Reuters - July 30th, 2003

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China, boosting military spending and deploying growing numbers of ballistic missiles, is pursuing a strategy for a possible conflict in the Taiwan Strait aimed at bringing Taiwan to its knees before America has a chance to intervene, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.

The Defense Department issued its annual congressionally mandated report on Chinese military power, which emphasized a view that China is hard at work preparing for a potential war over Taiwan, regarded by Beijing as a renegade province requiring reunification.

China is ``exploring coercive strategies'' and embraces a doctrine of pre-emption emphasizing ``surprise, deception and shock'' in the opening phase of such a conflict, the report said.

China is making or buying weapons intended to impede the intervention of U.S. forces in a Taiwan conflict, the report added. It called these ``assassin's mace'' weapons systems.

Examples include the development of variants of a short-range ballistic missile that would increase its reach and enable it to hit Okinawa, where U.S. Marines are based. The report also noted that China has acquired from Russia two Sovremenny-class guided missile destroyers, with two more on the way, that could pose a threat to U.S. aircraft carriers.

``Preparing for a potential conflict in the Taiwan Strait is the primary driver for China's military modernization,'' the report said.

``While it professes a preference for resolving the Taiwan issue peacefully, Beijing is also seeking credible military options. Should China use force against Taiwan, its primary goal likely would be to compel a quick, negotiated solution on terms favorable to Beijing,'' the report added.

UNITED STATES AN ADVERSARY

The report also said China's military training exercises ``increasingly focus on the United States as an adversary.''

``While seeing opportunity and benefit in interactions with the United States -- primarily in terms of trade and technology -- Beijing apparently believes that the United States poses a significant long-term challenge,'' the Pentagon stated.

The report estimated that China has an annual military budget of $45 billion to $65 billion -- compared to the $20 billion figure announced by Beijing last year -- and projects that this budget ``could increase in real terms three- to four-fold by 2020.''

China possesses about 450 short-range ballistic missiles and is expected to add about 75 annually over the next few years, with their accuracy and lethality improving, it added. The Pentagon last year had estimated that China possessed 350 of these missiles and would be adding 50 per year.

All of these missiles are capable of being used against Taiwan and all are believed to be based in the Nanjing Military Region opposite Taiwan, the report said.

China also has added to its arsenal of long-range strike aircraft, the report said.

Pentagon officials express worry about a scenario in which China uses submarines to impose an economic blockade on Taiwan, unleashes short-range missiles, and employs electronic warfare techniques to disrupt Taiwanese command and control, all in a bid to impose its will quickly on Taiwan.

The report said China is pursuing robust research on laser weapons, and may have acquired high-energy laser equipment that could be used for ground-based anti-satellite weapons. China is improving its electronic warfare capabilities, which could be used to jam U.S. satellite-guided precision munitions, it added.

HAVANA (AP) -- The Cubans who sailed a pickup truck converted into a boat to within 40 miles of Florida drove a different truck to the U.S. Interests Section here on Wednesday, making a legal bid to reach the United States.

``Let's see if God wills it this way,'' said Ariel Diego Marcel as he and the other 11 relatives, friends and neighbors who made the foiled attempt last week stood outside the American mission.

The U.S. Coast Guard sent the group back to Cuba after a U.S. Customs plane spotted their unusual, bright-green truck-boat floating in the Florida straits.

The Cubans later said they thought their bid to emigrate would not fail because the act was so outrageous.

The truck-boat was kept afloat by empty 55-gallon drums attached to the bottom as pontoons. A propeller attached to the drive shaft was pushing it along at about 8 mph.

The nine men, two women and one small child were at sea for 31 hours before the plane spotted them. The truck was sunk as a hazard to ocean navigation.

Under U.S. immigration policies, Cubans who reach U.S. shores are allowed to stay while those caught at sea are usually returned.

On Wednesday, after arriving at the oceanfront mission in another vintage Chevy -- this one bright blue -- the group turned in the completed immigration forms that American officials had given them last week on the high seas.

American officials said they would respond within two months to the requests to emigrate legally to the United States.

Migrants have been found on rafts or small boats made out of refrigerators, bathtubs, surfboards and inner tubes, but U.S. Coast Guard officials said the truck appeared to be a first.

Forensic experts have begun work to open what is believed to be the largest mass grave ever found in Bosnia.

Bulldozers removed a layer of topsoil to reveal human bones, as the area was marked off with tapes.

The grave is thought to contain the remains of up to 700 Muslim men and boys - many of them killed after the fall of the town of Srebrenica to Bosnian Serb forces in July 1995.

Full story here.

The lawyer for the victims of the Moscow hostage siege has vowed to take their fight for compensation to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Up to 800 people had to endure a three-day ordeal in a Moscow theatre seized by the Chechen rebels last October.

One hundred and twenty-nine died after special forces stormed the building.

Dozens of lawsuits for moral damages filed by the survivors and families of the victims have been thrown out by Moscow courts.

An appeals court in Moscow has upheld the judges' decision to throw the cases out, saying the authorities were not obliged to pay moral damages.

Full story here.

A Russian officer has been convicted of murdering a Chechen woman and sentenced to 10 years in jail. Colonel Yuri Budanov admitted killing Kheda Kungayeva in March 2000, but claimed he was temporarily insane.

Last December, a court in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don accepted his defence and acquitted him. But that verdict was overruled in February by Russia's supreme court, which ordered a retrial. The judge in the new trial ruled on Friday that Budanov was of sound mind at the time of the killing and found him guilty of kidnapping, murder and abuse of power.

He is the highest-ranking Russian soldier to be convicted of a crime against a civilian during Russia's military campaign in Chechnya. The 18-year-old Chechen woman was abducted from her home village of Tangi-Chu and taken to a Russian military camp. There she was beaten, raped and strangled.

BUDANOV TIMELINE
March 2000: Budanov kills 18-year-old Kungayeva
December 2002: Budanov acquitted on grounds of insanity
February 2003: Supreme Court orders re-trial
July 2003: Budanov convicted
It also stripped him of his military rank and the Order of Courage he won in the breakaway region.

Full story here.

BALI, Indonesia (Reuters) - After days of haggling, Asia and Europe narrowed their differences on Thursday and issued an unprecedented joint demand for Myanmar's military to immediately free democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

In a separate statement, the 10 Asian and 15 European foreign ministers attending the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) took on North Korea with a call for curbs on the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction -- a reference to Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.

European Commissioner for External Affairs Chris Patten was outspoken, telling Reuters in an interview Myanmar's refusal to introduce democracy was damaging the entire region.

``Their behavior has been appalling,'' he said on the sidelines of the ASEM gathering in the Indonesian resort island of Bali.

Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said Suu Kyi's release should be immediate. He used the meeting to drum up support for a Thai proposal that interested countries work with Myanmar to draw up a road map for moving toward democracy.

Myanmar put Nobel laureate Suu Kyi into what the military called ``protective custody'' after a May 30 clash between her supporters and a pro-government group. Myanmar said on Wednesday 91 activists had since been freed.

``The ministers...called on the government of Myanmar to immediately release Aung San Suu Kyi and other NLD members and ensure them freedom of political activities,'' said a closing statement from the chair.

The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) has urged Myanmar to free Suu Kyi, showing unprecedented unity in criticizing a member whose actions have sparked international outrage. However, members reluctant to see ASEM make it an issue toned down an initially sharply worded statement from Europe.

``For the first time it is a common Asian and European document,'' Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told a closing news conference. ``It is a satisfactory result.''

STILL WAITING

Myanmar's intransigence is threatening a bid to enlarge ASEM.

Asked if Myanmar could join, French Junior Minister of Foreign Affairs Renaud Muselier said: ``Myanmar should enter ASEM, but in the current situation it is impossible.''

Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda acknowledged Myanmar's response to ASEAN's demand five weeks ago for Suu Kyi's immediate release had been disappointing. ``We are still waiting.''

Myanmar's military defended Suu Kyi's detention.

``The undesirable fact is that Daw Suu Kyi and the NLD (National League for Democracy) are trying to push Myanmar toward total destruction,'' said a commentary on Thursday in the New Light of Myanmar daily, a junta-controlled newspaper.

``They would say that wouldn't they,'' said British Minister of State Mike O'Brien, but added that he saw hope for change.

``There's a limit to how far the Burmese will want to insult their neighbors by ignoring the clear wish of the neighbors to see stability return to Burma,'' he told Reuters.

Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung is expected in Jakarta next week to brief Indonesia, and from there is due to go to Thailand.

Ministers addressed North Korea's nuclear ambitions, which threaten members China, South Korea and Japan and were the focus of unprecedented separate talks among the three. Chinese pressure appeared to have kept out harsh language against Pyongyang, which was not named in the separate statement condemning proliferation.

``No one wants North Korea to turn into a bomb-making factory flogging off the shelf to the highest bidder,'' Patten said. ``This is a global problem of the first dimension.''

Preventing more terror attacks such as the bombing of Bali nightspots which killed 202 people last October is another priority.

``This is an international problem. It has to be dealt with internationally,'' Patten said.

MOSUL, Iraq - Saddam Hussein's sons Odai and Qusai died in a blaze of gunfire and rockets Tuesday, the U.S. military said, claiming their deaths will blunt Iraqi resistance to the American occupation.

It was the most successful American operation since the war and comes as a much-needed tonic for U.S. troops, who recently have suffered a dozen attacks a day.

Acting on a tip from an Iraqi informant, U.S. forces mounted a six-hour operation in which they surrounded and then stormed a palatial villa in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez told reporters in Baghdad.

Four coalition soldiers were wounded and two other Iraqis were killed in the raid, but Saddam was not among them. The house belonged to a Saddam cousin, a tribal leader in the region.

"We are certain that Odai and Qusai were killed today," Sanchez said. "The bodies were in such a condition where you could identify them."

Full story here.

HAVANA (AP) -- U.S. officials on Monday repatriated 12 Cubans who were intercepted at sea after allegedly hijacking a government boat and taking three Cuban security guards hostage.

American officials said they decided to return the Cubans home after receiving assurances they alleged hijackers wouldn't be executed. The Cuban government praised the move, calling it ``a valuable contribution'' in the fight against illegal migration.

The three abducted security guards were also returned to Cuba.

U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said American authorities determined the Cubans were ineligible for amnesty because they had committed acts of violence in Cuba as well as against Coast Guard personnel who boarded the boat Wednesday.

The U.S. Coast Guard stopped the boat in international waters in the Straits of Florida on Wednesday. The Cuban government said its coast guard chased the 36-foot vessel into Bahamian waters Tuesday after it was taken from the communist-run island.

A Coast Guard cutter brought the group to Bahia de Cabanas, Cuba, around 10 a.m., Coast Guard spokesman Luis Diaz said. He had no further details.

Their return home raised humanitarian concerns, because Cuba executed three men in April for hijacking a ferry in a bid to reach the United States. Havana said the executions, by a firing squad, were necessary to halt a brewing migration crisis.

Reeker said the United States took into account the lack of due process in the April case.

U.S. officials agreed to the repatriation after Havana promised those who stole the boat would be serve no longer than 10 years in prison, the Cuban government said in a statement read on state-run television early Monday afternoon.

Some Cuban-American leaders were enraged by the U.S. decision.

``Unfortunately, what the U.S. government has done has entered into complicity with the Castro regime,'' said Joe Garcia, executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation, a powerful lobbying group in Miami.

The three Cuban-American congress members from South Florida, U.S. Representatives Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, also criticized the move.

``To return individuals to Cuba is to hand their fate to the criminal, who is Castro,'' Ros-Lehtinen

After Cuba went on the air with its statement, a government announcer read a statement written by U.S. Interests Section Chief James Cason, warning Cubans against hijacking planes or boats to emigrate illegally to the United States.

``Hijackings of boats and aircraft are extremely serious violations of international law and of United States law,'' said an English version of the statement, provided by the U.S. mission here.

He said any ``any hijacked conveyance bound for the United States'' would be stopped, and that anyone who hijacks a vessel and reaches U.S. shores ``will be prosecuted with the full force of the U.S. legal system.''

Any Cuban hijacker convicted in the United States will be ``rendered permanently ineligible for lawful permanent residence in the United States,'' Cason's statement added.

A similar written statement by Cason was read on state television earlier this year.

Cuba said the boat -- owned by Geocuba, a government company that does geological exploration and mapping -- was taken out of Boca de Nuevitas, about 340 miles southeast of Havana.

Under U.S. policy, most Cuban migrants intercepted at sea are repatriated and those who reach land are generally allowed to stay and apply for American residency after a year.

Editor's commentary: This is truly shocking news that needs to be examined carefully because it will affect global U.S. policy towards people around the world who fight for their rights and their freedom. Cubans who hijacked a boat to escape Castro's terrorist regime did it because they wanted to leave Cuba permanently. Cuban citizens are not allowed to travel abroad or even have passports so it is impossible for them to leave Cuba at all. Only those who are rendered loyal and trustworthy to Castro's criminal regime can obtain passports and travel abroad. People who live in the rest of the free world don't need to hijack planes or boats, they just obtain passports and buy themselves a ticket.

Some countries in the world have abolished death sentence and therefore object extradition requests where those who are to be deported can face death sentence. U.S. has no rights to object to death sentence in Cuba because death sentence is legal in U.S. Also, who hijacks planes and boats in U.S. in order to leave? Is there anyone who did that and was sentenced to ten years in prison? All this makes lame excuse of U.S. Department of State look hypocritical, ridiculous and cynical not to mention that deporting innocent people back to Cuba to face persecution is serious violation of their human rights and attack on liberties and freedom in general. It would have been OK to repatriate hostages who were brought to U.S. against their will but not those who wanted to come by any means necessary. To many people in Cuba, escape from Castro's regime is the only way for them to save their lives. You don't have to be sentenced to death in Cuba to be killed, they can also use death squads, torture, not taking care of serious diseases or fake accidents to kill people as well. If those who hijacked this boat have committed some serious crimes in Cuba and they escaped it because of it then that would be also a good reason for repatriating them. If someone commits murder or rob a bank in Cuba that doesn't entitle him for asylum. In this case this is not true.

But story goes ever worse. These people were not even questioned, interviewed or gave any kind of opportunity to explain their actions and tell their stories. In case of Elian Gonzales there was a court process and he didn't face any criminal charges back to Cuba or other repercussions for fleeing with his mother to U.S. And finally what kind of an explanation is that Castro promised them that they will not get more than ten years in prison? Fidel Castro is a lying son of a bitch who executed thousands of people and looted billions of dollars of American and other foreign capital not to mention his extortion and terror policies toward Cubans. This man twice pointed Russian nukes toward America and now people in U.S. Department of State have good reasons to believe him unconditionally although Castro recently intercepted and jammed American radio broadcasts for Iran!?

But the worst here is that Department of State is sanctioning any use of violence for people who fight for their freedom and liberties. This decision is also going to heavily affect many around the world even Bush administration itself which is a clear proof that Department of State is infested by traitors, Moscow agents - including Castro's agents and many other spies who want to sabotage American foreign policy and help terrorists kill more Americans and terrorist states to even further unrestricted oppress and terrorize their own people and spread chaos and terror around the world. You noticed already that chief of Department of State was not even once mentioned in this news or any of his comments so it remains to be seen who is in fact in charge of State Department. Is it Colin Powell appointed by president Bush who got democratically elected by American people or is it Fidel Castro and his infiltrated agents in Department of State?

What is also important here is to distinguish between terms violence and use of force. Violence is uncontrollable use of force that is against law and which causes many innocent people to get hurt or lose their lives. If the use of force is controlled and under law mandate then it can't be called violence. Hijackers in this case didn't kill any innocent people or threatened to them in any way. They were forced to use force against government employees because Castro's regime illegally denied them one of the basic human rights, right to freedom of movement and travel. Analogy is similar to nuclear bomb and nuclear power plant where fission process is uncontrollable during explosion but it is controllable during process of getting electricity. And finally, police officers use force almost everyday but yet we do not call it violence. What we see here is the perfect example of double standards where Castro's government is able to use force against people indiscriminately while people are supposed to be sheep and whatever Castro is telling them to do regardless of legality or validity of his statements.

U.S. Department of State is full of hypocrisy and double standards. while in some cases they endorse openly assassinations of democratic leaders in other cases they say that they reject any violence. Case in question here is 4th of July party in American embassy in Belgrade when ambassador Montgomery invited one of those who organized late Serb PM Djindjic's assassination, former Nazi leader of FRY Vojislav Kostunica to express his open support for his defiance against Hague Tribunal, Nazi violence in Serbia, sponsorship of Nazi elements in RS and to congratulate him on assassinating Zoran Djindjic. Department of State will now claim that this is not the case, that there is no evidence but facts are entirely different. Two Kostunica's political advisors are accused and charged with their part in conspiracy to assassinate Serb PM Zoran Djindjic but that fact didn't intimidate Montgomery to have long private discussion with Kostunica. Serbian government is often complaining about Montgomery's personal pressure to give even more parliamentary seats to the members of Kostunica party which is blatant and outrageous meddling into internal affairs of one sovereign country not to mention that Kostunica and his party openly sabotage all reforms, protect those indicted by the Hague tribunal and all Milosevic's party officials as well as open hatred of Kostunica towards America. On whose payroll is Montgomery and who are those who he is supposed to represent in Belgrade? American people, Colin Powell, George Bush or Slobodan Milosevic, Fidel Castro and the rest of Moscow stooges?

Story doesn't end here unfortunately. Reeker and Boucher from Department of State continue to hide very nasty incident occurred just after that infamous 4th of July party when BTW no one from Serbia and Montenegro governments showed up. What is the point of having an ambassador in Belgrade if officials there won't even have courtesy visit to him? Soon after that infamous party his wife assaulted brutally his personal secretary causing her physical and emotional harm no to mention enormous material damage in U.S. embassy in Belgrade. Secretary Biljana Jovic filed officially charges in Department of stae and federal court against his wife in Washington resulting in ambassadors wife Lynn being banned from embassy indefinitely. This story was reported in several newspapers in Belgrade but Department of State until this day had no comments like ti never happened.

All this indicates that there must be a massive reshuffle in Department of State because current chaos and their open ignorance against their chief Colin Powell and president George Bush can't last any longer. Foreign office and foreign politics in America today are in the state of anarchy where infiltrated Castro's agents and other Stalinist and fascists are defying America and the president in order to undermine American foreign policy. As mentioned in our press release we will no longer carry any statements, documents or news from Department of State. It would be the same as publishing FSB or CCP statements and their views.

A group of Russian writers and musicians has expressed concern that Soviet-era dissident writers are being dropped from the mandatory curriculum in high schools.

In an open letter to Education Minister Vladimir Filippov in the Izvestiya newspaper, they say novelists of the stature of Boris Pasternak - who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1958 - are now being recommended for optional reading only.

The letter said that among the other "blacklisted" authors were such famous poets as Anna Akhmatova and Osip Mandelstam and also novelist Andrei Platonov.

Pasternak's novel Doctor Zhivago was only published in Russia in 1988 - 30 years after it was first published in the West.

Full story here.

Thousands of Bosnian Muslims have attended a ceremony in the Serb-dominated city of Banja Luka to open the first mosque rebuilt there since the end of the Bosnian war.

Security was tight as authorities feared the repeat of violent clashes in 2001 when building started, but no incidents were reported.

All 21 mosques in Banja Luka were destroyed during the 1992-1995 war, and most of the city's Muslim inhabitants were expelled.

Thousands have since returned, but many have stayed abroad.

Correspondents say it is the exiles who have contributed largely to the reconstruction of the mosque.

Full story here.

The jamming was first discovered on 6 July when the government-funded station Voice of America launched a daily Persian-language programme aimed at Iran's domestic audience.

The Los Angeles-based Iranian television network National Iranian TV (NITV) - which promotes reform in Iran - has also had its signal blocked.

On Friday US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that the interference appeared to be intentional.

The signal is thought to come from a monitoring complex outside Havana set up by the Soviets during the Cold War to eavesdrop on the US.

Iran saw widespread demonstrations last month against the conservative clerical establishment. Hundreds of reformers have been arrested and there has been a crackdown on the free press.

US officials say Cuban President Fidel Castro could be in league with the Iranian government to stop Iranians from receiving satellite television.

Full story here.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- An Iranian-Canadian journalist died of a brain hemorrhage caused by a beating after she was arrested while taking photographs during anti-government protests last month, Iran's vice president said Wednesday.

It was the first admission from an Iranian official that Zahra Kazemi, who died Friday, was beaten.

Earlier, Iranian officials maintained Kazemi, a freelance photographer, died of a stroke, contrary to her family's contention that she was beaten to death by Iranian security agents who detained her as she covered the student-led protests.

``She has died of a brain hemorrhage resulting from blows inflicted on her,'' Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi told reporters after a Cabinet meeting. ``We are pursuing details of the matter to see how it happened.''

Wednesday's revelation underscored the struggle between reformers and hard-liners who control Iran's judiciary and security forces.

Government hard-liners had insisted Kazemi died of a stroke and tried to push ahead with her funeral. But a committee appointed by reformist President Mohammad Khatami to investigate the death stepped in Tuesday to prevent the burial, and Wednesday's admission about the beating came from Abtahi, a Khatami ally.

Kazemi's death ``has no outcome other than tarnishing our international image at a time when we are in deep crisis at home and abroad,'' Abtahi said Wednesday.

Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien called Wednesday for a full investigation into Kazemi's death.

``We're very keen on having the truth ... and if crimes have been committed, we will demand (the perpetrators) face justice,'' Chretien told reporters in Quebec.

Reformists have linked Kazemi's death to a crackdown by hard-liners on journalists. Khatami has decried the closure of more than 90 newspapers in the past three years and the imprisonment of dozens of writers and activists in mostly closed trials without jury as a violation of the constitution, but said he was ``powerless'' to stop them. A number of Iranian journalists have been arrested in the past few days.

Last month's protests, among the largest in years against the Islamic establishment, underline the growing anger and disillusionment among the Iranian public.

On Wednesday, Khatami ordered his ministers of justice and intelligence to review their enforcement of judicial and security powers over journalists, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

Kazemi, 54, who holds both Canadian and Iranian passports and lived in Quebec, was detained in Tehran on June 23 as she took photos of Tehran's notorious Evin prison during the protests. Family and friends said she was allegedly branded a spy and beaten unconscious by police interrogators. She was never formally charged with any crime.

Friends who visited her in the hospital days before she died said she was unconscious, with severe cuts and bruises on her face and head.

Authorities had tried to limit coverage of the protests by keeping journalists away from the heart of the demonstrations. A government order last month warned journalists getting too close to the unrest could be dangerous.

On Tuesday, Amnesty International joined calls by Iran's Islamic Human Rights Commission and other rights organizations for an independent investigation into Kazemi's death.

Her son, Stephan Hachemi, said Wednesday in Montreal he was not satisfied with Iran's explanation.

``I'm not surprised about anything when it comes to what they're saying,'' he said. ``The cause of her death is not clear.''

He said he wants his mother's body returned to Canada, and a full investigation involving Canadians to determine how she died.

Joel Ruimy, executive director of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, called Wednesday's revelation that Kazemi was beaten a first step in uncovering the circumstances of her death.

``Until all the facts come out, the West should be very wary of full normalization with Iran,'' added Ruimy, who spoke to The Associated Press in Toronto.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Myanmar's military rulers must quickly free pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told an envoy from the reclusive Southeast Asian nation on Wednesday.

The envoy, Myanmar Deputy Foreign Minister Khin Maung Win, met with Annan at U.N. headquarters as part of a drive by the Yangon government to counter global criticism of its detention of Suu Kyi, 58, who was arrested on May 30 and has since been held in an undisclosed location.

Annan said he gave the envoy a message for junta leader Than Shwe, ``telling him that I would expect them to release Aung San Suu Kyi as soon as possible, and that they are responsible for (her) protection and safety.''

``I also indicated that really the best way to move forward is to resume dialogue,'' Annan told reporters, adding that Suu Kyi had already indicated she was prepared to resume negotiations with the government.

The envoy, in turn, delivered a message from his government seeking to explain its detention of Suu Kyi, Annan said.

The United Nations has pushed hard for national reconciliation and a shift to democracy in Myanmar.

But its military rulers have accused international governments of meddling in its internal affairs and have warned of instability if Western-style democracy was imposed.

Speaking ahead of his meeting with the envoy, Annan said some governments were ``becoming quite exercised'' by the continued detention of Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate who was once again taken into custody following a clash between supporters and pro-government groups during a tour outside the capital.

Her party, the National League for Democracy, won 1990 elections in Myanmar but has never been allowed to take power.

The U.S. Congress on Wednesday cleared legislation closing the U.S. market to imports from Myanmar, sending the measure to the desk of President Bush for his signature.

But Annan said it was premature to talk about Security Council sanctions on Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. ``This is not an item on the council's agenda,'' he said.

Diplomats said the United States would like Security Council action but China and Mexico, among others, are wary.

Washington raised the issue in the council for the first time on Wednesday, during a closed-door meeting but did not push for council intervention.

U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said afterward he expressed concern over Suu Kyi's detention, the shuttering of her party's offices and the circumstances of her arrest.

French Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere and British Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock, however, set the stage for the issue to come up again in the council, asking that Annan's special envoy for Myanmar brief them the next time he was in New York, diplomats said.

Sofia City Court ruled Serb citizen Nenad Milenkovic, allegedly a member of the so-called Zemun Clan, under permanent arrest at a closed meeting July 15. Milenkovic, thought to be linked to the killing of Serb prime minister Zoran Djindjic, was arrested Thursday at the request of the Serbian authorities. Following the court meeting, Milenkovic's lawyer announced that no evidence of his client's ties to the mafia Zemun clan, has been presented. He also vowed that an appeal against the court's decision would be filed at the Appeals Court. The Serbian authorities are obliged to submit an official claim for Milenkovic extradition in a forty-day period. Milenkovic is wanted by Interpol over allegations of involvement in twenty contract murders and drug trafficking on the Balkans.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives voted 418-2 on Tuesday to ban imports from Myanmar, where pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been held by the government since May 30.

Rep. Tom Lantos, a California Democrat who help craft the sanctions bill, said the import ban would hit Myanmar's leaders ``where it hurts -- in their checking accounts.''

``United States imports of Burmese products have been bankrolling Burma's brutal dictatorship. Burma's major exporters are either owned by the ruling thugs, or are intricately tied to the government,'' he said.

Last month, the Senate voted 97-1 to ban imports from Myanmar, subject to annual congressional renewal, until the country has a democratically elected government in place. U.S. officials still refer to Myanmar by its former name, Burma.

The House bill would limit the import ban to three years to address U.S. business community concerns about the difficulty of lifting sanctions once they have been imposed.

Like the Senate bill, it also freezes the assets of the Myanmar regime and its leadership in the United States, reiterates existing U.S. policy to oppose lending to Myanmar in international financial institutions, and strengthens the current visa ban on former and present leaders of the Myanmar government or its political arm.

The Senate could approve the new House version in coming days and send a final bill to President Bush, who is expected to sign it, congressional aides said.

The United States imported $356 million worth of textiles, clothing, footwear and other goods from Myanmar in 2002.

The Myanmar government arrested Suu Kyi on May 30 following a clash between her supporters and pro-government groups outside Yangon, the country's capital. She has spent more than half of the last 14 years in detention in her home in Yangon.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- A Canadian photojournalist allegedly beaten into a coma by Iranian police for taking pictures of a Tehran prison has died, a senior Iranian official said Saturday.

Zahra Kazemi died late Friday in a Tehran hospital after suffering a ``brain stroke,'' Mohammad-Hossein Khoshvaqt, an official in the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, said in a statement carried by Iran's official news agency.

The Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Khoshvaqt as saying Kazemi, 54, had been authorized to cover last month's violent pro-reform protests in Tehran. No mention was made of her arrest.

Canada reiterated its demand for an explanation of the circumstances of her detention and injuries.

Kazemi's son, Stephan Hachemi, said his mother, who is of Iranian origin, traveled to the country after 1 1/2 months in neighboring Iraq. The freelance photographer from Quebec was arrested in Tehran on June 23 and branded a spy for taking pictures of a prison in the Iranian capital, friends and relatives say.

Kazemi called her mother in the town of Shiraz in southern Iran to say she had been detained, Hachemi said from Montreal. He said she was beaten up about two weeks ago while still in police custody.

Friends who visited her in a hospital Tuesday said she was unconscious, with severe cuts and bruises on her face and head.

Club- and knife-wielding hard-line vigilantes aligned with Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, battled with students and bystanders during a week of pro-reform protests last month in Iran, predominantly in Tehran.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham spoke to Hachemi on Saturday to ``express his deep sorrow and regret'' and offer the continued support of the Canadian government, Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Lillian Thomsen said.

``The minister has instructed the Canadian ambassador to meet with the Iranian foreign minister at the earliest possible time in order to obtain the cooperation of the Iranian authorities, and to reiterate our earlier request for an explanation of the circumstances surrounding the detention of Mrs. Kazemi and her injuries,'' Thomsen said.

Belgrade, 11 July 2003 (RFE/RL) -- Serbian authorities today launched an investigation into the 1997 sale of state assets under former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic that is believed to involve millions of dollars in kickbacks.

Serbian Justice Minister Vladan Batic said the sale of a 51 percent stake in Telekom Serbia to Telekom Italy for $497 million was "the biggest scam" in Serbia in the 20th century.

Italy launched its own probe into the deal in 2001 after newspaper reports that kickbacks amounting to millions of dollars changed hands.

Serbia bought back control over the company last December for $220 million.

Batic today said he has requested assistance from Italy, Greece, Germany, Cyprus, and Britain, the countries in which Milosevic and his men are believed to have had secret bank accounts and offshore companies.

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (AP) -- Vietnam's most celebrated Buddhist monk has spent a lifetime in and out of jail and house arrest for promoting religious freedom and democracy. Freed again two weeks ago, Thich Quang Do remains as feisty and outspoken as ever.

``People are very afraid of the government. ... Only I dare to say what I want to say. That is why they are afraid of me,'' the 74-year-old Nobel Peace Prize nominee said during an interview at the Thanh Minh Zen Monastery where he was confined for two years. It was his first meeting with a foreign journalist since his June 27 release.

Shaven-headed, with a disarming gap-toothed smile, Do cuts an elfin figure in his brown robes. Yet as deputy head of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, his words carry weight.

As communist Vietnam embraces the free market and seeks foreign aid and investment, its weak human rights record is under increasing international scrutiny. While welcoming Do's release, Western diplomats and human rights groups remain wary of whether it signifies a true change of heart.

``Given the number of people who are coming in (to prison), a high-profile release, in and of itself, is not necessarily a big improvement,'' said Brad Adams of New York-based Human Rights Watch.

Do's early release was a singular bright spot in a year that saw an intensified crackdown on political dissidents and continued persecution of ethnic minorities.

He credits international pressure, particularly from U.S. and European legislators, with helping shorten his detention, but believes it was a token gesture.

The Vietnamese government ``wants to join the (World Trade Organization). That's important to them. So they have to ease up on human rights and religious freedom... But this is only temporary. In reality, they haven't opened up at all,'' he said.

Last month, Vietnam provoked an international outcry by sentencing dissident Pham Hong Son to 13 years in jail for circulating pro-democracy materials over the Internet. His major offense: translating a U.S. State Department essay titled 'What Is Democracy?'

Carlyle Thayer, a Vietnam expert with the Australian Defense Force Academy, believes Do's release one week later was an attempt to salvage international good will and perhaps mend fences with the outlawed Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, whose leaders are seen as less threatening than political dissidents.

``The Buddhists have been arguing for religious freedom and the ability to control religious affairs. They're not trying to overthrow the Communist Party,'' Thayer said.

Vietnam maintains that its citizens enjoy freedom of speech and religion and only punishes lawbreakers. But its definition of crime raises questions.

In 1995, when Do was sentenced to a five-year prison term, the charges included sending two faxes to overseas Buddhists accusing the government of obstructing a church-sponsored flood relief mission.

During his latest confinement, Do was kept behind the red wrought-iron gates of the pagoda. His phone line was cut, he was denied visitors and letters, and security police were on duty round the clock.

Even now, ``on paper, I am free, but they are always watching,'' Do said, bursting into peals of laughter.

After greeting guests in a small sitting room upstairs, he spoke at length about freedom, human rights and democracy. ``In my opinion, these are more important than economic development,'' he said. ``If we don't have it, we cannot make any progress in the real sense.''

Do expressed particular concern over the heavy prison sentences meted out to several ``cyber dissidents,'' and urged foreign governments to campaign privately and publicly on their behalf.

``They are simply asking for democracy and human rights, but the government is afraid of losing control, and tries to silence them,'' he said.

He could have been describing himself. His defiance of repressive governments predates the 1975 communist takeover of South Vietnam and the former Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City. He was first jailed under Catholic leader Ngo Dinh Diem.

In 1981, the government created the Communist Party-controlled Vietnam Buddhist Church and forced Do into ``internal exile.''

International outcry led to early release from his 1995 sentence but he was again placed under house arrest in 2001.

In recent years, Vietnam has become more tolerant of public worship, and the faithful crowd into incense-filled Buddhist temples and Catholic churches.

But for Do, religious worship does not equal religious freedom and he plans to pick up where he left off.

``I must speak the truth and do what I believe is right. If it means being arrested again, well, I will accept it,'' he said with another defiant laugh.

The Committee for the Prevention of Torture of the Council of Europe has issued a strongly-worded denouncement of the use of torture by Russian forces in Chechnya.

As well as interviews with hundreds of people who have been held by Russian forces, the committee maintains that medical evidence points to the use of physical torture against detainees.

The committee alleges, too, that illegal detentions have been widespread, and that there is still a worrying number of cases of people simply disappearing.

The tone of the report suggests that the brutal actions of federal forces in Chechnya could well lead to more Chechen sympathisers being pushed towards extreme acts.

Full story here.

BELGRADE (Reuters) - A Kosovo Albanian woman with an arm maimed by 13 machinegun bullets told a Belgrade court on Thursday how she saw Serbs kill 19 members of her family.

Saranda Bogujevci, now 18, was among five child survivors who have been living in Britain since the slaughter in the town of Podujevo, carried out as NATO was bombing Serbia in the spring of 1999 to force its troops out of Kosovo.

She was testifying at the war crimes trial of former Serbian policeman Sasa Cvjetan, who has pleaded not guilty.

The frail dark-haired girl and her four cousins were the only ones left alive on a cold March day after rowdy soldiers and police gunned down her brothers, mother, grandmother, aunt and cousins, killing 19 in all.

Saranda said soldiers were laughing, shouting, swearing and ``breaking the windows of all the shops'' in Podujevo. Speaking calmly and dispassionately she said the soldiers marched the family to a yard. She saw one in his late 30s, with a short beard and brown hair, take a gun and shoot her aunt.

``I could not stop crying. Then my cousins started crying too. When I looked she was on the ground and he shot her again,'' she said. The man discarded his weapon, took another one from another soldier standing by and opened fire on the group.

The shooting ``went on and on'' and afterwards there was a long silence. Only then did she dare look around.

``My brother Shpetim was lying behind me, his face was on my feet.'' Sheptim, who was killed, was nine. She saw her cousin shot, then the disfigured face of a child, and her grandmother yellow and staring. She heard whimpering.

Serb men pulled her out and she woke in hospital.

The young witnesses are the first Kosovo Albanians to testify at a war crimes trial in Serbia. They have been under guard since arriving, after threats against the prosecution forced the trial to be moved to Belgrade from a provincial town. Saranda picked out Cvjetan, 28, in a line-up saying he looked familiar. But she could not positively identify him as being at the scene. He said she may have seen him in the media.

Several hundred Serbs died in NATO bombing to stop a Serbian onslaught against separatist Kosovo Albanian guerrillas and thousands of Albanians were killed as Serb forces took revenge.

Human rights lawyer Natasa Kandic said the children's testimony marked the first time ethnic Albanians appeared in a court in Serbia -- a fact likely to be welcomed by the West as a fresh step by the Balkan state toward facing its bloody past.

BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) -- Four ethnic Albanian children told a court Wednesday how Serb forces rounded up and gunned down their families with automatic weapons in one of the most brutal acts of the 1998-99 Kosovo war.

Their testimony came during the trial of a Serb police officer accused of leading an assassination squad through their community during the war.

The children, who were said to have positively identified the officer, Sasa Cvjetan, in his prison cell Tuesday, watched as Serb troops slaughtered 19 ethnic Albanian relatives, including their mothers, siblings and grandparents, on March 28, 1999, in the town of Podujevo. The children were also wounded.

The Serbian government's decision to prosecute those responsible for the crimes appears to mark a new willingness to punish Serb troops who slaughtered ethnic Albanian civilians during the conflict. The troops were under the command of then-President Slobodan Milosevic, who is being tried on genocide and war crimes charges at the U.N. tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands.

Reflecting the sensitive nature of the trial in Belgrade, security has been tight. The children, who arrived Monday from their homes in Manchester, England, were driven to the courthouse in jeeps with dark-tinted windows, under top police security and shielded from cameras.

Reporters were denied access to the trial Wednesday, making details of the proceedings sketchy. But one witness at the trial, Natasa Kandic, whose Humanitarian Law Center has provided legal assistance to the victims, said the children and their fathers described to the court how their families were rounded up and gunned down.

A fifth child who witnessed the killings, 10-year-old Genc Bogojevci, arrived with the others this week but ended up not testifying. ``Psychologists decided that he is too young'' and sent him to stay with surviving relatives in Kosovo, Kandic said.

The five children, aged from 10 to 18, individually identified Cvjetan, at his Belgrade prison on Tuesday, Kandic said.

``The children ... all showed a maturity and consistency in their statements,'' Kandic told The Associated Press. ``They were able to identify the suspect with great precision.''

Cvjetan's lawyer, Djordje Kalanj, confirmed the children had identified his client, but told AP he would seek to bar their identifications as evidence.

``They could easily have seen his photographs in any of the papers since the killing,'' Kalanj said.

The trial against Cvjetan began last October. Another former officer, Dejan Demirovic, is being tried in absentia for the same charges after fleeing to Canada.

``As victims, they (the children) will be the first in this trial to offer firsthand evidence on the massacre,'' Kandic said. Other witnesses at the trial so far were Serb policemen who denied the killings.

Cvjetan has denied the charges against him. He testified that his unit ordered a group of ethnic Albanians to leave their houses in Podujevo so Serb troops could move in. He said he did not see who fired the shots that killed the victims.

Both officers were members of the notorious Serbian special police units known as Scorpions. The indictment accuses them of carrying out the massacre four days after NATO launched a bombing campaign on March 24, 1999 to punish Belgrade for its crackdown on Kosovo Albanians.

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) -- Thousands of Sarajevans began paying tearful tribute Wednesday to victims of Europe's worst massacre since World War II as trucks carried remains for reburial later this week at the site of the slaughter.

Up to 4,000 people stood silently as three trucks holding remains from an identification center in the central town of Visoko stopped in front of the Bosnian presidency building in Sarajevo en route to the town of Srebrenica, where the massacre took place.

Only the sound of weeping broke the silence.

``I lost my son, Hiram and 13 other family members during the fall of Srebrenica,'' Zineta Mujic, 53, said with a trembling voice. ``None of my loved ones have been found.''

Among those who paid tribute were some Bosnian politicians, including two members of the country's multiethnic presidency. The Serb member of the presidency, Borislav Paravac, did not attend.

The bodies of 282 identified victims will be buried Friday, the eighth anniversary of the massacre, in a new Srebrenica cemetery dedicated to victims.

Up to 8,000 Muslims, mostly boys and men, were slaughtered at Srebrenica in July 1995 by Bosnian Serb soldiers who had overrun the eastern town, then a U.N.-protected zone. The killings came shortly before the end of the country's 1992-95 war.

The bodies were dumped in mass graves across the countryside and are still being discovered. So far, more than 5,000 Srebrenica victims have been exhumed from across eastern Bosnia, and of those, 1,620 have been identified by DNA analysis.

Of the 282 victims, 26 were under the age of 18 and the two oldest victims were 75, said Amor Masovic, head of the Muslim Commission for Missing Persons in charge of the exhumation process.

Earlier this year, the first 600 identified Srebrenica victims were buried in a similar ceremony in the new cemetery.

About 250,000 people were killed during the country's war among Muslims, Croats and Serbs. Since the end of the conflict, about 16,500 bodies have been exhumed from more than 300 mass graves throughout the country.

Mejra Halilovic, 53, cried as she watched the convoy leave. She lost several family members, including four brothers, two of whom have been identified.

``We need to arrest those who committed this crime,'' she said. ``Only after that will people live freely in this country.''

BELGRADE (Reuters) - A blast in the Serbian capital destroyed the car of the owner of two Belgrade daily newspapers on Sunday, but no one was hurt, Belgrade radio B92 reported.

The explosion took place just before 10 p.m. (2000 GMT), the radio said.

Radislav Rodic, the owner of the Kurir and Glas Javnosti dailies, told the radio station he was sitting in a restaurant having dinner when it happened.

The waiters told him they had seen two cars slowly pass by his and then heard an explosion half a minute later.

Rodic did not want to speculate on who could be behind the explosion, but said he had been receiving threats lately, including from government circles.

His papers often carry sensationalist articles, especially Kurir which only started coming out after the state of emergency that followed the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic earlier this year.

The military authorities in Iraq are offering a $25m reward for information leading to the capture of former president Saddam Hussein.

The top US official in Iraq, Paul Bremer, said $15 million was being offered for similar information about Saddam's two sons, Uday and Qusay.

Full story here.

Russia's Prosecutor General has arrested one of the country's richest men, the billionaire Platon Lebedev - a move being interpreted as a sign that the Kremlin is warning so-called 'oligarchs' to stay out of politics.

Mr Lebedev was detained by prosecution service officers at the hospital where he was receiving treatment.

He forms part of a the country's super-rich elite - the oligarchs who made their fortunes in the early days of Russia's wild privatisation - and is suspected of embezzling more than $280m worth of stock in a state-owned maker of fertilisers back in 1994.

Mr Lebedev, with an estimated wealth of $1.3bn, is chairman of Menatep, the finance group which controls 61% of the country's largest company, oil giant Yukos.

His close ally, Yukos chief executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Russia's richest man, has now also summoned to the prosecutor's office on Thursday evening in connection with Mr Lebedev's arrest.

At the same time as the news of the arrest reached the wires, the Prosecutor General's office announced that two more top men of Yukos are wanted.

One of them, a head of the firm's security department is accused of murder; another, a company subsidiary's manager, is suspected of embezzling of funds during the privatisation.

Mr Khodorkovsky called Mr Lebedev's arrest illegal and promised to protest officially.

Full story here.

Editor's commentary: Putin is consistently and systematically undoing everything positive that happened after fall of USSR in order to restore Soviet system at any cost. He and his Stalinist followers wrongly think that dictatorship and terror with deprivation of people's rights is the way to achieve prosperity of Russian people or maybe they just like Stalin in the past don't give a damn about people but just their own well being. It only remains to see what will OSCE have to say at the end of this year when Putin is going to get 120% support of Russian voters in another rigged and fraudulent elections. OSCE will be ultimately responsible for legitimizing Putin's retroactive goal of turning Russia back to USSR and all the misery that beast state brought to the world.

MOSCOW (AP) -- Opposition politicians and analysts said Thursday that the arrest of a billionaire for alleged privatization fraud appeared to be a warning from the Russian government to big business ahead of December's parliamentary elections.

Authorities on Wednesday detained Platon Lebedev, a close partner of Russia's richest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, on suspicion of defrauding the state of $283 million in the 1994 privatization of the Apatit fertilizer company.

Khodorkovsky, who according to Forbes magazine is Russia's richest man with an estimated $8 billion, is chief executive of Russian oil giant Yukos, which is reported to be bankrolling a number of opposition parties.

Lebedev -- himself dubbed a billionaire by Forbes -- is chairman of the Menatep group, a holding company with assets worth a reported $30 billion, including 61 percent of Yukos.

When Russia's vast assets were privatized after the fall of the Soviet Union, they were snapped up on the cheap by a handful of astute businessmen. These businessmen, known in Russia as oligarchs, played a big role in deciding policy under former President Boris Yeltsin. President Vladimir Putin has made it his goal to keep big businessmen out of politics and has vowed to get rid of oligarchs ``as a class.''

A Moscow's court ruled late Thursday that Lebedev should remain in custody, Menatep spokesman Yuri Kotler said. He is being charged with embezzlement, fraud and failure to comply with a court decision, the Interfax news agency reported.

Kotler said the company was astonished by the detention of its chairman and considered the actions of law enforcers to be ``inappropriate.''

Analysts said the timing of the arrest, months before December's parliamentary elections in Russia, suggested it was politically motivated.

``The Yukos group is rumored to be funding various groups opposed to the centrist government party. There is evidence to suggest that this incident is politically motivated,'' said Roland Nash, head of research at Renaissance Capital in Moscow.

Vladimir Lukin, vice speaker of the lower house of parliament and a member of the liberal opposition party Yabloko, agreed.

``I think you have to be a very naive person without much knowledge of our political demimonde not to believe that this is part of an intrigue,'' he said on Echo of Moscow radio.

Lebedev's arrest came out of an investigation requested by lawmaker Vladimir Yudin, a member of the pro-Kremlin Fatherland-All Russia faction.

``If there are violations of law in privatization, we need to get rid of them, no matter how long ago they occurred,'' Yudin told Echo of Moscow on Thursday.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- A federal judge has ruled the Palestinian militant group Hamas must pay more than $116 million for murdering two Jewish settlers near the West Bank seven years ago.

The lawsuit was filed in 2000 by David Strachman, a Providence attorney designated by an Israeli court to manage the estate of Yaron Ungar, an American citizen, and his Israeli wife, Efrat. They were killed as they drove home from a wedding in June 1996.

Four Hamas members already have been convicted in an Israeli court; one remains at large.

Hamas never responded to the lawsuit, allowing Magistrate Judge David Martin to issue the default judgment Thursday. It was not immediately clear whether Hamas would honor the ruling, or whether the group has the money to pay.

Strachman also seeks to hold the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority accountable for the crime, alleging they provided a safe haven and operational base for Hamas. Strachman had said obtaining a damages award from Hamas could open the door to finding the PLO and PA liable as well. There was no answer at Strachman's law firm Thursday.

Martin has scheduled a hearing for July 14, at which time he could issue a default judgment against the PLO.

Ramsey Clark, the former U.S. attorney general representing the PLO and PA, was out of the country and could not be reached Thursday. The defendants' local attorney, Deming Sherman, also could not be reached, his secretary said.

Martin had taken a year to decide if a federal court in the United States could assume personal jurisdiction over Hamas, and therefore, require the organization to obey any ruling. He wrote that the court could take the case, finding that Hamas has had minimum contact with the United States.

To back up the argument, the judge wrote that Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, leader of Hamas' political wing since 1989, had resided in the United States until 1993 and had admitted raising money for the group during that time.

The case was filed under the Antiterrorism Act of 1991 that allows American victims of overseas terrorism to seek monetary damages in U.S. courts.

BANGKOK (Reuters) - A forgotten relic of the Vietnam War, the battle between the Communist government of Laos and a rag-tag army of Hmong rebels grabbed global headlines this week when a court jailed two European journalists covering the story.

Hmong exiles say Laos is trying to hide a campaign, forged with Vietnamese army help, to wipe out a few thousand rebels holed up in the mountains of northern Laos, remnants of a U.S.-backed army that fought communist troops during the Vietnam War.

Laos denies the existence of a rebel army, saying bandits are to blame for sporadic attacks on public buses and skirmishes with troops.

Analysts say the government wants to improve relations with the Hmong minority, despite centuries of mutual distrust between lowland Laotians and the hilltribe with roots in southern China.

But what is left of a Hmong group, hired in the 1950s by the French colonial army and then secretly used by the United States to fight North Vietnam and Laotian Communist rebels who ended up taking control in 1975, is still a thorn in the regime's side.

``The government's attempting to construct a reasonable minority policy, but at the same time there's bad blood on both sides,'' said Grant Evans, a Laos expert at Hong Kong University.

``In Xaisomboun special zone it's purely political. It's simply a case of a military campaign to wipe out these bastards who simply won't lay down their arms.''

Two Time magazine reporters traveled to the Xaisomboun zone earlier this year, returning with photos showing emaciated Hmong fighters, clutching decades-old rifles, weeping and begging on their knees for the journalists to help.

The European freelance journalists, Thiery Falise and Vincent Reynaud, led by an American pastor of Hmong origin and four other Hmong guides, made the same trip to the restricted area in May, but were arrested as they emerged from the jungle.

A court convicted the men for possession of weapons, obstructing officers, possession of drugs and involvement in an incident that caused the death of a local militiaman.

VIETNAM WAR FORGOTTEN

U.S.-based Hmong groups are eager to publicize the story of the ``secret U.S. war veterans'' and urge Washington and Vientiane to allow evacuation of the rebels. But they say Washington is uninterested in raking over the ashes of the Vietnam War.

After the 1975 Communist takeover some 300,000 Hmong fled to the United States via Thailand, leaving just 400,000 in Laos. Most ethnic Hmongs, some 10 million, live in China.

``These people are desperate,'' said Ed Szendrey, who runs an organization trying to publicize the plight of the Hmong rebels. ``They're eating the roots of trees because the cassava's almost gone, the Communists are taking over the fields,'' he said.

``But the U.S. government doesn't want to listen because it wants to forget about the Vietnam War.''

Szendrey says Laos is using unspecified chemical weapons against the Hmong fighters, describing bombs that emit colored smoke, causing diarrhea and vomiting leading to death.

But Evans is skeptical. His book ``Yellow Rain'' discredited claims in the 1980s that yellow clouds in Hmong areas were chemical attacks by the Laotian army.

Tested samples turned out to be bee feces.

``If someone is using chemical bombs in the country, it is not the Lao government. It's someone else who can bring chemical bombs to be used in our country,'' Laotian Trade Minister Soulivong Daravong told Reuters in an interview before the journalists were arrested.

The media focus on the Hmong may dissipate when the spotlight on the jailed journalists fades. Under growing diplomatic pressure, the Laotian Foreign Minister Somsavat Lengsavad told Reuters on Thursday Laos was ready to pardon the journalists.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- Seeking to relieve political pressure from Washington, Serb authorities Tuesday handed over a colonel wanted by the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in connection with the massacre of 200 people during war in the Balkans.

Col. Veselin Sljivancanin, indicted for the 1991 killings near the Croatian town of Vukovar, was flown to The Hague and taken into U.N. custody, tribunal spokesman Jim Landale said

Sljivancanin's arrest last month sparked a night of clashes between dozens of riot police and hardline Serb nationalists who threw rocks and set cars alight.

Serb officials said at the time his arrest was proof of their commitment to meet U.S. demands that fugitives be transferred to the tribunal. The United States threatened to withhold badly-needed aid unless Serbia complied with the court.

The investigation which led to the so-called Vukovar hospital indictment was one of the first undertaken by the tribunal, established in 1993 to prosecute war crimes in the Balkans during the 1990s.

Most of the victims were taken from the hospital to a farm near the town of Ovcara, where they were executed. A significant part of the evidence was obtained from a mass grave nearby.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran is blocking access to Web sites containing pornographic material and opposition-driven dissent against the country's Islamic establishment, an official said Tuesday.

More than 140 Web sites promoting dissent, dancing and sex have been blocked since the crackdown began last month, said Farhad Sepahram, an official at the Telecommunications Ministry.

Religious hard-liners are increasingly concerned about Iranians' access to information from the outside world, a sign of worry such communications are playing a role in stirring pro-reform sentiment, such as the recent anti-government protests by young people.

Sepahram said most of the blocked Web sites belong to opposition groups. Among them is one run by Reza Pahlavi, son of the late Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was toppled by the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and one by Abolhassan Banisadr, Iran's first elected president after 1979 who now opposes the cleric-dominated establishment.

Also blocked are the Voice of America's Farsi-language service and radiofarda.com, a U.S.-financed, Farsi audio program.

The United States cut off diplomatic relations with Iran in 1979 after militant students stormed its embassy in Tehran. Washington has also imposed trade sanctions on Iran, which it accuses of aiding terrorist groups.

Sepahram said his ministry also is blocking some pornographic sites run by Iranians from outside the country, but he conceded it is impossible to close access to all sex-related sites.

He said the list of sites to be blocked came from the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council, an unelected body controlled by hard-line clerics.

The council was set up by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of the 1979 revolution. Reformist President Mohammad Khatami is the chairman, but most members are appointed by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Khomeini's successor, and conservatives outnumber reformists on the panel.

Khatami was elected on promises to loosen social and political life, but Khamenei's unelected establishment has hindered his efforts to deliver greater freedoms.

Hanif Mazrouei, a writer for a reformist Web site and the son of a leading reformist legislator, predicted the crackdown will fail.

``In the 1980s, the government banned videos. In recent years, it went on to impose restrictions on satellite dishes, but none worked,'' he said. ``Blocking Web sites is more difficult to do. They can't deny a nation impatient for change from information they like to know.''

HONG KONG (AP) -- A new law targeting crimes against the state drew hundreds of thousands of people into the streets of Hong Kong on Tuesday in a protest that overshadowed the sixth anniversary of the handover of the territory from Britain to China.

The protesters marched through the city peacefully to show opposition to anti-subversion legislation, which many fear will be used to suppress free expression and other liberties traditionally available in Hong Kong but nonexistent in China.

``The law is so big and broad that anything we do can be penalized,'' said Arki So, 24, a bank clerk who was attending his first protest. ``It's turning Hong Kong into a prison, and no one will know what to do or what not to do.''

March organizer Richard Tsoi said more than 500,000 people turned out, dressed in black and waving signs as they brought much of Hong Kong island to a standstill during the 6 1/2 hour march.

Police said 350,000 people were on the streets at the height of the demonstration.

In either case, it was the largest protest in Hong Kong since 14 years ago, when 1 million shocked residents poured out after Chinese troops crushed the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement on June 4, 1989, leaving hundreds dead.

The march against the anti-subversion legislation drew far more attention than ceremonies marking the 1997 handover of the territory to China.

``This will push Hong Kong toward an era of tyranny,'' W.C. Mak, a 74-year-old retired nurse, said of the new law.

Most Hong Kong demonstrations involve a tiny group of die-hard activists, and the presence of so many ordinary citizens highlighted concerns that the government is far out of touch with its populace as it pushes the national security bill.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa responded with a statement saying he was concerned about the large number of protesters.

Tung repeated assurances that his government will ``continue to take active steps to maintain and safeguard rights and freedoms.''

The bill, required under Article 23 of Hong Kong's mini-constitution, will outlaw subversion, sedition, treason and other crimes against the state, with life prison sentences for many offenses. It is expected to be enacted within days.

Many here believe it will lead to mainland-style repression of dissident viewpoints -- a charge the Hong Kong government calls groundless.

Tung insists local freedoms will be preserved.

Many Hong Kong people see the anti-subversion measure as a betrayal of the ``one country, two systems'' form of government that was promised -- along with Western-style civil liberties -- at the Hong Kong handover.

``My daughter asked me why we have to march,'' said 36-year-old advertising worker Joanne Chow. ``I told her it's for freedom, for our future. It's a tragedy if we have to live in a society where we dare not speak our minds and fear persecution.''

Smaller numbers of people voiced support for the law.

Hong Kong fishermen sailed dozens of boats around the harbor, flying the Chinese flag to show their support. A pro-Beijing group staged a carnival and soccer tournament that attracted a few thousand people.

``We have to support the national security law -- I'm Chinese,'' said one man, Yeung Kin-chung.

In an early morning commemoration of Hong Kong's return to China, helicopters dragged the Chinese and Hong Kong flags through the sky as government leaders, including Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and the Hong Kong chief executive stood at attention.

Activists outside torched the flag of the Chinese Communist Party, demanding an end to its monopoly on power in the mainland and scuffling with police.

Wen told political and business elites that Beijing would honor its pledge to allow Hong Kong considerable autonomy to preserve its ``unique position and irreplaceable role'' within China and the global economy.

Wen was later asked about the anti-subversion bill and told journalists it ``absolutely will not affect the different rights and freedoms that Hong Kong people -- including reporters -- enjoy under the law.''

Wen left Hong Kong before the march.