Report: Civilian Toll in Iraq at 100,000

A stunning new report released on the eve of the American election provides a "conservative estimate" that there have been at least 100,000 civilian victims of the war in Iraq. The report, the result of a survey by researchers of 988 Iraqi households in 33 different parts of the country, concluded that 95 percent of the victims were killed by bombs or during helicopter attacks. Most of the dead are believed to be women and children, according to one of the report's main authors, Les Roberts. The authors insisted on releasing the report, published this week on the Internet by the respected British health journal The Lancet, in the run-up to the election in order to make the candidates think more about taking extra steps to protect Iraqi civilians. (6:39 p.m. CET)

Shredding Human Rights

Turkey has been ripping apart human rights -- literally. At meeting of the nation's human rights committee Monday, an enraged committee member took a copy of a recently released human rights report and ripped it to shreds in front of a television camera. The report questions Turkish policy towards its minority communities, including Jews, Armenians, Kurds, Greeks and Alwiten, and supports a more pluralistic, multicultural model. Apparently the committee member was unhappy about the amount of cultural freedom the report suggests for the country's Kurdish and non-Muslim minorities. Asked about the incident, committee president Ibrahim Kaboglu said "the ugly attack" was unfortunate, but proves that freedom of speech and opinion are allowed in Turkey. (5:15 p.m. CET)

Buttiglione goes down kicking

Rocco Buttiglione -- the European Union Commission candidate who believes homosexuality is a sin and the role of women is to bear children -- has withdrawn his controversial nomination for the commissioner for justice and human rights posting. Buttiglione was the catalyst that spurred an unprecedented EU catfight in which normally well-behaved European parliamentarians came out scratching. He did not go lightly. Instead, he lashed out at liberal parliamentarians, calling himself an "innocent victim" who had been misquoted and who knew to keep his personal beliefs separate from his politics. Fact is -- say some -- he has worked to remove sexual orientation from the European charter of Human Rights and is therefore not suitable to oversee human rights cases. Incoming European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso says he will reveal his new, improved commission line up this week. (4:23 p.m. CET)

Perspectives on America

* Belorussia, one of the most democratically deficient countries in the world, criticized the coming United States elections as undemocratic. "The election system in the USA is one of the oldest and most absurd in the world," Belorussian election commission secretary Nikolai Losowik has said. Losowik also expressed anger that, while the US sent election observers to Belorussia in September, the US is not allowing Belorussian observers in for Tuesday's presidential vote.

* US Ambassador to Germany Daniel Coates said in an interview printed Monday in the newspaper Berliner Zeitung that a Kerry presidency would likely be more difficult for Germany than a second Bush Administration. Kerry, so goes the logic, would likely try to work more closely with the international community than Bush has and could even ask for soldiers for Iraq. "That could really turn into a conflict with Germany," said Coates. Whereas Bush has accepted Germany's position on Iraq and won't ask for troops, Coates explained, Kerry has indicated that he would ask Germany and France to dispatch soldiers to Iraq.

* Duct tape and plastic sheeting alert: The United States has warned its citizens traveling in Nordic and Baltic countries like Finland and Latvia to beware of potential terrorist attacks and to "avoid large shopping areas and transportation hubs." Local authorities have expressed surprise and have no knowledge of an increased risk of attacks in northern Europe. The warnings, a Finnish police spokesman said, "could possibly have something to do with the elections in the US." (2:45 p.m. CET)

Suicide Bombing Kills 3 in Tel Aviv

The open-air Carmel market in downtown Tel Aviv became Israel's latest venue for a suicide bombing on Monday. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed three and injured more than 30. The group said the suicide bomber came from the Askar refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus. Witnesses said the explosion happened near a cheese stand and that bloodied victims wandered aimlessly trying to bring themselves to safety. The Carmel Market, with its fruit, vegetables and cheap clothing, is a popular shopping destination for Tel Aviv residents. (2:30 p.m. CET)

Ethnic Violence Blacked out by China

Horrific violence -- which apparently included houses set alight and farmers attacking each other with tools -- broke out on Sunday in the central Chinese province of Henan over what seems to be a minor incident involving some sort of traffic dispute. The clashes pit members of China's majority Han community against its Muslim Hui minority. Details of the violence remain difficult to ascertain as China's official media has not reported on the trouble. That's because in addition to sending in riot troops, the Chinese government has -- in a sign of how far they are from democracy -- also imposed a total news blackout. Operating in a complete news hole, The New York Times reported that 148 people were killed in fighting, including 18 police officers. But villagers who spoke to a SPIEGEL ONLINE correspondent reported only 12 victims. At least two stories for how the conflict began have emerged. In one scenario it began when Hui truck drivers were attacked in a Han village after a traffic accident. Other accounts say a Hui taxi driver ran over and killed a 6-year-old Han girl. Hui are China's third-largest minority, with 8.5 million people. Correspondents working in the area insist problems among the two groups are rare. (1:25 p.m. CET)

Iraq Update

America is stocking up on its troops in Iraq. With 142,000 troops currently in Iraq, there are now as many US soldiers as there were when the war began in 2003. The GIs are said to be mobilizing for a major attack on insurgent hotspot Fallujah prior to Iraqi elections in January. Even soldiers scheduled to depart have been told they have to stay.

The Iraqi Interior Ministry reported Monday that four foreigners, including an American citizen, were kidnapped from their office in Baghdad after a fire-fight. The kidnapping victims are believed to be employees of a Saudi Arabian oil company. In September, rebels kidnapped two Americans and a Brit from their office in the Mansur neighborhood. All three were later killed. This year alone 160 foreigners have been killed in Iraq -- either to get a ransom or to achieve a political goal. Thirty three have been murdered.

Meanwhile, gunmen killed Iraq's Deputy Governor, Hatim Kamil, as he sat in his car in southern Doura on Monday. And on Sunday, a freelance cameraman working for the Associated Press became the 24th journalist to die in the Iraq war. Total number of soldiers killed: 1,265. (1 p.m. CET)

A New Wall at Checkpoint Charlie

Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin just got bigger. One thousand sixty five wooden crosses and a 120 meter section of rebuilt Berlin Wall were officially opened on Sunday afternoon at the central Berlin location as a monument to Cold War violence. The crosses represent the 1,065 victims killed while attempting to escape from East to West Germany. Present at the opening were Sergei Khruschev -- son of former Soviet boss Nikita -- and the mother of one of the victims. While many feel a monument to the wall's victims is long overdue, others are questioning the motivation of Alexandra Hildebrandt, head of the nearby Wall Museum and initiator of the current memorial project. She has been accused of commercializing memory and turning the area into a Cold War Disney Land as well as equating Cold War violence with the Holocaust. The monument will likely not stay in place beyond the end of the year; it stands on land rented by the Wall Museum and the lease expires at the end of the year. (12:40 CET)

Signs the End is Near

The polar icecaps are melting quicker than was thought possible even just two years ago, said world climate experts at a climate conference in Peking, China over the weekend. The 60 experts -- from 26 different countries -- gathered to identify global hotspots where climate change is already having an effect. Greenland, Africa, Southeast Asia, the Amazon, China, Russia, Australia, the Caribbean and islands in the South Pacific were all identified as regions especially sensitive to global warming. Many regions are threatened by rising ocean levels and changing ocean currents -- both direct results of melting polar ice. "We face huge dangers from climate change if we don't take drastic measures," said Stefan Rahmstorf of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. (11:20 a.m. CET)

Ukrainians Vote - But Can They Count?

The Ukraine presidential campaign was brutal. Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, the hand-picked successor to President Leonid Kuchma found himself in a close race with challenger and opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko. Opposition media was muzzled, Yushchenko was denied television face-time and may even have been poisoned . Voting took place on Sunday, but so far, there is very little to indicate that the actual election was any fairer than the campaign. Which Viktor won? Here are some numbers to choose from:

Yushchenko 46% : Yanukovych 37% (Exit polls conducted by non-governmental polling groups in which respondents didn't have to give their names.)