Deutsche Welle English Service News 08 June 2004, 16:00 UTC ----------------------------------------------------------------------
On June 12, European soccer fans turn to Portugal, where the European Championships will kick off on that date. To mark the occasion, DW-WORLD offers you special coverage, including background information, picture galleries, match reports, games and much more: http://www.dw-world.de/english ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: Way Looks Clear for New U.N. Iraq Resolution France and Germany appear ready to approve a U.N. resolution on the transfer of power in Iraq on Tuesday, following last-minute changes to the draft by the U.S. and Great Britain. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,7489_A_1228301_1_A,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Forces free hostages in Iraq Coalition forces in Iraq have freed one Polish and three Italian hostages in a military operation south of Baghdad. US Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez said all the hostages were freed from the same location and that there was no reported exchange of fire. Sanchez said that forces also detained suspects. The Polish businessman had been kidnapped last week and the three Italian hostages, who were in Iraq as private security guards, were abducted in April. A fourth Italian abducted with them was slain shortly after the kidnapping. In Falluja, suspected insurgents have abducted two Turks and their Iraqi driver on Monday. 2 car bombs in Iraq kill 15 Two suspected suicide car bombs in Iraq have killed up to fifteen people and injured more than one hundred. Iraqi police say that a car positioned outside the offices of the mayor of Mosul in northern Iraq blew up killing 10 Iraqis and injuring 100. Minutes earlier a car bomb exploded just 10 metres from the main entrance of the al-Faris military base in Baqubah 50 kms north of Baghdad. Four Iraqis and one US soldier died in that attack which also injured 12. Also on Tuesday, six coalition soldiers, three from Slovakia, two from Poland and one from Latvia were killed in a de-mining operation south of Baghdad. Madrid bombings "mastermind" arrested Police in Italy have arrested an alleged leader of the terrorist group that organised the Madrid bombings in March. Rabei Osman Ahmed, a 33-year-old known as "Mohamed the Egyptian," was arrested in Milan as part of coordinated swoops involving security forces from four European countries. Before Tuesday's arrests, 20 people, mostly Moroccans had been charged in relation to the attacks. Meanwhile in Belgium, police have arrested 15 people on suspicision of planning terror attacks. They said the group included Jordanians, Palestinians, Egyptians and Moroccans. Belgian authorities did not immediately link their arrests with the Madrid bombings. Saudi gunmen kill American in Riyadh Unidentified gunmen shot dead an American in the Saudi capital of Riyadh on Tuesday who worked for a U.S. contracting firm. It was the fifth assault on Westerners in the world's leading oil exporter in five weeks. The shooting comes a week after al Qaeda militants killed 22 people, 19 of them foreigners, in a shooting and hostage-taking spree in the oil city of Khobar. A Saudi diplomat said the militant group was behind an attack that killed a BBC cameraman on Sunday and left a correspondent critically injured. Optimism about UN resolution on Iraq Germany and Spain have said that they would vote for a United Nations Resolution on the transfer of power in Iraq. France has also said that it will suppport the draft resolution despite not being fully satisfied with it. The resolution tabled by the US and Britain has been through 4 drafts in the last two weeks but German Ambassador Gunter Pleuger said that 90 percent of the problems had been addressed. Main points covered in the resolution are that coalition troops will be allowed to stay in Iraq until the end of 2005 when the first elected government in Iraq should take over, and there will be co-operation between the Iraqi security committee and US-led forces, however the interim government will not be able to veto so-called sensitive offensive operations. Most diplomats expect a unanimous 15-0 vote when the council meets later today. 20,000 evacuated from Indonesian volcano Two volcanoes in separate parts of Indonesia are spewing plumes of hot smoke and showers of stone. In the east Java region, Mount Bromo has erupted killing two hikers and injuring several others. Buildings in nearby towns were covered with a light coating of ash. Mount Bromo is a popular tourist destination. In the north east of Indonesia up to 20,000 people have been evacuated from their homes amid fears that another volcano is about to erupt. Mount Awu on the island of Sangihe, some 2,250 km north-east of Jakarta, began spewing ash last week and authorities put residents living on the island near the Philippines on the highest level of alert on Monday. Mount Awu is one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes and has erupted repeatedly since the 17th century. U.N. officials meets rebel Congo commander United Nations officials have held talks with a top rebel commander who sparked a crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo and which could derail the country's peace process. Colonel Jules Mutebusi along with a second commander seized Bukavu last week despite the city being under UN control. Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel as well as South African government officials are in the capital Kinshasa to try and shore up Congo's peace process. Meanwhile reports from Bukavu said shooting had erupted in the city. On Monday fighting erupted on the city's outskirst between rebel troops and governement forces. Plane crashes off coast of Gabon A small passenger aeroplane carrying at least 27 people crashed into the sea off the coast of the central African country of Gabon on Tuesday morning. A French army helicopter helped rescue at least 10 passengers and transport them to a hospital. Divers and local fishermen were trying to reach the others still trapped inside the plane only a few hundred yards from the coast. The two-engine Gabon Express aircraft was headed from Libreville to Franceville in the south-east of the central African country when it crashed on takeoff. Russia's richest man back in court Russia's richest businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky has reappeared in a Moscow court for an initial hearing at the beginning of a process which could result in a jail sentence of up to 10 years. After the hearing Khodorkovsky's lawyer said that the trial will begin on June 16th. The 40 year-old founder of Russian oil giant Yukos is charged with avoiding taxes and defrauding the state of billions of dollars. However there is press speculation that the accusations of fraud were brought against the multi-millionaire for political reasons, something which the Kremlin strenuously denies. Khodorkovsky stands accused of avoiding tax payments of nearly 3 billion euros through an off-shore scheme that many banking analysts agree was legal under existing Russian law. First written constitution for Qatar The Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani has proclaimed his country's first written constitution. The principle of introducing a constitution was decided a year ago following a unanimous vote in a national referendum. Qatar's first constitution since independence in 1971 will leave real power with the emir but give citizens a greater say in the running of their country. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Attention: Due to e-mail manipulation, many e-mails are being sen 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. 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. 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