Briefly

United Nations

U.S. puts conditions on peacekeeping

The United States made clear Wednesday it will not participate in U.N. peacekeeping operations unless the U.N. Security Council grants Americans immunity from prosecution by the world’s first permanent war crimes tribunal.

With the International Criminal Court starting business on July 1, the United States moved on two fronts to get blanket protection for Americans taking part in U.N. peacekeeping missions and those serving in the NATO-led force in Bosnia.

But the U.S. initiative faces an uphill struggle because the new court has very wide support in the 15-member Security Council including from Britain and France, which both have veto power. They are among six council nations that have ratified the treaty establishing the court.

Former President Bill Clinton signed the treaty but it was never ratified by the Senate. In early May, the Bush administration announced it wanted nothing to do with the treaty creating the court or the tribunal itself.

Washington, D.C.

Bush pledges to expand HIV prevention program

President Bush on Wednesday pledged to seek an additional $300 million to help nations in Africa and the Caribbean protect infants from the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, which experts say infects 2,000 newborns every day.

The $300 million that Bush intends to seek from Congress in fiscal 2004 would come on top of the current $200 million that the United States is spending for the “Mother and Child HIV Prevention Initiative.”

Worldwide, acquired immune deficiency syndrome has killed more than 20 million people and, Bush said, is “poised to kill at least 40 million more.”

Experts believe that one of the best ways to fight AIDS is to prevent women from passing the human immunodeficiency virus to their offspring during pregnancy, birth or breast-feeding. A key component of that strategy is to administer a dose of nevirapine to the mother during labor, followed by a single dose to the baby within 36 hours of birth. That treatment has decreased transmission of the virus by as much as 50 percent.

Afghanistan

U.S. may extend mission by year

U.S. troops may need to remain in Afghanistan at least another year to finish their mission of destroying the al-Qaida terror network and the Taliban militia, a U.S. military spokesman said Wednesday.

Lt. Gen. Dan K. McNeill, who took command of the Afghan campaign June 1, believes hundreds of al-Qaida and Taliban fighters perhaps up to 1,000 continue to operate in Afghanistan and Pakistan, spokesman Col. Roger King said.

Gen. Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has told McNeill that the mission to eliminate those remaining al-Qaida and Taliban fighters “could last for a year to 18 months” from the start of June, King said, “and (McNeill) agreed with that.”

“That’s not set in stone. If we make an assessment sooner that the mission has been completed, then we’ll talk about withdrawing,” King said.

London

Prince Charles paintings discovered to be fakes

Two collectors who paid more than $30,000 for three watercolors by Prince Charles were given refunds Wednesday after the works were exposed as fakes.

Auctioneers Fellows & Sons, based in Birmingham, gave back the money after an investigation by St. James’s Palace revealed the real works were still in the prince’s possession.

The firm said efforts were being made to contact the collector who put the paintings up for sale.

The palace said the prince never sold his paintings, but had occasionally given away originals.