China-Japan talks don’t solve feud
Jakarta, Indonesia Leaders of China and Japan met Saturday to try to settle their nations’ worst dispute in three decades, but failed to reach an agreement in the bitter feud over Tokyo’s handling of its World War II atrocities.
Chinese President Hu Jintao told Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi that Tokyo had to back up its apologies for wartime atrocities with actions, while Japan played down the tension.
After days of uncertainty over whether the meeting would take place on the sidelines of a conference for Asian and African leaders, Hu and Koizumi sat down to hammer out their differences in a tightly guarded, closed-door session.
It was the first top-level discussion since violent anti-Japanese protests by tens of thousands of people erupted earlier this month in major Chinese cities over Tokyo’s approval of school textbooks that critics claim whitewash wartime atrocities. Chinese also are upset over Japan’s campaign for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.
Oil-for-food findings upset investigator
New York A senior investigator from Paul Volcker’s independent committee into allegations of corruption in the U.N. oil-for-food program criticized his former employer Saturday for misrepresenting the grounds for his resignation earlier this month.
The investigator, Robert Parton, confirmed a report by the Associated Press earlier this week that he had resigned along with another investigator to protest recent findings by the committee that cleared U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan of meddling in the $64 billion program.
Parton’s statement comes after a member of the committee discounted reports that the two investigators had left the Independent Inquiry Committee because they believed the report was too soft on the secretary-general.
Ex-president awaits exile from Ecuador
Quito, Ecuador Ousted President Lucio Gutierrez remained holed up in the Brazilian ambassador’s residence for a fourth day Saturday as he waited for Ecuador’s new government to let him leave for exile in Brazil.
The government doubled the number of anti-riot police protecting the embassy to 50 on Saturday morning, outnumbering the more than two dozen demonstrators who remained shouting insults. But police failed to stop a protester who removed his shirt, set it on fire and tried to throw it over the wall into the residence gardens.
Brazil, meanwhile, reportedly threatened to withdraw its ambassador, Sergio Florencio Sobrinho, after his car was mobbed by nearly 200 protesters who prevented him from leaving the walled compound, adding to growing tensions between the two countries since Brazil granted asylum to Gutierrez.
More than 200 protesters blowing whistles and waving flags blocked the gates of the ambassador’s residence Friday night, demanding Gutierrez remain in Ecuador to face trial for alleged abuse of power, corruption and repression of peaceful protests.
Stradivarius violin nets $2 million at auction
New York A 17th-century Stradivarius violin sold Friday for just over $2 million, the most ever paid for a musical instrument at auction, according to Christie’s auction house, which handled the sale.
A private American collector made the winning bid of $2,032,000 for “The Lady Tennant” violin. The violin was made by Antonio Stradivari in 1699, Christie’s said.
The bid far surpassed the previous record offer of $1,776,940 for a different Stradivarius violin in 1990, the auction house said.
Both the buyer and seller wanted to remain anonymous, said Rik Pike, a Christie’s spokesman. The price included a premium of about $232,000 for the auction house.