DEUTSCHE WELLE/DW-WORLD.DE Newsletter English Service News October 22nd 2006, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
In Book, Schröder Describes Worries About Bush's Religiosity Before the release of his memoirs, Gerhard Schröder says George W. Bush left a positive impression on him, but the US leaders constant references to God troubled him. Schröder had few kind words for his own successor. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=1hm34cIfcha79I0&req=l%3D1hm34bIfcha79I0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Starting on Oct. 23, you can vote for your favorite weblog as part of Deutsche Welle's annual Best of the Blogs weblog awards. While the jury is narrowing down the selection this week, you can check out and comment on the entries by visiting www.thebobs.de ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Run-off poll likely in EU-entrant Bulgaria Exit polls from Sunday's presidential election in Bulgaria indicate that voter turnout was lower than 50 percent which would mean a runoff poll next weekend. One survey showed just 41 percent. The eventual winner will lead Bulgaria into the European Union next year. Analysts widely expect incumbent Socialist President Georgi Parvanov to face a run-off challenge from the ultra-nationalist Volen Siderov whose party Attack had opposed EU entry. Taliban leader warns NATO A message purportedly from the Taliban's leader Mullah Mohammad Omar has demanded that NATO forces leave Afghanistan and warned of hefty attacks after Ramadan. The message, carried by a Pakistan-based news agency, also threatened to bring Afghan President Hamid Karzai before an Islamist tribunal. Mullah Omar went into hiding in 2001. NATO's International Security Assistance Force or ISAF says its troops killed 15 suspected rebels in Zabel province on Saturday. Italy's embassy says a Sunday deadline set by the kidnappers of the Italian photojournalist Gabriele Torsello has passed. He was seized 10 days ago in southern Afghanistan. His abductors want Italy to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. The UN says 43 million dollars in food aid is needed for 1.9 million Afghanis before winter. Bush discusses Iraq with top brass US President George W. Bush held a video-conference with US military commanders on Saturday to assess the situation in Iraq. 80 American soldiers have so far been killed in October making it one of the worst months for US troops since the invasion in 2003. In spite of this Bush reasserted in his weekly radio address that this would not alter the ultimate aim of the occupation. Meanwhile, the Arabic news channel Al Jazeera has quoted a senior US official on Sunday as saying that the United States had shown "arrogance" and "stupidity" in Iraq. However, this has been dismissed by a White House spokesman, saying that the State Department official, Alberto Fernandez, had been misquoted. Sudan tells UN envoy to leave The Sudanese foreign ministry has declared chief UN envoy, Jan Pronk, to be a "persona non grata" and given him three days to leave the country. Pronk has apparently incurred the anger of the government after writing earlier this month in his personal web blog that Sudanese military forces had sustained serious losses at the hands of rebels in Darfur. In addition to the expulsion Khartoum is demanding an apology for the remarks. Israel plans overfly Lebanon Israel says its combat planes will continue to fly over Lebanon as they've done since the 34-day war to deter weapons smuggling to the militia Hezbollah. The UN's expanded peacekeeping force UNIFIL says the flights violate the rules of August's ceasefire. France has also protested to Israel. Its defence minister Amir Peretz reportedly told Israel's cabinet on Sunday that he had "no intention" of stopping the flights. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz claims to have confirmation that during the war the Israeli army fired phosphorus shells against targets in southern Lebanon. Haaretz says its source close to cabinet did not specify where or what was targetted. The Red Cross has long argued that phosphorus weapons should be banned. 400 refugees arrive on Lampedusa Italian authorities are reporting that around 400 boat migrants from North Africa have landed on the Italian island of Lampedusa. One of the refugees sent a distress signal by mobile phone to the local coastguard, which intercepted the vessel around four nautical miles from land. The immigrants are believed to have come from the Libyan coast. Lampedusa has a holding centre where the would-be immigrants stay while identity checks are carried out to see if they have a job or family awaiting them in Italy or if they have valid reasons to seek political asylum. Those who don't meet the criteria are given expulsion orders. Neo-Nazi protest near Berlin jail In Berlin police have made 16 arrests as 750 neo-Nazis gathered outside a prison to demand the release of the jailed singer of a banned skinhead rock group. Michael Regener is serving more than three years. He was jailed in 2003 when a Berlin court found his band guilty of spreading hatred against Jews and foreigners in its songs. Sunday's rally was organised by the far-right NPD party which has several seats in two regional parliaments in eastern Germany. A leftist counter-demonstration drew 600 people. Israeli ambassador Shimon Stein has warned against trivalising the far-right. Jewish communities in Germany felt insecure and unable to practice their lifestyle fully. Last Friday, the German government said it would allocate an extra five million euros to counter-act the far-right. Iceland resumes commercial whaling Icelandic whalers have made their first catch since the North Atlantic nation resumed commercial whaling. Last week Iceland became only the second nation after Norway to defy an international moratorium on whale hunting which took effect in 1986. The fin whale was harpooned off the west coast of Iceland. Like its Nordic neighbour Norway, Iceland maintains hunting is necessary to prevent the whale population from growing so large that it threatens fish stocks. Australia has reacted angrily to the resumed whaling. Senator Ian Campbell, Australia's environment minister, said the move was an affront to international and environmental agreements. Referendum on Panana Canal enlargement In the central American country of Panama a referendum is being held today on whether to enlarge the Panama Canal. Surveys suggest the government's 5 billion dollar proposal will be approved comfortably. But opponents of the plan protested on Friday, saying the project is too risky and will add to the country's high debt load. The government says it's necessary to widen and deepen the waterway - which first opened in 1914 - so that it can accommodate a new generation of larger container ships and greater volumes of freight as the global economy expands. Opposition protests in Italy In Italy, opposition supporters have demonstrated against the government's planned austerity measures. At a rally in the northern city of Vicenza, former prime minister and opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi attacked the finance policies of his successor, Romano Prodi. Parliament is next week expected to vote on Prodi's first budget since coming to power -- and it lays out spending cuts and tax increases totaling 40 billion Euros. The prime minister, whose coalition holds only a slim majority in the upper house, is reportedly considering linking the budget to a confidence vote. German Stadler wins Ironman triathlon Germany's Normann Stadler has won his second Hawaii Ironman triathlon. 33-year-old Stadler, who also won in 2004, finished the 226-kilometre endurance test in 8 hours, 11 minutes, 56 seconds. Michellie Jones of Australia, who was second last year, won the women's race in 9:18:31. Stadler and Jones each received prize money of ?87,000 for their wins. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Starting on Oct. 23, you can vote for your favorite weblog as part of Deutsche Welle's annual Best of the Blogs weblog awards. While the jury is narrowing down the selection this week, you can check out and comment on the entries by visiting www.thebobs.de ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For more information please turn to our internet website at http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=1hm34cIfcha79I1&req=l%3D1hm34bIfcha79I1 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/
