WASHINGTON (BP)–The Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders failed to accomplish one of its main objectives in four days of meetings but evidenced widespread opposition to efforts at religious conversion.
After nearly eight months of heated competition in election campaigns by five presidential candidates, by 6:30pm of March 18th the victory of Chen Shui-bian and Liu Hsiu-lian of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was assured.
An interreligious meeting held in New York 28-31 August was a significant attempt to develop a relationship between the religious community and the United Nations, according to a World Council of Churches (WCC) official who attended.
On the sidelines of today’s opening of the United Nation’s historic “Millennium summit” – billed as the largest-ever gathering of world leaders – US President Bill Clinton will confer separately with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in a last-ditch bid to broker a compromise in their high-stakes fight over Jerusalem.
Topless muses, nude dancers, and masked revelers stumbled home this week following dusk-to-dawn Carnival parades on both sides of the globe. The larger parades, Mardi Gras and Rio Carnival, witnessed above average arrests according to police.
An Israeli official confirmed Monday that PLO chief Yasser Arafat has salted away $20 million in pilfered funds in a Swiss Bank account, a nest egg that Israeli security believes he has offered to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in exchange for a safe haven if forced to leave Gaza.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan’s King Abdullah were to meet with Syrian dictator Bashar Assad in Damascus on Wednesday for talks ahead of the Arab summit in Amman slated for the end of the month.
There were calls in recent days for calmer heads to prevail over the building of a water pumping station along a tributary of the upper Jordan River on the Israel-Lebanon border.
Iranian President Mohammad Khatami is concluding a visit to Russia, where he has finalized deals for the purchase of conventional arms from Moscow and for continued assistance with Iran’s controversial nuclear program.
Arab leaders have gathered in Amman for a significant Arab League summit that appears set to follow a familiar script, taking a united stand against Israel, but not quite trusting the Palestinians, while remaining divided on regional troublemaker Iraq.
Investigators in the congressional probe into former US President Bill Clinton’s controversial pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich plan to formally question ex-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak about his role in the possible pardon-for-money scandal.
According to Iran’s state-run radio, the country is receiving help from Russia to complete its nuclear power plant at Bushehr, which is expected to be operational within two years.
The Lebanese army has detained 12 people, including a Palestinian officer, accusing them of spying for Israel, the military said Thursday. The army statement did not say when or where the 12 were arrested, but said they were caught with sophisticated wireless and camouflaged photography equipment.
United Nations and European Union officials increasingly fear that the worsening economic conditions in the Palestinian Authority will only increase poverty and lead to more violence. But for the first time, the EU is seriously threatening to withhold further funding unless the PA starts to combat terrorism and adopts a revised and “transparent” budget plan.
Despite universal outrage and even widespread condemnation from leading Muslim circles, the ruling Taliban faction in Kabul has proceeded with the destruction of non-Islamic statues in Afghanistan.
The Labor party on Friday voted for eight ministers to fill its allotted seats in the emerging government of Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon, with MK Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a reserve brigadier general, besting several challengers for the position of defense minister and elder party statesman Shimon Peres winning the foreign ministry post by default.
Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon looks set to meet his Wednesday deadline for presenting his government to the Knesset, after his coalition negotiating team initialed a deal with the ultra-Orthodox Shas party Sunday night giving him a parliamentary majority of 64 seats.
Israel still has plenty of reasons to be concerned that PLO chief Yasser Arafat will not honor the Sharm e-Sheikh cease-fire, as armed Palestinian elements continue to fire upon Israeli targets and Arafat has yet to clearly order his forces to quell the uprising.
The Arab world marked the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha on Monday, traditionally a day of food, family and festivities. But this year, the holiday was noted for intensified anti-Israel and anti-Jewish rhetoric, continued violence and economic hardship in Palestinian areas, and the tragic death of 35 pilgrims during the hajj to Mecca.
Aides to outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak tried to distance him from the controversy surrounding former US President Bill Clinton and the “pardongate” scandal, refuting claims on Saturday that Barak had made three calls to Clinton that ultimately persuaded him to pardon fugitive financier Marc Rich.