DEUTSCHE WELLE/DW-WORLD.DE Newsletter
English Service News
March 13th 2006, 16:00 UTC
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Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Report: Taliban Boast About Killing Hostages in Afghanistan
Fears for the lives of employees of a German company believed to
be held hostage by Taliban extremists in Afghanistan increased
Monday after a statement claimed that they had been executed as
spies.
To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the
internet address below:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1932564,00.html
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Milosevic to be buried in Belgrade
Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic is to be buried in the
Serbian capital, Belgrade. Milosevic's lawyer told reporters in The
Hague that Milosevic's son would be travelling there from Moscow to
claim the body. Serbian President Boris Tadic has ruled out giving
Milosevic a state funeral, saying this would be inappropriate, given
his role in Serbia's recent history. Preliminary autopsy results
indicate that Milosevic died of a heart attack. There are reports
that traces of drugs were found in his blood, that would have made
his blood-pressure medication ineffective. Milosevic was found dead
in his cell on Saturday. He had been on trial for the past four
years on more than 60 counts of war crimes and crimes against
humanity for his role in the Balkan wars of the 1990's.
UK to cut troops in Iraq
Britain's Defence Secretary John Reid has announced that Britain is
to cut the number of its troops in Iraq. Initially about 800 troops
or about 10% of the country's contingent would be withdrawn over the
coming months. Speaking in the House of Commons he said that this
indicated progress in Iraq. At the same time he said there would be
a significant relocation of troops. The expected withdrawal of the
multi-national force in Iraq has been the source of much speculation
in British newspapers, with some recently claiming all troops will
be out by early 2007.
Taliban claims murder of hostages
In Afghanistan a Taliban spokesman has announced that four
foreigners have been executed on the orders of Taliban leader Mullah
Mohammad Omar. The four, who are employees of the German company
Ecolog, were kidnapped in the south of the country on Saturday. The
company, which is contracted to the US-led forces, says the four men
are ethnic Albanians from Macedonia but the Taliban claim that one
of the hostages is German. Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf
said the four had been killed and their bodies had been dumped in
the Kandahar-Helmand area of the south. There has been no
independent confirmation of the claim.
UN rights commission meeting adjourned
The annual conference of the United Nations Human Rights Commission
in Geneva has been adjourned for a week, just minutes after it
began. This is meant to give negotiators at the General Assembly in
New York more time to try to break a deadlock with the United States
over a proposal to replace the commission with a Human Rights
Council. Members of the new council would be elected and meet three
times a year. Countries represented on the council would also have
their human rights records reviewed. But the United States has so
far rejected the proposal, saying that it has major flaws.
Former judge says Dujail killings lawful
A former Iraqi judge on trial for crimes against humanity says his
decision to sentence 148 Shi'ite villagers to death was lawful. Awad
al-Bandar claims the villagers were given a proper trial and
"confessed" to trying to kill former dictator Saddam Hussein under
orders from Iran. Al-Bandar is one of seven co-defendants on trial
with Saddam in Baghdad over the killings in the village of Dujail in
1982. The prosecution says the accused collectively punished the
village for the attack, arresting people at random, torturing them
and finally hanging them.
French PM defends new labour laws
French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has defended a
controversial new youth labour law that has triggered extensive
protests. The law makes it easier for firms to hire and fire young
workers. In a television interview on Sunday, de Villepin said this
was necessary to combat high youth unemployment, and that the
law had been voted by parliament and would be enforced. But he
offered guarantees to head off criticism of the measure, and invited
unions to talks on ways to combat job insecurity. His comments
came a day after riot police smashed their way into Paris's
Sorbonne University to end a three day student sit-in, which was
part of a week of protests affecting half of France's 80 university
faculties.
Germany culls 400 farm birds
In Germany, public health officials said that 400 domestic birds on
a farm in the south of the country have been killed after a
suspicion that several ducklings there had died of bird flu. A
federal lab was testing the ducklings to see if they had died of the
H5N1 strain of the virus, and become the first German farm birds
diagnosed with the strain. Results of the tests on the ducklings
from the farm near the Bavarian town of Lichtenfels were expected
later today. In Germany, the virus has so far been identified in
more than 180 wild birds as well as four mammels.
Fatal explosions at two Chinese mines
At least 23 workers have been killed in two separate gas explosions
at Chinese coal mines. A blast at a mine in Inner Mongolia claimed
at least 12 lives, with several miners still trapped in the mine. In
another incident, all 11 people working in a mine in the central
province of Hunan were trapped after an explosion. Rescuers were not
able to enter the mine because of the high density of gas
underground, and the state news-agency later confirmed that all 11
had died. China's mines are considered the world's deadliest.
Government statistics show that mining accidents killed more than
6,000 people last year.
Uribe supporters lead Colombian poll
Parties backing Colombian President Alvaro Uribe appear set for a
convincing victory in the general election. With more than two
thirds of the votes counted, supporters of Uribe's war on leftist
rebels are expected to win a majority in Congress for the first
time. President Uribe is widely expected to be re-elected in another
poll in May and carry on his tough, Washington-backed, pro-market
economic policies. Colombia's interior ministry said that with
200,000 soldiers deployed across the nation, Sunday's vote was the
safest in two decades.
Merck makes takeover bid for Schering
German pharmaceutical and chemical company Merck has launched a bid
to take over its Berlin-based rival Schering. But Schering, a world
leader in contraceptives and fertility drugs, turned down Merck's
bid, saying the offer price "significantly undervalues" its
business. Merck is making a cash offer of 77 euros per share in
Schering, making the total bid worth 14.6 billion euros. Merck said
it would initially finance the deal via cash and bridge loans.
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