July 28

 U.S. Heads to U.N. Racism Talks

By DAFNA LINZER - Unlike the lone stances it staked out at gatherings on global warming and weapons control, the Bush administration has found allies ahead of the U.N. conference on racism.Washington wants slavery reparations and Zionism off the agenda, a position shared by its European allies and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites), who thinks the conference should be forward-looking and deal with contemporary issues.The stakes are high.If those items remain on the agenda, the United States says it will not attend the weeklong conference in Durban, South Africa, which starts Aug. 31.(�) Robinson, who will chair the conference, said she hoped delegates would make ``a very serious commitment'' to righting past wrongs. But U.S. officials say privately that they will oppose a document of commitments.Those being discussed now include affirmative action programs and a moratorium on the death penalty until countries resolve disparities in its application. Most of the inmates currently on federal death row in the United States are minorities. (�)