Deutsche Welle
English Service News
19. 09. 2005, 17:00 UTC
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Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
German Parties Mull Coalition Options
Germany's main political parties began reaching out to their political
opponents after Sunday's election left all of them without a majority.
Both the SPD and CDU stuck to their claim to the chancellory.
To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the
internet address below:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1714637,00.html
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Germany has voted: Get the results, background info and analysis
on DW-WORLD: http://www.dw-world.de/election05
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Germany in a deadlock over election
Germany's parliamentary election is still in a deadlock, with the
main parties failing to achieve a majority. Preliminary final
results give Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union
and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union 35.2
percent of the vote. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats
won three seats less than the conservatives, trailing by less than a
percentage point. Merkel and Schroeder are now scrambling for
potential coalition partners. The Greens and the liberal Free
Democrats are now expected to be wooed by Merkel and Schroeder. But
leaders from both of these smaller parties have rejected a three-way
coalition. Schroeder has not ruled out the possibility of a grand
coalition with the conservatives, but only if he remains chancellor.
Mixed reaction to German outcome
Outside Germany reactions to the election stalemate have been mixed.
EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Germany's leaders
must end the uncertainty quickly because a dynamic Germany was
needed to revitalise Europe's economy. French Finance Minister
Thierry Breton forecast that reform efforts in Germany would not be
interrupted. He said both aspirants, Angela Merkel and Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder, had "build their legitmacy" on implementing
"strong reforms". Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged
Merkel to rethink her rejection of Turkey's bid for full EU
membership. Merkel had campaigned instead for a "partnership."
N. Korea vows to end nuclear aims
North Korea has said it's prepared to give up its nuclear activities
and rejoin the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. The breakthrough
came at six-party talks in Beijing, which also included South Korea,
Japan, China, Russia and the US. North Korea also said it would
allow inspections of its nuclear sites. Mohammed ElBaradei, the head
of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency, said he hoped
inspectors would be allowed back into North Korea as quickly as
possible. In return, North Korea is to be allowed to develop its
peaceful use of nuclear energy. The communist regime was also
promised electricity, oil and other aid.
IAEA meets on Iran nuclear programme
Talks are underway in the Austrian capital, Vienna on the
possibility of referring Iran to the United Nations Security Council
for potential sanctions over its nuclear ambitions. Delegates from
Germany, Britain and France are already said to be working on a
draft resolution to be presented to the International Atomic Energy
Agency's board of governors for a decision later this week. This
comes after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech to the UN
General Assembly in New York on Saturday, in which he insisted that
Tehran would continue its uranium enrichment activities. Enriched
uranium can be used to produce nuclear weapons.
Bombing in Iraq - journalist murdered
In Iraq suicide car bombers have killed eight people on a road used
by Shiite pilgrims as they headed to the holy city of Kerbala. The
attack adds to tensions after more than 200 people were killed last
week in Baghdad. In Basra demonstrators angry at the arrest of two
suspects have set fire to two British tanks. Also in Basra an Iraqi
journalist who worked for Western media has been murdered. He was
abducted on Sunday. Iraqi's government say an Iraqi court has
sentenced a nephew of Saddam Hussein to life in prison on charges of
funding rebels and making bombs. Ayman Sabawi was captured in March.
In Britain Anglican bishops have proposed a meeting with Muslim
clerics to apologise for the US-led invasion of Iraq. The bishops
said the West had committed a "long litany of errors" in Iraq.
Interpol conference in Berlin
The international police agency Interpol has begun a conference in
Berlin attended by 600 experts. The agency's New York-based general
secretary Ronald Noble said Interpol's listings included 8,000
terror suspects and nearly eight million passports. The head of
Germany's BKA federal police agency Joerg Ziercke said 90 percent of
Interpol's 182 member nations could now exchange data on-line.
German Interior Minister Otto Schily said Asia's tsunami and recent
hurricanes showed the need for a global database to better identify
missing persons. The four-day conference will also focus on
trafficking in drugs and migrants, and child pornography. The
congress precedes Germany's hosting of soccer's World Cup next year.
West praises Afghan poll
The United Nations and western countries have praised Afghanistan's
first parliamentary election in more than three decades. NATO chief
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said millions of men and women had been able
to vote freely and democratically. He added that NATO would continue
to secure the country's reconstruction. The vote was held amid tight
security with more than 100,000 Afghan and international troops
deployed to protect polling stations. Eleven people were reported
killed by Taliban militants. Voter turnout was said to be around 50
percent, well below last year's presidential vote. Results aren't
expected until early next month.
New Zealand in post-election limbo
New Zealand is in limbo after its close-run election as Prime
Minister Helen Clark tries to form her third government. She's begun
talks with minor parties. On Saturday Clark's centre-left Labour
Party won 50 seats. Close behind on 49 seats are her rivals, the
opposition conservative National Party led by Don Brash, a former
central bank governor. He has refused to concede defeat. With 122
seats in parliament, neither party can govern on its own. The
outcome will depend on potential coalition partners such as the
nationalist New Zealand First Party, the Green Party, and the Maori
Party. Still uncounted are 218,000 special votes, including those
from New Zealanders abroad. The final result is due on 1 October.
Deutsche Post to buy British Exel
Germany's logistics concern Deutsche Post says it plans to buy Exel,
a British-based counterpart firm for 5.5 billion euros. Exel has
112,000 employees in 135 countries. Deutsche Post chief Klaus
Zumwinkel said Exel's inclusion would make Deutsche Post the world
number one in post and logistics, with half a million employees
worldwide. The German concern is offering Exel shareholders cash
plus new Post shares. Under German law Deutsche Post's traditional
monopoly to handle letters will be reduced in 2007. It's switched
increasingly to logistics such as parcel and freight deliveries.
Siemens to cut 2,400 jobs
German industrial giant Siemens is to cut at least 2,400 jobs over
the next two years. Most of those cuts will be made at the
Munich-based company's Siemens Business Services unit. In a
statement, Siemens said it hoped the move would help to slash its
costs by some 1.5 billion euros. The company has a wide range of
products from power stations to light bulbs.
NASA planning Moon visit by 2020
The US space agency NASA says it plans to sent four astronauts to
the moon in 2018 using a new launch rocket and spacecraft to replace
the ageing shuttles. The last manned mission to the moon was Apollo
17 in 1972. NASA director Michael Griffin said the US would invest
104 billion dollars. Up to two moon missions per year would become a
springboard for much longer manned flights to the planet Mars.
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