Deutsche Welle English Service News 18. 04. 2005, 16:00 UTC ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: Germany's Contribution to the Conclave Aside from the heavily influential Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Germany has five other cardinals taking part in the 115-member conclave. Their views range from progressive to the heavily conservative Vatican line. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1555341,00.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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Cardinals go into conclave Roman Catholic cardinals from around the world have started the process that will lead to the election of a new pope. The 115 cardinals eligible to vote have gone into conclave in the Sistine Chapel to choose a successor to Pope John Paul II who died on April 2nd. Earlier they celebrated a public mass in St.Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. The cardinals will effectively be cut off from the outside world until they have chosen the next pontiff, voting four times a day. Smoke will rise from the Sistine Chapel twice a day but only white smoke indicates that a new pope has been chosen. The new pope is elected with a two-thirds majority, unless, after 34 ballots, cardinals decide to change the rules in favour of a simple majority. China-Japan crisis meeting A diplomatic standoff between Japan and China has left relations at their worst point since they were established in 1972. Earlier a meeting in Beijing between Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and his Japanese counterpart Nobutaka Machimura failed to achieve a breakthrough. Machimura has demanded an apology and compensation for three weeks of anti-Japanese protests. Li said China had nothing to apologise for and that the real issue was Japan's wartime atrocities. Chinese demonstrations erupted over Japanese approval of school textbooks which critics say play down Japanese wartime crimes. Demonstrators are also protesting against Japan's bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. India, Pakistan to pursue peace process Leaders of India and Pakistan have said that the peace process between the two countries is irreversible. In a significant move at the end of a rare visit to New Delhi, Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf joined Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in announcing that they would work towards a "soft border" in Kashmir. They plan to open meeting points in the disputed region for divided families and boost trade, travel and cooperation across the frontier. President Musharraf has now arrived in the Philippines for a state visit and is expected meet with President Gloria Arroyo on Tuesday. Berlusconi reportedly strikes deal Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has reportedly agreed to temporarily resign and receive a new mandate from President Carlo Ciampi to form a new government. This comes after he reached a deal with rebel ministers of the Christian Democrat UDC party to rejoin a new centre-right government and avoid snap elections. The crisis began on Friday when four UDC ministers resigned demanding sweeping policy changes after the coalition suffered heavy losses in regional elections. The move left the government of the verge of collapse with observers predicting that Berlusconi would lose if a new general election were to be held now. EU hails northern Cyprus poll result The European Union and Turkey have welcomed Mehmet Ali Talat's victory in Sunday's Turkish Cypriot elections. In a statement, the European Commission said his victory should speed up the resumption of talks on reunifying the divided island. The Commission also said the poll result could prompt the release of EU aid and secure preferential trade terms for the northern part of Cyprus. Talat, who secured more than 55 percent of the vote, wants to unify the Mediterranean island through a settlement with the Greek Cypriots in the south. He will succeed current President Rauf Denktash who's stepping down after 30 years as leader of the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Iraqis say hostage standoff exaggerated Iraqi forces backed by American troops have reportedly found no hostages after raiding the Iraqi town of Madain. It was there that Sunni extremists were thought to be holding between 3 and 150 Shi'ite residents hostage. Now some religious clerics in the country are accusing the new Iraqi leaders of fabricating the hostage crisis to divert attention from their difficulty in forming a government. The confusion has heightened tensions between Sunnis and Shias in the region and raised fears that a civil conflict could break out. Israel considers delay in Gaza pullout Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres has confirmed that the government might delay by three weeks plans to pull 8,000 Jewish settlers out of the Gaza strip. The move is currently set for mid-July. The announcement comes as Israel said it plans to build another 50 homes in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank, a week after US President George W. Bush told Israeli Prime Minster Ariel Sharon not to expand settlements. At their summit in Texas, Bush urged Sharon to honour the peace plan known as the road map which calls on Israel to halt settlement activity. Former top German politician is fined Germany's former interior minister, Manfred Kanther has been given an 18-month suspended prison sentence for his involvement in illegal party funding for the former conservative government. The regional criminal court in Wiesbaden also ordered him to pay a 25,000 euro fine. Kanther had admitted fours years ago that in 1983 he helped transfer to a Swiss account over 10 million euros from Christian Democrat coffers in the state of Hesse. The money was never accounted for. The Hesse case is part of a wider party financing scandal which saw former Chancellor Helmut Kohl admit to financing the CDU from slush funds and accepting 1 million euros in undeclared, and thus illegal, donations Basque nationalists in coalition talks Discussions are underway in Spain's Basque region to form a new government following Sunday's elections. The ruling moderate Basque nationalists won the most seats but not the needed majority. Finding a coalition partner will be difficult because the other main parties, the Socialists and the Popular Party are both Spanish parties that back territorial unity. If the nationalists join either, they might have to give up plans for independence from Madrid. Bundeswehr to extend Afghan duty German Defence Minister Peter Struck has told the armed forces to prepare for a more dangerous ISAF mission in Afghanistan. In an interview with the Berliner Zeitung newspaper, Struck said that as from October the Bundeswehr would train Afghan anti-drugs units and provide logistical assistance as part of the ISAF military operations. On Sudan, the minister said the government was ready to deploy German soldiers if the peace mission by African nations failed. Germany, however, would not be leading such a mission, Struck said. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Tell us what you think! DW-WORLD wants to hear your opinion of our Web site. 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