Deutsche Welle English Service News 11 February 2004, 17:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Brussels Demands More Money from EU Members The European Commission wants more money from its members. But Germany, France and the U.K., among others, are not ready to fork it out. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1431_A_1111487_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- At least 47 people killed in Iraqi bomb blast The death toll from the latest bomb attack in Iraq has now risen to 47. Hospital sources said 35 others were wounded. US army sources said a suicide car bomber blew himself up outside an army recruiting centre in Baghdad. All the casualties were believed to be newly recruited Iraqi soldiers. It comes just 24 hours after a blast outside a police station just south of the capital which killed at least 50 people and wounded another 75. Fourteen Palestinians killed in gunbattle Fourteen Palestinians have been reported killed in clashes with Israeli forces in eastern Gaza City. Palestinian sources said Israeli troops attacked a Palestinian security post near the centre of the town. More than 20 others were reported injured. The armed wing of the radical Hamas movement has responded by calling for large-scale suicide attacks against Israel in retaliation. Serbia denies knowledge of Karadzic wherabouts Serbia on Wednesday denied any knowledge of the whereabouts of top Bosnian Serb war crimes fugitive Radovan Karadzic after chief UN war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte said he was hiding in Belgrade. Prime Miniser Zoran Zivkovic said the government had no information which could confirm Del Ponte's claims that Karadzic and his wartime military commander, Ratko Mladic, were living in the Serbian capital. Del Ponte said earlier in Brussels that the Serbian capital had become a "safe haven" for fugitives including Karadzic and Mladic, the two most wanted war crimes suspects from Bosnia's 1992-95 conflict. Both men have been charged with crimes including genocide but they are considered war heroes by many Serbs in Bosnia and neighbouring Serbia. Police retake three towns in Haiti As civil unrest continues in Haiti police say they have retaken three towns from rebels battling President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. As the country edges towards a possible civil war the US State Department has urged Americans to leave Haiti if it is possible to do so safely while the United Nations warned that Haiti faces a major humanitarian crisis. The unrest has resulted in the deaths of at least 42 in the last five days. Ethiopia says 196 people killed by armed group In western Ethiopia attackers from the Anyua ethnic group killed 196 people in a single day in an attack late last month, the government said on Wednesday. Ehiopia's ministry of federal affairs said in a statement 196 people were killed in the Dima district of Gambella bordering with Sudan. 172 of the victims were miners mainly from the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples state. Georgian, Russian presidents meet, aiming to improve relations Russia and Georgia have agreed to renew discussions on Abkhazia, a Georgian separatist region bordering Russia, an aide to President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday after the president's meeting with Georgian leader Mikhail Saakashvili. Abkhazia broke away from Georgia in a war in the 1990s and has been de-facto independent since then under pro-Russian leadership. Ethnic Georgians fled the fighting en masse and the region's status is among the largest problems confronting Georgia, which is wracked by poverty and corruption. A Russian spokesman said the two presidents agreed on renewing working groups that would discuss refugee return, renewal of rail connections that run through Abkhazia and other issues around the conflict. Suicide bomber kills senior Afghan intelligence official A suicide attacker has killed a senior intelligence official in Afghanistan before blowing himself up. No one else was hurt in the blast. The official, Major Mohammed Isa Khan, was the deputy intelligence chief of Khost province in eastern Afghanistan. It's believed the Taliban was behind the attack. Iran marks 25th anniversary of revolution Marking the 25th anniversary of Iran's Islamic revolution that ousted the Shah, President Mohammed Khatami has addressed tens of thousands at a rally in Tehran and pledged to continue the country's reform process. The celebrations come just ahead of parliamentary elections later this month already marred by controversy. The hardline Council of Guardians has barred around 2,000 reformist parliamentarians from standing in the election. Deutsche Bank chief continues to refute accusations in Mannesmann trial At the high-profile corporate trial in the German city of Duesseldorf, Deutsche Bank chief Josef Ackermann has again rejected accusations connected with the takeover of German telecommunications group Mannesman by Vodafone. Giving testimony for the second time since the trial began last month, Ackermann, who was head of the Mannesmann supervisary board, rejected the breach of trust charges made against him. Ackermann and five other co-defendants, including ex-Mannesmann chairman Klaus Esser, are accused of breaking the law by approving excessively generous bonuses totaling 57 million euros to former Mannesmann executives as part of the merger of Mannesmann and Vodafone in 2000. Comcast launches takeover bid for Disney The US cable giant Comcast has launched a takeover bid for Walt Disney worth more than 60 billion US dollars. The deal would create one of the world's largest media groups including film studios, theme parks and the ABC television network. A Comcast spokesman said initial talks to merge the companies had taken place, however a possible merger had been rejected by Disney, prompting Comcast to launch its takeover bid. US destroys nearly 75,000 chickens in second case of Avian flu US authorities have destroyed a flock of nearly 75,000 chickens after confirming a second case of Avian flu in Delaware state. While the infection is not the same as the Avian flu that has been blamed for the deaths of 19 people in Asia, US officials still expressed concern after the new outbreak. Last Friday the first case of Avian flu was detected in a nearby county and 12,000 chickens were killed and buried. Meanwhile China has reported seven new suspected bird flu outbreaks. It brings the number of confirmed and suspected cases to 45. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
