US stays committed to Kyrgyzstan's sovereignty, integrity - Crowley.

WASHINGTON, April 17 (Itar-Tass) -- The United States remains
committed to the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of
Kyrgyzstan, as well as to providing assistance to it for the purpose of
building a peaceful and economically prospering democracy, US Assistant
Secretary of State for public affairs, Philip Crowley said in a brief
statement on Friday.
Crowley said that "the United States will continue to assist
Kyrgyzstan in developing its social, economic and security structures and
is in discussion with the interim Kyrgyz government on how best to help
the country return to a democratic path."
He said the United States welcomed the efforts to cooperate with
Kyrgyzstan's interim government aimed at a peace settlement of the
political standoff (between the supporters of the ousted president,
Kurmanbek Bakiyev, and the Opposition) by the OSCE chairman-in-office and
the United Nations. Kazakhstan holds the rotating presidency of the OSCE
this year.
Earlier, Bakiyev left Kyrgyzstan to fly for Kazakhstan. There have
been reports he may move over to Turkey. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu told Turkish media at his country's embassy in Washington on
Thursday he had had a lengthy telephone conversation with the head of
Kyrgyzstan's government of popular unity, Roza Otunbayeva. They discussed
the steps Turkey might take for the sake of promoting stability in
Kyrgyzstan, Davutoglu said without elaborating. He also said that the
situation in Kyrgyzstan, alongside that in the Caucasus and the Middle
East, was on the agenda of the meeting Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan had had on the sidelines of the
nuclear security summit in Washington, held on April 12-13.

.Poland to remember Smolensk air crash victims Saturday.

WARSAW, April 17 (Itar-Tass) -- Poland on Saturday will remember the
victims of the air crash disaster near Smolensk, Russia, of a week ago. At
8:56 local time (10:56 Moscow time) sirens will start howling and the
church bells will ring. Precisely at this minute a week ago the Polish
presidential plane with 96 passengers and crew on board crashed in western
Russia.
At 14:00 a funeral Mass for the victims will begin in Pilsudski
Square. The ceremony may gather an estimated half a million mourners from
many Polish cities. A special altar, decorated with hundreds of flowers,
has been placed in the square and a five-meter-tall cross put up.
Over the square there are 96 pictures of all those who on that tragic
day were on board the presidential Tu-154M liner. The funeral commission
has made a decision the coffins with the victims' bodies will not be
brought to the square.
The ceremony of last farewell with the presidential couple will last
till 17:30 of Saturday (local time) After that the coffins with the bodies
of Lech and Maria Kaczynski will be moved to St. Jan's Cathedral, where a
funeral service will be conducted.
The center of the city is closed to traffic. Streets are blocked and
reinforced police patrols placed at the crossroads.
Foreign delegations will not attend mournful ceremonies in Pilsudski
Square on Saturday. They will fly in to Krakow on Sunday for the funeral
of Lech and Maria Kaczynski.
According to the Polish Foreign Ministry, 98 foreign delegations will
attend.

.56-nation disarmament conference to open in Teheran Saturday.

TEHERAN, April 17 (Itar-Tass) -- An international disarmament and
non-proliferation conference is opening in Teheran on Saturday, with 56
countries taking part, including Russia, the United States, China, Britain
and Germany. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov is the chief Russian
delegate.
This is the first time the Iranian capital is to host such a major
international forum.
The conference's motto is Nuclear Energy for All, Nuclear Weapon for
No One.
According to Iranian news agencies fourteen countries will be
represented by their foreign ministers. The arrival of delegates from
international, regional and non-governmental organizations is expected.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said the conference, to be
held at Teheran's Seda o Sima television center will be opened by
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
"We are expecting no fewer than 300 guests. As many journalists will
be covering this important political event. We do hope that there will be
a fundamental and fruitful discussion," the Iranian foreign minister said.
The forthcoming discussion will revolve around nuclear disarmament,
international obligations by countries not to use weapons of mass
destruction and the elimination of nuclear arsenals. The conference will
end on April 18 with the adoption of a joint statement.

-0-str