NPR 2008-02-20

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 mobility 1 and dedication 2 than I'm physically 3 able to offer." Citing an intestinal 4 illness 19 months ago, the leader temporarily ceded 5 power to his brother, Cuba's Defense 6 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 retirement 7 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 foist 8 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 hacked 9 to death by extremist Hutu militias 10. 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.

Democrats 11 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 inclement 12 weather in February and they are not gonna be deterred 13 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 caucuses 14 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 balloting 15. The two opposition 16 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, investigators 17 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 evaded 18 some 1.5 million dollars in taxes. He had done so by sending money to the tiny Principality of Liechtenstein, a well-known tax haven 19. 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 holders 20 from a Liechtenstein bank. Germany is now pressuring Liechtenstein to ease its banking 21 secrecy 22 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 lining 23 up behind the Blu-ray standard. Both formats 25 deliver high definition pictures and sound but they are incompatible 26 with each other and neither will play on older players. The rivalry 27 is reminiscent of the video format 24 battle in the 1980s, when VHS prevailed over Betamax.

I'm Nora Raum, NPR News in Washington.