 | | | | | | | Newsletter | 19.01.2009, 17:15 UTC | | | Newsline | | | World news: international | | | | | | | | | News | | | | | Current Article | | | | Israel continues troop withdrawal from Gaza
The ceasefire in Gaza appears to be holding as Israel continues its troop withdrawal from the Hamas-ruled enclave. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said that Israel is keen on getting out of Gaza as soon as possible. However, he emphasised that a complete troop withdrawal required a stable and lasting truce. Israel and Hamas declared ceasefires on Sunday. The Islamist Hamas movement has called for a full Israeli pullout within a week. Hamas is also seeking the opening of Gaza's border crossings. More than 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis, including 10 soldiers were killed during Israel's three-week military campaign. Meanwhile Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas has called for the formation of a national unity government and the holding of simultaneous presidential and legislative elections. |  | | Saudi Arabia donates $1bn for reconstruction of Gaza
Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz says his country will donate one billion dollars for the reconstruction of Gaza. The king made the announcement at the opening session of an Arab summit in Kuwait. The gathering of Arab leaders is expected to discuss the establishment of a two-billion dollar fund for the reconstruction of the battered enclave. Qatar last week suggested setting up a fund for Gaza and donated 250 million dollars. | | | European Commission predicts 10 percent unemployment in euroyone
The European Commission says the 16 nations in the eurozone are heading for a deep and protracted recession, predicting unemployment to rise above ten percent in 2010. The economy is expected to contract 1.8 percent due to the financial crisis, according to the commission's half yearly report. Germany's economic output is expected to fall by 2.3 percent this year, the European Commission forecast on Monday. Meanwhile Russia has announced that due to sinking oil prices and the global financial crisis, the country's gross domestic product will fall to between zero and two percent. | | | UK unveils new plan to boost bank lending
The British government has unveiled a second financial rescue package to boost bank lending. Britain already pumped 37 billion pounds into its banks last October but that failed to ease the credit crunch. The new measures allow banks to insure against steep losses and guarantee their debt. Finance minister Alistair Darling insisted that the government was offering only backstop insurance and not a blank cheque. Speaking in London, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the Bank of England would also set up a new fund of up to 50 billion pounds to buy up high quality corporate bonds to increase lending available to Britain's largest companies. British media estimate the overall package to be worth up to 200 billion pounds. The plan will also raise the government's stake in Royal Bank of Scotland from 58 to almost 70 percent. This coincides with the bank's announcement that last year's losses could exceed 20 billion pounds. | | | Russia and Ukraine to sign gas deal
Russia and Ukraine are set to finalise a deal on resuming natural gas deliveries to Europe. Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko left Kiev on Monday for Moscow for the signing ceremony with her Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Despite an apparent agreement reached in Moscow in the early hours of Sunday, Russian gas is still not flowing through Ukraine to the European Union. The EU has given a cautious welcome to the agreement but said the real test was whether gas would start flowing again. The crisis broke out on January 1 when Russia cut off gas supplies to Ukraine in a dispute over unpaid bills. It escalated a week later when all gas shipments to Europe via Ukraine were halted, with Moscow accusing Kiev of stealing gas.
| | | Turkish PM Erdogan in Brussels
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is in Brussels for talks with top EU officials. The talks were expected to focus on EU-Turkey relations and developments in the Middle East and Iran. Erdogan was also set to discuss Turkey's EU membership bid. Turkey was finally accepted as an official candidate for membership in 1999, and began bumpy accession talks in 2005. The EU has been urging Turkey to push for more reforms in key areas, including human rights and the Cyprus dispute. Erdogan's visit will also focus on energy issues, including the construction of a new pipeline to bring gas from Azerbaijan through Turkey to Europe, bypassing Russia and Ukraine. | | | Power-sharing talks resume in Zimbabwe
Regional talks aimed at resolving the political crisis in Zimbabwe have kicked off in the capital Harare. The presidents of South Africa and Mozambique are leading mediation talks between Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. The power-sharing deal, which was signed in September, has been delayed over the allocation of key ministries. Mugabe has called on the opposition MDC to accept the deal or end talks over its implementation. The MDC's executive committee said it would not join a unity government until all its demands, including the equal distribution of cabinet posts, were met. The political deadlock coincides with a severe economic crisis and a cholera epidemic that has killed more than 2,000 people. | | | First Khmer Rouge trial on February 17
Cambodia's UN-backed genocide tribunal has officially set February 17 as the start date for the long-awaited first trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders. The first hearing for former prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, will be for crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the Geneva Convention. The 66-year-old was indicted last year for allegedly overseeing the torture and extermination of more than 12,000 people in Phnom Penh's notorious Tuol Sleng prison. The Khmer Rouge's rule of Cambodia lasted from 1975-1979. The ultra-Maoist group is blamed for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people. | | | Ex-Taiwan President pleads not guilty on graft charge
Former Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian has pleaded not guilty to a charge of receiving bribes in a land deal. He appeared at a Taipei court for a pre-trial hearing on graft charges which he says are politically motivated. The 58-year-old Chen has admitted that his wife transferred $20 million abroad but said that she had done so without his knowledge. He has also admitted submitting bogus expense forms but said the money was used for "secret diplomatic missions". While in office, he was in favour of independence from China, which considers the island part of its territory, and Chen says he is the victim of a witch-hunt by the current pro-Beijing government. The trial is expected to start in mid-February. If proved guilty, Chen could face life in prison. | | | Premier Koch's CDU returned to power in Hesse
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats have won the first election of 2009. The CDU, led by Premier Roland Koch, took 37 percent of the vote in the Hesse state election. That's slightly better than the conservatives did in last year's polls. The Social Democrats saw their support plunge to just 24 percent. That's a drop of 13 percentage points compared to one year ago. It's also the party's worst-ever result in the western German state. Among the smaller parties, the liberal Free Democrats took 16 percent of the vote, while the Greens got 14 percent. The Left party broke the five-percent threshold needed to enter the legislature in Wiesbaden. Following the vote, Premier Koch told German public television that he hoped to quickly reach a coalition agreement to govern with his preferred partners, the FDP. The election came three years earlier than planned after last year's vote produced a stalemate, with neither of the major parties able to cobble together a stable majority in the legislature. | | | | | |  | | |  Up-to-date news at DW-WORLD.DE | | | | | | |  | | | Note
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Russia, Ukraine Agree to End Gas Feud But Europe Still Waits
