The UN used convoys of trucks to ferry hundreds of refugees out of the city

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The United Nations has voted to make the Bosnian town of Srebrenica a safe haven, as the townteeterson the brink of falling to Bosnian Serb forces.

In a late-night emergency session, the UN Security Council voted to back the stand taken by the UN's commander in Bosnia, General Philippe Morillon, and offer its protection to the besieged city.

Under the proposal, Srebrenica would become a centre for Bosnian Muslim refugees seeking safety from Bosnian Serb aggression. However, the details of how such a safe haven would be defended are unclear.

Tens of thousands of civilians trapped in the town are said to be in a state of panic tonight as Serbian forces close in on what may be a final offensive to take the town.

Under siege

Srebrenica has been under siege for 11 months, and UN officials say it is unlikely to hold out for much longer.

"The Muslim forces have few weapons and even less ammunition," warned a UN military source.

Bosnian radio said the Serbs had moved to within a mile (1.6km) of the town itself.

Conditions in Srebrenica are said to be appalling. The town's normal population has been swollen by thousands of refugees, fleeing the advancing Serb forces.

Hundreds are wounded, and many are dying for lack of medical facilities.

Government appeal

The Bosnian government has urged the world to act swiftly.

"We appeal to you on behalf of the people of Srebrenica who are threatened with extinction," it said in a statement. "Thousands of women, children and elderly are going to bemassacred."

The leader of the Bosnian Serbs, Radovan Karadzic, warned the town's defenders that if they did not give up their weapons the Serbs would advance.

"We are not going to enter Srebrenica, we just want to pacify Srebrenica," he said.

Last month General Morillon declared Srebrenica under UN protection, pledging to stay in the town himself as a gesture of solidarity.

The UN's efforts to evacuate the wounded have caused chaotic scenes in which several have died, crushed to death in the scramble to get on board the convoys of trucks.

The last group of 800 refugees left on UN trucks just three days ago.

Srebrenica is one of the last Muslim strongholds in eastern Bosnia, an area where all the main towns had a Muslim majority before the war.

Ringleader Bruce Reynolds has so far evaded capture

Sentences totalling 307 years were passed on 12 men who stole ?.6m in used bank notes after holding up the night mail train travelling from Glasgow to London last August.

The judge at Buckinghamshire Assizes in Aylesbury, Mr Justice Edmund Davies, said it would be "positively evil" if he showed leniency.

The robbery was the biggest-ever carried out in Britain.

The scale and style of the theft led to comparisons with rail robberies of the Wild West and the hunt for the perpetrators captured the public imagination.

But the judge said the robbers' crime had in no way been "romantic" and was obviously motivated by greed.

The attack on train driver Jack Mills was proof of their violent tendencies, he added.

"Anybody who has seen that nerve-shattered engine driver can have no doubt of the terrifying effect on law-abiding citizens of a concerted assault by armed robbers," the judge said.

Ringleader

Seven of the defendants - Ronald Biggs, Charles Wilson, Douglas Goody, Thomas Wisbey, Robert Welch, James Hussey and Roy James - were jailed for 30 years each.

Four were sent to prison for terms of between 20 and 25 years.

Another defendant, solicitor John Wheater, 41, was sent to prison for three years.

Wheater obtained the robbers hide-out - Leatherslade Farm in Bedfordshire.

Judge Davies said Wheater had no knowledge of the robbery until after it had been committed but should then have informed the police.

"I realise the consequences of your conviction are disastrous, professionally and personally," the judge told Wheater.

Three men involved in the robbery are still at large including the man said to be theringleader, Bruce Reynolds.

teeter: to move or walk unsteadily or unsurely（步履蹒跚，摇摇欲坠）

massacre: to kill a large number of human beings indiscriminately and cruelly（大屠杀）

ringleader:a person who leads others, especially in illicit or informal activities（魁首，头目）