Maravot world news

5.22.06 Police on alert for suicides after stocks slide

MUMBAI, updated May 23 – Police are watching out for possible suicides by brokers and investors after a steep market slide wiped out billions of dollars in share values, officials said on Monday...The Bombay Stock Exchange Ltd, which had a market value of $657 billion last week after falling 10 per cent in the previous two sessions, slid as much as another 10 per cent in early trade on Monday following sales of stocks held by brokers as security on behalf of their clients. [Full story>>expressindia.com]

5.22.06 Germamy, China agree Iran should not have nuclear bomb: Merkel

BEIJING (AFP) May 22 – Germany and China agree that Iran should not be allowed to build nuclear weapons, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said here after meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. "We talked about Iran and both (of us) agreed Iran should not have the capability to make nuclear weapons and shouldn't proliferate weapons of mass destruction," Merkel told a joint press conference with Wen. German officials had said in the lead-up to Merkel's trip that Germany would like to see China more closely involved in the international efforts to solve the nuclear crisis in Iran. More>>turkishpress.com ; See also chinadaily.com.cn, May 22, "China, Germany ink 19 agreements, including development of a high-speed railway transport in China." and a related story, nytimes.com, May 22, US is proposing European shield for Iran missiles."]

5.22.06 Jordanian diplomat killed in latest Gaza City gun battles

May 22 – A Jordanian diplomat was killed Monday and seven other people were wounded as a new Hamas-led security force exchanged heavy fire with gunmen near the Palestinian parliament building in Gaza City, in a fresh outbreak of internal violence. The death brings to eight the number of people killed in Palestinian internal fighting this month. Hospital officials identified the dead man as Jordanian citizen Khaled Radaida, 55, administrative assistant to the Jordanian ambassador in Gaza. Three bullets hit the windshield of Radaida's vehicle, marked with Jordanian diplomatic license plates.

TV footage of the incident showed a Hamas gunman pressed against a wall firing a burst of gunfire across a road before a comrade fiercely gestured for him to stop shooting. A few moments later, the Jordanian vehicle, with a bullet hole in the windshield, is seen slowly moving down the road before stopping and rolling backward. The ambassador, Yehiya Qarallah, was not in the vehicle at the time. Witnesses said that Radaida, initially identified as the ambassador's driver, was behind the wheel at the time. Jordanian embassy officials in Gaza later said Radaida was the ambassador's administrative assistant and carried a Jordanian diplomatic passport. [More>>haaretz.com]

5.22.06 Afghan air raid kills up to 80 Taleban, at least 16 civilians

KANDAHAR (AFP) May 22 – Up to 80 Taleban rebels and at least 16 civilians were killed on Monday during a coalition air and ground attack on a village in southern Afghanistan, officials and witnesses said. The US-led coalition said it called in warplanes after troops who were trying to capture insurgents in Kandahar province came under fire, while a governor said some of the militants had hidden in local people�s houses. Bloodied men, women and children who streamed into a nearby hospital using vehicles that withstood the bombing said dozens of civilians died and scores more were wounded.

The air strike came amid some of the worst violence since the 2001 fall of the Taleban in Afghanistan. Around 300 people have been killed in the past week, about twice the number reported killed in Iraq. "Coalition forces conducted a significant operation early this morning in the Kandahar region near the village of Azizi that resulted in the unconfirmed deaths of possibly up to 80 Taleban members," a coalition statement said. There were 20 confirmed deaths among �active members of the Taleban network� and 60 unconfirmed fatalities in the operation, the third in the area in a week. [More>>khaleejtimes.com]

5.22.06 British troops to start leaving Iraq 'in months'

May 22 – Britain and Iraq announced an accelerated timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops from much of Iraq today during a surprise visit by Tony Blair to show his support for the country's new government. Britain could return two southern provinces to Iraqi security control within in a few months. Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq's new Prime Minister, said that he expected as many as 16 of the 18 provinces to be "Iraqi-ised" – under the control of Iraqi forces – by the end of this year. The timetable will increase pressure on the United States to set its own deadlines for withdrawal, which Bush Administration officials have steadily refused to do for fear of handing a propaganda victory to al-Qaeda linked insurgents. [More>>timesonline.co.uk]

5.21.06 Al-Qaida linked group claims attack on PA intelligence chief

May 21 – A previously unknown group that links itself to al-Qaida has claimed responsibility for a failed attempt Saturday to kill the chief of the Palestinian Authority intelligence service in the Gaza Strip, General Tareq Abu Rajab, according to a Web statement posted Sunday. The group, called the Qaida Organization of the State of Palestine, also vowed to target other senior officials, including Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. "Your brothers in the Qaida Organization of the State of Palestine were capable of reaching the workplace of... Abu Rajab," said the statement, which was not posted on Web sites usually used by militant groups, including al-Qaida. "The Mujahideen were able to plant a bomb in the elevator," it added. The statement's authenticity could not be immediately verified. [More>>haaretz.com]

5.21.06 Afghan car bombing kills civilians

May 21 – A car bomber has struck near a multinational force base in Kabul, killing at least two civilians plus the bomber, the latest in a series of attacks by anti-government insurgents. The car bomb exploded on Sunday on a main road about 100 metres from a multinational force military base used to train Afghan security forces, the interior ministry said, adding that two people were also wounded. [More>>aljazeera.net]

5.21.06 Deadly bombs rock Iraq as new cabinet meets

BAGHDAD (AFP) May 21 – At least 20 people were killed in insurgent violence on Sunday, 13 of them in a Baghdad restaurant bombing, as Iraq's new national unity government met on its first full day in office. Another 18 people were wounded when the blast ripped through the crowded diner in the upmarket Karada district, highlighting the importance of plans set out by Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki for a special security force for the capital. "We have a plan, we agreed on this plan even before this meeting, this plan will start with protecting Baghdad," Maliki said. "We will form a special new force to secure Baghdad." [More>>metimes.com]

5.20.06 Iraq forms government but security posts unfilled

BAGHDAD (AFP) May 20 – Iraq on Saturday formed its first full term post-invasion government, a unity coalition aimed at uniting a country torn by sectarian bloodshed but still lacking permanent ministers in key security posts. The cabinet of 37 ministers was approved at a session of parliament after being presented by new Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki, who was confirmed in his post and announced a national plan to bring Iraq out of its security crisis.

Iraqis must "denounce terrorism" and "establish an atmosphere of love and tolerance," Maliki told parliament before he and his ministers were sworn-in, hands on the Koran. He also said the country needed an "objective timetable so that Iraqi forces may assume the security task in full and an end of the missions of the Multinational Forces and their return to their countries."

But underlining the pervasive threat of violence, 26 people were killed violence across the country, including 19 who lost their lives a bomb blast in Baghdad just hours ahead of the government announcement. The blast hit the Shia-dominated district of Sadr City, also wounding 58 workers at a food stall where they had gathered for breakfast, the interior ministry said. [More>>metimes.com ; See related stories, independent.co.uk, May 20, "Iraq is disintegrating as ethnic cleansing takes hold" and independent.co.uk, May 20, Mullah accused of attempted genocide of Shia ( Mullah Dadullah) 'is arrested']

5.19.06 Plot thickens over Ben Nevis piano

May 19 – A day after conservationists thought they had solved the mystery of why a piano is sitting at the top of Ben Nevis, there has been a new twist in the tale. Kenny Campbell, a woodcutter from Ardgay in the Highlands, told The Times earlier this week how he had carried a 226lb musical instrument alone up to the 4,418ft summit of Britain's highest mountain, strapped to his back.

Volunteers Paul Nelson from Blackford in Perthshire (left) and Andrew Hunter from Glasgow with their dramatic find on the top of Ben Nevis (Photo: John Muir Trust)

But now the conservation volunteers who found the piano buried under a pile of stones say that they believe the instrument is not the one carried up by Mr. Campbell in 1971, but a piano hauled up the mountain by a group of removal men from Dundee in 1986.

Wrappers from a packet of McVitie's biscuits that Mike Clark and his team of Dundee removers washed down with a bottle of whisky to celebrate their achievement have been found nearby, with a telltale sell-by date, says the John Muir Conservation Trust.

It was the trust which first appealed for someone to explain the piano, after finding it beneath rocks as they cleared away some of the many cairns that confuse weary walkers on the pathway to the summit. The instrument was in surprisingly good shape, its iron frame complete with strings. Nigel Hawkins, Trust director, said: "We are delighted to have solved the mystery of the piano on Ben Nevis. An organ was carried up by Kenneth Campbell in 1971 but we can say definitely that it was not an organ that was found as there was an iron frame with metal strings.

"The biscuit wrapper which said 'Best before 13 December, 1986,' which we found in the cairn gives further proof that this was the piano Mike and his friends took up the mountain. We get 120,000 visitors every year, and all of them were walking right past a piano."

Mr. Clark, 51, a retired removal man, said: "We did the exploit to raise money for the cystic fibrosis charity and also to get in the Guinness Book of Records, but their representatives were late in arriving and said they needed verification that we had carried the piano up the mountain. [More>>timesonline.co.uk ; See jmt.org (John Muir Trust) for more details.]

5.19.06 New Iranian law to require Jews to wear yellow band

May 19 – A new dress-code law reportedly passed in Iran this past week mandates the government to make sure that religious minorities, Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians, will have to adopt distinct color schemes to make them identifiable in public, the Canadian National Post reported on Friday. Jews, under the new law, will have to wear a yellow band on their exterior in public, while Christians will be required to don red ones. Furthermore, according to the law, the Iranian government has envisioned that all Iranians wear "standard Islamic garments" designed to remove ethnic and class distinctions.

The purpose for the law was to prevent Muslims from becoming najis "unclean" by accidentally shaking the hands of non-Muslims in public. "The new law resembles the Holocaust," said head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, Rabbi Marvin Heir, and warned that, "Iran was nearing Nazi Ideology." According to Army Radio, Wiesenthal Center officials sent a letter to United Nations Director General Kofi Annan urging him "not to ignore" the new law, and reminded him that, "The world ignored Hitler for many years." [More>>Jerusalem Post ; See canada.com/nationalpost, (AP) May 19, "Harper: Iran clothing rules reminiscent of Nazis" : OTTAWA – Prime Minister Stephen Harper says news reports that Iran could require Jews and Christians to wear colored labels in public might be true. He says Iran's hardline Islamist government has proven itself capable of such extremism.

"Unfortunately, we've seen enough already from the Iranian regime to suggest that it is very capable of this kind of action," Harper said. "We've seen a number of things from the Iranian regime that are along these lines. And the fact that such a measure could even be contemplated is absolutely abhorrent." The National Post newspaper reported Friday that Iran's parliament has passed a law that would require Jews to wear yellow labels, and Christians red ones, on their clothing. The law must still be approved by Iran's "Supreme Guide," Ali Khamenehi, to come into effect, the newspaper said...

5.19.06 Sao Paulo governor says violence a warning to rich

SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) May 19 – Sao Paulo's state governor said gang violence that has rocked Brazil's business capital Sao Paulo in the past week should serve as a warning to Brazil's richer classes that the country's deep social inequalities were tearing it apart. Governor Claudio Lembo, in a full-page interview published in leading newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, also denied police were carrying out massacres to quell the violence, in which 152 people have been killed since last Friday. "All this has been a big wake up for Brazil. The social situation is the cancer for crime and it is bigger than we imagined," he said.

Brazil's most powerful criminal gang, the First Command of the Capital (PCC), unleashed a wave of bloodshed in Sao Paulo city and state last Friday night in retaliation for the transfer of jailed gang leaders and members to a remote high-security prison. Some 30 policeman were killed in attacks on police posts, vehicles and off-duty officers. Dozens of buses were also set ablaze. Related uprisings broke out in dozens of prisons across the state to demand better conditions. The attacks caused panic and chaos in Sao Paulo, the world's third largest metropolis with a population of 20 million. The attacks had largely subsided by midweek after tough police response. Police have killed 107 suspected gangsters in operations through poor districts of the city. [More>>thestar.com.my]

5.19.06 Senators left out of loop make their pique known

WASHINGTON, May 19 – There were two types of senators at Thursday's confirmation hearing for Gen. Michael V. Hayden: the briefed, and the briefed-nots. The former were mostly polite. The latter, especially Democrats, threw the Congressional equivalent of a temper tantrum. General Hayden, President Bush's nominee to run the Central Intelligence Agency, invoked what he termed "a very crude airman's metaphor" in suggesting he believed lawmakers should have been informed earlier by the White House of its secretive domestic eavesdropping program, which he oversaw when he ran the National Security Agency.

"If you want people with the craft," the general said, "you've got to put them on the manifest." But until December, when the eavesdropping was revealed, all but the Republican chairman and the senior Democrat on the Intelligence Committee were left off the manifest. If there's one thing senators can't stand, it's being left out of the loop by the White House. And if there's another thing they can't stand, it's reading about how they have been left out of the loop in their morning newspaper. [More>>nytimes.com]

5.19.06 Thousands march in Turkey to denounce Islamic gunman's attack

ANKARA, Turkey, May 19 – More than 15,000 Turks, from students to judges still in their robes, marched in the capital to support secularism and to condemn a courtroom shooting that killed one judge and wounded four others. A gunman opened fire on Wednesday inside Turkey's highest administrative court, shouting, "I am a soldier of God." The suspect, now under arrest, claimed his attack was retaliation for a recent ruling against a teacher who wore an Islamic-style headscarf. Yesterday judicial officials, academics, union leaders, students and workers marched to the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of modern and secular Turkey, in a show of loyalty to secularism. They laid a wreath decorated with red and white carnations, the colours of the Turkish flag. Many carried the flag. Some were tearful, kissing the marble stones of the mausoleum. [More>>independent.co.uk ; see related story, dailystar.com.lb, May 19, "Turkish police arrest three more suspects in courtroom shooting." and aljazeera.net, May 19, "General spurs Turkish protests" : Turkey's military has called on the public to keep up protests in defence of secularism after a judge was shot dead in a court that regularly resists Islamist pressure. The military, which has intervened in domestic politics in the past, made its call after protests on Thursday against the killing turned into a demonstration against the government, which has its roots in political Islam.

The state-run Anatolian news agency reported on Friday that General Hilmi Ozkok, the head of Turkey's military general staff, had praised the mass protests. "But it must not remain as a reaction of just one day, a one-off event ... It must gain permanence, as something continuous, it must be pursued by everyone," he said.

The call is seen as a warning to the government from the army, which helped topple an Islamist-leaning government in 1997, and follows comments in leading papers that the government should learn lessons from the mass pro-secular protests...

5.19.06 Top Taleban commander 'arrested'

May 19 – A top Taleban leader, Mullah Dadullah, has been captured in Afghanistan, Afghan officials have told the BBC. The senior military commander was said to have been detained by international troops in southern Kandahar province. Mullah Dadullah was a member of the Taleban's 10-man leadership council before the US-led invasion in 2001. Kandahar's governor said three members of the council had been arrested but did not give names. The Taleban deny Mullah Dadullah has been captured. There has been no official confirmation of the arrest from the Afghan government or US military. [More>>bbc.co.uk ; See related story, thenews.com.pk, May 19, "Taliban death toll from Afghan battle rises to 100."]

5.19.06 Blast kills Sinai bombing suspect

May 19 – A man suspected of involvement in a series of deadly bombings in the Egyptian tourist resort of Sinai has died after accidentally blowing himself up during a skirmish with police, officials say. Arafat Ali was attempting to throw a bomb on Friday at police who had surrounded his hideout in Rafah, on the border with Gaza, when it exploded, security sources said. Sources said he was second-in-command of a group called Tawhid wal Jihad, which the authorities say had carried out a series of attacks in Sinai since October 2004. Nineteen people, mainly Egyptians, died in the group's last attack in Dahab, while scores more were killed in bombings at resorts in Taba and Sharm el-Sheikh. [More>>aljazeera.net]

5.19.06 Denmark confirms H5N1 bird flu in domestic poultry

COPENHAGEN (AFP) May 19 – Danish authorities on Friday confirmed the country�s first case of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu in domestic farmyard birds. "We have completed our analysis and we can confirm it is H5N1," the director of Danish Institute for Food and Veterinary Research, Jan Mousing, told AFP. This is the first reported case of H5N1 in tame poultry in the Scandinavian country. The country has reported 47 cases of the H5N1 strain of bird flu in wild birds since March. [More>>khaleejtimes.com ; See related story, thenews.com.pk, May 19, "Two more bird flu deaths confirmed in Indonesia, takes toll to 32."]

5.18.06 More than 70 dead in Afghan battles

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) May 18 – Taliban rebels fought two fierce battles with coalition and Afghan forces in southern Afghanistan, leaving 13 police, a Canadian soldier and nearly 60 insurgents dead. British gunship helicopters and Canadian artillery were called in to lend close air support during one of the clashes, which came weeks before NATO-led peacekeepers are due to take over operations in the troubled region. In a separate incident on the other side of the country in western Afghanistan, a US anti-narcotics adviser was killed Thursday when a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-packed car into his Land Cruiser. [More>>turkishpress.com]

5.18.06 Iraq undecided over security posts as violence persists

BAGHDAD (AFP) May 18 – At least 19 people were killed in violence across Iraq on Thursday as last-minute political dealings continued on key security portfolios ahead of this weekend's expected unveiling of a new cabinet. In the deadliest attacks, a car bomb in a busy commercial street in the capital's central Waziriyah neighborhood killed at least seven people and set security vehicles ablaze. And seven people from the same family all died in a drive-by shooting of a minibus, part of a wave of violence that has underscored the need for a permanent government and strong leadership in the defense and interior ministries. Although prime minister designate Nuri Al Maliki said on Wednesday that he would submit his cabinet lineup for approval by parliament on Saturday, political groups have shown continuing discord. [More>>metimes.com]

5.17.06 Euro shares in biggest fall since 2002

May 18 – European shares suffered their biggest points fall since September 2002 overnight to close at a more-than three-month low as strong US inflation data sparked fresh fears over rising interest rates. The session's slide wiped over 180 billion euros off the value of Europe's top 300 companies. Stocks have now lost 7 per cent since last Wednesday. Auto stocks were the worst hit as exporters were hurt by dollar weakness although the greenback rebounded on the inflation data and the French finance minister Thierry Breton saying the euro must not be allowed to strengthen too much.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares closed 2.8 per cent or 38 points weaker at 1310.01 points, its lowest level since February 8. Immediately after closing, the index had endured its worst one-day points fall since October 2002 but after settlement that was extended by a month. Britain's FTSE 100 lost 2.9 per cent, Germany's DAX shed 3.4 per cent and France's CAC 40 fell 3.2 per cent. [More>>theaustralian.news.com.au ; See related story, washingtonpost.com, May 17, "Dow, shocked by CPI, falls 200 points." ; See also update, expressindia, May 18, "Sensex posts biggest single-day fall."]

5.17.06 Russian MP proposes full SCO membership for Iran

MOSCOW (RIA Novotsti) May 17 – A deputy speaker of the Russian parliament Wednesday proposed that Iran be granted full membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. "Iran wants to become a permanent member [of the regional security organization] and we must assist it to enhance the SCO and protect Iran," said Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who also heads the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR). Iran, which currently holds observer status in the organization along with Pakistan, India and Mongolia, has already received an official invitation to attend the SCO summit slated for June 15 from China, the organizations president this year.

"We have been officially invited by China," a high-ranking source in the Iranian Embassy to China said Wednesday. But the source did not say whether a final decision had been made on Tehran's announcement Monday that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wanted to attend the summit.

Pakistan has also stated that it wants to join the other full members of the group - Russia, China, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan - and President Pervez Musharraf has been officially invited to attend the Shanghai meeting. But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov ruled out putting the issue on the summit agenda Tuesday, given the escalating crisis over Iran's controversial nuclear program. "I do not link the Iranian president's intention to attend the SCO summit with efforts being made to solve the Iranian nuclear issue," Lavrov said. [rian.run ; See also related story, rian.ru, May 17, "Venzuela looking to swap US F-16 fiighters for Russian Su-35's."]

5.17.06 Six bird flu cases confirmed in Indonesia

JAKARTA (Reuters) May 17 – The World Health Organisation confirmed six more human cases of bird flu infections in Indonesia on Wednesday, including five members of a family whose case has triggered fears of human-to-human transmission. "There are six confirmations. One from Surabaya and five from Medan. One from Medan is still alive," said Sari Setiogi, the WHO's Indonesia spokeswoman. [More>>nytimes.com]

5.16.06 Twenty-three die in Iraq attack

May 16 – At least 23 people have been killed in a shooting and bombing attack in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, police say. Five people were shot dead by gunmen at a car park in the city's busy north-eastern Shaab area. When people, including nearby police units, rushed to the scene, a car bomb was detonated, killing a further 18. At least 33 others were wounded in the attack, police said. The car park is often used by worshippers at a nearby Shia Muslim prayer hall.

Some of the injured were severely burned and died before being taken to hospital, police officer Ali al-Obeidi was quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying. Officials say the death toll could rise further. In other violence in the city, at least six civilians were killed and several injured in gun battles between gunmen and police in Baghdad's southern Doura district, Iraqi officials said. The US military said on Tuesday that three of its soldiers were killed in roadside bomb attacks in and around Baghdad in the past 24 hours. [More>>bbc.co.uk ; See also nytimes.com, May 16, "Attack at Baghdad parking garage kills at least 19" : ...An increasing number of incidents lately have involved two-staged attacks in which an initial explosion or drive-by shooting creates a scene that draws in victims of separate blast. In today's attack, five security guards in a garage in the Al-Shaab neighborhood were killed by gunmen, and 14 people who gathered to assist the wounded died when a bomb placed in a car by the gunmen exploded, according to the Interior Ministry. Another 33 were wounded. Two eyewitnesses, who said they belonged to the Mahdi Army militia, said that four of the slain guards were militia members.

The attack comes a day after the American military reported that it had killed 25 insurgents in airstrikes and ground attacks on Sunday in Yusefiya, a turbulent city south of Baghdad that has attracted growing attention from American commanders. Two American airmen died when their helicopter was shot down during the battle, the military said...

5.15.06 Iraq War images uncensored

May 15 – David Swanson posted a collection of photos from the Iraq War that he says "is the most complete we are aware of. Many of them are being made public here for the first time. Many of them are extremely gruesome. These must not be censored, because this is what a war really looks like, and that is something citizens need to see in order to cast informed ballots and lobby our representatives for or against war...This first page is the worst." [More>>afterdowningstreet.org]

5.15.06 Halliburton accused of avoiding public

May 15 – Halliburton, the US oil services company which is accused of profiting from US-administered war zones, is under attack from shareholders who say it is trying to hold a secretive annual meeting. Halliburton, which was once headed by Dick Cheney, the current US vice president, earned a record $2.4 billion last year. Its annual meeting, previously held in Houston, has regularly drawn protests. This year the meeting will be held in out-of-the-way Duncan, Oklahoma. Halliburton says it moved its meeting to this company town of 22,500 to honour its southern Oklahoma roots. The company's critics accuse it of running to a prairie outpost to hide.

Maureen Haver, spokeswoman for the Houston Global Awareness Collective and one of 15 protesters arrested at Halliburton's meeting last year, said: "They're relocating to a city where they don't actually have to be accountable to their own shareholders. "They're going to a town they have in their pocket." Shareholders still include Cheney who maintains financial interests through 433,333 stock options worth about $8 million. [More>>aljazeera.net]

5.15.06 Federal source to ABC News: We know who you're calling

May 15 – Brian Ross and Richard Esposito Report: A senior federal law enforcement official tells ABC News the government is tracking the phone numbers we call in an effort to root out confidential sources. "It's time for you to get some new cell phones, quick," the source told us in an in-person conversation. ABC News does not know how the government determined who we are calling, or whether our phone records were provided to the government as part of the recently-disclosed NSA collection of domestic phone calls. Other sources have told us that phone calls and contacts by reporters for ABC News, along with the New York Times and the Washington Post, are being examined as part of a widespread CIA leak investigation. [More>>abcnews.com]

5.15.06 Weak US dollar weighs on markets

May 15 – Weakness in the US dollar has continued to overshadow global stock markets as investors off loaded exporters on fears that corporate earnings will decline. Commodity markets have also slumped, with traders beginning to ask if recent record prices were justified.

London's main FTSE 100 index shed 1.2% to 5,841, led by the mining firms that have been the year's best performers. Germany's Dax ended down 1%, France's Cac slid 1.7%, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 fell 0.7%, and India's Sensex slumped 3.8%. One stockbroker in Germany explained that: "Investors are extremely nervous and the sell-off is hectic as people are trying to minimize their losses." Banking giant HBOS added that: "Risky assets are under significant pressure across the board."

A report in Monday's Wall Street Journal claimed that President George W. Bush's administration is "quietly acquiescing" to a dollar drop because it wants a weaker currency to boost foreign sales of US-made goods. Analysts said that US policymakers are signalling they are happy for the dollar to decline by not aggressively talking up the currency.

A falling dollar would benefit the US economy by making US exports cheaper, and could help reverse the $700bn (£372bn) trade deficit with the rest of the world. However, the dollar's fall could also increase the cost of US imports, thus fanning inflation and forcing the Federal Reserve, the US central bank, to continue to increase interest rates. [More>>bbc.co.uk ; See related stories, chinadaily.com.cn, May 15, "Yuan highest since July revaluation." and turkishpress.com, May 15, "Turkish stocks, currency tumble."]

5.15.06 Talabani rejects incomplete Iraq cabinet as violence kills 24

BAGHDAD (AFP) May 15 – Iraqi President Jalal Talabani insisted on Monday that he would not accept the formation of an "incomplete" government, with the key interior and defense ministry posts still undecided five months to the day since the country's landmark election. Attacks across the country killed at least 24 Iraqis, including schoolteachers and six members of a single family, while the US military announced the deaths of six servicemen on Sunday, two killed when their helicopter was shot down south of the capital.

Six policemen were killed by Shia tribesmen near the main southern city of Basra after their leader was slain by attackers reportedly wearing police uniforms, adding to the tensions in British-controlled southern Iraq. The US military also said that it killed more than 40 suspected insurgents in weekend raids south of Baghdad, including an alleged local Al Qaeda leader accused of shooting down a US combat helicopter last month. Violence has raged across Iraq as political leaders continue to bicker over key ministerial posts in the first permanent government of the post Saddam Hussein era. [More>>metimes.com ; See also aljazeera.net, May 15, "British troops hurt in Iraq attack." and metimes.com, 5.14.06, "40 killed in day of Iraq carnage."]

5.15.06 Pakistan says bin Laden probably in Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD (AFP) May 15 – Pakistan said Monday that Osama bin Laden was likely to be in Afghanistan, rejecting a reported claim by Kabul�s foreign minister that the Al Qaeda chief is hiding in Pakistani territory. In the latest verbal salvo between the neighbors and allies in the US-led "war on terror," Islamabad dismissed criticism by new Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta of its attempts to catch Bin Laden.

"Nobody knows where Osama bin Laden is. If he is alive the chances are that he might be in Afghanistan but we cannot say for sure," foreign ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said when asked about Spanta�s comments. Spanta was reported to have told a German newspaper at the weekend that Pakistan was "half-hearted" in its efforts to track down Bin Laden and to crack down on Islamic militants.

"I think these allegations are absurd – if anyone is making half-hearted efforts it�s on the other side," she said. "Pakistan has sacrificed more in terms of the human lives than the combined loss of Afghanistan and ISAF (the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan)," Aslam said. [More>>khaleejtimes.com] ; See related story, via yemendaily.com, middle-east-online.com, May 11, "Yemen protects Zendani on US terrorist list" : Washington accuses Islamic preacher Sheikh Abdul Majid Zendani of being an ally of Osama bin Laden but the extremist cleric operates freely in Yemen with the blessing of the pro-Western government. The red-bearded sheikh, complete with "jambiya" (traditional dagger), is the second most senior official of Yemen's main religious opposition party. He runs an Islamic university described by its critics as a hotbed of radicalism.

Respected as a religious scholar throughout the Gulf, loathed in the West as an advocate of the Al-Qaeda leader's virulent brand of political Islam, Zendani is personally protected by America's ally, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The preacher has been on the cutting edge of radical Islamic politics, often working at cross purposes with the West...

5.15.06 US restores diplomatic ties to Libya

May 15 – The United States has decided to restore full diplomatic relations with Libya and remove it from the list of countries designated as state sponsors of terrorism, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced this morning. The two countries have not had full diplomatic relations since 1972, three years after Col. Muammar el-Qadaffi seized power in a coup.

Ms. Rice called the moves "tangible results that flow from the historic decisions taken by Libya's leadership in 2003 to renounce terrorism and to abandon its weapons of mass destruction programs." She also used the occasion to hold out hope for improvement in the current standoffs between the Bush administration and Iran and North Korea, which have been accused of seeking to develop nuclear weapons. "Just as 2003 marked a turning point for the Libyan people so too could 2006 mark turning points for the peoples of Iran and North Korea," Ms. Rice said in a statement. "Libya is an important model as nations around the world press for changes in behavior by the Iranian and North Korean regimes." [More>>nytimes.com]

5.15.06 Isreali court upholds law banning many Palestinians from joining Israeli spouses

JERUSALEM, May 15 – The Supreme Court on Sunday upheld a law that bars many Palestinians from living in Israel with Israeli spouses and children, a landmark ruling that security concerns outweigh harm to those affected. Critics accused the court of defending racist legislation aimed at restricting the number of Arab citizens in Israel. But the government said there was evidence that some West Bank Palestinians who married Israeli Arab women took part in terror attacks.

In other developments Sunday, Israeli soldiers shot and killed six Palestinian militants in West Bank arrest raids, the Israeli navy stopped a Palestinian boat loaded with high-grade explosives headed for Gaza, and a Florida teenager died of wounds suffered last month in a Palestinian suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.

The court case, decided by an unusually large panel of 11 justices, centered on two of the touchiest issues that have been facing Israel for decades — balancing security and human rights, and maintaining the state�s Jewish identity while dealing fairly with a large Arab minority. [More>>thestate.com via yemendaily.com]

5.15.06 Contact between Koreas grows

May 15 – A flurry of inter-Korean contacts began yesterday, despite the gloom surrounding multilateral negotiations on North Korea's nuclear ambitions which have been stalled for six months. A representative of former President Kim Dae-jung left for Mount Geumgang yesterday afternoon to discuss his upcoming visit to Pyongyang in June with North Korean officials.

Meanwhile, a shipment of South Korean fertilizer aid to North Korea left yesterday from Yeosu Port in South Jeolla Province. The two Koreas are poised to hold defense ministerial-talks this week, and in addition there will be a test-run of trains along the cross-border railway link next week, the first locomotives to make journey in five decades. [More>>koreaherald.co.kr]

(2) The name, Allah, in Arabic is an expression of surprise. It is not unusual for the God of the Bible to be known by many names. Jewish Midrash quotes passages in the Old Testament (Torah) that cite as many as seventy names of God (and more). But they can all be reduced down to one name.
(5) The Law of the Locrians: "In the legislation of the Locrians, the proposer of a new law, with a halter round his neck, to be instantly tightened if the public assembly did not, on hearing his reasons, then and there adopt his proposition." [Mill, On Liberty, 2.475].

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Painting of Apple by Mel Copeland, early 70's
Background: tile from Cicero's villa (Marcus Tullius Cicero 106 B.C. - 43 B.C.)

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