Deutsche Welle English Service News 06.05.2005, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Bush Comes to Europe To Mark VE-Day US President George W. Bush heads to Europe Friday for the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII. He will also enter the heart of the spiraling dispute over the Soviet occupation of the Baltics. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1575014,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Are you interested in German soccer? Then DW-WORLD has just the thing for you: On Saturday, we offer you a live ticker of a Bundesliga match between 1. FC N�rnberg and VfL Bochum. The game starts at 15:30 CET, so be sure not to miss it. Follow all the action by clicking on the LIVE SOCCER banner at DW-WORLD's new Bundesliga Web site: http://www.dw-world.de/soccer ---------------------------------------------------------------------- More Iraqis killed in suicide attacks At least 20 people have been killed after a suicide car bomber blew himself up near a market in southern Iraq. Some reports say as many as 58 people were killed. Police say dozens of others were injured in the attack in the town of Suwayra. That's about 160 kilometres south of Baghdad. Earlier, seven Iraqi policemen were killed and about a dozen others wounded in a suicide bomb explosion near the town of Tikrit. These latest attacks come as the country's newly formed government under Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari met for its first cabinet meeting. Meanwhile Iraqi police say they've found the bodies of 14 men in Baghdad who had been blindfolded and shot in the head. Blair wins historic third term as PM World leaders have been congratulating British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Labour Party on winning an unprecedented third term in government. However, Labour's majority was reduced from 167 seats in 2001 to less than 70 this time. Following his win, Blair pledged to respond sensibly and wisely to the result. The Conservatives gained more than 30 seats, but that was much less than they'd hoped for. As a result, their leader, Michael Howard, has announced that he will resign as soon as a successor is found. The third party, the Liberal Democrats, gained 11 seats. The election campaign was dominated by Blair's unpopular decision to join the US-led invasion of Iraq two years ago. Labour's win is attributed largely to the strength of the British economy. Japan threatens N. Korea with UN Japan's foreign minister has warned North Korea that it could be taken to the UN Security Council if it doesn't return to talks on its nuclear ambitions. Nobutaka Machimura was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe meeting in Kyoto. North Korea has refused to attend six-way talks, which also involve South Korea, the United States, Russia, China and Japan, for almost a year. This comes amid recent reports that Pyongyang may be preparing to test a nuclear weapon for the first time. If the issue is taken to the UN it could result in sanctions being imposed against North Korea. Pyongyang has said such a move would be tantamount to a declaration of war. Bush embarks on Europe trip US President George W. Bush is on his way to Europe for a five-day visit. The centrepiece of his trip will be the events in Moscow marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. Around 50 heads of state and government are expected to attend the ceremonies in the Red Square on Monday. Bush's first stop will be Latvia, where he's due to meet that country's president and the leaders of the two other Baltic states, Lithuania and Estonia. Putin backs German UNSC seat bid Russian President Vladimir Putin says he supports Germany's bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. In an interview with the German daily newspaper Bild, Putin said Russia would support a stronger role for Germany at the UN, including a permanent Security Council seat. The joint interview with Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is to be published in the paper's Saturday edition. Both leaders are to attend the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Moscow on Monday. Fatah wins Palestinian local elections The Fatah movement founded by Yasser Arafat has won the majority of council seats in Palestinian local elections, defeating the militant Islamist movement Hamas. The Palestinian Election Committee said Fatah gained control of 52 of 84 municipal councils across the West Bank and Gaza Strip, while Hamas won just 24. The militant movement, which made increases in several major towns, disputed the figures and said it was not ready to concede defeat. The results will give the competing parties a last chance to gauge their electoral strength ahead of crucial parliamentary polls scheduled for July. NPD banned from memorial protests Germany's highest court has banned the far-right National Democratic Party, NPD, from staging demonstrations at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate and the Holocaust memorial to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of WW II. The Constitutional Court rejected an appeal lodged by the NPD against a decision taken by Berlin's higher regional court. Judges there ruled that protest marches would violate the dignity of Nazi victims. Tensions rise over Moscow denial Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski has strongly criticised Moscow for denying that the Soviet Union occupied the Baltic states after WWII. He said the claim was "historically unjustified and morally wrong." Kwasniewski was responding to the Kremlin's European affairs chief who on Thursday said Moscow didn't occupy Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania but had established a presence there with the agreement of Baltics authorities. Russian President Vladimir Putin also denied in an interview aired on German television that Russia needed to apologise further for the "tragedy" inflicted on the three Baltic states. Tensions in the region have been heightened ahead of the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII. Bush extends sanctions against Syria Washington has extended economic sanctions against Syria which were imposed last year. The White House said the Arab country supported terrorism and was undermining efforts to stabilise Iraq. The extension comes despite Syria's compliance to remove all troops from neighbouring Lebanon as requested by Washington and the United Nations. Syria ended its 29-year military presence in Lebanon last week. The sanctions effectively cut banking relations with the Commercial Bank of Syria, freeze the assets of Syrians suspected of involvement in terrorism, and prohibit Syrian flights to and from the US. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DW-WORLD's "Click Back" monthly review quiz for May is waiting for you and will test your knowledge of stories we've written. If you answer all questions correctly, you can also win a great prize. To play, please go to: http://www.dw-world.de/english ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
