WORLD IN BRIEF

Monday, February 25, 2008

sudan

China Presses Its Ally On Darfur Peacekeepers

China, under international pressure to help end the conflict in Darfur, made a rare call on its Sudanese ally on Sunday to do more to allow foreign peacekeepers to deploy.

But there was no respite in the fighting, and the United Nations said it feared for thousands of civilians after reports that Sudan's forces bombed a rebel-held area in western Darfur.

China's envoy to Darfur, in a departure from Beijing's usual public diplomatic vagueness, made an unusual rebuke to Khartoum during a visit there and urged Sudan to remove obstacles to full deployment of a joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force.

"Rolling out the hybrid peacekeeping operation and resolving the Darfur issue require the joint efforts of all sides," Liu Guijin told China's official New China News Agency.

China's role in Sudan has come under renewed attention since film director Steven Spielberg quit as an artistic director to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, saying China had failed to use its sway in Khartoum to seek peace in Darfur.

venezuela

Caracas Bomb Kills Man At Business Chamber

A small bomb exploded outside the headquarters of Venezuela's leading business chamber Sunday, killing one person, police said.

The blast occurred near the entrance of the Fedecamaras business chamber's main office in Caracas's Chacao district at approximately 1 a.m. and shattered windows, Federal Police Chief Marcos Ch¿vez said.

Ch¿vez said the victim had not been identified, but Chacao's municipal police force, controlled by an opposition mayor, reported that an ID card found on the victim indicated he was a member of the federally controlled Metropolitan Police.

Chacao Police Director Carlos Arreaza said the victim was missing his right hand, leading Chacao police to presume he accidentally detonated the bomb. The explosion could have been meant to scare business leaders who have been critical of President Hugo Ch¿vez, said Fedecamaras President Jos¿ Manuel Gonz¿lez.

china

3 Receive Life Sentences For Fatal Mine Explosion

A Chinese court has sentenced three people to life in prison and handed jail terms to 14 others for their roles in a coal mine explosion that killed 105 miners late last year, the New China News Agency reported Monday.

Those sentenced to life included the manager in charge of production at the Xinyao Coal Mine and an investor in the mine in the northern province of Shanxi, where a gas blast tore through the shaft on Dec. 5.

At the time of the explosion, 128 miners were working when 60 were allowed. The company had increased output and expanded production to new coal beds without approval, the report said.

China's coal mining industry is the world's deadliest, claiming close to 4,000 miners last year.

Other managers at the mine were sentenced to jail terms of up to 20 years, and the company was fined about $26 million for illegal trade in explosives, illegal work on an unapproved coal bed and tax evasion.

kosovo

Serb Protests Mark Week of Independence

Kosovo marked its first week of independence with prayers and protests Sunday as outraged Serbs staged demonstrations in the nation's north and across Europe.

Refusing to let Kosovo secede from Serbia without a fight, as many as 1,000 protesters gathered briefly in the ethnically divided northern town of Kosovska Mitrovica in a seventh day of demonstrations denouncing Kosovo's independence.

They listened to a Belgrade rock band play on a stage decorated with a poster of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a sign reading: "Russia Help!" Moscow supports Serbia's resistance and has declared Kosovo's independence illegal.

Serbs also organized rallies Sunday in European cities including Vienna, Geneva and Brussels.

North Korea

Russian Cargo Ship And Crew of 25 Held

North Korean authorities were holding a Russian cargo ship with 25 people aboard Sunday after the vessel violated the sea border of the country, a Russian diplomat said.

North Korean coast guardsmen detained the Lidia Demesh after it approached the coast en route from Japan to the Russian port of Vladivostok, Russian media reported.

A Russian official in North Korea said the authorities had acknowledged that the ship was forced close to shore by a storm.

south korea

Former Mayor of Seoul Sworn In as President

Hard-charging former businessman Lee Myung-bak took the oath of office as South Korea's new president Monday, vowing to revitalize the economy, strengthen relations with the U.S. and deal with nuclear-armed North Korea.

The conservative, pro-U.S. Lee, nicknamed "The Bulldozer" for the can-do image he honed as a construction company CEO and later as mayor of Seoul, was sworn into office in a colorful outdoor ceremony at the National Assembly.

From News Services