WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Vice President Dick Cheney have pressed Iraqi leaders to end their stalemate and form a new government nearly three months after elections, a senior State Department official said on Monday.
He said Ms Rice had expressed her concerns in a telephone call to Iraqi Kurdish chief Massoud Barzani, contradicting a report in the New York Times that she had spoken with President Jalal Talabani, also a Kurd.
But the official confirmed a Times report that Ms Rice and Mr Cheney met Adil Abdul Mahdi, a leading Shia in Iraq chosen as one of the country’s new vice presidents.
The aim was to press the Iraqis to accelerate the formation of a new government, which has been held up by rounds of bickering and horse-trading between the Shias, Kurds and Sunnis.—AFP
Rodin’s Kiss to be sold at auction
ZURICH: One of the renowned “Kiss” bronzes created by French sculptor August Rodin is set to be sold in Zurich, an auction house in the Swiss city announced on Monday.
The artwork, which will go under the hammer at Galerie Koller in June, is estimated to be worth 2.2 to three million Swiss francs (1.9 to 2.5 million dollars).
Seven versions of the sculpture were cast in bronze, but the one on sale in Zurich is the only known example produced during Rodin’s lifetime by Alexis Rudier, a founder who worked closely with the artist, the auctioneers said.
Rodin sculpted the Kiss in the 1880s. He died in 1917, aged 77.—AFP
Bolton nomination in trouble
WASHINGTON: John Bolton’s controversial nomination for US ambassador to the United Nations appeared at risk on Sunday, as new allegations surfaced and a growing number of lawmakers expressed doubts.
The administration hawk has been at the centre of weeks of controversy over charges he bullied staff and tried to tailor intelligence to suit his political agenda.
Even words of support from President George Bush have failed to end Mr Bolton’s problems.
A former woman staff member accused Mr Bolton of seeking to have her sacked in the 1980s after a disagreement over US policy on infant formula in developing nations, The Boston Globe reported Sunday.—AFP
Muslims oppose govt-LTTE pact
By Our Correspondent
COLOMBO: In an unexpected turn of events the government’s main Muslim ally, the National Unity Alliance, has objected to the establishment of a joint mechanism between the government and the LTTE.
This opposition by the government’s Muslim ally is the latest to a wave of protests by the government’s chief Marxist ally the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna and the Buddhist nationalistic party consisting of Buddhist monks, the Jathika Hela Urumaya, against the controversial Joint Mechanism that is being demanded by Tamil Tiger rebels for humanitarian assistance in the north east of the country.
Rafsanjani set for presidential bid
TEHRAN: Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Monday he was set to stand again for president in the June 17 election and challenge a field of candidates so far dominated by hardliners.
“The issue of the presidency is my current preoccupation and although I would like somebody else to take this responsibility, I think I must take this bitter medicine,” the charismatic leader was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.—AFP
India-BD clash
By Our Correspondent
DHAKA: Tension on the Bangladesh-India border mounted again as fresh firing by India’s Border Security Force (BSF) killed two more Bangladeshis on Monday, raising the death toll to six since April 16.
The exchange of fire between the BSF and Bangladesh Rifles left an Indian official and a Bangladeshi chid dead on April 16.
The Indian troops shot dead two more Bangladeshi farmers in Lalmonirhat and Naogaon border on Monday.
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