A roundup of today's other world stories in brief:
Vandals attack Jewish cemetery
WARSAW- Vandals spray-painted swastikas and anti-Semitic insults on about 100 gravestones at a historic Jewish cemetery in the southern Polish city of Czestochowa, police said yesterday.
The leader of the region's Jewish committee said he deplored the incident, but added that it should not overshadow the fact that many of the thousands of Jewish cemeteries in Poland were being renovated.
Some three million of Poland's 3.3 million Jews died during the second World War, most of them in German-run concentration camps.
- (Reuters)
UN translator accused of fraud
NEW YORK- US authorities arrested a UN translator on suspicion of visa fraud yesterday, accusing him of using UN letterheads to bring foreigners into the United States for non-existent conferences.
Vyacheslav Manokhin was arrested along with Vladimir Derevianko, who is accused of scheming with Mr Manokhin to prepare false documents submitted to US immigration officials.
- (Reuters)
Court injuncts environmentalists
LONDON- Airports operator BAA won a court injunction yesterday barring environmental activists from disrupting London's Heathrow airport next week.
BAA, owned by Spanish construction and services group Ferrovial, went to the High Court in London to restrict the actions of campaigners attending a "Climate Action" camp near the airport between August 14th and 21st.
- (Reuters)
Strikes to hit German trains
FRANKFURT- Germany's train drivers voted yesterday to stage strikes over pay in a move which could paralyse travel for millions of passengers during the peak holiday season. The strikes, which would be the biggest to hit rail operator Deutsche Bahn in 15 years, would affect freight traffic first and then possibly passenger services.
- (Reuters)
Israeli soldiers defy orders
JERUSALEM- A dozen Israeli soldiers are to face court martial for refusing to take part in the planned removal of Jewish settlers living in a closed marketplace in the West Bank city of Hebron, the army said yesterday.
The soldiers told their commanders they would not participate in any activity that led to the removal of Jewish settlers, the army said.
- (Reuters)
US drivers keen on multi-skilling
NEW YORK- Ninety-one per cent of Americans believe sending text messages while driving is as dangerous as driving after having a couple of drinks, but 57 per cent admit doing it.
A survey commissioned by mobile messaging service Pinger Inc found 89 per cent of respondents believed texting while driving was dangerous. Even so, 66 per cent of those surveyed said they had read text messages or e-mails while driving while 57 per cent admitted sending them.
- (Reuters)
Earth tremor traps Utah coalminers
SALT LAKE CITY- A coal mine collapsed in central Utah, trapping six miners, after a 4.0 magnitude earthquake early yesterday, officials said. "Our understanding is that six miners were unaccounted for," said a spokeswoman for Utah's Bureau of Land Management.
- (Reuters)
Dubrovnik fires under control
ZAGREB- Firefighters in Croatia have succeeded in bringing forest fires that had endangered the ancient city of Dubrovnik under control. At one stage the line of fire above the old city was about 13 miles long.
- (AP)