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===== AIM Evening NEWS for Thursday, September 28, 2000 =====
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PRINCE ABDULAH CALLED FOR OIL TAXES REDUCES
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JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, September 28, 2000 (Deutsche Welle)

Saudi Arabia has said it is prepared to increase crude oil
output in order to contribute to stabilizing oil prices. The high
prices threatened the global economy, said crown prince Abdullah at
the OPEC Summit in the Venezuelan capital Caracas. Abdullah called on
oil consumer countries to reduce oil taxes. Saudi Arabia is the
world's largest oil producer and plays a leading role within OPEC.
Brent crude, the world benchmark price for oil, rose to more than 31
dollars a barrel on Wednesday following the announcement of
unexpectedly low commercial crude oil reserves in the USA.


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REFLECTIVE MOOD AT IMF AFTER VIOLENT CLASHES
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PRAGUE, Poland, September 28, 2000 (Reuters)

Violent street clashes cast a pall over somber IMF meetings here
on Wednesday as delegates met defiantly in public, but questioned
privately if the costs of large-scale global gatherings were starting
to get too big. Only a few dozen delegates were present for the
formal start of the second day of annual meetings of the World Bank
and International Monetary Fund, held in a city clearing up after a
night of battles between police and anti-capitalism activists. South
African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel opened events with a message
of sympathy to injured police officers and one of thanks to the Czech
authorities for keeping the meeting secure. "We wish those injured
police a speedy recovery," he said.

Delegates said they were saddened by the trouble on the streets
outside, but angry that a few hundred violent demonstrators seeking
to abolish the bank and the fund had stolen the world's attention."
Whether the IMF and the World Bank exist or do not exist is a matter
which will be decided by the will of the 182 countries who are
represented here, not by a handful of hoodlums in the streets of
Prague." This year's annual meetings have attracted some 15,400
delegates, about 1,000 fewer than in 1999. The gatherings are
traditionally held outside Washington every three years - the
previous out-of-town meeting was in Hong Kong and the next is
scheduled for Dubai in 2003.


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VIOLENCE ERUPTS AFTER SHARON VISITS JERUSALEM HOLY SITE
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JERUSALEM, Israel, September 28, 2000 (CNN)

Israeli soldiers fired tear gas and rubber bullets at
rock-throwing Palestinian demonstrators on Thursday after an Israeli
opposition politician's visit to a disputed holy site set off a
violent confrontation.

About 200 young Palestinians threw stones at hundreds of police,
many in riot gear, who were deployed around the shrine to protect
Sharon. Police fired rubber-coated steel pellets at the protesters
and marched toward them with clubs to try to push them into nearby
buildings. At least three Palestinians were injured by rubber
bullets; one person was struck in the mouth. Two Palestinian
demonstrators were treated for head injuries, apparently from police
clubs. Police said about two dozen stones injured officers.


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FERRY CREW CHARGED WITH MANSLAUGHTER
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ATHENS, Greece, September 28, 2000 (CNN)

The captain and four crew from the ferry, which sank in the
Aegean Sea claiming at least 66 lives, could face the life
imprisonment after being charged with manslaughter.

Justice Ministry spokesperson Caterina Anthimou said on Thursday
that the five had been charged with multiple counts of manslaughter
with intent, inflicting bodily injuries and violating international
maritime regulations. More than 500 passengers were on board the
Express Samina when it sank after hitting a clearly marked rocky
outcrop off the island of Paros on Tuesday night. The subsequent
inquiry has focused on claims that the ship was on automatic pilot
when it ran aground. Witnesses have said that some crewmembers were
watching a soccer match between Greece's Panathinaikos and Germany's
Hamburg at the time.


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IRAQ PREDICTS SANCTIONS COLLAPSE
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BAGHDAD, Iraq, September 28, 2000 (ABC)

Iraq says the recent arrival of international flights into
Baghdad means UN sanctions against the country have begun to
collapse. Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister, Tariq Aziz, told the BBC on
Thursday that countries were defying the US by ignoring the supposed
ban on flights. These are busy days for the government in Baghdad.
Almost every day now another country announces that it is sending a
flight to Iraq. After 10 years the air embargo is all but over. The
Iraqi Government says the collapse of sanctions will follow. On
Thursday, Mr. Aziz held a press conference to welcome a Jordanian
delegation that flew in the day before with humanitarian aid. He told
them their gesture of solidarity with Iraq echoed the feelings of
Arabs all over the world.


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FLOODING SPREADS TO NEW AREAS
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CALCUTTA, India, September 28, 2000 (BBC)

Flood waters in the Indian state of West Bengal are continuing
to spread into new areas.

The latest places to be affected are districts close to the
border with Bangladesh. The BBC's Jill McGovern, who is in West
Bengal, says that there has been severe flooding in the past 24 hours
around the town of Bongoan, less than 10 km from the border. Houses,
crops and roads in the area have vanished under water, forcing tens
of thousands of people to flee. Reports from the Bangladeshi capital,
Dhaka, say that a key land route with India has been affected,
forcing the suspension of bus services between Dhaka and Calcutta.


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DANES POISED TO VOTE 'NO' TO EURO
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COPENHAGEN, Denmark, September 28, 2000 (Reuters)

Denmark edged towards rejecting the euro in a referendum on
Thursday that could have far-reaching implications for European
integration. The poll was based on over 6,000 voters coming out of
polling booths. Most polls ahead of the vote gave a slight lead for
those who shun closer European ties and do not want to give up the
Danish crown. Pollsters predict more than 85 percent of those
eligible to vote will do so -- and with earlier polls pointing to a
photo finish, commentators said the balance could be tipped by as few
as 20,000 undecided voters. The euro dipped a touch on the first exit
poll, shedding a quarter of a cent to around 88.25 cents. The
referendum, the sixth on European issues in this wealthy and fiercely
independent nation, is seen as a test of public confidence in the
euro, which has lost nearly a third of its value against major
currencies since its launch last year. But the implications of the
vote could rumble far beyond the borders of the north European
coastal state with a population of just 5.4 million.


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ABDUCTED U.N. WORKER RELEASED IN GUINEA
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ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, September 28, 2000 (Reuters)

A worker for the United Nations' refugee agency UNHCR, who was
abducted in Guinea September 17, has been released, a spokesman for
the agency said Thursday. Laurence Djeya would fly back to Ivory
Coast's main city, Abidjan, Thursday afternoon from Monrovia, capital
of Liberia, Alain Coulibaly told Reuters. He had no information on
her state of health and could not say under what circumstances she
had been released. Djeya, an Ivorian national, was kidnapped during
an attack on the town of Macenta in southern Guinea by attackers who
had crossed the border from Liberia. Another UNHCR worker, Mensah
Kpognon, a Togolese national who was head of the agency's office in
Macenta, was killed in the attack. Armed gangs from Sierra Leone and
Liberia have attacked towns and villages in Guinea since the
beginning of July.


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GROWING THREAT TO RARE SPECIES
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IUCN - The World Conservation Union, September 28, 2000 (BBC)

A quarter of the world's mammal species face a high risk of
extinction very soon, a conservation group says. The warning, from
IUCN - The World Conservation Union, says an eighth of the world's
bird species are at similar risk. IUCN believes the world should be
spending at least 10 times more than it does to halt the slide to
extinction. Over the last two centuries, it says, extinctions have
been occurring 50 times faster than the natural rate. The assessment
comes in the 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, probably the
most comprehensive and authoritative inventory of species' global
conservation status.


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ANDREEA RADUCAN WON'T GET HER GOLD MEDAL BACK
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SYDNEY, Australia, September 28, 2000 (the Associated Press)

Arbitrators on Thursday upheld the International Olympic
Committee's decision to disqualify the all-around champion for taking
cold medicine that contained the banned stimulant pseudoephedrine.
The presence of the drug constitutes an offense "irrespective of
whether or not the competitor intended to ingest the prohibited
substance," the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled.


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THE NEWS
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Evening News edited by Jasmina Vermezovic

AIM, Belgrade, September 28, 2000 20:35


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