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Deutsche Welle English Service News 17th December, 2001, 17:00 UTC Violence continues despite Arafat's appeal Israeli troops have shot dead three Palestinians, including a Hamas member, drawing calls for revenge that could test Yasser Arafat's demand for a halt to armed attacks on Israelis. In a symbolic blow to Palestinian aspirations to sovereignty over Arab East Jerusalem, Israeli police briefly detained the Palestine Liberation Organisation's top official in the city when he tried to hold a reception for foreign diplomats. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, making his first public response to Arafat's call in a speech to the Palestinian people on Sunday, said he wanted to see action and not words from the Palestinian president after nearly 15 months of conflict. The hunt for bin Laden continues Anti-Taliban forces have paraded some of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda fighters, captured in the eastern Afghan mountains of Tora Bora, as the United States raised its flag in the capital, Kabul, for the first time in 12 years. There was no sign of the main U.S. quarry, the Saudi-born millionaire militant accused of the Sep.11th attacks in the U.S., but fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar was said to be holed up in another mountain range to the south where Pashtun forces were preparing to attack. U.S. warplanes bombed suspected hideouts in the Tora Bora ridges and canyons of the eastern White Mountains. In another development the United States re-established a diplomatic presence in Kabul for the first time since its diplomats fled the city shortly before the end of the Soviet occupation in 1989. Troops being readied for Afghanistan peace mission Advance troops from an international peace force are expected to arrive in Kabul in time for the new interim government to take office on Saturday. But the details of the force's makeup have yet to be announced, and in the run-up to their deployment important differences have emerged between countries likely to provide soldiers and their Afghan hosts. The Northern Alliance has said it wants to see no more than 1,000 foreign troops, and with a tightly defined mandate. But countries expected to contribute troops have discussed a much larger force with a more robust mission. Germany, due to send a large contingent, has been especially outspoken. Defence Minister Rudolf Scharping said he wanted to see at least 8,000 troops, and called a force of only 1,000 troops with a narrow mandate "unacceptable". Tensions between India and Pakistan rise India has said anyone challenging its national security would face tough consequences, as tensions rose with nuclear rival Pakistan over last week's suicide attack on parliament. Islamabad threatened to respond strongly if attacked, as a top Indian government minister said all options were open including striking guerrilla bases in Pakistan. Indian police investigators have blamed Pakistan-based guerrilla groups and its intelligence arm for the parliament assault in which 13 people died. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who said at the weekend that New Delhi was reaching the limit of its tolerance of terrorism, has also reviewed national security at a cabinet meeting. Child sex trade conference opens Likening the child sex trade to terrorism, the head of the U.N. Children's Fund has demanded urgent action to stamp out a multibillion-dollar global racket she said was destroying millions of young lives. Carol Bellamy, executive director of UNICEF, told a conference near Tokyo bringing together more than 3,000 delegates from 138 countries that there were no simple solutions to the evils of child prostitution, trafficking and pornography. Organisers reaffirmed a pledge, made by governments, United Nations agencies and children's rights groups at the first such gathering in Stockholm five years ago, to work together to eradicate the scourge. But they said far more needed to be done. Euro starter kits go on sale in Germany Germans have piled into banks to get their first feel of the euro coins, resigned to the demise of their trusted deutschemarks and still sceptical about the European single currency. Undeterred by snow and freezing temperatures, they queued throughout Europe's largest country to buy starter kits of the coins and familiarise themselves with the new cash two weeks before its launch. Some 53.5 million of the 20 mark samples of euros were expected to be sold on today, Monday in Germany. Demand outstripped supply as the day began with two thousand people in Frankfurt storming the counters of two banks after midnight. Portugal's premier to resign Portugal's Socialist Prime Minister Antonio Guterres has said he would offer to resign following an over-whelming win by opposition Social Democrats in local elections, setting the stage for early national polls. Guterres, part of a new generation of market- friendly socialists, had been sagging in polls after six years in power as the economy slowed and Portuguese grew impatient with the pace of reforms in one of the European Union's poorest countries. ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
