INTERNATIONAL ROUNDUP
From Herald Wire Services
FRANCE
EUROTUNNEL FIRM SUES
OVER ILLEGAL MIGRATION
PARIS -- The
operator of the Eurotunnel has gone to court to stem the flow of
illegal immigrants who hide on freight trains traveling to Britain
through the English Channel tunnel.
The British-French company asked a court
in Lille, France, to close a refugee center near its freight
terminal and has appealed a British plan to fine Eurotunnel for
migrants who successfully make the crossing.
Eurotunnel said that despite spending more than $4 million to
boost security to prevent people from jumping on Britain-bound
freight trains, the situation has become ``intolerable.''
It says it has blocked 18,500 illegal immigrants in the first
half of this year.
ROMANIA
GIVE BACK OUR CASTLE,
PRINCESS' FAMILY SAYS
BUCHAREST -- The descendants of a
former Romanian princess are suing the government for the return of
an ancient fortress popularly known as ``Dracula's Castle'' -- or
$25 million in compensation.
Culture Minister Razvan Theodorescu confirmed receipt of a letter
from lawyers representing the family of the former Princess Ileana,
claiming the 14th Century fortress in the Transylvanian town of
Bran.
Vlad the Impaler -- the Romanian warrior prince who gave rise to
the Dracula legend -- never lived in the turreted gothic edifice.
Nonetheless, it has been nicknamed ``Dracula's Castle,'' a favorite
attraction of tourists and foreign filmmakers alike. Vlad, whose
legendary reputation for cruelty was founded on his love of impaling
his victims and watching them die while he ate dinner, turned into
the blood-drinking Count Dracula in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel.
VATICAN
U.S. PASTORS JOIN
FRAY OVER ARCHBISHOP
VATICAN CITY -- Two black American
pastors on Tuesday joined the crusade to arrange a meeting between
Zambian Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo and the South Korean wife the
Vatican insists he give up.
The Revs. T. L. Barrett of the Life Center Church of God in
Christ in Chicago and Hycel Taylor of the Second Baptist Church in
Evanston, Ill., said they have asked for an audience with the pope.
The two Protestant ministers hope to persuade him to allow a
meeting between Milingo, 71, and Maria Sung, 43, the woman he
married May 27 in a group wedding conducted by the Rev. Sun Myung
Moon.
The Vatican, which first threatened to excommunicate Milingo,
suspended its threat after he met with Pope John Paul II. But the
Vatican has refused to disclose the archbishop's whereabouts. It
said only that he had decided to return to the church, was on a
spiritual retreat and should be left alone to pray.
SURINAME
HUNDREDS STRANDED BY
CHARTER AIRLINE
PARAMARIBO -- About 800 passengers,
including about 400 Dutch citizens, have been stranded in Suriname
by a troubled charter airline that has not flown in three weeks.
Inter Tropical Aviation Airlines' last flight from the former
Dutch colony in South America to Europe was July 23. There are
another 300 ITA passengers waiting in the Netherlands for return
flights to Suriname.
