Deutsche Welle English Service News 04.04.2005, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Pope's Funeral Set For Friday After a solemn procession across St. Peter's Square, the embalmed body of John Paul II goes on public view Monday, giving hundreds of thousands of people the chance to pay a final farewell to their beloved pontiff. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1540534,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- We'd like to introduce you to our latest newsletter: "Germany Light" give you a weekly look at Germany's cultural, peculiar and sometimes odd happenings. To sign up for regular dose of fun and entertainment, please go to our Newsletter section at http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1170241,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pope John Paul II's funeral on Friday The Vatican has announced that the funeral of the late Pope John Paul II is to be held in Rome on Friday at 10:00 am local time. In keeping with Vatican tradition, the Pope will be buried under St Peter's Basilica, and not in his native Poland. John Paul II's requiem mass will be celebrated by German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. The pope's body will be transferred within the next hour from the Apostolic Palace where the pope died in his apartment on Saturday to St. Peter's Basilica. Tens of thousands have already congregated in St. Peter's Square. The public will be able to view the Pope's body for three days. Britain's Prince Charles has postponed his wedding from Friday to Saturday to attend Pope John Paul's funeral in Rome, royal aides said on Monday. Saudi forces kill suspected militants Reports from Saudi Arabia say security forces have killed up to eight suspected militants holed up in a house in the northern town of al-Ras. The gunbattle began on Sunday when Saudi forces besieged the building claiming that militants were inside. The region's governor said 15 security personnel had also been wounded. In the past two years, Saudi authorities have attributed the killings of 90 civilians to attacks by militants with links to the international terror network al-Qaeda. Its leader Osama bin Laden is Saudi-born. Serbian police chief taken to ICC A former Serbian police chief wanted by the United Nation's war crimes court has been transferred to the Hague to face charges over alleged atrocities in the 1998-99 Kosovo war. Sreten Lukic, the former head of the Interior Ministry's paramilitary police force, was indicted in connection with the murder of thousands of Kosovo Albanian civilians. The government said in a statement that Lukic was released from hospital after minor heart surgery and "transferred" to the International Criminal Tribunal. It was not clear whether Lukic surrendered or was arrested and put on a plane. The European Union has made it clear that the development of closer EU-Serbia ties depends on Belgrade's willingness to extradite war crimes suspects. Ousted Kyrgyz leader formally resigns Kyrgyzstan's ousted president Askar Akayev has formally resigned from his post. He signed the resignation effective April 5 at the Kyrgyz embassy in Moscow. Akayev's been in Russia since fleeing the Central Asian republic on March 24 after opposition demonstrators overran government offices in the capital Bishkek. Akayev's opponents claimed that he had rigged February parliamentary elections. His resignation now opens the way to hold a new presidential vote scheduled for June 26. Moldova's Voronin re-elected The parliament of the ex-Soviet republic of Moldova has re-elected Vladimir Voronin as president for a second term. Voronin got 75 votes in the 101-seat chamber. Voronin, a pro-Western leader, has led Moldova since 2001 when his Communist party won a landslide election. Voronin's party has been increasingly at odds with Russia, mostly over the region of Transdniestr. This is a pro-Russian region inside Moldova's border and neighbouring Ukraine. Rabin's grave desecrated Israeli police are investigating vandalism at the graves of historic Jewish leaders including Yitzhak Rabin, the late prime minister assassinated ten years ago. At the weekend vandals also wrote abusive slogans on the adjacent grave of Rabin's wife Leah and on the tombs of the Zionist visionary Theodore Herzl and Israel's founder Ben Gurion. Israeli Channel Two television says surveillance cameras filmed the incidents at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl Cemetery. Leftist Israeli parliamentarians have blamed Jewish ultra- nationalists opposed to plans by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to evacuate Jewish settlers from Gaza. Rabin was shot dead in 1995 by a far-right Jew opposed to peace deals with the Palestinians. Brent oil price hits 57 dollars The price of Brent North Sea crude oil has penetrated the 57 dollar level for the first time in history in electronic dealing in London. Oil already had struck a record high of 57.79 dollars in Asia amid worries over US refining capacity and the continued fallout from a study that indicated prices could hit 100 dollars. In a bid to calm prices, OPEC president Sheikh Ahmed Fahd al-Sabah said Monday that the cartel had begun consultations to consider raising output by 500,000 barrels per day. Germany heading for deficit breach The EU Commission forecasts that Germany's budget deficit this year will breach the European Union's stability pact - for the fourth year in a row. The commission, in its prognosis, says the 2005 German deficit will be 3.3 percent, compared to Germany's Gross Domestic Product. The pact's limit is three percent. Previously, the German government had forecast a deficit just below that. Other potential violators named by the commission are Portugal, Greece and Italy. In terms of economic growth, Germany will end up bottom among the 25 EU nations, says the commission. EU growth will average two percent, but Germany will trail on only zero-point-eight percent. Economics Minister in New Delhi German Economics Minister Wolfgang Clement has arrived in New Delhi for a two-day visit. Accompanying him is a delegation of business leaders. The goal of the talks is an expansion of industrial and economic relations. Together with India's Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, Clement will head a meeting of the Indo-German Joint Commission on Industrial and Economic Co-operation. According to the German Economics Ministry, bilateral trade between the two countries increased 22.5 percent to 6.2 billion euros in 2004. President Koehler begins visit to Japan German President Horst Koehler and Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito have launched the "Year of Germany" in Japan. That's a series of 750 events to be held over the next year, aimed at promoting cultural and educational exchange. Koehler is in Japan for a four-day visit and has meetings scheduled with Japanese Emperor Akihito and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Marburg virus toll in Angola rises An outbreak of the Marburg virus in Angola has killed a further 20 people since Thursday, raising the death toll to at least 146. The deadly Ebola-like virus has been concentrated primarily in the Uige province in the north. The World Health Organisation has sent medical experts to the south-west African country's capital Luanda to help set up a special isolation ward to treat incoming cases, the great majority of which are children under the age of 15. Marburg is an infection for which there is no specific cure and from which few recover. Judge to decide on Tamil man's fate A judge is to decide this Monday whether to send to prison or a psychiatric clinic man who killed one woman and wounded three other people seriously in a Stuttgart church on Sunday. Witnesses said that the 25-year-old Tamil man had lashed out with a samurai sword at several worshippers, apparently at random. Police said all of the victims were Tamils, and they said personal problems were probably behind the attack. They've ruled out any political motive. FDP names new secretary general Germany's opposition liberal Free Democratic party or FDP appears to have found a new secretary general. He's Dirk Niebel, the party's labour market expert and a member of Germany's parliament from Heidelsberg who has worked to promote Israeli-German relations. Niebel's nomination, made by the party's executive, will be submitted to a party conference in May. The previous secretary general Cornelia Pieper quit the post amid controversy in January. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DW-WORLD's "Click Back" monthly review quiz for April is waiting for you and will test your knowledge of stories we've written. If you answer all questions correctly, you can also win a great prize. To play, please go to: http://www.dw-world.de/english ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For more information please turn to our internet website at http://dw-world.de/english Here you'll find out what's happening in Germany, Europe and the rest of the world. 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