World bad briefs
www.insidevc.com February 5, 2003
SOUTH KOREA
Rumsfeld considers more forces in Korea SEOUL -- The top U.S. military commander in South Korea said Tuesday he has not requested reinforcements, despite a deepening crisis over North Korea's suspected nuclear weapons development.
Gen. Leon J. LaPorte made his statement after U.S. officials in Washington said Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is considering sending an aircraft carrier to the waters off the Korean Peninsula and adding bombers in Guam.
The moves are intended to deter the North from provocations during any U.S. war with Iraq, the Pentagon officials said.
In Washington, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said he had no doubt the United States and North Korea will open a dialogue.
"Of course we're going to have direct talks with the North Koreans," Armitage told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Tuesday.
RUSSIA
Russian cargo craft docks at space station
KOROLYOV -- A Russian cargo craft docked Tuesday at the international space station, carrying fuel, food and water in a supply mission made critical by the loss of the Columbia and the grounding of the remaining U.S. space shuttles.
Maneuvering on autopilot, the unmanned Progress M-47 linked to the station two days after lifting off atop a Soyuz-U rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The 16-nation space station has depended on shuttles to deliver most supplies. With the other shuttles grounded pending the investigation into the Columbia disaster, Russian missions now remain the only link to the international outpost.
IVORY COAST
Ruling party doesn't want peace accord
ABIDJAN -- Ruling party lawmakers urged Ivory Coast's legislature on Tuesday to reject a peace accord, as rebels warned they would attack the country's main city rather than renegotiate the French-brokered deal.
The wrangling came as the army and rebels traded accusations of attacks -- the first since the French-brokered deal was signed Jan. 24. The claims of fighting could not immediately be verified.
Ivorian Patriotic Front representative Dalaba Zozore, reading a statement by ruling party members in the National Assembly, argued the accord "legitimizes" a 4-month-old uprising by rebels who have captured half the West African country.
ZIMBABWE
Witness says he was asked to arrange coup
HARARE -- A Canada-based political consultant testified Tuesday in the treason trial of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai that he was asked to help arrange a coup and the killing of President Robert Mugabe.
Ari Ben Menashe, who said he was a former Israeli intelligence agent who had once worked undercover in Zimbabwe with the approval of Mugabe's government, said he decided to set up a sting operation to record evidence against Tsvangirai.
Ben Menashe testified that the opposition Movement for Democratic Change told him it wanted to pay $10 million to the Zimbabwe Air Force commander, Air Marshal Perence Shiri, to lead a coup.
ISRAEL
Palestinian, Israeli wounded in shootings
JERUSALEM -- Palestinians seriously wounded a Jewish settler in a shooting attack in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday. Meanwhile, a Palestinian boy was critically wounded by army fire in a clash in the West Bank.
Israeli troops also demolished eight Palestinian-owned homes in the Gaza Strip, witnesses said.
The Islamic militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for the shooting at the settler in the Kfar Darom settlement. One or more attackers sneaked into the settlement early Tuesday and opened fire on an Israeli near greenhouses there, rescue and security officials said.
The attackers got away, and troops were searching the area, the army said.
VENEZUELA
President celebrates anniversary of coup
CARACAS -- President Hugo Chavez celebrated Tuesday's anniversary of a 1992 coup attempt that launched his political career while opposition leaders trying to oust him mourned those killed in the botched putsch.
Under international pressure to end Venezuela's political crisis, Chavez's government rejected an opposition proposal to shorten his presidential term and instead suggested a referendum on his rule -- though it would take place far later than the opposition wants.
About 20 Chavez supporters briefly attacked the offices of Caracas' opposition mayor with gunfire, rocks and slingshots after a ceremony marking the Feb. 4, 1992, coup bid against President Carlos Andres Perez.
PAKISTAN
At least 17 killed by exploding fireworks SIALKOT -- Shipping containers full of fireworks caught fire and exploded Tuesday, blowing in walls of a nearby school and raining fiery debris on surrounding buildings. At least 17 people were killed, including two children.
Dozens of others were injured in the blasts at a trucking depot near the town of Sialkot as the fireworks were being placed in two containers for shipment to Lahore, 60 miles to the southwest.
Officials said the fireworks had been falsely listed on shipping documents as children's toys but said they didn't yet know what sparked the explosions.
EGYPT
New trial starts for rights activist
CAIRO -- Egypt's highest court on Tuesday opened a new trial for an Egyptian-American human rights activist whose seven-year conviction for tarnishing his country's image has drawn widespread international criticism.
The trial is Saad Eddin Ibrahim's last chance to fight his conviction before seeking presidential clemency.
The 64-year-old sociology professor said any verdict that does not clear him of the charges "will simply mean that a great injustice has been done."