Deutsche Welle English Service News 03.09.2003, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Are Budget Airlines Killing the Planet? They're cheap, easy and disastrous for the environment, according to German environmentalists. No-frills airlines are under attack in a new awareness-raising campaign. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1431_A_961207_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- US forces hand over control of part of Iraq to Polish troops A Polish-led force has taken over control of south-central Iraq from US Marines. Polish General Andrzej Tyskiewicz now commands the force of more than 9,000 soldiers from 21 countries. In an official hand-over ceremony, the commander of US troops in Iraq, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, said he would welcome more soldiers from other countries. The region includes the Muslim holy city of Najaf, but following the murder of the Ayatollah Mohammed Bakr al-Hakim and more than 80 others in a bomb attack in Najaf last Friday, US marines will remain in control of the city until later this month. Meanwhile the CIA has said that the voice on a tape broadcast on Arabic TV after the bombing probably was that of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. The voice on the tape had denied any involvement in the attack. US to Seek Larger UN Role in Iraq Washington is now apparently seeking to negotiate with the United Nations Security Council on a new UN mandate for Iraq. The aim would be to create a new multinational force for Iraq, under US command. Diplomats have said Washington hopes a new resolution would be adopted before the end of September, when President George W. Bush is to address the UN's General Assembly. Key to the US proposal is a suggestion by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan that the troops in Iraq be converted to a UN-endorsed multinational force, similar to that in Kosovo, which is also under US command. Palestinians still respect roadmap; Abbas may resign The Palestinian Authority has said it is still committed to the "roadmap for peace" in the Middle East despite earlier comments by President Yasser Arafat who had declared it "dead." One of his senior advisors said the internationally drafted peace plan still existed and would be respected by Palestinians. Arafat initially made his comments to CNN, accusing Israel of killing the process with its decision to wage war on Palestinian hardliners. Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, locked in a power struggle with Arafat, is reportedly prepared to tell parliament on Thursday he may quit unless he wins the authority to take key peace steps. Political infighting with Arafat has stymied Abbas in his effort to carry out reform policies, key to a U.S.-backed plan for peace with Israel. British embassy in Tehran hit by gunshots The British embassy in the Iranian capital Tehran has been closed after being struck by gunfire from a nearby street. There have been no reports of casualties and it is not known who fired the shots. The attack comes just after Iran recalled its ambassador to Britain where UK authorities had earlier arrested an Iranian diplomat, wanted in connection with the bombing of a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires in 1994. ISAF Commander Warns of Possible Terror The German commander of the NATO-led ISAF troops in Afghanistan, General Goetz Gliemeroth, has warned that new terror attacks could be imminent. He told the Financial Times Deutschland that foreign extremists are now aiding Afghan terrorist groups. In a related move, the government of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder Tuesday reconfirmed its commitment to expand Germany's role in Afghanistan by sending up to 450 troops to the northern Afghan city of Kunduz as part of a UN-mandated contingent. In southern Afghanistan, five US soldiers have been killed over the past four days while taking part in a sweep of suspected Taliban strongholds. Typhoon Dujuan leaves trail of destruction in China A powerful typhoon moving over southern China has killed at least 32 people and injured a further 65. Authorities in the Guangdong district said a number of others were still missing. Typhoon Dujuan narrowly missed directly hitting Hong Kong on Tuesday but still left 22 people there injured. The Chinese Xinhua news agency said Guangdong was facing economic losses in the range of 240 million dollars as a result of the typhoon's impact. Merkel says no to EU membership for Turkey The leader of the opposition Christian Democratic Union, Angela Merkel, says she opposes the idea of Turkey becoming a member of the European Union in the near future. Following a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Berlin, Merkel told reporters that neither Turkey nor the EU was ready for such a move. Earlier, Edmund Stoiber, the leader of the CDU's sister party, the Christian Social Union said there was no question of Turkey joining the EU. The Turkish prime minister though, has been emphasising Ankara's aspirations of joining the EU. In a speech earlier in the day, Erdogan said Turkey was in an irreversible process of convergence with Europe. German GDP deficit to rise above four percent A number of leading German economic institutes are predicting more woes for Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's government with their assessment that Germany is likely to breach EU public deficit limits again next year. Last week the government told the EU Commission that it would post a 3.8 percent deficit of gross domestic product for 2003. Now institutes like the left-leaning DIW say that the deficit could balloon to over 4 percent both this year and next, far exceeding the 3-percent limit set up by the EU. Germany breached that limit last year with a deficit of 3.5 percent. On Tuesday France also announced that its public deficit for 2003 would hit 4 percent. US sprinter could be stripped of gold medals The US sprint star Kelli White has escaped a two-year ban for doping. However the International Association of Athletics Federation has said that White could be stripped of the gold medals she won in the 100 and 200 metres at last week's world championships in Paris. She tested positive for the stimulant Modafinil but maintains that she didn't know that a medication she had taken contained a banned substance. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
