Around the World
Serbs fail to pull out from Gorazde
SARAJEVO (Reuter): The failure of Bosnian Serb forces to pull out of the UN safe area of Gorazde has dampened hopes for an early restart to cease-fire negotiations, peacekeeping sources said yesterday.
The Bosnian Serb Army (BSA) had pledged to honor the terms of a cease-fire in Gorazde signed with the United Nations on Saturday and withdraw the remaining 150 soldiers from a three kilometer zone around the east Bosnian town on Sunday.
Their Saturday agreement was seen by UN officials as paving the way to talks on a Bosnia-wide cease-fire.
Instead, Serb soldiers had strengthened their position north of Gorazde within the exclusion zone, UN Protection Force spokesman Rob Annink said yesterday. "The BSA in fact did not honor their agreement," he said. "They strengthened their positions due north of the city."
NATO hopes for Russia's commitment
BRUSSELS (Reuter): NATO is hoping that Moscow will give a clear signal to a meeting of defense ministers in Brussels today that it wants closer ties with the Western military alliance.
It wants Russia to sign the "Partnership for Peace" scheme which is on offer to all Eastern European states and former Soviet republics.
Moscow has been pushing for an agreement that would recognize its special status as a major world power and NATO officials are concerned that relations with Russia could turn sour.
Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev is expected to outline Moscow's demands to NATO in more detail following a meeting of alliance defense ministers today which will also tackle Bosnia and other European security issues.
Alliance officials say they hope Grachev will commit Russia to signing the partnership, which provides for closer military links -- although the main reason for his visit to Brussels is to brief NATO on Russia's new military doctrine.
Herzog boosts lead in poll
BERLIN (Reuter): Christian Democrat (CDU) Roman Herzog expanded his lead in the second round of voting in Germany's presidential election yesterday to 622 votes, a strong basis for the third and final ballot.
Chancellor Helmut Kohl's candidate gained 18 votes over the tense first round, a further sign that an expected revolt by dissatisfied east German delegates to the special electoral college in Berlin was crumbling.
Attention during a long break for party caucuses focussed on the liberal Free Democrats (FDP), who were expected to withdraw their candidate Hildegard Hamm-Bruecher and debate whether to throw her 126 votes behind Herzog.
Johannes Rau, candidate of the opposition Social Democrats (SPD), picked up 54 votes to win 559 in the second round but faced an uphill battle to woo enough FDP votes to win the simple majority needed in the third round.
Harsh drought grips Ethiopia's region
DESSI, Ethiopia (Reuter): Harsh drought has gripped the northern Ethiopian region of Wollo where thousands perished in the famine that riveted global attention a decade ago.
"The severity of the latest drought in South Wollo is a grim reminder of the deaths which happened in the region 10 years ago," said Mesfin Asffera, head of the government's regional relief organization.
Mesfin said at least 900,000 residents in the region of 2.5 million people would be affected by famine.
The South Wollo region -- where famine-related disaster is nothing new -- is located among rugged mountains, deep valleys and gorges thousands of metres deep. The granite precipices and camel-back mountains with moon- like rocks hold no vegetation whatsoever.
Illegal immigrants found in boat
TOKYO (AFP): Japanese authorities at the weekend found a 500- ton tanker carrying 62 suspected Chinese illegal immigrants off Yakushima island, about 1,600 kilometers south of Tokyo, a marine official said yesterday.
The Chinese, including 10 women, confessed that the majority of them were attempting to enter Japan to work, an official with the Maritime Safety Agency said.
Seventeen Indonesian crew members were also on board, he said, adding that an investigation has been launched in what was suspected to be part of a large-scale smuggling case, the official said.
The agency spotted the Honduran-registered vessel, Montana, lying at anchor off the southern island in Kagoshima prefecture late Sunday, the official said.
Gay group asks for pardon for Wilde
LONDON (Reuter): A British gay rights group said yesterday it had asked for a royal pardon for the playwright Oscar Wilde in time to mark the 100th anniversary of his conviction for homosexuality.
Wilde, author of plays such as The Importance of Being Earnest, was jailed on May 25, 1895, for the then-illegal act of having homosexual relations.
"Wilde was the victim of unjust laws," Peter Tatchell, a spokesman for the gay rights group Outrage, said in a statement.
"His imprisonment is a stain on the judicial system. The very least society can do is acknowledge the wrong done to Wilde and grant him a royal pardon."
Tatchell said his group had written to Queen Elizabeth asking her to pardon the writer, whose plays mocked Britain's strait- laced society.