Deutsche Welle English Service News October 08th 2005, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Schröder: Russia Visit not the End German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder denied that he was making a swan song foreign trip as head of Germany's government after meeting with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1734511,00.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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Major quake shakes subcontinent At least one thousand people have been killed in a powerful earthquake that shook Pakistan and parts of India and Afghanistan. The death toll is expected to rise, as hundreds of people remain trapped in the rubble of collapsed buildings and in landslides triggered by the quake. It measured 7.6 on the Richter scale and was centred near the Pakistani-Indian border of Kashmir. The German government has offered immediate aid to the earthquake victims, while the European Union said up to three million euros could be approved within a day if requested by agencies working on the ground. Death toll from Huricane Stan surges In Central America, mudslides and floods sparked by Hurricane Stan have killed hundreds of people. More than 500 people died in Guatemala alone. The storm and its aftermath also devastated Mexico and El Salvador. Tens of thousands of people have been left homeless. Rescue workers are racing to reach isolated areas where food, water and medicine are running out. Heavy rains are expected to continue in the region throughout the weekend. US forces wrap up Iraqi offensive The US military in Iraq has said its troops had finished a six-day offensive in the western, Sunni dominated Al-Anbar province. In a statement, the US army said "more than 50 Al-Qaeda terrorists" were killed in the operation. The offensive came ahead of a referendum on Iraq's new constitution. The October 15 vote on the charter will pave the way to general elections in December. Meanwhile, the Iraqi government has announced several nationwide measures to ensure security during the referendum. They include a curfew from October 13-17, partial closures of international and provincial borders, as well as air and sea ports and a ban on everyone but security forces carrying weapons. NYC mayor defends security decision New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is defending his decision to put his city on alert following a threat to New York's subway system. Security was stepped up and two subway lines were temporarily shut down after what officials described as a specific and credible threat of a terrorist attack in the coming days. But federal officials in Washington say the threat was based on intelligence of doubtful credibility. In Washington, tourists were also evacuated from the Washington Monument after authorities there received a bomb threat. Police searched the monument but failed to find any explosives. Romania reports new bird flu cases Romania has reported new cases of bird flu in the Danube delta. Health officials said three birds had tested positive for the virus in the village of Smardan after the first cases emerged in another village on Friday. Authorities have begun to cull hundreds of birds to prevent the disease from spreading, and quarantines have been imposed on the two villages and five others where suspicious bird deaths had occurred in recent days. Further tests, including in Britain, are planned to discover whether it was the same strain which has killed 65 people and millions of birds in Asia since 2003. New German chancellor still undecided While visiting Moscow on Friday, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder reassured Russian President Vladimir Putin that relations between their two countries will remain strong regardless of who becomes Germany's next chancellor. Coalition talks between Germany's socialist SPD and conservative CDU ended on Thursday in Berlin with a statement that a final decision on the chancellorship could be announced on Sunday. Parliamentary elections three weeks ago left neither major German party with a ruling majority, resulting in negotiations over forming a so-called Grand Coalition government. UNHCR sends delegation to Morocco The UN refugee agency has sent a delegation to Morocco to try to resolve the crisis involving two Spanish enclaves on the north African coast. Spain has begun deporting refugees who have reached the enclaves, but the UN's refugee agency - the UNHCR - believes some of the thousands of mainly sub-Saharan Africans surging for Melilla and Ceuta have a right to seek asylum. Some 70 Africans were taken from Melilla on Friday and sent back to Morocco. IAEA and El Baradei win Peace Nobel This year's Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded jointly to the United Nations nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency and its Egyptian Director General Mohamed ElBaradei. The Nobel committee cited the UN agency for helping to limit the spread of nuclear weapons and ensuring the safe use of peaceful nuclear energy. At a press conference in Vienna, ElBaradei said he was humbled by the honor, adding that the Nobel Peace Prize strengthens his resolve. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. You can even listen to all programmes as audio-on-demand. Serbian News Network - SNN [email protected] http://www.antic.org/
