Palestinian denies talks leave out Arafat

Palestinian denies talks leave out Arafat
RAMALLAH, West Bank -- A senior Palestinian official on Saturday rejected as "baseless" contentions by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that his government is negotiating "secretly" with Palestinians other than Yasser Arafat.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the hard-line Sharon was trying to appeal to more moderate voters ahead of Israel's elections Jan. 28.
In a television interview aired Saturday, Sharon said the secret talks had been held with people "from the Palestinian leadership" -- but not Arafat. He said there was "definitely" an alternative to Arafat but did not elaborate.
Government spokesman Avi Pazner said contacts had been going on "for a few months" but would not reveal the identity of the contacts to avoid retribution against them by "Arafat and his cronies."
The Palestinians also rejected Sharon's contention Thursday that a few Al-Qaida members had penetrated Gaza and southern Lebanon and were working to target Israel. Sharon did not present any evidence.
Arafat, speaking outside his Ramallah headquarters, called the Al-Qaida charge "a big, big, big, big lie to cover his attacks and his crimes against our people."
Villagers say soldiersmassacred civilians
MONOKO-ZOHI, Ivory Coast -- Terrorized villagers on Saturday showed the burned shops and covered corpses from what appeared to be the worst bloodletting of Ivory Coast's three-month war -- a massacre of 120 unarmed civilians by government soldiers, survivors said.
Revelations of the mass grave at the central village of Monoko-Zohi came amid reports of heavy fighting in western Ivory Coast. Rebels and locals said Saturday that insurgents had taken another town, Blolekin, while pushing east into the heart of Ivory Coast, said Maj. Frederic Thomazo, part of a 1,000-strong French contingent in the former French colony.
Tensions heightened further over emerging allegations of the massacre at Monoko-Zohi.
Ivory Coast's army and government strongly denied wrongdoing, insisting Saturday that the dead were not civilians but rebels killed in combat.
However, insurgents denied having their militia in the village of Monoko-Zohi and surviving villagers said the massacre victims were merchants and African guest workers on the region's lush cocoa and coffee fields.
Bombs explodeat Bangladesh theaters
DHAKA, Bangladesh -- Bombs exploded at four movie theaters in a northern Bangladesh town Saturday, killing at least 15 people and wounding more than 200, witnesses and news reports said.
The theaters were crowded with people celebrating Eid-al-Fitr, the Islamic festival marking the end of Ramadan. No one claimed responsibility for the blasts.
About 3,000 people were believed to be inside and around the theaters when the explosions occurred in Mymensingh, a town about 70 miles north of the capital, Dhaka, the United News of Bangladesh reported.
Ten people were killed instantly, and five others died on way to a hospital, a local resident quoted doctors as saying. Jahangir Alam, a journalist, was standing near one of the theaters before the explosions occurred.
"I heard a big bang and then saw many people running for shelter," Alam said by phone. "There were bodies lying in blood and many injured crying for help."
It was not immediately clear if the early death toll came from one theater or all of them.
Suspect kills self
PARIS -- A former Italian policeman accused of hijacking two airplanes, including a flight that landed safely in France last month, hanged himself in his jail cell, prosecutors said Saturday.
Stefano Savorani, 29, had a history of mental illness. Guards discovered his body shortly after midnight Friday.
Savorani had been held in the central French city of Lyon since the Nov. 27 hijacking attempt, during which he said he was a member of the Al-Qaida terrorist network and threatened to blow up an Alitalia flight.
On the flight from Bologna, Italy to Paris, Savorani brandished a TV remote control he said was connected to a bomb. The plane landed safely in Lyon, and Savorani surrendered after releasing the 57 passengers and seven crew members. No explosives were found on board.
A Lyon judge placed Savorani under investigation -- one step short of formal charges -- for "hijacking an aircraft and issuing death threats." Psychiatric experts were to determine if he was fit to stand trial.
Associated Press