APS Diplomat Recorder articles from December 2003

APS Diplomat Recorder archives from December 2003

ARABS-ISRAEL - Dec. 1 - The Geneva Accord.
December 6, 2003... Hundreds of VIPs attend a major ceremony in Geneva and give their backing to an unofficial peace plan known as the "Geneva Initiative". The negotiators, led by former Israeli justice minister Yossi Beilin, and former Palestinian information...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Dec. 1 - Violence Continues.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2003... On the same day, Israeli security forces raid Ramallah, killing 3 men. A boy of 9 is also killed by Israeli fire in the Al-Bireh district. The Israeli army demolish a 4-story building where a suspect was believed to be hiding. An army statement...

ARAB-OPEC AFFAIRS - Dec. 4 - Vienna Meet Keeps Output Ceiling.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2003... OPEC oil ministers meet-ing in Vienna decide to keep the current 24.5m b/d output ceiling unchanged as world oil prices are high and winter oil inventories are low. They decide to hold the next ministerial meeting in Algiers on Feb. 10 (see...

ARABS-UN - Dec. 2 - The Iraq Challenge.
December 6, 2003... The NYT says the UN has had a terrible year in Iraq. "First it was marginalized by the misconceived unilateralism of the Bush White House. Then it was all but driven out of the country by the deliberate terrorist targeting of relief agencies....

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Dec. 2 - 'Rogue States' Warned.
December 6, 2003... The Under-secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, John Bolton (known as a hardliner), singles out Iran, North Korea, Syria, Libya and Cuba as "rogue states" being "hostile to US interests" during a speech in Washington....

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Dec. 2 - Olmert In Rare Attack On Powell.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2003... Israeli Deputy PM Ehud Olmert tells Israel Radio it would be a mistake for Secretary of State Powell to meet Israeli and Palestinian politicians who negotiated the Geneva Initiative (see Arabs-Israel). He says: "I think he (Powell) is making a...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Dec. 5 - Powell Meets Geneva Plan Negotiators In Rare Rebuke To Sharon.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2003... Visiting Washington to promote their unofficial Israeli-Palestinian peace plan (see Arabs-Israel), the Geneva Initiative's chief negotiators Beilin and Abed Rabbo and their assistants meet with Powell at the State Department after Pres. Bush...

IRAQ - Dec. 1 - US Troops Kill 46.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2003... Lt. Col. William MacDonald says US soldiers have killed 46 Iraqis and captured 8 trying to carry out a series of attempted ambushes on US convoys in Samarra, adding: "The 4th infantry division repelled multiple ambush attacks". At least 18...

IRAQ - Dec. 2 - Izzat Ibrahim Remains Elusive.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2003... The US military denies reports that the most wanted man after Saddam and alleged mastermind of guerrilla resistance, Izzat Ibrahim Al-Douri with a $10m price on his head, had been captured in a raid. It says 27 suspected guerrillas were caught...

IRAQ - Dec. 3 - Saddam May Be Funding Insurgency.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2003... ABC News says $132m withdrawn by Saddam and unaccounted for are probably being used by his followers to fund attacks against US forces. (Saddam withdrew more than $1 bn from Iraq's Central Bank hours before US forces began their invasion on...

IRAQ - Dec. 4 - Parties Agree On Militia.
December 6, 2003... Press reports claim the CPA has agreed with leaders of 6 parties represented in the IGC to establish a militia group that would include troops in equal numbers. (The militia would conduct operations that fall somewhere between what soldiers and...

IRAQ - Dec. 6 - Bremer Against Militia.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2003... CPA chief Bremer is quoted as rejecting the idea of a militia force and denying that he had agreed on this. (There have been confusing signals from US officials and military commanders in recent weeks. Conflicting views have been expressed...

LIBYA - Nov.30 - E&P Deal For Woodside-Led Consortium.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2003... The state-owned National Oil Corp. (NOC) signs a $100m exploration agreement with a consortium led by Woodside Energy of Australia. Its partners are Repsol-YPF of Spain and Greece's Hellenic Petroleum. The group will to explore for onshore oil...

PALESTINE - Dec. 1 - Militants Hit Geneva Plan.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2003... About 1,000 militants from Hamas and other groups demonstrate in Gaza, condemning the Geneva Initiative (see Arabs-Israel). They chant: "Abed Rabbo, you coward, you are a collaborator with the Americans". (Many Palestinians are angry that the...

PALESTINE - Dec. 4 - Cairo Truce Talks.
December 6, 2003... Leaders of Hamas and the other militant groups meet in Cairo on a proposed unilateral ceasefire with Israel. (A ceasefire declaration would strengthen the hand of PM Qurei at an as yet unscheduled summit with his Israeli counterpart Sharon....

RUSSIA - Dec. 2 - Putin To Reject Kyoto Pact.
December 6, 2003... Senior Kremlin adviser Andrei Illarionov says Pres. Putin wiil not ratify the Kyoto Protocol (an international treaty requiring cuts in emissions of gases linked to global warming). He repeats: "We shall not ratify". (With the Bush...

RUSSIA - Dec. 5 - Suicide Bombing Kills 40.
December 6, 2003... A suicide bomb attack on a commuter train near the town of Yessentuki in south-west Russia near Chechnya kills at least 40 people and injures 200. The force of the bomb, which one official estimates to contain more than 9 kilos of plastic...

SAUDI ARABIA - Dec. 3 - Naimi For Higher Oil Price.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2003... Oil Minister Ali Naimi says OPEC's aim now is to defend a higher crude oil price - with OPEC's oil ministers to meet in Vienna on Dec. 4 (see Arab-OPEC Affairs) - than the group's $25/b average because of a 30% drop in the value of the US...

SYRIA - Nov.30 - Damascus Gives 22 Suspects To Ankara.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2003... The state-run Anatolian news agency says Damascus has handed over to Ankara 22 people suspected of involvement in deadly November suicide attacks in Istanbul. The suspects fled Turkey after the bombings in which 61 people died, the agency says,...

ARAB-ISLAMIC AFFAIRS - Dec. 6 - Islam No Bar To Economic Growth.
December 13, 2003... A study by Marcus Noland at the Institute for International Economics think-tank in Washington says there is no evidence that Islam restricts economic growth. This casts doubt on the widely-held belief that Muslim societies are intrinsically...

ARABS-UN - Dec.10 - No Swift Redeployment In Iraq.
December 13, 2003... UN Sec-Gen Annan says he has ruled out a swift renewal of a substantial UN presence in Iraq because of the danger there. "I cannot compromise the security of our international and national staff", he says in a 26-page report to the Security...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Dec.7 - Sanchez Sees Surge Of Iraqi Rebel Attacks.
December 13, 2003... The commander of US forces in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, tells a news conference insurgent forces bent on disrupting Iraq's transition to democracy "will have to conduct some sort of operations against the political and economic sector"....

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Dec.11 - Bush Defends Decision On Iraq Bids.
December 13, 2003... "Men and women from other countries, in a broad coalition, risk their lives to free Iraq", Pres. Bush says after a meeting with his cabinet, adding: "And the expenditure of US dollars (in Iraq's reconstruction) will reflect the fact that US...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Dec.12 - Bremer On Iraq Violence & Reconstruction.
December 13, 2003... The IHT quotes CPA chief Bremer as saying occupation forces would pour $250m into local reconstruction projects over the next 6 months in an attempt to offset public anger over hard-hitting US military strikes on suspected insurgent bases. He...

AFGHANISTAN - Dec.6 - Attack On Taliban Kills 9 Children.
December 13, 2003... Nine children die in a US air strike against a Taliban suspect in a hamlet some 300 km south of Kabul. A 25-year-old man is also killed, while the Taliban suspect appears to have gotten away. (Shocked and angry, villagers later mourned their...

AFGHANISTAN - Dec.10 - Al Qaeda Supporter Gets 10 Years.(Brief Article)
December 13, 2003... Yahya Goba, 26, described as the leader of a group of Yemenite-Americans from Lackawanna who attended a training camp run by Al Qaeda is sentenced to 10 years in prison by Judge William Skretny of US District Court. "Perhaps in your case, it is...

AFGHANISTAN - Dec.12 - Karzai Upbeat As Convention Nears.
December 13, 2003... Pres. Karzai, on the eve of a constitutional convention in Kabul, dismisses a gradually intensifying Taliban insurgency in southern and eastern Afghanistan. In an interview at his US-guarded presidential palace published by the IHT, Karzai...

IRAN - Dec.10 - Tehran Authorises New Nuclear Protocol.(Brief Article)
December 13, 2003... The government authorises the signing of the additional protocol allowing unrestricted inspection of its nuclear facilities.

IRAQ - Dec. 6 - Violence As Rumsfeld Visits.
December 13, 2003... Guerrillas blow apart a US Humvee with a roadside bomb in Mosul, killing a US soldier and wounding 2 the day after US Defence Secretary Rumsfeld visited Iraq for meetings with top commanders and said the US mission was on the right path. This...

IRAQ - Dec.13 - Saddam Is Captured.(Brief Article)
December 13, 2003... Bearded and dishevelled after months on the run, Saddam Hussein is dug out of a tomb-like underground hiding place by US troops at a rural farmhouse near Tikrit. Looking tired, he gave up without a fight, telling US soldiers in English: "I am...

PALESTINE - Dec.7 - Militants Won't Sign Truce Deal.(Brief Article)
December 13, 2003... Hamas and the other militant groups balk at signing up to an unconditional ceasefire with Israel, after agreeing in principle to halt attacks on civilians during 3 days of talks in Cairo. (PM Qurei sought the accord to strengthen his hand in...

RUSSIA - Dec.7 - Kremlin Wins Parliamentary Elections.(Brief Article)
December 13, 2003... General elections to a new 450-seat Duma are held throughout the country. Three pro-Kremlin parties gain an over-whelming majority (see below).

RUSSIA - Dec.9 - Putin Says Constitution Is Solid.(Brief Article)
December 13, 2003... "It is time for us to end all talk about the need to change the constitution", Pres. Putin says in televised remarks, adding: "I absolutely think that the current constitution became the basis for stability in society, and I believe that has...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Dec. 14 - Saddam's Capture Welcomed.
December 20, 2003... Arab leaders greets news of Saddam Hussein's Dec. 13 capture as marking the real and final end of the Baathist regime in Iraq. (The US-led invasion of Iraq and the continuing occupation are deeply unpopular in the Arab world but evidence of...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Dec. 17 - Warning To Arab Regimes.
December 20, 2003... "Saddam's capture is a lesson to others who should know that democracy is important, that people should have a say in the decision-making, that leaderships must have relations and dialogue with their people", former Jordanian Deputy PM Ayman...

ARABS-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Dec. 19 - Blair Lauds Qadhafi's 'Bold & Historic Decision'.
December 20, 2003... The following are excerpts from British PM Blair's announcement confirming Libya's decision to dismantle its WMD programmes: "Libya has in the past sought to develop weapons of mass destruction capabilities, as well as longer-range missiles....

ARABS-ISRAEL - Dec. 16 - Violence Resumed.
December 20, 2003... Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip shoot and kill 2 unarmed Palestinians attempting to breach a fence and enter Israel just before dawn, and troops tear down Palestinian buildings in southern Gaza linked to Dec. 15 attacks. (Despite an overall...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Dec. 16 - Israel's '92 Plot To Kill Saddam.
December 20, 2003... Israel developed a plan in 1992 to assassinate Saddam Hussein at a funeral, but it was shelved after 5 Israeli soldiers were accidentally killed by a missile during a simulated assault on Saddam, the media and a member of Parliament say. Iraq...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Dec.18 - Sharon Threatens Unilateral Separation.
December 20, 2003... PM Sharon says: "I don't intend to wait forever" (for peace talks with PM Qurei). We don't intend to make Israeli society a hostage to the Palestinians". He warns that if he is obliged to take unilateral steps, the Palestinians would end up...

ARABS-UN - Dec. 15 - No To Death Penalty For Saddam.
December 20, 2003... Sec-Gen Annan says he does not support the death penalty for Saddam and that any court trying the former Iraqi leader has to meet international norms and standards. But the current IGC President Abdel Aziz Al-Hakim said in Paris Saddam could...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Dec. 14 - Saddam Captured.
December 20, 2003... In a press conference attended by senior IGC member Adnan Pachachi and the top US military commander in Iraq Gen. Sanchez, CPA head announces the Dec. 13 capture of Saddam Hussein, saying: "Ladies and gentlemen, we got him!". The conference...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Dec. 14 - Bush On Saddam.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2003... Pres. Bush says the US will work with the Iraqis to develop a way to try Saddam in a way "that will stand international scrutiny". Speaking in what he says would be his last press conference of the year, he proclaims that the "nightmare of the...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Dec. 16 - CIA Will Question Saddam.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2003... Defence Secretary Rumsfeld says the CIA would be in charge of interrogating Saddam and strongly defends the treatment of the former dictator. He says the decision to entrust the CIA with this task was easy: "It was a three-minute decision, and...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Dec. 19 - Bremer Escapes Bomb Attack.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2003... An office of Iraq's most influential Shiite religious party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (Sciri), is bombed - the second attack on the group in as many days, renewing fears of sectarian violence. It happened just...

AFGHANISTAN - Dec. 14 - Debate On Kabul's Future.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2003... As the debate on a new constitution begins, Pres. Karzai tells a vast tent filled with delegates, diplomats and senior officials, including former king Zahir Shah: "We are about to define our future, socially, politically and economically"....

AFGHANISTAN - Dec. 18 - US Confident Bin Laden Will Be Caught.
December 20, 2003... The Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Myers says during a one-day visit to Afghanistan Al-Qaeda's leader Bin Laden is probably alive and hiding in the isolated hills between Pakistan and Afghanistan but he will be caught "with...

IRAN - Dec. 18 - Tehran Signs Additional Protocol.
December 20, 2003... The head of the IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei, and Tehran's IAEA representative, Ali Akbar Salehi, sign in Vienna an Additional Protocol to the 1968 NPT that would allow tougher IAEA supervision, including the right of inspectors to visit Iran's...

IRAQ - Dec. 15 - War Crimes Tribunal Being Set As Saddam Is Captured.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2003... Work is underway to set up a war crimes tribunal in Baghdad after the Dec. 13 capture of Saddam Hussein (see Arab Affairs & Arab-US Relations above). The tribunal is to try Saddam on many charges, including war crimes and crimes against...

IRAQ - Dec. 15 - Huge Car Bomb Explodes At Police Station.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2003... Just 12 hours after Saddam was captured, a devastating car bomb exploded outside the police station in a town west of Baghdad, killing at least 17 people and wounding 33.

IRAQ - Dec. 17 - Insurgents Kill US Soldier.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2003... Guerrillas kill a US soldier in an ambush in Baghdad as 2 assassinations underline fears that internal political divisions could erupt into widespread bloodletting. A representative of the Shiite party SCIRI said Muhannad Al-Hakim was shot dead...

LIBYA - Dec. 19 - Qadhafi To Dismantle WMD Programme.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2003... After 9 months of secret negotiations with the US and UK, Col. Qadhafi agrees to disclose and dismantle a programme to develop WMD (see Arab-European Relations).

RUSSIA - Dec. 18 - Putin To Run For 2nd Term.
December 20, 2003... Pres. Putin capitalises on the strong success of pro-Kremlin parties in the country's recent parliamentary elections and announces he will stand for re-election next March. In comments during his annual televised question-and-answer session to...

RUSSIA - Dec. 18 - Moscow Prepared To Discuss Cutting Iraqi Debt.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2003... A Kremlin statement says Putin has told visiting US presidential envoy Baker Moscow is prepared to participate in Paris Club talks "in the nearest future" to reduce Iraqi debt. It says Moscow would take into account the interests of its...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Dec. 23 - GCC Summit.
December 31, 2003... The 3-day annual GCC summit in Kuwait ends with a call to combat terrorism. No decision is taken on debt relief to Iraq. But Saudi FM Prince Saud Al Faisal says member-states will only negotiate debt relief with a sovereign Baghdad government...

ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Dec. 30 - Azhar Backs French Ban On Scarves.
December 31, 2003... The wearing of "hijab" (head scarf in Arabic) is a religious duty, says the Grand Shaikh of Al-Azhar, Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi. "But if a Muslim woman lives in a country where laws do not permit hijab", he tells reporters, "then she has to...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Dec. 23 - Gaza Violence.(Brief Article)
December 31, 2003... An Israeli raid on the Rafah refugee camp on the Gaza-Egypt border leaves 5 Palestinians dead as police say they arrested 7 suspects for an assault on Egypt's FM Ahmad Maher. About 20 Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles entered camp, drawing...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Dec. 29 - Sharon To Dismantle Settlements.(Brief Article)
December 31, 2003... The Israeli army issues orders to dismantle 4 Jewish settlements in the West Bank after the government cut legal red tape delaying their removal. (All but one of the outposts are uninhabited and the move is unlikely to lift pressure on the...

ARABS-UN - Dec. 29 - ElBaradei In Libya.
December 31, 2003... IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei tells a news conference in Tripoli Libya's nuclear programme is years away from producing a nuclear weapon and is largely dismantled. But he expresses surprise that Libya has acquired a great deal of high-technology...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Dec. 27 - Americans Land In Iran To Help Quake Victims.(Brief Article)
December 31, 2003... Four US Air Force cargo planes flown from Kuwait land in Kerman, the nearest city to Bam which was levelled by a Dec. 26 earthquake. The last time US military personnel had set foot in Iran was on a similar aid mission in 1990 after a quake...

AFGHANISTAN - Dec. 30 - Combat Operation Ends.(Brief Article)
December 31, 2003... A US military statement says US-led forces ended their Operation Avalanche, the largest post-war combat, which reduced the Taliban threat. (The statement makes no mention of the deaths of 15 children in a series of botched raids around the...

IRAN - Dec. 26 - Earthquake Hits Bam; Over 30,000 Killed.(Brief Article)
December 31, 2003... An earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale destroys the historic city of Bam in Kerman province, killing over 30,000 people according to figures by Dec. 31. Over 60% of the buildings in Bam, a popular tourist attraction some 1,000 km...

IRAQ - Dec. 21 - Suspects Held For Planning Attacks.(Brief Article)
December 31, 2003... Iraqi police arrest four Iraqis who planned to launch a rocket attack against US forces at Kirkuk airport and blow up a giant fuel reservoir near the northern oil centre of Beiji. Police say they had 20 anti-tank rockets, 10 mortar shells and...

IRAQ - Dec. 22 - Mobile Licences Approved.(Brief Article)
December 31, 2003... Communications Minister Haider Al-Abadi signs 2-year licences to roll out mobile phone services. A Pentagon spokesman says another branch of the US government had launched a full investigation into the bidding process for the licences won by 3...

IRAQ - Dec. 22 - Hakim In Moscow.(Brief Article)
December 31, 2003... IGC's December Pres. Abdel Aziz Al Hakim meets with Russian Pres. Putin in Moscow. Putin says investment by Russian companies in Iraq could reach $4 bn (a figure that coincides with the size of LUKoil's planned investment in West Qurna oilfield...

IRAQ - Dec. 22 - Gunmen Kill Top Judge.(Brief Article)
December 31, 2003... Leading judge Youssef Khoshi, a Kurd, is shot 6 times and killed by 3 men in a car in Mosul has been assassinated. Khoshi was one of 3 chief investigative judges in Mosul. Iraqi oil executives, police and other judges working under the CPA have...

IRAQ - Dec. 24 - Suicide Bomber Kills 4.(Brief Article)
December 31, 2003... A suicide car bomb explodes outside the Interior Ministry building in the Kurdish city of Arbil, killing the bomber, 2 policemen guarding the facility and a passer-by, and wounding 20. Arbil was the seat of an autonomous Kurdish government...

IRAQ - Dec. 24 - Christmas Eve Attacks.(Brief Article)
December 31, 2003... A guerrilla missile hits a heavily guarded Sheraton hotel in Baghdad used by Westerners but no one is hurt. Three US soldiers died in a bomb blast north of Baghdad.

IRAQ - Dec. 25 - Sunnis Form Council.
December 31, 2003... Leaders of Sunni groups across Iraq agree to form a council to speak with a unified political voice during the transition from US rule to Iraqi governance. (The demands of the planned State Council for the Sunnis could greatly complicate the...

IRAQ - Dec. 26 - US Soldiers Killed.(Brief Article)
December 31, 2003... Three US soldiers are killed in the Sunni Triangle, bringing to 9 the number of American deaths in a spate of insurgency violence thought to be timed to the Christmas holiday. (Two of the deaths occurred in separate incidents in and around...

IRAQ - Dec. 26 - Differences On Fundamental Law.(Brief Article)
December 31, 2003... The IGC met frequently during the Christmas week in an effort to iron out differences in the fundamental law that will set up a new transitional national assembly. Debate centres on how to select members of the legislature and the future of the...

IRAQ - Dec. 28 - Baghdad Bomb Kills Soldier & 2 Children.(Brief Article)
December 31, 2003... A powerful roadside bomb blast in a central Baghdad shopping street kills a US soldier and 2 Iraqi children, a day after attacks in the holy city of Kerbala killed 6 foreign troops and 13 Iraqis. The Dec. 28 blast wounds at least 14 people...

IRAQ - Dec. 28 - Kurds Want Sovereign Rights.
December 31, 2003... Kurdish IGC members are insisting the country's transitional law include wide-ranging sovereignty rights for the northern Kurdish areas, including control of their natural resources and veto powers over Iraqi military movements in the region....

IRAQ - Dec. 29 - Violence Continues.(Brief Article)
December 31, 2003... Rebels lob a grenade and fired on US soldiers searching homes for insurgents in Mosul, prompting a firefight that leaves 3 Iraqis dead and two US soldiers wounded. The Iraqis killed were suspected of belonging to Ansar Al-Islam, an Islamic...

IRAQ - Dec. 29 - Saddam Seized $40 Bn.(Brief Article)
December 31, 2003... IGC member Iyad Allawi tells the London-based Arab newspapers Al Hayat and Asharq Al Awsat Saddam admitted to interrogators that he seized a large fortune during his rule and gave them the names of people who know where the money is. He says...

IRAQ - Dec. 31 - Blast Hits Baghdad Restaurant.(Brief Article)
December 31, 2003... At least 5 people are killed as a suicide car bombing of a crowded restaurant in Baghdad's in Karrada district frequented by wealthy Iraqis and foreigners, ahead of celebrations to mark the New Year. The US military and Iraqi police have been...

ISRAEL - Dec. 29 - Poland To Get Missiles.(Brief Article)
December 31, 2003... Poland and Israel sign $350m deal to buy 2,700 state-of-the-art Israeli anti-tank Spike missiles. To be delivered between 2004 and 2013, they will be produced under licence from the state-owned Israeli Rafael arms corporation by Mesko, a Polish...

PALESTINE - Dec. 22 - Sharon Threat Plunges PA Into Crisis.
December 31, 2003... Israeli PM Sharon's threat to impose a settlement if peace talks fail has plunged the PA into a fresh crisis. "Sharon is trying to blackmail us", says PA Minister of State Qadura Fares, referring to the Israeli leader's policy speech last week...

RUSSIA - Dec. 23 - Khodorkovsky Detention Extended.
December 31, 2003... A Moscow court rules that Khodorkovsky should be held in jail for another 3 months - until after the March 14 presidential election. (Khodorkovsky, who followed the proceedings from a metal cage inside the courtroom, could now be held until...

RUSSIA - Dec. 29 - Putin Adds Impetus To Banking Reform.(Brief Article)
December 31, 2003... Pres. Putin signs into law a long-awaited deposit insurance bill crucial to restoring consumer confidence in private banks. The bill is one of the most important pieces of banking reform, which has been lagging behind Russia's economic progress...