Holland to Pull Troops out of Iraq

Finally some news out of Holland that doesn't have to do with the religious violence that has gripped the country for the last 10 days: The Dutch cabinet has decided on a March 2005 withdrawal of the country's 1,350 troops in Iraq. Dutch Defense Minister Henk Kamp made the announcement on Friday afternoon. (6:20 p.m. CET)

Bavaria Bans Headscarves

The heavily Catholic state of Bavaria in southern Germany became the latest German state to decide that cloth head coverings are dangerous Muslim symbols and don't belong in public schools. The display of Christian and Jewish symbols? No problem says the new law. Bavaria joins the states of Lower Saxony, Baden-Wuerttemberg and Saarland in forbidding Muslim schoolteachers from wearing the headscarf while the state of Hesse went all out and banned the bits of cloth for all civil servants. The state bans come in the wake of a German high court decision in September 2003 that allowed states to make their own determination on headscarves. The three million Muslims who live in Germany have argued that such bans restrict their constitutionally guaranteed religious freedoms. The debate over headscarves likewise continues to be a hot topic in neighboring France. (5:55 p.m. CET)

Signs the End is Near

The world is at risk of a pandemic of deadly bird flu and is ill-prepared to handle it, a top World Health Organization (WTO) official said this week. Cases of bird flu in Thailand and Vietnam have left 32 dead this year and have forced the culling of millions of poultry throughout Southeast Asia. The virus that causes the flu may be able to jump the species barrier, and WTO officials say they expect a bird flu pandemic in within the next five years. Scientists cautioned, however, that they don't yet know how the most recent victims were infected. Currently the world only has the ability to produce vaccines for 260 million people, health officials said. And the vaccine can't be stockpiled, since it has to be fresh. Public-health experts met at the WHO  in Geneva on Thursday and Friday to come up with a plan to increase production capabilities in order to vaccinate the globe. (5:25 p.m. CET)

Brown Teacher in Braunschweig

A teacher at a Waldorf school in the western German city of Braunschweig isn't what the school thought he was. After teaching at the school since 1996, seventh-grade teacher Andreas Molau resigned in late October so he could take up a new job as education specialist with the right-wing National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD), which recently won parliamentary representation in the eastern German state of Saxony. Now, his children have been kicked out of the school. School leaders took the step, they say, because of the Waldorf philosophy that parents and teachers should work closely together in education. Having Molau as a parent represents "a huge danger to the school's tranquility," said the principal. Molau's move to the right was by no means sudden; for years he wrote articles for the right-wing publications Junge Freiheit ("Young Fredom") and Deutsche Geschichte ("German History") -- something the school apparently didn't know about. When asked by SPIEGEL ONLINE if he continued to write for the papers under a pseudonym while a teacher, he declined to answer. Molau is considering legal action so his children can stay at the school. (5:10 p.m. CET)

Unrest Enroute To his Resting Place

He created unrest in his life and continues to spawn it in his death. Tens of thousands of Palestinians mobbed the helicopters accompanying Yasser Arafat to his final resting place in Ramallah Friday. Security forces had to fire machine guns into the air in order to push the crowds back enough to transport the coffin to Arafat's grave. At times, his pallbearers had to hit people just to keep the coffin moving in the midst of such chaos. Throughout the day, they chanted, and their message was singular: "With our blood and soul we redeem you, Abu Ammar!" (Arafat's nom de guerre) Arafat will be buried at sunset. (2:20 p.m. CET)

Coco for a Dime

They pushed, they shoved, they scratched, they pulled, they did anything they could to get their hands on it. No, we're not talking about Yasser Arafat's burial in Ramallah. Crowds queued up across Germany and Europe on Friday to get their hands on the new Karl Lagerfeld collection at H&M. The Swedish clothing chain introduced 30 products from the pony tailed Chanel designer, including Lagerfeld's signature body-hugging suits, dresses and jeans. Prices range from €7.90 for a ring to €149 for a wool coat. "People started waiting in line at 6 a.m. at some stores," H&M Germany spokesman Mathias Geduhn told SPIEGEL ONLINE. One thing the company won't tell is exactly how exclusive the limited Lagerfeld collection is going to be. But "because of our price structures, we have to produce a high number of pieces," Geduhn said. So if you missed your chance today, you just have to find out when the next delivery is coming. H&M's collaboration with Lagerfeld has significantly boosted the image of the chain, which provides its shoppers with cheap chic. "We used to be considered copycats of the high-fashion stars," Geduhn said. "Now our work has been accepted." (2 p.m. CET)

European Film Awards Nominees Announced

The European Film Academy announced its nominations for the 2004 European Film Awards Thursday. Leading the pack, with five nominees, are: German-Turkish director Fatih Akin's wrenching love odyssey Head-On, -- that follows a German-Turkish couple from Hamburg to Istanbul and which took the top honor at the Berlin International Film Festival -- and Oscar-winning Spanish director Pedro Almodovar's Bad Education, which adresses child abuse in the Catholic Church. The nominees for best European Film also include the Scandinavian film A Hole in My Heart, by Lukas Moodysson, The Chorus by France's Christophe Barratier, The Sea Inside by Spanish director Alejandro Amenabar and Vera Drake by Britain's Mike Leigh. The awards will be announced at a ceremony in Barcelona on Dec. 11. (1:30 p.m. CET)

Will Blair Get his 'Thanks' for the Iraq War?

Late Friday afternoon, US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair will hold a joint press conference in Washington on the Middle East peace process, just hours after many world leaders will have bid adieu to Yasser Arafat in Cairo. Blair is the first foreign leader to visit Bush since his re-election last week -- a symbol of both the so-called "special relationship" and the fact that the UK is the only coalition partner involved in a major way on the ground in Iraq.

But Friday's joint appearance by the two men will focus on the way forward for the "road map" for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians. There are hopes that, with the American election out of the way and a new Palestinian leadership on its way, some progress can be made. This morning, Downing Street officials predicted there would be no "fanfare announcements" but a private working plan would be drawn up for the peace process. However, the former British ambassador to Washington, Sir Christopher Meyer, said he expected Mr Blair would be rewarded for his loyalty to the president with some form of movement on the Middle East. "British politics dictate that Blair needs to come back with something which is tangible evidence that he has influence in this relationship," he told the BBC.

Odd contrast: Before he left for Washington on Thursday, Blair remembered Arafat as "a huge icon for the Palestinian people." Bush's tribute: "The death of Yasser Arafat is a significant moment in Palestinian history." (12 p.m. CET)

The School of Unfortunate Acronyms

German television producers thought they had a huge hit on their hands with the country's first-ever attempt at a Mexican-style telenovela. They just got the name wrong. In Germany, acronyms are big like, for example, DSDSS, for Deutschland sucht den Superstar (Germany's Pop Idol), or GZSZ for the soap opera Good Times, Bad Times. But what about Alles Nur Aus Liebe ("Everything for Love")? The acronym has the unfortunate luck of spelling out ANAL. (11:50 a.m. CET)

How Much (Debt) Should Germany Forgive Iraq?

The next diplomatic battleground in the heated differences over the Iraq war is likely to be next week's meeting of the so-called Paris Club, a group of elite creditor nations. The meeting will once again pit the United States against Russia, France and Germany. Taken together, Iraq owes the Paris Club nations $42 billion (of a total $125 billion to foreign countries). In its efforts to rebuild post-war Iraq, Washington is calling for member states to forgive 90 to 95 percent of Iraqi debt. A new economy, the argument goes, shouldn't be hampered by the mistakes of Saddam Hussein. But Russia, France and Germany only want to reduce outstanding debt with Baghdad by 50 percent. Germany is demanding €5.5 billion back, including interest. Berlin's argument for not forgiving the debt? It's unnecessary given Iraq's rich oil resources.

Berlin's current policy doesn't lack domestic critics: The German Chambers of Industry and Commerce has warned that high debt and interest rates could impede Iraq's reconstruction. "The German government should do everything it can to help Iraq restore economic independence and stability," the organization wrote in a recent paper. But Berlin has a big problem: If it forgives the debt, it fears it will get a huge bill from the beleaguered German construction industry, which still has €1.7 billion in outstanding invoices in Iraq. And that won't bode well at a time when the government is struggling to shrink its massive budget deficit. (11:30 a.m. CET)

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