English Service News 28th February, 2002, 16:00 UTC English Service News ----------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
"Wake-Up Call For Europe" An historic Convention on the Future of Europe opens to draft the possible blueprint of a constitution that would work for an enlarged European Union. 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_451546_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------- NATO fails to capture Karadzic in Bosnian village NATO has tried and failed to find former Bosnian Serb leader and accused war criminal Radovan Karadzic during a raid on a Bosnian village. A statement issued by the NATO-led SFOR peacekeeping force in the former Yugoslav republic said three weapons caches were found and seized during the operation in southern Bosnia. Karadzic and his military commander Ratko Mladic have been indicted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal for the 1995 mass killing of up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys and for the three-and-a-half year siege of Sarajevo, which killed around 12,000 people. SFOR has been criticised in the past for doing too little to capture suspected war criminals, especially Karadzic and Mladic, the tribunal's two most-wanted men. Annan calls on world community to support Afghanistan U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said the world community must help Afghanistan following what he called a "shameful period of neglect", much as the West came to Germany's aid after World War Two. In an address to the German parliament in Berlin's Reichstag, Annan also said he hoped the international security force in Afghanistan could be extended beyond its present mandate to ensure stability. Many countries contributing troops have hesitated to back expansion, suggesting the international community focus its efforts on quickly training a new Afghan army and police force. After talks with Annan, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Germany would consider extending the force into the future but would not lead it and had qualms about widening its focus. Historic Convention opens to chart EU's future An unprecedented democratic Convention to chart the constitutional future of the European Union has opened in the European Parliament in Brussels. The 105 delegates from national and European parliaments, member governments, candidate countries and the executive European Commission will debate how to make the 15-nation EU more democratic, transparent and effective as it enlarges to 25 or 30 states. Violence continues as EU envoy tries to revive Middle East peace talks Israeli forces have shot their way into two Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank, killing at least 10 people in an upsurge of violence that cast a deep shadow over a new Middle East peace initiative. The Israeli army said one of its soldiers was also killed and two were wounded in fighting at one of the camps just outside the city of Nablus, during operations it said it mounted to flush out "terrorists". Meanwhile European Union envoy Javier Solana has arrived in Jordan for talks with King Abdullah on a Saudi plan to revive the Middle East peace process after 17 months of Israeli- Palestinian violence. Solana flew in to the Red Sea resort of Aqaba from Cairo where he held similar talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The EU foreign policy chief held talks in Saudi Arabia with Crown Prince Abdullah on Wednesday. Blast kills two near the house of Jordan's anti-terror chief A bomb has exploded near the house of Jordan's anti-terror squad chief in Amman, killing two passers-by. Officials linked the blast to the Jordan's crackdown against Muslim militants that has picked up pace after the September 11 attacks on the United States. Scores of militants and suspected followers of Osama bin Laden, the main suspect in the U.S. attacks, have been arrested in Jordan in recent months. Georgian leader says US troops fulfill long plan Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze has said that the arrival of U.S. special forces in his ex-Soviet republic would secure the country's borders and fulfil a long-term objective. Shevardnadze said the U.S. forces would boost sovereignty. Russia, Georgia's northern neighbour, has denounced the plan on grounds that it will destabilise an already volatile region. Washington wants to help the former Soviet republic fight guerrillas linked to al Qaeda who are said to be entrenched in Georgia's remote Pankisi Gorge. Violence flares in Gujarat More than 20 people have been killed when mobs rampaged through towns in western India in reprisal for an attack on a train carrying Hindu devotees in which 58 people were burned alive. Authorities in the western state of Gujarat said it wanted the army's help after Hindu mobs looted and burned Muslim properties in reprisal for Wednesday's attack on the train. Bomb hurts two in Spain as EU summit plot is reported A bomb hidden has exploded in Spain's Basque region, injuring a local Socialist politician and her bodyguard in an attack officials blamed on the Basque separatist group ETA. Politicians immediately blamed the attack on the separatist group ETA, which is blamed for more than 800 killings in its three decade-long campaign of bombings and shootings to back demands for independence for the Basque Country. The blast came on the same day as a report in "La Vanguardia" newspaper that French police had uncovered a separate ETA plot to bomb the European Union's Barcelona summit next month. Asian conference agrees to clamp down on human trafficking A landmark regional people-smuggling conference has agreed to improve cross-border cooperation and toughen laws to criminalise human trafficking, winning quick praise from the U.N. refugee agency. In a non-binding agreement released by co-hosts Indonesia and Australia delegates sought to improve intelligence sharing, build stronger ties between law enforcers and improve cooperation on border and visa issues. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said the umbrella agreement did not lose sight of the victims of the lucrative trade but said time would tell whether participating countries would carry through with their commitments. Eurozone bids a final fairwell to old currencies Hundreds of millions of Europeans have bid a final goodbye to the mark, lire, pesetas, francs, markka and drachmas through which until the start of this year they conducted their daily economic lives. These currencies will no longer be accepted in their shops from midnight when the euro becomes the sole legal tender of 12 nations after a two-month changeover. --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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