Laws on terror incitement urged

Leaders of the major powers issued a formal appeal to world governments yesterday to adopt laws prohibiting the incitement of…

Leaders of the major powers issued a formal appeal to world governments yesterday to adopt laws prohibiting the incitement of terrorism.

President Bush, Chinese president Hu Jintao, Russian president Vladimir Putin and British prime minister Tony Blair were among those voting unanimously for the resolution at a meeting of the 15-nation UN Security Council in New York which coincided with the wider UN summit.

• Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon met Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf on the sidelines of yesterday's summit. The two leaders, whose countries have no formal ties, exchanged pleasantries in a corridor of the UN building. The Israeli and Pakistani foreign ministers held talks earlier this month, signalling a possible thaw in relations.

• President Bush told Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon he admired his courage in carrying out Israel's pull-out from the Gaza Strip. Mr Bush called the withdrawal, completed on Monday, an opportunity "to see the vision of peace come to be" in the Middle East.

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• Overcoming poverty requires poor countries to improve their performances and wealthy nations to fulfil promises to increase aid, World Bank chief Paul Wolfowitz told the summit yesterday.

"The responsibility for doing more and doing better cannot be left to the developing world alone," said Mr Wolfowitz, appointed by President Bush in March to lead the development bank.

• Taiwan failed for the 13th straight year to get a seat at the United Nations, a move that has been blocked annually since 1993 by China and its allies. A committee of the UN General Assembly rejected two proposals that the question of UN membership for Taiwan be put on the agenda for the Assembly's 60th session.