Deutsche Welle
English Service News
28 th September, 2001, 16:00 UTC
An Algerian pilot arrested in Britain and accused by the FBI of
training four of the hijackers who attacked New York and Washington
two weeks ago has denied any involvement at a court hearing in
London.
Pilot Lotfi Raissi, aged 27, was re-arrested early on Friday. The USA
wants him extradited. A British prosecutor claimed Raissi had visited
a flying school in Arizona used by at least one of the hijackers. A
group of Pakistani Moslem clerics today went to Kandahar in another
bid to persuade Afghanistan's ruling Taliban to extradite the USA's
prime suspect, Osama bin Laden. CNN has just reported that the
clerics have returned to Karachi empty-handed. New York Mayor Rudi
Guiliani has lowered the death estimate at the collapsed World Trade
Centre to 5,960. Recovery workers have only found 305 bodies so far.
From Geneva, UN agencies have warned of famine and chaos in
Afghanistan if U.S.-led reprisals proceed, with Secretary General
Kofi Annan saying that innocent civilians should not be punished.
He said 634 million euros in humanitarian funding was needed over the
next six months. The agencies said 7.5 million Afghans, including
refugees already in Pakistan and Iran, were dependent on foreign aid.
One of them the WFP food agency said it could only reach a million of
the 3.8 million it had once supplied. UNICEF director Carol Bellamy
said millions of Afghans, including children, wouldn't make it though
winter if ignored. The UN plans a donors' conference next week.
The Commonwealth group of nations has postponed the summit of 45
heads of government it had planned for Brisbane, Australia next
month.
Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon said it was easy to
understand that leaders wanted to be with their own people in times
of uncertainty.
The UN Security Council has lifted its sanctions against Sudan,
imposed five years ago to force Khartoum to hand over suspects after
an assassination attempt on Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak.
The Security Council voted 14-0. The United States abstained. The UN
sanctions had restricted travel by Sudanese diplomats. Still in place
are separate U.S. trade sanctions, also imposed in 1996. U.S.
Security Council delegate James Cunningham said Sudan had arrested
extremists and was now cooperating on ways to combat terrorism.
Tens-of-thousands of Palestinians and Arabs in nearby countries have
demonstrated on the first anniversary of the uprising against Israeli
occupation as clashes in the West Bank claimed two more lives.
Sirens sounded for three minutes in Palestinian autonomy areas.
Protests also took place in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. They
coincided this Friday with secret Israel-Palestinian security talks
following Wednesday's meeting between Yasser Arafat and Shimon Peres.
In Hebron and Bethlehem two Palestinians were killed in firefights
with Israeli troops. At least 17 more people were wounded. The U.S.
State Department called on both sides to break with the past. The
uprising began last year after a controversial visit to Temple Mount
by Ariel Sharon, who subsequently became Israel prime minister.
A cargo plane carrying eight tonnes of explosives and hundreds of
detonators has been detained at a Moscow airport. Russian news
agencies said the AN-12 plane, making a scheduled stop at Domodedovo
airport, was held when customs officials noticed its permits were
printed on Soviet-era notepaper. They said the aircraft's licence to
fly the goods over Russia had expired in August. News agencies said
the cargo was sent from Vienna to Kazakhstan by a Madrid-based
company. It said it would issue a statement late on Friday.
U.N. prosecutors say former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic will
also be charged for war crimes in Croatia - in addition to charges he
already faces for atrocities in Kosovo in 1999.
In June, Milosevic was whisked from Belgrade to The Hague where he's
in custody awaiting trial. That's expected early next year. Tribunal
spokespersons said U.N. chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte had on
Thursday signed the new indictment. Croatia and Serbia fought a war
in 1991. Still being prepared was a third indictment for the
1992-to-95 Bosnian war. In Belgrade, meanwhile, the U.S consulate has
re-opened. It was closed in early 1999 during the Kosovo crisis.
German president Johannes Rau paid tribute on Friday to the work of
Germany's Federal Constitutional Court - its highest - on the 50th
anniversary of its founding in 1951. At a ceremony in Karlsruhe, Rau
said the court had played a fundamental role in the successful
development of the Federal Republic of Germany. The court embodied
the ideals of the constitution - freedom, equality and justice. Also
present were foreign dignatories and Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
Serbian News Network - SNN
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.antic.org/
