"The United States described the situation in Jenin as a “human tragedy” yesterday, as Israel promised to co-operate with a fact-finding mission approved by the UN Security Council to examine its invasion of the Palestinian camp," reported the AFP news service.
"Religious tensions flared and a curfew was imposed in a central Indian town after a Hindu boy was killed and a Muslim man was shot dead in separate incidents, police said yesterday," reported Reuters news agency.
"Lebanon and Syria had on Wednesday asked the EU to ban Israel from attending the EuroMed meeting, for its barbaric aggressions against the Palestinians.But EU External Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten said the same day that Israel’s presence in Valencia is essential for the success of the conference. Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri said yesterday that Lebanon would boycott next week’s meeting in Spain of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership (EuroMed), citing the fact that Israel would be attending," reported the AFP news service.
"Hundreds of US military engineers landed on Basilan yesterday to begin building roads and aircraft landing zones on a southern Philippine island stronghold of Muslim guerillas linked to the al-Qaeda network," reported Reuters news agency.
"British forces have received reports that assassins posing as journalists could be trying to kill Afghanistan’s former king, who returned home this week after 29 years in exile, a Royal Marines spokesman said yesterday," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Venezuela’s air force chief was among 10 people killed when a military helicopter crashed in bad weather in mountains north of the capital, officials said yesterday. The accident came one week after a group of Venezuelan military officers launched a failed coup against President Hugo Chavez, but officials said the accident was caused by bad weather and no foul play was suspected," reported Reuters news agency.
"The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a new security alert warning banks in the north-eastern United States that they could be the targets of an imminent, but unspecified, terrorist attack," reported the AFP news service.
"The top opponent of Iran’s ruling clerics returned from the United States yesterday in a stunning gesture that could give fresh momentum to reformists after facing a relentless crackdown," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"US prosecutors said on Friday they would seek the death penalty for Brian Regan, a former US Air Force intelligence analyst charged with attempted spying for Libya, Iraq and China," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Hundreds of US military engineers landed on Basilan yesterday to begin building roads and aircraft landing zones on a southern Philippine island stronghold of Muslim guerillas linked to the al-Qaeda network," reported the Reuters news agency.
"It was a cloudless spring afternoon, and regional government workers at the landmark Pirelli office tower were leaving for the day when the small plane smashed into the 30-storey building, sending black smoke billowing into the blue sky. For many in the area, the sights and sounds evoked memories of Sept 11 – and fears that this, too, was a terrorist attack," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"The US Senate, still reeling from the Sept 11 attacks, moved late on Thursday to bar visitors from countries formally declared sponsors of terrorism, and tighten control over foreign students coming to the United States," reported the AFP news service.
"The Israeli army yesterday pulled out of Jenin and its battered refugee camp, where Palestinians have been digging through rubble for corpses amid the stench of death," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Osama bin Laden vowed in an undated videotape aired on Thursday that the United States would not feel safe until Palestinians enjoyed peace. Osama regards the United States as the key enemy of Muslims for what he calls bias towards Israel and for having a military presence in Muslim countries, mainly Saudi Arabia," reported the Reuters news agency.
"British troops have found indications that Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters may be sneaking back into the area they fled last month during the US-led Operation Anaconda," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"An alleged Indonesian bomb expert for the al-Qaeda network got a second jail term in the Philippines yesterday after pleading guilty to falsifying passport details as part of a suspected terror scheme. Speaking through an interpreter provided by the Indonesian embassy, Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, 30, admitted he acquired two passports in the southern Philippine city of Zamboanga last year by claiming he was Filipino-born," reported the AFP news service.
"Hundreds more US troops will join 660 American soldiers who are already in the southern Philippines helping to fight Muslim rebels linked to the al-Qaeda terror network, officials said yesterday," reported the AFP news service.
"The growing US military presence in the Philippines to help the government crush Islamic extremists could spark an escalation of the conflict, a risk consultancy warned. Washington also risks getting bogged down in a protracted and costly conflict in the southern Philippines if its role is mainly limited to training local forces, the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) said," reported the AFP news service.
"A government plan to tax the immensely popular mobile phone short messaging service (SMS) in the Philippines has met with strong opposition, with some even warning of a mass revolt. The cash-strapped administration of President Gloria Arroyo made the proposal last week in a desperate bid to trim its budget deficit estimated at 130 billion pesos (RM9.5bil) this year," reported the AFP news service.
"India is perceived as the most vulnerable country in Asia in terms of external threats, while Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, China and Vietnam are the least exposed, a regional survey showed. The US-backed fight against extremists in the southern Philippines bears watching because its success or failure could shape Washington’s role in Asia in the medium term, PERC said in its latest Asian Intelligence survey and analysis," reported the AFP news service.
"Two explosions rocked this city yesterday, killing at least 12 people and wounding more than 40, in what police said could be attacks by Muslim extremists. Regional police chief Col Bartolome Baluyot said there may be more dead because many of the injured are in serious condition," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Former king Mohammad Zaher Shah has told the Afghan people that he has no interest in regaining his throne and plans to spend his remaining years in Afghanistan," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat yesterday slammed Israel’s announced withdrawal from Palestinian cities it has reoccupied as a lie and public relations stunt," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Police fired to disperse clashing Hindus and Muslims, killing two men, as fresh religious violence flared in India’s riot-torn western state of Gujarat, police said yesterday," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Two US senators privy to intelligence information warned on Sunday that Jewish individuals and institutions outside Israel, including those in the United States, could be the next targets of terrorist attacks. An unnamed senior leader of a group belonging to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades was quoted to say that now American targets are the same as Israeli targets," reported the AFP news service.
"A weekend of largely peaceful protests behind them, police braced for more demonstrations that could cause traffic disruptions in the capital as the work week resumed. Groups, who opposed to US military aid to Colombia and believed US policies worsen violent conflicts in the South American country, would march without a permit between the Washington Monument and the Capitol and block streets with sit-ins along the way," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Amnesty International called yesterday for an international war crimes probe into the events surrounding the recent Israeli incursion into Jenin, following a recent fact-finding mission to the West Bank town. Amnesty delegate Javier Zuniga, who visited Jenin last week as part of a three-day survey, said that very serious breaches of international law were committed, and we are talking here of war crimes," reported the AFP news service.
"The head of a global body policing a chemical weapons ban defiantly refused on Sunday to cave in to a US campaign to oust him over his attempts to woo Iraq into joining the organisation and accept inspections," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A state of emergency was declared yesterday in this southern Philippines city where a series of bomb attacks left 14 people dead and 60 injured, President Gloria Arroyo’s chief security adviser said," reported the AFP news service.
"Some 5,600 US and Philippine troops began a three-week joint exercise yesterday that will focus on war games and civil projects as the two countries bolster their relationship in the face of terrorist threats," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Pakistan’s Supreme Court began hearing three petitions yesterday challenging the constitutionality of President Pervez Musharraf’s referendum to extend his term in office. The referendum has been condemned by opposition groups and last week a high court judge resigned in protest, alleging he was being pressured to support the vote," reported the AFP news service.
"American cardinals began a landmark two-day meeting with Pope John Paul II and top Vatican officials yesterday to discuss the problem of paedophile priests which has shaken the Roman Catholic Church to its foundations," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A mad dog went on a rampage here, attacking 17 people including six children inside a resort and a restaurant, officials said yesterday," reported the dpa news agency.
"543 Thais dead and 37,180 injured – all inflicted in just five days, from April 12 to 17; in accidents linked to Songkran or the Water Festival from April 12 to 17," reported The Bangkok Post.
"Israeli and Palestinian delegations began direct talks yesterday to try to end a three-week-old standoff between troops and gunmen at the Nativity Church here, an Israeli army spokesman said," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Egyptian Prime Minister Atef Ebeid said his country would go to war with Israel if Arab countries stumped up $US100 billion ($A186.32 billion) to pay for the confrontation, in an interview published. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak accused Israel of going beyond all limits with its military actions in the West Bank, particularly in Bethlehem and Jenin," reported the AFP news service.
"Israel threatened to block a UN mission to probe its devastating assault on the Jenin refugee camp, but opened the way for European envoys to visit besieged Palestinian President Yasser Arafat yesterday," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Spanish police arrested a man suspected of being a member of the al-Qaeda group here on Tuesday," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Terrified families crowded into relief camps in Gujarat yesterday following the worst flare-up of religious violence in nearly two months," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Philippine police arrested yesterday three more suspects for bomb blasts that killed l5 people and said they were investigating possible links to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Pope John Paul II issued his strongest warning yet to paedophile priests on Tuesday, telling US cardinals that there was no placet in religious life for those who would harm young people," reported the AFP news service.
"US Roman Catholic Church officials meeting at the Vatican looked set to approve a one strike and you’re outpolicy to expel future child molesters from the priesthood, a participant said yesterday," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The parents of a former altar boy at a Florida Roman Catholic church sued two priests on Tuesday, saying their son became a drug user and promiscuous homosexual who ultimately died of AIDS after being molested by the clergymen, their lawyer said," reported the Reuters news agency.
"British police began to arrest suspected paedophiles across the country yesterday after a six-month operation by 34 divisional police forces to crack down on Internet child pornography," reported the AFP news service.
"An Italian fertility specialist who has said he intends to create the world’s first human clone told a television show yesterday three women were pregnant. The Italian doctor has refused to confirm or deny the story, but told Italy state television yesterday that three cloned pregnancies existed in the world at the moment. He said two of the three pregnancies were developing in Russia and one in an Islamic state and that they were six to nine weeks along," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Scientists in Sweden have found high levels of a substance believed to cause cancer in staple foods eaten by millions of people around the world, such as bread, rice and potatoes, Swedish media reported on Tuesday," reported the Reuters news agency.
"UN Secretar-General Kofi Annan insisted the UN mission to the Jenin refugee camp, assembling in Geneva, get ready for a trip to the Middle East despite Israeli objections. UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said that the Israelis indicated to Mr Annan in advance that they would co-operate with whatever team he named, and those are his people and that’s the end of the discussion," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, accused of human rights violations in the 1970s in Latin America and Southeast Asia, admitted on Wednesday that mistakes were made by the US government. Kendrick Oliver, a US foreign policy expert from Southampton University supposes that Kissinger has a moral case to answer, the question is whether he has a legal case to answer," reported the AFP news service.
"Former Yugoslav army chief of staff Dragoljub Ojdanic, wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Kosovo, left Belgrade for the Netherlands yesterday to surrender to the United Nations tribunal in The Hague," reported the AFP news service.
"The family of an American Christian missionary couple held by Abu Sayyaf Muslim rebels in the southern Philippines said yesterday they had cut a deal with the kidnappers," reported the AFP news service.
"Police fired bullets to disperse Hindu and Muslim mobs who stoned each other while burning shops and homes in the western state of Gujarat, where 863 people have been killed in the state in two months of religious rioting, police said yesterday," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"The Singapore Government was yesterday given until next month to defend a US$100mil (RM380mil) libel suit in a Jakarta court brought by a Muslim cleric, a judge said," reported the AFP news service.
"After an extraordinary meeting sparked by a sex abuse scandal, American Roman Catholic leaders agreed on Wednesday to make it easier to remove priests guilty of sexually abusing minors – but they stopped short of a zero-tolerance policy to dismiss all abusive clerics. But the final statement was less than the blanket order for the dismissal of all abusive priests that some had sought, nor did it make specific proposals for the reporting of sex abuse crimes to authorities," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"American cardinals backed down from a zero-tolerance policy of removing paedophile priests and indicated they would only go after repeat offenders," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan insisted the UN mission to the Jenin refugee camp, assembling in Geneva, get ready for a trip to the Middle East despite Israeli objections. UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said that the Israelis indicated to Mr Annan in advance that they would co-operate with whatever team he named, and those are his people and that’s the end of the discussion," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, accused of human rights violations in the 1970s in Latin America and Southeast Asia, admitted on Wednesday that mistakes were made by the US government. Kendrick Oliver, a US foreign policy expert from Southampton University supposes that Kissinger has a moral case to answer, the question is whether he has a legal case to answer," reported the AFP news service.
"Former Yugoslav army chief of staff Dragoljub Ojdanic, wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Kosovo, left Belgrade for the Netherlands yesterday to surrender to the United Nations tribunal in The Hague," reported the AFP news service.
"The family of an American Christian missionary couple held by Abu Sayyaf Muslim rebels in the southern Philippines said yesterday they had cut a deal with the kidnappers," reported the AFP news service.
"Police fired bullets to disperse Hindu and Muslim mobs who stoned each other while burning shops and homes in the western state of Gujarat, where 863 people have been killed in the state in two months of religious rioting, police said yesterday," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"The Singapore Government was yesterday given until next month to defend a US$100mil (RM380mil) libel suit in a Jakarta court brought by a Muslim cleric, a judge said," reported the AFP news service.
"After an extraordinary meeting sparked by a sex abuse scandal, American Roman Catholic leaders agreed on Wednesday to make it easier to remove priests guilty of sexually abusing minors – but they stopped short of a zero-tolerance policy to dismiss all abusive clerics. But the final statement was less than the blanket order for the dismissal of all abusive priests that some had sought, nor did it make specific proposals for the reporting of sex abuse crimes to authorities," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"American cardinals backed down from a zero-tolerance policy of removing paedophile priests and indicated they would only go after repeat offenders," reported the Associated Press news agency.
A recently expelled student armed with a handgun and a pump-action gun opened fire at his former school yesterday, killing 17 people and then shooting himself in what was believed to be the country’s worst shooting violence since the end of World War II," reported the Associated Press news agency.
The United States, worried by China’s missile build-up opposite Taiwan, is pushing ahead with plans to boost its forces in the region, according to the Pentagon’s top policymaker on East Asia," reported the Reuters news agency.
Angry with the US immigration service’s inability to ferret out suspected terrorists ahead of Sept 11, the US House of Representatives declared it beyond repair and voted to break it up. The measure was born out frustration with the plodding agency with a backlog of 4.9 million cases that many now accuse of failing to stop terrorists responsible for the Sept 11 attacks at US border checkpoints," reported the AFP news service.
Israeli forces raided the West Bank city of Qalqilya yesterday despite a fresh call from US President George W. Bush for Israel to complete a pullout from re-occupied Palestinian areas," reported the Reuters news agency.
