European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 28, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday March 282007 stars and stripes Page 7 in the world s Korea warns it May walk away from talks Seoul with a deadline just Days away South Korea warned on monday that it would walk away from a free Trade Deal rather than relent to us pressure to open its Rice Market the negotiations May collapse if the fat fails to meet our expectations or the us demands Rice concessions which our Side can not accept Kim Jongsoon souls chief negotiator told re porters after the two sides began intensified talks to Clinch a Deal Seoul and Washington need to wrap up an agreement by March 31 due to various Legal require ments related to the approaching end on july 1 of president Bush Trade promotion authority the tight schedule has forced the governments to turn the talks Over to higher ranking officials after Kim and his us counter part assistant us Trade representative Wendy Cutler failed to reach an agreement in talks last week in Washington besides agriculture other contentious issues remaining to be solved include Trade in Automo Biles in which the United states is in sizable deficit aftershocks hit Central Japan following quake Kanazawa Japan after shocks Shook a Rural area of coast Al Central Japan on monday a Day after a powerful earthquake killed at least one person and injured 193 others As it toppled buildings triggered landslides and generated a Small tsunami along the coast one of the aftershocks had a preliminary magnitude of 53 and struck at am monday japans meteorological Agency said there was no tsunami danger the Agency warned that Strong after shocks could continue for a week sundays magnitude69 quake struck off the North coast of ish Ikawa the meteorological Agency said the Agency issued a Tsu Nami warning urging people near the sea to move to higher land Hong Kong election ends in landslide win Hong Kong Hong Kong Leader Donald Tsang won a land slide second term with a bold Promise to fold out a Road map and timetable for full democracy in chivas richest City tangs challenger lawmaker Alan Leong complained the elec Tion was rigged because the pub Lic want allowed to vote the win Ner is picked by an election com Mittee loaded with tycoons and other elites Loyal to Beijing the panel voted 649123 for Tsang tangs vow to Craft a blueprint for full democracy marked the first time since the turnover of the former British Colony to China that a Leader has made such a specific pledge to deliver democratic reforms in envoy recommends Kosovo Independence Pristina Serbia the in envoy for Kosovo says Independence is the Only viable option for the province according to a copy of his report obtained by the associated press monday Martti Ahti Saari who mediated yearlong talks Between ethnic albanians and serbs said that upon careful consideration of Kosovo recent history the realities of Kosovo today and taking into account negotiations with the Par ties i have come to the can Chi Sion that the Only viable option for Kosovo is Independence to be supervised for an initial period by the International Community the  re port and his proposal will be delivered to the in Security Council later monday Pakistan police kill alleged jihad Recruiter tank Pakistan police shot dead a suspected militant Recruiter at a boys school in Northwest Ern Pakistan after hearing he was trying to sign up students for Sui cide bombings and holy War police said one police officer was killed by a hand grenade during the Brief clash three suspected militants turned up at the privately run Oxford Public school in tank a town about 60 Miles from the afghan Border on monday morn ing local police chief Mumtaz Khan said we heard that they were looking for children to pre pare them for jihad and for Sui cide attacks Khan said one of the militants identified As Ahsan Burki threw a hand Gre Nade that fatally wounded one police officer Khan said the offic ers opened fire killing Burki and injuring one of his companions the third suspect was arrested four with alleged ties to terror nabbed in France Paris French counter Ter dorism agents arrested four peo ple outside Paris Early monday on suspicion that they had ties to a terror cell dismantled in 2005 the National police said agents from the Domestic counterintelligence Agency St detained the four suspects in the town of trapped West of Paris police said a police statement said the suspects were allegedly linked to a terror cell known As Ansar a Fath or partisans of Victory that was dismantled by authorities in late 2005 four peo ple in that cell including suspected ringleader Safe Bourada were detained in 2005 for allegedly planning attacks on the Paris sub Way a Paris Airport and St Headquarters French minister resigns to seek presidency Paris Nicolas Sarkozy re signed monday As French Interi or minister to focus on his presidential bid Sarkozy the candidate for the ruling conservative party was re placed in the Post by Francois Baroin who was previously minis Ter for overseas territories the of fice of president Jacques Chirac said in a related shakeup former families minister Philippe Bas was appointed As health minister to replace Xavier Bertrand who will focus on his role As a spokes Man for Sarkozy Campaign from the associated press japans Leader says sorry to we Comfort women by of Bioko Tabuco the associated press minister Shinzo Abe under criticism for denying that Japan forced women to work As sex slaves during world War ii apologized monday i express my sympathy toward the Comfort women and apologize for the situation they found themselves in Abe told a parliamentary debate using a euphemism used by japanese politicians to refer to former sex slaves i apologize Here and now As prime minister he said Abe triggered International juror earlier this month by saying there was no evidence that women were coerced into sexual service in the world War ii Era historians say that As Many As 200000 asian women mostly from Korea and China worked in military run brothels victims say they were forced into the brothels by the japanese military and were held against their will but righting politicians have in recent weeks made renewed efforts to push for an official revision of a landmark apology offered by a senior govern ment official in 1993 conservative ruling party Law makers argue that the women were professional prostitutes and were paid for their services and maintain that the military authorities were not directly responsible for the establishment or running of the brothels abes earlier denial of coercion Drew intense criticism from China and South Korea which accuse Japan of failing to fully atone for wartime inva Sions and atrocities the Issue also has stirred debate in the United states where a committee in the House of representatives is considering a non Bindig Resolution Call ing on Japan to fully acknowledge wrongdoing and make an unambiguous apology Abe on monday rebuffed criticism in the us Media for his efforts to Champion the cause of Japa Nese citizens kidnapped by North korean agents de Cades ago while refusing to own up to japans own past kidnappings Korea abductions and the Comfort women Issue Are a completely different matter Abe said the Issue of the abductees is an ongoing violation of human rights while it is not As if the Comfort women Issue is continuing Japan has rejected most compensation claims from victims instead a private fund created in 1995 by the japanese government has provided a Way to support former sex slaves without offering official government compensation Many women rejected the payments demanding government compensation and a parliament tap proved apology also monday a japanese court rejected demands for compensation of about million by a group of chinese forced to work As slave labourers at a Japa Nese mine during world War n an official said the Miyazaki District court dismissed the lawsuit seeking damages from the japanese government and Mitsubishi metals corp formerly Mitsubishi Metal that operated the mine during the War court spokeswoman Tomomi Hirata said rebel bombs hit sri Lanka Airport kill 3 the associated press Colombo sri Lanka tamil rebels launched their first air strike in the nearly quartered Cade conflict with sri Lankas government using at least one Small plane to bomb an air base outside the capital monday and killing three airmen officials said tamil Tiger rebels said the overnight raid which also injured 16 personnel at the base about 20 Miles Northwest of Colombo was aimed at halting what they called indiscriminate Aerial bombing of tamil areas and warned of More attacks the rebels dropped three bombs the defense ministry said in a statement no aircraft on the ground was damaged but three airmen were killed and 16 injured the ministry said one bomb did not explode the rebels staged a series of Sui cide bombings on the same air base and at an adjacent International Airport in july 2001 destroying six civilian jets and More than a dozen military planes and killing six Security personnel hours after mondays attack air Force fighter planes bombed Tami held areas in Northern Wanni District the tigers said in an email while sri lankan officials said Only one plane took part in the rebel attack tamil Tiger spokes Man Rasiah Ilant Hiraman insisted there were two both returned Safe Eranga sri lankan Hospital staff carry a wounded Soldier for treatment at a Hospital about 30 Miles North of sri Lankas capital Colombo by after bombing the sri lankan air Force base which he said was the first major Aerial attack by the tigers the attack is not Only preemptive but also to safeguard our people from indiscriminate bombing by the sri Lanka air Ilant Hiraman said other sri Lanka military instal lations will also be targets of our future attacks he said in a Tele phone interview from the rebels stronghold in Kili Bochchi a town in Northern sri Lanka a Western Diplomat said the plane used in the attack is believed to be a czech made Zion z143 a single propeller Trainer that had been modified to carry bombs the rebels have Long maintained an Airstrip outside Kili Bochchi sri Lankas air Force bombed it several times last year and there have been persistent rumours that they had acquired aircraft mondays attack caught the sri lankan off guard said the Diplo mat who spoke on condition of anonymity another Western Diplomat who also spoke on the condition of anonymity said sri lankan officials think the aircraft appeared on the airports radar about 30 minutes to 40 minutes before the attack Al though air traffic controllers did not know what it was or that it was going to take part in an assault