DEUTSCHE WELLE/DW-WORLD.DE Newsletter English Service News 07.12.06, 17:00 Uhr UTC
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' Need a good laugh? Then check out DW-WORLD.DE'S From the Fringe Special, which regularly brings you quirky stories from and about Germany. To find out more, go to http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=1hmd8jIfcha79I0&req=l%3D1hmd8iIfcha79I0 '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: Titel Teaser To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: URL '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' Bush, Blair to focus on Iraq Study Group US President George W. Bush has been hosting British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the White House for talks focused on the findings of the Iraq Study Group. On Wednesday the panel's co-chairman, former US Secretary of State James Baker, had stressed the need for a new, comprehensive approach in Iraq to prevent further chaos. It urged the Bush administration to include Syria and Iran in talks on Iraq, a move resisted so far by President Bush. Blair is expected to emphasise the panel's call for a wider Middle East plan. It's emerged that the report's publication coincided with the killings of 11 US soldiers in Iraq on Wednesday, making it one of the US military's worst days in Iraq. The report said US troops should be withdrawn from combat and used instead to train Iraqi forces. Berlin offers Iraq reconstruction efforts The German government's coordinator for relations with the U.S, Karsten Vogt, has said that Germany would be ready to help with reconstruction in Iraq if the security situation permits. He also said that Germany and Europe would be willing to play a diplomatic role aimed at getting Syria and Iran's backing for peace efforts in Iraq. Meanwhile, Iraq will be high on German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier's agenda Friday when he meets with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Washington. Israeli PM dismisses ISG findings Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has dismissed some of the findings of the Iraq Study Group, ruling out any immediate direct talks with Syria as part of a wider Middle East plan. Olmert said the report was wrong to link the crisis in Iraq to the Arab-Israeli conflict. The report recommends that Israel hand back the Golan Heights claimed from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War as part of an effort to stop Syrian support for Palestinian militants. Palestinian PM in Iran for talks. The Palestinian Prime Minister Ismayil Haniya has arived in Tehran for talks with top Iranian officials. It is Haniya's first tour abroad since taking office in March. He'll meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. President Ahmadinejad has already promised Haniya's Hamas party fifty million dollars in aid. The US and Europe cut financial support to the Palestinians after the Hamas won elections in January. On Thursday in Jerusalem, a group of United Nations Agencies and NGOs launched an appeal to raise more then 450 million US dollars for the Palestinian territories in 2007. Finnland welcomes Turkish offer Finland, with currrently holds the EU's rotating presidency, has welcomed a Turkish offer to open a port and an airport to traffic from Cyprus. Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja said that if the Turkish offer proves to be unconditional, it would influence EU deliberations next week on whether to partially suspend Ankara's EU membership talks. Turkey hopes that by making the move, it will avoid the suspension of accession talks. UN warns of women's plight in Arab world A new United Nation's report says that women in the Arab world face massive discrimination that's blocking the region's economic and social prosperity. The report, compiled by Arab experts and academics, says that Arab women must be given more access to education, health care and the economy. The report says half of Arab women can't read or write. Attendance at secondary school among girls lies below 80 percent in all but four Arab nations. Female unemployment is two to five times higher than that of Arab men. And, woman make up only ten percent of all Arab parliamentarians. UK police treating Litvinenko poisoning as murder British police say they are now treating the death of poisoned former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko as murder. Earlier small traces of radiation were found at the British embassy in Moscow. However investigators said the amounts found did not pose a risk to public health. Litvinenko, a fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin, died in London from radiation poisoning three weeks ago. Before his death Mr Litvinenko accused the Russian leader of ordering his assassination. In Moscow, British police and Russian investigators have questioned Dmitry Kovtun, one of at least two Russians who met the ex-spy on Nov.1, the day he fell ill. They're also expected to question a second man, Andrei Lugovoi, who is currently in a Moscow hospital for medical tests. US charges son of ex-Liberian leader US authorities have charged the son of former Liberian leader Charles Taylor with torture. Charles "Chuckie" Taylor, a US citizen, was head of Liberia's anti-terrorism force under his father's regime from 1997-2003. He's accused of being involved in the torture of a person in Liberia's capital Monrovia in 2002. Taylor is being prosecuted under a law which states that US courts can try cases of torture committed outside America if the offender is a US citizen. If found guilty he could face life in prison. European Central Bank raises rates The European Central Bank has raised its key interest rate to 3.5 percent. The rise of a quarter of one percent is the 6th such hike in the last 12 months, setting the bank's highest interest rate in the last five years. Some say four percent is soon likely. No to Polish Euro referendum plans Poland's central bank chief Leszek Balcerowicz said Thursday that he opposes plans to hold a referendum in 2010 on joining the eurozone. During a conference on the single European currency Balcerowicz said a referendum was unnecessary and would cause concern among other European Union members. He said the issue had already been settled in 2003 when Poles voted to join the EU. Membership of the eurozone is part of the treaty the country signed that enabled it to join the EU in 2004 along with nine other mostly former communist countries. But President Lech Kaczynski said after his election last year that towards the end of his mandate in 2010 he would let the Polish people vote on whether they wanted to give up the zloty. Alerts at German schools after threats Anonymous Internet threats against schools in Germany have led to arrests of three young men and tighter patrols on school grounds. Police say they traced the latest message to a computer in the trio's apartment in the Black Forest region. Police, meanwhile, say an earlier threat does not appear to have come from an suicidal 18-year-old who was found shot dead on Wednesday. Nor had police found the controversial strategy game "Counter Strike" on his computer. A leading German crimologist Christian Pfeiffer says such "killer" games should be banned. Last month, another 18-year-old user, armed with guns, wounded 11 people at a school in northern Germany and killed himself after leaving graphic Internet messages. Small tornado hits north London A small but severe tornado hit a residential area of northwest London on Thursday, injuring six people and damaging around 100 houses. Television footage showed a trail of destruction in Kensal Rise, with trees uprooted and cars damaged by falling debris. Around 50 firefighters have been sent to the scene and have cordoned off the area. Airbus to invest in India Airbus says it plans to invest 750 million euros in India and its fast-growing aviation market by 2016. The European aircraft maker will spent the money on design projects, maintenance engineering and flight training. Early this year, Airbus had launched investments as part of a deal to sell 43 planes to India's state-owned airline. Airbus estimates that India will need 1,100 aircraft by 2025. In Germany, meanwhile, Lufthansa says it will order 20 of Boeing's new widebodied Jumbo, known the 747-8. Delivery will be in 2010. Lufthansa will also purchase seven long-haul Airbus A340-600s. At least 3 dead in Sri Lankan clashes There's been more violence in Sri Lanka with at least three civilians killed and 10 others wounded after Tamil Tiger rebels allegedly shelled a school in northeastern Trincomalee. A rebel spokesman denied the attack. It comes as the government reintroduced tough anti-terror laws in its fight against Tamil Tiger rebels. More than 3,400 people have been killed this year alone in clashes between the two sides. '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' Need a good laugh? Then check out DW-WORLD.DE'S From the Fringe Special, which regularly brings you quirky stories from and about Germany. To find out more, go to http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=1hmd8jIfcha79I1&req=l%3D1hmd8iIfcha79I1 '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' For more information please turn to our internet website at http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=1hmd8jIfcha79I2&req=l%3D1hmd8iIfcha79I2 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. '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' You can cancel our newsletter at: http://newsletter.dw-world.de/public/unsubscribe.jsp?gid=90003210&uid=927954405&mid=90063235&sig=ENCPKNBBEAJGPMPP Copyright Deutsche Welle 2006 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
