Deutsche Welle English Service News 21.1.2005, 17:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: Chance to Start Again With Washington? With George W. Bush sworn in as the 43rd US president, Germans are wondering if the second term will be as turbulent as the first one. Despite differences, the Schröder government now wants to smooth out relations. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1465193,00.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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Berlin welcomes Bush's speech The German government has welcomed US President George W. Bush's intention to work more closely with international allies during his second term in office. A spokesman in Berlin pointed out that Bush had explictly said in his inauguration speech that he would consult US allies on any major decisions affecting the world. Earlier the opposition Christian Democratic Union's foreign affairs spokesman said Bush should focus on resolving the Middle East conflict during his second term. In his speech on Thursday, Bush said people everywhere had the right to live free from tyranny and said the US mission was to stand up for liberty around the world. US says Iran world's top trouble spot US Vice President Dick Cheney has singled out Iran as being at the "top of the list" of world trouble spots. He accused Tehran of building a new nuclear weapons program. Cheney also suggested that Israel might well decide to act to eliminate Iran's nuclear capabilities. On Thursday, Iranian President Mohammad Khatami warned the US that his country would defend itself against any military action, adding that the Bush administration has its hands full in Iraq. An article in The New Yorker magazine earlier in the week alleged the US was running a covert operation in Iran. Defence Department officials said the article was full of errors, but did not issue an outright denial. More violence in Iraq A car bomb has killed at least 14 people and wounded more than 35 in a Shiite mosque in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. The US army has announced that one of its soldiers was killed earlier on Friday in an operation in the north of the city. This comes after nine British soldiers and a number of Iraqi civilians were wounded after an explosion outside a British military base near the southern Iraqi city of Basra. Meanwhile a militant group threatening to kill eight Chinese hostages has said it will treat them "mercifully" if the Beijing government bans all its citizens from going to Iraq. Danish soldiers in Iraqi prisoner abuse Charges have been brought against five Danish officiers for allegedly abusing Iraqi prisoners last year. The Danish Defence Ministry said a female intelligence officer and four male military policemen had been accused of refusing prisoners food and water and of forcing them to kneel during interrogations. If convicted they face up to a year in prison. The alleged abuses are said to have taken place near Basra early last year. Palestinian police deployed in Gaza Hundreds of Palestinian police have taken up positions along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel in an effort to stop attacks against Jewish targets. It's part of new Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' plan to halt violence and revive peace talks. Palestinian security sources said around 3,000 police would be assigned to border towns Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya and other parts of northern Gaza. The Israeli security cabinet has approved plans for a large-scale invasion of the Gaza Strip if the rocket attacks continue but officials have also praised efforts by Abbas to bring about a change on the ground. Beslan residents demand new probe Hundreds of people in the Russian town of Beslan have taken to the streets to protest against what they say is a cover-up by the Kremlin of a probe into last year's school hostage tragedy. Residents closed a major road for a second day protesting against a parliamentary inquiry which they say does not provide accountability, and demanding an independent probe. The protesters include parents and relatives of school children who died in last September's attack by Chechen separatists. Almost 350 people were killed, half of them children, after a botched attempt by security forces to free the hostages. Haj pilgrims stone devil Some 2.5 million Muslims are continuing the celebration of their faith at the annual Haj pilgrimmage with the ritual stoning of the devil near Mecca. Last year almost 250 people were crushed to death in a stampede at the site where Muslims throw stones at three pillars representing the devil. In an effort to avoid a similar disaster, organisers have deployed more security personnel and made some structural changes to the site. Bickering over early warning system The quick implementation of a tsunami warning system could be in danger because of bickering over the project. There have been numerous proposals for the system at the conference on disaster prevention in the Japanese city of Kobe. But some delegates have said they feared different nations were jockeying for leadership of the high-profile project. During a special session on the tsunami, Germany, France, Japan and the United States were only a few of the nations lining up to make proposals. UN officials promised on Thursday to have the system up and running in 12 to 18 months. Green Week opens in Berlin The world's largest agricultural fair has opened in the German capital Berlin. More than 1,600 exhibitors from 55 countries are displaying the latest trends and items from the agricultural, food and gardening industries at the so-called Green Week fair. The German Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Minister Renate Kuenast said she wants to increase the quality control of foodstuff especially the added ingredients. Methane found on Titan Scientists have found liquid methane on Titan, one of Saturn's moons. They said that methane rains on Titan, similarly to how water rains on earth. The space probe Huygens, which landed on Titan last week, had sent back hours worth of data, the subject of intense research. Pictures of Titan show hills, ridges of ice, and rivers carving the landscape -- rivers of liquid methane. Methane is flammable when mixed with oxygen, as happens on earth. But as there is no oxygen on Titan, the methane stays a liquid. Scientists said that had there been oxygen on Titan, the moon "would have exploded a long time ago." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
