Deutsche Welle English Service News 04. 12. 2005, 17:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Week in Germany: The best from German culture, business and politics in a convenient weekly wrap-up. Read and subscribe at www.germany.info/twig ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: Merkel Issues Emergency Appeal for German Hostage in Iraq German Chancellor Angela Merkel issued a joint appeal with other leading figures Sunday for the release of a German archaeologist abducted in Iraq as the reported deadline for meeting the kidnappers' demands passed. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1801267,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Attacks fail on Saddam trial and Allawi Iraqi officials have foiled a plot to launch an attack on the courthouse where Saddam Hussein is being tried. A Sunni Arab insurgent group, the Revolution of 1920, planned to shoot rockets at the building while court is in session on Monday. It is inside the Green Zone, a strongly protected part of Baghdad where government and US offices are located. Also, policemen fired shots at a crowd of a dozen people on Sunday who were trying to prevent the Iraqi Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, from entering a shrine in the city of Najaf. Allawi said it was an assassination attempt. The protestors hurled sandals and shoes at him, which is a serious insult in Iraqi culture. Allawi is a secular politician who is up for election next week against Shiite Islamist parties. Najaf is a Shiite holy city, which fought a siege against Iraqi troops over a year ago when Allawi was already prime minister. Merkel appeals for hostage's release German Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged the kidnappers of a German woman seized in Iraq to release her immediately. In an interview with Germany's Bild am Sonntag newspaper, Merkel said the government was doing all it could to rescue Susanne Osthoff and her driver, who disappeared nine days ago. Merkel's appeal follows reports by the magazines Der Spiegel and Focus that an ultimatum, made by the kidnappers in a video which was not broadcast publicly, expired early on Friday. According to the reports, the kidnappers said Osthoff would be killed if Germany did not end all support for the Iraqi government by then. China signs pact with Airbus China has signed a trade agreement with European aerospace manufacturer Airbus. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is in Toulouse, France, home to Airbus's headquarters. Executives from both sides signed the document in a public ceremony. Premier Wen is on an 11-day trip to Europe with a stopover later in Malaysia. Airbus executives expect him later to sign orders for around 70 A320 single-aisle jets worth about four-and-a-half billion euros. China has already ordered five Airbus 380 superjumbo jets in time for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Following his trip to France, Wen is due to visit Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Portugal, and then Kuala Lumpur for the East Asian summit. Major democracy protest in Hong Kong Hundreds of thousands of people have demonstrated for more democracy in Hong Kong. They were demanding that leader Donald Tsang specify when and how Hong Kong will have a universal right to vote, promised by the post-colonial constitution. Tsang said a timetable for full democracy in Hong Kong was unachievable right now. A group called the Civil Human Rights Front organised the march starting in Victoria Park. After the march, pro-democracy politicians and some protesters gathered outside the government headquarters. Some refused to leave until Tsang meets with them. Kazakh President Nazarbayev re-elected Incumbent Nursultan Nazarbayev has won Kazakhstan's presidential election in a landslide. With almost all of votes cast, exit polls show Nazarbayev taking about 85 percent of the vote. Opposition leader Zharmakhan Tuyakbai won about 10 percent. The opposition had accused Nazarbayev of vote-rigging, corruption, and authoritarianism. With the victory, he will now have another 7-year term; he has already been in power for 16 years. Western observers have never judged any elections in the country free and fair. On Saturday night, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe complained that the Kazakh government had not prepared for the election according to international standards. Chavez allies set to win in Venezuela Venezuelans have been voting in a congressional election. Politicians allied with President Hugo Chavez are expected to sweep most of the seats, because the main opposition has boycotted the vote. Before voting started, there was an explosion at an oil pipeline in the west of the country. Vice President Vincente Rangel called it a terrorist attack. President Chavez has accused Washington of trying to organise the opposition boycott to destabilise Venezuela's political structure. The opposition says they are protesting corruption in the electoral council. In particular, they are pointing to alleged ballot tampering during a referendum last year. Western observers said the vote was fair. Ukraine culls birds after H5 virus found Ukraine has begun a mass slaughter of birds in the Crimea region after an H5-type bird flu virus was detected in the peninsula. Officials are still awaiting tests on whether the strain was of the lethal H5N1 variety that has killed nearly 70 people in Asia. President Viktor Yushchenko ordered that affected areas in Crimea be placed under a state of emergency on Saturday after tests confirmed the H5 virus in domestic poultry. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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