Deutsche Welle
English Service News
20. 10. 2005, 17:00 UTC
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Angela Merkel is set to become Germany's next chancellor as Christian
Union parties and the Social Democrats seem headed for a grand
coalition. Read all about the latest developments in the formation
of Germany's next government on DW-WORLD'S election site:
www.dw-world.de/election05
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Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
To Hamper Flu, Germans Lock Up Fowl
As EU veterinarians meet to set a unified strategy to combat the
spreading avian flu, Germany took a drastic measure of its own:
keeping farmed bird indoors in order to prevent infection
from migrating ones.
To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the
internet address below:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1746594,00.html
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Annan appeals for help for Pakistan
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has appealed for more
help for quake-hit northern Pakistan to prevent a second wave of
deaths due to disease, hunger and cold. While the confirmed
earthquake death toll is now close to 50,000, no one knows how many
more were killed in remote areas which have still not been reached.
UN emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland is urging the NATO
military alliance to launch a massive airlift to evacuate the tens
of thousands of people trapped in Pakistani Kashmir before winter
sets in.
Bush, Abbas call for push on roadmap
After meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Washington, US
President George W. Bush has said that in order to reach peace in
the Mideast, the Palestinian Authority must crack down on violent
extremists. He also said that Israel must halt settlement expansion
and the US would do its part to aid in negotiations. For his part,
Abbas urged Israel to end settlement activities in Palestinian
territories and halt construction of the West Bank barrier. He
reiterated that it was the time to move forward on the so-called
roadmap for peace in the Mideast.
EU health ministers hold bird flu talks
European Union health ministers are gathered for emergency talks in
London to discuss measures to stop the spread of bird flu. After the
deadly Asian strain of the virus was found in Romania and Turkey,
there are growing fears that the disease may spread into the EU.
Earlier, the 25-member bloc said it planned to extend a ban on
imports of birds from Russia after an outbreak of avian flu was
found south of Moscow. The EU crisis meeting comes as a preliminary
test on a suspected case of bird flu from Greece proved negative,
although final test results are not due until next week. The virus
is known to be potentially lethal to humans after killing about 60
people in Asia since 2003, the latest of them a farmer in Thailand
who died on Wednesday.
Germany orders birds kept inside
The German Agriculture Ministry has issued a nation-wide order
requiring farmers to keep their poultry stocks indoors, in an effort
to minimise the risk of a bird flu outbreak. Agriculture Minister
Juergen Trittin said the recent cases of bird flu discovered in
eastern Europe left the ministry with no choice but to take action.
The nation-wide order to keep poultry stocks indoors takes effect on
Saturday.
Wilma weakens, moves towards Mexico
Hurricane Wilma continues to threaten countries bordering the Gulf
of Mexico forcing tens of thousands of residents from Mexico, Cuba
and the US state of Florida to evacuate inland. Wilma was the
strongest storm on record but has weakened to a Category 4 hurricane
as it moves towards the Yucatan Peninsula. At least 11 people have
been killed in Haiti by floods and landslides. Authorities in
Nicaragua and Honduras have issued hurricane alerts. Wilma is the
12th major storm of the Atlantic's hurricane season, one of the
worst on record after the devastation left by Katrina, Rita and
Dennis along the US Gulf Coast.
Iraq arrests Saddam nephew
Iraq's security forces have arrested a nephew of Saddam Hussein in
the former dictator's hometown of Tikrit. The government said Yasser
Sabawi, who was already taken into custody on Wednesday, is
suspected of funnelling overseas money to Iraqi insurgents. Interior
Minister Baker Solagh said Sabawi was the finance link to the
country's insurgency. Meanwhile, the head of the Arab League has
started a three-day visit to Iraq. Amr Moussa is making his first
trip to Baghdad since the US-led invasion in 2003. Arab League
officials said the visit was aimed at promoting national
reconciliation. Moussa is expected to have meetings with top Iraqi
leaders, including Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari and President
Jalal Talabani.
al Zarqawi aide killed in Iraq
US forces have reported killing a top al Qaeda leader connected to
Iraqi insurgency frontman Abu Musab al Zarqawi. The US military said
Sa'ad Ali Firas Muntar al Dulami, also known as Abu Abdullah, was
already killed in a series of raids on Saturday near the western
town of Ramadi. Another 11 militants were killed in the fighting. On
Thursday, four more US soldiers were killed in two separate
incidents in Iraq. Three servicemen died and one other was injured
when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in the town of Balad, north
of Baghdad. Further north, in Tikrit, another was killed when his
vehicle caught fire.
Azerbaijani ex-economy minister arrested
Government officials in the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan say
they have arrested sacked economy minister Farhad Aliyev and his
brother, an oil company boss, for plotting to overthrow the
government. In a statement, authorities said that the two men were
suspected of conspiring with exiled opposition leader Rasul Guliyev
to forcibly seize power in the Caspian Sea country. Farhad Aliyev
was dismissed without explanation on Wednesday from his post as
Economic Development Minister. His brother, Rafiq, is head of
Azpetrol, the country's biggest private oil company.
Khodorkovsky ends up in Siberia camp
Convicted Russian billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky has been sent to
a prison colony in Siberia to serve his 8-year sentence. Lawyers and
supporters of the founder of the Yukos oil company said the move is
a continuation of a Kremlin campaign to isolate him as an outspoken
critic of President Vladimir Putin. Penal officials said the
42-year-old tycoon was now at the IK-10 camp near the Chinese
border, some 6,000 kilometres from Moscow. Khodorkovsky was
convicted alongside co-defendant Platon Lebedev in May on charges of
embezzlement, fraud and tax evasion.
German 2006 growth forecast cut
Germany's six leading economic forecasting institutes have cut their
forecast for growth of the country's economy in 2006 to 1.2 percent.
That's down from an earlier forecast of 1.5 percent. The institutes
said in a joint statement that recovery of the economy continued to
be sluggish. They also predicted that Germany's deficit would again
breach the eurozone's budgetary deficit ceiling of three percent.
Annan to get report on Hariri murder
German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis is to present his report on the
assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri to
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan later in the day. Mehlis
has been heading the UN's probe into Hariri's death in a bomb blast
last February. Twenty other people were also killed in the bombing
in the Lebanese capital, Beirut. The killing sparked international
outrage and mass protests in Beirut that eventually persuaded Syria
to pull all of its troops out of Lebanon, after a military presence
of almost three decades. Many have blamed Syria for Hariri's murder,
but Damascus has denied any involvement.
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