Extracts. Anti-War Protests Challenge EU Meeting. Some 1,000 anti-war protesters marched Saturday through the Belgian city of Liege where European Union (EU) economic and finance ministers were discussing the aftermath of last week's assaults on the United States . The protesters were carrying banners reading "Make Love, Not War" in downtown Liege as local police sealed off the venue and took other heavy security measures for the two-day informal EU ministerial meeting. The organizers, a broad alliance of social rights groups and left-wing activists dubbed D14, headed toward the barricaded conference center, saying they wanted to deliver a letter demanding peace and more social rights. After the suicide air hijacking attacks that left some 6,800 people dead or missing in New York and Washington, and EU leaders pledged support for U.S. retaliation, the demonstrators coupled calls for more jobs and democracy in Europe with an anti-war message. They called on EU politicians to stick to the anti-war principle and keep away from U.S. military actions, saying military strikes can only result in more deaths. Some protesters expressed the hope that European countries pull out of the U.S.- led NATO **** Indian, Pakistan Foreign Ministers Talk to Ease Tension. Pakistan Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar and his India n counterpart Jaswant Singh spoke by telephone on Sunday in a bid to ease tensions that have risen following the terrorist strikes on the United States. The two ministers exchanged their views about the situation in the region during their ten-minute conversation, a spokesperson for the External Affairs Ministry told the media here. This is their first direct contact since last July when Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf held a two-day summit in India's ancient city of Agra. Singh asked Satter to convey to President Musharraf that India had "no intention to add to the current complexities that the government and the people of Pakistan are faced with," the spokesperson said. Sattar assured Singh that Pakistan was ready to "fully cooperate" with the world community in combating terrorism and expressed disappointment at the "barrage of propaganda" emanating from New Delhi. A report from Islamabad quoted Pakistani foreign office spokesman Riaz Mohammad Khan as saying that the telephonic contact was aimed at easing tension that has risen in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the U.S. On Friday, the Indian minister virtually ruled out talks with Pakistan in the near future due to the current situation, which, he said, had "transformed beyond recognition" following the terrorist strikes. Emerging from a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security, Singh told the media in a press conference that no meeting between the leaders of the two countries was scheduled at the moment. Meanwhile, Singh spoke to Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres on Saturday over telephone as part of India's consultations to assess the developments of the terrorist strikes. Singh has already contacted with Secretary General of the Arab League Amra Moussa and his counterparts from U.S., Britain, Egypt , Russia , Iran , Saudi Arabia and other countries. **** Russia, Turkmenistan Urge US to Observe International Law in Military Retaliation. Russia and Turkmenistan on September 21 urged the United States to abide by international law in its military response to last week's terror attacks. The call was made at a meeting between Russian Secretary of the Security Council Vladimir Rushailo and Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov in Ashgabat, the Turkmen capital. "Russia and Turkmenistan are unanimous in the opinion that this action must be carried out in full conformity with international law," Rushailo told reporters after the meeting. The two sides also agreed that any action against terrorism should have a clear target and should not harm innocent people or cause regional turmoil, Rushailo said quoted by Interfax and ITAR- TASS news agencies. At the joint press conference, Niyazov stressed that the US strikes on terrorism should be "under U.N. sanction." During their meeting, Rushailo and Niyazov also discussed the consequences of the planned US strikes and exchanged views on regional security. Rushailo arrived in Turkmenistan after his visit to Tajikistan. He was sent by Russian President Vladimir Putin on a tour of consultations with Central Asian leaders, prior to a US retaliatory military operation against Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia. The US administration has repeatedly demanded the Afghan Taliban regime turn over Saudi-born millionaire Osama bin Laden, who was listed by the US as a chief suspect in the September 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington. But the call was brushed off by the Taliban, which instead asked bin Laden to leave Afghanistan "whenever possible." **** US Retaliation No Long-term Impact on Economy: India. A senior Indin minister said in New Delhi on September 21 that though an "environment of uncertainty" prevailed in the wake of terrorist strikes in the United States, he did not see any "long-term impact" on Indian economy because of possible retaliation by Washington. Finance Minister Yaswant Sinha told a gathering in Haryana that there was no need of any panic as the country was self-sufficient with foodgrains. According to the Press Trust of India (PTI), the minister said that the government had drawn a "list of measures" prior to the strikes last week to keep a tap on the slowdown of the economy. However, other government officials said on Wednesday that India's economy would be effected as a result and a fallout of the terrorist strikes. The jinxed disinvestment process in the country might come under darker clouds and foreign investors could be kept off bidding, warned Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie. Sinha held a tele conference last Wednesday night with possible investors in Europe and the Far East in a bid to woo foreign institutional investments in the country. In a major decision to attract foreign investment, the Indian government on Thursday increased portfolio investment limit up to 100 percent for foreign institutional investors (FII). **** No Date Set for Peres-Arafat Meeting: Officials. No date has been set for a ceasefire meeting between Israel i Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Israeli Foreign Ministry officials said on September 21. Early Friday morning, Israel's Ha'aretz daily reported that the meeting would take place Saturday night despite Thursday's shooting incidents, in which one Jewish female settler was killed and her husband was critically wounded. Israeli Foreign Ministry officials said that the report was not true and the meeting is still in its preparing period. Meanwhile, Palestinian sources told Israel Radio that Peres has requested to postpone the meeting until Sunday, but no final date or location has been set. Peres has hoped that the much-anticipated meeting would help reduce the Israeli-Palestinian violence, which has lasted for nearly a year and left over 800 people dead, most of them Palestinians. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who hesitated over whether to allow such a meeting to take place, has held an emergency security cabinet meeting to discuss the latest Palestinian attack and the fate of the planned Peres-Arafat meeting. No decision was made at the overnight cabinet meeting. It is doubtful that Sharon would cancel the Peres-Arafat summit this time, as he could not resist the US pressure to hold the meeting as soon as possible, according to the Ha'aretz daily. **** Senior CPC Official Meets Nicaragua Guest. Qian Qichen, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and vice-premier of the State Council, met in Beijing <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/province/beijing.html> on September 21 with Tomas Borge, deputy general secretary of the Sandinist National Liberation Front of Nicaragua. They exchanged views on issues of common concern. Borge is here as guest of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee. *** NPC Vice-Chairman Meets Vanuatu Guests. Jiang Chunyun, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress ( NPC), in Beijing on September 21 with a delegation from the Union of Moderate Parties (UMP) of Vanuatu, which is headed by Union President Serge Vohor. Vohor is also deputy prime minister and minister of economy, trade and tourism of Vanuatu. Jiang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), said that the CPC is willing to expand the friendly relationship of cooperation with the UMP on the basis of the four principles for party-to-party relations. He expressed belief that the China visit by Vohor will make an important contribution to the development of relations between the two parties and the two countries. Vohor said that the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the UMP and the CPC during his visit marked a new starting point of the relations between the two parties. Vohor said that the government of Vanuatu and the UMP stick to the "one China" policy and hold that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. He said he believes that the Taiwan issue will be resolved under the "one country, two systems" concept. _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
