Deutsche Welle English Service News 06. 06. 2005, 17:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Britain Postpones EU Referendum British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on Monday confirmed in a speech to the House of Commons that Britain would not proceed with a referendum on the EU constitution follow its rejection by French and Dutch voters. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1606874,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DW-WORLD's "Click Back" monthly review quiz for June is waiting for you and will test your knowledge of stories we've written. If you answer all questions correctly, you can also win a great prize. To play, please go to: http://www.dw-world.de/english ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Britain puts EU constitution vote on ice Britain has suspended legislation to hold a referendum on the new European Union constitution. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told parliament that rejection of the constitution by voters in France and the Netherlands had thrown the future of the charter into doubt. He added that EU leaders must find a way forward at an EU summit scheduled in Brussels on Thursday. Downing Street's decision puts it at odds with Germany and France which have called for the ratification process to continue. To come into effect, the charter must be approved by all 25 EU member states. ICC launches Darfur war crimes probe The International Criminal Court in the Hague has launched an official investigation into alleged crimes against humanity in Sudan's Darfur region. Darfur is the scene of one of the world's worst humanitarian situations. Tens of thousands have been killed and more than two million made homeless since the Sudense government moved to stop an uprising in the region with the help of an Arab militia two years ago. The UN Security Council voted earlier this year to refer the situation in Darfur to the ICC. It provided the court with a list of people suspected of murder, rape and pillage - including top Sudanese officials and militia leaders. Syrian ruling party opens congress Syria's Baath party has opened its first congress in five years with a speech by President Bashar al-Assad in which he emphasised the importance of reform for the development of the country. Baath party members have said the four-day meeting should see the authorisation of new political parties and free local elections. Observers however say the reforms will probably be accompanied by heavy restrictions. Opposition parties and independent newspapers are at present banned in Syria. Six Iraqis, US soldier killed in attacks Insurgents in northern Iraq have launched a fresh wave of mortar attacks, killing at least six people. The barrages appeared to target police stations in the city of Mosul, but officials said the victims were civilians. In Baghdad, police said a US-Egyptian contractor was shot dead on Sunday as he drove through the capital. And a US soldier was killed in a roadside bombing near a military patrol in the northern province of Kirkuk. The attack happened on Sunday, but the military did not confirm the death until Monday. Also on Monday, Iraqi police shot at a suicide car bomber believed to have been trying to attack a checkpoint in western Baghdad. Pakistan has handed over Libbi to US Pakistan says it has handed over alleged top al-Qaeda operative Abu Faraj al-Libbi to Washington. Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf confirmed the move in a statement published in a Dubai newspaper. Al-Libbi was arrested last month. He is the alleged mastermind behind two attempts on Musharraf's life in December 2003, and a bid to assassinate Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz before he took office last year. Pakistan, a key US ally, says it has so far rounded up about 700 al-Qaeda suspects. Most of them have been handed over to US custody. Pakistan boosts defence spending by 15% Pakistan has announced that it will boost defence spending by more than 15 percent in the revised national budget for this year and 2006. Islamabad also announced in parliament that it will dedicate more money towards development. Minister of State for Finance Omar Ayub Khan said that the planned spending would amount to 3.1 percent of gross domestic product. The boosting of military spending comes despite a cooling of tensions with neighbouring India over the disputed region of Kashmir. 38 killed in Nepal landmine bus attack A landmine has exploded under a packed commuter bus in southern Nepal, killing at least 50 passengers and wounding dozens of others. Army officials said the explosion took place in Madi village in Chitwan district, about 150 km south of Kathmandu. The region is a stronghold of Maoist rebels, who are suspected of planting the mine. There has been no immediate claim of responsibility. Maoist rebels have been fighting for nine years to establish one-party communist rule in Nepal. About 12,000 people have been killed in the insurgency. German nuclear waste convoy en route A convoy carrying nuclear waste is on a 600 kilometre journey across Germany under tight security. It has left a decommissioned former East German research reactor in Rossendorf, Saxony without any major problems and is heading for an interim storage facility in Ahaus in North Rhine-Westfalia. Police said anti-nuclear protesters tried to block the convoy, carrying nearly a 1,000 spent fuel rods, shortly after it left, but were unable to delay the shipment for any length of time. Some 1,000 demonstrators took part in protests last week when the first shipment was moved from the former reactor. A third and final transport is scheduled to follow next week. IOC report praises Paris and London Paris and London look to be the front-runners in the race to host the 2012 Summer Olympics, but the French capital is still considered the favourite. That emerged from a report published by the International Olympic Committee, one month before the final decision is made. The IOC has praised Paris and London for the "extremely high quality" of their bids for the 2012 Games. New York and Madrid also got good marks but Moscow was criticised for a lack of detailed planning. The report comes after the 13 committee members visited all the competing cities, to get an impression of how well-prepared they would be for the event. Hizbollah win in South Lebanon polls Hezbollah and its allies have won all the parliament seats for South Lebanon, where elections were held on Sunday. Official results show that the pro-Syrian alliance took all 23 seats. South Lebanon was the second of four regions to vote in the country's first election since the withdrawal of Syrian troops from the country in April. The poll is being held region by region over four weekends until June 19. It's expected that Hezbollah's victory will make it difficult for the country's new parliament to force the group to disarm in accordance with a UN resolution. Clash at disputed Jerusalem site Clashes have broken out between Israeli police and Palestinians in the compound outside the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. This comes as Jewish visitors flock to the city for Jerusalem Day, which marks Israel's capture of Arab East Jerusalem 38 years ago. An Israeli police spokesman said forces moved into the compound after Palestinians threw stones at Jewish visitors. Known as Temple Mount to Jews and al-Haram al-Sharif to Muslims, the site is sacred to both religions and is a flashpoint in Israeli-Palestinian relations. The Palestinian uprising, or Intifada, erupted in September 2000 after Ariel Sharon, then Israel's opposition leader, toured the compound. International police cracks drugs ring An international police operation has cracked a German-led drugs trafficking network partly based in southern Spain, making 11 arrests. The Spanish interior ministry said the narcotics ring, mostly composed of German smugglers hailing from Berlin, brought large shipments of cocaine into Europe aboard sailboats from the Caribbean. Six suspects were arrested in in Germany, one in Spain and one in Briton. Another three people were arrested in a Spanish navy raid late last month in which 113 kilogrammes of cocaine were confiscated. German magnetic trains planned for UK The British government is reported to be considering building a German Transrapid, high speed rail link from London to Glasgow. British ministers are thought to have been impressed by the German-conceived service at China's Shanghai airport. The train floats about one centimetre above a metal rail. The Transrapid company put the cost for the proposed London-Glasgow line at around 23.7 billion euros. Similar projects are being studied for Munich airport in Germany, Pittsburgh airport in the United States and lines from Baltimore to Washington and Las Vegas to California. More flooding expected in China In southern China, torrential rains and floods have killed at least 204 people and left 79 missing. Nearly 140,000 homes have been destroyed by the flooding, which has also triggered mudslides. The worst hit area is Hunan province, where the threat of water-borne disease is increasing rapidly. Three people are already reported to have died of typhoid there. The heavy rain is expected to continue in the coming days. Earthquake hits eastern Turkey A strong earthquake has shaken eastern Turkey, slightly injuring 37 people and causing some damage to buildings. The quake measured 5.7 on the open-ended Richter scale. Its epicentre was in Karliova in Bingol province. Small and moderate earthquakes are a near daily occurrence in Turkey, which is crisscrossed by seismic faultlines. A powerful quake measuring 7.4 devastated areas of northwestern Turkey in 1999, killing more than 17,000 people. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Place your bets on the World Cup qualifiers at DW-WORLD in our multilingual betting game, where you can win attractive prizes. Whether you want to compare your soccer knowledge with fans worldwide as an individual or in a team, this is the right address. Plus, DW-WORLD provides the results and tables for all continental groups: http://www.dw-world.de/qualifiers ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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