"Foreign students who enrol in New York colleges to obtain student visas but fail to show up for class would be quickly reported to state police under a legislative proposal condemned by some as a violation of privacy and civil liberties. Hussein Ibish of The National Office of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in Washington, D.C. said that the bill whose presumption is of suspicion was a misguided reaction to the Sept 11 terror attacks. New York Civil Liberties Union director Donna Lieberman said it is a bill that would violate federal law and turn professors into cops. She and a college administrators’ association cited federal law that prohibits disclosure of student records without the student’s permission or a court order," reported the AP news agency.
"Senior American military leaders are believed to have turned sharply against any idea of invading Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein, and have started to gain the upper hand in persuading the White House that such a mission should be postponed, preferably indefinitely. The joint chiefs of staff have assured the White House their forces could successfully invade Iraq – or anywhere else – if instructed. But they have warned that such an invasion would be extremely fraught, given the resources depleted by the war in Afghanistan," reported the Guardian News Service.
"A calendar featuring bare-chested firefighters – including three who died in the Sept 11 attacks – will go on sale this summer with the endorsement of their families. The benefit calendar was scrapped last autumn amid concerns that it would be tasteless, but families of the fallen firefighters supported the publication of the revised Calendar of Heroes," reported the AP news agency.
"Pakistan yesterday test fired a medium-range missile capable of dropping nuclear warheads on the main cities of rival India in what some analysts saw as a defiant gesture likely to stoke tensions," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Israeli forces kept a tight grip on the West Bank city of Tulkarm yesterday, combing houses for Palestinian militants after losing one soldier dead and two wounded in fighting the day before," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A Palestinian woman trying to reach the hospital gave birth at an Israeli army roadblock near here yesterday after soldiers denied her passage. Her husband, who was driving the car, had tried a different route, only to be stopped at another checkpoint near the town of Beit Jala about 4am. The soldiers surrounded the car and watched her give birth. The baby died later," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The Palestinian exile granted temporary residence in Portugal after the siege of Bethlehem’s Church of Nativity needs a bride, daily 24 Horas said on Friday in a front-page article," reported the AFP news service.
"A limited nuclear war between India and Pakistan over the disputed territory of Kashmir would kill at least three million people, scientists said on Friday. Millions would die in the immediate blast and fire and from radiation. Others would suffer from destroyed homes, lack of water and facilities and from disease years later," reported the Reuters news agency.
"In a sanitary crackdown on Colombia’s sex trade, authorities here on Friday ordered prostitutes to use plastic-covered mattresses, change bed sheets and spray rooms for cockroaches, lice and rodents. Bogota’s flamboyant Mayor Antanas Mockus, commenting on the new edict for the Colombian capital, said sex workers will have a higher status and they will be more respected. The sex trade has long been legal for adults in Colombia, with prostitutes and police often sharing the same Bogota street corners at night," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A day after Prime Minister Tony Blair urged animal rights activists to stop opposing scientific experiments in Britain, an anti-vivisection group released what it described as secretly obtained film footage showing brain surgery on monkeys at Cambridge University," reported the AP news agency.
"Pakistan conducted its second missile test in as many days yesterday, as the international community struggled to pull India and Pakistan, two nuclear neighbours, back from the brink of war. Yesterday’s test was the first for the short-range Hatf-III or Ghaznavi missile, which is believed to be capable of carrying a nuclear warhead," reported the AP news agency.
"Pakistani and Indian troops traded heavy fire along their disputed border in Kashmir yesterday, but there were no reports of casualties on the Pakistan side, officials said. The exchange of fire took place in Samahni sector in southern-most Bhimbher district, which faces Nowshera sector in the Indian administred zone of the state," reported the AFP news service.
"The Israeli army kept up its in-and-out raids of Palestinian towns yesterday in a bid to stem the flow of suicide bombers and break the networks that send them, killing one Palestinian in the northern West Bank town of Tulkarem. The Israeli army pressed on with its swoop for militants, raiding the West Bank towns of Tulkarem, Qalqilya and Bethlehem over the weekend," reported the AFP news service.
"Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said yesterday the world had to realise there was a limit to India’s patience when it came to attacks by militants who India accuses Pakistan of supporting," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Pakistan test fired another short-range missile Tuesday capable of carrying nuclear warheads into Indian territory, the third in a much -criticized series of tests. The test was conducted as Britain's foreign secretary Jack Straw was in the region, hoping to defuse tensions and press the nuclear adversaries to the negotiating table," reported the AP news agency.
"Pakistani scientists have been working secretly round the clock for the past three years to accelerate production of weapons-grade uranium, Britain’s The Times newspaper reported yesterday, quoting a leading Pakistani nuclear physicist.This means Pakistan may have more nuclear warheads than previously believed, the paper suggested," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The Israeli army yesterday arrested the Bethlehem leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement responsible for dozens of attacks, Palestinian security sources and witnesses said," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said yesterday that tension with India was at its height and that there was a danger war could break out. Musharraf blamed India for the current escalation of tensions, saying it had reacted badly by accusing Pakistan of a series of terrorist attacks on its territory, including a bloody assault on its parliament in December," reported the AFP news service.
"Fighting erupted yesterday as the Israeli army swept into the Palestinian town of Jenin as part of its rolling campaign of West Bank raids to track down militants, after a suicide bomber killed an Israeli toddler and her grandmother outside a mall near Tel Aviv," reported the APF news service.
"Nato allies welcomed Russia yesterday as a junior partner in the alliance set up more than a half century ago for the Cold War containment of Moscow. Nato Secretary General Lord Robertson said he considers the council a real breakthrough and expressed hope that it would not just deliberate but take decisive actions as there is a common enemy out there. Bush, just days after he and Putin signed an agreement slashing their nuclear arsenals by two-thirds over 10 years, hailed the transformation of Russia from Cold War rival to friend.The leaders formalised their new arrangement amid the tightest of security at the seaside Practica di Mare air base," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Pakistan’s newly tested Ghaznavi missile could strike India within three to five minutes of launch, but Western defence experts doubt Islamabad would fit a nuclear warhead to such a short-range weapon. Analysts say neither of the two South Asian rivals would be likely to resort to a tactical nuclear strike close to its own borders," reported the Reuters news agency.
"India said yesterday Pakistan leader Pervez Musharraf had indulged in belligerent posturing that had dangerously stoked tensions between the nuclear rivals amid fears of war. Outlining India’s official response to a much-awaited address to the nation on Monday by Musharraf, foreign minister Jaswant Singh said the Pakistani general’s comments were a disappointing mix of unfulfilled promises and posturing. Jaswant Singh told a news conference, saying that Musharraf’s speech is both disappointing and dangerous," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Three bomb blasts in the western Indian state where Hindu-Muslim violence has claimed nearly 1,000 lives injured at least 36 people Wednesday, police and hospital officials said," reported the AP news agency.
"India today claimed diplomatic pressure on arch rival Pakistan has failed and ruled out talks between the two hostile nations as shelling intensified across their common border in Kashmir," reported the AFP news service.
"Obstetricians and staff at some hospital delivery rooms in the United States are gearing up for a summer baby boom that many say was sparked by the Sept 11 terrorist attacks," reported the AP news agency.
"With bagpipes skirling, the last steel girder still standing at ground zero was cut down on Tuesday night, bringing a symbolic end to more than eight months of gruelling recovery work at the World Trade Centre site here," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The Libyan government denied yesterday it had offered US$2.7bil (RM10.2bil) to compensate families of the 1988 Lockerbie airliner attack as part of a deal to ease sanctions against it. State-run Jana news agency, monitored by the London-based BBC, quoted a Libyan spokesman as saying that Libya is not part of the issue and as far as the Libyan state is concerned, it has not been accused in the issue ... so it has nothing to do with any accords," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Britain’s Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is demanding an explanation from Israel about the use of British equipment in Israeli tanks and attack helicopters, the two main weapons used against Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, the Guardian has learned. Evidence that parts of the systems are made by British companies contradicts Israeli assurances that British arms would not be used in the territories. Straw revealed then that Israel had refused to give a pledge that the armoured cars would no longer be used in operations against Palestinians," reported the Guardian News Service.
"FBI director Robert Mueller, facing growing criticism for the bureau’s failure to act on information that might have prevented the Sept 11 attacks, announced changes to boost analytical skills at the FBI and focus more on stopping acts of terrorism. The changes would focus on improving the bureau’s analytical and intelligence capabilities and consolidate oversight of counter-terrorism and counter -intelligence activities at the Washington headquarters," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Four bombs exploded minutes apart wounding at least 39 people yesterday in this main city of Gujarat state, where recent Hindu-Muslim violence has claimed nearly 1,000 lives, police and hospital officials said. Ahmadabad’s police commissioner said the blasts were an attempt to re-ignite the communal violence that has ravaged the western desert state for three months," reported the AP news agency.
"India pressed Pakistan to take urgent steps to defuse tension threatening to trigger war as their armies fired mortars and machineguns across their frontier in Kashmir yesterday. Britain and Japan, part of an international peace offensive, said Pakistan genuinely wanted to meet the key Indian demand and stop Muslim militants launching raids into Indian territory despite opposition from hardliners at home," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Indian and Pakistani forces fired mortars and heavy machine guns across their frontier in disputed Kashmir yesterday as a fresh diplomatic peace push began in New Delhi," reported the AP news agency.
"A huge sea of ice lies just under the surface of Mars, ready to be tapped by future explorers as a source of fuel and maybe even drinking water," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A suicidal gunman stormed into the CBS television network complex and kept police at bay for more than four hours before ending the standoff by shooting himself," reported the AP news agency.
"Some 75 immaculately groomed women from around the world are vying for the Miss Universe title at a glitzy gala that seeks to find the woman with the most poise and beauty. The pageant, expected to be watched by millions around the world, is being held for a second consecutive year in Puerto Rico, a US Caribbean territory that to the joy of many Puerto Ricans produced last year’s winner, Denise Quinones," reported the Reuters news agency.
"An empty, flag-draped stretcher symbolizing all the victims of the World Trade Center attack who could not be found was carried from the rubble in a solemn, wordless ceremony marking the end of the agonizing, 8 1/2-month cleanup. As victims' families wept, the stretcher was carried slowly and silently past an honor guard of grieving relatives, police officers and firefighters, up a 500-foot (150-meter) ramp and out of the giant crater that used to be the basement of the twin towers," reported the AP news agency.
"The planned commencement speech of an American Muslim student is sparking a protest from some Harvard University students, who want the speech to condemn terrorism. The protesting students believe his speech should explicitly condemn violence by terrorist groups. Zayed Yasin’s speech, Of Faith and Citizenship: My American Jihad, focuses on the shared values of the two cultures. He said its content is not political, and he does not plan to change the speech. University President Lawrence Summers defended Zayed’s selection, saying in a statement on Wednesday that Especially in a university setting, it is important for people to keep open minds, listen carefully to one another and react to the totality of what each speaker has to say," reported the AP news agency.
"Two militants stormed an Indian police camp in Kashmir, killing three policemen, as Washington warned extremists could turn a standoff between India and Pakistan into a full-blown war. The militants, who attacked the camp late on Wednesday, were holed up inside as police said they were delaying action against them in an attempt to capture them alive. Though such incidents are common in Kashmir - where India faces a 12-year-old revolt against its rule - the latest raid added to tension in the confrontation with Pakistan, which New Delhi accuses of stoking the insurgency in Kashmir," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A war between India and Pakistan could easily go nuclear. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher warned on Wednesday, saying that even if the two nations’ leaders don’t want war, there is a danger that as tensions escalate, the leaders could find themselves in a situation in which irresponsible elements can spark a conflict," reported the AP news agency.
"Pakistan said yesterday it was considering rushing troops from its Afghan border to the Indian border, a move that could undermine the US-led campaign against al-Qaeda and raise tensions with New Delhi," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Pakistan’s new ambassador to the United Nations, Munir Akram, defended his country’s refusal to rule out an aggressive nuclear strike on Wednesday, saying it had to deter India’s superior conventional army," reported the AFP news service.
"The US government is drawing up plans for a mass evacuation of more than 60,000 Americans from India and Pakistan as tensions escalate over Kashmir," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Muslim bus driver was dragged out of his bus and burned alive and a Hindu man was killed in a bomb blast, police said yesterday, as violence resumed in western Gujarat state where nearly 1,000 people have died in three months of Hindu-Muslim clashes," reported the AP news agency.
"Israeli forces arrested 10 suspected militants in raids in the West Bank early yesterday following a resurgence of Palestinian attacks against Israelis," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Advertisements launched by the tobacco industry to limit teen smoking may actually make them want to smoke more, researchers and anti-smoking activists said on Wednesday," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A US judge condemned post-Sept 11 prejudicial stereotyping on Thursday when he jailed a World Trade Centre area hotel security guard on weekends for lies that landed an innocent Egyptian student in prison. US District Judge George Daniels ordered Ronald Ferry, who had been a security guard at the Millennium Hotel, to spend weekends in prison for six months beginning yesterday. Ferry had pleaded guilty in February to wrongfully telling FBI agents that he had found an aviation radio inside a locked safe in Abdallah Higazy's, the graduate student, room. Higazy, who sat through the hearing, said that justice is a joke and he was upset because the punishment is so lame," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A Virginia company said yesterday it will market a wearable computer that is bulletproof, another sign that combat and law enforcement are going high-tech. Xybernaut Corporation said it is teaming with Second Chance Body Armor to co-produce Xybernaut’s Tactical Wearable Computer, which will be integrated within bulletproof body armour for the military and police," reported the AFP news service.
"Israeli armour and infantry thrust into Nablus yesterday in another sweep through a West Bank city for Palestinian militants behind suicide attacks. Bush, speaking to reporters after meeting with his Cabinet, also stepped up pressure on Arafat to overhaul his security forces in order to prevent attacks against Israel, saying that Arafat needs to be responsible," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Western governments yesterday urged tens of thousands of their nationals to leave India, fearing war between India and Pakistan," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Muslim militants were plotting to overthrow the governments of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore to set up an Asian Islamic state, Singapore’s Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew said yesterday. In a speech at the opening of an Asian security conference, Lee focused on the growing threat of militant terrorist groups which have hijacked Islam as their driving force and have given it a virulent twist," reported the AFP news service.
"The United States and Russia stepped up efforts to pull India and Pakistan back from the brink of war as President George W. Bush warned Islamabad it must keep its promise to stamp out cross-border incursions. Bush had strong words for Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, telling him he must honour a pledge to stop guerilla incursions across the so-called Line of Control dividing Kashmir," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Tipsters swamped the US embassy switch board in the Philippines yesterday after Washington offered a US$5mil (RM19mil) bounty on the heads of the top five leaders of the Abu Sayyaf guerilla group, a Filipino official said. US Ambassador to the Philippines Francis Ricciardone said it was made under the State Department’s rewards for justice programme, which is part of a larger campaign against international extremists," reported the AFP news service.
"The Catholic Church in Australia was engulfed yesterday in a US-style sex abuse scandal after a television station stood by allegations that its top archbishop was involved in a cover-up. The scandal deepened after Sydney’s Archbishop George Pell called a news conference on Thursday to try to pre-empt the allegations due to be aired by Channel Nine’s 60 Minutes programme," reported the AFP news service.
"A 76-year-old New Zealand man will go on trial for murdering his wife who had Alzheimer’s disease in a mercy killing suicide pact that he survived, a news report said yesterday," reported the dpa news agency.
