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Deutsche Welle English Service News April 6th, 2001, 16:00 UTC --------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: Pushing Europe in Crawford Europe hopes British Prime Minister Tony Blair does this weekend what he says he's good at, using his friendship with US President George W. Bush to push the European point of view. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the Internet address below: http://dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1430_A_491964_1_A,00.html --------------------------------------------------------------------- Israel Pushes Ahead with Offensive Fierce fighting continued across the West Bank on Saturday as Israel pushed ahead with its military offensive. Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen battled in the Jenin refugee camp, a stronghold of Palestinian militants. An Israeli general said the Palestinians took heavy casualties. The army said three Israeli soldieers were killed in Jenin on Friday. Palestinians said there had been intense bombardment throughout the night by Israeli tanks and helicopters which had set houses on fire. Israel dismissed as "pure unadulterated propaganda and a baseless lie" that it was targeting civilians. Israeli troops moved into West Bank cities eight days ago to root out those responsible for a wave of suicide attacks on Israeli civilians. Arab League Holds Emergency Meeting on Middle East Under extremely tight security, Arab League foreign ministers met in Cairo on Saturday in an emergency session to discuss the Middle East conflict. The meeting was called by the Palestinians. In light of widespread demonstrations in Arab countries against Israel, the United States and also the Arab leadership, it is not known what action the ministers will take. At the very least the meeting will likely reiterate the Palestinians' right to resistance while welcoming Washington's new diplomatic initiatives. Meanwhile, the top Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, has said that no Palestinian official would meet U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell during his visit next week, if Mr. Powell chose not to meet Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. In Washington, the view is congealing that Arafat is no longer a viable negotiating partner. Zimbabwe's Mugabe rules out election re-run Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Friday ruled out re-running the presidential election, which saw him returned to power last month. Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change party (MDC), the EU and the Commonwealth and many Western countries say that the elections were fraudulent. Mugabe's remarks came as Nigerian and South African envoys held separate meetings with ZANU-PF and the MDC to organise talks between the government and the opposition, but MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has said he will discuss nothing but fresh elections. Meanwhile, Zimbabwean authorities has warned people not to take part in anti-government protests planned for this weekend, saying those who do so would be prosecuted. Strike hiots Bangladesh Hundreds of extra police and paramilitary soldiers were deployed in Dhaka on Saturday but there were no reports of violence as an opposition-led strike took hold across Bangladesh, disrupting business and transport. But there was none of Friday's violence when police used batons and tear gas to disperse hundreds of strike supporters in the capital, detaining several of them. The opposition Awami League called the first full-day strike of the year to protest what it said was government persecution of political rivals and worsening law and order. North Korea ready to resume dialogue with US South Korea's special presidential envoy Lim Dong-won has said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il was ready to re-enter a dialogue with the United States. Lim, who has just returned from a visit to Communist North Korea , said Kim Jong-il had also agreed to resume reunions of families divided since the end of the Korean war, and to open tourism and economic cooperation talks. North Korea suspended cooperation with South Korea in November last year, claiming that South Korea's main ally, the United States, had adopted hostile policies towards it. Washington has pressed North Korea to eliminate its weapons of mass destruction. U.S. President Bush has also angered North Korea by calling it part of an axis of evil with Iran and Iraq. Uzbek MPs extend Karimov's term to almost 8 years Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov has had his five-year term extended to almost eight years. The Uzbek parliament on Friday set the next presidential election for December 2007. The move follows a referendum in January in which 90 percent of Uzbekistan's voters backed a constitutional amendment extending the president's term from five years to seven. Western human rights organisations criticised the January vote, saying it was a ploy by Karimov to cling to power. Karimov, the former leader of the Uzbek Communist Party, has been in office since 1991. Canada to Resume Deportation of Algerians Canada said it would resume the deportation of Algerians whose applications to stay in Canada had been turned down and who had exhausted all avenues of appeal. The deportations had been halted since February, 1997, over concern about human rights in violence-wracked Algeria. The government now says that the circumstances are such that people could be sent back safely. Cargo Ship Sinks in the Mediterranean Rescue teams have recovered the bodies of four sailors from a Libyan cargo ship that sank off the Algerian coast. Rescuers were still searching for 21 crew members still missing, a Libyan shipping company official said. The ship, carrying 7,700 tons of flour was on its way to Tripoli in Libya from the Moroccan port of Casablanca when it sank in bad weather. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 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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