It has come off.
Finally, the much
awaited and much
debated food-for-oil
deal was agreed
upon between Iraq
and the UN recently.
While the accord will
take some burden
off the Iraqi people, it will also help the UK
and the US to agree to total lifting of sanctions, which were imposed after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
A recent report by the US-based Centre
for Economic and Social Rights says that the number of Iraqi people living in poverty has
risen from five per cent in 1988 to 20 per
cent in 1993. Thousands of Iraqis have died
due to lack of drugs and medical aid. The
latest accord could provide a "great relief",
but it will not solve these problems.
Come June 30, 1999, and the remaining
traces of the smallpox virus will be wiped
out from the world forever. The World
Health Organization (WHO) has finally
decided to destroy the last stocks of the
smallpox virus, which had killed of humans
over the ages.The demillions cision was
taken by 190 countries at the end of the in
New York.annual meeting of the WHO held
recently.
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