Deutsche Welle English Service News 11.11.2002, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: Germany's Opposition Leader Receives Strong Party Endorsement Germany's most powerful woman in politics, Angela Merkel, accuses Gerhard Schr�der's government of blatant lies as her Christian Democratic Union looks to reinvent itself. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1432_A_673653_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 15 million Ethiopians face famine disaster Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi called Monday for urgent international action to avoid a major catastrophe in the Horn of Africa country where 15 million people face death by starvation within months.a famine disaster. He said that almost twice the number of people are affected by famine today than in the 1984-85 disaster. The World Food Programme (WFP) warned at the beginning of the month that it could run out of food aid for drought-stricken Ethiopia as early as December unless governments respond quickly to the call for emergency aid. Ethiopia has two rainy seasons, a short and a long one. This year, no rain fell during the short rainy season, while the long season began late with far too little rain. Dutch begin probe of role in Srebrenica massacre A public inquiry into the 1995 Srebrenica massacre began in The Hague on Monday with testimony from former Dutch peacekeepers who failed to prevent the slaying of more than 7,000 Muslims by Bosnian Serb forces. A government report on the deadliest single atrocity in Europe, since World War II accused Dutch political and military leaders of giving the peacekeepers an impossible mission to protect the UN safe haven, Sreebrenica. The report forced the Dutch cabinet to resign, as well as the head of the Dutch army, General Ad van Baal.Today, former Dutch battalion commander Jelte Groen told the inquiry that his company had not the means to stop the Serb onslaught and urgently asked the United Nations for air support, but the UN force commander, French General Bernard Janvier, denied it. String of tornadoes kill at least 30 in U.S. Devastating tornadoes ripped through the eastern United States from the Great Lakes into the deep South on Sunday and early today , wiping out several small towns and killing at least 30 people. Officials warned the death toll could mount higher, with possibly hundreds injured and widespread property damage. Tennessee appeared to be the hardest hit, with 16 confirmed deaths. The weather service's Storm Prediction Center said it had reports of at least 45 tornadoes, since early Sunday morning across a half-dozen states. The U.S. National Weather Service said it was the worst outbreak of tornadoes in living memory. Iran students stage third day of protests Hundreds of chanting Iranian students boycotted classes and staged a rally on Monday in a third day of protests in support of freedom of speech and political reform. The largest pro-reform protests in the Islamic Republic for three years, they come as reformist President Khatami is engaged in what observers say is a final attemp to assert his authority over hardliners, who have frustrated his efforts to promote democracy in the country of 65 million people. Scores of outspoken intellectuals and journalists have been jailed in the past three years in an ultra-conservative crackdown. But the case of reformist history lecturer Hashem Aghajari, sentenced to death last week for blasphemy after he questioned the right of the clergy to rule Iran, detonated the current wave of protests. Police kept an eye on the rally, but did not intervene. At least 10 rebels shot dead in western Nepal: state media At least 10 Maoist rebels were shot dead in western Nepal Monday in clashes with security forces, state-run radio announced. The report came on the first day of a three-day nationwide general strike called by the rebels. Nepal's capital Kathmandu ground to a halt Monday as Maoist rebels began the strike to protest King Gyanendra's dismissal of the elected government. This week was supposed to mark the start of parliamentary elections, but the election was postponed last month by King Gyanendra, who has not announced new dates. The strike by the Maoists, fighting since 1996 to topple the monarchy and impose a communist regime, prompted all major businesses and offices to close in the kingdom's capital, with most residents staying indoors. In previous strikes, Maoist supporters have attacked people who defied the shutdown. Germ weapons global talks resume Talks to strengthen a global ban on biological weapons resumed on Monday after a year-long break amidst mounting pressure on Iraq to disarm or face a U.S.-led war.A review conference of the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention or BWC was suspended, with the United States refusing to continue negotiations on new, tougher rules, including onsite inspections. The BWC outlaws the use, production and stockpiling of biological or toxic weapons, but unlike other international weapons treaties, it has no verification mechanism to enable members to check on cheating. Washington rejects inspections because it says they would expose its industrial and military installations to spying without giving assurance that treaty violations would be detected. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
