Deutsche Welle English Service News 09. 10. 2004, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
German Far-Right Combines Forces Banking on their success in recent state elections, the leaders of Germany's right-wing extremist parties have said that their groups will form a coalition during the 2006 national election. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1354635,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Are you mad about soccer and betting? DW-WORLD's new betting pool lets you match your wits against experts and soccer fans from around the world, game by game. You can play individually or as part of a team. You can test your ability to determine winners and losers, the up-and-coming and the has-beens as well as your general soccer expertise with friends and colleagues. Best of all: We'll be awarding fabulous prizes after each game. http://bundesligatip.dw-world.de/english.do ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghan poll in turmoil over boycott Afghanistan's first democratic election has been thrown into confusion after it was announced that most presidential candidates were boycotting it. The move follows claims of widespread voting irregularities. There had been complaints that the wrong pens were being used to mark voters' fingers in order to prevent multiple voting. Election officials said the problem was caught quickly and would not affect the overall validity of the vote. The boycott was agreed by 15 candidates opposed to the favourite, the interim President Hamid Karzai. Polling stations have now closed. Initial results are expected in the coming days but it may take a couple of weeks for all the votes to be counted. Iraq militia to hand over weapons Militiamen loyal to radical Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr are to begin handing over weapons to Iraqi police next week. The announcement was made by a senior aide to the cleric and confirmed by Iraq's interim government. The move is viewed as a major step toward ending weeks of fighting with US soldiers and restoring peace in Baghdad's Sadr City district. It follows extended negotiations between insurgent groups and the Iraqi interim government, which is seeking to restore enough security to enable national elections to take place across the whole of the country in January. Britons mourn death of hostage Bigley Following the killing of British hostage Kenneth Bigley in Iraq, his home city of Liverpool is observing a day of mourning. Bigley's death was confirmed after the release of a video said to show his beheading. There is speculation Bigley had tried to escape with the help of one of his captors and was killed a short time later. The 62 year-old engineer was abducted over three weeks ago along with two Americans, Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley, who were beheaded just a few days after being kidnapped. Bush and Kerry face off in 2nd debate US President George W. Bush and his Democratic challenger John Kerry have held their second of three televised debates ahead of next month's election. In the wake of a report that Saddam Hussein's regime had no weapons of mass destruction, Kerry once again challenged Bush on his decision to invade Iraq. Bush responded by calling Saddam Hussein "a unique threat" and saying that the world was safer without him. Kerry argued that the president's policies had left Americans with a huge bill for the war in Iraq. The debate also covered a wide range of domestic issues such as jobs, education, and health care. Egypt bombings blamed on al-Qaeda Rescue efforts are continuing in Egypt after a series of bombings at resorts popular with Israeli tourists. At least 30 people were killed and more than 100 injured in a suicide bombing of the Hilton hotel in the Red Sea resort of Taba. The explosion caused one side of the 10-story hotel to collapse, burying victims under the rubble. That attack was quickly followed with two more car bombs outside backpacker resorts further south on Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. The blasts occurred Thursday night at the close of holidays in both Israel and Egypt, when the Sinai resort towns were packed with tourists, including up to 15,000 Israelis. Israeli officials believe the al-Qaeda terrorist network was behind the attacks. There were several claims of responsibility, including one from an al-Qaeda-linked group, but none appeared credible. Israel continues military operation in Gaza Five Palestinian men, including two policemen, are reported to have been killed in the latest violence in Gaza. An Israeli helicopter has fired a missile into the Jabaliya refugee camp in north Gaza, killing one person. Two were killed in Beit Hanoun in north Gaza, in what Palestinians say was a clash between Israeli troops and Hamas militants. Israeli forces are continuing a major operation in the northern Gaza Strip, one of the biggest in four years. Israeli officials say the operation aims at ending the threat from rockets launched by Palestinian armed groups. Germany finds support in Hanoi Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder says he has won broad support among Asian countries for Germany's bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. Schroeder made his remarks after a 39-nation meeting of Asian and European leaders in Hanoi at which the German leader also voiced support for lifting the European Union's arms embargo on China. In Vietnam, Asian and European leaders wrapped up the summit by issuing a declaration calling on the United Nations to lead the fight against terrorism. The summit was, however, overshadowed by divisions between the two regions on how best to push through political reforms in military-ruled Burma. Australian Premier wins fourth term Australian Prime Minister John Howard has claimed victory in the federal election, shortly after his Labor rival Mark Latham conceded defeat. With 70 percent of the votes counted, results indicate Howard's Liberal-National coalition has won an easy majority, giving him a fourth consecutive term in office. Both candidates made the economy a central issue to their campaigns, vowing to keep interest rates low and the budget in surplus. Nobel Peace Prize won by Kenyan woman The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Kenyan tree planting campaigner Wangari Maathai. Ms Maathai who is the Kenyan Government's Assistant Minister for the environment and natural resources, won the 1.1 million euro prize from a record field of 194 candidates. She is the first African woman to be awarded the prestigious prize since it was first presented in 1901. Maathai is founder of the Kenya-based largely female Green Belt Movement, which says it has planted 25-30 million trees across Africa. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan expressed delight at the Nobel Committee's decision. French philosopher Derrida dies French philosopher Jacques Derrida, whose work is credited with originating the school of deconstruction, has died of cancer at the age of 74. Derrida, who divided his time between France and the United States, said the traditional or metaphysical way of reading makes a number of false assumptions about the nature of texts. His thinking gave rise to the school of deconstruction, a strategy of analysis that has been applied to literature, linguistics, philosophy, law and architecture. It is heralded as showing the multiple layers of meaning at work in language. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
