Deutsche Welle English Service News January 2nd 2004, 17:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Aid Flows as Tsunami Death Toll Rises The confirmed number killed in the earthquake and tsunamis that hit Asian shorelines last week passed 130,000 Sunday, as more bodies were recovered in Sri Lanka and Thailand. Sixty Germans were also confirmed dead. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1446894,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DW-WORLD's "Click Back" monthly review quiz for January is waiting for you and will test your knowledge of stories we've written. If you answer all questions correctly, you can also win a great prize. To play, please go to: http://www.dw-world.de/english ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Tsunami survivors face rain, aftershocks Heavy rainfall and aftershocks have added to the suffering of millions of survivors of Asia's tsunami disaster and further delayed aid deliveries to remote communities. Supplies brought by planes and ships are piling up at airports and warehouses. In eastern Sri Lanka fresh flooding caused by rain in the Ampara and Batticaloa districts forced the evacuation of at least 10 tsunami refugee camps. Diarrhoea cases have emerged in Sri Lanka, prompting the WHO to call for better emergency sanitation. In Indonesia, supplies are pouring into Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province at the tip of Sumatra. But in remoter areas, south along the coast, survivors remain isolated. US helicopters have begun air drops. Germany will set up a field hospital in Banda Aceh. Two billion dollars in pledges for Asia Germans have donated at least 30 million euros for the victims of the Asian tsunami disaster. Ten million euros has been pledged to the German Red Cross. Church collections on Sunday were also expected to swell the fund organised by the Catholic group Caritas and one of the main German TV stations, ZDF, is organising a fundraising telethon next Tuesday. The German government has earmarked 20 million euros in aid for Indian Ocean countries devastated by the waves. The international community has pledged aid for tsunami victims totalling over two billion dollars. According to the United Nations Japan is to contribute some 500 million dollars. The United States has raised its initial pledge to 350 million dollars. The European Union plans to provide aid totalling some 400 million dollars. The Indian Ocean death toll now stands at about 127,000. Thousands of tourists still missing Thousands of foreign tourists remain missing one week after the tsunami waves hit Asian beach resorts, especially in Thailand. Thai authorities have urged desperate relatives and friends not to come in search of loved ones. Decaying bodies are no longer identifiable, except by forensic experts at work in the region. German Foreign Office officials said lone searches by relatives would be ineffective. Sweden has the highest number of missing at nearly 3600. Germany has 1,000 missing, with the number of confirmed dead now rising to 60. More than 460 Norwegian tourists are still missing, with 21 confirmed dead. Around the Indian Ocean, total estimates of foreign tourists unaccounted for exceed 7,000. Suicide car bomber kills 19 in Iraq A suicide car bomber has killed at least 19 people -- 18 of them Iraqi National Guards -- outside a US military base north of Baghdad. A US army spokesman said a vehicle packed with explosives blew up next to a bus carrying national guards in the latest in a series of deadly attacks in the run up to elections on January 30. A woman bystander was also killed in the attack and several other guards were wounded. On Saturday, 13 people, including a US soldier and two provincial government officials, were killed in Iraq. New incursion into northern Gaza The Israeli army has launched a major incursion into the northern Gaza Strip shortly after it wrapped up an operation in the south of the occupied territory. Tanks and armoured vehicles poured into the Beit Hanun area, close to the border crossing between Israel and the Palestinian territory, after a new spate of rocket attacks which injured one civilian in the southern Israeli town of Sderot. The Beit Hanun incursion comes after the army withdrew from the Khan Yunis area of southern Gaza where it had been operating to stop militants firing rockets and mortars at nearby Israeli settlements. Palestinians for Haj? Israel has announced plans to enable thousands of Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip to travel on the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca despite the closure of the border into Egypt. The Rafah border crossing between southern Gaza and Egypt has been closed since an attack by militants on an Israeli army post there on December 12. The move has prevented Palestininians from leaving the territory for all but emergency cases in the last three weeks. But the army said in a statement on Sunday that it planned to operate a special bus service which would take some 4,500 pilgrims from the Erez crossing between Israel and northern Gaza to the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing. From Egypt Palestinian pilgrims would be able to fly to Saudi Arabia. Polls open in Croatia's presidential vote Voting is underway in Croatian presidential elections, the fourth in the Balkans country since its independence in 1991. Incumbent President, 70-year-old Stipe Mesic, is tipped to win a second five-year term. His main rival is Deputy Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor of the conservative Croatian Democratic Union. Eleven others are also in the fray. The president's role is largely ceremonial in Croatia, with prime minister and parliament exercising most decision-making powers. Five dead in Peru siege shootout At least four Peruvian police officers have been killed in a shootout with an armed group which took 10 hostages in the siege of a police station about 900 km southeast of Lima. The early morning shootout took place in the poor town of Andahuaylas, where President Alejandro Toledo declared a state of emergency on Saturday. Police reinforcements were sent to the town after a former army major Antauro Humala and around 150 followers burst into the police station early on Saturday to demand the resignation of Toledo. Humala gained notoriety in 2000 when he joined his brother in a failed uprising against then President Alberto Fujimori. Burma to release thousands of prisoners Burma's military junta has said it will release a further 5,588 prisoners, bringing the total number of inmates released in recent weeks to almost 20,000. State television said the latest batch of prisoners were being let free as a "gesture of healing" ahead of Burma's Independence Day on Jan 4. The mass release programme was launched in November, a month after General Khin Nyunt was ousted as prime minister by junta strongman Than Shwe. However, the country's most famous dissident, Aung San Suu Kyi, remains under house arrest and Than Shwe is believed to be keen to ignore the Nobel Peace Laureate. Raft of law changes in Germany In Germany numerous legislative amendments have come into effect with the new year, including changes to migration and social welfare. Residency permits for foreigners have been simplified down and it's been made easier for German companies to recruit qualified foreign experts. Funded language and integration courses will be provided to newcomers. German authorities will also have greater powers to deport foreigners implicated in terrorism. More than two million long-term unemployed Germans and one million social welfare beneficiaries regarded as fit to work have been grouped together. They will be required to accept lower paid jobs and will get only basic income subsidies. First test for German truck fee system An innovative fee collection system for trucks on Germany's autobahns faces its first major test on Sunday night, especially at border entry points from France, Poland and Austria. The operator, Toll Collect, said few problems emerged on a quiet Saturday after a 16-month delay as its designers sorted out defects in linking truck on-board units with satellites and roadside infrared detectors. Trucks weighing over 12 tonnes will pay an average of 12.4 cents per kilometre, meaning 100 euros for a typical trip between Munich and Hamburg. The government plans to pour three billion euros in revenues back into Germany's roads, rail and inland shipping. New Turkish currency Turkey has begun the New Year with a new currency. Stripped from the old Turkish multi-million lira banknotes are six zeros. The New Turkish Lira is worth 74 US cents or 55 euro cents. That's about the price of a cup of Turkish coffee. The old banknotes will remain legal tender until the end of 2005. The currency reform stems from a International Monetary Fund rescue initiative that plucked Turkey from recession in 2001. 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