Deutsche Welle
English Service News
June 23rd, 2001, 16:00 UTC
U.S. Middle East envoy William Burns held two rounds of talks with
Palestinian leaders on Saturday to try to support a fragile
ceasefire agreement that is in danger of collapsing after two
Israeli soldiers were killed in a suicide bombing. The militant
Islamic group Hamas, which claimed responsibility for Friday's
attack, pledged to carry out more bombings during a mock funeral for
a suicide bomber in the Gaza Strip. In the latest violence Israeli
soldiers killed a Palestinian early on Saturday as he and two others
tried to infiltrate into Israel armed with hand-grenades and a
firearm, the army said. Meanwhile Prime Minister Ariel Sharon leaves
Israel on Sunday for Washington talks with President George Bush. He
is due to stop over in London for talks with British Prime Minister
Tony Blair. Sharon told Israeli television in an interview on Friday
the ceasefire did not limit Israel's "right of self-defence to stop
squads who are planning or embarking on terrorist attacks".
President Vladimir Putin said again on Saturday that Russia could
respond to any U.S. bid to abandon a key 1972 arms control accord by
adding multiple warheads to its nuclear missiles. Putin had made
similar remarks earlier this week, but Saturday's comments,
broadcast repeatedly on Russian television, made the stance more
public. Putin told reporters after talks with Austrian President
Thomas Klestil in the Kremlin that any U.S. move to abrogate the
Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty would free Russia and any other
countries from obligations banning multiple warhead rockets. Russia
opposes U.S. plans to build an anti-missile shield on grounds that
it would violate the ABM pact, defended by Moscow as the foundation
of three decades of disarmament. Russia also argues that Washington
has overstated the threat posed by so-called "rogue states" like
Iran and North Korea.
Macedonia resumed its assault on a village held by ethnic Albanian
guerrillas on Saturday despite a blunt NATO warning to stop and the
arrival of a top Western envoy hoping to revive peace talks. Despite
warnings by NATO to stop the "madness", Macedonian forces attacked
the village of Aracinovo with Mi-24 helicopter gunships, tanks and
Katyusha rockets. European Union foreign affairs chief Javier Solana
arrived on his latest peace mission to try and salvage the ceasefire
and renew the political process. NATO Secretary General George
Robertson has demanded an immediate reinstatement of the
11-day ceasefire torn up by the government on Friday. U.S. Secretary
of State Colin Powell telephoned President Boris Trajkovski to urge
Macedonian forces to show restraint.
Yugoslav reformist ministers have passed a decree which could lead
to the extradition of suspects to the U.N. war crimes tribunal,
including former president Slobodan Milosevic. The reformers decided
to go ahead with the cabinet meeting despite a boycott from their
junior coalition partners who fiercely oppose the measure and have
said they are ready to quit. Belgrade is under pressure to show the
West they are serious about cooperation with the tribunal in The
Hague before an international donors' conference next week at which
they hope to raise over $1.0 billion in economic aid.
A Spanish High Court Judge has ordered a suspected Islamic guerrilla
linked to exiled Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden to be held in
custody without bail, Spanish television reported. Earlier on
Friday Spanish Interior Minister Mariano Rajoy said the suspect,
Mohamed Bensakhria, was among the most wanted men pursued by Western
security services in recent months. Bin Laden is wanted in the
United States in connection with bomb attacks on U.S. embassies in
Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998 which killed more than 200 people.
Pope John Paul, the Second, has arrived in Ukraine for a
controversial five-day visit. Leaders of the Russian Orthodox
Church will boycott the visit after failing to persuade him not to
come. The pontiff, the first Slav Pope in history, is expected to
use the visit to focus on Christian unity and to try to smooth over
disputes Ukraine's five million Roman Catholics and Orthodox
believers. A wave of demonstrations throughout the country have
preceded the Holy Fathers 94th foreign trip.
David Trimble has been re-elected leader of the Ulster Unionist
Party by acclamation at the party's annual general meeting in
Belfast. He did however, confirm that he could resign in eight days
time if the Irish Republican Army does not disarm. In light of the
party's poor showing in the recent British election, there had been
much speculation that Mr Trimble could face a challenge for the
leadership. Mr. Trimble's election in Belfast took place against a
backdrop of violent street clashes and tension in the city. Britian
on Friday ordered an additional 1,600 troops into the trouble
province bringing the total number of soldiers backing the
constabulary to 15,000.
Heavy monsoon rains continue to hamper rescuers attempting to reach
victims inside a submerged carriage after part of a train plunged
into a river in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Rescue
officials confirmed 54 bodies had been recovered and 292 people were
treated for injuries in various hospitals in nearby Calicut.
Officials suspect the cause of the accident is the bridge itself
the train was crossing. About 15 meters of the 150 meter long
bridge crumbled under the train. Three of the train's six carriage
ended up in the river with an estimated 300 people on board each
carriage. Rescue officials credit the quick response by workers
from a nearby construction site and local fisherman, who had rushed
to remove people from the wreckage, for the relatively low death
toll.
Philippine police on Saturday morning said they found the headless
corpses of two Filipinos who had been held hostage by Abu Sayyaf
rebels on the Philippine island of Basilan. A police spokesman said
the remains have been positively identified and added that the
bodies had their hands tied with nylon cord with a note attached to
the T-shirt of one saying that "Commander Robot is here to behead".
"Commander Robot" is the nickname of Ghalib Andang, one of the
leaders of the rebel Abu Sayyaf group.
The German film prize in Gold this year has been awarded to
Christian Petzold for "Internal Security", a film about terrorism.
German Culture Minister Julian Nida-Ruemelin presented the prize at
the German State Opera in Berlin. The prize for best driector went
to Esther Gronenborn for the youth drama "alaska.de". Best foreign
film was "In the mood for love" by Wong Kar-wai from Hong Kong.
Serbian News Network - SNN
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