Yugoslavia seals off Kosovo borders BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) - Yugoslav authorities sealed off Kosovo's main border crossings Wednesday, preventing ethnic Albanians from leaving as the wave of refugees approached the half-million mark. As NATO stepped up its airstrikes, a Cypriot mediator sought freedom for three captured U.S. soldiers. Two loud explosions could be heard shortly before midnight Wednesday in the center of Belgrade, and smoke could be seen rising in the direction of the army headquarters. A local resident, reached by telephone, said an army building near the headquarters was hit. The area is a densely populated part of the capital with numerous apartment houses nearby. See full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2559083473-3e0> *** Also: Milosevic may be ready to deal, see full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2559081937-2d4> 5 China panda killers get jail SHANGHAI, China (AP) - Five farmers have been sentenced to prison for killing and selling the skin of a rare giant panda in southwestern China, state media said Wednesday. The five were sentenced to one to five years and fined between $125 and $250 by a court in Chengdu, capital of the western province of Sichuan, the Xinhua News Agency said. Two of the men killed the panda in April 1997 and sold the skin to two of the others, Xinhua said. The fifth defendant was arrested taking the skin to Chengdu. More than 60 pandas live in the Tangjiahe Giang Panda Nature Reserve in Qingchuan County, Xinhua said. There are about 1,000 wild pandas left in China. ###
