KIEV: The only active reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant has been shut down until October 1 for planned repairs to the reactor tubes, a Ukrainian official at the plant said today. During the operation for which the Ukrainian authorities still lack proper funding, around one third of the nuclear fuel will be replaced and the tubes containing the fuel changed. A spokesman at the plant said the authorities could only afford to buy a quarter of the spare parts needed to complete the work. The Chernobyl nuclear power station is due to close down in 2000.

Highway pile-up

RIO DE JANEIRO: Fourteen people were killed and 22 injured in a multiple pile-up on a Brazilian highway near Rio De Janeiro, a police spokesman said. Twelve people died at the scene of the accident, including the driver of a bus, a 16-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl while another two died on arrival at a nearby hospital, the police spokesman said. The injured were taken to various hospitals in the area. All of the dead and injured were bus passengers.

Boat tragedy

DHAKA: Nearly 50 people were feared drowned after a ferry carrying about 200 passengers sank in Bangladesh's flooded Jamuna river, police said today. The ferry capsized yesterday in a whirlpool near Sariakandi town in the northern district of Bogra, they said.

Czech floods

PRAGUE: Swollen rivers menaced more communities in the eastern Czech republic today as the death toll in two weeks of severe flooding reached 48. Police spokesman Jiri Kocour told Reuters 48 people had died and two others were missing after the worst flooding to hit the region in a century. Flood alerts were still in force on some Czech rivers but better weather was forecast.

6 gunned down

DUBAI: Six Egyptian policemen were killed when unidentified gunmen opened fire on their car in southern Egypt yesterday, regional news agencies said. The reports quoted a statement by the Egyptian interior ministry in Cairo as saying that two passers-by were also wounded in the incident. The attack took place at Minya, a town some 220 km south of the Egyptian capital.

Paris fire

PARIS: A violent fire tore through Paris' popular Palais de Chaillot overnight, damaging two of the monument's museums and lightly injuring two firemen, officials said today. More than 180 firefighters were called in to fight the blaze, which burned at least 4,000 sq.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.