level documents, you start to see toward the end of the negotiating period a flurry of activity." Washington wants to strike mention of the Millennium Development Goals, eliminate a provision that would advise against exercise of the veto vote in matters of genocide or war crimes, strike reference to the International Criminal Court, which it has long opposed, and put more emphasis on nonproliferation and less on disarmament, The Washington Post and New York Times reported. The document was not released publicly. Ping told reporters he would try to organize a meeting of 30 country representatives by Friday to hammer out some of the disagreements. Bolton has suggested that world leaders only adopt a brief statement during the summit, and put off approval of the long- standing push for reform until another date. Washington has resisted adding more than two permanent members to the Security Council and has expressed support for Japan. U.S. officials have not announced support for a second nations. The Bush administration has also cautioned against allowing the debate over Security Council expansion of overshadow other important reforms, especially ones needed to address corruption related to Iraqi oil- for-food programme. Germany, India and Brazil are pushing for permanent seats on the council, and the African Union is also demanding at least two seats for their region. Currently, the World War II victors - the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia - hold veto power as permanent council members, and can block any measures. There is widespread feeling around the world that the set-up no longer reflects the realities of world power or contributions to the United Nations being brought by new democracies which have become economically affluent.
