Earthquake hits western India

Almost 1800 people were killed when catastro

an earthquake struck western India phe:
early Friday morning. Thousands disaster
more were injured and hundreds of
buildings were demolished . Over 200
people are still missing.

The 7.9 quake was felt across

Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.
Aftershocks may continue for weeks,
causing already damaged buildings to
collapse.

The government warned citizens to

leave their homes. Meanwhile, rescue
workers tried to dig through the
rubble to locate trapped survivors.
The Prime Minister of India called for
the country to pull together after this
catastrophe .

Congolese swear in new president

Joseph Kabila was sworn in as the oath of
fourth president of the Congo Friday. office:
He took the oath of office in his promise or
country's national language, French. commitme
nt to serve
Laurent Kabila, Joseph's father, was
assassinated ten days earlier by one
of his bodyguards. The war-torn
central African nation has pleaded for
peace and now looks to Joseph Kabila
to bring waring tribes together.

Kabila was due to address the nation

in a publicly broadcast speech Friday
night. For most Congolese, this will be
 the first time they hear their new
president's voice.

Rescue teams combine efforts after India quake

Relief workers from around the world rubble:
hurried to retrieve dead bodies from broken
the rubble on Wednesday to prevent pieces of
the spread of disease after Friday's buildings
earthquake in Gujarat, India. With etc.
many people homeless and sleeping
in the streets, the threat of illness is
thought to be very high.

An estimated 24,000 people lost their

lives in the quake, which registered
7.9 on the Richter scale. Tens of
thousands more were injured and
hundreds of thousands lost their
homes.

Relief teams arrived in droves from

Britain, France, Russia, Switzerland,
the United States and Turkey. 20,000
Indian soldiers met them at the
scene.

Mixed verdict in Lockerbie trial

A three-judge Scottish court made a unanimou
unanimous decision to sentene one of s:
two Libyan defendants in the when all
Lockerbie trial to life in prison. The judges
January 31st ruling was announced in agree
a 982-page decision.

Libyan Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-

Megrahi, 48, was found guilty for the
terrorist bombing of Pan Am flight
103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The
bombing killed 270 people. The other
defendant, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah,
was allowed to walk free.

There were many emotional

responses to the verdict . One man
collapsed and was taken to an
ambulance. The $63 million trial
came to an end 12 years and one
month after the plane came down in
1988.

US federal court starts embassy bombing trial

The Manhattan federal District Court capital
began an embassy bombing trial punishment:
February 5. Despite controversy, death
government lawyers have requested penalty
that one of the four defendants
receive capital punishment for his
involvement in the bombings of two
American embassies in East Africa in
1998.

Over 224 people were killed and

thousands wounded in Kenya and
Tanzania when the bombs exploded.
Federal prosecutors argue that these
 bombings were part of a global
terrorist conspiracy planned by Mr.
bin Ladin and were linked to the
bombing in Somalia five years earlier.

Ladin is still on the run, but the four

defendants in this trial are charged
with involvement in the conspiracy.
The trial is expected to last nine or
ten months.

Did Einstein and Freud have Swiss bank accounts?

On February 5th, Swiss banks patent:
published a list of 21,000 dormant document
accounts attributed to Holocaust that says
victims. The names Albert Einstein who
and Sigmund Freud were on the list. invented
something
Officials were not sure if Einstein and
Freud were actually account holders
or if the names were just coincidence.
Einstein was a German-born Jewish
physicist who worked as a Swiss
patent clerk . Freud, who never lived
in Switzerland, knew members of the
psychiatric community there. Both
men escaped to English-speaking
countries before the Holocaust.

Many Jews escaping Europe before

World War II tried to keep their
money safe in Swiss bank accounts.
Monday's 600-page list was published
on the Internet website
www.dormantaccounts.ch
A Valentine's Day poem
by Frans Bruynooghe from Belgium Move the
mouse over
Sweetheart, the
highlighted
When I saw you first, words, you
the sky was deep and blue, will get an
the wind a gentle caress , explanation
the sun a warm kiss. here.

When you looked at me,

your eyes were deep blue lakes
promise of tender happiness.

When you touched my hands,

your skin was soft and pure,
a touch of paradise.

When you talked to me,

your words danced in the air,
your voice, the whisper of a brook ,
was music for my heart.

When you walked with me,

we talked and said nothing,
and all was so important,
and nothing mattered yet
but you and me.

You gave me you,

I gave you me
and you and me were given
and one in two and two in one
for all eternity.
France may allow newborns mother's surname
The French national assembly may discrimina
approve a bill that would allow tory:
newborns to carry the surname of unjust;
their mother. France, Belgium and unfair
Italy still require newborns to take the
father's last name.

Although children born in France

since 1985 have been allowed to
carry a double surname including
both the mother's and the father's, a
child carrying the mother's last name
may not pass this on to the next
generation.

The European court of human rights

said in 1994 that this was
discriminatory .

Sharon Ariel opens government posts to Labor Party

 Ariel Sharon, who will soon be the stabalize:
new prime minister of Israel, invited make more
Prime Minister Ehud Barak on Friday secure;
to fill the post of defense minister. balance power
Barak announced his retirement from in
politics three days ago, but is
considering the appointment.

Meanwhile, Sharon has invited

Shimon Peres to be foreign minister.
Perez has a history as a former prime
minister and peacemaker. Sharon is
attempting to stabalize his
government by allowing the Labor
Party to participate.

Violence continued in the West Bank

on Friday, as Israeli and Palestinian
troops exchanged gunfire. One
Palestinian teenager was reportedly
killed in the Gaza Strip.

France kills cattle to support beef prices

Falling beef prices have prompted the slaughter:
French government to plan the killing
slaughter of up to 10,000 cattle a
week. The ministry of agriculture
plans to freeze and store the beef
until it can be sold.

Fear is responsible for the 80% drop

in beef prices. Restaurants,
institutions and individuals have
stopped buying beef because of mad
 cow disease. Small ranchers , who
are the hardest hit by the crisis, are
pressuring the government to
subsidize them for the loss.

Agriculture Minister Jean Glavany

says that European Union rules
prevent him from giving cash to the
ranchers. But he plans to bring the
case to Brussels later this month. The
ranchers want money for each cow
killed.

Russia plans to boost population growth

The Russian government announced
Thursday a program to improve health
and encourage women to have more
children. Russia has had a very low
birth rate since the collapse of the
Soviet Union.

The prime minister said that the

country experienced its biggest
population drop in 1999. 768,000 fewer
people were born in that year than in
the year before. One study predicted
that at its current rate of decline, the
population could fall by 2.8 million by
2005.

Environmental pollution, poor nutrition

and a lack of medical care contribute to
low birth rates and low life expectancy .
The potential labor shortage could
severely damage the country's
economy.

U.S. and U.K. warn Iraq

 As chief of the Armed Forces, policy:
President Bush made his first military procedur
attack order on Friday. Twenty-four e; plan of
American and British warplanes action
bombed military targets in "no-fly"
zones in Iraq.

Bush called it a routine self-defense

mission. He said he was trying to
make Saddam Hussein understand
that the United States expected him
to respect the no-fly agreement
reached after the Gulf War in 1991.
Shi'ite rebels and minority Kurds live
in these nonmilitary zones.

Some politicians on Capitol Hill

wondered whether this action
signaled a change in policy towards
Iraq.

World leaders have healthier hearts

A CIA study reported that world ailments
leaders have a much lower risk of :
coronary heart disease than they did medical
one or two decades ago. Leaders with problem
heart problems are also less likely to s
retire due to their ailments .

According to doctors from the CIA,

world leaders are 42 percent less
likely to develop heart disease than
they were 30 years ago and are as
heart-healthy as the average U.S.
man. This may be due to an increase
in preventive treatments and the
ability of world leaders to seek top
medical care.
 Only one or two world leaders are
expected to suffer from heart disease
each year. The press suggested that
this change could result in greater
political stability in many countries.

Coke to promote Harry Potter movie

The cast of kids has been chosen, the gimmick
director picked and now, the s:
advertising monster. Warner Bros. games;
has chosen the Coca-Cola Co. as its tricks
only promotional partner for the new
movie "Harry Potter and the
Sorcerer's Stone."

Global marketing giant Coke will

spend $150 million on advertising the
film, which is scheduled to release in
the United States on Nov. 16th.
Images of Harry Potter will appear on
Coca-Cola, Minute Maid and HiC
packaging.

Apparently, the advertising campaign

will not work through gimmicks , but
through one-on-one relationships with
children. Part of the plan is to
promote literacy. One Coca-Cola
representative said this signals a big
change in the company's marketing
tactics.

EU bans British animal exports

 The European Union has banned all cloven:
British animal meat and milk exports in two
in response to an outbreak of foot- parts
and-mouth disease at a
slaughterhouse east of London. The
airborne disease is highly infectious,
and its source has not yet been
identified.

Britain has not had problems with

foot-and-mouth disease for 20 years.
The disease affects animals with
cloven feet. This includes sheep,
goats, cows and pigs. Symptoms
include weight loss and reduced dairy
production in cattle.

Two farms that delivered pigs to the

slaughterhouse may be the source of
the problem. But it could take a week
before veterinary officials are certain.
The Food Standards Agency said that
the human food chain would not be
affected.

Mozambique requests flood relief

Heavy flooding in Mozambique prompted:
prompted the foreign ministry to pushed;
appeal for $30 million in aid on caused
Wednesday. The disaster has killed
41 people and left thousands
homeless since January.

Mozambique only has seven aircraft

available for rescue missions.
Therefore, Foreign Minister Leonardo
Simao asked for more air support in
addition to basic supplies like tents,
 blankets and other donations.

The source of the flooding is in the

Zambezi Valley, where several rivers
overflowed after heavy rains. These
rains have also destroyed roads and
bridges. The principal regions
affected are Zambezia, Manica and
Sofala.

Accident at sea tests Japan-US relations

Relations between United States and resentful
Japan have been strained by the of:
sinking of the Japanese fishing vessel angry
Ehime Maru. The Japanese about
government has cited negligence on
the part of the US, whose Navy ship
Greenville detected the vessel an
hour before crashing into it on Feb. 9.

Politicians had anticipated that

security ties would grow stronger
between the US and Japan with the
Bush administration, but the
accidental sinking may distance the
two nations. Many Japanese, who
were already resentful of the
American military presence in
Okinawa, are questioning the ability
of the United States to protect Japan's
security.

If the American presence is no longer

seen as acceptable, Japan may take
steps to strengthen its armed forces
and support its own military
intelligence and peacekeeping
 operations.

Hard times ahead for Turkey

An argument between two Turkish
politicians about corruption in the
government led to a financial crisis that
is making life difficult for Turkish citizens.
Although the government has tried to
ease the crisis by floating the Turkish
currency, Turks are in for hard times.

Salaries and savings are apt to lose 25

percent or more of their value, prices will
rise and debts will become hard to pay
off. Many people will be laid off so that
companies can cut costs. The lira has
been devalued by 36 percent in two
days.

Many Turks are pointing fingers at the

government, but it is not likely that the
political structure will collapse. The
International Monetary Fund is still
funding the country's anti-inflation plan
with $11 billion in loans.

Carnival parades send peace message in Rio

 The annual parades of Rio de riots:
Janeiro's enormous Carnival protests;
celebration came to an end after revolts
dawn on Tuesday. Many of Brazil's
samba schools, jiggling their fantastic
costumes as they danced on giant
floats , delivered more than just
entertainment to the crowds of
spectators.

This year's festivities were called the

Carnival of Peace. Carnival groups
celebrated a theme of antiviolence,
which they conveyed by chanting for
peace and wearing politically
provocative dress. They Carnival
parades began only one week after
prison riots led to the death of 19
prisoners.

The parades attracted a record

336,000 tourists this year. There was
plenty of action to entertain them.
One man flew over the heads of the
audience in the Sambadrome with a
jet-pac, a young model got arrested
for dancing naked and wild
processions continued on Tuesday.

Riots over mad cow crisis in Brussels

 Farmers rioted outside the European slaughte
Union headquarters in Brussels on red:
Monday to demand more money to killed
recover from the mad cow crisis. With
beef sales down 27 percent across
Europe, farmers are at a loss
financially.

The EU says it does not have money

to help the farmers cover their losses
from thousands of slaughtered ,
unsold cows. Agriculture
Commissioner Franz Fischler
proposed that farmers reduce
production, increase prices and move
away from industrial farming for for
the sake of the environment.

Mad cow disease causes causes the

deterioration of the brain in humans.
Since the middle of the 1990s, about
80 Europeans-- most of them in
Britain-- have died from the disease,
which has no cure .

Ireland cancels St. Patrick's Day parade

The spread of foot-and-mouth disease
prompted Ireland to cancel its biggest St.
Patrick's Day parade. Scotland meanwhile
quarantined Dolly the cloned sheep as a
precautionary measure.

The British government said that efforts to

stop the spread of the disease had been
successful. After a week of restrictions,
agriculture officials planned to allow healthy
animals to be used for meat. All the 36
cases of the virus were traced to the same
 farm in Northumberland.

Anything that moves can spread the

disease, which only affects animals with
cloven feet. Ireland's biggest annual event--
the St. Patrick's Day parade through the
streets of Dublin--was canceled late
Thursday after an emergency meeting of
the parade organizers.

Napster fans in a frenzy

Napster fans frantically downloaded their frantic
favorite songs on Friday morning when the ally:
online music swapping company announced acting
a plan to block users from using out of
copyrighted music on its web site. distres
s
Napster's attorney David Boies said the plan
aimed to keep the site alive by continuing
to offer users the ability to exchange music.
Thanks to the giants of the recording
industry, however, users will probably now
have to pay for the service. Napster did not
clearly explain how its new subscription-
based service would affect the millions of
people who currently use their site for free.

Napster did offer to settle the lawsuit for $1

billion, but the recording industry rejected
this offer. Fearing the end of Napster, music
fans downloaded 2.7 billion files in January
alone.

Sharon prepares to lead Israel

 Ariel Sharon is preparing for his interim
inauguration as Israel's new prime minister. :
In a speech to the Israeli parliament, Sharon transitio
made no commitment to reaching a final nal; in
peace agreement with the Palestinians, but betwee
proposed a series of interim agreements n
that he indicated would involve some kind
of compromise.

Sharon supporters believe former Israeli

president Ehud Barak was too ambitious in
the short-term and suffered the collapse of
his administration as a result. Although the
new leader will not have much support in
parliament with only 19 seats out of 120, he
is counting on support from a coalition.

Sharon has never shaken hands with

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who he
holds responsible for the escalation of the
conflict. A strong supporter of tough policies
against the Palestinians, Sharon has often
said that a final peace deal may not happen
until the next generation.

UNICEF speaks out against child marriage

On the eve of the International Women's startlin
Day, UNICEF called for an end to child g:
marriages, which they say violate a shockin
series of human rights and too often g
cause irreparable physical and emotional
harm.

UNICEF reported that pregnancy-related

problems are the leading cause of death
for girls between the ages of 15 and 19
worldwide. The organization also pointed
out that pulling girls out of school at a
young age to get married violates their
right to education.

The UNICEF report revealed some

startling United Nations statistics. In
Afghanistan and Bangladesh, 54 percent
and 51 percent of girls respectively are
married by age 18. In Nepal, 40 percent
of girls are married by age 15.

Albanians attack Macedonians

NATO finds itself in a complicated ambus
situation after ethnic Albanian rebels hed:
attacked Macedonian forces on Thursday took by
and Serb police on Friday. The allied suprise;
peacekeepers may now have to turn attacke
against the group they previously d
protected from the forces of Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic in 1999.

The ethnic Albanian guerrillas ambushed

a convoy of senior government officials
and killed a driver late on Thursday. In
Serbia, the rebels may have kidnapped 5
civilians.

U.S. peacekeepers occupied the area

when the insurgents left. Meanwhile,
NATO allowed Yugoslav troops to block
the southern part of Kosovo to prevent
smuggling .

Strengthening security forces in this area

could potentially ignite a conflict with
the Albanian majority.
Taliban continue to destroy statues
The Taliban resumed destruction of two carve
large Buddha statues that are carved into d:
a mountain in Bamiyan. The troops cut
stopped blowing up the statues last week
during the three-day Muslim festival of
Eid al-Adha, but started again on Friday.

The 120 and 170 foot-high statues were

created in the 3rd and 5th centuries. One
of them is believed to be the tallest
standing Buddha in the world. The
international community and Islamic
nations continued to oppose the
destruction.

Taliban Supreme Leader Mullah

Mohammed Omar ordered that the
Buddhas and all other statues in
Afghanistan be destroyed. He said they
were images of false gods.

US Stock Market nosedives

The US stock market took a big hit on portfoli
Monday. Even the most cautious os:
investors saw their portfolios plunge . collectio
The damage was done across industry n of
sectors, leaving the NASDAQ down more investm
than 6 percent and the Dow Jones down ents
more than 4 percent.

The NASDAQ landed below the 2,000

mark for the first time in 27 months,
leaving these technology-heavy stocks
 62 percent down from their high last
March. The Standard & Poor meanwhile
was down over 4 percent.

Economists predicted that the NASDAQ

would continue to dive as technology
investors lost confidence in the market.
Technology investors may be moving
into more traditional sectors that can
show immediate revenue .

China angry over Dalai Lama’s visit to Taiwan

China has warned Taiwan exile.:
that there will be “serious not
consequences” because of allowed to
the Dalai Lama’s current live in
visit to Taiwan. He is a your own
guest of the Taiwanese country
Buddhist Association and
will be there for ten days.

Before he arrived in
Taiwan, the Dalai Lama
sharply criticised China’s
refusal to re-open talks
with the Tibetan
government in exile.

China is angry that

Taiwanese President Chen
Shui-bian will meet with
the Dalai Lama. According
to an official of Beijing’s
Taiwan Affairs Office, the
visit “will be extremely
harmful to cross-Strait
relations.”
Protestors crash Japanese government websites
North Koreans, South atrocities
Koreans, Chinese and other :
Asian neighbours are terrible
protesting about a history things
text which is about to be
published in Japan. The
book is being considered
for use in junior high school
history classes.

Protesters say the book,

written by right wing
academics, whitewashes
the Japanese role and
actions during World War
II. They feel it omits
atrocities committed
during the war.

Protesters organised a
cyber attack on Japanese
government websites and
the publisher’s website. In
a five minute period from 9
P.M. on Saturday, millions
of people made hits on the
websites causing some of
them to crash. Protesters
are now planning another
cyber attack.

North Korea cancels talks with South

 South Korea has expressed expresse
concern that its d
relationship with North concern:
Korea is deteriorating. The said it is
North has cancelled talks worried
with South Korea. It
cancelled both civilian
inter-Korea talks and Red
Cross talks.

This is disturbing for South

Korean President Kim Dae-
jung, and is causing
domestic problems. He is
keen to engage the North
in an improved
relationship.

The North gave no official

reason for the
cancellations. North Korea
may be adopting a wait
and see attitude towards
America’s government. The
Bush administration
appears to be less friendly
than the former Clinton
government. North Korea’s
relationship with America
will help to determine its
relationship with South
Korea.

China asks the U.S. for an apology

 The U.S. is calling on China may not:
to return its spy plane and does not
the twenty-four crewmen have
aboard. China is calling on permission
the U.S. to accept blame to
for the mid-air collision of
the U.S. spy plane and a
Chinese F-8 fighter jet. The
Chinese Foreign Minister
said, “It was the U.S. side
that caused this incident,
and China is the victim.”

Both countries blame each

other for the accident; both
disagree on whether the
plane landed legally and
whether China should
investigate the plane. The
U.S. says China may not
board the plane. China
asked, “what would
happen if a Chinese spy
plane landed on American
soil” after an accident?

Israel and Palestine tired of violence

Israeli and Palestinian escalatin
ministers met last night to g:
talk about the escalating growing/in
violence between the two creasing
countries. The violence has
continued for six months
claiming 460 lives. The
Israeli foreign minister said
he could see “light at the
end of the tunnel.” “All
sides are quite tired of the
 current situation. I think
that the violence and terror
have reached a peak. It’s
an impossible situation for
all of us.”

More than sixty

Palestinians were injured in
recent Israeli attacks.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon said Israel had to
protect its citizens. He said
that Palestinian leader
Yassir Arafat, was not
doing enough to stop
Palestinian attacks on
Israelies.

Hingis stalker found guilty

An Australian man harrassm
Dubravko Rajcevic was ent,:
sentenced to jail in annoying
America yesterday. He was someone
found guilty of stalking and continually
trespassing. Rajcevic, 46, is
in love with tennis
champion Martina Hingis
and wants to marry her.

Hingis, 20, does not know

Rajcevic. In a campaign of
harrassment, he faxed love
letters to her, telephoned
her, followed her to tennis
matches and followed her
home. Hingis was afraid of
him. She was scared his
love would turn to anger
 and violence.

Japanese prime minister resigns

Japanese Prime Minister gaffes:
Yoshiro Mori announced his mistakes -
resignation today. Mori has usually
made a series of gaffes socially
and is one of the most incorrect
unpopular prime ministers words or
since World War Two. He behaviour
was attacked recently for
continuing to play golf
after he heard about an
accident which killed nine
Japanese at sea. His
resignation comes as no
surprise.

Mori became prime

minister in April 2000 after
Prime Minister Obuchi died
of a stroke.

Popular candidates for

successor are Ryutaro
Hashimoto who was prime
minister from 1996 to 1998
and former Health Minister
Junichiro Koisumi.

China U.S. impasse continues

 The Chinese-U.S. impasse impasse:
over the mid-air collision of difficult
two airplanes continues. situation
U.S. President George Bush for which
said yesterday, “I regret there is no
that a Chinese pilot is solution
missing. I regret one of
their airplanes is lost.”
China welcomed the
expression of regret, but
still insists on a full
apology. Bush is not willing
to make a full apology.

Both countries are trying to

find a diplomatic solution
to the problem. The
American crew of the U.S.
spy plane remains under
security in China. China
has allowed U.S. diplomats
to visit them for a second
time.

Boy dies after email romance

A sixteen year old Jewish died at
boy was trapped and killed the
by a Palestinian temptress. hands of:
The boy Offir Rahum spent been killed
his evenings in Internet by
chatrooms. There he met
and fell in love with Sally, a
Jewish girl from Morocco.
After a three month
Internet romance, Sally
invited Offir to meet her for
sex. Offir agreed.

When they met, they

 hugged briefly before Offir
was shot. Sally’s real name
is Amana Mona. She is not
Jewish but Palestinian. She
hates Jews and trapped
Offir because she wanted
revenge for the young
Palestinians who had died
at the hands of Israeli
soldiers. The gunman was
an accomplice.

Is there life on Mars?

A $US400 million space mileston
probe, the 2001 Mars e:
Odyssey, left Kennedy important
Space Centre in Florida on step
a 460 kilometre journey to
Mars. The probe will begin
orbiting the red planet in
October.

Odyssey will spend three

years taking photos of
Mars. It will transmit
information about the
presence of water and the
geological composition of
the surface. “The launch of
2001 Mars Odyssey
represents a milestone in
our exploration of Mars,”
said a Kennedy Space
Centre representative.
Another probe will follow in
2003.

Kuwaiti women play soccer

 A women’s soccer wrath.:
tournament in Kuwait has anger
been forced indoors.
Fundamentalist Muslim
groups have called for the
competition--between
twenty-one University
teams--to be cancelled.
They say that women
playing games like this is
“forbidden and a
disobedience to God and
can subject the whole
society to the Almighty 's
wrath.

Liberal groups have

compromised and
approved of the
tournament if it is played
indoors with no men
permitted in the audience.
An outdoor tournament
would “allow men to watch
women’s bodies, clearly
forbidden by Islam,” they
say. The competition
began yesterday. All
games are scheduled to be
indoors with men banned.
Referees are all women.
Photography is not
permitted.

Spy plane crisis continues

 Anger is growing in both amid:
the U.S. and China over the in the
spy plane incident. middle of

Ordinary Chinese people

are angry and want
President Bush to
apologise. In Beijing there
is extra security around the
U.S. embassy amid
growing Chinese anger.

U.S. officials warned that

the public and Congress
are becoming concerned
and outraged at the
continued detention of
twenty-four crewmen. They
say that the U.S. will soon
be forced into a tough
response.

The U.S. is still refusing to

apologise. It wants the
return of the crewmen.
China is still demanding an
apology.

Japanese nuclear workers plead guilty

 Six workers from a nuclear pleaded
processing plant 140 guilty:
kilometres north of Tokyo said they
pleaded guilty yesterday to were
negligence. responsibl
e
Their actions caused a
nuclear accident at the
plant in September 1999.
Two people died and 600
others were exposed to
radiation.

The six workers, all

members of the plant's
safety committee,
instructed staff to use
buckets to move uranium.
However safety regulations
require the use of a pump.
Use of buckets caused
workers to miscalculate the
amount of uranium. This
lead to the accident.

The six safety committee

members may be
sentenced to twelve
months jail or receive a
one million yen fine ($US
8200).
Should Montenegro be part of Yugoslavia?
Montenegrins went to the
polls last weekend.
President Milo Djukanovic's
pro-independence coalition
won with 42 per cent of the
votes. The opposition,
which is pro-Yugoslavia,
received 41 per cent of the
votes.

Although Djukanovic won

on a pro-independence
platform, his narrow win
didn't provide him with a a
mandate to proceed with
the independence process.

Coalition parties, however,

want him to continue
working for independence.
The United States and
European governments are
worried that this may lead
to violence in the region