Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski has been killed in a plane crash in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Macedonian officials say Mr. Trajkovski was killed today (Thursday) when his plane went down near the Bosnian city of Stolac. Details of the crash are unclear, but bad weather was reported in the area. Mr. Trajkovski, an ordained Methodist minister who studied theology in the United States, was elected Macedonia's president in late 1999.
China says North Korea has offered to halt its nuclear weapons programm, but it is not clear under what conditions. The official Xinhua news agency quotes a top Chinese official as saying the six-party talks on ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions now going on in Beijing are in a crucial stage. Xinhua also quotes the chief Russian delegate to the talks as saying North Korea is willing to give up its military nuclear programs, but not its peaceful ones.
The U-N Security Council is scheduled to hold an emergency meeting today (Thursday) on the deteriorating situation in Haiti. A security council statement Wednesday condemned the continued violence in Haiti and criticized a decision by the political opposition to reject an internationally-backed peace plan. The plan would keep President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in office with reduced powers, but the opposition wants him to step down.
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