World

Yeltsin's comments criticized by foreign minister of Russia

The Associated Press

MOSCOW Ÿ In a sharp response to Boris Yeltsin's criticism of him, Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev warned yesterday that Russia is sliding toward confrontation with the West Ÿ and said he is not to blame.

Kozyrev said Moscow's foreign policy is ill-conceived and increasingly ''inconsistent.''

''Many people believe . that the best way to win the election is to set a quarrel with the rest of the world,'' he said, referring to December parliamentary elections and June 1996 presidential elections. Yeltsin hasn't said whether he will seek a second term as president.

Yeltsin said last week he was dissatisfied with Kozyrev and planned to oust him.

Former Adidas owner could go free

The Associated Press

DOUAI, France Ÿ After losing his fortune, his soccer team and his political career, former Adidas owner Bernard Tapie finally got some good news yesterday when a court said it may cut his sentence for fixing a soccer match.

Tapie, a former leftist Cabinet minister, has remained free while appealing his conviction for corruption. His team, Olympique Marseilles, was stripped of its French championship after two players for the opposing Valenciennes team admitted taking $50,000 each to throw the 1993 game.

Nicaragua fighting unknown disease

The Associated Press

MANAGUA, Nicaragua Ÿ American and Cuban specialists are investigating a dengue-like disease that has killed 12 people and infected nearly 900 more in less than a week in a remote area of Nicaragua.

While the illness has the symptoms of hemorrhagic dengue, clinical tests for dengue have so far been negative.

The first cases showed up last week in Acuapa, 125 miles northwest of Managua, where six people died in rapid succession.

Health Minister Federico Munoz said yesterday he has ordered the region cordoned off Ÿ infected people are not let out Ÿ to try to contain the illness, which also has been reported in eight other nearby towns.

Dr. Carlos Jarquin, Nicaragua's director-general of health, said yesterday that 12 people have died and 869 others are infected.

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