Geneva

U.N. agency leader resigns amid allegations

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers stepped down Thursday amid sexual harassment allegations and handed over leadership of the agency to his deputy, bidding an emotional farewell to the agency’s 6,000 staff around the world.

Wendy Chamberlin, a veteran U.S. foreign service officer and former ambassador to Laos and Pakistan, will serve at the helm until a long-term replacement is named.

Lubbers, who claims the allegations against him are “made up” and “slander,” announced his resignation Sunday. He maintains his innocence and initially offered to stay on until a permanent successor was found.

Allegations first surfaced last year that Lubbers had made unwanted sexual advances toward a female employee, identified in the media as an American. But it was only last week that the British newspaper The Independent published the first detailed description of her allegations and statements from four other women who didn’t file official complaints but claimed Lubbers sexually harassed them.

Lebanon

Syria plans to begin withdrawal of troops

Syria said Thursday it would begin withdrawing its troops in Lebanon closer to its own border, a move designed to blunt international demands for a complete pullout and to ease a groundswell of anti-Syrian sentiment.

But a dissatisfied United States said the move was not enough and demanded a full withdrawal from the Mideast nation.

Both Syria and Lebanon’s Damascus-allied government gave no timetable, indicating the troops would not leave Lebanon at this stage and that the withdrawal toward the border would be on their own terms.

The two countries don’t want to be seen as caving in to a U.N. Security Council resolution in September that effectively called on Syria to withdraw all its forces from Lebanon and to end its political interference.

Vietnam

Experts eye ducks’ role in transmitting bird flu

Health and animal experts said Thursday any long-term strategy for controlling bird flu must address the role of ducks and other waterfowl as major culprits in the spread of the deadly virus.

At an international conference this week in Ho Chi Minh City, officials said extensive research since the first major outbreak last year has confirmed that wild birds, particularly ducks, were primary reservoirs for the H5N1 virus, because they can carry it without falling ill.

Earlier this week, Thailand approved a program to vaccinate free-range chickens, ducks, fighting cocks and tropical birds in a bid to ward off bird flu, reversing an earlier ban on the practice.

However, not all experts agree that wild birds alone are responsible for dispersing the virus so widely. Some say evidence suggests that trade in live poultry, mixing of bird species in farms and markets, and poor biosecurity in poultry production play a much bigger role than wild bird movements.

London

U.S., Canadian churches to leave Anglican group

Anglican primates agreed Thursday that the U.S. Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada would withdraw from a key body of the global Anglican Communion after failing to overcome internal church disagreements about the election of a gay bishop in the United States and the blessing of same-sex unions there and in Canada.

The agreement marked the first formal breach in the communion over the explosive issues of sexuality and biblical authority.

A statement from leaders of Anglican national churches who met this week in Northern Ireland also called on the two churches to explain their thinking on gay issues at another Anglican meeting in June.

The U.S. church precipitated the most serious rift in the communion’s history when it affirmed the election of V. Gene Robinson, who lives with a male partner, as bishop of New Hampshire.