"A US judge on Friday sentenced a tearful and apologetic John Walker Lindh, the American captured by US forces during the war in Afghanistan, to 20 years in prison for fighting in support of the Taliban. Before the sentence was announced, Lindh apologised for his actions and told the court he regretted ever joining the Taliban and did not do so in order to fight America. Just hours before Lindh’s sentencing, Briton Richard Reid declared himself an enemy of the United States as he pleaded guilty in a court in Boston to trying to blow up an airplane with explosives in his shoes," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Hailing a defining day in the fight against terrorism, Attorney-General John Ashcroft announced the arrest of four people, Battle, 32; his ex-wife October Martinique Lewis, 25; Patrice Lumumba Ford, 31; brother Muhammad Ibrahim Bilal, 22, on Friday on charges of conspiring to wage war on the United States and support al-Qaeda. While another two, Ahmed Ibrahim Bilal, 24, were being sought outside the United States. Members of Portland’s Muslim community were angered by the arrests. Alaa Abunijem, president of the Islamic Centre, said it seems like part of the witch-hunt from the FBI. The Muslim community in general is being targeted. People in general feel targeted," reported the AP news agency.
"Tensions between India and Pakistan scaled another peak yesterday after the nuclear-armed rivals launched missile tests in moves that drew widespread international condemnation," reported the news Agencies.
"Philippine tuna exporters need better access to North American and Western European markets or thousands of jobs will be lost, creating poverty that could give rise to more terrorism in the predominantly Muslim south, a top official said Monday. Philippine Foreign Secretary Blas Ople said the Abu Sayyaf terror group, which is linked to al-Qaida and was blamed for a bombing last week that killed three people including an American Green Beret, is almost wiped out but could later remerge to pose new threats," reported the AP news agency.
"Asian countries must gang up against the greedy nations who are already shaping the world’s economy and finance through the World Trade Organisation, Malaysian PM Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad said. The PM said they must be brave to formulate their own solution if the Asian economy was to be revived," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"A request from the US Government to trace an American citizen who it claims is an Islamic militant, has been handed over to the Attorney-General’s Chambers, Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said yesterday. Abdullah, who is Home Minister, said he was notified by his ministry two days ago of a request from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to trace Ahmed Ibrahim Bilal, who is wanted for allegedly conspiring to wage war on the US and for giving support to the al-Qaeda movement. An Associated Press report on Saturday, quoting an unnamed senior US government officer, said Ahmed had registered for a religious course in the International Islamic University Malaysia," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"Fire raged on a French oil tanker off the coast of Yemen yesterday after an explosion, and officials variously said they suspected a leak of crude or an attack by a boat laden with explosives. A senior French diplomat in Yemen said it was too early to tell whether the blast that ripped through the Limburg off the south-eastern port of Mina al-Dabah in the Gulf of Aden had been an accident or not. Since the attack on the Cole, Yemen has been working to shrug off a reputation in the West as a haven for Islamic militants. Washington blames the attack on the Cole on Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network," reported the news Agencies.
"US intelligence experts believe that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein will be ousted by members of his inner circle before US forces launch a major ground attack, the Washington Post reported yesterday. Faced with a US military assault and the choice of either being Saddam’s successors or being imprisoned or killed in the fighting, top-ranking military officers or senior Iraqi officials likely will try to eliminate the Iraqi leader, several current and former US officials and intelligence experts told the daily," reported the AFP news service.
"The Bush administration, responding to criticism it has not planned sufficiently for a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, promised on Saturday its military forces would not enter the country as conquerors or treat the Iraqi people as a defeated nation. While reaffirming a decision on using force against Iraq had not been made, Zalmay Khalilzad, a senior aide to President George W. Bush, said should force be required, US and coalition forces will liberate the Iraqi people from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating hundreds of people – mostly young Muslim men – in an effort to uncover al-Qaeda-trained terrorists operating in the United States, the New York Times reported yesterday. The effort involves 24-hour monitoring of suspects’ telephone calls, e-mail messages, Internet use, credit-card charges, their travel and their visits to neighbourhood gathering places, including mosques, the daily reported. The campaign also involves efforts to recruit the suspects’ friends and family members as government informers. The surveillance effort has raised alarm from civil liberties groups and some Arab-American and Muslim leaders, however, who complain that the intense scrutiny has unfairly left the perception that all young men of Arab descent or the Muslim faith have some connection to terrorism," reported the AFP news service.
"Boeing, the American defence company, plans to build the world’s largest aircraft, capable of delivering a fleet of battle tanks directly into a war zone," reported The Sunday Telegraph news agency.
"New York’s Museum of Sex with exhibits ranging from erotic drawings to hand-made handcuffs debuted on Saturday to modest interest from New Yorkers and visitors. The museum houses three galleries on two floors. The inaugural exhibition, entitled, NYC Sex: How New York City Transformed Sex in America includes action cartoons that play at the push of a button and show a variety of sexual acts," reported the AFP news service.
"Saddam Hussein will be captured by the Americans, commit suicide, set oilfields on fire or even just bow out. Never mind that the Iraqi leader, at the helm since 1979, is preparing to win another seven-year term in an Oct 15 referendum. His exiled opponents are busy figuring out what he will do when his hour comes, presumably at the hands of his nemesis, US President George W. Bush. But the dissidents sounded out agree on at least one thing: the Iraqi strongman with an insatiable lust for power will only give up if defeat stares him in the face," reported the AFP news service.
"Israel is deploying a missile defence system to protect Tel Aviv and other major cities if they come under attack from Iraq’s arsenal of Scud missiles, the New York Times reported yesterday. Once it fully deploys the missile defence system, which will take about two years, Israel will be the first nation in the world to have a nationwide missile defence system, the daily reported. The programme, which cost more than US$2bil is partly financed by the United States," reported the AFP news service.
"President Yasser Arafat signed a law on Saturday formally declaring Jerusalem to be the capital of a future independent Palestinian state, legislative speaker Ahmed Korei said. Korei said Arafat decided to sign the law, which had been presented to him by the PLC two years ago, in response to the new US legislation which President George W. Bush signed this week requiring the government to stipulate on documents that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Arafat called the law Bush signed a catastrophe, and Palestinians and Arabs saw it as a biased move backing Israel’s claims to the city," reported the news Agencies.
"The Oct 7 start of the US military campaign last year marked the beginning of the end of five years in power for the Taliban and a new dawn for Afghanistan. While the presence of foreign military in Afghanistan remains a controversial topic, most Afghan and overseas officials agree the key to a lasting peace is the creation of a multi-ethnic national army, the first platoons of which are now reaching graduation. But most accept that one year after the start of the military campaign, Afghanistan still has a long way to go," reported the AFP news service.
"Pakistan’s test-firing of a missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead deep into India was a response to fears that its arch-rival may adopt the pre-emptive strike policy flagged by the United States against Iraq," reported the AFP news service.
"Suspected American terrorist Ahmed Ibrahim Bilal has been arrested and is likely to be deported back to the United States now that his passport has been revoked. Details of his arrest, however, are being withheld pending a police investigation on his suspected network here. Sources said Ahmed Ibrahim was believed to have surrendered to International Islamic University (IIU) authorities on Sunday, which in turn handed him over to the police. Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad, asked to comment on the matter, said the government would conduct its own investigation to see whether the charge against him had basis before taking any action," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"Malaysia will send a protest note to the US Embassy here to voice its disappointment with the superpower’s decision to recognise Jerusalem and not Tel Aviv as Israel’s capital. Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said yesterday the letter would clearly state Malaysia’s position on the issue. Malaysia, he said, urged all Islamic countries to unite through the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) and other international forums, and object to US support for Israel," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"In New York on Sunday, at least 15,000 people gathered in Central Park to denounce Washington’s stance towards Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, including Oscar-winning movie star Susan Sarandon and her actor husband Tim Robbins. Sarandon, star of hit films such as Thelma and Louise, slammed the Bush administration’s alleged bellicose policy as madness ... a war that would kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people. Robbins claimed that the government of Bush, who comes from Texas, was more interested in oil profits than global diplomacy and was ready to attack other nations. In downtown San Francisco, some 5,000 people protested in the city’s Union Square area, according to the local police. In Los Angeles, about 3,000 took part in protests forcing police to close down a battery of streets in the area and even a freeway, albeit briefly," reported the AFP news service.
"The United States has begun building a war crimes dossier to prosecute Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein for genocide, ethnic cleansing, mass executions, rape and other crimes against humanity. The dossier against Saddam and at least 12 other Iraqi officials is being prepared by the US State Department, the Pentagon and intelligence experts. The groundwork is evidence of the mounting preparations of the Bush administration for the proposed regime change in Iraq," reported the Guardian News Service.
"The former chief accounting officer at telecom giant WorldCom pleaded guilty yesterday to charges of securities fraud and conspiracy in connection with a multibillion dollar bookkeeping scandal," reported the AFP news service.
"Police investigated the shooting of a teenager at a suburban Washington school yesterday to see whether the critically injured boy was the latest victim of an elusive sniper accused of killing six people at random around the US capital," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The anti-terrorist section of the Paris public prosecutor’s office opened a preliminary inquiry yesterday into the explosion that gutted a French-flagged supertanker off Yemen. In London, radical Islamic cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri said he believed Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network was behind the tanker explosion," reported the Reuters news agency.
"At least 14 Palestinians were killed yesterday after dozens of Israeli tanks backed by helicopters invaded the Gaza Strip, hampering efforts by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana to ease the two-year conflict in meetings with leaders from both sides," reported the AFP news service.
"The High Court yesterday granted suspected American terrorist Ahmed Ibrahim Bilal an order preventing the Malaysian Government from deporting him to the United States. Outside the High Court registry yesterday, his lawyer Darshan Singh Khaira said Ahmed Ibrahim would also apply for political asylum and permanent resident status in Malaysia," reported the Malaysian Star news agency.
"Malaysia is sceptical that convening a special emergency session of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) on Palestine will help resolve the problem. Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said Malaysia was concerned with the deteriorating situation in Palestine but doubted whether such a session would bring about a concrete outcome to resolve the situation," reported the Malaysian Star news agency.
"The explosion which crippled a French supertanker off Yemen was not an accident, the ship’s captain insisted yesterday as French experts were set to join investigations into the exact causes. But the French foreign ministry stated there was no proof so far of an attack off Al-Mukalla. The indications tend to support a theory advanced by Yemen that the explosion had been an accident, the US official said on condition of anonymity," reported the AFP news service.
"Undeterred by US criticism, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon praised on Tuesday a deadly Israeli military strike in the Gaza Strip as a success and said there would be more such operations. Sharon brushed off the international condemnation, saying the operation was a successful operation. The Israeli commander of Monday’s raid, Brig Gen Israel Ziv, acknowledged that none of those killed were wanted by Israel. He said the main objective was to shake up the group which has carried out dozens of bombing attacks in Israel," reported the AP news agency.
"Immigration agents yesterday arrested a Jordanian national suspected by the military of being involved in last week’s bombing in a southern Philippine city that killed an American soldier and three Filipinos," reported the dpa news agency.
"A group of Indian rationalists challenged yesterday a miracle attributed to Mother Teresa that has put her on the path to sainthood and called for a government inquiry into whether it took place," reported the AFP news service.
"Suspected American terrorist Ahmed Ibrahim Bilal, whose application to extend an interim order allowing him to stay in the country was rejected by the High Court yesterday, will be deported to the United States. Attorney-General Datuk Abdul Gani Patail said a “removal order” had been issued by the Immigration Department to deport the 25-year-old International Islamic University (IIU) student whose visa expired following the revocation of his passport by the US Government. On why Justice Paul had granted an interim stay to Ahmed Ibrahim on Tuesday, he, who described the revocation of the passport by the US as a brilliant legal move, said he had relied on the affidavit evidence and oral representation made by Darshan Singh," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"President George W. Bush’s case against Saddam Hussein, outlined in a televised address to the nation on Monday night, relied on a slanted and sometimes entirely false reading of the available US intelligence, government officials and analysts claimed on Tuesday. Officials in the CIA, FBI and energy department are being put under intense pressure to produce reports which back the administration’s line, it is learnt. In response, some are complying, some are resisting and some are choosing to remain silent. Vincent Cannistraro, the CIA’s former head of counter-intelligence said basically, cooked information is working its way into high-level pronouncements and there’s a lot of unhappiness about it in intelligence, especially among analysts at the CIA," reported the Guardian news service.
"US singer and activist Harry Belafonte launched a stinging attack on US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Tuesday, branding him a sellout to his race for joining the US administration. The stinging verbal assault came during a radio interview from San Diego when Belafonte ripped into the top black official for belonging to President George W. Bush’s conservative government. The veteran singer and leading political and anti-apartheid activist compared Powell to a slave on an old-time southern US cotton plantation who had become beholden to his master. Belafonte also targeted other members of the Bush administration, comparing the tactics of his justice department to those used during the McCarthy communist witch-hunt era of the 1950s," reported the AFP news service.
"A divided US appeals court on Tuesday upheld the federal government’s right to hold secret deportation hearings in the wake of the Sept 11 attacks, saying media access to the proceedings could endanger national security. In a 2-1 vote, a three-judge panel of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the May 29 order of a US district judge in Newark, New Jersey, which said government secrecy rules in immigration cases violated the US Constitution’s First Amendment right to a free press. Lee Gelernt, attorney for the New York-based ACLU Foundation Immigrants’ Rights Project, said the decision is wrong, and that it is at odds with the bedrock principle that a constitutional democracy should not conduct secret hearings to deprive individuals of their liberty," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The sniper who killed six people and wounded two others in the Washington area in the past week left a message to police at the scene of his last shooting scribbled on the Death card of the Tarot, The Washington Post said yesterday. Dear policeman, I am God, read the message on the card used in fortune telling," reported the AFP news service.
"Kuwait said yesterday it had arrested a number of people suspected of aiding two Kuwaitis who killed a US Marine and wounded another this week in what the Gulf state called a terrorist attack. Kuwait’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammad al-Salem al-Sabah told reporters several groups had been detained, including people who supported the gunmen in Tuesday’s attack. Kuwait’s Interior Ministry said it was a “terrorist incident” targeting Marines training on Kuwait’s Failaka Island just off the coast of the capital Kuwait City," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Two opposition politicians yesterday chose to serve jail terms as an act of civil resistance rather than pay fines after being found guilty of holding an illegal rally and trespassing on government grounds. Long live freedom, long live democracy! Chee Soon Juan, secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), told party members, raising clenched fists in defiance while police whisked him away to prison. They said oppression in Singapore must also be met with disciplined and mature civil resistance," reported the AP news agency.
"The U.S. House of Representatives voted 296-133 to give President George W. Bush broad authority to use military force against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein - with or without U.N. support. The Senate was poised to do the same and deliver Bush a major national security policy victory. Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, the most outspoken Senate foe of the resolution accused Congress of handing the president unchecked authority. The United States and Britain continue to encounter resistance from France, Russia and China. Rep. John Spratt said that without a multilateral approach, this will be the United States versus Iraq and in some quarters the U.S. versus the Arab and the Muslim world," reported the AP news agency.
"Two more WorldCom executives pleaded guilty Thursday to charges stemming from a federal probe of the company's multibillion-dollar accounting scandal, bringing to four the number of officials at the Mississippi-based telecom who have admitted to wrongdoing," reported the AP news agency.
"Iraq, trying to avert a US attack, invited the Bush administration yesterday to see for itself that Baghdad was not producing weapons of mass destruction. Washington appeared likely to spurn the latest Iraqi offer, issued just as the two houses of the US Congress seemed likely to approve a resolution authorising a possible US military strike on Iraq," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Israeli soldiers shot dead a 12-year-old Palestinian boy and a teenager during a tank raid into a refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday, witnesses and hospital officials said. Armed clashes broke out when Israeli tanks and troops burst into Rafah refugee camp in an incursion which the army said targeted militants waging a two-year-old uprising against Israeli occupation," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The head of a US Muslim charity was charged on on Wednesday with helping terrorists and deceiving donors by funnelling funds to Osaka bin Alden’s al-Quad network and other militant groups, prosecutors said. Syrian-born Enema Aeronaut, who has been in custody since April, engaged in a “multinational criminal enterprise that for a decade used charitable contributions of innocent Americans – Muslims, non-Muslims and corporations alike – to support al-aide” as well as turmoil in Chechnya and violence in Bosnia," reported the Reuters news agency.
"US Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Wednesday that Harry Belafonte’s comparison of him to a house slave was an unfortunate throwback that he wished the singer-activist had thought twice about making. But Powell, a retired four-star general and retired chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, was unapologetic for accepting a position in the Bush administration," reported the AFP news service.
"A man was shot and killed in the Washington area on Wednesday night in an attack that bore striking similarities to a string of six murders attributed to a mystery sniper in the last week," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Lawmakers gave US President George W. Bush solid bipartisan support for a strike on Iraq, setting the stage for a showdown next week over whether the UN Security Council will also threaten the use of force to compel Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to disarm. The US Senate early yesterday joined the House of Representatives in backing military action, reinforcing Bush’s demand that the Security Council threaten the use of force, if necessary, to get Saddam to abandon programmes for biological, chemical or nuclear weapons," reported the news Agencies.
"Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz said yesterday his country was braced for a possible attack after the US Congress gave President George W. Bush a mandate for a possible strike. Tareq is visiting Syria and Lebanon to rally Arab support against a possible attack. Washington brushed off an invitation by Baghdad on Thursday to come and see it was not producing arms of mass destruction, and Tareq suggested it was the Bush administration that was intent on confrontation, not Iraq. Tareq repeated Iraq’s warnings to countries such as Saudi Arabia – which has said it may allow its bases to be used in a UN-backed attack – that they could be casualties of any US strike on Iraq," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The White House has a plan for the occupation of Iraq that calls for an American-led military government and war-crime trials for Iraqi leaders, the New York Times said Friday. The plan, which is under discussion by the administration, includes a transition to an elected civilian government in Iraq that could take months or years, unnamed senior administration officials told the daily," reported the AFP news service.
"Former US President Jimmy Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize yesterday for upholding democracy and human rights, an award that took a swipe at Washington’s drive to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Gunnar Berge, head of the committee, asked if the award criticised Bush, said with the position Carter has taken on this it can and must be also be seen as criticism of the line the current US administration has taken on Iraq," reported the news Agencies.
"A French tanker damaged by an explosion was towed into a northeastern Yemen port yesterday, as investigators said metal and plastic pieces found on the deck that suggested the ship was rammed by a smaller craft pointed to a terrorist attack. Earlier, a US defence official said several factors pointed to a terrorist attack – the hole in the ship is at sea level, which is consistent with it being struck by a boat or weapon, and the vessel is relatively new, making it unlikely that a malfunction caused the blast," reported the AP news agency.
