DEUTSCHE WELLE/DW-WORLD.DE Newsletter English Service News 15. 03. 2006 17:00 Uhr UTC ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: Strikers in for the Long Haul as Arbitrators Brought In As Germany's public-sector strikes mark week six, arbitration is now being seen as a possible way to bring the sides closer. In Stuttgart, at the heart of the labor action, union members say they're determined to win. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1934919,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Would you like to receive news from DW-WORLD.DE automatically on your desktop? Subscribe to our RSS-Feeds. Click here to read how it works: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1137115,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Milosevic's body arrives in Serbia The body of former Yugoslav leader and war crimes defendant Slobodan Milosevic has arrived from Amsterdam in the Serbian capital Belgrade. The hearse carrying his coffin was greeted by a crowd of several hundred people as it left the city's airport. Officials from Milosevic's party say his funeral will take place on Saturday in his hometown of Pozarevac. A Belgrade court has suspended an arrest warrant for Milosevic's wife, Mira Markovic, so that she can attend her husband's funeral. Results from a toxicological test are expected later this week to establish the cause of his heart failure. Dutch doctors reportedly found traces of a drug in Milosevic's blood that may have rendered ineffective his blood pressure medication. Abbas: Israeli raid unforgiveable crime Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has called Israel's raid on a West Bank prison a crime that would not be forgiven. Protests against the raid have continued this Wednesday, with many Palestinians joining a general strike. The EU has called on both Israel and the Palestinians to exercise restraint in order to prevent further escalation. Palestinian cabinet-member Ghassan al-Khatib said Israel had violated previous agreements with the Palestinian Authority. Meanwhile acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said that six Palestinians grabbed in the raid will be charged and tried for the assassination of an Israeli cabinet minister in 2001. Among them is Ahmed Saadat, leader of militant group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Saddam calls his trial a comedy The trial of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has been adjourned for three weeks until April 5. Earlier, the presiding judge closed the courtroom to media after Saddam made several political statements including a call on Iraqis to fight his country's invaders. He also described his trial as a comedy. Saddam took the stand for the first time on Wednesday to give formal evidence on charges of murder. He and seven co-defendants are accused of killing almost 150 people in the Shiite village of Dujail in 1982 following an assassination attempt on the former leader. Earlier his half brother and intelligence chief Barzan al-Tikriti began proceedings, denying any involvement in the Dujail massacre. German BND inquiry looks certain The three opposition parties in the German parliament have secured the required number of votes to force an inquiry into the activities of the German intelligence service, the BND. One hundred and fifty-seven parliamentarians have signed the application for the inquiry. The required quorum is 154. The liberal Free Democrats, the Greens and the Left Party hammered out the terms of the inquiry last week. It is to focus on whether BND agents helped the US military during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and look into an alleged CIA kidnapping of a German national. According to sources in the Green Party, Joschka Fischer, who was foreign minister at the time of the Iraq invasion, has said he will not vote for the inquiry. Five arrested over London cartoon protests British police have arrested five men over their alleged role in a London protest against European newspaper cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. A police spokeswoman said all five are suspected of trying to stir racial hatred, while four of them are suspected of incitement to murder. The alleged offenses relate to a February 3 protest outside the Danish embassy in London, where demonstrators waved placards with messages including calling for the "massacre of those who insult Islam." The cartoons were first published in a Danish newspaper last year before reappearing in other European newspapers, causing protests around the world. China, Russia object to Iran proposal The UN Security Council has addressed Iran's nuclear programme for the first time. Supported by the United States, Britain and France presented an initial proposal that would call for a report in two weeks on Iran's compliance to suspend uranium enrichment. Russia and China raised objections to the joint British-French statement. China's ambassador to the UN, Wang Guangya, said his country wants more time for the UN's nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, to find a diplomatic solution. Further talks are scheduled for later today. Iran has meanwhile once again said it will not give up its nuclear fuel research even if told to do so by the Security Council. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said Iranian nuclear research was "irreversible." Belarus expels Scandinavian observers A group of six Danes and two Swedes monitoring the presidential election in Belarus has been ordered out of the former Soviet republic for breaking the law by conducting opinion polls. But the monitors, who are members of a Danish non-governmental organisation called Silba, said they had done nothing wrong. All were arrested by police at polling stations where they were monitoring early voting ahead of Sunday's election. The campaign has also seen a number of opponents to President Alexander Lukashenko arrested. The latest to be detained is Anatoly Lebedko. The top aide to presidential candidate Alexander Milinkevich told news agencies by telephone that he had been arrested outside of his office in the capital, Minsk. Violent student protests in France Student protests in the French capital Paris escalated on Tuesday night with nine police officers injured in clashes with students throwing stones and bottles near the Sorbonne University. The protests first erupted last week over a new government youth jobs programme that would make it easier for companies to hire and fire young workers. The protests have spilled over into other cities around the country, which has one of the highest youth unemployment rates in Europe. More mass demonstrations are planned for Thursday and the weekend. German doctors vote to strike Here in Germany doctors working at university clinics and state-run hospitals have voted to go on strike as of Thursday in a dispute over pay and working hours. The association representing those doctors, the Marburger Bund, said more than 98 percent of its members had voted in favour of a walkout. However it said that contingencies were in place to deal with emergencies. The roughly 22,000 doctors want shorter working hours, fully paid overtime and an increase in their salaries of up to 30 percent. Deutsche Boerse plans talks with Euronext German stock exchange operator Deutsche Boerse AG says it plans to enter talks with the five-nation Euronext exchange on a possible merger. Deutsche Boerse said it was considering the move with a view to creating a global market leader in the industry. This comes a day after the head of Euronext, which operates the Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Madrid and Lisbon exchanges, signalled his readiness for merger talks. Deutsche Boerse has also said it will make no more bids for the London Stock Exchange. Shareholders of Deutsche Boerse forced its former CEO Werner Seifert to resign last year after two failed bids to acquire the London exchange. Queen kicks off Commonwealth Games Queen Elizabeth II has officially opened the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. The Games will run for 12 days with events ranging from swimming and cycling to rugby. Athletes from 71 nations, either current or former British colonies and dependencies, are taking part. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- signandsight.com signandsight.com is the English version of the prize-winning online cultural magazine perlentaucher.de. Providing free access daily reviews of Germany's cultural press, it translates keynote articles and reviews the season's best publications. www.signandsight.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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. Serbian News Network - SNN [email protected] http://www.antic.org/
