DEUTSCHE WELLE/DW-WORLD.DE Newsletter
English Service News
News, 16.03.2006, 17:00 Uhr UTC
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Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Testing the Limits of Tolerance
Citizenship tests are currently in fashion in Europe, with Germany,
the Netherlands and Britain all revising the process by which
immigrants are admitted or made nationals. But do these new tests
unfairly target Muslims?
To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the
internet address below:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1935900,00.html
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US launches air offensive in Iraq
US forces have launched their biggest air offensive in Iraq since
the invasion of the country in 2003. The US military said the
operation involved more than 1,500 Iraqi and US troops and over 50
aircraft targeting suspected insurgents near Samarra, around 100 km
north of Baghdad. Earlier in the capital, Iraq's first full-term
parliament convened. This comes three months after being elected on
Dec. 15. The 275 members of parliament were sworn in, in a
nationally televised ceremony. Deutsche Welle correspondent Edward
Wong in Baghdad says the mood during that ceremony was subdued. The
sitting was suspended after less than an hour, as talks on forming a
government remain deadlocked.
Milosevic's body on display in Belgrade
Hundreds of supporters of the deceased former Yugoslav leader
Slobodan Milosevic have lined up to see his coffin on display in
Belgrade's Museum of Revolution. The former president died in his
cell last Saturday while on trial in The Hague on 66 counts of war
crimes and crimes against humanity. The funeral is to take place
this Saturday in his hometown of Pozarevac, 70kms south-east of
Belgrade. Results of a toxicological test conducted to establish the
cause of the heart attack that killed Milosevic are expected later
this week.
French student protests continue
In France, the protests by students against a new planned law on job
security are continuing. Around 15,000 youths gathered in the port
city of Marseilles, while similar demonstrations took place in Le
Havre and Bordeaux. Many universities around the country have either
been severely disrupted or have closed down completely. The students
are protesting against government plans to introduce a new youth
labour programme that critics say would make it easier for companies
to hire and fire young employees. Mass nationwide street
demonstrations are planned for this weekend.
Germany welcomes new UN Rights body
Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has welcomed the
decision by the United Nations General Assembly to approve the
creation of a UN Human Rights Council. The new body will replace the
widely-criticised UN Human Rights Commission. Steinmeier said
Germany had been in favour of more far-reaching changes but praised
the achievements so far. The US was one of four member nations that
voted against the proposal, which was backed by 170 countries. There
were three abstentions. The new council is to have 47 elected
members, convening three times a year. Countries represented on the
council must undergo a strict human rights review. Washington argues
that the rules are not stringent enough and is worried that
governments with poor human rights records could receive seats.
G8 tackle energy problems
Ministers from the world's leading industrialised countries have
begun talks in Moscow on securing global energy needs. G8 energy
ministers are divided on plans for developing nuclear power proposed
by Russia and the United States. The EU's commissioner for energy
said a number of countries, notably Germany, were in the process of
phasing out nuclear power plants, while others were pursuing nuclear
development. The ministers are also looking at the issues of
stability of supply and demand, alternative fuels and the need for
emergency plans to deal with disruptions. Russia is the host of this
year's G8 summit in St. Petersburg from July 15-17.
Four drug trialists said to be better
Four of the six men who suffered violent reactions to a new
medication during a drug trial in Britain are said to be improving,
while two remain in a critical condition. A doctor at Northwick Park
hospital in London said it was still early days but that four
patients were showing signs of improvement. The men reportedly
became very ill minutes after taking the drug. British regulators
have ordered the suspension of the drug trial, which was being
supervised by Parexel International. The drug was developed by
German firm TeGenero AG for treatment of auto-immune and
inflammatory diseases and leukaemia.
German doctors go on strike
In Germany, doctors working at university clinics have gone on
strike in a dispute over pay and working hours. The association
representing the physicians, the Marburger Bund, said more than 98
percent of its members had voted in favour of the walkout. Initially
doctors have walked out of hospitals in Freiburg, Heidelberg, Bonn
and Essen. The strikes are in support of demands for shorter working
hours, fully paid overtime and an increase in their salaries of up
to 30 percent.
EU may tighten sanctions on Belarus
The European Union has condemned the wave of arrests of opposition
leaders in Belarus ahead of elections to take place this weekend. In
addition, a group of eight Scandanavians, monitoring the forthcoming
presidential election in the former Soviet republic, were expelled
from the country on Tuesday for organising opinion polls. The EU's
executive commission called on authorities in the republic, led
since 1994 by authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, to
release those detained immediately and threatened that
non-compliance might result in an increase in sanctions such as
travel restrictions on leaders. EU foreign ministers are likely to
discuss the issue when they hold regular talks in Brussels next
Monday.
German to lead UN environment body
The position of head of the United Nations environment agency is to
remain in German hands. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has
appointed Achim Steiner to replace outgoing director Klaus Toepfer,
who headed the agency for eight years. The 44-year-old Steiner,
who's currently the director of the World Conservation Union, will
take up his new job on June 15.
Court gives green light for Berlin airport
Here in Germany a court has given the go-ahead for the development
of a new international airport in Berlin. The Federal Administrative
Court in Leizig approved expansion of the Schoenefeld airport under
certain conditions that would limit noise pollution, reduce the
number of night flights and compensate residents in the area. The
court had suspended construction last year to hear objections from
residents. The new Berlin-Brandenburg Airport is scheduled to be
completed by 2010 at a cost of around 2 billion euros. Berlin's
other two airports, Tegel and Tempelhof, are to close.
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