DEUTSCHE WELLE/DW-WORLD.DE Newsletter English Service News March 18th 2006, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Serbs Gather For Milosevic's Final Farewell But Family Absent With a minute's silence, more than 50,000 Serbs rallied in a farewell tribute Saturday to former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic, hours ahead of a home town burial with none of his close family on hand to mourn him. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1937721,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "Kicking News" -- DW-WORLD's Soccer Newsletter: Get all the news about the World Cup and Germany's Bundesliga on DW-WORLD.DE at the end of every month. To subscribe, go to: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1170241,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Milosevic buried in private ceremony Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has been buried in a private ceremony in the garden of his family home in the Serbian town of Pozarevac. Earlier, tens of thousands of mourners attended a farewell ceremony in the Serbian capital Belgrade. Deutsche Welle correspondent Alex Todorovic in Belgrade says that while many people turned out to farewell Milosevic, many more Serbians stayed away. Meanwhile, Fausto Pocar, President of the UN war crimes tribunal in the Hague has said specialists from both Russia and Serbia agreed with the conclusion of Dutch doctors that Slobodan Milosevic died of a heart attack. Milosevic, who was on trial in The Hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity, was found dead in his prison cell last Saturday. Iranian dissident journalist released from jail Iran's most prominent dissident journalist Akbar Ganji has been freed from jail after spending much of the past six years in solitary confinement. Ganji was jailed in 2001 for writing articles that linked senior officials to the murder of dissidents. He went on a hunger strike for several months last year. His imprisonment came amid a media crackdown by hardliners as the then reformist president Mohammad Khatami appeared to be threatening their power. Hamas decides Palestinian cabinet Islamist militant group Hamas says it has decided on a new Palestinian cabinet, and will present the names to President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday. Aides to President Abbas have said he will not reject Hamas's choices, but would press the militant group to make changes to its government agenda, which calls for resistance by any means to end Israeli occupation. After four weeks of coalition negotiations, moderate factions including Abbas's Fatah party have refused to join a Hamas-led coalition, meaning key ministries, including interior, foreign affairs and finance are expected to go to Hamas. Analysts say this may bolster US and Israeli-led efforts to isolate the new government economically and politically. French rally to protest new labour law In France, tens of thousands of people have joined rallies in cities around the country to protest a new youth labour law. Unions, students and workers are hoping to force Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin to withdraw the plans which would make it easier to hire and fire young people. The government says the legislation is designed to ease the high levels of youth unemployment in France. De Villepin has indicated he is open to improving the proposal and has appealed for calm. Week-long protests against the reforms reached a climax late on Thursday when peaceful demonstrations turned violent as cafes and storefronts were smashed. Up to a million-and-a-half people are expected to attend Saturday's rallies. Polish ruling party wants new election The leader of Poland's governing Law and Justice party has said he will seek new parliamentary elections, only months after the last vote. Jaroslaw Kaczynski said the party would submit a motion in the coming days for parliament to dissolve itself so that elections can be held before a visit by Pope Benedict XVI, which is planned for late May. The conservative Law and Justice has run a minority government since narrowly beating the pro-business Civic Platform in last September's general elections. After coalition negotiations with Civic Platform broke down, it has relied on support from smaller, Euro-skeptic parties to govern. Tensions rise ahead of Belarus poll German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has called on all parties involved in Sunday's presidential elections in Belarus to ensure the vote passes without violence. He said the government is responsible for ensuring peaceful protesters' safety. President Alexander Lukashenko, widely characterized in the West as Europe's last dictator, is accused by the European Union and the US of rigging elections and crushing all opposition. The main opposition candidate, Alexander Milinkevich, has accused Lukashenko of a "total falsification" of the vote and reiterated his calls for supporters to come onto the streets in protest on Sunday. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has warned Belarus that continued harassment of the opposition would further damage relations. Taiwanese protest Chinese threats Tens of thousands of Taiwanese have taken to the streets to protest China's military threats against the island. President Chen Shui-bian addressed the rally organized by his ruling Democratic Progressive Party, saying the Taiwanese should determine their own future independently of mainland China. Demonstrators also called on China to dismantle the hundreds of ballistic missiles targeting Taiwan. The rally came after China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao warned that Beijing was fully prepared "for all eventualities" in its efforts to rein in Taiwan's independence forces. Last month when Taiwan's President Chen closed down the National Unification Council and scrapped the accompanying guidelines on reunification. China regards Taiwan as part of its territory. Afghan police die moving Macedonians' bodies A blast killed nine Afghan policemen as they were bringing back the bodies of four Macedonians kidnapped and killed by the Taliban and dumped in a valley. All of the victims worked for Ecolog, a German cleaning company contracted to US-led forces. In a separate incident, suspected Taliban gunmen shot and killed a former governor of the eastern province of Ghazni, along with three of his bodyguards. Violence has increased in Afghanistan in recent months, especially in the south and east, as the Taliban and allied militants step up their battle to oust foreign forces and overthrow the Western-backed government. UN to call for halt to Iran's nuke program Iran has again vowed it would refuse to suspend its activities on uranium enrichment research despite the UN Security Council's ongoing meeting considering sanctions against the Islamic republic. The UN Security Council met Friday and moved toward agreement on a revised draft statement, prepared by British and French diplomats, urging Iran to suspend uranium enrichment. It would be a first step towards UN-imposed sanctions for Iran over its controversial nuclear activities. Teheran says its nuclear program will only be used to generate electricity. Washington and several other countries say Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons. Seven die during TV filming in Uruguay In Uruguay at least seven people died when a train crashed into them during the filming of a television programme. The accident happened as participants in a show called Challenge of the Heart were attempting to raise money for a hospital in the small town where the programme was being made. Some 200 people were taking turns pushing a locomotive when they suddenly lost control and the train ran into a crowd of spectators. The accident occurred in the town of Young some 300 kilometres north-west of the capital Montevideo. Protests mark anniversary of Iraq war Protests are taking place around the world as anti-war campaigners mark the third anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq on March 20. Campaigners are calling for coalition troops to leave Iraq, and warning against the use of military force against neighbouring Iran. Around 500 protesters kicked off the global marches in Sydney, while at least 3,000 people have gathered for protests in the Turkish city of Istanbul. In London, thousands of people gathered near the Houses of Parliament before heading to Trafalgar Square for a rally. In Germany, protests are planned in 20 cities, including Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Receive DW-WORLD headlines and news reports straight on your desktop as RSS feeds: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1137115,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
