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Deutsche Welle English Service News 09.03.2003, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: U.N. Security Council No Closer to Agreement The pro-war and pro-peace camps in the U.N. Security Council were both claiming justification for their positions after the latest report from chief weapons inspector Hans Blix was presented on Friday. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1430_A_801448_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Protesters around the world demonstrate against Iraq war In Indonesia, up to 800,000 people have gathered in the country's second city Surabaya to pray for peace, in the biggest anti-Iraq war rally yet in the world's most populous Muslim nation. Indonesian politicians and religious leaders fear a U.S.-led attack on Iraq could spark a serious backlash in a country where moderate and militant Muslims alike have strongly criticised U.S. policy in the Middle East.Tens of thousands of supporters of Pakistans various Muslim organisations also demonstrated in Rawalpindi.In Washington there was also a massive turnout to protest against the possible use of military force against Iraq. In Italy, tens of thousands of protesters demonstrated outside of a U.S. military base near Pisa. There were also large anti-war demonstrations in the northern English city of Manchester, the southern German city of Stuttgart and the Japanese capital, Tokyo. Saudi Arabia to deny refuge to an exiled Saddam Hussein Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said on Sunday that his country would not offer sanctuary to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein if he chose exile to avert a U.S.-led invasion. The oil-rich kingdom has in the past provided sanctuary to political exiles including Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and former Ugandan dictator President Idi Amin. Media reports have speculated about a number of countries where the Iraqi president might go, including Belarus and Mauritania, but their governments have quickly said they would not take him. Some U.N. military staff quit Iraq-Kuwait border A U.N. observer force said on Sunday it was withdrawing some non-essential military staffm, as well as civilian staff from the Iraq-Kuwait border, which U.S. forces would have to cross in any invasion of Iraq.The Iraq-Kuwait Observer Mission or UNIKOM has already started removing all of its civilian U.N.staff from their residential quarters in the zone that runs the length of the 200 km fortified land border between Iraq and Kuwait. The United Nations set up the zone in 1991 and created UNIKOM to patrol it shortly after the U.S.-led multinational coalition ended the seven-month Iraqi occupation of Kuwait. British government aide quits over Iraq war threat The domestic crisis facing British Prime minister Tony Blair intensified Sunday, after his government suffered its first resignation over the looming threat of war in Iraq. Andrew Reed, a Labour member of parliament , confirmed that he was quitting as parliamentary private secretary. The Sunday Telegraph identified Mr.Reed as one of five low-ranking members of the Labour government, who had threatened to resign, if Britain went to war without a mandate from the Security Council. The Sunday Times wrote today that another 9 secretaries of state and possibly some cabinet members could resign, if Britain sides with the U.S. and attacks Iraq in defiance of the Security Council.There are also indications that over 200 of Labour MP's could rebel against Mr.Blair, if he wages war against Iraq without UN mandate. A new poll showed that only 15 percent of the population now support Mr. Blair on the issue. Hamas threatens to target Israeli politicians The militant Islamic group Hamas has threatened to target Jewish politicians and officials, after one of its senior leaders and founders was killed in an Israeli helicopter missile attack. Ibrahim al-Maqadma was one of four Hamas members killed in the Gaza City strike, which came hours after two Israelis were shot dead by Palestinians who infiltrated a settlement near Hebron in the West Bank. The fresh spate of killings comes as the Palestine Liberation Organisation's decision-making council is due to debate the creation of a new post of prime minister for the Palestinian Authority. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has nominated his deputy in the PLO, Mahmoud Abbas, for the post. Mr Abbas, a senior PLO official and considered a leading moderate, has yet to accept the post. Abbas has said he will accept the job only if he is given significant control over daily Palestinian Authority affairs. Head of Turkey's ruling party set to win by-election The leader of Turkey's governing Justice and Development Party, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is standing in a parliamentary by-election which could result in him becoming prime minister. Ever since his party's overwhelming victory in last year's parliamentary elections, Mr.Erdogan has been, behind the scenes effectiv leader of Turkey. But he was barred from parliament due to a criminal conviction, so his deputy, Abdullah Gul, became prime minister. Following his party's landslide election victory last year, parliament changed the constitution to allow him to stand for parliament. Under the Turkish political system, a serving prime minister must also be an MP. The by-election in the southeastern town of Siirt, near the Iraqi border, now offers the former Istanbul mayor the chance of entering parliament and taking over from Prime Minister Gul. Malta votes Yes in EU referendum Malta voted to join the European Union by 53 percent to 45 percent, state television reported today Sunday, based on an early analysis of votes cast in the referendum yesterday. An official result is expected late today. The result of the referendum is non-binding, and will have to be confirmed in a forthcoming general election. Electoral officials said 91 percent of the islands' electorate had voted in the referendum, the first of a series involving an estimated 50 million voters across 10 countries, which are candidates to join the European Union in May 2004. At least 19 dead in Czech Rep. bus accident At least 19 people were killed and 35 injured when a chartered tourist bus ran off the road Saturday night in Czech Republic's southern Bohemia region. Carrying Czech holiday-makers back from an Austrian ski resort, the 70-seat, double-decker bus crashed after dropping seven meters off the road near the town of Kaplice.Police said possible causes for the accident included the driver falling asleep, an animal crossing the road or mechanical problems on the bus. Sports round up And finaly some sports news: First to motor racing; David Coulthard has won the season's opening Formula One race, the Australian Grand Prix. Juan Pablo Montoya finished second in a BMW-Williams and Coulthard's McLaren-Mercedes team-mate, Kimi Raikkonen came in third. In boxing, South Africa's Corrie Sanders has won the WBO heavyweight title in Hanover by surprising the Hamburg-based defending champion, Vladimir Klitschko, with a second-round knockout. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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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