World digest 09/25/02

Israel defies demand, maintains siege of Arafat

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Israel defied a U.N. Security Council demand Tuesday to end its six-day siege of Yasser Arafat's West Bank headquarters.

With the United States abstaining, the Security Council demanded that Israel end its operations, "including the destruction of Palestinian civilian and security infrastructure." The resolution also called on the Palestinian Authority to ensure "those responsible for terrorist acts are brought to justice."

Cabinet Secretary Gideon Saar said the siege would continue until some 200 people inside the compound give up, asserting many are terrorists who must be put on trial.

N. Korea to establish free trade zone with China

TOKYO -- North Korea says it is setting up a 51-square-mile walled enclave to serve as a capitalist economic zone.

The "special administrative region" will have its own legislature, courts and casinos and use U.S. dollars as its currency and permit visa-free access to everyone except North Koreans, according to Yang Bin, the 39-year-old Dutch citizen of Chinese birth who has been named to run the district.

"It will be a totally capitalist region," Yang told a news conference in Pyongyang.

Ukraine's opposition calls for president to resign

KIEV, Ukraine -- Chanting and singing in the biting cold, thousands of Ukrainians protested outside President Leonid Kuchma's office Tuesday, demanding he step down. It was the second such rally in eight days.

More than 5,000 demonstrators led by dozens of opposition lawmakers defied a court order banning the downtown protest and marched from the parliament to Kuchma's office, calling for his resignation or early elections.

The anti-Kuchma coalition ranges from leftists and nationalist lawmakers who oppose Kuchma's politics to rank-and-file Ukrainians fed up with years of corruption and economic struggle.

Kuchma is serving his second five-year term since 1994.

China: Sect hacked into satellite system

BEIJING -- Supporters of the outlawed Falun Gong movement hacked into China's top TV satellite system, beaming flashes of their own material across the vast land during programming aimed at millions of rural Chinese, the government said Tuesday.

In a full-throttle condemnation Tuesday night on its national newscast and through its official news agency, the government blamed a pirated broadcast operation from Taiwan for the "TV hijacking" and demanded authorities on the island track down and punish the culprits.

China trying to hack into Dalai Lama network

DHARMSALA, India -- The manager of the Dalai Lama's computer network alleged Tuesday that the Chinese government has repeatedly tried to hack into it over the past month.

Chinese hackers designed a virus to plug into the network and steal information, said Jigme Tsering, manager of the Tibetan Computer Resource Center in Dharmsala. The center provides Internet services and manages the network of the Tibetan Buddhist leader's government-in-exile.

No comment was available from officials in Beijing late Tuesday.

The Dalai Lama established a government in exile in India after fleeing the Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1959.

-- From wire reports