Deutsche Welle English Service News 20. 09. 2005, 17:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
What Next After German Political Stalemate? The inconclusive poll has left Schröder and Merkel jockeying for power. By law, either one can become the next chancellor. But, it's the president who can eventually weigh in and name a candidate if talks drag on. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1715372,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Germany has voted: Get the results, background info and analysis on DW-WORLD: http://www.dw-world.de/election05 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Merkel to start coalition talks this week Germany's conservative leader Angela Merkel is to start talks with possible coalition partners on Thursday, according to party sources. She's to first meet Guido Westerwelle, the leader of the liberal Free Democrats, followed by talks with leaders of the Social Democrats. This follows the inconclusive outcome of Sunday's election which has left the country in political deadlock. Merkel, who leads the Christian Democrats, is today asking her party to re-elect her as parliamentary leader following her disappointing showing in the election. The CDU and its sister party, the CSU, won 35.2 percent of the vote, barely ahead of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats on 34.3 percent. Both Merkel and Schroeder have claimed the right to be chancellor and lead a new government. Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal dies Simon Wiesenthal, the veteran Holocaust survivor who helped to track down over 1,000 Nazi war criminals, has died at the age of 96. He died peacefully at home in the Austrian capital, Vienna. Wiesenthal was responsible for bringing numerous Nazi war criminals to justice, including Adolf Eichmann, one of the key architects of the Nazi plan to murder all Jews in Europe. Born in 1908 in what is now part of Ukraine, Wiesenthal was himself a victim of the Nazis. Although he survived incarceration in several concentration camps, nearly 90 members of his own family were killed. His funeral is to take place in Israel on Friday. Rights groups say Uzbek trial fake In Uzbekistan, the trial of 15 men accused of starting a May uprising that ended in a bloodbath has begun in the capital, Tashkent. Human rights groups have questioned the trial's credibility, claiming that the government was covering up a massacre. Prosecutors allege that the men are Islamic extremists who plotted a rebellion in the eastern town of Andizhan. Human rights groups accuse the Uzbek government of forcing fake confessions from people who took part in the May 13 protests. Witnesses, including Western journalists, said troops shot dead hundreds of unarmed demonstrators. Uzbekistan has ignored repeated international calls for an independent inquiry into the killings of civilians. Ukraine PM candidate rejected Ukraine's parliament has rejected President Viktor Yushchenko's nominee for new prime minister. Yury Yekhanurov only managed to garner 223 votes, three less than necessary to be confirmed. Earlier Yushchenko had urged parliamentarians to accept his candidate in order to avoid further chaos. Yushchenko dismissed the previous government, led by Yulia Tymoshenko, earlier this month amid allegations of corruption. UN says Vatican sheltering war criminals The top United Nations prosecutor says the Vatican is helping Croatia's most wanted war crimes suspect evade capture. Carla del Ponte, chief prosecutor for war crimes in the former Yugoslavia, said she believes General Ante Gotovina is hiding in a monastery in Croatia. She also says the Vatican has refused to help in the search for him despite being in a position to do so. The Vatican has refused to comment. Gotovina has been charged with the deaths of 150 Serb civilians in 1995. The European Union recently cited Zagreb's failure to arrest him as the reason behind delaying talks on Croatia's entry into bloc. EU steps up pressure on Iran Iran's top negotiator says Tehran may stop allowing snap inspections of its nuclear facilities if it is referred to the United Nations Security Council. Ali Larijani said Iran would also consider pulling out of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty if what he called the "language of force" continues. The UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, is discussing Tehran's activities, which Iran insists are for peaceful purposes. The United States and the European Union are calling for Iran to be referred to the Security Council. Iran, which resumed its sensitive uranium conversion work in August, insists it has a right to produce nuclear energy. British soliders freed in Iraq Two British soldiers arrested by Iraqi police have been freed in a raid by British troops. The British Defence Ministry said the police had handed the two men over to a militia group after being arrested in the southern town of Basra on Monday. Opposition leaders in Britain have expressed concern that the incident shows Iraqi police are colluding with extremist militants. The events were triggered by the arrest of a prominent Muslim cleric by British troops on the weekend. Angry protesters took to the streets and burnt two British tanks following the arrest. OPEC agrees to release more oil The oil cartel OPEC has agreed to provide more oil if demand surges. Following a meeting in the Austrian capital, Vienna, OPEC said it would offer an extra two billion barrels of oil a day starting from October for three months. The announcement by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries came as a new hurricane threatened to damage oil production facilities on the Gulf of Mexico coastline. Fresh hurricane threatens US US authorities say tropical storm Rita has now reached hurricane strength as it moves toward the south-eastern states. Heavy rain and winds are lashing the Florida Keys. Hurricane warnings are in effect for the islands, as well as the southern coast of Florida and northwest Cuba. Rita is moving northwest towards the United States and could make landfall within the next 24 hours. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has meanwhile suspended a plan for residents to return to the city devastated by Hurricane Katrina three weeks ago. He said that, with a new storm menacing the southern US coast, the conditions had changed. Sharon accused of illegal contributions The Israeli Attorney General is to investigate complaints that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon allegedly took illegal election donations. The move follows reports by Israeli media which accuse Sharon of receiving contributions above the allowed limit during a recent visit to the United States. Sharon has denied the allegations. They come less than a week ahead of a crucial vote in Sharon's Likud party. The party is to decide whether to call an early leadership vote in November. Al-Qaeda claims London attacks The al-Qaeda terror network has for the first time confirmed that it carried out the London suicide bombings on July 7 in which 52 people died. In a videotape aired on the Arab TV station al-Jazeera, the group's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri said the bombings were a result of Britain's actions in Iraq and elsewhere. On the tape Zawahri also criticised Afghanistan's parliamentary election saying they were not free. N.Korea demands nuclear reactors One day after reaching an apparent breakthrough at six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear ambitions, Pyongyang now says it refuses to give up its weapons programme until it is given light-water reactors to produce electricity. The communist regime said the United States must recognise Pyongyang's right to a civilian nuclear programme by providing the reactors as soon as possible. At the six-party talks in Beijing on Monday, Pyongyang said it would rejoin the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and allow United Nations inspectors back into the country. Japan called North Korea's demand for reactors unacceptable. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The waiting is over for fans of German soccer as the Bundesliga has started 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/
