Deutsche Welle English Service News 18. 01. 2005, 17:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
A Democratic Dream for Germany's Iraqis Amid continuing violence in their home country, expatriate Iraqis have begun signing up for their first democratic poll amid tight security. Hope for a better future is spurring voter registration across Germany. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1461967,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The waiting is over: on Jan. 21 the Bundesliga returns from its winter break and starts off the second half of the 2004/05 season. The 17 remaining match days leading up to the final on May 21 guarantee plenty of excitement. Can FC Bayern-Munich keep its lead at the top of the table or will one of the strong contesters Schalke 04 or VfB Stuttgart overtake the club from the Bavarian capital? And how do the lower ranked teams keep up with the rest? Who will survive into the next season and who will be forced down a notch? Keep informed of what’s happening in Germany’s premier soccer league at http://www.dw-world.de/soccer. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Iraqi archbishop released by captors The Vatican says that the Iraqi Catholic archbishop of Mosul has been released by his Iraqi captors. Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa was seized at gunpoint on Monday. The Chinese embassy in Iraq has confirmed that eight of its nationals have been kidnapped by Iraqi militants. Elsewhere in Iraq at least one person has been killed and seven others wounded in a suicide car bombing of a Baghdad office used by a major Shi'ite party. Meanwhile the interim government has announced that it will close all its land borders around election day set for Jan. 30. Curfews will also be imposed and traffic restricted near polling centres. Airbus unveils superjumbo The world's largest passenger plane has been unveiled in France. The Airbus A380, built by a consortium consisting of France, Britain, Spain and Germany, can carry around 550 people on two decks. There are plans to include shops and a casino. The so-called superjumbo costs 11 billion dollars and is due to enter service next year. So far 129 aircraft have been sold. Airbus says it is banking on demand for large planes with cheaper seats connecting the major cities of the world. Abbas to meet Gaza militants Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is due to travel from the West Bank to Gaza to try to persuade militants to agree to cease attacks on Israel. Under pressure from Israel to rein in militants, Abbas ordered Palestinian security forces on Monday to prevent anti-Israeli violence. Israel has called the move "a small step in the right direction", but added that Abbas must take action to stop rocket attacks from Gaza on Jewish settlements. Last week Israel cut ties with the Palestinian leadership after an attack on a border crossing killed six Israelis. Bush won't rule out action against Iran US President George W. Bush has said he would not rule out military action against Iran if it was not more forthcoming about its suspected nuclear weapons programme. In an interview with the NBC television network, Bush said he hoped the dispute could be solved diplomatically but added he would "never take any option off the table". Bush's comments followed the Pentagon's criticism of a report published in the "New Yorker" magazine claiming the US was mounting reconnaissance missions inside Iran to identify potential nuclear and other targets. Iran insists its nuclear programme is peaceful and geared solely to producing electricity. Annan stresses tsunami lessons UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is urging the world to learn from the devastating Asian tsunami, saying spending now could limit the loss of life and damage from inevitable natural disasters. Annan was speaking at the start of a five-day conference on disasters in the Japanese city of Kobe. At the top of the conference's agenda, attended by 800 officials from 150 countries, is the establishment of a tsunami early warning system for the Indian Ocean. Germany has offered its own warning system for Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Research Minister Edelgard Bulman said the German system was more efficient than others and could be linked to existing warning networks. She said it could be in place within three years. US Senate set to query Rice US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice is set to begin two days of Senate confirmation hearings on her nomination as secretary of state. Rice is expected to face tough questions on her role in shaping Iraq policy and handling intelligence prior to the 9/11 attacks. She is also expected to outline what her priorities for US foreign policy would be if confirmed. But most observers say Rice's confirmation is certain. She would replace Secretary of State Colin Powell. Ex-German minister to be extradited A former German minister suspected of corruption is to be extradited from France to Germany later this week after five years on the run. Holger Pfahls served as a junior defence minister under former chancellor Helmut Kohl. He's accused of accepting a 2-million euro bribe in a weapons deal in 1991 involving the sale of armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia. A spokesman for the regional court in the city of Augsburg said Pfahls would be taken to a jail and would have to appear in court within 24 hours. Record 129 journalists killed in 2004: IFJ A new report released by the International Federation of Journalists says a record 129 journalists were killed in 2004, with Iraq and the Philippines proving the most dangerous countries for the media. The Brussels-based lobby group said the death toll, a large rise on the 93 killed in 2003, showed journalists were increasingly being considered as legitimate targets as they reported on war zones and investigated corruption. The report singled out Iraq, where 19 reporters and other media workers were killed last year, and the Philippines, where 13 journalists were murdered. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- When the ball gets rolling on the first day of the second half of the Bundesliga season, it’s time to place your bets at DW-WORLD again. Bet, score and win is the name of the game. Compete with soccer fans around the world by predicting who will be up or down, how many goals and how tops the table. Return for each match day and participate in the game individually or as a team with friends and colleagues. Prove your skill at picking the winners, and if you bet correctly, you’ll be awarded with great prizes each time the Bundesliga plays. So join the fun, it’s only a click away. http://www.dw-world.de/english/kickofftip ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
