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--------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: Germany to Continue Draft The country's highest constitutional court ruled on Wednesday that times had not changed enough as to make the draft an "unusual intrusion" on a young man's life. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1432_A_494396_1_A,00.html ----------------------------- Bus bomber kills 8 in Israel A suspected Palestinian suicide bomber blew up a crowded bus near the northern Israeli port city of Haifa in the morning rush hour on Wednesday, killing at least nine people and wounding 12. The attack, shortly before the arrival of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell in Israel on a peace mission later this week was the most serious against Israeli civilians in Israel, since the army began its military offensive on March 29th in the West Bank, officially to stop such attacks. Israel's Sharon Says Offensive Will Continue Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said Israel's military offensive against Palestinian cities will continue, following an ambush by Palestinian militants in which thirteen Israeli soldiers were killed. An Israeli military source said six or seven troops were killed in the West Bank's Jenin refugee camp when a booby-trap device exploded and a suicide bomber detonated his load at the same time. Gunmen then fired on a second unit nearby, killing more soldiers. At least seven soldiers were wounded. Palestinians put their losses in Jenin this week at more than 100. Witnesses say many corpses lie unretrieved in alleys. The ambush coincided with Israeli pullbacks from Qalqilya and Tulkarm, but also with a fresh raid on the village of Dura near the city of Hebron. Sharon said Israel's "battle" would go on until the "terrorist infrastructure" was "dismantled". UK's Straw calls for immediate Israeli withdrawal Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw strongly criticised Israel today for ignoring international demands to end its West Bank massive military incursion. He said that like every country, Israel has a right to security, but the Israeli government must respect international law, including international humanitarian law and the United Nations Security Council. Israel has so far defied U.N.,U.S. and international demands for an immediate withdrawal from the towns and refugee camps it re-occupied almost two weeks ago. Britain is traditionally considered to be both a friend and ally of Israel. U.N., E.U.,Russia and U.S.A. call on Israeli withdrawal The United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations called on Israel on Wednesday to withdraw its forces immediately from Palestinian cities in the West Bank. They also urged Palestinian leader Yasser Arafatas, as the recognised elected leader of the Palestinian people to undertake immediately the maximum possible effort to stop terror attacks against innocent Israelis.The calls were made in a joint statement after a meeting in Madrid between U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar representing the EU, and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. Northeast China coal mine blast kills 24 Chinese state media and local officials say a gas blast in a coal mine in the northeastern Chinese province of Heilongjiang has killed 24 miners and injured 39 others. The official Xinhua news agency said the explosion occurred on Monday when more than 70 miners were closing down a shaft to prevent a fire from spreading. The semi-official China News Service has said that more than 5,600 people were killed in coal mine accidents in China last year, while other mining accidents killed nearly 2,000. Loose Union for Rump Yugoslavia The parliaments of Serbia and Montenegro have endorsed an EU- mediated plan to form a loose union for three years and abolished what's left of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Only defence and foreign policy will be conducted jointly, but each will have its own currency. Montenegro also shelves a referendum on independence, something Western powers had called for to deter separatist bids elsewhere in the Balkans. On Wednesday, Serbia's parliament is set to adopt a draft law which Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic said would result in more war crimes suspects being handed over to the U.N. war crimes tribunal at the Hague within three weeks. Last week, the USA froze 40 million dollars in aid to Serbia, when Belgrade missed a March 31th deadline set by the U.S. Congress to cooperate with the U.N. court. Putin Wants Russia Treated as an Equal Russian President Vladimir Putin has begun an annual round of talks with German Chancellor Schroeder in the eastern German city of Weimar. At a civic forum known as the Petersburg Dialogue, co-chaired by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Putin said Moscow wants to be regarded as an equal in a new NATO council under discussion, as well as in evolving European Union and other international structures. Russia in its turn, he said, could help assure the stability of energy prices in Europe with its rich reserves of gas and oil, and thus have a stabilising effect on the wider economy. Schroeder said he was convinced that there could be no long-term peace and prosperity without Russia, and also hailed the improvement of economic ties in recent years. Jiang Begins Five-Nation Trip Chinese President Jiang Zemin, in the German capital Berlin on the first stage of a five-nation trip, has said he wants to deepen China's friendly relations with Germany. Speaking at a banquet, Jiang said different cultures and social systems could coexist in the long term. During initial talks with German President Johannes Rau, Rau indirectly called on China to show more respect for human and civil rights. Several dozen protestors held vigils for the Falun Gong movement outside Rau's office. Ministers signed a statement-of-intent to open a Chinese cultural institute in Berlin, and expand the Goethe Institute in Beijing. Bonn CDU Politician Remanded A Bonn court has remanded a top local CDU politician, Reiner Schreiber, in custody in a case of alleged corruption that follows probes into the rival SPD in Cologne and its city refuse plant. Schreiber, aged 60, was arrested on Monday just after he'd quit as chairman of the CDU faction in Bonn's city council. Prosecutors alleged that he took bribes from a firm that helped modernise a Bonn power station while he was head of the city's utilities department. Prosecutor Friedrich Apostel said 1.5 million euros had been found on a secret account of Schreiber's in Switzerland. The Bonn CDU's chief Helmut Hergarten said the party was not involved. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- 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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