Ethnic Albanians 'ready to sign' PARIS (AP) - Kosovo Albanians told mediators Monday they are ready to sign an international peace plan giving them broad political autonomy for three years but keeping the war-torn province within Serbia. The move came after more than five weeks of intense diplomatic pressure from international mediators, who want to confront Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic with a clear ultimatum: accept the peace plan or suffer NATO bombardment. "We hope to sign the agreement tomorrow," said Hashim Thaci, head of the ethnic Albanian delegation. Serbian President Milan Milutinovic, responding to the announcement that the Kosovo Albanians would sign the peace deal, said: "Unilateral signing does not mean anything." See full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2558815735-d0b> *** And: Clinton urges Milosevic Kosovo OK, see full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2558814657-67c> S. Africa bushmen getting land back TWEERIVIEREN, South Africa (AP) - Sitting on the dusty floor of a dilapidated shack, the elderly headman of South Africa's last Bushmen voices his dream: to return to his ancestors' land. "I have lived in darkness," Dawid Kruiper says. "Getting the land will allow me to stand up and say to the world: 'Here is Dawid Kruiper and here are my people.'" Soon Kruiper's dream will come true. After the end of white rule in 1994's all-race elections, the government passed legislation to return land to those from whom it was taken under colonialism and apartheid. The 500-member Khomani tribe that Kruiper heads filed a claim for a huge swath of the Kalahari Desert. Though much of the land redistribution process has been slow and dogged by legal fights, the Khomani claim is close to being settled. See full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2558809717-828> No pitter-patter of panda paws yet SAN DIEGO (AP) - San Diego Zoo scientists have been desperately trying to mate a giant panda couple in captivity, but so far the furry, black-and-white creatures have done nothing but get on each other's nerves. "For this species, the outlook is gloomy," Don Lindburg, leader of the zoo's giant panda team, said last week. On loan from their native China, 8-year-old Bai Yun and 20-year-old Shi Shi have beguiled behaviorists hoping to mate the endangered animals since they joined the zoo in September 1996. Meanwhile, the panda population worldwide continues to dwindle as development eats away at their bamboo-thick habitat. See full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2558813052-e5f>
