News Briefs
May 28, 1996
Web posted at: 10:40 p.m. EDT (0240 GMT)
Europe eyes uniform currency with different standards
BONN, Germany (CNN) -- After holding talks Tuesday with Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi suggested a controversial possibility for countries that want to join the European Monetary Union: Those that can't qualify for a single European currency in 1997 might still qualify on the basis of their economic performance in 1998.
Prodi said that slow economic growth across Europe meant it would be hard for many countries to make the grade.
Countries that make the cut would all use the same currency. Poorer nations like Italy and Spain want to be in the EMU because they believe it will stabilize their economies. The public is less enthusiastic in stronger countries like Germany, where it is believed that joining with the weaker countries will slow them down.
- Spain wants delay in European currency - May 6, 1996
Albanian police beat anti-government supporters
TIRANA, Albania (CNN) -- Opposition party supporters and riot police clashed Tuesday in Tirana's central Skanderbeg Square. Partisans of the Socialist Party went to the square to protest Sunday's national elections, which international observers said were rigged.
Many people were beaten by police wielding batons, including Socialist and Social Democratic Party leaders. People ran for cover wherever they could find it. Many protesters were taken into police custody.
The anti-government supporters were trying to reach the spot where ruling Democratic Party officials held a victory rally Monday.
No official election results have been released, but unofficial results broadcast on state radio gave the Democratic Party an overwhelming victory over the Socialists, the main opposition.
Reuters contributed to this report.
- Albania's ruling Democrats confident of victory - May 26, 1996
- Albania condemns to death three top ex-Communists - May 24, 1996
Burmese opposition proposals sting government
RANGOON, Burma (CNN) -- Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy approved several proposals sure to enrage the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council as the opposition party wrapped up a controversial meeting Tuesday.
Delegates to the three-day congress voted to let senior members draw up a draft constitution and proposed a constitutional conference representing the Burmese people. The NLD pulled out of government-sponsored constitutional talks last November, angering the council.
Suu Kyi said the NLD wants any future government to be ruled by an elected parliament, with the armed forces taking a limited role. The current constitution calls for the military to have a leading role. The NLD also seeks the release of all political prisoners in government custody.
Reuters contributed to this report.
- Suu Kyi addresses 5,000 in Burma - May 25, 1996
Ukraine appoints fifth prime minister in five years
KIEV, Ukraine (CNN) -- The line of former prime ministers grew longer in the Ukraine Tuesday when president Leonid Kuchma appointed Pavlo Lazarenko to replace Yevhen Marchuk.
Lazarenko is the fifth prime minister in the former Soviet republic's five years of independence. He is a close political ally of the president.
Kuchma dismissed Marchuk Monday, accusing him of not doing enough to right the Ukraine's ailing economy. Marchuk bitterly denied the charge.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Japanese cult leader pleads to save his sect
TOKYO (CNN) -- Japanese cult leader Shoko Asahara pleaded with authorities during an official hearing on Tuesday not to outlaw his Aum Shinri Kyo (Supreme Truth Sect) under a 1952 law on subversive activities.
Asahara, charged with masterminding the 1995 Tokyo subway nerve gas attacks that killed 11 people and injured about 5,500, said he would rather die than see the sect he started in 1987 disbanded.
The cult leader said he already had tried to kill himself twice in jail. He said he tried to suffocate himself with clothing.
Aum Shinri Kyo already has been stripped of its status as a religious organization and is bankrupt. However, authorities believe there still are about 7,500 active members. If outlawed, Asahara's followers could not raise money, organize in any way or gather in large groups.
Asahara and his lawyers claim the subversive prevention law does not apply to his sect because it is a religious group not a political organization.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
- Asahara remains silent - May 23, 1996
- Japan cult guru says Rabin death ended prophecy - May 15, 1996
Britain stalls EU business over mad cow row
BRUSSELS, Belgium (CNN) -- Britain made good on its threat to block European Union business by withholding approval of several measures put before EU ministerial meetings Tuesday.
British Prime Minister John Major announced the policy of non-cooperation in EU business last week to protest the EU's ban on British beef exports.
The ban was imposed March 27 amid fears that mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, has links to the deadly human disorder, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease.
Three British ministers are expected to block about 12 measures before the EU Tuesday. Britain did agree not to block several development issues aimed at helping poorer nations fight AIDS and care for refugees.
Reuters contributed to this report.
- Brits applaud tough stance against EU - May 22, 1996
- 'Mad cow' ban leads to showdown over European unity - May 21, 1996
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