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-News for Thurs. 28 March and 29 March 2002
The following news clips are from the BBC and included for your convenience. For more detail contact the BBC website. On the BBC web site you will find country profiles, historic information, as well as supporting articles and related news events. USA  US prosecutors
say they will seek the death penalty for Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person
charged over the 11 September attacks. Attorney General John Ashcroft, who must
approve all federal death penalty cases, accepted the recommendation of his
prosecutors on Thursday. Mr Moussaoui, a French citizen of Moroccan descent, is
accused of conspiring with Osama Bin Laden, the hijackers and others to commit
the attacks on the US. His trial is scheduled to be held in Alexandria,
Virginia in the autumn. The French Government has expressed regret at the
decision, saying it will not provide evidence that could lead to a death
sentence. Mr Ashcroft said the decision to pursue the death penalty stemmed
from the impact the attacks had had on thousands of victims. "We remain
committed to carrying out justice in this case and also ensuring that the
rights of the victims are protected," Mr Ashcroft said. Pope  Ill health has prevented Pope
John Paul II from participating in a symbolic foot-washing that forms part of
one of the Catholic Church's holiest ceremonies. It was the first time in his
23 years of religious leadership that the pontiff had failed to perform the
ritual, which is part of the commemoration of Christ's Last Supper. The
81-year-old remained seated and allowed the Vatican's Secretary of State,
Cardinal Angelo Sodano, to symbolically cleanse the feet of 12 priests. The act
commemorates Christ's humility towards his apostles. The Pope sat slightly bent
in his chair, reciting some prayers. The pontiff suffers from Parkinson's Disease, as well as an arthritic right knee. In a sermon, which he gave while seated, the Pope made reference to the wave of sex scandals now rocking the Roman Catholic Church. "We pray for those priestly brothers of ours who have not lived up to the commitments they made when they were ordained or who are going through a period of difficulty and crisis," he said. Ailing  The Pope's health has been declining
steadily since the early 1990s, when symptoms of Parkinson's first appeared.
His left hand now trembles uncontrollably. He had a colon tumour removed in
1992, dislocated his shoulder in 1993, broke his femur in 1994, and had his
appendix removed in 1996. He walks with a cane and for the past two years has
been pushed up the aisle of St Peter's Basilica on a wheeled platform.
Fresh concerns over his health were raised earlier this week when John Paul II decided not to celebrate Palm Sunday mass in St Peter's Square. Instead, he chose to watch from his throne while the Vicar of Rome Cardinal Camillo Ruini led the ceremony. Thursday marked the start of a gruelling four-day series of Easter ceremonies, as Christians celebrate the holiest week of their calendar. On Good Friday, the Stations of the Cross ceremony takes place. This traditionally requires the pope to carry a 3kg replica cross along 15 stations marking Christ's journey to crucifixion. But declining health has meant that every year, the Pope is able to take fewer steps. Last year, he only carried the cross for the last station. UK  The prospects for Scotland's last deep coal
mine have been described as "horrendous" after the company was placed into
liquidation. The move was made by the directors of the firm which operates the
Longannet pit in Fife.  Some 366 miners and 150
contractors have lost their jobs at the mine, which was flooded by 17 million
gallons of water at the weekend. The directors of Scottish Coal (Deep Mine) - a
subsidiary of Mining (Scotland) - announced that the company could no longer
operate the mine following a meeting on Friday morning. The receivers,
Glasgow-based accountants PKF, have estimated that it could cost £50m to
make Longannet operational again.  Police looking for the missing schoolgirl Amanda Dowler
say a white purse found near where she disappeared did not belong to her. The
purse - found by a member of the public and reported to Crimewatch - was ruled
out as a possible vital clue after officers spoke to the teenager's parents.
Officers are still following up a number of possible leads from more than 250
phone calls to the BBC One programme, which showed a reconstruction of Amanda's
last known movements. The 13-year-old, known as Milly, disappeared on Thursday
last week as she walked from the railway station near her home in
Walton-on-Thames, Surrey. Israel  A Palestinian suicide bomber has carried
out an attack on a Jewish neighbourhood of West Jerusalem, as Israeli forces
continued a sustained assault on Yasser Arafat's West Bank headquarters. At
least two people are reported to have been killed, in addition to the bomber,
and more than 20 have been injured. Eyewitnesses described scenes of carnage at
the shopping centre in the Kiryat Yovel neighbourhood of Jerusalem, where a
female suicide bomber is said to have detonated a large device. The attack, claimed by the militant Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, came shortly after Israel launched its most direct assault on the Palestinian leader in 18-months.  Israeli tanks smashed through the perimeter
of the compound in Ramallah, where the Palestinian leader has been confined for
months. Arafat the 'enemy' Palestinian officials say tanks are metres away from
the Mr Arafat's office and it is coming under fire. They say he has taken
refuge in a basement room with no windows. Fierce gunbattles have taken place
between Israeli troops and Palestinians in Ramallah, with one Israeli soldier
and at least four Palestinians reported killed. Another 20 are said to have
been injured. The operation follows an all-night cabinet meeting to discuss Israel's response to the suicide bombing in the Israeli town of Netanya on Wednesday night, which left at least 20 Israelis dead. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared Mr Arafat an "enemy" and that said Israel would do everything it could to "isolate" him. He said the operation was part of a widespread action against a "terrorist infrastructure" that would most likely go on for weeks. Elsewhere, Israeli police have clashed with Palestinians close to al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. A police spokesman said they fired stun grenades after Palestinian youths threw stones at Jewish worshippers at the Western Wall, just below the mosque. Earlier on Friday, two Israelis were stabbed to death by Palestinian militants in the Jewish settlement of Netzarim, in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian sources said the attack was followed by heavy shooting, and Israeli tanks had been deployed. The Palestinian leader has responded defiantly to the attack on his headquarters, saying the Palestinians would never give up their fight for an independent state. Pakistan  A date has been set for the trial in Pakistan of those
accused of the kidnapping and murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl.
Formal proceedings will start on 5 April inside the Karachi jail holding the
chief suspect, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh.  Security was tight on Friday as Omar Sheikh and a second defendant,
Sheikh Mohammed Adeel, arrived for a hearing at a Karachi court. Charges were
filed last week against a total of 11 suspects, the majority of whom remain at
large. Daniel Pearl went missing while trying to arrange an interview with
Islamic militants. Anti-terrorism court Hundreds of armed police surrounded the
colonial-era courthouse in Karachi on Friday amid concern that Omar Sheikh's
supporters might attempt to free him. Omar Sheikh, dressed in a traditional
white Pakistani baggy shirt and trousers, looked confident and had a neatly
trimmed beard, according to one account. He attempted to shout a message to the
crowd outside after the brief hearing, but police pushed him into an armoured
personnel and whisked him back to jail, said Associated Press.
Sri Lanka  Thailand will be the venue for historic face-to-face
talks between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels, officials said
on Friday. "Both parties to the conflict have agreed to holding the talks in
Thailand," said a statement read out by Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart
Sathirathai and the visiting Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Vida Helgesen.
The peace talks, which follow a ceasefire signed by the Tamil Tigers and the
Sri Lankan Government in February, are expected to begin in the first week of
May. The meeting will be the first between the two sides since the Oslo peace
initiative began three years ago. The Norwegian envoy, Vidar Helgesen - whose
country has been largely responsible for arranging the talks - said the purpose
was to find a resolution to the 18-year Sri Lankan conflict.
Ghana Two of Ghana's senior government ministers have resigned following the death of a tribal leader in inter-clan fighting. The king of Ghana's influential Dagomba tribe died along with at least 25 of his supporters in the violence between the Andani and the Abudu clans in the northern town of Yendi. Interior Minister Malik al-Hassan Yakubu resigned amid accusations that he backed one of two feuding clans involved in the fighting. Imoro Andani, the minister for the northern region where the killings took place, has also quit his job over the incident. State of emergency  Meanwhile, the government is
trying to defuse tension in Yendi - a town about 100 kilometres east of the
city of Tamale. Ghanaian President John Kufuor has declared a state of
emergency in the Dagbon region. Troops have been deployed to guard key
buildings and keep the peace, and a dusk-to-dawn curfew is in force. "I have
ordered a full-scale operation to identify, apprehend and bring to justice the
perpetrators of these heinous crimes," said Mr Kufuor. A 10-member government team, headed by Senior Minister Joseph Mensah, the highest-ranking cabinet minister, left for the region on Friday. Intense rivalry The 50-year-old king - a former schoolteacher - was the second most important regent in Ghana after the ruler of the country's Ashanti ethnic group. Original reports stated that he had been beheaded, but his brother Alhasan Andani said he died from bullet wounds. The Abudus and the Andanis share the leadership of the Dagombas and have a history of intense rivalry. The latest violence flared on Monday, when two people were shot and wounded after an argument over who should perform certain rituals associated with Yendi's traditional fire festival, known as the Bugum. It is regarded as one of Ghana's most picturesque festivals, involving a night-time display of drumming and dancing by the light of blazing torches. The Dagombas make up about 8% of Ghana's population. China  An international trade union body has criticised
China's response to recent labour unrest and expressed fears about the safety
of protest leaders. The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
(ICFTU), an umbrella body for national trade unions, said it was particularly
worried about Yao Fuxin, 54, who was arrested in Liaoyang on 17 March. The
ICFTU said it believed Mr Yao had been "severely mistreated" by public security
officials after being detained, or that he may actually have been killed while
in official custody It said a Chinese Public Security Bureau (PSB) official had
visited Mr Yao's wife and said he was "in a very serious condition, at the
hospital, after having suffered a heart attack". The ICFTU said it had verified
that Yao Fuxin was in a "perfect state of health" prior to his detention and
had never suffered any heart problems. Mr Yao was arrested for helping organise
protests that at one stage involved up to 30,000 disaffected workers, most of
which were angry about unpaid wages and benefits. Three other workers' leaders
were also arrested.  On
Friday, more than 200 workers and relatives gathered for a second day outside
the Liaoyang city government offices to appeal for the arrested men's release.
Mr Yao's daughter, Yao Dan, told the AFP news agency: "Today, our family was
mainly asking for a chance to see my father". Key problem The protests, which
have been underway in Liaoyang and another north-eastern town for several
weeks, are being closely watched to see how authorities react. Such protests
are rare, but they have become more common as China grapples with painful
reforms of its state industry.  Earlier this month, up to 50,000 retired oil workers
protested in the north-eastern town of Daqing. There have also been smaller
demonstrations in the capital Beijing and in the south-western province of
Sichuan. The protests highlight a key problem in China's current welfare system
- factories are often responsible not only for providing for their retired
workers, but also for paying unemployment benefits to the same workers they
have made redundant. The government has acknowledged the problem poses a threat
to social stability, and is in the process of setting up a national social
security network. The need has been made all the more urgent by fears that
China's entry into the World Trade Organisation will lead to millions of new
redundancies. But setting up the new welfare system will take several years,
and in some areas of the country, enterprises and local governments are
currently struggling to keep up payments. Suspicions of official corruption
have exacerbated tensions among laid off workers. Angola  Suspected Unita rebels have killed 15 people near the
coastal city of Benguela, a church-run radio station in Angola reports. The
attack comes as the government says it is hopeful that a ceasefire will be
signed soon with Unita's remaining leadership. However, talks in the eastern
town of Luena have already been extended by a week. The killing of Unita's
leader, Jonas Savimbi, last month raised hopes that Angola's 27-year civil war
would soon end. The latest attack was carried out on the village of Cubal, near
Benguela, reported Radio Ecclesia. The Catholic Church-run radio station quoted
military sources as saying that it was the work of Unita guerrillas but this
has not been confirmed and the BBC's Justin Pearce in Luanda says that bandits
are known to operate in the area. Not signed On Thursday, Angola's Deputy Foreign Minister Georges Chicoti said that negotiations between government military commanders and their Unita counterparts were on the verge of concluding with a deal that would lead to a ceasefire. "The negotiations are going well. There have not been any contradictions on major issues. They seem to be agreeing on all elements," he told journalists in Geneva. But our correspondent says the government has been making equally positive statements for a week and nothing has yet been signed.  Meanwhile, Savimbi's death continues to alter the
make-up of Angolan and Unita politics. A group of Angolan Government members
allied with the Unita movement has decided to recognise the leadership of
General Paulo Lukamba "Gato", the rebel leader currently overseeing peace talks
with the Angolan army. The move is a further step towards the reunification of
Unita, which in recent years has been split into rebel and legal political
factions. New leader Five deputy government ministers are among the group of 24
Unita figures who signed a statement acknowledging General Gato's leadership.
The deputy ministers were previously part of the Unita-Renovada faction, which
in 1998 distanced itself from the then Unita leader Jonas Savimbi. The Angolan Government recognises Unita-Renovada's leader, Eugenio Manuvakola, as the legitimate leader of the Unita movement. On Tuesday a group of Unita parliamentarians not aligned with Unita-Renovada said they had decided to acknowledge General Gato's leadership. Our correspondent says it is now widely believed that Unita's Vice-President Antonio Dembo is dead, as the government had earlier claimed. General Gato, as the movement's secretary general would be next in line to take over Unita's leadership. |
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