October 1, 1995
Web posted at: 12:45 p.m. EDT (1645 GMT)
ZABREB, Croatia (CNN) -- U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke said the warring factions in Bosnia's civil war remain split over how to stop the fighting.
Holbrooke brought his Balkan peace shuttle to Croatia on Sunday for talks with President Franjo Tudjman after meeting earlier in the weekend with Bosnian and Serb leaders.
Holbrooke told reporters in Zagreb that efforts to solve a dispute over Eastern Slavonia, a rich farming and oil region held by Serb militias adjacent to Serbia, have reached a critical point.
Croatia, which has recaptured all other Croatian land once held by Serbs, threatens to seize back Eastern Slavonia by military force.
JERICHO, Occupied West Bank (CNN) -- More than 100 Jewish settlers opposed to wider Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank blocked entry to the Allenby Bridge crossing to Jordan on Sunday, saying they were betrayed by an Israel-PLO agreement signed Thursday. The bridge is just outside Palestinian-ruled Jericho. Hundreds of travelers were delayed and traffic across the bridge stopped for most of the morning until Israeli police dragged settlers away.
In what Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres called the "first tangible sign" of the accord, he disclosed that Israel would begin its military pullout from 12 Palestinian villages in the West Bank on October 8.
LISBON, Portugal (CNN) -- Voters cast ballots Sunday in what could be Portugal's closest election in more than a decade. Polls indicate voters may not give an outright majority to any one of Portugal's 13 political parties. In that case, the leading minority party would be forced to create a coalition government with one of its rivals.
Portugal has been governed since 1986 by the conservative Social Democrats, who have been hurt by corruption scandals and the loss of a popular leader. Public opinion surveys suggested the chance of a narrow victory by the opposition Socialist Party.
CAIRO, Egypt (CNN) -- Human breath has forced the closing of another Egyptian pyramid. Starting October 10, authorities will shut one of the three Great Pyramids at Giza for three months to make repairs and improvements. Moist breath from hundreds of thousands of tourists is damaging the limestone walls of the interior.
The latest pyramid being closed is that of the fourth dynasty pharaoh Chephren. It is slightly smaller than the nearby Great Pyramid of earlier pharaoh Cheops. Cheops' pyramid was temporarily closed in 1990-91 for similar upgrading.
SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- About 30,000 people demonstrated in South Korea Saturday to demand that two former presidents be prosecuted in connection with a bloody army crackdown on a civilian uprising 15 years ago.
It was the biggest anti-government demonstration in South Korea since the end of authoritarian rule.
The rallies denouncing the government's decision not to indict the former presidents were mostly peaceful. However, witnesses in one location said hundreds of radical students wearing masks threw stones and struggled with riot police. About 15,000 people, mostly university students, marched through Seoul, while 15,000 protesters rallied in 12 other cities, according to a police spokesman.
The protester hold former presidents Chun Doo Hwan and Roh Tae-woo responsible for a massacre in a pro-democracy revolt in the city of Kwangju in May 1980. The former presidents were army generals at the time. The government says about 200 people were killed in the uprising, but residents of Kwangju put the death toll much higher.
A group of professors, Catholic priests and citizens have collected about 700,000 signatures demanding the prosecution of Doo Hwan and Tae-woo.
RIGA, Latvia (CNN) -- Since the Soviet Union broke up four years ago, the governments of most East European countries have continued to be dominated by socialist or communist parties.
However, the small Baltic state of Latvia may buck that trend. More than a million people began voting Saturday in the second general election since the Republic gained its independence. Control of the 100-seat parliament is up for grabs.
Latvia's Way, the current center-right wing ruling party, is expected to lose some of its 33 seats. On the other hand, two conservative, anti-Russian parties are expected to gain seats, which combined would allow them to emerge with the greatest number of seats.
MORONI, Comoros (CNN) -- A military coup in the Comoros Islands which overthrew President Said Mohamed Djohar on Thursday seemed to be gaining the support as of the local populace. Capt. Combo Ayouba, his forces and rebel mercenaries were reported to be in control of the Indian Ocean island nation on Saturday.
Ayouba was freed Friday in an attack on the jail by mercenaries reportedly led by Frenchman Bob Denard. The 66- year-old Denard is a former mercenary who was involved in four of the islands coups. The crowds demanded Denard's expulsion and burned his photograph, calling him a foreigner. Denard, who has a Comoran wife and citizenship, has been keeping a low public profile. Combo defended Denard, describing him as a Comoran soldier rather than a mercenary.
The Udzima opposition party hailed the coup. They praised the release of military and civilian political prisoners and have backed Combo's stated aim of handing power to an interim president before free elections in 1996.
Diplomatic sources said Djohar, who has survived several coup attempts, had grown increasingly unpopular because of his failure to organize fair elections.
The Comoros have undergone 17 coup attempts since gaining independence from France in 1975.
(CNN) -- A tropical storm warning was in effect Saturday for the northeastern part of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Tropical storm Opal was packing maximum sustained winds of 50 mph as it rolled across the Gulf of Mexico.
Opal is the 15th named storm of the season -- the highest number ever, according to the National Weather Service. Forecasters said Opal could threaten Louisiana and Texas as it continues north.
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