Deutsche Welle English Service News 10.06.2005, 16:00 UTC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
Berlin, Paris Push Ahead With EU French and German leaders said on Friday Europe must unite and press ahead with ratifying the EU Constitution. At the same time, a clash threatens to split the bloc over the upcoming budget debate. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1610822,00.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- LAST CHANCE TO PLAY! DW-WORLD's "Click Back" monthly review quiz for June is waiting for you and will test your knowledge of stories we've written. If you answer all questions correctly, you can also win a great prize. To play, please go to: http://www.dw-world.de/english ---------------------------------------------------------------------- France & Germany push for constitution German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac have made a joint appeal for the ratification of the EU constitution to go ahead despite referenda defeats in France and the Netherlands and the cancelling of a vote in Britain. Schroeder, speaking at a press conference alongside Chirac, said it would be "premature" to give the constitution up for dead. Schroeder also said both Germany and France were ready to compromise on the disputed European Union budget at next week's summit. He did not however, specify what the compromise might entail. For his part, Chirac reiterated his call for Britain to give up its multi-billion-euro rebate. Bolivia swears in new president Bolivia's congress has sworn in former Supreme Court chief Eduardo Rodriguez as the interim President of the troubled South American country. Rodriguez replaces Carlos Mesa, who resigned because of his failure to diffuse weeks of protests. In his inauguration speech, Rodriguez called for new general elections. He did not set a date, but under the constitution new elections must be held within the next six months. Bolivia has been in a state of crisis since tens of thousands of farmers, workers and indigenous people protested for the nationalisation of the gas and oil industry and a more equitable distribution of the country's meagre wealth. Sixteen bodies found in Iraq The bodies of 16 people have been discovered in western Iraq according to local sources. Many of the bodies were blindfold with their hands tied behind their back. On Wednesday police said that 22 Iraqi soldiers from the mainly Shi'ite south had been kidnapped after leaving their base in the town of Qaim, a stronghold of the Sunni Arab insurgency near the Syrian border. It was not immediately clear if the victims, who were in civilian clothes, were those soldiers. A police spokesman said Iraqi forces were still not able to reach the bodies to determine who the victims were due to security risks and possible explosives planted in the area. EU threatens Chinese textile ban The European Union has warned China to cut its textile imports or face formal quotas. The European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson is in Shanghai for last minute talks with the Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai. Mandelson said China had until Saturday to agree to curb the rise in exports of T-shirts and yarn to 7.5 percent a year, otherwise temporary quotas could be imposed within days. Bo said earlier China would protect the rights of its textile industry but also act in line with World Trade Organisation rules. The United States has already slapped caps on seven Chinese products, provoking an angry reaction from Beijing. Cantoni on her way home to Italy An Italian aid worker kidnapped in Afghanistan last month is expected home in Italy later on Friday. The 32-year-old Clementina Cantoni was kidnapped over three weeks ago in the capital Kabul by a criminal gang. Officials said Cantoni, who worked for Care International, was in good health. Afghan's interior minister said no ransom had been paid for her release. But Italian newspapers reported that Italian secret services had persuaded the Afghan government to release four prisoners, including the mother of the purported kidnap gang leader, in exchange for Cantoni. Kyrgyz parlimentarian assassinated In Kyrgyzstan, a leading parliamentarian and businessman has been shot dead in the centre of the capital Bishkek. Police named the parliamentarian as Zhirgalbek Surabaldiyev, but gave no further details. Surabaldiyev, a supporter of ousted president Askar Akayev, had been accused by the new authorities in the country of co-ordinating teams of "provocateurs" to sabotage opposition protests in March that resulted in the overthrow of Akayev's regime. Presidential elections to chose Akayev's successor are scheduled for next month. 29 die as flash flood hits China school At least 29 people, mostly children, were killed on Friday when a flash flood struck a primary school in north-east China. State-run media said that the school, in Shalan town, in the province of Heilongjiang, was hit by a mountain torrent after heavy rains in the area. About 350 pupils were in the school when the flood hit. Rescue work was under way but poor communications in the town in a valley about 450 kms from the provincial capital Harbin made it unclear how many people had been affected. Pope tells Africans to remain chaste Pope Benedict XVI has told southern African bishops on Friday that the Roman Catholic Church's teachings of chastity and fidelity are the only certain ways of preventing the spread of AIDS. This remains in line with the position long defended by his predecessor Pope John Paul II, who condemned the use of condoms and championed chastity and fidelity as the only means of stopping the epidemic. The German-born pontiff also urged the bishops to be particularly attentive to the training of priests, stating that "a world filled with temptations needs priests who are totally dedicated to their mission." Mladic's whereabouts rumoured Serbia's government has denied persistent Serbian media reports that the top fugitive and war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic is at a known location. He's wanted by UN prosecutors for the Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia 10 years ago. The Serbian newspaper "Danas" citing what it called an impeccable source said Mladic was hiding in a big town in Serbia. It said authorities were concerned about how to catch him without casualties. He's rumoured to have dozens of bodyguards. On Thursday the United States reinstated 10 million dollars in aid to Serbia and said it was "confident" that Mladic would soon be caught. Still at large is another Bosnian Serb suspect Radovan Karadzic. Leftist alliance emerging in Germany In Germany two small parties critical of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's reform course are on the verge of forming a leftist alliance to contest a federal election. It would comprise the largely east German neo-communist Party of Democratic Socialism, the PDS, and leftists, including trade unionists, who recently quit Schroeder's Social Democrats to form a splinter group the WASG, or Electoral Alternative for Social Justice. Their executive committees will make final decisions this weekend. It's still unclear what the new leftist alliance will call itself or who will lead the new party. One potential candidate who's signalled readiness is Oskar Lafontaine, a former German finance minister and a critic of Schroeder's labour and social policies. ETA says it bombed Spanish airport The terrorist Basque separatist group ETA has claimed responsibility for an explosion which took place outside Zaragoza airport in north-east Spain on Friday. Airport officials said that nobody was injured in the explosion which occurred some 300 metres from the airport terminal. The Basque newspaper Gara said it had received a phone call purporting to be from ETA and warning of a blast before the incident. All flights were suspended and the airport was evacuated following the warning. The Spanish government says it is willing to enter a dialogue with radical nationalists but only if ETA renounces violence and lays down its arms. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- We'd like to introduce you to our latest newsletter: "Germany Light" give you a weekly look at Germany's cultural, peculiar and sometimes odd happenings. To sign up for regular dose of fun and entertainment, please go to our Newsletter section at: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1170241,00.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. 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