Deutsche Welle English Service News 07.10.2002, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Selling the Conservative Family's Silver? Opposition leader Angela Merkel's calls for her party to focus more on families and the environment to woo voters away from the Greens and Social Democrats have spurred a major split among Christian Democrats. 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_650838_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Tanker explosion under investigation The fierce fire on board the French supertanker "Limburg" off Yemen's Mina al-Dabah oil terminal has been extinguished, but tons of oil are still pouring into the sea, creating a major oil-polution problem. Meanwhile, the anti-terrorist section of the Paris public prosecutor's office opened a preliminary inquiry on Monday into the explosion that gutted the French-flagged supertanker. In London an Islamic cleric suspected of links with al Qaeda and an Arab journalist with close ties to Osama bin Laden's followers told Reuters new agency separately they believed al Qaeda was behind the explosion on the Limburg. But Yemen has ruled out an assault similar to the October 2000 suicide bombing of the U.S. destroyer USS Cole in Aden port, saying a fire aboard the Limburg caused the blast,a charge the owners have denied. EU condemns Israeli army assault on Gaza The European Union condemned the Israeli tank and helicopter assault in the densely populated Gaza Strip Monday, which left at least 14 Palestinians dead and about 100 injured and appealed to the Palestinian Authority to prevent any retaliation. The condemnation of the Israeli army action was issued by the Danish Foreign Minister Per Moeller, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency. The offensive coincided with a visit by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana who was to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to try to ease the two-year conflict. Russia has also strongly condemned the attack as clearly disproportinate, saying that nothing could justify massive military operations, which must lead to victims among the civilian population. Iran's parliament moves to boost Khatami's powers Iran's reformist parliament has given initial approval to one of two bills aimed at increasing moderate President Mohammad Khatami's authority, legislators said on Monday. Frustrated by the closure of dozens of newspapers and the imprisonment of many of his outspoken supporters,President Khatami introduced the bills last month in a last-ditch attempt to overcome the obstacles conservative opponents have placed in the path of his reform agenda. One of the bills would curb the power of the hardline Guardian Council to veto candidates standing for election in the Islamic republic of 65 million people. The other bill is aimed at allowing President Khatami to have judicial and parliamentary officials removed. The reformist Khatami said he was unable to deliver on his promise to create a freer, more open society without the proposed bills. Ivory Coast troops reach centre of Bouake Ivory Coast soldiers fighting rebels through the streets of the central city of Bouake on Monday afternoon entered the centre of the city, where the fighting was intense.The two sides were exchanging rifle fire in the centre of the city of one million people , the west African nation's second biggest. The army launched a two-pronged attack on Bouake, from the north and the southeast on Sunday as President Laurent Gbagbo went back on a pledge to sign a ceasefire, saying he would not put his elected government on a par with the rebels who launched an uprising on September 19th and now hold the Muslim-dominated north of the world's biggest cocoa producer, and key towns in the centre. Nobel medizine prize to two Britons and American This year's Nobel Prize for Medizine goes to three researchers for work on how genes regulate organ development:- two Britons Sydney Brenner and John E. Sulston, and the American H. Robert Horvitz. The jury in Stockholm said their research had shed new light on how genes regulate cell division and programmed cell death, which contribute to human illnesses such as cancer, AIDS and heart disease. The prize, worth a little over 1 million euros, will be awarded on December the 10th. Recipients of other Nobel prizes, including literature, will be named later this week. Prince Claus dies in Amsterdam Flags are flying at half-mast in the Netherlands as the Dutch mourn the death of Prince Claus, the popular German-born husband of Dutch Queen Beatrix. Prinz Claus, who died in an Amsterdam hospital on Sunday had been suffering for years from Parkinsons disease. In a message to Queen Beatrix, German President Johannes Rau praised the prince as a man who had built bridges between Germany and the Netherlands after World War Two. The former German diplomat married Beatrix, the-then heiress to the Dutch throne, in 1966, overcoming Dutch resentment over Nazi German occupation during the War. The body of the late prince will lie in state in The Hague and the funeral is expected next week in Delft. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
