Deutsche Welle English Service News 03. 01. 2005, 17:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
German Survivors Recall Tsunami Horror More than a week after a deadly tsunami struck Thailand's southwestern beaches, German holidaymakers, who survived the disaster, speak of their harrowing experiences. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1447447,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Are you coming to Germany soon? DW-WORLD has just the thing for you: Ever Monday, we compile a list of the top five events that are going on this week -- from exhibitions to concerts to festivals and markets. Check out "Germany's Top Five" at www.dw-world.de/English ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Tsunami death toll rises to 144,000 The confirmed death toll from last week's Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami has risen to 144,000. UN Undersecretary for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland said that in Aceh province, in Indonesia, the number of dead could still rise "exponentially." Indonesia says more than 94,000 people have been confirmed dead within its borders alone. The UN believes the true number killed may never be known as many bodies have been washed out to sea. More than 1.8 million people in the disaster region need food aid, and an estimated five million people have been made homeless. Leaders speak in disaster aftermath Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has said he intends, together with other Indian Ocean countries, to have a tsunami-warning system built. US President George W. Bush has appealed on national television for private donor aid to tsunami relief. He appeared with two former Presidents -- his father George Bush, and Bill Clinton -- and said they will make further appeals in the next few days. Opponents of President Bush had criticised his initial reaction to the disaster as sluggish. Berlin denies 3,200 missing Germans The German government has denied newspaper reports that over 3,200 Germans are missing in the tsunami disaster. The head of the country's crisis squad called it "irresponsible" to report such high figures. A Berlin newspaper, "Die Welt", wrote on Monday that an anonymous interior ministry source had revealed the figure of 3,200. Berlin officially claims that somewhat over 1,000 Germans are missing, and that 60 dead bodies of Germans have been identified. Leaders in Germany's two biggest political parties have called for a national memorial day to mark the disaster. A medical service unit from Germany's armed forces has now declared that it is ready to fly to Aceh province in Indonesia later this week, to build a military hospital for disaster victims. Criminals prey on tsunami victims There are warnings of looting, fraud and rape in the tsunami disaster aftermath. A Sri Lankan women's group reported that homeless survivors were raped. The UN has warned of the danger of pirates hindering its relief efforts off Sumatra island. Sweden has sent police officers there to investigate the reported kidnap of a Swedish boy whose parents were carried off into the sea. Norwegian police are on alert for criminals who try to get their names on the list of victims to obtain a new identity or commit insurance fraud. In Hong Kong, the charity Oxfam has warned of a bogus fundraising email that uses its name. In Britain, a man has been sending hoax emails to friends and relatives of people missing, saying their loved ones had been confirmed dead. Multiple bomb attacks rock Baghdad, Tikrit 17 Iraqi National Guards were killed in a spate of bomb attacks in Iraq on Monday, including a failed assassination attempt on the interim Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, in Baghdad. Three Iraqi National Guards were killed and 20 were injured when an explosives-laden car rammed a checkpoint near Allawi's party offices. Hours later another car bomb went off in Baghdad's Green Zone. In Tikrit, two roadside bombs killed six members of the Iraqi National Guard and wounded four. Attacks on Iraqi security forces have increased in the run-up to elections scheduled for January 30. Iraq's intelligence chief has told the AFP news agency there are over 200,000 insurgents in Iraq including 40,000 hardcore fighters. The US military recently said there were around 20,000 insurgents in the country. German welfare cuts kick in Germany's sweeping welfare reforms have gone into effect without a hitch as labour offices cut payments for a million unemployed and qualifying tests got tougher. Threatened mass protests to oppose the most far-reaching welfare reforms in a generation failed to materialise on the first day of the new, lower payments. Some 300 protesters tried to enter the main jobs centre in central Berlin but police blocked their path. The reforms are intended to help halve unemployment by 2010 but in the short-term they are expected to boost the jobless to close to five million. In November, 4.64 million Germans were out of work, roughly 10.8 percent of the work force. Smooth launch to German truck toll A new state-of-the-art toll system for lorries and trucks, finally launched in Germany on January 1 after 16 months of delays, appears to have passed its first major test overnight as heavy goods vehicles started back onto the roads after the holiday weekend. Isolated traffic jams were observed at some border crossing points, but waiting times were reportedly no longer than usual. Since lorries are not allowed to drive on Germany's motorways at weekends, the system will only face its first major test this week as business resumes to normal following the New Year holiday weekend. The system applies to trucks upwards of twelve tonnes. Croatia poll goes to run-off Croatia's presidential election will enter a second round on January 16. The country's incumbent president Stipe Mesic picked up just over 49 percent, falling just one percent short of the 50 percent needed to avoid a run-off. Jadranka Kosor of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union picked up 20 percent. The president's role is largely ceremonial in Croatia, with the prime minister and parliament exercising most decision-making powers. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. Yahoo! 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