Deutsche Welle English Service News 25. 01. 2006, 17:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Search Goes on For Kidnapped Germans in Iraq US and Iraqi forces were searching Wednesday for two German engineers kidnapped in Iraq. Experts meanwhile said an alleged ransom payment for a previous hostage made Germans more vulnerable. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http:http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1867876,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Receive DW-WORLD headlines and news reports straight on your desktop as RSS feeds: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1137115,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Turnout high so far in Palestine poll Voter turnout has been high as Palestinians elect their first parliament in over 10 years. Some 1.4 million people are eligible to vote for a 132-member parliament. The ruling Fatah party of President Mahmoud Abbas faces a strong challenge from the radical Hamas group, which is contesting an election for the first time. The latest polls had both running neck-and-neck. President Abbas said the election was the first step towards freedom and an independent Palestinian state. Fearing potential violence, thousands of police officers are present at the polling places but so far there have been no serious incidents during voting. World Economic Forum meets in Davos The annual World Economic Forum meeting has opened in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos. More than 2300 prominent international figures from politics, business and public life are attending the five-day conference. German chancellor Angela Merkel was invited to deliver the keynote address at this year's meeting. In her speech she outlined the goals of the new German government's economic policies. The agenda for this year's forum is expected to be dominated by the challenges posed by China's and India's rapidly growing economies. Police from all over Switzerland and some 6000 troops are on hand to guard the delegates. The town has been sealed off, denying demonstrators access to the conference site. Germany trying to save Iraq hostages The German government is continuing to try and make contact with kidnappers of two Germans in Iraq but have failed so far. Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after a meeting of the ministry's crisis team that they are doing all they can to get any information about the two engineers' fate. The men were abducted on Tuesday outside their workplace in the northern city of Baiji. The two are from Leipzig and among numerous westerners currently being held by Iraqi militants. German archaeologist Susanne Osthoff, who was taken hostage in November, was released last month. Germany encourages Iran to accept offer The German government has encouraged Iran to accept a Russian offer to help enrich uranium for its power plants. A government spokesman in Berlin didn't say whether an acceptance of the offer would end a row over Tehran's nuclear programme. Iran's top nuclear negotiator reportedly welcomed Moscow's offer to enrich uranium on Russian territory. However Ali Larijani was quoted as saying in Moscow that the proposal needed further deliberation. Larijani once again warned that Iran would start industrial-scale uranium enrichment at home if it's referred to the UN Security Council. German economy to grow The German government says the economy is set to grow by 1.4 percent this year which should lead to a reduction in the number of unemployed. The government made the forecast in its first annual report on the state of the economy. This comes after a leading business confidence indicator showed a sharp increase. The Munich-based Ifo economic institute calculated that the index rose to 102 up from 99.7 in December, the highest level since May 2000. Annan calls for UN troops in Darfur United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called for a strong UN mission in the Sudanese region of Darfur. The UN chief said the current African Union peacekeeping force was under-financed and had to be converted into a UN peacekeeping mission. Annan added that UN troops would have to use force to protect people. The situation in the western Sudanese region has deteriorated. Annan said that there are now over two million refugees in Darfur. Pinochet's daughter detained in US The eldest daughter of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet has been detained upon her arrival in Washington. Lucia Pinochet Hiriart travelled to the US from Argentina after being indicted for tax evasion charges in her home country. Chilean government officials called Hiriart a fugitive from justice and has charged her with tax fraud related to some one million dollars in undeclared taxes and falsification of documents. Her father ruled Chile from 1973-1990 and is accused of being responsible in the deaths of as many as 3,000 Chileans during his regime. He is also facing tax evasion charges in Chile. Pope publishes first encyclical Pope Benedict XVI has published his first encyclical, devoted to the meaning of human and divine love. Deus est Caritas, the Latin for "God is Love", was written by the Pope last year but its publication has been delayed by translation problems. Parts of the new encyclical were originally written by his predecessor, Pope John Paul II. Traditionally, the papal letters give an important clue to a Pope's thinking. Google to censor in China The US online search engine Google has agreed to block politically sensitive websites and content on its new Chinese site. The internet giant had to make self-censorship concessions to gain access to China's growing online market. Other multinational companies like Yahoo and Microsoft already block searches for terms like Falun Gong and Taiwan independence. Google will stay away from e-mail and blogging in China for the time being until it can strike a balance on the censorship issue. China announces seventh bird flu death A woman in south-west China has become the seventh person in the country to die from the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus. The World Health Organization said the 29-year-old woman tested positive for the H5N1 virus on 17 January. China is seen as a potential flashpoint for a human pandemic, because it has the world's largest poultry population. More than 70 people in South East Asia are known to have died of bird flu since late 2003. Scientists fear the H5N1 bird flu virus could mutate from a disease that largely affects birds to one that can pass easily between people, leading to a human pandemic. Arctic freeze chills Europe The death toll from Europe's snap of cold weather has now reached more than 350. Since the onset of sub-zero temperatures a total of 159 people have died due to the extreme cold in Poland alone, while 136 fatalities were reported in Russia and 77 in Ukraine. Five people have died so far here in Germany. Sub-zero temperatures have been recorded as far south as Sicily. Katrina warnings ignored says senator A US senator has said the White House ignored warnings about the danger of Hurricane Katrina for New Orleans. Joe Lieberman, who sits on a panel investigating the disaster, said that the emergency response agency Fema had warned the Bush administration that the city could be flooded in the event of a major hurricane on August 27th, two days before Katrina made landfall. Sen. Lieberman accused the White House of being unwilling to hand over documents that could explain its reluctance to act. The White House has insisted that it is co-operating fully in the investigation. Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans, causing widespread flooding which left hundreds of people dead. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1729859,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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