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Children released in histage
Eight children have been released from the theatre in Moscow, which is currently at the centre of a major hostage crisis. But while it is good news for them, for hundreds of others still being held, the wait goes on. Negotiations are continuing in an attempt to win the freedom of more of those inside. British and American envoys have arrived at the scene to try to reach agreement on the release of their nationals, along with the other foreigners from Australia, Austria and Germany. That was supposed to happen this morning, but negotiations broke down at the last minute. Ambulances remain on standby, while more troops have been brought in. The Chechen separatists are demanding Russian troops withdraw from their homeland in the south of the country. They have reportedly rigged the theatre with masses of explosives and are threatening to blow it up if the building is stormed. Russian president Vladimir Putin has said that the lives of the hostages remain his number one priority. Video footage provides glimpse into the heart of the crisis
Video footage has been released showing, for the first time, pictures of the suicide squad inside the Moscow theatre. A tiny fraction of the seven hundred or so currently being held, are also seen, looking concerned but calm. The footage was filmed by Russia's private NTV television station. A crew was invited in to get the pictures. Weapons were clearly on view. Two women had explosives strapped to their bodies. It is a clear demonstration to the Russian authorities that this is no bluff, and if soldiers try to storm the building, people will get hurt. While the rest concealed their identities, the leader of the group bared his face to the world for the first time. Movsar Barayev is the relative of the well-known Chechen field commander Arbi Barayev- a man Russian forces claimed to have killed, although they were never able to prove it. Anti-war protests outside hostage theatre
Stop the war in Chechnya" was the cry from around fifty people who staged an angry protest near to the hostage theatre in Moscow. Many of the demonstrators have relatives among those being held. One man said "we have to stop the bloody war. We have to say no to war in Chechnya". A number of those being held inside had reportedly been ordered to call their families to demand they protest out on the streets. One woman said her daughter, who is a hostage, phoned to say demonstrating in front of the theatre is the only way to save them. However a tight police cordon prevented the protest from reaching the building itself. Hostage crisis has echoes of past
It is not the first time Russian authorities have had to contend with hostage takings by Chechen rebels. In June 1995 hundreds of guerillas stormed a hospital in the southern Russian town of Budennovsk. Around one and half thousand patients and medical staff were seized in the raid which shocked the world. The operation was led by rebel chief Shamil Basayev. He ordered five people to be shot on the second day of the siege to force Russian authorities to allow him a press conference. The Russian Prime Minister of the time, Viktor Chernomyrdyn, was his country's principle negotiator. The guerillas' demands, then as now, were for a Russian withdrawl from Chechnya. The Russian response was a botched rescue attempt in which more than a hundred fifty people died. The Chechens were allowed to flee after setting their captives free. A similar situation in Kizlyar in Dagestan the following January. A hospital was again the rebels' target. 160 hostages were taken at gunpoint and transferred to a village near the Chechen border. Despite efforts to negotiate the crisis also ended in bloodshed. Between fifty and hundred died and most of the rebels escaped. With so many foreigners involved in the current stand-off the world will be anxiously watching to see what lessons the Russians learned from the previous hostage dramas. Prosecutors prepare to file criminal charges in Washington
A former US soldier who was decorated for his expert shooting is in police custody awaiting charges of being behind a string of sniper killings in Washington. The Gulf War veteran has appeared in court accused of violating federal gun laws. It is thought he will be kept behind bars while prosecutors look for more evidence that could link him to the murder of ten people and injuring three others. Forty-one-year-old John Allen Williams, or John Allen Mohammed as he became known after he converted to Islam, is believed to have carried out the hits along with his stepson. Police sources describe the shooting spree as "some kind of sick competition." In their car a rifle was found and a hole had been drilled in the boot apparently so that they could shoot from inside. With the alleged killer off the streets life in Washington is getting back to normal. Day-to-day events like filling the tank are no longer something that could cost you your life.
Summit... Franco-German face-saving - a timely money deal for
Franco-German face-saving - a timely money deal for European Union enlargement and a break for Romania and Bularia Jacques Chirac and Gerhardt Schroeder, with other EU leaders at the summit unfolding in Brussels, were largely responsible for a lighter mood than expected - Paris and Berlin had reached a last-minute accord on freezing spending on the costly Common Agricultural Policy from 2007. And that year has been endorsed for Romania and Bulgaria's entry into the bloc. The Danish EU presidency has proposed aid of 23 billion euro for new member states in the first three years after accession; the 10 in the first wave are expected to put a total of 15.5 billion euro into the common budget. The roughly 40 billion package represents 15 percent of the total EU budget for 2004-2006. Next to looking for areas in which to make savings, such as the coveted British rebate, this Council will decide which candidates will be able to complete accession talks this year. Farm aid remains a bone of contention. Israel responds to car bombing attack
A major military operation is underway in the West Bank city of Jenin. Hundreds of Israeli soldiers backed by tanks have moved in, in response to a suicide car bombing which killed 14 Israelis earlier this week. Army sources said Operation Vanguard, the largest such operation since August, was aimed at rooting out twenty known militants in the city. The raid came just hours after American envoy William Burns held talks with Israel's defence minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, in an attempt to try to bring an end to the bloody violence in the Middle East. He also met a Palestinian delegation. Burns is pushing a new U.S. peace plan, although both sides have criticised it as vague. |
