"North and South Korea resumed high-level talks on Monday, with Southern concerns about the North's nuclear weapons program likely to dominate the agenda. The three-day, Cabinet-level talks, which opened in the North's capital, Pyongyang, on Sunday, originally were meant to discuss reconciliation projects. But the nuclear issue has taken priority," reported the AP news agency.
"Police investigating a deadly weekend bombing near a Roman Catholic shrine in the southern Philippines were working with a sketchy description of the suspect on Monday: a man about 17 years old wearing a black t-shirt and jeans," reported the AP news agency.
"Three out of every four Germans would not vacation in a Muslim country, according to a survey published in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper yesterday," reported the AFP news service.
"With a US military invasion to remove him looming, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein reached out to his people yesterday issuing a decree meant to empty his jails of everyone from pickpockets to political prisoners. Yet exiled Iraqis, US officials and Middle East political analysts say Saddam’s hearts-and-minds public campaign comes too little, too late," reported the AP news agency.
"The Pentagon has identified as many as 5,000 Iraqi foes of President Saddam Hussein for US combat training due to begin next month, a major step toward a possible US-led military attack on Iraq. Meanwhile , the head of a London-based Iraqi opposition group said US forces must come to Iraq as liberators and not colonisers, warning that their presence as interim administrators would be unacceptable," reported the AFP news service.
"Israel decided yesterday on a partial troop pullout from the West Bank city of Hebron. The officials said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon approved the pullout plan presented by Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer at a meeting they held before the start of the weekly Cabinet session," reported the AFP news service.
"US officials said yesterday that a 1994 agreement with North Korea to freeze its nuclear weapons programme was effectively nullified after the isolated communist country admitted violating the deal. Washington must move carefully, Powell said, noting that it was essential that stored plutonium at a facility at Yongbyon remain under international monitoring, as provided under the agreement," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Britain’s armed forces, on alert for possible war in Iraq, have begun training to replace the country’s striking firefighters – a double headache for Prime Minister Tony Blair as he fights worsening labour problems at home," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The Philippines implemented tough anti-terrorism security measures yesterday following a wave of deadly bomb explosions that have hit public targets here and in the troubled south. But as President Gloria Arroyo sought to soothe frayed nerves, a bomb scare hit a packed mall in Manila’s Makati financial centre with police receiving calls of suspicious boxes in a shopping mall basement. Police investigated and found the boxes were harmless," reported the AFP news service.
"Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has mistakenly identified a man arrested by police as a ranking member of the Abu Sayyaf Muslim extremist group," reported the The Philippine Daily Inquirer.
"A student opened fire without warning in a university classroom here yesterday, killing two people and wounding five others before he was wrestled to the ground by fellow students, police said. With nerves on edge across Australia following the October 12 bombing in Bali that left up to 92 Australians dead, officials quickly said they did not believe the shooting had any terrorist links," reported the AP news agency.
"Australian leaders will meet this week to discuss a broad national security review after the Bali bombing, including plans for a Homeland Security Department like that created in the United States after Sept 11," reported the AFP news service.
"The Australian government rejected suggestions yesterday that voters were rebelling against possible Australian involvement in a war against Iraq, saying a shock by-election win by the leftist Greens was no anti-war vote. The minor Greens party credited its first election win to the lower House of Representatives to their strong campaign against Australian participation in a US-led war in Iraq, saying Australians did not want Washington’s war," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Australia’s head of state, the Governor-General Peter Hollingworth, will travel to Bali today to visit survivors and families of victims of the Oct 12 terrorist bombing," reported the AFP news service.
"A new US-backed resolution on how to deal with Iraq and its weapons programmes is due to go before the UN Security Council this week, as Baghdad again underlined its readiness to welcome back UN arms inspectors and opposition to any new resolution," reported the AFP news service.
"Two people were being questioned yesterday in connection with the sniper attacks that have terrorised the Washington, DC, area, and a Saturday shooting was positively linked to the spree, police said. The two men were taken into custody earlier yesterday," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Embarrassed Philippine police officials acknowledged Tuesday that they made a mistake in saying they had captured one of the top eight commanders of the Muslim guerrilla group Abu Sayyaf," reported the AP news agency.
"The major U.S casino group MGM Mirage is interested in investing in Thailand, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Monday after meeting with the group's chairman. Thaksin quoted MGM Mirage Chairman J. Terrence Lanni as saying that that he was interested in doing business in Thailand because it is a major international tourist destination," reported the AP news agency.
"U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said Tuesday that Washington and Tokyo are working to enhance their efforts to share information that might be used to thwart terrorist plots. The two countries are now negotiating a mutual legal assistance treaty, which would create formal guidelines and procedures for sharing such information," reported the AP news agency.
"Osama Bin Laden sent money to Abubakar Ba’asyir, the spiritual leader of the Jemaah Islamiah, to buy C4, the powerful explosive used in the Bali bombings, according to a former top lieutenant of the al-Qaeda leader, a Kuwaiti Omar Faruq," reported thte Asia News Network.
"Thousands of left-wing protesters marched through the Philippine capital yesterday, warning that proposed government anti-terror measures could threaten human rights and democracy and create restiveness that terrorists could exploit. About 3,000 labourers, farmers and students walked a few kilometres to the presidential palace and then to the heavily guarded US Embassy compound, carrying anti-US placards in a boisterous but peaceful protest," reported the AP news agency.
"Palestinian suicide bombers detonated a car packed with explosives next to a bus in northern Israel yesterday, killing 10 people and injuring 48," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The top American general commanding operations against Afghanistan’s fugitive Taliban and al-Qaida fighters watched the first joint Pakistani-US Army exercises since the lifting of US sanctions earlier this year," reported the AP news agency.
"North Korea told South Korea yesterday that it wanted talks on nuclear weapons with the United States as Washington worked with its diplomatic allies to pre-empt a new Korean peninsula crisis. South Korean media pool reports quoted the North’s number two leader Kim Yong-nam as telling the South’s visiting Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun that it was ready for dialogue. Kim was quoted as saying if the United States is prepared to abandon its hostile policy toward us, we are ready for dialogue to resolve security issues of concern," reported the Reuters news agency," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The Bush administration is moving closer to designating Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiah a foreign terrorist organisation. Colin Powell has signed the order designating the group but one official said it would now be natural to add it to the list of 34 terrorist organisations. Designation makes it illegal to provide material support to the organisation, imposes restrictions on US visas for leading members and freezes any assets the group may have in financial institutions under US jurisdiction," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Australia probably will increase defence and security spending in the wake of the Bali bombing and might need to send troops to Southeast Asia in the war against terrorism, the government said Wednesday," reported the AP news agency.
"Police in the Washington area launched a massive manhunt yesterday after a driver standing on the steps of his idled commuter bus was fatally shot, raising fears a serial sniper had struck again. Authorities closed major roads and checked vehicles – especially those driven by men – as they scrambled to determine whether the fatal attack in Montgomery County, Maryland, was the work of the gunman who had already killed nine people and wounded three since Oct 2. But it appeared the shooter once again evaded capture, despite the rapid deployment of law enforcement agents, backed by helicopters and dog teams," reported the AP news agency.
"The Bush administration has asked the oil, gas and transportation sectors to take additional steps to protect their facilities from possible terrorist attacks. The CIA warned last week that the al-Qaeda network had reorganised and intended to attack Americans overseas and on US soil. But administration officials said they have received no credible threats to specific US refineries, bridges and other potential targets," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Germany launched the first trial of an alleged Sept 11 conspirator yesterday, with a Moroccan man facing more than 3,000 counts of aiding and abetting murder. Mounir El Motassadeq, a 28-year-old former electrical engineering student, is suspected of belonging to a militant Islamist cell here and of helping the hijackers who launched the attacks on New York and Washington a year ago," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A man was shot in Montgomery County early yesterday, but authorities said it was too early to tell if it was connected to the sniper who has killed nine people and injured three this month. The shooting occurred near the site of five other sniper attacks," reported the AP news agency.
"A Chinese-born honours student appeared before a magistrate here yesterday, charged with the murders of two people during a wild shooting spree in which five others were wounded. Fourth-year commerce student Huan Yun Xiang, 36, also faced charges of attempting to kill the five other people, among them his lecturer, during a tutorial at Monash University’s Clayton campus on Monday. Police gave no information about a possible motive, but reports quoted fellow students as saying Huan was a loner whose lack of fluency in English often left him confused and frustrated," reported the AFP news service.
"US President George W. Bush said on Monday that he was trying diplomacy one more time to disarm Iraq, and that if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein met UN demands it would be a sign his regime had changed. Bush’s comments gave the strongest indication yet that the United States could possibly accept Saddam’s remaining in power if he met UN disarmament demands, despite standing US policy in favour of a regime change in Iraq," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Israel held off on immediate retaliation yesterday for a bus bombing that killed 14 Israelis, along with two attackers, and complicated a new US effort to end two years of Israeli-Palestinian violence. It marked the first time in months that the Israeli military did not respond quickly to a major Palestinian attack," reported the AP news agency.
"Indonesian terror suspect Abubakar Ba’asyir has sworn an oath denying he knew an alleged al-Qaeda operative who implicated him in a plot to kill President Megawati Sukarnoputri, as police waited in hospital to question him here yesterday. The ulama swore an oath on Monday in front of three local Muslim leaders denying that he knows Omar al-Faruq," reported the AFP news service.
"An ocean away from the most volatile areas of their region, top Pacific Rim ministers confronted their most urgent topics Wednesday - North Korea's nuclear-weapons program and how terrorism undermines their economic alliance's efforts to liberalize trade. While the grouping always considers economics at the top of its agenda, terrorism's threat to trade - especially after the deadly bombing this month in the Indonesian vacation haven of Bali - hung over the meeting," reported the AP news agency.
"About 40 well-armed Chechens held hundreds of hungry and thirsty people hostage in a theater early Thursday and were threatening to shoot the audience and blow up the building if Russian security forces tried to storm the theater. Russian authorities held their first talks with the hostage takers who several hours before had stormed into the theater in an audacious and extremly well-planned attack, fired their weapons and demanded that Russia end the war in Chechnya," reported the AP news agency.
"Malaysia plans to set up a secretariat in the country to promote the idea of using the gold dinar among central banks of other Muslim countries, Malaysian PM Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad said. Dr Mahathir later told the press conference these were problems that should be looked at and resolved. In his speech, he said countries should not be too ambitious in launching the gold dinar for multilateral trade at one go, suggesting instead they start by pairing off two countries. He believed anarchy in the international financial regime would remain because it benefited the rich and powerful and to protect ourselves, we must evolve our own payment system, our own trading currency," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"A slain bus driver was the Washington sniper’s 13th victim, police said yesterday as anxious parents took their children back to schools after a chilling warning apparently from the gunman that said your children are not safe. Maryland Governor Parris Glendening announced yesterday that the state would consider posting National Guard troops at polling places if the sniper wasn’t caught by elections on Nov 5," reported the AP news agency.
"Vandals attacked a Buddhist temple on Tuesday night and a state official said the attackers were misguidedly seeking revenge for bombings in Bali that killed scores of Australians. Queensland Premier Peter Beattie told the state parliament yesterday that police chiefs regarded the incident, in which the heads of five Buddha statues were knocked off with a sledgehammer or an iron bar, as linked to the Oct 12 bombings in Indonesia. Beattie announced plans to visit the temple yesterday to show the Australian-Chinese community it had his government’s full support," reported the AP news agency.
"President Saddam Hussein is reviewing Iraq’s preparations for war as the United States warns the United Nations that time is running out and it is ready to act alone against Baghdad. Senior military officials met Saddam on Tuesday to look at contingency plans, including trench-digging, to resist any US-led military action. They affirmed their determination to work doggedly to support jihad (Islamic holy war) and help build trenches to allow the fighters to defend their homeland," reported the AFP news service.
"British scientists stopped a study into the risks and benefits of the long-term use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) yesterday, citing scientific and ethical reasons. The decision by scientists at the government’s Medical Research Council (MRC) comes three months after American doctors halted a study into HRT after learning the drug can increase the risk of breast cancer, stroke and blood clots. Prof Ray Fitzpatrick, of the University of Oxford and the chairman of the IIC, said there is strong evidence that taking HRT for many years raises the risk of some diseases such as breast cancer and decreases the risk of others including osteoporosis, or brittle bone disease," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Five alleged members of Abu Sayyaf, arrested as suspects in a deadly series of bombings in the southern Philippines, were virtually caught in the act of preparing for another attack, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said yesterday. Officials said the men admitted taking part in the bombings of two department stores last Thursday in Zamboanga that killed seven people and injured 152 others and a blast at a Roman Catholic shrine on Sunday night that killed one and injured 18," reported the AP news agency.
"Police said yesterday they are mounting a nationwide hunt for three possible Indonesian suspects in the Bali bombings after preparing sketches of them based on witness accounts. Vice-President Hamzah Haz, who before the Bali blast denied any terror threat in his country, said the attackers aimed to break up Indonesia and wreck its economy," reported the AFP news service.
"US terrorism sanctions against Jemaah Islamiah, the South-East Asian militant group suspected of involvement in the deadly Bali bombing, came into force yesterday as the State Department designated it a foreign terrorist organisation," reported the AFP news service.
"Israel signalled on Tuesday that in deference to Washington’s campaign against Iraq it will hold back from its usual tough response following Monday’s suicide bombing which killed 14 bus passengers. But it swiftly made life harder for many Palestinians, with a ban on drilling for water, because it said the Palestinian Authority leader is conducting a water intifad. It also barred olive picking at the height of the harvest. The ban on bore holes is particularly tough as it means many Palestinians are unable to irrigate crops. Some villages will be deprived of drinking water. A member of the Palestinian Hydrology Group, Abdel Rahman Tamimi, said if it is allowed to go on, most of the land in the north will be under threat of desertification and then people will have to leave. That’s what the Israelis want, of course," reported the guardian news agency.
"The Arabs' loud rejection of any U.S. attack to topple Saddam Hussein is sounding more and more hollow as the United States steps up military moves in the Middle East to either to put pressure on Iraq or the pave the way for war," reported the AP news agency.
"Analysts - both Arab and Western - recognize that Saddam's fellow Arab leaders don't share the public's admiration and - more importantly - neither the Gulf's emirs or leaders of other Arab states can do anything to stop an America determined to go to war. Massouma al-Mubarak, a political science professor at Kuwait University, told The Associated Press that Arab leaders saying no to a U.S. strike are only talking to the so-called Arab street. All the Arab states are dependent on the United States for protection, for financial aid or for investment that will build their backward economies," reported the AP news agency.
"Chechen separatist guerillas killed one woman as they seized a Russian theatre and threatened to shoot or blow up 700 hostages yesterday unless Russia pulled its troops out of their homeland. Police said the group of about 40, including masked women with explosives strapped to them, had shot a woman who tried to escape as they burst into the theatre on Wednesday night," reported the news Agencies.
"By bringing the Chechen war to the heart of the Russian capital, separatist rebels who took hundreds of theatre-goers hostage have struck a harsh blow at President Vladimir Putin’s policy of refusing to negotiate with them. Lilia Shevtsova of the Carnegie Institute in Moscow said the hostage-taking in a theatre staging one of the city’s top musicals is a humiliation for the state and for President Putin, a challenge for his policy in Chechnya. After three years of anti-terrorist operations, he has to conclude that he has lost the war, and now the president has to win the peace," reported the AFP news service.
"Russian President Vladimir Putin accused foreign terrorist centres yesterday of being behind the hostage-taking by Chechen rebels in a theatre here and said they were also involved in the Oct 12 bombing in Bali that left 190 people dead. Putin made the comment as he announced that his security services had been ordered to secure the release of the hostages and put an end to the crisis unleashed on Wednesday," reported the AFP news service.
"Two men wanted for questioning in the wave of deadly sniper attacks were arrested early yesterday after they were found sleeping in their car at a Maryland rest stop. Maj Greg Shipley, a spokesman for the Maryland State Police, said it wasn’t an aggressive one ... as they were taken into custody without incident. Hours earlier, police issued an arrest warrant for John Allen Muhammad and an alert for the Caprice and another vehicle. Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose, who is leading the investigation, said Muhammad was considered armed and dangerous. But he cautioned that it shouldn’t be assumed Muhammad, 42, is involved in any of the shootings that have stricken the Washington area," reported the AP news agency.
"Federal officials made a plea to illegal immigrants to come forward with information in the case of the Washington-area sniper, offering special visas to those who might be afraid of approaching police," reported the AP news agency.
"US and British warplanes attacked Iraqi air defences in a no-fly zone south of Baghdad overnight in the second such strike in two days. An Iraqi air defence spokesman confirmed the raid but said civilian targets were hit," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Shifting gears, the Pentagon has eased up on anticipated troop deployments to the Gulf as the UN Security Council debates the terms for a resumption of arms inspections in Iraq, defence officials said on Wednesday. While units have not received formal orders to hold up deployment preparations, they are adjusting their timelines because decisions on whether to take military action appear now to be farther off than expected," reported the AFP news service.
"Indonesian police doctors yesterday examined the alleged leader of regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah to see when he will be fit for police questioning. About 30 Muslim militiamen in paramilitary uniform, many armed with knives and some wearing masks, arrived at the hospital in this Central Java city. Police who are guarding the building did not prevent the militiamen from entering. They have also allowed Abubakar’s own bodyguards – some of who sport Osama bin Laden’s picture – access to his room," reported the AFP news service.
"US Attorney-General John Ashcroft yesterday announced the opening of an FBI office here – a step meant to strengthen US-Chinese co-operation in fighting terrorism and international crime," reported the AP news agency.
"The Thai holiday island of Phuket is at risk of a terrorist attack according to information obtained by Australia, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said yesterday. Downer said he also feared that the expected declaration by the United Nations that the Southeast Asian Islamic group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) had links to al-Qaeda could spark violent attacks by its supporter in Indonesia," reported the news Agencies.
"Chechen separatists holding some 700 hostages in a Moscow theatre are very, very determined and not inclined to compromise, saying they came to Moscow to die if need be, a British journalist said yesterday after he spoke with their chief inside the theatre," reported the AFP news service.
"Representatives of some 700 Russians and foreigners being held hostage by Chechen rebels in a theatre here issued a warning yesterday that no attempt should be made to storm the building," reported the AFP news service.
"Chechen separatists holding some 700 hostages in a theatre here released 15 people including eight children yesterday but held back on carrying out an agreement to free non-Russians after the hostages spent a second anguished night in captivity. Amid mounting pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to resolve the crisis and end the Chechen war once and for all, one of the hostages said the hall in which they were being held contained a large bomb that could be exploded at the first sign of an attempted assault," reported the AFP news service.
"Russian President Vladimir Putin came under blistering media criticism yesterday for failing, despite his much-vaunted strong leadership, to prevent a 50-strong Chechen commando group from taking 700 hostages in a theatre here. The Russian president must assume full responsability for the hostages’ release. Until he does so, his popularity will drop and he could share the fate of Jimmy Carter, the US president who was defeated in the 1980 election after he failed to secure the release of US hostages in Iran," reported the AFP news service.
"Putin will have to re-orient his whole strategy in the Caucasus, Nezavisimaya Gazeta wrote, adding that Russia’s Chechen strategy had too often been determined by internal political imperatives. Putin had arrived at a crossroads and must make a definitive choice on Chechnya, the centrist Izvestya daily wrote. It said the president must choose. Either become General De Gaulle, who granted Algeria independence to save France, or become Stalin, who chose force to deal with ethnic problems, including the deportation of Chechens to Central Asia," reported the AFP news service.
"The daring hostage-taking of 700 people in Moscow by Chechen seperatists is a spectacular failure for the Russian security forces who had maintained that three years of war had decimated rebel ranks, analysts and media said yesterday. Road checks are also numerous in the Russian capital and at the entrances to Moscow. Despite all this, the heavily-armed Chechen separatists managed to drive up to the theatre unchallenged in several cars. A video cassette recorded by the rebels was delivered to the Moscow office of Qatar’s Al-Jazeera satellite television network on Tuesday, indicating that some of them may already have been in the city," reported the AFP news service.
"Washington area prosecutors were meeting yesterday to discuss filing criminal charges against two suspects in the sniper attacks that held the US capital region in a grip of terror for three weeks. John Allen Muhammad, 41, and a teenage companion were named as the suburban sniper suspects on Thursday after forensics tests determined that a Bushmaster XM-15 .223 calibre rifle found in their car was the murder weapon. Montgomery County Police Chief, Charles Moose, however, offered careful responses to questions about details of the case, saying he did not want to do anything to jeopardise the investigation," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Barricades lined a popular downtown bar strip along Singapore’s riverfront yesterday and armed troops guarded strategic buildings as the republic boosted security following the bombings in Bali. Three bomb hoaxes in two weeks, including one which grounded a Singapore Airlines flight on Thursday, have added to anxiety in Singapore," reported the Singaporean Straits Times newspaper.
"Hundreds of Israeli soldiers entered the Palestinian town of Jenin yesterday, taking over homes and exchanging fire with gunmen in one of the largest army operations in the West Bank since the summer. Palestinian officials said the Jenin incursion undermines US peace efforts and that the United States will have to put a stop to such operations if it wants to be seen as a credible mediator. It’s a continuation of crimes committed by Israeli soldiers and settlers against our people, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said of yesterday’s raid," reported the AP news agency.
