Deutsche Welle English Service News 13th May 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. http://dw-world.de/go-east"; ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Psychological Warfare Goes Online While some terrorism experts describe the online video of the beheading of an American as an isolated incident, others see it as an example of long-established psychological warfare tactics. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1430_A_1200780_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Britain says abuse photos not taken in Iraq Britain's armed forces minister says that photos purporting to show British troops abusing Iraqi prisoners were not taken in Iraq. Speaking in the House of Commons, Adam Ingram said the type of truck seen in the photos was never in Iraq. He said the investigation of the photos is continuing and may result in criminal prosecution. The images were published in the Daily Mirror newspaper two weeks ago. Lawmakers view more prisoner abuse Lawmakers in Washington have viewed fresh photographs and videotape of Iraqi prisoners being abused by U.S. military personnel. The private screening was open to all 100 senators who said the photos and videos depicted torture, humiliation and forced sex beyond what has already been seen in public. The viewing came a day after Islamic militants, in a video, showed the beheading of an American. U.S. President George W. Bush said there was no justification for the killing of 26-year-old Nicholas Berg and that it would not shake U.S. resolve to bring democracy to Iraq. France, Germany condemn killing in Iraq Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac have condemned the brutal revenge killing of a young American in Iraq. At a meeting in Paris, Chirac called the killing of Nicolas Berg an unimaginable act. Berg was shown being decapitated on a videotape posted Tuesday on an al-Qaeda-linked Web site. Berg's captors said they were acting to avenge the abuse of Iraqi prisoners. Schroeder, in his first public remarks on the allegations against U.S. forces in Iraq, said the American response showed the strength of U.S. democracy. Rumsfeld in Iraq for inspection after scandal U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and armed forces chief General Richard Myers are in Baghdad on a surprise visit, triggered by the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal. Rumsfeld went to inspect the Abu Ghraib prison, which is at the center of the scandal. He told reporters that he wanted to hear directly from those involved in the day-to-day operations of the prison. Indian government out after national vote India's ruling Hindu Nationalist Party has conceded defeat in parliamentary elections, opening the way for Sonia Gandhi to become India's first foreign-born leader. Unofficial returns indicate that millions of rural poor people abandoned Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, believing they had been left behind by the country's economic boom. Vajpayee announced his resignation as prime minister after the results were made known. With vote-counting for 539 of 543 seats complete, official results showed Congress and its allies leading Vajpayee's National Democratic Alliance 145 to 119 seats. Israel kills 12 Palestinians in strikes Hundreds of Israeli troops have fanned out along the Egyptian border to search for the remains of five comrades killed in the bombing of a military vehicle. The move coincided with Israeli missile strikes on the Palestinian refugee camp of Rafah, which killed 12 people and wounded 29 others. The five soldiers were killed Wednesday when Palestinians blew up an Israeli armored vehicle, the second such attack in two days. In three days of escalating violence, 11 Israeli soldiers and 26 Palestinians have been killed. Early Thursday, Israeli forces also pulled out of Gaza City following the biggest offensive there in years. The military said it had completed its search for body parts from six soldiers killed in the first bombing, a huge explosion that destroyed an armored vehicle on Tuesday. New talks with rebels in Sri Lanka Tamil rebels apparently have reached agreement with the Sri Lankan government to restart peace talks that have been stalled for a year. The deal would be a major breakthrough, coming after weeks of sporadic violence that has stoked fears the current truce could collapse. Rebels said final negotiations as to where and when the meetings will be held would soon be finalized. Senior government officials so far have declined to confirm the deal, but said President Kumaratunga would issue a statement on Friday. Indonesia to end Aceh martial law Indonesia has announced plans to end military rule in its strife- torn province of Aceh, but said it would retain a large troop presence there. Jakarta imposed martial law on Aceh, at the northernmost tip of the island of Sumatra, after talks with separatists from the Free Aceh Movement collapsed in May, 2003, paving the way for a military offensive. Martial law was initially imposed for six months, but was extended for another half-year in November. The military says it has killed around 2,000 Aceh rebels and captured 3,000 more since last May. At least 500 dead in Nigerian riot Nigeria's Christian leaders have said that as many as 500-600 members of their community were killed by Muslim mobs in two days of attacks in the northern city of Kano. Doctors and Nigerian Red Cross officials would not give an estimate of the death toll, citing fears of provoking further trouble by revealing the figure. They did confirm, however, that the city morgue was full to overflowing. Fighting broke out on Tuesday when Muslim youths protesting a bloody May 2 attack by Christian militia on a Muslim community went on a rampage, targeting Christian homes and businesses. Germans get good and bad economic news Germany's economy produced stronger growth in the first three months of this year than most economists had expected. Figures released by the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden show that the economy grew by 0.4 percent compared to the last quarter of 2003. The Statistics Office said the increase was driven entirely by exports. At the same time, Finance Minister Hans Eichel has announced that the government is facing an even higher tax-revenue shortfall than expected. A panel of government fiscal experts has estimated a shortfall of more than 61 billion euros between now and the end of 2007. That's about 10 billion more than had been anticipated. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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