International

‬Professor Thomas Hartung,‭ ‬head of the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Test Methods‭ (‬ECVAM‭) ‬appears to have been shown the door.‭ ‬SP Euro-MP Kartika Liotard is calling on the European Commission‭ “‬to either give some clarification on this‭ ‬or speak out against it.‭”

Talking with the Taliban in Afghanistan is no longer taboo for the Dutch government. Although Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende distanced himself from the idea during the government debate on the issue, Defence Minister Eimert van Middelkoop did not follow his lead in today's defence policy debate in the Senate. Although avoiding using the word 'negotiations', he did not dismiss attempts to divide sections of the Taliban from the movement's hard core by means of talks, and in this way to look for a solution to the conflict. The minister said as much in his answer to suggestions from SP Senator Arjan Vliegenthart, tabled with the support also of Senator Frank van Kappen of the centre-right opposition Liberals, the VVD. Van Middelkoop insisted, however, that the initiative for any such talks must be taken by the Afghan government.