Moscow

Report: Russia to OK Kyoto Protocol

Russia’s government, ending its wavering, will approve ratification of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, the Interfax news agency said Wednesday.

The 1997 protocol can go into force only with Russian ratification. President Vladimir Putin vowed to speed up the ratification process in May in return for European Union approval of Russia’s bid to join the World Trade Organization.

An unidentified government source told Interfax the government would approve a draft law today on ratification of the pact to stem global warming. That would mean ratification would have Putin’s backing, making approval by parliament highly likely.

The United States has rejected the treaty, which would allow countries to trade greenhouse gas emission allowances.

Beijing

China sending peacekeepers to Haiti

Casting aside long-standing reticence about taking part in U.N. peacekeeping duties abroad, China said Wednesday that it was deploying a large squad of anti-riot police to Haiti and bracing for postings in other world trouble spots.

Officials put on display a new $18 million training center for peacekeepers and said it underscored China’s positive attitude toward taking part in global peacekeeping missions.

“It is inevitable that China is going to play a bigger role in peacekeeping efforts,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Liu Jianchao said.

An advance team of 30 Chinese riot police left for Haiti on Sept. 17, and another 95 will join them early in October, police Col. Qu Zhiwen said.

The deployment comes as food shortages roil the coastal city of Gonaives in Haiti, where heavy flooding last week from Tropical Storm Jeanne left more than 1,500 people dead.