NOTEBOOK/WORLD WATCH	MARCH 2, 1998 VOL. 151 NO. 9
	World Watch DUBLIN The Irish and British governments suspended Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, from Northern Ireland peace talks until March 9 over two killings attributed to the I.R.A. Denying any responsibility for the deaths, Sinn Fein angrily fought the suspension, calling it "disgraceful" and challenging its legality in the Irish High Court. Hours after the expulsion, a car bomb exploded in front of a police station in Moira, near Belfast, injuring 11 people and pushing the peace process deeper into crisis. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. LUXEMBOURG In what was considered a test case on workplace equality for homosexuals, the European Court of Justice denied a lesbian employee of a British rail company the travel benefits routinely accorded to unmarried opposite-sex partners of the company's employees. The court ruled that under European Union law, "stable relationships between two persons of the same sex are not regarded as equivalent to marriages or stable relationships outside marriage between persons of opposite sex." Lisa Grant took her case to the court in Luxembourg after South West Trains refused travel benefits for her female partner. BRUSSELS Saying its Stabilization Force (SFOR) was needed to prevent a return to bloodshed, NATO announced it will keep troops in Bosnia beyond its June dead-line. The follow-on force will maintain its 34,000-strong level after June 30 and expand its civilian-side activities, such as securing safe return for refugees. After nationwide elections set for September, NATO will consider a reduction to 20,000 to 25,000 troops. BANJA LUKA The Bosnian Serb President, Biljana Plavsic, appointed a political survivor as chief of staff of the Bosnian Serb Army (V.R.S.). Although head of the V.R.S.'s largest corps during the 1992-95 war in the former Yugoslav republic, General Momir Talic has not been linked to any war crimes. One Bosnian war crimes suspect, Simo Zaric, announced he would give himself up to the International Criminal Tribunal in the Hague. Zaric's surrender follows that of two other suspects--Miroslav Tadic and Milan Simic--who pleaded not guilty at the tribunal last week. NICOSIA With a paper-thin margin in the second round of Cyprus' presidential elections, President Glafcos Clerides was re-elected by 50.8% of the vote compared to 49.2% for former Foreign Minister Georgios Iacovou. Clerides starts his second five-year term at a crucial stage in the island's history. U.N.-sponsored negotiations on reuniting Greek Cypriot territory with the Turkish-occupied North are due to resume this month, while talks on Cyprus' accession to the E.U. begin in April. DIYARBAKIR Charging the Islamist mayor of Istanbul with "using democracy to establish an evil order" and ordering the arrest of all 57 Kurdish officials of the People's Democratic Party, Turkish prosecutors again showed their determination to curb speech they interpret as endangering national unity. Istanbul's mayor, Tayyip Erdogan, was charged by prosecutors in Diyarbakir after a recent fiery discourse in which he asserted that the Muslim faithful are an army of God against secularism. The Ankara prosecutor's order to arrest the directorate of Turkey's only Kurdish political organization was prompted by the party's 1998 calendar, which features a list of Kurdish victims of "mystery killings" attributed to government death squads. JERUSALEM An official Israeli commission of inquiry absolved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of blame for the bungled "hit" on Khaled Meshal, a leader of the militant Palestinian group Hamas, in Amman last September. The committee concluded that Netanyahu, who approved the assassination attempt, had acted responsibly. However, the report criticized Danny Yatom, head of Mossad, Israel's espionage agency, for an operation "almost inevitably" doomed by "inadequate and flawed planning." FREETOWN Sierra Leone's elected President, deposed in a military coup last May, appointed a 10-man committee to govern the country until his return from Guinea, expected within weeks. Ahmed Tejan Kabbah took the action after a Nigerian-led West African intervention force drove the military junta led by Lieut. Colonel Johnny Paul Koroma from power in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown. Koroma is believed to have fled to Liberia. DZHIKHASHKARI Supporters of the deposed Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia, who died in 1993, took 10 hostages, including four U.N. military observers, in western Georgia. Two Uruguayans, a Swede and a Czech were abducted from the U.N. mission's headquarters in Zugdidi. The kidnappers, holed up in the village of Dzhikhashkari, threatened to execute the U.N. men and six civilians unless President Eduard Shevardnadze begins talks with Georgia's "legitimate government" and orders Russian troops out. They also demand the release of seven suspects--all Gamsakhurdia loyalists from western Georgia--held for the Feb. 9 attempt on Shevardnadze's life. NEW DELHI Explosions and shootings marked the start of voting in India's parliamentary elections, being conducted over several days to allow security forces to move from region to region to prevent violence. At least 22 people were killed in clashes between rival political organizations, mostly in eastern Bihar state. Sectarian trouble between Hindus and Muslims broke out in some northern cities. At stake were 222 seats in the 545-member lower house of Parliament, the Lok Sabha. JAKARTA President Suharto fired the head of Indonesia's central bank in a disagreement over the country's financial management. In dismissing the independent-minded governor, Sudradjad Djiwandono, he angered International Monetary Fund officials and U.S. President Bill Clinton--who objected to Suharto's plan to peg the Indonesian rupiah to the U.S. dollar--and jeopardized the $43 billion rescue package granted to Indonesia. The army, meanwhile, was on alert in more than a dozen towns as sporadic violence flared over price increases and against the relatively wealthy ethnic Chinese community. TAIPEI A China Airlines plane crashed as it attempted to land in Taipei, killing 196 passengers and crew members on board and six people on the ground. After crashing in fog and rain, the plane skidded several hundred meters into residential buildings, spreading flaming debris. Taiwan's Civil Aviation Administration ordered the airline to ground its fleet of Airbus A300-600 jets until the reasons for the crash can be determined. OTTAWA Canada's Supreme Court began hearing arguments in a case that will determine whether a break-up of the country would be legal. The government has asked the court to rule on three hypothetical questions: whether the secession of Quebec would be legal under the constitution; whether it would be legal under international law; and whether domestic or international law takes precedence. A vote for secession within Quebec could come as early as next year. The province's separatist government contends that the court should not meddle in what is essentially a political matter. PASADENA Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory hailed a cosmic milestone: the 20-year-old Voyager 1 spacecraft became the most distant man-made object in the universe as it passed the 105 billion-km mark. On the edge of Earth's solar system, it carries a message to the universe, including such earthly sounds and images as a human heartbeat, wind, rain, surf, laughter, music, greetings in 55 languages--and the structure of DNA. Voyager, like Pioneer 10 before it, is powered by nuclear batteries. AMARILLO Oprah Winfrey won a partial victory in her battle with Texas cattlemen when U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson ruled that the beef producers had failed to make a case under the "veggie libel" law that protects perishable food products from defamation. The TV star must still defend statements made on her talk show in April 1996 about the dangers of bovine spongiform encephalopathy--"mad cow disease"--under the common-law charge of business defamation. MEXICO CITY The Mexican government moved to shore up its position with the E.U., with which it seeks a trade accord, by allowing official observers to visit the state of Chiapas, where 45 people were massacred in December. The government also continued its crackdown on other foreigners visiting the state without proper documentation, expelling two American citizens for "unauthorized activities."
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