Deutsche Welle English Service News 20th May, 2002, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: EU Decides Fate of Palestinian Militants After days of negotiations, Spain has finally brokered a deal to distribute the group of exiled Palestinian militants being held on Cyprus among European Union countries. 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_523826_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Two New Suicide Bomb Attacks in Israel Two new suicide bomb attacks have been reported in Israel in the last 24 hours. In northern Israel, a Palestinian triggered a bomb fastened to his body when Israeli soldiers approached to question him. The Palestinian was killed, but the Israeli soldiers were not injured. In an earlier incident on Sunday in Netanja, three Israelis were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a produce market. At least 40 other people were injured. Several are in critical condition. Two radical Palestinian groups, Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, claimed responsbility for the attacks. Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Elizer said after the attacks that Israel would build an electrified security fence around the West Bank within the next six months. Son of a Prominent Palestinian Militant Killed in Beirut Bombing A car bomb which exploded in Beirut, Lebanon, on Monday killed the son of radical, Pro-Syrian Palestinian guerilla leader Ahmed Jibril. Lebanese police said the son, Mohammad Jihad Ahmed Jibril, was blown up when he started his car parked just a few meters from a police barracks in western Beirut. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. The father, Ahmed Jibril, is the leader of a militant faction of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine which is vehemently opposed to any negotiated peace with Israel. Tensions Rise Between India and Pakistan Over Border Incidents Indian and Pakistani troops fought pitched battles for a fourth day in a row on Monday along the so-called Line of Control in Kashmir. Correspondents report that thousands of local residents have fled the region. At least six Indian soldiers have been killed since Sunday in attacks by Islamic extremists in the Indian part of Kashmir. The latest tensions were triggered by a terrorist attack in the city of Jammu last Tuesday which killed more than 30 people. India expelled Pakistan's ambassador to New Delhi over the weekend. German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer has joined calls for both sides to defuse the situation and said the latest standoff of the two nuclear rivals was very worrying. New Era for East Timor East Timor became independent overnight as U.N. chief Kofi Annan handed control from a U.N. mission to a Timorese government, ending 450 years of occupation, first Portuguese and latterly Indonesian. Newly-elected President Xanana Gusmao called for reconciliation with Indonesia and inaugurated a 24-member cabinet headed by Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri at ceremonies also attended by Indonesia's President Megawati. Impoverished East Timor becomes the world's 192nd nation. Annan promised more reconconstruction assistance. Last Friday the U.N. Security Council mandated a follow-on mission comprising 5,000 peacekeeping troops plus 1,200 police. 200,000 East Timorese died during 24 years of Indonesian occupation that ended in 1999. Whaling Advocates Lose First Vote at Conference The deeply split 48-nation International Whaling Commission began its week-long annual conference in Japan on Monday with a defeat for the proponents of commercial whaling. The Commission rejected in a narrow 20 to 25 vote to give tiny Iceland full membership in the organization. Had Iceland been granted more than its current observer status the balance of power in the Commission would have shifted in favor of those countries wanting to end the worldwide ban on commercial whaling. Anti-whaling nations such as New Zealand, Australia and the United States oppose any hunting for other than scientific purposes. Norway and Japan, in particular, want the 1986 hunting moratorium lifted. German Symposium Urges Judicial Reform in China A bilateral Sino-German symposium in Beijing has stressed the need for improving China's judicial system to advance the country's economic and social development. The German Justice Minister Herta Daeubler-Gmelin emphasized not only the need for a transparent legal code, but also underscored the importance of an independent judiciary to generate and maintain public trust in the country's political system. The two-day symposium was initiated by the German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji. Strike Threat Overshadows World Cup Soccer South Korea's Federation of Trade Unions has threatened nationwide strikes from Wednesday, just ahead of the World Cup soccer championships. The unions want the government to adopt a shorter five-day work week and halt the privatization of state-run utilities. Strikes, if carried out, could initially involve 70,000 Korean taxi drivers, hospital staff and industrial workers. In February and March, a strike by South Korea's utilities workers' union failed to extract concessions. Last week, President Kim Dae-jung asked his cabinet to seek talks and avoid disruptions. The World Cup begins in Seoul next week. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. You can even listen to all programmes as audio-on-demand. Serbian News Network - SNN [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.antic.org/
