Deutsche Welle English Service News 09. 01. 2005, 17:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Fischer: Finding the Missing is Top Priority German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer on Sunday voiced concern about the fate of thousands of people missing after the Indian Ocean tsunami crashed into southwestern Thailand two weeks ago. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1454066,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DW-WORLD's "Click Back" monthly review quiz for January 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Palestinians extend vote Palestinians are holding their first presidential election in nine years, choosing a successor to the late longtime leader Yasser Arafat. Turnout has been so heavy that Palestinian election officials have extended voting by two hours. Hundreds of international observers are monitoring the vote. One of them is former US President Jimmy Carter. Mahmoud Abbas, the candidate of Arafat's ruling Fatah movement, is expected to win easily, but he needs a clear mandate to push forward with his agenda of resuming peace talks with Israel and reforming the Palestinian Authority. Israel has said it was ready to meet with Abbas after the election. But while Palestinians cast their ballots, Hamas and other militant Islamic groups urged a boycott of the poll. Hizbollah border attack kills at least 2 Israeli planes and artillery have fired on suspected Hizbollah positions in southern Lebanon after an Israeli border unit was attacked. The UN said a French officer on patrol had been killed by the shelling near the disputed Shebaa Farms area. Another UN officer was reported to have been wounded in the incident. The attacks came after an Israeli officer was reported killed and three soldiers injured when Hizbollah militants struck at a military vehicle. Germany pays tribute to tsunami victims German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, President Horst Koehler and senior government officials have paid a solemn tribute to the victims of the Indian Ocean tsunamis at an ecumenical church service in Berlin. The only cabinet minister not in attendance was Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, who is currently touring the Indian Ocean countries hit by the tsunami. Fischer's first stop was in Thailand where he pledged Germany's continuing committement to long term reconstruction aid. Fischer also stressed Germany's support to the establishment of a tsunami early warning system for the Indian Ocean. Two weeks after the tsunami struck the death toll stands at 160,000. Cyclone builds near tsunami-battered coast United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan is also touring the countries hit by the tsunamis. He is in the Maldives after visiting Sri Lanka, where he called on the government to seize the opportunity to help heal ethnic divisions and end the civil war with Tamil separatists in the north of the country. The Indonesian government meanwhile says reconstruction work in areas hit by the tsunamis could take up to ten years. Meanwhile a tropical downpour has lashed the airport in the provincial capital Banda Aceh, turning a major hub for relief supplies into a muddy mess. US troops accidentally kill civilians American troops have opened fire after their convoy was struck by a roadside bomb at a checkpoint south of Baghdad, killing at least two policemen and three civilians. This comes a day after the US military acknowledged five people were killed when it bombed the wrong house during a search operation in northern Iraq. The owner of the house said 14 people were killed. The back-to-back incidents have fuelled anti-American anger just three weeks before Iraq's first election since US-led forces toppled dictator Saddam Hussein. Sudan, southern rebels end 21-year war Sudan's government and southern rebels have signed a comprehensive peace deal to end Africa's longest civil war. Foreign dignitaries including US Secretary of State Colin Powell were among those attending the ceremony in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. The war, which began over 20 years ago, has pitted the Muslim north against Christians in the south, leaving some 1.5 million people dead. The peace deal does not cover the separate, newer conflict in Darfur. Sudanese president Omar el-Bashir promised to bring an end to the worsening humanitarian crisis in Sudan's Darfur province, where government-backed militia are accused of killing thousands as part of a campaign against rebels demanding more rights. High winds pound northern Europe Eleven people have died and at least four are missing after gale-force winds battered northern Europe at the weekend, causing flooding and transport chaos and leaving hundreds of thousands without electricity. Worst-hit was southern Scandinavia. In Sweden, seven people died, including three motorists whose cars were hit by falling trees. Power cuts affected hundreds of thousands of households, especially in southern Sweden and Denmark. Winds disrupted transport, including airports and ferries. Floodwaters have cut off the northwestern English town of Carlisle. Hurricane- force winds battered the northern German state of Schleswig- Holstein. Police there are still looking for two canoeists who disappeared during the storm. Thousands remember communist icons in Berlin Nine people have been arrested in Berlin at a rally to commemorate German communists Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, who were killed by troops during a socialist uprising in January 1919. The police said they arrested the nine for throwing bottles and covering their faces at the annual ceremony in a Berlin suburb. The total turnout was estimated at around 14,000 people. Liebknecht and Luxemburg were murdered by far-right soldiers during an uprising 86 years ago, within weeks of the end of World War I, after transforming the left-wing Spartacus League into the German Communist Party and trying to proclaim a German Soviet Republic. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. Serbian News Network - SNN news@antic.org http://www.antic.org/
