The convention has the full backing of Germany
Final push for EU constitution
The body in charge of drafting a constitution for the European Union is entering its final session with strong backing for its proposals from Germany and France.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said after talks with French President Jacques Chirac in Berlin on Tuesday that the two countries were determined to support the proposals of the Convention on the Future of Europe "without reservation".
The convention is hoping to complete the document ahead of a Friday deadline so that it can be presented to EU leaders next week.
The convention's chairman, Valery Giscard d'Estaing, said last week that a basis for consensus was emerging among the group leading the work.
But the BBC's Tim Franks in Brussels says that while there is talk of consensus there is still fierce criticism, inevitable for a constitution trying to knit together widely differing visions of the EU.
Bali bomb suspect says ''served whites right''BALI, Indonesia, June 11 — A key suspect in last year's Bali bombings told an Indonesian court on Thursday he was proud of the attack that killed whites and that it served them right.
Amrozi, a 40-year-old mechanic, also said he had been involved in several bombings across Indonesia including a blast outside the home of a Philippine diplomat in 2000 that killed two people.
Amrozi is charged with plotting, organising and carrying out crimes of terror and causing mass casualties in the October 12 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people, most of them foreign tourists.
When asked how he felt about the impact of the Bali attack, Amrozi told the court: ''There's some pride in my heart. For the white people, it serves them right.''
Amrozi, testifying at his own trial for the first time, also said he was ''more than remorseful'' for the Balinese.
He said he had helped prepare explosives for the blast at the Manila envoy's Jakarta residence, bomb attacks in the eastern city of Ambon between 1999 and 2002 and at various churches on Christmas Eve 2000.
He described how the bomb that exploded in a van outside the packed Sari Club in Bali had been given the code name ''dodol,'' an Indonesian sweet.
''The car was brought here then it was laden with a bomb and it was destroyed,'' he said. ''It was brought here for the purpose of bombing.''
Wearing a black and white Muslim prayer cap and a white shirt, Amrozi appeared relaxed as he sat in the centre of the makeshift courtroom and chuckled as he explained how he and alleged bomb plotter Imam Samudra referred to the bomb by its code name.
''We did not say bomb because we did not want others to know. Nobody should know about it, so how could we say bomb? We usually said we were delivering dodol,'' he said.
Samudra, a 33-year-old computer expert, told the court on Wednesday that he had come up with the idea of attacking the United States and its allies but Amrozi had chosen Indonesia's famous tourist island as the target.
Amrozi, the first key suspect to go on trial over the October 12 attacks, has been dubbed the laughing bomber by the media because of his behaviour during the pre-trial investigation.
The Bali attack was the worst since the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
Many officials suspect the Southeast Asian militant Islamic group Jemaah Islamiah was responsible. Indonesian police and some Asian and Western governments believe the Jemaah Islamiah is closely linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda.
Police have arrested more than 30 men over the Bali bombings.
Amrozi's trial was adjourned until June 16.