Toronto: Canada denied access to teen captured by U.S.

The State Department has denied Canada consular access to a Canadian teenager captured by U.S. troops in eastern Afghanistan, the Foreign Affairs Office said Saturday.

Omar Khadr, 15, the son of an alleged al-Qaida financial leader, was captured on July 27, near Khost, an al-Qaida hotbed in eastern Afghanistan.

Ottawa first learned of Omar Khadr’s capture on Aug. 20, when the U.S. government contacted officials seeking to verify his identity, said Reynald Doiron, a Foreign Affairs spokesman.

A note asking for access was sent on Aug. 30, Doiron said.

A Sept. 9 reply said the State Department was rejecting the consular access.

United Nations: Arab nations urge Iraq to allow U.N. inspectors

Under pressure from Arab nations to allow U.N. weapons inspectors back, Iraq’s foreign minister said late Saturday that he hoped the crisis could be resolved without a new U.N. resolution that could bring serious consequences.

Diplomatic sources said Arab ministers were pressuring Naji Sabri to act quickly and allow inspectors back under existing council resolutions which have no deadline and do not threaten force.

Iraq has maintained it fulfilled all U.N. obligations and has called for an end to U.N. sanctions imposed after Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait in 1990.

Iraq: Former U.S. senator pans talk of unprovoked attack

It would be immoral for America to attack Iraq without provocation, a former U.S. senator said here Saturday.

James Abourezk, who used to represent South Dakota in the Senate, was speaking to reporters after he, Democratic West Virginia Rep. Nick Rahall and two other Americans met with Iraqi Health Minister Omed Medhat Mubarak.

The four-person delegation arrived overnight in Iraq, saying it intended to push for peace as well as the return of U.N. weapons inspectors.

It is the first time in several years that a sitting U.S. legislator has visited Iraq.