Deutsche Welle English Service News 18th June, 2002, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: Polls Finds Europeans Tired of Fat-Cat CEOs 70 percent of Europeans say chief executives are overpaid and overindulgent. German market research firm GfK and The Wall Street Journal Europe found that most think executives serve themselves rather than shareholders. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1431_A_579498_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Israeli army kills senior Islamic militant Israeli forces on Tuesday killed a senior Palestinian Islamic militant, Israeli security sources said. They identified the militant as belonging to one of the main groups behind the wave of suicide bombings against Israel during the 20-month-old uprising against Israeli occupation. Palestinian security sources said he was shot during an identity check at an army roadblock and that Israeli forces had tried three times to seize him at his Hebron home last month. It was the second killing of a prominent Palestinian militant in the Israeli occupied West Bank in two days and occurred hours after a Palestinian suicide bomber today killed 19 Israelis on a bus in Jerusalem in an attack claimed by the Islamic group Hamas. Afghanistan's Karzai delays cabinet announcement Afghan President Hamid Karzai told the Loya Jirga he would name his cabinet on Wednesday and said he also wanted to be inaugurated as president that day. He had initially been expected to announce his cabinet on Tuesday, but said that there had been a lot of discussion, he had had to see former king Mohammad Zahir Shah and he had yet to decide on the number of posts which would be around 30. The assembly has in the meantime adjourned until Wednesday. Iran welcomes EU decision to start trade talks Iran on Tuesday welcomed a European Union decision to negotiate closer trade and political ties with the Islamic Republic. The EU foreign ministers' decision is in line with the 15-nation bloc's strategy of talking to Tehran to help boost President Mohammad Khatami's reformers. The move is in direct opposition to U.S. policy which insists that Iran is part of a global axis of evil and terrorism. Iran's arch-enemy Israel has also expressed dismay at the EU decision. Since his election in 1997 the moderate President Khatami has tried to break Iran's diplomatic and economic isolation, but increased pressure from the United States has strengthened the hand of the cleric dominated conservative opponents who are against reform of any kind in the Islamic Republic. Iraq, Iran swap remains of 123 war dead Iraq and Iran exchanged the remains of 123 soldiers on Tuesday, killed in their 1980-88 war,the official Iraqi News Agency said. The last exchange took place in February when they traded the bodies of 134 soldiers. An estimated one million Iranians and Iraqis were killed in the war. Normalisation of ties between the two countries have been hampered due to thousands of combatants listed as missing in action or prisoners of war. Flooding Toll in China Could Exceed 600 Chinese state media say the death toll from flooding that hit inland western provinces such as Shaanxi and Sichuan last week could exceed 600. The toll stands at 326, but the "China Daily", quoting Shaanxi province's acting governor, said another 300 people were still missing. The Xinhua news agency has warned of fresh deluges in the next few days in southern provinces such as Fujian. There, mudslides have already killed scores of people and blocked rail links. Weather expert Zhang Yan said floods that plagued China annually had started early this year, possibly because of global warming. State media say the Yellow and Yangste rivers have not yet spilled their banks. Another Peace Talk Bid for Sudan Sudanese peace talks have got off to a rocky start in Kenya's capital Nairobi, with SPLA rebels again rejecting a ceasefire offered by the Khartoum government. The talks set for five weeks began on Monday. Kenyan mediator Lazro Sumbeiwo criticised what he called the uncompromising stance of both sides. A Western diplomat said, however, the talks were significant. Since 1983, Sudan's "forgotten" war coupled with famine in a region rich in oil reserves has claimed an estimated two million lives. Last Friday the U.N.'s special envoy Gerhard Baum warned of more famine, and said the world must break its silence over human rights abuses. UN's Del Ponte sees 50 suspects tried in Bosnia About 50 war crimes suspects from Bosnia's 1992-95 war might be tried in Bosnia itself, when the country establishes its own war crimes court, the chief prosecutor of the U.N. war crimes tribunal said on Tuesday. Carla Del Ponte, on a two-day visit to Sarajevo, said the 50 were part of a group of 108 people the U.N. court at The Hague planned to indict. Mrs.Del Ponte met Bosnia's three-man presidency in Sarajevo on Tuesday to discuss the creation of a war crimes council within Bosnia's new state court.The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at The Hague is expected to wind up its work by the year 2008. Kaprun Blaze Trial Opens In Austria the trial has begun of 16 executives and officials blamed for the fire 18 months ago that killed 155 ski field visitors who were trapped on funicular train inside a steep, narrow tunnel. An inquiry report has already found that hydraulic oil leaked onto a fan heater in the driver's cabin, sparking the blaze. On trial before a court in Salzburg are the employees of the ski resort at Kaprun, train construction staff, Austria's vehicle supervisory agency (the TUeV) and transport ministry officials. All 16 have pleaded not guilty to various charges of neglicence. The maximum sentence possible is five years. Watching proceedings are 400 people, including victims' relatives and their lawyers. Of the 155 killed, 37 were German. Heat Wave in Germany Germany is in midst of a heat wave which meteorologists believe could break records. Temperatures are expected to soar to 38 degrees Celcius (100.4° F) on Tuesday due to a hot air stream coming from southern Europe. Italy, Spain and Turkey are also sweltering in the heat with temperatures of 40° C (104° F). Cooler air is not expected to bring relief until Friday. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
