Deutsche Welle
English Service News
December 2nd 2004, 17:00 UTC
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Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
K�hler Calls for More Aid for Africa
Ahead of his first trip to Africa as German president, Horst K�hler
has called on the international community, including Germany, to
considerably increase financial help for the struggling continent.
To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the
internet address below:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1415396,00.html
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are ready to take the test. The BOBs -- the Best of the Blogs -- are
entering the final round and now it's up to you to pick your favorite
from the more than 100 finalists -- and with a little luck win a Canon
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the Maritim Hotel Bonn. Let the voting begin!
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Ukraine's highest court to rule on poll
Outgoing Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma is in Moscow for talks
with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ahead of the meeting, Putin
said the crisis over the disputed presidential election in Ukraine
could only be solved by the people of Ukraine themselves, adding
that a rerun election would not help. The Supreme Court in Ukraine
is currently ruling on alleged fraud in last month's poll. The
opposition's candidate Viktor Yushchenko has contested the narrow
win by his rival, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich. On Wednesday,
parliament voted to dismiss Yanukovich's government. The Prime
Minister has said he will not step down and described the
no-confidence motion as illegal. The government plans to contest the
decision in the constitutional court.
India to survey Bhopal disaster site
Officials in India have announced a detailed survey of the
contamination in the central Indian city of Bhopal, the site of the
world's biggest industrial accident. One state minister said it
would be a "first step" to a clean-up. Commemorations are under way
in the city to mark the accident, which happened 20 years ago. Local
people say their water is still contaminated. The escape of toxic
gas on December 3, 1984, from the chemical factory owned by the US
company Union Carbide led to one of the world's most destructive
environmental disasters. According to official figures, nearly 3,000
people died on the night of the leak and there have been nearly
15,000 deaths overall related to the accident.
US to boost troops in Iraq
Iraqi police say insurgents have fired a mortar barrage into central
Baghdad, killing at least one Iraqi and wounding 11 others. Amid the
ongoing violence, the US is bolstering its forces in Iraq to their
highest-ever level. The tours of some units are to be extended to
cover the expansion, which is aimed at suppressing violence in the
weeks before next month's election. Washington is raising overall
troop numbers by 12,000, to reach 150,000, which is more than took
part in the invasion. US President George W. Bush has reasserted
that elections will be held as scheduled in Iraq, on January 30.
IAEA wants to inspect sites in Iran
Inspectors at the International Atomic Energy Agency are requesting
access to two secret Iranian military sites. The New York Times
newspaper says the UN watchdog suspects Tehran of conducted tests of
high explosives at the sites. The paper quotes diplomatic sources as
saying the allegations are based on satellite photographs and
records of equipment purchases, and that the intelligence suggests
an atomic weapons programme. This would be in violation of an
agreement reached with Tehran this week to suspend its production of
enriched uranium. The suspicions coincide with new allegations by an
Iranian opposition group. It says it plans to release information
that Iran is secretly developing a long-range missile capable of
delivering a nuclear warhead.
Pinochet stripped of immunity
A Chilean court has stripped former military ruler Augusto Pinochet
of his legal immunity over the murder of his predecessor as army
chief. The decision means he can be investigated for his alleged
role in the killing of General Carlos Prats, who was killed by a car
bomb in 1974. Prats, a symbol of opposition to the Chilean military
government, had fled to Argentina. It is the second case in which
89-yer-old Pinochet has lost his immunity. More than 3,000 people
died and disappeared in political violence during Pinochet's 1973 to
1990 military regime. Pinochet has faced dozens of human rights
cases, but has never been convicted.
Life sentence for Lindh killer confirmed
The Swedish Supreme Court has confirmed the life jail sentence of
the confessed killer of Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh. The
court rejected Mijailo Mijailovic's appeal for leniency. He said he
was mentally ill when he stabbed her. Last year, Mijailovic, the son
of Serb immigrants, killed Lindh in a Stockholm department store. He
was convicted of murder in March.
EU force begins Bosnia mission
The European Union has formally taken over peacekeeping duties from
NATO in Bosnia-Hercegovina. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and
NATO head Jaap de Hoop Scheffer oversaw the transfer from the NATO-led
SFOR force to the 7,000-strong European EUFOR contingent. The EU
troops will be deployed across the country to maintain peace and
stability, nine years after the Bosnian war ended. It will be the
largest military operation undertaken by the bloc. A 60,000- strong
NATO mission, including 20,000 US troops, was deployed in
Bosnia-Herzegovina to keep the peace after the 1992-95 war which left
over 200,000 people dead.
German parliament calls for US action
Both the German government and the opposition have called for the US
to take a more active role in climate protection. Environment
Minister Juergen Trittin of the Green party said that since the US
is the largest polluter in the world, it should assume more
responsibility for the climate. Christian Democratic deputy chairman
Klaus Lippold also agreed, saying that destruction of the
environment is accelerating. Both the government and the opposition
praised the Kyoto Protocol which will go into effect in February
2005. It requires the industrial countries who signed the treaty to
reduce their greenhouse gas emissions from 2008 to 2012 by five
percent compared to 1990 levels. Washington is not a party to the
treaty.
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