Ukraine

Doctor: Opposition leader was poisoned

As lawmakers in Kiev fought over and failed to pass legal reforms aimed at ensuring a fair rematch of Ukraine’s fraudulent presidential runoff, the Times of London Web site reported late Tuesday that doctors who treated opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko for a mysterious illness during the initial campaign have determined there “was an attempt on his life” with a biological or chemical agent or a rare poison.

“There is no longer a question for discussion,” the newspaper quoted Dr. Nikolai Korpan, who treated Yushchenko at the Rudolfnerhaus clinic in Vienna, Austria. “We are now sure that we can confirm which substance cause this illness. He received this substance from other people who had a specific aim.”

The newspaper then said it asked Korpan if the aim had been to kill Yushchenko, to which the doctor was quoted as responding: “Yes, of course.”

Yushchenko fell ill Sept. 6 and was rushed to the Vienna clinic four days later. Yushchenko has accused the Ukrainian authorities of poisoning him. His detractors suggested he’d eaten some bad sushi.

Northern Ireland

IRA makes new disarmament offer

The Irish Republican Army has reopened negotiations with Northern Ireland’s disarmament chief, the outlawed group confirmed Tuesday in a brief statement, after signaling its readiness to put more weapons out of commission for the first time in over a year.

The move came with a major dispute over disarmament unresolved: Protestant leaders are demanding the IRA allow officials to photograph the removal of weapons.

Gerry Adams, leader of the IRA-linked Sinn Fein party, appeared to rule that out earlier Tuesday when he said the IRA was willing to resume disarming after a 13-month hiatus — but would not accept conditions designed to humiliate the group.

In its one-line statement, the IRA offered no hint as to whether it intends to disarm fully and disband in support of Northern Ireland’s 6-year-old peace accord, as the governments of Britain and Ireland expect.

France

Napoleon memoir, will sold at auction

An early draft of Napoleon Bonaparte’s will — in which the French emperor writes of his English enemies “I forgive them,” but then apparently thinks better of it and scratches out the phrase — sold at a Paris auction Tuesday for $149,505.

Napoleon dictated the will in 1821 while exiled and bedridden on the British territory of St. Helena, and it had not been previously published, auction officials said. It was sold to an anonymous French collector.

Also sold was an 84-page memoir recounting the day-to-day adventures of the emperor’s early military campaign to conquer Europe, partly written in Napoleon’s own handwriting and including many spelling mistakes. It sold to an unidentified Swiss buyer for $336,400, the Druout auction house said.

The documents went under the hammer just days after many in France commemorated the 200th anniversary of Napoleon’s coronation as emperor on Dec. 2, 1804.

Egypt

Framework offered for Mideast peace

Egypt has reached an understanding with Israel, the Palestinians, the United States and Europe on a general framework for a comprehensive settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including a call for a truce between the two sides, the state news agency reported Tuesday.

Quoting unnamed high-level sources, MENA said the understanding could stand as an agreement that includes a general framework of steps toward a settlement.

It said the points included an agreement on an Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire, in which the “new Palestinian Authority would adhere to, to end the operations against Israel and prove its control over the situation in Gaza and the West Bank.”

In Jerusalem, an Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, responded to the report.

“If the Palestinians come up with a truce, that is to say they cease and desist from acts of terror, then we shall refrain from acting against them, except in the case of persons posing an immediate danger,” he said.

Palestinian officials were not immediately available for comment. Egyptian officials had no comment, but reports on MENA usually reflect government opinion and news.