Deutsche Welle English Service News August 31st 2003, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Turkish Leader Hopes Berlin Will Support EU Bid Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan visits Germany on Monday, hoping Berlin will support Ankara's EU bid. But Germany remains split even as media reports say it could ease arms export restrictions to Turkey. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1433_A_959614_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Tens of thousands join funeral procession in Baghdad In Iraq, tens of thousands of Moslems filled the streets of Baghad for a funeral procession for the murdered Shi'ite leader Ayatollah Mohammed Baqr al-Hakim. He was among at least 85 people killed in Friday's bombing of the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf. The U.S. administration in Iraq said it would donate $2 million for the reconstruction of the mosque. Meanwhile, the top Shi'ite authority in Iraq, known as the Hawza, has issued a warning to radical Sunni Moslems following the arrest of two Wahabis said by Iraqi police to have confessed to their involvement in the Najaf bombing. Four others in custody are said to have revealed plots to attack other religious and secular leaders. Most of those arrested are reported to be non-Iraqi Arabs with links to the al Qaeda terrorist network. Greens leader says Berlin could consider sending peacekeepers to Iraq A leading member of the Social Democrats' junior coalition partner, the Greens, has said that under certain conditions, the government could consider sending Bundeswehr soldiers to Iraq. Angelika Beer, the Greens' chairperson, told this Sunday's edition of the "Bild am Sonntag" newpaper, that a clear United Nations mandate would be necessary before Germany could consider contributing troops. This comes just days after both Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer appeared to rule out contributing troops to a peacekeeping force for Iraq. U.S. and government troops kill Taliban fighters in Afghanistan U.S. special forces and Afghan government troops, supported by American airpower, killed at least 25 Taliban fighters on Sunday. Media reports say the three-hour battle occured in the mountains around Dai Chupan in southeastern Afghanistan. The region has seen heavy fighting for the past week. Struck says Bundeswehr likely to remain in Afghanistan for years Germany's defence minister, Peter Struck, says the Bundeswehr is likely to remain in Afghanistan as part of the ISAF security force for a number of years. Speaking to the "Bild am Sonntag" newspaper, Struck described the Bundeswehr's mission in Afghanistan as its main peacekeeping task. Earlier this week, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder announced that the government had agreed in principle to extend the Bundeswehr's mission in Afghanistan to include the north-eastern town of Kunduz. Struck said to do this, the Bundeswehr would have to reduce the number of troops stationed in the Balkans. He said the Bundeswehr was to pull out of the Macedonia mission in the spring. Indian police issue warning after claiming to thwart attack on capital Following the arrest of five people in connection with last Monday's twin car bombings in Bombay, Indian police warned Sunday of the possibility of more deadly attacks after killing two militants in New Delhi who were allegedly plotting to strike a "spectacular target" in the capital. The warning came as more than 40,000 police were deployed in Bombay and thousands of others formed self- protection militias as the city began a Hindu festival devoted to the elephant-headed god Ganesha. New Delhi police on Saturday gunned down two Islamic militants after authorities said they had found a sack full of explosives at the railway station and a truck loaded with arms and bombs. Police have blamed the extremist groups Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad for the August 25th car bombings in Bombay. The blasts went off within minutes of each other in a crowded market, killing 52 people and injuring 150 others. Top US lawmaker calls North Korean negotiators 'suspect' A top US lawmaker said Sunday he feared that North Korea would continue with its nuclear weapons program, even if negotiations eventually yielded an agreement. Referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, Senator Richard Lugar told the "Fox News Sunday" television program that he thought the reliability of the people making the agreement was certainly very suspect. Lugar heads the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Meanwhile, South Korea has warned the North not to exacerbate the current crisis by going through with its threat to test a nuclear weapon. North Korea said after talks in Beijing with the USA, China, Japan, Russia and South Korea that it wanted a non-aggression pact with Washington and was no longer interested in further talks. Nine dead after Russian sub sinks This Sunday has been declared a day of official mourning in Russia after nine sailors were killed when a Russian nuclear submarine sank in the Barents Sea. The decommissioned K-159 submarine sank early Saturday while being towed to a wrecking yard. The ship's reactor had already been shut down and there were no weapons on board, Russian naval sources said. Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov blamed shoody handling of the ship for the accident and President Vladimir Putin has called for an investigation into the incident. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
