DEUTSCHE WELLE/DW-WORLD.DE Newsletter
English Service News 25. 03. 2006 17:00 Uhr UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: Merkel Faces First State Elections With Super Sunday Blitz German Chancellor Angela Merkel faces her first electoral test since taking office last November with polls in three states Sunday set to provide a gauge of the strength of her "grand coalition." To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1942411,00.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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Lukashenko defied at Minsk rally In Belarus' capital Minsk 7,000 demonstrators have defied riot police and staged a rally at a city park to protest last Sunday's disputed re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko. Police made numerous arrests as 1,000 demonstrators then headed to a jail where dissidents from the past week's protests are being held. There's confusion over the opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich. The Russian news agency Interfax had said he'd been arrested, but an advisor to Milinkevich said only his press spokesman had been seized by police. At the rally, Milinkevich had declared the formation of a liberation movement, saying Belarussians were ceasing to be afraid of Lukashenko and his 12 years of authoritarian rule. The US and EU have condemned recent arrests and said Belarus' poll was flawed. ElBaradei criticises UN council The head the UN's IAEA nuclear watchdog agency and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei has made an unusually outspoken call for reform of the UN Security Council. It responses to past crises, he said, had been "inadequate" and its arms control moves had often come too late. Addressing a dentists' conference at Karlsruhe in Germany, the Egyptian diplomat also cited the unrest and refugee displacement in Sudan's troubled Darfur region. The council had been unable to muster sufficient peacekeepers and resources for Darfur to prevent continuing atrocities. Past sanctions imposed by the council on Iraq had been manipulated by its former regime, resulting in the deaths and suffering of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. ElBaradei was in Karlsruhe to receive a global mediation award. Thai opposition appeals to King In Thailand, thousands of people have gathered in the capital Bangkok to demand the resignation of prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. It's the latest in a series of protests against Thaksin, whom critics accuse of corruption and abuse of power. Demonstrators are calling on King Bhumibol Adulyadej to intervene and replace the prime minister before next weekend's snap election. The three main opposition parties say they will boycott the vote unless Thaksin resigns and the king appoints a neutral, interim government. French students refuse to meet Villepin A leading French student group has turned down an offer from Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin for talks on his controversial new labour law. This comes after talks with union leaders on Friday ended in deadlock. DeVillepin rejected demands that the government withdraw the law which allows employers to easily fire workers under the age of 26 within their first two years on the job. The law has unleashed nationwide protests from students and union members. Some of the demonstrations have turned violent. Unions, meanwhile, have called a one-day strike next Tuesday. Russia denies giving Iraq intelligence Russia has denied providing Saddam Hussein with intelligence on US military moves in the opening days of the US-led invasion in 2003. A US Pentagon report said Russia passed details through its Baghdad ambassador. The report also said that one piece of intelligence passed on was false, and in fact helped a key US deception effort. The false intelligence apparently concerned the date the US was likely to start its main attack on Baghdad. The report also describes Saddam Hussein as chronically out of touch with reality - preoccupied with the prevention of domestic unrest and with the threat posed by Iran. Afghan christian expected to be freed Afghan President Hamid Karzai is leading efforts to resolve the issue of a man facing execution for converting to Christianity. Officials say a meeting is taking place in Kabul to discuss the fate of Abdul Rahman who "could be released soon". Rahman is on trial charged with rejecting Islam. He could be executed under Sharia law unless he reconverts. The emergency meeting was called after growing international pressure on Afghanistan about the trial. Several countries with troops in Afghanistan have expressed their concern on the issue. BND blocked release, says Spiegel The magazine Der Spiegel claims that Germany's BND foreign intelligence service has for years blocked the release from Guantanamo of a German-Turkish man, Murat Kurnaz. Spiegel cites agency documents in which the American CIA and the BND concluded back in 2002 that Kurnaz had not been involved in Taliban terror activities as previously suspected. The 23-year-old, from the German city of Bremen, was detained in Pakistan shortly after the September 2001 hijack attacks on New York and was taken to Guantanamo, a US base and detention facility on Cuba. Kurnaz' family and lawyers are seeking his release in the next few weeks. A German government spokesman said talks on the US on the case were continuing. UN extends Sudan peace mission The United Nations has extended the mandate of its peacekeeping mission in southern Sudan by six months. UN troops there are monitoring a peace deal that ended a 21-year war. The Security Council also voted unanimously to speed up preparations for the deployment of UN peacekeepers to the country's western Darfur region. The Council gave UN Secretary General Kofi Annan a month to prepare a range of options. The African Union is planning to hand over its peacekeeping operation in Darfur to the UN in September. But Khartoum objects to the proposed handover. Argentina marks coup anniversary Argentinians have been marking the 30th anniversary of a coup that ushered in a bloody military dictatorship and a period that became known as the Dirty War. At least 30.000 people were killed or disappeared between 1976 and 1983, and many bodies were never found. At a ceremony at a military college near the capital Buenos Aires, Argentinian president Nestor Kirchner unveiled a bronze plaque dedicated to those victims. Kirchner urged Argentina's judiciary to repeal laws giving immunity to hundreds of military officers charged with murder and torture during the seven-year dictatorship. US confirms Iran talks on Iraq The United States has confirmed that it will hold talks with Iran over the security situation in neighbouring Iraq. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the meetings would take place at what she called an "appropriate time." Washington has accused Tehran of stoking the sectarian strife in Iraq, something Iran denies. The subject of Iran's nucelar programme will not be on the agenda at the talks between the two countries, which broke off diplomatic ties more than 25 years ago. US protests against immigrants bill Tens of thousands of people have staged marches in several US states in protest at a planned bill that would classify illegal immigrants as criminals. Under current US legislation anyone caught living or working without documentation is charged only with a civil offense. There were reports of major demonstrations in Arizona, California and Georgia. Next week the Senate is due to debate the bill which has already been passed by the House of Representatives. It's estimated that there are currently around 12 million illegal immigrants in the US. Ukraine leader promises fair election Ukrainians go to the polls on Sunday in a parliamentary ballot seen as the first electoral test for President Viktor Yushchenko since his party won power with the country's "Orange Revolution" one year ago. As election campaigning draws to a close, the current Prime Minister, Yuri Yekhanurov of Yushchenko's "Our Ukraine party" has signalled his willingness to form a coalition with the party of former ally Yulia Timoshenko. She was sacked from the position of Prime Minister last September after a fallout with President Yushchenko. Daimler to stop making Smart four-seater Daimler Chrysler says it plans to end production of its Smart unit's four-seat model and absorb the brand into its Mercedes division to bring it into profit. The move, which still has to be negotiated with Mitsubishi Motors and other partners, will cost DaimlerChrysler about 1 billion euros. Abandoning the four-seater model will leave Smart with only its more popular two-seater. DaimlerChrysler provided no information on what would happen to workers at the Smart factory in the Netherlands but it said 300 jobs would be lost at the Smart plant in Boeblingen, near Stuttgart. German army beefs up World Cup security The German government is prepared to beef up security at this summer's World Cup soccer finals. Minister of Defence Franz-Josef Jung has revealed that the German army would now be able to call upon an additional 5000 soldiers. Back in February, 2000 soldiers were allocated for the 64-match World Cup, running from June 9 until July 9, but now 7000 soldiers can be mobilised in case of a terrorist threat or medical emergency. Hosts Germany have promised tight security at the finals but vowed it would not take the fun element out of the world's biggest sporting event. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
