Deutsche Welle English Service News February 5th, 2004, 17:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Sept. 11 Terror Suspect Acquitted A Hamburg court on Thursday acquitted a Moroccan charged with helping to prepare the Sept. 11 attacks. German officials have already said they plan to deport Abdelghani Mzoudi to his home country. 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_1105350_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CIA director to defend intelligence officials' prewar efforts CIA Director George Tenet has defended pre-war intelligence on Iraq by saying that U.S. analysts had varying opinions but never said that Iraq had posed an imminent threat. Instead, he said, analysts had painted an objective picture for policy makers. Tenet also said that in the intelligence business there are discrepancies. He added that he believed Iraq had intended to developed biological and chemical weapons, but at the same time acknowledged no such arms have yet been found. Pakistan's Musharraf pardons scientist Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has pardoned a top nuclear scientist who confessed to leaking nuclear weapons secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea. The pardon comes after Abdul Qadeer Khan admitted earlier this week to disclosing secrets in the 80's and 90's, saying he acted alone. President Musharraf added that money was the motive for the leaks. In a further development, Musharraf has said that Pakistan would not hand over any documents to the International Atomic Energy Agency, submit to an independent inquiry or allow the United Nations to supervise Pakistan's nuclear programme. Anti-terrorism conference underway in Bali A two day conference on anti-terrorism is underway on the Indonesian island of Bali. Ministers and senior officials from 33 countries are discussing ways of pooling their resources to battle the Southeast Asian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah. The group is believed to be responsible for the Bali night-club bombings in 2002 that killed more than 200 people. Australia's foreign minister Alexander Downer said that he feared additional terrorist attacks were inevitable in the Asia-Pacific region. As a combat measure, Indonesia and Australia announced the creation of two anti-terror centres to be jointly run by the two governments. Ferries collide in Bangladesh In Bangladesh two ferry boats, each carrying around 500 passengers, have collided near the coastal town of Barisal. Thirteen bodies have been recovered so far, but the death toll is expected to rise. Survivors said they saw at least 30 bodies pulled from the water or wreckage after the ferries crashed in dense fog in the Meghna river. Police said the badly damaged vessels remained afloat, but more victims were feared trapped inside. Experts approve some vaccination in bird flu crisis Following a two-day emergency conference on bird flu, health experts said cautious use of vaccinations could create buffer zones around already infected areas to prevent the disease from spreading further. But officials stressed that culling remained the correct response to deal with already infected birds. Experts say vaccination, if done properly, would be cheaper than providing compensation to restock slaughtered flocks. The disease has spread to ten Asian countries so far, killing 16 people. China has admitted that it was having difficulty dealing with the outbreak due to its vast size and inadequate reporting system. Israeli PM quizzed over corruption probe Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was questioned for two-and-a-half hours by police over the so-called Greek Island corruption affair. The questioning comes after the indictment last month of property developer David Appel on charges of trying to bribe Sharon in a major Greek property deal. If Sharon were to be charged, political commentators say he would have no choice but to resign from office. Sharon has insisted that he had nothing to do with the scandal, which dates back to 1998, when he was foreign minister. Court clears Sept 11 accomplice suspect A German court in the city of Hamburg has acquitted the Moroccan student Abdelghani Mzoudi, who was accused of being an accessory to murder in the September 11th attacks on the United States. The presiding judge said the court reached its decision "not because it was convinced of the innocence of the accused, but because there was not enough evidence for a conviction." The thirty-one-year-old Mzoudi was also cleared of a lesser charge of membership to a terrorist organisation. Prosecutors plan to launch an appeal against the acquittal. Mzoudi's trial was the second world-wide to take place over the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. Berlin film festival kicks off The 54th Berlin film festival, the Berlinale, starts today. Ranked only below Cannes in terms of European prestige, the festival showcases 23 movies competing for the coveted "Golden Bear" awards. Many international and German stars are expected to attend. For the next eleven days some 400 films will be screened under a variety of catagories. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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