Deutsche Welle
English Service News
16.04.2004, 16:00 UTC
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Final Round: Go East! The EU Quiz: Europe is expanding East.
Embark on a journey through the 10 candidate countries set to
enter the EU by playing the fourth and final round of DW-WORLD's
Go East quiz. Lots of great prizes are waiting to be discovered.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Blair Calls for UN Involvement in Iraq
British Premier Tony Blair meets U.S. President George W. Bush Friday.
While the two are expected to show unity on plans for Iraq's future,
they'll also likely talk about Blair's suggestion for
more UN involvement.
To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the
internet address below:
http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,7489_A_1171710_1_A,00.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Shiite cleric defies US to kill him
The radical Shi'ite cleric leading the uprising against coalition
forces in Iraq, has warned the United States of fierce attacks if
troops were to kill or capture him. Moqtada al-Sadr, who's holed up
in the holy city of Najaf, said Iraqis would hit back with great
force should he be killed. The warning comes as US troops have taken
up positions around the city. US General Richard Myers, the chairman
of the Joint Chief of Staffs, says he hopes that talks can lead to a
peaceful way out of the stand-off. Meanwhile Iraq's spiritual leader
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has warned the US-led coalition to
keep out of Iraq's twin holy cities of Najaf and Karbala. A Sistani
representative said Shiites would resort to more "radical means" if
US forces violated the cities.
High-level Fallujah ceasefire talks open in US base
News reports say talks between senior coalition officials and an
Iraqi team on a permanent ceasefire in the Iraqi town of Fallujah
have opened in a US marine base just outside the town. The Iraqi
delegation consists of 11 town and tribal elders. US troops began a
siege of the town twelve days ago. There has been sporadic heavy
fighting there despite a cease-fire's being called.
Dane feared kidnapped in Iraq
The Danish Foreign Ministry says one of its citizens is likely being
held hostage in Iraq. A spokesman said there had been no word yet
from any Iraqi individuals or groups. A Danish public television
network said the unnamed man was taken captive near Basra.
Meanwhile, a Chinese national, whose kidnapping had not yet been
been reported, is said to have been freed. The release was announced
by a spokesman for the committee of Sunni Muslim clerics which also
helped negotiate the release of three Japanese hostages on Thursday.
And the police chief in Basra has said a US businessman was abducted
from his hotel there on Thursday night by kidnappers disguised as
policemen. In another development, three Czech hostages held in
Iraq, all newsmen kidnapped north of Baghdad on Sunday, have been
freed and are in good condition, according to the Czech CTK news
agency.
British PM calls for UN resolution on Iraq
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said the United Nations should
play a key role in Iraq's transition to self rule. Following talks
with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York, Blair urged a new
Security Council resolution that would ensure the handover of power
in Iraq on June 30. Blair has now arrived in Washington for talks
with US President George W. Bush. These are expected to focus on the
worsening security situation in Iraq and also on Bush's declared
support for Israel's plan regarding its West Bank and Gaza
settlements. Media reports say the British prime minister will tell
Bush that Britain cannot sign up to the Israeli proposals.
Schroeder, Mubarak say roadmap must be retained
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Egyptian President Hosni
Mubarak have said the Middle East roadmap must be followed and
decisions should not be made without consulting the Palestinians.
Mubarak, on a stopover after talks in Washington, said questions
over future borders and the return of Palestinian refugees must be
negotiated with the Palestinian and Israeli sides. At a joint press
conference, Schroeder said that Palestinians had a right to expect
that decisions were not made over their heads. Their comments come
after US President George W. Bush on Wednesday broke with
decades-old US policy by declaring that Israel could keep parts of
the West Bank while relinquishing settlements in Gaza.
Mideast Quartet talks around April 28 - Solana
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana has said a meeting
of the international Quartet sponsoring the Middle East "road map" to
peace is likely to be held in the German capital, Berlin, around
April 28. He said the "road map", which envisages negotiations with
the Palestinians, remained the basic framework for reaching a final
settlement. Doubts over the future of the road map have intensified
after US President George W. Bush, in a policy turnaround, backed
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plans to retain some Jewish
settlements in the West Bank. A meeting of the Organisation of the
Islamic Conference to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has
also been brought forward from May and is to take place next week in
Kuala Lumpur .
Bundesbank president resigns
The German Bundesbank has said in a statement that Bundesbank
President Ernst Welteke has resigned over a hotel expenses scandal.
Welteke is under investigation for allowing Dresdner Bank to pay the
bill for a four-night stay at a luxury hotel in Berlin for him and
his family. The bill came to almost 8,000 euros. Welteke is
suspected of accepting favours from a bank he was supposed to
oversee. Welteke had taken leave of absence last week, and the
government had repeatedly called for his resignation.
Zapatero elected Spanish prime minister
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has been officially endorsed as Spanish
prime minister by an absolute majority in a first-round vote in
parliament on Friday. A total of 183 deputies in the 350-seat
Congress of Deputies voted for Zapatero, whose Socialist Party won
the general election on March 14. His Spanish Socialist Workers
Party did not achieve a majority in the election, and Zapatero will
be leading a minority government, not a coalition. Zapatero has
pledged to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq by June 30 unless the
United Nations takes over control there. He also said his
government's main objective would be to wage war on terrorism, in
response to the March 11 bombings in Madrid that killed 191 people.
Chomsky to get Ossietsky Prize
U.S. American linguist and left-wing social critic Noam Chomsky has
been named by the German city of Oldenburg as this year's recipient
of the Carl Ossietsky Prize. It's named after one of the pacifist
resistance figures during the Hitler era. The city of Oldenburg,
which will formally award the prize on May the 23rd, today praised
Chomsky as a political analyist and media critic. The 74-year
Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor has focused on U.S.
foreign policy and media manipulation. Last year, he described the
U.S.-led invasion of Iraq as a "disaster" and said it was
frightening how so-called "imminent threats" could be "conjured up".
India post historic test cricket win over Pakistan
In sport: India's cricket team are celebrating an historic
test-series win over archrival Pakistan. It's the first such victory
on Pakistani soil. India won the third and final test in Rawalpindi
by an easy margin, beating Pakistan by an innings and 131 runs. They
won the series 2-1. They also defeated Pakistan 3-2 in the one-day
series. It was India's first full tour of Pakistan in 14 years.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
DW-WORLD.DE on Your Desktop. Keep up with events with our RSS-Feeds:
http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,5069_A_1137115,00.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------
For more information please turn to our internet website at
http://dw-world.de/english
Here you'll find out what's happening in Germany, Europe and the rest
of the world. News and background reports from the fields of current
affairs, culture, business and science. And of course the DW website
also has information about DW-RADIO and DW-TV programmes: topics,
broadcast times and frequencies.
You can even listen to all programmes as audio-on-demand.
Serbian News Network - SNN
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.antic.org/
