Around the World

Yugoslav protests turn ugly under fire

NIS, Yugoslavia - Protests at two prisons in Yugoslavia turned ugly yesterday with shots fired, buildings set ablaze and a female inmate reporting an "orgy of rape" as Serbs went on a rampage to demand better jail conditions and amnesty for certain convictions.

The unrest, which began Sunday with a riot at a third prison, presented the latest challenge to new President Vojislav Kostunica. Even as his government tries to consolidate its authority, it faces a decade of pent-up discontent accumulated under the previous regime that now threatens to spill over into growing anarchy.

Kostunica and his supporters control government on the federal level but not in the two Yugoslav republics. With elections in Serbia six weeks away, allies of ousted President Slobodan Milosevic will remind voters that the disorder would not have been tolerated while he was in charge.

Although opinion polls now project a solid victory for Kostunica's Democratic Opposition of Serbia in the Dec. 23 elections, his camp is worried their support could erode as pro-democracy euphoria is replaced by disenchantment over price increases, energy shortages and other hardships. While the economy was destroyed under Milosevic, there is fear his successors will harvest the blame.

Russia gives up on Kursk recovery

effort

MOSCOW - The Norwegian seagoing platform Regalia departed yesterday from the scene of the sunken Russian submarine Kursk after recovering 12 of the 118 victims and sheding light on vessel's massive damage.

Divers today abandoned efforts to go deeper into the the living quarters because damage was so severe and they could not move. They inserted a remote-control device into the fifth compartment, where the nuclear reactor is located.