"Jewish settlers in the West Bank have built 44 new sites since Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon came to power in Feb 2001, the anti-settlement group Peace Now said in a report released yesterday. The report came out as Defence Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer pledged that his forces would dismantle 10 illegally-built settler outposts in the West Bank, but Peace Now accused him of fudging the issue," reported the AFP news service.
"The United States has drafted a general plan to kill Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, an Iraqi opposition leader told Arab satellite news channel Al-Jazeera on Saturday night. Washington is tracking Saddam’s movements through satellite data and human intelligence, with the plan to order air strikes to try to kill him when they are sure they have determined with accuracy the spot where he can be found," reported the said former Iraqi intelligence chief Wafiq Sammarai," reported the AFP news service.
"The FBI has warned local law enforcement agencies to be on the lookout for attacks ahead of the first post-Sept 11 celebration of Independence Day. The warning came in a series of secret communications between FBI headquarters here and police departments across the country that are increasingly concerned that Fourth of July crowds could be an attractive target for foreign militants," reported the AFP news service.
"A US federal judge declared the death penalty unconstitutional on Monday, saying that it creates an undue risk of executing innocent people. The controversial ruling came as it emerged that the attorney-general, John Ashcroft, has been aggressively overriding his prosecutors to impose the death penalty in cases where life imprisonment had been recommended," reported the Guardian News Service.
"The Afghan government protested on Tuesday over the reported killing of 40 civilians, including a wedding party, by U.S. planes searching for Taliban militants and urged the U.S. military to plan its targets more carefully," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Afghan and US officials headed to an Afghan village yesterday to investigate reports that a stray US bomb killed 40 members of a wedding party during a major operation to track down Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar. An Afghan Defence Ministry official, Dr Gulbuddin, said more than 30 people were killed as it was a wedding ceremony. he further told that the Americans have confessed that they made a mistake," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Philippine Vice-President Teofisto Guingona resigned as foreign minister yesterday, settling but perhaps not ending a public row with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo over US military exercises in the south of the country. Analysts said differences between the two could erupt again when the administration decides on a proposed agreement with the United States allowing US warships to come into local ports for resupply and repairs. Nationalist groups have opposed such a deal, fearing it would lead to the construction of storage facilities for fuel and ammunition, violating a constitutional provision that bars foreign bases, troops or facilities from Philippine soil. Guingona has expressed strong reservations about the proposed agreement," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The U.S. warplane that may have been responsible for dozens of civilian casualties in southern Afghanistan opened fire because its crew believed they were taking fire from anti-aircraft weapons. At a Pentagon news conference with Pace, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said it was too soon to know for certain that U.S. forces were responsible for the civilian casualties, but he noted that American commanders in Afghanistan had expressed regret for any innocent loss of life. The episode apparently was the worst loss of civilian life at American hands since the war in Afghanistan began, and Pace said U.S. and Afghan officials were determined to get to the bottom of it. However, Rumsfeld said that despite efforts to limit civilian casualties, they are inevitable in war; stating that st is going to happen, it always has and ... it always will," reported the AP news agency.
"Israel’s centre-left Labour Party headed towards a crossroads yesterday over divisive issues of peacemaking with the Palestinians and its future as a key partner in Ariel Sharon’s coalition government. Opening a party conference on Monday, its leader, Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, rejected demands by dovish members to bolt the alliance with the right-wing premier," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat carried out a major purge of his much-criticised security apparatus, as the Israeli security Cabinet mulled easing restrictions on re-occupied West Bank towns yesterday. Israel and the United States have urged Arafat to merge the Gaza and West Bank branches to afford a more unified command structure to curb anti-Israeli attacks," reported the AFP news service.
"Facing a US threat to end UN peacekeeping in Bosnia at midnight yesterday, the Security Council was searching for a compromise to keep American peacekeepers from prosecution by the new international war crimes tribunal without undermining the court. The United States proposed a possible compromise on Tuesday that would allow the five permanent council members – the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China – to use their vetoes to permanently block the court’s investigation or prosecution of peacekeepers," reported the AP news agency.
"A French national suspected of being the 20th hijacker in the Sept 11 attacks has asked to appear before the US Congress, claiming he has relevant information about the terrorist acts that claimed some 3,000 lives. Zacarias Moussaoui expressed the demand in a motion filed on Monday in the US District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, during a hearing designed to prepare for his trial due to begin on Oct 14," reported the AFP news service.
"A poll suggesting race relations have improved in New York since the Sept 11 terror attacks has been greeted with a mixture of disbelief and contempt by the city’s South Asian and Arab populations. The two communities became the targets of violence and racial abuse in the immediate aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Centre, and both say they continue to be subjected to systematic institutional and public persecution. From discrimination in the workplace to racial profiling by federal agencies and verbal abuse on the streets, the sense of insecurity is all pervasive," reported the AFP news service.
"Singapore police are investigating a local Muslim rights activist for criminal defamation after he posted several articles about prominent politicians and personalities on the Internet. Zulfikar Mohamad Shariff, former chief of the Muslim group Fateha, was propelled into the spotlight in January when he claimed the government had prompted home-grown terror plots by aligning itself with the United States and Israel," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will temporarily act as foreign minister after Vice-President Teofisto Guingona resigned from the post on Tuesday. Asked how long Arroyo would keep the foreign ministry job, Press Secretary Silvestre Afable said it will be for the meantime," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A string of erroneous information provided by the US military has raised doubts in Japan about the reliability of their key ally, prompting the government to consider bettering its own intelligence capabilities. The US military has failed Japan in providing reliable information on numerous occasions during the past few years," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Stunned by a torrent of abuse and official complaints from Thailand, a Philadelphia bar manager has shelved an advert featuring the revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej sporting a blond quiff, bleached highlights and sunglasses," reported the AFP news service.
"US authorities arrested a stepson of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein here on Wednesday on charges of entering the United States to attend a flight training seminar without the proper visa. The FBI declined to say how investigators learned of his connection with Hussein," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Mohamed El Filali won’t be anywhere near a fireworks display to celebrate Independence Day. Like many other Muslims, he will keep a low profile this Fourth of July, avoiding fireworks displays, parades or other large crowds where they fear they may be mistaken for terrorists by edgy law enforcement officers or suspicious citizens. It is a fear expressed by Muslims throughout the country, particularly in light of numerous non-specific warnings of possible terrorist attacks that may be timed to coincide with the national holiday," reported the AP news agency.
"Beatles guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi said on Wednesday in a July 4 message to Americans nervous about new Sept 11-style attacks that he could kill world terrorism with love – but he would need US$1bil to do it. Maharishi said that with US$1bil he could train 40,000 expert meditators, or Vedic Pundits, who would generate enough good vibes to save the world," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Prominent British-based journalist John Pilger took a front-page swipe at Washington yesterday, labelling the US a rogue state and charging that its bombs have claimed more Afghan civilian lives than those lost in the World Trade Centre. This was now estimated to have passed 5,000 civilian deaths, Pilger said, almost double the number who died on Sept 11. Pilger also dismissed the role of Royal Marines from Britain, America’s closest ally in its war on terrorism, as a farcical operation as mercenaries of the United States. He said also there is no evidence that a single leader of al-Qaeda has been captured or, to anyone’s knowledge, killed," reported the AFP news service.
"As American and Afghan investigators probed yesterday accounts of the killing of 40 civilians by US warplanes, US officials said that senior Taliban leaders had been sheltering in the village. A US special forces team had surveyed the area at least four times in the past two weeks, and each time planes had been fired on by anti-aircraft guns," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Palestinian President Yasser Arafat served his security chief in the West Bank, Jibril Rajoub, with his dismissal papers yesterday," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The United States is considering delivering 120 advanced air-to-air missiles to Taiwan following indications that China is on the verge of significantly upgrading its Air Force arsenal," reported the AFP news service.
"An Egyptian immigrant armed with guns and a knife opened fire at the Los Angeles International Airport ticket counter of Israeli airline El Al, killing two people before an airline security guard shot him dead," reported the AP news agency.
"Israel is assuming that an attack at Los Angeles airport at the El Al Israel Airlines counter was a terror attack until proven otherwise," reported the AFP news service.
"A small plane crashed into a lakeside picnic area crowded with families celebrating Independence Day near here on Thursday, killing the pilot and co-pilot and a child and a baby on the ground," reported the Reuters news agency.
"UN and Iraqi officials admitted yesterday that negotiations had broken down on the return of UN weapons inspectors to the country as a step towards the lifting of the 12-year-old embargo on Baghdad. UN arms inspectors were pulled out on the eve of the US-British air blitz on Iraq in December 1998," reported the AFP news service.
"They have not been allowed back since, although a lifting of the embargo depends on the elimination of banned weapons programmes in Iraq being certified by international inspectors," reported the AFP news service.
"Israeli forces detained 19 Palestinians in night time raids in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the military said yesterday, hours after a blast in Gaza killed a senior militia leader," reported the AP news agency.
"At least 10 people were injured, two seriously, when a bomb exploded yesterday at the office of Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s new party," reported the AFP news service.
"Police told Pakistan’s Supreme Court yesterday that four men who allegedly gang-raped a teenager on the orders of a tribal jury are still at large," reported the AFP news service.
"The governor of the central Afghan province of Uruzgan said yesterday he wanted the US military to hand over the informer who told it to bomb villages in his province this week, killing 46 civilians. Analysts said mounting anger about the civilian casualties could undermine the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai, and complicate US efforts to track down Taliban remnants and followers of Osama bin Laden, Washington’s prime suspect in the Sept 11 attacks. Karzai urged the United States on Thursday to liase more closely with his government on its military operations in Afghanistan," reported the Reuters news agency.
