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---------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: Controlling The Secret Service A second member of the far-right NPD party has surfaced as an informant for Germany's domestic intelligence agency. A debate on the workings of the secret service has now arisen. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1432_A_420214_1_A,00.html ----------------------------- Deutsche Welle English Service News 29th January, 2001, 16:00 UTC Albanian Prime Minister resigns after bitter party feud Albanian Prime Minister Ilir Meta has resigned his post after failing to resolve a bitter party feud. Earlier ruling Socialist Party Chairman Fatos Nano criticised Meta for governing with "fascist methods". Last month Nano accused three of his ministers of abuse of power. The ministers said they were innocent but agreed to step down for the sake of stability. Nano loyalists then blocked the appointment of their replacements, and Meta's resignation follows the failure of talks this week to agree on a reshuffle. Politicians said the feud discouraged badly needed foreign investment and caused neglect of economic reforms in the small coastal Balkan state, which is suffering power cuts up to 20 hours a day due to an electricity crisis. Inquiry launched into Nigerian armoury fire as death toll reaches 600 The Nigerian army on Tuesday launched an inquiry into an armoury fire which killed over 600 people in Lagos and threw doubt on whether the tragedy was set off by an accidental blaze at a nearby street market. The government also announced it would relocate the armoury, where Nigeria's most powerful bombs and other armaments are stored, from the crowded residential district of Lagos to a safer location. President Olusegun Obasanjo ordered the investigation when he visited the devastated Ikeja barracks in a northern district of Lagos on Monday. The Lagos state government said on Tuesday some 600 bodies had been recovered from canals in Lagos where stampeding people, mainly women and children, were drowned or trampled to death as they ran for their lives. Bush Promises Karzai More Aid U.S. President George W. Bush has told visiting Afghan interim leader Hamid Karzai that the USA would help train a new Afghan army and police force, but not send U.S. troops as peacekeepers. Bush also pledged a further 50 million dollars for Afghanistan's reconstruction. Meanwhile in Afghanistan, U.S. soldiers along with Afghan fighters stormed a hospital ward in the city of Kandahar and killed six suspected al Qaeda militants who had been barricaded inside for weeks. On another front, a World Bank-IMF team has arrived in Kabul to help plan economic revival after donors' pledges of 4.5 billion dollars. The Search for a Missing U.S. Reporter Continues The search for a missing U.S. reporter is still on and Pakistani police have said they were making some progress, but gave no details. Daniel Pearl disappeared last week in Karachi, Pakistan in what some believe was a kidnapping. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reporter went missing as he was pursuing contacts with Islamic militant groups linked to fugative Osama bin Laden. Several Pakistani and U.S. media organisations have received email saying Pearl had been kidnapped by a group calling itself "The National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty." But Pakistani officials say they have never heard of this group. The message also reportedly said Pearl was being held in "inhumane" conditions to protest against the treatment of Taliban and al Qaeda prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher demanded Pearl's unconditional release, adding that the reporter had no ties to the U.S. government. Germany opens way for European A400M military plane Germany said it had cleared the way on Tuesday for an eight-nation Airbus military transport aircraft project to get off the ground after the opposition dropped complaints over its funding. Defence Minister Rudolf Scharping said he was sure Germany's partners would be satisfied Berlin had done enough to assure funding to launch the 196-plane, 18-billion-euro ($15.5 billion) project, seen as key to closer European military cooperation. The seven other government buyers involved in the Airbus project had threatened to pull out and potentially buy more military transporters from U.S. manufacturers if Germany did not clarify funding by the end of January. Egypt and Israel to meet Wednesday for Middle East talks Egypt and Israel are to meet on Wednesday to try to calm the worsening Middle East crisis, which has opened widening strategic disagreement between Washington and its Arab and European allies. Israel's Labour defence minister, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, will hold talks with President Hosni Mubarak in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, the highest-level contacts between the two nations since July 2001. Both Israel and Egypt said they hoped Cairo could play a pivotal role in reviving the moribund quest for peace. Israel promises not to target EU-financed projects in West Bank and Gaza Strip Israel said on Tuesday it had informed the European Union it would try to avoid targeting EU-financed Palestinian projects when it retaliates in the West Bank and Gaza Strip for attacks on Israelis. An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman made the announcement, adding that Israeli officials met EU envoy Miguel Moratinos on Monday. On Monday EU foreign ministers issued a statement demanding that Israel put an end to this practice. The Brussels statement said the EU reserved the right to claim reparations. The European Commission has estimated the damage to EU-funded Palestinian projects at 17 million euros. The projects include the Gaza Strip airport and port, the Palestinian statistics bureau and the broadcasting corporation. Britain pushes for expulsion of Zimbabwe from Commonwealth Britain said on Tuesday it would push for a meeting of Commonwealth ministers to recommend Zimbabwe's suspension from the 54-nation group because of a violent pre-election crackdown on media and political opponents. Straw said the Commonwealth should keep up the pressure. European Union foreign ministers agreed on Monday to impose a travel ban on the top 20 individuals in Mugabe's inner circle and their families and to freeze their foreign assets if Zimbabwe prevented the deployment of EU election observers. Mugabe, who has accused former colonial power Britain of orchestrating a campaign to demonise his country, said he would accept foreign election observers -- except for Britons. British officials say, however, that they are not concerned over the nationality of the observers. WFP says $14.6 mln food aid for Congo volcano town The United Nations food arm said on Tuesday it had earmarked food aid worth $14.6 million for the victims of a volcanic eruption in the Democratic Republic of Congo but that distribution was behind schedule. Flows of molten lava razed around 35 percent of the town of Goma, in eastern Congo near the Rwandan border, when Mount Nyirangongo erupted on January 17. It is still unclear how many people were killed in the eruption. About 400,000 people were made homeless. Enron names restructuring expert as CEO Energy trader Enron has named restructuring specialist Stephen Cooper as interim chief executive to lead it out of its record Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Former Enron Chairman and Chief Executive Kenneth Lay resigned on Wednesday under pressure from Enron's bankruptcy creditors' committee. Enron filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Dec. 2 in New York in the largest U.S. bankruptcy ever and one of the most controversial. Ecuadorean Plane Crashes in Colombia An Ecuadorean airplane which disappeared in Colombia's Andes mountains on Monday has reportedly crashed in Ipiales, Colombia. Airline officials said they had lost contact with the plane just as it was approaching the northern city of Tulcan, on the Colobian border. The Boeing 727 was carrying 92 people on board. There was no word on survivors. Search and rescue efforts have been hampered by nightfall and foggy weather conditions. Killer Storms Sweep Northern Europe Storms sweeping northern Europe have killed seven people in Britain and two more in Germany. In Scotland 10,000 homes were left without power. Trees toppled by gusts of wind killed two people in the northern German towns of Bremen and Oranienburg. Storm tides have also overflowed parts of Hamburg harbour, while at Lubeck, a tug collided with a Swedish ferry in force-12 winds, according to police. Gusts also toppled a 50-metre high wind turbine. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- For more information please turn to our internet website at http://dw-world.de/english Here you'll find out what's happening in Germany, Europe and the rest of the world. News and background reports from the fields of current affairs, culture, business and science. And of course the DW website also has information about DW-RADIO and DW-TV programmes: topics, broadcast times and frequencies. 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