[00:00.00] News No. 13 At 18 hours universal time. Here is the news on the Voice of America.
[00:10.40]I'm Steve Norman in Washington.
[00:12.80]13.1 The leader of the temporary government in Chechnya is hailing a decision by Russia
[00:16.38]to remove its remaining troops from the breakaway republic.
[00:19.85]Rebel leader Asian Maskhadov says the move is proof that the Chechen crisis can be resolved without more fighting.
[00:18.85]Mr.Maskhadov's comments came one day after he signed an accord with the Russian President,Prime Minister,
[00:25.10]that is,Viktor Chenomyrdin,formalizing relations between Chechnya and the Kremlin until a local election can be held early next year.
[00:32.62]13.2 Voters in Belarus are casting ballots in a controversial referendum hitting President Aleksandr Lukashenkov and members of parliament.
[00:40.85]From the capital of Belarus,Minsk,VOA's Peter Heinline reports opposition leaders are boycotting the vote.
[00:47.33]A confident President Lukashenkov,cast his ballot in front of the cameras Sunday,
[00:51.17]then lashed out at lawmakers trying to impeach him.
[01:00.18]The Belarus leader expressed hope members of parliament would drop their opposition once
[01:04.15]they realize most voters support his proposal to expand presidential powers.
[01:08.25]He said if opposition continued his draft constitution gives him authority to dissolve the legislature.
[01:17.18]Outside parliament,Sunday,hundreds of angry demonstrators shouted their opposition to the referendum,calling it unconstitutional.
[01:24.84]Many lawmakers said they would boycott the vote,but admitted that Mr.Lukashenkov's proposal
[01:29.15]would probably pass because his control of the media gives him unfair advantage.
[01:33.67]The Belarus leader earlier agreed to make the referendum advisory in nature
[01:36.70]in return for a promise from lawmakers to drop impeachment proceedings.
[01:41.03]However,he went back on his word Saturday and said the results will be legally binding.
[01:45.34]Officials say they expect to announce the outcome of the vote Monday. Peter Heinline, VOA news, Minsk.
[01:50.39]13.3 Heavy fighting is broken out in Afghanistan for the first time in two weeks
[01:54.57]with troops loyal to the ousted government confronting Taliban fighters near Kabul.
[01:59.29]The Taliban says they took the village of Godala and the nearby district of New Basakud in a major offensive.
[02:05.75]The information could not be independently confirmed.
[02:08.52]However, our reporter on the scene said the sound of rocket
[02:11.41]and artillery fire was clearly heard in Kabul itself about 20 kilometers from the battle lines.
[02:17.06]There was no word on casualties or damage.
[02:19.83]13.4 Rebels in eastern Zaire say the United Nations is inflating
[02:23.72]the numbers of Rwandan refugees around Coma and placed inflating the figures, that is.
[02:28.86]As VOA' s Scott Stern reports,
[02:31.89]there are conflicting reports throughout the region about the number and location of refugees.
[02:36.28]United Nations Refugee Agency says it has an eyewitness account of more than 175,000 refugees trapped in the town of Gindi about 60 kilometers south of Goma.
[02:46.52]The report says armed men are keeping women and children in an area about a kilometer from Lake Kivu.
[02:52.35]The commander of rebel forces in the area says there are some refugees in Gindi, but he says there are nowhere near 175,000 people the UN claims.
[03:01.39]The issue of how many refugees are left in eastern Zaire and where they're headed is at the center of negotiation on
[03:07.19]whether to send international humanitarian intervention force.
[03:10.61]Rwanda's government and Zairian rebels say there is no longer any need for such a force
[03:15.08]following the return of hundreds of thousands of refugees from Zaire.
[03:18.78]Zaire' s government and most international aid agencies believe an intervention force is still needed.Scott Stern,VOA news, Goma.
[03:26.54]
[03:29.18]leaders will gather in the Philippine capital for their annual economics summit.
[03:34.01]Several of the 18 heads of state and government held private talks on Sunday.
[03:37.93]The highlight was the meeting between President Clinton and Chinese President Jiang Zemin.
[03:43.42]The two agreed to work on mending the troubled relations between the two countries
[03:47.05]and to exchange visits to each other's capitals in the next two years.
[03:51.02]American officials accompanying President Clinton to the conference say they intend to proceed with summit plans
[03:56.56]despite constant disputes between China and the U.S. over human rights,trade and Taiwan.
[04:02.41]As a first step to the summits, U.S.
[04:04.68]Vice President Al Gore will travel to China in the first half of next year.
[04:43.34]13.6 President Clinton' s wife Hillary has received a warm welcome in Thailand,
[04:46.66]where she has arrived a day and a half ahead of her husband.
[04:49.51]Mrs. Clinton left the President at the APEC summit in Manila Sunday,
[04:52.90]and flew to the town of Shangrai in the rugged hills of northern Thailand.
[04:56.74]There she will visit a school that aims to stop poor families from selling their daughters into prostitution.
[05:02.44]She also visited a remote village and met with girls who have received vocational training at that school.
[05:08.03]At each location,the U.S. First Lady was greeted with colorful fanfare,
[05:12.05]even though hertrip is highlighting Thailand's most tragic social problem of selling the young girls in the sex trade.
[05:19.10]This is the Voice of America.
[05:21.69]13.7 Reports continue to find survivors of the crash of a hijacked Ethiopian airliner and to retrieve bodies of its victims.
[05:31.20]The plane crash-landed in the Ocean off the Comoros Islands Saturday.
[05:34.99]Airport officials say 52 passengers and crew members survived that crash.
[05:39.74]But more than 60 others are still missing.
[05:41.96]Two of the survivors were hijackers.
[05:44.36]They have been identified by airliner officials as Ethiopian nationals.
[05:48.13]Divers there in the Indian Ocean are reported to have seen two dozen other bodies in the wreckage of the plane.
[05:53.93]13.8 The chief UN arms inspector in charge of assuring the dismantling of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction
[06:00.06]says his agency soon could be forced to close without funds.
[06:04.30]In Kuwait, on a fund raising trip of wealthy Gulf Arab nations,
[06:08.58]Ralph Acus told reporters in the UN special commission on disarming Iraq will have exhausted all of its funds by the end of the year.
[06:16.21]Mr.Acus said Kuwait was expressly interested in getting more money to the group.
[06:22.45]They need about 30 million dollars to continue to function.
[06:25.69]
[06:30.29]Jessica Jones reports from our Middle East Bureau that the blast comes only a few days
[06:34.86]before a nation-wide referendum for constitutional reform.
[06:38.46]Algerian security officials say the bomb exploded in the town of Blida,50 kilometers south of Algiers.
[06:44.58]The statement published by the Algerian News Agency gave no further details.
[06:49.12]But witnesses say the car bomb went off in a central square of the town.
[06:53.07]Blida contains military headquarters for Algiers and the surrounding area.
[06:57.61]Violence in Algeria has escalated sharply in the pastmonth.
[07:01.16]More than 120 people,mostly civilians,have been killed.
[07:05.48]Algerians are voting Thursday on constitutional reform to set the framework for parliamentary elections.
[07:11.46]The reforms include a ban on political parties based on religion.
[07:15.43]Algerian President Leenin Zerwal has promised to hold,parliamentary elections early next year.
[07:20.86]No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
[07:23.76]Authorities usually blame Muslim militants who want to overthrow the government and establish Islamic rule.
[07:29.53]Jessica Jones,for VOA news, Cairo.
[07:32.69]13.10 Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has resubmitted for a third time a petition challenging her dismissal
[07:39.30]and it appears that Supreme Court may be ready to hear her case.
[07:42.62]A registrar in the court says the third draft does not contain anything objectionable
[07:47.14]and that the petition will be put before the court in due course.
[07:50.64]The registrar gave no time limit,but Ms.Bhutto's Attorney Asitas Arsan says he hopes the hearing will begin soon.
[07:57.64]"I think once it goes beyond the registrar,then the court will give us a hearing and we'll make all our submissions
[08:06.60]on whatever we want to say before the court."
[08:08.93]The court registrar rejected two previous challenges filed by Mrs.Bhutto's lawyers as unacceptable.
[08:14.70]President Fraruk Leghari fired Ms.Bhutto November 5th on what he called corruption and misrule charges.
[08:20.66]13.11 Doctors treating Mother Teresa say she is making progress after suffering renewed heart failure
[08:25.78]and is in a near stable condition at a Calcuutta hospital.
[08:29.33]A cardiologist says the 86-year-old Roman Catholic missionary still suffers from shortness of breath and an irregular heart beat.
[08:36.43]13.12 These are the hour's news headlines.
[08:39.05]A Chechen rebel leader hails Russia's decision to remove its last troops from the breakaway republic.
[08:44.35]President Lukashenkov of Belarus votes in the controversial referendum on broadening his powers and extending his term.
[08:51.09]Heavy fighting breaks out in Afghanistan for the first time in two weeks.
[08:54.95]And Mother Teresa listed in stable condition after more heart problems.
[08:58.87]That's the news on the Voice of America.