ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, August 28, 1996 TAG: 9608280054
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
Russians to help Iran build satellite
TEHRAN, Iran - Russia has agreed to help Iran build and launch its first space satellite in the next three years, a newspaper reported Tuesday.
``Iran and Russia have signed an agreement, according to which the technology to build a satellite will be transferred to Iran in three stages,'' Mehdi Safari, Iran's ambassador in Moscow, told the Iran daily newspaper in a report published Tuesday.
Russia last year ignored U.S. objections and began work on a 1,000-megawatt nuclear power station, Iran's first, near the port city of Bushehr. U.S. and Israeli officials claim Iran wants to use the plant to build nuclear weapons. Iran has dismissed those allegations.
- Associated Press
Infamous WWII railway to be rebuilt
BANGKOK, Thailand - Thailand hopes to attract tourists and improve trade by rebuilding the notorious World War II railway featured in the film ``The Bridge on the River Kwai.''
The plan is still in the early stages, but interior ministry officials said they hope both Japan and the Allied nations would help finance the reconstruction of the 280-mile connection between Bangkok and Rangoon, Burma - once called the ``Death Railway.''
Construction of the track was one of the war's darker chapters. Some 16,000 Allied POWs and more than 100,000 Asian slave laborers died of disease, malnutrition, torture and execution at the hands of Japanese troops.
``This railway has been known by people all over the world,'' said Prawit Jenweeranon, an interior ministry adviser. ``We want to maintain it to help promote peace.''
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Short : 41 linesby CNB