Deutsche Welle English Service News 29. 01. 2006, 17:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
EU Foreign Ministers Mull Future Middle East Policy On Monday, EU foreign ministers gather in Brussels to discuss Europe's political and financial role in the Middle East following the Hamas victory in Palestinian elections last week. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1875527,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "Kicking News" -- DW-WORLD's Soccer Newsletter: Whether its World Cup news or Bundesliga previews that you're looking for, you'll never miss out on the action with DW-WORLD.DE's new monthly soccer newsletter, "Kicking News." Stay on top of the game with DW-WORLD.DE! To subscribe, go to: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1170241,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Merkel travels to Israel, West Bank German Chancellor Angela Merkel has arrived in Israel on her first official trip to the Middle East since taking office two months ago. She's due to meet Israel's acting prime minister, Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem. On Monday the chancellor is to travel to Ramallah for a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. However Mrs Merkel has turned down a request to meet leaders of the militant Islamic Hamas group which won last week's Palestinian election. Our correspondent Irris Makler reports from Jerusalem. Meanwhile, the official results of Wednesday's Palestinian election give Hamas 74 seats in the new assembly, compared to just 45 for the Fatah Party of President Abbas. Polish roof collapse kills 66 In Poland, rescue teams have ended their search for survivors following the collapse of a trade hall in the southern city of Katowice. The death toll currently stands at 66, including one German. At least 180 others were injured, 14 of them were said to be foreign nationals. Rescue workers had earlier feared that dozens more were trapped under the debris. However fire officials said there was little chance of finding any more people in the wreckage. Their search was made more difficult by bitter winter temperatures that plunged to as low as -17 degrees Celsius overnight. At least 200 people were in the building attending a pigeon show when the roof caved in under the weight of heavy snow on Saturday. Saddam's trial adjourned until. Wed. The trial of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has been adjourned until at least Wednesday. Presiding judge Raouf Abdel Rahman made the announcement just hours after Saddam walked out of the courtroom following a heated exchange with the judge. Saddam claimed the court was not an Iraqi court but an American one. His defence team has threatened to boycott future court sessions. The former Iraqi leader and his seven co-defendants are on trial over the 1982 killing of almost 150 people in the Iraqi town of Dujail. Iran wants meeting with EU-3 on crisis Iranian officials have requested a meeting with their counterparts from Britain, Germany and France to discuss the standoff over Iran's nuclear activities. EU officials confirmed that there would be a meeting with Iran's deputy nuclear negotiator Javad Vaeidi on Monday in Brussels. Meanwhile US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is travelling to London for a meeting on Monday with the foreign ministers of the other permanent UN Security Council members, Britain, France, Russia and China, plus Germany in an effort to resolve the crisis. Earlier German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned Iran that it could face economic sanctions if it does not come to an agreement with the international community on its nuclear programme. EU says bird flu found in Cyprus The EU Commission has confirmed that the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has been found in Cyprus. Officials said samples were taken from a bird with bird flu symptoms in the island's north. It's the latest sign that the disease is moving westwards after the deadly H5N1 strain killed four people in Turkey. The World Health Organisation says bird flu has killed at least 83 people since 2003, most of them in southeast Asia. Bomb attacks on Iraqi churches kill four A series of car bombs targeting churches in the Iraqi capital Baghdad are believed to have killed at least four people and wounded several others. There were also reports of bombs going off near churches in the northern city of Kirkuk. Last August a wave of bomb attacks on churches killed 11 people. Kuwait's new ruler sworn in Kuwait's new emir has been sworn in after parliament unanimously gave its backing to him. Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah's first job as the new ruler will be to appoint a new prime minister. Sheikh Sabah is expected to leave his country's pro-Western stance, including its oil policy, unchanged. Kuwait has around one-tenth of the world's oil reserves. Sheikh Sabah has been Kuwait's de facto ruler for the past four years due to the ill health of the late emir and his immediate heir who was voted out by parliament on health grounds after just nine days in office. WEF wraps up in Davos The World Economic Forum has ended in the Swiss ski resort of Davos. The focus of the five-day meeting was on international business with an emphasis on the economic growth in India and China. The roughly 2,500 delegates also discussed Middle East issues including the Palestinian election and the Iran nuclear crisis. Presidential election in Finland Voters in Finland are going to the polls in a presidential election run-off, which pits the incumbent, Tarja Halonen against challenger Sauli Niinistoe. The latest opinion polls indicate that it should be a close finish. They give Halonen, of the Social Democrats, 51 percent support compared to 49 percent for her conservative challenger. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. You can even listen to all programmes as audio-on-demand. Serbian News Network - SNN [email protected] http://www.antic.org/
