News Briefs
May 4, 1996
Web posted at: 9:15 p.m. EDT (0115 GMT)
Raoul Wallenberg: diplomat, humanitarian ... spy?
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (CNN) -- History remembers Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg as a humanitarian, a man responsible for moving as many as 100,000 Hungarian Jews out of danger during World War II. According to a U.S. News & World Report article, he should also be remembered for his work as an American informant.
U.S. News cited files from the U.S. Office of Strategic Services, the predecessor to the CIA, that said Wallenberg worked for the OSS, helping the agency establish contacts with Hungarian resistance groups. Sweden denied the report, saying there was nothing in the documents to prove that Wallenberg was a spy.
Wallenberg was arrested by Soviet authorities in 1945, and died of a heart attack two years later, the Soviet Union said. However, the U.S. News report also suggested that the Soviet Union lied about his death, citing witnesses who recognized Wallenberg through photos, and said they had seen him in the Soviet Union up to 10 years after he was supposed to have died.
- Raoul Wallenberg - Swedish site, in English
Third ex-policeman confesses to murder of street kids
BRASILIA, Brazil (CNN) -- A third former police officer confessed Saturday to shooting to death a group of Brazilian street children as they slept. Marco Aurelio Alcantara, who goes on trial next month, was identified by one child who survived the shooting and later identified him.
Marcos Vinicius Emmanuel, the first former policeman to go on trial for the 1993 shooting deaths of eight children, confessed, and was given a 309-year sentence for his crimes. Even though by Brazilian law, Emmanuel will only serve 30 years, the conviction is seen as a major step forward for human rights, since no Brazilian policeman had ever been convicted for murdering street children before.
Human rights groups believe about 1,000 homeless children are shot each year, many by squads hired by shopkeepers. Off-duty policemen are believed to sometimes participate in the squads.
Zulu march leads to shoot-out with police
DURBAN, South Africa (CNN) -- Another violent incident was reported Saturday in Durban, the capital of South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province, where the Inkatha Freedom Party organized a march Saturday. About 3,000 Zulu demonstrators were marching to protest a ban on carrying traditional -- but dangerous -- weapons in public. Inkatha has accused the African National Congress of instituting the ban as part of a campaign to dilute traditional Zulu values.
A police spokesman told Reuters news service that officers came under attack when they tried to disarm a marcher who was carrying an automatic rifle. At least nine people, including several policemen, were wounded in the shoot-out. Although the marchers tried to regroup, the march finally ended in chaos.
The incident was the latest show of tension between the ruling ANC and the IFP, which wants KwaZulu-Natal to be independent from the rest of South Africa. Fighting between the two groups has killed thousands of people in the last 10 years.
- South Africa and Natal/KwaZulu - demographics
- African National Congress home page
- Inkatha Freedom Party home page
Riot quelled in Quebec's historic district
QUEBEC CITY, Quebec (CNN) -- Canadian police used tear gas and pepper spray to quell a riot in Quebec City Friday night. The trouble began when police arrested two teen-agers who were trying to start a fire and had damaged the front of the Capitole Theatre, Quebec's most famous cultural complex.
About 1,500 young people protested their arrest by throwing rocks and beer bottles at police, breaking windows in shops and police cruisers, and lighting small fires in the city's historic section.
The disturbance lasted four hours. Eight policemen were hurt, and 16 teen-agers were arrested. The riot was the fourth in five years in the historic quarter of Quebec City.
- Ville de Québec (en français)
Floods still threaten Australia
SOUTH QUEENSLAND, Australia (CNN) -- Severe flooding continued to affect parts of eastern Australia Saturday, despite rain easing overnight.(768K QuickTime movie of flooding conditions) Weather forecasters do not expect flooding to subside before the middle of next week.
Since the rain began one week ago, thousands of homes have been left without electricity, and entire villages have been evacuated.
Australia's tropical storms have caused chaos from Central Queensland to the Gold Coast, with winds of up to 100 kilometers an hour in some areas.
People have been evacuated from their homes by boat, while helicopters have dropped food and medical supplies to others similarly trapped.
The massive downpours have spread into the northeast of the adjoining state, New South Wales and south to Sydney.
CNN's John Raedler and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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