Top three and St. Petersburg talk

Top three and St. Petersburg talk

RUSSIA: The leaders of France, Germany and Russia ended two days
of talks in Saint Petersburg on Saturday, with fresh calls for a
central UN role in the reconstruction of Iraq.

The encounter ended without a joint declaration from Russian
President Vladimir Putin, French President Jacques Chirac and
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

Putin said in a speech at the Saint Petersburg Law Faculty
that the three leaders, who strongly opposed the U.S.-led drive
on Baghdad without UN approval, agreed that only the United
Nations can oversee the rebuilding of Iraq.

"The UN Security Council must confer legitimacy" on any
reconstruction efforts, said Schroeder, who was awarded an
honorary law degree from the university, where Putin himself once
studied.

"It is an honor that encourages me to strengthen relations
between Russia and Germany," Schroeder said, pledging that
Germany would help develop the university's legal library.

Putin called the award a "small stone added to the foundations
of relations between Russia and Europe". --AFP

;JP
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Highlights-Papua-regencies
Papua has 14 new regencies
JP/2/

Papua has 14 new regencies

INDONESIA: Home Affairs Minister Hari Sabarno inaugurated 14 new
regencies and installed 11 regents in Papua during a ceremony in
the provincial capital of Jayapura on Saturday.

The newly inaugurated regencies are Sarmi, Keerom, Sorong
Selatan, Raja Ampat, Pegunungan Bintang, Yahokimo, Tolikara,
Waropen, Kaimana, Bouen Digoel, Mappi, Asmat, Teluk Bintuni and
Wandama.

Hari said the three remaining regents would be installed in
Jakarta once elected.

The minister called on other regencies and the provincial
administration to help the new regencies. --JP