Queia wants out
The word from Ramallah is that Yasser Arafat's hand-picked premier Ahmed Queia wants out.
Even Oscar Wilde would be challenged to find the word for Yasser Arafat's latest fiasco. Queia, sworn in by Arafat Tuesday, offered his resignation Thursday after an angry row.
Arafat insisted on sacking Interior Minister General Nasser Youssef, in order to keep all the security organizations under his own hand. Queia had been told by Arafat only last month that General Youssef was the only man trustworthy enough to replace Mohammed Dahlan as security czar.
Members of the Palestinian Legislative Council had gathered in Ramallah to rubber stamp the "emergency" cabinet when a "postponement" was announced. But many of the legislators were threatening a revolt against Arafat's plan that the emergency cabinet (supposedly empowered for only one month) should become a full executive authority.
Things that may go boom in Asia
China may be preparing for a manned space launch next week, but India's military is actively preparing for nuclear warfare in space.
India's Air Chief Marshal S. Krishnaswamy claims his country is developing an aerospace command station to have nuclear weapons platforms in space.
"Any country on the fringe of space technology like India has to work towards such a command station because advanced countries are already moving towards laser weapon platforms in space and killer satellites," Krishnaswamy told Indian reporters as the Air Force celebrated its 71st anniversary with a big flypast.
As well as the expected Sukhoi-30, Mirage-2000 and Mig-29 warplanes, the flypast included two of India's new Russian-built Ilyushin aerial tankers, and the Indian air chief claimed that his fighter-bombers had already flown 10-hour missions with their new in-flight refueling capability.
With Pakistan so close, the obvious objective of in-flight refueling is to give India's nuclear-capable bombers the legs to hit targets in China.
Germans seek crossing rights in Russia
The two-day summit between Russian president Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder could give German troops crossing rights of Russia.
The Germans are seeking passage for their ISAF peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan.
Schroeder is accompanied to the meeting in Ekaterinburg by a heavyweight business contingent including energy giants E.ON and Ruhrgas, the heads of Deutsche Bank and Lufthansa and Labor and Economics Minister Wolfgang Clement. The big deal is a possible Baltic natural gas pipeline.
Croatia to seek EU entry
Croatia may become the second former Yugoslav republic to gain entry to the European Union.
The EU's commissioner for enlargement, Gunter Verheugen, told Croatian officials Thursday that they can expect to start formal membership talks next June, so long as they deliver on war crimes suspects.
The Croats submitted their membership application in February, and Verheugen has to deliver the Commission's recommendation within the next six months. Croatia would be following the tiny northern Republic of Slovenia, which is part of the 'Big Bang' enlargement scheduled for May 1 next year.
Ex-Japanese diplomat roils government
A book by the former Japanese ambassador to Lebanon Naoto Amaki is causing red faces in Tokyo because of allegations of corruption.
Amaki's book "So Long, Ministry of Foreign Affairs" not only claims that he was "effectively fired" for bombarding Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi with telegrams opposing President Bush's "murderous policy" in Iraq. It also could cause bureaucrats in the Foreign Ministry to fall on their letter-openers because of Amaki's allegations that the Foreign Ministry contributed 2 billion yen ($19 million) into a slush fund controlled by the Cabinet Secretariat.
Just so readers don't miss Amaki's drift, the book is subtitled "I will not forgive Prime Minister Koizumi and his bureaucrats, who betrayed our country."
Needless to say, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hatsuhisa Takashima rejects the allegations, claiming an "internal investigation" after a 2001 embezzlement scandal gave the Ministry a clean bill of health.
