Don’t tinker with debt-relief package, U.S. warns leaders
Washington – The Bush administration warned on Tuesday that a plan to wipe out $40 billion worth of debt held by poor countries could come unglued if attempts are made to significantly change it.
Countries that are members of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund as well as others have been talking about how to implement a debt-cancellation deal announced with much fanfare in July when leaders of the world’s eight major industrial countries gathered in Gleneagles, Scotland.
The debate is likely to figure prominently at the annual meetings Sept. 24-25 of the 184-nation World Bank and IMF.
The agreement would initially cancel about $40 billion worth of debt payments that 18 poor countries – mostly in Africa – owe to international lenders such as the World Bank and IMF.
Disputes revolve around a number of issues, including whether all of the money that will be lost through debt cancellation will be made up fully by the rich countries and how long the rich countries will need to make payments.
The Netherlands and Scandinavian countries, for instance, want to ensure that any debt deal doesn’t reduce funds available to the World Bank and other international lending institutions to provide aid, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
Meanwhile, some anti-poverty groups and other activists want the debt relief expanded to cover 60-plus poor countries.
WASHINGTON
FDA panel against OK for prostate drug
A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee on Tuesday recommended against approval of a drug intended to treat prostate cancer following a report that questioned its safety and effectiveness.
Abbott Laboratories presented atrasentan, which has the trade name Xinlay, as a treatment for men with an advanced stage of prostate cancer that has spread to the bone.
But the FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee voted unanimously against recommending it. The FDA typically follows the advice of its committees but isn’t required to.
BELFAST, N. Ireland
Protestants back off after 3 nights of riots
Protestant outlaws backed off Tuesday from riots that have ravaged much of Belfast and other Northern Ireland towns for three nights.
Police commanders say the two largest illegal Protestant groups, the Ulster Defense Association and the Ulster Volunteer Force, attacked police and British troops with assault rifles and homemade grenades in what were the worst Protestant riots in nearly a decade.
BEIJING
N. Korea insists on its right to nuke power
North Korea insisted Tuesday it will not give up its right to civilian nuclear programs, raising doubts about progress as six-nation talks to persuade Pyongyang to abandon its atomic weapons resumed after a five-week recess.
Envoys from China, Japan, Russia, the U.S. and the two Koreas clasped hands together at a state guesthouse in Beijing before continuing the fourth round of talks since 2003 that have so far failed to resolve the standoff.
KATMANDU, Nepal
Nepalese police beat, arrest demonstrators
Riot police beat and arrested hundreds of protesters marching through Katmandu on Tuesday demanding the restoration of democracy in this Himalayan kingdom.
Top opposition leaders were among the 300 people arrested. About three dozen people were hurt, with some suffering head injuries, when police beat them in an attempt to disperse the crowd of more than 6,000 gathered in the capital.
Protesters have held daily rallies in Katmandu over the past week to protest King Gyanendra’s seizure of absolute power this year. Tuesday’s rally was the largest.
HUNTSVILLE, Texas
Lawyers try to stop woman’s execution
Lawyers continued to try to stop the execution today of a woman condemned to die for the slayings of her husband and two children 18 years ago.
If they fail, Frances Newton would become the first black woman executed in Texas since the nation’s most active capital punishment state resumed executions in 1982.
Her attorneys awaited word from the Supreme Court, where they filed an appeal Monday after Texas courts, lower federal courts and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected their arguments that she is innocent.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J.
Jury picked to hear Vioxx damage suit
A jury of seven women and three men was chosen Tuesday to hear the second product-liability trial involving Merck & Co. and a customer who had heart ailments after using the company’s Vioxx painkiller.
Jurors will hear opening arguments today on a lawsuit filed by Frederick Humeston, 60, a former Marine who had a heart attack in 2001.
Merck, which faces nearly 5,000 Vioxx lawsuits, withdrew the drug last year after finding it doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes for longtime users.
LOS ANGELES
Union blames cuts for power outage
Workers who accidentally triggered a massive lunchtime blackout were upgrading the city power system during peak daytime hours because the city was “cutting corners” and reluctant to pay higher wages at night, a union official claimed Tuesday.
City officials denied the allegation, and one City Council member questioned whether the outage was an intentional move by the union to pressure the city in an ongoing contract dispute.
Almost 2 million people, from downtown Los Angeles to the San Fernando Valley, lost power Monday for as long as 2 1/2 hours.
