Deutsche Welle English Service News 02. 04. 2005, 17:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DW-WORLD's "Click Back" monthly review quiz for April is waiting for you and will test your knowledge of stories we've written. If you answer all questions correctly, you can also win a great prize. To play, please go to: http://www.dw-world.de/english ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Pope at Death's Door Pope John Paul II is drifting in and out of consciousness but is not in a coma, the Vatican said Saturday, as millions of Catholics prayed and the world witnessed the pontiff's death throes. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1537791,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pope's condition "unchanged" The Vatican says Pope John Paul II's condition remains extremely serious and he is slipping in and out of consciuosness. A Vatican spokesperson told a press briefing that the Pope was not in a coma and said morning mass had been celebrated in the pontiff's presence. The 84-year-old Pope received the last rites on Thursday when his condition worsened after weeks of ill health. According to the Vatican, the Pope's heart and kidneys were failing and his blood pressure was dangerously low. The Pope has chosen not to go to hospital and is being treated by a team of doctors in his Vatican apartment. Pope John Paul II has led the world's Catholics for 26 years. Catholics worldwide pray for the Pope Roman Catholics around the world have been praying for the ailing Pope John Paul II. Tens of thousands of faithful have gathered in St. Peter's Square in Rome outside his Vatican apartment, many staying overnight. In Poland, the Pope's native country, churches in the capital, Warsaw, remained open all night. German Catholics have also been praying for the Pope. One large gathering was outside Cologne Cathedral. In Italy, politicians halted campaigning ahead of weekend regional polls as a sign of respect. Newspapers around the world featured farewell messages to the dying Pope on Saturday. Australian helicopter crashes on Nias An Australian navy helicopter has crashed on the Indonesian island of Nias. Nine of the 11 people on board are missing and presumed dead. An Australian defence spokesperson said the helicopter was delivering aid supplies to the quake hit region when it came down at around 4:30 pm local time. Meanwhile rescuers on Nias have rescued a survivor from Monday's earthquake who was buried beneath the rubble of his house for almost five days. Up to 2,000 people in the region are feared dead. The quake registered 8.7 on the Richter scale. Relief workers are still trying to reach thousands of people on the islands of Nias, Simelue and Banyak who are cut off from aid. Kyrgyz ex-president agrees to resign Kyrgyzstan's parliamenty speaker says ousted president Askar Akayev has agreed to resign without conditions. A Kyrgyz parliamentary delegation is flying to Moscow on Sunday for talks with Akayev who fled into exile last week, after mass protests against alleged vote rigging. Parliamentary speaker Omurbek Tekebayev said Akayev seemed to have given up on his demands for security guarantees if he returns to the Central Asian Republic. It was unclear if new elections planned for June would be legal if Akayev refused to resign. Mugabe's party wins two-third majority Zimbabwe's opposition party has rejected the results of Thursday's parliamentary elections. Morgan Tsvangirai, who heads the Movement for Democractic Change has accused President Robert Mugabe of election fraud and says the polls do not reflect the will of the people. President Mugabe's ZANU-PF party has secured a two-thirds majority giving it the power to change the constitution. With results in for most of the contested 120 seats, ZANU-PF won 74. Mugabe is legally entitled to appoint 30 other members of the 150-seat parliament. The elections have also been heavily criticised by Germany and the European Union, as well as the United States. Sudan slams UN resolution on Darfur The government of Sudan has criticised a United Nations resolution calling for Darfur war crime suspects to be sent to the International Criminal Court in the Hague. Information Minister Abdel Basit Sabdarat told reporters in Khartoum that the court violated the principle of national sovereignty. But the two main Darfur rebel groups welcomed the resolution and said they would comply. The UN Security Council passed the resolution by a vote of 11-0 with the United States, which opposes the court, and three other countries abstaining. The resolution refers a sealed list of 51 people accused of crimes against humanity in Darfur to the ICC. Chirac repeats calls to lift arms ban France's President Jacques Chirac has renewed his support to lift a European Union arms embargo on China. According to China's Xinhua news agency Chirac told Chinese President Hu Jintao by telephone, that the embargo was outdated and should be revoked. Hu Jintao said lifting the embargo would lead to closer relations between China and the EU. Last year, the EU agreed to try to lift the ban by the end of this June but the US and Great Britain have raised concern over Beijing's latest military threats against neighbouring Taiwan over its independence claims. Germany and France have been the most vocal supporters of lifting the plan. Car bomb kills five Iraqis near Baghdad Iraqi officials say four policemen and a civilian have been killed in a car bomb explosion in the town of Khan Bani Saad, north of Baghdad. They said the bomb went off as the policemen came to inspect the empty car in which it was placed, killing them and a civilian driving past. At least two other people are reported to have been wounded in the attack. Meanwhile, the US military has said a US marine was shot dead on Friday in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi during security operations. The death brings to 1,163 the number of US military personnel killed in action in Iraq since the US-led invasion just over two years ago. UN envoy optimistic about Syria talks Ahead of a meeting in Syria on Sunday, United Nations envoy Terje Roed Larsen says he's optimistic about the outcome of talks. Larsen will meet Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus to discuss a timetable for the complete withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon. Syria has been under intense international pressure to pullout from neighbouring Lebanon following the murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which many Lebanese blame on Damascus. A joint Syrian- Lebanese summit next week will finalise details of the pullout which the UN wants to occur before Lebanese elections in May. Former Clinton aide pleads guilty Former US national security adviser Sandy Berger has pleaded guilty to taking classified documents from the National Archives. Berger, who served under former President Bill Clinton, pleaded guilty in the US District Court in Washington and he's to be sentenced on July 8. Berger admitted to taking copies of five documents from the National Archives in late 2003 while preparing for testimony before the commission investigating the September 11, 2001 attacks. Berger said he'd made an honest mistake, but that he'd also exercised poor judgement. Riccardo Muti resigns from Scala The musical director of La Scala, Riccardo Muti, has resigned after nineteen years in charge of Milan's prestigious opera house. He cited what he called the "vulgar hostility" of several colleagues as a reason. The move ends a long, bitter conflict about programming. Just over two weeks ago, a majority of the opera's 800 staff voted against Muti in a no-confidence motion over his role in the dismissal of the former general manager, Carlo Fontana. Fontana and Muti had fallen out over the works that should be programmed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- We'd like to introduce you to our latest newsletter: "Germany Light" give you a weekly look at Germany's cultural, peculiar and sometimes odd happenings. To sign up for regular dose of fun and entertainment, please go to our Newsletter section at http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1170241,00.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. Yahoo! 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