Deutsche Welle English Service News 08. 12. 2005, 17:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Rice 'Clears Air' over CIA Row in Brussels European ministers relieved some of the transatlantic tension of the CIA affair with Rice over dinner Wednesday night. On Thursday, NATO agreed to expand the Afghanistan mission. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1808224,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Play DW-WORLD's Christmas Click & Win with a chance to get fabulous prizes from Playmobil! To participate, please visit our home page at http://www.dw-world.de/english ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Syrian troops kill militants: state media Syrian state media says that eight Islamist militants have been killed in a clash with security forces. The official Syrian Arab News Agency reported that soldiers shot dead five men and three others committed suicide before they could be captured in a farmhouse in the north of the country. It was the second confrontation between state forces and militants in north Syria this week. On Sunday, Syrian security forces clashed with militants planning to launch terror attacks in the northern city of Aleppo. Two militants were killed. Website: Iraq group killed US hostage The internet site of insurgents belonging to a group called the Islamic Army in Iraq says they killed a kidnapped US security consultant. The site claims they killed him because Washington did not give into their demands, particularly paying compensation to Iraqis affected by US attacks. The internet statement's authenticity remains unverified. A man who carried the identity card of security consultant Ronald Schulz appeared with kidnappers on a video aired by Arab television network Al-Jazeera on Tuesday. His hands were tied behind his back. The website said pictures of him would be released later. Baghdad bus bomb kills 30 A suicide bomber has killed 30 people and wounded at least 25 others on a crowded bus in Baghdad. The attack occurred as the vehicle was leaving al-Nahda bus station heading south for the Shi'ite town of Nasiriya. Meanwhile, kidnappers holding four Western peace activists hostage have extended a deadline to kill them by 48 hours. Separately, the German government has admitted that it has no news on the fate of a German woman kidnapped in Iraq nearly two weeks ago. Susanne Osthoff, a Muslim convert who was doing aid work, was snatched in northern Iraq on November 25 with her driver. Rice reassures EU over CIA prison row European and NATO ministers have voiced satisfaction with reassurances by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice over alleged secret CIA prisons. On a visit to Brussels, Rice insisted that US personnel observed international conventions prohibiting cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment both inside and outside the US. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he was satisfied with Rice's assurance that the US and Europe share the same interpretation of international law. The EU had asked for clarification in response to reports that the CIA used European airports during the transport of terror suspects to secret jails or to countries where they could have been tortured. NATO to boost troops in Afghan hotspot NATO foreign ministers have approved plans to send up to 6,000 troops into southern Afghanistan. The move would be a major expansion of the alliance's peacekeeping mission into some of the most dangerous parts of the country. The deployment next year of mostly European and Canadian troops will free up US forces to focus on counterinsurgency operations against Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan's volatile south and east. Berlin rejects Iran's Israel comments German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has condemned a suggestion by Iran's hardline president that Israel should be moved to Europe. Speaking at a press conference in the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that if Germany and Austria feel responsible for massacring Jews during World War II, a state of Israel should be established on their soil. He also repeated his view that the Jewish state was a "tumour" and expressed doubt that the Holocaust ever occurred. Ahmadinejad's comments follow his call in October for Israel to be "wiped off the map", which sparked widespread international condemnation. Two Gaza militants killed in Israeli strike Two senior Palestinian militants have been killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip. The latest Israeli raid followed a Gaza airstrike on Wednesday that killed another militant leader, drawing vows of revenge and a volley of cross-border rocket strikes. The Israeli attacks are part of an escalating military response to a Palestinian suicide bombing in Israel on Tuesday, which left five people dead. Israel has also taken diplomatic action, suspending talks with the Palestinians on allowing bus convoys between Gaza and the West Bank, seen as crucial to peace hopes. US says air marshals acted correctly The White House says that US air marshals who shot and killed an American Airlines passenger acted "consistent with their training". Florida resident Rigoberto Alpizar was killed on Wednesday as he ran from an aircraft at Miami International Airport. Officials said he claimed to have a bomb in his backpack. Witnesses said the man might have been mentally ill. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the Department of Homeland Security was working with the FBI and police officials in Miami to determine what exactly happened. The incident was the first time an airplane passenger was shot by air marshals since the security programme was beefed up after the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington in 2001. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
