Deutsche Welle English Service News 17. 01. 2005, 17:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Are you coming to Germany soon? DW-WORLD has just the thing for you: Ever Monday, we compile a list of the top five events that are going on this week -- from exhibitions to concerts to festivals and markets. Check out "Germany's Top Five" at http://www.dw-world.de/english ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: Schröder: Euro Deficit Rules Need Reform German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has called for radical changes to the rules that underpin the euro, the EU's Growth and Stability Pact, ahead of a meeting of the 12 euro-zone finance ministers in Brussels. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1460748,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Abbas: no attacks on Israel Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has ordered his security services to prevent militant attacks on Israel. Militants have so far defied Abbas's calls for an end to a 4-year-old armed uprising that would allow talks with Israel on statehood. Israel cut ties last week with Abbas over an attack in Gaza that left six Israelis dead. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that the army had unrestricted authority to stop Palestinian militants from attacking Israeli targets. Israeli troops on Monday killed two Palestinian gunmen who attacked vehicles on a road used by Jewish settlers in the Gaza Strip. Car bomb kills 7 in Iraq At least seven people have been killed and more than a dozen others injured in a suicide car bombing in the Iraqi town of Baiji. The attack took place at police headquarters in Baiji, an oil refining town in the Sunni heartland north of Baghdad. Meanwhile near Baquba, another guerrilla stronghold northeast of the capital, gunmen opened fire on a checkpoint and killed eight Iraqi soldiers. Iraqi security forces have been a main target of insurgent attacks as Iraq's January 30 election approaches. Denmark warns of terror attacks in Aceh The prime ministers of Sweden, Norway and Finland have called on Thailand to fully investigate why no warning was given before last month's tsunami. Swedish premier Goeran Persson said European tourists would find it hard to return to Thailand without such a probe. The Nordic leaders were speaking in the Thai town of Phuket, following a visit to some of the hardest-hit resorts. The three prime ministers also said the reconstruction of Thailand's resorts and hotels must be done to higher standards. The Danish government has meanwhile warned that it has received information of possible terror attacks on humanitarian organizations in the tsunami-hit Aceh province of Indonesia. The ministry called on aid workers and journalists to exercise the greatest caution. Bosnian Serbs jailed for massacre Two former Bosnian Serb officers have been convicted and jailed for their role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre. Vidoje Blagojevic was found guilty of "complicity in genocide" and jailed for 18 years by the UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at The Hague. Dragan Jokic was convicted of aiding and abetting murder and persecution and sentenced to nine years. More than 7,000 Muslim men and boys were killed after the UN's so-called "safe area" of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia fell to Serb forces in July 1995. The killings became one of the most notorious episodes of the 1992-95 Bosnian war and it is considered to be the worst single atrocity in Europe since World War II. Japan commemorates Kobe quake Japan has been mourning the nearly 6,500 people killed in a 1995 earthquake in the city of Kobe. Mourners bowed their heads in tribute at 5:46 am local time, the exact moment ten years ago when a quake of 7.3 on the Richter scale hit the city. The Kobe quake was Japan's worst disaster since World War II. Japan is set to share the lessons of Kobe in a five-day United Nations conference on disasters, which opens in the city on Tuesday. The development of a tsunami warning system for the Indian Ocean is set to top the agenda. Former Chinese leader dies The Chinese government has confirmed the death of former Chinese leader Zhao Ziyang in a Beijing hospital following a series of strokes. The 85-year-old Zhao was head of the Communist Party and Prime Minister for most of the 1980s, and was a symbol of the reform movement. He was ousted from power and put under house arrest after opposing the military crackdown on the pro-democracy student protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Zhao was last seen in public when he visited Tiananmen Square and tried to urge the students to leave. Zhao had lived under house arrest in central Beijing since then. EU to mull ban on Nazi insignia The European Commission has said it was willing to explore the idea of a Europe-wide ban on Nazi insignia, as demanded by German lawmakers. The demand follows the photographs last week of Britain's Prince Harry, the 20-year-old grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, at a fancy-dress party in a version of a World War II German uniform featuring a swastika armband. Germany already has a ban on Nazi insignia. Backers of a ban want the issue rushed onto the agenda of a European Union ministers' meeting next week. But the emotive issue generated immediate dispute within member countries, with some warning that it threatens freedom of expression. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DW-WORLD values your opinion: We look forward to hearing from you about stories we write and regularly post your letters in our reader response section. 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