Deutsche Welle
English Service News
September 2nd, 2001, 16:00 UTC
A U.N. anti-racism conference continues to be stuck in Middle East
politics after thousands of non-governmental organisations endorsed
what Israel condemned as an outburst of hatred against Jews. Mary
Robinson, the U.N. human rights chief hosting the World Conference
Against Racism in South Africa, said she personally opposed the NGO
Forum's declaration branding Israel as a racist and genocidal state.
United States officials said they were unhappy about the harsh
anti-Israeli language used by the NGOs. The Middle East conflict has
also overshadowed the parallel official racism conference,- made up
of 153 government delegations,- since it was opened on Friday by
South African President Thabo Mbeki and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi
Annan. The issue of reparations for four centuries of slavery has
been pushed to the background. African and Caribbean states want a
formal apology and some countries are pressing for reparations.
Israeli soldiers have killed two Palestinians in gun battles in the
West Bank city of Hebron, over-shadowing efforts to arrange talks
aimed at ending nearly a year of bloodshed. Israeli Foreign Minister
Shimon Peres cautioned against unrealistic expectations that a
meeting being arranged with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat
could end the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.
Intensifying the diplomatic peace effort, European Union foreign
policy chief Javier Solana was due in the region to help lay the
groundwork for a Peres-Arafat meeting, which might be held in Italy
at the end of the week.
Australia has prepared a navy troop carrier to ferry 433 asylum
seekers from a cargo ship off Christmas Island but the operation
remains stalled pending a court ruling. Prime Minister John Howard
outlined plans to take the mainly Afghan boat people from the
Norwegian freighter to Papua New Guinea, where they would be put on
planes for New Zealand and the tiny Pacific island of Nauru. Howard
has remained resolute in his refusal to let the asylum seekers into
Australia. Meanwhile a Melbourne court which is considering whether
Australia's handling of the crisis has been lawful. But amid a swell
of international criticism, U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Mary
Robinson rebuked Australia for the way it had handled the case and
called for a speedy end to the migrants' suffering. And Norway,
which has become increasingly critical of Australia's refusal to
accept the asylum seekers, labelled the trans-shipment plan as
inhumane.
The Macedonian parliament will reportedly resume debate on a peace
plan on Monday after a delay that alarmed Western sponsors.Ethnic
Albanian guerrillas had threatened to stop voluntary handovers of
their weapons to NATO after the hardline parliament speaker
suspended the debate on Saturday in protest at alleged rebel
intimidation of Macedonians. Nationalist parliamentary president
Stojan Andov said earlier the debate would resume only once he had
cast-iron assurances that people who fled territory taken over by
ethnic Albanian guerrillas would be able to return to their homes.
Chinese premier Zhu Rongji arrived in Dublin on Sunday at the start
of a two week tour of Europe. Zhu, the highest-ranking Chinese
politician ever to visit Ireland, was greeted by Irish Prime
Minister Bertie Ahern and Foreign Minister Brian Cowen. An Irish
government spokesman said the visit was intended to promote trade
links between the two countries, but human rights are expected to be
raised when Zhu holds talks with Ahern. China has drawn criticism
from human rights campaigners for alleged abuses in Tibet and for
its treatment of the Falun Gong spiritual movement.
North Korea has unexpectedly announced that it would immediately
resume stalled talks with South Korea. Relations between the two
Koreas thawed last year and a historic summit between South Korean
President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in
Pyongyang raised high hopes for reconciliation after half a century
of enmity since the 1950-53 Korean War. But things have since ground
to a standstill.
The United Nations has called for a fair trial of all 24 foreign and
Afghan aid workers detained by Afghanistan's Taliban rulers on the
charge of promoting Christianity. The trial by an Islamic court is
expected to begin later this week after the Taliban authorities said
an investigation of eight foreign and 16 Afghan workers of the
German-based SNI, Shelter Now International agency was almost over.
The Taliban authorities say they have strong evidence that SNI's
foreign staff,- four Germans, two Americans and two Australians,-
were involved in trying to convert Afghan Muslims to Christianity
but had no proof any conversions were actually made. The SNI denies
the charge.
Dr Christiaan Barnard, the South African surgeon who performed the
world's first human heart transplant, has died while on holiday in
Cyprus. He was 78. Barnard made medical history in December 1967
with the world's first human heart transplant on Louis Washkansky.
Michael Schumacher has taken his record 52nd career win after a
chaotic and crash-interrupted Belgian Formula One Grand Prix.
It was the German's eighth win in 14 races. Schumacher, driving a
Ferrari, came first with Britain's David Coulthard second in a
McLaren and Giancarlo Fisichella of Italy third in a Benetton.
Serbian News Network - SNN
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