Peking offer

President Jiang Zemin of China told US congressmen that a Chinese ship at the centre of a row with Washington was not carrying banned ingredients for chemical weapons, Reuter reports from Peking.

China made a new offer to allow the ship's cargo to be checked at Dubai. The Yinhe has been stranded in the Gulf for two weeks since a dispute erupted over its cargo. The US said it believed the Iran-bound containers hold chemicals that can be used to build chemical weapons. It has insisted on the right to check the cargo.