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Deutsche Welle English Service News August, 26th,2002, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: Lots of Touch�s, But No Clear Winner in German Debate There was no clear winner in Germany's first televised debate between chancellor candidates on Sunday night. But Stoiber and Schr�der succeeded in piquing interest in what had until now been a sleepy election. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1432_A_616869_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. UN summit in Johannesburg opens The World Summit on Sustainable Development opened on Monday in Johannesburg, with South African President Thabo Mbeki calling for greater solidarity with the world's poor. Over the next 10 days, 40,000 delegates will discuss five key areas: water, energy, health, agriculture and bio-diversity. There are still several major stumbling-blocks facing the summit, including the reluctance of the United States to agree to firm timetables for action. The linking of aid to democratic reforms and farm subsidies is reported to be another bone of contention. More than 100 heads of state are expected to attend the summit, with one notable exception. US President George W. Bush will not be there. Death toll from flooding in China now tops 1000 Flood control workers in the southern Chinese city of Wuhan scrambled on Monday to contain the surging Yangtze River as the flood crest fed by heavy rains poured into the city of seven million. In and around Wuhan, nearly 20,000 civilians and flood officials were posted along river banks and over 300,000 cubic metres of sand and gravel were hauled in to help shore up dykes. City inspection crews worked around the clock to prepare for the flood surge, which is expected to peak in Wuhan early Tuesday morning. The flood swell had made its way through the massive Dongting Lake on Sunday, but fears of major breaches there eased as water levels began to recede, sparing some 10 million people around it. Despite the rising water, few expected the Yangtze river to reach levels comparable to those in 1998, when 4,000 people died in China's worst flooding in decades. This year, summer floods have killed 1070 people across the country. Flooding along Germany's Elbe River under control Flood waters along Germany's Elbe River on Monday continued to recede and officials in several communities withdrew state of emergency declarations. Officials in Brandenburg's Prignitz region gave the all clear for evacuated residents to return to their homes. Meanwhile, downstream dykes have been reinforced as the flood waters finally reach the North Sea. The level of the Elbe River in Lower Saxony remains well above normal, however, officials in communities where the flood crest had passed said the water was receding faster than anticipated. In Berlin, Germany's federal government on Monday prepared the Flood-Solidarity law which will be introduced in the Bundestag or German parliament on Thursday. The legislation postpones the implementation of income tax cuts for one year and raises corporate capital gains taxes. The money realised from these measures along with funding from the EU will finance the reconstruction of the infrastructure of the flood devasated region. Spanish judge orders Basque political party to shut down A Spanish high court judge on Monday ordered the radical Basque political party, Batasuna, to shut down for at least three years. The 375-page written order came just hours before the Spanish parliament was poised to seek a judical ban for supporting Western Europe's most active guerrilla movement, ETA. Justice Baltasar Garzon's order forces the closure of all Batasuna offices and businesses. It also bans the party from holding meetings or calling demonstrations shuts off water, electrical and telephone services. Macedonian police ambushed Angry Macedonians blocked a highway into the capital, Skopje on Monday to prevent former ethnic Albanian rebel leader Ali Ahmeti from attending a political rally after two Macedonian policemen were gunned down. The machinegun attack which killed the policeman happened less than three weeks before the first elections since the country narrowly averted a civil war last year. In Skopje, fearing an immediate backlash resident envoys from the European Union, the United States and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) met with President Boris Trajkovski and Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski to counsel restraint. Milosevic health fears central as trial resumes The trial of former Yugoslav dictator Slobodan Milosevic at the UN War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague resumed on Monday after a four week break. Concerns about Mr. Milosevic's health remain as doctors warned the tribunal that he was at risk of heart disease. The landmark trial which is expected to last at least two years has been adjourned several times since it began in February because of Milosevic's health problems. Zimbabwe gets a new "war cabinet" Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe swore in his new cabinet on Monday, pledging to defend his government's policies. Mugabe dubbed his ministers the "war cabinet" saying they will take into account the actions taken by former colonial power, Great Britain and its allies against Zimbabwe. He told reporters his team would fight opposition from abroad as well as the country's economic problems. Mugabe retained most of his loyal ministers in the new cabinet, including the combative figures who head the departments of justice, agriculture and information. However, the announcement of his new team confirmed the firing of the internationally respected Finance Minister Simba Makoni, a former businessman who had been hired to halt the unravelling of the economy and to sell Mugabe's ideas to a skeptical world. Mugabe has been in power since the former Rhodesia gained independence from Britain in 1980. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For more information please turn to our internet website at http://dw-world.de/english --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
