DEFCON 2 ANNOUNCEMENT

12/31/99
At 11:00 am HBT things are looking good on the Y2K problem.At this early
time we do not see many problems and those problems that are happening are
due to people and not computers.
Enjoy your new year and may this coming new year be more peaceful on your
planet than the last.
Bright blessings from myself and my staff.
Tia

Saturday 25th dec

Russian forces, positioned on the fringes of the besieged Chechen capital
Grozny, launched a concerted effort on Saturday to advance deeper into the
city, media reports said.
In a report from Grozny, the news agency Interfax quoted Chechen commanders
as saying Russian armored columns had started advancing from several
directions under the cover of smoke screens. The push follows heavy shelling
overnight, but a Defense Ministry spokesman said Saturday he was not aware
of any fresh developments in Grozny.
Interfax said it was not clear whether the attack was the start of a
decisive assault on the city. It said intensive machine-gun fire and
explosions of artillery shells could be heard from all directions early on
Saturday.
Senior Chechen commander Aslanbek Ismailov told Interfax that clashes
between Russian forces and rebels had begun in the southern district of
Chernorechye, the Russian-held eastern suburb of Khankala and on the Sunzha
mountain ridge in the north.
"The command cannot say definitely whether the latest events mean the start
of a decisive storm," Ismailov said, adding that the attack could be a
large-scale reconnaissance raid aimed at identifying rebel strongholds in
the city.

Russian troops launched a concerted attack on Grozny to try to wrest control
of the besieged Chechen capital where tens of thousands of  civilians are
trapped, Russian media and rebels said.
The sound of heavy cannon from Grozny could be heard as far away as the
western border of Chechnya, 30 miles from the devastated city, as troops
rolled into the rebel province to take part in the seizure of the city.
"We are going to take Staropromyslovksy district under control," said an
officer commanding the column of  ten army trucks, two armoured carriers and
accompanied by two helicopter gunships in a reference to the westernmost
part of Grozny.
Chechen spokesman Movladi Udugov, who called from undisclosed location in
Chechnya, said heavy clashes raged along the whole perimeter of Grozny from
Saturday morning when the Russian troops launched an effort to move deep
into the city.
Udugov said the Russians had so far had little success in advancing towards
the city centre and suffered heavy casualties.
A defence ministry spokesman contacted by telephone in Moscow said he
knew nothing about fighting in Grozny.
After nearly three months of large-scale military operations in Chechnya,
Russia controls most of the populated areas in northern and central parts of
the rebel province.
The military have said their next aim would be rooting out rebels from
bastions in sparsely populated southern mountains.
The Russians have said they had blocked the rebels in the Argun River gorge
in the southwest after landing paratroopers near the border with the former
Soviet republic of Georgia and blocking key roads leading to the gorge from
the North.

After calling unsuccessfully for his people to resist a coup d'etat, deposed
Ivory Coast President Henri Konan Bedie awaited a flight out of the country
Saturday.
Bedie was overthrown Friday following a mutiny by troops who looted the
capital, Abidjan. He waited under guard at Abidjan's international airport
Saturday for a French military plane that was expected to take him into
exile, former army chief Gen. Robert Guei said.
Guei declared himself the country's president on Friday. As protesting
troops paralyzed the streets of Abidjan, firing weapons and looting, Bedie
had called for citizens to resist the coup "by any means."

  France deployed 40 soldiers by helicopter Saturday from Gabon to the Ivory
Coast capital of Abidjan in a plan to guarantee the security of its
nationals there after the overthrow of Ivory Coast President Henri
Konan Bedie.
The troops will join the 43rd Marine Infantry battalion stationed at Port
Bouet near Abidjan's airport where Bedie is under military protection. The
500 person-strong battalion is permanently based at the airport.
France also sent 300 soldiers from France to Dakar, Senegal. They were on
standby to reinforce the military operation, if needed.
"The events in Abidjan ... and the confusion stemming from them have led the
French authorities to take measures aimed at guaranteeing the security of
French nationals by reinforcing the military operation in the Ivory Coast,"
French officials said in a statement.

  Angolan government forces have captured a key UNITA rebel base in Jamba,
southeast Angola, striking a telling military and psychological blow in the
long-running civil war, state radio reported on Saturday.
The sacking of the former rebel headquarters followed the capture in
October of strongholds in Bailundo and Andulo in the central highlands of
this diamond and oil-rich country.
"The Angola armed forces are in power of the former UNITA headquarters,
Jamba," Radio Nacional said, citing a source authorized by the Angolan armed
forces (FAA). "The source has confirmed the news that began to circulate
yesterday."
A presidential spokesman would neither confirm nor deny the radio report.
Since Angola's independence in 1975, over a million people have died in
fighting between the former Marxist MPLA government of Jose Eduardo
dos Santos and UNITA rebels of Jonas Savimbi.
A 1994 peace deal evaporated with new fighting a year ago.
Since September, the government has gained the upper hand, capturing rebel
strongholds and pushing UNITA to the far south and east of the
country.
"The same source said the FAA is continuing to put pressure on and clean up
some pockets of Savimbi's forces," radio said.

Sunday 26th

  Russian troops have made deep advances into the besieged Chechen capital
Grozny, reaching a strategically important square, Russia's ORT television
said on Sunday.
"According to officers, full control over Grozny will be established in the
near future," an ORT correspondent said, reporting from Mozdok, Russia's
main military base in North Caucasus just outside Chechnya.
"Though the Minutka square is not yet fully under control, it has been
crossed several times by Interior Ministry troops heading for the center,"
The square is just a short drive from the heart of Grozny, which has been
devastated by Russian bombs and artillery.
ORT also said the rebels ceded some of the districts without fighting, but
had left them heavily mined. "They offer fierce resistance only on
strategically important squares and street crossings," the correspondent
said.
Russian commanders have said the operation to take the capital will soon be
over.

Tornado-like winds of up to 200 kph (120 mph) lashed Switzerland, France and
Germany over the Christmas weekend, killing at least 26 people, including
one victim crushed in a falling ski gondola inthe Swiss Alps.
The freak gales disrupted rail services, blocked roads and led to the
closure of Paris' two airports for several hours on Sunday. The Disneyland
Paris theme park outside Paris said it would not open until the safety of
visitors was assured.
Eleven of the deaths were reported in France, where a roof collapsed during
a Christmas lunch. One woman died after she was blown into Le Havre harbor
and others were killed when falling trees crushed their cars.
Gale-force winds also swept through Switzerland, with gusts of 50 to 100 kph
(30 to 60 mph) in the flatlands, and up to 200 kph atop the Jungfrau peak in
central Switzerland.
In the popular ski resort of Crans Montana, one skier was killed and four
injured, two seriously, when an uprooted tree crashed into a cable and sent
the gondola in which they were travelling plunging to the ground. Police
gave no information on nationalities of those involved.
Swiss media reported at least eight other weather-related deaths across the
Alpine country, including an elderly man blown off the roof of his home
south of Zurich.

Iranian troops clashed with fighters of an opposition group along the
Iran-Iraq border, both sides reported Sunday.
Mujahedeen Khalq members crossed into Iran from Iraq Saturday to launch a
mortar attack on a military barracks in the southern province of Khuzestan,
said the official Islamic Republic News Agency. It said the clash occurred
near Fakkeh, 800 kilometers (500 miles) southwest of Tehran.
Quoting Iranian Brig. Gen. Ashtiani, IRNA said two members of the
opposition group were killed in a shooting and that there were no Iranian
casualties.
One opposition fighter was arrested, Ashtiani said. The Mujahedeen also
threw a grenade at border police while they were being chased, IRNA quoted
Ashtiani as saying.
In a fax released in France and sent to The Associated Press in Cairo, the
Mujahedeen said its fighters attacked a Republican Guard barracks in
Khuzestan.
The Iraq-based group, which seeks the violent overthrow of Iran's Islamic
government, said that two of their fighters and many Revolutionary Guards
died during clashes.
The Revolutionary Guards are an elite paramilitary fighting force of about
120,000 ground, air and navy personnel.
The Mujahedeen Khalq has more than 30,000 militarily trained men and
women in 17 camps in Iraq near the Iranian border.

Heavy rains caused an avalanche of earth in southern Colombia on Saturday,
killing at least seven people and burying an ambulance that was carrying 10
others, officials said.
Fifteen people were still missing, and helicopters were on the way to rescue
200 survivors who were stranded, the Narino State governor, Jesus Rosero,
said.
The avalanche destroyed 40 houses in El Guabo, a small town near the border
with Ecuador.
"An ambulance passing through the area with 10 people inside was covered by
the avalanche," Rosero said. "Of those, four were saved and six others are
missing, including three children."
More than 100 people have died since August as a result of the rains the
heaviest in the South American country in 30 years. Forecasters said more
rain was expected.
Torrential rains in neighboring Venezuela 10 days ago triggered massive
floods and mudslides that have killed between 5,000 and 30,000 people,
according to official estimates.

All 22 people aboard a Cuban airliner that crashed in northern Venezuela
were killed, including a nine-year-old girl who was on her way to visit her
parents after they lost their home in deadly mudslides, an official said
Sunday.
The airplane went down late Saturday near the farming town of Bejuma, a
mountainous area about 100 miles southwest of the capital of Caracas.
"There are no survivors," Angel Rangel, Venezuela's national civil defense
director, told The Associated Press on Sunday.
Rangel said the passengers included four Venezuelans, four Cubans, two Dutch
and a 12 person flight crew.
The airplane, a Russian made YAK-42 that departed from Havana, smashed head
on into a mountain about 12 miles south of the airport in
Valencia, the capital of Carabobo state, Rangel said.
The girl, who had been living in Cuba with relatives, was on her way to see
her parents, who lost their home in floods and mudslides December 15 that
killed thousands of people and is being called the worst natural disaster in
Venezuela this century.

Monday 27th Decenber

South Africa A bomb attack on police, carnage on the roads and shootings and
floods have marred the festive season in South Africa, one of the world's
most violent countries.
The Ministry of Transport said on Monday 635 people have been killed in road
accidents since December 1, the start of the combined summer and  Christmas
holiday season, when locals and tourists alike flock to the country's
beaches and game parks.
Of those killed, 178 were pedestrians.
"People are irresponsible, they drink or use excessive speed and they do not
look out for pedestrians," said a spokesman for the Ministry of Transport's
Arrive Alive programme.
Last year, 791 people were killed in road crashes in December, down from 841
in the same period in 1997.
Police have also noted an increase in murders in some regions of the
country, fueled partly by excessive alcohol use.

Western Europeans on Monday were counting the cost of devastating
storms that swept across the continent early Sunday with winds as high as
219 km/h (136 mph), killing more than 50 people.
France bore the brunt of the killer storms, with Paris hit by its strongest
winds in 50 years. At least 33 people were reported dead in France, and 1.5
million homes had no electricity.
Both Paris airports were closed for a time on Sunday, and six visitors to
Disneyland Paris were injured when a tree fell on their bungalow.
Outside Paris, the famed palace Versailles took a beating; windows were
smashed and some 6,000 trees in the palace's sculpted gardens were uprooted.
Paris Mayor Jean Tiberi has asked the French government to declare the city
a disaster area.

White-suited Greenpeace protesters on Monday smeared oil and dumped the
cadavers of petrol-coated sea birds at the headquarters of TotalFina,
blaming the Franco-Belgian oil group for an ecological disaster on France's
northwestern shores.
Waving banners reading "Totally Responsible, Finally Guilty,' a word play on
the company's name the protesters urged TotalFina to take "legal, moral and
financial responsibility" for the thick, foul-smelling oil spill sullying
stretches of some of the nation's most beautiful coastline.

New clashes between Christians and Muslims in the eastern Indonesian island
of Ambon have left at least 38 people dead and dozens of others injured.
Military officials reported on Monday that the clashes broke out Sunday
after a bus driven by a Christian struck a Muslim pedestrian in Ambon city,
security officials said.
The violence continued into Monday in the city, which has been devastated by
communal violence for months.
Rival mobs used guns, slingshots and homemade bombs during the fighting,
which broke out at Trikora Square in the center of the city, the provincial
capital of Maluku province, also known as the Moluccas.

The Orthodox Shas party has threatened to bolt from Israeli Prime Minister
Ehud Barak's coalition amid a budget dispute, which would leave the prime
minister with a minority government ahead of crucial peace negotiations.
Shas' Council of Elders decided the party might resign from the government,
party leader Eli Yishai said Monday. The ultra-orthodox religious party,
which holds 17 seats in the 120-seat Israeli parliament, wants the
government to bail out its troubled education and welfare network.
Barak's government was not considered to be in danger of falling, because
the prime minister was assured of support from smaller Arab and other
opposition parties  who have 10 parliamentary seats outside the coalition.
The prime minister asked Shas leaders to delay the decision by 24 hours.
Shas' departure would leave Barak with 51 seats in parliament as his
government took on peace talks with Syria and the Palestinians.

Iranian troops clashed with fighters of an opposition group along the
Iran-Iraq border, both sides reported Sunday.
Mujahedeen Khalq members crossed into Iran from Iraq Saturday to launch a
mortar attack on a military barracks in the southern province of Khuzestan,
said the official Islamic Republic News Agency. It said the clash occurred
near Fakkeh, 800 kilometers (500 miles) southwest of Tehran.
Quoting Iranian Brig. Gen. Ashtiani, IRNA said two members of the
opposition group were killed in a shooting and that there were no Iranian
casualties.

Heavy fighting has been taking place between government forces and Tamil
Tiger separatist rebels in northern Sri Lanka with at least 38 people
reported killed since hostilities broke out on Saturday.
At least 21 Sri Lankan soldiers are reported to have been killed in
artillery exchanges with the rebels in the Elephant Pass, a strategic
causeway that links the government-held Jaffna peninsula with the rest of
the island.

The Russian offensive on the Chechen capital Grozny has met fierce
resistance from rebels entrenched in the city and the mountains to the
south.
Moscow-backed Chechen fighters loyal to former Grozny mayor Bislan
Gantamirov, encountered heavy fire from fighters on the ground with both
sides taking losses.
Roads are said to be heavily mined.
Russian jets and helicopters flew 50 sorties in the 24 hours to Monday
morning, dropping aerosol bombs on rebel bases, caves and fortifications in
southern Chechnya in an attempt to cut off supply routes over the mountains
from Georgia.

Plunging temperatures in Thailand are estimated to have killed more than 30
people, including at least 10 believed to have died from lack of oxygen
after lighting stoves.
A high pressure system from China is to blame for the cold snap, which has
taken winter temperatures in some parts of northern Thailand close to zero.
Even the steamy capital, Bangkok, has reported temperatures of 11 degrees
Celsius, the coldest weather there for more than a decade.

Entrenched rebels fiercely defended Chechnya's capital against a faltering
Russian offensive Monday and fought to re-establish key supply routes
connecting Grozny to strategic southern mountains.
Russian artillery and jets appeared to scale back their onslaught on the
city as a ground offensive launched Saturday failed to break through rebel
positions. Moscow-backed Chechen fighters came up against heavy resistance,
with both sides taking losses, the Interfax news agency reported.
  Defense Ministry spokesman Sergei Zhuk said the city was too well-defended
for an all-out assault. Russian troops told NTV television
Monday that the advance into Grozny was slowed because the roads were
heavily mined.
Having encircled Grozny and captured the surrounding northern lowlands,
Russian officials said they were concentrating their energies to the south,
blockading roads the rebels use to ferry supplies from the former Soviet
republic of Georgia.
Russian jets dropped fuel-air bombs on rebel bases, caves and fortifications
in Chechnya's southern mountains, Interfax reported. The bombs release a
mist of inflammable gas and cause massive explosions that can clear out
bunkers. The Russians have not used the bombs in Grozny, where up to 35,000
civilians are reported to be hiding.

A second oil slick threatened France's rocky Atlantic coast on Monday as
fuel leaked from a sunken Maltese tanker offshore.
As volunteers shoveled viscous fuel oil from beaches, maritime officials
overflying the spot where the vessel, Erika, sank on December 12 said a
patch of oil that appeared on Sunday night had expanded to 10 kms (six
miles) in length and would soon wash ashore.

Blasting away on the front lines in Chechnya, Russian soldiers fire round
after round at an unseen enemy -- whose destruction has become routine.
But the enemy is inside a city, along with as many as 35,000 civilians.
"It will look awful from a humanitarian point of view but only in this way
can it be effective. If not, army will perish in the city," said military
analyst Ruslan Pukhov.
There is little sense of glory in this brand of fighting. It looks more like
manual labor. There is no storming the enemy, no charges. Just a monotonous
call of "333" -- the signal to fire.
"What's going on here is work, work carried out according to a plan,"
insists Gen. Viktor Kazantsev of the Russian Army.
The Russian soldiers carry bullets, grenade launchers, tank shells on their
backs.
They scrape the packing oil off the mortar shells, tie on a gunpowder
charge, then fire at the same time the other mortars fire over and over,
joined by tanks and cannons all down the line.

Tuesday 28th December

Russian commanders said ground forces had advanced to within several
kilometers of the center of the Chechen capital, and federal air forces
attacked rebel-held areas in the southern mountains of the breakaway
republic.
But there was little sign that the troops, meeting fierce resistance from
Chechen rebels, would capture Grozny "within a matter of days" as predicted
by Russian Gen. Valery Manilov.
Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev said Russian troops and a pro- Moscow band of
Chechen fighters had occupied outlying regions of Grozny and were advancing
on the center from all sides. Manilov said Russian troops were 2 or 3
kilometers (between 1 and 2 miles) from the center.
Sergeyev said the troops were facing "fierce resistance" but that they had
managed to "drastically change" the situation in the city. He gave no
details to back up his claim that the forces had achieved a breakthrough.
At the same time, Sergeyev precluded storming the city with massed infantry
units, saying Russia would not risk the kind of massive losses the military
incurred in the 1994-96 Chechen war. An estimated 30,000 civilians remain
trapped in the city.

In Europe's worst winter storm in a half century, hurricane-force winds
ripped across France's Atlantic coast Tuesday, killing 17 people and
severely damaging property.
At least 97 people have died across western Europe from the strong winds and
rain storms that have battered the region since Sunday.
Winds in France on Tuesday reached 150 km/h (93 mph) along the southwest
Atlantic coast. Hurricane force is reached at 128 km/h (74 mph).
In southwest France, three nuclear reactors at an electric-generating
station were shut down. The stoppage was ordered after water from a flooding
river seeped into the plant.

Police in Ambon tried Tuesday to end the third straight day of religious
fighting between Muslims and Christians, amid reports the clashes may have
killed 50 people.
"We still can hear shooting and explosions. The situation is tense. There is
a blackout in a number of areas," a police officer told reporters Tuesday
from Ambon, 2,300 kilometers (1,440 miles) from Jakarta.
The latest clashes reportedly began Sunday night after a bus driven by a
Christian hit and injured a 14-year-old Muslim boy. Residents said they
expected the death toll to rise.
Rival gangs decapitated several people, and their bodies were dragged
through the streets, American aid worker Oren Murphy said. Hundreds of
civilians were fleeing the city on Tuesday, he said.
Doctors at Al Fatah hospital in Ambon said 29 people died on the Muslim side
following Monday's violence. Medical workers in the town's Christian section
reported 13 fatalities.
The mobs used guns, slingshots and bombs in the fighting, which broke out at
Trikora Square in the center of the port city, the biggest in Maluku
province, also known as the Moluccas.

Great Braitain.... Cases of flu have risen dramatically over the holiday
period, leaving thousands of people ill and causing British Airways to
cancel flights because of staff shortages.
Visits to doctors for cold and flu-like symptoms have risen to 68 per
100,000 of the population.
And British Airways has been forced to cancel a number of long haul flights
because so many cabin crew have called in sick.
Most of the cases of flu are of the Sydney strain, which was predicted to be
the main cause of problems this year. Vaccination programmes for the
over-75s have been run as flu can prove fatal, particularly for the elderly.
No unexpected strains have so far been detected.

France has appealed for help from abroad as it struggles to cope with the
devastation caused by the violent storms, which have killed over 100 people
in Europe.
Electricite de France (EDF), the country's national power company, has
requested extra pylons, cables and generators from Germany, the UK and Spain
to combat the worst crisis in its history.
"We are certain those countries will respond favourably to our appeal," said
an EDF spokesman.
Some 3.5 million households in France are without power and all train
services have been halted in the southwest.
Engineers say they do not expect all those cut off to have their power
supplies restored in time for New Year's Eve.
French President Jacques Chirac met EDF officials on Tuesday to discuss the
situation.

Heavy snow and rain left more than 100 villages in central Transylvania
without electricity as the brutal weather plaguing Europe for the past week
reached Romania.
The blackout occurred after the storm toppled trees and power lines in
Transylvania, about 450 kilometers (281 miles) from Bucharest. The
downed trees also caused a number of roadblocks.
In Austria, heavy snow triggered avalanches which killed at least 12 people,
including nine German tourists. The Germans were part of a club that booked
a hut -- that would normally be closed this time of year to celebrate the
millennium.
Fierce winds and rain along France's southwestern Atlantic coast killed 24
people on Tuesday, and flooding forced the evacuation of more than 2,000.
The deaths in France and Austria pushed the weather-related toll to at least
116.

Rebel fighters put up stiff resistance in the center of Grozny on Wednesday,
but Russia's artillery bombardment of the Chechen capital showed no signs of
lessening after days of ceaseless, thunderous attack.
Top Russian military officials maintain the optimistic view that their
troops will control the city within days, but admit the going is tough.
Taking Grozny would essentially give Russia control of the northern and
central regions of Chechnya.
"It is hard, bloody work," said Gen. Valery Manilov, first deputy chief of
the Russian general staff. Russia has been attacking Chechnya since
September, trying to rout rebels fighting for the independence of the
breakaway republic.

Indonesia's military was urging the government Wednesday to declare a civil
emergency in Ambon, as religious violence in the city entered its fourth day
and thousands of Christian refugees flooded in from outlying islands.
The fighting pushed the death toll to 54, Abdullah Tuasikal, a member of a
government reconciliation team, said. Fighting was also reported on nearby
Haruku and Buru islands. The clashes erupted Sunday after rumors that a
Christian had run over a Muslim youth.
Military spokesman Lt. Col. Iwa Budiman said Wednesday Indonesian
forces had assumed command over all security forces in Ambon, including the
police. He suggested Jakarta declare a state of civil emergency.

A  Russian-flagged tanker split in two and partially sank near Turkey's
biggest city of Istanbul overnight after running aground in heavy winds, a
maritime official said on Wednesday.
Television pictures showed the front half of the "Volganeft 248" sinking
into the sea, while the stern remained afloat in the Marmara Sea off
Istanbul. Crew members stood at the railings awaiting rescue.
"As far as we know, the lives of the 17-person crew have been saved," an
Istanbul maritime official reported.
"The boat sank because of stormy weather conditions. There is no disruption
to Bosphorus traffic," said the official who declined to be named.
He said there had been some spillage of fuel. "Environmental protection
officials are at the site now trying to take precautions against any
spillage," he said.

Thousands of troops have been deployed in France as Europe clears up after
the worst storms in living memory, which have left 130 dead and millions
without power.
The worst storms to hit France since records began destroyed electricity
pylons, brought down millions of trees and wrecked cars and property.
At least 68 people were killed in France.
A total of 12 holidaymakers have died in avalanches in Austria.
Nine German skiers were killed as strong winds triggered avalanches near the
Tirolean town of Galtuer.
Rescue helicopters had to evacuate nearly 40 others trapped by the fall.
Two other German holidaymakers were buried on Tuesday in an avalanche near
the south-western village of Vent, and a snowboarder was killed in an
avalanche in central Styria province.
The storms also killed 17 in Germany, 13 in Switzerland and six in Spain.
In Hungary, a helicopter crashed in high winds, killing all four people on
board.
The storms have now hit Romania, where heavy snow falls and rain have
blocked roads and left more than 100 villages without electricity.
The French Government has announced it is putting 100 million francs ($15m)
into a fund to help pay for the damage.
It is also calling on insurance companies to extend their deadlines for
making claims.
France deployed its troops to join civilian workers in clearing debris and
restoring power and water supplies to effected homes.
Repair teams from the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain have arrived in France
after the national power company, Elecricite de France, appealed for help,
admitting it was unable to cope with the scale of the disaster.
At least five million people have been left without power, and 400,000 homes
are without telephone services.
EdF, which mobilised 12,000 workers and others who recently retired, has
said it is unlikely that all affected households will have power restored
before the New Year, leaving thousands without heating in freezing
temperatures.

RRussian commanders in Chechnya say they have taken a step nearer to victory
after reports that rebel fighters have withdrawn from two key positions
overlooking the capital, Grozny.
Russians have secured a strategic district in the north-west of the capital.
After a sustained bout of fighting, the Russians have forced the Chechen
separatists to abandon outposts on higher ground.
The new Russian assault came as Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev said
that federal forces were now  in the last phase of the "anti-terrorist"
operation in Chechnya.

Thursday 30th December
Three days of religious and ethnic clashes on the island of Halmahera in
Indonesia's North Maluku province have claimed more than 300 lives, a local
military spokesman said Thursday.
"Fighting is still going on," Lt. Col. Iwa Budiman told reporters from
Ambon, some 2,300 kilometers (1,400 miles) east of Jakarta. The fighting had
broken out in the Halmahera and Tidore islands, he said.
In the adjoining province of Maluku, 68 people have died in similar
sectarian clashes that broke out on Sunday, local media reported.
The combined death toll is the highest in a year of often savage fighting
between Christians and Muslims in the two provinces, which were known as the
Spice Islands during Dutch colonial rule.
According to government statistics, the death toll before the latest
violence stood at 800. Unofficial estimates put the number at 1,500.
The grouping of islands in the eastern part of the Indonesian archipelago
used to be touted as a model of interfaith relations in Indonesia. However,
tensions date back to 1950 when the Christians -- many with ties to the
Dutch colonial administration -- battled Indonesian troops in a bid to
secede from the predominantly Muslim nation.

Friday 31th December

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin became acting president Friday after
the sudden resignation of Boris Yeltsin, who apologized to the nation for
his mistakes and said it was time for new leadership in a new century.
Putin, 47, told CNN earlier this week he envisions Russia as a democratic
country in the next millennium. He will now combine the posts of acting
president and prime minister until a presidential election, which is
expected to be held on or about March 26, 2000.
Yeltsin, who was due to step down six months from now, looked pale and grim
as he addressed the public on national television.
"Today, on the last day of the outgoing century, I resign," he said in his
annual New Year's message to the Russian people.
"I am stepping down ahead of term. I understand that I must do it and Russia
must enter the new millennium with new politicians, with new faces, with new
intelligent, strong, energetic people, and we who have been in power for
many years must go," he said.
Yeltsin then left for his country residence outside Moscow, and Putin
convened an emergency Cabinet session. The Kremlin said Yeltsin still plans
to travel to Bethlehem next week for Orthodox Christmas celebrations.
As part of the transfer of power, Yeltsin handed over to Putin Russia's
"nuclear briefcase," which contains the codes controlling the country's vast
nuclear arsenal, Russian news agencies reported.
The Pentagon said Friday it saw no sign that Russian military forces are on
a higher state of alert.

Russian forces launched fresh attacks on the Chechen capital of Grozny and
on rebel bases in the mountains on Thursday, while militants held off
Russian attacks in the center of the capital.
ITAR-Tass news agency reported from Mozdok, Russia's main regional army base
just outside Chechnya, that warplanes had carried out a series of dawn raids
against rebel positions in Grozny. The news agency said some troops had
advanced to within a mile of the center of Grozny and top officials in
Moscow said victory is just days away.
"In my opinion the active part of the operation is near completion," said
Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev.
Despite having Grozny surrounded for weeks, Russian troops have not been
able to move in and control the downtown area. Russian generals have
repeatedly denied plans to launch a ground assault. Sending tanks into
narrow downtown Grozny streets would risk heavy Russian casualties, which
the Russians suffered in the 1994-1996 war in Chechnya.

The authorities in Indonesia say fighting between Muslims and Christians, in
which 350 people have died over the last week, has now spread to the largest
of the Moluccan islands, Seram.
A police spokesman said the latest clashes began at dawn and were continuing
several hours later - there were no details about how the violence started,
nor whether there were any casualties.
A military statement said there had also been several hours of fighting
during the night in the provincial capital city, Ambon, where the military
took control on Wednesday.
The Indonesian army has imposed an overnight curfew in parts of the region
according to a general commanding troops in the area.
"We have limited people from going around at night," Brigadier General Max
Tamaela said.
Thousands of people have fled their homes in the islands following this
week's clashes, the worst of any religious conflict in the country's 50-year
history.

Some 700 Zimbabwean and Namibian troops under rebel siege in the town of
Ikela in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have received relief supplies
in recent days, military observers said on Thursday.
Brigadier-General Timothy Kazembe, interim chairman of the Joint Military
Commission overseeing a shaky ceasefire in former Zaire, said some aircraft
had been fired upon as they air dropped supplies.
"Some of the supplies were interrupted. In some cases food and other
supplies landed in wrong areas," Kazembe said.
About 2,000 Namibian, Zimbabwean and Congolese government troops have been
trapped in Ikela since the beginning of December amid renewed fighting in
the central African country.

Thank You
Tia