Deutsche Welle
English Service News
August 22nd 2005, 16:00 UTC
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Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
When the Pope and Pilgrims Have Gone
All but a fraction of the one million visitors have now left Cologne
after World Youth Day -- an accomplishment that went over
with only a few hitches.
To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the
internet address below:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1686933,00.html
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Germans will likely head to the polls to elect a new parliament on
Sept. 18. Chancellor Gerhard Schröder is fighting an uphill battle
to remain in office while his conservative challenger, Angela Merkel,
has her eyes set on the chancellery. Get all the information about
Germany's 2005 election at DW-WORLD. To find out more, go to
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,1595,6591,00.html
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Israel clears last Gaza settlement
In Israel, the last Jewish settlers to be evacuated from the Gaza
Strip have begun boarding armoured buses. The 600 residents of
Netzarim agreed to leave the settlement peacefully. Netzarim is the
last of Gaza's 21 settlements to be cleared after 38-years of
Israeli occupation. Troops have begun demolishing homes in other
evacuated areas. Israeli forces have also headed to two West Bank
hard-line settlements where evacuation starts on Tuesday.
Anti-pullout protesters in Sanur and Homesh have stockpiled supplies
as well as stun grenades and tear canisters to repel Israeli troops.
Fearing violence, authorities have advised Palestinians living
nearby to stay at home.
Iraqi constitution talks underway again
Iraqi politicians have resumed a last round of negotiations on a
draft resolution just hours before Monday's midnight deadline. It's
the second deadline set by parliament after Shiite, Kurdish and
Sunni negotiators failed to agree on a draft last week. A spokesman
for Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari said the options were to seek a
third deadline, or to dissolve parliament and hold new elections.
The major stumbling blocks between the parties are over federalism,
the role of Islam and how to share the country's oil wealth.
China buys Canadian oil firm
The Chinese state-owned oil company China National Petroleum
Corpoartion has bought the Canadian-listed PetroKazakhstan company
for 4.2 billion dollars. It's the largest foreign takeover by a
Chinese firm. China is the world's largest importer of oil and is
trying to reduce its dependence on foreign oil. A rival Chinese
firm, CNOOC, recently failed in its attempt to buy a US oil company.
PetroKazakhstan covers about 12 percent of oil production in
Kazakhstan.
Portugese fires reach 3rd biggest city
One of the many wild fires burning across Portugal has reached the
country's third largest city. Fire-fighters reported that at least
10 houses on the outskirts of Coimbra have burnt down. More than 50
people have been evacuated, including staff and patients of a
psychiatric hospital. Meanwhile, help from other European countries
has begun to arrive. Three water-carrying planes from Spain and
France are ready to be deployed. Further aircraft from Germany,
Italy and the Netherlands are on their way. Fuelled by high winds
and tinderbox conditions, 27 fires are now officially raging out of
control, mainly in the north of the country. Portugal is suffering
it's worst drought in more than 60 years.
Indonesia starts Aceh troop withdrawal
The Indonesian government has pulled 1,300 troops out of Aceh
province. It's the first withdrawal of forces after a historic peace
deal with separatist rebels. Two battalions left aboard a navy ship
from northern Aceh. Under the peace agreement signed last week in
the Finnish capital Helsinki, some 22,000 troops are to pull out by
the end of this year. The rebels, from the Free Aceh Movement (GAM),
have agreed to disarm in return for political representation. The
deal is an effort to end the conflict which has left around 15,000
people dead in the past three decades.
Half of Asia's children live in poverty
A new report has found that nearly half of Asia's children are
growing up in poverty. The study by the child humanitarian
organisation Plan said 600 million children are deprived of food,
safe drinking water, health or shelter. The Growing Up in Asia
report said rapid population growth is putting pressure on scarce
resources and that Asia has more than twice as many severely
deprived children as sub-Saharan Africa. According to the study, the
international community needs to reduce subsidies given to US,
European and Japanese farmers in order to help combat poverty in the
region.
Ullrich winsTour's 8th stage
German favourite Jan Ullrich has won the eighth stage of the
Deutchland Tour. With his win in the 31km time trial, the T-Mobile
rider improved his position from fifth to second place. But the
American Levi Leipheimer has retained the yellow jersey heading into
Tuesday's 168km final stage from Bad Kreuznach to Bonn. Leipheimer
came second in the time trails, beating out his compatriot Bobby
Julich.
Floods claim more lives in Europe
Torrential rain and flooding in several parts of Europe have claimed
more lives. In Austria, two women were killed after a river in the
state of Styria burst its banks, triggering a mudslide. Many towns
in the state are flooded, with roads under water and phone lines out
of order. In Switzerland, two fire-fighters were killed in a
landslide in the canton of Lucerne. Heavy rain over the past three
days has caused rivers to burst their banks and lakes to overflow.
Numerous train links are cut and the Swiss rail authority has
advised against travelling in central Switzerland. Two more people
have died in north-eastern Romania, bring the total dead in the
recent heavy storms there to 18.
Helios 737 decompressed - report
A preliminary report on last week's crash of a Cypriot airliner says
it did suffer decompression that left its occupants unconscious
shortly after takeoff from Larnaca. The Helios airline Boeing 737
later ran out fuel and crashed near the Greek capital, Athens. In
their report, investigators said autopsies showed signs of oxygen
depletion in 118 recovered bodies. The bodies of three others have
not been found. The report says a flight attendant tried to steer
the plane after its pilot and co-pilot fell unconscious.
Dutch birds moved inside
Poultry farmers in the Netherlands have moved their birds indoors to
stop the spread of bird flu from wild birds. As of today, more than
five million free-range chickens, ducks and other birds will have to
be kept indoors. Authorities fear poultry could be affected by a
strain of bird flu found in Russia. Russian officials said the
strain is moving westwards with migrating wild birds and could reach
Europe. Germany has said it may adopt similar precautions. There are
fears that a deadly form of bird flu first found in Asia could
mutate and be transmitted between humans.
"Piano Man" said to be German
A mystery man found wandering on an English beach four months ago
without any belongings and refusing to speak is said to be a German
national. The Daily Mirror newspaper said the 20-year-old, who spent
the last four months in care, was from the southern German state of
Bavaria. The hospital treating him refused to comment on the article
but confirmed that he had been discharged. He was dubbed the piano
man after allegedly giving a virtuoso performance during his
treatment in a psychiatric unit. The newspaper said the man had
revealed he was German and had been trying to commit suicide after
losing his job in Paris.
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