Washington, D.C.
Putin envoy offers assurances on arms sales
Russian President Vladimir Putin offered assurances through an envoy Wednesday that only defensive weapons will be sold to Iran.
"All defensive," Putin's national security adviser, Sergei Ivanov, said after meetings with his U.S. counterpart, Condoleezza Rice, and Secretary of State Colin Powell. "Personnel carriers, tanks, anti-air missiles, which are very legitimate."
Even so, Powell criticized Russia for cutting a new weapons deals with Iran. "It is not wise to invest in regimes that do not follow international standards of behavior," he told the Senate Budget Committee. He testified Wednesday as he defended to a vastly receptive audience the administration's request for about $23.9 billion a 5 percent increase over this year for international programs beginning Oct. 1.
Washington, D.C.
Bristol-Myers cuts AIDS drugs cost in Africa
Pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. announced Wednesday that it will sell the two AIDS medicines it manufactures "below cost" to sub-Saharan African countries, and pledged to allow South Africa to bypass the company's patents on one of the drugs in order produce or buy a cheaper version.
The announcement by the third-largest U.S. drug company came one week after the second largest, Merck & Co., said it would lower prices of its two anti-AIDS drugs in some developing countries. The major drug firms are at the center of a growing controversy over the cost of medicine for the world's poorest AIDS victims.
UNAIDS, the United Nations organization that has been negotiating with the major drug companies for the past year, welcomed the BMS announcement.
United Nations
Israel opposes U.N. force, but will allow investigation
Israel remains opposed to a U.N. observer force demanded by the Palestinians but will let a U.S.-led mission investigate the causes of the current violence, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Wednesday.
Immediately after the violence broke out in September, Israel said it was open to the idea of a U.S.-led investigation. The Palestinians wanted U.N. involvement, but agreed to a U.S.-led fact-finding commission appointed by former President Clinton.
In February, Israel asked the commission to put off further visits until the new government led by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was in place. The Palestinian U.N. observer, Nasser Al-Kidwa, accused Israel of trying to put the commission "on the shelf."
Peres held a surprise meeting Wednesday with the 15 members of the Security Council.
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