Greenpeace International charged on Tuesday that illicit

Greenpeace International charged on Tuesday that illicit Indonesian wood is being used in new European Union offices, even though the union claims to be fighting the illegal timber trade.

The environmental group declared the EU head office under renovation and a building of the EU's Economic and Social Committee "forest crime scenes."

It said wood "used in their renovation originates from companies known for trading in timber from Indonesia's threatened rain forests." The group accused the EU of double standards. --AP

Nuke talks stalled

Chances appeared slim on Tuesday of a breakthrough to the North Korean nuclear crisis as envoys to six-party negotiations gathered in Beijing on Tuesday ahead of talks aimed at breaking the impasse. Neither Pyongyang nor Washington, the two protagonists in the standoff over North Korea's nuclear programs, showed any sign of preparing to budge from their deeply entrenched stands during the inaugural talks to pave the way for higher-level meetings. --Reuters Pakistani's deportation Sharif re-deported

Pakistan on Tuesday deported opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif back to Saudi Arabia soon after he flew into Lahore in defiance of government orders to remain in exile, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid said.

"He has been deported to Jeddah," Rashid told AFP.

Shahbaz, brother of deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif, had returned after more than three years in forced exile, following a supreme court ruling last month that he was entitled to live in Pakistan. --AFP