NPR 2008-02-20

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From NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Raum.

Fidel Castro said today he's resigning as president of Cuba after 49 years in power. From member station WLRN in Miami, Shannon Novak reports.

Fidel Castro's announcement is published in today's Communist Party daily newspaper Granma. The 81-year-old wrote "It would be a betrayal to my conscience to accept a responsibility requiring more mobility¹ and dedication² than I'm physically³ able to offer." Citing an intestinal⁴ illness 19 months ago, the leader temporarily ceded⁵ power to his brother, Cuba's Defense⁶ Minister, 76-year-old Raúl Castro. Fidel Castro has not been seen in public since. Cuba's National Assembly meets Sunday to select the members and a president of the Council of State. The president of the Council is the ruler of Cuba. It has been widely speculated Raúl Castro will follow his brother as president. 'This is not my farewell to you.' Fidel Castro wrote, 'My only wish is to fight as a soldier in the battle of ideas.' For NPR News, I'm Shannon Novak in Miami.

President Bush says he sees Castro's retirement⁷ as an opportunity for Cubans to turn to democracy. "Eventually this transition, I believe, to free and fair elections, I mean free and I mean fair, not this kind of stage to election that the Castro brothers try to foist⁸ office, being true democracy.

The president's spoken in Kigali Rwanda. He visited a memorial to those who died in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. More than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were shot, clubbed or hacked⁹ to death by extremist Hutu militias¹⁰. The president said the memorial reminds him there is evil in the world that must be confronted.

Voters in Wisconsin go to the polls today to help nominate Republican and Democratic candidates for president. It's an open primary meaning people can choose any candidate they want from either party. Chuck Quirmbach of Wisconsin Public Radio reports.

Democrats¹¹ Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and Republicans John McCain and Mike Huckabee have all campaigned in Wisconsin. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee political scientist Tom Holbrook says the competition may help boost turnout above normal levels for a presidential primary in the state. He says he doesn't think cold temperatures and snowy showers predicted for part of the day will push the numbers back down. "Well, you know, I think Wisconsinians are used to inclement¹² weather in February and they are not gonna be deterred¹³ from a little bit snow or cold or blowing wind…" Holbrook says he expects both Democratic candidates to win some convention delegates, because it's not a winner-take-all primary on the Democratic side. For NPR News, I'm Chuck Quirmbach in Milwaukee.

Democrats in Hawaii are holding their caucuses¹⁴ today where there are 20 delegates at stake. Obama was born there. The next contest will take place two weeks from today. Both parties are holding primaries in Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont. This is NPR News.

The opponents of Pakistan's president have won a victory in yesterday's parliamentary elections. Preliminary return set showed that no single party has won a majority. But the party of President Pervez Musharraf came in third in the balloting¹⁵. The two opposition¹⁶ parties are expected to join forces to form a government.

In Germany, authorities have raided the homes and offices of suspected tax evaders in one of the country's largest sub-operations ever. From Berlin, Kyle James reports.

The tax sting operation is being carried out all this week in Germany. And media reports say more than 100 raids will be conducted. Yesterday, investigators¹⁷ fanned out across the country, carrying out searches in private homes and offices in Munich, Cologne, Hamburg and other cities. The raids come in the wake of revelations that Klaus Zumwinkel, the former head of Germany's mail and logistics giant Deutsche Post, had evaded¹⁸ some 1.5 million dollars in taxes. He had done so by sending money to the tiny Principality of Liechtenstein, a well-known tax haven¹⁹. Authorities were tipped off by an informant who sold German intelligence agency officials a CD for over 7 million dollars that contained names of account holders²⁰ from a Liechtenstein bank. Germany is now pressuring Liechtenstein to ease its banking²¹ secrecy²² laws. For NPR News, I'm Kyle James in Berlin.

Toshiba announced today it will stop producing HD/DVD products, conceding the market to Blu-ray technology. Movie Studios have been increasingly lining²³ up behind the Blu-ray standard. Both formats²⁵ deliver high definition pictures and sound but they are incompatible²⁶ with each other and neither will play on older players. The rivalry²⁷ is reminiscent of the video format²⁴ battle in the 1980s, when VHS prevailed over Betamax.

I'm Nora Raum, NPR News in Washington.