Back to newsletter list
DEUTSCHE WELLE/DW-WORLD.DE Newsletter
English Service News
12.05.08, 16:00 Uhr UTC
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
European Commission Offers Earthquake Aid to China
The European Commission said on Monday it was ready to offer China
aid after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake caused widespread damage to
parts to the country's south-western province of Sichuan.
To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the
internet address below:
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=evye85I4501ileI0&req=l%3Devye84I4501ileI0
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Severe quake hits southwest China
A powerful earthquake has struck southwestern China and state media
say in Sichuan province at least 7,600 people are feared dead.
China's news agency Xinhua says the magnitude-7.8 quake toppled a
hospital in Dujiangyan, the same city where up to 900 high-school
pupils are also feared trapped in the rubble of a collapsed school.
The quake's epicentre was near Chengdu, the capital of densely-
populated Sichuan. It's rail and aviation services have been shut
down and telephone and Internet services have been disrupted,
according to Xinhua. The quake was felt across a swathe of southeast
Asia as far away as Thailand's capital Bangkok. The Three Gorges Dam
in Hubei province has not been affected, according to its operators.
An Olympic Games spokesman said venues in Beijing and six other host
cities around China are undamaged.
Burma TV: Death toll at 32,000
Burmese state television has reported that the death toll from a
cyclone this month has risen by more than 3,000 to 32,000. Meanwhile,
three French and US p***s arrived in Burma's main city Rangoon on
Monday with more than 100 tons of medical and other aid. The US
government announced that two more cargo aircraft were to fly in
supplies for survivors of the storm that ravaged Burma ten days ago.
But the US ambassador to Thailand Eric John said it was critical for
foreign experts to be allowed into Burma. The United Nations says
relief operations are operating much too slowly to help an estimated
1.5 million survivors, and the military government has admitted that
some parts of the disaster zone were still cut off.
Pakistan government to split
Former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif has said that ministers
from his party would resign from their posts on Tuesday. Just three
months after landmark general elections, Sharif said his PML-N party
was quitting over differences regarding the reinstatement of judges
sacked by President Pervez Musharraf. Sharif told a news conference
in Islamabad that his party would however not join the opposition.
They hold nine posts in the 24-member government. Sharif's party is
at odds with the coalition partner Pakistan People's Party over just
which powers should be returned to the judges, whom Musharraf
removed last year.
German chancellor brushes off Hitler comparison
Days before an EU-Latin American summit in Lima, Peru German
Chancellor Angela Merkel has brushed aside critical remarks by
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The Venezuelan leader indirectly
linked Merkel to Adolf Hitler, calling her a political descendant of
the Nazi Germany dictator on his Sunday evening TV programme. He
accused her of calling for Latin American states to not keep close
ties with Caracas. Merkel had indicated in an interview that leftist
polices pursued by leaders like Chavez were not the solution to the
region's problems. A government spokesman in Berlin said the
chancellor had reacted with composure to the outburst.
Zimbabwe rejects Western election observers
The government of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has said it
would not invite election observers from Western countries to
monitor a presidential run-off unless they remove sanctions. Justice
Minister Patrick Chinamasa said Zimbabwe would not bow to pressure
to invite election monitors from Western countries and the United
Nations. This contradicts the demands of the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change. On the weekend, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai said
he would contest the run-off on the condition that international
observers and media were given full access.
Fighting breaks out again in Lebanon
Heavy fighting has broken out again in Lebanon's second city of
Tripoli. The clashes resumed between supporters of the Western-
backed government and Shi'ite Hezbollah-led militia after Lebanese
army troops withdrew from the northern city. At least 47 people have
been killed since the unrest began five days ago across the country.
Overnight at least 13 people were killed in the mountains east of
Beirut when Hezbollah gunmen attacked pro-government Druze forces.
Beirut itself is tensely calm. The Arab League is expected to send a
delegation to end the sectarian conflict, which is the worst since a
long-running civil war ended in 1990.
UN conference on biosafety in Bonn
A United Nations conference on the risks of genetic engineering in
farm crops has opened in the German city of Bonn. Two thousand
delegates from 147 signatory nations to the so-called Cartagena
Protocol on Biosafety are trying to work out rules on the use of
modified living organisms and who pays if experiments go wrong. At a
protest rally outside the conference venue, Indian biotechnology
opponent Vandana Shiva said major companies which propagate
monoculture farming are endangering species diversity and the
livehoods of the world's traditional farm communities. Three major
farming nations - the United States, Canada and Argentina - are not
signatories to the protocol. The week-long conference precedes a
major United Nations convention in Bonn on biological diversity.
Putin proposes new cabinet line-up
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has presented President Dmitry
Medvedev with his proposed new cabinet line-up. Putin's suggestions
would keep a large number of key ministers in their posts, including
the previous finance, economy, foreign and defence ministers. Putin
also proposed keeping former prime minister Viktor Zubkov in the
team as fisheries minister and first deputy prime minister. In
Russia, the prime minister proposes cabinet members to the president,
who must approve them before they are final. Putin left the Russian
presidency on Wednesday at the end of his second term, turning over
the office to his protege Dmitry Medvedev.
Georgia denies Abkhazian claim
Georgia has dismissed a claim by rebels in the breakaway region of
Abkhazia that they have shot down an unmanned Georgian spy p***.
Abkhazian officials said the drone was shot down near the Black Sea
coastal town of Ochamchira. The tensions coincide with plans by a
group of EU foreign ministers to visit Tbilisi for talks with
Georgia's pro-Western government. The regions of Abkhazia and South
Ossetia broke away after Georgia declared its independence from the
former Soviet Union in 1991. Last month Georgian authorities
acknowledged the downing of a pilotless drone but claimed this was
carried out by a Russian fighter jet. Georgia accuses Moscow of
backing separatists and trying to scupper Georgia's bid to join the
NATO military alliance. Moscow accused Georgia of wanting to retake
the rebel area.
Tadic's Democrats seek coalition
In Serbia the pro-European Democratic Party led by President Boris
Tadic which claims to have scored an upset victory in Sunday's
parliamentary election has begun talks to form a coalition with
smaller parties. But nationalists led by the Radical party leader
Tomislav Nikolic say they too can form a government. Tallies by
Serbia's electoral commission and poll monitors put the Democrats on
about 39 percent but short of an outright majority, with the
nationalists on 28 percent. The European Union has described the
outcome as a "clear victory" for pro-EU parties. Serbia's election
followed the fall of the government of nationalist Prime Minister
Vojislav Kostunica who had opposed Kosovo's recent independence from
Serbia. Official election results are due by Thursday night.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
For more information please turn to our internet website at
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=evye85I4501ileI1&req=l%3Devye84I4501ileI1
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.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Copyright Deutsche Welle 2008
We're sorry to hear that you want to cancel your newsletter subscription.
nla_internal_2818729.jpg
