Deutsche Welle English Service News April, 29th, 2004, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Berlin Summit Pledges to Combat Anti-Semitism Delegates at an anti-Semitism conference in Berlin unanimously denounced "new forms and expressions" of hatred against Jews and agreed that the Middle East conflict could never justify attacks on Jews. 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_1185882_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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- US prepares to withdraw from flashpoint city US military sources in Iraq say that Marines in the flashpoint city of Fallujah are to withdraw from the area and hand security back to an Iraqi-led force. An officer who was once with Saddam Hussein's military is expected to head the so-called Fallujah Protection Army. But despite the agreement to lift the month-long siege of the city, new explosions and gunfire have been heard in Fallujah, with US warplanes seen circling overhead. Fallujah has witnessed intense battles between US forces and insurgents since the Marines rolled into the city following the killing and mutilation of four US civilian contractors there. Meanwhile, at least ten soldiers have been killed in one day of attacks around Baghdad, including eight by a car bomb. Bush and Cheney appear before 9/11 commission US President George W Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney are appearing before the commission investigating the September 11 attacks. At the administration's request, the session at the White House will not be recorded and an official transcript will not be made. Also, the two will not be under oath. Bush is expected to be asked what he was told about the terrorist threat before the attacks as well as which actions he took. The panel is due to present its final report on the 2001 attacks in late July. Italians hope rally will help free Iraq hostages Relatives and friends of three Italian hostages in Iraq have gathered in Rome for a peace march which they hope will convince the kidnappers to free the men. The kidnappers have threatened to kill the three security workers unless Italians protest against Rome's military presence in Iraq. The Italian hostages were kidnapped more than two weeks ago outside of Baghdad where they had been working for a private, U.S. security firm. A fourth Italian kidnapped with them was murdered after the captors demanded that Italy withdraw its 2,700 troops from Iraq. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who is one of Washington's staunchest allies, has said he was working to secure the hostages' release, but he has repeatedly vowed to keep his troops in Iraq. French President Jacques Chirac says Turkey's entry into EU not desirable in short-term French President Jacques Chirac has given his first full-fledged press conference in six years, addressing Iraq as well as Turkey's hopes for EU membership. On Iraq, Chirac said that the upcoming transfer of power must be "unambiguous" and that the U.S.-led occupation authorities in charge of the country must cede control. On Turkey, he said he was opposed to the country's entry into the European Union for now, adding that while Turkey has made considerable progress on reforms, it still has much to do. The news conference was an opportunity for Chirac to address certain issues ahead of the European elections after his conservative party suffered major defeats in March regional polling. Berlin summit pledges fight against anti-Semitism Delegates of an international conference on anti-Semitism have concluded their two-day meeting with the "Berlin Declaration" condemning all manifestations of and attacks motivated by anti-Semitism. Earlier, delegates discussed the role of the media in spreading racism and hatred of Jews. The conference was sponsored by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe as well as by the German government, in response to a rise in anti-Jewish attacks and propoganda in several European countries. German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer praised the conference as a success and urged participant nations to take concrete action in the fight against anti-Semitism. Nazi collaborator Papon will not get re-trial: court France's highest court of appeal has ruled that the Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon does not qualify for a re-trial, as his lawyers have been demanding. Instead, the appeals court will itself review whether proper legal procedures were followed in the 93-year-old's conviction by a court in Bordeaux in 1998. Papon, who was released in 2002 on medical grounds, was sentenced to 10 years in jail for organising the deportation of French Jews to Nazi concentration camps in World War II. EU approves financial aid for northern Cyprus The European Union has approved 259 million euros in aid to Turkish Cypriots as a reward for voting in favour of a United Nations plan to reunify their island. EU ministers also asked the bloc's executive Commission to ease trade restrictions on the Turkish part of the eastern Mediterranean island, which will be kept out of the EU following a Greek Cypriot rejection of the plan. EU foreign ministers already backed the measures in principle Monday and rushed them through the EU administration ahead of May 1, when Cyprus and another nine new member states join. Burma's opposition leaders hold second meeting with Suu Kyi Top-ranking members of Burma's main opposition party have met Aung San Suu Kyi who has been under house arrest for nearly a year. The meeting was the first time any members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) have been able to see her since senior party leaders were freed on April 13. The NLD officials also met with Suu Kyi on Wednesday, but said afterwards that no definite decision had been reached on whether to attend the military government's May 17 convention aimed at drafting a constitution. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
