More than 400 Palestinians, including some 60 members of the security services, were rounded up by the Israeli army in the northern West Bank refugee camp of Tulkarem over the past 24 hours and taken to Israel for interrogation, military sources said yesterday," reported the Jerussalem news agencies.
Citing a classified Pentagon report, the Los Angeles Times reported on Saturday that the Bush administration has told the Defence Department to prepare, on a contingency basis, plans to use nuclear weapons against at least seven countries.
The countries named in the secret report - provided to Congress on Jan 8 -were China, Russia, Iraq, North Korea, Iran, Libya and Syria," reported the Reuters news agency.
US military spokesman Maj Bryan Hilferty said fighting at the start of the second week of the battle in freezing mountains near the eastern city of Gardez had slackened off for both sides because of driving snow, rain and strong winds. The bad weather forced Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in Washington to back down from his forecast that the battle could end over the weekend. He said the fighting might now go on for another seven to 10 days," reported the Reuters news agency.
"An influential Muslim group has rejected a compromise aimed at soothing tensions over Hindu plans to build a temple at the disputed site of a demolished Muslim mosque in northern India. Muslim leaders fear that Hindu hard-liners will press ahead with construction of the temple if they're allowed to hold prayers near the disputed site,' reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Two Muslims have been arrested in the east Indian state of West Bengal for selling cassettes praising terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden, police said yesterday. The cassettes are about the fall of the WTC towers and the “heroic deed” of Osama, the police officer added," reported the AFP news service.
"Israeli helicopters destroyed Yasser Arafat’s seaside office in Gaza City early yesterday, hours after an Islamic militant blew himself up and killed 11 people in a crowded cafe across the street from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Jerusalem residence," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister offered Israel “complete peace from Arab nations’’ in exchange for Israeli withdrawal from Arab lands and the creation of an independent Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"US bombing wiped out an al-Qaeda bunker complex and top Afghan commanders gathered on the battle frontline here yesterday for what loomed as a final US-led assault on besieged rebels in mountain caves," reported the Reuters news agency.
The Pentagon has sent to Congress a classified report outlining the possible use of nuclear weapons against countries that are developing weapons of mass destruction. The “nuclear posture review” prepared for President Bush identified seven nations: China, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Russia and Syria," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Rich, famous and glamorous, and often dead - the world’s most beautiful women appear to be actresses of a bygone era, according to a list compiled by Britain’s Sunday Express," reported the AFP news service.
"The Bosnian authorities are to shut down three Islamic charities active in the country after an investigation showed they were engaged in suspicious financial dealings, Bosnian television reported yesterday."We don't have evidence on their links to terrorism, but given the previous action in the US we must not exclude such a possibility, the Bosnian official said, quoting a preliminary report by the financial police. Following the Sept 11 attacks against the US, several suspects were arrested in Bosnia, including six Arabs who were handed over to US authorities in January," reported the AFP news service..
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon lifted Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s three-month confinement to the West Bank city of Ramallah yesterday but kept up punishing military raids in the West Bank. But any trip abroad will need approval by Israel which controls borders and airspace in the West Bank and Gaza," reported the Reuters news agency.
Governments around the world have reacted with caution to news that Washington is reviewing its policy for nuclear attacks on countries that threaten the United States with weapons of mass destruction. Some media and private groups, however, worried yesterday that a more hawkish stance by US President George W. Bush’s administration could destabilise the world.
Mr Powell said on CBS, "It is not the case. What the Pentagon has done with this study is sound, military, conceptual planning, and the President will take that planning and he will give his directions on how to proceed," reported the New York Times.
President George W. Bush’s top foreign-affairs advisers say the United States must be prepared to use nuclear weapons to deter attacks involving weapons of mass destruction. But in an effort to ease alarm overseas, they said there were no plans to do so. Powell acknowledged the military was considering whether to “modify or update or change” current nuclear weapons to meet new threats," reported the Associated Press.
Vice-President Dick Cheney said yesterday he would make no announcements about military action against Iraq during his 10-day tour of the Middle East. Blair echoed Cheney’s words, saying “no decisions have been taken yet on how to proceed”," reported the Reuters news agency.
Half a year after the Sept 11 attacks, memorial services were held in New York, here and Pennsylvania early yesterday for the 3,063 people who died in the worst attacks on American soil, which started a global war on terrorism. “Sept 11 was not the beginning of global terror,” President George W. Bush said. “But it was the beginning of the world's concerted response. History will know that day not only as a day of tragedy, but as a day of decision. When the civilized world was stirred to anger and to action. And the terrorists will remember Sept 11 as a day of reckoning.” Bush finished his speech by saying “God save our coalition,” rather than the customary “God save America”," reported the Washington news.
A senior US Special Forces officer said yesterday the number of al-Qaeda fighters holed up in eastern mountains has likely been reduced to less than 200, but said the riskiest phase of the operation could just be starting. Asked about reported tension between Afghan troops from Paktia province, where the battle is taking place, and reinforcements sent by the interim administration in Kabul, Mark said some tension was inevitable," reported the Reuters news agency.
Australian special forces moved into the Shahi Kot mountains as hundreds of weary United States soldiers left the battlefield after a gruelling eight days of fighting. We're home,the soldiers shouted, as a few shook their heads in disbelief, grateful they had made it alive," reported the Associated Press.
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, seeking an end to communal violence, yesterday pledged to stop hardline Hindus from holding a prayer ceremony at the flashpoint holy site of Ayodhya if a court ruled against it," reported the Reuters news agency.
US military forces are to deploy unmanned surveillance aircraft over the southern Philippines to track down Abu Sayyaf guerillas. A total of 160 US Special Forces troops are now deployed in Basilan island in an advisory role for Filipino troops going after some 300 Abu Sayyaf gunmen, " reported the AFP news service.
An American researcher who believes she has found the final resting place of Jesus Christ is campaigning to exhume a body at a Muslim shrine in Indian-administered Kashmir for scientific tests. While Muslims say Rozabal houses the tomb of Yuza Asaf, a Muslim saint, many researchers believe it contains the body of Jesus Christ. However, her project has run into trouble with the managers of the Rozabal shrine, who are strongly opposed to its “desecration”, " reported the AFP news service.
Most men in Bangkok fear sexual harassment although few have experienced it, according to a survey released on Sunday by Assumption University’s Abac Poll. More research would be conducted to determine whether men felt threatened by sexually aggressive men or women, said the deputy director of the Abac Poll, Thanapat Hapipat," reported The Nation/Asia News Network
British researchers said yesterday they had isolated a “hunger hormone” that dramatically boosts human food consumption, raising the prospects of new treatments for both the obese and the malnourished. Dr Alison Wren, Research Fellow at Imperial College, said that there is currently little effective medical treatment for obesity and they are very excited to have taken this step towards a future therapy," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The United States said yesterday the world must soon get serious about the problem posed by Iraq’s suspected arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, predicting Baghdad will have enough material to build a nuclear weapon in just several years of absent UN inspections. Although the Iraqi Vice-President, Taha Yassin Ramadan, ruled out at the weekend the return of weapons inspectors, Iraq has not adopted a definitive position. It may yet bargain on terms for their return," reported the AFP news service.
"Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz met Taiwan’s Defence Minister, Tang Yiau-ming, in Florida on Monday in the highest-level documented US-Taiwan defence dialogue in at least 22 years. China has condemned the visa granted to Tang and said it would damage US-Chinese ties. Beijing strongly opposes arms sales to Taiwan, which it considers a wayward province risking attack if it moves toward formal independence or stalls on reunification talks," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Gunmen fired from a hillside at Israeli vehicles near the border with Lebanon yesterday, killing six Israelis and wounding another six as security forces engaged in a protracted gun battle, the army said," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Ariel Sharon may not be talking to Yasser Arafat but that hasn’t stopped a five-year-old Israeli girl writing to the Palestinian leader -- and getting a reply promising to work for an end to fighting," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Around 2,000 Egyptian university students staged an anti-Israel demonstration here yesterday, amid escalating Israeli-Palestinian violence. Witnesses said students at the University of Cairo chanted, “With our blood and soul, we will sacrifice for you, oh Palestine”," reported the AFP news service.
"The Indian pilgrimage town of Ayodhya was turned into a virtual fortress yesterday as thousands of security personnel braced for a looming showdown over a hotly disputed religious. After a week of intense and often confusing negotiations aimed at heading off a confrontation, hardline Hindus still plan to move ahead with preparations for building a temple at the site of a 16th century mosque in Ayodhya that was pulled down 10 years ago by Hindu zealots," reported the AFP news service.
India’s Supreme Court yesterday banned hardline Hindus from holding a controversial religious ceremony in the northern town of Ayodhya, where Hindu zealots had razed a 16th century mosque nearly 10 years ago," reported the AFP news service.
The Security Council here approved a resolution endorsing a Palestinian state for the first time and calling for an immediate ceasefire in the escalating Israeli-Palestinian conflict," reported the Associated Press news agency.
The US military said yesterday their Afghan allies captured a key ridgeline in the battle for Shahi Kot in east Afghanistan and the less than 100 Taliban-al-Qaeda left in the area were now on the run. “The battle of Shahi Kot is over. A coalition of Afghan and US forces has taken control of the entire Shahi Kot Valley,” said Joyenda, one of generals in charge of the fighting," reported the Reuters news agency.
A conservative Australian politician has accused an openly gay High Court judge of trawling for sex with male “rent boys” and branded him unfit to preside over child sex cases," reported the AFP news service.
A former US hospital worker who dubbed himself the “Angel of Death” confessed on Tuesday to killing six elderly patients, but prosecutors said the exact number of victims may never be known," reported the AFP news service.
Andrea Yates, the 37-year-old housewife who admitted to drowning her five children in the bathtub, was convicted of murder by a jury that rejected her claim of insanity in just 3 1/2 hours," reported the Associated Press news agency.
Four men ranging in age from 18 to 21 were imprisoned yesterday for stealing a baby’s remains from a cemetery and using its skull as an ashtray. Wellington District Court Judge Craig Thompson described the men’s use of the baby’s remains as grotesque. They also used its jawbone in a necklace," reported the Associated Press news agency.
A former Libyan agent lost his appeal yesterday against his murder conviction for the 1988 Lockerbie mid-air bombing. He was sentenced to life in January 2001 for blowing up a New York-bound airliner and killing 270 passengers, crew and residents of the Scottish town of Lockerbie," reported the Reuters news agency.
She lost sleep, agonising over the letter for days. In the end, “Dear Abby’’ columnist Jeanne Phillips decided she had to call police. Phillips contacted authorities after receiving a letter from a man who had sought her advice on how to handle his fantasies about having sex with underage girls," reported the Associated Press news agency.
For the first time in its 56-year history, the United Nations main human rights forum opens its annual session here next Monday with the United States left off the member’s list. “The atmosphere is very different. There’s uncertainty about the degree of commitment by the United States,” European diplomatic sources said. He added that The United States’s decision on whether to be more, or less active would depend on a guarantee that it becomes a member again next year," reported the AFP news service.
President George W. Bush said on Wednesday that he was “plenty hot” upon hearing that two Sept 11 terrorists had received posthumous notification that their student visas had been approved," reported the AFP news service.
A major showdown loomed in this Indian pilgrimage town yesterday, after Hindu activists vowed to stage a religious ceremony in defiance of a Supreme Court ban and government warnings," reported the AFP news service.
US envoy Anthony Zinni was due to begin a Middle East peace mission yesterday against a backdrop of continuing violence and mounting US-led criticism of Israel’s biggest offensive against the Palestinians in decades," reported the AFP news service.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered a phased troop withdrawal from the West Bank city of Ramallah yesterday as a US envoy began a mission to broker a ceasefire between Israelis and Palestinians,"reported the Reuters news agency.
Palestinian militiamen shot dead two alleged collaborators with Israel yesterday, then tied the body of one to the back of a pickup truck, dragged him through town and attempted to hang him from a rooftop overlooking the traditional birthplace of Christ. The killings, carried out in front of onlookers, were a sign of the growing anarchy in the Palestinian areas as fighting with Israel intensified," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"As part of its plan for strengthening American nuclear forces, the US administration intends to develop nuclear bombs that could destroy deeply buried and fortified underground targets, according to excerpts from a classified Pentagon report that were posted on Thursday on an Internet site,"reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s will be sworn in for another six-year term today, despite growing international isolation and criticism over last weekend’s election," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Former Libyan agent Abdel Basset al-Megrahi began life in a Scottish jail yesterday after a special court refused to overturn his conviction for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over the town of Lockerbie," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Amnesty International reported on Thursday that about 1,200 foreigners rounded up after the Sept 11 attacks are still detained, some arbitrarily and others denied basic legal protection. The report said that these detentions have been surrounded by extreme secrecy, which creates the potential for abuse," reporeted the AFP news service.
"Hundreds of Hindu hardliners began a procession towards the site of a razed mosque yesterday as Indian police rounded up thousands of others across the country to try to prevent Hindu-Muslim violence," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The United States announced plans yesterday to post a special prosecutor to Asia to help with the extradition of terrorism suspects and international criminals operating in the region," reported the Reuters news agency.
Israel told visiting US envoy Anthony Zinni it was ready to start peace negotiations with the Palestinians “as soon as a ceasefire accord is reached,” a high-ranking official from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s office said yesterday," reporeted the AFP news service.
