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UPI NewsTrack TopNews

U.S. official: No doubts about Iraq WMD

WASHINGTON, June 6 (UPI) -- A top administration official said Friday that a federal report does not conflict with the case that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

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That report was issued in September 2002, and stated "There is no reliable information on whether Iraq is producing and stockpiling chemical weapons."

CNN quoted Vice Adm. Lowell Jacoby, Defense Intelligence Agency director, as saying that the report showed that his agency "could not specifically pin down individual facilities operating as part of the weapons of mass destruction programs."

But he said the sentence was "not in any way intended to portray the fact that we had doubts that any program existed.

The summary concluded that there was "no reliable information" that Iraq was producing new chemical weapons, but said that intelligence suggested the nation was distributing chemical weapons in advance of a possible war.

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Japan enacts legislation for event of war

TOKYO, June 6 (UPI) -- Japan's parliament Friday enacted a set of laws that defines the rules under which Japan can respond to attacks by a foreign enemy.

The Japan Times said the development has serious implications for Japan's national security policy and its war-renouncing Constitution.

The legislation is the first of its kind since the end of World War II.

The government-sponsored war contingency bills give the government greater power to deploy the Self-Defense Forces in the event of a military emergency. They were approved by an overwhelming majority of 202-32 in the Upper House.

The bills were submitted to the Diet last year and carried over to the current session. They were endorsed not only by the ruling coalition but also by two opposition forces.

Only members of the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party opposed the legislation, arguing it goes against the pacifist Constitution.


U.N. Cambodia ink deal on Khmer trials

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, June 6 (UPI) -- The United Nations and Cambodia signed a deal Friday that would allow members of the Khmer Rouge to be tried for war crimes.

The agreement was signed by U.N. Legal Counsel Hans Corell and Cambodian Senior Minister Sok An, the United Nations said in a statement. The two sides agreed to prosecute, under Cambodian law, crimes committed between 1975 and 1979 when Cambodia was run by Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot.

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"With this step, the quest of the Cambodian people for justice, national reconciliation, stability, peace and security is brought closer to realization," Corell said.

Once ratified by the Cambodian National Assembly, Friday's deal sets up an Extraordinary Chambers within the Cambodian court structure with the power to try top Khmer Rouge leaders. The United Nations will pay the estimated $19 million needed for the 3-year effort.

The Khmer Rouge's "Killing Fields" led to 1.7 million deaths.


Heat kills 1,300 in India

NEW DEHLI, India, June 6 (UPI) -- Pre-monsoon rains brought some respite Friday to a heat wave that has killed more than 1,300 people across India in the past three weeks.

The semi-official Press Trust of India reported rains and dust storms in several parts of the country lowered temperatures, which have hovered at around 115-120 degrees F.

There was little respite in Andhra Pradesh, the worst-hit state, which lies in the country's south. Forty-six more deaths were reported Friday, adding to the state's 1,281 fatalities from the heat. Most of the victims were poor laborers or farmers.

Friday's rains preceded India's annual monsoons, which were reported heading toward the southern state of Kerala a week late. They are expected to make landfall June 8.

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The monsoons are crucial for India's economy, which relies heavily on agriculture. On news of the rains, the Bombay Stock Exchange closed up 1.26 percent at 3,303.24 points.

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