Macedonia: Mediators offer plans for political settlement
Western mediators gave Macedonia’s feuding ethnic groups new proposals Thursday for a political settlement to their conflict and said it was up to them to reach agreement. The negotiations between representatives of majority Macedonians, who dominate the government, and ethnic Albanian politicians who represent the country’s large and restive minority began Monday under the auspices of the United States and the European Union.
South Korea: Military exchanges with Japan halted over books
South Korea on Thursday canceled military exchanges with Japan after it refused to revise new middle-school textbooks that Koreans say gloss over wartime atrocities. It also said it would not proceed with a program to accept Japanese cultural products. President Kim Dae-jung, who has sought for the last three years to end centuries of Korean animosity toward Japan, said Japanese attitudes reflected in the textbooks raised fears of a repeat of “the circumstances leading to the Pacific War,” as the Japanese commonly refer to World War II.
Switzerland: 3 men arrested in ’94 Rwandan war crimes
European police on Thursday arrested three men wanted by the United Nations for crimes against humanity during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, including the country’s former finance minister and a priest. The arrests were made in Switzerland, Belgium and Holland. U.N. chief war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte applauded the close cooperation of the countries involved, but said she was “stupefied” that a fourth suspect was not arrested in Italy.
Russia: Putin signs bill that limits number of parties
President Vladimir Putin solidified the Kremlin’s domination of Russian political life Thursday, signing into law a bill that will sharply limit the number of parties, while two of the nation’s largest parties sealed a pro-Putin alliance. Mr. Putin says the law will strengthen parties. But critics say it will reduce pluralism and make parties financially dependent on the government.
Venezuela: 13 killed when plane crashes after takeoff
A plane crashed moments after takeoff Thursday in northwestern Venezuela, killing all 13 people aboard, authorities said. The commercial flight was en route to Caracas. The dead included eight Polish nationals and five Venezuelans. Among the dead were members of Venezuela’s armed forces, said civil defense official Omar Perez.
