Deutsche Welle
English Service News
August 7th 2005, 16:00 UTC
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Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Schröder's Ambivalent European Legacy
German Chancellor Schröder's relationship with the EU has never been
a love affair. He acted pragmatically and not exactly squeamishly.
What traces has he left in European politics?
To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the
internet address below:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1667421,00.html
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you and will test your knowledge of stories we've written. If you
answer all questions correctly, you can also win a great prize. To
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Robot frees Russian submariners
The seven members of a Russian mini-submarine trapped at the bottom
of the Pacific Ocean have been rescued. The mini-sub was freed by an
unmanned British rescue craft. The submarine had been stranded off
the coast of Russia's eastern Kamchatka Peninsula since Thursday
when it became entangled in underwater cabling and fishing nets
during a military exercise. The seven crew have been taken to a
military hospital for examination. Russian Naval spokesman Victor
Lutsenko says all seven appear to be in good health. Russia's
foreign ministry has thanked Britain, Japan and the US for sending
rescuers. Moscow's request for help contrasts with delays five years
ago when 118 sailors died inside the Russian submarine Kursk.
Search continues for plane crash missing
Rescue teams are working to recover the bodies of as many as three
people missing from a Tunisian plane crash that is feared to have
killed 16 people. Thirteen bodies have been recovered so far but the
exact number of missing remained unclear. Emergency crews have not
yet found the flight data recorder. The aircraft, an ATR-72 operated
by Tunisiair, went down Saturday 16 kilometers off Sicily's Cape
Gallo on the island's north coast. The pilot had contacted Rome
airport reporting engine trouble. Twenty three people survived the
crash.
Bombing in Tikrit kills five
There's been more violence in Iraq. In the northern town of Tikrit a
suicide car bomb killed at least five people and wounded another 15
outside a police headquarters. Men volunteering to join the force
had been crowding the area. The US military said that two of its
soldiers were killed from a roadside bomb blast in Samara on
Saturday. At least 38 US military personnel have died in Iraq in the
past 10 days. Elsewhere political leaders from Iraq's Shiite, Sunni
and Kurdish communities have come together in a bid to decide how
much federalism to have in a new constitution. Kurds still insist on
full automonmy in Iraq's north. Meanwhile, a survey conducted by
Newsweek Magazine shows public support for George W. Bush's Iraq
policy continues to slip. Only 34 percent of Americans approve it;
61 percent disapprove.
Iran unconcerned about UN sanctions
Iran has reiterated plans to resume uranium conversion this week and
said it was unconcerned about referral of its nuclear case to the
U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions. Britain, Germany and
France, heading nuclear negotiations with Iran for the European
Union, have called an emergency meeting of the International Atomic
Energy Agency's Board of Governors on Tuesday to discuss Iran's
case. The EU trio say they will recommend referring Iran to the
Security Council if it goes ahead with plans to resume work at the
Isfahan uranium conversion plant. On Saturday, Iran rejected an EU
package of economic and political incentives designed to persuade it
to halt nuclear fuel work for good. Tehran says it will restart the
Isfahan plant as soon as IAEA surveillance equipment is in place.
US, Afghan forces kill 8 Taliban fighters
US and Afghan troops have killed eight Taliban insurgents in an
operation in the volatile southern province of Zabul. An official
said on Sunday that three more Taliban combatants were captured
during Saturday's operation in the Shahr-i-Safa district of Zabul. A
Taliban spokesman said insurgents had killed three Afghan troops and
kidnapped 11 others in adjacent Uruzgan province the previous day.
Hundreds of people have died in a Taliban-linked insurgency that has
gripped mostly part of southern and eastern Afghanistan this year.
The increase in violence comes ahead of next month's parliamentary
polls, which the Taliban have vowed to derail.
