HavenWorks.com/world/archive/2002| HavenWorks.com/world/archive/2002 |
/ 
/ Archive
/ 2002
- "Officials:
N. Korea Violated Buffer Zone: N. Korea Violated
1953 Armistice by Bringing Guns Into Buffer Zone, U.S.-U.N. Command Says."
... "North Korea violated the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War
by bringing machine guns into the buffer zone separating the two Koreas
on six occasions over the past two weeks, the U.S.-U.N. Command said Friday."
... "The U.S.-U.N. Command said an investigation confirmed reports by South
Korean soldiers that North Korean troops brought 7.62mm machine guns into
the Demilitarized Zone from Dec. 13 to Dec. 20."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- 
- "North
Korea orders expulsion of U.N. nuclear inspectors, says will open laboratory."
... "North Korea ordered the expulsion Friday of U.N. nuclear inspectors
and announced it will reactivate a laboratory able to produce weapons-grade
plutonium. The U.N. nuclear agency said its investigators were "staying
put" for now." ... "The inspectors were the last means that the International
Atomic Energy Agency had to monitor whether the facilities are being used
for nuclear weapons projects. Despite IAEA warnings, the North removed
monitoring seals and surveillance cameras from the nuclear complex at Yongbyon
earlier this week." -By Paul Shin
-AP via -SFGate.com
- 
- "Top
Arab TV network to hit US market." ... "Coming to
a screen near you: Al Jazeera in English." ... "The Arabic-language news
network, notorious for broadcasting the statements of Osama bin Laden and
his Al Qaeda colleagues, plans to open an English-language website in early
2003 and begin distributing English-language news programming by satellite
and cable late next year." ... "Although Al Jazeera staffers are proud
of what they have done to cover the other side of the US "war on terrorism,"
Western officials are suspicious of the channel's access. "They've skirted
the line between journalism and colluding with terrorists," says the Doha-based
official." ... ""They are not totally happy with us," says Ali of US officials.
Like any government, he says, "they want the media next to them, not to
tell the truth."" -By Cameron W. Barr
-CSMonitor
-
- "U.N.:
N. Korea Engaging in 'Brinkmanship': U.N. Agency
Says North Korea Is Engaging in 'Nuclear Brinkmanship'" ... "North Korean
workers have moved 1,000 fresh fuel rods to a storage site near the Soviet-designed,
5-megawatt reactor at Yongbyon that was frozen in a deal with Washington
that ended the 1994 crisis, the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency
said. A total of 8,000 such rods is needed to start the reactor." ... ""Moving
towards restarting its nuclear facilities without appropriate safeguards,
and towards producing plutonium raises serious nonproliferation concerns
and is tantamount to nuclear brinkmanship," Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, director
of the Vienna-based agency, said in a statement."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
Christmas
News
- "Christmas
under tight security." ... "Christians in many parts
of the world are celebrating Christmas this year under tight security,
following the recent devastating attacks by Islamist militants in Indonesia
and Kenya." ... "There has been particularly strong tension in Pakistan,
after the authorities discovered grenades and ammunition close to a big
church in the capital, Islamabad." -BBC/News
- Christmas
News
- "'Saddest
Christmas Ever' in Bethlehem." ... "Palestinians
marked what some called the saddest Christmas ever in the biblical city
of Bethlehem, walking to Mass through cold rainy streets bereft of holiday
cheer after weeks of Israeli military occupation." ... "Hundreds of Palestinians
and a few hardy tourists and pilgrims attended Christmas Day services in
the ancient Church of the Nativity, the reputed site of Jesus's birth,
but found little joy from an Israeli army pullback for the occasion." -By
Mark Heinrich -Reuters
- Christmas
News
- "At
Christmas Mass in Baghdad, worshippers offer special prayers for peace."
... "More than 100 Christians and peace activists gathered at a Catholic
church in Iraq's capital for Christmas Eve Mass Tuesday, offering special
prayers that war can be avoided." ... "Christians represent about 5 percent
of Iraq's 22 million population and live mainly in Baghdad and the north.
Iraq is predominantly Muslim and officially secular." -By
Nadia Abou El Magd -AP
via -SFGate.com
-
- "US
tries diplomacy, firm line on N. Korea." ... "The
Bush administration pressed North Korea diplomatically yesterday to refrain
from restarting a dormant nuclear reactor, even as Defense Secretary Donald
H. Rumsfeld warned that the US military could simultaneously take on both
Iraq and the communist Pyongyang regime." ... "''We are capable of fighting
two major regional conflicts,'' Rumsfeld said at the Pentagon. ''We're
capable of winning decisively in one and swiftly defeating in the case
of the other, and let there be no doubt about it.''" ... "Rumsfeld stressed
that no military action to halt Pyongyang's renewed nuclear ambitions was
imminent, and White House officials said the United States intends to pursue
a diplomatic course to persuade North Korea to abandon efforts to expand
its nuclear arsenal." -By John J. Lumpkin
-AP via -Boston/Globe
- "North
Korea warns of 'catastrophe': North Korea has warned
the United States that broadening the dispute over its nuclear program
would result in what it calls an "uncontrollable catastrophe."" ... "Ratcheting
up tensions on the Korean Peninsula Tuesday, the North's state-run Rodong
Sinmun newspaper said the nuclear issue could only be resolved by North
Korea and the United States, "the countries responsible for it."" ... ""If
the U.S. persistently tries to internationalize the pending issue between
the DPRK (North Korea) and the U.S. in a bid to flee from its responsibility,
it will push the situation to an uncontrollable catastrophe," it said."
-CNN /World
/Asia
- "[CNN
International Editor] David Clinch: U.S. will deal with N. Korea 'one way
or the other'." ... "North Korea began removing seals
and monitoring equipment last weekend that were placed by international
nuclear inspectors on the Yongbyon nuclear reactor, which is capable of
producing weapons-grade plutonium." ... CLINCH: ""We forget that
sometimes. Talking about troops going to Iraq and elsewhere, tens of thousands
of U.S. troops are still in South Korea from the last time there was a
war in that peninsula."" -CNN
/World
Christmas
News
- "Asia
adopts Christmas." ... "Somewhere on the journey
to becoming the world's biggest exporter of Christmas toys, China started
importing yule for itself." ... "Christmas wreaths and lighted trees, white-foam
snowmen and special dinners, as well as an ethos of "jingle-bell cool"
are wafting in on the wings of global culture, bringing a holiday atmosphere
to Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou." ... "Throughout Asia, in fact, Western
holidays have become chic, both for their commercial potential and because
new generations think the act of decorating and celebrating is fun and
different. Not only Christmas, but Valentine's Day, Father's Day and Mother's
Day, Thanksgiving and Halloween, are finding a Pacific niche - where five
years ago there was none." -By Robert Marquand
-CSMonitor/buy
-
-
- "French
journalist killed by US tank." ... "One of the best-known
television journalists in France, Patrick Bourrat, has died in hospital
in Kuwait." ... "He was injured on Saturday after being run over by a tank
while covering US military exercises in the desert." ... "Mr Bourrat, who
was in his 40s, was a correspondent for the TF-1 television station." ...
"American military officials say the precise circumstances of the accident
are being investigated."-BBC/News
- "Iraq
welcomes 'American intelligence' to weapons hunt:
Denies 'material omissions' in declaration." ... "Iraq's top government
scientist Sunday said his country would welcome "someone from American
intelligence" to show U.N. weapons inspectors where President Bush believes
Iraq is hiding its weapons programs." ... "Gen. Amir Al-Saadi said U.S.
and British claims that Iraq is hiding nuclear, chemical or biological
weapons programs are "old rehashed reports," some from as far back as 1990,
that Iraq has already disproved." ... ""We even wouldn't mind if someone
from the American intelligence were to accompany the inspection teams to
show them the places in which they allege there is something," he said."
-CNN /World
-
- "U.S.
Said to Ready Kurd Areas in Iraq for Possible War."
... "American intelligence officials have been working alongside Kurdish
officials in recent weeks, and recruiters for an American-sponsored opposition
group have been selecting candidates for a program to train scouts and
translators that one day may help American forces inside Iraq, according
to Kurdish and Western officials." ... "American military planners have
visited secluded corners of the country to examine potential basing sites
for use in a war, according to a Western expert familiar with the activity."
... "No American military forces are based here yet, Kurdish officials
say, and recent Turkish and Arabic news reports of sizable military deployments
appear unfounded." (1, 2)
-By C. J. Chivers -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
-
- "US
agrees to share Iraq intelligence." ... "The United
States says it will share intelligence data about Iraq with United Nations
weapons inspectors following a request from chief inspector Hans Blix."
... "The agreement comes while the US is preparing for a rapid increase
in its military strength in the Middle East, almost doubling the number
of troops near Iraq." ... "Mr Blix told the BBC on Friday that, if US officials
knew where they thought Iraq was storing banned materials, he could send
his inspection teams to check." -BBC/News
-
-
- "Blair tells
his forces to prepare for war, but Blix seeks data."
... "The United States and Britain should give United Nations weapons inspectors
more intelligence about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, chief
inspector Hans Blix said Friday." ... "Prime Minister Tony Blair, meanwhile,
told British troops he was making "all the preparations necessary" for
war." ... ""If the U.K. and the U.S. ... have evidence, then one would
expect that they would be able to tell us where this stuff is," Blix told
the British Broadcasting Corp. radio." -By Jill Lawless
-AP via -IHT.com
- "South
Korea picks liberal Roh for president." ... "Ruling
party candidate Roh Moo-hyun won South Korea's presidential election on
Thursday, a result that could complicate ties with the United States as
the allies grapple with North Korea's nuclear programme." ... "The triumph
of Roh, 56, a populist human rights and labour lawyer, marks a stunning
turnaround after the 11th-hour desertion of his election alliance partner,
Chung Mong-joon." ... "The United States has 37,000 troops helping protect
the South from its reclusive neighbour. North and South Korea are technically
still at war as the 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty."
-By Paul Eckert -Reuters
via /Asia
- "Iraq
to discuss missing Kuwaitis." ... "Iraq has agreed
to hold talks with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia next month to discuss the fate
of hundreds of people who disappeared during the Gulf War." ... "Kuwait
says more than 600 people, almost all of them Kuwaitis, are still unaccounted
for since the Iraqi occupation in 1990-91."-BBC/News
-
- "U.S.
Sets Late January Decision on Iraq War." ... "The
Bush administration has set the last week in January as the make-or-break
point in the long standoff with Iraq, and is increasingly confident that
by then it will have marshaled the evidence to convince the U.N. Security
Council that Iraq is in violation of a U.N. resolution passed last month
and to call for the use of force, officials said yesterday." ... "In a
boost to the administration's position, Hans Blix, the United Nations'
chief weapons inspector, plans to tell the Security Council today that
Iraq failed to account fully for chemical and biological bombs and warheads
it had assembled as well as materials it bought that could be used to produce
more of them, U.N. and administration officials said." -By
Walter Pincus and Karen DeYoung-WashingtonPost
- 
- Christmas
News
-
- "When
a 'Christmas Truce' put war on back burner." ...
"Christmas came to the battlefield in "the Great War to end all wars,"
and that story became the stuff of legend." ... "The History Channel tells
what happened when British and German soldiers laid down their arms to
meet in a No Man's Land strewn with the bodies of their fallen comrades.
Never before --and never again, probably -- was there ever such a celebration
as The Christmas Truce." -By Ann Hodges
-HoustonChronicle.com
- "Terror
Suspects Found With Chemicals in Paris." ... "In
the latest sweep against suspected Islamic militant groups here, French
officials said today that they had arrested four people early Monday and
had seized chemicals and a military personal-protection suit, suggesting
that the suspects may have been preparing a chemical attack." -By
John Tagliabue -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
-
- "U.S.
officials: Saddam ready to target his own country, blame U.S."
... "Iraq is preparing to destroy its own oil fields, food supplies and
power plants and blame the destruction on U.S. bombs during a war, U.S.
intelligence officials said Wednesday." ... "The officials, briefing reporters
at the Pentagon, said they have evidence Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
has plans to wreck his own infrastructure to foster a humanitarian crisis
and turn international opinion against any U.S. and British advance into
his territory." ... "Citing the need to protect intelligence sources, the
officials declined to describe that evidence. They spoke on condition of
anonymity." -By John J. Lumpkin
-AP via -SFGate.com
- 
- "Feds
Indict 7 in Texas Terror Probe: Feds Indicte
[sic] Employees of Texas Computer Firm and Hamas Leader on Terrorism-Related
Charges." ... "The leader of an Islamic militant group, his wife, and five
brothers work at a Texas computer firm were indicted on charges of trafficking
with terrorist states Libya and Syria, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced
Wednesday." ... """The war against terror is a war of accountants and auditors
as well as weaponry and soldiers," Ashcroft said. "We will pursue the financiers
of terror as well as pursue the thugs who do their work.""
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
- "Russia
'regrets' Bush missile plan: Moscow has expressed
"regret" at U.S. President George W. Bush's decision to deploy a limited
missile shield by 2004, saying the move could lead to a new arms race."
... "The Russian statement came a day after Bush ordered the U.S. Defense
Department to begin work within two years on deploying the first interceptors
that are to form the base of the missile defence system." ... "The Bush
administration intends to ask the U.S. Congress to allocate $1.5 billion
for 2004-2005, on top of the $8 billion already budgeted."
-CNN /World
/Europe
- Christmas
News
- "Joyless
Christmas in Holy Land." ... "Known as the birthplace
of Jesus Christ, Bethlehem is epicenter for Christians in the holiday season.
But the mood could not be further from the traditional spirit of Christmas.
After more than two years of surging Israeli-Palestinian violence, fear
and despair hang heavy over the West Bank town." ... "Christmas festivities,
which before the 26-month-old Palestinian intifada used to bring in thousands
of pilgrims and tourists a day, as well as tens of millions of dollars
in revenue, have been canceled." ... "Only the midnight Mass at the Church
of the Nativity, which was built in the 4th century A.D. to mark the spot
where tradition holds that Jesus was born, will go ahead as planned. But
few people are expected to attend, given curfew restrictions." -By
Jim Maceda -MS
NBC
- "Turkey
vows to move forward as EU waits." ... "Turkey pledged
yesterday to press ahead with human rights and economic reorganization
after the European Union moved a small step closer to giving the nation
a desperately sought-after spot in the EU." -By Selcan
Hacaoglu -AP
via -Boston/Globe
- "European
Union Acts to Admit 10 Nations." ... "The new members
— Poland; the Czech Republic; Hungary; Slovakia; the former Soviet republics
of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia; the ex-Yugoslav republic of Slovenia;
and two Mediterranean islands, Cyprus and Malta — will formally join the
European Union in May 2004." ... "Nothing was signed today. The European
Union prides itself on process and consensus, which means serial meetings
before decisions can be made. So a formal treaty will be signed in Athens
in April." (1, 2)
-By Elaine Sciolino -NYTimes
via -Google-News
- "'For
first time in history, Europe will become one'."
... ""Accession of 10 new member states will bring an end to the divisions
in Europe," said Romano Prodi, president of the European Commission. "For
the first time in history, Europe will become one because unification is
the free will of its people."" ... "But divisions remained in the Mediterranean
after talks on reuniting Cyprus collapsed here Friday. The failure of these
talks means the Greek-Cypriot part of the island could enter the European
Union in 2004 without the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is
recognized only by Turkey and which is home to almost 20 percent of the
island's population." -By Thomas Fuller
-IHT.com
- "EU
celebrates addition of 10 new member countries."
... "The European Union was on the road to becoming wider and bigger yesterday
after embracing 10 mostly ex-communist nations, but now has to make an
orderly home for 450 million people speaking a multitude of languages."
... "The decision to add 10 new members to the present 15 came at the end
of an intense two-day Copenhagen summit and means the EU's population will
grow by 20 percent to 450 million people, creating an economic colossus
to rival the United States." -Reuters
via -Ha'aretzDaily
- "Bush
Has Widened Authority of C.I.A. to Kill Terrorists."
... "The Bush administration has prepared a list of terrorist leaders the
Central Intelligence Agency is authorized to kill, if capture is impractical
and civilian casualties can be minimized, senior military and intelligence
officials said." ... "Despite the authority given to the agency, Mr. Bush
has not waived the executive order banning assassinations, officials said.
The presidential authority to kill terrorists defines operatives of Al
Qaeda as enemy combatants and thus legitimate targets for lethal force."
... "The president is not legally required to approve each name added to
the list, nor is the C.I.A. required to obtain presidential approval for
specific attacks, although officials said Mr. Bush had been kept well informed
about the agency's operations." ... "But the decision by the Bush administration
to authorize, under certain circumstances, the killing of terrorist leaders
threatens to thrust it into a murky area of national security and international
law that is almost never debated in public because the covert operations
are known only to a small circle of executive branch and Congressional
officials." (1, 2)
-By James Risen and David Johnstone
-NYTimes via
-AltaVista-News
- "Turkey
moves closer to entry negotiations." ... "The Union
announced that it would open negotiations for Turkish membership after
December 2004 if Ankara met conditions on such issues as human rights and
the removal of the military from civilian life." ... "Officials then added
"without further delay" to their communiqué." ... "Analysts and
some EU officials said the Turks had realized that they had campaigned
too aggressively in recent weeks - tactics that had emboldened some EU
opponents to speak out against offering a firm date. "There has been strong
pressure from Turkey, which many didn't like," the Italian prime minister,
Silvio Berlusconi, said Friday." ... "Analysts said some EU members also
resented Turkey asking President George W. Bush to lobby on their behalf.
The White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer, welcomed the EU decision Friday."
-By Thomas Fuller -IHT.com
- "US
accuses Iran of secret nuclear weapons plan." ...
"Washington edged closer to confrontation with all three members of President
Bush's "axis of evil" yesterday when US officials accused Iran of secretly
developing two nuclear plants which could be used to produce weapons."
... "Iran denied the charge, pointing out that officials from the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had been invited to visit the two sites, near
the towns of Arak and Natanz, in February." -By Julian
Borger -Guardian.co.uk
-
- "US
cash for Middle East democracy." ... "America's answer
is what it calls the US-Middle East Partnership Initiative." ... "An initial
sum of $29m will initially be spent on education, projects to expand political
participation and to encourage small businesses." ... "Mr Powell said the
administration would ask Congress for more money next year - which will
come in addition to the more than $1bn the US already provides in economic
aid to Arab countries." -BBC/News
-
- "Iraqi
jet tried to trap U.S. jets." ... "An Iraqi fighter
jet attempted to lead two U.S. fighter planes over a battery of surface-to-air
missiles Friday in the no-fly zone over southern Iraq, Pentagon officials
told CNN." ... "Aware of the missiles' location, the U.S. planes turned
south to avoid the potential trap, a Defense Department spokesman said.
The pilots knew the location of the missiles because of training and coalition
surveillance capabilities, the spokesman said." -By
Kris Osborn -CNN
/World
- "Tension
as inspectors locked out: The top Iraqi and
U.N. monitoring officials were called to a Baghdad health center Friday
after U.N. weapons inspectors reported a problem tagging equipment during
a routine search for evidence of weapons of mass destruction, the officials
said." ... "A gatekeeper at the facility -- which had never been searched
before by the U.N. --said the inspection team was locked out of several
rooms at the site because the employees holding the keys were not at work
Friday, a Muslim holy day." -Contributed to
by Nic Robertson -CNN
/World
- "U.S.:
Iran working on nuclear weapons: IAEA: Nuclear
facilities not a surprise." ... "The United States accused Iran Friday
of "actively working" on a nuclear weapons program and said that recent
satellite photographs of a massive nuclear power construction project "reinforce"
that belief." ... "But International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General
Mohamed ElBaradei, in an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, said
the chief of Iran's atomic energy program had told him in September that
the construction was for a 6,000-megawatt nuclear power facility." -Contributed
to by Christiane Amanpour, David Ensor, and Elise Labott -CNN
/World
- 
- "UK
internet shopping 'breaks £1bn mark'." ...
"For the first time, UK consumers have spent more than £1bn ($1.6bn)
in just one month shopping online, according to a survey." ... "Online
sales have risen by 95% over the past year, IMRG said, compared with a
rise of just 6.1% in general retail sales." ... "US figures for the July
to September period this year showed online shopping sales were more than
$11bn, representing 1.3% of total US retail sales, an increase of 34.3%
on the same period last year." ... "In the UK, online sales over the same
July to September period reached £2bn ($3.14bn), representing 4%
of total UK retail sales, up 114.5% on the same period in 2001."-BBC/News
-
- Press Release - "imrg
e-retail sales index - internet shopping bursts £1bn barrier."
- Links to [PDF]:
"Internet
Shopping Bursts £1 Billion Barrier!" ... "Santa
is shopping online this year in a BIG WAY. Monthly internet shopping
soared into ten figures for the first time in November as Britain's 14.3
million online shoppers flooded e-retailers with £1,000 million worth
of orders, according to the IMRG Index." ... "The Index has risen almost
ten fold, from 100 to 993, during the 32 months it has tracked UK e-retail
sales, since April 2000, and the pace of growth it reveals continues to
accelerate. The November Index was based on sales of £218 million
reported by 77 participating e-retailers, which represents 22% of the estimated
market." ... "UK online shopping is growing three times faster than in
the USA, and is three times the proportion of total retail sales.
US retail e-commerce sales for the third quarter of 2002 was just over
$11 billion, representing 1.3% of total US retail according to latest figures
from the US Department of Commerce, an increase of 34.3 percent from Q3
2001. UK e-retail during the same period was worth £2 billion
($3.14 billion), representing 4% of total UK retail, and was 114.5% higher
than Q3 2001." -IMRGorg
-
- "Report: Al
Qaeda deal for nerve gas: U.S. suspects nerve
agent VX was smuggled through Turkey." ... "The Bush administration has
received a credible report that Islamic extremists affiliated with al Qaeda
took possession of a chemical weapon in Iraq last month or late in October,
according to two officials with firsthand knowledge of the report and its
source. They said government analysts suspect that the transaction involved
the nerve agent VX and that a courier managed to smuggle it overland through
Turkey." ... "Even authorized spokesmen, with one exception, addressed
the report on the condition of anonymity. They said the principal source
on the chemical transfer was uncorroborated, and that indications it involved
a nerve agent were open to interpretation." -By Barton
Gellman -WashingtonPost
via -MSNBC
-
-
"Why
the U.S. is Forced to Wait on Iraq: As long
as Saddam cooperates and the inspectors find nothing, it will be hard to
win UN backing for war." ... "If the U.S. were to walk away at this stage
from a UN process whose starting point is inspections to establish the
facts regarding prohibited weapons in Iraq, the net effect would be to
strengthen opposition to a war. UN Security Council Resolution 1441, which
among other things demanded the Iraqi declaration delivered last weekend,
makes clear that military action against Baghdad is contemplated by the
Council only if Saddam either refuses to allow unfettered inspections or
if those inspections turn up evidence of Iraq lying in its declaration."
-By Tony Karon
-TIME.com
- 
- "U.S.
Lets Missile Shipment Proceed." ... "Skirting a face-off
with Yemen, the United States on Wednesday let an intercepted shipment
of North Korean missiles proceed to the Persian Gulf country after receiving
assurances the Scuds would not be transferred elsewhere in the tense region."
... "The agreement was reached through unusual high-level diplomacy involving
Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Colin Powell, on the
one hand, and President Ali Abdallah Salih of Yemen on the other." -By
Barry Schweid -AP
via -DesMoinesRegister
-
- 
- "U.N.
inspects new Iraqi military factory." ... "With a
new group of inspectors at work in Iraq, bringing the total to 70, the
U.N. inspection teams visited six sites Wednesday -- including a military
factory built in 1999." ... "In other searches during the day, inspectors
continued their work at the al-Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center on the
south side of Baghdad and at the Akashat uranium mine, about 420 kilometers
(260 miles) west of Baghdad, near the Syrian border." ... "Several tons
of uranium have been under seal at al-Tuwaitha since the previous round
of inspections ended in 1998." -Contributed to by
Nic Robertson and Rym Brahimi
-CNN /World
- "U.N. nuclear
agency warns N. Korea." ... "The head of the U.N.
nuclear agency urged North Korea not to restart a nuclear power plant that
Washington suspects was used to develop atomic arms before it was mothballed
eight years ago." ... "Mohamed Elbaradei, director-general of the International
Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, warned late Thursday that any unilateral
move by the North Koreans to remove agency seals and monitoring cameras
at its nuclear facilities would contravene agreements between Pyongyang
and the United Nations." ... "The North Korean nuclear program was suspended
under a 1994 deal with Washington, averting a possible war on the Korean
peninsula. Experts say North Korea could quickly extract enough plutonium
from its old facilities to make several nuclear weapons."
-MS-NBC
- 
-
- "Key
factor: Iraqi scientists: US dampens expectations
of 'smoking gun' on Iraq weapons and urges access to scientists." ... "...
increasingly, experts are pointing to only one sure way to reveal the true
scale of Iraq's weapons programs: talking to the Iraqi scientists who built
the programs." ... "The UN's ability to talk with Iraqi scientists may
turn on chief UN inspector Hans Blix's willingness to use a robust new
plank in the UN disarmament mandate that permits the UN to spirit out of
Iraq specialists and their families. The scientists could then speak freely
without fear of reprisal from Saddam Hussein's regime." -By
Scott Peterson -CSMonitor
- "Turkey
Names Its Price for Aid Against Iraq: Support
on EU and Economy Sought From U.S. for Assistance in War Effort." ... "In
exchange for use of its territory by U.S. troops and aircraft against Iraq,
the Turkish government is asking for significant economic help to make
sure there is no repeat of the recession that followed the 1991 war. Just
as eagerly, it wants the Bush administration to persuade the European Union
to respond more favorably to a long-delayed Turkish bid for membership."
... "The United States strongly backs the bid, as President Bush emphasized
repeatedly in Washington today while receiving Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leader
of Turkey's new governing party. Membership in the prosperous club of European
nations, U.S. officials say, would not only boost Turkey's economy; it
would enhance Turkey's status as a model of secular democracy in a Muslim
country." -By Karl Vick-WashingtonPost
-
-
- "U.S.
Warns Iraq It Has Nuclear Option." ... "The United
States raised the temperature in its confrontation with Iraq over weapons
of mass destruction, saying it could go nuclear if such weapons were used
against its forces or its allies." ... "Washington issued the warning Tuesday
as U.N. arms inspectors carried out the most intensive inspections in Iraq
of their current mission and the Iraqi Foreign Ministry accused Washington
of trying to find a pretext for war." -By Nadim Ladki
-Reuters /World
-
-
- "U.S.
Sees Nuclear Deterrence Against WMD Attack." ...
"The six-page strategy document says deterring attacks with the threat
of "overwhelming force" is an essential element in protecting America and
its allies from weapons of mass destruction, also known as WMD." ... ""The
United States will continue to make clear that it reserves the right to
respond with overwhelming force -- including through resort to all our
options -- to the use of WMD against the United States, our forces abroad,
and friends and allies," the strategy report said." ... ""In addition to
our conventional and nuclear response and defense capabilities, our overall
deterrent posture against WMD threats is reinforced by effective intelligence,
surveillance, interdiction and domestic law enforcement capabilities,"
it said." -By Randall Mikkelsen
-Reuters /World
- "China
launches new stealth fighter project." ... "The Shenyang
Aircraft Company has been selected to head research and development of
a new heavyweight fighter for China's People's Liberation Army Air Force
(PLAAF), according to a senior source at the China Aviation Industry Corp
I (AVIC I)." ... "Development of the engines and weapon subsystems for
the fourth-generation fighter has been underway for some time, according
to the source, who revealed that a number of design concepts have already
been created. Wind-tunnel tests of these are about to start. Images of
the concepts show a twin-engine aircraft sharing some design traits with
Lockheed Martin's stealthy F/A-22 multirole fighter, now undergoing tests
with the US Air Force, such as the internal carriage of its weapon systems.
The Chinese designs retain a more conventional wing, however, and use a
single vertical tail fin." -By Yihong Chang
-Jane's/Defence/Weekly
- "Jimmy
Carter's Nobel Prize speech [excerpts]." ... "Instead
of entering a millennium of peace, the world is now, in many ways, a more
dangerous place. There is a plethora of civil wars... and recent appalling
acts of terrorism have reminded us that no nations, even superpowers, are
invulnerable." ... "It is clear that global challenges must be met with
an emphasis on peace, in harmony with others, with strong alliances and
international consensus." ... "Imperfect as it may be, there is no doubt
that this can best be done through the United Nations."-BBC/News
-
-
- "With
forces at ready, war could be swift: US troop
counts in the Mideast rise, ready for a campaign very different from Gulf
War." ... "The hammer of US military force is almost ready for use against
Iraq, even as the diplomatic struggle between Washington and Baghdad continues."
... "There are now some 80,000 uniformed American personnel in the region,
counting troops deployed in Afghanistan. While an actual attack would likely
require a final sprint deployment of strike units, most of the elements
for war are now in place, as symbolized by this week's command-and-control
exercise in Qatar." -By Faye Bowers and Peter Grier
-CSMonitor
-
- "Pentagon
indicates progress in U.S.-China ties." ... "The
Pentagon on Monday indicated creeping progress in resumed military ties
with China after the first top-level defence talks between the two nations
since President George W. Bush took office two years ago." ... ""The talks
were useful, professional. They were real discussions. They were not stilted
set pieces. And that's good," Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas
Feith said after a day-long meeting with Chinese General Xiong Guangkai,
deputy chief of the People's Liberation Army[.]" -By
Charles Aldinger -Reuters/Asia
- "Soaking
rain ends Sydney bushfire crisis." ... "Soaking rain
fell on Sydney on Tuesday to end the city's six-day bushfire emergency
that killed one man, destroyed around 50 homes and left large tracts of
bush scorched and blackened." ... "But officials said more hot, dry weather
was forecast ahead of Christmas and the fires were expected to flare again.
Australia is tinderbox dry due to one of the worst droughts in 100 years."
-By Michael Perry -Reuters/Asia
- "Peace
monitors arrive in Indonesia's bloodied Aceh." ...
"The monitors are from the Geneva-based Henry Dunant Centre for Humanitarian
Dialogue, which brokered the landmark deal between Indonesia and the separatist
Free Aceh Movement (GAM)." ... "Thousands have died in the 26-year insurgency."
... "The accord calls for a ceasefire and elections in the staunchly Muslim
province on the northern tip of Sumatra island and for monitoring teams
comprising rebel, Indonesian and foreign representatives to be set up to
ensure the ceasefire holds." ... "But unresolved by the peace plan is a
fundamental disagreement: the rebels want independence while Jakarta is
only prepared to grant special autonomy." -Reuters/Asia
-
- 
- "Australia
trial could set Web precedent." ... "Australia's
highest court ruled on Tuesday that a defamation case sparked by a story
on a U.S Web site could be heard in Australia, opening a legal minefield
for web publishers over which libel laws they must follow." ... "The
landmark ruling that an article published by Dow Jones & Co was subject
to Australian law -- because it was downloaded in Australia -- is being
watched by media firms as it could set a precedent over where Internet
publication occurs." -Reutersvia
-CNN /Sci-Tech
- "Iraq
dossier hints at 'dirty bomb': U.S.: Iraq hiding
weapons, documents." ... "Iraq's declaration of its weapons programs could
identify countries or firms that supplied its nuclear, chemical and biological
weapons programs, according to a table of contents obtained Monday by CNN."
... "In a letter that accompanies the nearly 12,000-page document, Foreign
Minister Naji Sabri said the dossier's publication "entails risk" of releasing
information that violates nonproliferation standards." ... "Sabri called
the report "currently accurate, full and complete," but told the U.N. Security
Council it contains information that could aid countries seeking to develop
nuclear, chemical or biological weapons." -Report
contributed to by Nic Robertson, Rym Brahimi, Rebecca MacKinnon, &
Maria Arelaez -CNN
/Europe
-
- "U.S.
begins war game in Qatar in possible preparation for Iraq war."
... A U.S. war game believed to be a rehearsal for an invasion of Iraq
began Monday in Qatar with senior commanders and battle planners conducting
a computer-assisted exercise to improve their ability to fight a war in
the region." ... General Tommy "Franks and his staff are controlling all
of Central Command's forces from a high-tech, portable headquarters set
up on Qatar's As Sayliyah army camp in the desert 20 miles outside of the
capital, Doha." ... "The modular, portable buildings and the high-speed
digital communications equipment, constructed by American defense contractor
Raytheon, is being used for the first time."
-AP via -USATODAY
- "West Bank settlements
accelerate: Under Sharon, dozens of outposts
sprout in past few months." ... "In the past two years — since the start
of the Palestinian uprising and the subsequent election of Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon — the number of new settlement outposts has exploded
in the West Bank, far outstripping the pace of growth before 2001, according
to records kept by several monitoring organizations." ... "At least 66
new Jewish outposts, or fledgling settlements, have sprouted across the
ridgelines and hilltops in those two years, compared with the 44 outposts
started over the previous five years combined, according to Peace Now,
an advocacy group that opposes Jewish settlements in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip. More than two-thirds of the new outposts were established in
the last 11 months, the most intense period of the conflict." -By
Molly Moore -WashingtonPost
via -MSNBC
-
-
- "Lack of evidence
hinders U.S. aims: Little expectation of actionable
‘smoking gun’ in declaration." ... "During his recent trip to Europe to
drum up support from the allies, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz
was asked by NATO ambassadors what it would take to prove that Iraq has
failed to give up its weapons of mass destruction. His reply illustrated
the subjective nature of the evidence against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein,
which depends on the eye of the beholder." ... "“It's like the judge said
about pornography,” Wolfowitz told the closed-door audience, according
to a participant. “I can’t define it, but I will know it when I see it.”"
... "While the Bush administration may need little convincing that Iraq
is in material breach of U.N. resolutions demanding its disarmament, a
much higher standard of evidence will be required to convince key U.S.
allies, including Turkey and Saudi Arabia, of the case for war." -Analysis
by Michael Dobbs -WashingtonPost
via -MSNBC
- 
- "Chavez
threatens state of emergency." ... "President Hugo
Chavez of Venezuela has warned he may declare a state of emergency if disruption
caused by an national strike continues to escalate." ... "In a speech to
supporters in Caracas, Mr Chavez accused his opponents of trying to sabotage
the oil industry, which provides half the government's revenue." ... "Crude
oil production has dropped by up to a sixth of the total national output
since refinery workers and oil tanker crews joined other strikers, threatening
the economic backbone of the world's fifth biggest oil exporter." ... "Analysts
have warned that a shutdown for longer than two days could have a major
impact on US and world oil prices." -BBC/News
 |
 |
- Law
Enforcement News - "Two
Van Gogh paintings stolen: Thieves enter Amsterdam
museum by roof; values unknown." ... "Thieves broke into Amsterdam’s Van
Gogh Museum overnight and stole two paintings by the legendary 19th century
Dutch artist, police said Saturday." -AP
via -MSNBC
- 
- "Miss
Turkey [Azra Akin] Wins Miss World Competition:
Miss Turkey Crowned Miss World in Pageant That Was Moved to London After
Riots in Nigeria." ... "Ninety-two contestants took part in the show, which
was shunted to London after Muslim-Christian rioting last month killed
more than 200 people, forcing it out of Nigeria." ... "The pageant's motto
is "beauty with a purpose," and among this year's contestants were lawyers,
businesswomen, architects and a doctor." ... "Unlike the pageant's heyday
in the 1970s, this year's contestants glided along the catwalk in evening
gowns rather than swimsuits part of an effort to shed the show's sexist
image." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Iraq
Hands UN Dossier, Denies It Has Banned Weapons."
... "Iraq handed the United Nations a huge dossier on its military programs
on Saturday, denying Iraq has any banned weapons and setting the stage
for a confrontation with Washington." ... "U.S. officials said on Friday
Washington was expected to declare Iraq in "material breach" of last month's
U.N. resolution 1441 if it stated it had no such weapons, setting the stage
for a possible military attack on Iraq by the United States." ... "But
they said Washington would not cite the breach as immediate grounds for
war, letting U.N. inspections continue while Bush courts partners to help
strike Iraq if needed." -By Haitham Haddadin
-Reuters /World
- "Iraq
Delivers Arms Declaration to U.N.: Iraq Delivers
Arms Declaration, Saying It Has No Weapons of Mass Destruction." ... ""We
apologize to you," Saddam said in a letter to the Kuwaiti people read on
prime-time Iraqi television. At the same time, at a U.N. compound on Baghdad's
outskirts, a government delegation was delivering a massive collection
of documents detailing Iraq's chemical, biological and nuclear programs,
meeting a demand and a deadline set by U.N. resolution 1441." ... "Its
thousands of pages, to be flown Sunday to U.N. headquarters in New York
and the U.N. nuclear agency in Vienna, will be combed through for months
to come by U.N. analysts, intelligence agencies and diplomats, as Middle
East peace hangs in the balance." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Nigerian
state stands firm on Sharia: "Support Sharia,
Allah's Law is Supreme," says a road sign on the way into the northwestern
Nigerian city of Gusau." ... "Sharia, the Islamic penal code, is certainly
a force to be reckoned with in Gusau, the capital of Zamfara state." ...
"Last week the state's deputy governor declared a fatwa religious edict
calling for the death of a Nigerian journalist for alleged blasphemy over
an article at the centre of a recent controversy surrounding the Miss World
beauty pageant." ... "The authorities seem to be standing firm, despite
the fact that Nigeria's two main Islamic bodies and religious leaders in
Saudi Arabia have harshly criticized the order."
-Reuters via -CNN
/World
- "Firefighters
battle to control Sydney blazes." ... "Sydney firefighters
are hoping to control as many of the 70 fires surrounding the city as possible
over the next 72 hours before weather conditions are expected to deteriorate
again on Monday." ... "More than 4,500 firefighters, supported by around
80 aircraft, are now battling major infernos to the south-west, west and
north of the city." ... "New South Wales Rural Fire Commissioner Phil Koperberg
told media Friday that authorities expected weather conditions to abate
over the weekend but that Monday would be another very bad day with high
temperatures and wind gusts of up to 80 kilometers (50 miles) an hour."
-By Grant Holloway -CNN
/World/Asia
-
- "US
unpopular among key allies: Turkish leaders
put conditions on support for the US on Iraq, citing public opinion." ...
"America's flagging image around the world since the September 2001 terrorist
attacks is crimping the Bush administration's ability to build a coalition
for a possible Iraq war." ... "This week, Turkey's new Islamist government
bowed to domestic opinion, responding to American diplomatic pressure with
a "yes, but": The US may use Turkish territory for a military campaign
against Iraq, but only if it proceeds under the mantle of the United Nations
Security Council, and with a second UN resolution authorizing the use of
force." ... "The move represents the uneasy balance leaders around the
world are striking between what they consider a geopolitical necessity
-cooperating with the US - and domestic opposition to war with Iraq." -By
Howard LaFranchi -CSMonitor
-
- "Iraq
inspectors hit back at criticism." ... "UN weapons
inspectors in Iraq have defended themselves after accusations by Baghdad
of spying and suggestions by Washington that searches are not "aggressive"
enough." ... ""We believe we are doing the job we need to be doing. We
have been unannounced and thorough," said Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman
for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), whose inspectors are
helping with the search." ... "Ms Fleming rejected allegations of espionage,
but added that if any inspector were found to be a spy, he would be immediately
dismissed." -BBC/News
-
-
- "U.S.
Criticizes North Korea for Rejecting Inspections."
... "The White House issued a muted criticism of North Korea today, saying
it was "disappointing" that North Korea had rejected a demand for inspections
of its newly revealed program to develop nuclear weapons from highly enriched
uranium." ... "The demand came from the International Atomic Energy Agency,
the nuclear inspection and regulatory organization linked to the United
Nations." ... "The White House comments appeared to be part of a strategy
to defuse any sense of imminent confrontation with North Korea, which the
Central Intelligence Agency believes is still a few years away from producing
a nuclear weapon from its uranium program." -David
E. Sanger -NYTimes
via -Moreover
-
-
- "Iraq
criticizes surprise search at palace: U.N.
field chief defends team's work." ... "After a week of uneventful inspections,
U.N. weapons experts on Wedneday came under furious Iraqi attack for having
insisted on a no-notice search of one of President Saddam Hussein's palaces."
... "The harshest criticism came from Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan,
who asserted -- in language reminiscent of clashes with inspectors in the
1990s -- that the new teams of U.N. monitors are gathering intelligence
for Washington and Israel." ... "Ramadan, known for his fiery statements,
offered no evidence for his claim about the current inspectors, only citing
U.S. agents within the inspection agency of the 1990s."
-SHNS/Wire
via -Miami/Herald
-
-
- "Iraq
accuses inspectors of spying for U.S. and Israel."
... "Iraq on Wednesday accused U.N. arms inspectors of being U.S. and Israeli
spies and helping Washington prepare for possible war on Baghdad, but the
United States cooled any talk of imminent military action." ... ""The inspectors
have come to provide better circumstances and more precise information
for a coming aggression," Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan said,
speaking just after Baghdad promised to carry on cooperating with the United
Nations." ... ""This is not an accusation, because the inspectors, from
day one, their foremost work was spying. Their work was spying for the
CIA and Mossad together," he said, referring to the U.S. Central Intelligence
Agency and Israel's secret service." -By Nadim Ladki
and Carol Giacomo -Reuters
- Law
Enforcement News
- Bali
bombings - "Indonesians
nab alleged terror chief." ... "Indonesian police
said Wednesday they had arrested the operations chief of Jemaah Islamiyah
[JI], an al-Qaeda-linked group widely blamed for attacks throughout Southeast
Asia, including blasts that killed nearly 200 people on the resort island
of Bali." ... "Investigators hope the arrest of Mukhlas, also known as
Ali Gufron, will shed light on the shadowy group and expose the extent
of al-Qaeda's reach in the world's most populous Muslim nation."
-AP via -USATODAY
- Law
Enforcement News
- "Police
patrol riot-hit Timor." ... "Police, backed by U.N.
peacekeepers, are patrolling the East Timorese capital Dili after a violent
outbreak of rioting by students in the newly-independent nation." ... "The
clashes broke out Wednesday morning after a group of high school students
went to East Timor's parliament to protest the arrest of a fellow student
a day earlier, according to the prime minister's office.": ... "A group
of former guerilla fighters -- who have staged recent protests against
the country's high unemployment level -- reportedly attended the students'
protest and started throwing rocks, which led to the violence."
-CNN /World
- 
-
- 
- "CIA
Target: Americans: Officials: U.S. Citizens
Working for Al Qaeda Can Be Killed in CIA Actions." ... "American citizens
working for al Qaeda overseas can legally be targeted and killed by the
CIA under President Bush's rules for the war on terrorism, U.S. officials
say." ... "The authority to kill U.S. citizens is granted under a secret
finding signed by the president after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that
directs the CIA to covertly attack al Qaeda anywhere in the world. The
authority makes no exception for Americans, so permission to strike them
is understood rather than specifically described, officials said." ...
"Previously, the government's authority to kill a citizen outside of the
judicial process has been generally restricted to when the American is
directly threatening the lives of other Americans or their allies." -By
John J. Lumpkin -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Saddam’s sons
wield ample power: Both are brutal, but youngest
being groomed to lead Iraq." ... "According to U.S. intelligence officials
and Iraqi dissidents, Uday [the older brother at 36] has used his position
as head of Iraqi TV and Babel, the country’s biggest newspaper, to sell
advertising that local businessmen are “encouraged” to buy if they want
to remain in business." ... "Uday is also the head of Fedayeen, the paramilitary
group to which more than one-third of all government workers now belong."
... "At 34, Qasay [also: Qusai Saddam Hussein] is increasingly seen as
the second most powerful man in Iraq after his father." ... "He is a member
of the nation’s highest body, the Revolutionary Command Council; commander
of the Special Security Organization and the Republican Guard; and deputy
commander of the Baath Party’s Military Bureau." ... "Qasay’s key role,
though, is head of the Special Security Organization, which controls all
security and intelligence operations of the regime, monitoring the myriad
organizations assigned to both domestic and overseas spying. It is also
the innermost of the concentric rings of security around Saddam." -By
Robert Windrem -MSNBC
- "Iraqi
'compliance' doubted." ... "President Bush said Monday
that early signs of Iraq's compliance with United Nations arms inspections
"are not encouraging" and warned that Baghdad must submit a "full and accurate"
account of its weapons of mass destruction by week's end." ... "But the
strong rhetoric also reflects U.S. officials' private concern about the
perception that Iraq has largely cooperated with the initial five days
of inspections. A chief administration worry: Even the appearance that
Iraq is meeting its responsibilities could unravel the international will
to use force to disarm Saddam." -By Bill Nichols
-USATODAY
-
- 
-
- "Antiwar
Effort Gains Momentum: Growing Peace Movement's
Ranks Include Some Unlikely Allies." ... "... [Daphne] Reed fretted over
the particular suffering that would befall Iraqi women; their sons and
husbands would be killed, she said, and the women would be left in the
rubble to fend off contaminated water and starvation." ... ""I said that
all mothers should automatically be against war," Reed said. "It was against
their nature to be violent instead of nurturing." Maybe, she said, it was
time to start a movement -- Mothers Against War." ... "Most members of
Mothers Against War are grandmothers in their seventies whose lives are
already full. Yet they spend hours a day on the Internet, reading and spreading
information on Iraq and the United States and planning for marches, e-mail
campaigns and teach-ins." -By Evelyn Nieves-WashingtonPost
-
- "U.S.
quietly prepares to negotiate with N. Korea." ...
"Despite North Korea's open breach of its promise to stop pursuing nuclear
weapons, the Bush administration is quietly paving the way for negotiations
that might give the reclusive country oil, food or other aid in exchange
for verifiable shutdown of its bomb facilities." ... "... State Department
officials said verification schemes are already being prepared by the Verification
and Compliance Bureau in the office of John Bolton, the undersecretary
for arms control." ... "Powell said officials from the Department of Energy
and the International Atomic Energy Agency are already monitoring a North
Korean nuclear facility that had produced plutonium." -By
Barbara Slavin -USATODAY
-
-
- "Russia
and China urge Korea thaw." ... "Russia and China
have urged the United States and North Korea to normalise diplomatic relations,
and called for the Korean peninsula to be kept free of nuclear weapons."
... "The call came in a joint declaration by the Russian president, Vladimir
Putin, and his Chinese counterpart, Jiang Zemin, who have been meeting
in Beijing." ... "Mr Putin is in China on the first stop of an Asia tour,
during which he became the first major world leader to meet Hu Jintao,
who recently took over as leader of China's Communist Party."-BBC/News
-
- "China
and Russia hope for influence." ... "The joint declaration
signed by Russia and China covers a huge swathe of international affairs,
from North Korea to Iraq to the war against terror." ... "Last year total
Sino-Russian trade amounted to just $10 billion." ... "That is a mere fraction
of the $100 billion in trade China does each year with the United States."
-By Rupert Wingfield-Hayes -BBC/News
-
- "Two
freed in Kenya attack probe." ... "On Friday, police
found two launchers and two unused surface-to-air missiles less than a
quarter mile from the end of the runway where the Arkia Boeing 757 narrowly
escaped being shot down as it took off." ... "Israeli intelligence sources
said the missiles used in the attack were "almost certainly SA-7s, or Strela
missiles."" ... "Israel's Mossad spy agency, which has a long record of
hunting terror suspects, is leading the investigation into the twin attacks
on Israeli tourists in Kenya." -CNN
/World
/Asia
- "'No
al-Qaeda link' to Kenya detainees." ... "No connection
has yet been established between 12 people detained over attacks on Israeli
targets in the Kenyan city of Mombasa and the al-Qaeda network, Kenyan
authorities say." ... "United States officials have said they believe a
Somali-based Islamic group may have carried out the bombing, which was
immediately preceded by a failed missile attack on a nearby Israeli plane."
... "The officials say the group, Al-Ittihad al-Islamiya (AIAI), also known
as the Islamic Union, is a prominent militant organisation in the Horn
of Africa with links to Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network." ... "A previously
unknown group called the Army of Palestine earlier claimed responsibility
for the attacks." ... "But US officials are focusing attention on AIAI
because of its suspected al-Qaeda links and presence in Kenya."
-BBC/News
- "Al
Qaeda blamed as attack on Israelis in Kenya kills 15."
... "Suicide bombers blew up a hotel in Kenya on Thursday, killing 15 people,
minutes after missiles narrowly missed an Israeli airliner taking off nearby,
in apparently synchronised attacks on Israeli tourists." ... "Israeli and
Kenyan officials swiftly blamed the al Qaeda network but Washington said
it was premature to point the finger at the group it holds responsible
for the September 11 attacks on the United States." ... "A Kenyan security
source said it was believed attackers who targeted the Israeli airliner
used shoulder-borne missile launchers. German intelligence sources described
the weapons as Soviet produced SA 7 ground-to-air missiles." -By
Noel Mwakughu -Reuters/Asia
- Thanksgiving
- "Marines
Celebrate Thanksgiving in Kuwait: Marines Make
Their Own Thanksgiving in the Deserts of Kuwait." ... "As the United States
prepares for a possible war with Iraq, the Marines have established Camp
Commando on the edge of a Kuwaiti military base to act as their command
headquarters. From here, they will be able to control the tens of thousands
of Marines who could arrive in Kuwait." ... "A few weeks ago, the base
was virtually sand." ... "For these soldiers mostly from the 1st Marine
Expeditionary Force, based in Camp Pendleton, Calif. it was yet another
Thanksgiving away from home." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Reporters
an early point of contention in Iraq inspections."
... "When the two leaders of the inspection program — Hans Blix and Mohamed
ElBaradei — met with Iraqi officials last week, they said they did not
want journalists tagging along, especially at suspected weapons sites."
... "But Iraq, which maintains one of the most restrictive press policies
in the Mideast, championed free access for journalists — at least as far
as covering the inspections is concerned." ... "U.N. officials appeared
concerned that reporters, lacking the inspectors' technical and scientific
expertise, might be too quick to report that no banned materials had been
before the experts had had time to draw their own conclusions."
-AP via -FreedomForum.org
- "U.N.
inspectors complete surprise visits at two sites in Iraq."
... "International arms monitors searched a military missile-testing range
and a state factory outside Baghdad Wednesday, starting a new round of
inspections that could determine the future of peace in the Middle East."
... "Inspectors did not immediately disclose their findings." ... "On the
basis of satellite photos, U.S. intelligence analysts have suggested that
a new, square, steel-girder stand for holding and testing missile engines
at al-Rafah might be used for missiles larger than allowed under U.N. resolutions.
Iraq is forbidden to develop missiles over 90 miles in range."
-AP via -USATODAY
-
- "Fraud
fears still hamper online sales." ... "The number
of Britons doing Christmas shopping online is expected to soar this year
but the government says fear of fraud is still preventing sales reaching
their potential levels." ... "The government is keen to encourage more
net shopping, with Consumer Minister Melanie Johnson telling shoppers that
online retail can be safe if they follow a few simple rules." ... "She
is advising consumers to use websites they know or that have been recommended,
obtain suppliers' telephone numbers or postal addresses and keep copies
of order forms or e-mails."-BBC/News
- "Nigerian
state issues death threat on Miss World journalist."
... "A Nigerian state has ordered Muslims to kill a journalist whose report
on the Miss World contest led to riots in which 200 people died." ... "An
Islamic fatwa has been decreed against Isioma Daniel, whose article in
the This Day newspaper suggested that if the prophet Mohammed were alive
today, he would have wanted to marry one of the Miss World contestants."
... "Violence erupted in Nigeria last week when the article angered Muslim
fundamentalists." ... "Estimates suggest that besides the 200 people killed,
1,200 have been hospitalised and 12,000 made homeless as a result of the
riots." -By Julia Day
-Guardian.co.uk /media
- "U.N.
Monitor Says Iraqis Are Denying Having Arms Cache."
... "Iraqi officials have told United Nations inspectors in Baghdad that
they have no weapons of mass destruction and expressed reservations about
inspections of President Saddam Hussein's palaces, Hans Blix, one of the
inspections chiefs, said here today." ... "Briefing the Security Council,
Mr. Blix said Iraqi officials had pledged to cooperate fully with the inspections,
but had also raised a host of skeptical questions about a declaration of
chemical, biological and nuclear weapons due on Dec. 8." (1, 2)
-By Julia Preston -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
-
- "Global
goofs: U.S. youth can't find Iraq: Young Americans
may soon have to fight a war in Iraq, but most of them can't even find
that country on a map, the National Geographic Society said Wednesday."
... "The society survey found that only about one in seven -- 13 percent
-- of Americans between the age of 18 and 24, the prime age for military
warriors, could find Iraq. The score was the same for Iran, an Iraqi neighbor."
-AP via -CNN
Bali
bombings - "'Suicide
bomber detonated one Bali blast'" ... "The alleged
mastermind of last month's Bali bombing on Friday confessed to planning
and staging the attack and revealed that one of the two bombs used in the
attack was detonated by a suicide bomber." ... "Imam Samudra, who was arrested
late on Thursday while trying to board a ferry in the west Java port of
Merak, told investigators on Friday that he had planned the attack in an
attempt to engage Jihad in Indonesia, police said." -By
Shawn Donnan in Jakarta -FT.com
- "Pakistan
gets new speaker." ... "After intense lobbying and
uncertainty, Pakistan's political future is now becoming clearer with a
candidate from the pro-government Pakistan Muslim League securing the post
of speaker in the newly reconvened national assembly." ... "The League's
candidate, Chaudhry Amir Hussain -- a supporter of military President Pervez
Musharraf -- received 167 out of 327 votes polled, far higher than his
main rival from a coalition of Islamic parties." ... "Parliament opened
on Saturday -- the first time since a blodless coup in October 1999 installed
Musharraf as leader." -CNN
/World
/Asia
Osama
bin Laden
- "Bin
Laden Tape Authentic, U.S. Intelligence Officials Say."
... "Linguists at the National Security Agency who have been assigned for
many years to study bin Laden's voice and analyze tape recordings and intercepts
of his suspected conversations have no doubt it is the voice of al Qaeda's
leader. But the quality of the tape, in which bin Laden is believed to
be speaking into a telephone that is near a tape recorder's microphone,
is not good enough to allow a 100 percent certainty that it is him, a U.S.
intelligence official said." -By Dana Priest and Susan
Schmidt -WashingtonPost
-
- "A
year after Taliban, little change: The US pledged
more aid to Kabul, but Iraq may distract from rebuilding efforts." ...
""The situation in Iraq has done no good whatsoever for the situation in
Afghanistan," says Charles Heyman, a defense analyst and editor of Jane's
World Armies in London, referring to a waning interest in solving the problems
of this war-tattered nation. "Afghanistan is beginning to be put in the
'too-difficult' box."" ... "Instead, the country's competing ethnic groups,
the enduring power of local warlords, and a reluctance on the part of participating
nations to expand the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) beyond
the capital has led to an approach Mr. Heyman defines as "covering over
some patches when its possible, until anyone has some time to sort it out
properly."" -By Ilene R. Prusher
-CSMonitor
- "Will
Iraqi troops collapse or fight? Elite forces
are expected to show resolve, but ordinary troops may quickly lay down
arms." ... "One of the most unpredictable elements of a possible US-led
war against Iraq is how much resistance the 420,000-strong Iraqi military
would mount against a better-trained and better-equipped American and allied
force." ... "Top Pentagon officials, hopeful of swift victory, suggest
that the bulk of Iraqi soldiers would be unlikely to defend the government
for long -if at all. They cite the example of the 1991 Gulf War, when some
70,000 Iraqi troops laid down their arms during the first three or four
days." ... "Nevertheless, elite Republican Guard units and security forces
assigned to defend Baghdad and protect Iraqi President Saddam Hussein may
put up greater resistance." -By Ann Scott Tyson
-CSMonitor
|
- [PDF]
- "Iraq:
A strategic look. Iraq 101." 572k PDF via -CSMonitor |
|
- "North
Korea revises confusing nuclear report." ... "North
Korea on Monday retracted a controversial weekend radio broadcast that
confused and alarmed its neighbours by appearing to confirm for the first
time the reclusive communist state has nuclear weapons." ... "... on Monday,
the Korean Central Broadcasting Station (KCBS) stated that North Korea
believed it was "entitled" to have nuclear arms -- a revision that was
likely to ease some concern, but nonetheless puts Pyongyang at odds with
the United States and allies Japan and South Korea. " -By
Paul Eckert -Reuters/Asia
-
-
- "Military trial
plans nearly done: Bush to decide which detainees
will be tried by tribunals." ... "The government is nearly ready to go
forward with military tribunals for suspected al Qaeda operatives in U.S.
custody in Guantanamo Bay and Afghanistan, pending completion of final
details and approval from President Bush, according to federal officials."
... "Pentagon General Counsel William J. Haynes II has met in recent weeks
with senior officials in other agencies, including the Justice Department,
to outline the plans that have been put in place for the tribunals, also
known as military commissions." -By Susan Schmidt
and Bradley Graham-WashingtonPost
via -MSNBC
- "North
Korea sows confusion with nuclear arms comment."
... "But analysts in Japan and South Korea, two neighbours who are working
closely with the United States to pressure the North to scrap its nuclear
ambitions, said on Monday it looked more like a linguistic mix-up." ...
"Just one Korean syllable separates North Korea's stock assertion of its
right to possess nuclear arms from a declaration it has such weapons --
a development that would complicate allied efforts to pre-empt a new nuclear
crisis on the Korean peninsula." -By Paul Eckert -Reuters/Asia
- 
- "North
Korea issues new missile-test threat to Japan." ...
"North Korea kept up its recent threats to resume missile tests on Monday,
saying it may end its test moratorium if Tokyo goes ahead with developing
a missile defence shield with the United States." ... "Japanese Defence
Minister Shigeru Ishiba told the parliament earlier this month that if
studies over the missile shield yielded positive results, Japan should
step up the project to a development stage." -Reuters/Asia
- "Skepticism
over N. Korea nuclear claims: Reports from
North Korea that the reclusive nation has developed nuclear weapons are
being met with confusion and skepticism." ... "North Korea's Pyongyang
Radio said Sunday the country "has come to have nuclear and other strong
military weapons to deal with increased nuclear threats by the U.S. imperialists,"
according to the Yonhap news agency which monitors North Korean broadcasts."-CNN
- "U.S.
Turns Horn of Africa Into a Military Hub." ... "For
the first time since American troops withdrew from Somalia after a bloody
firefight in the streets of Mogadishu, the United States military is rebuilding
its combat power in the Horn of Africa." ... "The main goal this time is
to put American forces in position to strike cells of Al Qaeda in Yemen
or East Africa. But the Pentagon has also begun to use Djibouti to train
its forces in desert warfare — skills that could be applied in Washington's
campaign against terrorist groups or on the battlefields of Iraq." ...
"France, which had colonized Djibouti (pronounced ji-BOOT-e) before it
became independent in 1977, still maintains a force of 2,800 strong here.
Djibouti, in fact, is France's largest foreign military base." ... "The
Central Intelligence Agency is flying classified missions from an airfield
in Djibouti using the Predator, an pilotless drone equipped with Hellfire
missiles, according to Western officers." (1, 2,
3)
-By Michael R. Gordon
-NYTimes via
-AltaVista-News
- "White
House Denies Assertions on Preoccupation With Iraq."
... "The White House disagreed sharply today with assertions by senior
Democratic senators that the campaign against terrorism is lagging and
that a preoccupation with Iraq is one of the reasons." ... ""We have locked
up or detained or eliminated important Al Qaeda leaders," Condoleezza Rice,
President Bush's national security adviser, said at a news briefing." ...
""We have eliminated their base in Afghanistan, so they cannot operate
in the way that they have in the past. We have strengthened the resolve
and the capacity of countries like Yemen and the Philippines and countries
in Africa to deal with this threat. A lot has been done."" ... "Dr. Rice
noted that Mr. Bush has said repeatedly that the campaign will be a long
one. "It took a while for them to lodge themselves in 60 countries around
the world, including the United States," she said. "It's going to take
a while to break them up."" (1, 2)
-NYTimes via -Google-News
Osama
bin Laden -
"As
New Tape Is Evaluated, Bush Calls Qaeda Threat Real."
... "The White House has been told that government linguistics experts
believe the voice on a new audiotape praising recent terror attacks and
broadcast on Arab television is Osama bin Laden's, administration officials
said today [20021113]."
... "Both the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency
were carefully scrutinizing the tape, which was first broadcast on Al Jazeera,
the satellite television channel based in Qatar, on Tuesday. Officials
said that although it was being subjected to digital analysis, it was of
such poor quality that experts would probably be unable to determine its
authenticity conclusively. Even so, specialists were conducting still more
comprehensive tests." -By
James Risen with Judith Miller -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
Microsoft
News -
-
- "Briton
Indicted as Hacker: Entry to U.S. Military
Systems Called Biggest Ever Detected." ... "An unemployed British computer
system administrator was indicted yesterday in Alexandria and New Jersey
on eight counts of computer fraud for alleging [sic] penetrating about
100 U.S. government computers, shutting down networks and corrupting data
in what U.S. Attorney Paul J. McNulty called "the biggest hack of military
computers ever detected."" ... "From February 2001 to March 2002, two federal
grand juries alleged, Gary McKinnon, 36, of London, exploited a known security
problem with Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 2000 to break into 92 computers
at NASA, the Pentagon, and more than a dozen military installations in
14 states." -By Brooke A. Masters-WashingtonPost
>TechNews
Osama
bin Laden -
"Experts
scrutinize bin Laden message." ... "U.S. intelligence
experts scrutinized a recorded message reportedly from terror mastermind
Osama bin Laden on Wednesday, the first evidence in a year that the elusive
leader of the al-Qaida terrorist network is still alive. Although CIA analysis
was not yet complete, U.S. officials told NBC News that the voice on the
audiotape, which praises recent attacks, is that of bin Laden. “It’s him,”
a senior official said." ... "Steve Emerson, a terrorism expert, told NBC’s
“Today” show Wednesday that “the voice is very similar.” Emerson described
the detailed tests CIA voice analysts are conducting on the recording as
“sort of like a DNA check of somebody’s tissue. They’re going to determine
with 100 percent certainty whether it’s his (voice), and I think it is.”"
-MS-NBC
- "Iraq
Inspections Receive Approval From Arab League." ...
"Arab governments voiced collective support today for new weapons inspections
inside Iraq, although they want Arab experts added to the inspection teams
and warned that the latest United Nations resolution should not be considered
a free pass for Washington to invade." ... "The support, expressed in a
resolution at a meeting of Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo, suggests
that most governments in the region remain perfectly happy to see Saddam
Hussein defanged, political experts said, yet fear the repercussions of
another war in the region." ... "Worst-case scenarios in the region have
raised fears that the United States could redraw the map of the region,
much the way the secret Sykes-Picot pact by Britain and France did early
in the last century, although calmer heads reject such an outcome." (1,
2)
-By Neil MacFarquhar -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
- Law
Enforcement News
- Bali
bombings - "Bali
Suspect Said Student of Cleric Prime Suspect in Bali:
Bombings Studied Under Militant Muslim Cleric, Investigator Says." ...
"A top investigator on Monday said the prime suspect in the Bali bombings
studied under a detained Muslim cleric who heads the group that foreign
intelligence services blame for the attack." ... "Police have been trying
to establish a link between Amrozi and Abu Bakar Bashir, the spiritual
leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah organization, since they arrested Amrozi
last week." ... "Bashir is currently detained for a series of church bombings
in 2000. He has not been named a suspect in the Bali blasts."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- Law
Enforcement News
- Bali
bombings - "10
now sought in Bali probe." ... "Bali bombing suspect,
Amrozi, has given police several names of others linked to the attack,
including his brothers, friends and co-workers, police sources said Sunday."
... "Several of those wanted by police include foreigners, according to
intelligence sources." ... "Police spokesman Edward Aritonang said, while
Amrozi has admitted to knowing Ba'asyir and another JI leader, Riduan Isamuddin
-- also known as Hambali -- he has not mentioned their involvement in the
Bali attack." -Report contributed to by Atika Shubert
-CNN /World
/Asia
-
- "Clock
Ticks for Hussein After Security Council Vote." ...
"By all accounts, United Nations inspectors will do very little inspecting
and will base their appraisal of Iraqi cooperation on the accuracy of the
"confession" that Mr. Hussein will have to make about the weapons projects
whose existence he had denied and which administration officials have said
he has been hiding in secret bunkers, underground caves and mobile laboratories."
... "But if Mr. Hussein fails to meet the detailed demands of the United
Nations inspection force, or if his disclosures do not tally with information
supplied to inspectors by American and other Western intelligence agencies,
Mr. Bush made clear today that the United States would declare him in "material
breach" of the Security Council resolution." (1, 2)
-By Patrick E. Tyler -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
- Law
Enforcement News
- Bali
bombings - "Americans
were the target of Bali bombings, investigator says, citing key suspect."
... "The reported confession of an Indonesian man identified as Amrozi
has prompted more arrests and linked the blasts to a fugitive, Riduan Isamudin,
also known as Hambali, who has been tied to the Sept. 11 hijackers." ...
"Blame for the attack is increasingly turning to Jemaah Islamiyah the al-Qaida
linked terror group said to be seeking a pan-Islamic state in Southeast
Asia." ... "Two security experts citing militant and intelligence sources
said Friday that Jemaah Islamiyah leaders met in southern Thailand earlier
this year and agreed to target tourist venues like the Bali nightclubs.""
-By Steven Gutkin -AP
via -Boston/Globe
- "U.S. quietly
builds up around Iraq: Heavy equipment, 63,000
troops in position, awaiting word." ... "Throughout the region — from the
Persian Gulf to the Horn of Africa to Central Asia — there are at least
63,000 U.S. troops." ... "While nearly 14,000 of those troops are focused
on operations in Afghanistan, the bulk of those forces is in a position
to participate should the decision be made to attack Iraq in the weeks
or months ahead." ... "The USS Abraham Lincoln carrier battle group is
in the area — and F14s and F/A18s are flying missions over southern Iraq
as part of coalition patrols of no-fly zones." ... "Those jets — along
with Air Force F16s flying from Kuwait — are striking Iraq’s air defenses
in the south in response to the firing of Iraqi missiles or anti-aircraft
guns at U.S. and British jets on patrol.." ... " ... by mid-December, four
carrier battle groups could all be in striking distance of Iraq." -By
Tammy Kupperman -MS-NBC
-
- "U.N.
passes Iraq resolution on weapons inspections:
Bush: 'All nations must continue to pressure Saddam'" ... "The United Nations
Security Council on Friday approved a resolution that demands unfettered
access for U.N. inspectors to search for weapons of mass destruction in
Iraq." ... "All 15 member states of the Security Council voted in favor
of the resolution." ... "Iraq has seven days to accept the resolution's
terms." ... "Within 30 days, Iraq must send the U.N. a list of its
weapons." ... "Within 45 days, Iraq must allow inspections to begin."
... "Iraq is accused of possessing weapons of mass destruction -- nuclear,
biological, chemical -- in violation of the ceasefire treaty it signed
when Baghdad lost the 1991 Persian Gulf War." -Report
contributed to by Jane Arraf -CNN
-
-
-
- "US,
France agree on new Iraq resolution. " ... "The U.N.
Security Council set the vote for 10 a.m. EST after the United States and
its cosponsor Britain, at French urging, changed the wording in a key provision
that would declare Iraq in "material breach" of its U.N. obligations."
... "The change addresses concerns by France, Russia, Syria and others
that the original text would have let the United States determine on its
own whether Iraq had committed an infraction." -By
Edith M. Lederer -AP
via -Boston/Globe
- Bali
bombings
- Law
Enforcement
- "Van
owner 'confesses' to planting Bali bomb." ... "Indonesian
police say a suspect has confessed during interrogation to being part of
a group that planted the Bali nightclub bomb that killed more than 180
people." ... "National Police Chief Da'i Bachtiar said the man, named only
as Amrozi, told interrogators that he was involved in planting a bomb in
a minivan used in the October 12 attack on the Sari Club in the resort
town of Kuta." ... "The massive blast caused by the car bomb was one of
three coordinated explosions which investigators say were designed to inflict
maximum casualties." -CNN
-
- "US
hits Qaeda in Yemen: Fires missile from spy
plane, killing 6 in car." ... "A US missile fired from a [Predator] spy
plane destroyed a car in a lawless stretch of northern Yemen Sunday, killing
a senior Al Qaeda leader and five other members in the first American military
strike against the terrorist group outside Afghanistan since the Sept.
11, 2001, attacks." ... "The Hellfire missile was fired from a CIA-controlled,
unmanned plane, according to US officials quoted by news agencies. The
Yemeni news agency SABA said initial information indicated the dead included
Ali Qaed Sinan al-Harithi, also known as Abu Ali." -By
Anthony Shadid -Boston/Globe
- "Ancient
Egyptian library reborn in modern form: Organizers
hope to offer global access via Internet." ... "Some experts say the library's
long-term goal of gathering and preserving all recorded human knowledge
is next to impossible, given the expenses involved." ... ""We have, at
best, maybe 2 percent of all human knowledge in digital form, and personally
I think less," says Charley Seavey, an associate professor at the University
of Missouri-Columbia School of Information Science and Learning Technologies.
Mr. Seavey says it would take over $1 billion dollars to digitize just
the 17 million books in the Library of Congress - and that doesn't include
the 95 million other items in its collection or the cost of storing and
retrieving this material." ... ""The biggest challenge is not technology,"
[Archive.org's Brewster] Kahle says.
"It's a mind-set change – that now something is possible that wasn't possible
before.""-By Sarah Gauch
-CSMonitor
-
- Microsoft
News - "Microsoft
focus on Brussels after U.S. decision." ... "After
a court victory for Microsoft in the United States, the battle now shifts
to Europe where Competition Commissioner Mario Monti may soon impose his
own set of sanctions against the software giant." ... "Monti will make
a preliminary decision by the end of the year whether to act against Microsoft
Corp ... for allegedly abusing dominance in its Windows operating
system." -By David Lawsky
-Reuters via -Forbes
- "Sharon
puts hardliner in defence post." ... "Ariel Sharon
has named as his new defence minister a former army chief of staff who
is under investigation by Scotland Yard for alleged war crimes in the occupied
territories." ... "The appointment of Lieutenant General Shaul Mofaz to
such a crucial post has confirmed suspicions that Israel's prime minister
would lurch further to the right after Labour walked out of his coalition
on Wednesday." -By Chris McGreal and Brian Whitaker
-Guardian.co.uk
- "Collapse
of coalition dooms peace efforts." ... "The collapse
of Israel's coalition government in effect dooms European and US efforts
to draw up a timetable for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by
2005, diplomats say." ... "Diplomats accept Mr Bush had come a long towards
supporting a Palestinian state and an end to Jewish settlement building.
He failed, however, to match those words with deeds. The administration
saw the conflict - and particularly Yassir Arafat, Palestinian leader -
through the prism of September 11. It was about terrorism, the US believed."
-By Judy Dempsey
-FT.com
- "Sharon
Turns to Right In Bid to Retain Power: Israel's
Nationalist, Orthodox Parties Courted." ... "Sharon today negotiated with
small ultranationalist and right-wing Orthodox parties to help him survive
a no-confidence vote scheduled for Monday. Members of his nationalist Likud
Party and other analysts said it was probable that he would survive that
challenge and establish a new government. If so, they added, Sharon and
his government will have traded collaboration with Israel's large center-left
party and its image of openness to conciliation with the Palestinians,
for support from a small group of Israel's most unyielding politicians
who are determined to retain the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip." ...
""The people of Israel are the losers," said Abraham Diskin, a mainstream
political scientist at Jerusalem's Hebrew University. "At this time of
a war of attrition, a unity government is a necessity. It is not good for
Israel to have government that is considered a government of extremists,
right-wingers, settlers and lunatics."" -By John Ward
Anderson-WashingtonPost
- "Collapse
of Israeli government could derail peace efforts:
Analysts say U.S. more interested in winning support among Arab nations
for war on Iraq." ... "The collapse of Sharon's 20-month-old government
comes days after a visit to the region by Assistant Secretary of State
William Burns. He delivered a long-promised road map for Israelis and Palestinians
to reach President Bush's stated vision of a Palestinian state within three
years." ... "The U.S. outline touched on some of the fiercest points of
contention: from extensive reforms of Palestinian institutions and an end
to Palestinian attacks on Israeli soldiers, civilians, and settlers in
the West Bank and Gaza Strip to a partial Israeli pullback and a hiatus
and eventually dismantling of Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian
land." ... "Both sides reacted coolly to the proposals." -By
Anthony Shadid
-Boston/Globe
via -SeattlePI.NWsource
- "U.S.
soldiers train for battle in streets of Iraq." ...
"Since the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the Pentagon has been preparing soldiers
and Marines to fight battles in villages, towns and cities. Those cluttered
landscapes had been largely ignored as a training ground since the days
of World War II, when GIs slugged their way across Europe by seizing hundreds
of hamlets in close combat with the German Army." ... "The reason for the
renewed focus: By the end of this decade, three-quarters of the world's
population will live in metropolitan areas. And that's where the U.S. military's
top commanders expect to fight, in part because no conventional army would
want to battle America's high-tech, smart-bomb equipped force in the open."
... "At bases from Fayetteville, N.C. to Seattle, the Army and Marines
have built scale models of downtown areas to simulate the complexities
of urban fighting. Several blocks in size, these artificial cities are
used to teach soldiers and Marines a range of skills, from how to spot
booby-trapped buildings to fighting enemies who would have no qualms about
using civilians as human shields." -By Dave Moniz
-USATODAY
- "Palestinian
sees no good in Israel govt crisis." ... "Palestinian
cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said on Wednesday the Israeli government coalition
crisis was another sign that Israeli politicians were moving "faster and
faster away from an atmosphere of peace"."
-Reuters -AlertNet.org/Newsdesk
- "Labor
Pullout Shatters Israel's Ruling Coalition." ...
"Labour's pullout ended a 19-month "national unity" partnership forged
as a common front against a Palestinian uprising and could undermine U.S.
efforts to calm the region while it prepares for a possible war on Iraq."
... "The crisis was precipitated by demands from Defense Minister Binyamin
Ben-Eliezer, head of center-left Labor, to divert funds earmarked for settlements
to the poor and the elderly." -By Matt Spetalnick
-Reuters /World
- "Israel
Coalition Gov't Falls Apart: Israeli Prime
Minister Sharon's Coalition Falls Apart Over Dispute About Jewish Settlements."
... "The crisis was precipitated by Sharon's rejection of Labor Party leader
Binyamin Ben-Eliezer's demands to cut $145 million in funds for Jewish
settlements in the $57 billion 2003 state budget." ... "If the resignations
go through, Sharon would face the difficult choice of trying to stay afloat
with the support of an array of extreme-right and religious parties meaning
political instability and constant pressures for even tougher, internationally
unpopular policies concerning the Palestinians."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
- "U.S.
and France Near Deal on Iraq Attack." ... "The United
States and France are moving toward a compromise on Iraq that would oblige
the Bush administration to consult the United Nations Security Council
before embarking on military action against Saddam Hussein but still leave
it the freedom to act alone." ... "American officials and foreign diplomats
said that under the proposed compromise, the United States would take part
in a Security Council debate if Iraq failed to comply with expected new
United Nations demands for the destruction of its chemical and biological
weapons." (1, 2)
-By Steven R. Weisman
-NYTimes via -Google-News
- "Gas
clouds Moscow rescue: Since the siege's end,
the hostage death toll has been rising steadily from 67 to 90 to 117."
... "The initial wave of relief – and praise for President Vladimir Putin
– that swept over Moscow is now turning to suspicion and anger as the death
toll of the hostages continues to rise. Breaking a news blackout Sunday
evening, a Moscow health official admitted that the gas used by Russian
forces killed 115 of the 117 hostages that had died. The official said
that 150 people were still in intensive care." -By
Fred Weir -CSMonitor/buy
- "Experts:
Valium Gas Used in Raid." ... "Military experts and
toxicologists say Russian commandos probably pumped a gas containing Valium
into a Moscow theater to subtly disable and disorient heavily armed Chechen
rebels prior to Saturday's dramatic assault." ... "Experts also mentioned
BZ [a hallucinogenic drug], or 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate, as a possibility
for the gas used by the Russians." ... "BZ was a research focus of the
U.S. Army during the Cold War at the former Edgewood Area labs near Washington.
It belongs to a class of drugs known as anticholinergics that interrupt
the brain's chemical messaging system between cells, leading to confusion
and hallucinations. It needs an hour to take effect, so authorities would've
had to release it into the theater long before the actual assault." -By
Joseph B. Verrengia -AP
via -SeattleTimes.NWsource
- "At
Least 67 Hostages and 34 Militants Are Dead After Raid."
... "Russian special forces burst into a theater held by Chechen guerrillas
early today after the rebels began to kill some of the hostages they had
seized, government officials said." ... "The government forces poured into
the theater in a pre-dawn raid after panicked hostages ran out, evidently
as the guerrillas began to carry out their threats to kill the hostages.
Minutes later, officials were saying the siege was over." ... "The raid
began at about 6:20 a.m. with a series of thunderous explosions, punctuated
by bursts of gunfire. Then it was eerily quiet, as Russian troops apparently
succeeded in seizing the theater." (1, 2)
-By Michael Wines and Sabrina Tavernise
-NYTimes via -AltaVista-News
-
- "Jiang
and Bush start Texas summit." ... "The two presidents
are likely to address a number of international issues during their 90-minute
talks, which are taking place at Mr Bush's ranch in Texas." ... "Possible
conflict in Iraq and North Korea's nuclear development are top of the agenda."
-BBC/News
- "Chechens
Kill One Moscow Hostage." ... "Chechen rebels holding
hundreds of hostages in a Moscow theater shot and killed one captive and
said they were ready to die for their cause, warning Thursday that thousands
more of their comrades were ``keen on dying.''" ... "A blanket-shrouded
body, identified only as a woman, was dragged out of the theater Thursday
afternoon, apparently killed in the early hours of the hostage drama. Sergei
Ignachenko, a spokesman for the Federal Security Service, said the woman
appeared to be in her 20s and had been shot in the chest and her fingers
were broken." -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
-
- "Symbolic
Texas visit for Chinese president." ... "China's
President Jiang Zemin will make perhaps his last stand in US-China relations
in the heart of cowboy country - at President George W Bush's ranch in
Texas." ... "With China's party congress looming, Mr Jiang will hope to
give a memorable performance at Friday's meeting." ... "But he faces stiff
competition from history - and the mark made by his predecessor, Deng Xiaoping,
who attended a rodeo in the lone star state 23 years ago." -By
Geraldine Carroll-BBC/News
-
- "[U.S.
national security adviser Condoleezza] Rice says does not know if [Chinese
President] Jiang [Zemin] will give up power." ...
""I don't really have a sense of what will happen in the Chinese succession,
but we obviously stand ready to work with Chinese leaders as they emerge,"
Rice told reporters when asked if she was convinced that Jiang would relinquish
power." ... "Jiang, 76, is expected to retire from his post as Chinese
Communist Party chief next month and to hand over power to a younger generation
headed by Vice President Hu Jintao, 59." -By Arshad
Mohammed -Reuters
via -Fortune
-
- "China's
Jiang arrives in Texas ahead of Bush talks." ...
"Chinese President Jiang Zemin arrived in Texas Wednesday for a three-day
visit that will include an informal summit with President Bush at his Crawford
ranch." ... "The two leaders are expected to discuss topics ranging from
North Korea's newly disclosed nuclear weapons program to Bush's proposed
action against Iraq in talks on Friday ahead of an Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation group meeting both will attend this weekend in Los Cabos, Mexico."
-By Erwin Seba -Reuters
via -Fortune
OPINION
-
-
- Bali
bombings. -
"Threat
of unreality TV: In the media, places like
Bali only feature as tourist playgrounds. That endangers us all." ... "For
the past nine months, priests and tribal leaders in West Papua, the easternmost
province of Indonesia, have been trying to warn the world that an Islamic
fundamentalist movement is using their land as a training ground. Laskar
Jihad is commanded by a man trained by al-Qaida in Afghanistan. Some of
its members have already been involved in terrorism in the islands of Ambon
and Sulawesi. Since January they have established seven bases in West Papua.
With the help of the Indonesian police and army, they have been stockpiling
arms, recruiting Javanese immigrants and training them for combat." ...
"Since the jihadis arrived, Neles Tebay, a Papuan journalist, has been
sending urgent messages to newspapers and broadcasters around the world,
desperate to attract attention to this protected terrorist network. But
even when eight Pakistani mojahedin arrived, his warnings failed to generate
any response in the newsrooms of either Europe or North America. The Papuans,
ignored and abandoned by the rest of the world, have been reduced to begging
the Indonesian authorities to uphold the law and disarm the jihadis before
they attack." ...
- Bali
bombings. -
"Bali
Blast May Have al-Qaida Link: Bomb That Destroyed
Indonesian Nightclub May Be Linked to Islamic Extremist Group Allied With
al-Qaida." ... "Though police stopped short of saying the bomb was made
and planted by Jemaah Islamiyah, which has been blamed for a series of
bombings in Southeast Asia in recent years, the use of ammonium nitrate
reinforces suspicions the group was involved."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
- Bali
bombings. -
"Indonesia
passes emergency terrorism laws." ... "Indonesian
President Megawati Sukarnoputri has signed into law two decrees expanding
powers of police to deal with terrorism in the wake of last weekend's deadly
bomb attacks on the island of Bali." ... "The new laws give authorities
sweeping powers to detain terror suspects without charge for up to six
months and provides for the death penalty for convicted terrorists." ...
"The new laws will be made retroactive to cover those responsible for the
Bali bombings." -AP
-Reuters -CNN
- Bali
bombings. -
"Indonesian
police send team to see militant Bashir." ... "Foreign
intelligence officials believe [Abu Bakar] Bashir is a leader in the al
Qaeda-linked regional Jemaah Islamiah network, blamed for planning terrorism
acts throughout Southeast Asia. Some have linked it to last weekend's Bali
bombings that killed more than 180 people. Bashir has denied any links
to terrorism or knowledge of Jemaah Islamiah." -Reuters
-AlertNet.org/Newsdesk
-
- Bali
bombings. -
"Australia
says it fears bomb attacks in Jakarta." ... "The
Australian government said on Saturday it had received intelligence that
parts of the Indonesian capital of Jakarta may be bombed in attacks aimed
at Westerners and urged its citizens to leave."
-Reuters -AlertNet.org/Newsdesk
- "Yemen
feels the backlash." ... "Yemen's support for the
USA's 'war on terrorism' may be having a negative effect on the peace and
stability of the country - as evidenced by the attack on the French tanker
Limburg." ... "To avert the burgeoning threat, US special-forces trainers
have deployed to Yemen in the past year for a continuing training programme
to assist the government in the creation of a counter-terrorism unit. A
Yemeni official told Jane's Defence Weekly that teams of 20-30 trainers
from US Special Operations Command have worked in Yemen, training local
soldiers on 2-3 week courses before returning to bases outside the country.
The official said, however, there are no US forces based in Yemen. A permanent
US presence would not be accepted by Yemen's powerful tribes." -By
Richard Engel -Jane's/Defence/Weekly
- Bali
bombings. -
"'Bali
Was a Wake-up Call to Indonesia': Exclusive:
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz tells TIME that a killer bomb blast
will prompt Jakarta to crack down on terror, and that its hesitancy is
based on concerns for democracy." ... "After a half-century of living under
various autocracies and dictatorships, the Indonesians are leery of giving
police too much power." -By Mark Thompson
-TIME.com
-
- "U.S.
Says Pakistan Gave Technology to North Korea." ...
"American intelligence officials have concluded that Pakistan, a vital
ally since last year's terrorist attacks, was a major supplier of critical
equipment for North Korea's newly revealed clandestine nuclear weapons
program, current and former senior American officials said today [20021017]."
... "The trade between Pakistan and North Korea appears to have occurred
around 1997, roughly two years before Gen. Pervez Musharraf took power
in a bloodless coup. However, the relationship appears to have continued
after General Musharraf became president, and there is some evidence that
a commercial relationship between the two country's extended beyond Sept.
11 of last year.." (1, 2)
-By
David E. Sanger and James Dao -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
-
- Bali
bombings. -
"Grief
turns to anger as Australia's Bali toll rises." ...
"More than 180 people were killed on Saturday when blasts ripped through
nightclubs packed with foreign tourists at Kuta Beach on the Indonesian
resort island, with 30 Australians identified among the corpses so far
but up to 119 feared dead." ... "As the criticisms mounted, Prime Minister
John Howard flew to Bali on Thursday for a one-day visit to attend a memorial
service for the victims and to assess the situation." -By
Belinda Goldsmith -Reuters
-AlertNet.org/Newsdesk
-
- Bali
bombings. -
"Texas
woman victim of Bali blast." ... "Karri Casner, 23,
of Flower Mound, was vacationing at Kuta Beach at the time of the explosion
and has not been seen since Saturday." ... "Another Texan, Jake Young from
Midland, has been reported missing in the explosion, but has not yet been
found." -AP
via -HoustonChronicle.com
- "U.S.
Not Certain if Pyongyang [North Korea] Has the Bomb."
... "Confronted by new American intelligence, North Korea has admitted
that it has been conducting a major clandestine nuclear-weapons development
program for the past several years, the Bush administration said tonight.
Officials added that North Korea had also informed them that it has now
"nullified" its 1994 agreement with the United States to freeze all nuclear
weapons development activity." ... "Administration officials refused to
say tonight [20021016]
whether the North Koreans had acknowledged successfully producing a nuclear
weapon from the project, which uses highly enriched uranium. Nor would
administration officials who briefed reporters say whether they think North
Korea has produced such a weapon." (1, 2)
-By
David E. Sanger -NYTimes via
-AltaVista-News
- "Iraqis
'vote' for Hussein – and against the US: From
his hometown – and beyond – Tuesday's poll was a display of defiance."
... "The voting took place with no privacy, as no booths were available.
Most voters didn't bother to fold their ballot papers as they slipped them
into the box, leaving their marks in support of Hussein visible to the
judge and other official observers." -By Scott Peterson
and Cameron W. Barr -CSMonitor
- "Pakistan
tilts toward extremism? Musharraf this week
said he will still support the US terror war, despite Islamic parties'
election success." ... "Pakistan's masses have sent a clear signal of simmering
resentment over the US war on terror which is playing out in their own
backyard." ... "The Muttahida Maklis-i-Amal (MMA) – an alliance of five
fundamentalist Islamic parties that opposes the US hunt for Al Qaeda terrorists
here and wants to impose strict sharia or Muslim law –surpassed
even the wildest of expectations in last Thursday's general elections.
The MMA swept the vote in two provinces bordering Afghanistan, Baluchistan
and Northwest Frontier Province, and made significant gains nationwide
to become the third largest political block in the 342-seat National Assembly."
-By Gretchen Peters -CSMonitor/buy
- Bali
bombings. -
"Jakarta
links Bali bombing to Al Qaeda: Security boosted
at plants of U.S. energy companies." ... "In the government's most explicit
acknowledgment that Al Qaeda is operating in Indonesia, the defense minister
linked the terrorist group Monday to a nightclub explosion Saturday that
killed and wounded hundreds of people on the resort island of Bali." ...
"President George W. Bush, linking the bombing of a French oil tanker off
Yemen and the shooting of two U.S. Marines in Kuwait, said Monday that
the Bali explosion appeared to be part of "a pattern of attack" by Al Qaeda."
... "Australia said Monday it had information linking Al Qaeda to the Bali
bomb blasts, Reuters reported from Bali." -By Seth
Mydans -NYTimes
-IHT.com
- "Bombing
in Bali Seen as Opening New Front in Fight on Terror."
... "The blast that killed nearly 200 people on the Indonesian resort island
of Bali this weekend is a different type of terrorism from what the Bush
administration has campaigned against, and will open a new geographic front
in that campaign, Western officials said yesterday." ... "The target was
not an American embassy, military outpost or financial institution that
would represent American power, of the sort that terrorists have attacked
in the past. Rather, it was a nightclub whose revelers were mostly Europeans
and Australians; indeed, Indonesians were often turned away at the door."
(1, 2)
-By Raymond Bonner -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
-
- "Congress
Passes Iraq War Resolution: Congress Approves
Use of U.S. Military Force to Confront Iraq, Send Resolution to White House."
... "Congress approved the use of America's military might against Iraq,
reinforcing President Bush's insistence that Saddam Hussein's government
had no other option but to disarm. "The days of Iraq acting as an outlaw
state are coming to an end," Bush said." ... "After days of solemn debate,
both the House and Senate passed and sent to the White House a resolution
authorizing the president to use military force, if necessary, to compel
Iraq to get rid of its biological and chemical weapons and disband its
nuclear weapons program." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
-West
Coast Port Lockout
- "Bush
Invokes Taft-Hartley Act to Open West Coast Ports."
... "In seeking to suspend the shutdown for 80 days, Mr. Bush became the
first president to successfully invoke the Taft-Hartley Act emergency provisions
since President Richard M. Nixon sought to stop a longshoremen's strike
in 1971." ... "Mr. Bush said he was worried about the movement of military
supplies. The Pentagon often uses commercial shipping lines to send supplies
and equipment overseas, and those lines would undoubtedly fill that role
from the busy West Coast ports if fighting erupted in Iraq or elsewhere
in the Middle East." -By David E. Sanger with Steven
Greenhouse -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
- -West
Coast Port Lockout
- "Asia
Relieved U.S. Ports Reopen: Asia Relieved,
but Counts Cost As West Coast Ports Set to Reopen." ... "Hong Kong's Trade
Development Council has estimated local losses linked to the shutdown would
be at least $128.2 million." ... "The impact has varied, though with countries
like Malaysia and Taiwan that specialize in high-value electronics and
computer equipment to the United States saying they are least affected
because a large share of their exports are shipped by air."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Clues
Suggest Iraq Has Smallpox: Some Clues, Including
Camel Virus Experiment, Suggest Iraq Has Smallpox, Experts Say." ... "Clues
include U.N. weapons inspectors' discovery of a machine labeled "smallpox"
and Iraq's experimenting with a related virus that infects camels. The
official U.S. position, shared by some experts, is that the evidence is
inconclusive." ... ""I don't believe the intelligence community has a smoking
gun that Iraq possesses the virus," said Jonathan Tucker, a former U.N.
biological weapons inspector. "My impression is they're erring on the side
of caution on these bits of circumstantial evidence that are troubling
but not conclusive."" -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
- -West
Coast Port Lockout
- "Port
Lockout Left Cargo Stranded." ... "The current port
shutdown occurred in a critical month, October, when imports are generally
at their highest as American retailers rush to obtain deliveries for the
all-important Christmas sales season. The October-December period normally
accounts for 40 percent of retailers' annual sales." ... "The West Coast
ports, which handle more than $300 billion in trade annually, account for
more than half of all containerized cargo moving in and out of the country,
reflecting the burgeoning trade with Pacific Rim countries." -By
Martin Crutsinger -AP
via -Newsday.com
-
- "Bush
faces crucial week in forging unity on Iraq:
Monday speech, likely vote in Congress, and UN maneuvering will test support
for US action." ... "The Senate's more guarded response on Iraq seems to
mirror the American mood. A poll released last week by the respected Program
on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland shows that
while a strong majority supports an invasion of Iraq if it is carried out
with multilateral support, only a small minority favors an invasion by
America acting alone." -By Howard LaFranchi
-CSMonitor/buy
-
- "Israel
Set to Use New Missile Shield to Counter Scuds."
... "Palmachim Air Force Base, Israel — Israel has deployed an operational
missile defense and is ready to use it to protect Tel Aviv and other major
population centers if they come under fire from Iraq's arsenal of Scud
missiles." ... "Known as the Arrow, the system is designed to avoid the
pitfalls of the American Patriot system, which Israelis say had little
success in stopping Iraq's Scud missile attacks during the Persian Gulf
war in 1991." -By Michael R. Gordon
-NYTimes via
-AltaVista-News
OPINION
-
-
- "Rule
of law or renegade? Iraq crisis will tell, ex-inspector
says." ... "The looming war in Iraq will define the United States either
as a democracy dedicated to the rule of law or a renegade empire, says
Scott Ritter, the controversial former chief U.N. weapons inspector in
Iraq." ... "He said the Bush administration has used the Sept. 11 tragedy
to further the right's agenda -- not to make the nation more secure." ...
"By accusing dissenters of being unpatriotic, he said Bush has created
a climate in America that stifles democratic values of free and open discussion
of issues." ... ""Democracy is about involvement, criticizing, debate,
that's what makes this country work," Ritter said." -By
Chris McGann -Seattle-PI.com.NWsource
-
- "Night
owls boost online spending." ... "Internet shopping
has captured a new "out-of-hours" market which is claiming an ever greater
proportion of UK retail spending, a report said." ... "Research from Barclaycard
suggested that one third of all online sales were made between 6pm and
9am." ... "The report suggested travel and financial service products were
the most popular online purchases with night owls, and that the average
spend was £1.60 higher than during the day."-BBC/News
Quad
Cities - 
-
- "Leach
says he will not back Iraq resolution." ... "U.S.
Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa, said Wednesday he will break with the Bush administration
and oppose a resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq." ...
"The Davenport native said there is too great a danger of such action resulting
in a biological weapons attack against Israel and an Israeli nuclear counterattack.
“This is a circumstance we should step back from,” he added." -By
Ed Tibbetts -QCTimes
- "Protesters
march on Paris." ... "Tens of thousands of French
workers marched through Paris during a day of protest against plans for
partial privatisation." -CNN
- "Powell:
Saddam can avert ouster." ... "Secretary of State
Colin Powell suggested Wednesday that President Bush's policy of "regime
change" in Iraq could leave Saddam Hussein in power if he disarms fully."
-By Barbara Slavin -USATODAY
- "Iraq's
way: pledge and retreat: By meeting with UN
arms experts, Iraq hopes to divide the Security Council." ... "Iraqi leader
Saddam Hussein is playing classic bob-and-weave diplomacy as he attempts
to avoid or delay UN Security Council action against him." ... "By first
saying that UN weapons inspectors could return with no preconditions, and
then rejecting any new UN rules governing the inspectors' work, Mr. Hussein
appears to be returning to the old pattern of strategic obfuscation that
marked many of his actions both before and after the 1991 Gulf War." -By
Peter Grier -CSMonitor/buy
-
- "The
Making of John Walker Lindh: How did a quiet,
bright young boy from suburban America end up alongside the Taliban in
Afghanistan? This is a story of love, loathing and an often reckless quest
for spiritual fulfillment." ... "He is the Traitor to the general public,
which sees a Taliban soldier who attended the training camps and allegedly
shook the hand of Osama bin Laden. He is a Lost Soul to his family's friends
and defenders, who see a brilliant kid from a nice family who went off
to find purity and peace and found fanaticism and war. But a TIME investigation
of his path to jihad, relying on dozens of witnesses, reveals an even more
complex person than the caricatures would allow. When Lindh is sentenced
this Friday as part of a plea bargain, a judge will have to decide which
of his identities matters most in determining how much of the rest of his
life he should spend in jail." (1, 2,
3,
4,
5,
6)
-By Timothy Roche, Brian Bennett, Anne Berryman, Hilary
Hylton, Siobhan Morrissey and Amany Radwan, with reporting by Frank Sikora,
Alex Perry, and Hannah Bloch
-TIME.com
- "Senegal
Ferry Sinks; Over 700 Dead: Many Caught Inside
As Atlantic Storm Struck at Night." ... "More than 760 people were believed
dead today [20020927]
after an ocean ferry capsized off West Africa in a fierce gale, with 88
bodies recovered and others spotted trapped inside the vessel." ... "The
Joola, a state-owned ferry, capsized off Gambia in the Atlantic Ocean about
11 p.m. en route to the Senegalese capital, Dakar, from the south of the
country." -By
Nafi Diouf -AP via -WashingtonPost
- "Elections
weigh on Iraq debate: Partisan battling between
Democrats and Bush may slow war-resolution vote in Congress – and consensus
at UN." ... "" -By Peter Grier and Linda Feldmann
-CSMonitor/buy
- "Côte
d'Ivoire - Travel Warning." ... "This Travel Warning
replaces the Travel Warning for Côte d'Ivoire dated September 24,
2002, to reflect continued fighting between rebel elements and Ivoirian
government forces and the Department's authorization of the departure of
family members of Embassy staff and non-emergency Embassy personnel." ...
"The Department of State warns U.S. citizens to defer travel to Côte
d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) at this time, and recommends that Americans in the
country depart. On September 26, 2002, the Department authorized the departure
of family members of Embassy staff and non-emergency Embassy personnel.
Fighting has occurred between rebel elements of the Ivoirian security forces
and government forces in the cities of Abidjan, Bouake and Korhogo. While
government forces have reasserted control in the capital, Abidjan and the
south, the situation in all three cities remains fluid. Rebels remain in
control of Korhogo and parts of Bouake, where the situation is volatile."
-Travel-State.gov
- "U.S.
Children Trapped in Ivory Coast Flown to Ghana."
... "Armed United States soldiers stood by the C-130 plane as about 20
Americans went aboard in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast's capital, where they
were taken by French troops who rescued them on Wednesday." ... "A total
of 191 Westerners — 148 Americans, including 98 children, and 43 others,
including French and Canadians —were escorted from the International Christian
Academy in Bouaké, where they had been trapped for six days." -By
Norimitsu Onishi -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
- "An
Iraq war's economic toll: Early estimates put
the total cost as high as $200 billion, but economists say it's hard to
figure the actual impact." ... "Despite the uncertainties, hardly any economist
thinks the cost of the conflict will be too onerous for the economy. The
Gulf War cost about $80 billion, or about 1 percent of US gross domestic
product. Early estimates put a second Iraq war between $100 billion and
$200 billion – again about 1 to 2 percent of GDP." ... "But estimating
the cost of the war is also slippery for economists." -By
Ron Scherer -CSMonitor/buy
- "Experts
skeptical of reports on al-Qaeda-Baghdad link." ...
"A Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, called the new
assertions an "exaggeration." Other intelligence experts said some of the
charges appeared to be based on old information and that there was still
no "smoking gun" connecting Iraq with the Sept. 11 attacks on the United
States." ... "Vince Cannistraro, former CIA counterterrorism chief," ....
"... accused the Bush administration of overstating uncorroborated information
from al-Qaeda detainees. "They're cooking the books," Cannistraro said."
-By Barbara Slavin and John Diamond
-USATODAY
- "U.S.
Has 'Solid Evidence' of Al Qaeda Operating in Iraq."
... "The United States has "solid evidence" senior al Qaeda operatives
have been in Baghdad, Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said today.
He could not confirm whether such individuals are still in Iraq." ... "The
secretary said intelligence shared among Coalition members about the al
Qaeda relationship with Iraq is "evolving" and of "varying degrees of reliability."
Some intelligence was culled from interviews with high-ranking al Qaeda
detainees in U.S. custody, Rumsfeld said during an afternoon Pentagon media
briefing." ... "Intelligence agencies have confirmed contacts between Iraq
and al Qaeda's leaders. Rumsfeld said the two entities have discussed "safe-
haven opportunities in Iraq (and) reciprocal nonaggression" agreements,
among other issues." ... ""The reports of these contacts have been increasing
since 1998," Rumsfeld said, and have expanded to include "credible evidence"
that al Qaeda leaders sought contacts in Iraq for assistance in acquiring
weapons of mass destruction capabilities." ... "One report, in particular,
indicates that Iraq provided training in chemical and biological weapons
to al Qaeda." ... "Rumsfeld again reminded that the U.S. goal in dealing
with Iraq isn't finding absolute proof, but preventing attacks on America
and her allies." ... ""It is a puzzle," he said about drawing conclusions
from scraps of intelligence from various sources. "It is the task of taking
these disparate pieces and putting them together so that people can make
their own judgment."" ... -By Kathleen T. Rhem
-DefenseLINK.mil/news
-
- "Will
Germany shift Iraq stance? Reelected Sunday,
Schröder begins effort to mend divisions caused by anti-US campaign
rhetoric." ... "In the last weeks before Sunday's balloting, incumbent
Chancellor Gerhard Schröder sharply criticized President George Bush's
plan to oust Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Mr. Schröder's defiant
refusal to take part in military action against Iraq – even if the UN were
to approve it – broke a taboo. Never before in the postwar period had a
German chancellor so publicly defied a US president. Now the German leader,
whose ruling coalition was narrowly reelected Sunday, hopes to mend fences."
-By William Boston
-CSMonitor/buy
- "USA
addresses basing options in Gulf region." ... "As
the UN endeavours to pursue a diplomatic initiative to resolve the 'Iraqi
problem' – ostensibly through a possible new resolution on the scope of
weapons inspections in Iraq – the administration of US President George
Bush renewed its determination to employ a military option to realise its
goal of 'regime change' in Baghdad." ... "As JDW went to press, Bush announced
on 18 September that the White House would draft a Congressional resolution
by 22 September authorising the use of force against Iraq." ... "In the
interim, US Department of Defense (DoD) and armed forces planners are addressing
the logistical issues of a likely assault on Iraq, and preparing contingency
plans for pre-positioning naval assets, personnel and materiel in the Gulf
region. Washington has also secured the right to use bases in Bahrain,
Kuwait, Oman and the United Arab Emirates." -By Robin
Hughes -Jane's/Defence/Weekly
-
- "A
Bush vision of Pax Americana: National strategy,
released Friday, calls for US dominance to expand global peace." ... "And
it provides a reason the world should accept this state of affairs: the
expansion of peace and more freedom. A Pax Americana will be "in the service
of a balance of power that favors freedom."" ... "Critics are already describing
the new strategy as arrogant and dangerous – a far cry from the tone of
humility in foreign affairs promised in President Bush's inaugural address.
To supporters, it represents an overdue codification of America's mission
of global leadership." -By Gail Russell Chaddock
-CSMonitor/buy
- "Iraq
Vows Not to Abide by Any New U.N. Vote: Limiting
Agreement to Existing Terms Suggests Baghdad May Reject Inspections Linked
to Force." ... "The announcement also appeared to be designed to pressure
Russia, China and France -- which have veto power on the Security Council
-- to oppose the Bush administration's effort to pass a new resolution
permitting military action if Hussein fails to comply with existing council
resolutions mandating weapons inspections and other actions by the Iraqi
government." -By Rajiv Chandrasekaran
-WashingtonPost
- "IDF
halts demolition work inside Muqata." ... "The IDF
halted its demolition of buildings inside Palestinian Authority Chairman
Yasser Ararat's Ramallah
compound Sunday, following American pressure to calm the situation
in the compound, described by the White House as "not helpful."" -By
Amos Harel, Amira Hass and Arnon Regular -Ha'aretzDaily
- "US
Says Israeli Moves at Arafat Complex Not Helpful."
... "The White House on Sunday urged Israel to ease its siege of Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat's largely demolished Ramallah headquarters, saying
Israeli actions near the complex were "not helpful" to ending Palestinian
suicide bombings or promoting Palestinian reforms." -By
Arshad Mohammed -Reuters
via -Miami/Herald
- "Liberian
Troops, Rebels Battle." ... "Liberian forces are
battling a northern-based rebel movement which has been fighting to oust
[President Charles] Taylor, a former warlord who won presidential elections
in 1997 –seven years after he launched a civil war that devastated the
West African nation." -By Jonathan Paye-Layleh
-AP via -WashingtonPost
- "Yemen
raid nets al-Qaeda suspects." ... "Yemeni security
forces have arrested at least five suspected members of Osama Bin Laden's
al-Qaeda network north of the capital, Sana'a."
-BBC /News
- "Explosions
rock Palestinian HQ." ...Explosions rocked Yasser
Arafat's compound, showering the frail Palestinian leader with debris Saturday,
as the Israeli army systematically flattened every main building around
him." ... "Arafat, confined to a few rooms in a wing of his office building,
remained defiant, saying he would not capitulate, but also called for an
end to attacks in Israel. Israel has demanded that he hand over 20 wanted
men it says are with him." -By Jamie Tarabay
-AP via -Miami/Herald
- "Arafat
under siege again after Tel Aviv suicide bombing."
... "Yasser Arafat, caught in the tightest Israeli chokehold yet, pleaded
for the world's help after troops blew up buildings in his compound Friday
and started digging a deep trench and running coils of barbed wire around
his office." ... "The White House urged Israel to show restraint, suggesting
that too harsh a reprisal for a suicide bombing claimed by Arafat's Islamic
militant rivals would upset efforts to reform the Palestinian Authority
and secure a truce." -By Jamie Tarabay
-AP via -SFGate.com
- "Twenty-eight
killed in Dominican [Republic] prison riot, fire."
... "The riot at the prison in La Vega, about 70 miles north of the capital,
Santo Domingo, erupted during the morning when guards began a routine cell
search and inmates resisted. Prisoners set fire to mattresses and other
objects, sparking a huge blaze, news reports said."
-Reuters via-Miami/Herald
- 
- "Tex.
Women Charged With Selling Mexicans' Babies:
Mothers Illegally Brought to U.S., Prosecutors Say." ... "A Texas adoption
agency worker and her daughter are facing federal and state charges in
what authorities say was a scheme that lured dozens -- and possibly hundreds
-- of young pregnant Mexican women to the United States to sell their babies."
-By Amanda Zamora-WashingtonPost
- "Sierra
Leone: The path from pariah to peace: How one
African country went from a bloody 10-year civil war to a stable democracy
in just two years." ... "President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, elected in May,
faces a tall order. The underlying causes for the civil war – unequal access
to resources, abuse of power, and regional instability – continue to haunt
Sierra Leone. Illegal diamond smuggling continues. Peace here is fragile."
... "Nonetheless, Sierra Leone is deemed a success story. Its transformation
is a lesson in what can be accomplished with enough international attention,
money, and goodwill." -By Danna Harman
-CSMonitor/buy
- "US
negotiates its line in Iraqi sand: A week of
tense talks begins at the UN, as the US pushes for inspection deadlines
and tough consequences." ... "Sixteen times in the past decade the UN Security
Council has passed resolutions on Iraq's weapons programs. But in just
the last few days, there's been a global shift in support of the US position.
And this time around, the US will be pushing for two elements missing in
the past: a deadline for admitting inspectors and concrete consequences
if Iraq doesn't comply." -By Howard LaFranchi
-CSMonitor/buy
- "IAEA
Says Can't Prove Iraq Making Nuclear Weapons." ...
"The United Nations nuclear watchdog said Monday it had information [satellite
images] that could indicate Iraq was attempting to revive its nuclear weapons
program, but on-site inspections were needed to draw clear conclusions."
-Reuters via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Iraq
accepts return of weapons inspectors." ... "Iraq
unconditionally accepted the return of U.N. weapons inspectors late Monday,
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said." ... ""I can confirm to you that
I have received a letter from the Iraqi authorities conveying its decision
to allow the return of inspectors without conditions to continue their
work."" -AP
via -SFGate.com
-
- "Saudis vow
support for the UN on Iraq: U.S. could use
bases if Security Council authorizes attack, new stance suggests." ...
"The Saudi minister, Prince Saud al Faisal, said that if there was a Security
Council resolution backing military action, all members of the United Nations
would have to honor it." ... "Senior Bush administration officials reacted
to Saud's comments on Sunday with both optimism and caution." -By
Todd S. Purdum -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
- "The
Times: Exiled Iraqi says nuclear bomb months away."
... "The British newspaper said Dr Khidir Hamza, described as a top Iraqi
nuclear researcher who fled to the West in 1994, believed that Iraq was
able to make copies of a German-built centrifuge and use them to enrich
uranium smuggled from Brazil to produce a nuclear bomb within the next
few months." ... "The German-built centrifuge was dismantled by international
arms inspectors before they were withdrawn from Iraq in 1998. But Hamza
told the Times that Iraqi scientists had studied how the centrifuge was
built and learned how to copy it." -By Amos Harel
-Ha'aretzDaily
-
-
- "War
Could Unshackle Oil in Iraq: U.S. Drillers
Eye Huge Petroleum Pool." ... "A U.S.-led ouster of Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein could open a bonanza for American oil companies long banished from
Iraq, scuttling oil deals between Baghdad and Russia, France and other
countries, and reshuffling world petroleum markets, according to industry
officials and leaders of the Iraqi opposition." ... "The importance of
Iraq's oil has made it potentially one of the administration's biggest
bargaining chips in negotiations to win backing from the U.N. Security
Council and Western allies for President Bush's call for tough international
action against Hussein. All five permanent members of the Security Council
-- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- have international
oil companies with major stakes in a change of leadership in Baghdad."
-By Dan Morgan and David B. Ottaway
-WashingtonPost
- "Powell
says it's too late for Iraq to negotiate." ... "Secretary
of State Colin Powell said Sunday that U.N. weapons inspectors must be
allowed to go "anywhere, anytime" if they returned to Iraq -- rejecting
that country's conditional offer to allow inspections to resume." ... "At
a news conference Saturday, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz said
his nation would allow inspectors to return only if the United States doesn't
bring military action and if U.N. sanctions are lifted."
-CNN
-
- "Bush
presses the UN." ... "''Saddam Hussein has defied
the United Nations 16 times. Not once, not twice, 16 times, he has defied
the UN,'' said Bush, who this week challenged the world body to enforce
its resolutions on Iraqi disarmament. ''Enough is enough.''" ... "''The
UN will either be able to function as a peacekeeping body as we head into
the 21st century, or it will be irrelevant,'' Bush said. ''That's what
we're about to find out.''" ... "Though many countries praised Bush for
turning to the United Nations, his speech also drew criticism for failing
to provide evidence supporting the need for a preemptive strike on Iraq."
-By Patricia Wilson -Reutersvia
-Boston/Globe
-
- "As
Bush prods U.N. to act, Iraq braces for U.S. invasion:
Even with more weapons inspections, officials suspect he'll try to oust
Saddam." ... "Iraqi officials braced for war Saturday as President Bush
prodded the United Nations to ``show some backbone'' by forcing Iraq to
end its pursuit of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons." ... "Bush,
whose speech to the United Nations on Thursday softened international opposition
to his plans, has support from [Italian Prime Minister Silvio] Berlusconi,
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Spanish President José Mara Aznar
and Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski." -By
Ron Hutcheson and Warren P. Strobel -MercuryNews
- "China
Food Poisoning Kills 41, Hundreds Ill." ... "The
official Xinhua news agency said the 41 had died after eating traditional
breakfast snacks including sesame cakes and fried dough sticks at a branch
of the Heshengyuan Soy Milk chain." -By Jonathan Ansfield
-Reuters via -Miami/Herald
- "Key
9/11 plotter seized in Pakistan." ... "U.S. officials
say Pakistan is holding one of America's most wanted al Qaeda operatives
-- a man who by his own recorded admission played a key role in the September
11 attacks." ... "Ramzi Binalshibh, a Yemeni national, was arrested by
Pakistani officials in the city of Karachi last Wednesday, a year to the
day after the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington." -By
Kelli
Arena, et. al. -CNN
-
- "U.S.,
Pakistan Officials Question Key 9/11 Suspect." ...
"A U.S. official said Binalshibh was captured in Karachi by Pakistani authorities
with help from the FBI and CIA." ... "[Pakistan's Interior Minister Moinuddin]
Haider said Pakistan was ready to hand the suspects over to the U.S. authorities
if there was evidence they were involved in terrorist activities. But the
German government said it also wanted to try Binalshibh." ... "Pakistani
police said U.S. agents had traced Binalshibh to a three-story building
in an upmarket district of the sprawling port city of Karachi thanks to
a satellite phone call." -By Aamir Ashraf -Reuters
via /World
- "Ramzi
Binalshibh: al-Qaeda suspect." ... "Western intelligence
officials believe he is the missing link - the one person who can put all
the pieces of the al-Qaeda strategy into context." ... "Mr Binalshibh is
the only person believed to have attended both of the crucial meetings
held to plan the operation, one in Malaysia and the other in Spain." -BBC
/News
Enron
News -
-
- "British
Bankers Indicted in Enron Case." ... "A federal grand
jury in Houston yesterday indicted three British bankers on wire-fraud
charges in connection with an alleged scheme to swindle their employer
out of $7.3 million and enrich themselves and senior executives at Enron
Corp." ... "The seven-count indictment names David Bermingham, Giles Darby
and Gary Mulgrew, former employees at National Westminster Bank PLC who
allegedly conspired with Enron's onetime chief financial officer and his
key aide by using a secretive offshore partnership to siphon off money
owed to the bank." -By Carrie Johnson-WashingtonPost
-
- 
- "U.S.
pilots face charges in Afghan bombing of Canadians."
... "The U.S. Air Force is expected to announce criminal charges as early
as Friday against two American F-16 fighter pilots who mistakenly bombed
Canadian troops in Afghanistan in April, killing four and injuring eight,
U.S. defence officials said on Thursday." -By Charles
Aldinger -Reuters/Asia
-
- "UN
speech wins over Bush critics, fans in Congress:
Hawks, doves like call for all nations to act in concert." ... "Hawks and
skeptics on Capitol Hill found something to like in President Bush's speech
yesterday to the United Nations, with one camp praising the president's
harsh indictment of Saddam Hussein, and the other expressing relief that
Bush appeared willing to involve the international community and possibly
give more weapons inspections a try before ordering a military strike."
-By Susan Milligan
-Boston/Globe
Enron
News -
-
- "Enron
probe indicts three British bankers." ... "Federal
prosecutors in Houston on Thursday indicted three British bankers on wire
fraud charges in connection with an Enron Corp. deal considered a critical
piece of the case being built against former Chief Financial Officer Andrew
Fastow." -By C. Bryson Hull
-Reuters via -Forbes
-
-
- "Iraq
attack could alter world rules: Bush takes
his case for 'regime change' to the UN General Assembly." ... "Advocating
preemptive military action against Baghdad before it uses its alleged chemical,
biological, or nuclear weapons, Mr. Bush is challenging United Nations
rules on sovereignty and the acceptable use of force that have underpinned
global relations for three generations." -CSMonitor/buy
- -
"President
Bush's address to the United Nations. [CNN Full-Text Transcript]."
Highlights: "The history, the logic and the facts lead to one conclusion:
Saddam Hussein regime is a grave and gathering danger." ... "To suggest
otherwise is to hope against the evidence. To assume this regime's good
faith is to bet the lives of millions and the peace of the world in a reckless
gamble, and this is a risk we must not take." ... "The first time we may
be completely certain he has nuclear weapons is when, God forbid, he uses
one. We owe it to all our citizens to do everything in our power to prevent
that day from coming." ... "The United States help found the United Nations.
We want the United Nations to be effective and respectful and successful.
We want the resolutions of the world's most important multilateral body
to be enforced. And right now those resolutions are being unilaterally
subverted by the Iraqi regime." ... "My nation will work with the U.N.
Security Council to meet our common challenge. If Iraq's regime defies
us again, the world must move deliberately, decisively to hold Iraq to
account. We will work with the U.N. Security Council for the necessary
resolutions." ... "But the purposes of the United States should not be
doubted. The Security Council resolutions will be enforced, the just demands
of peace and security will be met or action will be unavoidable and a regime
that has lost its legitimacy will also lose its power."
-CNN
- "Death
toll from Indian train derailment reached at least 105 people."
... "At least 92 bodies had been recovered from the Rajdhani Express, which
derailed Monday night outside Rafiganj town, said Hem Chand Sirohi, the
area administrator." -AP
via -SFGate.com
- "Sharon
appoints Meir Dagan as new Mossad chief." ... "[Pending
authorization] Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Tuesday announced the appointment
of Major General (res.) Meir Dagan as head of the Mossad to replace outgoing
chief Ephraim Halevy who will serve as the new national securtity adviser."
-By Amir Oren, Yossi Verter, and Amnon Barzilai -Ha'aretzDaily
- "U.S.
Shuts Embassy In Indonesia After Threat of Attack."
... ""They have received credible and specific threat information that
the American embassy in Jakarta and consulate general in Surabaya are at
risk of terrorist attack," spokesman Richard Boucher told a briefing. Surabaya
is in East Java." -Reuters
via -WashingtonPost
-
- "French
Leader Offers Formula to Tackle Iraq." ... "France
has a particular interest in the future of Iraq. France became Iraq's main
military supplier in the West and was building a nuclear reactor for Iraq
that was destroyed by the Israelis in 1979. As prime minister in 1975,
Mr. Chirac welcomed Mr. Hussein to France, referring to him as "a personal
friend" and inviting him to his home. France had the closest relationship
with Iraq of any Western country, but that ended when Iraq invaded Kuwait
in 1990, and France participated fully in the American-led coalition that
ousted Iraq. In recent years, French companies have received billions of
dollars in contracts in Iraq under a United Nations program."
-NYTimes via
-AltaVista-News
- "Study:
Iraq Could Make N-Bomb." ... "The IISS [the International
Institute for Strategic Studies] said Saddam had subordinated all other
foreign policy goals and his country's economic development to his relentless
drive for weapons of mass destruction, enduring more than a decade of sanctions
rather than obey U.N. resolutions." -By Paul Taylor
-Reuters
-
- "Iraq
'Could Make' N-Bomb; [French President Jacques] Chirac Urges UN Deadline."
... ""I am totally against unilateralism in the modern world," Chirac said
in his interview, and proposed a U.N. Security Council resolution giving
Iraq a three-week deadline to readmit U.N. inspectors without restrictions
or preconditions." ... "If Saddam did not comply, a second resolution should
be passed, authorizing the use of military force, he said." -By
Edmund Blair -Reuters
via -Miami/Herald
- "‘They’re
Getting Closer’: Iraq Closer to Nuclear Weapons,
Rumsfeld Says." ... "Iraq already possesses a threatening cache of chemical
and biological weapons and is getting "closer every day" to obtaining nuclear
weapons, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told Good Morning America
today." ... "Rumsfeld said it was not known or even "knowable," if Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein had managed to obtain nuclear weapons, since weapons
inspectors have not been allowed into the country for years."
-ABCNEWS.com -GMA
- "Coalition
forces strike anti-ship missile in Iraq."
-CNN /Europe
-
- "Blair:
'Inaction not an option': The threat posed
by Saddam Hussein's programmes to develop weapons of mass destruction must
be tackled "one way or another," British Prime Minister Tony Blair has
said." ... "Pressed whether a new U.N. resolution was needed, Blair said:
"There's no doubt this issue has to be dealt with. The only decision that's
been taken at this stage is that inaction is not an option."" ... "While
he wants the "broadest possible coalition" for any action against Iraq,
he added: "We have however to make sure this issue is dealt with one way
or another."" -CNN
/Europe
- "Disarm
Iraq Quickly, Bush to Urge U.N.: Failure to
Move May Lead to U.S. Action." ... "President Bush plans to tell world
leaders at the United Nations next week that unless they take quick, unequivocally
strong action to disarm Iraq, the United States will be forced to act on
its own, senior administration officials said yesterday." -By
Karen DeYoung and Mike Allen-WashingtonPost
- "Allied
aircraft attack Iraqi air base." ... "Two to three
separate targets on the airbase were pinpointed for destruction. A command
center, an air defense radar site and a cable repeater were among those
targets, the official said." -By Mike Mount -CNN
/Europe
- "Israelis
Intercept 'Mega-Bomb': Worries Grow Over Threat
of Unconventional Attacks." ... "Sept. 5 -- On the eve of the Jewish New
Year, Israeli civilian guards manning a back-road checkpoint today intercepted
a vehicle outfitted with what authorities here described as a mega-bomb:
1,300 pounds of explosives, two barrels containing gasoline and metal shards,
and a cell phone rigged as the detonator." -By Molly
Moore and John Ward Anderson-WashingtonPost
- "Congress
Now Promises to Hold Weeks of Hearings About Iraq."
... "Congressional leaders said today that they would undertake weeks of
hearings and debate on whether to support military action against Iraq,
a move that could delay a final vote until after the November elections."
... "Even as Congressional leaders discussed an extended timetable, a United
Nations official said today that international weapons inspectors had identified
several nuclear-related sites in Iraq where new construction or other unexplained
changes had occurred since their last visit nearly four years ago." -By
David Firestone and David E. Sanger -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
- "Afghanistan
Violence Flares: Would-Be Assassin Targets
Karzai After Deadly Explosion in Capital." ... "President Hamid Karzai
narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in the southern Afghan city of
Kandahar ... [Thursday] evening, just three hours after a powerful car
bomb exploded in a crowded street in downtown Kabul, the capital, killing
at least a dozen people and injuring scores more." -By
Pamela Constable -WashingtonPost
- "Making
Case to Hit First." ... "Implicitly, Mr. Bush has
agreed to engage the country in a discussion over a fundamental change
in America's national security strategy: his doctrine that perilous times
have forced the United States to assert a right to launch pre-emptive strikes
against any state that could put weapons of mass destruction into the hands
of terrorists." ... "Any resolution approving pre-emptive action could
set a precedent that could be used in a variety of other conflicts, and
will almost certainly be seized upon by other nations — maybe China in
its confrontation with Taiwan, or India in its conflict with Pakistan —
as they pursue their own agendas." -By David E. Sanger
-NYTimes via
-AltaVista-News
- "[Afghanistan]
Police Say 15 Killed, 20 Hurt in Kabul [car bomb] Blast."-Reuters
via -Miami/Herald
- ANTHRAX
NEWS
- "Uncertain
Ability to Deliver a Blow: Iraq Cobbles Together
Weapons Systems With Mixed Results, Analysts Say." ... "In the waning hours
of Operation Desert Fox in 1998, a British missile sheared off the top
of a military hangar in southern Iraq and exposed a closely guarded secret.
Plainly visible in the rubble was a new breed of Iraqi drone aircraft --
one that defense analysts now believe was specially modified to spread
deadly chemicals and germs." ... "Up to a dozen of the unmanned airplanes
were spotted inside the hangar, each fitted with spray nozzles and wing-mounted
tanks that could carry up to 80 gallons of liquid anthrax. If flown at
low altitudes under the right conditions, a single drone could unleash
a toxic cloud engulfing several city blocks, a top British defense official
concluded. He dubbed them "drones of death."" -By
Joby Warrick -WashingtonPost
- "U.S.
Is Stepping Up Drive to Destroy Coca [plants, used to create cocaine,]
in Colombia." ... "With the full support of the Colombian
president, the United States has begun what American officials say will
be the biggest and most aggressive effort yet to wipe out coca growing
[through aeiral spraying]." ... "But despite the rosy predictions, drug
policy analysts and some lawmakers in Washington warn that the intensified
program could just cause coca planting to spread to a wider area." ...
Also, "the spraying has raised the concerns of some environmental groups."
20020829
-By Juan Forero -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
- "China
floods kill 1,532 people through Aug -Xinhua." ...
"Widespread floods across China this year killed 1,532 people through August
and caused damages estimated at 68 billion yuan, or $8.2 billion, the official
Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday."
-Reuters via
-AlertNet.org
- "Japan
Stocks Close at 19-Year Low." ... "The benchmark
225-issue Nikkei Stock Average lost 141.95 points, or 1.54 percent, at
9,075.09 Wednesday its lowest finish since Sept. 17, 1983, when it closed
at 9,010.08. On Tuesday, the Nikkei plunged 304.59 points, or 3.12 percent."
... "On the stock market, the Nikkei temporarily fell below the psychologically
important 9000-point level before inching up to a 19-year closing low."
-By Natalie Obiko Pearson-AP
via -Newsday.com
- "Indonesian
parliament chief gets three years for graft." ...
"An Indonesian court convicted parliament speaker Akbar Tandjung of corruption
on Wednesday over a politically sensitive financial scandal and sentenced
him to three years in jail." -By Achmad Sukarsono
and Dean Yates -Reuters
via /Asia
- "Colombia
President to Visit U.S.." ... "President Bush will
open the White House to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe on Sept. 25."
-AP via -Miami/Herald
- "U.S.
may offer more Iraq evidence." ... "The Bush administration
has secret information supporting its claims that Saddam Hussein poses
an unacceptable threat to the world and is close to developing nuclear
weapons, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday. President
Bush could disclose the information through upcoming congressional hearings
on Iraq, Rumsfeld hinted at a Pentagon press conference." ... "In London,
Prime Minister Tony Blair said his government hoped to publish in the next
few weeks a dossier of evidence on Saddam's efforts to develop weapons
of mass destruction." -AP
via -USATODAY
- "Colombian
informants could fuel vigilantism: Human rights
group wary of Uribe's plan." ... "... Colombia's new president, Alvaro
Uribe, is turning his attention to the country's ungoverned reaches with
a plan to create a secret network of civilians who would feed tips to security
forces on rebels and far-right paramilitary outlaws." ... "The idea might
sound reasonable on paper, critics say, but fails to take account of the
shadowy alliances that many towns have formed with one or the other of
the illegal forces, alliances that have restored civic life and brought
a degree of security to residents." -Reuters
via -CNN
- "Saddam:
U.S. 'believes it should control the world'." ...
""America," Saddam was quoted as saying, "believes it should control the
world. But some of the world's states have nuclear bombs and this is not
feasible."" -By James Martone
-CNN
- "First
Among Evils? The Debate Over Attacking Iraq Heats Up."
... "But one thing has changed: the regional threat that Iraq poses now
has more clearly global implications. Its efforts to inflame the Israeli-Palestinian
fight reverberate in America's extremely delicate relationships in the
Middle East, and those relationships are critical to its ability to secure
aid and sympathy in its war on terrorism. Beyond that, the administration
is convinced that sooner or later Al Qaeda and Mr. Hussein will find a
mutuality of interests, with Iraq providing chemical, biological or nuclear
materials and Al Qaeda the bodies to deliver them.'' -By
David E. Sanger -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
- WEST
NILE VIRUS
- "West
Nile Case Suspected In Canada." ... "Ontario health
officials said Friday they believe three people sick in the province have
the West Nile virus, which would be Canada's first human cases of the mosquito-born
illness that has killed 24 people in the United States this year."
-AP via -Guardian.co.uk
- "Greenpeace
asks U.S. to extradite Bhopal figure." ... "Environmental
group Greenpeace said Thursday it had located a former head of Union Carbide
in New York and called on U.S. authorities to extradite him to India, where
he is wanted in connection with the 1984 gas disaster that killed thousands."
... "Greenpeace said in a statement that members accompanied by journalists
visited Warren Anderson at his home in Long Island, New York, and served
him with what they called a citizens' arrest warrant about 10 days ago."
-Reuters via -ENN.com
- "Colombia
Turns to Citizen Spies as Newest Weapon of War."
... "Unveiled here by Uribe the day after his inauguration, Colombia's
emerging informant network is a key component of the new president's "democratic
security" initiative, which in a civil war with many players seeks more
specifically than ever to enlist civilians on the government's side." ...
"The informant network, 3,000 volunteers in Colombia's three northeastern
provinces, is part of a security strategy that includes arming 15,000 peasant
recruits as rural auxiliaries to the army. How those soldiers will be trained,
monitored and protected, as well as how the civilian informants' identities
will be kept secret, are questions that have preoccupied human rights advocates
here." -By Scott Wilson
-WashingtonPost
- "Germany
reveals plot behind 9/11." ... "German federal prosecutor
Kay Nehm said the Hamburg cell was planning an attack on America as early
as October 1999, and decided to target the World Trade Center six months
later." -CNN
/Europe
- "Bhopal
charges intact: Ex-Chairman of Union Carbide Still
Held liable in Deadly 1984 Gas Leak in India." ... "[India's] Chief Judicial
Magistrate Rameshwar Kotha asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to
start extradition proceedings against former chairman Warren Anderson."
... "The leak of deadly methyl isocyanate gas from the Union Carbide plant
in Bhopal, the capital of central Madhya Pradesh state, killed 4,000 people
within hours on the night of Dec. 2, 1984. Over the years, the death toll
has risen to 14,410 as those sickened by the gas later died, the government
says." -By Mazhar Ullah
-AP via -MercuryNews
- "Australia
pressures Vietnam over death sentence: The Australian
government will push to have a death sentence commuted for a woman found
guilty of drug trafficking in Vietnam." ... "Australia abolished the death
penalty for all crimes in 1985, with the last person to be executed, Ronald
Ryan, hanged in 1967." -By Grant Holloway
-CNN /Asia
- "Germany
Says Hijackers Picked Trade Center as Target in 2000."
... "The Qaeda terror cell in Hamburg that included three of the Sept.
11 suicide hijackers had chosen the World Trade Center as the target of
an attack as early April or May 2000, Germany's federal prosecutor said
today." ... "Mr. Nehm, detailing charges against Mounir el-Motassadeq,
the only person in German custody in connection with the attacks, said
one of the hijackers, Marwan al-Shehhi, had mentioned the World Trade Center
as a target in a conversation with a librarian." -By
Desmond Butler -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
- "Bhopal
charges stay, Indian court rules: Judge orders
extradition proceedings." ... "More than 3,000 people died immediately
and countless more suffered permanent injury following a leak of poisonous
methyl isocyanate gas from the Union Carbide pesticide plant on the outskirts
of the city on December 3, 1984." ... "In the subsequent years it is thought
that as many as 10,000 people died as a result of illnesses brought on
by the gas." -CNN/Asia
- "Al
Qaeda Deputies Harbored by Iran: Pair Are Plotting
Attacks, Sources Say." ... "Two figures who have assumed critical roles
in the al Qaeda hierarchy in recent months, including one reported dead
by the Pentagon, are being sheltered in Iran along with dozens of other
al Qaeda fighters in hotels and guesthouses in the border cities of Mashhad
and Zabol, according to Arab intelligence sources." ... "The two -- Saif
al-Adel, an Egyptian on the FBI's most-wanted list, and Mahfouz Ould Walid,
also known as Abu Hafs the Mauritanian, whom U.S. officials reported had
been killed near the eastern Afghan city of Khost in January -- are directly
involved in planning al Qaeda terrorist operations, according to the intelligence
sources, who are outside Saudi Arabia and did not want their names or countries
disclosed." -By Peter Finn-WashingtonPost
Osama
bin Laden
- "Bin
Laden Said to Be Back at Helm of Al Qaeda." ... "Osama
bin Laden is firmly back in command of al Qaeda and the group is digging
in for guerrilla attacks on U.S. troops in Afghanistan, an Arab journalist
with close ties to the militant's associates said." ... "Abdel-Bari Atwan,
editor of the London-based daily al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper, said Tuesday
al Qaeda associates recently told him the network had regained confidence
after facing intense U.S. bombing and was ready to fight U.S. troops over
the long haul." -By Michael Georgy -Reuters
via -Miami/Herald
- "Afghan
Opium Output Seen Eclipsing Golden Triangle." ...
"Afghanistan will take back its crown this year from the notorious Golden
Triangle [Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand] in Southeast Asia as the world's
top producer of opium, the raw material used to make heroin, a Thai anti-narcotics
official said on Wednesday." ... "Afghanistan lost its top spot in recent
years as a result of strict Islamic rule by the Taliban regime and the
U.S. led war which toppled the movement." -By Sasithorn
Simaporn -Reuters
via -Miami/Herald
- "Iraq strike
faces chorus of opposition: White House determined
amid resistance from major countries, key allies." ... "On Wednesday, U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan joined a chorus of voices urging the United
States to resist attacking Iraq. His comments echoed those of regional
allies that would be key to carrying out such a strike, such as Qatar and
Saudi Arabia, as well as major world powers including Germany and China.
Even so, the Bush administration remains adamant in its position, saying
it will make the “right” choice, even if it is a lonely one."
-MSNBC
-
- "Bush
makes case to hit Iraq; Saudis still say no." ...
"... a Saudi spokesman, Adel al Jubeir, made the rounds on television shows
to make it clear that the Saudi position about how to deal with Saddam
was unchanged." -By David E. Sanger
-NYTimes via -Miami/Herald
- "Cheney
speech seen setting path to war." ... "The Bush administration
has set itself on a ''path toward war'' against Iraq with Vice President
Dick Cheney's forceful speech on Monday, accelerating the campaign to win
over allies to oust Saddam Hussein, conservative and liberal analysts agreed
yesterday." ... "Cheney, who delivered the address Monday to the 103d National
Convention of Veterans of Foreign Wars with little advance fanfare, called
Iraq a mortal threat and said that Iraq was systematically building up
offensive weapons of mass destruction ''for the purpose of inflicting death
on a massive scale.''" -By John Donnelly and Susan
Milligan -Boston/Globe
-
- "On
campaign trail, a call for US restraint grows louder:
Schroeder rejects Cheney's Iraq view." ... "German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder
stepped up his opposition yesterday to any military attack against Iraq,
saying it was wrong to consider preemptive strikes against the country."
... "Fighting an uphill battle for re-election, Schroeder made it clear
in a campaign speech he did not support the ideas of US Vice President
Dick Cheney, who had laid out Monday the case for preemptive strikes against
Iraq." -Reuters
via -Boston/Globe
- "Key
Iraqi Site Reportedly Bombed." ... "A U.S.-British
air raid in southern Iraq this weekend destroyed a major military surveillance
site that monitors American troops in the Persian Gulf, witnesses said
Tuesday." -By Salah Nasrawi
-AP via -Miami/Herald
- "US-Russia
ties jolted by crisis in Georgia: Georgia sent
1,000 troops into Pankisi Gorge Sunday." ... "Russia received a stinging
rebuke from the White House over the weekend, after Russian planes on Friday
reportedly bombed targets some 20 miles inside the border of its southern
neighbor Georgia. Sunday, a force of 1,000 Georgian Interior Ministry troops
began an anticriminal, antiterror operation in the volatile Pankisi Gorge,
according to wire reports. The gorge is a suspected refuge for Islamic
militants." -By Scott Peterson -CSMonitor/buy
- "Bush
Aides Say Iraq War Needs No Hill Vote: Some
See Such Support As Politically Helpful." ... "Lawyers for President Bush
have concluded he can launch an attack on Iraq without new approval from
Congress, in part because they say permission remains in force from the
1991 resolution giving Bush's father authority to wage war in the Persian
Gulf, according to administration officials." Also cited are "the
Constitution's designation of the president as commander-in-chief," as
well as the "Sept. 14 resolution – passed 98 to 0 in the Senate and 420
to 1 in the House – endorsing a military response to the terrorist attacks
on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. That argument would depend
on linking Iraq and al Qaeda." -By Mike Allen and
Juliet Eilperin -WashingtonPost
- "Iraq
Said to Plan Tangling the U.S. in Street Fighting."
... "Overmatched militarily, Iraq now regards its best option to be raising
the political and military costs of an attack for the United States and
any allies it may be able to attract, in the hope that Iraq's foes will
lose their stomach for an invasion, analysts say." ... "Iraq has also sought
to inflame the Arab-Israeli conflict by providing money to the families
of Palestinian suicide bombers. Its calculation is that Washington will
find it too difficult to assemble a coalition for action against Iraq if
the Middle East is in crisis." (1, 2)
-By Michael R. Gordon -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
- "GOP
debate over Iraq heats up." ... "Republicans sounded
a mixed message Sunday for President Bush about whether, when and how to
use military action to remove Saddam Hussein from power." ... "Bush did
not expect such divergence among leading Republicans, which broke into
the open in recent weeks from lawmakers including Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska,
the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Rep.
Dick Armey of Texas, the House majority leader."
-AP via -CNN
- "[update] Saudis
confirm detention of suspect." ... "Saudi Arabia
— a key U.S. ally in the Gulf and home to 15 of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers
— has defended itself against accusations in the American media and policy
circles that it is not doing enough to crack down on suspected militants
within its borders." -AP
via -MSNBC
- "Saudis detain
man sought by FBI: Father says 21-year-old
turned himself [in] to authorities after U.S. issued bulletin." ... "A
man wanted by FBI for alleged links to the Sept. 11 hijackers has been
detained by the Saudi authorities, his father said Saturday. Saud Abdulaziz
Saud al-Rasheed surrendered voluntarily to the Interior Ministry on Thursday,
two days after the FBI issues a bulletin seeking the immediate arrest of
the 21-year-old." -AP
via -MSNBC
- "Abu
Nidal murder trail leads directly to Iraqi regime."
... "It has now become very clear and much confirmed that the Iraqi regime
headed by Saddam Hussein was directly responsible for the assassination
of the Palestinian terrorist Sabri al-Bana, known to the world as Abu Nidal."
... "So why has Saddam acted now? The best explanation is that the Iraqi
dictator is now feeling the pressure from the ongoing US deliberations
over a potential invasion to topple his regime. In any such adventure,
the anti-Saddam elements within Iraq would most likely play an important
role in turning the tide against Saddam. He has therefore moved to eradicate
those dangerous elements, both as a pre-emptive measure to protect his
position and as an example to other prospective internal enemies still
at large." -By Mohammed Najib
-Jane's/DefenceWeekly
- "Musharraf
Redraws Constitution." ... "Gen. Pervez Musharraf
unilaterally redrew Pakistan's Constitution today, imposing 29 amendments
that expand his control of the country he took over by coup in 1999 — changes
that undermine coming parliamentary elections meant to return the nation
to democracy." ... "The new measures state that he may make further amendments
at will and allow him to dissolve the elected Parliament and to appoint
the country's military chiefs and Supreme Court justices. The changes will
also institutionalize the political role of the military in politics by
allotting it some seats on a newly created National Security Council."
-By David Rohde -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
- "A
troubled friendship." ... "One of Osama bin Laden's
main objectives in waging the terror attacks of September 11 was to provoke
a clash between the west and Islam and undermine a decades-long alliance
between the US and his native Saudi Arabia. It is not clear whether the
master terrorist is still alive. But what is increasingly evident is that
his dream is threatening to become a reality." ... "September 11 and the
involvement of Saudis in the attacks exposed the secretive kingdom to unprecedented
US scrutiny. The attacks provoked outrage at Saudi Arabia's undemocratic
political system and the fundamentalism of its Wahabi brand of Islam, a
combination that was seen as breeding extremism." -By
Roula Khalaf -FT.com
- "Saudi
investors 'pull out of US'." ... "Saudi investors
are reported to have withdrawn billions of dollars from the United States,
as relations between the two countries have come under increasing strain."
... "Withdrawals by individual Saudi investors may amount to $200bn, contributing
to the recent falls in the dollar, one analyst told the Financial Times
newspaper." -BBC
/News
Osama
bin Laden
- "Tapes
show al Qaeda trained for urban jihad on West." ...
"Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network has trained recruits in urban terrorist
tactics that could be used to bring the group's brand of jihad to Western
cities, according to experts who viewed tapes obtained by CNN in Afghanistan."
-By Nic Robertson -CNN
- "U.N.
slams China 'anti-terror' crackdown." ... "The U.N.'s
top official for human rights has criticized China for using the September
11 terror attacks to crack down on dissent."
-CNN
-
- "Police
storm embassy in Berlin." ... "News agencies quoted
German police as saying five hostage-takers were detained in the operation
and all of the five or six hostages released. Two were slightly injured
but no shots were fired."-WashingtonPost
-
- "Iraqi
Embassy Takeover Ends as Police Free Hostages:
Opposition Group Declared Goal of Liberating Iraq."
-AP via -WashingtonPost
- "Passenger's
Rumor Diverts Flight." ... "An American Airlines
flight to Miami was diverted moments after takeoff when a passenger told
others that bringing weapons aboard planes is easy in the Dominican Republic,
authorities said Monday." -AP
via -WashingtonPost
- "[Germany's
chancellor, Gerhard] Schröder halts tax cuts for flood relief."
... "In an appeal to Germans' sense of solidarity in time of crisis, Mr
Schröder, who faces general elections in less than five weeks, said
the one year postponement was the only sensible way to finance essential
aid." -By Haig Simonian
-FT.com
- "Flooding
Hits Germany, Hungary." ... "Flooding that has forced
some 80,000 east Germans from their homes spread further through the region
Monday, threatening to add to the misery as the country faced its biggest
relief effort since World War II." ... "In Hungary, the Danube River peaked
at a historic high in Budapest without causing major flooding after relief
workers spent a frantic night bolstering dikes. The capital's high flood
walls, built at the turn of the last century, held off the floodwater in
the city center, though one barrier gave way in a northern suburb."
-AP via -Guardian.co.uk
-
- "US
worry over $40bn Putin deal with Iraq." ... "The
deal with Iraq increases the economic interests for which Russia could
later demand protection or compensation, potentially increasing Moscow's
interests in supporting the regime." -By Robert Cottrell
and Krishna Guha -FT.com
- "Iraq
war to carry a high tab: It may run as high
as $100 billion, although some analysts see an economic upside." -By
Howard LaFranchi -CSMonitor/buy
- 911
Lawsuit - "Saudis
label 9/11 lawsuit extortion attempt." ... "Several
Saudi banks and Islamic charities named in a lawsuit by families of September
11 victims vehemently denied on Sunday any role in funding terrorism and
blasted the case as an attempt to extort Saudi wealth abroad." ... "Saudi
investments in the United States are put at $750 billion."
-Reuters via -CNN
-
- "Russia,
Iraq near $40 billion pact." ... "Under Putin, Russian
foreign policy has sought to create a network of alliances to counterbalance
alleged U.S. domination of international affairs. Although Putin has moved
Russia closer to West including increasing contacts with NATO and not raising
objections to U.S. forces in Georgia and in former Soviet Central Asia
he also has pursued relations with countries that are anathema to the United
States." -AP
via -USATODAY
-
- "Envoy:
Russia, Iraq close to economic deal." ... "Iraq's
ambassador to Russia, Abbas Khalaf, said Saturday that Russia and Iraq
are planning to sign a five-year, $40 billion economic cooperation agreement."
-By Jill Dougherty
-CNN
-
- "Russia,
Iraq Plan Deal to Bolster Ties: Economic Pact
May Complicate U.S. Action Against Baghdad." ... "The five-year agreement
will deal with cooperation in a variety of fields -- foremost oil, but
also electrical energy, chemical products, irrigation, railroad construction
and transportation, according to officials here. Soviet or Russian specialists
built much of the infrastructure in Iraq, and so Baghdad wants Russian
expertise to help repair or upgrade it." ... "Russia has continued to strengthen
ties with all three of the countries branded the "axis of evil" by President
Bush: Iran, Iraq and North Korea." -By Peter Baker
-WashingtonPost
- 911
Lawsuit - "Sept.
11 Families Join to Sue Saudis: Banks, Charities
and Royals Accused Of Funding al Qaeda Terrorist Network." ... "The lawsuit
does not allege that the Saudi defendants directly participated in the
Sept. 11 attacks, or approved them. That would be a difficult assertion
to support because bin Laden, who was banished from the Saudi kingdom in
1991, has declared war on Saudi leaders as well as the United States."
... "Instead, the plaintiffs contend that some of the leading figures in
Saudi society --top businessmen, charity executives and members of the
royal family -- gave money to foundations and front groups that sustained
al Qaeda and moved its money." -By Susan Schmidt -WashingtonPost
- 911
Lawsuit - "Sept.
11 victims' families sue Saudis, others." ... According
to the lawsuit, ""the financial resources and support network of these
defendants -- charities, banks and individual financiers -- are what allowed
the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to occur," said the 259-page, 15-count complaint.
Attorneys said they expect that the lawsuit will eventually include more
than 1,000 family members who lost relatives in New York City, Washington
and Pennsylvania." ... "But this legal action is more about exposure, vengeance
and prevention of future attacks than it is about money, the family members
said at a news conference." -By Bob Dart-AJC
- 911
Lawsuit - "Families
of 9/11 victims file suit: 'Enablers of terrorism'
named." ... "The complaint, based on information from an investigative
team paid for by the plaintiffs, names three prominent members of the Saudi
royal family: Princes Turki al Faisal al Saud, Sultan bin Abdul Aziz al
Saud and Mohammed al Faisal al Saud. It alleges that Prince Sultan, the
Saudi minister of defense and aviation, has donated at least $6 million
since 1994 to four Islamic charities that allegedly supported al Qaeda."
... "The suit also alleges Turki al Faisal al Saud, a powerful former Saudi
intelligence chief, worked against the proposed extradition of bin Laden
and other al Qaeda members from Afghanistan to Saudi Arabia in 1998. In
return, the suit alleges, bin Laden agreed not to undermine the Saudi government."
-By Cassio Furtado -Miami/Herald
- "India
celebrates 55th anniversary of independence; accuses
Pakistan of double standards." ... "India celebrated 55 years of independence
from Britain on Thursday amid tight security against threats of Islamic
militant attacks and accused its rival Pakistan of having "double standards"
in its fight against terrorism." -By Nirmala George
-AP via -SFGate.com
- "Saudi
officials sued over Sept. 11 attacks; $1 trillion sought by families."
... "The suit, modeled after action filed against Libya in the Pan Am flight
103 disaster, seeks to cripple banks, charities and some members of the
Saudi royal family - as well as vengeance for the families of those who
perished, the plaintiffs said." -By Laurie Kellman-AP
via -NandoTimes
- "[Mexican
President Vicente] Fox cancels meeting with Bush to protest execution."
... "Fox canceled an Aug. 26-28 visit to four Texas cities and to Bush's
ranch to protest the state's execution Wednesday of convicted police killer
Javier Suarez Medina. Fox says Suarez is a Mexican national. Texas officials
said it was unclear on which side of the border Suarez was born." ... "Of
the more than 200 convicted killers executed in Texas since capital punishment
resumed in 1982, over 130 were put to death while Bush was governor."
-AP via -USATODAY
- "Rice:
Saddam is an 'evil man'." ... "National Security
Adviser Condoleezza Rice called Iraq's Saddam Hussein an "evil man" in
a [BBC] broadcast interview Thursday, saying he would wreak havoc on the
world if the West does nothing to stop him." ... ""History is littered
with cases of inaction that led to have grave consequences for the world.
We just have to look back and ask how many dictators who ended up being
a tremendous global threat and killing thousands and, indeed, millions
of people, should we have stopped in their tracks," she added." ... "Brent
Scowcroft, who served as national security adviser to the first President
Bush during the Gulf War, cautioned against taking on Saddam with the war
on terrorism in progress." ... ""...the central point is that any campaign
against Iraq ... is certain to divert us for some indefinite period from
our war on terrorism. Worse, there is a virtual consensus in the world
against an attack on Iraq at this time,'["] Scowcroft wrote in Thursday's
Wall Street Journal." -AP
via -USATODAY
- "Arab
anger limits US battle strategy: Arab allies
– including Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia – are increasingly critical
of US plans for attacking Iraq." ... "Rather than fight the tide of Arab
resistance to the idea of an invasion of Iraq, US political and military
planners are already trying to work around it, say Western analysts." ...
"Since the invasion of Afghanistan, the US military has built up a substantial
flotilla –including an armed forces contingent of some 50,000 soldiers
in the area of the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, the northern Red Sea, the Horn
of Africa and Central Asia, according to Lt. Commander Matthew Klee with
US Central Command in Florida." -By Philip Smucker
-CSMonitor/buy
- "Kurds
offer territory for Iraq attack: A prominent
Iraqi Kurdish opposition leader said Tuesday U.S. military forces would
be "welcomed" at areas in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq to stage attacks
against Saddam Hussein's regime." ... "Jalal Talabani, founder and secretary-general
of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that after
weekend meetings with top Bush administration officials, he and other Iraqi
opposition leaders are convinced the United States is now serious about
ousting Hussein." -CNN
- "Iran
quietly signals an openness to terror fight:
Iran steps back from the 'axis' by handing over Al Qaeda suspects." ...
"Iran's low-key handover to Saudi Arabia of 16 Al Qaeda suspects is a deliberate
message to the US that may hint at future neutrality – if not actual cooperation
– in any US military action against Iraq, say Iranian and Western analysts."
-By Scott Peterson
-CSMonitor/buy
- "Iraq
says work of UN weapons inspections over." ... "It
was not clear whether the comments were meant as a final rejection of demands
by the United Nations and Washington for the return of inspectors." ...
"The weapons inspectors left Iraq in 1998 ahead of U.S.-British airstrikes
aimed at punishing Baghdad for failing to cooperate with the inspections."
-Reuters via -MercuryNews
- "Pakistan
Issues Warrants for 6 US Bombing Suspects." ... "A
Pakistani court issued arrest warrants on Saturday for six fugitives suspected
of being involved in a car bomb attack on the U.S. consulate in Karachi
that killed 12 people and injured 20, defense lawyers said." ... "Three
leading suspects in the attack ... have already been arrested...." ...
They "are members of al-Almi, an offshoot of the radical Harkat-ul-Mujahideen
organization." -By Imran Maqbool
-Reuters via -Miami/Herald
- "Pakistan
IDs One Hospital Attacker." ... ""The body of one
terrorist who died in the attack has been identified and further investigations
are in progress," said Iftikhar Ahmad, a spokesman for Pakistan's Interior
Ministry. Ahmad declined to release the man's identity or identify the
militant groups that trained him." -By Munir Ahmad
-AP via -Miami/Herald
-
- OPINION
- "India,
Pakistan and G.E.." ... "Two months ago India and
Pakistan appeared headed for a nuclear war. Colin Powell, the U.S. secretary
of state and a former general, played a key role in talking the two parties
back from the brink. But here in India, I've discovered that there was
another new, and fascinating, set of pressures that restrained the Indian
government and made nuclear war, from its side, unthinkable. Quite simply,
India's huge software and information technology industry, which has emerged
over the last decade and made India the back-room and research hub of many
of the world's largest corporations, essentially told the nationalist Indian
government to cool it. And the government here got the message and has
sought to de-escalate ever since. That's right — in the crunch, it was
the influence of General Electric, not General Powell, that did the trick."
-By Thomas L. Friedman
-NYTimes via -Moreover
- "Indonesia
Rejects Islam-Based Law." ... "In a major expansion
of democracy, Indonesia's top legislature amended the constitution Saturday
to require direct presidential elections and end reserved parliament seats
for the military." ... "Closing out its annual two-week session, the 700-member
People's Consultative Assembly also turned back calls to impose Islamic-based
law in the world's most populous Muslim nation." -By
Slobodan Lekic -AP
via -WashingtonPost
- "Indonesia
backs new election law." ... "Indonesia's top legislative
body has passed changes to the country's constitution, including the introduction
of direct elections for the president and vice-president." ... "The 700-member
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), which approved the amendments, had
previously appointed the president." ... "Presidential elections are due
in 2004." -BBC
/News
-
-
"Urban
combat likely in an Iraq war." ... ""It's going to
involve Iraqis hiding behind civilian populations, ambushing us from the
basements and roofs of various buildings, trying to use shoulder-launched
weaponry against our helicopters and making life difficult," said Michael
O'Hanlon, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution, a public policy
think tank." ... ""We will win, but we could lose a thousand or more people
if things go badly."" -CNN
-
-
"Iraqi
dissidents in talks with U.S." ... "Those invited
represent what the administration considers the six most prominent Iraqi
opposition groups." ... "They are: Sharif Ali bin Hussein, of the Constitutional
Monarchy Movement; Iyad Allawi, of the Iraqi National Accord; Mohammed
Bakr al-Hakim, of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq;
Masoud Barzani, of the Kurdish Democratic Party; Ahmad Chalabi, of the
Iraqi National Congress; and Jalal Talabani, of the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan." -By Elise Labott
-CNN
- "Deadly
grenade attack at Pakistan hospital." ... "Four people
have been killed in a grenade attack on a missionary hospital near Islamabad,
the second assault on a Christian institution in Pakistan in less than
a week." ... "The assault was the fourth fatal attack by suspected Islamic
militants on Christian establishments since October." ... "On Monday, six
people were killed when three gunmen attacked a Christian missionary school
in the resort town of Murree, also near Islamabad." -CNN
- "Explosions
rock Colombia as new president takes office." ...
"Huge explosions rocked the area around Colombia's parliament and presidential
palace Wednesday as hard-liner Alvaro Uribe was sworn in as president of
this troubled country. At least 14 people were killed and 69 wounded, police
said." ... "Bogota Mayor Antanas Mockus said intercepted radio messages
among members of the country's largest rebel group the leftist
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC showed the
FARC was behind the attack." -AP
via -USATODAY
- "Opposition
gains control in S. Korea." ... "Candidates of the
Grand National Party (GNP) won 11 of 13 seats, a result considered a major
defeat for President Kim Dae-jung in his final months of office as well
as a litmus test for upcoming presidential elections." ... "The GNP now
has a majority of 139 seats in the 273-member National Assembly." -CNN
-
- "US
derides Saddam's 'bluster'." ... "The United States
has dismissed a speech by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in which he said
that any attack on his country would be doomed to failure."
-BBC /News
-
- "Sources:
Pentagon plans around Saudi bases." ... "Pentagon
war planning for Iraq includes options that rely on either limited or no
access to bases in Saudi Arabia, U.S. officials told CNN Wednesday, adding
that the United States expects to be given permission to fly through Saudi
air space if it attacks Iraq." -By Jamie McIntyre
-CNN
- "[Japanese]
Defense network breach probed." ... "[Japanese] Police
join Fujitsu to trace extortionists." ... "Police joined the Defense Agency
and prime computer network contractor Fujitsu Ltd. on Tuesday to plug a
leak of information about proprietary local area networks (LAN) developed
by Fujitsu for the nation's Ground and Air Self-Defense Forces." ... "The
Defense Agency and Fujitsu sources said the leaked information involved
details about network connections and Internet protocol addresses for servers
that link Ground Self-Defense Force and Air Self- Defense Force headquarters
offices and regional units, as well as remote terminals."
-Asahi>English
- "Annan
tells Iraq to accept UN inspection plan." ... "Secretary
General Kofi Annan rejected yesterday Baghdad's latest proposal for overcoming
the impasse over Saddam Hussein's weapons program, seeking instead Iraq's
acceptance of a Security Council roadmap for the return of UN weapons inspectors."
-By Edith M. Lederer -AP
via -Boston/Globe
-
- "Saudi
Arabia not an enemy, U.S. assures Mideast nation."
... "The Bush administration sought to assure Saudi Arabia Tuesday that
it is still a close U.S. ally despite a private analyst's report warning
of threats posed by the desert kingdom." ... "The Washington Post reported
Tuesday that the Defense Advisory Board -- a panel that advises the Pentagon
on defense policy -- hosted an analyst from the Rand Corporation who portrayed
Saudi Arabia as an enemy of the United States." ... "Rand also distanced
itself from the presentation, saying it "was not a Rand research product.""
-CNN
- "Koizumi
urges ban on nuclear weapons." ... "Japanese Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi is calling for the elimination of all nuclear
weapons." ... ""As the only country that has experienced a nuclear attack
... we have appealed to the global community to eradicate nuclear weapons
and build a lasting peace, so that the devastation ofnuclear warfare will
never again be repeated," Koizumi said." -CNN
- "Hiroshima
mayor sends nuclear alert to Bush." ... "The mayor
of the Japanese city of Hiroshima has delivered a stinging rebuke to the
Bush administration on the 57th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic
bomb on his city in 1945." ... "More than 220,000 people were killed as
a result of the Hiroshima bombing." ... "Over half of those killed died
in the initial explosion, whilst tens of thousands died later as a result
of cancers and other illnesses attributed to the atomic fallout."
-CNN
- "'One
hell of a big bang'." ... "Today is Hiroshima Day,
the anniversary of the first use of a bomb so powerful that it would come
to threaten the existence of the human race. Only two such devices have
ever been used, but now, a decade after the end of the cold war, the world
faces new dangers of nuclear attack - from India, Pakistan, Iraq, al-Qaida,
and even the US. Launching a special investigation into nuclear weapons,
Paul Tibbets, the man who piloted the Enola Gay on its mission to Japan,
tells Studs Terkel why he has no regrets - and why he wouldn't hesitate
to use it again." -Guardian.co.uk
- "Stock
Prices Plunge in Tokyo." ... "Tokyo stocks plunged
Tuesday, with its key index temporarily falling just above the 18-year
low it posted in February, on selling triggered by continued uncertainty
on Wall Street. The dollar climbed against the yen."
-AP via -WashingtonPost
-
- "Briefing
Depicted Saudis as Enemies: Ultimatum Urged
To Pentagon Board." ... "A briefing given last month to a top Pentagon
advisory board described Saudi Arabia as an enemy of the United States,
and recommended that U.S. officials give it an ultimatum to stop backing
terrorism or face seizure of its oil fields and its financial assets invested
in the United States." ... A RAND Corporation analyst, Laurent Murawiec,
presented the briefing "on July 10 to the Defense Policy Board, a group
of prominent intellectuals and former senior officials that advises the
Pentagon on defense policy." -By Thomas E. Ricks-WashingtonPost
- "Records
Checks Displace Workers: Social Security Letters
Cost Immigrants Jobs." ... "... the crackdown has highlighted an open secret:
A huge number of illegal immigrants work "on the books," providing stolen
or made-up Social Security numbers to employers and having U.S. taxes deducted
from their paychecks." ... "In recent years, the agency [the Social Security
Administration] has received a growing pile of money from taxpayers whose
names or Social Security numbers don't match its files. Such contributions
from workers and employers totaled $4.9 billion in 1999, the most recent
year for which data were available." -By Mary Beth
Sheridan -WashingtonPost
-
"Japan's
old shy away from retiring." ... "Thanks to a low-fat
diet, reliable healthcare and high standards of living, the average Japanese
girl born last year will live for nearly 85 years, while boys will not
breathe their last until just over 78." ... "But with one of the lowest
birthrates in the world, politicians, demographers and civil servants warn
that the retirement age will have to be extended to save Japan's pension
and healthcare systems from collapsing under the weight of an ageing and
shrinking population." ... "Japan is home to the world's oldest woman,
Kamoto Hongo, 115 this year; the oldest man, 113-year-old Yukichi Chuganji;
and the community with the highest proportion of centenarians, the 33 per
100,000 people of Okinawa." -By Jonathan Watts -Guardian.co.uk
Enron
News - "Enron
probe looks at alleged bribery: Federal prosecutors
examine overseas operations." ... "Federal prosecutors are investigating
whether Enron Corp. for years bribed foreign government officials to win
contracts for its far-flung operations abroad, underscoring the sweep of
the government’s probe into Enron’s collapse." -By
John R. Wilke -WSJ.com
via -MSNBC
-
- "Taiwan
president pushes further toward independence:
President Chen Shui-bian on Saturday backed a referendum for a formal break
from Beijing." ... "Speaking before a world body of pro-independence Taiwanese
on Saturday, President Chen backed a proposed referendum on Taiwan's independence,
and used concepts and language rarely heard openly in statements about
cross-strait relations." ... ""Our Taiwan is not someone else's local government,
not someone else's province," Mr. Chen said in an emotional speech, in
which he stood and threw his hands over his head. "I encourage everyone
to seriously consider the importance and urgency of passing legislation
on a referendum."" -By Robert Marquand
-CSMonitor/buy
/
- "Koreas
agree to reopen high-level talks." ... "North and
South Korea agreed Sunday to discuss reunions of families separated by
the Korean War, a cross-border rail line and joint economic projects in
the impoverished North during Cabinet-level talks next week." ... "An analyst
in Seoul said North Korea's dire economic situation left it no choice but
to negotiate with the South, a major source of aid."
-AP via -MercuryNews
- "Hamas
says looking to new 'creative' methods." ... "The
militant Hamas organization announced Sunday morning that due to the [Israeli]
government's new policy of destroying the homes of suicide bombers and
expeling the bombers' family members to Gaza, it is having to rethink its
bombing strategy and come up with new "creative" methods to strike at Israel."
... "A senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Abu Shneb," ...
"confirmed that last week's bomb attack at the Hebrew University on Mt.
Scopus in Jerusalem, in which an explosive device was placed on a cafeteria
table - and a suicide bomber was not used - signaled a change in the movement's
operational methods in light of Israel's decision to expel families of
suicide bombers." -By Daniel Sobelman -Ha'aretzDaily
- "11
killed, more than 60 wounded, in four terror attacks."
-Ha'aretzDaily
- "Foreign
Investors Turning Cautious on Spending in U.S.."
... "Foreign investors, who once joined with confident Americans in a wave
of spectacular acquisitions and business spending that helped power the
1990's economic boom, are now turning cautious about the United States
economy. That is compounding the current weakness and making it harder
to achieve a robust recovery from last year's recession." -By
Louis Uchitelle -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
- "German
post-Holocaust taboos come under attack in politics, books."
... "Germans have debated the limits of national pride and their yearning
to be a ''normal'' nation ever since east and west reunited in 1990, re-creating
a big Germany of 83 million people at the heart of Europe." -By
Tony Czuczka -AP
via -Boston/Globe
- "Sources:
Rumsfeld calls for Special Ops covert action." ...
"It would be the first time during the war on terrorism that a mission
puts Special Operations, instead of the U.S. Central Command, in charge
of its own counterterrorism efforts. The U.S. Central Command has been
leading the war on terrorism." ... "Rumsfeld is expected to meet Friday
in the Pentagon with Gen. Charles Holland, head of Special Operations,
and Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to review
specific plans proposed by Holland for new covert missions involving Navy
SEALS, Army Green Berets and the super-secret Army Delta Force." ... "This
could now take Special Operations into any country where U.S. intelligence
believes the top leadership of al Qaeda is hiding." -From
Barbara Starr -CNN
- "Al-Qaeda
'fake ID supplier' flees US." ... "A man accused
of having sold fake identification documents to some of the hijackers in
the 11 September attacks has fled from the United States to Egypt, US authorities
say." ... "Police say Mr Atriss [Mohammed al-Atriss], 43, ran a large illegal
operation to manufacture counterfeit documents - but they found no evidence
to show that he knew of the hijackers' plans."-BBC
/News
- "Iraq
experts warn senators: Saddam pushing ahead with weapons program."
... "Richard Butler refuted statements by Iraq that it has no weapons of
mass destruction or the means to make such chemical, biological and nuclear
weaponry." ... ""Everyone, Mr. Chairman, is being lied to," said the former
chief weapons inspector for the United Nations. Iraq forced his team of
inspectors -- charged with certifying that Iraq had no such weapons --
to leave the country in late 1998." ... "Khidar Hamza, a former Iraqi nuclear
engineer, said Iraq is well into the production of chemical weapons and
has enough uranium to generate several nuclear weapons by 2005."
-CNN
- "Russian
man arrested on charges of fixing ice dancing at [2002] Olympics."
... Believed to be a "Russian crime boss," ... "the charges allege [Alimzan]
Tokhtakhounov attempted to influence judges to award the gold medal to
the French team of Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat. The French pair
did end up winning the ice dancing competition." -By
Christopher Newston -AP
via -NandoTimes
- "Different
Kind of Attack Hits Israel." ... "The Hamas bomb
planted in a university cafeteria Wednesday marked a departure from the
suicide attacks that have rocked Israel for nearly two years, but it was
not clear whether it signaled an overall tactical shift by Palestinian
extremists." ... "It was reminiscent of terror attacks from an earlier
era, when bombings were carried out by secular, nationalist Palestinian
groups, rather than the fundamentalist Islamic movements that have been
at the forefront of the suicide attacks in recent years." -By
Mark Lavie -AP
via -Miami/Herald
- "At least six
killed, more than 70 wounded in bomb blast at Hebrew University cafeteria."
... "An apparent suicide bomber detonated explosives in a crowded cafeteria
at Hebrew University during lunchtime Wednesday, killing at least six people
and reportedly wounding more than 70." ... "The blast, at the university’s
Frank Sinatra International Student Center, came at a time when classes
are not in session. However, students are taking exams and the cafeteria
was busy at the time." -Steve Weizman
-AP via -IHT.com
- "Labour's
Arthur Andersen links." ... "While Tony Blair toured
Britain aboard his election battle bus in 1997, senior members of his economic
team were working alongside experts at Arthur Andersen, Enron's accountants."
... "That relationship - which produced key planks of current economic
policy - lies behind the awkward questions Labour now faces over Andersen's
return to government work." -By Ollie Stone-Lee
-BBC /News
-
- "The
son of all battles?" ... "As press speculation mounts
about the timing, scale and tactics of an American-led invasion of Iraq,
so does criticism of such a strategy. Plans to use military force to effect
“regime change” in Iraq are facing opposition from allies in Europe
and the Middle East, and even from some quarters within the American administration"
-Economist
-
- "U.S.
Exploring Baghdad Strike as Iraq Option." ... "As
the Bush administration considers its military options for deposing Saddam
Hussein, senior administration and Pentagon officials say they are exploring
a new if risky approach: take Baghdad and one or two key command centers
and weapons depots first, in hopes of cutting off the country's leadership
and causing a quick collapse of the government." -By
David E. Sanger and Thom Shanker -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
-
- "Do
We Still Need the Saudis?" ... "Hundreds of Saudis
fought alongside the Taliban against the U.S. in Afghanistan last year.
More than one-third of the 350 hard-core fighters being held by the U.S.
in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are Saudi nationals. Billions of dollars from
wealthy Saudis have funded anti-American and anti-Israel terrorist groups
and helped establish radical schools worldwide that foment Islamic militancy,
including the madrasahs in Pakistan that produced the Taliban." ... "But
Saudi Arabia controls 30% of the world's known oil reserves. And so for
years, in the interest of maintaining the world's supply of crude, Washington
has ignored evidence that the ruling Sauds are allowing the country's powerful
religious leaders to propagate anti-Western hate." ... "Isolating Riyadh,
though, carries risks. 
