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Deutsche Welle English Service News October, 05th, 2002, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: Bosnia Faces Crucial Test on Election Day Much is at stake as war-scarred Bosnia goes to the polls on October 5. With Western aid and attention trickling away, Bosnians have to find leaders who will rescue them from poverty and the threat of ethnic conflict. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1433_A_647842_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Violence in Nablus Ahead of Solana Visit Israeli soldiers shot dead a 17-year-old Palestinian during clashes in the West Bank city of Nablus Saturday. The Israeli army said its looking into the incident. The clashes come as the EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana gets ready to hold talks with Palestinian and Israeli officials aimed at breaking the current peace deadlock. Blix agrees to await new U.N. resolution Visiting Washington, chief U.N. arms inspector Hans Blix has agreed with U.S. leaders that his team would delay its planned return to Iraq until the U.N. Security Council passes a new resolution. Blix, who in Vienna last Tuesday got Iraqi agreement for a return under existing rules, said in Washington he would welcome a new resolution. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the inspectors had acknowledged that tougher rules were necessary. Powell said he was confident that a concensus would emerge in the Security Council. Two other permanent members France and Russia remain reticent, saying inspections should resume under previous U.N. resolutions. Inspectors, sent to disarm Iraq after the Gulf war, left in 1998. A new CIA report says Iraqi biological weapons pose the biggest risk. Rwanda Withdraws from DRC Rwanda has withdrawn its last troops from the Democratic Republic of Congo. An army chief said 1,100 soldiers had earlier marched out of Goma in the east of the country. The war in the African country has claimed an estimated 2.5 million lives since it erupted back in 1998. Renewed Peace Talks in Sudan The Sudanese government has confirmed it's willingness for renewed peace talks with rebel leaders in the south of the African country. The government pulled out of peace talks last month after SPLA rebels captured the strategically important southern town of Torit. Both sides now say they're willing to resume talks on October 14. Lindh jailed amid flurry of U.S. prosecutions The American convert to Islam John Walker Lindh who was caught by U.S. forces in Afghanistan last year has been jailed for 20 years by a U.S. federal court in Virginia in a plea bargain with prosecutors. In exchange for pleading guilty to being a Taliban member and carrying arms, and promising to help U.S. investigations, he escaped life imprisonment on terrorism counts. A tearful Lindh said terrorist attacks by al Qaeda were "completely contrary" to Islam. Before another court, in Boston, the so-called shoe-bomber, Richard Reid, pleaded guilty to eight charges. The 29-year-old Briton was restrained last December on board an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami. He's to be sentenced next January. The FBI meanwhile says it has arrested four people - three in Portland, Oregon and one Detroit - accused of being members of a terror cell. Attorney General John Ashcroft said two others were at large overseas. The six face charges such as conspiracy to levy war and aiding al Qaeda. EU Wants Rapid Reaction Force Next Year European Union defence ministers meeting on the Greek island of Crete say they're firming up plans for the establishment of an EU rapid reaction force. An EU force of up to 60,000 soldiers could be in place by next year. There are still some unanswered questions though pertaining to the financing of such an force. German Military to Continue Austerity Measures Germany's Defence Minister Peter Struck has said in a newspaper interview that the military will continue with its plan to cut costs. He said all future procurement plans will be up for review. He also said Germany is already at its upper limit as far as the number of troops it can sustain in international campaigns. Germany presently has an estimated 10,000 troops involved in such missions. U.S. President Declares "German-American Day" U.S. President George W. Bush has declared Monday, the 6th of October "German-American Day." The move comes as something of a surprise to onlookers here in Germany following recent tensions between the two countries. The White House said the declaration was intended to underscore the friendship the two countries have shared following World War II and to highlight the respect both sides have for one another. Relations between Berlin and Washington have been somewhat tense as of late following German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's vocal opposition to Mr. Bush's tough position on Iraq. Bosnians elections under way Elections are under way in Bosnia-Herzegovina after top Western envoy Paddy Ashdown called on voters to opt for genuine reforms and to avoid die-hard ethnic nationalists. Some 2.3 million voters are entitled to elect a parliament for the whole region, plus assemblies for the Moslem-Croat and Bosnian-Serb entities. Also up for ballot are whole region's three-member presidency, plus the regional Serb presidency. This, Bosnia's fourth elections since the Dayton accord ended war in 1995, is the first conducted by Bosnians themselves. International administrators ran previous polls. Bosnia's economy is still crippled. Ashdown warned Bosnians to vote for reforms or risk donor nation fatigue. In Sarajevo, electoral officials said turn-out had been quiet. Results are not due until Sunday night because of the polls' complexity. Saturday's Bundesliga Results and finally to sports and to Germany first division football Bundesliga. Berlin - Nuernberg 2:1 Bayern Muenchen - Bochum 4:1 Hannover - Dortmund 0:3 Moenchengladbach - Bielefeld 3:0 Schalke - Hamburg 3:0 Kaiserslautern - Cottbus 4:0 Wolfsburg - Leverkusen 2:0 Bayern Munich remains at the top of the table, ahead of Borussia Dortmund. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
