"More than two million Muslims from all over the world converged on Mecca in Saudi Arabia amid strict security yesterday for the annual haj pilgrimage. Saudi authorities have beefed up the security presence in and around Mecca to control anticipated record numbers for the first mass gathering of Muslims since the Sept 11 attack on the United States,"reported the AFP news service.
"The United States has claimed Saudi Arabia has assured Afghanistan it will return three Afghan officials named as suspects in the assassination of Afghan minister Abdul Rahman who was buried yesterday after a sombre funeral procession led by interim leader Hamid Karzai. US President George W. Bush’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzadsaid that Saudi Arabia had agreed to return the suspects. But an official in Karzai’s office said yesterday Saudi Arabia had yet to reply to Kabul’s request," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A Palestinian teenager was killed in a gun battle with Israeli troops yesterday after Israeli tanks and bulldozers destroyed a Palestinian security post near a refugee camp, witnesses and hospital officials said," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"US President George W. Bush threw cold water on mass celebrations for Kim Jong-Il’s 60th birthday yesterday by insisting the North Korean leader does not represent the will of his starving people. Bush also said the Stalinist dictator did not want dialogue with Washington and urged him to pull back troops and weapons from the tense inter-Korean frontier," reported the AFP news agency.
"US Secretary of State Colin Powell came under intense fire on Friday from conservatives and the religious right for advocating condom use by the world’s youth. Powell said the international community had to forget about conservative ideas regarding sex and sex education and urged sexually active youths to use condoms," reported the AFP news service.
"Islamic militants still pose a threat to Singapore despite recent arrests of suspected terrorists in the city-state because the masterminds of the group roam free in Indonesia, a report said Monday quoting the city-state"s elder statesman Lee Kuan Yew," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong urged Muslim Singaporeans not to involve foreigners in a local battle between the government and families who want their daughters to wear Islamic headscarves to school. The Straits Times newspaper quoted Goh as saying some Singaporeans had traveled to Malaysia to raise funds and involve Malaysians in the headscarf issue which has sparked debate in the city-state and resulted in three girls being suspended from school. Many women wear Muslim headscarves, called "tudung"" in Singapore, but the government bans girls from wearing the scarves to public schools. Muslims should not insist on wearing the scarves now because many Singaporeans have been wary of Muslims since the Sept. 11 attacks and the December arrests of 13 suspected terrorists in Singapore, said Goh," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Police killed three alleged members of a gang known for kidnapping foreigners in a clash in the southern Philippines, officials said Monday. Police also seized assault rifles and other weapons from the suspected members of the gang, known as the Pentagon, after a gunbattle late Sunday in Matalam town in North Cotabato province, about 900 kilometers (560 miles) southeast of Manila, said Chief Supt. Bartolome Baluyot, the regional police chief. On Saturday, police arrested Faizal Marohombsar, the suspected leader of the gang which is on the U.S. list of terrorist groups," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"The Government is gathering and verifying information that a former minister allegedly contributed US$10mil to an Islamic organisation in the United States. On Feb 12, Islamic Supreme Council of America chairman Shayhkh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani said that the head of a particular institution had told him that he had received the money from a former Malaysian politician. Shaykh Hisham also said some members or affiliates of the same organisation had been allegedly involved in extremist movements in the US and abroad and the relationship with this institution had led to suspicion of Malaysian involvement in terrorist activities," reported The Star newspaper of Malaysia.
"US President George W. Bush arrived here yesterday shooting from the hip in his declared war against terrorism and his drive to persuade Japan to bite the bullet on reforms, but he may find the official response lukewarm. Small groups of angry demonstrators ensured a somewhat heated arrival for Bush after he stepped off his flight into a cold and drizzling afternoon here. Japanese Defence Minister Gen. Nakatani expressed reservations yesterday about aligning Japan with US policy. Nakatani said the issue of Tokyo’s support for any US military operation against Iraq or beyond Afghanistan would depend on whether proven links existed to the Sept 11 attacks on New York and Washington," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri said yesterday the next Chinese New Year would be celebrated as an official holiday in the world"s largest Muslim-populated nation. For the sake of solidarity between us, citizens of Indonesia, I declare the Chinese Lunar New Year as a national holiday, Megawati said," reported the AFP news service.
"US Green Beret commandos flew into a southern Philippine island infested with guerillas yesterday and said although they were on a training mission, they were prepared to fight. Crouched in the bush surrounding the landing pad was an advance guard of US soldiers, fingers on the trigger, to provide security," reported the Reuters news agency.
"India is planning more tests of its first home-grown ship-to-ship missile Dhanush which could allow the navy to strike land targets with nuclear or conventional warheads, a top scientist of India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation said yesterday," reported the AFP news service.
"China’s second-in-command Li Peng yesterday denied any knowledge of the reported bugging of Chinese President Jiang Zemin’s new US-ordered plane. The Washington Times reported on Friday that US intelligence officials believe Jiang is convinced that Li ordered the installation of surveillance devices to monitor the president’s discussions about corruption linked to his family.
"Afghanistan’s interim leader Hamid Karzai said yesterday he would ask the multinational force here to take a stronger role if security did not improve in the capital. Karzai, who has vowed to track down the assassins of one of his ministers on Thursday at Kabul’s airport, said he might ask the international community for more participation in the force patrolling the war-torn city," reported the AFP news service.
"The cameras are rolling in Washington with what is believed to be the most extensive video surveillance system in any US city, as part of stepped-up security efforts in the wake of the Sept 11 attacks. The US$7million system can tap into as many as 200 live video feeds from around the capital city, which are monitored from a new high-tech command centre at Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department headquarters," reported the AFP news service.
"For the first time in their history, US Marines invaded a real US city to help them better defend urban America, if it ever again comes under terrorist attack, according to defence and law enforcement officials. As they sipped their morning coffee yesterday, residents of North Little Rock, Arkansas saw their neighbourhoods turned into a military camp, with camouflage-painted vehicles moving into position and soldiers setting up checkpoints amid the town’s trimmed shrubbery and manicured lawns," reported the AFP news service.
"Israeli F-16 jets and helicopters carried out bombing raids over the governor’s house and the police headquarters in the West Bank town of Nablus, Palestinian witnesses said yesterday. Witnesses said they heard F-16 fighter jets attacking the two buildings followed by firing from helicopters, just hours after a Palestinian suicide bomber killed two Israelis and wounded 30 others in an attack on a nearby Jewish settlement," reported the AFP news service.
"Malaysia cannot prevent its citizens from speaking out and criticising Singapore’s decision to ban the wearing of headscarves or tudung in its schools. Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said the wearing of tudung was itself a teaching practised by Islam, which is a religion embraced by many Malaysians. We cannot avoid comments from our public as the tudung issue concerns the universality of our Islamic faith," reported The Star newspaper of Malaysia.
"The investigation by Wisma Putra is continuing into claims that a former minister had allegedly contributed US$10mil (RM38mil) to an Islamic organisation in the United States. The government will look into these allegations to verify such claims before we can come up with a public statement on who’s involved and who was being referred to although we feel that the statement by the Islamic Supreme Council of America chairman Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani has been made based on the evidence he has gathered. Every information we gather will be offered up to the public as we know this is an issue that they are very interested in," reported The Star newspaper of Malaysia.
"Two Palestinian bombers, a gunman and four Israelis were killed in attacks Monday, even as Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat praised a tentative proposal in which the entire Arab world would make peace with Israel in exchange for a total pullout from the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"The Israeli government has banned a leader of the Israeli Islamic movement from leaving the country, a government official said Monday, apparently to prevent him from meeting a spiritual leader of Osama bin Laden"s al-Qaida group. Sheik Raad Salah, head of the Islamic movement"s northern branch, arrived at Ben-Gurion airport on Sunday for a flight to Qatar, but he was served with a government order forbidding him to leave the country for six months," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Pakistan police said they found four live rockets with timing devices aimed at the airport here yesterday. Bomb experts defused the 107-mm rockets before they could go off, police said. The weapons were placed on a wooden frame aimed in the general direction of the Karachi airport," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"International prosecutors yesterday indicted 17 pro-Jakarta militiamen and Indonesian soldiers for crimes against humanity allegedly committed during East Timor’s violent break with Indonesia in 1999. Among those charged was Eurico Gutteres, a notorious militia commander who now heads a youth wing of President Megawati Sukarnoputri’s ruling party in Jakarta. International arrest warrants will be issued for the suspects who are all believed to be in Indonesia, said Siri Frigaard, the UN deputy prosecutor-general in East Timor," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Radical South Korean students occupied an office of the American Chamber of Commerce yesterday in one of several protests on the eve of US President George W. Bush’s visit. South Koreans have held small but noisy protests since last week against Bush’s tough policies toward communist North Korea," reported the Reuters news agency.
"It began with a modest act of defiance: In newspaper advertisements, 52 Israeli reserve soldiers declared last month they would no longer serve in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Their number has since more than quadrupled, and has sparked a passionate debate in Israel about the limits of legitimate protest. For many Israelis, the soldiers’ accounts of acts of random brutality toward Palestinian civilians have also added a new urgency to resolving Israel’s most burning problem what to do with the territories conquered in 1967. The protest has reinvigorated an Israeli peace camp cast adrift by the collapse of peace talks and almost 17 months of Israeli-Palestinian fighting. It is now regrouping under the slogan, Get out of the territories," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Afghan officials, aided by planes sent from Britain, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, scrambled yesterday to bring would-be pilgrims to the annual pilgrimage in Mecca. A lack of flights has blocked thousands from making the journey, stirring anxiety in a nation struggling to consolidate a shaky peace. The country’s aviation minister was killed at the airport here last week during a riot among pilgrims furious over flight delays to Saudi Arabia. Afghan interim leader Hamid Karzai blamed the killing on high ranking conspirators within his own government and it’s not clear if he was implying that the conspirators used the mob as cover or if he thinks they incited the riot," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Two Afghans accused of assassinating the nation’s aviation minister have been arrested in Saudi Arabia and could be extradited within a day, Interior Minister Yunus Qanooni said yesterday," reported the AFP news service.
"Former Yugo-slav president Slobodan Milosevic yesterday threw the blame for nearly a decade of Balkan strife on his war crimes accusers, insisting the West had stoked ethnic conflicts there in a plot to dominate south-eastern Europe," reported the AFP news service.
"The Pentagon in the United States is developing plans to provide news, possibly even false information, to foreign media organisations as part of a new effort to sway public sentiment and policy-makers in other countries, the New York Times newspaper reported yesterday. The military’s recently created Office of Strategic Influence is proposing to expand on the common practice of distributing information in hostile nations. It is suggesting information also be delivered to allied nations in the Middle East, Asia and even Western Europe."
"Two Muslim men whose daughters were suspended from school for wearing headscarves said they will take the Singapore government to court for banning the scarves in public schools. Faroukh Dawood, whose six-year-old daughter was suspended earlier this month for defying the ban, said yesterday that this is a religious issue, not a political issue, and that the government doesn’t know what Islam is all about," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri made a significant step towards national racial reconciliation this week when she decided to make Chinese New Year a national holiday although much still needs to be done to combat discrimination against Indonesia’s ethnic Chinese minority," reported The Star newspaper of Malaysia.
"Three Palestinians, including a woman and her daughter, were killed by tank shells early yesterday during an incursion by Israeli forces near Khan Yunis in the south of the Gaza Strip, Palestinian sources said. The tanks fired shells at Palestinian homes and then prevented ambulances from moving in to evacuate the wounded before the end of the operation, which lasted for several hours. In one of the wrecked houses, rescuers found the bodies of 36-year-old Miriam al-Bahaifa and her 14-year-old daughter Mouna," reported the AFP news service."
The Middle East conflict has cost 15 lives in 24 hours, including three women and a child, as the violence reaches new peaks with a spate of Palestinian suicide attacks and Israeli army strikes. The heaviest toll of the bloodshed came in a suicide ambush on a convoy heading across the Gaza Strip to the Jewish settlement of Gadidin. An Israeli woman settler, Ahuva Amergi, and two soldiers were killed on Monday as a young Palestinian militant fired on their convoy and threw grenades before blowing himself apart with explosives strapped to his body," reported the AFP news service.
"US President George W. Bush pledged on yesterday to defend South Korea against aggression, to keep a US military presence in Asia and to develop a missile defence system to protect its allies in the region," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Police with shields and long riot sticks patrolled central Seoul and security officers checked drain covers and sealed off roofs as scores of left-wing activists demonstrated against US President George W. Bush. We are against Bush’s visit to Korea, his plot to expand the war on terrorism to other countries and finally the unequal US-Korea investment treaty, said a statement one group handed out to reporters near the US embassy as other demonstrators smashed a mock US fighter jet," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Indian warplanes began exercises along the border with Pakistan where the armies of both nations have faced off for two months, India’s air force chief said yesterday. Operation Trishul, named after a trident carried by the Hindu god of destruction, is being conducted by the western air command which along with the army and the navy has been on alert since a December attack on India’s parliament blamed on Pakistan-based guerilla groups," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Two British peacekeepers, who witnesses say opened fire on a car in Kabul, Afghanistan carrying a pregnant woman, killing her brother-in-law, have been sent back to Britain amid charges that the shooting was unprovoked, an official said yesterday. Afghan and British police are investigating the shooting, but the soldiers will only answer questions from British police, said Capt Graham Dunlop, a spokesman for the British peacekeeping force. The pre-dawn shooting last week has raised anger among Afghans in Kabul who say that the soldiers fired 60 bullets at a car that violated a nighttime curfew as it raced to take a pregnant woman to a hospital," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Fighting broke out yesterday between local troops and the Abu Sayyaf guerillas in the southern Philippines just after US commandoes arrived in a rebel stronghold. Two Filipino soldiers were wounded in the battle off the Coast of Basilan Island, where US Special Forces troops are encamped with local forces in their joint operations against the al-Qaeda linked Abu Sayyaf," reported the AFP news service.
"Australian Prime Minister John Howard went on an offensive yesterday to counter charges his government lied about boatpeople throwing children overboard, scoffing at suggestions he would step down to end the scandal," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Philippine President Gloria Arroyo defended yesterday her government’s decision to release gory footage of Abu Sayyaf gunmen beheading captive soldiers, saying the group’s brutality should be exposed. Officials on Tuesday released to major television networks a videotape that showed the machete-wielding rebels interrogating captured soldiers before chopping off their heads in the jungles," reported the AFP news service.
"US Special Forces troops fanned out across a southern Philippine stronghold of Muslim Abu Sayyaf guerillas a day after clashes that left two Filipino soldiers wounded," reported the AFP news service.
"US President George W. Bush said yesterday that the despotic regime in North Korea must change its ways but renewed an offer for talks despite concerns over its weapons programme. Bush has repeatedly attacked North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in recent weeks, saying his country was part of an axis of evil with Iran and Iraq that was proliferating weapons. I will not change my opinion of Kim Jong-il until he frees his people and accepts genuine proposals (for peace) from countries like South Korea, Bush told a press conference after the summit," reported the AFP news service.
"A Sri Lankan court yesterday ordered that a powerful former minister be held until March 4 over charges linked to a massacre of 10 Muslim opposition supporters after polls in December. The killings stirred communal tension in a country racked by decades of ethnic strife and turned former Power Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte, the uncle of President Chandrika Kumaratunga, into one of Sri Lanka"s most wanted men," reported the Reuters news agency.
"An Israeli helicopter fired a missile near Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat yesterday, but he emerged unscathed as Israel retaliated with fury for the killing of six Israeli soldiers in the West Bank. At least 13 Palestinian civilians and security officers were killed in the barrage of Israeli reprisal strikes against Palestinian targets across the West Bank and Gaza Strip," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Israeli tanks and troops entered Gaza City early Thursday for the first time in nearly 17 months of violence, while both sides indicated changes in tactics, moving toward guerrilla warfare," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"It is like a bad case of deja vu for many Israelis as a wave of Palestinian ambushes, roadside bombs and rocket strikes brings back memories of tactics that forced Israel to end its costly 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon. Israeli military analysts say Israel has three options in its conflict with the Palestinians: change tactics, resign itself to a war of attrition or do what the army eventually did under the guns of guerrillas in Lebanon quit occupied areas. A group of 1,000 high-ranking generals and security officers have thrown their weight behind a burgeoning domestic call for Israel to withdraw unilaterally from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank, lands captured in the 1967 Middle East war," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A U.S. Army helicopter involved in anti-terrorism training exercises crashed at sea in the Philippines with 12 Americans aboard. No survivors were found within the first few hours of the crash Thursday, lowering hopes of retrieving anyone alive from the water," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"U.S. President George W. Bush on Friday decried the slaying of kidnapped journalist Daniel Pearl at the hands of Islamic extremists, saying such crimes only deepen the resolve of the United States to fight terrorism," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"US military aircraft have started flying surveillance flights over the southern Philippines to gather intelligence in a stepped up battle against rebels in the Asian nation, the Washington Post reported yesterday. Citing a senior US defence official, the newspaper reported that the previously undisclosed flights were meant to complement a growing contingent of US soldiers on the ground participating in training exercises with Philippine forces," reported the AFP news service.
"A classified CIA report warns that Afghanistan could fall into violent chaos if measures are not taken to restrain the power struggle among rival warlords and control ethnic tensions," reported the Reuters news agency.
The United States on Wednesday announced that it has adopted a more aggressive policy on dealing with the abductions of US citizens overseas, in a bid to deter would-be kidnappers. In addition to restating Washington’s opposition to paying ransoms or meeting any demands for the release of abductees, the new policy also requires a federal review of every overseas kidnapping to determine whether US intervention from diplomatic to military is warranted, the State Department said, Reported the AFP news service."
"President Yasser Arafat said on Wednesday he remained undaunted after a fierce Israeli bombard ment overnight and vowed Palestinians would one day end Israeli occupation. The tanks and the missiles and the planes do not terrify us. We are not scared of the soldiers, the bombardment of our headquarters or prisons," reported the Reuters news agency.
"American journalist Daniel Pearl, kidnapped in Pakistan while trying to make contact with Islamic radical groups, was murdered by his captors who recorded his death on videotape, US and Pakistani officials said yesterday. Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf, who has rallied to the US-led war on terrorism and cracked down on Islamic radicals, denounced the murder as gruesome and ordered a nationwide hunt for any suspects still at large. The tape showed Pearl speaking, as if he was conducting an interview, when suddenly an assailant grabbed him and slit his throat," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Three American soldiers were killed and seven remained missing after a US Army helicopter involved in anti-terrorism exercises in the Philippines exploded and crashed into the sea early yesterday, officials said. The cause of the crash is still under investigation, the authorities said," reported the AFP news service.
"US President George W. Bush held up American values as a model for China yesterday in a keynote speech broadcast live to the Chinese people from Beijing’s prestigious Tsinghua University," reported the Reuters news agency.
"President George W. Bush wants Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein out of office before his own term is up in January 2005, The Washington Times said yesterday quoting White House officials. The reason for the deadline is that Bush’s re-election is not guaranteed and a Democratic president might be easier on the Iraqi regime, the officials said in interviews," reported the AFP news service.
"Afghanistan, Muslim for a millennium, this prostrate land now looks from far-off pulpits like a God-given opportunity for missionary work - to save Afghans from "an eternity without Christ,"as one American charity chief put it. A U.S. government commission has called on Washington, with its newfound clout here, to lay the groundwork for a society open to all religions. But Islam's roots run deep in Afghanistan's deserts and snowy highlands. Resistance would be formidable. Here in pious Kandahar, the clergyman Naeem Akhund, for one, is ready. How can you let a snake into your home?, the mullah asks,' reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Headlines last August focused on two young American women, aid workers in Afghanistan, who were arrested by the ruling Taliban for allegedly proselytizing in a quiet effort to win Afghan converts to Christianity. The women, Dayna Curry, 30, and Heather Mercer, 24, who denied the charge while in Afghanistan, were eventually freed from prison in the war against the Taliban last fall, and were given a heroes" welcome home at the White House by President George W. Bush. Once free, the pair acknowledged they had tried to win Afghan Muslims to Christianity, and earlier this month they told a U.S. church audience they hoped to return to Afghanistan. I would say unapologetically I would do it all over, Mercer said," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Israel's plans to consider lifting the blockade on Yasser Arafat's West Bank headquarters drew sharp criticism from a hard-line government minister a day before a planned Cabinet debate on the issue. Infrastructure Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Saturday threatened to lead his party out of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's coalition government if Israel decides to end the blockade, which has kept Arafat confined to his Ramallah compound for nearly three months," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Singapore has offered Jakarta the assistance of its security agencies and access to imprisoned members of a militant group to prove claims that international terrorists are based in Indonesia. The offer was made after Indonesia sent a letter to Singapore Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew demanding he clarify his controversial statement that leaders of extremist cells were at large in Indonesia," reported the AFP news service.
"Those who murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl never had any intention of freeing him, investigators said yesterday, and Pakistani authorities have warned foreign missions in the country to take precautions, saying the Pearl case may be part of a wider terrorist scheme," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"A tongue-in-cheek Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has challenged US counterpart George W. Bush to overthrow his regime but spare the country from air strikes, a prospect that has drawn widespread opposition from Arab and European states. We give our support to the option of overthrowing the regime which is better than attacking, striking the population, harming it and destroying its resources, he said during a meeting late on Friday with military officials marking the Muslim holiday of Aidiladha," reported the AFP news service.
"A Saudi offer of Arab peace with Israel in exchange for land to Palestinians could provide an opening as the United States makes a new push to halt the region’s rising violence, Secretary of State Colin Powell said. US officials called the proposal by Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia significant because it came from a ruler viewed as a strong Palestinian supporter and was immediately praised by moderate Arab nations including Egypt," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Nearly two million Muslim pilgrims, chanting God is Greatest, performed a ritual that symbolises the stoning of the devil yesterday as a trouble-free annual haj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia wound down. The white-robed faithful packed the 1,600m-long Jamarat Bridge here and threw 21 pebbles each at three concrete pillars to the Arabic cry of Allahu Akbar," reported the Reuters news agency.
"An Italian court has handed down the first al-Qaeda-linked convictions in Europe since the Sept 11 terror attacks, ruling on the case of a group of Tunisians accused of helping al-Qaeda recruits get fake documents. Judge Giovanna Verga sentenced four men to six years imprisonment, including Essid Sami Ben Khemais, suspected of heading Osama bin Laden’s European logistics operations after a two-day closed trial earlier this month," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad will tell his British counterpart Tony Blair that Malaysia is against labelling any country as terrorist during their talks at 10, Downing Street today. Go after the terrorists, but don’t attack any country, he said on Saturday. He said Malaysia disagreed with the accusation that certain countries were terrorist nations and instead wanted efforts focused in fighting terrorists and not invading terrorist countries," reported The Star newspaper of Malaysia.
"US Ambassador to Malaysia Marie Huhtala said recent events in Malaysia and Singapore illustrated that the threat of terrorism was not directed only at the United States, but even in these Southeast-Asian countries. It is very clear that Malaysia is part of the solution and not part of the problem in the struggle against terrorism. The Malaysian Government has taken strong steps against terrorism and its co-operation with the United States in this work has been excellent," reported The Star newspaper of Malaysia.
"A US Air Force general said yesterday there was no chance of finding survivors in the crash of an American helicopter taking part in a military exercise in the Philippines to defeat rebels linked to Osama bin Laden," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The Israeli government decided yesterday to not allow Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to leave Ramallah, but said he would be free to leave his compound in the West Bank town where he has been confined by Israel since early December, Israel public radio said," reported the AFP news service.
"Prime Minister Sharon left virtually everyone unimpressed with a televised address to the nation on Thursday, aimed at reassuring the population over his plans to tackle security issues. He outlined a controversial plan to build buffer zone between Israel and the occupied territories to foil Palestinian attacks in Israel. But the scheme has drawn wide criticism, including from West Bank settlers," reported the AFP news service.
"Italian police have discovered a hole recently carved into an underground passageway next to the US embassy and that terrorists were planning to plant a chemical bomb there, a judicial source said yesterday. The news came just days after police arrested four Moroccan men in possession of large quantities of a cyanide compound, explosive powder and maps of the water network around the US embassy," reported the Reuters news agency.
"British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W. Bush will meet in April to finalise details of military action against Iraq, The Observer newspaper reported yesterday. The paper said Blair would travel to Washington to give his support for action against Saddam Hussein if the Iraqi leader continued to ignore demands that he destroy his weapons of mass destruction. The meeting will be to finalise Phase Two of the war against terrorism."
"An undetermined amount of weapons-grade nuclear material has been stolen in post-Communist Russia, heightening concerns that some of it could have ended up in the wrong hands, the US intelligence community has concluded. The announcement comes amid warnings by top US officials that Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda terrorist network have been making a concerted effort to obtain the know-how and materials to manufacture a crude nuclear or radiological device," reported the AFP news service.
"At least 100 al-Qaeda operatives are inside the United States and pose the most immediate threat of a fresh terrorist attack on US soil, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said on Saturday. All have been trained to carry out terrorist plots when they were called upon to do so, said Graham, who receives regular intelligence briefings from the CIA and the FBI," reported the AFP news service.
"British detainees at Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay could be repatriated if Britain agreed to prosecute them, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said. Rumsfeld was quoted as saying in an interview saying that the United States would want to retain the right to interrogate returned detainees further. Other Britons could be retained by the US authorities and could face trial by military commission and execution," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The United Nations says thousands of Pashtuns are fleeing parts of northern Afghanistan, claiming that anti-Taliban commanders from the other ethnic groups which dominate the region have been inciting people to loot their homes and attack them," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Iran's rhetoric remains angry and defiant, with chants of death to America ringing in the streets, but its moderate leadership has signaled a desire to avoid conflict with Washington after being labeled part of an axis of evil. Iran also rejects U.S. charges that it is trying to destabilize neighboring Afghanistan as it emerges from Taliban rule. Iran's government says it has long opposed the Taliban - accused of harboring the al-Qaida terrorist network responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks - and that it doesn't want volatile neighbors," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Israel was threatening retaliation for Palestinian gunfire attacks, foreshadowing another round of deadly Mideast violence after several days of efforts to calm the region. Striking two hours apart, Palestinian gunmen killed two Israelis Monday near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank and wounded eight at a bus stop in a Jewish neighborhood in a disputed part of Jerusalem claimed by both sides. Earlier, Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinians at West Bank roadblocks, one a 16-year-old girl who tried to stab soldiers, according to the military, and the other, a husband rushing his wife to a hospital to give birth," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad has asked Britian to convey to the United States the deep concern of the Muslim world regarding the direction of the global war on terrorism. Any action taken by the US should not be seen as against the Muslim world," The Star newspaper of Malaysia.
"Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad has taken to task certain powerful western countries for what he described as practising a modern-day version of gunboat diplomacy against Third World nations. Some countries had even argued that they had a right to interfere in the internal affairs of other nations, the Prime Minister told some 600 Malaysian students at a dialogue at Imperial College in South Kensington on Sunday. He said Malaysia and the developing world were under great pressure to conform to norms set by the powerful countries, such as on human rights, rule of law and corporate governance," reported The Star newspaper of Malaysia.
"Some 50 members of two militant groups yesterday picketed at the Singaporean embassy and burnt a Singapore flag in protest at claims by Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew that terrorist leaders are at large in Indonesia. The demonstrators from the Front for the Defenders of Islam and the Majelis Mujahedin noisily protested outside the closed embassy gate, yelling expel Singaporeans and Indonesia is not a nation of terrorists. Singapore, get out of Indonesia, read one placard. Others read, Singapore is a henchman of America the terrorist, reported the AFP news" service.
A majority of Taiwanese people are confident the United States will help defend Taiwan against China’s provocation, a survey conducted after US President George W. Bush’s recent visit to Beijing showed yesterday. Some 54% of the 829 people polled believe Washington would stick to its pledge of helping the island defend itself against threats from Beijing, according to the survey, reported the AFP news service.
"Pakistan ordered yesterday the confessed mastermind of US reporter Daniel Pearl’s kidnapping held in police custody for another 14 days, acknowledging more evidence needed to be gathered in the correspondent’s grisly slaying," reported the AFP news service.
"Israel yesterday pulled back the tanks surrounding Yasser Arafat’s compound in the West Bank, but angry Palestinian officials said the move was meaningless due to the continued restrictions on the movements of the Palestinian leader," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"The FBI has identified a scientist who once worked in a US government laboratory as a chief suspect in an anthrax attack that killed five people and infected 13 others last year, The Washington Times reported yesterday. The newspaper cited sources who said the anthrax suspect was believed to have worked at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland, and had twice been fired from government jobs."
"The United States yesterday stepped up the pressure on Pakistan to extradite the confessed abductor of American reporter Daniel Pearl," reported the AFP news service.
"A Palestinian baby found abandoned at birth in a roadside heap of trash was rescued by Palestinian doctors, fed and strengthened by a group of nuns and its tiny heart repaired by an Israeli surgeon, " reported the Associated Press news agency.
"US comedian Jay Leno has angered South Koreans with a joke that many see as pouring oil on fury over a South Korean skater who was stripped of a gold medal at the Winter Olympics. Kim Jong-pil, a former prime minister who heads the opposition United Liberal Democrats (ULD), called Leno an “ignorant son-of-a-bitch” for telling the joke about speed skater Kim Dong-sung on his Tonight show. Leno said Dong-sung, who was disqualified after finishing first in the 1,500m race, must have kicked a dog in frustration, then eaten it after losing the gold medal to US skater Apolo Anton Ohno. South Koreans have been very sensitive about references to eating dog meat recently," reported the AFP news service.
"A woman, in London England, who threw her iguana at a policeman was convicted on Monday of inflicting unnecessary suffering on the lizard but was permitted to keep him," reported the AFP news service.
"Immersed in a nationwide battle against an outbreak of dengue fever, President Fidel Castro revived on Monday an old accusation against the United States of carrying out biological attacks against Cuba. I say to our people, I say it here, we have suffered dozens of biological attacks. Castro said in a television address on Cuba’s massive campaign to eradicate a recent outbreak of the potentially fatal dengue fever," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Israeli tanks moved toward a Palestinian refugee camp early Thursday, Palestinians said, after a woman blew herself up at an Israeli army checkpoint in the West Bank, despite security meetings aimed at dialing back 17 months of violence. Since violence erupted in September 2000, 999 people have been killed on the Palestinian side and 288 people on the Israeli side.The violence persisted despite local efforts to calm the tensions and a Saudi proposal to end the decades-old Israel-Arab conflict. Israel was cautious, welcoming the fact that the Saudis were getting involved in peacemaking, but rejecting the idea of a total pullout and expressing skepticism over the ability of the Saudis to persuade all Arab nations to go along with the idea," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Energy Department to release thousands of records on Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force, criticizing the government for moving at a glacial pace. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler could undermine the efforts of President George W. Bush's administration to keep secret the names of industry executives and lobbyists who met with the White House as it formulated its energy plan last spring. The General Accounting Office, which is Congress's investigative unit, and a conservative group, Judicial Watch, have filed separate lawsuits trying to force the White House to turn over the material.Energy Department spokeswoman Jill Schroeder said, We've always said we would comply with their request and have worked diligently to do so," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"U.S. officials on Wednesday announced a $5 million reward for information in the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Asked why the $5 million reward in the Pearl case was being announced and advertised now, Boucher said such a decision is usually done in conjunction with the investigators. The diplomat, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said Pakistan might try Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the man alleged to have masterminded the crime, first, then transfer him to American custody by classifying him as a combatant fighting against the U.S. war on terrorism. Pakistani officials have said they are still searching for at least four other key suspects in the Jan. 23 abduction. The main target of a police manhunt is now Amjad Faruqi, who Pakistani police believe carried out Pearl's kidnapping. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf could open himself up to criticism from strong nationalists if he surrenders Saeed for trial in the United States. An anonymous caller on Tuesday threatened to blow up the Karachi building where Saeed and two other suspects are being interrogated if any of the men are extradited. Pakistani police have said Saeed's confession during a court hearing in Pakistan would not be enough to convict because it was not made under oath," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"The U.S. government is seeking samples of DNA from Osama bin Laden's family to determine if human remains found in Afghanistan belong to the terrorist leader, government sources said Wednesday. But the DNA collection effort isn't simply to determine who died in the Predator strike; other remains found after U.S. bombing in Afghanistan have yet to be identified as well, sources said. In the last month, U.S. intelligence obtained faint signs that he was alive and somewhere in the Pakistani-Afghan border region - where he's thought to have been since leaving Tora Bora late last year, a U.S. official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity," reported the Associated Press news agency.
The Pentagon yesterday shut down its short-lived “strategic information” office, after media reports suggested it might be used to spread disinformation abroad to bolster US defence policy. On Monday, when President George W. Bush, was asked if he had asked Rumsfeld to close the office, said: “I didn’t even need to tell him this. He knows how I feel about this.” Bush promised never to mislead the American public. Rumsfeld said the US military had never lied and would never lie about its actions. Asked if the Pentagon’s credibility had been damaged, he said: “I doubt it. I hope not. If it has, we’ll rebuild it.” Underscoring the sensitivity of wartime information, the Pentagon has found its accounts of operations during the Afghan campaign occasionally challenged by reporters on the ground. Last week, Rumsfeld acknowledged a deadly US raid on two compounds in Afghanistan did not strike al-Qaeda or Taliban members as the Pentagon originally claimed," reported the Reuters news agency.
The United States opened a new front yesterday in the war against terrorism by sending an advance party of military “experts” to Georgia to help flush out al-Qaeda fighters holed up in a remote mountain gorge on the Chechen border. The US troops will provide Georgian soldiers with the kind of training, advice and equipment the US military is currently giving the Philippine army in its war against the Abu Sayyaf group, CBS said. US officials have repeatedly accused Chechen rebels of maintaining contact with al-Qaeda, the group led by Osama bin Laden and blamed for the Sept 11 attacks on the United States," reported the AFP news service.
Scores of aid workers have been caught pushing West African refugee children into having sex in exchange for food and medicine sent to save their lives, an aid agency said on Tuesday. Britain’s Save the Children said a study, carried out after girls in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone reported sexual exploitation, had revealed a startling level of abuses involving 67 aid workers employed by 40 agencies. “It was not a surprise because the girls had been telling us that there was sexual exploitation. What surprised us was the scale of it,” Jane Gibril, Save the Children’s programme director for Liberia and Ivory Coast, said. Gibril said that it was not just a matter of making sure staff understood that sexual exploitation of children was unacceptable, but also that those getting aid knew what they were entitled to," reported the Reuters news agency.
The majority of residents of Muslim countries have an unfavourable opinion of the United States because they believe it is ruthless and arrogant, according to a new opinion poll reported on Tuesday by CNN television. The survey, conducted by the Gallup organisation, includes the views of 9,924 residents of Pakistan, Iran, Indonesia, Turkey, Lebanon, Morocco, Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.Fifty-three per cent of those questioned had unfavourable opinions of the United States, while 22% had favourable opinions, CNN reported. Most respondents said they thought the United States was aggressive and biased against Islamic values, citing specifically what they described as a bias against Palestinians. Pakistan yielded the most anti-American results, with only 5% saying they liked the United States. Fifty-eight per cent had unfavourable opinions of US President George W. Bush, compared with 11% who thought favourably of him. As many as 67% of respondents considered the Sept 11 attacks morally unjustified, while 15% said they were justified," reported the AFP news service.
Girls in skimpy bikinis have been censored from promotional material by Australian organisers of a Commonwealth summit this week to avoid offending religious and cultural sensibilities. The queen opens the summit on Saturday. Organisers of the March 2-5 meeting have been negotiating a diplomatic obstacle course to avoid offending members of 54 mostly ex-British colonies which range from India to the tiny Pacific island nation of Tuvalu. All meat served at the summit must also be halal," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Incensed that two guards stripped a detainee of his turban during prayer, nearly two-thirds of the prisoners captured in the Afghan war refused lunch Thursday and chanted God is great in Arabic in their first mass protest since arriving at the base. In addition, some detainees pushed sheets, blankets, sleeping mats and other items through the small openings in the chain-link walls of their cells in protest, Marine Maj. Stephen Cox, the detention mission spokesman, told reporters.He said 159 detainees skipped lunch and 109 skipped dinner on Wednesday. On Thursday, 107 skipped breakfast and 194 refused lunch. Amnesty International said the protest highlights the dangers of the legal limbo into which the prisoners have been thrown. Amnesty spokesman Alistair Hodgett said this latest development underscores the urgent need for the United States to acknowledge that all of the prisoners are covered by the Geneva Conventions, and to ensure that they are granted due process rights, including the right to challenge their continued detention," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, said he is waiting for a report from the Foreign Ministry on a claim by a Malaysian woman that she was a victim of American prejudice during a visit to the United States on Feb 11. “Let’s get the report first. I want to know what actually happened,” he told Bernama yesterday. In a related development, US Ambassador to Malaysia, Marie Huhtala, strongly denied Mohd Ridzuan’s allegations. She said that there is no basis to that. She checked with the Immigration authorities in California. What happened was, he came to US on a tourist visa, which does not allow you to work but he told them he intended to find a job," reported the Bernama news agency.
"There are no sanctuaries for al-Qaeda or other terrorist organisations in the Asia Pacific region, American military Pacific Command chief Admiral Dennis C. Blair said yesterday. He said the governments throughout the region fundamentally support the campaign against terrorism. He said countries in the Asia Pacific faced different circumstances and unique challenges in the war on terrorism," reported the Bernama news agency.
"A 15-year-old blind student who has learnt the Quran by heart has now produced a copy of it in Braille, complete with all 30 sections. Nabil Mahathir of Taman Wira, Mergong, took a year to complete the work at the end of last year.He began writing the Quran using the Braille machine early last year by devoting an hour or two daily to the work. His copy is in five books with each containing between five and six sections. Speaking at his house, Nabil said he took the initiative to produce the Quran in Braille to enable the blind to deepen their knowledge of the holy book. Apart from that, he considers his work as a pious service to Muslims. Nabil’s father, Mahathir Yusof, 58, said he was trying to get a patent for his son’s work and expressed the hope that the relevant bodies such as the Islamic Development Department of Malaysia (Jakim) would be able to help expand his son’s work. Nabil is currently doing a four-year degree programme at Kolej Islam Darul Ulum and his final year will be at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, where he hopes to graduate with a degree in Syariah Law," reported the Bernama news agency.
"A Palestinian woman suicide bomber struck in the West Bank on Wednesday and Israeli soldiers killed a band of armed Palestinians who had infiltrated from Egypt, overshadowing hopes fuelled by a Saudi initiative to end the 17-month-old conflict. The suicide bomber was identified as Dareen Abu Aisheh, a 21-year-old English literature student at An Najah University in the West Bank town of Nablus, adjacent to Balata. Abu Aisheh was the second woman to blow herself up since the fighting began in September 2000. Israeli tanks and helicopter gunships rolled on two West Bank refugee camps yesterday. Seven Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were killed in heavy gun battles, and more than 50 Palestinians were wounded. The military said the Balata and Jenin camps were strongholds of Palestinian militants, and the operation was intended to show that “there is no refuge for terror," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Top Jewish and Arab officials, including former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, could face charges or reprimands over the deaths of 13 Israeli Arabs in riots in October 2000, an inquiry commission said in a decision published on Wednesday. The commission investigating the riots sent letters to 14 people who might be harmed by its report, a standard Israeli legal practice, said courts spokesman Tamar Paul-Cohen. Such commissions have the authority to recommend criminal charges, dismissal from government posts and official reprimands. In addition to Barak, former Internal Security and Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, two Arab members of parliament and the head of the Islamic Movement were cautioned," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"World population ageing is irreversible, and by 2050 the number of people aged 60 or more will exceed those below the age of 15 for the first time in history, the United Nations forecast yesterday. It forecast that by 2050 the figure would rise to almost two billion, or 21% of the projected world population in that year. “Population ageing is unprecedented, without parallel in the history of humanity,” the report said, with “major consequences and implications for all facets of human life”. In the economy, population ageing will affect growth, savings, investment and consumption, pensions and taxation, it said. In the social sphere, it will have an impact on health, family composition, housing and migration. “In the political area, population ageing can influence voting patterns and representation,” it added. “Developing countries will have less time to adjust to the consequences of population ageing,” the report warned. This adjustment will be complicated by the fact that population ageing is taking place at lower socio-economic levels than in developed nations," reported the AFP news service.
"The keepers of the “Doomsday Clock” on Wednesday advanced its hands nearer to the midnight hour symbolising nuclear weapons conflict, its closest since the Cold War’s end, citing worries over lagging disarmament efforts, the security of existing stockpiles and terrorism. “Despite a campaign promise to rethink nuclear policy, the Bush administration has taken no significant steps to alter nuclear targeting policies or reduce the alert status of US nuclear forces,” said George Lopez, chairman of the Bulletin’s board of directors. Lopez said the directors also were “deeply concerned that the international community appears to have ignored the wake-up call of Sept 11. Terrorist efforts to acquire and use nuclear and biological weapons present a grave danger. But the US preference for the use of pre-emptive force rather than diplomacy could be equally dangerous.” The announcement cited what it said was a continuing US preference for unilateral rather than co-operative action, and its efforts to impede international agreements designed to limit the proliferation of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Britain’s Prince Harry will not face legal action over allegations of cannabis smoking and under-age drinking last year, police announced yesterday after concluding their investigation. A spokeswoman said the inquiry into the events last summer at a pub in the village of Sherston, western England, was now closed. She said none of the inquiries had revealed any involvement whatsoever by Prince Harry or any other members of his family," reported the AFP news service.
"It is the hottest item for socialites, movie stars, baby boomers and others looking for a fountain of youth, or at least a way to get rid of those unsightly wrinkles. Injections of botulinum toxin - a diluted protein derived from the deadly botulism germ - were the most popular cosmetic procedure performed in the US last year, numbering some 1.6 million, says the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. Marketed under the trade names Botox and Myobloc, the formula causes a temporary muscle weakening that interferes with the muscle’s ability to contract and ends up smoothing out wrinkles within 24 to 48 hours," reported the AFP news service.
Riots erupted in western India yesterday as the government and security forces tried to contain simmering sectarian tensions after a train massacre that left 58 dead. An indefinite curfew was imposed in Ahmedabad, the state capital of Gujarat, after hundreds of Hindu youths went on the rampage, attacking mosques and setting fire to Muslim owned shops and restaurants. The attacks were revenge for Wednesday’s gruesome massacre of 58 passengers travelling on a train carrying mostly Hindu activists. The activists were returning from the town of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh state, where thousands of Hindus have been gathering in defiance of court orders to build a temple on the ruins of a 16th century mosque razed by Hindu zealots in 1992," reported the AFP news service.
A landmark regional people-smuggling conference agreed yesterday to improve cross-border co-operation and strengthen laws to criminalise the human trafficking trade that has strained diplomatic ties. In a joint statement, co-hosts Indonesia and Australia said ministers from Asia-Pacific and Middle East countries made a non-binding agreement to improve intelligence sharing and build stronger ties between law enforcers.The conference agreed to set up an ad-hoc experts group to promote practical regional co-operation and report to a follow up ministerial meeting in a year. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said delegates should not ignore terrorism, saying migrants might be vulnerable to recruitment for terror activities because they were often alienated. The IOM agrees with some observers that while immigration policy may not be central to counter terrorism, it can be an important vehicle for better application of law enforcement and intelligence," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Hindu mobs set fire to homes and shops in a village in the western Gujarat state, burning to death at least 27 Muslims trapped inside, the latest mass killing in India's worst religious strife in a decade that has claimed more than 300 lives, government officials said," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Hijackers and drug smugglers face a new line of defence in The Sentinel, a machine that vacuums microscopic particles off the body to test for explosives, chemical agents and narcotics," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A brief hunger strike by nearly 200 al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners at the US Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Thursday prompted US military officials to relent over a ban on wearing turbans during prayers. The refusal to eat by about 190 prisoners, along with a 45-minute demonstration in which captives tossed personal items out of their pens, were the first acts of defiance by the Afghan war detainees," reported the Reuters news agency
"The White House has approved a mission to send hundreds of US troops to Yemen to train and advise Yemeni forces hunting remnants of the al-Qaeda network. A senior military official said the mission would be similar to the US military effort in the Philippines," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Five terminals at Los Angeles Airport were evacuated on Thursday, triggering delays to about 400 flights and forcing more than 10,000 passengers to go through security screening again because a metal detector had been unplugged, airport officials said. Up to 60,000 passengers had their journeys disrupted, with some missing flights entirely, after a metal detector in one terminal was found to be have been malfunctioning for about an hour during the peak morning period," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Despite kilometers of new concrete barriers, towering walls, bomb-residue tests, metal detectors, gas masks and tight restrictions on diplomats' travel, a recent tunnel found near the U.S. Embassy in Rome makes clear that America's overseas missions remain strikingly vulnerable. They also remain a target of choice. Since Sept. 11, officials have uncovered plots to attack U.S. embassies or consulates in Paris and Sarajevo, Bosnia, in Turkey, Lebanon and Yemen, and last week apparently in Rome. We're at a very high state of alert. We're taking all possible precautions, said U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Commonwealth leaders meeting in this Australian seaside resort agreed yesterday to expel member states found to be harbouring or funding terrorists as part of an action plan to clamp down on international terrorism in the wake of the Sept 11 attacks on the United States," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Malaysia has urged the Commonwealth to look beyond the Sept 11 attacks and Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network when dealing with the threat of global terrorism. We want all forms of terrorism to be condemned and be subjected to action instead of only focusing on al-Qaeda and terrorists who happen to be Muslims, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told Malaysian journalists after attending the first executive session of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) yesterday. Abdullah said the general impression after Sept 11 was that terrorists were all Islamic fundamentalists," reported The Star newspaper of Malaysia.
"Israel’s incursion into Palestinian refugee camps and refusal to allow ambulances and doctors past roadblocks is killing people in desperate need of medical aid, a French doctor who has returned from the camps said on Friday. The Israeli government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is holding a whole population hostage by ordering the army to seal off the camps,' said Prof. Marcel-Francis Kahn," reported the AFP news service.
"A young Palestinian woman delivered a stillborn baby in a West Bank village overnight, after soldiers at a nearby checkpoint denied her access to the hospital here, a doctor said yesterday. Dr Wael Qadan, head of the Palestinian Red Crescent, said Anam Yusef Hassan, 22, had been taken from her home village of Arura, north of here, to a small emergency medical centre in the nearby village of Silfid. Staff there determined that she was suffering complications in her labour and that she should be moved to the hospital here, so as not to lose her baby. But Israeli soldiers at the Beit Rima roadblock denied her passage, and the baby was delivered stillborn in Silfid," reported the AFP news service.
"US troops taking part in joint operations against an al-Qaeda-linked group in the southern Philippines are barred from seeing local prostitutes, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said yesterday. They cannot procure the services of prostitutes. That prohibition is explicit, Arroyo said," reported the AFP news service.
"In former US President Richard Nixon’s Oval Office, Rev Billy Graham didn’t mince words in describing his feelings about Jewish people and the media, saying, This(the Jewish)stranglehold on the media has got to be broken or this country’s going down the drain. You believe that?,President Nixon said in response. Yes, sir, says Graham. Oh boy. So do I, Nixon agrees, then say, I can’t ever say that, but I believe it. No, but if you get elected a second time, then we might be able to do something, Graham says," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"With the Taliban gone, Afghanistan’s opium harvest will likely approach the high levels seen before the toppled fundamentalist regime imposed a ban two years ago, the United Nations reported," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"US warplanes and helicopters opened a new offensive yesterday against Taliban and al-Qaeda believed regrouping in Afghanistan’s eastern mountains in an air assault backed by Afghan forces on the ground, Afghan leaders said. One American was killed and a number were injured, the Pentagon said. " reported the Associated Press news agency.
"As many as 16 packages containing toxic substances disguised as eucalyptus oil were mailed to political targets in Britain, including Prime Minister Tony Blair, Scotland Yard said on Friday night," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"A Palestinian suicide bomber detonated a powerful explosive in an Ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem, killing nine people, including several children, police said. The bomb attack targeted worshippers pouring into the streets following sundown prayers Saturday at the end of the Jewish sabbath. The thunderous blast also wounded more than 30 people, shook downtown Jerusalem and sent flames leaping from a car and a building that caught fire. Blood covered a stone wall at the Mahane Israel seminary, where up to 1,000 Jews gather every Saturday evening," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Religious clashes claimed more lives in the western state of Gujarat, bringing the death toll to 538 as Hindu mobs attacked Muslim homes in several towns overnight, police said Monday. Schools remained closed, curfews were still in effect in some cities and Muslims were still too frightened to leave their homes or return to those they fled, fearing more attacks after five days of mob violence." reported the Associated Press nes agency.
"Banks in Malaysia are now scrutinising accounts of people and companies allegedly linked to terrorists or terrorism networks, based on a list given to Bank Negara by the UN Security Council. Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said the action was in line with global efforts to combat terrorism," reported The Star newspaper of Malaysia.
"Thirty Malaysians cheated death when the bus in which they were travelling in exploded shortly after their arrival in Haadyai,Thailand, last Saturday night. Thai police believe that terrorists had placed a time bomb in the undercarriage of the two buses shortly after its arrival. It is not known whether they were trying to scare the passengers or kill them." reported The Star newspaper of Malaysia.
"Thousands of protesters staged a march and rally on Saturday in London, England, to call for a halt to bombing in Afghanistan and an end to threats to other countries such as Iraq," reported the AFP news service.
"Yvonne Ridley, the former British Sunday Express journalist who was held by the Taliban and released last October after entering Afghanistan in disguise, said she would like to ban the word ‘terrorist’ because it was so misused. According to the Bush administration a terrorist is anyone who disagrees with US foreign policy, she said," reported the AFP news service.
"A new biography of the late Princess Margaret of Britain alleges that she used the illegal drugs cocaine and marijuana, according to two British newspapers," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Washington has deployed hundreds of sophisticated sensors to US borders, overseas facilities and choke points around the US capital in recent months to protect against nuclear or radiological attack by terrorists, the Washington Post reported yesterday. The new radiation sensors are imbedded around some fixed points and temporarily at designated national security special events such as last month’s Olympic Games in Utah. The federal government also has placed the Delta Force, the nation’s elite commando unit, on a new standby alert to seize control of nuclear materials that the sensors may detect," reported the AFP news service.
"Palestinian gunmen shot dead at least eight Israelis at an army roadblock in the West Bank yesterday, some 12 hours after a Palestinian suicide bomber killed nine people in an ultra-Orthodox neighbourhood in Jerusalem," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The US government yesterday denied singling out Malaysians or Muslims in exercising its new security measures at all ports of entry following the Sept 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. A senior immigration official said no one was being singled out and denied entry to the country was based on his or her nationality or religion," reported The Star newspaper of Malaysia.
"Business rivalry could have been the cause of two bomb blasts, which badly damaged a Malaysian school bus and a Thai bus in Haadyai, Thailand on Saturday, according to Thai police. Haadyai Police Captain Somporn Khatiya said initial investigations had ruled out the involvement of Muslim separatist groups or terrorists," reported The Star newspaper of Malaysia.
"Leaders of 22 Islamic groups in India held a sit-in demonstration yesterday to demand that the government put the army in charge of the western state of Gujarat, where more than 500 people have been killed in religious riots in six days. The Muslim groups accused the state’s Hindu nationalist government of failing to protect the Muslim minority, who have been the chief victims of the violence," report ed the Associated Press news agency.
"Israeli troops stormed into two refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and shot dead four Palestinians yesterday after Israel vowed to put the brakes on Palestinian terror. Before the start of the pre-dawn raids, Israel said it would exert constant military pressure on the Palestinian Authority and militant groups after weekend attacks that stunned the country and threw international peace efforts deeper in doubt," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Israeli forces raided refugee camps, blew up a car carrying a Palestinian militant’s family and opened fire on an ambulance yesterday, killing 17 people after vowing harsh reprisals for attacks on Israelis," reported the Reuters news agency.
"US authorities have broken a network of Israeli spies living in the United States who were burrowing into the justice and defence departments, intelligence sources reported yesterday. Around 120 Israelis were arrested or deported as a result of the top-secret operation, which it said had began in April last year and was ongoing," reported the AFP news service.
"The US government yesterday denied singling out Malaysians or Muslims in exercising its new security measures at all ports of entry following the Sept 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. A senior immigration official told a media briefing at the US embassy in Malaysia that everyone who comes to the country is given the same treatment. In fact, the question of one’s religion will not even be asked during the interview with the Immigration and Naturalisation Services (INS) officers at any of the ports of entry,” reported the Bernama Malaysian news agency.
"PAS president Datuk Fadzil Noor has defended the treatment of women in Afghanistan under the repressive Taliban regime, which has been criticised by many countries, saying the measures taken were necessary to protect them. Defending the Taliban, Fadzil said prior to the US-led attack, the Taliban had managed to bring stability to almost 95% of Afghanistan. Fadzil alleged that when the Taliban were driven out, their womenfolk were taken as mistresses by the Americans and the Northern Alliance. He contended that what was broadcast in the local media about the Taliban were lies,” reported the Bernama Malaysian news agency.
"More than 60,000 people have fled their homes in the wake of fighting between government forces and Muslim separatist rebels in the southern Philippines, officials said yesterday. US special forces held military exercises on Basilan to upgrade the skills of local troops in fighting the Abu Sayyaf, which the United States has linked to Saudi militant Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network. Meanwhile, former Philippines President Fidel Ramos urged Indonesian police to co-operate more with South-East Asian countries in arresting international terrorists, especially those suspected in a bombing against the Philippine ambassador to Indonesia in 2000,” reported the Reuters/AP news agency.
"US warplanes attacked al-Qaeda and Taliban strongholds yesterday after at least seven US soldiers were killed in the bloodiest day of fighting for American forces in Afghanistan. US President George W. Bush sent his “prayers and tears” to the families of the US soldiers killed in action but pledged to pursue the offensive. “Operation Anaconda” involves some 2,000 US-led troops, including some 900 Americans, Afghan allies and 200 European special forces, and is targeting hundreds of heavily armed al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters entrenched in the Arma mountains southwest of here,” reported the AFP news service.
"Middle East violence threatened to spiral out of control. As a worsening cycle of tit-for-tat assaults, the violence has shocked Israelis and Palestinians and intensified international efforts to end bloodshed that has killed at least 944 Palestinians and 311 Israelis since an uprising against Israeli occupation began in September 2000,” reported the Reuters news agency.
"US and German troops wearing gas masks staged exercises in nuclear, biological and chemical warfare in the Kuwaiti desert on Monday amid speculation about a possible US attack on Iraq. US President George W. Bush has labelled Iraq as part of an “axis of evil,” raising the prospect of a US attack against Iraq in the next phase of Washington’s war on terrorism,” reported the Reuters news agency.
"Vietnam’s government says the number of Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange, of a defoliant sprayed by the US military more than three decades ago, is about one million, but the US government insists there is no scientific proof of a causal relationship. Researchers at the conference have reported the results of a new study showing extremely high levels of dioxin in the blood of residents of Bien Hoa, a highly sprayed area near a former US air base, more than 30 years after the spraying ended,” reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Hardline Hindu leaders agreed yesterday to let the Supreme Court decide whether they can build a temple on land claimed by Muslims in a dispute that is at the centre of religious tensions wracking India. A compromise by the council could also help ease tensions arising from the Hindu-Muslim clashes in the western Gujarat state since Wednesday that have claimed 570 lives,” reported the Associated Press news agency.
"The New York Times reported on Sunday the US Justice Department was reviewing an FBI proposal to create a DNA databank to store genetic profiles of the prisoners who were captured in Afghanistan.The Times report said the proposal to store Guantanamo DNA would forge a new category of DNA profiling by the FBI,” reported the Reuters news agency.
"An Arab-American congressman running for New Hampshire’s Senate seat has been accused of being anti-Israeli and soft on terrorism in what could be the start of a dirty, high-stakes campaign.“This primary should be fought out on issues, not on silliness, and to some extent character assassination and guilt by association,’’ reported the Associated Press news agency.
"In a break with army tradition, unmarried British soldiers are being allowed to invite their partners to spend nights in barracks, a spokesman said today. The army is also setting up a number of welfare houses which soldiers will be able to book for a weekend. Alcohol will also be allowed on the premises where appropriate. "It is not dissimilar to a bed and breakfast, the spokesman said.The barracks are miles and miles from anywhere so allowing soldiers to bring up their girlfriends for the weekend is a sensible thing to do.It is an example which has worked very well and it is not a one-off, it is happening in regiments across the army,he added. It is hoped the new policy, along with a more relaxed regime for the army's 12-week induction course, will prevent new recruits quitting their service," reported the AFP news service.
"The French daily Le Monde newspaper reported that the United States had broken up a huge Israeli spy ring that may have trailed suspected al Qaeda members in the United States without informing federal authorities. The newspaper cited a secret U.S. government report outlining spying activities by Israelis that it said contained elements that support the theory that Israel did not give the U.S. all the information it had about the planning for the September 11 attacks. In Washington, however, U.S. law enforcement officials discounted the report, with one calling the assertion of a spy ring a bogus story. The newspaper said it had seen a copy of the secret report. Le Monde said more than one third of the suspected Israeli spies had lived in Florida, near where at least 10 of the 19 Arabs involved in the Sept. 11 airplane attacks on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon also lived. Le Monde said the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency(DEA), the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, the FBI and the U.S. Air Force had all confirmed the existence of the report on Israeli spying drawn up for the Justice Department by the drug agency together with the," reported the Reuters news agency.
Message to the Sharon government from Israel's leading newspaper: "You impotent fools, pack your bags, gather your papers, hand in your keys, and go!"
"Israeli forces swept through the Gaza Strip in a hunt for Palestinian militants yesterday after Qassam rockets hit an Israeli town for the first time in a spiralling wave of Middle East violence. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed this week to “beat” Palestinians until they begged for a ceasefire after a surge of deadly attacks that left the country reeling. Palestinians, in turn, have pledged no let-up in their uprising against Israeli occupation and threatened to answer each Israeli assault with more bombings and shootings," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A group of 44 separatist guerillas have surrendered in the southern island of Basilan, where US soldiers are advising Philippines troops fighting the Abu Sayyaf rebel group, a military commander said yesterday. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front gunmen contacted a Filipino army battalion based here late on Tuesday and yielded 29 firearms, said the military unit’s commander, Lt Col Danny Lucero. He said the their leaders pledged to convince about 90 others to surrender," reported the AFP news service.
"A powerful pre-dawn earthquake killed at least 11 people and threw millions of others into panic in the southern Philippines yesterday, rescuers and witnesses said. A tremor measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale shook Mindanao island’s 18 million inhabitants at 5.15am startling people from their beds and causing them to rush into the streets," reported the AFP news service.
"The death toll in communal riots in the western Indian state of Gujarat has risen above 600 after police recovered more bodies, police said yesterday. However, they said the state, still reeling from India’s worst Hindu-Muslim clashes in decades, was mostly peaceful apart from a few isolated incidents," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Hundreds of US troop reinforcements loaded with equipment were airlifted into a mountain battlefield in eastern Afghanistan yesterday preparing for a lengthy confrontation with al-Qaeda and Taliban rebels. Afghan soldiers back from the front line in the fighting 30km east of Gardez, capital of Paktia province, said a noose was slowly tightening around rebels in well-defended bunkers and caves at heights of several thousand metres. But the region’s governor warned it could take weeks before the al-Qaeda and Taliban forces were wiped out," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Afghanistan’s most powerful warlords came together yesterday with interim government leaders and United Nations officials for a landmark conference to discuss security in the war-torn country. Clashes in recent weeks between commanders loyal to Dostam and Fahim, as well as tensions between Ismail Khan and other provincial governors, have fuelled concern about the interim government’s ability to bring security to restive provinces and underlined the need for a national army under central command," reported the AFP news service.
"Anti-aircraft missiles that peacekeepers in the Afghan capital of Kabul were trying to defuse exploded yesterday, killing two German and three Danish soldiers, the top officer in the Germany military said. Seven other soldiers were injured, three of them seriously, General Harald Kujat told reporters in Germany. Kujat said he had no evidence of sabotage in the explosion, adding that he believed the soldiers had observed safety regulations. “This was an accident,’’ he said. However, Kujat said the origin of the missiles was unclear," reported the Assciated Press news agency.
"The New Zealand army has ruled out overnight sex visits by soldiers’ lovers - in case someone falls down the stairs, a news report said yesterday. Spokesman Maj Kendall Langston was asked by Wellington’s Dominion newspaper to comment on moves by the British army to let its 50,000 single soldiers take their girlfriends back to their barracks for overnight stays. Langston said it would be a problem if someone got up in the night to rush to the toilet and slipped on the stairs," reported the Dominion newspaper.
Is New York a lady-friendly city? Well, if you go by a poll conducted by a women’s magazine it doesn’t seem to be so. The Ladies’ Home Journal lists the Big Apple at 23rd on the list of big cities in the US with a population of over 300,000. The magazine’s April issue listed 22 other cities before New York with Virginia Beach heading the list followed by Boston, Honolulu, Austin and Arlington, both in Texas.
"Enron Corp. belatedly disclosed that it spent nearly $2.5 million lobbying the Bush administration and Congress in the first six months of last year. That was three times more than the energy trader originally acknowledged, and even the corrected figure may be wrong. The corrected report reveals far more lobbying of the Bush White House than Enron acknowledged in the earlier report. Enron's own report is required by law to include payments to outside lobbyists as well as what it spends on its in-house lobbying team," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"India's parliament was adjourned in uproar yesterday over the worst Hindu-Muslim clashes in a decade that killed at least 665 people, with the death toll rising every day as more charred bodies are recovered. The communal riots have plunged Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee into his worst crisis since he took office in 1999. He is under pressure to crack down on Hindu hardliners in the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) - which springs from the same ideological family as his own BJP -to ease communal tensions," reported the Reuters news agency.
"An Indonesian Muslim leader yesterday filed a US$100mil (RM380mil) lawsuit against the Singapore government after it accused him of being a leader of an international terror group. Abu Bakar Ba'asyir and five of his lawyers filed the complaint with the South Jakarta district court, alleging slander and libel. Abu Bakar later blasted the United States as the real terrorist. The money would be distributed to victims of recent natural disasters in Indonesia and to promote Islamic education," reported the AFP news service.
"Gen F.L. Buster Hagenbeck, commander of Operation Anaconda which now has nearly 1,200 US troops in the battle alongside 200 commandos from Western nations and more than 800 Afghan allies, said fundamentalist fighters were rushing to join in the war against the United States," reported the Reuters news agency.
"I"sraeli troops backed by tanks and aircraft fought their way into a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank yesterday, defying US pressure to end an offensive that has increased fears of all-out war. International peace efforts have faded into the background, despite calls by some leftist Israelis for peace talks and a Saudi peace initiative which is gathering support abroad," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Eradicating terrorism will require more than attacking its sources of funding and support, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Wednesday, calling for global efforts to reduce poverty and spur economic growth. It requires addressing those grievances which terrorists find useful to exploit for their own ends,he said. Nowhere was this more apparent than in Afghanistan, he said. He added that prevention in this case means ensuring that security is provided throughout the country and not just in Kabul. Otherwise we risk a return to violence and conflict,"reported the Reuters news agency.
"Milosevic, the former Yugoslav leader charged with crimes against humanity in Croatia and Kosovo and genocide in Bosnia in the 1990s, listened impassively as the 41-year-old witness chronicled a catalogue of grisly killings in the southern Serb province. Prosecutors have asked witnesses to outline the build-up to Nato intervention against Serb forces in Kosovo and the 1999 mass expulsion of its majority-ethnic Albanian population," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Cuba scrambled to offer condolences, blood and airports for diverted airliners after the Sept 11 attacks on the United States, and provided intelligence to help the United States track the culprits. But the information proved worthless and the Caribbean island will remain on a US list of states that sponsor terrorism, along with Libya, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan and North Korea, a US official said on Wednesday," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Seventeen photographers sacked from a local photo agency owned by US billionaire Bill Gates have staged a Full Monty style protest by appearing naked in a magazine that hit newsstands yesterday," reported the AFP news service.
"Britain's top policeman attacked the country's justice system on Wednesday for what he said was the betrayal of ordinary people and the appearance of favouring criminals over their victims. Violent crime is rising around the country, and particularly here, with a spate of shootings, muggings, car hijackings and violent incidents this year alone. Stevens complained that the courts did not appear to differentiate between different crimes, treating muggers with the same kid gloves as shoplifters," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The largest Roman Catholic archdiocese in the US is publishing a frankly worded set of guidelines on preventing and reporting sex abuse by members of the clergy. Tod Tamberg, spokesman for the archdiocese, said It is one in a number of documents that they hope the Catholic faithful in Los Angeles will read," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"In the final report on the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal, an independent counsel said on Wednesday he had enough evidence and could have prosecuted and probably convicted former President Bill Clinton for impeding justice and giving false testimony," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Sex workers from a number of Asian countries including Malaysia, Thailand and Taipei have demanded professional status including trade union rights, arguing they help attract much-needed foreign currency into their countries. Khartini, who hails from Malaysia, deplored the treatment meted out to her colleagues in Islamic countries, saying the meet was contemplating a resolution which would be forwarded to the United Nations to focus attention on the issue," reported the AFP news service.
"US officials rallied Americans yesterday to focus their energies on a new task: patrolling their neighbourhoods for terrorists, as many had done for decades in citizens watch programmes, keeping an eye out for burglars and other unsavory characters," reported the AFP news service.
Zimbabwe’s bitter election campaign entered its final day yesterday with President Robert Mugabe and challenger Morgan Tsvangirai both confident of winning an election the opposition accuses Mugabe of trying to steal," reported the Reuters news agency.
Saudi doctors reported the world’s first human womb transplant on Thursday, but leading fertility experts were quick to question the ethics and success of the operation. Robert Winston of Hammersmith Hospital here said the operation was a complete failure and could endanger women’s lives," reported the Reuters news agency.
A British historian’s claim that a Chinese admiral reached America decades before the Italian explorer has unleashed a frenzy of media interest in a theory that could force the rewriting of history. Gavin Menzies, 64, a former Royal Navy submarine commander, provoked headlines around the globe last week after a British newspaper published an outline of his thesis that China “discovered” the New World 70 years before the West," reported the Reuters news agency.
Thousands of male Bogota residents stayed home late on Friday, sticking to a curfew for all men decreed by Mayor Antanas Mockus to let the city’s women party hard and enjoy the night with their gal pals," reported the AFP news service.
The largest Muslim charity in the United States has filed suit against the US government, saying Washington’s move to freeze its assets was a violation of constitutional rights, the New York Times reported yesterday. The group, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, filed the suit in a Washington DC federal court on Friday, challenging the government’s move to label it a financier of terrorism, the daily reported," reported the AFP news service.
The government of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has asked for the deployment of army troops to control Hindu activists planning to launch the construction of a temple on the site of the razed Ayodhya mosque," reported the AFP news service.
