Deutsche Welle English Service News 18.06.2004, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Attention: Due to e-mail manipulation, many e-mails are being sent from e-mail accounts that resemble Deutsche Welle mail accounts. Many of these mails contain viruses. We would like to inform you that Deutsche Welle (DW-WORLD) is not responsible for sending such mails. We are are doing our best to put an end to external e-mail manipulation. ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: Germans Back EU Constitution Compromise EU leaders meeting at a summit in Brussels inch closer to an agreement on Europe's first constitution, but disagreements over the future president of the European Commission have clouded the meetings. 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_1239124_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- EU wrangle over Prodi successor EU leaders remain locked in dispute at their summit in Brussels over a first-ever constitution and who to appoint as EU Commission chief. Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso has emerged as a possible compromise choice to succeed Romano Prodi as EU Commission president from October, according to EU diplomats. They said Barroso could win majority support in the European Parliament via its largest grouping, the conservative European People's Party. A senior German member of that party, Elmar Brock, said Barroso and Austria's Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel were both options. Brock ruled out Britain's Chris Patten. On Thursday, Britain had challenged Germany and France's joint preference for Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhoftstadt. He was a vocal critic of last year's war in Iraq. EU offer to Islamic nations EU summit leaders have also offered Islamic nations what they have called a "strategic partnership" to encourage political and economic reforms. The EU said such moves could only be effective when initiated from within Islamic nations of the Middle East and Asia. Pressure from outside must not be applied, it said. A similar stance was stated by the 57-nation Organisation of Islamic Conference early this week. The EU also urged Israel to halt its security barrier construction and called on Palestinians to reign in terrorism. Israel's intention to withdrawal from the Gaza Strip was a welcome step, the EU added. -- Croatia has been declared a candidate for EU entry. EU leaders decided to begin entry talks with the former Yugoslav republic early next year. Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said Croatia wanted to join in 2007, alongside Bulgaria and Romania. US accused of using 13 secret prisons A human rights group has accused the United States of holding prisoners incommunicado at over a dozen secret off-shore locations around the world. Human Rights First said the US government had acknowledged the existence of 17 prisons, but has failed to reveal the existence of 13 other jails. The group, formerly known as the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, says the secret prisons are located in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Jordan, in the Indian Ocean Island of Diego Garcia while two are aboard US amphibious assault ships. Earlier, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld admitted ordering the seven month secret detention of an Iraqi insurgent leader. Under the Geneva Convention, states are legally obliged to reveal the identity of prisoners to the International Red Cross. S Korea sends 3000 more troops to Iraq South Korea is to send 3,000 extra troops to help reconstruction in Iraq. The first deployment of 900 soldiers to the Kurdish Iraqi town of Erbil will begin in August. Earlier, the Japanese cabinet approved a plan for Japan's 550 troops to continue their humanitarian mission in Iraq. Both decisions come despite widespread domestic opposition to the Iraq deployments. Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has ruled out a quick return of UN personnel to Iraq, saying the situation there was still too dangerous. Time running out for US Saudi hostage United States and Saudi authorities have stepped up their search for an American hostage held by militants who have threatened to kill him imminently. Paul Johnson, an employee of a US weapons company, was kidnapped in Saudi Arabia on Saturday by a group calling itself 'al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula'. In a statement posted on an Islamist website, Johnson's captors threatened to kill him if al-Qaeda prisoners in Saudi Arabia were not freed within 72 hours. The deadline ends sometime Friday; the kidnappers did not specify the exact time it expires. US and NZ soldiers attacked in Afghanistan An Afghan interpreter was killed and two US soldiers were wounded in a mine explosion in Afghanistan. In a separate incident, two New Zealand soldiers were wounded in fighting with suspected Islamic militants in the centre of the country. Earlier, fighters loyal to several warlords captured Chagcharan, the capital of the western Ghor province. Ten people were killed in the battle. On Thursday, President George W. Bush gave an upbeat assessment of the security situation in Afghanistan that many analysts criticised as overly optimistic. Downing of terrorist planes okayed The German Bundestag has passed a law that gives the Defence Minister the power to order the shooting down of hijacked planes or planes used as terrorist weapons. Friday's law also tightens security measures and allows authorities to stop other dangerous aerial events. Early last year, a pilot went on a wild joyflight over the city of Frankfurt endangering the lives of citizens. The law stipulates that the order to bring down planes can only be used a last resort. Child slavery and prostitution slated A German justice official has reacted to sex slave trafficking by suggesting jail for men who use women forced into prostitution. Bavarian state justice minister Beate Merk said male clients had no excuse for not knowing if a woman was being kept as a slave. They could ask, she said. But, a spokeswoman for a Berlin prostitutes counselling group said Merk was naive in thinking that such women would turn against their minders . The German branch of the childrens' agency UNICEF estimates that every day world-wide 3,000 girls and boys are sold via traffickers to work as household slaves, under-age workers and prostitutes. It was the world's third largest illegal sector - after illicit weapons and drugs. Christina Rau, the wife of Germany's president, said in Cambodia and Benin she had met children sold so young they did not even know where they came from. Siemens staff protest 5,000 job cuts In Germany, thousands of Siemens employees protested against plans by the electronic giant to move jobs abroad. The IG Metall union called for protests at over 50 locations after Siemens threatened to cut jobs or move up to 5,000 positions to foreign countries unless employment costs are lowered. In the state of North Rhine Westphalia, 2000 of almost 4,500 jobs involved in the production of mobile handsets and telephones are earmarked to be moved to Hungary. German insolvencies up again The number of insolvencies in Germany has soared while the overall debt volume in euros has gone down. Official figures released by the German statistical office show that 28,000 insolvencies were filed in the first three months of this year, up 15 percent on last year. The total debt volume however was down 13 percent to 10 billion euro. March was a record month, with almost eleven thousand insolvency cases filed - one every 12 minutes. Private insolvencies were up dramatically, reflecting new, tougher laws to stop debts from spiralling out of control. It's estimated over three million German households have excessive debts. Greenspan to stay at Federal Reserve The US Senate has appointed Alan Greenspan for a fifth and final term as chairman of the Federal Reserve. The 78-year old has been chairman of the Reserve, responsible for setting US interest rates, since 1987. 13 1/2 year jail for Bangkok embassy bomber A Thai court has sentenced a Vietnamese man to 13 1/2 years in prison for the attempted bombing of Vietnam's embassy in Bangkok. Pham Nguyen Thanh Hien Si left a homemade bomb in front of the embassy and threw another inside the diplomatic compound, but both failed to go off. Si and three other men who were arrested several days after the June 2001 bombing were believed to be members fo the anti-communist Free Vietnam Movement. Filipino priests to take "moral renewal" course Almost half of all Roman Catholic priests in the Phillipines are to attend "moral renewal seminars" after a spate of sex scandals and clergymen siring children. Nearly 4,000 priests have signed up for the seminars. Bishops revealed in 2002 that over 200 cases of sexual offenses were filed against Filipino priests in 20 years. The seminars aim to remind the priests of their vocation and their responsibilities as members of the church. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
