Deutsche Welle English Service News 25. 09. 2005, 17:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Schröder Sticks to Leadership Claim Chancellor Schröder on Sunday resisted mounting pressure to step aside to break the political deadlock gripping Germany following an inconclusive general election one week ago. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1721549,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Germans have voted, but political parties are not scrambling to find a majority in parliament to form a governing coalition. Get all the news and background analysis on DW-WORLD'S election site: www.dw-world.de/election05 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Flood concerns grow in US Gulf area Concerns are growing in the US Gulf region that days of rain could lead to severe flooding following Hurricane Rita which hit the states of Texas and Louisiana. Rita has now been downgraded to a tropical storm, but was packing torrential rain and winds of up to 200 kilometres per hour when it made landfall on Saturday leaving a trail of destruction. The hurricane has knocked out power in many towns in both states, leaving almost a million residents without electricity. So far one death has been reported in Mississipi from a tornado resulting from the hurricane. The city of New Orleans is also partly under water again only three weeks after Hurricane Katrina flooded most of the city. Iran says IAEA resolution is illegal Iran has described as illegal an EU resolution passed by the United Nations' nuclear watchdog that could see Tehran being referred to the UN Security Council. As a result, Iran's leadership has threatened to stop the spot checks of its nuclear facilities by UN inspectors. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said that Iran would not give up its right to possess nuclear technology. Saturday's resolution was passed at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors in Vienna. It finds Tehran in breach of a number of nuclear safeguards. But it would only see Iran referred to the Security Council after IAEA Director General Mohammed ElBaradei completes another report on the country's nuclear programme. The United States has accused Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons. Blair denies Iraq troops pull-out date British Prime Minister Tony Blair has denied reports that UK forces will start withdrawing from Iraq next May. Speaking at the opening of his Labour Party's five-day conference in Brighton, Blair said the troops' presence in Iraq was also vital to British security interests. The opposition Liberal Democrats as well as Labour's left-wing members have demanded an exit strategy from the government. Meanwhile in Iraq at least 17 people have been killed in several suicide bomb attacks in and around the capital Baghdad. Swiss voters support EU migration Final results from a referendum in Switzerland show that the majority of voters have backed a motion allowing workers from the European Union's 10 new member states onto the Swiss labour market. About 56 percent of voters were in support of the government's proposal which would enable workers from eight Eastern European countries as well as those from Cyprus and Malta to travel and work freely in Switzerland, which is itself not a member of the EU. Schroeder in favour of grand coalition German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has said he's in favour of a grand coalition government between his Social Democrats and the conservative Christian Democrats. However in an interview with public TV, Schroeder said he would not make any concessions at this point regarding the leadership of such an alliance. Neither he nor his CDU challenger, Angela Merkel, are prepared to back down over who should be Germany's next chancellor after last Sunday's inconclusive election outcome. Earlier the SPD leadership said there would be no formal talks with the CDU on a grand coalition until after next Sunday's vote in Dresden. One district there had its polls delayed until next week after the death of a local candidate. The two parties are to hold a second round of exploratory talks on Wednesday. Poles vote in parliamentary election Voters in Poland are casting their ballots in a general election this Sunday. Recent opinion polls suggest the former communist party, the Democratic Left Alliance, is likely to be defeated due to voter discontent over high unemployment and a series of corruption scandals. Two centre-right parties, the Civic Platform and the Law and Justice Party, are expected to take as much as 60 per cent of the votes. The two parties plan to rule together but they have fought bitterly to clinch first place and a leading role in the next coalition government. Likud party to consider leadership vote Members of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud Party are gathering for two days of talks in Jerusalem that could lead to an early vote on his leadership. The party's central committee is to vote on Monday on a motion to hold a leadership primary in November. Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is challenging Sharon over his decision to pull out of the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank. Netanyahu argues that Sharon's disengagement plan has encouraged Palestinian militants to launch more attacks on Israelis. The meeting comes as the Israeli army moves to quell rocket attacks by militants on Israeli border towns. The army has responded with air strikes and the arrests of more than 150 Palestinians. US chopper crashes in Afghanistan A US military helicopter has crashed in Afghanistan, killing all five crew members on board. A US military spokesman told reporters in Kabul that the CH-47 Chinook crashed near the south central district of Dai Chophan after dropping off troops during an anti-militant operation. He said it was too early to say whether hostile fire or mechanical failure was to blame. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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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