Deutsche Welle English Service News 01. 02. 2005, 17:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DW-WORLD's "Click Back" monthly review quiz for February 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
German Soccer Scandal Envelops Players It now appears that disgraced referee Robert Hoyzer's match-rigging is the tip of the iceberg in the German soccer scandal. Revelations on Monday named players accused of receiving cash incentives in disputed games. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1474909,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- German president on visit to Israel German President Horst Koehler is in Israel for a four-day state visit marking 40 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Speaking to his Israeli counterpart Moshe Katsav, Koehler pledged that Germany would never let up in the fight against anti-Semitism. He added that Germany's Nazi past gives it a special responsibility for Israel and its people. Koehler was speaking before he left for a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial. He is due to address the Israeli parliament on Wednesday, and some deputies have threatened to walk out if he speaks in German. Koehler's visit comes just days after the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Nazi Germany's former death camp where more than a million people, mostly Jews, were murderd during WWII. Israel opens Gaza border into Egypt Israel has reopened the southern Gaza Strip border into Egypt, allowing Palestinians to cross for the first time in more than seven weeks. The Rafah border crossing had reopened on January 21 to travellers wishing to enter Gaza from the Egyptian side but until now they had not been permitted to go the other way. The frontier was completely closed after a December 12 attack by Palestinian militants which claimed the lives of five Israeli soldiers. Quick US-withdrawal unlikely In the wake of Iraq's election, Iraqi President Ghazi Al-Yawar has said a withdrawal of US-led forces is not likely to begin until late this year because of the persistent insurgency. Al-Yawar also urged minority Sunni Muslims who stayed away from last Sunday's poll to get involved in constitutional talks. With definitive poll results still several days away, a leading Shiite tipped as future prime minister, Adel Abdel Mahdi, said he was confident Sunnis would eventually participate in parliament. A security clampdown imposed last Sunday has been eased as Iraq's borders and Baghdad airport reopen. Meanwhile, Iraq's interim government has sent officials to southern Iraq to investigate a riot at a US-run prison camp. The US military said its troops shot dead four inmates after 45 minutes of rioting at Camp Bucca on Monday, sparked by what it called a routine search. Nepal's king sacks government Nepal's King Gyanedra has sacked the government, taken charge of the Himalayan nation, and declared an indefinite state of emergency. It's the second time in two years that the king has sacked Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. Gyanedra accused Deuba of failing since last year to fulfil his mandate to end a conflict with Maoist rebels and organise elections due in April. Telephone links with Kathmandu were cut and foreign airlines say flights have been suspended because Kathmandu's airport has been closed. Witnesses say guards were posted outside Deuba's official residence and several ministers were taken away in escorted vehicles. India's foreign ministry said it had "grave concern" about democracy in neighbouring Nepal. The crisis precedes a regional seven-nation summit next week in Dhaka. Car bombing in ex-Soviet Georgia In the Caucasus nation of Georgia a car bomb has killed at least four people, mainly policemen. It exploded outside a regional police headquarters in Gori, a city close to the breakaway region of South Ossetia. The three-storey-building was heavily damaged. The Georgian interior ministry said dozens of other people were hurt. Last week, President Mikhail Saakashvili proposed wide autonomy for South Ossetia if it acknowledged Georgian sovereignty over the region. UN reports systematic abuse in Darfur A UN-appointed commission has said that the Sudanese government and allied militia systematically abused civilians in Darfur and those responsible should be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court. The commission concluded that the Sudanese government did not pursue a policy of genocide but said some individuals, including government officials, may have committed what it called "acts with genocidal intent." More than 70,000 people have been killed and two million people forced to flee their homes in Darfur. The Sudanese government blames rebel groups for starting the conflict. German nurse accused of killing 29 German investigators say a nurse who has already admitted to giving fatal injections to 16 mainly elderly patients could have killed an additional 13 people. After autopsies on 42 former patients, prosecutors in the southern town of Kempten said there was enough evidence to charge the unidentified 26-year-old nurse with the additional deaths. The man, who remains in jail, now faces six counts of murder, 22 counts of manslaughter and one case of assisted suicide. Investigators say the nurse used a combination of sedatives and muscle relaxant drugs to kill his patients. The accused claims he killed them to alleviate their suffering. Rush for World Cup soccer tickets Ticket orders for soccer's 2006 World Cup in Germany have begun with a rush in the Internet. Organisers say in the first 12 hours 300,000 applications were lodged, mainly within Germany, but also from more than 100 other nations. Soccer fans can apply - in a first phase - up until March 31. Sales of the 812,000 tickets will be decided in mid-April during a supervised lottery. Another sales phase will be held early next year. Organisers expect up to 30 million ticket requests. German consumer advocates have criticised the rationing of tickets and demanded full reimbursement to a ticket-holder if a game is relocated to an unreachable distant stadium during the Cup. Insolvency looms for German firm Germany's third-large construction company, Walter Bau, has filed in court for insolvency protection. The concern said it had been unable to secure financial liquidity after weeks of negotiations with 27 creditor banks. Walter-Bau said its application to a court in Augsburg in southern Germany was aimed at saving 9,500 jobs and segments of the parent company. Its subsidiaries were not involved. An Augsburg lawyer has been appointed as interim administrator. Projects carried out by Walter-Bau in recent years included the renovation of Berlin's Olympic Stadium and a dam in Australia. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. To find out more and sign up, please go to http://www.dw-world.de/english/newsletter 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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