LONDON — Belfast is marking 100 years since the launch of the most famous vessel ever built at the city's shipyards — RMS Titanic.

Three years in construction at the Harland & Wolff shipyard, the Titanic sailed out into Belfast Lough on May 31, 1911.

On April 15, 1912, the luxury liner advertised as “practically unsinkable” sank after striking an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York. More than 1,500 of the 2,200 people aboard died.

The launch anniversary was to be marked today with a dockside religious service and the opening of a Titanic exhibition.

For decades Belfast shied away from advertising its link with the disaster, but recently the city has embraced the ship, even developing the “Titanic Quarter” retail and residential district.

VIENNA — A member of an Austrian municipal council has resigned amid an uproar over his Nazi tattoo.Gerry Leitmann made headlines recently after it was revealed that the Hitler Youth slogan “blood and honor” is etched on one of his arms.Leitmann says in a letter dated Monday and made public today that he is resigning from the municipal council in Ebenthal, southern Austria, with deep regret. He claims he did not know about the “historic connections” associated with the wording of the tattoo and will have it removed it immediately.Leitmann's resignation late Monday came as the Austrian town of Waidhofen an der Ybbs revoked the granting of honorary citizenship to Adolf Hitler.

STOCKHOLM — A mysterious bacterial outbreak in Europe linked to tainted vegetables has claimed its first reported fatality outside Germany.A Swedish hospital said today that a woman in her 50s died there after being infected by the bacteria linked to tainted vegetables. Officials at the hospital in Boras, southwestern Sweden, say the woman was admitted there on May 29 after a trip to Germany.German media have reported a total of 14 people are suspected to have died in Germany from the enterohaemorrhagic E. coli, also known as EHEC, bacteria, which has been found on cucumbers imported from Spain though the exact source is unknown. Hundreds of people also have been sickened in other European countries, and Russia's chief sanitary agency on Monday banned the imports of cucumbers, tomatoes and fresh salad from Spain and Germany, pending further notice.