Deutsche Welle English Service News January 22nd 2005, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Report: German Hostage in Iraq Found With Part of Ransom German politicians have called for an investigation into the alleged payment of ransom for former hostage Susanne Osthoff amid reports that some of the money was found on her after her release in Iraq. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1864820,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Iran condemns France nuke statement Iran has condemned a statement by French President Jacques Chirac earlier this week that France reserves the right to a nuclear response against any state that launches a terrorist attack against it. Iran's foreign ministry said in a statement that Chirac's threat revealed the true intent of the world's nuclear powers. Israel's defence minister Shaul Mofaz has repeated a warning that Israel will not tolerate Iran providing itself with a nuclear option under any circumstances. Iran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only, but Israel and the United States accuse Tehran of seeking to produce nuclear weapons. Israelis kill gunman in Gaza Israeli officials have asserted that at least one person was killed and two wounded after an Israeli aircraft fired at three gunmen near the Karni border crossing in northern Gaza. The Popular Resistance Committees, a small militant group, said all three were members. The group has vowed retaliation for the killing. Tension is high in the Gaza Strip ahead of Palestinian parliamentary elections on Wednesday, in which the Islamic militant group Hamas is challenging President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction for the first time. Blasts hit gas pipelines in South Russia Two explosions on gas pipelines have halted gas deliveries from Russia to Georgia and Armenia. Russian officials said the blasts appear to have been set off deliberately. Georgia has gas reserves until Monday, but Russian authorities say repairs could take up to three days. Russian gas giant Gazprom says it is having trouble meeting domestic energy demands as the country shivers in the grip of an Arctic freeze. Meanwhile, Georgia's president has accused Moscow of sabotaging the Russian pipelines. Mikhail Saakashvili says that the near simultaneous explosions close to Georgia's border were politically motivated. Portugal votes for president A presidential election is underway in Portugal. Final opinion polls put centre-right former Prime Minister Anibal Cavaco Silva in the lead. His closest challengers are Socialist lawmaker and poet Manuel Alegre, who is running as an independent, and 81 year-old former prime minister and two-time president Mario Soares who has the backing of the Socialist Party he helped found. If no candidate gains more than half of the votes cast, a runoff election between the top two contenders will be held on February 12. Funeral of Kosovo's Rugova on Thursday Kosovo officials have announced that the funeral of president Ibrahim Rugova, who died of lung cancer at the age of 61, will be held on Thursday. Rogova who fought for independence from Serbia through peaceful means, died at his home in Pristina on Saturday. Negotiations on the future status of the Serbian province of Kosovo that were scheduled to begin in Vienna on Wednesday have been put off until next month. Kosovo has been administered by the UN since the end of 1999. 23 die in clashes in Nepal overnight In Nepal 17 Maoist rebels and six members of the security forces have been killed in clashes south-west of the capital Kathmandu. News agencies report that rebels attacked a military patrol overnight. Meanwhile Nepal's seven main political parties have called a nation-wide strike this Thursday to protest against the arrest of an estimated 300 people who took part in a pro-democracy rally in Kathmandu on Saturday. The protestors took to the streets despite a ban and a curfew, calling on King Gyanendra to restore democracy one year after he sacked the government and seized absolute power. In the days leading up the protest, hundreds of leading political figures and students were arrested. 4 die as UN forces repel Congo rebels In the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo UN peacekeepers have successfully repelled an attack by Congolese rebels, four of whom were killed in the fighting. Militias loyal to renegade ex-army commander Laurent Nkunda, who reject a peace process to end Democratic Republic of Congo's five-year war, began an offensive on Thursday and have briefly occupied a number of towns and villages in cat-and-mouse fighting with the army. Some estimates say that about 50,000 people have fled their homes following the fighting, many crossing into neighbouring Uganda. Strike paralyzes Bangladesh At least 50 people were injured in clashes between police and protestors taking part in marches in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka on Sunday. The marches coincide with a nation-wide strike that has brought most of the country to a standstill. The strike affected schools, shops, private offices and public transport. The stoppage was called by a 14-party allegiance who are demanding the sacking of a partisan election commission. Bolivia's Morales set to be sworn in Evo Morales is to be sworn in as Bolivia's first indigenous president on Sunday in a ceremony in La Paz that is to be attended by numerous leaders from Latin America. Morales was elected with almost 54 percent of the vote in last month's presidential election. That's the widest margin of any elected leader since democracy was established in Bolivia in 1982 after years of military rule. On Saturday Morales attended a ceremony at South America's oldest ruins, where he was crowned supreme chief of the Andean Indians. An estimated 20,000 natives gathered to witness the Aymara Indian being invested with sacred powers by a shaman chief. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Receive DW-WORLD headlines and news reports straight on your desktop as RSS feeds: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1137115,00.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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