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DEUTSCHE WELLE/DW-WORLD.DE Newsletter
English Service News
10.05.08, 16:00 Uhr UTC
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Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Serbian Government Approves EU, Russia Deals Ahead of Polls
Serbia's government approved a pre-membership agreement with the
European Union and an energy deal with Russia, ahead of the election
showdown between nationalist and pro-European parties on Sunday.
To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the
internet address below:
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=evydvoI4501ileI0&req=l%3DevydvnI4501ileI0
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Burma holds vote amid cyclone aid delay
Burma's military junta is pushing ahead with a controversial
referendum on a proposed constitution. The vote comes despite calls
by the international community to postpone it and concentrate on
delivering aid to more than a million victims of last Saturday's
cyclone. These are Burma's first polls in more than a decade and the
vote is taking place in all but the most devastated parts of the
country. On Friday, the UN launched a €120 million appeal to help
the cyclone victims. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that
hundreds of thousands of lives could be at risk unless the military
government removes all restrictions on foreign aid. Meanwhile, aid
has begun to trickle into Burma with relief material arriving from
China and Thailand, and the UN, however the UN food agency said that
Burma's military regime has impounded two more p***-loads of
cyclone aid, making a total of four that have been seized.
Tsvangirai to contest Zimbabwe presidential run-off
Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has said he will
contest a run-off presidential election against incumbent president,
Robert Mugabe. However, Tsvangirai told a press conference in
Pretoria, South Africa, that he would only participate in the run-
off if international observers and media had full access to the poll.
Official results showed the MDC leader had topped the presidential
poll on March 29, taking 47.9 per cent of the votes to Mugabe's 43.2
per cent. Earlier, the MDC had insisted that Tsvangirai had won over
50 percent of the vote, negating the necessity of a run-off.
Tsvangirai, who has been in South Africa for several weeks in self-
imposed exile, said he would return to Zimbabwe soon.
Hezbollah to withdraw from Beirut
The Lebanese army has announced that it has frozen measures taken by
the government against the Shi'ite Hezbollah movement, which
resulted in fighting that killed 27 people. The crisis erupted after
the government on Tuesday sacked the pro-Shi'ite head of security at
Beirut airport, and announced it was taking action against
Hezbollah's military communications network. The government backdown
was announced by US-backed Prime Minister Fouad Siniora in a
televised address. In response, Hezbollah has issued a statement
saying that it will withdraw from the streets of the capital, Beirut,
and turn it over to the army.
Khartoum stands under curfew
The Sudanese army has imposed a curfew in the capital Khartoum after
Darfur rebels attacked a suburb in the west of the city. Witnesses
reported helicopters and army vehicles have been mobilised in the
area. This is the closest the rebels have come to the centre of
Khartoum. The interior ministry issued a statement appealing for
calm and urging residents to say indoors and be vigilant. It was not
immediately known if there were any casualties in the fighting which
was described as heavy.
US envoy has Pyongyang's nuclear records
A US diplomat has left Pyongyang carrying documents detailing North
Korea's nuclear activities. Washington described this as an
important first step for verification of the North's disputed
nuclear weapons programme. Sung Kim, the US state department's top
Korea specialist, returned to South Korea after collecting about
18,000 secret papers during a three-day visit to Pyongyang. The US
plans to scrutinise the technical logs from the Yongbyon reactor to
see if the North is telling the truth about ending a bomb programme
in exchange for economic and political rewards.
Sri Lanka military says rebels sink navy ship
Voters in Sri Lanka's eastern province have gone to the polls in
elections which the government hopes will boost its fight against
Tamil Tiger rebels. The Tigers are fighting for an independent
homeland for ethnic Tamils in the north and east of the country. The
polls are the first to be held in the eastern districts of
Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Ampara in 20 years. The government
wrested control of the eastern region from the rebels last July.
Earlier, the military said the Tigers had bombed and sank a navy
cargo ship at the eastern port town of Trincomalee but no crew
members were on board at the time. Another bomb blast in the eastern
Ampara town killed at least 11 people and injured nearly 30 others.
German FM urged to meet the Dalai Lama
Leading politicians from German Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU/CSU
bloc have urged foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier of
coalition partner SPD to meet the Dalai Lama during his visit to
Germany next week. The premier of the state of Lower Saxony
Christian Wulff of the CDU and CSU leader Erwin Huber told the
German weekly 'Welt am Sonntag' that would be a gesture of support
for the ongoing dialogue between Beijing and representatives of
Tibet's exiled spiritual leader. During his four-day visit, the
Dalai Lama will meet several high-ranking politicians, including the
Speaker of parliament Norbert Lammert. Steinmeier has so far refused
to meet the Tibetan leader. Chancellor Merkel will not be in the
country at the time of the visit but has said she will meet the
Dalai Lama at a future date.
Köhler voices Germany's shame at 1933 book burning
Germany has been marking the 75th anniversary of the book burnings
under Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime. At the main ceremony in Berlin on
Friday, President Horst Köhler said that Germans recalled with shame
how people all over the country applauded and cheered as the books
of Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx and others were tossed into the fires as
part of a drive to stamp out art and ideas the Nazi regime
considered decadent. Commemorative ceremonies are being held in
Berlin, Munich and other cities, with public readings from books
that were burned on May 10, 1933.
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For more information please turn to our internet website at
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=evydvoI4501ileI1&req=l%3DevydvnI4501ileI1
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.
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