Deutsche Welle English Service News 05. 10. 2005, 17:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Blair, Putin Pledge Anti-Terror Cooperation British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Russia's President Vladimir Putin pledged Wednesday to cooperate closely in fighting terrorism, with Blair hailing the countries' common "spirit of determination" on the issue. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1731106,00.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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- At least ten dead in Iraq bomb attack A car bomb explosion has killed at least 10 people and wounded 40 others in the Iraqi town of Hilla, south of Baghdad. Police said the blast occurred near a mosque as Shiite Moslems were gathering for evening prayer at the start of their holy month of Ramadan. On Friday, Hilla was the site of another car bomb attack at a vegetable market that also killed at least 10 people. Iraq reverses referendum rule change Iraq's National Assembly has voted to reverse last-minute changes it had made to rules for next week's referendum on a new constitution. On Sunday, the Assembly had changed the rules so that two-thirds of registered voters, rather than actual voters, in three provinces would have had to reject the measure for it to fail. Many saw this as an alienation of the Sunni minority, who dominate in three provinces. Now, as before the change, the constitution would be rejected if two-thirds of the voters in three provinces who actually turn out vote "no". Headway made in coalition talks There is headway being made in the possible formation of a grand coaltion in Germany. The party heads of the Social Democrats and the two parties that make up the conservatives, the CDU and CSU, will meet in private talks with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on Thursday. It is expected that, in the four-way meeting, the still unsolved issue of who will become chancellor will be discussed. CDU leader Angela Merkel said after exploratory talks on Wednesday the two sides had found common ground. Schroeder repeated after Wednesday's negotiations that he would not stand in the way of the formation of a stable coalition between the conservatives and his SPD. Red Cross report criticises tsunami relief The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has said the United Nations failed to adequately coordinate the relief effort in the wake of last year's Indian Ocean tsunami. The Red Cross World Disasters Report highlights poor information sharing, the amount of funds available and competition among relief agencies for the donated cash and duplication of effort among charities as major drawbacks. It said the death toll from natural disasters soared in 2004 to around 250,000, mainly due to the tsunami. That number is about three times that of the previous year. Hundreds charge Spain's enclave For the fifth time in a week African migrants in Morocco have rushed the razor-wire border to enter Spain's North African enclave of Melilla. Police said 65 got through, some of whom were injured. On Monday, 350 Africans crossed into Melilla in a bid to reach Europe. Five died last week in a similar attempt to reach Ceuta, another Spanish enclave in Africa. The European Union decided to send experts to examine Morocco's border controls and it also offered funding. Spain is planning to erect extra fencing and reinforce the border with hundreds more security guards. Five Thai soliders ambushed in south Five Thai soldiers have been gunned down in an ambush in the country's south. A Thai army spokesman said the soldiers were killed late Wednesday at a military checkpoint by presumed Islamic insurgents in the Thai province of Narathiwat. More than 960 people have been killed in southern Thailand since the beginning of the year. While Thailand is mostly Buddhist, the southern part of the country is inhabited by Muslims. Search on for 5 men over Bali attacks Indonesian police are searching for five men from the Javanese province of Banten as part of investigations into Saturday's deadly bombings on the holiday island of Bali. The attacks on three crowded restaurants killed around 25 people and injured more than 100 others. Indonesia's official Antara news service quoted Banten's police chief as saying the five suspects were members of a ring led by Imam Samudra, who has been sentenced to death for his role in the 2002 Bali bombings which killed over 200 people. The police chief said three of the five men had already served jail sentences for possession of explosives and had been under surveillance. Blair, Putin vow action on terrorism Russian President Vladimir Putin and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have pledged to cooperate closely in fighting terrorism. Following talks in London between the two leaders, Blair told reporters that both nations shared the same determination not to be defeated by the terrorist threat. During his short visit, Putin also gave awards to British rescuers who helped save the crew of a Russian mini-submarine trapped on the ocean floor in August. He also became the first foreign leader to visit the top-security Cobra complex, where the responses to civil emergencies such as terrorist attacks are coordinated. Big rise in HIV infections in Germany The number of new infections with the HIV virus that causes AIDS has risen sharply in Germany in the first half of this year. The Robert Koch Institute in Berlin said there had been a 20 percent rise compared with the same period last year, with over a thousand new cases. Most of those infected were homosexual men aged between 25 and 45. The German health minister, Ulla Schmidt, has said the development is worrying and has called for more prevention. Earlier this week, the UN warned that Europe had to renew its fight against AIDS. New cases of HIV have nearly doubled in the European Union since 1996. Ex-Guantanamo prisoner sentenced The only Spanish citizen to have been held at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba has been sentenced to six years in prison. A National Court official said he was convicted of collaborating with an armed organization. Hamed Abderrahman Ahmed, who was captured in Afghanistan in late 2001, was returned to Spain in February. During his trial last month, he was accused of having gone to Afghanistan to train in an al Qaeda terrorist training camp. He denied all links with the organisation. Tajik opposition leader jailed Tajikistan's Supreme Court has jailed a top opposition leader for 23 years on eight different charges. The court found Democratic Party leader Makhmadrouzi Iskandarov guilty of terrorism, attempted murder and illegal arms possession. Opposition in the Central Asian country said the sentence would benefit President Imomali Rakhmanov who has ruled Tajikistan since 1992 and will seek re-election next year. UN Youth report - 130 million illiterate A United Nations report on youth says 130 million of the world's young people are illiterate and a record 88 million are unemployed. The UN Youth Report adds, however, that on the whole the world's youth are the best educated generation in history. And, it says, global media and the bright lights of cities shape the lives of the world's 1.2 billion youth more than their own families and communities. The report, which is published every second year, coincides with a gathering of youth representatives at the UN. Frenchman, Americans win Nobel Frenchman Yves Chauvin and Americans Robert H. Grubbs and Richard R. Schrock have won the 2005 Nobel Chemistry Prize. The trio received the prize for a breakthrough in carbon chemistry that opens the way to smarter drugs and environmentally-friendlier plastics. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bundesliga is in full swing 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/
