News Briefs
May 12, 1996
Web posted at: p.m. EDT ( GMT)NATO moves to strengthen Europe's role
PARIS (CNN) -- Talks between the United States, Germany, Britain and France have apparently resulted in an agreement that strengthens the role of European countries in NATO.
French sources confirmed a report in a Paris newspaper saying that the agreement gave European nations more say in defense and security issues in the U.S.-led alliance.
The four countries also have agreed to set up a Combined Joint Task Force to command NATO missions more efficiently.
The new military structure, due to be adopted by a meeting of alliance foreign ministers in early June, would allow NATO to undertake peacekeeping missions, and make new member admissions easier.
Reuters contributed to this report.Reuters contributed to this report.
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Missing American found after Everest climb
KATMANDU, Nepal (CNN) -- One of three Americans missing after ascending Mount Everest arrived safely at a base camp Sunday, but two other American hikers remained missing and five others were reported as dead.
A Reuters report quoted the Nepali Tourism Ministry as saying Seaborn Beck Weathers, 49, of Dallas, Texas, reached the South Col camp. A radio report said Weathers was being treated for an unspecified problem several thousand feet from the base of the mountain.
Americans Scott Fischer and Douglas Hansen were still missing.
CNN has received an unconfirmed report that two bodies were found Sunday and were presumed to be those of Japanese Yasuko Namba and New Zealander Andrew Michael Harris.
The United News of India reported that three Indian climbers who reached the top of Everest were killed while descending in bad weather.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Chechnya prepares for Yeltsin trip amid renewed fighting
GROZNY, Russia (CNN) -- Russian forces tightened security in the Chechen capital of Grozny Sunday in preparation for a visit by President Boris Yeltsin, but fighting continued in other Chechen towns.
In contrast to the relative calm in Grozny, Russian news sources reported increased military activity by troops and rebels in other parts of the region.
Interfax news agency quoted a military spokesman as saying that the rebels had stepped up guerrilla warfare against Russian forces, mining roads and ambushing troops.
Yeltsin, who sees a peaceful resolution to the Chechen conflict as essential to his re-election campaign, said he will visit the area "to sit everybody around the negotiating table."
Reuters contributed to this report.
Bally shoes seeks to clear name in Nazi era probe
ZURICH, Switzerland (CNN) -- Swiss shoe company Bally, accused of taking over Jewish companies seized by the Nazis during World War II, said it will open its records to historians to clear its name, according to the Swiss paper SonntagsZeitung.
Bally said it will also open the archives of machine tool maker Oerlikon-Buehrle, owned by Bally's parent company.
Bally is the latest in a series of companies accused of stealing assets from Jewish victims of the Holocaust.
SonntagsZeitung has reported allegations that Bally bought a chain of fashionable Berlin shoe stores in 1939 for a symbolic price of one Reichsmark after Nazis seized it from its Jewish owner.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Report: Bosnian arms ring larger than believed
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Secret arms shipments to Bosnia and Croatia reportedly involved more countries than the Clinton administration has acknowledged, according to Sunday's Washington Post.
The administration has conceded that Iran and Turkey had roles, but the Post now says six other countries were involved.
Unidentified Bosnian government officials said that by 1993, weapons, or money to buy them, were being supplied by Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Brunei, Pakistan, Hungary and Argentina.
The White House has defended its actions, saying the Bosnian government would have collapsed without the United State's tacit approval of the arms transfers.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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