Deutsche Welle English Service News 14.07.2005, 16:00 UTC ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: Greater Surveillance of German Muslims? Conservative German politicians Thursday called for increased surveillance of Germany's Muslim community following the revelations that the London terrorist attacks last week were likely carried out by British Muslims. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1648770,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DW-WORLD's "Click Back" monthly review quiz for July is waiting for you and will test your knowledge of stories we've written. If you answer all questions correctly, you can also win a great prize. To play, please go to: http://www.dw-world.de/english ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Silent tribute for London bomb victims British police have confirmed that the deadly London bombings carried out last week were the work of suicide bombers. At least 53 people died in the blasts, and more than 700 were injured. In a special tribute to the victims of the attacks, a moment of silence was observed across Europe and the world. British Prime Minister Tony Blair marked the silence in the garden of his Downing Street office, while Queen Elizabeth observed it at Buckingham Palace. Tributes were also paid in Madrid and on the Indonesian island of Bali, both targeted by bombers from the Islamist al Qaeda network in the past. In the meantime, British police continue to search for clues about the masterminds of the London bombings. Four young men suspected of carrying out the attacks have been identified. Muslim leaders denied entry to US One of Britain's most senior Muslim leaders has said he was denied entry into the United States, without an explanation given. The head of the Muslim College, Zaki Badawi, said he was refused entry upon his arrival in New York on Wednesday. He had been invited by a New York institute to speak about law and religion. US officials did not say why the man could not enter the United States. 1 dead, 19 hurt in Thailand attacks One person has been killed and at least 19 others injured in a series of bomb, arson and shooting attacks in Thailand's restive Muslim south. At least eight targets were attacked in the small city of Yala, including a newly opened cinema complex, hotel and a row of shops. More than 800 people have been killed in separatist violence that erupted in January 2004 in Thailand's three southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat. 13 killed as boat capsizes in Nepal A boat packed with about 100 Nepali villagers has capsized on a river in western Nepal, killing at least 13 people and leaving dozens missing. Soldiers and policemen are still searching for the missing in the swollen Bandganga river in Kapilvastu district, 350 kilometres southwest of the capital. An Interior Ministry spokesman in Kathmandu said that, of about 100 people aboard the vessel, nearly 25 had managed to swim to safety. Arroyo refuses to quit despite protests Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has vowed that street protests would not drive her from office, a day after tens of thousands rallied to demand she resign over allegations of election fraud. Arroyo continued to rebuild her shattered economic team after mass resignations last week, moving economic planning secretary Romulo Neri to the crucial budget portfolio. She said she would focus on pushing forward with economic reforms and challenged the opposition to present an alternative programme. EU chief with tough message to China European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso has said the EU was not ready to grant China market economy status, warning that it needed to do better on human rights. Barroso made the comments on his first trip to Beijing for talks with Chinese leaders. Barroso said that a negative perception of China's human rights record also made it difficult to muster a consensus in Europe to lift the arms embargo. He urged China to ratify the UN Convention on Civil and Political Rights and to release prisoners of conscience. Baghdad's Green Zone attacked At least one person has been killed and five others wounded in a double-suicide bombing targeting a checkpoint to Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone. According to police, among the wounded was a potential third suicide bomber, a man outfitted with a suspected explosive device that had not detonated. The Green Zone is the seat of Iraq's government and is also home to British and US diplomats. Thursday's blasts followed a suicide attack in Baghdad on Wednesday which killed at least 32 people, most of them children who had gathered around US soldiers handing out chocolates. Gaza tops Fischer-Palestinian talks German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer has met with his Palestinian counterpart Nasser al-Qidwa for talks focused on Israel's imminent withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Fischer said a successful Israeli pullout from Gaza would offer a "great opportunity" to advance Middle East peace. For his part, al-Qidwa thanked the European Union and Germany for their support of the Palestinian Authority. Germany has budgeted for 48 million euros in direct aid to the Palestinians in 2005. Berlin also contributes to UN development funding and provides some 20 percent of EU funding to the Palestinians. Hurricane Emily in SE Caribbean Hurricane Emily has brought heavy rain and severe weather conditions to several islands in southeastern Caribbean. With winds of up to 144 kph, Hurricane Emily was headed toward the island of Grenada, which was still recovering from the devastation of last year's Hurricane Ivan. Warnings were in effect across the southeastern region of the Caribbean as the storm also threatened Venezuela and the Netherlands Antilles. Ebbers sentenced to 25 years prison A court in New York has sentenced former WorldCom chief executive Bernard Ebbers to 25 years in prison for his role in a fraud scheme that led to the biggest corporate collapse in US history. US District Judge Barbara Jones handed down the sentence, saying anything less would not have reflected the seriousness of the crime. The 63-year-old Ebbers was ordered to report to a federal prison in Mississippi in October. Shareholders lost about $180 billion dollars and 20,000 workers lost their jobs when WorldCom went bankrupt three years ago. NASA engineers seek cause of delay NASA has been looking into the problem that forced it to delay the launch of space shuttle Discovery. The US space agency had to scrap Wednesday's launch attempt when it discovered a problem with a fuel tank sensor. Discovery's astronauts had all been strapped into the shuttle and were preparing for blast-off when the order came through to abort the mission. NASA says the launch will now take place no earlier than Saturday. Discovery's planned lift-off from Cape Canaveral will be the first shuttle mission since its sister ship Columbia fell apart over Texas in February 2003, killing all seven astronauts on board. Thousands flee after Kenya massacre Thousands of villagers in northern Kenya have fled their homes in fear of inter-clan violence after at least 77 people were killed in a brutal massacre and reprisal attacks this week. Kenyan police have been deployed in the semi-arid region near the Ethiopian border to catch the perpetrators of Tuesday's massacre in the remote area of Turbi. But despite the police presence, members of the rival Borana and Gabra clans continued to clash two days after the attack. The two clans have long-running disputes over water and pasture. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Send us your favorite picks for sight-seeing, museum hopping, historical edification – whatever you've got to share with others heading to Germany. Restaurants, hotels, back-country hideaways – write to us with your insider tips and tell us about what you liked best about traveling in Germany. For more information, please go to http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1096790,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For more information please turn to our internet website at http://dw-world.de/english Here you'll find out what's happening in Germany, Europe and the rest of the world. News and background reports from the fields of current affairs, culture, business and science. And of course the DW website also has information about DW-RADIO and DW-TV programmes: topics, broadcast times and frequencies. 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