Deutsche Welle
English Service News
01. 12. 2005, 17:00 UTC
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Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
European Central Bank Raises Interest Rates
The European Central Bank (ECB) has raised its key interest rates by
a quarter of a percentage point, the first time in two and a half
years that the bank has changed euro zone rates and the first raise
in five years.
To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the
internet address below:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1798615,00.html
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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
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UN calls for exceptional AIDS response
To mark World Aids Day, the United Nations has called for an
"exceptional" response to the pandemic. UNAIDS Executive Director
Peter Piot said from Indonesia that the world needs to recognise the
exceptional global threat posed by AIDS and embrace an equally
exceptional response. The number of people living with HIV, the
virus that causes AIDS, had reached an estimated 40.3 million
people. Nearly half of them are women. Meanwhile, Indian Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh called on his people to shed their
inhibitions and start talking openly about safe sex. India says it
has 5.13 million people living with HIV/AIDS, the second largest
number after South Africa.
EU acknowledges Ukraine economy
The European Union has agreed to acknowledge Ukraine as a free
market economy, a status that improves the country's trade ties with
its western neighbors. At an EU-Ukraine summit, European Commission
President Jose Manuel Barroso announced that the move will help
Ukrainian companies break into the EU market. British Prime Minister
Tony Blair, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, called
the decision "progress toward a shared future". Free market status
is a major achievement for Ukraine's pro-Western President Viktor
Yushchenko, who has struggled to prove that his economic efforts
were bringing results.
US to reply to EU secret prison query
The United States has promised a "timely" reply to a European Union
demand for answers to reports of secret US-run prisons for terrorism
suspects in Europe. Britain, which holds the EU's rotating
presidency, sent a two-paragraph letter to Washington on Tuesday
after weeks of mounting outcry in Europe over reports that the CIA
has been holding terror suspects in Soviet-era compounds in Eastern
Europe. The US State Department did not confirm or deny the reports,
nor did it set a deadline for a reply. Nearly a dozen European
countries, including Germany, have launched their own investigations
into alleged CIA flights transporting detainees to secret prisons
via their territories.
Egyptian police kill opposition voter
The third and final round of elections in Egypt has been marred by
renewed violence. The Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights
reported that police killed one man and wounded dozens of others
after opening fire at opposition supporters waiting to vote. The
death was the third related to the parliamentary elections, which
began in November and end next week. Riot police have blocked many
polling stations in an effort to weaken the Muslim Brotherhood's
chances of winning seats. On the eve of Thursday's vote, hundreds of
members of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's strongest opposition
group, were arrested. More than 10 million Egyptians are eligible to
vote.
Calm in Ramadi after insurgent attack
Relative calm appears to have returned to the Iraqi city of Ramadi,
after insurgents attacked a US base and local government buildings.
Earlier, residents said some 400 heavily armed men had fired mortar
rounds and rockets in the city, which is west of the capital
Baghdad. They also distributed leaflets saying that al Qaeda in Iraq
was taking control of Ramadi. Reporters in the city say most of the
militants have now dispersed. A US military spokesperson said there
was no damage or casualties as a result of the attacks. Meanwhile,
US authorities announced that three US troops had been killed north
of Baghdad, two by enemy fire and one in a car accident.
Germany rejects hostage ultimatum
Germany is continuing efforts to secure the release of a German
woman kidnapped in Iraq. But Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that
the country would not allow itself to be blackmailed by extremists
holding archaeologist and aid worker Susanne Osthoff. According to a
video supplied to a German television station, the kidnappers have
threatened to kill Osthoff unless Germany stops offering support to
the Iraqi government. Germany has no troops in Iraq but trains Iraqi
soldiers in Germany and in the United Arab Emirates.
Bangladesh bomb kills 2, injures dozens
In Bangladesh, a suicide bomber has killed at least two people, and
wounded more than 25 others in an attack near a court house in
Gazipur disctrict. The bomb went off as police checked those
entering the district administrator's office. Earlier in the day,
police said they defused a powerful bomb at an administrative
building in the town of Narayanganj, 16 km east of the capital
Dhaka. Lawyers across Bangladesh held a day-long strike to call for
greater security for the judiciary following Tuesday's twin suicide
bombings, which killed 11 and at injured at least 50.
South Africa to allow gay marriage
South Africa's highest court has ruled in favour of same-sex
marriages. The Constitutional Court told parliament to amend
marriage laws to include same-sex partners within a year. The court
said if parliament did not act, the legal definition of marriage
would be automatically changed to include same-sex unions. The step
would make South Africa the first African nation to approve gay
marriage. Same sex unions are currently allowed in Belgium, the
Netherlands, Spain and Canada.
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