The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • A28

The Boston Globe THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2009 US wants tough bioweapons ban, but no verification A28 The World By Elaine Engeler ASSOCIATED PRESS GENEVA The United States unveiled a strategy yesterday to crack down on biological weapons that doesn't include any international enforcement, continuing the Bush administration's rejection of binding verification plans. Ellen Tauscher, the US undersecretary of state for arms control, said she wanted to revitalize the Biological Weapons Convention, which Washington walked out of in 2001 when it rejected international monitoring of military and pharmaceutical research. YUSUF AHMADREUTERS Police behind shields in Makassar faced protesters who were trying to stop others from throwing rocks. Graft protesters clash with Indonesia police shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks.

At the time, Washington said the proposed inspection system would not work and would expose US secrets to enemies and rivals. There have been no advances in global disarmament talks since. "Our long-term goal is to develop mechanisms to verify compliance with this convention," said Swedish Ambassador Magnus Hellgren, who was representing the 27-nation European Union. Hellgren, one of about 100 diplomats who saw Tauscher's presentation, said the United States was making a "welcome contribution." But he told the Associated Press he would reserve his verdict on the Obama administration's commitment to the process until 2011, when the entire convention will be reviewed. Tauscher noted that the danger from biological agents has grown with the development of new science and global terrorism.

But she said "it is extraordinarily difficult to verify compliance." A binding treaty on verification "would not be able to keep pace with the rapidly changing nature of the biological weapons threat," Tauscher said. She added countries should act in a "voluntary" manner to build greater confidence in the convention. Tibor Toth, a Hungarian diplomat who chaired the biological talks until their 2001 collapse, said the US support was significant. "The threat is not diminishing," he told the AP by telephone from Vienna, adding that new dangers from biological weapons would need new 'The threat is not TIBORTOTH, a Hungarian diplomat, on bioweapons But Tauscher expressed the same key reservation. "The Obama administration will not seek to revive negotiations on a verification protocol to the convention," she told diplomats in Geneva.

The 1972 convention prohibits the development, trade, and use of biological weapons such as anthrax, smallpox, and other toxins that could bring devastating effects to civilian populations. But the Cold War treaty was drawn up without enforcement provisions. After the fall of the Soviet Union, diplomats began negotiating a new protocol for the ban that would have opened up signing countries to international monitoring. The talks dragged on for almost a decade and were nearly finished, when the Bush administration suddenly pulled out Top officials face rising demands to halt corruption By Irwan Firdaus ASSOCIATED PRESS JAKARTA, Indonesia Students threw rocks at police who retaliated with tear gas and water cannons during one of several rallies across Indonesia yesterday to demand government action to end widespread corruption among politicians, police, and other public officials. More than two dozen rallies annual events in this Muslim-dominated nation to mark International Anticorruption Day were planned for the national capital of Jakarta and several of Indonesia's other large cities.

President Susilo Bambang Yud-hoyono is under pressure to act after winning reelection in July on promises of stamping out graft. Scores of students armed with rocks and wooden planks clashed with antiriot police and vandalized commercial buildings at a rally in Makassar, the South Sulawesi provincial capital 1,000 miles northeast of Jakarta. Police fired tear gas canisters and water cannons to break up the crowd after protesters tried to storm the provincial governor's office. There was no immediate report of injuries or arrests among the 2,000 protesters. "We want the government not only talking about eliminating corruption," said Amang Wijaya, a 19-year-old student in Makassar.

"But we want the government really prosecuting officials who are making the country bankrupt." In Jakarta, a city of 13 million, a dozen rallies caused downtown traffic chaos. Thousands marched peacefully to the presidential palace, some burning pictures of Yud-hoyono, Vice President Boedio-no, who goes by one name, and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani. They called on Yudhoyono to address the crowd, but the president had left Jakarta for a meeting in Bali. Hundreds of antiriot police stood outside his palace. "Today's rally's aim is not to attack politically any party," said protest organizer Usman Hamid.

"We just want to send a message to our fellow countrymen that justice cannot be served while corruption is still rampant in our country." Besides Jakarta and Makassar, large rallies were also staged in nearly a dozen towns and cities across the archipelago. Yudhoyono's popularity has already been tested by scandals surrounding Indonesia's anti- graft commission and a $715 million government bailout of a bank. Earlier this week, he told The Jakarta Post that he believed the protests were partly aimed at destabilizing his government. "My logic says these political movements want to discredit, shake, and topple me in the short term," the newspaper quoted him as saying Monday. Yudhoyono said late Tuesday in a nationally televised speech that he would play a leading role in the fight against corruption.

However, he faces questions over the last year's bank bailout, which critics have alleged was full of irregularities. Indonesian lawmakers last week launched an inquiry into allegations that the bailout benefited Yudhoyono's reelection campaign. He has denied that. His vice president and finance minister have also denied allegations of wrongdoing. LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHIASSOCIATED PRESS EXIT IN SIGHT FOR TAMILS Displaced ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka watched yesterday as President Mahinda Rajapakse visited the Manik Farm refugee camp in Vavuniya.

Last week, Sri Lanka gave permission to nearly 127,000 refugees to leave the government camps where they have been detained since the country's civil war ended six months ago. Stop by the Globe Santa sleigh and make a donation to Globe Santa. Thursday, December 10 Fanueil Hall, Boston Ham to 3pm Kiwanis Club of Medford at 11am Max Lane, former NE Patriot Tina Gao, Magic 106.7 Stella Mars, WROR Friday, December 11 Copley Place at Center Court Atrium, Boston Ham to 3pm Dan Shaughnessy, Boston Globe 2pm to 3pm Matt Noyes, NECN Jordan's king picks prime minister Give joy. Give hope. And please, give whatever you can to Globe Santa.

Donate online at globesanta.org or send a check or money order to: Globe Santa Trust Fund, co Citizens Bank PO Box 845059, Boston, MA 02284-5059 or drop off at: Improv Asylum, 216 Hanover Street, Boston, MA Miele New England Gallery, 555 Washington Street, Wellesley, MA Former official of royal court to focus on economy By Massoud A. Derhally BLOOMBERG BEIRUT Samir Rifai, a former minister of Jordan's Royal Court, was appointed prime minister by King Abdullah and said he will make the economy a priority. The appointment of Rifai, 43, occurs as Jordan, a US ally, deals with a slowing economy and dwindling foreign investment. He was previously chief executive officer of Jordan Dubai Capital, an affiliate of Dubai International Capital. Rifai has a bachelor's degree from Harvard University and a master's degree from Cambridge University.

"The economy will be one of our priorities," Rifai said in a telephone interview after his appointment. "We will be looking at the particulars set out by his majesty in the royal decree in detail, and we will be addressing each and every point telephone interview. The monarch said Rifai's new government should set specific targets for each ministry with clear criteria to assess performance. The economy slowed to a 2.8 percent annual growth rate in the second quarter, half the rate for all of 2008. At the same time, the country received $204 million in foreign grants in the first 10 months of 2009, a 71 percent drop amid the global financial crisis, according to Finance Ministry data.

"The government is hunkering for a long recession, and these dramatic changes in the political order appear to be prompted by growing alarm at the country's economic prospects," Robert Powell, an economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit in New York, said yesterday in a telephone interview. "Although Jordan has ridden out the recession and the global financial crisis relatively well, its huge reliance on foreign aid and investment leaves it vulnerable," Powell said. The king asked Rifai to form a new government after the resignation of Nader Dahabi's Cabinet. The monarch dissolved Parliament on Nov. 23 and said legislative elections must be held no later than the last quarter of 2010.

"We began years ago a reform and modernization process, and we are determined to continue this process," Abdullah told Rifai, according to a Royal Court statement released by the state-run Petra news agency. "We want a government that works in confidence and transparency and team spirit serving the public without fear of making decisions." Rifai is the son of Zeid Rifai, a former prime minister and currently senate president. The new prime minister "is well educated, highly connected, open-minded, knows the problems and the challenges of the country close-up, and has an appropriate private-sector mentality," Nashat Masri, a partner at Foursan Group, a Jordanian private equity firm and son of a former prime minister, said in a Globe Santa globesanta.org Globe Santa sleigh appearances are subject to change. Please call the Sleigh Hotline at 617 929 8777 for the most up-to-date schedule. RED Black GL A28 21:18 FIRST.