Deutsche Welle English Service News April 30th 2004, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Schr�der: Germany to Benefit from EU Enlargement Trying to assuage fears about the European Union's imminent enlargement, German Chancellor Gerhard Schr�der on Friday said Germany would be one of the biggest winners when the bloc accepted 10 new members on May 1. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1432_A_1186448_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Arab news channels air photos of Iraqi prisoners abused by US troops Arab television stations have led their newscasts on Friday with graphic photographs of Iraqi prisoners being humiliated by U.S. military police. The pictures had been originally released in the United States earlier this week. One Arab network said the images were evidence of the "immoral practices" of American forces. They are also potentially inflammatory in the Arab world, where public nudity is considered dishonourable. The alleged abuses documented in the images have led to charges against six US soldiers, as well as the suspension of the female general in charge of the prison in Iraq where the acts reportedly occurred. US officials have condemned the soldiers' behaviour and said it was not representative of the other 150,000 troops in Iraq. Marines pull back from Fallujah Withdrawing US Marines in the Iraqi city of Fallujah are being replaced by Iraqi security forces led by a general from Saddam Hussein's former army. The general was greeted earlier by cheering crowds and was seen shaking hands with Marine commanders. The new Iraqi security force will be responsible for patrolling the city but US Marines will still remain on or near the perimeter of Fallujah. Civilians have in the meantime started returning to their homes, following the end of a violent month-long siege of the city, which was triggered by the killing and mutilation of four American contract workers. French Jewish graves desecrated with Nazi slogans Vandals in eastern France have desecrated 127 graves with Nazi swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans in a Jewish cemetery close to the border with Germany. The incident is the latest in a spate of attacks on Jewish property in France and Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin vowed quick police action to arrest those behind the desecration. France's Jewish community is the largest in Europe, with 400,000 members. Officials have boosted vigilance against anti-Semitic attacks after the firebombing of a Jewish school near Paris and an attack on a Jewish cemetery in Marseille last November. Bashir re-arrested in Jakarta Police in Indonesia re-arrested the terror suspect Abu Bakar Bashir on Friday just seconds after his release. Hundreds of supporters for the 65-year-old radical Muslim cleric struck back with a hail of rocks and bottles. Bashir, who is the alleged leader of the al-Qaida linked Jemaah Islamiyah militants, had been released on Friday after serving an 18-month sentence for immigration and forgery offenses. Police now say they have new proof implicating Bashir in terrorist acts and under new anti-terrorism laws, he could be detained for up to six months before formal charges are laid. Violence in south a threat to Thai tourism Unprecedented violence in three of Thailand's southern provinces has cast a shadow over tourism in the country. Australia and the United States have advised their citizens against unnecessary travel to the area where security forces killed 108 Islamic militants on Wednesday. A tourism official said the latest violence in the southernmost provinces plus international warnings about the situation there would not just affect the country's tourism, but also its overall image. Analysts said there was no evidence linking the militants to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network. More than 100 believed dead, 1,000 wounded in Nigeria feud The Red Cross in Nigeria says that more than 100 people may have been killed in fresh ethnic and religious clashes, although exact figures have not been confirmed. The death toll from fighting earlier this week has been slow to emerge due to poor lines of communication. Clashes, mostly over land and cattle, reportedly took place between Muslims and Christians in six remote farming villages. The Red Cross also said that over 5000 people had been displaced. Suspected Taliban kill six Afghan soldiers in southern Afghanistan; Deadline for militants runs out Clashes in southern Afghanistan between government forces and suspected remnants of the ousted Taliban regime have left at least eight soldiers dead. Six Afghan soldiers travelling on motorcycles were attacked and killed late Thursday while the two other soldiers were killed when fighters attacked and set fire to a checkpoint. Provincial sources said they were sure the fighters belonged to a militia of the former Taliban regime. Several people have been detained for questioning. Meanwhile, a Pakistani deadline for hundreds of foreign militants near the Afghan border to surrender to the authorities has passed without a single person coming forth. But military officials said that the government wanted to pursue a political solution rather than launch an assault. EU agrees on new asylum rules After more than three years of wrangling and just before EU enlargement, the European Union interior ministers have agreed to new asylum rules. The draft rules, which were hammered out on Thursday, aim to harmonize procedures for seeking asylum inside the EU. The agreement ensures that genuine refugees can find safe haven, but the United Nations and human rights campaigners say the rules may compromise the rights of refugees. Celebrations in run-up to EU enlargement All across Europe, the European Union is gearing up for celebrations to mark its biggest-ever enlargement. In a speech before the Bundestag lower house of parliament, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said the dream of many generations of Europeans will become reality when the EU expands to 25 countries on Saturday. German President Johannes Rau, the first German head of state to speak before the Polish parliament, told the lawmakers that the enlargement ends the division of Europe. At another ceremony, Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer will meet with his Polish counterpart, Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, at the border town Frankfurt on the Oder. And on Saturday, Schroeder will meet his counterparts from the Czech Republic and Poland at their common border region to mark the occasion before travelling to Dublin for celebrations with other EU leaders. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DW-WORLD.DE on Your Desktop. 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