"The FBI warned that terrorists could use fuel tanker trucks for attacks in the United States or against US interests overseas, with Jewish schools or synagogues possible targets," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Israel’s Security Cabinet endorsed a plan to gradually reoccupy Palestinian land until attacks on Israelis stop, a major shift in its strategy after an especially bloody week in the 21-month-old conflict.
"Asked about the Jenin shooting, Arafat aide Nabil Abu Rdeneh said Israel’s policy of reoccupying Palestinian areas endangered peace prospects. He urged Washington to step in. He said Israel is taking advantage of this American absence and this American green light," reported the AP news agency.
"The head of the US Senate intelligence committee on Sunday said Washington believed Osama bin Laden was hiding out in western Pakistan, hours after an al-Qaeda spokesman said he was alive and warned the United States to fasten its seat belt for more attacks," reported the AFP news service.
"Israeli troops are keeping more than a half million Palestinians under effective house arrest with round-the-clock curfews and largely barring the media from covering its escalating invasion of the West Bank – an operation that has faced minimal Palestinian resistance and limited international criticism," reported the AP news agency.
"Israeli forces killed six Palestinians in a helicopter missile strike on a car carrying Islamic militants in the Gaza Strip yesterday and surrounded Yasser Arafat in his headquarters in the West Bank. In an apparent response to that pressure, Arafat placed Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, wheelchair-bound founder and spiritual leader of the Islamic Hamas movement, under house arrest in Gaza City early yesterday," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Afghanistan’s new transitional Cabinet was sworn in yesterday at the presidential palace in Kabul with former interior minister Yunus Qanooni finally agreeing to rejoin the government as education minister. Karzai however has still been unable to appoint a minister for women’s affairs in succession to Sima Samar," reported the AFP news service.
"President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has ordered soldiers to capture Khaddafi Janjalani, the chief of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, after another top leader was believed to have been killed in a recent clash," reported the AP news agency.
"A new survey conducted by Indian condom manufacturer KamaSutra and carried out among 3,176 people living in 10 cities found that more than 43% of the sample claims to have had pre-marital sex and a third of them claim to have had it before they were 21 years old. Young Indian couples living in cities have sex every week and around 40% say they have had sex before marriage, something considered taboo among the older generation, according to the survey," reported the AFP news service.
"US President George W. Bush has written off Yasser Arafat as part of any Middle East peace accord, saying Palestinians must pick new leaders not compromised by terror to attain a state alongside Israel. Bush, presenting a long-awaited peace script, said Israel must do its part for peace too by halting settlement building on land where Palestinians are waging a revolt against occupation, and pulling tanks and troops out of Palestinian towns. A statement by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s office did not mention Bush’s speech but repeated that Israel was ready for negotiations after a total end to terror, violence and incitement, Arafat’s removal and profound Palestinian reform. The Palestinian Authority statement also called for urgent US and international intervention to make Israeli forces leave Palestinian towns, saying reforms and elections were impossible under military siege," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The FBI is visiting libraries nationwide and checking the reading records of people it suspects of having ties to terrorists or plotting an attack, library officials say. The FBI effort, authorised by the anti-terrorism law enacted after the Sept 11 attacks, is the first broad government check of library records since the 1970s when prosecutors reined in the practice for fear of abuses. Libraries across the nation were reluctant to discuss their dealings with the FBI. The same law that makes the searches legal also makes it a criminal offence for librarians to reveal the details or extent," reported the AP news agency.
"A military mole in the Abu Sayyaf guerilla organisation survived a fire-fight last week and emerged yesterday to collect a five million peso Philippine government reward for the presumed death of rebel leader Abu Sabaya," reported the AFP news service..
"President Yasser Arafat called elections for January and will stand for office again despite George Bush's appeal to Palestinians to dump their longtime leader. In another boost for Sharon, a Brussels appeals court threw out a genocide suit against him Wednesday, ruling his absence from Belgium meant he could not be investigated there over the 1982 massacre of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon," reported the Reuters news agency.
"In the isolation of a heavily guarded mountain retreat, world leaders challenged President Bush's call for Yasser Arafat's ouster at a summit shaken by new economic tumult Wednesday. In a grim reminder of terrorism's threat, camouflaged soldiers, tanks and anti-aircraft missiles stood guard over the green valleys and craggy peaks encircling the resort where Bush and his counterparts met. The sluggish U.S. economy also squeezed its way into the talks after Bush said corporate scandals have weakened American markets," reported the AP news agency.
"WorldCom Inc. teetered toward what would be the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history after shocking Wall Street — and the president — with yet another corporate scandal: $3.8 billion in expenses hidden from investors. Stocks plunged Wednesday after the disclosure by the long-distance and Internet services company, the latest revelation of how business ethics were trashed during the technology boom of the late 1990s. WorldCom's sudden fall comes at a time when the nation is dealing with a rash of scandals at publicly traded companies that have shaken the nation's faith in corporate America and prompted a flood of shareholder lawsuits," reported the AP news agency.
"President Bush called WorldCom's revelation of billions in disguised expenses outrageous, announced a government investigation and said he could understand why jittery investors have come to doubt the balance sheet of corporate America," reported the AP news agency.
"Federal Reserve policy-makers decided to hold short-term interest rates at 40-year lows Wednesday amid a spotty recovery, a slide in the stock market and a drop in Americans' confidence in the economy," reported the AP news agency.
"A year after violence at the G-8 summit in Italy overshadowed their message, anti-globalisation demonstrators expressed both determination to gather peacefully and concern that authorities would overreact to their protests. A festival atmosphere permeated demonstrations and other events on Tuesday on the eve of the summit of leaders from the world’s richest nations and Russia, who were to meet 100km away in the Rocky Mountain resort of Kananaskis. But protest organisers accused authorities of raising tensions by denying them permits to set up a solidarity village in Calgary where demonstrators could congregate, and hold concerts and seminars," reported the AP news agency.
"A US federal judge entered a not-guilty plea on Tuesday on behalf of French national Zacarias Moussaoui after he refused to answer to charges he conspired in the deadly Sept 11 terror attacks. The French citizen of Moroccan descent was defiant, saying he refused to recognise the court’s authority. He complained that he had not been given the necessary tools to defend himself, and the judge again refused him access to a Muslim lawyer he chose as an adviser after winning the right to defend himself," reported the AFP news service.
"A key member of Australia’s federal opposition, Mark Latham, refused to apologise for saying Prime Minister John Howard had acted like an arse-licker in a recent meeting with US President George W. Bush. He said it was an arse-licking effort in that Australia needed a prime minister who was willing to stand up for Australia’s best interests, to read the riot act to the Americans," reported the AFP news service.
"Acting on US intelligence, Pakistani soldiers raided an al-Qaeda hide-out near the Afghan border, setting off a gunbattle that killed 10 Pakistani soldiers and two suspected members of the terror network," reported the AP news agency.
"Taking a hammer to one of the pillars of U.S. civic society, a federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday it was unconstitutional to ask schoolchildren to recite the Pledge of Allegiance vowing fealty to one nation under God. In a 2-1 decision that drew condemnation from across the political spectrum, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a 1954 Act of the U.S Congress that added under God to the pledge, saying the words violated the basic Constitutional tenet of separation of church and state," reported the Reuters news agency.
"U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy accused the Bush administration on Wednesday of trying to put its proposed department to combat terrorism above the law," reported the Reuters news agency.
"US President George W. Bush stepped up pressure on the Palestinians on Wednesday to remove long-time leader Yasser Arafat, threatening to withhold financial aid unless they embrace reform and sever ties to terrorism," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Israeli helicopter gunships resumed the assault on President Yasser Arafat’s local offices here yesterday as a standoff between the army and Palestinian suspects holed inside entered its second day," reported the AFP news service.
"The world’s most powerful leaders, meeting behind well-guarded gates at a Canadian mountain resort, named Russia a full member of their exclusive club on Wednesday and sought new ways to help stop terror groups getting their hands on nuclear bombs," reported the Reuters news agency.
"US government experts, wary of al-Qaeda’s skills on the Internet, are concerned that Osama bin Laden’s guerilla network may be planning cyber-attacks targeting nuclear power plants, dams or other critical structures," reported the Reuters news agency.
"US aviation officials imposed temporary flight restrictions over three national landmarks – including the Statue of Liberty in New York – for fear of possible attacks during the Independence Day holiday," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A US appeals court sparked national fury on Wednesday by ruling unconstitutional a key patriotic pledge recited daily by generations of American school children because it mentions God. The outrage came after three judges of a federal appeals court here ruled the phrase one nation under God in the pledge is a government endorsement of religion forbidden by the US Constitution," reported the AFP news service.
"President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has asked Vice-President Teofisto Guingona to leave her Cabinet amid a public row between the Philippines’ two highest officials over the presence of US troops," reported the AFP news service.
"Twenty people, including five Muslim civilians, were killed yesterday in a day of violence in Kashmir as India ruled out any pullback of troops from the Pakistan border before October elections. The Indian government is hoping the election in Kashmir will pass off peacefully, thereby ending Kashmiris’ criticism that New Delhi has prevented them from choosing their own leaders," reported the AFP news service.
"Afghan President Hamid Karzai named a women’s affairs minister yesterday, ending several days of consternation over his failure to fill the post while swearing in the rest of the Cabinet. Habiba Sarabi, an ethnic Hazara and daughter of former minister Wahed Sarabi, was appointed to replace the outgoing Sima Samar," reported the AFP news service.
"Israel’s Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said on Thursday he could still work with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, days after US President George W. Bush urged Palestinians to dump their longtime leader. In an interview with the BBC’s Newsnight programme, Peres said he could still work with Arafat as head of the Palestinian Authority if he was prepared to adopt sweeping reforms," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The United States threatened yesterday to veto a Security Council resolution extending the life of the UN mission in Bosnia unless it gave peacekeepers immunity from the new global criminal court. The threat came as supporters of the International Criminal Court, which assumes its powers on Monday, accused Washington of trying to cripple the tribunal even before its birth. Richard Dicker, director of the International Justice Programme of New York-based Human Rights Watch, said the United States government is trying to use the council as a battering ram against the independence and impartiality of the International Criminal Court," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The world’s richest countries on Thursday signed an agreement with African leaders to support development, but the plan was long on advice and short on much-needed new cash. African countries, heavily reliant on crops like coffee and cotton, complain they are at the mercy of farm subsidies in rich countries and are being left out of trade liberalisation," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Mud-smeared nature nurturing protesters, some cavorting topless, romped through the streets here on Thursday, in a pagan-inspired climax to demonstrations against the Group of Eight summit," reported the AFP news service.
"At least 10 people were killed yesterday when an ammunition depot blew up in southern Afghanistan. An Afghan official said a rocket fired overnight by al-Qaeda fugitives had hit the depot in the town of Spin Boldak, near the border with Pakistan, but another said it was too early to say what caused the blast," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A major battle was under way yesterday against the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group in the southern Philippines. Arroyo prefaced a major policy speech on utility reform with a brief statement that troops were going after the group’s top two leaders and already had overrun four Abu Sayyaf camps," reported the AP news agency.
"An Israeli army bulldozer began destroying a sidewall in the besieged Hebron Palestinian headquarters yesterday, the fourth day of a siege, as the Israelis demanded the surrender of gunmen inside. With Israeli troops controlling seven of the eight main West Bank cities and towns, the Palestinian leadership issued a statement yesterday condemning the Israeli incursions into Palestinian areas as an attempt to sabotage peace efforts," reported the AP news agency.
"Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee pledged yesterday free elections in insurgency-wracked Kashmir and said there was no question of war with Pakistan, despite a six-month military standoff between the nuclear powers," reported the AFP news service.
"President George W. Bush transferred the powers of the presidency to Vice President Dick Cheney for more than two hours yesterday while under sedation for a routine colon screening. The test revealed no polyps or other abnormalities, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said in a statement after Bush became just the second president to invoke the Constitution’s succession-of-powers clause," reported the AP news agency.
"US President George W. Bush vowed yesterday to prosecute corporate executives involved in financial fraud and prevent wrongdoers from ever holding executive jobs in US companies. The remarks signalled a toughening of the administration’s position on financial scandals, which have been sweeping the US corporate world since last December when energy giant Enron filed for bankruptcy amid revelations of double book-keeping," reported the AFP news service.
"Israeli troops were searching yesterday for the bodies of 15 Palestinian militants reportedly killed when the army blew up a Palestinian administrative building here overnight. The massive three-storey building, which housed administrative and security offices and had been under siege since Tuesday, was reduced to rubble by two huge explosions," reported the AFP news service.
"Bolivia’s presidential campaign became embroiled in controversy as the top election authority criticised the United States for meddling in today’s vote after it warned voters not to elect a candidate defending coca production. Bolivia has been a key ally in the US-led war against coca production, eradicating much of its drug crop, but the campaign is violently resisted by coca-growing farmers led by presidential candidate Evo Morales, fourth in polls and who may hold the future balance of power in Congress," reported the Reuters news agency.
"President Franklin Roosevelt personally ordered covert surveillance of Britain’s Duke and Duchess of Windsor because the US wartime leader was worried about them passing top secrets to the Nazis," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Pakistani police yesterday named the outlawed Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi as one of the gangs behind the deadly June 14 car-bomb attack on the US consulate here, and linked it to an earlier blast that killed 11 French nationals," reported the AFP news service.
"Rescuers yesterday pulled dead and wounded from the rubble of a destroyed weapons depot in the southern Afghan border town of Spin Boldak after explosions killed dozens of people, relief workers said. The final death toll from a chain of blasts that tore through the depot from midnight on Thursday and into the early hours of Friday remained unclear, with one United Nations official citing Spin Boldak authorities saying 32 people were killed and 70 wounded," reported the AFP news service.
