============================================================
===== AIM Evening NEWS for Monday, September 25, 2000 =====
============================================================

=====================================================
FOREIGN REPORTERS SHOW GREAT INTEREST IN YU ELECTIONS
=====================================================

BELGRADE, September 25, 2000 (Tanjug)

Yugoslavia's elections are being followed by hundreds of foreign
correspondents, in addition to a large number of domestic reporters,
according to Dragan Zivadinovic, secretary at the Yugoslav
information ministry, on Sunday. Responding to untrue and malicious
reports by some foreign media that certain foreign correspondents in
Yugoslavia are being hampered in covering the polls, Zivadinovic said
the ministry had given every facility to all those who wished to
cover the election process.

He explained that foreign reporters had evinced a great interest
in covering Yugoslavia's presidential and parliamentary elections and
local polls in the Yugoslav republic of Serbia. Allegations by
individual world media that foreign correspondents were being
prevented from reporting on the Yugoslav elections were another
instance of pressure being brought to bear on the country, he said.
He added that, so far from preventing foreign correspondent from
covering the polls, Yugoslavia had accredited a large number of
special correspondents for the purpose.

Sunday's elections were being covered by world news agencies
such as Reuters, the Agence France Presse (AFP), Associated Press
(AP), Germany's DPA, the Press Trust of India (PTI), and Russian news
agencies, Zivadinovic said.

Also, he added, there were numerous television crews from all
over the world, from the former Yugoslav republics, as well as teams
sent by leading world newspapers, political magazines and other
media.


===============================
TRAVEL WARNINGS FOR YUGOSLAVIA
===============================

ZAGREB, Croatia, September 25, 200 (RFE/RL)

In a statement on 25 September, the Croatian Foreign Ministry
advised its nationals to avoid travel to Serbia and Montenegro
"unless absolutely necessary," AP reported. The statement added that
Yugoslav border police have recently informed persons crossing the
border not to stay for more than 24 hours. On 22 September, the
Slovenian Foreign Ministry urged its citizens not to travel to
Yugoslavia: "We strongly advise everyone who will be in the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia during elections to avoid border areas and
army facilities. If traveling to Yugoslavia is not necessary, we
advise citizens to postpone it."


================================
NATO MANOEUVRES IN THE ADRIATIC
================================

LONDON, UK, September 25, 2000 (B92)

The biggest Nato armada since the Kosovo war, including 15 ships
from Britain, gathered in the Mediterranean last night as the
opposition claimed it was ahead in the Yugoslav presidential
elections, the London Independent wrote on Monday, Beta reported.
Nato's show of strength, which involves the aircraft carrier HMS
Invincible and the helicopter carrier HMS Ocean, is intended to send
a message to President Slobodan Milosevic not to use force to
maintain his hold on power if, as the opposition predicted, he is
defeated. While the naval build-up continues, Nato's rapid reaction
land and airborne forces have been drawing up contingency plans in
the event of a Serbian incursion into Montenegro, the daily wrote.
Independent specified that a recent meeting of one of the British
Army's Air Assault Brigades, part of Nato's rapid reaction force,
concentrated on the viability of an operation in Montenegro,
including the seizure of airfields and other strategic points.


=======================================
PHILIPPINE ARMY CLAIMS 100 DEAD REBELS
=======================================

MANILA, Philippine, September 25, 2000 (CNN/Deutsche Welle)

The Philippine army says its nine-day-old assault on rebel
hostage takers on the island of Jolo has resulted in more than 100
members of the Abu Sayyaf being killed. The army began bombarding the
rebel bases on Sept. 16 in an operation intended to bring a swift
resolution to a drawn-out hostage situation. The Abu Sayyaf is a
militant group that says it is fighting for an independent Muslim
state. Many say they are a gang of thugs whose goal is capital gain
through methods such as kidnapping for ransom and extortion. In a
situation that began in April, the Abu Sayyaf are holding 17
hostages, four of them foreign including one American, on Jolo, about
960 kilometres south of Manila. Army officials are confident the
hostages will be rescued alive, but refuse to comment on reports of
scores of civilians killed in the massive bombardment.

A lawyer claiming to represent a leader of the Philippine Abu
Sayyaf rebel group, Commander Robot, said on Monday his client was
ready to surrender and asked for an immediate halt to military
operations against the guerrillas. Lawyer Oliver Lozano said in a
letter to President Estrada that the 12 Filipino evangelists, among
17 hostages held by the various Moslem Abu Sayyaf factions on
southern Jolo island, had been allowed to go home ,but they had
refused to leave because of the military assault on Jolo, which began
on September 16. The hostage crisis has proved a huge embarrassment
for Estrada. Months of negotiations with the rebels led to many
hostages being released in exchange for millions of dollars in ransom
payouts. They also led to further kidnappings.


=============================================
SEPARATISTS FIRE 16 ROCKETS IN INDIAN KASHMIR
=============================================

JAMMU, India, September 25, 2000 (Reuters)

Separatist guerrillas fired 16 rockets at a border town in the
strife-torn north Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, plunging the
area into chaos, police said. Officials said the attack, which
occurred on Sunday evening, saw nine rockets fired by the militants
land near a defence installation in Rajouri town, 176 km (110 miles)
north of Jammu, the state's winter capital. They added there was a
lull in firing for about half an hour before the militants again
pounded the area with more rockets.

There was no information on whether there were any causality.
Police said damage had yet to be fully assessed but the attack
plunged the town into darkness, traffic came to a grinding halt,
windows were smashed and people ran for shelter.

Witnesses said they believed the rockets were fired from the
other side of the Line of Control which divides the Indian and
Pakistani controlled areas of the bitterly disputed Himalayan region.


=============================================
CAMPAIGNERS DEMAND MORE ACTION ON DEBT RELIEF
=============================================

PRAGUE, Czechs Republic, September 25, 2000 (Reuters)

International debt relief campaigners took to the streets of
Prague on Sunday angrily demanding that the world's creditors finally
make good on promises to write off large swathes of poor countries'
debts. Over a thousand people marched through the historic streets of
Prague in a demonstration organized by the campaign group Jubilee
2000, which has been highly effective in forcing the issue of debt
relief right up the international agenda. They staged a mock funeral
march in protest at the 19,000 children they say die every day in the
world's poor countries because those countries spend far more money
servicing debts to itch countries than they do on basic health care.

The International Monetary Fund and World Bank are holding their
annual meetings here this week. Finance ministers and central bank
governors of the Group of Seven (G7) leading industrial countries met
on Saturday.


=============================================
MOBS ATTACK POLICE, TROOPS IN FLOOD-HIT INDIA
=============================================

CALCUTTA, India, September 25, 2000 (Reuters)

Hungry mobs in marooned villages attacked relief teams and
troops on boats in flood-hit eastern India on Monday, where monsoon
flooding has left at least 208 people dead and 165 missing.

"People were fighting with each other and attacking our men to
make sure they got a place in the rescue boats," a senior army
official told Reuters. The boats can carry 25 people at a time, while
hundreds are stranded on rooftops and in trees. A railway spokesman
said several trains carrying relief material for flood victims had
been looted.

Police fired shots in the air to disperse an angry mob in Nadia,
150 km (95 miles) north of Calcutta, which had clashed with other
police carrying food for flood victims. In the worst-hit district of
Murshidabad, 100 km (60 miles) further north, air force helicopters
dropped food packets for marooned villagers, officials said. Relief
officials are scheduled to meet later on Monday to discuss the
situation. In West Bengal, as many as 800,000 houses have been washed
over by flood waters causing about three billion rupees ($65 million)
of damage, a government official said on Sunday. The flooding,
triggered by heavy annual monsoon rains, took a dramatic turn for the
worse last week when the sluice gates of three major rivers were
opened to prevent dams from bursting.


====================================
EU CONCERNED OVER SRI LANKA VIOLENCE
====================================

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Sunday, September 25, 2000 (BBC)

The head of the European Union's election monitoring mission in
Sri Lanka, John Cushnahan, has said that he is seriously concerned
about an attack on members of the opposition United National Party
[UNP] near the city of Kandy.

In a statement released to the BBC, Mr. Cushnahan said that he
was worried about the way police were investigating the incident,
which he said involved a firearms attack on the vehicle of a UNP
parliamentary candidate and an earlier assault on one of his
supporters.

Mr Cushnahan's comments coincide with a strong attack in the
government-run Sunday Observer newspaper against the EU mission who
have arrived recently in Sri Lanka to monitor elections due on
October 10.


===============================================
PERU'S OPPOSITION ANGERED AT SPY CHIEF'S FLIGHT
===============================================

LIMA, Peru, September 25, 2000 (The Associated Press)

Peru's opposition blasted President Alberto Fujimori for
allowing his deposed spy chief to flee the country and dodge a
bribery scandal, but analysts said the removal of the secretive power
broker would help repair the country's tattered democracy. The
mysterious flight of Vladimiro Montesinos raised new tensions as
Fujimori and his foes seek an amicable end to his 10-year hold on
power. Negotiations between the government and the opposition were to
begin Monday in Lima.

Montesinos, at the center of an alleged corruption scandal that
is cutting short Fujimori's presidency, arrived Sunday in Panama,
where the government appeared almost certain to bow to international
pressure and grant him political asylum. By fleeing, Montesinos
avoided accusations stemming from a leaked videotape that apparently
showed him bribing an opposition congressman to join the president's
legislative alliance. The video ignited the crisis that led Fujimori
to announce surprise early elections in which he would not run.

But Montesinos' flight did not appear to threaten negotiations
between Fujimori's government and the opposition, which were
scheduled to resume Monday in Lima, with mediation by the
Organization of American States, or OAS.


=================================================================
TWO DEAD IN VIOLENT CLASHES BETWEEN BOLIVIAN SOLDIERS AND FARMERS
=================================================================

LA PAZ, Bolivia, September 25, 2000 (The Associated Press)

Farmers protesting destruction of coca-leaf plants clashed with
soldiers trying to end their demonstrations, leaving two farmers dead
and seven injured in the latest in a string of violent
confrontations. Coca-leaf farmers have set up roadblocks that have
interrupted traffic on the country's main highway for a week,
including sections that go through the country's coca-leaf producing
region. Soldiers have been unable to clear them. The farmers are
demanding greater investment in alternative crops to compensate for
coca losses, creation of a university, and an end to the building of
military barracks in the region. In Sunday's clash, which occurred
350 miles (565 kilometers) east of La Paz on the road leading to
Cochabamba, farmers threw rocks and dynamite sticks at soldiers who
responded with tear gas and rubber bullets.

President Hugo Banzer says Bolivia will no longer be producing
cocaine by the end of the year.


==============================
BENGAL FLOODS CLAIM MORE LIVES
==============================

CALCUTA, India, September 25, 2000 (BBC)

The number of people who have been killed by floods in eastern
India continues to rise as the authorities struggle to get relief to
those affected. More than 400 people have died in the flooding and 15
million people are homeless.

Officials say 200 people are missing in what is being described
as the worst floods in decades. There has been rioting in relief
camps set up for tens of thousands of people whose homes have been
inundated.


================================
FREEMAN, JOHNSON WIN 400 METERS
================================

SYDNEY, Australia (The Associated Press)

Cathy Freeman carried the hopes of a nation and the dreams of a
downtrodden people as she raced around the track. When she was done,
she carried a flag half Australian, half aboriginal in a joyous
victory lap.

Fifteen minutes later, Michael Johnson made Olympic history by
becoming the first man to successfully defend a 400-meter title.
Alvin Harrison won the silver medal to give the United States a 1-2
finish. On the busiest night of track and field at the Sydney Games,
American Stacy Dragila won the inaugural women's pole vault, Gabriela
Szabo of Romania set an Olympic record in the women's 5,000 meters
and Maria Mutola gave Mozambique its first Olympic gold medal by
winning the women's 800. Freeman, the first Aborigine to win an
individual Olympic gold medal, captured the women's 400-meter gold
medal in 49.11 seconds. Lorraine Graham of Jamaica won silver in
49.58 and Katharine Merry of Britain was the bronze medalist.
Freeman, wearing a full bodysuit, was even with Graham with about 20
meters to go, but pulled away at the end. A few strides past the
finish line, she closed her eyes and let out several long sighs.


========
THE NEWS
========

Evening News edited by<JasminaVermezovic

AIM, Belgrade, September 25, 2000 19:00


=======================================
"WHO ARE THE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES?"
=======================================

Check out our latest Lie and Denial

http://www.aim.ac.yu/cgi-bin/f_ld.pl?id=1



===================================================================
For more information visit our Academic Information Network site at
http://www.aim.ac.yu/
Please send us Your comments to news@... or comment@...
Please send us information You consider valuable to feed@...
To unsubscribe, e-mail us at unsubscr@...