The signing in Moscow's Kremlin on the night of August 23-24 of the Nazi-Communist "NonAggression" Pact was a diplomatic demarche literally world-shattering.
Earlier in the day, a planeload of U.N. weapons inspectors left Baghdad aboard a flight to Cyprus, joining the exodus of diplomats, aid workers and other foreigners.
The agency quoted a diplomatic source in Beijing as saying China unfroze some accounts of North Korea-based companies in Banco Delta Asia, apparently with the understanding of the United States.