DEUTSCHE WELLE/DW-WORLD.DE Newsletter
English Service News
November 9th 2006, 16:00 UTC
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Germany to Push for More Debate, Less Quarrelling in the EU
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that reforms in Turkey,
negotiations on Kosovo's future status and relations with Russia will
be among the most important foreign policy concerns during the
German EU presidency.
To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the
internet address below:
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=1hm735Ifcha79I0&req=l%3D1hm734Ifcha79I0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Need a good laugh? Then check out DW-WORLD.DE'S From the
Fringe Special, which regularly brings you quirky stories from
and about Germany. To find out more, go to
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=1hm735Ifcha79I1&req=l%3D1hm734Ifcha79I1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Democrats win control of Senate: reports
US media say projections from Tuesday's mid-term election put the
Democrats in control of the Senate, adding to their win in the House
of Representatives. The deciding state in the Senate race is Virginia,
where the Democrat Jim Webb is reportedly 7,300 votes ahead of
the incumbent Republican George Allan. If confirmed, this would
hand the Democrats a slim 51-49 majority in the Senate and give
them control of both houses of Congress for the first time since 1994.
In reaction, President George W. Bush has removed Defence Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld and nominated former CIA director Robert Gates
as replacement. Bush conceded his Iraq policy was not working.
In the House of Representatives Californian Democrat Nancy Pelosi
is tipped for the powerful post of Speaker. Voter turnout was 40.4
percent.
Israeli shelling - Palestinians to bury 18
Israel is on high alert and braced for revenge attacks as thousands
of Palestinians attended the burial of 18 people killed by Israeli
shells in Beit Hanoun, a town in northern Gaza. The dead, including
women and children, belonged to an extended family. Wednesday's
attack has been condemned worldwide. The EU said it was "appalled"
and the US said it was "saddened". Israel expressed regret, saying
its shelling was a mistake and had been aimed at militants who fire
rockets into Israel. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has accused
Israel of sinking chances for peace and demanded UN intervention.
The UN Security Council has scheduled an urgent session for this
Thursday. Three Palestinian militant groups, including the armed
wing of the governing Hamas movement, have vowed revenge.
France demands end to mock Israeli raids
French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said Israeli warplanes
nearly caused a catastrophe last week, when they nose-dived over
French peacekeepers' positions in southern Lebanon. She said French
troops were just seconds away from firing on the Israeli warplanes,
and demanded an end to threatening manoeuvres over Lebanese
territory. Israeli aircraft have been involved in a number of
recent incidents in the region. Lebanese security forces said eight
low-flying jets staged mock raids on Hezbollah targets in Beirut at
the end of October. An earlier incident saw Israeli planes buzz a
German warship off the Lebanese coast and fire shots nearby. Israel
maintains the flights are necessary for monitoring the Lebanese
government's compliance with the UN-brokered ceasefire.
Tigers and Sri Lankan military in sea battle
The Sri Lankan military says it has sunk up to 22 Tamil Tiger boats
in a major sea encounter. The latest battle came as the government
expressed "regret" over the killing of up to 65 civilians in an
attack on suspected Tamil Tiger positions in the island's restive
east on Wednesday. Earlier Tamil Tiger rebels staged a suicide
attack against a naval patrol in northern Sri Lanka, destroying two
gunboats. The boats were escorting a larger vessel carrying some 300
troopers to the northern peninsula of Jaffna. Tamil Tiger rebels
said that they have killed at least 26 Sri Lankan sailors with the
loss of four rebels. The latest violence comes despite pledges by
both sides to honour and uphold a Norwegian-brokered truce in place
since February 2002.
'Pakistani Taliban' claim responsibility for suicide attack
A previously unknown extremist group called "Pakistani Taliban" has
claimed responsibility for Wednesday's suicide bombing that killed
42 Pakistani soldiers. A man with explosives strapped to his body
blew himself up on Wednesday at an army training center in the town
of Dargai, about 100 kilometers north of Peshawar, the capital of
North West Frontier Province. The pro-Taliban militants said they
carried out the attack as revenge for last week's airstrike on a
Muslim boarding school that killed at least 80 people in the Bajur
tribal region. In Kabul, President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack
on the army base saying that terrorists wanted to disrupt the peace
and stability in Pakistan.
New synagogue opened in Munich
A new main synagogue has been officially opened in the Bavarian
state capital of Munich, nearly 70 years after the original one was
destroyed by the Nazis. The new synagogue and accompanying community
centre will be used by Munich's Jewish community of over 9000
people. Guests at the dedication ceremony included President Horst
Koehler and Israeli ambassador Schimon Stein.
Former East German spy chief dies
The former spy chief of former communist East Germany, Markus Wolf,
has died in his sleep at the age of 83. Wolf was one of the most
influential figures of the Cold War. His death coincides with the
17th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1953, Wolf was
one of the founding members of the Stasi, the main security and
intelligence service of former East Germany. As the head of its
foreign intelligence division, he was heavily involved in the
so-called Guillaume Affair, an espionage case which led to the fall
of the-then West German chancellor Willy Brandt in 1974. In 1993
Wolf was convicted of treason by a Duesseldorf court, but his
sentence of six years imprisonment was later repealed.
France tests new ballistic missile
France has test-launched a new type of missile, the M51, which has a
range of 6,000 kilometres. It can carry six nuclear warheads and
will replace France's existing submarine-based missles by 2010. The
launch was made over the Bay of Biscay from France's Atlantic coast.
Police guarded the site to prevent disruption by environmentalists.
The M-51 missile is manufactured by the European consortium EADS.
Seselj trial nears at UN tribunal
The UN tribunal for former Yugoslavia says the ultra-nationalist
Serbian leader Vojislav Seselj will go on trial in The Hague on
November 27. Seselj faces charges of persecution, murder and torture
of non-Serbs during the 1990s in parts of Bosnia and Croatia. He
surrendered to the tribunal in 2003, declaring his innocence. On
Wednesday judges dropped several duplicate war crimes charges. Last
week he was removed from a pre-trial hearing after disrupting it and
refusing to cooperate with defence lawyers. Last month, a tribunal
appeals chamber granted him the right to defend himself.
Russian PM arrives to China for trade talks
China and Russia have decided to expand their trade relations
especially in the field of energy cooperation. Russian Prime
Minister Michail Fradov arrived in Beijing on Thursday for a two-day
visit where he was to sign 17 trade agreements including several
investment and banking accords, and pacts on bilateral trade and
border management. Russia wants to increase its oil supplies to
China via rail to 15 million tonnes this year. The two countries
also plan to spend 10 billion dollars over the next five years to
build power plants along their common border to satisfy China's
growing energy demand.
ICC to decide on charges against Congo's Lubanga
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has opened a pre-trial
hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to proceed in the
case against a Congolese militiaman accused of recruiting child
fighters. Thomas Lubanga, the 45-year-old leader of a militia group
in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Ituri district, is charged
with deploying tens of thousands of child soldiers. The ICC was set
up as the first permanent global war crimes court in 2002 to try
individuals. Lubanga was the first suspect to be delivered into its
custody.
Kirchner sold at controversial auction
A major German Expressionist painting has been sold at a New York
auction despite strong protests. The painting, "Berlin Street Scene"
by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, fetched 30 million euros at Christie's.
In July, the city of Berlin had returned the painting to the
descendants of a Jewish art collector, who claimed that his family
may have sold the picture under duress from the Nazis. The decision
was heavily criticised by European art critics as a dangerous
precedent that could harm museum holdings. A Picasso painting was
withdrawn from the auction because of its Nazi-era history.
Germany moves to ban tobacco advertising
Germany's lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, has voted in
favour of a bill banning advertising for tobacco products. The ban,
which still has to be approved by the upper house in December, is
intended to put Germany in line with European Union advertising
directives one year later than originally planned. It prohibits
tobacco advertisements in print, radio, television and on the
Internet, as well as at televised sporting events. Tobacco
manufacturers will, however, still be able to advertise on
billboards and on cinema screens after 7pm. The Federal Association
of German Newspaper Publishers has criticised the move as setting a
precedent for the European Commission to introduce other advertising
bans.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Need a good laugh? Then check out DW-WORLD.DE'S From the
Fringe Special, which regularly brings you quirky stories from and
about Germany. To find out more, go to
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=1hm735Ifcha79I2&req=l%3D1hm734Ifcha79I2
----------------------------------------------------------------------
For more information please turn to our internet website at
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=1hm735Ifcha79I3&req=l%3D1hm734Ifcha79I3
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.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can cancel our newsletter at:
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/public/unsubscribe.jsp?gid=90003210&uid=927954405&mid=90055265&sig=EJNDFKEKHPHLMGOP
