World briefs 8/2/02

Gear of famous British journalist to be auctioned

LONDON -- Well-worn travel gear that accompanied intrepid 19th-century journalist Henry Morton Stanley on his search for explorer David Livingstone went on display Thursday at Christie's auction house, where it and other artifacts will be sold.

Even those who know little of the New York Herald reporter's adventure have heard the oh-so-Victorian greeting --"Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" -- uttered after Stanley's hazardous jungle trek led him to the fever-ridden explorer at Lake Tanganyika.

The words, uttered on Nov. 13, 1871, were the first that Livingstone -- who had discovered and named Victoria Falls decades earlier and was feared dead -- had reportedly heard in English in five years.

Christie's will auction more than 1,000 objects used or picked up by Stanley from the Livingstone expedition and other journeys in Africa, including photographs, gifts from tribesmen, books and maps.

Yemen establishes coast guard, plans U.S. training

SAN'A, Yemen -- Yemen will form a coast guard and plans to send its first 20 officers for training in the United States, the Interior Ministry said Thursday.

The creation of the coast guard comes after suicide bombers rammed a dinghy laden with explosives into the USS Cole in October 2000 when the destroyer stopped to refuel in the port of Aden. The attack killed 17 American sailors.

Officials with the Interior Ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the coast guard would employ 2,000 people within four years.

Yemen committed itself to joining the war on terrorism following Sept. 11 and has been working with the United States to enhance security at Aden and elsewhere in the country.

The coast guard is a product of February talks between the head of the U.S. military's Central Command, Gen. Tommy Franks, and Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Franks said Yemen wanted military training and assistance to create the coast guard for its 1,500-mile coastline.

Group accuses China of violating workers' rights

BEIJING -- In a new report, Human Rights Watch accused China of violating workers' basic rights with a recent wave of crackdowns on labor protests.

The report, scheduled for release today, calls on the communist government to allow independent unions, and asks foreign companies operating in China to resist official pressure to punish workers who form unions or go on strike.

The report called on the Chinese government to release jailed labor leaders.

China allows only state-monitored unions and has harassed and imprisoned independent labor activists.

Authorities have broken up protests by thousands of laid-off oil workers in the northeast and detained protest leaders.

Tens of millions of Chinese have lost their jobs since the mid-1990s. Many recent protests stem from complaints that promised severance benefits are too low or never paid.

Farmer who ransacked McDonald's released

VILLENEUVE-LES-MAGUELONE, France -- Militant French farmer Jose Bove was released from prison Thursday after serving 40 days behind bars for ransacking a McDonald's restaurant under construction.

Smiling but visibly thinner, the anti-globalization crusader emerged from a prison in the southern French town of Villeneuve-les-Maguelon to the cheers of about 1,000 supporters.

Bove, 49, was serving out the remainder of a three-month sentence for using farm equipment to tear down a McDonald's in the southern town of Millau three years ago as part of a protest against globalization.

The mustachioed sheep farmer is the leader of a campaign against what he calls "foul food" -- including genetically modified crops and fast food.

-- From wire reports