Deutsche Welle English Service News 2th May, 2004, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Chinese Prime Minister Focuses on Trade During German Visit Wen Jiabao arrives in Germany on Sunday for the start of an 11-day tour of Europe. The promotion of stronger business ties between Beijing and Berlin and the lifting of an arms embargo top the prime minister's agenda. 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_1187821_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Enjoy our "World News" newsletter? Why not also subscribe to "Daily Bulletin", DW-WORLD's latest daily digest of the day's top German and European stories, delivered to you around 18:30 UTC. To find out more and sign up, please go to http://www.dw-world.de/english/newsletter ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Likud votes on Sharon's pullout plan Members of Israeli premier Ariel Sharon's Likud party are voting on his Gaza pullout plan in a referendum overshadowed by the fatal shooting four Israeli children and their mother in southern Gaza. The Israeli army said it later shot dead two Palestinian assailants. Responsibility for the attack was claimed by two radical groups, Islamic Jihad and another called the Popular Resistance Committees. Likud's referendum had been preceded by two newspaper surveys that suggest that his proposal will be rejected by members. Sharon wants to vacate all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza, and nationwide polls indicate that Israelis as a whole favour evacuation. Abuse allegations - Amnesty calls for inquiry Amnesty International has called for an independent inquiry into the treatment of Iraqi prisoners by coalition troops in Iraq, saying complaints it had received pointed to a "pattern of torture". This follow the publication by US and British media of photos said to show alleged abuses of prisoners by US and British troops. The "New Yorker" magazine said it had obtained an internal US army report on alleged abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. A Pentagon spokesman declined comment on that but said the claims would be investigated. Several British TV stations on Sunday carried reports doubting the photos' authenticity. Britain's Sunday Telegraph said six junior British officers were being questioned in Cyprus. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said a high-level probe was under way. The Telegraph said Britain might send 4,000 more troops to Iraq. More US deaths in Iraq Reports from Iraq say four US soldiers have been killed in two separate attacks by insurgents while a US truck driver for the firm Halliburton has escaped his captors near Tikrit. Thomas Hamill had been missing for three weeks. Military officials said two of the soldiers killed were attacked by insurgents in the southern city of Amara. The other two were killed in the Baghdad area. Two Iraqi security force members were also killed. At Fallujah, after a pullback by US troops, the former Iraqi army general brought into restore order, Jasim Mohamed Saleh has denied the presence of 200 foreign fighters wanted by besieging US marines. Meanwhile, the body of one of two elite German GSG-9 security officials who disappeared last month near Fallujah has been found, according to the German foreign ministry. The pair were driving in a diplomatic convoy from Amman to Baghdad. Germany strongly opposed the US-led war on Iraq. EU celebrates enlargement - protest in Dublin Celebrations have been held across the European Union to mark the entry into the EU of 10 mainly eastern European nations. That raises its membership to 25 countries, or about 450 million citizens. EU leaders gathered in the Irish capital, Dublin, for a symbolic flag-raising ceremony. Prime Minister Bertie Ahern of Ireland, which holds the EU's rotating presidency urged the leaders to finalise the wording of a draft EU constitution at their next summit in June. While leaders toasted enlargement, hundreds of anti-globalisation protestors tried to enter the Dublin park venue. Police used water cannon and said they made 25 arrests. One policewoman was hurt. Poland's unpopular Prime Minister leaves office Poland's unpopular Prime Minister Leszek Miller has resigned, saying he had fulfilled his primary mission to carry out his country's historic accession to the European Union. President Aleksander Kwasniewski formally accepted Miller's resignation and designated ex-finance minister Marek Belka, until recently the economic policy chief in Iraq's US-led coalition, to replace him. Belka's appointment will have to be approved by the 460-seat lower house of parliament to become official. Chinese Prime Minister visits German auto factory German automaker Volkswagen has announced plans for a new Shanghai factory as Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao opened a four day visit to Germany with a tour of an auto factory in the Bavarian city of Ingolstadt. Volkswagen chief executive Bernd Pischetsrieder, told Wen that China remained VW'S most important market outside Germany. The new factory is part of VW's strategy to gradually increase production in China. Premier Wen and his delegation are to travel to Berlin Monday for meetings with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and others before heading on to Belgium, Italy, Great Britain and Ireland. Norway envoys meet Sri Lankan president in peace bid Norwegian peace envoys have met Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga in a fresh bid to restart stalled peace talks between the government and Tamil rebels and end decades of ethnic bloodshed. The Norwegian embassy described the closed-door meeting as extensive and constructive and said the talks covered all aspects of the peace process. Despite the two-year truce, direct negotiations to end the war have been on hold for a year amid a bitter political power struggle between Kumaratunga and her rival, former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Norway helped to broker the original truce and has continued to mediate. The Tigers' separatist war has claimed some 65,000 lives since 1983. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DW-WORLD.DE on Your Desktop. 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