German News (English Edition) Sa, 19.06.1999 24:00 CEDT
Headlines:
Serbian troop withdrawal going according to plan
Last night in Helsinki, Russia and the United States worked out the
details of a how to set up a unified KFOR command. With that, they
overcame the last big obstacle to a peaceful occupation of Kosovo.
Russia was not able to push through its plan to get its own sector in the
south Serbian province. The Pristina airport that Russian soldiers
occupied in a surprise move will henceforth be available for the use of
all participating countries. Until now, Russians had blocked other KFOR
contingents from using the airport.
The withdrawal of Serbian troops from Kosovo is mostly running according
to plan. The second stage of the withdrawal ended at midnight, and as far
as NATO can judge, Serbian troops have left the eastern and western parts
of Kosovo as agreed. The third and last stage, which will complete the
pull out, lasts through tomorrow evening.
The disarmament of the KLA, the Kosovo Liberation Army, has been a
problem, but German officers and KLA commanders reached an agreement
yesterday. Starting today, Albanian fighters are supposed to stop carrying
weapons in public in German controlled zones. Starting Sunday, they are
supposed to stop wearing uniforms in public. Thus today has become an
important test.
This is all taking place against the background of mass migrations people
that started days ago and are still going on. Serbs are fleeing in huge
numbers out of Kosovo while Albanians are returning in the tens of
thousands. Aid organizations have strained to the limit. Every day the
same terrible picture is repeated, as returning Albanians find destroyed
houses, ruined farms, and learn of relatives that have been mistreated or
killed by the Serbs. In Pec, in western Kosovo, KLA fighters led Italian
KFOR soldiers to a torture chamber housed in a police station, similar to
one found in Pristina. The KLA said several hundred Albanians were
dragged here. Their subsequent fate is unknown.
World economic summit in Cologne
The leaders of the of the seven biggest industrialized countries plus
Russia continued their world economic summit in Cologne. Yesterday they
agreed on a debt forgiveness package for the world's poorest countries.
Officially the summit didn't begin until this morning when representatives
from the US, Canada, Russia, Japan, France, Great Britain and Italy were
greeted by Chancellor Schroeder. The heads of state posed for pictures on
the bank of the Rhine and then headed off for their second working
meeting. The conflict in Kosovo was again a theme of discussion. The
main question is how the stability pact for the Balkans will be set up and
how the costs for the reconstruction of Kosovo will be divided.
Yesterday the G8 countries unanimously approved the agreement reached by
the US and Russia over the role Russian troops would play in KFOR.
Clinton said a good day's work had been accomplished. Chancellor
Schroeder assured the states bordering Yugoslavia that they will get
humanitarian help. In the case of Serbia, however, he made help
conditional on democratization.
Around the edges of the second day's summit activities could be seen two
demonstrations, which were expected to attract up to 70,000 people total.
The high point was a human chain in which an estimated 50,000 people
participated. They called for complete debt forgiveness for the world's
poorest countries. The G-7's agreement yesterday agreed to strike 40% of
the debt.
Aid to the long term unemployed to be cut
It seems that the main element of the government's plan to save 30 billion
marks is cutting aid to the long term unemployed. According to "Der
Spiegel," the Labor Minister, Walter Riester, intends to save 7 billion
marks by this means. In addition, according to Spiegel, civil service
positions and agricultural subsidies will also be cut back.
Riester would consider waiving obligation to provide private pensions
The Labor Minister, Walter Riester, said that under certain circumstances
he was ready to waive the hotly-contested right to private pensions. He
would be willing to agree if and only if there were good alternatives
available for setting up individual pensions. Riester emphasized that his
pension ideas [did not] contradict those of Chancellor Schroeder, (Finance
Minster) Hans Eichel or (Leader of the SPD Parliamentary Fraction) Peter
Struck. All agreed that a broad program of individual pensions had to be
developed.
Tritten almost loses his post
The news agency dpa reported that sources inside the coalition said that
Juergen Tritten, Minister of the Environment, had just barely managed to
avoid being dismissed by Chancellor Schroeder. The Green politician
decided to give in in their fight over the planned EU directive concerning
the decommissioning of old autos. It seems that other Green politicians
were also prepared to let him go. The government denied reports that it
planned to dismiss Trittin.
Rumors about an agreement over ending nuclear power
Economics Minister Werner Mueller has apparently come to an agreement with
the power companies on key points of the plan to end the use of nuclear
power. On this latest view, the last nuclear power plant will be
unplugged from the grid in 25 years. The government and the Chairmen of
the boards of directors of the power concerns are supposed to meet and
discuss these key points in the Chancellor's office on Tuesday. But the
RWE corporation said that it was too soon to speak of an "agreement" about
ending the use of nuclear power, and a spokesman for Viag said that he
didn't know of any understanding having been reached.
Catholic church asked not to pull out of pregnancy counseling
Politicians and Catholic laity have appealed to the Bishop for the church
to continue counseling pregnant women [about whether or not to have an
abortion]. Dr. Christine Bergmann, the Family Minister, said that even in
the event that the Catholic church does pull out, the existing law
requiring counseling should be kept. Pope John Paul II called on the
Bishop by letter to end such counseling. [The Pope thinks such counseling
gives the impression that the Church considers abortion an option that
merits discussion.]
Chancellor Minister Hombach views damage from flood waters
Chancellor Minister Bodo Hombach met with Bavarian Finance Minister Kurt
Falthauser to discuss the effects of flooding in Bavaria resulting from
the heavy early summer rains. Bavaria has once again asked for federal
assistance to cover the damages, costing billions of marks. Hombach
assured Falthauser that financial support would be provided. He stressed
that the Bavarians will receive the same assistance from the federal
government as the victims of other catastrophes do. Yesterday, Hombach
traveled to Eschenlohe and Neustadt on the Danube to get a general picture
of the damage caused by flood waters there.
Management of federal government criticized
Wolfgang Clement (SPD), the minister president of North Rhine-Westphalia,
and Hans-Jochen Vogel, former head of the SPD, have both voiced harsh
criticism of the way the federal government is being managed. Mr. Vogel
spoke of professional short-comings in the red-green coalition. He took
issue with the fact that many laws are criticized from the party's own
ranks just after they have been adopted. He finds this difficult to
understand at times.
Mr.
Clement lamented the government's inability to communicate with the
people on upcoming reforms. He added that essential measures have to be
formulated in such a way that ordinary citizens can understand.
Coca-Cola Germany is victim of extortion
An unidentified computer specialist is trying to extort money from
Coca-Cola Germany, according to a police spokesperson in an interview to
"Welt am Sonntag." He added that the individual demanded a million marks
from the company. The perpetrator expects the sum to be sent
electronically to an online account. The extortionist has threatened to
put poison in Coca-Cola products for failure to comply. However, the
individual has not contacted the company for days. According to police,
the extortion attempt is not connected with any instances of poisoning
Coca Cola products.
Great beginning for Kiel Week
Kiel Week really got off with a bang. The traditional "Aaaal" Regatta got
started under a clear blue sky with light winds. 5,000 participants and
2000 boats are expected to arrive in Kiel by June 27th. For the first
time, spectators can view the event from a floating stage to watch the
regatta from a bird's eye view.
DAX becomes Xetra
The DAX, the most significant German exchange rate index, was used by the
Frankfurt stock market for the last time on Friday. As of next Monday, the
index of the 30 leading industrial values will be notated using the
computer trading system Xetra. The German stock market explained that its
decision, made six months ago, was due to the growing importance of
electronic commerce.
Sources
B5 11:00 CEDT
Antenne Bayern 13:00 CEDT
Translators: MP, GR
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