Deutsche Welle English Service News February 14th 2005, 17:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Fischer Accepts Blame for Visa Scandal German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer Monday accepted responsibility for a scandal involving the abuse of visas to bring drugs and prostitutes into the country. But he denied the government was encouraging criminality. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1489382,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Are you coming to Germany soon? DW-WORLD has just the thing for you: Ever Monday, we compile a list of the top five events that are going on this week -- from exhibitions to concerts to festivals and markets. Check out "Germany's Top Five" at www.dw-world.de/english ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ex-Lebanese PM killed in bomb blast Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has been killed in an explosion in central Beirut. At least eight other people were killed in the blast, some of whom were Hariri's bodyguards. About 100 others were injured. The blast happened at a seafront area of the Lebanese capital, and witnesses said it appeared to have targeted the former prime minister's motorcade. It's said to be the worst bomb attack in the city since the Lebanese civil war ended in 1990. The 60-year-old Hariri was a billionaire businessman, who had held office for most of the past 12 years, before quitting last October amid a rift with President Emile Lahoud. Abbu Sayyaf targets Manila Eleven people have been killed and more than 50 others injured in a series of bombings in the Philippines. Three people were killed on the spot and about 20 others were injured when a powerful bomb ripped through a passenger bus in the Makati financial district of the capital, Manila. Five people were killed when a second blast hit a bus depot in the southern city of Davao and three were killed and 30 injured when a bomb struck a shopping mall in the southern city of General Santos. The militant Islamist group Abu Sayyaf, which operates in the southern Philippines, has claimed responsibility. US, Britain leaders hail Iraqi vote The United States and Britain have hailed the announcement of the results of Iraq's first election since the US-led invasion. US President George W. Bush praised the 8.5 million Iraqi voters who he said had defied terrorists by going out to the polls. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said that the Iraqi people had taken another important step on the way to a secure and democratic future. Meanwhile, members of Iraq's main Shi'ite alliance are debating who to choose as prime minister while at the same time considering possible coalition partners. The alliance took 48 percent of the vote in last month's ballot, which was largely boycotted by the country's Sunni Muslim minority. Foreign minster accepts responsibility German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer has accepted political responsibility for any wrongdoing by ministry staff in a controversy over the issuing of visas in Ukraine and other eastern European countries. Fischer made the statement to reporters outside his Green Party's headquarters in Berlin. The opposition has slammed the government over a liberalisation of visa rules, which it says has played into the hands of criminal people-smuggling gangs. Fischer's former deputy, Ludger Vollmer, who drafted the instruction to embassies to relax the regulations, resigned over the weekend. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, meanwhile has reaffirmed his full support for his foreign minister. Abbas says 'new era' beginning Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the Palestinians and Israel are embarking on a "new era". Abbas told the New York Times in an interview published on Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to evacuate all 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and four in the West Bank this summer was "a good sign to start with" on the road to peace. Israel's cabinet approved on Sunday the release of 500 Palestinian prisoners and officials said they could go free as early as Wednesday. Another 400 prisoners are slated for release. Israel currently holds about 8,000 Palestinian prisoners. Germany could send troops to Sudan Germany is prepared in principle to contribute Bundeswehr soldiers to a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Sudan. A government spokesman told reporters in Berlin that the UN had sent out a request to all of its members to provide peacekeepers to the south of Sudan, where a peace agreement ended the fighting last month. But he said before the government could commit to sending troops, the UN Security Council would have to pass a resolution creating a peacekeeping mission. Any international deployment of Bundeswehr troops must be approved by the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag. Serbia questions 'European values' Serbian President Boris Tadic has criticised the international community's role in Kosovo. He made the remarks during the first trip by a Serbian head of state to the province since the 1998-1999 war. Tadic told villagers in the Serb enclave of Orahovac that their plight made a mockery of the "European values" espoused by the province's international administrators. Kosovo became a UN protectorate in 1999 after NATO bombing ended a brutal Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists who took up arms against the regime of then-Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic. On Sunday Tadic said he would never accept an independent Kosovo. Talks under UN auspices are likely to be held later this year to discuss the province's future status. Struck defends NATO reform proposal German Defence Minister Peter Struck has dismissed criticism over proposals made by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to reform of NATO. In a radio interview the minister said Germany doesn't want the military alliance to die, but to become more effective. There was no discussion within NATO about a strategy to end the war in Iraq, rather some NATO members together with the United States went to war without a NATO decision. Struck said Chancellor Schroeder was concerned that this might be repeated in any new conflicts. US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hopp Scheffer and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana have all criticised Schroeder's reform demands. German interior minister in UAE German Interior Minister Otto Schily is in the United Arab Emirates. That's the final stop on his three-day visit to the Gulf states, which has also taken him to Qatar and Bahrain. Schily visited with members of the Federal Criminal Police Office, who are in the UAE training about 400 Iraqis in modern criminal investigation practices. Since last year, members of Germany's armed forces have also been in the country training Iraqi soldiers. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- It’s time to place your Bundesliga 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. 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