Deutsche Welle English Service News September,14th, 2004, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
A Land of Differences While the core of German president Horst Köhler's remarks on differences in living and employment standards focused on eastern and western states, figures published on Tuesday show discrepencies across the whole country. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,1594,1432_A_1327958_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 47 die in Baghdad car bombings The Iraqi Health Ministry says ten people have been killed and 22 wounded in fighting between US troops and insurgents Tuesday in the city of Ramadi. Witnesses said US tanks entering the Sunni Muslim city opened fire on militants after coming under attack. Earlier, at least 47 people were killed and 114 injured in a double car bombing of a police station in central Baghdad. In Baquba, gunmen shot dead 12 Iraqi policemen travelling in a minibus. An Internet statement by self-proclaimed followers of alleged al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for the attacks on Iraqi police. In further incidents three US soldiers were killed in ambushes in Mosul and Baghdad. Fifteen people were killed in ongoing US air strikes against suspected insurgents in the rebel stronghold of Fallujah. Faced with a continuing wave of violence in Iraq, the White House has now announced plans to divert over 3 billion euros of funding formerly earmarked for civil reconstruction in Iraq. The money will now be spent on security, election preparations and oil production. N Korea stalls as diplomats visit blast site North Korea has said it is ready to resume six-party talks over its nuclear programme, but hasn't set a date for the renewed negotiations with South Korea, the US, Japan, Russia and China. During a visit to Pyongyang, minister for the British Foreign Office Bill Rammell urged North Korea not to stall the talks until after the upcoming US presidential election. In response to a request by Rammel, foreign diplomats are now due to visit the site of last week's massive explosion in North Korea. There have been fears that the detonation and subsequent mushroom cloud were caused by a nuclear weapons test. Pyongyang says the explosion was a planned detonation for a hydroelectric project. Israeli ministers approve pullout fund The Israeli security cabinet has approved a budget of up to 600 million euros in compensation for Jewish settlers who agree to move out of occupied Palestinian territories. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon hopes to convince more than 8,000 settlers to withdraw from Gaza and parts of the West Bank by the end of 2005. Earlier, Sharon rejected a call from Finance Minister and party rival, Benjamin Netanyahu, to put the Gaza withdrawal plan to a referendum. The compensation scheme and the widely criticised West Bank barrier are parts of Sharon's plan to separate Israelis and Palestinians. The Palestinian Authority has asked Berlin to clarify statements by German Interior Minister Otto Schily justifying Sharon's security barrier. On Monday, Schily said criticism of the fence was not realistic and that Israel had the right to defend itself. Four wounded in Israel by suicide bomb A Palestinian suicide bomber on a bicycle has wounded four people, including two Israeli soldiers, in an attack near a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank. The militant group Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades has claimed responsibility for the attack. The group had earlier pledged to retaliate within 24 hours for an Israeli helicopter strike that killed three Palestinian extremists, including at least one Al Aqsa militant, on Monday. US for setting nuclear enrichment deadline The United States has called on the International Atomic Energy Agency to set a deadline for Iran to fully suspend its uranium enrichment programme. A US diplomat said an October 31 deadline should carry the threat of bringing Tehran before the UN Security Council for possible sanctions in November if it fails to comply. IAEA director general Mohamed ElBaradei warned against setting a deadline. He said he had not yet determined whether Iran's programme had exclusively peaceful aims or was designed to develop nuclear weapons. ElBaradei said he was ready to give an evaluation to the IAEA board of governors, which would then decide on a deadline. Ankara takes adultery bill off agenda The Turkish government has dropped a law making adultery a jailable offence from the list of ammendments it wants to push through in an extraordinary session of parliament. The government and the opposition agreed not to include the adultery clause in a comprehensive overhaul of the penal code. The announcement comes after massive criticism from within the country and from the European Union. If the clause had been included and passed, those charged with adultery would have faced sentences ranging from six months to two years. Bangladesh capital paralysed by floods In Bangladesh, at least 18 people have died since Saturday after the worst flooding in decades struck the country. The torrential rains have also forced Bangladeshi authorities to close all government offices in the capital Dhaka. Late monsoon rains have been pounding Bangladesh since Saturday. They come as more than 30 million people try to rebuild their homes and replant crops destroyed by devastating floods in July and August. Those floods submerged half of the country and killed more than 700 people. EU sends aid to Grenada after hurricane The European Union is sending 1.5 million euros in emergency aid to the Caribbean island of Grenada, which was directly hit by Hurricane Ivan. The storm, one of the most powerful on record, damaged 90% of the homes on the island and left 38 people dead. The hurricane has now passed over the western tip of Cuba into the Gulf of Mexico. There were no reports of fatalities in Cuba after the government evacuated 1.3 million people. A total of more than 70 people are believed to have died in the hurricane. German schools not making the grade The German educational system has again received bad marks from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The German newspaper "Die Welt" has released excerpts from an OECD report comparing educational systems in member countries. The report highlights Germany's poor pupil-teacher ratios, low graduate numbers and below-average investment in education. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DW-WORLD's "Click Back" monthly review quiz for July is waiting for you and will test your knowledge of stories we've written. If you answer all questions correctly, you can also win one of three great prizes. 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