Dateline News - World

[TheTruth@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Thursday, November 04, 1999

            Datelines 

             Turkey
                  TUNCELI ? The leader of Turkey's main legal Kurdish
party, visiting a former rebel stronghold, urged an end to emergency
rule in the
            southeast, scene of a 15-year-old separatist conflict.

             Vietnam
                  HANOI ? Raging floods in central coastal Vietnam have
killed at least 226 people and officials warned that the weather will
deteriorate
            in the coming days.

             Germany
                  FRANKFURT ? The European Central Bank raised interest
rates Thursday for the first time in its short history, pushing up its
key rate for
            the 11 countries using the euro single currency by half a
percentage point to 3 percent.

             Iran
                  TEHRAN ? Maverick Iranian cleric Abdollah Nouri told a
court trying him for political and religious dissent that Iran could no
longer
            ignore the United States' position as biggest player in the
international arena.

             Indonesia
                  JAKARTA ? Indonesia's new President Abdurrahman Wahid
said he was prepared to allow a referendum on independence in the
            rebellious province of Aceh, which many analysts have warned
could spark Indonesia's break-up. On Thursday more than 50,000 people
            rallied in Sigli to demand a referendum on Aceh.

             India
                  NEW DELHI ? India said it had asked for a seven-nation
South Asian summit due later this month to be postponed following the
military
            takeover in Pakistan.

             Sri Lanka
                  COLOMBO ? Sri Lanka poured military reinforcements
into the north of the island on Thursday, halting a major Tamil rebel
thrust in
            which hundreds have been killed or wounded, officials said.
Fresh troops had been sent to the towns of Mankulam and
Kanakarayankulam,
            which lie on a vital highway.

             Israel
                  JERUSALEM ? Foreign Minister David Levy accused the
Palestinian leadership of anti-Israeli rhetoric and said it could incite
the
            Palestinian people to violence.

             Thailand
                  BANGKOK ? Five Myanmar dissidents involved in the Oct.
1-2 siege of the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok have contacted Thai police
to
            surrender, the Thai interior minister said.

             Pakistan
                  MURIDKE ? A blast wounded several people on Thursday
near a convention of a Pakistan-based militant group fighting Indian
rule in
            Kashmir, witnesses said.

             South Korea
                  SEOUL ? South Korea, Japan and the United States will
hold talks in Washington next week to fine-tune strategy ahead of a
U.S.-North
            Korean meeting in Berlin, the South Korean foreign ministry
said.

             Cambodia
                  PHNOM PENH ? A former Khmer Rouge guerrilla shot dead
a witch doctor and ate his liver after blaming him for the death of his
two
            children, the army said.

             Taiwan
                  TAIPEI ? Two moderate earthquakes shook southern
Taiwan Thursday, local seismologists said. No damage or injuries were
            immediately reported.

             Greece
                  ATHENS ? A strong earthquake shook the seabed off the
western Peloponnese Thursday, but there were no reports of injuries or
            damages.

             Philippines
                  MANILA ? A proposed regional accord on preventing
conflicts in disputed isles in the South China Sea will be worthless
without China's
            participation, the foreign ministers of Malaysia and the
Philippines said.

             Brazil
                  SAO PAULO ? Fifteen Greenpeace activists chained
themselves to the gates of the government's Energy and Nuclear Research
Institute
            to protest a shipment of about 1,500 pounds of spent nuclear
fuel back to the United States.