Deutsche Welle English Service News February 10th, 2004, 17:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
French Parliament Votes for Headscarf Ban in Schools An overwhelming majority of French parliamentarians voted to ban conspicuous religious symbols in state-run schools Tuesday. The law, which is sure to be passed by the Senate, will be effective next school year. 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_1111321_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- French parliament backs ban at schools An overwhelming majority of France's National Assembly has votedto ban religious emblems in state schools. Parliamentary deputies voted 494 to 36 to ban Muslim headscarves, Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses from state schools. Pupils who refuse to stop wearing such religious emblems face expulsion. The French government insists the ban does not single out any religion, but cabinet ministers admit its main targets are the Islamic headscarves. The proposed ban has wide public support but leaders of France's five million Muslims call it discriminatory. It has provoked criticism, however, from Islamic and Christian leaders abroad, including Pope John Paul. At least 50 dead in Baghdad car bomb attack Around 50 people are thought to have been killed and another 50 injured in a car bomb blast at a police station in Iraq, just south of Baghdad. The attack came after U.S. officials said they had evidence that an Islamic militant with links to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network was plotting to ignite a civil war in Iraq to undermine efforts to hand over power to Iraqis. A police spokesman said the bomb was in a car parked outside the police station. It went off as dozens of potential recruits lined up to apply for jobs. Insurgents have mounted a string of car and suicide bombings in recent weeks, in renewed violence in the run-up to the planned June 30 transfer of sovereignty to a provisional Iraqi government. Blair and Gadhafi to meet for talks soon British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi are to meet soon for talks. That's been agreed in London by visiting Libyan foreign minister Abdulrahman Shalgam at talks with his British counterpart Jack Straw and Blair. Mr Straw said no date had yet been set but described Libya's renunciation of weapons of mass destruction last December as a "courageous step". It not yet clear whether the two leaders will meet in Britain or Libya. Mr Shalgam's visit is the first of its kind in more than 20 years. Last year, Libya also agreed to a compensation deal for the families of the victims of the Lockerbie airliner bombing of 1988. Iranian plane crashes in Emirates - 44 killed Police at Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates say 44 people were killed in today's crash of a plane belonging to Iran's Kish Airlines. Among the dead were Iranians, Indians and Egyptians. Two occupants survived, police said, but with critical injuries. Sharjah television said one was a boy. Iranian authorities said the Fokker- 50 turbo-prop' was making an emergency landing. But Emirates officials said it did not send a distress signal. The plane had flown across the Gulf, from Iran's duty-free island of Kish. Sharjah is a southern Gulf emirate. The plane narrowly missed houses. Rybkin located in Ukraine, say staff The Russian presidential candidate who went missing last week has been located in neighboring Ukraine and is to return to Russia later this evening, according to his electoral campaign staff. Ivan Rybkin, a critic of President Vladimir Putin, who has been supported by one of the president's most outspoken foes, self-exiled tycoon Boris Berezovsky, had gone missing since late Thursday, after being dropped off outside his Moscow home. Today, one his campaign staffers confirmed a Russian media report that Rybkin had been found and was to return to Moscow on a flight this Tuesday evening. Terror trial gets underway in Duesseldorf The trial of four suspected members of the Al Tawhid terror group has begun in the western German city of Duesseldorf. The four men, two Jordanians, an Algerian and a Palestinian, have been accused of planning attacks on Jewish institutions in Germany and of membership of a terrorist organisation. It's the second trial here in Germany targeting suspected Al Tawhid members. Last year a Duesseldorf court sentenced a 27-year-old man to four years in prison. The group is believed to have close links to al Qaeda. Bigger budget, urges EU Commission The European Commission has called for a much larger EU budget of 150 billion euros from 2013, drawing a prompt rejection from Germany and Britain. The current budget is about 100 billion. EU commission Romano Prodi argued for the raise, citing EU inclusion of new member nations from May. European Parliament chief Pax Cox said a dynamic "Europe of tomorrow" could not run on an "empty fuel tank". Meanwhile, EU finance ministers have warned France not to allow its budget deficit to exceed the EU's limit of three percent of Gross Domestic Product for a fourth year in a row. It also cautioned Italy that it will this year come close to breaching the limit. Germany headed for major strike? The major German trade union IG Metall has staged more warning strikes across southern Germany amid warnings that pay talks due on Wednesday will fail to avert a full-scale stoppage. Employers' association president Martin Kannegiesser said the situation was "serious". IG Metall leader Juergen Peters said no solution was in sight if employers continued to demand reduced wages. The union, in particular, is resisting the employers' demand that some firms set working hours of up to 40 hours per week, without pay rises. Thirty-five hours is the standard in Germany's key metal engineering, auto and electrical sectors. IG Metall says today's short warning strikes involved 52,000 workers at 121 firms. Extended jail unconstitutional, says top court Germany's top court has ruled that five regional states have breached the German constitution by detaining convicts regarded as dangerous beyond expiry of their jail sentences. Under Germany's federal system, the five states, including Bavaria and Thuringia, have local laws to hold such offenders, or take them back into custody. In today's ruling, the Constitutional Court says extended detention requires new federal legislation. It's given authorities a reprieve until September to rectify the situation. Two convicts had gone to the Constitutional Court, claiming human rights breaches. Kerry tests southern sentiment In the race for the U.S. presidency, two more primary ballots take place today, in Virginia and Tennessee. Opposition Democratic front-runner John Kerry, bolstered by wins so far in 10 out of 12 ballots, ventures into the southern home region of his Democrat rivals John Edwards and Wesley Clark. Surveys show Kerry in the lead, although Clark and Edwards argue they could take on incumbent republic President George W. Bush. After Virginia and Tennessee, the Democrats' selection process moves to Wisconsin on February the 17th, to be followed by California and New York on March the 2nd. Cabinet layoffs in Sri Lanka? A senior aide to President Chandrika Kumaratunga has said she might sack up to half of Sri Lanka's cabinet. She's engaged in a power struggle with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, and, last weekend, dissolved parliament and called early elections for April the 2nd. The presidential aide, Janadas Peiris, told the news agency AP that the cabinet of 30 members could be halved to 15. Another 40 officials in non-cabinet positions could be fired as well, he added. Tamil Tiger rebels, who in 2002 agreed with Wickremesinghe on a cease-fire, have warned the election could endanger the island's peace process. Today, Sri Lanka's share market fell another four percent, after a slump on Monday, amid the political turmoil. Fighting in Ethiopia leaves at least 50 dead Up to 75 people are reported dead in Ethiopia after fighting broke out between rival ethnic groups. UN sources said the clashes occurred near the western town of Dima late last month. The town is located around 250 km west of Gambella where human rights groups have reported the deaths of hundreds of people in December in similar ethnic clashes. The UNHCR and the World Food Programme have evacuated all their staff from the Dima area. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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