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To: Elsewhere who wrote (36405)	3/26/2004 5:46:17 AM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 794351

'German link' to Madrid bombings BBC Police in Germany have searched a flat in the western city of Darmstadt in connection with the Madrid bombings. Confirmation of the searches came from the German authorities following media reports that a Moroccan suspect being held in Spain had lived there. Spanish police have 18 people in custody in relation to the 11 March train bombings which killed 190 people. Correspondents say a German link would be highly sensitive, as three of the 9/11 hijackers were based in Hamburg. No further details of the German flat search have yet been given. The Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper cited security sources as saying the suspect believed to have lived there was a 29-year-old electronics student. The daily Die Welt newspaper said he had been earmarked by German authorities as a "dangerous" Islamist figure who was ready to use violence. Other media reported that as many as three suspects being held in Spain may have lived in Germany. CIA reaction The BBC's Ray Furlong, in Berlin, says the reports have prompted speculation as to whether the Madrid attacks were partly planned in Germany. In the United States, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) George Tenet said intelligence "strongly" suggested extremists linked to al-Qaeda were responsible for the Madrid bombings but there was no information that the leadership of Osama bin Laden's network ordered the attack. Spanish police arrested five of the suspects on Wednesday and Thursday in the Madrid area and in the town of Ugena, about 35km (20 miles) south of the capital. Court sources told Reuters news agency that the three detained on Wednesday were suspected of collaborating in the bombing plot, although they were not believed to have had a central role. All will be questioned on Monday at the national court, sources told the Associated Press news agency. Spanish authorities have arrested a total of 20 suspects over the attacks. Two people - a Moroccan and an Algerian - have since been released. Story from BBC NEWS: news.bbc.co.uk

To: Elsewhere who wrote (36405)	3/26/2004 1:00:41 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 794351

Germany's Ifo asks for rate cut BBC Influential German think-tank Ifo is calling for a cut in eurozone interest rates following indications that the country's recovery is in trouble. Ifo's business climate index, closely watched as a barometer of the health of German businesses, fell for the second straight month in March. This, Ifo president Hans-Werner Sinn said, showed that Germany's recovery was "clearly at risk". "The time has come to cut interest rates in Europe," he said. The board of the European Central Bank - which sets rates for the 12-nation eurozone - meets next on 1 April, amid speculation that it might finally drop rates below the current 2% set last June. news.bbc.co.uk

To: Elsewhere who wrote (36405)	3/29/2004 8:26:54 PM
From: KLP	Respond to of 794351

Thanks Jochen....All the more reason for everyone (including the media) to remember that there are LEGAL immigrants, REFUGEE immigrants, and ILLEGAL immigrants. Some people seem to think that it is their 'right' to migrate to whatever country they wish, and do whatever they wish. In the same breath, I see (from the articles) that some give the analogy that it may be that many of us migrate to various planets in the solar system. There may be a "right", but they won't get there for "free", there will be a cost, and if we do find there to be life on any of the planets, there will be additional "rules or costs" to landing and living on that planet. Our motivation for leaving the land of our birth over 40 years ago was no different to the reason so many make similar journeys today. True, we took the legal route while some today opt for the sometimes perilous, often illegal and always expensive journey offered by the people smugglers. Yet others claim a sanctuary to which they are not entitled to - they are economic migrants rather than people genuinely seeking refuge from persecution. But the impetus is the same as it was for us - a desire to improve on the poor hand dealt by fate. news.bbc.co.uk 88888888888888888 Today, the numbers of asylum claims in Europe have fallen to under half what they were in the early 1990s, and the number of refugees elsewhere in the world is also going down. news.bbc.co.uk 88888888888888888888888