TIME EUROPE
November 13, 2000, Vol. 156 No. 20
World Watch
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Belfast
Rifts in Northern Ireland's power-sharing government deepened as the paramilitary groups' cease-fires frayed at the edges. Nationalist ministers held talks with Dublin in defiance of a ban imposed by First Minister David Trimble, who is trying to force the Irish Republican Army to disarm. Supporters of Trimble, who is also leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, said his tough stance was further justified when four men died in feuding between Protestant terrorist groups and a policeman was critically hurt in a bomb blast. Separately, inspectors who viewed i.r.a. arms dumps said the terrorist group is serious about peace.
Cherbourg
Caught in the storms that ravaged England and northern France last week, an Italian tanker carrying 6,000 tons of chemicals sank in the English Channel 60 km northwest of Cherbourg. The bulk of the Ievoli Sun's cargo was styrene, a major component of plastics that may be carcinogenic. The chemical began leaking from the ship soon after it sank, but experts downplayed the risks posed to human and marine life. The sinking came only 11 months after the oil tanker Erika broke up, polluting long stretches of France's Atlantic coastline, and brought renewed calls from Paris for regulation of maritime safety by the European Union.
Vienna
Austria's right-wing Freedom Party suffered a further setback after allegations that police had handed over confidential information about political opponents to the party. The revelations followed a mid-October trouncing when only 12.5% of voters in the state of Styria chose the party still regarded as Jšrg Haider's, even though he resigned as leader in February. It is barely a year since Haider led the party to win 27% of votes in national elections and ministerial roles in the governing coalition. Eleven police officials have been suspended following the allegations in a book by former policeman Josef Kleindienst.
Vatican City
The Vatican condemned the sale of the Òmorning afterÓ pill in Italy, claiming it amounted to an abortion carried out by chemical means. The Italian Health Ministry approved the use of the pill in September, calling it an emergency contraceptive. The Pontifical Academy for Life, an office for ethical questions, released a statement discouraging health-care workers from prescribing or selling the pill. Since the pill blocks a possibly fertilized egg from implanting in the uterine wall, the Academy said it dealt with a human embryo and therefore produced an abortion.
Jerusalem
Islamic Jihad militants struck with a car bomb in central Jerusalem last Thursday, just when it appeared a late-night deal between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres might have defused the six week-long battle between Palestinian rioters and gunmen and Israeli soldiers. The bomb killed two people, one of them the daughter of a leading Israeli politician. The Arafat-Peres pact was prompted by serious fighting on the edge of Jerusalem Wednesday and the shooting of an Israeli security guard in East Jerusalem. By week's end, the death toll in this round of violence was up to 169, mainly Palestinians.
Freetown
As fighting resumed in war-torn Sierra Leone, the United Nations appointed a senior British army officer as chief of staff to peace-keeping forces. The appointment of Brigadier Alastair Duncan reflects the U.N. Security Council's new determination to contain the conflict. Britain is also to provide a rapid reaction force including 500 Royal Marines to boost the 12,500-strong U.N. presence in the country. Taking advantage of the end of the rainy season, rival groups of Kamajor and Revolutionary United Front rebels have attacked and burned villages near the towns of Bo, Kabala and Lunsar.
Zanzibar
Violence followed shambolic elections in Zanzibar last week. Protesters took to the streets to challenge the Tanzanian government's decision to rerun the vote only in some areas of the Indian Ocean island. Ballots were delivered late or not at all to areas where the opposition Civic United Front was expecting to do well in the election for their own president and parliament as well as for President of the United Republic of Tanzania and the National Assembly. Though the Zanzibar Election Commission nullified the results in 16 of the 50 electoral districts, the c.u.f. and international observers demanded the vote be rerun in all districts.
New Delhi
The once gentlemanly sport of cricket was marred by more match-fixing allegations. India's Central Bureau of Investigation confirmed rumors that corrupt bookies had been paying players to perform badly to better the odds in an illegal gambling circuit. Many of the game's top playersÑincluding India's Mohammad Azharuddin, Nayan Mongia and Ajay Jadeja; West Indies' Brian Lara; Salim Malik and Asif Iqbal from Pakistan; Sri Lankans Aravinda da Silva and Arjuna Ranatunga; and England's Alec StewartÑwere named in the report. Although former Indian captain Azharuddin has confessed that he received money, most of the named players have denied the allegations.
Manila
Even as Philippines President Joseph Estrada offered to submit himself to a referendum, his opponents were growing more numerous and more unimpressed. The country's economy has suffered badly since allegations were made that Estrada had received $11.4 million from illegal gambling payoffs and tobacco taxes. Following the defection of Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to the opposition, many of his close senior economic advisers have resigned, as have two Cabinet members. Three senators, including Senate President Franklin Drilon, and 41 congressmen led by House Speaker Manuel Villar quit the ruling party as calls for Estrada's impeachment grew.
Taipei
A Singapore Airlines 747 bound for Los Angeles crashed on take-off at Taipei's Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, leaving 81 dead and 40 hospitalized, many of them with severe burns. Another 58 passengers and crew, including the pilot, survived relatively unharmed. Weather conditions may have been a factor in the accident as high winds and rain from approaching Typhoon Xangsane lashed the airport, though wind force and visibility were still within the range normally considered safe for flying. Taiwanese air accident investigators said that the aircraft had been trying to take off from a runway closed for repairs and had hit two excavators before crashing in flames.
Suva
Eight people were killed and at least 22 wounded when a small group of special-forces soldiers staged an abortive mutiny at Fijian Military Forces headquarters. Nine of the rebels were facing court martial for their alleged involvement in the May 19 coup attempt led by George Speight. They reportedly hoped to kidnap military commander Commodore Frank Bainimarama, whom they blame for Speight's arrest on treason charges. At week's end, 12 mutineers had been captured by troops and Suva was under curfew as the hunt continued for eight rebels
still at large.
Cali
Under intense pressure from advancing military troops, Colombia's National Liberation Army (e.l.n.) guerrilla group last Wednesday released the last 16 victims of a dramatic mass kidnapping staged on the outskirts of Cali. The e.l.n. had abducted 55 people from roadside restaurants and a country home on Sept. 17. Three of the victims died in captivity and the rest were handed over to Red Cross officials in the days immediately following their abduction. The kidnapping was widely seen as an attempt by the 5,000-strong e.l.n. to pressure the government into handing over territory, much as it had done for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia rebels two years ago, in order to begin formal peace talks.
Lima
His former spy chief may yet prove the downfall of Peru's President Alberto Fujimori. When a videotape was released in September showing Vladimiro Montesinos apparently bribing a congressman, Fujimori was forced to announce that he would stand down at the next presidential election. Last month Montesinos returned home from a failed asylum bid in Panama and went into hiding, while Fujimori personally led the hunt for him. Last week judicial authorities in Switzerland froze some $50 million in three accounts, suspected of being used for money laundering, which were linked to Montesinos. He is said by many to have been for several years the power behind Fujimori.
Belfast
At a crucial meeting of the Ulster Unionists' ruling council, embattled party leader David Trimble averted an immediate crisis in the Northern Ireland peace process by narrowly winning his party's support to keep the power-sharing government alive. Hardliners wanted the party to withdraw from the executive which it shares with Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, if the I.R.A. failed to begin decommissioning its weapons by the end of November. Trimble won his argument against such a deadline but he said he would impose sanctions on Sinn Fein by excluding the party from certain cross-border talks.
Paris
French consumers reacted in horror after two national supermarket chains revealed they'd sold beef potentially infected with "mad cow" disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (bse). Nearly a ton of beef was recalled after health officials discovered a cow from a slaughtered herd was ill with bse. French laws seeking to limit possible contagion call for entire herds to be destroyed if one animal is diagnosed with bse. Consumers were shocked at the security lapse, with some wondering whether they'd eaten meat that might provoke the fatal human form of bse, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
Moscow
A 54-year-old American, former U.S. naval intelligence officer Edmond Pope, went on trial behind closed doors for espionage. Pope, who suffers from a rare form of bone cancer, has been in Moscow's Lefortovo prison since his arrest in April. Prosecutors allege that Pope tried to obtain classified documents on a new Russian torpedo system. Pope has denied spying, arguing that he only sought open-source information. If convicted, Pope faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Severomorsk
Russian divers working from the Norwegian offshore platform Regalia in the Barents Sea retrieved four bodies from the Kursk nuclear submarine that sank there in August. All 118 people aboard died when powerful explosions ripped through the forward part of the sub. The official Russian line that all the crew died instantly when the Kursk sank on the night of Aug. 12 was refuted by the discovery of a handwritten note on the body of Lieut. Captain Dmitri Kolesnikov. It read, "13.15. There are 23 people here ... None of us can get to the surface." Even after the discovery Russia's Deputy Prime Minister, Ilya Klebanov, defended the government's early refusal of foreign offers of help to try to rescue the crew, maintaining that "there was no way to save the sailors."
Skopje
Yugoslavia's new President Vojislav Kostunica is busy re-establishing ties with his neighbors and the rest of the world, ending years of economic and diplomatic isolation. In a landmark visit to the Macedonian capital of Skopje, Kostunica attended a summit of Balkan leaders, meeting top officials from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Turkey, Bosnia and Croatia. "The Balkans need peace and stability, and Europe needs a peaceful and stable Balkans," he told his counterparts. Kostunica conferred after the summit with Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, who announced that Yugoslavia would be able to fully restore its status at the U.N. "in the very near future."
Abidjan
Veteran opposition figure Laurent Gbagbo was sworn in as Ivory Coast's new President after bloody protests forced out military dictator General Robert Gueï. Gueï took power in a coup 10 months ago promising to return the country to democracy. But after apparently losing last week's presidential election he dissolved the electoral commission and declared himself the winner. Protesters took to the streets in Abidjan, wresting control of broadcast stations with little opposition from soldiers. The general fled to nearby Benin, allowing Gbagbo to claim victory.
Harare
The parliamentary opposition Movement for Democratic Change attempted to bring an impeachment process against Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe for "malicious abuse" of his office and violations of the constitution. The move was contemptuously described as "frivolous" by Mugabe. His reaction was to declare that the national reconciliation policy introduced after independence in 1980 would be revoked and to threaten that whites, including former Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith and some leading members of the M.D.C., would "stand trial for genocide."
Colombo
Violence in Sri Lanka left 48 dead and more than 54 injured in two separate incidents last week. On Monday a suicide attack by rebel Tamil Tigers killed seven soldiers and injured 40 others, including six fishermen on a naval base in eastern Trincomalee. The Sri Lankan military said 15 rebels, who sank a naval transport ship and damaged a gun boat, died in the attack. On Wednesday 26 Tamil rebels, who had surrendered to the Army, were killed and 14 others injured in the central hill town of Bandarawela by a mob that attacked the rehabilitation camp where they were being housed. The mob of some 3,000 people assaulted the camp after hearing rumors that inmates had taken a camp officer hostage.
Phnom Penh
Heavy rains heightened the crisis in Cambodia's worst flooding in 70 years, adding a new casualty: the historic Angkor Wat temple complex, considered the symbol of the nation. Erosion and falling trees caused the collapse of 20 meters of carved stone wall in front of the 12th century wonder. Cultural officials say they have no funds to repair the damage. Meanwhile, relief workers are working around the clock to deliver 7,000 tons in emergency food aid for victims of the floods, which have killed 333 Cambodians and affected 3.4 million. The relief operation isn't going fast enough for some. Opposition leader Sam Rainsy went on hunger strike, accusing the government of mismanagement of aid.
Zamboanga
Government forces rescued three Malaysians taken hostage by the Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf group from a Pandanan resort on Sept. 10. At least a dozen Westerners kidnapped by the group have already been ransomed with more than $15 million of Libyan money. That leaves two hostages — American Jeffrey Schilling and Filipino Roland Ullah — still held by the rebel group. The Philippine government claims that 136 rebels and five soldiers have died, with 124 rebels captured, since the military first attempted a rescue on Sept. 16.
Pyongyang
In a historic meeting, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright became the first high-level American official to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. The highlight of the two-day visit came during a stadium spectacle with some 100,000 performers during which Kim hinted to Albright that North Korea would not launch any more long-range Taepodong missiles, like the one fired over Japan into the Pacific Ocean two years ago. The U.S. and its Asian allies, South Korea and Japan, want North Korea to make concessions on missile development, testing and export in exchange for financial assistance and diplomatic normalcy. President Clinton is now considering a possible Pyongyang summit in November.
Lima
In an attempt to show he was still in control of events, Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori personally led a four-hour manhunt to locate his former security adviser Vladimiro Montesinos. Following the release of a video five weeks ago which allegedly showed him bribing a newly elected member of Congress, Montesinos made a vain attempt to seek asylum in Panama. Montesinos' departure had plunged Peru into a political crisis with Fujimori's two Vice Presidents resigning from the government last week and the army confined to barracks while the hunt for Montesinos continued. To quell public unrest the government agreed to hold special elections in April next year.
Montreal
Hundreds of antiglobalization protesters demonstrated outside a two-day meeting in Montreal of top finance ministers and central bankers from the so-called G-20. The organization, which includes the richest industrial nations with some of the biggest developing countries including India, China and Brazil, was set up last year to find ways to promote global financial stability. Protesters threw paint, eggs and rocks at police, who arrested some 46 demonstrators. The talks ended later with ideas put forward for strengthening global financial systems, but there were no substantive proposals offered on dealing with problems of poverty and debt relief.
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November 13, 2000
COVER STORY
Stormy Weather
Are EuropeÕs floods, gales and droughts here to stay? Yes, say the expertsÑand it could get worse
Any Better Ideas?
Possible solutions to global warming
EUROPE
For Whom the Bell Tolls
LloydÕs of London has won its landmark legal battle with investors. Now it must rebuild its fortunes
Interview: Max Taylor
The chairman of Lloyd's, on winning
Sitting Pretty
Once dismissed as a Barbie Doll, Socialist star Elisabeth Guigou is a premier contender
A Brief History of the Higgs Hunt
Fast Forward Europe: Scientists in Switzerland may have solved one of the great mysteries of particle physics. Why should we care?
Digital Democracy
A young German entrepreneur is campaigning to bring people all politics, all the timeÑonline
AFRICA
Above the Waterline
New investment helps Mozambique recover from natural disaster and years of economic stagnation
BUSINESS
Middelhoff's Vision
The Bertelsmann boss pulls off a shocking deal with renegade Napster. And heÕs just warming up
The Bertelsmann Spirit
The Napster deal reflects the corporate culture and entrepreneurial spirit inculcated by Reinhard Mohn
New World, Old Faces
Established firms team up with online specialists to venture into the terra incognita of the Internet
SPORT
Football's Crewe Cut
Seeking an end to transfer fees, the European Commission tackles soccerÕs governing bodies
THE ARTS
The Best of Both Worlds
Is it possible to be upwardly mobile yet keep hold of your principles? The new élite thinks it is
DEPARTMENTS
On Your Own Time
Copenhagen
World Watch
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
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