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Wednesday, February 21, 2001 - Web posted at 7:14:03 AM GMT WORLD IN BRIEF *UNITED NATIONS - Strapped for resources, the United Nations is sending a minuscule peacekeeping force to Congo, providing forces pull back from the front in the many-sided war tearing at the vast Central African nation. The plan was scheduled to be tabled yesterday when six African nations and three rebel groups gathered for a three-day conference at the invitation of the 15-nation UN Security Council. But it has already come under fire as being too little, too late. *CONAKRY - Rebels in southern Guinea have released 40 government troops but may be holding up to 160 more, military sources in the capital Conakry said. The sources said the 40 were released because they were wounded and their captors could not care for them. Six of them had died from their injuries in aparamilitary hospital in Conakry since being released last Wednesday, they added. *LONDON - Britain's junior Foreign Office minister Brian Wilson called in Zimbabwe's London envoy to protest at what he said was the intimidation of a BBC reporter and harassment of the judiciary. Wilson said he expressed concern to High Commissioner Simbarashe Mumbengegwi at the expulsion from Zimbabwe of journalist Joseph Winter, and raised "wider implications for the press and also the harassment of judges". *JOHANNESBURG - Thousands of commuters have been stranded in the South African capital Pretoria after the city's century-old railway station was set ablazein protest at cancelled train services, police said. Police spokesman Sergeant Lollo Mangena told Reuters more than 100 police and army officers had been deployed in and around the station to prevent any disturbance during the morning rush hour. *MOSCOW - Russia handed visiting NATO Secretary General George Robertson its proposals on European anti-missile defence, which Moscow sees as an alternative to the US National Missile Defence (NMD) system. *JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon's rightist Likud partyhas set a one week deadline for the centre-left Labour Party to join a broad-basedcoalition seen as Israel's best bet for Middle East peacemaking. *MANILA - Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo suspended militaryoperations against Muslim separatist rebels in a surprise move aimed at kick-starting stalled peace talks. *BAGHDAD - Iraqi newspapers criticised the United Nations and accused it of failing to react to Western air strikes near Baghdad on Friday. *LOS ANGELES - Legendary Hollywood director Stanley Kramer, who attackedracism and the nuclear arms race in such socially conscious films as "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" and "On The Beach", has died after a brief bout of pneumonia at the age of 87, his wife said. *JERUSALEM - Defeated Israeli leader Ehud Barak battled opposition within his Labour Party on Monday to his plans to take it into a unity government with Ariel Sharon, the arch-hawk who crushed him in the prime ministerial election. *OKLAHOMA CITY - A somber President George W. Bush witnessed chilling reminders on Monday of the worst terror bombing in US history as he dedicated a memorial center honouring the 168 people killed in the Oklahoma City blast nearly six years ago. *BOGOTA, Colombia - Thousands of protesters on Monday began to dismantle crippling roadblocks in Colombia that were set up four days ago to oppose government plans to cede an enclave to leftist rebels for peace talks. - Nampa-Reuters |
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