Deutsche Welle English Service News 01.10.2005, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Turkey Challenges EU to Be "World Player" Turkey's prime minister challenged the European Union on Sunday to be a "world player" rather than a "Christian club," as the bloc deliberated whether to open formal membership talks with the largely Muslim country. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1727881,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Time to play again! DW-WORLD's "Click Back" monthly review quiz for September is waiting for you and will test your knowledge of stories we've written. If you answer all questions correctly, you can also win a great prize. To play, please go to: http://www.dw-world.de/english ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Bali probe indicates sucide bombers Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has said that a first probe into Saturday's bombings on the resort island of Bali indicated that suicide bombers were responsible. The three bomb blasts in the beach city of Kuta and another resort killed at least 26 people and injured over 130. Nobody has yet claimed responsibility for the deadly explosions which were condemned by governments around the world. Austrialian Prime Minister John Howard said Indonesia's democracy was the true target of Saturday's bombings. It was almost three years ago when in Kuta, 202 people, including 88 Australian tourists, were killed in a series of attacks which the Indonesian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah was blamed for. Dresden voters go to polls Polls in the German city of Dresden are open for voters to cast the last ballots in the country's inconclusive national election. The delayed election, due to the death of a far-right candidate, is not expected to change the overall outcome of the national vote. Both current Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and his challenger, Angela Merkel, have staked their claim to become chancellor after their parties delivered a photo-finish in the September 18 elections. Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats lead Schroeder's Social Democrats by just three seats in the lower house of parliament, and are far short of a governing majority. EU foreign ministers talk about Turkey European Union foreign ministers are meeting in Luxembourg to try and convince Austria to drop its objection to Turkish membership in an emergency session before the EU was to begin entry talks with Ankara. Membership negotiations with Turkey had long been set to begin Monday but Austria balked at the last minute at opening entry talks with the predominantly Muslim nation and instead has suggested a "privileged partnership." Ankara wants nothing less than full EU membership. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said European leaders must decide whether the EU will rise to the challenge of becoming a global power or remain a "Christian club." Sharon to meet with Palestinian leader Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas have agreed to hold summit talks in the near future as they exchanged greetings for the Jewish new year and Ramadan. Sharon and Abbas had been tentatively scheduled to meet Sunday, but the summit was canceled after Israel launched an offensive against Palestinian militants last week. In a statement, Sharon's office said the two leaders agreed to tighten cooperation and to work together to advance the peace process. No date was given for the meeting. Israel suspended its week-long military offensive in the Gaza Strip on Sunday after militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad announced an end to their rocket attacks. Austria ruling party loses key province The center-right Austrian People's Party of Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel has lost its 60-year grip on power in Styria in provincial elections. With nearly all votes counted, the Social Democrats had 41.7 percent of the vote compared to 38.4 percent for the People's Party in the southern province. The election defeat for the Austrian People's Party means its has also loses its majority in the Bundesrat, the Austrian parliament's upper chamber. US intensifies offensive in western Iraq US forces have killed eight rebels in the first day of an offensive in western Iraq near the Syrian border. Some 1,000 US soldiers, supported by helicopter gunships, are involved in the operation that began on Saturday. In Baghdad mortar rounds landed near the interior ministry but no casualties were reported. The brother of Interior Minister Baqir Jabr Solagh was kidnapped on Saturday by unidentified gunmen as violence has been rising ahead of a constitutional referendum on October 15. Protest after Afghan candidate's death Hundreds of people have marched through Afghanistan's northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif protesting against the killing of a candidate in last month's landmark parliamentary election. The protesters accused provincial governor Atta Mohammed of involvement in the killing of parliamentary candidate Mohammad Ashraf Ramazan. Ramazan, from the ethnic Hazara community, was gunned down by the unidentified attackers on Tuesday. He had been running third in Balkh province's race for the seats in the new national assembly. The election was the first parliamentary vote in Afghanistan in more than 30 years. The final results are due this month. Pope opens meeting of world's bishops Pope Benedict XVI has opened a three-week meeting of the world's bishops with a Mass on Sunday in St. Peter's Basilica. The conference inaugurates his first major Vatican event since being elected on April 19. More than 250 bishops from around the world have come to the Vatican to take part in the Synod of Bishops. The official topic is Holy Communion but a range of issues, such as the priest shortage and dwindling Mass attendance, are expected to be touched upon. El Salvador volcano kills two A volcano eruption in western El Salvador has forced the evacuation of 2,000 people from three villages on the slopes of the 2,400 meter-high volcano Ilamatepec. The mountain began spewing lava and shooting ash 15 kilometres into the sky on Saturday, 100 years after its last eruption. At least two people have died in landslides caused by the Central American volcano, located about 70 kilometres from the country's capital, San Salvador. Werder Bremen win in Berlin In soccer: Bremen kept pace with league leaders Bayern Munich by beating Berlin 2-1. Defending champions Munich retained their perfect record at the new Allianz Arena with a 2-0 victory over Wolfsburg. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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. 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