Deutsche Welle
English Service News
June 20th, 2001, 16:00 UTC
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Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Rau Approves Hotly Disputed Immigration Bill
German President Johannes Rau on Thursday approved a contentious
law liberalizing the country's immigration regulations. The law now
faces a challenge by the opposition conservatives in Germany's
highest court.
To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the
internet address below:
http://dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1430_A_580874_1_A,00.html
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Israel reacts to recent suicide bombings
In response to the latest suicide bombings in Jerusalem, Israel today
widened it's military operations in the West Bank. Tanks moved into
Tulkarem, Bethlehem,, three villages near Nablus, and a district of
Ramallah. Hundreds of Palestinians were arrested and taken off to
unknown destinations. There have been reports from non-Palestinian
sources that some of those detained have been mistreated.Meanwhile,
Palestinian radio has been broadcasting every hour, since early
morning an appeal by President Arafat ordering an immediate end to
suicide bombings. But representatives of Hamas and Islamic Jihad,
which have carried out many of the bombings have rejected the appeal
saying that such attacks against targets in Israel would continue as
long as Israel keeps killing Palestinian civilians. Israel insists
that only militants have been targeted in the 21-month-old uprising.
Israel minister at odds with Sharon on reoccupation
Israeli Defence Minister Ben-Eliezer said on Thursday he opposed any
permanent reoccupation of Palestinian-ruled territory, a position
contrary to that of Prime Minister Sharon. The leader of the
centre-left Labour Party, the junior partner in Sharon's governing
coalition insisted that any reconquest of Palestinian territory
should not be punitive, but rather for security reasons to prevent
suicide bombings and must be temporary, possibly three weeks to
destroy the Palestinian militant infrastructure. Mr. Ben-Eliezer
reacted with astonishment to the statement issued by the cabinet
early yesterday that Palestinian administered territories would be
recaptured and held as long as terror continued and further terrorist
acts would bring about further retaking of territoory. He said that
he had not agreed to anything like that.
Turks take control of Afghan peace role.
Turkish troops arrived in Kabul on Thursday to take over the helm of
a multinational peacekeeping force in Afghanistan. Britain handed
over control of the International Security Assistance Force or ISAF
to the Turkish military in a colourful ceremony, attended by
President Hamid Karzai in the capital. The previous night, the Loya
Jirga grand council had disbanded, after nine days of gruelling
debate aimed at charting a new political future for Afghanistan after
23 years of war. Hamid Karzai was inaugurated at the Loya Jirga as
president and won approval for members of a new cabinet. They will
lead the country towards elections in 18 months.
More than 100 trapped in mine after explosion
More than 100 miners were trapped when a gas explosion tore through a
coal mine in China's northeastern province of Heilongjiang on
Thursday, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Rescue workers
saved 25 of an estimated 140 people who were deep in the mine when
the blast happened on Thursday morning . China has the world's
biggest mining industry, but it is also one of the deadliest. Last
year, China reported more than 5,000 mining-related deaths. The
government has tried to shut down thousands of small, illegal mines
in China that do not meet safety standards, but they often re-open
with protection from local authorities lured by high profits.
Forty feared dead in Tanzania mine accident
Four miners suffocated and about 40 more were feared dead in the
Mererani area of northern Tanzania on Thursday after the oxygen
supply to their mine broke down, after the compressor which pumps
clean air into the mine failed. At the time there were 40 miners
underground.They sent in three more people to take in a new
compressor, but they did not return and are also feared dead. The
Mererani area is rich in Tanzanite deposits and employs a significant
portion of the population in the Arumeru district.
U.S. top court bars execution of mentally retarded
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled by a 6-3 vote on Thursday that executing
mentally retarded murderers violates the constitutional ban on cruel
and unusual punishment in one of its most important death penalty
rulings in years. There are no reliable numbers on how many of the
more than 3,700 death-row inmates across the nation are mentally
retarded. But since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in
1976, 35 of the more than 775 executed murderers were mentally
retarded. The ruling came at a time of growing national debate about
capital punishment, sparked in part by recent exonerations of
death-row inmates, because of DNA evidence and new calls for
executions to be halted across the country. Only 12 of the 50 U.S.
states ban the death penalty.
Twelve die in Croatian heat wave
Twelve people have died in a scorching heat wave in Croatia in the
last three days. They died from heart attacks in several hospitals in
the capital Zagreb and paramedic assistance was required in more than
1,500 other cases, as temperatures remained over 34 degrees Celsius
and humidity soared. Doctors advised citizens to avoid alcohol and
the sun, while meteorologists said the temperature was likely to rise
further in coming days. The heat wave followed a few weeks of
unseasonably cold and rainy weather.
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