Deutsche Welle English Service News 15. 10. 2004, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Are you mad about soccer and betting? DW-WORLD's new betting pool lets you match your wits against experts and soccer fans from around the world, game by game. You can play individually or as part of a team. You can test your ability to determine winners and losers, the up-and-coming and the has-beens as well as your general soccer expertise with friends and colleagues. Best of all: We'll be awarding fabulous prizes after each game. http://bundesligatip.dw-world.de/english.do ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: A New German-Libyan Beginning German Chancellor Gerhard Schr�der and Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi have agreed to expand political and business ties between their countries after their second meeting in Tripoli on Friday. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1362585,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Fallujah negotiator arrested, say police Police in Iraq say US marines have arrested the chief negotiator for the rebel-held city of Fallujah after a night of heavy bombing by US warplanes. Khaled al-Jumaili was reportedly detained along with three other police officers as they were taking their families out of Fallujah to a nearby town for safety. It was not entirely clear on what grounds the arrests were made. Elsewhere in Iraq, a suicide car bomber has killed one Iraqi civilian and injured 15 other people outside Baghdad. UNICEF, meanwhile, says Iraqis are keen to return their children to school but are hindered by continuing violence. Since last year's US-led invasion of Iraq, bomb attacks have damaged as many as 700 schools. Israel scales back Gaza offensive Israel has scaled back its vast operation in northern Gaza as tens of thousands of Muslims joined the first Friday prayers of Ramadan. Israel's Deputy Defense Minister Zeev Boim told Israeli radio that the campaign was being scaled back partly as a gesture to Palestinians at the start of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. He also added that the operation, designed to put an end to Qassam rocket attacks on Israeli towns from northern Gaza, had now met its main objectives. Opel workers stage work stoppages The German government has refused to provide financial assistance to the troubled German car maker Opel and the leading department store KarstadtQuelle. A government spokesman said management failures could not be compensated with public money. Meanwhile production has halted at Opel's Bochum factory as workers protested against plans by the group's US parent, General Motors, to axe thousands of jobs. There are reports that the Bochum plant could be closed after 2006. GM has announced that it would axe 12,000 jobs in Europe, with 10,000 job losses in Germany. Unions have called workers at all of GM's European subsidiaries to join in a day of protest next Tuesday. Ex-Italian premier cleared of Mafia ties Italy's highest appeals court has cleared former prime minister Giulio Andreotti of charges that he colluded with the Mafia. Friday's court ruling, upholding two previous court decisions in Sicily, ends nearly 12 years of legal wrangling over the Italian statesman's alleged ties with organised crime. Last year, the same high court in Rome definitively cleared Andreotti of ordering the Mafia to kill a journalist in 1979. Eighty-five year-old Andreotti, a life senator who served as prime minister seven times, has always maintained his innocence. German opposition drops Turkey petition German conservative leader Angela Merkel has dropped proposals for a petition campaign against Turkey joining the European Union. A senior Christian Democrat party member told German television that Merkel decided to drop the campaign after widespread criticism and because there was a danger that the campaign could be misunderstood. Merkel backed proposals for a petition campaign against Turkey's EU entry after the European Commission last week recommended starting talks aimed at full Turkish membership. Her proposal was immediately attacked by the government, as well as by many in Merkel's own party, who said it risked stirring up populist anti-foreigner resentment and playing into the hands of far-right parties. Border deal between China and Russia China and Russia have signed an agreement defining their 4,300- kilometer-long border after four decades of dispute. The signing in Beijing was witnessed by Chinese President Hu Jintao and visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin. Other documents signed included a tough stance on terrorism. Their talks left unanswered China's bids to get oil and natural gas supplies from eastern Russia. Currently China draws nearly half of its oil from the volatile Middle East. From Beijing, Putin was due to fly to the western Chinese city of Xian, the home of the famous Terracotta Warriors. He was to hold talks there on cross-border cooperation. Putin's visit to China follows one by French President Jacque Chirac earlier this week. Terrorism charges filed against Bashir Indonesian prosecutors have filed terrorism charges against cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, the alleged leader of the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah militant network. The terrorism charges involve a suicide bombing outside the Marriott hotel in Jakarta in 2003 that killed 12 people. Indonesian president-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is due to be sworn in on October 20, has said strong action to fight terrorism will be one of his top priorities. Bashir was first arrested days after the Bali blasts that killed 202 people. Nepal's Maoists declares ceasefire Nepal's Maoist rebels have announced a nine-day ceasefire coinciding with the country's biggest Hindu festival, Dasain. The truce was announced by Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal in a media statement and will come into effect next week. The Maoists have been fighting since 1996 to topple the monarchy and replace it with communist rule in an increasingly bloody battle that has claimed more than 10,000 lives. It was unclear whether the ceasefire announcement could pave the way for a renewal of peace talks between the government and the rebels. Prime Minister Sher Deuba has said his government is waiting for the Maoists to reply to a recent offer of talks. Tsvangirai found not guilty of treason In Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been found not guilty of committing treason. The surprise verdict was announced at the Harare high court. Tsvangirai had been charged with trying to eliminate President Robert Mugabe ahead of a controversial election in 2002. Tsvangirai said he was framed. Before the verdict decision police broke up a demonstration outside the high court building. Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) were turned away from the courtroom. US posts record budget deficit The United States has posted a record budget deficit for 2004 totalling 413 billion dollars. Last year's deficit came to 377 billion dollars. Removing the figures for inflation, the shortfall is the worst since World War II. The news is likely to have a major impact on the last few weeks of campaigning before the presidential election on November 2. Economic and fiscal issues have been at the forefront of voters' concerns. Bush, Kerry deadlocked in poll President George W. Bush and his Democratic opponent Senator John Kerry remain in a deadheat to win the White House on November 2. An ABC News poll shows Bush and Kerry tied with 48 percent each. The latest poll comes just after the third and final presidential debate held on Wednesday in which Kerry was seen as the winner. Support for Bush was at 51 percent and 45 percent for Kerry before the debates. Hopes of malaria vaccine by 2010 Scientists have said they are hopeful that an effective vaccine against malaria could be licensed by 2010. They say the vaccine in question is the most promising yet. It was used on over 2,000 children in Mozambique and was found to cut the risk of developing severe malaria by 58 percent. Globally over one million people die from malaria each year. Most of those are children under the age of five. Strong quake off Taiwan There has been a powerful earthquake off Taiwan, measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale. In Taipei people fled swaying buildings, but otherwise there are no immediate reports of casualties or damage. The tremor was also felt in Japan's southern island chain of Okinawa. The quake's epicentre lay 110 kilometres off shore. The jolt was the region's strongest in five years. In 1999 a quake in Taiwan killed 2,400 people and damaged or wrecked 50,000 buildings. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Enjoy our "World News" newsletter? Why not also subscribe to "Daily Bulletin", DW-WORLD's latest daily digest of the day's top German and European stories, delivered to you around 18:30 UTC. 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