Below follows a news precis
taken from a favourite news source -
Radio Netherlands -
it presents a different perspective to that normally found in the Anglo-Saxon press
it presents a different perspective to that normally found in the Anglo-Saxon press
World news briefs at Tuesday 30 December 2008
Natural disasters killed 220,000 in 2008
The world's second largest reinsurer says natural disasters in 2008 killed over 220,000 people, making it one of the deadliest years on record. According to the German-based company, Munich Re, the most devastating disaster was Cyclone Nargis, which last May killed over 135,000 people in Myanmar. The second worst was the earthquake which hit China's Sichuan province a few days later, killing close to 90,000 people. The reinsurer warns that many natural disasters are linked to global warming caused by human activity, making a new climate control treaty all the more urgent.
Belgian government reaching agreement
Belgium's parliamentary speaker, Herman Van Rompuy, has announced that the five parties in the country's outgoing government have agreed in principle to a coalition. They are expected to finalise the details on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Yves Leterme and Justice Minister Jo Vandeurzen both resigned ten days ago following allegations they had tried to interfere in a court case over the break-up of the financial services group Fortis. It's expected that Mr Van Rompuy will become the new prime minister. The incoming government is expected to stay on until 2011.
Search on for missing Canadian snowmobilers
Rescue workers in the Canadian Rocky Mountains are searching for eight missing snowmobilers. The eight, who were travelling in a group of 11 from the same Canadian village, went missing on Sunday after avalanches struck an area 300 kilometres south west of the city of Calgary.
Initially, four riders were lost when an avalanche struck. When the other members of the group went to their rescue, a second avalanche buried them as well. Three people managed to dig their way to freedom.
A large-scale rescue operation began at sunrise on Monday morning. A helicopter and tracker dogs have been sent to the site.
Victory increasingly likely for Bangladesh's Hasina
In Bangladesh, former prime minister Sheikh Hasina appears to be headed for an overwhelming victory. An unofficial result has given her Awami League a large parliamentary majority. The rival party, Begum Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party, has complained of major irregularities.
Observers say turnout among the country's 80 million eligible voters was around 70 percent. The elections, the first in the country since 2001, have also passed off without major incident, due mainly to the heavy police and army presence on the streets.
The voting ends two years of emergency rule by an army-backed government that seized power amid a wave of political violence in 2007.
Taiwan's former PM sent back to jail
The former Taiwanese president Chen Shu-bian has been ordered back to jail by a court in Taipei. The decision reverses a ruling two weeks ago that Mr Chen could await his trial on corruption charges in freedom. Explaining the latest ruling, the judges said Mr Chen needed to be detained to prevent him from colluding with other suspects, destroying evidence and fleeing the island.
Mr Chen, who was in office until May, has been charged with embezzling government funds, money laundering and accepting bribes. Thirteen other people have also been charged, among them Mr Chen's wife, son and daughter-in-law. If found guilty, the 58-year-old politician faces life imprisonment.
Mr Chen denies any guilt and says the current China-friendly government of Taiwan is engaged in a political witch-hunt.
EU emergency meeting on Israeli attacks
European Union foreign ministers are to hold an emergency meeting tomorrow in Paris on Tuesday to discuss the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip. The announcement comes after demonstrations against Israel and its actions in several European capitals. Chief among them were Athens, London and Stockholm. There have also been angry demonstrations in several Arab countries, in particular in Yemen and Iran.
After three days of bombings, Palestinian sources are saying that 310 Palestinians have been killed and 1,400 injured in the Gaza Strip. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency says that at least 57 of the dead are civilians, and adds that that is a cautious estimate.
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak says Israel is engaged in an "all-out war against Hamas." The latest targets have included weapons factories and smugglers' tunnels, Gaza's Ministry of the Interior and the Islamic University in Gaza City. Palestinian militants are answering the bombardments by firing rockets at targets in southern Israel, where four people have now died.
The United States and Germany have laid responsibility for the Israeli attacks firmly at the door of the Palestinian Hamas movement. Washington and Berlin say Hamas must stop firing rockets from the Gaza Strip and sign a cease-fire with Israel.
Seven freeze to death in Romania
Severe weather in Romania, where the minimum temperature is in some places 25 degrees below zero Celsius, has claimed the lives of at least seven people.
In the capital Bucharest, two homeless people froze to death on Monday night. In Constanta, a city on the Black Sea, another five people also died in the same way. Four of them were homeless people who spent the night in train stations or unheated cellars. The fifth was a woman who, according the Romanian news agency Mediafax, fell asleep drunk in her garden after a party.
Austrian incest survivor leaves clinic
The lawyer representing Elisabeth Fritzl, the Austrian woman who was locked in a cellar by her father for 24 years, says she has now left the clinic she entered after she was freed in April.
Ms Fritzl was forced to live in the cellar of her father's house in 1984. In the 24 years that followed, Josef Fritzl fathered seven children by her. One died shortly after birth, three were raised by their father outside the cellar and three remained with their mother until their release this year. Ms Fritzl left the clinic with all six of her surviving children. They are now staying at an undisclosed location.
Josef Fritzl is accused of murdering the dead child. He is also accused of incest, slavery, rape, deprivation of freedom and grievous assault. His trial is expected to begin in March.
200 slaughtered by rebels in DRC at Christmas
A United Nations agency says a Ugandan rebel movement killed nearly 200 people in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo during Christmas. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says the Lord's Resistance Army killed 189 people over three days in the villages of Faradje, Doruma and Gurba. A spokesman for the rebels has denied the killings.
Earlier reports said that 45 bodies, apparently also killed by the rebels, had been found in a church in Doruma. It is unclear whether those victims were included in the total announced by the OCHA on Monday.
The Lord's Resistance Army is led by Joseph Kony, who is being sought by a UN tribunal for war crimes. The armies of Uganda, Congo and Sudan have recently begun a military offensive against the movement.
Stalin voted third most popular Russian
Soviet dictator Josef Stalin has been voted Russia's third most popular historical figure in a nationwide poll. The list was topped by the 13th century prince Alexander Nevsky, who defeated German invaders, followed by Pyotr Stolypin, a prime minister known for introducing agrarian reforms in the early 20th century.
During the sixth-month contest run by the Rossiya state television channel, Stalin was seen as a highly likely winner. This prompted historians and human rights activists to warn of simplifying history. They pointed out that during Stalin's rule, from the mid-1920s until his death in 1953, millions of Soviet citizens died from famine and purges.
South Africa lifts Zimbabwe embargo
South Africa has lifted its embargo on aid to Zimbabwe because of the worsening humanitarian crisis there. It has resumed agricultural, food and medical aid. According to the World Health Organisation, Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic has now claimed over 1,500 lives.
South Africa imposed the boycott in a bid to put pressure on President Robert Mugabe to form a national unity government with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. However, it is now urging other countries to lift their embargoes too.
South Korean MPs ordered out of parliament
South Korea's speaker of parliament has ordered opposition legislators to end their sit-in by midnight or face what he described as "extreme measures". The demand by Speaker Kim Hyong-O has been rejected by the opposition lawmakers, who have barricaded themselves in the main parliamentary chamber to block the passing of a free trade agreement with the United States.
Somali President Yusuf resigns
Somalia's President Abdullahi Yusuf has resigned. The 74-year-old former warlord, who was elected in 2004, says he is standing down in a bid to ease the country's political crisis. The past four years have seen a rise in violence and ongoing infighting in the government.
Mr Yusuf accused the international community of failing to support his government, resulting in its inability to exert effective control over the war-torn country. Foreign diplomats have welcomed the president's resignation, saying it should pave the way for political progress. The president will be temporarily replaced by the speaker of parliament, Sheikh Aden Madobe.
African Union suspends Guinea over coup
The African Union has suspended Guinea after Captain Moussa Dadis Camara seized power on 23 December following the death of President Lansana Conté. The news comes hours after the new military rulers retired 22 army generals, including the army chief of staff, General Diarra Camara, who was loyal to the late president and fiercely opposed the coup.
Junta leader Camara, who on Saturday had vowed to shut down all mining operations across the country, now says he is willing to negotiate. The Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto, which has invested over 300 million euros in an iron ore mine it operates in the south of the country, has welcomed the move. Guinea, one of the world's poorest countries, has more than a third of global bauxite reserves and large reserves of gold, diamonds, iron, nickel and uranium.
Pakistan suicide bombing toll rises to 41
The death toll following a suicide bombing at a polling station in northwestern Pakistan has risen to 41. On Sunday a car packed with explosives went off outside a school that was being used as a polling station for a parliamentary by-election. The authorities blame the attack on a Taliban militant. Government troops have been fighting Taliban and al-Qaeda militants in the area for over a year.
Thai protests force PM to delay speech
Thousands of protesters blockading Thailand's parliament in the capital Bangkok have forced new Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to delay his inaugural speech. With the country's political crisis deepening, the prime minister is now scheduled to give his speech on Tuesday. The demonstrators are loyal to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was toppled in a coup in 2006. Abhisit, the country's third prime minister in four months, was elected earlier this month following weeks of protests by Thaksin's supporters.
Dutch news: 2008 twelfth warm year in a row
The National Weather Centre says 2008 was the 12th year in a row with record high temperatures. The centre recorded an annual average temperature of 10.6 degrees compared with a long-term average of 9.8 degrees. The figure makes 2008 the ninth warmest year since 1901. The warmest year was 2007, with an average temperature of 11.2 degrees. Average temperatures in January 2008 soared to 6.5 degrees as against a long-term average of 2.8 degrees.
Dutch news: Reporter breaches Schiphol security
A reporter for television station SBS6 has managed to evade security at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport and get close to the government plane. The Fokker 70 is often used by Queen Beatrix and is sometimes piloted by Crown Prince Willem-Alexander.
Following prior revelations about similar breaches, the airport took measures to improve security but admits that the cargo area, where the plane is parked, is not as closely guarded as the passenger area. It also notes that planes maintained at the cargo area are thoroughly inspected before departure. The justice ministry and the Government Information Service have declined to comment.
This
report is summarised from Radio
Netherlands.
Visit their site to enjoy further informative writing and multimedia
Visit their site to enjoy further informative writing and multimedia
Readers
please email comments to: editorial AT
martinfrost.ws including full name
Return to Home Page
Return to Home Page