DEUTSCHE WELLE/DW-WORLD.DE Newsletter
English Service News
28. 08. 2006 16:00 Uhr UTC
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Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Report: Germany to Send 1,200 Troops to Middle East
Germany will deploy over 1,200 soldiers in the Middle East as part of the
UN force aimed at keeping the peace between Israel and Hezbollah,
according to a news report.
To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the
internet address below:
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The wait is over! The Bundesliga is in full swing again! Follow all
the German soccer action with DW-WORLD.DE
in our special section:
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3,500 troops to Lebanon by week end
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is on an 11-day Middle East trip to
shore up support for the UN-brokered truce between Hezbollah and
Israel and to discuss the terms of the UN resolution for Lebanon,
which includes the deployment of an international force. At a news
conference in Beirut, Annan outlined the purpose of the mission. UN
experts say that 3,500 troops could be deployed to the south of
Lebanon by the end of the week. They are to join 2,000 UN troops
already stationed there. Israel's Defence Minister Amir Peretz says
Israel wants UN troops to patrol the Lebanese border. Meanwhile,
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah says UN troops will not encounter
resistance from his fighters but warned that they should not seek to
disarm them. He has also indicated that talks on a prisoner exchange
were immiment.
Israel pushes for weapons embargo
The Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has urged the international
community to do all it can to ensure that Hezbollah is denied access
to weapons. She warned that unless Hezbollah was disarmed, violence
could erupt again in the region. Livni added that any lasting
solution was also subject to the release of the two kidnapped
Israeli soldiers. Livni made the comments after meeting with German
foreign minister, Frank Walter Steinmeier in Berlin. He made no
comments on German troop participation in Lebanon. Turkey however
has announced it will commit troops to an international UN force
there.
Two dead, 6 injured in new Turkey blast
Two people have been killed and six others injured in a bomb
explosion in the city centre of Antalya in southern Turkey. Turkish
media reports that at least 18 others were injured in the explosion
at a shopping centre in the centre of the city. The blast came less
than 24 hours after four bombs in the coastal town of Marmaris and
in Istanbul injured 27 people. Ten British tourists and 11 Turkish
nationals were among the injured. Turkish authorities said one
device went off in a bus. In a separate incident, a letter bomb
exploded in Turkey's commercial centre Istanbul, injuring six
people. Turkish police believe Kurdish extremists are responsible.
Britain seeks extradition of plot suspect
Britain has reportedly asked for the extradition from Pakistan of a
man suspected of being involved in the alleged plot to blow up
commercial airliners flying from Britain to the US. Rashid Rauf, a
British national of Pakistani descent, was arrested earlier this
month in connection with the failed plot. A Pakistani Foreign
Ministry spokesman said the extradition request was now being
considered. Rauf is believed to have links with the al-Qaeda terror
network.
Seventeen dead in Afghan bombing
At least 17 people have been killed and 47 wounded in a suicide
bombing in southern Afghanistan. Afghan officials said a bomber
walked into a busy market near a police station in Lashkar Gah, the
capital of Helmand province. A purported Taliban spokesman has
claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Riots spread in Pakistan's Baluchistan
There's been more unrest in southwestern Pakistan following the
killing of a popular nationalist leader at the weekend. Thousands of
people took part in a large-scale strike on Monday in Quetta, the
capital of Baluchistan province, with five people reported hurt.
Riots there on Sunday left at least three people dead and a dozen
wounded. Police said about 450 students were arrested in Quetta and
schools and colleges were ordered closed. Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti was
killed on Saturday during clashes with government forces.
Pope meets with Chancellor Merkel
Pope Benedict XVI has met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at
his summer residence just outside of Rome, ahead of a planned trip
to Germany by the pontiff. Benedict will travel to his native
Bavaria from September 9-14 for a visit that includes stops in
Munich as well as in the village of Marktl am Inn, where he was
born. It will be the Pope's second visit to Germany since he was
elected to the papacy last year. Last August, he traveled to Cologne
for the World Youth Day event.
IKEA, Saturn staff in bribery probes
German prosecutors are investigating bribery allegations involving
51 people, including seven former employers, of Swedish furniture
giant IKEA. Police say that the seven are accused of accepting
gifts, bribes and money from potential German construction companies
and suppliers to IKEA. IKEA it has severed relations with the
implicated companies. In other bribery allegations, German police
are also investigating employees from Philips, electronics giants
Media Markt and Saturn and the sportswear chain, Karstadt Sport.
49 die in Kentucky plane crash
US airport authorities in Kentucky have confirmed that a passenger
plane which crashed with 50 people on board used a shorter runway
than the one it had been assigned. All but one person on board died
in the crash shortly after take-off from Lexington airport.
Investigators said the shorter strip was not suitable for commercial
flights. A spokeswoman said the cockpit voice recorder had been
recovered from the burnt-out wreckage.
NASA cancels Tuesday's shuttle launch
The US space agency NASA has cancelled Tuesday's planned Atlantis
shuttle launch but put off a decision to return the orbiter to its
hangar to protect it from tropical storm Ernesto. Initial
preparations to possibly move Atlantis off the launch pad have
already begun but a final decision will be made later today.
Returning Atlantis to its vehicle assembly building would rule out
any launch attempts this week and would make it difficult for NASA
to meet its goal of launching by September 7.
Potential catastrophe in Darfur: AI
Amnesty International has urged the UN Security Council to take
immediate action to protect the people of western Darfur in Sudan.
AI said the build up of Sudanese troops in Darfur could lead to a
human rights catastrophe. The human rights organisation is demanding
that the UN send peacekeeping troops to the war-torn region to take
over for 7,000 African Union forces who have decided to leave.
Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir opposes the deployment of
international troops to Darfur. Some 300,000 people have died and
more than 2.4 million are displaced since fighting between ethnic
minority rebels and the Arab-dominated regime in Khartoum began in
early 2003.
Scores dead in Iraqi clashes
In Iraq, fifty gunmen and 20 Iraqi soldiers have been killed in the
southern town of Diwaniyah. The clashes broke out late on Sunday
after a leader of the Mahdi Army, which is loyal to radical cleric
Moqtada al-Sadr, was arrested. In violence elsewhere in Iraq, a
suicide bomber drove his car into a checkpoint outside the Interior
Ministry in Baghdad killing at least 16 people and wounding 62
others, including 47 policemen. On Sunday a series of attacks by
insurgents across the country killed at least 60 people.
Ernesto now tropical storm hits Cuba
Tropical storm Ernesto has made landfall on Cuba's southeast coast.
Ernesto, which was previously a powerful hurricane and the first of
the season, earlier battered Haiti killing at least one person in
the process. Tourists on the Florida Keys have been asked to
evacuate.
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