Deutsche Welle
English Service News
July 21st, 2001, 16:00 UTC
World leaders attending a Group of Eight summit overshadowed by the
shooting of an anti-capitalist activist have declared their talks
would go on as planned. In an unexpected statement on the second day
of the summit, G8 leaders condemned "violence overflowing into
anarchy" by a small minority among the thousands of demonstrators
gathered in the Italian city of Genoa. But they said they respected
people's right to protest peacefully. The leaders,- from the United
States, Russia, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada,-
are to turn their attention to world poverty and the environment,
issues that top the agenda of some protest groups in Genoa.
Indonesia's top assembly, launching the country's first impeachment
bid, has summoned President Abdurrahman Wahid to answer allegations
of corruption and incompetence on Monday. But Wahid rejected the
hearing as illegal, refused to appear and threatened to declare a
state of emergency that would allow him to dissolve the assembly and
call a snap poll. The nation's first democratically-elected leader
also warned that his millions of supporters might take to the
streets if the People's Consultative Assembly sacked him, as it is
widely expected to do just 21 turbulent months into his five-year
term.
Twelve people have been killed in Indian Kashmir when suspected
separatist guerrillas attacked a route along which thousands of
Hindus were trekking to a shrine. Fifteen people were wounded in the
attack which began when the suspected Muslim guerrillas set off a
landmine. Nearly a dozen Muslim militant groups are fighting Indian
rule in Jammu and Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority state. New
Delhi accuses Islamabad of giving military backing to the
separatists but Pakistan says it provides only moral and diplomatic
support.
Delegates at a conference in the German city of Bonn seeking to save
the Kyoto Protocol have said a conclusive deal looked increasingly
unlikely, with new talks probably needed in the autumn to resolve
differences. Conference officials said they would present a broad
compromise package to overcome squabbling over fine print that has
bogged down proceedings. The Kyoto Protocol requires developed
countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 5.2
percent by 2012. The United States, which signed the deal under
President Bill Clinton, pulled out in March with President George W.
Bush saying it was "fatally flawed" and would damage the economy.
The other countries have decided to try to plough ahead.
Israel has denied any involvment in two explosions at house next to
the office of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction in
the West Bank city of Hebron. One Palestinian was killed and at
least three others were wounded by the blast. Palestinian
authorities accused Israel of launching a missile attack, while
Israel claimed the detonations were caused by Palestinian bombs.
This comes after an angry funeral procession, when Palestinians
buried the youngest victim of 10 months of violence. The infant was
killed along with two adult relatives, in a drive-by shooting near
Hebron Thursday. The attack prompted an urgent appeal from the
Palestinian Authority for foreign observers in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip. Israel, which opposed deployment of observers so far,
indicated a willingness to compromise.
Iraq has apparently fired a missile into Kuwaiti airspace in an
attempt to hit a U.S. aircraft patrolling a "no fly" zone over
southern Iraq. U.S. military officials said information was sketchy
about the incident, which occurred on Thursday. On Tuesday, aircraft
belonging to a U.S.-British coalition monitoring the zone struck an
Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery site.Western forces set up no-fly
zones in northern and southern Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War to
protect Kurdish dissidents and other minority groups. Iraq does not
recognize the zones.
Germany's Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer has expressed shock at
the death of three members of the European Union observer mission in
Macedonia. The two EU observers from Norway and Slovakia and their
Albanian interpreter were killed by an explosion, believed to have
been from an anti-personnel mine, while travelling in a jeep near
the town of Tetovo. Fischer said the incident tragically underlined
the need for a political solution of the conflict in the country.
The German government appealed again to the ethnic Albanian rebels
and the Macedonian government to return to negotiations.
Sicily's Mount Etna, Europe's most active volcano, has continued to
spew lava, prompting authorities to warn people in nearby towns of
the possibility of evacuation. About 15,000 people live in the towns
nestled on the southern slope of the volcano. The head of Italy's
civil protection agency said earlier the area would be declared a
state of emergency to allow authorities on the island to get army
back-up or extra funds quickly if the situation gets worse.
Emergency authorities are building up mud walls to guide the lava
flow safely and have sprayed the boiling magma with water.
Berlin braces itself for a modest invasion of around half a million
ravers today, Saturday, in town for the 13th annual Love Parade
dance music fest. Confusion over whether the open-air party was
going ahead was expected to keep the number of techno fans below
last year's million plus, jeopardising the Parade's image as the
world's biggest and brashest dance music party.
Serbian News Network - SNN
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http://www.antic.org/
