Deutsche Welle English Service News 09-08-2002, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: German Leader Calls for Caution in Dealing with Iraq Chancellor Gerhard Schr�der has stepped up his warnings against an attack on Iraq. In a DW-TV interview, he warned that an attack would divide the international community and undermine the coalition against terrorism. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1430_A_606759_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- At least 20 killed in an explosion in Afghanistan Up to 20 people have been killed and more than 80 injured in a huge explosion on Friday at a road construction organisation near the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad. The death toll is expected to rise further. There have been conflicting reports about what caused the explosion. One local commander said it was caused by a suicide bomber but the deputy governor of the province was quoted by AIP news agency as saying that that the blast could have been caused by an accident. Four dead and several hurt in grenade attack on a Christian missionary hospital in Pakistan Three Pakistani nurses and one assailant were killed on Friday in a grenade attack on a Christian missionary hospital in Pakistan. Over 20 people were injured. The assault came as the nurses were leaving a chapel following morning services. Police said one of the attackers appeared to have blown himself up in the attack. Friday's bloodshed comes four days after six Pakistanis were shot dead in a gun attack on a Christian missionary school northeast of Islamabad. Authorities noted that the latest assaults appeared to be aimed at the foreign community rather than a minority faith in Muslim-majority Pakistan. Israel's army foils suicide bomb plot The Israeli army has said it foiled a suicide bomb attack on Friday. A military spokeman said Israeli soldiers had arrested two suspected members of the radical Palestinian organisation Hamas in the West Bank town of Qalqilya. The two men had belts packed with explosives. Meanwhile in Washington, for the first time in weeks a top-level Palestinian delegation, including three cabinet ministes, resumed talks with the White House administration. A key focus of the talks, described by both sides as productive, is Washington's demand for a reform of the Palestinian Authority as well as the humanitarian situation of the Palestinian population. South Korean president names newspaper head as new prime minister President Kim Dae-jung named the head of South Korea's largest business newspaper as prime minister on Friday, the day after the opposition took control of parliament in a by-election landslide. Kim nominated Chang Dae-whan, 50-year-old president of the Maeil Business Newspaper, following parliament's rejection last week of his previous nominee for the post, a theologian who would have been the country's first female premier. White farmers abandon land as deadline passes In Zimbabwe, hundreds of white farmers have left their property prior to a government deadline, but many said they were simply biding their time in case they had a chance to return to their farms. President Robert Mugabe gave over half of the country's 4,500 white farmers a 90-day deadline in May to surrender their land or face a fine and up to two years in prison. The move is part of his land reform programme to redistribute property to landless blacks. Spokesmen for the white farmers said at least half of them were believed to have just abandoned their land rather than defy Mugabe's order or face jail. The land owners were also waiting to see how Mugabe would react to a High Court ruling earlier this week that the state could not confiscate land owned by one particular farmer because it had not told the bank which holds the mortgage. The disruption to farming in Zimbabwe, with a once flourishing agriculture, comes as millions in the region now face famine and food shortages. German economic aid in Afghanistan helping recovery Germany has allocated more than Euro 80 million this year in economic aid to Afghanistan, German Development Ministry special envoy Michael Bonet said Friday. The funds were channelled into health care, education and water projects. A total of five hospitals have been rebuilt since January and there are plans to build another 13. A major problem has been the difficult security situation in Afghanistan. Earth summit must not fail -- U.N.'s Toepfer The Johannesburg "Earth Summit" must be made a success for the sake of world security, United Nations environment chief Klaus Toepfer said on Friday. Toepfer said the security of the world was at stake at the summit because the gap between rich and poor -- north and south -- had widened considerably in the decade since the first earth summit in Rio de Janeiro. About 60,000 delegates including more than 100 heads of state and government who will be asked to agree and endorse action plans on water, energy, health, agriculture and biodiversity. But some environmentalists have accused a group of nations led by the United States of blocking plans to set any targets. The World Summit on Sustainable Development starts on August 26 and runs to September 4. Floods kill 21 people along Russia's Black Sea coast A violent tornado tore through tourist spots along Russia's Black Sea coast on Friday whipping up raging floods that swept aside wooden homes and carried cars into the sea, leaving at least 21 people dead. Rescuers tackling the second wave of floods to hit southern Russia in two months retrieved the bodies of 16 victims at Shirokaya Balka, a resort about 16 km from the port of Novorossiisk, an Emergencies Ministry spokeswoman said. Scores of others were reported missing after swirling mud-laden waters surged through the region following torrential rain over the past three days. U.S. Customs breaks Internet child-porn ring U.S. and European law-enforcement officials have arrested 20 people who sexually abused their own children and traded photographs and tips over the Internet, the U.S. Customs Service said on Friday. A total of 45 children were abused by their parents and have now been placed into care, Customs said. Authorities say the parents traded photos of themselves sexually abusing their own children and shared tips in online chat rooms. Half of those arrested lived in the United States, while the rest lived in Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, England, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Sweden and France. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. Serbian News Network - SNN [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.antic.org/
