Deutsche Welle English Service News August 30th 2003, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Najaf Bombing Reinforces Calls for Greater U.N. Role in Iraq The deadly bomb attack in the Iraqi city of Najaf on Friday that killed 87 people has intensified calls by European leaders for the U.N. to play a central role in the increasingly volatile country. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,7489_A_959030_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Nine crew dead, 1 survives Russian submarine sinking in stormy waters Russian officials say that only one person survived when a submarine with ten crew on boardsank in stormy waters in the Barents Sea this morning. One person was rescued, when the Russian submarine sank at 4 am about five kilometres off Kildin Island. Officials say the vessel was being towed on four floating hulls, when one tore off in stormy weather and destabilised the the submarine. Its nuclear reactor had already been neutralized before it went down because the sub was about to be scrapped. Three years ago, the nuclear submarine Kursk sank in the Barents sea with 118 crew, who all perished in Russia's worst naval disaster. 2 Hamas militants killed in Iraeli helicopter strike at car Israeli helicopters fired missiles at a car in the Gaza Strip Saturday, killing at least four Palestinians including two members of the Hamas group. Palestinian security sources say that the car was attacked while travelling through a refugee camp. It's the fifth Israeli missile attack in ten days on suspected Palestinian extremist sites. -- Islamic militants renounced a seven-week-old truce a week after Israel killed Hamas' second-ranking political leader, Ismail Abu Shanab, by destroying his car with a missile. That followed a suicide bombing that killed 21 people in Jerusalem. The violence has battered a U.S.-backed peace "road map" which intends to end three years of violence and create a Palestinian state by 2005. Iraqi oil pipeline ablaze north of Tikrit An oil pipeline linking Iraq's oilfields in Kirkuk with the Baiji refinery to the south was on fire Saturday afternoon after a possible sabotage attack, according to the US military. Major Josslyn Aberle said the pipe's valves have been shut, and residual oil is expected to burn itself out over the weekend. A number of fuel pipelines been sabotaged in recent times by suspected Saddam Hussein loyalists, thieves and tribal elements. They are aiming to hamper US plans to rebuild Iraq with oil revenue. Al Qaeda link: Same explosives in Najaf attack as UN attack in Baghad Police in Iraq have arrested at least three men in connection with Friday's double-car bomb attack in Najaf which killed top Shi'ite Muslim leader, Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim. Officials say the men have links to the Al Qaeda terrorist network. First laboratory analyses show that the explosives used in Friday's attack were identical to those used to bomb the UN headquarters in Baghdad this month. Thousands of Iraqis, many shouting anti-US slogans have taken to the streets to mourn Hakim's death. Iraq's interim Governing Council has requested the closure of the Iraq-Iran border to prevent in influx of mourners at the cleric's funeral planned for Tuesday. At least 87 people were killed in Friday's attack, some news agencies report as many as 120 people died. Almost 200 people were wounded. UN to drastically reduce number of international staff in Iraq The United Nations has announced that it is drastically reducing the number of its international staff posted to Iraq, for security reasons. A UN spokesman in New York said only about 50 of the 400 UN staff posted to Iraq will remain in the country. More than 20 people were killed in a bomb attack on the UN's Baghdad headquarters two weeks ago. Among them was the Special Representative to Iraq, Sergio Vierra de Mello. Wanted September 11 terrorist Said Bahaji phones family in Morocco Two years after the September 11 attack, authorities say they may be on the trail of suspected terrorist Said Bahaji. According to the magazine "Focus", 28-year old Bahaji called his parents in Morocco in the middle of August. He is suspected of having links to the Al Qaeda cell in Hamburg, which had sheltered Mohammed Atta, the pilot of one of the planes that flew into the Wall Street towers. Bahaji went underground shortly afterwards. Dover port open, three men being questioned over prohibited weapons The British port of Dover reopened again Saturday morning,after police closed the port for seven hours Friday evening and arrested three British men carrying prohibited weapons in their car during a routine check. The three, who had travelled on the ferry from Calais are being questioned by police. Thousands of cars were stranded during the shut-down, as Dover is one of the main ports for ferry services shuttling passengers and vehicles across the English Channel to continental Europe. WTO approves deal over cheap medicines The World Trade Organisation has approved a deal to ensure that poor countries have access to cheap drugs to combat killer diseases. A spokesman for the WTO's General Council announced the passage of the deal this Saturday. The agreement is designed to allow poor countries which do not have their own pharmaceutical industries to import cheaper copies of patented medicines to fight epidemics of diseases such as AIDS and malaria. The WTO's director-general, Supachai Panitchpakdi, described it as an historic agreement. 18-year old charged in connection with 'blaster' Internet worm US authorities have arrested an 18-year-old man suspected of spreading the so-called "blaster" internet virus. Jeffrey Parson of Hopkins, Minnesota, is suspected of releasing a variant of the blaster worm, which has infected hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide, causing them to reboot repeatedly. If found guilty, Parson could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. IG Metall union meets in Frankfurt Germany's powerful engineering union IG Metall is into its second day of a three-day conference in Frankfurt aimed at ending its recent leadership crisis. On Friday, IG Metall's interim chairman, Juergen Peters urged the 600 union delegates taking part in the conference to unite behind him. He also admitted that the union's leadership had made mistakes, particularly with respect to a failed strike earlier this year. After a month-long strike over working hours in eastern Germany, the union was forced to back down. This was the first time in almost 50 years that a strike called by IG Metall had failed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. You can even listen to all programmes as audio-on-demand.
