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===== AIM NEWS for Sunday, September 24, 2000 =====
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ELECTION DAY
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BELGRADE, September 24, 2000

Presidential, general and local elections will be held in
Yugoslavia today. Polling stations opened at seven o'clock this
morning and are due to close at eight this evening.

Citizens of FRY will vote for the president of Yugoslavia,
deputies to the Chamber of Citizens and Chamber of Republics in
Yugoslav parliament, and voters in the Republic of Serbia will also
cast ballots for town and municipal councilmen, while in Vojvodina
will be elected deputies in the provincial assembly.

In FR of Yugoslavia are registered, on voting lists, a total of
7,861,327 voters - in Serbia 7,417,197, and in Montenegro 444,130.For
the first time, voters today directly elect president of Yugoslavia.
For that function, five candidates were nominated. 138 deputies are
elected to the Chamber of Citizens - 108 in Serbia and 30 in
Montenegro. Serbia is divided into 26 electoral precincts, while
Montenegro is one electoral precinct.


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FOREIGN JOURNALISTS RELEASED
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BELGRADE, September 24, 2000 (I-NET)

Danish and Canadian journalists Fin Jergensen and Alen Frimen,
who got arrested by Belgrade's police, were released on Saturday
evening.


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KFOR REFUSED TO ESCORT OBSERVERS OF DOS
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PRISTINA, September 24, 2000 (I-NET)

KFOR refused to secure an escort to observers and to members of
election boards of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) for
Kosovo's municipalities Novo Brdo, Strpce, Obilic and Urosevac, as
well as for Obilic's and Pristina's villages of Donja and Gornja
Brnjica, Devet Jugovica, Babin most, Plemetina, Priluzje, Crkvene
Vodice and Janjine Vode.


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NUMEROUS IRREGULARITIES IN PODUJEVO
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PODUJEVO, September 24, 2000 (SRNA)

"Of 17 polling stations that were supposed to be open in
Podujevo, we have checked 13 and there was no elections", said Tomica
Zivkovic, vice president of the Democratic Party of Serbia in Zvecan
and chief of DOS monitoring team for Podujevo.

"Our monitoring team checked the polling stations in the
villages of Palatna, Krtinej, Lopastica, Lucane, Glavnik, Ljupce,
Orlane, Baplava, Brvenik, Podujevo1 and Podujevo2 and noted that
there are no elections organised in schools or other public buildings
suited for the elections", said Zivkovic and added that all stations
were locked and that they made photographs of the stations as a proof
that no elections were there.


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POLICE ARREST 25 IN JAKARTA BOMBINGS
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JAKARTA, Indonesia, September 24, 2000 (The Associated Press)

Indonesian police said Sunday they had arrested 25 people
suspected of carrying out a spate of bombings in the capital,
including a blast at the Jakarta Stock Exchange that killed 15
people.

One suspect, armed with a grenade, was picked up as he was on
his way to attack Jakarta's U.S. Embassy and a nearby crowded
department store, said Brig. Gen. Dadang Garnida, who heads the
police information department. Other senior police officers said most
of the detainees were from the northwestern province of Aceh, which
has been wracked by years of bloody fighting between separatist
guerrillas and Indonesian troops.

There were no military or police personnel in the group, despite
speculation that disaffected elements within the armed forces, loyal
to disgraced ex-dictator Suharto, might have been responsible for the
bombings.


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INDONESIA PERSUADED PRO-JAKARTA MILITIAS
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JAKARTA, Indonesia, September 24, 2000 (Deutsche Welle)

Indonesia has persuaded pro-Jakarta militias in troubled West
Timor to start disarming, to calm international anger over the recent
murder there of U.N. aid workers. Sixteen small groups of militias
surrendered three cars full of weapons in the West Timor border town
of Atambua, where the militias, opposed to last year's overwhelming
vote in East Timor to break from Indonesian rule, earlier this month
hacked to death three foreign United Nations aid workers. On
Saturday, an embarrassed President Wahid severely criticized his
police force for releasing six suspects in the murder probe, saying
it would unravel diplomatic efforts to repair the damage the killings
had done to Indonesia's international image.


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BANGLADESH DEVASTATED BY FLOODS
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CALCUTTA, India, September 24, 2000 (The Associated Press)

Torrential rains and floods in eastern India have killed at
least 210 people in the last six days and have left nearly 15 million
stranded, officials said Saturday. Jyoti Basu, chief minister of West
Bengal state, called the situation "quite grave," and said efforts
would now focus on rescuing those stranded by the floods. Local
officials said at least 210 people had died. The government could
confirm only 148 deaths in West Bengal because it was still verifying
reports from other districts. Most of the deaths occurred when the
victims were swept away in the swirling flood waters. Others died
when their mud and thatch homes collapsed, officials said.

Helicopters dropped food packets and pouches of drinking water
in the worst affected areas. Soldiers were using boats to ferry
people who had been left stranded on rooftops. The floods swept away
roads and railway tracks in many places, cutting off the flooded
areas from the rest of the state and further hampering rescue work.
Hundreds of trucks carrying food and supplies to the northeastern
region were trapped en route.


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MUSLIM REBELS KILL 12 PEOPLE IN ALGERIA
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ALGIERS, Algeria, September 24, 2000 (Reuters)

Algerian Muslim rebels killed 12 civilians, including a baby and
two women, in three separate attacks south of Algiers, a local
newspaper reported on Sunday. The Liberte daily said rebels broke
into a farmer's home on Friday and shot dead seven family members at
Chateau d'Eau hamlet in Blida area, 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of
Algiers. Liberte said the assailants fled under cover of darkness,
taking with them food and the family jewelry.

In another attack, rebels cut the throats of three people at a
fake roadblock near Berbessa village in Blida region on Friday. Two
more people were killed in a similar roadblock attack a few hours
earlier on Friday, also near Berbessa.


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BARAK WON'T RULE OUT PARTIAL DEAL WITH PALESTINIANS
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JERUSALEM, Israel, September 24, 2000 (Reuters)

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said on Sunday he was still
aiming for a full peace treaty with the Palestinians but could not
rule out a partial deal. Barak also told the Israeli cabinet that the
two sides were nearing a moment of truth in their talks. Israeli and
Palestinian negotiators met on Sunday as part of efforts to resolve
final status issues, having missed a September 13 deadline to reach
an accord.

"We are getting close to the moment of truth in the peace
process with the Palestinians," Barak's office quoted him. "The prime
minister stressed the preferred possibility from his standpoint is
settling all the disputes and resolving all subjects," it said in a
statement.


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JAPAN WARNED OVER ABDUCTION ISSUE
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TOKYO, Japan September 24, 2000 (Reuters)

North Korea warned Japan on Sunday not to raise the issue of
alleged abductions of Japanese nationals by North Korean agents,
threatening to stop the search for what it calls "missing" Japanese.

Pyongyang's official newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, denied North
Korea's involvement in the alleged abductions, adding that the
nationwide search for the "missing" Japanese may be aborted if Tokyo
kept referring to the issue.

While Japan and North Korea remain at odds over the issue,
Pyongyang has agreed to launch a nationwide investigation into the
fate of what is calls "missing" Japanese.

Tokyo believes 10 Japanese nationals have in the past been
abducted by North Korean agents, while Pyongyang has denied it. The
disagreement has been a key obstacle in talks between the historical
foes aimed at establishing diplomatic ties.

"If Japan keeps on bringing up the 'alleged abduction issue',
the investigation of the missing Japanese may have to be halted," the
paper said in comments carried by the official Pyongyang
Broadcasting, monitored by the Radiopress news agency in Tokyo.


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POLICE MUTE ANTI-IMF PROTESTS
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PRAGUE, Czechs Republic, September 24, 2000 (Reuters)

Czech police swamping Prague to protect thousands of financiers
have muted anti-IMF protests and cut crime levels by a third,
security officials said on Saturday. About 2,000 protesters took part
in a variety of marches and demonstrations around the historic city
on Saturday, the first day of visible gatherings of protesters
against the IMF/World Bank annual meetings in Prague next week.

Police on the streets still outnumbered activists, who have
vowed to lay siege to the IMF/WB meeting site center on Tuesday until
its delegates decide to scrap the two institutions. The presence of
thousands of uniformed officers in the city has resulted in a 33
percent drop in overall crime levels in the last week, national
police spokesman Jiri Suttner said.

Left-wing groups including Communists, mostly from abroad, led a
march of between 1,000 and 1,500 through the city center in
Saturday's sunny afternoon, shouting slogans such as "Smash the IMF".
Demonstrators waved red flags and banners calling for actions ranging
from debt cancellation to support for Cuba. The march ended
peacefully on a square near the city center. Many residents have left
the city and shopkeepers have boarded up their windows for fear of a
repeat of the violent clashes that have become a feature of global
economic summits.


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LEBANESE WOMEN PROTEST AGAINST DISCRIMINATION
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BEIRUT, Lebanon, September 24, 2000 (Reuters)

Thousands of women marched through Beirut streets Sunday,
demanding women's rights and a halt to sexual discrimination and
violence. About 2,000 women of all ages carried Lebanese flags and
banners and women in wheel chairs sang popular songs asking men to
listen to the suffering of women. "No violence, no poverty, no
tyranny and no humiliation," a banner read. "Our rights will not wait
until political and sectarian problems are solved," another banner
read. Notwithstanding its reputation as a cosmopolitan banking
center, Lebanon is a conservative and male-dominated society. Of 128
members of parliament, only three are women and successive
governments have yet to include a woman minister. The march began at
the National Museum on the former Green Line battlefront which
divided Beirut into Muslim and Christian sectors during the 1975-1990
civil war. About 50 men participated in the march which was organized
by the Lebanese Council to Resist Violence Against Women (LCRVAW).
Silvana al-Laquis, President of the Union of Handicapped People, told
Reuters. "Some of us became handicapped because of the men's violence
against them." Men who participated in the march had different
reasons. "I consider the woman a vital element to develop society,"
Anwar Mahmoud said.


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MIDDLE EAST ILLNESS KILLS 41
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, September 24, 2000 (Reuters)

At least 41 people have died in Saudi Arabia and neighboring
Yemen from an outbreak of Rift Valley Fever, the Saudi Health
Ministry and Yemeni officials said on Saturday. Medical sources in
Saudi Arabia, however, told Reuters "up to 100 people" had died in
the kingdom from the viral disease since it broke out nearly two
weeks ago. A Yemeni newspaper said the number of dead in Yemen was
also around 100. Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates banned
livestock imports from some African countries to prevent the spread
of the disease, which is transmitted from infected animals to humans
through contact or by mosquitoes. The Saudi Press Agency quoted the
Health Ministry as saying 24 people had officially died in the
kingdom from the disease, 70 were in hospital and 19 had been
released after hospital treatment. Yemeni officials have reported 17
deaths in their country. The Saudi sources, who declined to be named,
said the disease might have already spread outside the affected
southwestern province of Jizan, possibly through livestock that moved
outside the area before health measures were imposed.

Saudi Arabia has shut schools in Jizan and required people
leaving the area, near the border with Yemen, to undergo medical
tests. Yemen and Saudi Arabia have cooperated in spraying
mosquito-infested areas along their common border but Saudi
authorities said rain was making it more difficult for emergency
teams trying to fight the disease.


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THE NEWS
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The News edited by Jasmina Vermezovic

AIM, Belgrade, September 24, 2000 18:40


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