BC-WORLD-HIGHLIGHTS
Iran reported launching a new offensive east of
Iraq's southern city of Basra, while Baghdad said its forces
had repulsed the attack, killing thousands of Iranians.
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    BEIRUT - Rescue workers planned to evacuate wounded from
Palestinian refugee settlements in Beirut in a bid to relieve
the plight of the besieged community, Palestinian sources said.
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    CAIRO - Egypt's opposition charged that yesterday's general
election was rigged, as early results showed President Hosni
Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) heading for a
big majority in Parliament.
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    ZEEBRUGGE, Belgium - A stricken British car ferry, in which
up to 140 bodies could still be trapped, rose slowly from the
North Sea in a mammoth salvage operation off the coast.
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    BUENOS AIRES - Pope John Paul, starting a one-week tour of
Argentina, told politicians they should always defend human
rights and that even in difficult situations no government had
a right to respond to violence with violence.
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    TOKYO - Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party outlined a
package of economic measures, under mounting protectionist
pressure from the United States. Meanwhile, visiting British
Corporate Affairs Minister Michael Howard told Japan to resolve
a telecommunications row with his country or face an abrupt
deterioration in trading relations.
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    MANILA - Communist rebels said they had destroyed a vital
military communications station in the Northern Philippines and
an army spokesman said seven rebels were killed in a gun battle
in the southern region.
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    BELFAST - Mourners clashed with police at an Irish
Republican Army (IRA) funeral in Northern Ireland, prisoners
rioted in a high-security jail and guerrillas attacked security
bases.
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    FREETOWN, Sierra Leone - Sierra Leone's former
vice-president Francis Minah, sacked two weeks after a failed
coup, has been detained on suspicion of involvement in the
plot, police sources said.
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    BELGRADE - Over 2,000 Yugoslav firms with almost 600,000
workers are heading for bankruptcy, a trade union chief said.
Newspapers quoted union leaders as saying recent strikes would
be aggravated when the authorities force loss-making companies
to shut down.
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    BRUNSWICK, West Germany - A former chief of foreign
exchange at Volkswagen has been arrested in connection with a
scandal which may have cost the carmaker millions of dollars,
the chief state prosecutor said.
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    NEW DELHI - Hindus staged their biggest-ever rally in Delhi
to press their claim against India's Moslem minority for
control of a shrine disputed by the two faiths.
 REUTER
