World in brief

Lebanon flouts U.N., extends president

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Lebanon's Parliament amended the country's constitution Friday to extend pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud's term, ignoring U.N. calls to hold an election to choose the head of state.

The result, secured after Lahoud supporters mustered more than the two-thirds of votes needed, had been expected. Neighboring Syria, the main power broker in Lebanon, backed Lahoud's bid to extend his six-year term, which was due to expire Nov. 24.

Ninety-six of the 125 lawmakers who attended the 21/2-hour session raised their hands to support the amendment, while the remaining 29 legislators voted against it. The bill was declared adopted by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

Late Thursday, a deeply divided U.N. Security Council narrowly approved a resolution aimed at pressuring Lebanon to reject a second term for Lahoud and calling for an immediate withdrawal of all its foreign forces - an indirect reference to Syrian troops.

The United States and France had pushed for the resolution, which was aimed at pressuring Syria to loosen its grip on Lebanese politics.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israeli troops killed two Palestinians in two separate incidents Friday, and Israeli helicopters fired three missiles at a Gaza warehouse the army said was used for making weapons.

The airstrike in the Mughazi refugee camp in central Gaza set off a fire, but caused no injuries. The building's owner denied weapons were being made on the premises, saying he was storing wood for construction in the building.

The army said the building was owned by a well-known Hamas activist "who is involved in the manufacture of explosive devices."

However, residents identified the owner as Moussa Kanadel, a prominent merchant who they said has no ties to the Islamic militant group.

The warehouse was also struck by Israeli missiles three months ago.

WEIMAR, Germany - A fire that ripped through one of Germany's most precious historical libraries destroyed or damaged tens of thousands of irreplaceable books, although some 6,000 works, including a 1543 Martin Luther Bible, were spirited to safety by a chain of people, officials said Friday.

Some 25,000 books were destroyed and another 40,000 damaged by water and smoke from the fire Thursday night in Weimar's Duchess Anna Amalia Library, housed in a 16th century rococo-style palace, said Ulrike Bestgen, an expert with the Weimar Classics Foundation.

German Culture Minister Christina Weiss pledged up to $4.9 million in immediate aid to help repair the building and restore damaged books, calling the fire a "national culture catastrophe and a great loss for world heritage."

SOUTH KOREA: Denying it has any nuclear weapons ambitions, South Korea insisted that a one-time uranium enrichment test by its scientists will not derail U.S.-led efforts to dismantle rival North Korea's nuclear programs. "South Korea has never had, and does not have, enrichment or nuclear reprocessing programs, let alone a weaponization program," said Oh Joon, director general for international organizations at South Korea's Foreign Ministry.

SOUTH AFRICA: The head of a South African engineering company was charged with trafficking in nuclear-related materials that could be used to make weapons of mass destruction. Johan Meyer, 53, faces charges of violating South Africa's Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction Act and Nuclear Energy Act. He was not asked to plead and was remanded in custody pending a bail hearing on Sept. 8.

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