Tehran—Iran’s envoy to the U.N. nuclear watchdog
agency will present Tehran’s position on a draft
nuclear fuel deal in Vienna on Thursday, the
semi-official Mehr News Agency reported on
Wednesday. Mehr, citing an informed source, said
Ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh would per-sonally
give Iran’s response to Mohamed ElBaradei, the
head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
It said Soltanieh would leave for Austria on
Wednesday. Echoing a report by Iranian state
television on Tuesday, Mehr said Iran would
accept the framework of the agreement but also
propose changes, a move that could unravel the
plan and expose Tehran to the threat of harsher
sanctions.
Rome—Italian Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa
said that at least 400 Italian soldiers sent as
reinforcements for the Afghan presidential
election would return to Italy by Christmas.
Around 500 extra Italian soldiers were deployed
to Afghanistan ahead of the presidential
election on Aug. 20. There are around 3,000
Italian troops serving in Afghanistan, mostly in
the west of the country.
Manila—UN health experts began field
investigations on Wednesday to help the
Philippines contain an outbreak of a deadly
disease in the wake of massive storms that
claimed more than 1,000 lives, officials said.
The World Health Organisation’s four-member team
will work with and advise local officials on
combating leptospirosis, an infection caused by
exposure to water contaminated with rat and
other animal urine, the agency said.
Shanghai—President Barack Obama’s visit to China
next month is not likely to yield a separate
accord on countering global warming, though both
countries are pushing for progress for upcoming
global talks in Copenhagen, the top U.S. envoy
on climate change said Wednesday. “I don’t think
we’re going to get an agreement per se,” said
Todd Stern, the U.S. special envoy for climate
change. However, he said Obama will work with
Chinese President Hu Jintao toward facilitating
an agreement at the interna-tional meeting.
Dhaka—Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked Germany
on Wednes-day to invest in Bangladesh’s energy
sector and buy its ships, a business leader
said. A delegation of the German Asia Business
Association headed by Peter Clasen met the prime
minister and said they were interested in
exploring the prospects for open pit coal mining
in Bangladesh.
