Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Digest

Deal may be near in N. Korea nuclear talks

By TIMES WIRES
Published February 10, 2007

North Korea and the United States appeared Friday to be inching closer to a deal that would establish a schedule for North Korea to shut down and seal its main nuclear facilities within two months, in return for shipments of fuel oil from South Korea and the beginning of talks over normalization of relations with Washington. But the top U.S. envoy negotiating the deal cautioned that the two sides remained stuck on "one or two" small issues. "Nothing is agreed unless everything is agreed," said Christopher Hill, an assistant secretary of state. But in Washington, officials at the White House and the State Department were preparing for a major announcement this weekend.

Vaccine plan begun for poor nations

Officials from a handful of wealthy nations initiated a long-awaited plan Friday to support and finance the development of vaccines for children in poorer countries, and to purchase the vaccine once it is produced. The first phase of the program, which is called the Advance Market Commitment, will cover the pneumococcal vaccine, a shot that is effective at preventing deadly pneumonia in children. The program, to be financed through donations from the governments, will cost $1.5-billion and is expected to prevent 5.4-million deaths among children by 2030, according to the World Bank and GAVI, the global vaccine fund that provided technical assistance. Italy, Canada, Norway, Britain and Russia have pledged money. A pneumococcal vaccine for children has been widely used in the United States and other developed nations since the late 1990s.

Prime minister named after strike

Guinea's ruler appointed a new prime minister, state-run radio said Friday, in a move that appeared aimed at appeasing union leaders who led a crippling two-week strike. But union leaders did not immediately welcome the appointment of Eugene Camara, one of President Lansana Conte's cabinet members, saying the ailing president had failed to consult with them as required under the accord reached last month to end the protest. The strike spiraled into violent street protests with rock-hurling demonstrators clashing with security forces, leaving at least 59 dead and bringing the country to an economic standstill.

American named to top political post

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon named the U.S. ambassador to Indonesia, B. Lynn Pascoe, to the top U.N. political post Friday as part of a long-awaited overhaul of senior U.N. posts to start shaping his new administration. As part of the shake-up, he also gave key jobs to officials from the United States, China, Japan and Egypt and accepted the resignations of 17 senior staff members. The secretary-general, who took office on Jan. 1, decided to leave a number of senior U.N. officials in their jobs, including Undersecretary-General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno of France, Legal Counsel Nicolas Michel of Switzerland and security chief David Veness of Britain. With his previous appointments, Ban has kept the U.N. tradition of giving top jobs in the U.N. Secretariat to the five permanent Security Council nations - the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China - as well as to its largest financial contributors, the U.S. and Japan.

[Last modified February 10, 2007, 01:49:07]