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English Service News 27th March, 2002, 16:00 UTC English Service News ----------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: Off To A Bad Start The summit of Arab League leaders has opened in Beirut with a row. The Palestinian delegation walked out in protest at Lebanon's failure to air Yasser Arafat's summit speech. 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_485336_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------- Arab League summit in disarry The summit of 22 Arab League states in Beirut has been thrown into disarry, after the Palestinian delegation walked out to protest the failure to show Yasser Arafat's summit speech via satellite link. Farouq al-Kaddoumi, head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation's political department, said the signal from Qatar's al-Jazeera television had been deliberately blocked by Lebanese President Emile Lahoud. The United Arab Emirates in solidarity with the Palestinians downgraded its delegation. The row over the Palestinian leader's address, which was eventually broadcast by al-Jazeera, overshadowed the land-for-peace proposal made by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. The prince asked the summit to back his plan for "normal ties" with Israel in return for an Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Arab land and the creation of a Palestinian state. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad countered the Saudi proposal with a call for Arab states to back the Palestinian uprising by severing any ties with Israel, a thinly veiled dig at Egypt and Jordan, the only Arab countries to sign peace treaties with the Jewish state. Both President Mubarek of Egypt and Jordan's Prince Abdullah are not attending the summit, having sent only representatives. 5 dead and 30 missing after a dry dock gate in Dubai collapses At least 5 people were killed and 31 others are missing and feared dead after a gate collapsed at a dry dock in Dubai, flooding one of the world's biggest ship repair facilities in minutes. A shipping source said there were about 500 workers and four ships inside the dry dock when the gate broke, which had been undergoing repairs since Monday. The authorities have shut down the facility, allowing in only journalists working for the official government media and they have ordered Dubai hospital officials not to talk to the press. Before the gag order, a security official said that about 150 injured had been taken to hospitals with minor injuries. Eight dead, 30 wounded in French shooting spree Robert Durn a 33 year old unemployed and homeless man of Yugoslav origin went on a shooting rampage at a town council meeting in Nanterres, northwest Paris, early this morning, killing eight and wounding 30, 14 seriously. Police said they had arrested Durn, after he calmly sprayed bullets at some 40 people from the visitors gallery at the conclusion of a late-night city council meeting. His motive at this time remains unclear. Police said Durn, who has a valid gun licence as an amateur marksman, used three guns -- two Glock automatic handguns and a .357 magnum Smith & Wesson. French President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin raced to the scene, both denouncing the massacre as an act of madness. EU also imposes tariffs on steel imports The European Union has announced a package of tariffs intended to protect European steel producers from an expected surge in imports. The EU decided to impose tariffs of between 14.9 and 26 percent on all steel coming into Europe that is above last year's level, which was 5.7 million tonnes. The Europeans are worried that steel originally destined for the US market from Asia and Russia could be re-directed to Europe. Meanwhile, China has joined Europe, Japan and South Korea in filing a formal complaint against the US tariffs with the World Trade Organization in Geneva. More warning strikes in Germany For a third consecutive day, thousands of German engineering workers again staged one hour long warning strikes on Wednesday to back contract demands. IG Metall, the country's second largest union representing 2.8 million members has demanded a 6.5 percent wage increase for this year. The employers are offering 2 percent annually for this and next year. The strikes are bad news for Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder who faces a difficult battle to win the federal election in September as the Social Democrats and trade unions are traditional allies. The Employers in the eastern state of Saxony on Wednesday morning withdrew an application to the labour courts that would have challenged the warning strikes. The employers association and the unions have both said their grievances have been settled. European soldiers head to N. Afghanistan to help relief effort The German government of Wednesday said, German, Danish and Dutch soldiers, many of them medics, will travel to northern Afghanistan to help the relief effort in the aftermath of an earthquake that killed at least 2,000 people. The German defence ministry said 127 soldiers serving with the international peacekeeping force in Kabul along with 41 vehicles would carry tents, blankets and medical supplies to the region. Yugoslavia contaminated with Depleted Uranium dust Three years after the NATO bombing campaign, the United Nations has found widespread low-level contamination of deplete uranium in Yugoslavia. Scientists expressed surprise that DU dust was still in the air, but added the levels measured do not pose a direct health risk. Damages Lawsuit for Afro-Americans Lawyers in the United States have filed the first-ever class action lawsuit against three U.S. companies seeking compensation for American slavery on behalf of 35 million Afro-Americans. The three plaintiffs named in the suit are the railway companies, Aetna Corp. and CSX Corp.and a bank FleetBoston. Two of them, said slavery was a regretable chapter in U.S. history but should no longer be answerable centuries later. The lawyers said an additional 12 corporations would be named the suit and said slaves' unpaid labour between 1790 and 1860 was now worth 1.4 trillion dollars. --------------------------------------------------------------- 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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