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Briefs

Truce ends in N. Ireland

By wire services
Published September 14, 2005

BELFAST, Northern Ireland - A major outlawed Protestant group in Northern Ireland has abandoned its 11-year-old truce and is an enemy of the peace once again, Britain declared today in a long-expected verdict against the Ulster Volunteer Force.

The British governor, Peter Hain, said he has received sufficient evidence that the UVF - an underground group supposed to be bolstering Northern Ireland's Good Friday peace accord with a 1994 cease-fire - committed four killings this summer and launched gun and grenade attacks this week against the police and British army.

Hain's Northern Ireland Office said in a statement that UVF members' violence "amounted to a breakdown in their cease-fire" and meant that, as of midnight, Britain no longer accepted it as valid.

The move followed three nights of Protestant riots that ravaged much of Belfast and other Northern Ireland towns.

Police commanders said the UVF and a larger Protestant paramilitary group, the Ulster Defense Association, both attacked police and British troops with assault-rifle fire and homemade grenades in what have been the worst Protestant riots for nearly a decade.

The rioting, which exploded each night from Saturday to Tuesday morning, left at least 60 police officers and several dozen civilians wounded, none fatally. The trigger - British authorities' refusal Saturday to allow Protestants to parade along the edge of Catholic west Belfast - capped years of growing Protestant opposition to the landmark 1998 peace accord.

North Korea holds fast to nuclear plans

BEIJING - North Korea insisted Tuesday it will not give up its right to civilian nuclear programs, raising questions about the possibility of a breakthrough as six-nation talks aimed at persuading Pyongyang to abandon its atomic weapons resumed after a five-week recess.

Envoys from China, Japan, Russia, the United States and the two Koreas clasped hands at a state guesthouse in Beijing before continuing the fourth round of talks since 2003 that have so far failed to resolve the standoff.

In New York on Tuesday, Chinese President Hu Jintao told President Bush that China was ready to "step up" pressure on Pyongyang for progress in the negotiations.

Mike Green, the National Security Council's senior director for Asia, said the Bush administration rejects the notion of North Korea retaining a civilian nuclear program. "North Korea needs to get out, completely out, of the nuclear business," Green said.

Last month, negotiators took a break after a record 13 days of meetings ended without agreement.

Yushchenko: Former ally gave up ideals

KIEV, Ukraine - President Viktor Yushchenko on Tuesday accused his former prime minister of abuse of office, saying he fired her as a "matter of honor" because she abandoned the ideals of last year's Orange Revolution that rallied Ukraine.

He leveled sharp allegations at his onetime comrade-in-arms, accusing popular politician Yulia Tymoshenko of trying to use her post to wipe out $1.5-billion in debts owed by a defunct energy company she once headed.

Tymoshenko called Yushchenko's allegations a shock.

Italy upholds terror suspect's extradition

Italy's highest court upheld the extradition of a British man suspected of taking part in the failed bombings of London's subway system on July 21. The suspect, Hamdi Issac, will be extradited to Britain within 10 days, his lawyer said. Officials have said Issac admitted taking part in the attempted bombings.

[Last modified September 14, 2005, 02:15:34]