Arguing that the new law would lead to a host of price rises through the economy, and desperate to avoid upsetting voters before this December’s parliamentary elections, a coalition stretching from the Communists to the liberal Yabloko faction rejected the measure by a two-to-one majority.The outcome can only complicate the G-8 gathering, which even before yesterday’s act of defiance by the Duma was set to be dominated by relations between Moscow and the West, and thanks to the Kosovo crisis is rockier than at any time since the end of the Cold War.Mr Stepashin will be in Cologne today and tomorrow but the key question is whether President Boris Yeltsin will come as planned on Sunday, or signals his displeasure by remaining back in Moscow.Either way however, and even assuming a deal on Russia’s role in the Kosovo peacekeeping operation to improve the atmosphere, the Western countries will be massively uninclined to commit any more funds to Russia, given the country’s political and economic instability, and the manifest failure of Mr Stepashin’s weak government to push through reform.Though the leaders will make a first assessment of reconstruction needs in the Balkans – reckoned by the EU to total $20bn to $30bn over five years – the most concrete achievement of the summit is expected to be approval of a new plan to reduce the debts of the world’s poorest countries.The deal would be based on a draft agreed last weekend by Finance Ministers of the seven western members of G-8 – the US, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada – providing for some of the debt relief to be financed by the sale of around one tenth of the IMF’s gold stock about 10m ounces.But even if the scheme leads to the writing off of up to $70bn of debt development agencies say it may still not be enough to help the countries escape the “debt trap,” where as much as half of their national budgets can be swallowed up by debt servicing.The scheme is an improved version of a previous plan endorsed in 1996, but was described by a Commons committee last week as being “on the brink of failure”. In all the 41 poorest countries still owe their creditors a combined $220bn.Also in Cologne, France is to urge the establishment of a global council on food safety. Referring to recent scares, ranging from “mad cow” disease to genetically modified foods and dioxin-tainted chicken, President Chirac warned that “Our peoples are increasingly anxious…We need a solution to better guarantee the safety of Europeans and people around the world.”. Soldiers tear down the remains of a home destroyed in the central Mexican town of San Mateo Ozolco after an earthquake hit central Mexico, killing at least 16 and

injuring hundreds. President Ernesto Zedillo declared the state of Puebla, 60 miles east of Mexico City, a disaster area Julie Plasencia/AP.

BELGIUM’S GOVERNMENT yesterday extended its ban on some Coca-Cola products but agreed to allow sales of some of the company’s other beverages to resume for the first time since Monday. Then they were ordered from shelves after dozens of people became ill after drinking Coca-Cola products. France partially relaxed its ban on sales of Coca-Cola, but Switzerland joined a move by other nations to block sales of Coca-Cola drinks produced in Belgium. Coca-Cola had been hoping for a lifting of the ban to help restore European consumer confidence in brands damaged by the health scare.
With Coke’s problems coming on top of a Belgian scandal involving dioxin- infected meat, eggs and dairy products, France said it would propose creating an international council to monitor food safety.In Belgium, the Heath Ministry said that it was allowing the resumption of sales of Coca-Cola’s Nestea, Aquarius, Bonaqua, Kinley, Lift and Minute Maid brands.

But the ban was extended on Coke, Fanta and Sprite pending further investigation into what caused the illnesses.”It is not possible today to explain in a calming and satisfactory way the appearance of these symptoms of illness,” said the Health Minister Luc Van den Bossche.”Coca-Cola must withdraw all these products from the market and destroy them.”. NATO DEFENCE and foreign ministers will today take informal soundings on who should be their new secretary-general as Jean-Luc Dehaene, the outgoing Belgian prime minister, became the latest name to join the list of possible contenders. Speculation about Mr Dehaene’s prospects was fuelled by the Belgian daily Le Soir, which quoted an unnamed diplomat arguing that the lack of strong candidates to fill the post could help his chances.
Mr Dehaene, who announced that he is standing down as prime minister after his party received a drubbing in Belgium’s general election on Sunday, might be backed by France and perhaps the United States, Le Soir said. The Belgian delegation to Nato yesterday declined to comment, adding only that it had read the reports “with interest”.Other delegations gave the idea a cool reception, partly because the last Belgian secretary-general, Willy Claes, was forced to resign after a corruption scandal which culminated in a trial last year.One Nato diplomat said that “given the experience with Claes, I am not sure how good Dehaene’s chances are, especially if you look at how scandal- ridden Belgium seems to be”. Mr Dehaene came close to becoming president of the European Commission in 1994.