Deutsche Welle English Service News September 22nd 2003, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Critics Pounce on SPD After Bavaria Losses The landslide win for conservatives in Bavaria's local elections leaves the ruling Social Democrat party reeling - and calling for changes. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1432_A_976536_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Car bomb near UN's Baghdad HQ, attack in Mosul In Iraq, several Iraqi policemen and bystanders have been wounded in an attack on a police station in the northern city of Mosul. Witnesses said unknown attackers fired rocket-propelled grenades. This follows a car bomb blast in a car park near the United Nations headquarters in central Baghdad earlier on Monday. The car's driver - the presumed bomber - and a security guard were killed. Seventeen other people were hurt, two of them UN staff, according to UN spokeswoman Antonia Paradela. In August, the UN's Baghdad bureau was bombed, killing 22 people. On Sunday, three more US soldiers died from attacks west of Baghdad, bringing to 79 U.S. losses under hostile fire since major combat was declared over on May the 1st. France says it won't veto US resolution on Iraq French President Jacques Chirac has said he does not intend to veto a new UN Security Council resolution on Iraq. However he said that France would only back it if it included a clear timetable for a transfer of power to the Iraqis. US President George W. Bush is to address the issue at the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday. Presidents Jacques Chirac of France and Vladmir Putin of Russia are scheduled to meet German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on the sidelines of the UN conference. The three countries were the most hard-line opponents of the Iraqi war. Schroeder and Chirac are to hold separate meetings with Bush during the week. Dutch FM named new NATO chief Dutch Foreign Minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has been designated as the new secretary general of NATO. He will succeed George Robertson who is due to step down in December. Robertson announced his departure at the beginning of the year and has been pushing for a quick decision on his successor in order to avoid a power vacuum. The other contender to succeed him was Canada's finance minister, John Manley. De Hoop Scheffer is regarded as a seasoned diplomat with extensive experience in foreign policy affairs. Arafat says seeks total ceasefire with Israel Israel has reportedly rejected an offer for a total ceasefire made by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. A letter from Arafat to the envoys of the "Quartet" of international peacemakers cites a number of conditions including the deployment of international monitors to encourage both sides to implement the roadmap peace plan. Israeli officials, however, have dismissed Arafat's initiative as a ploy to avoid his threatened expulsion from the West Bank. The United States is the dominant member of the Quartet but is boycotting Arafat, accusing him of inciting violence, a charge that he denies. Poland's Miller visits Germany Ahead of his visit to the United Nations, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is hosting a trip to Germany by Polish Prime Minister Lezek Miller in the Ruhr district city of Gelsenkirchen. Their talks were expected to focus on European Union enlargement. Poland wants a greater say for smaller nations proscribed in the EU's draft constitution. However German government spokesman Bela Anda said Berlin did not want that package unravelled. Poland was also expected to underscore its objections to a plan floated by a group of German war-time expellees who want to site a memorial in Berlin. Bomb scare suspect arrested in Germany Three months after a major bomb scare at Dresden city's main railway station in Germany, officials say they have arrested a suspect traced by DNA analysis. The 62-year-old man, according to prosecutors, had admitted trying to extort up to 120 million euros from the Deutsche Bank. He had threatened to deposit a similar suitcase bomb at the bank's complex in Frankfurt. In June, police defused 1.6 kilograms of TNT left in suitcase on a Dresden railway platform. That incident disclosed security deficiencies. Currently, extra video cameras are being fitted at German stations. EMI in talks to buy Warner Music Talks are underway between two of the world's leading music companies to create the second-largest global music group. EMI is attempting to buy Warner Music, the music division of US media giant Time Warner. A report in Britain's Sunday Times newspaper said EMI had offered 1.3 billion euros in cash and shares for Warner Music. However in a statement, EMI said talks were at a very early stage. The London-based company is home to the Rolling Stones and Robbie Williams among others, while Warner has the likes of Madonna and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. EMI faces stiff competition from Germany's Bertelsmann media group which is in talks with Time Warner on a possible merger of their music businesses. Universal is currently the world's largest music group. German banking watchdog examines DB chief The chairman of Deutsche Bank, Josef Ackermann, is facing scrutiny from Germany's banking supervisory authority in connection with breach-of-trust charges made against him. The watchdog is examining whether Ackermann can stay on as head of Germany's largest bank if he is caught up in a lengthy legal process. A court on Friday gave the green light for what could be Germany's most spectacular corporate trial. The charges against Ackermann are tied to pay-outs made to former Mannesmann executives when the company was taken over by mobile phone giant Vodafone in 2000. At the time Ackermann was a member of Mannesmann's supervisory board which approved the pay-outs. Up to 56 million euros were handed out to former Mannesmann managers including former chairman Klaus Esser. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
