BBC Monitoring International Reports articles from December 2001, page 17

BBC Monitoring International Reports archives from December 2001

Russian trawler on fire off Japanese coast.
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Russian NTV on 28 December [Presenter Denis Soldatikov] Big fire on board a Russian trawler poses a serious ecological threat to the Sea of Japan, Tokyo officials say. They demand that the schooner be tugged home...

Afghan Shi'a minority rally to back interim government.
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Iranian radio from Mashhad on 28 December Thousands of people from the Hazara [Shi'a] ethnic minority have staged a rally in Kabul to support the interim government of Afghanistan and of [its leader] Hamed Karzai. ...

Russian Far East teachers go on hunger strike over arrears.
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Russian NTV on 28 December Ten teachers from the small town of Olga in Maritime Territory joined their colleagues and went on an indefinite hunger strike this morning. Yesterday [27 December] eight teachers began a...

Chad: Mine-clearing operation continues nationwide.
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Chadian radio on 26 December As part of the campaign against accidental deaths in Chad, the mine-clearing and destruction of explosives operation is continuing nationwide. This was made known by Col (?Mahmout...

Collapsing bridge wrecks railway in Russian westernmost region.
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Russian NTV on 28 December An emergency situation occurred in Kaliningrad Region. A 20-metre concrete footbridge fell on a railway. It happened right after a passenger train passed by. Trains are passing that place...

Banned religious group attracts Kyrgyz drug addicts - Iranian radio.
December 28, 2001... The banned Hezb-e Tahrir extremist movement, which operates illegally in Kyrgyzstan, is attracting drug addicts to its "false Islam", Iranian radio's external Uzbek service has suggested. Warning of the sharp increase in drug addiction in...

Central Asian leaders adopt Tashkent statement.
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Uzbek radio on 28 December As we have reported, the heads of the Central Asian states [except Turkmenistan] are meeting in Tashkent. Our special correspondent, Abduvali Soipnazarov, reports by phone that a big meeting of...

Sierra Leone:Warring factions discuss recent clashes in eastern diamond-mining town.
December 28, 2001... Kono [District, eastern Sierra Leone] paramount chiefs met in Koidu Wednesday [26 December] with representatives of the RUF [Revolutionary United Front], the CDF [Civil Defence Forces] and the Kono youth in an effort to resolve differences...

Sudan: Foreign minister receives Ethiopian official.
December 28, 2001... Text of report in English by Sudanese news agency Suna Khartoum, 27 December: Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Mustafa Uthman Isma'il has appreciated progress of the Sudanese-Ethiopian relations, affirming Sudan government's commitment to...

Russian set to put six satellites into orbit.
December 28, 2001... Text of report in English by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS Moscow, 28 December: Russia is to launch six satellites by one booster from the northern Plesetsk cosmodrome on Friday [28 December]. The press service of the Russian Space...

Iraq: Teaching hospital renovated, expanded in Kurdish region.
December 28, 2001... The teaching hospital in Arbil was opened originally in 1959. After two years of renovation, Shawkat Shaykh Yazdin, the minister for the Council of Ministers' affairs, opened the hospital on the second anniversary of the fourth cabinet of the...

Indian, Pakistani leaders agree to receive Libyan special envoy.
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Libyan TV on 28 December The brother leader of the revolution [Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi] held telephone contacts this evening with the Pakistani president, Pervez Musharraf, and the Indian prime minister, Atal Behari...

Iran: Tehran Justice Department issues statement on charges against deputies.
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Iranian TV on 28 December Following the views expressed by a number of the deputies of the Islamic Consultative Majlis on the implementation of the guilty verdicts issued against Mr Loqmanian, as well as on the verdicts...

Iran: Oil minister comments on OPEC production cuts.
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Iranian radio on 28 December [Announcer] At their meeting in Cairo, [the Organization of] Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, agreed to reduce its oil production by 1.5 million barrels per day. In an interview with the...

Iranian daily says Afghan premier backed by Britain.
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Iranian newspaper Afarinesh on 18 December When on 5th December this year the Bonn agreement was signed by the Afghan groups, certain observers were surprised to see Mohammad Zaher, the former king of Afghanistan, was...

North Korean delegation ends inspection tour of South nuclear reactors.
December 28, 2001... Text of report in English by South Korean news agency Yonhap Seoul, 28 December: A 20-member North Korean delegation of high-level atomic energy-related officials will return to Pyongyang via Beijing Sunday [30 December], wrapping up...

Lawyers for Russian scientist suspected of spying urge his release.
December 28, 2001... Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax Kaluga, 28 December: The defence attorneys of Igor Sutyagin, a researcher in the US and Canada Institute whose case in the Kaluga Regional Court was sent back for reinvestigation...

Czech news agency schedule of events for 29 Dec 01.
December 28, 2001... Text of report in English by Czech news agency CTK [This press review has not been edited for content, nor have personal names and party names, abbreviations, etc. been amended.] PRAGUE - Representatives of Czech Rail (CD) and...

Bosnian finance minister says boosting employment priority in 2002 budget.
December 28, 2001... [Presenter] The [Bosnia-Hercegovina] Federation government will send into a fast-track parliamentary procedure a draft budget proposal for the next year amounting to 1.3bn [convertible marks]. A senior government official described it as a...

Azeri Justice Ministry denies prison hunger strikes.
December 28, 2001... Text of Olaylar report by Azerbaijani newspaper Ayna on 28 December entitled "The inmates did not go on hunger strike" The society to protect the rights of prisoners has said that Musavat Party member Sabir Haciyev started a hunger strike...

Russia proposes interparliamentary conference on Middle East.
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS Moscow, 26 December: Russian legislators are proposing the holding of an interparliamentary conference on the Middle East. This was reported today by Dmitriy Rogozin, the chairman of...

PACE reps demand release of 14 Azeri political prisoners.
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Azerbaijani radio station ANS on 28 December The head of the monitoring group of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe [PACE], Andreas Gross, and the rapporteur to the PACE's legislation and human rights...

Russia's Siberia may stop nuclear waste import next year.
December 28, 2001... Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax Novosibirsk, 28 December: The import of nuclear waste to Siberia may stop in 2002, Valeriy Denisov, head of the state nuclear safety supervision inspectorate's Siberian District,...

Chechen rebels report Russian helicopter attacks south of Groznyy.
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Chechen Marsho news agency web site 27 December: Russian military helicopters yesterday carried out intensive missile and bomb strikes in several of Chechnya's districts simultaneously. Our correspondent reports...

Philippines: Police detain alleged Al-Qa'idah suspect.
December 28, 2001... Police in the Philippines have detained a man suspected of being a member of Usamah Bin-Ladin's Al-Qa'idah network, Philippines GMA television reported on Friday. It said they found dynamite at the house of the man, identified as Haji...

Czech agency says Afghans queuing up to join army.
December 28, 2001... Text of report in English by Czech news agency CTK Prague, 28 December (CTK): To build up an army which would be respected throughout the region is one of the major tasks of the new interim Afghan government of Hamed Karzai, Petra...

Palestinian religious figures warn against Israeli sovereignty over Al-Aqsa.
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Muhammad Abu-Khudayr and Muhammad Al-Nubani in Jerusalem, published by Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds web site on 27 December; subheadings as published: The Higher Islamic Authority, the Muslim ulema [religious scholars]...

Djibouti: News agency names members of anti-terrorism committee.
December 28, 2001... The Djibouti head of state, Mr Ismael Omar Gelleh, this morning received the national anti-terrorism committee and its chairman, the minister of justice [and penal and Muslim affairs in charge of human rights], Mr Ismael Ibrahim Houmed, who...

Montenegrin financial police report tax evasion cases exceeding DM1m.
December 28, 2001... [Presenter] Tax evasion in the last two years has left the treasury short of more than DM1.6m The reasons for this were various but the aim was the same: making an extra profit and damaging the Montenegrin budget. Aleksandar Mirkovic reports....

Montenegrin Assembly adopts set of tax laws to reform tax system.
December 28, 2001... [Announcer] The Montenegrin Assembly adopted a set of tax laws to reform Montenegro's tax system. Our reporter Andrijana Bulatovic is in the assembly: [Reporter] At the end of its work today the assembly adopted a conclusion proposing to...

Kenya: State telecoms firm admits owing treasury 456m dollars.
December 28, 2001... Telkom Kenya yesterday conceded that it is grappling with a 3.6bn shillings [456m dollar] debt inherited from the defunct Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (KPTC). The managing director, Mr A K Cheserem, gave credence to the...

Russia's Yakutia to hold run-off poll on 13 January.
December 28, 2001... Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax Yakutsk, 28 December: Because none of the seven presidential candidates in the 23 December voting gained over 50 per cent of the votes, the two front runners, ALROSA diamond...

Bosnian Serb parliament concludes debate on constitutional amendments.
December 28, 2001... Deputies in the People's Assembly of the [Bosnian] Serb Republic today concluded a discussion, which lasted a number of hours, on constitutional amendments concerning the constituent status of the [Bosnia-Hercegovina] peoples. During the...

Ukraine to offer broader cooperation to NATO in 2002.
December 28, 2001... Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax Kyiv, 28 December: Ukraine intends to offer broader cooperation to NATO next year, the secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, Yevhen Marchuk, is quoted as saying...

Albania: Government discusses aid to areas cut off by snow.
December 28, 2001... Text of report in English by Albanian news agency ATA Tirana, 28 December: The Council of Ministers has discussed on Thursday [28 December] evening, in one of its regular meetings, about the state of emergency created by the snow in...

No deadline set for US troops to leave Uzbekistan, president says.
December 28, 2001... Uzbek President Islam Karimov has said that no deadline has been set for US troops to pull out of Uzbekistan, where they are stationed at a military aerodrome as part of the anti-terrorist campaign. Speaking at a news conference in...

Palestinian minister Sha'th on issues in Quray-Peres memorandum.
December 28, 2001... Palestinian minister Nabil Sha'th has discussed the contents of the memorandum of understanding reached between Palestinian Legislative Council Speaker Ahmad Quray and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. Speaking at a news conference,...

Belarus finance minister boasts no rise in foreign debt.
December 28, 2001... Text of report in English by Belarusian news agency Belapan Minsk, 28 December: Belarus will enter the new year "in fact without" overdue payments on foreign loans both by the government and individual enterprises, Finance Minister...

Montenegrin premier reaffirms idea of referendum if talks with Serbia fail.
December 28, 2001... [Presenter] Montenegrin Prime Minister Filip Vujanovic said today that this year was marked by the continuation of the economic reforms, the privatization process with significant international support and the democratic and economic progress...

Amman endorses construction of Jordan-Iraq oil pipeline.
December 28, 2001... Amman: The Prime Ministry late Wednesday [26 December] endorsed the construction of the Jordan-Iraq crude oil pipeline project, government spokesperson Minister of State Salih Qallab said. The kingdom will cover the cost of the section of...

Belarus foreign ministry calls for end to hostility in relations with US.
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Belarusian news agency Belapan Minsk, 28 December: The Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is confident that it is possible to achieve substantial improvement in Belarusian-US relations, says the ministry's statement...

Kyrgyz deputy foreign minister denies increase of US influence in Central Asia.
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Kyrgyz public educational TV on 28 December [Presenter] Kyrgyzstan is ready to make its territory available for the deployment of French and Canadian air forces. The committee on international policy [at the Kyrgyz...

Turkey: Islamist leader says US attack against Iraq unacceptable.
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Turkish news agency Anatolia on 27 December Ankara: AKP [Justice and Development Party] deputy leader Bulent Arinc has said that a US attack against Iraq is unacceptable regardless of the reasons. In a news...

Humanitarian aid to Afghanistan pouring in via Uzbekistan - Uzbek TV.
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Uzbek TV on 28 December [Presenter] Humanitarian aid is currently being delivered to the oppressed Afghan people from many countries round the world. Almost 60 per cent of it is being sent through the port of Termez...

Sudan: Opposition party postpones meeting.
December 28, 2001... The [opposition, Democratic] Unionist Party has officially announced postponement of the meeting scheduled for 1 January in Cairo for a later date in January. A prominent leader of the party has opposed the holding of the meeting out of...

Turkey to get more than 30 bn dollars in IMF loans.
December 28, 2001... Text of report in English by Turkish news agency Anatolia Ankara, 28 December: Turkey will have taken 31.5bn US dollars of loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) between 2000 and 2004. Sources told Anatolia correspondent that...

Serbian tender body approves sale of three cement plants to foreign firms.
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Serbian news agency Beta Belgrade, 28 December: Beocin cement factory will be sold to the French Lafarge Company, the Serbian government tender commission has decided. The cement factory in Novi Popovac will be...

Turkey says some "terrorist" groups omitted from EU list.
December 28, 2001... Text of report in English by Turkish news agency Anatolia Ankara, 28 December: Foreign Affairs Ministry said on Friday [28 December] that the European Union (EU) was preparing a second list including organizations that posed threat for...

Turkey: Dismissed minister not to leave party.
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Turkish TRT 2 television on 28 December Abdulhaluk Cay, Nationalist Action Party [MHP] deputy from Corum, who was dismissed from his post of state minister, said today that he was not thinking of resigning from his...

Lebanon: Former South Lebanese Army members sentenced to death in absentia.
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Lebanese newspaper Al-Safir web site on 28 December The Standing Military Court has sentenced fugitive collaborators Kamal Ali al-Akhras and Imad Ali Murad to death in absentia. The court was presided over by Brig-Gen...

Vojvodina to receive 5 per cent of proceeds from sale of Beocin cement plant.
December 28, 2001... Novi Sad, 28 December: Half of the total sum of 50.89m dollars which the French company Lafarge will pay to become the owner of Beocin cement factory (BFC) will be spent to finance programmes in Vojvodina. This is what Djordje Djukic,...

Moldovan president praises Communist achievements in year-end speech.
December 28, 2001... Chisinau, 28 December: Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin has addressed parliament at the end of the year to summarize its major events and the activities of the Communist government. According to the head of state, the most important...

Kenya: Government pledges to eliminate child labour.
December 28, 2001... The government says it will take stern measures against individuals found engaging children in employment. The Minister for Labour, Mr Joseph Ngutu said the move is aimed at eventual elimination of child labour and protection of the...

Vojvodina Assembly chairman says Beocin Cement Plant sold "illegally".
December 28, 2001... Novi Sad, 28 December: Vojvodina Assembly Chairman Nenad Canak today accused Serbian Privatization Minister Aleksandar Vlahovic of illegally selling Beocin Cement Plant (BFC) to a French company, Lafarge, and warned the company that it had...

Russia: Head of pardons commission regrets its abolition.
December 28, 2001... Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax Moscow, 28 December: The recent abolition of the presidential clemency commission and the transfer of its duties to regional governors was a mistake, according to the man who...

Iraqi spokesman details US-UK air activity on 28 December.
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Iraqi TV on 28 December The US and British ravens of evil have continued their combat air sorties over Iraqi residential areas and civilian installations and services, coming from military bases in Saudi Arabia and the...

Israeli envoy rejects Jordan Times report on border incident.
December 28, 2001... Text of letter to the editor of Jordan Times from Amir Weissbrod, counsellor, embassy of Israel, Amman; carried in English by Jordan Times web site on 28 December I refer to the article: "Attackers of Israeli patrol did not come from...

Turkey: Police catch six suspected Kurdish militants in Istanbul.
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Turkish TRT 2 television on 28 December In operations carried out against the terrorist PKK [Kurdistan Workers' Party ] in Istanbul, six people believed to be members of the organization were caught. According to...

Macedonian president hopes for peace in New Year's address to nation.
December 28, 2001... Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski has described 2001 as the most difficult period since the independence of the state. In a New Year's address to the nation, he paid tribute to those who had died defending the country, and thanked...

Israel and Syria exchange messages; US envoy Zinni reportedly to return.
December 28, 2001... [Barnea] Ehud, what is your headline this evening? [Ya'ari] There has been an exchange of messages between Israel and Syria. Is there anything to discuss? In the meantime, there has been no movement. Another headline is that the attack in...

Palestinian leadership says Quray-Peres contacts to continue.
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Palestinian radio Voice of Palestine broadcast via the Amwaj FM radio station on 28 December President Yasir Arafat chaired a meeting of the leadership council members at the Presidential Office in Ramallah tonight. The...

Hamas official in Lebanon says halt in operations "temporary".
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Beirut Tele-Liban TV on 28 December Ali Barakah, official in charge of public relations in the Hamas Movement in Lebanon, has linked a halt to Hamas martyrdom [suicide] operations to a halt in Israeli attacks. ...

Salt mine flooding causes earthquake threat in western Ukraine.
December 28, 2001... [Presenter] A severe earthquake caused by industrial activity threatens western Ukraine. The management of Polimineral, a mine extracting mineral fertilizers in the town of Stebnyk [Lviv Region], has been warning of an emergency for six...

Montenegro: Ruling party official surprised at Liberals siding with opposition.
December 28, 2001... Text of report by independent Montenegrin news agency Montena-fax Podgorica, 28 December: Igor Luksic, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Socialists [DPS], has said that by supporting the demands of the opposition which called for the...

Illegal CD manufacturer uncovered in eastern Ukraine.
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Ukrainian news agency UNIAN Kiev, 28 December: Law enforcers in Dnipropetrovsk Region have uncovered an illegal facility producing counterfeit CDs and selling them wholesale, UNIAN learnt at the public relations centre...

Russia officially opens diplomatic mission in Afghan capital.
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Russian TV6 on 28 December [Presenter] A Russian diplomatic mission officially opened in the Afghan capital today. Here is a report from Kabul by Ayrat Shevaliyev. [Correspondent] Today, new owners have moved into a...

Opposition leader objects to "impermissible minimum" of Montenegrin generals.
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Serbian Studio B TV on 28 December [Presenter] According to the chairman of the Socialist People's Party of Montenegro [SNP, largest Montenegrin opposition party], Predrag Bulatovic, the percentage of Montenegrins in the...

Deputy foreign minister says Iran disagrees with US definition of "terrorism".
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Iranian TV on 28 December Deputy [Iranian] foreign minister, Mr [Mohammad] Sadr, has met the general-secretary of the Lebanese Hezbollah, Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, in Beirut. They exchanged views on Lebanon, the situation...

Lebanon: Iranian envoy meets Hezbollah leader, notes denial of "foreign wing".
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Lebanese Hezbollah TV on 28 December Mohammad Sadr, the Iranian president's envoy and assistant foreign minister, has continued his visit to Lebanon. He met with Hezbollah Secretary-General His Eminence Hasan Nasrallah...

Russian Communist leader sends New Year greetings to Milosevic.
December 28, 2001... Text of report in English by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS Moscow, 28 December: Russian Communist Party leader Gennadiy Zyuganov has congratulated former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic on the New Year. The telegram to...

Putin signs decree on pardon commissions in regions.
December 28, 2001... Text of report in English by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS Moscow, 28 December: President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree on pardon commissions in Russian regions and rules for considering appeals for pardon, says a report of the...

Four kilos of heroin confiscated on Russian-Kazakh border.
December 28, 2001... Text of report in English by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS Nizhniy Novgorod, 28 December: Four kilograms of heroin have been found in the car of a Russian national by the Volga customs office. That is one of the largest shipments of...

Russia's Putin sends New Year greetings to heads of over 150 states.
December 28, 2001... Text of report in English by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS Moscow, 28 December: President Vladimir Putin has congratulated heads of more than 150 states on Christmas and New Year, the Kremlin press service reports. The congratulatory...

Armenia interested in deeper economic cooperation with Russia.
December 28, 2001... Text of report in English by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS Yerevan, 28 December: Armenia is interested in the deepening of economic cooperation with Russia, which will serve a solid basis for the further development of traditional...

Yugoslav defence minister rumoured to offer resignation over army chief.
December 28, 2001... [Reporter] In principle, all reforms start with a personnel reshuffle, but when this happens in the army, nobody is satisfied. If we are to believe Glas Javnosti, FRY Defence Minister Slobodan Krapovic, senior official of the Socialist...

Joint company to increase Russian oil supplies to Belarus.
December 28, 2001... Minsk, 28 December: In 2002, the Russian-Belarusian oil and gas company, Slavneft, intends to supply at least 3.5m tonnes of oil to the Mazyrski oil refinery [Homel Region], a company spokesman, Lyudmila Vyalyuha, told Belapan. In the...

Bosnia-Hercegovina's broadcasting agency awards TV and radio licences.
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Bosnian Croat radio on 28 December The communications agency announced today the results of the competition between 27 TV and radio stations in the Bihac region to award long-term licences for broadcasting. Among the...

Ukraine: Tax police urges banks to get tough on money laundering.
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Ukrainian ICTV television on 28 December [Presenter] Ukraine's tax police has reported on its performance in 2001. The main achievements include uncovering shadow funds. [Corespondent] The tax police has two pieces...

Bosnia: Brcko District assembly bans nationalist references in street names.
December 28, 2001... The interim assembly of Brcko District adopted this evening a decision on changes to the names of streets and squares in the district which will come into force on 1 January. According to the decision, which has taken into account...

Croatian ministry orders withdrawal of Baxter dialysis machines.
December 28, 2001... Text of report in English by Croatian news agency HINA Zagreb, 28 December: The Croatian Health Ministry has requested on Friday evening [28 December] that all haemodialysis centres withdraw dialysis machines manufactured by the US...

Cuba: Highlights of Radio Rebelde news 1100 gmt 28 Dec 01.
December 28, 2001... "Making radio" news programme; figures in brackets show minutes elapsed since the beginning of the programme 1. [03] Headlines: Havana's La Giraldilla Award was bestowed in the Literacy Campaign Museum at Cuidad Libertad, the former...

Argentina: Highlights of Todo Noticias TV news 1300 gmt 28 Dec 01.
December 28, 2001... "Todo Noticias" news; figures in parentheses indicate length of time of each item 1. Headlines. (1 min) 2. Sports news. (7 min) 3. Video report on controversy between Peronists over the caretaker government's intention to...

Cuba: Highlights of Radio Rebelde news 1800 gmt 28 Dec 01.
December 28, 2001... "National Radio News"; figures in brackets indicate time in minutes elapsed since the start of the programme 1. [04] US President George W. Bush today gave a news conference from his ranch in Texas where he stated US forces will remain in...

Islamic movement leader in Iraqi Kurdistan urges lifting of sanctions.
December 28, 2001... Text of report by Nasir al-Ali from Riyad; published by London-based newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat on 28 December Shaykh Siddiq Abd-al-Aziz, deputy general guide of the Islamic Unity Movement in Iraqi Kurdistan, has appealed to the...