed.

Police said the result of a postmortem may take another 24 hours. But media here widely suspect his death was suicide as he had been under great pressures after the Ministry of Defense claimed he had talked with the BBC defense correspondent.

Earlier in Tokyo, on the first leg of his Asian trip, Blair called on Britain's politicians and media to "show some respect and restraint" over Kelly's death. However, looking at Saturday's British media, it seemed that Blair's call was in vain.

The Financial Times on Saturday described Kelly's death as "an immense blow to Tony Blair's government", noting that Blair has been unable to turn the defeat of Saddam Hussein into political capital.

"The problems of postwar reconstruction of Iraq and the failure to find weapons of mass destruction have raised doubts among the public and media about the wisdom of going to war," the newspaper commented.

"The death of Mr. Kelly is the most dramatic event in a long-running political dispute that has seen the government and the BBC trade insults and threaten damage to both," it said.

Meanwhile, the broadsheet Independent said Kelly had been "a casualty of war", and "Death of the dossier fall guy" was the page-one headline of the right-wing Daily Telegraph newspaper.

Why his name had been leaked to the papers by the government was one of the most serious question needing to be addressed, said the paper, adding that the resulting media attention had left Kelly feeling like "a rabbit caught in the headlights", unable to escape.

Instead of its normal single column editorial, the Daily Mail devoted three to the expert's death, and pulled no punches on whatit saw as a politically-inspired vendetta. It announced that Blairand his government were now facing their "Moment of Truth".

It said the victim was "pitchforked" into the very center of a huge public row - and the motive was transparent: to put pressure on the BBC to name its source for a report alleging the government had embellished an intelligence dossier to strengthen the case forwar in Iraq.

The Daily Mail urged the prime minister to cut short his round-the-world trip, and recall parliament. It also called for the resignations of the government's director of communications Alastair Campbell, and Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon.

The Times ran a profile of Kelly, who it described as the scourge of Saddam Hussein, but who ended up being treated with contempt. It said Kelly's role in disarming the Iraqis' biologicalweapons arsenal was impossible to exaggerate.While welcoming a judicial inquiry into his death, the Times said it is unlikely to find a "single villain" or a "simple explanation."

The Daily Express said although Kelly had undoubtedly felt under pressure following his appearance before the Commons committee, it was too early to draw any conclusions about what laybehind his apparent death.Time and time again, television newscasts played shots of Kellybeing questioned by a parliamentary committee who labelled him "chaff" and a government "fall guy".

Earlier this week, Kelly denied being the BBC's main source forits radio report which claimed Downing Street had "sexed up" a dossier issued last September, which said Saddam Hussein could deploy chemical or biological weapons within 45 minutes.

After questioning Kelly on Tuesday, the Commons foreign affairsselect committee said it was "most unlikely" he was the main source for the BBC story.

But Kelly's friend Tom Mangold told the Financial Times that the expert had come to believe he was indeed the source for the BBC story."I guess he couldn't cope with the firestorm that developed after he gave what he regarded as a routine briefing to Gillian (the BBC's defense correspondent who fired the story)," said Mangold.

 

Blair "distressed" for arms expert's unconfirmed death

LONDON, July 18 Downing Street said British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who just landed in Japan late Friday for talks with his Japanese counterpart Junichiro Koizumi, felt "distressed" for the unconfirmed death of missing British expert on Iraqi arms.

During his flight from Washington to Tokyo, Blair was informed of the discovery of the body by police searching for Ministry of Defense expert, David Kelly, who was suspected to be the source ofa BBC report claiming the government had "sexed up" evidence on Iraqi's banned weapons.

Sky News's political editor Adam Boulton, who is traveling with Blair, said that Downing Street staff on the plane were "visibly shaken and shocked" when told Kelly had gone missing.

"If it is the body of Dr. Kelly, we are looking at a full-scale government crisis," said Boulton.

Blair's spokesman added that the Ministry of Defense will launch an independent judicial inquiry if the body proves to be Kelly's.

"If it is Dr. Kelly, it will be the ministry of defense's intention to hold an independent judicial inquiry into the circumstances of his death. It goes without saying that the government will cooperate fully," the spokesman said.

Earlier, British police said the body they found on Friday morning matches the description of the 59-year-old arms adviser but his family will not be taken to formally identify the body until Saturday.

Police also said the cause of death will not be revealed until a postmortem is carried out.

A police search team found the body lying face down in a woodedarea at Harrowdown Hill, about five miles from Kelly's home in Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, west of London, at about 0820 GMT.

Kelly, who works for the British Ministry of Defense, went missing from his home at about 1400 GMT on Thursday. His family called the police when he failed to return home by 2245 GMT and a police helicopter was employed in the search.

Kelly's wife Janice said her husband had told her he was going for a walk and his disappearance and failure to make contact with anyone was "out of character", according to the local reports.

Police said earlier Friday that Kelly was an avid walker and had a good local knowledge of the many footpaths surrounding his home, suggesting that it was not unusual for him to walk for two or three hours at a time, but unusual for him to do this alone.

Earlier this week, Kelly denied being the BBC's main source forits radio report which claimed Downing Street had "sexed up" a dossier issued last September, which said Saddam Hussein could deploy chemical or biological weapons within 45 minutes.

After questioning Kelly on Tuesday, the Commons foreign affairsselect committee said it was "most unlikely" he was the main source for the BBC story.BBC issued a statement saying the corporation was "shocked and saddened" by the news