Chemical 'WMD' found at U.N. may be little more than cleaner

Fooled again.

Chemicals discovered in the United Nations' Manhattan offices - feared to be a toxic agent produced by Saddam Hussein's regime a decade ago - may be nothing worse than a cleaning solvent, sources said yesterday.

Preliminary tests show the substance, which was found Aug. 24, was not the potentially fatal phosgene, sources said.

"It's not phosgene, and it tested negative for all other chemical warfare agents. It's not dangerous, and it's not what they thought they had," a law enforcement source said.

UN officials discovered the chemical in a canister sealed in an unmarked plastic bag as they closed a weapons inspection agency on E. 48th St., a block from UN headquarters.

By Aug. 29, UN officials said they traced the material using inventory sheets. They believed it was a chemical warfare agent seized by UN inspectors in 1996 from Iraq's chemical weapons facility near Samarra.

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:)- Johnito

Omstreden VN-conferentie in Brussel gaat door

Ondanks protesten van europarlementariërs en Israël begint donderdag in Brussel een VN-conferentie over de rechten van Palestijnen. Het officiële onderwerp van de conferentie is het bereiken van vrede tussen de Palestijnen en Israël.

Israël ziet de organiserende VN-commissie als uitvloeisel van de resolutie uit 1975 van de Algemene Vergadering die zionisme gelijkstelde aan racisme. De resolutie werd in 1991 ingetrokken.

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