"Explosions and gun shots rocked the eastern Indonesian city of Ambon hours after a top security minister ended a trip there to evaluate peace efforts aimed at ending months of sectarian violence, officials said Sunday. Meanwhile, rebel fighting flared in the northernmost province of Aceh leaving four insurgents dead Saturday. The Indonesian Red Cross also found three unidentified bodies Saturday, bringing the Aceh death toll above 100 for the first weeks of the year," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Malaysia has appealed to the United States to shift its focus from Afghanistan to the problems faced by the Palestinians who are the victims of severe aggression by the Israeli regime. Foreign Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said the Malaysian Government was concerned about the aggressive military operations carried out by the Israelis, which had caused a high number of casualties among Palestinian civilians," reported The Star newspaper of Malaysia.
"The Islamic Party of Malaysia(PAS) has asked the United States to stop its bad treatment of Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters being held at the XRay Camp in Guantanamo Bay, in Cuba. Party president Datuk Fadzil Noor said the soldiers should be treated as prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention," reported The Star newspaper of Malaysia.
"The Indian capital’s airspace was sealed yesterday and unprecedented security enveloped the city for Republic Day, with 65,000 police, bomb disposal squads and anti-aircraft guns guarding against terrorist attacks," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"After two days of intense police questioning and media scrutiny, Indonesian Muslim leader Abu Bakar Bashir says he is nothing more than a scapegoat in an international campaign to crush Islam. The 65-year-old Abu Bakar, who says he admires Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network, has repeatedly protested his innocence over his alleged links to regional terrorism and now wishes to be left alone to focus on teaching Islam. At the end of the interview, Bashir said he wanted to convey a special message to Western leaders. Especially to Prime Minister Tony Blair, please convert to Islam and God willing you will be saved," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Singapore acknowledged yesterday that it shared information with the Philippines which led to the arrest of a suspected militant allegedly involved in a plot to bomb US targets here. The government cited the information-sharing as an example of the co-operation among Southeast Asian security agencies in the fight against terrorism," reported the AFP news service.
"A wandering cat set off an explosive warning device protecting the grounds of the US embassy in the Afghan capital, an embassy official said here yesterday," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"US military plans to combat terrorism in the Philippines are unclear and could lead to failure, and the same danger lurks in Indonesia, according to analysts at the East-West Centre in Honolulu," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"President George W. Bush said on Friday he was very disappointed in Yasser Arafat and accused him of enhancing terrorism as his top aides weighed possible punitive measures against the Palestinian Authority," reported the AFP news agency.
"The Afghan war detainees being held at an American naval base in Cuba should not be treated as prisoners of war and may even be sent home to face military tribunals there, some US congressmen who visited the prison said," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"A bicycle bomb exploded outside a packed restaurant frequented by Colombian police in Bogota, at lunchtime on Friday, killing four officers and a little girl in an attack the government blamed on Marxist FARC rebels," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Protesting asylum seekers at a controversial Australian outback detention centre yesterday held a noisy rally and one man was seriously injured when he climbed over a razor wire fence. Activists warn there could be deaths after 11 days of hunger strikes, lip-sewing and attempted hangings at Woomera where mainly Afghan and Middle Eastern asylum seekers are protesting the months if not years it takes to process their refugee claims," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A Palestinian, possibly a woman, detonated explosives in downtown Jerusalem, committing suicide and killing another person, and wounding at least a dozen on a busy street that has been the scene of several lethal attacks in recent months. The dead included a man and a woman, and several hours after the attack, police said they were still trying to determine which one was the bomber, and which one the victim. In Lebanon, the Al-Manar television station, run by the militant Hezbollah movement, said the bomber was a young Palestinian woman. If true, it would mark the first time a woman has carried out a suicide bombing," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"A Palestinian militant was shot dead Monday in a suburb of Tel Aviv, in an exchange of fire with Israeli police after he broke through an army checkpoint knocking down a soldier, Israeli police and the army said. The incident came less than 24 hours after a Palestinian woman blew herself up in downtown Jerusalem killing one Israeli and injuring dozens of others," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"US forces will patrol in the southern Philippines with local troops fighting guerillas but only in areas with a low risk of combat, a Philippine military spokesman said yesterday," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Iran and Iraq vowed on Saturday to work towards improving ties and resolving humanitarian problems remaining from their 1980-88 war, the Iranian news agency Irna reported,: reported the Reuters news agency.
"Sweetshop salesman Younes spoke for many Arabs when he said George W. Bush had no understanding of the Middle East and no right to push Palestinian President Yasser Arafat around. Across the Arab world, citizens, politicians and papers were incensed by Bush’s comment on Friday that he was very disappointed with Arafat’s efforts to end more than 16 months of bloodshed. He also discussed possible punitive measures," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Lebanese militiaman Elie Hobeika received a hero’s funeral on Saturday from Lebanon and Syria, who saw his death as proof of the treachery of their enemy Israel. Hundreds of weeping mourners poured from Mar Takla church here where Hobeika’s funeral was held, some tossing flowers on his coffin as it passed under a banner reading: They(the Israeli's) feared your truth, and assassinated you," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The son of a London-based Islamic militant returned to Britain on Saturday after serving a three-year prison sentence in Yemen for plotting sabotage. Briton Mohammed Mustafa Kamel, 20, was convicted of plotting to sabotage economic and tourist sites, allegedly with the support of his father Mustafa Kamel, also known as Abu Hamza al-Masri. Arriving at London’s Heathrow Airport he protested his innocence and in a statement read by his solicitor called for four Britons still being held in Yemen to be freed," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Afghan interim leader Hamid Karzai headed to the United States yesterday as US forces in Afghanistan go after pockets of al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters believed to be regrouping in the area," reported the AFP news service.
"Afghans have challenged US accounts of a fire-fight, claiming US Special Forces soldiers killed the wrong people sleeping in a school during a raid in which the Pentagon said a Taliban weapons cache was destroyed and about 15 people killed," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"He survived a king, a coup, Soviet occupation, communist rule, internecine mujahideen battles, the Taliban and a US bombing campaign. But on Saturday, the only lion in Afghanistan died of old age in Kabul Zoo. Lame and half-blind, Marjan, had become a symbol for Afghanistan’s destruction," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Hunger strikes by protesting asylum seekers spread yesterday to a fourth Australian detention centre while refugee activists took to the streets of the country’s two largest cities to call for greater compassion. An Immigration Department spokesman said 17 people at the Port Hedland refugee camp in Western Australia began to refuse food and water in a copycat protest to mirror 12 days of turmoil at another camp in the baking heat of the interior," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A Russian spy base in communist-run Cuba has finally been closed and its electronic equipment is waiting to be transported back to Moscow, the head of Cuba’s armed forces Raul Castro said on Saturday," reported the Reuters news agency.
"There is no evidence showing any direct Malaysian connection in the suicide attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon in the United States, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday. Refuting a Newsweek report that Malaysia was the launch pad for the Sept 11 terrorist attacks, he said: The launch pad was the United States itself because these people (the terrorists) were there all the time and they planned the attacks there. They planned which planes to hijack and at what time and all this was done there, not in Malaysia," reported The Star newspaper of Malaysia.
"The United States is offering Indonesia support including millions of dollars for police training and increased intelligence sharing to help it crack down on potential terrorists within its borders, the Indonesian foreign minister was quoted as saying yesterday," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Four Muslim Singaporean schoolgirls(7 years old) in their first year of primary school will face suspension if they continue to wear Islamic headscarves to class in defiance of a government ban, education officials said yesterday," reported the AFP news service.
"A Hong Kong businessman who smuggled thousands of Bibles to a banned Christian group in China was sentenced yesterday to two years in prison, a Hong Kong religious leader said," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri denied yesterday accusations that her government was backtracking on autonomy and trying to revive a centralised rule. There is no intention to erase decentralisation and to revive centralisation in running this government nor is there an intention to reduce or withdraw authority resulting from the autonomy scheme, Megawati told a meeting of regional leaders," reported the AFP news service.
"Arab states plan to send a strongly worded message to the United States that its interests in the Arab world are at risk if it does not stop Israeli attacks on Palestinians, a Saudi newspaper reported on yesterday. The Arabic-language al-Watan quoted what it described as a high-ranking Jordanian source as saying that King Abdullah, now visiting Saudi Arabia, would carry the message to US President George W. Bush when he visits Washington this week," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Israeli police shot dead an Arab man who ran over a policeman near Tel Aviv yesterday and was suspected of bursting through a military roadblock from the West Bank into Israel, police said. The police, dismissing radio reports that the driver had opened fire on passers-by, said the man was not armed. It was not clear whether he was shot in his car or after being dragged from it," reported the Reuters news agency.
"US special forces hurled grenades through the windows of a burning hospital yesterday to finish off a nine-hour assault against six al-Qaeda gunmen who had holed up there for nearly two months and vowed never to be captured alive," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh yesterday expressed concern over reports that the United States was considering a possible downgrading of ties with the Palestinian Authority and said US comments linking Yasser Arafat with terrorists were stupid," reported the AFP news service.
"Eleven children threatened yesterday to commit suicide at a detention centre for asylum seekers, but Prime Minister John Howard said he would neverback down on his hardline immigration policy," reported the AFP news service.
"Russia opened a terrorist inquiry yesterday into the mid-air explosion of a military helicopter in Chechnya that killed 14 people, including a deputy interior minister, in one of the worst losses for Moscow in 28 months of fighting in the separatist republic. But Russian officials were publicly at odds over the cause of crash, which happened on Sunday in northeast Chechnya, an area of the war-torn republic seen as relatively pacified," reported the AFP news service.
"Britain’s freemasons will soon be identifiable by the shirts they wear and journals they read rather than by their handshake, as the secretive society seeks to shed its mysterious image," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Teddy bears might have to be banned from doctors’ waiting rooms because they may spread infections to already sick children, New Zealand public health specialists said yesterday," reported the Reuters news agency.
"President George W. Bush said Tuesday night that tens of thousands of terrorists still threaten the United States ticking time bombs, set to go off, and promised to stalk them across the globe. In his strongest terms yet, Bush called North Korea, Iraq and Iran part of an axis of evil, warning that their pursuit of weapons of mass destruction pose a grave and growing danger and will not be tolerated. I will not wait on events, while dangers gather. I will not stand by, as peril draws closer and closer, Bush said," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"In the absence of a committed effort by the world community to identify what is terrorism and who are the terrorists, Malaysia is set to take the lead by hosting an international conference to define the terms and to seek a common stand among Muslim countries on the issue. Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said all Muslim countries would be invited to attend the meeting. The Prime Minister said that at the moment, the broad interpretation of terrorism by the West is that they are Muslims. What about others, like the Israelis, whose treatment of the Palestinians should be considered an act of terrorism," reported The Star newspaper of Malaysia.
"Thai authorities yesterday halted the distribution of a sex education textbook and ordered all copies removed from schools after strong criticism about its explicit content. It’s disgusting. This is dirty language and pornographic material, leading academics said. Our society does not tolerate such explicitness. We have our own culture and Western standards don’t apply," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"A joint US-Philippines anti-terrorist operation is to begin tomorrow after the two countries resolved problems pertaining to the number of participating American military advisers, Filipino officials said. The operation against the Abu Sayyaf guerillas in the southern Philippines is part of Washington’s plan to widen its war on terror into Southeast Asia," reported the AFP news service.
"Two Muslim political activists from the royalist Funcinpec party in Cambodia were shot dead ahead of landmark local district elections to be held on Sunday," reported the AFP news service.
"Separatists in Aceh province said yesterday they would boycott upcoming peace talks in Switzerland to protest the recent killing of their military commander by Indonesian troops," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"The death toll from bomb explosions at a Nigerian armoury, which triggered a mass stampede climbed above 600 yesterday after more bodies were retrieved from a canal," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Australia is to deport almost 70 asylum seekers from the strife-bound Woomera detention centre, some believed to be ringleaders of the hunger strike at the isolated facility, officials said yesterday. The deportation orders were revealed as the protest by detainees continued into second week yesterday, with 11 teenagers still threatening suicide unless they are transferred to foster care," reported the AFP news service.
"A Red Cross official has claimed that the US military assured him three weeks ago that there would be no raid on a hospital where six al-Qaeda gunmen were holed up. After a two-month siege, the gunmen were killed on Monday by Afghan fighters backed by US Special Forces," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Israeli troops raided a Palestinian-ruled village in the West Bank and arrested three suspected militants yesterday after the United States voiced new frustration with Yasser Arafat over 16 months of bloodshed. The raid into Irtas, near here, followed Palestinian shooting and bomb attacks in Israel in a new round of violence that has prompted Washington to suspend efforts to mediate a truce and increase pressure on the Palestinian president," reported the Reuters news agency.
"President George W. Bush declined on Monday to hand over documents related to White House contacts with failed energy giant Enron, calling a congressional request for them an encroachment on the executive branch of government," reported the AFP news service.
"Osama bin Laden underwent clandestine kidney dialysis in a Pakistani military hospital the day before members of his al-Qaeda network launched attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon, Pakistani intelligence sources told CBS News," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar has dismissed suggestions that the KMM is a cell of al-Qaeda, accused of carrying out the Sept 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. He said that while the KMM had linkages with other extremist organisations in the region, it was an exaggeration to portray South-East Asia as a breeding ground for terrorists. Asked why such suggestions had been advanced, Syed Hamid said such reports lacked understanding of the situation and was perhaps an attempt to divert attention because those accused of carrying out the attacks had lived in the West," reported The Star newspaper of Malaysia.
"The Communist Party of the Philippines warned on Tuesday that its New People’s Army would target American soldiers if they go to its territory. Should these so-called US military experts wander into our territory, our comrades may not possibly resist the temptation to seize them, said party spokesman Gregorio Rosal alias Ka Roger," reported the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
"They have until tomorrow before they face possible suspension from school but the four Muslim schoolgirls are still wearing the tudung in school. Three of the four primary-school principals said this is the first time any of their pupils has faced suspension over this issue. The parents said their daughters should be allowed to wear headscarves to school because the scarves are an Islamic requirement to protect the girls’ modesty," reported the The Straits Times newspaper.
"Israel was preparing yesterday to fortify its self-proclaimed capital Jerusalem amid a show of Arab solidarity with the beleaguered Palestinian administration. Internal Security Minister Uzi Landau, who submitted the proposals to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Tuesday, said the plan aimed to cut off Palestinians in the West Bank from the city by defensive obstacles but denied earlier reports of a wall being erected to separate Jewish and Arab neighbourhoods," reported the AFP news service.
"Remnants of Afghanistan’s Taliban movement and fighters of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda group are plotting an attack on the south-eastern Afghan town of Gardez, a supporter of the interim government said yesterday. About 300 fighters are poised to launch an assault to the west of Gardez, in the Shahi Koot region of Zormat district, said Abdul Wali, a member of the Gardez tribal council," reported the Reuters news agency.
"President George W. Bush primed Americans for a new chapter in the war on terrorism, singling out Iran, Iraq and North Korea, countries he said that were trying to develop weapons of mass destruction. Practically drawing up battle plans, Bush in his State of the Union address to Congress late on Tuesday raised the stakes beyond US shores in the war on terrorism he declared after the Sept 11 attacks on the United States. Bush’s objective is to divert public opinion from events in the Middle East and to prepare American public opinion for continued US support for Israel in its repression of the Palestinian people, charged Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi," reported the AFP news service.
"The United Airline domestic terminal at San Francisco International Airport was evacuated for 90 minutes yesterday after explosive residue was discovered on a man’s shoes, and the man went missing, an airport official said. Security officials found the residue on the shoes, but when they turned to talk to the man, he had gone into the crowd," reported the AFP news service.
"Hundreds of detained asylum seekers ended a two-week hunger strike yesterday and 11 teenagers withdrew a suicide threat after Australian government negotiators struck a deal with the protesters, officials said," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s daughter Noelle, who is the niece of President George W. Bush, was arrested on Tuesday on a charge of fraudulently trying to obtain the prescription anti-anxiety drug Xanax, police said," reported the Reuters news agency.
"US intelligence agencies have issued an internal alert, warning that Muslim extremists were planning to strike, again possibly targeting a US nuclear power plant, the Washington Times reported yesterday," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Acting on a tip from an al-Qaida operative, the government alerted nuclear power plants last week that terrorists may be planning an attack on a power reactor using a hijacked commercial airliner. The alert, a copy of which was obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, said the operative claimed "the attack was already planned'' and three people already on the ground were trying to recruit non-Arabs to take part. An FBI official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Thursday night the information was received months ago, was evaluated and has been deemed not to be credible," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"North Korea yesterday hit back at US President George W. Bush’s State of the Union speech, accusing Washington of adopting a hostile and aggressive stance towards the communist state. The blast was Pyongyang’s first direct reaction to Bush’s speech on Tuesday in which he described North Korea as part of an axis of evil," reported the AFP news service.
"Just two weeks after President George W. Bush’s close encounter with a pretzel, Vice-President Dick Cheney turned up at his own birthday party on Wednesday with a bruised lip after a run in with a Labrador retriever. Cheney’s office said the accident occurred earlier this week at the vice-president’s residence when Cheney was playing with his two retrievers, one of which bumped into his mouth," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Religious and human rights groups yesterday accused the Australian government of running a concentration camp for asylum seekers and called for UN intervention in the country’s immigration crisis. The accusation, came from a coalition of 20 groups which included the Roman Catholic church," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Israel should have killed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat 20 years ago, when he was under Israeli siege in Beirut, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in an interview published yesterday," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Arabian Gulf newspapers yesterday condemned US President George W. Bush’s threats against anti-Israeli militants, Iran and Iraq, with two newspapers going as far as to accuse him of declaring war to protect Israel. The State of the Union speech by George Bush is like a declaration of war against those who resist Israeli aggression and those who aspire to liberate their lands, said Al Khaleej, of the United Arab Emirates," reported the AFP news service.
"Heavy fighting between two Afghan warlords over control of eastern Paktia province raged for a second day here yesterday, with claims of heavy casualties and the execution of prisoners. More than 40 men loyal to recently-appointed provincial governor Padsha Khan have been killed in clashes with a rival commander in this small provincial capital, Padsha Khan’s brother said," reported the AFP news service.
"The United States has reissued a travel warning for Pakistan as fears grew over the fate of kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, whose captors threatened in an e-mail message to kill him within 24 hours," reported the AFP news service.
"US President George W. Bush’s State of the Union address risks dividing the international coalition against terrorism, Britain’s press warned yesterday. When Mr Bush speaks of ‘tens of thousands of dangerous killers schooled in the methods of murder, spread throughout the world like ticking bombs, he is not only being irresponsibly alarmist; he is also disingenuously justifying the whopping US$48billion defence increase he always dreamed of," reported the AFP news service.
"A second deadline for the execution of kidnapped American journalist Daniel Pearl passed yesterday without word from his captors, as Pakistan upped its claims of Indian involvement. Pakistan’s military spokesman Major General Rashid Qureshi said there was an Indian link to the abduction, prompting a swift denial from New Delhi," reported the AFP news service.
"Hundreds of US troops were confined to their base in the northern Philippines yesterday after one of their planes was hit by small-arms fire, allegedly by communist rebels opposed to US anti-terror actions here. Philippine officials acknowledge that communist New People’s Army (NPA) guerillas operate in the area as well as in the Pinatubo volcano near Clark, where an American mountain climber was killed in a separate gun attack on Wednesday," reported the AFP news service.
"Australia’s plan to pay Afghan asylum seekers to return home following the fall of the Taliban received a cool reception yesterday, with few of the 4,000 in Australia’s care willing to go back to their war-torn homeland. Refugee and human rights groups say most of the Afghans held in camps in Australia, Papua New Guinea or Nauru or living here as refugees are from ethnic minorities who fear persecution despite the collapse of the hardline Islamic regime," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The United States threatened to impose its own justice on countries it saw as backing terrorism, If you’re one of these nations that developed weapons of mass destruction and you’re likely to team up with a terrorist group or you’re now sponsoring terror, and you don’t hold the values that we hold dear true to your heart, then you too are on our watch list, Bush said in a speech," reported the Reuters news agency.
