October 13, 1995
Web posted at: 1:45 a.m. EDT (0645 GMT)
COLIMA, Mexico (CNN) -- For the second time this week, an
earthquake has struck Mexico's Pacific Coast. Workers were
still cleaning up from Monday's quake when the earth shook
again Thursday with a preliminary magnitude of at least 5.5.
Skyscrapers swayed in Mexico City, but there were no reports of serious damage. Five workers reportedly were injured Thursday in the town of Manzanillo, where an eight-story hotel collapsed Monday. At least 54 people died in the 7.6 quake that struck Monday. Thousands remained homeless.
BRUSSELS, Belgium (CNN) -- NATO Secretary-General Willy Claes defended himself publicly Thursday against charges of corruption, forgery and fraud stemming from his tenure as Belgium's economics minister.
Speaking to reporters in Brussels, Claes said, "I'm saying of
course that I'm innocent, that I've never had anything to see
with some things which happened and which are unacceptable
and undefendable. But do not ask me to go into detail. I
think that it is first of all up to me to explain myself to
the members of the special commission on Friday in the
afternoon."
VIENNA, Austria (CNN) -- Austrian leaders on Thursday abandoned efforts to break a budget deadlock. Instead, they're calling for early elections, most likely to be held on Dec. 17.
The announcement came from Chancellor Franz Franitzky, the leader of the dominant Social Democratic Party, and from vice-chairman Wolfgang Schuessel, head of the conservative People's Party.
Their 10-month coalition collapsed after marathon talks failed to resolve major differences over how to control Austria's huge budget deficit. Franitzky wanted to raise taxes, and shave billions off the deficit. Schuessel was leaning toward free-market policies and lower government spending.
QUITO, Ecuador (CNN) -- Ecuador's former vice-president,
Alberto Dahik, has fled to Costa Rica to avoid arrest on
embezzlement charges.
The Costa Rican foreign ministry is quoted by Agence France Press as saying Dahik requested political asylum on arrival there.
Dahik resigned Wednesday shortly after Ecuador's supreme court issued a warrant for his arrest. Dahik, called the architect of Ecuador's free market reforms, is accused of depositing more than $485,000 of public funds into personal bank accounts.
Dahik contends the money was put into secret government accounts, but Ecuadorean officials have frozen his accounts anyway. The National Assembly will hold a special session Monday to discuss Dahik's resignation and decide on his successor.
KARACHI, Pakistan (CNN) -- Violence erupted in Pakistan's largest city on Thursday as the ethnic Mohajir National Movement called its 17th strike of the year. Authorities say at least six people, including two policemen, were killed in and around the port city of Karachi. The strike itself brought business to a halt in Karachi and other southern towns.
The movement ordered the strike, to protest the killings of several movement activists on Tuesday, including four who died while in police custody. A government negotiator is appealing to the ethnic group to resume peace talks, which stalled last month.
TOKYO (CNN) -- Call it a case of Rip Van Volcano. After lying relatively dormant for 257 years, a volcano in southwestern Japan rumbled back to life with a bluster of smoke and ash, Japan's Meteorological Agency reported Thursday.
The agency issued an alert to people living in the region of Mount Hosho, some 500 miles southwest of Tokyo. "No one ever imagined the mountain would ever really blow," local official Mikio Hongo told The Associated Press.
Hongo said a "loud whoosh" emanated from the 5,084-foot mountain Wednesday evening. A few hours later, ash scattered over nearby homes and pastures. By Thursday, smoke billowed from the waking behemoth.
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres will meet yet again on Sunday, when they'll try to iron out difficulties in implementing the freshly minted West Bank accord.
The release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails caused last-minute snags before the initialing of the long-awaited accord and continues to stir controversy.
The original agreement stipulated that all Palestinian female prisoners would be freed, but Israel has refused to release several reportedly involved in the murders of Jews.
Thursday, Arafat wrote to Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, insisting that all women prisoners be freed without exception and demanding a specific timetable for the redeployment of Israeli Defense Forces from West Bank Palestinian population centers.
HONG KONG (CNN) -- Bearing riot shields and tear gas, Hong Kong authorities stormed a Vietnamese detention center and clashed with rioting boat people scheduled for deportation.
The Vietnamese had set fires to the camp and thrown stones in protest against the impending forced repatriation. More than 300 prison officers were called in to defuse the riots.
Twelve of the officers, two policemen and three Vietnamese were injured in the melee.
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