Deutsche Welle English Service News 15.11.2002, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: Germany Closes the Defense Wallet Germany has voted to commit its troops to a further year of Enduring Freedom, but has told its NATO allies to forget about any further expensive military adventures until the country's financial situation improves. 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_676415_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Hamas to halt suicide attacks if Israel stops operations in territories Hamas said Friday following talks in Egypt it would halt suicide attacks in Israel if the army stopped its raids, in a rare indication that the radical Islamic group was ready to reconsider its position. A senior Hamas official told the AFP news agency that the Israeli army must put an end to incursions into the West Bank and Gaza, arrests and the killing of civilians. A Fatah source told AFP an Egyptian proposal providing for an end to suicide operations inside Israel and attacks against civilians for several months, had been discussed there and endorsed by the Arafat's faction. A senior Israeli military official has reacted positively to the announcement. More than 150 reported dead in Maoist offensive in Nepal More than 160 people were believed to be killed Friday, after Maoist rebels mounted an offensive in two districts of rural Nepal,police and officials said. Some 3,000 Maoists marched onto the headquarters of the northeastern Jumla district, briefly taking over the town. They killed 33 policemen, four soldiers and three civilian officials, including a judge. 52 Maoists were reported killed in the attack. The rebels also launched an offensive in the western district of Gurkha, the ancestral home of King Gyanendra, killing 24 policemen. At least 50 Maoists are also killed in the attack. The Maoists are fighting to overthrow the monarchy and establish a communist regime in Nepal, the world's only Hindu state. Kenya voter register includes a million dead-study More than one million dead Kenyans are still registered on the country's electoral roll, raising fears that their names will be used by the ruling Kanu party to rig the vote in December 27th elections. According to the independent Institute for Education in Democracy , since 1997, the register has not struck off the names of about 1 million dead. Analysts say the figure could be even higher due to AIDS which kills about 500-700 Kenyans a day.78-year-old President Daniel arap Moi is constitutionally bound to step down when Kenya holds elections in December , and the opposition has often accused his ruling KANU party of rigging polls by stuffing ballot papers carrying the names of dead people into the ballot boxes to inflate their count. Botswana, Namibia, South Africa authorized to sell 60 tonnes of ivory The 12th Conference on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora or CITES today authorized Botswana, Namibia and South Africa to sell about 60 tonnes of ivory from their stocks. The ivory to be sold must come from elephants that died of natural causes or under government programs to control the species. But it cannot be put on the market until May 2004, to allow CITES to first verify and document the countries' existing stocks. The group rejected a similar demand put forward by Zambia and Zimbabwe, on the grounds that those nations had not provided sufficient guarantees that they could thwart illegal trafficking in ivory. USA and its European and Asian allies agree to halt fuel oil shipments to North Korea The United States and its European and East Asian allies agreed on Thursday to halt fuel oil shipments to North Korea from December following Pyongyang's admission it operated a nuclear weapons program in violation of a 1994 international agreement. Heavy fuel oil deliveries will be suspended beginning with the December shipment," diplomats from the U.S., European Union, South Korea and Japan said in a statement after meeting in New York. Future shipments will depend on North Korea's concrete and credible actions to dismantle completely its highly enriched uranium program," the statement said. Czechs reject Lukashenko visa for NATO meeting In Prague, Foreign Minister Svoboda said on Friday the Czech Republic had rejected a visa request by Belarus President Lukashenko to attend the NATO summit next week. NATO has already said he is unwelcome at the summit in Prague, because of his autocratic rule and opposition to NATO enlargement. The Czech foreign minister said the visa was refused because Belarus did not respect human rights, that President Lukashenko asked for special protection the Czechs could not afford, and that the Czech Republic did not want him to use the visit to legitimise his position in Belarus. A diplomatic row over the visa had broken out in recent days with Mr. Lukashenko threatening to allow illegal immigrants and drugs into Europe by loosening controls on his country's borders with Poland, Latvia and Lithuania. He also threatened to break ties with the Czechs and curtail economic activities between the two nations. British pubs free to open 24 hours after licensing shake-up Pubs and bars in Britain will be able to stay open 24 hours a day, if they want to, under legislation published Friday, aimed at curbing binge drinking and rabble-rousing at closing time.At present, pubs have very restricted opening houzrs and must close at eleven o'clock at night. When it goes into effect, probably around July 2004, it will spell the end of laws dating back to World War I, which were enacted so that workers would arrive sober at factories early in the morning. Britain has 180,000 premises licensed to sell beer, wine and other alcohol, including 60,000 pubs. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
