Deutsche Welle English Service News 09. 08. 2005, 17:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
"Discovery" sicher gelandet Es ist gut gegangen: Die Raumfähre "Discovery" ist sicher auf dem Luftwaffenstützpunkt Edwards in der kalifornischen Mojave-Wüste gelandet. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1673330,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DW-WORLD's "Click Back" monthly review quiz for August 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Discovery returns safely to Earth The space shuttle Discovery has made a successful landing at Edwards Air Force Base in the US state of California. Commander Eileen Collins landed Discovery slightly ahead of schedule, ending a 14-day mission in space. The space shuttle was initially scheduled to land at Cape Canaveral in Florida, but bad weather forced NASA to shift the landing site to California. NASA officials have been extremely careful regarding the shuttle's return to Earth, and were looking for ideal weather conditions to make re-entry as trouble-free as possible. Discovery's mission was the first since the shuttle Columbia broke up on re-entry in 2003 because of damage it sustained during lift-off. London bomb suspect wanted to scare One of the prime suspects in the failed July 21 bombings in London has told British and Italian investigators that a bag containing explosives and nails had been meant to scare and make noise and not to kill. The lawyer for Osman Hussein, also known as Hamdi Issac, also said the suspect did not prepare the contents of the bag he carried onto the transport system. Hussein was seized in Rome on July 29 after fleeing London following the failed attack on the city's Underground network. He was questioned in a Rome jail for three hours in the presence of British investigators. IAEA board meets on Iran crisis The United Nations nuclear watchdog has held a crisis meeting to try to stop Iran from pursuing its nuclear programme. The meeting came after Iran resumed work at a uranium plant in the town of Isfahan. As the officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) met in Vienna, Iran said UN seals were to be removed at its Isfahan facility, which could allow it to take its nuclear work a step further. The EU and Washington have condemned Iran's latest move, threatening possible UN sanctions. Tehran insists it wants only to use its facilities to produce power, but the US suspects it of running a secret nuclear weapons programme. Abbas sets January for Palestinian vote Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said in a speech to the parliament in Gaza that Palestinians will hold general elections in January. The vote had been set for July, but it was postponed because of a dispute over electoral reform, officials said. Abbas did not give an exact date for the poll, in a speech which also urged an end to anti-Israeli violence. The militant group Hamas has accused him of delaying elections in order to revive his Fatah party. Fatah has lost public support over its alleged corruption and what many Palestinians see as its mismanagement of the Palestinian Authority. Nagasaki marks 60 years after A-bomb Some 6,000 people have gathered in Nagasaki's peace park to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the dropping of the nuclear bomb that destroyed the city at the end of World War II. Three days after the world's first atomic bombing reduced Hiroshima to ruins, a US plane dropped a second bomb on the southern port of Nagasaki, killing more than 70,000 people. The commemorations began with a minute of silence at 11:02 am local time, the exact moment sixty years ago when the plutonium bomb was dropped. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi placed a wreath to honor those killed and prayed for world peace. Indian rebels blow up pipeline Rebels in India have blown up two bridges, a pipeline and a power transformer in the northeast state of Assam. Officials said it is the latest in a string of blasts before national Independence Day festivities. The separatist United Liberation Front of Asom, ULFA, which traditionally steps up violence before the August 15 holiday, claimed responsibility for the blasts late Monday. There were no casualties. In the same state on Sunday, four people died in a market blast which the ULFA denied responsibility for. Constitutional Court hears poll appeal Germany's constitutional court has begun hearings into whether or not Federal President Horst Koehler was justified in calling early elections, currently set for September 18th. The president's decision came after Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder deliberately lost a confidence vote in parliament. But two members of the Bundestag say the manouevre was unconstitutional, because the chancellor still has a clear working majority. The German government is being represented in court by Interior Minister Otto Schily. He has expressed confidence that the high court will let the poll go ahead. A final ruling is expected before the end of August. Hopes fade for trapped miners in China Rescuers in southern China are continuing to search for 102 miners trapped at an illegal coal mine flooded with water. State media has said the miners' chances of survival were slim, as water levels continue to rise. Officials are blaming safety violations for the accident and are calling on 65 managers who fled the scene to come back. Four miners escaped after the accident, which occurred Sunday in a tunnel 420 metres underground at the privately owned mine in Guangdong province. S. Africa's gold mine strike continues A strike by South African gold miners has spilled over to its third day, bringing many mines across the country to a standstill. Some 100,000 members of the leading National Union of Mineworkers and a smaller union are protesting for higher pay. The mine operators' latest wage increase offer of 4.5 to 5 percent has been rejected by the unions who want a raise of 10 to 12 percent. The strike is the largest in the country in 18 years. Thieves steal millions from Brazil bank Police in Brazil say thieves tunneled their way into a bank and stole nearly 150 million reals, the equivalent of more than 50 million euros. The thieves reportedly built an 80-metre-long tunnel from a house near the bank, digging about 4 metres below the floor of the bank vault. Police said it was the biggest known heist in Brazil. They suspect that between six and 10 people were involved. The theft happened over the weekend, but was not discovered until Monday morning because the bank was closed. War crimes suspect seized in Argentina A top Bosnian Serb war crimes fugitive wanted by a UN court for committing atrocities during the Bosnian war has been arrested in Argentina. Milan Lukic is being held in a Buenos Aires jail and is to be questioned by a judge in the coming days. Lukic was indicted in 2000 by the international tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, for crimes against humanity. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Serbia for war crimes but had been on the run since late 1990s. Attacks in Iraq kill at least 12 In Baghdad, a series of attacks has claimed the lives of at least 12 Iraqis. A car bomb that targeted a police convoy in central Baghdad on Tuesday, killed at least three people and wounded another 32. Earlier in the day, at least nine Iraqi police officers and soldiers were killed in a spate of almost simultaneous shootings. Rebels have frequently targeted Iraqi security personnel while waging a bitter insurgency since the downfall of Saddam Hussein in April 2003. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The waiting is over for fans of German soccer as the Bundesliga starts again. Get it all on DW-WORLD.DE: We offer you results, tables and live tickers of the matches. Check out picture galleries of the best players and interactive features such as quizes and betting games where Chinese Bayern Munich fans get a chance to compete against Texan Schalke supporters. You'll find it all at www.dw-world.de/soccer ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
