Deutsche Welle English Service News 05. 10. 2004, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Bundesliga 2004/2005: Tip 4 The Top! Are you mad about soccer and betting? DW-WORLD's new betting pool lets you match your wits against experts and soccer fans from around the world,.game by game. You can play individually or as part of a team. You can test your ability to determine winners and losers, the up-and-coming and the has-beens as well as your general soccer expertise with friends and colleagues. Best of all: We'll be awarding fabulous prizes after each game. http://bundesligatip.dw-world.de/english.do ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Schröder Meets Singh To Strengthen Ties The first European head of state to visit India since its surprise change of government, Chancellor Schröder is expected to focus on boosting sluggish German investment during talks with Indian Premier Singh Wednesday. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1347559,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Israelis force Lufthansa jet to Cyprus Israeli jet fighters have escorted a Lufthansa passenger plane bound for Tel Aviv to Cyprus, due to a bomb threat. A spokesman for the German flag carrier in Berlin, said a threatening phone call had been received in Lufthansa's Frankfurt office after the plane had taken off. Lufthansa and German authorities didn't consider the threat to be serious, but Israel refused permission for the plane to land in Tel Aviv. Flight 686 from Frankfurt landed safely in Larnaca and Cypriot police said security officials were preparing to check the Boeing 747, its 331 passengers, and their luggage. This was the sixth time in just over a week that a plane has been diverted in European airspace due to a security scare. US forces launch attack on Sadr City US forces have been engaged in heavy fighting in Baghdad's Sadr City district. That's a stronghold of militiamen loyal to radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al Sadr. There was no immediate word on casualties after reports that US aircraft had bombed suspected rebel positions. The assault follows comments by US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, describing a major offensive in Samarra as "the way forward" against Iraqi insurgents. US and Iraqi government forces are attempting to regain control of the country ahead of January's planned elections. In separate incidents, a car bombing and heavy fighting have been reported in both Ramadi and Mosul. Four Iraqis died in a drive-by shooting south of Baghdad, and one US soldier was killed in the north of the city. Rumsfeld doubts Saddam - 9/11 link US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has cast doubt on claimed links between former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the al-Qaeda terror network. In a surprise admission, Rumsfeld said he had seen no evidence of a link. US President George W. Bush used Saddam's alleged connections to the September 11 attackers to make the case for invading Iraq. Rumsfeld also admitted that US intelligence asserting that Saddam held weapons of mass destruction was wrong. Meanwhile, Rumsfeld has himself been criticised by the former US civilian administrator of Iraq. Paul Bremer said there were "never enough" US troops in Iraq to prevent the spread of lawlessness. -- British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has begun a previously unannounced visit to Iraq. A statement from the British Embassy in Baghdad said Straw was to meet with Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani in the northern city of Kirkuk. But it didn't provide any further details. A British Foreign Office spokesman said the foreign secretary would be in the region for the next few days. Israel - Palestinian talks over Gaza Israel and the Palestinian Authority have reportedly begun negotiations in an attempt to bring Israel's six-day offensive in the Gaza Strip to an end. At least 68 Palestinian militants and civilians are now reported dead in the combined air and ground assault. The offensive began in response to last Wednesday's Palestinian rocket attack against the southern Israeli town of Sderot, in which two children were killed. Israeli forces have now occupied a nine-kilometre buffer zone in the northern Gaza Strip. According to Israeli security sources, negotiations are now focussing on ending rocket attacks in return for an Israeli withdrawal. No progress in Darfur, UN reports United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, has issued a report saying that the Sudanese government has failed to make progress in the crisis-ridden Darfur region. The report, circulated to the UN Security Council, cites attacks against civilians, escalating banditry and tribal conflict. It also says fresh promises by the Khartoum government have failed to end the 19-month conflict. The United Nations believes that as many as 50,000 people have been killed and more than a million forced to flee their homes, since the conflict in Darfur broke out early last year. Indonesia's Megawati concedes defeat German President Horst Koehler has written to Indonesia's president-elect, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to congratulate him on winning last month's election. In the letter, President Koehler pledged Germany' support for Yudhoyono's plans to fight corruption and spur economic growth. Earlier, incumbent President Megawati Sukarnoputri conceded defeat, following the release of the official election results, which gave Yudhoyono more than 60 percent of the vote. He will be Indonesia's sixth president, and the first to be directly elected. Pro-Moscow Chechen president sworn in A new president has been sworn in in the troubled republic on Chechnya. Major General Alu Alkhhanov, a former police chief, was elected to the post in August in a vote widely criticised as flawed. He is considered a pro-Kremlin loyalist. The swearing-in ceremony took place within the government complex and was kept secret until the last moment. Alkhanov's predecessor, Akhmad Kadyrov, was assassinated in a bomb attack in May. Separatist Chechen guerillas continue to attack Russia's 60,000 troops in Chechnya in a brutal conflict that began in 1999. German jobless rate drops slightly Here in Germany, the number of unemployed people dropped slightly last month. According to figures released by the Federal Labour Agency in Nuremberg, 4,256,000 people were looking for a job in September. That's about 90,000 less than in August. But it's almost 50,000 more than the same period of last year. Frankfurt book fair showcases Arab world The Frankfurt book fair, the world's largest literary trade show, has opened in Germany. Over 6,600 publishers from over 100 countries will exhibit their latest releases. This year, the fair focuses on the Arab world. Over 200 Arabic writers, intellectuals and artists are expected to attend, as well as some 290,000 visitors. Education shake-up in Germany The government of Germany's northern state of Lower Saxony has decided to quit a grouping of all 16 federal states whose culture ministers meet regularly to coordinate education. The so-called Culture Ministers Conference, established post-war in 1948, oversees rules for recognising students' school and tertiary qualifications across Germany. Lower Saxony's conservative CDU premier Christian Wulff said he wanted to force the grouping and its secretriat to modernise. The conference has an annual budget of 50 million euros and two administrative bureaus in Bonn and Berlin with 200 staff. Other Laender run by Social Democrat and conservative governments have objected to Wulff's move, saying reforms had already been made. New St Poelten diocese bishop nominated In Austria, the Roman Catholic Bishops Conference has nominated Bishop Klaus Kueng to head the diocese of St Poelten. Kueng is the bishop appointed by the Vatican to investigate the discovery of about 40,000 sexually explicit images, including child pornography, on computers at the St Poelten seminary. Bishop Kueng shut down the school in August. Police have been conducting their own criminal investigation. The former head of the diocese, Bishop Kurt Krenn, resigned last week amid an uproar over his handling of the affair. The Vatican has the final say on his successor. US trio win Nobel Physics Prize Three American scientists have been awarded the Nobel Physics Prize for pioneering work in explaining quarks, the tiniest particles known to man. In its citation, the Nobel committee praised David Gross, David Politzer and Frank Wilczek for their explanation of the apparently illogical interactions between sub-atomic particles. It is hoped their formula will one day enable scientists to fully describe sub-atomic reactions. UEFA Cup group stage draw In sports: The draw for the group stage of European soccer's UEFA Cup has been made in the Swiss city of Nyon. Three German clubs advanced to the group stage: Schalke have been drawn in Group A, along with Feyenoord, FC Basle, Heart of Midlothian, and Ferencvaros. Stuttgart are in Group G, along with Benfica, Dinamo Zagreb, Heerenveen, and Beveren. German second division side Alemania Aachen are in Group H, along with AEK Athens, OSC Lille, FC Sevilla, and Zenit St. Petersburg. Aachen qualified for the UEFA Cup by reaching the final of last year's German FA Cup. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today in History - History Today and Every Day Moments in European history and birthdays of famous Europeans are presented on a daily basis at: http://www.todayinhistory.de. Daily quotes, a knowledge quiz and e-cards for special occasions round off the offering. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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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