Deutsche Welle
English Service News
04th January, 2001, 16:00 UTC
US again hit al Qaeda camps
U.S. B-52 bombers on Friday dropped satellite-guided bombs on an al
Qaeda guerrilla base in eastern Afghanistan today, the Pentagon said.
The attack occurred as Afghan and U.S. military forces continued the
search for Osama bin Laden and Mullah Mohammad Omar, supreme leader
of the country's deposed Taliban rulers. Afghan fighters, backed by
U.S. forces, have taken up positions around a village north of the
city of Kandahar where Mr.Omar is believed to have taken refuge.
Reports said anti-Taliban forces have been negotiating for the
surrender of as many as 1,500 trapped Taliban in the area.
Meanwhile,U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld refused to comment
on speculation that Somalia,believed to be a haven for al Qaeda and
site of anti-Western guerrilla training camps, might be the next
military target for U.S. bombing.
Pakistan police detain militants
Pakistani authorities rounded up about 120 Islamic activists
overnight, including some from groups India blames for last month's
attack on its parliament.The detentions came as diplomatic efforts to
defuse the crisis between the old foes gathered pace and with leaders
of both countries arriving for a regional summit in Nepal. British
Prime Minister Tony Blair, who arrived in India on Friday on the
second leg of a South Asian tour that will also take him to Pakistan,
said tension between the nuclear rivals could harm global stability.
Blair arrives in India for peace talks
British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrived in the southern Indian city
of Bangalore on Friday ahead of top-level talks aimed at easing
tensions between nuclear rivals India and Pakistan. Mr.Blair, who has
held discussions with U.S. President George Bush about defusing the
crisis, is due to meet Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee on Sunday,
before heading to Pakistan.
South Asia summit delayed
The start of a South Asian regional summit in Nepal to be attended by
nuclear rivals India and Pakistan has been delayed for a day, after
bad weather held up the arrival of Pakistani President Musharraf.
The summit will now begin on Saturday morning, a delegation official
said. Mr. Musharraf eventually arrived in Nepal on Friday, saying he
was uncertain whether he would meet Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee on
the sidelines of the seven-member South Asian Association for
Regional Cooperation gathering.
Israel seizes Palestinian arms ship in Red Sea
Israel said on Friday it seized a Palestinian ship in the Red Sea
smuggling 50 tonnes of mainly Iranian-supplied weapons, an
announcement that cast a cloud over U.S. envoy General Zinni'S
renewed peace mission to the region. But a senior adviser to
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, denied any Palestinian Authority
link to the weapons ship. The seizure of the ship was announced as
U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni met Mr.Arafat in the West Bank city of
Ramallah in an effort to end 15 months of Israeli-Palestinian
bloodshed.Israeli forces killed a Palestinian gunman in a raid in the
West Bank earlier on Friday while Mr. Zinni held a breakfast meeting
with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Palestinian sources said
the man was a member of Mr. Arafat's Fatah faction and a police
officer.
Suspected killers of Indonesia judge set for trial
The two suspected killers of an Indonesian judge who convicted former
President Suharto's youngest son on graft charges will go on trial
next week, a court official said on Friday.Police have previously
said the two suspects had told them that Mr. Suharto's son Tommy
Mandala Putra had ordered the murder of Supreme Court judge
Kartasasmita, who was gunned down in his car in broad daylight last
July. Mr.Putra has been declared a suspect over the Jakarta killing
and is now in police custody, after being arrested late last year,
following a year on the run from the 18-month jail sentence that
Judge Kartasasmita handed down. He has denied masterminding the
murder.
UN Secetary General approves UN court in Sierre Leone
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has authorized the establishment of
a war-crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone. Mr. Annan said a U.N. planning
mission would arrive in the Sierra Leone capital Freetown on Monday
to launch the process of setting up the court, hiring local staff and
beginning investigations. The tribunal's main task would be to
prosecute about 20 alleged ringleaders for crimes against humanity,
committed during Sierre Leone's decade-long civil war.
World's oldest man dies in Italy
The world's oldest man, 112-year-old Antonio Todde, died overnight on
the Italian island of Sardinia, relatives said on Friday. Mr. Todde,
a shepherd on the rocky hills around the town of Nuoro, until he
became housebound in the last four years of his life, had been due to
celebrate his 113th birthday on January 22th. Born in a tiny mountain
village the same year as the Eiffel Tower was built in 1889, Antonio
Todde was recognised as the world's oldest man by the Guinness Book
of Records last year. Mr.Todde, who lived on a simple diet of pasta,
vegetable soup and the occasional steak, had said that the secret to
his longevity was a good glass of red wine every day.
Serbian News Network - SNN
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.antic.org/
