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NewsFebruary 28, 2004

Japanese cult guru given death sentence TOKYO -- Former doomsday cult guru Shoko Asahara was convicted Friday and sentenced to hang for masterminding the deadly 1995 nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway and other crimes that killed 27 people and alerted the world to the danger of high-tech terrorism. ...

Japanese cult guru given death sentence

TOKYO -- Former doomsday cult guru Shoko Asahara was convicted Friday and sentenced to hang for masterminding the deadly 1995 nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway and other crimes that killed 27 people and alerted the world to the danger of high-tech terrorism. Asahara, founder of the apocalyptic Aum Shinrikyo cult, also was convicted of ordering his followers to produce and stockpile arsenals of conventional and chemical weapons, including the sarin gas used in the subway attack. Asahara, 48, is the 12th person sentenced to hang for the attacks, and the decision was widely expected.

Talks on North Korea nuclear program to close

BEIJING -- After "difficulties and contradictions," delegates to a six-nation meeting on North Korea's nuclear program reached tentative agreement Friday to try again within two months and create lower-level working groups to help, news reports and Chinese officials said. The nations also agreed to create lower-level working groups that would begin meeting within two weeks to discuss energy aid for the impoverished North in return for a "comprehensive nuclear abandonment" by Pyongyang, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency said in a report from Beijing.

Macedonian president's body found in wreckage

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SKOPJE, Macedonia -- Long-divided Macedonians and ethnic Albanians united Friday in mourning President Boris Trajkovski, who was killed in a plane crash, as searchers cleared a path through mine-strewn Bosnian mountains to recover his body. Police in a helicopter found the wreckage of Trajkovski's plane more than 24 hours after it crashed Thursday in heavy fog, said Capt. Dave Sullivan of Bosnia's NATO-led peacekeeping force. Flags flew at half-staff and Macedonia began three days of mourning as Macedonians and ethnic Albanians vowed to maintain Trajkovski's efforts to quell tensions in the volatile Balkan country.

Georgia's president wants 'new era' with Moscow

Georgia's new president said he was ready for a "new era in relations" with Russia, and he repeated that his ousted predecessor should not be arrested amid a crackdown on corruption in the Caucasus nation. Georgia and Russia have had tense relations for many of the years since the Soviet Union's breakup. president Mikhail Saakashvili said Georgia was ready to cooperate with Russia and meet it "halfway" on regional issues.

Russia strives to boost voter turnout in election

KHABAROVSK, Russia -- President Vladimir Putin didn't once mention the upcoming presidential election during his whirlwind one-day trip to Russia's Far East this week -- but he hardly needed to. Reminders to vote on March 14 are everywhere in Khabarovsk. Get-out-the-vote posters hang on storefront and bus windows, city officials advertise free nightclub tickets to first-time student voters and hospitals received a directive on encouraging patients to vote. None of the measures promote a particular candidate in this lackluster campaign which Putin is expected to win by a landslide. Instead, all seek to overcome the only hurdle the incumbent president faces: low turnout. The election needs a 50 percent turnout to be valid, and Khabarovsk, 4,000 miles east of Moscow, has seen turnouts decline steadily over the past decade. In December, local turnout for the parliamentary elections was 47 percent.

-- From wire reports

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