Deutsche Welle English Service News 24.04.2004, 16:00 UTC
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Final Round: Go East! The EU Quiz: Europe is expanding East. Embark on a journey through the 10 candidate countries set to enter the EU by playing the fourth and final round of DW-WORLD's Go East quiz. Lots of great prizes are waiting to be discovered. http://dw-world.de/go-east ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: Greek Cypriots Say "No" to Reunification Greek Cypriots on Saturday voted overwhelmingly against reunification with Turkish Cypriots, sounding the death knell for a UN-backed peace plan to end a 30-year division of the island. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1433_A_1178080_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Greek Cypriots reject Cyprus reunification according to exit polls Greek Cypriots appear to have overwhelmingly rejected a U.N. plan to reunite the island of Cyprus while Turkish Cypriots have embraced it. Exit polls during Saturday's referendum show that about 75 percent of Greek Cypriots rejected ending the 30 year division, while about 60 percent of Turkish Cypriots voted in favour. The U.N. called for the poll in a bid to reunify Cyprus before it joins the European Union on May 1. One of the main Greek objections is that Greek Cypriot refugees have limited rights to return to homes they fled when the island was divided. Under the UN plan, if either side rejects the plan, then only the Greek south will be included in EU enlargement. At least 32 killed, nearly 60 injured in another day of violence in Iraq In Iraq, at least 32 people were killed and nearly 60 injured on Saturday in a spate of attacks. In the worst attack, 14 Iraqis were killed and 36 more were injured when four mortar or missile projectiles explosed at a chicken market in Baghdad's Shiite suburb of Sadr City. �n another attack in Taji north of Baghdad, a US-military spokesman said five US soldiers were killed and six more were wounded when a rocket was fired at their base at dawn Saturday. Another two US soldiers were killed and one wounded in a rocket propelled grenade attack on a convoy near the southern city of Kut. And in the northern city of Tikrit, four Iraqi policemen were killed when an apparent suicide car bomb exploded near a US military base. Diplomats and foreign aid workers inspect North Korea explosion site Diplomats and foreign aid workers have visited the site of Thursday's rail explosion in North Korea and described a scene of "utter devastation". A spokesperson for the World Health Organisation said all buildings within 500 meter radius of the explosion were destroyed and windows had been blown out in buildings as far away as ten kilometers. The Red Cross confirmed the death toll of 154 people, half of them children. Around 1300 others were reported injured. The North Korean government said the explosion occurred when train cars carrying dynamite touched power lines. Bush tells Sharon: US against harming Arafat The White House has cautioned Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon against harming Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. Sharon told Israeli television on Friday that he was no longer bound by a three-year old promise to spare Arafat from attack. Sharon said he raised the issue with US President George W. Bush when they met at the White House last week. Palestinian officials have condemned what they called Sharon's "dangerous statements." In an interview with ABC television, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Bush considers Sharon's earlier pledge binding. US to ease economic sanctions on Libya The United States has announced the easing of some economic sanctions against Libya. The move clears the way for US companies to do business in the north African state. Libya has been subject to US sanctions since the bombing of a Berlin disco 18 years ago in which two American soldiers died. The move is seen as a reward for Tripoli's announcement last December that it was renouncing weapons of mass destruction. Libya's rehabilitation is also linked to the country's acceptance of responsibility for the 1988 bombing of the PanAm passenger plane over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. Germany to send more troops to Afghanistan German Defence Minister Peter Struck has confirmed plans to station an additional reconstruction team in northern Afghanistan comprised of 100 German Bundeswehr soldiers and Dutch peackeeping troops. The troops would be stationed in Faisabad, some 200 kilometers east of Kundus. Currently, around 300 German peacekeepers are already in Kundus. Struck said a new Bundestag resolution was not necessary. U.S. ex-sportsman killed in Afghanistan A well-known American ex-professional football star, Pat Tillman, has been killed in Afghanistan, while serving in the U.S. military's elite Army Ranger unit. The 27-year-old soldier quit his NFL football career in May of 2002, eight months after September 11th. The military said Tillman was killed on Thursday in an ambush, in Khosh province, as his unit hunted al Qaeda and Taliban suspects. The Pentagon delayed the news by law to notify relatives. Debate over Darfur in UN commission The United States is demanding that the United Nations Human Rights Commission hold an emergency session on Sudan. Washington says the Sudanese government must be held to account for alleged human rights violations in the Darfur region. These include ethnic cleansing, and the rape and bombing of civilians fleeing the country. According to a UN report, Arab militias, supported by the Sudanese military, have killed about 10 thousand black Africans in Darfur in the past year. Around 1 million people have been forced to leave their homes. Voices heard from bus covered in Indonesian landslide, killing at least 38 In Indonesia, rescuers have heard voices from some of the seven people believed still alive after a landslide covered a bus in Sumatra Island, killing at least 38 people. The bus is totally covered under tonnes of mud and perched on the edge of a ravine. Local officials said the landslide occurred Friday evening local time when the bus carrying 50 passengers was heading to Medan, the capital of North Sumatra. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DW-WORLD.DE on Your Desktop. Keep up with events with our RSS-Feeds: http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,5069_A_1137115,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
