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Deutsche Welle English Service News 10-01-2002, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: EU Climbs Down on International Criminal Court The European Union has agreed on guidelines for bilateral agreements that exempt US troops from prosecution before the International Criminal Court (ICC). Critics fear that the new rules would water down the tribunal. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1433_A_646978_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- USA wants inspectors to await resolution U.N. weapons inspectors negotiating with Iraqi officials in Vienna have rejected a U.S. demand that inspectors delay their return to Baghdad until passage of a tough new U.N. disarmament resolution. A spokeswoman for the International Atomic Energy Agency said the inspectors were bound only by existing U.N. Security Council resolutions. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell had said the U.N. needed to show muscle to deter Iraq from hampering its inspectors. Little detail has emerged from a second day of talks in Vienna, but earlier chief inspector Hans Blix had said logistic problems needed to be sorted out, and, he added, he was answerable only to the U.N. Sources in Vienna said a key issue was access to sites of the Iraqi interior and defence ministries and the palaces of Saddam Hussein. Blair defends hardline stance At a conference of the governing British Labour Party, Prime Minister Tony Blair has defended his alignment with the hardline policy on Iraq of U.S. President George W. Bush. In a reference to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Blair said a readiness to use force was necessary in dealing with a dictator. Facing sceptics within his own party, Blair denied that Britain had slavishly become an outpost of the United States. A survey published by the leftist "Guardian" newspaper shows that public support within Britain for military action against Iraq has faded to 33 percent. Iraq warns Turkey to deny USA use of bases Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tarik Aziz has warned neighbouring Turkey not to allow its military bases to be used by the United States for an offensive against Iraq. If it did, Iraq would no longer regard Turkey as its friend, Aziz said while visiting Ankara for talks with Turkish premier Bulent Ecevit. On Monday, U.S. State Department diplomat, Elizabeth Jones, had visited Turkey and urged it to adopt a tough stance toward Iraq. Seven die during Kashmir vote Gunmen have killed seven people on a bus in Indian Kashmir and attacked several polling stations as voters shunned the third round of elections in the state's separatist heartland. India has billed the vote, which ends next week, as a test of Pakistan's pledge to curb the flow of militants across the border into the Moslem- majority state, but more 600 people have died since the poll was called in early August. Voting stations were open across four districts but many voters stayed away. Suspected rebels attacked several polling stations with grenades and automatic rifles, injuring almost a dozen paramilitary soldiers. Two Indian navy planes collide in mid-air Two Indian naval reconnaissance planes taking part in a ceremonial flypast have collided in mid-air over the western state of Goa, killing 15 people. Twelve of the dead were crew members aboard the planes, two Russian-made Ilyushins. Three other victims died on the ground as one of the planes crashed into a bungalow that was under construction. Mediation attempt in Ivory Coast Mediators from three west African ECOWAS nations planned today to visit rebels in Ivory Coast as France flew in 70 more soldiers to assist the Ivorian government, reportedly with "logistics". The mediators from Nigeria, Ghana and Togo had talks with Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo on Monday night. On Sunday, a regional summit decided on mediation but warned, that if this failed, a west African intervention force would be sent. Today, witnesses quoted by the German news agency DPA spoke of hefty fighting around the central Ivorian town of Tiebissou. Ivorian television claimed that troops had recaptured it, the agency said. The rebels, who staged a putsch attempt two weeks ago, still hold the cities of Korhogo and Bouake. Last week French troops evacuated foreigners from Bouake. Mesic confronts Milosevic in court Croatia's President Stipe Mesic has testified at the trial of Slobodan Milosevic, accusing him of inciting ethnic violence that cost 20,000 lives in Croatia and resulted in Yugoslavia's break up. Mesic, who was Yugoslav federal president until 1991, said Milosevic "always" worked for the "war option" and made the Yugoslav army solely Serbian while pursuing his dream of a Greater Serbia. By initially encouraging ethnic Serbs in Croatia to seize land, Milosevic lit a "fuse", Mesic said, that spread war to multi-ethnic Bosnia. Milosevic, who is due to cross-examine Mesic on Wednesday, faces 61 charges, including genocide. Last month, prosecutors at the U.N. tribunal in The Hague wrapped up their case on Kosovo. Kidnap victim presumed murdered German police say Jakob von Metzler, the 11-year-old son of a prominent Frankfurt banking family, who was kidnapped last Friday, was probably murdered. This follows the discovery of a body at a small lake near Frankfurt. Police have sealed off the area as forensic investigations continue. On Monday, police arrested a 27-year-old man after he had allegedly picked up a one million euro ransom. A senior police officer said the case was unprecedented in Frankfurt's recent history. Coalition talks resume in Berlin Germany's re-elected Social Democrats and Greens have resumed negotiations to craft a new government programme after agreeing to stop budgetary holes with spending cuts rather than tax increases. With unemployment stuck around four million and the DAX index of Germany's leading shares at six-year lows, the parties are searching for ways to revive growth in Europe's largest economy after winning a second term in Germany's election a week ago. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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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