News Briefs

January 9, 1996
Web posted at: 7:40 a.m. EST (1340 GMT)

Rightist wins Guatemala's presidential race

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala (CNN) -- A narrow victory was officially declared Monday for rightist businessman Alvaro Arzu in Guatemala's presidential election. Electoral authorities said Arzu won with 51.22 percent to 48.78 percent for controversial populist opponent Alfonso Portillo, who had planned to include a former dictator in his government.

"The people have chosen a better future," Arzu, leader of the National Advancement Party, said as supporters celebrated at party headquarters.

Turnout was low in the Sunday elections. Bomb threats and general disillusion with the candidates kept many voters at home. Officials said 63 percent of the 3.7 million electorate abstained, meaning fewer than one in five of those eligible actually voted for Arzu.

Guatemala (CIA World Fact Book)

Algerian forces kill 36 Moslem rebels

PARIS (CNN) -- Officials reports said Monday that Algerian troops have killed 12 Muslim guerrillas in a siege in the southern town of Laghouat, bringing to 36 the number of rebels killed in four days of operations across Algeria.

Algerian state-run radio said security forces had been laying siege to an area of Laghouat, 200 miles south of the capital, Algiers. Laghouat is used as a transit town by militants heading to northeastern provinces.

Up to 50,000 people have been killed in Algeria's war between Islamic militants and the army-backed government since early 1992, when authorities canceled general elections the Islamists were set to win.

Three killed, two missing in Bahamas plane crash

NASSAU, Bahamas (CNN) -- Authorities continued a search Monday for two young children missing after a light plane crashed in bad weather, killing three others on board.

One man survived the crash when a door opened as the plane dived toward the water and he jumped out, a police spokesman said.

The single-engine Cessna, carrying six people from north Andros Island to the Bahamian capital, ran into severe rain and wind early Sunday, said Royal Bahamas Police spokesman Steve McKinney.

The pilot and passengers were all Bahamian citizens, McKinney said. The survivor who jumped from the plane was not injured, but was shaken by the trauma, he said.

Hashimoto cleared to be Japan's prime minister

TOKYO (CNN) -- Japan's ruling coalition formally nominated tough-talking Trade Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto on Monday as its choice for prime minister, clearing the way for him to take up the post after a parliamentary vote, expected on Thursday.

The endorsement means Hashimoto, who made headlines last year for his tough stance in a bitter automobile trade battle with the United States, will succeed Socialist Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, who announced his resignation Friday.

Hashimoto, 58, indicated his government would follow the policies of the outgoing administration. He said his government would concentrate on reviving Japan's economy, clearing up a huge housing loan debt mess and strengthening Tokyo's ties with the United States.

Hashimoto also appeared to rule out early general elections, which have been called for by the opposition and many in the business community and domestic mass media.

U.S. willing to place troops on Golan

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- The Clinton administration said Monday it is ready to help guarantee peace between Israel and Syria by stationing U.S. troops on the Golan Heights.

U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry, after meeting Prime Minister Shimon Peres in Jerusalem, said, "If the peace agreement between Israel and Syria is reached ... and if that calls for a peace monitoring force in the Golan Heights and if both Israel and Syria request the U.S. to participate in that, we are prepared to do that."

Perry also told reporters Washington would give Israel another $200 million for developing Israel's Arrow anti-ballistic missile.

The statements followed what Israeli and Syrian negotiators said had been their best round of U.S.-brokered peace talks in four years. President Clinton said in November 1994 he would be "willing to make the case" to Congress for putting U.S. troops on the Golan Heights under a peace deal.

U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher visits Damascus and Jerusalem this week hoping to cement the progress of the last two weeks of talks near Washington. The talks have been stuck on the future of the Golan Heights captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war. Damascus wants all of the Heights back. Israel wants a commitment to "full peace" including open borders, trade and diplomatic relations.

Bangladesh postpones election, again

DHAKA, Bangladesh (CNN) -- Bangladesh's Election Commission said Monday that general elections due next month have been postponed for a week to February 15. The announcement came on the first day of a 48-hour opposition-led strike that has largely paralyzed the country.

It was the second time voting has been rescheduled. The election originally was to be January 18 but was postponed last month to February 7 for what sources said was to give the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) time to bargain with the opposition parties. Opposition parties have threatened to boycott and resist the election unless Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia resigns and hands over power to a neutral caretaker administration. Khaleda has rejected the demands as unconstitutional and dismissed charges that her government rigged a 1994 parliamentary by-election and indulged in sweeping corruption.