W/News-AFP -092499

[bich dao <daotb@yahoo.com>]

Latest Headlines at 17:11 GMT, 24
            September 1999 

            Indonesia-demo

            JAKARTA: Indonesian
            security forces and opponents
            of a new army-backed
            security bill fought running
            battles for a second straight
            day, leaving four dead in the
            most serious unrest seen here
            this year.

            Indonesian President B.J.
            Habibie delayed signing the
            bill following the violence, a
            military spokesman said.

            Timor

            DILI, East Timor: Multinational
            troops clamped down on East
            Timor's militia with a raid and
            a high-profile arrest, and
            issued warnings against
            Indonesian soldiers wreaking havoc as they
retreat.

            Russia-Chechnya

            GROZNY, Russia: Russian warplanes launched
repeated air raids
            against Grozny as Chechnya said it had
intercepted intelligence
            reports revealing that federal troops
planned to invade their republic
            within a matter of hours.

            Taiwan-quake-China

            TAIPEI: Taiwan's Foreign Minister Jason Hu
lashed out at China,
            dashing hopes the island's devastating
earthquake could prompt a
            rapprochement between the two rival
countries.

            Poland-demo

            WARSAW: Some 30,000 protesters took to the
streets of Warsaw to
            demonstrate against economic reforms,
shouting "no to selling
            Poland to foreigners" and calling for
premier Jerzy Buzek to resign.

            Britain-banking

            LONDON: Bank of Scotland launched the
biggest takeover bid in
            British banking history with an offer of
20.85 billion pounds (32.5
            billion euros, 34 billion dollars) for
National Westminster Bank
            (NatWest), which rejected the approach.

            Iran-press

            TEHRAN: Iranian security services arrested
two journalists accused of
            having published a text deemed
"anti-Islamic and offensive" to a
            religious leader revered in Iran, radio
here said. 

            Jordan-Hamas-AbuMarzuk

            DUBAI: Musa Abu Marzuk, the Palestinian
Hamas official expelled
            from Jordan two days ago, charged that
Jordan's crackdown on his
            Islamist group was purely political.

            Yemen-vote

            SANAA: Yemen's first direct presidential
election was marred by
            limited fraud and incompetence but was
still an overall success,
            monitors said as counting of nearly four
million ballots continued.

            Somalia-starvation

            MOGADISHU: Several people are dying daily
of starvation in
            Garbaharey town and neighbouring villages
in the Gedo region of
            southern Somalia, and famine is worsening,
a faction spokesman
            said.
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