Foreign Desk
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

WESTERN EUROPE
SPLIT SURFACES BETWEEN U.S., CHINA ON NORTH KOREA
VIENNA, Austria – An American-Chinese split surfaced yesterday at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency over the issue of rewarding North Korea with an atomic reactor for scrapping its nuclear arms.
Any resolution approved by the 139-nation IAEA General Conference has only symbolic value, because the meeting has no enforcing powers. But the dispute reflected the depth of disagreement between the two nations on how to proceed at a more important level – future talks among North Korea, China, America, and three other nations meant to build on Pyongyang’s commitment to mothball its nuclear weapons and return to the nonproliferation fold.
– Associated Press
E.U. THREATENS ARMS EMBARGO ON UZBEKISTAN
LONDON – The European Union is likely to impose an arms embargo and other sanctions on Uzbekistan next week because of its failure to come clean about the killing of demonstrators last May, diplomats said yesterday. The move comes after President Karimov ordered American forces to leave a military base by the end of the year. In return, Britain will press E.U. foreign ministers on Monday to pass a series of punitive measures against Tashkent. – The Daily Telegraph
BELGIUM ISSUES WARRANT FOR CHAD DICTATOR’S ARREST
BRUSSELS, Belgium – Belgium has issued an international arrest warrant for Chad’s former leader, Hissene Habre, charging him with atrocities during his 1982-90 rule, lawyers said yesterday.
Mr. Habre, who lives in exile in Senegal, is being pursued under Belgium’s “universal jurisdiction” laws, which allow for prosecutions for crimes against humanity wherever they were committed. – Associated Press
EASTERN EUROPE
POLISH PARTIES OPEN COALITION TALKS
WARSAW, Poland – The two center-right parties that won Poland’s weekend election opened talks yesterday to form a ruling coalition and set priorities for the future government.
The socially conservative Law and Justice Party took 27% of the vote with 155 seats, while the pro-business Civic Platform won 24% with 133 seats. The September 25 election gave the two groups the majority needed to together push through tax cuts and other reforms aimed at stimulating the economy and fighting a jobless rate of nearly 18%.
– Associated Press
UKRAINIANS REMEMBER HOLOCAUST
KIEV, Ukraine – Weeping survivors clutching red carnations paid tribute yesterday to tens of thousands of Jews massacred by the Nazis 64 years ago at the ravine known as Babi Yar. Ukraine’s Jewish community has grown increasingly frustrated after a handful of high-profile attacks on Jews this year, which police have labeled hooliganism. Skinheads attacked a Ukrainian rabbi and his 14-year-old son, and in a separate attack severely beat a Jewish student.
– Associated Press
MIDDLE EAST
PALESTINIANS ENFORCE BAN ON DISPLAYS OF WEAPONS
JERUSALEM – Palestinian Arab authorities began enforcing a ban on public displays of weapons yesterday, arresting three people and confiscating the guns of off-duty police officers in a key step toward imposing order in the chaotic Gaza Strip. The crackdown came as dozens of Palestinian Arab towns and villages in the West Bank held municipal elections. The powerful Hamas movement was expected to make strong gains, despite a continuing Israeli offensive against Islamic terrorists.
Israeli soldiers killed three Palestinian Arab gunmen during raids in the West Bank. Israel launched the wave of air strikes and arrest raids last weekend in response to Gaza terrorists’ rocket attacks on southern Israeli towns.
– Associated Press
SOUTH ASIA
PAKISTAN ARRESTS AL QAEDA-LINKED SUSPECT
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistani security officials said yesterday they have foiled new terrorist attacks with the arrest of the reputed head of an Al Qaeda-linked extremist group accused of killing scores of minority Shiite Muslims. Police have said they believe Asif Chotto, the alleged head of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, trained people to be suicide bombers – including two sisters arrested in June – and masterminded major attacks against Shiites in recent years. – Associated Press
THOUSANDS OF INDIANS STRIKE TO PROTEST AIRPORT PRIVATIZATION
NEW DELHI – Thousands of airport workers backed by civil servants and state run bank and insurance company employees held a one-day nationwide strike yesterday to protest government privatization plans they fear will affect their jobs. The 12-hour strike of nearly 20,000 workers was focused mainly on India’s airports, where more than 35% of flights were canceled, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. The strikers were mostly from communist-led trade unions.
– Associated Press
SOUTHEAST ASIA
TOP GENERAL SAYS INDONESIANS FIGHTING FOR THAI MUSLIM INSURGENCY
BANGKOK, Thailand – A security adviser to the prime minister, General Kitti Rattanachaya, said yesterday that Indonesian fighters are involved in Thailand’s Muslim insurgency, contradicting government insistence the bloody separatist movement is a homegrown affair unconnected to Southeast Asia’s Al Qaeda-linked terror network. Most analysts regard the insurgency as domestic but with a strong potential to attract foreign Muslim terrorists.
– Associated Press
EAST ASIA
JAPANESE COURT REJECTS SUIT AGAINST WAR SHRINE VISITS
TOKYO – The Tokyo High Court yesterday rejected a suit against Prime Minister Koizumi’s 2001 visit to a war shrine criticized in Asia for glorifying Japan’s past militarism. The decision upheld a lower court’s ruling that threw out a suit demanding compensation for anguish stemming from the visit by Mr. Koizumi to Yasukuni Shrine, lawyers for the plaintiffs said. The suit, brought by 39 plaintiffs demanding $885 each in damages, also alleged that Mr. Koizumi’s visit violated the constitutional separation of state and religion.
– Associated Press
SOUTH AMERICA
U.S. OBJECTS TO COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT’S CLAIM
BOGOTA, Colombia – President Uribe said yesterday a paramilitary warlord can avoid extradition to America on drug trafficking charges if he complies with a peace accord and quits committing crimes, drawing immediate condemnation from the American ambassador.
A leader of the outlawed United Self Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, Diego Fernando Murillo, is wanted in New York for allegedly exporting tons of cocaine to America.
– Associated Press