"White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card said in a published interview that the departure of US President George W. Bush’s most-trusted confidante, Karen Hughes, could destabilise the administration," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The US Conference of Catholic Bishops on Friday said it had cancelled meetings in Dallas next week with members of a group of sexual abuse victims after the group filed a class- action lawsuit against three Roman Catholic dioceses and the bishops conference. The proposals are aimed at stemming a scandal that erupted in January and has grown into what is widely viewed as the greatest crisis to have faced the church in modern times," reported the Reuters news agency.
"They creep out at night and tear apart garbage bags, feeding greedily on the remains left by those who are more fortunate than they – those Argentines who have enough to eat. Hoping to shock Argentines into the plight of the least fortunate, the association of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo organized a 24-hour sit-in by young people at the cathedral here on Wednesday, hoping to spur the Catholic church into intervening on their behalf with the government," reported the AFP news agency.
"Australia’s Catholic Church apologised yesterday for past sexual abuse by members of the clergy while again fending off claims it had tried to buy the silence of victims," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Pakistan said yesterday its fighter jets shot down an unmanned Indian spy plane that had intruded into its airspace over the eastern city of Lahore, stoking tensions between the nuclear rivals," reported the AFP news service.
"Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Saturday ordered search and destroy operations against guerillas, a day after a military rescue attempt that ended in the deaths of two of the rebels’ hostages and the rescue of a third," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Palestinian gunmen killed two Israelis in an attack on a Jewish settlement and Israeli forces launched new raids in the West Bank yesterday, dealing a blow to stepped-up US efforts to end 20 months of bloodshed. The shooting spree in the Karmei Tzur settlement took place as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon prepared to leave for Washington for talks with President George W. Bush, who is discussing how to revive the peace process with Middle East leaders," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Traces of nerve agents and mustard gas have been found in three locations at a US base in Uzbekistan, including a hangar where a headquarters had been set up. Britain has earmarked disused military bases for the accommodation of thousands of refugees entering the country should war break out between India and Pakistan over Kashmir," reported the AFP news service.
"One in two Britons believes Prime Minister Tony Blair is dishonest, according to a poll published in the Mail on Sunday newspaper".
"Hopes soared yesterday for a de-escalation of tension in South Asia after India confirmed it is taking steps to cool its heated stand-off with Pakistan over Kashmir. On Saturday, Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh described Musharraf’s pledge to end infiltration as a step forward in the right direction, during a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Colin Powell. The shooting down by Islamabad’s jets of an Indian spy plane that strayed into Pakistani territory on Friday does not seem to have affected the mood of optimism, said analysts, who expected the incident to blow over quickly – unless there is a repeat," reported the AFP news service.
"Indian security forces in Kashmir yesterday arrested a leading hardline separatist and sent him to a jail in eastern India on allegations he had funded rebels in the insurgency-wracked state. The Prevention of Terrorism Act gives police sweeping powers of arrest, allows detention of up to 90 days without trial and broadens the scope for capital punishment," reported the AFP news service.
"Invoking Afghan tradition, tribesmen, religious leaders, academics, political and community leaders from around the country and world assemble this week in a huge tent to decide Afghanistan’s immediate future. But the danger is the assembly may become a target for remnants of the former ruling Taliban or al-Qaeda. Or that it might be disrupted by recalcitrant tribal leaders unhappy with the new cabinet line-up. ," reported the AP news agency.
"Afghanistan’s former king Mohammad Zahir Shah has thrown his support behind interim ruler Hamid Karzai, who is widely expected to be named leader of the next government at this week’s Loya Jirga grand assembly," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has vowed to finish off Muslim guerillas linked to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network but analysts said even with US help, it would be no easy task. Senator and security expert Rodolfo Biazon said that there are political, economic and cultural factors there, referring to many Muslims’ deep-seated grievances against the Christian government. Comprising 4% of the Philippines’ 76.5 million people, Muslims regard the main southern island of Mindanao and adjacent isles as their ancestral homeland. Waves of migration by Christian settlers have pushed many Muslims into hinterlands and turned them into a minority, trapped in poverty and, they say, injustice," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Bush is to meet Sharon today the White House, their sixth meeting since the latter took office in March last year. Bush has yet to host his Palestinian counterpart, Yasser Arafat. Mubarak told Bush that the violence will continue forever unless the Palestinian people feel that there is hope for peace and there is something to show that peace is coming. But Sharon said quiet was a prerequisite for peace," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat named a new, smaller Cabinet yesterday that includes a new minister to oversee the security forces. The move follows strong calls for reform by ordinary Palestinians and Western governments," reported the AFP news service.
"The Internal Security Department (ISD) has made public details of a plot by the terrorist group Hizbollah to recruit Singaporean Muslims to blow up US and Israeli ships in the republic," reported the Asia News Network.
"Half a million asthma patients have descended on the southern Indian city of Hyderabad in the hope of a miracle cure offered every year to anyone willing to swallow a live fish stuffed with medicines, brushing aside the scepticism of modern doctors," reported the AFP news service.
"The Bush administration is drafting a formal military policy that supports pre-emptive attacks against terrorists and hostile states with weapons of mass destruction. Administration officials drafting the new policy said the United States has been forced to move beyond deterrence since Sept 11 because of the threat posed by terrorist groups and hostile states supporting them. Under the new doctrine, nuclear first strikes would be considered weapons of last resort, especially against biological weapons that can be best destroyed by sustained exposure to the high heat of a nuclear blast," reported the Reuters news agency.
"US transportation authorities warn cargo carried on passenger jets could pose a security threat because of limited screening," reported The Washington Post.
"The government arrested a US citizen, Abdullah Al Mujahir, also known as Jose Padilla, with an alleged al-Qaeda connection and suspected of plotting to build and detonate a radioactive dirty bomb in an attack in this country, possibly against Washington," reported the AP news agency.
"India reopened its airspace to Pakistan over flights yesterday in its first step to ease a six-month standoff over Kashmir, which brought the nuclear-armed rivals to the brink of war. Despite hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough, Indian and Pakistani troops continued to exchange fire in disputed Kashmir. India’s defence ministry said troops fired artillery and mortar bombs at several points along the border, including the high-altitude Siachen glacier," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Israeli forces encircled Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s headquarters yesterday, hours before Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was to meet US President George W. Bush in Washington. The Palestinians said Israel was trying to undermine the Authority by carrying out new raids at a time they were carrying out reforms and that Sharon’s visit to Washington shows that the US administration supports this occupation and operation," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Afghanistan’s grand assembly of tribal elders, charged with choosing a transitional government, has been delayed for another 24 hours, the interim government’s foreign ministry spokesman said yesterday. Afghan and foreign sources said under the deal the Northern Alliance would give up the interior and foreign ministry portfolios that they currently hold in Karzai’s six-month administration in exchange for the former king agreeing not to have any role in the next government," reported the Reuters news agency.
"US special forces have uncovered several large caches of weapons in southeast Afghanistan, including 30 surface-to-air missiles and a cave where eight truckloads of ammunition were hidden," reported the AP news agency.
"South Korea’s LG Group received a tip off on a possible threat against its twin-tower headquarters there and police were investigating. Security has been tight in South Korea and Japan for the co-hosted World Cup finals, largely a response to the Sept 11 air attacks on the twin-tower World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Government troops warned yesterday that the largely intact Abu Sayyaf leadership could be planning another kidnapping, even though President Gloria Arroyo says they want to flee the Philippines," reported the AFP news service.
"An Egyptian man was sentenced here yesterday to 10 years in prison with hard labour for attempting to carry out acts of espionage on Israel’s behalf, in the second such conviction this year," reported the AFP news service.
"An Athens doctor who examined a 33 year-old woman after she complained of headaches, removed a spider that had made its home in her ear, a Greek television station said on Sunday," reported the AP news agency.
"Poland’s private RMF radio reported that a glaring pink London-style cab hit the streets of the Polish capital Warsaw yesterday evening offering a free ride for anyone daring enough to have sex on wheels," reported the dpa news agency.
"Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the United States’ refusal to agree to a specific calendar on the setting up of a Palestinian state will only prolong the terrible acts of terror in the Middle East. He said the US, being the most powerful nation, should play a more meaningful role in ending the meaningless killings in both Palestine and Israel," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad said developed countries that try to discipline developing nations on the basis that they are undemocratic, corrupt or lack transparency, are driven more by ulterior motives than honest concern over the welfare of the people," reported the Malaysian Star newspaper.
"US authorities said yesterday they had captured a suspected American al Qaeda operative ordered to help plan an attack on the United States with a radioactive dirty bomb. Officials have not ruled out lodging criminal charges against al Muhajir," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A conservative Jewish group in New York said on Monday it planned to put armed patrols on the streets to guard against possible terrorist attacks, despite police warnings that its members could face arrest. However, the New York police department warned that the initiative could be illegal," reported the AFP news service.
"A former New York City police officer said on Monday that he filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging the police department wrongfully fired him for refusing to remove his turban and trim his beard," reported the Reuters news agency.
"India began easing military and diplomatic pressure on Pakistan yesterday, but Islamabad said more substantive steps would be needed to defuse tension between the nuclear-armed rivals," reported the AFP news service.
"President Gloria Arroyo visited the southern Philippines yesterday to honour a slain Filipina hostage and rally soldiers for a final push against Abu Sayyaf gunmen after a bloody end to a year-long hostage crisis," reported the AFP news service.
"Afghanistan’s long-awaited Loya Jirga opened yesterday with Hamid Karzai, who is expected to be appointed head of state, assuring the assembly that ex-king Mohammed Zahir Shah would continue to play a role at the heart of the nation. Karzai’s leadership in the new government, which will rule until democratic elections in 2004, is now all but guaranteed, with both the ex-king and former president Burhanuddin Rabbani publicly stepping aside. His only challenger is a female doctor, Masooda Jalal," reported the AFP news service.
"For the first time in 150 years, copies of the first four printed editions of the Bible, the rarest in the world, have been brought together by a private collector," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A U.S. military transport plane carrying 10 soldiers crashed on takeoff Wednesday in Afghanistan, killing three soldiers, miltary officials said. The seven others escaped with minor injuries," reported the AP news agency.
"The jury in its seventh day of deliberating Arthur Andersen LLP's obstruction of justice trial said it was deadlocked, but the judge in the case reminded jurors of their duty and told them to resume their discussions Thursday. The jury is trying to decide if the Chicago-based accounting firm illegally obstructed justice by shredding documents to thwart federal regulators investigating former client Enron Corp. It's the first criminal trial to emerge from Enron's stunning fall last year. Andersen is accused of shredding documents and wiping out computer records related to Enron and its accounting practices," reported the AP news agency.
"The Justice Department proposed on Tuesday that international students wishing to learn how to fly big planes at US flight schools be fingerprinted and provide background information about themselves, their finances and their families. This plan is subject to a 30-day public comment period before the government can finalise it. Under both scenarios unveiled by the Bush administration, flight schools would submit most of the pilot and student data to the government anti-terrorism task force via the Internet," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A leading Islamic group has demanded that the Southern Baptist Convention condemn bigoted and hate-filled statements made by one of its pastors, saying that Islam is not just as good as Christianity and that Allah is not Jehovah either, as Jehovah’s not going to turn you into a terrorist that’ll try to bomb people and take the lives of thousands and thousands of people," reported the AP news agency.
"Italian writer Oriana Fallaci said on Tuesday that she reserves the right to sue a French group for calling her latest book racist. In one passage that the movement objects to, Fallaci writes that Muslims multiply like rats. In another, she says that the children of Allah spend their time with their bottoms in the air, praying five times a day," reported the AP news agency.
"Hundreds of thousands of Cubans, led by President Fidel Castro, marched on Havana’s waterfront yesterday in a show of revolutionary fervour against US pressure for change in the Communist-run island," reported the Reuters news agency.
"US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld met with Indian leaders yesterday to discuss ways to monitor the infiltration of militants from neighbouring Pakistan, in an effort to avert war between the nuclear-armed rivals. International diplomatic efforts have helped ease tensions. This week, India said it called its warships back to port from the Arabian Sea in waters near Pakistan and allowed Pakistani aircraft to fly over India after a six-month ban," reported the AP news agency.
"German peacekeepers, Afghan police and private bodyguards engaged in an ugly brawl yesterday, as delegates arrived for the second day of a Loya Jirga assembly called to elect a new government for war-torn Afghanistan. The Loya Jirga went behind closed doors yesterday after a dramatic opening day, in which the interior minister resigned, the former king withdrew from any bid for power and the interim leader, the urbane Hamid Karzai, said he had been voted president only to say later he had made a mistake. About 60 to 70 delegates walked out in protest, angry that decisions appeared to have been made without their say. The assembly is expected to decide on the new Afghan president, another cause for complaint the western-educated Karzai, the favourite of the United States, is the only candidate with any real chance," reported the Reuters news agency.
"President Gloria Arroyo yesterday led the Philippines in celebrating its 104th independence anniversary by raising a flag in this war-ravaged town in a symbolic gesture to reclaim the area from Abu Sayyaf bandits. She assured diplomats the government would press on with its military operations to crush the Abu Sayyaf, a small rebel group allegedly linked to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network," reported the AFP news service.
"A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up outside a busy sandwich shop in the Israeli coastal town of Herzliya on Tuesday, killing a 15-year-old girl and wounding eight people. The Palestinian Authority condemned the bombing and pledged to do its utmost to prevent attacks on civilians inside Israel but said it also needed Israel to lift its military blockade in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and stop aggression," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Israeli settlers have set up a new rogue settlement in the West Bank in response to a deadly Palestinian roadside attack, Israel’s Yediot Aharonot newspaper reported yesterday. Around 50 such Jewish outposts have been established in the West Bank since right-wing hardliner Ariel Sharon, a supporter of settlements, was elected prime minister in February 2001, according to the settlers’ council. They are made up of a handful of caravans and tents pending more permanent construction. More than 200,000 Jews live in around 150 settlements across the West Bank and Gaza Strip. A freeze on settlement building was highlighted by the Mitchell report as a key confidence-building measure needed to revive political negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians," reported the AFP news service.
"South Sudanese rebels killed more than 200 government soldiers when the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) captured this southern town at the weekend, SPLA leader John Garang said on Tuesday. His SPLA has been fighting against successive governments in the Arab and Muslim north since 1983 for self-determination in the mainly Christian and animist south," reported the AFP news service.
"Foreign ministers from the world’s leading nations agreed on Wednesday on the need for an early Middle East peace conference, even though US President George W. Bush has said the time is not right for such talks, officials said. US Secretary of State Colin Powell, already seemingly at odds with Bush over Washington’s Middle East policy, was one of those who backed the idea after intense talks at a late-night private dinner in the western Canadian resort of Whistler. Asked about the apparent differences between Powell and Bush, Pique said the G8 ministers meeting here were waiting for the White House to present a set of new ideas for solving the Middle East crisis," reported the news agencies.
"Military spending rose worldwide for the third consecutive year in 2001, after a long period of decline following the end of the Cold War, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said yesterday. It said the war on terrorism was likely to have a significant impact on international relations and security for at least a decade, and as a result predicted rising military expenditure for the future," reported the AFP news service.
"Authorities in Sudan have arrested a suspected al-Qaeda militant who claims to have fired a shoulder-launched missile at a US military aircraft in Saudi Arabia, US and defence officials said yesterday. Sudan is still on a list of countries that Washington says support terrorists. But the State Department said recently that Sudan and Libya had gone further in the past year than others on the list in co-operating with a US-led war on terrorism sparked by the Sept 11 attacks," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Police are investigating reports that an illegal Israeli gambling ring is taking bets on where the next Palestinian suicide bomber will strike. Bets begin at 10 shekels, the betting sheet states, adding that bets only count for attacks of Arabs against Jews and not the opposite," reported the AP news agency.
"Evidence collected by the US government against a national who stands accused of plotting to detonate a radioactive dirty bomb is weak at best," reported the AFP news service.
"Hamid Karzai, the US-backed leader of the interim Afghan administration, was overwhelmingly elected yesterday as head of the new transitional government to rule the country for the next 18 months," reported the AP news agency.
"US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld expressed hope today that India and Pakistan would in time ease their forces off high alert but said both sides needed to find ways to talk to each other. After meeting with Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, a day after talks with Indian leaders in New Delhi, Rumsfeld praised the leaders of both countries for taking steps to defuse tensions," reported the AFP news service.
"A Philippine military official yesterday accused a large Muslim guerilla force here, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), of sheltering and arming Abu Sayyaf kidnappers who lost all their hostages last week after being hunted by troops for a year. The MILF, the largest Muslim guerilla force in the troubled southern Philippines, had helped the smaller Abu Sayyaf group flee Basilan island in early April," reported the AFP news service.
"The Chinese invented numbers at least a thousand years before anyone else, a scholar here says, challenging a traditional belief that Arabs and Indians laid the ground for modern arithmetic," reported the Reuters news agency.
"After 15 years of searching, astronomers said on Thursday they have found an alien planetary system that reminds them a lot of home. This is the first time planet hunters have detected what they believe is a Jupiter-like gas ball orbiting a star much like our sun, at a distance that allows for the possibility of an unseen Earth-type rocky planet orbiting in between," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A car bomb killed at least 11 Pakistanis outside the US consulate here yesterday, less than a day after US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld left the country," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The chief Palestinian negotiator said yesterday that a promised US proposal to create a Palestinian state must set a deadline for ending Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Over 100 of the world’s pre-eminent religious figures yesterday inaugurated the first World Council of Religious Leaders and vowed to boost their role in reducing conflict and joining forces for peace," reported the AFP news service.
"Afghanistan’s grand assembly entered a critical stage yesterday with delegates discussing the make-up of a new government that will be key to the chances of new President Hamid Karzai forging unity and stability," reported the Reuters news agency.
