"Malaysia will not be taking part in the Afghan peacekeeping mission under the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) to be led by Britain. Malaysia has been excluded by Britain charged with drawing up the force. The Malaysian High Commission said that Malaysia’s offer of a token force had not been taken up. Art Eggleton, the Canadian Defence Minister, was quoted as telling the Toronto Sun newspaper that the British seemed anxious to give first choice to European countries, saying that European politics became part of the decision-making process," reported The Star newspaper of Malaysia.
"Three men, including two terrorists who hijacked a commercial aircraft and crashed it into the Pentagon on Sept 11 last year, had met a leader of the Majlis Mujaheeden Indonesia(KMM) here in 2000. It is learnt that Hambali @ Riduan Isamuddin, who is sought by Malaysian and Indonesian police, had met the terrorists while staying at a condominium in Kajang that belonged to a member of the KMM," reported The Star newspaper of Malaysia.
"Malaysia and Japan have agreed that the question of Palestine needs to be resolved in order to bring peace to the world, says Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar. Briefing newsmen after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad met with his Japanese counterpart Junichiro Koizumi yesterday, he said the leaders agreed that while combating terrorism was important, it was also important to look at the causes of terrorism for long-term solutions," The Star newspaper of Malaysia.
"Pakistan played down expectations from a widely anticipated speech by President Pervez Musharraf as India said he had not yet done enough to defuse a standoff between the nuclear neighbours," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A US military refuelling plane crashed into a mountain in Pakistan on Wednesday while trying to land at a base used by American forces fighting in Afghanistan, killing all seven Marines on board, the US Defence Department said. A Pentagon statement called the crash an accident and said it was under investigation," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A six by eight foot cell with chain-link walls, a concrete floor and a wooden roof, in a compound guarded by US troops, awaits the worst of the worst of captured al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters who will be brought to this US Navy base in Cuba in the next few days. We have no intention of making it comfortable, said Marine Brig-Gen Michael Lehnert, who commands Joint Task Force 160, set up by the US military to guard and hold followers of Islamic militant Osama bin Laden and other fighters captured in the three-month US-led war on terrorism If it rains there’s a possibility they could get wet, said Col Terry Carrico, commander of the security force," reported the Reuters news agency.
"After a briefing by Israeli intelligence on Wednesday, US officials said the case is very compelling that senior Palestinian officials including President Yasser Arafat were involved in the shipment of arms seized by Israel last week. We had some pretty extensive briefings with an Israeli intelligence team and feel the case is very compelling that senior Palestinian Authority figures and Fatah people were involved with this shipment, a senior US official said," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Singapore will detain 13 of 15 suspected al-Qaeda-linked militants for two years under the country’s Internal Security Act, the government said yesterday. The suspects were allegedly plotting to blow up US navy vessels visiting Singapore, the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a news release," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Four militiamen, two guerillas and a schoolboy were slain in a gun battle that broke out after communist insurgents ambushed a government patrol in the southern Philippine province of North Cotabato, the military said yesterday. The militamen were patrolling Makilala town on Thursday when guerillas of the communist New People’s Army ambushed them," reported the AFP news service.
"With hundreds of thousands of troops massed along the India-Pakistan border, India’s army chief said yesterday his army was ready for a conventional war with Pakistan or a nuclear one if need be," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The Israeli army bulldozed the runway at the Palestinian-controlled international airport in the Gaza Strip yesterday in apparent retaliation for a deadly Palestinian raid in southern Israel. Witnesses, Palestinian officials and Israeli security sources said tanks and bulldozers thrust into the airport grounds before dawn, hours after Israel suspended ties with the Palestinian Authority over an alleged plot to smuggle a shipload of arms. The latest moves on both sides, including an announcement by the militant group Islamic Jihad that it would no longer adhere to its halt in attacks on Israelis, threatened to wreck US efforts to end more than 15 months of bloodshe," reported the Reuters news agency.
"One of New Zealand’s favourite rock bands, Shihad, yesterday confirmed it will change its name after the Sept 11 attacks on the United States because it sounds too simi-lar to jihad, Arabic for holy war. United States band Snake River Conspiracy’s Sonic Jihad album sparked hundreds of death threats following the attacks, the website reporte," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The parents of the 15-year-old who crashed his light plane into a Tampa office building had themselves attempted suicide in 1984, the St Petersburg Times reported on Thursday. Charles Bishara and Julia Bishop, then aged 19 and 17, made a suicide pact when they were denied a marriage licence, the paper reported. The couple, who are now divorced, failed in their attempt to commit suicide by inhaling carbon monoxide from a car, according to the daily,' reported the AFP news service.
"The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the FBI are investigating a possible plot to kill Florida Gov Jeb Bush, younger brother of President George W. Bush, with a truck bomb in the state capital Tallahassee. Law enforcement officials said agents had been conducting 24-hour surveillance on at least four South Florida men with Arab names who might be suspects in the case. Information about the plot was based on a tip from a jailed confidential informant that the men reportedly under surveillance were trying to contract someone to drive a truckload of explosives to Tallahassee and blow up the governor. But it said another agent said the confidential informant, jailed on unrelated charges, might not be credible because he might be trying to cut a deal with prosecutors in a pending criminal case," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The United States flew the first al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners out of Afghanistan, as its forces combed eastern mountains for diehard guerilla fighters. The first batch of 20, who were reportedly chained together with their beards shaved off for reasons of hygiene, were expected to arrive yesterday at a specially constructed jail in Guantanamo Bay, a US Navy base in a remote corner of Cuba," reported the Reuters news agency.
"In response to reports supporters of Osama bin Laden had fled across the border into neighbouring Iran, US President George W. Bush warned Teheran against harbouring such fugitives and urged it to help Washington in its war on terrorism. Our nation and our fight against terror will uphold the doctrine: Either you’re with us or against us. And any nation that thwarts our ability to rout terror out where it exists will be held to account," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Following the rout of Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan, US debate has centred on where Bush might next unleash his military power as he battles to eradicate the threat of guerilla networks. Some hawkish US lawmakers have urged action against long-standing enemy Iraq and the military has stepped up aerial surveillance along the coast of Somalia to watch out for suspected guerilla camps," reported the Reuters news agency.
