Deutsche Welle English Service News 18. 12. 2005, 17:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: WTO Ministers Adopt Compromise Trade Accord Trade ministers adopted a compromise text Sunday to clear the way to a global trade deal in 2006, agreeing to cut farm trade export subsidies and providing special breaks for the poorest nations. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1824446,00.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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- WTO adopts trade deal Trade ministers have approved a compromise deal at the World Trade Organization summit in Hong Kong designed to spur free global trade. The agreement provides for an end to EU farm export subsidies by 2013 which the US and developing nations had wanted scrapped by 2010. It also foresees duty-free and quota-free market access for at least 97 percent of exports produced by the world's poorest nations. Delegates also agreed to an April 30, 2006 deadline for completing a full deal on the so-called Doha round of world trade talks. Anti-poverty campaigners have condemned the deal as doing nothing to help the world's poorest countries. Iran tells West to be more tolerant Iran has dismissed the criticism of the anti-Israeli remarks made by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and has told the West to be more tolerant of his views. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the reactions in the West were "very emotional." Last week Ahmadinejad described the Holocaust as a myth having earlier suggested that Israel should be wiped off the map or moved to Germany. The international community has condemned his remarks as unacceptable and is considering whether sanctions can be imposed on Iran. Cheney pays surprise Iraq visit US Vice President Dick Cheney has paid a surprise visit to Iraq. His trip was apparently such a well-kept secret that it reportedly even took Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari by surprise. Apart from meeting government officials, Cheney also held talks with US military leaders in Baghdad's so-called Green Zone. His trip comes amid further violence with at least 17 people killed in a series of attacks across the country. Sunni Arab and Shiite leaders appealed for unity and warned against sectarian divisions following last week's landmark election. Huge security for Christmas in Indonesia Indonesian police are planning a huge security operation to safeguard Christians and Christian symbols, following warnings that extremists may be planning attacks over the Christmas and New Year holiday period. In the capital, Jakarta, some 16,000 police will be deployed to safeguard the city's 1,252 churches, as well as strategic public and commercial venues. Indonesia's intelligence agency warned that documents seized from a terrorist hideout in Semarang last month showed that a group linked to master bombers Azahari Husin and Noordin Mohammad Top planned to launch bomb attacks on Christmas day. Azahari has since been killed in a police raid, but Top, who is a key member of the Jemaah Islamiyah extremist group, remains at large. Afghan parliament set to open Afghanistan's first parliament in decades is set to convene in the capital, Kabul. Newly elected legislators and ordinary Afghans hope that despite renewed Taliban threats it will help end the nation's long cycle of violence. The inauguration of the 249-seat lower house of parliament and the 102-member upper house will be attended by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and other foreign dignitaries. On Friday, a suicide bomber died and two passers-by were hurt in a Taliban attack on NATO-led peacekeepers near the parliament building. EU warns Hamas victory jeopardizes aid European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana has warned that if Hamas wins next month's Palestinian elections and fails to renounce violence, it could mean the end of EU aid to the Palestinian Authority. Hamas, which has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombing attacks, swept municipal elections in several large West Bank towns last week. Hamas is also fielding candidates for the Jan. 25 parliamentary election. EU aid to the Palestinians is slated to reach 260 million in 2006. 45 dead from camp stampede in India At least 45 people were killed and more than 50 injured during a stampede for food coupons at a flood relief camp in the southern India. Around 50 people were injured. The incident occurred at a government school in Chennai, the capital city of southern Tamil Nadu state, where more than 3,000 people affected by floods had gathered to collect food coupons. Bono and Gates couple honoured Rock star Bono and Bill and Melinda Gates have been named by Time magazine as its "Persons of the Year." The US magazine said they had been awarded the title for their charity work and their unrelenting push to reduce global poverty. Bono, the lead singer of U2, was one of the key anti-poverty campaigners at this year's G8 summit in Scotland. Cologne sack coach German football Bundesliga side FC Cologne have sacked their coach Uwe Rapolder a day after the team slumped to its 12th consecutive defeat. The 47-year-old Rapolder only joined Cologne at the beginning of the season. The team is currently 16th in the league and struggling to avoid relegation. On Saturday the club's manager quit after the 3-2 defeat against Bielefeld. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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