Taiwan extended nuclear weapons work, says U.N.

VIENNA, Austria -- The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency has found that Taiwan's experiments with plutonium extended up to the mid-1980s, diplomats said Wednesday, uncovering a key detail about the country's now-abandoned nuclear weapons program. It had been known that Taiwan briefly revived its nuclear weapons research program in the 1980s, and the revelations confirm suspicions that plutonium separation experiments were carried out at that time. Taiwan first launched its nuclear weapons program in the 1960s, but suspended in the following decade under pressure from the United States, which apparently feared the response from Taiwan's rival China. Taiwan's governent has never acknowledged having a secret weapons program, according to analysts.

U.N. to fund oil-for-food probe from Iraqi program

UNITED NATIONS -- Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Wednesday said the United Nations will use $30 million in revenue from the U.N. oil-for-food program for Iraq to pay the initial bill for the independent investigation of corruption allegations in the program. In a letter to the U.N. Security Council, Annan said money for the probe -- headed by former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker -- would come from an account earmarked to pay U.N. administrative and operational costs for the humanitarian program.

Switzerland investigates nuclear exports to Libya

BERN, Switzerland -- Prosecutors on Wednesday opened an investigation into two Swiss citizens suspected of illegally exporting nuclear-bomb-making technology to Libya, a spokesman for the prosecutors office said. The spokesman, Hansjuerg Mark Wiedmer, declined to identify the suspects. But one investigative source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said one was Swiss engineer Urs Tinner, who was arrested in Germany last week.

Threat from swarms of locusts in Africa spreads

Swarms of locusts that have devastated crops and pastures across West Africa may hit countries as far away as Pakistan, a U.N. agency said Wednesday as it announced an intensified control campaign. The desert locusts are moving into southwest Libya, southern Algeria and the borders of Morocco, the Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said. Other swarms were reported in the south of the Western Sahara. Speaking at a news conference on the agency's emergency relief efforts, FAO Secretary-General Jacques Diouf said that if more was not done to tackle the swarms, they could spread east to countries including Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Haitian soldiers-turned- rebels gather in capital

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Former soldiers who led a deadly revolt against ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide gathered in Haiti's capital Wednesday, saying reinforcements were coming to help end violence that has killed at least 46 people. Those advancing rebels intended to provide security in Port-au-Prince, former Army Master Sgt. Joseph Jean-Baptiste said in a broadcast by private Radio Vision 2000. The development threatens to stir conflict with U.N. peacekeepers and armed Aristide militants.

Armenia OKs Jehovah's Witnesses after debate

YEREVAN, Armenia -- Authorities in Armenia registered the Jehovah's Witnesses on Wednesday, allowing the religious group to operate in the Caucasus Mountain nation after years of debate and denial. The Jehovah's Witnesses first appeared in Armenia in 1988, after a devastating earthquake in what was then still a Soviet republic. But the group was unable to win registration after the nation became independent in the 1991 Soviet collapse. Legalizing the Jehovah's Witnesses was one of the main conditions set out by the Council of Europe when the continent's leading human rights organization granted Armenia membership two years ago.

-- From wire reports