Western Countries

The wealthy nations of Western Europe "need a fairly stiff lecture" for failing to move fast enough to open markets to the new democracies of Eastern Europe, "and we've been trying to give it to them," the State Department's second-ranking official said Thursday. In terms unusually blunt for a diplomat, Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger told business leaders that "the European Community, which represents the greatest market for Central and Eastern Europe . . .

KAMPALA, Uganda - On Sunday mornings, worshipers arrive two hours early to wait in line for one of 200 seats in the Missionaries of the Poor chapel. By the time Mass begins at 8 a.m., they have been joined by 2,000 more parishioners who sit outside in the sun. Roman Catholic churches in Uganda are packed these days, the participants traditional-minded, their faith vibrant and strong. Across Africa, the church reinforces the staunchly conservative values of a population that often attends services several times a week, for hours on end. Catholic leaders also provide homes and food for poor and disadvantaged people whom the state doesn't help, including orphans, abandoned children, the homeless and the disabled.

Globalization is good and necessary, whispers the guru, her arms circling yet another stranger, her words translated into English by an attendee. "But at the same time, families are disintegrating, people are becoming isolated islands, there is no communication… there is no love." So says Amma, the Indian-born spiritual leader who over the last two decades has gained an international name for her simple insight and her signature public act. Amma — full name Mata Amritanandamayi, age 56 — is known as "the Hugging Saint."

Roger Cooper, a Briton imprisoned for more than five years in Iran on a spying charge, flew home to freedom here Tuesday, a day after his surprise release in Tehran. Wearing a pin-stripe suit and neat tie but looking tired and drawn as he arrived at Heathrow Airport, Cooper said he had spent most of his time in solitary confinement and survived because of his "sheer bloody-mindedness."

After Serbian tank fire killed four aid workers and three relief planes were fired on while bringing food into besieged Sarajevo, Western aid officials said Thursday that they fear they have reached the limit of what they can do to help civilians trapped in a raging war zone. Humanitarian relief flights that provide 90% of Sarajevo's food have been suspended for the last two days because of attacks on U.S. and other Western aircraft taking part in the lifesaving mission.

BEIRUT - Just when they expected a flood of heavy weapons to help them make a major push against the forces of President Bashar Assad, rebel commanders in Syria say, arms shipments from outside the country have instead slowed, prolonging a conflict now nearing the end of its second year. Though rebels have made gains in the north and east, seizing military bases and checkpoints, opposition figures who had made predictions of quick victory now say their arsenal is at a level that can support only a war of attrition.

The headline in Zimbabwe's Herald newspaper Friday measured the disconnect between hopes and reality: Southern African nations were "to invest $US 2 Billion in Zim," it screamed. But after a meeting of regional finance ministers in Cape Town, South Africa, later in the day, Zimbabwe left with nothing but vague promises.

Italy on Monday formally recognized the rebel government of eastern Libya, dealing yet another blow to the embattled regime of Col. Moammar Kadafi. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Rome would open an office in rebel-held territory and formally recognize the Benghazi-based Libyan National Council as the only representative of the country, which Italy once ruled as a colonial ward and to which it maintains deep cultural and economic ties. Italy joins France as the second Western country to formally recognize the rebel government.

In a display of the calculation and cunning that have effectively won him the Yugoslav war, Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic has trapped Western countries in a diplomatic deadlock that compels them to deal with what they consider an outlaw state. Not a single foreign country has established ties with the new Yugoslavia proclaimed last month by Milosevic allies to replace the shattered federation that was the West's rare Communist friend during the Cold War.

Even the long-tolerant Dutch are reaching their limit over the influx of refugees seeking political asylum or more prosperous lives in Europe. For Dr. Toine Aarts, it came when authorities announced plans to open an asylum center in his exclusive neighborhood. He banded with eight other wealthy residents and bought the only building suitable for such a use, thus making sure it would not be a refuge for asylum seekers. "Do you have to be so tolerant that you accept just anything?"