Deutsche Welle English Service News 05.09.2005, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
EU and China Resolve Textile Dispute The EU-Chinese summit in Beijing, boosted by the settlement of the dispute over import quotas for Chinese textiles, kicked off to an optimistic start on Monday. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1701132,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- As part of our coverage of the upcoming elections, DW-WORLD offers you a new service to keep up to date on what's been happening. You can subscribe to our new podcast, which allows you to listen to DW-RADIO features and news reports wherever you want. To find out more, please go to: www.dw-world.de/podcasting-election2005 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rescuers say hurricane help too late One week after Hurricane Katrina, exhausted relief workers in flooded New Orleans have begun street-by-street searches for remaining survivors and bodies. US health secretary Michael Leavitt said the death toll would probably climb into the thousands. DW's correspondent Stefan Bachenheimer says there are very few remaining residents in the city. Medics said elderly survivors were still dying because help had come too late. US President George W. Bush, who's facing criticism over the slow federal response, is due to visit the devastated region again this Monday. On Sunday in New Orleans police shot dead five men who had fired at workers on their way to repair a damaged dyke. Experts say it will take up to three months to pump the city dry. 130 dead in Indonesia plane crash An Indonesian passenger plane has crashed into the city of Medan on the island of Sumatra shortly after take-off, killing at least 130 people, including 30 on the ground. Officials said 16 passengers survived. There were 117 passengers and crew on board the Mandala Airlines Boeing-737. Dozens of bodies have been recovered. The plane, on its way to Jakarta, came down just 500 metres from the runway and crashed into a residential area. Mandala Airlines said the cause of the crash remained unclear. Barroso confirms EU, China trade deal European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has confirmed that China and the EU have resolved their dispute over Chinese textile exports to Europe. EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and his Chinese counterpart struck a deal unblocking up to 75 million Chinese garments held up in European ports for exceeding quota limits. Under the deal, half of those products will be allowed into the EU while the other half will be factored into next year's quota. The talks coincided with the start of an EU-China summit aimed at boosting trade ties and tackling the problems of global warming. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the current EU Council president, said the strategic partnership between China and the EU was vital. Three confess to starting Paris fire Three teenage girls have reportedly confessed to starting a fire over the weekend in a Paris suburb building that killed 16 people, including three children. The teenagers were taken in for questioning by police on Sunday. The fire in a high-rise block containing social welfare apartments was the third fatal blaze in the Paris area in 10 days. Sources close to the inquiry say a letter box in the hallway of the 18-storey building was set alight. Many victims were killed by fumes after opening their doors. Schroeder wins debate - Merkel ahead Two weeks ahead of Germany's election, surveys show that a televised debate on Sunday between Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and his challenger Angela Merkel was watched by nearly 21 million viewers. Polls of voters - many of them still undecided - found that Schroeder won the debate but that Merkel exceeded previous expectations. They clashed over Germany's unemployment, tax policy and Turkey's bid for EU membership. Surveys have shown Merkel and her conservatives still ahead on about 43 percent. That, combined with 7 percent for the liberal Free Democrats, would give the opposition parties a narrow majority. Schroeder's Social Democrats trail on 32 percent, with his current coalition partner, the Greens, also on 7 percent. Bush nominates conservative to court US President George W. Bush has nominated conservative judge John Roberts as chief justice of the US Supreme Court. Roberts will replace William Rehnquist who died of cancer on Saturday. Roberts had previously been named to succeed Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and was awaiting Senate confirmation. Bush said he hoped the Senate would confirm Roberts appointment within a month, when the Supreme Court is due to reconvene. The chief justice sets the tone for the court, which is often called upon to decide volatile issues like abortion and civil rights. Several killed in Austria gondola crash At least nine people have died following a cable car accident in Austria. The Austrian Press Agency said it appeared that building material fell from a helicopter transport, causing a gondola to crash to the ground near Soelden in Tyrol. This caused two other gondolas to start swinging violently, throwing several people out of the cable cars. A least four people were injured in the accident, two seriously. Germany's VW to cut thousands of jobs German carmaker Volkswagen has told workers it plans to cut thousands of jobs, despite its improved sales performance. Chairman Bernd Pischetsrieder told a meeting of workers that VW had several thousands more employees than it needed. VW shares rose sharply on the Frankfurt stock exchange following the news. The chairman did not say exactly how many jobs would be cut at Europe's biggest car manufacturer. But the German weekly magazine, Der Spiegel quoted an internal company document as saying that more than 10,000 jobs would be lost. Germany bans extremist groups German authorities have banned two Islamic groups for their involvement in supporting extremist organisations. Yatim Kinderhilfe - or Yatim Help for Children - was banned for allegedly raising money for the radical Hamas group while another was outlawed for its suspected support of the Kurdish rebel PKK group. Yatim Kinderhilfe was set up from the remnants of the extremist Al-Aqsa Foundation which Germany banned in 2002 150 injured in clashes in Turkey In Turkey at least 150 people have been injured in clashes between nationalists and supporters of the imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan. The violence broke out in the northwestern province of Bilecik after nationalists threw stones at a bus carrying the pro-Kurdish demonstrators. This follows clashes between the police and Kurdish demonstrators in Istanbul on Sunday. Kurdish rebels are fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey. Their leader, Ocalan, was sentenced to death in 1999 for treason but that sentence was later commuted to life in prison. Gunmen attack Iraq's interior ministry In Baghdad gunmen have fired at Iraq's interior ministry, killing two policemen. Police said the assault on the heavily-guarded building was made by up to 30 insurgents shortly after dawn. A ministry source said the gunmen used rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and automatic rifles. Meanwhile, Iraqi and US troops have battled insurgents in the northern Iraqi town of Tal Afar. The US military said at least seven rebels were killed by helicopter fire after they allegedly fired from inside a mosque. On Sunday, Iraq's government said the ousted dictator Saddam Hussein would go on trial on Oct. 19. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DW-WORLD offers you a special service for the Bundesliga. Get all the action on your mobile device and you'll never miss out on important news. For more information, please visit http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,1595,8733,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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