DEUTSCHE WELLE/DW-WORLD.DE Newsletter English Service News 20. 03. 2006 17:00 Uhr UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: Hamas Must Reform Itself, EU Warns The EU has reiterated its stance that Hamas -- the Palestinian militant group whose members now take up prominent seats in the new Palestinian cabinet -- must reform itself if it is to expect European aid in the future. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1939398,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DW-WORLD offers you a special service for the Bundesliga. Get all the action on your mobile device and you'll never miss out on important news. For more information, please visit http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,1595,8733,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- EU weighs sanctions against Belarus The European Union is considering sanctions against Belarus after its incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko was declared the outright winner of the weekend's poll. EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner warned that EU action was now likely, including a visa travel ban for top officials. Brussels said the opposition in the former Soviet Republic had been systematically intimidated. Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said the election did not meet international standards. The Central Election Commission declared Lukashenko the overwhelming winner on 83 percent and put his nearest rival, Alexander Milinkevich, on six percent. Opposition leaders have accused the government of vote-rigging. Russia has said the election was fair. Several dead on Iraq anniversary In Iraq at least 13 people have been killed and several others wounded in a series of bomb attacks around the country. The latest violence comes on the third anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq. Speaking in Washington, US President George W. Bush gave a positive assessment of the situation saying that he was confident of victory against the insurgents in Iraq. However his comments contrasted with those of former Iraqi prime minister, Iyad Allawi, who told BBC television that Iraq was already gripped by civil war. German-French lead in EU mission German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung has said that Germany and France will jointly command a planned dispatch of 1,500 European Union troops to Congo to help oversee its election in June. Jung said the EU mission would be coordinated from Bundeswehr headquarters in Potsdam, near Berlin. France would provide a field headquarters in the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital, Kinshasa. However any German participation is subject to approval by the Bundestag where many parliamentarians have reservations about German involvement. Within the EU there have been extensive wrangles over who will contribute troops. Germany and France would each provide 500. The United Nations already has 17,000 peacekeepers in Congo. French government sticks to job law French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin says he will not back down over a new job law despite a union threat to call a general strike if it is not withdrawn by Monday evening. President Jacques Chirac has once again offered support to his embattled prime minister saying the country's high youth unemployment made action necessary. However he said the law could still be improved. It aims to reduce youth unemployment by making it easier for employers to hire and fire people under 26 during a two-year trial period. Critics say the law would create a generation of disposable workers without job security. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets across France on Saturday to protest against it. A number of people were hurt in clashes between police and demonstrators in Paris. IRA member admits attack on UK base A member of the Irish Republican Army has admitted taking part in an unsuccessful 1989 attack on a British military base in Germany. The admission came on the first day of the trial of Leonard Joseph Hardy in Celle. Hardy, from Antrim, Northern Ireland, faces charges of attempted murder and for deliberately causing an explosion. The 45-year-old was arrested last August in Spain. German prosecutor Wolfgang Hilkert said Hardy was part of at least five IRA "Active Service Unit" members who attacked the British Army's Quebec barracks in Osnabrueck in 1989. Four bombs were planted but only one exploded, causing no injuries. Renewed rebel violence near Kathmandu Thirteen Nepalese soldiers and a Maoist guerrilla have been killed in a two-hour gunbattle near the capital Kathmandu. The clash took place in Kavre district, 30 kilometres east of Kathmandu. The troops came under attack when they were heading towards the area to restore the local water supply after it had been disrupted by the rebels. At least 12,500 people have died since the Maoists launched an uprising a decade ago to topple the monarchy. On Sunday the Maoists called off a six-day-long transport blockade which had caused fuel shortages and sent prices soaring. Congo militia leader to face ICC Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga has appeared before the new International Criminal Court (ICC) -- the first suspect to stand trial at the permanent war crimes tribunal in The Hague. On Friday Lubanga was flown to the Netherlands and taken into custody to face charges for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. Lubanga, who headed a militia in Congo's northeastern Ituri region, was arrested a year ago and had been held in Kinshasa. The ICC is opposed by the United States which fears it could be used for politically motivated prosecutions of US citizens. Cyclone Larry hits Queensland coast The worst tropical cyclone to hit Australia in decades has devastated 300 kilometres of coastline in Queensland state in the continent's northeast. Police say few people were injured but Cyclone Larry has extensively damaged homes, as well as banana and sugar crops. Maritime scientists say parts of the Great Barrier Reef comprising corals were probably wrecked by storm waves. The cyclone, packing winds of up to 290 kilometres per hour, struck south of the tropical city of Cairns, at Innesfail, a sugar-growing town. Police say half of its houses were damaged. Meteorologists say Larry was similar in size to Cyclone Tracy. In 1974 Tracy wrecked Australia's northern city of Darwin, killing 71 people. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Week in Germany: The best from German culture, business and politics in a convenient weekly wrap-up. Read and subscribe at www.germany.info/twig ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
