Deutsche Welle English Service News 13.11.2003, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
France Reaches Out to U.S. After Attack in Iraq In the wake of the deadliest attack on foreign troops in Iraq since the end of the war, some supporters of the US campaign are starting to waver. France, which opposed the war, is now offering to help the United States. 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_1029021_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Three US soldiers wounded in separate attacks in Iraq Three US soldiers have been wounded in separate attacks in Kirkuk and Fallujah. The US-led coalition and witnesses said two of them were hurt when a roadside device exploded as a six-vehicle convoy drove through central Kirkuk. The blast destroyed a pick-up in the convoy and two soldiers were taken to hospital. On a main road in the flashpoint town of Fallujah, an American soldier was wounded when a convoy was hit by an explosive device. The U.S. military provided no further information on either incident. Hundreds of Iraqi police raid Baghdad gangster hideouts Hundreds of Iraqi police, backed by the US-led coalition military police, have launched the largest post-war raid on suspected gangster hideouts in central Baghdad. Senior officials provided no further details. Elsewhere in Baghdad, an American soldier has died of his wounds following a roadside bomb attack on Wednesday that also injured another serviceman. The latest death brings to at least 157 the number of U.S. servicemen killed in action since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1. Iraq suicide bomb kills 18 Italians, eight Iraqis at military base Rescue workers continue to search for survivors of a massive suicide bomb attack on the Italian military headquarters in the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya. Eighteen Italians and nine Iraqis were killed in the blast which wounded seventy-nine more. In a visit to the bomb site, Italian Defence Minister Antonio Martino said the "same hand" that attacked the United States on September 11, 2001 had struck Italy's base in Nassariya. Though the bombing prompted calls in Rome for the 2,400 Italians in Iraq to be brought home, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Italy refuses to be intimidated. Spain, Portugal and Poland have also vowed to keep their 6,000 troops in Iraq as part of the US-led coalition. Japan: Time not right to send troops to Iraq Japan has said conditions were not right for an immediate dispatch of Japanese troops to Iraq following the suicide bomb attack on an Italian base. The Japanese law on helping rebuild Iraq, enacted in July, prohibits the government from sending troops to combat zones. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi however told reporters that Japan remained committed to helping rebuild the shattered nation. Syria says US sanctions will not hurt Damascus Syria's state media on Thursday brushed off the threat of American sanctions, saying they would not harm Damascus and were only an attempt to force Syria to toe the line on Israel. The remarks were Syria's first response to a U.S. Senate vote this week to impose economic and diplomatic sanctions on Damascus, which Washington accuses of backing "terrorism". In an editorial, the al Baath daily said the legislation would mean little to Syria, but would damage U.S. interests by aligning them with those of Israel, Syria's arch foe. The U.S. Senate voted 89-4 to impose sanctions on Syria. German FM to make five-day US trip next week German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer will make a five-day visit to the United States next week to include talks with his US counterpart Colin Powell. Fischer leaves Sunday and will hold talks the same day with National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice before meeting Powell on Monday. During his visit, Fischer will also give a speech at Princeton University and hold talks with UN officials. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder travels to New York November 20th and 21st with a business delegation. German business and US investment here have been hurt by the transatlantic row over the Iraq war. S.Lanka rebel leader says committed to peace bid The leader of Sri Lanka's Tamil rebels told Norwegian peace mediators on Thursday he had no plan to return to war but said a power struggle between the president and prime minister had to end for talks to resume. A truce has been in place since February 2002, but a crisis sparked by the fight over power has overshadowed efforts to get peace talks frozen since April back on track. At least 64,000 people have been killed since the Tigers started fighting 20 years ago for a separate state for minority Tamils in the island's north and east. Latest results give government bloc lead in Georgia parliamentary poll With a handful of votes still to be counted from Georgia's disputed November 2 parliamentary election, President Eduard Shevardnadze's so-called "For a New Georgia" bloc is in the lead with around 21 percent of the vote, according to figures released Thursday by the central election commission. The election has been criticised by international election observers, and by opposition parties who claimed it was rigged in the government's favour. On Thursday, supporters of the opposition parties demonstrated in the capital, Tbilisi, for a sixth consecutive day. Election officials said they still needed to count votes from 16 of Georgia's 2,817 electoral districts. Germany pulls out of recession for 3rd quarter 2003 Latest statistics show that Germany has emerged slightly from its recession. In the third quarter, from July through to September 2003, German Gross Domestic Product grew fractionally by 0.2 percent, according to the Federal Statistics Office. Exports spurred growth, but domestic demand in Germany fell. Despite the slight upturn, economists still expect zero growth for the entire year 2003. Since late last year Germany's economy had been in decline, and the work force has shed half a million jobs. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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