Deutsche Welle English Service News October 12th 2002, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
German Tapped To Coach Iraqi Soccer Team If a war breaks out in Iraq, there may be at least one German stuck behind enemy lines. East Germany's former national football coach, Bernd Stange, is about to take over the running of the Iraqi National team. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1441_A_654155_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Iraq agrees to allow inspections of palaces Iraqi officials have said they were ready to allow UN weapons inspectors unlimited access to 8 presidential palaces and compounds, something they have refused to do in the past and a major point of contention with the United States. The latest comments were made by Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin in an interview with the German news magazine, Der Spiegel. Iraq also said it was ready to receive weapons inspectors beginning October 19th. There has been no comment yet from the United States on the offer. Meanwhile, international reporters have been touring one of the sites in Iraq, described by the USA as a major weapon's production factory. The journalists, who had complete access said they could find no evidence to back the U.S. claims. Ballistics evidence confirms 8 U.S. sniper deaths In the USA, the fatal shooting at a gasoline station was conclusively linked to nine other sniper attacks in the Washington area, officials said on Saturday citing ballistics evidence, bringing the killer's toll to eight dead and two injured. The first five sniper shootings occurred in a bloody 15-hour spree that began Oct. 2 in Montgomery County, Maryland,a northern suburb of Washington, D.C. In each of the cases, police have said the sniper fired a single shot from a high-velocity rifle from a long range and chose his victims at random.No witnesses have reported seeing a gunman, although all the attacks occurred in public places and all but two in broad daylight. Results show Pakistan's Pakistan Muslim League has the most seats The unprecedented gains for hardline Islamic groups threatened to change the political landscape in Pakistan and undermine Islamabad's support for the U.S.-led war on terrorists. The Pakistan Muslim League, the party seen as most closely linked to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has gained the most seats in the National Assembly, winning 77 of the 272 constituency seats. The Pakistan People's Party led by exiled former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto came in second with about 62 seats. But the main surprise in Thursday's poll were gains by the MMA, a grouping of Islamic parties, which won 49 seats. They led an anti-American campaign focusing on the war in Afghanistan and made major gains in two provinces bordering Afghanistan. They advocate removing U.S.bases in Pakistan and ending the hunt for Taliban and al Qaeda militants, who have fled to Pakistan from Afghanistan. EU says Pakistan election was seriously flawed The European Union on Saturday dismissed last week's general election in Pakistan as seriously flawed. A report said authorities had misused state resources and favoured parties which backed President Musharraf, in particular the Pakistan Muslim League , which emerged as the strongest party. The Pakistan Peoples Party of exiled former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has already dismissed the election as rigged. The EU report also criticised constitutional changes enacted before the poll, which gave President Musharraf the right to dismiss the parliament, and which institutionalised the role of the military through a National Security Council. Since seizing power in a bloodless coup in 1999, General Musharraf has become a key Western ally in the U.S.-led war on terrorism. The EU's report contrasted strongly with supportive comments from Washington, which described the election as an important milestone in Pakistan's ongoing transition to democracy. UN warns of human crisis in Ivory Coast The United Nations has said Ivory Coast was on the verge of a humanitarian crisis due to the rebellion which began on September 19th. Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands displaced since the rebels took up positions in several locations in the country. The World Food Programme said it was suspending its normal food distribution to more than 300,000 people in Ivory Coast in order to switch to an emergency plan. The uprising which began with a failed coup attempt has split the country in two. Casualty a suspect in Finnish mall bombing -police One of the seven people killed in an explosion in a busy shopping centre on the outskirts of Finland's capital Helsinki was suspected to have carried out the attack, police said today. The man was from Helsinki and was under the age of 20, they said. The powerful explosion, Finland's deadliest for decades was caught on security video and ripped through the crowded mall on Friday evening, killing seven people and injuring more than 80. As yet there appears to be no motive for the bombing. U.S. forces find Afghan warehouses full of weapons U.S. forces in Afghanistan have found two warehouses with arms and ammunition , one with enough weapons to fill 35 trucks. They said that it could take days to count the weapons, which were found near the eastern city of Khost. The U.S. military said the weapons could have belonged to renegade local warlord Padshah Zadran, whose forces were driven from Khost by pro-government troops last month. He was once a key ally of the U.S. military in the area in its hunt for Taliban and al Qaeda militants, but fell out with Afghan President Karzai after being dismissed as a provincial governor. He then started shelling pro-government forces,and killed more than 30 civilians, when he shelled and took over the town of Gardez in May, only to be forced out a month ago. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. Serbian News Network - SNN [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.antic.org/
