Denmark, Greenland to clean U.S. bases
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Denmark and its autonomous Arctic island of Greenland have signed an agreement to clean up U.S. military installations that were left to rust in the pristine landscape after the Cold War.
The deal earmarks $29 million over six years for the cleanup. Greenland Premier Kim Kielsen and Danish Environment Minister Esben Lunde Larsen finalized it in Copenhagen on Thursday.
Lunde Larsen said a Denmark-Greenland steering group will decide when and where to start the cleanup.
A 1951 deal between Copenhagen and Washington allowed the U.S. to build 33 bases and radar stations in Greenland. The agreement didn’t specify who would be responsible for cleanup.
Lunde Larsen and Kielsen singled out areas south of Nuuk, the Greenland capital on the west coast, and Tasiilaq on the east coast, where there are defunct buildings, abandoned vehicles and empty fuel barrels littered along runways used by Americans for the North Atlantic air ferry route during World War II. U.S. planes touched down in Greenland on their way to war in Europe and North Africa.
“I am pleased that we can work together to do the cleaning,” Kielsen said, adding that Greenland for long had wished to remove junk from American activities.
4 bodies, wreckage found on Curacao
CARACAS, Venezuela — Authorities called off a search in the Caribbean on Thursday for 28 people missing from a boat that left Venezuela and appears to have sunk, after four bodies and wreckage washed ashore in nearby Curacao, officials said Thursday.
It remained unclear why the boat sank as it headed to the Dutch island, a journey frequently taken by people fleeing Venezuela’s economic collapse.
The boat carrying 34 people departed Tuesday night, Venezuela’s Regional Civil Protection Director Jose Montano said, adding that two people managed to swim safely to shore in Curacao, which is about 45 miles away at its closest point.
Police on the island Wednesday morning discovered the bodies of two men and two women on shore, said Curacao police spokesman Reginald Huggins.
The four dead were identified as Venezuelan migrants deported from the island in December, said Rodrick Gouverneur, spokesman for the Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard.
Serbia warns U.S. over visa denial
BELGRADE, Serbia — The U.S.’ rejection of a visa application for the Serbian army chief of staff will have consequences for military relations between the two countries, Serbia’s defense minister warned Thursday.
Aleksandar Vulin said it was unclear why the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade rejected the visa for Gen. Ljubisa Dikovic, who in October was invited to a counterterrorism conference in Washington.
Vulin said the refusal to issue Dikovic a visa “doesn’t contribute to our cooperation and leaves a bad trail.”
The U.S. Embassy has refused to comment on the general’s application.
Serbian human-rights groups have accused Dikovic of war crimes committed by his troops during the 1998-99 war against ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo. He has never been tried for the alleged crimes.
“Gen. Dikovic is a brave and honorable officer and the pride of the Serbian army,” Vulin said. “His war path can’t be the reason for the rejection of the visa.”
Dikovic on Thursday refused to discuss his visa application, but said he was part of “the heroic” defense of Kosovo, a former Serbian province.
Rescuers fear blast on burning oil tanker
BEIJING — Firefighting vessels on Thursday resumed attempts to put out a blaze aboard an oil tanker in the East China Sea, in a disaster that may have killed all 32 crew members.
Photos on the Chinese Ministry of Transportation’s microblog showed thick black smoke pouring from the ship on Thursday morning. Rescuers on Tuesday found a body believed to be a crew member from the Iranian-operated tanker, the Sanchi, but there has been no sign of survivors.
Chinese officials have warned that the tanker could explode and sink, possibly triggering an environmental disaster.
The Sanchi was carrying nearly 1 million barrels of condensate, a type of gassy, ultra-light oil, when it collided Saturday evening with a freighter 160 miles off the Chinese coast and caught fire. Intense flames, bad weather and poor visibility have hampered rescue efforts.