Deutsche Welle English Service News September 24th, 2003, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Bush, Schröder Say Dispute is Over Following their first meeting in 16 months, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and U.S. President George W. Bush said they were ready to work together to make Iraq safer. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1430_A_977969_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Schroeder, Bush patch up differences over Iraq German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is set to address the United Nations in New York this hour. Schroeder will be only the second German chancellor to do so, after Willy Brandt, in 1973. Our correspondent at the United Nations, Schroeder's speech is expected to focus on Iraq. Earlier in the day, Schroeder had his first face-to-face meeting with US President George W. Bush since relations between Germany and the United States were chilled by Berlin's opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq. Both leaders took great pains to put the dispute behind them. President Bush told reporters afterwards that the US and Germany shared the same values, and that Germany remained a valued friend of the United States. Blast hits Iraqi cinema, causes several casualties An explosion has ripped through a cinema in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Witnesses said there were several casualties, but it was not clear what had caused the blast. Local shopkeepers said they saw about 20 people carried out of the building, some of them with very serious wounds. This comes just hours after a bomb exploded near two small commuter buses in Baghdad, killing an Iraqi civilian and wounding around 20 others. Police said a US military convoy was travelling along the road at about the time the bomb went off, but an Iraqi civilian bus bore the brunt of the blast. New Lindh suspect arrested, first one released Swedish police have arrested a second suspect in connection with the murder of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh. This comes after they cleared and released a man they'd held for more than a week. Prosecutor Agneta Blidberg said there was a higher level of suspicion against the second suspect than the first man. She said evidence would be presented before a Stockholm court on Saturday. No further details were released. Lindh was stabbed in a Stockholm department store two weeks ago. She died of her wounds the following day. Syria dismisses spying link Syria has dismissed reports linking it to the arrest of a US serviceman in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba in connection with espionage. US media have said that the the airman in question, Ahmad al Halabi now in jail in California, is accused of trying to pass sensitive information to Syria. Information Minister Ahmad al-Hassan described the reports as "baseless." The Pentagon said on Tuesday that the arrested man was charged with aiding the enemy while working as an Arabic translator at a base in Guantanamo Bay where hundreds of suspected al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners are being held. Al Halabi is the second US serviceman based at Guantanamo Bay to be held on suspicion of spying. US Army Chaplain James Yee has been held without charges since September 10th. Court says Muslim teacher may wear headscarf Germany's federal constitutional court has ruled that a woman Muslim teacher may wear a headscarf in the classroom. The teacher in question, an Afghan-born German citizen, had appealed to the constitutional court after lower courts had ruled in favour of the southern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. Authorities there had banned her from working in the classroom because she insisted on wearing the scarf at work. She argued that this breached her constitutional right to freedom of religion. In Wednesday's ruling, the court said that if states wanted to stop teachers from wearing headscarves in the classroom, they would have to pass laws specifically banning the practice. The Pope cancels audience Pope John Paul II has cancelled his weekly general audience because of an intestinal problem. A Vatican spokesman gave no further details about the ailment. Part of the pope's intestine was removed during emergency surgery that saved his life after he was struck by bullets in an assassination attempt in 1981. The 83-year-old pope has cancelled his general audiences at short notice only a handful of times during his papacy of nearly 25 years. Hamas leader rules out truce with Israel Sheikh Yassin, the spiritual leader of the militant Palestinian Hamas group, has ruled out any chances of a truce with Israel. In his first press conference since a failed Israeli assassination attempt on him earlier this month, Yassin said a ceasefire was not possible while Israel continued its policy of aggression towards Hamas. He said the issue of a truce had not been discussed at recent talks between Hamas leaders and Prime Minister-designate Ahmed Qorei. German firms searched on Iraq weapons suspicion Four German firms have been searched by police on suspicion of supplying weapons components to Iraq. The searches were carried out following a report in a news magazine. "Stern" magazine reports in its Internet edition that its reporters found references to the German firms in files of the Bashir Trading Company in Baghdad. Stern says its reporters found contracts, supply dockets and payment orders in the company showing how Iraq acquired western high-tech military goods in defiance of a United Nations embargo. The magazine says the Bashir company was the secret central agency for procuring various types of weapons for former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Microsoft to close down Internet portal The US-based Microsoft Corporation has announced that it is shutting down its Internet chat rooms in 28 countries. Geoff Sutton, the general manager of Microsoft's Internet portal, MSN, said the company felt forced to act, as MSN had become a haven for peddlers of junk e-mail, or "spam", and sex predators. The software giant is to shut down its chat services in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and much of Latin America next month, affecting millions of users. Sutton said that in these regions, the use of chat rooms was free and unsupervised. This had given rise to the abuse of such sites, with users being bombarded with spam, much of which is offensive. Iraq's Governing Council backs away from reform package Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council has backed away from promises made by its finance minister to allow 100 percent foreign ownership in key economic sectors. In a statement, the Council said Kamel al Kilani's comments were not "official." The statement went on to say that only the Council's president had the authority to announce policies. Al Kilani unveiled his economic reform package on Sunday at an International Monetary Fund meeting in Dubai. The measures are aimed at making Iraq attractive to investors and liberalising the banking sector. Militant plot to hit El Al planes in Thailand - PM Members of the Southeast Asian militant network Jemaah Islamiah were planning to attack an Israeli plane in Bangkok, before an operative with the terrorist group was arrested last month. Thailand's prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra has confirmed that the terrorist group had planned to attack an El Al airliner at Bangkok's airport. This came after an Israeli television station reported that Thai police had foiled an al Qaeda plot against El Al aircraft. A senior Thai security official said a Malaysian called Li-Li was caught in August a few hours before the capture of Hambali. Hambali is believed to be al Qaeda's link man to Southeast Asian militant groups. German clubs embark on UEFA Cup campaign In sports: Three Bundesliga clubs are in action in the first round of the UEFA Cup this Wednesday. Kaiserslautern play host to Teplice of the Czech Republic. Hertha Berlin are at home to Polish side Groclin Grodzisk and Borussia Dortmund are in the Austrian capital, where they'll face Autria Vienna. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
