NOTEBOOK/WORLD WATCH	FEBRUARY 2, 1998 VOL. 151 NO. 5
	World Watch Belfast As sectarian tit-for-tat shootings continued, the Irish Republican Army flatly rejected the new Anglo-Irish blueprint for Northern Ireland's future, raising fears that the Irish Republican Army may soon end its ceasefire. Leaders of Sinn Fein, the I.R.A. political wing, had already dismissed the settlement document as too pro-unionist when they met for the second time in six weeks with Prime Minister Tony Blair in London. They agreed to remain in the talks. Since Dec. 27, renegade paramilitaries have killed eight men--seven of them Catholics--in separate attacks. Rome Extending his personal stamp on the conclave that eventually will elect his successor, Pope John Paul II nominated 22 new cardinals. John Paul has now elevated 98 of the 123 cardinals who are under age 80 and therefore eligible to choose the next pope. The new ones include seven Italians, four Latin Americans, three Europeans, three North Americans, two Africans and one Asian. Two other churchmen, whose identities were not disclosed, also were selected. Such secrecy regarding some nominations is employed to protect cardinals from likely repercussions in the countries where they live. Santa Cruz On the Spanish island of Tenerife, a judge released on bail German psychologist Heide Fittkau-Garthe, accused of trying to induce 32 of her followers to commit suicide. Fittkau-Garthe said the case stemmed from an unsuccessful blackmail attempt against her by a family member of one of her German followers. Meanwhile, police in the northern Spanish city of Vigo questioned a woman over the Jan. 12 cyanide death of Ramon Sampedro, the quadriplegic who campaigned for the legal right to be helped to die. His friend Ramona Maneiro Castro was later released. Sarajevo Giving the Bosnian peace process a fresh boost, American NATO troops detained a notorious Serb war crimes suspect, Goran Jelisic--and sent him to the International Criminal Tribunal in the Hague--while the Bosnian Serb parliament chose a moderate, Milorad Dodik, to lead Bosnia's Serb half. The seizure of Jelisic in the town of Bijeljina was the first time that U.S. troops have apprehended one of Bosnia's indicted war criminals and NATO's third such arrest. Jelisic, 29, who ran an infamous detention camp in Brcko in 1992, is charged with killing at least 16 inmates. Ankara A six-month government investigation reveals a "catastrophic" and "shocking" picture of the role of criminal gangs within the Turkish state, Prime Minister Mesut Yilmez says. He confirmed publicly for the first time the involvement of government employees--including high-ranking members of the police and security services--in extortion, drug smuggling, covert operations, execution squads, bribery, money laundering and other offenses, dating as far back as the 1970s. Yilmez emphasized that no military men were involved, and pledged an Italian-style "Clean Hands" operation to bring the guilty to justice. Baghdad Iraq's proposal to freeze U.N. weapons inspections was rejected by the United States. With Iraqi defiance increasing, President Bill Clinton warned that "sooner or later something is going to give." The Iraqi proposal to delay further inspections until after U.N. technical teams report in March on the extent of Iraq's disarmament also was rejected by U.N. inspections chief Richard Butler, who ended his latest mission to Baghdad in frustration. Meanwhile, Iraq's tense relations with Jordan took a bizarre twist when unknown assailants stabbed to death the deputy Iraqi ambassador, his wife and six others in Amman. Algiers Insisting that it was overcoming the Muslim insurgency that began in 1992, the Algerian government announced plans to strengthen local militias following a significant upsurge in violence. Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia also gave the government's first official death toll in the six-year insurgency: 26,536. The figure--one-third of the 75,000 deaths estimated by many news and human rights organizations--came after a European Union delegation called for more government candor about the violence. The E.U. team failed to persuade the authorities to accept humanitarian aid or to allow independent investigations into the slaughter that has gripped Algeria. Harare When demonstrations against increased food prices turned to riots in the streets in Harare and other Zimbabwean towns, President Robert Mugabe called out the army and threatened to declare a state of emergency. But the popular pressure on Mugabe's government forced a rethink of an increase in the price of the country's staple, corn meal, and prompted Mugabe to meet with the private sector to discuss ways to improve the economy. Meanwhile, the conditions imposed by the World Bank and E.U. on new loans have put Mugabe's controversial plan to confiscate some 1,400 white-owned farms on hold, possibly indefinitely. Beijing U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen became the first foreigner to tour China's once-hidden Air Defense Command Center. His visit to the Beijing complex marked a further improvement in military and diplomatic relations between the two powers, despite lingering tension over Taiwan and other issues. The Chinese Defense Minister, Chi Haotian, also assured Cohen that China had stopped selling cruise missiles to Iran. In January, the U.S. reached nuclear non-proliferation agreements with China. Jakarta As the rupiah fell to record lows amid concern about Indonesia's international debt and its political future, President Suharto announced his readiness to stand for re-election to a seventh five-year term. The rupiah has lost 82% of its value since the currency crisis first struck Asia last July. Hoping to undercut doubts about Indonesia's commitment to economic reform, the government approved a series of decrees ending monopolies and other practices seen as undermining a $43 billion bailout approved by the International Monetary Fund. Pressure for Suharto to quit has grown--along with fears of civil unrest. Christchurch After two weeks of talks in New Zealand, a truce ending the nine-year civil war on the island of Bougainville was signed by secessionist rebels and the Papua New Guinea government. The conflict, which began in 1989 over alleged environmental and economic damage caused by the government-backed Panguna copper mine on Bougainville, resulted in the deaths of thousands. Canberra Australia banned Japanese vessels fishing for bluefin tuna in its waters following Japan's refusal to agree to a reduced bluefin quota. New Zealand followed suit. Last year, Japan caught almost 7,000 tons of bluefin tuna, a species that Australia's government considers to be threatened. Japan, which disputes the Australian view, sought an increase in its quota. Rio De Janeiro Three years after engaging in a month-long armed conflict, Ecuador and Peru agreed to a timetable for talks to end their 56-year border dispute. Negotiators in Rio announced that a treaty demarcating the frontier would be signed by May 30. Working groups are to begin hammering out the details on Feb. 17. Relations have been strained since 1942, when Ecuador lost a third of its territory in the oil-rich Amazon basin in a war with Peru. Military clashes have erupted every few years, and the January 1995 fighting claimed several dozen lives on both sides. Boston American researchers have produced two identical, genetically engineered calves, in a key step toward the commercial production of drugs for humans in cows' milk. George and Charlie, born on a Texas ranch, were created using a simplified variation of the sheep-cloning techniques pioneered by scientists in Scotland. In the Texas cowtown of Amarillo, meanwhile, the TV talk show host Oprah Winfrey is defending herself against a lawsuit filed by a group of cattlemen under a state law prohibiting the "false disparagement of perishable food products." They contend that a 1996 Oprah show on bovine spongiform encephalopathy (bse, or "mad cow disease")--in which Winfrey said that information presented "has just stopped me cold from eating another burger"--had cost them millions of dollars. Washington In an effort to revitalize the Middle East peace process, President Bill Clinton held separate meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Netanyahu pressed for greater persistence by the Palestinian Authority in fighting terrorism, while Arafat sought fulfillment of Israel's obligation to further expand self-rule in the West Bank. Clinton offered ideas for meeting each side's demands in stages.
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