Ethnic riot erupts in Czech town
November 18, 2008
Police and far-right protesters fight running battles in Litvinov
Riot police in the northern Czech town of Litvinov have waged a bloody battle with far-right protesters trying to reach a Roma (Gypsy) suburb.
Police, some mounted on horses, tried to force back rioters from a 500-strong crowd with batons and tear gas as youths hurled petrol bombs and stones.
France holds ‘Eta military head’
November 17, 2008
Txeroki is suspected by police of killing two police officers in December 2007
The suspected military chief of the Basque separatist group, Eta, has been arrested in southern France, the French interior minister has announced.
Russia ‘pinning hopes on Obama’
November 16, 2008
- Mr Medvedev said Russia would not do anything until the US took the first step
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said he hopes US President-elect Barack Obama will help rebuild the strained relations between their two countries.
In a speech in Washington, Mr Medvedev said that a new US administration might be able to address what he described as a lack of “necessary mutual trust”.
Girl sentenced for swastika lie
November 15, 2008
The trial exposed Rebecca
A German girl who won a “civic courage” award for allegedly defending an immigrant child from neo-Nazis has been found guilty of inventing the story.
The 18-year-old - named as Rebecca K - had carved a swastika on her own thigh, the court concluded, rejecting her claim that neo-Nazis had done it.
German economy now in recession
November 13, 2008
German economy now in recession
Germany has entered a recession after government figures showed that the country’s economy contracted by 0.5% in the third quarter.
This is the second consecutive quarter that the economy has shrunk after a 0.4% contraction in the second quarter.
The fall in economic output was greater than the 0.2% fall that many analysts had expected.
Last week, official figures showed that German industrial output fell 3.6% in September compared with August.
“A negative effect on gross domestic product came from foreign trade, with a strong increase in imports and weakening exports,” the Federal Statistics Office said.
The last time that the German economy was in recession was the first half of 2003.
“This confirms the German economy is in a marked slump,” said Klaus Schruefer at SEB. “We will definitely get a further contraction in the fourth quarter, probably of a similar order,” he added.
Worse to come
Such a pessimistic outlook was echoed by Sebastian Wanke at Dekabank: “There won’t be an improvement in the fourth quarter. The situation will only get worse.”
Such gloomy predictions are based on the glut of recent indicators showing a slowdown in the German economy.
Orders for goods produced by the world’s largest exporter fell 8% between August and September, according to the economy ministry in Berlin. Orders from outside Europe fell 11.4%, while domestic orders dropped 4.3%.
“Anecdotal evidence and leading indicators are scary,” said Carsten Brzeski at ING Financial Markets.
Source: bbc.co.uk/
World recalls end of World War I
November 11, 2008
Wreaths are laid during Armistice Day services to remember the dead
Ceremonies are being held across the globe to mark the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I.
Four years of trench warfare between Germany and the Allies killed some 20m people and redrew the map of Europe.
German clashes over nuclear cargo
November 10, 2008
Protesters cemented themselves to the railway track
A shipment of nuclear waste is expected to arrive at a dump in Germany despite mass protests from environmentalists.
Eleven containers of treated waste were on Monday transferred from a train onto lorries in Dannenberg for the final journey to the northern Gorleben site.
The train was delayed for hours after setting off from the Netherlands on Friday, as protesters clashed with police trying to block the shipment.
Several demonstrators even managed to cement themselves to the tracks.
A number of protesters on Monday are continuing to block access to the Gorleben site in Lower Saxony.
 |
“We will be the last to be removed, but we will keep going. I don’t care if it’s tomorrow or the day after tomorrow - I’m staying here,” Katrin Heineberger from Germany’s Green Youth Party said.
“I want to bloc the transporter and stop it from making its way to the storage facility,” she said.
Some 16,000 police have been deployed across Germany to ensure the shipment reaches its final destination.
Germany has no reprocessing facilities of its own, and each year it sends large quantities of used fuel to France and Britain for treatment.
The treated waste is then returned to Gorleben, which has been the focus of anti-nuclear protests for more than 30 years.
The government in Berlin has approved plans to phase out its nuclear energy by about 2020.
Source: bbc.co.uk/
Russia to move missiles to Baltic
November 6, 2008
Iskander missiles have a range of up to 400km (248 miles)
Russia is to deploy new missiles in a Baltic enclave near Nato member Poland, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says.
Short-range Iskander missiles in the Kaliningrad region would “neutralise” the planned US anti-missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, he said.
The US says its shield is a defence against missiles from “rogue” nations, but Moscow sees it as a direct threat.
Mr Medvedev also said he wanted to extend Russia’s presidential term to six years from the current four.
He did not explain if he wanted to extend his own term, or change the rules for his successor.
Fatal bus fire on German motorway
November 5, 2008
Fatal bus fire on German motorway
Up to 20 people have been killed and several injured in a bus fire on a motorway near Hanover in Germany.
The bus had been travelling to Berlin when the fire broke out, trapping some passengers, most of whom were reported to be elderly.
But 10 people were able to escape from the vehicle after the fire started, on the A2 Autobahn.
The cause of the fire is not yet known but some reports say the fire may have been started by a cigarette.
“Someone was smoking secretly in the toilet and that’s what started the fire. It happens,” said Oliver Pehl, whose mother is the owner of the coach company.
However, officials said it was too early to be sure of the cause and a technical fault could be to blame.
Mr Pehl said he had driven the coach himself in the past and it had never had any problems.
“It is terrible, just terrible that so many people lost their lives,” he said.
‘Deeply shaken’
A police spokesman, speaking anonymously, said the bus had caught fire while driving along and that no other vehicle had been involved.
 |
“The passengers did not manage to get out of the burning vehicle in time,” he said.
Reports say the bus had pulled into the hard shoulder after catching fire.
“I just saw smoke and then I got closer and closer and realised that a coach was on fire,” eyewitness Nadia Possberg told Reuters.
Another eyewitness said what he saw was “just horrible”.
A fire department spokesman, Joerg Segreff, told AP that 12 people had been injured, three of them with serious burns.
German Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee said he was “deeply shaken by the dreadful fate of the victims of the fire” and sent his condolences to their families, reported AFP.
Mr Tiefensee said there would have to be an investigation into the cause of the fire and whether safety regulations had been followed.
Source: bbc.co.uk/
Rome hosts Vatican-Muslim summit
November 4, 2008
The Pope has sought to improve ties with the Muslim world since 2006
Muslim and Vatican officials are to hold historic talks in Rome to try to establish a better inter-faith dialogue and defuse any future tensions.
Catholic-Muslim ties soured after Pope Benedict XVI’s speech in 2006, in which he linked Muslims with past violence.
The speech provoked Muslim outrage and triggered violent protests.
It also prompted leading Muslim scholars to launch an appeal to the Pope for greater theological dialogue, called the Common Word.