THE NEWS IN SPECIAL ENGLISH, APRIL 01, 2008
It is twenty-three hours thirty Universal Time. I'm Jim Tetter in Washington.
The main opposition party in Zimbabwe is claiming victory in general elections. But, election officials say the main opposition and the ruling party are tied. The latest result show the ruling party ZANU-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change each won twenty-six seats in parliament. Two hundred ten seats were to be decided in the vote Saturday. The MDC disputes the results. It says its own count shows the party winning seats in ninety-six of one hundred twenty-eight parliamentary areas where results have been announced. The MDC also says its founder, Morgan Tsvangirai, is leading President Robert Mugabe sixty to thirty percent. No official results from the presidential election have been announced.
American Defense Secretary Robert Gates says recent violence in southern Iraq has not changed American plans to withdraw some troops from Iraq. The troops are expected to leave over the next few months. Mr. Gates spoke in Denmark. He praised Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's recent efforts against Shiite militias in the southern city of Basra. Iraqi and coalition forces in Basra and Baghdad fought street battles over the past six days with militants loyal to extremist Shiite Moqtada al-Sadr. About four hundred people were killed in the fighting.
American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is urging Israel to stop building more homes on disputed land. She says Israel's continued expansion of settlements violates the peace plan known as “the Road Map.” Secretary Rice is in Jordan for talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Mr. Abbas says he expects a peace agreement with Israel by the end of this year. On Sunday, Ms. Rice persuaded Israeli and Palestinian officials to ease restrictions on Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank.
President Bush has arrived in Kiev, Ukraine, the first stop on his European trip. The President will attend a meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Romania. He is expected to urge NATO member countries to open membership to Ukraine and Georgia. But, Russia has said it does not want NATO expanding to its borders. NATO leaders are also expected to offer membership to Albania, Croatia and Macedonia.
The constitutional court in Turkey says it will consider banning the ruling Justice and Development Party. The chief prosecutor has accused the party of violating the country's tradition of separating the government from religion. He also believes that many members of the party should be banned from politics for five years. The Justice and Development Party denies violating the separation between the government and religion. The party has called the case anti-democratic.
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Chinese news reports say officials have arrested four hundred fourteen people in connection with violent protests against Chinese rule in Tibet. The Tibet Daily newspaper says another two hundred ninety-eight have surrendered to officials for joining the demonstrations. The protests began peacefully in Lhasa March tenth when Tibetan monks marched to observe the anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule. Violence began four days later. Hundreds of exiles from Tibet protested in India Monday. The protesters gathered to march to the Chinese embassy in New Delhi. They planned to urge China to respect human rights and open talks with Tibet's exiled spirtual leader. There were also anti-China protests in Indonesia and Nepal. Police in Kathmandu detained more than two hundred people who gatherned near a Chinese embassy building. In Beijing Monday, Chinese President Hu Jintao officially began an Olympic torch ceremony. The torch will be carried to many cities around the world before the Olympic games open in August.
A leading international conflict resolution organization is urging East Timor to do more to settle one hundred thousand people displaced by unrest in two thousand six. The International Crisis Group says the country's displaced population shows that the deeper causes of the conflict two years ago remain unresolved. The new ICG report says displaced East Timorese remain in camps because they fear new violence or they have no home to return to. Others are unable to reclaim their homes and depend on the free rice that the camps provide.
The French Justice Ministry has announced the release from jail of all six French aid workers found guilty of attempted kidnapping in Chad last year. The ministry said they were freed just hours after Chadian President Idriss Deby pardoned them. The six were tried in a Chadian court last year and sentenced to eight years in prison. Chad agreed in December to let them serve their sentences in France. The aid workers were arrested in Chad while preparing to take one hundred three African children to France. They said the children had lost their parents and could be placed with European families. An investigation found that most of the children were Chadian and had at least one parent or guardian still living.
A new study by the United States Department of Agriculture says American farmers will plant less corn this season though prices are at record highs. The USDA says the amount of land planted with corn will drop by about eight percent, in part because the price of fertilizer has sharply increased. This has hurt farmers' profits. The amount of American land planted in soy beans is expected to increase by eighteen percent this season.
And now briefly, here again is the major news of the hour.
The main opposition party in Zimbabwe is claiming victory in general elections. But, election officials say the main opposition and the ruling party are tied. American Defense Secretary Robert Gates says recent violence in southern Iraq has not changed American plans to withdraw some troops from Iraq. And, American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is urging Israel to stop building more homes on disputed land.
And, that's the news in VOA Special English. This is Jim Tetter reporting.
