Deutsche Welle English Service News April 14th 2004, 17:00 UTC
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Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:German General: Americans Losing Credibility in Iraq
With no end in sight to the recent escalation in violence between Iraqi insurgents and coalition forces, Deutsche Welle spoke to German Army Gen. Klaus Reinhardt about the prospects for peace in Iraq.
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http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,7489_A_1169246_1_A,00.html
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US troops tightens its grip on Iraq Shiite radical leader
U.S. forces have sent reinforcements to one of Iraq's holiest cities, Najaf, and are poised to launch a major offensive against the militia of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Earlier a spokesman for al-Sadr said an attack on Najaf would ignite mass violence all over the country. Top US military official General Richard Myers declined to say if the threat to kill Sadr was still an option for the US-led coalition, saying that a number of Shiite clerics were negotiating with Sadr to bring a peaceful end to the standoff. General Myers refused to say if the US-led forces would attack the city to capture the cleric. A close aide of Sadr meanwhile told reporters in Najaf that the radical leader had agreed to drop all his conditions in negotiations with the coalition.
UN 'confident' Iraq will have new caretaker government on time
UN special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said Wednesday that the United Nations was "confident" a new caretaker Iraqi government would be put in place ahead of the June 30 deadline. Brahimi told a news conference in Baghdad that the security situation must improve "considerably" before elections can take place. The government will be led by a prime minister, and comprising Iraqi men and women known for their honesty, integrity and competence, he said. There will also be a president to act as head of state and two vice-presidents, Brahimi said.
President Bush pledges to stay in Iraq
In a rare televised news conference, US President George W Bush has said he is prepared to send more troops and resources to Iraq to put an end to the current upsurge in violence there. And he said the US military would stay in Iraq as long as it takes to get the job done. More than 100,000 US troops are currently stationed in Iraq. Bush added, that a self-imposed deadline to handover power to an Iraqi government still stood. The US president conceded that the past two weeks had been "tough" but said the current fighting between coalition troops and Iraqi insurgents was not a popular uprising. And he rejected comparisons between the current worsening security situation in Iraq and the Vietnam war.
Germany welcomes Bush's pledge to stick to June 30 handover in Iraq
The German government has welcomed U.S. President George W. Bush's pledge to stick by his timetable for a June 30 transfer of power in Iraq despite the escalation in violence. A government spokesman said this was a realistic time plan for the handover of political power to the Iraqi people. At the same Berlin ruled out completely any German troop deployment in Iraq. Germany vehemently opposed the U.S.-led war to oust Saddam Hussein and has sent no troops to post-war Iraq, although it has become involved in civilian rebuilding efforts -- including the training of Iraqi police.
End arms deliveries, urges China
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, who's visiting China, has been told by Chinese leaders that the United States should end its weapons deliveries to Taiwan. Beijing regards the self-rule island as a renegade region. The news agency Xinhua quoted President Hu Jintao as describing independence aspirations in Taiwan as a "great danger" for stability. Cheney said the United States was bound by its law to uphold such weapons deliveries. On North Korea, aides with Cheney said he had urged China, which recently hosted mediation talks, to work "quickly" to end Pyongyang's nuclear programme. Those talks resume in June. Another visitor to Beijing, EU Commission President Romano Prodi has urged China to improve its human rights record. The EU imposed an arms embargo after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
South Africans go to the polls
South Africans have been voting in the third general election since the end of apartheid 10 years ago. More than 20 million of the 45 million population are registered to vote for a 400-member National Assembly. Nine provincial assemblies will also be elected, which will then select delegates for the 90-member National Council of Provinces, parliament's second chamber. President Thabo Mbeki's African National Congress party is expected to win a majority in both assemblies, despite opposition criticism that Mbeki has not done enough to combat South Africa's devastating AIDS epidemic and lingering poverty and unemployment. The president is to be elected by the new parliament next week, with analysts predicting a second term for Mbeki.
Milosevic presents witness 'wish list'
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)in The Hague says former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic has presented a list of 1,631 witnesses he wants to call in his war crimes trial. A spokesman would not name names, but Milosevic had previously said he would call on world leaders for his defence, including former US president Bill Clinton, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and French President Jacques Chirac. The UN court stressed it would be up to the tribunal's judges to decide who would be called by Milosevic, who starts presenting his defence case on June 8. Milosevic has been on trial since February 2002 on more than 60 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Macedonians vote for new president
Macedonians have been to the polls to choose a replacement for president Boris Trajkovski, who was killed in a plane crash two months ago. Voters had to decide between four candidates - two each from the country's Orthodox Macedonian majority and its Albanian minority. Current prime minister Branko Crvenkovski was expected to win. However, the electoral commission said barely one in four registered voters had cast their ballots three hours before polling stations closed, which makes a run-off vote in two weeks almost certain. A 50 percent turnout is required.
Seychelles president stands down
President France-Albert René of the Seychelle islands has handed over the presidency to his deputy, James Michel, at a ceremony in the capital, Victoria. 68-year-old René first came to power in a bloodless coup in 1977, making him one of Africa's longest-serving heads of state. Michel is due to serve for the remainder of René's constitutional term, which expires in 2006, when new presidential elections will be held. René ousted founding president James Mancham in June 1977, shortly after the Seychelles gained independence from Britain.
Palestinian PM warns US on pullout plan
The Palestinian prime minister has warned Washington against approving Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip while retaining some settlements in the West Bank. Ahmed Qurie said if agreement on plans was reached between the United States and Israel alone, it would destroy hope of negotiated peace in the Middle East. Sharon, who is in the United States for talks, is seeking support from Washington for the plan. The US State Department has called the plan a "historic opportunity" for furthering the so-called road map for peace leading to the creation of a Palestinian state.
Commission criticizes US intelligence pre 9/11
The US commission investigating the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington has criticized the US intelligence community in a report that said counter-terrorism data had not been integrated properly. The report also faulted the CIA and other intelligence agencies for underestimating the threat posed by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network before the attacks. The document was released on the second of two days of hearings into whether intelligence officials could have prevented the attacks in 2001. Testifying before the committee, CIA director George Tenet conceded that it would take a considerable time to put US intelligence defences in a position to effectively counter terrorist attacks.
Germany orders probe into presumed Iraq killings
A German interior ministry spokesman says Germany has ordered an inquiry into the apparent killings of two German elite security officials in Iraq. The spokesman said the results of the inquiry would be presented to parliament. The two men, who are still officially listed as missing, are thought to have died when their convoy was ambushed by insurgents a week ago as they were on their way by road to the German embassy in Baghdad. Some critics have accused the government of negligence for allowing the men to travel by the notoriously dangerous road.
Bosnian Serb police raids radio station of Radovan Karadzic's daughter
Bosnian Serb police have raided the premises of a radio station owned by the daughter of Radovan Karadzic, the country's most wanted war crimes suspect. Karadzic was the leader of Bosnia's Serbs during the 1992-1995 ethnic war that took 200,000 lives and left 1.8 million people homeless. He and fellow-fugitive Ratko Mladic, his top general, have been indicted by the U.N. court at The Hague, Netherlands, for their alleged role in atrocities that included the Serb massacre of up to 8,000 Muslims at Srebrenica. A police statement said the raid on the station owned by Sonja Karadzic was ordered by Bosnia's state court because there were "indications that radio officials assist persons indicted for war crimes."
Palestinian PM warns US on pullout plan
The Palestinian prime minister has warned Washington against approving Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip while retaining some settlements in the West Bank. Ahmed Qurie said if agreement on plans was reached between the United States and Israel alone, it would destroy hope of negotiated peace in the Middle East. Sharon, who met US President George W. Bush for talks on Wednesday, is seeking support from Washington for the plan. The US State Department has called the plan a "historic opportunity" for furthering the so-called road map for peace leading to the creation of a Palestinian state.
ISAF arrests militant group commander
The NATO-led peacekeeping force in the Afghan capital, Kabul, say they have arrested a top commander of a militant group. The commander from the Hezb-i-Islami faction of mujahideen leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar was arrested on Tuesday in a joint operation by ISAF peacekeepers and Afghan security forces on the outskirts of the capital. An ISAF spokesman did not identify the man, but described him an "imminent threat" to the citizens of Kabul, the United Nations, foreign aid workers and peacekeepers. Hezb-i-Islami has been blamed for several attacks on peacekeepers in Kabul. The arrest came two weeks after US soldiers detained Amanullah, another top Hekmatyar commander, in an area outside Kabul.
Simonis visits Afghanistan
One of Germany's regional state premiers, Heidi Simonis from Schleswig Holstein, is visiting Afghanistan. In Kabul she's had talks on reconstruction with Afghan President Hamid Karsai and visited a girls' school during a class on landmine clearance. On Thursday, Simonis is due to visit German Bundeswehr troops with the NATO-led force ISAF in Kabul. Many come from her home state.
Berlin's Love Parade cancelled
Berlin's Love Parade, due in July and a major event for 15 years in Germany's capital, has been cancelled by its organisers, because of a lack of funds. At its peak in 1999, the Love Parade - billed as the world's biggest Techno music cum' peace rally - drew 1.5 million people. Last year, half-a-million attended, and, according to the magazine "Spiegel", left caterers with heavy losses. Today, organisers and city administrators said they'd been unable to agreed on the extent of subsidies. Since 2000, love parades have also been celebrated abroad; in Vienna, Tel Aviv and Mexico City. Berlin's opposition conservatives say the event must be rescued. Greens among the city administration said organisers had failed to find sponsors.
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