Deutsche Welle English Service News 02. 02. 2005, 17:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Köhler: Holocaust Part of German Identity German President Horst Köhler addressed the Israeli parliament Wednesday, telling the Knesset that responsibility for the Holocaust was part of Germany's national identity. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1476156,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pope's health improving Italy's Health Minister Girolamo Sirchia has said that Pope John Paul II's health was improving. He reported this after visiting the hospital where the Pope is being held on Wednesday. Sirchia went on to say that the doctors were optimistic. John Paul, head of the Roman Catholic Church, was admitted to hospital Tuesday night with breathing problems caused by a flu virus. John Paul is 84 years old and has a history of health problems, most prominently Parkinson's disease. Abbas, Sharon to hold summit The leaders of Israel and the Palestinians will hold a summit for the first time in four years. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas both accepted invitations from Hosni Mubarak, the President of Egypt, to meet in Sharm el-Sheik on the Sinai Peninsula next Tuesday. Jordan's King Abdullah II will join them. Both sides said they saw an "historic opportunity" to make progress towards Middle East peace. Also on Tuesday, Abbas accepted an invitation to pay an official visit to Iran, a vocal enemy of Israel. Iranian policy advocates Israel's destruction but moderate leaders has also said it would not oppose a two-state resolution if the Palestinian people wanted this. Koehler: Germany stands behind Israel German President Horst Koehler has told the Israeli Parliament that responsibility for the holocaust is part of his country's identity. He said that Germany still hasn't completely defeated its extreme right or hate against Jews within its borders. He expressed German support for the Middle East peace process, and called Israel a model of a dynamic and economically successful society. Koehler was speaking before the parliament -- also known as the Knesset -- as part of his four day trip to Israel to mark 40 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. World condemns Nepal's power move The King of Nepal, Gyanendra, has consolidated power and largely shut the country off from the outside world. He unveiled a new cabinet on Wednesday, of which he is the head. He turned back flights to the capital, Kathmandu, and stopped telephone and postal services. He also declared a state of emergency, suspending civil liberties and press freedom, and placed many leading politicians under house arrest. World leaders have condemned his move; the US, India, Britain, and the UN said the king was playing into the hands of Maoist rebels he is trying to put down. On Tuesday, Gyanendra sacked his Prime Minister, Sher Bahadur Deuba, for failing to stop the rebels from taking over some two-thirds of the country. In response, the Maoists called for a three-day general strike. Clerics say Iraq poll lacks legitimacy Leading Sunni clerics in Iraq have declared that any government emerging from Sunday's historic election lacked legitimacy. The reason the clerics gave was that many Sunnis had boycotted the poll because it was tainted by the US-led occupation. US President George W. Bush said the election was conducted fairly. Vote counting continues and is expected to end by early next week. Emboldened by Sunday's elections, the police chief in Mosul demanded that insurgents hand over their weapons in two weeks or face a police onslaught. Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq threatened to assassinate the governor of the northern Sunni city. Finally, in fresh violence on Wednesday, at least four Iraqis were killed in three roadside bombings in the northern city of Samarra. Opposition critical of jobless numbers German opposition parties have reacted critically to the newest unemployment numbers, which exceeded five million for the first time in the history of the German republic. The Bavarian state premier, Edmund Stoiber of the Christian Social Union, called the figures a symbol of the failure of the centre-left coalition. Economics and Labour Minister Wolfgang Clement admitted that the numbers were frightening, but said they were confirmation of the government's plans to press ahead with labour market reforms. Compared to December, over 570,000 more people were unemployed in January. Of those, some 230,000 welfare recipients were included in the jobless statistic for the first time. German police raid Islamist homes German police have searched 33 residences and four businesses throughout the country in a crackdown on some 20 suspected Islamist extremists. Authorities think there was a criminal network between them, to finance extremist activities abroad. Nearly all the suspects are of Arab background, and police say that two of them visited militant training camps in Taliban Afghanistan. Prosecutors widen betting probe German prosecutors have widened their probe into the country's soccer match-rigging scandal and police have raided houses across Germany. Police swept into 32 premises although no arrests were made. Included in the expanding investigation are three more referees, including Juergen Jansen from the top division. Prosecutors said that evidence had been secured in the nation-wide searches. The office went on to say that the suspects were under investigation for manipulating results of at least ten matches in the first, second and third divisions as well as the German Cup. Referee Robert Hoyzer's admission last week of fixing matches set off Germany's biggest sporting scandal in more than 30 years. UN tightens embargo on Ivory Coast The UN Security Council has voted to tighten its arms embargo on Ivory Coast. The resolution authorises 11,000 French and UN peacekeepers to inspect cargo shipments without advance notice in the West African nation. Ivory Coast has been split since 2002 when rebels seized northern regions in a standoff with President Laurent Gbagbo. Rebels left a power-sharing government after a ceasefire breakdown last November. On Tuesday they had inconclusive talks with African Union mediators. Gbagbo's government accuses France of meddling. This Wednesday, French President Jacques Chirac is due to visit Senegal, another West African nation with French influence. Basque gov't calls emergency meeting The Basque regional government has called for an emergency meeting on Wednesday. The Basqueland leader, Juan Jose Ibarretxe, made the announcement in reaction to the Spanish parliament's rejection of his plan to grant greater autonomy to Spain's restive Basque region. The plan foresaw a Basque legal system and Basque representation abroad. Spanish parliamentarians rejected that, voting 313 against, only 29 for, with two abstentions. Among those opposed was Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero who said Madrid was the seat of Spanish sovereignty under Spain's 1978 constitution. The opposition criticised Zapatero harshly for conciliatory statement's he made in the parliamentary debate. Zimbabwe bans S. African fact finders Zimbabwe officials have barred South African trade union leaders from the country on Wednesday. They stopped the labour representatives at Harare airport and ordered them to return immediately to South Africa. Leaders of the Congress of South African Trade Unions intended to travel to neighbouring country to stage a fact-finding mission ahead of Zimbabwe's upcoming parliamentary elections in March. Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has accused the South African labour congress of pursuing a political agenda. In October, South African labour leaders were booted out of Zimbabwe on a similar mission. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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