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Israel approves release of 500 Palestinian prisoners

     Tel Aviv: An Israeli ministerial committee unanimously approved Sunday the release of some 500 Palestinian prisoners in the next few days, Israeli radio reported. The releases come as part of a package of goodwill measures by Israel towards the Palestinians, although none of the inmates due to go free have been convicted for their part in deadly attacks.

Shia parties win Iraqi election

     Baghdad: A Shia-dominated coalition won nearly half of the 8.5 million votes cast in Iraq's election, poll officials say. According to the BBC, the Kurdish coalition came second with nearly 2.2 million votes, while the party of interim PM Iyad Allawi was third with nearly 1.2 million. There is now a three-day period for complaints to be lodged. If none are upheld, the results become official. Iraqi officials said turnout in the 30 January poll was about 58 per cent, but much of the Sunni minority did not take part. Attacks by the largely Sunni insurgency are ongoing, with an Iraqi army general killed in the latest violence. Provisional results released by Iraq's election commission show that the coalition of religious Shia Muslim candidates, assembled by the Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, received about 48 per cent of the vote. The Kurdish parties took about 26 per cent, while the list led by Allawi was a distant third with nearly 14 per cent of the vote. The main Shia list of candidates - the United Iraqi Alliance - will be granted the most seats in the new 275-member assembly, and is expected to nominate the new prime minister. However, the BBC' says the Shia parties will be disappointed as they had anticipated winning 60 per cent of the vote.

Annan to present blueprint for UN reforms (Go To Top)
by Ramesh Ranjan

     Munich: UN secretary general Kofi Annan has said that the global security scenario is changing fast and the global collective security system including, United Nations, must be transformed as soon as possible. "Next month, I will be placing before the member states of the United Nations a blueprint for the most far-reaching reform of the international security system since the establishment of the United Nations in 1945," he said in his address to the 41st Munich Conference on Security Policy. He also said that in just seven months, world leaders would be called upon to make some momentous decision, which has been in the pipeline for several years. He indicated that his report would draw heavily on the recommendations of the 16 eminent men and women who served on the High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change. According to Annan, the panel sees no need to amend Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, which preserves the right to take pre-emptive action against an imminent threat.

     He also called on Europe and America to do something more, to think ahead, and to help plant the seeds of long term global collective security. According to him, security threats are not isolated or confined within a state's boundary and a bomb blast or civil war or deadly disease in one country has the potential to devastate the global economy, thereby plunging millions into poverty in developing countries. Annan believes that the all the nations are mutually vulnerable and in this era of interdependence, four-pronged strategy should be adopted. First, collective defences should be strengthened, second, collective force should be used when prevention fails and peaceful means have been exhausted, third, collective mechanism should be worked out to build lasting peace in war-torn lands and fourth, democratisation, development and human rights should be spread across the world.