 | | | | | | | Newsletter | 11.02.2009, 17:15 UTC | | | Newsline | | | World news: international | | | | | | | | | World News | | | | | Current Article | | | | Tsvangirai sworn in as Zimbabwean prime minister
Zimbabwe's opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has been sworn in as prime minister under a power-sharing deal with President Robert Mugabe, who has ruled the nation since 1980. The 56-year-old Tsvangirai took the oath of office at a ceremony in the capital, Harare. Last March, Tsvangirai won a first-round presidential vote that sparked a nationwide outbreak of violence. In a move meant to help end the bloodshed, Tsvangirai agreed back in September to bring his Movement for Democratic Change into a unity government with Mugabe's ZANU-PF party. Germany has welcomed the swearing-in of Tsvangirai as prime minister. Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in a statement that he expected President Mugabe and his party to honour the power-sharing agreement so that the government could tackle the country's problems. Zimbabwe has been hit by hyper-inflation, food shortages and a cholera epidemic that has killed nearly 3,500 people. |  | | No clear victor in Israeli elections
Both Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and right-wing opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu have claimed victory in Israel's general election. According to nearly complete results, Livni's Kadima Party won 28 seats, just one more than Netanyahu's Likud Party. Many observers, though say that Avigdor Lieberman's far-right Yisrael Beiteinu is the real winner, having emerged as the potential kingmakers with 15 seats. It's now up to Israeli President Shimon Peres to decide who should have the first shot at forming a government. He is expected to meet with party leaders next week to hear their coalition plans. | | | 26 killed in Kabul suicide attacks
Afghan health ministry officials say at least 26 people have been killed in three suicide attacks and gunfire in the capital Kabul. Interior Minister Hanif Atmar blamed the near-simultaneous attacks on "enemies of Afghanistan". He told reporters that five suicide attackers entered the ministry of justice on Wednesday morning, killing soldiers, guards and ministry officials, and wounding dozens of others. The minister added that the attackers were later killed by security forces in a three-hour operation. Attackers also targeted the offices of the prisons authority, and the ministry of education, killing several policemen and wounding about 30 other people. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks. | | | Australian residents return to scorched homes
Residents of some towns devastated by the worst wildfires in Australia's history have begun returning home. Some fire-wrecked locations remain off limits as the search for victims continues and police look for evidence of arson. Police suspect some of the fires were deliberately started. They are looking for at least one suspect. The fires have already claimed more than 180 lives, but police said the death toll could climb above 300. Meanwhile, a team of New Zealand victim identification specialists has headed to Australia to assist in the task of identifying the dead. | | | Dalai Lama warns of possible uprising in his homeland
Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has warned that the situation in his homeland was very tense and that an uprising was possible. The Dalai Lama was in the German spa town of Baden Baden for a ceremony on Tuesday in which he received the 2008 German Media Prize, which is awarded every year by a panel of German editors and journalists. Previous recipients include former US president Bill Clinton, former South African president and Nobel laureate Nelson Mandela and Helmut Kohl, Germany's former chancellor. The Dalai Lama has lived in exile in India since he fled Tibet in 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule. | | | Germany's Hypo Real Estate gets €10b more in state aid
The troubled German mortgage lender Hypo Real Estate says it has received additional state-backed guarantees worth over 10 billion euros. This brings the total government assistance for the bank to about 102 billion euros in the form of capital injections and government guarantees. Earlier, the Munich-based bank, the biggest German victim of the global financial crisis, said it would use the extra funds to refinance debts that have to be paid by June. Berlin has set up a banking sector rescue package that will provide up to 80 billion euros in cash injections and 400 billion in loan guarantees to prevent a collapse of the financial sector. | | | German inflation at five-year-low in January
Inflation in Germany fell to an almost five-year low in January. The national statistics office in Wiesbaden has released figures showing inflation at 0.9 percent, its lowest level since February 2004. The decline is due mainly to lower prices for fuel and heating oil.
| | | Egyptian-German activist released from custody
The family of an Egyptian-German activist who was arrested after attending a Palestinian solidarity rally says he's been freed from Egyptian custody. Philip Rizk's family says Egyptian authorities released the 26-year-old early Wednesday. Egyptian authorities have not said why they detained the graduate student from the American University in Cairo. Rizk was arrested on Friday after a march north of Cairo in support of Palestinians in Gaza. He also contributed to a blog about the Gaza Strip that included postings critical of the recent Israeli offensive against the enclave. Rizk also spent two years in Gaza, where he filmed a documentary. | | | EU to probe Lufthansa deal to buy Austrian Airlines
The European Commission says it has opened an antitrust investigation into the sale of Austrian Airlines to German Airline Lufthansa by the Austrian government. The commission said Wednesday it has doubts the price offered for the struggling Austrian carrier reflects the market price for what is being sold. In December, Lufthansa signed a deal to acquire a 41.6-percent stake in Austrian Airlines from the Austrian state holding company for the symbolic sum of one euro cent per share or just over 366,000 euros. EU regulators are also to probe whether government restructuring aid worth 500 million euros given to the airline in the past was in line with EU state aid rules. | | | | | |  | | |  Up-to-date news at DW-WORLD.DE | | | | | | |  | | | Note
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German Government Gives More Billions to Hypo Real Estate
