Here is today's news story from CNN-Reuters

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story waiting for me each day about the kidnapping. Other interesting news
stories have appeared under "birds" in the past, which is also one of my
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A copyrighted story of CNN-Reuters

<<Colombian Army Moving Cautiously on U.S. Hostages

Reuters
01-APR-98

BOGOTA, April 1 (Reuters) - The head of the Colombian army pledged on
Wednesday that he would not mount a ``blood and fire'' operation to rescue
four Americans and an Italian held hostage by rebels in mountains just outside
Bogota.

Gen. Mario Hugo Galan said all bombing raids and troop movements in the
isolated area about 35 miles (50 km) east of the capital had been halted.

A Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) commander said earlier this
week that army operations were risking the lives of the hostages, snatched 10
days ago. He has threatened to kill the Americans if they prove to be
undercover intelligence agents.

``We cannot go in with blood and fire,'' Galan told reporters.

``We must operate within the framework of human rights legislation and
international humanitarian law and for that reason have suspended all troop
movements so as not to endanger the lives of the kidnap victims,'' he said.

The Americans, who immigration officials named as Peter Shen, Thomas Fiori,
Todd Mark and Louise Agustine, were kidnapped at a rebel roadblock last Monday
on a major highway that connects the capital with the eastern plains region.

Italian Vito Candela and a group of up to seven Colombians are also being held
by the FARC's 53rd Front.

The U.S. State Department denied on Tuesday that the Americans were linked to
any intelligence service. It said all were bird-watching enthusiasts.

Gen. Freddy Padilla, head of the army's 7th Brigade, said there had been no
air operations since Monday over the rugged region of knife-edge precipices
and deep gorges where the hostages are being held.

Flights were suspended after rebels shot at a helicopter airlifting troops
close to the isolated mountain village of El Calvario. Two soldiers were
injured in the attack.

``We have not fired a single shot on Tuesday or Wednesday,'' Padilla told
Reuters.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Colombian Human
Rights Ombudsman's Office were pressing ahead with efforts on Wednesday to
make fresh contact with the FARC guerrillas and mediate the safe release of
the hostages.

Colombian authorities blamed the country's estimated 15,000 guerrillas for
abducting more than 900 people last year and using ransom payments to fund
their war chests.

Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.All rights reserved>>

Great birding and find that next lifer,

John (One of Birders2)

John + Irma = 2, we are birders, too.

John C. LeVine
Birders2 at aol.com
Los Angeles, CA

Please put <To Birders2> in subject line when e-mailing us personally. I do
not open all of the 200-300 e-mails I receive each day, but I want to be sure
to read your e-mails to us. Thanks!

A CONUNDRUM: If the Amazon Forest holds the cures for the diseases affecting
humankind; Then will not the resulting increased multitudes of humans doom the
Amazon Forest? Then humans?
____________________________________________________
A thought on leaving a showing of IMAX's "Amazon" 11/03/97

April 1, 1998
4:15 pm PDT