"Every Islamic country has factions that are out to topple the government in power because according to them, the government is secular and unIslamic, Malaysia's Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad said last night. He said these factions launched attacks to topple the government and as a result, the government in power was unable to focus on developing and defending the country," reported The Star newspeper of Malaysia.
"The Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Syed Putra Jamalullail(King of Malaysia) said the celebration of Aidilfitri exemplifies to the world that Islam is not a religion that supports terrorism but one that promotes unity and friendship among all humankind. Hence I urge all Muslims in this country to try to forget all quarrels and disputes and instead pool their efforts to enhance the dignity of Islam as a religion of unity which opposes terrorism, His Majesty said in his Hari Raya message," reported The Star newspeper of Malaysia.
"Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Muslims should change their culture and place more emphasis on the substance rather than the form of Islamic teachings. The Prime Minister said the true teachings of Islam give priority on efforts to improve one’s achievements in this world and preparations for the hereafter. Dr Mahathir urged Muslims to work harder than the non-Muslims, who are developed, and move as fast as them. Surely, if we are slower than them, the gap between us and them will widen with the passage of time. Remember how easy it is for us to be pressured, vanquished and toyed with by them today. If we are left further behind in future our fate will be worse than now, he said," reported The Star newspaper of Malaysia.
"Chechen fighters loyal to Osama bin Laden fought to the death yesterday in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan in battles with US special forces and their Afghan tribal allies," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Even with all the current digital wizardry, faking the videotape in which Osama bin Laden appears to take credit for the Sept 11 attacks would be extremely difficult, experts said. The biggest hurdle would be mimicking the cadence and rhythm of human speech. Synchronising a doctored soundtrack with existing video would also be tough, and technology that can synthesise Arabic speech is still in its infancy. Some hard-line Islamic militants in Pakistan and the Middle East have suggested the tape was fabricated to provide a rationale for US military actions in Afghanistan. US President George W. Bush called the charge preposterous. Administration officials said they intentionally declined to try to enhance the video’s sound or picture so as not to give detractors ammunition. The tape’s poor sound quality could theoretically be used to mask tampering, experts said," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Three teenagers in the U.S. were arrested on Friday and charged with setting a fire that destroyed a Sikh temple. Since the Sept 11 attacks, Sikhs have been mistaken for Arabs or Muslims," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"In Kandahar's Ward Four of the Chinese Hospital, nine wounded Arabs loyal to Osama bin Laden clutch grenades to their chests, vowing to blow up anyone who tries to capture them," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Bollywood has returned in a blaze of colour and sound to Afghanistan, to the relief of Indian film-makers who for the five years of harsh Taliban rule lost an important market. Within days of the Taliban fleeing Kabul before the advance of Northern Alliance forces on the night of Nov 12, trucks began shuttling in from neighbouring Pakistan carrying television sets, video players and the latest videos and DVDs from India," reported the AFP news service.
"The United States yesterday used its veto for the second time this year to kill a UN Security Council resolution that urged international monitors in Palestinian territories riven by 15 months of deadly clashes with Israel. The vote in the 15-member council was 12 to 1 with two abstentions, Britain and Norway," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A co-educational English boarding school has been criticised for producing a glossy calendar showing its students in provocative poses, newspapers reported yesterday. The 12 pictures in the fund-raising calendar include one of a 16-year-old girl with her arms crossed over her topless cleavage," reported the Reuters news agency.
"New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said on Friday he was quite surprised his city, whose citizens have been called brave and tough but rarely genteel, would be named as America’s most polite place," reported the Reuters news agency.
"US forces backed by UK troops and their Afghan allies are pursuing hundreds of al-Qaeda militants fleeing into the mountains after losing their bases near Tora Bora. The anti-Taleban Afghan fighters said the militants, loyal to Osama Bin Laden, were flushed out of their last caves by a ground assault on Sunday. But the commander of US military operations in Afghanistan, General Tommy Franks, said it would be some time before the area was brought under allied control and there was still no sign of Bin Laden," reported the BBC news.
"The aim of the United States campaign in Afghanistan is solely to defeat terrorism, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has told the new Afghan leadership. On a surprise visit to the Bagram airbase near the capital, Kabul, Mr Rumsfeld met US troops and held talks with Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's new interim leader. He told Mr Karzai the United States coveted no territory. We were here for the sole purpose of expelling terrorists from the country and establishing a government that would not harbour terrorism," reported the BBC news.
"The Afghan fighters who announced victory in the Tora Bora region of eastern Afghanistan on Sunday said they had no information on the leader of the defeated al-Qaeda militants, Osama Bin Laden. US troops apparently intercepted radio messages last week which showed that Osama Bin Laden was still commanding his forces in the area. The intercepts, reported by unnamed US officials to the media, have not been officially confirmed but a prisoner said Bin Laden had not been there in over a week," reported the BBC news.
"Several newspapers have reported the discovery of what could be al-Qaeda plans to carry out a terrorist attack on London. A notebook was reportedly found in a house in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar from which followers of Osama Bin Laden are believed to have fled in a hurry. The notebook is said to have contained plans to detonate a 480kg remote control device to be left in a van parked preferably in Moorgate, in the City of London. The planned attack was reported in both The Observer newspaper in London and the Expresso newspaper, based in Lisbon in Portugal," reported the BBC news.
"Indian police have brought charges against a suspected Kashmiri militant who is accused of masterminding last week's suicide attack on the Indian parliament which left 13 dead. Mohammad Afzal, who was arrested in the Kashmir city of Srinagar, is said to be a member of the Jaish-e-Mohammad separatist group and could face the death penalty if, as expected, he is further charged under new anti-terrorist legislation. Delhi Police Commissioner Ajay Raj Sharma, who announced the charges, also accused Pakistan's main intelligence service (ISI) of involvement in the raid, and suggested Pakistan's military government must have been aware of its planning. Pakistan has denied involvement and warned India against overreacting," reported the BBC news.
"The foreign minister in Afghanistan's new interim government says that he accepts the need for a multi-national peacekeeping contingent - but with restrictions on its ability to use force. In a letter sent to the UN Security Council, Dr Abdullah Abdullah says the interim government wants the force deployed on the basis of Chapter Six of the UN Charter, which does not explicitly allow the use of force. Several Security Council members, in particular the UK, are thought to want the deployment to be covered by Chapter Seven, which allows the use of force to deal with threats to peace and acts of aggression," reported the BBC news.
"US officials have vowed to get the man Washington blames for the suicide air attacks which killed nearly 3,300 Americans and other nationals in the United States on Sept 11. You can be sure he is under hot pursuit, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said. We’ve destroyed al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and we have ended the role of Afghanistan as a haven for terrorist activity, Powell told NBC’s Meet the Press. But US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld disputed the view that the al-Qaeda network had been destroyed, saying it would take time to root out fighters resisting in the mountains. The first rule of war is that presidents decide when something has been achieved, he said in Brussels for a meeting of Nato defence ministers," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Pashtun forces are preparing to attack a mountain redoubt where Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar is believed to be hiding with 500 men, and want to hang him, Kandahar’s intelligence chief said yesterday. Mullah Omar had retreated to mountains and caves around the village of Baghran in Helmand province, about 160km north-west of here, accompanied by diehard Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters, Kandahar Director of Intelligence Haji Gullalai said," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Shuffling and shell-shocked after three weeks of terrifying bombing, 19 al-Qaeda prisoners were ritually humiliated yesterday by being paraded before the world’s press. Commanders of anti-Taliban mujahideen are keen to show they have won the war against Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan here. But although they say there is no more fighting in the dusty ridges, the frontline remains strictly off limits. So, commander Haji Zahir decided to show off his prisoners the first to be displayed in public to prove he is winning," reported the Reuters news agency.
"US Marines raised the Stars and Stripes over the long-abandoned American Embassy in Kabul yesterday, inaugurating what US envoy James F. Dobbins promised would be a long commitment to the rebuilding of war-wrecked Afghanistan. Today’s ceremony symbolises the return, after more than a decade of absence, of the United States to Afghanistan, Dobbins said, presiding over a rain-soaked ceremony in the embassy’s front courtyard," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Amid bombing and gunbattles, women in new clothes and men in shiny shoes strolled through Afghanistan’s cities and villages on Sunday to begin celebrating Aidilfitri, three feast days ending the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Gunfire of the celebratory kind echoed in the streets of this confused city, home base of the Taliban until Dec 7. Despite the shooting, residents who have lived with more than two months of US bombing ventured on walking journeys of gift-giving. They carried offerings of clothes and sweets to relatives and to grieving families who lost loved ones to war and displacement. They prayed in mosques, giving thanks for new freedom from Taliban repression and asking for order in disorderly times," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"The veto powers of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (United States, Britain, France, Russia and China) represent a loss to the international community, Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday. He said the veto powers were an obstruction to democracy among countries in international relations," reported The Star newspaper of Malaysia.
"Malaysia will send a medical team to Pakistan as early as Friday to provide immediate help to Afghan refugees there. The Armed Forces has been told to assemble and prepare the team, which is likely to be based in a Peshawar or Quetta refugee camp. Announcing the decision yesterday, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the team would be stationed at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border indefinitely. We are sending them there for humanitarian reasons. We want to make a small difference to the situation, to ease some of the hardship faced by the refugees, he said," reported The Star newspaper of Malaysia.
"Malaysia has been invited to contribute troops to the Afghan peacekeeping force now being formed under the auspices of the United Nations. Britain, which has been asked to lead the force, hosted a meeting of potential troop-contributing countries, including Malaysia, on Friday," reported The Star newspaper of Malaysia.
"Yemeni forces stormed a tribal stronghold east of the capital yesterday to capture suspected supporters of Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden, tribal and security sources said. They said 12 people were killed and at least 22 others were wounded when Yemeni forces used helicopters and tanks against the al-Jalal tribe in an area called al-Husoun in the Marib area, some 140km east of here. A Yemeni security source said the fighting erupted when the tribe refused to hand over a tribal chief and several Islamists who had fought against Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s," reported the Reuters news agency.
"US-backed tribal forces yesterday pursued Osama bin Laden, his al- Qaeda fighters and defeated Taliban allies as officials in Kabul counted down to the inauguration of an interim Afghan Government. Commanders in the field vowed to press forward cave by cave to track down their foes, but vowed defiantly to carry on their fight without US help, saying their prisoners would be handled without foreign interference," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Afghanistan’s new rulers and the US-led coalition that brought down their Taliban predecessors inched towards agreement yesterday on the deployment of foreign peace forces in the war-shattered capital here. The main sticking point was their number, with the Northern Alliance leaders, who will take top portfolios in the new interim administration to take office on Saturday, keen to keep the foreign forces to a minimum," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A British man, Andrew Wilson, 20, who sent an envelope containing washing powder to his Sydney neighbour as an anthrax joke was fined A$1,000 by an Australian court yesterday, a court official said. Magistrate Peter Norton said Wilson made a stupid mistake. There is a time for practical jokes and a time for not. This is not one of those times, Norton told the court," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Australia’s domestic intelligence agency will have the power to detain terror suspects for 48 hours and intercept e-mails under new counter-terrorism measures endorsed by the Cabinet yesterday. Terrorism offences and funding of terrorism will also be brought under the criminal code of law, with a maximum penalty of 25 years imprisonment, Attorney-General Daryl Williams said," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Asylum seekers rioted in one of Australia’s controversial outback detention centres, setting fire to up to 15 buildings as staff fled one of the worst outbreaks of violence to hit the migrant camps, officials said yesterday. There were no reports of injuries to any of the 949 mostly Middle Eastern asylum seekers housed at Woomera but the spokesman said 15 detention officers were treated for smoke inhalation," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Al-Qaeda fighters who had fled Afghanistan staged a gunbattle yesterday with Pakistan forces that left 10 Arab militants and Pakistani security forces dead, officials said. The Pakistani army and paramilitary frontier forces were transporting 156 captives mainly Arabs who had escaped from eastern Afghanistan from a detention centre in the border town, an official said. The Arabs, many of them Yemenis, had fled a blistering US aerial bombardment of the Tora Bora mountains where Osama bin Laden had been believed to be hiding and were captured by Pakistani border patrols. They grabbed weapons from their guards as they were being taken from Parachinar to a jail in the town of Kohat and opened fire," the private Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press(AIP) reported.
"US President George W. Bush told congressional leaders on Tuesday that US forces in Afghanistan had found additional videotapes in hideouts used by Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network. The disclosure followed the US government’s release of a videotape last week showing Osama laughing and boasting about the Sept 11 attacks," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The city’s tally of people killed or missing in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre has fallen to 3,000, down from its high of 6,700 in September. City officials have said there are a number of reasons for the steadily declining number: names listed more than once on missing persons reports, overestimates from families who filed early missing reports but neglected to notify police when loved ones turned up safe," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Canadian police, government agencies and courts on Tuesday were given special powers under new anti-terrorism legislation toughening safety and security measures. Canadian Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson signed the Bill into law just hours after it was approved by the Senate," reported the AFP news service.
"Several people were detained in Britain yesterday, the first suspects to be held under controversial new anti-terrorism legislation allowing the detention of foreigners without trial, the Home Office said. All we can confirm is that an operation is under way and it is under the Home Secretary’s new power under the act, a Home Office spokesman said," reported the AFP news service.
"St Petersburg Florida's police chief, Mack Vines, who is white, was fired on Tuesday after comparing a black suspect to an orang-utan," reported the Reuters news agency.
"US federal authorities are investigating the activities of a senior research scientist who was twice fired from the anthrax-producing company Battelle and made a threat to use anthrax in the days after Sept 11, ABC News reported on Wednesday. Authorities now have concluded the anthrax found in letters sent to government and media targets was made in the United States, the network reported. ABC News reported that Federal Bureau of Investi- gation agents are interviewing current and former scientists at a US military laboratory in Utah and at the Batelle company in Columbus, Ohio, which produces anthrax for the CIA and the military. Eighteen people contracted anthrax from bacteria-laden letters in the United States," reported the AFP news service.
"Twenty-one bakeries of the World Food Programme (WFP) run by women reopened in Kabul yesterday after remaining closed for two months, an WFP spokesman said here. Spokesman Jordan Dey told journalists that the bakeries employ 320 women and will help more than 35,000 people in Kabul by providing bread loaves at reduced rates. WFP bakeries became operational in 1999 but working was extremely difficult under the Taliban regime as women were not allowed to work. Three of them were arrested in June last year and kept in jail for three days, he said," reported the dpa news agency.
"Cars are being stolen, homes are being broken into and pickpockets abound: along with the peace, crime has returned to post-Taliban Kabul. US special envoy to Afghanistan James Dobbins’ assessment of the capital as being 'tranquil' is questionable." reported the AFP news service.
"Mohammad Qasim Fahim, defence minister in the interim administration that takes office today, announced that a 3,000-strong multinational security force would be allowed here. But the general stressed that the peacekeepers would not run Afghanistan’s security affairs. The people of Afghanistan liberated their country by themselves and international forces will come here mainly for the reconstruction of Afghanistan, he said," reported the AFP news service.
"The fires smouldering in the ruins of the World Trade Centre since the Sept 11 attacks were finally extinguished this week, New York State Governor George Pataki announced on Wednesday. The blaze sparked when suicide hijackers crashed two commercial jetliners into the twin towers on Sept 11 burned for three months in underground pockets that firefighters were unable to reach. The fires are likely to be remembered as the longest-burning building blaze in US history," reported the AFP news service.
"India said yesterday it was recalling its envoy to Pakistan for what it termed Islamabad’s failure to act against terrorism but Pakistan said it would not retaliate even as tension between the nuclear foes mounted. Islamabad said it was deeply concerned about reports of Indian troop movements along its borders which it said would aggravate a tense situation and oblige Pakistan to take appropriate counter-measures," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The Philippines has rejected a request by the Islamic bloc for Nur Misuari, currently in Malaysia, to receive sanctuary in a third country, Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said yesterday. Wirayuda said the Philippines wanted Misuari returned to stand trial and sought to assure the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) that he would be treated fairly. In Kuala Lumpur, an associate of Misuari warned of a very bloody civil war in the Philippines if he is deported back. Misuari will become the rallying point of all types of violent reactions coming from fanatic and non-fanatic elements of the Bangsamoro (Muslim Philippine) region, Elly Pamatong, a US-based lawyer who claims to represent Misuari, said in a letter to Philippine ambassador Jose Brillantes. Misuari’s incarceration will elevate his stature as a persecuted political leader like Nelson Mandela, and it can drag the Philippines into the vortex of a very bloody civil war," report The Star newspaper in Malaysia.
"British and Canadian diplomats were evacuated from their embassies here yesterday as police detonated an improvised bomb in the financial district of Makati, in the Philippines capitol Manila, police and witnesses said," reported the AFP news service.
"The militant Hamas announced yesterday it was suspending suicide bomb attacks inside Israel, after a day of clashes between its backers and Palestinian police in Gaza, reflecting Yasser Arafat’s crackdown on violent groups. A leaflet, with an official Hamas seal, said the ban on suicide bomb attacks and mortar firing was in effect “until further notice. It said all members of the group, including the military wing, must abide by the decision," reported the AFP news service.
"Malaysia has called for a Marshall Plan for Afghanistan for the establishment of special institutions and resources, over a considerable period of time, as a serious effort to rehabilitate the war ravaged country. In making the call, its Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Datuk Hasmy Agam said Malaysia was looking forward to the rapid restoration of all the institutions of Afghanistan and to its transformation, with international assistance, into a modern democratic Islamic country. We are at a defining moment in Afghanistan’s history," reported The Star newspaper in Malaysia.
"Human rights groups yesterday denounced a US administration plan to resume military co-operation with Indonesia as part of a wider anti-terrorist effort in Southeast Asia; thus circumventing existing congressional restrictions. This is dangerous, said Munir, the founder of Kontras, Indonesia’s most prominent human rights organisation. The Indonesian military will become stronger and return to the political scene if this materialises," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"British Marines launched yesterday an international peacekeeping operation in Kabul guarding dignitaries arriving for the swearing in of Afghanistan’s interim government and bringing relief to the population. The 53 commandos are the spearhead of a peacekeeping force of about 3,000. It will back up the interim power-sharing government which takes power today for six months after the opposition’s defeat of the Taliban regime," reported the AFP news service.
"US warplanes pounced on a convoy of senior leadership as they scoured Afghanistan for top al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders, killing many people and destroying vehicles, the Pentagon said yesterday. An Afghan news agency reported meanwhile that 65 people were killed when US planes bombed a convoy of Afghan elders, tribal chiefs and commanders heading for the inauguration of Afghanistan’s new government in Kabul. It was a large convoy, and there were a lot of people killed and a lot of vehicles damaged, or destroyed, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said," reported the AFP news agency.
"Up to 100,000 Afghan children could die this winter unless enough aid reaches the country, a British charity said yesterday. Save the Children, which is running a special appeal for Afghan children, said that Afghanistan’s problems predated the Sept 11 terrorist attacks on the United States and the subsequent fighting in the central Asian nation," reported the Associated Press news service.
"Independent reviews of the Osama bin Laden videotape have yielded more quotes than those in the US government’s English transcript, US networks reported on Thursday. ABC and CNN reported that, according to translators they hired, Osama made references to several of the 19 hijackers who carried out the attacks on Sept 11. Both ABC and CNN said Osama’s visitor told him that several prominent Saudi clerics, some with connections to the Saudi government, had made speeches supporting the attacks on America. ABC said it was told by government sources that its translation was consistent with portions of a more extensive government translation ofthe videotape that has not yet been released to the public," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The widow of a passenger on the hijacked United Airlines flight that slammed into the World Trade Centre has filed a wrongful death suit against the airline in what is believed to be the first such action stemming from the Sept 11 attacks. Filed on Thursday in Manhattan federal court, the suit alleges that United breached its duty to care for the safety of the passengers on Flight 175. It was filed by Ellen Mariani of New Hampshire, whose husband Louis was killed in the attack, and seeks unspecified damages," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Australia has listed Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels as a terrorist organisation, the Australian High Commission here said yesterday. The listing follows a similar move by Canada last month and was expected to cut off another source of funding for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE), who are fighting for a separate Tamil state in the north and east of the country," reported the Reuters news agency.
