CBC Newsworld news break "Chechnya Etc" 90s TV

News on the hour, information around the clock. This is CBC News World. >> Hello, I'm Paul Hunter with the hour's top stories. Russian forces and Chetchin rebels are battling for control of Grony tonight. The Russian army is bombarding the city with tank and artillery fire. Russia says it has taken control of the city, but Chetchin fighters say they've recaptured territory lost to Russian forces in earlier fighting. Ben Brown of the BBC reports. [Applause] The battle for Gromni has been raging for 48 hours now and still it's far from over. [Applause] This city sar in the new year like no other in the world. Chchen and Russian forces were locked into a firefight for every building and every street in the center of the capital. The moment the Russian tanks first rumbled into Grozni was when the Chchen rebels here knew that President Yelen had ordered the final assault on their city. >> The few civilians still left here ran for cover. They're bewildered, exhausted, and terrified. >> The Cheschen's principal aim was to defend this building. the presidential palace. The mission for the Russians was to capture it. Today, we saw the rebels pouring reinforcements into Grozni. Their claim is that every able-bodied man in this republic of only a million people is now taking up arms to repel the Russian attack. But the Russian assault on Groznney goes on. >> All day the city's been pounded with shells and rockets. Yet still the Cheschens will not give in. If the Russians thought they could capture this city in just one day, then they've been proved wrong. Chchen fighters here are putting up ferocious resistance. Tonight, the Russian defense minister is claiming his troops have blockaded the presidential palace and finally taken control of the city center, but the battle for the Chchen capital goes on. Ben Brown, BBC News, Groy. >> The new year is off to a peaceful start in Bosnia. A 4 month ceasefire took effect this morning and talks were held with the hope of making it permanent. The latest now from John Simpson of the BBC. They weren't only celebrating the new year here last night. It was also the start of a peace agreement which seems to have some chance of holding for a few months. By this morning, the UN special representative, boyed up by last night's agreement, was hoping to start talks on a political settlement within 3 weeks. >> You have every right to be skeptical. So many agreements have been made and have been violated. But please note that there have been many ceasefires but this is for the first time that we have sessation of hostilities agreement as well >> and the mechanics of putting the ceasefire into effect are already being worked out by the two sides under UN opaces. >> Well, we had a very promising start. We covered a lot of ground. We made some very good decisions which I think will take the agreement forward and there's certainly goodwill on both sides. As for people in the streets of the city, there does seem to be a sense that things are getting better, and the only shots today were still late celebrations of the new year. That report from John Simpson of the BBC. The man suspected in Britain's so-called House of Horrors murders is dead. Frederick West was found hanged in his jail cell in Birmingham this morning. Prison officials tried to revive West, but to no avail. West was accused of murdering nine women in his house in Gloucester in western England and burying the remains in his garden. The victims included two of West's daughters and his first wife. His second wife has also been charged in some of the murders. Five people were found murdered early today at a New Year's Eve party in Rowan Oak, Virginia. The victims had all been shot. 27year-old Robert May was arrested shortly after the bodies were discovered. Police say that May has confessed to the killings. Elsewhere in Virginia, anti-abortion activists held a rally in support of John Salvi today. He's the man accused of killing two abortion clinic workers in Brooklyn, Massachusetts last Friday. The victims were remembered in church services today. CBS reporter Diana Ol has this report. [Music] >> On this New Year's Day, prayers went out to the victims of the Boston abortion clinic killings. We continue to pray that peace, mutual respect, and civil discourse replace any and all acts of violence. >> The Archbishop of Boston, Bernard Cardinal Law, stressed that activists on both sides of the abortion debate, must now be more careful than ever, even in their rhetoric. >> I think all of us, whatever our position is, need to be attentive to the violence of word. There is violence in word, and violence begets violence. The violence ended in Norfol, Virginia, where the accused gunman, John Salvi of New Hampshire, is under arrest, charged with firing into an occupied building. That building housed an abortion clinic. Police in New Hampshire confiscated evidence from Salvy's apartment, including anti-abortion pamphlets and graphic photos of fetuses, but so far nothing that links him to any specific anti-abortion group. Neighbors say he was a loner. >> Not a lot of people came around to see him. Later this week, Salvi is expected to be returned here to Massachusetts where he faces murder charges in connection with the killings of the two abortion clinic receptionists. Although there is no death penalty in this state under the new crime bill, if convicted on federal charges, Salvi still could face that punishment. >> For now though, they continue to pray for peace and hope that this violence will not continue into the new year. Diana Ol, CBS News, Boston. A new tax law for Status Indians took effect today, but that hasn't deterred a group of native protesters in Toronto. For more than two weeks now, the group has been occupying a Revenue Canada building in anticipation of the new law. It forces status Indians working off reserve for nativeowned businesses to begin paying income tax. The protesters say their sitin will continue. A New Year's party at a Quebec City nightclub was interrupted last night when someone put pepper spray in the ventilation system. About 250 patrons were in the club at the time. Many reported breathing problems and eye irritation. Most were treated at the scene, but about 40 were taken to hospital. All 40 were later released. Windsor, Ontario, is laying claim to Canada's first New Year's baby of 1995. Jessica Ray Quinto was born at exactly 1 second past midnight. The baby's mother said she wasn't concerned with having the first baby of the year. She was concent on the contractions instead. Baby Jessica weighed in at 6 lb 8 o. The race to be the nation's first New Year's baby was a close one in London, Ontario. Another baby girl was born just 2 seconds after Jessica. 40some rocker Rod Stewart delighted fans with a free New Year's concert in Rio de Janeiro. >> It may have been the biggest open air concert ever. Local newspapers estimated attendance at 3 and a half million. Stuart began the performance shortly after midnight at Rio's Copa Cabana Beach. And that's the latest from CBC News World. I'm Paul Hunter. Coming up next, the Antiques Road Show.