Election losses for the SPD expected Polls indicate that the SPD can expect serious reversals in the coming state elections. The figures, which have just been made public, predict a loss of up to twelve percent. At the opening of the International Broadcasting Exhibition, Jacob said on Suedwestfunk radio that some people were very conscious of security, but that most people were so captivated by the new communications technologies such as e-mail and cellular phones that they overlooked the dangers. The German Railway is considering closing a quarter of its ticket sales counters, or farming them out to travel agencies. The company's spokesman for the Travel and Tourism Department, Martin Katz, said that 250 counters in train stations were no longer economically viable.
Plans are to promote ticket sales via the internet or the telephone.
Travellers would then be able to print out the previously ordered tickets at vending machines in railway stations. The German contingent of the UN police in Kosovo will reach its planned size in two weeks. The leader of the responsible federal-state workgroup, Ulrich Dugas, has announced that 82 officers are already on duty in the Serbian province, with another 115 to follow in two weeks. In all, around 210 German officers are planned to take part in the mission. The protest was instigated by cooperating animal rights groups in both countries.