Deutsche Welle English Service News June 15th, 2002, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: Sieg der Sozialdemokraten Die regierenden Sozialdemokraten (CSSD) haben die Parlamentswahl in Tschechien gewonnen. Doch nach den Auszählungen der Stimmen deutet sich eine schwierige Regierungsbildung an. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://dw-world.de/german/0,3367,1489_A_577685_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Karzai proposes National Council for Afghanistan Afghan president Hamid Karzai has proposed creating a national council in which all ethnic and religious groups in the country would play a part. Karzai said each of Afghanistan's 32 provinces should send two delgates to the council, with former President Burhannudin Rabbani acting as one of its leaders. The council would oversee the the new transitional government, which is to run the country for 18 months before general elections are held. The Loya Jirga assembly that has been meeting to decide on the make-up of the government has been extended for at least a day amid wrangling about who is to appoint a cabinet. Meanwhile, the United Nations has complained to Karzai about violence in the north of the country, including armed attacks, robberies, and the gang rape of an international aid worker. A spokesman said aid workers in the area were considering stopping work. FBI joins Pakistani investigation into US consulate blast The FBI has joined Pakistani police in their investigations of Friday's suicide bombing outside the US consulate in Karachi. A previously unknown group calling itself "Al-Qanoon" (The Law) has claimed responsibility for the blast, which it said was the start of a "jihad" or holy war against America and Pakistan's rulers. Pakistani investigators said they were looking into the claim, but were also considering other leads. Police have not ruled out a possible link to the al Qaeda network. The attack, which killed eleven people and injured dozens of others, was the fourth against foreigners in Pakistan since January. On May 8 a similar attack on a hotel in Karachi killed 11 French engineers and two Pakistanis. Indian Kashmir chief escapes grenade attack The chief minister of India's Jammu and Kashmir state escaped an attempt on his life on Saturday when two grenades were fired at him. One failed to explode and the other missed and exploded in a nearby marshy area without causing casualties. At the time, Chief Minister Abdullah was inaugurating a government building in Srinagar, the summer capital of the Himalayan state, which is also claimed by Pakistan. Abdullah, who has escaped many attempts on his life, is hated by separatist militants in India's only Muslim-majority state for his strong pro-India position. About a dozen Muslim militant groups are fighting New Delhi's rule in the state. India accuses Pakistan of stoking the 12-year-old rebellion by allowing rebels to cross the ceasefire line dividing the disputed region. Social Democrats lead in Czech elections In the Czech Republic, television exit polls show the ruling Social Democrats in the lead after two-day general elections. The polls gave Vladimir Spidla's centre-left Social Democrats 30 percent of the vote as against 26 percent for the conservative Civic Democrats led by former premier Vaclav Klaus. A new government will probably lead the country into the European Union. It will be the fifth since the 1989 Velvet Revolution ended decades of communism. Rescue attempt under way for trapped German ship A South African research ship and an Argentinean naval icebreaker are to attempt to rescue more than 100 scientists and crew on a German ship trapped in pack ice in the Antarctic. A spokesman for the South African Ministry of Defence said the mission to save the passengers on the Magdalena Oldendorff may take up to 30 days. The operation is likely to prove dangerous. It will involve taking the passengers from the trapped ship using helicopters under extreme weather conditions. The spokesman said the 71 Russian scientists and 36 crew from Germany, India, the Philippines and Moldova were not in immediate danger. However, he said they did not have enough supplies to last the whole Southern Hemisphere winter. US bishops decide paedophile priests should be barred from clerical duties Victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests have criticised a decision by US bishops to bar paedophile priests from clerical duties, but not to automatically expel them from the priesthood. Victims groups and some other critics say the decision does not show a true "zero tolerance" approach to priests who molest children. The policy allows church superiors to strip accused priests of their clerical status, but does not require it. In some cases, particularly those of elderly priests facing decades-old accusations, it will permit local bishops to keep the accused officially in the priesthood, while banning them from all clerical duties. The bishops, who voted 239 to 13 at a summit in Dallas, Texas, said the decision was a compassionate compromise, but that it would protect children. Burundi rebels kill 13 in ambush A Burundan army spokesman said on Saturday that rebels have shot dead 13 people in an ambush on a civilian truck in the north of the country. The spokesman said the attack occurred on Friday morning near Buhayira, around 40 km north of the capital, Bujumbura. The victims included 10 civilians and three army soldiers. The attack is believed to have been the work of the Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD), one of the two main Hutu rebel groups fighting the Tutsi-led government since 1993. Burundi is in the grip of a nine-year civil war, in which an estimated 200,000 people have died. UN Mission in Congo extended by one year The UN Security Council has extended the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo for another year, until June 2003. The Council however limited peacekeeper and observer numbers to 5,400, despite a request by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan for 400 more soldiers. The Security Council said it would only consider sending more troops once both Congo and Rwanda made preparations for national elections and began seriously disarming rebels. World Cup soccer results And in World Cup soccer news, Germany and England have become the first teams to reach the quarter finals. Germany won against Paraguay 1:0, with Oliver Neuville shooting the deciding goal just two minutes before time, while England defeated Denmark 3:0. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. You can even listen to all programmes as audio-on-demand. 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