Deutsche Welle English Service News 27.01.2004, 17:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
France and China Cozy Up Chinese President Hu Jintao is in France this week on a state visit. His host, French President Jacques Chirac, is making a clear effort to get on Beijing's good side. 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_1098137_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Bomber kills Canadian soldier and Afghan civilian In Afghanistan a suicide bomber has killed a Canadian soldier and an Afghan civilian near Kabul. Callers to news agencies claimed the attack was the work of the ousted Taliban. Police said the bomber jumped onto one of three vehicles in a convoy of the NATO-led force ISAF. Three other Canadian soldiers and eight Iraqi civilians were wounded. The convoy had slowed down because of a bump in the road. This month alone, more than 60 people have been killed in Afghanistan. Despite the recent enactment of a new constitution, the UN has warned that elections slated for June might be delayed. Bundestag members remember Holocaust victims Germany is marking the day 59 years ago when advancing Soviet troops liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp. A memorial service was held at the German parliament, the Bundestag in Berlin. The speaker of the Bundestag, Wolfgang Thierse and Simone Veil, the former speaker of the European Parliament and an Auschwitz survivor both used speeches to call upon all Europeans to join together to combat anti-Semitism. Veil said Europe's drive towards greater integration was a necessary consequence of the Holocaust. In 1996, former President Roman Herzog declared January 27th a national day of remembrance for all of the victims of Nazi atrocities. Annan to send election assessors to Iraq United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said he plans to send a team to Iraq to study the feasibility of elections before the return of Iraqi sovereignty on June the 30th. Annan was asked to do so by U.S. occupying forces and the Iraqi Governing Council. US officials, however, have said that continuing violence and the absence of an electoral roll or a census could make it impossible to hold early elections. Annan, visiting Paris, said he did not foresee short-term the creation of a "blue helmet" peacekeeping force. Longer-term, a UN-approved multinational force was a possibility. Three US soldiers killed west of Baghdad At least three US soldiers have been killed and one wounded after a roadside bomb exploded west of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. A spokesman for US-forces in Iraq said it happened on the main road to Khaldiya, about 100 kilometres west of Baghdad. Witnesses said there were also several Iraqi civilian casualties. Khaldiya is part of the so-called Sunni triangle, where many of the attacks on US-led occupying forces have been occurring. Thailand to hold bird flu crisis talks Thailand is preparing to hold international crisis talks on the unprecedented bird flu outbreak which has spread to nine Asian nations and claimed the lives of at least eight people. A six-year-old boy has became Thailand's second confirmed victim of the disease which has also killed six in Vietnam and led to the slaughter or death of up to 20 million chickens across the region. South Korea steps up fight against bird flu outbreak South Korea has stepped up its battle against bird flu, destroying over 200,000 chickens and monitoring travellers returning from Southeast Asian countries. The agriculture ministry said the number of farms in South Korea hit by the virus had risen to 17 after confirming late Monday a new outbreak, the first in 13 days. Evacuation plan not presented, says Sharon aide The office of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has denied that it has told Jewish settler leaders about a plan for the evacuation of at least seven Jewish settlements from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. A spokesman said Sharon's director general had met with settlers but that he did not present any such plan. Earlier, a settler leader said they had seen the plan and rejected it outright. Israel has threatened to implement unilateral steps to separate from the Palestinians if no progress is made in peace negotiations. Sharon has said that separation measures would involve uprooting some Jewish settlements. Israel publishes exchange list The Israeli authorities have begun publishing the names of 436 prisoners on the internet whom they have agreed to free in exchange for an Israeli businessman and three soldiers being held by Hizbollah. The first stage of the German-mediated exchange could begin Thursday. Israeli critics of the plan said it would only encourage Hizbollah to try to abduct more Israelis as bargaining chips for imprisoned Palestinians and other Arabs. Cairo building collapse kills 14 At least 14 people have been killed after a building collapsed in the Egyptian capital, Cairo. The 11-story complex collapsed after a fire broke out in a shop on the ground floor. Most of the dead are said to have been fire fighters and police officers who responded to the blaze. Six fire fighters, as well as shop employees were believed to still be trapped in the rubble. German business confidence rises further In Germany, the influential Ifo economics research institute says that confidence among German business has risen for the ninth consecutive month. The monthly Ifo business climate index rose to 97.4 percent - from 96.9 percent in December. This is the highest level the index has reached for three years, and comes as the finance ministry prepares to release a new forecast of growth prospects this year. An extract of an economy ministry report, published by the German news agency DPA last week, predicted real gross domestic product growth of between 1.5 and 2 percent. Last year, Germany's economy experienced near-zero growth. Blair faces revolt over student fees British Prime Minister Tony Blair could face a major parliamentary setback in the next few hours. Dozens of parliamentarians from his Labour Party have said they intend to vote against legislation that would make students pay more for tertiary education, for example at university. In a radio interview, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said that unless more Labour parliamentarians changed their minds, the government would lose the vote. Blair and Prescott have been meeting with MPs in an effort to persuade them to support the bill. If they are unsuccessful, it would be the prime minister's first parliamentary defeat on a major piece of legislation. Cheney visits the Pope U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney has met with Pope John Paul II in Rome on a visit aimed at easing tensions over Iraq. Cheney met briefly one-on-one with the Pope before assembling with his American entourage in the Vatican library to hear the Pontiff's message. The Pope encouraged Americans to work towards international cooperation to avoid divisions like the ones which occurred in the run-up to the US-led war in Iraq. Vice President Cheney is the highest-ranking U.S. official to meet the Pope since the war in Iraq, which brought U.S.-Vatican relations to long-time lows. New Hampshire votes in Democratic primary Voters in the US state of New Hampshire have begun voting in the first primary to choose a Democratic candidate for this year's presidential election. Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts and the former governor of Vermont, Howard Dean, are seen as the front-runners. Kerry came from behind to win in the Iowa caucuses last week. Opinion polls indicated that three other candidates, Wesley Clark, John Edwards and Joe Lieberman, were locked in a tight struggle for third place. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
