A roundup of today's other world stories in brief:
Striking SA workers face dismissal
JOHANNESBURG- South Africa's government vowed yesterday to press ahead with firing essential workers striking for higher pay despite being barred by law, a move denounced as provocative by labour unions.
Labour unions promised to continue with a nine-day-old strike, and called the weekend dismissal of health workers a provocative act of intimidation.
The health department said it was processing termination letters against health workers taking part in a public sector workers' strike which began on June 1st and has crippled government hospitals and schools across the country.
- (Reuters)
Walesa publishes secret police files
WARSAW- Lech Walesa has made public 500 pages of files kept on him by Poland's former secret police in an attempt to end accusations he was a communist collaborator.
Mr Walesa won the 1983 Nobel Peace Prize for his fight for labour freedom and was elected Poland's first post-communist president in 1990.
"I got sick and tired of the constant accusations, doubts and insinuations being peddled by these people and decided to publish these materials for all to see," he said yesterday after publishing the files on www.mojageneracja.pl/1980
But some of his former colleagues in the Solidarity trade union he led to victory over communism have accused Mr Walesa of being the creation of the secret services and of shielding ex-communists from justice.
- (Reuters)
Napoleon's sword fetches €4.8m
PARIS- A gold-encrusted sword Napoleon wore into battle in Italy was sold yesterday for more than €4.8 million at an auction south of Paris, the auction house said.
The last of Napoleon's swords in private hands, it had been expected to fetch more than €1.2 million, the Osenat auction house, managing the sale, said. The buyer was not immediately identified.
The sword was carried by Napoleon - who was not yet emperor - into the battle of Marengo in June 1800, where he launched a surprise attack to push the Austrian army from Italy and seal France's victory, auction house officials said.
- (AP)
Istanbul bomb attack injures 14
ISTANBUL- A bomb blast outside a store in Istanbul wounded 14 people yesterday, Turkish police said, amid increased worries about Kurdish separatist violence.
The state Anatolian news agency said the blast appeared to have been caused by a percussion bomb, often used by Kurdish militants and other radical groups operating in Turkey.
The blast, which shattered the windows of many shops and offices, occurred in the Bakirkoy district of Turkey's largest city, near the airport, where Kurdish militants have carried out similar attacks in the past.
- (Reuters)
New tests for Alzheimer's
WASHINGTON- New tests involving blood and brain scans can detect symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, and brief appraisals of real-life functioning can predict who is likely to develop it, researchers said yesterday.
The tests will be critical, experts told a meeting on Alzheimer's disease, because more than 26 million people now have the brain-wasting disease and this number will quadruple, to 106 million, by 2050.
"By 2050, one in 85 persons worldwide will have Alzheimer's disease," said Ron Brookmeyer of Johns Hopkins University, who led the study on how many people have the disease. No drugs can significantly affect Alzheimer's disease.
- (Reuters)