In a world where globalization is impacting upon every nation state and bringing poverty to the forefront of the human rights agenda, the challenge today is how to hold states accountable for their conduct, Amnesty International said as it released its annual report in the week of its 40th anniversary.

"Globalization -- the spread of the free market economy and technological change -- has led to enormous

INDONESIA/MOLUCCAS: VIOLENCE IN AMBON FLARES AGAIN

Attacks in Ambon's Christian quarters on the night of 20 May left nine people - including two soldiers - dead and 17 people wounded. Sectarian violence between Moslems and Christians in the Moluccas, ignited in January 1999, has escalated sharply in recent weeks. According to the Amboina diocese Crisis Centre: "The recent new wave of killing Christians is considered to be carried out by professional

"The campaign is part of a broad strategy for spreading knowledge of international humanitarian law which

Cervellin said the problem has expanded far beyond displacing individuals or individual families.

"An undetermined number of hostages" remain in the hands of their captors, however, mayoral spokesman Jhon Borquez told AFP.

The Colombian Armed Forces had originally put the number of hostages at 190 late Wednesday, but Borquez indicated "there were more," including women and children.

The workers were taken at gunpoint from

The Colombian army said it killed 44 rebels and captured 20 in fighting over the weekend, while losing three soldiers. In the same period, five farmers were killed, presumably by the rebels, police said.

The fighting comes at a time when peace talks have stalled between the government and the two main rebel groups

In a May 7 statement, the embassy said that a "Memorandum of Agreement" signed that day by U.S. Ambassador to Colombia Anne Patterson and Colombian Interior Minister Armando Estrada Villa provides that the United States will disburse $1 million in technical and material support in support of a Colombian government program to protect human rights workers.

Those funds, together with another $3

Local reports said that six farmers were killed by unknown assailants in Cauca province in the south of the country.

In the north, right-wing paramilitaries killed four youths. Clashes with government troops also left six rebels of the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces dead in the country's southwest.

Also Sunday, the rebels ambushed a police patrol in the Huila district, leaving one civilian dead and eight injured.

In the capital Bogota, meanwhile, the

The leader, in short speech here marking the 90th anniversary of the School of War, said he was "shocked by the absurd acts of violence that hit our people every day.

"No! Violence only produces more violence. Violence is nothing more than a way to avoid reason and not rely