Deutsche Welle
English Service News
July 9th , 2001, 16:00 UTC
A Chilean court has dropped a test case against former dictator
Augusto Pinochet on charges of serious rights abuses, ruling that
the 85-year-old is mentally unfit to stand trial. Legal experts say
Pinochet is now likely to avoid trial on any of the scores of
charges he faces in Chile, which he ruled with an iron fist between
1973-90. The Appeals Court said on Monday it is suspending legal
procedures against Pinochet over allegations that he covered up
atrocities by the "Caravan of Death," a military death squad. It was
the key accusation in efforts to bring Pinochet to trial in Chile
after he was freed from 16 months' detention in Britain last year.
An EU mediator says leaders of the two main Albanian political
parties in Macedonia have accepted the draft of a constitutional
change. The German news agency dpa quotes Francois Leotard as saying
this. He spoke of "very constructive talks" between Slavic and
Albanian party leaders on Monday and was optimistic about furher
progress. At issue are more rights for the large ethnic Albanian
minority in Macedonia. Meanwhile both sides accused each other of
breaking the ceasefire in place since Friday.
The Croatian prime minister Ivica Racan is seeking new allies to
keep him in power after some ministers quit his coalition to protest
at the planned handover of two top suspects to the Hague war crimes
tribunal. The embattled premier of the former Yugoslav republic
received a possible boost when a general unofficially named as one
of the war crimes suspects appeared ready to surrender. Racan, whose
reformers ended hardline nationalist rule in Croatia 18 months ago,
asked for a parliamentary confidence vote after his main partners,
the Social Liberals, walked out.
African heads of state have opened a summit that will launch a
potentially powerful new pan-African bloc to spearhead Africa's
economic development and integration. The meeting in Zambia's
capital, Lusaka, will climax in the formal adoption of the treaty of
the new African Union to replace the 38-year-old Organisation of
African Unity.
Thousands of mourners marched in the Zambian capital Lusaka in the
funeral procession of opposition leader Paul Tembo, who was murdered
on Friday before he was to testify in a government graft case.
Tembo's assassination has heightened political tensions in the
southern African state and opposition leaders have alerted the
Organisation of African Unity to a "gathering political storm".
Sudan and Egypt have signed a a number of trade agreements in
further moves to repair relations between them. Relations between
the two countries have gradually improved over the years following
Egypt's accusing Sudan of sheltering Muslim militants who tried to
kill President Hosni Mubarak in Ethiopia in 1995.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish counterpart Bertie Ahern
have demanded immediate progress to refloat Northern Ireland's
listing peace process. The two premiers struck a determinedly upbeat
tone after talks at Blair's country residence, Chequers. But
Northern Ireland Protestant leader David Trimble warned the
province's 1998 peace agreement was close to collapsing.
The German economics minister has spoken optimistically of expanding
trade between Germany and Cuba. Werner Mueller said at the start of a
three-day visit to Cuba that he sees great opportunities for
cooperation in biotechnology and tourism. Mueller said the number of
German tourists to the communist-governed Caribbean island state is
growing by 10 per cent a year.
Dispute continues over who should have access to the files of the
former East German secret police, the Stasi. A court has just ruled
that the file on former Chancellor Helmut Kohl cannot be released,
and the interior minister Otto Schily wants this to apply to all
Stasi files. But their custodian, Marianne Birthler, a former civic
rights activist, is resisting the minister. He's now written her a
letter asking for an amicable solution of the dispute after earlier
issuing an ultimatum.
The Bulgarian news agency says the Timok River, a tributary of the
Danube flowing through Serbia and Bulgaria, is severely poioned by
heavy metals. The agency quotes a report distributed to an
environment conference in the Bulgarian Danube city of Widin. The
cause of the contamination was not reported.
Algerian-born Zinedine Zidane, France's world player of the year,
has moved from the Italian Juventus club to Spain's Real Madrid for
a world record transfer fee of nearly 64 and a half million dollars.
He'll be earning more than five million dollars each season at Real
where he's signed up for four years.
Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia has won the Wimbledon men's singles
title, beating Pat Rafter of Australia 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 9-7. The
29-year-old, who lost three Wimbledon finals in the 1990s, thought
of giving up tennis earlier this year because of a shoulder injury
and his poor form. But he said he believed it was his destiny to
win.
Serbian News Network - SNN
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.antic.org/
