Deutsche Welle English Service News Februry 03rd, 2004, 17:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Juppé Conviction Casts Shadow over Chirac If he fails to win an appeal of a conviction on corruption charges, French President Jacques Chirac's protégé Alain Juppé will be forcibly exiled from political life. And that spells trouble for Chirac's party. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1433_A_1103770_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- WHO confirms three more cases of bird flu in Vietnam The World Health Organization has confirmed three more human cases of bird flu in Vietnam. One victim was an 18-year-old man from the Central Highlands who died Monday at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City. Two other cases, a 19-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman, were treated at a hospital in Hanoi. Of Vietnam's 13 confirmed human bird flu cases, nine people have died, two have recovered and two remain hospitalized. China, meanwhile, has reported suspected outbreaks of bird flu in two new provinces, and a fourth person has died from it in Thailand. UN experts meet on strategy to combat bird flu United Nations agencies are meeting in Rome to find a unified approach for handling the bird flu epidemic hitting Asia. Experts from the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health are aiming to redefine control strategies. Scientists fear the disease may now be transmitting from person to person. The European Commission, in the meantime, has announced further cautionary measures against bird flu, including import bans on certain Asian poultry and products. Blair bows to pressure, calls Iraq WMD inquiry Officials in Britain have confirmed that the government there will conduct a probe into flawed intelligence used to justify the invasion of Iraq. Speaking in the House of Commons, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said investigators would work closely with the United States. Earlier in the day, British Prime Minster Tony Blair defended the war in Iraq despite the lack of evidence of Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction. US president George W. Bush's recent appointment of an independent commission on pre-Iraq war intelligence had put Blair under pressure to do the same. Poisonous ricin found in Senate office Three US Senate office buildings were closed this Tuesday after a suspicious white powder was found in the majority leader's office. Officials said several preliminary tests had proven positive for the poison ricin. The deadly substance was found in the Senate Office Building mailroom on Monday. At least 16 people on the floor were decontaminated, but police officials said there were no reports of anyone becoming sick from exposure. Israel presents plan for Gaza settlement evacuation Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says he will form a new government if pro-settler parties in his coalition try to block a plan to dismantle 17 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip. Sharon won a convidence vote in parliament on Monday by a single vote. The evacuation of about 7,500 settlers is to begin in June or July and is expected to take about two years to complete. It's part of a plan to completely separate Israelis from Palestinians if the internationally backed road map peace plan fails. Sharon has said he will discuss the planned evacuation with White House officials when he visits Washington later this month. 3 Iraqi policemen killed in drive-by shooting Three Iraqi police officers have been killed in a drive by-shooting in the Shi'ite city of Karbala, south of Baghdad. The men's car exploded when attackers' bullets hit its petrol tank. Iraqi police are subject to frequent attacks by insurgents, who resent their collaboration with the US-led occupation of Iraq. According to Iraq's interior minister, over 300 policemen have been killed since since the collapse of the former regime in April. Taiwan president offers to talk to China Taiwan's President, Chen Shui-bian, has offered to hold peace talks with mainland China to avoid a military confrontation in the run-up to a controversial referendum. Chen also proposed an exchange of envoys and a demilitarised zone. Beijing has strongly criticised Taipei's plans for a referendum on whether to increase defences if Chinese missiles aimed at the island are not removed. China considers Taiwan part of its territory and has vowed to invade if the island declares independence. Over 40 feared drowned as boat sinks in Uganda More than 40 people are feared to have drowned after a boat packed with passengers capsized in stormy weather on a lake in western Uganda. 37 passengers have been rescued and 19 bodies recovered from the waters of Lake Albert where the large dugout canoe with an outboard engine overturned on Monday night. The boat was believed to be carrying more than 80 passengers. Car bomb explodes near central market in southern Russia At least one person was killed and several others injured after a car bomb exploded near the central market in the southern Russian city of Vladikavkaz. The explosion took place in a parking area adjacent to a bank and about 200 metres away from the city's central marketplace. The city is the capital of the province of North Ossetia, which borders on Chechnya where rebels and Russian forces have been fighting since 1999. Block of flats collapses in Turkey, 15 dead At least 15 people were killed after a 10-storey block of flats collapsed in the Turkish city of Konya late on Monday. Twenty-nine survivors have been pulled alive from the rubble. At least 100 people are still unaccounted for and emergency services officials believe many of them are still trapped under the debris. An explosion in a furnace is believed to have caused the building to collapse. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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