Korean Air 747 Crashes in Guam

More than 200 people died when a South Korean jumbo jet crashed and burst into flames after hitting an oil pipeline on Guam early Wednesday, Gov. Carl Gutierrez said. The Korean Air Lines Boeing 747 flying mostly South Korean tourists and honeymooners from Seoul crashed in rugged jungle area just miles from the airport as it prepared to land in a tropical downpour. U.S. Navy officials said 33 survivors had been rescued and there was little chance of finding any others. But in Seoul, a South Korean Cabinet official said about 50 people had survived the crash.

Mir Relief Crew Blasts Off

Two Russian cosmonauts blasted off without a hitch for the Mir space station Tuesday on their way to tackle a host of problems that the current Mir crew has been unable to fix. Mission Control outside Moscow broadcast live video of Commander Anatoly Solovyov and Flight Engineer Pavel Vinogradov as they were launched into orbit aboard a Proton rocket in Kazakhstan. The team is expected to reattach cables to the damaged Spektr module in an effort to restore power to the space station. In September, they plan to start efforts to plug a hole in the module's exterior.

More Suicide Attacks Threatened

Two militant Islamist groups vowed Tuesday to carry out fresh suicide attacks inside Israel, deepening a crisis in the Middle East as a flurry of high-level meetings sought to revive a faltering peace process. Meanwhile, Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak said after talks with Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy in Cairo that Israel should continue peace talks with Palestinians despite last week's suicide bombing in Jerusalem because peace was the only way to avoid further "terrorism."

Group Reports More Settlements

Israel's Peace Now group said in a report Tuesday that settlers plan to double the number of houses for Jews in the occupied West Bank. Peace Now said 44,089 units are being planned. Israel's largest peace group said no plan has yet received final approval, but that 16,106 units are at the stage where all that was left was for Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai to approve them. "The meaning (of such plans) is a complete and total blow-up of the peace process," left-wing legislator Ran Cohen said in comments broadcast on Israel Radio. Settlers denied the report.

Korean Peace Talks Positive

North Korea agreed to continue planning landmark Korean peninsula peace talks with the United States, South Korea and China after Tuesday's first round of discussions, U.S. and South Korean officials said. There was "a very cozy and a very good atmosphere. We had very substantive talks today but nothing has been agreed upon," a South Korean official who spoke anonymously said after the day-long session. The four parties will meet again Wednesday. The goal of the talks is to set a date and agenda for launching substantive negotiations to replace the fraying 1950-53 Korean War armistice with a more permanent peace, presumably in a treaty.

Bosnia Government Pressured

Bosnia's postwar inter-ethnic government came under more pressure Tuesday to comply with the Dayton peace accords when more European Union states suspended contacts with Bosnian ambassadors. France, Britain, Sweden, Austria, Italy, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands, as well as the United States, have now all shelved dealings with Bosnia's envoys. Luxembourg, current holder of the European Union's revolving presidency, recommended that all 15 EU states freeze contact with Bosnian ambassadors.

Tudjman Vows to Rebuild Economy

Croatian President Franjo Tudjman declared his commitment to peace in Bosnia and pledged to rebuild his country's economy as he was sworn in for a second five-year term Tuesday. "I solemnly declare that I shall be an impartial president of all Croats and Croatian citizens, regardless of their political and other affiliations," Tudjman, often criticized for autocratic rule, said in his inauguration speech. Diplomats believe he holds a firm grip on Croatia's fate and could manage to bring it closer to Western Europe.

Iraqi Germ Warfare Plan Possible

Iraq could reassemble its germ warfare program within six months with a still-intact scientific team working with freeze-dried organisms, a former U.N. investigator said in a report published Tuesday. "The workforce of more than 200 persons who staffed Iraq's biological warfare program is intact," Raymond Zilinskas said. With those resources, he said, Iraq "could reconstitute a biological warfare program rapidly and be able to manufacture militarily significant quantities of biological warfare agents within six months."

Dozens Die in Algeria

In a series of savage raids, Muslim rebels killed between 75 and 110 civilians in Algeria, cutting the throats of children and dragging off screaming young girls, Algerian newspapers said Tuesday. The attacks in two provinces were carried out just hours after President Liamine Zeroual Sunday vowed that rebels, who have killed more than 700 people in two months, would be implacably hunted down for crimes which he said "defy human understanding." Just before midnight Sunday, rebels attacked two family homes in a village 30 miles south of the Algerian capital, and 19 members of one family, including a three-month-old baby, were decapitated by axes.

Mexico Cracks Down on Crime

Declaring war on organized crime, Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo has sent heavily armed police into dangerous neighborhoods this week to round up suspected criminals by the hundreds. Police in Mexico City have arrested nearly 4,000 people since Zedillo ordered the crackdown in March, officials said. But the recent campaign has drawn the most attention because of its brazen strong-arm tactics. Authorities said Zedillo's goal is to clamp down on a crime wave that has soared since a 1995 economic crisis that put a million Mexicans out of work.

< Back > < Contents >  < Home >