Maravot world news

8.27.06 Fox Gaza reporters freed, say forced to "convert"

GAZA (Reuters) August 27 – Militants in the Palestinian Gaza Strip freed two kidnapped journalists from the American Fox News Channel on Sunday after forcing them at gunpoint to say in a videotape they had converted to Islam. Correspondent Steve Centanni, a 60-year-old American, and New Zealand-born cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, looked happy but tired after two weeks of captivity in the Palestinian coastal strip. A previously unknown group called the Holy Jihad Brigades had made a sweeping demand for the United States to free Muslim prisoners in exchange for the release of the men.

"I am really fine, healthy, in good shape and so happy to be free," Centanni told the Fox Channel. He said that he and Wiig had been forced at gunpoint to say they were converting to Islam. "I'm thinking: 'Oh God, a remote warehouse with a big noisy generator, they could simply shoot me in the head and nobody would hear it,'"Centanni said. [More>>thestar.com.my ; See related story, haaretz.com, August 27, "Two journalists wounded in IAF near Gaza City."]

8.27.06 Iraq rebels kill 28 in bloody response to peace plan

BAGHDAD (AP) August 27 – Iraqi insurgents sent a deadly reply to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's attempts to stitch his wounded country back together, killing at least 28 people in a series of gun and bomb attacks. One day after Maliki won a promise from tribal leaders to rein in Iraq's violent factions, bombers targeted the busy heart of Baghdad and a state-run newspaper seen as friendly to the government. Just north of the war-torn capital, the province of Diyala was once more the scene of bloody fighting between rival sectarian death squads: 11 civilians and a senior army officer were killed and three people were kidnapped Sunday. Insurgents also killed a US soldier in a roadside bomb attack southeast of Baghdad on Saturday, the military said, bringing the death toll since the March 2003 invasion to 2,619, according to AFP count based on Pentagon figures. [More>>turkishpress.com]

8.27.06 Top official says Iran might produce nuclear weapons

TEHRAN, August 26 – A top Iranian official warned on Friday that Tehran may develop nuclear weapons as a �preventative measure� against threats posed by the West. "The patience of the Iranian nation has a limit. If [the West] crosses this limit, our nation, which is very suspicious of the good will of Western countries, will force Majlis to ratify the law for Iran to withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty," Mohammad-Reza Bahonar, the deputy speaker of Iran�s Majlis, or Parliament, said on Friday.

"The Iranian nation is facing illogical powers that have nuclear weapons and see no deterrent. If they exert pressure on us it is possible that our nation will ask the government to produce nuclear weapons as a preventative measure," Bahonar, who is also secretary general of the Islamic Association of Engineers, said following a meeting by the group�s leaders. "The West must accept Iran as a regional power. They cannot ignore this reality. � Illogical pressures over the nuclear issue must end," he said. His remarks were reported by the government-run news agency ILNA. [More>>iranfocus.com]

8.27.06 Iran test-fires sub-to-surface missiles

TEHRAN (AP) August 27 – A day after Ahmadinejad inaugurated a heavy-water plant that could be used to produce plutonium, Iran test-fired a sub-to-surface missile in the Persian Gulf. The missile was fired on Sunday during large-scale military exercises, state-run television reported. "The army successfully test-fired a top speed long-range sub-to-surface missile off the Persian Gulf," the Army's Navy commander, Gen. Sajjad Kouchaki, said on television. A brief video clip showed the missile, fired from a submarine, exiting the water and hitting a target on the surface of the water within a kilometer.

...Kouchaki said the missile, called Thaqeb or Jupiter, was built based on domestic know-how, although outside experts say much of the country's missile technology originated from other countries such as Russia and China. "The guided missile can be fired from all vessels," he said. Iran already is equipped with the Shahab-3 missile, which means "shooting star" in Farsi, and is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. An upgraded version of the ballistic missile has a range of more than 1,930 kilometers and can reach Israel and US forces in the Middle East. In an advance for Iran's weapons industry, the Thaqeb is the country's first submarine-fired missile that leaves the water to strike its target, adding to Iran's repertoire of weapons that can hit ships in the Gulf. [Full story>>Jerusalem Post]

8.26.06 Iran enters production phase of heavy-water nuclear plant

August 26 – Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared Saturday that his nation's nuclear program poses no threat to any other country, not even to Israel "which is a definite enemy." Ahmadinejad spoke after inaugurating a heavy-water production plant, which went into operation despite UN demands that Iran roll back its nuclear program. Teheran says is for peaceful purposes, but Western countries fear it could eventually be used to develop a nuclear bomb.

During a speech, Ahmadinejad declared that Iran would never abandon its nuclear program and repeated that nuclear weapons is not the goal. "Basically, there is no talk of nuclear weapons. There is no discussion of nuclear weapons," he said. "We are not a threat to anybody even the Zionist regime, which is a definite enemy for the people of the region." The announcement comes days before Thursday's UN deadline for Iran to stop uranium enrichment – which also can be used to create nuclear weapons -or face economic and political sanctions. Teheran has called the Security Council's resolution that set the deadline "illegal" and has insisted it won't give up its nuclear program. [More>>Jerusalem Post ; See related story, turkishpress.com, August 26, "Heavy water and why it is important to the nuclear industry."]

8.26.06 Saviour of Iraq's antiquities flees to Syria

August 26 – Iraq's most prominent archaeologist has resigned and fled the country, saying the dire security situation, an acute shortage of funds, and the interference of supporters of the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr had made his position intolerable. Donny George, who was president of the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage, achieved international recognition for his efforts to track down and recover the priceless antiquities looted from Iraq's National Museum in the mayhem that followed the fall of Baghdad in 2003. But this week he revealed that he had resigned and was in hiding with his family in the Syrian capital Damascus. In an interview with the Art Newspaper, Dr. George said Baghdad was now so dangerous that the National Museum, which houses a trove of Sumerian and Babylonian artefacts, had been sealed off by concrete walls to protect it from insurgent attacks and further looting.

The museum, established by the British in the 1920s, is situated near to Baghdad's notorious Haifa Street, an area that sees regular outbreaks of violence. It lost some 15,000 pieces during the looting in 2003, but about half of them have been recovered. Museum officials say the collections have been walled off four times since the invasion, most recently after a mass kidnapping near the museum building. [More>>guardian.co.uk]

8.26.06 Third Lebanese arrested in German bomb plot

BEIRUT, August 26 – A Lebanese citizen was arrested in the North on Friday in connection with an alleged terrorist plot to blow up two trains in Germany on July 31, according to Lebanon's State Prosecutor Saeid Mirza. The Friday arrest was the fourth in the case so far. One other Lebanese suspect has been arrested in Lebanon, and one Lebanese and one Syrian suspect have been arrested in Germany. The men are suspected of planting bombs on passenger trains heading for Hamm, near Dortmund, and Koblenz on July 31. The homemade devices failed to detonate.

Mirza said that the man arrested Friday - identified only as "H.A." – and the other Lebanese suspect, Jihad Hamad, 20, "are being held at the Internal Security's Central Forensic Department" and that an interrogation "is taking place under [Mirza's] direct supervision." [More>>dailystar.com.lb]

8.26.06 French soldiers, rebels killed in Afghan unrest

KABUL, August 26 – Two French soldiers were killed in an ambush in eastern Afghanistan while separate airstrikes in the south killed 30 persons – believed to be Taliban militants, including a known Taliban commander, military officials said Saturday. According to details, coalition forces killed a known Taliban commander and 15 other militants in a precision airstrike in Uruzgan, southern Afghanistan, Friday on the leadership of the extremist movement, a statement said...Military officials have agreed that the guerrilla-like insurgency has shown more sophistication this year, which has seen the worst violence since 2001. More than 1,500 people have been killed so far in 2006, in a rough estimate, with more than 1,000 of them rebels. [Full story>>thenews.com.pk ; See also khaleejtimes.ae, August 26, "Taleban commander, 31 others killed in Afghan fighting."]

8.26.06 Saudi says 34 militants seized in al Qaeda swoop

RIYADH (Reuters) August 26 – Four militants arrested in the Saudi city of Jeddah this week were part of a group of 34 men rounded up in an effort to prevent a resurgence of al Qaeda violence, the Saudi interior ministry said on Saturday. The four Islamist radicals surrendered on Monday after Saudi security forces besieged the building where they had a apartment in the Red Sea port. "Security work led to the arrest of 34 people of different nationalities in Mecca, Medina, Riyadh and Jeddah because they belonged to the 'deviant group' and had links to escapees from the Malaz prison," a statement on official news agency SPA said. Officials have said that two of the men arrested on Monday were among seven people who escaped from the Malaz detention centre in Riyadh in June. [More>>thestar.com.my]

8.25.06 Italian FM: Harsh US approach to Mideast failed

ROME, August 25 – If the planned multinational force in Lebanon succeeds, it might be possible to create a similar force for the Gaza Strip, Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema said in an interview with Haaretz. D'Alema said that America's aggressive approach to the Middle East, which Israel shares, has failed, and has caused serious damage. Now, he said, Italy and Europe must prove to Israelis that only international intervention can bring them security. D'Alema is considered the driving force behind Italy's decision to contribute 3,000 soldiers to a beefed-up UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), thereby making it the largest western contributor to the force.

But the Italian foreign minister, who met with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in Rome on Thursday, said that the multinational force can only help the government of Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah. This matter "essentially depends" solely on the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, he said, and will certainly not be done through force.

He also claimed that it would be "simplistic" to describe Hezbollah solely as a terrorist organization. "Were Hezbollah merely a small terrorist group, it would not enjoy the support of so many Lebanese," he said. "Even Tzipi Livni says that if Hezbollah becomes a political organization, this will be a success, and I agree with her." D'Alema is president of the Democrats of the Left, and was also a senior figure in the party's earlier incarnation as the Communist Party. Many on the Italian right and in Italy's Jewish community view the party as hostile to Israel, particularly in view of the great support that Israel received from former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. [More>>haaretz.com ; See msnbc.com/newsweek, August 25, "Clift: The fear factor." : If you think things are bad now, they will be worse if we leave. That�s the essence of President Bush�s argument for staying the course in Iraq. Bush is doing what he always does – shamelessly ramping up the fear factor. He says if U.S. troops leave Iraq, the terrorists will be right behind them, bringing Baghdad to America. He�s brought ruin to Iraq and his policies are helping create our worst nightmare, a nuclear Iran. How much worse can it get?

8.25.06 Sadr's militia and the slaughter in the streets

BAGHDAD, August 25 – In a grungy restaurant with plastic tables in central Baghdad, the young Mahdi Army commander was staring earnestly. His beard was closely cropped around his jaw, his face otherwise cleanshaven. The sleeves of his yellow shirt were rolled down to the wrists despite the intense late-afternoon heat. He spoke matter-of-factly: Sunni Arab fighters suspected of attacking Shiite Muslims had no claim to mercy, no need of a trial. "These cases do not need to go back to the religious courts," said the commander, who sat elbow to elbow with a fellow fighter in a short-sleeved, striped shirt. Neither displayed weapons. "Our constitution, the Koran, dictates killing for those who kill."

His comments offered a rare acknowledgment of the role of the Mahdi Army in the sectarian bloodletting that has killed more than 10,400 Iraqis in recent months. The Mahdi Army is the militia of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, now one of the most powerful figures in the country. The death squads that carry out the extrajudicial killings are widely feared but mysterious. Often, the only evidence is the bodies discovered in the streets. Several commanders in the Mahdi Army said in interviews that they act independently of the Shiite religious courts that have taken root here, meting out street justice on their own with what they believe to be the authorization of Sadr's organization and under the mantle of Islam. [More>>washingtonpost.com ; See Maravot News 08.09.05, "Understanding terrorists' use of the Koran – what constitutes extremist activity."]

8.25.06 Pakistanis protest against law change

August 25 – Religious conservatives have held protests in several Pakistani cities, vowing to resist government attempts to amend Islamic laws that liberals have long deemed unfair to women. The laws, one of which makes rape victims liable to prosecution for adultery unless they produce four male witnesses, were introduced by a military dictator in 1979 and have since drawn widespread criticism from rights activists.

The ruling party introduced a bill in parliament this week aimed at amending the laws, to the fury of religious conservatives. Mairaj-ul-Huda Siddiqui, a leader of an opposition alliance of six religious parties, told a crowd of about 200 in the city of Karachi after Friday prayers: "We will even sacrifice our lives for this and will not allow these amendments to take place. This is part of a US and Jewish conspiracy and we will resist it forcefully," Siddiqui said.

Similar small protests were held in Lahore, Peshawar and the capital, Islamabad. Mian Aslam, a member of parliament for the religious party alliance, told a crowd of about 50 in Islamabad that President Pervez Musharraf was bowing to pressure from the United States and Britain. [More>>aljazeera.net]

8.25.06 China, Venezuela ink 8 agreements to boost bilateral ties

BEIJING (Xinhua) August 24 – China and Venezuela on Thursday signed eight agreements on a range of issues, including two on expanding energy cooperation, pointing to stronger ties between the two countries. In the two agreements, the China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) and the PDVSA, the state-owned Venezuelan energy company, agreed to jointly develop Venezuelan oil fields, according to China's Foreign Ministry.

Other agreements, involving trade, energy, infrastructure construction and tourism, were signed after Chinese President Hu Jintao held talks with visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. "I'm very satisfied with the cooperation with China in the oil and petrochemical fields," Chavez told reporters after the ceremony, vowing to increase oil exports to China to 500,000 barrels per day in the near future. [More>>xinhuanet.com]

8.25.06 Israel must be brought to international tribunal: Chavez

BEIJING, August 25 – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez slammed Washington on Friday for opposing his bid for a UN Security Council seat and condemned Israel's strikes in Lebanon as comparable to the acts of Adolf Hitler. Chavez also said Venezuela wants to expand ties with China, giving Beijing a bigger role in its oil industry and drawing on the Chinese experience in modernizing the economy. President Hu Jintao on Thursday endorsed Venezuela's campaign for a Security Council seat. "The U.S. government has employed every means to block my country from joining the Security Council," Chavez told reporters during his six-day visit to China.

"Israel often criticizes Hitler ... but they have done the same thing, perhaps even worse," Chavez said. Denouncing the "fascist attitudes" of Israel, he said: "What has happened was a genocide. They must be brought in front of an international tribunal. Nobody should stay muted," he said. [>thenews.com.pk]

8.25.06 Turkish jets hit P.K.K. in northern Iraq

August 25 – The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) is continuing its operations against the terrorist PKK which is mainly based in northern Iraq. According to reports, Turkish F-16 jets took off from a military air base in Diyarbakir and bombed several PKK targets. In addition, operations continue in the mountainous regions of southeastern Turkey. [>turkishpress.com]

8.25.06 Insurgents kill seven as Iraq violence rages

BAGHDAD (AFP) August 25 – Raging violence claimed seven more victims around Iraq Friday as Muslims from the bitterly divided Sunni and Shiite communities gathered in their respective mosques to pray for peace. Preachers at the mosques pleaded for an end to the violence, which has undermined the authority of Iraq's embattled national unity government. Iraq is in the grip of a dirty war between rival sectarian factions, while local security forces and the US military are battling to restore their authority in the lawless region in and around Baghdad.

"Why are you afraid?" demanded Sheikh Abdel Mahdi Al Karbalai – a follower of Iraq's top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani – in a message to Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki's government in a sermon in Karbala. "Go out to the people and undergo their circumstances. Live their suffering and the brutality of their lives," he said, in a message to the government officials who work in Baghdad's heavily fortified "Green Zone." [More>>metimes.com]

8.25.06 US charges Hezbollah TV provider

August 25 – A US businessman has been charged with offering broadcasts of Hezbollah's al-Manar satellite television station to customers in the New York-area. Javed Iqbal, originally from Pakistan, is accused by prosecutors of doing business with a terrorist entity. The Hezbollah Shia militia has been involved in a month-long conflict with Israeli forces in Lebanon and is seen as a terrorist group by the US. Mr. Iqbal's lawyers say his arrest violates his right to free speech. "It's like the government of Iran saying we are going to ban the New York Times because we think of it as a terrorist outfit, or China saying we will ban CNN," a spokesman for the law firm representing Mr. Iqbal told the Reuters news agency. [More>>bbc.co.uk]

8.25.06 Dutch regret arrest of Indians

MUMBAI (Reuters) August 25 – The Dutch Ambassador to India has expressed regret for the arrest of 12 passengers whose India-bound plane was diverted to Amsterdam after their behavior triggered fears of a hijacking, Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma said. The 12 men were, however, cleared of any wrongdoing and released and their families said they were victims of racial discrimination. The men were arrested on Wednesday from a US Northwest Airlines flight that was turned back to Amsterdam after they apparently behaved suspiciously. The Indian government said it was upset about the incident and had conveyed its views to the Dutch ambassador after he had been summoned to the Foreign Ministry.

...The incident has dominated national headlines and sparked angry debates in Indian newspapers and on TV channels over whether the episode was caused by racial profiling. Relatives of the 12 men, who were expected in Mumbai later on Friday, said they had no doubt they were targeted because they were Muslim. "Can you think what we went through in the past two days? Our children are terrorists? We are terrorists because we are Muslims?" asked Abdul Kadir Kolsiwala, father of Ayub Kolsiwala, one of those arrested. "These are times of suspicion and distrust and we Muslims have to bear the brunt," he said. [Full story>>expressindia.com]

8.25.06 Five executives are arrested in Japan

TOKYO, August 25 – Five executives of the Mitutoyo Corporation, a precision instruments maker, were arrested today on suspicion of illegally exporting equipment to Malaysia that could be used in making nuclear weapons. Japanese television broadcast video images of police raiding the company�s headquarters in the city of Kawasaki. A spokesman for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police said the president of the company, Kazusaku Tezuka, 67, and four other executives were taken into custody.

The case turns on what the police said were shipments of advanced measuring devices that were sent to an unspecified recipient in Malaysia in late 2001 without government permission. In Japan as in most advanced nations, exports of advanced technology with potential uses in nuclear bomb-making are tightly regulated and licenses are required.

While police provided few further details, reports by the Kyodo News Agency and many leading Japanese newspapers suggested that the devices may have been shipped to Scomi Precision Engineering, a company that has since been linked to Abdul Qadeer Khan, the Pakistani nuclear scientist who organized the sale of nuclear technology to Libya. [More>>nytimes.com]

8.23.06 Video of kidnapped journalists released

JERUSALEM, August 23 – Kidnappers of two Fox Television journalists taken while reporting from Gaza nine days ago released a videotape of the hostages and demanded that the U.S. government release Muslim prisoners from American jails within 72 hours. The videotape from an unknown group calling itself the Brigades of Holy Jihad shows American reporter Steve Centanni and cameraman Olaf Wiig, from New Zealand, looking fit and saying they have been "treated fairly well."

...Palestinian sources said they have never heard of this group and were struck that the statement accompanying the videotape did not demand release by Israel of Palestinian prisoners, a common demand of Palestinian groups. The kidnapping Aug. 14 had been condemned by Hamas and by other groups, but Palestinian officials had said they were unable to find out information on the kidnapping, an unusual circumstance raising worries about the men's safety. [Full story>>washingtonpost.com ; See guardian.co.uk, August 23, "US stands firm over Fox journalists" : The US government has responded to today's demands from the militant group holding two Fox News journalists hostage in Gaza by insisting it does "not make concessions to terrorists."...

8.23.06 Dozen air passengers held at Schiphol

August 23 – Dutch police have arrested 12 passengers from a Northwest Airlines flight heading to India which was forced to turn back to Amsterdam's Schipol airport. The Dutch defence ministry said the pilot decided to return to Schiphol after the crew had reported that several passengers on the flight to Mumbai were behaving suspiciously. The plane was escorted back to the airport by fighter jets. "Police took off a number of people on board and took them for questioning," the ministry said.

A US government official, speaking to the Associated Press news agency on condition of anonymity, said that the passengers had been observed attempting to use mobile phones and passing phones among themselves while the airliner was taking off. "It was behavior that average passengers wouldn't do," the official said. Airport officials said the Northwest pilot decided to turn back his 273-seat DC10-30 while it was in German airspace. [More>>aljazeera.net]

8.23.06 Canadian soldier among 16 killed in Afghanistan attacks

KANKAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) August 23 – A Canadian soldier died after a suicide blast in southern Afghanistan while NATO warplanes killed 11 Taliban in a nearby area that has seen months of battles, officials said Wednesday. In other violence Tuesday three Afghan civilians were killed by bombs apparently laid for NATO troops while another was shot by Canadian soldiers and later died after he broke through a security cordon after the suicide attack.

Three Canadian soldiers were meanwhile in stable condition after being hit in Tuesday's suicide blast in the southern city of Kandahar, the latest in a string of such attacks on troops with NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Hours afterwards ISAF warplanes dropped a "precision-guided bomb" on a nearby compound into which 15 Taliban fighters preparing an ambush had retreated after realizing that they had been spotted by surveillance. ISAF "assesses 11 Taliban were killed in the airstrike while two insurgents were later seen leaving the compound," it said in a statement. [More>>metimes.com]

8.23.06 McCain faults Bush administration on Iraq

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) August 23 – Republican Sen. John McCain, a staunch defender of the Iraq war, on Tuesday faulted the Bush administration for misleading Americans into believing the conflict would be "some kind of day at the beach." The potential 2008 presidential candidate, who a day earlier had rejected calls for withdrawing US forces, said the administration had failed to make clear the challenges facing the military.

"I think one of the biggest mistakes we made was underestimating the size of the task and the sacrifices that would be required," McCain said. "Stuff happens, mission accomplished, last throes, a few dead-enders. I�m just more familiar with those statements than anyone else because it grieves me so much that we had not told the American people how tough and difficult this task would be." Those phrases are closely associated with top members of the Bush administration, including the president.

Bush stood below a banner proclaiming "Mission Accomplished" on May 1, 2003 after the collapse of Saddam Hussein�s regime. The war has continued since then, with the death of more than 2,600 members of the US military. Vice President Dick Cheney said last year that the Iraqi insurgency was "in its final throes." [More>>msnbc.msn.com]

8.23.06 'West support makes Pakistan seedbed of terror'

LONDON (PTI) August 23 – Squarely blaming the West for backing Army regimes in Pakistan, former Premier Benazir Bhutto has said that its support for military leader Pervez Musharraf has made the country a 'seedbed of terrorism.'

"The West, by supporting the suppression of the democratic aspirations of Pakistanis, has enabled the dictatorship to permeate the message that might is right among a new generation of Muslim youth," Bhutto wrote in an article entitled 'The Price of Dictatorship' in The Guardian daily on Wednesday. She said President Musharraf, also the Army chief, "has played the West like a fiddle," dispensing occasional support in the war on terror to keep America and Britain 'off his back as he proceeded to arrest and exile Opposition leaders, decimate political parties, pressure the press and set back human and women's rights by a generation.'

"His regime, claiming sections of the frontier are ungovernable, has relinquished responsibility to the Taliban and al-Qaeda. During both of my tenures as Prime Minister, my government enforced the writ of the state there through the civil administration and paramilitary troops," she said. "The Musharraf dictatorship doles out ostensible support in the war on terror to keep it in the good graces of Washington, while it presides over a society that fuels and empowers militants at the expense of moderates," she said, adding the West's support for the military leader has made the country a 'seedbed of terrorism.' [expressindia.com]

8.23.06 Pirates sunk by Somali Islamists

August 23 – Somalia's Islamist militia has taken control of a major base of piracy north of Mogadishu. The waters off the Horn of Africa has long been a dangerous region for shipping. Now, the militants said they will put an end to the seaborne threat. The West may have the better navy – outfitted with all the newest high-tech toys – but Islamist militias in Somalia seem to have the upper hand battling piracy. Last week, Somalia's Islamic Courts Union (ICU), which has spent months consolidating control over the southern part of the country, moved up the coast and took control of a town widely considered to be a base for piracy operations off the Horn of Africa. "The actions of the pirates were unlawful, unacceptable and un-Islamic," Sheikh Said Ali, an ICU official, told the AFP news agency. "Anybody suspected of aiding pirates or being among them will be punished according to Sharia law."

The pirates, belonging to at least four different groups and based largely out of the town of Haradere some 400 kilometers north of the Somali capital of Mogadishu, had made the waters off the coast of the Horn of Africa some of the most dangerous in the world. Since March of 2005, the International Maritime Bureau has recorded 41 attempted seizures off the Somali coast..[More>>spiegel.de]

8.23.06 Al-Jazeera's tricky balancing act

DOHAR, Qatar, August 23 (David Ignatius editorial) – What do people in the Middle East think five years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks? To get a quick snapshot, I paid a visit here to Ahmed Sheikh, the editor in chief of al-Jazeera television. It was reassuring, in a perverse way, that he views the situation in his region the same way that most Americans would – as a dangerous mess.

Sheikh told me he had been mulling this week how al-Jazeera should cover the Sept. 11 anniversary. "Five years after that catastrophe, the Arab world is much more divided than it used to be," he reflected. "The image of Islam has been tarnished to a great extent. We are weaker than we used to be against Israel. Development is absent." When he stands back and looks at the region, Sheikh says, "All the threads and problems are intertwined. It's very difficult to trace where they begin and end."

Sheikh fears that Iraq is headed toward a calamitous civil war that will spill over to other countries with mixed Shiite-Sunni populations, such as Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. "If the Americans can prevent civil war from happening, their presence would be useful," he says. But after three years of American failure to stabilize the country, he is doubtful.

The al-Jazeera editor remains militant about Arab causes. "What doesn't change for our viewers is indignation against US and Israeli policies," he says. But with the exception of the Palestinian struggle and the Iraqi resistance to American occupation, he says, most of the so-called jihadist battles have actually produced what the Arabs call fitna, or self-destructive internal strife...

...Al-Jazeera has been attacked by American officials as a propaganda tool for Osama bin Laden and other Muslim radicals. And as a journalist, I have often found its coverage unbalanced. It tries too hard to present the Arab news, rather than just the news. That said, I was struck, in talking to Sheikh, by how complicated it has become for al-Jazeera to cover this part of the world. [Full story>>washingtonpost.com]

8.23.06 India will retain right to conduct future nuclear tests: Manmohan

NEW DELHI (PTI) August 23 – Ruling out any bilateral pact with the US that would put a cap on India's military nuclear programme, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said New Delhi will retain the �sovereign right� on deciding whether to carry out any atomic tests in the future despite the civil nuclear deal with Washington. He told the Lok Sabha that while the deal with the US would put India at par with five nuclear weapon states, there was a �question mark� on the issue of inter-changeability between military and civilian nuclear reactors as New Delhi does not have the status of a nuclear weapon state as per the NPT norms. [More>>expressindia.com]

8.23.06 Iran 'benefiting from war on terror'

August 23 – Iran's influence in the Middle East has been bolstered by America's so-called war on terror, according to a new report. The report, by researchers at think-tank the Royal Institute for International Studies in London – also known as Chatham House – says: "There is little doubt that Iran has been the chief beneficiary of the war on terror in the Middle East. The United States, with Coalition support, has eliminated two of Iran's regional rival governments – the Taliban in Afghanistan in November 2001 and Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq in April 2003 – but has failed to replace either with coherent and stable political structures."

The report, called "Iran, Its Neighbors And Regional Crises," adds that the recent conflicts between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza and between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon have added to that instability. One of the report's authors, Dr. Ali Ansari, reader in modern history at the University of St. Andrews, told Radio Four: "The United States needs to take a step back and reassess its entire policy towards Iran and work out, first of all, what does it want and how is it going to achieve it because at the moment everything is rather like putting a sticking plaster on a fairly raw wound and it is not really actually doing much at all." [More>>independent.co.uk ; See related story, thestar.com.my, August 23, "Iran wants talks, France says stop atomic work first."]

8.23.06 Syria warns on peacekeepers

August 23 – The Syrian president, Bashar Assad, today warned he would consider the deployment of international troops along the Lebanon-Syria border a hostile move towards his country. "First, this means creating hostile conditions between Syria and Lebanon," Mr. Assad told Dubai Television, according to excerpts released ahead of the interview's airing later tonight. "Second, it is a hostile move toward Syria and naturally it will create problems." Yesterday, the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said Israel had no plans to lift its air and sea blockade on Lebanon until an international peacekeeping force took up positions along the Syrian border and at Beirut's airport. Israel has accused Syria of sending weapons into Lebanon to arm Hezbollah. [More>>guardian.co.uk ; See also haaretz.com, August 23, "Syria says will close border with Lebanon if UN troops deploy."]

8.22.06 Suspected Al-Qaeda militant arrested in Kuwait

KUWAIT CITY, August 22 – Kuwaiti security forces have arrested a suspected militant who had been sentenced in absentia on charges of affiliation to a group linked to Al-Qaeda and involved in clashes with police, newspapers reported Tuesday. Hamad Nawaf al-Harbi, one of eight of the 37-member group who remained at large, was arrested Monday in Al-Farwaniya, five kilometers (three miles) south of Kuwait City, they quoted an interior ministry statement as saying. "The questioning of Harbi should lead to the arrest of the seven others" still on the run, the statement said. [More>>thenews.com.pk ; See related story, expressindia.com, August 22, "Militant killed in Mumbain, Pakistan link confirmed."]

8.22.06 Three suspects in Moscow market bombing confess to attack

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) August 22 – Three suspects detained over a bomb attack on a Moscow that killed 10 and injured 49 have confessed, prosecutor Yury Syomin said Tuesday. "All three detainees have given evidence, confessing [to the attack]. Their apartments have been searched and components of explosive devices found," he said. He said earlier that Ilya Tikhomirov and Oleg Kostyrev, who had planted the bomb, had been charged with the premeditated murder of two or more people on grounds of ethnic and racial hatred, while the third suspect, Valery Zhukovtsov, was supposed to cover their escape.

Syomin said Tikhomirov and Kostyrev had agreed to carry out a bomb attack at the market "because there [were] too many people of Asian backgrounds, whom they intensely disliked." But the prosecutor said that the suspects did not belong to any extremist groups. The prosecutor also said seven of those killed in the bombing attack had been identified. "Two of them are Russians; three are Tajik citizens, and two are Uzbek nationals," he said. [rian.ru]

8.22.06 Italy to send up to 3,000 troops to Lebanon, largest pledge so far

August 22 – Italy plans to contribute 2,000 to 3,000 troops to the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon provided Israel does not violate the UN-brokered cease-fire. Italy is expected to lead the force and Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema called on Tuesday for a special meeting of European Union foreign ministers as early as Friday in Brussels to sort out how many troops other EU nations would contribute. "How many boots [are there] from other countries? That's the answer that matters," said Defence Minister Arturo Parisi. D'Alema estimated that Italy's commitment – the biggest so far by any nation – would represent about one third of the total sent from Europe. [More>>haaretz.com ; See related story, Jerusalem Post, August 22, "Italy considers withholding troops."]

8.22.06 Israeli minister calls for talks with Syria

August 22 – A senior Israeli minister suggested yesterday that, in the wake of its inconclusive war with Hezbollah, Israel should consider resuming peace negotiations with Syria. Avi Dichter, the Internal Security Minister, told the army radio station that, in exchange for peace, Israel could return the strategic Golan Heights, conquered in the 1967 war. He noted that Israel had paid similar territorial prices for treaties with Egypt and Jordan. "Any political process is preferable to a military-fighting process," Mr. Dichter, a former head of the Shin Bet security service, said. "Syria is a very significant country." [More>>independent.co.uk]

8.22.06 First witnesses heard in Saddam trial

August 22 – The genocide trial against Saddam Hussein and six other co-defendants has heard from Kurdish villagers who gave testimony on the impact of Operation Anfal in northern Iraq.

The first witness on Tuesday morning told how his village, Balisan, was bombed by chemical weapons. Ali Mostafa Hama told the court: "I saw eight to 12 jets... There was greenish smoke from the bombs. It was as if there was a rotten apple or garlic smell minutes later. People were vomiting ... we were blind and screaming. There was no one to rescue us. Just God."

Hama, wearing a traditional Kurdish headdress, said he saw a newborn infant die during the bombardment. "The infant was trying to smell life, but he breathed in the chemicals and died," he said, speaking in Kurdish with an Arabic translator. The witness admitted under cross-examination that Kurdish peshmerga fighters had visited his village before the bombing. "Sometimes peshmergas, nine or five or three, used to visit our village to get food and blankets. They used to come at night," Hama told the court...Earlier, two of the co-defendants addressed the court and insisted Anfal was targeted at Iranian troops and allied Kurdish guerrillas in northern Iraq at a time when Iraq and Iran were locked in a bloody war. [Full story>>aljazeera.net ; See also metimes.com (AFP) August 22, "Kurds tell of gas attacks at Saddam genocide trial."]

8.22.06 Raids revealed bomb-making equipment and martyr videos

August 22 – Two month-old baby are among eleven people charged yesterday over an alleged plot to blow up aircraft flying from Britain to America. Eight of the eleven are charged with two offences of conspiracy to murder and the new offence of preparing acts of terrorism that was introduced after the July 7 London bombings. The other three have been charged with other offences under the Terrorism Act 2000, including failing to give police information which might have prevented a terror act. [More on the suspects and charges>>timesonline.co.uk]

8.22.06 Muslim pilot reveals shock at being ordered off flight

August 22 – A British Muslim airline pilot yesterday described the "humiliating" moment when he was hauled off a transatlantic flight just before take-off. Amar Ashraf, 28, who was born in Wrexham, North Wales, said he felt "demoralized and humiliated" after being told to leave the flight from Manchester to Newark by a stewardess, and then being questioned by armed police. He believes his removal was down to having a "Muslim-sounding name."

Mr. Ashraf, 28, a British Pakistani who was returning to his job as a pilot for one of Continental's partner airlines in the US, will lodge a formal complaint with Continental Airlines, with whom he was travelling, as well as with the US authorities. His complaint follows growing concern among British Muslims over incidents in which Asian people have been removed from flights, as well as anger over the "passenger mutiny" in which two men were ordered off a plane bound for Manchester. Passengers became concerned by the two, who were said to be speaking Arabic and looked of Asian or Middle Eastern appearance. [More>>independent.co.uk]

8.21.06 British night-vision equipment found in Hezbollah bunkers: report

LONDON (Xinhua) August 21 – Military night-vision equipment that were apparently made in Britain were found by Israeli troops in Hezbollah command bunkers in southern Lebanon, a British newspaper reported on Monday. The Israeli government made representations to Britain after it was revealed that Britain had sold 250 night-vision systems to Iran in 2003 for use against drug smugglers, The Times said. Each equipment was stamped "made in Britain," the report said.

However, British Foreign Office officials said early indications seemed to suggest that the night-vision equipment found by the Israelis was not part of the batch sold in 2003 to Iran. Thorough checks were being made to compare serial numbers on the equipment found in the Hezbollah bunkers with those on the ones exported legitimately to Iran. Night-vision equipment of military specification required an export license, and the investigation will look into whether any British company might have breached export regulations, the report cited an unnamed official from Department of Trade and Industry assaying. According to the newspaper, the 250 night-vision systems were given a special export license in 2003 because they were intended to be used by Iran to combat heroin and opium smuggling across the Iran-Afghanistan border. [More>>xinhuanet.com ; See also timesonline.co.uk, August 21, "British kit found in Hezbollah bunkers."]

8.21.06 Saddam threatens prosecutor over rape claim

BAGHDAD (AFP) August 21 – A furious Saddam Hussein warned he would "hunt down" his prosecutor on Monday after being accused over the alleged mass rape of Iraqi Kurdish women during a brutal crackdown on their region. "If he says that a Iraqi woman was raped in my era and if he does not prove it, I will hunt him for the rest of my life," thundered the ousted Iraqi leader on the first day of his trial on genocide charges.

"An Iraqi woman raped in my era? The reign of Saddam Hussein? Saddam will not accept it. If I hear that during my reign this happened, and if he does not prove it, he will be my enemy. Saddam will not accept it," he declared. Giving an example of what he claimed was his staunch opposition to sexual violence, Saddam said he had punished an Iraqi soldier who raped a Kuwaiti woman during his regime�s 1990-1991 occupation of Kuwait. "When we went to liberate Kuwait, one Arab woman who was not even Iraqi was raped. I set up a trial and executed that man. For three days he was hanging in public," he declared. [More>>khaleejtimes.ae ; See also nytimes.com, August 21, "As 2nd Hussein trial starts, Kurds are fixated" : ...Prosecutors said the campaign, called Anfal, killed at least 50,000 Kurds and resulted in the destruction of 2,000 villages. Here in Iraqi Kurdistan, people sat in cafes, homes and offices fixated to the television screen, watching as the former dictator and some of his most feared aides underwent questioning before black-robed judges. On a main thoroughfare in downtown Sulaimaniya, young men hung up a black banner bearing Mr. Hussein�s face and slogans saying that the voices of the dead would finally be heard...

8.21.06 Death toll in Moscow market bombing reaches 10 – city hall

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) August 21 – The death toll in a bombing at a Moscow market has risen to 10 after two people died in the hospital, the capital's public health department said. Conflicting reports about the number of fatalities emerged in the immediate aftermath of the incident, which happened at about 10:30 a.m. (6:30 a.m. GMT), with some sources saying 10 people had lost their lives and others saying eight. But a spokesperson with the health department said the death toll had reached double figures this afternoon. "As of 4 p.m. Moscow time [1 p.m. GMT], 49 people were hospitalized; 12 of them were discharged after being given first aid, but two [more] died," the official said. She said 35 people were currently in the hospital, including six in critical condition and nine in serious condition.

Moscow Prosecutor Yury Syomin said earlier Friday that a turf war between commercial groups was at the center of an investigation into the bombing at the Cherkizovsky market in the northeast of the city, adding that investigators were also considering terrorism in the attack. "An explosive device consisting of 1kg of TNT without any solid encasement exploded," he said. "The explosion occurred between two rows of metal containers. There was also a cafe nearby. Only a small area was affected." One witness said he had seen a bag being brought to the scene before the explosion. "We saw three people leave a bag at the market's cafe," he said. "Knowing security measures, especially with regard to unattended items, two market employees ran after the people who left the suspicious bag. At precisely that moment it exploded."

Like most markets in Moscow, many traders are from the North Caucasus region and former southern Soviet republics. Prosecutors initially investigated a turf war as being behind a September 2000 bombing that killed 13 in an underpass in the heart of Moscow, although the mayor suggested the "Chechen trace" could also be seen in the incident. [rian.ru]

8.21.06 Eleven charged over transatlantic bomb 'plot'

August 21 – Eleven people have been charged today in connection with an alleged plot to blow up several transatlantic aircraft as police revealed that they had found bomb-making equipment and martyrdom videos during their searches. In a highly unusual move, the head of Scotland�s Yard�s Anti-Terrorist branch detailed some of the items seized during the huge investigation that saw 23 people arrested on August 10 in London, Birmingham and Buckinghamshire.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke said that in dozens of raids his officers had found the martyrdom videos, improvised explosives devices, suicide notes and wills of alleged coconspirators and an annotated map of Afghanistan. Mr. Clarke gave warning that the threat from terrorism "is real, it is here, it is deadly and it is enduring." He added: "First, there is evidence from surveillance carried out before August 10. This includes important, indeed, highly significant video and audio recordings. I can also tell you that since August 10 we have found bomb making equipment. There are chemicals, including hydrogen peroxide, electrical components, documents and other items. We have also found a number of video recordings – these are sometimes referred to as martyrdom videos. This has all given us a clearer picture of the alleged plot." [More>>timesonline.co.uk]

8.21.06 Anger as 'mob' forces Muslim men off aircraft

August 21 – Muslim leaders yesterday spoke of their dismay after a passenger mutiny in which several British families refused to travel on a plane with two Asian men. The men were forced to leave the flight after fellow passengers wrongly suspected them of being terrorists. Several people on board flight ZB 613 from Malaga to Manchester demanded their removal. Cabin crew informed Spanish authorities and the men were ordered off the Monarch Airlines flight and questioned by police for several hours. They were eventually cleared and put on an alternative flight.

Dr. Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said the incident demonstrated "the high level of suspicion that ordinary Muslims are often being unfairly subjected to" and said that many Muslims were being treated as if they were "guilty unless proven innocent."

Similar incidents in which people of Asian or Middle Eastern appearances have been targeted by fellow passengers have been reported on pilots' and cabin crews' websites, including one in which two British women with young children on a flight from Spain apparently complained about a bearded Muslim man – even though he was security checked twice before boarding the plane. Dr. Bari said he hoped it would not lead to a growing culture of targeting Muslims. "While it is of course sensible for all of us to be vigilant, it is not sensible to pick on Muslims simply because they happen to dress differently or appear to be speaking to each other in Arabic," he said. [More>>independent.co.uk]

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