Deutsche Welle English Service News 09.11.2002, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: End of Ice Age in German-U.S. Relations In the last months, relations between Washington and Berlin cooled off dramatically following differing opinions on a war on Iraq. A visit on Friday between the countries' defense leaders seems to have broken the ice. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1430_A_672555_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Blix confident Iraq will comply with new U.N. resolution The chief UN weapons inspector, Hans Blix, has expressed confidence that Iraq will comply with a new UN Security Council resolution calling on it to give up its weapons of mass destruction. The council unanimously endorsed the resolution, and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has called on Baghdad to respond positively to the resolution. Iraq is meanwhile reportedly studying the new U.N. resolution and will issue a decision in the coming few days. Blix has said his team will go to Iraq on 18 November to resume their work. The team will be backed by the UN resolution's new, tougher, rules which give inspectors "immediate, unimpeded and unconditional" access to any site they want, including Saddam Hussein's palaces. Syria, the only Arab representative, also voted in favour, despite being denied a request for a delay in the vote. The adoption of the resolution came after eight weeks of intense negotiation, much of which focused on a French demand that war should not be the automatic result of a failure by Iraq to abide by the resolution. Anti-globalisation protesters gather in Florence Anti-war protesters gathering in the Italian city of Florence for a large demonstration against military action on Iraq have reacted with anger to the United Nations Security Council resolution on weapons inspections. The Italian city is bracing itself for an influx of as many as 200,000 anti-globalisation protestors who are expected to march through the city. Protestors want developed nations to shoulder some of the huge debts that are burdening poorer countries. The protest coincides with the five-day European Social Forum. Police numbers are being stepped up to avoid the protests degenerating into a riot like those at last year's G8-Summit in Genoa. Rumsfeld declares relations to Germany 'unpoisoned' US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has pronounced US relations with Germany what he called "unpoisoned", putting aside a dispute with Berlin over possible US military action against Iraq. Rumsfeld made up with visiting German Defense Minister Peter Struck, whom he had snubbed at a NATO meeting in Poland in September, at what was described as a pleasant session at the Pentagon. Earlier, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder called President George W. Bush expressing hope for good working relations. Bush was deeply angered earlier this year when Schroeder made his opposition to US military action against Iraq the central plank of his re-election campaign. Palestinians fear UN resolution on Iraq is threat to Arafat by Adel Zaanoun Palestinians feared Saturday that Israel would seize on a UN resolution on disarming Iraq to oust their leader, Yasser Arafat, as Israeli troops killed a top Palestinian militant in a West Bank gunbattle. Chief Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erakat told journalists this UN Security Council resolution is tantamount to preparing for a war. "Israel will use it to physically hurt, kill or remove president Arafat as announced by Israel's foreign minister and to destroy the peace process and the Palestinian Authority," he added. Newly appointed Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier this week that a US strike on Iraq would enable Israel to get rid of Saddam Hussein and provide a good opportunity to get rid of Arafat. Turkey can become EU member: EU presidency Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, said Saturday that Turkey can become a member of the European Union under the same conditions as the other candidate countries. On Friday, Valery Giscard d'Estaing, who is leading the discussions on the future shape of the European Union, told a French newspaper that admitting Turkey as a member would spell the end of the EU. At the summit in Helsinki in 1999, the Danish government together with the other EU countries' governments, decided to give Turkey a status as a candidate country. That decision has been made," the Danish foreign ministry said in a statement. France to charge threee suspects for their involvement in synagogue in Tunisia France will charge three suspects next week in connection with the bombing of a synagogue in Tunisia in April for which al Qaeda claimed responsibility, judicial sources said on Saturday. The three were among eight people arrested in Lyon earlier this week amid heightened concerns in France that militant Islamic al Qaeda operatives could be plotting an attack on the country. French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said on Friday there was an al Qaeda link to the arrests, after one newspaper cited a leaked French intelligence report that concluded France was a "favoured target" for an attack. Interpol warns of more Al Qaeda attacks The head of the world-wide police authority Interpol has said that Al Qaeda militants appeared to be preparing simultaneous attacks in several countries including the United States. Without saying an attack was imminent, Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble told the Paris daily newspaper "Le Figaro" that recent intelligence suggested it was gearing up for the attacks. Noble also said he thought Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was alive, even though nobody has been able to track him down. Noble, the first American to head the France-based operation that coordinates international crime fighting, said that, despite some successes in cracking down on militant groups, particularly in Europe, the risk of attacks was as real as ever. Colombia extends state of emergency Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has extended for 90 more days a state of emergency as he steps up a military campaign against illegal armed groups fighting in the country's 38-year-old war. The widely expected decree allows the state security forces to continue make arrests without warrants and impose restrictions on movements in "special combat zones." Uribe first declared a state of emergency after leftist guerrillas greeted his inauguration ceremony in August with a mortar attack. He said authorities needed the powers to continue fighting rebels and right-wing paramilitary outlaws funded by the booming cocaine trade. Human rights groups have said the security measures could lead to violations of fundamental rights. The president has promised human rights will be respected. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
